Spike and Ember grow up alongside Spyro as his siblings, and together they learn what it means to be heroes by protecting their home and taking down the various villains that cross their path.
Spike and Ember are transported to the Artisans homeworld as infants, without any memories at all, and arrive in time for Spyro's egg to hatch, leaving Nestor and the other Dragon Leaders with two purple dragons and a blue dragon, instead of just a single purple dragon. They decide to take it as a sign of great things to come and keep the trio together, letting the three dragons grow up as siblings while they teach them the value of teamwork and what it means to be a dragon, all while preparing them for whatever the future has in store for them.
(Spyro Reignited/MLP Crossover) (Part of the Demon War story series) Edit: Dislike free from May 21st to August 1st
It was a beautiful day for the Artisans homeworld, as there were birds sitting in the trees, chirping and singing to each other like usual, flowers were on their way to blooming, and the sun was shining through their blue sky that always had a bit of pink on the horizon, regardless of what time it was. Artisans, as the land was more commonly called among the Dragon Clans, was a lush green land that had a number of meadows, with healthy green grass for the wandering groups of sheep to eat, had a great deal of trees for birds and other animals to live in, and gentle waterfalls that either fed a number of small pools or returned to the beaches that surrounded them. In addition to all that there were a number of intricate statues that dotted the landscape, showing the talent of the dragons that called Artisans home, as well as a fair number of stone arches that served as portals to the other parts of their home, allowing for fast travel from one part of Artisans to another. There were even marble hallways that were built into the hills, so dragons could go right through a hill and not have to bother going around them, while the houses that each of them lived in were a little different from each other, as a few lived in small castle like buildings, a few took up residence in large stone buildings, and a few chose to live in intricate stone towers.
This was the reason that the land they lived on was called Artisans, because each dragon that lived there was peaceful and tranquil, preferring to use their talents in the creation of songs, sculptures, poetry, and other things, hence why their home was so intricate. Visitors that came to their homeworld, mostly reporters for the lands that the Dragon Clans didn't call home, often commented on the various talents of the peaceful dragons, the Artisan dragons as they were commonly called these days, though one of the things that some visitors focused on was the fact that their land was called a 'homeworld'. The truth of the matter was that each land the Dragon Clans called home, these 'homeworlds' as visitors called them, were part of a larger continent, hence the reason behind the various portals that connected all of them to a central location, or a 'hub' as visitors called them. The Artisan dragons found it amusing that visitors referred to the other locations they called home as 'realms', since they use portals to go between the various points of their home, but since their efforts to correct them never seemed to work they stopped trying to correct them and let them use their terms whenever they visited their land.
Nestor, Leader of the Artisans dragons, stood in the meeting chamber that he and the other four Leaders gathered in whenever they needed to talk about something in private, and today he and his fellow Leaders had a special reason as to why they were gathering. He, like all of the older dragons that had lived for quite a long time, had a bipedal stance, which allowed him to stand like a yeti or the balloonists that visited their lands, while younger dragons, of which there were none at the moment, would have a quadruped stance, meaning that they would run on all fours and would be like that until they were much older. Nestor himself had slightly dark green colored scales, with his chest scales being lighter than the rest of his body, and a pair of strong wings that would let him fly whenever he wanted to, though at the same time he wore an open vest, which was dark green colored, that had a golden necklace that linked the two halves together. Since he was also a carpenter, despite being the Leader of the Artisans, he also carried a tool satchel around his waist, where he usually kept his hammer when he wasn't working on something, though right now it rested on a pedestal by the wall that was behind him, while he stood at part of the stone table that the Leaders held their meetings at.
The meetings held a rule where the Leaders would place their weapons or work tools either against the wall itself or on a pedestal, agreeing to the fact that this was a peaceful meeting and not one of war, but Nestor pushed that memory to the side as he waited for the other Leaders to arrive.
The first Leader that arrived in the meeting chamber was none other than Titan, the orange scaled Leader of the Peace Keepers, dragons that enforced order throughout their lands and were the strongest of the five Dragon Clans, and they knew a lot about battling their enemies. Titan always wore a kusazuri, basically a skirt of armored plates that were attached to a belt and protected the area around his waist, and was accompanied by a red scarf that was wrapped around his neck at all times, like it was one of his most prized treasures or something. Despite the fact that he had a purple mohawk, along with a short similar colored beard and some tail tuft sporting the same color, Titan had the air of an accomplished soldier, which was confirmed by his epaulettes, or his ornamental shoulder pieces, the trio of metals that he wore on his chest scales, and a small scar on the right side of his abdomen. Titan nodded his head towards Nestor as he walked into the chamber, where he turned towards one of the walls and set his large battle axe, his weapon of choice when he went into battle, against the wall, showing that he respected Nestor's nature as an Artisan dragon and the fact that violence wasn't allowed in the chamber they were meeting in, before standing at his section of the table.
A few minutes later the next Leader entered the chamber, where Nestor and Titan watched as Cosmos, the Leader of the Magic Crafters, dragons that spent their time crafting the various magical artifacts that all dragons used, walked into the area that they were in, though while most of his Clan were shy, and preferred to live in their various homes, he didn't have that mindset. Cosmos, like Nestor, had dark green colored scales, which were darker than Nestor's were, though at the same time he wore golden plates, mixed with a purple colored interior, on his shoulders that were held together by a golden strap, and he had some black metal spirals on his horns. Cosmos also carried a weapon with him at all times, never leaving his side for more than a few moments at a time, though where Titan's was an actual weapon, one designed for combat, Cosmos carried a magical staff, one with spirals that mimicked what he wore on his horns, though as he walked into the chamber he carefully set his magical staff against another wall, just like Titan did. With that done Cosmos turned and took his spot at the table, the one reserved for the Leader of the Magic Crafters, just like Titan took the area for the Leader of the Peace Keepers and Nestor took the spot for the Leader of the Artisans.
Fortunately the Leader of the Beast Makers, Bruno, walked into the chamber almost immediately after Cosmos did, where they discovered that the large blue scaled dragon was happy to see them, so much so that he set his wooden staff aside, in the spot behind where he would stand, and took his place without delay. The only odd articles that he had on at the moment were the tooth necklace that was wrapped around his neck and the brown hat, which was either made from an actual piece of fruit or just carved to look that way, that rested on his head, both of which he treasured as much as his personal weapon. The Beast Makers were responsible for tending to all sorts of creatures that lived in their lands, even bringing them into the world at times, and as such they found that living in a swamp environment, with houses made out of wood or even in hollowed out trees, best for them, especially since some of the materials needed for their duties could be found in the swamp. Bruno, of course, didn't smell like the swamp at all, and that was due to some enchantments that prevented the smell from following those that both lived there and visited the land of the Beast Keepers, though they still had to bathe like everyone else, something that they didn't complain about.
After that the final Leader entered the chamber, to which Nestor and the others watched as Lateef, Leader of the Dream Weavers, joined them, where he walked around to his section of the table and turned towards the wall that was waiting for him, to which he held up a small bronze pot that had some pink rocks in it and set it down on the pedestal in front of him. Lateef's scales were a few shades of blue that were deeper than Bruno's own scales, though at the same time he was also slightly different from most of the dragons, as he actually had ears, which were pierced with a single golden ring, feathered wings that almost looked like the night sky, and balanced on his tale instead of standing, as was his custom whenever he talked to someone, though Nestor and the others preferred that he not talk in riddles, something else he liked to do from time to time. Lateef wore two pieces of some kind of red cloth around his neck and waist, both of which were trimmed with gold, along with a golden necklace, that had the shape of circular bells, with tassels attached to each of the bells, and a rope belt that kept the cloth around his waist in place. As a Dream Weaver dragon it was his responsibility to make sure that no nightmares bothered any of the dragons that lived throughout their world, though as Leader he made sure that the other Dream Weavers ensured that everyone slept peacefully, as well as assist anyone that might have trouble while they were sleeping.
To many they were the strongest and the smartest dragons in all five lands that their kind ruled, and for a time they had been right, but today was going to bring about a change to that belief, hence the reason the five of them had gathered together in the meeting chamber, one that overlooked a peaceful courtyard.
"Welcome, my fellow Leaders." Nestor said, because now that all of them had gathered here, like they had been planning for a few days now, it was time for them to discuss the reason behind why they had left their lands and had come to this location, "I trust that all of you had a safe journey?"
"It was uneventful," Titan stated, as recently there hadn't been anything that demanded the attention of the Peace Keepers, meaning that all he and the others could do was keep training in preparation for whatever the future held, before he smiled, "though it would have been interesting to see someone try and attack four of the Leaders while they were on their way to a meeting."
"I much prefer the peace that we have been enjoying." Bruno replied, to which both Cosmos and Lateef nodded their heads in agreement, a sign that they were in agreement with the Leader of the Beast Makers on this subject, before he turned his attention to something else, "Besides, we came here to discuss something of great importance to the lands that we call home, if the letters you sent were any indication, so it's for the best that we weren't stopped by something or someone on the way here."
"Indeed." Nestor said, as he was happy to hear that his fellow Leaders had been able to get here safely, despite the fact that the lands they had come from wouldn't have any enemies for them to worry about, not when the only threat was contained in a faraway land, before he glanced outside to the courtyard, where a single dragon egg rested, "Today is the Year of the Dragon Festival, as I'm sure you all know by now, and the fairies have told me that there will only be one egg hatching today, the purple dragon egg that we have been watching for the last year. Now, I'm sure I don't need to tell you what else is so special about the egg that's resting in the courtyard at the moment."
"It contains one of the legendary purple dragons" Cosmos stated, as he knew exactly what Nestor was talking about, since he had been thinking about this for a long time, since the moment they found the purple dragon egg that they were now watching over with great interest, "one that could be a stalwart champion for all of dragon kind. I have seen nothing that would prevent what we have been waiting for from happening, and Lateef has made sure that nothing will trouble Spyro before he hatches."
"Spyro? Is that the hatchling's name?" Nestor asked, because while Cosmos' habit of peering into the future from time to time wasn't totally reliable, since it hadn't shown him the day the fairies would bring them the purple dragon egg that they were watching over, there were times that it was right, so if Cosmos said that the dragon's name would be Spyro, and was sure of that fact like he appeared to be, then he had to accept what the dragon's name would be.
"It is." Lateef replied, though at the same time it appeared that he had been lost in thought about something since he and the others had arrived, which worried Nestor since they were so close to the egg hatching, before he stared at his fellow Leaders for a moment, "I just feel that there is something we're not seeing..."
Nestor was curious as to what else the Leader would have said, though he could only brace himself as an explosion sounded from the courtyard, one that seemed to be magical in nature considering the fact that both Cosmos and Lateef shook the instant they heard the noise. That worried him more than anything else, especially when he considered that the purple dragon egg housed a hatchling that would become one of the strongest dragons in the entire world, so the instant the two Leaders indicated that it was okay to move Nestor rushed out of the meeting chamber and headed for the area that the explosion came from. He wasn't the only one, as Titan grabbed his axe and readied himself, in case this was an attack from an unknown enemy, before following after him, though Nestor purposely left his hammer behind, as he wanted to see what was going on in the courtyard before grabbing the only thing that would pass as a weapon for him, while the other Leaders followed behind them. It didn't take the five of them long to reach the courtyard, not when it was so close to where their meeting chamber was located, and found that the smoke from the explosion was already dying down, without ruining anything around the area that the purple egg was in... though at the same time Nestor discovered that the egg had hatched during the explosion, based on the shell fragments that were in front of them.
None of them had to worry about the young hatchling being killed or something like that, as there just so happened to be a baby dragon resting nearby, one with purple scales over most of it's body, with the chest scales baring a golden yellow color, that also had a small pair of horns on his head and a small pair of wings on his back, which were common for dragons of this age, and even had some fin shaped spines between his two horns, which were also small and would grow as he did. What none of them were expecting, however, was for there to be two more baby dragons resting near the one they had been expecting, as there had only been one in the egg and both Cosmos and Lateef were surprised and confused as to what they were seeing. Part of their confusion was because of the fact that one of the two mystery dragons had purple scales like Spyro, though his chest scales were a light spring green color, his wings were the same size as Spyro's, and he had no visible horns on his head, rather he just had some small sized fins that ran down his entire spine. The second dragon was a blue dragon, as her main scale color was a brilliant blue while her underbelly was turquoise colored, though she did possess a pair of horns, ones that looked like they would curve towards the front of her head when she got older, and she had blue fins on her head that were almost like Spyro's, save for the gap between each one. The other thing Nestor noticed was that all three of the hatchlings appeared to be asleep at the moment, meaning the sounds of the explosion didn't wake them from their slumber, and their bodies showed no signs of damage, which told him that none of them were hurt by what just happened.
It was rare for there to be even a single purple dragon, as they generally only appeared some time before something major happened for the world, but two of them, being the same age and size, meant that big things would happen to them and the lands they ruled over, and even if she wasn't a purple dragon Nestor knew that there was something special about the blue dragon that rested with them.
"Now this is unexpected." Nestor commented, as he didn't know what to make of the scene that was in front of them, because they had been expecting there to be one purple dragon that they could train for whatever was heading their way, not two purple dragons and a blue dragon, before he turned towards his fellow Leaders, "Cosmos, Lateef, can you tell us anything about these two dragons?"
"You mean like answer 'who are they' and 'where did they come from'?" Lateef inquired, though he didn't need his magical skills to figure out what sort of questions Nestor wanted them to answer, as they knew their friend well enough and could determine what was on his mind rather easily, but he was happy to see Nestor nod his head, confirming that the two questions he mentioned were part of what he wanted answered, "Come Cosmos, let us see if we can't learn anything from the hatchlings or the eggshell fragments that are resting around them."
Cosmos, as Nestor expected, had sat down near the three hatchlings and had his eyes closed at the moment, though the eggshells in his hands meant that he was attempting to see if the fragments might reveal something about the two mysterious hatchlings that had suddenly appeared. At the same time he had placed his staff across his legs, no doubt using it to focus his power towards his task, while at the same time Lateef sat across from him and set his pot of magical rocks down near him, allowing him to access his own abilities as he closed his eyes. That left Bruno and Titan to go to where they kept their supplies, or at least the area that Nestor kept the food they would have eaten during their lunch break, as Nestor had the feeling that the three hatchlings were going to wake up soon, because sometimes hatchlings took a quick nap after hatching and would be making noise soon enough. He wanted to be prepared for when that happened, hence the reason that Bruno and Titan were gathering the milk that had recently been gathered for this event and the strips of meat that they had prepared ahead of time, that way the moment the trio started crying they could tend to them and ensure the trio knew they were safe. He really only saw that happening for the purple dragons, since they were so different from the other types of dragons in the world, as the hatchlings of the other types usually hatched from their eggs and did crazy things as their first action, like dancing a little, before falling back asleep, but it was best to be prepared and get this over with quickly.
As Bruno and Titan returned with the supplies, however, the three hatchlings decided to wake up at that moment and, just as Nestor expected, started crying, causing Bruno to step forward and start tending to them, which Titan was fine with since Beast Makers dragons were also the most qualified to tend to whatever number of hatchlings each group of eggs provided them with. As such Bruno made sure that each of the hatchlings had their fair share of the milk that they had gathered, which was a few bottles since they had no idea how much a purple dragon actually needed, but he was relieved to see that the five bottles they had prepared was all they needed, even if the last two were split between the trio. After that he waited for a minute or two, allowing the hatchlings to process what he had given them, before tearing small bits of the meat that they had brought out to the courtyard, letting them nibble on the bits for a few seconds before they snatched what he was offering them, which only made him smile as he offered them some bits that were bigger than what he first gave them, as this meant that they had hatched without any problems. While Bruno was doing that, and was keeping the hatchlings happy, Nestor turned towards Cosmos and Lateef, because he knew that neither of them had been given enough time to really do anything and was hoping that they learned something about the two arrivals they weren't expecting to find.
"Cosmos, Lateef, did you learn anything about them?" Nestor asked, though he had the feeling he knew what the answer would be, that they had learned nothing about the two hatchlings that were with Spyro and that they would be guessing both their names and how they had come to one of the realms that was connected to the Artisans homeworld, and he knew that Titan would be annoyed by that fact.
"I learned almost nothing from the eggshells," Cosmos admitted, which was unusual for him to say, as he was used to finding out things with his powers and the tools that he carried with him at all times, but this was one of those times where even he was stumped, "All I was able to determine was that a powerful magical charge was behind the two hatchlings appearing in this courtyard, at the same time that Spyro was supposed to hatch, but other than that I've got no leads on where the charge came from or who cast the spell... this is the first time I'm in the dark about such things."
"I, too, only learned one thing, and that is their names." Lateef added, showing his fellow Leaders that he managed to learn something useful, because without this information they would have had to resort to coming up with their own names for the two hatchlings, but this made things that much easier as Lateef faced Bruno and the hatchlings, "From what I was able to learn the second purple dragon's name is Spike, while the blue dragon's name is Ember, though in order to learn more I'll have to wait for them to go back to sleep, and even then I'm not sure I'll be able to learn anything else about the two of them."
"That's fine, we can work with this." Nestor replied, though after what he had learned so far he had to admit that finding out what the names of the hatchlings were was the best thing he could have asked for, even though it appeared that whatever had brought them here must have happened when they were hatched, "It appears that Spyro will have a brother and a sister to grow up with, which means that we'll need to find two more dragonflies for them, since I doubt young Sparx will be able to cover for all three of them."
"That won't be a problem," Bruno commented, causing the other Leaders to turn towards him for a moment, where they found that Spyro was staring at Spike and Ember, who were staring at him, before the three of them smiled and ran around the area they were in, though he let them do that since exercise was best for newly born hatchlings, "I know of a few dragonflies that should be able to bond with young Spike and Ember, the same way we determined that Sparx could bond with Spyro, and I can have them here either this afternoon or early tomorrow morning."
Nestor nodded his head in understanding, as he knew that Bruno knew which dragonflies might be the best fit for the two new hatchlings that they hadn't been expecting to find when Spyro hatched, so he determined that it would be best to leave this task up to his fellow Leader... though at the same time he was interested in seeing what the future held for the trio, as he was sure that their lives were going to be anything but ordinary.
Nestor found that it didn't take long for Spyro, Spike, and Ember to tire themselves out and fall asleep again, since they had been running around the area that Bruno was sitting in, where he watched over them to ensure they weren't harmed if they fell over, and they all smiled when the three hatchlings fell asleep again. It was quite refreshing to have some more hatchlings running around, even if they were only expecting one at the moment and not the three that were curled up near each other, but he was sure that he and the other Leaders would be able to make this work out in the end. Once the trio was sound asleep, and they were sure of that, Bruno stood up and headed over to the tunnel that would take him to the part of Stone Hill, the area they were in, that contained the whirlwind vortex that would take him back to the hub of the Artisans homeworld. The reason he was leaving was because he needed to return to his domain and speak with the dragonflies he had briefly mentioned earlier, to see if he could find two more that could bond with Spike and Ember and watch over them, just like Sparx would be doing for Spyro. Since it would take him about five hours to get back to his domain, and likely another hour to find who he was thinking about before the five hour trip back, Nestor and the other Leaders understood why he had mentioned that it would be between this afternoon and early tomorrow morning when they would see him again.
As such he, Titan, Cosmos, and Lateef followed Bruno through the whirlwind and walked over to the dock that the balloonists used, whenever they were transporting goods between the different homeworlds, be they food, gems, tools, or a young dragon that hadn't learned how to traverse such a long distance on their own, before their friend took off and headed back to his domain, where they waved in his direction for a few seconds before lowering their arms.
"So, what are we going to do with the other two?" Titan asked, because he had the feeling that Nestor would want to watch over Spike and Ember as well, as it appeared that Spyro was interested in them, just like they were interested in him, which was a good idea when he thought about it, as it would allow them to see what sort of talent the hatchlings had, in regards to being an Artisan or a Peace Keeper or one of the other types, and he was only asking so he could plan ahead for the future, since he was sure that he'd be teaching Spyro, at the very least, how to fight in his current state.
"Considering how Spyro reacted to them, I think it's safe to say we should leave them together," Nestor replied, as he knew Titan was curious as to how many students he'd have in the near future, even though the real training would have to wait until the hatchlings were much older, before he turned around and headed back to the portal that would take him back to the courtyard where they had left the trio, where the others followed after him, "and yes, I do mean that we should consider Spike and Ember to be Spyro's siblings, especially since all three of them were so excited when they first saw each other. I know you are eager to start training them, Titan, but you have to remember that they are just hatchlings and that it will be a few years before they reach the point where they can actually handle any sort of training that we put them through, even if it's just ramming your head into a stone wall and lighting your foes on fire. And yes, I do know that I'm talking about normal dragons at the moment, like you and Bruno, since it's been a long time since anyone has seen a purple dragon, much less two of them, so we have no idea how much time it will take for them to grow to the point where you can train them or how well they can handle your training."
"Indeed, I am quite interested in the fact that there are two purple dragons now." Lateef said, because while he and Cosmos hadn't gotten any useful information from their studies, they were both sure that all three hatchlings would do great things for the Dragon Clans and the places that they called home, "There is no telling what will happen now that Spike and Ember have been added to the mix, so I think that the future is going to be very exciting for all of us, not just the three of them, and that we'll be proud of them in no time."
Nestor nodded his head in agreement, because while the arrival of a single purple dragon was incredible, as it meant that something major was going to happen at some point in the future, the fact that a second purple dragon had arrived, with a blue dragon as well, was even more incredible than anything they had encountered in the past. Sure, he and the other Leaders hadn't encountered much excitement over the years, save for Gnasty Gnorc, but that person had been banished to the sixth land of the area they called home, the Junk Yard, a place that they didn't think about much since dragons were no longer welcome there. He considered it to be fair, since Gnorc had been causing mischief for everyone in the Dragon Realms and couldn't abide by the rules and customs that dragons lived by, but even then he and his fellow Leaders had to consider the fact that their foe might be planning his revenge, which, if that was what Gnorc was doing, made it a good thing Spyro had hatched, along with Spike and Ember arriving rather suddenly. It seemed wrong to put such a matter on the shoulders of a hatchling, much less three of them, but from what he could tell it would be a number of years before Gnorc did anything, so for right now they could let Spyro, Spike, and Ember grow up mature into young dragons, without having to worry about trying to take down a villain or save their homes from some sort of threat, and he hoped that they wouldn't have to worry about that for some time.
Of course that raised the question of where the three hatchlings would be sleeping, but, as it turned out, Lateef had a good idea, which was that the three dragons would live here, in Artisans, where they were born and where the Leaders could come to visit them and assist them in growing, though since this land was peaceful, and many of the dragons here didn't fight, they would have to go to Titan's homeworld to receive lessons on how to fight. Nestor was perfectly fine with this, as it would allow him to watch over the trio and determine what sort of lessons they needed to offer the hatchlings, though the first thing was obvious, and that was introducing them to their dragonfly companions and make sure the bond between the pairs was set in stone before they did anything else. Since they had to wait for Bruno to return with the dragonflies that he had in mind, whenever he arrived, the four remaining Leaders stepped through the portal that would take them to Stone Hill and quickly reappeared in the courtyard that Spyro's egg had been in earlier, where they found that all three of the hatchlings were still fast asleep, showing that they hadn't been bothered by the sounds of them leaving with Bruno or the sounds of their return. Nestor was happy to see that the three of them were peacefully sleeping and hadn't been bothered by the sounds of them returning to the courtyard, which allowed him and his fellow Leaders to relax a little and sit down, where they scattered themselves around the area that the hatchlings were in.
Titan, since he couldn't sharpen his weapon without the sound accidentally waking the trio up, decided that all he could do at the moment was fall asleep, which he promptly did so by resting on his side and opening his wings, where they wouldn't be hurt by the position he was assuming, before he closed his eyes and nodded off. Cosmos, seeing that there was nothing for him to do until Bruno returned, sat down and laid his staff across his legs, where Nestor believed that he would be spending his time seeing if there was any additional information they could learn from the two dragons that were resting near Spyro. Lateef was of the same opinion, as he balanced on his tail and closed his eyes, showing Nestor and Cosmos that he was going to delve into the dreams that the hatchlings might be having, to see if he might gleam anything that would help them understand where Spike and Ember came from, while at the same time Cosmos closed his eyes and focused on what he was doing. Nestor, on the other hand, remained awake, as it made sense for one of them to be awake at some point so they could keep an eye on Spyro, Spike, and Ember, but at the same time he reached into his pack and pulled out a sketchbook, because he was a carpenter and he had some decent ideas for an area for the trio to live in when they were older, so they didn't have to live in the courtyard for a long period of time.
Since he had time before having to wake one of the other Leaders up, for their turn in watching the trio, he figured that he'd take some time and sketch out the ideas that he had, before showing them to the other Artisan dragons and seeing what they thought... though he had the feeling that this was going to be a uneventful evening for him, since it appeared that nothing was going to bother the hatchlings at the moment.
Nestor found that nothing happened while he and the other Leaders watched over Spyro, Spike, and Ember, as the three hatchlings didn't move at all, so he was able to wake up Titan for his turn and have a few hours of rest, since they were waiting for Bruno to return with the dragonflies he was gathering. What that meant was that the trio had hatched without any complications and were totally healthy, at least in terms of how dragons were supposed to hatch, and they were happy to see that the trio were sleeping peacefully, especially with Lateef making sure nothing bothered them. Since they had just hatched, and hadn't experienced anything major yet, the Leaders were sure that none of the hatchlings would have had any nightmares, but Lateef was just making sure that nothing terrorized them while they were asleep, even though the other Leaders had to sit there and patrol the area when it was their turn to watch over the trio. Titan was the only one that was used to patrolling an area, since he was a Peace Keeper dragon and he had been trained to do this sort of thing for long periods of time, and he was happy to keep the others safe, not that it mattered since the Artisans homeworld was one of the most peaceful places in the realms that they all lived in.
Eventually morning broke and Nestor pulled himself off the ground, where he and the other Leaders that had been sleeping stretched their arms and wings for a few moments, though as they did that Titan brought out some of the meat and food items that Nestor had stockpiled nearby, for them to eat and drink, as well as share with the hatchlings whenever they woke up. It just showed the other Leaders how prepared Nestor was for this event, as he figured that, since the egg that would be hatching was a purple dragon egg, and it had been a long time since they had seen a purple dragon, he and his friends would have spent the night making sure the hatchling was fine before they returned to their homeworlds and their duties as they waited for their turn to assist in Spyro's growth. Of course none of them were expecting Spike and Ember to show up out of nowhere, much less in a magical explosion that didn't damage the courtyard they were in, but they were happy to see that Spyro had accepted them and that they had accepted Spyro in return, which meant that they might already see each other as siblings. Young dragons, from what they had seen in the past, were smarter than most babies of the other species of their world and could often figure certain things out on their own, but there were some things that they couldn't learn due to their small size and would need training to figure out, hence the reason he and the other Leaders would teach them as they grew up.
His thoughts were interrupted as Bruno reappeared nearby, showing that he had returned from his homeworld and had used the portal to reach Stone Hill, though instead of saying anything he beckoned with his head and headed into a chamber that rested on the floor below where they held their meetings, one that was basically a passage to the portal that allowed them to return to the main part of the Artisans homeworld.
"Bruno, it's good to see that you made it back safe and sound," Nestor said, though at the same time he grabbed one of the cups that hadn't been used yet and poured some coffee into it, since he and the others had carefully made a pot without waking up Spyro or his new siblings, before he offered it to his friend, who accepted it and took a sip from it as the others stood near them, "How was your trip?"
"Well, the flight itself was boring since I didn't have anyone to talk to," Bruno admitted, as he and the other Leaders had a lengthy conversation while they were flying to Nestor's homeworld the previous day, or at least he had one with Lateef before they arrived at Cosmos' domain and continued on to Titan's homeworld, so flying alone was quite boring, before he smiled at his friends, "but it was worth it. You can come out little ones."
Nestor smiled as three little dragonflies, maybe around a week or two old based on their size, emerged from the safety of the hat that Bruno was wearing, which meant that it was a good place for young dragonflies to rest before being brought to the area that the hatchlings were in. The first dragonfly that he noticed was yellow colored, as that was the main color of it's elongated body, it had large eyes, or at least what was large for the size of it's body, along with limbs that resembled arms and ended in fingers, and it had transparent wings. Nestor knew this one, as a few days ago Bruno had introduced this little guy to him and the other Leaders, saying that he had the potential to be Spyro's companion until he was much older, which meant that this was Sparx, who Bruno had been keeping an eye on, though that was when he turned his attention to the other two dragonflies. The pair had the same build that Sparx had, which made sense since most dragonflies looked identical, save for the coloration of their bodies, and sometimes even their wings, though while one of them had a red color to their body, almost like a fire, the other was light grey colored, and they buzzed around Sparx, almost like they had never been near so many dragons at the same time.
He was sure that with time and constant exposure, to both the hatchlings and the other dragons, the nervousness that the two dragonflies were feeling would disappear and they would become the companions that Bruno claimed that they could be, though right now there was only one thing they needed to know before they introduced the dragonflies to the sleeping hatchlings, or at least attempt that anyway.
"I know you all know Sparx, so allow me to introduce Talon," Bruno continued, to which he gestured to the red colored dragonfly for a moment, where Nestor and the other Leaders were a little surprised that a dragonfly's name would be 'Talon', before he did the same to the light grey colored dragonfly, "and Cinder. These are the ones I told you about earlier, when we were talking about dragonflies, and while they might be nervous about this, since this is the first time they've been around this many of us, I have faith in their abilities and know that they'll be able to overcome their nervousness in a short period of time."
Nestor and the others paused for a moment as the three dragonflies buzzed at each other for a few seconds, their way of communicating with each other, and from the sounds of it Sparx was calming his new friends down, which made sense considering that he was used to being around dragons, more than most dragonflies that were around his age, of which there weren't many of at the moment. There would be more dragonflies twelve years from now, when the next year of the Dragon festival happened, and the fairies that had brought them Spyro's egg promised them that the next festival was going to be better than this one, though they couldn't tell them why they felt that way, but that only told Nestor that they might have a good amount of dragon eggs coming in the future. Of course, since he thought about Spyro, that was the moment that the hatchlings decided to wake up and start making sounds, though instead of crying, like they had done when they woke up yesterday, the sounds they made now were curious ones, showing that they were interested in their surroundings and might start exploring the area, causing him and the others to head to the courtyard so they could see what the trio was up to.
What they discovered was that Spyro and Spike were wandering around the courtyard, their heads turning every now and then as they looked at the area that was around them, even though the area that they were in didn't have much in it, save for a well, one that went to an underground structure and didn't have any water in it, and the tunnels that would take them to the rest of the Stone Hill area. Ember, on the other hand, was still sitting in the area she and her brothers had been sleeping in, staring at the pair as they explored the area around them, before she got up and walked around as well, taking in the sights as all three of them considered where they were and what was going to happen next. Nestor was happy to see that, because for a moment he had been worried that Ember might not care about what her siblings were doing, but now it appeared that she was just curious as to what Spyro and Spike were up to, because as the three of them walked around the courtyard she eventually caught up with them. Their final destination, as it turned out, was the area that all the food had been brought to, where Nestor and the others had been eating while they were waiting for Bruno to arrive with the dragonflies, which caused them to watch with interest as the trio finally came to a stop... though that was before Spike and Ember turned towards Spyro and helped him climb up to where the food was resting, who turned around and helped one of his siblings up before they helped the last sibling up.
Nestor chuckled as he and the other Leaders walked out of the tunnel they had been watching from, where Spyro and his siblings stopped what they were doing, which was deciding what they could eat and what they couldn't eat, and turned towards them, only for Nestor to sit down near them and pick up some of the meat so he could offer it to them.
"I figured you three would be hungry again, considering what you did yesterday." Nestor said, though as he said that he watched as the trio tore apart the meat that was offered to them, where he smiled and moved some more meat towards them, all while making sure that each of them had their fair share of what they had at the moment.
"At first I was worried about those two," Bruno commented, gesturing to Spike and Ember for a moment, who didn't notice what he was doing as they tore into the food that held their attention, while the other Leaders gathered around them and turned towards him, "but, after seeing them eat sheep meat, chicken wings, and everything else that we brought with us, it's safe to say that there is no reason to worry about their diets, as they seem like ordinary hatchlings to me... well, except for the fact that one of them is a purple dragon, like Spyro."
As soon as Bruno said the name the purple dragon in question stopped eating and glanced at the Leader, causing both of his siblings to stop what they were doing as well and look at him with interest in their eyes, since they weren't sure what was going on at the moment. Bruno tilted his head for a moment and repeated the name, where the dragon smiled and faced him, showing him and the other Leaders that, despite being a day old, Spyro was smart enough to recognize his name and react to it being said, causing his siblings to tilt their heads as they faced Bruno. He paused for a few seconds, mostly to see if the others wanted him to continue, and when they nodded their heads he focused on Spike, who jumped in place a few times upon hearing his name, showing them that it wasn't a fluke, and Ember's tail shifted every now and then as her name was called, though the smile on her face meant that she understood what her name was as well. The three hatchlings were smart, both he and the other Leaders understood that now, and they had recognized their names rather quickly, though before they did anything else Bruno nodded his head and the three dragonflies from earlier came out and flew over to him, where they came to a stop in front of him and looked at the dragons in front of them. All Bruno did was raise one of his hands near the trio of dragonflies and said their names as he moved his hand, letting Spyro and his siblings know that each name was connected to one of the dragonflies that were in front of them, before pulling his hand back so the dragonflies could do their thing.
Sparx, being the oldest of the three dragonflies, and no doubt the 'leader' in the eyes of Talon and Cinder, flew over to Spyro and circled around his head a few times, before coming to a stop near the right side of Spyro's head, which caused both of his friends to do the same thing... though what interested Bruno was that Talon, a male dragonfly, paired himself with Spike while Cinder, a female dragonfly, paired herself with Ember, and all three dragons had smiles on their faces, even though he knew they had to be confused by what was going on at the moment.
"Don't worry little ones, we'll teach you everything you need to know," Bruno said, where both the hatchlings and the dragonflies turned towards him once more, showing that they were interested in what he had to tell them, before he returned their smiles, "but we'll worry about that in the future, when you're all older. For now, eat and explore the world that is around you."
Nestor smiled as Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads, finished off what they were eating, and then, without needing him or the others to help them, climbed down from the area they were standing on and started running around the area they were in, showing that they were excited about their new dragonfly friends, who were flying near them in case they got into any sort of trouble, and he knew that their future was going to be full of excitement.
Spike found that after he and his siblings filled their bellies, as siblings was the word he heard the larger dragons use when talking about him, Spyro, and Ember, they started to explore the strange and unfamiliar area that they were in, which the larger dragons seemed to be okay with. From what he and his siblings could tell there were strange stone structures that wrapped around the area they were in, why he had no idea and he was sure that neither his brother or his sister knew the reason why it was that way, so they decided to continue moving so they could see what else was near them. The three of them noticed that there were some odd banners near the various tunnels, something else they didn't understand the importance of, and a number of bushes rested around them as well, some being short, like half the size of one of the larger dragons, while some were tall, just a little bit taller than the dragons they had seen earlier. They even found a much smaller walled structure inside the area that they were in, one that the larger dragons were standing near as they discussed whatever it was they were talking about, but from the looks of it they weren't going to be able to see what was being walled off, so they turned their attention to something else.
It quickly dawned on them that the older dragons were letting them do whatever they wanted, for the most part, so Spyro headed down one of the tunnels that was near them and followed it, with both Spike and Ember following him, but after a few moments of walking they came to a stop as they realized that the tunnel lead to a chamber that had no other way to get into it, meaning all they could do was turn around and go back the way they came. As they walked out of the tunnel they noticed that they had missed something what was attached to the stone structure that surrounded them, and that was the odd stone structures, like the one the older dragons had walked out of, that seemed to be attached to the structure that surrounded them. There was also a larger structure that was above the area the older dragons had been in, which had to be important as well, though for now the trio glanced at each other and headed through the other tunnel, the one that was opposite of the one they had explored first, while their dragonflies followed after them. While they had no idea what the dragonflies were supposed to do, other than follow them around while they explored the area, one of the larger dragons had told them that he'd tell them everything they needed to know in due time, so they focused on being happy that they had friends watching over all three of them as they reached the end of the tunnel.
The new area seemed to be a larger version of the area they had been in before, without the majority of the odd stone structures they had seen, though there was one that looked like a tower and it had an opening that they could pass through if they wanted, where they spotted something moving inside the large stone tower, but before they could get too close to it the dragonflies flew in front of their faces and stopped them. From what Spyro, Spike, and Ember were seeing their new companions knew that they weren't ready for whatever was inside the tower and were stopping them from going inside, to avoid getting hurt, so the trio glanced at each other and nodded their heads, as they figured that the three dragonflies had been given to them for a reason and that they shouldn't annoy their elders just yet. As such the trio went back to exploring the area around the tower, finding stone structures that they assumed were arches along the way, but for the most part all they really found was grass and nothing else, so they decided to head back to the area they had first encountered each other in, as they figured that their elders might be done talking and would have something for them to do for the rest of the day. When they returned to where the larger dragons were standing, however, they discovered that they were still talking about whatever they had been talking about earlier, which meant that they wouldn't be interested in keeping their attention on something else, before Spyro spotted the tunnel the larger dragons had come through when he and his siblings had climbed up to where the food was kept.
Instead of returning to where the larger dragons were standing, and doing nothing with their time, Spyro headed towards the tunnel and found a decent sized chamber waiting in front of him, though as his siblings joined him, since they didn't want to be left with the larger dragons and be bored by their conversation, he spotted another opening, one that revealed an odd looking table that had small red carpets on it, different colored stone than what was around them, and a pointed symbol that was surrounded by a golden centerpiece. What really caught Spyro's interest, among everything he was seeing, was the fact that the symbol was glowing and was a gathering point of some sort of energy, though while Spike and Ember were still staring at it, and were trying to figure out what they were looking at, he decided to take action and see what was so special about this object. Spike and Ember barely had time to react as Spyro climbed onto the strange object and touched what was in the middle of it, where he was pulled into what they assumed was a whirlwind or something and vanished before their eyes, causing the two of them to be concerned for their brother. Talon and Cinder must have experienced this sort of thing before, since they weren't as shocked as the pair was and seemed to be buzzing at them in an attempt to calm them down, but instead of doing that both Spike and Ember rushed to where they had last seen Spyro and focused on the middle of the object.
Of course they failed to realize that, in their rush to get to where Spyro had been, they also touched the part of the strange object that their brother had touched before his disappearance, which resulted in them and their dragonflies being snatched by whatever power had caused their brother to vanish, before the world around them disappeared.
When Spike and Ember opened their eyes they found that they were laying in front of what appeared to be an intricate stone structure that resembled an arch, though while the lower portion of the sides seemed to be made out of stone the rest of it appeared to have been crafted from another material, possibly the same golden centerpiece for the odd table they had seen their brother touch before his disappearance. What was interesting about this object was that there was a light blue gemstone in the center of it's top, with some markings to show how important it was, while at the same time the area in the center of the object seemed to ripple, showing them the sky from the area they had been in, as the sky of the area they were in now was different, meaning they had been taking somewhere else. Just thinking about that made them turn around and stare at the vast space that was around them, as it was far larger than the area they had been in before touching the strange object, and they were surprised by what they were seeing, as they had at least four different paths to choose from, where one looked like it went into a small maze of some kind, an interesting waterfall, a few stone structures that appeared to be going from a small size to a taller size, and who knew what else. That did remind them that the first thing they needed to do, instead of running around enjoying the sights, was figure out where their brother had wandered off to so they could find him, and then, when they were back together again, they could explore this area without having to worry about searching for someone.
What neither of them were expecting was to turn around and nearly run right into Spyro, who was standing near where they had landed, which made sense when they thought about it since he might have known that they would have come looking for him, but he smiled at them as all three of them, and their dragonflies, headed off to see what they could find in this new area they were in.
The first thing they did was approach the three different sized stone pillars, mostly because they were curious to see if they could climb them or jump on top of them to get a better view of the area that they were in, but what they discovered was that, at their current height, they could barely get on top of the first pillar, and that was only possible because they helped each other up, like they did earlier when they wanted some food. Still, they pulled each other up onto the first of the pillars and glanced around the area that was around them, as they were curious about the area that they had found themselves in and were curious as to where they should go next, since there were so many paths for them to explore and so much for them to see. What they did first was climb off the pillar they had climbed up and walked over to one of the walkways that would allow them to look over the area they were in, before turning and heading down the stone bridge that let them come to a stop on a stone platform that allowed them to look out over the area, though while they did that they noticed that there was grass growing on the walkways and bridge as well, connecting to the grass that was in front of the stone structure they had come from, but why it was like that they had no idea. After staring at the grass for a few seconds Spyro turned around and headed back the way they came, only to turn to his right and head down the other stone walkway that connected to the bridge, where Spike and Ember followed after him as they approached the area with the flowing water.
When it became clear that Spyro wanted to see the water, and maybe do something other than stare at it, Sparx, Talon, and Cinder flew in front of their friends again and beckoned for them to move away from the waterfall, showing that they wanted Spyro and his siblings to be safe, though the trio simply made the same gestures they had made the last time Sparx had stopped them and moved away from where Spyro had been taking them.
Since seeing what was so special about the water was a failure, as Spyro had been hoping to see why there was a reason behind the five oddly placed stones in front of what appeared to be a solid wall, he decided that the best course of action was to let either Spike or Ember choose where to go next, as most of his decisions had ended in failure. Ember shook her head and nudged their brother for a moment, where Spike was surprised by what they were doing, but that was before he smiled and headed off to the maze that seemed to be made out of either a large single bush or multiple large bushes. From a distance it looked like it would be fun to explore the maze and figure out what it was hiding, as it seemed to be of a decent size and there didn't appear to be much of a chance of them getting lost, but as they entered the maze Spike was disappointed by what he found, as it was just a simple ring with a central clearing, and they discovered another strange stone structure, like the one they came out of, sitting in the maze, just opposite of where they entered. Once they determined that there wasn't anything interesting inside the maze, other than the structure, the trio left the maze and Spike headed into the opening that was near it, which was a tunnel that brought them to a square shaped room, before they noticed the path leading downwards, where they walked down it and stepped out onto a wooden dock.
There wasn't much for them to see, other that the vast amount of water that was in front of them, though off in the distance the trio was able to make out a slowly disappearing figure, of what they had no idea, but judging from how slow it was moving it wasn't a dragon, so it had to be one of the larger dragons' allies.
As it appeared that Spyro's ideas hadn't really accomplished much, and Spike had no luck with the maze or the tunnel they had seen, they decided that it was Ember's turn to take the lead, even though there were only two more places for them to check out, another tunnel and an area that was just beyond the structure they had come from. Instead of heading to the other area, and checking it out first, Ember decided to investigate the other tunnel and headed over to it, causing her brothers to follow after her as their dragonflies flew overhead, indicating that they were also interested about the place that was their new home. The tunnel had a small twist in it, nothing too major, though when they walked out of it they discovered that there were three towers in front of them, though while the one in the middle was the tallest the ones to it's right and left seemed to be of the same size, even if they were smaller than the middle one, but what stopped them from investigating the towers was the vortex that was inside the base of the central tower, just like the one that Sparx and the others had stopped them from investigating in the other area. As such Ember decided not to bother investigating this area any further, not until their dragonflies believed that they were ready for such a thing, and headed back through the tunnel, before heading over to the opening that they had seen so they could figure out what else this area had.
What they discovered in the other open area was a massive stone structure that was in the shape of a dragon's head, which all three of them were confused by, since they had no idea why such a thing would be sitting here, though they were distracted by a large dragon that was sitting on the ground in front of the massive structure, who had orange colored scales and had a red hat of some kind on his head, along with a red collar and something that rested in it's hands.
"Hm? Is someone there?" the dragon asked, it's voice identifying that it was male as well, though that was when he stopped whatever he was doing and turned his head to look in their direction, which was when he smiled at them, even though he was a little surprised by what he was seeing, "Well now, isn't this quite the surprise? Three hatchlings and their dragonflies, wandering around the Artisans homeworld without any supervision. Come little ones, you can sit in front of me while I practice with my lute, because I have a new melody that I have been working on for the last few days and it should allow you three to relax before you continue your adventure."
Spyro tilted his head for a moment, as he was curious as to what the dragon was talking about, before deciding that the noise he had been making, which he and his siblings had only caught the tail end of when they arrived in this area, had been nice and that he'd like to hear more of it. As such he walked around to the area that the dragon was talking about and took a seat in front of him, though both Spike and Ember quickly followed his movements, where they sat down near him and focused on the large dragon that was in front of them, while their dragonflies sat nearby so they could rest their wings and watch what was going to happen next. The dragon smiled as he picked up his instrument, the lute as he called it, and started to move his right hand over it, showing the trio that, despite having sharp claws like the rest of their kind, he wasn't ruining the strings and was producing a nice melody at the same time, where he focused on what he was playing so he could show them how skilled he was at this. As he played he found the three hatchlings waving their heads back and forth, almost in tune with the melody, and watched as they nodded off one by one, before the dragonflies dozed off as well, which was interesting to him, since that wasn't supposed to happen as well.
In the end he simply shrugged as he paused for a moment, to make sure the trio and their companions were comfy, before sitting back down and continuing the melody that he had been playing, figuring that this was the best time to complete the melody before he did anything else.
Nestor found that an hour had passed while he was talking to the other Leaders, planning out some of the future visits to the other homeworlds so they could teach Spyro, Spike, and Ember about the other types of dragons and maybe see if they could make any friends among the dragons that were living on the other lands. Of course they wouldn't be able do much right now, since it would be some time before the trio was ready to visit the domains of the other Leaders, but he found that it never hurt to have a few plans in place, and both Cosmos and Lateef agreed with him. All four of them also agreed that, at some point in the future, they would have to construct some sort of building for the trio to stay in, since all Artisans dragons lived in their own place and customized them to their liking, so that way they didn't have to sleep in the courtyard all the time. Of course Nestor and some of the other Artisans dragons would be doing the building, since that was part of what some of them did for both themselves and the dragons of the other lands, and they would need to make sure it was large enough for three fully grown dragons by the time they were done with it, so he guessed that it would take them six months to build it, maybe eight, once they had a good idea of what Spyro, Spike, and Ember were into. Each of the homes that the Artisans lived in was a reflection of themselves, once they found the type of art that they were fascinated in, or at least the interior was that way, since the exterior of the buildings shared a similar theme with each other, leaving symbols to be added to the doors to indicate who lived in which house.
In the end, however, Nestor and his fellow Leaders came up with a decent schedule that would allow them to make sure Spyro, Spike, and Ember had a decent knowledge of the other four homeworlds, since they would know a lot about Artisans, due to it being their home, and learn the basic skills they would need for the future... though once everything was said and done, however, that was the moment that Nestor noticed that they were missing the hatchlings that they had been talking about for the last hour.
"Um, guys... where did the hatchlings go?" Nestor asked, because he was sure that one of them had been keeping their eyes on the trio, at least when they were in the area, but from the looks on Titan and Bruno's faces they had no idea where the hatchlings had wandered off to, while Cosmos and Lateef glanced around for a few seconds.
In that moment he, Titan, Bruno, and Lateef freaked out and started looking around the entirety of Stone Hill, where they searched high and low, just in case the trio had managed to learn how to glide in such a short period of time, while Cosmos remained at the area they had been standing in and focused his mind on something that would help them figure out where the trio had wandered off to. Nestor was perfectly fine with Cosmos doing that, as he might be able to pinpoint where Spike and Ember were, especially when one considered how they had arrived in this area in the first place, so they left their friend alone as they continued to search the area around them. What he and the others discovered, however, wasn't very good, as from what they could tell none of the hatchlings were in any of the chambers that were around the courtyard Spyro's egg had hatched in, and where Spike and Ember arrived when that happened, none of them were hiding in the well, though they would have noticed that since they were near it, and none of them were wandering around the upper area of the walls, which was covered in grass and had a number of magical stone constructs that acted as force fields, keeping the area safe from any attackers, even if there weren't any at the moment.
With the entire area of Stone Hill checked out, and none of them seeing any sign of the hatchlings at all, Nestor and the others returned to where Cosmos was standing, as at this point they knew the trio had to be somewhere in the land that the Artisans dragons called home, but where they had no idea.
"Cosmos, do you have any idea where the hatchlings went?" Titan asked, because at this point, after searching all over Stone Hill and finding nothing, he and the other Leaders were in agreement that the hatchlings must have used the exit portal, the whirlwind they had used to follow Bruno back to the docks, to leave the area they were in, so they were hoping that the Magic Crafters Leader had an idea as to where the trio went.
"They aren't far from the Stone Hill portal," Cosmos replied, though after he said that, and the Leaders smiled as they heard the news, he headed over to the building that the hatchlings had gone through and accessed the exit portal, where he and the other Leaders, who followed after him once they realized what he was doing, disappeared from where they were standing and headed to their destination.
A few moments later they stepped out of the portal that would take them back to Stone Hill and looked at the area that they were in now, though instead of spreading out and searching the area around them, like Titan would have done if he was alone, Cosmos shifted his head and headed to the small area that was to the north of them. Nestor and the others glanced at each other for a moment, as the area that Cosmos was heading towards contained the massive dragon head that would take someone to Nevin's castle, which was located on a cliff that overlooked a lake and the sky was set in a constant state of twilight. Nestor knew that Nevin was a painter, one of the most skilled painters in the Artisans lands, and the castle that he called home helped him make his art, though he didn't keep all of the paintings he made to himself, as some of them could be found in some of the other homeworlds, showing everyone how skilled he was. The fact that Cosmos felt that the hatchlings were this way made him wonder if the portal to Nevin's castle was open, which was when the dragon's head opened up and revealed the portal it contained, because if it was lowered than that meant that Nevin wanted to be left alone for now. It only took the five of them a minute or two to reach the area that Cosmos was leading them towards, where they discovered that the portal to Nevin's castle was blocked off at the moment, due to the head being in the down position, which meant that the hatchlings had to be near them.
That was when Nestor noticed that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were sleeping near each other again, and their new dragonfly companions were dozed off near them, before he noticed a familiar dragon that was playing on his lute, no doubt using a tune that had caused the hatchlings to fall asleep.
"I was not expecting to see you outside the entrance of Nevin's castle, Thomas." Nestor said, causing the dragon in question to stop playing his lute for a few seconds and turn towards them, though at the same time it appeared that the tune stopping didn't bother the hatchlings or their new companions, which was good news.
"Well, I was seeking inspiration and figured this would be a good place, since it gives Nevin assistance in making those paintings of his." the dragon, Thomas, replied, though at the same time he lifted his hand away from the lute and returned his instrument to the pouch he usually carried it in, indicating that he was done playing for now, before turning to face Nestor and the other Leaders, "Though I could have sworn you said that there was only one egg delivered during the festival, a purple egg to be exact, as I was surprised to see two purple hatchlings and a blue hatchling approach me, along with their dragonflies."
"The fairies did deliver a single egg to us, along with the promise that the next Year of the Dragon Festival was going to be much better than this year's was," Nestor stated, but he couldn't fault Thomas for voicing his thoughts, as he and the other Leaders, save for Bruno, had told the other dragons that they watched over about the arrival of Spike and Ember, though even as he said that Cosmos, Lateef, and Titan picked up the hatchlings while Bruno picked up the dragonflies, so they could be taken back to Stone Hill, "however, we were not ready for the magical explosion that occurred near Spyro's egg yesterday, one that didn't even damage the courtyard we left the egg in, and when we rushed to investigate it we found both Spike and Ember laying near him. Since we had two more hatchlings than we originally thought we would, and that both they and Spyro see each other as siblings, Bruno went back to his homeworld and brought two more dragonflies with him, so Sparx wouldn't have to watch over all three of them. Though I do have a question, how were you able to make them fall asleep?"
"Is that so? Well, it will be interesting to see what the three of them do in the future." Thomas said, though at the same time he decided that, since it was clear that the Leaders had everything under control, that he'd talk with Nestor again when he had time, and wasn't having to focus on the hatchlings, and excused himself as he headed over to the nearby waterfall, as he wasn't having much luck in using the massive dragon head for inspiration, before he paused for a moment and turned back to look at Nestor, "Oh, and the answer to your question is that my lute was enchanted by the Magic Crafters, so I could help hatchlings fall asleep if something was keeping them up."
Nestor nodded his head as Thomas turned around and continued walking, though he knew that Thomas wanted to speak with him and the other Artisans dragons, so they could be made aware of the new hatchlings that had joined the one they had been waiting for, and he couldn't blame him for thinking about that, as it was something he intended to do as soon as Spyro, Spike, Ember, and their dragonflies were tended to. Once Thomas had cleared the area Nestor and his fellow Leaders headed back to the Stone Hill portal, carefully carrying the three little dragons that must have had an exciting time exploring the area they were in, before reaching their destination and walking through it, allowing them to return to the courtyard the hatchlings had hatched in. It didn't take the five of them long to return the trio to how they had been laying earlier, when they were sleeping, and knew that it would be some time before any of them woke up, so they left Sparx, Talon, and Cinder near the trio and returned to the room before the exit portal, so they could continue their conversation without waking any of them. There were a few more things he and the other Leaders needed to discuss, before his friends returned to their domains and told the other dragons about Spyro and his siblings, which would excite many of the dragons in their lands in the process, even if a few might be worried about the arrival of a second purple dragon, something he wasn't worried about.
He was sure that Spyro, Spike, and Ember would be the greatest champions he and the rest of their kind could have asked for, to face whatever enemies might threaten them in the future, but for now he and the other Leaders were going to let them have fun and grow before they did any sort of training.
After another hour of talking, and the hatchlings not waking up while they were doing that, Titan and the other Leaders decided that it was time for them to return to their domains and tell the other dragons the good news, something that Nestor agreed with, since it was time to spread the word about Spyro, Spike, and Ember to the rest of the dragons. As such he walked with them as they accessed the exit portal of Stone Hill and returned to the Artisans homeworld, where they headed back towards the dock, though Nestor did make sure that each of them had their equipment with them before they left Stone Hill. As they headed towards their destination, however, Nestor also noticed Thomas off in the distance, sitting in front of the waterfall as he played his lute some more, but for the most part the musician was busy practicing his tunes and perfecting them, so he decided not to bother Thomas as they followed the path to the docks. He knew that, since his friends were going to be telling the other Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, and Dream Weavers the news, he would have to tell the other Artisans dragons the news as well, and he intended to introduce the trio to the dragons that called this land home in the near future.
A minute or two later they came to a stop when they reached the dock, where Nestor stood back and smiled as all four of his friends opened their wings, showing that they were getting ready to head back to their lands and tell the other dragons the news, though since Bruno had already made this journey twice so far, since the hatchlings had hatched, it was possible that he might rest in one of the other lands before returning to his domain and his dragons.
"I hope all of you have a safe trip back to your domains." Nestor said, because he knew that, with Gnorc doing nothing at the moment, that none of them had to worry about being attacked while they traveled between the lands that they watched over, but he still felt like saying it.
"I'm sure that, with our only threat taken care of, we won't be bothered." Titan replied, though at the same time he lifted his weapon and tied it to the area of his back that he attached it to when he was just flying around, so his hands could be free, but he could also pull his weapon free if something did attack him and the others, "Besides, once I tell the other Peace Keepers about Spyro, and tell them that Spike and Ember are with him, I'm sure that all of them will be interested in seeing them at some point in the future, to test their skills in battle, which means that I need to make a small obstacle course, or something like it, to teach them the basics. I know we're going to be busy for a while, setting up a few tests for the trio, tearing down the ones we either don't like or find too hard for hatchlings to do, and everything else that involves preparing for their eventual arrival, and that's not counting all the training we normally do, to make sure all of our lands are safe from any potential threats."
"Not to mention the fact that the other Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, and Dream Weavers dragons will be excited by the news when Bruno, Lateef, and I tell them what's going on." Cosmos added, referring to the other three types of dragons that he and the others watched over, though at the same time Nestor knew that Cosmos was interested in seeing what sort of magic had brought Spike and Ember to them, since it was unlike anything he had seen before, "I'm already excited to see what the three of them will do in the future, when they start their training anyway, and I'm positive the other dragons will share that excitement when we tell them the news that there were three hatchlings, instead of one. Of course they'll be surprised when we tell them that two purple dragons hatched, instead of just Spyro, but I'm positive that Spike and Ember will be welcomed without any problems, especially since Spyro's already bonded with them and sees them as his brother and sister."
"And they have already formed the basic bond with Sparx, Talon, and Cinder," Bruno commented, as he had seen how the hatchlings had taken to their new dragonfly companions and knew that, with time, they would grow into being friends with each other, since that was how these sorts of things happened in their lands, before he turned towards the water and stared out at the waves, "who knows, maybe one day in the future, once they have grown and can understand what we're teaching them, their bonds with their dragonflies might be at the point where they see each other as friends, just like all of the other dragons that received one when they were a hatchling."
Nestor noticed that Lateef was quiet, no doubt thinking about the same thing that they were all thinking about, which was Spyro, Spike, Ember, and what each of them could train the trio in over the next couple of years, before he decided that it was about time that they stopped talking and went their separate ways for now.
"For now we should focus on telling the other dragons about Spyro and the arrival of Spike and Ember," Nestor said, causing his fellow Leaders to turn back towards him for a moment, where he could tell that they knew he was right and that it was time for them to stop talking about the future, even though he did have something else to say before his friends departed from his domain, "I'm positive that everyone will be excited when they hear the news, especially since we were originally expecting only a single purple dragon to hatch, so the fact that there are two purple dragons and a blue dragon will definitely surprise them, not to mention make them want to meet the trio at some point. I'll go tend to the Artisans dragons and introduce them to Spyro, Spike, and Ember, and then, at some point in the future, we'll determine when it's a good idea to start visiting the other homeworlds so they can meet the other types of dragons and discover what each type does for a living."
The other Leaders glanced at each other for a moment before deciding that Nestor was right, that they had more than enough time before they had to introduce everyone to Spyro, Spike, and Ember, that too much in a short period of time would be too much for them to handle, before nodding their heads in agreement. Once they did that they turned back towards the water and readied themselves, which was when Nestor watched as Titan took to the air first, to be sure that there weren't any enemies in the area, despite the fact that there weren't any enemies for them to worry about, before Cosmos, Bruno, and Lateef took off as well so they could join Titan. The moment all four of his friends were in the air Nestor raised his hand and waved at them, where each of them waved at him in return for a few seconds, before they turned around and flew off into the distance, so they could return to their individual domains and tell the other dragons what was going on. Nestor stood there for a few minutes, watching as the other Leaders grew smaller and smaller until they disappeared from his view entirely, before he turned around and followed the path back to the main area that the portal to Stone Hill rested in, though his destination this time was the waterfall that Thomas had been sitting in front of, as he knew that it was time to gather the other Artisans dragons and tell them the news.
It only took a moment or two to reach the waterfall, where Thomas was sitting, though he did stop for a few seconds as he listened to the new tune that Thomas was practicing, one that was different from what he and the others had heard when they found him near the entrance to Nevin's home, but while he wasn't sure what sort of tune this was he knew that it was unwise to interrupted Thomas while he was in the middle of focusing on the tune.
"No, the tune won't work if I do that." Thomas commented a few seconds later, as Nestor noticed that he had pulled one of the strings at the wrong time, introducing the wrong note into what he was trying to perfect, before he sighed and stood up, which was when he turned around and faced Nestor once more, "Oh, Nestor, I'm sorry that I didn't notice you come to a stop behind me... I must have been caught up in trying to perfect that tune, though it's been harder than the other tunes I've learned over the years."
"It's fine Thomas, I think you are doing an exceptional job at mastering that tune," Nestor replied, as he knew that there were many tunes that someone like Thomas could practice and attempt to master, and Thomas had a thing for perfecting a tune before moving onto the next one, and from what he had heard he knew that the Artisans dragon was getting closer to mastering the tune he had been practicing.
"That's nice of you to say that." Thomas said, because he knew the tune was hard to perfect, and he knew that Nestor wouldn't have any idea as to how hard it was due to him being a carpenter, and not a musician, but at the same time he was happy to see that Nestor felt that he was doing a good job at mastering the tune, before he decided that it was time for them to focus on why Nestor had come to him, "I see that the other Leaders have left the Artisans homeworld for the time being... does that mean it's time to introduce Spyro, Spike, and Ember to the others?"
"Yes, it's time to introduce them to the rest of the Artisans dragons," Nestor stated, as he knew that Thomas had been hoping for this to happen once he encountered the trio, even if he used his enchanted lute to stop them and put them to sleep for a few hours, and this would excite him to some degree, "I'm going to find one of the fairies that calls our land home and see if they can't deliver the message to the others, so we can meet in either Stone Hill or Town Square, where we can have a large gathering and introduce everyone to the trio."
"Well, it's a good thing I was passing by then," a voice said, to which Nestor and Thomas turned their heads for a moment, where they found a small female creature floating near them, whose transparent wings were fluttering as she focused on them and she was wearing a red dress that covered a good portion of her body, "Based on what you said it seems that the dragon egg finally hatched, though at the same time I'm surprised there are two more hatchlings... unless some of the other fairies brought more eggs since the last time I was there."
Nestor knew that she was one of the fairies that called the Artisans homeworld her home, as there were a fair number of them living in harmony with the Artisans dragons, just like they were a fair number of them living in harmony with the other types of dragons, and for the most part she and the other fairies did their own thing, even though there were times where they assisted the various dragons if they needed help with something, regardless of what that something was.
"The other Leaders and I were surprised by that development as well, though two more eggs weren't delivered since Spyro's was brought to us." Nestor replied, as he decided that the first thing he should do is tell the fairy the truth of what happened when Spyro's egg hatched, before asking her if she could deliver a message to some of the other Artisans dragons, since it would cut down the number of dragons he had to tell the news to before getting back to the trio, "What happened is that when Spyro's egg was getting ready to hatch the other Leaders and I felt a magical explosion that rocked the courtyard that we were keeping his egg in, even though it didn't damage the area around the egg for some reason, and when we rushed out to see what was going on we found two hatchlings laying near Spyro, who we learned were Spike and Ember. Bruno has already brought Sparx to Stone Hill, so he can bond with Spyro, and he also brought two more dragonflies with him, Talon and Cinder, who will be bonding with Spike and Ember at the same time as their brother bonds with his new friend, so we don't need to worry about that anymore. The only thing left to do now is introduce the three of them to the rest of the Artisans dragons, since they'll be spending the majority of their time in this homeworld, and I was just getting underway to tell the others the news, and the reason I mentioned asking a fairy for assistance is so that we could cover more ground and tell everyone what's going on that much quicker."
"Oh, I can do that." the fairy stated, as what Nestor had told her was interesting and had peaked her interest, since she was sure that there had been only one egg during the Year of the Dragon Festival that just ended, but for there to be two more hatchlings, appearing by a magical explosion no less, she was just as surprised as everyone else.
Before Nestor could say anything else the fairy flew away from where he and Thomas were standing, so she could spread the news to the rest of the land that the Artisans dragons called home, and not a few seconds later she was gone, causing Thomas to chuckle for a few seconds as Nestor determined which realm he should visit first.
"Well, I'll go visit some of the others and spread the news as well," Thomas said, where he carefully stored his lute away and moved away from the waterfall, as he was curious as to what the other Artisans dragons would think of the arrival of two additional hatchlings, since all of them were only expecting one to hatch this time around, "I think I'll start with Dark Hollow and work my way to Town Square, which is where I'm assuming you plan on revealing the trio to the rest of the Artisans dragons."
"That was my plan," Nestor replied, though at the same time he knew that there was one dragon he needed to visit himself, or at least attempt to, and that was Nevin, before he turned back towards Thomas for a moment, "but before I do anything else I'm going to return to Stone Hill and check on the hatchlings, just to make sure they're sound asleep and not running around one of the other realms."
Thomas nodded and headed off to the portal that would take him to Dark Hollow, which is where the scribes, actors, and librarians lived and practiced their skills, though his destination required that he walked through the small maze bush that Nestor was sure that Spyro and his siblings had seen during their adventure. Once Nestor was sure that Thomas was gone, and that was when he noticed the portal to Dark Hollow shimmer for a few seconds, he turned around and headed over to the portal he would be using for a moment, where he walked through it and returned to Stone Hill's courtyard. It really didn't take him long to figure out where the hatchlings were, as they were still sleeping and didn't seem to be bothered by the sound of him returning, so he quickly returned to the hub of the Artisans homeworld and turned towards the area where the dragon head statue rested. He was sure that Nevin was busy, once more illustrated by the closed position that the head was in, but that didn't stop Nestor from approaching it and tapped on the stone for a moment, because it was enchanted like a number of things in this land and he hoped that Nevin was paying attention to it, otherwise he would have to ask a fairy to deliver a message to the dragon he wanted to talk to.
A few moments passed with nothing happening, making Nestor think that he was wasting his time and that Nevin wanted his peace and quiet, though when he removed his hand he was surprised by what happened nest, as the dragon head rose before his eyes and revealed the portal to Nevin's castle... and standing in front of the portal was an orange scaled dragon that was wearing a beret on his head and was putting away his paintbrush, before finishing his objective and turned to face Nestor.
"Nestor! It's good to see you again!" Nevin said, showing that he was happy to see the Leader of the Artisans dragons again, even though the last time Nestor had come to talk with him he had shut the dragon head and forbid entry to anyone until his latest masterpiece had been completed, though Nestor wasn't annoyed by that, "Come, let me welcome you to my castle so we can talk about whatever it is you discovered recently..."
"The purple dragon egg has hatched," Nestor replied, as he knew that every Artisans dragon knew about the egg that Spyro had been inside until recently, and they had been waiting for this event to happen so they could welcome the newest Artisans dragon into the world, despite the fact that Spyro was a purple dragon, which was why this next part was going to come as a surprise, "and two more hatchlings appeared at the same time as the egg hatching, from a magical explosion that rocked the courtyard of Stone Hill without damaging anything... and one of them was another purple dragon, just like Spyro. I'm spreading the news of the trio to everyone in my domain, and in about an hour or two, in Town Square, I intend to introduce them to the rest of the Artisans dragons, but, since I know how hard it is to visit your castle, I decided that you would be my first destination, while Thomas talks with the dragons in Dark Hollow and wherever else he chooses to go, and we're being aided by a fairy, who will likely be visiting some of the harder to reach dragons."
"I... I see..." Nevin said, though he was shocked by the information that there were two purple dragons, instead of the one they were expecting, and was surprised to see that Nestor had already gotten over whatever shock he had experienced when he and the other Leaders had found the three hatchlings, as he knew the Leaders had been planning a meeting for the Year of the Dragon Festival, which meant that it had already happened, "Well, maybe I'll come by and see them with everyone else."
Nestor nodded his head as he turned around and left Nevin standing there, as it was understandable that he would be shocked by this news, since they were only expecting a single dragon and got three, especially when they considered the number of purple dragons this time around, but it was too late to do anything, as Spyro had already bonded with Spike and Ember and would likely be upset if they separated him from his siblings. He also knew that it was a fifty-fifty chance that Nevin would come to Town Square and meet the hatchlings, as it was possible that he might have started a new painting and wanted to get it done as soon as possible, but for the most part he considered this venture a success, even if the painter didn't come to the meeting. Of course he would prefer that Nevin would be at the meeting, to see the trio with the rest of the Artisans dragons, but when Nevin was in the middle of something major it was next to impossible to drag him away from his work, so he considered this brief conversation to be a stroke of good luck. Still, regardless of what Nevin decided to do, he still had a couple of realms to visit and a number of dragons to inform before the meeting happened, and he was sure that everyone, both the Artisans dragons and the hatchlings, were going to be excited, or that was his hope anyway.
An hour went by quickly for Nestor, which made sense considering that he was going from one realm to another and was telling the other Artisans dragons the same thing he had told Thomas and Nevin, before he made his way back to Stone Hill and returned to the hatchlings. When he returned to Stone Hill, however, he found that the hatchlings were already up and were wandering around the courtyard again, no doubt waiting for him to get back, though he did notice that some of the meat he had left out, to give them when he got back, was gone, showing him that the first time they had assisted each other in getting some food hadn't been a fluke, they were actually learning how to help each other already, and they were barely a few days old. It gave him hope for the future, that the trio would be the greatest heroes the Dragon Realms could have asked for, even if that meant that they would have to undergo whatever training Titan and the other Peace Keepers had for them, but, based on what he had seen so far, he was sure that they would be able to overcome whatever was thrown their way. Once that thought crossed his mind, however, he pushed it aside and approached the hatchlings, who turned and looked at him as he entered the area they were in, while at the same time their dragonflies flew near them, which showed Nestor that Sparx and his new friends were making sure nothing happened to the trio.
"Okay little ones, I have something grand planned for all of you." Nestor said, where he noticed that Spyro and Spike seemed excited about the idea of actually doing something, instead of making things up like they had done earlier, and while Ember didn't seem to care he knew that she would like what was going to happen, "I'm going to take all three of you, and your dragonflies, to Town Square, where you can meet all of the other Artisans dragons that call this land home, and you'll get an idea of what life is like in this land."
The mention of the other Artisans dragons seemed to be all the trio needed to hear, as he could see all three of them thinking about the last dragon they had encountered, Thomas, and they were interested in meeting more of the dragons that called this land home. Seeing how interested they were in the other dragons told Nestor that he had made the right decision to do this now, because after seeing how smart they were already he was sure that they would be able to remember the names and faces of some of the Artisans dragons, though it would be some time until they could recall all of that for everyone. Now that he had that piece of information he beckoned for the trio to follow him and turned towards the exit portal for this area, where he found that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were following him with their dragonflies keeping up with them, which made him smile. The trio stared at the exit portal for a few seconds, no doubt remembering what happened the last time they used it, but with the fact that they were going to meet the other Artisans dragons caused the three of them to jump up onto the device and touched the central whirlwind, where they disappeared from Stone Hill and headed to the Artisans homeworld.
When they reached their first destination Nestor found the trio waiting in front of the portal to Stone Hill, which made sense considering that none of them had any idea where Town Square was located, and they were more than happy to follow him as he headed down the tunnel he was sure they had gone down during their adventure. He did find that all three of them stopped for a moment when they spotted the tower that contained the whirlwind that would take them up to the area that the Town Square portal was located in, and suspected that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder had persuaded them not to interact with this sort of thing. He noticed that they were interested in what he was doing, so when he stepped into the whirlwind the trio stared at him as he spun around as he was lifted into the air, staying in the middle of the tower for a few seconds before being allowed to walk out of the top, where the portal to Town Square was located. He turned around as soon as he was a few steps away from the opening he had moved through, though that was when he found Spyro riding the whirlwind so he could keep up with him, and as soon as he touched down both Spike and Ember followed after their brother, along with their dragonflies. Nestor kept the smile on his face as he beckoned for the trio to follow him as he headed towards the portal in front of him, and from the sounds behind him he knew the trio was interested in what he was doing, and he spotted them rushing into the portal before he could step through it, showing that they were curious about what they were doing and caused him to chuckle as he followed them through the portal.
Town Square, despite it's name, was actually a town that was located on a small patch of land near the island that the Artisans homeworld was located on, though some visiters called Town Square a small island as well, but Nestor decided not to worry about that sort of thing as he appeared near the steps that would take him towards the courtyard that was his main destination, and not a few seconds later Spyro and his siblings appeared near him.
"Little ones, this is Town Square." Nestor said, where he found that the trio was vastly interested in what they were seeing at the moment, though at the same time he focused on what was in front of them, as he knew that some of the other Artisans dragons had to be near their position, "Come, it's time to introduce you to everyone."
Spyro and his siblings followed him as he moved towards the nearby stairs, though before they could get too far they heard the sounds of wings beating and glanced at the area around them, where they found a few dragons flying down towards where they were standing. One of them was the same dragon they had seen earlier, the one with the lute, who the large dragon told them was Thomas, while the one with the odd hat, a beret as they learned, was called Nevin, though based on the tone that the large dragon, who they now learned was called Nestor, used they could determine that all of them were friends and that they could relax a little. Of course they had been surprised when Nestor and the others picked all three of them up and carried them over the various gaps that existed in the path, gaps that weren't a problem for a grown dragon to get around since they could fly, though the trio was also surprised by the intricate stonework that the buildings around them had, showing them just how skilled some of the other Artisans dragons were. Nestor informed them that the various buildings contained stores, a school, houses, and all of the other necessities, something that they would learn in the future, before they reached the courtyard that they were heading towards, which had one of the nice stone fountains in the middle of it, and the trio finally encountered the rest of the Artisans dragons.
In addition to the three that were carrying them, and put them down on some steps so they could interact with the group in front of them, there were at least ten to twelve more grown dragons in the area they were in, and all of them were interested in the three of them, which caused Spyro and Spike to smile as they interacted with their elders, while Ember seemed to stay back for a few seconds before joining her siblings.
Nestor watched as Delbin, a bright orange scaled dragon that wore an open vest and had a belt that carried all of his brushes and paint containers, which made sense since he was a painter as well, introduced himself and proclaimed that he was going to make a painting of the trio at some point in time, as just seeing them inspired him to make a brand new painting the next time he saw them. Near him stood Argus, a dragon with a rounder body than most of the dragons in the Artisans homeworld, who was a scholar that spent a great deal of his time in Dark Hollow, where they kept a great deal of their scrolls and tomes, and he was one of the few dragons that had spent some time researching the legends of the purple dragons, so they could prepare for Spyro's arrival, though despite the fact that he was surprised by Spike and Ember being there he was happy that they had bonded with Spyro. Standing behind him stood Alban, a dragon whose scales were a blue-purple mix and had feathered wings, Oswin, a yellow scaled dragon who wore a turban, and Darius, who had greyish-blue scales and was holding a rose in one of his hands, though Nestor knew that Alban was a scribe, Oswin was a librarian, and Darius was an actor. He knew that because Alban and Oswin had assisted Argus in his research on the purple dragons, and he had seen a few of Darius' routines in the past, so he knew that all of them were skilled in what they did and that they were all interested in the trio that was before them, just like Spyro, Spike, and Ember were interested in them as well.
In addition to the scholars and painters, who were all interested in the trio, there was Nils, a slim green scaled dragon that was one of the most skilled sculptors in the Artisans homeworld, Devlin, a light blue scaled dragon that wore an apron and a toque to show his profession as a patissier, a pastry chef to be exact, Alvar, who was a red scaled dragon that served as the main chef for Town Square and liked to roast fruits and vegetables on his tail spikes, and Thor, who was an older dragon with yellow scales, though he was a ceramist and made pots and other figurines. Standing closer to Spyro and his siblings was Lindar, a light blue scaled dragon who had a small clock on both of his wrists, to symbolize his profession as a clockmaker, Gildas, another dragon with the same colored scales that Lindar had and he was an artist that sometimes painted on whatever was nearby, which he cleaned up so he didn't annoy anyone, and Gavin, who had dark blue colored scales and a number of tattoos on his right arm and chest, though he was a barista and created some fantastic drinks for everyone to enjoy. For a moment Nestor wondered if Astor, the oldest member of the Artisans dragons, would make it, but a few seconds later he heard the sound of a staff coming to a stop behind him, where he turned around and found an old light purple scaled dragon, who carried a shepherd's crook in one hand and had a domed hat on his head, though he knew that this was Astor, and he seemed happy as he looked down at the gathering in front of him, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember were enjoying meeting the other Artisans dragons.
Nestor had the feeling that this was the start of something grand, as the trio was being accepted by the rest of the Artisans dragons and it seemed like Spyro, Spike, and Ember were doing the same thing, which made him hopefully for the future, especially since there was no telling what the trio would do in the future.
After Spyro, Spike, and Ember met the other Artisans dragons, who were excited to meet them and started planning what they wanted to teach the trio when they were older, Nestor made sure that everyone went back to their duties and had both Thomas and Nevin helped him take the trio back to Stone Hill. He was also happy to see that Nevin was interested in the three hatchlings and that he might spend some time with them in the future, but since there were two purple dragons this time around, and it had been a long time since one had graced their lands, he had the feeling that Nevin might put his painting to the side for a time to learn more about the trio and help them grow. Whether or not the painter actually came was another matter that he would worry about in the future, as his immediate concern was teaching the trio the basics on how to be a dragon, as teaching them the specifics on how to be an Artisans dragon would come later, when they were a few years older and had gone through Titan's lessons. There were a number of things that he could teach the trio, things that related to their age and the fact that they would be walking on four legs for a number of years, and that was just the tip of the iceberg, since all of the other Leaders had things they were planning on teaching the trio when they were a little older, which was why it fell to him to provide them with the basics... even if he had to wait for a few months to go by before he could get started on his part of their training.
It didn't take him, Thomas, and Nevin long to return to Stone Hill, especially since leaving Town Square was easy due to the fact that the courtyard they had gathered in was close to the exit portal and they could simply fly over the hill that was between them and the portal to Stone Hill, but once they arrived he and his friends set the hatchlings down and backed away as the trio gathered near each other and fell asleep with their dragonflies near them.
"After meeting them I can definitely say one thing," Nevin said, though he waited until they were near the exit portal for Stone Hill before speaking, as that put a chamber between them and the courtyard the trio usually slept in, though his words caused Nestor and Thomas to glanced at him for a few moments, "when they're older I'm going to invite them to my castle and spend an afternoon making a painting of them. I'm not sure what else I'll add to the painting right now, but I do know that spending some time with them has given me new ideas for what I can paint in the future, and that I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do when they're older."
"Especially since there are two purple dragons, instead of one." Thomas added, because even he knew that a purple dragon meant good things for the Dragon Realms, though having two of them at the same time was unheard of, not to mention the fact that they had a sister, who he believed might be as grand as the others, "Nestor, when are you and the other Leaders going to start on their training?"
"Not for a year or two." Nestor replied, as he knew that Thomas was referring to all the combat related abilities that Titan would be able to teach the trio, but, due to their age and their bodies, it would be some time before they matured enough to handle the training that Titan and the other Peace Keepers would put them through, hence why his focus was on the basics and nothing else, "The three of them are barely a few days old, so they're way too young to start the sort of training that Titan would put them through, but I have some basic skills they can learn, while they're young, before we even consider letting them start training for real. Of course, even I have to wait for a month or two before they're old enough to start teaching them the basics on how to be a dragon, so for now we'll have to do our best and keep watch over them when they go exploring, since they're bound to try and explore all the other realms now that they know how the portals work and that the whirlwinds don't hurt them."
His main concern was the fact that there was a whirlwind in a tower not far from the courtyard that the trio currently slept in, one that he knew they had seen since they seemed to sort of understand what he was showing them earlier, but there wasn't much he could do to turn it off, so that was why he and anyone else that came to Stone Hill needed to pay close attention to what the trio were doing, to prevent them from hurting themselves. All three of them seemed smart, there was no denying that, so part of him was wondering if he was worrying over nothing, but even so he wanted to be on the safe side for now, to let them have fun, explore, and grow on their own for a while, before having them start learning what they needed to know to be dragons. He could see that Thomas and Nevin agreed with him, and he was sure that the other Artisans dragons would feel the same way when he told them what he intended on doing in the future, so all he had to do now was inform the others of his plans and start preparing for the day that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were old enough to handle the basic training that he was thinking of.
Once Thomas and Nevin knew what he was planning, or rather the fact that he intended on teaching the trio the basics when they were older, the pair left Stone Hill and returned to what they had been doing before Nestor had told them about the trio and invited them to the meeting. Nestor was fine with that, as he knew that they would return to watch over Spyro and his siblings at some point in the future, but for now he sat down near where the trio was sleeping and pulled out the sketchpad he was using earlier, so he could continue designing a place for them to live when they were older, though that was subject to change. The exterior of the building that he was in the middle of designing would fit in with the rest of the Artisans homeworld and the various intricate structures that rested around the land he watched over, but the interior would be up to the trio when they were older. He was sure that the other Artisans dragons would want to assist him in coming up with the final design for the building that he was currently working on, in fact he was expecting them to do so when he revealed his plans to them, but for now this was a good way to pass the time before he needed to return to what he had been doing before the meeting he and the other Leaders attended happened.
He was sure that Spyro, Spike, and Ember would overcome his basic training when it came time to do it, mostly due to the fact that they were already in the process of helping each other do whatever it was they were trying to do, like get food or maybe climb up some small pillars, and he was excited to see what they did when they were older.
Over the next couple of weeks Nestor found that, while he was busy doing his own profession and occasionally being the Leader of the Artisans dragons, Spyro, Spike, and Ember were quite excited by what they were seeing, and when they weren't being supervised they were usually running around the area that he was in. When he was busy lifting stone blocks from the pile they were in, so he could build whatever he was working on before moving onto the next project he had in mind, he found the trio assisting each other so they could climb up onto one of the stone blocks, only to stop when they reached the top of the large pile, which was roughly half as tall as the portal to Stone Hill. He had paused for a moment when he returned to the pile and stared at the block that the trio was now sitting on, as it was clear that they understood that it was next one he was going to pick up and apparently wanted to spend some time with him, so his response was to stop what he was doing and follow them as they headed to an open area and resumed running around the area that they were in, no doubt picking up what they were doing before trying to find him. Eventually they would tire themselves out and fall asleep for some time, a common thing for hatchlings to go through, which allowed Nestor to return to the stone pile and move some more stones into position, all while keeping an eye on the trio and their dragonflies.
He wasn't the only one that spent some time with the trio, as Argus, Alban, and Oswin were more than happy to invite the trio to Dark Hollow for some time, where they discovered that there were bookshelves that were out in the open, with a number of enchantments woven into the material to protect their knowledge from the elements, and that there were candles scattered around the area, which the trio used whenever they needed them. From what Nestor learned the trio had taken the information of the purple dragon and moved it before Spyro, Spike, and Ember arrived, so they could continue their research at a later date without the information being wrecked by a trio of hatchlings, and there was also the fact that when Spyro and his siblings were older they would be able to understand what was written on the scrolls and tomes, so they didn't want to worry the trio with their grand destiny. At their current age Nestor knew that teaching the trio how to read the letters on the scrolls was important, as it would allow them to start forming words and start to speak on their own, something that most dragons were able to do between six to nine months old, but with the purple dragons there was no telling when they would be able to start speaking, even if it would in one or two word statements. Still, that didn't stop Argus and the others from spending a good portion of their time attempting to teach the trio how to read the scrolls and tomes that they showed them, though it would be some time before any of them showed any progress in that regard, and their teachers were more than willing to be patient with them.
The inhabitants of Dark Hollow weren't the only ones that were interested in having the trio visit them, as the dragons of Town Square also had Spyro and his siblings come visit them about two weeks after the big meeting, where they cooked in front of the trio and displayed their skills, before everyone ate the meal they prepared, which had resulted in the three hatchlings spending the rest of that day in Stone Hill, as they were too full to do anything else. It was hard to tell whether or not Spyro and his siblings enjoyed their visit because of the sights they were seeing again, the skills that Devlin and Alvar showed them, or the food that they had torn apart, but Nestor decided that it didn't matter in the end, as they had enjoyed themselves and that was all that was important. Nestor also discovered that Lindar was busy in his workshop for the most part, which was fine since he was the best clockmaker they had and he was likely either fixing busted clocks or was trying to come up with something new, so that Spyro and his siblings in the hands on Astor and Gavin whenever they were left alone in Stone Hill. Gavin found that he really couldn't do much with the trio, in terms of showing them what his profession was, since he made specialty coffees and other drinks, but that didn't stop him from taking some time off to watch over them and made sure that nothing happened to them, while Astor, when he wasn't busy, attempted to tell the trio some stories... only for both himself and the trio to fall asleep after a couple of minutes went by.
Life in the Artisans homeworld followed a pattern after that point, where Spyro and his siblings would venture out and look for someone to spend time with, to understand what they were seeing, or just have fun with each other, and before Nestor knew it three months had gone by, as in three months since the hatchlings had hatched and not three months since they had met the rest of the Artisans dragons. Spyro, Spike, and Ember had grown a little over the course of the last three months, as they were slightly taller than they had been when they hatched and were now able to do things, be that running around and playing with each other or exploring part of the Artisans homeworld they hadn't explored yet, without having to take so many breaks. Nestor estimated that they were about half a foot tall, and would be until they turned a year old, though the tallest a dragon could grow, before stopping for a number of years, was four feet, and that was counting their horns, though when they reached a specific age they would grow again, where their bodies would change from the quadruped stance they were used to and take on the bipedal stance that all grown dragons had. All that really meant was that they were growing like any other dragon would, regardless of which land they called home, and that put a smile on Nestor's face, though at the same time he was sure the other Leaders would be happy to hear that the trio was doing fine and would soon be ready to visit the other lands that the other dragons called home.
Now that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were three months old, and had grown a little over those months, Nestor knew that it was time for them to try and learn the basics of how to be a dragon, hence the reason he was in Stone Hill, leading Spyro and his siblings to the tower he knew they had stared at during one of their adventures, and he could tell that all of them were interested in what he was going to show them.
"I'm sure that all three of you are excited and interested in what I have to show you," Nestor commented, though as he approached the stone tower, and the trio focused on him at the moment, he noticed that Gavin and Lindar were standing in the area between the tower and the area he would be sending the hatchlings to for the lesson that he had in mind, and the trio hadn't seen the pair at all, "come with me and I'll tell you what we'll be doing today."
What interested him was the fact that Spyro, Spike, and Ember actually rushed towards the tower the moment he stopped talking and used the whirlwind to get to the top level of the tower, causing Nestor to chuckle for a few seconds as Gavin and Lindar started setting everything up for what he had planned, where he stepped into the whirlwind as well and let it take him to where the trio was standing.
"As you know, you have been learning to read, and occasionally write, from Argus, Alban, and Oswin," Nestor said, where he came to a stop near the edge of the tower and turned to face the trio, since he knew that they wouldn't be able to settle down until he told them what they were doing, and he could see that mentioning the lessons they had gone through so far made them focus on what he might show them.
"Reading's okay." Ember said, as she wasn't terribly excited about the idea of sitting down and reading tomes or old scrolls, though at the same time the older dragons were fine with that, as every dragon was different and they each had their own likes and dislikes, and if she didn't like reading they knew she might take to something else.
"It's cool." Spike stated, because unlike Ember he liked listening the the stories that the older dragons told them, even though it was more accurate for Nestor to say that Spike liked the adventure type stories, like the battles that the Peace Keepers had been in and the adventures that had brought the dragons to the lands they called home.
Spyro, on the other hand, just shook his head and focused on the gap that was behind Nestor, showing that he wasn't excited about the topic they were talking about and that he wanted them to move onto what they were doing here, which Nestor had to agree with, since he didn't want Spike and Ember to start bickering over who was right about reading, since that would ruin the mood and they would have to reschedule this for another day, when they had calmed down.
"Well, reading is not the topic that we'll be discussing today," Nestor said, where he gestured to the gap that he was standing in front of, giving the trio a chance to move forward and look at the area in front of them, though as they did so they noticed that Gavin and Lindar had placed some large pillows on the ground between the tower they were on and the area that was across from them, "today we will go over one of the other major skills that all dragons, across the Dragon Realms, learn when they're young dragons, and that's gliding. This technique, when perfected, will allow all three of you to soar over gaps that you normally wouldn't be able to cross by simply jumping, much like the one in front of us, though it usually takes the most skilled gliders we have around a year to master the art of gliding. Here, allow me to give you a short demonstration on how you're supposed to glide, before seeing how well you do on your own."
While it was true that he could simply open his wings and fly into the air, like any other adult dragon could, that really wouldn't help them teach the trio how to glide, so what he did was assume a quadruped stance for a few seconds, used his feet to jump into the air, and then opened his wings so he could glide over the gap, though as soon as he landed he closed his wings and stood up as he faced the tower again.
"That is the basics of gliding," Nestor stated, raising his voice a little so the trio could hear him from where they were standing, before he took a few steps back and placed three red gemstones on a rock near where he had landed, because if the trio surprised him, and were able to complete this test when they were three months old, he intended on giving them another short lesson before they called it a day and let them go back to having fun, "you just have to jump and open your wings at the top of your jump, where they'll catch the air and allow you to soar for a few moments, before you touch the ground, touch the pillows, land where I'm standing, or hit an obstacle. You can start whenever you want to."
The trio glanced at each other for a moment, clearly trying to decide who was going to go first without actually saying anything, while their dragonflies sat on one of the nearby stones and watched them, as they knew no harm was going to come to their friends and were curious as to what was going to happen next. Spyro, as Nestor expected, was the first one to rise to the challenge and jumped forward immediately, but he immediately discovered a problem when he fell forward and safely landed on the pillows that were below him, and that problem was the fact that he forgot to open his wings at the top of his jump. Nestor wasn't surprised by what had happened, as all young dragons ended up failing a few times before they made the connection between their jumps and their wings, and it appeared that even the purple dragons of legend also fell victim to not making the connection, but despite that happening Spyro got back up, let Lindar remove him from the pillows, and he ran back into the tower so he could try again. The pillows were here to protect the trio when they failed to complete the lesson, so they didn't hurt themselves when they hit the ground, since an older dragon would be able to take hitting the ground like that without getting hurt in the process, and so far it seemed like he was right to ask Lindar and Gavin to bring the pillows to this area.
Spike decided to try his luck next, and after he jumped into the air he actually managed to open his wings for a few seconds, but then he moved his body too much and his wings ended up closing, causing him to fall out of the air and crash into the pillows as well. Nestor thought it was a great first attempt, as it appeared that Spike had been observing what Spyro had done and was trying to fix his brother's mistakes on his attempt, only to end up making his own mistakes at the same time, causing him to fail his first attempt at gliding, but, it was still a good try. Ember, however, simply opened her wings for a moment, like she was studying them or something, before closing them as she sat down, but as soon as Nestor started to wonder what she was up to Spyro appeared at the edge of the tower and made his second attempt, as he jumped into the air and opened his wings, only to crash into the pillows again. Nestor knew that, due to their small size, none of the trio would be able to make the jump, as they wouldn't be able to jump high enough to get to where he was standing, and that was acceptable, because each of the young dragons needed to learn this on their own and failing a few times would put them on the road to success. Of course if they didn't complete the challenge in a year, like all of the other dragons did, than he knew that he and some of the other Artisans dragons would have to take some time off to assist them in mastering this technique, which could happen, as he knew of an extremely low number of dragons that had needed help in perfecting this technique, but he had the feeling Spyro, Spike, and Ember would succeed in due time.
When he thought of Ember again Nestor noticed that she was still sitting on the tower, watching her brothers make several attempts to cross the gap, without doing it herself, making him wonder if she was studying them and was piecing together a plan, or if she just liked watching her brothers fall out of the air. After Spyro's fifth attempt failed, and Spike's sixth attempt ended the same way as all the others, the two stood near the edge of the tower, looking like they were confused as to what they were doing wrong, before Ember stood up and walked over to the edge, causing them to back away so they could see what she was going to do. It didn't take long for Ember to jump into the air and open her wings, much like Nestor had when he showed the trio what he wanted them to do, but while her start was good Nestor knew what the end would look like, given his own experience in learning how to glide and what Spyro and Spike had done, only for him to be surprised by what he saw. Instead of falling out of the air and hitting the pillows, like her brothers did, Ember actually stayed in the air for a few moments and turned around in a few circles, as if she was either showing off or was demonstrating how to maintain the glide for a few seconds to her brothers, who stared at her like she was a genius and proceeded to follow her lead.
Nestor, despite what he was seeing, chuckled as he watched Ember land and her brothers joined her, before they moved back up to the top of the tower and repeated the process, because this just showed him that the three of them were definitely different from normal hatchlings and that they would no doubt surprise the other Leaders in the future, and that he was looking forward to what they did in the future.
Nestor, after the success of Spyro, Spike, and Ember's first gliding session, made sure to schedule a few more of them for the future, as it was clear that the trio liked trying to master the art of gliding and made many attempts to reach the area that he had been standing on while he watched them. He was still surprised that Ember was the one that figured out how to glide, when both of her brothers had made several attempts to master what he had shown them, but at the same time he was proud of her for figuring out what she needed to do and then showing her siblings what they were doing wrong, so they could follow her lead. Gavin and Lindar were also amazed by what they had seen, as it was unusual for young dragons to figure out the basics of gliding at the age of three months, especially since the two of them had been older when they managed to master the basics, but they were also proud of them. Nestor was sure that all of the dragons that lived in the five lands that made up the Dragon Realms had taken a long time to master the basics of gliding, before eventually mastering the technique, and that they would be surprised when he told them that Spyro, Spike, and Ember had been able to figure out the basics much sooner than everyone else.
He had to call off the first gliding session thirty minutes after Ember's first attempt, because despite the fact that the trio was eager to master the art of gliding, and get to where he was standing, they were still hatchlings and didn't have the energy that an adult dragon had, as the trio eventually yawned and fell asleep on the top of the tower. He, Gavin, and Lindar had been expecting this to happen from the moment they started the lesson, as it was common for dragons at this age to tire out easily, before they used the tower to get up to where the trio were resting, allowing them to gently lift them off the stone and take them back to the courtyard once more. As Nestor expected Sparx, Talon, and Cinder followed after them for a few moments, to make sure their friends were alright, and when they set the trio down where they normally slept the three dragonflies came to a stop and fell asleep where they normally rested, so they could wake up the moment Spyro and his siblings woke up. Nestor was happy to see that, because most dragonflies kept a good bit of distance from the dragons they were supposed to be protecting, until those dragons became adults anyway, and from what he could see it appeared that Sparx and his friends didn't care about that, as they were closer to the trio than any other member of their species had done in the past, and that gave him hope for the future.
Once he was sure that the trio was sleeping soundly, and their dragonflies were resting as well, Nestor left the area that they slept in and returned to the tower they had used for their first gliding, where he, Gavin, and Lindar picked up the pillows that they had set down and stored them inside the box they had been pulled out of, so they could be moved to another part of the Artisans homeworld until they were needed again.
"Those three are quite amazing," Gavin commented, though as he said that he picked up a pair of pillows and walked over to the iron container that the pillows were usually kept in, while at the same time he noticed Nestor and Lindar look at him for a moment, causing him to gesture to the tower for a few seconds, "I mean, normally it takes a young dragon a few months to learn the basics of gliding and start to perform a couple of moves after watching one of us show them how it's done, and yet Ember was able to figure it out in no time, by observing what her brothers were doing wrong. I have no doubts that, by the time a normal young dragon is supposed to master the basics, those three will be performing tricks as they attempt to truly master the art of gliding, and who knows, they might be speaking like a proper dragon in no time as well, especially with all the scrolls and tomes Argus and the others are showing them."
"I would have to agree with you, Gavin." Lindar said, where he put the pillows he was carrying down on top of the ones that Gavin had just put down, before they moved a little and let Nestor add a few more to the pile, "Spyro, Spike, and Ember all show great promise, especially since they were able to learn the basics of gliding in such a short period of time, and it only makes me curious about what they can do in the future, when they complete our lessons and move onto what the other Leaders have to offer them."
"Titan will no doubt work on their combat skills, considering that he's the Leader of the Peace Keepers," Nestor stated, as he knew that Titan was eagerly awaiting the day that he allowed the trio to visit his homeworld for their first combat training session, which wouldn't be until after they were a year old, before he thought about the others, "Cosmos will show them the magical power that he has access to and what a Magic Crafters dragon can do, Bruno will likely try to teach them about the swamp they call home and some of the creatures that they tend to, and the strength that is required to do their jobs, and Lateef might show them the world of dreams that he and the other Dream Weavers watch over. It will take some time for the trio to learn everything that the other Leaders have to teach them, or show them in some cases, and, since those lessons won't happen until Spyro, Spike, and Ember are older we have more than enough time to get them ready for what the other homeworlds have to offer them."
"By the time that happens, and they turn one year old, I have no doubt that those three will have mastered the art of gliding." Lindar replied, showing that, after seeing how well the trio had done in their first gliding lesson, he had faith in their abilities and was eager to see what they did next, though that was before a thought came to him, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the next lesson you have in mind for them one that revolves around trusting your dragonfly? Or am I thinking of something that is completely different?"
Nestor knew what Lindar was speaking of, as all young dragons eventually needed to bond with their dragonflies at some point in time, since dragonflies protected them from whatever dangers they might face, and that one of his lessons would have involved that aspect, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Ember to bond with Sparx, Talon, and Cinder.
"The next lesson I have in mind for them is related to their dragonflies, that is correct." Nestor replied, as he decided to answer Lindar's question first, because that was the polite thing to do, before lifting the last pair of pillows off the ground and returned them to the container they were storing them in, "However, I will not be doing that just yet, rather I will wait for them to be a little older so they can better understand the instructions for that particular lesson, and give the other Artisans dragons time to put together what I have in mind."
Gavin and Lindar glanced at each other for a moment, as they weren't sure what Nestor had in mind for the three young dragons that were peacefully sleeping in the nearby courtyard, but at the same time they knew that he wouldn't do anything that would hurt them, so they decided that they might as well keep their mouths shut and see what their Leader had in store for the trio, and see if there was anything either of them could do to help him prepare for whatever lesson he was thinking about.
In the following weeks Nestor discovered that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were very happy to learn that he had scheduled a few more gliding sessions for them, so they could continue to improve their skills and, eventually, master the technique he had shown them during their first session. In order to keep things interesting Nestor didn't use the tower every time they gathered for their gliding practice, as one time he used some of the stone walkways of Town Square, where some of the stones were the same height, and other times they went to Dark Hollow, to practice the same thing that the tower in Stone Hill would give them. They even used the central area of the Artisans homeworld from time to time, where Nestor would have the trio jump from one of the higher points to a lower point, just to give them some additional practice, and for the most part the three young dragons enjoyed the small challenges that he was offering them, especially since he told them that they could tackle the harder challenges that the other homeworlds offered when they were older. He also intended on taking them to one of the flight areas, which were small enchanted islands near the main landmass that made up the homeworlds, in the future, as it would allow the trio to learn how to fly for real and prepare them for when they were older, when they matured into adult dragons.
When they weren't busy trying to master the art of gliding, and weren't resting from their activities, Spyro, Spike, and Ember found themselves hanging out with the other Artisans dragons, who either let them run around and have fun or puled over some scrolls to continue their reading and speaking lessons. Nestor could tell that Spyro and Ember only went along with those lessons so they could understand everything he and the other dragons were saying, while Spike continued to enjoy the adventure stories that he discovered, much to the joy of the inhabitants of Dark Hollow. They were okay with two of the trio not caring about reading, because that meant their passions were different than what Argus and his fellow scribes did with the majority of their time, and they were eager to see what professions caught the attention of Spyro and Ember. Spike, on the other hand, seemed to have the air of a dragon that might take to the written word in some manner, be it simply being a librarian or a scribe, but for now they had no idea what his future held for him and were more than willing to wait for a few years, so they could see if their thoughts about him were correct. Nestor had no idea if Spike would turn out like Argus and the other dragons of Dark Hollow, since it seemed like he just enjoyed reading the scrolls and tomes that were brought to him, but at the same time he was also willing to wait a few years to see what profession he took to.
While all that was happening Nestor and the couple of Artisans dragons that he talked to, and told them what his idea was for the trio's next lesson, continued working on the area that would serve as the next test for the three young dragons and their dragonflies. Of course he didn't tell Spyro, Spike, and Ember what he and the others were doing, as that would defeat the point of this exercise, but they did enlist the aid of Sparx, Talon, and Cinder when they got close to the area being finished, as they were the ones that needed to know what was going on. What they were doing was building a temporary maze for the three young dragons to run through, one that was located on another small island near the one they lived on and was accessed by a portal that didn't get used very much, and they intended to stock the maze with three items, one for each of the dragonflies to lead their respective dragon to. The dragonflies would be the guides for this bonding exercise, as they would know where all three items were located and would know the full layout of the maze, so they could bypass the small hazards that were scattered throughout the maze and safely lead their respective dragon to the item they had been assigned, before making their way out again. Lindar, who was going to be present during the lesson, intended to time the trio and see how quickly they made it through the maze, and then, once all three of them had collected their first item, he and Nestor would return the items and have the dragonflies lead the trio to a new item, until all three of them had found each item at least once.
That was the reason they were waiting for the trio to be around six months old before showing them the maze, that way they understood what was going on and knew the rules that were attached to this challenge, though when that day arrived Nestor approached the three young dragons, who stopped what they were doing and approached him, as they knew he had to have something new for them to do.
"Hello little ones. Are you ready for today's lesson?" Nestor asked, because a few days before the maze was finished he had told the trio that he had a new lesson for them and that it would be in a couple of days, and he could see, from just looking at them, that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were excited to see what he had in mind for them, "Good, then follow me and I'll lead you to where we'll be holding the lesson that I mentioned a few days ago."
Nestor made his way out of Stone Hill, the area that the trio spent a lot of their free time in, with the three young dragons and their dragonflies following after him, though as they returned to the Artisans homeworld Spyro and his siblings found Lindar standing by the large wooden door that all of them were sure was enchanted to remain shut, only to be surprised when they discovered that the door was actually open. On the other side of the door rested a large area that was much like the courtyard that they spent a good portion of their time in, only larger than what they had seen so far, and there were about seven new portals scattered around the area, each leading to a location that none of them had been to yet, though Spike noticed that the one in the middle seemed more important than the others, and it even had a large tree behind it for some reason. Unfortunately that portal wasn't their destination, even though it appeared that Nestor stared at it for a few seconds, but in the end they turned towards the portal that was to the right of the now opened door and walked through it, where they reappeared on an island that seemed to be a fair distance away from the land the Artisans dragons lived on, while also being close enough to be considered one of the realms that Nestor watched over. Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that the area around them was just like the rest of the Artisans homeworld, well taken care of and full of life, along with some amazing stonework that reminded them of what they had seen so far in the towers and the walls of Stone Hill.
In fact the only thing that surprised them was the large stone walls that Nestor and Lindar were standing near, which had a single opening that appeared to be an entrance, and while the stonework on it was as ornate and amazing as everything else they had seen they knew that there was something special about this place, hence the reason that Nestor brought them out here in the first place.
"Today we will be doing something different," Nestor said, to which he turned around and faced the trio, who were staring at the maze that was behind him, though he wasn't surprised by that, as they hadn't seen this structure before and had every right to be interested in what was in front of them, before they focused on him for a moment, "What lies in front of us is a maze, where I have hidden three items throughout the various rooms that the maze has, and each of you will have to go in and retrieve one of the items, one at a time to be exact, all while trusting your dragonflies and following their directions to safely reach the item they are tasked with leading you to. This test is one that will allow you to bond with your dragonflies, by working with them to complete the challenge we have designed for you, and, based on what I've seen so far, I have no doubt that all three of you will impress us with your skills and ability to work as a team. Spyro, would you like to be the first one to enter the maze?"
"Sure." Spyro replied, though while he was surprised by part of this test, where Nestor wanted him and his siblings to take turns tackling the maze, he was sure that all three of them would be able to overcome whatever was inside the maze and claim the items that had been placed inside the structure, before he turned his head slightly, "Come on Sparx!"
Sparx buzzed happily as he flew into the maze, slow enough for Spyro to follow him without losing him, and Spyro charged into the structure not a few seconds later, where Spike and Ember sat down as they waited for the pair to return with the item that Sparx knew the location of. The first thing that Spyro noticed was that there were three paths for him to take, where each of them had to lead to one of the items that Nestor had placed inside the maze, and looked up at Sparx to see which of the paths he needed to take, where he spotted his dragonfly heading down the path on his left and made sure to follow him. What impressed him was the fact that the walls of the maze were tall enough to prevent him from climbing over them and ignoring the lesson that Nestor wanted them to learn, not that he was thinking of ruining all the effort the older dragons had put into building this area, and was more than willing to follow Sparx as he lead the way through the maze. Something that interested him was the first room that they came to, as it appeared that there were large rooms that were scattered throughout the maze, though what really caught his attention was the large tree that was in the area Sparx had brought him to, but for the most part it didn't seem the item he was looking for was in this area, which meant that he needed to move on and find the real area the item was resting in.
Of course, in order to do that, he needed Sparx to show him the way through the maze, though before he could do anything he heard some buzzing and found his friend flying through the air with a trio of birds following after him, no doubt trying to eat him. Spyro knew that Nestor wouldn't have allowed them to run the maze if these birds were here, since they seemed to like dragonflies, which meant they must have arrived while Nestor and Lindar were gathering him and his siblings for today's lesson, and it didn't appear that they were in the mood to leave. Still, the birds were trying to eat his friend and he wasn't about to let that happen, so he called out to Sparx and readied himself, where Sparx figured out what he was doing and shifted his course so the birds would be on Spyro's level, who charged at the birds with the intent to scare them off. Not a few seconds later he determined that it was the smart move to make, as the trio of birds chickened out the moment they noticed him charging at them and flew off, either to another part of the maze or they were leaving the island, never to return, but Spyro didn't care as he made sure that Sparx was okay, who was perfectly fine since none of the birds had gotten close enough to bite him.
With that done, and Sparx was ready to move on, Spyro headed down the path that was opposite of the opening they had emerged from and continued to follow after Sparx as he made his way through the maze, where they doubled back once, something that Spyro determined was a test of patience, before they found another room. This time around there was nothing special about the room, as it seemed to be full of grass with a single stone pedestal that was his height, but Spyro grinned as he spotted a red gemstone that was resting on the pedestal, which, based on what Sparx was doing with his buzzing, had to be the item they had come for. The only thing that worried Spyro was the fact that he had no idea how he was supposed to retrieve the gemstone, other than picking it up with his mouth, but that was when he was surprised by what Sparx did, as his friend tapped the item and it bounced into the air, only to come to a stop above Spyro's back, which told him that Nestor had really thought of everything. With the item collected, and there being only one entrance for them to take, Spyro turned around and followed Sparx as he lead the way back to the entrance of the maze, though the two of them were smiling all the way, as they were happy to complete Nestor's test.
When they walked out of the maze a few moments later, thanks to Sparx quickly leading the way out, Nestor nodded his head and Lindar stopped one of his clocks, apparently stating that it took nearly five minutes to get the item and return to the start, which was a common score for most dragons when they tried this for the first time, but Spyro didn't let the score get to him as he sat down near Ember and let Spike and Talon take their turn.
Spike had seen his brother head down the first left he and Sparx had come to, which meant that there weren't any items down that way, and Talon directed him down the right path, where he carefully followed his friend as he kept his eyes open for any signs of danger. The only reason he thought about danger is because he could have sworn that he heard the sounds of some birds nearby, more specifically a while after Spyro and Sparx had entered the maze, so he was curious as to whether or not he'd face something similar along the path that Talon was leading him down. He was sure that Spyro marveled at the size of the walls, something he didn't do since he knew it was designed to keep them contained in the maze, but at the same time he was impressed by the fact that Nestor and the other Artisans dragons had built this maze in such a short period of time, or maybe it had always been on this island and they had restored it for him and his siblings. Based on the scrolls and tomes he had read so far, which he understood bits and pieces of, he didn't recall seeing a mention of this place, though that told him that the older dragons had likely hidden the knowledge of this place so young dragons didn't find out what the path was before they learned how to bond with their dragonflies, a smart move on their part since he was sure that someone must have tried that in the past.
Talon's buzzing interrupted his thoughts for a moment, where he found that he had nearly walked into a small hole in the floor and that his friend had stopped him from falling into the trap that had been placed for him, though from the looks of it Spike had to guess that it wasn't very deep, meaning it was supposed to slow him down and wasn't designed to hurt anyone that came down this path. As such he just jumped over the small gap and moved forward, knowing that Talon knew the way to the item he was supposed to get and that he wouldn't lead him into a trap that would actually hurt him, but he had to admit that this test was just as fun as when they were learning how to glide. Talon's path, as it turned out, had a few more traps along the way, where Spike found that none of them were designed to hurt whoever took this path, just like the first one, and it was rather easy to get around them, but at the same time he was having fun and knew that, from seeing how his friend was moving and buzzing, that Talon was having fun as well, despite this being a test for the two of them. He was sure that Spyro and Sparx had some fun when they were searching for their item, just like he was sure that Ember and Cinder would do the same thing when they had their turn, before he focused on the opening that was in front of him and looked at the room Talon had brought him to.
There was a small stone dragon statue in the center of the room, one that was about half the height of Nestor and the other Artisans dragons, and Spike could tell, from the vest that the statue was wearing, and the quill in his left hand, that it must have been made to represent a scholar or a scribe. What caught his attention was the red gemstone that was resting in the statue's open right hand, which Talon was pointing at, meaning that they had found the item that Nestor wanted them to recover, but before doing anything Spike walked around the statue, to make sure there weren't any traps and to see if he could find a way up to the statue's hand. What surprised him was the fact that there was a small set of steps leading up to where the hand was located, so he carefully climbed up them and found that none of the steps triggered anything, before he reached the top step and stared at the gemstone that was in front of him, where he tapped it and found it floating above his back, which was nice since he was sure it was too big to fit inside his mouth. The moment he had the gemstone he glided down to the entrance that Talon was waiting near and followed him through the path that they had taken to reach the statue, as if they were running from some sort of trap, before finally emerging at the entrance that his siblings were sitting in front of.
Once he emerged from the maze, and let Nestor take the gemstone from him, like Spyro had done when he finished his attempt, Lindar stopped a second clock and stated that his time was around the time that his brother had set, though Spike simply smiled as he sat down next to Spyro as Ember and Cinder readied themselves for their attempt.
"So, we're heading straight?" Ember asked, as she knew that if Spyro had headed down the path on the left, and Spike had gone down the path on the right, than that meant that she and Cinder would have to go down the path in front of them and face whatever obstacles Nestor and the others had left for them.
Cinder buzzed for a few seconds, to confirm Ember's question as she walked, before flying forward and resuming his task of guiding her to the gemstone that was the item she needed to find and recover, something she had determined based on the fact that both of her brothers had found gemstones at the end of their path and the fact that Nestor had used them to inspire the three of them when they were learning how to glide. She was also sure that there would be a trap or two waiting for her, because Spike had been happy when he emerged from his portion of the maze and that meant he must have had something that was like those adventure stories he liked to read, so she was making sure she was prepared for whatever was in front of her. Sure enough she found a gap in the floor, a shallow one that would catch an unsuspecting dragon off guard, which she jumped over with ease, a few dead ends that made her backtrack, and even a wooden copy of some sort of green creature that the older dragons must have known about, but she simply walked around that obstacle and continued forward. Cinder continued to lead the way, pointing her at some of the obstacles that Nestor and the other Artisans dragons had created, and Ember either jumped over them, moved around them, or just ignored them so she could focus on finding the gemstone that she was supposed to be looking for.
Eventually she found a decent sized room with a number of wooden copies of the same green creature that she had seen earlier, each of them holding a wooden copy of the gemstone she was looking for, but that proved to be quite easy to overcome, as she found the real gemstone rather quickly. All she had to do was tackle the wooden obstacle and the gemstone fell down to her level, where she tapped it with one of her claws, allowing it to take it's position above her back, before she and Cinder made their way out of the maze by retracing their path. It didn't take them long to return to the entrance of the maze, where Spyro, Spike, Sparx, and Talon cheered at them for completing their portion of the maze as well, while Nestor took the gemstone and Lindar took down her time as well, before stating that all three of them had been so close to each other that there was no clear winner, if one considered this to be a race. Ember decided not to care about her time, since that wasn't the main reason behind this test, and smiled as she joined her brothers, as they had done well in bonding with their dragonflies and had done exactly what Nestor had asked of them, so for now all three of them were happy with what they had done.
Nestor, on the other hand, smiled as well as he informed the trio that they had done well and that they deserved a break before they tried the maze again, with different paths next time, though he could tell that the bonds between the three young dragons and their dragonflies had been strengthened by this test, which made him eager to see what else the trio would show him and the other Artisans dragons in the months to come.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that, in addition to running around the Stone Hill area like they usually did, or one of the other areas if they wanted to do something different, that Nestor and the other Artisans dragons made sure they spent a few days a week practicing the skills that they were trying to teach them. Of course that meant that they spent some time working on their ability to glide, made sure they knew how to read the scrolls and tomes from the libraries of Dark Hollow, even if two of them really didn't care about reading at all, and they visited the island with the maze at least once a week, so they could continue bonding with their dragonflies and attempt to beat the scores that their siblings set. After their first time visiting the maze, and testing it out, Nestor let Lindar be the one to accompany them to the island, so he could time each of them when they ran a random path through the maze, as Sparx, Talon, and Cinder knew all three paths that were currently in the maze, meaning they could pick one at random to confuse the dragon they were paired with, even though Spyro and his siblings had a habit of catching on rather quickly, which made their friends happy. Nestor was happy to see that they were doing well and would reward their hard work with days off from their training, going to one of the realms of the Artisans homeworld so they could relax, or do whatever it was that they wanted, while he thought up new ways to test what they already knew.
The gemstones, as the trio learned, were enchanted by Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters, which explained how the red items they had been told to find had been able to float above their backs after they found them and 'claimed' them from their resting place, which only made them more interested in seeing what Nestor intended to use the maze for in the incoming weeks and months.
Of course not all of their time was spent on what Nestor called the 'basics', the critical skills that a dragon, regardless of which homeworld it called home, was supposed to know, as the other Artisans dragons also let them take breaks from that sort of thing and either let them act like young dragons or showed them the profession that they had dedicated their lives to mastering. Lindar actually let them come with him one time when he was visiting his workshop, the area that contained all the clocks that he was working on, be they small ones that one could wear, like he did all the time, or ones that would sit in a hallway or a castle, and entertained the trio by showing them around his workspace. Gavin showed them around the space that he worked in, a mobile cart of some kind where he kept all his equipment, and demonstrated the art of making drinks for the rest of the Artisans dragons, when they needed some energy to keep moving on with whatever they were doing. Astor and the other dragons of Dark Hollow had stories to tell them, about what they did while they were growing up and learning the basics of being a dragon, what they did before they found the professions that they spent their lives mastering, and anything else they could think of, though Astor, being the oldest dragon in the entirety of the Artisans homeworld, was prone to falling asleep from time to time, which cut stories short if he was the only one talking to the trio.
Other dragons, like Devlin and Alvar, enjoyed having the trio around to sample one of their latest creations, which was something that Gavin couldn't do since his drinks were for older dragons, even though he told the trio that he'd be more than happy to show them what he could offer them when they were a little older, after they turned five anyway. Spyro, Spike, and Ember liked hanging out with the cooks from time to time, as the new recipes each of them made were quite good, even if there were a few that didn't turn out quite so well, but the pair of cooks simply smiled and said that it was okay if a recipe failed, as it gave them something to work on in the future. Nils, Thor, and Delbin were often near each other, where the trio discovered that they usually tried to find a good place to quietly work on their individual art pieces, and they were occasionally visited by Nevin, who would make remarks on their art, which turned out to be suggestions that would make things better for the piece in question. Delbin, being a painter, looked up to Nevin, the master painter in the Artisans homeworld, and usually followed through with his suggestions, as they were generally correct, but even then there were times where he ignored what Nevin said and continued with his painting, though at the same time Nevin wasn't upset over that, as each dragon was different and had their own style, and he was merely making suggestions, not commanding the others to follow what he said, so he had no problem with the others following their hearts.
What really caught the attention of Spyro, Spike, and Ember was the fact that one day, when they were older, they would be able to figure out what sort of profession they wanted to spend their lives working on, just like the rest of the Artisans dragons were doing, but for now they were focused on what Nestor wanted them to learn, before they went off and focused on something else. Of course that didn't stop them from observing the other Artisans dragons so they could see what they were doing and see if they could find something that interested them, but so far none of them were sure what sort of profession they were interested in, which made them understand why Nestor was putting off those types of lessons until they were older, since they would have an answer to this question after they experienced everything the Dragon Realms had to offer them.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that the next three months were pretty much the same as the last three months, only this time around they spent a few days each month at the maze, working with their dragonflies, building their bonds with them, and, at the same time, trying to get the fastest time of them all. What continued to surprise them was the fact that Lindar kept telling them that their scores were nearly the same, meaning that either they were running the paths with no change to their pace, which was odd considering that all three of them were sure that the three routes were the exact same and hadn't changed at all, or Lindar wasn't keeping track of their time to make them run faster and maybe build up their stamina in the process. Of course there was no way that Lindar would tell them if he was doing that or not, but at the same time they knew that he was helping them train for the future, so the trio decided not to complain about the fact that their scores were close to each other and focused on bonding with their dragonflies, who were happy to help them run through the maze and whatever else they needed assistance with. In addition to that they made sure to spend a good portion of their time practicing their gliding, usually in the presence of some of the older dragons in case they crashed into something and hurt themselves, but so far, thanks to following what Ember did, none of them had hurt themselves while practicing their gliding.
What surprised the trio was the day they turned nine months old, a day they were able to keep track of thanks to the older dragons, as it was the day that Nestor had scheduled something that was different from what they were used to doing, so they gathered in the central area of the Artisans homeworld and waited to see what Nestoer had in mind... but what interested them was the fact that Darius and Alvar were accompanying Nestor this time around.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm sure that all of you are interested in hearing what I have planned for you today." Nestor said, though since they were getting closer to being one year old, a special event for every dragon that lived across the Dragon Realms, he had decided that it was time to start addressing them by their names and not by 'little ones' anymore, which he knew would catch them off guard a tiny bit, since they were so used to the term being used.
"You bet we are!" Spyro replied, as he was excited for whatever Nestor had in mind, because so far he and his siblings had been learning the basics on how to be a dragon, something everyone else learned when they were as young as he, Spike, and Ember were at the moment, and he was hoping for something new, maybe like how to breath fire or fight by using their claws, horns, and tails against their foe, like in the stories that Spike told him about, "So, are we going to start learning how to fight today?"
"That would be nice." Ember added, because one thing that interested her, from the stories that Spike told her and Spyro about, where the battles that the dragons of old had gotten into before they were able to settle down in the lands that they called home, or at least that was what the tales said, and she was eager to see what sort of training Titan and the other Peace Keepers had for them.
"I'm sorry to announce that we won't be working on combat anytime soon, nor will we be doing anything that you have done in the past." Nestor stated, though at the same time he and the others moved towards the large door, which he was leaving open for the foreseeable future, since he knew they would be using the courtyard more than they had done in the past, before stopping in front of the portal that was in the middle of the area he had brought the trio to, "Instead... we're going to the beach!"
"The... beach?" Spike asked, because he was expecting Nestor to take them through one of the other portals and visit one of the other realms that was scattered throughout the Artisans homeworld, no doubt to see how some of the other Artisans dragons lived when they weren't busy, so the news that they were going to the beach surprised him.
"That's right," Nestor said, where he tapped the stone arch of the portal that they were standing near and smiled, because on the other side of the portal was a place that all dragons liked to use as their vacation spot, and he felt that it was time for him to show the three young dragons something new, though not in the manner that they had been thinking about since he made his statement about today, "This is a portal to Dragon Shores, an island that has the best beaches in all of the Dragon Realms, and a few other things as well, but I'll let the three of you discover that for yourselves."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember looked at each other for a few seconds, as they weren't sure if they were all that interested in seeing Dragon Shores, since this was the first time they were hearing about it, before deciding that they might as well see what the place looked like and see if it was as fun as Nestor and the others claimed it was. Nestor noticed this and smiled as he walked through the portal, causing the three of them to follow after him, though when they appeared on the other side a few seconds later they were surprised to find that they were in a large courtyard-like area that had five portals that formed a circle and had an open spot that seemed to be the exit. What interested the trio was the fact that each of the five portals looked different, as the one they came through matched the stone and gold portals that they had seen around the Artisans homeworld, the one next to their left also appeared to be made out of stone, a different type no doubt, that had a blue crystal in each of it's support pillars, while the one to it's left seemed more circular and had a large green gemstone at the top of the structure, as opposed to the blue one that the Artisans portals had. The one to their right had a circular opening for the portal as well, though it seemed to be made out of a number of light blue stones and had an orange stone at it's peak, while the final portal, to the right of the fourth one, seemed to be more of a triangle shape, with an emerald color to it's stones and had three spikes on it's top, though it had no gemstone to speak of.
As they stared at the five portals, and came to a stop near Nestor, who was standing nearby, both Darius and Alvar walked through the portal they had come out of, though the pair were now carrying some boxes in their arms, which made them wonder what else Nestor wanted them to do while they were here.
"Welcome to a part of Dragon Shores that we call the Nexus." Nestor said, as he could tell that the trio was surprised by the other four portals that were around them, since this was the first time they were seeing this sort of thing, and knew that he'd have to tell them about the portals as they walked down the path that Darius and Alvar were taking, hence why he and the young dragons were following after the pair, "Each of the five homeworlds have their own portal to Dragon Shores, just like the one we walked through, so it makes sense that there would be a return portal so an Artisans dragon can return to the Artisans homeworld, or a Magic Crafters dragon can return to the Magic Crafters homeworld. I know what you might be thinking, that this is a place where someone can go from one homeworld to another in a matter of seconds, and while that would be a handy feature to have, in case of emergencies, the magic of these particular portals prevents that sort of thing from happening. If I, an Artisans dragon, were to use the Peace Keeper's portal, instead of the Artisans portal, I would first come out of the portal I was supposed to use, though you'll have to ask Cosmos more about the magic of these portals if you're interested in them, as I have told you what I know about them."
"So there's a chance that other dragons will be here?" Spike asked, because based on what he was hearing it sounded like someone else might be at the beach, either relaxing on their own or waiting for them to arrive, though at the same time he and Ember stopped as Spyro tapped them with his tail.
It appeared that Spyro was interested in testing something, as he turned around and charged at the portal that Nestor had been looking at, the one that had to be the Magic Crafters portal, and disappeared the moment he passed through it, but what surprised the pair was that their brother came charging out of the Artisans portal like Nestor had told them would happen if someone tried to do that, before they regrouped and rejoined the others.
"Oh, there will be other dragons here." Nestor replied, though while he was slightly amused by one of the trio testing the magic of the portals, in the manner he had said, he turned his attention to the open area in front of them, which was a large sandy area with a number of palm trees near where they were walking, where he smiled as he took in the waves that were touching the beach.
"Nestor!" a voice said, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember turned their heads and spotted a somewhat familiar dragon, one that had a purple mohawk, beard, and tail tuft, though while they realized that this was Titan, the Leader of the Peace Keeper dragons, though instead of wearing his armor he was wearing an odd purple pair of shorts for some reason, which made them wonder what was going on, "I'm glad you, Darius, and Alvar could make it, instead of something coming up and making you stay in the Artisans homeworld all day long... and I'm glad to see the three of you again, even though the last time you would have seen me was when you were a day or two old."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember kind of remembered Titan, as it was hard to forget someone like him, but at the same time they remembered Cosmos, Bruno, and Lateef, the other Leaders that had been there when they were first introduced to Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, which made them wonder if the others were here as well. That question was answered not even a few seconds later, where they spotted the three dragons in question standing near where Titan had been before Nestor had stepped out onto the beach, and each of them were wearing different colored shorts, which Nestor revealed were swimsuits, something that older dragons wore when they went to the beach, though that also meant that the three of them wouldn't have to worry about wearing something like that for a long time. What interested the trio was the fact that Lindar was standing nearby as well, which meant he must have gone through the Artisans portal long before they did, but he seemed happy and that made the trio wonder what they would be doing today, before they went back home. Darius, on the other hand, simply walked over to where Lindar was standing and set some things down, showing that he must have come for a different reason, but that only made the three of them even more curious about what was going on and what they might be doing.
"I made sure to clear my schedule for today," Nestor replied, though as he said that Alvar walked over to part of the beach where he would be able to do his thing, which was the moment that the trio watched him pull out some pieces of wood and some raw meat, making them wonder what he was planning on doing, "Don't worry, part of the reason that Alvar came, besides needing some time off from Town Square and his duties as a chef, is because he wanted to cook us an amazing lunch, one that needs a few hours to make, giving the three of you plenty of time to enjoy yourselves without having to worry about doing anything else for some time. Darius just wanted some time off and decided that this was the best way to recharge his creative mind for the future, so he'll likely be resting in the sun for a few hours."
"What's the catch?" Ember inquired, because after everything they had been through so far, in the last couple of months, that she was sure that there was a lesson to be learned somewhere and that it would be revealed at some point in the next hour or two, and her brothers, while not totally sharing her opinions on the matter, were curious as to what sort of answer Nestor would give her.
"Catch? There is no catch." Nestor stated, though he couldn't fault one of the young dragons from asking him that sort of question, since most of their time had been spent learning how to be a dragon, but at the same time he pulled out a few towels and put them on top of one of the containers that were near them, while Alvar set the wood on fire and started placing the meat in the area he intended to cook it in, before turning to face them again, "We're on vacation, which means that you can relax in the sun, run around the beach and chase each other, gather some of the sand to build castles or whatever you want to build, and even play around in the water, either swimming or splashing each other."
Spyro tilted his head for a moment, as he had to admit that what he was hearing was interesting, and he smiled for a few seconds as he noticed that Spike and Ember were walking over to the edge of the water, though the moment they came to a stop, and stared at the waves, he rushed forward and barreled into Spike, knocking the two of them into the water without delay. Ember and their dragonflies stood there for a moment, as they showed different degrees of surprise at what had happened, though when both of her brothers emerged Ember found that Spyro was laughing and Spike, while being a little shocked, clearly intended to get Spyro for what he did. Nestor and the others watched as Spike burst out of the water and charged at Spyro, where the two of them returned to the beach and started running around the area that was around them, but he could tell that they were just having fun in their own way and didn't seem like they were going to hurt each other. Ember, on the other hand, walked over to where the older dragons were standing and found that they had brought small tools of some kind, where Titan chuckled and picked up a few of them, before walking over to another part of the beach and set some of the tools down in front of Ember, where he showed her the shovel and a bucket for a few seconds, only to drive the shovel into the sand.
Ember tilted her head for a moment as Titan explained what he was doing, that he was gathering sand and water so he could build a sand castle, before she picked up one of the other shovels and started digging into the area to her left, allowing her to dig up some sand and dump it into the bucket that Titan set next to her. When she had enough material in the bucket she looked up at Titan, who lifted his bucket into the air for a second and then turned it around, which was when he hit the ground with the top of the container, causing Ember to wonder what he was doing, before he pulled his bucket up and revealed a small sand tower where he hit the ground. Once she knew what to do, and Titan moved onto gathering more sand, she looked at her bucket and tipped it over, since she didn't have the height that the older dragon had, and forced the top of the bucket around until it was where Titan had placed his, where she tapped the bucket for a few seconds before pulling the container away, revealing a decent copy of Titan's sand tower. It wasn't long before she had enough material in the bucket to make a second tower, though as she did that she found Nestor, now dressed in his own swimsuit, sitting near her and Titan, where he proceeded to start building a wall between the two towers that had been made so far and inquired as to where the third one would be going, and while all that was happening she noticed that the other Leaders were doing their own thing as they enjoyed their time off as well.
She knew that Nestor liked to build things, based on the projects that she and her brothers had seen across the Artisans homeworld, and since she really knew nothing about this sort of thing she decided that having him help her in building her castle was a good thing and said nothing as they worked on the structure they were working on.
While Ember was doing that with Nestor and Titan, and they were building a decent looking sand castle, Spyro and Spike ran around part of the beach, though when Spike finally tackled his brother into the sand the two of them chuckled for a few seconds before heading back to the water. It was clear that Spike wasn't upset with Spyro, especially since he returned the favor almost immediately, and the moment the two of them returned to the water he walked forward a little more and paddled along with his legs, as he had seen a few of the older dragons do this when they were in the water, which wasn't all that common, and one of them had informed him that what they were doing was called swimming. He didn't have much practice in this sort of thing, since Nestor and the others hadn't actually taught him and his siblings how to do this, but he had learned a bit from watching the adults and reading a few of the scrolls that talked about the subject, though it was nice to put what he had learned into practice, even if it was a little difficult than he believed it to be. Spyro tilted his head as he watched Spike for a few moments, as he was a little confused as to what his brother was doing, only to decide to try it himself and moved out to the area of the water that Spike was in, where he started to mimic what his brother was doing, with limited success.
What Nestor found interesting was that Ember glanced at her brothers for a moment, seeing them make their first attempts at swimming, and then got up from where she was sitting as she charged into the water that Spyro and Spike were in, which caused him to chuckle as she attempted what they were attempting.
"I had no idea they knew the basics on how to swim." Titan commented, though at the same time he glanced down at the castle that Ember had been making for the last couple of minutes, which he and Nestor had been assisting her with, and found that Nestor was making sure everything was as Ember left it, so she could continue building when she got tired of being in the water.
"Oh, we didn't actually teach them any of that," Nestor replied, as that was the amusing thing about the three young dragons, when one of them found something they liked, be it a story or a skill they hadn't seen yet, they always watched the older dragons a few times before making their first attempt, and Spike had gone one step further by looking through all of the scrolls and tomes to get more information about this skill, "What you are seeing right now is what Spike has been reading about for the last two weeks, ever since he spotted one of the other Artisans dragons swimming, and both Spyro and Ember are making their own attempts at the same time, though without any training, from me or someone else, they're already doing quite well. You can tell that they're being smart about this, since they're staying close to the beach in case something happens to one of them, so we can rush over and help them, but for the most part it seems like they won't be needing any assistance, so we can sit back and watch them have fun... though I will have to see what we can do in the future, to properly teach them how to swim."
Titan nodded his head in understanding, because while swimming was a skill that all dragons learned when they were older, usually between two to five years old in most cases, Spyro and his siblings were clearly different from the rest of the dragons that lived in the Dragon Realms, especially Ember when he considered what he had learned about her first attempt at gliding, so if Nestor said he'd figure out a way to teach them how to swim, then he meant it. He and the other dragons chuckled as Ember swung her right wing and splashed both Spike and Spyro at the same time, surprising the pair for a few seconds, since they weren't expecting her to do that, before they retaliated and soon the area around them was a splash zone, with each of the three young dragons having fun while being in the water. It was clear that the siblings were having fun, despite all the time and energy they had put into Nestor's lessons, but that was the point of this venture, to let them relax and have fun, instead of forcing them to go through another lesson and tiring them out, as they would have countless additional lessons from him and the other three Leaders, once Nestor was done with the basics, and he already had a few ideas in mind after watching them play on the beach earlier, just like he was sure Cosmos, Bruno, and Lateef might have come up with a few ideas as well.
Spyro and his siblings played in the water for another ten to fifteen minutes, according to Lindar anyway, before they decided that it was time to get out and return to what Ember had been doing, but before they approached the sand castle Nestor made sure to show them how to dry themselves off after being in the water. Once the three of them were dry they headed over to the sand castle and Ember resumed what she was doing, gathering sand and placing it down, where Spyro and Spike joined her, though they sat down and attempted to make the central building that was the heart of the entire castle. From watching them Nestor knew that it was too soon to determine whether they had any talent in building, just like he did, but he had to admit that it was nice to watch the trio divide up what they needed to do among them, so they could build the castle faster. At one point Spyro accidentally smashed one of the walls with his tail, where he seemed a little worried that it would upset his sister, since she had spent a good amount of time on the castle before joining him and Spike in the water, but instead of being upset Nestor could see that Ember was fine with it, as she told her brother that mistakes happened and that they could fix it, before they dived back into their work with smiles on their faces. It was the same thing that Nestor had seen many times since the three young dragons had started his lessons, that they were working together to overcome problems or pool their skills together to make something better, and that brought a smile to both his face and to the faces of Lindar, Darius, and Alvar.
Nestor had fun helping the trio whenever they needed his assistance or wanted his opinion on their castle, like if they were doing something right or if they needed to change something they had added in, and before he knew it Alvar was calling everyone over for lunch. The type of meal he had prepared was some slow cooked meat that contained the smoke from the wood he had chosen, something he was good at doing, along with some fruit, vegetables, drinks, and anything else they might need for such a meal, and he made sure there was enough food for everyone. That was a good thing, as all of them were hungry and they made sure that everyone had their fair share of the meat that had been brought, where Spyro and his siblings enjoyed the smoked meat, which was either chicken or beef, and smiled as they enjoyed themselves, which made Nestor and the others happy as well. While it was a shame that Nestor hadn't asked Thomas to come along, as his lute playing would have made the day perfect, Cosmos did use a bit of his magic to make music in the area around them, causing everyone to keep their smiles on their faces as they had fun, especially Spyro, Spike, and Ember, who were clearly having the time of their lives.
He knew that this day would be one of their favorite memories, that it would overcome anything bad that happened to them in the future, and he was happy to give them something special, even as he waited to see what the three of them would do in the coming weeks... before pushing that thought aside as he had fun as well, knowing that he'd deal with the future when they weren't on vacation.
In the days that followed their visit to Dragon Shores, and their first visit to the beach, Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that the routine that Nestor and the other Artisans dragons had set for them over the last couple of months remained the same, as nothing new happened to them. They were just fine with that, as the excitement from what they usually did, which was practicing their gliding, running the maze with Sparx, Talon, and Cinder leading the way, or visiting Dark Hollow to continue their lessons on how to read and speak, which they were getting better at as the days went by, was all they could handle for the moment. Nestor, as always, was quite surprised by their progress, even shocked at times, where Argus and Oswin stated that it was because he was used to the normal amount of time it took dragons to master various activities, such as gliding or speaking, and the fact that they were doing some of those things quicker was what was surprising him. That didn't stop the siblings at all, as they continued to tackle the lessons that Nestor wanted them to learn, the basics on how to be a dragon as he called them, and they were definitely getting better at what they were doing, but they hadn't reached the point where they 'mastered' the basics, which they were fine with, since it gave them something to work towards.
In addition to spending time learning the basics the three of them also had plenty of days to do whatever they wanted, which was common before they went to the beach with Nestor and the other Leaders, though they usually spent their time wandering the available realms of the Artisans homeworld, to the best of their ability anyway. Due to their size, as they were still quite small in regards to the older dragons, it was still hard for them to jump high enough so they could glide from place to place, so when they visited Town Square, for instance, they were either accompanied by an older dragon or someone came across them after they arrived at their destination and helped them to where they were going. Nestor told them not to be worried about that, as they would be the size they were for a little while longer, and soon all three of them would grow again, only to stop growing when they reached ten years old, which meant that they wouldn't grow until they matured into adult dragons and took on the bipedal stance everyone else had. He had also informed the three of them that they were about half a foot tall and that the tallest they could grow, before stopping, was around three and a half feet, four feet if they counted their horns, so that gave them something to look forward to, as that meant that they wouldn't need help getting places when they were older, something that the older dragons were no doubt looking forward to, even if they didn't say anything about it.
That was something they were all waiting for, to be tall enough so they could move around the Artisans homeworld and the realms without having to inconvenience one of the older dragons, since some of them tended to be quite busy with their professions, hence one of the reasons that Alvar wanted to take a short break and join them on their trip to Dragon Shores, so he could relax a little, which he ended up doing after everyone had eaten the lunch he prepared, and he was happy to see everyone liked it so much.
Despite the fact that both Spyro and Ember had no interest in reading, and usually only listened to Argus and the others when they were in Dark Hollow so they could converse with anyone that wanted to talk with them, Spike found that he did enjoy the vast libraries that the area possessed. Sure, his favorite stories revolved around the action that the Peace Keeper dragons were involved in, of which there were plenty of stories since Titan and his predecessors made sure that the scribes of the Artisans dragons knew of every event that happened since they settled on the islands that were now known as the homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, but that didn't stop Spike from reading the other types of books, just to see what they contained. One thing he did discover were that there were other types of books that weren't in Dark Hollow's libraries, as the Magic Crafters had their own library of all the spells they developed and how to use each of the magic artifacts that they created, and even the Dream Weavers had their own hidden library that could only be found if one was skilled at the type of magic that they used, so his only ways to get at those types of books were if he asked one of the dragons to help him or if he learned the magic needed to locate the books. In the end Spike decided to retire those types of thoughts and focused on the library that he had access to, the one that he was familiar with, as he knew that he'd get around to the other libraries in the future, once he figured out what sort of profession he was really interested in, which would be around the time that Spyro and Ember did the same thing.
What interested him was the fact that he found an entry in one of the later tomes that made reference to a 'Gnasty Gnorc', but from what he could tell the threat had been a minor one and the matter had been closed by the dragons rather quickly, so he simply shrugged, finished the rest of the book, and then returned it to the shelf before moving onto the next book that Argus had suggested he take a look at.
While Spike spent his spare time in Dark Hollow, reading the various tomes and doing his own research on whatever interested him, Spyro and Ember spent whatever free time they had watching the other Artisans dragons, like Delbin or Thomas, mostly in the attempt to figure out what they were interested in. Ember did have an interest in the various battles that Spike told her about, the ones that the Peace Keepers had told the other dragons about, and she was looking forward to the day when she and her brothers were able to visit the other homeworlds, as she was eager to visit the Peace Keepers and see what they could teach the three of them. Spyro shared his sister's views on seeing what Titan had to teach them, since Nestor said that it was something they would do at some point in the future, but at the same time he had no idea what truly interested him, so he spent some of his free time just wandering around the Artisans homeworld as he considered what he wanted to do in the future, when he and his siblings were much older. Lindar and the other dragons told him that it was fine that he didn't have a particular interest right now, as most dragons, regardless of which land they called home, spent a few years before they figured out what sort of profession interested them, so he was under no pressure in determining what he wanted to do in the future.
Spyro was positive that he'd figure out what he wanted to do in the future, once he found something that actually interested him like how being a scholar interested Spike, but for right now he was more than willing to spend his time with his siblings, overcoming the training that Nestor had for them, before attempting to figure out what sort of profession he wanted to take up when he was older.
The next three months, from the time of their visit to Dragon Shores, went by just like the three months that went by between when Nestor first introduced them to the basics of gliding and when they first visited the maze, and Spyro, Spike, and Ember spent their time tackling the lessons they had been learning so far. Nestor continued to be amazed by the progress that they were showing, once more confirming that they were overcoming the times that it took the other dragons to get the hang of something, be it gliding or bonding with their dragonflies, and Sparx, Talon, and Cinder were more than happy to assist them in whatever they needed help with, within reason of course. Ember was sure that their times would start to diverge at some point, based on the fact that one of the times they ran the maze she was positive that she had been slightly faster than both Spyro and Spike, but, like the previous times she asked, Lindar said that their scores were still pretty close to each other, so no clear winner could be determined yet. She was still of the opinion that he wasn't telling them the truth, that this was a way for them to build their stamina and continue to bond with their dragonflies, but at the same time she decided not to worry about it, as she was sure that when a good gap in their times appeared he would tell them about it, so until that happened she and her siblings faced whatever challenges Nestor and the others put in the maze with smiles on their faces.
Spyro and Spike spent those three months like they usually did, going to their shared lessons with Ember, learning what Nestor and the other Artisans dragons wanted them to know about being dragons, and spending their free time however they wanted. Spike continued to enjoy his time with the dragons of Dark Hollow, as the library they had was amazing, though one thing he decided to set his sights on, that he knew nothing about, was the legends and tales of the purple dragons, because he was curious as to what awaited him and Spyro in the future, but he was surprised to find that Argus and the others couldn't direct him to what he was looking for. The way they told him about the missing knowledge made him realize that, in their hurry to learn more about the purple dragons as a whole, it had simply been misplayed in the bookshelves and the library itself, and that they hadn't found the tomes yet, so the information he was after was currently lost and would take some time to find. In the end Spike guessed that it was okay, as he was sure that the arrival of two purple dragons had caused some chaos for the dragons of the Artisans homeworld, though at the same time he knew that one day, when he was older, he'd find those tomes and return them to their rightful place in the library, before seeing what information they held on the purple dragons. His siblings, on the other hand, weren't that interested in what the books had to say about him and Spyro, as they were sure that Nestor and the other Leaders would have told them something by now if it was so important, but that didn't stop Spike from trying to find the missing tomes.
That all came to an abrupt stop one day when Spyro got up at the normal time he and his siblings woke up, which was around six in the morning when he asked Lindar about it, and as the three of them stretched a little, to wake the rest of their bodies up, they were greeted with silence, something that wasn't common in the area of Stone Hill that they currently lived in, or the surrounding areas for that matter.
"This is so weird." Spyro commented, as he wasn't used to waking up and discovering that it was only him and his siblings that seemed to be in the Stone Hill area, especially since he knew that Nestor and some of the other dragons were working on something near the courtyard he, Spike, and Ember slept in, and he knew his siblings had to be wondering what was going on as well, "Where is everyone?"
"I have no idea." Spike replied, though even as he said that he and his siblings left the main courtyard they were in and tried exploring the tower area that they had their first gliding lesson in, but when they walked out of the other side of the tunnel they discovered that there was no one near the tower, which made him wonder if something had happened while they were sleeping.
"We weren't attacked, due to there being no enemies to threaten the Dragon Realms and the fact that we would have woken up if such a thing happened," Ember said, as she was curious as to what was going on, since this was the first time they hadn't spotted any of the other Artisans dragons after waking up, and while she knew that some things had to change as they got older, especially when they became adults, she was sure that someone would have been near them, so the absence of Lindar, Gavin, and the others meant that something was going on, but what that something was she had absolutely no idea, "Maybe we should try the homeworld and see if we can't find someone there, just so we can get down to the bottom of whatever is going on."
Spyro and Spike glanced at each other for a moment, as they had to wonder if they would be lucky when they reached the other side of the portal, before following Ember as she headed back towards the whirlwind that would take them back to the Artisans homeworld, all while their dragonflies followed them. It didn't take the three of them long to appear on the other side of the portal that connected to Stone Hill, where they found the hub area of the Artisans homeworld resting around them, but as they started to spread out, so they could search the immediate area for signs of Nestor and the other dragons, they discovered that the only creatures near them were the couple small groups of sheep that usually just wandered around the area, until Alvar needed one or two of them. Still, that didn't stop them from continuing their search of the area, finding that none seemed out of place near the waterfall, the dragon head that covered the portal to Nevin's castle seemed to be closed, and the large door to the courtyard that contained the portal to Dragon Shores was closed as well, which only made them wonder what was going on at the moment. Since they hadn't seen anyone in Stone Hill, and had very limited choices, Spike wondered if they should search Dark Hollow and see if any of the other scholars and scribes were sleeping in for once, but just as he thought about that he noticed something in the corner of his eye and turned around to face the tunnel that would take them to Town Square.
He didn't get a good look at whatever the movement had been, but one thing was for sure and that was the fact that he had seen the movement of small wings enter the tunnel, wings that, if he remembered some of his personal studies of the Artisans library, could only belong to a fairy.
"What's wrong Spike?" Spyro asked, as he noticed that his brother seemed to be distracted by something and was a little curious as to what that something was, especially since they were in the middle of trying to figure out why all of the Artisans dragons were suddenly missing from the areas they were used to seeing them in, before he glanced at the tunnel and tilted his head a little, "Did you see something?"
"I'm not entirely sure what I saw, since I only saw it for a second or two," Spike replied, knowing that his brother and sister might not want to investigate Town Square based on what he was about to say, but he suspected that there was a reason behind why he had seen the flutter of fairy wings while they were looking for the Artisans dragons, "but I think I saw a fairy fly towards the area that the portal to Town Square is in. Maybe Nestor and the others are there, having a meeting that they didn't want to bother us with?"
"Or maybe this is another lesson, like the maze was?" Ember offered, because the maze had been the last time they actually learned anything new, which was the importance of bonding with their dragonflies, and she could tell that Cinder and the others had no idea what was going on, meaning that this had to be some sort of lesson, but what sort of lesson she had no idea.
Spike tilted his head for a moment, as he was curious as to whether or not this could be a lesson of some kind, before deciding that the only way they could figure out what was going on was by following the fairy he thought he saw, though as he walked forward he heard the sounds of his siblings following after him, meaning they were willing to see if he had actually seen anything or if his eyes were messing with him. Spike hoped that it wasn't his eyes messing with him, as that would mean he'd likely need to get some glasses when he was older, something he personally wanted to avoid despite having nothing against them, before he pushed that thought from his mind and focused on following what he had seen, which resulted in him and his siblings emerging from the tunnel they had been walking through. It didn't take them long to emerge from the tunnel and pause when they entered the small area that the whirlwind tower, the one that would allow them to head to Town Square, was located in, though not a few seconds later they continued moving and headed into the center of the tower, where Spike went first since he had seen the fairy. What surprised him was that, at the top of the tower, floated one of the fairies he had seen in the Artisans homeworld, which both of his siblings had seen in the past as well, though she smiled as Spyro and Ember joined them, before flying through the Town Square portal and disappeared within a few seconds.
The trio glanced at each other for a moment, as they had no idea what was going on right now and had no idea if the fairy was messing with them, before deciding that there was no harm in following the fairy and headed through the portal she had used, only to reappear at the entrance of Town Square a few seconds later. Normally it would be hard for them to move their way through this realm, since they were still small and none of them were tall enough to make the glide from one place to another, but what they discovered was that there were some wooden planks connecting the area they were in to the next area that would take them to the area they met the other Artisans dragons in some time ago. It was like one of the dragons that called Town Square home had placed the planks down for whenever the three of them came to visit, so they didn't have to ask for assistance every time they visited this realm, but they were happy to see this, as it allowed them to move forward without having to wait for someone to come along and find them. Once they realized that there were makeshift walkways for them to use, so they could walk around Town Square without needing assistance all the time, Spyro walked onto the first wooden walkway and moved forward, where Sparx flew near him as Spike and Ember followed after him, but they kept their eyes open for anything that might tell them what happened to the Artisans dragons or where the fairy might have flown off to.
Thanks to the walkways it didn't take the three of them very long to reach the courtyard that they had been in when they were introduced to the rest of the Artisans dragons, a day that had been incredibly interesting since it gave them the chance to meet the dragons they would be spending a lot of their time interacting with, but when they reached that area Ember paused for a moment and glanced around the area they were in, as something felt off and she didn't want them to walk into a trap.
"Surprise!" a number of voices loudly said at the same time, though at the same time that was when Spyro, Spike, and Ember paused as the air shimmered before their very eyes, which was followed by Nestor and the other Artisans dragons suddenly appearing around them, along with tables, banners, a number of party related items, and three different colored cakes, but what really interested them was that each of the dragons were wearing party hats.
"Um, what's going on?" Spyro asked, as he and his siblings had been worried about the older dragons the moment they discovered that none of them were where they normally were, but now he was confused as to what was going on right now, even though he could tell that Ember was sure that this was another lesson of some kind and Spike was interested in what might happen next.
"This is a party to celebrate your first birthday." Nestor explained, because based on the expressions on Spyro, Spike, and Ember's faces he knew that they were caught off guard by what had happened, especially since he and the other Artisans dragons had been keeping this a secret from the trio for a long time, before deciding that there was something he needed to tell them before they moved onto the main event, "A birthday is the anniversary of the day someone was born, as one year ago today the three of you were born in Stone Hill, hatching from your eggs to be exact, which means that all three of you are exactly one year old and that this party is to celebrate that fact."
"Okay, that's interesting," Spike said, as he had read about this sort of thing once or twice in the past, about there being days where a dragon celebrated the day they were born, but his knowledge about this sort of day was incomplete, which meant that he'd have to do more research on it in the future, before he thought of something, "but where did you guys come from? This entire courtyard was empty a few moments ago, but now it's full with dragons, tables, and all the party items you've brought with you."
"That's because the spell I used hid us from your sight," a voice answered, though as Spyro and his siblings turned their heads for a moment they watched as Titan, Cosmos, Bruno, and Lateef appeared out of thin air, just like the others had done a few seconds ago, before Cosmos held up a small blue sphere in his right hand, which stopped glowing as the trio focused on it, "We wanted to surprise you for your first birthday, both the Artisans dragons and the Leaders that watch over the Dragon Realms, so we worked together to plan this entire party out, all so it would be a total surprise for the three of you when the day of your birthday arrived."
"So, what are we going to do today?" Ember asked, as she still believed that there might be a lesson lurking in the shadows and she wanted to be prepared for whatever the Leaders had prepared for her and her siblings, all while wondering if this was like the day they went to Dragon Shores, where she was wrong about what Nestor and the others had planned for them.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there aren't any lessons today." Titan said, because he and the others knew that Ember was smart and believed that anything new was a potential lesson from him and the other Leaders, which had to be because of the fact that Nestor had started teaching them when they were only three months old, and he was sure that she would realize that not everything was a lesson, before he gestured to the tables for a moment, "Today is a day where we gather together, have fun, eat cake, and open some presents... any potential lessons can wait for another day."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember were a little surprised by how excited Titan sounded, as he made it sound like this was going to be an interesting day, so they remembered the fun they had at Dragon Shores and decided that they might as well see what was going on, as this was another new experience for them and they were eager to see what Nestor and the others had prepared for them. It appeared that they had a few games they could play to pass the time, where one of them involved wrapping a cloth around their eyes to temporarily blind them while they carried a small pin with a paper tail on it, a game they called 'Pin the tail on the sheep', and what interested all three of them was the fact that some of the other dragons would offer instructions so they could stay near the poster that was connected to the game. All three of them found that it was hard to move without tripping over themselves, but they had to admit that it was fun to blindly wander around the area until they believed that they were near the spot the poster rested in, even if all three of them managed to pin their tails close to the center of the poster, once again meaning that none of them was the clear winner, though they simply laughed at that and moved onto the next game. The next game was something that Thomas called 'Musical Statues', where he explained that everyone was free to dance as he played his music, but when he stopped for a second or two everyone that was participating in the game had to freeze for a few seconds, otherwise they would be knocked out of the game until a winner was determined.
The trio found it to be an interesting game, even if they got caught up in the melody that Thomas was playing and just so happened to be the first ones eliminated from the first game, but that was fine with them, as they had no experience with this game and got a front row seat as they watched the older dragons continue playing. When the second game came around they did much better, as they lasted a few rounds and watched a few of their elders get eliminated from the game, even though they were caught as well at some point, but all three of them determined that it didn't matter if they won or lost, as this was supposed to be a time of fun and they were happy to have another day off. After a few attempts at that game Thomas decided to take a break, which made sense considering he was the one that was playing the music for them to follow along with and that he needed to have a few moments to himself, though that was when Devlin showed off the cakes that he had made for this occasion. The cakes were large enough for everyone to have multiple slices of them, as each cake was a third of the width of the portals that connected the realms to the main hub of each land, but before they started cutting up the cakes Nestor informed the trio that they needed to blow out the candles of their cakes and make a wish, which made them pause for a few seconds before facing the cakes on the tables, as Bruno helped them onto a pair of chairs so they could actually be level with the cakes.
Each of them took a moment to stare at the candles that were in front of them, one on each cake to symbolize how old they were, before they took a deep breath and blew on the candles, though what interested them was that they spotted a spark or two fly out of their mouths and miss the cakes, before they glanced at Nestor and the others after the candles were extinguished.
"It's okay, no harm was done to the cakes," Nestor said, which caused Devlin to step forward and start cutting into the three cakes that were sitting in front of them, so the slices could be distributed to the dragons around them, before he focused on what they had seen, since this was common for young dragons to do, "It's common for young dragons to accidentally express the ability to breathe fire by letting out a few sparks, and sometimes a little smoke, when they reach being one year old, so you won't have to worry about setting anything on fire anytime soon... even though we'll teach you how to control yourself and learn how to wield this ability."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember knew that the ability to breathe fire was one of the skills that all dragons knew, no matter which homeworld they belonged to, and had known, due to Spike's studies, that one day they were going to learn this skill and master it over a few years, just like all dragons did, so they weren't too surprised when Nestor told them the news that they'd have lessons about this in the future and focused on what was right in front of them. They discovered that the cakes were covered in a strawberry frosting and tasted incredible, at least it tasted that way to Spyro and his siblings, and all of the other dragons found the flavor to be to their liking as well, which brought a smile to Devlin's face as he found that everyone liked the cakes that he had prepared for this event. Even Sparx, Talon, and Cinder had a little of the cake, as in they nibbled on part of the slices that their friends had been given, and they enjoyed the flavor as well, as all three of them had never had anything like it in the past, which pleased Devlin in the process, to hear that even dragonflies liked the set of cakes that he had made. When all of the cakes were dealt with, and there weren't any leftover pieces scattered around the courtyard, showing the trio just how well everyone liked what Devlin made, Nestor revealed that there was more more thing they needed to do before they went their separate ways, and that was the presents that Spyro, Spike, and Ember would be receiving.
Nestor laid a few boxes in front of the trio, each wrapped up and labeled with the name of the one that it was being given to, before backing away so he could join the others and let them open the gifts that they were being given, causing the trio to approach the boxes as they wondered what was inside of them. Ember decided to open her box first, though she was surprised to find four metal items inside it, where Titan revealed that they were metal bracers for her legs, to protect her in the future, almost as if he was expecting her to need something like this when she was older, but she was fine with such a gift, especially since they would grow with her and, when she matured into an adult dragon, she'd be able to replace them with the sort of armor that he and the other Peace Keepers wore, if she wanted to anyway. Spike found some interesting items in his box, as it appeared that the scholars of Dark Hollow had the perfect gift for him, which was a set of nice quills, a pair of inkwells, and a few tomes, though upon opening one of the tomes he discovered that it was empty, meaning that, at some point in the future, his friends were eager to see what he wrote about, making him smile as he started to wonder how he was going to carry his materials with him now. Spyro, despite being the last one to move towards his box, was just as eager as his siblings were and opened his present without delay, where he found a red scarf waiting for him, though what was hidden beneath the scarf was a book that detailed a number of pranks that some of the dragons had pulled in the past, since settling in the Dragon Realms, which caused him to wonder if it had anything good inside it or if he should return it in a week or two.
In the end Spyro decided to push that thought away as Nestor showed him how to wear the scarf he had been given, just as Titan helped Ember with her 'armor', but they both smiled as Spike joined them, because they were having fun and that was what truly mattered at the moment.
After their first birthday party, which had been something they weren't expecting and had enjoyed almost as much as their time on Dragon Shores, the first thing that Spyro and his siblings did was carry their gifts back to where they slept, the courtyard of Stone Hill. Of course they encountered a problem immediately, as both he and Spike had books that would make it hard for them to walk, so what happened was that Nestor picked up the items that they couldn't carry at the moment and walked behind them as they returned to the area they called home. Nestor was more than happy to help them out, since he should have expected someone giving Spike his writing materials and the empty tomes, meaning they should have gotten him a satchel to carry all of his stuff in, but for now that was something they could give him in the future, to use until he matured into an adult dragon. He was also sure that Sparx would be able to help Spyro for some time, carrying the book he had gotten until Spyro was ready to sit down and look at what was inside it, but for right now he simply smiled as he followed the three young dragons as they headed back to Stone Hill, where he could put the books down once they reached the area they slept in.
Ember, of course, was the only one that didn't need assistance in carrying her gifts, as Titan had shown her how to wear the bracers that were currently on her legs, and she seemed incredibly happy with what she had been given, while Nestor also noticed one other thing, and that was the fact that Spyro liked the scarf he had been given as well. Spike didn't seem to mind that he was the only one that didn't have something to wear, rather he seemed incredibly happy about the gifts he had received, which Nestor knew would please the dragons of Dark Hollow to no end, as they enjoyed having him around and were happy to pass their knowledge to someone else, especially since Spike was incredibly interested in what they were doing with their library. In fact Nestor knew that Spike was interested in opening one of the empty tomes and start writing whatever was on his mind, whenever he had the inspiration to write something down, and he was interested in seeing what sort of stories the young dragon wrote, even if the dragons of Dark Hollow would be the first ones to see whatever Spike wrote in the future.
It only took them a few minutes to reach their destination, since they went from Town Square, head back to the Artisans homeworld, and then used the Stone Hill portal to reach their destination, where Spyro and his siblings moved out as Nestor set their gifts near the area the three young dragons slept in... and, while they were distracted by what they had been given, he turned around and left them to whatever they were doing as he stepped back through the whirlwind that took him back to the main hub of the land he watched over.
"They seem to like their gifts." a voice commented, to which Nestor turned his head and found Bruno and the other Leaders standing near the portal to Stone Hill, as they knew that he would have left the three young dragons alone to relax and enjoy the rest of the day, after helping them carry their gifts to the area they slept in, without him or someone else bothering them, and he knew that it was Bruno that had spoken.
"Indeed they are," Nestor replied, as they had seen how the three young dragons had taken to the gifts they had received, even though he wasn't entirely sure who had decided to give Spyro the book he had received, before he glanced at his fellow Leaders once more, as there was something they needed to determine before they went their separate ways and returned to their duties, "Friends, I believe that it's time we start showing Spyro, Spike, and Ember the rest of the Dragon Realms, to show them how the other types of dragons live in comparison to my fellow Artisans dragons, what the other types do for a living, and maybe start teaching them all the other skills that they'll need in the future."
"You mean rolling to dodge attacks, charging at their foes, and how to breathe fire?" Titan inquired, because those were some of the common skills that all dragons learn when they're young, even if they were born an Artisans dragon for example, though Nestor and his fellow Artisans were peaceful and usually forgot the basics after a few years as they focused on whatever profession they chose to dedicate their life to.
"Not to mention seeing what sort of magic Spike and Ember have access to," Cosmos added, as that was something he was interested in, because if he taught the pair how to wield their inner magic, or at least taught them like they were Magic Crafters, he might get some insight into how they suddenly appeared in the courtyard that Spyro's egg was resting in and might actually figure out where they came from, "as well as the various things that Bruno and Lateef want to teach the three young dragons about. I daresay that we will have our hands full teaching them for the next few years, to help all three of them grow into the heroes that Argus and the others discovered in the tomes that spoke of the purple dragons... even if those only speak of one purple dragon, instead of two and a blue dragon."
"Agreed." Nestor said, because they all knew what Cosmos was referring to, especially since they had that meeting to talk about the purple dragons shortly before the explosion that signaled the arrival of Spike and Ember, before he came to a decision on what they should do first, "Titan, do you think you can spare some time, say a week from today? I think we should let the trio visit the Peace Keepers homeworld first, since it is the closest of the other four lands we watch over, and then determine when they should see the others, after getting a chance to see you and your friends in action, be that training with each other or whatever else you guys do all day long."
"Sure. I'm positive I can set aside some time for them to visit." Titan replied, though the truth of the matter was that he and the other Peace Keepers dragons spent their days practicing and improving their skills, just like all of the other types of dragons that lived across the Dragon Realms, because the last 'threat' they had faced was Gnasty Gnorc and he hadn't done anything since being banished to the Junk Yard, so he was sure he could find some time for the trio and Nestor when they arrived.
Nestor, on the other hand, knew that it was time for the trio to see the rest of the Dragon Realms, even if it was one land every couple of days or weeks, and he suspected that Spyro, Spike, and Ember would be excited by what they saw and who they encountered, so he was looking forward to showing them the lands the rest of the dragons called home and seeing how they got along with everyone else.
For the next six days Spyro, Spike, and Ember did what they usually did, which was pick a place to practice their gliding, even though they had to be near an older dragon in case they hurt themselves in some manner, and they visited the maze once with Lindar as well. In addition to that Spyro spent an hour or two, spread out over the entire week, looking at the book that he had been given and chuckled at some of the things that the pranksters of the past had come up with, and Sparx, upon looking at a few of them as well, buzzed as well, in a way that sounded like he was chuckling, meaning he might have an accomplice if he ever wanted to try one of these pranks or jokes out. Spike continued to spend a good portion of his free time with the dragons of Dark Hollow, once more proving that he was dedicated to being a great scholar, if not one of the greatest the Dragon Realms had ever seen, and the first thing he did was make a list, a very long list, of all the tomes and scrolls that they had in their library, so he could determine which he had already read and which ones he needed to get to, all while looking out for the tomes on the purple dragons, the ones he was really interested in. Ember, however, started to show her interest in the Peace Keepers, especially after Titan gave her the bracers that she started wearing all the time, so she could get used to their weight and not be slowed down by them, and focused on several books that talked about what Titan and the others of his land did for a living, even if they weren't fighting anyone at the moment.
Once those six days went by, however, Nestor came to them on the morning of the seventh day, before they had time to leave Stone Hill and figure out what they wanted to do with the day, but what surprised him was that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were all eager to see what he had to tell them.
"I know you are eager to get back to your gliding practice and maybe running the maze again, but I have something different in mind for the three of you today." Nestor said, which came as a surprise to Spyro and Spike, since they were so used to what they had been doing so far, while Ember seemed ready to hear whatever news he had to tell them, "Today we're going to visit the homeworld of the Peace Keepers, where Titan will be taking a few hours out of his busy day to show you around the hub area, maybe show you a realm or two, and introduce you to several of the dragons that call his land home... and maybe he'll even spend a few moments teaching you the basics of how young dragons fight."
Ember, upon hearing that they were going to the homeworld that Titan watched over, just like Nestor watched over the Artisans homeworld, got up from where she and her siblings were sitting, made sure that her bracers were on the way Titan had shown her, and immediately headed for the whirlwind exit so she could leave Stone Hill. Spyro and Spike glanced at each other for a few moments before realizing that their sister was already on the move, which allowed Nestor the chance to see Spike using the satchel that Argus had given him a day or two ago, to make carrying his writing materials easier, something that had a belt that was wrapped around his waist, or at least the waist area of a young dragon. Spike made sure that he had everything he might need, no doubt so he could attempt to take notes on what he saw, before he and Spyro headed in the direction that Ember went in, causing Nestor to chuckle as he followed after them, where the three of them walked into the whirlwind and disappeared from Stone Hill, only to reappear in the hub area they were used to seeing all the time. They found Ember standing near the portal, as she realized that she had no idea where she was supposed to go to get to the Peace Keepers homeworld, and had waited for Nestor and her siblings to catch up, since Nestor knew what they were doing, though the moment they emerged from the portal she joined them as Nestor turned to his right and followed the path that would lead him right to the dock, which was where one of the Balloonists would be waiting for him and the three young dragons.
At the dock the trio discovered a short person that was around a third of Nestor's height, who happened to be wearing what appeared to be leather gloves, a white shirt with brown pants, a dark brown belt around the waist area, black shoes, and was wearing an aviator's hat on their head with a red scarf over their face, pretty much preventing them from determining anything about the person from what they were seeing... and behind the person, resting on the dock, was a large wooden basket that was attached to the massive balloon above them.
"Marco, it's good to see you again." Nestor said, though at the same time he came to a stop in from of the person that was in front of them, causing Spyro and his siblings to do that as well, since they had no idea what was going on, even though they were curious as to what Marco did for a living.
"It's good to see you again as well, Nestor." the person, Marco, replied, which gave the trio the chance to realize that the person was male based on the voice that came from under the scarf, before he glanced at them for a second and seemed to smile, as it was impossible to determine whether he was smiling or if his scarf had moved, "These must be the three young dragons you told me about... Spyro, Spike, and Ember, if I remember what you told me."
"Indeed we are." Spyro replied, though he knew that he and his siblings had no idea who Marco was, since Nestor and the other Artisans dragons hadn't mentioned anything about him in the past, before they glanced at their elder, as they were curious as to what they were doing out here and knew that Nestor would be able to tell them whatever they needed to know, "So, um, how are we going to get to the Peace Keepers homeworld?"
"We're going to use Marco's hot air balloon," Nestor answered, where he gestured to the basket that was behind the man in front of them, though he noticed that the trio glanced at the basket and tilted their heads, no doubt seeing that it was large enough for the three of them and Marco and were trying to figure out how all five of them were going to fit into the basket, "Since the three of you can't fly yet, and won't be able to until you mature into being an adult dragon, the only way for you to get from one homeworld to another is to have one of the Balloonists, which Marco is, transport you to your destination, which is slightly slower than flying, but it's the only way the three of you will be able to get to the Peace Keepers homeworld right now. I know all three of you are curious as to how we'll fit in the basket, but you won't have to worry about me taking up so much space, as I'll be flying near the hot air balloon the entire time and answer any questions you have before we reach our destination."
Marco nodded his head and assisted the trio as they climbed into the basket, as he could tell that they were eager to see what Nestor had in store for them, and when all three of them were sitting inside the large basket he climbed in as well and pulled on a chain, which caused the fire above them to ignite and allowed the balloon above them to rise into the air before the basket followed it. Nestor smiled as the hot air balloon took off and Marco directed it to the north, where the Peace Keepers homeworld was located, before he opened his wings and took to the sky, so he could catch up with the balloon and the precious cargo that it was carrying at the moment. Spyro, Spike, and Ember, on the other hand, stared out at the area that surrounded them and watched as the Artisans homeworld slowly disappeared behind them, allowing them to focus on the area they were heading towards, as Nestor knew that they were eager to see the homeworld of the Peace Keepers at long last. Since it would take some time for them to reach their destination, something that the trio realized after a few more minutes, Nestor informed the trio that the Balloonists were friends of the dragons and often assisted them in transporting things between the five homeworlds, including taking things to the Junk Yard when they needed to dispose of something, which wasn't common these days.
He knew that the trio was excited for what they were going to see when they arrived at the homeworld the Peace Keepers called home, since this would be the first time they would be seeing somewhere that wasn't the lands that the Artisans dragons called home, and he was also certain the Peace Keepers were eager to meet them.
It took them around an hour to reach the edge of the Peace Keepers homeworld, which Nestor informed the trio was because of the fact that it was the closest to the island that the Artisans dragons called home, though as they got closer to their destination Spyro, Spike, and Ember discovered that it, like their own home, was located on an island as well, one that looked completely different from what they were used to. The main reason for that was because of the fact that the walls surrounding the center of the Peace Keepers home was a large rock wall that was shaped like a circle, which meant that they had either found it this way or had carved out the center for them to live in, but the only way they would know the answer to that question was by asking Titan or one of the other Peace Keepers. As Marco manipulated the balloon so they could descend, preventing them from seeing if this homeworld was like the Artisans, in terms of it being a larger island with the portals leading to other sections of the island, Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at the dock that was below them and spotted an opening that would allow them to enter the land they were visiting. The opening had a pair of wooden doors that reminded the trio of the door in the main area of the Artisans homeworld that separated the main area from where the portal to Dragon Shores was located, and there were two smaller wooden doors that looked like they were covering the window area, or at least an area that someone could look out of.
Standing on the dock below them, in front of the opening, was none other than Titan, the Leader of the Peace Keepers dragons, though he was smiling as the basket finally touched down and Nestor landed beside them, though Titan waited a few moments for Nestor to help the trio out of the basket, along with the items they had brought with them.
"Nestor, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm happy the four of you could make it." Titan said, though as he said that he lifted his axe, which he had been holding in his right hand since the moment he stepped out onto the dock earlier, and rested the back of the weapon's head against his shoulder as he turned towards the chamber that was behind him, "Allow me to give you a tour of the Peace Keepers homeworld, along with one of the realms that we have access to, and maybe some of my fellow warriors, who have been waiting to meet all three of you since I first told them about you."
Spike would have been surprised by that statement, but he knew that both he and Spyro were special to the dragons of the Dragon Realms, no doubt because they were purple dragons, and that Titan had told his friends about them and Ember when they were born, just like the other Leaders did, so he wasn't all that surprised by the statement and nodded his head as he and his siblings followed Titan out into the main area of the Peace Keepers homeworld. On the other side of the chamber the group discovered that this homeworld was completely different from the one they called home, as there weren't any trees to speak of, there were rocks and rock formations scattered everywhere, and what they were walking on seemed to be sand instead of solid ground. That wasn't everything the group found, as there was also no water to speak of, like the entire area was devoid of it, but what filled the areas water would have been in was a dark purple substance that Spike knew had to be dangerous, especially since Ember seemed to be thinking the same thing, which only made him wonder what they were seeing at the moment. What interested them was the fact that there were a few tents scattered everywhere, though at the moment there didn't seem to be any dragons in the main area of this homeworld, which wasn't that much of a surprise since the Artisans dragons only came to the hub of their homeworld when they wanted some inspiration, when they wanted to use a portal, or when they were using the dock.
"What is that dark ooze?" Spyro asked, as he knew that he and his siblings had never seen anything like it before and knew that Titan, or one of the other Peace Keepers, likely knew what the substance was, which would be a good time for them to learn about it, before they got hurt.
"Tar. We found several pits of the stuff when we first made this place our home," Titan replied, where he stopped for a second and glanced at the tar that was near them, remembering the first and last time he had touched it, before shaking his head as he resumed walking and heard the others following after him, which was good since he was taking them somewhere else, "I'd recommend not touching the stuff at all, as it's quite painful when you come into contact with it and the area in question will hurt for a good week before the pain starts to die down."
"Right, don't fall into the tar or touch it." Spike commented, though while he was curious as to why the Peace Keepers didn't try to remove the tar with buckets or carts, unless there was a massive spring of it somewhere on the island that they were trying to find so they could stop it at the source, he decided to focus on a more important question, "So, is this entire place a desert, or is there something we aren't seeing?"
"The main area of the Peace Keepers homeworld is a desert canyon," Titan said, as he knew that Spike had a few questions and would speak them, so he could understand what was going on and learn more about this land, before he thought of something else to tell the group, despite the fact that Nestor knew what he was going to say, "normally we don't spend a lot of our time in the main hub area, since there's really nothing here for us, but we do have a few training sessions here from time to time. We mostly spend our time in Dry Canyon, Cliff Town, Ice Cavern, Trondo's training grounds, and a few other realms that are accessible by the other portals that we have, sort of like how the Artisans have that area that their portal to Dragon Shores in located in."
"I assume that Ice Cavern is where you get the water you need?" Ember inquired, as that sounded like a reasonable conclusion to come to, that if they didn't have water up here, due to the conditions that the main area of the homeworld was stuck with, they would be able to harvest the ice from the cavern and convert what they take into the water they drink, before thinking of something else, "Who's this Trondo you mentioned?"
"Indeed, we get the majority of our water from the Ice Cavern, though sometimes we have to trade with the other homeworlds for what we need," Titan replied, though he could tell that Spike was nodding his head at the same time that Ember had spoken, showing that he must have come to the same conclusion that his sister had reached, before his smile widened a little as he considered what he should tell the group, "Trondo, on the other hand, is one of the best warriors that I have had the pleasure of working with... think of him as the Nevin of the Peace Keepers."
Spyro and Spike glanced at their sister for a moment, finding that she was smiling at the thought that they might be meeting Trondo, because Nevin was an Artisans dragon that the others looked up to, regardless if they were a painter or followed one of the other professions, which meant that Trondo was a big shot in this land. As they turned to the right of the rock structure that Titan was walking by, however, that was when the trio noticed that they had been wrong about there being no dragons in the hub area, as they spotted a dragon with a large belly standing on top of a hill, where Titan informed them that the reddish-orange scaled dragon was Magnus and he was a wrestler, hence the rope belt with armor plates that he was wearing around his waist. Off in the distance was a sickly-green scaled dragon, who Titan promised the trio wasn't sick with anything, as that was just the coloration of his scales, though he had a large spikes on his head and his wings were a little tattered, showing that he was one of the older soldiers, and Titan identified him as Gunnar, before he jumped over a small gap that separated them from the portal to Trondo's training grounds, something that he found the trio being able to get over thanks to Nestor's assistance.
When the group stepped through the portal and appeared on the other side, at the start of a path that Titan informed them would take them right to the entrance of the area that Trondo was in, Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that the sky was in a state of twilight and that there appeared to be an eclipse happening here, where Titan explained that it wasn't a natural eclipse, as there was something special about this place that caused the event to happen, which happened to be one of the reasons that Trondo built his training grounds here. What the trio discovered was that the path ended in front of a large stone pillar and the opening to the area that Trondo had to be in, before finding out that the way up to the entrance was by one of the whirlwinds that they used to get on top of the tower they did their gliding practice on, before walking down a few steps. After reaching the bottom step the trio got a good look at Trondo's training grounds, which seemed to be three separate platforms that were on three different levels, leading to the exit whirlwind, and they had wooden bridges, the type that could be rolled up, connecting them. Standing in the center of the first platform was a dark yellow scaled dragon, with an orange colored chest, that had scaly dreadlocks and was wearing a red bandana, a brown feather-rimmed cloth around his waist and upper legs, and had two straps running across his chest like an x, which appeared to hold his style of weapon, daggers from the looks of it.
It was clear that, since he was the only dragon around, that this was Trondo, the greatest warrior that Titan had ever worked with, and it appeared that he had finished up whatever training he was doing by the time they arrived, as the moment they came to a stop he huffed and stepped off the platform, though he picked up a towel and wiped away any sweat and dust that had come from his training.
"Titan, Nestor, it's a honor for you to come to my training grounds," Trondo said, though at the same time he glanced down at the trio that was with the two Leaders, as it was uncommon for him to even see young dragons, before he recalled what he and the other Peace Keepers had learned a little over a year ago, "So, these must be the trio you were telling me about earlier, the two purple dragons and one blue dragon that everyone has been waiting for. So, when are you planning on starting their training?"
"Considering that they are only one year old, I don't think they'll be starting for another year or two," Nestor replied, as he knew that starting too early could have serious consequences for a young dragon, even though that might not be entirely true for a purple dragon and someone like Ember, but he wasn't willing to take the chance, and he could tell that both Ember and Trondo were a little disappointed by what he said, "but maybe you or Titan could show them a thing or two, to show them what they should expect in the future?"
"You mean show them how a young dragon fights?" Trondo inquired, where he seemed to think about the notion of practicing something that he hadn't bothered to use for a long time, since Ember was sure he had switched to a different style when he matured into an adult, before shrugging for a moment as he laid his towel down, "Sure, I'm game. You should watch from the second platform, that way you'll be able to see what we do quite easily."
Ember was quick to move, as she was interested in seeing what happened, and her brothers quickly followed after her as Nestor walked behind them, though as they climbed up onto the top of the platform in question both Trondo and Titan set their weapons aside and dropped down to all fours, just like Nestor had done when he showed them had to glide. The pair remained in that position for a few seconds, no doubt to give them a chance to remember the lessons they had been taught when they were younger, before Trondo charged at Titan with the intent of knocking him off the platform by ramming his head into his target, indicating that this was a charge attack. Titan, on the other hand, responded by rolling out of the way, as in he rolled his body to the right like someone would roll around while they were sleeping, avoiding the charge entirely as Trondo went racing towards the edge of the platform, only to slow himself down rather quickly before turning around so he could focus on his opponent. Titan used that opportunity to take a deep breath and then released a burst of flames from his mouth, the same type of thing Spyro, Spike, and Ember had seen several of the Artisans dragons use from time to time, meaning that this was the ability that Nestor had told them about a week ago, the ability to breathe fire, even though they were impressed when Trondo rolled out of the way and avoided the attack.
While the two dragons tried to hit each other Nestor noticed that Ember was entirely focused on what was happening before her eyes and both of her brothers, while not being as excited as their sister, were interested in seeing what they would be learning in the future, so he smiled and focused on the match, as he knew the trio would impress Titan in the future, once he determined that they were ready for his training.
After watching Titan and Trondo show off a few moves that the three of them would be learning when they were older, so they could fight like all the other dragons did when they were younger, Spyro, Spike, and Ember wondered if they would be continuing their exploration of the Peace Keepers homeworld and realms. Part of the reason was because Trondo's realm was interesting and they were curious what the others looked like, especially since there was an area called the Ice Cavern, where the Peace Keepers got their water and some of the items that they traded with the other types of dragons. The instant the practice session was over Trondo offered Titan one of his spare towels and they both wiped themselves down, showing the trio that staying in the stance that a young dragon had, as in running on all fours like that, caused the pair to sweat a little, before Trondo moved again. What he was doing was walking towards the bridges that would take them right up to where the exit whirlwind was, indicating that they were heading back to the main area of the land he called home, and while he was doing that Titan picked up both his axe and Trondo's dagger, which he threw through the air. Ember and her brothers were amazed as the warrior in front of them turned his body and avoided the weapon, before snatching it out of the air and slipped it into one of the pouches that his straps had, so he knew where it would be and could draw it if he actually needed it.
Titan, upon seeing that his friend's weapon was delivered to it's owner, opened his wings and flew over to where the trio and Nestor were standing, since they had paused when he hurled Trondo's dagger through the air, though the instant he landed he closed his wings and walked with the group as they started moving again.
"You know you could have just flown up here and handed him the dagger." Nestor commented, though his attention was on Titan at the moment, as there were times where he was sure the Leader of the Peace Keepers liked to freak him out with some of the stunts he pulled, but so far all he was succeeding in doing was making Ember interested in what else he and the others could show her, not that he was surprised at this point.
"We're Peace Keepers, remember? We're supposed to live dangerously and risk our lives to make sure all of our kind are kept safe from whatever dangers are lurking in the shadows." Titan stated, where his tone indicated that he and Trondo had done this sort of thing in the past and had perfected the motions so neither of them got hurt, something that they had to learn when they first started their training, though he also knew that it was a lesson that he would have to teach the three young dragons when it was time for them to start their own training, "Not that there are any threats for us to worry about at the moment, but it never hurts to be ready in case Gnasty Gnorc decides to try something, or sends whatever forces he has to attack us."
"Of which there are none at the moment." Trondo added, as he knew that there were a few Peace Keepers dragons that kept their eyes on the Junk Yard, the home of the being that Titan had mentioned, and none of the scouts had seen any military movement from their defeated foe, but it never hurt to keep an eye on things.
"True, but it never hurts to make sure he's contained in the Junk Yard." Titan replied, though once he said that he knew that it was time for them to stop talking about Gnasty Gnorc, since there was no reason for them to worry Spyro, Spike, and Ember about a foe they knew nothing about, even if Spike might have found a reference or two about him in the Dark Hollow library.
Spyro tilted his head for a moment, as this was the first time he was learning about this sort of thing, before turning to look at Spike, who shrugged and indicated that it wasn't all that important at the moment, showing that he knew a little about the area and would likely be researching it in the near future, just like everything else he had discovered today. At the same time he could tell that Ember wasn't too interested in the Junk Yard, no doubt because she was still focused on what Titan and Trondo had shown them earlier, causing Spyro so mentally sigh as they followed the three older dragons through the desert and headed back to where they had left Marco. As the group walked back to the dock the trio found that Magnus and Gunnar, who they had seen earlier, before traveling to Trondo's training grounds, had gone somewhere else and there was no one in the main area they were walking through, which meant that they wouldn't be stopped by one of the other Peace Keepers dragons. What interested the trio was the fact that, when they reached the dock, they found that Marco was standing in front of his hot air balloon, as they assumed he would have left the area the moment Titan lead them into the chamber that was connected to the dock, and, at the same time, they noticed that there were a few boxes resting nearby and appeared to be tied to the bottom of the balloon.
The trio glanced at each other for a moment, as they were surprised that the Peace Keepers dragons actually had some items to trade with the Artisans dragons, or were sending them something they had asked for in the past, and found that Nestor wasn't all that surprised to see the boxes, meaning that he must have made the arrangement at some point before they came here, so they decided not to worry about it and started to climb back into the basket.
"I know the visit was short, but Nestor didn't want to overwhelm you during your first visit to our homeworld," Titan said, where he and Trondo stood near the basket and watched as Marco and Nestor assisted the trio in climbing into the area they would be sitting in for the next hour, something that he knew the three young dragons wouldn't need any assistance with when they were older.
"Well, you know how excited they can get when they discover something new." Nestor replied, as he had seen how excited the trio had been when he showed them how to glide for the first time, which had been replicated the first time he showed them the maze and when they visited Dragon Shores, so he knew that it was for the best, otherwise one of them would try to start learning how to fight before they were ready.
"We had fun, seeing what the Peace Keepers homeworld looked like," Ember added, because she knew that Titan would appreciate hearing something from her and her siblings, while at the same time she considered what they had seen since arriving some time ago, though it wasn't hard to focus on something specific, "and I enjoyed seeing you and Trondo show us a sample of what we'll be learning in the future."
"It was nice learning about someplace else for a change." Spike said, though as he said that he thought about the tar pits they had seen during their visit, along with the fact that the Peace Keepers didn't actually live in the central area of their homeworld, rather they lived in the various realms that their portals lead to, but since it appeared that they were fine with this arrangement he decided it wasn't worth asking the question, especially since he could research it when they got back to their own homeworld.
"And it was neat seeing other dragons as well, even if we only got to meet one of them." Spyro stated, as he knew that the Peace Keepers had been waiting for the day they would come and visit, based on how Trondo acted when they arrived at his training grounds, which made him curious as to how the other types of dragons would react when he and his siblings came by for a visit in the future.
"It was nice meeting the three of you as well." Trondo replied, as he was happy to hear the the trio enjoyed their brief visit to both the Peace Keepers homeworld and his own personal training grounds, before he smiled as he thought about what the future held for them, especially since he could tell how excited one of the young dragons was right now, "I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in the future, when you're older, so we can start your combat training and teach you how to defend yourselves and defeat your opponents."
Nestor knew that it was only a matter of time until they came back to this homeworld and the trio started learning how to fight, it was only a matter of time, but instead of saying anything Marco turned on the fire and the hot air balloon lifted into the air, where he bid farewell to both Titan and Trondo before taking to the air as well. He suspected that the trio would have questions for him, where Spyro and Ember would likely ask him about something they had seen while Spike might consult the library of Dark Hollow for answers, but what surprised him was the fact that all three of them were starting to doze off. He guessed that the flight from one homeworld to the next was only exciting the first time around, since it was so different from anything they had seen so far, and suspected that the trio was going to rest up before they got back to the island they called home, though due to them leaving early he knew that there would be some time before lunch, so they wouldn't be hungry when they returned. Out of the three of them he suspected that Ember might try and replicate what she had seen earlier, when the two Peace Keepers dragons had shown off a few moves to her and her siblings, but for right now his only task was to make sure that Marco and the balloon returned to the Artisans homeworld with the trio inside the basket and the boxes that were hanging below it, since they contained a few items he had asked Titan for, items that had nothing to do with training.
The items inside the boxes were for the other Artisans dragons, specific items that some of them worked with and just so happened to be running low on before this visit, so he was able to get what his fellow Artisans needed and let the trio see another homeworld at the same time, before he shook his head and focused on his flying, even though he was sure nothing was going to happen during this flight.
It took them around an hour to reach the Artisans homeworld, the same amount of time it took them to reach Titan's island earlier that morning, and the sound of Nestor landing on the dock, along with the sound of the boxes touching down a few seconds later, was more than enough to cause Spyro, Spike, and Ember to wake back up. As soon as the basket moved to the side, so it wasn't on top of the boxes, Nestor made sure to help the trio out of the basket and watched as they moved out of the way, by heading up to the chamber that was in front of them, which was perfect timing as Nils, Thor, and a few other Artisans dragons walked down the dock and approached him. This gave the trio a chance to see what was inside the boxes, which just so happened to be chunks of stone, slabs of clay, and a few other items that they used in their professions, though there were a few crystals inside one of the boxes, not like the gemstones they had seen in the past, which Nestor covered up for now, so they could be transported to their destination without delay. Delbin, who was among the dragons at the dock, offered to help Nestor and picked up the box, which was half the size of the others, before heading towards the chamber the trio was standing in, where he nodded to them as he walked by and headed out into the open area, though what interested the trio was that he took to the air a few seconds later and headed over the large wooden gate, meaning it was a delivery to a realm they hadn't been to before.
Nestor could see that the trio was interested in what was going on, and that they were slightly confused by something they had seen, so as Marco took off, after all the boxes were untied from his basket, he let the other Artisans dragons take what they had asked for as he walked over to where the trio was standing.
"What's with all the crystal?" Spike asked, as he was curious about the contents of the box of crystal that Delbin had taken off with, because that was the first time he and his siblings had seen that sort of thing in this homeworld and were wondering why Titan would have given Nestor that sort of thing.
"Cosmos is interested in acquiring a few more crystal balls and polished stones," Nestor replied, causing the trio to turn and look at him for a second, though as he continued walking towards the area Stone Hill's portal was in he could hear the trio following after him, as they were interested in learning what else he had to tell them, "so he asked Titan if the Peace Keepers had acquired any crystals that met the size requirements he had, after being molded anyway, and learned that they did have a few crystals they could trade with the Magic Crafters. Of course the crystals needed to be brought to us first, so we could mold the various crystals into what Cosmos asked for, which is why Delbin is transporting them to the dragons that can work with them and transform them into what my friend asked for, though when they're complete I'll be taking them to the Magic Crafters homeworld and hand them over to Cosmos."
"So does that mean we'll be doing with you when you make the delivery?" Spyro inquired, because it appeared that he and his siblings were going to end up visiting the other homeworlds at some point in the future and he was curious as to whether or not they would be with Nestor when he made that trip.
"No, these items will be done in a few days, and I don't want to overwhelm you by visiting so many new locations in such a short period of time." Nestor answered, though at the same time he smiled as they reached their destination, as that was when he turned and looked at the trio for a few seconds, who stopped and looked at him in return, causing him to gesture to the area that was in front of the dragon head that contained the portal to Nevin's castle, "Why don't the three of you go play and relax for an hour or two? I'll come get you when it's time to eat and then, once you've had a chance to eat, I'll tell you what sort of lesson we'll be starting next."
Nestor knew that lessons were what seemed to interest the trio more than anything, at least in regards to Spyro and Ember since Spike's main interest was the library, but the three young dragons understood what he wanted them to do and headed off to the area that he had specified, allowing him to focus on moving everything Marco had brought with them, before doing anything else.
"So, what should we do while we wait?" Spike asked, as he knew that there were a few games he and his siblings could play while they waited for Nestor to finish what he was doing with the other older dragons, or they could sit down and just relax by reading a book, since he had some in mind for Spyro and Ember, but he was curious as to what his brother and sister wanted to do with their free time.
"Do you think we can try the moves that Titan and Trondo were showing off?" Ember replied in kind, her tone showing her brothers that she was still excited about the practice match the two dragons had been in, where they fought like they were young dragons again, and she was eager to see if she and her siblings could charge and dodge like they could, as it would be a great way to show Nestor and the others that the three of them were ready for their combat lessons, "Spyro, do you think you can try to do what they were doing?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure we can pull that off just yet," Spyro answered, as they were only a little over a year old and had just gotten used to walking, running, and jumping, movements that had helped them so far, but everything they had seen in the Peace Keepers world seemed like things that they weren't ready for, though he knew that Ember would keep asking him about this and sighed, "but, since you seem so interested in trying, I guess we can take a few moments to see if we can pull off what they were showing us. Spike, you interested in joining us?"
"Not really, since Nestor told Titan that we would be ready for this when we're older." Spike stated, but since he could tell that his siblings were going to do this anyway, regardless of whether or not he actually tried to assist them, he walked away from where they standing and sat on the ground, though as he removed his satchel he heard some sheep munching on some grass and realized that a few sheep were scattered around the dragon head they were near, including a very odd sheep that was standing by itself.
Ember said nothing as she and Spyro moved into the more open part of the area they were in, away from Spike and the sheep that were there, before they stared at each other as their dragonflies buzzed near their heads, as if they were trying to get them to stop what they were about to do, only to realize that the pair weren't going to change their minds and prepared for whatever was going to happen. As Sparx and Cinder prepared themselves Ember lowered her head a little, indicating that she wanted to try the charging attack she had seen, to which Spyro nodded for a second as he readied himself, because if his sister wanted to attack first then he knew that his only option was to dodge, something he barely knew about and would have to rely on what they had seen earlier to avoid getting hurt. A few seconds later Ember rushed forward and charged at her brother, who stood his ground as Spike observed what was going on, but as she drew near him Spyro decided it was time to move and attempted to roll out of the way, by rolling to his left so he could get out of the way. Of course, since he had no idea how he was supposed to correctly use this technique, Spyro really didn't do much and had moved just a tiny bit from the point he had been standing on, and Ember, seeing that her brother's attempt at dodging didn't work, shifted herself so she could avoid hitting him.
Spike watched as the edge of Ember's right horn made contact with the right side of Spyro's body, though where he expected his brother to get hurt in the process, even if the two only connected for a second or two, something unexpected happened, and that was the fact that Sprax got knocked out of the air... and, at the same time, his yellow coloration changed to blue for a moment, which confused the trio the instant they noticed what had happened.
"SPARX?!" Spyro exclaimed, as this was the first time he and his siblings had seen something like this happen to one of their dragonfly friends, especially since none of them had done anything like this in the past, before he rushed over to where his friend was resting, who was shaking his head as he regained himself, "Are you okay? What happened?"
"Are you guys okay?" a voice asked, where the trio glanced at the opening of the area and found Nestor standing near them, though Spike noticed that he seemed a little concerned, meaning that he knew the importance of the dragonflies, before he noticed what was in front of him and seemed to calm down a little, "Okay, what happened?"
"Please don't be mad, but Ember was eager to see if she could replicate what we saw earlier." Spike spoke up, as he knew that if Spyro or Ember answered they might try to wave this off as nothing happened and that Spyro had overreacted due to something natural happening to Sparx, but the look on Nestor's face indicated that he knew what was going on and he felt that it was okay to tell him the truth, "The edge of her right horn clipped Spyro for a moment, but instead of him taking the hit, since he was the one that got hurt, Sparx was suddenly knocked out of the air and hit the ground, which is why Spyro was so worried the instant it happened."
"I should have known one of you would have tried something like this, especially after our brief visit to the Peace Keepers homeworld," Nestor said, because he had known that Ember was excited by the fact that they had seen a small sample of what they would be learning in the future, when they were older, and now the trio could see why he had told them and Titan why he wanted to wait a few years, before he sighed as he decided that today's lesson would be different from what he was thinking about a few minutes ago, "Okay, I had something else planned for today, but, since all three of you are concerned for Sparx's well-being, I think we'll change topics and focus on your dragonflies once more, and this time teach you why they're so important for a young dragon to have near them until they mature."
He could see that, despite the fact that Sparx was hurt, Spike was interested in hearing what he had to say, based on the items that he pulled out of his satchel, and that both Spyro and Ember were sitting near him, as they were curious as to what he had to tell them, before he held his hand out and Sparx flew up until he was above his palm.
"The bond between a dragonfly and a young dragon is incredibly important, as you learned from your first visit to the maze and the challenge I asked you to complete." Nestor stated, reminding the trio about the first day he brought them to the island that the maze was located on, where Lindar was keeping track of their times, without telling them so they would continue to improve their times and their bodies, and he could see that Spyro, Spike, and Ember remembered the day that he was talking about, "Forming that bond is essential for all young dragons, because your dragonflies will protect you from harm until you mature into adults and you just got a demonstration of that fact, as the bond allowed Sparx to take the hit that Spyro would have taken from Ember's attempt to replicate what you saw earlier this morning. Now, all dragonflies can take three hits before they're knocked out, which will expose all three of you to real damage if any of your partners are knocked out, so if Cinder was hit three times, and was knocked out, Ember would be susceptible to damage, or if Talon was hit three times Spike's defenses would be wide open. I know one of you might be wondering how Sparx, Talon, or Cinder are supposed to recover from this, so they can return to their normal coloration and health, and the answer is quite simple, all you have to do is find a 'fodder' creature and either flame them or charge them."
"What do you mean by 'fodder'?" Spike asked, as this was the first time he had heard the term was confused as to why they would ever address a creature like that, but even then he knew that there had to be a reason behind the term and suspected that Nestor and the other Leaders knew what the meaning was.
"Titan likes to refer to small animals as fodder from time to time, like the sheep of our homeworld or the rabbits that you might see in his homeworld," Nestor replied, though his tone suggested that it wasn't a term that he liked to use all that much, telling the trio that they might as well call the animals by what they were and not the term that Titan used, before he glanced at the white sheep that was standing near them, "Here, let me show you what I mean."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as Nestor turned towards the sheep that was near him and opened his mouth, where he loosed a short burst of fire that covered the sheep for a few seconds, though when he stopped they found that the sheep's wool was gone and that it collapsed before their eyes, but before any of them said anything a yellow butterfly appeared above it, something that caught Sparx's eye as he burst into the air and chased it for a few seconds, before biting into it and caused it to disappear, which caused his coloration to return to normal.
"When a dragonfly is hurt, like Sparx was, doing something like this will release a butterfly for them to eat," Nestor said, though he raised his hand for a moment and the trio watched as Sparx landed on one of his fingers, showing the three young dragons that the dragonfly had recovered his health from what had just happened, while at the same time he could tell that Talon and Cinder were interested in what they had seen, "at the same time it leaves behind the meat, which I'll take to Alvar once we're done here, since he told me that he wanted to add some sheep meat to today's lunch, so this works to his advantage."
"So, we can take three hits before being knocked out?" Spyro inquired, though at the same time he was happy to see that Sparx was alright and that the damage was easy to fix, even though he now understood why Nestor had told Titan they would start their training in a few years.
"Your dragonflies can take three, leaving you with one hit before something knocks you out," Nestor replied, where he could see Spike making note of what they were learning, which was good since he seemed to be the smartest one and hoped that his siblings would ask him about anything they forgot, before he turned his attention back to the lesson that they were having, "The bond between a dragonfly and a young dragon is something that you can see all the time, by just observing the pair in question and seeing how they interact with each other, but it's also magical in nature, hence the reason why Sparx, who I'm guessing wasn't anywhere near Ember's horn, took the blow and went flying. The magic of the bond allows the dragonflies to take any damage that would befall you, leaving you three safe despite them losing a bit of their health in the process, and eating the butterflies allows them to recover any health that they lost, so they can continue to be at your side and help you get through whatever you're trying to get through. In addition to keeping the three of you safe from harm, there is another ability that dragonflies possess, and that's the power to sense where gems are located and point you in the direction they're in, which comes in handy if one of you were given the task to, say, find ten gems and bring them back to a specific point."
"I had no idea Cinder and the others could do all that." Ember commented, and that was the truth, as she and her siblings had never learned what Nestor had just told them, especially Spike for that matter, who was the scholar and had read a fair number of books, as he was surprised by all of this and was making notes for the future.
"Well, I was going to tell you about all of this a few weeks from now, but circumstances forced my hand." Nestor said, though his tone revealed that he wasn't annoyed or upset with the trio, as he expected something like this after visiting Titan's homeworld and seeing a demonstration of what they would be doing in the future, before he turned a little and picked up the sheep he had lightly roasted, "Are there any other questions before we head to Town Square?"
"I do, but it's not about our dragonflies." Spike spoke up, as there was something that had been bothering him since he first spotted it and he felt that now was the best time to ask the question, to which he glanced towards the sheep for a moment and focused on the one he had spotted earlier, "What's so special about that sheep?"
The sheep in question didn't have white wool like the others near it did, rather it had grey wool, it had red colored eyes while it sclera was yellow, and the bell that was around it's neck seemed to be made out of iron, instead of the bronze that went into the bells the other sheep were wearing, and Spike was sure that it had glared at him and his siblings for a few seconds before going back to eating grass.
"Oh, that's Toasty. Argus and the others insisted that we keep him around because he's the only grey sheep that they have seen in a long time," Nestor replied, informing the trio that the sheep in question, Toasty, was a rare specimen and the scholars were either studying him or they were making sure none of the predators from the homeworld he came from could eat him, before he shrugged for a moment, "oh, and if you see him frowning, that's common. We're not sure what he's upset with, since he's got a place to rest, all the food and company he could ask for, and a large area to run around in, but since sheep can't talk we can't figure out what he is unhappy about... maybe the three of you can spend some time with him in the future and see if you can't figure out what he's annoyed about."
Spike wasn't sure if he or his siblings would be able to figure out why Toasty was so unhappy, even though he had the feeling that it might be the name he was given, but for now he put his book and quill back in his satchel before following Nestor and his siblings back to Town Square, knowing that they would learn more about the Dragon Realms in the future and that all three of them were excited to see what the other Leaders had for them to discover.
The days after their visit to the Peace Keepers homeworld were quite interesting in Nestor's eyes, as somethings had changed since Spyro, Spike, and Ember had seen a little of what Titan's land had to offer them, and while he wasn't all that surprised by some of the changes he was caught off guard by a few of them. Spike, for instance, continued his studies under Argus and the other scholars of Dark Hollow, though in addition to what he was already learning he discovered that the young dragon was also looking into what Argus and the others had written on Toasty, combat, and dragonflies, no doubt so he could compare his notes and see if he learned anything new in the process. From what he had heard from Argus all of the scholars had gotten over the shock of seeing a young dragon take on so much rather quickly, as they were overjoyed to see that he was so eager to learn about everything that interested him, and they were more than eager to help him with his studies, in whatever manner they could. Spyro, on the other hand, spent his time running around the Artisans homeworld, playing with Sparx and making sure to learn the various lessons that he and his siblings were learning, while also taking a look at his prank book from time to time as he considered what he wanted to do first.
Ember was the one that surprised him the most, as she had seen that attempting to learn how to charge and how to dodge, without any training in the art of fighting, had nearly resulted in her hurting Spyro and had hurt Sparx instead, which had resulted in the lesson he had taught them, but now she was calmer and seemed to be focusing on her shared lessons for now, patiently waiting for when she and her siblings were ready for their combat lessons.
One thing that interested Nestor was that a week after the dragonfly lesson, while he was relaxing in the central area of his homeworld, he spotted Spyro walking over to where the portal to Nevin's castle was located, with a pair of shears in his mouth, before looking down at his sketchbook and continuing his work on what he was designing. He had no idea what Spyro was doing with a pair of shears, especially since he was sure the dragons that worked with wool didn't need any at the moment and wouldn't need any for the foreseeable future, but decided to push it to the back of his mind as he focused on the building that he was working on. A few minutes later he raised his head again and found both Spyro and Sparx fleeing from the area that they had gone into earlier, which caused him to raise his eyebrow for a second as he wondered what was going on, before hearing some annoyed baaing as Toasty, with the words 'kick me' lightly sheared into his wool. In that moment he determined that Spyro and Sparx must have gone over to the grey sheep and had messed with him a little, showing that Spyro was taking to the prank book and that he had decided that his first target was going to be Toasty, giving the sheep another reason to be grumpy as he wanted for his wool to be restored to what it had been a few minutes ago, and that someone would need to have a word with him at some point in the future.
There were a few more instances of him trying out a few of his pranks, like the time he managed to fill a bucket full of oatmeal and hung it above an open doorway, so that when someone walked through it they would be covered in the stuff, though the prank was ruined when Alvar started to open the door and then turned back to get something, causing the bucket to fall on the floor, and, of course, Spyro was tasked with cleaning up the mess. At first Nestor wasn't sure how the young dragon was able to put the bucket on top of the door, though he then learned that there had been some stones resting near the door in question and that, in turn, had allowed Spyro to pull the bucket up to top stone and set it up for his prank. After trying to prank Toasty, and his failed prank on Alvar, Nestor discovered that Spyro had returned to reading the book as he attempted to come up with something that would work for real, but for the most part he wasn't doing anything with his pranks and was focusing on practicing his gliding, running the maze, and anything else he decided to teach him and his siblings. Spike and Ember, of course, didn't really care that much about the pranks their brother was trying to pull, even though Nestor assumed they were exempt from Spyro's antics, but at the very least neither of them joined Spyro in attempting to prank the other dragons and Toasty, as Nestor was sure that if either of them helped him the pranks would succeed more than they were right now.
The only other thing that interested Nestor was the fact that a few months after their brief visit to the Peace Keepers homeworld, around the six month mark to be exact, Argus informed him that Spike had broken one of his teeth on accident, causing him to drop what he was doing so he could return to Dark Hollow with Argus so he could figure out how this had happened in the first place... though it wasn't long before he arrived at his destination and found Spike sitting near some tomes, with a red gem and several open tomes near him.
"Spike, what happened?" Nestor asked, though at the same time he spotted the broken part of the tooth that Argus had told him about, which was laying on the ground near where Spike was sitting, before he focused on the young dragon, because while losing teeth was common for young dragons, as they grew older, it wasn't common for them to lose one before they got to their second year.
"I... I reached for something to eat, since Argus and the others have some drinks and sugary treats that they enjoy when they're doing their studies, and then I bit into that gem." Spike replied, where he gestured to the red gem for a second, which wasn't marked at all, despite the fact that he had accidentally tried to eat the gem, before he focused on Nestor and the dragons of Dark Hollow, since he was sure that one of the older dragons had something to tell him.
"We were discussing a number of topics that he was interested in, so he wasn't paying attention to what was around him when he reached for the treats we keep nearby and accidentally picked up that gem." Argus added, showing Nestor that all of the dragons that called Dark Hollow home had been had been caught up in having a new scholar with them and none of them had caught the mistake until Spike tried to bite into the gem, before the scholar sighed for a moment, "It's just as much our fault as it is his fault for trying to eat a gemstone."
"It's alright, no harm was done." Nestor said, where he focused on Spike for a moment, as he knew that Argus might be overreacting because of the fact that Spike was one of the purple dragons they had been waiting for, something that he was going to have to address in the future, but for now he needed to calm the young dragon, "Spike, it's okay for young dragons to lose their teeth every now and then as they mature, because their adult teeth will grow in over time and replace what has been lost, and your new teeth will be even stronger than before... though not strong enough to break these gemstones down and allow you to eat them."
"I'm sure they would taste bad anyways," Spike replied, but his mood had improved the moment he learned that losing teeth was natural for young dragons, even if it was painful for him since he accidentally tried to eat a gemstone while he was talking with Argus and the others, which made Nestor smile as well, since he liked seeing Spike and his siblings being happy and enjoying themselves.
Nestor was sure that Spike would tell Spyro and Ember about what happened, meaning neither of them would even attempt the same thing their brother accidentally did, but despite knowing that piece of information he still went out of his way to inform the other two about their teeth and that one day they would be replaced by new teeth, exciting the pair once more, though this time around they didn't do anything foolish like attempt to knock each others teeth out. Of course he knew that they were going to have to sit Spike down at some point and remove the other half of the broken tooth, otherwise he was going to be in pain until it fell out on it's own, before thinking of something that would really excite the trio and make them focus on something that wasn't teeth. It wasn't long before he had a few ideas on what the trio could do in the future, to get them away from the Artisans homeworld, and knew that there were other dragons that would be happy to see them for a change, he just had to make the arrangements for the trip and they would be ready to go.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that the six months since Spike's little accident with the gem, something that they only talked about because they were curious as to what their brother had felt when the tooth was removed, both when he broke it in half and when the other half was carefully removed from his mouth, had gone by rather quick. It didn't take long for Spike to recover from losing one of his teeth, even if it would be a few more months before the replacement grew in, and once that happened he returned to what he had been doing before he broke his tooth, causing his siblings to chuckle a little, as they found it funny that he went back to his studies as if nothing had happened. The three of them also returned to their shared lessons with Nestor and Lindar, continuing to master the art of gliding, running the maze with their dragonflies leading the way, and occasionally seeing the various abilities that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder could use, the ones that Nestor told them about. They couldn't do much with the protection aspect of what the three dragonflies could do, since that would involve fighting and the three of them had learned their lesson when Spyro nearly got hurt, but their ability to pinpoint gems was quite interesting, though none of them were sure what they were supposed to do with this information, even though Spike made a note of it for the future.
Eventually the six months went by and, when the three of them were a little over two years old and were slightly taller than they had been when they were one, they headed to the dock and discovered that Nestor was waiting by the entrance of the passage that would take them to where Marco was standing.
"As the three of you know, today we'll be heading to another homeworld," Nestor said, where he turned around and started to walk down the path that would take them right to where the hot air balloon was waiting, though while he walked he was happy to see that the trio was following him and that they were prepared for what he had to show them, a conclusion he came to because of the satchel that Spike was wearing, "just like a year ago today we visited the Peace Keepers homeworld and you got a taste of what Titan, Trondo, and the other Peace Keepers could offer. What we are going to do today is visit the homeworld that Cosmos watches over, the land of the Magic Crafters, where the three of you will get the chance to see how the magic of this world works, along with the understanding that one day Cosmos will try to teach you how to tap into your own inner magic, just like Titan will teach you how to fight one day."
"How long is the journey?" Spike asked, because he figured that if the trip between the Artisans homeworld and the Peace Keepers homeworld was about an hour, which he learned thanks to their trip a year ago, that the time of this trip would be a little over an hour, though by how much he couldn't say.
"The trip from here to Titan's homeworld is about an hour," a voice said, where they found Marco standing in front of his hot air balloon, which looked like it was ready to go, and he nodded to Nestor as he prepared to answer the question that Spike had asked, even though he and his siblings were focusing on him at the moment, "while the trip from here to Cosmos' homeworld is about an hour and a half... though unlike the homeworlds you've been to so far the realm of the Magic Crafters is near the peak of some mountains. Trust me, it's quite the sight to see."
Spyro glanced at his siblings before climbing into the hot air balloon, again with some assistance since they weren't the size where they could jump in on their own, though once they were all sitting down Marco climbed in and applied some heat so the basket could be lifted into the air. The moment the basket was on it's way to the location of the Magic Crafters homeworld, and had started to leave the Artisans homeworld behind, Nestor opened his wings and caught up with them, where he would continue to keep pace with the hot air balloon until it reached it's destination. While they moved through the air Spike decided that now would be the best time to get the names of the other Balloonists that assisted the dragons in moving things between the five lands that made up the Dragon Realms, where Marco expressed a little surprise at the fact that he would want something like that, before deciding that he could humor Spike. Spike learned that there were six Balloonists in total, with Marco assisting the Artisans dragons, Gosnold working alongside the Peace Keepers, Tuco helping the Magic Crafters, Cray working with the Beast Makers, Amos assisting the Dream Weavers, and finally Hak, who usually helped dragons transport items to the Junk Yard and, at the same time, helped Titan keep an eye on what Gnasty Gnorc was doing, when he wasn't busy anyway.
Ember, while they were talking, focused on the name that had been said, knowing that it belonged to a troublemaker that Nestor and the other Leaders must have dealt with in the past, one who may or may not be active at the moment, before she sighed and focused on the trip, as she knew that Spike would ask about the person in question at some point in the future, just to sate his own curiosity.
Other than asking about the other Balloonists, and learning which of the homeworlds they worked on, there wasn't much else Spyro, Spike, or Ember could do besides read, look out at the clouds, or just rest before they arrived at their destination, which lead to Spyro pulling out his book, which Spike had brought with them, and picked up where he left off so he could see what other pranks had been pulled in the past. Ember, on the other hand, shifted where she was sitting and stared at the area in front of them, as if she was trying to get a glimpse of the Peace Keepers homeworld as they went by, to gain some insight on how to fight before they were supposed to learn anything, leaving Spike to shrug as he reached into his pack and withdrew the tome that Argus had let him take with him to pass the time. Nestor knew that Argus had let Spike take a book that detailed a variety of plants and animals in the five homeworlds, no doubt because it was the next thing that the young dragon wanted to research, but he said nothing as he noticed the smile on Spike's face and focused on his own flying, knowing that he'd be excited by what he and his siblings were going to see when they finally reached the homeworld that Cosmos watched over. He was also sure that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters were eager to meet the trio, just like Titan and the Peace Keepers had been, so he was expecting to see more than a few dragons during their visit, unless they were busy with their work and didn't want to be disturbed, but he knew that he would see how many there were when they arrived at their destination.
It took them close to the hour and a half for them to reach the edge of the Magic Crafters homeworld, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember focused on the area that was just ahead of them and discovered that their next destination was on an island as well, just like the last two homeworlds they had seen so far, but from a distance it seemed to be a large island, one that was larger than their home and Titan's land. It wasn't long before the hot air balloon neared the edge of the large island, which allowed them to stare out at the land that Cosmos watched over, where they quickly discovered that the home of the Magic Crafters was an extravagant palace that seemed to have been built into multiple peaks, all connected by marble walkways and might have marble walls inside the peaks as well. Spyro, Spike, and Ember could tell, from just looking at the land in front of them, that there was something different about this homeworld and that it made a good place for Cosmos and the other magic wielding dragons to live in, though as they moved towards the location of the dock the trio noticed a few fairies flying through the air, no doubt heading out to help some of the dragons with what they were doing. That was something else that interested them, especially since they had no idea what to expect when they finally reached the dock, which only caused all three of them to focus on what was going to happen next so they could learn everything that Nestor and Cosmos wanted them to learn.
As Marco moved the hot air balloon towards the dock, so he could land and let the trio disembark like they had done when they visited the Peace Keepers homeworld, they found Cosmos standing near the entrance that would take them through a chamber and then to the main part of the land he watched over, just like the other homeworlds they had seen so far, and he smiled at all of them as they finally landed on the dock.
"Nestor, I'm glad that you, Spyro, Spike, and Ember could make it without anything stopping you," Cosmos said, where he tapped the bottom of his staff against the ground for a moment and bowed his head a little, showing that he really was happy to see that nothing had prevented Marco from delivering them to his homeworld, before he stood straight once more and focused on what was behind him, "Come, allow me to show you what the Magic Crafters homeworld has to offer, maybe even one of the realms if we have time, though everyone is excited to meet you, but depending on what they're working on they might not be able to come and see you before you head back home."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember immediately followed after Cosmos the moment he started walking towards the passage that would take them to the main part of his homeworld, where they quickly discovered that their earlier thoughts had been correct, that the tunnels inside the mountains were definitely made of marble. One thing that worried them was that they would have to jump over two small gaps in the walkway, and avoid the light blue water that filled the gaps, but they quickly determined that their worry wasn't necessary, as Cosmos gathered some blue energy around his staff and waved it at the gaps, where the trio watched as the gaps closed before their very eyes.
"What did you do?" Spike asked, as he was sure that what he and his siblings had seen was magic, their first real taste of the magic that the Magic Crafters used in their everyday lives, and he suspected that Cosmos had closed the gaps since the three of them hadn't completed their basic training yet, though Nestor followed behind them and seemed to be smiling as he looked at the walls and the floor, showing that he approved of the work that went into making the area that they were walking through.
"Magic of course." Cosmos replied, though he was happy to see that Spike, at the very least, was interested in what he was going to tell them, before noticing that both Spyro and Ember seemed to be interested in the topic as well, causing him to chuckle as they reached the main chamber and he undid the spell he had cast on the gaps, allowing them to revert back to what they had been earlier, "Magic is a type of energy that flows all throughout the world, which allows us to power the entrance and exit portals for the various realms, devices that I know you are familiar with, as well as power a number of other magical objects, like crystal balls for example. There are a number of creatures in our world that can wield the power of magic, like the Magic Crafters, the Dream Weavers, the fairies that call this land home, and the various wizards that we occasionally work with, even if there are times where a few of them annoy us in some manner, and those are the ones that can naturally control the flow of magic. There are even beings that can learn how to tap into the flow of magic, such as the druids you might see during your visit to this homeworld, and then there are beings that can't control the flow or even sense it, meaning that it's impossible for them to learn how to wield magic."
That fact interested the trio more than they were willing to admit, and they figured that their ability to determine that this place was a good fit for the Magic Crafters might mean they might have a chance to learn about the magic that Cosmos and the others were using, before their attention changed to something new as they walked out of the chamber they were in and looked out at the area in front of them. What they discovered was a courtyard area that was built into the side of a peak, connected to the one they came out of by a marble walkway, and the trio found that there were two Magic Crafters portals in this area, though where they lead the three of them had no idea. It didn't take them long to reach the upper level of the strange courtyard they had reached, though when they got up there Cosmos pointed out a slender yellow scaled dragon, who was wearing a purple pointed hat, a bound up cape, and a cloth that was wrapped around his waist by a rope belt, where they learned that this was Zantor, and he seemed to be busy using his magic to mess with some playing cards for some reason. They also walked by Boldar as well, who was an older dragon that had light yellow colored scales, though he also wore a sack on his rope belt, a purple hat that reached down to his chest, and bronze bracelets, though in addition to that he carried a cauldron in his left hand and a walking stick in his right hand, one that had a potion in the glass orb at the top, meaning he had to be an alchemist.
"So, what are the names of the realms that are attached to this homeworld?" Spyro asked, because he knew that Spike was making a list of all the places that were in each of the five lands that they would be visiting, not to mention where they would be doing their training, and that he hadn't had the chance to ask that question, so he was getting some information to help his brother out.
"Well, we have Alpine Ridge," Cosmos replied, as he had heard about the fact that Spike liked to make lists about a number of things that interested him and that he was already starting to make his list for this homeworld, which was why he kept his smile on his face as he pointed out the portal he was talking about, before continuing to walk down the path that he had planned out earlier, "High Caves, Wizard Peak, and Altair's mountain peak, though that's not counting the other portals that we have, located in the same area that the portal to Dragon Shores is located in."
"I'm going to assume that Altair is like Nevin and Trondo?" Ember asked, because she and her brothers knew that Nevin was the best painter in the Artisans homeworld, while at the same time they knew that Trondo was one of the best soldiers in the Peace Keepers homeworld, so since Altair had his own realm she guessed he was in the same league that the other two were in.
"I guess you could say that," Cosmos answered, as he understood what Ember was asking, especially since he had seen the talents of Nevin and Trondo in the past, and guessed that it was safe to say that Altair was like that as well, which made him wonder if the same was true for the Beast Makers and the Dream Weavers as well, before he considered what else he should say, "Altair is a weather manipulator, one of the strongest we have ever seen, and despite his old age he's still incredibly strong with his magic, even if he accidentally gets the weather wrong every now and then, though you'll be able to see that when we get to his realm. Most Magic Crafters learn all they can about all the various types of magic that we have access to, such as extending stone to merge pieces of a walkway, like I did earlier, or manipulating the weather from time to time, before settling on a specific path they want to master, sort of like how some Artisans dragons are the best bakers around and some are the best craftsmen in the five homeworlds."
"And we'll be learning about the types of magic that you guys can use in the future?" Spike asked, because everything that he and his siblings were learning was interesting to him, and, at the same time, he was curious as to whether or not any of them might be able to actually use the various types of magic that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters dragons used every day, even if it was on a smaller scale.
"That's the plan." Cosmos said, as he knew that Nestor wanted to wait until the trio was a little older than they currently were before they started any of their real training, such as learning how to fight from Titan and the rest of the Peace Keepers, and he agreed with the plan, before he realized that they were close to the portal that would take them to Altair's realm and beckoned for the group to follow him as he walked through it.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember followed him through the portal the moment he decided to walk through it, though when they appeared on the other side they found themselves standing on what seemed to be a walkway that wrapped around one of the mountain peaks, only it was far away from the others and only had one more near them, or at least that was what Cosmos told them when he saw the looks on their faces. The other thing they noticed was that it was raining at the moment, even though they weren't getting wet because Cosmos had created a little cover above their heads, allowing them to walk without having to face the rain, and when Nestor joined them they started to walk forward so they could seek out Altair. From what the trio could tell the temple that Altair called home happened to be built inside the peak that they were walking around, though it wasn't long before they came to a stop as Cosmos beckoned to the dragon that they had come to see, who just so happened to be sitting on the walkway that was on an upper level that they couldn't get to, not without flying or using a whirlwind to get up there, only for Cosmos to surprise them as he picked up Spike and flew up to the top of the walkway, leaving Nestor to pick up Spyro and Ember and follow after him.
Altair, they discovered, was an old dragon with pale orange colored scales, who was dressed in a blue cloth-like gown and had a pair of blue tinted glasses over his eyes, though his horns curved back behind his head, where the trio found that an amulet or artifact was hanging from his right horn, and floating in front of him was a blue sphere that seemed to be pulsing with magic, before Altair sighed and the rain stopped.
"It seems you haven't lost your skills yet," Cosmos commented, though at the same time he dropped the spell that he had woven to keep them from getting wet, while at the same time he and Nestor set the trio down on the walkway, before watching as Altair turned towards them with a smile on his face.
"Oh, it will be some time before that happens." Altair replied, where he chuckled as he focused on the trio that was now standing near the two Leaders, as he knew why they had come here, though he was happy to see that all three of them were eager to meet him as well, "Ah, you three must be the trio that I've heard so much about, Spyro, Spike, and Ember, if my memories are correct. Welcome to the homeworld of the Magic Crafters, where the three of you will one day come and see if you have the potential to learn about the types of magic that we have access to... here, why don't I give you a demonstration of what you might see in the future."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember gathered around the older dragon as he turned towards the open space that was in front of him, which he had been staring at while he was working with his magic earlier, and this time around, instead of using his special crystal ball, he focused on what was in front of him. The clouds parted and revealed the shining sun for them to see, though at the same time he twisted a few of them and made what he liked to call his 'Cloud Puppets', where he molded the clouds into a specific shape, like young dragons or one of the Balloonists, and put on a show with his creations, even if they didn't last for more than a few minutes. Still, it was more than enough to excite the trio as all three of them watched his puppets dance in the air as the rest of the rain clouds started to disappear, even if Spike seemed to be in the middle of making notes about what he was seeing, no doubt to see if he could replicate it in the future. That fact caused Altair to chuckle as he continued the show that he was weaving, allowing the trio to watch two wizards throwing magic at each other, something that didn't happen these days since the Magic Crafters had put an end to that sort of fighting a long time ago, but that was a tale for the future.
He was sure, just like Nestor and Cosmos were sure, that the trio would go on to go great things when they were older and more mature, and he was eager to help them grow, just like all of the other dragons were eager to do that, but for now he was going to entertain the trio and focus on the future later.
After their visit to the Magic Crafters homeworld, and returned to the Artisans homeworld a few hours later, Spyro, Spike and Ember showed that they had learned their lesson from their first visit to one of the other homeworlds, as they didn't make any attempts to replicate what they had seen and continued with the lessons that Nestor had for them. Nestor was pleasantly surprised by that fact, as he was used to the trio making an attempt after they witnessed something, which he had seen after they returned from the Peace Keepers homeworld, as Ember and Spyro had tried to replicate the charge and dodge techniques and had nearly hurt Spyro in the process, but right now they weren't doing that. It was hard to tell if they were holding back because they had no idea how to wield magic, where any practice would have dangerous results that would require Cosmos or one of the other Magic Crafters to fix up, or if they knew that they would learn about magic in the future and were waiting for the day their lessons came. Either way Nestor was happy with them understanding the situation and learning from their mistakes, because it showed that they were getting smarter and that they were maturing a little over the years, but he said nothing as they returned to the main area of their home and let the trio head off to do whatever they wanted to do, as he wanted them to rest before bothering them with the lessons he was teaching them.
Spike, as he expected, returned to the Dark Hollow library the following day, where he sat down with Argus and the other scholars and continued his research, though this time he also looked into the few applications of magic that existed outside the Magic Crafters homeworld, such as the entrance and exit portals for each realm. Nestor knew that Spike wasn't going to actually look into magic, since that would give him an unfair advantage over his siblings when they started their lessons with Cosmos, but looking into how magic was used in the other homeworlds was something that interested him and Nestor didn't see any harm in it. Besides, it ultimately wasn't up to him as to what Spike researched and studied, as that was up to the young dragon and the scholars he was friends with, as Argus and the others generally put off anything too dangerous for later, when Spike was older to be exact and could understand the information better, so he was just fine with letting the group do whatever they wanted, leaving him to focus on Spyro and Ember. There was also the fact that Argus promised him they would be more careful in the future, as to no repeat the event where Spike tried to eat a gemstone on accident, because none of them wanted to break more of his teeth, something that Nestor was happy to hear, since he didn't what that to happen either.
While he was doing that Spyro returned to what he had been doing before the trip to Cosmos' homeworld, and that was looking at the book he had been given while determining whether or not he could pull off some of the pranks he found inside the pages, even if his first few attempts weren't that successful. Toasty, on the other hand, wasn't too keen on Spyro trying out his pranks, whether or not he was the target of one of them, and went to great lengths to be somewhere else whenever Spyro was in the mood to prank someone, though Nestor assumed that a few of them were designed to have someone near him to watch the event unfold, as if he was trying to make the unique sheep happy. Nestor felt that it was a kind gesture, that the young dragon was trying to get Toasty to get over his grumpy nature and smile, something that Argus and the other scholars had never seen before, but despite his attempts Toasty refused to be anywhere near him when he was in the mood to prank someone. Of course, as Nestor predicted, that caused Spyro to eventually give up in his attempts to make Toasty happy and he returned to including the sheep in some of his pranks, though at the very least he only messed with the sheep every now and then, like once or twice a month, showing the sheep that he everyone was equal in his eyes at the moment.
What was really interesting was that Ember remained true to what she had shown after the visit to Titan's homeworld, and that was the fact that she didn't even attempt to practice the moves that Titan and Trondo had shown her and her siblings during the visit. Rather she spent her days relaxing in the central area of their homeworld, sometimes followed Nestor when he was working on something, just to see what he was working on and if there was anything she could do to help him, and there were a few instances where she visited the library in Dark Hollow, just to see if Spike had found anything interesting that she might find interesting as well. She didn't share Spike's interest in all the scrolls and books that the library had to offer, Argus and the others knew that since the beginning and it was only confirmed every time they saw her, but at the very least she seemed happy that Spike had something to keep himself occupied, even if it meant looking into old scrolls and tomes for the knowledge he was looking for, something that made her brother smile, as he enjoyed his little adventures in the library and didn't let anything sour his mood. Other than that Ember watched Spyro try out his various pranks, following the methods described in the book that he carried with him, where some pranks failed, due to one of the other dragons messing it up and asking Spyro to clean up the mess, or succeeding in some manner, though even if Spyro ran away he was hauled back if there was a mess.
In addition to what the trio did in their free time Nestor also made sure they stuck to the various lessons that he was trying to make sure they learned for the future, though he was happy to see that the trio was doing a good job learning how to glide and were making good time in running through the maze. Lindar continued to avoid telling the trio their times, to keep them on the track they were following, and while he assumed that the trio would have been annoyed of that fact they continued to surprise him, as all three of them got over their earlier annoyance and kept running the maze, trying to overcome each other in the process. All of the other Artisans dragons were also impressed by how well the trio took to the challenges that he offered them, showing that they were improving their skills and, at some point in the future, he'd have to stop and start an entirely new lesson to keep them occupied, though for the moment they still needed to complete the lessons he had started them on, before he taught any of them something else. He did intend to take the trio into the flight area at some point, so show them what it was like to fly for the first time and maybe show off a few tricks while he was at it, something that he was sure they would like when that day came, but for now he knew that they needed to finish their current lessons before they started doing anything else.
It was a month after their visit to the Magic Crafters homeworld that Spyro, Spike, and Ember found themselves back in Cosmos' land, following Nestor as he lead them to the area that Cosmos wanted them to come to, though they had a fairly good idea why they had come back so soon after their first visit. During their last visit they had been told that at some point in the future the three of them would be learning about magic, as in the various types of magic and not how to wield that power, since they were still too young for what Cosmos had in mind, despite the fact that this was different than what Titan wanted to do with them, but they respected the decisions of their elders and walked behind Nestor. Spike, of course, was the most excited of the trio, because this was something new for him to learn about, even if he didn't have any talent in using magic, and he was eager to add any information they learned today to his ever growing collection of knowledge, which would make Argus and the other scholars happy at his progress. Spyro and Ember were also interested in seeing if they had any talent when it came to magic, since it was entirely possible that one or more of them might be able to learn how to wield the power that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters were capable of controlling, even if it would take them years to get to the level that someone like Altair was at.
While they followed Nestor, however, the trio spotted some creatures off in the distance, no doubt practicing their magic in a location where they wouldn't bother anyone else, though from what the trio could see all three of the beings they spotted were like the Balloonists, in terms of body style, but two of them were wearing green robes and the third was wearing a blue robe... and it appeared that they might be disagreeing about something, but from this distance it was hard to tell what was going on over there.
"There you are!" a voice said, where the group turned and found Cosmos standing nearby, as it appeared that he had been visiting Alpine Ridge for some reason and had just returned from whatever he was doing, though he tapped his staff against the ground and beckoned for them to follow him as he started to lead the way towards the area that they would be visiting this time around, "Sorry I couldn't meet you at the dock, one of the wizards of Alpine Ridge asked me to look at something they were working on, something they didn't want me to tell anyone about, and the visit took longer than what we were expecting it to take."
"It's no big deal, we were just wandering around while we waited for you." Spyro replied, as that was sort of what Nestor appeared to be doing, walking around the Magic Crafters homeworld so he and his siblings could see the sights as they waited for Cosmos to come find them, before he turned his attention to something else and beckoned with his head for a second, "What's with those guys over there?"
"Oh, you mean the Elder Wizard arguing with a Green Druid, with a lesser druid standing nearby?" Cosmos asked, as it was quite easy for him to see what Spyro was inquiring about, where he sighed for a moment and looked at his staff for a second or two, before turning back towards the group as they paused for the moment, "Don't worry, it's common for a wizard and a druid to disagree about something, even go through a magic duel to determine who is correct on the subject that they were discussing, often with a lesser druid and a lesser wizard standing nearby, so it's a little odd that the lesser wizard isn't there yet, so they might not be dueling. If they do start dueling, however, we either let them finish, as stopping them might result in another duel a day or two later, or stop them if the spells get out of hand, but the latter has only happened twice since we settled on this land and started learning about the magic we possess."
"So you leave them alone and they might fight each other at some point?" Ember inquired, though while they were stopped she noticed that Spike was making a note of the beings that were off in the distance before they moved forward, with the blue robed figure being the Elder Wizard, the tall green robed figure being the Green Druid, and the light green robed figure, who was carrying a wooden staff, had to be the lesser druid.
"That is correct." Cosmos stated, though as he said that he started walking again and the group followed after him once more, as they were interested in where they were going this time around, but he made sure to wait long enough so Spike could finish his notes on the magical beings he had mentioned, no doubt with a page for the lesser wizard that wasn't with the others, before moving forward, "Don't worry, someone is watching them from afar at the moment and, if their duel gets out of hand and they start to threaten everyone around them, the dragon in question will step in and stop them before they go too far, but like I said, that has only happened twice in the past and we don't see it happening ever again, regardless of the arguments they get into."
Spike was a little interested in seeing what happened if the pair that was arguing reached the point where they started fighting each other, as it was something that he hadn't read about during his earlier studies and was curious to see it go down, but right now it appeared that neither of them were going to reach that point, so he shifted his attention to the path in front of him as he followed Cosmos and the others to another part of this homeworld. What he discovered was that they were heading back to the portal that would take them to Altair's area, where he could peacefully manipulate the weather around him without any major interruptions, but when they reached the area near the portal he discovered he was only partly correct about where they were going. The reason behind that sudden change was because Cosmos walked over to the rock wall that was near the portal to Altair's temple and waved his staff at the wall, where Spike and his siblings watched as a portion of the wall seemed to disappear before their eyes, revealing a tunnel that they had never been in before, before the Magic Crafters Leader smiled and stepped out of the way. Nestor nodded as the trio charged into the new tunnel that had appeared before them, as they were eager to see if there was anything new for them to see, and once all five of them were inside the tunnel Cosmos waved his staff again and sealed the wall behind them, before following Spyro and his siblings.
What they discovered was the fact that the tunnel had a few triangular shaped openings on their right, which seemed to be windows that were made in the style that the Magic Crafters preferred to use, before they reached a portal, one that transported them to a temple that was built around a lone mountain peak. The temple had a stone walkway that lead the way towards a wooden frame, one that rested around an iron door that had what Spike assumed were magical symbols on it's face, and when they reached the door Cosmos tapped on it and it opened before their eyes. That, in turn, revealed a diagonal walkway that allowed them to walk up to a level of the temple that was above them, a level that had a number of paths for them to take, but instead of running around and getting lost they followed Cosmos as he turned to the right and headed to what appeared to be a classroom of some sort. The reason Spyro, Spike, and Ember thought that was because of the wooden desks that rested in a row, going from the left side of the room to the right side, and while they came to that conclusion Cosmos beckoned to the decks and the trio sat behind them, putting a little separation between them in the process, leaving Nestor to stand by the entrance while Cosmos took his position in front of the desks.
If they hadn't been told what they were going to do today, as in learn about magic and maybe seeing if they had the talent to wield this power, coming to what appeared to be a classroom was the best indicator of what they would be doing, especially since the trio discovered some small crystal orbs on the desks they were sitting behind.
"Now then, like I told you a month ago, magic is a type of energy that flows throughout our world," Cosmos said, as he felt that starting at the beginning, with what he had told them during their first visit, was the best way to start things off, because it would allow them to recall what he had told them, before getting into the new information he knew they were interested in learning about, "and the Magic Crafters are one of the few groups of beings in the world that can wield the energy, though it is natural for us to be able to do this, even if we have to devote some of our time to learning what type of magic we are skilled in. Altair, as you learned, is skilled at manipulating the weather around him, while others, such as myself, are skilled at using our magic to manipulate our surroundings, as in revealing hidden passages, changing walkways in a matter of seconds, and whatever else we feel like manipulating. There are even dragons who don't necessarily take to using a specific type of magic, rather they learn everything they can about the various types of magic that are available to them before deciding what they want to focus on mastering, like Cedric, a dragon you haven't met yet, for example, as he's one of the best instructors we have and he hasn't picked a type of magic to master."
"And what types of magic are there in the world?" Spike asked, though at the same time he made a note about Cedric, as he was sure that he and his siblings should try to meet him one day and see what sort of information they could learn from him, before focusing on the answer that he knew was coming.
"Well, to start us off we have what is called Hand and Wand Magic," Cosmos replied, where he held out his staff for a second, so the trio could get a better look at it and take in the material that went into it's construction, even if they didn't recognize the materials at the moment, before focusing on what he wanted to tell the trio, "this type of magic is the basics of what a magic user, regardless of whether they can naturally use magic or are just starting to learn how to wield this power, start with, and it is often considered the weakest magic in the world, but that all depends on how much time you put into trying to master this type of magic. Beings who use this type of magic either channel the magical energy around them into their hands, like Altair did when he was showing you his Cloud Puppet routine, or they have a special magical item, like my staff for example, that allows them to channel the energy around them without the energy passing through their body, like what I did to the wall earlier or the walkways during your first visit a month ago. I might use my staff in the vast majority of the spells that I work with, but there are instances where I will set it aside and use my hands to complete the spell I'm going to cast, though the truth is that there is no difference in power between using your hands or something like a staff or a smaller wand, it's just what each dragon and being prefers to use."
"So, does that mean the type of magic you are skilled in using is Hand and Wand Magic?" Ember inquired, because based on what they just learned it seemed like that was the type of magic that Cosmos had devoted his time and effort to mastering, while the other Magic Crafters dragons had mastered different types of magic.
"Not quite. The type of magic that I'm skilled in is Transmogrification," Cosmos explained, though even as he said that his staff returned to him and he waved it at the wall behind him, where the trio watched as the marble wall shifted before their eyes, becoming an opening that lead outside, complete with a small balcony for them to stand on if they so desired, before waving his staff again as the wall returned to it's original design, as if the change had never happened, "this type of magic allows the user to change and alter something, be it inanimate objects, like the crystal spheres on your desks, or even living creatures, like changing a sheep or rabbit into a flower or another creature."
"Wait, so does that mean someone could change a sheep into a monster and use it to terrorize someone else?" Spyro asked, as while he and his siblings were interested in this type of magic, especially since Cosmos' skills had allowed him to make the changes in a matter of seconds, he was curious if someone had attempted to use this type of magic against the dragons or their enemies.
"It's possible to do something like that, but we don't teach dragons, or the wizards and druids, how to do something like that, for safety reasons." Cosmos stated, where he raised his left hand to his chin for a moment, showing that he was thinking about what he had been asked and that he was thinking about what he had seen in the past, before he focused on the trio a few seconds later, "The reason we don't teach that sort of thing is that the monsters that ended up being created were always mindless and always smashed up the area around them, until someone cast the spell to revert the poor creature back to their original form, usually leaving them more aggressive than they had been moments ago. There's also the fact that some dragons were hurt the last time we tried something like that, because we weren't expecting a young wizard to do something like that, so we decided to stop teaching that sort of thing a few hundred years ago, even though we keep the spell that counters such a thing around, just in case we encounter a creature like that. There are other forms of Transmogrification, besides changing a wall into an opening and a balcony or changing a rabbit into a monster, as even Altair uses this type of magic, though he focuses on changing the weather, hence why we call him a weather manipulator, instead of a Transmogrification master... and there are other elements that one can shift and manipulate, as long as they have the knowledge and experience to do so."
"Okay, we won't pester you about that sort of thing," Spike commented, though he did make a note to find the spell to counter the transformations, because in the off chance that one of them had the talent to become a wizard it would be a good weapon to have, just in case they ran into a monster that used to be something else, "What about the other types of magic you haven't mentioned yet?"
"Well, there's Prestidigitation, or, to put it simpler terms, magic tricks," Cosmos answered, where he noticed the trio had raised their eyebrows the moment he revealed what the title of the next type of magic meant, though he chuckled for a second as he considered what he was going to tell them, "to be more precise, there are two types of users of this sort of magic, those that do so for entertainment and those that use their magic to hide important items or clues to where an item of worth is hidden. Zantor is one of the masters of the Prestidigitation type of magic, though you'll never actually see him perform his spells unless he is actually looking for an audience, as most of the time he is practicing a simple card trick with that deck of his, which is just his way of thinking of the next spell he wants to use and what he needs to get it done, and he makes sure that only two or three dragons know what he's doing at any given moment."
"Basically we need to see him to learn more about this type of magic." Ember stated, as that was what she was getting from what Cosmos was saying, that he didn't know very much about this specific type of magic and that he knew someone who might be able to explain things better.
"When he's not busy." Cosmos replied, as he knew that Zantor hated being interrupted when he was in the middle of his preparations for his spells, though that was a shared feeling that all Magic Crafters dragons felt, especially the ones that were working with the higher level spells, before he got back to the topic at hand, "The next type of magic is simple, as it is the art of Levitation, where the wizard in question can lift anything from a small desk to a large rock into the air and make it float there for an undetermined amount of time, which is based on their skill and experience in working with magic. Many wizards, be they dragon or otherwise, tend to learn about this type of magic and then move onto another type, the type that becomes the one they specialize in, but there are a few masters in the art of wielding Levitation magic, where they can lift incredibly heavy object and even dragons into the air, much to the surprise of the dragon that they decided to cast their spell on. After that we have the various spells that don't fit into a specific type of magic, not yet at the very least, though some of the Magic Crafters refer to this type of magic as the 'Combat' type, such as throwing fireballs at someone, summoning a storm of ice shards, shooting lightning from one's fingers, and a number of other spells, though you'll find that most wizards focus on the other types and leave this one to the end of their studies."
"What about the portals? What type of magic do they rely on?" Spike asked, because that was something that had been on his mind since he first started reading about the portals, even if his knowledge was incomplete on the subject, and this was the best time to get the information he was after.
"Teleportation magic," Cosmos answered, though his tone revealed that this was the last type of magic that he and the other wizards knew about, for the time being anyway, causing Spike and his siblings to listen carefully, even if Spike was the only one really interested in what they were learning, "This type of magic is basically the art of moving from one position to another, without walking or flying, so instead of a trip taking an hour or two you could just wait until a few minutes before a meeting and then teleport over to your destination, though this, like the other types, depends on how skilled you are with this type of magic. Those that are unskilled with this type of magic will only be able to move short distances, like a few steps from where they were standing, or might need a special teleportation pad for them to lock onto when they cast the spell, though those that are truly skilled with this type of magic don't need all of that, as they can move freely and with little effort. There are a few masters of the art of Teleportation magic, just like there are masters of the other types of magic, but unlike the other types there is always someone who can weave their magic into the magical portals you see in the homeworlds, connecting them to the various realms of the lands we call home, but she's been rather busy lately and insists that we leave her to her work."
"Wait, 'she'? You mean I'm not the only female dragon in the five homeworlds?" Ember inquired, because this was the first time she and her siblings were hearing anything about there being another female dragon in the Dragon Realms, and she could tell that her brothers were also surprised by this information, even if Spike was less surprised than she and Spyro were at the moment.
"Oh, there are between twenty to thirty female dragons in the Dragon Realms, you just haven't had the opportunity to meet them, or Nora, yet." Nestor stated, revealing that the name of the dragon that Cosmos was talking about was 'Nora', even if that caused Spike to make a note about meeting her in the future, after meeting everyone else that they were learning about in their various lessons, before Nestor glanced at Cosmos, "Well, now that the lecture part is out of the way, don't you think it's time we moved onto the test?"
"Indeed. We've spent a good portion of time talking about magic," Cosmos said, where he focused on the trio once more and gestured to the crystal spheres that were resting in front of them, causing them to glance at the spheres as they wondered what was so special about them, something that he was going to reveal right now, "What the three of you are going to do is touch the sphere in front of you with both of your hands, or front legs, and focus on emptying your mind as best as you can. The reason for this is because these spheres are enchanted to determine if a dragon or someone else has any magical talent inside them, and if you have some the clear sphere will resonate with your latent talent, otherwise they will remain in their current state, regardless of what you try to do... and depending on what happens next, in regards to what the spheres do, we'll know whether or not you need to worry about coming back for lessons on how to wield magic and mastering the spells we've unlocked so far."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they were curious as to what the spheres might show them, did they have talent or would learning the spells be a waste of their time, before they turned their attention to the spheres in front of them and followed the instructions they had been given. Once the three of them had grasped their sphere, just like Cosmos had said, they closed their eyes and focused on trying to empty their minds, which was much harder than they thought it would be, but they tried their best regardless, as they were interested in seeing the results of the test. For a moment the trio didn't feel anything strange happening to them, as they were expecting the magic of the sphere to interact with their bodies, but since Cosmos hadn't told them about the process it was hard to tell what they were supposed to be waiting for, causing them to remain silent as they waited for something to happen. A few seconds later Spike felt a sneeze starting to form, one that would break his concentration if he let it happen, but before he could do anything to stop it he sneezed and felt some heat in front of his face, which was surprising since he had no idea how to use his fire breath at the moment. Cosmos and Nestor, on the other hand, witnessed the event unfold within a matter of seconds, as the moment that Spike sneezed he breathed fire on the sphere, completely on accident, but what was odd was the coloration of the flames, and the fact that the sphere was missing seconds later.
What was even more surprising was the fact that there was a thud in the tunnel leading to this room and Nestor walked down it, only to return a few seconds later with a crystal sphere, one that had a green flame inside it for some odd reason, making Cosmos wonder what was going on, before noticing that Ember's sphere was bright as well and that Spyro's was less bright than Ember and Spike's spheres.
"Okay, that's enough for today." Cosmos said, causing the trio to stop what they were doing and open their eyes, which was when Spyro tilted his head as he looked at the dim light inside his sphere, Ember seemed surprised that her's was even brighter than her brother's, and Spike was shocked when he saw what happened to his, "I think it's safe to say that, despite the differing levels of talent you three have, we can teach all three of you the basics at the very least, though I know the other Magic Crafters are going to be shocked when they hear that a dragon teleported a sphere down the hallway leading to this room, without knowing how to do any of that."
"I did what?!" Spike exclaimed, as he had been confused as to why his sphere wasn't in front of him when he opened his eyes, since it had appeared in Nestor's hand all of a sudden, but now he had an idea of what happened, even if he didn't fully understand what Cosmos was talking about.
"We'll talk about that in the future, when it's time to teach you the basics." Cosmos replied, though at the same time he smiled for a moment, because despite the fact that he had been caught off guard by what Spike had done, breathing fire on the sphere and somehow teleporting it down the hallway, this just meant that one of them might have the talent to learn more than the basics, and that wasn't counting the coloration of Ember's sphere, "For now the three of you should enjoy the rest of your visit to this homeworld, before you have to head back home and continue Nestor's lessons... I'll be ready to teach you how to wield magic in the future."
Spike tilted his head in confusion for a moment, as he was certain that Cosmos would have given him an explanation on what he had done, but at the same time the thought that one day he and his siblings would come here to actually learn magic put a smile on his face, as he'd figure out what had happened on his own in the future, and he was looking forward to seeing what happened when their lessons finally started.
After their second visit to the Magic Crafters homeworld, where they learned about the various types of magic that existed in their world and had been given examples of each type, Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to the Artisans homeworld and picked up where they left off. That meant they either spent their time following the lessons that Nestor wanted them to master, as in gliding or running through the maze, or working on whatever they wanted in their free time, such as Spyro picking up his book and seeing if he could use any of the other pranks that he hadn't tried yet. Nestor wasn't too surprised by that fact, as he could tell that Spyro was interested in trying out the various entries in the book, but, at the same time, he did have to chuckle every now and then as the young dragon's attempts were wrecked by another dragon accidentally ruining the prank before his intended target could return to the area he was in, always resulting in him having to clean up whatever messes came from his attempts. Ember continued to follow him and the other Artisans around, watching what they were doing and seeing if she could help in some manner, be it finding a way to carry stones or hauling pieces of meat to wherever they needed to be, something that pleased Alvar and the other dragons, as they were happy to have someone assist them from time to time.
Spike, on the other hand, returned to the Dark Hollow library almost immediately after their visit and picked up where he left off, but at the same time he pulled his new notes out and added a number of subjects to his studies, as there were several new topics for him to learn about and he was eager to get started... which resulted in him gathering a number of books and scrolls so he could have a starting point for his new studies, which brought a smile to the faces of the scholars that were around him.
"You seem awfully eager to continue your studies today," Argus commented, because when the trio returned from their trip to Cosmos' homeworld, where they learned about magic, Nestor had made sure they took the rest of the day off, meaning that this was the day following their return from their trip, before he focused on the tome that was on top of the pile that Spike had built.
"Well, Cosmos' test yesterday opened my eyes," Spike replied, where he glanced at the books and scrolls that were around him at the moment, because he knew this was exciting the other scholars, since it showed his interested in all the topics he had picked out, before shifting his gaze to Argus for a moment, "Spyro, Ember, and I went through the sphere test, to see if we had any latent magical talent, and while Spyro seems to have the lowest level of talent, based on the glow of his sphere, both Ember and I seem to have some talent, especially since I teleported my sphere down the hall by sneezing and breathing some green fire on it."
"Really now?" Argus inquired, as that was the first time he had heard of a dragon using their ability to breath fire to teleport something, even if the distance in this case wasn't all that grand, as he knew the room that Spike was talking about, before realizing why Spike was interested in the books he had picked out, "So that's why you picked out a book on all the various achievements and uses of teleportation magic, even though this does nothing to actually teach you how to wield this type of magic, since the book that does that is in the library of the Magic Crafters homeworld."
"I'll find some spell tomes when my siblings and I are called to Cosmos' homeworld to start our magic lessons," Spike stated, revealing that, while he was interested in learning about magic and the various spells the dragons had discovered, he knew that it would be some time before they actually learned anything else about magic and that he was willing to wait for that day to come, but that wouldn't stop him from researching the types and preparing for that day, "for now I'm adding the topic to the list of topics that I want to research and learn more about, that way I'll be ready for that day and surprise Cosmos when he asks us questions."
Argus and the other scholars laughed at that, not because it sounded like a crazy thing to do, but because Spike was a true scholar and he was making them proud with everything he did, and that included what he had done while Cosmos was testing him and his siblings. Nestor, who had come to Dark Hollow to check up on Spike, nodded his head and smiled as he returned to the main area of the Artisans homeworld, as he was curious as to what the other two were doing, even though he had an idea of what Spyro was up to, given his recent endeavors. As he walked towards the portal that would take someone to Nevin's castle he found that Ember was walking in the opposite direction and that Cinder was flying with her, which caused him to raise his eyebrow for a moment as he faced the open area that was his destination, where he found Thomas working on a new tune with his lute. From what he could tell there was no reason for Ember to leave this area, unless she was bored and was seeking out one of the other dragons to see if she could help with something, and he found the tune to be relaxing, which only made him more curious as to why Ember had decided to leave, though as he walked into the area Thomas stopped what he was doing and turned to face him.
Nestor suspected that Thomas might be working on another new tune, because when that happened he could be found in front of the dragon head containing the portal to Nevin's castle, making him wonder if the others had been finished or if he was taking a break from them to start a new one, something he'd have to ask about before he left, or at least some point in the near future.
"Ah, Nestor, what a surprise," Thomas said, though at the same time he set his lute on the ground, indicating that he was going to be giving Nestor his full attention, despite the fact that Nestor knew he'd pick it up and continue playing at some point, just to make sure the tune didn't disappear on him, "What can I do for you?"
"I was looking for Ember, but then noticed that she walked away from this area," Nestor replied, showing that he was curious about what had happened and that he was hoping that Thomas might have an answer for him, even though he was sure that it was because she was bored of listing to the lute and had gone off to find something else to do.
"Oh, I understand. You're curious as to why she left me to continue working on my tunes." Thomas stated, where he sighed and rubbed the back of his head, a sign that told Nestor that his thoughts on why Ember left the area might actually be wrong, as he had seen Thomas do this a few times in the past, "Well, I tried to put words to one of my latest tunes and, well, it seems that singing isn't something that Ember likes very much, regardless if she's the one doing or if someone else is singing near her... or at least that was what I assumed was going on."
"Huh, now that's something I wasn't expecting to hear." Nestor said, though Ember wasn't the first dragon to dislike hearing someone sing, as there were other dragons in the other lands that didn't like that either, so he wasn't too shocked by the information, before he shrugged and decided that it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, "It does answer the question as to why she left the area, though now I'm going to have to see if I can Spyro and see what he's up to, since he's enjoying his attempts to prank everyone."
"I think he went back to Stone Hill, to rest and plan his next move." Thomas answered, as he had seen the young dragon in question enter that portal a few minutes ago, so he figured that telling Nestor was the best thing to do so he didn't waste his day looking for someone.
Nestor nodded his head in thanks before heading over to the portal in question, though when he appeared in the courtyard he found that Spyro was actually in the area around the tower, where he and Sparx seemed to be resting, which caused him to sigh as he left the pair alone, knowing that it was only a matter of time until Spyro, Spike, and Ember had to visit another homeworld and learn more about the dragons that called that land home.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that nothing major happened since their test in Cosmos' world, leaving them to do their normal activities and continue the lessons that Nestor gave them, and before they knew it they were three years old and had grown a little over the last couple of months, even though they weren't even close to a fourth of Nestor's height yet, something that would come in time they were told. They were fine with that and focused on getting better at gliding and working together with their dragonflies, and sometimes Nestor had the three of them work together to overcome one of the challenges that he had for them, to really test their skills and ability to work as a team. Other than that they spent their free time doing what they normally did, where Spike researched whatever interested him, Spyro made several more attempts at pranking someone, and Ember just wandered around the homeworld, helping whoever needed assistance and making things easier for some of the older dragons. Nestor knew that Ember wanted to visit Titan's homeworld and start their combat training, something that he had promised them they would do at some point in the future, but for right now it was best that they continued the lessons he was giving them, before they started pestering the Peace Keepers for lessons on how to fight.
It was a week after their third birthday, which was the day that the three of them discovered that they would be visiting the homeworld of the Beast Makers in the near future, where they gathered near the dock and waited for Nestor to arrive once more, as this time they would be heading to Bruno's domain.
"So, we're heading to the next homeworld, the home of the Beast Makers?" Spyro asked, because he wanted to be sure what they were doing today, especially since they had gotten up a little earlier than normal so they could be ready for the trip, though why they had done that he had no idea.
"That's what Nestor told us." Spike replied, as he had done some research into the types of dragons that called the Dragon Realms home, allowing him to discover some interesting facts about the dragons they might be meeting in the near future, but hadn't told his siblings because they wanted to be surprised, even if he didn't know everything about the other races and would be surprised as well when Marco delivered them to their destination, "I'm eager to see Bruno again, since the last time we saw him was when we had our first birthday party, and I'm interested in seeing if we might have the chance to meet some of the other dragons before we have to turn around and leave his homeworld."
"If it's anything like the other homeworlds that we visited, we'll meet one other dragon while we're there," Ember added, as she remembered the times they visited the home of the Peace Keepers and the Magic Crafters, where they were greeted by the Leaders of the other types of dragons and visited the home of one of the most skilled dragons in that land, though she had the feeling that the same would be true when they reached Bruno's land, "and see the area that the dragon in question calls home, all while seeing a few more dragons off in the distance. I bet when we're done visiting the other homeworlds, and seeing the other Leaders in the area that they watch over, we'll finally start our training under Titan, along with whatever Cosmos has planned for us, since he seems interested in teaching you about magic."
"I know, and I'm excited to learn what he has to teach us." Spike said, once more showing his excitement over the fact that he and his siblings would be taught how to wield their magic and use it in their everyday lives, even if Spyro and Ember weren't as excited as he was, which was understandable since Ember was more excited about Titan's combat training and Spyro was only disappointed that the glow of his sphere was lower than his and Ember's.
"Learning what Cosmos has to teach you will come later, after you get an idea of what Titan has to offer." a voice said, where the trio turned and found Nestor walking over to where they were standing, which meant that it was time for them to get underway and leave their homeworld behind, though they did notice that Nestor was carrying a container with several drinks in it, five to be exact, even if three were smaller than the other two, "I asked Gavin to make us a few cups of coffee before I came here, that way all of you will be energized for when we reach Bruno's homeworld, though the other two are for me and Marco, since this will be a slightly longer flight than our trip to the land Cosmos watches over."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other again, something that was quite common these days, because Nestor's comment revealed that the length of time from this land to Bruno's homeworld was longer than when they went to Titan's land or Cosmos' homeworld, hence why Nestor had gotten some coffee before their departure. A few seconds later they followed after Nestor as he headed towards the dock, where Marco and his hot air balloon would be waiting for them to arrive, and when they rounded the corner it was easy to spot the Balloonist, who seemed happy to see them again, though it was hard to determine that since the majority of his face was covered by his scarf.
"It'll take us two hours to reach the homeworld of the Beast Makers," Marco commented, answering the question that he knew was coming, because based on the last two trips he had taken with the group he knew that one of them was going to ask about how much time it would take for them to reach the next homeworld, before he noticed what Nestor was carrying and seemed to smile, or at least that was what Spyro and his siblings assumed he was doing, "Bruno's land is near Cosmos' homeworld, though I won't tell you anything about it, since I'm sure that one of you did some research on it and all three of you will be surprised by what you see when we arrive."
The trio nodded as they climbed into the basket, with Marco assisting them still, and waited as Marco climbed in as well a few seconds later, though before they departed from their homeworld Nestor handed over the container, with four cups now, and Marco set it down after taking his cup out of it, before pulling on the strings and igniting the fire so the hot air balloon could lift into the air and start their journey. As the basket started to move Spyro, Spike, and Ember pulled their own cups out of the container, where they were assisted by their dragonflies so they didn't spill anything in the basket, before sipping on their drinks as they focused on the activities they usually focused on during these journeys. Spyro took a moment to enjoy his drink before pulling out the book he had been given, so he could see if he could find a good prank that wouldn't fail, as most of the pranks he had tried either failed or missed his target, forcing him to clean up a mess when the prank failed. Ember, who didn't care about reading or pulling pranks on the other dragons, simply looked out at the lands they were moving by and focused on enjoying the scenery that they were going by, though Spyro knew that she was hoping to see Titan and the others, to see if they were training and if she could gleam some information from them before they actually started their lessons.
Spike, of course, pulled out one one of the books that he had brought with him and continued where he had left off earlier, since this was an interesting book and he wanted to complete it before moving onto something new, as it would help his future studies, causing Spyro and Ember to chuckle for a moment, as they knew he'd do that, before focusing on their own activities again.
It took them almost two hours to reach their destination, just like Marco said it would, though as they drew closer to the homeworld of the Beast Makers the trio stopped what they were doing and focused on what was in front of them, as all three of them were eager to see what Bruno's land looked like. The first thing they noticed were the trees, as it wasn't hard to spot massive oak trees off in the distance, or what they assumed were oak trees, though that was because of the fact that the trees reached the area the clouds were in and even a few more went even higher, which surprised them, since they weren't expecting to see this sort of thing. The next thing they noticed was that there appeared to be a barrier of some kind in the water below them, one that separated the water the balloon was flying over from the swamp water that was on the other side, something that Marco told them about as they grew closer to their destination. That also told them that the home of the Beast Makers was a swamp, a gigantic swamp from what they could see due to the fact that the trees seemed to cover a good deal of the area, though there were a good number of spots where trees didn't grow, where the trio assumed that it was due to Bruno and the others cutting them down and preventing them from growing again so they could make their home here. One other thing they noticed was a black ominous mist that lingered in the air, making Bruno's homeworld seem more eerie in the process, but based on the fact that Marco and Nestor weren't concerned with the mist the trio braced themselves as Marco had them descend down to where Bruno would be meeting them.
As they descended, however, the trio noticed a tall temple made out of stone, one that had been made in the shape of a square, at the base anyway, and the levels above it seemed to get a tiny bit smaller, as if heading to a central point of some kind, which turned out to be a large square structure, though what purpose it served they had no idea.
"Nestor!" a voice exclaimed, where they glanced at the ground and found another familiar dragon, Bruno, standing at the edge of the village they were heading towards, as Marco told them that the Beast Makers lived in villages that were scattered throughout their homeworld, connected to the main village by portals, "I'm glad you guys made it here safe and sound, not that I was expecting any trouble since Titan and the Peace Keepers have been doing a good job maintaining the peace that we have been enjoying lately."
"With Gnasty Gnorc taken care of, and banished to the Junk Yard, the Dragon Realms won't have to worry about him causing trouble for a long time," Nestor replied, because at this point he wasn't even bothering to keep Gnasty Gnorc's existence a secret from the trio, as Spike had no doubt discovered several mentions to the foe he and the others had brought down, and both Spyro and Ember didn't seem worried at all, allowing him to focus on the reason they were here, even though he had to wait for Marco to land before helping the trio out of the basket.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember were glad to be out of the basket, as they could finally move around the area and explore a brand new homeworld once more, though the first thing they noticed was that there were a few wooden huts near them, ones that seemed to be around Nestor's height, meaning the dragons that lived in them had to be slightly smaller than the dragons they were used to meeting.
"So this is the Beast Makers homeworld." Spike commented, though while his studies had told him about how these dragons lived it was another thing to see it up close like this, as in the huts and the fact that their bridges were made out of split logs, and he was interested in seeing what else Bruno had to offer him and his siblings.
"This is the land I watch over and call home," Bruno said, where he turned and glanced at the area that he had come from before the hot air balloon had reached the area they were in, though while he did that Marco made sure to land in a spot where he could relax and wait for the tour to be over, before they had to return to the Artisans homeworld, "I know, it may not be as great as the Peace Keepers homeworld, or as grand as your homeworld or Cosmos' domain, but this is what the Beast Makers dragons call home, and we wouldn't trade it for anything else. Come, I have some places for you to see, and a dragon or two for you to meet, before you do anything else, though I'm sure all three of you will be excited by what you discover today."
"Forgive me for asking, but what do the Beast Makers do for a living?" Ember inquired, though at the same time she and her brothers followed after Bruno the moment he started walking, with Nestor following them like he did when they visited Titan and Cosmos' homeworlds.
"Well, as you know, the Artisans are craftsmen, the Peace Keepers are soldiers, and the Magic Crafters create magical items for every dragon to use," Bruno explained, as he knew that someone would have asked the question at some point, and honestly he was expecting Spike to jump forward and ask it before they got too far into their visit, but in the end it didn't matter, as he knew that the young dragon would write all this down later, when he had time, "the Beast Keepers, on the other hand, well, we spend our time tending to the various creatures of the Dragon Realms. We assist them when they are feeling sick, tend to them when they get old, help them bring new life into this world, and, in rare instances, we even bring new creatures into this world, ones that have never been seen before, and when they're ready we transport them to the area that will eventually become their home. The reason we decided to live in this swamp is because many of the ingredients and natural materials that we use in our everyday lives grow here, especially a few rare plants that you can't find anywhere else in the Dragon Realms, allowing us to do our jobs that much more effectively. The only hard part about our job is trying to deliver the creatures to their new home, hence why we try to deliver them a few months after they're brought into the world, otherwise they might grow too big for us to handle, even though we're trying to figure out a better method for moving creatures to their new homes."
Ember raised an eyebrow for a moment, where she determined that she shouldn't be surprised by the fact that the Beast Makers tended to all sorts of beasts, regardless of the condition those creatures happened to be in, and helped bring new ones into the world from time to time, but all that information told her that these dragons might be busy every now and then, and the fact that Spike was eager to write all this down when he had the chance. As they turned the corner, and approached the first portal of the area, Bruno pointed out a brown furred beast off in the distance, with a pair of tusks, that happened to be in the middle of charging at something that had annoyed it, a creature that Bruno called a boar and revealed that it was one of the more common beasts that shared this land with the other Beast Makers. Standing near the boar was a dark green scaled dragon, with a green chest area, that wore a hat made out of leaves on his head, had a necklace made of four teeth around his neck, and had moss on several parts of his body, though Bruno just laughed and said that Cleetus liked looking like that, even if Nestor and the siblings thought it was weird, and that he was busy tending to the boars of this area. Near Cleetus was an older dragon, who was slimmer than Cleetus and had dull yellow scales, that was carrying a round potion bottle in one of his hands, before he shifted his glasses for a moment and tended to a boar that was laying near a tree, showing that it must have been hurt, where Bruno said that the dragon in question was Damon, their remedy master.
Bruno told them that Damon, despite the fact that he was one of the oldest Beast Makers dragons in the land, was still capable of doing his job and was able to make some of the greatest remedies of the Dragon Realms, allowing them to tend to the various creatures of the lands, and he was in the process of finding a worthy successor that could replicate what he was capable of doing, with limited success so far.
"You know, I've been thinking about that temple," Spike commented, though at the same time Nestor and Bruno helped him and his siblings over the log that brought them even closer to the large tree that was between where Marco landed and where the temple was located, and he could tell that Bruno was interested in what he was thinking about, "is there something special about it?"
"The temple? Oh, we hold our meetings there." Bruno replied, where he glanced in the direction of the temple, as he remembered the last time he had called such an event together, which had been when he told the other Beast Makers about the trio when they hatched, before he thought about something else, "Really, that's all the temple is used for, as most of the Beast Makers are usually busy with their various duties, be it tending to the creatures of the world or making certain items that will aid us in our everyday lives. Some dragons, like Bubba, don't rely on items to do their jobs, as he prefers to use his own strength to hold a creature back or pin it to the ground, if the creature in question is being difficult to work with, so someone else can tend to whatever is bothering the poor beast. Though the portal to Sadiki's home is located near the temple, giving him easy access to the area in case we need his help or a meeting happened to be called at some point, and he's very interested in meeting the three of you."
"Ah, there's no need to visit my temple today," a voice said, where the group stopped near the large tree for a second and looked around, before the trio glanced up in the air and found a bright purple scaled dragon, with his underbelly and lower chin being yellow colored, flying towards them, before he landed in front of the group, allowing the trio to see that he was carrying a staff with a large bird skull at the top and wore a necklace with an eye of some kind, one they were hoping was a crystal shaped to look like an eye, around his neck, "I just finished checking up on Sol a few minutes ago and decided to come see if you had greeted our guests yet... though I'm pleased to see that all three of you are doing well, as Bruno told me all about you guys, or at least what he knows anyway."
The trio assumed that this was Sadiki, the best of the best in terms of the Beast Makers, and from what they could tell that seemed to be the truth, despite the fact that Bruno hadn't been able to tell them much about Sadiki before the dragon's rather sudden arrival, but they were sure that he was just like Nevin, Trondo, and Altair.
"You finished tending to Sol already?" Bruno inquired, because he knew the creature in question and had known that it would take some time for them to do what they needed to do, regardless of whether or not Sadiki was one of the best Beast Makers dragons in the Dragon Realms, but he was still impressed that Sadiki had finished the task much sooner than what they originally expected, "Did the phoenix give you any trouble?"
"It wasn't anything major, as all I had to do was use one of Damon's remedies to fix the issue." Sadiki replied, his tone revealing that whatever the problem had been he had taken care of it quite easily, something that Bruno appreciated since it meant they didn't have to worry about Sol for some time.
"Wait, you guys take care of phoenixes as well?" Spike asked, because he had read about them in his studies and had been wondering if they were just myths, since he and his siblings hadn't seen any since they started visiting the rest of the Dragon Realms and encountered the other types of dragons.
"Like Bruno's told you, we're Beast Makers, and we tend to all the creatures of the world." Sadiki answered, though he did find it amusing that Spike thought that phoenixes didn't exist until he mentioned them, showing that he had more to learn about the lands they called home, just like Spyro and Ember had more to learn, before deciding on how he was going to answer the incoming question, "Listen, there's an island near this homeworld that the phoenixes call home, but it can only be accessed by flying to it or using the portal that's connected to this area, which we keep locked up in the temple, and Bruno is the only one that knows where the key to the temple is located. Of course our fiery friends have a way to contact us in case one of them gets hurt or falls ill, but they tend to want the best of the Beast Makers to tend to them and don't want to be interrupted during their visits, hence why I was busy when you arrived, since Sol wanted me to cure what was afflicting him. You three might have the opportunity to visit that island one day, if Sol and the others of his kind allow it anyway, but it would be an experience like no other and should be accepted if it's offered to you... but for now I think I'll introduce you to some of the boars and other creatures that we're currently tending to."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember took a moment to look at each other as Sadiki and Bruno started to move to another area of the land they called home, as they were hoping to learn more about the phoenixes and why they trusted the Beast Makers enough to keep a portal directly to the island they called home, as well as the secret that they actually existed, before they sighed as they followed after Bruno, knowing that they would get some answers one day... after they had a good bath when they got back home, to get rid of the swamp smell that was all around them anyway.
The first thing that Spyro, Spike, and Ember did the moment they returned to the Artisans homeworld, after seeing what Bruno and Sadiki wanted them to see in the swamp the Beast Makers called home, was take a much needed bath so they could get rid of the smell of the swamp. Marco, of course, had to take his hot air balloon to the area where he and the other Balloonists gathered when they weren't needed and would be making sure the smell was gone from his own clothing and the hot air balloon he used to get from homeworld to homeworld. Nestor was used to having to do this when he returned from the land of the Beast Makers, as his clothing was removed rather quickly when they reached the bath area, which was located in Town Square, and was treated with the remedy that would remove the stink, indicating that leaving his attire in that condition wasn't the best thing in the world. That also meant that Spyro, who was used to wearing his scarf whenever they visited one of the other homeworlds, had to take his scarf off and let it be washed as well, along with Spike handing over his satchel and Ember her bracers, since they were in the same condition as Nestor's attire and Spyro's scarf, though they were happy that such a thing was easily taken care of.
Despite the reason they were taking a bath in the first place, to get rid of the smell of the swamp, the trio played around in the water and splashed each other every now and then, causing Nestor to smile as he watched them for a few seconds, before returning to making sure their clothing no longer had the swamp smell on them.
Once the trio was done with their bath they claimed out of the water and used some of the nearby towels to clean themselves off, allowing them to watch as Nestor finished what he was doing and dried off his clothing and their items at the same time, before indicating that it would be some time before their stuff was dry. Fortunately Spike's writing materials were spared from what was going on, but since his satchel was being cleaned Nestor helped him carry his stuff out into the area around Town Square's main fountain, where he and his siblings could relax for some time before returning to their various activities. While that happened Alvar met up with them and revealed that he was delivering a platter of food for the trio to eat, since they were having a late lunch this time around, and Nestor joined them for a few minutes, as he was also hungry, and all of them enjoyed the meal that Alvar had prepared. The instant they were done with the food platter Nestor picked it up and headed to where the older dragon worked, so the platter could be returned and he could tell Alvar how good it was, leaving the trio to their own devices for a few minutes as they waited for their stuff to be dried off.
It wasn't long before their stuff was returned to them, now no longer baring the smell of the swamp, and both Spyro and Ember were happy to have their items back, as they put them back on rather quickly, while Spike smiled as he put on his satchel and returned his writing materials to it, so carrying all of it would be much easier.
"You know, visiting the Beast Makers was very interesting," Spyro commented, as he and his siblings, once they got their stuff back, started to walk towards the portal that would allow them to return to the main area of their homeworld, so they could rest and do whatever they wanted before their next lesson started.
"I could do without the smell and the number of baths we'll have to take in the future," Ember replied, because while it was nice to see how Bruno and his fellow Beast Makers lived, in the same manner as the other types of dragons they had encountered so far, the one thing she disliked was the fact that the smell would follow them and that they needed to take a bath after their visits.
"Yeah, I can see your point." Spyro said, where he sighed for a moment, as while the visit had been interesting he wasn't too keen on having to take a bath every time they visited Bruno's homeworld, though at the very least Bruno made sure to clean himself whenever he visited one of the other lands, before he considered something, "Hey Spike, what did you think about our trip to the Beast Makers homeworld?"
"Like you said, it's an interesting place," Spike answered, as he recalled everything he had seen during their visit and was tempted to bring out his notes, but for now he was going to rely on what he remembered, before having to resort to turning to the notes he had made, even though he was impressed that his writing materials hadn't been touched by the smell of the swamp, making him wonder if they were enchanted to negate that smell, "however, I was caught off guard by the fact that Sadiki was tending to a phoenix before our arrival, who must have returned to their island as we were just starting to land near Bruno. The reason I was caught off guard was because of the fact that I found a few mentions of them in several of the books that I researched, but none of them revealed whether or not the phoenixes were still around or where they were living, though now I see that the reason behind the lack of information is because they wanted to keep themselves hidden and safe from any enemies that might seek to do them harm, even if there aren't any enemies around at the moment."
"Well, there are always creatures out there that want to hurt the phoenixes for some reason," a voice said, where the trio stopped and found Argus near them, though what he had said told Spike that he knew more about the supposedly mythical race than he originally thought he did, but Argus shrugged for a moment as he joined them as they continued towards the exit portal for Town Square, "Don't worry about them, as Bruno and the other Beast Makers will ensure that the location of their island is well hidden and that no one will bother any of them, and if one of them does get hurt Sadiki and the other experts will tend to them in no time."
Spike was curious as to whether or not Bruno would be willing to share this information with him at some point, or if he had sworn to not share what he knew with someone else, but that gave him something to figure out in the future as he and his siblings returned to the main area of their homeworld. He knew that Spyro and Ember weren't as excited as he was, about the fact that they discovered that phoenixes existed, even though they didn't see one during their trip to the land of the Beast Makers, but at least they were happy to have learned something about Bruno, the dragons that he lead, and what they did for a living. He also knew that his siblings were more interested in returning to their lessons and mastering what Nestor wanted them to master, gliding and working with their dragonflies, and that they were waiting for the day they finally started the training that Titan had in mind for them, or at least Ember was excited for the day when they started learning how to fight. Spyro, on the other hand, would focus on trying to make his pranks work on whoever his latest target was, that much Spike knew from what he had seen in the last year, and he was interested in seeing what happened next, when his brother got around to trying to prank someone.
He was also interested in seeing what Argus and the other scholars had for him when he returned to the Dark Hollow library, especially since he knew that one of them knew about the phoenixes and that they might share the existence of some of the other mythical creatures with him, if they existed anyway, which made him look forward to what the future held for him and his siblings.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember spent the next two months trying to master the art of gliding, working with their dragonflies to run the maze even quicker than before, even though they had given up on Lindar telling them who was the fastest out of them, and tending to their personal interests from time to time. That, of course, lead to Spike continuing his research into the various topics that interested him, where some of them he was putting off until later, when he was older, while the rest he was working on at the moment, something that pleased the other scholars, as they were always more than happy to help him study whatever topic he was on. Spyro continued his attempts to prank some of the older dragons that lived in the Artisans homeworld, again with limited success, though what he discovered was that Toasty was a prime target for some of the lesser pranks that didn't leave a mess, meaning he could pull one off and not have to clean something up when his prank failed. The only one that wasn't pleased by this turn of events was Toasty, as he disliked all of Spyro's pranks and tried to flee whenever Spyro was in the mood to prank someone, hence why whenever he wanted to mess with the sheep a little he waited until Toasty was asleep, only to wake up baaing in annoyance all over again, once he discovered what Spyro had done to him. Ember, on the other hand, continued to work hard during their lessons and spent her free time assisting the other dragons of the Artisans homeworld, something that all of them appreciated, even though they knew she was waiting for the day they started learning how to fight.
When those two months were up the trio found themselves getting up early once again, where Nestor had told them had he had arranged for them to visit the final homeworld, the land of the Dream Weavers, and they were excited to see what sort of land the last type of dragons called home.
"I didn't think we would be seeing the land of the Dream Weavers so soon," Spyro commented, though he yawned as he walked, as Nestor had told them to get up early today and that meant that the trip had to be at least two hours long, just like their trip to the Beast Makers homeworld, but that also meant that Nestor was going to have some of Gavin's coffee for them to drink before they arrived at their destination, "especially since we only visited the land of the Beast Makers two months ago. I wonder why Nestor would schedule the trip so close to the last one."
"Maybe he wants to get it out of the way so we can start our training earlier," Ember replied, as her hope was that, once this visit was over, that she and her siblings would head to Titan's homeworld and start learning how to fight in their current forms, because when they matured into their adult forms they could learn to fight like Titan and the other Peace Keepers, something that she was incredibly eager for.
"Well, we won't know until he arrives." Spike said, because he knew that Nestor would tell them what his reasoning behind his decision was the moment he neared them and beckoned for them to join him in walking to the dock, so they could climb into Marco's hot air balloon again and start the journey towards the Dream Weaver homeworld, before a new thought came to mind, "Though I am interested in seeing what Lateef's land looks like and learning what he and the other Dream Weavers do for a living, just like we did with the other three Leaders and the other lands that we have visited so far, before we even consider learning how to fight."
"And Lateef is eager to show you his homeworld and what the Dream Weavers do for a living," Nestor said, where he walked out of the tunnel that lead to the area the portal to Town Square was located in, once more with a container that held five cups in it, and once he reached the trio they readied themselves so they could head down to the dock and see what the last homeworld had to offer them, "Normally we would do something that's similar to the homeworld you last visited, like how after we visited Cosmos' homeworld we returned there and had your very first lesson on magic, as in the types of magic and whether or not you have the spark necessary to wield that power, but today we're doing things slightly different. This is where I'd take you somewhere in the Beast Makers homeworld and have you learn how to tend to a small creature, like a sheep or a rabbit, but Bruno came by a few days ago and told me that we'll have to change the order of your visits, as it appears that he and the other members of his land will be busy tending to the more difficult creatures that they take care of, creatures that are beyond what you would be learning about. So, since he didn't want to waste our time, he suggested that we move to the next place you three would be visiting, which is Lateef's homeworld, who has clearly set aside time for us to visit him and see what the Dream Weavers do all day."
"So, how long will this trip take?" Spyro asked, because based on what he and his siblings had heard, from Nestor and Marco, the last trip had been two hours long, hence the reason they had gotten up early, and since they had gotten up early today they were curious as to how much time they would be spending inside the basket this time.
"Two hours, same as the visit to the Beast Makers homeworld." a voice said, where the trio turned their heads as they emerged from the tunnel Nestor had lead them into and discovered Marco standing in front of his hot air balloon, once more looking like it was ready to depart at any moment, before he noticed the looks of confusion on their faces, "The land of the Dream Weavers is some distance away from where Bruno's land is located, but instead of passing by the other two homeworlds, like we would if we were visiting Bruno, we need to shift our course slightly and take a different route than what we were doing before. Plus there is the fact that Lateef's domain is in the sky, instead of near the water like the rest of the lands that you have visited so far, so getting up there is another reason the time to travel from this homeworld to the place the Dream Weavers call home is two hours."
"The land of the Dream Weavers... is in the sky?" Ember inquired, though at the same time she followed her siblings into the basket, with Marco's help once more, she wondered if that information was correct, as all four of the homeworlds they had visited so far had been on islands, even if all of them had been different from the ones that came before it.
"You say that like it's the weirdest thing we've seen or learned," Spike said, as he had all his information on what they had learned from Titan, Cosmos, and Bruno in his journal and his opinion on the matter was entirely different, especially since the Magic Crafters seemed to be at the top of the list, before another thought came to mind, "even though we found out that phoenixes are real two months ago, when we were visiting Bruno and the Beast Makers, despite the fact that we didn't see one while we were there. A homeworld in the sky isn't that weird, especially when you think about all the magic that had to go into making the land stay up in the sky, without falling I might add, though I'm sure Lateef will be able to tell us about his land when we get there, and the reason behind why it's up in the sky."
Nestor said nothing to that, as Spike was willing to accept the fact that one of the homeworlds was in the sky, after seeing one that was built into several mountains, and Spyro didn't seem bothered by the information either, since he was sure that Lateef wouldn't let them fall off his land, before Ember sighed and decided that Spike was right. The moment the three of them were ready to go, and had their stuff out so they could ignore the majority of the flight, Marco ignited the fire and lifted his hot air balloon into the air, this time setting course for the land of the Dream Weavers, and while he took a sip of his coffee, while making sure the trio had their cups, Nestor opened his wings and flew up to them. He knew that flying to the other homeworlds could be boring at times, a reason why he had spaced out their visits as he had, but he was happy to see that all three of them were excited to see the land that they were heading to, even if their levels of excitement were different from what their siblings were feeling. He already knew why Ember was excited, because it meant that she and her brothers might be starting their combat training soon, while Spike was eager to learn about the final homeworld and the dragons that called it home, and Spyro seemed happy that they wouldn't be spending another day going over the same lessons that he was trying to teach them, but soon that would change as well and he was sure the trio would be happy when that day arrived.
Since the trio had some items to keep them busy during the journey, to take their minds off of the fact that there wasn't much around the hot air balloon, they didn't notice that the two hours went by rather quickly, and when they drew near their destination Marco shifted their attention to what was in front of them.
The homeworld of the Dream Weavers, as the trio quickly discovered, really did rest in the sky, as the first thing they noticed was the number of floating islands that were grouped near each other, no doubt connected to each other by some sort of magic, but that was just the beginning of what they saw. What they discovered was that Lateef and the others had built elaborate stone temples and castles, which were nothing like the buildings they had seen in the other lands they had visited, and the roofs of the buildings had different colored tiles, as the structure they assumed was a castle had bluish-green tiles and the smaller one, a temple they guessed, had orange tiles. There were also a number of crystallized structures scattered throughout the area, or at least the area they could see, and a few of them had to be the portals to the other islands that the Dream Weavers called home, making them wonder what the other structures had to be used for, something that Lateef would tell them if they asked. One confusing thing they noticed was that the water that happened to be up here, as there were a few small rivers, didn't flow down to the ground like they expected, rather they seemed to flow up into the air and swirled around an area that seemed to be a collection area, where the Dream Weavers no doubt gathered their water from. The sky itself was a plethora of colors, constantly changing as the clouds passed by, and there were a few sparkling areas that seemed to be some form of transportation, like the bridges from the Magic Crafters land and the logs from the Beast Makers homeworld, between the islands.
A few moments later Marco brought them down to an elogant stone bridge that fit in with the rest of the land, one that seemed to have green gemstones in the side of the structure, and standing near where they were going to land was a familiar dragon who smiled as they descended down to the bridge.
"Lateef, it's good to see you again." Nestor said, where he landed on the bridge and waited for the hot air balloon to come to a stop, which was when he helped Spyro, Spike, and Ember climb out of the basket so they could walk up to where the Leader of the Dream Weavers was standing.
"It is good to see you again as well, Nestor, as well as young Spyro, Spike, and Ember." Lateef replied, though as he said that he beckoned to the land behind him, something that he knew the trio was interested in, thanks to the looks on their faces, and he was eager to show them what his homeworld was like, especially after everything they had seen in the other homeworlds, "Allow me to welcome you to the land of the Dream Weavers, where we act as the peacekeepers of the night and fully believe that it's possible for dreams to become real, something that you'll see in the themes of the realms that are connected to this homeworld."
"This is a nice place you guys have." Spike commented, as that was the truth, because the land of the Dream Weavers seemed like someone had dreamed about this place at some point in the past and had made that dream real, though he could tell that his comment made Lateef happy, before another thought came to mind, "So, what do you guys do for a living? I only ask because the Artisans are artists, the Peace Keepers are soldiers, the Magic Crafters are wizards, and the Beast Makers tend to all the creatures of the Dragon Realms, so I'm curious as to what the Dream Weavers do with their time and what sort of profession you guys focus on."
"We're the peacekeepers of the night," Lateef stated, though at the same time he started moving towards the castle that he knew the group had been looking at before their arrival, because that was the first thing most of the visitors that came to this homeworld focused on, and it wasn't long before his guests were following him, "which means that we usually sleep during the day, when all of the other dragons are busy expressing themselves, training with their various weapons, practicing with their magic, or tending to the various beasts of the Dragon Realms, but when they go to sleep we wake up and begin our duties. We use our magic to shift through the dragons of every creature in all five homeworlds and the various realms that each of them are connected to, making sure that no nightmares spring up to cause havoc on anyone, be they dragon, sheep, Fools, or blue robed figures that like to run fast."
"So you guys guard our dreams? That's so cool!" Spyro exclaimed, because while he knew that Spike and Ember had been excited about something the other Leaders had told them, like how Cosmos showed off his magic and Titan had taken some time to show them how a young dragon fought their foes, he was interested in the fact that the Dream Weavers made sure no one had nightmares, before he thought about something, "Wait, what do you mean by 'Fools'?"
"Fools are magical beings that inhabit this land as well," Lateef answered, where he paused for a moment and pointed at the open space between the island they were on and the one that the temple rested on, which was when the trio spotted a short creature that walked on two legs, wore a green shirt, red pants, and a jester's hat, though what was really interesting was that the being in question seemed to be jumping on the air between the islands, "that is what we call a Clock Fool, as when someone flames them or charges into them they crash into the ground and a clock forms near them, as well as a small bell appearing where their hat is located, though each Fool is connected to something, like a pillar or a platform. From what we can tell one of the dragons that came before my generation dreamed of this being and the others that inhabit this land, where the Fools were brought to life before her eyes, though we also discovered that they cannot be harmed at all, merely stunned when they act up, but right now it seems that the Fools are playing with each other and are leaving our land alone."
As Lateef started to walk again he also explained that the Clock Fools weren't the only type of Fool that called this land home as well, as there were Fools that had carrot colored hair, Fools that liked to slap each other or some of the other Fools, and there were Fools that liked to carry around lamps, but of the four types of Fools only the Clock Fools and the Lamp Fools couldn't be harmed, though the Carrot Fools and the Slap Fools would reappear after some time if someone happened to hurt them. He then revealed that the realms that were connected to his land lead to Dark Passage, a place were tunnels, caverns, and caves were carved out of some floating mountains, Lofty Castle, which was a large castle that was built on some floating islands, even if what dragons saw was the top part of the area, Haunted Towers, which was another area that contained a large castle on some floating islands, and finally the realm of Revilo and Unika, two of the greatest Dream Weavers that Lateef had the pleasure of working with. That, in turn, caught the trio by surprised, as they weren't expecting to discover that one of the homeworlds had a realm that was shared between two dragons, as the Peace Keepers had a place for Trondo and the Magic Crafters had a temple for Altair, but they had to assume that both of the dragons had to be quite powerful in their own ways to justify them sharing a realm like they were.
Something the trio found to be interesting was that to get from one island to another they had to use some special platforms that had the same whirlwind that the towers in their homeworld had, something that Nestor let them use in their gliding lessons, and they instantly knew what they needed to do. It was a simple matter to climb up onto the platform and stand in the center, as not even a few seconds later the whirlwind picked them up and they glided over to the island that Lateef and flown to, showing that they had learned what Nestor wanted them to learn and that they were ready for whatever came next. From there all they had to do was jump over a small gap or two and then climb up some steps, which brought them to the portal that would take them to where the greatest Dream Weavers lived, something that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were excited for, especially after meeting the other great dragons of the other homeworlds. Nestor was happy to see that all three of them were eager for what was going to happen next, especially after meeting the other great dragons over the last couple of years, and he was in the same boat, as it had been some time since he had last seen Revilo or Unika, so he expected this to be quite interesting for all of them. When they reached the top of the steps, however, he noticed something that was going to annoy one or two of the young dragons, as a pair of older dragons just happened to be sleeping in front of the portal, one of them blocking the way and the other sitting off to the side.
Nestor recognized them instantly, just like he was sure Lateef did, as the one in front of the portal, with a body that was similar to Magnus' body in terms of size and had orange scales while having a light blue chest, was Unika, and he knew that due to the harp that was resting in front of his hands. The other dragon, on the other hand, was using his own tail like a rocking chair, which must have been what caused him to fall asleep in the first place, though he was covered in green yarn, like he was knitting himself a full body sweater or something, and a ball of yarn rested above his head, but he knew that this was Revilo.
"I told them they would be up just a little bit longer than normal, to meet you guys, and they go and fall asleep before you had the chance to arrive," Lateef said, revealing that they must have been hard at work last night, making sure no one had any nightmares, before he sighed and shook his head as he turned around and headed back down the steps, "Oh well, I'm sure you'll have another chance to meet them in the future, when they aren't sleeping anyway."
"Why aren't you asleep like everyone else?" Ember asked, because if all of the Dream Weavers slept during the day and worked during the night, the reverse of what everyone else did, she was curious as to why Lateef didn't seem like he was anywhere near falling asleep, though she was also slightly annoyed at the two dragons that were sleeping, as she was interested in meeting them and this wasn't the best first impression they could have made.
"Well, as the Leader of the Dream Weavers I need to be up so I can communicate with the other Leaders and see if we need to work on anything," Lateef replied, though he couldn't fault Ember for asking the question, as he was sure that Spike would have asked something similar before they left for their own homeworld, and this meant he could let them know why he was still up, even though the rest of the Dream Weavers were asleep, "think of it this way, I sleep like a normal dragon and spend an hour with the others to make sure they know what they're supposed to be doing during the night, before I drift off to sleep as well. I also make sure the Fools aren't doing anything they aren't supposed to be doing and tend to some of the creatures that call this land home, making sure they have whatever they need, in addition to the rest of my duties as the Leader of this homeworld."
Spike, despite not getting to meet the greatest of the Dream Weavers dragons, was happy to see that Lateef was more than willing to share information with them and explain why something was the way it was, and both Spyro and Ember were also excited by what they were discovering, but even then he knew that they were both looking forward to seeing what the future held for them, and he found himself agreeing with them as Lateef continued the tour.
With Unika and Revilo being asleep, like the rest of the Dream Weavers, Lateef showed the trio the rest of what his land had to offer, answered whatever questions they had for him, and promised that one day they would return and he'd show them how a Dream Weavers dragon went about their work. That was similar to what the other Leaders said, that the trio would return one day, when they were older and more mature than they were during their first visit to that homeworld, before they learned first hand how the various types of dragons went about their lives, something that all three of them were looking forward to. Each of them were interested in one of the other types of dragons, such as Ember was eager to return to the land of the Peace Keepers and learn how to fight, with some proper lessons this time around, while Spike wanted to head back to the Magic Crafters homeworld and see what sort of magical talent he actually possessed, and if he could replicate the strange spell he used on accident, and Spyro felt that the Dream Weavers might be interesting in their own way, even though they all knew they would have to try and learn what Nestor and the other Artisans dragons did at some point in time.
The moment the tour was over, and they had seen everything that Lateef wanted to show them, minus the realm that the two greatest Dream Weavers dragons called home, the trio thanked him for his time and told him that they had fun learning about the land and what his fellow dragons did for a living. Once they had gotten that out of their systems Lateef told them that he was more than happy to take an hour or two out of his day to show them around and let them learn about whatever interested them, be it what the Dream Weavers did for a living or why he was the only one up right now. With that taken care of he escorted Nestor and the trio back to where Marco was standing, where the balloonist helped all three of them back up into the basket, which took a moment or two to do, before preparing the hot air balloon for their departure, where Lateef smiled and waved at them as they started to lift off the ground and moved into the air. Nestor waited for a few moments, making sure that nothing went wrong with their departure, and when they were a short distance away from the dock they had taken off from he opened his wings, bid farewell to Lateef, and took off so he could catch up to the trio. Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at the land of the Dream Weavers for a few minutes, watching it slowly disappear as they headed back to the Artisans homeworld, and once they could no longer see the land in question they returned to their books as they waited for Marco to tell them that they were nearing their home.
Nestor was pleased to see that all three of them had enjoyed their trip to the land of the Dream Weavers, even if they had been expecting to do something that was connected to the Beast Makers, especially when he took the Magic Crafters into consideration, but this would make them consider the possibility of something else happening, instead of what they were expecting to happen.
The two hour trip between the two homeworlds went by quickly for the trio, since they had something to keep their attention off of the journey, and when they reached the dock of the Artisans land Marco landed like he did in the past, allowing them to climb out of the basket and run off to do whatever they wanted. Nestor was fine with that, as he knew they were tired from the trip and wanted to have fun doing something that wasn't sitting in a basket for a long period of time, before thanking Marco for his assistance once more, who was happy to help them, and then headed off to the main area of their homeworld. When he walked into the area that the portal to Stone Hill was located in, however, he found that Spike was heading off to Dark Hollow, no doubt because there were questions he wanted to see if he could answer, while both Spyro and Ember wandered off in the opposite direction, so they could focus on whatever they were thinking of doing with their free time. He had several ideas for what the three of them could do in the future, now that they had visited the last of the five homeworlds and learned about the last of the five types of dragons that called the Dragon Realms home, but for now he was content to let them do whatever they wanted, so he turned and headed towards another part of their land, as there was a building he needed to complete and was sure he could get it done today, and this time he wasn't worried about one of the young dragons hurting themselves or one of their siblings.
The weeks that followed their visit to Lateef's homeworld were the same as the weeks that went by after their visits to the other lands, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember continued to do what they did with their free time, as in Spyro tried to prank other dragons, Spike spent his time in the Dark Hollow library, learning about whatever caught his attention or his curiosity, and Ember helped any of the Artisans that needed assistance. In addition to that Nestor made sure that they spent a few days practicing their gliding, so they could master it, and making sure they ran the maze once or twice, as he and Lindar had made some changes since the last time the trio ran it and it was good to see them tackling a new challenge with their dragonflies, who had been given the new paths. Of course Lindar didn't tell the trio who had the fastest time, but even then it appeared that such a thing didn't matter to the trio, as they were more excited about the new paths that were inside the maze, causing Nestor to smile at them as they ran the new maze a few more times, just so they had some experience in all three of the new paths they had discovered. The other Artisans dragons occasionally had something for the trio to do, as in heading to Town Square and assisting Alvar with the food, or heading to Stone Hill to help Delbin arrange things for one of the paintings he was trying to make, or just listening to Thomas play his lute, and the trio was happy to spend some time with the other dragons, as it allowed them to learn a little more about them and possibly learn something about the other professions at the same time.
One thing that changed as the weeks went by was that Spyro had finally managed to prank one of the other Artisans dragons with the bucket above the door trick, this time using water so it would be easier to clean up, showing that he was maturing and that he was no longer stuck with pranking Toasty. Spike and Ember still didn't care much for the various pranks that he had in mind, both those that he gleamed from the book he was given and the few that he came up with on his own, and stayed away from him when he was in the mood to prank someone, though when he got caught there were times where Ember would chuckle at the scene, almost like she was hoping that Spyro would move on with his life and try something else, like her and Spike were doing. Nestor wasn't sure how long it would take for Spyro to mature and leave the pranks in the past, while focusing his attention on something more important, but what he had in mind for the trio might be just the thing they needed, and it was the event that Ember was the most excited for. All they had to do was wait until they were a little older, and a little more mature than they currently were, before their next trip to the land of the Peace Keepers, though she was sure that all three of them were going to be excited once they realized what he had in store for them.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember went about their lives like they usually did after a visit to one of the other homeworlds, focusing on something specific, like how Spike spent a great deal of time with the scholars of Dark Hollow or how Ember helped out some of the other dragons as she looked for something to really occupy her time with. Of course they also spent some time working on their gliding and their teamwork with their dragonflies, but other than that there really wasn't that much for them to do at the moment, though Nestor was happy to see that none of them were bored with their lives, rather they seemed quite happy. Normally one would get bored with doing the same thing each week, which was why Nestor made sure that each week was slightly different, save for the moments he put aside for the trio to learn about gliding and even running the maze, so the trio never got bored of what they were doing, though if something didn't interest them all that much they would find something else to do. Nestor was fine with that, as two of the young dragons were trying to find their calling, he didn't count Spike in that because it seemed like he was devoting his spare time and energy into reading the various tomes and scrolls, to learn more about the Dragon Realm and the various dragons that called the five lands home, though it did make him interested in seeing what Spyro and Ember decided on when they were older.
Eventually enough time went by and the trio turned four years old, though a week after that happened Nestor had a surprise for them, which was followed by something that they were familiar with, as in they gathered near the entrance of the tunnel that lead to the dock and waited for Nestor to arrive, so they could head out to one of the other homeworlds and meet the Leader that watched over it.
"I wonder which homeworld we're going to today." Spyro commented, because this time around, unlike the last few times they had come to this location and used Marco's hot air balloon to travel to their destination, they had no idea which of the other four lands Nestor intended on them visiting today, and while he wanted to say that the Beast Makers and the Dream Weavers were off the table, based on the two hour trip, he couldn't do that, so he was curious as to which island they were going to visit.
"Personally, I hope we head to the land of the Peace Keepers," Ember replied, though at the same time she glanced at the sky for a moment, spotting a cloud that was moving by and focused on it, rather than focusing on something else, even though her brothers knew why she wanted to go back to Titan's land, especially after what they had seen the first time they were there and what Nestor told Titan a long time ago.
"Well, I'm hoping for the homeworld of the Magic Crafters," Spike added, showing that he was more interested in seeing what sort of books and scrolls Cosmos and the others had in their hidden library, as his interests were in learning about magic and seeing if the sphere test had been right about them, though to do that he needed the help of Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters, to teach him how to wield the power he was curious about.
"All three of you will find out which homeworld we're heading to in no time," a voice said, where the trio glanced off to the side for a moment as Nestor walked over to where they were gathered, though instead of stopping he passed by them and entered the tunnel they were waiting near, where he heard Spyro, Spike, and Ember following after him not even a few seconds later, showing that they were interested in what they were going to do today.
It only took them a minute or two to reach the dock, where they found Marco waiting for them, which was when both he and Nestor helped the trio into the basket of the hot air balloon before the fire was turned on again, allowing Marco to lift them into the air and begin the journey to the homeworld that they were heading towards. A few moments later Nestor took to the skies as well, following the hot air balloon as they started to make their way towards their destination, a place he knew the trio would be happy to return to, but he and Marco were keeping that a secret for now, so the three young dragons would be surprised when they finally came to a stop. Of course since each journey from the Artisans homeworld to one of the other lands took at least an hour, or longer depending on which of the other islands they picked as their destination, the trio decided to pick up their books and other items, showing that they intended to read to pass the time, even if Ember was more interested in looking out at the water every now and then. Nestor knew that she was hoping for this to be the moment when they finally returned to the home of the Peace Keepers, so she and her siblings could start their combat training at long last, something that Titan and Trondo had shown them some time ago, but he said nothing as they made their way towards their destination.
Forty-five minutes went by without anything happening, though Nestor knew that Ember was occasionally looking out at the area in front of them, trying to figure out which of the other homeworlds they were heading towards, but when she decided to look again, however, he could see a slight smile appear on her face as she spotted the land of the Peace Keepers start to appear before her eyes. Shortly after she noticed it both Spyro and Spike stopped what they were doing and looked at the land in front of them, finding out what their sister was staring at, before a smile appeared on their faces as well, as they were curious as to whether or not they were going to stop at the island that was in front of them. It only took a few more minutes before Marco started to descend towards the dock that was at the edge of the island, the one that would allow them to actually enter the Peace Keepers homeworld, and Nestor could see that the trio was excited for what was going to happen next, even though Ember was the most excited of the trio. She had every right to be, as Nestor had arranged for them to finally start their combat training and Titan was more than ready for them to arrive, along with the rest of the Peace Keepers that would be watching this training take place, before Nestor turned his head towards the dock, where he found the Leader in question standing near the opening of the chamber that would lead them right into the main area of this homeworld.
"Nestor! I'm glad you guys could make it without anything stopping you," Titan said, though as he said that Nestor flew down to where he was standing and landed in front of him, giving Marco some room for when he landed, but there was one thing he wanted to ask before anything else happened, and the only one that could answer it was the Leader of the Artisans dragons, "You told me that you'd bring the trio back here for the start of their combat training when they were either two or three years old, not after they turned four. What happened to what you originally told me?"
"I decided to postpone it for a while," Nestor replied, as he knew that Titan would be a little bent out of shape at the fact that he didn't come back with Spyro, Spike, and Ember like he said he would, but he had said that before they returned to their homeworld and two of the young dragons had done something he should have stopped, "Not even a few minutes after we got back to the Artisans homeworld, after our visit to your land, Spyro and Ember decided to try their hand at mimicking what you and Trondo showed them, resulting in Sparx taking a blow that would have hurt Spyro and me taking some time to explain to them why dragonflies are important. That's why I decided to postpone this visit, as I felt that they weren't actually ready for this sort of training, especially after hearing about what they did when Sparx had been hurt, but now that they're older I felt that it's time for them to actually train under you, or at least learn the types of techniques a young dragon would use if they got into a fight."
"Is that so?" Titan inquired, because while it wasn't uncommon for young dragons to mimic what he and Trondo did, even though he was thinking about young Peace Keepers dragons, he was surprised that two of the three young dragons had tried something right after their visit to his lands, but he smiled as he faced Nestor, "Well then, at least that gives us a decent starting point, if they've already tried to train in the art of combat, but that does raise another question, to replace the one that I just asked. What moves did they try out?"
"From what I could gather, they were trying to learn how to charge." Nestor answered, as that was what he figured out by hearing Spike tell him what his siblings were trying to do, which was mostly what Titan and Trondo had shown them at the end of their visit, but at the very least this gave Titan an idea of what the trio had tried to do and might even give him an idea of where to start their actual training.
Titan remained silent for a few seconds, thinking about what he had originally planned for today and what Nestor had just told him, before shifting his gaze so he could look at the three young dragons, who were in the process of landing and climbing out of the hot air balloon's basket, before he smiled at them.
"It's good to see you three again." Titan said, as he knew that the trio were excited about what they were going to do today, even if they hadn't been told about what was going to happen, and he was eager to get their training started at long last, especially since two of them were purple dragons, "though I bet you're wondering what we'll be doing today."
"Combat training!" Ember exclaimed, before her brothers could even say anything in response to what Titan had said, but at the same time Spyro and Spike nodded their heads in agreement, showing that, while they didn't have the same level of excitement that their sister had, they were still eager to see what they could learn today.
"That is correct." Titan continued, where he turned around and beckoned for the trio to follow him, while he used his right arm to lift his weapon up so the handle could lean on his shoulder, though it wasn't long before he heard the sounds of the three young dragons following after him, along with Nestor accompanying them, no doubt to keep an eye on the trio while they were training.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember wondered where Titan would be taking them, since they didn't know all that much about the land that they were visiting, but as they entered the main area of the island, the central bit where none of the Peace Keepers lived due to the conditions that were all around them, they quickly found Trondo standing in one area, putting a straw dummy of some kind down, where it's back was put in the ground so it could remain upright.
"Today we'll teach the three of you the basics on how to dodge by rolling, how to charge, and, most importantly, how to breath fire." Titan stated, though as he approached the area that Trondo was standing in he shifted his stance and placed his weapon on the ground, so that it would lean against a boulder, before turning around so he could face the trio, who were standing near him while Nestor stood off to the side, "Do you see the straw dummies that are resting around Trondo? We'll be using those as targets for two of your lessons, as in the charging lesson and the lesson on how to wield your inner fire like an adult does, while Trondo and I will use a pair of wooden weapons to help you understand how you're supposed to dodge attacks, regardless of what they of attack it is. Nestor told me that the three of you are getting quite fast at running through that maze of his, but did you know that you can use that speed to charge at your foes and knock them to the ground?"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few moments, as they remembered the day that Titan and Trondo had first shown them how to charge at their target, before focusing on the Leader once more as they shook their heads, indicating that they had no idea what he was talking about. Titan, on the other hand, simply grinned as he had them stand back for a second, though once they weren't standing near him he turned and faced the dummy that Trondo had put into the ground, where he shifted his stance and dropped down onto all fours, just like he had done when he and the greatest warrior of his clan had shown the trio a few of their moves. Despite no longer being a young dragon, who would be used to walking and fighting like this, Titan seemed just fine as he focused on the dummy, just as Trondo moved away from it, before he rushed at the dummy with an incredible amount of speed, which surprised the trio since they had no idea adult dragons could move that fast while taking on the quadrupedal stance, and they sat there with a stunned look on their faces as Titan barreled into the dummy and knocked it onto the ground. What happened was that Titan had used his horns and the top of his head while he was charging, as that was what had come into contact with the dummy, which was why the dummy moved so much, but even then the trio was surprised by what they had seen and were curious as to what else Titan was going to show them, before they had their turn anyway.
A few seconds later Trondo stepped forward and picked out what appeared to be a wooden version of Titan's battle-axe, though once it was in his hands he rushed at where his Leader was standing and swung the weapon down at his target, but before it could make contact Titan, who had turned and stared at Trondo before that point, rolled to his right and let the head of the weapon miss him. The trio noticed that the speed of his roll was just like how he charged, meaning that there was a second reason behind their trips to the maze, while the roll itself was like someone was moving while they were sleeping, the motion of it was anyway, and Titan made sure to make one complete roll before stopping and returning to his previous stance. The reason behind that was because he showed off both the charge attack and the dodge roll a few more times, allowing the trio to understand what he was going to teach them and maybe give them some hints on what they should be doing when their training started, hence the reason they were watching the mock battle unfold and were paying close attention to everything that happened. It wasn't long before Trondo stopped and gave Titan the opening that he was waiting for, as the moment he spotted it he took a deep breath, like he was inhaling, and then loosed a gout of fire that raced towards where Trondo was standing, who was smart enough to open his wings and move out of the way before he was even touched by the flames, which was followed by Titan cutting off his attack before he stood back up.
It was then that the trio noticed that Titan wasn't even worn out from taking on the quadrupedal stance again, either because he had been trained to fight like that and it was second nature, despite being an adult now, or he had forced his body to relearn the lessons he had been taught when he was younger, to help them learn how to fight.
"And there you have it, those are the three basic skills a young dragon must learn so they can defend themselves from any type of threat." Titan commented, though at the same time he and Trondo walked over to the dummies and set three of them up, which were around the trio's height, showing them that it was going to be their turn to try out the moves that he had shown them and that they were going to start with the charging skill, "Since you have done a lot of training with your speed, thanks to Nestor's maze, I figured that we would start with seeing how well you fare with the charge attack, and then we can move on to the other two later, just so we don't spend the entire day on a single attack."
Spyro and Spike immediately moved forward so they could try their hand at charging at the dummies, which just so happened to be placed with enough distance between them so none of them would have to worry about running into each other and ruining all of their charges at the same time. Ember, on the other hand, surprised Titan when she stayed still and stared at the dummy that was her target, no doubt she was thinking of what she had seen and was trying to figure out how he had moved as quickly as he had, which just gave her brothers time to charge at their own dummies. Nestor, who was standing nearby, already knew what was going on, as he had seen the same thing when he was trying to teach the trio had to glide for the first time, and that was the fact that Ember had been the one to get it right, to some degree, and it appeared that she was replicating what she had done during that session with this session, meaning that it was only a matter of time until she made her move. Spyro didn't have much luck in the beginning, as it was a little difficult to match the speed that Titan had been using when he showed them how to charge, and his first attempted started off rather well, but when he slammed into the dummy he found that his target barely moved at all, showing that he must have done something wrong in his attempt, but Titan was okay with that happening, as this was Spyro's first time attempting this attack and he'd master it in time. When Spike made his attempt, however, he ended up tripping and ended up face first in the sand in front of him, surprising Titan, Trondo, and Nestor for a moment, before he pulled himself out of the sand and shook his head, before taking his position again before charging at the dummy, only to replicate what Spyro did.
After a few more attempts Ember got up from where she was sitting and smiled as she focused on her target, where Spyro, Spike, and the others watched as she charged at her dummy, like how Titan had done during his demonstration, and barreled into her target like she had been shown. The result of that action caused the post that the dummy was attached to at the moment to shake, even crack a little, but it eventually settled down and returned to normal, though Ember wasn't unhappy with this development, as she knew that it would take some time for her and her brothers to make some progress with the charging technique and this was a good start for them. Nestor chuckled for a moment, as that was what he was expecting to see happen when Ember got started, even if it surprised Titan and Trondo a little, but it did make him interested in the other two techniques the trio would be learning today, after they were done with their first couple of attempts with the charging attack. Besides, it was just like Ember to analyze what an instructor was doing and what her brothers did, that way she could make a better first attempt and show both Spyro and Spike what they had done wrong, which was what she was doing right now, taking the charge stance so she could show them where each of them went wrong so they could improve for their next attempt.
In fact the same thing happened when they went to their dodging exercises, as either Titan or Trondo would take up one of the wooden weapons and try to hit one of the trio at random, to test their reflexes at the same time, but they also made sure not to actually hit them if they didn't move, as that would hurt their dragonflies instead. Spyro and Spike had a hard time judging where the attacks were coming from and were having a hard time actually rolling out of the way, but Ember, on the other hand, was able to avoid the attacks rather easily and was able to avoid being hit at all, causing Cinder to buzz in a happy tune as he, Sparx, and Talon watched their friends train in the art of combat. That wasn't to say that Ember had mastered the art of dodging with no actual training, rather she was quicker to notice was was going on and had recalled the movements that Titan and Trondo had used in their earlier training session, allowing her to evade the attacks much easier, but even then she still slipped up whenever the pair changed tactics, showing that she had a lot of work to do to reach the level that Titan was at. When it came to breathing fire, however, all three of them reached the same level, as all they were able to do was inhale, like Titan had done, and breathed out not seconds later, though all they were able to produce was small amount of flames, nothing like what happened when Spike sneezed and accidentally breathed fire on the sphere that had been in front of him.
Nestor knew that this was only the beginning of their combat training, as one day all three of them would have the skills necessary to defend themselves against whatever was thrown at them, and he was eager to see what they were capable of once they reached that point.
The days that followed Spyro, Spike, and Ember's latest visit to the Peace Keepers homeworld, where they were shown the three techniques that a young dragon used to defend themselves with, were the same as the days that lead up to that visit, where the trio spent their days mastering Nestor's lessons and pursuing their own interests. When they weren't busy doing all of that they used a good portion of their free time to try their hand at going through the motions of the techniques that Titan and Trondo had shown them, but also made sure that they didn't get too crazy with their attempts to master the art of fighting. Out of all of them Ember was the most excited about the idea of practicing her skills and improving, though Spyro and Spike joined her in the area near the dragon head structure that contained the portal to Nevin's castle and joined her in her attempts to master the techniques they had been shown. Nestor was more than willing to let them practice the combat skills they had been shown, hence the reason he allowed them to set up a few dummies in the area that Ember wanted to practice in, that way, if one of the dummies went flying, it could be easily recovered and put back where it had been before someone ran into it.
Spike had been sure that Nestor, being the Leader of the Artisans dragons, would have stopped them from trying to master the techniques they had been shown during the lessons Titan had given them, mostly because the Artisans dragons were peaceful and didn't fight anyone, but he guessed that Nestor was making an exception for now, and that when the three of them were older the rules would be slightly different.
Their combat practices didn't stop Spike from returning to the library of Dark Hollow and continuing his studies, as he was more interested in what the books and scrolls had for him than what Ember and Spyro were trying to master, but he also knew that being able to defend himself was important and made an effort to learn the techniques as well. Spyro spent the rest of his free time trying to prank the other Artisans dragons, something that they were getting used to these days, with the same tactics he had used before their latest visit to the Peace Keepers homeworld, meaning that if one of his pranks failed the clean up would be rather easy. Ember, of course, refused to do much else than trying to master the techniques they had been shown, revealing that she was really interested in learning how to fight, but she also spent some time helping the other dragons, where she thought about what she was doing and tried to think of a better way to pull off the charge attack and mastering how to dodge incoming attacks. Nestor, despite not being much of a warrior himself, was impressed by the fact that she was willing to put forth so much of her time and energy to master the three techniques they had been taught, along with improving her skills here and there, but he was sure that, in time, she would reach a point where she was satisfied with her skills and stop her training.
Spyro and Spike showed good promise as well, which he was glad to see since they were purple dragons, but for the most part he let Titan and Trondo be the judges of their progress, since he wasn't a warrior at all and didn't know the ins and outs like they did, though he was sure that the pair would be happy with the trio's progress the next time they visited the land of the Peace Keepers.
Argus and the other scholars were happy to see Spike's progress as he moved onto a new section of the library, which just showed them that he was definitely a scholar at heart, and that they were willing to assist him in whatever studies he was pursuing at any given moment. One thing that caught Spike's attention were some of the older tomes that mentioned that the dragons once called another land home, almost a thousand years ago if his calculations were correct, where he added those books and scrolls to the list, since they had caught his interest, which meant that he was going to read them at some point and learn about the land the dragons used to call home, and possibly why they were forced to move to the islands they now called home. He assumed they had been forced to move by some force, either someone else or an event they weren't expecting, but he knew that, in time, he would crack open those tomes and discover why the dragons had come to these islands, he just had to get through what he was studying at the moment, before he could think about moving onto a brand new subject. That was what the other scholars did, they focused on a single subject and didn't switch until they were done with whatever topic or subject they were on, and he was eager to follow what they were doing while creating his own style, so he could be more efficient in his studies, causing his friends to nod as all of them continued their various studies like nothing had changed.
Nestor, in addition to watching the trio as they went about their daily lives and focused on what interested them at the moment, took some time to talk with the other Artisans dragons and discuss what they were going to do in the near future, in terms of seeing what sort of artistic skills the trio had. He was positive that they knew what Spike was interested in spending his life pursuing, based on what they had seen so far, but Spyro and Ember remained a mystery to him and the other Artisans dragons, meaning there was a chance they could take up an instrument, make pottery, or even take up acting for the rest of their lives. The only way they would know what the trio's talents were was by offering them a few exercises and seeing what happened when all three of them tried to follow some of the other dragons, which was why they were planning on setting aside a day to see what sort of talent Spyro, Spike, and Ember had inside them. It was the same thing they did with all of the young dragons that hatched in the Artisans homeworld, let them get used to seeing what the adults did with their lives and then, when they were old enough, see what sort of artistic talent they had so they could follow their dreams. Of course it took years for them to learn how to do their chosen professions and understand what they needed so they could make their art, but that was the process that he and the other Artisans dragons went through when they were young, so it only made sense for the trio to experience it as well.
One thing was certain, he and the other Artisans dragons would have a better understanding of what sort of future Spyro and Ember might be heading towards after seeing the results of them attempting to learn how to make art for the first time, regardless of what profession they decide to try first.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember stood near the tunnel that would take them to the tower that contained the whirlwind that would allow them to access the portal to Town Square, which was where Nestor said they would be spending a good portion of their day, rather than heading out to see another homeworld and learn something else. It had been about five months since their visit to the land of the Peace Keepers, where they attempted to learn the basics of combat in their current forms, something that they had been practicing off and on as the weeks went by, but all three of them had been expecting to head to another homeworld this time around. They had been surprised when Nestor told them that they wouldn't be leaving for one of the other lands for this next lesson, meaning that it was something that only the Artisans dragons could teach them, which only confused them since they were sure they had learned everything they could possibly learn from Nestor and the others. What surprised them even more was the fact that Nestor has asked that they leave their stuff in Stone Hill, before coming to this area to wait for him, so Spyro wrapped his scarf around his book, Ember sighed as she removed her bracers, and Spike set his satchel down, with all of his writing materials inside it, before they used the exit whirlwind to return to this part of their homeworld, where they waited for Nestor to arrive.
"So, what do you think we'll be doing today?" Spyro asked, because unlike the last couple of lessons they had been given, and the last few places they had visited, there had been some warning about what they were going to be doing or at least some idea of what sort of lesson they would be learning, but today was different, as none of them had any idea what Nestor had planned for them, other than that they would be spending the day in Town Square.
"Well, I was hoping that we'd either head back to Titan's land for more training or visit Cosmos to see what sort of spells he can teach us." Ember replied, though while the first part of her statement was what she wanted to do, so she could improve her skills and see if there was more for her to learn from Titan and Trondo, the second part was more in line with what Spike was interested in, as she knew he wanted to learn magic at some point, especially after seeing that his sphere revealed he had the talent to do so, "But now I'm not sure what we'll be doing."
"I think we'll be tackling the professions of the other Artisans dragons," Spike said, as he had been thinking about why they had to leave their stuff behind and an idea of why that would be the case had dawned on him, because Nestor didn't want them to ruin their gifts with the various objects that they would be working with today, though that all depended on whether or not he was right.
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they hadn't considered the fact that maybe Nestor and the other Artisans dragons wanted to see what sort of artistic talent they had, which actually made sense when they thought about it, but before they could say anything they spotted Nestor walking towards them, which meant that he would tell them what they would be doing today.
"I see you three are ready to heard what I have in store for you today." Nestor said, where a smile appeared on his face for a moment, as he knew that the trio had been disappointed when he asked them to meet him near this tunnel and not the tunnel that lead to the dock, but right now it appeared that their interest in what he had planned for them was more than enough to overrule their other thoughts, hence the reason he started walking into the tunnel and had the trio follow after him once more, "Instead of heading to one of the other homeworlds, and seeing how well you three do in regards to their professions, I thought that we would spend the day seeing what sort of artistic talent you three possess, by having Nils, Thor, and some of the others test your skills."
"So we're going to spend the day learning how to sculpt and whatnot?" Ember inquired, though while she was a little surprised that this was what Nestor had in mind for them she was also surprised that Spike's guess was right on target, something that told her she should trust her brother when he made suggestions.
"That's what we'll be doing." Nestor replied, where he made sure the trio used the whirlwind to get to the top of the tower, before following them up to the top so he could lead them right into the portal, so they could appear at the entrance of Town Square, which was when he moved forward once more, "All Artisans dragons do this when they're between the ages of four and five, as it helps both them and their elders determine which profession they might be interested or talented in, though there are instances where it might be a year or two more for that talent to come to the surface and reveal itself."
"What will we be making?" Spyro asked, as he was under the impression that the test seemed to be the same year after year and that Nestor would have an idea of what they would be facing, though at the same time there was the chance that he could be told nothing, leaving them confused as to what they would be doing.
"That's up to Nils, Thor, and the others, and it changes every time we do this," Nestor said, as that was the truth, it was up to the experts of the arts that the trio would be learning from as to what items they would be making, so there wasn't much he could tell them at this point, "but I'm sure that all three of you will do just fine, and that you'll be able to make whatever they ask for to the best of your abilities."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment as they came to a stop, where Nestor would help them climb up to the next level so they could move on to where the others were waiting, because they knew they had no experience in this sort of thing and were a little worried they would insult the experts with whatever they made. Nestor didn't seem worried about that sort of thing, rather his statement made it seem like bad attempts were acceptable and that they would improve as time went by, which only made them curious what the experts would say when they finally reached the end of this test. Fortunately it didn't take them long to reach the area that Nestor was leading them to, where they found Nils standing near a few stones that had some hammers and chisels in front of them, while at the same time Thor was near him, where some clay was resting near him, along with a few clay jars and some brushes. It appeared that the trio had two options to chose from, either use the hammer and chisel to make a sculpture of some kind, or use the clay to make a pot or something and then paint it at some point, but that was what their first impressions were and those could be wrong, so they said nothing as Nestor lead them to where the experts were standing.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's good to see you three again," Nils commented, as while the trio lived in the Artisans homeworld they didn't see everyone every single day, and it had been a while since they had seen Nils and the dragons of Town Square, hence the reason he had said that statement, before gesturing to the stones near him, "As Nestor no doubt told you, today we'll be seeing what sort of artistic talent you have, though there is more than just creating a sculpture out of stone or making pots out of clay, as we also have a few canvases that you can paint on and a few instruments that you can try out, along with some other objects as well. There's no requirement as to how many professions you try today, rather you should look at them and see which ones speak to you, then go on from there and create whatever you feel like, be it a sculpture, a painting, a painted pot, or something else."
Spike was rather surprised by what Nils had said, though before he and his siblings could really say anything a few of the older dragons that were near them approached the area that they would be working in and started to show how each of the professions worked. He understood what they were doing the moment they started, as they were giving brief demonstrations on what each of them did for a living and were explaining the methods as they went, so the three of them would have an idea of what to do when they finally started their attempts at making art. Delbin, being the only painter here since Nevin was busy in his castle, again, showed them how to use the brush on the canvas that he was working on, Nils held up his own hammer and chisel for a few seconds before chipping away at the stone that he picked out, where it took him a few moments to make a dragon's head from the stone, and Thor sprayed some water on the clay and started to form a pot, showing them the techniques he had learned over the years. The other dragons that were present did the same thing, taking a few seconds or moments to show the trio how each of them worked on their professions and the various techniques that one learned while working in their field, before eventually stopping so the next dragon could step forward, eventually leaving the trio as the only ones left, indicating that it was time for them to start.
Ember sighed as she approached the stones that Nils had been working on, figuring that she might as well see if anything came to mind as she worked on one of the remaining stones, though she wasn't surprised to see that Spike was already walking around the area, staring at the other tools, before making a decision. She honestly didn't see why Nestor and the others wanted Spike to do this test as well, when it was clear that he was a scholar and was focused on all the things he could study, but she had to guess that they didn't want him to feel left out, even though he knew what he would be doing for the rest of his life, and he seemed fine with taking a break and trying something else out. Spyro, on the other hand, walked over to where the clay pots were sitting and stared at the clay for a few seconds, as if he was trying to figure out what he should do, before picking out some clay and moved it to the area that Thor had been working in, though it was hard to tell if he had picked that out simply because this test didn't interest him or if he really wanted to be a ceramicist like Thor when he was older, though she really doubted the second option would come to pass. From what she had seen Spyro wasn't the type to just sit down and enjoy spending his entire life working on pots and other things that were made out of clay, he liked to be part of the action, regardless of what that was, so Ember knew that his interests would be something that wasn't present today, he just had to be patient and he'd find his passion soon enough.
After a few moments Spike seemed to stop and picked out what he wanted to work with, where Ember was surprised to find that her brother picked out the same thing she was doing, but she had to assume that he was curious about this sort of thing and wasn't following what Nestor and the others had told them to do. In the end she pushed that from her mind and focused on the stone that was in front of her, where she sat down and lifted the hammer and chisel with her front legs, which would be her arms and hands when she was older, before she connected the two with the stone and started chipping small sections of it off. She honestly had no idea what she was even trying to make, as the only thing she could think about transferring into the stone was Cinder, her dragonfly, but that seemed like something that would take a lot of time and effort to learn about, before she could even make something like that, so she let her mind wander while she slowly removed bits of the stone. While this happened she had to wonder if Spike would have this problem as well, where he couldn't decide on what he wanted to craft from the stone, but at the same time she knew that, thanks to all the studies Spike had done over the years, it was possible that he might have a better idea of what to make due to all the stuff he could have read about. Spyro, of course, was molding the clay in front of him to the best of his ability, though she did see that he must have given up on trying to make a pot, as it seemed like a dish or plate of some kind, but she pushed that to the back of her mind as she focused on the stone once more.
Since this was her first time trying something like this, and had no idea how to actually use a hammer and chisel on a stone like what was in front of her, Ember ended up breaking off large chunks on accident and occasionally glared at them for a few seconds, mostly in annoyance over the fact that this was harder than she thought it would be, before returning to what she had picked out. Even with large bits of the stone falling here and there, and showing her lack of skill in this field, she was determined to finish what she started, even if she still had no idea what she was even trying to make, and it didn't seem like the experts were angry with her for breaking the stone, rather it seemed like they were expecting this sort of thing and were curious as to what she was going to do next. It took her a few minutes of pausing and studying the modified stone before she could figure out what she was attempting to make, to the best of her ability anyway, as it appeared that she was trying to make a weapon of some kind, maybe like Titan's battle-axe or Trondo's dagger, but all she had right now was a crude handle, or what she assumed was a handle. She could tell that following in Nils' footsteps wasn't for her, as she wasn't doing a good job turning the stone into a work of art, but at the same time she figured she might as well finish what she was working on, before moving to one of the other stations to see if one of the other types of art was something that would click with her and the talent the experts were looking out for.
"So, what are you making?" a voice asked, where Ember stopped what she was doing for a few seconds and found that Nils had actually walked away from where the other experts were standing, as he was standing near her and was looking at the stone that she happened to be working on at the moment.
"Honestly, I have no idea at this point." Ember replied, as she figured she might as well be truthful about this sort of thing, especially since it was one of the experts asking her what she was doing, before turning her attention back to the stone that was in front of her, which Nils was studying.
"It looks like you were going for a crystalline scepter of some kind, if the gemstone at the top is any indication," Nils said, as that was what the sculpture looked like to him, even though the scepter itself was crude and reflected Ember's current skill level, but at the same time he was curious as to why she would make something like this, since there weren't that many scepters in the Dragon Realms and the only ones that he knew about were listed in one of the tomes that Argus and the other scholars constantly looked over.
"Well, if it's a scepter, it's not one that's described in the scroll that contains all the scepter we know about," Spike commented, as he had paused what he was doing the moment he noticed that Nils had come over to see what they were doing and had taken a moment to look at what Ember had made, though he wasn't messing around with his statement, as the scroll in question described, in detail, the known scepters of the Dragon Realms and any other land the dragons had visited in the past, even if some of them likely didn't exist anymore, and this wasn't like the ones on the list, "Still, I think you did a good job on your first attempt at trying to make a sculpture, regardless of the fact that you chose to make a scepter for some odd reason."
"And what is that... thing... that you made?" Ember asked, as she had glanced at the area that Spike had been working in and found out what his sculpture was like, though she was confused as to what it was, because it looked like he had been going for making a horse's head for some reason, though it wasn't shaped like a normal horse's head.
"It's supposed to be a horse's head, I think," Spike replied, because he had been working on his sculpture without really thinking about it and was a little surprised by the bust that was sitting in front of him, even if was crude like Ember's sculpture was, though he could tell that Nils was curious about what he had made as well, since he had moved from staring at the scepter and was now staring at the bust, "I just got all of the characteristics wrong."
Ember glanced at the bust that Spike had chiseled out of the stone and found that it looked like what she assumed was a mare of some kind, one that was unrealistic when she thought about what a mare actually looked like, and the hair it had, despite being crude due to her brother's lack of skills, seemed to be styled in some manner, something that screamed 'scholar' to her.
"Despite getting the characteristics wrong, I believe you did a good job as well," Nils commented, as he could see that, while this sort of profession wasn't for Spike and Ember, their first attempts at learning this sort of thing was to be admired, because their crude sculptures awakened some inspiration inside him, something that the other experts had to be feeling at the moment, before he thought about something else, "So, Spyro, what are you making?"
"A plate or a dish of some kind," Spyro replied, though while that was true, as he had a clay object that was roughly the size of his head resting in front of him, he carefully manipulated part of it to resemble a dragon's head, to the best of his ability anyway, and used some of the paint to decorate what he was making, "with the head of a dragon resting in the direct center of it."
True enough Spyro was making a black scaled dragon with a ruby colored chest area, with a few silver-white colored horns attached to the head, while also possessing emerald colored eyes, though Ember really had no idea where he got the idea to make such a thing in the first place, even if the dragon in question was showing off a toothy grin and was just as crude as what she and Spike had made.
"It looks great." Thor said, as he had been studying what Spyro was doing with his clay and the paint, just like Nils had been watching Spike and Ember while they were working, and they were both impressed by what the trio was able to do with a limited amount of knowledge on each profession they could have picked, before he glanced at Spyro's work again and gestured for the young dragon to move back, "Here, allow me."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as Thor loosed a short burst of fire onto the clay, hardening it to the point where it couldn't be messed with and looked like most of the plates and pots that he had made in the past, though once that was done he turned off his fire and smiled once more.
"There, now your art is complete." Thor stated, though he could see that Spyro, despite originally being unsure about his first attempt, was happy to have something to remind him of his first attempt at making art, something that Nils agreed with, as he promised Spike and Ember that he'd help carry the sculptures to the area they called home, so they could be set somewhere safe for the future.
Spyro glanced at his siblings for a moment, as he was a little surprised that Nestor and the others would let them take their creations back to their area of Stone Hill, the area that they called home and slept in almost every night, but he guessed that this was a way to remind them of their first attempt and to install in them the desire to never give up. He wasn't sure that this sort of thing was for him, just like he could tell that Spike and Ember weren't going to be sculptures or ceramicists in the future, but he was happy with his first attempt at this sort of thing and was curious as to what Nestor and the other Leaders had for them in the future, especially since this wasn't something they were expecting. At the same time he could tell that Spike and Ember were more interested in studying the sculptures that they had made, so they could figure out what caused them to create the scepter and the strange horse bust, something he was more than willing to let his siblings do on their own, as he had no idea how he was supposed to help them. Either way all three of them were excited to try their hands at a few more of the other activities the experts had brought for them to mess with, to see if they had any artistic talent like Nils, Thor, and the remaining experts that were sitting nearby thought they might have.
In the end he and his siblings would be looking towards the future and whatever Nestor had in store for them next, especially after what they had seen so far during their last couple of visits to the various homeworlds that made up the Dragon Realms, and they were sure that whatever happened next would be exciting as well.
Once Nestor, Nils, Thor, and the other artistic experts called an end to the test they had set up, allowing the trio to see what sort of art they were interested in and what they had some talent in, Spyro, Spike, and Ember followed them to where Alvar had prepared lunch for them, allowing them to relax at long last and focus on something else that wasn't their art pieces. Spike and Ember were still a little confused as to why they had made what they had in the stones they had worked on, but at the same time Nils told them that they had done a decent job for their first attempt and was interested in seeing if they came to him in the future, to learn more about his profession. They all knew that Spike would only return to learn whatever the books and scrolls of Dark Hollow didn't tell him, since he was bound to study this once they had some free time, but Nils didn't mind that something like that could happen, because it had been some time since he had anyone to talk to about his profession and he was interested in seeing if what the library had was correct. Spyro, on the other hand, was more confused about the dragon that he had created on the plate he had worked on, mostly because he didn't recall seeing any black dragons around the five homeworlds, but Nestor told them that it was likely the spur of the moment and that he was expressing himself in some manner, just like the experts did when they made their art.
In the end the trio decided to drop the discussion of what they had made and focused their minds on something else, like what they were going to do in the future, since they were curious as to what Nestor and the other Leaders had in store for them, and that included the fact that none of them knew which of the homeworlds they would be heading to next, even if each of them were hoping for a specific homeworld to visit next.
The moment they were done eating, Nestor, Nils, and Thor helped the trio back to Stone Hill, mostly by carrying the art pieces they had made during their test, and when they arrived at their destination they set the pieces down where the trio could see them and look at them whenever they wanted, even if they would rather put this test behind them. Once that was done the trio went back to what they normally did, as in Spyro wrapped his scarf around his neck and picked up his book of pranks so he could see if there was anything he could do to someone, Ember pulled her bracers back on and headed to the area where she practiced her combat skills, and Spike, as expected, picked up his writing supplies before leaving Stone Hill, so he could return to the Dark Hollow library and continue his studies. Nestor had to chuckle as he and the others saw that, because he was used to the trio usually going their separate ways so they could do whatever they wanted, and since most of Spyro's antics weren't harmful he was willing to let them slide, especially since he had to help clean up every now and then, even though he and the others were hoping he would grow out of this at some point. One thing he knew was that the other Artisans dragons were also hopeful that Spyro would grow out of his antics, for more reasons than just because they were getting tired of his pranks, but they knew that time would tell what happened and they were eager to show him their own professions, only to get him to stop his pranks. He was pleased with how Spike and Ember were growing into their own talents, be it being a scholar or having some talent in combat, and he was interested in seeing what the trio did when they were much older and finally picked out what sort of profession they would spend the rest of their lives working on.
Of course there were other things for the trio to learn, from the other homeworlds and the other Leaders, and they would get to that in time, but there was something specific that Nestor wanted the three of them to learn and knew that, based on how the trio had taken to their gliding lessons and the other lessons they had been given, they would be excited for what he had in store for them.
As the weeks went by Nestor found that his earlier thoughts about the trio were correct, as Spyro spent a good deal of his time looking at his prank book and trying out the last couple of pranks he hadn't tried yet on the various dragons of the Artisans homeworld, along with Toasty from time to time. Spike spent his time with the scholars of Dark Hollow, reading the various books and scrolls that were available to him on every subject that Argus and the older scholars had spent their lives had researched, while at the same time making his own notes whenever he found something interesting, so he could expand the number of studies he had planned. Ember, despite spending her time practicing her combat skills, managed to drag her brothers away from what they were doing every now and then, something that impressed some of the other dragons of their land, before having the two of them join her in her practice sessions, so they could have a decent grasp of the basic combat skills as well, just in case they needed to fight something. Nestor was happy that Ember was able to talk Spyro and Spike into joining her, because it would have annoyed Titan that two of the young dragons he had taught were ignoring their training sessions and not practicing their skills, but now it seemed that all three of them were on their way to being prepared for whatever the world threw at them.
While the trio was busy with their various individual activities, be it Spike researching subjects and reading the contents of Dark Hollow's library, Spyro pranking whoever he wanted to prank, and Ember practicing her combat skills, Nestor made sure to contact a specific dragon from the Magic Crafters land, as he had something interesting in store for the trio and he was sure that they would like his next lesson, when he was ready to show it to them.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that another couple of months went by since they had tried out some of the various arts that Nils and some of the other Artisans dragons spent their lives working on, where the three of them continued with what they normally did as they waited for something else to happen. Of course, in addition to what they spent a great deal of their time doing, there were also the days where Nestor insisted that they practice their gliding and their speed, by running the maze a few times, especially since he and Lindar had improved it once more, revealing another challenge for them and their dragonflies to overcome. As they grew older, and taller every now and then, they could tell that the ability to glide was necessary in all of the homewords, be it the main area or one of the realms, hence the reason all three of them were eager to master the technique, so they would be able to jump over the gaps with ease and then glide to their destination, without falling and hurting themselves in the process. The maze was a great place for them to run around and attempt to increase their speed, which actually helped them in their charging practices as well, but for the most part the trio tried to see what changes had been made to the maze, since there were a few changes every now and then, Nestor's way of keeping them prepared for anything, and if they could overcome them, which was possible since their dragonflies had been given the paths to follow.
Other than their usual activities, and the various training exercises that Nestor wanted them to do so they could be ready for the future, there weren't any new activities that forced them to move in a different way, like they had when Titan was showing them the basics of how a young dragon fought, but that didn't mean that something wasn't planned for them and they kept their eyes open as they went about their lives.
The announcement came at the end of their fifth birthday, where Nestor informed them that a week from then they would be doing something new and that it would be here, in the Artisans homeworld once more, before leaving them to their own devices for the rest of the night. Normally the fact that whatever they would be learning would be here, in the land they called home, would be a downer, since they were sure that they had learned everything that Nestor and the others could offer them, but Spike informed his siblings of the fact that there was more to being a dragon than what they had experienced, meaning that they were going to see something new and exciting in the near future. Spyro and Ember had to admit that they were curious as to what Nestor had in mind for them, especially since the Leader didn't tell them what he had planned for them until they reached their destination, so in the end they had to agree with Spike, that they couldn't judge their next lesson based on where it would be taking place, which lead them to looking forward to what Nestor had in store for them. Of course their focus returned to the party they were having, since it was their birthday, and pushed the thought of another lesson to the back of their minds for now, as all three of them knew that they would have to think about it again in the future and would pour their attention into the lesson when it arrived.
Not seven days later the trio was standing outside the portal to Stone Hill, waiting for Nestor to arrive, as they were curious as to what he had planned for them, especially since it had to involve another Artisans dragon, but, like always, they had no idea what to expect and just stood there.
"So, what do you guys think Nestor will teach us today?" Spyro asked, because he honestly had no idea what sort of lesson they would be having today, since he was still sure that they had been taught everything that could be taught to an Artisans dragon, but even then they had to wait and see what Nestor had to tell them.
"I'm hoping he's pulling a fast one on us and will tell us that we're actually heading to another homeworld," Ember replied, as she wanted to head back to the land of the Peace Keepers and show Titan the progress she had made on the techniques he had shown them, hopefully getting him to reveal a few more attacks and tricks for the future, something new to train with for the foreseeable future.
"That's a possibility we can't ignore," Spike admitted, where he tilted his head for a moment, because while he knew that Nestor intended to teach them something that was connected to the Artisans, hence why they were standing here and not heading towards the dock, he did want to visit Cosmos' land once more, to see what sort of magic he and his siblings could learn, especially after everything they had been shown, "personally, I'm eager for our trip back to the land of the Magic Crafters, because I'm curious as to what we can learn from Cosmos and the other masters."
Spyro and Ember remembered the various types of magic that they had been introduced to some time ago, during their second visit to the homeworld of the Magic Crafters, and had seen how interested Spike was in learning about the types of magic they had seen, so they knew why he was excited about that and so were they, just to see if Cosmos' sphere test was as accurate as he thought it was.
"Don't worry, you'll be able to learn about magic soon enough," a voice said, where the trio turned their heads and found Nestor walking towards them, though he was accompanied by an orange scaled dragon that wore a blue robe that was fitted for his chest area, which was open at the moment, and he had some cloth covering the area below his waist, but what really interested Spike was the bronze globe that rested between his curved horns and, if his eyes weren't deceiving him, there was a map embedded in the dragon's right wing, or at least he thought there was one there, "Spyro, Spike, Ember, allow me to introduce Lucas, one of the Magic Crafters dragons, though in addition to the magic he wields he's also a mapmaker, along with being a Keeper of Secrets, sworn to keep them hidden at all costs."
"A Keeper... of Secrets?" Spike asked, because that was news to him, as he hadn't seen any mention of a dragon like that in all of the studies he had done since he first started pouring over the books and scrolls that Argus had access to, and he knew he was far from finished with his studies, but this information was news to him.
"Only a select few know that I'm a Keeper of Secrets, as it's not written down in any books or scrolls," Lucas told them, though he sounded happy about finally letting someone else know what else he did for a living, meaning that whatever secrets he was guarding had to be incredibly important for almost no one to know about his other professions, where Spike decided to commit this information to his memory, instead of writing it down like he usually did, "and those are the Leaders of the homeworlds, along with whoever they trust the information to, but there are only seven or eight dragons that know of my second profession at any given time, so don't tell anyone."
"That's interesting, but it opens another question," Spyro commented, because while he had no idea that a Keeper of Secrets even existed, which meant that Lucas was doing a good job of not revealing his other profession to others, he was confused about something and wanted to ask it before they did anything else, since he knew that Ember was thinking about asking her own question, "Nestor, you said that what we're doing today wasn't learning about magic, but then you bring a Magic Crafters dragon here, to the Artisans homeworld. So what in the world are we doing today?"
"We're going to show you how to fly," Nestor replied, though he smiled for a moment as that got the attention of the three young dragons, as they had seen him and a few of the other adult dragons fly through the air on several occasions, be it when he followed them to a homeworld or when someone was coming to greet them, and he knew that they were interested in seeing what he had in store for them this time around, "though the reason I asked Lucas to join us is because we'll be using one of the Flight Realms today, to demonstrate how a dragon flies through the air and some of the various tricks that they can pull off, and he needs to open the way for us to reach our new destination."
"A... Flight Realm?" Ember asked, as she knew that Spike would have a number of questions based on the information that they had been given so far, both on Lucas being a Keeper of Secrets and on the realm that Nestor was talking about, so she figured that she might as well ask about something that the pair could answer.
"They are small islands that are enchanted to allow continuous flying," Lucas explained, though at the same time he started to walk over to the waterfall that the trio occasionally saw Delbin stand in front of when he was painting, as the rushing water seemed to be his source of inspiration, where the trio and Nestor followed after him, before coming to a stop near the basin the water gathered in, which no doubt moved the water elsewhere, "that is why we call them 'Flight Realms', as they are essentially realms of a homeworld that no one really lives on, much like the area that Nestor's maze resides on, but they allow dragons that visit them, be they young dragons or adults, to fly through the air. The reason I am here is because the way to the Artisans Flight Realm is hidden and only a select few know how to access this realm, so what I'm going to do is open the way for us, and to do this I'm going to have to ask the three of you to close your eyes while I open the way."
"Oh, it's one of the secrets you're supposed to keep hidden." Spike guessed, though even then he had to wonder why a realm like a Flight Realm would even be hidden in the first place and that the only one who knew how to open the way was someone from the Magic Crafters homeworld, but he guessed that they would figure out why that was the case when they finally learned magic from Cosmos and the other masters.
Spyro and Ember watched as Spike closed his eyes for a moment, meaning that he was going to let Lucas do his thing, causing them to sigh as they followed his lead, because they were more interested in the lessons that Nestor had for them and weren't all that excited about whatever Lucas had to do to open the way. Lucas waited for a few seconds, just to be sure that the trio had their eyes closed and wouldn't peak at what he was doing, before nodding his head as he climbed up to where the five stepping stones were located and jumped on each of them once, causing them to glow before he returned to the area in front of the trio. Once all five of the stone were glowing the stone wall that was between the two waterfalls shifted for a few seconds as it lowered into the ground, revealing a small hidden area that contained one of the Artisans portals, the one he and Nestor had told the trio about. He waited for a moment or two, to make sure that the wall was open and there wasn't anything that could reveal what he had done, which was why he weaved a quick illusion spell on the stones, to make it look like they were normal in the eyes of the three young dragons, before determining that it was time for them to get going.
"Okay, you can open your eyes." Lucas said, where he glanced back to the trio and watched as they opened their eyes, only to find that there was an opening between the two waterfalls, one that they had never seen before, before he turned their attention to the portal that was resting in the opening, "That portal will take us to the Flight Realm, where the three of you can practice flying for real, though you might want to leave your stuff behind, so they don't get wet while we're flying around the Flight Realm, since there is the chance that you might crash into the water while we're there."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they wondered why Lucas would suggest such a thing, but out of the three of them only Spike removed his satchel and set it aside, since he didn't want to ruin all of his writing materials by falling into the water, while Spyro and Ember kept their personal items on. With that done it was clear that they were ready to get moving, to which Nestor and Lucas helped them over to the landing in front of the portal, as none of them touched the large stones that rested in the water, before all five of them walked through the portal so they could enter the Flight Realm at long last. The trio was expecting to find themselves on a platform or walkway of some kind when they appeared on the other side, just like they did when they headed to one of the other realms, but this time around all of them were in for a surprise, as the moment they were allowed to see what was in front of them again they discovered that they were up in the air and their wings were already spread out for them. The shock of discovering that they were flying, thanks to the enchantment on the portal, was enough to shock the trio and cause their wings to wobble for a few seconds, which, despite their gliding training, caused them to shift their course and head straight towards the water that was below them, only to be stopped as Lucas caught all of them with his magic and moved them over to a hill that rested on the island.
It was in that moment that the trio discovered that the island was set in a mid-summer setting and had sunlight that filled the area, not to mention the hill that they were resting on, one of a few they quickly discovered, and the fact that there were some large blue crystals resting above ground.
"I guess we should have warned you that the first time using a portal to access a Flight Realm would be a tad bit shocking and that you might fall out of the air due to the shock." Nestor said, where the trio watched as he gracefully moved through the air, just like he did when they were heading to one of the other homeworlds, and landed near the hill they were sitting on, though he was quickly followed by Lucas, who made sure to dispel the magic that had saved them from falling into the water, "What we're going to do is start small, by practicing how to take off and how to land, so watch what I do, because in a few minutes it will be your turn to do the same thing."
The trio knew that Nestor wasn't expecting them to get this right the first time, as just noticing they were flying had caused them to break the enchantment for a short period of time, but they nodded their heads and watched as Nestor moved near the edge of the land they were sitting on. When Nestor came to a stop he shifted his stance, once more taking on the quadrupedal stance that he and Titan used when they were showing the trio how a young dragon did something, before he rushed towards the edge of the cliff and jumped into the air, spreading his wings and taking flight before their very eyes. Once that was done Nestor shifted his stance again and flew around the island like an adult dragon would, but at the same time he knew that this would give the trio an idea of what they were supposed to do right now, especially since they had a few seconds to see the enchantment on their bodies before they nearly crashed, so he was eager to see what all three of them did when it was time to fly. After a few moments of flying around in the air, and allowing the trio to see what they should be striving for, Nestor turned around and landed near the edge that he had jumped off of, because he knew that there would be some failed attempts, even with the enchantments this island possessed, and that he and Lucas would be helping the trio out of the water for some time, before one of them got it right.
As Nestor expected Spyro was the first one to attempt what he had shown them, because he was usually the first one to attempt any of the lessons that he and the other Leaders had them do, and as he jumped into the air, to start his first attempt at flying, Nestor noticed that he failed to open his wings, showing that he had put his trust in the enchantments that the island possessed. Fortunately his jump ensured that he would fall straight down into the water, which was perfectly fine since failure lead to them overcoming whatever challenges were in their way, though once Spyro hit the water it wasn't long before he resurfaced, where Nestor noticed that the young dragon realized that he should have listened to Lucas, since his scarf was drenched now. Spike was the next one to attempt what Nestor had shown them, as he approached the edge for a moment and looked out at the area that they were in, while at the same time Lucas pulled Spyro out of the water and brought him back up to the area his siblings were in, before nodding his head and indicating that he was ready for this. A few seconds later Spike rushed at the edge of the cliff and jumped into the air, just like Nestor had done when he was showing them what they needed to do, where he spread his wings and prepared himself for what was about, which, instead of flying through the air like he thought he'd do, was actually him heading straight into the water, just like what happened with Spyro.
Lucas took a moment to help Spike out of the water and bring him up to where the others were sitting, though once he was dropped off Ember got up and walked forward, indicating that she was ready to give this a try, though Nestor had to smile as she did what her brothers did, but instead of falling into the water she actually caught the wind and took off, without hitting the water.
Nestor had been expecting this from the moment they started the lesson, that Ember would have watched what her brothers had done and would have come up with the solution to whatever problem they were having, just like she had done during their gliding lessons so long ago. Spike was smart and could have figured out the problem in time, but he seemed to overthink some of the aspects of what they were doing, leading him to fail ever now and then in some manner, but as he got older it seemed like he might be learning from his mistakes, though time would tell on that one. Spyro, didn't seem to have that much patience for some of the things they were shown and often failed as well, but he did learn from his failures, thanks to Ember helping him out, but Nestor was sure that he wouldn't have to worry about this sort of thing when he was older and more mature. Not even a few moments later Ember returned to them and landed, though it wasn't long before she explained where Spyro and Spike went wrong in their attempts, leading to the three of them taking to the skies as they slowly replicated what Nestor had shown them earlier, even though Lucas had to pull one of them out of the water every now and then, showing that there was more for them to learn about flying. He even found that failing this time around only served to cause the trio to laugh as they waited for the downed sibling to rejoin them, before taking to the skies once more as they continued their attempts to replicate what they had been shown earlier.
Still, despite the fact that the trio had a long way to go before they could master the art of flying, something that most dragons did when they were adults, Nestor could tell that all three of them had potential to be great fliers when they were older, especially Spyro and Ember from the looks of things, so he spread his wings and took to the skies as well. To the surprise of the trio Nestor showed off a few of the tricks that he knew, like pulling himself backwards to perform a loop, though he smiled as he watched Spyro, Spike, and Ember take turns as they attempted to replicate what he showed them, often leading to all three of them crashing into the water and having Lucas pull them out. None of them were unhappy with this situation, rather they accepted their failures and continued to strive towards replicating what Nestor showed them, just like they did with the lessons that the other Leaders gave them, and before long he added in a few more tricks, so they didn't focus on one thing and could pick from the number of tricks that he had to offer. It was nice to see them embracing something new and trying to master it, or at least learn the movements that one needed to know to pull it off, and he could tell that all three of them were happy with what he was showing them, even if they didn't have the skill that he had in this sort of thing, which took years of practice and effort to pull off.
After a few hours of flying around the island and practicing all the moves that Nestor showed them, allowing them to work on their flying skills as much as possible, Lucas informed them that it was time for them to head back to the Artisans homeworld so they could eat lunch and do something else with the rest of their time. The problem the trio discovered was that there was no exit whirlwind like the other realms that they had been to, though the solution was rather quite simple, as all they had to do was fly away from the small island for a few moments and the magic that had gone into making the place seemed to sense that they wanted to go home, teleporting them from where they were flying and set them down right in front of the portal to the realm they had been in. As they walked away from the portal Lucas explained that all of the Flight Realms were enchanted that way, by the dragons that first settled in the lands they called home, and told the trio that the only dragon who really understood the complex combination of spells was Nora, the master of Teleportation Magic that Cosmos had mentioned. As the trio headed towards the portal for Town Square, to see what was for lunch this time around, they mentioned that it would be nice to finally meet Nora and see just how strong her magic was for themselves, causing Nestor to chuckle as Lucas carefully sealed the way to the Flight Realm without the trio knowing.
Nestor was sure that one day the trio would get their wish, to meet Nora and see what sort of power she really had, but for now he knew they were content to living out their lives and overcoming whatever challenges he and the other Leaders threw at them, though he suspected that they would enjoy what happened next.
After their visit to the Flight Realm, and getting their first taste of flying at long last, Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to their various activities once more, focusing on the other lessons that Nestor and the other Artisans dragons had taught them in the past, since focusing on one thing wasn't the best thing they could be doing at the moment. As they walked away from where the portal to the Flight Realm was located Nestor informed them that they wouldn't be visiting that realm all the time, rather he would schedule the days of their lessons for them and tell them when to ready themselves for a day of flying. The Artisans Leader also told them that he was impressed with the three of them, due to the fact that they did so good on their first attempts at flying, before leaving them to their own devices as they made their way to Town Square, so they could get some lunch before doing something else, though Spike made sure to pick up his satchel along the way. Spyro and Spike were also impressed by the fact that Ember had figured out how to fly so quickly, without them making a few attempts this time around, where Ember just told them that she had studied how Nestor and the others flew and then incorporated that into their lesson.
Once they had something to eat for lunch, roasted sheep with some cheese, fruits, and vegetables, the trio headed back to Stone Hill and either relaxed for the rest of the day, since flying did take some of their energy, or picked up on what they had been doing before Nestor had them wait for him and Lucas to arrive. It wasn't long before Spike headed back to the library to see what Argus and the others had to say about the art of flying, and if there were any books on the subject that he hadn't read yet, leaving Spyro and Ember to do whatever they wanted with the rest of their day. Oddly enough the pair decided to use their time practicing a few of their combat skills together, meaning that they charged at each other and forced their sibling to dodge them, while also trying to breath on the various targets that Nestor had prepared for them when they started training in this area. He knew that they were going to practice their skills and had made sure they had the tools necessary to help them learn how to fight, even if fighting wasn't something that an Artisans dragon did, and they also made sure not to spend all their time practicing this sort of thing, as they knew that it was only a matter of time until Nestor revealed what their next lesson was and which homeworld it was in.
Spike found a number of good tomes and scrolls in the library to go with the flying lesson they had just received from Nestor, and got some interesting stories from Argus and the other scholars of the first time each of them took to the skies, an experience that none of them were going to forget, before he started studying the newest subject that Nestor had revealed to him and his siblings. There were a number of other subjects that he was interested in studying, much to the joy of Argus and the rest of his friends, and they all knew that Nestor's next lesson would only add to the list of subjects that he wanted to study, something that all of them were waiting for, since they were curious as to what lesson Spike and his siblings would be tackling next. From what Spike knew there were a few more things they had to learn, like how to wield the magic inside of them, as Cosmos' sphere test showed that all three of them had some latent talent for using magic, maybe visiting Bruno's land to see his beasts once more, and seeing what Lateef and the other Dream Weavers did with their unique brand of magic. He also knew that Spyro and Ember were excited to see what the future held for them as well, even if they didn't say it to him or the other Artisans dragons, but it was easy to determine that they thought that way, just by looking at them, making him look forward to the future as well.
As the weeks went by the trio found that Lucas returned to their homeworld a few times, mostly to open the way to the Flight Realm for them, again with their eyes closed, before joining them and Nestor as they did another flying lesson, just to see how they were growing with his own eyes, instead of waiting for Cosmos to tell him the news. Spike, during one of their breaks, asked Lucas why the entrance to this Flight Realm had to be kept a secret from everyone and why it needed a complex spell for him to open the way, one that required the three of them to close their eyes so they didn't see what he was doing, which only caused Lucas to tell him that, if he got permission from the Leaders, he'd tell him the reason why when he was older. Spyro and Ember, on the other hand, were more interested in flying around the small island and practicing their skills, showing that they really didn't care about the reason why the entrance was hidden like it was, causing Spike to sigh as he joined them, because he knew that he'd figure out the reason at some point in the future, regardless if it was because he solved it or if it was due to Lucas telling him the reason.
What really surprised them was the fact that six months after their first flight lesson, something that Spike happened to be keeping track of since there seemed to be a pattern, Nestor didn't come to them and reveal that he had some big event planned for them, like a trip to one of the other homeworlds or a lesson of some kind, leaving them to continue doing whatever they normally did. The reason they were surprised by that was because there was always some sort of plan or event for them every six months, and this was the first time such a thing didn't happen, making them wonder if Nestor was running out of things to teach them or if the other Leaders weren't ready when they originally said they would be, though it was hard to prove that without hearing it from Titan and the others. Since it appeared that nothing special was going to happen, and they weren't going to leave for one of the other four homeworlds, the trio went back to what they were doing the previous day, making sure they could breath fire and control it, even if they could only do short bursts for a second or two. They had a long ways to go before they could master the basic combat skills that all dragons learned, even if they were surprised that Nestor let them spend so much time on their training, since all of the adult Artisans dragons had forgotten how to fight due to not practicing any of their skills, but they decided not to put too much thought into the matter as they continued their training.
All three of them were sure that Nestor would spring a surprise on them and reveal what their next lesson was when they were least expecting it, maybe to tell them to always keep their guard up or expect the unexpected, but for now they focused on their other lessons as they waited for him to tell them about what their next lesson was and, more importantly, which homeworld they were visiting next.
As it turned out there was no hidden lesson on the day that Nestor usually would have set aside to teach them something important, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Ember to continue with their various lessons and the training that Ember had set for them, so they could master the basics of the combat skills Titan had shown them. The fact Nestor didn't have anything to teach them left Spike feeling a little disappointed, since he was sure that there was something else they could have learned that day, but in the end he guessed that Nestor didn't want to wear them down with all the tips and tricks that he and the other Artisans dragons knew about, allowing them to learn things on their own. Spyro and Ember weren't annoyed by the lack of a new lesson, since they wanted to finish what they were trying to master first, before adding something new to the table, though they both had the feeling that one of the Leaders would have something new to add to their list at some point, hence why they were trying to master whatever they could. Spike also spent some of his time finishing a few of his studies, so he could continue down the list he had created for himself some time ago, and found that his friends in Dark Hollow had several interesting tomes for him on the highest subjects on his list, which meant that he was going to be busy studying all the information that Argus and the others knew about.
While the days turned into weeks the trio discovered that they had grown a little since the last time they had bothered to check how tall they were, because now they were at least half way to the maximum height a young dragon could reach before they matured, meaning they were getting closer to the day when they didn't need assistance to reach certain areas of the various homeworlds and the realms the other dragons lived in. All three of them were getting better at jumping over various gaps, gliding from one spot to another, charging into the various dummies that Nestor let them use, and all of the other skills that they had been taught so far, much to the joy of the Artisans dragons, and the other dragon clans as well since they knew Nestor would tell the other Leaders about their progress at some point. The trio was fine with that, as they were sure that, at some point, Titan and the others would determine they were ready for some additional training and would call for them to visit one of the other homeworlds, they just had to be patient and wait for the Leaders to make a decision on what they were going to do next. As such the three of them continued their lessons, working together to overcome whatever problem they faced and made sure to work with their dragonflies, since Sparx, Talon, and Cinder were important as well, causing Nestor and the others to smile as they watched the trio work, showing that they were happy with how they were progressing and that they were eager to see what the future held for them.
It was the day of their sixth birthday that they finally got the news they had been waiting for, as Nestor told them that Cosmos was ready to teach them some of the basics of magic, meaning he was actually going to show them how to wield the power that was inside their bodies and use it like all Magic Crafters did. Spike was the most excited out of the trio, as he had been waiting for this day for a long time, ever since the day they learned about the types of magic and accidentally teleported his test sphere by sneezing on it, which loosed a burst of green flames that consumed the sphere and moved it, and his skill with breathing fire meant that an accident wouldn't happen again, though interestingly enough he hadn't used that power on anything since the first time he used it. He was as excited as Ember was when Nestor told them that they were finally heading to the land of the Peace Keepers so they could start learning how to fight, if not a little more than what Ember experienced, while Spyro was just curious to see what sort of lesson Cosmos had for them. Like all of the previous times they planned on leaving their homeworld, so they could visit another one, Nestor told the trio that they would be leaving in a week's time and that Cosmos was ready to start their lesson the moment they arrived at the area he had set aside for them, though Nestor had to smile as he looked at the excited expressions on the trio's faces.
A week later Spyro, Spike, and Ember stood by the tunnel that would take them right to the dock, where Marco had to be waiting for them, though all three of them were eager to head to the land of the Magic Crafters and see what Cosmos was going to teach them, and it wasn't long before Nestor joined them.
"I see you three are ready to head to Cosmos' homeworld and see what lesson he has for you." Nestor said, though he couldn't blame the trio for being excited, as all of them had some latent magical talent inside their bodies, determined by the sphere test Cosmos had given them a few years back, and they were eager to see if they could actually wield magic or if their latent talent wasn't enough for the spells they had seen during their first lesson on magic, before be beckoned to the tunnel for a moment, "Come, let us begin our journey to his domain and see what he has to teach you."
Marco, like the trio expected, was waiting for them at the end of the dock, where he helped them climb into the basket of his hot air balloon before joining them, allowing Nestor to watch for a few seconds as they took off and started heading towards the land of the Magic Crafters, before he opened his wings, took to the skies, and joined them. Both he and Marco knew that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were excited for the lesson they were going to receive, once they were handed over to Cosmos, but as the hot air balloon moved towards their destination the trio pulled out the items that usually held their attention during these flights, not that Nestor blamed them. He knew that spending an hour to two hours in a hot air balloon would get boring after awhile, especially after all the couple of hours the trio had spent on their flying skills, but at the very least he was happy to see that they had something to keep them busy, so they didn't have to think about the journey and how boring it would be if they just stared out at the surrounding area as the balloon went by. Nestor also knew that the moment they reached their destination the trio would be overjoyed to meet with Cosmos, to see what sort of lesson he had for them and if they could actually wield the power that the Magic Crafters dragons wielded all the time, and he had to admit that he was interested in seeing what they were capable of, once they completed whatever basic training was waiting for them.
About an hour and a half later, thanks to Marco's expert skill with his hot air balloon, Nestor and the trio landed on the dock that was right outside the entrance of the first chamber that Cosmos had taken them through when they first visited this homeworld, and not a few moments later the Leader walked out and smiled at all of them.
"Welcome back to the homeworld of the Magic Crafters," Cosmos said, his voice revealing that he was excited about this day as well, especially after what he had seen during the sphere test all those years ago, which is why he quickly turned around and beckoned for the group to follow after him as he lead the way to the area that he had prepared for their first magic lesson, and not even a few seconds later he heard the trio following after him, "I know all three of you are excited for what you'll be doing today, as this will be the first time you'll be able to tap into your inner magic and wield it in a manner that's similar to how all magic users, be they wizards or druids, wield the spells they spend years learning about and trying to master."
"How are we going to tap into our inner magic?" Ember asked, because she knew that it wasn't going to be easy for them to tap into the magic that Cosmos said that was inside their bodies, not like how Spike had accidentally used his fire and his own magic during the special test they had been given, something that had shocked both of the Leaders that were with them, but they had never been told how they were going to tap into their inner power.
"We're going to start with the first type of magic, Hand and Wand Magic," Cosmos replied, though at the same time they emerged from the first chamber that rested near the dock, where he turned to the right and headed to an area that contained a secret passage to the area he wanted to take the trio to, which was where they would be practicing for the foreseeable future, "but, since none of you have any idea how to tap into the magical energy that flows throughout our world, something that takes time and effort, we'll be giving you some enchanted tools to use for your first lesson, which will let you tap into the magic around us and potentially cast a spell or two before the day is over. Think about it this way, these tools will allow you to get a feel for what all magic users feel when they tap into the magic that's around them, and once you have a good idea of how to do that you won't need the tools to actually wield the power that's inside you, though there is the possibility that, if one of you did become a wizard, you might craft a staff or wand to help you out, like the one that I carry with me at all times."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they were a little surprised that they were going to be using some special tools during their first lesson, but at the same time Spike determined that it made sense for Cosmos to do something like this, as it allowed them to get a feel for the magic that flowed throughout their world. They were interested in seeing what was going to happen when they finally started the lesson, especially since they had been waiting for this since the day they learned about the types of magic that existed in the world, and they were willing to use whatever tools had been prepared for them. While they were thinking about that Cosmos came to a stop and faced the wall that was in front of them, where he waved his staff at the stone in front of them, allowing the trio to watch as a new passage opened up before their eyes, just like he had done when they were learning about the types of magic that they could learn about, and once the way was open Cosmos walked forward and the group followed after him. Much like the last time they had seen this happen there was a tunnel that lead them to a new part of the Magic Crafters homeworld, where Cosmos sealed the way behind them once they were all inside the tunnel before leading the way to whatever was at the end, and at the end rested a portal, one that the trio was ready to access the moment they reached it.
When they appeared on the other side of the portal they found themselves standing in front of what appeared to be a circular area, one that clearly had various magical symbols etched into a number of stones, making the trio wonder if this was a training area of some kind, before focusing on Cosmos as he walked over to a chest that rested near them.
"Like I said, today you'll be learning how to tap into the magical energy that is all around you," Cosmos said, though even as he stated that fact, repeating what he had said earlier, he opened the chest that was in the training area and pulled out some metallic bands, ones that looked like they would fit on a dragon's head, a young dragon's head to be exact, before facing them again, "and to do that you'll need some assistance in feeling the magic that all wizards tap into when they're casting their spells, be it the magic around them or their own inner power. That is where these circlets come in, as by wearing them you'll be able to get a better understanding of how to feel the magic that's around us and get a better understanding of what I do when I cast a spell, before attempting the same thing yourself, by utilizing the circlet and what I showed you. Once you get a firm grasp on how to feel the magical energy that exists throughout this world, regardless if you can cast a spell with it or not, you won't need to use the circlet anymore, as by that point your skills will be at the level that all wizards start their studies at... but for now we'll focus on seeing what you can do with the circlets, before we move onto something more difficult."
Spike understood what Cosmos was talking about, that these circlets were the most basic of tools that a magic user, regardless if they were a Magic Crafters dragon or one of the other beings they had seen, would use in their lifetime, as they helped someone gain an understanding of the magic that was all around them and how to weave that magic into one of the many spells they could use. Once they had that basic understanding it made sense that the circlets would be retired until the next generation of magic users came around, so he nodded his head, causing his siblings to mimic his gesture not even a few seconds later, which caused Cosmos to smile as he approached where the trio ended up sitting, which was close to where the chest rested. It was in that moment that Spike noticed something interesting about the circlets, they were designed to partly disconnect in the area that rested behind the head, so someone could put one of them behind their horns without ruining the item in question, though Cosmos, having done this before, carefully slipped the circlets on around their foreheads, without hurting them, before pulling away from them. Spike noticed that all three of them were wearing circlets that were made of silver and had a small red gemstone set in the center of the piece that rested on their foreheads, which seemed to be connected to what the Magic Crafters Leader had been talking about, causing them to glance at Cosmos as he stood near the chest.
Once the circlets were on, and he was standing by the chest once more, Cosmos told the trio to close there eyes and open themselves to the magic that was all around them, something that they should be able to feel now that the circlets were in place, before going quiet as he and Nestor watched the trio.
It took a few moments for the trio to actually feel anything, which they figured made sense considering that this was the first time they were doing something like this, but in the end Spyro felt a trickle of magical energy in the air around him, something he wasn't annoyed by since he clearly had the weakest latent talent of all three of them. Ember, on the other hand, felt a stream that was somewhat larger than what her brother was feeling at the moment, not that she knew that since her eyes were closed and none of them were talking, but she focused on what Cosmos had told them to do and was trying to see what she could do at the beginning of their lesson. Both of them were amazed by what they were feeling at the moment, because Cosmos hadn't told them what it was like to actually feel the magic that was all around them, or even what happened the first time they felt the energies that all wizards, dragon or otherwise, used for their spells, and they both knew that Spike had to be excited by what they were feeling. The only thing they were curious about at the moment was how they were supposed to work with the energies that were around them, though unfortunately that seemed to be a lesson for later, since they knew that Cosmos wasn't going to teach any of them how to wield this power until they could feel the energies on their own.
Spike, however, felt more than his siblings did, as he could feel the energies all around him moving in the way that Cosmos described during their first lesson on the types of magic, free without interference from any of the magical tools that were in the training area he and his siblings were in, and he reached out with his mind for a moment, only to feel a slight breeze that hadn't been there a few seconds ago, causing his eyes to snap open.
"What was that?" Spyro asked, as he and Ember had opened their eyes as well when the breeze came out on nowhere, because it was hard to concentrate with something like that happening when they least expected it, before they turned their attention to Cosmos, figuring that he had an answer for them.
"That, Spyro, was a slight breeze that was summoned by manipulating the wind a little," Cosmos replied, though while he said that, and waved his staff a little to return the wind to it's previous state, he made it seem like the breeze was his idea, to test their concentration a little, when he knew someone else had done it, on accident no less, "I also should have told you all this at the beginning, before I put those circlets on your heads, but when you feel the magical energies in the air you should refrain from reaching out to them with your mind, since that will come later, when I feel that you're ready to try casting a spell for the first time."
He was fortunate that all Spike had done was accidentally create a breeze, without thinking to be exact, but this did show him that all three of the siblings did have some latent magical talent, and this time around, instead of Spyro or Ember leading the group in terms of skill, he knew that Spike was at the front of the pack. Instead of focusing on the breeze, and what had caused it, he had the trio return to what they had been doing for the last few moments, though this time around he made sure they were sitting down and meditating, just like all of the other magic users did when they first started their lessons. The purpose of this was to allow the trio to open themselves to the energies that were around them and maybe cast their first spell, if he felt they were ready for such a thing, but since Spike seemed to be able to do that without actually thinking about what he was doing he was curious what would happen if he actually taught them how to wield the energies they were feeling. Cosmos knew that Nestor didn't want to give the trio too much to work with, if what he heard about Ember after her first visit to the Peace Keepers homeworld was true, but he knew that Spike was a scholar and wouldn't rest until he studied everything about whatever caught his interest, and seeing how interested the young dragon was in magic he suspected that it would be best to teach him and his siblings how to wield this power.
After a few minutes, where the trio got a better hang of feeling the magical energies that were around them, Cosmos switched to another test that would give the three young dragons an idea of how they were supposed to wield the very energies they had been feeling, by forming a see-through wall in their mind and willing it to appear in front of them. He knew that the chances of one of them actually pulling this off was slim, despite what Spike had done already, but this was supposed to give them an idea of what all wizards did when they were wielding this power and he was interested in seeing if his thoughts on the matter were correct or not. At first nothing happened, which was to be expected since none of them had any idea what they were supposed to be doing, though Cosmos nodded his head as he watched the air in front of Spyro shimmer for a few seconds, which was followed by what he assumed was the wall he had asked the trio to make, as the wall that appeared had a number of holes in it and seemed ready to fall apart. That was what he expected from a young dragon that was just starting to tap into the magical energies that were all around them, so he knew that Spyro had no reason to be sad when he told him his results, and it wasn't long before Ember's wall appeared, looking a tiny bit better than her brother's, but it had holes in it and also seemed ready to collapse.
What he wasn't expecting, however, was for Spike to produce a more solid wall in front of him, one that had fewer holes than what his siblings produced and didn't look like it was about to fall apart, something that surprised him since he knew that none of them had any training in this field, and Nestor confirmed it, so he and his friend stood there for a few seconds as the trio opened their eyes to see how well they did.
"Spike, how in the world did you do that?" Spyro asked, because he had been concentrating hard on how he was supposed to project the wall into the real world, like Cosmos wanted them to, and was fine with his result, because it just showed that he needed practice before he reached the level that the other wizards were on, though he was shocked by what his brother was able to do, something that Ember was also shocked by.
"While I was focusing on what Cosmos wanted us to do, which was bringing the wall into reality, I guess I must have reached for my inner magic," Spike replied, where he stared at the wall he had created, because he was surprised by the fact that it was there to begin with, especially since it seemed better than what his siblings had made, before he chuckled for a few seconds as he realized what he had done, "which means that I used my own magic to fuel the spell that Cosmos was trying to get us to use, resulting in my wall being stronger than what you guys made."
Cosmos came to the same conclusion, that Spike must have tapped into his own inner magic and had poured a little of it into making his wall, otherwise any additional amount would have ensured a strong wall with no holes, but at the same time this showed that all three of them had potential, so he was going to make sure that Nestor had some books on magic for them to study, as he was interested in seeing what they did in the future, from the new lessons that were forming in his mind and what they did on their own.
Once Cosmos reached the end of the lesson that he had in mind for the trio, and was amazed by what they were able to do with their latent magical talent, especially in the case of Spike, he let Spyro, Spike, and Ember relax as he collected the circlets from them and returned them to the chest they had come from. The instant that was over he let the area for a few seconds and headed to where the spell tomes, the special books that contained a variety of magical spells from all the types that they knew about, rested, where he stared at them for a few seconds before pulling out a few of the basic books, so the trio could study in their free time if they wanted, while making sure he had one book for each type of magic. He had the feeling, just by looking at the trio when he handed the books over to Nestor, that Spyro and Ember might not be too keen on spending a good deal of time on studying magic, but Spike was incredibly interested in what the books contained and would be eager for when they got back to the Artisans homeworld, so he could start studying what was inside the tomes. He also went one step further and added a tome of spells that were a level above the basics, the last of what someone could learn without learning from a Magic Crafters dragon, though he suspected that they would be seeing Spike here, on his own, at some point in the future.
The moment that was done Cosmos lead the way back to the main part of his homeworld, allowing the trio and Nestor to follow after him, where he was happy to hear that the three young dragons were discussing what they had done in the last moments of his lesson, even though both Spyro and Ember focused on the fact that Spike might have more magical talent than they did. Spike was just as surprised as they were, even though he came up with a good reason behind why all of his tests had been on a level above his siblings, the same reason that he gave them for the transparent wall test, where his had been stronger and less likely to fall apart than what his siblings had created. Cosmos could tell that Spike was interested in all of this and wanted to see what would happen when he opened the books later, when they were back at the land they called home and had rested from today's lessons, and he was interested in hearing what Nestor had to say about Spike's future attempts at wielding magic. Normally someone would consider that maybe both today's lesson and the results of the sphere test were flukes, in terms of what Spike was able to do, but Cosmos had seen the trio during both of those events and knew that Spike had the potential to be a powerful wizard, if he dedicated himself to studying the spells inside those tomes and mastering the basics that all wizards learned about.
It wasn't long before they returned to the main area of the Magic Crafters homeworld and they headed towards the dock, where they found that Marco was ready for them and prepared the hot air balloon for takeoff as the trio returned to sitting in the basket once more, before they waved farewell to Cosmos as Marco got them into the air once more.
Nestor found that Spike had something new to read as they headed back to the Artisans homeworld, as he finished studying the book he had been working on earlier and set it aside as he started looking at the first book he and his siblings had been given, while Spyro and Ember didn't seem to be interested in the tomes right now. He knew it didn't matter if Spike had the talent to cast the spells or not, he was curious about all of the things that Cosmos and the other wizards could do and wanted to learn about the various spells that were used throughout the Dragon Realms, and right now he wasn't about to stop the young dragon from studying whatever he was interested in. He was fortunate that the trio already had an area that they practiced their combat skills in, because he was sure that Spike would want to test a few of the spells out when he had a chance, and had mastered the basics of feeling the energies around him, and having a place to practice already set up made things easier for all of them. There was also the fact that a few more visits to the land that Cosmos watched over would have to be arranged, depending on how quickly Spike moved through all of the tomes that he and his siblings had been given, but that was something that would have to wait for the future, once he had a better idea on what Spike was doing.
Once they returned to their home, and Marco landed on the dock, it wasn't long before he lead the trio back to Town Square and made sure they had something to eat for lunch, especially since he was sure they were hungry after all of the work they had done earlier, before allowing them to go about the rest of their day when the meal was over.
As the days following their visit to Cosmos's homeworld went by Nestor discovered that Spyro was up to his old tricks still, meaning he was still pranking dragons and Toasty in his free time, but even then he could tell that the young dragon was starting to grow tired of what was inside the book he had been given, meaning it was likely that he was going to look for new pranks for the future. Ember, of course, spent most of her free time practicing her combat skills, making sure that she knew how to charge, roll out of the way when someone was attacking her, and breathing fire on whatever her targets were, while also making sure that Spyro and Spike joined her from time to time, so their skills didn't get rusty. It was nice to see the three of them working together, so they could improve their combat skills and make Titan happy when they saw him again, though whenever they finished their combat practices Spike usually went back to what he was doing before Ember called for him to join them, whether it was studying or practicing a spell from one of the tomes. Argus and the other scholars were interested in seeing which tomes Spike had been given, even if they were for all three of the siblings, and whenever Spike practiced one of the spells he had a small group watching him from time to time, as some of the Artisans dragons were eager to see how skilled the young dragon was.
Spike didn't seem to mind having a small audience for the first couple of times he tried manipulating the energies that rested around him and his siblings, though while he discovered this was slightly tougher than before, since he didn't have one of the circlets on, he was up to the challenge that had been presented to him and worked hard to do what Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters had done during the early days of their training. Spyro and Ember joined him from time to time, mostly so they could get a better grasp of feeling the energies around them as well, though what did surprise some of the other Artisans dragons was the fact that Ember wanted to master the wall spell that they had been asked with making during their first lesson, no doubt so she could make sure Cosmos' thoughts on her and Spyro were correct and that they did have the potential to wield magic like Spike could, even if they weren't on his level. Spike didn't let that fact get in the way of helping his siblings out, showing them what he had done during the lesson and what he had felt at the time, all so they could have a better understanding of how he created the wall that Cosmos had been impressed with, and while it was clear that both Spyro and Ember needed some more practice he was more than willing to give them as much help as they wanted, before returning to what he had been doing earlier.
Other than the magical training being added to what the trio was doing, spaced out evenly with all of their other lessons so they didn't burn themselves out by doing too much in one day, nothing else happened and the siblings were able to go about their lives with something new to do every now and then.
As the weeks turned into months Spike discovered that Nestor remained true to what he had done before the day he and his siblings were to visit Cosmos' land and learn how to tap into their inner magic, and that was the fact that nothing happened six months after their first magic lesson. Sure, they went out to Titan's homeworld and showed off the results of their training, and got some new instructions to work on for the foreseeable future, and also returned to the world of the Magic Crafters to try out a new type of magic, but other than that nothing exciting happened. Spike was sure that the next homeworld they would be visiting, and getting an up close lesson in how those dragons worked, would be the Beast Makers, but when the usual six month date passed them by he realized that the Leaders must have changed how they were doing things and were keeping him and his siblings at the ready, to be prepared for the unexpected. Spyro and Ember didn't seem to mind not having to visit the land of the Beast Makers, not that Spike blamed them since it would mean taking a bath after their visit, and went on with their lives like nothing was different, causing Spike to sigh as he returned to his studies, both magical and non-magical. Interestingly enough the library of Dark Hollow also had a book about the various beasts that Bruno and the other dragons that he lead were responsible for taking care of, an out of date version to be exact, but Argus told him that Bruno was always slow about updating his books when new species were born and were studied for a period of time.
Spike was a little annoyed by that, just like Argus and the others were, but at the same time he knew that at some point in time one of the Beast Makers would deliver the notes necessary for them to make a brand new version of the old tome, they just had to be patient and wait for that day to arrive.
While the months went by the trio found themselves growing a little more, showing that they were approaching the maximum height that a young dragon could grow to before they matured into an adult, something that Nestor and the other Artisans dragons were looking forward to. The reason for that was because they were interested in seeing what each of them picked as their professions, even though it was obvious to all of them that Spike was going to be one of the best scholars they had seen, maybe even up there with the dragons that had first created the Dark Hollow library, a thought that made Spike rub the back of his head, as he had no idea if he was as great as the first scholars and was surprised that the other Artisans dragons thought so highly of him. Ember's profession was a matter of debate, since she was born in the Artisans homeworld the dragons assumed that she would grow to be a painter, a sculptor, or take an interest in something that was similar to what all of them were doing, but it seemed that she was more like a Peace Keepers dragon, ready to fight whoever threatened the peace of the land. Spyro, on the other hand, none of them knew what he wanted to do when he matured, as he seemed to spend a good amount of time trying out his various pranks, even coming up with some that seemed to be a combination of what he found from that book, but he did like to fly around the Flight Realm whenever Nestor and Lucas let them practice their skills, so they had to guess he might be a talented flyer when he was older, which was something they would have to wait for and see with their own eyes.
Eventually the day of their seventh birthday arrived and with it came the news that Nestor had arranged for them to visit one of the other homeworlds, showing that this was a repeat of what happened last year, before revealing that this time around they wouldn't be visiting the Beast Makers, rather they would be leaving their homeworld closer to when most dragons would be getting ready for bed, so they could see what the Dream Weavers actually did for a living, which interested all three of them and made them eager for that day to arrive.
"We're actually going to see how the Dream Weavers go about their day?" Spyro commented, as he had been slightly disappointed that they didn't get to see that the last time they visited the homeworld that Lateef watched over, mostly due to the two greatest Dream Weavers falling asleep before Marco had got them to their destination.
"It sounds like that's the plan." Ember replied, though she was curious to see the Dream Weavers in action, because keeping everyone from having nightmares, be they a dragon or one of the smaller animals, sounded like a lot of work and suspected that some of Lateef's friends would want to show off their skills before getting to work.
"I'm excited for this visit, since it's sure to be unlike anything we have seen so far." Spike added, because the Dream Weavers were unlike the rest of the dragons in the Dragon Realms, they slept while the others were up and worked while the other dragons slept, with the only exception being Lateef himself, who served as the Leader for his clan, and just thinking about what they could learn made him excited.
Spyro and Ember shared Spike's excitement, at least on a different level than what their brother had, before returning to what they had been doing and enjoyed the rest of their seventh birthday, as they knew that in a few days they would be heading to the land of the Dream Weavers. What interested them was that it was only a few days later when Nestor informed them that they would be heading out to Lateef's homeworld soon, but instead of heading out during the day they would be leaving around the time that they usually went to sleep, a slight change for them. As such the trio got their stuff ready for their departure, so they could begin the trek to their destination, and when night fell they gathered near the tunnel that would take them to the dock, where Nestor nodded to them and beckoned for him to join them, while also carrying a container with some cups of coffee so they could remain awake and not be sleeping when they arrived. It didn't take them long to get situated inside the basket of the hot air balloon, or for Nestor to make sure they all had their cups before they took off, but once everyone was ready Marco took off and set them down the path they needed to take, and Nestor joined them before they could get too far away from the dock.
The two hour journey to the homeworld of the Dream Weavers was quite boring, even though all three of them had something to keep them occupied, thanks to a lantern that Marco brought with him so they didn't have to read in the dark, but fortunately their stuff held their attention long enough to make the trip seem short, allowing them to turn their attention to the land in front of them, where Lateef was standing near the area that Marco would be landing in.
"It's good to see all of you again," Lateef said, waiting for the moment the trio was out of the basket and Nestor had landed near them before speaking, though once that was over he knew that all of them were eager to get their visit started and he was ready to show them exactly what Nestor wanted to show them, "Tonight I will be showing you what we Dream Weavers dragons do for a living, as in actually showing you how we combat the nightmares that might try to wreck havoc on the denizens of the Dragon Realms, but first we must find a nice spot to sit down, before I tell you how we're going to see what the other dragons are doing."
Instead of heading out into the other parts of the homeworld, and finding a good spot, Lateef decided that sitting in the area that was connected to the dock that Marco landed on was the best idea, and the reason for that, as the trio soon discovered thanks to what Nestor told them, was that a good number of Dream Weaver dragons seemed to be sitting around the main hub of the homeworld, meditating by the looks of it.
"Is it correct for me to say that the various meditation poses that the other Dream Weavers are using are the key for us to see what they're doing?" Spike asked, because he remembered that Cosmos had them close their eyes and focus on the task at hand, before they could even begin to wield the magical energy that was all around them, and he had to assume that some of the same rules applied to this situation.
"You would be correct," Lateef replied, though at this point he wasn't surprised by the fact that Spike had already figured out why all of the other Dream Weavers were in a number of meditation poses, each doing whatever pose they felt like as long as they accomplished their objective, and was quickly to let Spike know that he was right, before taking a seat on the ground and watched as the trio and Nestor followed suit not even a few seconds later, "Connecting to the Dream World, the Realm of Dreams, or the Dream Realm, depending on what you prefer to call it, requires a Dream Weaver dragon to empty their mind as they take up a meditative pose, regardless of what pose they decide to use. From there we tap into the magic that is all around us and project our minds into the other world, the place where dreams are reality, where all Dream Weavers work to ensure that no one in the Dragon Realms has a nightmare, though while some nights are easy and rather boring, as there is nothing to counter, there are nights where we are extremely busy, fending off the various nightmares before they can enter the dreams of those we watch over."
"I take it that fighting these nightmares makes you immune to getting them?" Ember inquired, because that was something that Lateef hadn't mentioned yet, if he and the other Dream Weavers watched over the other inhabitants of the Dragon Realms were they immune to getting nightmares, or were there a few dragons that protected them from the same nightmares while they slept during the day.
"No, even we don't have immunity to nightmares, so there's a faction of Dream Weavers that make sure we don't have any nightmares while we sleep." Lateef answered, as he expected one of the three young dragons to ask about whether or not he and the other Dream Weavers were immune to getting nightmares, but now that the question had been asked he could focus on what he was going to be doing for the next few moments, "Now then, close your eyes and attempt to empty your minds for a few moments, though if you feel like someone's calling for you, after those moments have gone by, that will be me inviting you to join me in the Dream World, so I can show you what we'll be going over tonight."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they were excited by what they were going to experience, before they turned towards Lateef and closed their eyes like he wanted, before they focused on emptying their minds as they waited for what the Leader told them about. As the three of them attempted to empty their minds and be completely calm, which was easier said than done since this was the first time they were actually trying something like this, all three of them found themselves drifting off at some point, like they were getting ready to fall asleep, which would likely prevent them from hearing Lateef's call. A few more moments went by before the trio each heard something that resembled what they had been told about, a voice coming from some unknown area, one that sounded like it was Lateef's voice, causing each of them to turn towards the voice and welcome it, before their worlds went white. When the trio opened their eyes they found themselves in an area that was unfamiliar to them, as it was a tall castle that followed the design of the Dream Weavers, though the sky seemed to be the same as the night sky, where the only difference was the fact that the stars seemed even brighter than what they had seen before coming to this strange place.
It wasn't long before the trio spotted each other and realized that they had appeared in the same area, much to their surprise since they didn't know anything about the area they were in, but before they could do anything they heard some footsteps behind them and found that Nestor had joined them, and the castle's door opened to reveal Lateef on the other side, where he beckoned for them to follow him into the castle.
"Welcome to the Dream World," Lateef said, though as the trio walked inside the castle they discovered that there were a number of dragons that looked like they were Dream Weavers walking around, heading to strange openings that seemed to vibrate like they were the same as the portals in the various homeworlds, "This is the center hub that all of the Dream Weavers gather in after they initially enter the Dream World, allowing them to discuss what's going on in the various homeworlds and where each of them should go, which depends on what's going on in the dreams of the other dragons and the various creatures of the Dragon Realms."
"So basically they look at the dreams of all the creatures in the Dragon Realms and determine who is going to which of the four other homeworlds." Spyro stated, as that seemed to be what Lateef was telling them and he could see Spike nodding his head in agreement, showing that he had determined the same thing, and Ember remained silent as she looked at the other dragons that seemed to be getting ready for their shifts.
"That's correct." Lateef replied, though he wasn't surprised that one of the three young dragons understood what he was talking about, especially after what Nestor had told him after their visit to Cosmos' homeworld and their first magic lesson, before he turned his attention to the area in front of him and waved a hand at the back wall of the castle, where the wall shimmered and a few portal appeared before them, "However, before we leave, there is something I need to do real quick, a duty that the Leader of the Dream Weavers has to do if you will, so just wait here for a few seconds and I'll be right back."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as Lateef approached the other Dream Weavers and talked to them, where the dragons in question nodded their heads in understanding before they headed through the various portals that rested around the room, no doubt heading to the Dream World versions of the other homeworlds, before he turned around and walked back to where the group was standing.
"You told them which lands they would be visiting, didn't you?" Spike asked, because that was what he assumed Lateef had done with the other Dream Weavers dragons, who listened to the suggestions their Leader had for them and either agreed with them and changed their routes or stayed true to what they had planned.
"I offered them some suggestions, but that's not related to what we're doing tonight." Lateef answered, though at the same time he stepped through the portal he had revealed and the trio followed after him with Nestor right behind them, only for them to reappear in an elegant looking castle that had a number of paintings lining the walls, before they spotted Nevin walking down the hall with a smile on his face, "Tonight we'll be visiting the dreams of a few dragons, those from the Artisans homeworld to be exact, and I'll personally show you how to make sure no nightmares bother the dragon in question, or deal with one of them if there just so happens to be a nightmare in our area."
The trio raised their eyebrows for a moment as they watched Lateef walk forward and start investigating the area that they were in, as if he was looking for anything that was out of the ordinary by carefully using a little bit of his magic, while at the same time Nevin didn't seem to notice them at all, showing the trio that the dragons and beings that were dreaming didn't see the dragons that protected them from nightmares while they were sleeping. This interested Spike, as this was the first time they were learning anything that was related to the Dream World, something that the Dream Weavers must have been keeping all the information on to themselves, and he made sure to either write it down upon their return to the waking world or ask if he could read the books that were about this odd realm. After that thought came to mind he and his siblings noticed that one of the shadows moved for a few seconds, where it didn't look like Lateef had spotted it yet, which made them wonder what was going to happen next, as it appeared that the shadows were more interested in Nevin than anyone else at the moment. A few seconds later, after remaining still and waiting for Nevin to come to a stop, whatever was lurking in the shadows burst out of where it was hiding and raced towards the unsuspecting dragon, though before it could even reach Nevin, and do whatever it had planned for the Artisans dragon, Lateef spun around and raised his right hand, where his magic caught whatever was moving in seconds.
A few moments later, when Lateef was sure that everything was okay, he beckoned for the trio to come over to him, while at the same time surrounding whatever he had caught with a magical sphere, which allowed Spyro, Spike, and Ember to find that what Lateef had caught was a slime of some kind, a dark gray critter that looked dangerous, though it wasn't long before the prison was crushed before their eyes.
"That's a small version of the creatures that cause nightmares in the dreams of dragons and the other beings that live in the Dragon Realms." Lateef told them, though his tone revealed that it was okay for him and the other Dream Weavers dragons to do away with these creatures in the manner that he had done, which told Spike that nothing bad happened when one of the dragons did that, before the Leader glanced at the area around them, "It will either return to where it came from, after reforming, or it will head out to seek a new target to attempt to bring nightmares to, which means that one of the other Dream Weavers will take care of it if that scenario happens. From what I can tell that was the only creature that was lurking in the shadows of Nevin's dream, meaning that he'll be safe for the rest of the night, as when one of these little critters are done in like that the others stay away from the dragon in question. We don't really know why they do this or how they know which residents of the Dragon Realms have been checked on, but, at the same time, we aren't about to question it, so we just move on if we find one of these guys hiding in the shadows of a dream. Now that I've checked out Nevin's dream, and found something before it could torment him, I think it's time we venture into the worlds that your dreams would construct for you, just to show you a little more of the Dream World before we do anything else, be it inside this realm or the waking world."
Before anyone could do anything Lateef waved his hand and the area around them vanished before their eyes, which showed them that he was taking them to one of the worlds that represented their dreams, though what they discovered a few seconds later, as the new area manifested around them, was a dojo of some kind that resembled what the Peace Keepers used every now and then, done up in the style of Trondo's training area. It was easy for them to determine that this was something that Ember would dream about, and she even stated that this was something she would create in her dreams as she imagined what sort of training Titan and the other Peace Keepers would instruct her and her siblings in, or just her if that was the case, before they moved onto the next landscape. What appeared this time around was a library, though it was unlike any library that Lateef, Nestor, Spyro, and Ember had seen in the past, as there were hundreds of thousands of books on the shelves, which were arranged like a maze of some kind and had rotating and shifting hallways to get around, and they had to assume that each tome and scroll was on a specific subject. It was even easier for them to determine that this was something that Spike would dream of, as in all the types of knowledge that could possibly exist in their world and other worlds, if such things even existed in the first place, but Spike didn't seem bothered by his siblings and two of the Leaders knowing what he dreamed about, rather he seemed happy and smiled as the scene shifted before their eyes once more.
What surprised them was that the final landscape that appeared around them was different from the other two, as Spyro's dreams seemed to contain a vast stretch of land that resembled what could be found in Stone Hill, but it also contained a vast number of floating rings and places where someone could perform some tricks. Spyro explained that what he was currently dreaming about was perfecting the art of flying, when they visited the Flight Realm, and this was a way for him to envision what he and his siblings did during their lessons, while seeing if he could dream up some new techniques and practice them in the safety of his own dreams. Lateef told him that there was nothing wrong with Spyro's current dreams being this way, as all dreams were subject to change every now and then, meaning that he was sure that he would turn to something else in the future, causing Spyro to nod his head in understanding, even if Spike was the one that was absorbing all the information they were getting right now. Once the three of them had an idea of what their dreams looked like, not that their siblings were surprised by what the others dreamed about, Lateef beckoned for them to follow him once more and the five of them continued the tour of the area that the Dream Weavers watched over while all of the other residents of the Dragon Realms slept.
Nestor, on the other hand, knew that the trio was enjoying themselves and were giving Lateef their full attention, but at the same time he understood that all three of them were waiting for something interesting to happen, so he hoped that the next visit he had planned, to one of the other homeworlds, would interest all of them, though he was going to have to wait and see what happened when he made the announcement.
Once their visit to the land of the Dream Weavers was over, and they had a better understanding and appreciation for what Lateef and his clan did for the rest of the Dragon Realms, Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to the waking world and found that a few hours had gone by, just like they had gone by in the Dream World. Lateef informed them that this was perfectly normal, hence why he and the rest of his clan were often exhausted once they finished their rounds and made sure there were no nightmares to be found, and when they woke up they usually made sure they had something to eat and relaxed for a few minutes, before finally going to sleep and allowing the other faction of their clan to watch over their dreams. The trio had to admit that it was a nice cycle that the Dream Weavers had created for themselves, where Lateef was happy to see that they appreciated what he and his clan were doing for everyone, but that was where their visit ended, as he had to make sure that everything was ready for when the other Dream Weavers returned to the waking world. They understood what he was talking about, as he wanted to make sure all the refreshments were ready to go when his clan emerged from the Dream World, which caused Nestor to get up from where he was sitting and beckoned for the trio to follow him, where they pulled themselves from where they had been meditating, bid farewell to Lateef, and headed back to where Marco was waiting with his hot air balloon.
A few moments later they were up in the air, enjoying the early hours of the morning as they headed back to their own homeworld, where all three of them turned and waved goodbye to Lateef with smiles on their faces, where the Leader waved at them in return before going about what he needed to do before the rest of his clan returned from their various duties in the Dream World. As they traveled back to the Artisans homeworld, however, Spike pulled out his writing supplies and made several notes about the realm that they had visited, just in case there was nothing about the Dream World in Dark Hollow's library, which would please Argus and the others once he was done writing everything down. Nestor knew that this information would make the scholars happy, as not many of them really knew what the Dream Weavers did in the Dream World, due to that information being kept in Lateef's domain, just as the magical knowledge was usually kept in Cosmos' domain, and Spike's notes on the subject would be something they would be very interested in reading, once the young dragon was done transcribing his notes into one of his journals.
Eventually Spike finished writing down everything inside the journal that he had picked out and yawned, before he and his siblings nodded off and drifted back off to the Dream World, where Nestor chuckled to himself for a few seconds before focusing on his flying again.
When they returned to the Artisans homeworld, and Marco made sure they landed at the dock, Nestor carefully picked up the trio from where they were sleeping and carried them back to Stone Hill, making three trips to get all three of them to the area they lived in, while Marco tended to his hot air balloon and made sure it was ready for the next trip that he had to make to one of the other lands. The trio didn't stir as he moved them, showing how exhausted they were from their trip to Lateef's homeworld and seeing the Dream World for the first time, though he knew that when all three of them woke up they would be energized and ready to tackle whatever they wanted to do. That was perfectly fine, as the trio was likely to tackle the various training exercises that they were used to doing after a visit to one of the other lands, so they could improve their skills and show Titan and Cosmos that they were ready for whatever was next, as in whatever combat lessons Titan could teach them or the various magical spells Cosmos might teach them, before he told them about the next trip that he had planned for them. In fact he already knew where they were going to go next, though they had to wait for the dragons in question to be ready before the trio could come by for their visit, and he suspected that all three of them would be excited when they learned who they were going to be visiting.
A few hours later, when it was the middle of the day, the trio woke up and went about their day, by making sure they had something to eat before they did something else, but Nestor made sure they knew that he was giving them the day off to relax and do whatever they wanted, since he knew their normal schedules were messed up a little from the visit to the land of the Dream Weavers and that they would be back to what they normally did tomorrow. Spike, as he expected, went back to his studies for a few hours, while at the same time Spyro and Ember practiced their combat skills on the dummies that had been set up for them, though after a while the trio got back together and simply enjoyed the rest of their day, as in running around Stone Hill and playing around like they had when they were younger. Nestor was happy to see that they were enjoying themselves and that all three of them were willing to just relax every now and then, instead of focusing all of their attention on whatever profession they were working towards, like they had been so far, and he was sure that the other Artisans dragons shared his thoughts on the matter. He also suspected that Titan and Cosmos would be impressed when the trio revealed how well they had taken to the basic lessons they had been given, when they returned to their lands and showed them their progress, but that was something to look forward to in the future.
The days that followed their visit to the homeworld of the Dream Weavers were normal, as Spyro, Spike, and Ember went about their normal lives as if nothing had changed, meaning that Spike spent his days inside the library of Dark Hollow and continued his research, while also talking with the other scholars about the Dream World, just to let them know about what he and his siblings had learned. Ember, of course, spent the majority of her time practicing her combat skills and trying to convince both Spyro and Spike to join her from time to time, so they could be ready for whatever happened in the weeks to come, and Nestor was happy to see that all three of them were improving on their skills, even if the progress wasn't as fast as Ember would have liked. Spyro, when he wasn't busy with his siblings, tried his hand at some of the other professions that the other Artisans dragons spent their lives working on, such as trying to paint something with Delbin and Nevin, trying to make a sculpture like his siblings had done, messing with clay to either improve upon his first attempt or make something new, or whatever the other dragons were well versed in. Nestor knew what Spyro was doing, he was trying to distract himself from the pranking nature he had developed over the years and find out what his profession was, just like his siblings had done before him, but he clearly wasn't having luck in that regard, though he had the feeling that something would come up at some point and Spyro would find his calling.
The days turned into weeks once more as Spyro, Spike, and Ember focused on their various studies and the skills that Nestor wanted them to learn, which were mastering the art of gliding and working with their dragonflies as they raced each other in the maze, which also meant they were working on their stamina as well. Occasionally Lucas came to visit them, opening the way to the portal that allowed them to access the Flight Realm, where Spike still found it odd that such a thing would be hidden between two waterfalls, but he decided not to question the methods of a Keeper of Secrets and followed his siblings as they worked on flying around the small island and tried to perfect the movements that Nestor was teaching them. In addition to all that Spike continued working on mastering the spells that came in the books that Cosmos had let them borrow, even though he likely expected the contents to have been replicated for the expansion of the library of Dark Hollow, since Spike was making sure they had a book on every subject, and so far he was making good progress with the basic spells, especially after what he had done in the past. Ember and Spyro joined him from time to time when he was working with the various spells, showing them how he was able to use the magic in the area around them to do what one of the Magic Crafters would have done, and while they didn't have his level of success both of his siblings did manage to use a spell or two in some manner, showing that practice was needed before they got to his level.
Other than that happening not much else changed for the trio, other than the fact that they got a little taller and were approaching the maximum height a young dragon could reach before they matured into adult dragons, but they made sure to occupy their time with whatever interested them, worked on mastering what Nestor wanted them to learn, and preparing for the future.
It was during their eighth birthday that Nestor, once again, gave them the news that they had been waiting for, as there had been no visit to one of the other homeworlds in the six months after they visited Lateef and learned about the Dream World, which caused all three of them to pause for a moment as he explained what they would be doing. Nestor informed them that they would be making another trip to the land of the Magic Crafters, making them think that Cosmos wanted to see them for another lesson in how to wield the magic that was all around them, but it wasn't long before that thought was set aside, as Nestor revealed that there would be no lesson involved with this visit. That really made the trio think about what they could be doing during the visit, since they had seen a good portion of the landscape, had met one of the greatest Magic Crafters that Cosmos worked with, and had started to learn the basics of magic, but, instead of revealing what they would be doing to them, Nestor just told them that it was a secret and that they would figure it out once their visit started. All Spike could figure out is that Cosmos must have had something special in mind and didn't want to ruin the surprise before their visit, hence why he told Nestor not to let the three of them know anything about what was going to happen, something that caused him and his siblings a level of excitement that was the same as when they visited the other homeworlds for the first time.
The usual week went by and the trio still had no idea what they would be doing during their visit to the land that Cosmos watched over, though despite that fact all three of them gathered near the tunnel that would take them to the dock, where they waited for Nestor to arrive, as he was making sure the other Artisans dragons were fine before they left for a few hours.
"It seems that this trip might be to see the various types of magic in use," Ember eventually said, as she had been thinking about what Nestor had told them, and what they hadn't been told, and this was the conclusion that she had come up with during the last week, that they were simply going to spend some time with the other Magic Crafters and get an idea of how the other types of magic were used.
"Ember, if it was that simple Cosmos wouldn't have told Nestor not to tell us anything." Spyro replied, because while he knew that Spike and Ember had been thinking about this trip since the announcement was made, in an attempt to figure it out before they departed for the land of the Magic Crafters, he knew that they would learn the truth when they reached their destination.
"Well, we have to be meeting one of the Masters," Spike added, referring to the select group of Magic Crafters dragons that had mastered one of the types of magic, like Transmogrification, Teleportation, or even Hand and Wand Magic, as they were dragons that he was keen on meeting at some point in time, just to see what they could show him and his siblings about their respective type of magic, "that could be why Cosmos told Nestor not to tell us anything, because it would partly ruin whatever surprise the Master in question had planned for us, as we're be able to guess what we might be doing if we knew which Master we were visiting."
Spyro and Ember paused for a few seconds, as they hadn't thought about the fact that they might be visiting one of the other Masters of the Magic Crafters, but the more the pair considered what their brother had said the more they felt that he was right about this, making them really curious about what they could be doing today.
"Once we get to the land of the Magic Crafters, and meet up with Cosmos, you will see who you'll be spending a few hours with today," a voice said, where the trio turned to the side and noticed that Nestor was walking towards them, a sign that indicated that they were ready to leave for their destination, something that caused them to get up from where they were sitting as he reached the tunnel, "I'm positive all three of you will have a good time today, especially since this dragon has been waiting to meet you for some time, and when you find out who I'm talking about you'll be even more excited to meet them."
Spike noticed that Nestor didn't state which gender the dragon they would be meeting had, no doubt to keep them guessing, but instead of following that train of thought, like he usually did, he decided to trust what the Leader was telling them and followed him as he headed to where Marco was waiting. This time around, instead of having to be helped into the basket of the hot air balloon, he and his siblings were able to jump into the basket without landing on each other, as each of them moved out of the way before the next one jumped into where they would be sitting for an hour and a half, the only thing they disliked about the times they visited the other homeworlds. Once the three of them were ready to depart, and Marco took up his position once more, the basket lifted into the air and he got them underway once more, where Nestor followed after them and watched as the trio looked out at the islands that were along their path for a few moments, before picking up the items that occupied their time during these visits and focused on their books. Nestor was fine with that, as he knew that these trips had become quite boring for the trio, at least the part that Marco was assigned to, and knew that the three young dragons needed to occupy their time with something, hence the reason they made sure they had something to do during each of these trips.
Fortunately the hour and a half trip to the land of the Magic Crafters went by rather quickly for the trio, as when they got close to their destination Marco mentioned that they were nearly at the dock he would be landing at and the trio put their items away once more, before staring out at the magical land that was appearing before their eyes, where they found Cosmos standing near the dock, waiting for them to arrive.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you three could make it," Cosmos said, as if there was something that could have stopped them from coming to his homeworld, before waiting for a few seconds as they climbed out of the basket and stood in front of him, while Nestor landed near Marco, where he gestured for them to follow him, "The dragon that you'll be meeting today has been waiting for the chance to meet you since the day I told you about the types of magic and had you go through the sphere test, though she had some projects she needed to complete beforehand and that's why it took so long before she asked to meet you three."
"Wait, she?!" Ember remarked, as she and her brothers knew that there were other female dragons out there in the Dragon Realms, something that they had learned during their magic lesson a few years ago, but even then none of them had been given the chance to meet one of the female dragons, so hearing that news made her excited.
"Yes, Nora is the dragon that you'll be spending a few hours with today," Cosmos replied, though as he said that he paused for a moment and glanced at the trio, finding that Spyro was excited to meet someone new at last, Ember was excited to be meeting one of the other female dragons they had been told about, and Spike seemed to be interested in meeting Nora and seeing her while she worked her magic, before continuing towards the portal that would take them to the area that was Nora's workshop, "She didn't tell me what she had in mind for the three of you today, but since she is one of the Masters, the Master of Teleportation Magic to be exact, I tend not to argue with her, though I'm sure that you'll enjoy your time with her."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds before they followed Cosmos, because knowing that they would be meeting one of the Masters today didn't change the fact that none of them had any idea what they would be doing with Nora, and they knew that Nestor was in the same position they were in. As they headed to wherever the portal to their true destination was located, as they had to assume that the portal to Nora's area was hidden like a number of the other portals they had seen so far, they noticed that none of the other Magic Crafters were around the main area of their homeworld. That was to be expected, as it appeared that the dragons in question were likely practicing their magic in some of the other realms, just like the last couple of times they had visited this land, and they weren't sad by the lack of dragons as Cosmos lead them to a stone wall that was above the portal to Altair's realm. Once they got close to the wall Cosmos waved his staff at it and the trio watched as another hidden tunnel revealed itself, a tunnel that looked nearly identical to the ones they had seen during their previous visits, before Cosmos walked forward and headed towards the portal that was at the end of the tunnel. Spike was curious as to why the Magic Crafters preferred to hide a good number of the portals they had in tunnels like this, even though he suspected that it might be to keep their secrets or magical equipment safe, but for now he focused on what they were going to be doing, as he knew that he could ask that question at some point in the future.
When they stepped through the portal the trio found themselves standing on what appeared to be a balcony, almost like the one that Cosmos had created during their first lesson on magic, but while a railing rested to their right, to prevent visitors from falling over the edge and disappearing, as it appeared they were in the middle of a mountain peak, to their left rested a workshop of some kind, with tools they had never seen before.
"Where is Nora?" Nestor asked, as he assumed that the dragon that would be taking the day off to meet with the trio, and show them why she was the Master of Teleportation Magic, would be waiting near the entrance of her domain, but from what he could see it appeared that Nora was busy elsewhere and likely forgot about what today was.
"I'm up here." a feminine voice replied, where the trio, Cosmos, and Nestor glanced up towards the ceiling for a few seconds, though that was when they discovered that the ceiling was more open than they originally thought it was and could see a few more levels that were carved out of the upper parts of the mountain peak, before a shimmering image appeared in the area in front of them, one that reminded them all of the portals they used all the time.
The group watched as a slender dragon, with pure white colored scales and golden yellow colored eyes, stepped out of the strange magic that was happening before their eyes, though that was when they noticed that the dragon was wearing a light blue robe, one that actually covered the upper part of her body and a good portion of the lower part of her body, before she turned towards the magic and waved her left hand at it, closing the portal instantly.
"Ah, much better. Shouting down at all of you would have been a waste of time," the dragon commented, showing the group that she had quickly determined where they were standing and had come to them within a matter of seconds, using a teleportation spell that Spike had never seen before, though it was long before she bowed her head a little as she focused on them once more, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nora, the Master of Teleportation Magic, and this is my workshop, where I work on the various types of portals that are scattered across the Dragon Realms and make sure they connect to the specified area they're supposed to connect to before they're installed."
"I'm Spyro, and these are my siblings Spike and Ember," Spyro replied, though even as he said that he could tell that both Nestor and Cosmos were heading somewhere else, so the three of them could enjoy their day with Nora, before he focused on what she had said, as he wanted to make sure he had heard her correctly, "Does that mean that you're responsible for all of the portals that we see when we're exploring the Artisans homeworld and the other lands that the other Leaders watch over?"
"Yes and no." Nora answered, showing that she must have been expecting some sort of question to arise after what she had just told them and that she already had an answer prepared for them, while at the same time she turned towards the table that was behind her, where the trio found a broken portal, a Magic Crafters portal to be exact, resting on the table, but this time there was no magic coming from it, "Yes, I am responsible for enchanting the various portals with the power necessary for them to connect to the realm they're supposed to allow dragons to access, by means of a special crystal that is installed somewhere on the structure, like the top stone for the Artisans portals for example. As for the 'no' part, well, I don't actually install the portals or do anything to them once I've finished my work on them, as I'll just move them to the designated area and let someone else install the portals where they want them to be, before appearing from the activated portal to ensure that it works like it's supposed to. Then it's a simple matter of using the newly activated portal to head to the realm that it's connected to, to verify that it works, before I'm free to return to my workshop and do whatever I want with the rest of my time, be it another portal, working on improving what we have, or just finding new ways to use my type of magic."
"Fascinating." Spike commented, as he had an idea of what Nora was talking about and knew that his siblings sort of understood what they had been told in the last few moments, but the main point was that someone made the structures that the portals were contained in, Nora enchanted the crystals with the necessary spell before installing them, and then someone else installed the portals so they could be tested to ensure they worked as intended, a lengthy process to be sure, but it worked well for the Magic Crafters and the other clans and he saw no reason for them to change it.
"It's not as fascinating as hearing about a young dragon that was able to do something with Teleportation Magic that has never been done before," Nora added, revealing that she knew what happened during the sphere test Spike and his siblings had been given once they learned about the types of magic that existed in their world, "Trust me, I know every trick in the book when it comes to Teleportation Magic, so when I learned that you were capable of moving one of the spheres with a short burst of fire, sending it down the tunnel you had walked through to get to the classroom, I was both shocked and amazed at the same time. How did you do that?"
"Originally I had no idea how I managed to move the sphere like that," Spike explained, because that had been an event that he couldn't explain, but as the years went by, and they learned more lessons about themselves and how to wield the magic that was around them, he came up with a way to explain what happened that day, "but, after learning more about magic and how to tap into it, I think I have an idea of how I was able to do it."
Nora raised her eyebrow for a moment, as she was curious about what Spike had to tell her, before determining that he was actually going to show her how he had moved the sphere a few years ago, so she walked over to her table for a few seconds and returned with a crystal that went into the Peace Keepers portals, a spare from the last time she had worked on one of their portals, which she set down in front of Spike as Spyro and Ember sat behind their brother. Once all of them were ready Spike quickly breathed fire on the crystal, using the normal flame breath that all dragons, regardless of the clan that they belonged to, used in their everyday lives, leaving Nora standing there with a look of confusion on her face, as she was trying to figure out what Spike was up to. A few seconds later, when the flames from his first breath were put out, he focused his mind for a moment and tapped into his inner magic, the same way he did when he and his siblings were doing the wall spell that Cosmos wanted them to attempt, before letting out another burst of fire. This time around the flames weren't the same color as the red-orange fire that Spyro, Ember, and the other dragons used, rather it was the same green color that had been trapped inside the sphere that Cosmos had shown him, after the test was over, and it washed over the crystal in seconds, causing it to disappear instantly. Nora stared at the post the crystal had been in a few seconds ago, as if she was studying what Spike had done to it, before hearing a light thud behind her, where she turned around and found that the crystal in question had returned to the table, in the exact spot it had been in before she picked it up and decided to use it for this test.
Spike could see that Nora was thinking about what he had done, though instead of moving towards the crystal she simply let out a few short bursts of fire every now and then, showing that she might be attempting to learn what he had done before doing anything else, before the same green colored flame appeared for her, causing her to pick up the crystal and loose a burst of green flame on it, which made it disappear and reappear in front of Spike.
"Well I'll be, I never considered using magic like that before." Nora commented, though at the same time her tone revealed that, while she was able to mimic what Spike had done, she still had a long way to go before she actually mastered it in the way that Spike had, as the crystal was in a slightly different position than it had been before Spike sent it back to the table, showing that she needed some additional practice with the spell, "The only time I've every teleported something is when I'm delivering an item to one of the homeworlds, instead of it being picked up by one of the Balloonists and delivered to the land in question, but I never considered breathing fire on something to teleport it over a distance, even though using it on another dragon is out of the question. Here, since you showed me a new trick, how about I show you why I am the Master of Teleportation Magic."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember barely had time to brace themselves as Nora accessed her power and the chamber they were in disappeared, before they reappeared on the shores of Dragon Shores with a startled Cosmos and a surprised Nestor standing nearby, as they had been standing nearby, watching the trio, and had assumed they would be exempted from whatever spells she might cast, though it appeared that they had been incorrect.
"One of the things that sets me apart from the other dragons that use Teleportation Magic is that I have access to what I call the Nexus," Nora explained, though at the same time she smiled as she touched one of the trees that was near the portals that the clans used to reach this island, as that was where they had appeared, before focusing on the trio once more, "which is the vast network of portals that exist throughout the Dragon Realms, allowing me to use a portal in the Artisans homeworld and appear in the land that Lateef watches over, or use the portal for Alpine Ridge and teleport to Altair's domain instead. Now that doesn't mean the portals are broken, rather I just use them in a different way than someone else would use them, and I can also use them as their designed, to go from the Magic Crafters homeworld to Alpine Ridge and not to somewhere else in the Dragon Realms. It really depends on me and my magic, though I'm still years away from even attempting to give this kind of access to the other dragons."
The trio determined that Nora was working on a number of subjects at the same time, just like some of the other Magic Crafters were supposed to be doing, but before they could say anything Nora weaved her magic through the air and they returned to her domain as quickly as they had appeared on Dragon Shores. Once that was done Nora beckoned for them to follow her and they did, as they were eager to see what else she had to show them, though Nestor and Cosmos stayed behind, knowing that all three of them were going to have fun and that they might make a new friend along the way, all while wondering what the future held for them.
After meeting Nora, showing her how Spike was able to use his teleportation breath, and getting a taste of why she was called the Master of Teleportation Magic, the trio spent the rest of the day learning bits and pieces about the type of magic that she used in her daily life and being surprised when they suddenly teleported to a brand new location. Spike made notes on everything that they learned while they were with Nora, so he could study them and maybe replicate them with his own magic, something he highly doubted since he was nowhere near the level of power that Nora commanded, but at the very least this was interesting to him. Spyro and Ember, on the other hand, continued to listen to the Master as she went in depth into her type of magic, explaining what she did with her magic and how she was able to do what she did, though what interested them were the realms that Nora teleported all of them to, to show them the range of her power. In fact she also teleported them to a brand new land that they knew nothing about, a land that Nestor identified as the Junk Yard, a land that none of the dragons really talked about, and the small island they were on seemed to have a few slumbering machines scattered around the place, but before any of them could investigate the area Nora returned them to her study so they could talk about something else.
Something interesting that they learned about, that was different from what they had already learned, was that there were a few dragon eggs in the Artisans, Peace Keepers, and Magic Crafters homeworlds, where Nora revealed to Nestor and the trio that there were at least six by her count. Nestor and Cosmos then told the trio that the various fairies that they saw, in all five lands that the dragons lived on, assisted them in delivering the various dragon eggs to the homeworlds, but the eggs wouldn't hatch until the Year of the Dragon, an important event for the entirety of the Dragon Realms, as it was a week long festival where the adult dragons helped the fairies and received the eggs that contained the next generation of dragons inside them. Nestor also informed the trio that dragon eggs could be delivered before the Year of the Dragon came around, as they could see for themselves, but it was during the festival, a week long event that was incredibly important to the Dragon Realms and the other lands the dragons didn't live on, that the eggs would hatch and increase the number of dragons in the world. Of course that lead Spike to asking why there weren't any other young dragons running around the other homeworlds, since he figured that there would have been more than the eggs that contained him, Spyro, and Ember, only to find that they were the only three during the previous festival, but, at the same time, they also learned that the next festival, that was nearly four years away, was supposed to be even grander than what he and the other Leaders experienced when the trio hatched.
Nestor knew that the trio was disappointed in the fact that they were the only young dragons in the entirety of the Dragon Realms, but, at the same time, it was better than just having a single young dragon that only had his dragonfly as a companion, so he wasn't going to argue with the results, especially since things were going to change in a few years, when the next festival happened.
Once the trio was done with their visit to Nora's workshop, as she still had work to do on the remaining inactive portals that were scattered around the chamber, Cosmos and Nestor lead them back to the main part of the Magic Crafters homeworld, leaving Nora to do her work. As they made their way back to the dock, however, some of the other dragons that called this land home talked to them for a few moments, though it was mostly them discussing something with Cosmos while saying hello to the trio, before they departed and went about their business. Spike discovered that the other dragons were simply curious about what Cosmos had planned for the Magic Crafters in the future, as in what lessons they would be learning and whatnot, and they seemed satisfied with the answers, since they left with smiles on their faces, allowing him and his siblings to focus on returning to the dock so they could head home. Marco, like always, was waiting for them to return and moved out of the way as the trio climbed into the basket once more, indicating that they were ready to depart, before climbing in after them and giving the hot air balloon the fire it needed to take to the skies and begin the journey back to the land of the Artisans dragons. Nestor made sure to thank Cosmos for allowing the trio to spend some time with Nora, something the trio had done to both Nora and Cosmos and he was just making sure his friend knew how grateful he was for the time to be set aside for this, before taking off and following the hot air balloon, leaving Cosmos to return to his duties a few minutes later.
When the hot air balloon reached it's destination the trio climbed out and headed back to Town Square, to get some food before they started whatever they were going to do for the rest of the day, since they either relaxed after a visit to one of the other homeworlds or took some time to practice their skills, though Nestor was fine with whatever the trio decided to focus their energy on.
The days that followed were the same as they were after the trio visited one of the lands that the other Leaders watched over, as in Spike returned to his studies, split between what Argus had for him and what Cosmos had lent him for some time, so he could be ready for whatever the future brought them. Ember made sure that her combat skills were as good as they could be, since she was waiting for the day that all three of them matured so they could take on their adult forms and she could learn the combat skills that Titan and Trondo could show her, which would make her a better fighter and allow her to prepare for any threats that would surface, even if Nestor believed that there were no threats, thanks to what the Peace Keepers did for the Dragon Realms. Nestor also knew that Titan loved the dedication that Ember had to learning the various types of tricks and tactics she could use while she was in her current state, as being down on all fours like this limited her to a specific set of attacks and maneuvers, and he was waiting for the day where she and her siblings matured, as he was sure that Ember was actually a Peace Keepers dragon and not an Artisans dragon. Spyro continued to throw himself at the various professions that the other Artisans spent their lives working on, attempting to find something that he was talented in so he could be like his siblings, who had a better idea of what they would be doing in the future, and Nestor told him not to worry about it, as he would figure out his calling at some point in the future.
At the same time the trio made sure to practice their gliding, working with their dragonflies as they ran through the maze to boost their stamina, and occasionally worked on actually flying around the Flight Realm whenever Lucas came by for a visit, since he appeared to be the only one capable of opening the way for them.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that not much changed in their lives after their latest visit to the land of the Magic Crafters, as Nestor and the other Artisans didn't have much else to teach them, in the ways of how to be a dragon, and let them focus on whatever interested them. For Spike and Ember that was easy, as they would continue with what they had been doing after each of their visits to the various homeworlds, but there were days where they followed Spyro around and tried to help him figure out what his profession was going to be when he was older. The only thing that they didn't help him with were his pranks, indicating that they were getting old and that he needed to move on, so he decided to do one of the older pranks he had pulled and sheared some of Toasty's wool again, bringing back the 'kick me' message he had cut into the sheep's wool, before moving onto something else. Nestor and the other dragons were happy to see that both Spike and Ember were trying to pull Spyro away from the pranks that he was so used to doing, mostly because all of them had been messy in some manner and this would make it so the young dragon stopped his childish ways, but they would have to wait and see what happened in the future, since there was always the chance that he could go back to pranking when he was bored.
Something that interested some of the Artisans dragons was the fact that Spike and Ember continued to create odd sculptures whenever they gathered for a lesson in the various types of art, though they noticed that Ember had moved on from the odd scepter she had made a long time ago and was creating stone versions of the creatures that she and her siblings had seen so far. Spike, on the other hand, continued to make busts that were similar to the first one he had made, the scholar as some called it, though what he found to be interesting is that some of the busts he made had horns, some had tips on their backs that resembled wings that weren't like a dragon's, some had neither, and there was even one bust that had a longer horn and taller wing tips, along with some odd wavy hair. Spike really had no idea why he continued to make these things, even though they did get better the more he practiced working on the stones, but, while he was sure there was a reason for all of this, he couldn't think of one and pushed it to the back of his mind as he focused on the stones that were in front of him. Spyro continued to find that, while his skill seemed to improve with all of the arts that were available to him, none of them actually spoke to him like they did for the likes of Thor and Delbin, but that didn't stop him from trying to find what his passions were, something that annoyed him since both Spike and Ember had already figured out what they were going to do when they were older, effectively leaving him in the dust.
What surprised the trio once more was when their ninth birthday finally came around, as they were expecting Nestor to approach them and inform them of the next homeworld that they were going to be visiting for a brand new lesson, but this time around nothing like that happened. Rather it appeared that all of the Leaders were a little busy at the moment and were preparing for something, leaving the trio to decide that this meant that they could continue where they left off and improve on their own, so they could be prepared for whatever Nestor had in store for them, as they knew he had to be messing with them again. At first, as the days went by, they figured that it had to be a prank of sorts, like he and the other Artisans were getting back at Spyro or something, but then Spike determined that Nestor wasn't the type to do things like that, making his siblings wonder what was going on. When the days turned into weeks the trio determined that there was nothing left for them to learn at the moment, so they focused on mastering the various skills that they had been taught in the past, so they could be prepared for anything, and Spike made sure that he was finishing all of his studies, just in case they needed the information for something. Nestor, despite not having anything new to teach them, was happy to see that the trio was working hard to master the basic skills that all dragons knew, as well as taking some time off every now and then so they could relax and not be stressed out by what they were doing.
He also knew that they were waiting for the day when they finally matured and became adults, so they could truly tackle their chosen professions like all of the other dragons that came before them, and he was interested in seeing what happened when that day finally arrived.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that nothing exciting happened as the months went by after their ninth birthday, which was a little disappointing when they considered what they did after all of their previous birthdays, but all three of them kept themselves preoccupied by working on their various skills, relaxing every now and then, and sometimes just running around their homeworld, playing like children. In addition to all of that they also assisted the other Artisans dragons with whatever they needed help with, be it their own professions or just arranging things for the various meals that everyone ate together, and they found that their elders were very happy with them helping out every now and then, instead of just waiting for Nestor or someone else to tell them when a meal was ready. They also noticed that there were two dragon eggs located in the Stone Hill area, away from where they usually slept during the night, which made them curious about the dragons that would eventually hatch from them, while also making them wonder how many more eggs their homeworld would get before the Year of the Dragon Festival happened. Nestor knew they were curious about the eggs, since this was their first time seeing them from the other side, and watched them for a few seconds as they stared at the spherical eggs, with the bottom side being slightly larger than the side that was pointed at the sky, though he knew that the trio would be excited when the eggs finally hatched.
Another thing the trio discovered was that there were a few beings like the Balloonists visiting Nestor every now and then, though they weren't dressed up in the gear that Marco and his friends wore, as they seemed to be wearing a suit and some odd uniforms, though after the third visit their curiosity got the better of them and they approached Nestor when the strangers left, as they were curious as to what was going on.
"Um, Nestor, who was that?" Spyro asked, though at the same time he and his siblings came to a stop near him, which showed their Leader that they were interested in what Nestor had been doing, especially since they were usually told what was going on every now and then, regardless of whether or not they were involved with the event.
"A reporter for the Dragon News Network," Nestor replied, as he knew that the trio was curious about what they had seen and he was eager to tell them what would be happening in the future, especially since the other Artisans dragons would be interested in hearing about this later on, when he finally told them the news, "basically they send out reporters and make documentaries on whatever might interest the residents of the other lands, the lands that we don't live on, and right now they're interested in talking to us about the peace that we have been enjoying for a long time, and maybe ask a question or two about Gnasty Gnorc."
"Gnasty Gnorc?" Ember asked, because the way Nestor talked made her think that the person in question was a threat that the Peace Keepers should take care of at some point, though that, in turn, made her wonder why Titan and the others hadn't already taken care of him.
"He's an exile living in the Junk Yard," Spike answered, showing Nestor that he had done some research into the events that had come before them, before they hatched to be exact, because he was interested in what caused the dragons to call this land home and had found an interesting tome about a thousand years ago, before he returned to the topic that they were talking about at the moment, "I'm not sure how long ago it was when Nestor and the other Leaders banished him to the Junk Yard, but they did so because Gnasty Gnorc was causing mischief for the Dragon Realms, didn't want to abide by the rules that had been set by the Leaders, and he had a lack of respect for the various dragons that lived across the homeworlds, as he coveted the treasure we possess, until eventually he was banished to the Junk Yard, which is where he's been living for a long time. The reporter likely heard something about Gnasty Gnorc and is going to try to either verify or disprove what he's doing in the land that he rules over, or at least that is what I would do if I wasn't a dragon and was heading to one of the homeworlds for a special interview."
"Either way, the reporter was making sure that the date we established with his network is still valid, that nothing has changed and that he'll have his interview on the day we agreed on." Nestor stated, though at this point he was no longer surprised by what Spike knew and didn't know, as the young dragon had the potential to be one of the greatest scholars they had ever seen, up there with the scholar that created the library in Dark Hollow, and he was sure that Spike knew about some of the older events that they really didn't talk about, before focusing on the topic they had asked about, "I told him that nothing has changed and that the interview is still scheduled for the date that we set some time ago, so now all he has to do is get everything he needs and come back in a few months, since it appears that he has some other locations to visit first, before focusing his attention on us and the peace that we've brought to the Dragon Realms."
"Can we do anything to help you guys prepare for the interview?" Spyro asked, because while the event sounded a little boring, something that he was alone in thinking since Spike and Ember seemed interested in it, he knew that Nestor and the others would appreciate a little help in getting ready.
"You can play around and enjoy yourselves, since we don't have to worry about setting anything up." Nestor said, as he knew that the trio wanted this to go perfectly, now that they knew the interview was happening, but the reality was that none of them actually needed the trio to help them out, as everything that would be used that day would be from the interviewer and his crew.
For a moment Spyro, Spike, and Ember seemed a little disappointed that there wasn't anything they could do to help Nestor and the others when the interview happened, though that was before they determined that there was something they could do, as simply playing around and enjoying themselves would show the interviewer, and those that were watching what was going on, that they were enjoying the peace that their homeworlds were experiencing. Nestor was a little surprised at first, since he wasn't expecting them to continue to offer their assistance when the interview happened, before he chuckled and told them that, since they had some ideas in mind already, he would accept their help and that he was sure the other dragons would be grateful as well. None of them had to talk during the interview, unless the reporter wanted to ask them some specific questions before he and his crew moved on, but from what he could tell all three of them were eager for the interview to happen, just so they could see what sort of questions were asked and how the dragons responded to the questions. Nestor also informed them that the reporter and his crew were going to be hitting all five of the homeworlds, just to see how all the clans were taking to the peace they were enjoying, though he only told them so they wouldn't be surprised when they discovered that Marco was gone after the reporter left, though the trio nodded their heads, to show that they understood what they were being told, before returning to what they had been doing earlier, all while keeping the information about the interview at the back of their minds.
After that day the trio found that nothing exciting really happened, so they returned to what they did in the past and, on occasion, helped the other Artisans dragons as they moved things around, either getting ready for the interview or just moving things in general. Ember continued to work on her combat skills, impressing those around her with what she was able to do, despite the fact that many of them didn't know much about the various skills and techniques she showed off, another example of the fact that the Artisans dragons were pacifists and didn't fight, which also connected to the reason that they trusted the Peace Keepers so much. Spyro worked on finding out what sort of profession he was interested in, when he wasn't busy helping the other dragons that he had pranked in the past, but for the most part he still wasn't having any luck figuring out what he wanted to do when he was older, which only made him wonder how Spike and Ember were able to determine their professions so quickly. Nestor, hearing how annoyed Spyro was over the situation, reminded him that sometimes it took a while for a dragon to manifest their particular profession, as there were times where one of them would find their profession before they turned five years old, while other times a dragon could be ten before that happened to them, he just had to be patient and his profession would make itself known. Spike, of course, added a new topic to the list of topics that he was working on, that being getting more information on Gnasty Gnorc and what he did that caused the dragons to banish him to the Junk Yard, though Argus and the others saw no harm in letting him read those tomes, something that Nestor was in agreement with, and helped him when he needed assistance.
Eventually the days turned into weeks again and the trio went about their lives as if nothing had changed, practicing their various skills and working on the professions that they knew they were interested in, or taking a few days off to assist Spyro in his endeavors, all while waiting for the day of the interview to arrive.
It wasn't until the day after the day of their tenth birthday that they found out that the interview would be in a few days, causing the three of them to hurry as they assisted the other Artisans dragons in preparing their homeworld for the arrival of the reporter and his crew, as they now understood how important this day was and were going to do everything in their power to make it as great as they possibly could. They learned that Argus and the others were happy to have their assistance, especially since they discovered that the interview would be taking place in Dark Hollow, an odd choice when they knew that Stone Hill or even the central area would have been a better place for it, but they weren't going to argue and continued helping everyone get things set up. Spike made sure that all of the tomes and scrolls were returned to their proper places, so he and the other scholars could continue their studies once the interview was over and the reporter headed out for the next homeworld, but for now they were ensuring that they gave a good impression to the other lands, about the peace that they were enjoying. Something that Spyro noticed while they were working was that Toasty glared at all of them from the area around the portal that lead to Nevin's castle, whenever a dragon happened to be in the area that was near the portal, but that's all he did, eventually making him forget about the sheep and return to what he was doing, as he could sort out Toasty later.
A few days later Spyro, Spike, and Ember, who were just minding their own business in one of the upper levels of Dark Hollow, stopped and watched as the reporter and his crew entered the realm that they were in, though from what Nestor had told them the reporter's name was Bob, though as everything was set up, and both Lindar and Astor moved into position, the trio spotted a sheep and decided to play around for a few minutes while Bob asked his questions.
"Okay, we're rolling." Bob announced, informing the dragons that were near him that they were finally getting things underway, especially since they had a number of lands to visit and not a lot of time to get the interview done, though that was when he focused on the dragons that had agreed to do the interview, and found that Astor, the oldest dragon he had met, had fallen asleep on him, but decided to roll with it, "What can you tell us about the Dragon Realms?"
"Huh... Oh! It's been peaceful here in the five homeworlds, or is it six?" Astor answered, showing Spike and his siblings that some dragons considered the Junk Yard as one of the lands that they could live on, even though no dragons lived over there at the moment, though as Astor shrugged, to indicate that it didn't matter in the long run, Spyro headbutted the sheep that they had see earlier with a smile on his face, before heading to where Spike and Ember were playing, "For a dragon's age, we now have twelve thousand treasure... or was it fourteen thousand?"
"What about this G-Nasty G-Norc character?" Bob asked, where the trio noted that he said the name like 'Guh-Nasty Guh-Norc', something that would have likely annoyed the person in question if he was watching the broadcast, but what he said next really interested them for a few seconds, "Now, I have information that says he's uncovered a magic spell that can turn gems into warriors for his cause."
Spike glanced at Spyro and Ember for a second, as none of them had heard of a spell that could transform the various colored gemstones that they had seen, the ones that Nestor had used during their various lessons in the past, into soldiers that could be used against the Dragon Realms, which only made them wonder how Bob had discovered that piece of information and why he didn't tell the Leaders about it sooner.
"I'll take that question." Lindar said, as he knew that there were times where Astor got tired and couldn't concentrate on what was happening around him, and today happened to be one of those days, so he was more than willing to step in for the elderly dragon and take this question, "Gnasty Gnorc is many things, depending on who you ask and what they know about him, but the truth is of the matter is that he is a simple creature. He has been contained in a remote world and is no threat to the dragon kingdom... besides, he is ugly, and this way we don't have to look at him."
"Huh, never knew that Lindar was the type to care about someone's appearance." Spyro commented, as they had never heard the dragon make a comment like that in the past, not while they were growing up anyway, but he also kept his voice low so only his siblings could hear what he had to say, who were also surprised by what Lindar had said and were thankful that Gnasty Gnorc wasn't watching this broadcast.
Ember glanced up at the sky for a moment, just as Spyro was finishing his comment, before she noticed a green light of some kind coming down at the area they were in, causing her to knock both Spyro and Spike to the ground, though at the same time the light broke apart into a large number of smaller lights, which struck Lindar, Astor, and the other dragons that were in the area, encasing them in a green crystalline statue that resembled a dragon.
"What in the world was that?" Spike asked, though even as he said that he stared at the statue that was in front of them for a few seconds, as he had never seen anything like it before, and he was sure neither of his siblings had seen this spell either, which made him confused as to what was going on.
"Well, I had some information that I was planning on telling Nestor before I left, to warn him about the potential threat that Gnasty Gnorc posed, but it seems like that won't be necessary anymore," Bob stated, where Spyro and Spike glanced at him for a few seconds, as the reporter was in the process of making sure the broadcast was cut off, but it seemed to be taking longer than he thought it would, "It appears that he has found another powerful spell, one that can turn adult dragons into solid crystalline statues, or at least imprison them in such a state."
That was another spell that Spike hadn't heard about, one that was incredibly dangerous given the fact that Gnasty Gnorc fired it from a long distance away and it sought out everyone in the Artisans homeworld within mere seconds, which meant he could fire it again and again until every dragon, in all five homeworlds, were trapped in this state, meaning that it was up to him and his siblings to rescue them, before he turned towards his siblings and noticed something odd.
"Ember, are you okay?" Spyro asked, because he had noticed the same thing as well, that Ember was in the middle of what appeared to be an angry growl and she was clawing at the ground for a couple of seconds, something he was sure Argus and the other scholars would fuss over in the future.
"He turned everyone we knew, everyone we cared about, into these green crystalline statues," Ember replied, her tone revealing that she was not okay with this turn of events, nor was she okay with Bob withholding this information from Nestor and the other Leaders, before she turned around and headed in the direction of the exit portal, "Come on, we've got work to do, before Gnasty Gnorc realizes that someone is trying to undo what he just did."
Spyro and Spike nodded their heads as they followed after their sister, knowing that this wasn't what they were expecting when they were told about the interview, but at the same time it appeared that a grand adventure was starting and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to find the exit portal for Dark Hollow, since the interview was in the area right before the location of the whirlwind, so they were able to reappear in the small maze that hid the portal that lead to the realm they had been in. When they stepped out of the maze a few moments later, however, they discovered something odd, as there were a few green skinned beings, who stood slightly taller than one of the Balloonists and their stomachs were fatter as well, though they were wearing brown beanie style hats on their heads. Standing under the walkway that connected the large gate to the courtyard that the other portals were in, where the portal to Dragon Shores was located in, to the central point a dragon could stand in, to observe the land around them, was another green skinned creature that had a large brown over his shoulder and had a black mask over his eyes. The trio stared at the green beings for a few seconds, who stopped what they were doing and focused on them in return, as if they were trying to determine what they were going to do, before Spyro spotted a dragon statue that was resting where Nestor had been earlier, or at least where he told the three of them he would be waiting.
Instead of focusing on the green beings, who didn't seem to be doing anything at the moment, the trio turned to their right and ran over to the walkway that would take them up to the area that the statue was resting in, though when they finally reached the statue Spyro touched it with one of his claws, which caused cracks to form all over it within the next few seconds, before a bright light burst out of the statue and Nestor emerged, without any crystal fragments remaining on him or resting in the area around him.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for releasing me." Nestor said, showing the trio that he was grateful that they had freed him from the prison he had been trapped in, though at the same time he also dusted off his attire, to be sure that none of the crystal fragments had stuck to him.
"No problem." Spike replied, as he knew that Spyro and Ember were thinking of other things at the moment and seemed to be focused on the green guys they had seen when they emerged from the small maze, "So, what are those green beings that are just standing around like they own the place?"
"The common Gnorc," Nestor replied, as he recognized the beings in question rather easily, because he had seen them in the past and knew who they were without having to think about it all that much, before he turned back to the trio, who focused on him the instant he looked at them, "as you can see they are small, around the size of a Balloonist, they're green, and they are incredibly weak, as these types of Gnorcs cower at the sight of a dragon and will run if you chase them or even get near them. And, unless I'm mistaken, the one under us, with the mask and the sack, is a thief, whose only duty is to pick up the various bits of treasure that are laying on the ground, the gems I've shown you in the past, so they can take them to Gnasty Gnorc, so he can transform them into additional soldiers for his army, be it the common Gnorcs you see at the moment or a stronger version that you haven't seen yet."
"So he does have a spell to transform our treasure into soldiers," Spyro commented, as that was something that Bob had mentioned during the brief interview, which he and his siblings had been interested in learning about, but now they have confirmation on that.
"Indeed, and, based on the soldiers he's sent here, I would guess that he had troops waiting for something like this to happen before putting his plan into motion," Nestor added, showing the trio that, while some dragons considered Gnasty Gnorc to be a simple creature, some of them knew that it wasn't wise to underestimate the supposedly defeated foe that had been banished to the Junk Yard, before he glanced in the direction of the portal to Nevin's castle, "I would even guess that he has his strongest minions stationed in the domains of the strongest dragon for each of our clans, no doubt commanding his forces as they try to take control of the Dragon Realms."
"Then let's take the fight to Gnasty Gnorc and end this madness, before someone gets hurt." Ember stated, her tone revealing that she didn't approve of anything that was going on at the moment, as in everyone they know being trapped in a crystalline statue, some of their treasure being transformed into enemies they would have to defeat, and the rest of their treasure was in the process of being stolen by their foes.
"In time you will take the fight to Gnasty Gnorc, but for now you should focus on freeing the Artisans homeworld from his clutches, by saving the other dragons and reclaiming anything the Gnorcs have stolen." Nestor stated, causing the trio to focus on him once more, as they were a little surprised by what he was saying, in terms of taking out the enemies that were invading their home, before they nodded their heads to show him that they understood, "Once you're done saving our home, and have taken out the enemy commander, you should head to the dock and speak to Marco, who will take you to the Peace Keepers homeworld so you can assist Titan in retaking his home."
"Out of curiosity, what will you be doing while we're doing that?" Spike asked, because he knew that Nestor wouldn't just tell them to do something like this and just sit back while they worked to save the Dragon Realms, which was why he bothered to ask the question in the first place.
"I will be tending to the other realms that are near the portal to Dragon Shores," Nestor replied, though he couldn't fault one of the young dragons from questioning what he was going to be doing while they worked hard to save their home and the other homeworlds, though his answer seemed to appease Spike, and that included his siblings.
Once that question had been answered, and none of the trio had any additional questions for him, Nestor opened his wings and took off, heading back to the area that he had told them about, leaving the trio to glance at the area around them as they considered what they were going to do first. Ember answered the question by charging off the area they were standing on and barreled into the two Gnorcs that were standing on the top of the nearby hill, knocking them to the ground and breaking the spell that was on them, transforming them back into a green gem and a blue gem, where Cinder stared at them for a few seconds. Spike, seeing what was going on, jumped off the edge of the area he and Spyro were on, where he and his brother approached the thief and chased him, striking him with their horns several times, where the first two strikes yielded one red gem apiece, while the third strike yielded three red gems and left the sack behind, showing that the Gnorc thieves were also transformed treasure as well. Spike walked over to the sack and studied it for a few seconds, before his horns glowed and he weaved a spell into the sack, where he made sure that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder were included in it, only to return to normal a few seconds later, where he nodded to Ember and Cinder tapped the gems, which reappeared inside the sack.
"Yes, the spell worked!" Spike declared, as he had read about this sort of spell in the past and had been waiting for a chance to test it out in the field, but he was glad that it worked and that any gem they collected was deposited inside the sack, as the gems near him and Spyro were also added to the sack thanks to Sparx and Talon tapping them.
"What did you do?" Ember asked, because while she wanted to run around and knock out the Gnorcs that were trying to steal their treasure, while freeing the various dragons that have been imprisoned, she was interested in seeing what Spike had done to the sack.
"It's a Bag of Holding, capable of containing all the treasure we recover." Spike replied, though he knew that his siblings might not understand what he was talking about, since they didn't study magic like he did, which meant he had to explain it a little, "Basically we won't have to carry all the treasure we recover with us, rather we can use this bag and just leave it, say, beside the portal to Stone Hill, where any piece of treasure our dragonflies touch will be teleported to the bag and deposited inside it, and if we clear all the Gnorcs out of our home we won't have to worry about the treasure being stolen while we're gone."
Spyro and Ember determined that this had been a good move on Spike's part, that way they didn't have to haul all of the treasure around with them as they went from realm to realm and homeworld to homeworld, and waited for their brother to move the sack over to the side of Stone Hill's portal, allowing them to focus on the rest of their homeworld and the realms that they could head to. The first thing they did was head back over to the small maze, where Spyro headed in and recovered the four red gems they had ran by while they were looking for Nestor's statue, along with smashing a wooden chest in the middle that contained a green gem, no doubt left behind by one of Gnasty Gnorc's minions. Ember, on the other hand, stood on top of the hill that the pair of Gnorcs had been on and jumped into the air, where she glided over to a ledge, where a few red and green gems were resting and made sure to collect the gem inside the chest as well, to be sure she got everything, before jumping down and rejoining her brothers. While Spyro and Ember were doing their thing Spike spotted a pair of Gnorcs trying to retrieve the sack he had enchanted, so he breathed fire on them both and returned them to their natural gem state, before collecting the pair of gems and the ones that were left on the pillars that he and his siblings had tried climbing on when they were younger.
As they gathered the remaining gems that happened to be laying around the area that they were in, no doubt due to the Gnorcs sloppy work, Spyro stopped by the pair of waterfalls, where the hidden entrance to their homeworld's Flight Realm rested, and freed the dragon that was in front of the water, which turned out to be Delbin, who thanked him and gave him a reminder than he and his siblings should keep an eye on their dragonflies, who were their protection against the dangers their foes could throw at them, before taking off to assist Nestor. Once that was done they checked out the tunnel that would take them to the dock, where they recovered a number of gems and smashed a few chests that were in their way, before coming to a stop as they reached the dock, though they took a second to wave back at Marco, who waved at them the moment he noticed that they were there, before turning around and heading back into the main part of their homeworld. It was mostly to make sure they didn't miss any of the imprisoned dragons, though instead of heading towards the portal for Nevin's castle, the area that one of Gnasty Gnorc's most trusted henchmen was waiting in, they took the other tunnel and found another dragon trapped at the exit, where they tapped the crystal and freed Thomas from his prison, who reminded them about the art of gliding, something they didn't need to be reminded about. After freeing Thomas the trio headed down into the area around the tower that would allow them to head to Town Square and found another gem thief, who Spyro proceeded to chase around the area while Spike and Ember gathered the fallen gems that were scattered around the area.
It didn't take Spyro long to take out the gem thief and claim the five gems he was carrying, nor did it take Spike and Ember long to gather the remaining gems that were in the area, so they decided that it was time to check out the area around the dragon head statue, where they discovered four wooden chests, a few scattered gems, and a statue that contained Argus, which surprised Spyro and Ember, since they were sure he had been inside Dark Hollow, even though Spike knew that the elder scholar had been elsewhere when the interview started.
"Thank you for releasing me from my prison." Argus told them, as he was grateful that they had come and broken the spell that had been placed on him, just like he knew that they had to have done the same thing for several of the other dragons that called this land home, before he glanced back at the dragon head statue, which was closed, "Did Nestor tell you his thoughts on what is going on at the moment?"
"We know that one of Gnasty Gnorc's strongest henchmen is somewhere in Nevin's castle, commanding the soldiers that are trying to take our treasure from us," Spike replied, though he was still surprised that Gnasty Gnorc had managed to get all of his soldiers and his henchmen into position before the interview happened, without anyone noticing what they were doing, which meant they had to be careful during their adventure.
"That's correct, and he's sealed the entrance to Nevin's castle," Argus stated, meaning that even if the three of them wanted to tackle the head of the assault, the henchmen that was in the area that Nevin called home, they couldn't reach that area anyway, but he did hold up a hand to stop them from getting sad or annoyed, "but, from what I can tell, all you need to do is restore order to Stone Hill, Town Square, and Dark Hollow, freeing the dragons that have been trapped and removing the enemies that you find, before the portal to Nevin's castle will be revealed again."
"Well, then that's what we'll do." Ember said, as she knew that she and her brothers already intended to clear out the enemies that were trying to take over their homeworld, just as they would do the same when they reached the other lands that the dragons called home, but this just gave them another reason to take care of Gnasty Gnorc's forces.
Argus had the feeling that Ember would have said that, as he nodded his head and took to the skies, so he could go assist Nestor and the others in freeing the dragons of the other realms that the trio wouldn't be heading towards, leaving Spyro, Spike, and Ember to decide on what they were going to do first, or, to be more accurate, which of the three realms they were going to tackle first.
"Why don't we tackle Stone Hill first?" Spyro suggested, causing his siblings to glance at him for a moment, as it wasn't everyday that he made a suggestion, but now that all of the other dragons were trapped in stone it seemed like he might be maturing a little and was taking an active role in saving their home.
"Based on what Argus said, it doesn't matter where we start, so I'm fine with starting in our own home." Spike said, though at the same time Ember nodded her head, showing that she was in agreement with him, that they should head to the realm that they lived in first, to make sure nothing bad had happened while they were gone, which caused a smile to appear on Spyro's face, as he was happy that they agreed with his suggestion.
With the three of them in agreement over which realm they should tackle first, now that the central area of the Artisans homeworld had been taken care of, Spyro, Spike, and Ember rushed over to where Stone Hill's portal rested and headed through it, where it took them a few moments to reappear in the courtyard that they had been born in, where they immediately found a few rams eating some of the grass, though Spike breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that all of their stuff was safe and sound. The first thing they did, after making sure that all of the stuff they had made was still in one piece, was smash the various chests that were in the courtyard, though normally the rams left them alone and minded their own business, like eating the grass and wandering around the area, but this time the lone ram that was in the middle of the courtyard seemed to be annoyed by their presence. When one of them got close to the ram it charged at whoever was approaching it, like it was out to get them, causing Ember, who was the closest to it, to defend herself by rolling out of the way and let the ram rush by her and her siblings, before charging into the ram's side and knocked it to the ground, only for it to morph back into a gem as well. The trio stared at the gem for a few seconds, as they were sure that the ram had been normal over the last couple of years and wasn't a creature created by Gnasty Gnorc's spell, but to be sure Spyro and Spike each took out the rams that were guarding the tunnels to two separate parts of Stone Hill, only to return with two more gems to add to their collection.
"Okay, so it seems the transformation spell doesn't limit Gnasty Gnorc to just making more Gnorcs," Ember said, as she was surprised to find that the rams were hostile towards them, mostly because the rams they had seen in the past kept to themselves and didn't attack anyone, though this also meant that any creature they had seen before this point could be hostile, due to being a creation of the spell that their foe had found.
"So far that seems to be the case," Spike stated, though at the same time he carefully pulled out his writing materials, since he was carrying his satchel with everything inside it, and made several notes about the spells that Gnasty Gnorc had access to, as he was sure that Argus and the others would be eager to read about them when everything was back to normal, and he left some room for any other odd differences between the original creature and the ones their foe created with his spell, "but I suspect that there are limits to what Gnasty Gnorc can do with that spell, otherwise he could have just created a massive dragon army and declared war on us. The fact that he didn't do that tells me that his spell has some limits and what we'll face in our adventure is what he's capable of creating, but that doesn't mean we can be arrogant and lower our guard, otherwise something might knock us out before we can save the Dragon Realms."
Spyro and Ember found themselves agreeing with Spike, mostly because he was the smart one when it came to understanding magic spells and the various limits that the Magic Crafters knew about, so they decided that it was time to get a move on and see if they could find any dragons in Stone Hill. As such they headed towards the tunnel that was on their left and found a decent sized chamber that had a statue right in the middle of everything, though there were six chests in the chamber, three to one side and three to the other, along with five metallic chests on the left side. Ember charged forward and smashed her way through the metallic chests, freeing the gems for Cinder to grab, while Spike did the same for the wooden chests on the right side of the chamber, though that left freeing the dragon to Spyro, as the wooden chests on the left side had been broken during Ember's charge, allowing her to grab those gems as well. Once the chamber was clean of gems, and they were sure of it, Spyro walked up to the statue and tapped on it, allowing the dragon that was inside it to be released from the spell that Gnasty Gnorc had used on all of the older dragons, though as the light died down the trio stood there in shock for a few seconds, as they were surprised by who had been trapped in this chamber, especially when they considered what happened ten to twenty minutes ago.
"Thank you for freeing me from that prison." Lindar said, indicating that he was happy to be able to stretch his wings again, even though he had been a statue for all of a couple of minutes, before he noticed something odd and turned towards the trio, who seemed surprised to see him all of a sudden, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
"No, there's nothing on your face, though we do have a question for you," Spyro replied, because something about this situation didn't make sense and he knew both of his siblings were just as confused as he was, which was why he was asking this now, before they got too much further and it came back at the worst possible moment, "Why are you here?! We saw you get trapped in the same crystalline prison that all of the other Artisans dragons were locked away in, back in Dark Hollow, and yet here you are, in Stone Hill! Explain yourself!"
"All I know is that a minute or two after you three left Dark Hollow, to find Nestor, some of Gnasty Gnorc's minions came in and carted me through the portal," Lindar stated, showing the trio that each dragon that was trapped inside the green crystalline statues had some idea of what was going on around them, even if they couldn't talk or move on their own, before he shrugged as he headed for the entrance of the tunnel, "I don't know why they wanted to put me here, in Stone Hill, but in the end it doesn't matter, since you've freed me from my prison... and I'm sorry for putting this chain of events in motion. I swear, if I had known the broadcast included the land that Gnasty Gnorc was ruling over, in addition to the five homeworlds, I would have held my tongue when the reporter asked about him, though I still think he's ugly."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember sighed as Lindar took to the skies once he stepped outside, as it appeared that he wasn't going to change his mind about what he called Gnasty Gnorc, though at the same time they weren't sure why the Gnorcs would care where a dragon was positioned, as Ember considered the chances of their foes setting traps for them to be extremely low, regardless of which homeworld or realm the dragons were in. Since there was nothing more for them to do in the chamber, other than stare at the walls for a few minutes if they really wanted to, the trio headed outside and went about collecting the various gems that were on the ground, as well as breaking any chests that were in their way, before heading into the chamber that was ahead of the area that dragons appeared in when they arrived in Stone Hill. It was then that they found another hostile ram that wanted them dead, not that it managed to hit them since all three of them rolled out of the way and then loosed a short burst of fire on it, before they smashed the pair of chests that were nearby and then headed towards the area that the exit portal was located in, where they first claimed the rest of the gems that were around them before they touched the statue that stood in front of the exit portal. When the light faded they found that it was Astor that was standing in front of the whirlwind portal that would take them back to the main part of the Artisans homeworld, who should have been in Dark Hollow, since that was where he was when the spell hit, but the trio figured that he, like Lindar, had been moved for some strange reason.
Besides thanking them for freeing him, like all of the other dragons had said so far, Astor reminded them that the exit portal behind him would take the three of them back to the the central part of their home, but before he could start up a story the trio excused themselves so they could go find out if there were any other dragons trapped in this realm, as well as recover all of the stolen treasure as well, leaving Astor to depart from the realm, to see if he could find Nestor and the other Artisans dragons that had been freed so far.
The trio paused for a moment, as they were surprised that Astor had left so quickly, but that was soon followed by Spyro walking over to the edge of the balcony, as some dragons called this area for some reason, and glanced around the area they were in, before grinning as he spotted a little beach of sorts below where they were standing. Spyro jumped over the edge not a few seconds later, where Spike and Ember walked over to where he had been a few seconds ago and watched as he explored the beach a little, where he found a few gems and a small cave, one that interested the pair so much that they jumped down and joined him so they could see what he had found. What they found inside the cave was four metallic chests and, oddly enough, a golden key that Spike picked up and slipped into his satchel, even though none of them had any idea where it was supposed to go, while Spyro and Ember smashed the chests that were in the small cave, allowing them to retrieve the gems that were inside them, before heading out of the cave so they could finish cleaning up Stone Hill. Another thing that interested them was that there was a whirlwind on the opposite end of the beach, from where the cave entrance was, and by taking it they were able to get back up to where Astor had been earlier, so they avoided the exit portal and headed back to the courtyard.
"Okay, we've saved two dragons, recovered a good bit of gems, and we have a key to something," Spike commented, as this was the first time they had seen something like this, which meant that they had no idea what the key was supposed to go, but he was more than willing to keep the key in his satchel until they found out where it went, before he glanced at his siblings for a few seconds, "I guess it's time we check out the area we did our gliding practice in and clear it of whatever enemies are in the area, as well as claim the gems that are there and rescue any dragons that have been trapped there, before we head somewhere else and repeat what we've been doing."
"Actually, I was thinking about checking out the well," Spyro said, referring to the sole structure that was in the same courtyard that they lived in, not counting the various tunnels that lead to the other chambers and areas around them, which caused his siblings to look at the well for a few seconds, showing that they were a little curious about it as well, even though they assumed that it was full of water.
Spyro jumped into the air and descended into the well, where Spike and Ember walked forward and expected to see him splashing in the water, though when they glanced down into the well they were surprised to find that there wasn't any water in it, rather there was a hidden chamber and Spyro was smiling at them. The reason for that smile became clear to them as they jumped down and joined him, as there were a few gems resting near one wall, a small locked chest that Spike assumed the key they had found went to, and another statue, which was followed by Ember tapping the statue so they could free another dragon. After a few seconds they discovered that the dragon in question was Gavin, who thanked them and gave all three of them a reminder on keeping their eyes on their dragonflies, as the colors indicated how much health and power they had, and made sure they knew to feed Sparx, Talon, and Cinder some butterflies if any of them got hurt during their adventure, before he excused himself and headed out to find Nestor. Once Gavin was gone Spike withdrew the key from his satchel and inserted it into the lock, where he was surprised when the chest shattered once the lock was open, but he shrugged as he collected the gems that had been inside the chest, before he and his siblings used the whirlwind that formed in line with the well's opening and returned to the courtyard once more.
Upon returning to the courtyard the trio headed for the tunnel that would take them to the area they practiced their gliding in when they were younger, where they found a few more hostile rams waiting around the tower, accompanied by three shepherds that happened to be watching over the sheep that called Stone Hill home, before they turned towards the tunnel and spun their canes, indicating that they didn't care for the trio either. This just confirmed that Gnasty Gnorc had created hostile versions of the creatures they had seen in the various realms, and potentially more hostile than the original in some cases, causing the trio to separate from each other for a few moments as they charged into the rams and knocked them to the ground, before repeating the process with the shepherds. The gems that fell to the ground a few seconds later also validated their belief that most of the enemies they would be encountering might be transformed gems, meaning they might not have to hold back against whoever was in their way, but they kept an open mind and hoped that some of the residents of the other realms didn't turn on them, otherwise things were going to get messy. As soon as the rams and the shepherds were taken care of the trio carefully walked around the area that rested around the tower, gathering the various gems from the ground and breaking the few chests that they discovered, before regrouping near the base of the tower, where they used the whirlwind to head to the top.
It was there that they discovered another statue, which happened to be Gildas, who immediately thanked them for releasing him from his prison and then reminded them how to stop a glide mid-flight, a useful skill to be sure, before taking off like everyone else, leaving the trio to explore the upper part of Stone Hill, something they usually didn't do, only to stop when they rounded a corner and found a black skinned figure that was wearing a blue striped robe... and, as he turned around to look at them, they discovered he was holding one of the new dragon eggs.
"Hey! Give that back!" Ember declared, raising her voice so the thief, as the being they were looking at was clearly trying to steal one of their dragon eggs from it's resting place, could hear her, though he just stood there with a smile on his face as he stared at her, almost as if he was taunting her or something.
Ember growled as she charged at the thief, who moved out of the way by running in the opposite direction, only to stop a few seconds later so he could look back at her, where he let out a 'Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!' for a few seconds, which was definitely a taunt, causing Ember to resume her charge as she rushed after the thief. Spyro and Spike moved to the side and watched as their sister followed the thief around the area that they were on, seemingly running around in a circle as she got closer and closer to her target, before Ember finally got close enough to barrel into the side of the thief as he was about to make a turn. The force of the impact sent the thief over the edge of the cliff and they heard him crash into the water that was below them, though Ember turned her head and focused on what was important, which was the egg that the thief had let go of the moment she struck him, where she smiled for a few seconds as she waited for her brothers to walk over to her. The moment the three of them were back together Ember got up and carried the egg by wrapping one of her arms around it, which would limit her for a few minutes, as she intended on bringing the egg back to Nestor so it could be returned to it's proper place, and her brothers agreed with her, which was why they quickly scouted out the rest of Stone Hill and recovered what seemed to be the rest of the stolen treasure, before joining her in front of the chamber that would take them to the exit portal.
They were sure that Nestor and the other Artisans dragons were going to be upset when they discovered that one of their dragon eggs had been taken from them, by thieves no less, and they were also sure that the other dragons were going to be happy to have the stolen egg returned to them, though all three of them had the feeling that this wasn't going to be the first time they were going to recover stolen eggs from those that had taken them.
With Stone Hill cleared of enemies and all of the stolen gems found, including all the dragons and even a dragon egg, Spyro, Spike, and Ember headed through the exit portal of the realm they were in and returned to the central area of the Artisans homeworld, but even as they reappeared in front of Stone Hill's portal they didn't head off to one of the other two realms they could restore order to. Instead the trio headed towards the large door that Nestor had been imprisoned in front of, a door that was usually closed unless someone was heading to Dragon Shores or one of the other realms, ones that none of them had been to yet, though they were happy to see that the door was open and, standing near the portal to Dragon Shores, was Nestor. Delbin and some of the other dragons that they knew were busy going from place to place, no doubt heading into the other realms that the trio wouldn't be tackling so they could free the other dragons that had been trapped in the crystalline prisons, but for now they focused on the Leader of the Artisans homeworld. They knew that Nestor was busy making sure all of the realms were in order, or at least the ones that he and the others had been to so far, but they had something important to show him before they went to Dark Hollow and Town Square, the only remaining realms that needed to be tackled before they dealt with Gnasty Gnorc's henchmen.
The trio came to a stop as they neared the area that Nestor was in, as once the dragon egg they had was dropped off they were going to turn around and pick out their next destination, between the remaining two realms, so they could free the other Artisans dragons that had been trapped.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad the three of you are unharmed," Nestor said, as he suspected that none of the enemies that were invading their homeworld would be able to hurt the three young dragons in battle, something that appeared to be true, but, at the same time, he expected them to be tackling the other realms, which made him interested in why they had sought him out, "What can I do for you?"
"We found a thief trying to run off with one of our dragon eggs while we were clearing Stone Hill," Ember replied, her tone revealing that she didn't like the blue robed figure that had tried to steal the egg she was holding onto, which she then presented to Nestor so he could see that she was telling the truth, not that he had much of a reason to doubt her in the first place, "but don't worry, I managed to recover it by chasing down the thief and ramming into him, causing him to let go of the egg as he flew over the edge of Stone Hill's cliff, where he crashed into the water."
"First Gnasty Gnorc steals our treasure, then he imprisons us in crystalline statues, and now we have thieves trying to steal the eggs that contain the next generation of dragons." Nestor exclaimed, showing that he wasn't happy with the turn of events that were happening to the Dragon Realms, events that had broken the peace he and the other Leaders had brought to them some time ago, while the other dragons nodded their heads in agreement, showing they weren't happy about this either, especially since Lindar had set everything in motion, before Nestor focused on them again, "Thank you for recovering this egg for that thief, but, as it turns out, the other egg that was in our nursery has been stolen as well, so that means there's someone like the thief you encountered running around one of the other realms, with the other stolen egg. This time, if you manage to recover the other egg, why don't you have Spike use his teleportation breath on it and have it moved to the left of our portal to Dragon Shores? That way you won't have to stop what you're doing and come tell me you found another egg, I'll know you found it when it appears near the portal."
"I like that idea." Spike said, where he nodded his head in agreement with what Nestor suggested, because it was a sound idea and the dragon eggs that the homeworlds had, from what he knew, couldn't be hurt by flaming them, so he wouldn't have to worry about hurting the dragons that were slumbering inside them, "Very well then, I'll make sure to use my teleportation breath on the other egg, if we find the thief that stole it, and I'll be sure to ask the other Leaders where they want me to send their eggs when we reach the other homeworlds."
Once Nestor knew that something more important than their treasure was being stolen from them, and the egg was placed near the portal so he could take it back to the nursery in a few minutes, Spyro, Spike, and Ember headed back to the main area of their homeworld and made their way towards the portal that would take them to Dark Hollow. The reason behind that decision was because Spyro and Ember knew that Spike wanted to make sure the Gnorcs hadn't done anything to the library that he had been working on for a long time and rescue the dragons that called the realm home, along with getting any information that might be able to help them in their adventure. Spike was happy that his siblings were okay with checking out Dark Hollow, instead of heading to Town Square first, and he was sure they could learn something about their enemies while they were visiting the other scholars, but they were going to have to wait and see what happened when they reached their next destination. Fortunately it wasn't hard for them to reach the portal in question and pass through it, since there were no enemies in the main area of their homeworld to bother them at all, which allowed them to focus on what they were going to do when they reached Dark Hollow.
A few seconds later they reappeared at the entrance of Dark Hollow, allowing them to walk forward and see what was going on in this realm, though the first thing they discovered was that there were a few Gnorcs like the ones they had seen back in the main area of their homeworld, but what was different about them was that they were carrying what appeared to be a sword and a shield of some kind.
"Gnorcs with weapons, now that's interesting." Spyro commented, because so far all they had seen were cowardly enemies that ran from them and hostile versions of the creatures that called the realms home, enemies that they had taken care of so they could restore order to their homeworld, though when he opened his mouth and breathed fire on the foe in front of them they noticed something interesting, the Gnorc held his shield up and didn't get burned at all.
"Fire resistant shields," Ember remarked, as that wasn't something any of them were expecting, though at the same time they had no idea just how much planning and preparation Gnasty Gnorc had put into planning his invasion of the Dragon Realms, and so far it seemed like he had a good idea of what he needed his soldiers to have, before Ember let a small smirk appear on her face as she charged into the Gnorc and knocked him out, leaving a gem behind, "at least we know that enemies that have shields can still be defeated, we just have to charge them or attack them while their shields are lowered, though it makes me wonder if there are any other tricks we don't know about yet."
"Well, there is that large guy up there, with a wooden shield and a large club, which seems to be the leg of a decent sized beast," Spike noted, referring to the Gnorc that was standing on a platform to their left, one that was raised quite a bit and would require jumping on the platforms to their right to get to, something they were going to have to do since he and the other Gnorcs were causing trouble for this realm, and because there was a crystalline statue resting just beyond him, with one of the residents of Dark Hollow trapped inside it, "My best guess is that he's bored out of his mind and he's been chewing on the meat of his club, to pass the time, but if we stay out of range he'll probably taunt us to attack him, which might leave his backside open for someone to loose a burst of fire at his back."
Ember was glad to have Spike around, as he had a good talent for studying something and determining what needed to be done to get around an obstacle, and he was right more often than he was wrong, to which all three of them jumped onto the first platform on their right and quickly got up to the highest point they could reach at the moment. It was there that they discovered a locked chest, just like the one they found back in Stone Hill, so they determined that looking for the key would come later, once they were sure this place was safe, before gliding over to the platform that the large Gnorc was standing on, causing him to focus on them once he noticed they were there. Spyro and Spike then moved around the foe that was in front of them, keeping themselves out of his range as he seemed to follow them, ignoring the fact that Ember was on the move, though not a few seconds later the Gnorc fell forward and collapsed into a gem, where the pair found their sister letting out another short burst of fire, indicating that the tactic had worked like a charm. Once that was done they turned their attention to the pair of shield Gnorcs that were near the dragon statue, where Spyro and Spike wasted no time in charging into their shields, knocking the pair of enemies to the floor and causing them to revert back to their original form, allowing the gems to return to the bag Spike had set up for them.
There was a chest and a few gems laying around the statue, which the trio quickly collected, but Spike tapped the statue that was in front of them, where they waited for a few seconds before the light died down, revealing Alban in all his glory, who rested his tail on the ground and used it to balance himself, while at the same time taking out his quill, before smiling as he glanced at the trio.
"Spike, it's good to see that you and your siblings had no trouble getting by those annoying Gnorcs," Alban said, his tone revealing that, while he and the other Artisans usually didn't fight, he was still proud of Spike for standing up to their foes and taking back their land, and that he was proud of Spyro and Ember taking care of their enemies as well while they recovered their stolen treasure, "Of course they never would have bothered someone like me, but I do have a hint for all of you, and that is the fact that some of your enemies will be wearing fire resistant armor, but a quick charge attack will knock them out."
"That sounds about right, since the smaller Gnorcs seem to be the only ones with armor," Spike replied, though at the same time he discovered something interesting, Alban wasn't heading off to join Nestor and the others, meaning he was either going to finish what he had started before he was trapped in the crystalline statue, which was dedication to his profession, or he was curious as to what the three of them would do next and wanted to watch them for a few minutes, which only caused them to shrug and head off once more.
There were two more shield Gnorcs waiting around the platform the trio had used to get up to where Alban had been trapped, though it was a simple matter to take care of them, as all they had to do was charge into them and knock their targets into the ground, returning them to their original state. From there they had two choices, either go down the tunnel that was to their right or head straight to the raised area that was in front of them, where three shield Gnorcs stood in front of a larger club wielding Gnorc, like they were guarding him or something. In the end the three of them decided to check out the tunnel that was to their right, since it really didn't matter which way they went, as they weren't sure where all the trapped dragons were located, though as they walked down the steps, to reach the entrance of the tunnel, they found something that might give them trouble. There was a large Gnorc, maybe slightly taller than the ones with the clubs, in the middle of the tunnel that they were planning on investigating, though the problem was that he was wearing armor on his chest and arms, and he was carrying a shield in his right hand, indicating that something had to be down this path and that they had to get past this foe to find out what that something was.
Seeing the larger Gnorc, who was walking up and down the tunnel that they wanted to use, caused the trio to pause as they considered what they were going to do, especially since this was the first time they had encountered an enemy like this, meaning they had no idea how to take it down.
"Okay, this is a problem." Spike commented, as he recalled all the information they had on all of the other enemies that they had encountered so far, in all the realms they had been to since Gnasty Gnorc launched that spell at the Dragon Realms, and he had something to share with his siblings, "From what I can tell, from the enemies we've encountered so far, most of the enemies that are too big for us to charge into can be taken down with a quick burst of fire, while at the same time most of the smaller enemies, like the ones that carry those shields, can be taken out with a charge. But what do we do about the enemies that are both too big to charge into AND just happen to be wearing armor?"
"Spike, everybody has a weakness, be they dragon or Gnorc," Ember remarked, as she knew that all three of them had their own weaknesses, what those were she had no idea, but the idea was what she was focusing on, that everyone in the Dragon Realms had some sort of weak point, before she glanced back at the armored Gnorc, "we just have to find out what this guy's weakness is before we can move forward and see what's down here."
"I'm willing to bet one of the scholars of this realm, like Argus, might know those weaknesses." Spyro added, because he suspected that the answer had to be here somewhere, especially if Spike was able to recognize the shields and armor as being fire resistant, something he most likely learned form his studies, which meant that one of the other scholars had to know the information that would help them out.
"Okay, so we can either head back to Alban and see if he knows anything," Spike said, since it would be rather easy for them to get back to the dragon they had just freed, due to the fact that it appeared that Alban didn't want to go anywhere for a few minutes, though that might change once he realized that they had been stopped in their tracks, "or we can head towards the exit portal and do what we did in Stone Hill, knock out our enemies and restore order to this realm, before heading out and seeing if we can find Argus, to ask him about the weakness of this particular foe."
"Let's got talk with Alban and see what he has to say," Spyro suggested, because he had no idea if one of these Gnorcs happened to be guarding the exit portal, which would be bad for them if they didn't know how to take them out, though he was happy to see that his siblings agreed with his suggestion.
Ember and Spike nodded their heads in agreement before the three of them headed back to the area that the platforms were in, where they quickly checked the area and picked up any gems that they might have left behind, before jumping up to the highest point and then glided over to the area near Alban, who turned towards them when he noticed that they had returned to where he had been trapped.
"I was not expecting you three to return so soon," Alban commented, as he was curious as to why the trio had come back to the area he was sitting in, especially since they had departed from where he had been trapped onto a few minutes ago, though at the same time he was more than willing to talk with them and see if there was anything he could do to aid them in their quest, "What seems to be the problem?"
"We encountered a Gnorc that is walking along a tunnel we wanted to investigate," Ember replied, because she was eager to get on with their adventure and was slightly annoyed that there was a Gnorc blocking them from exploring part of Dark Hollow, the one place where Spike knew where everything was located, before she focused on Alban, "he's wearing fire resistant armor on his chest and his arms, and he's got a shield as well, but he's just as large as the one that was wielding the club, the one we took out to get to the statue you were trapped in, so we can't charge him and we can't breath fire on him. We were hoping that you might have an idea on what sort of weaknesses he might have."
Alban raised his quill for a moment, as he was curious as to what the trio was talking about, before he realized what sort of armor they had mentioned and thought about to what the Peace Keepers had encountered in the past, something that Spike hadn't read yet, which lead him to an answer that might help them out.
"Was this Gnorc wearing armor on his back?" Alban asked, where he noticed the trio seemed to pause for a second or two, no doubt in shock due to the fact that he asked them a question while they were trying to get information out of him, before Spike seemed to understand something, which seemed to be common since he appeared to be the smart one of the group, not that he was insulting Ember or Spyro since they were smart, they just weren't on Spike's level.
"No, the armor was only on his chest, leaving the back exposed." Spike answered, though he was curious as to where Alban was going with this question, while at the same time he could tell that his siblings were also interested in what the dragon had to tell them, "Why is that important? We can't charge him due to his size."
"Ah, but you can defeat him with a burst of fire to the back," Alban replied, where he chuckled as he saw the gears moving in Spike's mind, as he finally understood what he was talking about, before seeing the same thing happen for his siblings, showing that all of them realized something that they overlooked, "The larger enemies can't be knocked to the ground by you, that is true, and this one is wearing fire resistant armor, but he's not wearing it on his back, so all you have to do is get him to expose his back and you can move forward quite easily."
Spyro was the first one to move, as he turned from where he was standing and jumped over the edge of the platform, before making his way back to the tunnel he and his siblings wanted to explore, where both Spike and Ember followed after him, though they eventually stopped when they found the Gnorc that was blocking their path... but this time around, when the large foe turned his back towards them, so he could walk to the other side of the tunnel again, Spyro loosed his flames at the Gnorc's back, toppling him and causing him to revert back to a gem.
"Okay, now we know how to beat these guys, in case we find more of them in the future." Spyro said, though he was happy that Alban's idea had worked out so well, because it allowed the three of them to head down the tunnel they were investigating and see what they could find down here.
Spike and Ember nodded their agreement before following Spyro into the tunnel that was in front of them, which lead them to a small chamber that was connected to a second tunnel, one that contained a second Gnorc that was just like the one they had taken out a few moments ago, so all they did was wait for a few seconds, for their foe to expose his back, and then loosed some flames at him, clearing the path once more. Once that was done the trio picked up the gems that were around them, in the small chamber, before heading down the tunnel that was in front of them, which brought them to a larger chamber that contained a trapped dragon, something that made the trio happy since that was what they were looking for, and had a few gems scattered around the area. They jumped across the platforms that were in front of them and then jumped to the point that the statue was on, where Spike touched it and they discovered that Oswin was the one that had gotten trapped down here, who reminded them to carefully look around the realms that they visited, as there might be secrets for them to discover if they carefully look around the various environments of the lands. Looking around their environment was something that the trio knew, but at the same time they listened to what the dragon had to say before he nodded his head and walked over to where the tunnel was, no doubt to join the others in saving the other realms that the three of them wouldn't be tackling.
Once Oswin had departed from the chamber the trio explored the chamber they were in for a few moments, where they found a few gems laying on the ground and, more importantly, the key to the chest that they had seen earlier, near where Alban had been trapped, so once that was in their possession, and the chamber was cleared of treasure, they headed out and returned to the chest, where Spike opened it and they claimed the gems inside it.
After that they headed up to the platform that would allow them to get closer to the exit portal, though as they got up there they found three small shield Gnorcs and one large Gnorc that only had his club, but what was interesting was that one of the shield Gnorcs remained in front of them while the other two ran off. Fortunately that made things much easier for them, as all the trio had to do was separate from each other and chase down one of the shield Gnorcs, where they charged into each of them and reduced them back to their original states, which was the moment that the larger Gnorc noticed what was going on and raised his club. The separation tactic also worked against this guy, as he had trouble picking out who he wanted to crush first, where the trio used that moment of indecision to loose three bursts of fire at him, allowing them to take down another enemy and retrieve the gem that he left behind, before heading up the steps that the Gnorcs had been guarding. When they reached the top step they discovered that there were four enemies up here, two more of the shield Gnorcs and two more club Gnorcs, though what was interesting was that three of their foes happened to be blocking the path to a dragon statue and the other was in the hole that was in front of them.
As it turned out the trio didn't have to do anything fancy to best these foes, as Spyro and Spike rushed at the three enemies that were on their level and charged into the shield Gnorcs, knocking them back, before loosing some fire to take out the larger one before he could hit them, while Ember jumped over the edge and flamed the club Gnorc that was all alone, allowing her to walk away with the win. Once all of their foes had been taken care of, and they were sure about that, the trio went about collecting the remaining gems in the area that they were in, though Spike did make sure to stop and tap the statue that was near the exit portal, where he found that Darius had been trapped here. Darius, of course, was happy that he had been freed from his prison, though when he noticed that all of the enemies had already been defeated, including the larger foes, he simply nodded his head and left Dark Hollow, so he could join the others and see what he could do to help them. Spike had the feeling that, if they hadn't gone back to talk with Alban, they could have freed Darius and gotten the same information from him, before he shrugged and decided that it wasn't worth worrying about, where he waited for Spyro and Ember to return from what they had been doing, which was gliding out to two platforms that they needed to glide to and get the gems that had been laying there.
The moment the three of them were reunited they headed towards the exit portal, where they claimed what seemed to be the last of the gems for this realm, and headed back to the main area of their homeworld, though once they arrived at their destination they immediately set out for the portal to Town Square, as there was one more realm they had to restore order to, before challenging whoever Gnasty Gnorc had assigned to watch over this land.
When they reappeared at the entrance of the Town Square they discovered something interesting, as there were a few chickens walking around the area they had appeared on, almost like they owned the place or something, which meant that whatever enemies had come here must have also let the animals out of their pens, or wherever Alvar kept the smaller creatures that they had seen in the past. Instead of losing their focus over a few chickens, who were ignoring them, Spyro, Spike, and Ember quickly gathered the gems that were around the landing area and then climbed up the steps that took them to a trapped dragon, which was followed by Spyro tapping the statue to free the imprisoned dragon. They soon discovered that Nils was the dragon they were freeing, who had been in the middle of creating a bust for each of them, why they had no idea and he wasn't about to tell them before the pieces were finished, but he did thank them for releasing him and welcomed them back to Town Square, before returning to his work. The trio didn't mind that, as they knew that some of the Artisans dragons might have returned to their professions if they weren't needed, before turning to face the gap that was in front of them and focused on the task at hand, which was gliding over to the other platform and entering the next part of Town Square.
As soon as they landed all three of them were assaulted by a pair of bulls, who were far more aggressive than what the trio remembered, which just meant that this was the same as the rams and shepherds from Stone Hill, these bulls were transformed gems and needed to be dealt with. Fortunately Ember had the solution, as she charged into the nearest bull and caused it to flip backwards a tiny bit, which also caused it's horns to become lodged in the ground, something that Spyro and Spike were sure the Artisans that lived here would moan about once they discovered, before she loosed a quick burst of fire to return the bull to it's previous form. Not even a few moments later Spyro, now armed with the knowledge on how to deal with these enemies, did the same thing to the second bull, allowing the three of them to climb the steps to their left and reach the next point where they would have to glide from, even though there was another level above them that was a little too high for them to reach at the moment. They paused for a moment as they discovered a new type of chest, one that looked like it had a gem top for some reason, though Spike was the one that solved it, as all he did was use his fire for a few seconds and a gem popped out of the top, where he jumped into the air and collided with the gem, which caused the chest to shatter before their eyes.
Spike revealed that it was a chest that had a gem magically bound to it, so by snatching the gem out of the air a dragon was able to remove the gem from the chest, which caused the chest to break, though it was one of the joke items that Gnasty Gnorc liked to use, just to mess with dragons, and he admitted that he never thought he would see one, but it was nice he knew how to deal with it the moment they found one.
Once Spike let his siblings know about the strange chest they had encountered, and how to get around it, the three of them jumped off the platform they were on and glided over to the lower platform that was across from where they were, which then allowed them to glide over a gap that was filled with water. The moment they landed they spotted another statue and immediately tapped it, allowing them to free Devlin from his prison, where they found that he had been in the middle of making a cake, one that he claimed was going to have to be remade at this point, but that didn't stop him from thanking them before heading off to the building that he worked in. In the courtyard beyond where Devlin had been frozen they found a Gnorc, one who wasn't as fat as all of the others they had seen so far and was wearing a costume that made it seem like he was working with bulls, running around the fountain with a bull chasing after him, which caused the trio to sigh as they charged into both enemies, allowing Ember to finish off the bull before they started to collect all the gems that were around them. As they moved up the steps to get to the area that the exit portal was in, however, Ember paused as she heard the same taunting sound that she heard back in Stone Hill, where she glanced behind them and found another thief standing on a wall that had a tunnel behind him, and he happened to be holding the other dragon egg that Nestor had reported as being stolen.
Instead of charging after the thief, who seemed to enjoy where he was standing, the trio focused on charging and flaming the four bulls that were guarding the exit portal, along with one more costume wearing Gnorc, before breaking the metallic boxes and gathering the gems, though once that was done they tapped the nearby statue and released Alvar from the prison he had been stuck in, and it appeared he had been in the middle of making lunch when Gnasty Gnorc used his spell on everyone.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, did any of you see a man dressed in blue running around Town Square?" Alvar asked, though that told the trio that he had seen the thief while he was trapped in the statue and was angered by what he had seen, especially since the thief had a dragon egg.
"Yeah, we saw him... and I'm going to beat him up and take that egg back!" Ember replied, which was when she turned around and headed back to the top of the stairs that she and her siblings had climbed up to get to this area, where she glared at the thief as he taunted her once more.
Instead of gliding from where she was standing, like Spyro expected her to do, Ember actually climbed up onto the stone platform that was at the top of the stairs, an extra step that wasn't needed or something, before jumping into the air and spread her wings, allowing her to glide towards her target. What happened was that she landed on the lower part of the wall, one that would allow her to jump up to where the thief was standing, but instead she waited for Spyro and Spike to catch up with her, before jumping up to the next level and focused on the thief that was grinning at her. The moment she charged towards him the thief picked up the egg and ran through the tunnel that was behind him, causing Ember to follow after him and move through the tunnel as well, though when they came out on the other side she noticed that there was a path they could take that would lead them to another dragon, before focusing on the thief as he jumped over the edge and landed down where the first pair of bulls had been waiting for them. When she landed, so she could turn around and take him down, the thief surprised her by jumping into the air and headed back towards the tunnel, though that was followed by him returning to the edge as Spyro and Spike emerged from the tunnel, trapping him between two points and ensuring that he'd be defeated in the end. In fact, since he couldn't decide which route he wanted to take, Spyro ended up flaming him, causing him to let go of the egg he had been holding onto, though both he and Spike waited for Ember to catch up with them, to make sure the dragon egg was fine, before Spike used his teleportation breath to send it to the area that Nestor specified earlier.
With that taken care of the trio made sure to gather the gems from the area the thief was in, including the ones that had been inside some chests, before gliding over the gap that was near them, one that the thief was so kind to show them while Ember was chasing him, which allowed them to continue gathering the remaining stolen gems. They encountered one more bull that happened to be running around another dragon statue, which was easy for the trio to fix since one of them just had to charge it and another had to use their fire breath on it, allowing them to gather whatever gems were up there before they did anything else. That also allowed them to find a second new type of chest, one that had a gem trapped in the center of two metallic pieces, but found out that if they used their fire breath on it the head piece would spin, and if they did that three times in a row the top went flying off and they could claim the gem that was inside the odd circular chest. Once that was done the trio turned towards the statue and tapped it, releasing Thor from his prison, who thanked them for the aid before turning to the area that Alvar was in, allowing the trio to drop down and give him the good news, which was that they had recovered the dragon egg and had sent it along to where Nestor told Spike to send it with his teleportation breath. Alvar was pleased by this news, especially since they informed him that the one other had been recovered as well, and left the trio to their business, which was them heading through the exit portal and heading back to the main area of their homeworld, so they could focus on something else.
Once they got back to where Nestor and the other dragons were, and made sure everything was in order, the three of them were going to head to Nevin's castle and challenge the being that Gnasty Gnorc assigned to the Artisans homeworld, to totally free it from their enemy's control, and then, once that was done, they were going to head to the land of the Peace Keepers and continue the cycle until the entirety of the Dragon Realms was free once more.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember more than a few seconds to go from Town Square and return to the central area of their homeworld, after freeing the realm they had been in from the forces that Gnasty Gnorc had sent there, though the moment they reappeared in front of the portal to Town Square they headed out so they could find Nestor. The reason they wanted to see the Leader of their land was because they wanted to make sure that the dragon egg they had found while they were exploring Town Square had appeared where Nestor had asked Spike to send it with his teleportation breath, even though all three of them were sure that it had arrived safe and sound. The area the egg should have appeared in was around the portal to Dragon Shores, where Nestor and the other Artisans dragons could see it, which meant that they had to head through the large open door once more, since beyond that rested the courtyard that the other portals to the other realms rested in. At this point they were sure that the rest of the dragons that called this land home had been freed, thanks to the efforts of those they had already freed so far, but at the same time they knew that all they were going to do was make sure the egg had appeared where Spike had sent it, and then they would tackle Nevin's castle, where the leader of Gnasty Gnorc's forces for this homeworld was waiting for them.
It didn't take them long to reach the courtyard where Nestor had told them to drop off the other dragon egg, where they found that the majority of the Artisans dragons happened to be wandering around the area that they were in, to make sure things were okay in their home, and they all breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered that the second egg was exactly where they were told to put it.
"Good, the egg arrived safe and sound," Ember commented, though she knew that there was no reason to doubt Spike's teleportation breath, as it was something that worked every time he used it to move something to another location, and she could tell that her brother was happy to see that the egg had arrived at it's destination.
"That it did." Spyro said, as he was happy that Spike had returned the egg without anything happening to it, which showed that he had improved his special breath over the years, before he turned around and headed back out of the courtyard, as there was someone they needed to take out before they did anything else, "Well, now that we know the dragon egg arrived safe and sound, and that one of the other dragons will see it while they're saving the other realms from whatever is happening to them, I think it's time we headed back to Nevin's castle and take out the being that Gnasty Gnorc assigned to our homeworld."
"I agree with that plan." Ember stated, because she had been waiting for this since the moment they learned that someone had taken over Nevin's castle and was directing the other enemies from that area, but now that she and her brothers had taken out all of the enemies in the other realms, and saved them from the chaos that had erupted, it was time for them to focus on their first major foe, before heading to the land of the Peace Keepers, "I'm curious as to what sort of opponent is waiting for us in Nevin's castle... he or she, or even it, has to be quite strong for Gnasty Gnorc to put so much faith in them and give them control over some of his forces."
Spike nodded his head in agreement, as he couldn't fault Ember's logic on the matter, but as they walked out of the courtyard that the portal to Dragon Shores was in, and headed towards the dragon head statue that contained the portal to Nevin's castle, he paused for a moment as he glanced over at the area that the two waterfalls were in, where he knew the hidden portal to their homeworld's Flight Realm was located behind.
"Spike, is something wrong?" Spyro asked, because whenever Spike stopped like this, and seemed to be lost in his thoughts, it meant that he was considering something and usually that was connected to him discovering something that they could have missed while they were exploring a realm or going through one of the lessons that Nestor and the other Leaders had for them.
"No, I was just thinking about whether or not we should try to open the way to the Flight Realm and see if there are any Gnorcs messing with it," Spike replied, where he noticed that Spyro and Ember glanced at each other once he told them what was going through his mind at the moment, not that he blamed them since only Lucas was supposed to know how to open the way to the Flight Realm, which seemed to be associated with the waterfalls, before he gasped as he considered something that he never considered before.
Spyro and Ember watched as Spike shifted his course and headed over to the area that the waterfalls, and the hidden portal, rested in, where the two of them sat down near where Nestor had been imprisoned, as it gave them a good view of what their brother was doing, before watching as Spike climbed up onto the edge of the stone wall and then jumped on one of the five stones that were in the water... though not even a second later it glowed, causing Spike to smile as he jumped on the other four stones, which, once they were all glowing, the wall sunk and the hidden portal appeared.
"No way." Ember said, as she and Spyro were surprised by this turn of events, especially since neither of them were expecting this to happen when Spike decided to head over to the waterfalls, but that was when they glided over to where their brother was standing and landed near him, "Spike, how did you figure out how to open the hidden passage?"
"Well, the last few times we went to do our gliding I noticed something odd," Spike replied, though his tone revealed that he was pleased with himself, that his thoughts had been correct and that there wasn't some sort of magical spell that would unlock the hidden passage that Lucas had shown them years ago, before he focused on what he was going to tell his siblings, "the magic that Lucas was using wasn't being directed towards the wall, like he and Nestor lead us to believe, rather it seemed that he was directing his spell towards these stones, hiding the glow from us before we opened our eyes and saw that the way was open. He was hiding the way to open the path to the Flight Realm, though now that I think about it some more, and really consider what he had been doing, it definitely seems like something that a Keeper of Secrets would do to keep the hidden portal a secret."
Spyro and Ember chuckled for a moment, as only Spike would think about something that Lucas, the Keeper of Secrets, had done and attempt to figure out what was wrong with what he had done in their presence, though Spike was happy with himself, which eventually lead to the three of them heading into the Flight Realm, just to check and see if there were any Gnorcs here. As they appeared at the edge of the Flight Realm, which was common whenever they came here to do their flying training with Nestor and Lucas, the trio discovered that there were a few small trains on the train tracks, there were some energy pillars that they didn't recognize, and Spyro spotted what he assumed were planes off on their left, while Ember spotted a golden chest in one of the tunnels. Spike wasn't sure how the Gnorcs had gotten trains out here, since none of the tracks actually went off towards any of the nearby islands, but he had to assume that the Gnorcs had boats that carried the trains to this area, though that was when he and his siblings split up so they could tackle the few foes that were in the area. Spike decided to follow the tracks, as one of the things he had noticed was that the trains were carrying explosives, meaning the Gnorcs might be planning on setting the barrels around the island, so they could blow some holes in it to get the rest of the treasure that was here, while Spyro focused on the strange energy pillars and Ember headed over to where the planes were flying.
They discovered something interesting as they flew around the small island, and that was the fact that the explosives the Gnorcs were moving around didn't pack that much of a punch, as Spike breathed fire on them and the trains were what ended up exploding, while Spyro flew through the energy pillars and shattered them, as if they couldn't take having a dragon fly through them. Ember, on the other hand, spun around as she flew after the Gnorcs that were in the air, as in the pilots of the planes that were flying around one of the larger stone pillars that had been built around the island, where she showed off as she weaved through the air and did circles around the various planes for a few moments, which did seem to annoy the Gnorcs inside the planes a little bit and, unless she was mistaken, it appeared that they might be getting ready for battle. As such Ember fell behind her targets and loosed several bursts of fire at them, eight to be exact, blowing the eight planes out of the air in the process, eliminating the enemies that were in the air in a matter of seconds, before she focused on the other energy pillars that were around her. While Spyro and Ember were doing that, however, Spike flew around the island to make sure the Gnorcs hadn't done anything to the land itself, since they were transporting explosives when he and his siblings arrived, before heading towards the tunnel that the golden chest had been in, where he made his way towards an open area and breathed fire on the chests that he found, breaking them and recovering the gems that had been trapped inside them.
In the end, when they were sure that all of the enemies had been taken care of and all of the chests had been broken, the trio regrouped at the top of the island, in the same area that Nestor and Lucas brought them to during their first flight lesson, only to discover a decent amount of gems waiting for them.
"You know, I wasn't actually expecting to find anything when we came here, yet we stopped the Gnorcs from whatever they were doing and retrieved more of our stolen treasure." Spyro commented, though at the same time he tilted his head for a moment, as he was trying to determine how many gems were sitting in front of them, before turning towards Spike, who seemed to be counting the gems that they had recovered, before they were set off, "Hey Spike, how much treasure do you think we recovered from this realm?"
"Based on the colors that a gem could take, it seems that the Gnorcs had stockpiled three hundred gems," Spike replied, as there were a number of colors that a gem could take, which determined the overall value of an individual gem, and based on his calculations that was the number he had come up with, though once he did that he nodded towards Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, who flew around the large pile of gems and tapped them like they did in the other realms, adding these gems to the ones they had collected so far.
"We should be on the lookout for any Flight Realms in the other homewords, just in case the Gnorcs have invaded them while the other dragons are trapped." Ember added, because she knew that they were going to tackle the various realms that each homeworld had, the ones that the Leaders wouldn't be tending to, and felt that adding these realms to their list was a good move to make, though she was happy that both Spyro and Spike agreed with her.
Once the gems were gone, and had been teleported back to the central area of the Artisans homeworld, the trio took off and headed in the same direction they took whenever they were leaving the Flight Realm, though it wasn't long before they returned to the other side of the portal, jumped back onto the ground, and headed off for the portal that was contained inside the statue of a dragon's head, which opened when they got near it. The moment the way was open the trio headed through the portal and headed to Nevin's castle, though when they arrived all three of them discovered that the time was set to twilight and that the castle seemed to be sitting on a cliff that overlooked a lake, no doubt so Nevin could have some sort of inspiration for when he was doing his paintings. The other thing they discovered was that the shepherds were back, the more aggressive ones that they encountered back in Stone Hill, and there were some white dogs, that were at least as big as they were, sleeping near the shepherds, as the first shepherd that they would have to contend with had only one dog near him, while it appeared that the one that was standing on a raised platform might have two dogs sleeping near him. They had to assume that the dogs had been gems until Gnasty Gnorc cast his spell, just like all of the other enemies they had encountered so far, which meant that they would be more aggressive than their normal counterparts and would keep attacking them until they were taken out, though that only made the trio ready themselves for the battle that was to come.
The moment Spyro took a step forward the shepherd that was near them pointed at him and started issuing the command to attack to the dog that was sleeping near him, causing the dog to yawn for a second, though that was all Spyro needed as he breathed fire and took out the shepherd, though as the dog got up something interesting happened, the dog jumped into the air and clearly intended to flatten Spyro, who rolled out of the way before he could be hit, allowing his siblings to breath fire on the dog, first causing it's fur to become charred and then knocked it out.
"Okay, note to self, these dogs attack fast and aren't scared of dragons," Spike said, though they were lucky that Spyro had dodged the first attack so well, as it let them see just how dangerous these dogs could be, before noticing the other aspect of the dogs that they would have to watch out for, especially since most of the enemies they had taken out so far had gone down in one hit, save for the bulls in Town Square, "and the dogs are also like the bulls we encountered earlier, as we'll need to hit them twice to knock them out and return them to their previous form."
"I'm sure getting hit by those dogs would hurt," Spyro added, but he counted himself lucky that he knew how to dodge the attacks of their enemies, thanks to the training that Titan gave them, otherwise he was sure that the dog would have hit him, which would have hurt Sparx and it didn't appear that there were any critters that could release butterflies in this realm, meaning they had to be careful while they cleared out Nevin's castle.
Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, as they knew that Spyro's statement was true, before carefully looking around the area that they had appeared in for any gems, though once they were sure they weren't leaving anything behind they walked forward and investigated the outside of the castle. The reason for them being cautious is because this was technically their first time visiting Nevin's castle, as the painter generally didn't allow visitors since that ruined his creative streak and usually ruined whatever he was working on, but they had the feeling that whatever piece he had been working on earlier was already ruined, due to being trapped in a statue like everyone else. The first thing they did was climb up to the top of the platform on their left and take care of the shepherd and the pair of dogs that were sleeping near him, where the plan was to have one of them flame the first dog and anger it, so while it was jumping through the air one of the others could use their fire breath and take their foe out, allowing the third sibling to take care of the shepherd, before moving onto the other dog. There was even a sleeping dog on the other side of the steps, heading towards the entrance of the castle, though it wasn't much of a threat when Spike and Ember loosed two bursts of fire at the dog and knocked it out, returning it to it's original state as they quickly gathered the rest of the gems in the area, so they could turn their full attention towards the castle's entrance, where a shepherd and a dog waited.
The trio simply repeated the same tactic they had used to get by the other shepherds and the dogs that had been in their way since they arrived, flaming the dog twice and then the shepherd, allowing them to move into the castle itself, but even as they did that they were still curious as to what sort of enemy would be waiting for them to arrive.
Once they entered the castle itself they had to be a little more careful with their flames, as Nevin's paintings were on the wall and all three of them knew that if one of them were destroyed the painter would be annoyed with whoever wrecked his art, something he spent a long time working on, so they needed to avoid ruining the art as they dealt with the shepherds and the dogs that were inside the castle. What they had to do was entice the dogs to abandon the shepherds, which actually wasn't as hard as they thought it would be, allowing them to hit the dogs away from the paintings and, once the first two dogs were taken care of, Ember charged into the shepherd and took him out, which in turn let them explore more of the castle, instead of being contained near the entrance. If they went around the central pillar and headed to their right they would have to deal with a shepherd and his dog, and the same was true if they tried to go straight, so all they did was approach the group on the right and simply repeated the tactic they had used so far, loose two flames at the dog and then charge into the shepherd, before focusing on the other group that was near them, so they could clear out the inside of the castle. Fortunately the other group was just as easy as the previous groups, making them wonder if Gnasty Gnorc's spell had failed in some manner, as none of the enemies they had fought really seemed to care about hurting them, but that didn't stop them from keeping their guard up as Spike found a side passage that lead outside.
The passage brought them to a ledge that wrapped around the outside of the castle, heading off to their left to be exact, and they found two more dogs and a shepherd, enemies that were easy for the trio to defeat, before they smashed the iron chests that were nearby and headed back inside the castle, where they stopped when they came to the only statue they had seen so far and freed Nevin from his prison.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for releasing me from that statue," Nevin said, showing that he was grateful that they had come along and bested the forces that had seized control of his castle, even though it appeared that they had been right about him being imprisoned while he was in the middle of paining something, as his color palette was in his left hand and his brush was in his right hand, before he really focused on the three of them, "though I should warn you that Gnasty Gnorc has entrusted the capture of our homeworld to one of his most devious henchmen, one that I certainly didn't see coming when he walked by my statue earlier."
"Oh, it's someone you know?" Ember asked, which she considered to be good news for her and her siblings, because if one of the older Artisans dragons knew who their final opponent would be they could get some information from that dragon and then use it against their foe, and she was sure that Spike agreed with her.
"Actually, it's someone that everyone in the Artisans homeworld knows," Nevin replied, though that made the trio pause for a few seconds, which was what he was expecting to happen, especially since he was sure Nestor and the other dragons were accounted for and no one else seemed to be missing, before he readied himself to tell them the piece of information that he gained while he was a statue, "the commander of Gnasty Gnorc's forces, for the Artisans homeworld to be exact, is none other than Toasty."
"Toasty? You mean the rare sheep that Argus and the others saved a long time ago?" Spike inquired, because he had determined, from his own reading of the scrolls that the scholars wrote on the grey sheep that lived with all the other sheep that called this homeworld their home, that the only thing that set Toasty apart from the other sheep were his eyes and the color of his wool, so he had a hard time believing what he was hearing.
"I did not believe my eyes when I saw him walk by my statue earlier, but that is the truth," Nevin said, though he couldn't fault the trio for not believing what he had told them, as it seemed odd for a sheep to ally themselves with Gnasty Gnorc and turn against the dragons that had saved him many years ago, when he could have been eaten by one of the creatures that roamed the land he was originally from, before he focused on the path that was near them, "Just be careful when you fight him, as he is a formidable foe and he might have a few tricks waiting for you."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other before they walked along the path that was behind Nevin, though that was when they discovered that the area their foe was in was circular shaped, like a ring or something, and sleeping in front of them was another dog, though it was the being standing on the opposite side of the ring, near a gate of some kind, that held their attention. What they discovered was a tall figure, taller than any dragon they had seen so far, despite the fact that it appeared to be hunched over a little, that was wearing a worn out red coat that covered the majority of it's body, one that came with a fur hood, and while the being's feet were hard to see they could make out the skeletal fingers that seemed to be the figure's hands, where it's right hand happened to be holding onto a curved piece of wood that had a curved blade as the head, which meant it was a scythe. The being's head appeared to be a jack-o-lantern, made from a pumpkin that had menacing and wicked facial features carved into it, with a decent sized bell around it's neck, like the bells Toasty and the other sheep wore, and it was cracked a little, though as they came to a stop the being turned it's head and stared at them for a few seconds, making them wonder what it was going to do. The trio had a hard time believing that this was Toasty, because none of them had heard of a sheep being able to put on a costume like this and wield a weapon, but at the same time they determined that this had to be a creature that had originally been a gem, instead of a sheep like Nevin seemed to think, and readied themselves for the battle that they knew was coming their way.
The scarecrow maintained it's stare for a few more seconds, as if it was making sure that it wasn't seeing things and that they were actually standing on the other side of the ring, before it raised it's left hand and pointed at them, or, to be more accurate, it was pointing at Spyro, instead of all three of them like they originally thought.
"You!" the scarecrow said, though while the trio didn't see the mouth of the jack-o-lantern move at all they did hear a voice come from the being that was standing across from them, one that was definitely male and, more importantly, the tone revealed that the scarecrow was mad about something.
"Sorry, do we know you?" Spyro asked, because he and his siblings had the feeling that Nevin must have been wrong about who their foe was, as there was no way that a sheep could be their opponent, and by asking this question they could get some answers, before they torched the scarecrow and saved the Artisans homeworld in it's entirety.
"Of course you wouldn't recognize me with this disguise on, so allow me to reveal who I am," the scarecrow replied, though as soon as it said that the area beneath the metallic bell shifted for a few seconds, which was followed by the head of a sheep popping out of the coat, but that was when the trio recognized the grey wool that the sheep had and the red colored eyes, with the yellow sclera that was around them, though what they didn't recall seeing in the past were the small horns that were growing behind his ears, "Remember me now?"
"Well I'll be, Nevin was right." Spyro commented, which was quite the surprise for them, due to the fact that none of them could have imagined that their foe was an angry sheep that was capable of wearing a disguise like this and could even talk with them, something he was sure that Spike was making a note of for Argus and the others.
"Seriously Toasty?" Spike asked, as there was something that he needed to wrap his head around before they even thought about engaging their foe in battle, though he was hoping that they could talk about this and stop Toasty from doing something that he would regret, "Look, I can understand that you might be annoyed by the pranks that Spyro pulled on you over the years, just like how many of the Artisans dragons were getting tired of them as well, but you have to admit that this is taking things way too far!"
"And what would you know?" Toasty angrily replied, showing the trio that he was not only angry at Spyro, for all of the pranks that he had suffered over the years, but that he might also be angry at all of the dragons that called the Dragon Realms their home, which made them wonder what he was going to say, "You and Ember never paid attention to me in the past, as you spent your time going over all those old scrolls and books in Dark Hollow's library and Ember focused on mastering all of the combat skills that you were taught. Anyway, this isn't just about all of your insufferable sibling's pranks and your apathy towards me, it's about how you and the other dragons use my fellow sheep as fodder for your precious dragonflies, as you ignore us when your dragonflies are healthy, but when they're hurt you either burn or charge into my kind to feed and heal your dragonflies. So, in order to free my kind from your tyranny, I learned about Gnasty Gnorc and acquired the necessary skills so I could talk, allowing me to offer my services to your enemy when the time came, and now that he's trapped most of you in those statues, save for you three, it's time to fulfill my end of the bargain."
"Well, so far you aren't doing a good job at stopping us from rescuing the others, since we've already freed all of the other Artisans dragons," Ember remarked, as she figured that they might as well tell Toasty that his forces had lost and that he was the only one left, save for any remaining dogs and shepherds that they hadn't see yet, though the only reason she was doing this was to see if they could get their foe to stand down and admit defeat.
"Look, Toasty, we don't want to fight you." Spike said, because out of the three of them he was the only one that would even attempt to get around a fight without one breaking out, and he decided to walk towards their foe, where the dog got up and growled, only to get a glare from Toasty that made the dog back off and hide behind his disguise, "We can resolve this peacefully, as in you can surrender to us and tell us everything you know about Gnasty Gnorc's plans, if he has any, and then, when our main target is taken care of and the Dragon Realms are returned to normal, we can discuss what we and our elders can do to make you and the other sheep happier. Just set the scythe down and climb out of that costume so we can talk like reasonable beings."
Spyro and Ember wondered if Spike was actually going to convince Toasty to stand down and admit defeat, and they were sure that the other dragons might listen to them if the sheep actually put his faith in what their brother was telling him, but after a few seconds they noticed that Toasty, somehow, tightened his grip on the handle of his scythe as he focused on Spike for a few seconds.
"No." Toasty stated, though that was when something happened that the trio didn't expect, as Toasty's scarecrow arms moved with the speed of an adult dragon's arms and grabbed onto the handle of his weapon, which was followed by him swinging his scythe like he was actually the tall scarecrow, where the head of the scythe made contact with Spike and knocked him backwards, though he was fortunate that he and Talon shared the bond that all dragons shared with their dragonfly companions, even though his color dimmed a little, otherwise that attack would have cut through the scales on his chest and done some real damage to him.
"Spike, are you okay?" Spyro asked, though at the same time Ember growled as she faced the sheep that was getting ready for the start of their battle, by hiding himself back inside the disguise so he could focus on attacking all three of them with his might.
"Yeah, I'm fine. He just caught me by surprise, that's all." Spike replied, but at the same time he shifted his gaze over to where their foe was standing, as he was surprised that Toasty didn't want to listen to reason and was ready to follow Gnasty Gnorc's orders, to take control of the Artisans homeworld and make sure no one took that control from him, before he got up and focused on the battle that would be happening soon.
The first thing the trio took care of, before engaging Toasty, was the dog that decided to charge at them, and not a few seconds later, after two short bursts of fire, it was down to them and their foe, though they had to be careful in how they approached their foe, because it was clear that he was quicker than they originally thought he was and could likely hit them before they even hit him. Spike, on the other hand, was of the opinion that one of them might have to take a blow to open Toasty's defenses, long enough for one of the remaining siblings to flame him and, hopefully, damage the disguise to the point where it became more of a burden and was discarded. All three of them dodged Toasty's incoming attack and backed off a little, giving them some breathing room before their foe decided to attack them, which gave Spike the chance to tell his siblings about his idea, because so far Toasty was guarding the gate behind him and didn't appear to be in the mood to move from that spot, meaning they couldn't get behind him, which left them with little options as it was. Neither Spyro or Ember really liked the idea, since it meant getting hit and hurting their dragonflies in the process, but they really didn't have much of a choice in the matter, not when they had no idea what else Toasty was capable of, and, despite the fact that they would take some damage for the trio, Sparx, Talon, and Cinder agreed to the idea instantly, which caused the trio to ready themselves for what they were about to do.
Spyro was the first one to charge Toasty, because he was the one that angered the sheep in the first place and felt that it was only right to make their foe target him first, and sure enough Toasty focused his attention entirely on him as he swung the scythe with the same speed that had allowed him to hit Spike, though instead of dodging Spyro took the blow and rolled back to watch what happened next. Sure enough Sparx changed color, just like Talon had done for Spike, but Toasty, who was entirely focused on him, didn't notice the attack that was coming from behind, as Ember loosed a burst of fire at the costume, causing it to shake as it was struck, before Toasty popped his head out and glared at her, before the gate fell and he retreated to the next ring as he hid himself once more. In the next ring they discovered two dogs sleeping in the middle of the area, where the siblings had to determine that he actually didn't need the protection, he just wanted some minions to wear them down and make it easier for him to defeat them, though the trio showed him that it didn't matter, as the dogs were rather easy to defeat, allowing them to face Toasty without any interruptions once more. Ember was the one that took the blow this time around, allowing Spyro and Spike to combine their flames as Toasty's guard was lowered, this time burning away both the straw limbs and the coat at the same time, forcing their foe to panic as he realized that his disguise had failed him and he dropped his scythe as he headed into the third ring, which happened to be near the exit portal for Nevin's castle.
While Spyro and Ember dealt with the three dogs that were between them and Toasty, however, there was something that was bothering Spike and he was curious if their foe would take a few seconds to explain something to him, just so he didn't spend the next few hours trying to figure it out on his own.
"Hey, Toasty, how were you able to move the arms of your disguise if you couldn't reach that high?" Spike asked, as he had noticed that both Toasty's hind legs and front legs were touching the stilts that allowed him to stand above them, but that left the question of how he was able to move the straw arms and grab hold of the scythe like they were real, though the only reason he was asking this was because there were no pieces of robe under the coat.
"Magic of course." Toasty replied, though at the same time, as Spyro and Ember paused due to their shock, which was timed after defeating the other dogs and clearing the area, a slight smile appeared on the sheep's face as he focused on Spike for a few moments, as if he was happy to reveal this to someone, "Nestor and the others didn't tell you this, but I'm originally from the land of the Magic Crafters, where I was nearly eaten by one of the beasts that roam the land, until one of the Artisans dragons rescued me and brought me here, so they could 'keep me safe'. Before that incident I was carefully studying the Magic Crafters, seeing how they learned how to tap into the magic that was all around them and use it in whatever manner they desired, and by doing that I got an idea of how to speak and how to tap into the magic that exists in all of the homeworlds. Trust me, it was hard learning how to wield this power and I'm years away from becoming a master like Cosmos and the other members of his clan, but what I have learned is more than enough for me to crush all of you and end your quest to save the other dragons!"
Spike was impressed by this information, as it revealed that maybe, just maybe, there were more to the sheep that lived in the Artisans homeworld and a few of the other realms, because if Toasty was able to do all of this in about fifteen years, and do it so none of them realized what he was doing, there was a chance that the other members of his kind might have the same intelligence that he had. Of course there was one key piece of information that Toasty admitted and didn't seem to understand, and that was the fact that his knowledge and control of magic wasn't the best in the world, as when his horns glowed, so he could do something, his scythe moved a tiny bit before going still, showing that he had already exhausted himself and that it would be some time before he was able to use magic again. That lead to Spyro and Ember striking the stilts and causing Toasty to fall to the ground, though the pair did wait to see if the sheep would surrender now that it was clear that he had been beaten, but, as they soon discovered, his rage and anger towards the dragons caused him to charge at Spyro and bash his head into his scales, like he was trying to knock him over, all while claiming that he would never surrender and that nothing could stop him from saving his kind from the tyranny of the dragons. From what Spike could tell there was no way that Toasty was going to calm down and listen to them, especially since he seemed ready to get himself killed for his mission, even if he was going about it the wrong way, and Spyro just hit him with his tail, to put some distance between him and Toasty, only for the sheep to collapse a few seconds later.
In that moment Spike wondered if their foe had been exhausted from all the years he spent trying to get back at the dragons for what they did to the rest of his kind, and that being beaten by three young dragons had been the final straw for him, though as a butterfly parted from his wool, the same that happened when Nestor first showed them how to take care of their dragonflies, Ember loosed some flames and started to cook the fallen sheep.
"What are you doing?" Nevin asked, as he hadn't left the area like all of the other dragons did when they had been freed from their prisons, mostly due to the fact that this was his castle and he was sure the others didn't need his help in fixing anything, but he was curious as to what Ember was doing.
"She's cooking Toasty, as it's an old Peace Keeper tradition to not waste the body of a skilled opponent, and by cooking and eating the foe it's like taking on their strength," Spike replied, though at the same time what Ember was doing was a really old tradition, something that the current Peace Keepers rarely did when fighting tough beasts, but it had interested her and this was likely the only time she was ever going to do something like this, "or at least that's what is written in the scrolls and old tomes in Dark Hollow's library."
Nevin stared at them for a few seconds, as if he was debating whether or not he could talk with them, before shaking his head and walking away so he could survey the damage that had been done to his castle, of which he would find none, leaving Ember to continue what she was doing, Spyro to gather the three blue gems that had been resting near the final gate and the gems from the nearby chests, and Spike to write about what he had learned... but when they done honoring Toasty, and had cleared up, they were going to leave and head to the land of the Peace Keepers, to repeat what they had been doing so far, until they found and defeated Gnasty Gnorc.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember spent some time in the ringed area of Nevin's castle, where Ember made sure to finish the old Peace Keeper tradition she had started, while both of her brothers relaxed a little, though both of them were thinking about what they had learned once they finally confronted the mad sheep that had joined Gnasty Gnorc's army. Spyro felt that this was partly his fault, that all of his pranks had only furthered Toasty's desire to retaliate again the dragons and free the rest of his kind from the tyranny of dragons, as he called it anyway, before wondering if maybe, just maybe, he could have done something to convince the sheep that his viewpoint was wrong. Spike, on the other hand, stared at the scythe that Toasty had been using against them, the same one that had hurt them and their dragonflies, and thought about what they had seen during the brief battle they had been engaged in, where the rare sheep had used magic to manipulate the disguise he had been wearing and even swung his weapon with the speed of an adult dragon. It had been quite the surprise, especially since they were still shocked by the fact that Nevin had been telling the truth about who was in control of their homeworld, but it really made them think about the possibility that the other commanders, of the other four lands, might be the same as Toasty, though they would figure that out once they reached that point in time.
Eventually Ember was done with the tradition that she had started, which was cooking and eating Toasty's body to take on his strength, she made sure to bury his bones before nodding to her brothers, where the three of them got up and headed for the exit portal, allowing them to return to the central area of their homeworld. When they returned to the area in front of the dragon head statue a few seconds later the trio headed out and made their way towards the dock, because now that they had saved the other realms, by rescuing the dragons that had been trapped and recovered everything that had been stolen, both the gems and dragon eggs, it was time for them to depart for the land of the Peace Keepers. Nestor and the other Artisans dragons would be able to free the rest of the trapped members of their clans, that were in the realms that they hadn't visited in the past, meaning they could focus on saving Titan and the rest of his clan from their prisons, before confronting whoever was in control of their homeworld. From there they would repeat the process with the lands of the Magic Crafters, the Beast Makers, and the Dream Weavers, before finally reaching the Junk Yard so they could track down and deal with Gnasty Gnorc, to save the Dragon Realms from his plans.
One thing the trio noticed as they walked over to where the dock was located, however, was the fact that Alvar was standing next to the tunnel that would take them to where Marco and his hot air balloon would be waiting for them to arrive, so they could leave for the next land, to which they stopped and faced him, as they were curious as to what he wanted to tell them before they departed.
"Alvar, is something wrong?" Spyro asked, though he was hoping that nothing had happened since they had visited Town Square, the area that he and some of the other Artisans dragons had been trapped in, because if something had gone wrong since their visit it would delay them in assisting the Peace Keepers.
"Oh, nothing's wrong. I actually came to tell you that I gave Marco some packs filled with food, since I know you have been working nonstop since the interview this morning and are likely getting hungry." Alvar replied, showing the trio that he and the other Artisans dragon knew that they hadn't taken a break since this adventure started and that they had to be getting hungry, despite what happened in Nevin's castle a few minutes ago, something that they were grateful for, since the packs would be gone by the time they reached Titan's land.
"Thanks for thinking about us." Spike said, because he knew that he and Spyro hadn't eaten anything since before the interview happened, which meant that they had to be getting hungry, and that was when he heard a faint growl from both his stomach and Spyro's stomach, showing that they were eager to eat what Alvar had packed for them.
Alvar was happy to hear that and bid the trio farewell, where he headed off to join the other Artisans dragons that were making sure their homeworld and realms weren't wrecked by the forces that had tried to seize control of their home, allowing the trio to make their way to where the dock was and found Marco patiently waiting for them. It appeared that Marco had been briefed on the situation, as he informed them that the hot air balloon was ready to go and watched as they jumped into the area they usually sat it, before climbing in after them and turned on the flames once more, allowing them to take to the air as he set their course for the land of the Peace Keepers. While he did that Spyro found the packs that had been prepared for them and both he and his siblings dug into the food that had been provided for them, as they would need their strength for when they reached their next destination, as they had no idea what sort of forms the stolen gems had taken, due to Gnasty Gnorc's spell, which meant that they would have to be careful as they went about freeing the Peace Keepers from their prisons. Spike, while all this was going on, also made sure to write down what he and his siblings had done in the Artisans homeworld, almost like he was writing a story for Argus and the others to enjoy when this was over, and he made sure to write down everything that Toasty told them, as he was going to look into whether the grey sheep was a rare case or if there were others like him out there.
It was something to look into in the future, when they weren't focusing on saving the rest of the trapped dragons from the prisons they were stuck in, recovering all the stolen treasure and dragon eggs, and, of course, releasing the other lands from whoever was in control of them, which is what they were going to do when they reached their destination.
It took them an hour to get to the land of the Peace Keepers, just like it did in the past when they came here for training from Titan and the other members of his clan, though when they reached the dock that would allow them to enter the central part of this homeworld Marco brought them close to the dock and let them jump down onto the dock, before wishing them luck as he pulled away from the land. One thing the trio knew for sure was that one of Marco's friends was located somewhere else in this land, who could likely take them to the land of the Magic Crafters, but for now they had to focus on finding Titan and saving the other dragons that were trapped in this area. Fortunately it appears that one of the trapped dragons could be saved immediately, as there just so happened to be a statue in the building that rested between them and the central area of this land, where the dangerous tar rested, so the three of them moved forward and headed to where the statue rested. Inside the building they discovered a Gnorc, who looked like he was wearing some sort of red military uniform, complete with a red hat and what appeared to be a spear in his hand, patrolling the area to their right, but since it appeared that he wasn't even paying attention to the entrance they had walked through the trio decided to see who was trapped in front of them, before worrying about the enemies of this land.
Anyone else would have been surprised by who was trapped inside the statue that they tapped on, as they would have thought that this dragon would have been elsewhere when the magic spell trapped all of the dragons in the crystalline statues, but the trio weren't remotely surprised to see Titan a few seconds later, though he did roar for a moment, maybe for dramatic effect or something, before calming down enough to focus on them.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for releasing me from that statue," Titan said, as he was happy that he was no longer trapped inside the crystalline statue that he had been encased in some time ago, something that he knew had to be the work of Gnasty Gnorc, before he realized that there was something wrong with this picture, since someone seemed to be missing from their group, "Isn't Nestor supposed to be with you?"
"He's back in the Artisans homeworld, helping the others clean up after Gnasty Gnorc hit every dragon with a spell to trap them in identical crystalline statues, except for us," Spike replied, though at this point he didn't think it mattered why he and his siblings had been spared from the spell, either due to their size or their foe not knowing about them until after the spell had been cast, because they were going to take back the Dragon Realms and stop whatever plan Gnasty Gnorc was working on, "Anyway, we're here to save all of the dragons that are trapped in those statues, recover all of the treasure that the Gnorcs might have stolen, as well as recover any stolen eggs at the same time, before taking on whoever has been put in charge of this homeworld, just like we did in our homeworld."
"It's good to hear that you three have been making progress in taking our lands back," Titan stated, and that was the truth, that he was happy to hear that things seemed to be working out for them, meaning that he might not have to tell them anything they didn't already know, before he noticed that their dragonflies were hurt, "though before you go too far you should hunt some of the rabbits and get a few butterflies for your friends... despite the fact that I'm surprised that you even got hurt while saving your homeworld."
"Well, we sure weren't expecting Toasty to use magic and attack us with the speed of an adult dragon," Spyro replied, as that was still surprising no matter how many times he thought about it, that a sheep had the patience to learn how to wield magic, something that he knew Spike was really interested in and would no doubt investigate in the future.
"Is that so?" Titan inquired, because he had heard about Toasty from Nestor, about the rare sheep that had been transferred to the Artisans homeworld and seemed to be angry about something almost all the time, though he had the feeling that he'd hear more about this later on, once the Dragon Realms were saved from Gnasty Gnorc, "Well, since it appears that you three know what you're doing, in terms of defeating your enemies and saving the realms from our enemies, I'll leave you to deal with Dry Canyon, Cliff Town, Ice Cavern, and whoever is attacking Trondo's realm, while I, on the other hand, will make sure the other realms you haven't been shown are safe and the dragons that live there are freed from their prisons."
The trio nodded their heads in agreement, as it made sense for the Leader of a dragon clan to go rescue the other dragons that were in the realms that the trio couldn't access, and watched as Titan walked through the second opening in the chamber, frightening the nearby Gnorc for a moment, before spreading his wings and taking off. Once Titan was gone, and the Gnorc had calmed down, the trio headed for the opening as well, so they could investigate the homeworld that they were in and see what needed to be done to save it from Gnasty Gnorc's forces, though as they did that Ember loosed a short burst of fire and set the soldier that was near them on fire, before returning to the shape of a gem. Cinder picked that up for her as she and her siblings left the chamber, allowing them to take in the land of the Peace Keepers once more, though at the same time they noticed that there were a few Gnorcs in blue coats, that also happened to be wearing blue hats, that seemed to be toying with some cannons, as one fired a cannonball that flew into the cannon of the second guy that was wearing the blue uniform, who fired it back a few moments later. Spyro, Spike, and Ember weren't sure if the Gnorcs were practicing with the cannons or if they were totally clueless as to how they worked, but in the end they agreed that it didn't matter, as all they had to do was dodge the incoming attacks and take out whoever was controlling the cannons, before moving onto the other enemies that were trying to take over this homeworld.
Of course, much to their annoyance, the soldier Gnorc that was the closest to the opening they were standing in seemed to be preoccupied with hitting a few rabbits with his spear, where three of them went limp and had butterflies leave their bodies, just like what happened with the sheep when Nestor showed them how to heal their dragonflies. In the end Spyro was the one that charged into the Gnorc's back and sent him flying into the rock wall in front of him, allowing Spike and Ember to take care of the Gnorc that was manning the cannon, though as they collected the gems that used to be their enemies Sparx, Talon, and Cinder grabbed one of the three butterflies and healed themselves, knowing that there were more dangers ahead of them and that it would be best to heal how, while they had the chance to do so. The instant those two enemies were taken care of the trio turned towards the rock formation that the next two cannon Gnorcs were in front of, who were firing back and forth at each other, though they were slow to realize that the trio was approaching them and by the time the cannons were in position Spyro, Spike, and Ember had already moved out of the way, allowing two of them to loose a short burst of fire into their targets. After the cannon Gnorcs were taken care of, and their gems were gathered, the trio quickly picked up the gems laying nearly and smashed the wooden containers that were near the portal to Dry Canyon, before moving onto the next area their enemies were waiting in.
One thing they discovered, as they engaged the group of four soldier Gnorcs, was that their spear wielding enemies swung their arms quicker than any of the enemies they encountered in their homeworld, meaning they had to be careful when they approached the soldiers, though if the soldiers missed their attacks, due to the trio rolling out of the way, they retreated to the red tents that were nearby. Interestingly enough the tents could be destroyed by loosing a burst of fire at them, something that seemed odd due to the fact that one would have thought that the Gnorcs would have found a way to fireproof their tents, but the Gnorcs that hid inside the tents didn't flee, rather they cowered in the center of where their tents used to be and focused on the trio. If one of them turned away from the enemies that were cowering the Gnorcs would turn around and show their rear to whoever had been focused on them, to which Ember and her brothers charged into each of the four Gnorcs and reverted them back to their original state, before heading down through the area that was beyond the tents. They spotted three more soldier Gnorcs as they explored the area near the next portal, the one to Cliff Town, and the soldiers retreated to their tents not even a few seconds later, showing that they had to be scared of them, though the trio quickly took out the tents and then flamed the enemies that were hiding from them, which allowed the three of them to focus on the other enemies they would have to take out.
What was interesting was that the second Balloonist, the one that would take them to the land of the Magic Crafters, was waiting nearby and seemed to be getting everything in order, which meant that it might be some time before he was ready to depart, to which the trio turned their attention to freeing the remaining dragons and recovering any of the stolen treasure that the Gnorcs had taken. Near the area that the Balloonist was waiting in were a few more tents, with a few more cowering soldiers inside them, and a pair of chests that they had to flame and jump over to get the gems that had been trapped inside them, before heading past the crystalline statue and taking out the cannon Gnorc that was standing near the cannon that was near the dangerous tar pit they had seen when they visited this land for the first time. Once that was taken care of Ember approached the statue and tapped on it, where she and her brothers watched as Magnus was freed from his prison, who thanked them like all the dragons that had come before him and remarked that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder were doing a good job of protecting them from the dangers they had faced so far, before remarking that they should make sure to feed them lots of butterflies while they saved the Dragon Realms. Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, as keeping their companions healthy was an important lesson that Nestor had given them when they were young, and Magnus smiled before heading off, no doubt to find Titan and help him with the other realms that the three of them wouldn't be visiting.
Once Magnus was gone Spike headed down the path that was behind the released dragon, which brought him to the portal that would allow them to access Ice Cavern, where he collected a few gems before returning to his siblings, where they noticed something interesting on one of the rock pillars that rested near the portal to Trondo's training grounds, and that was a bullseye of some kind.
Spyro smirked for a moment as he approached the cannon that was near the area that Magnus had been imprisoned in, as he noticed that he could turn the cannon with a push of his head, which was why he was lining up the cannon with the rock pillar, and once it was lined up he loosed a quick burst of fire at the end of the cannon, where a cannonball was fired from the weapon. The cannonball struck the pillar right where the bullseye was located, destroying the top portion of the pillar and allowed them to access another part of the homeworld, where the trio hoped that Titan and the other Peace Keepers wouldn't be annoyed by what they had done. One interesting thing that Spike noticed was that there were two locked chests near the portal to Trondo's realm, which seemed to be locked with chains and didn't appear to have any slots for keys, so he had Spyro turn the cannon towards them and fire two more cannonballs from it, blowing apart the chests rather easily. As Spike gathered the gems from those chests, as both of them contained at least three gems inside them, Ember headed over to the cliff wall that was beyond the portal and flamed the gem chests that she found, so she could jump in the air and get the gems, before gathering the remaining gems that were nearby before returning to where her siblings were waiting, which allowed her to break three more chests before she reached Spyro and Spike.
Once the three of them were together again they jumped on the platform that Spyro had created and found that they could jump to another pair of platforms that were surrounded by the dangerous tar, where a soldier Gnorc happened to be hiding from them, so they flamed him and focused on taking out the pair of gem chests and picking up the gems that were near a portal to what all three of them assumed was this land's Flight Realm. From there they jumped over to the area that they hadn't explored yet, which was usually blocked off by the rock pillar that Spyro had broken, and as they explored the area Spike carefully jumped over to a wide rock that was near them and collected the trio of gems that rested on it, before returning to his siblings as they zeroed in on where another dragon was trapped. More importantly there was a thief standing near the statue, the grin on his face taunting them and annoying Ember, which was why she charged at him and immediately loosed a burst of fire the moment she got close to him, hitting him before he had a chance to flee with the egg, causing her to smile as she made sure it as safe. Spyro charged though the pair of metallic chests that were nearby and collected the gems that were inside them, all while Spike picked up a key that was resting nearby, before the three of them turned to the dragon statue and tapped it so they could free whoever happened to be trapped inside it.
Not a few moments later Gunnar, the menacing dragon that they had seen a few times while they were visiting this homewolrd in the past, who grinned as he crossed his arms, showing that he had to be happy by what he had seen while he was trapped, before he gave them his full attention.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, you three have done well so far." Gunnar said, his tone revealing that he was definitely happy that they were saving the dragons that had been imprisoned, retrieving the gems that had been stolen, and recovering the dragon eggs that had been taken by the blue thieves, which made the trio happy as well, "If the three of you keep this up, and continue what you've been doing, I know that each of you will fulfill your destinies."
"Destiny?" Spyro inquired, because this was the first time he had heard anything like this, but, at the same time, it wasn't something that he was overly worried about, as he and his siblings were focused on saving the Dragon Realms from Gnasty Gnorc and his forces.
"That doesn't matter at the moment," Gunnar stated, where he waved his hand for a moment, as if dismissing what he had just said, before he gently took the egg that they had recovered already, so he could deliver it to the nursery and see how many of their eggs they were missing, even though he suspected the others were missing as well, "Just continue what you've been doing and you'll be at Gnasty Gnorc in no time, and if you find any of the other dragon eggs just bring them to the area in front of where Gosnold, our Balloonist, is stationed."
"Well, it's good to know where I'll teleport them to with my teleportation breath," Spike commented, referring to the special power that he had access to, as he was the first one to use this type of magic, in the entirety of the Dragon Realms, and he had shown Nora how to use this sort of magic when he and his siblings met her, though from the look on Gunnar's face it was clear that other dragons might have heard about this power, they just hadn't seen it yet.
The trio watched as Gunnar departed from the area they were in and headed off to somewhere else, though as he did that they focused on exploring the rest of the area that was around them, where Spyro climbed up on the stones that were near where Spike gathered the couple of gems, near the tar, before spotting an opening and decided to glide towards it, though he had to be careful and landed without any problems. Spike and Ember followed after him a few seconds later, so they could see what he found, and they discovered a tunnel that brought them to a small chamber that had four gem chests and a locked one, which was where the key they found earlier went, and they gathered the couple of gems that were inside it. Once that was done the three of them headed out and glided over to where they found Titan, as it was safer than trying to return to where Gunnar was imprisoned, and determined that they had found all the gems that had been stolen, so they turned towards the portal to Dry Canyon and went through it. This time, instead of knowing the layout of the realms that they would be visiting, they would be going in blind and would have to be careful, but, after seeing how well they took on the enemies of their own homeworld, they had the feeling that the same thing would happen in the land of the Peace Keepers.
When they finally reached their destination the three of them discovered that they were in a desolate canyon that did seem to be like the central part of this homeworld, complete with tar pits, but a few looking around for a few seconds, and finding that there were also a few cacti near them, the trio decided to move forward and save this realm.
The first thing they did was tackle the circular metal chest to their right and broke it open, freeing the gem that was trapped inside, before focusing on the foe that was near them, as there was a Gnorc with a shield and what appeared to be a gun aiming at them, so while Spike charged through the chests that were near them Ember did the same to their foe, only to pick up a gem a few seconds later. Spyro moved further down the path that they were following as his siblings took care of the remaining chests around them, where he charged into the pair of musket Gnorcs that were in their way, but as Ember and Spike followed him Ember paused as she turned to her left and found another path for them to take, though her eyes were focused on the thief that was grinning at her. Spyro and Spike chuckled a little as they watched the thief flee as their sister chased it, though once the pair had rounded the corner they took care of the musket Gnorcs that were nearby and smashed the chests that were around where the thief had been, though once that was done they returned to the main path and watched as Ember rammed into her target and knocked him into a wall, freeing another egg from the thieves that had stolen them. As soon as that happened Spike walked over and called his magic up, where he loosed his green teleportation breath and caused the egg to disappear a few seconds later, as he sent it to the area that Gunnar wanted them to put the other eggs in if they found them, before they moved forward again.
In the next area they found that there were three more gem chests, letting each of them take one of the chests, and then knocked out the musket Gnorc that was standing near a crystalline statue, where the trio tapped it and freed one of the Peace Keepers dragons, Conan, who had yellow scales and was wielding a lance and a shield, from his prison, who thanked them before departing from the area.
From there they discovered that they could either follow the path that they were following or jump up some steps and tackle a few that seemed to be standing on a bridge of some kind, that would allow them to glide other to another area, but the decision was rather easy, they jumped over the tar pit that was along the path in front of them and charged into the musket Gnorc that was in their way. It was then that they found a new enemy, as there was a large Gnorc that had no shirt on and he held his arm held out with a vulture resting on it, along with two more of the birds sitting on posts that were between him and where the trio was standing, though as they walked forward the two vultures flew at them, even though they were easily defeated by a quick burst of fire. When one of them got close the large Gnorc grabbed hold of the vulture and raised the bird like it was a club, which was just wrong in their opinion, so they dodged the incoming attack and burned him down, returning him to his original gem state, though this also further confirmed that Gnasty Gnorc's spell had effected more than they thought, as these birds were quite aggressive and had to be more hostile than the vultures that had originally called this land home. After collecting the other gems that were around them the trio climbed up the stone steps that were in front of them and found another trapped dragon up there, where they dealt with the musket Gnorc that was nearby, the two vultures that were further along the path they were following, and a second large Gnorc, before gathering all the gems that were around them as they explored the rest of the area.
That was when they found a few more gems near the exit portal for this realm, including a pair of musket Gnorcs, a circular metal chest, and four metal chests, but as they headed away from the exit portal they found that there was another dragon trapped in another area, one that didn't appear to have a path to reach it, but the trio knew that they would find a way to him in due time as they tapped the statue of the first dragon they had found.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for rescuing me." the dragon said, where they found that his scales seemed to be the same color as Conan's scales, with darker yellow spots here and there, and he was wearing a few metal bands on his wrists and his neck, while holding onto a rope, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Boris, and this is Dry Canyon, a place that rewards good gliders... you are good at gliding, right?"
"You could say that we were... born to glide!" Spyro remarked, where he also spread his wings to show that he was serious about what he had said, because he and his siblings were pretty decent at gliding and knew that Nestor had told the other Leaders about their skills, so that meant that the dragons of the other clans knew about their skills.
Boris smiled for a moment before taking off, though as he disappeared the trio glanced at each other and then looked at the area they were in, as it appeared that there might be a path for them to follow, though instead of doing what they were doing this one seemed to involve gliding.
"Do you think we can reach the other dragon by following this gliding path?" Ember asked, because she was under the impression that Boris was suggesting that the only way to reach the other dragon was to glide and make their way around the area that they were in.
"I do believe that we can do that, if we glide from place to place," Spike replied, as he had to agree with what Ember had said, especially since he was sure that this was how they were supposed to get to the other dragon, though even as he said that Spyro jumped into the air and glided over to the tunnel that was near their location.
While Ember followed after their brother, and glided over the gap as well, Spike turned around and headed to the area that he could see the path from, where he jumped down into the area near the path and paused when he found an opening that none of them had seen while they were walking through the area, before spotting his siblings as they poked their heads out of the opening. Once that happened Spike informed them of what they needed to do so they could glide to the start of the other path, the one that they had noticed when they got to the exit portal, and he watched as both Spyro and Ember jumped into the air and glided by turning to their left, where they landed a few steps from where the other statue was located. The moment they were touching the ground once more Spike quickly retraced his steps and headed to where Boris had been imprisoned, though once he he was in position he jumped into the air and glided over to the tunnel his siblings had gone through, where he found that it lead to a small chamber and had a small opening that was the one Spyro and Ember had poked their heads out of a few moments ago, before he jumped out of the opening and repeated what he told his siblings, who were happy to see him when he landed near them. As he rejoined them he learned that his siblings had found a few gems laying on the ground in the tunnel, a musket Gnorc that they took down, and a gem chest before they reached the area that allowed them to see him, but that meant that they had everything from that area and wouldn't have to worry about heading in there again.
Once Spike was caught up on what had happened the three of them headed up the path and collected the couple of gems that were in their way, along with picking up the key that was nearby, before tapping the statue, releasing a large dragon, one bulkier than any they had seen so far, and that he was wearing a leather and fur studded harness on his chest, along with a club that seemed to be his weapon.
Maximos, after thanking them for freeing him from his prison, made a comment about the vultures, that while they looked tough they were also one of the creatures that he and the other Peace Keepers liked to eat, hence why there were so many of them in some of the realms that they lived in, before he opened his wings and took off, either to help the others of his clan or to get something to eat. The trio glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they weren't sure what to make of the now freed dragon, before they jumped down to the area below them and headed back to where Conan had been trapped, as there was a second path for them to take in that area. As such, when they arrived at their destination, they climbed up the couple of stone steps that they had spotted when they were freeing Conan, charged through the musket Gnorc that was in their way, and then glided over to the ledge that was in front of them, where they discovered another tunnel for them to take. They found three more gem chests, a shirtless Gnorc, and three of the musket Gnorcs before they reached the end of the tunnel, though once that happened they had to burn a pair of vultures that were in their way and took out another shirtless Gnorc, before investigating the sides of the building that was in front of them, which just so happened to be where a dragon was trapped.
On the left side of the building they found two more vultures, a shirtless Gnorc, and a musket Gnorc waiting for them, but the three of them discovered that if they separated from each other, and approached from three different directions, none of their enemies could hit them at all and soon they were reduced back to their original gem state. Once that side was cleared of all the foes they had seen, and all the gems had been collected, the trio headed into the building and picked up the gems that were on the ground, before tapping the statue so they could free the dragon that was trapped inside it and then clean up the rest of this realm. Ivor, the dragon in question, was elderly, a couple of years younger than Astor by their reasoning, and he was carrying what the trio hoped was a difused bomb, though as he thanked them he made a comment about how they knew something about the trio, but when asked what that something was he claimed to forget what he was talking about and walked out of the building, so he could depart for one of the other realms that the other Peace Keepers would be gathering in. That made the three of them wonder what in the world was going through the minds of some of the Peace Keepers, since they seemed to be focused on destiny or something, but they decided to put it at the back of their minds for now as they headed out of the building and went around it's right side, where they found a pair of vultures and a shirtless Gnorc waiting for them, who didn't stand much of a chance as they used their fire breath to take them out and gathered the gems as they walked by where the enemies had been standing.
From there they climbed up the rocky steps that were behind the building, gathered the gems that were in their way, smashed the chests that were on top of the building, and then glided over to the rock platform that was in the direction of the exit portal. There the three of them discovered a new type of chest, one that contained a number of fireworks inside it and would explode in a number of bright lights if they were lit, but the major point of that was that they freed the gems that were trapped inside them, allowing them to focus on making sure they recovered all the stolen treasure. Once they were sure all of the gems in their area had been recovered they got to the highest point they could reach and glided over to the lone rock platform they had spotted in the distance, where a number of chests happened to be stored, no doubt set aside by the Gnorcs until it was time to haul all the treasure to where Gnasty Gnorc was waiting. The three wooden chests were easy to break open, since all they had to do was charge into them or flame them, the two circular metal chests only needed to be flamed a few times to get the gems that were inside them, and the locked chest yielded the treasure that was inside it, as they had the key that went to it.
Once all of that was done the trio returned to where the building was located and headed for the exit portal, as there were two more realms for them to save from Gnasty Gnorc's forces, not to mention the Flight Realm and Trondo's training grounds, so it was only a matter of time before the land of the Peace Keepers was freed from their foe's grasp, just like their homeworld.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to return to the exit portal of Dry Canyon and enter it, so they could head back to the central hub of the Peace Keepers homeworld, where they could head to where the other two portals to the other two realms were located, so the three of them could pick out which realm they would save first. As they walked towards that area, however, Ember noticed that the egg that they had recovered in the previous realm was exactly where Gunnar had told them to put any eggs they recovered from the thieves that had stolen them, not that she thought that Spike's teleportation breath would have failed in some manner. Once they made sure that the egg was safe and sound, and would be collected by one of the other dragons when they noticed that it was there, the three of them came to a stop as they shifted their gaze between the portal to Cliff Town and the tunnel that lead to the portal that would take them to Ice Cavern, because at the moment they were choosing to ignore the portal to the Peace Keepers' Flight Realm, the last realm they would reclaim before tacking the commander that Gnasty Gnorc assigned to this homeworld.
"Okay, which realm should we take on first?" Ember asked, because she knew that it really didn't matter which of the two remaining portals they went through next, since they would be going to both of the realms and would be liberating them from the enemies that were roaming those areas, and she was curious as to what her siblings thought.
"Why don't we just go in order and take on Cliff Town?" Spyro replied, as it appeared that the Peace Keepers portals rested in a curved line of sorts, starting from the dock and heading to the portal to Trondo's training grounds, so he didn't think it mattered either, hence why he was going with the next portal that they had gone by earlier, when they were taking out the Gnorcs that were patrolling the area they were in.
"That sounds like a good idea, then we can take on Ice Cavern," Spike added, showing that he agreed with his siblings, that it didn't matter what order they did the other realms in and that he was fine with Cliff Town being the first of the two realms that they tackled, before he glanced at the area where the other two portals were in, "and then, once we take care of Cliff Town and Ice Cavern, we can free the Flight Realm and then take on whoever is commanding the forces that Gnasty Gnorc sent to this homeworld."
Spyro nodded his head in understanding, as he was happy to see that Spike and Ember had determined that he was the leader of their little group and that they were willing to listen to his suggestions on where they should go and what they should do, while also inputting their own opinions whenever they wanted to let him know what they were thinking at a certain moment. With the three of them in agreement they headed through the portal to Cliff Town, as there was no reason for them to remain in the hub area, especially since the Peace Keepers dragons didn't need their help, so they focused on what the realm they were heading towards next. A few moments later all three of them appeared in the center of a large stone building, one that looked like the fortifications that they had seen throughout the areas that the Peace Keepers lived in, though what they discovered was that there was an enemy blocking their way already, as there was a being of some kind, as he was shrouded by a metallic cape, preventing them from determining what species he belonged to, even though the Peace Keepers would know that better than anyone. From what they could tell the person in front of them was wearing a sombrero, sandals on their feet, and the metallic cape that was hard to miss, since it covered the majority of his body and prevented them from seeing the rest of their foe's body, though since it didn't seem like he had any weapons on him Ember decided to take him out so they could move forward.
What she wasn't expecting was for the man to pull his cape back and lash out with what appeared to be a thin knife, something that they hadn't seen due to the fact that his body was hidden from their view, but Ember, having more skills in the art of combat than her brothers did, rolled to the side and avoided the attack, before charging through their foe, which dropped a gem for them to pick up and add to their collection.
"Okay, that was interesting." Spyro remarked, because he knew nothing about the foe that had been in front of them and was glad that Ember had acted so quickly, to avoid the attack and take the being out before either he or Spike could react, before he thought about something, "So, what do you think that guy was?"
"I do believe that was a Pueblo, one of the natural foes the Peace Keepers usually keep in order," Spike said, where he revealed that he knew something about them, even though it had taken a few moments to understand what sort of foe they had been looking at, though as he said that he noticed that Spyro and Ember were making sure the coast was clear before they moved out, "basically I read about them from one of the tomes that Argus and the other wrote on some of the enemies that Titan and the other Peace Keepers dealt with, though from what I can tell the Pueblo are soldiers for what Titan calls 'Fat Ladies', which is someone that I'm sure we'll encounter at some point."
"Of course, leave it to Titan to create a name like that," Ember commented, showing that, while she held the Peace Keepers and Titan in high regards, since they were the greatest fighting force the dragons had and she wanted to be a fighter like them when she was older, she didn't like Titan's naming scheme.
"And I'm assuming that the lady over there, tending to the cauldron, is one of them." Spyro said, where he beckoned with his head for a moment and both Ember and Spike glanced in the area that he was looking in, which was when they noticed a large lady that was wearing a red apron that covered the front part of her body, though she also looked ugly and, like her name suggested, she was fat.
The trio glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they knew that the lady was going to be dangerous and that they had to be careful, before deciding to move forward and start what they did to all the other realms, though as they moved out Spike took a few steps back and smashed a chest to collect the gem inside it. Once that was done the three of them headed out of the building Spyro and Ember checked the areas to their left and right, where they both found two gems apiece and made sure to collect them, though while they did that Spike stood on the bridge and focused on the fat lady that was standing near the cauldron, including the pueblo that was standing near her. He decided to see what she would go if he got closer, as in walking over the rest of the bridge he happened to be standing on, and when he did that the fat lady slapped the backside of the pueblo and caused the soldier to get up, before he readied himself and faced Spike, just like the other one had done when Ember approached it. As such he waited for his foe to get closer before charging him, allowing him to known the soldier out of the way, which caused the fat lady to growl as she focused on him, but that was when Ember loosed a burst of fire that struck the lady in the chest, causing her to collapse on the ground and revert back to a gem as well.
One thing they noticed, which they found to be odd, was that Ember's flames had increased the intensity of the flames beneath the cauldron, where a gem popped out of the liquid and landed near them, causing the trio to stare at each other again for a few seconds.
"Was she really trying to cook a gem?" Spyro inquired, because that sounded strange and weird, that someone would take a gem, which was used as currency between the five homeworlds, or at least that was what they were told, and try to cook it, even if it was supposed to be seasoning of some kind.
Spike and Ember said nothing to that, as they had no idea what to make of what they discovered, so instead of staring at the cauldron for a few more moments, and wasting time in the process, the trio made sure to collect the few gems that were around them before heading to the left side of the building that was in front of them. That allowed them to find out that part of Cliff Town was built into the side of a cliff, though there were a few buildings between them and where they assumed the exit portal for this realm was located, and, based on what they knew from the other realms, they suspected that the cliff that they were walking by would be someplace for them to explore at some point. As such the three of them explored the area that was around them and found a chest behind one of the stone pillars that was off on their left, though once they had the gem inside it they turned to the path on the right and found that there was another fat lady tending to a cauldron, something that all of them might be doing now that they thought about it, and this time there weren't any pueblo guarding her, meaning all they had to do was flame her and move on. It wasn't hard to take the fat lady down and claim both the gem she had been and the gem that was inside her cauldron, after Spyro flamed it, but the moment they had both of those gems they quickly gathered the gems around them and on top of the building that they could now climb up, as there was a step on the backside of the building, before heading towards the next bridge that was in their way.
As Spyro and Ember charged across the bridge, and smashed through the pueblos that were in their way, Spike found two more gems off on the side, that they had missed as they walked by the pillar, and picked them up, before returning to his siblings as they headed to their left, where a dragon happened to be trapped. Before they reached the dragon, and tapped the crystalline statue, the trio heard a familiar taunt and found a thief standing between two buildings, where Ember rushed at it and proceeded to chase it around the building that they had walked around to get to the trapped dragon, causing Spyro and Spike to stand near the dragon as they watched their sister for a few moments. It wasn't long before she caught up with the thief and flamed his rear, causing him to go flying as he dropped the egg he was holding onto, though as that happened Ember made sure the egg was fine before allowing Spike to send it on it's way, before they tapped the statue and released the dragon that had been trapped inside it. Halvor, the dragon in question, was slightly different from the other dragons they had rescued, as his scales actually formed thick plates, making him look even more dangerous, especially since his weapon was a massive hammer that looked like a battering ram, and he was wearing a battle skirt that covered his lower body.
Halvor thanked them for the rescue, just like all of the other dragons they had freed so far, and told them that he would have given all three of them a reminder on how to deal with enemies wearing metallic armor, like the pueblos if they were having trouble with those enemies, but seeing how they were standing here, and there were no enemies along the path they had followed, he knew that they didn't need such a reminder.
Once Halvor took off, to head back to the hub area like everyone else they freed in this homeworld, Spyro, Spike, and Ember set out from the area he ahd been trapped in and focused on figuring out where their enemies were and where all of the stolen gems were located. The first thing they did was move around the building that was near them and found two more pueblo in front of them, which was why Spike let Spyro and Ember charge into them as he headed to the left and found a few more gems that were laying on the ground, which rested near an edge that rested above a river of tar, along with a pair of chests hidden in between two sections of the massive wall. With those gems in hand he returned to his siblings and followed them as they headed to the right of the structure that was in front of them, where they found two more pueblo blocking their path and a few gems behind them, though once those enemies were taken care of the trio jumped up onto the stone platform in front of them and then jumped over to the start of the path that would take them up to the exit portal. They walked up the walkway that was in front of them and torched the fat lady that was in their way, and collected the gem, before having to glide over to the next section of the path, where the trio discovered yet another fat lady, who fell rather easily and allowed the siblings to break the chest near the cauldron, before they collected the pair of gems and headed towards the curve in the path, allowing them to access the next level of the structure they were climbing at the moment.
There were two more pueblos in their way, one guarding the next bridge and one being slapped into action, but Spike let his siblings deal with them as he collected the gems that were on the ground, before noticing that the fat lady that was in their way also got knocked out. He wasn't surprised by that fact, because Ember was keen on taking out the enemies that were in their way and restore order to these realms, but once he had the gems that they were walking by he made sure to smash the chests that were by where the fat lady had been, before they followed the path and stopped when they found a locked chest near the steps to the final level of this structure. The trio glanced at each other for a moment before Spike noticed a firework down near the area they had walked through, near where Halvor was trapped, and determined that it had to be connected to the chest that was near them, so Spyro glided down to where the lone firework was located, just as Ember and Spike moved out of the way. That prompted their brother to light the firework, where it flew into the air and slammed into the chest a few seconds later, blowing the chest apart and releasing the gems that had been trapped inside it, though while they collected the gems Spyro quickly climbed the levels once more, and once they were back together the three of them continued up to the next level and found two more fat ladies standing guard in front of yet another trapped dragon, but it didn't take them long to take the enemies out and claim all the gems in the area.
Of course that meant that they climbed up to where the exit portal was located, which was just to the right of the path they had followed, and smashed the chests that were there, before returning to the dragon and tapped the statue, which was when they found that Enzo, who revealed his name the moment he was no longer trapped, was wearing a feathered apron, a gold-lined helmet, and a few other items, along with a mace that served as his weapon.
"Thank you for freeing me from that prison." Enzo stated, showing that he was grateful for them breaking him out of his prison and allowing him to take the fight to whoever was trying to take over the other realms of his homeworld, but while he did seem to be eager to leave the area he did remain in front of them for a few moments.
"No problem." Spyro replied, though at the same time he glanced at the cliff area that was across the river and noticed that there had to be something over there, besides a trapped dragon from the looks of it, causing him to return his attention back to Enzo, since he knew who could answer the question that had come to mind, "Say, can you give us any idea what's on the other side of the river?"
"Why don't you glide over there and see for yourselves?" Enzo remarked, showing that, while he was capable of telling them about what was on the other side of the tar river, he wasn't about to tell the trio anything, meaning that he wanted all of them to experience what was over there for themselves, before he spread his wings and took off.
"Is it just me, or was that not very helpful?" Spike asked, though he knew that it wasn't helpful information and had waited for Enzo to fly off before speaking his mind on the matter, where his siblings nodded their heads in agreement to his words, before all three of them turned and glanced at the area cliff area that the last dragon seemed to be trapped in, which seemed to be free of enemies.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember jumped into the air and glided over to the area that Spyro had asked about, which turned out to be a nice glide since they didn't have to worry about anyone trying to hit them, but when they got close to the seemingly empty cliff area, and came in for a landing, the siblings discovered that there were a large number of vultures sitting on a number of posts. The first thing Spyro did was head off to the left and gather the pair of gems that were laying on the ground, though as he did that Ember and Spike started to make their way around the cliff that would take them to where the last dragon was trapped, flaming the various vultures as they went, until Spyro joined them and targeted the birds that were coming from the left. As it turned out there were seven vultures sitting on the various posts that the trio walked by, which made it easy for the siblings to take them out and arrive at the final dragon statue for this realm, though that was when Ember tapped the statue and freed the dragon that had been frozen in this area. The dragon in question, who revealed that this name was Marco, was slimmer than most of the dragons they had seen, which they assumed helped him when he fought his enemies in battle, and he carried a halberd axe in his left hand, though what interested the trio the most was the fact that his wings had been replaced by metallic prosthetic wings, making them wonder if they were enchanted to allow Marco to fly.
Before departing from the area, so he could help the other Peace Keepers, Marco told them that they were at the highest point in Cliff Town, something that was debatable considering what they had seen so far, and informed them that they could use a nearby whirlwind to get back up here if they wanted.
Once Marco had departed from the area, and they were sure that all of the dragons in this realm had been saved from their prisons, the trio glanced out at the various buildings that they had walked by and found that there were a few gems and chests scattered everywhere, meaning that they would have to glide to the various roofs and collect what they were seeing at the moment. As Spyro and Ember dealt with the buildings that were in front of the building they had appeared in, and that included the ones in front of the cliff that contained the exit portal, Spike took a moment and looked at the building that they had appeared in, where he wondered if there were some gems behind it. Since his siblings were busy he jumped into the air and glided over to the area in question, where he passed between the edge of the building and the stone tower that was to the right, which allowed him to find a path behind the structure, one that had a number of red gems and a metallic chest that contained a purple gem, which caused a smile to appear on his face as he claimed it and reached the end of the path he had been following. The path basically circled around to the front of the building, to where Spyro and Ember had claimed the first few gems of this realm when they arrived in the building, and he jumped down to the main path, where he headed towards the exit portal and found that his siblings were waiting for him near the whirlwind that would take them back to the hub area of the Peace Keepers homeworld.
It didn't take the siblings long to return to the main part of Titan's land, though as they headed towards the portal that would take them to Ice Cavern, the final realm before they tackled the Flight Realm and liberated Trondo's training grounds from who had taken it as their base of operations, they noticed that a few Peace Keepers were collecting the rescued dragon eggs, bringing a smile to their faces as they entered the portal and headed to their next destination. A few moments later the trio arrived at their destination, where they paused as they stared at the large open area that was called Ice Cavern, as it appeared that there were a number of caves that circled the area they were in, with a massive opening claiming the middle section of the area they were in, meaning they couldn't glide from one area to another and would have to follow the path. The thing that interested Spike was that the sky above them was dark and starry, as they could stare at an open sky, which explained the ice that covered the ground, and there seemed to be a number of ruined castle-like stone buildings scattered all over the place, something he wasn't surprised by since those types of buildings were what the Peace Keepers liked to make across the realms they lived in, which were also covered in snow.
The three of them stared at the area for a few more seconds, because they were impressed by what they were seeing, before they decided to leave the small building they had appeared in and do what they did to all the other realms, but as they jumped down onto the stone floor they discovered that the ground was slippery, which told them that they had to be careful as they made their way through this realm.
"Never thought we'd see ice in the land of the Peace Keepers," Spike commented, because he and his siblings were used to seeing the desert environments that Titan and the rest of his clan called their homes, and they all thought the name of this realm meant that this land was slightly colder than everything else and not what they were seeing at the moment, but that did tell him never to judge a realm by their name.
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, as they were a little caught off guard as well, but instead of standing around and looking at the area they explored the area that was around them and found a few gems that lead them right to a lone gem chest, which was claimed a few seconds later, before circling the small building and finding a few more gems to pick up. Once that was done they returned to the area that was in front of where they appeared, which was where they found a large Gnorc that had purple skin, instead of the usual green skin, that was wearing red trousers, yellow shoes, and a yellow wool hat, but, like some of the other Gnorcs they had encountered, he wasn't wearing a shirt and seemed ready to face the three of them. When they tried to approach the Gnorc he raised his fists and swung at them, where they rolled out of the way and dodged the attack before they could be hit, before they flamed him and returned him to his original gem state, allowing the three of them to move forward and see what else had happened to this realm since the dragons had been trapped. That was when a smaller green skinned Gnorc emerged from behind one of the pillars in front of them, where they discovered that he was wearing a scarf around his neck, and he hurled a snowball at them, where the trio stood there and stared at him... though what ended up happening was that the snowball hit Spyro in the face and Sparx got knocked backwards, his color changing to indicate he had taken damage, causing Ember to growl as she charged into the Gnorc and knocked him to the ground.
"Spyro, are you okay?" Ember asked, because while she was worried about her brother she had to wonder what else they were weak against, especially if a snowball was able to damage them and their dragonflies like that, though she noticed that Spike was investigating the area the Gnorc's snowball had landed on.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Spyro replied, though at the same time he shook his head, to get rid of the rest of the snow that had remained from the snowball, before making sure that Sparx was okay, as none of them had been expecting that to happen when the Gnorc showed himself to them, "just surprised that a snowball hurt me."
"That's because there was a rock in the center of the snowball," Spike said, where he moved a little and showed his siblings what he had discovered, that there happened to be a decent sized rock resting in the core of what had been the snowball, which caused both Spyro and Ember to raise their eyebrows for a few seconds, "It's actually rather smart when you think about it, because if we see a snowball we aren't going to think about dodging something like that, we're going to let it hit us and then flame the person that threw it at us, but in this instance the Gnorc hid a stone inside the snowball and we let it hit one of us. We'll have to be careful in the future, that's for sure."
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other, as they really weren't expecting Spike to figure out what had happened that quickly, but at the same time it informed them that if they encountered anyone that threw a snowball at them in this realm might be hiding a stone inside the snowballs. Once Spike had figured out why Spyro had taken damage the three of them headed past the pillars the Gnorc had been hiding behind and found another buff Gnorc standing in front of a trapped dragon, where they simply dodged the attack again and then burned him down, allowing them to tap the statue and free whoever was stuck here. The dragon in question, who revealed that his name was Ulric after thanking them for saving him, wore a harness on his chest, which the shoulder piece he was wearing was attached to, and he had a sword and shield that appeared to be his main weaponry, though he informed them that they should wait until they were older and stronger, like he was, before charging the larger Gnorcs that were blocking the way. The moment he gave them that piece of information, even though it was something that they knew at this point in time, the dragon flew into the sky and quickly disappeared from their sight, where the trio sighed as they turned to the side and headed down the tunnel that was the next part of their path.
The three of them walked through the tunnel and collected the gems that were on the ground, and the one that was in what could have been a windowsill, before they found an area that had a few metallic chests, a snowball throwing Gnorc, and a buff Gnorc, something that was easy to deal with once they knew what was going on. The path then brought them to a decent sized chamber that was actually inside the cliff, where a buff Gnorc was waiting for them, but the trio got around him and burned him down, before finding a trapped dragon behind him and freed him from the statue that was his prison. The next dragon they freed, Todor, was slim like Marco was, though he was dressed up in some winter clothing with a helmet on his head that had antlers, no doubt to make up for the fact that he didn't have horns like the other dragons they had encountered, and, oddly enough, he had deer-like ears, while carrying a bow in his left hand. Todor, much to their surprise, actually had some worthwhile information for them, as there were a few enemies up ahead that were wearing metal armor and in the Ice Cavern, where the ground was slippery, that was something that they could use to their advantage, and when he saw that they were happy with the information he headed out of the chamber and departed from the area. That information made them curious as to what they would find when they discovered the enemies that Todor was talking about, but one thing they discovered was that there were some gems laying on top of some poles, so they charged into them and collected the gems that fell, before exploring the rest of the chamber and found a few more gems that were trapped inside some chests, including a locked chest that happened to be outside the chamber Todor was in.
Interestingly enough the siblings spotted the key to the chest some distance away from where they were standing, and Spike even commented that it looked like one of them could glide over to where the key was, but that might not be the best idea at the moment, not until they cleared the remainder of the enemies that were in the way... though Spyro, instead of listening to him, jumped into the air and glided over to the small platform that the key was on, causing Spike and Ember to sigh as they followed him.
Once the key was in their possession the trio jumped down to the path that was in front of them, but separated from the platform they had landed on, and smashed through the chests that were on their left, before heading to their right and arrived at a fork in the path, but instead of heading to the right, and continuing towards the area of the exit portal, they headed to the left and arrived at another trapped dragon. This dragon, Andor, was bulkier than Todor was and didn't seem to be wearing too much armor, as he had bracelets and a collar while his tail tip seemed to be resemble a lion's tail, who simply thanked them before departing, indicating that he didn't have anything interesting to tell them like some of the other dragons they had rescued so far. From there they smashed through the chests that were in the area, be they metallic or gem chest, and collected the gems that were around them, before jumping up the steps that were near where Andor had been trapped and headed back to where the locked chest was located. That gave them the chance to deal with a snowball throwing Gnorc and a buff Gnorc, before discovering an armored Gnorc that just happened to be near the edge of the path, where they made their way over to where he was standing and charged into his chest, knocking him a few steps back until he fell over the edge, though the gem the Gnorc had been created from bounced up to them and allowed one of the dragonflies to claim it as they moved closer to where Todor had been trapped.
As it turned out that was all that was between the areas that Todor and Andor had been trapped in, along with a few more gems along the wall they walked by, so they could have easily taken the main path and cleared everyone out, before going for the key, but in the end it didn't matter as they unlocked the chest, claimed the gems that were inside it, and then glided back down to where the key had been located, so they could continue clearing out the enemies that were in this realm and saving any other dragons that were trapped.
The siblings found another buff Gnorc and snowball throwing Gnorc standing in their way as they followed the path that was in front of them, along with making sure they picked up the gems that were on the ground around them, which let them walk around a narrow path that brought them to where another snowball throwing Gnorc was located, who they took out before gathering a few more gems from the area around them. Of course there was another crystalline statue near the exit portal, where they found a large dragon that was using a cane to help him walk, that emerged from it when Ember tapped on it, who thanked them for releasing him and then asked where he was, though telling him that he was in the Ice Cavern realm didn't seem to do much, so the trio sighed and moved towards the opening that was near Asher, so they could make sure there was nothing they were missing before they headed back to the main area of this land. There happened to be a buff Gnorc waiting in the chamber that they entered, but he went down easy and allowed the siblings to gather the gems that were in the chests in the next area, before doubling back to where the exit portal was, which was when Spike noticed that there might be a path on the sectioned wall, especially since there happened to be a few gems on the path he pointed out, so he lead the way and his siblings followed after him.
They discovered a cave of sorts in front of them and found a few armor wearing Gnorcs along the way, the first one falling over the edge due to them bashing into his chest, though near him happened to be a small Gnorc that was wearing skis and had a snowball in his hand, which they avoided a few seconds later and then flamed him. Once that foe had been taken care of they turned towards the next armored Gnorc that was in their way and repeated the process they used on the other armored Gnorcs, allowing them to advance through the cave and collect the remaining gems that happened to be laying on the ground. Another ski Gnorc was in the next area that the cave brought them to, with a buff Gnorc beyond him, though Spike let Spyro and Ember tackle their foes as he rammed into the poles that were near them, so he could get at the gems that were at the top of each pole, before finding that the enemies in front of them were taken care of once more, which was when they regrouped and followed the path they had been following. An armored Gnorc and a ski Gnorc were all that stood between them and another crystalline statue, which was easy to get around since the armored foe didn't even attack them and the snowball was easy to avoid, and before long they reached what they assumed was the final dragon of this realm, who they freed first, instead of gathering the gems around them.
The dragon in question had armor on his arms and a necklace around his neck, and he even had a small club that happened to be attached to his tail, though the interesting part was that he had steam coming from his nostrils, no doubt to help him keep warm in this area.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, you have done well in rescuing us and taking our lands back," the dragon, whose name they learned was Ragnar, said, his tone revealing that he was pleased with their progress and that he knew they would go on to save the rest of their lands as well, before he thought about something else he wanted to tell them before they headed back to the main area of this homeworld, "Some of the other dragons didn't think you three were ready, that you needed a few more years before being able to embrace your destinies, but I knew they were wrong, and you have proved me right by overcoming the challenges that you have faced so far."
"We're ready for whatever Gnasty Gnorc throws at us!" Ember replied, because she knew that she and her siblings could tackle anything and everything that their foe decided to put in their way, to stop them from saving the other realms and the dragons that had been trapped in those crystalline statues, before she noticed something odd about what Ragnar told them, "Wait, what destinies are you talking about?"
"That, unfortunately, I can't say anything about," Ragnar stated, though that was when he nodded his head to them for a few seconds, why they had no idea, before he turned around and jumped down into the chamber that was near where they were standing, one the trio had cleared out earlier, and then headed out of the realm to join the other Peace Keepers dragons that had been freed.
"Is it just me, or do all of the adult dragons know something that we don't?" Spyro asked, as while he was happy that Nestor and the other dragons were putting their faith in them, to restore order to their homeworlds and tackle Gnasty Gnorc later on, he was starting to figure out there there were some bits of information they knew nothing about.
"No, they definitely know something we don't." Spike answered, though even as he said that he knew that they wouldn't be able to get any information on what everyone else knew until Gnasty Gnorc was taken care of, which was why he headed for the exit portal, causing his siblings to follow after him.
Spike had to wonder if Nestor and the other Leaders had seen this coming, as in Gnasty Gnorc lashing out at all of the dragons for something one of them said on an interview, but for now all they could do was focus on saving the other lands from the forces of their enemy and then stopping Gnasty Gnorc, and then, once everything was said and done, they could figure out what the other dragons knew about their destinies.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to return to the central hub of the Peace Keepers homeworld, where they walked out of the tunnel that allowed them to enter the Ice Cavern, though they did pause for a moment as they noticed a number of dragons flying around the area, where the three of them assumed the warriors were making sure that everything was alright, before returning to their duties. A few dragons were tending to the dragon eggs they had recovered from the thieves in the realms that were part of this land, which smiles on their faces to show that they were happy that the trio had recovered the eggs, even if it was just Ember chasing down the thieves and burning them into submission, but none of them said anything as they walked towards their next destination. Still, the three of them were happy to see that the Peace Keepers were returning to how things had been before they were trapped in those crystalline statues, just like Nestor and the other Artisans had done once a good number of them had been freed from their prisons, and all of the dragons were definitely happy with their progress. Still, Titan and the other Peace Keepers focused on what they were doing and didn't stop the trio from exploring the rest of the land they were visiting, allowing the siblings to come to a stop near the portal that would take them to Trondo's training grounds, since there was another portal they could enter and clear out, before tackling whoever was in control of this homeworld.
The trio glanced at the portal on their left, which would allow them to access Trondo's training grounds, before looking to their right, where a path rested that would take them to the Flight Realm for this homeworld, though once that was done the three of them glanced at each other for a few seconds.
"So, should we tackle the commander first, or should we clear out the Flight Realm first?" Ember asked, because while she wanted to take down whoever Gnasty Gnorc assigned to this homeworld, and completely free the Peace Keepers from their foe's grasp, she knew that her siblings had their own opinions on what they wanted to do next and she was willing to listen to what they had to say.
"I say we tackle the Flight Realm and clear out whoever we find there," Spike said, because the three of them had done the same thing when they were in their homeworld, as they cleared out the Flight Realm of their home and then tackled Nevin's castle, by confronting Toasty, and he saw no reason for them to change their pattern, "then, once we're sure that the Flight Realm is secure, and there are no more enemies there, we can return to this area and tackle whoever Gnasty Gnorc assigned to this land, while freeing Trondo from his prison."
"Yeah, the Flight Realm seems like a good idea," Spyro remarked, as he knew that they could tackle whoever was in control of this land first and then focus on clearing out the enemies in the Flight Realm, but from what he had heard so far it appeared that heading to the Flight Realm first was what his siblings were thinking about, so he started moving from where they stopped and headed over to the stone platform that would allow them to reach their next destination.
Spike was happy that the entrance for this homeworld's Flight Realm wasn't hidden like the one in their home was, even though he was sure that they could have figured out where the entrance was by asking for directions from one of the Peace Keepers dragons that were near them, but doing things this way was easier for all of them. The three of them jumped up onto the stone platform that they had fired a cannonball at earlier, when they were exploring the central hub for the various gems and enemies that were patrolling the land, before jumping over to where the portal to the Flight Realm was located. Once they landed in front of the portal the three of them headed through it and made their way to the last realm that needed to be rescued from the Gnorcs that had to be there, though they were hoping that there weren't any enemies in this Flight Realm, even if such a thought was likely wrong. A few moments later they appeared in the air above some water, just like what happened when they visited the Flight Realm of their homeworld, though this time around the trio discovered that the island that made up this area had a number of crystals growing out of the ground, and there were even more areas like it, with giant greenish crystals, scattered around the area, and the sky was dark, meaning that it had to be nighttime in this area.
Once they had an idea of where they were, by flying around for a few seconds as they took in what the island that made up this Flight Realm looked like, the trio regrouped near the tunnel they had spotted upon their arrival and flew through it, where they found a few rings along their way, reddish-pink colored rings that disappeared when one of them flew through the center of each ring. By Spike's count there were eight rings, which seemed to make sense as the four things they targeted in the Flight Realm of their home also had eight of each object, though that also meant that they were already a fourth of the way down with clearing out this Flight Realm. From there Spyro headed to their left and breathed fire on the golden chests that happened to be resting on some flattened crystals, ones that had their upper halves taken off by the Peace Keepers for some reason, and claimed the contents of them like they had done in the previous Flight Realm, all while wondering what Spike and Ember encountered. Spike and Ember, who went to the right as Spyro went to the left, also had to split up after a few seconds, as Ember followed the path of the lighthouses that were resting in a pattern and lit them with her flames, bringing light to the area, while Spike headed around the other side of the crystal and found some of the electric arches that had been scattered around the Flight Realm of their home, where he flew through the center of each one and broke them as he flew through the air.
It didn't take Spike long to pass through the last of the electric arches and break them, nor did it take Spyro long to break the golden chests with his flames or for Ember to turn on the last of the lighthouses, but once that was done the three of them landed on one of the flatter areas of this area, where a pile of gems were waiting for them, just like what happened when they cleared out the Flight Realm of their home of the obstacles they had discovered.
"Well, that was exciting," Spyro commented, as he wasn't expecting to find what he and his siblings had found when they came to this realm, because they were expecting to find some Gnorcs hanging around the area, trying to stealing whatever the Peace Keepers dragons hid in this area, if they had anything to hide, before he sighed as he shifted his gaze towards Spike, who was already calculating the number of gems in front of them, "I was thinking that we might find some Gnorcs in this realm, since we found some Gnorcs in the Flight Realm of our homeworld, even though I'm not really sure how they managed to get there in the first place, but it's rather peaceful without having to chase them down and either flame them or charge into them. So, just how much did we find?"
"Actually, I had a thought about how the Gnorcs could have gotten to our Flight Realm," Spike replied, showing that he was going to talk about the Flight Realm first, since that was what Spyro had talked about first and he wanted to see if his siblings agreed with him, while at the same time counting the gems that were in front of them, so he could determine how much they had recovered from this area, "and that was the possibility that they had boats to bring their soldiers to our homeworld, which is why none of the other dragons even noticed them in the first place, and they used their boats to bring some of their forces to our Flight Realm. For this Flight Realm, however, they either used the same method to reach this area, or they used some of those planes we saw while we were flying around our Flight Realm, so it's possible that they had to head back to Gnasty Gnorc's lair before we came here. Also, to answer your question, Spyro, by my estimates we have the same amount of treasure that we recovered from the Flight Realm that Nestor had us practice our flying in, which is three hundred treasure, which should make Titan and the other Leaders happy."
"Since we've recovered all the treasure in this realm, should we head back to the main hub area and see who Gnasty Gnorc put in charge of this land?" Ember inquired, though at the same time their dragonflies tapped the games that were resting in front of them and sent them back to the bag that contained all the treasure they had found so far.
Spyro nodded his head in agreement to that, because they had cleared out this area of anything that might have been left by their foes and he didn't see much of a reason to stay here, so once the gems had been claimed, and were no longer sitting on the ground, the three of them flew away from the island that they had flown around for the last few minutes and headed towards the outskirts of the area, so they could return to the hub area. It didn't take them long to reach the area that allowed them to leave the Flight Realm and head to the area that they had seen the other dragons wandering around in, though upon returning to the main hub once more, and leaving the area that the portal to the Flight Realm was in, they found that all of the Peace Keepers were still making sure things were the way they had been before all of them had been trapped in those crystalline statues. After looking around for a few moments, to make sure that everything was as it had been before Gnasty Gnorc cast his spell on the five homeworlds, the trio turned towards the final portal that they needed to go through and walked through it, heading towards Trondo's training grounds so they could save him and bring down whoever was in control of his realm.
It didn't take them long to arrive in the entrance area of Trondo's training grounds, where they found the familiar eclipse hanging in the sky above them, though at the same time they found a pair of metallic chests resting off on their left and some enemies that were blocking their way, but all three of them were expecting to find a few enemies here, since Gnasty Gnorc had put someone in charge of this homeworld and that being had to have soldiers to protect them. The first thing that happened was that Spyro charged through the metallic chests and claimed the gems that had been trapped inside them, though at the same time Ember walked forward and glared at the fat lady that was standing some distance in front of where they had appeared, along with an armored being that was the size of the pueblos they had fought back in Cliff Town, though while he was wearing armor on his chest it also seemed that he had a staff with a mask of some kind on the top of it. The only thing that interested her was the fact that the tribesman, for that was what the smaller being had to be, was wearing what looked like a bucket on his head, blinding him in some manner, and when Ember got a little closer the fat lady smacked the back of the tribesman's helmet, just like they did to the pueblos, and the tribesman charged at her like he didn't care about his life, which was followed by Ember charging into him and then flaming the fat lady, all to reduce them both back to being gems once more.
"Okay, so the fat ladies also have kamikaze followers," Spike commented, as he was a little surprised that the first tribesman that Ember encountered would charge at her with no regard for his own life, though after a few seconds of thinking about it he determined that, since their enemies had been made from gems, they could be brought back to life as long as their gem wasn't claimed, so the fact that he and his siblings were collecting the stolen gems meant that their enemies couldn't come back, making things easier for them, "but, given the nature of the pueblos, and how they reacted when they were smacked, I guess it's not hard to imagine they also have followers that are designed to run into their foes and knock them into the ground, even if it means risking their own lives in the process."
"Well, since some of them are wearing armor, all we have to do is charge into the tribesmen and then flame the fat ladies when they're alone," Ember said, because that was what she had determined by studying the enemies that were in front of them, especially since she was the one who had been targeted by the first group of foes that were in this realm, before she focused on the path that they would have to take to reach the central part of Trondo's training grounds, "other than that we should be able to clear out the forces that Gnasty Gnorc and his chosen commander put in this realm and restore order to the area that Trondo lives in."
Spyro nodded his head in understanding, since he was sure that Ember knew what she was talking about, just like the two of them trusted Spike whenever he explained something that they had discovered during their adventures, before they headed further along the path, where they rounded the corner that was part of the path and discovered two more fat ladies waiting for them. What the trio discovered was that one of the fat ladies was close to where they were standing, but apparently out of range for her to sic her tribesman on them, and some distance behind her stood another fat lady, this one with two tribesmen standing near her, meaning they would have to be careful as they approached them. As they moved forward Spike jumped up onto the stone that was to their left and had Talon pick up the gems that were on the ground, including the one that was inside the chest, allowing Spyro and Ember to approach the first lat lady and her tribesman, who Spyro charged down as Ember flamed their main target. After that the two of them focused on the next two foes that were in their way, the two tribesmen for the next fat lady, and it wasn't long before they were both smacked by the lady they were protecting, causing them to charge forward without any regards for their own lives, allowing Spyro and Ember to simply charge into them and return them to their previous form. As the pair flamed the fat lady, so they could see what they were going to have to fight next, Spike caught up to them and jumped up the stones to reach two gem chests, before returning to their side as he collected some gems near the edge of the path, though they didn't mind him doing that since he was making sure they didn't leave anything behind.
As they approached the narrow passage between two large stones, a passage that they had walked through in the past when Nestor and Titan showed them what Trondo's training grounds looked like, Ember charged forward and slammed into a tribesman that decided to charge at them, before Spyro did the same thing to the one that happened to be coming after the first one, leaving Spike to flame the fat lady that stood behind the tribesmen. From there they paused for a moment as they spotted their next ground of enemies, as all three of them spotted yet another fat lady blocking the way, standing near a pillar and the tunnel that would take them into the center of Trondo's training grounds, and in front of her stood three more tribesmen, who seemed ready to charge at them as soon as they were smacked. This time Spyro, Spike, and Ember approached the fat lady one by one, allowing each of them to charge into one of the tribesmen that were coming at them, before they flamed the enemy that had caused the tribesmen to charge at them, allowing them to look around the area and take in the pillar that was near them, and the carvings that were on it. Spike decided to check out the back side of the pillar, as none of them had ever been on the other side of it, and found a fat lady hiding behind it, where he flamed the enemy and picked up the gem that was left behind, before discovering that there was a whirlwind that would allow them to access the top of the pillar, just like there was one that would allow them to access the main tunnel that they needed to go down.
Still, Spike was curious as he used the hidden whirlwind to get to the top of the pillar, where he found a few gems resting on top of it, a key on a stone platform that they couldn't reach by just jumping, and a lone purple gem, one of the rarer colors, resting on a lone platform that was some distance from where the top of the pillar rested. Instead of having Spyro or Ember do this, as in glide over to where the purple gem was resting, Spike jumped into the air and glided over to where the gem was sitting, where he reached the platform and came to a stop, allowing him to claim the gem rather easily, before he turned his attention to his next target. That, of course, was the key that had a few gems resting around it, where he jumped off the platform and glided over to where the key rested, though once he landed on the platform he picked up the gems that were around him and then grabbed the key, before jumping down to where his siblings were standing, since both of them were waiting for him to finish what he was doing. Once the three of them were together again they used the other whirlwind to get up to the entrance of Trondo's training grounds, where they found a few gems leading the way to where the dragon was trapped, though before they freed him Spyro jumped over to a passage that happened to lead back outside and flamed a fat lady that was standing on one of the stone platforms they had walked by earlier, before grabbing the gems and returning to his siblings.
The moment the three of them were ready, and there were no additional enemies that they had to worry about, Ember tapped the crystalline statue and they watched as Trondo was freed from his prison, with one of his daggers in his right hand, indicating that he had either finished his training before he was trapped or he had been about to start his training when he was imprisoned, though the look on his face indicated that he was annoyed about something.
"Thanks for the rescue." Trondo said, indicating that he was happy that they had come to save him, especially since he was sure that they had saved the other Peace Keepers dragons and the Artisans dragons, before he gripped the handle of his dagger even harder for a few seconds.
"No problem." Ember stated, as she was happy that they were able to free all of the Peace Keepers from their prisons and allow them to return to what they had been doing before Gnasty Gnorc cast his spell, even if the land itself wasn't totally freed since they had someone they needed to take out before that could happen, before she noticed that there was something that was bothering Trondo, "Is something wrong?"
"You could say that." Trondo replied, where he glanced at the first of the three platforms that he trained on, along with whoever he was training with, allowing the trio to find a large being that looked like the tribesmen that they had taken out in this realm, though at the same time he also seemed to be more like a Gnorc, and he was wearing some armor in front of his chest, to protect himself from flames and charge attacks, while carrying a staff like the smaller tribesmen, but what was interesting was the fact that he had sunglasses on, "That is Doctor Shemp, the commander of Gnasty Gnorc's forces for this realm, and he thinks he's the coolest person in this homeworld, so much so that he wouldn't stop talking about it, something that was going to drive me crazy if I was forced to listen to him talk for days on end, and he only stopped talking about it when he heard you fighting your way through his soldiers."
"So he's arrogant?" Spyro inquired, because that was what he was gathering from what Trondo was telling them, that Doctor Shemp was one of those people that were arrogant and that they might be able to turn that against him, though at the moment he honestly wasn't sure how they were supposed to use that fact against the guy who seemed to be ignoring them at the moment, which ticked off Trondo.
"Yeah, and he's the strongest warrior of his tribe," Trondo answered, something that made sense to the trio, because it was sounding like Doctor Shemp might be someone that was annoyed by the fact that he couldn't beat Trondo and be the strongest warrior in the entirety of this homeworld, which was what Titan considered Trondo to be, due to the various skills he possessed.
"No! I am the strongest warrior in the Dragon Realms!" a voice stated, where the trio glanced at the platform that was next to them and discovered that Doctor Shemp was standing near the edge, as if he was focused on them, but Ember quickly determined that the commander of Gnasty Gnorc's forces was staring at Trondo for some reason.
"I told you, if you want that title you have to beat me in battle." Trondo replied, informing the trio that the title of the strongest warrior in the Dragon Realms only changed hands if someone managed to overcome the person, be it dragon or someone else, that currently held the title, and right now the siblings determined that Trondo must have faced several foes in the past that sought the title, only to beat them all in battle, and Doctor Shemp might be among the number of opponents that he had faced and beaten before this point in time.
"You were trapped by Gnasty Gnorc's spell, meaning you have been beaten, and, since there was no one else around when that happened, I am now the strongest warrior in the lands!" Doctor Shemp said, showing the trio that he had to be retarded on some level, especially since the warrior customs said that the title could only be claimed if a warrior beat the current holder in battle, no doubt in front of some witnesses, and that caused Trondo to bring his empty left hand to his face as Doctor Shemp walked back to where he had been standing earlier.
"Despite being the strongest warrior of his tribe, he's also not very smart." Trondo added, though that time Doctor Shemp ignored what he said and focused on what he was doing, which was when he pulled his hand from his face and turned his gaze towards the trio, as there was one more thing he needed to tell them before they challenged the foe that was in their way, "Though there is one thing you'll need to know for this fight, and that is the fact that Doctor Shemp will see this as a challenge for the title as the strongest warrior in the Dragon Realms, despite not possessing the title himself, which means that he'll only accept one person, regardless if that person is a dragon or someone else, as his opponent, so only one of you will be able to fight him at any given moment."
"Really? Only one of us can fight Doctor Shemp?" Spike asked, though even before Trondo nodded his head, to confirm what he had said, he already knew who was going to go up against the warrior that was in control of this realm and free it from Gnasty Gnorc's control, "Well then, I guess that means your up, Ember."
"That's not surprising, since I am the warrior of our group, if I can be called that," Ember remarked, though even as she said that, and Trondo glanced at her for a moment, she jumped up onto the platform that was in front of them and stared at the opponent that she would be fighting against, someone who seemed unwilling to admit that the title he wanted so badly still wasn't his, "Well then, Doctor Shemp, shall we see who the stronger warrior is?"
"With pleasure, you puny weakling!" Doctor Shemp replied, where Ember growled for a moment, as she couldn't believe that this guy had the nerve to call her a weakling, especially since she had lead the charge through his forces so they could get here in the first place, before he gripped his weapon and prepared himself for the coming battle.
Ember stood her ground for a moment as she waited to see what Doctor Shemp did, since she had no idea what sort of attacks or tricks he had for her, before her foe charged at her with the same reckless behavior that the tribesmen she and her siblings had defeated earlier had shown them. What she did, instead of attacking him head on, was roll out of the way and bounce back onto her feet, so she could walk around the circular platform and study her foe for a few moments, where she immediately spotted that her foe's back wasn't protected like his front was, reminding her of what they did against the large enemies that were in the tunnels of Dark Hollow, who are armor protecting their fronts and not covering their rears. Instead of testing out that theory immediately, like Spike could have done if he was the one fighting Doctor Shemp, she moved around the edge of the platform for a few more moments and dodged the next few charge attacks that her foe decided to use against her, where he slammed his staff into the area that he had been targeting, where she had been moments ago, but her speed allowed her to bypass the attacks as she studied her foe. After a moment or two she decided it was time to get serious and rolled out of the way of the next incoming charge, finding that Doctor Shemp followed the same attack pattern, a fatal flaw when she considered what was going on, before gathering her flames as she loosed a burst of fire at Doctor Shemp's unprotected back, causing him to jump into the air a few times as the bridge behind him extended, allowing him to retreat from the platform.
At the same time, as her foe retreated, Ember spotted a gem fall to the ground and charged over it as she followed her opponent to the next platform, intending to finish the fight with him before he was able to flee the area and come back when she and her siblings were gone.
"That was cowardly!" Doctor Shemp stated, as if he felt that being attacked in the back, when his front was entirely covered by armor, was against the rules, but at the same time it appeared that he was getting ready for a brand new attack, which Ember was getting ready for.
"Hey, I'm not an adult dragon yet, so I can't fight you like Trondo can," Ember replied, revealing that she was different from the other dragons that she assumed Doctor Shemp was used to dealing with, though at the same time she braced herself as she approached her foe.
This time around Doctor Shemp didn't charge at her, rather he stayed in one spot and taunted her by sliding one of his fingers across his neck, though when she got close he spun around where he was standing and tried to smash her into the floor with the upper part of his staff. It was rather easy to avoid that attack, especially since she could tell that the spinning part of his movements revealed his back once more, so she moved around him and avoided his attack a few more times, just to make sure that there was nothing else she had missed, before discovering that this was all he wanted to do at the moment. Once she figured out that Doctor Shemp was going to be lazy and stick to a single move, just like he had done on the previous platform, she taunted him into lashing out at her with his attack and, when his back was exposed, she flamed it, causing a repeat of what happened on the first platform and made a second bridge extend, which let them move to the third and final platform. This time around, when Doctor Shemp reached the final platform, he didn't say anything as he got rid of the flames from his burned backside and glared at Ember as she came to a stop on top of the platform he was on, while at the same time Spyro, Spike, and Trondo moved so they could witness what was going on, all without getting in the way of the battle.
Ember then discovered that the final attack that Doctor Shemp had to use against her didn't exist, as his next attack was the same as his second attack, so all she had to do was avoid the staff that would have hurt her, since her foe wasn't moving as fast as Toasty was in his scarecrow disguise, and it wasn't long before she flamed him into the ground, where he collapsed and didn't get back up.
"Well, that was easy," Ember remarked, though at the same time the final bridge, between the third platform and the walkway that the exit portal was on, extended and linked back up once more, before she glanced over to where her siblings and Trondo were standing, as there was something she wanted to get off her chest, "Trondo, are you sure he's the strongest of his tribe?"
"Yes, he is definitely the strongest warrior in his tribe, even though his tribe is the weakest of them all and they're usually the ones we have to stop from causing trouble," Trondo replied, revealing that Doctor Shemp was likely using this opportunity to raise his tribe above the other ones, even though this was the first time they were hearing of the other tribes that existed throughout the land the Peace Keepers called home, before he shook his head and glanced at the foe that had been defeated, "Don't worry about it. I think that his tribe might reconsider who their strongest warrior is after today, once they learn that a young dragon, who hasn't even matured into an adult yet, was able to beat him in battle while not taking any damage in the process. Ember, you have some real talent for battle, and I look forward to seeing what you do in the future, after this business with Gnasty Gnorc is done... and maybe, when you finally become an adult, we'll see which of us is truly the strongest warrior in the Dragon Realms."
Ember smiled as she heard that, because it was rare for Trondo to actually compliment another dragon in such a way, and it made her eager to face him when she finally matured into an adult, though even as that happened Spyro and Spike collected the last of the gems, from Doctor Shemp and the nearby chest that the key they found earlier went to, before they entered the exit portal and headed back to the Peace Keepers homeworld, so they could head to the next homeworld and save it from the forces that were trying to take it from the Magic Crafters.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to return to the central hub area of the Peace Keepers homeworld, where they found all of the warrior dragons that they had freed from their prisons flying around and finishing their various checks, so they could make sure the Gnorcs hadn't messed something up after they were all imprisoned in the first place. Trondo also left his training grounds as well, so he could see what the damage was and so he could talk with Titan, where the trio felt that he wanted to discuss the tribe that Doctor Shemp came from, so they could make sure this sort of thing never happened again. The trio didn't mind him following them for a few moments, since Gosnold, the Balloonist that would be taking them to the homeworld of the Magic Crafters once they told him that they were ready to depart from this land, was waiting near the tunnel that would take someone down to where the portal to Ice Cavern rested. The only thing they were interested in seeing was whether or not they needed to stick around for an hour or two, to assist the Peace Keepers in restoring order to their land, before leaving and heading to their next destination, so they could take out the enemies that were bothering Cosmos and the rest of his clan.
When they reached the area in front of their destination, but before they walked over to where Gosnold was waiting for them, the siblings paused as Trondo walked over to where the other Peace Keepers dragons had gathered, so they could listen to what Titan wanted them to do, before determining that there was no reason for them to stick around, as it seemed like the warrior dragons didn't need any additional assistance from them, so they headed up to where the Balloonist was standing, waiting for them to arrive.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's good to see that the three of you have been hard at work saving the lands the dragons call home, while recovering everything that has been stolen," Gosnold said, showing that he was happy that they were taking the homeworlds back from Gnasty Gnorc's forces, while at the same time recovering the treasure and the eggs that their enemies had taken from their elders, before he focused on the task at hand, "Shall we get underway and get the three of you to the land of the Magic Crafters?"
"Indeed. Titan and the other Peace Keepers don't need our help anymore," Ember replied, though that was when Gosnold nodded his head in agreement and moved out of the way, which was what the trio was expecting, thanks to the number of times they had used Marco's hot air balloon in the past.
Once Gosnold moved out of the way Spyro, Spike, and Ember climbed into the basket that was in front of them and waited for a few seconds, as the moment they were ready to leave Gosnold climbed in after them and turned on the flames, allowing his hot air balloon to move up into the air and start the short journey to the homeworld of the Magic Crafters, the next land that needed their assistance. From what the trio knew it would take them half an hour to get from the land of the Peace Keepers and reach the land that Cosmos watched over, so they tried to relax a little before they reached their next destination, while at the same time Spike pulled out his writing materials and jotted down what had happened in Titan's homeworld. Spyro and Ember, on the other hand, simply focused on what they knew about the next homeworld, so they could remember what Cosmos had shown them in the past and figure out a plan of attack, despite the fact that they were waiting for Spike to finish what he was doing so they could get his opinion on the matter. While they waited, however, they also noticed that their stuff from Marco's hot air balloon, the supplies they had left behind when they climbed out of his basket when they reached Titan's land, had been transferred to this basket, allowing them to snack on what Alvar had packed them, to energize themselves for the battles that were ahead of them.
After a few minutes Spike lowered his quill and put his writing stuff away, just like he did when they were traveling to the land of the Peace Keepers, before getting something to snack on as well, showing Spyro and Ember that he agreed with them, even though he could tell that they had something they wanted to ask him.
"So, what's bothering you two?" Spike asked, because he could tell that whatever his siblings wanted to talk about had to be bothering them, why he had no idea, since what they were doing right now seemed to be working in their favor, but that only made him curious as to what topic they wanted to discuss before they reached the next homeworld.
"I know we're doing well, tackling the realms together," Ember said, as she knew the three of them could easily tackle the various realms of the remaining homeworlds, especially since they were able to do that for their home and the land that Titan watched over, but she had been curious about something and wanted to tell her brothers what was on her mind, before they reached their next destination, "but I was wondering if we might be better served splitting up after we clear out the central hub area of the remaining lands that we'll be heading to."
"What, you mean each of us should solo one of the realms, instead of tackling them together?" Spyro inquired, though he had to admit that it was an interesting idea, that they tackle the central hub area together, like they had done in the past, before splitting up and tackling the other realms separately, before regrouping to tackle the Flight Realm and take down whoever was in control of the next homeworld.
"That's right," Ember replied, though even as she said that she could see that Spyro understood what she was telling them, while at the same time Spike seemed lost in thought about what she was saying, but he was the one she wanted to hear the opinion of, before they reached the land Cosmos watched over, "Think of it this way, Spike, we can tackle the central hub area together, like we did in the past, but then we can save both our time and our energy by splitting up and tackling the three realms that are scattered around the hub area, before regrouping for the Flight Realm and whoever is in control of Altair's peak."
"It's a reasonable idea to be sure," Spike commented, showing that he was thinking about the idea and that he might like it, though at the same time he remembered the layout of the remaining three homeworlds that they hadn't visited yet, those being the Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, and Dream Weavers, before he came to a decision, "Well, I say we go for it. We have no idea what Gnasty Gnorc is planning, now that he's trapped so many dragons in those crystalline statues, even if he's unaware of the fact that we're freeing everyone in the homeworlds that we've already visited, so the sooner we save the other dragons, and liberate the other homeworlds from his commanders, the sooner we can stop whatever Gnasty Gnorc is planning and save the Dragon Realms."
Ember was a little surprised that Spike had agreed to her idea that they each take one of the three realms for the next homeworld, after they cleared out the central hub area anyway, before regrouping for the Flight Realm and Altair's peak, but at the same time she was happy to see that both of her brothers liked her suggestion, enough to try it when they arrived at the land of the Magic Crafters.
It wasn't long before Gosnold maneuvered the hot air balloon up to where the dock that served as the entry point for the Magic Crafters homeworld, where the trio readied themselves for their first objective, clearing out the central hub area of enemies and free all the dragons that were trapped in this area, including recovering all of the gems that had been stolen by Gnasty Gnorc's forces. The moment Gosnold reached his destination Spyro, Spike, and Ember jumped out of the basket they had been sitting in, along with their belongings, and landed on the dock that would allow them to enter the first chamber of this land, where they assumed Cosmos would be waiting for them, trapped in a statue like the other dragons they had encountered so far. This time around, since they didn't have the knowledge and skill that Cosmos possessed, none of them could turn the three parts of the walkway into a single piece, like Cosmos had when they first visited this land, but that didn't stop them from jumping over the gaps, where the three of them paused for a moment as they spotted a blue thief standing in their way, holding an egg like the others they had seen in the past. Ember growled as she charged after the taunting thief, who turned to the path on their left and she followed after him, where she found that her target was trying to head in a short loop so he could lose her, but before he could jump up to the hidden area, and get back to where her siblings were standing, she flamed his rear and knocked him into the wall, where she grabbed the egg, and a pair of gems that the thief lead her to, before returning to where her brothers were standing.
Once that was done Spyro charged into one of the armored druids they had spotted in the past, which told the trio that all of the other wizards had moved in on the land that the Magic Crafters called home the moment Gnasty Gnorc had cast his spell, no doubt to claim the artifacts and magic that Cosmos and the rest of his clan were attuned to, before they approached the statue that was in front of them and tapped it, freeing Cosmos from his prison.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for freeing me," Cosmos stated, showing that he was very happy to see the trio again and that they had freed him from the statue he had been trapped in since Gnasty Gnorc's spell had been cast, before he noticed what Ember was carrying at the moment, which made him even happier, "I see that you've already recovered one of the dragon eggs that the fairies delivered to our realm, which means that you likely need an area to send the other eggs, if you find them in your travels. Why don't you send them over here for now, so I can watch over them while you do what you did in the other homeworlds?"
"You mean rescue the dragons that have been trapped, recover the remaining eggs, and reclaim the treasure that has been stolen?" Spyro inquired, informing Cosmos of what they had done in the previous homeworlds, even though he had the feeling that Cosmos might already know more about the situation, before they told him anything, though even as he said that Ember handed over the egg she had taken from the thief that had been near where they were standing.
"Well, it seems like you already have a plan of attack in mind," Cosmos replied, though as he said that he moved to the wall that was behind the trio and set the egg down, before he weaved his magic through the air for a moment and focused on what he was trying to figure out, only to glance back at the trio after a few seconds, "Well, I just checked out the area that our nursery is in and discovered that all seven of our dragon eggs have been stolen by those thieves, so that means there are six more eggs out there, either in this homeworld or the other realms... and, last I checked, only Spike has access to that teleportation breath."
"Six more eggs, scattered around the other realms," Ember said, to which she sighed for a moment, because while she liked the idea of them separating and tackling the three realms that were connected to the central hub area for this land, especially since both of her brothers agreed with it once she told them about it, she didn't like the idea of one of them having to slow down and lug an egg around until they reached the exit portals, "Spyro, Spike, I know I suggested that we split up and tackle the other realms separately, after clearing out the central hub area, but I think we might have to stick to what we've been doing so far, at least for this homeworld anyway."
"Whatever you say, Ember." Spike replied, because either way they were planning on doing what they did in the last two homeworlds, tackling the realms either as a team or as individuals, so to him it didn't matter which method they used to get the job done, though once that was settled Spyro charged through the line of armored druids that were staring at them in the other half of the chamber and knocked them out.
As Spyro did that Spike gathered the gems that were laying on the floor and smashed through the metallic chest that was near them, though once the area was clear of druids they headed outside and looked around for a few seconds, as they found that the green druids were weaving their magic into the area around them and were raising sections of earth at random, either in the form of pillars to stand on or walls to block their path, before returning them to their original position and laughing at the trio. They waited for a few seconds, mostly so the green druids would return the area to how it looked a few moments ago, before all three of them charged forward, with Spike taking out the druid that was right in front of them, Spyro charging to the left to take out the pair of druids that had been on a pillar a few seconds ago, and Ember focused on the green druid to their right, where he managed to raise the wall, but since she was on the area the wall had been she bounced into the air for a moment and crashed into her target, returning the wall to normal. Once those enemies were taken care of Ember broke the gem chests near her as Spike broke the circular chest, before they regrouped with Spyro and headed down the path that he was following, gathering any gems that happened to be laying on the ground as they passed by the portal to Alpine Ridge.
Of course that involved them breaking another circular chest along the way, as well as gathering a few gems that happened to be near the first portal to one of the other realms, but once that was done they returned to the path and charged into the two armored druids that were standing in their way. As they took out those enemies Spike noticed that there was a cave with what appeared to be a locked chest, off on the left of the path they were following, so he made sure to remember that fact as he followed his siblings up to the wide area that was their next stop, where they found a sheep just minding it's own business, though Spike found it looking at them as they came to a stop, as if it was curious as to what they were going to do next. Of course they were more focused on the thief that was standing nearby, who seemed to be in the mood to taunt them, which was when Ember charged after him and chased him around the area, though he was even faster than the others they had seen so far, if even by a little bit, something that caused Spyro and Spike to move so they could cut off the thief, allowing their sister to flame him so Spike could move the egg to where Cosmos was waiting. The moment that was done they collected the gems that were around them, took out the druid that was hanging on a small bit of land and the chest that was in front of him, and then found two more armored druids standing in front of a tunnel, one where a green druid raised part of the earth up to block their path.
Since there was no way forward, after beating the two armored druids by charging into them, the trio decided to head up the walkway that was behind them and smashed through the metallic boxes that had been near the druids, where they found another trapped dragon at the top, and a few gems laying nearby, so they tapped the statue and freed Zantor.
"Thank you for freeing me from my prison, though I have something to tell you three," Zantor said, where he pointed at the path they had used to reach the area that he had been trapped in, which was when the trio noticed that there were some arrows embedded in the ground, green arrows that were pointing at the tunnel, which the green wizard had unsealed after they walked away from it, "Whenever you see arrows like these, regardless of the surface that they might be attached to, you can charge along with them and start to supercharge."
"Supercharge?" Ember asked, as this was the first time that she was sure that they had heard this term before, though at the same time she was sure that someone was going to explain it to them, so they could figure out what was so special about these arrows and the ability Zantor had mentioned.
"Basically it's an improved version of our charge ability," Spike answered, showing that he knew something about this ability, though this was the first time he had actually seen a location like this in one of the areas he and his siblings had visited, so he was interested in seeing how it worked, "one of the books in the Dark Hollow library made a mention of this ability and what it could be used for, but this is the first time I've seen it up close and personal."
"So we just charge down the ramp and see what happens?" Spyro inquired, though he was happy to hear that Spike knew about the supercharge ability, even if his knowledge on the matter wasn't as complete as what Zantor and the other Magic Crafters knew about it.
"Exactly." Zantor said, showing that he agreed with what the trio was talking about, though at the same time he waved his hands for a moment and the cards that he messed with moved through the air in front of him, indicating that this was all they were going to get from him.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at the walkway they had used to get up here and studied it for a few seconds, though that was followed by Spyro deciding to see what the supercharge ability was like, where he charged down the walkway and, much to their surprise, his speed was much greater than what he and his siblings expected, as he rushed down the path and slammed into the green druid before he had time to raise the earth wall, before forcing himself to stop.
"That was awesome!" Spyro declared, as he wasn't used to the speed of the supercharge, and he suspected that it would be some time before he and his siblings got used to this, but it opened so many windows for them, because with that speed they might be able to reach new areas that they couldn't reach before.
"Interesting. So that's what happens when you charge down a supercharge area," Spike commented, though both he and Ember were surprised and impressed by what their brother had done, especially since this was something new for them to learn about, but that didn't stop either of them from charging down the walkway so they could experience what Spyro had done, before stopping like their brother had done.
What they did, after seeing what happened when they charged down the supercharge ramp, as that was what Zantor called it before they got too far away, was head down the passage that had been opened up and found a druid standing in front of a portal none of them had gone through before, meaning that it had to be the Flight Realm for this homeworld, to which Ember charged through the armored druid and revealed another trapped dragon between them and the portal. Once the druid was taken care of they tapped the statue and found that Boldar was the one that had been trapped here, where the dragon revealed that this portal would take them to an area where they could learn to fly, which confirmed Spike's thoughts that they had found the portal to this land's Flight Realm. The moment the trio knew that piece of information they cleared out the area of the gems and chests that were near the portal, before returning to the tunnel so they could turn down the other path they could have taken, which also allowed Boldar to leave for the area that Cosmos and Zantor were gathering in, before they went off to check the realms the three of them wouldn't be tackling during their visit to this land. They found a locked chest near a small body of water, one that needed a cannonball or something to break, before focusing on the green druid and a green wizard, a magical being that wore a green robe over their body and float above the ground, that were in the area with them, where Spyro charged into the druid while Spike approached the lone wizard that was staring at them.
Spike, instead of flaming the foe like Spyro or Ember would have, since he was in the middle of preparing a lightning spell by the looks of it, let the wizard charge his spell and fire it not a few seconds later, where he loosed his teleportation breath and set it into the rock wall near them, shocking his foe in the process, before he flamed the wizard and opened the area for them to explore.
Once those two enemies had been defeated, and they were sure the coast was clear, the trio headed up the path that was to their left and found the portal to the other realm they knew about, Wizard Peak to be exact, where Ember flamed the green wizard that was standing nearby. After that the three of them explored the area that they had come to, where Spyro flamed the gem chest and claimed the purple gem that was trapped in it, while Spike walked along the top part of the wall and smashed through the chest that was on the other end of the walkway, before turning around and finding an opening in the backside of the lone building that was near them. That was when he noticed that there was a key on the inside of the building, to which he jumped over the water that was between where he happened to be standing and where the key was located, where he grabbed the key and headed back to where his siblings were waiting for him. From there they headed down the path that would take them to the portal to Altair's realm, where Spyro smashed through the pair of metallic chests and the armored druid that was at the end of them, before Ember charged over the platform that was in the water and barrelled into the green druid that was standing near the portal, while Spike dealt with the pair of green wizards that were nearby, effectively clearing out the rest of the enemies for the Magic Crafters homeworld.
As soon as they were sure all of the enemies had been defeated, and the dock that the next Balloonist was open for them to access once they were done here, the trio turned around and headed back to where Zantor had been trapped, which was where Spyro charged down the ramp again, though this time he maneuvered himself so he could slam into the chained up chest that clearly couldn't be unlocked with the key Spike found. Of course he had to try it a few times, since it was hard to get used to the supercharge ability, due to this being the first time any of them had tried it out, before he figured out how to get around the turns and struck his target, allowing him to claim the gems before returning to where his siblings were standing. Once Spyro was with them again Spike charged off the edge of the area that Zantor had been trapped in and glided around to where the cave he had seen was located, where he smiled as he found the locked chest and inserted the key, allowing him to claim the treasure that had been locked inside it, before jumping off the edge and returning to the walkway near the portal to Alpine Ridge, so they could make sure they had everything before they went into one of the other realms and cleared it out.
"Well, it looks like we have freed all the dragons trapped in this area, taken out all the enemies, and recovered all the treasure and dragon eggs that have been taken," Spyro commented, though he was happy to see that they had been successful in clearing out the central hub area of the objectives that they had focused on in the last two homeworlds, but that was when he glanced at his siblings as he considered what they were going to do next, "So, which of the realms should we tackle first?"
"I say Alpine Ridge." Spike replied, where he gestured to the portal that they were standing near, since it was the first portal they had passed by when they were clearing out the enemies and reclaiming what had been stolen from them, and when he focused on his siblings again he found that they seemed to be in agreement with his suggestion.
With the three of them in agreement over where they should go first, while saving the Flight Realm and Altair's peak for last, they headed for the portal that was near them and headed through it, where it took them a few moments to reappear at their destination, a circular platform that was connected to a path and happened to be positioned on some thin rock pillars, which seemed to be the starting area for this realm. The first thing they did was pick up the trio of gems that were behind them, something that they were getting used to seeing since it seemed that the thieves that stole them liked to leave some gems near the area dragons arrived in when they were visiting a realm, before they focused on the enemies that were in front of them. What they discovered was that the first two enemies consisted of an armored druid and a quadrupedal beast that had yellowish-orange fur with tusks, a creature that none of them had seen before this point in time, but they discovered that fire was the beast's weakness, as Ember flamed it the moment it got close, leaving Spyro to charge into the armored druid so they could move forward. After that they found another beast that tried to swipe at them with one of it's paws, but they backed off and let the attack go by them before taking out the creature that was blocking their way, allowing them to see what was going on in the area in front of them, along with discovering that Alpine Ridge was built around some mountain peaks, just like all of the other areas they had been to in the past.
There was a green druid using his magic to move a block between two sides of the walkway, where they guessed that he was mostly trying to block their path and stop them from moving forward, but all three of them simply waited for an opening to present itself before rushing at the druid, knocking him out in the process and releasing the block that he had been messing with. Once that was done they found an armored druid standing on a small stone pillar for a few seconds, though as soon as they approached him he jumped onto the beast that was right next to where he was standing, as if the beast could be used in battle, where they rolled to the side as it tried to attack them, before Spyro flamed it and knocked the armored druid to the ground, followed by Ember taking him out. As they did that Spike looked at the area around them and found some stairs that would allow them to move up to the next area, though at the same time there was a small hidden area behind the stairs where a pair of gem chests rested, which he claimed before he joined his siblings at the bottom of the stairs, where they found that a green druid was manipulating the stairs and turned the steps into a slide, meaning that if they were on the steps when he changed it they would slide back down to where they were standing. They waited for a few seconds, for the green druid to return the stairs to normal, though the moment it happened all three of them started to jump up the steps as fast as they possibly could, but as the druid weaved his magic into the area in front of him, to shift the steps again, Spike looked his flames for a moment and knocked him backwards, allowing the steps to remain in their natural state and let them reach the area the druid was guarding.
The siblings paused for a moment, to take in the fact that the green druids were really trying to stop them from saving the Magic Crafters, meaning they were either allies of Gnasty Gnorc or they were gems taking the place of the real druids and wizards they had seen in the past, before they charged through the armored druids and approached the trapped dragon that was a few steps away from where the pair of druids had been patrolling. The dragon in question was called Zane, who had three horns on his head, two on either side and one coming out of the top of his head, while wearing a purple and blue colored vest over his chest with a hood over his head, though once he was freed he cowered behind the book that he had been trapped with and asked them if they were scared of the beasts that roamed this realm. The trio informed him that they weren't scared of the beasts, as each of them had been easy to take down, and Zane seemed to calm down as he remarked that he believed them, before opening his wing and departing from the area, leaving the three of them to wonder if he had been acting or if he had been telling the truth about being scared of those beasts. Once Zane was gone the trio took a few seconds to return to where the patrolling druids had been and smashed the metallic chests that they had walked by, to save Zane first, before taking out a circular chest and then climbed up some small steps that let them stand on a section of the wall.
It was then that they spotted a few magic users, a blue robed elder wizard and a green druid, battling each other with their magic, which was basically the druid raising the pillar he was standing on to block the incoming spell that the wizard cast in his direction, before the wizard ran around in a circle like he was made, only to repeat the same thing over and over again with nothing changing.
Spike, despite the fact that they were going to have to break up the fight, couldn't believe that beings that could use magic, and potentially cast more impressive spells than what they were seeing, were this bad at having a magic duel, so he and his siblings glided over to where the two combatants were fighting and quickly put an end to the battle, by having Ember charge into the green druid as Spike flamed the elder wizard, allowing them to explore this area before they returned to the path they were supposed to be following. They first collected the gems that were around the area they had glided to, which rested in two small groups, before heading towards the nearby opening, where they discovered three elder wizards practicing their ice spells on the walls, who only noticed the trio once their spells were finished. The trio acted the moment the wizards noticed them, avoiding the incoming ice spells by either rolling out of the way or jumping over them, surprising their opponents at the same time, before they separated from each other and targeted one of the wizards, allowing all three to take one of their foes out at the same time. Once the wizards were taken care of they quickly gathered the gems that were around them, and the ones inside the wooden chest, before climbing up the platforms that three green druids liked to move, which basically allowed them to take their foes out rather easily and let them claim a few more gems, along with break another circular chest.
From there they glided back to the path they were supposed to be following, the one that would take them to where the exit portal was located, and landed on a platform between where Zane had been imprisoned and a large tunnel that went through the mountain, where a beast happened to be waiting for them, so they simply repeated the same trick they used against the others, by avoiding the incoming attack and flaming their foe, before gathering the gems that were around them so they could focus on the tunnel.
Standing near the tunnel's entrance was another green druid, who seemed to be in the middle of raising a section of the floor in front of him to block their path, as it was too high for any of them to glide over, but, just like all of the other green druids they had taken out, this one also lowered the section after a few seconds and then raised it again a few seconds after that. It wasn't hard for them to determine that they had to glide towards the tunnel the moment the section was lowered, as that would be the only opportunity for any of them to get inside the tunnel, so they waited for a few more moments and, one they watched the section lower back into it's original position, all three of them jumped into the air and glided over to the tunnel, surprising the green druid in the process. Fortunately he didn't have enough time to raise the section back up and stop them in their tracks, as there was always the chance of that happening, though once they landed the green druid was flamed into the ground, allowing them to collect the treasure he had been made from while also moving towards the other end of the tunnel, so they could see what else was in their way. They also made sure to grab the gems that were laying on the ground, since none of them wanted to leave any of this behind, before finally coming to a stop at the end of the tunnel, where they found that the next platform they had to glide to only had an armored druid on it, along with a few gems and a pair of chests.
As such the trio glided over to the platform and Ember knocked out the armored druid, while Spyro and Spike picked up the bits of treasure that were around them, before they stared at the next platform that a green druid was messing with, which happened to be in front of a dragon, and when the way was clear they glided over to their target and knocked the druid out, allowing them to gather the treasure as Spike tapped the statue in front of them.
This time around they found that Eldrid, a dragon with blue hair, advanced looking goggles that had tubes that looked like horns, and were filled with a strange blue liquid, had been trapped in this area, though judging from the fact that he was still wearing his apron, had cork plugs in his nostrils, and had a few potions in his hands, it appeared that he had been in the middle of his work when he had been trapped. Eldrid thanked them for releasing him from his prison and stated that he had to get back to his alchemy, since he was one of the best alchemists in the Dragon Realms, so the trio let him leave as they focused on the area that was behind him, where Spyro and Ember dealt with the armored druids that were blocking their way as Spike opened the metallic chests. From there they headed to their left and found a square shaped area with a sunken pit, where two sleeping beasts were located, though this time around Spike jumped down into the pit and flamed both of the creatures, leaving his siblings to gather the gems that were around the pit and charge through the lone armored druid that was near them, before they regrouped and headed towards the exit portal that the path was taking them to. As they drew closer and closer to the exit portal a green druid raised a section of the floor and revealed a beast that had been waiting for some action, leading Ember to dodge the attack and flame the creature while Spyro did the same thing to the druid, allowing them to advance on the next area, where another beast, with an armored druid riding it, were waiting for them.
As Spyro and Ember dealt with them, however, Spike headed down the steps that they had walked by and found a small area off to the side where two more beasts were sleeping, so he quickly flamed both of them, gathered the gems that had fallen, and breathed fire on a fireworks box to get the gems that were trapped inside it, before heading up the stairs so he could rejoin his siblings by the exit portal, where he was informed that there had been three chests in the area and his siblings had broken them, before Ember tapped the statue that was in front of them.
The dragon they freed this time was Zander, an elderly Magic Crafters dragon that had a slightly drooped neck, had purple scales that were different from Spyro and Spike's scales, and his wings appeared to be made out of crystal, even if they were sectioned off and seemed to be held in place by his magic, something that interested Spike, as he made a quick note about it as soon as he discovered what was going on. All Zander had to tell them was that they were doing a good job and that they were getting closer to learning all the tricks of the homeworld they were in the middle of saving, something that the trio didn't believe since there was so much more to this land than what they could see, so they knew that it would take years for them to truly learn what he was talking about. Once Zander took off, showing Spike how his new wings worked and giving him a few seconds to write down his notes, the trio glided over to the elegant opening that had been built into the side of the mountain that was opposite of where the exit portal was located, which was where they found yet another dragon statue, along with three pillars with fireworks boxes and, more importantly, a thief that was standing near what appeared to be a small track of some kind. Instead of engaging the thief right away, like they normally did, Spyro glided over to where the first fireworks box was sitting and breathed fire on it, before returning to where his siblings were standing, allowing them to watch as the box exploded like the others, only for him to repeat the process with the remaining boxes so he could free the other gems.
Once that was done, and Spyro was sure he had all the gems, Spike tapped the statue that was nearby and freed Kelvin from his prison, who happened to be a thin bluish-green scaled dragon that was wearing a purple cloth around his waist and his shoulders, the upper part looking like a cape, while also having a purple hat, a blue orb that was hanging from his tail, a satchel with some books in it, a key attached to a necklace, and a scroll in one hand.
"Thanks for the rescue," Kelvin said, showing that he was happy that they had come and saved him from his prison, before he glanced at the tunnel that was nearby and spotted the thief that was watching them at the moment, which was when he focused on the three of them again, "also, don't forget that there are likely more thieves in the Artisans and Peace Keepers homeworlds, stealing the eggs that the fairies brought them in the last year or two."
"We know, we've already taken those guys out," Spyro replied, causing Kelvin to pause for a moment, as he wasn't expecting to hear that the three of them had already tracked down the thieves in the previous homeworlds and recovered the eggs that they had stolen, before he gestured to where Ember had been standing a few seconds ago with one of his wings, "or, to be more specific, Ember freaked out and chased all of them until she could recover the eggs, so Spike could use his teleportation breath to safely move them to an area where Nestor and Titan could make sure they were returned to their respective nurseries and make sure nothing had happened to them."
"I... I see." Kelvin said, as he was unsure what to do now, especially since it appeared that the trio knew what they needed to do, in regards to the thieves, before watching as the thief he had spotted earlier jump through the air and land on the ground, where he ran off again as Ember landed near him, growled with a look of anger on her face, and chased after him once more.
The thief was fast, that was true, but Ember was faster and she eventually collided with the thief when he was in the middle of the air, though they were happy to see the thief rolled and his back protected the egg as he hit the ground with a thud, which was when she checked the egg and, when she was sure it was fine, she let Spike send it off to Cosmos. Once that was done they ran around the track, picking up the gems and chests that Ember had ignored in her effort to catch up to the thief, before they headed back to the exit portal so they could focus their attention on one of the remaining two realms and restore the order that had been broken.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to the central hub area of the Magic Crafters homeworld not a few moments after they entered the exit portal at the end of Alpine Ridge, though once they reached their destination the three of them headed for the portal that Zantor had been imprisoned in front of. As the siblings headed for the next realm they noticed that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters were moving out, so they could see to the other realms and make sure nothing was wrong with them, especially since the other magic wielders seemed to be in the process of taking over the lands that this clan of dragons called home, or at least the ones that had been created by Gnasty Gnorc seemed to be doing that. Spike was sure that the enemies they had encountered so far weren't the original wizards and druids that they had seen when they first visited this homeworld in the past, when they were learning about the various clans and the lands they called home, and his thoughts were proven right when he recalled how each of their enemies returned to a gem state, showing that they had to be creations of Gnasty Gnorc, since he seemed to be the only one with this particular spell. Still, all three of them were happy to see the Magic Crafters heading out so they could find the various hidden entrances to the other realms, so they could see what the damage was, while Cosmos remained in the tunnel, indicating that he was going to wait with the eggs, so Spike would have someplace to send the others when they found them.
Once they knew that things seemed to be returning to normal, or as normal as things could get in this homeworld, the siblings headed up the walkway and approached the portal that would take them to High Caves, the next realm that they needed to restore to how it had been before the dragons had been trapped in those crystalline statues.
It didn't take the three of them long to reach the walkway that was the starting point for the High Caves, which was similar to Alpine Ridge, in the sense that the entire realm seemed to be built around a number of mountain peaks and had a number of structures that bared the style of the Magic Crafters. What they could see at the moment was that there were two paths for them to take, one that seemed to be a curved path that a few of the other magic users happened to be fighting over at the moment, while on their right was a cave that happened to be slightly darker than the area they were standing in. What interested Spike was the fact that there was a pair of elder wizards shooting ice spikes at the enemy that was further up the path, where the trio immediately noticed that the being they were fighting seemed to be a dark green robed druid, almost like the green druids they had encountered in the past, though this guy was floating above the ground in his own tornado, all while summoning smaller tornadoes to deal with the attacks that were coming his way. It appeared that, just like the elder wizard and green druid they had seen back in Alpine Ridge, these magic users appeared to be in a stalemate, as their attacks were meeting in the middle of the path that the siblings would be walking on at some point in the near future, since they were sure that there was a dragon trapped at the end of the path.
The moment they knew what was on their left, and the obstacles they would have to deal with this time around, Spike glanced at the cave that was off on their right and paused for a moment, because he spotted a large spider-like creature moving through the chamber that the entrance lead to, one that had stone-like limbs, two yellow eyes, and a metallic back that meant flames wouldn't work on it, though he recognized the creature from his studies.
"Well, I guess we're heading down the path that the wizards and druids are fighting on," Spike commented, because he knew that if there was one of those spiders in this realm, something he was hoping to avoid during their adventure, then there was likely more of them hanging around the cave that he had been staring at, before he turned towards the other path and focused on it.
"Why, what are those things?" Spyro asked, as while he and Ember trusted that Spike wouldn't lead them the wrong way, especially since he was sure they had to go into the cave and find the stolen gems, but at the same time he glanced at the spider-like enemies and wondered why Spike wanted them to go the other way, "Can't we take those spiders and clear out the caves?"
"That is a Metalback Spider, a creature that is too tall for us to charge through and it's metal back prevents our flames from working on it, meaning it's impervious to our skills." Spike replied, showing his siblings that these creatures are dangerous and that they didn't have the abilities necessary to take them down, before he thought about his studies and what he learned about these creatures, especially the few weaknesses they possessed, "The only way we'll be able to take one of them out, and I'm positive that there are more of them in that cave, is to gain access to the superflame or the supercharge powers, meaning we'll either find a supercharge ramp or we'll find someone to grant us the power to wield a flame that can take out these spiders."
"Okay, that sounds like a plan." Ember said, because she liked the idea of using either the supercharge ability or the superflame ability, another new skill they were picking up from the Magic Crafters, she was curious as to where they might find someone that can give them that power, causing her to turn towards their brother, "So, Spike, do you have any idea where we might find someone who can give us that sort of power?"
"We would have to find one of the Fairy Princesses," Spike answered, though at the same time he glanced at Spyro and Ember for a moment and found that they were tilting their heads, indicating that they didn't really understand what he was talking about, something that he figured out due to the fact that he read a lot of books and those tomes and scrolls covered things that his siblings didn't know about, "Okay, you know the fairies we saw around the Artisans homeworld every now and then in the past, who helped Nestor and the other Leaders out whenever they needed assistance with something, especially when it comes time to deliver the dragon eggs that we have been recovering? Well, my studies indicate that the fairies have their own ruler, the Fairy Queen to be exact, along with a number of Princesses that are scattered throughout the Dragon Realms, but the reason I'm mentioning them is because if we find one of the Fairy Princesses, the fairies that wear the bluish-purple dresses, then we can be bestowed with the power to temporarily wield the superflame breath, since it will last between fifteen to thirty seconds. Of course that wouldn't be a problem if we could find the Fairy Queen, the fairy that wears a reddish-orange dress, because she would grant us the ability for a longer period of time, for the duration of our visit to a realm to be exact, but the chances of even meeting her are stacked against us, so we'll have to hope one of the Fairy Princesses are visiting this realm, otherwise we'll have to rely on the supercharge to take those spiders out."
Spyro and Ember stood there for a moment, realizing that the spiders would have to be left alone for some time, or at least until they either found one of the Fairy Princesses their brother had mentioned or a supercharge ramp, but for now there was no way they were going into the cave, as the Metalback Spider they could see seemed to be patrolling the area and would likely attack them the moment it spotted them inside it's territory. That, of course, didn't stop Spyro from picking up the three gems that were near the area that the spider was patrolling, but once those gems had been collected he turned around and quickly retreated to where his siblings were standing, which was when they started ascending the path that was in front of them. The first thing they did was separate and deal with the three enemies that were currently battling each other, where Spyro and Ember flamed the elder wizards and took them down, though at the same time Spike avoided the incoming mini tornadoes and charged through the tornado wizard that was blocking the way forward, which let them regroup as they discovered another elder wizard fighting another tornado wizard, indicating that a good number of the enemies they encountered in this realm would be fighting each other this time around. This time Ember took out the elder wizard a few seconds after his spell had been cast, while Spike approached the tornado wizard, but this time around Spike had a surprise for his foe, as he used his magic to call up a magical wall in front of him, just like the lesson that Cosmos had given him and his siblings, which stopped the spell and allowed him to take down the wizard, before he and his siblings headed up the curved walkway that was near them.
First they dealt with the elder wizard that was firing at the moving pillars that were between where they were standing and one of the small tunnels that went through the mountain, before dodging another tornado as they reached the top, allowing them to deal with the tornado wizard that was preparing another spell. Once those two enemies were taken care of, and they were sure there weren't any other enemies in their immediate area, save for the two green druids that were moving the pillars, Spike tapped the crystalline statue that was in front of them and released one of the trapped dragons from their prison. The dragon in question, Cyrus, was a big dragon with green scales and a purple colored belly, though he wore a wizard hat on his head and a cloth collar of some kind that rested in front of his chest, while also carrying a tall wooden staff in one hand and a candle holder, with a lit candle, in his other hand, even though he had a few more candles on his horns and tail, which were lit as well. He did thank them for rescuing him, something that all of the other dragons did when they were freed, before asking them if there was anything they could do about the green druids, showing that he was annoyed by their desire to move anything they came into contact with. Before they got started, however, Spike glided over to the top of a nearby building and gathered all of the gems that were up there, including the ones that were locked inside some metallic chests, before returning to his siblings so they could focus on what they were going to do next, which was take down the pair of green druids that were in front of them.
All three of them waited for the perfect moment, which was when the first green druid shifted his pillar so it was pointing to the mountain on their right, before gliding over to the pillar, so that way the moment they were together again they flamed the druid and the pillar returned to normal, only to replicate the same thing with the second pillar, allowing them to jump over to the balcony in front of the entrance they had seen and continue exploring the realm they were in, all so they could make sure they left nothing behind. What the balcony was connected to was a small room of sorts with two pools of water on each side of a walkway, which appeared to be warm due to the steam that was coming from them, but the trio paid the room no mind as they climbed up the couple of steps and dropped down onto a walkway that was just outside the room. As they walked along the path that they had discovered, collecting gems and smashing through the metallic chests that were in the way, Spike noticed that the large open area between the mountain they were on and all of the other peaks had a number of fairies flying around, ones that weren't wearing the two types of dresses he had mentioned to his siblings earlier, as these were Safety Fairies, who made sure dragons and other creatures didn't fall into the open area between the peaks, and they wore yellow dresses. Spike also explained the fairies to his siblings, just in case one of them fell over the edge or something, and made sure to tell the two of them that, while the fairies seemed to be minding their own business, they would react the moment someone fell over the edge or dropped into the open area between the mountain peaks.
A few seconds later they reached the end of the walkway and jumped over to the area that a crystalline statue rested in, one that happened to be near a supercharge ramp, but the first thing they did was tap the statue and released Ajax, a dragon with dark green scales that were covered by a purple suit of some kind, which was decorated with blue and pink gems, and also carried a staff in his left hand.
"Thanks for the rescue," Ajax said, his tone showing them that he was happy that they had come and saved him from the statue he had been trapped in, though that was when he focused on the direction the three of them had come from and nodded his head in understanding, "Ah, you took the back way into this area, instead of worrying about those nasty Metalback Spiders that live in that cave, though I bet you'd like to know how to defeat them."
"We already know, thanks to Spike," Spyro replied, though at the same time he wondered if it was possible for them to use the supercharge ramp that was behind Ajax to enter the cave that was near them and charge through the spiders that called the cave home, so they could see what they were hiding, "we either have to use the supercharge ability to charge our way through them, or we have to find a Fairy Princess and be bestowed the power to temporarily wield the superflame ability, both of which are powerful enough to break the Metalback Spiders."
"I knew Spike was smart, but I had no idea he knew the weaknesses of the Metalback Spiders as well," Ajax admitted, because everyone in the other homeworlds had heard about the trio and their skills, as Nestor and the other Leaders often told them how the trio was progressing, though he was caught off guard a little by the fact that they knew how to bring down the terrifying spiders, before a grin appeared on his face, "It's true that you need one of those abilities to take down a Metalback Spider, and it just so happens that you can use this supercharge ramp to head back in there and deal wit a few of them, but if you head in there now, and head down the path on the right, you should be able to reach a small area where a Fairy Princess might be waiting to meet you."
Spike, while surprised by the news that Ajax had given them, couldn't help but smile as he and his siblings now knew that they might be able to meet one of the Fairy Princesses and gain the power to defeat the Metalback Spiders, so they could move on to the remaining areas and see what else there was to this realm, before heading to Wizard Peak and finishing off the rest of Gnasty Gnorc's creations. Spyro, on the other hand, walked over to where the supercharge ramp was located and headed to the top of the ramp, where he turned around as both Spike and Ember moved out of the way, as they had the feeling that he would be charging into the cave the spiders were located in. A few seconds later he charged down the ramp and let the power flow into his body as he turned around as he reached the bottom of the ramp, where he turned right into the cave and focused on the Metalback Spider that was in front of him, though instead of him being the one to take damage he plowed right into his target and the creature collapsed as he passed by it. Once the first one was taken care of he shifted his course and headed down the tunnel that would take him right back to the entrance that had allowed Spike to identify the creatures he was taking care of, before he barrelled into a second spider and then crushed a third one before coming to a stop near the point they had appeared on when they entered his realm. He grinned as he turned around and headed back to where his siblings were waiting for him, though as he did that he smashed his way through several chests and gathered the gems that were along the way, before finding that his siblings were doing the same thing to the metallic chests that he had bypassed to get rid of the spiders.
"Well, that was exciting," Spyro commented, because he was happy to have dealt with the three spiders that he had charged through and taken out, especially since Sparx had grabbed the gems along the way, before he glanced at the path that would take them to the area that Ajax had told them about earlier, "So, do you think we should head to the area that Ajax mentioned, or should we scout out the rest of the realm and clear out the remaining enemies?"
"Since we've already cleared part of the cave out, we should just finish it off and then make sure the realm is safe from Gnasty Gnorc's forces," Ember replied, as she wanted to make sure the rest of the spiders were taken care of, as she was also positive that there were some pieces of treasure in the area near the Fairy Princess that Ajax had told them about, before they focused on the other enemies that they might find in this realm.
Spike nodded head in agreement, because they had no idea how many more Metalback Spiders there were in this cave and it would be good to take them all down before they went to explore the other parts of this realm, though as soon as he did that the three of them headed over to the path would take them to where the Fairy Princess was located, and where a few more enemies had to be waiting. It didn't take them long to jump up the stone steps that allowed them to access the next area of the cave, where they found a green druid casting his magic and manipulating one of the passages that they needed to get through, so Spyro flamed him and undid whatever he was doing, which let them head over to the next set of stairs and move to the next chamber. There they found yet another green druid messing with the exit of the cave, or at least a third entrance that they hadn't known about, though the three of them moved fast and jumped up onto the small platform the druid was standing on, as none of them wanted the nearby spider to come chasing them, before Ember flamed their target and opened the way forward. A few seconds later, when they were sure that the spider hadn't noticed them yet, the siblings headed over to the opening that the druid had been messing with and Spike smiled as they came face to face with one of the Fairy Princesses that he had told his siblings about, who said nothing as she smiled and flew down to where they were standing, where she put a kiss on Ember's nose.
Spyro and Spike watched as Ember's scales started to glow, almost like her fire had been empowered, and both her wings and her horns almost looked white hot, like the metal that someone would work with, but as soon as she found out what happened Ember grinned and charged back into the cave, where she loosed her fire, now white hot, and burned down the first of the remaining two spiders, before repeating the process with the second one, which left the smile on her face as she came to a stop.
"Fascinating, so this is the superflame power I've read about," Spike commented, as this was the first time he had seen this power being used by someone, as the tomes and scrolls that contained the information about it, which also included the supercharge ability he had told his siblings about, didn't really describe the powers that they were using during their visit to the Magic Crafters homeworld and realms.
"It's definitely powerful, since I tore down those spiders with little effort," Ember replied, knowing that Spike liked to gather his own information on things that they encountered or discovered during their journeys to the other homeworlds, though at the same time she watched as the power boost faded away and her body returned to normal, indicating that a kiss from a Fairy Princess really didn't last all that long in the grand scheme of things.
"Well, let's gather the rest of the gems in this cave and see what else this realm has to offer," Spyro said, because while he knew that Spike wanted to write all this down, so he could update the information back in the Dark Hollows library when this adventure was over, he also knew that there were a few more areas for them to clear out before they departed from this realm.
Once the three of them were in agreement on what they needed to do next, and that they couldn't stay in this cave for much longer, they quickly picked up any gems that had been missed when they first came through this area and headed back to where Ajax had been contained. It didn't take them long to reach the outside of the cave again, though the exit that they had been seeking, where they headed up the supercharge ramp and prepared themselves, though this time Spike was the first one to charge down the path, since both Ember and Spyro had done something interesting, where he jumped when he reached the end of the ramp and sailed off towards the cave that was off to his left a little. It was easy for him to land in the cave and forced himself to stop, so he didn't go charging into a wall or go through the other entrance that the cave had, before smiling as he found another trapped dragon and a number of chests, where he returned to the entrance that he had used to get here and beckoned for his siblings to join him. Spyro and Ember took a few seconds to charge down the ramp and enter the cave he was in, as well as coming to a stop so they could see what was in this cave, before they approached the trapped dragon and tapped the statue, allowing them to free someone else. The dragon in question, Cedric, had orange scales with yellow chest scales, though he was wearing a scarf, a belt with a few potion bottles on it, and happened to be reading from a book the moment he was released from his prison, something that he put his bookmark in so he could focus on them and thank them for what they had done, before informing them to try combining the supercharge with jumping and gliding to really explore this realm.
With the message delivered, and the trio nodded their heads to indicate that they understood what they had been told, Cedric headed through the exit portal and returned to the Magic Crafters homeworld, allowing the three of them to deal with the rest of the realm. Spyro and Ember headed through the other opening and jumped as far as they could, which was where the Safety Fairies stopped them before they fell and transported the two of them back to the top of the supercharge ramp, as if they knew that was where they wanted to go, before heading back to the area that they seemed to be gathering in. Spike, on the other hand, returned to the entrance of the cave he had charged through and watched as his siblings charged down the ramp and jumped into the air, where they headed towards the cave that was on his left and safely landed a few seconds later, causing them to smile in the process, before he jumped into the air and glided over to where they were standing. The reason he had done it this was because he assumed that the caves were close to each other and that one of them could easily make the jump between them, and this proved him right, but instead of saying anything the three of them explored what turned out to be a really small cave, picking up the few gems that were on the ground, before returning to the entrance of the cave.
This time around Spyro and Ember watched as Spike repeated the motion that he had used when he was leaving the cave that Cedric had been trapped in and landed at the entrance of the cave they had just finished off, where he jumped and glided over to the cliff area that was off on their left, causing them to frown as they realized that they really didn't need the supercharge all that much. Once the three of them were back together on the cliff area, and none of them had fallen into the open area between the caves, they explored the area around them and found a few gems laying on the ground, before heading up to an area where three circular chests rested, including a thief that was already taunting them, despite the fact that this was the first time he had seen them. This time around the trio discovered that the thief had doomed himself, as his path appeared to be around a small pool of water, meaning that it was easy for Spyro and Spike to standing on either side of the path and block him, meaning his options were to fall over the edge or fall into the water in front of him, and that moment of indecision allowed Ember to glide over to where he was standing and flamed him, which allowed her to made sure the egg was okay before Spike sent it off to where Cosmos was waiting. Once the thief was taken care of, and the chests had been smashed open, the trio jumped over the edge and let the Safety Fairies carry them back to the top of the supercharge ramp, but instead of charging down the ramp they simply walked down the path and headed off to the right, so they could investigate the last area of the High Caves, which happened to be one or two more caves, before they headed for the exit portal.
The first area they came to, after crossing the bridge, had three fireworks boxes that were easy to flame and claim the gems that had been trapped inside them, before gliding over to another cave that had a number of metallic chests in it, which were also easy to open and collect the gems, only to glide over to the third and final cave, though that was when they found a second thief and Ember chased after him, leaving Spyro and Spike standing at the entrance. That turned out to be a good thing, as they watched as the thief eventually came to a stop near the top area that was at the end of the path he had been running down, which also let Ember crash into his backside and free the egg that he was trying to run off with, allowing them to look over it and then send it to where Cosmos was waiting. With that done, and they were sure that there was nothing else for them to collect, especially since Ember informed them that she had claimed every gem that was in her way as she was chasing the thief, they jumped over the edge and let the Safety Fairies carry them back to the top of the supercharge ramp, where they charged towards Cedric's cave and landed near the exit portal, which they used to return to the central hub area of the Magic Crafters homeworld.
It didn't take them long to return to their destination, though as soon as they appeared in front of the portal to High Caves they moved out and headed for the portal that would take them to Wizard Peak, the last realm they needed to clear out before focusing on the Flight Realm and Altair's peak, but as they walked towards their destination all three of them were happy to see this homeworld returning to normal, that the Magic Crafters were returning to how things had been before the spell had been cast, before they reached the next portal and entered it immediately.
A few seconds later Spyro, Spike, and Ember appeared on a balcony that appeared to be the starting point for this realm, and it was connected to a chamber that seemed to go through the mountain peak that was in front of them, but, like with the other realms, the trio knew that there were more than one peak in this entire realm, and Spike could tell that there were a few more near where they were standing. Standing near them was what appeared to be a bluish-purple skinned Gnorc that was holding a club that had ice spikes on it, though the club appeared to be one of the favorite weapons of Gnasty Gnorc's creations, and further behind that foe was a green wizard, currently hovering above the ground as he minded his own business, even though they would be taking him down in due time. Ember approached the ice Gnorc and rolled out of the way as her foe tried to smash her under his club, though as soon as she got back up she loosed some fire and knocked him down, allowing Spyro to charge into the green wizard while he was distracted, while then let Ember deal with a second ice Gnorc that they hadn't noticed, clearing the chamber so they could move forward and see what else was waiting for them. Spike, on the other hand, noticed that there was a path to the left of the balcony they appeared on and figured that, since it appeared his siblings had this part of the area covered, he might as well see what he could find, so he glided off and collected the treasure that was laying on the ground.
Ember noticed the movement out of the corner of her eye and decided that it wasn't worth asking what Spike was doing, because she knew that it would end up helping them in some way, so she turned her attention to Spyro as he dodged the incoming attack from an ice Gnorc that was blocking the path, before flaming him down so they could find the first trapped dragon in this realm. After that came another room with two more green wizards and an ice Gnorc, to which the two of them separated from each other and targeted the wizards, knocking them both down before either of them could fire their spells, before turning their attention to the ice Gnorc, who was rather easy for them to knock down with a single burst of fire. They made sure to collect whatever treasure was around them as they found a bridge that would take them over to the next building, one that was being guarded by a green wizard, which made it really easy for them to cross over into the next structure as Spyro charged through their foe, even though Ember was sure she had seen an elder wizard just out of their reach in the first chamber they had entered, before shrugging it off as she followed her brother. As it turned out there were two more green druids and a ice Gnorc waiting for them in the next building, along with one of the elder wizards hanging near the ceiling of the room, but as they entered the building, and got to work taking down their opponents, Ember spotted Spike gliding over to the balcony that the elder wizard was standing on, allowing him to take one of their foes down while she and Spyro took care of the other three.
Before Spike explained what he had been doing he retreated for a moment, heading back to the start of this realm, which caused Spyro and Ember to stand there for a few moments as they wondered what their brother was doing, though that was before they heard an elder wizard cry out, followed by silence as Spike returned to them.
"Well, the paths that the other route I saw are taken care of," Spike announced, informing his siblings that they could have used two different paths to get around some of their enemies, not that it mattered since they were able to overcome their foes rather easily, before he smiled as he thought of something else to tell them, "oh, and I managed to collect a good number of gems while I was at it, so more of our stolen treasure has been recovered."
Ember was fine with this news, as that was part of what they were doing, so both she and Spyro said nothing as the three of them focused on the next room that was along the path to the exit portal, which just so happened to be where the first trapped dragon of this realm was located, but first they gathered the gems from the chests around them before heading into the next room. Since there were no enemies in the next room they were able to free Jarvis easily, who was a tall dragon that had a beak mouth, something that was very uncommon among dragons, feathered wings that were blue colored at the tips and were green near his shoulders, while carrying a wand in his left hand while making sure that his belt had the pair of scrolls that he must have been working with when he was frozen. Jarvis was very happy to see them, especially since they freed him from his prison, and announced that this was his favorite supercharge spot in the entirety of the Magic Crafters homeworld, as this would allow them to get back at the wizards that were trying to take over this realm, before the trio walked down the path a little so they could see what he was talking about. That allowed them to see that there were three elder wizards hanging around the area at the end of the ramp, meaning that they were sitting ducks for someone if they were to charge down the ramp, to which the trio wasted no time in moving down the ramp and barrelled into their targets, before the wizards had a chance to freeze them with their magic.
As it turned out there was another ramp opposite the one that they had charged down, so they stopped after taking out their targets and smashed the circular chests that were nearby, though once that was done, and they were sure that there weren't any other paths to take, the trio headed to the top of the other ramp and charged back down it, only this time they turned to their right and continued to the next area. There were four more elder wizards in the next area, which was fine since the three of them were able to take the group out with their supercharge, though as they reached the top of the next ramp they stopped for a few seconds, allowing them to see that if they had continued, and jumped over the small wall that was in front of them, they could have glided over to a platform that was near their location. As such the siblings turned around and headed back the way they came, though not a few seconds later they came charging back down the path that had brought them to the higher point and jumped over the wall, where they spread their wings and glided over to the top of the platform, allowing them to smash the various chests that happened to be resting on it. Of course Ember had something else to deal with, as she walked around the wall that was near them and found a thief holding one of the remaining eggs they were looking for, though this time the thief seemed to know better and walked over to where her brothers were standing, where he returned the egg and bowed his head for a moment, as if he knew that he was in the wrong and was sorry for what he had done, so Ember simply glared at him as he tapped the wall and disappeared, as if he had never been there to begin with.
"Okay, that was impressive, but it leaves more questions," Spyro said, because if the thieves were capable of doing feats that like, meaning silently teleporting from place to place, he had to wonder why they didn't just teleport away with the eggs once they had stolen them from the various nurseries, before he focused on Spike as he sent the egg back to where Cosmos was waiting.
"My best guess is that the thieves have their own innate magic as well, just like dragons and other creatures do," Spike replied, as he was curious about this, because there were no records that indicated that the thieves even had magic, but it made sense for them to hide their abilities to lure the dragons into a false sense of security, and as he thought about it he was sure that there was something different about that thief, he just couldn't place what that something was, "and that they can't use their magic while they're holding onto something, so it's more like they use their magic to teleport from place to place, to scout out the area, before the more impressive thieves come in to take what they're looking for... though I suspect that they'll think twice about trying to steal our eggs and treasure, give the circumstances."
Ember hoped that the thieves learned not to mess with the Dragon Realms, especially with the three of them doing everything in their power to restore the order that Gnasty Gnorc had shattered with his spell, before they cleaned up the rest of the platform and then jumped into the air, so they could glide over to an area where a number of ice Gnorcs were standing around. As soon as they landed Ember turned around and flamed the one that was on the higher ground before he even had a chance to swing at them, while Spyro and Spike dealt with the pair of ice Gnorcs that were blocking the path back to the trapped dragon they had ignored. Once those three enemies had been dealt with the trio quickly smashed the chests that were nearby and gathered the treasure, before tapping the statue and freed Hexus, who had the appearance of a traveling wizard and carried a staff with a golden eagle at the top, from his prison. Like all the other dragons Hexus was happy to be freed, and like some he didn't offer them any hints or attempt to strike up a conversation, so the trio let him depart as they focused on cleaning up the rest of the treasure and enemies, which involved heading back up to the supercharge ramp and charging into a locked chest that was near them, even though Spike was the one that did that, as that allowed Spyro and Ember to head through a small cave and launch themselves over to another platform... though this time, as they made their way back to the area that Spike was in, they used a few smaller platforms and collected the gems that were laying on top of them.
Once the three of them regrouped they continued down the path that would take them to the exit portal, where they dealt with a pair of armored druids, another ice Gnorc, caught a thief who was running around a small pool and took the egg from him after Ember smashed into him, and tackled an armored druid, one more ice Gnorc, and an elder wizard before being allowed to tap the statue near the portal, which turned out to be Lucas.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thanks for the rescue," Lucas said, his tone and expression revealing that he was happy with the trio and the fact that they were saving everyone they came across during their adventure, before he took a moment to think about something as he glanced at one of his wings for a few seconds, "Allow me to repay you for this by revealing one of my hidden secrets to you, and that is the fact that the entrance to the Flight Realm of the Artisans homeworld isn't accessed by a spell or anything like that, rather it can be revealed by ju..."
"Actually, I kind of figured out how to access the Flight Realm while we were saving our home," Spike replied, where he chuckled for a moment, because he had been wondering if this conversation was coming for a long time and now he had the chance to tell Lucas that he had figured out the secret, and it appeared that the dragon was actually surprised by his statement, "I was able to determine that the portal couldn't be revealed by a spell, rather it was revealed by jumping on the five stones until they were all glowing, and the wall opened before our eyes."
"You know, the way things are going, I think I might have found a potential apprentice to take over the role as the Keeper of Secrets," Lucas stated, though the smile on his face told Spike that he was incredibly pleased with what he had been able to do, just like what happened when Ember was taking down Doctor Shemp, before he nodded his head and took off, no doubt so he could make sure the other secrets were safe and sound.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember stood there for a few more seconds, taking in the fact that they had restored order to the final realm before the Flight Realm and Altair's peak, before they headed through the exit portal so they could finish off the last two realms before moving on to the next homeworld and repeating the process once more.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to return to the central hub area of the Magic Crafters homeworld, though as they appeared in front of the portal to Wizard Peak all three of them noticed that the dragons they had saved were in the process of fixing up the land that Gnasty Gnorc's minions had messed up. It was just like what happened when they saved their own homeworld and the land of the Peace Keepers, the dragons they saved made sure everything was normal and went into the other realms that they weren't going to be bothering with, allowing them to focus on the realms that they were clearing out. Cosmos, as they soon discovered, was in the process of moving the eggs they had recovered back to where they had been stolen from, with some help since he couldn't carry all of them on his own, not unless he used his magic to levitate a few of them, but they were happy to see that things were returning to normal. Their next destination, before they left for the land of the Beast Makers, was the Flight Realm for this homeworld, since they were sure that Gnasty Gnorc's forces were messing with it in some manner, and then they would take out whoever was in control of the forces in Altair's peak, before heading to the next homeworld.
A moment or two later they walked up to where the portal to the next Flight Realm rested, which was where Boldar had been imprisoned, and headed through the portal without delay, because they all knew that this would be simple with the three of them and that they would be back to free Altair's peak in no time.
It didn't take them long to reach the area that this Flight Realm rested in, though what surprised them was the fact that there wasn't an island for them to fly around, like there was in their homeworld or the land of the Peace Keepers, rather this area was comprised of large crystals that were growing out of the water. There were a few spires resting on some of the crystals, crafted in the design that the Magic Crafters used for the other buildings that were scattered throughout the realms that Cosmos watched over, though none of them had any idea what the structures were being used for. The first thing they did was fly through the eight rings that were right in front of them, which seemed to be leading them around part of the area, though once they reached the end of the rings they focused on the other things they needed to take care of, where one of their targets seemed to be more of those electric arches they had seen in the past, which they assumed Gnasty Gnorc's forces had built before the spell had been cast. After flying through the first arch, and smashing it in the process, the trio followed the path that the arches wanted them to follow, though after breaking the fourth arch Spike and Ember broke away from their brother and focused on the other two obstacles that were in this Flight Realm, those being more golden chests and more Gnorcs in planes. Spike focused on flying around the smaller crystals that the chests were resting on and smashed them with his fire breath, just like they had done in the past, while Ember grinned as she flew right at the planes that were coming her way, allowing her flames to tear through her targets as they approached her.
With the three of them separating and taking on the other three obstacles, those being the arches, golden chests, and the planes, they were able to clear out the Flight Realm with ease and landed on one of the balconies that allowed the Magic Crafters to take a break and stare out at the area around them, where they found the gems that were their reward for clearing out this realm.
"I'm going to assume that the amount of gems in front of us is the same as the last two Flight Realms," Ember said, as while she knew that Spike was going to count the gems and see how much treasure they were going to recover from this Flight Realm, like he had done for the last two homeworlds, she felt that the number was the exact same and that there was no reason to bother checking.
"Spike, I'm going to agree with Ember," Spyro stated, his tone revealing that he didn't mind taking a short break before they headed back to the central hub area of the Magic Crafters homeworld, so they could save Altair's peak from their next opponent, but he also knew that Spike wanted to make sure the amount of treasure was the same as the last two Flight Realms, "though that's not going to stop you, is it?"
"Nope." Spike replied, as he knew his siblings wanted to get to Altair's peak and deal with the next commander that was trying to take over this homeworld, just like they had done in the last two lands with Toasty and Doctor Shemp, but he wanted to make sure the treasure count for this Flight Realm was the same as the previous ones they had cleared out, which was followed by him smiling, "Both you and Ember are correct, as the amount of treasure that is sitting in front of us is the same amount that we recovered from the previous Flight Realms."
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads, as they knew that the amount had to be the same as the other two Flight Realms they had cleared out, though they waited for a few seconds as their dragonflies collected the treasure, but once that was done the three of them jumped away from the building and flew off towards the edge of this area. Just like the previous times they left the other Flight Realms they had to fly towards what appeared to be the very edge of the Flight Realm, where the magic would allow them to disappear from this area and return to the central hub area, though once that happened they reappeared in front of the portal they had entered a few minutes ago. Once they were back in the central hub area once more the trio headed down the path to their left and headed towards the portal that would take them to Altair's peak, though from where they were positioned they could see a dragon standing near their destination, which interested them a tiny bit. As the trio got closer to the portal they realized that the dragon in question was Nora, who must have been released from her prison by one of the other dragons they had saved, though they were interested in what she might want to talk about before they headed through the portal she was standing near.
"Nora, this is a surprise," Spike said, as he knew that he and his siblings were surprised by the fact that she was out here, instead of making sure her workshop wasn't damaged from what Gnasty Gnorc and his forces had done, but that didn't stop them from being interested in what she had to tell them, "What can we do for you?"
"I was taking a look at Altair's peak and found that things will be different for you this time around," Nora replied, her tone indicating that Cosmos had likely been the one to release her from her prison and that someone had told her what they had done in the previous two homeworlds, when they were saving Nevin and Trondo, which means she either used her teleportation magic to speak with Nestor and Titan or Cosmos told her what he knew, "From what I can tell it appears that Altair is imprisoned a third of the way through his realm, though this time around the commander of Gnasty Gnorc's forces is in the area before where Altair is imprisoned, so it seems that you'll be facing Blowhard before you can free Altair from his prison."
"Blowhard?" Spyro asked, because when he considered the previous commanders they had taken out, Toasty and Doctor Shemp, he expected a better name than Blowhard, especially for someone that was taking over the land that the Magic Crafters lived in, though at the same time he held back his chuckle, as it was definitely a name that deserved to be laughed at for a few seconds.
"A creature created by Gnasty Gnorc, to defeat the three of you once and for all," Nora stated, where the trio glanced at each other for a moment, because this was nothing new to them, as both Toasty and Doctor Shemp had been ordered to take control of the homeworlds they had been assigned to and were no doubt ordered to take down whoever tried to seize control of the land from them, though the only difference was that their next foe seemed like a creation that was made solely for one reason, "though if I'm being honest, I have the feeling that there might be more to Blowhard than what I've told you, though you'll have to figure that out on your own."
"Well, if he was sent to maintain control of this land, then he likely has some magic of his own," Spike said, though that was when he glanced at the portal for a few seconds, because now he was interested in meeting Blowhard and seeing what sort of power their next foe had in store for them, especially since they knew nothing about him, other than the fact that he had been created by Gnasty Gnorc, but, given the fact that their foe had been planning this for a long time, he had the feeling that Blowhard was an old creation that was finally being allowed to stretch his legs and serve his master.
"Just be careful when you go save Altair," Nora added, because while she knew the trio was strong and that any foe they faced would be hard pressed to defeat all three of them, especially when they matured and became adults, this was a foe they knew almost nothing about, save for the fact that he had been created to take over Altair's realm and, thanks to what the trio had done so far, defeat the only dragons capable of turning the tide against Gnasty Gnorc's plans, "there's no telling what sort of power Blowhard has, so you'll be stepping into a blind fight this time around."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads, indicating that they were going to be as careful as they possibly could, before heading through the portal that was near them and headed off to Altair's peak, so they could put an end to the assault on this land and move on to the next homeworld that needed their assistance. It didn't take them long to appear at the starting point of their destination, the same area that they had arrived in when Nestor and Cosmos had them meet Altair for the first time, though, just as they expected, there were a number of green wizards lining the path that would take them to where Altair was imprisoned and to where Blowhard was waiting for them. The first thing they did was break the chests that were behind them, so they could gather the gems that Gnasty Gnorc's forces were attempting to transport back to his domain, before turning their attention on the enemies in front of them, which was when they charged at the first green wizard that was blocking the way. It wasn't hard for them to defeat a single green wizard, as all they had to do was separate from each other and force it to target one of them, who would dodge the attack if one was fired at them, all while letting the other two flame the wizard, defeating it and allowing them to move onto the two gem chests that lined the way to the next set of enemies, who were slightly higher up than the first wizard, but not before flaming a fireworks box to get the gems inside it. Of course two enemies were still easy to take down, since they could only focus on one target and they had three enemies, so both Spike and Ember acted as the decoys and Spyro knocked down both of the green wizards that were in front of them, allowing them to smash through the metal chests that were near them and them jump down into the next part of the path they were following, to clear out a few more green wizards.
As Spyro and Ember dealt with the four green wizards that were in their way, and claimed the gems from the gem chests that were nearby, Spike focused on the being that was hovering in the air above a circular platform, like an arena of sorts, but what interested him was that the creature looked like a tornado wizard that had been empowered to a whole new level, as he had a torso and a head, which had an orange beard and a wizard's hat, but the lower part of his body was a tornado, meaning that this had to be Blowhard, and he had a decent amount of power inside his body.
"So that's Blowhard, the creature that Gnasty Gnorc created," Ember remarked, because right now it appeared that their foe hadn't noticed their arrival and was focused on something else at the moment, though at the same time she knew this was going to be an easy battle for them, "I guess it's time we took him down and clear out the rest of the foes that are trying to take over the Magic Crafters homeworld."
"Sorry Ember, but we won't be tackling him together," Spike stated, where he stepped forward and put one of his claws on the platform that Blowhard was floating above, before he turned back so he could look at his siblings, "after all, you got to have Doctor Shemp all to yourself, so I think it's time I took down one of Gnasty Gnorc's commanders on my own, especially the one that is trying to seize control of this land."
"That means I get to solo whoever is in charge of Gnasty Gnorc's forces in the land of the Beast Makers," Spyro said, showing that he was perfectly fine with his siblings taking turns with the various commanders that they were fighting so they could free the lands from their forces, though only if he was able to take on the next one, meaning that they were going to have to come up with a new tactic for the person in control of the Dream Weavers homeworld.
"Fine. Have it your way." Ember added, because while she wanted to see how strong Blowhard was for herself, since he had to be someone who could wield the power of magic, she decided that she might as well allow her brother, who was definitely more skilled in magic than she or Spyro were, face the foe that was in front of them, but she was going to be watching the battle closely and was planning on stepping in if her brother needed some assistance.
Spike smiled for a moment as he climbed up onto the platform that Blowhard was floating above and focused on the enemy that he would be facing, who finally snapped out of whatever trance he happened to be in and descended down towards the platform, where he stopped just before the bottom of his tornado reached the platform.
"Who are you?" Blowhard asked, his voice sounding like it was a combination of what they heard the other tornado wizards use and the wind itself, though at the very least he had the ability to talk and wasn't a mindless creature that had no will of his own, and he seemed interested in Spike at the moment.
"I'm Spike, and those are my siblings Spyro and Ember," Spike replied, as he figured that the moment he introduced himself Blowhard would go on the offensive, especially since he was making it clear that the three of them were the ones that his foe had been waiting for, though he was happy to see what the creature didn't lash out at him immediately, even though he was sure that he was getting ready for something.
"Ah yes, I've heard about you three, from Gnasty Gnorc," Blowhard said, confirming Spike's thoughts on the fact that he knew about them, even though it took a few moments for him to figured out who they were, despite the fact that Spike had told them who they were, before he shifted his hands and some wind seemed to spin around his fingers, indicating that he was getting ready for battle, "I have been ordered to maintain control of this land, in the name of my master, and those orders include taking out whoever tries to free the dragons that are trapped in those crystalline statues."
"Hey, before you two fight, I have a question." Spyro spoke up, as he figured that this might be the only time he could ask this question, since Blowhard was either going to run away after the fight was over or he was going to be reduced to a simple breeze, or something similar to that, before noticing that both Spike and Blowhard had turned to look at him for a few seconds, "Is your name really 'Blowhard'?"
"Yes, it is. Gnasty Gnorc, despite being my master, is not good at naming his creations," Blowhard replied, his tone indicating that he would have preferred a name that wasn't what he had been given, since it appeared that he didn't like it at all, but, at the same time, he was loyal to the being that was his master and wasn't about to argue with the person that had created him.
Spyro stood there for a moment, making Spike and Ember wonder if he was restraining himself from laughing at the fact that Blowhard's name was actually Blowhard, since he seemed to think that Nora had made it up, before they were proven wrong as their brother started to laugh over what their foe's name was.
"Please ignore him, Spyro is sometimes easily amused by things that happen around him," Spike said, because from what he knew his brother found amusement in things that were different from what he and Ember found amusement in, especially when he considered the pranks Spyro pulled in the past, before focusing on Blowhard once more, who had shifted his gaze back towards him.
The sky rumbled for a moment as Blowhard raised one of his hands towards some of the nearby clouds, where he called forth a lightning bolt and sent it flying at the area that Spike was standing in, though that was when Spike surprised his foe by calling forth his magic and summoning a barrier in front of him, preventing him from taking damage from the spell his foe had cast. Spike had figured that Gnasty Gnorc had created Blowhard with the purpose of harnessing the power of Altair's peak, the weather power that the dragon in question was used to manipulating everyday, meaning that he had to be careful, as one wrong step could be bad for him. Blowhard, on the other hand, seemed happy that Spike had blocked his attack and hadn't taken any damage, as if he was used to his foes being taken out within seconds of a fight starting, which was why he was shifting his arms as Spike lowered his barrier, no doubt so he could prepare another spell as they focused on each other. Spike waited for a few seconds as his foe called upon the power of the wind and sent a tornado straight at him, though that was when Spike revealed his hand, as he called forth his magic and focused on the spell that was coming at him, where the tornado split in half and dissipated before it could hit him, surprising his siblings for a moment, because while they knew about his magic training they had no idea how many spells he had already learned since their first lesson all those years ago.
Spike, taking advantage of the situation, rushed at Blowhard and loosed a burst of fire that struck his foe, who, just like the other commanders whenever they were hurt during battle, fled to the next area that would serve as the second platform they would fight on, which meant going through the buildings that were attached to the peaks that Altair called home, and he was kind enough to open the way for them.
"Why is it that all of the commanders flee after they've been hit?" Spyro asked, because that was something he was curious about, as both Toasty and Doctor Shemp did the same thing when they were hurt over the course of the battle, before he glanced at his siblings to see if they had any idea what was going on.
"Well, since they're in control of the realms that belong to the strongest dragons of each clan, it would make sense that they might be pulling us to where a trap is waiting," Ember remarked, as that was what she would have done if she was a commander taking over a land that didn't belong to her, though at the same time she was a little disappointed that Toasty and Doctor Shemp hadn't done something like that, leading her to assume that Blowhard was just moving to the next area he and Spike would be fighting in and wanted the enemies between them to do something to the three of them, before she glanced at the open door that was near them, "Spike, since you're the one fighting Blowhard, let the two of us take on the enemies that are between us and the commander in charge of this land, that way you can conserve your energy for the next stage of the fight."
"Now that's a plan I can agree with." Spike said, as he was happy that his siblings understood that he was the one that would be fighting Blowhard and that he would be the one to end it, so he was perfectly fine with Spyro and Ember taking on whoever was between them and the next platform that his foe had retreated to, to which he made sure to put himself behind his siblings as they approached the now opened doorway.
What they discovered what what appeared to have been a walkway at some point in time, to connect the entrance to the next floor, if they were talking about a normal building, though there were four small platforms that could be used to get from where the entrance was and stop at the next level. On two of the platforms stood a green druid, who just so happened to be in the process of moving two of the platforms around for fun, so while Ember jumped onto the platform in front of them Spyro jumped down onto the walkway to their right and picked up the gems that he found. Ember made short work of the first druid when he brought her platform up to his level, as she flamed him and severed the connection his magic had to the platform, allowing it to return to normal a few seconds later, though she didn't stay on it for more than a second as she jumped onto the third platform, letting Spyro and Spike follow after her. The second druid didn't fare any better than the first one did, as he brought Ember right up to where he was standing and she flamed him, allowing the platform to return to it's normal position as she jumped onto the walkway that had two directions for them to choose from, one of which was clearly the way out, due to the pair of druids she heard working on more platforms, while the other brought them to the chamber that Altair was trapped in. It wasn't hard for them to make the decision, as they simply walked into the chamber, smashed the chests that were around them, and then tapped the statue, allowing Altair to break free from his prison and touch the ground that was in front of them, though whether or not he had some advice for them didn't matter, since Spike could easily take care of Blowhard on his own.
"Thank you for freeing me from that crystal prison," Altair said, once more showing the trio that the dragons could see what was going on around them, as indicated by several of the dragons they had freed so far, before he focused on the area that he was in and seemed to remember something important, "it's a good thing I wasn't in the middle of casting a spell or altering the weather when that spell hit me, otherwise I'm sure whoever Gnasty Gnorc's commander is for my land would have used that power against you, meaning we wouldn't be standing here talking about it."
"I'm not sure it would have mattered either way, since Spike seems capable of beating Blowhard on his own," Spyro commented, informing Altair of the name of the commander he had mentioned, though at the same time Ember turned around and headed towards the path that would take them outside the building they were in, to which he and Spike followed after her, leaving the now freed Altair to do whatever he wanted.
Ember waited for a few seconds for the first platform to come near her, though once it was close to where she was standing she jumped onto it and let the green druid move her closer to where he was standing, allowing her to flame him the moment she got close. From there she jumped onto the platform that the druid had been standing on, just as the one she had been on returned to it's original position so Spyro and Spike could follow her, before moving onto the next moving platform, where she focused on burning the druid that was close to the building's exit. Once the druid had been burned, just like the others that had come before him, Ember was able to jumped outside the building and waited for her siblings to catch up with her, though even then Spyro was the one who turned to the left and smashed his way through the chests that were lined up and nearly reached the edge of the walkway they were on. The three of them then noticed that the whirlwind that they had used to get up here when they were younger was active once more, as if the land knew it was time to return to normal, though Spike knew that it was more like Altair's magic had been restored and he was making sure his realm was the way it had been before he had been trapped in that statue. A few seconds later, once they were done thinking about the whirlwind, the trio turned around and followed the path that was behind them, where they smashed through a pair of chests and collected the few gems that were laying on the ground, before noticing that they had arrived at their destination.
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as they were sure the second stage for Spike's fight with Blowhard would have been a little further away from the first one, but decided to say nothing as their brother jumped up into the arena and focused on his opponent, who was staring at him in return.
This time around, how that they had a good idea of what their opponents could do, both Spike and Blowhard reacted the moment Spike entered the arena, as Blowhard was quick to wave his hands and summon several bolts of lightning into the area around him, which he proceeded to throw down at the arena. Spike, seeing the attacks coming his way, moved out of the way and rolled a few times, showing that he was capable of dodging the bolts that his foe was using on him, before he activated his own magic and breathed on a few of the bolts that were sticking out of the ground, sending them flying into the back of Blowhard, but, interestingly enough, his foe didn't retreat. That informed him that the beings that were Gnasty Gnorc's commanders only fled when they were touched by a dragon's flames, which made him think about how he was going to defeat his foe, but at the very least this was a great way for him to test his magical powers against a magical opponent. At the same time he noticed that Blowhard seemed to be smiling, as if this was the first time he fought someone that was like him, which either meant a young dragon that hadn't fully matured or a dragon that was capable of providing him with a challenge like this, but either way it appeared that they both agreed on one thing, and that was the fact that they were happy have the other person as an opponent.
Blowhard continued to go on the offensive, loosing more of the lightning bolts wherever Spike was standing, though this time he also made sure they disappeared after a few seconds so they couldn't be used against him, not that it mattered since a dragon's flames were the only thing that could hurt him. That decision also informed Spike that his foe was a quick learner and that he was likely being studied at the moment, meaning his tactics were going to be useless in the near future, so he focused his magic and readied himself once more as another attack came at him. As he expected a few seconds later Blowhard added another element to the battle by using the wind against him as well, summoning more tornadoes than he had done during their first encounter, though Spike was ready for that as his magic surrounded him, allowing him to split the tornadoes like they were nothing as he summoned a few smaller barriers to protect him from the lightning bolts, before he reached his target and was able to flame Blowhard, forcing him to retreat once more. Even as that happened, however, Spike knew that such a tactic would not work a third time, not with how his foe had been adapting to his movements so far, meaning that he needed a new tactic and fast, though something told him he didn't have the time to think about something like that.
With Blowhard running to the next platform, wherever it was, Spyro and Ember glided over the gap that their foe was following and found a fireworks box and two gem chests near where they landed, so they waited for Spike to join them and move out of the way before they destroyed the three chests and claimed the gems that were inside them... but, as they followed the path that was in front of them, they soon discovered Blowhard floating above another platform, which was when Spike got up there and faced his foe once more.
"You are strong, that much is certain," Blowhard said, though at the same time he drifted backwards for a few seconds and came to a stop, where he would be out of reach if Spike was to use his fire breath again, though at the same time he held both of his hands out, where one had some wind swirling around it and the other had lightning that was crackling every now and then, "so, to honor your strength, I will take you out by pouring all of my magical power into two attacks, though there is a chance that your siblings will fall with you once I finish my spells."
Spike didn't have to tell Spyro and Ember to take a few steps back, so they wouldn't be anywhere near where his foe's spells might hit, but at the same time he remained standing in the same place he had chosen the moment he stepped up onto the platform. The reason for that was because it didn't matter where he was standing, as Blowhard intended on calling forth the power of the wind and the lightning he could conjure to defeat him, because it appeared that he was in the middle of forming a single powerful bolt that was like the other ones, one that would be incredibly painful if it hit him or one of his siblings. At the same time there was the matter of the wind power, which appeared to be one that would knock him up into the air no matter where he was standing, meaning that his options were limited and that he might as well stand his ground, to which he called forth his own magical power and dug into the stone beneath him. There was one spell that he could use in this situation, one that both his foe and his siblings wouldn't see coming, since it was well hidden in one of the books that Cosmos had given him for the basics, somewhere no one would think to look, meaning that Lucas was likely behind hiding it, but right now he hoped it would do the trick.
It didn't take Blowhard long to finish his preparations, as the moment he was ready he loosed the wind spell that he was preparing, where Spike found himself being flung up into the air, high above where his siblings were standing, but, at the same time he managed to tear a rock out of the platform, something that he tossed away as his foe loosed the lightning bolt that he had been preparing, engulfing the area around him in a bright explosion.
"SPIKE!" Ember cried out, as while she knew her brother was strong when it came to magic, with the potential to rival the Magic Crafters when he was older, she honestly didn't think that he'd be bested by one of Gnasty Gnorc's creations, especially in the manner that unfolded before their eyes, and it was only a few seconds later where she and Spyro saw their brother emerge from the smoke as he fell out of the sky.
"Wait, there's something wrong about this." Spyro said, because while he didn't want to believe that Spike could be beaten that easily, as he was following the same thought process that Ember was following, he noticed something odd about their brother and was quick to point it out to his sister, "Where's Talon?"
As soon as he pointed that out, and Ember noticed that Talon was nowhere near their brother, Spike was engulfed in a puff of some and was replaced by the very stone that he had thrown away, which crumbled into pieces due to the power of Blowhard's lightning bolt. Once they noticed that, however, they turned their attention to where the stone had been before their brother had been struck by the attack, where they found Spike in the air above Blowhard, right where he had thrown the stone, and both of his horns were glowing as he opened his mouth. In that moment both Spyro and Ember were surprised, as the fireball that Spike was getting ready to fire was made out of the same type of flame that would hurt Blowhard, though without wasting a single moment Spike loosed the fireball and it collided into his foe, sending Blowhard down to the arena floor. The resulting explosion of him hitting the ground only cracked the platform, but at the same time they watched as Blowhard attempted to get back up for a few seconds, only to collapse and slowly break apart before their eyes, indicating that Spike was the winner of this battle and that he had beaten Gnasty Gnorc's creation. Spike, on the other hand, glided down to where they were standing and staggered for a moment when he touched the ground, showing that he had used nearly all of his magic to defeat Blowhard, but in the end they were happy for him, as he had emerged from this battle without injury.
"Spike, don't go scaring us like that," Ember stated, showing that, while she was happy that her brother had liberated the land of the Magic Crafters, just like she had done for the Peace Keepers, the only thing she could have done without is that he had worried her and Spyro for a few moments.
"Anyway, what was that spell you used to avoid Blowhard's attack?" Spyro inquired, because he knew it was a spell they hadn't seen before and he was hoping that Spike would be willing to share what it was, just so they could understand what he had done to avoid taking damage.
"It's a Teleportation spell called Substitution, where the user switches places with an object of their choosing," Spike said, though at the same time he realized that this wasn't a spell he'd be using all the time, because it combined with all of the other spells he had used meant he was really low on magic and would be for a while, even though he hoped that it returned before they reached the land that Gnasty Gnorc ruled over, "I used it to switch places with that piece of rock that you saw Blowhard blast, and I made sure to move Talon with me as well, so he's safe and sound, but it did eat up a good portion of my magic, so I don't think I'll be casting any spells for a while."
Spyro and Ember had no idea that such a spell even existed, though it appeared to be quite a taxing one, so as they headed for the exit portal, to tell Cosmos and the others the good news, they stood by Spike's side as they picked up the few remaining gems and headed off, hopefully to allow their brother a few moments of rest before they arrived at the next homeworld that needed their assistance.
It took the trio a few seconds to return to the central hub area of the Magic Crafters homeworld once more, though this time around, instead of heading over to where the Balloonist was waiting for them, so they could head to the next homeworld and tackle the forces that Gnasty Gnorc assigned to the land of the Beast Makers, none of them headed over to the area that the Balloonist was standing in. Rather they retraced their steps a little and returned to the area that was above where the portal to Altair's peak was located, allowing the three of them to sit down and relax for a little, mostly because Spyro and Ember wanted Spike to relax for a while and recover his energy. They were still impressed by what their brother had done in the battle with Blowhard, especially since he was able to avoid his foe's spells and turned the tide against him with a spell that neither of them had seen coming, but, as he explained, that spell had taken a lot of energy from him, hence the reason they were forcing him to rest, despite the fact that they wanted to head to the next land and help Bruno out. The reason for this change of pace was the fact that the land of the Best Makers was within fifteen to thirty minutes from where the Magic Crafters homeworld was located, so there wouldn't be a lot of time for Spike to rest if they departed immediately, but if they did things this way he'd get a decent about of rest before they reached their next destination.
While the three of them were sitting there, recovering their energy from what they had done so far, Spike pulled out his writing materials and started to write down what happened since they arrived in this homeworld, something that his siblings knew would happen and weren't shocked by at all. Spyro knew that the scholars of their home would be very interested in reading about their adventures in this land, especially when they got to the part where Spike engaged in a magic duel with Blowhard, though they both had the feeling that the Magic Crafters would be more impressed with Spike had done. From what little Spike had told them the Substitution spell either required a good amount of magical power to use, or he needed more training in the art of using magic before he could reach the point where he could use the spell like the rest of the Magic Crafters, if they knew the spell anyway. Either way it was an impressive spell and both he and Ember silently agreed on one thing, that at some point in time they needed to work on their magic and maybe learn that spell as well, because if the battle earlier was any indication it was incredibly useful and they might need it in the future, but for now they focused on the task that was ahead of them, once they reached their next destination.
What interested the trio was that Tuco, the Balloonist that would take them to the land of the Beast Makers, stepped away from his hot air balloon and brought them some of the food that had been given to them by Alvar, which had been left with Marco when they moved to help the Peace Keepers, who must have given the packs to Gosnold, who, in turn, gave them to Tuco, though they were happy to have something so all of them could regain their energy.
"So Spike, do you think the Magic Crafters will be impressed by what you did?" Spyro asked, deciding that they might as well talk for a few minutes and help pass the time, since sitting down and eating some of their leftover food was rather boring when no one was talking, though at the same time he noticed that Ember was interested in what their brother might say as a response to his question.
"I'm sure they will be, when I get around to telling them what happened," Spike replied, as he wondered what would happen when he informed Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters of the fact that he knew how to use the Substitution spell at an early age, and could pull it off despite the fact that it drained his reserves after casting it once, though he knew that he wouldn't be telling them anything until he and his siblings restored order to the remaining two homeworlds and took down Gnasty Gnorc.
"I would hope so, since that was an impressive battle," Ember said, showing that she hoped the Magic Crafters would be impressed by the battle with Blowhard, especially with what Spike was able to do, but for now, since it appeared that their brother wasn't going to tell them what he had done in Altair's peak just yet, they could focus on returning to the land of the Beast Makers, and have to take a bath when they left the swamp so they could get rid of the smell that would latch onto them while they were there.
Spyro and Spike nodded their heads in agreement, as they both agreed that it was an impressive battle and they knew the other clans would be interested in what happened with Blowhard when they were told, but after that the three of them tore apart the last bits of their food and cleaned up the area around them. Once that was done they continued to rest for the next couple of moments, though the only way they knew that time was passing was because Spike told them what the time was by looking at the sky every now and then, another skill he had picked up from his studies and could only practice when visiting the other lands. Some time passed before Spike indicated that the hour his siblings had set aside for their rest had gone by, to which the three of them got up from where they were sitting, stretched their legs for a few seconds, and then headed over to where Tuco was waiting for them. It didn't take them long to climb into the basket and for Tuco to join them, where they took off from where the hot air balloon had been sitting and headed to the land of the Beast Makers at long last, though this time around, since they had rescued all the stolen dragon eggs, Ember felt that it was time for them to tackle the three realms separately, all so they could restore order that much quicker.
Spike also knew that they would work together to tackle the central hub area, the Flight Realm, and clear out the realm that the enemy commander was taking over, but he had to agree with Ember's plan, as it would make up for the hour they spent after his battle with Blowhard, and he was interested in seeing what sort of enemies they would have to deal with when they reached their next destination.
It wasn't long before they reached the starting area for the land that the Beast Makers called home, the small village of sorts that some of them lived in, though once Tuco brought them close to the ground Spyro, Spike, and Ember jumped out of the basket and landed on the ground, allowing him to pull away, since he didn't want to be here any longer than he needed to be, not that the trio could blame him. The siblings found that the area was mostly the same as what they remembered from the few times they had been here, though the changes that had been made were what appeared to be some sort of electric panels that laid on the ground, no doubt installed by Gnasty Gnorc's soldiers in preparation for their arrival, or maybe they were put in to power their weapons. The reason Spike considered that second idea to be a possibility was because of the green skinned Gnorc, who was wearing a black shirt, black pants, and seemed to be wearing some sort of headset that was connected to something on his belt, that was standing on the platform, which seemed to be powerless at the moment, all while holding a rod shaped object in his right hand, something that he jabbed into the floor after jumping into the air, turning on the electricity for a few seconds before he landed and everything returned to normal, even though he'd likely do it again a few moments later.
"I wonder why Gnasty Gnorc is having his minions install electric panels in this homeworld," Spyro commented, as it really didn't make much sense, especially since the Beast Makers weren't like the other clans of the Dragon Realms, before an idea came to mind and he decided to see what his siblings thought about it, "Hey, do you guys think this might have something to do with the commander of this land?"
"It's possible that these could be connected to the commander, which means taking them out might weaken whoever it is for when we face them," Spike said, because it was the only thing that made sense, that the commander might be preparing for the eventual fight with them and these panels might be the key to weakening their foe a little, though the only way they were going to figure anything out was to free the Beast Makers, recover the stolen treasure, and take out all of the enemies they came across.
"Either way, we should get started," Ember added, though there was a reason behind why she was the first one to start moving, because the sooner they cleared out their enemies and saved the other realms, like they did in the past, the sooner they could get out of the swamp and find a place to take a bath, so they wouldn't be smelling of the swamp when they arrived at the Dream Weavers homeworld.
Spyro and Spike nodded as Ember smashed the chests that were right in front of them, allowing Cinder to collect the gems that had been inside them and the three gems that had been on the ground, before all three of them turned towards the panel the electric Gnorc was standing on. While Spike and Ember waited for the electricity to go away, so they could flame their foe, Spyro charged through the three metallic chests that were near them and picked up the gems that had been hidden behind a hut, before the Gnorc landed on the panel and was quickly taken down by his siblings. Of course there happened to be a second electric panel near the first one, with an electric Gnorc watching over it by jumping into the air and hitting it occasionally, just like the first one they encountered, but since it appeared that there weren't any additional tricks to the electric Gnorcs, other than what little their foes were showing them, so once the electricity was gone they charged forward and collided with the Gnorc, returning him to his original gem state and allowing them to move deeper into the area that Bruno and the other Beast Makers dragons called home. Fortunately there weren't many other enemies for them to worry about, at least for the moment, though off in the distance they spotted a few boars running around like they owned the place, meaning they had to be more of Gnasty Gnorc's creations, but instead of focusing on them the trio tapped the statue that was in front of them, in front of the first portal for this land, and freed Bruno from his prison, as it made sense for the Leader to be the first one they encountered.
Interestingly enough Bruno grabbed his staff and pointed it at the area around him a few times, like he was expecting to find some Gnorcs standing around him or something, before he calmed down and focused on the trio, where a smile appeared on his face, indicating that he was happy with what they had done.
"Thanks for the rescue," Bruno said, though that was when he looked at the area behind them, where they had come from, and his smile deflated a little, informing the trio that he didn't like seeing all the bits of electricity that the Gnorcs were in the middle of installing into his home, "Gnasty Gnorc is turning our home into an electrified junk heap, by having his commander and soldiers installing all of this junk that they brought with them, after we were trapped in those crystal statues... and this used to be a beautiful swamp."
"It sure was." Spike commented, as he knew that the Beast Makers loved their swamp and that they liked to keep it pristine, or as pristine as it could get considering what went into a swamp, though he also knew Bruno and the others had to be upset over what was happening, "Look, why don't we take the three portals that are scattered around the central hub area, including the Flight Realm and the commander, while you can go free all of the other members of your clan and start returning this place to how it had been before Gnasty Gnorc started installing everything?"
Bruno seemed to like the idea and excused himself immediately, heading off to one of the other realms that none of the trio could access at the moment, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Ember to sigh for a moment as they focused on the log that was in front of them and the enemies that were waiting for them to arrive. Before heading over the log, which had three fireworks boxes on it, Spike found two gem chests and a normal chest, which he dealt with quickly before Ember glided over to the log, where she set fire to all three boxes and then jumped over to the piece of ground that was at the other end of it, though she had to flame a boar that was coming at her, causing it to return to being a gem. Spyro and Spike were the next ones to cross the log, which had three gems laying on it thanks to what Ember did, before the trio was able to regroup, allowing them to jump over to where the portal to Misty Bog was located, or at least that was what Spike told them as they headed towards it. Spyro did flame the boar that was coming at them, so they didn't have to worry about that at all, before they gathered the gems and glided over to the area that the next dragon was imprisoned in, but before they did anything the trio collected the gems that were around them. Spike was the one that dealt with the pair of circular chests that were near the water, Ember walked around the open hut and flamed a boar while collecting the gems outside it, and Spyro charged through the metallic chests and the normal chests that were sitting inside the hut, before they regrouped and touched the statue that was near the well they had ignored.
The dragon in question was Cleetus, someone they had seen during one of their previous visits to this homeworld, but all he had to say to them was the usual thanks for being rescued and that he needed to leave, no doubt to check on whatever he was working on before he had been trapped over here, before he took off and disappeared into the swamp, leaving the trio to continue with their work... though that was when Spike decided to investigate the well, which involved jumping into it and landing in a decent sized cave that only had one exit, the way he came.
"Well what do you know, here's the portal to the Flight Realm," Spike commented, as the main thing he was focused on was the portal that was right in front of him, and the reason he knew it had to be for the Flight Realm was because two of the three they had encountered so far had been hidden in some manner, before he collected the few gems that had fallen down here, including the ones inside a few chests.
Getting out of the cave proved to be rather easy, as a whirlwind happened to form near him and it lined up with the opening he had used to get down here, so he simply stood in it and let it carry him back up to where his siblings were waiting for him, to which they headed out to continue clearing out the central hub area of enemies. As they jumped over the sections of ground that were in front of them Spike also reminded his siblings that the three realms they needed to clear out were Terrace Village, Misty Bog, and Tree Tops, as well as taking down the commander that was invading the realm that Sadiki called home. Spyro and Ember were fine with Spike reminding them as to what the other realms were called, since it had been some time since their last visit to this place, before flaming the next boar that tried to charge at them, allowing them to approach the large tree that seemed to be in the middle of the village the Beast Makers called home and search the area around it, finding the third portal, the one for Tree Tops, and a number of gems. From there they walked over the stone bridge that was near them and entered the area that the next Balloonist was waiting in, along with the portal to Sadiki's temple, though before they did anything else they focused on the electric Gnorcs that were in the area and made sure to take them out.
Of course they had to wait for each of them to stop shocking the panels they were standing on, but it wasn't long before the three electric Gnorcs had been taken out and returned to their original state, allowing the trio to split up as they gathered the gems that were laying around the area, smashed through the metallic chests and the pair of circular chests that they found, and used a golden key, which Spike had to glide to, to open a locked chest, before pausing near the portal to Sadiki's temple.
"Okay, we've cleared out the central hub area for this homeworld," Spike commented, though at the same time he still found it to be a little odd that the Beast Makers had a smaller starting area that the other clans did, as it was even smaller than the central hub area for their own homeworld, before he focused on his siblings and the portals that rested off in the distance, "So, are we going to stick to what we've been doing so far, tackling the realms together, or are we going to split up and tackle all three of them at the same time, before regrouping to take on the Flight Realm and to clear out whatever enemies we find in Sadiki's temple?"
"I say we split up, to cover more ground and make up the time we used back in the land of the Magic Crafters, when we were waiting for you to recover from your battle with Blowhard." Ember replied, showing that she had been thinking about this since she suggested it earlier, though at the same time Spyro and Spike glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they found nothing wrong with what their sister was saying.
"I'm fine with that," Spyro said, as while it seemed strange that they were actually considering going their separate ways for a while, to tackle the three realms that they now had access to, he was perfectly fine with it, though there was only one thing he needed to know before they actually separated from each other, "I guess all we need to do now is figure out which realm each of us will be focusing on."
"I was thinking that maybe Spike should take on Terrace Village, as it sounds like the least time consuming and will give him a chance to regain more of his magic," Ember stated, revealing that she was also taking what happened during the battle with Blowhard into consideration, though Spyro thought about it and decided that it wasn't worth fighting over, as he ended up agreeing with what she said, before she focused on the remaining two portals, "Since neither of us are exhausted from a big fight, and have more than enough energy to spare, I don't think it really matters which realm we take, but I was thinking that maybe I could tackle Misty Bog and you could deal with Tree Tops."
"Tree Tops... it sounds like I might have gotten the easiest realm of them all." Spyro commented, because based on what little they knew about the realms that the Beast Makers called home, as they really didn't spent that much time learning about the other homeworlds and the realms that were connected to them, he had to assume that the realm he was going to tackle was the easiest of this land.
With the decision made, and all three of them agreeing on where they should go, the trio separated from each other and headed over to the portals that would take each of them to the realm they would be tackling, before they regrouped to take on the Flight Realm and Sadiki's temple, though once they were in front of their portals the trio headed in and waited to see what was happening to the other realms that Gnasty Gnorc was trying to take over. A few seconds later Spike appeared on what had once been a tree at some point in time, though it had been cut down and reduced to the stump that he was now standing on, before he focused on the area that was in front of him, where an enemy that looked like an electric Gnorc was blocking the way into the village that was behind him. This particular enemy was twice as tall as the foe he was thinking about, though he was wearing some sort of pack on his back and had an electric weapon that looked like a sword that had electricity dancing all over it, though since the laser Gnorc, as Spike was going to call them, wasn't paying attention it was rather easy for Spike to flame him and move forward. The other thing he noticed, before he headed into the village, was that there was a lot of green colored water, or maybe it was green colored ooze, though his thoughts told him that he should avoid the liquid and focus on his objective, where he climbed up the steps and flamed the laser Gnorc that jumped in front of him.
One thing he noticed as he entered the village was that there was a wooden wall, made from the trunks to be exact, which he assumed was for keeping the ooze out of the area the Beast Makers dragons called home, but that was when he focused on the nearby enemies, which consisted of one laser Gnorc and two smaller Gnorcs that seemed to be wearing metallic armor, though they also loosed bolts of electricity from the two parts that were sticking out of the armor, almost like they were turrets or something.
Spike had to admit that he wasn't expecting so many Gnorcs to harness the power of electricity, something that the Beast Makers didn't like to bother with, or at least he assumed they didn't like this sort of thing, but the easy way to take out the three enemies in front of him was to charge the laser Gnorc and then charge both of the gunner Gnorcs, before they had a chance to fire their weapons at him. With them taken care of, and the area cleared for the moment, he looked around for anything that he needed to gather, before Talon pointed out a couple of gems that Spike quickly collected, though once that was done he continued his search of the village as he sought out more of the stolen gems, along with the various enemies and the imprisoned dragons. He approached the ramp that would take him inside the building that was in front of him, which would no doubt bring him even closer to the first imprisoned dragon, but before he could get too far one of the laser Gnorcs jumped out from the area on his left and tried to whack him, where Spike dodged the attack and then flamed him, allowing him to return the Gnorc to his original form, though it did leave him interested in what was in the area the foe came from. in the side area he found one of the gunner Gnorcs and quickly took him out, preventing him from firing his weapons at him, though once that foe had been taken out he searched the area and found a few more gems, a pair of circular chests, two hidden gem chests, and, interestingly enough, a few chests near the ramp he had been planning on walking up a few moments ago.
When he entered the building that would take him to the next part of the village, which almost resembled a tunnel depending on how someone looked at it, the first thing he did was charge through the three gunner Gnorcs that were waiting for him and then paused for a few seconds as he stared at the odd carvings that lined the lower part of the building, which mostly seemed to be lights for the inside of the building.
"I wonder what caused the Beast Makers to form these odd boar-faced carvings," Spike commented, though at the same time he knew that the only ones that could answer that were the dragons that called this land home, as none of the books he had studied in the past mentioned something like this, and Talon buzzed for a few seconds, in the sense that he also had no idea what had caused this clan to make these carvings, before he sighed and headed towards the other entrance that the building had, as there would be time to ponder this later, when he was done saving this realm.
Spike picked up the gems that were in the building, along with smashing through a few chests that were sitting near the second entrance, though once he headed outside he flamed the laser Gnorc that was waiting for him and then rolled to avoid the electric blasts that the gunner Gnorc sent at him. He then charged at his foe and knocked the Gnorc down, allowing him to discover that there was a path that went around the exterior of the building he had walked through, where another pair of laser and gunner Gnorcs happened to be standing, so he repeated the process and cleared them out of the small area he found them in. After that he also found three metallic chests near a turn that would have connected to one of the areas on the side of the building he had been on a few moments ago, so he smashed through them and turned around so he could move forward, all while keeping his eye out for areas like the one he had missed. Thanks to that he did spot a small group of gems laying on the ground near the ramp he had walked down, something he had walked by due to wanting to clear out the area of enemies, and then found two more chests resting near a set of stairs that he would need to use to progress through the village he was clearing out. At the top of the stairs, however, rested the first trapped dragon of this realm, something that put a smile on his face, as saving the dragons was the most important thing he and his siblings were doing, followed by restoring order to the realms and recovering the stolen treasure.
It didn't take him long to approach the statue and tap on it, freeing the dragon that was trapped inside, who had light purple colored scales and dark orange colored chest scales, different from how Spyro looked, though what was interesting was that this dragon also had a beak-like mouth, he was wearing a necklace that had six teeth and a bird's skull, and he carried a small wooden staff between his hands.
"Spike, thank you for freeing me. I am Claude." the dragon said, though Spike was happy to have his name, even if this would be one of the few times he interacted with this particular dragon, before Claude glanced around the area for a few seconds and noticed that something was different from what he was expecting, "Say, where are Spyro and Ember?"
"We decided to split up, to cover more ground," Spike replied, as that was the truth, even though he was one of the reasons Ember had insisted on them splitting up to do this in the first place, but at the same time he wasn't all that surprised to learn that Claude knew about his siblings, as he was sure that all of the other dragons knew about them at this point in time, so there was no reason to get worked up over that piece of information.
"Oh... good thinking." Claude remarked, showing that he assumed it was something that Spike had come up with, as he was likely the smart one in the eyes of the other adult dragons, in terms of him and his siblings anyway, before Claude glanced at the area behind him and focused on the Gnorcs that he could see, "Though I guess that means I don't have to warn you about the Gnorcs and the fact that they seem to have harnessed the power of electricity..."
Spike noted that Claude seemed a little disappointed in the fact that he couldn't warn him about the Gnorcs, but before he could even say anything the dragon took off and headed to wherever Bruno wanted them to gather, as he had no idea where the Beast Makers dragons would go once they were freed, before turning his attention to the path in front of him once more. He had to wait for a few seconds, as some of the electric Gnorcs were in the middle of zapping the panels in front of him and he wasn't about to walk out on them while the electricity was flowing, though the moment the first Gnorc landed, and his panel turned off for the moment, Spike charged forward and slammed into his target, taking down one of the panels and allowing him to focus on the other enemies in the area. Of course that meant waiting for the second electric Gnorc to finish electrocuting the panel that was in front of him, though the moment it was down Spike charged into him and knocked him out, before flaming the laser Gnorc that was advancing on him from behind, like he had used the smaller Gnorc as bait to open a hole in his defenses. He then spotted two locked chests to his left, near the edge of the area that he was walking on, and flamed the large Gnorc that was standing near them, along with the gunner Gnorc that was standing behind him, before staring at the locked chests for a moment, where he determined that he would either have to find the keys that went to them or find a powerful firework that could break them open, just like he and his siblings had seen back in Cliff Town.
Interestingly enough, after he collected the gems that were near the locked chests, he spotted a gunner Gnorc that happened to be standing behind a firework, so Spike charged into his target and took him down, allowing him to smash the chests that were behind him and set the fuse on fire, which eventually sent the firework flying into one of the locked chests, to which he claimed the gems and moved forward with the purpose of finding the way to open the other chest, be it key or firework.
From there he followed the electric panels that the Gnorcs had set up, where he waited for the first electric Gnorc to finish what he was doing before charging into him, only to repeat the process when the next one in line did the same thing, even though Spike had to take down a gunner Gnorc before he could touch the second one, and he had to flame a laser Gnorc before he was hit. All he had to do after that was the same thing he had done so far, charge into the next electric Gnorc once he was done shocking the panel and then flame the laser Gnorc, which allowed him to reach the area where the next imprisoned dragon was resting. Spike wasted no time in tapping the statue and freeing the dragon that was inside it, who appeared to be a large dragon that was laying on his side after he was freed, with maroon colored scales while he wore a hat on his head and was chewing on a straw of hay, but he introduced himself as Cyprin and said that he was looking forward to the trio sharing their adventures with everyone else. Spike knew that something like that would happen in the future, since he was writing about what he and his siblings were doing so Argus and the other scholars could know what happened, but once Cyprin made that comment he took off and left Spike and Talon to their own devices, which meant finding their way to the exit portal and cleaning up this realm along the way.
To reach that goal Spike climbed up the steps that were near where Cyprin had been imprisoned and charged at the electric Gnorc the moment the panel returned to normal, before flaming the laser Gnorc that stood near him and then glided over to the next panel once the electricity was gone, allowing him to charge through two gunner Gnorcs and one more electric Gnorc. From there Spike glided over to the next panel and took out the Gnorcs that were standing on it, one of them being the electric type and the other being the laser type, before using the nearby whirlwind to get to the top of a pillar that just so happened to be high enough for him to glide over to where the exit portal was, even though that required taking out one more electric Gnorc in the process. Once his foe had fallen he quickly gathered the gems that were around the exit portal, including releasing the gems that were trapped inside the gem chests, before gliding down into the area between the structures he had been walking on, allowing him to charge through three more gunner Gnorcs and flame down a laser Gnorc, who seemed to be the last enemies in this realm. As soon as the laser Gnorc fell he started gathering the gems that were laying on the ground, including smashing any chest he came by, before discovering another side route that took him to a few metallic chests and, according to Talon, two more gem chests that rested on the piece of ground that was above him, requiring Spike to backtrack a little before he could claim those gems as well.
As soon as he had all of those gems, and the gem chests, he returned to the pillar that allowed him to glide over to where the exit portal was located, where he glided over to the building that was a little closer to him and picked up the gems that happened to be scattered on it, along with a circular chest, before climbing up some golden steps to reach the top of the building. From there he glided around the building that the exit portal was located in and landed on top of another structure, allowing him to gather the gems he found there as he sought out the key to breaking open the other locked chest he had discovered, since he wanted to make sure he had everything before he returned to his sibling in the central hub area of this homeworld. As he glided to the next building, however, he spotted that there were two fireworks on top of it, in two different areas, and while one was pointed at the locked chest he had spotted earlier the second one was pointed at another locked chest that rested on another roof, so he smashed through the chests that were on top of the building and then flamed the fireworks. He then waited for a few moments, for the fireworks to blow open the two locked chests that he wanted to open, and once that was done he glided over to the other roof to claim the gems that had been blown out of the chest, before doing the same thing to the ones on the ground.
"That should be all of the gems," Spike commented, as by his estimates, based on the colors of the gems, this realm had four hundred gems that the Gnorcs were in the process of stealing, though now that they had been recovered, and there were no more enemies to take down and no more trapped dragons to free, he turned down the path and headed back to where the exit portal was located.
He couldn't wait to regroup with Spyro and Ember, once they were done with their realms and returned to the central hub area as well, and he was eager to hear about what they did in the realms they had gone to and what sort of enemies or obstacles they had encountered while they were on their own, before they regrouped to tackle the Flight Realm and then take on the commander of Gnasty Gnorc's forces for this land.
While Spyro walked through the portal that would take him to Tree Tops, and Spike headed off to take care of the enemies in Terrance Village, Ember stepped though the portal that was in front of her, the one that Spike said was for Misty Bog, and headed off to the realm that she would be taking on all by herself. She was sure that Spyro and Spike would be able to take care of whatever they found in their realms, especially since they had done the same thing back in the other realms of the last three homeworlds, so she decided not to worry about them as she and Cinder headed towards their destination. It didn't take her long to appear at the starting area for the realm she had picked out, which appeared to be a small piece of ground that had a single structure behind her, a stone structure that matched the arches and walls that lined the path that she would be following as she took out the enemies of this realm, recovered the stolen treasure, and released the trapped dragons for their prisons. As she looked around for a few moments she determined that Misty Bog almost looked like the rest of the Beast Makers homeworld, only it was lighter than the area she and her siblings had been in a few moments ago, and there was a light green mist, different from what she had seen in the central hub area, before she focused on what she was doing here and started to explore the area around her.
The first thing she did was turn around and explore the area behind her, behind the circular stone wall that she had landed in front of, and found a Gnorc, dressed up in metal armor while carrying both a sword and a shield, who jumped up and down a few times after trapping a chicken in a cage, though while he was distracted she charged right into him and knocked him down. That, of course, was when the knife Gnorc returned to his original form, that of a gem, so Ember had Cinder pick it up as she broke down the cage and freed the chicken inside it, as there was no reason to leave it trapped in such a way, before picking up the pair of gems nearby and heading out to start her adventure in this realm. Once that was done she glided over to the stairs that were in front of her and followed the path that was the top of it, where she paused for a moment as she found a number of dark brown plants that seemed to be ready to be pulled out of the ground at some point in time, though they were shaking, almost in response to her arriving in this realm. As she took a step forward the first plant burst out of the ground and charged at her, like it was trying to eat her, so she flamed it and took it down rather quickly, leaving a gem behind, so she shook her head and focused on the other three killer plants, as Spike would probably name them, taking them out in the process before she explored the area and picked up the gems that were scattered around the area she was in.
Once that was done Ember glided over to the next set of stairs and paused as she found some blue colored frogs that had orange colored hair on top of their heads, though while they seemed innocent from a distance she knew that Gnasty Gnorc's spell had created more violent versions of the various creatures of a realm, so these frogs were likely enemies that would try to kill her and prevent her from progressing through this realm. As she got close to the first one it paused for a moment and lashed out at her with it's tongue, where Ember rolled out of the way and flamed the frog in return, knocking it out in the process, before turning her attention to the other three frogs in the area and did the same thing to them, clearing this area of enemies and allowing her to focus on seeing how many gems were around her. She found a number of normal chests that were scattered around the area, some by where the frogs had been patrolling and a few near the stairs she had used to get up here, along with a pair of circular chests that she broke up, and, just like the first area she had cleared out, a chest that was behind the circular stone wall. The moment she had all the gems collected, and all the chests had been broken in the process, Ember turned towards the path that would allow her to move on and found three more killer plants resting near the tree stump that a dragon was trapped on, to which she picked up the nearby gems and took out the foes that were getting ready to attack her, before heading over to the dragon statue.
She tapped the statue and released a thin dragon that had green colored scales and oversized horns, with two necklaces around his neck, where one seemed to have an eye attached to it, though he carried a satchel that had teeth near the flap and had two vertical eyes on it, though why he had something like that she had no idea.
"Thanks for releasing me, Ember," the dragon said, though at the same time he stretched for a moment, showing that he had been stiff from being trapped in that statue and wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with his body, before he focused on Ember again, even though she was fine with him focusing on something else, "I am Rosco, though, if you want a warning, I'd suggest being on the lookout for the attack frogs, as their vicious cold-blooded killers."
"Really? I thought they were that way due to the spell that Gnasty Gnorc used on the realms," Ember stated, as that was what she had been thinking since she arrived in this realm, that the frogs were products of the spell that their true foe had cast at some point in the past, but if there were natural creatures of this land that meant that the gems she was finding were ones that the frogs had eaten.
"Well, the original attack frogs aren't as aggressive as the ones that you dealt with a few seconds ago," Rosco replied, where Ember tilted her head for a moment, as it sounded like he was suggesting that she had been right about the frogs that she had taken out, where he smiled for a moment as he considered what he was going to tell her, "let me put it this way, the enemies you took out are the ones that were created by Gnasty Gnorc's spell, though I think they might have scared off the attack frogs that called this realm home."
"Well, good luck with that." Ember said, because she figured that the only ones that could find the original attack frogs were the Beast Makers that called this swamp home, though even as she said that Rosco nodded his head and took off, leaving her to deal with the rest of the realm and the enemies that were guarding the other dragons.
Once Rosco was gone, and it was just Ember and Cinder left in the area at the moment, Ember glided over to the next patch of ground that was part of the path she was following, where a knife Gnorc was being chased by a boar, something that was rather funny to witness. When she landed on the ground, however, she flamed the boar and took him out, which lead to the Gnorc stopping in his tracks so he could catch his breath and ready himself for the battle to come, as Ember was letting him do that, though once he attacked she rolled out of the way and then charged into her foe, knocking him to the ground and returning him to being a gem as well. As soon as that was done, and the gems were collected, she focused on which path she should take, since it appeared that she was coming to a split in the path and while one of them seemed to head to a either fallen tree that had been hollowed out or a decent sized house that was built on a stump, while the other seemed to lead to a path that would take her to an underground area. It wasn't hard to determine that she might as well clear the area up here first, before heading down into the underground part of this realm, so she jumped onto the wooden bridge that was near her position and charged through five knife Gnorcs that were blocking the way, as well as one more near the stumps that would allow her to descend into the other area, before smashing through the three chests that were near her and then backtracked so she could take the other path.
She glided over to a small piece of ground and charged through a knife Gnorc that was in the process of capturing one of the chickens that called this realm home, so once her target had been taken out she made sure to break the cage and let the little critter go free, before turning her attention back to what she was doing. From there she used the nearby stumps, that were arranged from the smallest to the tallest, to get a good view of the area around her, along with giving her the chance to pick up a couple of gems, before discovering that the way into the structure she had see was being guarded by three attack frogs, so she glided over to where none of them were standing. As soon as she landed she turned around and charged through all three of the frogs, knocking them back into their original form, and once Cinder had claimed those gems as well she headed inside the tunnel that was in front of her, where she climbed up the steps and reached a flat walkway that would take her to another set of stairs, where a trapped dragon rested on the level that was above her. Ember quickly smashed the chests that were near her and then looked at the enemies that were guarding the way to the next dragon, where she found six attack frogs and four knife Gnrocs waiting for her, meaning that she needed to be careful, otherwise she'd be walking out of here with an injured Cinder, something she would like to avoid.
The plan she came up with was slower than what she was used to, though she couldn't argue with the results, as she carefully took out the attack frogs that were the closest to her and then charged into the knife Gnorcs, without giving the other frogs a chance to lash out at her, and then repeated the process until the passage was clear of enemies, to which she let out a sigh and headed up to the next dragon, where she tapped the statue and freed him.
The dragon in question, Damon, was slimmer than most of the dragons she and her siblings had rescued, as he was around Rosco's size, though he was definitely a couple of years older than the dragons she had seen so far in this land, and he happened to be wearing a dark green shirt and a hat, along with holding a potion bottle in his hands and what appeared to be a travel sack that was attached to his tail. Damon seemed to think he had been trapped in that prison for a long time, which was technically true since it was now the afternoon of the day that Gnasty Gnorc had used his spell to trap all of the adult dragons in those statues, though after thanking her he headed outside the structure they were in and took off, no doubt heading for wherever Bruno was having his clan meet him in times like this. Once Damon was gone, and Ember was sure the inside of the structure was clear of gems and enemies, she headed outside as well and picked up a few more gems as she walked along the edge of the structure, before finding a spot to glide back to where Rosco had been trapped, which would allow her to continue towards the underground area. As soon as she landed on the ground once more she double checked the area around the first dragon she had freed, just to be sure that there weren't any gems or chests she had missed the first time she passed through this area, before determining that she had gotten everything and set out for her next destination.
It didn't take her long to return to where the set of stumps were, or to collect the gems that were on them, before she jumped into the hollow trunk and descended into the area below her, where she found two knife Gnorcs, two killer plants, and a few chests that rested behind her, two normal ones and two of the gem type she and her siblings had encountered in the past, but even then it only took her a few moments to clear out the area and move up the steps that were at the tunnel's opening.
The third dragon she was rescuing was called Zeke, though what was interesting about him was that his head actually resembled a matamata turtle that Spike had showed her, from one of the books he had been reading, and that he had crocodile-like skin, though he wore a lily pad for a hat, had a tooth necklace around his neck, a woven net belt around his waist, and he had snails on him. Zeke didn't have much to say, other than thanking her for rescuing him, before he took off to join the rest of his clan, though once he was gone Ember just shook her head and moved forward, intending to clear out the other enemies and gather the remaining gems before she headed back to the central hub area for this homeworld, so she could meet up with her siblings. In the next area, which was behind Zeke, Ember found a pair of attack frogs and a knife Gnorc waiting for her, but, oddly enough, they were trampled by a boar, who she ended up flaming before it could even touch her, which just meant that she didn't have to expand as much energy as she would have if the boar hadn't come charging at her, before she moved into the next part of the ruined area she was in. Interestingly enough there were a few more attack frogs and a few more knife Gnorcs in the area between her and where the next dragon was imprisoned, but all she really had to do was let the boars trample them and return them to their original gem for, allowing her to flame the boars and collect all the gems that were laying on the ground, as well as a few that were inside the chests that Gnasty Gnorc's forces had tried to hide.
Once the area was clear of gems and enemies, just like the last few areas, Ember climbed up to where the next statue rested and tapped it, where a blue scaled dragon, with horns on his arms, wings, tail, and even where a beard would be, was freed from his prison, though the scars on his body indicated that he had to be a warrior of some kind.
"Thanks for freeing me, Ember. I am Bubba, and let me tell you something," the dragon said, though Ember had to wonder what sort of advice he was going to give her, especially since they were standing near the exit portal and she was sure that there were only a couple of Gnorc enemies left in this realm, "to deal with those attack frogs you've got to SMASH THEM! STAMP THEM OUT AND SQUISH THEM AND SQUASH THEM! HAHAHA..."
"That might be something that an adult dragon can do, but I'm still a teenager," Ember replied, referring to the fact that she and her siblings had a few more years before they finally matured, even though Nestor said they were teenagers once they reached ten years old and would remain that way until they became adults, but, at the same time, she was sure that Bubba didn't have to deliver his statement with so much gusto, "so right now all I can do is flame or charge them, depending on the enemies around them. Though I'm guessing that you're a warrior of some kind?"
"Indeed I am. My job is to subdue the fiercest creatures when they go wild, or hold them down long enough for one of the other Beast Makers to do their job," Bubba stated, though at the same time he seemed to give Ember a thumbs up, as if he approved of how she was tackling the attack frogs and the other enemies, but at the very least now she knew how he got the scars that were on his body, since he had one of the more dangerous roles in this land.
Bubba departed from the area once he told Ember what he did for a living, allowing her to clear out the chests that were near the exit portal, which were just the metallic ones, before she jumped on top of an area where a pot or some other form of art could have been placed and then glided over to the ruined wall that was near her. She was able to land on the wall rather easily, where a quick glance proved that there was a path to the top of the ruin she had passed under a few moments ago, she just had to glide over to the side of the ruin and found a few stones that formed a set of stairs up to her next destination. When she reached the top of the ruin she found a few gems, a pair of metallic chests, and a pair of gem chests, where she smashed the chests like she did all of the other ones she had found so far and then picked up all of the scattered gems, before turning around and found a number of stumps that ascended to a wooden walkway, which just so happened to be where a few knife Gnorcs were standing around. As such she glided over to the lowest stump and, when she landed on it, she jumped up to the walkway and then charged through the six knife Gnorcs that were in her way, allowing her to access the area they were guarding, which had three normal chests and three circular chests, allowing her to claim the gems that had been stored inside them.
Once she did that, and made sure there weren't any other gems or enemies for her to take care of, Ember jumped over the edge and glided down to where the exit portal was located, though as soon as she landed she jumped into the whirlwind and headed back to the central hub area, so she could meet up with her siblings, tell them what she had done while learning what they did, before they tackled the Flight Realm and whoever the commander was.
It took Spyro and Sparx a few moments to reach their destination, the starting area for Tree Tops, though as soon as they appeared at where they were supposed to start their adventure from Spyro noticed two things right off the bat, the first being a green robed thief that ran off the moment he appeared, while the second was that he was outside a hollowed out tree of some kind. Spyro also found that there were more trees like the one he was in that were positioned near this one, why he had no idea and figured that Spike or one of the Beast Makers could explain it, though he turned his mind to the area in front of him and focused on what his siblings would be doing in their realms, taking out the enemies, recovering the stolen treasure, and saving the trapped dragons. Of course he happened to be standing on a piece of bark that had been folded and molded into an opening, matching the various ramps that he saw off in the distance, before focusing on the area in front of him, where he found that the green thief had paused for a moment and was in the process of waking up two ape-like creatures, one that was small and seemed to be picking up some bananas that were laying near it while the other one was much larger than he was and it appeared to be using it's large arms to walk. He stood there for a few seconds and thought about these enemies, where he thought about how Spike would name their enemies and decided that the smaller one would be a banana boy and the larger one would be a strongarm ape, or at least those were the names he would give them until someone told him differently.
Once that happened he shook his head and charged into the chamber in front of him, where he charged through the banana boy, after avoiding the bundle of bananas that had been thrown at him, before flaming the strongarm ape and moving forward, so he could figure out where the green thief had run off to. As he followed the path that he was sure his target had used to run away, however, Spyro had to flame three more strongarm apes before he found a split in the path, as there was an opening on his left that lead to another structure and the path in front of him lead somewhere else, but, since he had no idea which way the thief went, whatever decision he made was going to be a guess. In the end he jumped up to the opening on his left and found a wooden bridge that connected the three he was in to the one that was near it, even if the other free had a portion of it cut off in the past and had a flat top with some structures built on it, no doubt a small village for the Beast Makers dragons to live in, and discovered that a banana boy was guarding the passage that would take him to the top area, so he charged into him and continued forward. Interestingly enough, after taking care of the banana boy and smashing through the three metallic chests on the level behind it, Spyro found a key to a locked chest, which he had Sparx grab as he jumped up and flamed the two strongarm apes that were in front of him, allowing him to climb the steps to his right and finally reach the upper area he had seen, even if that meant flaming two banana boys that were in his way.
He found that his earlier thought was wrong, the houses were on the next tree that was close to the one he was at the top of, as this one had stone pillars, something Spyro was sure that Spike could explain the reason behind once they weren't pressed for time, before he took out the two banana boys and gathered the gems around him, which included the ones inside three circular chests, before he used a ledge to glide over to the small village, after breaking two metallic chests, and found one of the trapped dragons, where he tapped the statue to free whoever was inside it.
"Thanks for freeing me, Spyro," the dragon said, who turned out to be a light green scaled dragon that had some weight to his body, though he was wearing a tusk necklace and it appeared that he had been in the middle of eating one of the dragon fruit plants he had seen in the past, before he thought about something, "I am Lyle, though if you want some advice I can tell you something interesting. If you want a grand tour of Tree Tops, you can use the supercharge ramps that are scattered throughout this realm, though to get the best experience it's better to add a few of the other supercharge ramps to the first one."
Spyro had no idea that there were supercharge ramps in this realm, since he hadn't found one yet, but he had to admit that he never considered trying to add a second one to the first one, as in going from one to another, and kept the idea in mind as Lyle took off, allowing him to explore the area and claim the gems from the chests that he discovered, and, at the same time, he found one of the ramps that he had been told about. He debated about trying to find his way back to the area he had been in, before choosing to come over to the area with the stone pillars, or just head down the ramp and see where it took him, and while he did that he found a few more gems hiding behind one of the huts, so he picked them up and returned to where Lyle had been imprisoned. From there he sighed as he turned around and charged down the ramp that was near him, allowing him to access the supercharge ability once more, where he jumped into the air and soared over to the circular area that was in the path that the ramp sent him to, allowing him to crash into a strongarm ape and come to a stop, before he flamed the pair of banana boys before he could be hit by them. Once that was done he searched the area and found a pair of circular chests, which he broke apart with his flames, and then smashed through three normal chests, before pausing as he found another supercharge ramp that partly wrapped around the tree that was close to where he was standing.
Instead of wasting time he glided over to where the ramp was located and then charged down it, allowing him to soar over another gap as he zeroed in on a wrecked tree, as it looked like it had been broken in some manner, and landed in front of a locked chest, where the power of his supercharge allowed him to smash the chest apart, meaning that there had to be another one like it elsewhere in this realm, though he followed that up by retrieving the four gems that were near him, broke the pair of gem chests, and then took out the strongarm ape, before coming to a stop on a walkway.
"I bet that's where the green thief ran off to," Spyro commented, to which he beckoned to the area that was off in the distance, an area that was like where Lyle had been imprisoned, and found that while he could glide to the lower area he would need some serious speed to reach the upper area, where he assumed the thief was hiding, even if he couldn't see the thief at the moment.
Sparx buzzed for a few seconds, his tone indicating that he agreed with Spyro, that the thief they had seen had to be somewhere over there, before Spyro jumped into the air and glided over to where the lower area was located, which just so happened to be where the exit portal rested, though he ignored that as he landed and smashed the normal chest that was near him, along with the three circular chests and picked up the gems that were nearby. Once that was done he used the nearby whirlwind to rise into the air, allowing him to glide to the bottom end of another supercharge ramp, where he followed the path up to wherever it would take him, which was a passage through another tree that had two strongarm apes and one banana boy, along with two gem chests and a locked chest that had no lock on it, meaning it needed to be charged into to get the gems that were inside it. He then found that he could go no further, at least not from this direction, and retraced his steps to where the start of the supercharge ramp was located, picking up three more gems in the process, before stopping as he wondered where he was supposed to go from here, which was when Sprax pointed at a ramp that was attached to the tree he had started at, one that would allow him to get back to the start of this realm. He didn't want to go back to the starting area of this realm, but from what he could tell he had no choice in the matter, so he jumped into the air and glided over to the bottom end of the ramp, where he made his way back to the area he had appeared in after using the portal in the central hub area to come to this realm, where a whirlwind allowed him to reach the area he had first seen the green thief in.
It didn't take him long to get back to where the split was located, though instead of heading to the left he walked forward and dealt with the two banana boys that were trying to block his path, before gliding over to the structure that was in front of him and dealt with the three strongarm apes that were in his way, allowing him to reach the trapped dragon that was on the level above him. The dragon in question, Isaak, was ungracefully thin and tall, or lanky as Spyro knew Spike would have described this dragon, though he was holding a staff with a crab claw in his left hand, while wearing wristbands and had purple feathers strapped to his chest, though there were also a few bits of jewelry, or what Spyro assumed was jewelry, hanging from Isaak's horns. All Isaak had to tell him was that if he jumped at the end of a supercharge ramp he could really go far, something that he and his siblings had learned back in the land of the Magic Crafters, but he thanked the dragon for the advice and watched as Isaak took off after being freed, allowing him to break the chests behind him, before jumping back down into the area below him, where Sparx slipped the key into the locked chest he had ignored and freed the gems that had been trapped inside it.
Once that was done Spyro returned to the ramp that was near where Isaak had been imprisoned and charged down it, where he focused on the locked chest that he had seen earlier and jumped into the air when he reached the end of the ramp, allowing him to smash into his target not even a few seconds later and collect the gems that were inside it. From there he made his way back to the area that Isaak had been trapped in, even if that meant going back to the starting area all over again, and stopped when he returned to the top of the ramp, as he was thinking about how he was going to reach the area that he was sure the thief ran off to. As he considered what he could do in this situation, however, he charged down the ramp and jumped into the air, only to veer off to the side on purpose and land at the base of the ramp that was near the starting area, where he stopped and walked along the ramp, making his way to the very end of it, and when he did reach the end he spotted the ramp he had charged up after leaving the area that the exit portal was in, making him wonder if he could combine the three ramps together and give himself a boost to reach his destination. Spyro then turned around and headed back to the area that Isaak had been imprisoned in and braced himself, as this could either work in his favor or it could end with him falling out of the sky and landing somewhere completely different, before he charged down the ramp and veered off to the next one when he reached the end, only to make his way through the runnel that was near where he started and then jumped onto the final ramp, which allowed him to soar over to his destination.
When he landed, however, he found a thief with a red robe waiting for him, where he chased down the thief and burned him, retrieving the purple gem he was carrying, before he gathered the gems from the ground, from the pair of normal chests, and from the pair of circular chests, only to end up sitting down for a moment.
"I don't get it. This should be where the green thief ended up," Spyro said, even though he knew that he was basically talking to himself since all Sparx could do was buzz at him, something that he needed to learn about so he could converse with his friend in the future, to form plans and whatnot, before he glanced at the area in front of him, where he could have sworn he spotted another small village area off in the distance, "Hey, Sparx, do you mind checking that area out for me? I can't tell if there's anything important over there from where we're sitting."
Sparx buzzed for a few seconds and then flew off, so he could look at the area that Spyro had spotted, though while that was going on Spyro looked at the rest of the realm that was Tree Tops, without leaving the area that he was sitting in at the moment, because if that wasn't part of this realm than that meant that the thief left and he found a different one, and that also meant he'd be able to leave, even if he felt that his work was incomplete. As he stared at the various ramps that existed in this realm, however, he wondered if there was a second patter he could follow that would allow him to reach another area that was further away from the rest of the trees, like the area that Sparx was scouting for him, but the only way to be sure would be to run along the ramps and see if anything happened at the end. Either way it looked like the second path, if it truly existed, would be harder than the first one, meaning there was more room for error, but if Sparx indicated that nothing was over there than he'd just jump down into the exit portal and leave this realm, so he could meet up with his siblings and finish off this land like they did the other ones. Fortunately it didn't take Sparx long to return to where Spyro was sitting, though when he came to a stop he buzzed a few times, where Spyro got the sense that he had seen something in that other area and that he was trying to get him to go check it out for himself, to which Spyro got up from where he was sitting and glided over to the ramp he used to get up here, as it was time to return to where Lyle had been imprisoned, as that was where he assumed he'd have to start from this time around.
When he returned to where Lyle had been imprisoned Spyro thought about the path that he thought he had seen and raced down the ramp without delay, though when he reached the end of it he decided to veer off to the side and see if he could jump onto what was to his right, another ramp that seemed to be pointed in the direction he wanted to go, but he ended up hitting the side of the ramp and fell out of the air. In that moment he discovered that this realm was also home to some of the Safety Fairies that Spike had told him and Ember about, back when they were visiting High Caves, who stopped him from falling out of the realm he was in and carried him back to the top of the ramp, but as they departed he knew they'd be watching him as he continued what he was doing. The fact that he failed to get on the other ramp told him that he had to go around this realm and follow a very specific path to reach the other area, which he could actually look at from where Lyle was imprisoned and could tell that there was a trapped dragon over there, the only thing he had to do was figure out the path and then make all the jumps without falling again, which was easier said than done. The first thing he tried was charging down the ramp, jumping to the area that had a few pillars, and then jumped over to the ramp that had allowed him to smash through the locked chest earlier, where he continued down the ramp and jumped into the air, where he soared over the area that chest had been in and curved so he could look for a spot to continue, which only ended in the fairies saving him and bringing him back to the start of the ramp once more.
As it turned out it was much harder to figure out the path than Spyro thought it would be, as every time he felt that he was making progress, in figuring out where he had to go, he would either misjudge a jump and fall out of the air or he would hit something and cause the fairies to come save him again. Despite his failures, which were costing him time and energy, which he and his siblings were supposed to be gaining due to Spike's rest in the land of the Magic Crafters, he kept charging down the ramp and kept looking for how he was supposed to combine the various ramps into a single path that would allow him to reach the final dragon. Eventually he figured out that he was supposed to veer off to the right and rushed towards the ramp that Isaak had been imprisoned near, where he ran up it and jumped over to the ramp he had tried to get to earlier, this time succeeding in his endeavor, before reaching the end of it and jumped again, though when he reached the highest point of his jump he switched to gliding. That allowed him to reach the area that he had seen and that he had Sparx investigate for him, where he found the green thief from earlier and charged after his target. With nowhere to go he collided with the thief and recovered the treasure that he had stolen, allowing him to gather the various gems that were laying on the ground, smash the gem chests that were near him, and then tap the statue so he could free the dragon that was imprisoned in this area.
The dragon in question had light orange colored scales, though his wings were feathered, while a good majority of the dragons had leathery wings, and he was wearing shaman-like attire, which had eye-like decorations on his head piece and on his necklace, and he was carrying a staff with a beak for the top.
"Thanks for the rescue, Spyro. My name is Jed," the dragon said, where the smile on his face indicated that he was happy that he had been saved from his prison and, at the same time, he was also pleased with what Spyro had done to reach this area, or at least that was what Spyro assumed the smile also meant, "and, if I might say so, that was quite a ride. You've learned a lot since you were a young glider."
"No problem. I'm happy that I finally reached this area," Spyro replied, though at the same time he sighed, because it had taken him a long time to reach this area and there was something he wanted to do once he got back together with his siblings, since he was sure this realm was cleared at long last, "though I really wish you had been somewhere else when Gnasty Gnorc cast that spell that imprisoned all of you in those statues... would have made things easier."
Jed shrugged for a moment, indicating that there wasn't much he could have done in this situation, since the spell had come out of nowhere, before he spread his wings and took off, causing Spyro to shake his head and return to where the exit portal was located, as he was going to put this event behind him after telling his siblings about what happened, and that, when they finally reached the land of the Dream Weavers, he hoped to be given an easier realm than what Tree Tops turned out to be.
The first thing Spike did, after leaving Terrance Village, was head over the log that served as a bridge between where the portal to the realm he had tackled was located and the where the portal to Misty Bog was sitting, though he stopped when he reached the area near the well that he and his siblings would be entering soon. The reason he was standing here was because the portal to the Flight Realm was in the area below where he was standing, as the well lead to the portal, and he was sure that Spyro and Ember would come to this area once they noticed where he was waiting for them, as this was the last thing they would tackle before heading to Sadiki's realm to save him and take out the enemy commander. He had to admit that he was curious as to what his siblings had faced in their realms, mostly so he could write it down when they headed to the land of the Dream Weavers once they were done here, and he was interested in sharing what he had done with his siblings as well, just so they knew what he had accomplished without them. Talon, on the other hand, flew around the area he was in for a few moments, like he was bored out of his mind or something, though it wasn't long before Ember emerged from the Misty Bog portal and glanced around her, before spotting Spike and headed over to them.
As soon as they were together again Spike told his sister what happened in Terrance Village, about the enemies that he had encountered during his visit to that realm, before he stopped and let Ember take her turn, only to discover that she had been busy freeing the various dragons and taking out the enemies that had been there, especially the attack frogs, but one thing she did confirm was that Gnasty Gnorc was definitely creating more aggressive versions of the creatures of the various lands, based on what she was told earlier.
"Those attack frogs sound interesting, even if they are more aggressive than their original counterparts," Spike said, as he found what Ember had to say to be interesting, even though the plants and the other enemies in her realm had caught his interest as well, meaning that her realm would make for a good addition to the story he was writing at the moment, before he glanced in the direction of the other portal, "Now I'm curious as to what Spyro encountered during his visit to Tree Tops, especially given what we faced in our respective realms."
"I'm surprised that he hasn't come out of his portal yet," Ember added, because they had been sitting here for a few minutes, talking about the realms they had visited and the enemies they had taken out along the way, but what made her worry was the fact that neither of them had seen Spyro yet, since she was sure all three of them had entered their portals at the same time and would have expected them to exit the three realms around the same time.
"Maybe he encountered something that slowed him down?" Spike offered, as that was the only thing that made sense to him when he thought about it, that Spyro must have found an obstacle or something that was delaying him, but he knew they could wait for a few more moments before they really started to worry about their brother.
Spike and Ember stood there for a few more minutes, where they started to wonder what was keeping Spyro from leaving the realm he had taken on and if they needed to step in to assist him in clearing out the realm, but their worry disappeared when they finally spotted their brother appear in front of the portal. A few seconds later he turned towards them and headed over to where they were standing, though as he got closer the pair discovered that he wasn't too happy about something and knew that he had found something inside the realm he had taken on that had annoyed him, which only made them wonder what he could have encountered.
"Spyro, did something happen?" Ember asked, where she waited for their brother to get close to them before even saying anything, though even then she could tell that there was something that had annoyed him, because he had been excited to tackle Tree Tops and now that excitement was gone, replaced by his current expression.
"Tree Tops was much harder than I thought it would be," Spyro replied, indicating that the realm must have been more difficult than what they thought it would be when they went over the various realms in this land and were deciding who would be tackling which realm, before he sighed as he decided to tell them what he had encountered, "Apparently two thieves, one wearing a green robe and the other wearing a red robe, were trying to steal some of the treasure that belonged to the Beast Makers, but to reach them I had to use some supercharge ramps to reach them, ramps that were all over the place, and I had to use multiple ramps to reach my targets. The problem is that there were only two paths I could take with the supercharge ramps, but it took a lot of time and effort to figure out where the second one was located and, even if I knew which of the various ramps formed the second path, it also took some time to get the twists and turns right, as I failed over and over before finally getting it down... Tree Tops was not the easiest realm in this land."
"It sounds like an interesting realm, one I might have to check out in the future," Spike commented, though at the same time he now knew why Spyro seemed annoyed about something, as it seemed that the second path he had been searching for was a difficult one to get right, but at the very least it appeared that Spyro had succeeded in his mission and had taken out the two thieves that he had been chasing.
"Well, maybe when we're done saving the Dragon Realms we can come back and you can see Tree Tops for yourself, and possibly test the realm yourself," Spyro stated, though his tone suggested that he would hear what his siblings said later, when they were traveling to the land of the Dream Weavers, and that he wanted to take care of the Flight Realm and the enemy commander before doing anything else.
Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, showing that they were fine with doing what Spyro was saying, before all three of them jumped down into the well that was near them, where they landed on the ground and headed through the portal that was in front of them. It didn't take them long to reach the Flight Realm, which appeared to be another island of some kind that had some buildings attached to the various pieces earth that were sticking out of the water, which was much clearer than the rest of the realms they had seen so far, though that was when they focused on what they were doing and started to fly around the area. Spyro and Ember focused on the electric arch and the Gnorc that was using a boat to get around the area, while Spike spotted a golden chest and smashed it, before heading over to the tunnel that another one was in, where he separated from his siblings again as he took out the chests that were in front of him. While he was doing that Spyro and Ember also separated from each other, where Spyro headed up the waterway that was nearby and focused on taking out any Gnorc that was in a boat, while at the same time Ember headed up the other path and focused on smashing the electric arches that were in her way, though as they followed their paths they ended up flying by each other at some point, which caused them to chuckle as they did so.
While they were doing that Spike found an area that held the remaining chests, after following the tunnel that the first few chests had lead him to, which contained eight Gnorcs in planes flying around the area, where he focused his fire on them after clearing out the rest of the chests and blew his targets out of the air, just like they had done in the past, before he found that there was nothing left for him in this area and flew up to the upper parts of the Flight Realm to reunite with his siblings and make sure the amount of gems was the same as the previous Flight Realms.
"Now that's what I'm talking about. This realm is way easier than Tree Tops," Spyro commented, though he waited for Spike to arrive before he told his siblings what was on his mind, showing that his mood had improved after his experience in the realm he was supposed to take on, while at the same time Spike counted the gems in front of them, giving him and Ember a chance to relax for a few moments before they departed from this realm and headed to Sadiki's realm.
"Not to mention the fact that all three of us tackled it together," Ember added, as part of the reason they had taken care of the Flight Realm so quickly was because they were able to separate from each other and clear out the various objectives at the same time, allowing them to get multiple things done at the same time, and she suspected that Spyro wished one of them had been in Tree Tops with him, just to make finding the other path easier, before she turned her head to where Spike was sitting, "So, Spike, I'm assuming the amount of treasure we just recovered is the same as what we found when we were flying around the previous Flight Realms?"
"That's right, three hundred in total." Spike replied, his tone indicating that Ember was correct and that the amount of treasure was the same as the three Flight Realms they had taken care of so far, though once he said that he had Sparx, Talon, and Cinder tap the gems and send them off to the Bag of Holding he had created at the start of their adventure, as the gems would be safe in the Artisans homeworld for the time being and, when Gnasty Gnorc was taken care of, they could distribute the treasure back to the lands the dragons lived in.
"You know, I have to ask something," Spyro said, because while he was happy that they were recovering all of the stolen treasure, and were putting it somewhere safe that Gnasty Gnorc's forces couldn't get to, there was something about this that was bothering him and he figured that Spike might have an answer for him, "Aren't you worried that, with all the gems we're been recovering from Gnasty Gnorc's forces, the sack you enchanted might burst at any moment?"
"The Bag of Holding is enchanted with a limitless space for us to store stuff in," Spike answered, as he knew that either Spyro or Ember would have asked him about this, as he was sure they were close to eight thousand pieces of recovered treasure, based on the coloration of the gems anyway, and that recovering this much treasure might have worried them for a few moments, "the inside of the bag will allow us to store all of the treasure that Nestor and the others have obtained over the years, the twelve thousand treasure that Astor mentioned, and the outside remains as a normal sack, so you don't have to worry about it bursting on us. The only way something like that could happen is if someone damaged the sack itself, and, since we left it in our homeworld, I don't think we'll have to worry about that happening either, especially since we took care of all the enemies that were invading our home."
"I see." Spyro said, though at the same time he wasn't surprised, as Spike would have thought the spell through before he cast it and it appeared that his brother had done so, meaning the treasure was safe and sound, no doubt with Nestor and the others possibly even counting the gems out for when the adventure was over.
With Spyro's question answered, and the Flight Realm cleared like the ones in the previous homeworlds, the siblings jumped into the air and flew off once more, heading to the outskirts of the realm they were in so they could return to the well that the portal they had entered was in. It didn't take them long to reach the outskirts of the Flight Realm and vanish from the area that all three of them had been flying in, nor did it take them long to reappear in the well, where they took turns using the whirlwind to get back to the surface and waited until they had regrouped before heading out. Since they had taken care of all the enemies that were attacking the central hub area they didn't have to worry about being attacked at all, but that didn't stop them from focusing on the fact that they would be engaging in a battle with one of the two remaining commanders, which would leave the one in the land of the Dream Weavers once they had finished their business in this homeworld. They were interested in seeing what sort of creature or being was waiting for them in Sadiki's realm, because the previous commanders they had faced had been quite interesting, especially since they could be surprised by what they found in the final realm for this land, but either way they were going to free this homeworld and start their work on the next homeworld, before turning their focus to the land Gnasty Gnorc ruled over.
It took them a few minutes to reach the portal in question, but as soon as they reached it the trio entered the portal and headed to the realm that Sadiki lived in, his personal realm like Nevin's castle and Trondo's training grounds, which only made them wonder what sort of realm the best of the Beast Makers dragons lived in. A few moments later they appeared on what appeared to be a dock of some kind, one that was connected to the outside of a castle, one that had a similar style to the one that Nevin lived in, but, like the other realms they had visited in this homeworld, it was surrounded by the dark green swamp water. That fact didn't surprise them at all, in fact the only realm that didn't have swamp water was the Flight Realm and they had been a little shocked by that fact when they discovered it, but in the end they focused on their mission and climbed up the wooden steps that were in front of them, allowing the siblings to enter the castle and start clearing out the area. In fact the first enemy they spotted was one that Spyro had taken care of, the strongarm apes and the banana boys from Tree Tops, though this time around the banana boys were wearing metallic armor and were being used as rolling balls by the larger apes, who would kick them if one of the siblings got close. Interestingly enough the strongarm ape that was directly in front of them, even though he was on the level above where they were standing, only had two armored banana boys, meaning he could only kick two of them before his ammunition was gone, so while Spyro and Ember charged through the poor armored banana boys that were sent at them, and returned them to their original forms, Spike did the same for one that tried to attack his siblings from the side.
As soon as those three enemies had been taken care of Spyro flamed the strongarm ape that had been in front of them, after climbing up to reach him, before noticing that there was another one off to the left of the entrance, with one of the armored banana boys near him, though he left those enemies to Ember as he picked up the gems that were near him and Spike smashed a few chests that were in the area he had been in a few moments ago, before gliding over to a small area that two gem chests were on, which he claimed as well.
Once that was done the siblings regrouped near the log bridge that connected the area they were in to the next part of the castle, as it appeared that the apes might have installed it so they didn't fall into the river that was flowing through the structure they were in, not that the trio blamed them for that since none of them wanted to fall into the water either, especially since all three of them were sure it was some sort of swamp water. Spike, on the other hand, stopped them from moving forward and beckoned to the side of the castle that was on their right, as there was an iron grate of some kind that happened to be missing part of it, which could serve as an opening to the other side of the wall, where they might find more of the treasure Gnasty Gnorc's forces were trying to steal. Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they weren't sure if there was anything back there, but, at the same time, Spike hadn't been wrong in the past, about hidden treasure and areas that might hold something, so they were willing to see what he had in mind. As such they let him glide down to where the broken grate was located and landed on what appeared to be a small area that someone could stand on, before he jumped through the gap and landed on a walkway on the other side, which was when he turned around and beckoned for them to join him, indicating that he must have found something.
As it turned out there was an area for them to walk around and some stairs for them to climb, along with a few gems in front of them that got collected immediately, though when they reached the top of the stone stairs they found four metallic chests and, more importantly, a key to a locked chest. Spike picked up the key without delay, since he was the one that could carry it thanks to his satchel, but while he did that Ember found a second set of stairs that mirrored the one they had climbed up, leading to three normal chests, so she glided down to them, smashed them and collected the gems that had been inside them, and then climbed up the stairs to join them. From there the siblings headed down the first set of stairs and found a whirlwind in a small chamber that was to the left of the opening they had glided through, a whirlwind that took them to the top of one of the towers that rested inside the walls, where they could glide to the top of most of the other towers from where they were standing. Of course the whirlwind didn't let them land on the top of the tower that it was connected to, rather it allowed them to glide over to the top of a nearby tower so they could land and then glide to one of the other towers, so while Ember stayed on top of the first tower both Spyro and Spike glided over to the next one, where they left their sister to smash the chests that were near her, though when they landed Spyro dealt with the gem chest and collected the nearby gem as well. Once that was done the three of them jumped back down onto the ground and regrouped near the log bridge again, this time carrying a key to a chest they would need to find before they left this area, but Spyro and Ember were happy that Spike had searched the area in question, as it allowed them to recover more of the stolen treasure, before they focused on the area in front of them once more.
This time the trio crossed the log bridge without pausing or heading somewhere else, though directly in line with the bridge was a strongarm ape that kicked two of the armored banana boys at them, where Spyro and Ember dealt with them as Spike picked up the gems in the area they were in and smashed whatever chests he discovered, one of which was a gem chest, a few normal chests, and a fireworks box. While he did that his siblings climbed up to where the strongarm ape was located and flamed him, while also charging through the armored banana boy that was preparing to throw a bundle of bananas at them, though once all of that was done, and the gems had been collected, the three of them climbed up the path on the right side of the log bridge, coming from the entrance, and found a few more enemies waiting for them near the castle wall. Those enemies included two more strongarm apes, who both had a single armored banana boy to kick their way, where the trio took the armor wearing banana boys out with a charge, then flamed the pair of strongarm apes, before charging into a hidden banana boy, armored like the others in this realm, to clear this area of foes. That allowed the trio to break the chests that were around them, while gathering the gems that had been inside them and the ones that had been laying on the ground, before they headed down the hidden path and stopped when they reached a familiar statue, one that Sadiki had to be imprisoned in.
True to their thoughts the dragon that had been trapped down here, in front of a large chamber, was none other than Sadiki, who stretched for a few moments, since he and the other Beast Makers had been trapped in those statues for quite a long time in comparison to the other dragons, before he stopped doing that and faced the trio.
"Thanks for rescuing me from that prison, I was getting stiff." Sadiki said, which the trio understood since the dragons were forced to remain in a single pose thanks to their statue prisons, though at the same time they were curious if Sadiki had any information for them before the battle with the next commander started, "Anyway, Metalhead is all charged up to meet you in battle, so all you have to do is enter the chamber to my left and he'll close the door when you're ready."
"Metalhead? Sounds like another of Gnasty Gnorc's creations." Spyro commented, because so far it seemed that some of the commanders were beings that their foe had made in the past, sealed or locked away due to their power or for another reason, only to be brought out due to them meddling with his plan to take over the Dragon Realms.
"From what I could gather, which isn't a lot, he's definitely one of Gnasty Gnorc's creations," Sadiki replied, showing that he knew something about the commander they would be fighting, even though his statement was correct, he really didn't know much about the being in question, as he bowed his head and departed from the area, leaving them to deal with Metalhead and whatever tricks he had in store for them.
The trio turned towards the chamber that they were going to enter and found a large metallic being that was standing at the back of the chamber, where it seemed to have some electrical components on it's shoulders, had a pink colored saw blade that seemed to serve as a mohawk, green curved horns on the side of it's head, and two different types of hands, as the right hand seemed normal and the other seemed bulky, like it was a cannon or something.
"So that's Metalhead." Ember commented, though she was slightly impressed that there was a commander that was wearing a full set of metallic armor around their entire body, unlike the previous commanders they had taken out, which meant that this was going to be a difficult fight, "Okay Spyro, it's your turn to take down one of the commanders, especially since Spike and I have already fought one of the previous commanders in a one-on-one battle."
"Right." Spyro replied, as he had been hoping that his siblings would allow him to tackle a boss on his own at some point, even though his options were only Metalhead and whoever was in charge of the forces in the land of the Dream Weavers, before he prepared himself and stepped into the chamber, where his siblings walked in and stood near one of the walls so they could see what happened, just in case the door closed when the battle started.
Spyro glanced at the chamber for a few moments and found some electrical poles of some kind that were sticking out of the floor, no doubt installed by Metalhead's minions after Sadiki was imprisoned by Gnasty Gnorc's spell, though he did notice that some of them were glowing green and some were red, with bits of electricity going from the devices and heading into his foe's body. He had no idea why this was going on, since he and his siblings didn't know anything about how electricity worked or what weaknesses it possessed, but at the same time he noticed that there was a slot near the ceiling of the chamber, where a few strongarm apes and armored banana boys were waiting. He assumed that Metalhead would be throwing those foes at him over the course of this battle, just like the strongarm apes had done with the armored banana boys earlier, meaning he had to be careful as he moved around the chamber and planned how he was going to tackle this commander. One thing he considered was charging through one of the poles and seeing if it could be broken, maybe to open a hole in Metalhead's defenses, because due to his size and the fact that he was made out of metal it was pretty obvious that flames and charging wouldn't work, so he had to think of a new tactic to use against this foe, though as he thought about all of this Spyro made sure he was moving around the chamber, keeping his eyes on the being he was fighting, just in case he tried something to surprise him in some manner.
Of course he was surprised when, instead of throwing one of the other minions at him, Metalhead raised his right arm and fired a blue beam of energy at him, where Spyro dodged the beam before it could hit him and stared at her foe for a few seconds, as it appeared that his foe needed to charge his energy for a specific length of time before firing that attack at him, meaning he'd have to be even more careful now that he knew about that attack.
As Spyro moved around the chamber, and studied his foe for whatever weaknesses he might possess, the one thing he did so was have Sparx grab the gems that were laying on the ground, that way they didn't distract him anymore than they were already doing, and it wasn't long before the fallen gems were cleaned up. Judging from how well Ember and Spike did in their own battles, against Doctor Shemp and Blowhard, he had the feeling that they might have figured out Metalhead's weakness already, and if they hadn't than they were close to doing so, but he wasn't seeing anything that could help him out. Though it was in that moment that Metalhead raised his right hand and one of the armored banana boys jumped down into his palm, tucking their body into a ball, which was when the large being hurled his minion at Spyro, like the strongarm apes had done earlier. Fortunately it never hit him, as Spyro just so happened to be standing behind one of the poles when the deed was done, so all he had to do was watch as the armored banana boy collided with the pole and crushed it, along with returning him to a gem in the process, but the most important thing was that the poles could be destroyed, which would no doubt have an effect on the commander once they were all taken out. Since his foe was different from what his siblings had faced, in the fact that he didn't speak and didn't seem to have any emotions, Spyro knew that it was impossible to tell whether or not the being realized that it was in danger or if it felt fear, but he focused on what he had learned and moved faster than he had been doing so far.
Instead of wasting more time, by studying his foe, Spyro charged through the green poles and crushed them in no time, while patiently waiting for the red ones to turn green so they could be smashed as well, all while avoiding both the beams of energy and the enemies that his foe threw at him, but in the end all eight poles were broken... leading Metalhead to open the door behind him and flee with the rest of his minions following him, meaning there was another stage for them to fight in before this homeworld would be free from Gnasty Gnorc's grasp.
"Good job figuring out Metalhead's weakness." Ember commented, as she and Spike had noticed what was going on with the poles some time after the battle between the pair had started and figured out that they had to be connected to the commander in some way, which was confirmed when all eight of them had been smashed and Metalhead retreated from where they had been fighting.
"Thanks. If it wasn't for him accidentally breaking that one it would have taken me longer to figure it out," Spyro said, as he felt that he might as well admit that it had taken him some time to determine what his foe's weakness was and how he was supposed to use it against him, though at the same time he and his siblings followed the path that Metalhead had headed down once the poles had been destroyed.
The trio did stop for a moment, as there was a set of stairs heading up to where the strongarm apes and the couple of armored banana boys had been standing, where Spyro climbed up them and found a number of gems up there, though once they had been picked up he returned to his siblings and they headed down the tunnel. It didn't take them long to reach what appeared to be the final area that Metalhead wanted to fight in, as it was a large open area that had a green waterfall on the left side and a decent platform for someone to run around while they focused on Metalhead, where Spyro found nine poles this time around, one more than the previous chamber. As he stepped down into the area in front of him, and left him siblings behind, they all noticed the large structure that was behind the commander and knew that it had to contain the exit portal for this realm, but to get there he had to take out Metalhead and the rest of the smaller enemies that he liked to throw at him. This time, as soon as he drew close, the commander raised his hand and hurled one of the strongarm apes at him, causing Spyro to dodge the attack and then jump out of the way as he avoided one of the beams of energy that Metalhead fired at him, before focusing on the poles and targeted the green ones that were near his current position, because now that he knew his foe's weakness this was going to be over in no time.
The interesting thing was that it appeared that the destruction of the first set of poles actually weakened Metalhead more than he was expecting, as there was a longer delay in his attacks this time around, allowing Spyro to charge through the poles when they were green with more ease than he was expecting, and when the final one was broken the lights that served as Metalhead's eyes turned off and he collapsed on the ground.
"It seems that those poles were directly powering Metalhead's body, and taking them out turned him off," Spike said, though he was interested in what they had discovered, because this was something entirely new for them to study, and he knew that there were some dragons in some of the homeworlds that would enjoy taking a moment to study what Gnasty Gnorc had done to take this being, "It also seems that his minions were connected to him in some manner, as the moment you took Metalhead out they disappeared as well, no doubt returning to their original gem forms, so all we have to do is pick up the gems, collect the rest of the treasure, and then get out of here."
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, where the three of them split up and started searching the large chamber that they were in, so they could find the other gems that had to be in this area, though Spike found some steps on the left side of the chamber, where the waterfall was located, and jumped on them for a few moments. That brought him to a small opening that contained two gem chests and the locked chest that the key he was carrying went to, which he gladly slipped in since it let him claim the gems that were inside it, before breaking the other chests and collecting the other gems. Once he was done with that he walked around the waterfall and glided down to where his brother had faced Metalhead, which was when he walked into the structure that his siblings had entered and watched as they walked around the upper level of the structure, since they had used a whirlwind to get up there, and collected the various bits of treasure that were resting up there. It didn't take his siblings long to return to where he was standing, which was near the exit portal, but before they left all three of them had Sparx, Talon, and Cinder see if they could sense any additional gems in this realm, just in case one of them missed something, though the three dragonflies indicated that there weren't anymore gems in Sadiki's castle, so they jumped into the exit portal and headed back to the central hub area for the land of the Beast Makers.
A few moments later they appeared outside the portal to Sadiki's castle and turned to their left, as it was time for them to depart from this homeworld and head to the land of the Dream Weavers, so they could free those dragons and their land from Gnasty Gnorc's creations, but, as they approached the hot air balloon, Cray, the Balloonist for this land, stopped them as they neared him.
"I know you three are eager to reach the land of the Dream Weavers, but we need to make a quick stop at one of the nearby bathhouses to get rid of the swamp smell," Cray stated, where the trio glanced at each other, because this was the price for coming to this homeworld, they had to take a few moments and wash themselves to get rid of the smell that was on them and everything they had on them, and there was no avoiding it, so they simply nodded their heads as Cray beckoned for them to get in the basket.
As soon as all three of them were sitting in the basket, and Cray had joined them, they departed from the land of the Beast Makers and headed off in the direction of the land that the Dream Weavers called home, though they would stop once they were out of the swamp and take a bath to get rid of the smell... but once they were clean, and were smelling normal again, they would focus all their attention on freeing the final clan of dragons and then deal with whatever Gnasty Gnorc had in store for them in the land that he ruled from, before bringing an end to this adventure.
The first thing that Spyro, Spike, and Ember did after leaving the land of the Beast Makers was stop at one of the much smaller islands that rested nearby, one that appeared to be a resting area for the dragons that were flying from one of the homeworlds to another one. The reason they had been brought here was because the smell of the swamp had stuck to them and they needed to take a bath, just like the last couple of times they had visited this particular land in the past, which would allow all three of them to get rid of that smell, before they arrived at the land of the Dream Weavers. The island that they stopped at had a small house on it, one that appeared to be made in the style of the Artisans dragons from the looks of it, while the inside had two areas for visitors to bathe in, one for them and one for Cray, allowing the trio some privacy as they cleaned themselves and worked the smell of the swamp out of the items they had brought with them. They had known that this was something they were going to have to do when they finished liberating the land of the Beast Makers, but even so they really didn't like having to take a few moments to do this, when they had been trying to save time by splitting up earlier, but for now all they could do was clean themselves off and remove the stink of the swamp, before they could focus on their next destination.
"Hey Spike, is there a spell or something that would prevent the smell of the swamp from sticking to us?" Spyro asked, because he figured that if any of them knew of a way to stop the horrible smell of the land that the Beast Makers called home from sticking to them, be it spell or some other method in question, it had to be Spike, given what he had revealed to him and Ember in the past.
"Unfortunately I haven't discovered any spells that might do that," Spike replied, as he knew that if such a spell existed it would have been one of the first few that Cosmos would have imparted to him and his siblings, even if he was the only one that could accurately cast spells, but, at the same time, there were a number of spell books he hadn't had a chance to read yet and there was a chance that one of them contained the spell in question, "however, there are a few spell books that I haven't opened yet, so the spell you're asking about might exist in one of the other books, which I'll get to start reading once we've saved the rest of the Dragon Realms from Gnasty Gnorc and his plans."
"Well, the next homeworld we have to worry about is the land of the Dream Weavers," Ember commented, as while she would have preferred Spike tell them he just remembered the spell in question, for their future visits to the land of the Beast Makers, she wanted to focus on what they would be doing in the near future, once they were done here and were dropped off at the land that Lateef called home, "Given what we've seen in the past, from the commanders, I'm curious as to whether Gnasty Gnorc had someone take over the land after his spell hit the dragons, or if he had to release another creation of his to get the job done, not to mention all the enemies that we might encounter."
"Let me guess, you want to split up again so we can tackle the three realms at the same time?" Spyro inquired, as his sister's plan had worked out quite well for the previous land, even though they had to make a quick stop to get rid of the smell that had stuck to their bodies and what they had been wearing, and he suspected that Ember would want to use the same tactic again for the realms they would be tackling soon enough.
"That's correct." Ember replied, because she knew that since none of them knew anything about the land that Gnasty Gnorc ruled over, other than the fact that it might be more mechanical than all the other lands, it was better that they stick together and tackle the land together, instead of separating and taking on things on their own, though that was when she turned her head towards Spike for a moment, "Spike, do you remember the names of the realms that we'll have to tackle when we reach the land of the Dream Weavers?"
"Yeah, we've got Dark Passage, Lofty Castle, and Haunted Towers," Spike answered, as he remembered the names of the realms for all the homeworlds they had visited in the past, which was thanks to the fact that the Leaders had told him and his siblings what the realms were called during their first visit to their lands, though it also helped that he had written them down once each of their visits were over, "not to mention that there will be two more portals that we'll have to take care of while we're there, the Flight Realm and the realm that Unika and Revilo, the best of the best in terms of the Dream Weavers dragons, call home."
"None of them sound particularly hard, but Tree Tops seemed easy and look how that turned out," Spyro stated, as he was still a little sore over getting a realm that he assumed was going to be the easiest of the three they would tackle separately, but at the same time he wanted to make sure his siblings knew they needed to be careful when picking out which realm they wanted to take on.
"Well, I say that Spike can take Haunted Towers and that you can have Lofty Castle," Ember said, because she had the feeling that Haunted Towers might be like Tree Tops, in the fact that it is one of the hardest realms that they would be tackling, and didn't want Spyro to head to another realm that was like the one that had annoyed him, though there was the chance that she could be wrong and could have given him the hardest realm anyway, "I'll focus on whatever is inside Dark Passage and make sure it is returned to normal, just like all of the other realms we've saved so far."
Spyro and Spike nodded their heads in agreement, showing that Ember had a good idea in terms of how they might split up the realms that they would be facing in the near future, before they climbed out of the water, cleaned themselves off, and reclaimed their items, before heading outside so Cray could take them to their next destination.
It didn't take them long to reach the landing point that served as the dock that Cray used whenever he visited the land of the Dream Weavers, though as the trio jumped out of the basket, and touched down on the walkway in front of them, all three of them noticed a pair of foes that were standing guard on the small floating island in front of them. It was rather easy for Spike to determine that the being on the left, despite being much taller than they remembered, was one of the Carrot Fools that Lateef had told them about in the past, while the being near it, wearing metallic armor like a good number of enemies, was one of the Slap Fools. Since Gnasty Gnorc had a habit of creating more violent forms of the creatures that called a homeworld home, like the shepherds in their own home for example, that meant that these Fools were either the original deal and were tired of how the Dream Weavers acted, or they were gems turned into warriors and would attack them without any hesitation. As the trio approached them, however, two balls of green energy slammed into their targets, where the Fools shrunk into the smaller forms that they were more familiar with, so Ember charged through the Slap Fool as Spyro flamed the Carrot Fool, but while they did that Spike glanced off in the direction that the balls had come from and spotted an island that appeared to be in the middle of this homeworld, where a Carrot Fool stood at some sort of device that resembled a cannon, only it was made out of crystals.
Instead of saying anything, as he was thinking about what the crystal cannon could do, Spike let his siblings collect the gems that were near them before they glided over to the next island, where another tall Carrot Fool was standing, along with two metallic chests and the portal to one of the realms, Dark Passage if his memory was correct. Spike had both of his siblings stop for a few seconds, which was when another ball sailed through the air and hit the Fool, reducing him to a normal size, which was when he let them flame the Fool and smash the chests near him, before focusing on the Slap Fool that was near a whirlwind that would take them to the castle area in front of them. Just like he expected the Fool that was operating the crystal cannon fired another ball and shrunk the Slap Fool, allowing Ember to charge through him, before they gathered all of the gems in the area and then used the whirlwind to glide over to the larger island that was right in front of them, where more Fools were waiting for them. Instead of heading for the pair of Slap Fools that were guarding a set of stairs, like anyone else would do, the trio headed over to the archway that was near them and smashed the chests that were nearby, before checking out what was behind the archway, where they found a Carrot Fool blocking their path, in his normal size, so Spike flamed him and moved forward. The other thing the three of them did was pick up the gems that were laying on the ground, set fire to the fireworks box that was hidden around a corner, and then tap the dragon statue that was near one of the portals, to which they waited to see if Lateef was the first dragon they freed, just like how the Leaders were the first ones freed in the homeworlds they had already saved.
Sure enough their thoughts were correct, as Lateef was the dragon that had been trapped inside the statue and he had a smile on his face, indicating that he was happy with what they had done and that he was eager to see what they did in the future, in regards to the other realms and the land Gnasty Gnorc ruled over.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, welcome back to the homeworld of the Dream Weavers," Lateef said, his tone reflecting the look on his face, meaning that he was truly happy with them, just like how the other Leaders had been when they had been freed from their prisons, before he focused on what he wanted to tell them, which would be followed by him heading to deal with the other realms they didn't know about, "Just continue what you have been doing so far and I'm sure that you'll be heading to Gnasty Gnorc's land in no time, but, while you're visiting this land, you must expected the unexpected and prepare for what is not there."
"We'll keep that in mind while we're exploring this hub area and the realms that we have access to," Spike replied, as he knew that there might be some secrets in this land that they didn't know about, especially since he had found a few of Lucas' secrets since he and his siblings started this adventure, but his focus was on liberating the realms and restoring the peace that had been broken, with any potential secrets taking a back seat for now.
Lateef nodded his head for a moment, to show that he agreed with what the trio was doing, before he picked up the stones that had been trapped with him and departed from the area, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Ember to collect the gems that were near the portal that was near them and then jump over a small gap to smash some chests that were one one of the fragmented pieces of ground that were around a whirlpool of sorts, before doing the same to three metallic chests that were on the next fragment and then returned to where Lateef had been trapped. From there they returned to the area where the pair of large Slap Fools were standing, so they could flame one of the Carrot Fools that was dancing near the pair, only to watch as the Fool that was using the crystal cannon to enlarge the three Slap Fools that happened to be blocking the way forward, so they simply waited for a few moments and watched as the Fool in question shrunk his friends once more. That allowed Ember to charge through all three of them, knocking them back into their original gem forms in the process, to which she and her siblings checked the area to their right, where they found a few gems laying on the ground, a chest to smash, a portal that lead to where the enemy commander would be waiting for them, and a walkway that served as the dock for the next Balloonist, Amos if their memories were correct.
Once they knew where the enemy commander was located, and where the Balloonist was waiting for them, the trio turned around and headed back to the area the three Slap Fools had been standing in, where they jumped into the air and glided over to the next small island that was ahead of them. They only had to wait for a few seconds before the Fool on the central island shrunk his fellow Carrot Fools, which let the trio flame their opponents, before they used the whirlwind in front of them to raise themselves up to the next platform, which was small and had a whirlwind on it as well. The second one allowed them to get even higher, before arriving at a third one that allowed them to either head to their right and focus on the dragon that was trapped on the small island that was near them, or head forward and deal with the Fool that was messing with the crystal cannon, though it was rather easy to come to a decision on what to do. Spyro and Ember figured that now was a good time to take out the Fool and see if they could use the cannon on their own, though Spike was the one that glided over to the small island first and flamed the Fool, which was a small Carrot Fool from what he could tell, and soon there was no one controlling the cannon, meaning they could either leave it alone or see if they could use it on the rest of the enemies that were lingering around the central hub area for this homeworld.
"So Spike, what do you make of this?" Ember asked, because from what she could tell Spike was interested in making sure the crystal cannon was no longer in the hands of the Fool that had been messing with it, though why she had no idea and was hoping to get some sort of answer before they finished clearing out the central hub area.
"It's a floating crystal that's affixed to a specific position, almost like a cannon, that fires a ball of energy that contains two spells in it, one that enlarges the target and one that shrinks the target," Spike replied, though at the same time he moved to the side that the aiming component was attached to, as he was curious about something as he thought about the pair of Slap Fools that had been near where Lateef had been imprisoned, especially since the Carrot Fool that had been using this cannon didn't target those guys at all, "From what I can tell the crystal is gathering the magic that is in the air around us to fuel the various blasts that the Carrot Fool was firing, allowing him to shrink or enlarge whoever he hit, as we have seen many times since we arrived, and we might be able to use that to our advantage for the next minute or two, before the other Fools are taken care of."
Before Spyro or Ember could say anything Spike nudged the crystal until it was pointing at the pair of Slap Fools that were near where Lateef's prison had been located, before he breathed two short bursts of fire on it, where two balls flew out of it's tip and sailed through the air, striking his targets and reverting them to their smaller forms, meaning the three of them could charge through them and see what they were guarding.
"Leave it to Spike to come up with something like that." Spyro commented, though this wasn't surprising, as he and Ember knew that their brother did strange things all the time, especially being the first one to use his Teleportation Breath and showing Nora how to do it, so seeing him do something like this was normal.
"Hey, at least those two Fools won't bother us when we get over there in the future," Ember remarked, but even as she said that she glanced at the area that was near the building that they were standing near and spotted a few more Fools standing near the entrance of the structure, where she glanced back at her brother for a moment and beckoned to the enemies in question, "Think you can do the same thing to those guys?"
Spike spotted the two Fools in question and carefully moved the crystal until it was pointing at them, where he didn't fire at the Carrot Fool that was the closest to them, rather he focused his attention on the Slap Fool that was further away and loosed a single ball of energy, causing the Fool to shrink into a smaller form for later, after they had freed the dragon that was trapped near their position. It took Ember only a second to realize why Spike hadn't struck both of the Fools, as one of them was already in a smaller form and was much weaker because of it, so she nodded her head in understanding and glided over to the platform the next dragon was trapped on, where her brothers followed after her. They tapped the statue the moment they were near it and freed the next dragon, Zikomo, from his prison, where they discovered that he was a thin dragon that was very tall and had a star of some kind floating between his horns, and he happened to be carrying an ornate hourglass with his left hand. All he really had to tell them was that they were doing good in their quest to save the Dragon Realms and then took off before they could say anything, to which the siblings sighed and focused on gliding down to the area in front of them, where they took out the foes that were in front of them and collected any gems that were laying on the ground that were around them, even if that meant smashing a few gem chests.
Inside the building they found a path that brought them to a few chests, normal ones, that they smashed open and collected the gems before turning to their left, where they flamed the Carrot Fool that was in the middle of the hallway, between them and a portal, only to discover the last trapped dragon when they walked outside. Mazi, the dragon they ended up freeing, was a tad bit shorter than the other dragons they had encountered in the past and had a wizard's hat on his head, complete with one of those eye masks that some of the dragons used when they were sleeping, and a few other magical items, like a wand and pointy shoes. All Mazi had to tell them was that while the Clock Fools were invincible, and couldn't be taken out at all, the three of them were more than welcome to attack them and should do so whenever a chance to do so arrived, as there was no telling what the Clock Fools were attached to. In fact the nearly Clock Fool was connected to the pillar that was standing in the middle of the river, allowing Spyro to access a lone gem that had been out of their reach, though at the same time Spike looked around the grounds and found a few gems behind the building, while Ember smashed the metallic chests that were near them, before they regrouped and determined that they had cleared out this area and used the trio of whirlwind platforms to get back to where Cray dropped them off. From there the three of them headed back towards the area the remaining two Slap Fools were standing in, guarding something for sure, and charged through them, allowing them to access the stairs that were right behind them and allowing them to access whatever they had been guarding since their arrival.
At the top of the stairs they discovered that they were above where Lateef had been trapped and jumped over to the walkway that was on the building in front of them, allowing them to access an area that had two Clock Fools waiting for them, along with two lowered platforms that lead to where the Flight Realm for this homeworld was located. Spike jumped up to a platform to their right that had a gem chest on it, while at the same time Spyro and Ember flamed the pair of Clock Fools that were in front of them, which was when Spike jumped over the platforms that had raised after the Fools had been knocked to the ground, just like what happened to Mazi. It didn't take Spike long to reach the platform that the pair lead him to, where he collected the gem that was on it and then glided over to the floating island in front of him, where he flamed a fireworks box before gliding over to the next island, where the portal for the Flight Realm rested. There he smashed the metallic chests, collected the gems inside them and what was laying on the ground, and headed back to where his siblings were standing, which was where Sparx, Talon, and Cinder indicated that there were no more gems for them to collect in this homeworld, so the three of them decided it was time for them to head out and tackle the three realms that were scattered around this central hub area, before regrouping for the final two realms. As Spyro and Ember headed out, however, Spike stopped near where the gem chest had been and tapped the wall that was in front of him, where he discovered that it was an illusion of some kind, one that hid a small chamber from view, which contained a magic circle of some kind when he stepped through the fake wall, something he would have to ask Lateef or Lucas about at some point in the future.
Once that was done, and he was sure there was nothing else in the small chamber, he returned to the area that the pair of Slap Fools, the ones that had been guarding the stairs, had been standing in, to which he met up with his siblings and they went their separate ways once more, with Spyro heading for Lofty Castle, Spike making his way towards the Haunted Towers, and Ember headed back to where the portal for Dark Passage rested.
It didn't take Ember long to appear at the starting area for the realm that she had selected for herself, though when she did arrive at her destination she found that Dark Passage consisted of a number of floating mountains that likely had some tunnels, caves, and caverns carved into the side of them. At the same time she found that there were marble floors and archways in front of her, why she had no idea, but the other interesting thing about this realm was the fact that there were a number of floating rocks, at least the size of an adult dragon, that rested somewhat close to the mountains, but not close enough for her to glide over to them. She flamed the wooden chests that were to her left and had Cinder pick up the gems as she followed the only path she could take, which brought her to a tunnel that had a Lamp Fool, which was a Fool that carried a lamp and couldn't be taken out, just like the Clock Fools, though standing next to him was a cute little puppy that seemed out of place. Of course that was the moment that the Lamp Fool blew out the light of his lamp and the little puppy was engulfed by the shadows, where Ember watched as it grew in size, until it was the size of an adult dragon, and it's skinned turned red while fire appeared in it's mouth, leading her to mentally label this creature, and the others that were like it, as a devil dog, as she felt it was rather fitting for the creature. Fortunately, after a few more moments, the Lamp Fool brought the light back to the area he was in and the devil dog, exposed to the light once more, reverted back to the smaller form Ember had seen the moment she entered the tunnel, which was when she charged through the small dog and retrieved the gem that was his original form.
The devil dog wasn't the only one that was changed like the light, as there just so happened to be a small turtle that was wearing metal over it's shell, like a number of the armored enemies she and her brothers had encountered over the course of their adventure, and, just like the devil dog, it was affected by the light, as when the light was on it remained in a small state and when the light went off it enlarged into a larger form that was ready for battle, causing Ember to wait for a few seconds before the Lamp Fool returned it to it's smaller form, where a quick charge took it out.
As soon as that was done Ember gathered the nearby gems and walked out of the tunnel, where she found a short walkway that would take her to another tunnel, though something she noticed was that there was another walkway across from where she was standing, with a number of enemies on it, meaning she would have to glide over there at some point to take them out and recover whatever was over there. After seeing that she charged through the pair of devil dogs that were in front of her and entered the other tunnel, where she found an enlarged armored turtle near the entrance and a Lamp Fool near a whirlwind that were take her to the level that was above her, so she ignored the turtle and made sure to flame the Lamp Fool to bring light to this chamber. That, of course, shrunk the turtle back to it's smaller form and made it vulnerable to her charge, which she did without delay, before she smashed the metallic chests that were nearby, picked up the gems that were inside them, broke the gem chests that were nearby, and then used the whirlwind to access the level that was above her, so she could take out more enemies and recover more gems, and, hopefully, free some dragons from their prisons. Interestingly enough the moment she thought about trying to find one of the dragons that called this realm home was the moment the whirlwind brought her to the next level, which just so happened to be where one of the crystalline statues rested, to which she smiled for a second as she tapped the statue.
The dragon in question, Kasiya, was a pink dragon with a bluish-greenish colored stomach, who was also overweight and seemed to be using his rather thick tail to balance him, like it was a chair or something, and he had a golden flask that he was balancing on his chest, but all he had to tell her was that she needed to pay attention to the Fools, instead of being frightened of the other enemies, even though Ember wasn't frightened of these foes and made sure the dragon knew that she was cleaning up this realm with ease.
As Kasiya departed from this realm, just like all of the other dragons she and her siblings had saved, Ember headed towards the end of the tunnel and found a small red skinned being that was floating in the air, with some flames and a pair of horns on it's head, though it had a bow in it's hand that had flames on the arrow that it was getting ready to loose in her direction. Ember knew that these resembled the cupids that Spike had showed her once in the past, in one of the other books he had shown her, but those were lighter and more friendlier, so this was more like an imp cupid, a devil version of what Spike had revealed to her, but, at the same time, she dodged the arrow that it loosed at her and then jumped into the air, colliding with her target and knocking it to the ground, allowing her to pick up the gem that it left behind before moving forward. The area behind the imp cupid contained a pair of metallic chests and a normal chest, which she smashed apart to collect the gems that were inside them, before heading into the next tunnel that was in front of her, where a Lamp Fool stood in front of an enlarged devil dog, which was too easy for her to deal with since all she had to do was flame the first foe and then charge through the second one. After that she climbed up the stairs and stopped for a few seconds when she noticed that there were two more devil dogs in front of her, so she flamed the Lamp Fool to her right and made sure the dogs stayed in their smaller forms, allowing her to take them out and collect the gems that were around her, before heading to the next part of the tunnel.
On the next level she found two transformed enemies, a devil dog and armored turtle, but fortunately the Lamp Fool that was near them turned the light back on, switching them back to their smaller forms in seconds, allowing Ember to charge through them in no time, before climbing up to the next level to see what awaited her. That was when she found an imp cupid with two more small devil dogs standing near it, so all she did was charge towards her targets and slammed into the devil dogs first, before turning her attention to the imp cupid that was trying to hit her with it's arrow, before turning her attention to the next tunnel she would have to walk through. In front of the tunnel was another dragon statue, where she freed Azizi, who apparently was a blind dragon, since he didn't look at her and seemed to be wearing special glasses over his eyes, but one thing she did notice was that he must have been a fan of the stars, as he had constellations patterned on his wings and on his glasses, while also having a crescent moon walking staff and a crescent as the tip of his tail, making her wonder what stories he had to share. For now, however, Azizi thanked her for releasing him and then departed from the area, which told her that he must have sort of spell or sense for where he was since he avoided the hazards that were around them, causing her to shake her head as she focused on taking out the rest of the enemies in this realm, recovering the stolen gems, and rescuing any dragons that she came across, before she even considered heading back to the central hub area.
The first thing she did was wait for the Lamp Fool to turn the light on so she could flame the two devil dogs that were right in front of her, before flaming the Fool in question to ensure the lamp stayed on for a few more moments, allowing her to flame the next devil dog and move forward. As Ember climbed up to the next part of the tunnel she found two more of the devil dogs waiting for her, with an armored turtle blocking the end of the tunnel, but, as it turned out, luck was on her side as the Lamp Fool turned the light on and shrunk all the enemies that were in her way, so she flamed the pair of devil dogs, made sure to hit the Fool, and then dodged the fireball the turtle fired at her from it's mouth, before charging through that foe so she could see what they were guarding. There was a small platform between the tunnel she was in and the one that was across the way from where she was standing, one where an imp cupid was floating near a locked chest, so all Ember did was glide over to the platform and flame the foe that was in her way, before turning her attention to the other tunnel and the enemies that she knew were in her way. She would have glided over to the next tunnel immediately, but had to stop when the next Lamp Fool put out his light, allowing the armored turtle in front of him to transform into it's larger form, but the moment the light turned back on she was right in front of her target and charged through the turtle before it could react, only to hit the Lamp Fool as she moved forward.
Around the corner she found a devil dog, a pair of metallic chests, and two imp cupids close to where the exit portal rested, so she flamed the dog, smashed the chests, and then dealt with the last pair of enemies that were in her way, before heading to the exit portal and tapped the statue that was near it. The dragon she freed this time, Bakari as she learned, was a dark blue scaled dragon that had a number of night caps on his horns, one for his head and two on either side of his head, including where a beard would be, though he also had a scarf, golden bracelets, and slippers that looked like sheep, why she had no idea. All Bakari wanted to say was that he knew that Ember and her brothers were the ones that would take down Gnasty Gnorc, especially since they had already reclaimed the other homeworlds and were nearly at the land their foe ruled over, before he bid Ember farewell and disappeared, leaving her to smash the nearby chests and collect the gems that had been inside them. From there Ember paused for a few seconds, as she was curious where the rest of the dragons and the stolen treasure was located, before she spotted a tunnel that was right below the platform that the locked chest was on, so she jumped into the air and glided down to where the entrance of the tunnel was, where she landed and started picking up the gems as she looked around for any enemies.
At the end of the tunnel, as in heading for the end and ignoring the whirlwind that was on her right, she found a pair of devil dogs blocking the way, but, since there weren't any Lamp Fools in the area, they were stuck in their smaller forms, allowing her to charge through them before flaming the imp cupid that was behind them. Near the opening she charged through Ember found two gem chests off to the side and made sure to smash them, before walking on the walkway and charged through the pair of armored turtles that were along the way, along with collecting the gems that were near her and blew open the fireworks box that was near the wall. Once that was done, however, she found that the next area would require her to glide down to it as well, so she did that and landed near the gems that were at the end of the walkway, only to turn around and charge through the four devil dogs that were blocking the way, along with the three metallic chests that were behind them, before turning to her right and continuing to explore the area that she had found herself in. That was when she spotted two large armored turtles blocking the way, though since there was a Lamp Fool near a whirlwind at the back of the chamber she had discovered, so all she had to do was jump around the large turtles, avoid the fireballs, and then flame the Fool, weakening her true targets with ease, allowing her to charge through both of them before using the whirlwind to get up to the area above her.
As soon as she landed on the ground once more she charged through the pair of devil dogs in front of her, set fire to the fireworks box that was near her, and repeated the process with the imp cupid and the next pair of devil dogs, before gathering the gems and faced the other side of the area she had landed in, dealing with the pair of small armored turtles and an imp cupid, before smashing the gem chests and gathered the gems as she headed to the trapped dragon that was in the tunnel she had landed in front of.
"Thanks for the rescue, Ember," the now freed dragon, Apara, stated, though Ember noticed that he was one of the older dragons, in terms of how he was walking and whatnot, but he was carrying a lantern of some kind, which no doubt meant that he was a night guard of some kind, and since the Dream Weavers were different than the other clans she had no idea what that meant, before Apara seemed to think about something he didn't want to talk about.
"No problem. We've got a few more realms to go before we tackle Gnasty Gnorc," Ember said, as she could tell that the dragon was worried about the being that had trapped him and all of the other dragons in the crystalline statues they had been frozen in, causing a smile to appear on his face as he departed from the realm once more.
After freeing Apara from his prison, and waiting for him to leave, Ember charged through the armored turtle that was at the edge of the walkway she was on, before gliding over to the start of some stairs and repeated the same thing on the two turtles that were blocking the way, where she smashed the chests to her right, collected the gems that had been inside them, and then started to collect the gems as she headed up the stairs. She was able to climb up a few steps and found a small platform where one of the imp cupids was waiting, where she flamed it and picked up the gem that replaced it, before continuing up the stairs and reached the top in a few more seconds, allowing her to smash three more normal chests as she looked around the area she was in. From there she glided over to the stone platform that was only a short distance away from where the chests had been located, where three normal sized devil dogs were waiting on it, though they didn't put up much of a fight as she landed and flamed all of them, allowing her to gather the gems that landed on the ground, before she glided over to another tunnel and found another trapped dragon, making her a little surprised since this was the fifth dragon to be trapped in this realm. This dragon, who was called Obasi, was dressed in the head piece, gloves, and collar of a jester uniform, complete with a staff that had a large yellow stone at the top of it, but all he had to say to her was thanks for the rescue, like a number of the other dragons she and her brothers had saved, before leaving the realm to find Lateef.
From where Ember spotted another tunnel, on one of the other mountains, and glided over to the area in front of the tunnel's opening, where she found two small devil dogs, two small armored turtles, and three imp cupids in a decent sized chamber, no doubt the guardians of this area, but Ember dodged the incoming attacks and charged down her enemies in no time, allowing her to access the whirlwind they had been defending, though before she touched that she focused on the gem chests and normal chests, recovering the gems that were inside them. The whirlwind allowed her to access a smaller tunnel that had a few steps in it, which had a few gems for her to collect before she found a firework, one that, when she lit it, flew through the air and smashed the locked chest that she had passed earlier, where she glided down to the area and collected the gems that had been freed.
"Well, it seems that I've cleared out the area," Ember commented, where she glanced at Cinder and found that her dragonfly was agreeing with her, to which she grinned as she turned towards the exit portal and headed towards it, so she could depart from this realm at long last, "Hopefully Spyro and Spike have a good time like I did."
She was sure that Spyro would enjoy taking on a realm that wasn't as hard as Tree Tops, or at least she was hopeful that Lofty Castle wasn't as hard as Tree Tops, while Spike might enjoy a slight challenge, even though she had no idea what was in Haunted Towers, but she had the feeling that they would tell her their feelings when they regrouped to take on the Flight Realm and whoever was in control of the enemy forces in this homeworld.
Spyro headed back to where Lateef had been trapped and found the portal to Lofty Castle, the realm that he would be taking on by himself while Spike dealt with Haunted Towers and Ember focused on Dark Passage, though the moment he was in front of the portal he walked through it and headed to his destination, to see what sort of foes he had to face and what sort of challenges awaited him. He already knew that there was no reason to worry about his siblings, as he knew that both Spike and Ember would be tackle everything that rested in the realms they were heading to and that they wouldn't rest until they collected every piece of stolen treasure, which was what he intended to do when he appeared at the starting area of his destination. Considering his earlier frustration, mostly due to the hidden paths that were in Tree Tops, he was hoping that this realm wasn't as bad as Tree Tops, or maybe even easier than that realm, but he had to wait and see what sort of dangers were waiting for him in Lofty Castle, though with Sparx at his side, and the teachings of the older dragons in his mind, he was sure that he would be able to restore order to the realm he was heading to, just like he and his siblings had done to the realms they had visited so far.
It didn't take him long to appear at the starting area of Lofty Castle, where he discovered that he was standing on a small floating island, almost like the areas he and his siblings had used to get around the central hub area of the Dream Weavers homeworld, before focusing on the structure in front of him. From what he could tell the castle that this realm was named for was gigantic and had golden roofs that rested on white colored walls, almost looking like it was something that had been pulled out of someone's dreams, and considering this homeworld he knew that it was entirely possible for that sort of thing to happen, though he had to admit that this place was beautiful in it's own way. Spyro also had to assume that this realm made use of the floating islands between the parts of the castle, though once he came to that conclusion, which would be proven true or not by the time he reached the area that the exit portal was in, he started to explore the area around him as he focused his mind on what he and his siblings did in the other realms, and to start him off he smashed the pair of normal chests that were near him and collected the gems that were inside them. From there he jumped up onto the platform that was to his right and picked up the gems that were laying on the ground, before finding three more near a whirlwind platform that would take him to the next part of this realm, even though he found something that captured his interest for a few seconds.
Floating nearby was a ball shaped creature that had no legs, meaning that it's legs likely allowed it to float at all times, and while it had a beak shaped mouth it had a lion's tail, making Spyro wonder who had come up with sort of creature in the first place, before he sighed and flamed the creature, where the fallen gem confirmed that it wasn't the original, that it was one of Gnasty Gnorc's creations, before he jumped back to where the whirlwind platform was located and used it to move forward as he continued exploring this realm.
Using the whirlwind allowed him to reach a small island that was floating slightly above where he had started, while at the same time heading towards the castle itself, though on the other end of the island rested a Gnorc that was floating up and down in the air, with some sort of Gnorc shaped balloon, though the fact that he was wearing armor and a shield meant that he couldn't deal with him the normal way. Of course Spyro immediately found out what he needed to do to take this particular foe out, as all he had to do was wait for the balloon Gnorc to descend until the balloon was aligned with where he was standing, giving him the perfect opportunity to flame the balloon and destroy it, causing the unfortunate Gnorc to drop out of the air. In that moment, as Sparx picked up the gems that had been in front of him, Spyro found that there was a limit to how far a Gnorc could fall before it reverted back to it's original gem form, which changed direction and came back up to where he was standing, which allowed Sparx to collect it, telling Spyro that all he had to do was force the Gnorcs to fall to a certain point and he'd get the gems they had been made from. With that in mind he turned his attention to the path he was following and glided over to a sightly larger island that had two of the puffer birds flying around the area he would be walking through, though as soon as he landed he proceeded to flame the pair and clear the area of enemies so he could collect the nearby gems and then glide over to the next island to pick up a few more gems, before he took in what was near his position.
He found several puffer birds and a balloon Gnorc in the area that he would be heading to, along with a few red skinned creatures that were flying, devil cupids as he was sure Spike and Ember would call them if they were here, but what really interested him was the fact that there were a number of iron cages that were scattered around the area in front of him, each with a fairy locked inside them.
"I'm going to have to ask Spike if he has any idea why Gnasty Gnorc would order his minions to capture all of these fairies and what he could use them for," Spyro commented, because it really didn't make sense to him, especially when he considered everything that he and his siblings had seen since they started this adventure, before he sighed and glided over to the area in front of him, so he could take out the enemies and free the fairies from the cages.
As soon as he landed Spyro jumped into the air and charged through the imp cupid that was nearby, before turning around and flamed the puffer bird, to clear the immediate area of foes, which gave him the chance to smash the cage that the fairy was trapped in, who smiled at him as she headed off to a nearby platform that looked like the whirlwind platform he had used earlier, only it had no whirlwind. Spyro paused for a second, wondering if he had found the answer to his own comment already, before turning around so he could face the path that was behind him, as there were a few more cages to smash and a few more enemies to deal with, before this part of the realm could be finished off. At the other side of the island he found one of the imp cupids floating in the air, guarding the next fairy, including what appeared to be a fireworks box and a pair of normal chests, where he simply flamed the foe that was in his way, ignited the fireworks box, and smashed the cage that was two small islands higher in the air than where the imp cupid had been floating. The instant the fairy was freed from her cage, and was allowed to rejoin the other one at the platform, Spyro jumped back down for a moment and picked up the gems that had been freed from the chests, before jumping back up to where the second fairy had been imprisoned and then glided to where the third fairy was trapped, while at the same time flaming the balloon of a balloon Gnorc that was in the way.
With that enemy taken out, and the final fairy freed after he landed on the island, Spyro waited for the three fairies to work their magic and watched as they restored the whirlwind to the platform he had spotted a few moments ago, before they nodded their heads and departed for another part of the realm, though in that instant he noticed they were all wearing yellow dresses, meaning they weren't Fairy Princesses or even the Fairy Queen that Spike had told him and Ember about, to which he jumped down into the whirlwind and used it to reach the next area of this realm.
When he touched down on the ground once more, or in this case a stone walkway that was connected to the center of the area he was in and to the other side as well, and rested above a lower area he might want to investigate before he moved forward again, he found a trapped dragon to his right and tapped the statue instantly. The dragon that he freed was larger than some of the dragons he and his siblings had freed in the past, though at the same time he wore a blue vest and it appeared that both of his wings and both of his horns weren't actually real, as they appeared to be made out of some sort of plush material, and he was playing with a fairy doll the moment he was freed. The only thing that Mudada, the dragon in question, had to say was that fairies were always on his side, though while Spyro agreed with him he had to wonder why he needed to be told that piece of information, especially since Gnasty Gnorc's forces were capturing the fairies that called this realm home and were preventing them from reactivating the whirlwinds, which they would do once he freed them from their iron cages. Once he voiced his agreement to what Mudada had said, even if he felt there was no reason for the fairies to join forces with Gnasty Gnorc's forces, the now freed dragon opened his wings and took off, which just confirmed that the material that made up his wings had been enchanted in some manner and allowed him to fly like a normal dragon, causing Spyro to sigh as he focused on the area in front of him once more.
The first thing he did was advance on the pair of devil cupids that were in the middle of the upper walkway that he had landed on a few moments ago, where he flamed the both of them after dodging their arrows, before smashing the two metallic chests they had been guarding and then jumped down into the area that was below where Mudada had been trapped, so he could take out the enemies and free the fairies. He immediately repeated what he had done before dropping down here, where he dodged the arrows of three more devil cupids and then flamed them when they started to nock a new arrow, before breaking the iron cage that was in front of him, freeing the fairy that was inside it, and then smashed the pair of gem chests that were near him so Sparx could collect the fallen gems. From there he found a hidden area, with an imp cupid guarding an iron cage, so Spyro chuckled for a moment as he took care of his foe and then freed the trapped fairy, but once that was done he turned around and headed back to the deactivated whirlwind platform so he could find the third fairy for this area. Near the platform he found a pair of normal chests, which he smashed open, and a small tunnel that ran under the walkway he had been on a few moments ago, though on the other side he found the third trapped fairy and freed her without delay, before exploring the rest of the area and found a locked chest, meaning that he needed a key to unlock it, due to the padlock on it.
From there, once the area was cleared of enemies and chests, Spyro returned to the whirlwind platform and used it to get up to where Mudada had been imprisoned, where he headed over to where the metallic chests had been resting earlier and then glided over the small gap in front of him, though when he landed he let Sparx pick up the gems that were around him as he took in the area that they would be exploring next.
Instead of jumping down and heading to the right, where a few whirlwind platforms rested, Spyro jumped down and headed to the left, where he charged through four puffer birds and then flamed the imp cupid that was at the end of the line, allowing him to jump up onto the walkway in front of him, which seemed to be connected to a tower. He checked to his right, to be sure there was nothing near that side of the walkway, before heading to the left and continued walking along the path he had discovered, only to find an entrance to the tower and a set of stairs, which lead him to a trio of gems that were picked up in no time. From there he turned around and headed through the entrance he had walked by, where he found a whirlwind platform that took him up to one of the highest points in the tower, but once he came to a stop, and picked up the nearby gems, he jumped off the edge and glided down through the inside of the tower, where he flamed the balloons of the pair of balloon Gnorcs that were in his way and smashed open the three cages that he found along the way, freeing the fairies in the process. From there he turned around and smashed through the pair of normal chests that were behind him, picked up a few gems, and smashed the pair of gem chests that were resting near the wall that were below where he had glided from, before he spun around and returned to the whirlwind platform that the fairies reactivated, which allowed him to reach the highest point of the tower.
That was where he found the next trapped dragon, Useni, who was slightly shorter than Titan while having the muscles of a Peace Keeper dragon, indicating that he had to be a guard of some kind for this homeworld, though what he was currently wearing, a towel and slippers, made Spyro wonder if he was one of the day Dream Weavers that kept watch over the dreams of Lateef and the other dragons that kept watch over the dreams of the other creatures that called the Dragon Realms home.
All Useni seemed interested in was revealing that Spyro could use the supercharge to get to other places, just like he did in Tree Tops and the other realms the ramps were located in, before departing from this realm, causing Spyro to sigh as he smashed the nearby chests and collected the key that was near them, which was followed by him gliding over to the area that the supercharge ramp was in and readied himself. Based on what he had seen so far there weren't many places for him to go once he reached the end of this ramp, but at the very least it was better than what happened in Tree Tops, to which he charged down the ramp and let the supercharge build up, though when he reached the end of the ramp he jumped into the air and sailed over to where a lone tower rested, where someone couldn't reach it from the walkway or from the other area that he had ignored earlier. When he touched down on the next ramp he hung to the left and curved around the tower that the ramp was connected to, where he didn't see any entrances that would allow him to enter the lone structure, before reaching the very end of the ramp and jumped into the air once more, where he soared right over the distance and came to a stop when he landed on the raised area that was near where Mudada had been trapped, which happened to be higher than any point in that area. As such the first thing he did was collect all the gems that were around him and then set fire to the fireworks box that was to his left, where he waited for it to explore before gathering the couple of gems that were freed, then glided down to where the locked chest was located and had Sparx slip the key into the lock, allowing them to claim the treasure that was inside it, before heading back to the fork in the path and picked the path on the right so he could clean up the rest of this realm.
The first thing Spyro did, after heading away from where the four puffer birds had been resting earlier, was jump over the gap between the two separated floating islands and landed on the next one that served as the path he had ignored a few minutes ago, before he jumped up to the next area and flamed the imp cupid that was waiting for him. Once that was done he picked up the gems that were around him and waited for the balloon Gnorc that was near where he was standing to lower himself to the point where a single burst of fire would get rid of him, and fortunately he didn't have to wait long at all, allowing him to remove another foe, and collect another gem, before moving forward. From there he glided over to the larger island that was only a short distance from where he was standing and tapped the dragon statue that was in what he guessed was the center of the area, where an older dragon, with pink colored scales, was freed from his prison. Baruti, as Spyro soon learned, wore purple pants that were held up by suspenders that went all the way up to his shoulders, he carried what appeared to be a fishing rod with a tooth as a lure, meaning he had to be after some weird fish, and he was carrying the container with his bait in his left hand, though all he had to say was that he was happy Spyro had rescued him, before he departed like all of the other dragons he had freed so far. At this point Spyro had to assume that there were no more hints for him and his siblings to get from the dragons they were freeing from the last couple of realms, which he guessed was fine since it was clear the three of them didn't need the assistance, so he just pushed the thought out of his mind as he continued moving.
After watching Baruti depart from the realm Spyro gathered the nearby gems and then glided over the small river that was on this island, where he smashed one of the iron cages and freed the fairy that was trapped inside, though while she headed to the whirlwind platform that she and the pair that were her partners powered, to reactivate it when the others rejoined her, Spyro used the whirlwind platform that was the closest to her former prison and glided over to a small island, where another cage rested. The fairy that was trapped inside the cage was overjoyed that Spyro saved her, though while she left as well, however, Spyro stared at the balloon Gnorc that must have been the guardian for the fairy and waited for the right moment, where he blew up the balloon and caused the unfortunate Gnorc to fall like the others, allowing Sparx to collect his gem, and the others sitting nearby, as Spyro headed back to where Baruti had been imprisoned. The moment Spyro reached the island again he used the other whirlwind platform, which was right next to the one that he used to get to the second fairy, and used it to land on a small island that was higher than the island the third fairy was located on, so all he had to do was glide over to where the island was located and smashed the cage upon his arrival, though he also made sure to break the pair of circular chests behind the fairy's cage before leaving the area. Once those chests had been broken, and the gems recovered, he glided over to where the three fairies were reactivating the third whirlwind platform, though it wasn't long before it was ready to be used and he jumped into it, allowing him to access the next structure that was along the path he was following.
Spyro landed on a balcony of sorts for the next part of the castle, where he noticed that he had a single path to follow and that there were a few imp cupids along the way, so the first thing he did was break the nearby circular chest and made sure to grab the gem inside it, before walking on the path to his left. As Sparx gathered the gems, and made sure none of them were missed, Spyro flamed the imp cupid that was in front of him and then walked over to the middle of the path, which just so happened to be the middle of the structure, to which he dodged an incoming arrow and continued over to the other side of the chamber so he could flame the imp cupid that was blocking the way outside. Once that was done he backtracked a little and picked up the gems that had been laying on the path, as well as smashing his way through the pair of metallic chests that were inside the structure and the pair of circular chests that were on the balcony that was what the imp cupid had been guarding. From there he could see a few balloon Gnorcs, a number of puffer birds, a few islands that he would need to clear out, a couple of chests and gems that were scattered around the final area, the exit portal itself, and, most importantly, the three cages that held the last three fairies for this realm, to which he jumped into the air and glided over to the floating island.
The instant he landed on the island he went to town and popped the balloons of the two balloon Gnorcs that were near him, removing them from the realm entirely like the others, before he smashed the iron cage that was in front of him, freeing the fairy that was trapped inside it. From there he walked along the central ring of the island, where a floating island happened to be above it with some sort of metallic object in the water below it, though his mind was focused on flaming the puffer birds and collecting the gems that were around him, even though he suspected that Spike could take one look at the device and tell him what it was used for. Once the area around where the first fairy was imprisoned had been cleared out Spyro used the whirlwind platform to move himself up to where the second trapped fairy was located, where he landed and smashed the cage in a matter of seconds, allowing the fairy to move as he popped the balloon of the balloon Gnorc that was behind where the cage had been resting, before picking up the gems that were around him. After that he glided over to the island that was floating above the ring and found that no one was guarding this area, where the third and final trapped fairy for this part of the realm was located, so he simply smashed the cage, freed the fairy, and picked up the gems that were around him, before gliding over to the reactivated whirlwind platform. That brought him right to the exit portal, where he smashed the pair of gem chests that were near the portal and collected the gems that had been trapped inside them, before heading into the exit portal and departed from Lofty Castle.
Spyro was happy that this realm had been easier than Tree Tops, as that was a pain in his rear, and that he was able to save the fairies that had been trapped in all those cages, though at the same time he wondered how Spike and Ember were doing in their respective realms, and whether or not they were facing a tough challenge this time around.
It didn't take Spike long to reach the portal to Haunted Towers, nor did it take all that long for him to arrive at the area that was the starting point for this realm, but before he got started, on freeing the dragons and recovering the stolen treasure, he paused for a moment and took in the castle that was the main focus on this realm, even if it wasn't shaped like a tall tower, like one would think, and had blue, white, and gold stones that made up the walls. In front of him rested a nice wooden door that had either gold or bronze fittings on it, though based on the coloration he was going to go with gold, though he quickly noted that he was going to have to smash through the door, as it appeared that there were no handles or magical ways to open the door, but suspected that the Dream Weavers dragons would fix it later. The interesting thing he discovered was a suit of steel that was resting nearby, one that was hollow and appeared to be some sort of guardian for this realm, but, with the dragons being imprisoned, whoever had been in control of them had been trapped in crystal as well, severing the connection between them and their creations. Knowing Gnasty Gnorc, however, made Spike wonder if these were the original suits or if the originals had been moved by the enemies in this realm, so their leader could create new suits to deal with whoever came to restore order to this realm, though it just showed how well prepared for this attack Gnasty Gnorc was, since he had an entire army ready to go the moment he cast that spell of his, even if it ended up missing him, Spyro, and Ember in the process.
Spike pushed that thought to the back of his mind for a moment as he walked forward, where he smashed through the door and entered the chamber that was on the other side, though as he did so he found one of the wizards, like the ones back in the land of the Magic Crafters, floating in front of the bridge that lead to the next building, though instead of a green robe this one had blue robes. In addition to the blue wizard there was a Gnorc that had a wooden shield and a black sphere with a fuse at the top, which appeared to be some sort of grenade, something she had read about one of the books in the Dark Hollow library, but he had never seen one of them in action and wasn't about to be hit by it. The thing that interested him the most was the fact that there was an animated suit of armor off to his right, with green magic connected to it, but because it was made out of metal he knew that he would need to figure out another way to deal with it, so he ignored the steel guardian and focused on the blue wizard and the Gnorc-adier. As it turned out all he needed to do was dodge the incoming attacks and flame the two foes he could deal with, to which he walked over the bridge and found one of the Gnorc-adiers coming his way, with the fuse lit, so he charged into his foe and then entered the chamber that was in front of him, only to discover that two more steel guardians were blocking the paths on his left and on his right, meaning he had to cross to the other side of the chamber before doing anything else. Of course there was another Gnorc-adier waiting on that bridge, and was easily taken out with a quick charge, though after that he smashed through the door that was at the end of his path and took out a third Gnorc-adier, before discovering that one of the Fairy Princesses was waiting in this small chamber.
The Fairy Princess was more than willing to bless him with the superflame ability, just like what happened back when he and his siblings took on High Caves, but as soon as he had the power Spike turned around and charged back into the chamber he had been in a few seconds ago, where his flames tore apart the two steel guardians that had been blocking the way, a metal door that was behind one of them, and the two steel guardians that were near the starting area. Once that was done, and he returned to normal, Spike gathered the gems that were laying on the ground and returned to the area that was behind the metallic door, where he smashed a circular chest, a normal chest, and two gem chests, and made sure to collect the gems, before heading towards the open area that one of the blue wizards was waiting in, which would take him right to the walkway that was above him. Of course he had to use a whirlwind to get up there, and luckily the blue wizards that were invading this realm didn't even consider trying to turn it off or build something to block it, so he was able to rise up to where the walkway was located and noticed that there were four more steel guardians resting along the path that he needed to follow, but as he landed he also spotted a blue wizard bringing the four suits of armor to life, giving him only a few seconds to ignite a fireworks box and claim the gems inside it, before he had to move again. Since it appeared that there were no Fairy Princesses or even a Fairy Queen in his immediate area, meaning no access to one of the abilities that would turn this battle in his favor, Spike had to move passed them and charged into the blue wizard, before leaving the steel guardians behind and smashed through a pair of metallic chests, only to stop when he came up to one of the trapped dragons that called this realm home.
The dragon in question, Kosoko, was thin like some of the other dragons he and his siblings had rescued, though his scales were blue, on the front of his chest and the front of his neck, and the rest of them were purple, a few shades lighter than Spyro's scales, all while Spike noticed that Kosoko was carrying a candle holder that had a candle with a blue flame on it, just like his horns had, but all he had to say was thanks for being rescued before he disappeared, even though Spike had the feeling that he would have said something about the fairies if it had been Spyro or Ember that saved him.
Spike wasn't disappointed by that at all, because he was sure the other dragons knew he was the smartest of the trio and that he didn't need the constant reminders like Spyro might need, so he refocused his mind on what he was doing here and headed for the walkway that connected to another part of the castle's exterior. While he did that he had to avoid a few steel guardians along the way, but the three Gnorc-adiers that were standing in his way were fair game and he made sure to charge through them, allowing him to reach his next destination while Talon made sure to pick up the gems that were left by the foes he took out. He quickly discovered that there was another Fairy Princess in this realm, in the middle of the open area that was in the middle of the building he was walking towards to be exact, but before he bothered her he focused on checking the sides of the structure, as the side to his left had a fireworks box that he took care of and the other side had a lone gem. Once he made sure to check both sides of the building he walked in and smashed a chest that was on his left, before he focused on the Fairy Princess, who kissed him on the nose and he charged out of the area with the superflame ability once more, where he took out the three steel guardians that were near where Kosoko had been trapped, the metallic door that was behind one of them, and a locked chest as well, before going back to this Fairy Princess for a second time so he could head back to the four steel guardians that were on the walkway between the starting area and the main building.
Once that was done he returned to where Kosoko had been imprisoned and used the ramp that had been behind one of the steel guardians to get up to a new level, where he breathed on an electrical spell that the blue wizard sent at him, to which the spell hit his foe in the back of the head, indicating that he had used his special skill, before ending the fight, but even as that happened he noticed something interesting.
"There's another ledge off in the distance," Spike commented, referring to an area that connected to the outside of the castle, meaning that there could be another entrance that he had no knowledge of, before he glanced at the ramp that had allowed him to get up here and the wheels started turning within seconds, "I see now, there has to be a supercharge ramp around here somewhere, because there's no way I can glide over there right now, even if I climbed up to the top of the stairs that this whirlwind will bring me to."
Talon buzzed for a moment, showing that he agreed with what Spike was saying, before Spike walked into the short whirlwind that was near them and allowed it to lift himself into the air, just high enough to reach the bottom step of the stairs he had mentioned, where his estimates showed that none of the steps would give him enough height so he could make the glide over to the other area, so his only chance was to clear the rest of the realm out so he could use the supercharge ability to reach his target. The top step allowed him to jump up to a stone that served as the castle's entrance, where he walked inside and found that there was a supercharge ramp in front of him, meaning it was entirely possible for him to get to the other ledge and see what was in another part of the castle, but for now he focused on using this ramp to get around the part of the castle that he already had access to. As such he charged down the ramp that was in front of him and smashed his way through the metallic door that was at the end of the passage, allowing him to enter a small room that had another door, one that also didn't last for very long as he broke through it, which brought him to a tunnel that quickly turned into a decent sized room. Instead of continuing to charge all over the place Spike showed back down and walked around the room, finding a few wooden doors and a pair of metal ones that had to lead outside, so he busted down the door to his left and found a Gnorc-adier trying to grab a Fairy Princess, so all Spike did was knock him down to the floor and was rewarded with both a gem and a superflame kiss.
That allowed him to smash the metal doors down with ease, before he turned around and broke the other wooden doors as well, including a steel guardian that was protecting some metallic chests, but thanks to his superflame ability Spike was able to take that foe down. With the steel guardian taken care of Spike moved on to the other suit of armor that was behind one of the metal doors and climbed up the steps behind it, where he used the last of his ability to take out one of the Gnorc-adiers before he returned to the small room the first one had been waiting inside, so he could smash through the four metallic chests and the eight normal ones behind them. Once that was done he entered the room that was in front of the tunnel he had used to enter this chamber and finally tapped the statue that was inside it, freeing Lutalo, a tall dragon that wore purple and gold trimmed armor on his chest and shoulders, while carrying a genie's lamp, from his prison, who revealed that he was rooting for Spike and his siblings in the battle to come, the one against Gnasty Gnorc in the land that he ruled over. As Lutalo headed outside, through the opening on the left, Spike followed after him and watched as he took off, though as soon as he was gone Spike investigated the area and found a pair of gem chests in the area that Lutalo had chosen to leave through, which he dealt with rather quickly, before finding a locked chest that didn't have a key to it, meaning all he had to do was ask a Fairy Princess for the superflame ability again or charge down the ramp and use the supercharge ability to break it.
Instead of doing either of those things Spike studied the area around him for a few seconds and smiled when he noticed that the path near the ramp he had seen earlier, which allowed him to get up to where the whirlwind that brought him to the top of the supercharge ramp, was nearby, though it appeared he would need to charge down the ramp in order to build up speed to reach it when he jumped. In that moment a plan formed in Spike's mind, one that had a greater amount of success than the others did, so he turned around and headed back into the castle, where he made his way to the top of the ramp that would him to use the supercharge ability, only to stop when he reached the top of the ramp and turned around so he could focus on what he was doing. From there he charged down the ramp and quickly made his way back to the chamber that had allowed him to find out where Lutalo had been trapped, before he turned and headed out through the way the freed dragon had done, where he angled himself to the left and jumped into the air, sailing over the gap and touching down on the walkway. Once that happened Spike continued up the ramp that was in front of him and jumped into the air, where at the highest point he switched to gliding and a wide smile appeared on his face as he touched down on the ledge he had seen earlier, indicating that his plan had been a success and that he was free to explore the other part of the castle. There wasn't much on the ledge he had landed on, other than some moving mushrooms that had to be the critters they got butterflies from if they were hurt in this homeworld and the realms that were connected to it, but he used the nearby whirlwind to get up to the level above him, where he found another trapped dragon, who had to be the last one of this realm.
Copano, from what he discovered after tapping the statue, was a large dragon with a light blue color as his main color and a bright pink belly, complete with white spots here and there, though all he had to say was that he was a master of the supercharge, something that Spike really didn't agree with since he couldn't master something like this that quickly, but before he could voice his opinion the dragon exited the building and left the area.
Spike sighed as he turned to the right and headed down the other path that he had ignored, where he stopped when he found a large open area that had a number of steps that lead to the top, though along the way he spotted a good number of steel guardians lining the way up to the ceiling. He noticed a blue wizard staring down at the area he happened to be standing in, no doubt keeping an eye out for intruders and the like, meaning that the moment he started moving the wizard was going to awaken the force of steel guardians and make sure the way was blocking, though that also meant that there had to be something important here for all the forces that were gathered here. Spike paused there for a few more seconds, taking in the path that he would have to take from where he was standing, but once he felt he was ready he nodded to Talon and started jumping up the stairs that were to his left, so he could follow the path, though at the same time his dragonfly flew up to where the blue wizard was and dashed around his head, distracting him for a few moments, which was exactly what Spike was hoping would happen. Talon waited until Spike was halfway up the steps before moving away from the blue wizard, who huffed in frustration and loosed several bolts of magical energy, hitting the various suits of armor and roused the steel guardians from their slumber, before fleeing to an area that would be Spike's ultimate goal for this area.
Thanks to the distraction Spike reached the area that the blue wizard was in before the last steel guardian had been roused from it's slumber, where he breathed fire on it and took his target out, though since there was an animated suit of armor blocking his way now, and he didn't have the spell to put them back to sleep, he broke the door that was near him and found something that put a wide smile on his face. That something was a fairy with a reddish-orange dress, who had to be the one and only Fairy Queen he had read about in some of the books he had read, and she wasted no time in kissing his nose, granting him an empowered version of his superflame ability, one that meant he could use it for the rest of the time he was in this realm, which was perfect since there were a few things he needed to do before he left and having this power meant things would be easier for him. As soon as he had the empowered superflame ability he charged at the normal and metallic chests in the chamber, allowing Talon to collect the gems, before he turned around and started taking out the steel guardians that he had passed by a few moments ago, where his flames torched their metallic bodies and dropped the gems that Talon collected, in addition to the ones that Spike had ignored earlier. Once the area was cleared of enemies, at long last, Spike dealt with the fireworks box, the pair of metallic chests that were near it, and a gem chest, before heading back to the locked chest near where Copano had been imprisoned, though once that was done he found an opening that allowed him to drop back down into the area that Lutalo had been stuck in and headed outside so he could smash the other locked chest he had discovered.
Once that was done he headed back to the path that lead to the exit portal and cleared out the remaining enemies, as in five of the steel guardians, three of the Gnorc-adiers, and a blue wizard, which also included a couple of metallic chests and picked up the gems that were along the way, before stopping just short of the portal that would take him back to where his siblings would be waiting for him to join them. Talon buzzed for a moment, as he was curious as to why Spike was stopping before leaving the realm, to which Spike turned around and retraced his steps, as while he could leave this realm, and rejoin his siblings, something told him that there was something he had missed while he was exploring this place and was taking out the enemies he had found. He headed over to where the bottom of the supercharge ramp was located and headed up to the top of the stairs that were outside the castle, though when he did that he came to a stop and glanced out at the area, so he could see if he could find anything that he might have missed, even though he was sure that he saved all the dragons, recovered all the treasure, took out all the enemies, and saved all the fairies, both the Princesses and their Queen, from the enemies that had been guarding them.
After a few moments he got up and determined that he might as well leave, though as he turned to head back inside the castle he spotted something in the corner of his eye, where he glanced at the top of the area the second Fairy Princess had been in and found a flat area, one that seemed out of place, so he charged towards the end of the walkway and jumped into the air, where he glided over the distance and landed on the area in question, where he found a decent sized wizard's hat that was blue colored.
"A discarded wizard's hat. Not what I was expecting, but it is interesting." Spike commented, though at the same time he picked up the hat and found that there were a few small openings where a dragon's horns could slip through, without wrecking the item in question, to which he chuckled for a moment as he slipped it on and found that it fit him like a glove, which was a little weird, "Talon, what do you think?"
Talon buzzed for a few seconds, his tone indicating that he was unsure if Spike even needed a hat, to which Spike decided that he'd bring it with him and see what his siblings said about it when they got back together, where he headed back to the exit portal and departed from this realm, so he could hear what Spyro and Ember had done in the realms they had gone to, before they took on the Flight Realm and whoever the commander was, and then they could focus on putting an end to this adventure.
Ember was the first one to reach the area where the pair of Slap Fools had been guarding the stairs that lead the way to where the portal to the Flight Realm of this homeworld was located, which allowed her to pause for a few moments and think about something that none of them had considered. They were almost at the end of their journey, because once they cleared out the Flight Realm and took out the commander of Gnasty Gnorc's forces for this land, which was where the Dream Weavers lived, it would be time for her, Spyro, and Spike to head to the land that their foe ruled over, the land that served as his base of operations. She was honestly surprised that none of them had brought this up, when they were in the land of the Beast Makers and when they arrived here, at the land of the Dream Weavers, but their adventure was almost over, and once they succeeded in beating their foe she had the feeling that life was going to go back to what it had been before all of the adult dragons had been imprisoned in those crystalline statues. Of course she was still mad about that fact, that Gnasty Gnorc had done something to the dragons of the Dragon Realms, but even then it made her pause and wonder if she and her siblings would have another adventure like this in the future, maybe to a land the dragons knew nothing about or something like that, before letting out a sigh.
Spike was the one that was the most excited about discovering things that none of the other scholars had found over the years, just like his Teleportation Breath that many were trying to learn so they could send things over great distances without having to use the Balloonists to carry things, so she shelved the thought and decided to mention it to him once they were done with Gnasty Gnorc, even though the thing that really interested her was finding new enemies to fight and improve her own fighting skills in the process.
She honestly thought that she would be standing near the stairs for more than a few minutes, since she was sure that the other realms would be just like the one she tackled, though it wasn't long before Spyro walked around the corner and stopped near where she was standing. One thing that she instantly noticed was that her brother was in a good mood, not like what happened when he emerged from tackling the apparent nightmare that was Tree Tops, a name she was sure Spyro hated at this point, which meant that he must have been lucky and had been given one of the easier realms out of the three for this land. Of course that made her worry about Spike and his mood when he returned from Haunted Towers, because if Dark Passage and Lofty Castle had been easy for her and Spyro, which she gathered from how her brother looked, than that had to mean that the hardest realm of this land was Haunted Towers, though right now she didn't want to imagine how ticked off Spike would be when he came back, especially after remembering how Spyro had acted for a while after coming out of Tree Tops.
"You seem to be in a good mood." Ember commented, though despite the fact that this might remind her brother of Tree Tops, and annoy him a little, she wanted him to understand that she was happy that he had taken on a realm that didn't tick him off like the last realm he had taken on by himself had done.
"I freed a number of fairies, took out all the enemies in my realm, gathered the treasure, and saved the dragons that had been imprisoned by Gnasty Gnorc's spell," Spyro replied, showing that he had been busy in the realm he had been given as his second solo run, while at the same time allowing his tone, which was a happy one, to illustrate the fact that he was happy to emerge from Lofty Castle with no frustrations, unlike the last realm he took on alone, "oh, and I also used one of the supercharge ramps to clean up part of the realm as well, and it was nothing like the terrible hidden paths that I had to look for in Tree Tops earlier."
"Is that so?" Ember inquired, as she was curious as to what else had happened in Lofty Castle, because the shorter version wasn't all that great in her opinion, but, at the same time, she knew that he'd tell her soon enough, as both of them would be telling Spike about their realms in due time, to complete the story of what they had done, which their brother was working on at this very moment, "Well, I faced some interesting enemies, saved the dragons, and recovered all the stolen treasure that was in the realm I went to, though I also had to use a number of different tactics to get around my foes and take them out, which I was eager to do since it gave me some great experience in battle."
"And I'm sure Titan and the other Peace Keepers will be happy to hear about it, once we've taken down Gnasty Gnorc and the rest of his minions," Spyro said, showing that, despite what Ember had been thinking earlier, one of her siblings did understand that they were getting closer to the end of this adventure, even if Spyro didn't outright say what she had considered a few moments ago, before he looked at the area that was off in the distance, "So, how do you think Spike is doing with Haunted Towers?"
"Considering that each homeworld has two easy realms and one hard realm, while not counting the Flight Realm or the realm that was the home of the greatest dragon of that clan, he's likely having problems." Ember admitted, as while she had faith in Spike's abilities, especially when she took the battle with Blowhard into consideration, she knew that this time around he had been given the hardest realm in this land, and she wasn't afraid to let Spyro know how she felt, "But, given what we've seen from him so far, he should be done with his realm any moment now, and then we can take on the Flight Realm and whoever the enemy commander is."
Spyro nodded his head for a moment and focused on keeping an eye out for Spike, so they could see him heading for the area they were standing in, and for a couple of long moments he had to wonder what sort of challenges their brother was facing, before he spotted Spike and Talon in the distance, using the whirlwind platforms to glide back to the area they had landed on earlier, when they finally arrived in the land of the Dream Weavers, though he had to pause as he finally noticed what was on his brother's head.
"Spike, what is that on your head?" Spyro asked, because while he had a good idea as to what it was, thanks to what they had seen when they were traveling through the land of the Magic Crafters and saving the various dragons that called that land home, he wanted to see what his brother had to tell them.
"It's a wizard's hat, and I found it while I was exploring Haunted Towers," Spike explained, though at the same time he came to a stop in front of his siblings and sat down for a moment, where he shifted his front claws and pulled the hat off for a few seconds so he could show it to them, especially the fact that he hadn't wrecked it by wearing it, "From what I can tell there aren't any signatures, magical or otherwise, to show who this belonged to in the past, so I'm assuming that this was recently crafted by someone and hadn't been delivered to it's intended recipient."
"So are you wearing it in the hopes that we'll find whoever it belongs to, so you can deliver it to them, or are you taking it as your own?" Ember inquired, though her tone revealed that, while she was slightly surprised by the addition of the hat, she wasn't annoyed by it in the slightest or found it odd, rather she found that the hat went well with her brother, his satchel, and the fact that he knew the most magical spells out of all of them, as it would help others realize that he was a powerful wizard, even if his training was far from complete.
"I was thinking of taking it as my own for the moment," Spike said, showing that he understood that the hat might have been made for one of the other dragons that lived in the Dragon Realms, only to be dropped when the dragons were trapped in those statues, and that he was going to hold onto it until they saved the day by defeating Gnasty Gnorc in the land that he was based in, "though I have to admit that I like the fact that it makes me look more like a wizard, something that I'm sure the Magic Crafters would approve of, once we tell them what happened in Altair's peak."
Spike could tell that, while both of his siblings had been caught off guard by the hat, neither of them were telling him to take it off and stuff it inside his satchel, with the rest of his stuff, meaning they might be thinking that it suited him in some way, or that they might get him his own personal hat if it belonged to someone else, but since neither of them had anything else to say, indicating that they were going to talk about their realms later, he slipped the hat back on and headed up the stairs so they could get to the Flight Realm.
It didn't take them long to reach the portal that would take them to their destination, especially since they had to deal with two Clock Fools to reach their destination, but once they reached the portal they headed through it, as all three of them were eager to see what awaited them in the next Flight Realm they were heading towards. What they discovered was that this Flight Realm was between a number of snowy mountains and there was a train track in front of them, which meant one of them would need to follow it to find the Gnorcs that were on it, while they also noticed that it was nighttime at the moment and that they would need to turn on the lighthouses that were scattered around the realm. As such both Spyro and Ember flew forward and followed the path that the eight lighthouses were in, though while they did that Spike headed to the right of the area they had appeared in and followed the tracks, so he could flame the Gnorc trains and stop them from transporting their explosives to wherever their destination was. Spyro eventually separated from Ember and focused on the golden chests that were around the area that they had picked out, so while she turned on all of the lighthouses he smashed the scattered chests, to repeat what the three of them had done in the previous Flight Realms, and once all eight of the lighthouses were on, and all eight of the chests were broken, they regrouped and followed the tracks as they entered a new area of this realm.
Of course they found Spike flying around the area, flaming the Gnorcs that were using some sort of flying device on a number of platforms, like they were copters or something, before he flew above the mountains and headed towards one of the lone structures that was above everything, causing them to join him.
"Well, I was able to take out all of the Gnorc trains and the copters," Spike commented, though at the same time the area he chose to land in was where the gems had been located, something that he started to count as soon as all three of them had touched the ground.
"That seemed too easy, almost like the Gnorcs weren't even trying to stop us this time," Ember remarked, because she found it a little odd that the three of them were able to separate like that and hit all of the obstacles in record time, and she could tell that Spyro felt the same way, making her wonder if this was a way for the last enemy commander to lure them into a false sense of security, before the big battle.
"I agree with you Ember, that felt way too easy," Spyro added, as he had seen how hard Tree Tops was and knew that the Flight Realm they had taken on in that land was easy, which had allowed him to cool down after all the frustration he endured while he was trying to find the second path and reach the final dragon of that realm, but this Flight Realm was even easier than that, making him wonder if this was a trap as well.
"Considering how the other commanders had acted, I wouldn't say they were trying to lure us into a false sense of security or anything," Spike stated, causing both of his siblings to turn towards him for a moment, as they were surprised that he had a different opinion on what they had discovered, before he finished his count of the treasure, finding that the amount was the same as the previous Flight Realm, and turned towards Spyro and Ember, "I mean, all of them appeared to be the type to face their foes head on and not leave traps for them, or even attempt to make us lower our guards before the big battle, so I think it's safe to say that whoever the commander for this land is just wants to fight us like the others did, without any tricks."
Spyro and Ember chuckled for a moment, as while they wanted to say that Spike was wrong they knew that the reality of the situation was that he was right, as all the commanders the three of them had faced so far had been honorable and didn't have any tricks to use against them, despite their orders from Gnasty Gnorc, so it made sense that the commander of this realm would be just like the others. Instead of saying anything to that they let their dragonflies claim the treasure that was in front of them and waited until all of it was gone, before they took to the skies and headed for the furthest part of the realm, so the magic would take them back to the central hub area for the land the Dream Weavers called home and then find their way to their next destination. Of course, just like the last four Flight Realms, it didn't take them long to reach the border of this realm and disappear from the area, where they eventually reappeared in front of the portal they used to get to the Flight Realm, which was the moment they glided down to where Lateef had been imprisoned and made their way towards the final portal for this land. All three of them paused for a moment when they reached the portal that was near where the next Balloonist was waiting for them, because once this commander was taken care of they would be taking the fight to Gnasty Gnorc himself, to put an end to his plans and this adventure at the same time.
Once they were done thinking about that the three of them entered the portal and headed to their next destination, though it didn't take them very long to arrive at the starting area for the realm the commander had taken over, which, as they soon found out, was different from the rest of the Dream Weaver realms they had seen so far. What they discovered was that the islands that this realm was built on were volcanic in nature, which explained why the structures that were scattered around the area they could see appeared to be darker than what they had seen in the central hub area, and, based on the small lava waterfall that was some distance in front of them, there was likely a few lava pools that they would have to watch out for as they explored this realm. Of course there were a few enemies in front of them, just like the last couple of realms that the commanders took over and prepared for their arrival, but this time around the enemies were different than what they had seen so far, as one of the enemies they would be dealing with was short, had orange colored skin, long arms with three claws for fingers, and was wearing armor to protect them from being flamed, while the other type seemed to be a hunchbacked version of the first enemy, with pink clothes on and happened to be holding a flower, but the trio knew that they had to be just as dangerous as their armored counterparts.
"Now I know why we didn't come here when we were younger, this place would have given us nightmares," Spyro said, because while the realm really didn't bother him at all, just like it didn't bother his siblings, he knew that if they had seen this when they were hatchlings, instead of the young dragons they were at the moment, they would have had a long string of nightmares from seeing a realm like this.
"I'm more curious as to why Revilo and Unika would live in a realm like this," Spike stated, referring to the greatest dragons of the Dream Weavers, which was the only clan that had two champions instead of just one, like the other four clans, but, at the same time, he had the feeling he and his siblings would learn that information either today, when they rescued the pair of dragons, or at some point in the future, once Gnasty Gnorc was taken care of.
"Well, let's start taking these out so we can find them and rescue them," Ember replied, because standing here wasn't going to accomplish anything and she knew that both of her brothers understood that, they just got caught up in looking at the realm that they had appeared in, but it wasn't long before she rushed forward and started to explore, all while preparing for the enemies that were in front of them.
Ember charged through the armored foe before it could swing it's claws at her, while at the same time Spyro flamed the unarmored foe that was coming to smack his sister, but as both of their enemies fell both they and Spike spotted one of the Clock Fools just standing nearby, meaning they would have to focus on them as well. Spike, after taking a few seconds to go over their new enemies, had his siblings pause as he revealed the names that they could call them by, while they were in this realm, where the armored foes became armored horrors and the unarmored foes were just horrors, but he also revealed there were a number of other names he could use, most of which actually sounded like an insult in some manner if one thought about the words, so referring to the unarmored ones as horrors was the best name he could give them, until they encountered one of the imprisoned dragons that lived in this realm. As soon as he was done naming the enemies of this realm, or at least the ones they currently knew about, he smashed the two metallic chests that were to the right of where they appeared and collected the gems that had been inside them, before he joined his siblings in cornering the Clock Fool and flaming him, allowing the platform he was bonded with to rise out of the ground and stop when it was high enough for them to use to get up to the next area they had to explore. Of course, despite the fact that the platform was up, all three of them knew that it was also on a timer, as the Clock Fools and the Lamp Fools had a certain amount of time that they would remain down for, before they got up again, and if this guy got up he would lower the platform and cause them to chase him again.
As such the siblings made sure that they got up to the next area before the platform lowered back into position when the Clock Fool roused himself, though once that was done all three of them focused on the area around them, finding one of the armored horrors standing on a platform to their left and a Clock Fool ahead of them. The first thing they did was let Ember charge the armored horror that was on the small platform, not to mention collect the pair of gems that were in the area behind it, while Spyro headed to the right and found a few of the normal horrors, three of them to be exact, standing on three different platforms that happened to be in a row, with some space between them, meaning it would be easy to take them out and not get hurt in the process. As Spyro carefully flamed each of his targets, while making sure to avoid the claws when they attacked him first, Spike spotted a second Clock Fool and started to wonder where the platforms the pair were connected to happened to be resting, as figuring that out would allow them to get through this area that much quicker than if they ignored the Fools. Interestingly enough there was a third Fool inside the area that Spyro was heading into, to which Ember and Spike followed after him, making sure to collect the gems on the ground and smash the pair of gem chests that were near the third Clock Fool, before flaming the Fool in question to raise the platform he was connected to, which was what was near the wall, allowing them to move up to the next area and bring them closer to the commander that needed to take out.
Spike was the first one to reach the area above them, where he torched the horrors that were in front of him, one on the ground and two on small platforms in the air, leaving Spyro and Ember to pick up the gems that had been near the Clock Fool and then join him, only to break through the next pair of gem chests and gather the gems that were close to where the edge of the area was located. From there it was a simple matter to flame the Clock Fool that was in front of them and waited for the platform he was bonded with to rise, though once that was done they used the platform to access the next area of this realm, where they found a few normal chests, a tunnel with some stairs leading down to a lower area, a locked chest that needed a key, and another area that had a few armored horrors standing on some platforms. Ember took it upon herself to charge at the edge of the area they were in and throw herself at the first armored terror, where she crashed into her target and knocked it to the ground, only she didn't stop there as she continued forward and crashed into the two enemies that were behind the first one, though she made sure to come to a complete stop after that, so she didn't throw herself off the edge of the area they were in. Once Spyro and Spike caught up with her they smashed the pair of gem chests that were off to the side and noticed that there were two more Clock Fools in the area that was a short glide from where they happened to be standing, with a couple of gems and two metallic chests resting in the area, so they took off and investigated the area.
What happened next was that Spyro smashed through the metallic chests while Ember made sure to grab the gems that were on the small floating bit of land that she could jump over to, though as that happened Spike focused on the pair of Clock Fools and flamed them both, finding that one raised part of the platform they were near and the other raised the center of it, allowing him to be high in the air and glide to a small opening, so he could claim a key and two gems. Once that was done he and his siblings regrouped and waited for the Clock Fools to regain themselves, where they lowered the platforms back into position, though it wasn't long before they knocked the pair back down and used the lifted platforms to glide in the direction that the locked chest was in. From there the siblings made their way back up to where the locked chest was resting and opened it with the key that had been recovered, allowing their dragonflies to gather the gems that had been inside it, before determining which area that they should explore next, since they could either head down the tunnel and see what was waiting for them, likely a trapped dragon and the commander, or they could backtrack and see what the area they ignored had in store for them. Spyro, as it turned out, wanted to check the area they had ignored and lead the way back there, where he left Spike deal with the Clock Fools that were in their way, to which Spike flamed the two Fools that were on the area just after the starting zone, where the one closest to where the armored horror had been standing made the platform near it rise out of the ground, allowing them to jump up onto the wall that was ahead of it and see what else was around them.
On top of the wall rested two normal chests, which were broken instantly by Spyro, while in the area in front of them had two more armored horrors on small rock platforms and two metallic chests off to the right, tucked away in such a way like someone actually tried to hide them, but the thing that interested Spike was that the Clock Fool that was the furthest away from their position was the one that was connected to the pillar in this area. Of course by that he meant that was that by flaming that particular Fool they caused the pillar to sink into the ground, giving them enough height when it was raised so they could glide over to another area of this realm, where a trapped dragon happened to be located, not to mention some of the stolen treasure that they were in the middle of recovering. It was too easy for them to get onto the pillar in it's sunken form and then waited for it to rise back into the air, after dealing with the pair of armored horrors of course, but once it was in the air they simply jumped off it and glided over to where the trapped dragon rested, to which the siblings landed and tapped on the statue without delay. They then found out that it was Unika, the Dream Weaver with a harp, that had been stuck over here and he offered them his thanks as soon as he was freed from his prison, before departing like all of the other dragons they had freed in the past, to which the trio decided not to be bothered by it and continued exploring the rest of the realm, before they returned to the tunnel and whatever was waiting for them at the bottom of it, which involved breaking the nearby chest as they moved.
The next area, as they soon discovered, was broken into two different sections and both of them had lava covering what would have been a water filled area in any of the other realms they had visited, or nothing in some cases, though in the end Ember picked the area on their left and used the whirlwind to rise into the air so she could glide around the area and flame the horrors that were standing on the four posts... though what she wasn't expecting was for the first one to lash out the moment she was in the air and knock her down into the pool of lava below her.
"EMBER!" Spyro shouted, as this reminded him of the time that he and Ember thought that Spike had been blasted by Blowhard's powerful spell, back when the two were fighting in Altair's peak, only this time around he was sure Ember didn't have access to the incredibly powerful spell that Spike had used.
"What? I'm fine." Ember replied, where her head burst out of the lava and was followed by her arms, which made her look like she was actually swimming in the substance, confusing not only Spyro and Spike, since Cinder hadn't taken any damage at all, but also the horrors that were watching them.
"Interesting. My studies indicated that we shouldn't have a resistance to lava," Spike said, as he was fascinated by what he was seeing, as the lessons they had been given also backed up the fact that they weren't to touch lava at all, which meant that either their elders were wrong or this lava was fake.
"Well, I certainly do." Ember remarked, to which she jumped out of the lava and landed on the lower area that would lead her up to her brothers, where she shook herself and got rid of the last bits of lava that had been on her, before noticing that her bracers, despite being submerged in lava for a few moments, were just fine as well, "Weird. Maybe my bracers are enchanted with that resistance and it covers my entire body when I'm wearing all four of them?"
"It's possible to enchant things with certain resistances, but I haven't heard of that happening," Spike stated, though at the same time he walked down to where his sister was standing and decided to test something, where he rested right in front of the pool for a moment and stuck his front right claw inside the lava, but where he expected a burning sensation that would cause him to yank his leg out he found that it was warm and relaxing, "Interesting. Spyro, do you want to give it a try while we're here?"
Spyro, despite the fact that Sparx was buzzing for him not to do anything, decided to give it a try and reached out to touched the lava, though not even a second after that happened he yanked his claw back, because the intense heat only slightly hurt him and knocked his dragonfly down by a color. As Spyro apologized to Sparx, as he was so sure that if his brother and sister could do it he might be able to do so as well, Ember walked up to the whirlwind once more and used it to get into the air, where she glided around the area and flamed the horrors that were up above them, just as she had intended to do before she was smacked into the lava, though she was fortunate Cinder didn't take any damage due to her quick timing to use her bracers to block the attack, which didn't mark her gear at all. While she was doing that, and Spyro was finishing his apology to Sparx, Spike jotted down some quick notes about what he had discovered, since he was even more interested in seeing why he and Ember were unique in the fact that the lava didn't bother them and he wanted to check and see if such a thing had been recorded by one of the other scholars. Once all three of them were done with what they were doing, and had made sure that the gems in the lower walkway had been picked up, they turned around and headed back to the fork in the path so they could pick the other route, which meant dealing with the Clock Fool that was standing in their way.
Spike was interested in the fact that this particular Clock Fool was bonded to a platform that emerged from the side of the mountain on their left, which allowed them to jump on it and then jump to a smaller platform with a whirlwind on it, even if they had to do so one at a time, before they glided over to a small area they could walk around, and smash a pair of normal chests while gathering a few gems in the process. From there the trio determined that the best course of action was to let one of them glide over to another area that was a good distance from where they were standing, which meant they would have to jump up onto the raised section of the platform they were standing on, though Spyro stepped up and climbed onto the center platform. Spike and Ember watched as their brother jumped into the air and glided down to the area that had three gem chests on it, where he touched down a few seconds later and started smashing the chests that were in front of him, claiming the gems that had been trapped inside it, before using the nearby whirlwind to get back to where they were waiting for him. Once that was done, and Spike was absolutely sure they had taken out all the enemies in this realm while claiming all the stolen treasure, the siblings turned around and headed to the starting area, though when they reached that area they turned back to the first route they picked when they started tackling this realm and used the Clock Fools to reach the tunnel that would take them down to an unexplored area.
What they discovered, along with a number of gems on the stairs, was a trapped dragon and a creature that looked like he was the jack from one of the jack-in-the-boxes they had seen when they were younger, only his attire seemed to be more aligned with a jester's and he wasn't attached to one of the boxes, but before they focused on the commander they tapped the statue so they could free Revilo from his prison.
"Thank you for releasing me." Revilo stated, though at the same time he sat in the position that allowed him to rock back and forth with his tail, while also using his yarn to create something new, which would take some time as it appeared he would have to restart his work.
"No problem." Spyro remarked, to which he glanced behind the dragon and stared at the creature that was at the end of the tunnel, as he and his siblings were convinced that this was the commander for the land of the Dream Weavers and they had no idea who he was or what his abilities were, unlike some of the other commanders they had faced, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know who the commander is or have any tips for us, would you?"
"The commander calls himself Jacques," Revilo answered, showing that he had learned it from the time he spent being trapped in his statue prison, just like all of the other dragons could see what was going on around them, before he considered something else that he needed to tell them before they engaged their foe, "As for advice, well, a wise dragon once told me 'aim high in life, but watch out for flying boxes'."
Spyro had no idea how that advice was helpful, but before he or his siblings could ask what the dragon meant Revilo got up and headed up the stairs they had walked down, departing from the realm so he could join the other members of his clan, causing him to sigh as he, Spike, and Ember faced Jacques.
"Well, since everyone has had their own solo fight with one of the commanders, I think it's time we took another one together, just like we did with Toasty," Ember stated, because while she knew all three of them could take down this guy on their own, without getting the others involved, she also knew that if they worked together this fight would be over in a matter of moments, they just had to be careful and avoid whatever attacks their foe possessed.
Both Spyro and Spike nodded their heads in agreement as they approached their foe and discovered why Revilo told them about flying boxes, as Jacques was able to call forth a couple of boxes, that looked like presents, and would hurl three of them through the air, intended to hit one or more of them. Fortunately Spike had the answer, as his horns started to glow and he summoned the barrier he used in his battle with Blowhard in front of them, though instead of guarding just himself he also used it in short bursts to protect Ember and Spyro as they approached their foe. When they reached the end of the tunnel Jacques fled and started heading towards where the exit portal was waiting, though he paused every now and then when they were out of reach to throw more boxes at them, causing the trio to sigh as they used the small platforms along the way to follow their foe. Eventually he reached a box shaped platform and remained there for a few moments, giving the trio time to catch up with him and allowed Spike to use the barrier to block the boxes, which let either of his siblings approach Jacques without needing to worry about getting hit, though the first hit went to Ember, who flamed their foe and caused him to flee.
Spike, upon seeing that, considered Jacques to be more of a fool than the other commanders, because instead of fleeing to another area to fight them in, and leaving some soldiers to fight them, he just retreated to the platform in front of them and there weren't any other enemies waiting for them, meaning this was going to be way too easy for them and he could tell his siblings felt the same way.
As soon as they arrived at the next platform Spike summoned his barriers once more and stopped the thrown boxes from hitting him and his siblings, this time creating a path for Spyro to reach Jacques and flame him again, causing their foe to flee to what appeared to be the last of the box shaped platform. At the same time a smaller platform, that just so happened to be on the second area he stopped in, raised from where it had been resting and opened the way for them to get up to where their opponent had fled to, though this time around Spyro and Ember let Spike take the lead so he could prevent the flying boxes from hitting them, and give him a chance to flame their foe once he reached the end of the path they were following. As it turned out the path in question was just jumping over to an even smaller platform that had a whirlwind on it, so Spyro and Ember waited for Spike to use the whirlwind and glide towards their foe before they even attempted the same thing, though that allowed them to watch as their brother landed and started weaving his magic to block the boxes that were being thrown at them. Of course when Spike got close, just like the start of this battle, Jacques fled to the third and final box shaped platform for real and prepared himself for the end of their fight, but it was rather easy for Spike to catch up with him and flame him, after protecting himself from the boxes, though the last burst of flames caused Jacques to groan as his body shattered, like he was a dream or a creation that had been charged with commanding the forces of this land, and he also dropped a few gems as well.
"You know, that felt way too easy," Spike commented, to which he waited for his siblings to catch up to him and let their dragonflies claim the gems that had fallen from Jacques, but he was thinking about what they had seen from all of the commanders that had been in the other homeworlds, before something came to mind, "Hey, do you guys think Jacques was designed to be like this to make us think the rest of Gnasty Gnorc's forces won't be much of a challenge, to lower our guard?"
"I wouldn't put it passed Gnasty Gnorc to try something like that," Ember replied, though at the same time the three of them used the whirlwind behind where Jacques had been and glided to the platform the exit portal was on, to which they picked up the rest of the gems for this realm and the used the portal to return to the central hub area for this land, and focus on what they needed to do next.
"Well, let's head to his lair and take the fight to him!" Spyro stated, because whether or not the commander for this land had been designed to be weak, to make them overconfident or to lower their guard, didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, as they would carefully explore the lands their enemy ruled over and then face him to restore order to the Dragon Realms at long last.
Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement to that, to which the three of them headed over to where Amos, the Balloonist for the land of the Dream Weavers, was waiting for them, where he beckoned for them to jump into the basket and they did so without delay, causing him to follow them before taking off, so they could head to the land of Gnasty Gnorc and face him at long last.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember remained sitting as Amos departed from the area that the land of the Dream Weavers was located in and headed towards the location of the land that Gnasty Gnorc ruled over, so they could finally take on the person that was responsible for trapping all of the other dragons in those statues and loosing all those enemies they had taken out as they traveled through the homeworlds. The main reason they were silent at the moment was because of the fact that they were realizing that they were nearing the end of their adventure, something that each of them had thought about once or twice in the last couple of hours, but now the fact that they were heading to the land of their enemy meant that this was real, that they were about to face the person responsible for everything they had seen so far. Amos informed them that it would take about thirty minutes to get to the last land that made up the Dragon Realms, the land that was their enemy's base of operations and was likely where the main force of his soldiers were waiting for them, as he had to know that the soldiers that had been created from gems had been taken out and that the commanders he had picked out for the homeworlds had been defeated in battle. Other than the fact that he knew how long it would take them to reach their destination, however, Amos didn't have much else to tell them, allowing the siblings to focus on what they were going to do when they reached the land they were heading towards, especially since they had no idea how many realms the land possessed.
The ride also gave them some time to rest and ready themselves for the battle to come, as they were hoping that they would be able to tackle Gnasty Gnorc immediately and put a stop to his plans, whatever those plans happened to be, before he did something even worse than what he had done so far.
"So, what do we actually know about the land that Gnasty Gnorc rules over?" Spyro asked, because just sitting still and keeping quiet for the entire thirty minutes didn't sit well with him, and he could tell that Ember, at the very least, had the same opinion on the matter, even if Spike was interested in writing down everything that happened in the land of the Dream Weavers, for the scholars of Dark Hollow once this adventure was over.
"Well, it used to be called the Dragon Junkyard, or just the Junkyard as some preferred to call it," Spike replied, once more showing that his studies came in handy so he could answer one of the questions that his siblings might have on something they discovered or something they wanted to talk about, which caused both of them to turn towards him while Amos directed them towards their destination, "so it's where unwanted stuff has been sent over the years, before Nestor and the others, at some point in time, stopped dropping stuff off here, which was likely around the time that they confronted and banished Gnasty Gnorc to this land. From what I can tell Gnasty Gnorc has likely spent a great deal of his time shaping the land into his home and his base of operations, to invade the Dragon Realms at some point, and, based on what happened during the interview earlier, Gnasty Gnorc had seen the broadcast and was very upset with what Lindar said about him, causing him to launch his attack earlier than he planned."
"He's unlucky that the three of us weren't affected by that spell," Ember added, because she was happy that the spell that had trapped all the dragons in those crystal statues had missed them, either due to them not being adults or for some other reason that none of them knew about, as it allowed her and her brothers to reverse the damage he had caused to the homeworlds and the realms in each land, before finally taking the fight to him so this didn't happen again in the future, something she expected him to due if he was left to his own devices.
"Without knowing the specifics of that spell, my best guess is that Gnasty Gnorc targeted all the adult dragons that were scattered across the Dragon Realms," Spike said, showing that he had some idea as to why they had been skipped by the spell, while at the same time revealing the reason why his idea might be subject to change, something that his siblings knew he would have mentioned at some point, and showing that he had been thinking about this for some time, "As to why he didn't cast the spell a second time, and target the three of us, it's either because the spell can only be cast once a day or once every couple of hours, or Gnasty Gnorc felt that his commanders could take us out so he could focus his efforts on resealing the dragons that we rescued and taking the treasure that we had recovered over the course of our adventure, to reform the soldiers we had taken out before each battle."
"Well, whatever the reason is, Gnasty Gnorc won't have enough time to use the spell before we reach wherever he's hiding at the moment," Spyro stated, because based on what he had seen so far, and what they had encountered in the past, he had the feeling that their foe would be hiding somewhere, to give himself the time he needed to cast the spell and imprison them in those crystal statues, no doubt to be trophies or something, and he also had the feeling that they would be able to find him before he had a chance to do anything with his spell.
Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, as they were sure that they would be able to find Gnasty Gnorc in no time, once they reached their destination anyway, though all three of them were eager to see what the land he called home looked like before they did anything else.
Eventually Amos informed them that they were near their destination, the land that their foe called home, so Spyro, Spike, and Ember gathered near the edge of the basket and looked out at the land that they were descending towards, though all of them were surprised by what they saw. The first thing they noticed about the Gnorc Gnexus, as Amos called it, was that it had been created in the style of the other lands, in some manner, and it revolved around a central hub area that likely had a few portals scattered here and there, though it would be rather easy to find them since the area in front of them was a large circular island that was made out of metal. Around this island rested a number of natural islands, where the siblings could see that Gnasty Gnorc had his forces build a few lighthouses for some reason, and possibly some houses as well, even if they couldn't see them at the moment, before they focused on the next part of the island. There were three metallic dragon heads, made to mimic the style that the portal to Nevin's castle was housed in, and could only be accessed by specific means, though Spike noticed that all three of them were closed and that each of them had glowing lights in their nostrils and their eyes, as one had a yellow glow, the second had a pink glow, and the third had a green glow. The next thing of interest was the stone archway that seemed to be in the shape of a tunnel, one that certainly housed the first portal he and his siblings would have to go through, to tackle the forces that were waiting for them on the other side, before he noticed something that really caught his attention, and he was sure the same applied to his siblings.
There was a crystalline statue, like the ones they had been breaking to free the trapped dragons of the homeworlds, resting in the center of this island, meaning that someone had either come to talk with Gnasty Gnorc, and had been sealed by the spell, or someone they had rescued had come here to tackle Gnasty Gnorc in their stead, but they wouldn't know what was going on until the statue was broken.
"Here we are, the Gnorc Gnexus," Amos said, where he made sure the basket touched down on the wooden dock that happened to be attached to the island, almost like Gnasty Gnorc was waiting for someone to arrive in this manner, which allowed Spyro, Spike, and Ember to disembark and prepare themselves for what was ahead of them, "Trust me, this is the least friendly place you three will ever visit, but if you want to leave for a time, to rest from whatever is waiting for you, you could always ask Hak to take you back to one of the other homeworlds."
"Thanks, but we won't be leaving until Gnasty Gnorc is defeated," Spyro stated, because this had been what they had been working towards since they started their adventure, to tackle the person responsible for the chaos that had befallen their home since the dragons had been trapped in crystalline statues, and they weren't about to back away now.
Amos, instead of sticking around to talk with them, nodded his head in understanding and quickly pulled his balloon back into the air, leaving the siblings to what they were doing, which was why they were focused on the statue that was in front of them at the moment, as they were eager to see what was going on... but when they tapped on the statue, and freed the dragon that was trapped inside it, all three of them were surprised by what they discovered.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for freeing me once more," Nestor said, though as soon as he said that he stretched his arms and wings for a moment, showing that he still didn't like the feeling that came from being trapped inside one of those crystalline prisons, something the other dragons no doubt shared.
"Nester? What are you doing here?" Spyro asked, as he was confused as to why the Leader of the Artisans dragons, the clan he and his siblings belonged to, was here, in the land that Gnasty Gnorc ruled over, when he should be back in their homeworld, making sure everything was okay, to ensure the other realms they hadn't visited were saved and the dragons that called those realms home had been rescued, and that nothing else had been stolen.
"Spyro, let me tell you and your siblings something important, Titan, Cosmos, Bruno, Lateef, and I were the ones that originally stopped Gnasty Gnorc and banished him to this land," Nestor stated, where he could see that Spike was nodding his head in agreement, which made sense since he likely read the tome that contained the information he was talking about, before he focused on what he wanted to say, before one of them accused him of something, "We knew that you three were doing a good job in tackling the various challenges that the homeworlds and the various realms were throwing at you, but it didn't feel right asking the three of you to tackle Gnasty Gnorc, especially since we were the ones that bested him in the first place. We thought that the five of us, as Leaders of the dragon clans, could take on Gnasty Gnorc and set things right, but in the end he just trapped us in those crystal prisons again and scattered us between the central hub area for his land, Gnorc Cove, and Twilight Harbor."
"Well, if anything this gives us an advantage for when we fight him," Spike commented, where Spyro, Ember, and Nestor turned to face him for a moment, as he had noticed something about what he had been thinking earlier and what they had just been told, and if he was right they could actually face their foe now, instead of having to worry about the spell that he used to trap everyone, "Gnasty Gnorc just used that sealing spell on the five Leaders, the same spell that he was likely recharging in anticipation for our arrival, meaning that he can't use it again for some time, giving us a window of opportunity to tackle his lands, recover what he's stolen, free the remaining Leaders again, and then, once the way is clear, we can face him without having to worry about the spell being used against us."
"Leave it to Spike to figure out a potential weakness in what our foe's been doing," Ember remarked, though she had to admit that it was a grand thought to have, as Gnasty Gnorc seemed to rely on that spell more than anything else at the moment, and with it having been recently used on Nestor and the other Leaders, wiping out the charge he had been preparing for them, it gave them the chance to fight back without having to worry about being trapped in crystal like all of the other dragons they had freed.
"Well, you should be careful as you travel through this land," Nestor told them, as while he knew the siblings would do just that, if what he had seen with his own eyes and what he had heard from the other Leaders was to be believed, he just wanted to give them a little warning before he departed for somewhere else, where he could wait for the other Leaders when they were freed from their new prisons, "Gnasty Gnorc and his minions have been hard at work preparing for this invasion of his, and there's no telling what he's hiding in the realms that his forces are in, so I would advise being careful as you explore this land and take back anything that's been stolen, while also rescuing the other Leaders."
"Don't worry, we'll do what we've been doing and take down whatever Gnasty Gnorc has waiting for us," Spyro said, as he knew how he and his siblings would react to the enemies of the realms that were in front of them, especially the fact that they would claim everything that was stolen and free anyone that had been trapped in those crystalline prisons, so while he understood why Nestor would want to warn them he knew that it wasn't necessary at this point.
Nestor nodded his head in understanding and departed from the area that they were in, knowing that the three of them would be able to tackle whatever was in front of them, and the first thing Spyro, Spike, and Ember did was split up for a few moments to gather the bits of treasure that was scattered around the island that they were on. That involved breaking the three metallic chests and the three normal chests that were nearby, along with picking up the gems that were laying on the ground near the metallic dragon heads and the dock that Hak was waiting on, even though none of them were thinking of asking him to take them somewhere else, since they had finally reached their destination. By the time they were done collecting everything in the area Spike had the feeling that the rest of the gems were trapped behind the dragon heads, meaning that they could only be collected once they cleared out the only realm that they had access to at the moment, one that was called Gnorc Cove based on the sign that was near the portal, which appeared to be just a stone arch at the end of the tunnel. Once they confirmed that there was nothing left for them to grab, as Sparx, Talon, and Cinder kept pointing at the closed heads, to verify what they were thinking, the trio turned towards the portal that was nearby and headed for the first realm of this land, so they could see what sort of dangers were waiting for them.
As they appeared at the starting area for the realm the three of them discovered that the area seemed to look like a large dock of some kind, though for now they couldn't see much thanks to the large crates that were stacked up on their right side, so all they could do was jump over the small gap in front of them, to touch down on the walkway that would take them deeper into the area they were in, and see what was waiting for them. Standing at the end of the walkway that would allow them to see what the realm offered, even if it was a little short, was a Gnorc that was dressed up in a white apron of some kind and wore gloves over his hands, though what was interesting was that he picked up a metallic barrel that was to his right and rolled it down the walkway they were on, which would be replaced by another one after he waited for a few seconds. The siblings discovered that if one of them charged the barrel it wouldn't be destroyed, like the majority of the metallic items they had charged through in the past, rather it would hit the barrel somewhere else, and if it was the dockworker that was in front of them it would simply destroy the barrel he was in the process of picking up, so that allowed them to break his next attack and then flame him, to which they turned to the right so they could see what else this realm had.
Spike noticed, while Ember smashed a metallic chest that the dockworker had been guarding, that there were smaller Gnorcs, dressed up like the dockworker, with the exception of the yellow hardhat, in this realm as well, though they were carrying wrenches and happened to be standing on one of the metallic barrels. He then spotted that there was another metallic barrel that lined up perfectly with the engineer, as he decided to call them, to which he charged at the barrel and hit it, where he knocked it into the air and it sailed right into the engineer, taking both him and the other barrel out, which was very interesting and was something they would have to keep in mind while they explored this realm. Off in the distance, at the end of the path they were following, appeared to be a large ship of some kind, one that the dockworkers and the engineers were likely loading with whatever Gnasty Gnorc had made in preparation for his invasion of the Dragon Realm, but one thing they were sure of was that if they broke everything, in some manner, he would be unable to do that, which would surely tick him off even more than he already was. From there they turned to the right and found one of the dockworkers rolling more metallic barrels through the area, though this time, thanks to the larger area they were in, it was rather easy to avoid the barrels and flame him while he was distracted, though the fact that a gem replaced everyone that had been defeated told them that Gnasty Gnorc was keeping the original Gnorcs somewhere, no doubt making them work on something else, before they pushed that thought out of their minds and focused on what was in front of them.
They climbed on the smaller crates that the dockworker was guarding and found that there was actually a path they could follow, which was a little odd but they weren't going to question it at all, but they did stop to break the pair of normal chests that were on a level above them, before returning to the path and found a red barrel with "TNT" written on it's side, to which Spike had his siblings stand back as he breathed fire on it, where they watched as it exploded a few seconds later and tore apart the locked chest that was near it, releasing the gems that were inside it.
"Explosive barrels, interesting." Spike commented, as this was something new that none of them had experienced in the past, which was good in his eyes, since it meant they needed to be more careful as they explored this realm and faced all of the dangers that were waiting for them, and he was sure that Spyro and Ember would be excited to face a new obstacle and the challenges it presented to them.
What was also slightly interesting was that the explosive barrel was replaced a few seconds after the first one was detonated, meaning that the plates they were resting on resisted the explosions that they let off, but instead of spending so much time focusing on the new type of barrel they had discovered the three of them glided over to the next part of the path, which was to their right, and kept moving. It wasn't hard to collect the gems that were in the way, but that was when they spotted a dockworker that was wearing a metallic apron, to protect himself while he worked with the explosive barrel that was in his hands, though it took the siblings a few seconds to determine that such a thing was a bad idea. The reason for that thought was because there was a metallic barrel nearby and, if they lined up their attack perfectly, it would wreck both the explosive barrel and the dockworker's armor, to which Spyro charged into the metallic barrel and sent it flying at their foe, watching as it detonated the explosive barrel in seconds, and, at the same time, it did tear the dockworker's armor to pieces, revealing his bare chest to them. That, of course, was followed by Ember flaming him, allowing her to drop another foe as they advanced into the next part of the docks that happened to be in front of them, though Spike made sure to pick up the nearby gems before they glided over to the next area.
The siblings landed in the next area and avoided the explosive barrels that were being rolled in their direction, though that allowed Spike to set one of them, which was resting near a dockworker, on fire, which took out the foe that was in their way as they explored the area around them. They also discovered that there was another armored dockworker off on the right, holding an explosive barrel in his hands, so Ember just flamed the barrel and watched as it explored, tearing the armor apart in the process, which allowed her to flame him down as she and her siblings continued to explore the area they were in. Interestingly enough there didn't appear to be any scattered gems in this area, which was odd when they considered the previous realms they had taken on, but they did find a ramp with a dockworker rolling explosive barrels down the path that they would have to take, so all they did was time their jumps and made sure not to touch the explosive barrels that were coming their way. Spyro, the first one to reach the end, targeted the dockworker the moment he reached the top of the ramp, taking him out and allowing Spike and Ember, who were close to the end, to not have to worry about more barrels coming their way, before they explored the rest of the area they were in, since they wanted to make sure they got everything before heading into the ship that the path was leading them to. There were a few gems behind where the dockworker had been standing, a pair of metallic chests to their left, and three normal chests that were near where the next trapped dragon was resting, which only made them wonder who they would be freeing this time, since they knew it had to be one of the other Leaders, based on what Nestor told them.
Once all the gems had been collected, and the chests had been broken, the trio tapped the statue and watched as it broke apart like all of the other ones they had seen in the past, when they had freed the other dragons in the other lands, and found that Lateef was the one who had been left here by the Gnorcs.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, keep up the good work," Lateef said, though while he was happy that the three of them were doing such a good job, taking out their enemies and recovering everything that had been stolen, his tone did reveal that he didn't like the fact that he and the other Leaders had been imprisoned a second time by their foe, "I suspect that Gnasty Gnorc is getting worried about the three of you."
"He should be, given what we've done to his commanders and the forces he sent to the other lands," Spyro replied, because at this point he was sure that he and his siblings would be able to take on whatever Gnasty Gnorc had in store for them, allowing them to put an end to their adventure while stopping whatever plans their foe had, even if they had to fight their way to where Gnasty Gnorc was waiting for them.
Lateef nodded, showing that he agreed with the trio this time around, before spreading his wings and taking off so he could leave this realm, where the siblings jumped over the gaps in the path and headed towards the ship's opening, but not before stopping nearby to hit a barrel into a locked chest and claim the gems that were trapped inside it. When they entered the ship at long last they found three metallic chests and a barrel waiting for them, along with a dockworker that was wearing armor and was carrying an explosive barrel, so the answer was pretty straightforward for them, as all they did was knock the barrel into the air and break the dockworker's armor, before flaming him down and moving towards the other part of the ship, which turned out to be the backside. It appeared that they could jump over to a tunnel that would allow them to move another part of the docks, so they smashed the pair of chests that were near them and then jumped into the tunnel area, where they avoided the rolling barrels, normal barrels this time around, and took in what was standing in their way this time around. There was a dockworker rolling the barrels down the tunnel they were in and an engineer that was standing on an explosive barrel, so all they did was blow up the barrel, knocking out the engineer, and then flamed the dockworker that was behind him, where they ignored the explosive barrel that came out of the storage area and smashed the normal chests that were on their right, but that left a locked chest unable to be opened, which annoyed Spyro a little.
Fortunately Spike had the answer, as it appeared that there was a barrel high enough that they could use it to smash open the chest, just like they had done before entering the first ship, so instead of just standing there, wasting time, he and his siblings glided over to the next part of the docks, which was broken up in such an odd manner. From there they followed the path that was in front of them, where they smashed the pair of normal chests to their right and then faced the walkway that would likely bring all of them to the top of the area, though before they could really walk down the path they had to charge a metallic barrel that slammed into an explosive barrel an engineer was standing on, which exploded and tore apart the explosive barrel the dockworker behind the engineer was holding, wrecking his armor and allowing them to flame him as they moved forward. From there they picked up the gems that were in front of them and then, after avoiding the barrels that were coming their way, jumped up onto the walkway the barrels were coming down, where Ember flamed the dockworker that was at the end of it, allowing her siblings to catch up as they turned their attention to what appeared to be the upper part of this area. That was when they smashed a few metallic chests and picked up the gems that were scattered around the area, before reaching the highest point and found the lone metallic barrel that Spike had noticed, which lined up perfectly with the locked chest, so Spike charged into it and they watched as the locked chest was smashed open, where he glided back down to where the now freed gems rested and quickly picked them up, before making his way back to where his siblings were waiting for him.
Once the three of them were back together they dropped down to the walkway that would allow them to access the back of another ship, picking up a pair of gems before entering the ship so they could see what was waiting for them this time around, where the first thing they noticed was a pair of gem chests, which they quickly smashed open. From there they found a dockworker rolling metallic barrels down towards them, so what Spyro did was charge into one and knocked it back to him, knocking him out in the process, which allowed him and his siblings to gather the gems he had been guarding and then turned towards the exit, where they discovered a line of three engineers that were standing on some metallic barrels, with an armored dockworker, holding an explosive barrel, at the end of the line, which proved to be rather easy to deal with since all they had to do was hit the first barrel and it took out the engineers in seconds. From there it was a simple matter to flame the dockworker and take him out, before they turned to the left and found three normal chests and another trapped dragon, where they quickly smashed the chests and then tapped the statue so they could free whoever had been trapped in this area.
Titan was the one that burst out of the crystalline statue a few seconds later, as they knew it was a Leader based on what Nestor had told them, which only informed them that Bruno and Cosmos were trapped in one of the other realms that were part of Gnasty Gnorc's land, though he stretched a little before focusing on them.
"Thanks for freeing me again," Titan stated, though while his tone revealed that he was happy that they had saved him from his new prison, they all knew that he was likely sore about being trapped again, especially since this time around he and the other Leaders had come here expecting a fight, only for Gnasty Gnorc to trap them all in those crystalline prisons again, like he was showing them that they weren't worth his time to actually fight.
"No problem, and don't worry about Gnasty Gnorc, we'll take care of him," Ember replied, as she understood what was bothering Titan and wanted him to know that he didn't have to feel so annoyed about what their foe had done, and it appeared that he actually understood what she had told him.
Titan nodded and departed from the area, just like the other Leaders they had saved so far, allowing the trio to focus on what was in front of them this time, which turned out to be four engineers that actually had some space between them, so charging into their barrels would only serve to take each one out, instead of taking all of them out with a single attack. The siblings were actually fine with this, as it allowed all three of them to take a turn hitting the engineers as they followed the path that was in front of them, even though Spike, who was the last one to hit a barrel, did so in a way that actually allowed him to use the third barrel to hit the fourth guy, which was when the siblings turned their attention to the circular area that was in front of them, even though they had to glide over to the starting point of the area. This time around they found four engineers standing on explosive barrels, in a line to be exact, so all they had to do was flame the first one and the entire line was taken out, allowing them to access the lower part of this area, which appeared to have a pair of paths for them to choose from and had a pair of dockworkers waiting at the bottom. Both of the dockworkers seemed to be wearing armor and were holding a metallic barrel in their hands, but that was when the siblings spotted a metallic barrel in the middle of the room that they could charge into, allowing them to smash the barrels and armor of the two foes that were blocking one of the tunnels, before they flamed them and moved on to see what they had been guarding.
As it turned out all they were guarding was a dead end, which had three metallic chests lining the way and a few gems resting near the end, where a key happened to be resting, so it didn't take them long to gather everything that was in the tunnel before they returned to the central part of this underground area, which was when they discovered a third tunnel that was under the stairs they used to get down here, hidden from sight for a few moments. Something told all three of them that the third tunnel was the one that would lead them right to the exit portal, so instead of heading down that one they turned towards the one that was to the left of the one they had been in, if they were looking at the entrance like the pair of dockworkers were still there, but the first thing Spyro did was use the newest metallic barrel to open the locked chest that was nearby, as it had no slot for a key and this was the only way to open it. Once that was done they picked up the gems and headed into the tunnel that was near where the chest had been resting, where they found a fireworks box in front of them, though to their right, standing at the end of the tunnel, were two dockworkers that were rolling barrels down towards them, one using metallic barrels and the other using explosive barrels, but fortunately those attacks were stopped by barrels that were standing upright and were being replaced each time one of them broke. Spike really had no idea why Gnasty Gnorc had allowed this to be designed this way, as it's purpose almost seemed to be wasting resources for no good reason, but, at the same time, neither Spyro or Ember were going to complain as they dodged the incoming barrels and then flamed their respective targets.
That allowed Spike to catch up with them, where they found that this was a dead end as well and just so happened to be where the chest that the key went to was located, so it wasn't long before they had the gems that had been trapped inside it and made sure to break the fireworks box for it's gems, before heading towards the final tunnel that had to connect with the area the exit portal was in. As they followed the final tunnel they found a few metallic chests lining the way, which they smashed, and then came to a point where a dockworker, wearing armor and carrying an explosive barrel, was standing at the edge of the next part of the walkway they had to walk on, but fortunately for them there happened to be a metallic barrel at the end of the section they were on. That allowed them to break the explosive barrel and the armor their foe was wearing at the same time, and the barrel that replaced it took out the dockworker with ease, allowing the siblings to glide over to where he had been standing so they could look for the missing bits of treasure and make their way to the exit portal. As it turned out the section the lone dockworker had been on was very short, as the siblings reached the end within a few seconds, but there were a pair of gem chests to their right, which they broke, and another gap in front of them, this time with two dockworkers, armed exactly like the one they had taken out, blocking the way this time around, and it came complete with a metallic barrel to their left. It was rather easy for them to take out the two dockworkers, since they were just like the previous one they had taken out, and glided over to the area they were guarding, allowing them to pick up a few gems before using the whirlwind they had been protecting, which took them up to the next level of the area they were in, which happened to be a walkway connected to the exit portal.
As soon as they landed they picked up the gem that was in front of them, the last according to their dragonflies, to which they jumped into the exit portal and headed off for the Gnorc Gnexus, as they were eager to see what sort of dangers and challenges the next realm had for them, before they faced off against Gnasty Gnorc himself.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, or Ember long to return to the central hub area of the Gnorc Gnexus, which was the only area that they could really explore since the area was just the circular metallic island they had discovered upon their arrival, and as soon as they emerged from the tunnel the portal to Gnorc Cove rested in the three of them noticed that the first of the three metallic dragon heads had opened, the one with yellow lights to be exact. That interested the trio for a few seconds, as it seemed that Gnasty Gnorc had designed the heads to open after one of the previous realms had been taken out by whoever his enemies were, which only made them wonder which of the other heads their foe was hiding in and what the next realm had for them. At the same time Spike found a chest in front of the portal that was inside the dragon head with the yellow lights, which had five blue gems and a purple gem inside it, where he and his siblings collected them without delay and then focused on the portal that was in front of them, which had a label that informed the three of them that it was called Twilight Harbor, which made them curious about what was inside it.
Since there wasn't anything else they could do with the rest of the land that was around them, as none of the other two metallic dragon heads were open and there weren't any new chests or enemies that had arrived since they entered Gnorc Cove, the three of them headed through the portal and headed to Twilight Harbor.
When they appeared at the starting point for the new realm the siblings discovered that they were on another wooden walkway that would take them straight to a building that was in front of them, and, more importantly, they discovered that the realm appeared to be some sort of industrial area, in Spike's mind anyway, and that there were a number of lighthouses scattered nearby, but no ships. The three of them determined that most of the ships that would have been in this area must have gone to Gnorc Cove to stock up for whatever plans Gnasty Gnorc had in mind for the Dragon Realms, but that just meant that they could focus on taking out their enemies and disrupting the various buildings that were in their way. The one thing that worried them was the foe that was blocking the path into the first building that was in front of them, as it was a Gnorc, which wasn't a surprise, but he was wearing a vest and some pants that seemed to have some sort of goo on them, just like the hat he was wearing, and the device that was in his hands was a weapon that none of them had seen before. The Gnorc took advantage of the fact that they had paused and fired up the strange weapon that he was holding, where a storm of pink goo blasts flew through the air and rushed to where the three of them were standing, to which Spike snapped back to reality and summoned his barrier to protect them, which allowed Ember to break away and flame their foe while he was distracted.
As the Gnorc fell, however, Spike stared at the weapon that he had been holding onto and tapped it for a few second, as it was unlike anything he had seen in the past, and he could tell that his siblings were interested in whether or not he could determine what it was from staring at it for a few moments.
"So, what in the world is this?" Spyro asked, because he knew that if he had taken on a realm like this all by himself, while Spike and Ember were focused on taking out two of the other realms, he wouldn't have stopped to see if he could figure out what this weapon was, but since his siblings were here they could afford to take a few seconds and see if Spike could determine anything from studying the weapon.
"Given what we saw in the land of the Beast Makers, and what we've seen so far," Spike commented, referring to the various electrical panels and objects that had been brought to the swamp the Beast Makers called home, something that really pissed off Bruno and the rest of his clan, and what they had seen since they arrived in the land that Gnasty Gnorc ruled over, "I would hazard a guess that, with all the machines that we've been encountering lately, that this might be a machine gun, a weapon that allows the user to rapidly fire at a target from a single spot, and that the pink goo that serves as the bullets is something that is incredibly harmful to dragons."
"Okay, so avoid the pink goo bullets and take out the enemies with the new weapons," Ember replied, though while she was happy to see that Spike had some information for them, in regards to what this weapon had to be and what sort of ammunition it used, she was slightly worried about the fact that Gnasty Gnorc was trying to develop anti-dragon weapons in his lands, which might lead to something more dangerous if he was left alone.
Spike nodded his head, as that was an accurate way to deal with the machine gunners, as he was going to call them, but once they knew that these weapons were dangerous, and that their foe was in the middle of developing weapons that were harmful to dragons, the three of them collected the gems that were in front of them and headed inside the building that the first foe had been guarding. Inside the building they discovered another machine gunner that was preparing to take up his position on the other side of the chamber that they had entered, but, instead of giving him time to get ready, the three of them flamed their foe and then moved out of the way as a large Gnorc, wearing leopard skins and carrying a bladed weapon with what looked like grenades on a belt, appeared in their way. What the survivalist, as Spike decided to call him, was doing was rolling barrels into the area that they were in, explosive ones from the looks of it, though it was possible that he could have been using his own grenades against them, but he had a specific distance he could cover and, once they determined what that distance was, it was rather easy to bypass his attacks and then take him down with a quick burst of fire. As soon as that was done the three of them separated from each other and picked up the various gems that were laying on the floor around them, including smashing a lone chest, which was the moment that they found some stairs and a machine gunner waiting behind a corner, guarding absolutely nothing as they soon discovered, so all Ember did was flame that foe, pick up the gem he had been made from, and then regrouped with her siblings.
As soon as the building was clear they returned to where the survivalist had been standing and found a whirlwind that took them up to an opening, one that connected to the building that was across the river that was below them, though as soon as they landed on the walkway Spyro found a side route that happened to have three gems waiting to be picked up, so he did so and rejoined Spike and Ember as they moved forward. There was a machine gunner standing on the other half of the walkway, which appeared to be partly broken to form two halves, but now that they knew the trick on how to take one of them down it was a simple matter for Spike to shield them and for Ember to flame him when she go close, which allowed them to access the next building in this realm. It was in that building that they found a larger Gnorc that was like the machine gunner, only he was wearing a red beret on his head, instead of whatever the machine gunners were wearing, and he seemed ready for a fight with his large machine gun, but, as it turned out, he was ill prepared to deal with three young dragons and the fact that Spike was making sure none of the bullets hit them, thanks to the barriers he was throwing up, and before long they flamed him down and collected the gem he had been crafted from, as well as taking out the two gem chests he had been guarding. As they collected the last two gems in the building, trapped in two normal chests, Spike revealed that these large foes were commandos, as that was what he was going to call them, and found that both of his siblings agreed with him, as he had a good sense for what their foes should be called, before they headed through the opening and jumped down onto the path that would take them through this realm.
Along the path were another commando and two machine gunners, who seemed eager to face the siblings and put them down with the weapons that they had made, but they had no idea what to do as Spike made sure they weren't touched by the bullets while Spyro and Ember dodged attacks that he didn't block, allowing all three of them to take out one of their foes. Once they had taken out the enemies in this part of the area they stopped at the dragon statue that was in the middle of the walkway they were following and found that this was where Cosmos had been imprisoned, as they knew it would be one of the Leaders and that only made them wonder where Bruno, the last of the Leaders, was being kept by their enemy, even though they knew they would find him in due time. As it turned out all Cosmos had to say was that he was happy they had rescued him again and that he was sorry that he was forcing them to do this again, only for Spike to inform him that it was fine, since it took the crystal sealing spell that Gnasty Gnorc had been preparing out of the equation, meaning they would have a chance to fight him without having to worry about it. That, as it turned out, put a smile on the Leader's face as he nodded his head in understanding and took off, leaving them to take on the rest of the realm and do what they've been doing since their adventure started, which caused the three of them to move forward and focus on the machine gunner and the survivalist that were close to where they were standing.
"Spike, aren't you worried that you'll deplete your magic reserves before the fight with Gnasty Gnorc?" Spyro asked, while at the same time taking out the machine gunner as Ember focused down the survivalist, because while he was happy that his brother's barriers were able to withstand the attacks that were being used against them he was worried that this would leave him weakened when they reached their main target.
"I'm only using the spell in short bursts, so it's not staying up long enough to drain a significant amount of the magic I have access to," Spike replied, though at the same time he rushed the commando that was standing near the opening of the next building and flamed him down, after avoiding the incoming attacks without his barrier, before he turned around and smiled at his siblings while they picked up the gems that were around them, "besides, I have the feeling that Gnasty Gnorc might have a few spells up his sleeve and that's why I'm saving as much of my magic as I can, to counter his spells and even the playing field."
With the area cleared of gems, and enemies for that matter, the siblings headed inside the building and quickly took out the commando that was in their way, before he had a chance to get himself ready, and then turned to the left and found a survivalist getting ready to hurl explosives at them, which only prompted them to take him down as well. From there it was a simple matter to smash the two metallic chests he was guarding, break the pair of normal chests that were nearby, and collect the loose gem near the entrance before they headed towards the next opening, which was a walkway that lead to a fork in the path. One direction seemed to take them to another building while the other seemed to go up a ramp, but the first thing they did was stop at the dragon statue and released Bruno from his prison, where he expressed his thanks for them freeing him once more and wished them luck in taking out Gnasty Gnorc, as he had faith in their abilities and had the feeling they would succeed in their quest to stop his plans. Once that was done, and Bruno departed from the realm, the siblings went up the ramp and found that it was a supercharge ramp, which made them curious if they were supposed to use this to smash the locked chest they had seen near where Cosmos had been trapped, before Spike looked at the path once more and found some cranks that, when turned, allowed him to raise part of the walkway into a ramp, one that could allow them to reach the second level of the building they had just walked through. At this point in time Spyro and Ember weren't even surprised anymore, as Spike had a habit for figuring out secret things or discovering things they might not have noticed while they were exploring a realm, and it meant they could clear out the rest of the realm without having to come back at some point in the future.
Ember was the first one to charge down the ramp and flew up into the upper level of the building, where she collided with a commando and a machine gunner, taking them both out, which allowed her to collect the gems that were scattered on the floor and break the chests around her, two normal ones and a gem one, before gliding over to the top of a structure to pick up a few more gems. Once she was done with that she signaled to her siblings and watched as Spyro charged down the ramp as well, only this time he didn't stop when he reached the upper floor and continued into the area that Cosmos had been trapped in, allowing him to collide with the locked chest and smash it open, so Sparx could pick up the gems that had been inside it. Spyro and Ember then make their way back to where Spike was waiting for them, in front of the next building to be exact, where they entered it and he snapped up a few more barriers as they faced a commando and two machine gunners, where the barriers protected them from the bullets as they flamed their targets, allowing them to pick up the gems and smash the pair of metallic chests that were nearby, including the lone normal one, before they followed the path that the other opening offered them. The next building had a survivalist guarding the entrance, one of the machine gunners blocking the exit, and a commando standing near the back of the room so he could over the area between them, which would make it hard for anyone to get around them, but it was their bad luck that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were the ones they were facing, especially with Spike's barriers.
It didn't take the siblings long to take out the three enemies that were in this building, especially since they were getting good at dodging the attacks their enemies were using against them and were flaming them before any of them had a chance to defend themselves, before they collected the nearby gems and broke the three metallic chests that were near them, only to head outside the building to see what else was in their way. As it turned out there were three commandos and two machine gunners stationed along the last bit of the path they had to follow, as it appeared that the exit portal was close to where they were, so the first thing they did was smash the gem chests to their left before jumping up onto the main walkway so they could face their foes. This time around Spyro and Ember insisted that Spike lay off the barriers and focus on taking out the enemies that were in their way, where they showed their brother that they were more than capable of dodging the bullets before they could be touched, allowing them to take out the first two foes, a machine gunner and a commando, with ease. From there the siblings focused on the remaining foes, and this time Spike followed what his siblings said, not even bothering to use his barrier spell as they dodged the incoming bullets and flamed the last three Gnorcs down, clearing the way to the exit portal and, more importantly, giving them the ability to access the next realm, before they tackled Gnasty Gnorc. There were a few gems laying in their way, while two metallic chests rested to the left of the exit portal and two gem chests rested to the right of it, so the three of them quickly gathered the rest of the stolen gems and waited for a few seconds, only for their dragonflies to indicate that they had gotten everything in this realm, so they headed through the portal and returned to the Gnorc Gnexus once more.
When they arrived at the Gnorc Nexus, and moved toward the opened mouth of the dragon head that had the purple lights in it's eyes and nostrils, the siblings found another chest that they smashed, releasing five yellow gems and a purple one, before taking a moment to stare at the sign that was attached to the portal in front of them, as it was different from what they expecting to find.
"Wait, this is the portal to where Gnasty Gnorc is waiting for us?" Spyro inquired, because since it appeared that their foe had gotten into the habit of naming the portals of his land, to indicate where each portal was taking the person that happened to be using it, but even so they were all expecting the third dragon head to take them to the area that Gnasty Gnorc was waiting in.
"It seems to be that way." Ember remarked, though she shared her brother's thoughts on the matter, that it seemed like there should be one more realm for them to take on before they faced their foe, based on what they encountered in the other lands that the dragons called home, but it did make her wonder what sort of dangers rested in their enemy's lair, which he would be using against them.
"Based on what we know of Gnasty Gnorc, and what he's done so far, that's likely where he's been hoarding the bits of treasure that he's found since his banishment." Spike spoke up, as that seemed to be the only thing that made sense at the moment, though at the same time he was curious as to what they needed to do to open the way to that realm, just to see what was waiting on the other side, before he thought of something else, "And, based on what we've seen of this land so far, it might open once we beat our foe and liberate this land from his grasp... or maybe it requires something else that we aren't aware of yet."
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, because the key to opening the other dragon head could be anything and their brother had a few good ideas for what that key could be, before they focused on what they were about to do and headed through the portal with Spike following them. It wasn't long before the three of them appeared in a circular building that seemed to be made out of metal and only had one passage they could head through, where a green robed thief happened to be standing, with a key no less, but that wasn't who they were focusing on. Standing right in front of them, on top of a platform that allowed him to look down at them, was a large green skinned Gnorc that was much taller than all of the others they had encountered so far, though he was wearing either bronze, brass, or golden armor on his chest, shoulders, feet, and wrists, which came complete with a matching helmet and had a few horns on the shoulder pieces, the wrist pieces, and the helmet. What all three of them were interested in was the fact that the person in front of them was holding onto a large mace in his left hand, one that had four spikes on it, one on each of the four sides of it's head, and had a green crystal poking out of it's top, which was the same shade as the crystalline statues they had freed the dragons from since the big interview happened.
It wasn't hard to determine that this was Gnasty Gnorc, that he had been waiting for them to arrive in the part of this land that he called home, and that the battle between them would be starting soon enough, which was why they prepared themselves for what was going to happen next.
"So, you three have arrived at last." Gnasty Gnorc said, though at the same time the trio head something weird in his voice, he actually seemed worried about what was going on at the moment, meaning he was either hoping that his spell would have been ready before this battle, so he could seal all of them in crystal, or that one of his minions would have been able to take them down, to prevent them from reaching this point.
"That we have, Gnasty Gnorc," Spyro replied, to which he and his siblings stood apart from each other, so they could be ready for the first attack their foe sent at them as they looked around the room they were in, finding another locked door and a number of chests, meaning there were a number of things they needed to get before they took Gnasty Gnorc out, as in recovering the last of the stolen gems.
"Look, we don't have to fight each other," Spike stated, because while he knew that his siblings wanted to face their foe and take him down in battle, like they had done to every foe they had faced over the course of their adventure, he wanted to see if he could convince this foe to stand down and admit defeat, "just stand down and turn yourself in, we can talk with the Leaders and come up with a reasonable agreement between you and the dragon clans..."
"No deal!" Gnasty Gnorc snapped, his tone indicating that he was annoyed with the Leaders that ruled over the five dragon clans and that he was done living in accordance to their rules, speaking of the time before he had been banished and the time that followed his banishment, before he lifted up his mace and prepared himself, "I'll defeat the three of you, by trapping you in crystal like all of the other dragons, and then, once I'm able to cast the spell at full power again, I'll be sure to hit every dragon that calls these lands home, trapping all of them in crystal once more, though this time there will be no one to save them from their fate. Once that's done, and the Dragon Realms are free of obstacles, I'll recover the gems that you have taken and reform the soldiers that you have beaten so far, to take over the lands and enforce my rule over them, though maybe I'll put you three and the Leaders in a trophy room once my goal has been realized, just so I can be reminded of your attempt to stop me and my victory over you!"
"Great, he's mad at us and can't see reason anymore." Ember said, though her tone suggested that she felt that their foe hadn't been able to see reason since the interview happened, when Lindar said that Gnasty Gnorc was ugly, which both of her siblings were beginning to feel was the truth.
"Spike, why don't you chase down that thief and get the key that he's carrying." Spyro stated, where Spike and Ember glanced at him for a moment, as it appeared that he was taking on the role of a leader for this battle and was telling them what he felt they should do, while at the same time he focused on the foe in front of them, "We'll stay down here and see if we can't find another way up to where he's standing, and maybe claim the gems in this area as well."
"Very well, that's a good idea," Spike replied, as he knew that it was a good idea for two of them to stay in this area and focus on Gnasty Gnorc, while at the same time dodging the attacks that were coming their way, before he decided to mention one thing before he got moving, "Just be careful, it seems that he's preparing his crystallization spell again, so he might fire off small bursts of that spell while you two run around this chamber, and I suspect that they're designed to weaken us to the point where we'll fall to the ground and be easy targets for him, so he can use a small bit of his magic to seal us away and focus the majority of his power on sealing everyone else away once more."
Gnasty Gnorc raised his mace and started firing small bursts of magical energy at them, causing Spyro and Ember to separate from each other and pick up the gems that were around the chamber they happened to appear in, as well as smash the fireworks box and the two normal chests in the process, while Spike headed down the passage the green thief was standing in, so he could get the key he was carrying. Spike followed the thief down the passage, picking up the gems and charging through the pair of chests that were in his way as he followed just behind the thief, though a few moments later, when they reached the end of the passage, they jumped into the air and the thief returned to the start of the passage once more, showing Spike that he was running a loop to waste his energy and make him an easier target for their foe to hit. As it turned out, however, that plan wasn't the best in the world, as now that all the gems in the passage had been claimed it was much easier for him to catch up to the thief and collide with his back, allowing him to pick up the key that his target dropped, which was when he headed back to the main chamber and dodged the incoming blasts like his siblings were doing, only to find that the key definitely didn't go to the platform that Gnasty Gnorc was standing on, so he retreated and headed to the other locked door they had seen.
The second door revealed a second thief that moved the moment the door was open, though this time, in addition to the twists and turns that were in the first passage, Spike found that this one went out into chamber of some kind that had a pool of the same liquid that the commandos and machine gunners had used against them, where the first run through the area was where he gathered all the gems and smashed the chests, before getting to the second run and flaming the thief, recovering the key that went to Gnasty Gnorc's platform, causing him to run as it sank into position.
As Spyro and Ember charged after their foe, and Spike followed after them, Spike realized why Gnasty Gnorc was running from them and not fighting, as he was trying to focus the majority of his power on the crystallization spell that he would use against all three of them, to stop the fight in an instant, meaning they had to hit him fast, before he was able to complete his spell.
Since time was of the essence, due to Gnasty Gnorc charging his crystallization spell, Spyro, Spike, and Ember decided to do something they usually didn't do, they tried to ignore the chests that were in front of them as they focused on their foe, but, as it turned out, it was rather hard not to hit a number of the chests, as the first group the siblings encountered were a normal chest with two metallic ones behind it. From there they followed Gnasty Gnorc down some stairs and around a bend, which involved smashing through three more metallic chests in the process while ignoring the gem chest off to the side, before coming to another set of stairs that had some gems along it. Thanks to the path that Gnasty Gnorc was following it was easy for them to take the gems that were in their way, just like the first couple of gems they spotted when they started chasing their foe, though once more Spike found more of the pink gooey liquid near them, meaning that Gnasty Gnorc must have made quite a lot of this dangerous stuff before finding the crystallization spell, and that they would need to figure out how they were going to get rid of all of it. The path their foe was following brought them through a small passage that had three more chests, which were smashed, before coming to an area with some twists and turns, one that he knew like the back of his hand, a thought that made sense, only for the siblings to stop as they decided to abandon the idea of not clearing the area of gems first and picked up the ones they had missed so far, including the gem chests they had charged by moments ago.
Once the area behind them was cleared, and there were sure of that, the siblings continued forward and smashed through the chests that were in front of them, normal, metallic, and gem types, before following the path once more and picked up the various gems that were in the way, before coming to an area where their foe was standing, as if he was waiting for them to catch up with him again, before jumping over the edge and landing at the area he had been standing in when they first arrived, indicating that they would have to follow him again.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember were more than happy to chase after their foe around the large area once more, as this time around they could focus their attention on Gnasty Gnorc and not worry about the various gems and chests that they had dealt with during their first run through the area, though one thing that quickly became clear was the fact that their foe was much faster than they were, because of his size. He could cover part of the course in seconds while the siblings would take a few more moments than what he did, putting them behind him, which meant that he might have a few chances to charge the spell that he was working on, the same one they were trying to prevent him from firing, which made Spike wonder if Gnasty Gnorc's weapon was actually a scepter, instead of a mace. The reason he thought about that was because they had gotten close to their foe a few times and he never attempted to hit them with his weapon, like he might be worried about the damage that such a thing could do to it, which could mean he had found some sort of oddly shaped scepter to use in his plans, or had one made specifically in this manner, to make himself look more intimidating. Either way it didn't matter if the weapon was a mace or a scepter, as their foe was using it to charge his spell and would likely cast it from the crystal at the top, which was why he and his siblings were running around the area, trying to catch up to him, before he had a chance to fire the spell.
After the third time running around the area Spike stopped his siblings as Gnasty Gnorc ran off, where he asked that Ember remain in the lower area when they started chasing their foe again, because if someone was blocking the way he had the feeling their foe would stop in his tracks, giving them the opening he was looking for.
As it turned out his plan worked better than he could have hoped, because it wasn't long before they reached the highest point of this circuit once more and Gnasty Gnorc started to laugh as he reached the end point, but when he went to jump back down to the starting platform, however, he found Ember growling at him in an area that would make him take a hit from one of his enemies. That moment of indecision, where he paused to consider facing his foes or jumping over Ember, cost him more than he initially realized, because as soon as he stopped Spyro and Spike flamed his rear, which caused him to swat his rear and take out the fire, dropping some of the loose gems he happened to be carrying, before he opened a door behind them and charged through the new opening. Spike immediately focused his magic and created a small whirlwind for Ember, allowing her to catch up with them without having to run the entire course again, before they rushed towards the opening and following the new path that Gnasty Gnorc was following, which brought them to a passage that was made out of metal and had wood ceilings, save for the lava floor that was below them. It appeared that their foe thought that he had the advantage, as it seemed that the platforms that he was using the run away from them were shifting into the walls, to which Spike set his satchel and hat aside, since he was sure neither of them could resist the heat below them, before he and Ember dived into the lava as Spro chased their foe on the platforms, which likely made him wonder if two of them had a death wish.
It wasn't long before Gnasty Gnorc reached the end of the passage, where there was a smaller door that he couldn't fit through and that was it, to which he huffed for a moment and turned around as Spyro came to a stop near him, but just out of range of his attacks if he used his weapon like a mace, before Spike and Ember burst out of the lava, using the small whirlwind trick Spike had used moments ago, to land on the edge of the area their brother was in, to which they shook off the bits of lava and focused on their foe.
"Wait, two of you are immune to lava?!" Gnasty Gnorc exclaimed, as that was one thing he wasn't expecting to see during this battle, especially since it wasn't an ability the dragons were supposed to have, at least according to what he knew about them, "That's so unfair!"
"Look, we can still resolve this without having to knock you out," Spike replied, as he knew that some of the dragons they knew were going to be surprised by this bit of information, when they finally got around to telling them, but even so he wanted to try and convince Gnasty Gnorc that he had lost and that he might as well surrender to him and his siblings so they could put an end to this fight, "just lay down your weapon and..."
"I refuse to submit to any of you!" Gnasty Gnorc shouted, where he raised his weapon for a moment and a green light appeared at the top part of it, where the green crystal was located, indicating that he might have enough power inside the scepter for a small burst, enough to seal the three of them away in those crystalline statues.
Spike, seeing what their foe was going to do, braced himself like he did when he was fighting Blowhard, as he was planning on using a spell that he hadn't practiced all that much, before he summoned a shimmering wall in front of him and his siblings, one that was slightly different than the barrier spell he used in the previous realm. Gnasty Gnorc, not even taking a moment to stare at what was happening in front of him, loosed the spell that he was gathering and a burst of green energy raced forward, striking the wall within seconds, though where he expected the wall to break and his foes to be sealed in three small statues he found that the wall was still up. Spike wasted no time in forcing the wall to collapse behind the attack and form a small shield between them and the sphere, where he nodded to his siblings, causing Spyro and Ember to rush forward and strike what their brother had created, transferring the power of their charges into the small shield for a few seconds. That gave Spike the power he needed to loose the attack back at their foe, where Gnasty Gnorc dropped his weapon and held up his hands as the attack hit him, forcing the siblings to shield their eyes as a bright light emitted from where he was standing, meaning they would have to wait for a few moments to see what happened when the crystallization spell hit the one that used it.
When the light dimmed, and they were allowed to see what had happened, the siblings found that a green crystalline statue of Gnasty Gnorc, with his fear frozen in place, was resting in the area that he had brought himself to, though this time around they had no idea how someone would go about releasing him from his new prison.
"That was a nice way to put an end to Gnasty Gnorc's plans, by giving him a taste of his own medicine," Spyro said, as he was happy with what he and his siblings had been able to do, and found that the platforms were returning to their natural state, meaning that Spike could collect his stuff before they left this realm, as the exit portal just happened to be through the door that their foe couldn't fit through.
"Indeed, the Reflection spell was supposed to do that," Spike added, though at the same time he made sure to get his stuff as he explained what he had done, where his tone revealed that he needed more time with that spell to make it work like it was intended to, "it allows the user to reflect a spell back at the person who cast it, so I could reflect the sealing spell back at Gnasty Gnorc, but it's not an easy spell to pull off and I needed your help to complete it."
"Well, at least he won't be terrorizing the Dragon Realms anymore," Ember stated, as she was pleased that their quest was over and they had saved the lands they called home, while collecting all the treasure, freeing all the trapped dragons, and recovering all the stolen eggs, and it put a smile on her face as she thought about it.
Spyro and Spike agreed with her, as both of them were happy about what they had done, to which they headed for the exit portal so they could share the good news with the Leaders and the rest of the dragons that called the Dragon Realms home, and maybe think about taking a break before they did anything major in the near future.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember were incredibly happy with themselves as they used the exit portal to return to the Gnorc Gnexus so they could head back to their home land, as they had done everything they had set out to do when the dragons were first trapped in those crystalline statues. All of the dragons had been freed from their prisons, by them and the other dragons they had freed, all of the twelve stolen dragon eggs had been recovered from the thieves that had stolen them, and Spike was sure that, unless his calculations were wrong, that they had recovered all the treasure that had been in the Dragon Realms before the big interview. That meant they had recovered twelve thousand pieces of treasure, just like Astor had told Bob and the rest of his crew when they came and asked them questions, meaning that things could finally return to normal now that Gnasty Gnorc had been defeated and had been given a piece of his own medicine. Of course, at the same time, the three of them were interested in seeing if the final dragon head was open so they could see what the final realm of this land was, though if it was just there for decoration, and didn't serve any purpose, they would be fine with it, which was why they were looking forward to returning to the Gnorc Gnexus, to see what had happened to the dragon head.
When they finally emerged from the portal to the area that Gnasty Gnorc had been waiting in they found two things, the first being that the dragon head with the green lights was still locked, though what commanded their attention was the fact that the five Leaders were waiting for them to emerge from the portal, and there was a new statue where Nestor had been when they reached this land.
"Nestor, what are you guys still doing here?" Spyro asked, because while he and his siblings were happy to see the Leaders again, after all of them had wished them well after being freed for the second time, he was surprised to see that none of them had left the land that their foe had called home, meaning they must have been waiting near one of the few lighthouses that were around this small island, "And whose trapped in that statue?"
"We had faith that you would succeed in stopping Gnasty Gnorc and were waiting to congratulate you on a job well done, once you three came out of the portal anyway." Nestor replied, where he and the other Leaders smiled and nodded their heads, indicating that they were quite pleased with what the trio had done since all the other dragons had been hit by Gnasty Gnorc's spell, as well as indicating that the real celebration would take place elsewhere, before he glanced at the statue for a few seconds, "As to whose trapped in this statue, we have no idea. We told the other dragons of the lands we watch over to continue freeing the other dragons and make sure the realms are safe, before the five of us came here alone, to face our foe together, and you know how that action turned out since you had to free us all a second time... so we have no idea whose inside this statue."
"Well, only one way to find out." Spike stated, to which he approached the statue and tapped on it, just like he and his siblings had done during their adventure, and watched as the prison shattered before their eyes, which was when all of them found that Magnus had been trapped inside the statue, who stretched his wings and slapped his belly a few times, much like he did when they first freed him, before he stood straight up and focused on what was around him.
"Magnus? What are you doing here?" Ember asked, because she knew that all of the other dragons had been told to restore order to their realms, based on what the Leaders told them anyway, so she was curious as to why one of Titan's fellow Peace Keepers would have come here, to face Gnasty Gnorc she assumed, instead of focusing on what his Leader had told him earlier.
"I came to help Titan and the other Leaders in the battle against Gnasty Gnorc, even if all of them had no idea that I was following them since they left their homeworlds," Magnus replied, though at the same time he knew that Titan was going to talk with him when they returned to the land they called home once this was over, hence the reason he took a moment to rub the back of his head, before he seemed to think about something, "Say, what happened to Gnasty Gnorc anyway, since I'm assuming you three beat him?"
"We chased him around the realm he was hiding in, surprised him with a new trick that Spike and Ember discovered in the realm that Revilo and Unika call home, and then used his own spell against him." Spyro stated, to which he noticed that a few of the Leaders, Cosmos and Lateef to be exact, were interested in what sort of trick the pair had learned, while all of them were interested in the last part of his statement, to which he smiled for a moment as he got ready to tell them what he and his siblings had done, "Spike managed to predict that Gnasty Gnorc was going to use that crystallization spell on us, to trap us in statues as well, so he cast his Reflection spell, creating a new barrier in front of us, allowing him to catch the blast before it could hit us and let us send it right back at him, trapping our foe in the same type of statue that all of you had been trapped in after he cast the spell the first time."
"That is a good use of the Reflection spell, and good thinking on Spike's part," Cosmos said, his tone showing them that he was quite pleased with the progress that Spike had made in his studies of the various magic spells that he and the other dragons had access to, while at the same time showing that he was interested in seeing just now skilled Spike was at some point in the future.
"If you think that's good, you should hear what he did in his battle against Blowhard," Ember remarked, as that was an impressive battle, especially with the type of spell that Spike had used and the plan he had used against his foe, and she was interested in seeing how the other Magic Crafters reacted to what she was talking about, before she remembered that Spyro hadn't revealed what their new trick actually was, "besides, the trick Spike and I learned is that we're apparently immune to lava, as we were able to swim through the lava that Gnasty Gnorc jumped over, though while my bracers seem to be just fine when i do that Spike took off his satchel, and his new hat, to avoid torching his stuff."
"You and Spike... are immune to LAVA?!" Titan exclaimed, because while he was happy that Gnasty Gnorc had been bested by the three young dragons, and released all of the homeworlds from his iron grasp, the fact that two of them were immune to lava was something that none of them were expecting, as his jaw had dropped and he was sure that the same was true for the other Leaders.
"Yeah, we figured that out before freeing the land of the Dream Weavers from Gnasty Gnorc's commander, and we know that Spyro doesn't have that immunity due to him testing his luck," Spike replied, though he had known that telling the Leaders would have this sort of reaction, as all of them were utterly shocked by the news they had given them, before he noticed that the final dragon head had opened after they freed Magnus from his new prison, "Well I'll be, that metallic dragon head must have been tied to all the dragons and everything that Gnasty Gnorc had stolen from the Dragon Realms, meaning that recovering everything, all the treasure, all the gems, and freeing all the dragons, must have broken whatever binding our foe put on that dragon head, allowing it to open and reveal what the final realm of this land is, even if it's possible that nothing is in there."
"Well, I think it's best that we return to our lands and tell the other dragons the good news," Nestor said, though at this point he was sure that nothing else would be able to surprise him, as the trio had gone a great number of things that were either hard to do when they're young or were just out right impossible, like the lava immunity, so whatever they did in the future would be tame in comparison to what he and the other Leaders just learned from the trio, or at least that was his thoughts on the matter.
"Wait, before you go, can some of you head into Gnasty Gnorc's realm and pick up his scepter?" Spike asked, which caused his siblings to glance at him for a moment, while at the same time causing the Leaders and Magnus to stop before they opened their wings, as while he was sure he could move it with his Teleportation Breath he really wanted to see what was inside the other realm they had opened up, so he thought that maybe Titan and Magnus could carry the item in question back to one of their lands, "I would like to study it with the other scholars, to see if it's referenced in any of our tomes or scrolls, and with some of the Magic Crafters, to study the spell that Gnasty Gnorc was using, to add it to the list of spells a dragon can learn, if we're able to replicate it anyway."
Nestor chuckled for a moment, because he should have known that Spike would be interested in the weapon of their foe and the power it held, and he could tell that Cosmos agreed with the idea, to which he nodded his head and both Titan and Magnus headed into the portal the trio had come out of, to find the scepter in question. Spyro, Spike, and Ember stood near the remaining Leaders for a few minutes, allowing them to get a few moments of rest before they headed into whatever the final realm had for them to face, while at the same time this would allow Spike to tell Titan and Magnus if they had picked up the right scepter, even if it was the only weapon in that realm. Fortunately it didn't take long for the two dragons in question to walk out of the portal, carrying the scepter Gnasty Gnorc had been wielding, though the real interesting thing, that Spike and his siblings weren't expecting, was that it had shrunk since the last time they had seen it, since Titan held it in his free hand. Cosmos, seeing the look on Spike's face, quickly explained that some scepters were enchanted to grow or shrink in response to the being that was using it, so since their foe was such a big person it had enlarged to fit the size of his body, to make him truly menacing, and he was happy to see that Spike understood what he was talking about, while Spyro was a little lost and Ember seemed to get what he had said.
Spike informed his siblings that he would tell them what Cosmos has said later, once they were done clearing out the final realm, to which they bid the Leaders and Magnus farewell, allowing them to watch as the six dragons took off and headed back in the direction of the lands they called home, before they turned around and headed through the portal that had been revealed to them, so they could see what was on the other side.
When they finally arrived at the starting area for whatever realm they had been heading to Spyro, Spike, and Ember paused for a few seconds and took in the area around them, as they happened to be standing on a decent sized platform that was separated from the rest of the realm by a channel of some kind. From what they could tell the realm itself was made from a number of buildings that were related to what Gnasty Gnorc had been doing, meaning they were factories or something like that, and were combined with small castle like areas, like their foe had built this area to mimic the places that the dragons lived in, to the best of his ability anyway. One thing they could see, not counting the fact that this realm had been built with mountains on all sides of it, was that there appeared to be a large number of chests scattered around the area, meaning this could be a treasury of some kind, where their foe had stored all the personal loot he had found since taking over this land, or at least that was what the siblings assumed from a glance. The sky was also a shade of green that was linked to the factories that were still operational, either meaning that some of the Gnorcs, those that weren't created from gems, were still working despite their boss being beaten or they were designed to function until they ran out of whatever was powering them, but it wasn't toxic and they could breath just fine, and there wasn't a horrible smell in the air, which was interesting as well.
"So, Gnasty Gnorc had his own treasury," Spyro commented, as this wasn't what he and his siblings were expecting when they decided to enter this realm and see what was waiting for them on the other side, but even as he thought about that he noticed that there wasn't much they could do besides stand at the starting area, since it seemed next to impossible to glide over to the area that was in front of him, "Spike, do you have any ideas on how we're supposed to get across this channel so we can investigate the rest of the realm?"
"I think the answer is simple, we fly." Spike replied, to which he ran off the platform they were standing on and spread his wings, where Spyro and Ember watched as he started to fly before their eyes, revealing that this realm was actually a Flight Realm, one that none of them had known about, especially since the others were easy to find, before Spike noticed that he couldn't go passed a certain point, meaning they could only fly so high, "Well, having a height limit in a Flight Realm is a little annoying, but it makes me wonder if there's a way to make it so we can explore the entire area..."
"Given what you've done in the past, I'm sure such a thing is possible," Ember remarked, as she was sure that if Spike felt there might be a way for them to increase the height limit, so they could fly even higher in this realm, than that meant there was likely something they needed to do to make that happen, though even as she said that both she and Spyro took off as well, so they could see what else was in this realm with their own eyes.
As they flew around the area the siblings discovered that they really couldn't fly very high, not even so they could get above some of the large platforms that were in this area, forming different levels that likely indicated how high they could fly if they figured out what sort of magic was keeping them bound to this height. What they soon discovered was that they weren't alone in this realm, as there was a purple robed thief standing on the platform in front of them and it appeared that he was holding a key in one of his hands, causing the siblings to land for a moment as Spike looked around the area once more. It was in that moment that he found something he had missed, that being a number of locked doors that looked like the ones from when they faced Gnasty Gnorc, each higher than the one before it, making him wonder if they were what he and his siblings needed to open, in order to give them the ability to fly even higher in this realm. Since it appeared that it was the only thing they had to go on, as it didn't seem like there was anything else that might tell them what they could do, Spyro and Ember decided to agree with him and proceeded to chase after the thief, who smiled and ran from them as he wrapped around the structure that he had been standing near, all while ignoring the four gems that were on the ground so the siblings could pick them up. In the end it was rather easy for them to corner the thief and then flame him, as Ember fell back and forced the thief to stop when she appeared in front of him, allowing her brothers to hit him from behind so they could claim his key.
Once that was done they explored the rest of the area that was available to them, smashing two purple gem chests that were near where the thief had been running, as well as a pair of wooden chests and a metallic chest, before heading to where the first locked door was located and picked up the five gems near it and crushed the pair of gem chests to the side, only to head to the next platform that was in front of them and repeated the process on three more of Gnasty's favorite gem chests, only to head back to the locked door at last.
Spike wasted no time in slipping the key into the lock, allowing him to open the door and reveal a small set of stairs, which was accompanied by a pair of normal chests, to which he and his siblings broke apart the chests and claimed the gems that were inside them, before climbing up the stairs so they could reach the next platform, where the second locked door rested. In that moment Spyro decided to see if Spike's theory about the height was true and jumped off the edge of the platform without being told what to do, only to find that he was able to fly higher than he was able to when the first door was locked, causing Spike to jump for joy for a few seconds, before he and Ember took to the air once more. From there they flew back to where the purple thief had been running around and found a few more metallic chests to smash, which Ember did so, before discovering a flat area with some grass that a second purple thief called home, though all three of them could tell he had been waiting for them and was ready to run around the area until they hit him. Spyro and Spike were more than happy to engage in some light running with the thief, since it allowed them to circle around the area they were in and let their dragonflies pick up the gems that were scattered on the ground, before they eventually stopped when the thief was back in the position he had been in when they arrived in this area. It was in that moment that Ember flamed one of the circular metal chests three times, from behind the chest, and blew the lid right off it, where she and her siblings watched as it flew through the air and hit the thief in the head, knocking him to the ground in the process and caused him to drop the key he had been holding onto.
As soon as the second thief was taken care of the siblings smashed through three more wooden chests and one more circular metal chest, though once all those gems were freed and added to their collection the three of them took off and returned to the second locked door. It didn't take them long to get back to the door and open it, though as they did so a blue thief in a flying vehicle, which Spike knew to be an plane since it looked like the various planes they had taken down in all of the previous Flight Realms, flew above their heads and started to fly around the realm they were in, making sure to fly at a height that was higher than where the second thief had been positioned. Spyro, now understanding this Flight Realm better thanks to what Spike had proved, knew that all they had to do was go through the tunnel they had opened, as well as climb the stairs that were inside it, to reach the next platform that was at the end of it, which was both higher than the previous one and had a few gems for them to pick up along the way. From there he and his siblings took off and flew after the thief that was inside the plane, knowing that he had to be carrying the key to the next locked door, which just so happened to be on a platform that was above where the starting area for the realm was located. What the siblings soon discovered was that this particular thief wasn't very good at flying his plane, as he was rather slow and seemed to be focused on a single building, instead of flying faster and circling around more of the structures, so that allowed them to catch up with him and blow the plane apart, dropping the thief to the ground while they collected the key, where Spike watched as the thief disappeared like the rest of his kind, showing off the magic he and his fellow thieves possessed, only to head over to where the next locked door was located.
Once the siblings landed on the platform, and found a locked chest nearby, Spike quickly unlocked the door and they headed into the tunnel, finding a number of gems laying on the upper level, while off to their left a thief took off in another plane, showing that they would have to follow him and figure out his route, before taking him out for the key he possessed so they could access the locked door that was at one of the ends of the tunnel they had been in.
This time around the thief seemed to be flying through the mountain that was behind the starting area for this realm, which was when the siblings discovered that the channel contained a circular lava river that went through the mountain, only to be interrupted by a body of water that filled the area in front of the platform they appeared on. The first thing the siblings did was follow the thief and his plane for a time, finding that he did loop around the inside of the mountain, which also allowed them to see the various pipes that Gnasty Gnorc had installed in the area as they followed their target, but the moment they emerged from the mountain Ember turned around and flew back into the mountain, following the path they had just finished. Their method of dividing and conquering, which had only begun to use in the lands they were familiar with, allowing them to attack the plane from both sides and surprise the thief, so much so that he must have used his magic to flee the moment he realized he was screwed, which also let them take his key before it fell into the lava and fly back up to where the next locked door was located. As it turned out the locked door lead them to a dead end that had a single gem, but, at the same time, Spike realized what it meant, as they were likely at the highest point they were allowed to fly at and they could reach any point that they wanted to, which was why he and his siblings headed outside and took to the air once more, this time flying higher than what they could over the course of following the path of the locked doors and the thieves that had the keys.
From there the siblings flew all over the buildings, finding a few fireworks on them that went around the area and blew apart the locked chests that the rest of the gems were trapped in, though once all of the gems had been picked up they headed for the exit portal, at the highest point of the realm, and found another tunnel... one that, upon investigation, brought them to a room with a number of odd posters, a picture of Gnasty Gnorc, a bunch of letters, and a number of fireworks boxes, which they blew up and collected the freed gems.
"It seems that Gnasty Gnorc liked his motivational posters, which he likely created to help him succeed in his quest to take over the Dragon Realms," Spyro commented, though while there were a fair number of them scattered around the room he did find out that many were duplicates of ones that he had already seen, but he could tell that Spike was focused on something else and Ember really didn't seemed to care about the posters all that much, "but, from what I can tell, this was where Gnasty Gnorc lived until that broadcast happened."
"Well, he got a taste of his own medicine, that's for sure." Ember remarked, though as she said that she found that one of the posters was related to practice and that it wasn't about being the best at something, rather it was about totally destroying everyone else, which made her think their foe had forgotten what these posters said when they arrived and that he decided to go with a completely different plan.
"It looks like he was hoarding two thousand gems in this area, making fourteen thousand total bits of treasure in all the lands of the Dragon Realms," Spike stated, showing that what Astor had said when the interview happened was correct and that it wasn't a sign of old age, even though the dragon in question was getting pretty old, before he glanced at his siblings, as it didn't appear that there was anything else for them to do now, "I think it's time we head back home, take in the fact that we just saved the Dragon Realms from Gnasty Gnorc, and then relax before we do anything else... though I think Nestor might have a surprise for us when we return to our homeworld."
Spyro and Ember, finding that they agreed with Spike, headed for the exit portal they had walked by and returned to the Gnorc Gnexus, where they quickly made their way over to where Hak was waiting for them, who understood that they wanted to head home and let them climb into the basket of his hot air balloon, before doing so as well and took off so he take them back to the land of the Artisans dragons.
By the time Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to the homeworld that they called home, and where they had spent a great deal of time learning all the skills they used against Gnasty Gnorc's forces, it was well into the evening and all three of them knew that it would be night in no time. For the most part they had spent the journey resting and recovering from the last part of their adventure, so they could be ready for when the hot air balloon reached the dock, though once Hak came to a stop at their destination, and landed on the dock, the siblings climbed out of the basket and stretched both their legs and their wings, though all of them were eager to get a good night's sleep when it came time to go to sleep. Based on the lack of noise they had to assume that the rest of the Artisans dragons were likely getting dinner ready before they relaxed a little and then went to sleep, to which the siblings walked up the tunnel that would take them back to the area they had started their adventure in. They were happy to be back home, even though they were happier to have helped the Dragon Realms and save everyone from their foe's plans, and they knew that this adventure would be one the other dragons talked about for years to come, especially since Spike had made sure to write down the last bits of their adventure before they neared the land they called home.
When they finally reached the area in front of the large wooden door, which lead to the area that contained the portal to Dragon Shores, the siblings came to a stop and took in the sights of their home once more, as it was great to be back and they were looking forward to telling everyone about their adventure.
"Surprise!" a number of voices shouted, to which Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced around them as an illusion spell faded away, one that reminded Spike of their first birthday, and found that all of the Artisans dragons, including all of the Leaders, were present in the area around them, as well as a number of tables filled with food and several cakes and party decorations that looked like this was a celebration for what they had done.
"Guys, you shouldn't have." Ember remarked, because while she knew all of the dragon clans were happy that they had been saved from the crystal prisons that Gnasty Gnorc trapped them in, and saved everything that had been stolen, she didn't think they needed to throw a party for them, or at least not as soon as they got home, since it would have been better for this to happen like tomorrow or something.
"Nonsense, you three saved the Dragon Realms and you deserve something for your efforts, and the least we could do is throw a party in celebration of what you did." Nestor replied, as he knew that Spyro would love to have a party after all the hard work they had put into saving the homeworlds that they called home, and Spike likely shared that thought to some level, while Ember felt it wasn't necessary, but they had planned on thanking the trio as soon as they got back and now was the time to do so, "though Bob and his crew are still around, so you'll likely be approached by them at some point during the party, just to ask a few questions before they get on their way."
That piece of information caught the siblings by surprise, as they had thought that Bob and his crew would have left the moment all the dragons were sealed inside those crystalline statues, but now it appeared that they must have been following someone and got some information on what was going on, so whoever was watching their program would be able to understand what was going on with the Dragon Realms. It also meant that they would have to take some time to answer a few questions before the day was over, though for right now they listened to their stomachs and joined the dragons that had gathered here, so they could celebrate with them, stuff themselves with Alvar's cooking, and maybe tell bits and pieces of their adventure to the dragons that had gathered to celebrate what they had done. Due to their eagerness to stop Gnasty Gnorc and restore order to the Dragon Realms none of them really had anything to eat since they left their home earlier, so they could head to the land of the Peace Keepers, so they were definitely hungry, but that only made the other dragons laugh and cheer as they celebrated, while at the same time making sure to drink something every now and then so they didn't hurt themselves in their excitement. In fact one of the things that the siblings told the other dragons about were the commanders that Gnasty Gnorc had assigned to the homeworlds, mostly to leader his forces and stop the three of them in their tracks, and almost all of the Artisans dragons were shocked to hear that Toasty had betrayed them to join their foe, which made the scholars wonder about the other sheep, something that Spike shared and would be looking into at some point in the future.
After telling the Artisans dragons about what they had done with each of the commanders, impressing them when they mentioned how Ember had taken care of Doctor Shemp and what Spike had done to take down Blowhard, which they knew was going to really impress the Magic Crafters, they ended up moving the party to one of the other realms that the siblings hadn't been to. This one wasn't all that important to be perfectly honest, it was actually just a nice field with a few areas where Nestor and the rest of their clan just relaxed and played games, as Argus and Thomas determined it was time to show them a game called sheepball, though from what they learned, from hearing about Toasty, they were going to need some new items to play the game with and potentially rename it, to make sure the same thing didn't happen again in the future, but for now the siblings watched as the sheep that were involved in the game smiled, as if they liked being bounced against the ground and thrown through the air. While they were doing that, and some of the other Artisans joined them while some sat off to the side to watch, Cosmos separated himself from the group so he could take a few moments and personally study the scepter that Gnasty Gnorc had been using, as it was a fascinating item and he knew there were others that would want to study it as well.
This also served as the best opportunity for Bob to approach the siblings and ask them a few questions, where they turned away from the game of sheepball that was happening, which Argus, despite being a scholar, was winning at the moment, and focused on the crew that had been talking to Astor earlier.
"Spyro, Spike, and Ember, you three have defeated G-nasty G-norc," Bob said, once more saying Gnasty's name in a weird way, not that any of them really cared to correct him at this point, since no one else could really tell the difference between how he said it and how someone else said it, "rescued all of the dragon eggs that had been stolen, saved all the dragons from being trapped in those crystal statues, and recovered every bit of treasure in the Dragon Realms. How are the three of you feeling after such an adventure?"
"Well, I can't speak for Spike and Ember, but I'm certainly fired up!" Spyro replied, because while he was annoyed that all of the dragons had been sealed away in those crystal statues, and both their eggs and their treasure had been stolen from them, he had to admit that the adventure had been an exciting one and that he wouldn't mind going on another one at some point in the future, hopefully without the fate of the Dragon Realms being at stake, "Though all three of us are happy that we were able to restore the Dragon Realms to the state they had been in, before Gnasty Gnorc cast that spell of his and put his plans into action. And you know what, despite his misguided nature and the weird minions that he sent to stop us, I felt that he was a worthy adversary."
"Um, what's a minion?" Bob asked, as while he followed most of what Spyro said, which was good for the viewers since they would be able to do the same thing, he wasn't so sure about that one word and feared that he would have to answer questions about it later on.
"It's just a fancier word for the forces that helped Gnasty Gnorc, hired or otherwise." Spike answered, as he knew that some of the viewers might not know what the word meant, just like Bob didn't know what the word meant and had a look of confusion on his face, so that was why he was answering the question, before someone got upset.
That answer seemed to satisfy Bob, which meant it would do the same for his viewers, but before he could ask the next question that he had, which was likely something that Ember was going to answer, a green light went off and both Argus and Thomas were trapped in a pair of crystalline statues once again, surprising the sheep that landed on the ground a few seconds later, as he expected to be caught by someone.
"Sorry, that's my bad," Cosmos said, where the siblings noticed a faint glow in the crystal of the scepter they had asked Titan and Magnus to bring back, meaning there must have been enough of Gnasty's magic inside it for one final spell, one that was much smaller than the other times he used it, and that meant that Cosmos had accidentally activated it, trapping both Argus and Thomas once more.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember chuckled as they moved to free the two dragons so they could return to the celebration, as no harm had been done and it was a scepter that none of them really understood all that well, so mistakes were bound to happen at some point, but for now they would make sure the scepter was kept safe and away from those that would misuse it, all while they would be looking forward to what the future held for them and the rest of the Dragon Realms.
After freeing both Argus and Thomas from their new prisons, where Cosmos apologized for what had happened due to him accidentally activating the scepter that had been in Gnasty Gnorc's hands for a long time, Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to relaxing and watching their elders play their game of sheepball. Spyro and Ember were interested in the game, more in the sense that it would be worth seeing if it could be improved in the future or at least studying the movements so they could take part in a game when they were older, though at least it seemed pretty straightforward, even if this was the first time they were seeing something like this. Spike, on the other hand, seemed to be observing how they moved as he made a few notes on the game, mostly to see what the library of Dark Hollow had on the topic, but his siblings knew that the first thing he wanted to finish was the journal that contained the information of their entire adventure, so he could bind it and add it to the library that the other scholars worked in. Even the Leaders and the other dragons knew that as well, that Spike was a scholar through and through, meaning that he would be busy with that journal for some time and that there was no stopping him from finishing it, but, at the same time, all of them were looking forward to seeing what he had written down, when it was published.
Nestor was happy to see the siblings unwind from their adventure, as both Spyro and Ember eventually moved out and started playing around the area they were in, where he found that they discovered a ball and seemed to be passing it between each other, using their tails to hit it. Spike, of course, wasn't interested in that sort of thing and didn't leave his writing supplies behind, but that didn't stop him from pausing every now and then to see what his siblings were up to, where they seemed to be in the middle of knocking the ball back and forth between them, while trying to add tricks to it to make it more interesting. A few of the sheep that were nearby, either from the sheepball game that was going on or just happened to be wandering around the area, stopped to see what they were doing, where Spyro paused and patted them before going back to his game, showing Nestor that the lesson that Toasty had taught him must have sunken in, which his siblings had learned at the same time, and he had to admit that it was something he would have to tell his fellow Leaders about when their next meeting happened. Based on what he had learned so far Nestor assumed that he and the others would have a lot to talk about, given the fact that the Junkyard had been freed from Gnasty Gnorc, who had turned it into an entirely new area than what they had originally used it for and he felt that it was time to ask them about something that had been bothering him for a number of years, but he pushed that to the back of his mind for now as he watched the siblings having fun in their own ways, knowing that they deserved all of this.
He wasn't the only one that thought that way, as many of the Artisans dragons personally thanked the siblings for saving them, usually waiting for them not to be focused on something before doing so, and he could see that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were happy to receive their thanks, especially since they had restored order to the Dragon Realms and took back everything that had been stolen from them.
When it got closer to the time that the siblings usually went to sleep, so they could rest and recover from what they had done that day, Nestor declared that it was time for everyone to retire for the night, as while he knew that everyone wanted to party into the night, and not worry about their duties for a few days, he also knew that it would be in everyone's best interests to get some rest, especially in the case of Spyro, Spike, and Ember, since they had traveled the entirety of the Dragon Realms in a single day and had to be exhausted. Everyone was still amazed that the three young dragons had gone through the five lands that the dragon clans called home, and all the realms that were connected to them, in a single day, as well as taking out Gnasty Gnorc, something he and the other Leaders would have to discuss once they were sure their lands were back to normal. At the same time, however, everyone had to agree with Nestor, as the mention of sleep seemed to make some of them feel more tired than they seemed to be, no doubt because they were excited by what the three young dragons had done, or maybe it was the sugar talking, and soon they stopped their game of sheepball, with Argus being the winner, much to Thomas' annoyance once more, before departing for the various realms that they called home. While that happened Nestor also let his fellow Leaders and Magnus spend the night in the realm that was where he rested, as he knew they had to be tired from their various flights to Gnasty's land and from the flight back to the land that he watched over, so he wanted to make sure they got a decent amount of sleep before the morning arrived, since they would be leaving to make sure their lands were just fine.
After making sure everyone else was fine, and that there were no negative side effects from being in those crystalline statues for some time, Nestor made his way back to Stone Hill, the realm that the three young dragons called home and slept in, and smiled when he arrived at his destination, as Spyro, Spike, and Ember fell asleep near each other and it appeared that it would be some time before they woke up, so he left them to their well deserved sleep and headed back to his own realm so he could sleep as well.
When morning arrived Spyro, Spike, and Ember rose with it, where each of them stretched for a few moments and took a few moments to yawn, as well as the fact that Spike had to pick up his new hat, since it had fallen after they had gone to sleep the previous night, and make sure his satchel was on, before they were ready to depart from the realm they called home and see what the new day had for them. Once he was ready to go the three of them headed for the exit portal and returned to the central hub area for the Artisans homeworld, though once they were on the other side they spotted a few of their fellow Artisans dragons walking around, either transporting things from one realm to another, for the various art pieces they were working on, or just heading to one of the other realms to help someone out. It was almost like Gnasty Gnorc had done nothing to the Dragon Realms, as the dragons seemed to be going about their days as if nothing bad had happened the previous day, but the other dragons knew what had happened and they were about to forget about it anytime soon, especially since they seemed happy that the siblings were able to defeat Gnasty Gnorc. Still, it left the three of them with questions, especially since some dragons from the other homeworlds had mentioned a great destiny for them and wouldn't tell them anything at all, except indicating that all the adults knew something that they didn't know, and Spike hoped that Nestor and the others would tell them what everyone else had been talking about.
They explored the central hub area of their home for a few more moments and found that the hidden entrance to the Flight Realm was still open, either meaning that Lucas considered the secret exposed and wasn't doing anything about it or he hadn't had the time to seal it, not that it mattered since all the Artisans dragons knew where it was and could likely guess how to open it, especially if they looked at what Spike wrote down for this area. The other thing they noticed was the fact that Nevin hadn't closed the dragon head statue that covered the portal to his personal realm, which meant that he was either taking a break from his paintings or that someone was visiting him in his castle, but even as they saw it the siblings turned away and headed elsewhere, as they were hoping to find Nestor at some point. Spike did pause after a few moments and looked at the area that all the reclaimed treasure was in, where he had left the Bag of Holding he had created at the start of their adventure, and found that some of the Artisans dragons, the scholars from Dark Hollow to be exact, were in the middle of counting the gems and were placing them in various containers, each with a label that told him that the treasure was being divided and returned to the homeworlds they had been stolen from, which was perfectly fine with both him and his siblings. The three of them were happy to see that everyone was returning to their daily routines, with some slight changes in some cases, and that nothing seemed out of place, to which they continued walking around the central hub area as they resumed their search for Nestor, to see if there was anything else they could do to help the other dragons, along with asking about their destiny, if they were lucky.
As it turned out Nestor was in the other half of the central hub of their homeworld, the half that contained the portals to Dragon Shores and all of the other realms that they hadn't visited yet, something they were going to have to do at some point in the future, though as they approached him, however, he turned towards them with a smile on his face, no doubt due to what they had done the previous day.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, are the three of you ready for what I have planned today?" Nestor asked, his tone sounding like what he would use when he wanted them to know that he either had a trip to one of the other homeworlds planned, with the approval of the Leader of the land in question, or when he had some training for them to do, as in something new they had to learn or something they had to practice, which meant things were back to normal.
"Of course we are!" Spyro exclaimed, because after chasing down and beating Gnasty Gnorc, as well as the same thing to the beings that were his commanders for the various homeworlds, he felt like he was ready for anything and everything that Nestor could throw at him and his siblings, especially with Spike's incredible magical abilities and Ember's prowess in battle backing him up, "We can take whatever you can throw at us!"
"That's good to hear, even though I'm not going to be throwing anything at you today," Nestor replied, to which he turned to the side and beckoned to the portal that rested in the middle of the area they were in, the one that would take them to Dragon Shores, one of the nicest spots in the entirety of the Dragon Realms, hence why it had five portals that connected it to each of the homeworlds, so all of the clans could enjoy the small island that was often considered to be a paradise to all dragons, "I'm taking some time off from my duties, while you three will take some time off from training, so we can go back to Dragon Shores and have some fun."
"How long as it been since our last visit to Dragon Shores?" Ember asked, though at the same time she had to admit that the idea of taking a day off to relax on the beach, enjoying the sunlight and playing in the water, while even building a sand castle or two, sounded really appealing at the moment, even if she had been hoping that Nestor would have offered them some new training for their deed, something that might come in the coming days or weeks.
"It's been a few years, at the very least, since our last visit," Spike replied, because he knew the dates of certain events better than either Spyro or Ember did, since he was the one that actually paid attention to things like that, even though he had to admit that if he was wrong, and that their last visit hadn't been a few years ago, than it was likely around the time of their first birthday party, before it if his memory was correct.
"I figured that, before you resume your various training exercises, you deserved a break for saving all of us," Nestor said, though he was referring to the siblings finding their own paths, the professions that spoke to them, even though it was pretty clear that Ember was a warrior at heart and that she could rival Trondo and Titan one day, while Spike, on the other hand, was definitely one of the strongest magic users he had ever seen, something that he was sure Cosmos agreed with, but that left Spyro without a path to follow, which he was hoping to help him with in the future, "and, in addition to the party we had last night, I figured that a day in Dragon Shores was called for as well, to let the three of you truly relax before we do anything else."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember looked at each other for a moment, as they were still caught off guard by the fact that Nestor was allowing them a day off like this, to Dragon Shores no less, and it wasn't long before they turned back to face him and nodded their heads, where Nestor moved out of the way and let them charge through the portal that was directly behind him, allowing them to start relaxing before he joined them. It didn't take the siblings long to appear on the other side of the portal, where they noticed they were in the area where all of the portals lead to the five homeworlds, which was easy to understand since each land had a different style to their portals, a courtyard area that Spike recalled Nestor calling the Nexus at one point. The only downside to that name was that either the Leaders or Nora, who had her own type of Nexus that she had access to, would have to change the name of what they were talking about, just so no one got confused if they knew about both instances of the Nexus, but that was a problem for them to figure out and was something for the siblings to ignore for a good period of time. As soon as they came to that decision, however, they turned towards the path that was leading away from where the portals were standing and followed it, as that would take them right to where the beach was located and allow them to start relaxing as soon as they arrived.
As soon as they emerged from the path, and reached the area that the beach was located in, a smile appeared on all of their faces as soon as they noticed the waves and took in the sights once more, where Spyro slipped off his scarf, Ember made sure to take off her bracers, and Spike set both his satchel and his hat aside, before they focused on the fact that they were allowed to take a day off and started to have fun. The last time they had been here there had been a number of adults watching over them, due to them being hatchlings at the time and having no idea what in the world they were doing that day, though even as that thought came to mind Spyro charged at Spike, fully intending to knock him into the water like he did when they were younger. The only difference this time around was that Spike simply moved out of the way and let Spyro run right into the water, showing that he was too focused on one thing and that it had been predictable, which did cause Ember and their dragonflies to chuckle for a few seconds, as it was fun to watch this sort of thing happen when they weren't in danger. Of course Spyro got his revenge by bursting out of the water and used his wings the send some of it at his siblings, hitting them in the process and allowing him to laugh at them, but neither Spike or Ember were upset by that, as today was a day to relax and enjoy themselves, especially after the long day they had yesterday.
While the three of them expanded some energy in the water, however, Spike did notice that several dragons did join them at the beach, where he noticed Alvar setting up an area for him to work on some food, just like the last time they had visited Dragon Shores, before Nestor and the other Leaders joined them, all wearing the appropriate attire, the swimsuits they had worn a long time ago. Of course they weren't the only ones to join them, as Nora showed up after some time, seemingly appearing out of thin air, and laid down to enjoy the sunlight, silently showing the siblings that she wanted a day off as well and that today seemed like the perfect time to do so, before Argus and Thomas showed up with another sheep, so they could play a beach version of sheepball, as if Thomas hated losing and wanted to show everyone that he was better than Argus was. Spike also spied some buckets and shovels that were resting in the sand, the same ones that Ember had used a long time ago when she was building her first sand castle, though for now his focus was on jumping around the water and playing with his siblings, while their dragonflies rested in the shade, as they had also earned a break from all the training they did. He wasn't the only one that thought about that, as Gavin, the barista that created some of the finest drinks in the Dragon Realms, joined the group that was having fun and gave the dragonflies something to drink while they relaxed, to go with something that Alvar prepared for them, showing Spike that this was both a time for him and his siblings to relax, as well as a time for the other dragons to continue the party from last night.
Even as he thought about that he noticed a few more sheep had joined them, either for the sheepball game that was going on or because they were relaxing as well, which was a surprise that he wasn't expecting to see, though even as he considered it he had to wonder if a few of them were like Toasty, only without the terrible rage towards all dragons due to what they did to all sheep.
After about thirty minutes Alvar called them all in and revealed a decent breakfast that would give everyone there the energy they needed to play in the sand, chase others around in the water, and do whatever it was they wanted to do on this fine day, where the siblings found that the meal consisted of eggs, bacon, a few other bits of meat, a number of fruits and vegetables, and a couple of pastries that would keep them going, which had come from Devlin. One thing that Spyro, Spike, and Ember enjoyed was the food Alvar produced, even if it was something as simple as breakfast, and with that being combined with Gavin's drinks and Devlin's pastries they knew that today was really going to be a good day for them and the dragons that were around them. Even the dragons that were from one of the other homeworlds, like Nora and Titan, enjoyed the food that had been produced, either indicating that the chiefs in their lands were terrible or that Alvar was superior to them, though Spike had the feeling that the latter was correct, which would no doubt make Alvar even happier than he already was if it was true. Alvar also included the sheep in the meal, as in he had something prepared for them as well, showing that not all dragons treated their kind horribly and that they were well taken care of, and the sheep gladly ate what they had been given, though that really made Spike curious about them and wondered what he could learn if he ran a test or two on them in the future, before shelving the idea for later, as today was not the day to be worrying or focusing on something else.
Despite that, however, he did have one question he wanted to ask Nora, before he and his siblings went back to playing around in the water or moved onto building castles to compete with what they knew Nestor had to be thinking about since he came to the beach.
"Hey Nora, can I ask you something?" Spike asked, because he wanted to get this question asked and be done with it so he could go back to having fun, though at the same time he noticed that Nora shifted her gaze and focused on him, just as she finished part of the drink that Gavin made for her and the others.
"You just did." Nora replied, where she chuckled for a moment as Spike realized what had happened, though he also knew she was just messing with him and that she would get serious in the next couple of seconds, where his thoughts proved to be right ten seconds later and she focused on him again, "Okay, I've had my fun. What is it that you wanted to ask me, before I made that comment?"
"Aren't you worried that someone might get the Nexus that's associated with Dragon Shores mixed up with your more personal Nexus, if they knew about both of them?" Spike inquired, figuring that now would be the best time to ask the question, before Nora got involved in whatever her next project or experiment was, that way she would have enough time to figure out an answer to his question.
"You know, I thought about that myself, after I told you and your siblings about my Nexus," Nora admitted, showing Spike that she had already taken a moment to think about what he was talking about, though at the same time she took another sip from her drink before continuing with what she wanted to tell him, "so I decided to call it the Teleportation Nexus, to distance itself from the Nexus that's located here, on Dragon Shores... and I think the first thing I'm going to do, when I finally get everything figured out, is make sure Gavin is the first dragon I visit, to get me some good drinks before I focus on opening the Teleportation Nexus to everyone."
Spike honestly wasn't surprised that Nora might have already thought about changing the name of her Nexus, as he would have done the same thing if he was in her position, before he nodded his head and returned to where his siblings were playing, as he was happy to see that everyone was enjoying themselves. The only thing he could ask about was what Nestor and the other Leaders had planned for the land that Gnasty Gnorc had ruled over, as it had been shaped into a new island that could be expanded into a true homeworld, but for now he decided that he'd ask that some other time, just in time to jump out of the way as Spyro landed on his back in the water in front of him, mostly to avoid the bits of water that rained down on where he had been standing moments ago. It appeared that whatever game Spyro and Ember had been playing had resulted in Ember knocking Spyro away from her and claiming victory, or at least what Spike assumed was victory, before the three of them resumed what they had been doing before breakfast had been served, and while they did that Spike noticed that Alvar started to relax as he slow cooked the dinner items he had brought with him, just like he had done the last time they visited Dragon Shores. Just thinking about that made him want to deal dinner already, as he remembered it being good the last time they ate the slow cooked meat and the other items Alvar had prepared, but this time around he focused on what he was doing and enjoyed himself, knowing that the time would come when he and his siblings could eat what Alvar was making.
After twenty to thirty more minutes the trio finally removed themselves from the water and dried off for a couple of minutes, though once that was done they picked their own buckets and shovels from the pile that had been brought to the beach and found that Nestor was waiting for them, like they expected him to be. What happened next was that they took part of the beach for themselves and started moving sand around, where the siblings tried to combine their individual ideas on what a sand castle should be while Nestor started creating what he had been thinking about since he and the other adult dragons came to the beach as well. Interestingly enough Spyro took the lead and seemed to create a way to combine both Ember's suggestions, for a castle with fortifications, with Spike's ideas, for a more defensible location that would weaken the enemy long before they reached the gates, even if there were no soldiers in this build contest, before they got to work building their sand castle. While they were doing that several of the dragons watched them from time to time, to see how they were doing in comparison to the elegant sand castle that Nestor was putting together, but for the most part the adult dragons were either having fun playing a game of sheepball, enjoying the time they spent laying in the sun, or swimming in the water, a skill that Spyro and his siblings needed to learn at some point in time, whenever one of the adults had time to teach them anyway.
Spike, noticing his brother glance at the adults swimming around in the water, assured Spyro that he would find some way to allow them to do that as well, be it finding a book that taught them how to swim, locating a spell to help them out in regards to the water and the possible weakness it presented, or just waiting for the adults to take some time out of their schedules to teach them the skill.
Spyro, happy that Spike was willing to look into an alternate method for them, in regards to swimming, turned his attention back to the sand castle that they were building and focused on that for the time being, as he wanted to see if the three of them could beat Nestor in a building contest. Since they were young dragons it was slightly hard for them to build higher and make a castle with tall walls, something that worked in Nestor's favor since he could make multiple floors to his sand castle without any problems, but that just encouraged him to work at it and see what they could make. As the three of them worked on their piece they attempted to replicate what they found in the realms that the Dream Weavers called home, like the tower that Spike had seen and the castle that Spyro had charged through, combined with what Ember recalled from the land of the Peace Keepers, where a few dragons nodded their heads as the siblings worked to make a good sand castle that would compete with Nestor's. It appeared that the watchers seemed to think that their castle was good, even if it wasn't as elegant as what the Leader of their homeworld was building at the moment, but that just prompted them to put forth their best effort and see what happened when the contest was finally over, as they were hoping that their effort was good enough to contend with what Nestor was making.
In the end the siblings made a two storied sand castle that was more of a combination between the defensive style of the Peace Keepers and the structures of the Dream Weavers, causing a number of the dragons to cheer for them and what they had done, even though it was painfully clear that Nestor's elegant three floor castle was much better than what they had made, meaning they had lost... but, at the same time, the three of them chuckled and didn't let that bother them at all, as it was all in fun and they just wanted to see what they could make if they worked together.
Once the build contest was done, however, the siblings returned to the water and resumed what they were doing before they decided to attempt building a sand castle, though at the same time they found Titan and some of them other dragons tearing down the two castles so they could see what they made as well, causing them to laugh in the process, as it was nice to see the adults having fun as well. All three of them had to admit that this was nice, especially after what they had been through since Gnasty Gnorc trapped everyone else in those crystalline statues, and while they were enjoying their time off they were definitely looking forward to what the future held for them, especially since all three of them had a few ideas as to how they could improve their abilities, something they would worry about tomorrow. As they thought about that some of the other dragons joined them in the water, so all of them could have fun, and soon the siblings were splashing the newcomers and were being splashed back, showing that everyone was having a good time and that they were enjoying their time on the beach, regardless of what they were doing. As the siblings played in the water a few more dragons joined the game of sheepball that was going on, making it a more competitive game instead of it being between Argus and Thomas, something that made a few of the other dragons stop what they were doing to watch what was going on at the moment, and Spyro, Spike, and Ember joined them for a time, just to see what the appeal of the game was and why everyone else seemed to like it.
Eventually enough time went by and Alvar called for all of them to join him, where he produced a meal that was just like what the siblings had the first time they came to Dragon Shores, a meal that tasted the same as what they recalled from the past and enjoyed all the same, though even as they did that all three of them wondered what the future held for them and the rest of the Dragon Realms.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that the days following their visit to the beach were filled with more rest and relaxation, as if they deserved all this time off from what they were supposed to do, and while none of them wanted to argue with Nestor and the other Leaders they were eager to get to whatever their next lesson was, as they knew there were more things for them to learn, like swimming and other skills. Spyro was just fine with being given a few more days to relax, as they had been training for a long period of time before the interview happened and Gnasty Gnorc trapped all of the dragons in those crystalline prisons, but he shared the same opinions with his siblings, he wasn't going to complain about the situation they found themselves in. Ember, on the other hand, preferred to use some of her time to practice the skills that she had learned in the past, to make sure she didn't get rusty in the art of combat, and she made sure that both of her brothers joined her from time to time, even if one of them preferred to take the time to relax. The other part of her time was spent resting as well, as she couldn't deny that it was nice to take some time off and recover from what they had done after the interview, though what her mind was focused on was what she might learn when their lessons started, as she wanted to prove herself to Titan and the other Peace Keepers and knew that Titan was planning something for her at the very least.
Spike, on the other hand, was in the middle of reading through several new books that Cosmos had dropped off a few days ago, when he and the other Leaders came to talk to Nestor in their meeting chamber, which just so happened to be in the second level of the small structure that rested in Stone Hill, a building they were very familiar with, which meant that Cosmos had to be preparing him for his future lessons.
"Hey Spike, are there any interesting spells in those books?" Spyro asked, because he was interested in seeing if those books contained any spells his brother might use at some point in the future, mostly because of what he and Ember had seen when the Substitution and Reflection spells had been used, and it had been about five days since he got the books, so he had to assume Spike had found something that piqued his interest.
"Yeah, I've found a number of interesting and useful spells in these tomes," Spike replied, as he wasn't annoyed that Spyro wanted to talk with him, especially when he considered how useful his knowledge of magic had been during their first adventure and during the battles they had been in, regardless if it was a personal battle or if it was them against a certain foe, before he thought about answering the question with something he had noticed earlier, "You know how I was talking about resistances a few days ago, back when Ember first discovered that she was immune to lava, before we took on the commander of the realm that Revilo and Unika called home?"
"Yeah, I remember that," Ember remarked, as she knew that Spike had originally found it to be odd that a dragon could be immune to lava, even if that dragon was his own sister, before he discovered that he was immune as well and that Spyro was the only one that didn't have that skill, which she still found to be a little odd.
"Well, I think I might have found a water resistance spell," Spike stated, as he knew how dangerous the water could be for him and his siblings, when they didn't know how to swim just yet, something that he was hoping Nestor and the others would teach them in the future, and based on what he had read this spell might be exactly what they needed, "and the best part is that the spell can be cast on our dragonflies as well, not just the three of us."
"And why is such a spell useful to us?" Spyro inquired, because he failed to see why they would need such a spell in the first place, though he had to assume that the reason Spike was so excited about the spell was because it was new to him and that he could test it on him and Ember, just to see if it worked and add it to the list of spells that he knew, which was pretty long at this point, given all the basic spells he knew.
"As you know, young dragons can get hurt if they fall into deep water," Spike explained, reminding his siblings that the reason they were able to play in the water at Dragon Shores was because they had been in the shallow area, where they could stand and run around, or even lower their entire bodies into the water to cool themselves off, while adult dragons knew how to swim and weren't affected by the water at all, something he knew that Spyro and Ember were looking forward to getting when they matured, "but, if I apply this spell to all three of us and our dragonflies, we'll be able to fall into the water and not get hurt in the process, meaning that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder won't have to take damage if one of us were to fall into some deep water with this spell on... though to make the most of such a spell we would have to learn how to swim from one of our elders."
"That sounds interesting." Ember admitted, as she knew that they were limited by what they could do, since none of them could actually swim and none of them were immune to the water that surrounded most of the homeworlds and the various realms of the Dragon Realms, before a thought came to mind, "But what happens when we do learn how to swim and can freely explore a brand new area?"
"Well, once we learn how to swim this spell will also allow us to breathe underwater," Spike answered, because that was one of the more interesting aspects of the spell, even though the entire spell was interesting and he wanted to test it out, as he was sure that they could use something like this in the future.
"I'm going to expand on what Ember said, as that sounds like it would allow us to explore new areas," Spyro said, as while he had to agree that the spell seemed like one that was good for exploring underwater, and seeing what was below the surface of the water, he had to admit that it was an interesting spell, one that Spike might test at some point in time to be sure that it worked.
"Just be warned that the spell only works on normal water, like the beach, rivers, and lakes," Spike stated, referring to the bodies of water he and his siblings had seen during their adventure, ones that they had ignored for the most part and tried to avoid to the best of their ability, which had worked since none of them had fallen into the water, before taking a look at the tome once more, "toxic water, however, is still off limits to us, though I'm not sure if Ember and I can use this spell in combination with our lava immunity... it would be worth trying out in the future."
"Well, it's still a nice spell to have." Ember remarked, as it sounded like a nice upgrade for them to get, since it would allow them to touch the deep water and not get hurt at all, even if they had avoided the water for the most part during their adventure, and now learning to swim seemed even more appealing, especially since Spike was already thinking about what they could do once he cast the spell on all of them.
"Indeed it is, until you mature into adults anyway," a voice said, to which the trio glanced over at the area that dragons appeared in when they arrived in Stone Hill, since that was where they happened to be, just minding their own business until they figured out what they were going to do with the rest of the day, as it was just past the time they usually had their breakfast, where they found that Nestor had decided to see what they were up to, "I'm sure that Spike will have mastered the spell and will have placed it on all of you before your next birthday, which is less than a year away at this point, and that you'll be happy to have it until you mature."
"Oh, I'll master it long before then... depending on what Cosmos wants to teach me," Spike replied, as he knew that the Leader of the Magic Crafters was interested in seeing what he could learn during the next training session, one he claimed was going to be a more personal lesson, since Ember seemed focused on combat and Spyro would likely be joining her for that lesson in Titan's land, before a thought came to mind, "Do you have anything planned for us today, or are we taking another day off to do something relaxing again?"
The reason Spike was asking the question was because while he and his siblings had enjoyed the last six days off from training and learning more about their various skills, of which he spent a great deal of time working on a more accurate version of their adventure to add to the Dark Hollow library, they were itching to get back into the flow of things and see what sort of lessons the adults could throw at them.
"Actually, I do have something planned for you three, but it's not training," Nestor stated, which caused the siblings to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they took in that information, as it made them curious as to what their Leader had planned for them, along with the fact that it might mean that they could be going to one of the other homeworlds, before he turned around and beckoned for the three of them to follow him, "Come along now, Marco is waiting for us."
In that moment Nestor answered one of the questions that they had been curious about, as Marco was one of the six Balloonists in the Dragon Realms and that meant that Nestor was planning on taking them to one of the other lands that the dragon clans called home, which one they had no idea. Ember was hoping that they would be heading to the land that Titan and his fellow Peace Keepers called home, maybe to do some training and learn some new moves, as that would be the only reason to visit that homeworld, or at least that was what she assumed they could do in that land, since she didn't know what else they could do if they went there. Spyro, on the other hand, was hoping for either the Magic Crafters or the Dream Weavers lands, as both of them would be interesting for him and his siblings, as it meant either learning more about magic, from watching the masters as they practiced their various skills, or watching some dragons guard the land that Lateef and his fellow Dream Weavers called home, while some of them slept during the day. Spike, however, had to wonder if Nestor was keeping the destination a secret on purpose, so that Ember and Spyro wouldn't moan if they heard where they were heading, making him wonder if their Leader was planning on taking them to the land of the Beast Makers, a land that they knew better now than that did during their earlier years, but even now there was so much they didn't know and he was secretly hoping it was the homeworld they would be heading to.
Marco, as Nestor said, was waiting for them at the docks and it didn't take the siblings long to climb into the basket so they could depart, and as soon as they were in the air Nestor took off and followed after them, keeping himself near the hot air balloon as they headed towards their destination.
Spyro and Ember were both slightly disappointed when they finally reached the homeworld that they were going to be stopping at for the day, or for however long their visit was going to be, because after forty-five minutes it became clear that they were skipping the land of the Peace Keepers, not to mention the fact that it appeared that they weren't heading for the mountain area that the Magic Crafters called home. In that moment they knew which of the remaining lands that they were heading to, as they weren't heading in the direction of the Dream Weavers and a familiar swamp eventually appeared in the distance, informing the pair that they were heading straight towards the land of the Beast Makers, the last place either of them wanted to be. Spyro's reason for being annoyed with this land was Tree Tops, as he really hated how that area was laid out, but it had been made better by how easy it was to defeat Metalhead, the commander that had been put in charge of this land when Gnasty Gnorc cast his spell, though Ember was less annoyed than he was, because the smell wouldn't bother her at all, not when she could find a lava pool and dive into it, which apparently cleaned her more than a normal bath did, or at least that was according to what Spike told her. Spike, on the other hand, was happy that they were heading to the land of the Beast Makers, as he remembered something Bruno and Sadiki had said back during their first visit to this land and he was hoping that this was the moment they got clarification on the matter.
When they finally reached the landing area, which was where they had been brought a week ago when they were in the middle of saving the Dragon Realms from Gnasty Gnorc, the siblings spotted Bruno standing near the area that Marco was going to land in... though once he did that, and the three of them climbed out of the basket as Nestor landed near them, Marco took off and headed to a place where he could rest until they were ready to leave, and, more importantly, where he could be away from the smell of the swamp.
"Nestor! I'm glad that you, Spyro, Spike, and Ember made it here without anything stopping you," Bruno said, his tone revealing that he was definitely happy to see them, especially after all the siblings had done to save his homeworld from the various dangers that had been placed here by their foe, before he beckoned for them to follow him as he started to walk towards his destination, "Come, we'll be going somewhere special today, for one last reward for all your hard work in stopping Gnasty Gnorc, and Sadiki is waiting for us near the portal to his realm."
"It seems like you guys have done away with the electrical panels the Gnorcs installed," Spike commented, as it only took him a few seconds to notice that the panels that he and his siblings had walked over during their visit to this land, which had been after the spell had been cast, had been deactivated and had been removed from where Gnasty Gnorc's forces had installed them.
"Indeed we did, because it annoyed all of us more than we were willing to admit." Bruno replied, his tone revealing that none of the Beast Makers really cared for all the electrical stuff that had been brought into their land and had taken great pleasure in ripping it all out, before he thought about something else that was related to that, "Well, we didn't do the tearing out, because we didn't know much about how all this stuff worked, so we asked some of the dragons from the other lands to come and help us, and it seems there are some that know this stuff better than the Gnorcs that installed them did. Nestor, have you told them about our plans yet?"
"Not yet, but I might as well tell them now." Nestor stated, because he had been hoping to keep this a secret for a few more days, before he actually told the siblings what he and the other Leaders had planned, before he sighed as they make sure to use the logs to cross over to the next part of the path they were following, "With Gnasty Gnorc defeated, and his influence over the rest of the Gnorcs taken care of, several of the dragons that call the five lands home accompanied both myself and the other Leaders to the land that our foe had called home, so they could evaluate what he had done and what it would take to revert it back to how it had been before he took over. What we discovered, however, is that the dragons that came with us felt that the land could be transformed from the Junk Yard, or the Gnorc Gnexus as some called it, and take on the appearance of a sixth homeworld, one dedicated to machinery and the various energy sources that will keep the more industrialized realms powered, or at least that was what they said."
"A sixth homeworld?!" Spyro inquired, as that wasn't something he and his siblings had even thought about, though the way Nestor described the type of land the other dragons thought that place could become gave all three of them an idea as to who their Leader was talking about, as there were a few oddballs among the dragons that they had freed, more in terms of the mechanical components they had.
"The Machinists homeworld, to be exact." Nestor replied, where he noticed that all three of the young dragons were interested in what he was talking about, while at the same time Bruno seemed like he could care less about what he was talking about, though that was only because most Beast Makers didn't care for the electrical stuff, "In fact the dragons that accompanied us are in the middle of creating a new look for the land, to make it stand out from the rest of the lands the various clans call home, and depending on what they do they might start work on their new land at some point in time, once they agree on everything they want to do."
"That's interesting," Ember admitted, though while she and Spyro were interested in what they were hearing, as it allowed them to understand what some of the dragons were up to after being freed, Spike was the most eager out of all of them, not that she expected anything different from her brother.
"Other than what I've said, about the new homeworld, there's not much more I can say," Nestor stated, though that was to be expected, since this seemed like a fairly new project that the dragons were taking on and they might not want to tell anyone about it until they were ready to reveal it themselves, which might take some time when they considered the dragons that might be interested in such a project.
"Personally, I really don't care about the project and what they have planned," Bruno said, since it was all based on machines and electricity, or whatever types of power the dragons would rely on when they got started, he stuck to his teachings as a Beast Maker dragon and let the others do what they wanted, before he smiled as he spotted the area that was ahead of them, "We're almost to our destination, and it appears that Sadiki is waiting for us."
Sure enough Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that Sadiki was standing near the portal to his realm, just like Bruno had told them when they first arrived in this land, though at the same time it made them interested in what they would be doing today, especially since it appeared that the dragon in question had a few supplies with him, which looked like they would be useful in tending to someone's wounds.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I trust the three of you are interested in what we have planned for you today?" Sadiki inquired, though he waited for the group to get close to where he was standing before talking, but his focus was on the siblings and the fact that they must have been thinking about what they would be doing today, especially since Nestor likely hadn't told any of them anything about what they had planned.
"Of course we are!" Spyro declared, because while he and Ember weren't all that happy to be here, in the land of the Beast Makers due to the fact that they were hoping for one of the other homeworlds, both of them were interested in seeing what sort of day Nestor had planned for them and Spike, "Nestor's been keeping quiet about it since we left our homeworld, so we're eager to hear what you guys have planned for us."
"It's better to show you, rather than tell you." Sadiki replied, to which a smile appeared on his face, as this was a rare event, for anyone in the Dragon Realms, and given what he knew about the siblings he knew that they would keep what they were about to see a secret, though it was a final reward befitting what they did for the Dragon Realms.
His statement made the siblings tilt their heads for a moment, though at the same time Bruno lifted his brown hat off his head and reached inside it, where he withdrew a golden key that had etchings that looked like flames, though once that was in his hand he replaced his hat, picked up his staff again, and advanced on the side of the temple that was facing the portal to Sadiki's realm. Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as he slipped the key into a hidden slot that they didn't know the existence of, which was a good thing since it kept the inside of the temple safe, and turned the key for a few seconds, before he heard a click and nodded his head, before he withdrew the key and pushed on the face of the temple that he was standing in front of. In that moment the siblings watched as part of the area in front of Bruno opened like a set of double doors would, revealing a hidden chamber in the middle of the temple, where a lone portal rested, one that he and the rest of the Beast Makers went to great efforts to hide, before he beckoned for the group to join him on the other side of the door. Once all of them were on the other side, and no one was standing near Sadiki's portal anymore, he turned around and closed the door, where the siblings noticed that there was a piece of metal that he could move into position and block the door from this side, meaning that the door was locked in a different manner, though once that was done he turned around, stored the key in his hat again, and then headed through the portal that was in front of them, to which the siblings followed after him, so they could see what was on the other side.
When they appeared in the starting area of the realm that the portal took them to, however, all three of them stood there with a look of shock on their faces, as they quickly discovered that the realm in question was an island, just like they had been told a number of years ago, but in the middle of it was an active volcano... though that was before they spotted a pair of large beings, at least as tall as Nestor, flying through the air, with bright red feathered wings and feathers on their body, instead of scales and dragon wings.
"No way." Ember commented, as she was surprised by what they were discovering, because while she and her siblings had been told that these creatures actually existed, and weren't just stories like the scholars made the rest of the dragon clans believe they were, it was another thing to actually see the majestic birds in action, "Those aren't what I think they are... are they?"
"Phoenixes." Spike stated, as he recognized the appearance of the magical creatures instantly, as they looked exactly like how they were described in the book they were mentioned in, and he could tell that their talons would be useful against whoever tried to attack them, especially since they had a fierce look to them as they flew through the air, before noticing that the pair were flying down to where they were standing.
It didn't take the pair of phoenixes long to reach the area that the group was standing in and come to a stop, allowing the siblings to see that they both stood slightly taller than Nestor did, confirming Spike's thoughts on the matter, before Spyro noticed that their eyes were a calm sapphire blue, which he felt was odd given the near fiery nature of their bodies, though he decided not to say anything, as he suspected a conversation was about to happen between the phoenixes and their Leaders. One thing he and his siblings silently agreed on was that they were being given one final reward for facing Gnasty Gnorc and stopping his plans, and that was being included among the number of dragons that knew about the seemingly mythical race and were allowed to meet a few of them.
"Bruno, Sadiki, thank you for coming so quickly," one of the phoenixes, the one to the siblings' right, said, though his tone suggested that they were getting tired of having to do something, which made them wonder what was going on at the moment, before the pair of phoenixes noticed who else was in front of them, as a pair of smiles appeared on their faces, or at least they assumed that was the case, since it was hard to read their beaks, "and you three must be Spyro, Spike, and Ember, the young dragons that put a stop to Gnasty Gnorc's plans and saved the Dragon Realms at the same time, with some amazing feats from what we hear."
"That's us!" Spyro declared, though he didn't bother to question how the phoenixes knew their names and had some idea about what they had done a week ago, because they were friends with the Beast Makers and that meant that Bruno and his clan shared whatever they learned with the majestic birds, to keep them informed about what was going on in the Dragon Realms, and he was positive that Spike had already come to this conclusion.
"Good to hear." the second phoenix said, where the siblings found that this one seemed more focused on the reason they were out here in the first place, and not on the fact that they had just met the three young dragons responsible for saving the Dragon Realms, something that caused his friend to refocus on Bruno and Sadiki, "Lady Eterna is waiting for you inside the volcano, so you can check on the situation and see if anything is wrong, not that I'm expecting either of you to find something wrong while you're here."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as they had no idea what the phoenix was referring to with that statement, though what surprised them wasn't the fact that Nestor, Bruno, and Sadiki could fly, since they were adult dragons and weren't restricted to the ground, rather it was the fact that they were allowed to take flight as well when the rest of their group took off. As the group flew to the top of the volcano, so they could head to where their hosts were taking them, Nestor informed the siblings that the island that the phoenixes called home was enchanted to have the same properties as a Flight Realm, though it was more in the sense to allow the younger Beast Makers the chance to see one of the species they would be working with in the future, instead of forcing them to walk across the entire island, which did work to their benefit, otherwise they would have had to run after the group. The other piece of information that he had to give them was that the island this volcano was on was about the same size as the rest of the homeworlds, the only major difference between them was that the phoenixes didn't have portals or realms like the lands the siblings were familiar with, but they did have an area that held the portal that would send them back to the chamber inside the temple. The only thing that he could tell them was the reason behind why Bruno and Sadiki had been called in to help the phoenixes, even though Spyro, Spike, and Ember already had some ideas as to why the the phoenixes had called in two of the greatest Beast Makers to help them out, even though they remained silent as they headed towards their destination, which would either prove them right or prove them wrong.
When the group reached the top of the volcano, and were able to glance down at the area that was below them, the siblings discovered that there was a large caldera directly below them, filled with areas where the phoenixes likely called home, places where they stored food and items that they might work with, and who knew what else. That was when Ember spotted the area that Bruno and Sadiki might have been called in to help with, an area that rested near the center of the volcano and happened to contain four nests that were separated from each other, where a number of eggs, ones that were slightly bigger than the eggs she and her siblings had recovered, rested. Her thoughts were instantly proven to be right, as that was the area that the two Beast Makers headed to while one of the phoenixes accompanied them, which was when they noticed that an even larger phoenix, no doubt Lady Eterna, sitting near the eggs and she seemed happy to see the pair, where the three of them focused on the eggs and ignored everyone around them for the time being. That left the siblings and Nestor to do as they wished, even though Spyro, Spike, and Ember were fine watching the phoenixes go about their business and let their own leader make sure everything was alright, though at the same time they noticed that there was one phoenix, who wasn't as tall as the others and seemed to be around their height, coming in their direction, which made them interested in what was going to happen next.
"Hey, you three are the dragons that beat up Gnasty Gnorc, right?" the phoenix asked, though his tone was surprising, as he seemed more excited than any of the other members of his race that the siblings had met so far, even if they only knew the names of two of the phoenixes, leaving them wondering who Sol was.
"I wouldn't say that we 'beat him up', rather we put a stop to his plans," Spike replied, because that was what he and his siblings had done, they faced Gnasty Gnorc and put an end to whatever he had planned for the Dragon Realms, and they also gave him a taste of his own medicine in the process, "either way, we're the three young dragons that stopped Gnasty Gnorc and his plans."
"You guys are so cool! I wish I could do something epic like that." the phoenix stated, showing that hearing about what happened to the Dragon Realms must have really excited him, more than what the siblings were originally thinking when he asked them about what they had done, before he focused on something else, "By the way, my name's Sol, and it's a pleasure to meet the three of you. How about I give you guys a tour of the island, while we wait for Lady Eterna and the Beast Makers to do their thing?"
It didn't take the siblings more than a few seconds to agree to such a thing, to which Sol smiled and turned around so he could fly off to another part of the island, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember flew after him and left Nestor to wait for Bruno and Sadiki to conduct their business. What they discovered was that the Caldera, as the phoenixes referred to the area they called home in that manner, just like how a dragon named the various realms attached to a homeworld, wasn't an active volcano like they originally thought, it was a volcanic crater that had a number of the resources Sol's species needed to survive, with the rest of those resources being outside the protected area they called home. There was a grassy area where sheep and other animals roamed, a large population that would be more than enough for the phoenixes for years to come, which had a lake in the middle of it, providing water for the animals so they didn't have to wander over to the beach to get something to drink. There were trees with fruits growing from them, for everyone to enjoy, that just so happened to be scattered around the island, but the area that Sol really wanted to show them was a large boulder that was a minute or two away from the north beach, where they found that a number of passages carved into it, like a small obstacle course or something, where phoenixes could practice their skills before they became adults, as none of the adult members of his species could really use the area at this point in time. In that moment the siblings understood Sol better than what he was expecting, as he was the youngest member of his species and there wouldn't be anymore phoenixes for some time, which seemed to be the same thing that they were going through, as they were the only young dragons in the Dragon Realms and there were eggs being prepared for the special event that would allow them to hatch.
In that moment the siblings decided to befriend Sol, as he seemed a little lonely, and raced him around the course that had been carved into the massive boulder, though while they knew that they wouldn't be able to visit him all the time, due to his kind wishing to remain hidden from the other species of the Dragon Realms, it seemed like the gesture was enough to enlarge Sol's smile, allowing them to put their thoughts of the future to the side as they focused on having fun for one more day, especially with someone that might be a friend in the very near future.
The rest of Spyro, Spike, and Ember's visit to the land of the phoenixes was spent in the company of Sol, who seemed rather happy to have someone his own age to hang out with, even if it was three individuals, and he showed them a few of the tricks he had learned over the years, in terms of flying skills. The siblings were happy to see what he had to show them, and in return they did the same thing, demonstrating a few of the tricks they had picked up over the years, from what Nestor and the other dragons had taught them, which interested Sol, as this was the first time he was seeing anything that was remotely connected to how the various dragon clans flew around the skies. Of course he didn't count the Beast Makers that came and visited his home, since all they did was fly to where they were needed, without any tricks or interesting movements, and then leave when their objective was reached, which was why he was so interested in what the siblings were doing, as they were the first ones that were here without a purpose. The siblings enjoyed their time with Sol, as when he got tired of flying around the same boulder he returned to the island and they followed after him, exploring more of the land that their new friend and the rest of his species called home, which fascinated all three of them, especially since everything they discovered was stuff they hadn't seen before.
Of course none of the siblings mentioned the fact that the purpose behind them visiting this land was like a final reward for taking out Gnasty Gnorc, as that would surely ruin Sol's mood, so they pushed that through to the back of their minds and just enjoyed their time with their new friend. As they flew around the island Sol asked them questions, like were they the only young dragons around and what the other dragon clans were like, causing the siblings to take turns as they answered the various questions that Sol had for them, while at the same time asking him a few, so they could better understand him and the other phoenixes. One thing they discovered was that the dragon clans and the phoenixes shared a similar time period where their eggs would hatch, the Year of the Dragon to be exact, but, as it turned out, neither Sol or his species seemed to care what the time period was called, as it served as a marker for them, and he hatched around the same time that they did. Sol admitted that it was odd that only one phoenix would hatch at any given point in time, like he did ten years ago, but in about two years the next batch of eggs would hatch and the next generation of phoenixes would be born, meaning that he wouldn't be so lonely, and, more importantly, it proved that he was just like the siblings, as they were the only young dragons in the Dragon Realms and that there were more eggs on the way, so more dragons would be coming into the world at the same time as the phoenixes hatched.
Even as they shared that bit of information Spike determined that it was a good thing that the Machinists homeworld was being worked on by some of the other dragons, as it meant that there would be more than enough room for all of the dragons when the next generation hatched, even though he and his siblings knew there would be more than twelve eggs when the Year of the Dragon came around, like twenty to thirty based on what the records of the past said.
Eventually Nestor, Bruno, Sadiki, and the two phoenixes that had been their escorts came to find them, which told all four of them that their time was up and that the siblings would have to leave now, but, at the same time Sol didn't seem to mind that they were leaving, as he had friends now and was hoping that they would come back to visit him in the future, either to have fun or to practice their flying. The siblings agreed with him, even though they knew that it all depended on what the Leaders wanted them to do in the future and whether or not they would be busy, before they joined their elders in bidding their hosts farewell and then headed for the area that the portal that would take them back to the land of the Beast Makers land rested in. As it turned out the phoenixes kept a portal, styled in the way that the Beast Makers made their portals, in the very area that the siblings had first appeared in when they first arrived in the island, one they hadn't seen due to being caught off guard by where they were, before they accessed the portal. It didn't take them long to return to the chamber inside the temple that contained the portal to the island the phoenixes called home, though once they had appeared in their destination Nestor, Bruno, and Sadiki joined them, where they opened the way back to the main part of the swamp the Beast Makers called home and then, once everyone was outside, Bruno closed the door and locked it, only to hide the key once more.
Once that was done the group returned to where Marco had dropped them off and watched as he descended down to where they were standing, allowing the siblings to thank the Beast Makers for their time, and for being allowed to join the number of dragons that definitely knew about what they had seen, before they climbed into the basket and Marco took off, all so they could head back home. One thing that none of the siblings were looking forward to was the fact that a bath would be needed when they got back home, causing Ember to sigh, as she was hoping to just use a pool of lava to clean herself, like she had done when she first discovered she was immune to lava, but there were no areas like that near their homeworld, so she just had to suck it up and accept that a bath was coming her way. Spike, on the other hand, didn't mind the fact that he and his siblings would have to take a bath, as it made sense to him when he considered the same thing that his sister had thought about, and Spyro didn't seem to care either way, as he and his scarf would be clean by the time the day was over. Nestor, of course, flew near them as they headed back to their homeworld, though as they did so he informed them that he had already arranged for some new lessons for them in the near future, meaning that he actually had some new things to teach them, or some of the other Leaders did, which interested them and made them wonder what sort of skills they would learn in the near future.
At the same time, however, the siblings hoped that there would be more opportunities for them to hang out with Sol and learn more about the phoenixes, and that included the land they called home, though all they could do is wait and see what the future held for them.
A few days later the siblings found themselves back in the land of the Peace Keepers, where Titan and Trondo were getting ready to teach them another technique they might need in the future, before they matured into adult dragons, which all of them found to be interesting. Earlier, when Nestor had first told them this bit of information, Spyro had asked why they weren't training in their own homeworld anymore, as he was sure that Nestor and the other Artisans had more to impart to him and his siblings, but, as it turned out, their Leader admitted something that surprised him, he had nothing more to teach them. What he meant by that was that since the Artisans were the most peaceful dragons in the Dragon Realms, and didn't get into fights like the Peace Keepers did, he didn't have any physical or magical combat skills to teach them, which meant that the three of them were going to have to learn a few new tricks from the masters of combat, just in case there were any new adventures for them in the future. Of course that meant that he also arranged for them to train with Cosmos and the Magic Crafters as well, so they could build upon the various spells that they had been taught during their first lessons, though Spyro had admitted that he wasn't sure he and Ember really needed to worry Cosmos by joining their brother, as Spike was the strongest magic user among them and it might be in their best interest to let him learn on his own, to improve his existing skills. Nestor had been a little surprised by the suggestion, as he was sure that the siblings would want to learn the same things at the same time, though even as he considered that thought he understood that they had different talents and this was the way to make sure they focused on their individual skills.
As such Nestor amended his ideas while they were busy preparing themselves for whatever Titan had in mind for them, though all three of the siblings stood at attention and waited for one of the Peace Keepers to tell them what they were going to be doing, while Nestor waited near one of the rock pillars so he would be out of the way.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, the three of you know the basics of how a young dragon is supposed to fight, should they have to do so," Trondo stated, though as he said that he started to move around the area that they were in, which allowed the siblings to notice that several targets, shaped in the style of the enemies that he and the other Peace Keepers fought in the realms of their homeworld, had been set up ahead of time, before he reached into a sack he was carrying as he continued to talk, "which, as you know, are the flame and charge skills we taught you, including the dodging techniques, to make sure you don't take a hit while fighting your opponent. Ember, from what I saw during your battle with Doctor Shemp, and from what we heard about your lone excursions into some of the realms, you have already taken the first steps into studying the layout of your enemies, the types of enemies they are, and are capable of rapidly forming a plan of attack to take out an entire chamber of foes, something we don't usually train young dragons in, so we'll talk with you later about how you might improve on that skill."
"I look forward to your ideas." Ember remarked, as she was happy to see that not only had she impressed Trondo, the best Peace Keeper dragon in this homeworld, with her battle against Doctor Shemp, but she had also done the same thing with the rest of his clan, thanks to what she had done in the last couple of realms she had taken on her own, though now she was interested in seeing what he and Titan had to offer her.
"Good to hear." Trondo replied, to which he turned towards them and pulled his hand out of the sack that he was carrying, where a few round balls, stone ones that were perfectly round, landed in front of the siblings, causing them to tilt their heads for a moment as they focused on him, because they were both interested and slightly confused as to what he wanted them to do, "Today we'll be learning a new technique that might come in handy in the future, a technique that will involve picking things up with your mouth, so you can carry them around the area that you happen to be in, and then, when you find your target, you can stop and spit them out, sending the item in question flying right into whoever or whatever you were aiming at, either knocking them out, taking them down, or breaking something in the process. Here, let me give you an idea as to what I mean."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as Trondo pulled out one of the stone spheres and tossed it up into the air, where he caught it with his mouth before it could reach the ground, which was quite impressive on it's own and meant that he must have a lot of experience doing that sort of thing, before he focused on what he was going to do next. The siblings watched as Trondo carefully walked around the area they were in, gazing at the various targets he could pick from, almost like he was envisioning it as a battlefield and that he needed to be careful about who he picked as his first target, which did give them a few ideas in terms of strategy. Titan was watching him as well, no doubt to make sure the technique they were talking about was properly shown to the siblings, and Nestor, despite being a pacifist like the rest of the Artisans, focused on what was happening, meaning he was interested in what Trondo had to show them, especially since this could be one of the few times he got to see something like this happen. A few moments later Trondo struck his target, one that had been positioned so that half of it was hiding behind a rock pillar on the northern side of the training area, where he took a deep breath and spat out the sphere that was in his mouth, though instead of falling to the ground, like the siblings thought it might do, the sphere rushed through the air and hit his target, breaking the dummy in the process. Trondo then repeated the same movements a few more times, always targeting the targets that would be out of range for Spyro, Spike, and Ember, and before long he had broken four more of them, eliminating the harder to reach targets for the moment, even though it would be easy to put them back where they had been standing, before he stopped focusing on showing off the technique and faced the siblings once more.
In that moment the siblings determined that this was an interesting technique, one that could allow a dragon to fire at enemies from far away, as long as those targets were within the range that came with the attack, and they could see that it would be useful in the future.
"And that is the spitting technique," Trondo stated, his tone revealing that he was done showing off how they were supposed to use this new skill, in the way a master of the technique would use it, before he gestured to the spheres that he had placed in front of them before his demonstration, of which there were five for each of them, as the sack could only hold twenty stone spheres and he already had used his five, "Now that you have seen the technique in action, and have a good idea of what we're expecting from you, it's time for the three of you to take your spheres and spit them at the targets that are still standing. Once all of you have had a chance to spit all your spheres, regardless of whether or not you hit one of the targets, I'll go over what you need to improve on for the next practice bout, which we'll keep doing until it's time for you to tackle your individual training lessons."
Spyro was the first one to step forward and snatched one of the spheres in front of him, where he walked out into the area that the targets were in and wondered which of them he should focus on first, as Titan and Trondo had set up quite a bit of them for this sort of lesson, before picking out one that was halfway between him and the edge of the practice area they were in. To him, since he was a novice at this sort of technique, picking a target that wasn't too close to him or too far from where he was standing seemed to be the best idea, hence why he zeroed in on the dummy that he wanted to take out first, which was when he readied himself and spat out the sphere, only for it to hit the ground in front of him. As soon as he heard the thud he looked down and wondered what he could have done wrong, though it took him only a few seconds to understand that he had forgotten to take a deep breath before spitting the sphere out, so he quickly picked up the sphere with his mouth, where he noticed the sphere didn't have any dirt on it, no doubt due to the Magic Crafters likely putting an enchantment on all of the practice stones the Peace Keepers used for this technique, and prepared to make his second attempt. This time around he remembered to breath deeply before spitting the sphere out of his mouth, though this time around he found that he missed the target he was aiming for and the stone simply hit the ground with a thud, which informed him that he must have missed something else as well, other wise he should have hit the target so either Spike or Ember could take their first turn.
After missing a few more times, how he had no idea, Spyro decided to pull back for a moment and take a small break before attempting it again, allowing Ember to step forward with her first sphere already in her mouth, showing that she had put it in the moment he gave up. He was fine with that, because if there was one thing he had learned over the years, from learning the various techniques that Nestor and the other Leaders taught him and his siblings, it was the fact that if he couldn't get how to use one of the techniques, such as when he and his siblings first learned how to glide, than either Spike or Ember might have an idea on how he could have messed up. As he knew Ember was the one that usually figured out what he was doing wrong when it came to learning the various combat skills the Peace Keepers taught them, while Spike did the same with the various spells Cosmos and the Magic Crafters tried to teach them, to which he focused on what his sister was doing as she stopped in the area that he had stopped in, the center of the practice area to be exact, as he knew he could get some pointers from watching her try out the technique. Instead of spitting out her sphere instantly, like Spyro did, Ember focused on the various targets that were around her and picked out one that she wanted to take out, where she breathed deeply, while focusing on her target, and spat out the sphere, striking the target she intended on hitting, knocking it to the ground in a matter of seconds.
"You were so focused on spitting the sphere that you forgot to focus on the target, didn't you?" Spike inquired, though as he said that Ember moved the second sphere into position and picked another dummy to focus on, giving Spyro the chance to see that he had missed a step again.
"It would appear so." Spyro admitted, but he wasn't annoyed by that fact, as that meant he was learning from the various mistakes he made and was improving because he figured out what he had done wrong, even if it was someone else that showed him where he needed to improve.
Spyro and Spike watched as Ember used her remaining four spheres and struck four more targets in the next couple of moments, where some hit them square in the chest and some hit the arms, showing that she needed more practice before she mastered this technique, which she was perfectly fine with. Once she was done with her spheres, and Trondo made sure they had been returned to her, Spyro stepped forward and tried again, where this time he managed to actually hit the targets this time around, though at the same time he found that he grazed each of the targets he hit, which was much better than his first attempt and he was happy to be making some progress. As soon as he was done, and had made sure to get his spheres back as well, he pulled back and sat by Ember as Spike took his turn, who spat out his spheres at the targets he wanted to target, where he hit them just like Spyro did, which he was fine with since this was the first time any of them had tackled this sort of technique, and he was looking forward to seeing what else Trondo and Titan had planned for the three of them. As it turned out, once all three of them were done and had actually hit the targets that were around them, the Peace Keepers had them do it again, this time changing the layout of the targets so they could adapt to changes in actual enemy patterns, just like Ember did when they went their separate ways in the Dream Weavers land, which only made them focus on what their elders wanted them to learn.
As such the siblings spent the next hour and a half practicing the technique, aiming to hit every target in some way before the time all of them had a turn, and while they could tell that they got the basics of using the technique down they also knew that all three of them were a ways away from mastering the skill, but before long Nestor had them stop, which meant it was time for the siblings to start their individual practice sessions.
"So, what else are we practicing?" Spyro asked, because while he suspected that he and his siblings would be split up for a time, based on what Nestor told them earlier and his reaction to that statement, there was always the chance that the situation had changed and he wanted to see what Nestor had to say.
"Ember will be learning a few more tricks from Titan and Trondo, while Nora is coming to collect Spike so she and Cosmos can teach him some new spells," Nestor said, as that was what he and the other Leaders had agreed on, after he learned what Spyro felt about attempting to learn more magic, even though he felt that Spyro might be selling himself short on that front, but for now having the three siblings focusing on a different field seemed to be the best course of action, at least until they matured into adults, "Spyro, that means you're free to do whatever you want until it's time for Spike to return to us, which is the signal that today's training will be over, so you can practice the spitting technique, brush up on any of the combat skills you have already learned, or do whatever appeals to you."
Spyro was a little surprised by that statement, as it sounded like none of the dragons really understood what he was good at, which he felt was being a leader for his siblings at times and possibly being a good flyer, but he said nothing to that as Nora appeared near them not a few seconds later, just like she did when she visited the beach on the day he and his siblings went there. A few moments later Spike, after bidding his siblings farewell for the time being, stood beside Nora as the two of them quickly vanished from where she had been standing, indicating that she must have taken them back to one of the realms in the Magic Crafters homeworld, though at the same time that was when Ember moved off to the side and headed over to where Titan was waiting for her, informing Spyro that Trondo wasn't helping out with this lesson and left the Peace Keeper to clean up the spheres and targets. Titan started to explain what sort of lesson he was going to be focusing on, to give Ember an edge in any battles she had in the future, which she could share with her siblings if they wanted to learn the attacks as well, to which Spyro raised an eyebrow for a moment as he watched Titan adapt the same quadruped stance he and Trondo used when they showed him and his siblings a mock battle all those years ago, and the same was true for Nestor when he showed them how to glide for the first time, only Titan swung his claws and used his tail in a number of attack patterns, which was interesting to both him and Ember. It was clear to Spyro that Titan was in the middle of teaching his sister how to use one's entire body in a fight, horns, claws, tail, and their head, and he was sure that Ember was going to put these new attacks to use the next time the three of them went on an adventure, even though he wasn't sure about that, given they had defeated the only villain the dragons knew about.
Of course there was no telling what the future held for them, as there could be someone they would have to deal with waiting to meet them, or waiting to put their plan into action, so he guessed as he and his siblings could do is wait and see what the future held for them and the Dragon Realms.
"So, Spyro, what are you going to do until Spike returns?" Nestor inquired, because he had a good feeling the young dragon was going to surprise him in some manner, especially when he considered what Spike and Ember were capable of doing, which might have pushed Spyro to better himself in some manner.
"Actually, I haven't told Spike and Ember this, for fear of them laughing, but I've been trying to improve our ability to glide, or at least the end part anyway." Spyro replied, showing Nestor that he had been practicing this a few times when none of the other dragons were watching him, including his siblings, before he rushed over to a set of stones that were just perfect for what he had planned, especially since two of them were a good distance apart from each other.
Nestor raised an eyebrow for a moment as Spyro jumped up onto one of the stones that was low to the ground, one that was connected to two more low ones that allowed him to get on top of a rectangular shaped stone, where he came to a stop as he reached the end of the path he was following, which turned out to be a higher stone than the rectangular one he had been on moments ago. From there Spyro glided over to the stone that was close to where the first set happened to be resting and then jumped up to the highest point of that stone, before he glanced at the stone that was the end point of the path he was following, one that Nestor could see was just out of reach if he glided over to it. That fact didn't seem to stop Spyro as he jumped into the air and glided over to the stone that was his destination, though as he reached the edge of the stone, where one would assume he would just turn to the side and glide over to the ground for a safe landing, Spyro gave his wings a powerful flap before he touched the stone in front of him. In that moment Nestor noticed something that was interesting, it was like Spyro was giving himself some extra height and distance by doing what he was doing, a move he never thought of attempting before, though while it was clear that Spyro still needed some work to perfect it, as it appeared that he misjudged something and had to latch onto the edge of the stone with his claws, Nestor had to admit that all three of the siblings were full of surprises, and this really proved it to him.
"I have to admit, that's a pretty interesting move you're attempting to master," Nestor said, making sure Spyro got the idea that he was happy with what the young dragon was doing, especially since he was sure a move like that didn't exist in the Dragon Realms at the moment, though he did walk over to where Spyro was standing, so he could look up at him while he was talking, "What do you call this technique? Or have you been waiting to master it before naming it?"
"Actually, I was considering calling this the Hover technique, or just Hover, to go with Gliding," Spyro replied, as he was happy to see that Nestor approved of what he was doing, spending his time on mastering a technique that he was positive no one else had created yet, something that Spike would have to clarify at some point in time, once he had mastered the technique and was ready to show his siblings what he had done.
Nestor had to admit that he was impressed by what Spyro was doing, especially since he had a name for the skill he was working on, before he backed off to watch Spyro make a few more attempts on perfecting the skill, as he was sure that the scholars would love to add it to the list of skills when they found out about it, before hoping that Spike was having a good time like his siblings were.
Spike found himself back in the circular training area that he and his siblings had trained in when Cosmos wanted to teach them how to tap into their magic for the first time, which had been an interesting lesson and it was something that he kept in mind when he was using his power to cast spells. Of course this time around he found a pool of water, roughly the size of the various pools that were scattered across the Magic Crafters homeworld and realms, and by his estimates it seemed to be pretty deep, making him wonder if Cosmos knew he had read the page that contained the water safety spell, but he would have to wait and see what was going on when the Leader of this land joined him and Nora, who was standing by one of the nearby stone pillars. The chest that contained the circlets he and his siblings wore was resting nearby, though they were no longer necessary for him, not when he was able to tap into the magic that he possessed and could cast spells in the area around him, though once he thought about that he turned towards the area the portal to this realm was located in and found Cosmos walking over to them. He was interested in seeing what sort of training Cosmos and Nora had in mind, especially when he took into consideration the spells he had already learned so far, and remained focused as the Leader of the Magic Crafters came to a stop in front of him, with his usual smile on his face no less.
"Spike, I know you're eager to learn more about magic, and I'm more than happy to teach you," Cosmos said, his tone revealing that he was quite proud of Spike, no doubt for how well he used his magical abilities in the battle against Gnasty Gnorc and his various minions, to which he tapped his staff on the ground for a moment to make sure Spike's attention was fully on him, though he doubted the young dragon would be looking elsewhere, "I have a few tips, tricks, and spells to teach you, but the first one we will be focusing on is the Water Safety spell, or Water Resistance Spell if you prefer, a spell that I'm sure you found in one of the tomes I gave you after the first lesson I gave you and your siblings. I'm going to show you how to create the spell and not attach it to anything, as that will be part of your lesson, being able to create the spell and then either place it on yourself or on something you're wearing, such as your new hat or the satchel that you've been carrying for a long time."
Instead of saying anything Spike nodded his head and watched as Cosmos called upon the magical energies that all wizards used for their spells, where a small downward pointing triangle, the reverse of a normal triangle, seemed to take shape in the air between them, only for Cosmos to do away with his spell, causing the symbol to disappear. Spike knew what to do at that point, as it was his turn to repeat what Cosmos had done, to which he focused on calling forth the same energies that Cosmos had used, only this time instead of creating one symbol, the same that he had been shown, he made three of them appear. That was followed by him attaching the resistance spell to his hat, his satchel, which also applied to everything that was inside it, and then to himself, where he felt a slight tingle for a moment before the spell died down, though he was sure that he had gotten the spell right and looked at Cosmos, who nodded his head to indicate that he had done well, even though he didn't tell him to make everything he had resistant to the water. Once that was done Spike did what any dragon would do if they were given this sort of resistance, one that was connected to the dragon's inner magic and wouldn't be removed unless the caster or someone else removed it, and that was jump into the pool of water to see if he got hurt by jumping into the deeper part of it. What he soon discovered was that he was able to float in the area that he had jumped into, as if nothing had happened at all, which was followed by him making sure his hat and satchel were fine as well, where neither of them were wet or soggy, something that caused him to smile as he climbed out of the pool and let Cosmos cast a spell that dried his entire body in an instant.
"You continue to surprise us," Nora remarked, as it wasn't everyday that a young dragon could replicate a spell just from watching one of the other wizards form the same spell for a few seconds as a demonstration, and yet she was sure that Spike would continue to surprise her, Cosmos, the other Magic Crafters, and the other Leaders with his deeds, which only made her interested in what else he could do at a young age.
"I'm glad you guys are impressed, as Blowhard sure was when I fought him," Spike replied, as the battle with Blowhard had been an exciting one, especially with how powerful his foe had been and the spell he needed to use to defeat him, one that had drained his reserves for a time, something he was hoping to improve upon before he needed to use it again, as being without any of his spells kind of sucked.
"Indeed, and that leads me into the main topic of today's lesson, fighting against another wizard," Cosmos said, where he took a few steps back and put some distance between him and Spike, before turning around to face the young dragon as he prepared himself for the next part of the lesson, because while he suspected that Spike wouldn't fight any of the other wizards in the Dragon Realms, unless they were asking for it, he wanted him to be prepared in case he found himself facing off against another magic user, "For now I want you to focus on defending yourself, so we can see just how good your shield spells are for ourselves, but if you see an opening you can exploit, and hit me a little, you're more than welcome to do so."
Spike summoned a barrier into existence the moment Cosmos loosed a bolt of lightning at him, one that was likely only a fraction of the power that the Leader of the Magic Crafters could call upon, even though it put a decent crack into the barrier, before he moved away from where he had been standing and focused on defending himself. It was just like what happened when he was facing Blowhard, where he used the barrier spell to protect himself from his foe's attacks as he thought about how to defeat him, but the difference between Blowhard and Cosmos was that one of them lacked any real knowledge on how to fight and the other was much more skilled. Of course that meant that Blowhard was the former and Cosmos was the latter, even though Gnasty Gnorc's commander did put up a good fight anyway, but Spike's thoughts informed him that even hitting Cosmos would be hard, given the experience and knowledge the dragon had, meaning he might be stuck defending himself against the attacks that were coming his way. He didn't shy away from using the barrier spell to cover himself every now and then, to stop the lightning, fireballs, and the occasional burst of ice shards from hitting him, but even then he suspected that this was purely to test his defenses, before Cosmos allowed him to take the side of the aggressor. As he thought about all of that, however, he noticed something odd, there was a loose stone in this area and, if he could prevent Cosmos from seeing what he was doing for a time, he might have a way to turn this practice session on it's side, and not in a way that Cosmos and Nora were expecting him to do so in.
Cosmos seemed to notice that he was thinking about something to do and loosed another bolt of lightning in Spike's direction, though this time he rolled out of the way a few times, to avoid the following attacks that were coming his way as his opponent forced him to adapt to the situation and defend himself with his barriers, instead of loosing his own attacks in response to what was happening in the area around him. Spike was okay with Cosmos controlling the battle as he kept defending himself, because he could use the fact that the Leader of the Magic Crafters wasn't using his full power against him to his advantage at some point, and right now he had to assume that Nora was purely watching the battle unfold, so he shouldn't expect her to jump in all of a sudden. As he summoned another barrier to protect himself he was sure that neither of the dragons noticed the loose stone, or more specifically the fact that he was interested in pulling it out so he could use it in some manner, but that was a good thing and the longer he could keep Cosmos in the dark the more his chances of success rose. Eventually he returned to where the stone was located and did something that he had read from one of the tomes he had read over the years, he summoned a three layered barrier in front of him, one that could actually withstand more damage and could stay up for a longer period of time, and as Cosmos struck the barrier with one of his lightning bolts, which Spike assumed was going to be followed by ice shards and a fireball, Spike readied himself as he gathered his magic and removed the stone from the ground with some ease.
It didn't take Cosmos long to smash through his new barrier, especially since he used three spells in rapid succession to get the job done, though before he could fire the fourth spell, to get Spike moving again, he moved to the side for a second or two as he dodged a stone that had been thrown at him, something he felt was odd before deciding that he could focus on it later. As soon as that happened he loosed the next lightning bolt he had prepared and watched as it struck the area that Spike was in, though instead of the young dragon moving like what he had seen earlier, where more barriers would pop up in his wake, he found that Spike had taken the spell directly and was now laying on his side. Both he and Nora were surprised by that, as they weren't expecting such a thing to happen and he took a step to see what he could do to mend the young dragon's wounds, before Spike disappeared in a puff of smoke and the stone Cosmos had dodged appeared where he had been resting, where it crumbled into a pile of dust seconds later. In that moment, where he saw the puff of smoke, Cosmos recalled one of the more powerful spells a Magic Crafters dragon could be taught, one of the Teleportation spells to be exact, and before he could react he felt Spike pulling in more magic behind him, which did confirm his suspicions on what the young dragon had done.
Spike, taking advantage of the fact that Cosmos was stunned, loosed a large fireball that raced towards where the Leader of the Magic Crafters was standing, who had to hastily summon a barrier to protect himself, which meant that it was weak and could be shattered easily... though when the two spells were cancelled out, and Cosmos' defenses were left open, he charged through the flames and barreled into Cosmos' chest, knocking his opponent backwards before he hit the ground, while Cosmos fell to one knee for a moment.
"We knew you were good when it came to magic, but I honestly wasn't expecting this," Cosmos said, to which he took a moment to chuckle as he stood up, because he had to admit that Spike's ability to use certain spells was quite amazing and it made him wonder what he could do in the future, "that was Substitution, one of the more advanced Teleportation spells that a dragon can use, one that we don't teach until a dragon has matured into an adult and is more in tune with the magical energies of the land, which is when the strain of the spell will be lessened for the user. Where in the world did you pick up that spell?"
"I would have to hazard it was in one of the tomes you gave him, hidden in the back," Nora remarked, though she was amazed by what Spike had done once more, as creating a new way to use Teleportation magic, by breathing on something to move it, was impressive, but being able to use the Substitution spell at such a young age, long before he was supposed to know about the spell's existence, was even more impressive.
"That's where I found it." Spike replied, where he huffed for a few moments as he glanced at the pair of dragons that were standing near him, as using that spell took a lot out of him and he knew that it would be some time before he got to the point where he could cast it without wiping out his magic supply.
Cosmos was still amazed by what Spike had done, even more so when the young dragon explained that this was the second time he had used it in battle, and that only made him all the more eager to teach Spike how to use the magic that was inside him and see what else he could do, because he was sure that Spike would continue to impress him and the rest of the Magic Crafters, regardless of what the future held for him and his siblings.
For the next couple of months Spyro, Spike, and Ember followed a pattern with their daily lives, where they would wake up, have breakfast, and then spend a good portion of their days either helping Nestor and the other Artisans dragons or head to one of the other homeworlds so they could continue their training, before returning to the land they called home in time for dinner so they could relax before the day ended. The three of them learned whatever lessons Nestor and the others wanted them to learn, so they could be prepared for any new challenges the future had for them, or just practice their existing skills so none of them got rusty, before splitting up to tackle their individual lessons, just like they had when they first learned the spitting skill. The siblings were happy to tackle anything and everything that the Leaders had for them, because a number of the lessons they went through were very interesting, especially since the defeat of Gnasty Gnorc had proved that they were ready for some of the more challenging aspects of the lessons they had refrained from teaching them over the years, before the big interview happened and their first adventure started. At the same time, however, news of the battles the siblings had been in, against Doctor Shemp, Blowhard, and Metalhead had spread to the five dragon clans, who were really impressed by how well the siblings had tackled their individual enemies and the tactics they had utilized in beating them, especially in the case Spike, due to the spell he used to beat his foe.
Neither Spyro or Ember were annoyed by that, as the rest of the dragons thought of them in the same manner as their brother, either due to their individual battles or the main battle with Gnasty Gnorc, but they had been well rewarded for their actions and now it was time for them to learn what else they needed to know about being a dragon, even if they didn't get a chance to use these skills in the future.
Every now and then, to their amazement, they were allowed to visit the land of the Beast Makers and head to the land of the phoenixes, where they could spend the day playing with Sol and relaxing from the various lessons they were being given, something that made both them and their friend happy. As such the four of them would explore the island that Sol and his species called home, testing their flying skills against each other as they raced from place to place, sometimes under the watchful gaze of some of the older phoenixes, just in case one of them happened to hurt themselves while they were flying and needed assistance from one of the Beast Makers. While they did that Sol explained that one of the last times he had actually visited the swamp Bruno and Sadiki called home was because he had been reckless during one of his test runs, as he had a new move he wanted to test and that had been the perfect day to test it out, but he had messed something up and had bruised one of his wings in the process, hence the reason he had been taken to Sadiki's temple for treatment, which the siblings understood was the day they first visited this land. Of course he had improved since that day and was less apt to get hurt while he was flying, but he learned his lesson and kept a watchful eye on what was happening in the area around him, so he didn't get hurt again, as that would annoy Lady Eterna at the very least, and, at the same time, it reminded the siblings of what they learned during their own flying lessons.
Even after remembering that day Sol seemed happy to be hanging out with them, just like all three of them enjoyed having someone their age they could hang out with, and they spent the various days testing each other's speed and seeing where each of them could improve, much to the amazement of the phoenixes and dragons that watched them on the days they visited this island.
By the time three months had passed Spyro approached his siblings after they were done with the training that Titan and Trondo had for them, before they went their separate ways for the day, and informed both Spike and Ember that he had something he wanted to show them, where Nestor raised an eyebrow for a moment, as he knew that Spyro had been focused on mastering the hover technique and that he was eager to see what his siblings had to say when he showed them what he had been working on. Once he told them that piece of information he used the stones that were nearby, the same one that he had used when he showed Nestor that there was something he was working on, and proceeded to show his siblings what he had been spending his time alone on. At first Spike and Ember wondered what their brother was doing, since it seemed like jumping and gliding at the moment, but that was before seeing the hover technique in action, and this time Spyro managed to land on the final stone of the course he was following, instead of misjudging the distance like he did when he showed Nestor this skill, meaning he landed on the stone with ease and grinned at his siblings for a few moments, as he was pleased with himself. Nestor, Titan, and Trondo had to admit that Spyro had perfected the hover technique, a brand new technique that none of them had even considered thinking about when training young dragons in the art of being a dragon, and knew one of the scholars would want to add this to the collection of skills they had been building over the years, who they suspected was going to be Spike.
Spike and Ember were interested in what they had seen, as they had been curious as to what Spyro had been putting his time towards mastering, while Spike was practicing his magic skills and Ember was learning the more advanced skills that Titan and Trondo were teaching her, and they were eager to have their brother teach them the new move, as they could add it to the list of skills that they had.
Nestor chuckled at that, because the siblings worked well as a team and were quick to share any useful techniques one of them came across in their journeys, either by teaching their siblings the skill in question, like Spyro was doing right now, or informing them of the technique or skill in question and then incorporated it into what they usually did, which he was sure they did during their first adventure. Speaking of which Spike had completed writing down the entirety of their adventure to stop Gnasty Gnorc and his plans about a month ago, binding the pages together and put the finishing touches on it to make it an official tome, one that the scholars of Dark Hollow were more than happy to accept, especially since they had an entire shelf set aside for everything that Spike and his siblings did, something that Nestor suspected they were going to add to at some point in time. He was sure that a book detailing Spyro's hover technique would grace that shelf, to honor him as the one that created it in the first place, while also appearing on another shelf that held all of the various skills that existed in the Dragon Realms, but for now he chuckled as he watched Spike and Ember tackle their brother's makeshift course as they attempted to learn the hover technique. He knew it would take some time for the pair to learn the technique that Spyro had spent the last couple of months working on, and they would likely learn it at a faster pace as well, given what they've done in the past, but he also knew this would only help them in the future, before they matured into adult dragons to be exact.
Spike and Ember found that, despite how easy some of the other skills were to learn, that the hover technique their brother had created was a new challenge for them to work on and they were happy to try their hand at learning it, while also asking Spyro for any pointers he might have, which made their brother pleased that they hadn't gotten it on their first try, like some of the other skills they had learned over the years. Spike had to admit that it allowed them to maneuver around an area a little better and let all of them cross gaps that the glide would fail them on, even if they hadn't seen any of those during their first adventure, but it was nice to see that Spyro was thinking ahead and was planning for the future, resulting in the creation of a brand new skill for him and Ember to learn. Ember liked the skill as well, more in the sense of the maneuverability it provided them, but she shared Spike's thoughts on the matter, that she was impressed that Spyro had come up with such a technique and that he was willing to teach them the hover skill he had developed, a skill she was sure they would put to great use in whatever adventures would be coming their way in the future. Both she and Spike knew that it would take them some time to master the skill on the level that Spyro had, since he had spent the most time with the hover technique, but that didn't stop them from trying to master the technique and add it to the list of skills that they were able to use, while at the same time making Spyro happy that they liked his new skill.
None of them had any idea what the future held for them, especially since their elders were focused on teaching the skills they needed before they matured into adults and weren't worrying about the future at all, but they were sure that when another adventure raised it's head they would be ready for it.
The rest of the year went by without much deviation from the schedule they had established with their training and the various days off they had, but that didn't stop Spyro, Spike, or Ember from enjoying the lessons the Leaders and the other dragons had for them, even if sometimes they practiced old techniques that they had already learned, to make sure they weren't getting lazy. The siblings were fine with that, since those days usually lead into tips and tricks for the newer skills they were working on, or just outright practicing the new skills on their own, to show Nestor and the other Leaders that all three of them were making good progress in their studies, regardless if the skills in question were magical, physical, or were related to flying. In fact many dragons got a chance to see them practicing the hover technique, as Nestor had them visit the five homeworlds and test the skill out in some of the harder areas that weren't like the area they had been using to master the skill, allowing the dragons of those lands to see what they were doing with their own eyes, and they were all impressed by what the siblings were doing, especially when they learned that it was Spyro that originally came up with the skill and was the first one to master it, before teaching his siblings the skill. The interesting part about all that was that some of the dragons even mentioned that they would have used the hover skill when they were younger, if it had existed when they were young dragons, which only filled Spyro with joy that everyone seemed to like his technique, even if most of them couldn't use it due to their matured bodies, but that wouldn't stop them from making sure the next generation of dragons knew the hover technique.
Of course they weren't the only ones that were being busy, as a number of dragons, those that were drawn to the new homeworld and the industrial setting that was in the middle of being created, were busy making the land the Machinists would call home the best it could possibly be, by combining their various ideas with what was already there. Spyro, Spike, and Ember would have to wait for those dragons to be done with their work, which would include deciding who was going to live on the island and who was going to be the Leader of the new dragon clan, but they were okay with that, since they didn't want to interrupt the work that was being done to the island. Nestor didn't have much to tell them about what was happening on that island, other than the fact that the first thing the Machinists wanted to create and distribute to the rest of the Dragon Realms what they referred to as a television, something that would allow them to pick up the various broadcasts and watch the programs, like the interviewer that came by before Gnasty Gnorc cast his spell. It was a very interesting idea, especially since some of the other ideas the group had were designed to improve the communication between the Leaders, so they wouldn't have to fly over great distances to talk if they didn't know magic, and that was only the beginning of what they had planned, but for now they were keeping to themselves as they prepared to add a brand new homeworld to the Dragon Realms.
In addition to all of that there were a few days where the siblings hung out with Sol, getting to know him and the land he called home better, but other than that there were no real adventures happening, so they focused on their training and whatever else Nestor and the other Leaders had in store for them.
Eventually the day of their eleventh birthday arrived, a day that was just like the other birthdays where they gathered with the rest of the Artisans dragons, ate cake and played games for the entire day, and really just had fun, though they also knew that presents were usually only given out during their earlier birthdays and when they matured into adult dragons, the day they would finally take up a profession of their own. That was a day that all three of them were looking forward to, since it would be a brand new experience to run around on two legs and fly whenever they wanted, instead of being restricted to the area that they could only glide and hover in, though they knew that they had to be patient, as it would be a few more years before that day finally arrived. Due to the whole thing about the phoenixes wanting to be kept hidden, even though there weren't any enemies lingering in the Dragon Realms at the moment, Sol wasn't able to join them, but that just meant that the following day they returned to his island and hung out with him, to make up for the fact that he wasn't allowed to leave his island and come visit them on their birthday. In the end it didn't matter all that much, as they made sure their day was filled with fun to make up for the previous day, where the siblings noticed that the pair of phoenixes that usually watched them and Sol seemed happy that they were having fun, which only encouraged them to make the most of their time before they were forced to depart and head back home.
The day after they returned from the island of the phoenixes, however, was when disaster struck, as the sky opened up and it started to rain on the Artisans homeworld, though while the siblings thought it would be a quick shower, and that it would be over soon enough, they slowly discovered that it was one of the longer showers that tended to last a couple of days, according to what Argus said. Of course Dark Hollow was prepared for the event of an extended shower like this, as were all the other realms, but that didn't stop the dragons from making sure that everything that could be wrecked by the rain was placed somewhere safe, so they could be brought back out when the shower was over, and the siblings found that they had to sleep inside the chamber that was below where Nestor and the other Leaders held their meetings when they were in this homeworld. Usually they slept outside, allowing them to gaze at the stars before going to sleep if they wanted to, but with all the heavy rain their home was experiencing they had to move their stuff under some cover, though it also provided Spike with the perfect chance to use the Water Safety spell he had learned on his siblings, that way none of them would be hurt if they suddenly fell into a deep pool of water while it was raining. However, despite the spell being in use there wasn't much the three of them could do but hope the rain stopped, while at the same time Nestor headed to the land of the Magic Crafters to see if he could talk with Altair and, more importantly, if there was anything they could do to lessen the storm.
The rain, as it turned out, went on for three while days, so much so that the siblings started to grow bored of doing nothing with their time, and it was on the fifth day after their eleventh birthday that they returned to the central hub area for their homeworld and sat under one of the trees that was in the courtyard behind the large wooden door, which Nestor now left open all the time, before looking up at the sky.
"Seriously, is this rain ever going to stop?" Spyro asked, because while he could understand that rain was good for the various homeworlds, not to mention the plants and animals that called those lands home, the bizarre storm they were experiencing didn't appear like it was going to be leaving anytime soon, which was annoying since he wanted to have some fun and not be rained on while he was playing with his siblings.
"Look on the bright side Spyro, at least we know the Water Safety spell works." Ember replied, as she knew that such a spell would be useful for her and her siblings, especially since they would gain the ability to be immune to the damaging effects of water when they matured into adult dragons, along with being able to swim in the deeper parts of the various bodies of water they had seen, "I mean, we've been out in the rain for a couple of minutes now, and neither us or our dragonflies have taken any damage from the rain."
"I wish there was something we could do to distract ourselves from this ongoing storm." Spike said, though even as he said that he decided not to correct his siblings on the matter of the Water Safety spell, as it was designed to protect one from the deeper bodies of water, like a river or an actual pool, that they might accidentally fall into, while rain, however, wouldn't actually harm them without the spell on.
"I know what you mean, Spike. It's been raining for so long that I've forgotten what the sun looks like." Spyro stated, though the second part of his statement was meant to be a joke, as there was no way that he could have forgotten what the sun actually looked like in this short period of time, before he focused on what they could do, "Maybe we need a short vacation, to get away from the storm. Maybe someplace warm and sunny... like Dragon Shores!"
Spike and Ember followed their brother's gaze to the portal that he was looking at, as all five of the homeworlds had a portal that lead to the paradise that the dragon clans called Dragon Shores, and both of them had temporarily forgotten that the one in the land they called home was just beyond the large gate that Nestor had keep closed for a long period of time, a portal that they were now staring at as well.
"Yeah, Dragon Shores." Ember said, as she liked the idea of leaving this dark and rainy land for a sunny and warm land the moment Spyro suggested what they should do, and she could see that Spike seemed to be in agreement with her and Spyro, even though he was likely thinking of something else at the moment, "Do you think Nestor will be mad when he finds out we went through the portal, without asking him for permission to head to Dragon Shores?"
"No, I'm sure he's probably planning on heading there himself, if Altair tells him there's nothing he can do about the storm that's over our heads." Spike replied, though there was always the chance that he could be wrong about that and Nestor could be angry with all of them, even though he was almost a hundred percent sure that their Leader would be just fine with what they had in mind, "Besides, we haven't been there for a year, not since we foiled Gnasty Gnorc's plans and gave him a taste of his own medicine, and we've been pretty busy lately, with all the training that we've gone through, so I think we actually deserve a day or two off."
"Okay then, all in favor of heading to Dragon Shores?" Spyro asked, because while it seemed like all of them, as in him, his siblings, and potentially their dragonflies were in agreement, he wanted to be absolutely sure before they charged into the portal and left their home behind for some time.
As soon as he asked the question Spike and Ember voiced their opinions on the matter, as in their agreement to this idea and that they were on board with leaving their home for a day or two, until the storm settled down, while Sparx, Talon, and Cinder buzzed in agreement as well, showing that they could also do with a day or two off, before a smile appeared on all their faces.
"Well then, it looks like we're all in agreement." Spike said, though that was a good sign, as he really didn't want to be bothered by the rain anymore than what they had experienced since the storm started, and he knew that both of his siblings and their dragonflies agreed with him, to which all six of them faced the portal and started to think about what they were going to do once they were on the other side.
"Last one there is a Gnorc!" Spyro playfully said, though as soon as the first word was out of his mouth he was already on the move, heading straight for the portal to Dragon Shores, and he knew that the moment his siblings realized what he was getting a head start they would chase after him, along with their dragonflies flying behind them so they didn't get left behind in the rush to the portal.
Spike and Ember followed after their brother, with their dragonflies followed after them, though they knew that he was eager to get out of the rain and they shared his thoughts, to which all six of them rushed into the portal that was right in front of them and let the magic take them to their destination.
Elora, Hunter, and the Professor stood near one of the stone walls of Glimmer, a realm inhabited by the Gemcutters, as they put the finishing touches on the portal that they had been working on, hoping to put their plan into action before the person they had been hiding from discovered their location and tried to stop them. Elora was a faun, a race of humanoid goats that stood on two legs, which ended in hooves, though while most of her kind had goat-like appearances she was more doe-like, especially in regards to her face, while she wore a dress made out of green leaves and she had leaf bracelets on her arms. Standing to her left, looking a little worried, was Hunter, a cheetah that walked on two legs like she did and had legs that matched his species, though he wore nothing save his quiver, which was full of arrows, and a bow that he might use if trouble found them, which Elora hoped he would use if the person they were hiding from happened to find them before their mission was complete. In front of them, standing next to the portal they had built in this area, was the Professor, a mole that was about half their size, though he white hair and white eyebrows, and he was wearing some glasses in front of his eyes so he could see, a lab coat that came complete with a good number of pockets and buttons, and a pair of dark brown pants, but Elora could tell that he was busy making this final calculations on the notepad that he was working on, to make sure they didn't make the situation they were in worse than what it already was.
Flying near them was Zoe, a fairy that was dressed in a light orange colored dress that had a few yellow and red bits to it, and came complete with small shoulder pads as well, though between them rested two spherical objects that they were using to power the portal they were standing next to.
"Professor, is it working?" Elora asked, as she was getting worried about the amount of time they might have left before they were found out, which would result in their scheme failing at the critical moment, though she did step forward, in case there was anything she could do to help the Professor complete his calculations on the portal and the Orbs that were resting in front of him.
"It's almost ready." the Professor replied, though while he knew that Elora and Hunter were getting anxious, and truth be told he was suppressing his own anxiety to the best of his ability, he was positive that he would have the portal open in a few moments, to which he looked at his notes again, "I just need to make one or two adjustments to these Orbs..."
"Are you guys sure we should be doing this?" Hunter asked, his tone revealing that he was the most worried out of all of them, even if he was the only one that had a weapon at the moment, and that was accompanied by him playing with his fingers the entire time, especially when he considered what they were attempting to do, "Bringing a dragon here might end up making Ripto angrier than he already is!"
"Calm down Hunter, everything is going to be fine." Elora stated, because based on what they had discovered she knew that using the portal to bring a dragon here was the best chance they had at putting an end to Ripto's rampage, but, at the same time, she could tell that her words weren't having any effect on Hunter.
"But you saw what was in the Professor's book! They have claws like this, and teeth like this, and they can breath fire like this!" Hunter nearly exclaimed, where he used his hands and his mouth to demonstrate why he was so worried at the moment, as in he was trying to mimic what a dragon could do in a fight, at least according to the book they had found on their way to Glimmer, "They sound more terrifying than Ripto could ever be!"
"Hunter, that's the reason we're doing this in the first place," Elora said, though at the same time she wasn't surprised that she was reminding Hunter of what they were doing once more, because sometimes it took her two or three times to make him understand what they were doing, even though there were other times where all it took was one mention of something and he understood what was happening, "a dragon is our only hope of stopping Ripto and you know it!"
Hunter was thinking of opening his mouth to say something to that, about having second thoughts about calling a more terrifying creature to their home, but before he could say anything the portal shimmered for a few seconds as the pair of Orbs lifted into the air and started to glow.
"It's working! I've found us a dragon!" the Professor exclaimed, as he was happy to see that his work was paying off and that they would soon have a protector that could help them banish Ripto, even if Hunter was worried that this was a terrible idea and that they would come to regret their actions.
The two Orbs raised into the air and separated from each other, one resting near the left side of the portal while the other did the same on the right, before a blue hole appeared in the portal, connecting them to the land the dragons called home, allowing them to watch as three small creatures, about the Professor's height, came flying out of the portal and crashed into the ground near them, along with three dragonflies that seemed worried, before the hole closed before their very eyes, indicating that the task the Professor had given them had been completed.
"Ugh, what a rough landing." Spyro commented, as he wasn't expecting to crash into the ground when he and his siblings came out of the other side of the portal to Dragon Shores, before he lifted his head and shook it for a few seconds, to make sure everything was fine, as he spoke up again, "Spike, Ember, are you guys alright?"
"Slightly disoriented, but otherwise I'm fine." Spike replied, to which he looked up at the area in front of them, which was supposed to be the Nexus that all the portals in the homeworlds lead to, or at least the ones that were connected to Dragon Shores anyway, and found that they were in some sort of valley area that had some elegant looking buildings, ones that didn't resemble any style the dragon clans worked with, "However, I don't think we're in Dragon Shores... not unless the island had some serious, and I mean SERIOUS, remodeling done in the last year."
"But that was one of the five direct portals that connects to Dragon Shores," Ember remarked, as both she and Spyro joined Spike in looking at the area that they had found themselves in, a land that was unlike anything they had seen thus far, and started to wonder where in the Dragon Realms they were, "if this isn't Dragon Shores, like you're suggesting it isn't, then what does this mean for us?"
"It means that someone managed to hi-jack the portal and changed where we were going to arrive." Spike replied, as while he didn't have the best knowledge of how the various magical portals of the Dragon Realms worked, as that was what Nora was working on at the moment, he had a basic idea as to how they worked and knew that someone had made a slight modification to the pair of portals they had been using, changing the one they would have exited through so they would arrive in an unknown area.
"I'm afraid that the one that hi-jacked your portal was me." the Professor said, causing the three young creatures to turn around and look at him, Elora, Hunter, and Zoe for a few seconds, as they had no idea they had nearly hit someone on their way out of the portal, though at the same time he could tell that his companions seemed a little speechless as they stared at the dragons he had called to their side, "I apologize for bringing the three of you, and your dragonflies, to Avalar in this way, but we desperately need your assistance."
"Avalar?" Spike asked, though at the same time he found that his satchel was with him, just as his hat, Spyro's scarf, and Ember's bracers had made the trip with them, to which he sat down and pulled out a new journal, because if this was a new land that they were discovering he wanted to make sure he had all the notes he possibly could for whenever he and his siblings found their way back home, "I take it that's the name of this place?"
"And why do you guys need help?" Spyro inquired, because from what he could tell this land was peaceful and there was no reason that they would need to mess with portals to snatch him and his siblings while they were on their way to Dragon Shores, but he was interested in hearing what they had to say, since there was a chance that a new adventure might be right in front of them.
"Wait, back up a moment." Hunter said, holding his hands out to stop Elora and the Professor from answering either of the questions that had been asked, because there was one thing he wanted to clarify before they went any further and started handing out information to creatures that might not even be what they were trying to bring to Avalar, "You mean to tell me that the three of you are dragons? I thought dragons were supposed to be bigger than this."
"For your information, kitty cat, we're only eleven years old." Ember stated, though it was interesting that the cheetah thought that they weren't dragons when the mole, who was dressed like a professor of some kind, was clearly expecting a dragon to come out of the portal, before deciding that it wasn't worth worrying about, "Just because we aren't as tall as the adult dragons are, doesn't mean we aren't tough. But, to get back to Spyro's question, why do you guys need help?"
Before anyone could say anything a large fireball struck the portal and caused it to explore, tearing the entire frame of the portal to pieces while scattering both the magic used to power it and the two spherical items that had been in the air in front of it, causing Spyro, Spike, and Ember to look up at the area that was above them, where they found three different newcomers that looked ready for a fight. One of them was a large blue scaled dinosaur looking creature, one that was carrying a club of some kind in it's right hand, which appeared to be a large chicken leg that had been cooked a long time ago and the creature was being slow in eating it, meaning that since it didn't smell someone had enchanted it to stay somewhat fresh so the creature could continue eating it without getting sick. The other creature was another dinosaur-like creature, though while the first one had blue scales and walked on two feet this one had green scales and walked on four feet, though it also had a pair of horns that looked like someone could use them to stir the creature, or run something through if the beast charged at something it's size. The third being that was staring down at them was much shorter than the other two, though while he looked dinosaur-like as well he seemed more intelligent than his companions, especially with the dark purple cape he was wearing, the medallion that he was wearing around his neck, and the magical scepter that was in his right hand, though he also had a coiled horn sticking out of his forehead.
The siblings glanced at each other for a moment as the people that called them to this land got up from where they were resting, as they knew the smaller being was the more dangerous one, especially with a scepter like that, given what Gnasty Gnorc had done with his own scepter, before shifting their gazes back to the being in question.
"Well, well, someone forgot to invite me to the party... and it seems that you're hiding something from me." the small being said, where he took a moment to sniff the air, why the siblings really had no idea, though that was followed by him looked down at the area that the siblings and the others were standing in, before zeroing in on Spyro, Spike, and Ember, where a look of disgust appeared on his face, "You brought dragons to Avalar?! I... Hate... DRAGONS!!!"
In that moment Elora, using Ripto's disgust of dragons as a distraction, had Zoe do something about the situation they were in, which was when she flew up to the being they were trying to defeat, just said he raised his scepter, and shocked his foot for a moment, forcing him to drop the scepter and allowed her to grab onto it. That, in turn, allowed her to fly off with it, only for the blue brute to swing at her due to Ripto's command, where she dodged the attack and forced the brute to hit his master off the green dinosaur, who was commanded to eat her alive before she could flee with the scepter, a command that gave her an idea. She made sure that the green dinosaur stared at her for a few seconds before it tried to eat her, where she purposely made sure the scepter got stuck between the creature's jaws and that it couldn't be pulled back, something that caused her to let go and fly away, which, in turn, caused the dinosaur to eat the scepter and utterly destroy it, much to Ripto's annoyance. As soon as that happened he declared that he would be back to deal with them, no doubt once he got a new scepter, one of equal or greater power, so he could destroy them for defying him and then crush the dragons that they had brought to this land, before he and his minions departed from the area that they had come to, as if there was no reason to face the group anymore.
"Who was that guy?" Ember asked, because while she had a feeling that was the new foe they were going to track down and beat up, just like they did to Gnasty Gnorc and his commanders, she wanted to be sure that her thoughts were correct before they did anything else, while at the same time Spike sighed and stuffed his writing materials back into his satchel, figuring he'd get his answers at some other point.
"That was Ripto, the reason we brought you three to Avalar in the first place." Elora replied, knowing that she hadn't told the three young dragons her name, or the names of her companions, but time was of the essence, so she turned to Zoe for a moment, who pulled a tiny book out of her sack, which enlarged to it's true size, and handed it over to the trio, as she knew it would help them out, "Look, with Ripto leaving the area, I don't have much time to explain anything, so take this guidebook. It's a magical guide to Avalar, it will help you understand our homeworlds and the realms that everyone calls home, and might even answer some of the questions that you might have at the moment. I'll meet you guys in Summer Forest, after I figure out what Ripto's up to."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as the people that had hi-jacked the portal they were using to go to Dragon Shores chased after Ripto and left them alone in the area they had suddenly appeared in, which also left them alone with more questions than answers at the moment, though Spike claimed the guidebook immediately, as he knew that it would come in handy in the near future.
"Okay, how did we get ourselves into this mess?" Spyro asked, because so many things were happening at the same time and none of them had been given enough time to really digest the fact that a new adventure had found them, and a new villain that hated dragons that had run off, leaving them to wonder if the Dark Hollow library might have any information on Ripto, not that they could access those books at the moment.
"Oh don't complain, this is so much better than being stuck in the middle of a storm," Spike replied, as while he knew that this wasn't what Spyro was expecting when he made the suggestion to head to Dragon Shores, just like he and Ember weren't expecting this, now that he knew that another land was in danger he wasn't about to leave them, especially since they had done through the effort to call for assistance, "besides, helping people out feels really good."
"Spike, no offense, but I think you might have been reading too many of the old adventure novels in the Dark Hollow library," Ember remarked, as one of the things that Spike liked to do was read every book on the various shelves and add their knowledge to the mental library that he was building, and sometimes the bits of information he said were a tad bit annoying, but there was something about what he said that she couldn't deny, "however, I will agree that Ripto, from what little we have seen so far, needs to be stopped before he causes some permanent damage to this land, and it appears that we might have the best chance to do that."
"Well then, let's go see what this land has to offer and put a stop to Ripto's plans." Spyro said, as he agreed with his siblings, that Ripto needed to be stopped and his plans foiled, and he decided to forget what he had just said so he could focus on seeing what they needed to do first.
One thing the siblings knew was that while they weren't getting the vacation they had been focused on, back when they rushed through the portal to Dragon Shores, this adventure was going to be exciting and they were going to do everything in their power to bring Ripto down, to restore peace to this land, to which they walked forward so they could see what they needed to do and explore a brand new world, all while putting Dragon Shores at the back of their minds for the foreseeable future.
The first thing that Spyro, Spike, and Ember did, after watching the people that called them to this land disappear as they chased Ripto and his dinosaur minions, was look at the area around them so they had a better idea as to what they were dealing with and what sort of enemies might be in their way, though the first thing Spike did was open the guidebook so he could see what it had for them. Their first observations of the realm they had suddenly appeared in remained true, as it appeared that they were in some sort of valley, one that looked like someone or a group of someones had been busy digging into the ground for whatever valuables they could find, which seemed to be true since there was a large blue gemstone off in the distance, resting in front of a dry brown colored structure. The interesting part about the structures that were in this area, both the ones that stood alone and those that resembled towers, which weren't like the ones back home, had light purple gems that were surrounded by gold inlay, meaning they were purely for design and nothing else, but it was nice to see that the people of this land could provide for themselves. The other thing they noticed was that there were some wooden beams attached to the wall behind them, where the portal they had flown out of had been located, and the rocks they were connected to were arranged more in the form of steps, meaning that they would have to carefully look around the realms and make sure they didn't miss anything.
As the siblings focused on leaving the area, so they could finally explore the rest of the realm they had appeared in, they spotted a brown skinned kangaroo rat, who was about their height, carefully walk around part of the tower that was on the upper platform in front of them, to their right to be exact, and jumped down into the area they were in, though the siblings suspected that he was in need of assistance.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, welcome to Glimmer." the kangaroo rat said, his tone revealing that he must have encountered the people that had called the siblings to this land, as they were chasing after Ripto and his minions, hence the reason that he knew their names, despite the fact that none of them had talked to him since their arrival, and they could see that he had a miner's helmet on his head, which interested them a little, "I'd like to help you get to the portal to Summer Forest, so you can meet up with Elora and the others, but unfortunately a mob of lizards just showed up, just as Ripto and his goons were leaving, and they're starting to steal all of the Gems that we've been freeing from the ground. Can you stop them for us?"
"Of course we can." Spyro remarked, because from what he could tell the blue scaled lizards that were in the area in front of them, carrying large pickaxes over their right shoulders, didn't seem all that tough, and with his siblings by his side he knew that it would be rather easy to clear this realm of enemies and return it to normal, before a thought came to him as he remembered their first adventure, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a spare sack on hand, one that we can borrow while we're helping the people that called us to this land?"
"Yeah, I've got one you can use." the kangaroo rat replied, where he hopped off to the area that the sack was likely resting in, which didn't seem to be too far away from where they had arrived in, and came back a few moments later, where he set the sack on the ground and looked at them, though the look in his face informed them that he was curious about something, "Why do you guys need a sack?"
"You'll see." Ember answered, to which she and Spyro moved to the side for a moment as Spike focused on the sack for a moment or two, just like he had done at the start of their previous adventure, because they both knew that whatever magic or power had brought them here was going to interfere with their Bag of Holding that was back in the Artisans homeworld, so since they might be collecting gems in this new land they needed a place to store them.
Spike focused his magic for a moment and channeled it into the sack, where the strands made sure that all of their dragonflies were connected to what he was doing, though once he was done he nodded his head, to which Spyro jumped up the steps behind them and had Sparx tap the three red gems and the two green gems he found, including two purple gems that were in straw baskets that were up at the top of the path he had followed, where he, Ember, and the kangaroo rat watched as the gems bounced into the air and appeared in the sack on their own.
"Since we're going to help take out Ripto, and collect the gems that he's scattered across the land, we need a place to safely store them, and a Bag of Holding is the best option," Spike explained, where he noticed that the kangaroo rat was impressed by what he had seen, meaning that magic was either rare in this land or they didn't use magic in this manner, but he was more than willing to reveal what was going on at the moment, though once they got back home he'd have to reconnect their dragonflies to the original sack he had enchanted, before he attached the sack to his satchel, as he would make sure to put it somewhere safe, once they were done helping these guys out.
"Fascinating. I've never seen someone do that before." the kangaroo rat said, as he was definitely impressed by what he had seen, especially since the gems had suddenly appeared in the sack with a little amount of effort, and that told him that the siblings were definitely the best chance to save Avalar, even if he didn't know anything else about them and the abilities that they had, before he moved out of the way so they could move forward.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember climbed up into the area that was in front of them and stared at the pair of lizards that were carrying pickaxes, as they were curious if they were aggressive or if they were runners, and the moment they approached them the lizards fled from where they had been standing, showing the siblings that they were either scared of creatures that weren't like them or they were trying to lure them into a false sense of security, but, when Ember charged into the one that was the closest to them, no gem fell to the ground, rather a small white sphere left their body and rushed off into the distance, causing them to wonder what was going on.
"Spike, do you have any idea what that was?" Ember inquired, because the only one of them that might have any idea as to what that was had to be their brother, be it due to his own knowledge or his own thoughts on the matter, but both she and Spyro paused for a moment while they waited for Spike to answer the question, only for him to pull out the book they had been given and opened it.
"Hm, give me a moment," Spike replied, as he suspected that the guidebook had to have some idea as to what that sphere was and what it could be used for, or if they wouldn't have to worry about it at all, before he found a passage that might be exactly what he was looking for, "According to this guidebook, that was a Spirit Particle, and they're released from enemies that are defeated in each realm, where they'll fly to something called a Powerup Gate, something that we'll no doubt encounter as we explore the realms that rest all around Avalar... and no, we aren't permanently killing the lizards and the other enemies, as it seems that the Spirit Particles, after a certain amount of time, will separate from the gate and be reborn as something else in due time."
"That's interesting." Spyro said, though at the same time he understood that the Spirit Particle they had freed wasn't dangerous to them or the residents of this realm, so they could release a few more and maybe find the Powerup Gate that they were heading to, as it would be interesting to see what sort of power it gave them, before they focused on exploring the rest of Glimmer.
The first thing they did was rather simple, as Spyro charged into the other lizard, an indigo lizard according to what the guidebook said, and released another Spirit Particle as the lizard hit the ground, allowing them to explore the area that was around them and see what else they could find. Ember headed to the right and found a straw basket hidden behind one of the towers, just like Spyro did behind the other tower, before they gathered the gems that were in front of them and were behind the large blue gemstone that was stuck in the ground, where the siblings headed to the right and kept an eye open for anything else they could collect and the other foes they had to take down for the Gemcutters. That was the moment that Spike found out the name of the kangaroo rats that called this land home, as it appeared that the people of Avalar referred to the residents of Glimmer as Gemcutters, which made sense due to them being miners and the fact that they dug out all the gems that appeared to be the main economy for the land, something that Ripto had disrupted during his time in this land, giving them another reason to recover all the gems that they could find, so they could return them to their rightful owners once this adventure reached it's end. As Spike read all that, and told his siblings about it, Spyro and Ember found two more straw baskets near some stone steps that would take them down to a mine shaft and a path that wrapped around to the left side of this area, but what interested them was the large brown scaled lizard that was holding a large hammer in one hand, where the guidebook referred to it as a brown lizard, causing Spike to roll his eyes at the name, as he would have called it a hammer lizard or something slightly cooler.
Spyro picked up the gems that were laying on the ground as Ember rushed forward and rolled out of the way so she could dodge the hammer as the lizard brought it down where she had been seconds ago, where a confused look appeared on it's face as she flamed it, causing it to fall and release another Spirit Particle into the air, before the three of them resumed exploring the area around them. After picking up the gems that were laying around the circular building that was in front of where they had suddenly appeared, and finding a few more large gems that were resting half in the ground like the large blue one, Ember jumped up into the building and found four straw baskets resting inside it, along with one of the indigo lizards, so Spike loosed a quick flame to take him out. While they were doing that, and cleaned up this part of the realm, Spyro jumped over to the stone that was near one of the openings of the building and picked up the pair of gems that were laying on it, before jumping to the next stone and repeated the motions, only to rejoin his siblings as they made their way over to the passage that would take them back to the tunnel entrance. In that area they found five more straw baskets, a few scattered gems on the ground, and three more scared indigo lizards, so the siblings made sure to take out Ripto's minions and collected all of the gems that were in that area, before heading over to the tunnel that they knew would take them to where the portal to the rest of Avalar rested.
When they reached the tunnel that would allow them to access another part of this realm, and bring them closer to the portal they were looking for, they found the fairy that was hanging with the others floating in the opening, no doubt waiting for all three of them to arrive and smiled when they came to a stop in front of her, as they were interested in what she had to tell them.
"Hi guys. My name is Zoe, and I'm one of Elora's friends," the fairy said, though the siblings were happy to know what her name was, as it would be awkward for them to keep calling her by her race the entire time they were here, especially since they were sure she would be assisting the three of them in some manner, "she's asked me to keep track of your progress and to use my magic to move you to a safe area, if you three ever find yourselves overwhelmed by Ripto's minions, something she hopes never happens."
"It's nice to know that someone has our back, in case Ripto's minions prove to be more than what we're expecting them to be," Spyro remarked, because based on what they had seen he had to assume that the two dinosaurs were the bigger threat to them and their quest to take down Ripto, especially since their target was missing the scepter that he had been carrying for a period of time.
Zoe nodded her head in agreement and moved out of their way, allowing Spyro to flame the indigo lizard that was a few steps behind where she had been resting, while at the same time Spike picked up the gems that were on the ground and Ember smashed the straw baskets as they moved towards the other side of the tunnel, before they reached the end of the tunnel and discovered a large cavern they would have to cross to help the Gemcutters out. There were a number of gems that were in the process of being removed from the ground, or would have been if it wasn't for the lizards that were interrupting the Gemcutters, where some of them were glowing, and there were a few tall rocks that meant that exploring would be quite hard, since they were out of their reach. Another thing the siblings noticed was the fact that there were a few special lamps connected to the ceiling, with what looked like special gems attached to the ends of them, meaning they had to give off a very special glow for the kangaroo rats to keep them around and not add them to the economy, before Spike noticed an interesting gem resting in the middle of the ceiling, no doubt what the lamps were connected to, which only made him wonder why it was turned off. Off on their right, passed one of the glowing green crystals, was some metal poles that formed a ladder that would take someone up to the level above them, where it appeared two prongs, almost like two sides that weren't connected to each other, happened to rest, but it was hard for them to see it and it appeared that it would be hard for them to get up there, so they focused on the area in front of them and knocked out the indigo lizard that was near the end of the tunnel, and picked up the gems, before finding a roadblock.
There was an area that looked like a bridge was supposed to connect the two sides of the cavern together, something that would allow the Gemcutters to move things from one place to another, and standing near it was a brown skinned bear that was standing like the people that had called them to this land, though at the same time he was wearing the suit of an upper-class individual, and came complete with a monocle, while he was holding a sack with the image of a green gem sown into the front of it.
"Ah, you must be the three dragons that Elora and the others were excited about," the bear said, showing the siblings that he already knew who they were, information that was gained from the people that were responsible for bringing them to Avalar in the first place, and that he had been interested in meeting them, though at the same time they had the feeling that his interest wasn't like what the Gemcutters and the others had, "Well, dragons or not, I'm afraid that there is a small fee you'll have to pay to use the bridge, and the best part is that this a one time payment, so you'll be able to cross as much as you like in the future. It'll cost you one hundred gems to use the bridge."
"Look, bear, we're helping Elora and the others stop Ripto, and we really don't like people getting in our way, as the last foe we faced had commanders to stop us and we took them down." Ember remarked, stopping both of her brothers for a few seconds, as they were interested in seeing what she was going to do next, especially since they were considering giving him the gems and moving on with their quest, and the bear raised his eyebrow for a moment as he faced her, as if this was the first time someone refused to meet his prices and pay him the gems he asked for, "How about you back off and let us cross this bridge, for free to be exact, and we won't beat you and torch you within an inch of your miserable life, you money grubbing cretin!"
The bear growled for a moment as he reached for Ember, but instead of waiting for him to do anything Ember moved out of the way and spun around as she jumped into the air, where she smacked him in the face with her tail and knocked him to the ground, only to land near him and made sure she was in front of him, with her talons and flames at the ready, to show him that she wasn't messing around.
"Very well... I can see you aren't joking." the bear said, where he let go of the bag for a few seconds and waved his left hand at the bridge for a moment, to which the siblings watched as the bridge extended and the two halves became one complete structure, causing Ember to get off of him and let him get up, though all he did was pick up his sack and dust off his clothing, before glancing back at them, "Yes, this was a scam for new arrivals, and you figured it out rather easily, so I'll withdraw and focus on doing something else... but this isn't the last you have seen of me, Moneybags, as I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again in the future."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as the bear, Moneybags, walked over the bridge that he had extended for them, and noticed that he wasn't bothered by the lizards that were on the other side, before he disappeared and left the realm that they had found themselves in, allowing the siblings to sigh as they focused on what had just happened and what they were going to do now that the bridge was open.
"Ember, are you okay?" Spyro asked, because at the start of their first adventure Ember had been annoyed by what Gnasty Gnorc had done to the rest of the dragons and now, and the start of what was their second adventure, she went and snapped at one of the residents of the land they had been brought to, something that worried him since that might color the opinions of Elora and her friends, "You didn't have to snap at him like that."
"Yes, I did. I suspected he was lying to us and he proved me right," Ember replied, as she had the feeling that the bear wasn't telling the truth and she was happy to see that her feelings were right on the matter, even if she was just a tad bit surprised by how easily Moneybags had been intimidated and the fact that he might know magic, especially with how he had returned the bridge to it's original state, before she glanced at the area below the bridge, "We've only been in Avalar for ten to fifteen minutes, and in that time we've been attacked by the local villain and a bear tried to shake us down for the gems that we picked up from where they were resting, on the ground and in some baskets, so I wasn't about to let him scam us and waste our time."
"Well, Moneybags said we'd likely see him again in the future, so you frightening him might work in our favor, or it might come back to bite us... we shall see." Spike added, showing that he understood both Spyro and Ember's points of view on the matter, but at the same time he was more interested in exploring the rest of Glimmer and seeing if there was anything else they needed to do before they followed after Elora and her friends, "Come on, let's finish exploring the realm of the Gemcutters and help them out, and then we'll find the portal that will take us to Summer Forest, where we should be able to learn more about Ripto and his plans, and what we need to do to stop him in his tracks."
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement as they headed to the right and descended into the area that was below the bridge, where they found a couple of gems scattered around the area and two of the brown lizards hanging out near some crystals, so the siblings separated and took them down with a quick flame, before gathering the gems that were on the ground and inside the pair of straw baskets. Once that was done they turned around and headed back to where the stone steps were that allowed them to get down here in the first place, allowing them to return to where the tunnel entrance was located and started to walk across the bridge, where an indigo lizard spotted them and fled before they could even reach him, leaving a brown lizard standing between them and another passage. It didn't take them long to flame the brown lizard and knock him to the ground, just like the others they had seen so far, and collected the gems that were both laying on the ground and were resting in the pair of straw baskets, but once that was done the siblings climbed up the steps that were in front of them and walked through the new passage that the indigo lizard had run through. They found a decent sized chamber at the end of the short passage, along with a pair of gems that they picked up along the way, before discovering that the indigo lizard that had run away from them was now standing at the end of the very short passage and was standing in front of where one of the Gemcutters was waiting, but since he cowered before them all they did was flame him and jumped down into the area in front of them.
The Gemcutter in question waited for a few seconds, allowing them to pick up the couple of gems that were laying on the floor, and inside the lone straw basket, before the siblings gathered in front of him, as they suspected that he had something to tell them before they continued helping the residents of this realm out, because there was another area to the realm that was just outside the building they were currently standing in.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thanks for helping us fight off the lizards." the Gemcutter said, his tone revealing that he was happy that they had been called to this realm by Elora and the others, especially since Ripto's minions had been bothering them for a time, before he called upon what little magic he had and Spike stared at the area between them, "Please, take this Talisman of Glimmer as a sign of our gratitude."
Spike watched as the magic gathered for a few seconds, as the Gemcutter was in the middle of calling something to where they were standing, before a golden pickaxe appeared in the air between them, one that he could instantly tell was incredibly magical, though that caused him to pull out the guidebook they had been given and found the pages that talked about Glimmer, or the page that was entirely empty, where the pickaxe disappeared and reappeared seconds later inside the book, much to the surprise of his siblings.
"I see. The guidebook is like a little storage area of sorts, allowing us to store the Talismans without actually having to carry them from realm to realm," Spike commented, as he had been curious if the guidebook had any magical properties and was pleased to see that it actually did serve some secondary purpose, instead of just giving them information on the various realms they would be visiting in the future, though he suspected that there was more to the storage magic than what they were seeing at the moment, meaning there might be something else the book could take into it and they just had to find it.
"If you say so. Personally, I never understood why that guidebook was so important," the Gemcutter stated, though at the same time that didn't seem to annoy him, as he was more interested in digging for gems and adding them to Avalar's economy, before a stone arch, that looked identical to the portal the siblings had come out of earlier, pulled itself out of the ground and formed a perfect portal near them, "This magical portal will take you to Summer Forest, one of the three homeworlds that make up the entirety of Avalar, where Elora and the others are waiting for you... or at least that was what she told me when they came through here earlier."
Instead of heading through the portal, and heading to where Elora told them they would likely meet up again, Spyro, Spike, and Ember jumped back up to where the entrance to this area was and found another passage that allowed them to head outside, where they found a couple of buildings that matched the other buildings they had seen so far, along with a larger building that had a decent sized gem at the top of it, before noticing the couple of lizards that were hanging out and, more importantly, one of the Powerup Gates Spike had read about earlier. The first thing they did was pick up the gems that were laying on the ground as they followed the indigo lizard that was running away from them, before flaming him and then dodging the hammer of the brown lizard that was standing near another structure, one that seemed more like a walkway of sorts, even though it wasn't connected to anything. Once those two foes had been taken care of the siblings separated from each other and explored the rest of the area that they were in, where they picked up all the gems that were laying on the ground and made sure to break the straw baskets that were scattered around the area as well, only to regroup near the Powerup Gate that one of the Gemcutters was standing near. The interesting part about it was that there was a wing shaped icon resting between the two pillars of the gate, surrounded by magic to be exact, which told Spike that if one of them were to use it they might be granted a new power for a certain amount of time, maybe some sort of flight power that would help them explore the area they were in, but he decided to talk with the Gemcutter first, just in case there was something he needed them to do with this particular gate.
"Great, you guys managed to reactivate the Superfly Powerup," the Gemcutter stated, informing the siblings that the Powerup Gates had names that revealed what sort of abilities they gave those that used them, meaning that the gates that had the wing icon, like the one that was in front of them, were referred to as the Superfly Powerup, meaning that they had to keep their eyes open for the other gates and the powers they could gain from them, "with it one of you can fly around this area and restart our gem lamps, which will cause the big lamp in the middle to light up as well, though you'll only be able to use this power for a couple of seconds."
Spyro stepped onto the platform that the gate was on and moved through it, where he took off almost instantly and found that he could fly around the area like this was a Flight Realm from the Dragon Realms, to which he spun around for a moment and focused on what the Gemcutter had asked them to do, which was fly around the area and light the lamps that had been turned off, how he had no idea, though he was sure the lizards or Ripto were to blame. What he did was fly around the area and get a good look at everything from the highest point he was allowed to fly at, which was the same height as the white gem at the top of the tallest building, the one that all of the gem lamps connected to, and he spotted a few gems laying near one of the buildings, at a higher point than what he and his siblings were used to seeing, and a few straw baskets resting around the area in a similar fashion. None of the gems or baskets were in hard to reach areas, which was a good thing, and from what he could tell using the hover technique would work, and so would landing and clearing out the areas himself, but instead of doing that he quickly returned to where the platform was located and informed Spike and Ember of what he had seen, allowing them to head off to the areas in question so they could recover the gems that had been scattered earlier. As they did that, and before the Gemcutter could get annoyed that none of them were trying to relight the gem lamps, Spyro took to the air once more by using the Superfly Powerup, where he breathed fire on the blue, orange, yellow, green, and purple gemstones that formed a near perfect circle, before bringing the circle to a close by doing the same to the red one that was right behind the platform, allowing him to land at the same time as his siblings returning with the gems that he had pointed out to them.
In that moment the siblings watched as all six of the gem lamps that Spyro had breathed fire on glowed brightly for a few seconds, which was no doubt part of whatever was going on, before they focused beams of light, all colored like the gems that they came from, and struck the white gemstone, which let off a pleasant white glow that appeared to be what the Gemcutter was looking for, if the smile on his face was any indication.
"Thanks a lot for helping me relight the lamps," the Gemcutter said, his tone revealing that likely would have taken him a great deal of time and effort to get all six of the lamps working again, time that he would rather be spending on his own interests, which may or may not be digging for more gems and pulling them out of the ground, before he moved to the side of the platform and dug into a bag that he kept near him, only to produce a green orb with two golden rings wrapped around it, both going in different directions, "A fairy gave this to me earlier, while I was taking a break from all the hard work I was doing, but, to be perfectly honest with you guys, I'm not a fan of Orbs, rather I'm more interested in gems and the shine they give off, so you guys can have it as your reward for helping me out."
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as they were curious as to why a fairy would have something like this and why that fairy would suddenly give it to a random person like this, but they had the feeling that they would find out the truth at some point, while at the same time Spike reopened the guidebook and watched as the Orb vanished as well, only to reappear as a small icon on the page opposite of the page that contained the Talisman. Based on what he could tell the guidebook was going to keep the more important items they discovered safe for them, meaning that he and his siblings wouldn't have to haul around however many Talismans and Orbs there were in this land, and it would give them an idea as to how many the fairies had left in each realm, if what he was feeling was any indication, but he'd have to check the book later, after meeting up with Elora again, to know for sure. In fact, since they couldn't climb the ladder to get up to the other Powerup Gate they had spotted, back in the main cave, he was sure that he and his siblings were going to have to come back here at some point and finish helping the Gemcutters out, so it wasn't hard for them to decide that it was time for them to leave the realm and head to Summer Forest. What ended up stopping them, however, was the fact that there was another Gemcutter hanging out in a cave near the platform that they had been on a few moments ago, though this time it appeared that the kangaroo rat in question was trying to hit what appeared to be a red lizard that was much smaller than the other two types they had seen so far, so they decided to see what the problem was and if they could do anything to assist him, before heading to their next destination.
In fact they had enough time to watch the Gemcutter throw another rock at the red lizard, who dodged the rather sad throw and taunted him by shaking his tail at him, which was where the siblings watched as the Gemcutter sighed as they climbed up to where he was standing, as it sure seemed like he needed help with something.
"What seems to be the problem?" Ember asked, as she knew that there had to be a reason for why the Gemcutter was trying to hit the lizard, especially since the other lizards had been harassing the rest of his clan from the moment they set out to explore Glimmer and figure out what they could do to help the people of this realm, and she was sure that he would jump at the chance to have them help him out.
"Oh, this little lizard is part of a small group of lizards that have eaten my entire crop of gems, and I'm in the middle of trying to deal with them, even though I'm failing." the Gemcutter replied, though at the same time he glanced at the three of them for a moment and then switched his gaze back to the lizard that was taunting him, no doubt thinking about what was going on with his home at the moment, before an idea came to him, based on the slight smile that graced his face a few seconds later, "Maybe you guys can try hitting them for me?"
The siblings had no idea if this was related to Ripto and his plans or if the Gemcutter was having bad luck, but, since they had been called to Avalar to help the residents out, by taking out the one that was disrupting the peace that they had been enjoying, they figured that they might as well help the guy out, especially since Spike was curious if he had an Orb that they could add to their small collection, as he had the feeling they were important, even if they had no idea what sort of purpose the Orbs served. The Gemcutter pulled out a rock and let them take it, where Ember grabbed it and recalled what Titan and Trondo had taught them at the beginning of their new training session, to which she focused on her target, who moved for a second or two, before she loosed the rock like they did during their practice sessions with the spitting technique, where she hit the lizard in the side of the head and knocked him to the ground, much to the joy of the Gemcutter they were helping out. As such he asked them to follow him to the next location that the red lizards had raided, but as Spike and Ember followed after him, to see where the second lizard was located, Spyro gathered the gems that were in the small cave, including the one that the first red lizard had been near by using the hover technique, before he followed after his siblings. As it turned out the second and third lizards were on the raised area that Spyro had seen some gems and straw baskets on earlier, when he was flying around the area, so while he knocked out the second one Spike did the same thing with the third, taking both of them out at the same time, something that made their new friend much happier than he already was.
The fourth red lizard was hanging on top of one of the rock pillars in the central cavern, but with no room to run away it was rather easy to take him out as well, allowing the siblings to focus on the remaining two lizards that the Gemcutter wanted them to take out, where one was hanging out near where they first arrived in this realm and the other was on top of the first large structure they had seen, though those areas were well within their reach and the siblings were more than able to take both of them out.
"Wow, you guys are unbelievable! You saved the rest of my crops from those lizards!" the Gemcutter said, showing that he was happy for what the siblings were able to do, even though spitting rocks at these red lizards was nothing after all the training they went through a year ago, in order to perfect this technique, before he reached into the sack he had been carrying with him, where the rocks the siblings had used had come from, "Here, I want you guys to have this Orb as thanks for helping me out. Some girl with wings dropped it off with my rocks yesterday and I've been trying to get rid of it ever since, and since Kanga gave you one for helping him I figured I'd do the same thing."
The siblings were happy to have a second Orb for their collection, even if they weren't sure what they were supposed to do with the Orbs they were apparently collecting, but they did know that the people that called them to this land would have some explanation as to why they needed these items, so they happily accepted the Orb and left the Gemcutter to his business as they headed back to where the portal to Summer Forest rested, as it was time to join their new friends and see what else they needed to do to save this land from their new foe.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to get back to the portal that the Gemcutter had called up after giving them the Talisman to this realm, even if they stopped for a few seconds to stare at the ladder that none of them could climb up and the Powerup Gate that was at the top of it, just out of their reach at the moment, which eventually caused all of them to resume walking towards their destination. When they reached the chamber that the portal was located in they found no one standing near it, indicating that the Gemcutter had wandered off after they had helped him and the others out, to which they rushed through the portal and headed to Summer Forest at last, as one of the people that had called them to this land was waiting for them to arrive so they could focus on Ripto and whatever he was planning. When they came out of the other side of the portal, and were allowed to see what was going on, the siblings found that there were a number of oak trees around the area that the portal to Glimmer was located in, trees that had green leaves that moved in the wind, and that there was green grass all over the place, though that was before they spotted the elegant stone structure that was in front of where they were standing. There were also a small river that seemed to be running through the area they were in, heading to a small pond that was off on their left, which made them wonder what else they were going to find in this realm and see if there were any enemies that needed to be fought, just like their homeworlds after Gnasty Gnorc tried to stop them from freeing everything from his grasp.
Once they noticed all of that the siblings noticed that one of the people that had called them to this land was standing at the edge of the platform that the portal to Glimmer was located on, the same one that they happened to land on as they came out of the portal, and from what they could see the person was annoyed about something, which was likely linked to Ripto and not what Ember did to Moneybags earlier.
"Oh, hello again." the lady said, where the annoyed expression disappeared as she turned and looked at them with a smile on her face, indicating that she was happy to see them, especially since she figured that they were the key to taking out Ripto and stopping whatever he was planning, as the siblings were sure he was planning something, "With everything that was happening, after you guys came out of the Professor's portal, my friends and I really didn't have a chance to introduce ourselves. My name is Elora."
"It's nice to meet you, Elora. I'm Spyro, and these are my siblings, Spike and Ember." Spyro replied, though it was nice to know which of the three remaining people, as in the small mole, the cheetah, and the lady in front of them, was Elora, as the Gemcutters said her name like they knew who they were talking about and it was nice to finally link the name with who it belonged to, before he turned his head as he looked at Elora's hooves for a few seconds, "Anyway, what are you supposed to be? Some sort of goat creature or something?"
"I'm a fawn, you dork." Elora stated, though at the same time she bent over a bit, mostly so her head was lined up with Spyro's head for a moment, before she returned to standing upright, where the look on her face indicated that she wasn't annoyed with what Spyro had said, almost as if she was expecting none of them to know what she was and was fully prepared to inform them of what she was.
Before either Spyro or Elora said anything else Spike felt the urge to chuckle for a moment, as it wasn't every day that someone called his brother a dork in such an interesting way, while at the same time Ember rolled her eyes, as she didn't seem to care about the word at all and just wanted to focus on their new adventure, but she remained standing there as she waited for the conversation to be over.
"What's so funny?" Spyro asked, because he was sure that there was nothing funny about what had just happened to him, or at the very least that was his thoughts on the matter, though he did notice that Elora seemed happy about Spike chuckling, almost like this was a little reprieve from whatever had annoyed her before their arrival, so he guessed he could overlook his brother's actions for now.
"Nothing... other than you being called a dork." Spike replied, showing his brother what he found to be funny, even if Ember didn't share his point of view, but he, like Spyro, noticed that it made Elora temporarily forget what was going on in Summer Forest, something bad from what little they could see, and he was happy to do anything to take her mind off of whatever had been bothering her.
"Anyway, did you guys have a chance to meet the Gemcutters in Glimmer?" Elora asked, deciding to get back on topic, though her words indicted that the portal the one kangaroo rat had summoned, after giving them the Talisman, might have been accessible if there weren't any enemies around the chamber it rested in, but that didn't bother the siblings at all, since they were more than happy to help him and the rest of his clan out.
"We did, and they gave us something before we left their realm," Ember answered, as she had the feeling that the Talisman was important, based on what the guidebook did to it when the Gemcutter called it to them, and she knew that Elora would be amazed by what they had been given earlier, though at the same time Spike dug into his satchel so he could pull out the book in question, "they called it a Talisman."
"No way, they gave you their Talisman?!" Elora inquired, her face revealing that she was surprised by that piece of information, because while she had informed the Gemcutters that the siblings were on their side, to stop Ripto, what she wasn't expecting was for them to hand over the Talisman that was connected to their realm, before noticing what Spike was doing at the moment.
"Yeah, and I made sure to put it inside the guidebook," Spike replied, where he opened the book for a moment and showed Elora the page in question, so she could see that they were telling the truth about acquiring the Talisman, before he recalled something he had read, even if he hadn't had the time to read everything in the book, "the guidebook said something about them being important, but I haven't had the chance to actually read up on everything that's inside the book, so my knowledge is limited at the moment."
"I take it you're a scholar?" Elora inquired, because this wasn't something she was expecting, as the Professor's books said that dragons were mostly dangerous creatures that didn't have scholars, but, if Spike was one, than that meant there was so much more to dragons than what she and the others knew, only for Spike to nod his head to indicate that he was a scholar, before she thought about something, "Well, now that's interesting. Anyway, there are fourteen Talismans in all of Avalar, and all of them are magical in their own way, but if you and your siblings can collect enough of them we can use them to break into the castle and defeat Ripto!"
Before Spyro, Spike, or Ember could say anything to that, and confirm that it sounded like a great idea to check out the remaining realms that happened to be scattered throughout Avalar, to help them and recover their Talismans for the big battle with Ripto, the portal behind them shimmered and the cheetah came through it, only to stop and huff for a few seconds, like he had been running or something.
"Hunter, where have you been?" Elora asked, though this time her tone suggested that she wasn't happy with the cheetah that had been with her earlier, when the siblings had arrived in Avalar, and that caused the person in question to stand straight up again, showing the siblings that this must be a common occurrence between the two of them, to which they remained silent as they waited for them to wrap things up, "You were supposed to arrive in Summer Forest a few seconds after I did, not a few minutes."
"I, ugh..." the cheetah, Hunter, started to say, but as he did that he found four sets of eyes on him, instead of what he was used to feeling when this sort of thing happened to him, which eventually caused him to sigh as he readied himself for what he was about to say, especially since there was a chance that Elora would be angry with him and a chance that the dragons might laugh at him, "I got lost."
"Hunter... never mind, I'll talk with you later." Elora said, where she let out a sigh for a few seconds, indicating that she didn't want to deal with what Hunter was doing at the moment, as it seemed like the cheetah was the cause of a number of headaches for her, before she focused on the important piece of information she had gained, "Anyway, Spyro, Spike, and Ember are going to help us Ripto down and restore the peace that he's broken."
"We'll visit the other realms, fix whatever is going wrong, and gather the Talismans," Spyro remarked, because while he and his siblings hadn't actually told Elora that they would help her and the others take out Ripto and his two minions, since she and the others had run off without telling them anything, they were already committed to restoring the peace that had been broken, both to the realms and to Avalar as a whole.
Hunter looked like he wanted to object to that, like he was going to pretend that he was some sort of hero that could have saved the land a long time ago, but simply looking at the four people in front of him caused him to sigh as he ran off to see what had happened since he and Elora headed to Glimmer, causing Elora to excuse herself as well, leaving the siblings to do whatever they wanted as they explored Summer Forest. As such Spyro, Spike, and Ember walked forward and jumped off the platform they had appeared on earlier, where they spread out and looked around the area that they were in, finding a couple of gems that were scattered on the ground and on the steps leading into the building, including a few sheep wandering around the area and eating the grass, though there weren't any straw baskets, which made things easy on them. Once the area was cleared out they walked up the stairs and entered the first building they had seen, where they found that there was a large gap between the two halves of the walkway, as there was a walkway near the entrance that lead to Glimmer's portal and another walkway that would take them to the main part of this realm, with a thin shattered walkway resting between them, one that had once bridged the two sides together. As they walked into the large building they also picked up a few gems that were by the entrance, including smashing a straw basket as well, before they walked on the ruined bridge and gathered the couple of green gems that were on it, allowing them to glide down into the lower section of the building, where they found a small river, some frogs, and a number of gems that laid on the ground, as well on the steps leading back up to where they had been a few moments ago.
Once they had all the gems, and were back up near the entrance, they found that Hunter had stopped for a moment or two while Elora went ahead, but it appeared that he was more interested in informing them that Ripto had smashed the bridge at some point and that they would need to do more than jumping to get across the gap, to which the siblings glided over to the other side, showing Hunter that they knew what they were doing. As soon as the siblings landed the first thing they did was pick up the games that were in front of them and then walked through the building's second entrance, which allowed them to leave the building and see what else Summer Forest had for them, especially since there was a rather large and impressive circular castle in front of them, even though they would have to walk around it to find the entrance that would allow them to explore the interior. There were two things the siblings noticed right away, the first being that the banners that were resting on the side of the castle, of which there happened to be two of them, bared Ripto's likeness, as if he was saying that Summer Forest belonged to him now, and the other was that Moneybags was standing near the edge of the water, on a platform to be exact, either because he had been ejected from the castle by Ripto or this was where he had stopped when he noticed that the castle had been taken over. The first thing they did was split up and search the area for any gems that might be laying around, since they had every intention to return them to their rightful owners when this adventure was over, before discovering metallic vases were a thing and that they also contained gems, meaning all they had to do was charge through them and claim the gems inside them.
As the siblings did that they were able to determine where the first couple of realms were located, as there was one portal on a floating piece of ground in the middle of the lake that Moneybags was near and the other was on a platform that had a river of sorts wrapped around it, and spilled into the small lake, but eventually all the gems, baskets, and vases were taken care of, though as they approached Moneybags, to see what he wanted, Spike spotted some faint traces of magic on one of the hills near the castle, but said nothing as they came to a stop in front of the bear.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I wasn't expecting to see the three of you again, so soon after our last encounter," Moneybags remarked, his tone indicating that he wasn't about to forget what Ember had done to him in Glimmer and the fact that he couldn't get any of the gems they were carrying at the moment, though at the same time he considered something as the siblings stared at him, "Say, did you know that the only way inside Summer Forest's castle is to swim underwater and use the passage that leads inside? I could be persuaded to teach you the basics of such a technique, so you can go on your merry way and chase after Ripto, but I'm afraid that it'll cost you quite a bit of gems."
"Moneybags, we know that's a lie right off the bat, since there's no way Ripto could have gotten either of his minions into the castle if the only way in is underwater," Spike replied, showing his siblings that this had the potential to be another scam, just like the bridge Moneybags had been guarding earlier, even though he did know that such a skill would be very useful in the future, so he was slightly torn over this situation, before he headed over to one of the hills that rested near the edge of the castle, where he focused on the magic and tapped a stone, which expanded to reveal a passage that likely went into the structure that was in front of them, "of course using this passage isn't much better, since they're still taller than it, but there's another way to enter the castle, one that I'm sure you were aware of. So tell me, why should we trust that you'll teach us how to swim, when we clearly have another way to enter the building?"
"First a violent dragon who doesn't make idle threats, and then a dragon that can find hidden magical passageways that only Elora and a few others know about," Moneybags moaned, almost as if he now understood that it was going to be rather hard to convince the siblings to part with any of the gems they had been collecting so far, before he sighed and stared at them for a few moments, as there was one thing they did need to know, "Fine, you three win again. Yes, there's a secret passage that goes into the castle, I won't deny that now. However, you will need the ability to swim underwater in the future, as there are a few realms in Avalar that have areas that require such a skill, and there's even an entire realm that's underwater, so it would be best if you just handed over the gems so all of us could move on with our lives."
"And how do we know it's not the only useful skill you might have to offer us?" Spyro asked, because if the bear knew that some of the realms had underwater areas, and one was like that in it's entirety, than there was the possibility that there might be one or two more skills he might be able to offer them, so they could tackle everything and anything Ripto and his minions could throw at them in the future.
"Well, there is the wall climbing skill, but it's too soon for you to worry about that." Moneybags said, revealing that there was one other skill that they might be able to use in their fight against Ripto, especially since it sounded like a skill that would allow them to get up to the other Powerup Gate in Glimmer, the one they had left behind due to not having the skill to get up there, before he noticed that they were staring at him, "What?"
"Tell you what, Moneybags, we'll give you three hundred and fifty gems for the pair of skills." Ember stated, because it seemed like a pretty fair deal to her, they get a pair of skills that would allow them to help the denizens of the other realms and take out Ripto's minions, without having to visit a realm multiple times to get the job done, and Moneybags got a decent amount of gems for siding with them.
"You must think I'm an idiot if I accept that deal, because that's nowhere near enough to cover..." Moneybags started to say, though Ember glared at him for a moment and shifted into the stance she used to knock him onto the ground back in Glimmer, something she was more than willing to do if he kept fighting them, and he paused for a moment, as he was actually considering what he was being offered, before he let out a sigh, "Oh alright, three hundred and fifty gems will suffice for now... just hand them over so I can impart my knowledge onto you and get out of here."
Spike counted out the gems in question, finding that they had roughly four hundred before the trade, and made sure Moneybags had the amount that he agreed to accept, even if he hated himself for being intimidated by a dragon, though once the bear had his payment, stored inside his sack to be exact, he turned towards the siblings and told them what they needed to know to perform the two techniques. He explained how all creatures knew how to paddle when they got into the water, whether it was on their own or because someone forced them into that state, before informing them that they could pull themselves under the water and swim around by doing what they did on the surface, so padding underwater would allow them to swim at a normal speed. Of course if they were to charge underwater, something that Moneybags didn't seem entirely sure about, they might be able to move at incredible speeds and zip around the area that they were swimming in, just like what would happen if they did that on dry land, which interested the siblings and made them want to try it out, if only to make sure he wasn't lying to them. The other thing he taught them was the other skill, one that he couldn't actually demonstrate, was the climbing technique, where he revealed that if they saw a surface, like the one they were forced to ignore back in Glimmer, they could jump towards it and use their claws to grab onto the metal bars that made up the ladders, allowing them to ascend or descend as they wished, and that they could also jump to the side and latch onto another surface like that, if there was a second one there to be exact.
Once he was done informing them of what they needed to do, however, the siblings jumped into the water and found that they could paddle without any problems, another sign that the Water Safety spell was working, before Spike pulled himself under the water and found that he was able to breath with no problems, a positive side effect of the spell, and was followed by his siblings, to which they started testing out what they had been told, all while Moneybags sighed and walked away before they bothered him again. Spike was very happy with himself, as not only did they prove that Moneybags was trying to scam them again, by revealing the hidden entrance that would allow them to enter the castle without having to follow what the bear was saying, but they also got another skill at the same time, allowing them to head back to Glimmer and finish helping the Gemcutters. Of course the first thing they did was continue practicing the new skill, that way they would be ready for whatever the water realm had for them, and while they did that all three of them smashed the green vases that were underwater and collected all the gems that were at the bottom of the lake, before heading to the surface and got out near where Moneybags had been waiting for them when they first left the building. Spyro and Ember found that they weren't dripping wet at the moment, yet one more benefit from the spell Spike had cast on them some time ago, just like his satchel, and it's contents, weren't wrecked by the water and Spyro's scarf wasn't wet either, something that made them incredibly happy that Spike was so skilled with magic and the various types he could use.
With the skills under their belt, so to speak, the siblings started to head back to Glimmer, so they could finish helping the Gemcutters out, though before they could get too far they found Hunter waving at them from a set of platforms that reminded Spyro of the stones he used to perfect the hover technique, to which they shifted their course and headed over to where Hunter was standing, while picking up the gems he was standing near in the process.
"Hey guys, you look pretty agile, and I want to put it to the test." Hunter stated, showing the siblings that the gliding they had done a few minutes ago, inside the building with the ruined bridge, must have interested him to some degree, otherwise he would be off doing something else while they helped the people of Avalar through whatever problems they happened to be facing at the moment.
Spyro chuckled for a second as he accepted Hunter's challenge, as the first thing he wanted them to do was jump up onto the platform that was behind him, which was rather simple and straightforward, as he and his siblings could do this with their eyes closed and it didn't take them more than a second or two to get up to where Hunter moved to, as if he was following a path, one that Spyro was sure matched what he practiced on a earlier that year. The next thing Hunter wanted them to do was to glide over to the next structure that followed the path he wanted to test them on, to which the siblings followed after him and glided over to where he moved to, though at the same time they picked up all the gems that were along the way, just to make sure they got everything. That seemed to impress Hunter, even though he had already seen them do that earlier, and caused him to issue a challenge to all three of them, to get to the next structure he jumped to, as if he felt that none of them had anything left to offer, and jumped over to his next destination without delay, showing that his own skills were quite impressive, before he turned around and grinned at them, like he had won. It was in that instant that Spyro, Spike, and Ember glided over to where he was standing and used the hover technique to reach Hunter, much to his surprise, though that only made Spyro smile, as it was nice to see that creating the skill had been worthwhile, as he had the feeling they would be using it a lot more in Avalar.
Hunter had one final jump for them to do, one that required him to run across the tall structure they were on so he could leap over to his destination, and this time the smile stayed on his face, once more showing that he felt good, but that was followed by the siblings taking turns and gliding over to where he was standing, in combination with charging over the edge and using the hover technique to reach him.
"Wow, you guys are impressive. What's that third move called?" Hunter asked, as he was familiar with the jumping and gliding techniques, as they were the ones mentioned in the Professor's book, the one that told them about dragons and what they were capable of, and this was the first time he had seen whatever the move that followed the glide, so he was a little interested in it.
"That, Hunter, was the Hover technique, something I created and perfected earlier this year." Spyro remarked, though he was incredibly happy with himself, in both that his siblings were able to match his mastery of the technique and the fact that it caught their new friend off guard, meaning that anyone that knew anything about dragons, at least in Avalar, would be surprised when they saw it in action as well.
"Well, you passed the test with flying colors and then shattered it!" Hunter relied, to which he reached into the small sack he was carrying and pulled out an Orb, one of the items the siblings knew they had to collect, even if Elora hadn't told them that piece of information earlier, something that he held out for them to take and even had a smile on his face at the same time, "The Professor told me to hand over any Orbs that I find in the various realms, and I did spot this one up here while you guys were messing with Moneybags earlier, nice job on that by the way, so I was planning on handing it over, once I got a taste of your skills anyway."
The siblings felt that Hunter's reason was odd, that he was acting like it was more of a reward than simply being one of their allies and helping them out in their adventure, but none of them were going to complain about it as Spike made sure the Orb appeared in the guidebook, giving them three total at the moment, though once that was done he put it away and they glided down to the entrance of the first building, so they could return to Glimmer and finish helping the residents of that land out, now that they got the climbing ability. It didn't take them long to reach the portal in question and return to Glimmer, where the siblings reappeared in the same area they had appeared in when they were called to Avalar, not that they were expecting to walk out of the portal that took them to Summer Forest, as that portal was the same as the exit portals from the Dragon Realms, so it made sense that the realms here would have starting areas and exit portals as well. The good news was that all of the enemies they had taken out were still gone, which meant the Powerup Gates might still be active and would allow them to help the other Gemcutter with whatever his problem was, to which they started walking towards their destination, taking in the sights once more as they did so, as Glimmer was a nice realm to look at, and they even spotted a few Gemcutters working on one of the large gems they had walked by earlier.
It took them about five minutes to get back to where the metallic ladder was located, to which Spyro stepped forward and wrapped his front claws around one of the rode that rested between him and the upper level, before he did what they had been told and pulled himself up, where he actually climbed up the odd metallic ladder and reached the top in no time, something that caused both Spike and Ember to practice it as well, since they might as well get a little practice with the skill in, before they discovered a place where this was necessary to move forward. As his siblings were doing that he checked with the Gemcutter that had gotten up here, how he had no idea and even asked about that, who informed him that he had been in Ripto's way earlier, but, instead of outright hurting him and putting him in the hospital, the villain had one of his minions put him up here, meaning it was a good thing his scepter had been broken after their arrival. The Gemcutter also revealed that, since he was up here, he was trying to restore the gem lamps that were hanging from the ceiling, as they went out at the same time as the ones outside, and that this Superfly Powerup was supposed to be the only way for him to turn them back on, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to use it. Spike, who was listening to all this, suggested that there might be some sort of tool or set of tools the Gemcutters used to fix the gem lamps and that Ripto's arrival had something to do with them not being able to use those particular tools to the fullest, something that caused both Spyro and Ember to silent for a moment, as they were sure Spike was right.
A few moments later, once he and Ember were done with the ladder, Ember took off through the Powerup Gate and flew around the cavern they were in, where she breathed fire on the lamps in question, activating them like Spyro did with the ones that were outside, while at the same time Spike flew to the other side of the cavern and smashed the few straw baskets he spotted over there, allowing him to pick up a few more gems in the process, something that was repeated by their brother near the Powerup Gate, before all the lights shined on the central gem, showing that Ember was done.
"Wow, you guys work quick." the Gemcutter stated, as he was amazed by how well the siblings had worked together, even if one of them did the work and restored the lamps to their former glory, before he dug an Orb out of the sack that was near him, a sack that seemed to be filled with a couple of balls, "Here, I found this Orb stashed away with the stash of baseballs that we use from time to time, and I want you guys to have it for helping me out."
Spike made sure the Orb was placed in the guidebook with the others they had found so far, though he really liked the book and the spell that went into making it work this way, before noticing that the pages seemed to indicate that they had all the Orbs from this realm, or at least the major ones he guessed, and their dragonflies confirmed that there were no more lingering gems anywhere in Glimmer, to which the siblings glided back down to the bridge and headed for the portal so they could return to Summer Forest. The first thing the siblings did, upon returning to the area that Ripto was in control of at the moment, was head to the left and check out the small pool they had seen, where they dived into the water and found a number of green vases resting on the sides, as well as a few gems, before finding an underwater path for them to follow. They picked up the gems that were resting on the ground of the underwater path and quickly found a way up to the surface, which seemed to be a hidden area with a set of stone steps carved into a mountain, with gems resting on the steps, so the siblings ascended towards the top of the hidden area and found an opening that looked out over the area that Moneybags and Hunter had been in earlier, as well as an Orb resting near the edge, which Spike happily collected the moment they spotted it. Once that was done they glided down to where Moneybags had been standing earlier and landed on the platform, though before they did anything Spike separated from them and headed over to where the passageway he had revealed rested, one that he closed after tapping the stone again, as he was sure that Elora and Hunter were on the other side already, before he and his siblings jumped into the water and headed for the underwater entrance that Moneybags wanted them to use so badly.
It took them a minute, tops, to reach the other side and jump out of the water, where they found themselves in a small chamber that had some stairs that likely lead to the main part of the castle, along with some metallic vases that they smashed so they could free the gems inside them, only for the siblings to head up the stairs so they could explore the castle and see what this place had to throw in their way. In front of them rested a wooden gate, the thick type that would require a supercharge to take down, but fortunately for them there was a red button to their left and, when it was charged into or had them activate it in some way, the gate was waited before their eyes, as well as dropping another one that was across the small chamber that was behind the first wooden gate. As the siblings entered the small chamber Spyro broke the straw baskets and claimed the gems that were inside it, before Ember whacked the next button with her tail so she could raise the second wooden gate, one that revealed a decent sized area that had a large tree growing in the middle of it, along with two portals that went to two more realms that were connected to Avalar, a metallic ladder leading to the top of the room, and another set of wooden gates that had a button tied to them. The first thing they did was explore the area they were in, as in Spyro and Ember searched the area around the portals and gates for any loose gems, while Spike used the ladder to reach the thin walkway that wrapped around the upper part of the chamber, where he found a number of red gems and an Orb, which he happily collected before rejoining his siblings.
Instead of bashing the button and revealing the second path they could take, as they were sure there was a second direction they could head in, the siblings headed into the opened passageway that was through the wooden gate on the left of the button, where they found a set of stairs, with some gems resting on them, that happened to bring them to the second floor of the castle, which was where they found Elora staring at a portal that wasn't powered at all.
"Is this portal broken?" Spyro asked, because if it was one of the portals that lead to one of the realms they needed to visit, to recover the Talisman it's residents had so they could take down Ripto and his minions, than they were in a whole heap of trouble, as there was no way Spike would be able to get the portals of a foreign land fixed, even if he had the same knowledge that Nora did.
"No, it just powered down because our Orbs are scattered all over Avalar," Elora replied, showing the siblings that this sort of thing was common, when they relied on the various Orbs to get things done, before noticing that the magic of the portal shimmered to life before her very eyes, which put a smile on her face as she turned towards them, "but it seems that you've already collected enough to restore it to it's former glory, meaning that you can visit Ocean Speedway, as while there is no Talisman in there you can race around the area and explore it to your heart's content. Anyway, it's about time I checked out the dungeon, as I'm positive that Ripto and his minions are hiding down there, and I want to see if the way is open or if he sealed it behind him."
The siblings wished Elora luck in verifying where Ripto was hiding, though as she walked off they made sure to pick up all the gems that were around them, which wasn't a whole lot as they soon discovered, before noticing another button that went to the gate in the area they were in, but, when it was whacked, it raised the gate in front of them and, at the same time, lowered a second one, giving them a small chance to see an Orb at the end of the hallway. As it turned out the easy solution was right in front of them, as Spike had Spyro hit the button again, to return the gates to the positions that they were originally in, and then jumped onto the ledge that was nearby, one that allowed him to glide over to another ledge that was further down the hallway, even if it required him to use the hover skill to make it. From there he smashed the two metallic vases and then grabbed the Orb he and his siblings had seen, in the same manner as the other Orbs, only to jump back over to where Spyro and Ember were waiting, to which they headed down the stairs they had walked up a few moments ago and returned to the button in the chamber that the tree was in. From there Ember whacked the button and revealed the path to a circular wall, though they smashed a pair of metallic vases along the way and then broke apart all the straw baskets on the left side of the area that the second path had brought them to, but once that was done they came to a stop as they found a familiar face standing in front of the circular wall.
It appeared that Moneybags had another idea on how to get gems from them, they knew that without being talking to him and hearing what he had to say, but they seriously hoped that it was something worth stopping for, otherwise they were going to ignore him and move on with the rest of their exploration, as there was one more area they wanted to check out before tackling one of the other realms that was connected to this homeworld.
"Well hello again my friends. Do you see this wall that's right behind me?" Moneybags asked, though this time his tone sounded like something he would use on someone that wasn't observant enough to understand their surroundings and was easy to sucker into buying whatever he was selling, but, to humor him, the siblings just nodded their heads so he could move on and get to what he was trying to offer them, "Well, I bet all three of you are dying to see what's on the other side of the wall, but, since I am the only one that knows how to lower it, I could be persuaded to do so... if you pay me a small fee to remember what I need to do to lower it in the first place."
"There's a portal to one of the other realms behind the wall, isn't there?" Spike asked, because that seemed like the reasonable conclusion to come to, as the Speedway that Elora talked about sounded like the Flight Realms the three of them were familiar with, and since normal realms and flight type realms were the only ones in their home it was possible that the same could be true for Avalar.
"You are correct, so now you see why you should pay up." Moneybags stated, showing the siblings that he was more than willing to keep them from the realm that was on the other side of the wall, even though they needed to help whoever called that realm home at some point in time, before he held a hand out and shook the sack he was carrying, suggesting that they give him the gems he was asking for.
The siblings sighed for a moment, something that seemed to make Moneybags think they were giving up, though that was the wrong thought for him to have, as Ember approached him and jumped into the air, where she spun around and whacked him with her tail once more, this time in the opposite direction of the first time she did this, and knocked the bear to the ground, though this time around she grabbed the sack that was so important to him and hauled it over to her brothers, only to dump it out and let their dragonflies reclaim what they had given him earlier.
"Listen well, Moneybags," Ember said, where she waited until the bear was in a sitting position, rubbing the side of his face that had been whacked this time, before tossing the empty sack over to him, where he quickly grabbed it and opened it, only to find that there was nothing inside it, showing him that she and her brothers had taken back the gems that they had paid him earlier, leaving him with nothing at the moment, "We're here to stop Ripto and restore order to Avalar, and if you keep getting in our way like this, where you block off realms and try to sell us access to them, eventually we're going to stop seeing you as a minor annoyance and start seeing you as an accomplice to his crimes... and trust me on this, you don't want us to see you in that light."
"Noted." Moneybags mumbled, where he picked himself up, grabbed his now empty sack, and walked away from the area that they were in, though as he did that he waved his empty hand at the wall and it lowered into the ground, which revealed the last portal in the castle, before departing from the area entirely, leaving the siblings to their own devices and to help Elora out.
The siblings found that there was a small meadow behind the wall, with the portal in the middle of the area, but all they did was collect the gems that were laying on the ground and made sure the sheep were fine, before they headed down the last tunnel and found a large wooden door that seemed locked, where they broke some straw baskets and picked up the gems that were inside them, but once they did that, and they were sure Summer Forest was cleared at last, they headed back to the front of the castle, to head to a new realm and help the residents of that realm out.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to return to the front of the castle that rested in Summer Forest, by using the underwater tunnel to get up to where they had first found Moneybags in this homeworld, and both Spyro and Ember were happy that the Water Safety spell kept them from getting soaked, which made Spike happy as well, though even then they focused on what they were doing. They had two choices to pick from, the portal that was hanging in the middle of the small lake and the portal that was surrounded by a small river, though as the siblings approached them once more Spike noticed something he had missed earlier, as the residents of Avalar seemed to have enchanted their portals to display the name of the realms they were connected to. As such the one near the river was Idol Springs and the one in the lake was Colossus, a name that made them wonder why it was called that, especially when they considered the naming scheme of the realms that were connected to their homeworlds, but, even as they thought about that, it wasn't hard for them to come to the decision to check Colossus out first, to see what sort of problems the residents were having at the moment. While they walked over to the portal, however, Spike made a note of the names in his own journal, so he had something to give his fellow scholars when they got back home, before putting his writing stuff away as they reached the edge of the platform and got ready to head over to the portal in question.
"Shouldn't we split up, like we did when we were tackling Gnasty Gnorc and his forces, so we can save time by taking care of multiple realms at the same time?" Ember inquired, as she was interested in seeing if her siblings agreed with her or if they were of the other opinion, because sometimes there was no telling what was going through their minds, and she had to admit that the tactic had worked out quite well in the past.
"No, we should stay together." Spyro replied, surprising Spike for a moment, as he was about to say the same thing that his brother had said, to which he remained silent as they stared at the portal that would take them to Colossus, as he knew both of his siblings were interested in seeing what was on the other side, something that he agreed with, as he was curious as to what they would find in Colossus, "We're in unfamiliar territory, where we know next to nothing about the various realms of Avalar, despite the fact that we have the guidebook that Elora gave us, so we should stay together and tackle whatever challenges the realms have for us."
"Okay, I just figured that I would offer the idea before we went through that portal," Ember said, though she did have to agree with her brothers, especially since she knew that Spike shared Spyro's opinion, as it made more sense for them to remain together and tackle the obstacles of the various realms, instead of separating and doing things on their own, to which she dropped the idea entirely as they focused on the portal in front of them.
The siblings glided over the water for a moment and touched down in front of the portal to Colossus, which was when they walked through the portal and headed to the realm in question, though it didn't take them very long to arrive in the starting area of the realm, where they found that they were at the very edge of a meditation area of some kind, though one thing they did see was an odd wooden sculpture that was quite large, but looked like a weird head. There was an odd humanoid creature that was standing near them, who wore a white robe over his body, and instead of looking terrified about something, like they expected to find when they arrived in this realm, he was rather peaceful looking and that made them wonder if this would be rather quick, but they knew there was something about this realm they would have to take care of before they returned to Summer Forest. The other thing they noticed was that there were some stone walls to their left, to stop them from trying to climb up the mountain and explore the mountain range that this temple had been built on, which reminded them of the Magic Crafters homeworld for a moment, while to their right they found an opening that would allow them to glide off into the distance and leave the area, but that wasn't a good idea, since they had no idea if there were any fairies to catch someone if they jumped over the edge. There were also some blue coated goats, two of them to be exact, wandering the area between them and the wooden sculpture that was blocking them from reaching the next part of this realm, but right now they had no idea if they were friendly or if they were enemies, so they decided to talk with the monk and see what the problem with this realm was.
"Hello there. My name is Spike, and these are my siblings, Spyro and Ember." Spike said, to which he gestured to his siblings for a moment while he talked, so the monk understood who was who and didn't get confused, before he glanced at the area that they were in, as they were all curious as to what sort of problem the monk and the other residents could be facing at the moment, "What seems to be the problem?"
"A yeti has been rampaging around our home, but we've managed to trap him in a room by shutting all the gates that lead to where he's resting." the monk replied, to which he raised a hand and gestured to the wooden sculpture that they had seen as soon as they arrived in this realm, meaning that there was more than one of them and that they were more important than what they originally thought, before he focused on them again as he continued his explanation, "If you talk with the other brothers, who are currently standing beside the gates, they will open the way and guide you to the yeti, who you need to defeat before he goes on another rampage."
The siblings nodded their heads, to show that they understood what they needed to do, before they started to walk around the starting area and explore it a little, where Spyro found five gems resting behind them, something they could have missed if none of them bothered to check the area they landed in, which meant that the same thing might happen in the other realms they would be visiting in the future. As they did that the goats rammed each other, where their horns locked for a moment or two, before they pulled apart and separated from each other, but as that happened the pair came to a stop as they noticed the siblings investigating the area, only to charge at them for no reason, informing the siblings that they were enemies and that they needed to be taken care of. A quick flame from one of them was all that was needed to take care of a single goat, so while Spyro and Ember took care of them, and released their Spirit Particles to power the Powerup Gates that were in this realm, Spike gathered the gems that were laying on the ground and smashed the four straw baskets he found near the walls, before he rejoined his siblings as they approached the first gate. The other thing they noticed were the small penguins that were wandering around the area, totally ignoring them and clearly wanted to be left alone, making them wonder if they were the type of creature that would release butterflies if they were harmed, but, since none of their dragonflies were harmed, the siblings turned their focus to the gate and the monk that the first monk told them to talk to.
"I know what Brother Harry asked you three to do, and, by concentrating on the necessary chant, I can open the way for you, so you can tackle the yeti." the monk said, to which the siblings watched as he hummed or did something with his vocal cords, as whatever he was doing manifested as a bluish-green aura in front of his face, while at the same time the central part of the first gate rotated, revealing a wooden tunnel they could use to get to the other side and continue on their way to where the yeti was located.
As Spyro and Ember walked through the short tunnel, however, Spike paused for a moment and stared at the rest of the structure, the outside part that they had seen, and realized why the gates were so important, as it appeared that they were designed to emit invisible barriers that would prevent anyone from entering or leaving the area, meaning that once the yeti started to rampage around this place they had sealed him inside the room he was in. Of course that also meant that the monks had sealed themselves in various locations of the temple, to act as guards for the various gates that they were maintaining, so whoever was guarding the next gate had been stuck in the area that he and his siblings were heading to, ever since the outermost gate, the one they had seen upon their arrival, had been sealed. He was also sure that the barrier that was covering this area had been disabled as well, meaning that birds and other flying creatures could return to what they were doing earlier, to which he turned his attention to what they were here to do as he joined his siblings on the other side of the tunnel, which meant he joined them on the short bridge that linked up to the main area that the temple rested in, though they all spotted some golden statues of a monk with some sort of stick in his left hand. None of them were sure what the stick was supposed to be, not without checking the guidebook for information, but as they crossed over the bridge a red eyed bull charged at them, where Ember loosed a burst of fire and knocked the creature out, which let them finish collecting the gems on the bridge as they spread out to pick up the gems that were in the new area, starting with the three on their right.
Near the pair of golden statues rested two metallic vases, which the siblings smashed to get the gems inside them, before they continued down the path on their left and found one more angry bull blocking the way, to which Spyro took care of him while Ember and Spike collected the gems that were laying on the ground, including breaking the straw basket that was nearby, before coming to a stop at the second gate, which was identical to the first one.
"We're here to help you guys take care of the yeti," Spyro said, speaking to the monk that was guarding the gate that they needed to get through, though at the very least it meant that they didn't have to go looking for a key or have Spike work his magic on the gate, because it saved them time and effort, which all three of them would use to help the monks reclaim their temple, not to mention whatever else they were having problems with.
"I know, hence why I am guarding this gate," the monk replied, showing that he understood why they were there, how Spyro and Ember weren't sure of since they were sure that none of the other monks could have told him anything, but, at the same time, they didn't want to question what was going on, not when they were positive that Spike would be able to tell them everything they wanted to know, "and, with the power of the chants I know, there's no need for a normal key and lock, like some of the other realms use."
The siblings watched as the monk chanted just like the guardian of the first gate did, though this time the tunnel didn't turn like the first one did, rather it was raised up to be like a platform between the area they were in and the next area that they would have to explore, one that was higher than their current position, and once the platform was in place the monk stopped his chanting, clearly pleased with himself. Spike confirmed that the barrier produced by the second gate was down, just like what happened with the first one, before he and his siblings climbed up to the new area and noticed that they were in a courtyard of some kind, one that seemed to be on a level that was below where the yeti was resting, something that informed them that they were getting closer to their destination. In front of them rested a small gap between the area they were standing in and the courtyard area that they would be exploring soon, which had some goats trying to ram each other, like they were trying to assert their dominance or something, but that gave Spyro and Ember the chance they needed to glide over to the pair of goats and flame them, while Spike jumped down into the lower area that was in front of them and picked up the gems that he found, before returning to his siblings. That also gave him the chance to flame the bull that was rolling towards his siblings, instead of charging like they expected to see it do, allowing him to defeat another foe and add another Spirit Particle to the Powerup Gates that were in this realm, something he was sure they were going to use in due time, likely to face the yeti and restore order to the realm.
In fact Spike found the Powerup Gate for this realm, one of them at the very least, off to their left, which had three straw baskets near it and three green gems just further beyond those, so while he stopped to study the inactive gate, to see if he could figure out what sort of power it gave them, Spyro and Ember picked up the gems and broke the baskets that were near them, including the two near the doorway that would take them inside one of the temple's buildings. Since the Powerup Gate wasn't giving off any magical energies, not like the active ones from Glimmer, once they had taken out enough foes to power them anyway, Spike was unable to determine what sort of power this one would give them, to which he and his siblings turned towards the doorway and headed inside the building, so they could see what else needed to be done before they reached the yeti. They found that the interior of the room they entered, along with the rest of the building, was rather well lit up, and there were a number of paintings on the walls, either of places the monks liked to visit, of different locations of their own realm, or some portraits of the monks that called this temple home, though even as they looked at the paintings they made sure to pick up the gems that were on the floor and break the metallic vases that were lining one of the walls, before heading towards the next room. What they discovered in the next area was another monk that was standing in front of a slab of stone that looked like it would move with the correct chant, almost like what those green druids did to the Magic Crafters realms after Gnasty Gnorc trapped all the dragons in those crystalline statues, but before they interrupted the monk they headed over to the other side of the room, walking by the golden statue, and made sure to break the four metallic vases that they found, before collecting the gems and returning to the monk.
What was interesting was that the monk really didn't seem to notice that they were standing there, showing them that he was really focused on making sure his platform was correct, or something similar to that, before Ember tapped he claws against the floor, causing him to turn around and smile at them, once more showing that the monks were expecting them, without actually hearing that they were coming, not unless Elora sent the various races of Avalar a notice that they should be expecting some dragons to help them in the near future.
"Hey, look at what I can do!" the monk declared, to which he started to chant and the platform rose into the air for a few seconds, revealing that it wasn't just a stone slab since it was attached to a long stone rod that went down into the ground that was below the temple, before it eventually lowered itself back down to where they were standing, once more with the monk's chants helping it move.
Once it was back in it's original position the siblings climbed onto it and let the monk raise them to the next level, one that was pretty close to the ceiling and was split between two sections, meaning a glide was needed to get across the gap, but the first thing they did was break the straw baskets and pick up the gems that fell, before actually gliding over to the other side to smash the metallic vases that were stored up there. From there they jumped up to the next platform, walked through a short hallway, and then climbed up to another platform that overlooked the first room they walked through a few moments ago, an area that had two straw baskets to their left, which were quickly broken and the gems collected, before they turned their attention to the area in front of them. In that moment the siblings took turns gliding down to the ledge that was below them, which would take them outside and give them access to the level that the yeti was on, as they were now higher than that level by the looks of things, so Spike went first and made sure to pick up the gems and break the straw baskets, before Spyro and Ember followed after him so they could head outside once more. As soon as they were outside they found three more straw baskets and three goats wandering around the area, so what they did was move away from each other and each took out one of the aggressive goats that were in this part of the temple, allowing their Spirit Particles to join the ones they had released earlier, before collecting the gems from the straw baskets as they headed towards the building that the yeti was in, including the few behind the building in the middle of the area.
In that moment they reached the entrance of the room that the yeti, a large white furred creature that looked like it could hold it's own in a battle and would be a rather good opponent for them to understand how the creatures of Avalar actually fought, that stood twice as tall as the monks, but as it focused on where they were standing, and they prepared for the fight, the yeti beat his chest and roared at them, causing part of the ceiling to collapse on top of the yeti, flattening him while liberating the realm at the same time.
"That... was anticlimactic." Ember remarked, as she had been looking forward to fighting the yeti and seeing how she measured up to the residents of this land, the ones that could actually fight and defend themselves, before she sighed and let the monk that had been standing outside the room walk inside, though she did find a seemingly inactive portal on the wall that was behind where the yeti had been standing.
"Yeah, I have to agree with you on that." Spyro said, because now that the yeti was knocked out, and hurt by the piece of the ceiling that had fallen on him, which looked like a statue of some kind, all they could do was see what they needed to do to get the Talisman and then find out how many more people they had to help before they returned to Summer Forest and headed to the other realm that was outside the castle.
"You know, I was under the impression that the yeti was much tougher than that, given the fact that the other monks activated the gates to keep him contained." the monk near the entrance commented, to which he turned towards the part that had fallen on the yeti, as if he was thinking about something while the siblings gathered near the portal, before he shook his head and faced them, indicating that he likely had something to tell them, "I guess he was all bark, but no bite. Anyway, I was tasked with keeping our Sacred Talisman safe from the yeti, but, since the others asked you to help us take care of the yeti, even if he took care of himself, I think they would be okay with me giving it to the three of you in thanks for assisting us either way."
The Talisman in question looked nearly identical to the statues the siblings had seen during their brief adventure in this realm, with the exception of the missing stick, but Spike was quick to pull out the guidebook and transfer the Talisman into it's pages, just like Glimmer's Talisman, which actually seemed to activate the portal back to Summer Forest, informing him and his siblings that they were likely going to find deactivated exit portals near the area that the Talismans were located in, and that being given the artifacts in question would power the portals in turn. The first thing they did was pick up the rest of the gems that were in the room, where Spyro spotted a walkway that would take them to another area of the temple, before they headed outside, only to find that the Powerup Gate had been turned on, no doubt counting the yeti as a defeated foe for them.
"Hm, the marking on this one is different, it's three supercharge marks pointing towards the sky," Spike commented, as he was curious as to what they were seeing and wanted to see what sort of power this type of gate gave the users, and he could tell that both Spyro and Ember were hoping that he could tell them more about it, before they even attempted to use the Powerup Gate, "I wonder if that means the user can jump higher if they use this, as that seems to be the only real explanation behind the symbol that's floating between the two pillars."
"Then I'll be the one to test it." Spyro remarked, to which he stepped forward and passed through the Powerup Gate, though this time around, instead of flying off like he did with the Superfly Powerup, he was launched into the air and found that he could roll forward a few times before he reached the section of the roof that was above where his siblings were standing, meaning they could explore a brand new part of the temple, "Wow, that was interesting. Spike, do you have any idea what sort of powerup that was?"
"Given the appearance of the symbol, if we take Glimmer's into consideration, this could be a Spring Jump Powerup, one that allows the user to reach new areas," Spike answered, though at the same time he waited for Ember to go through the pillars and watched as his sister repeated what Spyro had done, landing near him, before he did the same thing and touched down near them, though it was an exciting time to be constantly discovering new things like this, things that he would add to his own journal, when it was time to do so, "Fascinating. I wonder how many different types of powerups we will encounter as we help the residents of Avalar out with their problems."
"Hopefully they're all as useful as the first two have been." Ember stated, because she found that the Superfly had been a great powerup for them to use, and that she could see them making good use of the Spring Jump as well, but she was really hoping that the others helped them to the same degree, before she turned her head and looked at something that was near them, "Though it looks like we might have found a missile of some kind."
What Ember was referring to was a missile that was on the roof that was below them, which had a few gems and three metallic vases near it, though before the siblings headed down there, after just getting up here, the first thing they did was walk around the exterior of the area they were in and found a few gems resting off to one side, before dropping down to where the missile rested. While the siblings did that they found that the central rock that was in the area that looked like a small courtyard, which they had passed by earlier, had an oddly shaped metallic chest on top of it, one they could tell they couldn't open with charging, since the top of the rock pillar was too small to allow them to do such a thing, revealing the reason behind the missile. Spyro and Ember collected the gems that were on the roof, both resting on the roof and the ones that were inside the metallic vases, while Spike stared at the missile for a few seconds, before loosing a bit of fire that ignited the fuse and sent it flying through the air, where they watched as it spun through the air for a few seconds and collided with the circular metallic chest, freeing the gems that had been trapped inside it. With that done the siblings glided over to the top of the pillar and let Spyro land on it, since it was only large enough for one of them to land on top of it, where he collected the gems in a few seconds before jumping down to his siblings, where they used the nearby Spring Jump gate to launch themselves into the air, but instead of heading back up to where the yeti had been resting they glided over to an area that had a bull and a goat.
As soon as they landed on the raised area Ember flamed the bull that was in front of them, allowing Spike to grab the gems that were behind it as Spyro charged into the goat that was near them, before he smashed the metallic vases that were nearby and picked up all the gems that were near them, which lead to them returning to the roof area that had lead to them spotting the missile, only for the siblings to locate a room that the Professor was standing in, which had some rock fragments resting near the Professor and a black spirit that fled the moment they entered the room.
"Professor, are you okay?" Spike asked, because while he and his siblings could see that no harm had been done to the person that was responsible for bringing them to Avalar in the first place, since his attire seemed to be fine, he felt like asking anyway, just to be sure that there wasn't something they were missing, before glancing in the direction the spirit flew off in, which split into ten fragments and disappeared, "Was that a spirit?"
"I'm fine, especially since you and your siblings scared away the evil spirit that was bothering me," the Professor said, though even as he said that he pulled out his notepad once more and seemed to be in the middle of making some notes about whatever he had been focused on earlier, before the spirit had arrived, and quickly finished the calculations that he started on the pad, "I was studying one of the older statues that the monks had, one of their relics to be exact, when the seals on the statue broke and the spirit was freed from it's prison, or at least that was the story I was told when I asked to study the statue, and it felt the need to chase me for a time. Of course, now that it's been freed and seems to have split itself, it's likely going to inhabit a number of the statues that rest throughout this realm, why I do not know, but, since it seems to be scared of dragons, maybe flaming the now cursed statues will deal with the spirit and purge it from the realm, which the monks would be happy about."
"Chase down and purge an evil spirit, that's new for us, but I'm sure we can handle it." Spyro said, though at the same time Ember smashed the three straw baskets that were resting off to their left and collected the gems that were inside them, before they headed outside the room that the Professor was in and started to look around the area for any signs of the cursed statues he had told them about.
As it turned out it was rather easy to figure out what the cursed statues looked like, as one of the golden statues that rested outside the room they had just been in had it's color dulled, the monk now seemed violent, and instead of a stick he was holding a sword in his left hand, making him look more like a warrior than a monk, but when Spyro flamed it the fragment of the spirit that had flown into it was forced to remove itself, breaking apart in the process. The other part that was interesting was the fact that the other statue that was outside the Professor's room had been twisted as well, which made it easy for them to take out two of the fragments, instead of just one, before they glanced at the area they were in and started to search for the other cursed statues. Spike spotted some gems on the central structure that was near where the yeti had been located, to which they glided over to it and quickly picked up the four gems, before spotting a path that rested on top of the yeti's former room, where they found three gems, a small cavern that had a few metallic vases and some gems resting on the ground, and, more interesting to them, a path that seemed to be made of ice that lead to an area that a hot air balloon was resting in. As such the first thing they did was flame the cursed statue and gathered the gems that were there, as well as breaking the metallic vases, before jumping down to the walkway that connected to the outside of the yeti's room, which also connected to the ice path, but that also gave them the fourth cursed statue and three gems, which the siblings were happy to collect, though they decided to ignore the ice path as they sought out the rest of the cursed statues.
The fifth statue, as it turned out, was near the Spring Jump gate that was just outside the yeti's room, which they had just crossed over a few moments ago, so they purified it before they heading into the temple, as they remembered seeing a statue inside it and were curious as to whether or not it was one of the cursed ones, though it didn't take them all that long to determine the truth. The statue that was near the monk that was focused on the moveable platform was one of the cursed statues, so the siblings breathed fire on it to deal with the fragment of the spirit that was inside it and return it to normal, before they retraced their steps as they headed back to the starting area for this realm, as they figured that they could find the remaining cursed statues along the way. As it turned out the next cursed statue was on the raised area that the lone goat and bull had been in, which they accessed thanks to the Spring Jump gate that was near them, so Ember headed up there and took care of the statue as Spyro and Spike retraced their steps so they could return to the starting area and see if they could find any of the remaining cursed statues. Interesting enough the remaining three cursed statues were just outside the second gate, as in the first two statues they had seen when they passed through the first gate and the final one was hidden by the monk that had opened the second gate for them, so the siblings split up and tackled one of the statues, purifying all of them in the process.
Once the tenth and final fragment of the spirit had been purified they gathered into a single spot, one that was near where the Professor had been studying a ruined statue, before the reformed spirit disappeared entirely, meaning they must have succeeded in their mission, and Spike was sure the spirit wasn't lingering in the shadows, before they returned to their new friend so they could tell him the news.
"We've dealt with the spirit, so the monks won't have to worry about it." Ember remarked, though even as she said that she noticed that Spike was making a note of what they had done in his journal, for when they returned to the Dragon Realms after stopping Ripto and thwarting his plans, before all three of them focused on the Professor, in case he had something he wanted to say before they left to search the other part of this realm.
"I'm sure the monks will be happy to hear the news," the Professor replied, to which he reached into his coat for a few seconds and seemed to be looking for something, what the siblings had no idea since they weren't familiar with what he could be hiding inside his pockets, before he withdrew an Orb and presented it to them, "I, um, borrowed this from the temple, so I could study the legend about the statue being a prison, and it seems that my actions were a mistake, since I accidentally broke the statue and freed the spirit... but you took care of it, instead of allowing it to inhabit the statues and do whatever it was trying to do. Here, I'm sure they won't mind me giving you this Orb as a reward."
The siblings had to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as it was odd that the Professor would admit to taking the Orb, without permission from the monks, but there had to be a reason behind why they needed the Orbs and Spike made sure to collect the one that was being offered to them, as he was sure it would be returned to the monks in due time, before he and his siblings headed for the other area they hadn't explored yet. It didn't take them long to return to the icy area and found that, when they started to walk on the ice, they had to shift their legs from side to side, almost like they were rowing a boat or something, and found that they were able to skate their way through the area, where they slowly collected the gems that rested on the ice, before reaching the other side of the path. The stairs that were on the other side of the ice brought them up to a very interesting area, as they discovered a ring made out of ice, stands that seemed to be filled by monks and a number of other creatures they hadn't met yet, and the hot air balloons, and that included some flags that bared the symbol of the monks. In fact there was a monk near the top of the stairs, who seemed to be waiting for them to arrive, so they made sure to pick up the gems that were on the stairs before reaching the monk, before they stared out at the area that was resting in front of them, as all three of them were curious about what they had discovered and that caused Spike to pull out the guidebook.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, welcome to our practice hockey ring." the monk said, where he beckoned to the ring for a few seconds, as if they couldn't figure out that the ice ring in front of them was the ring that he was referring to, but none of them said anything as he refocused on them and smiled at them, showing that he was happy they had found out where he was standing, "We have found that hockey is a peaceful and calming sport, as opposed to the sport that we were doing at one point in the past. Would one of you like to take part in a practice session against our goalkeeper?"
"Sure, why not." Spyro replied, to which he jumped down into the ring and watched as the large stone door that was on the other side of the ring raised for a moment, revealing a larger person who was wearing a blue uniform, had one of the sticks in his hand, and had some gear on that looked like it was supposed to protect him from harm, though as that happened the monk informed him that he had two minutes to score five points in the red goal, meaning this had to be the goalkeeper for the blue side and that he was protecting the red side for practice.
As Spyro started to move around the ring, to get a better feeling for how he was supposed to move, the monk pulled out a black object and tossed it into the middle of the ring, where he carefully chased after it and found that, in order to actually score against the goalkeeper, he had to pick it up in his mouth and spit it, as when the puck approached the red goal the person he was practicing with hit the puck away from him. While that happened, and Spyro moved after the puck to pick it up with his mouth, Ember sat down near the edge and watched as the pair did what they were doing, as she was a little interested in seeing how many points her brother could score before the time limit was up, because if he failed she was willing to try it. Spike, on the other hand, pulled out the guidebook once more, as he took a seat near his sister, and started reading up on Colossus, just like he had done for Glimmer, showing that his interest was more on the past and less on what was happening in front of him, though he was slightly interested in what the monk had said about this being the sport known as hockey. He found that the monks of Colossus had, at one point in time, been warriors and guardians of Avalar, almost like the Peace Keepers were that for the Dragon Realms, but after some undetermined amount of time they left that life behind and took up being monks, apparently sealing all of their warrior desires and darker thoughts in a very specific stone statue, the same one that the Professor had shattered by bringing an Orb to it, so the spirit they took care of had been the warrior nature of the monks... it was hard to say whether that was a good thing or if it was a bad thing, but only the monks would be able to tell them which it was.
The other thing he discovered was an explanation of what hockey was, where he found that this game was generally played between two teams that tried to score in the goals of the opposing team, as in the blue team would go for the red goal and the red team would be going for the blue goal, but from what he could tell this wasn't the game in question and wondered why this was even called hockey.
"Are you sure this game is named correctly?" Spike asked, though at the same time Spyro scored the third goal against the goalkeeper that was trying to stop him, who seemed to be getting frustrated with what was going on at the moment, before seeing that the monk glanced in his direction, causing him to gesture to what was in front of them, "You said that this is a hockey ring, right? Well, based on the guidebook's explanation of the game, and how the two teams are supposed to play it, this isn't hockey... rather, this seems more like it should be called Shootout Challenge or something."
"Remember, I called this our 'practice' hockey ring, as this is more suited for training new goalkeepers or players that will be hitting the puck around the ring," the monk said, though at the same time he wasn't annoyed by the question and was more than willing to tell Spike what was going on, while Spyro managed to get another puck around the goalkeeper and scored his fourth goal, despite the fact that he was running out of time, "the truth of the matter is that we have two hockey rings in our realm, one that we use for practice and one for the actual games, which is much larger than the one we're standing near at the moment. In the other ring we play actual games of hockey between two full teams, who will spend an hour to an hour and a half trying to score on the other team, and the other residents of Avalar come to enjoy the games that happen there... in fact, we would have had to cancel tonight's game if you hadn't stopped the yeti, so now we can prepare for the game and hope everyone manages to make it."
Spike thought about that for a moment, as he guessed it made sense that the monks would have a practice area and an area to actually play the real games, and accepted the monk's explanation, just as Spyro managed to score the last goal he needed on the goalkeeper, within ten seconds left, which caused the monk to admit that he was impressed by how a beginner was able to tackle the challenge and, interestingly enough, offered them an Orb for what Spyro had done. Spike made sure to collect the Orb and store it inside the guidebook, with the other Orb and the Talisman, before Ember jumped into the ring and tried her luck against the goalkeeper, though the person she went up against underestimated her within the first few seconds, as she was able to score rather quickly and continued to test the goalkeeper's reactions, while also scoring on him whenever a hole appeared in his defenses. When Ember was done they turned to Spike, as if he was going to join them, but he decided that, for now anyway, he would save his energy for something else, allowing Spyro to take on someone from the red team that would be trying to score in the blue goal, the one that the goalkeeper they had been practicing on defended, where he and Ember watched as two more hockey players came out and stood in the red side of the ring, before engaging Spyro in a game to see who could score five goals the fastest.
As it turned out the red team wasn't able to actually score on Spyro, who was a total beginner at the sport and had only one practice session, to which Spike and Ember watched as their brother managed to score five goals rather quickly while his goalkeeper protected the goal from the red team, where the red shirt wearing people growled in annoyance as he score his points and returned to them when the match was over. The monk, accompanied by the cheering fans that had been watching the entire thing, offered them a second Orb for the show, showing that they all enjoyed what Spyro was able to do, before the teams went back to what they were doing, meaning they were getting ready for the next game they would be partaking in. As the siblings turned around, so they could return to the portal and head back to Summer Forest, to focus on one of the other realms, the monk told them that they would be honored to see them in action in the future, when they were done saving Avalar from Ripto, where Spyro grinned as Spike and Ember nodded their heads, an action that pleased the monk as they departed from the area. Spike was still surprised that there was another ring in this realm, one that they weren't going to see for some time, but this land and the realms had many surprises for them and he was interested in seeing what the other realms had for them, even if his siblings might have a different opinion.
It didn't take them long to return to where the yeti had been, where they found that the poor yeti was knocked out and likely wouldn't be up for some time, to which they headed through the portal and headed back to Summer Forest, so they could focus on another realm and the residents that needed their help, before focusing on Ripto, his minions, and bringing an end to his plans.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, or Ember all that long to leave Colossus behind and return to Summer Forest, where they paused for a moment to take in how peaceful the homeworld was, in comparison to the realms they were tackling, as it was rather odd for them to find peace in an area like this, especially when the homeworlds of the Dragon Realms had enemies running about the place, trying to gather gems and make sure the dragons were imprisoned. Spike was happy to have a moment or two of rest, mostly so he could go over the guidebook and make sure they had gotten everything in Colossus, because if they missed anything they would have to go back at some point in the future, but, thanks to the magic of the Talismans and the Orbs they had collected so far, it appeared that they had recovered all the gems and important items in the realm they had departed from. That made both Spyro and Ember happy, as it meant they could focus on the next realm they would be heading to, Idol Springs, and repeat what they had gone to both Glimmer and Colossus, as in collecting all of the scattered gems, helping the residents of the realm out to get the Talisman they needed to face Ripto, and find some of the Orbs that were hiding in the realm. As he thought about that, however, he flipped the page and turned back to the beginning of the book, so he could learn a little more about Orbs and what their purpose was, as he was curious about that and figured that he could take some time to get some information before they headed to Idol Springs.
"So, do we have any idea why we're collecting Orbs?" Ember asked, as she knew that the Orbs were important, that was an obvious fact that couldn't be ignored, but so far she had no idea why she and her brothers were bothering to take them from the people that were holding them at the moment, while at the same time showing that she was hoping that Spike had an answer to the question.
"According to the guidebook, Orbs are energy sources that power portals and other objects that are scattered here and there in Avalar," Spike said, where he reminded Spyro and Ember of the Speedway portal they had found Elora near earlier, while they were exploring the castle and had collected all the gems that were scattered all over the place, before he sighed as he closed the book and returned it to his satchel, "of course, now that I think about it, the Professor might have another reason for having us collect the Orbs from the various realms, but what that reason is I have no idea... but I'm sure that we will figure out what that reason is in time."
"Well, let's get going and see what sort of challenges Idol Springs has for us." Spyro stated, because while he knew his siblings would love to take a break and rest for a few moments, maybe even ten to twenty minutes, they were here to take down Ripto and could rest once they reclaimed the homeworld that their foe was currently taking over, hence the reason he was heading over to the portal in question.
Spike and Ember followed after Spyro as he crossed over to the area that the portal to Idol Springs was located in and then walked into it, where the siblings headed to the next realm that needed their help, as they were sure that there was something wrong that was going on and that the residents would need them to take down some sort of enemy, just like they did in Colossus. The starting area for Idol Springs, as they soon discovered, was some ground that wrapped around a small lake, where there were some higher points that would require them to jump to reach the next point, and the lake had a short piece of stone in the middle of it, one that they couldn't reach from where they were standing and spotted that it had a circular metallic chest at the top of it. The next thing they noticed was that the residents of this realm were the same as the monks from Colossus, only this time the person that was near them was dressed up in the attire of someone that worked, as he had an overall that was light brown colored, a shirt that was brown colored, a vest of some kind that rested over both of them and happened to be a color that was lighter than the shirt, and a yellow hardhat that would protect him from harm. There was another person like him, standing near a locked tunnel that was carved into the side of the rock wall that the path would take them through, and it seemed he was wearing a gray robe, but in front of him stood a wooden idol that someone must have been working on recently, though this one was moving like it was alive and it was holding a stick with a flaming marshmallow at the end.
The siblings stared at the walking idol that was in the middle of terrorizing the worker that was in front of him, as that was a little interesting to witness since they weren't familiar with such a thing happening, before focusing on the reason they came here and approached the worker that was right in front of them, as they knew that he would tell them what was going on and what they could do to save this realm from the chaos that had followed Ripto's arrival in Avalar, even if he wasn't directly responsible for what was happening to this realm.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, boy am I glad you guys are here." the worker said, though as he started talking he gestured to the idol that was chasing the worker near the tunnel entrance, showing that they had to be responsible for some, if not all, of the problems that this realm was facing right now, before turning to face them once more, "The idols we just finished carving suddenly came to life, as if they were hit by a spell or something, and have started causing trouble for us, as they have forced us out of our temples and, to make matters even worse, they've stolen all of our food."
"The idols have stolen... your food?" Spyro asked, because that was a confusing statement, as the idols looked like they were now made of animated wood and likely didn't have any internal organs, like any of the other creatures that he and his siblings had encountered in the past, so he really had no idea why they would be interested in stealing all the food that the workers ate.
"They're likely curious as to what eating is like and wanted to taste something without being bothered," Spike said, as while he understood that Spyro was confused by what they had discovered, while Ember, once again, didn't seem to care about what they were talking about, he knew that the idols, despite the chaos they were causing, were copying what the locals had done, before he nodded his head for a moment, "Don't worry, we'll save the other workers from the idols and restore order to Idol Springs."
The worker nodded his head in thanks as the siblings started to explore the area that was around them, finding six gems on the path behind them, a straw basket off to the side, and a pair of red gems off to their right, before they turned towards the idol that was blocking the sealed entrance and flamed him, where they watched as their flames charred his body and reduced him to ash. That that Spike that whatever magic that had brought the idols to life didn't like dragon fire and this was the cause of the two interacting, though with the worker saved he and his siblings watched as the grateful worker walked up to the tunnel entrance and raised the hammer and chisel that he was carrying, only to use them on the lock that was on the entrance, shattering the metal like it was nothing and opened the tunnel to the next area of the realm in a matter of seconds. Before they headed into the tunnel, and took out any idols that were on the other side, the siblings headed towards the patch of land that was in front of a large statue of some kind, one that was in the water as well, and picked up five more gems, though once that was done they headed over to the tunnel and found a few gems inside the now open tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel they found three more idols, two of which happened to be holding metal lids that they seemed to be using as shields, which meant that one of them would have to charge into the shields to take them out, and the third idol, who was taller than the other two, who Spike knew were around their height, happened to be holding one of the workers in one of it's hands, though it didn't seem to be in the mood to hurt the worker.
Spike charged into the small idol that was in front of them as Ember focused on the tall thin one that was holding the worker at the moment, where Spike collided with his target and knocked him to the floor as his sister flamed the one that was on the bridge, allowing Spyro to charge into the other small one that was standing near the next locked tunnel, so in no time at all all three of the idols had been taken out. As the now freed worker headed up to the tunnel, so he could break the lock and allow them to move forward, the siblings gathered the gems that were scattered in the area they were in and smashed the metallic vases that were near the water, before regrouping near the passage that would take them to the next area and see what was going on. Of course they picked up the gems that were inside the next passage, though when they reached the next area they found that it was a rather open area and that there was a stone carving in the right side of the area, along with a rather tall rock pillar that looked like they could use it to reach the top of the structures they had walked through to reach this point, before finding three small shield wielding idols and one of the tall fat ones that seemed more interested in terrorizing one of the locals. As such the three of them separated once more and chased down the three small idols first, charging into them and knocking them to the ground, where Spike noticed that each of the idols released a Spirit Particle as they went down, just like all of the enemies they had taken out so far, meaning that there was a specific Powerup Gate in each of the realm and, based on what he had seen so far, empowering the gates seemed to be the best course of action, so they could help the residents of the realms out.
As Spyro headed over to the tall fat idol, so he could save the worker that was being chased around the area and open the way to the next part of the realm, Spike and Ember focused on picking up the gems that were scattered around the area, before heading over to where their brother was waiting for them and found that he had already collected the gems that were in the opening part of the tunnel they would be walking through. This tunnel seemed to go through the actual mountain for a time, and there were some tree roots growing in part of the area, so Spike flamed the tall far idol that was chasing another worker as his siblings picked up the gems, broke the straw baskets, and smashed the metallic vases that were in this tunnel, before coming to a stop as they watched as the worker rushed to the gate and smashed the lock with his hammer and chisel, just like the others they had saved so far. Once the lock was broken, and the door opened before them, the siblings found that there was a small chamber in front of them and picked up the couple of gems that were on the ground, before turning towards the opening that revealed the next area that they would have to go through, one that had a temple a few steps above where they were standing, a path that seemed to lead to a brand new area, and, much to their interest, some indents that had colored stones in the middle of them. Spike had the feeling that they were stepping stones or part of an elaborate puzzle they hadn't discovered yet, where the latter would be more interesting in his eyes, but even as he thought about that he turned his attention to the enemies that were in the area with them and knew that they came first, especially since one seemed to be messing with another worker.
Ember, while Spike was thinking about the symbols that were nearby, charged into the small idol that had the pot lid shield and then jumped up to flame the tall thin idol, allowing her to free the worker that was being terrorized, where she and her siblings watched as the worker rushed towards the locked temple door and smashed the lock like the others had done, revealing a chamber with an inactive portal on the wall to their right and another worker, who had a hard hat, that was standing near a flag, which was the person that they ended up approaching.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, it seems that you three are just as tough as Elora told us, when she was informing the residents of the various realms of your arrival." the worker said, though his tone suggested that he was a higher ranking worker than the ones they had rescued from the small group of idols, a foreman from what they knew, and that meant that the first resident of Idol Springs that they had encountered had been one as well, "If any of you want a permanent job here, as a guard so stuff like this doesn't happen again, know that I would hire any of you in a heartbeat, as it would be a honor to work with such excellent warriors such as yourselves. For now, since I know you guys are preoccupied with cleaning up the messes that Ripto has left in the various realms of Avalar, I want you to have this, both for your quest and as thanks for helping us reclaim us temples."
The Talisman, as the siblings quickly discovered, was a green stone version of the idol that was in the first lake they had seen after they arrived in this realm, and as Spike let the Talisman take it's place in the guidebook, in the page that it belonged in, the inactive portal turned on, just like what happened in Colossus, to which they turned their attention to picking up the gems that were in the chamber as they thought about which direction they wanted to head in, since all of them knew that there had to be some Orbs in this realm. From there they climbed up the stairs that lead them to a small chamber that had some straw baskets, along with a channel, that transported water to another section of this realm, that sat in the middle of the chamber and split it in half, though thanks to Spike's spell the water wasn't about to stop them from breaking the baskets and claiming the gems that were inside them. Ember then jumped into the water and let it take her down the stream for a few seconds, where she found a ledge that had another straw basket and two gems resting right behind it, so she collected them and then returned to her brothers, where the three of them headed back down the stairs and returned to the foreman that had given them the Talisman for Idol Springs, but instead of retracing their steps they headed through the other opening in the temple and continued exploring another part of this realm. What they found out was that there were gaps between the rocks that served as the path they were following, far enough that gliding and hovering were necessary for them to continue walking along it, though they also picked up the gems that were laying on the ground and smashed one straw basket as they did that.
A few minutes later they came to a stop as they found an interesting sight, as the open area that was down below where they were standing, separated from the main path they had followed by a tall rock wall that happened to be part of the mountain the tunnels were carved into, had a central stone slab that had a boulder attached to one end, where a lady, who looked similar to the workers, foremen, and monks, was chained to the rock, with a tall fat idol standing near her and six other ladies were posited around the area on pillars, with a Powerup Gate near their location.
"What is it with this realm and the idols that are terrorizing them?" Spyro asked, because from what he could tell this sort of thing didn't happen, or if it did it wasn't to this extent, and both the workers and the foremen had been caught off guard by the idols coming to life and attacking them, though even as he said that he knew exactly what needed to be done to save the lady that was in the middle of the area they were staring at.
"Well, according to the guidebook, the magic that brought the idols to life is what the foremen generally use to will the finished idols to life," Spike replied, as he pulled out the book the moment Spyro asked the question, because he was also curious as to why the idols came to life like this, but what he found had interested him more than he thought it would, so he kept reading so he could understand everything, and give his siblings the same understanding, "From what I can tell the workers that live in Idol Springs focus their efforts on making are guardians of other realms, statues like the ones we saw while we were helping Colossus with their yeti problems, and a number of other interesting creations that we might see during our adventures, but this is the first time they went about creating their own protectors."
"Hold on a minute, you mean the idols we destroyed were supposed to protect these people?" Ember inquired, as that was news to her, especially since they knew nothing about the realms of Avalar, due to the fact that it appeared that the guidebook either gained the knowledge about a realm after gaining the Talisman or Spike picked the best moments to learn more about the realms, but she was still surprised by what her brother had said, "How did they mess that up, if they're so skilled at creating things for the other realms?"
"Here, let me show you," Spike said, where he beckoned for his siblings to put a claw on his back, though once they had done so he focused for a few seconds and his horns glowed, showing that he was working with his magic, only for them to see a number of magical strands appear in the air around them, all baring a different color, and that one that was attached to the idol in the area below them had a green strand that had something attached to it, "Tell me, do you see the mutated green strand?"
"It's hard to miss," Spyro replied, because it was in the middle of the area they were staring at, where there were only a few strands to begin with, but even then all he could see was an orange and purple color that was wrapped around parst of the specific strand his brother wanted them to see, and he could tell that Ember had seen it as well, before Spike made his horns stop glowing and the strands disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, "What was that spell?"
"It's an Altered Sight spell, allowing one to temporarily see strands of magic, which are usually invisible to everyone in the realms, and it's one of the more advanced level spells I've started to learn." Spike replied, showing his siblings that his lessons with Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters had given him more than the ability to sense hidden passages and what they had seen so far, before he glanced down at the area they were staring at, as it was time to answer the question that he knew his siblings wanted to ask him, "Anyway, that strand represented the life energies that no doubt went into the other idols we've seen, but, as you no doubt noticed, it wasn't purely green, rather it had orange and purple bits wrapped around it, like a snake."
"Those bits we saw, do they represent Ripto's magic?" Ember inquired, as both she and Spyro weren't the best when it came to magic, not to mention the various terms and powers that one learned about while studying the subject, as this was Spike's domain and, as Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters had said, he was one of the most skilled magic users in the Dragon Realms, even though he was only eleven years old, and when he finally matured he was likely going to be far stronger than any other magic user the dragons had seen for a long time.
"Indeed it does, which confirms that he's messing with the realms of Avalar," Spike stated, as while he and his siblings didn't doubt the word of the residents of the realms they had been to so far, including Summer Forest for that matter, this did confirm what they had been told, before he got up from where he was sitting and headed down to the Powerup Gate, as he had a feeling he knew what this one, with the lightning bolt symbol, would give them.
"Could you break off the bits of Ripto's magic, to save the idol instead of destroying it?" Spyro asked, though at the same time he knew that it was about time for them to keep moving, as they had used up a few minutes to stare down at the area that was in front of them, learn more about this realm and the idols, and then learn about another spell that their brother had been working on with the other Magic Crafters.
"No, not yet." Spike admitted, because while he knew that his siblings expected him to have the vast majority of the answers to their questions, about magic and the realms they were visiting, the truth was that he still had a lot more to learn before he was a master of the magical arts, or even a single field of magic like Cosmos and Nora were, and he knew that he had limitations like everyone else, even if he's were common for magic users, "However, I feel that, when we finally mature into adults and get used to our new abilities and responsibilities, I might have the power to do something like that, but for now all we can do is take out the idols and make sure peace returns to this realm, before heading out to see what sort of chaos is happening to the other realms of Avalar."
Spyro and Ember found themselves agreeing with Spike, as it was hard not to agree with their brother, even if there were times where they didn't like to do so, but as they reached the area that was below them, and noticed there were a few gems laying here and there, Spike walked through the Powerup Gate and starting charging like he was running along a supercharge ramp. From there they watched as he charged around the area they were in and struck the six pillars that the six ladies were standing on, which was when they discovered that breaking one of the pillars sent that lady into the air so they could land on the central stone slab, though that was when the pair discovered something odd, as the ladies didn't stop dancing after they landed. Spyro found that Spike didn't need to run around the area a second time, as he managed to hit all six of the pillars and let the ladies take their position around the idol that was standing in front of them, who was also carrying an umbrella as well, to which he and Ember watched as the ladies continued their dancing as some of the clouds gathered above them, forming a small dark cloud that would rain on someone. They then witnessed the six ladies using a bit of their own magic to influence the storm cloud, something that Spike recognized from what Altair messed with the weather in front of them, and called a powerful bolt of lightning out of the air that struck the idol and caused it to shatter in an instant, pieces flying everywhere while leaving nothing behind.
Spike had to admit that he was impressed by weather manipulation magic, hence why it was one of the skills that he wanted to learn in the future, but the next thing he and his siblings did was walk over to the lady that was still chained up and helped the other ladies in freeing her from her restraints, which pleased her as she touched the surface of the stone, and, of course, made the other six ladies dance as they jumped off the stone and started to move around the area that they were in, showing how happy they were.
"Would you look at that, the rain dance the hula girls called upon blew up that idol like it was a candle!" the lady said, showing that she was happy that the other ladies had come to her rescue, even though she knew that they were only able to do that thanks to Spike knocking them over to where she was being held captive, to which she jumped down onto the lower level and pulled something out of a bag that Spike had seen while he was charging around the area, though when she returned to them she held out an Orb, "Here, take this Orb as a token of my thanks, as I'm sure it will help you go places in the future... while I pursue that dancing career that I've been dreaming about for so long!"
Spyro and Ember waited for a few seconds, to be sure that Spike collected the Orb they were being given, before they searched the area that the hula girls were in and picked up the couple of gems that were laying on the ground here and there, before heading up the stairs that were near the Supercharge Powerup, so they could collect any gems they might have missed on their way down into this area and continue their exploration of the rest of the realm. From there they took turns jumping over to the next part of the path they were following, though with Spyro leading the way he was the first one to pick up the gems that were on the ground and smashed the straw baskets that happened to be in the way, and it wasn't long before they were heading around the top of the area that the hula girls were dancing in. It didn't take them long to reach what appeared to be the end of the path, which was in front of a rock wall that was in the area that had the single lone rock pillar they had seen in the area before where the main temple was located, but as they finished collecting the gems, and breaking the straw baskets, Spike spotted a split in the path that would allow them to jump over to the large platform that was on top of the pillar. Once they landed on the earthy platform Ember smashed the straw baskets that were on it, allowing them to collect the gems that were inside them, before they glided over to the next walkway that seemed to be leading the siblings back to the starting area of this realm, maybe giving them a way to break the circular metallic chest they had seen after arriving in this realm.
At the end of the path all three of them found a missile that looked like the one from Colossus, which was what they had used to break the chest in that realm in the first place, so all the siblings did was ignite the fuse and watches as it flew through the air, where they glided down to the starting area and watched as it collided with the chest, blowing it apart and scattered the gems that had been resting inside it, some resting on the pillar and some being flung into the water that was around the pillar. Ember changed her course to land on the area the chest had been resting in, while Spyro and Spike jumped into the lake and dived under the water, so they could collect the rest of the gems and see if the lake had any gems or vases for them to smash, along with any potential passages that might bring them to where one of the other Orbs in this realm were waiting for them. While Spyro and Spike did that, and Ember jumped in to join them a few moments later, which showed that she was done collecting the gems that had been on the pillar, they found a number of gems that were laying on the bottom of the lake, a few glass vases that they smashed, and, interestingly enough, a number of fish that were swimming around them, where some were blue colored, some were yellow colored, and the rest were red colored, but they paid the fish no attention as they found a passage that they swam through.
The short tunnel brought them to a small room that allowed them to jump out of the water and explore the rest of the area, which contained a few gems and a much larger chamber, one that had a rather large chest in front of them, a foreman that seemed to be worried about something, and a set of eight large stones that were arranged in a square, like a puzzle of some kind, before the siblings turned their attention to the foreman, so they could see what his problem was and if there was anything they could do to assist him.
"What seems to be the problem?" Ember asked, because from what she and her siblings could see there were no enemies keeping the foreman trapped in this chamber, since there had been none in the water and they had already taken care of all the idols that were harassing the workers of this realm, which only made them interested in what sort of problem the foreman was facing.
"I've been in this chamber since the idols attacked us, pleading with the giant idol heads to let us use our tools, which are locked in this chest." the foreman replied, where he gestured to the large chest for a moment, showing the siblings that it was important to him and the other workers, before focusing on the stones that were to his left, where they found four of the stones were glowing, the four directional ones and not the four corners, "They won't let us open the chest, not unless we complete the three puzzles that are connected to them, and the first of them is to turn all of the blocks, which are to my left, yellow... and, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how you're supposed to do this one, though I can reset the blocks if you reach the same conclusion that I did."
Spike raised an eyebrow for a moment as he stared at the blocks, as it looked pretty straightforward to him, and both of his siblings agreed with him, as Spyro jumped on the northeastern and northwestern corners while Ember did the same to the southeastern and southwestern corners, as none of the corners were lit when they started and soon all eight of the blocks were glowing a few seconds later... leaving the foreman to stare at them for a few seconds, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, before he lead them outside the chamber and stopped when he was in front of the first idol statue they had seen when they arrived in this realm.
"Okay, maybe the first puzzle was too easy for you, but the idol heads assure me the second puzzle is much more difficult than the first," the foreman said, to which he raised his hand and gestured to the idol head that was in front of them, where the siblings glanced at it for a few seconds and wondered what sort of challenge this puzzle would give them, even though they were hoping that it wasn't as simple as the first puzzle was, "This idol head has informed us that he's hungry and that he wants to eat ten fish, which will appease him and unlock the third puzzle, and it's rather hard for us to throw the fish into his mouth, but he's also got a sensitive stomach, so you'll have to be mindful of the color of fish that you give him."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember had no idea why this classified as a puzzle, as it sounded like the idol head was just hungry and could have just asked the workers to help him out, instead of helping the other idol heads in locking the chest that contained the tools the residents of this realm used everyday, but, at the same time, they simply focused on the matter at hand and stared at the idol head, who opened his mouth to receive the fish that would be offered to him. This time it was Ember who sat at the edge of the area they were in and readied herself, because the fish, as if sensing what they were trying to do, started to swim around the water that was in front of them and jumped into the air, one by one to be exact, and all she had to do was flame them once, where they were knocked into the idol's mouth. As it turned out the idol liked the blue and yellow colored fish, as it accepted both of those colors without any problems, but the red fish, despite the fact that they looked like the other two colored fish, caused the idol to eject three fish in the process, something Ember found to be ridiculous, but she went with it anyway and avoided flaming the red fish, eventually landing ten fish, of the blue and yellow colors, in it's mouth. With the deed done, and the foreman showed that he was impressed by what they were able to do once more, the siblings followed the foreman through the rest of the realm as he lead them to the third and final puzzle, which just so happened to be the different shaped stones they had seen near the exit portal, an area that Spike had focused on for a few moments when they first came to this area.
He was pleased to find that they were associated with a puzzle, as it seemed rather odd to have all six of these stones resting in this area, with no purpose, and this time around the stones were raised out of the ground, indicating that they were more like buttons and that pressing them in the right order was what they needed to do, which was why Spyro and Ember let Spike deal with this puzzle.
"Here's the final puzzle, where all you need to do is jump on the stones in the correct order," the foreman said, his tone revealing that he had no idea what the pattern was and that he was glad to have the siblings here, as they had taken care of the first and second puzzles rather quickly, before he focused on the stones again, which was the same thing that Spike did at the same time, "however, on this puzzle I can help you out a little, as I know that the first stone is the one that is resting in the middle of the six stones."
Spike found that the stone in question was square shaped and had a glowing blue star on it's surface, though before he did anything he stared at the other five stones, where he discovered that one of them was star shaped and had an orange crescent moon on it, one was hexagon shaped and had a green star on it, one had the form of a hexagon and had an orange square on it, and the last two were triangle shaped, where one had a green crescent moon and the other had a blue circle on it. With that in mind Spike jumped onto the green star, watching as it sank into the ground and nothing bad seemed to happen in the process, to which he grinned for a moment as a path formed in his mind, as the next one he jumped on was the orange square, one that also sank into the ground as he moved into the next one on his list, showing the foreman how skilled he was. The fourth stone he jumped onto was the one with the orange crescent moon, before turning towards the final two stones, where the fifth stone he jumped into was the green crescent and the sixth was the blue circle, to which his siblings and the foreman watched as the stones sank into the ground, but when nothing terrible happened all of them smiled. From that point the foreman lead them back to where the locked chest was located and found that the idol heads were true to their word, as the chest was no longer locked and he was allowed to open it so he could access the tools that his fellow workers used everyday, before the foreman noticed something odd that wasn't supposed to be in the chest.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, you guys are pretty smart for a couple of dragons," the foreman said, almost as if he had been doubting their intelligence or something, though before any of them got angry with him, especially Spike, he pulled out the offending object he had spotted, which just so happened to be one of the Orbs that they were looking for, "Now, I'm not sure what this shiny thing was doing in our toolbox, but you guys are more than welcome to it, as thanks for helping me solve the puzzles the idol heads gave us."
Spike wanted to whack the foreman, as he really didn't like having his intelligence questioned, but instead of doing that he accepted the Orb and departed from the chamber that the foreman was in, allowing him and his siblings to head back outside so they could see if they had missed anything, though their dragonflies informed them that they had all the gems in this realm and the guidebook seemed to be suggesting the same with the Orbs, so they headed back to the exit portal so they could turn their attention to one of the other realms that rested in Summer Forest.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to return to Summer Forest, leaving the workers and their foremen alone to work on new idols that weren't affected by Ripto's spell, though once they touched down in front of the portal to Idol Springs, and jumped over the small river that was between them and the ground they had walked on earlier, when they first arrived in this homeworld and explored what the land had to offer. From there the siblings headed back towards the castle and dived into the water, where they charged through the small lake and went through the underwater passage that would take them inside the castle, even though Spike could have opened the hidden passageway that he revealed to Moneybags earlier, but his siblings didn't seem to mind swimming for a few seconds and he didn't mention it. Due to how short the tunnel was, it took them a few seconds to swim under the castle's wall and jump out of the pool that was inside the structure, where they climbed out and started to move back towards the area that the next two portals were in, as they needed to decide which realm they were going to tackle next. Of course the wooden gates still blocked their way, since those seemed to be an important part of the castle and it's defenses, but they were rather easy to deal with and the siblings found themselves back in the large chamber that the large tree rested in, accompanied by the portals that they were looking for, as for now they were ignoring the paths that would take them to the Speedway and the final portal of this homeworld.
"So, what are the names of the realms we have to pick from?" Spyro asked, because while he and Ember could easily read the magical writing on the portals, as it seemed rather simple when they looked at the two constructs, there was no telling if there was anything hidden in the magic, something that Spike would be able to see and tell them about before they made their decision.
"The portal that is the closest to the pair of paths, that lead to the Speedway portal and the portal that Moneybags tried to scam us into buying access to, is Sunny Beach," Spike replied, as he could see the names of the realms, just like he had seen the names for Colossus and Idol Springs earlier, and didn't question why Spike was asking him about what the realms were called, even though he knew that his siblings could read the names themselves, before he shifted his focus to the other portal for a moment, "while the one that's near the ladder, which let us find an Orb and some gems near the ceiling of this room, is Hurricos. I don't think it matters which realm we tackle first, so it all depends on what you guys want to do and where you want to go, though I'm eager to learn more about all of the realms that Avalar has, just like I read up on Glimmer, Colossus, and Idol Springs earlier."
"I'd say visit the beach, but I'm curious about Hurricos," Ember added, as while she knew that part of the reason she and her brothers had gone through the portal to Dragon Shores, to escape the odd storm that had shown up in the Artisans homeworld, she was more curious as to why someone would call their realm 'Hurricos', though her curiosity paled in comparison to Spike's burning desire to learn everything he could about these new realms.
"Hurricos it is then." Spyro stated, as he had been thinking the same thing that his siblings had said, that they would tackle the realm that was the closest to the ladder, before he focused on the portal in question and headed towards it, where Spike and Ember followed after him so they could see what was on the other side of the portal, even though they all knew that the residents of the realm would need help with something.
It took them a few seconds to get up to where the portal was located and charge through it, though when they arrived in the starting area for the new realm they were visiting, and focused on the area around them, they found that they were on an island that was surrounded by water, though it had a number of metallic looking buildings, along with some gates that had electricity dancing the two vertical parts of the structure. Where one would have figured that they could jump on some rocks and get around the gate, without having to deal with it, the siblings found that the rock to their right was tall enough to prevent that from happening, so what they needed to do was get through the gate and figure out what in the world was happening to this realm. Standing near the area they appeared in was a small person, who was about as tall as they were when they sat down, that was wearing a blue suit that covered the majority of their body, save for the mouth to be exact, and he wore glasses over his eyes, which seemed to be filled with static or something, though since he was standing near the flag that contained the emblem for the residents of this realm, they could determine that those that were like him were the ones they were helping out. The other being they noticed was easily three times the height of the siblings, who wore a black jacket that was open, brown gloves and pants, and was carrying a large wrench in one hand and had a metallic hat on his head, but the siblings had to assume, since the being was standing in front of the electric gate that was blocking their way, had to be the enemies that were bothering the residents of this realm.
The thing that caught their attention after they discovered all of that, however, was the dark sky that was above them, which was filled with storm clouds that were rumbling at the moment and the rain that accompanied the clouds, though Spike could tell they were thunderclouds and that they happened to visit the realm in the middle of a thunderstorm, only there was no thunder and lightning at the moment.
"Great, we went through the portal to Dragon Shores to escape the storm that was hitting the Artisans homeworld, only to visit a realm in Avalar that happens to be in the middle of a storm anyway." Ember remarked, where there was a slight frown on her face, as she didn't like the fact that this was happening to them at the moment, before she sighed and focused on the person that was standing nearby, showing her siblings that she wanted to get started on helping the residents of this realm and ignore the storm that was above their heads.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, boy am I glad to see you, especially since Elora told us we'd be receiving help from a group of dragons in the near future," the person said, once more showing the siblings that the residents of the realms of Avalar did know about them, thanks to Elora telling them ahead of time, though once he said that he gestured to the being that was standing near the electric gate, allowing the siblings to glance at the person in question for a few seconds, "We've always had problems with the Gear Grinders, since they enjoy bothering us and interrupting our work, but now they have gone too far, as they have set up force fields to separate us from each other. If any of you find any diodes, which are small light bulbs that the Gear Grinders have removed from the gates you'll find in our realm, you can use them to turn off the force fields and access the other areas of our realm... and I think there might actually be a diode around here somewhere, but my eyesight isn't what it used to be and I might be wrong about that."
The siblings nodded their heads and informed the small person that they were going to help him and the rest of the realm out, while at the same time Spike was going to have to open the guidebook so he could discover what the residents of Hurricos were called and what they did for the rest of Avalar, like he did for the other realms they had been to since their arrival in Avalar, before he and his siblings started to move. The first thing they did was collect the pair of gems that were on the ground and broke the straw baskets that were near the person they had spoken with, before turning their attention to the Gear Grinder that was standing in front of the force field, his wrench at the ready so he could beat one of them into the ground. Spyro, being the first one to approach the first foe they would encounter in this realm, quickly rolled to the side and avoided the incoming attack, allowing the wrench to hit the ground before loosing a burst of fire that took down the foe, though while he did that, and felt good about what he was able to do, Spike found the diode that the person had told them about and picked it up with his magic. Since the force field gate was nearby, and there was no one in the area to stop them, he slipped it into the rectangular shaped receptacle that was on the side of one of the legs of the gate, where he and his siblings watched as the force field shorted out and disappeared before their eyes, allowing them to access the next part of the realm.
When they walked through the inactive gate, and looked at the Gear Grinders that were in the area, they found that one of the foes in question was working on a metallic creation that looked like a robot or something, as it seemed to be the upper body of someone like Hunter or Moneybags, all made out of metal, with wrenches at the end of it's arms, but as soon as they came to a stop the Gear Grinder paused what he was doing and turned on the robot, showing that he was ready for battle.
Due to what they knew, from the previous realms they had taken on and the enemies they had defeated, the siblings knew that fighting a foe that had some sort of metallic armor wasn't the end of the world, as all one of them had to do was charge into the opponent in question and they would be allowed to move on, so while Spyro and Spike took care of the robot, where Spike stopped the creature with a short barrier so Spyro could charge into it, Ember tackled the Gear Grinder that was behind it, dodging the attack before jumping into the air to hit the being with her tail. As soon as her foe hit the ground Ember flamed him for good measure, making sure he was taken out and that another Spirit Particle joined the pair that surged off to another part of the realm, where she and her brothers decided not to worry about the Powerup Gate and focused on what they were doing at the moment. From there they found another diode on the ground, where Spike picked it up and store it inside his satchel until they were ready to power down the next force field, so they could progress to another part of this realm, only to walk around the decent sized piece of earth that was near them and found another Gear Grinder standing near a second diode, though he wasn't as ready as the second Gear Grinder had been, as there were no fancy moves this time, as Spike just flamed him and collected the diode as he fell to the ground. Once that was done they picked up five gems that were around the raised section of earth and then jumped onto it, smashing the straw basket that was up there and gathered both the gem that fell from it and the gem that was laying near it, before they glided over to another raised section of the starting area.
When they landed the first thing they did was smash the straw baskets that were near them and picked up the gems that ended up being freed from the containers, before picking up four more gems that happened to be in the area that was around them, only to turn their attention on the Gear Grinder and his robot, who seemed to be guarding the area, despite the fact that Spike believed the two diodes they had picked up were all they needed to move forward. That didn't stop the siblings from charging into the robot and crushed him against the rock wall that was near them, nor did it stop them from dodging the wrench that the Gear Grinder swung at them a few times, as if he was trying to get the three of them to back off or something, before they flamed him and continued to explore the area they were in. As soon as the Gear Grinder and his robot were taken care of the siblings gathered the gems that were laying on the ground, smashed the pair of straw baskets that were on a slightly higher section of the area, and ignored the rat that was scurrying away to find shelter, as they had the feeling that rats were the fodder creatures for this realm, before they found that they could hover over a slight gap to get to one of the highest points of this area. It was there that they found a couple more gems on the ground, and some straw baskets that they smashed open, before they glided over to the raised section of earth that happened to be just outside the tall building they had seen upon their arrival, but the platform was out of their reach for the moment, meaning they had to find a way to get even higher in this realm to reach that point, though the good part about that was that Spyro found some gems to add to what they were retrieving for Elora.
Once all of that was done, and Spike was sure that this part of the realm had been cleared of enemies and they had collected all of the scattered gems for now, the siblings headed towards the force field gate that was blocking the way forward and Spike slipped one of the diodes into the receptacle, effectively turning everything off, though as they walked up the metallic steps that were behind it, and across a metal bridge, he repeated the action and turned off a second force field gate, allowing them to access another section of this realm.
"Okay Spike, what can you tell us about this realm?" Spyro asked, as he was stopping them under the area that the second force field gate brought them to, as there was a decent sized area they could stand under without getting wet at all, which meant his brother could pull out the guidebook and figure out everything they might need to know about this realm and the inhabitants that they were helping, and, if they were lucky, even the reason as to why Ripto was so keen on messing with this realm.
"Well, as you might have noticed, Hurricos is a realm that is constantly being ravaged by thunderstorms, even though we've come to this realm at the end of such a storm," Spike replied, showing that they were experiencing the end of one of the storms that Hurricos experienced all the time, though he was looking down at the guidebook and the information that Elora had provided them with, as it was all fascinating and he liked what he was seeing, "and the residents of this realm, the ones that we're helping out by taking care of the Gear Grinders, breaking their robots, and taking down the force fields that have been turned on, are called Electrolls. From what I can tell, the Electrolls are the ones that build all of the pieces of machinery that the residents of Avalar use and, at the same time, the frequency of the violent thunderstorms is actually a good thing for the Electrolls, as the buildings that are scattered all around Hurricos are designed to capture the power of the lightning bolts that strike the island. The Electrolls, as it turns out, use all the power they collect from the storms to power the vast majority of the machines that are scattered throughout Avalar, by a system none of them felt like sharing with Elora, but it's simply amazing what they have been able to do with machinery and the power of nature."
"So why is Ripto harassing this realm?" Ember asked, where she could see that Spyro was thinking about this as well, because they both figured that the Gear Grinders were either being employed by Ripto to do this, or they could have been taking advantage of the lack of guards trying to stop them from messing with the Electrolls, and she had the feeling that Spike likely had an answer for them, "What does he gain from all of this?"
"Best guess, he either broke the Gear Grinders out of their holding cells and put them to work, or they're doing this because all of Avalar's guards seem to be missing," Spike replied, though that was an interesting thing to think about, as neither he or his siblings had seen anyone else besides Elora, Hunter, Zoe, and Moneybags in the castle or the area that was around it, making him wonder if there were even any guards to begin with, something that he was going to have to ask Elora the next time they saw her, which would likely be when they headed to the dungeon, "either way, what Ripto gains from all of this is a way to force the rest of Avalar to accept his rule, because if the realms that are dependent on Hurricos lose their machinery, and most of the power they need to live their lives, they'll flock to someone that might be able to restore power to their realms, even if it means submitting themselves to the rule that Ripto would force them to live under, if he succeeded in taking over Avalar."
"Huh, I never thought about it that way." Spyro said, though he couldn't fault Spike's logic, as he was the smartest out of all three of them and he knew that his brother was likely right in his thinking, though part of him wasn't sure that Ripto could have thought up such an elaborate plan on his own, not after what they had seen when they came out of the portal that the Professor used to call them to Avalar in the first place.
Spike was glad that Spyro seemed to understand what he was saying, while Ember, of course, seemed more focused on what was in front of them, so he slipped the guidebook into his satchel and indicated that they could move forward, to see what else was waiting for the three of them in the future, especially since it appeared the Gear Grinders were messing with another part of Hurricos. The area in front of them had what appeared to be metallic windmills, which were attached to buildings that had been built into the open area between two small mountains, though the blades were resting in the air, horizontal to be exact, instead of vertical like an actual windmill would have, and Spike was curious if they could use the two sets of blades to get from one place to another. In addition to that there were a few other buildings that were similar to the one that they had seen when they first arrived in this realm, smaller than the large structure, though the only other thing they noticed was that there were a few thick looking wooden windmills that didn't look like they could be taken out by a quick flame or a charge, meaning they would need to think up a way to take care of them, including the fact that the Powerup Gate was in this area. Once the siblings were gone looking around the area, from the safety of the small tunnel between the first area and this area, they moved forward and focused on the Gear Grinder that was in front of them, where they dodged the incoming wrench attacks and knocked him to the ground, allowing Ember to take him out while Spyro and Spike started to pick up the gems that were on the ground.
From there Spyro charged into the robot that was rolling their way, showing him that the Gear Grinder that had been working on it had finished his repairs and was sending it out to battle him and his siblings, only for him to break it with his charge and then dodged the wrench that was coming his way, before flaming the person that happened to be standing in the middle of the area, near the Powerup Gate to be exact. While Spyro was doing that Spike smiled as he found a diode and carefully stored it away, though Ember smashed the straw baskets that were nearby and collected the gems that were inside them, before the three of them got back together and found three more enemies resting near the edge of the area they were in, two more Gear Grinders and another robot. The Gear Grinders were easy for them to take out, especially since all the siblings had to do was dodge the wrenches that were being swung at them and then knock their foes onto the ground, allowing them to take them out with a quick flame, though as Spyro and Ember did that Spike took care of the robot, by just charging into it and let the power of his attack tear the creation to pieces. As soon as those enemies were taken care of Spyro and Ember found another pair of enemies that were lingering near the back of the area, near of the structures they had seen, and moved to take them out, though before he followed after them Spike found a second diode and added it to his collection, so he could put it and the other one inside the force field gates when he and his siblings were ready to move on to the next area of Hurricos.
The moment he had the diode, and he found that his siblings had taken out a Gear Grinder and the robot that was patrolling the area near it, they carefully looked around the area they were in and collected the gems that were laying on the ground, as well as breaking the various straw baskets that were hiding behind some of the structures, before finding an area that had three metallic vases, which they smashed and picked up the gems that had been inside them. While they did that Spike spotted something interesting, as the structure that was in this part of the area had some steps carved into the earth that was below it, which would allow them to jump up to a small walkway that gave them access to a tunnel, one that would likely take them right to where one of the Orbs was located, but for now, instead of heading in there to see what was going on, they turned around and headed to the force field gates. As they walked back to the gates in question, however, the siblings spotted one of the new circular metallic chests that were in Avalar, though this time, unlike the other realms they had visited so far, there didn't seem to be any missiles in the area for them to use on it, so they kept their eyes open for anything that might help them out in the future. Once they were done looking at the chest they approached the force field gates, where Spyro and Ember let Spike step forward and slip one diode into the first one, powering it down in the process, before they approached the second gate and took it down as well, which seemed to open the way to what appeared to be the final area they needed to clear out, before receiving the Talisman for this realm.
There was also a pair of gems that they picked up as they moved through the short tunnel between the two sections of the realm, though on the other side of the tunnel they found a Gear Grinder standing in front of them, though it wasn't hard for them to dodge his wrench and take him down, so they could explore the rest of the realm and see what else they needed to do for the Electrolls. The first thing they did was search the area and found two metallic vases off to their left, so they smashed them and collected the gems, before turning to their right and headed towards the area that were over there, a Gear Grinder and his robot, while another Gear Grinder happened to be near the edge of the section that was lower than where they were standing. Spike charged into the robot and knocked it down, breaking it like they had done to the rest of them, while Spyro dodged the incoming wrench attacks from the Gear Grinder and knocked him to the ground, allowing Ember to finish him off, before they headed down into the area that the other foe was standing in and knocked him out as well. Spike, however, climbed around the structure that had been in front of them and found some gems resting on a small walkway that happened to wrap around it, along with a few metallic vases, before he reached the area that his siblings were in and charged into the robot that was approaching them from behind, allowing them to move forward as they continued to explore this part of the realm. The next thing they did was break another robot and knock out the Gear Grinder that was near it, before doing the same thing to the Gear Grinder that was in front of the nearby gate, before discovering that they had cleared the area of enemies, so they smashed the straw baskets that were in front of the force field gate and picked up the gems that had been in them, while Spike found the diode that went to the gate and some gems to add to their collection.
Once they were sure everything they could pick up had been picked up, and that they had left nothing behind for the moment, the siblings returned to the force field gate and Spike slipped the diode into it's slot, powering the gate down while allowing them to head inside, where they found a lone Electroll that was standing near an inactive portal, all inside the small structure that the gate had been blocking, including three straw baskets and three metallic vases, which they took care of before approaching the Electroll.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for deactivating all of the force field gates in Hurricos, and teaching the Gear Grinders a lesson in the process," the Electroll said, to which he turned to the side for a moment and pulled something out of the bag that was resting near him, something that just so happened to be a dark green colored gear with a golden interior where the empty center would usually be, before the siblings figured out what the Electroll had pulled out, "The reason I'm in this building, alone, is because someone had to guard the Talisman from the Gear Grinders, as there is no telling what they would have done to it if they got their hands on it... they could have broken it or sold it off for all I know. Please, take it as a reward for all of your hard work in saving Hurricos from the Gear Grinders... and, based on what I saw you do, you three are more than capable of keeping it safe from the Gear Grinders and their allies."
Spike was more than happy to add the Talisman of Hurricos to the guidebook, because it meant that they only had two more Talismans to collect, the one from Sunny Beach and whatever the other realm was called, before he, Spyro, and Ember turned around and walked out of the area the Electroll was in, though as they left the building Spike did notice that the exit portal had turned on again, just like the other realms. As they walked back to the second area of this realm they found that the Powerup Gate had been turned on, indicating that enough Spirit Particles had been released to turn it on, and they discovered that it was a Supercharge Powerup, to which Spyro grinned as he charged through the gate and rushed towards the small thick windmill that was near one of the walls, smashing it into a thousand pieces and showing his siblings how they could remove these obstacles. The reason they knew the small thick wooden windmills were things that needed to be taken out was because they happened to be covering buttons, ones that all three of them knew that they would need to press, and Spyro did that to the one he had revealed, where they found that one of the larger metallic windmills slowed down, to the point where Spike determined that they could jump from one blade to another to reach another part of this realm. Ember repeated the motion on the other wooden windmill that was nearby and found that the button that was behind it connected to the other metallic windmill, which slowed down as well, though Spike noted that they would have to restore these to normal before they left Hurricos, though that didn't stop Spyro from using the Supercharge Powerup to smash the metallic chest and free the gems that had been inside it.
Once that was done Spike recalled that there were two more thick wooden windmills, ones that were back in the final area of this realm, and that was when Spyro and Ember used the Supercharge Powerup to charge back into the area in question, where he followed after them and watched as each of them smashed into one of the wooden windmills, though that was when they discovered that one of them contained a button that slowed down the metallic windmill that was in this area, while the other had a set of steps let them climb up to where an Electroll happened to be standing.
"Hey, do you guys see that large building over there?" the Electroll asked, speaking the moment that Spyro, who was the first one to climb the steps and pick up the gems that were on them, before he and his siblings came to a stop on the area that he was standing in, though all three of them nodded their heads as they looked at the largest building in the entirety of Hurricos, "The Gear Grinders have modified the machinery inside it so they can steal our electricity, no doubt thinking that we wouldn't notice what they were doing if they simply modified our machines, but, fortunately for us, they left a switch inside the building that should allow us to return it to normal... however, that means that someone has to jump and glide over to it to do such a thing, and none of us can do that."
"Don't worry, we can do that." Ember replied, because when she looked out at the roofs of the structures that were in the area that the Talisman had been in, while not looking at the building the Electroll wanted them to get to, she could see a path that would take them to a higher point that connected to the previous part of this realm, meaning they could use the windmills they had slowed down a minute or two ago to reach a path that would take them right to the largest building in all of Hurricos.
The first thing the siblings did was glide over to the nearest building and land on top of it, allowing them to smash the pair of straw baskets that were nearby as they waited for one of the windmill blades to near the part of the roof that they were standing on, though when that happened Ember glided over to it and made sure to land on it, leaving Spyro and Spike to do the same with the other two blades when they came near the building. After waiting for a few seconds, so the blades could be in a different position, Ember glided over to the roof of the small structure the Talisman had been located in, where she landed and smashed the two straw baskets that were there, before patiently waiting for a few more seconds as her brothers joined her. Before any of them moved forward they stared at the path that was taking them straight up to the top of the short and somewhat thin mountain that the tunnel that connected this area to the previous one had been built into, as the path they needed to take had a few pieces of machinery that were moving out of the building and then were pulled back in a few moments later, meaning they had to be quick about this and not get tripped up as they made their way through this area. Instead of going at the same time, and potentially failing at the same time, Spike and Ember took a step back and let Spyro, the dragon that perfected the art of hovering, tackle the challenge that was currently in front of them, to which he jumped onto the first piece as soon as it came out of the building and quickly jumped to the next one, finding that gliding was necessary between the first and second pieces. After that he didn't have to worry about the vertical piece of machinery that was blocking the way between the piece he was on and the next piece that he had to jump to, the one that looked like stairs, and simply glided over to it, before climbing up to the small ledge that had been carved into the mountain, where a pair of metallic vases waited for him.
Spyro took a few seconds to smash the vases before watching as Spike and Ember repeated the movements that he had just went through, overcoming the pieces of machinery rather easily and joined him without wasting any time, where the three of them glided over to the upper pass that rested above the small tunnel, only to stop when they found an Electroll waiting for them.
"You guys are doing well so far," the Electroll said, though it appeared that, while he was happy with their progress, he wasn't in the mood to talk about how he had gotten up here, but that didn't stop him from pulling out an Orb and offered it to them, accompanied by a smile on his face, "Here, you can have this Orb for good luck... and trust me, we have plenty more where this came from, so we won't have to worry about losing power in the near future."
Spike accepted the Orb and made sure it was placed in the Hurricos section of the guidebook, while at the same time Spyro collected the nearby gems that were laying on the ground, before they focused on the next part of the course that would take them to the entrance of the large building, which consisted of the larger windmills they had slowed down in the second area they cleared out. Spyro found that this was an easy obstacle to get around as well, because all he had to do was glide over to one of the blades and then use the hover technique to land on the blade, something that Spike and Ember replicated when the other blades neared them, while he focused on the other set of windmill blades, as that would bring them to the next part of the path they would have to overcome. It wasn't long before he, Spike, and Ember were on top of the first pair of force field gates, showing the Electroll that they knew what they were doing and that such a challenge was easy to overcome, before all three of them glided down to the next structure and then glided over to the raised section of earth they had spotted at the beginning of their adventure in this realm, all while picking up all the gems and smashing the couple of straw baskets that were in the way. This time there were three pieces of machinery that they had to contend with, one that was long enough to block their view of the other two, though from what they could see at the moment they would need to glide over to the other two pieces to access the area the Electroll wanted them to get into so they could fix the machinery.
As it turned out it wasn't all that hard for them to glide over the gap, hover onto the first piece of machinery, and then make their way to the building's entrance, where they found a lone Electroll making a comment about how noisy the modified factory was, to which they entered the building and simply stepped on the button that would fix everything, and that also took care of the noise as the factory returned to normal.
"You guys did it! You returned the factory to it's original settings!" the Electroll said, though that was when he spotted something inside the room they were in and rushed to see what the problem was, where the siblings watched him for a few seconds, to which he pulled out an Orb that happened to be stuck between some gears, one that wasn't damaged from what it had been subjected to, "Huh, one of the Gear Grinders must have left this here when they were done with their modifications to our factory, just to make sure we knew who was bothering us, as if we didn't already know since they're the only other species in Hurricos. Here, you guys deserve a reward for helping us out."
Spike, once again, happily collected the Orb and stored it with the others inside the guidebook, while at the same time his siblings gathered the rest of the gems that were sitting near them, though once they had everything in this area, and they were sure of that, they climbed around the edge of the building and glided down to the structure that the Talisman had been located inside. From there they made their way back to the second area of Hurricos and headed towards the odd tunnel they had seen earlier, picking up the couple of gems that they missed the first time they headed this way, only to use the platform the large structure was on and glided over to the tunnel, where they followed some gems and came to a stop at the end of the tunnel. The reason they did that was because there was an Electroll being harassed by a tall being, which was just as tall as a Gear Grinder, that had purple skin and seemed more monstrous looking than the Gear Grinders did, though as soon as it spotted them it stopped messing with the Electroll and ran down into the area that was to their right, why they had no idea. What they did, however, was walk over to where the poor Electroll was laying and helped him onto his feet, where he walked over to a tall device that was no doubt linked to the rest of the machines they had seen in this realm, and that included the odd square shaped machines that were to their right and to their left, resting in areas that seemed somewhat important to this realm.
"Drat! Those Lightning Thieves keep taking our precious Lightning Stones from their receptacles." the Electroll said, his tone informing the siblings that this was definitely an important part of Hurricos, even if it was a lower than the factory that the Gear Grinders had modified to suit their own purposes, before he looked at them for a moment, "Could you guys help me out? I need to replace all the Lightning Stones and restore power to our generator, but with those Lightning Thieves running around I can't do anything, so you'll have to take them all out as well... though I could have sworn that the guards had locked them all away, so I have no idea why they're here in the first place."
The siblings agreed to help, as that was why they had been called to Avalar in the first place, and headed down into the area on their right, where they found some interesting stones that pulsed with electricity and seemed to glow, where Spike decided that he would be the one to pick them up, leaving Spyro and Ember to focus on the Lightning Thieves, and it just so happened that as Spike was moving to place the first stone in it's receptacle one of the purple beings charged at them, only for Spike to react instead, where he blasted the creature in the chest with a small cluster of light purple colored bolts of energy that knocked it to the ground and left his siblings stunned.
"Spike, what was that?" Ember asked, because this was the first time she had seen a spell like that, and she knew that Spyro was in the same position that she was in, even though they both knew that their brother had gone through some intense training with Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters before the storm in the Artisans homeworld caused them to head for the portal to Dragon Shores.
"Arcane Missiles, a combat spell that Cosmos taught me," Spike replied, though he knew that neither of his siblings would know about this spell and proceeded to tell them about it as he placed the Lightning Stone back in it's receptacle, as he was sure that all of them were the same and that it didn't matter where each of the stones went, "it looses four bolts of magical energy at my target, as you just saw, and, because it's one of the weaker combat spells a wizard or magic user can use, I can use it a decent number of times, before I need to rest and get my energy back."
Spyro and Ember sighed for a moment, as they weren't surprised that Spike had more spells to use against their foes, and decided that they would say nothing about this, to which the siblings focused on the area they were in and what they were doing, which was Spike gathering the rest of the Lightning Stones and putting them in their receptacles, of which he counted eight in total between the two areas, while they focused on the Lightning Thieves. It wasn't long before they had to abandon the current plan, putting the Lightning Stones back where they belonged and then take out the couple of Lightning Thieves that were running around the part of Hurricos they were in, as it appeared that the purple beings loved to tear the stones out of their receptacles and put them on the ground, why the siblings had no idea and the Electroll, when asked about that, revealed that he had no idea either, since the stones were more useful when they were inside their receptacles. The real plan they used was searching the two areas the purple beings were in and flamed the Lightning Thieves once they were spotted, or use Arcane Missiles on them in Spike's case, and they did that for a few minutes before knocking ten of the Lightning Thieves out, where, to their delight, no more purple beings showed up, meaning the others were either too scared to come out or there were only ten of them to begin with. Either way that meant that Spike could handle the Lightning Stones in peace, carefully moving the eight stones from where the Lightning Thieves had placed them and returned each and every one of them to the receptacles they were supposed to be attached to, which put a smile on his face as they turned to see what happened next.
The generator that the Electroll was standing near had a few sparks of electricity dance between the prongs that were at the top of it, a sign that made the small person happy, before it sprung to life before their very eyes, which definitely made the Electroll very happy, to which the siblings headed over to him to see if there was anything else they could help him with, before heading back to Summer Forest.
"Thank you for restoring our generator to it's former glory," the Electroll told them, though that was when he pulled out an Orb and held it out towards them, showing that he was okay with handing another one over to them, even if he had no idea they had gotten two from the others so far, "I don't know why it was there, but someone mixed this Orb in with the rest of our Lightning Stones, but I want the three of you to take it as a reward for all your hard work."
Spyro and Ember waited for a few seconds, so Spike could add the last Orb for this realm to the guidebook, before they asked Sparx, Talon, and Cinder if there were any missing gems they hadn't collected, though when their dragonflies indicated that they had collected all of them the siblings headed for the exit portal so they could return to Summer Forest and see what the next realm had in store for them.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember used the exit portal in Hurricos and quickly returned to the chamber that the large tree was resting in, the chamber that just so happened to have another portal they could use, and paused for a few moments as they stood near the portal to Sunny Beach, the next realm that they would be helping out, since they knew that someone was attacking the realm. Based on what they had seen so far there were two possibilities as to who could be attacking the realms, one was Ripto's forces, in some form or another, and the other was another race that happened to call the realm home, that was in the middle of harassing the residents of the realm, just like the Gear Grinders had been messing with the Electrolls before they arrived to take care of things. As such it made them wonder what sort of enemies and obstacles they would encounter in Sunny Beach, especially when they thought about the realms they had cleared out so far and the things they had seen while they were clearing the realm out, while at the same time Spike would inform his siblings about the realm and why their enemy would be targeting it, thanks to the guidebook. The thing that interested Spike the most, however, was the lack of guards in Summer Forest, as he was sure that there had to be someone that had guarded the homeworlds of Avalar before he and his siblings were called here, but to learn that piece of information he might have to ask Elora about them and see what she said.
After resting for a few moments the siblings jumped up onto the platform that the portal was located on and headed through the portal, so they could head to the realm that was called Sunny Beach and see what was going on to the residents that called it home, and what they could do to help them out, all while gaining another Talisman to use in their adventure to stop Ripto and his minions.
The starting area they appeared in, as it turned out, seemed to be a cave of some kind and the walls were definitely made of stone, which came complete with some metallic gates that seemed to be blocking the way forward, while the walls in question happened to have what seemed to be either shell-like stones that had been inserted into carved out slots in them, or they were actually turtle shells that weren't being used anymore. The other thing that Spike felt they could be was parts of a tree, the trunks to be exact, since he was sure some of them were the same length as a few of the other items, along with some indents that had glowing stones in them, to serve as lights for the area they were in, allowing the residents of the realm to see what they were doing. Wandering around in front of them stood three small turtles, which were actually half their height and came in three different colors, as one was red, one was blue, and one was green, and they seemed to be in the middle of playing around in front of the starting area for this realm, and they did notice the fact that the siblings had arrived, but they were more interested in playing at the moment. The other thing the siblings spotted was a much larger turtle that was standing on all fours and was standing near the gates to the area, meaning there might be a button nearby they could press, before they spotted an elderly turtle that was meditating above a large shell that must have been the one he had been wearing for most of his life, someone who had to be the person they had to talk to so they could figure out what was going on in this realm.
Since there wasn't much else they could see at the moment, thanks to the cave that they were in, save for an upper area that could only be accessed on the other side of the metallic gates, the siblings walked over to where the elder turtle was meditating, as he seemed to be the only one that could tell them what was going on with this realm and what they could do to help the residents out.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you three are here." the elderly turtle said, his tone revealing that he was happy to see that they had come to help him and the rest of the residents of this realm out, and he even opened his eyes, stopping his meditation, so he could see them the moment they came to a stop, "If the three of you could shepherd these baby turtles to safety, with one of the other elders, I would be mighty grateful."
"Sure, we can do that." Spyro replied, as it seemed rather straightforward, all they had to do was clear the path that would take them from the starting area and bring them to the area the exit portal was in, meaning they could take out the enemies that were assaulting the realm while protecting the turtles that were playing at the moment, "Is something going on in this realm that we can help with?"
"Oh, the Water Workers have been harassing us lately," the elderly turtle stated, where he sighed for a moment as he thought about what was going on in the realm that he called home, his tone revealing that the siblings were dealing with a situation that was similar to what they encountered in Hurricos, but instead of taking out the Gear Grinders they were dealing with enemies that were called Water Workers, before he focused on something else he could tell them, "they have been kidnapping turtles ever since Ripto and his minions arrived in Avalar, and, despite our best efforts, we've been unable to deal with them."
"They've been... kidnapping turtles?!" Ember remarked, though that annoyed her, because while they weren't like the dragons back home, who had been trapped in crystal by Gnasty Gnorc, she didn't like the fact that another species was being targeted in such a manner, meaning that she had a bone to pick with the Water Workers as they explored Sunny Beach and escorted the turtles to wherever the other elder was waiting.
"Indeed, and we really have no idea why they're doing that," the elder turtle said, showing the siblings that he didn't have all the answers to what was going on at the moment, something that they were either going to figure out on their own or leave in the dust once all of the Water Workers had been taken care of, "but, if you escort these baby turtles to safety, I'm sure you'll be able to interrupt whatever operations the Water Workers are working on... and maybe free the turtles they had captured so far, if such a thing is possible."
The siblings liked the idea of freeing the kidnapped turtles as they took the fight to the Water Workers, to which they turned towards the seemingly locked gates and found that there was definitely a button a few steps in front of the metallic gates, one that they could totally stand on and force the gate to open, but, since there was a large turtle nearby, Ember tapped it with her tail and it moved onto the button, keeping the gate wide open for a good period of time. Before they jumped into the water that was on the other side of the gate, which the three baby turtles were heading for, Spyro made sure to grab the three gems that just so happened to be near the gate before they moved forward and dived under the water, finding a number of gems and five glass vases down there. The other thing they spotted was what appeared to be a rectangular crate that was unlike anything they had seen so far, in their travels across the realms of Avalar, meaning that it had to be what the kidnapped turtles were resting in, but since they couldn't use their fire breath underwater, something they discovered back when they were messing around with the new skill, that meant they needed to find a Powerup Gate that would give them the ability to break the crates and free the turtles inside it. Ember started to follow after the three baby turtles, since they were supposed to be helping them, before stopping as she noticed that Spyro found the way up to where the upper ledge was located, to which he jumped out of the water and landed on the start of the path, allowing him to pick up a couple of gems as his siblings joined him.
From there they found another large turtle resting near the platform that they couldn't reach with a normal jump, as if it was allowing them to use it to get up there, where they found a pair of straw baskets, which they smashed, and then spotted a person that was wearing a tan colored suit of some kind and carried a staff with two prongs that seemed to have electricity dancing between the points. The siblings had to assume that this was one of the Water Workers that were harassing the turtles that called this realm home, and when they got close to him the person raised his shock stick into the air and then placed it on the ground, allowing the electricity to race out towards where they were standing, forcing the three of them to dodge the incoming attack, much to the amazement of their foe. While the Water Worker was stunned by what had happened, and hadn't regained himself yet, Ember rushed at him and knocked him to the ground, and forced him to drop his weapon, which she picked up and shocked him with, to give him a taste of his own medicine, before letting go of the shock stick as her brothers collected the gems that were on the ground and smashed the pair of straw baskets that were near them. Spyro and Spike knew that it wasn't wise to mess with Ember when she was upset, which was why they let her do all that, since it would help her vent her anger and assist her in calming down, though they glided over to another platform and smashed the straw baskets that were over there, along with picking up the nearby gems, before the three of them jumped down into the water once more.
Once they returned to the water, and made sure to dive so they could follow the baby turtles, they found a circular tunnel, with some green gems laying on the ground, that allowed them to access the outside area of Sunny Beach, where they discovered white structures that were connected to the walls that bared the same markings as the walls around the starting area, meaning they were likely houses or something. The area the tunnel lead them to happened to be a pool where they could float with half of their bodies above the water, though it did let them see two more potential enemies that would need to be taken out as they moved through this realm, one that happened to be a fat pink penguin that had goggles over it's face and a harpoon in it's left hand, while the other was a duck-like creature that was wearing a inflatable tube around his waist, one that looked like a chicken, and he was carrying a shovel for some reason. As they looked at the area they were now in, however, the Snorkler, which Spike was going to call the pink penguins, decided to try and attack them with the harpoon that he was carrying, causing them to jump out of the water and avoid the attack, before retaliating with their own as Ember struck him with her tail, allowing Spyro to come in and flame him. With that foe taken care of, and another Spirit Particle released into the air, the siblings climbed out of the water and started collecting the gems that were laying on the ground, though one thing that really interested Spike was the fact that the Shovel Duck that was in front of them, when he was hit by Spyro's flames, seemed to substitute his flotation device in his place, meaning that it would take two hits to take him and the other Shovel Ducks down, as he was sure there were one or two more of them somewhere else in the realm, waiting for them to show up.
As the Shovel Duck went down two Water Workers attacked them from both sides, sending bolts of electricity towards where they were standing, though Spike intercepted the attacks with the barriers he used to great effect during their last adventure, before smiling as he reflected the bolts and sent them back at their owners, shocking the Water Workers and taking them out in the process.
"I thought you said that you had a hard time using the Reflection spell," Spyro said, though as he said that, and turned to look at his bother, Ember jumped up to where another Shovel Duck was standing and knocked him off the platform he was standing on with her tail, showing that she really enjoyed using that attack, before taking him out with a well placed flame to the face.
"That, Spyro, is the benefit of engaging in magic duels with Cosmos as part of my training, he's allowed me to boost my own powers and make some of the spells more usable," Spike replied, though he couldn't fault his brother, or his sister for that matter, not knowing what he was truly capable of right now, as he really hadn't gone into that much detail about what his training was like, but he was more than happy to show them the results of his training.
Spyro thought about what he had seen Spike do and knew that he was telling the truth, that he had used his magic to great effect during their previous adventure and how, thanks to Cosmos and the others boosting his knowledge and his skills, he was doing the same thing all over again, only this time he was actively using his magic in a different manner that actually helped them out. Instead of spending too much time thinking about all of that, however, he and Spike resumed searching the area for gems and straw baskets, where they found a couple of each and made sure to pick up the gems that had been scattered everywhere, as well as making sure to break the straw baskets, before they rejoined Ember and determined that the area had been cleared of enemies and gems, save for one of the thick metallic chests that none of them could break without a missile or an ability from one of the Powerup Gates. As such what the siblings did was have the large turtle that was resting nearby move for them, where he approached the area that the three baby turtles were in and sat down on the button that was in the way, allowing the metallic gate that was in front of them to open so they could move onto the next part of Sunny Beach. What they discovered was that the next area happened to be an incredibly short passage between the area they had just cleared out and the real next area they would be focusing on, though Ember did spot a ladder to their left and climbed up it, before gliding over to the other side of the passage, and then returned to them a few seconds later with some more gems to add to the collection, before they continued moving.
As it turned out all they had to do was encourage the nearby turtle to walk onto the next button, opening the gate that was at the end of the passage, where they found two more Water Workers and a Shovel Duck guarding a platform that the Powerup Gate for this realm was resting on, meaning they were either preventing the residents from this realm from even approaching it, or they just happened to be in this area and there was nothing special about what they were doing at this point in time. Spike had his siblings step back for a moment as the three enemies spotted them, though what happened next was that he cast his Arcane Missiles at their foes, where two of them struck the Water Workers and knocked them to the ground, taking them out in the process, before the remaining two zeroed in on the Shovel Duck, the first taking out the flotation device while the second finished the job. He knew that he could have left the three enemies alone and they would have taken them out the normal way, like they had been doing so far, but using this spell did save them a little bit of time by taking out all the enemies he had seen, meaning that all they had to do was gather the gems, break the straw baskets, and then climb the stairs to see what else the realm had in store for them. What made them stop, however, was the fact that one of the elderly turtles, the ones that liked to sit like they were meditating and floated above their shells, happened to be in the area, near the Powerup Gate to be exact, so the first thing they did was walk over to him, since they were sure he had something important to tell them, before they followed the baby turtles to the next area.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's good to see that you made it to Sunny Beach," the elderly turtle said, his tone revealing that he was happy to see that they had arrived, no doubt once more to Elora telling the residents of Avalar that help was on the way, in the form of three young dragons, and they were no longer surprised when someone talked and mentioned them by name, "I wish I had good news, but the Water Workers have been working hard and have captured the majority of our baby turtles, why we don't know, and they've placed them all in incredibly tough crates, ones you might have seen laying around the place, which a normal fire attack won't be able to break."
"But a much more powerful fire attack, like a Superflame attack, should work, right?" Spike asked, because based on what he was hearing that sounded like the reasonable explanation for what the Powerup Gate would give them, access to the Superflame Powerup, something that would definitely break those crates apart if he was right in his thinking, and so far he was rarely wrong about a topic, so he had the feeling he was right.
"Precisely." the elderly turtle replied, as he was pleased that one of them understood what he was talking about, and he could see that the others agreed with what Spike had said, showing him that they knew there were a few more foes they had to take out before they could access the Powerup Gate in question and that he was more than willing to wait for such a thing to happen.
With that conversation done, and Spike tucked away the fact that they knew where one of the Orbs for this realm was located, since anyone that talked to them in these realms seemed to have one of the Orbs in question, or a clue on where they could find them, he and his siblings moved away from the elderly turtle and resumed searching the area, so they could gather the gems and smash the straw baskets before they moved to the next area. As it turned out there were a few gems inside the small cave that was near the elderly turtle, one that had a button that connected to the nearly metal door and revealed a crate that contained the trapped baby turtles, though without the Superflame ability there wasn't much they could do at the moment, so they let the door close as they returned to the stairs to see what else Sunny Beach had in store for them. There was a Shovel Duck standing near one of the other crates, where it was a good thing that they were seeing all of the containers ahead of time so they would know where to go once they got access to the Powerup, to which Ember smacked him in the face with her tail and let Spyro finish him off as she moved forward, letting Spike smash the lone straw basket and pick up the gem before they found out that a Water Worker was blocking the way forward. They also found a few gems and a straw basket near the crate, so Spyro took care of them as Ember smacked the Water Worker and cleared the way forward, making sure to put her opponent down in the process, before they found two Snorklers that were swimming in the small pool that was at the end of the path, though they stood no chance against Spyro and Spike as they jumped in and flamed them down, opening the way forward once more.
The pool had a tunnel that brought them up to an area that seemed more peaceful than the other parts of the realm, even though there were a few Snorklers nearby, as it appeared the path the three baby turtles were following might have reached the end, so it was possible that they were a few moments away from arriving at the area the first elderly turtle wanted them to bring the baby turtles to, and, possibly, where the Talisman rested. The first thing they did was take out the two Snorklers that were swimming in the water, since they knew that the pair would try and attack them the first moment they let their guards down, before they explored the rest of the area and took out two more enemies to make the area totally clear, one more Snorkler and a Shovel Duck. For the most part the Snorklers were really easy to take out, as a quick flame was all that was needed, leaving Ember to tackle the Shovel Duck and knock him to the floor with a charge, only to finish the fight with a short burst of fire, allowing them to search around the area for anything they might have missed when they first burst out of the tunnel that lead to this area. They found a number of gems resting at the bottom of the pool of water that was all around them, which also contained a pair of glass vases and another crate that contained some of the baby turtles, but what interested them the most was the ladder that lead to a higher level, one all three of them knew they were going to look at once they were done helping the elderly turtles out. Once they were done exploring the area that was around them, which didn't take all that long due to the size of the area, the siblings gathered near the pool that contained the tunnel back to the area the Powerup Gate was in and walked forward, convincing the large turtle to move onto the button that was near the top of the ramp, where the door was, and he did so without delay.
As soon as the turtle was on the button the siblings watched as the door opened and revealed the chamber that was at what Spike guessed was the peak of the entire realm, with the area the ladder lead to being the second highest, and when they joined the baby turtles in the room they found another deactivated exit portal on the other side, waiting to be turned back on, along with a rather happy elderly turtle, the one that they were supposed to bring the baby turtles to, that was waiting for them.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for your assistance in bringing these baby turtles here, where they will be safe for the foreseeable future." the elderly turtle said, his tone also revealing that he was happy that the siblings had helped him and the residents of the realm out, as by taking down the Water Workers and their allies they made the realm safer, until the guards arrived to take care of the rest, if there were any guards anyway, before he held a hand out, "Here, I want the three of you to take our Talisman, to thank you for helping us secure these baby turtles and taking care of the troublesome Water Workers that were standing in your way."
The Talisman in question appeared to be round like a medallion, and just as tall as the other Talismans that they had been given so far oddly enough, though while the main part of it was golden the turtle that was in the center of the metal was dark green colored, and when Spike added it to the guidebook the exit portal powered up, allowing them to leave the realm if they wanted to. What they did was backtrack to the area the second elderly turtle was in, the area that held the Powerup Gate, as Spike was sure that they had taken down more than enough enemies to power it, and he was interested in freeing the baby turtles that were being trapped against their will, especially since none of the Water Workers were going to be coming to steal them away from the land they called home. It took them a few moments to return to the area in question, where they found that the Powerup Gate was active and was waiting for them to use it, to which they glided down to the platform it rested on and let Spyro be the first one to walk through it, where Spike noted that his brother's form did look like what happened when one of the Fairy Princesses that had given them the Superflame power back in the Dragon Realms, meaning this was definitely a Superflame Powerup. The first thing Spyro did was head over to the small cave they had seen the button in, leaving Spike and Ember to head through the Powerup Gate and move to the other parts of the realm, all so they could wrap this part of the mission up quickly, where he loosed a fireball as soon as he stepped on the button, tearing the crate apart and freed the baby turtles that were inside it, while making sure to stay there long enough for them to leave the chamber the crate had been located in.
Spike, on the other claw, headed to the left of the Powerup Gate and blasted the crate that was right next to the gate, tearing it apart and freed the baby turtles that were inside it, while at the same time Ember climbed up the stairs and did the same thing to the crate that they had spotted on their way to the area the Talisman had been resting in, before she headed for the pool and he headed for the circular metallic chest. Spyro caught up with him a few seconds later and they both smashed the two crates that were in that area, blasting them apart as they freed the turtles that were trapped inside them, as well as breaking the chest that they had seen earlier and picked up the gems that had been thrown all over the area, before jumping into the pool that was near them. From there they headed back to the starting area of this realm, or more specifically the underwater crate they had seen earlier, something that was easy for them to blast apart with the last bits of energy they got from the Powerup Gate, freeing the turtles that had been forced inside it, before turning around so they could head back to where the elderly turtle that had told them about the kidnappings was located. Spyro and Spike only had to wait for a few seconds before Ember burst out of the pool and glided down to where they were standing, where they could tell that she had completed her objective as well, to which they headed over to where the elderly turtle was meditating so they could give him the good news.
"We've freed the baby turtles from the crates that Water Workers put them in." Ember stated, as she wanted the elderly turtle to know that the task had been completed so she and her siblings could see what the other area of Sunny Beach, the one the ladder would take them to, had in store for them, and she was sure that Spyro and Spike were just as interested as she was.
"You three are quite impressive." the elderly turtle said, as he had seen what they had done as a team and knew that the fate of Avalar was in good hands, or claws in their case, to which he produced something that he had found earlier and held it out for one of them to take, as he could see that they knew what it was within a matter of seconds, "Here, to show our everlasting gratitude, I want you to have this... um... sacred thingamajig..."
"It's an Orb, which are used to power things throughout Avalar." Spike spoke up, though he was a little surprised by this turn of events, as it wasn't common for one of the races of the lands they were visiting to not know what an Orb was, but he was more than happy to take it off the elderly turtle's hands, since it didn't appear that he and the others needed them as much as some of the other lands did.
"Either way, I want you to take it as a sign of our gratitude." the elderly turtle stated, showing that, while he might have accepted Spike's explanation on what the item was, he didn't seem to care all that much and wanted to get rid of the Orb, to which the siblings accepted it and let Spike place it in the guidebook, before bidding him farewell so they could move onto the last area of the realm they wanted to check out.
"Okay, I know why Ripto had Hurricos in his sights, but why did he target Sunny Beach?" Spyro asked, because he did understand why their foe attacked Glimmer, Colossus, Idol Springs, and Hurricos, as each of them had something that would allow him to take over Avalar faster or had something that would distract them as he prepared for the battle between his minions and them, but regardless of why he was assaulting the other realms, and was tormenting the people who called those lands home, he still didn't understand the reasoning behind targeting this realm.
"Well, according to the guidebook, it's the beach realm of Avalar, and it's much larger than what we have seen so far," Spike replied, though as he said that all three of them burst out of the water and landed on the walkway that would take them to the exit portal for this realm, only to turn towards the platform the ladder was near, where another elderly turtle was waiting for them to arrive, "basically this realm is just like Dragon Shores, as residents of Avalar come from far and wide to take a day or two off and enjoy the beach. My best guess is that Ripto either doesn't like the thought of the residents of Avalar escaping to a place where they can relax and be safe, while someone like us tackles the people he's been sending to the realms, or there's the more ridiculous option that is very unlikely... maybe he just hates sand and is letting his minions run wild in this realm."
Personally Spyro felt that the latter option would have been hilarious, that Ripto was assaulting Sunny Beach, in a way, all because he didn't like sand, but since all they could do was guess as to why this realm was under attack, or had been before their arrival, he and his siblings glided over to the other platform and stopped in front of the elderly turtle that was meditating near it, as they were sure he had something to tell them.
"Oh, hello young ones, might I trouble you for some assistance?" the elderly turtle asked, where the siblings found that he was much sadder than the rest of the elder turtles they had seen so far, which made them wonder what he wanted some help with and what they would be doing in the near future, before he beckoned to the top of the ladder and caused them to look up at the peak once more, "There's a chef up there that's planning on making soup out of our turtles, despite my attempts to plead with him to stop. Could you go up there and see if you could get him to stop?"
Ember growled as she latched onto the ladder and climbed to the top, as from what they could tell all the turtles in this realm were the residents that were being harassed by the Water Workers and their allies, as there were the baby turtles, who either walked on two legs or four legs, and the grown up turtles, the large ones that pressed the buttons for them or the elders they had been talking to, but even as they thought about that Spyro and Spike raced after her, only to find a large blue penguin, with a chef hat, standing in front of them.
"Your turtle friends will make for a very nice soup, if I can catch them anyway." the penguin replied, his tone revealing that he was quite pleased with what the others had been able to do, where the others were no doubt the enemies they had taken care of, before he jumped down into the large area that was in front of them and glanced back at them for a few seconds with a smirk on his face, "You can try to save them if you like, but I'm awfully hungry and there's no stopping me when I'm like this!"
As soon as he was done talking he raised his triangle shaped bell and rang it, causing three turtles to come out of the pipes that connected to this area, where he moved and directed them towards the pot that was in the middle of the area he was standing on, but that was when the siblings moved forward and focused on what they were going to do, as none of them were going to let this happen. Ember, being ticked off, focused on the chef and chased him around the area, even though she did have to hit him to get his attention first, while at the same time Spyro moved to the side of the turtles and charged into them, sending them sliding across the platform they were on and allowed them to reach the pool of water that was off on the let side of the area, where Spike determined to be a safe zone that would let the freed turtles leave this area without having to look back. Once that was done Spike joined his brother and knocked one of the remaining turtles towards the pool, where they watched as the two turtles slide across the platform and dropped into the water, leaving the area and causing the chef to call it quits, showing that he was admitting defeat and that he couldn't get anything done with the three of them bothering him. As such they returned to the platform he had been standing on when they climbed up to this area a few moments ago, where the chef mumbled about his luck the entire time, though the siblings hoped that he had learned his lesson and that he wasn't going to try this again, otherwise Ember would be forced to take drastic measures to make him understand his folly.
"So you saved those turtles, big deal." the chef said, showing that he was annoyed with them and that he really didn't like them at the moment, but, at the same time, he withdrew an Orb and placed it right in front of them, almost like he was going to hand it over to them or something, which was odd when they considered what he was up to, "Here, take this Orb and go away... I need some turtle soup and there's plenty more where those three came from."
In the end the siblings did let him ring the bell again, to release the imprisoned turtles, but what they ended up doing after that was keep him away from the platform the turtles were walking in, as in Ember stood on top of him and smacked him with her tail repeatedly, telling him that it was a bad idea to do what he was trying to do, while both Spyro and Spike redirected the turtles towards the pool so they could return to what they were doing earlier. There were quite a number of turtles that came out of the pipes, meaning that the Water Workers and the chef had captured way too many of them before their arrival, where Spike made sure that all of them got to the water without anything stopping them, even though the only person that wanted to stop them was currently being pinned down by his sister. Spyro made sure to direct the now freed turtles over to the pool, though while all of them did that their dragonflies flew into the pool and recovered a few gems that were down there, gathering the rest of the gems for this realm, and simply waited for the siblings to stop what they were doing so they could head back to Summer Forest. After a few minutes the last of the turtles emerged from the pipes and was directed over to where the pool was located, meaning that they freed all of them and had left nothing for the chef to cook, though he was out of commission thanks to what Ember did, who happily grabbed the second Orb that the penguin had and gave it to Spike.
Once that was done, and the penguin was knocked down into the water so the elderly turtles could deal with him when he woke up, the siblings glided down to where the exit portal was located and entered it, as it was time to see what the final realm of Summer Forest had to offer them and what they needed to do to help the residents of that realm, before focusing on Ripto and whatever he was doing in the dungeon.
As Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to Summer Forest, and appeared in the area that the large tree rested in, they were quite pleased with themselves, because they had stopped the Water Workers and their allies from tormenting the residents of Sunny Beach, as well as freeing all the trapped baby turtles that had been locked away in the scattered crates they had seen while they explored the realm. The other thing they were happy about was the fact that they had stopped the chef from cooking the turtles that had been brought to the area he was resting in, even if that meant that Ember went to town on him and knocked him out, to vent her anger out on him for what he was trying to do, leaving Spyro and Spike to free the turtles and send them on their way to wherever they had been before they had been kidnapped. Of course they had also claimed all the scattered gems that had been left around the realm and recovered their Talisman for their efforts, including three additional Orbs to add to their collection, so with Sunny Beach cleared they were going to focus their attention on the final realm of Summer Forest, before turning to the dungeon that Ripto was located in. There was also the Speedway that they needed to check out, more in the fact to see if there were any Orbs in that realm that they could use and less because of any gems they might have, but they would focus on that once they were done with the final realm of this homeworld, right before the fight with Ripto.
The only thing that was in their way was the wooden gate that had been lowered, blocking the path to where the final portal was resting, so all they did was tap the button that was nearby and closed the gate that attached to the other path, the one that lead to the Speedway, while raising the gate that was in their way, allowing them to approach the portal they were heading towards, and as they walked through it Spike noticed that the lettering indicated that the realm was called Aquaria Towers, making him wonder what the realm was like.
When they appeared in the starting area of Aquaria Towers, however, the siblings found themselves in a metallic area that seemed completely different from the other areas they had started in for the other realms, while at the same time it seemed that there was no way for them to see the sky in this realm, as the entire chamber they were in was made out of metal and had been connected to metallic tunnels and circular towers. There were also pipes here and there, something that interested the siblings since this place seemed nothing like what they had seen in the other realms, and there was a metallic platform near them that just so happened to have a Powerup Gate on it, meaning they might be making a loop around the entirety of this realm before they figured out what the ability it gave them was. What surprised them was the fact that there was a Water Worker standing near the tunnel that lead to the next part of the realm, though this time he seemed to be wearing a metallic helmet, one that probably allowed him to breath underwater, despite the fact that there was no water in the area they were in. Walking near him was a sheep, one that seemed out of place and made them wonder if it had wandered through the portal earlier, as there were a group of them standing near the portal in Summer Forest and that could have happened, before they spotted one of the residents of this realm, as there was a rather sad looking seahorse that was light purple colored, whose mood seemed to approve when they approached him.
"Hello there. I'm Spyro, and these are my siblings, Spike and Ember." Spyro said, introducing himself and his siblings to the seahorse, even though he was sure that the seahorse and the rest of the residents of this realm already knew who they were, especially since Elora had told the residents of the various realms about the three of them, before he focused on what was going on at the moment, "What seems to be the problem?"
"Oh, the funny looking guys with the shock sticks have drained all the water in our realm." the seahorse replied, to which he gestured to the Water Worker that was standing near the entrance of the nearby tunnel, someone that Spyro and his siblings were surprised to see, as this was one of the few times that an enemy from one realm appeared in one of the other realms, before he focused on the siblings once more, "We can't get our water back unless someone beats those guys and activates the buttons that they're guarding, because without water we're pretty much unable to move and I have been stuck here since they stole our water."
"These guys seem to enjoy tormenting people that live in the water," Ember commented, as that was what they had seen back in Sunny Beach, due to the Water Workers trying to capture all the baby turtles that were in that realm and take them somewhere else, for a purpose they knew nothing about, not that it mattered since they had saved the residents of that realm and prevented such a plan from becoming reality, before she sighed, "Don't worry, we'll take them out and get your precious water back."
Spyro nodded his head in agreement, as he was annoyed with the Water Workers as well and knew that it would be nice to save another realm from them and their allies, though as they stepped away from the seahorse, however, their first foe raised his shock stick and tried to shock them into submission, only for Spike to stop the attack in its tracks with a barrier and reflected it back into him, taking him out in the process. He was very happy that he had spent all that time training with Cosmos, and occasionally one of the other Magic Crafters, as it was allowing him to use several of his spells to greater effect during this adventure, and he knew that his siblings had to be pleased with his training as well, before he turned his attention to what was in their immediate vicinity. There were a few gems resting off on their right, which were being guarded by some large red crabs, but Ember was the one that dealt with them by dodging the pincer of the one that tried to attack her, where she grabbed onto it and lifted the crab into the air for a moment, allowing her to swing it fight into the side of the second one and sent them both flying into the wall, releasing two Spirit Particles in the process. From there the siblings collected the gems that were in the area and smashed the glass vase that was near the tunnel, though before they approached the button Spyro spotted a few gems resting near the tower on the other side of the area that they were in and some that were behind another one, where he told his siblings and they collected all of them.
Once that was done the three of them turned their attention to the button and Ember whacked it with her tail, where one of the hatches in the roof opened and some water poured down into the area that they were in, raising the level of the water to the highest point of the tunnel, showing that there were definitely more buttons for them to press, though that also meant that they were now swimming in the water they had released. From there they swam into the tunnel and moved through it, especially now that they were able to swim over the raised section that was inaccessible when there was no water in the area, and made sure to pick up all the gems that were along the way, despite the fact that they knew they might be coming back this way at some point in the near future. As it turned out the raise section wasn't a platform, like the siblings assumed it was, rather it was a high wall and they were allowed to get around it rather quickly, where they picked up the gems on the ground as they followed the rest of the tunnel and eventually arrived in what appeared to be a pool, just like what they found in Sunny Beach, and smashed the glass vases that were around them, before jumping out of the water once everything had been picked up. They weren't surprised to find that the new area they were in was sort of similar to the previous one, in the sense that there was no water for the seahorses in this part of the realm, but that just meant that they would repeat what they had been doing so far, by taking out the enemies that were in front of them and fix what was wrong with this realm, much to the joy of the residents of Aquaria Towers.
This time around Spyro was the one that took out the nearby Water Worker, as he sidestepped the electricity that was coming his way, while his siblings stayed back and kept their eyes open for any gems they could pick up, before charging into his foe the moment his guard was lowered, allowing him to tap the nearby button and release more of the stolen water back into the realm, raising the water level so they could explore more of the area they were in. With the button pressed the siblings explored the area they were in, smashing the various glass vases that were in the area and picked up all the gems that were resting on the ground, but Spike did stop near the edge of an area that had four dangerous looking metallic sharks swimming around one of the circular metallic chests, but he knew that charging into them was a bad idea and that meant they needed to find a Superflame Powerup, which was likely what the Powerup Gate gave them. A few seconds later Spyro and Ember swam over to where he was and spotted the sharks as well, to which the three of them turned away from where the metallic sharks were swimming and found a lower area that contained a pair of crabs that were wandering around, so they charged through them and picked up the gems that were down there, which included breaking the glass vases, before heading towards the top of the water. While they did that, however, Ember turned around and swam down towards two more crabs that were near the button Spyro had pressed, colliding with them and released a pair of Spirit Particles in the process, before finding a small cluster of gems and picked them up before heading up to where her siblings were waiting for her.
They discovered that the highest point of the water stopped just short of two platforms that allowed them to jump up to another larger platform that contained a pool, one that would allow them to see what the next area of the realm had in store for them, so they picked up the gems and then dived into the pool, where they discovered that the tunnel held two more crabs and two more Water Workers. Spike focused his mind and stopped the electricity with his magic, which let his siblings could take all four of the enemies out, where Ember charged through them on the bottom part of the tunnel and Spyro took the top, before they jumped out of the water and landed in a new cavern, where they found a very familiar face waiting near what appeared to be a metallic boat of some kind.
"Hello Moneybags," Spyro said, because that was who they found near the metallic boat, not that he and his siblings were all that surprised to see the bear again, as they had been waiting for him to show up at some point, though even as he said that he knew that Ember was ready to lash out the moment Moneybags tried anything, just like the last couple of times he tried to con them out of the gems they were collecting, and Spike was staring at the vehicle that was in front of them, since he was interested in it, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, hello to you, Spyro, and to your siblings as well." Moneybags replied, though he seemed to have healed from the light bruises that Ember had given him earlier, his punishment for trying to make them pay for the ability to use the portal that brought them to Aquaria Towers, before he gestured to the larger pool of water that was behind him, "As for why I am here, well, I noticed that you three were doing a good job saving the other realms and felt that it was only fair that I warned you that this tunnel is filled with metal sharks, so much so that you won't be able to get to the other side."
"Metal sharks? You mean like the ones we saw just a few minutes ago?" Ember inquired, as she knew, without Spike telling her what he knew, that their chances of beating the metal sharks was zero, and that they needed the Powerup Gate to take them out, though even as she thought about that she stared at the bear, as she felt that there was something fishy about this entire situation, "Are you saying that you were concerned for our safety, or are you just trying to make yourself look less suspicious, in our eyes to be exact, by actually trying to assist us for once?"
"To be perfectly honest, its mostly the latter option." Moneybags admitted, showing the siblings that he might have actually learned the lesson that Ember had been trying to teach him, something that they would have to wait and see since it was hard for someone to change their ways in a single day, much less a few hours, to which he waved a hand for a few seconds and made sure they were looking at the metal boat, "Still, as a sign of good faith, I could let you three borrow my shark-proof submarine, which can take all of you to the other side of this tunnel in a matter of moments, and I won't even bothering charge you for using it, mostly because Ember would likely beat me up for hindering your progress through Aquaria Towers, and the fact that I'd rather not get whacked by her tail again."
"You know Moneybags, it's not like you to offer something like this, for free I might add, without being threatened by someone." Spike commented, because he and Spyro had seen what happened when Ember attacked the bear for his attempts to get them to pay for certain things, such as the bridge in Glimmer and the wall in Summer Forest's castle, which only made him wonder if there was something else going on here, "What's your angle?"
"I'll have you know that I am being threatened at the moment." Moneybags stated, causing the siblings to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as it was hard to actually believe what the bear was saying, since he could be attempting to win their sympathy, or something like that, before he continued with the rest of his statement, "Ripto and his minions have been causing a lot of damage all over Avalar, as you have seen during some of your visits to the other realms, and that just so happens to include most of my businesses, which are scattered across the realms. I do want him stopped... maybe not as much as the three of you do, but I do want him stopped."
"Okay, so this is just selfish enough to be believable." Spyro stated, where he rolled his eyes for a moment, as he had been hoping that Moneybags would have learned his lesson and that he was doing this for the greater good of Avalar, and the residents who called the various realms home, but, as it turned out, the bear was only doing this so he and his siblings could eventually reach Ripto, all while focusing on his own interests, instead of focusing on Avalar.
"Well, we'll take you up on your offer to use the submarine," Ember added, just to be sure that the offer was still on the table and that they could use it to get to the other side of the tunnel that was in their way, though she knew that Spike was making note of this for the future, as if he was giving Moneybags a point for honesty, to counter the couple of points that were against him.
Moneybags nodded his head in understanding and gestured to the submarine once more, where the hatch opened and let the siblings jump inside it, though while they did that they found that it was actually shaped like a shark, meaning that the metal ones might think it was one of them, a good idea in Spike's mind, before the hatch closed and they went under the water once more, only in a slightly different manner this time around. What they discovered was that what they assumed was a tunnel was more like an actual cavern beneath the water, one that had a decent number of gems laying on the floor and another circular metallic chest, complete with four metal sharks swimming around it, before the submarine reached the other side of the passage. The siblings determined that it was a good thing Moneybags had been there, as there had been no other way around the underwater passage the metal sharks had been in, even if they could just dive into the water and charge through it to the best of their ability, and decided that maybe he was somewhat trustful, even if that didn't explain what happened in Glimmer with the lizards that were following Ripto's orders. In the end they came to the conclusion that they would worry about this another time, maybe when they were done with the one that was messing with the rest of Avalar, to which he waited for the hatch to open and jumped onto the ledge that was in front of them, only to find that the way forward involved them descending into an area that they wouldn't be able to climb back up, not until they found the button that raised the water to this height.
The area that was below them had two more crabs and a Water Worker, so what they did was glide down to where their next enemies were located and surprised them, as Ember spun around and brought her tail down hard on the Water Worker's shoulder, knocking him to the floor so she could finish him off, while Spyro and Spike just crashed into the crabs and took care of them. While Spyro and Ember smashed a few glass vases here and there, and picked up the gems that happened to be on the ground, Spike paused for a moment and stared up at the tower that was near them, which had the number six emblazoned upon it, why he had no idea and that only made him curious as to why the seahorses decided to do something like this in the first place.
"Let's see here," Spike commented, where he sat down and pulled out the guidebook, though while he did that he did spot something he missed earlier, and that was the water rune that he had created when he was being taught how to cast the Water Safety spell, meaning that Elora really made sure that all the books she worked with were protected from the various elements, as he also spotted the runes for fire and a few others, before turning to the page he was looking for and started reading, "According to the guidebook, Aquaria Towers is more than this underground area that we were brought to when we walked through the portal, rather it is an entire nation of seahorses that live beneath the tides, and while it seems that Summer Forest was the closest homeworld for them to connect to, they're actually pretty close to Autumn Plains and Winter Tundra as well. From what Elora was able to figure out, this nation is currently being ruled by King Flippy, who we haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet, and that some of the machines that are down here are actually designed to turn the water around the towers into drinkable water for the rest of Avalar, in addition to what the various realms have available in their lands. Apparently there's also a dome of some kind surround this part of the realm, to separate normal water from the sea and ocean water, so we could actually drink the water we're swimming in if we really wanted to, and there's even a little note from Elora saying that the water from Aquaria is some of the best water she's ever tasted in her entire life... even Hunter agrees with that statement."
"I think we can guess why Ripto would want to take this place out as well," Ember stated, as she and Spyro had come to a stop near Spike and let him read from the guidebook, as it wouldn't be nice to drop a bunch of water on his head while he was reading, especially since he was rather protective of his books, and she knew that this was just Ripto trying to force all of Avalar to bend to his whims.
Spyro nodded his head, to show that he understood what his siblings were talking about, as this was one of the more simple things to understand, before he made sure Spike put the guidebook away, which was when he pressed the button and released more of the stolen area from wherever the Water Workers were holding it, likely part of the building that the seahorses used to make the water Spike had just told them about. The water kept pouring until everything was covered by the water, meaning they could swim back through the metal shark infested passage they had gone through if they really wanted to, but when the siblings did was quickly collect the gems that were near the edge of that passage and then made their way towards the short opening that a crab seemed to be guarding. That allowed them to return to the starting area for this realm, meaning they had completed the loop at last and could talk with one of the seahorses about something else, as they were there had to be a few Orbs scattered around the interior and the exterior of the building they were in, hence the reason they swam down to the lower level and collected the gems that were laying on a platform that was right above where they started, allowing them to see that the Powerup Gate had a Superflame symbol. Spike was glad that his thoughts on which powerup this realm had were correct, as that would help them with the metal sharks, but instead of focusing on that they turned their attention to the seahorse that was on the platform that was below the passage that connected the first chamber to the last chamber, where they spotted another inactive portal off to the side, which would be powered up the moment they got their claws on the Talisman for this realm.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, you guys did it!" the seahorse declared, showing that he was either the same one that they had met as soon as they appeared in this realm, which could be possible, or he was another seahorse and the first one told him that the siblings were there to help him and the others out with their problem, "You stopped the Water Workers from stealing all of our water, and taught them a lesson at the same time. Here, we want you guys to have our Talisman, both to show our gratitude and as a souvenir to remember us by."
The Talisman in question appeared to be a seashell, one that Spike could tell had a power that was nearly identical to the other ones that they had acquired from the other realms, to which he pulled out the guidebook and let the seashell take it's place in the Aquaria Towers section, while at the same time finding that the exit portal had been activated, just like what happened in the other realms, before spotting the hatch to this area and noticed that it was still open, meaning they could explore the exterior of the building if they really wanted to. The first thing that the siblings did, instead of heading outside, was swim down to where the Powerup Gate was located and grabbed the Superflame ability immediately, before charging through the water as they followed the path they had taken to reach the second chamber of the building, the one where they found the four metal sharks swimming around the circular metallic chest. It didn't take them long to reach the area in question, which was when the siblings faced the sunken area and started blasting the metal sharks, making sure to break them apart so they didn't get back up and attack them, and before long all that remained of them were bits and pieces, though at the same time it appeared that they had broken the circular metallic chest as well, allowing them to pick up the gems that had been trapped inside it and a few gems that had been out of their reach the first time they went through this area. Once that was done the siblings turned around and headed back to the Powerup Gate, to make sure they had the maximum time available, before heading to the end of the passage the other metal sharks had been in, where all three of them started blasting the sharks as soon as they spotted them, tearing them apart, and made sure to hit the circular metallic chest as well.
With all of the metal sharks taken care of, and all the gems they were protecting had been collected, the siblings made their way back to the starting area once more, only this time around Spyro headed for the ceiling and both Spike and Ember followed after him, where it didn't take them long to arrive in the upper area, where they were allowed to see the top of the towers and, more importantly, the short rock walls that the shimmering barrier seemed to be connected to, the one that separated this part of the realm from the other parts they couldn't explore right now.
"It goes on for miles." Spike commented, where he glanced in all the directions that he could, as he could see past the stone walls for a short period of time before the darkness of the sea made it impossible to see what else was around the area they were in, making him wonder how the seahorses were able to survive with these conditions, though even as he considered that he knew the residents of Aquaria Towers likely wouldn't tell him, even if he asked them, meaning he would need something like Moneybags' submarine to explore down here.
"It sure does," Spyro said, though while all of this was fascinating, or at least it was to his brother, he and Ember kept their eyes open for anyone that looked like they might have something they wanted the siblings to do in exchange for one of the Orbs that this realm had, before spotting a second familiar figure that happened to be wearing a suit that seemed to give him the ability to swim and breath down here, "and it looks like Hunter came to check the realm out as well, though he'll be disappointed to learn that we've solved the issue that the seahorses were dealing with."
"Let's go see what he wants." Ember stated, to which she swam over to where Hunter was swimming, as she was a little curious as to why the cheetah was even here in the first place and wanted to see what he was doing at the moment, though both Spyro and Spike followed after her so they could see Hunter and talk with him as well, before they explored the rest of the upper area that they had access to.
When they approached the area that Hunter was in, however, they spotted a rather large manta ray swimming near him, one that seemed to be large enough for someone like them or Hunter to sit on, which made them somewhat curious as to what was going on at the moment, though they knew that all they had to do was ask Hunter what he was doing and they would understand the situation.
"Hey, Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's good to see you guys again," Hunter remarked, where the siblings came to a stop near him and stared at the area they were in, though he seemed more interesting in looking at the manta ray that was near them, who seemed to be swimming in a circle and was minding his own business, causing Hunter to sigh as he thought about something that was going on at the moment.
"It's good to see you again as well." Spyro said, because Elora, Hunter, and the Professor were the ones that he and his siblings liked to see as they explored the realms of Avalar, even if they haven't seen two of them in the realms so far, and it was far better than dealing with Moneybags all the time, before he glanced at the manta ray for a moment, as if seemed that Hunter was focused on the sea creature right now, "Is something going on?"
"Oh, I've been trying to tame my new pet manta ray, but he just won't obey me." Hunter remarked, where the siblings raised their eyebrows for a moment, because they had been under the assumption that he was already tamed and that he was having problems teaching the manta ray a trick or something, but it seemed their friend was having problems getting passed that stage, before he seemed to get an idea, "Hey, you guys are just about the right size, so you can definitely ride on his back if you wanted. What do you say? Want to help me tame him?"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew that there were more pressing matters than helping Hunter tame his new pet manta ray, but in the end, after thinking about it for a few moments, Spyro decided to help their friend out and swam over to the area that the manta ray was swimming in, where he latched onto the saddle as Hunter informed him as to what he needed to do, the part he failed on. Hunter informed him that what he needed to do was direct the manta ray through the bubble rings that one of the seahorses would construct as a course, just so he had an idea of what he needed to do, while making sure that Spyro understood the fact that he wanted nothing bad to happen to his new pet. Spyro, before heading off, informed Hunter that it was going to be hard to hurt the manta ray, due to the fact that all the enemies in this realm had been taken care of and they had been inside the building that was below them, before he tapped the manta ray and got started, as he was eager to see what the course was like and if it would let him find anything that his siblings could grab while he was doing this. A few seconds later the seahorse in question moved out of where he was hiding and started blowing bubbles as he moved around the area, where Spyro made sure the manta ray followed the rings that were formed behind the seahorse, though what he discovered that the course was more just him carefully directing the manta ray around the outer structures in this area, weaving around them in the process, and while he did that he spotted a number of gems and glass vases that were scattered around the area.
In the end Spyro found that it was rather easy, and rather simple, for him to get around the nine bubble rings that the seahorse had created, where the last one brought him right to the platform that Hunter was swimming above, with a look of surprise on his face, though Spyro already had an idea as to why it worked for him, as many creatures usually listened to a dragon and followed whatever what they wanted.
"Wow, I wasn't expecting you to tame him that quickly," Hunter commented, though his tone showed that he was very happy about what Spyro was able to do, especially since he was having trouble with the manta ray before their arrival, to which he reached into the small pack he was carrying on his waist and withdrew something that was inside it, only for the siblings to raise their eyebrows as an Orb appeared above his hand, "Here, I found this resting on one of my flippers earlier, when I was getting ready to come here, and I suppose I owe you something for helping me out... especially since I know you guys are collecting them for the Professor. Though to be honest, there was another reason for me wanting to tame the manta ray, as I was hoping to get him into racing shape while I was here, because there is a race coming up in the future and I wanted to take part in it, but at this rate it'll happen after Ripto is taken care of. What do you say, would you like to take him through a harder course, to get him into racing shape?"
Spike and Ember watched as Spyro nodded his head, showing that he was going to help Hunter out, and followed the seahorse that had constructed the first course, though while that happened Spike swam over to where his brother had been a few seconds ago, grabbed the Orb, and then slipped it into the guidebook, before he and Ember moved out from the area that Hunter was in and started exploring the area. This time around it appeared that the harder course involved going all over the area they were in, where it involved Spyro making twists and turns with the manta ray in the process, while at the same time Spike and Ember just picked up the gems that were on the ground, and some that were resting on the beams that connected some of the structures, and smashed the glass vases that were scattered around the area they were in, before their dragonflies indicated that there were no more gems to be found in this realm. Once they were done they headed back over to where Hunter was waiting and watched what their brother was doing, as it seemed that he was quite skilled in the art of directing a manta ray around an area, before he reached the last bubble ring, which was actually on the opposite side of the platform, from where the end of the first course ended, and when he removed himself from the manta ray Hunter seemed really impressed by what he was able to do.
"Spyro, that was incredible!" Hunter stated, his tone revealing that Spike and Ember were right, that he really was very impressed by what their brother was able to do, before he reached into his pack for a moment and withdrew a second Orb from it, one that he handed over to Spike without delay, before he focused on Spyro again, "You know, you have some real talent for this sort of thing, and I could definitely use a partner like you for some of the more difficult races, ones that don't involve manta rays, though you deserve the second Orb I found, which was in my other flipper. And, while you guys are finishing up your business in Aquaria Towers, I think I'll test out my new manta ray, to see if I can replicate what you just did for me."
"Good luck with that, Hunter." Spyro said, as he had the feeling that, since he was able to ride the manta ray with ease, the cheetah had been doing something wrong before their arrival, what that something was he had no idea and knew that neither Spike or Ember really had any ideas either, but, thanks to the couple of minutes that he spent with the creature, he now knew that Hunter would be able to prepare for the future.
The moment they were done assisting Hunter with his manta ray, or Spyro was done with that, the siblings started to swim away from where he was swimming, only for their friend to take off on his manta ray, where they hoped that no harm came to either of them, before Spyro lead his siblings over to an area where a rather large seahorse was waiting, as he had spotted the figure while he was riding the manta ray, before they noticed the crown he was wearing.
"Ah, you must be the dragons that Elora told me about." the seahorse, King Flippy the siblings realized, said, though at the same time he seemed worried about something and was glancing at the structures that were resting around the area that they were in, something that caused the siblings to look at them for a few seconds as well, before he turned back to face them not a moment later, "Listen, the Water Workers have kidnapped six of my children and, based on what they said, they're being held at the top of the numbered towers that are scattered throughout my realm, no doubt their intentions are to force me to surrender and submit to their demands. Instead of doing that, and letting my realm be run by people that would torment us for the rest of our days, I decided to borrow some explosives, ones that had the power to blow open the doors to each of the towers, but I'm not fast enough, or small enough, to get around whatever traps the Water Workers might have put inside the towers, so I need your help to secure my children."
It didn't take the siblings more than a second to agree to help King Flippy out, where the first tower, which happened to be up in the area that they were in, had it's door blown apart only a few seconds later, indicating that the seahorse must have been busy planting all the explosives while they were busy clearing out the metal sharks, to which the siblings swam away from him so they could see what the Water Workers left for them. The first tower was right by where the King was floating in the water, indicating that he had been thinking about taking on this challenge all by himself, but when they came to a stop they found that the only thing separating them from his first child was an electrical barrier, one that didn't affect the water that was around it. As such all Ember had to do, as she insisted on going first, was wait for the barrier to turn off and then swim by it, allowing her to grab the child and quickly pull him back down to the lower half of the tower, where he was free to leave and rejoin his father, though while that happened the door to the second tower, which was near their current position, was blown open, allowing them to head over to it while the smaller seahorse swam over to where his father was located. The second tower had two electrical barriers, where one was on and the other was off and they switched every couple of seconds, but all Spyro did was swim between the pair when the closest one deactivated and then waited for the second one to follow suit, before he made sure the kid was safe and then quickly made his way back down to where his siblings were waiting.
As it turned out the third tower wasn't up in the area that they were in, which made sense when Spike realized that four of the numbered towers were in the looped area they had pressed the buttons in, and it wasn't long before they found that the third and fourth towers were in the starting area, meaning all they would have to do was locate the fifth one once these two were take out. Spike discovered that there wasn't much guarding the third child, as it was his turn to take on one of the towers, because all he had to do was charge into the crab that was walking on the walls and the way was clear for the child to join them, who swam up to the ceiling so he could join the others, allowing the siblings to focus on the fourth tower that had just been opened. Oddly enough the fourth tower was a repeat of the first one, as the only thing separating Ember from the next child was an electrical barrier, something that was rather easy to get around and it took her only a few seconds to rescue the poor child from where the Water Workers had imprisoned him, allowing him to return to his siblings as they sought out the fifth tower. Of course, as they expected, the fifth tower was in the chamber that was just past the starting area, though this time Spyro had to contend with two electrical barriers and a pair of crabs that was stationed between them, meaning he had to be very careful in how he rescued the child, though he found that it was also easier than what he was expecting, as all he did was do a little charge once the way was open and the crabs were taken out, allowing him to wait for the barriers to switch off so he could finish his part of the mission. With the fifth child saved the siblings sought out the final numbered tower, which was in the room that Spike remembered seeing it in, the area that the final button had been in, so he swam into it and found that his only obstacle was a moving electrical barrier, something that did eventually switch off so it could reset, which was when he bypassed it and saved the child.
With that done the siblings swam back to where King Flippy was waiting for them, where they delivered the last of his kidnapped children to him and found that all six of them were happy that they had been rescued, even if all of the Water Workers in this realm had been taken care of, to which they waited to see if the King had anything else to tell them, before they departed from Aquaria Towers.
"You three are just as incredible as Elora said you were! You have rescued all of my children from the towers that the Water Workers imprisoned them in!" King Flippy declared, his voice and face showing them that he was incredibly happy with what the siblings had done, to which he used his fins and reached into a pouch he was carrying, one that they hadn't noticed the last time they were in front of him, since they were more interested in what he had to say, before he produced an Orb and held it out towards them, "And, based on what Elora told me, you three are also collecting Orbs, so you can chase down Ripto and put an end to his rampage, so please, take it as a token of my gratitude."
Spike happily accepted the Orb and placed it with the others, where he was able to determine that they had recovered everything they could from Aquaria Towers, to which he and his siblings headed back to where the exit portal was located and headed back to Summer Forest, as it was time to confront Ripto and his minions in the depths of the castle and push them out of this homeworld.
It didn't take the siblings all that long to return to the area of Summer Forest's castle that the portal to Aquaria Towers rested in, though once they landed on the ground Spyro headed back towards the tunnel that would take them back to the chamber that contained the large tree, where Spike and Ember followed after him without delay, as they knew exactly what their brother wanted to do. They had cleared out the realms of this homeworld, righting the wrongs that were happening upon their arrival and assisting the residents of those lands to the best of their abilities, collecting the various Talismans and Orbs that were in each realm, and the last thing their brother wanted to do, before heading after Ripto, was see what the Speedway had to offer them. Spike was of the opinion that it was much like the Flight Realms back in the Dragon Realms, where they would be given the ability to fly for as long as they wanted and that there were a few things that they had to break in order to recover more of Avalar's stolen gems, before even thinking about returning to the castle, while Ember agreed with him, as she knew that Spike was likely correct in his assumption. Still, that didn't stop Spyro from closing the wooden gate behind them once they were in the chamber with the tree, which opened the other wooden gate that allowed them to head up a set of stairs and pause when they reached the portal they were looking for, the one that would take them to the Ocean Speedway, as that was the name that Spike noticed on the front of the portal.
None of them said anything as they walked into the portal and headed to the island that it lead to, as all of the Flight Realms they had taken on had been islands that were located near the various homeworlds, and they were interested in seeing what the Speedway had in store for them, especially since Avalar and it's realms were slightly different from what they were used to seeing in the past.
When they arrived in the area that the Speedway was in they found that it was definitely an island and that they were able to fly through the air, just like the Flight Realms they had taken on, though what was interesting to them was that there was a track of some kind that seemed to wrap around the entire island, which had some buildings that had white stone roofs and a golden setting for the roofs to sit in. There was an area off on their left that contained a number of people that were standing on some stands, one that looked like a Queen that was enjoying whatever show was happening at the moment, though while most of the people in the stands looked like fish that could walk, the Queen looked more like a mermaid, before the siblings focused on something else. What they discovered was that the first of the four obstacles they had to deal with were red colored rings that formed a path that happened to lead them through a tunnel that brought them to the other side of the island, where they had the option to pick between following the golden arches, ones that had blue crystals attached to them, or following the tracks and chasing down the vehicles that were currently moving on the tracks. Spyro headed to the left and followed the path that the arches formed, though while he did that Ember charged down onto the track and headed to the left as well, so she could run on the tracks and smash the vehicles that were coming her way, allowing Spike to head to the right and find an area, in front of where the mermaid was located, and found eight boats that seemed to be moving around the area in a formation of some kind, before he followed after them and started flaming them, as he knew they were the last obstacle they needed to take care of.
It didn't take Spike all that long to take out the eight boats that were moving around the area, especially since he did place himself in a way that would allow the boats to move towards him, so once all of them were taken care of he landed nearby and watched what his siblings were doing, as Ember smashed the last of the vehicles off the track and Spyro flew through the last of the arches, breaking it in the process, to which they regrouped on top of the island, to see how many gems they recovered from this realm.
"That was awesome!" Spyro said, where he stretched his wings for a moment, showing that he had enjoyed their time in this realm and felt that there was more for them to do before they returned to Summer Forest's castle and challenged Ripto, before he glanced at the area that they had come to a stop in, where Spike had found the gems from what they had been doing and was counting them at the moment, while Ember stared out at the realm, "So, Spike, do the Speedways have as many gems as the Flight Realms back home, or is the count different than what we're used to?"
"Well, each of the five Flight Realms gave us three hundred gems when we finished taking out all of the obstacles that were in those realms," Spike stated, informing his siblings of something they had likely forgotten, since he was the one who kept track of these sorts of things, before he focused on answering the question that he had been asked, while their dragonflies waited to collect the gems that were resting in front of them, "The Ocean Speedway, however, has given us four hundred gems for taking out the obstacles that were scattered throughout this island, so that means the Speedways will be giving us more than what we're used to, but, according to the guidebook, there might be an Orb somewhere in this realm... and, based on what I've seen, I think the mermaid might have it."
"Then I'll go chat with her and see what we need to do to win it." Spyro replied, as he had the feeling that there was a race or something that was associated with the realm they were currently in, as it sure seemed like there was a course that could be followed, to which he jumped into the air and flew down to where the stands were located, before he came to a stop near the mermaid that his brother had mentioned.
"Well, since you and your siblings have beaten the normal challenge, I bet you're feeling pretty good about yourselves and your skills, but I wonder if you're good enough to take on the current champion." the mermaid commented, her tone showing that she had been watching them as they moved all over the realm and that she knew each of them were skilled in their own ways, before she focused on what she was going to tell him, while Spike and Ember made sure the gems were collected by their dragonflies, "Why don't you meet the champion and race him... though to win the race you'll have to fly through all the rings that the course is made out of, but beware, once Hunter flies through one of the rings they'll start to shrink, and if you fail to go through one then you fail."
Spike and Ember watched as Spyro grinned as he took off, heading to the area that seemed to be the starting point of the race he had been drawn into, which was the moment that Hunter, wearing a pack of some kind that allowed him to fly through the air, which actually explained how he was able to test them earlier, when he was seeing if they could glide and hover over a small course he had created. Spyro followed the cheetah as he flew through the first pink ring, which turned green and started to shrink, just like the mermaid had told him, though it wasn't long before he passed through the ring and followed Hunter towards the next one, all while wondering how many rings they would need to pass through before the race was over. He found that the rings were spread out all over the island and that Hunter had a specific path that he wanted to lead him through, so Spyro followed him and passed through the various rings that were in the way, all while his siblings watched them move through the area and wrecked the rings in the process, and they even noticed a slight smile on Hunter's face as he flew over their heads, as if he was happy by what Spyro was able to do. It wasn't long before they reached the end of the course, where the last three rings were near the stands that the mermaid and the others viewers were standing on, where the siblings watched as their brother passed through the last ring and gave Hunter a high five, showing that he enjoyed what they had done, before he headed over to where the stands were located and came to a stop near the mermaid once more.
"Wow, that was some excellent flying." the mermaid said, where she reached into a small pack that was resting by the end of her tail and withdrew something from it, where Spyro found that it was the Orb that Spike had mentioned, which told him that they would have to be careful when they explored the rest of the Speedways in the future, "Here, take this Orb as a reward for your performance."
Spyro nodded his head and took the Orb, where he flew up to where his siblings were waiting and let Spike add it to the guidebook, and the other Orbs they had acquired so far, before they took to the air once more and started the short flight towards the edge of the realm, which would return them to Summer Forest's castle and allow them to focus on taking the fight to Ripto and his minions. Sure enough, as they expected, only a few moments passed before all three of them disappeared from the area that Ocean Speedway was in, where the siblings quickly returned to the area of Summer Forest's castle that the portal was in and started moving once more, as it was time for them to head to where Elora was waiting for them. Instead of heading down the stairs, pressing the button to change the wooden gates around so they could access the other tunnel, and then head over to the area that the dungeon's entrance was in, the siblings jumped over the ledge that was at the edge of the chamber they were in and glided down into the area that the portal to Aquaria Towers was in, before they started walking once more. It took them a few moments to reach the area that was their next destination and found that Elora was still standing in front of the large wooden gate that seemed to be blocking the way into the dungeon, but as they approached the gate and came to a stop she turned around and smiled at them, as she must have felt the magic of the guidebook, or that was Spike considered when that happened.
"You guys have done well, because with the six Talismans of Summer Forest we can break the seal that Ripto placed on the entrance of Summer Forest's dungeon," Elora said, though that was the moment that Spike knew what she was referring to and pulled out the guidebook, where the power of the Talismans they had collected connected to the wooden gate and shattered the seal in question, as he could see it happen with his own eyes, even if his siblings had no idea that such a thing had happened, before he slipped the guidebook back into his pack as the gate opened, revealing a decent sized hole that had to be the entrance to the dungeon.
"Nice. Now we can go down there and face Ripto." Spyro replied, as this was what he and his siblings had been waiting for since they had found themselves in Glimmer and had been told about the person that had revealed himself not even a few minutes after their arrival, and even if their foe ran off for Autumn Plains they would just repeat what they did for the residents of Summer Forest until Ripto called it quits.
"Now, before you guys go down there, there is something I feel that you should know, and that's how Ripto came to Avalar in the first place," Elora stated, to which the siblings paused for a moment, as they had been curious as to how their foe had come to be in this place in the first place, since it appeared that he wasn't a natural resident of Avalar, causing the three of them to sit and face her so she could tell her the tale of how Ripto came to Avalar, "A week ago the Professor was showing Hunter and I the progress he had made with his Super Portal technology, a type of portal that, according to him, is supposed to give us access to an entirely different world, somewhere in the vastness of the universe... or, at the very least, that is what the Professor said."
"A portal... that can access other worlds?!" Spike exclaimed, because while he knew that some of the dragons in the five homeworlds liked to study the stars, and a few even believed that there were other worlds out there, this was the first time that he was hearing that someone was trying to do something about it, and now he was interested in visiting the area that the Super Portal was in, just to see it up close, though at the same time that told them something else, they were no longer on the world that they called home, as it seemed that Avalar and the Dragon Realms might actually be on entirely different worlds, which would interest the dragons back home.
"That's what the Professor said," Elora said, though her tone showed that she sort of understood what she had been told, when she and Hunter went to see what the Professor was working on, but it also told them that a lot of what she had been told had gone over her head, despite her best efforts to get what the Professor had been saying, before she returned to the rest of the tale, "Anyway, after the Professor ran his last calculations he said that we could test it out, to see if his theory worked, which was when Hunter grabbed the remote that was linked to the Super Portal and put in 22475, as that was his birthday, and before I could even warn him not to mess with the portal he clicked the button and connected to the world that Ripto came from. Since he, Crush, and Gulp came flying out of the large portal, like the three of you had done when we were looking for a dragon to help us, we could only assume that the Professor had tapped into one of the portals that were scattered around Ripto's home world and we snatched him while he was in the middle of traveling between two realms, once more like we did to get you guys. Ripto, after his initial confusion vanished, when he realized what there were no dragons in Avalar, declared himself as our new king and ordered his minions to go through the portal and acquire the rest of his things, which was when I had the bright idea to have Zoe and her friends take the Orbs that powered the Super Portal and move them all over Avalar, to deactivate the portal and to stop Ripto from bringing more allies to Avalar, just in case he had more minions like Crush and Gulp."
"And Hunter was the one that suggested that you guys get a dragon to combat them?" Ember inquired, because that seemed to be something that Hunter would do, as he didn't seem like the type that would actually fight someone and would latch onto something that could potentially help them take care of Ripto, where she found that her siblings were agreeing with her.
"Yeah, and when I asked the Professor he suggested that we use Glimmer, since it was better aligned to your world," Elora replied, where her tone revealed that she was actually pleased with what Hunter had been able to learn while she and the Professor had made sure Ripto couldn't return to his world, even if she was also slightly annoyed that this was all Hunter's fault, due to him messing with the remote that controlled the Super Portal, "you know the rest of the tale, since we told you what we could earlier, even though it took us a week to gather the items that the Professor needed to make a smaller Super Portal with, giving Ripto time to mess with all the realms of Avalar."
"You know, that reminds me of a question I wanted to ask," Spike commented, because there was something that had been bothering him since Hurricos, when they were helping the one Electroll with the Lightning Thieves that were stealing his Lightning Stones, and it made him think about all of the other realms they had visited so far, "How was Ripto able to do so much damage to the realms of Avalar, when he's only got those two minions of his and the only tool he had to aid him in his conquest was that scepter, which was destroyed shortly after we arrived in Glimmer? I would have thought that the guards could have dealt with him and his minions, instead of all of this happening."
"Oh, we do have guards. In fact, both Hunter and I are part of the guard, but we're part of different branches," Elora said, where she noticed that the siblings had a variety of expressions, as Ember seemed amused that someone like Hunter was part of Avalar's guard, Spyro appeared to be raising his eyebrow in surprise, and Spike was interested in what she had to say in response to his question, "Hunter was originally training to be in the section of the guard that went into realms and helped the residents deal with the people that were causing them trouble, like the Gear Grinders messing with the poor Electrolls or the Water Workers harassing the turtles of Sunny Beach, but he decided that he wasn't cut out for that sort of life and found the technical division more to his liking. By that I mean he spends a good deal of his time helping the Professor with his various gadgets, testing them out and making sure they work to the Professor's specifications, which does earn him some free items every now and then, where he will describe something that might sound insane and, after thinking about it for some time, the Professor will make it a reality, regardless of what Hunter said, starting the cycle over until there's nothing for him to test. I, on the other hand, am part of the magical division of the guard, specifically reading and understanding all the knowledge in the archives, helping the residents of the land identify any magical items that they might not be familiar with, and, more importantly, guarding all the magical treasures of Avalar from those that might try to steal them... not that I succeeded to the best of my abilities, since that scepter that Ripto had, and destroyed, was one of the treasures I was supposed to guard... it's such a shame to lose something like that."
"So Hunter is a soldier turned project tester, and you are, in our terms, a Keeper of Secrets." Spyro said, because that was what he was understanding from what Elora had told them, and he was sure that if it wasn't for Crush and Gulp she would have tackled Ripto and knocked him out when he first appeared in the Winter Tundra, but, since those two had been there, it was a good thing she didn't endanger herself.
"Yeah, I guess so," Elora stated, her tone showing that she agreed with what Spyro had said, though that was followed by her pausing for a moment as she considered what she had heard and seemed to be thinking about it, to which Spike waited for her to say what was on her mind so they could continue with the rest of the tale that she wanted to tell them, before they headed down into the dungeon to deal with Ripto, "Um, what's a Keeper of Secrets?"
"Its a term that describes a dragon whose supposed to guard the secrets of the Dragon Realms, without letting any of the other dragons, save for the Leaders and a few specific dragons, know about them." Spike replied, as he knew Elora was going to ask the question and had been ready for it, because he had asked Lucas a few more questions during all of his training with Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters, and he could see that Elora now understood what they had been talking about, which meant it was her turn to speak again.
"I see, that's very interesting." Elora said, as she was interested in everything that she could learn about the lands that the siblings came from, especially since the only thing they knew about the dragons was what Hunter had recited to her when they were gathering the components that the Professor needed for his smaller Super Portal, "Anyway, to answer the question that you asked, the rest of the guard was wiped out over the last week, trying to stop Ripto and his minions as they rampaged across Avalar, and no, I don't mean they died, as Ripto knocked them out to the point where they would have to spend some time in the infirmary. There's also the fact that it wasn't just those three that the guards had to fight over the last week, as Ripto broke out all the prisoners that the guard imprisoned over the years, like the Lightning Thieves and the Gear Grinders, and they overran the guard with Crush and Gulp leading the charge, before dispersing to the realms that you three have been finding them in."
"Makes sense that Ripto would use prisoners to do his dirty work," Spyro commented, because that definitely seemed like something their foe would do, especially since he and his siblings had come to that decision during one of their visits to the previous realms, but it was nice to see that Elora agreed with what they had been thinking, or that they had guessed what the truth was earlier in their adventure.
"He also broke into the treasury and stole a number of gems," Elora added, showing the siblings that there was more to what Ripto had done during his time in Avalar, though her tone also revealed that this was the last thing that she was going to tell them at the moment, as she was more interested in sending them down into the dungeon so they could deal with Ripto and put an end to his rampage, "though as the self-proclaimed King of Avalar, as he likes to call himself from time to time, Ripto also declared that all of the treasure is his and that technically it isn't stealing, rather he prefers to call it investing in the safety of the realms."
"I guess something in his past is making him act this way," Spike said, because it almost sounded like they might be dealing with someone that was similar to Gnasty Gnorc, who refused to listen to them thanks to his anger at the dragons for what they did to him years ago, even if all they had done was banish him to the land they had encountered him on, the land that was going to become the homeworld of the Machinists dragons.
"That could very well be the case, but he's not going to listen to reason," Elora replied, though her tone told them that it was time for them to deal with Ripto and his minions, as she had told them everything she felt that they needed to know and knew that she shouldn't delay them for much longer, where she stood to the side and made sure that the way into the dungeon was fully open for the siblings.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads in agreement as they got up from where they were sitting and jumped into the circular hole that was in front of them, as it was time to see what was waiting for them in the dungeon and what they needed to do to defeat Ripto and his minions, since they knew he was going to send those two dinosaurs after them, before fighting them himself. It didn't take them long to glide down the tunnel that was on the other side of the opening, where they found a massive chamber, one with a giant circular platform in the middle of it, below them, one that had a number of openings that had green liquid being poured into the area, though what caught their attention was the one closed tunnel, which was larger than the other openings, that Ripto happened to be standing in front of. After seeing their main target they found that he had moved one of his minions into the center of the chamber, the large blue dinosaur that had to be Crush, who glanced up at them and watched as they glided down to the other side of the platform, which was when they landed and focused on their foe, since Crush would need to be taken out first, before they faced Ripto. At the same time the siblings knew that they could go all out for the first time since they arrived in Avalar, without having to worry about anyone else getting hurt, which was why they prepared for the battle to start and knew that Crush seemed to be waiting for Ripto to order him to attack them.
In the end all Ripto did was shout "Crush, get them" and Crush started to move, though what he did was move over to one of the circular devices that were around the platform and let the magic that one of the devices held flow into his body, where Spike guessed that it was giving him some sort of invincibility, meaning none of their attacks would be able to do any damage to him, but that was when Spike smiled for a moment as he prepared himself for what he was going to do, while at the same time Spyro and Ember moved forward. The pair quickly loosed a flame at the blue aura that their foe was wrapped in, causing Ripto to chuckle at them as Crush sent a few blue waves of energy at them, which Spyro and Ember were able to dodge since their opponent was only able to target one of them at a time, before Spike loosed a set of Arcane Missiles at his target, where the bolts passed through the aura and slammed into Crush's chest, knocking him back a tiny bit as a look of confusion appeared on Ripto's face. Sure, Spike wasn't all that familiar with the magic of Avalar and was still learning about it, but he had quickly come to the conclusion that this invincibility was only against physical attacks and the flames his siblings used on Crush, though magical attacks, on the other claw, were a different matter, and he was happy to see that his guess had been correct, that the aura couldn't block spells. It was also clear as to why Ripto didn't know this, because it seemed that he could only cast spells with a scepter, something that he was missing right now, so there was no way for him to test the aura to the best of their abilities, but the siblings focused on Crush as he got back up, shook his head, and roared as he beat his club on the ground, to show he was annoyed about all of this.
Spike found that Crush wasn't very bright and that he ran over to another device that gave him another blue aura as he faced them, where Spyro and Ember distracted him with physical attacks and flames that did nothing to him, allowing Spike to blast him with some lesser magical spells, before he finally emerged from the aura and slammed his club into the platform a little harder than what he did earlier, causing a section of the ceiling to fall on his head, where he growled and brushed off the damage, even though that gave the siblings an idea of how to end this battle a lot quicker. More magic danced through the air as Crush empowered himself, where Spike struck him with spells as he took advantage of the fact that the blue auras didn't give him full invincibility, as he seemed to think they did, and when he finally moved out of the area that the device was in Spyro and Ember were waiting for him, as Spyro launched Ember into the air and she spun forward into a spinning attack and struck him in the chest, knocking him backwards once more. As Ember landed on the ground, and rolled away from their foe, Crush beat the ground and hurt himself again, though this time around Spike noticed that the devices stopped emitting a blue aura and that they were now emitting an orange colored aura, where he wondered what the different color meant, since blue gave their foe the ability to resist physical attacks and their flames, meaning this could turn the battle in his favor. In that moment Crush jumped into the air for a moment and landed on the device, where he released a sphere of energy, one that looked like a fireball, that raced toward Crush's intended target, which the siblings found out was Spike, though that was perfectly fine as Spike summoned a shimmering barrier and let the attack collide with it, causing Ripto to chuckle for a moment, but that stopped when Spike emerged with no damage done to him and a smile on his face... and, more importantly, with the fireball resting in front of him.
In that instant he loosed the fireball back at Crush, where the dinosaur, who was in the process of firing another ball at one of his siblings, turned towards the incoming attack and his eyes widened as he seemed to notice what was coming his way, where the reflected attack collided with him and blasted him off the device he was standing on, much to the surprise of Ripto, as he clearly wasn't expecting something like that to happen.
When Crush rushed to stand on one of the other devices, however, Spyro had an idea that hadn't occurred to him and his siblings just yet, as he rushed over to the device that was the closest to where he was standing and let the orange aura wash over him, which was followed by him grinning as he loosed his own large fireball at Crush, who used the power of his own device to parry the attack with an identical one, causing the area between them to explode. Ember, seeing what her brother was doing, did the same thing, though instead of just breathing a fireball, like Spyro was doing, she made sure to create a fireball and then jumped into the air, where she knocked it in the direction of their foe, blasting Crush off of the device he was standing on, forcing him to rush over to the middle of the platform, where a seventh device rested. That was the worst decision he could have made, because at that point the siblings were standing on three different devices, in a triangle to be exact, and they loosed three large fireballs at Crush before he even had a chance to loose his own attack, blowing up the area he was in and caused him to roar when the smoke cleared, and the following action, of him hitting the ground in anger, caused a few more stones to fall from the ceiling and strike him in the head. When that happened Spike watched as the six outer devices changed, where three of them continued to channel the orange color and the other three returned to the blue color, and it just so happened that all three of them were standing on what were now the blue colored devices, meaning they would be able to resist any type of damage, since Crush was purely a physical type of foe and didn't have an ounce of magic in him.
Of course this was another moment where Crush proved that he wasn't the most intelligent creature in the world, as he rushed over to where Ember was standing and brought his club down on her, though because she was being protected by the blue aura she was perfectly fine when he raised his weapon a few seconds later, and, at the same time, Cinder took no damage due to her being unharmed. Ember took advantage of that by using a skill she learned from the Peace Keepers and hadn't told her siblings about, even if she was sure that Spike might recognize it thanks to all the books he had read so far, where her scales shimmered for a moment as she spun around and slammed her tail into the side of Crush's left leg, where the dinosaur nearly dropped his club as he hopped about for a few seconds, showing Spyro and Spike that her attack had been stronger than the others and that she had hardened her scales to the max for a few seconds. It was a skill that wasn't like what the Magic Crafters would use, since they used their magic to attack from afar, rather it was designed for warriors that preferred to fight in close quarters and to prevent them from taking damage, while at the same time boosting the attack power of whatever limb they decided to use in battle, be it claws, wings, their teeth, or even their tail, and this proved that it worked as intended. Ripto, on the other hand, seemed to be in shock by what he was seeing, as if he had believed that Crush could take them out with ease, instead of what was happening at the moment, but thanks to the fact that their foe wasn't paying attention to them Spyro rushed over to where Ember was standing and she boosted him into the air, where he spun around like she had done earlier and struck Crush in the chest, knocking him back into the middle of the platform, just in time to be struck by another burst of Arcane Missiles in the back.
In that moment Crush seemed to snap, as he beat the floor several times, like he was trying to challenge the siblings to fight him without the devices that they were using, even though he had been the first one to use them, before a much larger section of the ceiling broke apart and fell on top of him, this time burying him under the stone, though when he didn't get back up for a few moments the siblings determined that they were the victors of this fight, even though Spike was of the opinion that the dinosaur might just be unconscious, to which they turned towards Ripto.
"Noooo! Crush!" Ripto said, where it sounded like he might actually be mourning the "death" of Crush, the dinosaur that was his enforcer, who beat up whoever ticked him off to the point where he didn't want to use magic to punish them, before he turned and glared at the siblings for a few seconds with a look of rage in his eyes, "You may have been able to defeat that simpleton, especially since you cheated with all of those spells... seriously, I've never heard of a dragon that can use magic before, much less to that level... but Gulp will be more than a match for all three of you and all of the various dirty tricks you have used so far!"
"Sorry Ripto, but we were playing fair." Spyro commented, as if they really wanted to play dirty he was sure that there were a few more spells and tricks that his siblings could have used against Crush, ones that would have turned the tide in their favor almost immediately, before they focused on their foe and got ready for what was coming next, "But, if you want to call Gulp here so we can fight him, we're more than ready for whatever he has in store for us."
In that moment Ripto, outraged by Crush's defeat and supposed death, shouted for Gulp to come to the chamber that they were in, where the massive green dinosaur burst through the metallic door that was right behind him, like the door was nothing and had been made of paper, before Gulp looked around the area he was now in, even though Spyro, Spike, and Ember could see a tunnel that lead to an unknown location right behind their foes.
"Destroy them, and make sure it's..." Ripto started to say, though that was before the part of the ceiling that was right above him started to shake, meaning that Crush's tantrums must have caused more damage to the area that what they originally thought, to which he glanced at Gulp for a few seconds as he came up with another command, one that would replace what he had nearly said, "Gulp, get me out of here!"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as Ripto climbed up onto Gulp's back, causing the dinosaur to turn around and head down the tunnel that he had come from, though before the siblings could follow him the section that was above the door collapsed and buried it, meaning they were going to have to find another way to wherever Ripto had wandered off to, but their first order of business was to tell Elora the good news, even though Spike was sure she already knew the castle was no longer in Ripto's hands, if the glow from the guidebook was any indication, and then figure out where their foe had gone so they could put an end to his rampage.
With Crush defeated, and Ripto having run off with Gulp through a tunnel that they couldn't follow him through, thanks to the fact that part of the roof collapsed and covered the entrance, Spyro, Spike, and Ember headed back up to the entrance of the dungeon so they could tell Elora the good news, and then figure out where their foe went next so they could follow him and put an end to this. What they discovered was that with Crush's defeat a whirlwind appeared in the middle of the large chamber they were in, one that would allow the three of them to return to the area of the castle that they had been in before they headed into the dungeon, and none of them wasted time staring at it, as they jumped into it the moment they noticed it was there. The siblings knew that the residents of Summer Forest would be happy by this turn of events, as none of them had to worry about Ripto and his forces attacking them in the near future, so for now it appeared that peace would return to this homeworld, even though they were aiming to do the same thing to the other two homeworlds of Avalar and the remaining realms they hadn't visited yet. Even with how large the chamber was, and that included the distance between where they landed and where the entrance of this area, it didn't take them long to reach the area that would allow them to walk out to where the portal to Aquaria Towers was located in, though for right now they paused as they came to a stop in the area near Elora, who was smiling at the moment.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, you guys are awesome!" Elora said, her tone revealing that she had able to watch the battle that had unfolded in the dungeon, between them and Crush, and that she was incredibly impressed by what she had seen when they engaged their foe, even if the person they wanted to take down had run off before they had been able to face him, "Where did you guys learn all of those skills that you used against Crush? They don't match anything in the book that the Professor has on dragons."
"We were taught by the Leaders of the Dragon Realms and the strongest champions of the five dragon clans that call the Dragon Realms home." Spike replied, because there was a lot of information that Elora could learn from him, if he were to take a break and talk to her about the world they came from, and he knew that she was going to be interested in learning about the Dragon Realms, the clans that called the five, soon to be six, homeworlds home, and everything else he and his siblings had learned over the years, before he considered what to tell her for right now, "The Peace Keepers taught us how to fight, with Ember being the most combat proficient out of all three of us, while Spyro is the one that created the Hover technique, showing that he was proficient in the art of flying and being a leader, since we learned that skill from him once he completed it, while I, on the other hand, was taught by the Magic Crafters, the dragons that wield magic and master one of the types of magic we can use."
"I see... and that raises so many more questions about the world you came from." Elora stated, as she was curious about what Spike was talking about and knew that they could spend hours talking about their individual worlds, but, even though she wanted to learn as much as she could about the place the siblings came from, she knew that they were more interested in where Ripto had ran off to, so they could chase him and continue the fight that had been interrupted earlier, hence the reason she was focusing on that at the moment, "But we can talk about that later, as I'm sure that you guys are more interested in tracking down Ripto and reversing the damage he's caused to the other realms of Avalar."
"Yeah, we saw some sort tunnel behind the door that Gulp smashed and figured that it had to connect to one of the other two homeworlds, but we weren't sure where it was taking him," Spyro said, though at the same time they noticed that Elora was starting to walk out of the area they were in, to which he and his siblings followed after her, knowing that she was going to lead them to something that would take them to the homeworld that Ripto was heading to, "though it seems that you have an idea of where he went."
"That tunnel connects the dungeon of Summer Forest's castle to the dungeon of Autumn Plains' castle, which is the second of the three homeworlds in Avalar," Elora explained, as she had the feeling that Spike knew what she was talking about, since he carried the guidebook and likely opened it whenever he and his siblings visited one of the realms that they were helping out, and that both Spyro and Ember were listening as well, due to the fact that they knew Spike would tell them whatever they couldn't understand, before she opened the way back to the chamber with the lone tree, "it's how we transported the more dangerous criminals to Autumn Plains, along with the guards transferring goods between them every now and then, but that's not the only way to travel between the three homeworlds. There is, in fact, a second way for someone to go from Summer Forest and head to either Autumn Plains or even Winter Tundra, and that way is by using a smaller teleportation device that the Professor created, but we sealed them off to prevent Ripto from having access to them, so with this homeworld being saved we can use it again."
"So, you use portals to go from one homeworld to another," Ember commented, though at the same time Elora lead them to the chamber that contained the water tunnel that seemed to be the only entrance the castle possessed, but that was when she tapped a specific area and revealed the passage that Spike had revealed earlier, to prove to Moneybags that there was more than one way to get inside the castle, before she lead them down it, "Right now adult dragons fly from one island to another, while young dragons, like the three of us, use the services of the Balloonists to go from one homeworld to homeworld, and the Leaders call upon to Balloonists to help them transport things between the islands, but, from what I've heard, Nora might be working on a way to fix that."
"Well, she's working on something important," Spike replied, as he knew that Nora wanted a portal system that all of the dragons could use, to go from somewhere in the Artisans homeworld and transport themselves to somewhere in the Dream Weavers homeworld, though he had to admit that creating a set of portals that connected the homeworlds to each other was an interesting idea.
Elora said nothing to that as she lead them to the other side of the tunnel and made sure to close it behind them, so that no one would see it while they were gone, before she brought them over to the first building the siblings had walked through, when they first arrived in Summer Forest, which was when Spyro, Spike, and Ember found a circular shaped item that was half their size, but the magic that was coming from it revealed that it was a portal of some kind, one that would take them to the homeworld that Ripto was headed to at the moment. It appeared to have a gemstone of some kind in the center of the circle, one that seemed to hold the power they were feeling, and there seemed to be a shimmering aura in the air above the platform, where Spike determined that it had to be a teleportation pad of some kind, something that he knew Nora was also working on, to improve maneuverability for all dragons. Before he or his siblings did anything Elora jumped up onto the platform and disappeared a few seconds later, showing them that the magic of the device was nearly instantaneous, though that was when they took turns and jumped up onto the platform as well, waiting for the first one to vanish before the next one followed suit, until all three of them had left Summer Forest behind and headed to Autumn Plains, so they could track down their foe and put an end to his plans.
When Spyro, Spike, and Ember appeared on the other side of the portal, and stood in the starting area of the second homeworld, they discovered that Autumn Plains had a massive castle that seemed to dominate the majority of the area they were in and it came complete with several roofs that were shaped to look like spires, made with dark green tile by the looks of it, and there was even a gold band wrapped around the part of the castle that connected to the roof. Around them rested tall white colored stone walls, no doubt the ramparts that protected the castle from anyone that would attack it from the outside, even though it was a moot point since Ripto had already invaded the structure from the inside, if the pair of flags that bared his likeness were anything to go by. There were a couple of tall trees scattered around the area, which had leaves that looked like they were trapped in a perpetual Autumn, which Spike guessed was the reason the residents of Avalar called their homeworlds that way, as each seemed to be stuck in one of the four seasons, minus Spring by the looks of it, and there was even a pond directly in front of where they had appeared, meaning that there had to be some sort of underground river that gave this area the water they were seeing. One thing they weren't surprised by were the couple of portals that they could see at the moment, the same portals they were going to be going through so they could help the residents of the realms, collect their Talismans and the Orbs that were scattered around each realm, all so the barrier that was protecting this castle's dungeon was broken, as they were sure that Ripto already had a new seal in place and was trying to prevent them from entering his domain.
The first thing they did was start to explore the new homeworld they had found themselves in, where they picked up a few gems from some openings in the wall behind them, though as Spyro and Ember did that Spike made a note of what each of the portals was called, since he knew they could get an idea of what to expect on the other side before they even went through one of the structures. As such the portal that was close to where they appeared was called Crystal Glacier, a name that meant they might be dealing with a winter area of some kind, though he made sure to pick up the pair of gems as his siblings dived into the pond and smashed the glass vases that were down there, including some gems as well, giving Spike the chance to approach the portal that was near them. From that are he could see two other portals, one that was in the direction of the entrance of the castle, a portal that was called Breeze Harbor, while off to the right of where he and his siblings arrived stood an inactive portal, meaning they would need to find a way to reactivate it, before determining that the portal he had gone to look at lead to the Skelos Badlands. He had to admit that he was interested in what these realms had to offer, all while making sure to smash the metallic vases that were near the Skelos Badlands portal, but once he did that both Spyro and Ember burst out of the pond and landed near him, indicating that they were done collecting the gems they had found in the water and that they were ready to continue searching the area.
From there they headed in the direction of the portal to Breeze Harbor, where they picked up the gems that just so happened to be laying on the ground, broke apart the couple of straw baskets that were scattered around the area, and made sure to smash the metallic vases that were along the way, before walking down into the area that contained the set of ladders that would take them up to the castle's entrance, the visible one anyway, and found that Moneybags must have been thrown out by Ripto earlier, as he was rubbing his rear as he stood up.
"Hello Moneybags. Did Ripto kick you out of the castle again?" Spyro asked, though he was only asking due to the fact that he was curious as to whether or not Ripto had arrived in Autumn Plains, as there could have been a portal at the end of the tunnel that allowed their foe to get here first, especially since they had to take the long way around to get to the area that Elora lead them to, though when he thought about that he found a familiar platform off to his left, one that would likely take him and his siblings back to Summer Forest if they wanted to do so.
"He must certainly did, before I could show him my boxing skills!" Moneybags exclaimed, to which Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as the bear righted himself and brushed off the dust that had had gotten on his attire, before he turned and looked at them for a few seconds, almost as if he was thinking about something, "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll leave Ripto to the three of you, especially since the only way to enter the castle is to climb up these ladders, a skill you already learned from me, back in Summer Forest, so there's nothing more I can teach you."
The siblings watched as Moneybags headed up the ramp they had walked down to reach this area and head towards the portal to Skelos Badlands, which was when they followed after him and found that he was walking towards the inactive portal, which just so happened to have a few metallic vases around the raised platform the portal was on and a few gems that were laying on the ramp up to where the portal rested. Ember sighed for a moment, as all three of them knew what the bear was going to ask them when they came up to where the portal rested, which was why they quickly smashed the pair of metallic vases and collected all of the gems that were around the raise platform the portal was on, before walking up the ramp so they could see what the bear had to say. At the same time they discovered that there was a whirlwind near their location, one that lead right to a hidden tunnel that contained a portal that seemed to connect to a Speedway, or at least that was what Spike determined by looking at the portal in question for a few moments, a place that appeared to be called Metro Speedway, meaning they would have to come back to it once they cleared out the more important realms, as in the ones with the Talismans. What they discovered, however, was that Moneybags was a little surprised that they had sought him out already and that he didn't have all that much time to prepare whatever it was he had for them, not like the last time since he was able to get to the wall that the portal to Aquaria Towers was hidden behind, but that didn't stop him from putting his smile on as he got ready to talk to them.
"Oh, you guys are going to love this," Moneybags said, because if there was one thing he had learned, from watching the siblings as they moved through the various realms, was that one of them loved knowledge and that he might actually be able to use that to his advantage, hence the reason he came to this portal, which he was beckoning to so the siblings would look at it for a moment, "Legend has it that there is a portal to the realm of Zephyr located here, on the very area we are standing in... and the legend also mentions that I am the only one that can activate the portal, while even going so far as to say that a small fee is..."
Ember, having heard enough of the statement, growled and her scales shimmered for a moment, where she whacked Moneybags in the chest and knocked him off the raised part of the platform, causing him to fall onto the ground below them, but she knew that he was fine since he was able to survive the fall that was connected to the highest point of the ladders that would allow them to access the inside of the castle, before she glided down to where he was laying.
"Moneybags, what did we tell you back in Summer Forest?" Ember inquired, purely to remind the bear that she and her siblings meant exactly what they had told him, that if he continued to interfere with their mission they would treat him as an enemy and take him out, to leave in Elora and Hunter's custody, though she had her tail ready at the same time, just in case the bear failed to understand what she was referring to.
"I... didn't finish... what I wanted to tell you," Moneybags replied, though that was when he raised his right hand for a moment and snapped his fingers, to which Spyro and Spike watched as the portal to Zephyr opened before their eyes, to which Ember backed off for a moment and let the bear stand up, with a glare that informed him the next time he did this he should talk quickly and get to the point, before they got the wrong idea, "What I was going to say was that the legend said this and that, as if it was implying that you had to pay me, but that I was also going to open the way, free of charge, so you could put an end to Ripto's schemes... though good luck dealing with the annoying birds in Zephyr, as they never paid me for any of the weaponry I was able to supply them with, even if they sorely needed it..."
Ember raised an eyebrow as Moneybags walked off, with a slight pause every now and then since she did hit him with a decent amount of force, but as he walked away her siblings glided down to where she was standing, as there was more for them to explore and more for them to uncover in this homeworld, before they set their sights on the various realms so they could start helping the rest of Avalar out.
"It sounds like someone declared war on Zephyr," Spyro commented, making sure that Moneybags was far away from where they were standing so he didn't hear what they were discussing, though even as his siblings nodded their heads in agreement he understood what the bear had said to Ember, before he left the area, and it was rather sickening to think that Moneybags was supposed to be on Avalar's side, "and Moneybags just admitted to selling weapons to the ones that happen to be attacking the realm. How is it that Elora and Hunter haven't thrown him in jail yet?"
"He's probably cautious and thinks that we'll forget about this by the time we deal with Ripto," Spike replied, though as soon as he said that he pulled out his writing materials and made a note about what they just discovered, as it would serve as an official record of Moneybags' statement and would be added to the story he was writing for the rest of the scholars that were back home, who were no doubt wondering what had happened to them, "however, he failed to realize that I would write the information down, so we can show Elora exactly what he said later, when we're done dealing with Ripto and his plans."
"Of course, given what's happening to Avalar, some might believe that it was Ripto that gave the weapons to the birds that are attacking Zephyr," Ember added, as that was something that Spyro had overlooked, though she wasn't adding Spike to that thought because he was much smarter than they were and likely considered that option as well, even if he was letting her talk at the moment, before she shook her head and moved away from the area that the portal to Zephyr happened to be resting in, "Come on, we've got more ground to over and an entire castle to explore before we can go help the residents of the other realms, so let's not waste any time and get to work."
What Spyro and Spike did was wait as Ember used the whirlwind to get up to the area in front of the portal to Metro Speedway, where she found a pair of gems and nothing else, to which she returned to them as they headed for the set of ladders that would allow them to enter the castle, though as they took turns climbing up the ladders they found a few gems along the way. Spyro, being the first one to climb the ladders, made sure to pick up the gems before he reached the opening that would allow them to enter the castle, though as he waited for Spike and Ember to reach where he was now standing he looked out at the area that he could see, where he wondered where the Orbs of this homeworld were resting, as they had found none of them so far and that was worrying. Once his siblings had caught up to him they broke the straw basket that was nearby, picked up the couple of gems that were on the ground, and smashed the metallic vases that were near the portal that was in the first chamber they entered, where Spike noticed that it lead to a realm called Scorch, which only made him interested in what it had for them as well. From there they climbed down the stairs that were to the left of where they entered and found that the passage brought them to another portal, one that would take them to Fracture Hills based on the name, so what they did was smash the pair of metallic vases that were in front of it and then walked over to the passage that the Professor was standing in, as it appeared he was trying to unlock a door for them.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's good to see you again," the Professor said, where he turned to face them and turned his attention from the door that he had been working on, as it appeared that he noticed something as soon as they came to a stop in front of him, if the fact that he pulled out his clipboard and pencil was any indication, "I was trying to undo the seal that Ripto put on this door, one that was designed to make you backtrack to some of the other realms that you've already cleared out, in case you didn't have any Orbs, but it seems that the amount of Orbs you have already collected is more than enough to break the seal and allow you to progress once more."
"I guess it's a good thing we helped out everyone in each realm while we were there." Spyro commented, to which both Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, as it wasn't hard to argue with what their brother had just said, which was when the magic coming from the guidebook undid the seal on the door and it raised into the ceiling, allowing them to advance into the next passage and continue exploring the rest of the castle.
As the siblings walked into the next passage, however, they collected all of the gems that were on the ground and got a good view over the mountain that this castle seemed to be positioned on, while at the same time Ember smashed the pair of metallic vases as Spike made note of the fact that the portal they were walking by lead to a realm called Magma Cone, which had to mean it was a more volcanic realm. From that portal the siblings continued to follow the hallway that seemed to be leading them towards the dungeon, where they would likely find Elora since she knew the ins and outs of the castles and had likely slipped by Ripto's seals before anyone knew what she was doing, though the next area they came to happened to be where Moneybags was waiting for them, along with another gem and a metallic vase. The other thing that interested them was the fact that there was an opening to their right, one that the bear happened to be waiting near, one that allowed the siblings to notice a new structure that was near where they were standing, except there was no bridge or walkway for them to use to get over to the area, where they assumed a portal to another realm rested, to which they turned towards Moneybags.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, are you three following me?" Moneybags asked, as if he was worried that they were going to be hot on his tail if he moved from one area to the next, all because of what Ember did when they were near the portal that lead to Zephyr, though at the same time he glanced at the small castle-like structure that was off in the distance, one he knew the siblings would be interested in.
"Well, we're exploring this homeworld and making sure we recover everything that Ripto has stolen," Spike replied, as he and his siblings fully intended on returning all the gems the moment this adventure was done, even though he was quite surprised that their world and Avalar seemed to be similar, in terms of magic and gemstones, before he beckoned to the structure he and his siblings had seen, "so, what are the chances that a portal to another realm is inside that structure and that you're the only one that can open the way to it?"
"Incredibly high, actually." Moneybags replied, to which he waved his hand at the balcony that was on the other side of the opening and allowed the siblings to watch as a walkway, one that seemed to be designed in the likeness of a carpet, extend out to the structure in question and witness the door opening, meaning they could access the building whenever they wanted to, "It's like I said, I want Ripto to be stopped, and this will allow you to get one stop closer in ensuring that his schemes are brought to an end."
The siblings stood there for a moment, switching their gaze between the new walkway and Moneybags, as they were a little curious if he was trying to make it seem like he was actually trying to help them or if he was trying to get them to forget what he had told Ember, back at the portal to Zephyr, but before they said anything he headed down the part of the hallway they hadn't gone down yet and disappeared, no doubt heading to another area that he could use to try and get some gems from them. Once Moneybags was gone the siblings walked over the walkway and found that the portal would take them to Shady Oasis, though since they weren't focusing on the realms for the moment they collected the three gems that were around the small area and returned to the main castle, where they continued to follow the hallway and made sure to keep their eyes open for the entrance to the dungeon, as they were sure it was getting close. It didn't take them all that long to reach some more gems that were on the floor and, more importantly, a ledge that would allow them to glide over to a small pillar of ground that was a short distance away from the castle, one that had a portal, two baskets, and two gems resting on it, along with Moneybags standing near the portal. In that instant Spike was convinced that the bear had to know some form of magic, as there was no way he could have jumped the gap that was in front of them, nor could he have gotten around the seal that they just unlocked a few moments ago, and the use of Teleportation magic was the only way to really how he was able to move around like he was, but he said nothing as he and his siblings glided down to where the bear was standing, hoping that this would be the last time they saw him for this homeworld.
"Moneybags, what do you have to tell us this time?" Ember inquired, because she was getting a little tired of seeing the bear all over Autumn Plains, even though she could have easily hit him multiple times at this rate, and she knew that both Spyro and Spike were getting tired of dealing with him, for now anyway, so she was hoping that he would just activate the portal and be on his way.
"Well, I came to tell you that this particular Speedway has a fee that must be paid for the portal to be activated, and that this isn't one I can give to you free of charge." Moneybags replied, to which he reached into his suit for a moment, not doubt because he was looking for something, before he withdrew a slip of paper and showed it to them, where Spike did note that what the paper had on it was well written, almost like it was official, "there's even a written version of the rule that states people are only allowed to use this portal if they have paid the fee, so I'm afraid that I can't let you three use the portal until the fee has been handed over."
"Well, let me take that and we'll get back to you on our decision." Spike stated, where he removed the piece of paper from Moneybags' hand and slipped it inside his satchel, as he was determined to see if this was a real rule or if the bear was trying to pull a fast one on them, and there was only one person, in all of Avalar, that could answer his question and tell them the truth.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember, without saying another word to Moneybags, used the nearby whirlwind and headed back to the ledge, where they returned to the hallway and continued down the path that they had been following, though as they did that they spotted a wall that looked like it was ready to crumble, where they decided to focus on picking up the gems and came to a stop when they reached the end of the stairs, which brought them right to where Elora was standing, and that happened to be in front of a large wooden door that seemed familiar.
"You guys got here quick, though I've had a chance to figure out what we need to do next," Elora said, showing them that, while they were dealing with Moneybags and the scattered gems that they had been picking up, she had been busy checking on the seal that was on the dungeon and had determined how they were going to break it so they could face Gulp and Ripto, "We're going to need all fourteen Talismans to break this seal, so it looks like you guys are going to be very busy for a while, especially since some of Autumn Plains' realms are having problems at the moment."
"Yeah, we heard a little bit about it." Spike replied, though at the same time he withdrew the slip of paper that he had taken from Moneybags and showed it to Elora, who looked at it and almost frowned the instant she looked at it, showing his siblings that his idea had been spot on and that their friend could help them out, even if he didn't tell them anything about what he had been thinking about doing, "Moneybags showed us that a few minutes ago, saying that we needed to pay him to enter one of the Speedways, so I thought that you, who knew all the rules of Avalar, might be able to tell us if he was telling the truth, or if he was trying to rob us... even if we're set on the latter option."
"No, you guys are right, this is a forgery," Elora stated, her tone having deflated a little, as if she was getting tired of hearing about Moneybags and all of his schemes to get rich off of the people that he was supposed to be helping, before she tore it in half and let Spyro do the honors of torching them, where she let them land on the floor and watched as they were reduced to nothing, "He shouldn't be trying to charge you guys for anything, since your helping us take down Ripto and restore the peace that he's disrupted."
In that moment the siblings turned around and headed back up to where the ledge was located, where they glided back to where Moneybags was standing, waiting for them to return and pay the fee that he would tell them about, and a smile did appear on his face as they landed in front of him, clearly thinking that they would do as he asked and hand over the number of gems that he would tell them about.
"So, are you guys ready to pay the fee?" Moneybags asked, his tone showing that he was trying to hide the fact that he was trying to con them into paying for something that they didn't need to pay for, which did tick Ember off a little since her earlier thoughts about the bear being an obstacle in their quest to save Avalar was being proven to be more correct than when she made that statement.
"No, we found out that your rule is a forgery," Spyro replied, though he had to admit that if he was saving Avalar all on his own, with Sparx as his only companion, he could have fallen for that fake rule and would have lost more gems, because without Spike and Ember things wouldn't run this smoothly, before he returned to the topic they were talking about, "or, to be exact, a brilliant fake, one that fell apart as soon as we asked someone about it."
"But who could you talk to..." Moneybags started to ask, only to stop as he glanced up at the ledge the siblings had used to glide down to this area and found that Elora was staring down at them, with a look of disappointment on her face and she even had her arms crossed, usually the sign that she was beyond annoyed with someone, to which he sighed and waved his hand towards the portal, activating the way to the Speedway, "Elora... I should have known. Fine, you caught me, I was hoping to make a few gems with this portal, but with her ratting me out I'll back off and let you through."
"Next time you try to stall us, Moneybags, will be the last time you do so, before I put my earlier promise into effect, so think carefully before you make the same mistake again." Ember stated, though instead of heading for the portal, like the bear seemed to think she and her siblings would do, they headed back to the whirlwind, so they could finish their exploration of the castle and make sure they had everything, before heading into one of the realms.
With that done the siblings returned to the castle hallway, where they made sure to thank Elora for her assistance in exposing Moneybags' scheme, though as she headed back down to where the dungeon's door was located, to see if she might be able to bypass it in some way, Spyro, Spike, and Ember investigated the part of the hallway that looked like it could collapse at any moment. Of course when the siblings got near it, and Spyro tapped it a few times to see how strong it really was, the stones shattered and created a mess on the floor, but it did reveal a short tunnel that had a pair of gems and a whirlwind at the end, where they picked up the gems and walked into the whirlwind so they could see where it would take them, since they were still wondering where the Orbs of this homeworld were located. The ride was short, as it brought all three of them up to a small room of sorts, before they walked through the opening that was in front of them and found themselves on the largest part of the castle's roof, where a number of gems, straw baskets, and metallic vases happened to be waiting, which caused them to separate for a few moments so they could pick up everything, only to get back together once the area was picked clean. From there they used the next whirlwind to reach the top of the highest tower in the homeworld, which did have some gems for them to collect, before they finally spotted an Orb way out in the distance, one that would require them to glide to and maybe even hover to land where the Orb was, but that didn't stop the siblings from jumping into the air so they could glide over to their next destination.
Fortunately with their skills it was a simple matter for the siblings to glide over to the area the Orb was in, land on the small platforms it was on, and let Spike add it to the guidebook, before they collected the rest of the gems that were near it and then glided over to the white wall that was the closest to where the platforms were located, allowing them to take a moment and check with their dragonflies to be sure there weren't any other gems to be found. Interestingly enough Sparx, Talon, and Cinder agreed with each other on the fact that there were two more gems to be found in this homeworld, ones that they must have missed somewhere, before they lead the siblings along the wall that they were standing on, where it appeared that they had missed seeing a walkway while they were exploring the area they had appeared in. What surprised the siblings was that the area their dragonflies lead them to was near the area that Moneybags would have originally taught them the climb ability in, if they hadn't gotten it as a package deal with the knowledge on how to swim, and it didn't take long for all three of them to notice that part of the structure they were approaching had been broken at one point and someone had tried to cover it up. The first thing they did was collect the pair of gems in front of the wall and then made sure that they were the last gems in the entire homeworld, which was confirmed by their dragonflies a few seconds later, though that only caused Ember to smash her way through the wall that they had been brought to, revealing the second, and last, Orb for this part of Avalar.
Spike made sure to slip this Orb into the guidebook as well, where all three of them smiled as they jumped down into the area they had originally started in, as it was time to pick a realm and help out more of Avalar's residents, to reverse the damage that Ripto had done to the realms, before they eventually reached the final battle with him and Gulp so they could return peace to all of Avalar.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember came to a stop in the middle of the courtyard that was in front of Autumn Plains' castle, as it was time for them to pick out which of the realms they were going to tackle first, because this time around there were a good number to pick from and that would make it slightly harder on them, especially since they had no idea what was going on in each realm until they got there. Of course they could always go and ask Elora which one they should start with, as they had four good choices to pick from in the area that was around them, five if they counted Metro Speedway, but for now their focus was on the realms with the Talismans, as those were more important than gems at the moment, so they could break the seal on the dungeon and challenge Ripto and Gulp. Hunter wasn't around and the Professor had moved on to one of the other realms, so it was impossible to ask them their opinions on which realm should be taken care of first, and none of them wanted to talk to Moneybags just yet, after what he had tried to pull, but that didn't stop them from considering their options as they glanced at the realms that were scattered around the courtyard.
"So, there are eleven realms, nine if we don't count the two Speedways." Spike commented, though that was rather amazing when he thought about it, because none of them had ever seen something like this in the homeworlds they had taken care of in the past, as most of the homeworlds from the Dragon Realms only had five portals, and the land of the Machinists would soon follow that pattern, and Summer Forest didn't prepare them for this many portals, "Meaning we have a large number of places to pick from, to help the residents of each realm with whatever is bothering them at the moment, and we only need to come to a decision on which one to pick from."
"Zephyr, that's where we're going." Spyro stated, where Ember had a slight surprised look on her face, as she, at the very least, wasn't expecting her brother to say something like that, before she nodded her head in agreement as all three of them glanced at the portal in question as he started to move towards it, "Based on what Moneybags said, after you hit him, the residents of that realm are being attacked by someone else, meaning that it would be in our best interest to take care of whatever is going on on the other side of the portal, before we do anything else."
"Good, I want to see what's going on in Zephyr anyway," Ember remarked, because Moneybags made it seem like a large battle of some kind was going on at the moment, something that did interest her thanks to the fact that she was more like the Peace Keepers than her brothers ever would be, especially since Spike was a powerful Magic Crafter and Spyro was like an Artisan.
The moment the three of them agreed on which realm they wanted to tackle first, since it really didn't matter which realm they went to first, they headed towards the ramp that lead to the portal in question and charged through it, as it was time to see what sort of chaos was erupting in the realm that it was leading them to and, more importantly, what they needed to do to help the residents restore the peace. A few moments later they appeared in the starting area for Zephyr, where they reappeared in what appeared to be a grassy area with tall walls made out of a pile of stones, though what they discovered was that there were a few tree like structures that were scattered around the area, ones that didn't appear to be full trees and seemed to be bundled together by vines and seemed to be standing on a small thick stand that seemed to be more than enough to keep the upper part up in the air. The next thing they discovered was the fact that there were several structures that appeared to be houses in the area that was in front of them, though as they took all of that in they discovered that there were a number of falcons flying through the air, either delivering missiles to some of the other birds that were in the area or they were dropping the missiles on the people they were fighting. The falcons and other birds seemed to be in the middle of attacking large slug-like creatures that were trying, in vain, to attack the enemies in the sky, where the missiles blew up bits of the ground around them and tore chunks out of the stones that were around the area, though just from looking at what was going on the siblings couldn't tell who were the residents of Zephyr.
Of course that was before the three of them spotted one of the slugs standing off to their left, staring out at the battle that was raging st the moment, and it appeared that he wasn't pleased with what he was seeing right now, though he was wearing an interesting looking medal, a hat of some kind, and a stick that had a half eaten apple at the top of it, meaning he had to be the commander for the slug soldiers.
"What's going on here?" Spyro asked, because he had a feeling that this was what Moneybags had been talking about earlier, after he activated the portal to Zephyr to be exact, and what the bear had talked about was the fact that the birds were declaring war on the residents of this realm, or at the very least that was what the bear said and there was a chance that he was lying to them.
"War, kid. War is what is happening at the moment." the slug replied, where he spat for a moment as he focused on the battle, and the fact that his forces were being overpowered by the birds that were attacking them at the moment, only for him to turn to his right for a moment and focused on the fact that he was talking to someone, when a few seconds ago he was alone in the area, and noticed that the siblings were standing there, "Oh, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I was told that you three would be coming here at some point in time, so allow me to brief you on what is going on. It would appear that we've got us a bit of a situation here, as there's no denying that the Breezebuilders have got us pinned down and we can't do anything to overcome their attack, at least not on our own, as they keep dodging our attacks and have been knocking my soldiers out left and right. If we can blow up the building that our foes are storing their munitions in, we might have a chance at repelling them for the foreseeable future... even though I'm unsure how they managed to get all these weapons in the first place, since they didn't have them a week ago."
"Just tell your soldiers to hold their ground for as long as they can," Ember stated, though she growled as she looked out at the area that was in front of them, as she couldn't believe that all of this was because Moneybags sold the birds, the Breezebuilders as they were apparently called, all of the weapons they were using against the slugs, and she could tell that her siblings were annoyed as well, "we'll take the fight to the Breezebuilders and blow their munitions apart!"
"If you can do that, the Land Blubbers will be in your debt," the slug replied, revealing the name of the residents of this realm, which Spike found to be good for them, so they could stop referring to them as 'slugs' or 'slug creatures', but that was when he glanced at the battle that was unfolding and winced for a moment, "though you might want to hurry, as the longer we stand around talking the more ground those blasted birds gain."
As soon as the Land Blubber said that the siblings jumped into the area that was in front of them and focused on the enemies that were around the area, where Spyro and Ember focused on charging the small chicks, that were about their size and seemed to be wearing bands around their foreheads, though they had to roll out of the way to avoid the missiles that were being launched at them. What they discovered was that the falcons were delivered missiles to the chicks, as in they tossed them down to the smaller enemies and the chicks caught them with their beaks, before they loosed their new weapons at their enemies, causing the pair to avoid the attacks and slam into them with their heads, knocking them down into the ground and released some Spirit Particles into the air. Spike, on the other hand, focused on the falcons that were in the air and loosed a pair of Arcane Missiles at his targets, where Spyro, Ember, and their enemies watched as the bolts of magic raced through the air and slammed into the falcons, blasting them out of the air in seconds, causing his siblings to smile as they advanced forward, while the Land Blubber that was behind them scratched his head for a moment as he watched the three of them move deeper into enemy territory. The next thing they did, as they explored the area that they were in, was quickly pick up the gems that were laying on the ground and broke the straw baskets that were hiding behind some of the buildings, before they discovered a small gap that they would need to jump over to get to the next area of this realm, though Spike did make sure that the falcon in the air was blasted out of the sky as his siblings took out the rest of the aggressive chicks that happened to be in their way.
Once that was done Spyro explored the gap and found a pair of straw baskets down there, along with some gems that were near them, before he joined his siblings on the other side of the small gap, where they found one of the Land Blubbers on a cannon that could be moved around in a circle, but he was having a hard time targeting any of the enemies that were in the area and only stopped when the siblings came to a stop near his station.
"Dang cannon just isn't working for me." the Land Blubber stated, his tone revealing that he was annoyed with the fact that he couldn't hit the falcon that was flying in the air in front of him, though that was when he focused on the siblings as he walked off the platform that allowed him to control the weapon in question, "Do you think one of you can use this cannon and blast that bird out of the sky?"
"Should be easy." Spyro replied, because from what he knew Spike could just cast another burst of Arcane Missiles and take the lone bird out of the air in a matter of seconds, but that was a waste of energy and he knew his brother would rather keep his energy for later, hence the reason he jumped onto the area that the Land Blubber had been standing on and took control of the weapon.
Spyro found that it was rather simple for him to fire one of the missiles that the cannon possessed and hit the falcon out of the air, though at the same time he blasted the door behind the bird apart and then made sure to look around the rest of the area they were in, blasting a floating metallic vase out of the air, as it as tied to a balloon, tore apart a wooden door that was right behind them, and even blew apart a circular metallic chest on the house that was near where the Land Blubber had placed the cannon. The room that he revealed contained four straw baskets, where Ember broke them and collected the gems that were inside them, while Spike found a gem on a small wall between two of the structures, one that they would have missed if he hadn't looked there, before he headed back to the area that they started in and found a few more of them scattered around the area, where Talon picked them up before they returned to the path that would take them through the wooden structure the falcon had been guarding. The first thing all three of them noticed was the large blue colored Breezebuilder that was blocking the way forward, who wore no shirt, had a pair of brown pants on with a belt that had several pouches attached to it, had goggles on his head, and had a necklace with a pair of tags attached to it, but the smug look on his face indicated that he was pleased by the effort his forces had put in so far. It appeared that what the soldier liked to do was hurl bombs at whoever he was facing, if there was someone nearby for him to fight, so Spike used a barrier to protect them from the initial blast, which allowed Ember to burst out of the flames and spin through the space between them, knocking their foe to the ground like the rest of their enemies.
Once that was done Spyro smashed the metallic vases that were nearby as Spike grabbed the gems on the opposite side of the small room, before they moved forward and continued to explore the rest of Zephyr, even though all three of them were shocked by what was going on in this realm, as there were sounds of more cannons being fired and grunts as Land Blubbers were knocked away from wherever they were positioned. They picked up a few more gems as they walked into what appeared to be a cistern or some sort of water storage area, where two more of the bomb throwing birds were waiting for them, but they proved to be no match for the siblings as Spyro tackled once of them in the chest and Spiked used a little flame to cause the explosive the second was holding to explode, causing that bird to cough as he collapsed on the floor. The path that they were following lead them to three chicks who felt like they were nothing and laughed at them as they moved through the area, but since they were enemies, as they looked like the first couple of chicks they had taken care of, the siblings made sure to deal with all three of them, as well as climbing the stairs that one of them was guarding so they could follow the tunnel to one more bomb thrower, who lasted a few seconds before Spike ignited his bomb with a small flame, though that allowed them to come to a stop and stare out at the area that was in front of them. It was then that they saw what all the sounds were linked to, as the Breezebuilders were in the middle of bombing several areas of Zephyr with their bombs and the rest of their artillery, while the Land Blubbers tried to fight back to the best of their ability, but it was painfully clear which side was winning.
"How are we supposed to save this realm when a full blown war is going on?" Spyro asked, because he had no idea what he and his siblings could actually do for the Land Blubbers, as while he was sure they could blow up the area that the munitions were being stored in, and wipe out all the weaponry that was inside it, he wasn't sure the three of them could stand up to all the battles that were being waged across this realm, as Zephyr seemed to be a massive realm and there was no way they could help everyone, not without getting seriously hurt in the process.
"Honestly, I don't think we can stop them, not right now anyway." Ember remarked, as this was the first time in her life that she had to admit that a battle wasn't worth being involved in, for the moment to be exact, because they needed to focus their attention on stopping Ripto and whatever he was planning, before they could even begin to worry about the war that was going on between the Breezebuilders and the Land Blubbers, though that was when a loud explosion occurred in the distance and several Land Blubbers were blown into the air, "Though I will admit that part of me wants to get out there and try to stop the war anyway, before we head after Ripto."
"According to the guidebook, there has always been a rivalry between the Breezebuilders and the Land Blubbers, but this is far beyond anything that Elora has recorded for us to read about." Spike said, because due to the fact that all of the Breezebuilders were birds, and all of the Land Blubbers were slugs, it was like how birds and worms acted towards each other, but from what he could tell neither species had really hated each other all that much in the past as they did at this very moment, as their disagreements were over bits of land and whatnot, but something had suddenly set them off and gave way for this war, "I wouldn't be surprised if Ripto had a hand in making this war happen, to keep the heroes of Avalar distracted so they don't chase after him, or at least keep them stalled until he was ready to strike, and there's also the small possibility that someone else is behind this war, to profit from the sides buying whatever they needed to take the other side down."
"You aren't suggesting that Moneybags indirectly started this war, are you?" Spyro inquired, as while he didn't trust Moneybags all that much, since he continued to try and stop them from getting into several of the realms in Avalar, he was of the opinion that Ripto was behind this war, to tempt him and his siblings into helping the sides come to some sort of peace, giving him all the time in the world to either prepare for their arrival or put whatever he was planning into action, as he had to be doing something other than sitting on his rear, waiting for them to come to him.
"I said there's a small possibility... okay, it's more like one or two percent," Spike admitted, even though he knew that the Ripto theory was more accurate than anything else they could have come up with, especially since it turned the two species against each other rather quickly and that seemed to match what happened to all the other realms during the week after their target arrived in Avalar, before he sighed as he closed the guidebook, replaced it in his satchel, and looked out at the realm they were in, "but the fact remains that we need to do something to help the Land Blubbers out, and at the moment taking out the munitions that the Breezebuilders have brought with them seems to be the best course of action, so we had best get moving and continue taking out the enemies in our way."
Once they were done talking Ember collected the nearby gems as Spyro climbed into the cannon that was to their left, so he could target the balloon that was nearby and the large metallic door that was blocking the way forward, where he blew them apart and opened the way for them to advance, though as all that happened Spike focused on the falcons that were in the area for a few seconds. As Spyro and Ember glided over to the center of the structure that was in front of the area they were standing on, which presented a path that seemed to lead right to the munitions that the Breezebuilders were using in their war against the Land Blubbers, though the first thing they did was avoid the bomb the soldier bird that was in the area tried to use on them, before they charged into their foe, knocking him over the edge in the process. Once they did that, and collected the couple of gems that were inside the structure, they walked out onto the bridge and made started to make their way to the next soldier, making sure to avoid the bombs he pulled out, though while they did that a pair of falcons changed their path and flew over to where they were, all so they could bomb them off the bridge. What neither of them were expecting were the Arcane Missiles that burst through the air and struck them down, though Spike made sure to hit each and every falcon that was in this part of the realm, both to make sure none of them came after him and his siblings, as well as to relieve the pressure that the Land Blubbers were under, before he glided over to his siblings as they finished off the soldier that was at the end of the bridge.
The instant they were back together they explored the platform that the bridge brought them to and found four straw baskets that were in the area in front of them, before heading to the left of the short wooden bridge, where they quickly found a walkway that had a soldier bird at the end of it, who was rolling explosive barrels in their direction, only for the siblings to jump over the barrels and take him out. From there they found a ramp that had a soldier bird at the top, who was doing what his ally had been doing, though while Ember jumped over the barrels, and struck him down with a quick whack of her tail, Spyro smashed the three metallic vases that were to the right of the ramp's base and collected the gems that were inside them, allowing him and Spike to join Ember at the top of the ramp. Once they reached the top they found another cannon that Ember decided to use this time around, where she used the first shot to take out a circular metallic chest that was on the wall above them, allowing her siblings to collect the fallen gems that had been inside it before they returned to where she was position, which was the moment that she focused on the structure that the path lead them to and loosed the second shot the cannon had at her new target. It was in that moment that she and her siblings watched as the weapons and explosives inside the structure ignited and exploded rather violently, as the entire upper section of the structure was torn apart, leaving a smoky area that just so happened to contain a few gems that had survived the blast, an inactive portal that must have been enchanted to be blast proof, and a Land Blubber, who none of the siblings were sure how he had survived the explosion, even though they were happy to see no one died from this event.
With the munitions destroyed, thus limiting the amount of weaponry the Breezebuilders had access to, the siblings headed over to the ruined structure and immediately helped the Land Blubber up, though they made sure to pick up the gems that were on the ground, as it appeared they had been inside some straw baskets that didn't survive the explosion, before they stood in front of the soldier.
"Wow, that was some explosion. It's a good thing I had my helmet on, otherwise that could have been bad," the Land Blubber commented, where Spyro and Ember raised their eyebrows for a moment, as they weren't sure how having the helmet on would have protected the soldier from the explosion that tore the structure apart, and before they said a word Spike stopped them, as he was sure that someone had enchanted the helmet with a personal force field that protected the wearer against explosions, something the Commander they had spoken to earlier likely had on his helmet as well, "oh, and while I was hiding out here, trying to get things to blow up from the inside, I also found our Talisman hidden among the weapons and bombs, like the Breezebuilders were going to steal it or something. Anyway, I'm sure the Colonel would want me to give it to you three, as a reward for getting through the defenses the Breezebuilders had set up, as well as taking out their munitions storage area."
The Talisman in question was a ruby that had been molded into the shape of a bomb, completed with a silver and gold attachment at the top that looked like a fuse, and as Spike added it to the guidebook, just like all of the others he and his siblings had collected so far, the inactive portal turned back on, but instead of leaving Zephyr they immediately turned around and headed back the way they came, as there was an entire lower area for them to explore and possibly help whoever happened to be down there. As the siblings glided down to the lower area, and started to collect the gems that were scattered around the area that had a whirlwind back up to the first cannon that rested in this part of Zephyr, they discovered some sort of elephant-like creature that spots on it's body, like what was on a cow's body, before spotting one or two more in different sections of this area. The other thing they spotted were the two paths that lead to other sections of this area, as one of them seemed to be an area they had to climb a ladder to reach and the other seemed to be a tunnel that would take them to another section of Zephyr, so the siblings focused on the area they were in and made sure to pick up all the gems that were in their way. That was when they found another Land Blubber, this one with hair for some odd reason, standing near what appeared to be a pen of some kind, and it seemed that it was carrying a stick that would let them herd creatures around, but even as they noticed that all three of them realized something, and that was the fact that the male Land Blubbers didn't have hair and the female ones did, which was still odd when they thought about it, before they pushed the thought to the back of their minds as they approached the Land Blubber.
"Hello, I am Little Bo Peep, and I have lost my cowleks!" the Land Blubber stated, though while she informed them as to what to call the odd elephant-like creatures, which were just slightly taller than they were, they also learned that the female Land Blubbers, despite looking slightly different from the male ones, also had deep voices that almost make it seem like they were talking to one of the soldiers from before, "With the battles that have been raging lately, in this once peaceful realm, my cowleks keep running away and force me to try and find them, and it takes me forever to get them back to the pen, where the sounds of the battle scare them into fleeing once more. Can you guys help me track down the cowleks and get them back in the pen?"
"Sure, shouldn't be too hard." Spyro replied, because, interestingly enough, one of the cowleks happened to be right to the right of the pen that Little Bo Peep was standing in front of, so all he and his siblings had to do was walk over to where the cowlek was standing, as he was in front of the ladder that lead to another part of Zephyr, and directed him so that his head was facing the pen.
In that moment Ember whacked the cowlek with her tail, mostly to prompt it to get moving, and found that it sent the creature flying over a good distance, putting it halfway between where they were standing and where the pen rested, to which she did so again and let the cowlek land in the pen, though once that was gone they headed back to the part of this area that the whirlwind was located in. The instant they returned to the starting point of this area, however, they focused on the pair of cowleks that were wandering around this area and started to move them towards the pen, where Spyro charged into the creature that was the closest to the pen and sent it flying, in the direction of the Land Blubber they were helping out, while Spike focused his magic for a second and manipulated the land to form a walkway for the other cowlek to walk up, and once he was up on the platform the pen was in he knocked him into the pen with a charge. With the second and third cowleks in the pen, however, the siblings had to look around the area and see if they could figure out where the others were, because while Little Bo Peep didn't tell them how many cowleks she had, which they understood since she had to be worried about the war that was raging, they knew there couldn't be too many more, hence the reason they were willing to explore and see if they could find the others. From there they headed back to the ladder and quickly climbed up it, where Spike found a pair of falcons that were flying around the highest point of the area and seemed to be ready for someone to invade the area they were in, where all he did was loose another burst of Arcane Missiles into the air and blew them out of the air.
"You know, I'm glad you have that spell, as it's made taking care of the Breezebuilders that must easier," Ember said, as most of the time Spike's spells seemed to make things better for them in the long run, especially when she thought about their first adventure and what he had done during that time, though as she said that she and Spyro climbed up the ladder and joined him, so they could see what was in this area.
What they discovered was that this area was small and that there were three rings leading down to the lowest part of the area, where Spyro and Ember smashed the pair of metallic vases that happened to be on the level they were on, while Spike noticed that there was a Superflame Powerup on the other side of the area, which was what he was heading for as his siblings took care of the straw baskets that happened to be on the ring below them. As they touched down on the lowest part of the area the siblings found a pair of cowleks that were wandering around the area, while finding a pair of metallic vases that rested near a ladder that would allow them to climb back up to the entrance of this area, though they found out that just flaming and charging the cowleks was doing nothing. Spike, however, quickly came up with an idea that might let them get the creature out of the area and return him to the pen, as in he used the Powerup Gate and loosed a fireball at his target, where the cowlek in question was launched up into the air and landed on the second ring, causing him to repeat the process until both of the creatures were near the entrance, before blasting the circular metallic chest and freeing the chest so that Spyro and Ember could collect the gems. From there he jumped over to the other ladder and climbed up it, where he came to a stop when he reached the top and found what was up there, as there was a yellow jar with green rings on it, but the more interesting fact was the question mark on it, which was why he paused as he pulled out the guidebook, as he was curious as to whether or not Elora had written something on the odd jar.
"Ah, this is a Question Mark Jar," Spike commented, though as he said that Spyro and Ember, who had just finished picking up all of the gems that were in this area, climbed the ladder and came to a stop behind him as they looked at the jar that he was interested in, even though both of them were slightly interested in it since this was the first time they had seen something like it, hence the reason why they were waiting for Spike to finish reading so he could tell them what they were staring at, "Based on what Elora wrote, these are magical jars that, when struck, will magically teleport to another part of the realm they're found in, effectively making someone chase them down while following a specific path, and when the jar reaches the end of the path the individual chasing it can get some gems from it if they break it."
"That sounds rather easy to do," Spyo said, especially since he was sure that Spike would be able to follow the bursts of magic as the jar moved through the realm, meaning they had the advantage when it came to tracking down the jar, a fact that Ember agreed with, though even as he said that Spike whacked the jar and it disappeared, meaning that the hunt was on while they finished helping Little Bo Peep with her cowleks.
Ember nodded her head in agreement as they jumped down to the area that the two cowleks were wandering around in and carefully moved them down the ladder, even if they just hit them down there thanks to the fact that they didn't get hurt from being hit by their tails or their charges, before eventually putting the pair into the pen that Little Bo Peep was standing in front of, making five cowleks in total, and stopped in front of the Land Blubber so they could tell her the good news and, more importantly, discover if there were any others they needed to keep an eye out for.
"You guys are great. Here, have this as a reward for your effort." Little Bo Peep said, where she pulled out an Orb and handed it over to the siblings, where Spike accepted it and stored it inside the pages for Zephyr, even though they had no idea how many Orbs there were in this realm, before his and his siblings focused on the Land Blubber, "Now, there are two more cowleks out there, but I haven't seen either of them for days, so I don't know if they're hanging out around this area or if they've been kidnapped by the Breezebuilders."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, because with how the war between the Breezebuilders and the Land Blubbers was going there was always the chance that the other two cowleks could have been kidnapped, but they did remember the other tunnel and decided that it was worth checking out, where they discovered a pair of red gems that happened to bring them to another Land Blubber, one that seemed worried about something.
"Um, is something wrong?" Spike asked, because due to the fact that this soldier wasn't participating in the war he had to assume that he was like Little Bo Peep, that he was someone who had one of the Orbs that they were looking for, or might be able to point them in the direction of an Orb by helping him in some manner, just like all of the other people they had helped in the other realms so far.
"What light from yonder window breaks... that window, dummies." the Land Blubber stated, at first acting like he was trying to recite something, but, upon finding that Spyro and Ember had no idea what he was talking about and that Spike had a small idea what he might be referring to, before he pointed up at the highest structure in the area, where the three of them spotted a female Breezebuilder minding her own business, before glancing over to the soldier once more, "The Professor said that he was working on a way to help me get back up to where Juliet is waiting, but I haven't seen him since and I'm getting worried for his safety."
The first thing the siblings did, instead of gliding over to the area that a few chicks were hanging out in, they dropped down into the lower part of the area and picked up the gems that were down there, complete with a few straw baskets that they broke apart, though while they did that Spike noticed a hole in one of the walls where a gem and a seed of some kind rested, with a patch of freshly moved dirt, making him wonder if there was something special about the lone seed and if there might be more of them around the area. As they headed up to the area that the chicks were hanging in they noticed one of the missing cowleks was resting near the wall that Spike had been staring at, though that didn't stop them from charging at the chicks and knocking them out, allowing them to advance down into the next section of the area and see if they could find the other missing cowlek. Fortunately the siblings discovered a number of scattered gems, a pair of metallic vases, and the creature that they were looking for, but instead of focusing on the cowleks they were interested in finding the Professor and seeing what he was trying to do for the residents of Zephyr, which was when Spyro spotted a set of stone steps that lead up to another area. Once he discovered that he lead the way as his siblings followed after him, where they came to a stop on a platform that seemed to connect to the structure that was in the middle of the area that the second cowlek was wandering around in, along with a pair of metallic vases, before they spotted the Professor writing on his clipboard.
"Oh, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I knew it was only a matter of time until you came here, even though I was hoping that you would come here later, when the war had lessened." the Professor said, showing that he was expecting them to arrive at some point in time, even if he was hoping for something different, before he focused on the area that they were in, almost as if he was trying to forget about what was going on with this realm at the moment, "Anyway, I've been working on a little something that will help that Land Blubber get to the love of his life, but, since you guys are here, maybe you can deliver a message to Juliet and get the two to meet up. Here's the seed I've been working on, which you can use in one of the patches of soil that are scattered throughout this area."
The siblings found that what the Professor was giving them was a seed that looked identical to the one that Spike had seen a few moments ago, though Spyro took it and spat it out into one of the three patches that rested near them, where they watched as a green bean stalk of sorts, about their size, grew out of the ground and remained that way, prompting Ember to flame it, causing the seed to be spat out of the ground. Once that happened Spyro repeated the process on the second and the third patches, where they found that the second stalk was somewhat taller than the first one and the third one was taller than the first, which was the moment that Spike determined that the three patches formed a path up to the structure that was near them, before he grabbed the seed and returned to the area he found the other one in. He quickly returned to the patch and tossed the seed into it, creating a small platform for him to jump up to the area that the seed was in, one that he knocked off so that Spike or Ember could pick up, before he grabbed the gem and joined them, though he grabbed the seed that he used on the patch and followed his siblings back to where the Professor was waiting. From there they used the seeds on the first and second patches, forming a walkway for Spyro to glide over to where a third seed was resting, one that allowed him to make the third platform and opened the way for all of them to glide over to the platform that was in front of where, where a fourth seed was waiting for that one. Spike took that seed and spotted one more patch of soil that was between the area the platform was in and the bridge that two soldier birds were moving barrels around on, and when he placed it in the soil an even taller stalk grew from where it was placed, creating a point for him and his siblings to jump to the bridge.
What they found was that the stalk had three levels to it, like the stalks they had jumped on to get to the platform, and they wasted no time in gliding over to it, making sure to go one at a time, and since Ember was the first one up she glided over to the bridge and took out the soldier birds that were in the way, allowing her brothers to join her without having to worry about the birds. From there they found another seed and another patch of soil that was close to the area that the tunnel was located in, where Spyro focused on spitting it out into the air and watched as a brand new stalk was created in the area in front of them, allowing the three of them to glide over to the stalk and then glided over to the next part of the path they happened to be following, where they picked up a number of gems along the way and then glided over a gap that allowed them to pick up even more gems, before they located a new area. There were a few gems scattered here and there, which they would pick up in due time, though the more important part was the fact that the Professor was up here with them, though before Spyro and Ember could say anything Spike stopped them, as he knew for a fact that, with all of the technology that the Professor had created, that it was capable that he had created a teleportation device that allowed him to move around with ease. Regardless of how the Professor got up here, while they were in the middle of collecting the seeds to get up here, the siblings approached him so they could get the pair of seeds that were next to him so they could move forward and get to where Juliet was waiting, even if she didn't seem to care what was going on in the area that was around her.
"Well done you guys, you figured out how to use the seeds and gathered some valuable data for me," the Professor said, though as he said that he pulled something out of his pockets, where the siblings watched as he pulled out an Orb and handed it over to Spike, who happily stored it inside the guidebook with the first one, but once that happened he focused on the matter at hand, "Now then, these two seeds will get you to where Juliet is waiting, so you can tell her about Romeo and his love for her."
With that done, and both Spyro and Ember collected the seeds, the siblings jumped over to the platform that was in the middle of the area and then jumped to the walkway that would take them to the next level, as Spike was leading the way this time and stopped his siblings from using the seeds too soon, and they collected the gems that were in the area before coming to a stop on the upper level. From there he had Spyro use his seed to let a stalk grow and create a short platform for them to jump on so they could get to the wooden walkway, though at the very end of the walkway was a small broken area that had some soil, which created a small stalk that allowed them to jump up to the chamber that Juliet was standing in. Interestingly enough Juliet seemed surprised to see them, and even said something that was similar to what the Land Blubber, Romeo, told them earlier, though before Spyro, Spike, or Ember could say anything she noticed who she was talking about and flew down to where he was standing, causing the siblings to sigh as they followed after her and landed right in front of the couple, who could be trying to end the war with love. They figured that it was a good idea and said nothing as they were rewarded with another Orb, which Spike quickly collected before they turned their attention to the two cowleks that happened to be in the area that they were in, leaving the lovers to whatever they were planning on doing, even though a few moments later the siblings flamed the cowleks over the gap and then escorted them through the tunnel so they could return them to the pen at long last.
"Well I'll be, you actually found the other two cowleks!" Little Bo Peep exclaimed, her tone telling the siblings that she was pleased with what they were able to do for her, before she revealed another Orb for them to take, which Spike was more than happy to claim and add to the guidebook, giving them four Orbs for this realm, "Now then, I'm going to try and reinforce the pen, to prevent this from happening when the next battle hits this area."
Once that was done the siblings headed back to the whirlwind and took it back up to the cannon that would take them back up to the upper area, which would allow them to head to the exit portal, but as they did that they found the location that the Question Mark Jar was located in, so Spyro smacked it with his tail and it disappeared again, to which they headed back towards the starting area of this realm. The reason behind that was because Spike seemed to believe that the jar was taking them back to that part of Zephyr, and, sure enough, when they emerged from the other side of the tunnel it took him a few seconds to locate it's new position, near the first cannon that Spyro used, allowing Ember to smash it this time around, forcing it to move again. Interestingly enough the next location was near the Land Blubber that had asked them to help him out, the commander of the forces from what they gathered, and when they smashed it they were allowed to pick up the gems that had been inside it, but it did give them the knowledge that they might see these again in the future, when they visited the other realms, so they turned around and headed towards the exit portal so they could return to Autumn Plains and figure out where they were going to go next.
At the same time, however, the siblings determined that the first thing they were going to do, once Ripto and his plans were stopped, was come back to Zephyr and figure out how they were going to bring this war to an end, because this was something they wanted to stop and would no doubt come up with a way to do that, once their focus wasn't on trying to save the entirety of Avalar anyway.
With their visit to Zaphyr completed, and the battle between the Breezebuilders and Land Blubbers not really affected all that much by their efforts, Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to Autumn Plains and walked down the ramp that was on the other side of the exit portal, as it was time for them to pick the next realm they wanted to take on and help the residents out with whatever problems they were facing. Spike was glancing at the two portals that were close to the area that they first appeared in, when Elora helped them get to this homeworld after defeating Crush, and wondered if they were going to take on either Crystal Glacier or Skelos Badlands, since they were the closest realms to the one they had just finished, but there was the chance they would pick something else when he considered all the options that they could pick from. Ember was just looking at the portals in the area they were in, instead of focusing on any specific portals like Spike was, though she was still annoyed by what they had seen in Zephyr, the fact that two of the species of Avalar happened to be going to war with each other. In fact all thee of them weren't happy with what they had seen in the realm they were leaving, though all of them were more annoyed by their inability to actually help the Land Blubbers out, because blowing the munitions up didn't seem to help them out in the long run, rather it appeared that the battles just continued to rage on all over Zephyr.
In fact the siblings came to a brief stop when they reached the area in front of the portal that would take them to the realm known as Skelos Badlands, just so they could go over what was plaguing their minds at the moment, and it would give them a chance to consider which of the realms they wanted to tackle next, and Spike used the time to write down what they encountered back in Zephyr.
"I can't be the only one that feels like we really didn't accomplish anything back there," Ember commented, because she had originally thought that blowing up the munitions would have done something to the war, but after seeing that the Breezebuilders continued to fight the Land Blubbers, even with some of their weapons taken out, it really felt like she and her siblings had done nothing in Zephyr.
"No, we all feel that way." Spike replied, as he had been thinking about the same thing as they came to a stop, where he spent the time writing down what he had learned, and he could see that Spyro happened to be thinking about this as well, showing that all three of them were bothered by what had happened back in Zephyr, "So, which of the realms should we focus on next? Should we go somewhere cold, or maybe somewhere warm?"
"No, we're heading to Breeze Harbor." Spyro stated, where Spike and Ember glanced at him and found that he was staring at the portal that would take them to the realm that the Breezebuilders called home, though they could tell that he actually had a reason behind why he was picking that realm, instead of picking one of the other realms that were in the immediate area around them, "I want to know what caused the rivalry between the two species to reach the point that it has caused them to declare war on each other, and, more importantly, what the Breezebuilders are doing in preparation for the next battle with the Land Blubbers."
"Oh, I see, you want to check out the realm and make sure they aren't doing anything terrible." Ember remarked, but even as she said that she understood what Spyro was talking about, because if there was a war going on it made sense that one of the sides would be getting ready for the next battle and the Breezebuilders, despite the ground they had been able to get on their own, were likely preparing something for the next battle, so it would be in their best interests to make sure it wasn't something bad.
Spyro nodded his head, showing that he agreed with what Ember was saying, before he headed for the portal that would take them to the realm he was thinking about, where she and Spike followed after him, the latter doing so a second or two later, since he had to put his writing materials away first, before the three of them passed through the portal and headed to the next realm they wanted to take on. The area they appeared in seemed to be a harbor that was built into the side of a mountain, which sort of made sense considering the fact that the realm was called Breeze Harbor, which meant that there would be a harbor in this place, though what made the siblings pause for a moment was the large metallic ship, one none of them had seen before, that happened to be resting some distance in front of them, positioned between two sections of the harbor and currently didn't seem accessible from where they were standing. In fact it appeared that they had to jump over a small gap so they could talk to one of the Breezebuilders that called this realm home, one who looked more like an engineer or something and didn't appear to be a soldier, though the other thing they noticed was that there were a decent amount of machinery in this world, where they knew that the new Machinists dragons in their home realms would have loved to come to a place like this, to expand their knowledge and work with the birds that had no doubt created everything they were seeing.
From there the siblings jumped over the small gap and landed in front of the lone Breezebuilder, where they picked up the pair of gems that were resting near him, before coming to a stop so they could figure out what was going on and if there was anything they could do to help the Breezebuilders out, though they were hoping that this didn't assist their war efforts in Zephyr, since that was something they were trying to stop.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, please excuse the mess... we are currently suffering from a Land Blubber infestation." the bird told them, where he seemed annoyed by what was going on to the realm that he called home, where he glanced at part of the harbor for a moment, like he was focusing his anger on whoever was messing with the machines, before he let out a sigh and turned back to the siblings, "At first it seemed like nothing, as they were just putting out the boilers every now and then, but now they've put out all of the boilers in our harbor, and, to make matters worse, they've managed to shut down our airship as well. if the three of you could stoke the flames under the boilers, and take out the enemies that are infesting our harbor, I'm sure you could make your way to the airship and turn it back on, as well as activating all of our advanced machinery at the same time."
"Steam powered machinery, very interesting." Spike commented, showing the Breezebuilder that he understood what he was talking about, even if Spyro and Ember were just listening to what he was saying, though once that was done they jumped back over to the area they had started in, so they could start exploring the realm and see what was happening to this realm at the moment, especially since the large airship in the distance worried them.
As soon as they landed on the area that they had appeared in, and noticed that a boiler was to their left with the piece of machinery it was attached to was to their right, the first thing they did was spot two metallic buckets that just happened to have slugs inside them, who seemed to be taking a bath inside the buckets and liked to spit their water out at anything that bothered them, be it the siblings or any sources of fire. The siblings realized that all they had to do was dodge the bits of water that were being shot at them and then charge into the baskets after dodging the attacks, knocking out the Land Blubbers that were inside them, which did make them wonder how in the world they managed to get up here in the first place, but since these ones seemed to be aggressive the siblings fought them like every other enemy they fought so far, all so they could move forward. At the same time Ember, who was taking out the Bucket Blubber to their right, as that was what Spike had come up with for this specific enemy, also picked up some gems that were laying on the ground near her, while Spyro knocked the other one to the ground, allowing Spike to flame the wood that was beneath the first boiler, which quickly restored the power to the machine that was near them. In that moment they discovered that this machine gave them a small whirlwind that would take them up to the level that was above them, but while Spyro did that he pointed out a pair of metallic vases to the right of the machine and three gems behind the pipe that connected it to the boiler, though he did watch as his siblings smashed the vases and collected all the gems, before they joined him so they could advance into the next part of the realm, while making sure to break the pair of straw baskets to their left.
What they discovered in the next area was that there was a circular ball that was made of metal just floating in the air, as if it was minding it's own business since it did had a face on it, and when one of them approached it several sharp and dangerous looking Spikes emerged from it's body, meaning that they wouldn't be able to charge it, not without seriously hurting themselves in the process. As such they decided to look for a way to break them without getting themselves hurt in the process, so they explored the area that was around them and found a number of metallic vases to smash, a couple of straw baskets to break, and some gems scattered here and there, though that was before they focused on the two more interesting things they found. The first thing that caught their attention was the fact that there was a cannon, just like the ones they had seen in Zephyr, resting nearby, one that Spike guessed had more than enough power to blow up the Spiked Mine that was floating nearby, though the other thing the three of them noticed were the pair of Land Blubbers that were in this area, wielding fire hoses and looking like they were here to fight fires, just without any shirts or safety gear on since all they were wearing were their hats. Fortunately it appeared that, despite the fact the Firegrubs were ready to fight some fires, thanks to the small water containers on their backs, which were hooked up to their hoses, the siblings were able to dodge their rather slow attacks and then flame them when their guards were lowered, ending the fight rather quickly and allowed them to continue exploring the area they were in.
"You know, it's rather sad to see that these two species are in the middle of fighting each other," Spyro commented, as he knew that it was something that both Spike and Ember were feeling as well, though even as he said that Ember jumped onto the cannon and blew apart the Spiked Mine that was near them, which included the circular metallic chest that was in the area and a second Spiked Mine that was hidden from her view, right behind the chest to be exact, as Spike helped her locate it so she could blast it, "Honestly, what could have ticked them off to the point where they were willing to declare war on each other?"
"We would have to ask one of the Breezebuilders, as it seems they would know the reason better than anyone," Spike replied, though he couldn't fault Spyro for thinking about this, because it was bothering both him and Ember as well, and while he was more than willing to help get the airship back in working order he hoped that it wasn't going to be used to further the war, otherwise that would effectively undo everything they did in Zephyr, to push the Breezebuilders back and make them regret engaging in this war.
"Considering the fact that it seems like they started this war, I would agree with you," Ember said, where she jumped off the cannon and jumped around the corner, so she could investigate the area that the second Spiked Mine was in, and made sure to pick up all the gems that were in the small area that she discovered, before dropping down to where her siblings were standing, "but first, we need to restore some order to this location, before they tell us anything as to why the war started in the first place."
With that said the first thing the siblings did was pick up the rest of the gems that were in the area they were currently standing in, adding them to what they had on them at the moment, before they headed to where the second boiler was located and restored its flame, powering whatever piece of machinery it was connected to, before smashing the pair of straw baskets that were behind where the pile of wood was located. From there the siblings dived into the pool of water that separated the area they were standing on from the next section of Breeze Harbor, where they found a few gems laying on the bottom of the pool and collected them, before eventually resurfacing a few moments later, so they could jump out of the water and land on the new path that would allow them to progress through the rest of the realm. As they climbed up the steps that were at the base of the new path, however, they discovered that there was some lava off to their right, no doubt something that the Breezebuilders were using to power some of their other machines, which they wouldn't have to worry about since there was no way that the Land Blubbers could put something like that out, before picking up the gems that were in their way as they continued to follow the path that was in front of them. That brought them to an area where a Firegrub was standing guard over the next boiler, with a Bucket Blubber positioned off on the right, though the pair was rather easy to take down since neither of them had been paying attention to the path that just so happened to be right behind them, a mistake that allowed the siblings to attack them without being attacked back, all while allowing them to ignite the wood that was beneath the boiler.
Instead of using the small metallic ships, which seemed to be the way to get around the gap that was in front of them, the siblings headed to their left and Spyro charged into the Bucket Blubber that was in the way, while Ember broke the three straw baskets that were to their left, before they reached an area that was filled with lava, with some sort of machine in the middle of the pool, and had some Spiked Mines moving around the place.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's good that you three showed up." a voice said, where they found a Breezebuilder, who did look almost identical to the first one they met at the beginning of this realm, because while the birds in this realm weren't as heavily dressed for war like the ones in Zephyr were, they were sort of dressed for battle, and they looked more like pelicans than what the other Breezebuilders looked like, before they focused on what he was telling them, "Those blasted Land Blubbers have littered a number of metallic mines, which turn into spiked mines when you get close to them, all over the harbor, almost like they're trying to totally shut us down so we can't deploy our airship. If you can clear all those mines out, of which there are apparently eight of, not only will it help us get back on schedule, but I'll also give you guys the Orb I found in a clam yesterday."
"Well, you have a cannon, so it should be easy to break them," Spike replied, because so far it seemed rather easy to use a cannon to target the Spiked Mines that had been scattered around the harbor, to which he jumped onto the one that was resting near the Breezebuilder and focused for a moment, where he targeted the pair of mines that were moving in and out of the lava and blasted them to pieces, as well as a circular metallic chest that spat out some gems into the area that they had first started in.
Before they moved Ember smashed the pair of metallic vases near the cannon and then they made their way back to the starting area, where they found the gems that Spike had freed and quickly gathered all of them, which was when they walked back to the location of the third boiler, as it was time to move forward and see what else the realm had to throw at them, before they reached the airship. As soon as they returned to the third boiler they waited for a few seconds and then jumped onto the small ship that came to a stop in front of where they had been standing, one that circled around the large gap that was in this area and allowed them to jump over to a brand new area, though while they did that the siblings did spot what appeared to be tracks of some kind that rested on the top of the various walls that seemed to be resting all over the harbor, even if they had no idea what purpose the tracks served. The first thing they did, as soon as they got off the ship that carried them over to the other part of the harbor, was pick up a pair of gems and smash a metallic vase that was in the way, before turning to their right as they found another lava filled area that just so happened to have two gems that lead them right to the cannon. Spyro took the cannon this time, since his siblings had their turns on the other two, and found that there were four Spiked Mines, the last four to be exact, in this area, so he grinned as he carefully turned the cannon and aimed at the two mines that were on the right side of the pool, where he blasted them as soon as they jumped out of the lava, before repeating the process with the pair on the left side, eliminating all eight of the mines, just like the Breezebuilder had asked them to do.
With the deed done, and all the Spiked Mines were taken care of, the siblings returned to the small ships and headed back to the bird that had asked them to complete this task, where they found him staring at the lava that the two mines had been in a few minutes ago, looking like he was happy over the fact that the ones that had been near him had been cleared out, like he had been tired of staring at the pair of objects, before he turned towards the siblings as they stopped in front of him.
"All eight of the mines are history!" Spyro stated, informing the bird that they had completed the task he had asked them to help him with, even though he and his siblings were still a little worried that helping the Breezebuilders get their airship fully operational might undo all their work in Zephyr, especially since it was something they hadn't encountered in the past, but they made sure not to tell anyone that they didn't know what the machine was.
"Well I'll be, you guys sure made short work of them!" the pelican replied, to which he quickly reached into the sack that he was carrying and pulled out the Orb that he had mentioned earlier, something that he handed over to Spike, who intended on putting it inside the guidebook with the rest of the Orbs and Talismans, "Here's the Orb that I promised you... and I'm sorry if there's still any clam juice on it. Now that the mines have been taken care of, we can continue preparing our airship and it's weapons... even if it looks like we might not be able to leave just yet, since all of the boilers haven't been turned back on yet."
"Don't worry, we're almost done with that." Ember said, letting the Breezebuilder know that they were here to do that and that they wouldn't leave before they made sure order was restored to this realm, to which she and her brothers left him to do whatever it was that he was supposed to be doing, before they came to a stop near the smaller ships, "I cannot believe that they're readying an airship for war, and that we're helping them do that!"
"Ember, please don't get excited over this." Spike remarked, though he made sure to clean off the Orb before he put it with the rest of their collection, and the only reason he was saying that was because he knew that Ember was going to get overly annoyed at the fact that they might be helping the Breezebuilders send out a warship, "We don't know if it's just a ship designed to carry weapons or if it's actually a ship designed for war, to fight people from afar, and the only way we're going to figure that out is by reactivating all of the boilers, since the pelican that's near the exit portal will no doubt tell us all about the ship and why they're happy it's operational again. Just keep calm and don't snap at anyone, okay?"
Ember sighed, as she knew that Spike was right and that she was just annoyed over the fact that two species were in the middle of a war with each other, especially when Ripto was out there, plotting his next move, before she nodded her head as they jumped back onto the small ship and returned to the part of the harbor they had visited for a few moments, so they could continue making their way towards the airship. Once they were back to where the other four Spiked Mines had been located the siblings continued to explore the area, where Ember took out her frustration on the Bucket Blubber that was in their way, leaving Spyro and Spike to break the pair of straw baskets that were nearby and pick up the gems Ember was walking by. From there they jumped down the step that was in front of them and took out the Firegrub that happened to be standing in front of an area that looked like it had a catapult of some kind, which was guarded by another Firegrub and a Bucket Blubber, who seemed to be in the middle of discussing something with each other, which meant both of their guards were lowered when the siblings approached them, allowing Spike to charge the Bucket Blubber as Spyro flamed the Firegrub. As soon as all three of the enemies were taken care of the siblings spread out and searched the area for all the gems that were scattered around them, making sure to pick them up as they also smashed a metallic vase, broke a straw basket, and found a walkway that took them to the fourth boiler, which was why Ember was taking down the Firegrub that was standing near the pile of wood and the Bucket Blubber that was near it, all so neither of them could put the flame out once this area was clear.
Spike also found the inactive Powerup Gate, located in a tunnel that went into the mountain a little, but that just told him that they needed to defeat a few more enemies before they could activate it, which was why they used the now active catapult to launch themselves over to the airship's deck, where they split up and took out the pair of Firegrubs that were on the ship, smashed the metallic vases that were in their way, and knocked out the Bucket Blubber, before setting fire to the two piles of wood and let the airship power up as it raised itself to where a platform was waiting.
"Wow, you guys are just like what Elora said you would be." a voice said, where the siblings jumped up onto the small platform and found one of the Breezebuilders waiting for them, near the inactive exit portal for this realm, which just so happened to be near a number of gems as well, before he smiled at them as he thought about what he and the others would be able to do now, "With the boilers turned back on, and the airship is fired up again, we can finally finish the last of our preparations before we begin our counterattack on Zephyr... how we lost ground, and a munitions building, to those Land Blubbers is beyond me. Please, take our Talisman as a sign of our gratitude."
"When you mention attacking Zephyr, what do you actually mean?" Ember asked, though either way she was sure that she wasn't going to like the answer and was keeping her anger under control, or at least she was doing that to the best of her ability, and she could tell that both Spyro and Spike were interested in what the answer was, even though Spike was taking the golden anchor, the Talisman, and was storing it inside the guidebook.
"This airship is outfitted with a number of guns, so we can blast apart whatever defensive structures our foes will have built since the last attack," the Breezebuilder replied, where his tone revealed just how happy he was that they were going to be able to use the greatest weapon in their arsenal against their enemies, and he was even staring at the airship while he talked about it, all of which showed that he was way too excited for what the future held, "but the true power of this airship lies in the cargo that it's carrying, several small bombs that will level a number of outposts, to weaken our enemy's forces, and one large bomb that will utterly wipe out an entire area."
"Out of curiosity, what set this war in motion?" Spyro inquired, because that was what they were more interested in at the moment, even if all three of them were surprised by the fact that the Breezebuilders intended on bombing Zephyr and it's residents out of existence, meaning that something important must have happened to make them consider such a terrible option in the first place.
"Well, we got word, from a reliable source that shall not be named, that the Land Blubbers were starting to amass an arsenal of weapons, to use on us," the Breezebuilder stated, where he jumped onto the deck and started to look over the rest of the airship, to see what sort of repairs needed to be made before they could send the airship out to Zephyr and bomb them into submission, while he and his siblings remained silent, "so in response to that we decided to purchase our own weapons, that way we could be ready for when the Land Blubbers revealed their hand to us, and then we learned that they stole our Leader's daughter, Juliet, and intended on using her to force us into submission... well, we acted upon what we had learned without wasting a second and declared war in an instant, and that was a week ago."
"Juliet? We saw her in Zephyr not even an hour ago and she was just fine," Spike commented, where he was going to make sure not to tell the Breezebuilders why he and his siblings had been in that realm in the first place, even if he was of the opinion that they should know they had been helping the Land Blubbers earlier, and he could tell that his siblings were keeping their mouths shut, "in fact, she seemed to be in love with someone. You can tell your superiors that she's been found and you can call off the attack!"
"Listen, I would like to believe you, but my orders are final: this airship is leaving soon, and there is nothing I can do to stop it at this point." the pelican replied, where part of his tone revealed that he was hoping Spike was right, that Juliet was safe and that she wasn't in Zephyr when the bombs dropped, even if the other part of his tone told them that he was too focused on his orders to break them, before he separated from the siblings and went to check out the rest of the airship, leaving them to either depart from the realm or continue helping the other Breezebuilders out.
"I simply cannot believe what we just learned." Ember remarked, though at the same time she and her brothers left the airship and glided down to the tunnel they had found a few minutes ago, as it was the only place they hadn't explored yet, but it was rather easy to tell that she was annoyed by what was going on at the moment, "Not only did Moneybags sell weapons to the Breezebuilders, which he never got paid for, but he also sold a number of weapon to the Land Blubbers to force their rivals into doing the same thing, and I'm willing to bet that he's the one that told the Breezebuilders where Juliet was located, only twisting it to suit his purposes... I'm seriously starting to dislike that bear."
"Not to mention the fact that this has escalated to the point where the Breezebuildiers are planning on bombing their rivals to get her back," Spyro added, though while that was terrible, especially when they took the destruction of what was on the airship into consideration, he really didn't see a way for them to deal with the large airship, not without heading inside the contraption and setting fire to everything inside, to blow it up before it could leave, before he turned to look at Spike, who had been silent so far, "Spike, what do you think about all of this?"
"...I'm going to blow up that airship." Spike stated, as he had been thinking about what was going on and already knew that they couldn't let the Breezebuilders launch their airship, because if they did get it to take off, and it headed for Zephyr, there was no telling how much destruction those bombs were going to create, and there was even the chance of people being seriously hurt in the process, something he wouldn't stand for.
"What? How are you going to do something like that?" Ember asked, because while she agreed with the idea that Spike was talking about, as the airship needed to be destroyed before it was allowed to leave the harbor, before it could be sent to Zephyr and blow up the land the Land Blubbers lived in, and even potentially hurt people, she wasn't sure how he was going to do what he was talking about.
"I'm going to head to the top of this lighthouse and see if I can't manipulate the weather to our advantage," Spike said, as there were many things his siblings had no idea he had learned during the last year of training with the Magic Crafters and the types of magic that they commanded, and while some of the spells he could use with no problem there were a lot of them that he hadn't mastered, but he knew of one spell that would help them out, "from there... well, you guys will find out what I have planned soon enough, if I can do what I'm thinking about."
The tunnel that they were heading to, where the Powerup Gate was located, allowed them to see that it was active at long last and that it was a Spring Jump Powerup, where they used it and launched themselves up into the base of the lone lighthouse, where they located a Breezebuilder that was standing near a trolley of some kind, though at the same time they smashed the metallic vase that was near one of the walls, broke the pair of straw baskets that were nearby, and picked up the gems that were near the vase, before approaching the bird that turned towards them.
"Oh, Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's a good thing you guys showed up, because I'm in need of some assistance." the bird said, his tone revealing that he believed that he was lucky they were there, though at the same time the siblings remained silent as they waited to see what he wanted them to do, before Spike asked him about climbing the lighthouse for what he had planned, "Look, my machinery is broken, and the Land Blubbers have scattered all the gears I need to fix it all over the tracks that wrap around the majority of this realm, and the only way to get those gears back is to use this trolley and ride around the tracks to collect them."
"Doesn't seem too hard." Spyro commented, because so far the majority of the tasks that the residents of the other realms had asked them to do were rather easy for him and his siblings to take care of, though he was sure a few of them would prove to be somewhat challenging in the future, since they had no idea what the people of the other realms would want them to do.
"Hey, do you mind if I climb the lighthouse and look out at the harbor?" Spike asked, as he made it seem like he was really interested in getting a look at the realm from one of the highest points that was available at the moment, even if he had other plans and wasn't about to tell the Breezebuilder what he really wanted to do, and both of his siblings remained silent as he asked the question.
"Sure, there's a ladder to do just that." the Breezebuilder said, though it appeared that he was focused on the trolley and the gears that he was missing, showing that he wasn't thinking about anything other than fixing the machinery that he was supposed to working on, allowing Spyro to jump onto the trolley and take it out onto the tracks, while Spike walked in the opposite direction so he could climb up the ladder, leaving Ember to simply follow Spike so she could see what Spyro was doing at the moment.
Ember looked out at the tracks that Spyro was riding the trolley on, which didn't actually look like tracks and seemed to be a stone path that someone could follow, and she did that for a few seconds before glancing at Spike, who was in the middle of focusing his mind and his magical power, where the sky rumbled as some clouds started to form, as it looked like he was in the middle of creating storm clouds, just like a weather manipulator would do. As that happened, however, she noticed that some of the Breezebuilders that were busy working on the airship stopped what they were doing and glanced up at the sky, as if they were worried about what was going on at the moment, though even as she spotted that Spike used a little more of his power to create a barrier in front of them. It was a barrier that had an invisibility spell on it, so none of the Breezebuilders would know what was going on and would think it was a force of nature, instead of them actually sabotaging their efforts to wage war on the Land Blubbers, so she said nothing as Spyro carefully moved himself around the tracks, even if he seemed a tad bit annoyed by what he was doing. She understood why her brother might be annoyed, as it appeared that the tracks were arranged in a way where he had to be careful and turn the trolley wheel every now and then, so he could switch from one lane to another, and he also used the cannon that was on it to blast the explosive barrels that were on the track. Of course there was on other thing that happened, as he accidentally hit one of the large wooden crates and all of the golden gears went flying, which was accompanied by the Breezebuilder that was below them making a comment about trouble with the trolley, before Spyro emerged with a frown as he returned to the tracks and resumed collecting the gears the bird needed.
Eventually Spyro reached the end of the tracks and picked up what Ember assumed was all fifty gears, and not a few seconds later he climbed up the ladder and joined them in the barrier, where he placed the Orb he had been given near Spike, so once he was done with what he was doing he could put it with the rest of their collection, before he glanced out at the rest of the realm. The storm clouds had come out in force, no doubt thanks to Spike manipulating the weather to what he needed, and while the sky rumbled they watched as lightning flashed every now and then, short bursts that did nothing, which also included rain falling on the realm, causing the Breezebuilders to climb off the airship and head to the various boilers so they could keep those fires lit. That was a good thing, as it meant that none of the birds were standing on the airship at the moment, before Spike focused his magic and gathered all the power into a single point in the middle of the sky, causing the rain to start falling in force as lightning raced towards the area he was focused on, showing Spyro and Ember that he was serious and that he was going to do what he had said earlier. A few seconds later Spike opened his eyes, where they could see that his eyes were glowing with magical power, as he drew on the power of the storm he had created, forming a large bolt of lightning that seemed to be coiling around itself, almost like a serpent of some kind, before it pushed itself into the storm clouds to hide from those that were watching it.
Before Spyro and Ember could say anything, and wonder if Spike had messed up, a loud roar rippled throughout the harbor as the serpent burst out of the sky and raced towards the airship, striking the metal deck in seconds, which was when they, and the Breezebuilders, watched as it pierced the metal and passed through the airship, causing the bombs that were inside it to go off and tear the entire thing to pieces, causing a flaming and ruined version of the airship, one the Breezebuilders wouldn't be able to use at all, to fall into the depths of the realm the birds called home.
"There... airship... destroyed..." Spike remarked, where he huffed for a moment as he collapsed on the floor of the part of the lighthouse they were standing on, where the barrier collapsed in seconds, though he did made sure the Orb Spyro had gathered was put inside the guidebook, just so they didn't forget it, before he focused on the destruction he had caused and the fact that the Breezebuilders were lost at the moment, as they seemed to have no idea what they were supposed to do in this sort of situation.
"Spike... what did you do?" Ember asked, as she had seen her brother pull off some incredible stunts with his magic in the past, especially when they faced some of the more powerful enemies, like the five foes that Gnasty Gnorc sent at them during their first adventure, but this was on a whole new level and made her wonder what the other Magic Crafters could do with this sort of power.
"Storm's Wrath, an incredibly powerful and draining spell," Spike answered, though he didn't even attempt to move after putting the Orb away, as he was exhausted and knew that he would be sitting here for a time, but it was definitely worth it when he looked out at the rest of Breeze Harbor and knew that he had stopped the Breezebuilders from sending their airship to Zephyr, "and, since I'm not used to using the weather manipulation spells, there was a chance it could have failed, but I'm glad to see that it was successful... even if I have to rest for a time to make up for how much magic I just spent to cast that spell."
Spyro and Ember nodded, because now that they knew that the Breezebuilders couldn't send a ship to attack Zephyr, and blow the land below them to pieces, they decided that they could rest for a few minutes and wait for Spike to regain a portion of his magic, as they both had the feeling that they might need it when they reached whatever realm they were going to head to next.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember spent about thirty additional minutes in Breeze Harbor, watching the Breezebuilders go about their business as they moved to and from the various locations of their realm, clearly trying to return to some sort of normalcy after watching their airship blow up like that, though it was clear that none of them knew exactly what happened and they were trying to pick up the pieces of their broken and ruined airship. The siblings would have found all of this amusing, but they couldn't due to the fact that the birds had been in the process of sending the airship out to bomb Zephyr, to hurt both the realm they were attacking and the Land Blubbers that called the realm home, thanks to the sudden and terrible escalation of the rivalry that had been the two races. The Breezebuilders, despite wanting to continue the war and provide their forces with additional weapons and soldiers, seemed confused on how they were going to do that at the moment, which meant that Spike's actions to blow up the airship might have ensured some sort of peace for the two races, allowing them to rest and get themselves ready for the next bout of their war, maybe giving them enough time to deal with Ripto and whatever he was planning. Once that was done, and they were sure that Avalar was safe, they could return to Autumn Plains and put an end to the war, as it was unacceptable that such a thing was going on and they wanted it gone, to force the pair of races back to their old rivalry, and maybe get rid of that entirely.
Once Spike was ready to go, as he had recovered enough of his magical power to cast spells again, he made sure that the barrier spell that had been around them, including the invisibility spell, were dispelled and stretched his wings for a few seconds, before they climbed down the ladder, jumped down to the area that the catapult was in, and then used it to get up into the air, which allowed them to glide to the platform the exit portal was on and they slipped through it.
"I'm glad that we won't have to deal with those two races for awhile," Ember commented, speaking just as she and her siblings returned to the courtyard that was outside the castle that was in Autumn Plains, where she glanced at the other portals that were in the area, especially since it was time to pick something that wasn't involved with the war that they had stalled in it's tracks, before she glanced at her siblings, "So, Spyro, which realm should we tackle next?"
"Well, I picked Zephyr and Breeze Harbor because of the war that Moneybags mentioned," Spyro admitted, just to tell his siblings why he had picked those two realms first, but, at the same time, he glanced at the other two portals that were in the area, though he was happy to see that his siblings were more than willing to follow his lead on which realm they should take on next, meaning they valued his leadership skills, before he focused on his decision, "Crystal Glacier, that's the next realm we should take on, and once that's done we can come back and take on the Skelos Badlands, before we can head inside the castle and tackle the other realms that are in there."
In that moment Spike and Ember nodded their heads as they followed Spyro into the portal, as it was time for them to visit a realm that wasn't in the middle of a terrible war between two of the races of this homeworld, though the first thing they discovered was that they appeared on a ledge that was covered in snow and seemed much colder than what they had seen so far, hence the reason Spyro shifted his scarf for a moment.
"I guess we should have been expecting this, given the name of this realm," Ember remarked, as she felt that the fact that this realm was called 'Crystal Glacier' would have told them that it was a much colder realm and the others, though in a few seconds her senses returned to normal, as if the cold had been pushed back or something, which was why she and Spyro glanced at their brother, "Spike, what did you do?"
"A heat aura spell, to keep the cold at bay," Spike replied, though he was happy that part of his training over the last year had included all of the various safety and resistance spells that the dragons had created over the years, as he was making good use of each spell he had learned, especially since this one would help them out in this realm, "We'll be good for a time, but if we fall into freezing water... well, not even the combination of spells I've cast so far will be able to help us at that point, as we would have to haul whoever was frozen somewhere safe so we could thaw them out."
"Well then, I guess it's time we get started." Spyro said, because he was happy that Spike was so quick on the draw, that he had noticed that this was a cold realm and gave them something that would keep them warm while they helped whoever the residents of this realm were, though in that moment he turned to the area that was in front of them and focused on exploring Crystal Glacier and helping the residents out, just like they had done for all of the realms they had visited so far.
The first thing that they noticed was that, in addition to the fact that they were on a cliff edge of some kind, there were three frozen beings, similar to how Elora and Hunter looked, without any fur, tails, or animal aspects, who appeared to be wearing some sort of coats that were covering the majority of their bodies, with a long bone attached to the top of their hoods, and they were wielding spears. There was a catapult that was near them, made out of a large bone of some kind, which meant that the only way they were going to get to the next area of this realm was to use the catapult, so the first thing the siblings did was breath fire on the cubes that the residents of Crystal Glacier were trapped in, melting the cubes in seconds and freeing the beings that were inside them.
"It's nice to be freed from the ice," the being said, where he stretched his arms for a moment as he shook himself off, like he was getting rid of the chill that his body had suffered, despite the coat that he was wearing, before he glanced at the siblings for a moment, which was when he seemed to focus on them and nothing else, "Oh, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you guys are here. The Ice Wizards that are attacking our realm have imprisoned our leader, Shaman Tuk, and the Ice Builders and I tried to rescue him, resulting in all of us being imprisoned in those ice cubes, for how long I do not know. Can you guys help us out?"
"Sure. That's what we're doing for all of the realms anyway," Spyro replied, as that was the truth, the reason he and his siblings were helping the residents of the various realms was to resolve the problems that Ripto created, even if it had been to keep them busy and give him the time he needed to further his plans, and they got a Talisman and a couple of Orbs from each realm, which would help them in their quest.
"Great! Now, it's urgent that you free him as soon as possible," the Ice Builder stated, not that such a thing surprised Spyro, Spike, and Ember, as there was always something urgent about the situations that they found themselves in when they visited the realms of Avalar, which happened to be the reason why they were waiting for him to stop talking, before heading out to take down the Ice Wizards, "he has our tickets to tonight's hockey game in Colossus Valley, as it's supposed to be the Colossus team against our Cavemen cousins from Skelos Badlands!"
The siblings stared at the Ice Builder for a moment, wondering why he felt that the tickets to a hockey game were far more important than turning back the group of Ice Wizards that were attacking their realm and saving their Shaman from his prison, but they said nothing as they started moving, as it was about time for them to get started on helping the residents of this realm, even if none of them cared about the tickets in question. The first thing they did was tackle the two remaining ice cubes that were resting around the area that they were in, freeing the Ice Builders that had been trapped inside them, though one interesting thing that they discovered was that there were no gems, straw baskets, or even metallic vases in the starting area for this realm, which was rather interesting given what all of the other realms had when they first arrived in them. After that they took turns using the catapult to get across the chasm that just so happened to be between the area that they were starting in and the area that they needed to get to, where the Ice Builders assisted them by hitting the top part of the catapult with their bodies, sending the siblings flying into the air so they cold glide down to their next destination. Once the three of them were back together they started to explore the new area that they were in, which was the moment that they discovered that a large creature must have died in this realm and that it's bones had been buried by the snow, but that was also when they discovered that the Ice Wizards were pretty much wizards that had devoted themselves to a single element and became frost elementals. That was Spike's reasoning for how they looked, as they appeared to be floating above the ground and they didn't seem to have any arms, and both their robes and their bodies looked like they were made out of ice, though the Ice Wizards were highly aggressive and attacked them whenever one of them got close.
While Spike might not have all the magical power he was used to wielding, since he was still exhausted from what he did back in Breeze Harbor, he found that the more normal attacks worked just fine, as all it took to take down one of the Ice Wizards was a quick burst of flame, meaning all he and his siblings had to do was dodge the ice bolts that were coming their way, then attack their foes in turn. As the first Ice Wizard fell to Spike, and gave them all the knowledge on how they could be defeated, Spyro dealt with the three metallic vases that were behind the wizard and retrieved the gems that had been resting inside them, while Ember moved away and started to look for where the rest of the Ice Wizards were in this area, all so they could be ready for when they decided to attack them. Of course they weren't freeing the Ice Builders just yet, as that would likely piss off the Ice Wizards and make them more aggressive than what they already were, so while Spyro and Ember started to flame the rest of the Ice Wizards that were in the area Spike grabbed the gems that were on the ground, smashed any metallic vases that they walked by, and set fire to the bottles that, for some reason, had little bits of explosives on them, blowing up the bottles while leaving the gems unharmed. As soon as the last of the Ice Wizards had been taken care of, as there had been five total in this area of the realm, and the last of the gem containers had been smashed, as Spike found two straw baskets to take care of, they freed the four Ice Builders that happened to be trapped in this area, melting the ice cubes and allowing them to go free. Interestingly enough the now freed Ice Builders had a rather unique way to help them move forward, as they split into two groups and jumped at the wall that would lead them into the next part of this realm, sticking their spears into the wall and acting as steps for a few moments, allowing the siblings to jump up to the next area and move forward, before they separated themselves from the wall and went back to what they had been doing before the Ice Wizards attacked them.
As they entered the next area the siblings discovered that there were a number of gems resting around the place, as they even picked a few up as they entered the large valley they had come to, though it was also in that moment that they discovered a brand new enemy, a blue furred rabbit that was aggressive and happened to have a large spike of ice that seemed to be attached to their nose, which they used to attack whoever they wanted, which was mostly the siblings, since they appeared to ignore the Ice Wizards. Fortunately it appeared that the Horned Rabbits, the name that Spike had given them for the duration of their stay in this realm, were also vulnerable to the same flames that the Ice Wizards were weak to, meaning that all they had to do was flame their way through the realm until they found an enemy that couldn't be taken out in this manner, even though he had the feeling that Ember would whack one with her tail, just to see if she could knock one out that way. With the two enemies up here taken care of the siblings quickly smashed the metallic vases that were nearby and picked up all the gems that were on the ground, which was when they glided over to the larger piece of ground, though while they did that they found that there happened to be a green river of lava or acid, or something that seemed dangerous, that seemed to run through this area, which they were going to avoid for now, even if they were sure that it would allow them to find one of the Orbs for this realm. The next area they walked through had five of the Horned Rabbits lurking underground, waiting for them to lower their guard or something, and it didn't take long for the siblings to take them out, Spyro and Spike by flaming two of them apiece while Ember smacked the last one with her tail and sent it over the edge, right into the river that was below where they were walking, confirming that it was dangerous when she didn't see it come out at all.
The other things that they discovered were that there were two more Ice Wizards in this area, there were quite a fair number of gems resting on the ground, they spotted a few metallic vases here and there, there were two primitive houses that they couldn't enter, and there was a Powerup Gate down in the area that the river was in, though that was before they came to a stop in front of the one person they didn't want to see at the moment, Moneybags.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, it is good to see you again," Moneybags commented, though at the same time a serpent, which seemed to be made out of either ice or stone, as it was hard to tell since it was entirely covered in snow and moving like this didn't seem to loosen any of it, making Spike wonder if it was enchanted snow that acted like a bridge that had a snake's head at the end, rose up behind him and connected this area to the next one they had to get to, "As you can see, I have been hard at work repairing the bridge for you, since the Ice Wizards took it down to prevent any Ice Builders from trying to get their Shaman back, just like I have been making sure the same is true for the other realms that you three will be visiting in the near future."
In that moment none of the siblings wasted any time in lashing out at the bear, as Spike used a little of his magic to make sure Moneybags couldn't flee up the bridge as Spyro charged into him, knocking him onto his back, before Ember climbed on top of his chest and hardened her body once more, indicated by the shimmer that came when she used this skill, and slammed her tail down on her target so hard that it was going to leave a bruise, before letting out a growl as she climbed off him and faced him with her brothers.
"Yeow! That's going to hurt in the morning!" Moneybags exclaimed, where he was able to get back up onto his feet a few seconds later, though the fact that he staggered for a moment, and had to gently touch the area that Ember had hit, confirmed that he had been hit rather hard and that he would be feeling all of this for some time, before he turned and focused on them, "What was that for?! I didn't even make an attempt to force you to pay for this bridge, not like the last few times we've seen each other, and yet you attack me with no provocation on my end!"
"Oh, we don't care about you trying to buy us off by opening the way for us." Ember stated, her tone revealing that she and her brothers knew something about what Moneybags had done recently, something that all of them seemed a tad bit annoyed by, so he kept his mouth shut as Ember talked, "Rather, this is about the fact that you escalated the rivalry between the Land Blubbers of Zephyr and the Breezebuilders of Breeze Harbor, first by selling a number of weapons to the residents of Zephyr, no doubt under the lie that they could protect themselves in the future or something like that, but you then sold more weapons to the war-like birds that were their rivals, in response to them learning about all of the new weapons the poor slugs were able to get. With both races ready for total war with each other, despite they never went to war with each other in the past, you informed the leaders of the Breezebuilders as to the location of Juliet, setting them off on the warpath and they launched their attack on the Land Blubbers, giving way for the war that you mentioned to us after you opened the way to Zephyr... and we were furious when we saw what you had done, all for money!"
"I gave them the weapons they needed to protect themselves, since they didn't pay for them," Moneybags stated, as if he was trying to defend himself and what he had done, like he was trying to tell them that he wasn't responsible for the two races going to war with each other, though as he opened his mouth to say something else he paused when Ember raised her tail again, the sign for him to stop.
"More like you helped yourself to the gems that they had, for those that paid for their weapons," Spyro replied, as he was more than willing to tell Moneybags what they had learned during their visits to the realms in question, because they had discovered a number of terrible things while assisting the races of those realms, especially when they went to the harbor and discovered the airship, "and you prompted the Breezebuilders to take it a step further, because when we got there they were in the middle of preparing to launch an airship, filled with bombs that would decimate Zephyr, so they could punish the Land Blubbers for stealing Juliet. We're lucky Spike was able to destroy the airship, otherwise we would have felt guilty for assisting the Breezebuilders of Breeze Harbor, but, given how you sold weapons to both of them, I'm assuming that you sold the bombs to them as well, possibly stolen or taken from one of the other realms."
"I'm not saying anything to that," Moneybags said, where the siblings glared at him for a moment, as it appeared that he was either guilty of doing what Spyro was accusing him of doing or he wasn't guilty of that and didn't want to speak for the moment, especially since he was sure anything he said would tick them off even more than they already were, "but all I will say is that you might be blowing this out of proportion, and it's not like anyone will believe you."
"Actually, I've been writing down everything we've learned so far, taken from the mouths of those we've encountered in both of the realms," Spike added, because that was mostly true, he had written down a great deal of what the residents of Zephyr and Breeze Harbor had told them during their visits to those realms, as he had felt that Elora deserved to know what was going on in those realms, especially since she was trying to work for peace among the realms, "and all of this evidence might convince anyone we show it to that you aren't working with the best interests of Avalar in mind... in fact, if we showed this to Elora, I'm sure she would have any of the remaining guards to arrest you. However, since there are a number of realms that we haven't faced yet, we'll hold off on showing Elora what we have on you, as we're more focused on facing Ripto and stopping him... but once we're done with him, we'll turn our attention to the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, and the fact that you made it all possible."
Moneybags frowned at that, as he wasn't expecting Spike to say something like that in response to what he had just told them, before he got up and departed from the area that they were in, like he was leaving the realm, to which Spike lowered the barrier and they progressed over the snake bridge that the bear had restored for them, without them even asking him to do so, as it was time for them to rescue the Shaman that lead the Ice Builders and restore order to this realm, before gathering the Orbs and leaving for the next realm. At the end of the bridge they found a short hallway that had two metallic vases, which they smashed and collected the gems that were inside them, before discovering that there were a few icicle houses that were in front of them, either for the higher ranking members of the Ice Builders or they were for the Ice Wizards, something that they didn't focus on as they flamed down the Horned Rabbit that was waiting for them, and that included a lone Ice Wizard that happened to be standing on the bridge that was to their right. In that moment they discovered the lone building that assumed was the one that the Shaman was imprisoned inside, as it had three more Ice Wizards patrolling the area, with a Horned Rabbit waiting nearby, so what they did was separate from each other and flamed their opponents down, clearing out the area of enemies for the moment. Once that was done they smashed all of the metallic vases that were in the area, collected the gems that had been inside them and on the ground, which included breaking the glass bottle that was near them, before they freed the three Ice Builders from the ice cubes that were in the area around the structure.
With the three Ice Builders freed from their prisons they climbed the nearby ramp and walked behind the rather large snowball that was up there, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember stood by the side as they watched the snowball rolled down the ramp and collided with the front of the building that was near them, essentially blowing apart the vast majority of the structure, which they weren't expecting, even if Spike felt that a boulder had been inside the snow, before they headed inside the ruined building and found a more important Ice Builder inside it, if the golden bone in his small hair and the stick with a skull on it was any indication.
"Ouch! You would think those guys could have gotten me out of here without rolling a two-ton snowball onto my head or something!" the Shaman, who had to be Shaman Tuk, said, where his tone revealed that he was half happy to be freed from his prison and that he was half annoyed by the method that the three Ice Builders had used to free him, before he focused on the siblings as he reached into the sack he was carrying, "Spyro, Spike, Ember, I want you guys to have our Talisman for helping us out... I had to trade those hockey tickets to the leader of the Ice Wizards to get it back, though I have the feeling that it will be much safer with you guys."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as a spiked crystal appeared in front of them, where Spike accepted it and slipped it into the guidebook, storing it with the others they had recovered so far, though in that moment they noticed that the exit portal was nearby and, more importantly, that them acquiring the Talisman restored the power to it, allowing them to turn around and see what else they could do to help the Ice Builders out. Of course the first thing they did, as they left the ruined structure that Shaman Tuk was inside, was break the three straw baskets that were near them and collected all of the gems that were inside them, before they left the structure and sought out the people that they could help, to restore order to this realm and pick up a few Orbs in the process. As they walked away from the structure Spike noticed some cave paintings that were on some of the walls, depicting creatures that the Ice Builders had encountered over the years and what they did in response to them, before Spyro and Ember found an Ice Wizard trying to hide behind one of the more elegant ice buildings, but when they tried to leave it alone, since it didn't seem aggressive, both of them had to dodge the attack and then flame the wizard down. From there they found a few more gems laying on the ground, which also included some straw baskets they had missed, before the siblings found a bridge made of bones that took them to another part of this realm, which also allowed them to pick up some gems and break a glass bottle that happened to be on the way to the hut that was on the other side of the bridge.
What the siblings discovered was that the Ice Builder in question was another Shaman, meaning that there could be more than one of them at a time, though he seemed worried about something at the moment, as he was looking off into the area that was near where his hut was located, before he seemed to notice them coming to a stop near him, meaning he did know they were here to help people out.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank goodness you three have arrived, because I'm facing a terrible problem at the moment." the Shaman said, which only made them wonder what in the world he could be worried about, especially since those that had a 'terrible problem' were the residents of Zephyr, but they said nothing as they waited for him to finish what he wanted to tell them, just so they knew how to help him out, "You see, I seem to have lost my pet snow leopard, as I was busy fishing awhile ago, getting food for the two of us, and when I turned around to check on him, to tell him I would have some food in a few minutes, he was no where to be found... oh, I hope George didn't get eaten by the draclets."
"Sure, we'll go see if we can't find George." Spyro replied, as that was what the Shaman was saying, that he had lost his pet snow leopard and that he needed someone to find him and bring him home, though as he and his siblings headed out into the area that was beyond the Shaman's hut, and picked up some gems as they started their search for the missing pet, he turned to glance at Spike, "What's a draclet?"
"According to the guidebook, they're small green spider-like creatures that are considered to be pests in this realm and that they have the ability to breed quickly," Spike answered, as he had the feeling that one of his siblings was going to ask the question, though as they followed the path that the gems were leading them on, and picked them up along the way, they found an adorable snow leopard, about their height, wandering around part of the area in front of them, just out of the Shaman's sight, and he appeared to be waiting for them to assist him, "at the very least we won't have to worry about telling that Shaman that George was hurt, as he seems to be just fine... and the reason I say that is because a bite from a draclet is very painful and highly poisonous, which explains why they seem to live down near that green river we spotted earlier."
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other, as it wasn't hard to guess that one of the Ice Builders might ask them for a bit of assistance with the local draclet population, before they turned their attention to George, as he seemed to be walking around the area and was staring at the holes that had been made into the ground, which was where they could see that the ground they were walking on, in this area, was above a lake that had a large number of fish. It was clear that George was hungry and that he wouldn't return to the Shaman without having something to eat, so the siblings followed after him as he lead the way to the various fishing locations in this area, all while picking up the gems that were scattered here and there and smashed the metallic vases that they found along the way. Whenever they stopped at one of the fishing holes George prepared himself and waited for one of the siblings to flame one of the fish that occasionally jumped out of the water, and when that happened he would rush over to the fish and eat them immediately, repeating the process on all of the fishing holes they had seen in this area, all so he could eat his fill and be satisfied. Once they had visited each of the locations once, and George had gotten a fish from each one, he let them lead him right back to where the Shaman was standing, which was followed by a large smile appearing on the Shaman's face as George came to a stop near him and purred, showing him that he was alright.
"You guys found George!" the Shaman exclaimed, his tone informing them that he was incredibly happy that they had been able to find his pet snow leopard and return him to this area, instead of bringing back news that he had perished due to the draclets, before he reached into the sack he was carrying, "I'm so happy that he's safe and sound, and I promise that I'll pay more attention to him from now on, so this doesn't happen again. All I have with me at the moment is this round shiny thing that I caught while I was fishing a few days ago, you guys can have it if you want."
Spike accepted the Orb that was being offered to them, slipping it inside the guidebook with the rest of the Orbs they had picked up so far, before he and his siblings retraced their steps and headed back to the middle of Crystal Glacier, as it was time to see what the Powerup Gate would give them this time around and how they could use that power to assist the residents of this realm. It didn't take them long to return to the part of the realm that held the Powerup Gate, which was where they discovered that it was the Superfly power this time around, one that would allow them to fly around part of this realm, meaning they were likely going to have to fly around this area and torch the draclets, but before they did that Spyro made sure they stopped in front of the Ice Builder that was standing near the Powerup Gate.
"Ah, Spyro, it's good to see you and your siblings." the Shaman said, where the siblings were a little surprised that he actually said that, as most of the residents they had spoken to just called them by their names, before he beckoned to the cave entrance that was some distance behind him for a moment, "We used to give guided tours of these caves, but lately they have been infested with those creepy multiplying draclets, so we have been unable to do that for the last couple of days, and it's only a matter of time until their number grow to the point where they can take over our village. Can you guys help us take care of them?"
"We can do that." Spike replied, because he was sure that there weren't that many draclets in the area, at the moment to be exact, and knew that if all three of them worked together they would be able to tackle the challenge and wipe out the nest of draclets the Shaman was worried about, to which his siblings nodded their heads in agreement before they turned towards the Powerup Gate.
Not even a few seconds later the three of them passed through the gate and took to the air, where Spyro and Ember stayed close to the top of the cavern and Spike stayed close to the bottom, allowing them to make sure that none of the draclets escaped, as they flamed each of the spiders that they came across as they followed the cave all the way around the area that they were in, all while staying above the green river and didn't even attempt to get the gems first, as there was time to get them once they were done. It only took them a minute to circle the area and take out all eighteen draclets that were present, as Spike was counting how many they had taken out, before they did another loop just to be sure that one of them hadn't multiplied while they weren't looking, but once they were sure that all of the draclets had been taken care of, and that the village was safe, all three of them landed in front of the Shaman.
"Wow, Elora was right, you guys work fast." the Shaman said, informing the siblings of something that they already knew at this point, that all of the realms knew about them thanks to what Elora told them, before he reached into his sack and produced something that they were looking for, all with a smile on his face, "Spyro, Spike, Ember, please take this Orb as a sign of our gratitude, for saving us from a grisly fate by taking out the draclet nest for us."
The siblings accepted the Orb, allowing Spike to add it to their collection, before both Spyro and Ember took to the air with the Superfly Powerup once more and flew around the area once more, this time purposely collecting all of the gems that were laying on the ground and smashing any straw baskets or metallic vases that were in the area, and once they came back to where Spike was resting their dragonflies indicated that they had all the gems from this realm, to which they headed back towards the exit portal so they could head back to Autumn Plains.
"You know, this was a nice change of pace," Spyro commented, referring to the fact that they didn't have to stop two races while they were in the middle of a war with each other, something they were going to be annoyed about for some time, and that they were able to help another realm out with their problems, "nothing too major or annoying, just a simple adventure in a new realm with little excitement."
"Save for beating up Moneybags again." Ember added, as while she agreed with Spyro, that Crystal Glacier was rather simple in comparison to the two realms they had finished first, she was more interested in the fact that she got to beat up Moneybags again and had vented a little bit of her frustration out on him, something that she needed after all of the things that she and her siblings had learned.
"Don't worry about him, we'll deal with him once Ripto is taken care of." Spike said, as it wasn't worth worrying about Moneybags at the moment, because the bear knew that they were privy to what he had done to the Breezebuilders and the Land Blubbers, and what had almost happened to Zephyr if that airship had been allowed to leave the harbor, which meant he was going to be more careful with them in the future, even if it didn't matter in the end.
Spyro and Ember agreed with him, that one of the first things they were going to do was arrest Moneybags once they were done taking care of Ripto, and then, while Elora and Hunter dealt with him, they were going to return to the war and put an end to it, one way or another, so that peace could return to all of Avalar and restore it to what it had been like before Ripto showed up a week ago.
After assisting the Ice Builders of Crystal Glacier, by saving the Shaman and helping them take out the draclet infestation, the siblings returned to Autumn Plains and started to walk towards the ladder that would allow the three of them to head inside the castle once more, but after a few seconds they shifted their course and headed over to the portal that would take them to Skelos Badlands. Spyro wanted to finish off the last of the realms that were outside the castle, as he felt that tackling all of the realms that had Talismans was the important thing right now, especially since it would allow them to break into the castle's dungeon and face Ripto, and both of the Speedways could wait until they had all of the remaining Talismans, just like they had done back in Summer Forest. Spike and Ember understood what their brother wanted to do, especially since they were getting used to him picking out the realms that they would be tackling, which was the reason that they followed him as he walked over to the last portal in this part of the homeworld, as they were eager to see what Skelos Badlands was like and what sort of disaster was happening to the cavemen that apparently called the realm home. With that in mind they headed through the portal that was in front of the pool of water and let it take them to their new destination, so they could restore order to the land, recover the gems that were scattered all over the place, and gather the Orbs by helping the residents that were standing at specific points of the realm.
When they eventually arrived in the starting area of Skelos Badlands, however, the first thing they discovered was that, at a glance, it looked like a desert version of Crystal Glacier, because there was no snow thanks to the heat that seemed to be filling the area, especially due to the fact that there were open rivers of lava, and even the rocks seemed to be dried out due to the heat.
"You know, I want to say that this is nicer than Crystal Glacier, but it's rather hot here," Spyro remarked, because while the cold environment of the last realm had been pleasant, thanks to Spike's enchantment so they didn't freeze while they were there, the same could not be said for this realm, and even as he said that the temperature seemed to change for a moment, causing him to glance at Spike once more, "You cast another spell, didn't you?"
"Yes, the opposite of the heat aura spell, a frost aura spell," Spike stated, though while he and Ember could withstand the heat that was all around them, thanks to their own lava immunity, something that he was still shocked by since Spyro was the only one that didn't have such a skill, he knew that Spyro would need something to lower the temperature and this was the result, even if he still cast the same spell on himself and Ember, as practice was always welcome, "it works just like the other spell does, it keeps some of the heat away so you don't get heat exhaustion from exploring a rather hot environment, such as what's around us."
"Well, now we can tackle whatever the realm can throw at us," Ember said, as she was ready to get started on finding one of the residents of this realm and figuring out what they would need to do to restore order to this place, especially since it appeared that one of the cavemen they had been told about, thanks to one of the Ice Builders telling them about their cousins in this area, was waiting for them to approach him.
The caveman that was near them looked nearly identical to the Ice Builders, except they weren't wearing the heavy coats that their cousins were wearing and instead wore a light brown shirt of some kind, maybe it was some leather that was dry thanks to the heat of this area, and he was holding a staff that looked like what the Shamans of Crystal Glacier had been holding, but they had the feeling it's significance was different in this realm.
"Hello dragons, I hear that you guys are pretty tough." the caveman said, speaking the moment that they approached him and came to a stop, though, at the same time, they were a little surprised that he wasn't as well spoken as the Ice Builders they had encountered during their visit to the last realm, but they said nothing as he continued to talk, "I bet my cousin Glug you wouldn't be able to make it through the Badlands without getting singed."
"Is... is that it?" Spike inquired, as this was the first time that the very first resident of a realm didn't inform them of the trouble that they were in, like how the Electrolls were being bothered by the Gear Grinders or how the Ice Builders had been under attack by the Ice Wizards, before the caveman turned to look at him for a second, "Surely there has to be something bad that is happening to this realm, like some sort of enemy that needs to be taken out or some sort of device that needs to be turned off? Especially since Ripto has been terrorizing the majority of the realms, to keep any heroes busy cleaning up the messes that he has created ever since he arrived in Avalar a week ago."
"Well... there is the fact that the Fire Wizards have been attacking us lately," the caveman replied, though it was like he had to think about it for a few moments, to get around the fact that he was more interested in his bet than the safety of his land, something that ticked off the siblings more than they were willing to admit, but once he said that he seemed to focus more on the bet and less on what Spike had asked him, causing them to sigh as they walked away from him.
"Okay, take out the Fire Wizards and whatever allies they have, that we can do." Spyro commented, speaking more to his siblings, since they weren't near the caveman anymore, who didn't seem to care about them all that much since he was looking at something else, before he shook his head and glanced at Spike, who already had the guidebook out, before he even said anything, "So, want information does Elora have for us?"
"Well, these guys are called Bone Builders," Spike replied, beckoning to the caveman for a moment, which, in his mind, did make sense since both they and their cousins in Crystal Glacier liked to use bones for everything, but these guys didn't have snow and could only use what was on hand, hence the reason they were known as Bone Builders, and not like Desert Builders or something like that, "and, just like he said, the Fire Wizards like to mess with them, with some of the local Catbats assisting them from time to time, so it seems that we have two enemies to look out for, which seems to be the norm for all the realms that we have been tackling so far."
Spyro and Ember agreed with that fact, that there were generally two types of enemies for them to take out in each of the realm they had visited so far, sometimes three if they were lucky, before Spike slipped the guidebook inside his satchel and they started to explore the realm that they were in, which was why they turned around and headed to the area that was right behind them. It was in that moment the siblings discovered what a Catbat looked like, as there happened to be a rather large cat-like creature, which had bat wings in place of a cat's front paws, a pair of sharpened teeth that made sense due to the prehistoric vibe this land gave off and some whiskers that definitely belonged to a cat, though it was in the process of chasing one of the younger Bone Builders around one of their huts, built in the same style as what their cousins used for their own houses. To get to where the Catbat was located the siblings had to jump over a rather small river of lava, which seemed to be pouring over the edge of the area and was helping fill up the immediate area around this part of the realm, but it was rather easy for them to jump over it and attack their target, who turned and faced them the instant one of them approached it, only for Spyro to discover that even the Catbats weren't immune to their fire breath, as a quick burst of flames took the creature down. Once that was done they quickly collected all of the gems that were around the hut that the younger Bone Builder happened to be running around, who was celebrating at the moment, and smashed the metallic vase that was right behind the structure, before the three of them regrouped and returned to the starting area so they could explore the rest of the Badlands.
In the area that was to the left of the first Bone Builder the siblings found a fiery version of the Ice Wizard, meaning it had to be one of the Fire Wizards that Spike had just read about, that was in the middle of tormenting another member of the caveman's tribe, though what happened next was that Ember rushed it and struck it with her tail, and since she had hardened her body along the way she suffered no damage as the Fire Wizard was knocked to the ground, releasing a Spirit Particle in the process, to show what she had done. The moment she had taken care of her foe, and saved the young Bone Builder, Spyro and Spike smashed the nearby pair of metallic vases and followed the path that was in front of them, which brought them to an area that was to the right of where the first Bone Builder had been standing, which came complete with some rather large looking rocks, some large bones that served as points for them to step on, a bridge that could take them over to where part of the village was located, and a tunnel, with a massive skull at the front of it, that could no doubt take the three of them to another part of the realm. The first thing they did was take out the nearby Catbat that seemed to be blocking the entrance that the Bone Builders must normally use to enter this part of the Badlands, though while Spyro did that Spike spotted another Fire Wizard, who happened to be standing near a pile one stones, which was when he let loose a single Arcane Missile and struck his target in the chest, blasting him backwards and taking him out. With those two taken care of the siblings continued to explore the area that they were in, with Ember striking down another Fire Wizard that was standing near the tall rock a circular metallic chest was resting on, but instead of heading over to the lone Bone Builder that was off on their left the siblings jumped down into the area that was in front of them and made their way over to the tunnel, to see where it lead them.
Their reasoning for this was the same as the other realms, taking out the threat and getting the Talisman was what they preferred to focus on, and once that was done they could circle back to wherever they noticed the lone members of the races they were helping were standing, to assist them and get the Orbs that they were carrying, which would usually be the last thing they collected before departing for another realm.
As the siblings approached the tunnel, however, they found a tall purple and orange colored lizard-toad creature that was standing on top of the skull, juggling what appeared to be a bone of some kind, so Spike made a note of where it was, because he had the feeling that they would need to come back for it at some point, while his siblings collected the gems that were laying on either side of the tunnel's entrance, before they finally headed inside it. The first thing they noticed as they walked into the tunnel was that there was a side passage, so while Spike picked up the gems that were a few steps in front of them Spyro and Ember headed through the opening, where Spyro flamed the unlucky Catbat that happened to be sitting nearby, ready to pounce on them, while Ember jumped over the small river of lava that was beyond her brother's foe and struck down the Fire Wizard that was on the other side. When Spike caught up with them he spotted Spyro as he broke a glass vase for the gem inside, while Ember picked up the pair of gems the wizard had been guarding, before noting down the location of a second Lava Toad, as he decided to call them, as there just to happened to be one resting on the platform that was right behind where his sister was standing. Of course he made sure to smash the pair of straw baskets that happened to be in the same area as the second Lava Toad, who seemed to be ignoring all three of them while he juggled his bone, and pick up the gems that had been inside them, before they headed back to the tunnel and resumed following it to see what else awaited them in this realm.
Once they were back inside the tunnel they jumped over a stretch of lava, which likely connected to the river that was right outside the tunnel, and found an inactive Powerup Gate, leaving them to wonder what it could offer them this time around, before stopping as they found two more Fire Wizards standing guard over this part of the area, though that was when Spike used his Arcane Missiles to take them out. As Spike did that Spyro climbed the stone ledges that were across from the Powerup Gate and picked up the gems that were on each stone, before coming to a stop as he found a small pool of lava that spat out a lava rock, one that he could possibly grab and spit out at the section of wall that was across from where he was standing, one that was made out of bones, allowing him to enter a new part of the tunnel, and that was exactly what he did. Three rocks were all he needed to break the bone wall down, allowing him to glide over to where a third Lava Toad was located, making him wonder just how many of them there were in the Badlands, before he smashed the three metallic baskets that were off on the left side of the small room, picked up the gems that had been inside them, and then glided down to where his siblings were waiting for him, mostly so he could tell Spike were the Lava Toad was sitting for the future, since both he and Ember agreed that they would have to come back for them at some point. As soon as that was done they ignored the Powerup Gate for the moment and followed the tunnel to the end, jumping over the two small lava rivers and flaming a Catbat to get to the end, which allowed them to see a rather larger area that was filled with lava, areas of stone that would allow them to walk around a little, and a number of bones that formed a set of steps, and there was even another large skull in this area, with some rocks in the center to make them walk around, instead of letting Spike and Ember use their immunity to get places faster.
"You know, I imagined that we would have to go through a desert at some point, but I wasn't expecting all this lava to be everywhere," Spyro commented, as that was the one thing that really annoyed him at the moment, not the enemies he and his siblings were taking out, so they could restore order to this realm, rather it was the vast amounts of lava that were in their way, especially since he was the only one without the lava immunity that his brother and sister had, "I'm seriously hoping that the Powerup Gate has some sort of invincibility power to grant us, so I can see what it's like to travel through lava like you guys do."
"Well, the Powerup Gates have given us some interesting powers so far," Spike replied, and that was the truth, as he and his siblings had found some interesting powers that the magical gateways gave them over the course of their travels in the realms they have visited so far, and, more importantly, they were still a ways away from wrapping things up with Ripto and Moneybags, "who knows, maybe the Powerup Gate in this realm will give us something like that, or maybe we'll get something else, like the Spring Jump ability or the Superfly skill, or maybe something completely different. We won't know what it'll give us until we take out enough enemies to restore the power to the gates we've seen so far, though I do think we're getting pretty close to hitting that mark."
"We should keep moving, since we've got a few more enemies to take out anyway." Ember stated, though even as she said that she glided over to the next patch of land that they could walk on, leaving her brothers to pick up the pair of gems that she left behind, and quickly smacked the Fire Wizard that was waiting for them with her tail, knocking him down in seconds, before flaming the Catbat that was floating near the lava, eliminating it as Spyro and Spike joined her.
The first thing they did was break the nearby straw baskets that were rested right up against the rock wall to their left, though once the gems had been picked up the siblings glided over to the next patch of land, which was smaller than the first one and only have the Powerup Gate and a straw basket, to which Spyro dealt with the Catbat that was near them as Spike smashed the straw basket, before they glided over to the area that was in front of them and found a Bone Builder that seemed upset about something.
"Is something wrong?" Spyro asked, mostly because he knew that he and his siblings could help the caveman out and do whatever it was that he needed them to do, though even as he said that he spotted a pile of bones that happened to be resting to their right, which he had no idea why the bones were even there and felt that the Bone Builder might tell them why the bones were there in the first place.
"Oh, I'm just so sad. Those pesky Lava Toads have stolen several of my friend's bones, making it impossible for him to move or have fun." the Bone Builder stated, where he beckoned to the pile of bones for a moment, informing Spike that they were enchanted bones of some kind and that, once all of them were together, something interesting would happen when all of the stolen bones were returned to the pile, "If you guys help me put him back together again, I'm sure my friend would thank you by showing you how much fun he can have."
"We know where several of the bones are, so we'll be back once we have them all." Spike replied, though this was why he was glad that he had made a note of where the Lava Toads they had seen were located, as they had found the resident those bones were connected to and now they knew why he wanted the bones back, so now it was just a matter of heading back and collecting the ones they had seen so far, before locating the others.
As the Bone Builder nodded his head, to show that he would be awaiting their return, the siblings headed to the right and walked over the stone path that brought them to where another Bone Builder was standing, who just so happened to be next to an inactive exit portal, though the first thing they did was pick up all the gems that were laying on the ground, as there were six of them in total in front of them, before coming to a stop in front of the Bone Builder.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, excellent! You guys made it through the Badlands! I knew I would win that bet... my cousin Gronk was a fool to bet against a group of dragons!" the Bone Builder said, revealing that he was Glug, the caveman that the first Bone Builder had told them about when they first arrived in this realm, though none of them were really happy that the pair was more interested in their bet than asking for assistance in taking out the Fire Wizards, before he focused on them a few seconds later, "Here, you guys can take this Talisman for helping me out."
The Talisman of Skelos Badlands, as the siblings discovered, was a golden bone and Spike added it to the guidebook as soon as the Bone Builder gave it to them, empowering the exit portal that was next to the caveman, before he and his siblings headed to the right and continued to explore the rest of the realm, even though he loosed an Arcane Missile to take out the Fire Wizard that happened to be guarding the area in front of the lowest bone in the lava. From there they jumped up the stone ledges that formed a set of steps, ones that lead them to an area that was right above the first area they had walked through, and it just so happened to have a number of Catbats flying around the place, each of them looking like they were ready to attack something. Spike, quickly determining that it would take a bit of effort for him or his siblings to take out the Catbats with their fire breath, loosed four more Arcane Missiles into the air and knocked them all down, clearing the area of enemies, and once that was done they picked up the gems that were on the ground, broke the pair of straw baskets, and smashed the metallic vase that was near them, before lighting the fuse on the missile that was nearby and watched as it flew off into the distance, only to smash into the circular metallic chest. It was nice to see that they had opened that chest, but instead of heading back to the start of the realm, and working their way back here while collecting the various bones from the Lava Toads they had seen, they headed back to the Powerup Gate that was in this area, as they were sure they had cleared out enough enemies to empower them at long last.
When they reached the Powerup Gate they found that the symbol was one they hadn't seen before, as it was a blue shield and that meant it protected them from something, before Spyro headed through it, where Spike and Ember took a moment to watch as their brother's scales seemed to take on the appearance of a molten floor and the rest of his body quickly took on the same appearance, like he half fire elemental, like the Fire Wizards, where Spyro glanced down at his body for a few seconds and then jumped into the lava, where he found that he suffered no damage and his scarf was also protected from what he was doing, causing him to smile as he jumped out of the lava.
"Well what do you know, it's an Invincibility Powerup," Spike commented, though he took the time to write down what he and Ember were seeing at the moment, as this was interesting and he wasn't going to pass up the chance to study this powerup in great detail, and while it appeared that one could only use it for a short period of time Spyro slipped through the gate again and restored it, only to walk on the surface of the lava itself, where Spike determined that it had to be connected, in some manner, to what the user was thinking and what they wanted.
"This is totally awesome!" Spyro stated, his tone revealing that he was quite happy with this powerup, as it allowed him to do things that Spike and Ember could do with their natural skills, and he even walked over to the center of this area and picked up a pair of gems that were resting in the partly open center of the rock formation they had spotted as soon as they entered this area, before returning to his siblings with a wide smile on his face.
"Glad to see that you're enjoying yourself," Ember said, though even as she said that she rushed by the Powerup Gate and jumped onto the lava that was behind it, where she touched the lava and seemed to walk on it, just like Spyro did a few seconds ago, and jumped up the lava filled platforms that lead the way to the other tunnel they had spotted earlier, only to turn back after a few seconds and beckoned for her brothers to follow her.
Spyro and Spike quickly followed after her, Spike using his own natural ability to do what Ember was doing while their brother had to use the Invincibility Gate to follow after them, though it only took them a few seconds to reach Ember's position, allowing the three of them to slip inside the tunnel and see what it had in store for them, even though they had the feeling that a few Lava Toads might be in this area as well. The first thing they found were a few gems that happened to be laying on the ground, before discovering some large spine bones that were floating in the lava that was right in front of them, which brought them to where a Lava Toad was juggling a bone, so Spyro headbutted it and knocked it backward, allowing him to pick up the bone as his siblings broke the straw baskets that were nearby. With the bone claimed they jumped back over the spine bones and found that there was a second Lava Toad in this area, as there happened to be one that was riding a geyser in the middle of the area off to the left, if they were coming from the tunnel's entrance, so all they did was wait for the Lava Toad to be at the top of the geyser and then let Spike glide at it, as a quick burst of fire took the creature out and knocked the bone to safety. The instant that happened Ember smashed the metallic vases that were off to the side as Spike collected the bone he had freed from the Lava Toad, though once those two things were taken care of the siblings headed back to the entrance of the tunnel and then glided down to where the Powerup Gate in this area was located, so they could move to another area.
What they did next was head over to the bones that were positioned like they were a set of steps that went around the central rock formation, where Spike made sure to hit the Question Mark Jar that was off to the side, as they would look for it later, before they arrived at their destination and took turns ascending the bones, and since Ember was the first one to do so she could take out the enemies that were in their way, leaving Spyro and Spike to collect the gems that she just walked by, adding them to their collection. The only enemy they countered was one of the Catbats, who wasn't expecting to be taken out by Ember, and there happened to be a Lava Toad that was standing on one of the bones they were using, so she was able to collect one of the bones as well, though that was when she jumped over to a rock ledge on the large rock formation, allowing her to climb around the entire structure and pick up a few gems in the process. There was one more Lava Toad up there, allowing her to pick up a second bone, before jumping down into the center of the formation she had been climbing on and found a purple gem in the center of it, which was when she returned to the Invincibility Gate and waited for her brothers to join her. Before they moved forward Spike had his siblings wait for a few seconds as he climbed the lava steps that had brought them to the first pair of bones they had recovered, causing them to raise their eyebrows for a moment as he did so, though a few moments later he returned with a smile on his face, as he informed Spyro and Ember that he had found the new location of the Question Mark Jar inside the tunnel that lead them to the first pair of bones they had collected, and since he smacked it, like they had done before, it had moved to a new area.
As such the siblings continued to retrace their steps, heading back into the first tunnel they had walked through and quickly returned to where the first Powerup Gate was located, where Spyro climbed up the stone steps and glided over to the area the Lava Toad he had seen earlier was located, though it took him a few seconds to take the creature out and retrieve the bone, allowing him to return to his siblings. With that bone in their possession Ember walked around the gate they were standing near and entered the other area that they hadn't explored, where she found a Lava Toad and quickly took it out, to which she claimed the bone and then broke the pair of straw baskets that were nearby, though once she had the gems that had been inside them she returned to her brothers once more. From there the next area they took on happened to be the side passage they had spotted earlier, when they first entered this tunnel, and it didn't take them long to find who they were looking for, as Spike collided with the Lava Toad that was juggling the bone they were after and knocked it down to the ground, allowing him to take the bone and let the three of them return to the first part of the Skelos Badlands, where the final bone was located. Instead of focusing on the bone, and the Lava Toad that was jugging it on top of the skull that served as the tunnel's entrance at the moment, Spike smacked the Question Mark Jar that was near the entrance they were heading towards, sending it further away, before he joined his siblings as they walked over to the area that the circular metallic chest had been located and collected the gems that they had freed earlier, while giving Spike the chance to break the jar they had been chasing and claimed the gems that were inside it.
Once all of that was done, and they were sure that they hadn't missed any of the gems so far, the siblings used the set of bones to jump up to the highest point they could, which was when they glided over to where the bridge they had seen earlier was located, so they could talk to the Bone Builder that was near the start of it, as they were sure that he had one of the Orbs for this realm and wanted to see what was troubling him.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, boy am I glad to see you." the Bone Builder stated, where he glanced at the area that the bridge lead to, a village of sorts by the looks of things, as it seemed to be similar to what the Ice Builders had built in their realm, before he glanced back to look at them, with a look of concern on his face, "Our village is being overrun by Lava Lizards, who enjoy eating us whenever they can, and right now it looks like they might be attempting to end the village, while we're distracted by the Fire Wizards. Can you guys get rid of them for me?"
"Sure we can." Spyro replied, though instead of waiting for the Bone Builder to say anything else he and his siblings rushed over the bridge and headed into the area that the village was located in, as it was time for them to kick some tail and put an end to yet another assault that was going on, to help restore order to this realm, even though something told him that it would be a number of years before the Bone Builders finally gained control over this place.
The siblings quickly found out that there were eight large red eggs that were scattered around the village and that the Lava Lizards, tall red scaled beasts with tiny arms, eventually emerged from those eggs, but in the end none of them were a match for the three of them, as Spyro flamed the lizards that got close to him, finding that they didn't have the ability to withstand fire like some creatures did, while Ember hardened her scales and smacked her target with either her claws, her tail, or even her head, sometimes even spinning into the air to collide with one thanks to Spike helping her, who used his magic to blast the lizards out of the area. It took maybe a minute for them to clear out the Lava Lizards that emerged from the eggs, saving the village from being eaten, and once they were sure no more enemies were coming they crossed the bridge and returned to the stunned Bone Builder that had been watching them fight the enemies he had told them about, as if he couldn't believe what he had seen.
"I heard you were good... just not that good!" the Bone Builder stated, showing that he was impressed by what they were able to do in such a short period of time, against enemies that his fellow villagers usually ran away from, before he tapped his staff on the ground and pulled something out of the pack that was by his feet, "Here, you can have this shiny thing we found a day or two ago, maybe it will help you guys in your jour..."
"What's wrong?" Spike asked, though at the same time he accepted the Orb that was being offered to them and put it with the others they had recovered so far, but once that was done he looked at the area that the village was in, as he was a little curious if he and his siblings had missed something or if something was bringing in more reinforcements to attack the village, as the creatures of this realm didn't seem to like the Bone Builders all that much.
"Pterodactyls are bringing in more eggs!" the Bone Builder replied, his tone informing the siblings that this must have been what happened earlier, before their arrival to be exact, but it just meant they needed to cross the bridge again and repeat the movements they had gone through to save the village the first time, only this time with some alterations since there was another foe to take care of.
The alteration to their plan was that Spike didn't attack the enemies on the ground, rather he focused his magic and loosed several Arcane Missiles up into the air, blasting the pterodactyls out of the sky, regardless if it was before they let go of the eggs they were carrying or if it was after the eggs had been dropped, leaving Spyro and Ember to deal with the Lava Lizards that managed to hatch after being dropped... yet in the end, even with the pterodactyls helping the lizards out, the siblings were able to stop the villagers from being eaten and chased off the flying dinosaurs, to which they headed back to the Bone Builder with a smile on their faces.
"I... I have no words for what I just witnessed," the Bone Builder said, as he was both impressed and stunned at the same time, which was why he reached into his pack and withdrew a second Orb from it, something that he handed over to them and Spike accepted it in seconds, an action that brought a smile to his face, "though you deserve a second shiny thing for your efforts."
With the village safe, and the dinosaurs informed that it was a bad idea to attack this area, the siblings turned around and made their way back to the tunnel that would take them to where the exit portal was located, where Spike hit the last Lava Toad with one last Arcane Missile and knocked it down to the ground, allowing them to collect the final bone as they headed towards the final area of this realm, so they could turn in the bones, get an Orb, and then, once they were sure all the gems had been picked up, they could leave for another realm.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, you guys are great!" a voice said, where they found the Bone Builder they were heading towards had been waiting for them and he noticed they were carrying the bones of his friend, which all three of them gave to the caveman as soon as they came to a stop in front of him, as it was time to get this task done as well, "Now I can finally put my friend back together! Here, I want you guys to have this shiny thing that a fairy left with me a few days ago, as a token of appreciation for your assistance in helping us out."
The siblings told him it was no problem as Spike accepted the Orb in question, though once it was in the guidebook they watched as the skeleton reformed itself and stood near the Bone Builder, where it started to dance with what seemed to be a flossing motion of some kind, before shifting to it pointing diagonally towards the sky and then the same towards the ground, and then did a number of backflips around the area as it returned to the spot it had started it, where it crashed for a moment and then got back up so it could bow. As the skeleton started to repeat itself, however, the siblings excused themselves and headed for the exit portal, as they had all the gems this realm had for them and they had done everything they could to restore order, so it was time to head back to Autumn Plains and pick a new realm to take on, to repeat the process once more with a brand new realm.
As Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to Autumn Plains, and finished off the last of the realms that were outside the castle, they headed for the ladder that would allow them to access the path they had used to get to where Elora was standing at the moment, as she was right outside the entrance of the dungeon and was waiting for them to collect the rest of the Talismans from the remaining realms. Sure, they could have tackled the Speedway that was near Zephyr's portal, but they felt like doing that when all of the other realms had been taken care, hence the reason they were climbing up the ladder at the moment, where they were thinking about the remaining portals that they could head through and what could be on the other side of each one. It didn't take them long to leave the courtyard and reached the start of the path that would take them through the interior of the castle, though before any of them did anything they sat around the entrance and considered which of the remaining four realms they wanted to take on first, not that it really mattered in the end since they needed to help all of them. Spike and Ember glanced at Spyro for a moment, as because while both of them had their own ideas on which realm they should take on next, due to one of them considering Fracture Hills and the other was thinking about Shady Oasis, both of them were curious as to which of them their brother was going to pick, as he was the leader of their group and so far they had liked his previous suggestions, hence the reason they were being silent and were waiting for him to speak his mind.
"What do you guys think about taking on Scorch?" Spyro inquired, because while he knew that his siblings might want to take on one of the other realms, mostly due to the names and what they made them think about when they heard them, he was of the opinion that they should follow the path that was in front of them, which was why he was suggesting Scorch, as that was the first of the remaining four realms, "We can take it on, claim the Talisman and Orbs while helping the residents out, and then head to Fracture Hills, Magma Cone, and Shady Oasis to repeat the same thing, before we eventually head to the dungeon to face Ripto and Gulp."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Spike said, while at the same time Ember nodded her head, showing that, while both of them had different ideas on which realm they should take out, they were willing to follow Spyro's lead and the path that he had laid out for them, which also put a smile on Spyro's face, showing that he was happy that they agreed with him, even if he was expecting them to voice some concerns or something.
With the three of them agreeing on their next destination the siblings got up and charged through the portal that would take them to the realm known as Scorch, as they let the magic of the portal take them to the starting area of the realm in question, so they could see what was going on and how they could disrupt Ripto's plans, since they were sure that part of what was happening to Avalar's realms was his fault. What they discovered, when they finally arrived in the starting area of Scorch, was that they were in the middle of what appeared to be a desert realm, one that had a rather nice looking palace that happened to have some glass windows and some oddly shaped frames around the windows, and then there were the odd cones that rested on top of the palace, in several spots anyway. From there they noticed the first type of enemy they would be dealing with, as there were a pair of large purple skinned beings that seemed to be guards, due to the turbans and the cloth armor they were wearing, no doubt made to counter the heat of the desert that was around them, and each of them were carrying a curved sword in one hand, a scimitar based on what they knew from what the Peace Keepers taught them. In front of them, however, was a little humanoid girl, who was wearing a orange overall and a white shirt under it, with bright yellow colored hair that seemed to be done up in two ponytails, though all three of them were slightly surprised to see someone like her here, as they were expecting something else, but that didn't stop any of them from approaching her, as they were sure she was the one they were here to help.
"Hewwo Spywo, Spike, Embew. My bwother, Handel, and I have been sent here to bwow up this castle," the little girl said, where she beckoned to the castle that was behind her, while at the same time determining that part of the time she couldn't pronounce her L's and her R's, even if some of them she was able to say without problems, but they said nothing as they wanted for her to say what was on her mind and what they could do to help her, "but Handel got caught by those evil soldiers and I'm stuck out here. If you thwee can open the doors that bwock the way, I can find my bwother and we can compwete our super secwet spy mission."
"We can do that." Ember stated, though part of her wondered if what the little girl had told them was true or if she was actually lying to them, and she would tell that her siblings were a little confused by what the girl had said as well, but once she was done talking the three of them left the little girl to stand where they had found her, so they could focus on locating the Talismans, Orbs, and gems in this realm.
The first thing they did was approach the platform that was right behind the little girl, where the two Castle Guards were standing, who immediately lashed out at them by jumping over the distance that was between them and landed right in front of them, but, thanks to everything the siblings had experienced so far, they ducked under the incoming attacks and then tripped up their foes by whacking their feet with their tails. The Castle Guards didn't seem to be expecting such an attack, as it seemed that they were likely expecting something like their fire breath or even them charging, but that let the siblings knock the pair onto their backs, allowing Spyro and Ember to finish them off, one with a quick burst of flames and the other using their tail on their target's chest. Spike made sure to break the pair of straw baskets that were nearby, to collect the gems that were inside them, before they headed back to the platform the little girl was on and followed the path that was to her left, which would have been their right when they arrived, picking up the gems and breaking any straw baskets that were in their way. That was when they discovered a camel that was standing between them and the area that the first door happened to be located in, which was the instant they noticed that the camel happened to have only two legs, making it look rather weird in their eyes, and what was even weirder was the fact that it had buried it's head in the sand before their arrival, just like an ostrich did, only to pull itself out of the ground when they got near it. It was in that moment that the siblings quickly discovered the Ostrich Camel, as Spike was going to call them that based on how they looked and how they acted, could be taken out with a quick burst of fire, due to Spyro doing that the moment it tried to use it's neck to attack them, and once it was taken care of them continued to walk towards the first door.
There just so happened to be another Ostrich Camel in the area in front of them, one that had a lavender skinned being standing nearby, one that was nearly identical to the Castle Guards, that had what appeared to be a slingshot in his hands, one that was designed to be held in both hands and seemed to have a lever that loosed the rock, though it was a little odd to be finding enemies with low level technology, especially after what they saw in Zephyr and Breeze Harbor during their visits to those realms. What they did first was tackle the Ostrich Camel that was off on their left, where Spike made sure a barrier was up since the Slingshot Guard tried to hit them with one of the rocks he had loaded into his small weapon, so it just bounced off the wall he created, allowing Ember to flame the foe they were going after while Spyro quickly broke the pair of straw baskets that were behind it. As soon as the first opponent was taken care of Spike then used a bit of his magic to catch the next incoming rock, surprising the Slingshot Guard in the process, before he sent the rock flying back towards the person that had fired it and smacked the guard in the head, knocking him to the ground and made sure he released a Spirit Particle, showing that he was down for the count. Once that was done they picked up all of the gems that were scattered on the ground around them, before finding that the only way to access the button that would unlock the door was to head back to where the first two Castle Guards were located and then glide over to the area that the button was located in, which was why Spyro elected to do it.
As such Spike and Ember watched as their brother made his way back to where the little girl was standing, jumped up onto the platform that was behind her, and then glided over to the platform the structure that the button was housed in was located on, where he picked up the couple of gems that were up there and then bashed the object that was his target, which caused a flag to raise to the top of the structure and opened the first door they needed to pass through.
With the way open the siblings regrouped and headed through it, where a Castle Guard leapt towards them and had his weapon raised by the time he landed in front of them, but the act of jumping through the air meant that he had no time to raise his defenses and that lead to Ember flaming him into the ground, while Spike intercepted the rock that was fired at them from the Slingshot Guard that was on the platform that was right behind where the first guard had landed, like it had been a plan to attack them while they were distracted. As Spike returned the rock to it's original owner, and made sure to knock the guard out in the process, Spyro and Ember headed to the right and split up, as Spyro flamed the Ostrich Camel that was near the edge of the castle wall, while at the same time his sister smacked her hardened head into the Castle Guard that was blocking the way to the next door. From that point they picked up the gems that were near them and turned to see what Spike was doing, just as he smashed his way through the pair of metallic vases that were resting near the first door and the pair of straw baskets that were just behind where the Slingshot Guard had been positioned, before he glided over to the next platform and took out the Ostrich Camel that was over there. As he took out the foe that was up there he picked up a few gems and then spotted Hunter off in a side area, meaning that he might be here to do something and that he likely had an Orb that he was supposed to give them, before he glided over to the next platform that contained the area the next button was located on.
What he did was take out the Castle Guard that was up there, just as Spyro and Ember did the same to another guard that was positioned in front of the second gate, and then collected the gems that were nearby, which was when he tapped the button and raised the next flag, allowing them to progress, though he did ignore the circular chest that was near the area the Ostrich Camel he had taken out was located in, as he was sure they would find a way to break it in due time, so it wasn't worth worrying about it right now.
"Was that Hunter, off in the distance?" Ember inquired, though she was sure that it was their cheetah friend, mostly since he was the only cheetah they had seen since they arrived in Avalar, so it wasn't like she could mistake anyone else for him, but it did make her curious as to why he would have come here, to Scorch, when he could have gone to any of the other realms to help the residents of those places out.
"Indeed it was. I have no idea what he's doing here, but we'll find out in due time." Spike replied, as he knew that they would return to Hunter in due time and see what was bothering their friend, especially given the fact that the previous times they had seen him in one of the realms they had been given an Orb or two for assisting him in some manner, which he knew his siblings were interested in as well.
"Let's finish helping out that little girl and her brother first," Spyro stated, because while it was obvious that they were going to interact with Hunter at some point, just to see what sort of help he needed this time around, he wanted to make sure they got the Talisman for Scorch first, and that meant helping the little spies out in their 'mission', which would mean opening one more door to get inside the castle, "then we can deal with Hunter and whoever else needs help in this realm, since there has to be more than one person who needs help, other than the first person we meet whenever we arrive in the starting areas for these realms."
Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement to what their brother was saying, hence the reason they headed for the second door and walked through it, which was the moment that they found a Slingshot Guard waiting for them and opened fire immediately, only to pause as Spike simply caught the rock with his magic and sent it right back at him, which knocked him out and allowed them to explore the new area that was around them. After that they climbed up the pair of rocky platforms that were behind the Slingshot Guard and smashed the metallic vases that were along the way, while at the same time Spike repeated the process he had been using on the next guard that was in their way, another Slingshot Guard that apparently thought he could get away with doing what the others had done, but in the end he knocked him out and released another Spirit Particle. While he did that Spyro and Ember nodded to each other as they jumped down into the area that was in front of them, the lower section that all the guards seemed to be in, as they ducked and weaved around the pair of Castle Guards that were swinging their scimitars at them, avoided the rocks that the pair of Slingshot Guards fired at them, and avoided the Ostrich Camel as it tried to attack the two of them, only for the pair to attack once their foes had a chance to hurt them, where Spike watched as all five of the enemies quickly fell. Once all of the enemies on the lower level had been taken care of, and Spyro and Ember headed back to the platforms that would allow them to glide over to the middle of the area, Spike glided into the side passage and picked up the gems he found on the ground, and once he was done with that he watched as his siblings collected the gems that were in the middle of the area and then took out the Slingshot Guard that was guarding the third button.
When Ember tapped the third button they discovered that the third door wasn't actually a door, rather it was a raised bridge that lowered into position near the area the five enemies had been standing in front of, giving them access to the interior of the castle, but before heading that way Spyro headed down the path that was to the right of the button and picked up all the gems that were over there, before all three of them regrouped at the bridge.
Once they entered the castle they were attacked by several enemies, as there were a pair of Castle Guards waiting for them and was backed by a Slingshot Guard, though while Spike took care of the rock thrower with his magic both Spyro and Ember rushed the pair of foes in front of them and rolled out of the way to avoid their attacks, before smacking them down with their tails and then finished them off with a short burst of fire. Since Spike was at the back of the group this time around, due to Spyro and Ember rushing at their enemies, he took it upon himself to break the couple of straw baskets that were near the bridge and the five metallic vases that were hiding in one of the pillars they had seen when they were walking around the exterior of the castle. While he did that Spyro charged into a Castle Guard that was standing in their way, letting his sister rush by him as she hardened her scales again, where she leapt into the air and spun around as she collided with the chest of her target, hitting the Castle Guard in question into the wall behind him, allowing Spike a few seconds to collect the gems that they had walked by before they approached the platform that the inactive exit portal was on, with no one standing near it. That made sense due to the fact that the person they were helping was outside the castle and was likely on her way to where they were standing, so Spike dealt with the two Slingshot Guards that were in the area that they were standing in, leaving Ember to take out the last of the Castle Guards as Spyro collected all of the gems that happened to be in the area, since some were hidden in the next circular tower area, and he even smashed a pair of metallic vases at the same time.
With the enemies taken care of they turned towards the inactive exit portal, though as they did that they noticed a Powerup Gate resting in the center of the castle, which was starting to seem more like an outpost of some kind and not a true castle, meaning they would have to investigate it later, as they found the little girl now standing beside the exit portal with a smile on her face.
"Spywo, you and youw sibwings make gweat secwet agents." the little girl said, once more reminding them of the fact that she had a hard time saying her L's and her R's, though at the same time they were slightly pleased that they were able to help her and her brother out, even if they hadn't actually seen her brother yet and were sure that this wasn't a castle, like she had told them earlier, before she reached into the pouch she was wearing, something they had missed the first time they encountered her, "How Handel and I can compwete our mission! By the way, you guys can have this Tawisman, as I stole it when the soldiers weren't looking."
The Talisman in question, at first, appeared to be a golden scarab, though after a few seconds Spike spotted a few bits of the item that looked like they were made out of emerald, meaning that it was likely a very important artifact for the guards they had been facing, even if he and his siblings felt this was merely an outpost and not a castle, but he slipped the Talisman into the guidebook and noticed that the exit portal had been turned on. With that done the siblings turned back towards the path that would take them to the Powerup Gate, though as they did that they noticed someone new was in front of the Superflame Gate, as they now had the ability to see what sort of powerup the gate would give them, before all three of them focused on the stranger that was in front of them. It was a young boy that was wearing the same sort of clothing that the little girl was wearing, meaning that this had to be Handel, the other young spy that was infiltrating the castle for some odd reason, and while he had short hair, which was the same color of his sister's hair, he also had a small hat on his head that seemed to have some sort of propeller on it. Interestingly enough Handel seemed to be just fine, as he didn't seem to be captured like his sister said he was, and he seemed to be waiting for someone to arrive and help him with something, as a smile appeared on his face the instant he noticed the siblings approach him, even though they did spot a few gems in the area behind him.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's good to see you guys." Handel said, his tone confirming that he was happy to see them and that he had something he needed help with, which was the reason they had come to a stop in front of him, though they remained silent as they waited to see what exactly needed help with, especially when they considered all of the various things they had done in the past to help the residents of the other realms, though that was when Handel pointed at the three flags that they had raised by hitting the buttons on the way here, "We need those flags to prove our secret mission was successful, but the Flagkeeper that has been assigned to this area keeps taking them back before I can steal them. If you guys can knock him down, from where he's holding the flags, you might be able to bring the flags back to me, and my secret decoder ring says that this powerup thing might be able to help you do that."
"Use the Superflame Gate, find the Flagkeeper and blast him, and then do something to bring the flags back to this part of the castle," Spike said, as he understood what Handel was asking them to do, even if they didn't know what was going to happen when one of them hit the mysterious Flagkeeper with one of the fireballs from the Superflame Gate that was right behind Handel, but, at the same time, he knew that he and his siblings would be able to handle whatever was coming up next, "we can handle that."
Since there were three flags around the castle, and three of them, Spike and Ember cleared the area around Handel of all the gems that were nearby and watched as Spyro charged through the Powerup Gate, empowering their brother with the power of the Superflame ability, where he glided down to the bridge and headed out into the area that was right outside the castle, the area that the third button had been in. It didn't take Spyro long to retrace his steps to where the third button was located and came to a stop on the platform that was right in front of the structure the closest flag was attached to, where he glanced up at the top of the pole that came out of the top of the rather small building and spotted a small being that seemed to be riding a magic carpet, who was also wearing a turban on his head and was carrying one of the flags he and his siblings had raised earlier. He wasted no time in focusing on the Flagkeeper and loosed a fireball at his target, where it raced through the air and struck the being in the side, where he came to a stop and growled as he floated down to the area that Spyro was standing in, or rather he floated down to the path that would take one right back to the bridge that headed inside the castle, to which Spyro jumped down to meet him.
"So, you want this flag that badly, eh, dragon?!" the Flagkeeper asked, his tone revealing that he was annoyed by the fact that he had been blasted out of the air and that he was going to repay Spyro in kind for what had happened, which was why Spyro was waiting for whatever his target wanted him to do in order to gain the flag he was carrying, "Well, two can play the bombing game. Let's go!"
Spyro didn't have a chance to say anything as the Flagkeeper started to float backwards, apparently heading towards the area that Handel and his siblings were waiting in, and while he did that he loosed a number of light green colored balls into the area between them, no doubt his bombs when he considered what he had been told, to which he followed after the Flagkeeper and avoided the incoming attacks. Thanks to the training that both he and his siblings had received, from Titan and the rest of the Peace Keepers, he was able to avoid all of the incoming bombs, much to the annoyance of his target, and when he eventually reached the area that Handel was in the Flagkeeper glared at him for a moment as he tossed the first flag to Handel, since that was who was after the flags in the first place, and then flew off to guard the area that the second of the three flags was in. Once that was done, but before either of his siblings headed off to try this for themselves, Spyro told them what he had seen during the last minute or two, when he was chasing the Flagkeeper, and while he knew that it might be a waste of time to do so, since both Spike and Ember had been watching them as they came back to this area, he was happy to see what his siblings did listen to him for a few seconds. The moment he was done talking Ember stepped forward and repeated the process Spyro had done, where she used the Superflame Gate and glided down to the path in front of her, where she headed for the area that they had seen Hunter in, as that was where the second flag was located, and while she was making her way up to the area in question she also blasted the circular metallic chest, freeing the gems that were inside it and collected them in seconds, before blasting their target out of the air and glided down to where he landed.
"Still after my frags, dragon?!" the Flagkeeper inquired, because he recognized the fact that there were three dragons he was facing and was speaking about all of them at this point in time, since two of them seemed to be interested in the flags that he was supposed to be guarding, which was why he growled as he created more green balls, "Very well then, let's see how you handle this!"
Ember grinned as she followed after the Flagkeeper, moving out of the way before any of his bombs could even get close to touching her, which only seemed to infuriate her target in the process, showing that he wasn't used to facing dragons, or at the very least ones like her and her siblings, before she eventually got him to return to where Handel was located, causing the second flag to be tossed at the little boy's feet. With that done the Flagkeeper flew off to where the last of the three flags was located, the very first one they had raised when they started their journey through this realm, and this time around Spike followed after him, making sure to tap into the power of the Superflame Gate as he left the area that his siblings were sitting in. Since they had taken out all of the enemies that were in this realm, and had collected all of the gems that were along the way, Spike was able to retrace his steps in a matter of moments, as he reached the starting area rather quickly and blasted the Flagkeeper the moment he entered the area, knocking the being out of the air and caused him to float down to the area he would be starting the last leg of this challenge in, which was the area that he headed towards, just to see what his target told him.
"You won't be able to get my last flag that easily, purple beast!" the Flagkeeper stated, as if he was of the opinion that he would be able to stop Spike from chasing him back to where Handel was waiting, like he felt that his bombs would be able to do something this time around, but Spike prepared himself for what was coming next, as he had seen what went down when his siblings tried this and knew what to expect from their foe.
Spike grinned for a moment as he followed the Flagkeeper back to where Handel was waiting, though this time he didn't do what his siblings did when they avoided the bombs that were being thrown at them, rather what he did was use his magic to catch one bomb and send it flying into the next one that was coming his way, taking them both out and let him focus on the next one that was coming his way, before eventually getting the Flagkeeper back to the Powerup Gate, where the being tossed the last flag to the ground and flee off into the distance.
"Great job, Agents! How can we repay you for your efforts?" Handel asked, showing that he was incredibly happy with the fact that they were able to overcome the Flagkeeper and recover the flags that he had been guarding, enough to make all three of them unofficial agents in whatever organization he and his sister happened to be working for, if they chose to believe that sort of thing, before he got an idea and reached into his pocket, "How about you guys take this Orb, which I found in the sand, back before Greta and I tried to infiltrate this castle."
The siblings said nothing as Spike accepted the Orb and added it to the guidebook, though as they did that Handel headed over to where his sister was standing, no doubt to show her that he had the flags at last, while the three of them decided that it was time to head over to Hunter and see what he wanted them to do, as he seemed to be the last person in this realm they needed to help. While they did that Spyro decided to try a different route, as there happened to be a path that lead under the bridge and he found a number of gems in the area, which brought them to a whirlwind that let them move up to an area that had a number of glass vases, the type that had explosives attached to them, which was when he and Ember stopped as Spike set fire to all of them. The three of them waited for the explosives to go off and then picked up all of the gems that had been freed from their containers, though as they did that Ember broke the pair of straw baskets that were nearby, before they glided down into the starting area of this realm, which was where they headed over to the area that was right behind the first door. It didn't take them too long to reach the steps that would lead them to the area that their friend was standing in, though as they came to a stop in the area they were looking for they discovered that there were a number of palm trees around them and Hunter seemed to be carrying a barrel, something that made them wonder what he could be doing in this realm.
"Hey Hunter, what's going on?" Spyro asked, because both he and his siblings were curious as to what the cheetah was even doing in this realm, when he could be helping the other realms that were in need of assistance, or possibly even helping the Professor with whatever he happened to be doing at the moment, and even as he said that Hunter glanced down at the barrel he was holding for a few seconds.
"Well, the zookeepers at the Avalar Zoo informed me that they recently lost a group of monkeys, as in they were able to escape thanks to Ripto, and they asked me if I would track them down." Hunter replied, to which he gestured to the trees that he was standing near, where the siblings spotted six monkeys that happened to be hanging out near the tops of some of the palm trees, and one even threw a coconut at one of their friends, before they turned to look at Hunter again, as now they were curious about the whole situation, "I haven't been able to catch any of them, due to the fact that they keep throwing coconuts at me, which really hurt when they hit their mark. Maybe you guys can help me out?"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as they weren't entirely sure that this was something they needed to help Hunter with, before deciding that they might as well, since they were already here and all, to which all three of them followed their friend out into the area that the palm trees were located in, seeking out the ones that had the monkeys he was looking for. What happened next was that Spike summoned a barrier around him and Hunter for a few seconds, protecting them from the monkey that wanted to throw a coconut at them, and once that was done Ember would charge the tree and knock their target out of where they were resting, which was the moment Spike would lower the small barrier and let Hunter capture who they were looking for, so they could head to the next tree. Spyro, at first, just collected all of the gems that were in the area, which was when Sparx, Talon, and Cinder informed them that there were no more gems that needed to be acquired, though as soon as that happened he switched places with Ember, allowing them to alternate between who was hitting the trees with their heads. With the three of them assisting Hunter, and preventing their friend from being hit in the process, the siblings were able to help him capture all six of the missing monkeys in a few minutes, much to Hunter's joy as he made sure the lid was on tight once the last monkey had fallen inside the barrel, just so they didn't escape while he was chatting with them.
"You know, it's actually rather nice to have you guys around, especially since you're in the middle of kicking Ripto and his minions out of Avalar," Hunter said, though that was when he pulled out an Orb, one that looked like it had a couple bits of coconut fiber on it, and when the siblings noticed that he pointed at the barrel for a second, informing them of who was to blame for such a thing, even if it didn't damage the Orb at all, "Anyway, you guys can have this Orb that one of the monkeys was holding onto, as I know you need it more than the monkeys do."
Spike and his siblings nodded their heads to that, since they needed all of the Orbs for something, to which he took out some items and quickly rubbed off all the marks the monkeys had left on the sphere, making it as clean as all of the other Orbs were, before he stored it inside the Guidebook, which was when the three of them bid Hunter farewell and made their way back to the exit portal, as it was time to head back to Autumn Plains and choose the next realm that they were going to help out.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to return to Autumn Plains, though with the residents of Scorch assisted, and the Talisman had been added to their collection, they were able to turn their attention to one of the other realms so they could repeat what they have been doing so far, as in help the residents out, acquire the Talisman, and then spend some time to pick up the scattered gems and the couple of Orbs that were in each realm. Since there were only three more realms for them to take on and restore order to, the sibling determined that the next one might as well be the next portal they would come by, which made things easy since the last couple of realms had their portals lined up from the entrance of the castle to the entrance of the dungeon. Based on what Spike knew that meant the next realm they would be taking on was Fracture Hills, as the portals that were located closer to the dungeon were Magma Cone and Shady Oasis, and once all three of them were taken care of he and his siblings would quickly take on the pair of Speedways that this homeworld had, which would be followed by them taking the fight to Ripto at long last. As such the three of them started to head down the steps that were to their right, as that would take them to the portal they were looking for, though they were thinking about what they had seen in Scorch and the fact that there were two little kids that happened to be acting like they were spies, something that was rather odd when they thought about it.
"You know, I still don't think that structure that Greta and Handel were infiltrating was a castle," Spyro commented, as that was something that had been bothering him since they had encountered the pair of siblings and listened to what they had to tell them, and he suspected that Spike and Ember had been caught off guard by that sort of thing as well, but he was a little curious as to what their opinions were on this situation.
"It's not." Spike replied, because the moment they came to a stop beside the portal to Fracture Hills, so they could talk about what happened in Scorch and what they had discovered, he pulled out the Guidebook and flipped to the pages that spoke about the realm in question, and it didn't take him long to find out something that would interest his siblings, as he found the information to be very interesting, "According to Elora, and what she's written in this book, Scorch is a rather large realm and that was just a small fraction of what we could have explored, but the structure the little kids were trying to infiltrate is one of several training outposts for new spies, but there is no mention of what sort of organizations might use those outposts from time to time."
"So the portal took us to an outpost that happened to be in the middle of a training session?" Ember inquired, which was followed by Spike nodding his head to confirm her statement, showing her and Spyro that she had hit the nail on the head, though even as she thought about that she had to admit that it was better than what they had discovered when they first entered Autumn Plains.
"It did, and that session likely told Greta and Handel what their flaws are," Spike stated, though at the same time he put the Guidebook back where it belonged and focused on the portal that was in front of them at the moment, where his siblings turned and glanced at it as well, meaning that all three of them were eager to see what was waiting for them in the next realm they needed to take on, "Now then, let's head to Fracture Hills and see what's going on in this realm, and, more importantly, help the residents restore order to their home."
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement before the three of them headed through the portal, heading to the next realm that needed assistance, though it took them a few moments to arrive at their destination, which was a dark and sort of spooky place, but the spooky part was likely due to whatever was going on in this realm, the part that they were here to stop. Standing near the starting area was a blue skinned Faun, female like Elora was due to the dress that she was wearing, though it was easy for Spike to see that she was more goat-like, mostly due to the horns, and it appeared that she was spinning something around in her left hand, like a coping mechanism of some kind, especially since there was a statue of someone that seemed to be frozen to her right. The being that was frozen seemed to be a male Faun, or, as the Guidebook called them, Satyrs, and it appeared that he had been frozen while he was in the middle of playing a tune on his bagpipes, though he was wearing some sort of robe that was made out of stone, just like the rest of his body thanks to whatever spell had been used on him. Behind the pair rested a number of structures that seemed to be houses for the Fauns and Satyrs, which had metallic spikes on the sides of them and some around the top of the buildings, but the siblings were sure that was more for their own safety than anything else, which was why they decided that they might as well talk to the Faun and figure out what was going on.
"Well hello there Mr. Dragon, and to your siblings as well... you know, you're kind of cute for a quadruped." the Faun said, her tone welcoming, as if she knew that they were here to help her and the others out, which made sense when they knew that Elora would have told her and the other Fauns that they would arrive to help them in due time, though while Ember determined that the Faun had some kind of accent Spyro was caught off guard by the fact that she thought he was cute, as it was the first time something like that had happened, "I wish I could take you, and your siblings, on a tour of our temple, as I would do it in a heartbeat, but a bunch of lousy Earthshapers have encased it in stone, and the only way we can free the temple is by freeing the six Satyrs that call this realm home."
"Don't worry, we can do that." Spyro replied, indicating that he and his siblings could save this realm from what was bothering the Fauns and Satyrs at the moment, just like they had done for the rest of the realms they had visited, though the interesting thing was that telling the Faun that piece of information caused her to giggle before she gave him what he assumed was a kiss for good luck, on the forehead, before waiting to see what they did next.
The first thing they did was break the three metallic vases that were right behind them and then picked up the gem that was right next to the Faun that had spoken to them, before Spike focused his magic for a moment and used a Reverse Petrification spell that he had picked up during his latest training with Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters, even if they really didn't use this particular spell all that often, and freed the Satyr that was in front of them, who immediately played his bagpipes and the notes caused some of the earth on the temple to be removed in seconds.
"Thank you for freeing me from the state that the Earthshapers put me in," the Satyr said, his tone showing that he was very grateful for the siblings rescuing him, since he could tell that they were the ones that had done it and informed them that this Petrification spell was nothing like Gnasty Gnorc's Crystallization spell, the very one that he had channeled into his mace-like scepter, before the Satyr thought about something, "Since it appears that I'm the first one freed, based on how the temple looks, I believe there are five more Satyrs that need to be freed from their stone prisons, before we can enter the temple once more and put an end to what's going on."
"That's what we're here to help you guys with." Spike stated, informing the Satyr that he and his siblings were going to be doing just that, as in they were going to explore the rest of the realm, take on the enemies that were assaulting them and the Fauns, and free the remaining Satyrs that would open the way to the temple, which seemed to appease the Satyr as he stood near the first Faun and continued to play a tune on his bagpipes, only this one was different and the first and didn't have the same effect, though it appeared that the Faun and the nearby pigs seemed to like it.
With the first of the Satyrs freed from their prison, and informing him that they were here to help the residents of this realm out, the siblings headed to the right of where the Faun was standing and picked up the gems that were around them in seconds, before walking over to where the first structure was located, though as they did that a nearby bush came to life and charged at them, where Spyro flamed it and they watched as a Spirit Particle was released from the defeated foe, no doubt heading to the area the Powerup Gate was located in.
"Killer bushes... that's a new one." Ember remarked, though all this meant that they would have to focus on using their flames against these particular enemies and not charge at them, since these particular foes seemed to be rather too tall for them to simply charge into, where she glanced at her siblings and found that Spike was already hard at work with his quill, not that she was surprised by that, "Spike, what are you doing?"
"I liked the name you came up with for those enemies, so that is what we will call them," Spike replied, as he was the one that usually came up with the various names for the various foes that they encountered during their adventures and this was the first time that Ember had bothered to even say something like this, but he did like the name she came up with and was going to be referring to them as 'Killer Bushes' while they were here.
Spyro stood there for a moment and waited for Spike to finish what he was doing, since it was best to let his brother do this thing when he was in this mode, and Ember did the same thing, though a few seconds later he put his stuff away and they headed out, as it was time to actually focus on the realm and the enemies that they would be taking out, and that included the residents that they would be helping out for the next half hour or so. Once his siblings were ready to move on they found a tree in front of them that had an evil pair of eyes on it, just like the Killer Bush did, and a mouth that looked like it had a sinister look to it, though it also had a beehive in one of it's branches and shook it to send the bees at them, though that didn't last long as Ember flamed all the bees and then roasted the tree, a Bee Tree to be exact, before the three of them moved on to explore the rest of the realm. What they ended up doing was circling to the front of the structure that they had been thinking of walking around, allowing one of them to get inside and break the three straw baskets that just so happened to be inside it, before heading out to the area that revealed a lower section they would have to explore at some point. It was in that moment that the siblings got their first look at the Earthshapes, golems made up of gray colored earth with green moss on their backs, and it appeared that they were capable of using weapons, as one of them had a large pickax in one of it's hands, though for now they turned their attention to the area they were currently walking on and headed over to the second petrified Satyr.
The moment Spike cast his Reverse Petrification spell, and freed the Satyr from his prison, he and his siblings watched as he played on his bagpipes and removed more of the stone that was attached to the temple that they were trying to free at the moment, and once that was done they continued to walk around the area, looking for the two types of enemies they had seen so far and the types of treasure containers that they were used to breaking.
With the Satyr freed from his prison Spyro quickly broke the straw basket that was near them as his siblings headed over to the wall that was to their right, where both Spike and Ember flamed a pair of Killer Bushes that came to life and tried to eat them, but with their flames it was rather easy for them to clear out their foes and progress through the next area they needed to walk through. After those two had been taken care of they jumped up onto the next level and found one of the Bee Trees waiting near them, though that was the moment that Spyro rushed forward and flamed the tree before it could even release the bees that were living inside the beehive, allowing Spike to gather the gems that were near the tall wooden wall as Ember jumped up onto the wooden stump that was near them, picking up the lone gem that was on top of it. With that done they followed the path that was leading them to the next Satyr and found that the third one was rather close to where the second one had been located, so while Spike cast his spell, and freed him, Ember smashed the pair of metallic vases that were nearby and picked up the gems that were inside them, before joining her siblings as more of the rocks on the temple were removed by the tune the Satyrs seemed to be playing, something that she knew Spike would ask them about in due time.
As they jumped into the next part of the path they were following the siblings discovered something as Ember took out another Killer Bush, as there happened to be what seemed to be a metal runway of some kind that went off into the distance, making them wonder what it connected to, before putting that at the back of their minds as they smashed one more straw basket and focused on the foes that were waiting for them. Sure enough there was a Bee Tree off on the side of the path that the metallic runway seemed to be creating, so the siblings took it out and then jumped down into the area that was to the right of the odd path, where they smashed a straw basket and picked up the gems that were near it, only to continue to move downwards for a moment as each of them looked for enemies to take out, though Spike noticed that they had forgotten something and backtracked a little to free the fourth Satyr from his prison, before catching up with his siblings a moment later. Of course there happened to be another Bee Tree in their way, making it a good reason that they were keeping an eye out for enemies since some of their foes had hidden themselves as ordinary versions of themselves, so a seemingly harmless tree in this instance, and Spyro was the one that flamed it to bits, allowing Spike to focus on freeing the Satyr that was near it and let Ember pick up a number of gems she spotted in the nearby area. A few moments later more of the rock covering the temple was taken off, just like the other Satyrs had done so far, and once he was done doing his part the siblings continued to move on and resumed searching the area, even though they were heading towards the locked structure that was in front of them, even though they had to take out a Killer Bush and a Bee Tree along the way.
Before talking to the Faun that was near the locked structure, as she seemed to be someone who might have an Orb for them if they helped her out, the siblings headed up the path to their left and took out another pair of enemies, another Killer Bush and a Bee Tree, before reaching the sixth and final Satyr, which was when Spike cast his spell and the being used his bagpipes to break off the rest of the stone that was covering the temple, allowing them to enter it at long last, and would please the residents of this realm to no end.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for freeing all the Satyrs in Fracture Hills," the Satyr said, his tone informing them that he was incredibly happy that they had come to this realm and had taken the time to release all of the Satyrs that had been imprisoned by the Earthshapers before their arrival, before he glanced behind him for a few seconds, "though now you ought to explore the temple and see what it has to offer."
The siblings nodded their heads in agreement and retraced their steps to where the Satyr that Spike had backtracked a little to free was located, where they found a path that lead to the inside of the temple, though it was in that moment, as they were approaching the temple, that they found a Faun that seemed to be minding her own business, but since she was inside the building the siblings had to assume that she had been imprisoned inside the temple when the it was covered in stone by the Earthshapers, and there was an inactive exit portal near her.
"Oh, hi, dragon-boy... and siblings... you're probably expecting me to say something like 'you're my heroes, thanks for saving poor helpless little me'." the Faun said, her tone revealing that she really didn't care about the fact that the temple was no longer covered in stone and that the Satyrs had been freed, but, at the same time, she reached into the pack that she was wearing and searched for something, "Sorry to disappoint the lot of you, but I was only in here for the peace and quiet... however, since you went through the effort to help us out, I know the other Fauns would want me to give you guys this, so here, you guys can have our Talisman."
The Talisman happened to be a flute, the type that was made out of four or five wooden rods that were placed side to side and went from the smallest to the tallest, and it appeared to be made out of bronze, which was odd when they took a moment to think about it, but in the end Spike accepted the Talisman and stored it inside the Guidebook with the rest of them, activating the exit portal, even if he and his siblings had more to do before they left this realm and headed to one of the other two they needed to help out, and the first person they went to was the Faun by the locked structure.
"Oh, hello dragons. Perhaps you can help me with something." the Faun said, her tone revealing that she must have seen them while they were exploring the rest of the realm and had been patiently waiting for them to finish freeing all of the Satyrs from their stone prisons, before even attempting to speak with them, and now that the three of them were going around the realm, collecting the rest of the gems and helping everyone out, she figured that now was the time to ask them for some help, to which she gestured to the structure for a second, which had an iron door, "My friend is locked inside this building, and she lost the key while the Earthshapers were freezing the Satyrs in those stone prisons. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a locksmith at this time of night? Fortunately there is one of those fancy Powerup Gates to my right, but it hasn't been active in a long time, though maybe you guys can find a way to reactivate it."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember walked over to the area that the Faun was talking about and found that the Powerup Gate in question might be a Supercharge Gate, meaning that the metallic tracks they had seen could very well lead them around this part of Fracture Hills, and that it was also inactive at the moment, hence the reason they dropped down into the lower section of this realm and decided to confront the Earthshapers at last, even though Spike stayed back as Spyro and Ember jumped over some bits of lava to get to the first pair that was near the Faun they had talked to. Spyro was the first one to challenge one of the Earthshapers, where he charged into the one that was the closest to him and found that he knocked his foe backwards a bit, meaning he was heading towards the lava, but that also meant that it would take some time for him to actually defeat his foe. A few seconds later he heard Ember rushing towards them, with her body shimmering once more, to which he launched his sister into the air and watched as she spun around as she crossed the distance between them and their foe, hitting the Earthshaper in the chest with enough force to knock him into the lava, causing him to break in seconds, confirming that knocking them into the rivers was lava was the way to take care of them. Spike, who had been picking up the gems that his siblings hadn't picked up, noticed that as well and blasted the second Earthshaper in the chest with a bolt of magic, sending him flying into the lava and eliminating him instantly, no doubt giving them enough Spirit Particles to power the Powerup Gate, but, at the same time, they continued to explore the area, to eliminate all of the foes that were bothering the Fauns and Satyrs, before they resumed figuring out where the Orbs were located.
One of the things they discovered was a hideaway with a circular metallic chest inside it, something that they would have to come back for later on, once they knew what sort of power the Powerup Gate would give them, and after that Spike found another Earthshaper on an island near the first two foes they had taken out and blasted him into the lava as well, allowing his siblings to cross over to the other bit of land to continue exploring the rest of the realm. There were two more Earthshapers in the area that Spyro and Ember headed to, but what they did was repeat what they had done against the first one, Spyro opening their target's defenses with a simple charge and then Ember would be launched into the air to send them flying into the lava, and it didn't take them long to knock both of their foes into the river that was behind them, taking out yet another pair of enemies, which meant they could focus on picking up the gems and break the straw baskets that were nearby. Once that part of the lower section was cleared out, and Spike was sure of that, the three of them made their way back up to where the final Satyr was standing and retraced their steps back to the beginning of this realm, where the first Faun was still standing, before they descended into the area in question and began looking for gems, metallic vases, straw baskets, and Earthshapers. Several of their enemies were close to the lava, so all they needed was a light nudge from one of the dragons to send them into the rivers around them, while others either required the method that Spyro and Ember used or a bolt of Spike's magic, but it took them about a minute or two to clear the area that was near the starting area for this realm of every Earthshaper that was down there, and, at the same time, that allowed them to wander the area and pick up all the gems that were scattered on the ground.
The major thing that caught their interest was the tracks that seemed to go through the area, no doubt connecting to the rest of the metallic path they had seen so far, meaning the Powerup Gate had to be a Supercharge Gate, since all of this seemed to be a way to lead them from one point to another, and it even made sense when they thought about the tunnels that lead through the hills, to which they departed from this part of the realm, once the gems were picked up, and made their way back to the Powerup Gate. When they returned to where the Powerup Gate was located they noticed four things right off the back, where the first thing thing all of them had noticed was that the ability the gateway would grant them was, in fact, the Supercharge ability, making this a Supercharge Gate, which would allow them to race around this area and break open the metallic door that was preventing the Faun from leaving the locked structure. The second thing all three of them had noticed was that there were a number of Earthshapers located in the area that was just beyond the wooden gate that stood a couple of steps in front of the gateway they had identified, where Spike determined that it might be in their best interest to find another way to bring them down, as there was no lava in this area, meaning they couldn't repeat what they had done to the rest of the Earthshapers. The third item they had noticed was that there was what appeared to be a training room of some kind, one built into the rock wall that was close to the wooden gate one of them would need to break at some point, and all three of them were sure that Hunter was inside it, only now his feet seemed to be stuck to the ground, as if his feet had either been petrified or encased in stone.
The last item they spotted was a house that was slightly different from the other structures they had seen so far, one that Spike was a little interested in visiting at the moment, though he knew where they were going first and followed his siblings over to where Hunter was standing, because the last time they saw him he was taking care of the monkeys that had been hiding is Scorch, though he seemed embarrassed when they came to a stop in front of him.
"Oh, hey guys, I wasn't expecting to see you again, so soon after what happened in Scorch," Hunter said, trying to make it sound like nothing bad had happened since the last time they saw him, though at the same time this told Spike that he might be testing some sort of teleportation technology for the Professor, as there was no way their friend could have gotten here, so quickly, when they left Scorch before he did.
"Hunter, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Spyro asked, because it seemed like he was the victim of one of the Earthshapers trying to petrify him and only succeeded in freezing his feet, so he wouldn't be able to help the rest of the realm out, but he figured that it would be best if Hunter told them what was going on and if there was anything they could do to help him out.
"I, um, came to ask the Alchemist if he could turn my shoes into gold, or at least the old pair that I no longer needed and the Professor wants a golden pair of shoes for one of his experiments," Hunter explained, showing them that this was for a good reason and that he was only trying to help the Professor out, before he glanced down at his feet for a moment and stared at the rocks that happened to be keeping him trapped, only to return his focus to the siblings not even a few seconds later, "Anyway, the Alchemist said that he was working on a potion that would break me out of this, even though it means my old shoes will be lost forever, but I haven't seen him for a while and, well, I was hoping that you three could go next door and see if he's ready to help be out."
The siblings glanced at each other for a moment, wondering why it would take so long when the person lived right next door to the training area, before they wandered outside the chamber they were in and headed over to the building they had seen a few moments ago, though when they walked inside the house they found a Satyr who was different from the others they had met so far, as he wore glasses, just like the Professor did, and was wearing a pink robe, though Spike was more focused on the bottles and equipment that were around them.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I've been expecting your arrival for some time now." the Alchemist said, where his focus was on the potion that he seemed to be in the middle of crafting and only glanced in their direction for a few seconds, meaning that whatever he was working on had to be incredibly important and that he needed most of his focus to be on it right now, even though Spike walked over to see if he could figure out what he was working on, "The Professor told me that I might see you three in the near future, after informing me of the fact that he and his assistants had managed to summon three dragons to Avalar, to deal with Ripto and his minions, and here you are, just like he told me. Anyway, I have been busy experimenting with a new type of potion, one that should be able to undo what I did to Hunter's shoes earlier, but all of the Earthshapers are making it hard for me to go outside and test it out..."
"Do you want me to see what it does?" Spike asked, because one of the things that Spike and Ember might not recall is the fact that one of the Magic Crafters was an alchemist and was pretty good at what he did, and while he might not know everything there was to know about the art he did have a good understanding of how to make potions and how to use them, even if his weren't the best in the world, given his inexperience.
"Yes, that might be the best course of action, a simple test run." the Alchemist replied, to which he fiddled with the potion for a few more seconds, as if he was trying to get the formula right or something, before he used a small stopper and picked up some of the liquid that was inside the potion, before handing it over to Spike, "Now, just take that over to one of the Earthshapers and drop it on their head, as the effects should be rather quick to take hold and should break them in seconds, allowing me to deliver the potion to Hunter and free him from where he's standing."
Spike takes the stopper and heads outside, following the raised pieces of earth as he gets higher than all of the foes that are in this area, and he makes sure that he's above one of the Earthshapers before he lets out the couple of drops of the potion that he had been given, which fall on his target's head and seem to do nothing, as he waited a full minute with nothing happening, to which he glided back to the Alchemist's house to give him the bad news.
"Sorry, but the potion doesn't work," Spike said, though in that moment he noticed something interesting, as the piece of paper that the Alchemist seemed to be using as a reference for the potion was actually upside down, meaning that it was a random potion that the Satyr had made and he didn't even seem to realize what he had done, "Um, are you aware that the page you're working from is upside down?"
"It is?" the Alchemist replied, to which he turned towards the area that he was keeping the piece of parchment in and picked it up, where he turned it around so that it was right side up, before a frown appeared on his face as he looked at it, almost like he was even more annoyed than he had been moments ago, "Bah, it's rubbish. I can't make heads or tails of the formula when it's like this."
Spike sighed as he carefully removed the page from the Alchemist's hands and started at it, where he pulled out his own writing materials and started to transcribe a brand new version of the formula on a new piece of paper, in the clean and precise style of writing that he had learned after all the years he spent before their first adventure, and it wasn't long before he was done with what he was doing. Once that was done, but before he gave the new formula page to the Satyr, he took a look at the Alchemist's glasses and discovered something interesting, that they were horrible for someone like the person they were helping and he cast a single spell on the glasses, allowing them to let the Alchemist see much better than he had been for who knew how long, even though he was going to have to craft him a new pair of glasses that did the same thing, since these ones were just terrible for a nearsighted person. With all of that done, however, it took the Satyr a few seconds to adjust to what he was seeing, since everything was much sharper than it had been a few moments ago, to which Spyro and Ember watched as Spike helped the Alchemist create a brand new potion, one that would actually reverse what he did to Hunter's shoes, though he didn't stop at a single potion. With everything Spike had given him he was able to make three different potions in the span of a few minutes, one to reverse the damage to Hunter's shoes, one that should do what Hunter had come to do, and a third that had been poured into enough vials for all of the Earthshapers that were right outside the area his house was located in.
With his work complete the Alchemist headed outside his house and stared at the Earthshapers that were waiting for him and the siblings, but, thanks to Spike's alterations to his glasses, he was actually able to make out the golems and did the sensible thing, he headed to the left and headed inside the area that Hunter was in, where the siblings followed him in and watched as he poured some of the first potion onto the stone, breaking all of it in seconds.
"Thanks for helping me out." Hunter said, though that was when he noticed something odd, as he was expecting his shoes to be destroyed whenever the Alchemist came to help him out, but how his old shoes were still intact, which did surprise him, before he glanced up at the Satyr for a second, his face showing that he had questions, "I could have sworn that you were going to ruin my shoes."
"And I would have, had Spike not informed me of my errors," the Alchemist replied, his tone revealing that he was very impressed with what the young dragon had done for him and that he was pleased that the Professor had managed to snag him and his siblings, before he switched the first potion for the second one, "Now, take off your shoes and take a step back, this should be interesting as well."
Hunter raised an eyebrow for a moment, showing that he wasn't sure what was going on, before he undid the laces of his shoes and took them off, laying them side by side between him and the Alchemist, before taking a step back to see what was going to happen next, which was the moment the Alchemist let out a few drops of the golden colored potion, to which he and the others watched as the shoes turned into solid gold.
"You, Elora, and the Professor should be praised for your actions, in bringing these siblings to Avalar," the Alchemist stated, as he was even more impressed in what they were able to do in a short period of time, making him wonder what else he could do with his improved vision, before he patted Spike on the head as he turned to leave the area, "You three are welcome in my home anytime, and maybe we can create some new potions in the future."
"I'm looking forward to it!" Spike declared, causing the Alchemist to smile as he returned to his house, so he could put the remainder of the two potions away, just in case he needed either of them in the future, and then turn his focus to what he had been doing earlier, experimenting with new potion types, before Spike and his siblings turned towards a shocked Hunter, who was caught off guard by what just happened.
"Not only did you guys find the Alchemist, but he also did what the Professor sent me to get," Hunter said, though at this point none of the siblings were going to ask why the Professor wanted a golden pair of shoes that weren't in his size, as it was easy to guess it was for some sort of experiment, before he reached into his pack and withdrew an Orb, "Here, I think you guys deserve this. I found it behind some of the crates that were in this area, before I asked the Alchemist for some assistance in fulfilling the Professor's wish for some golden shoes, but it's much safer in your care... though it is a shame you don't have any moves that can take down the Earthshapers that are outside this chamber, as I would have loved to help you guys take them down."
"Yeah, about that," Spyro stated, to which he and Ember nodded their heads and watched as Spike walked outside the chamber they and Hunter were standing in, only for him to get above all of the Earthshapers and toss the vials down at his targets with his magic, where they watched as each of the golems shattered is seconds, causing Hunter to look at the sight in disbelief, "the Alchemist also had a potion for breaking the Earthshapers, so he gave it to Spike in the form of those vials, meaning he can take care of all of them on his own."
Hunter stood there with his jaw open, showing the siblings that he really didn't expect this to happen and that there wasn't much he could say to them, so all he did was withdraw a second Orb, muttered something about finding it in the same place as the first one, and simply stared at the area the group of Earthshapers had been in, allowing Spike to take the pair of Orbs and add them to the Guidebook. While he was doing that Spyro, having done the least out of the three of them since they arrived in this realm, took to the Supercharge Gate and started to use it by charging down the path that he was supposed to be following, where Spike and Ember watched him follow the path and smash into the nearby gate that happened to be in his way. Ember took the chance to break the metallic vases that were near Hunter and then got out of the area so she could head over to where the circular metallic chest was located, where Spike watched as she hardened her tail and smacked the chest a number of times until she smashed the chest open with brute force, allowing her to pick up the gems and then return to where Spike was sitting, near the locked structure, so they would watch Spyro and see if he could open the way for the Faun that was trapped inside it. Interestingly enough Spyro failed a few times to get to the area that they were sitting in, which made sense when they considered the course he had to follow, but it gave them time to confirm that the rest of the gems were inside the locked structure, meaning all they had to do was wait for their brother to succeed and this realm would be cleared out as well.
A few moments later Spyro charged down the path and smashed through the door that was blocking the way, where the Faun seemed overjoyed the moment the door was broken down and gave him both a kiss on the forehead and an Orb, to which Spyro nodded his head, grabbed the gems, and returned to his siblings, allowing Spike to add the Orb to the rest of their collection while their dragonflies confirmed that the realm was clear, to which they headed for the exit portal so they could tackle the next realm on their list.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to return to the castle in Autumn Plains, though this time around Spike was in a good mood, as they had been able to help out the Fauns and Satyrs of Fracture Hills and overcame the Earthshapers that had been bothering all of them, not to mention the fact that they were able to help out the Alchemist in more ways than one and gained all of the Orbs that Hunter had found in the area. He was really looking forward to returning to Fracture Hills at some point in the future and just take some time to experiment with the Alchemist, especially with the potions he was able to create in a matter of moments while he and his siblings were there, even though Spyro and Ember might be more interested in another aspect of the realm. One of the things he had found to be interesting was the fact that there were a few Fauns that had kissed Spyro's forehead, as a sign of wishing him good luck, but he guessed it was something that they did to certain visitors, to which he shifted his wizard hat for a moment as they headed down the passage to their right, as it was time to head to the next realm. At the same time he could see that both Spyro and Ember were happy with what they had done for the residents of Fracture Hills, which let him keep the smile on his face as they climbed up the short set of steps and followed the passage that would take them to the dungeon.
A few seconds later they came to a stop in front of the portal that would take them to the next realm that they would be taking on, since there were only two left before they faced the challenges of the Speedways and, finally, faced Ripto in the castle's dungeon, so they could put an end to his rampage and then focus on restoring order to some of the more annoyed realms, like Zephyr and Breeze Harbor.
"So, Magma Cone, that's the name of the next realm." Spyro commented, reminding his siblings of what the realm was called and what they might be expecting to find when they arrived in the starting area, where both Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement as they came to a stop in front of the portal in question, "I really hope its nothing like the Skelos Badlands, where we might need that heat resistance spell that you cast on us earlier, you know, the one that you cast before we started helping out the Bone Builders."
"Still, you have to admit that those two spells came in handy," Ember remarked, because she liked how Spike seemed to have a number of spells to use, depending on the situation that they found themselves in when they explored the various realm of Avalar, as it made some of the realms a little easier for them to deal with, or got rid of annoying things like the falcons that were attacking Zephyr earlier, not to mention the airship, "so I'm interested in seeing what this next realm has to offer, in terms of challenges and anything that might require Spike's spells to take out."
"Only one way to find out, and that's heading through the portal to see what we're going to be facing," Spike said, but he was happy to see that his siblings liked the fact that his magic was coming in handy for their visits to the various realms that they had visited so far, especially since he was sure there was a chance they might need his magic at some point during their adventure in the next realm.
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, showing that, despite their own personal thoughts on the matter, they did agree with his statement and were ready to move forward, to which the three of them stepped through the portal that was in front of them and headed to Magma Cone, to see who the residents of the land were, who the enemies were, and what they needed to do to restore order to the realm. A few moments later they discovered that the starting area for this realm was a platform that had a circular wall some distance in front of them, though there was a tall volcano that looked like it was in the middle of a village of some kind, a village that reminded all three of them of the couple of houses that the Fauns and Satyrs of Fracture Hills lived in. The only difference was that these houses seemed to be made out of wood, instead of metal, and they had windows and a number of party decorations hanging from the roofs, almost like the residents of this realm had been getting ready for a celebration of some kind when they were interrupted by whoever was attacking them, which interested the siblings as they continued to look around the area that they were in. One thing they discovered right away was the fact that the volcano seemed to be spewing magma rocks or flaming boulders into the area around it, meaning that it had to be a threat to what the residents of this realm were trying to do, meaning that it was possible that the three of them would have to lose the lid, as there happened to be a metal lid attached to the top of it, one that was currently open and doing nothing.
What interested the siblings was the fact that, in the area below where they were standing, was a creature that looked like a Faun, though instead of it being one of the female ones they were used to seeing it seemed to be a male one, as he wasn't wearing a dress or anything, but it seemed like he was slightly annoyed about something, so the siblings jumped down into the area that he was standing in and approached him, as it was time to see what was going on and what they could do to assist him, and the other residents of this realm for that matter.
"Oh, Spyro, Spike, Ember, hello there." the Faun said, putting a smile on his face as he waved to them as they came to a stop in the area in front of him, showing that, despite the annoying nature of what was going on at the moment, he was happy to see them and that he was trying to be welcoming towards them, "I hope you guys didn't come to take part in the party that we were planning on throwing, because its been cancelled due to an... unfortunate event."
"Really? What happened?" Spyro asked, where he and his siblings paid close attention to what was going on, since the Faun was going to reveal what was going on to this realm and might reveal who their enemies were, because they weren't interested in the party at the moment, even if it did sound like the Fauns had something grand planned, no doubt to put Ripto out of their minds.
"The stupid Earthshapers set off the volcano!" the Faun replied, to which he gestured toward the volcano for a second as he said that, mostly to make sure the siblings knew what he was talking about, in case they hadn't noticed it when they entered the realm, before he focused on them once more and calmed down, since talking about the volcano seemed to be the fastest way to annoy him at the moment, "Can you guys help the other Fauns, in taking out the Earthshapers, and do something about the volcano?"
"You bet we can do something about the Earthshapers and the volcano." Spike answered, though he wasn't all that surprised to learn that they were dealing with familiar foes in this realm, as it appeared that the Earthshapers seemed to be one of the more aggressive races that called Avalar home, since they appeared to be harassing all the Fauns and their Satyr friends, and his siblings nodded their heads in agreement, showing the Faun that they would do everything in their power to help him and the other Fauns out.
The Faun smiled, no doubt appeased by the fact that things would return to normal soon, thanks to the siblings being able to assist them, and said nothing else, informing the siblings that they were allowed to start assisting the residents of this realm and could take the fight to their enemies, which was perfect, even though the first thing they did was break all of the straw baskets that were around the Faun, two of them to be exact, and picked up the nearby gem, before accessing the ladder to get up to the upper area and begin exploring the realm. Once Spyro reached the top of the ladder, since he was the first one to climb up it, he headed to the right and smashed a pair of metallic vases that were off to the side, as well as a glass bottle, so by the time Spike and Ember were up where he was standing he was ready to move, to which all three of them moved out. Ember spotted a lava river that seemed to wrap around the base of the volcano, one that even had a walkway for someone to walk on, so what she did was jump into the lava and used it to get around the blocked part of the curved walkway, allowing her to pick up a few gems before returning to her siblings, though it was in that moment that they found a new enemy to deal with. At first these new enemies appeared to be Earthshapers, but upon taking a few seconds to look at them more closely the siblings found that they were wearing blue pants, why they had no idea since none of the adult Earthshapers seemed to be wearing anything, though in the end that gave them the name of this type of enemy, as the smaller golems would be known as Young Earthshapers.
What really interested the siblings was the fact that the first Young Earthshaper they came across didn't have the earthen armor that protected the adult Earthshapers, so when Spyro charged into the first one he knocked it onto its back and caused it to break apart, releasing a Spirit Particle that was heading to the Powerup Gate for this realm, causing them to get moving as they continued to explore the area around the houses. One of the things they found were three metallic vases near the left side of the area that they were in, which they smashed to pieces to get at the gems inside them, and broke apart another pair of straw baskets that happened to be near where the ladder up to this area was located, though that was when they spotted something that they felt was also interesting, as there was a red x on the ground near one of the buildings. The reason that was interesting was because there happened to be a Earthshaper standing near the building in question, where one of the Fauns happened to be standing on the higher second level and was holding a large magma boulder in his hands, informing Spike that the Fauns were capable of withstanding really hot temperatures, despite their appearance, as he was sure that boulder would have burned anyone else's hands. Of course it also didn't take Spike long to see what the Faun wanted them to do, hence the reason he let Spyro charge at the Earthshaper from the front and hit him in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards and touch the red x, which was the moment that the Faun heaved the boulder into the air and threw it down at the Earthshaper, causing their foe to explode upon impact.
"Thanks for the help guys!" the Faun said, though before Spyro, Spike, or Ember could say anything he did a quick little dance and then jumped down from the area he was standing in, heading off to either help the other Fauns or continue the preparations for the party, now that he knew there were dragons helping them take care of the Earthshapers and, more importantly, the volcano.
With that Faun helped the siblings continued to explore the area around them, as in walking around the houses so they would find their enemies and take them out, and they happened upon one more Young Earthshaper, who was easy to take down with a simple charge, meaning that none of them really had to fear anything as they carefully explored the area and kept an eye out for anyone that looked like they might have some Orbs on them. As they soon discovered there was one more Young Earthshaper near a ladder that would allow them to climb up to the next part of this realm, which appeared to go up the side of the volcano that was near the houses, but even as Ember took that foe down Spike noticed some other ladders that lead up into the side of the structure, making him wonder if this was the true volcano or if there was an actual one nearby that they hadn't seen yet, where he had the feeling the latter was more correct. In fact, based on what he knew from the other realms, the interior of the metallic structure that seemed to be a replica volcano would be the best place to hide a few Orbs, and maybe a few gems as well, so he decided that he would tell Spyro and Ember his thoughts on the matter, once they were done helping the Fauns out since it appeared they were focused on that and could be letting him focus on locating the locations of the residents that have the Orbs. Because of that he was the last one to climb up the ladder that went to the next level, even though he did pick up a few gems to his left before doing so, and once he had caught up with his siblings they continued to move, by collecting the scattered gems that were on the ground and then glided over to a cliff that wrapped around the area that the village was in, allowing them to access the various metallic vases, glass containers, and scattered gems that were up there.
The end of the path they were following was right where the first Earthshaper had been located, and they even found a few straw baskets to break along the way, though once they were done following the path all three of them jumped back down into the area they had just cleared out and headed back to the ladder, so they could return to the upper level and see what else this realm had to offer them... though as they did that Spyro let Spike take care of the Young Earthshaper that was in front of them, where he surprised Spyro and Ember by simply charging him into the ground.
"What? You guys are acting like this is the first time you've seen me charge one of our enemies." Spike commented, as he could tell that his siblings were caught off guard by what he had done, since they seemed to be so used to him slinging magic around to take out the various enemies they came across, something that was due to all of the lessons that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters had given him after Gnasty Gnorc's defeat.
"We're just so used to seeing you blast things with magic, so much so that we forget that you used to charge most of your foes into submission like we do," Spyro remarked, as that was the truth, that they were expecting him to use magic to take out the Young Earthshaper, especially after what happened in Fracture Hills and what the Alchemist was able to make in such a short period of time, but it was also nice to see that Spike wasn't relying on his magic all the time, like most of the Magic Crafters did.
Spike chuckled for a moment, as it was rather interesting to see that his siblings had been surprised by his actions, but in that instant they all knew that they had to continue forward and they did so without question, where he walked up the nearby rock ramp and broke the straw baskets that were up there, allowing Spyro and Ember to move forward and pick up the gems that were on the ground. From there he got a good look at the larger Earthshaper that was in this area, one that Ember struck in the chest and knocked backwards, allowing the Faun that was standing in the opening behind the golem to release the large boulder that had a chain and some metal wrapped around it, something that crushed the Earthshaper like it was nothing. He got the feeling that the Fauns were used to dealing with these guys, unlike the ones in Fracture Hills, and this was one of the few times they needed outside help to deal with the golems, though he decided to shelve the thought for now and focused on gathering the gems, as Spyro and Ember were in the process of smashing some metallic vases to get at the gems that were inside them. There was a ledge that he could access from the area that he was standing in, so Spike glided over to it and smashed the glass vase that happened to be over there, allowing him to jump down and join his siblings in collecting all of the scattered gems that were laying around the area they were in, and once that was done they headed to the opening the Earthshaper had been guarding, as they were sure it would bring them closer to the main cause of this realm's problems.
In the next area they found a number of gems that were just scattered in front of where an Earthshaper happened to be standing, so while Spike picked them up Ember let Spyro launch her into the air, knocking their foe backwards, which did prompt another Faun to jump onto the golem's back with what appeared to be a drill of some kind, one that caused the Earthshaper to shake before being blown to pieces. With that done, and the gems collected, the siblings found a short walkway that connected to the side of the metallic volcano, which confirmed Spike's thoughts that it was a replica of some kind since it hadn't erupted one, though that brought them to a ladder that took them up to the next level, though at the end of that walkway, near an opening of some kind, they found Moneybags waiting for them.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I was hoping to see you guys again." Moneybags said, his tone sounding like his cheerful self again, as if he had blocked what happened the last time the siblings found him and confronted him about what he did to both Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, something that was likely still going on thanks to all of the weapons and lies that he sold to both sides, just to incite them to fight each other.
"Moneybags, you better have a very good reason for being here," Ember growled, though as she walked towards the bear, and ignored the gems that her brothers picked up, her body shimmered for a few seconds, indicating that she was using the protection skill that was quickly becoming one of her favorite skills to use against their enemies, though her fierce gaze was locked on the bear and nothing else at the moment, "otherwise you're going to have a bad time!"
"W... W... Wait! Let's not be too hasty," Moneybags replied, holding up his hands in a manner that looked like he might be trying to calm Ember down or something, which was going to be hard to do given how pissed off Ember got whenever she thought about the war that was going on between the two realms, before he beckoned to the end of the tunnel that was behind him, were a platform happened to be resting, "Listen, the elevator in the room that's at the end of this short tunnel will take you down to where the volcano is located, where normally I would attempt to charge visitors for the ability to even use the elevator, but given, um, what's happened in the past, between us anyway, I decided to come here and make it so you won't have to pay anything at all! Meaning that the three of you will be able to use the elevator as much as you want to, without having to hand over a single gem."
"You do realize that we're not going to let you off the hook that easily, right?" Spike asked, because while he liked the fact that Moneybags was willing to let them through areas that he would normally force them to pay for, something that would have gotten old after a while, he knew that Ember was really pissed off about the fact that the bear had fueled the war between the two races and that it would take a while for her to get over it.
"I know, but I wanted to make sure you knew that I'm not charging you for this, just like I didn't charge you for the ice serpent bridge back in Crystal Glacier," Moneybags stated, showing that he understood that the siblings were angry with him and that he was trying to prove that he wasn't an enemy that they should take out, once Ripto was taken care of to be exact, even if such a thing might not be entirely possible at this point in time, given how all three of them didn't trust him and what he was saying.
Ember seemed like she wanted to say something, but Spyro tapped her and shook his head, indicating that it wasn't worth it, before heading into the room in question and jumped onto the circular platform that was the elevator, which did take him down into the area that was below them, like Moneybags claimed it would, and not a few moments later he came back up to where his siblings were waiting for him.
"See? I told you that you guys could use it, free of charge." Moneybags said, though part of him seemed worried that Ember would lash out at him anyway, just for stopping and talking to them about the elevator and the fact that they didn't need to pay to use it, hence the reason he started to head towards the metallic volcano that was behind Spike, just so he could get away from Ember.
"Hey, Moneybags," Ember stated, causing the bear to freeze for a moment when he was halfway across the path that lead back to the metallic volcano, even though she really didn't care about how he got up here in the first place, and when he turned back to face her she glared at him once more as she readied herself for what she was about to do next, since it would likely surprise her brothers a little, "BOO!"
Moneybags let out a scared scream for a second, as if he expected Ember to jump across the distance and strike him down onto the ground that was below them, but he did fall onto his back and came to rest on the walkway for a second or two, so when he regained himself he ran away sweating and very afraid that one of them was going to come after him if he stayed in this realm for too much longer.
"You know, I understand the fact that we've freaked Moneybags out, with all the times that we've struck him for all of his terrible attempts to con us, but I wasn't expecting that." Spyro commented, as he was expecting the bear to freeze and wait for Ember to lash out, only to find that it was a trick and that she had gotten him, but he had to admit that it was a bit funny to see Moneybags fall like that.
"He's lucky I didn't lash out at him, because I'm still pissed over his part in starting a war..." Ember remarked, though at the same time her scales lost the shine that she had put on earlier, indicating that she was done using that skill for the moment, before she turned towards the elevator and started to walk over to where it was resting, "Come on, we're almost to the volcano, so let's take care of it and start helping the rest of the residents with whatever is bothering them, be it more Earthshapers or some other type of foe we haven't encountered yet."
Spyro and Spike nodded their heads as they followed Ember back to where the elevator was located, though as Ember rode it back down to the level that was blow them her brothers collected the gems that were around where the elevator had been resting and then glided down to meet her, making sure to pick up the couple of gems that happened to be down there as well, before they headed for the end of the tunnel that was in front of them and came to a stop as they found the true volcano that the Earthshapers had messed with earlier. What they discovered was that there were a number of small platforms that wrapped around the river of lava that rested between them and the volcano, which just so happened to be spewing a large magma rock every now and then, sometimes two or three at a time, so Ember jumped out and crossed over the various platforms, moving around the ring as she picked up the couple of gems that were hidden around the area, before eventually returning to her brothers. Once that was done the three of them jumped over to the beginning of a new set of metal ladders, ones that seemed to wrap around bits of the volcano's exterior and would require a bit of maneuvering in order to reach the top, where the lid was located, and from just a glance they knew they would have to be careful thanks to the magma rocks. Ember was the first one to take to the ladders, leading the way forward as Spyro and Spike followed after her, being sure to replicate her movements when it came time for one of them to do the same thing, though all three of them avoided the magma rocks to the best of their abilities, though when they reached what appeared to be the end section of the ladders Spike decided to stay back and used his Arcane Missiles to blow up all of the magma rocks that were heading Ember's way, allowing her to reach her target and jump into the air.
In that moment she flipped backwards and struck the lid with her tail, forcing the entire thing to move and seal the top of the volcano in seconds, allowing her and her brothers to head over to a walkway where one of the Fauns happened to be standing, where an inactive exit portal was resting, meaning they must have reached the end of this realm and were free to do whatever they wanted.
"Wow, you guys are awesome! You managed to close the lid on the volcano... good thing to, it was starting to get a little too warm for us." the Faun said, though the siblings weren't impressed with him at the moment, because if he was standing so close to the volcano, not to mention its lid, they had to wonder why he didn't make himself the hero of this realm by closing the lid, but they said nothing as he proceeded to pull something out, "I was going to save this for the party, to offer it as a prize to one of the other Fauns, but I know the guys will chew me out if I don't do this, so here, you guys can have our Talisman."
The Talisman in question was a golden version of the volcano they had climbed up, a much smaller version that was the same size as all of the other Talismans they had collected so far, complete with a golden version of the lid that Ember had just closed, even if the lid happened to be in the up position on the Talisman, and it even had what appeared to be small red gemstones in a ring around the middle of it, but in the end Spike slipped it into the Guidebook and put it with the rest of the Talismans they had collected, before they started looking for the residents with the Orbs. Fortunately there happened to be a second Faun that was standing on a walkway, one that was rather close to where they were positioned, and it was there that they discovered the Powerup Gate for this realm, so they quickly picked up the gems that were on the floor near the Faun that gave them the Talisman and then glided down to the other one, so they would see what he needed assistance with.
"Oh, hey guys, you're just in time for the party... well, not really, since those nasty Lava Monsters have stolen all of our party hats while we were busy taking care of the Earthshapers." the Faun said, informing the siblings that all he seemed to care about was the massive party that he and the others had planned and that he might be annoyed by the fact that all of their precious party hats had been taken earlier, before he sighed for a moment as he thought about that, "You know, the party won't be the same without our special party hats."
The siblings said nothing to that as they studied the Powerup Gate that was behind the Faun, as it was a Superfly Gate and would allow them to fly all over the area that they were in, to which the three of them rushed through it and took to the air, where they found a number of red balloons floating around the area, each one having a metallic vase tied to them, and that was when all three of them got their first glimpse of the Lava Monsters. The creatures were, as the name implied, made out of lava and seemed to be partly cooled down, even though one would have assumed that the party hats would have burned up, since they happened to be wearing the stolen hats at the moment, but Spike knew that their targets would be immune to their fire breath, meaning they either needed his magic or something else. In that moment Spyro found a small magma rock, which was high in the air thanks to a small burst of steam or a small geyser of some kind, so he grabbed it with his mouth and focused on one of the Lava Monsters, where he spat out the rock and sent it flying into his target, knocking the creature out and freeing the hat in the process. In that moment Spike and Ember nodded their heads in understanding, as they hadn't thought to use the small magma rocks for such a thing, to which they separated from each other and flew around the area, allowing the three of them to tackle the eleven remaining Lava Monsters that were in this area, as well as taking out the various metallic vases that were floating around them.
It didn't take the siblings long to clear out the area of Lava Monsters, freeing the party hats from them and seeming to send them to where the Faun was standing, before picking up all of the gems that had been freed from the balloons, and once that was done, and they were sure all of their enemies had been taken care of, they returned to where the Superfly Gate was located and landed in front of the Faun that they were helping at the moment.
"Wow, you guys really are something," the Faun said, where he pulled out an Orb, one that happened to be partly covered in an orange dust of some kind, which Spike started to clean off the moment it was handed over to them, since he disliked how dirty some of the residents let the Orbs get since they found them, "You guys can have this Orb that I found, as it was mixed up with some cheese-balls that were being prepared for the party and I... well, I wanted to sample them before the party started and almost chipped a tooth on this thing."
Spyro and Ember said nothing to that as Spike finished cleaning off the Orb, though once that was done he slipped it inside the Guidebook and they left the area that the Faun was in, where they glided down to the area that the elevator was located in and used it to get back up to the area that Moneybags had been standing in when they first encountered him in this realm. The reason they were doing his was because they were backtracking to the metallic volcano that was close to the starting area for this realm, where Spyro and Ember followed Spike's lead on this one, since he had a way to get to the ladder that lead up to the opening in the side of the volcano, and sure enough they were able to glide over there and climb up the ladder. That allowed them to pick up five gems that were resting around a large hole in the ground, one that seemed to have ice crystals on the side of the tunnel, to which they descended down the tunnel and located a large ice cavern that seemed incredibly interesting to them, including the cracks that were in the middle of the massive chamber that was ahead of them. While they looked around the area they found two metallic vases and some gems that lead the way to the center of the chamber, though it was in that moment that the siblings found Hunter standing close to the end of the passage that was in front of them, looking like he had gotten over what happened in Fracture Hills and seemed to be ready for something new.
The first thing they did was pick up the gems and smash the metallic vases, gathering the last of the missing gems for this realm, as confirmed by their dragonflies when the siblings checked with them a few seconds later, before they turned and approached Hunter, as it was time to see what he was doing here and what he might need help with, just like they had done every time they had seen him in the realms they've been to so far.
"Hey Hunter, what's up?" Spyro asked, because he and his siblings had the feeling that their friend was here due to the fact that he might have found a few more Orbs, after leaving the area they had found him in back in Fracture Hills and had to free him, and they were curious as to what he wanted them to do this time to get at the Orbs that were currently in his possession, mostly because they would help them take down Ripto.
"Oh, hey guys, I honestly wasn't expecting to see you three again, so soon after what happened in Fracture Hills, but I do want to say thanks for helping me out back there." Hunter said, showing the siblings that he was grateful for the help in finding the Alchemist and getting him to deliver the potion that would free him from the rocks that had been covering his feet when they found them, before he glanced at the area that they were in for a second, "As to why I'm here, since I know you guys are going to ask me that, I'm here on another errand for the Professor, because he told me that he wanted some ice crystals for one of his experiments and this is one of the few places where you can get the crystals he wants, even if he needs nearly thirty of them, based on his estimates."
"Why would he need ice crystals?" Spike inquired, as that was something that really didn't make a lot of sense to him, and he could tell that his siblings were confused about this as well, but as he thought about what they had learned from Elora, as to what the Professor had been working on, an idea formed in his head, one that seemed to actually make sense when he thought about the other task Hunter did for the Professor, "Wait, I got it, he's experimenting with new types of Powerups, both to use in defeating Ripto and to help safeguard Avalar in the future, once everything has returned to what it was like before he and his minions starting to mess things up."
"Yeah, that's exactly what he said... you really are one smart dragon." Hunter stated, indicating that he wasn't even a little surprised that Spike had figured out what the Professor was doing, even though it would take him a long time to get to that conclusion from the few points that he had given the dragon, before he reached into his sack and pulled out two shiny Orbs, "Listen, I could use some help gathering the ice crystals that the Professor needs, so if you guys help me out I'll hand over these two Orbs I found, as they were just laying in the center of this cave, seemingly forgotten by whoever was here before us, and then we can both be on our ways once we have all the crystals we need."
It didn't take long for the siblings to agree to help Hunter out, since it was also helping the Professor out at the end of the day, and once they agreed to assist him all four of them headed out into the cave and spread out, following the trails that the ice crystals seemed to follow before they eventually jumped into the air and left the ground for a few seconds, which was the only time they could catch them. Hunter grabbed the crystals that were near him with his hands, snatching them out of the air not even a few seconds after they popped out of the ground, while both Spyro and Ember knocked each of the crystals they were after out of the air and forced them to hit the floor, which didn't damage them at all and let them collect them whenever the pair wanted. Spike, on the other claw, just used his magic to extract the crystals from the air and put the ones he was collecting in the pile that he and the others were building, even though he did pause for a brief moment to look at the interesting green hue that the crystals had, as he was expecting a blue hue, and made a note or two about it in his journal, before adding it to the pile. Eventually Hunter called it quits and the group gathered around the pile they had built, finding that they had more than what the Professor wanted for his experiments, but Spike felt it was a good idea to have some spares, just in case something happened and he ended up losing a crystal in the process, to which Hunter nodded his head and set the pair of Orbs down as he became to package the decent sized pile of crystals that they had created.
Once Spike had the Orbs inside the Guidebook, and once again made sure there were no more gems to be found in this realm, he and his siblings left the cave that they were in, by a whirlwind that had appeared while they were busy helping Hunter out, and headed for the exit portal, as it was about time they tackle the last realm of this Homeworld, see what the pair of Speedways had to offer, and finally take the fight to Ripto, so they could restore a measure of peace to Avalar and its residents.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember were able to quickly return to the castle of Autumn Plains and started to make their way down the passage so they could locate the final portal that they needed to head through, in terms of the realms that were available to them at the moment, as once they finished assisting the realm they were heading towards they would tackle the pair of Speedways that were in this homeworld, before facing their true foe. All three of them were eager for the battle that was ahead of them, since they would be facing Gulp so they could get to Ripto and put an end to his rampage, thus restoring a measure of peace to Avalar and the various realms that were scattered around the homeworlds they had been to so far, even if there was one more they hadn't visited yet, the Winter Tundra to be exact. Even though they didn't say it all three of them were curious as to whether or not they would even be heading to the other land that was part of Avalar, as it all depended on what Ripto did, because if he remained in the castle dungeons with Gulp they could put an end to his plans, never heading to Winter Tundra, and if he fled they could follow him to the homeworld in question, so all they had to do was claim the final Talisman and then see what happened next.
"So, am I the only one that wasn't that impressed by those Fauns?" Ember asked, because she was still annoyed by the fact that the Faun that had given them the Talisman, who had been positioned near the top of the volcano, had just been standing there when they arrived in the area and hadn't done anything to seal what the Earthshapers had done to their volcano, though she got the feeling that the male Fauns just cared about partying and nothing else.
"No, I think all of us were a little annoyed with them, in one form or another." Spyro remarked, though even as he said that he and his siblings continued to walk down the passage that was in front of them and eventually reached the rather large opening that was their destination, as there was a bridge that connected to the area the portal they were looking for was located in, "especially the one that could have sealed the volcano's lid, saving us the trouble of having to do that since he could have made himself the hero of his realm."
"I think its safe to say that Elora came from the Fauns that call Fracture Hills home, and not the Fauns that we found in Magma Cone," Spike added, even though the truth was that Elora was different from all of the Fauns they had come across so far, as she was nothing like the rest of them, but for the most part he was happy to assist her in putting an end to Ripto's rampage and restore the peace to the realms that she and the others were looking over, "though we'll have to ask her about that later, since I'm sure she would rather have us focusing on helping the residents of the realms and recovering the Talismans that we need to undo the seal on the dungeon's doors."
Spyro and Ember let out a light chuckle for a moment as they headed across the bridge that was in front of them, as they knew that Spike was hoping to gain some information on the guards that were supposed to be protecting Alavar, of which both Elora and Hunter were members of from the looks of things, and both of them were curious as well, though not as curious as their brother was. Once they finished thinking about that they approached the portal to Shady Oasis and headed through it, was it was time to head to the final realm and seen what sort of enemies and obstacles they would have to deal with this time around, especially since they had no idea what they would need to do to gain the Orbs that were hidden around the realm. It didn't take them long to arrive in the area that was the starting area for this realm, which appeared to be a chamber that was inside a large building, though as they looked around their immediate area they found that the style of the walls reminded them of Scorch, meaning that they might have discovered another paired realm, just like how Zephyr and Breeze Harbor had been paired in some manner. The interesting thing was that there were a few square cut gemstones that happened to be inside the walls around them, blue colored gems to be exact, meaning they had either been imported from Glimmer or were found in the sands outside the building, since it was possible the residents could have found them out in the desert, but that was something to ask at a later date, when they weren't trying to restore order to this realm.
It didn't take them all that long to locate who they assumed was one of the residents of this realm, as they found a small brown skinned hippo, standing at about their height, trying to get what appeared to be some berries from the bush that was in the middle of the small area in front of them, though thanks to his small stature he was unable to get what he was after, much to his annoyance. The first thing the siblings did was pick up the couple of gems that were resting around them, to add them to the collection that they were gathering, once more with the intention of returning them to Elora and the others, though as they did that Ember spotted a metallic gate that was blocking the way to the next part of the large building they were in, making her wonder how they were going to get through it. One thing all three of them discovered was that the hippo that was standing by the planted bush was wearing a purple stripped shirt, no pants for some reason, and he was wearing a red fez on his head, though he also had a pair of small wings on his back, making them curious as to why a hippo would even have wings in the first place.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, boy am I glad you guys are here." the hippo said, speaking to them the moment they entered the area that he was standing in, mostly so they could smash the pair of straw baskets that were in the area near him right now, though since he wanted to speak with them the siblings came to a stop and waited for him to tell him what was going on and what they could do to assist him, as well as the rest of the hippos, "I've been trying to get a berry out of this magic berry bush, but I'm just not strong enough or tall enough to get it myself, so I need someone like you guys to do something to make the berry fall off the bush."
"Okay... but why?" Spike asked, because while he was all for helping the hippo out, since it was the right thing to do in this situation, this was one of the rare few times that he was going to question the residents of the realms that they would be heading through, to assist them in some manner, and he could tell that his siblings were curious as well, even though both Spyro and Ember were interested in hearing what the hippo had to say.
"Well, eating a berry will make me larger than my current size, and I'll be unable to take damage, so I can smash down the gates that our blocking our way," the hippo replied, though the look on his face told the siblings that he was expecting them to assist him and that he was going to block their way until one of them knocked a berry off the bush, despite the fact that he was giving them a rather dumb reason for wanting their assistance.
Spyro sighed as he charged the bush and forced one of the berries to fall from it, where the hippo happily snatched it off the ground and devoured it in seconds, which was the moment that he and his siblings witnessed him growing until he was the size of the metal door that was blocking the way, though that was when the enlarged hippo charged at the door and smashed it to pieces as he headed off to another part of the building.
"Magical berries... that enlarge the one that eats them and makes them immune to damage." Spyro said, as he was a little surprised by this turn of events and the fact that what the hippo had told them was true, though at the same time Ember smashed the straw baskets and collected the gems that had been inside her targets, as well as the pair of gems that were on the ground, while Spike whacked the bush a few more times, "Spike, what are you doing?"
"I'm taking a few of them to see if we can replicate the effects in the future, or to see if they only work for the hippos of this realm," Spike replied, to which he pulled out a small container and slipped the berries, which appeared to look like cherries in his opinion, and sealed the container, that way none of his writing materials and journals would be ruined by what he was collecting at the moment, before putting it away as he stared at the opening the hippo had created, "though to be honest, this guy has a rather weak reason for wanting our assistance, as its nothing like what happened in the other realms we've been to so far... but we'll have to roll with it, since he's likely the one that is carrying the Talisman for Shady Oasis, and getting him to the exit portal will give us what we need."
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they were in agreement with what Spike had said about the reason the hippo wanted their assistance, but in the end the three of them headed over to the opening that the hippo had left behind and started their adventure in this realm, to find their new friend and help him make his way to the end of this building, just so they could get the Talisman. What was interesting was that the hippo, before losing the power that the berry had given him, smashed through a creature that was blocking his way, a feminine creature that looked like a genie of some kind, though Spike would have to wait until they found another one to verify that, as the poor creature was crushed by the hippo before he could determine what sort of foe they were dealing with, even though it did release a Spirit Particle for the Powerup Gate that was located in this realm. The hippo then ran by what appeared to be a thief, as in the blue robed figures that the siblings had chased down during their first adventure, to retrieve the eggs that they had stolen, though this one was dressed in a set of attire that matched what the guards of Scorch had been wearing, which did confirm the thought that this realm and Scorch were paired with each other, though the thief was carrying a sword in his right hand and looked ready to use it. Ember was the one who decided to face the Armed Thief, where she let her scales shimmer for a few seconds as she jumped up to where her foe was standing, though that was when Spyro and Spike had the chance to watch as the thief's blade shattered when it struck Ember, who grinned as she leapt into the air and spun forward so her tail could crush her foe into the ground, which was successful in taking him out.
With that done the siblings spread out and collected the couple of gems that were laying on the floor, even making sure to break the three straw baskets that were in the area, before locating where the hippo had run off to, who was in the process of beckoning for them to follow him, so they finished picking up all of the scattered gems and followed after him, even though Spyro flamed another Armed Thief that was in their way, allowing the three of them to move forward as they headed to the next part of the building they were in. Of course that meant they were leaving behind a circular metallic chest that they could break, since Ember could do so with the skill she had just used, though there was a missile they could use to get the job done quicker, so they turned their attention to whatever was in front of them, though as they followed the hippo Spyro spotted an area that looked like it had acid water to their right. The reason he was interested in that area was because of the gems that were laying all over the area, including a few straw baskets, so he left his siblings to stand with the hippo and glided down to the floating platform, that had three levels on it, that was down in front of him and started to pick up all of the gems that were down there, just so they wouldn't have to backtrack to this part of the realm later on. It didn't take Spyro long to clear the area of gems and catch up with his siblings, picking up the gems that were on the hidden staircase that allowed him to return to Spike and Ember, to which they followed the hippo as he approached the area that the second metallic door was located in, where they found a rounder thief that was carrying a shield with his sword, showing that he was ready for a fight.
Interestingly enough the Shield Thieves, as Ember wanted to call them and Spike was more than happy to agree with her on the name, was actually rather easy to take out, because all they had to do was wait for his back to be turned and then flame him from behind, as that was what Spyro discovered when he approached this foe, though both he and Spike knew that Ember would have charged at their foe and would have used her harden ability to fight the thief's sword and shield. Since that appeared to be the only enemy in the area Spike wandered off and collected all of the gems that were in this part of the building, leaving Spyro to smash the metallic vases near the door as Ember climbed up the couple of small platforms, which allowed her to hit the next bush that the magic berries were growing on, thus allowing the hippo to eat one and expand into the larger form they had seen earlier. The instant that was done the hippo rushed forward and quickly smashed the metal door that was blocking their way, this time missing the Genie on the other side as he did that, where Spike stepped forward and used his barrier spell to block the incoming ball of energy she threw at him, before he blasted her with an Arcane Missile, allowing them to progress into the next chamber of the building, where they watched as the shrunken hippo ran off to wait near the location of the next bush. There appeared to be two Armed Thieves and a single Shield Thief in this part of the building, so while Ember charged at the Shield Thief, with her scales shimmering, that left the Armed Thieves to Spyro and Spike, who dodged the incoming sword swings to the best of their abilities and then lashed out when they had an opening, flaming their foes into the ground.
Ember, of course, made short work of her own foe, allowing Spyro to collect the gems that were on the level they were standing on as Spike used the platforms that were in this area to get up to the location of the next berry bush, though he did have to blast one of the Armed Thieves they had fought so far, where his spell knocked the thief to the ground and let him release another berry for the hippo, who proceeded to smash the metal door in front of him to pieces and continued on through the rest of the area.
Once the way was open the siblings glided over the small green acid river that was in front of them and landed on the area that would lead them to the next berry bush, though the first thing they did was let Spyro flame the Armed Thief that was to their left, to which they smashed the nearby metallic vases and picked up all of the gems that were around them, before heading for the passage the hippo had headed down. That meant fighting one of the Shield Thieves again, but both Spyro and Spike stood back as Ember rushed at the obstacle, blocking the incoming attacks with her hardened scales for a few seconds, only to disarm her foe and charge into his chest a moment later, allowing her to take him down and open the way for them to move forward. There happened to be another Armed Thief standing behind the foe Ember had just taken out, so she made sure to strike him down as well, letting Spike deal with the Genie that was blocking the passage that the hippo had run down, as a simple Arcane Missile was enough to blast his foe out of the air and open the way for them to move forward again, and that was what they did when they were sure all of the enemies in the area around them had been taken care of. From there they followed the hippo through a passage that had two square shaped structures in it, as in one on each side of the passage and a hallway that connected the two together, though they made sure to collect all of the gems that were around them, and smash some metallic vases, before Spyro and Ember dealt with a pair of Armed Thieves that tried to block the way, allowing Spike to focus on blasting the next Genie into the wall, as once those there foes were taken care of they continued to follow the hippo to his next destination.
At the end of the area that the second structure was in they found a glass vase and smashed it, before gliding over a bit of the acid green water, which did seem to be in several locations throughout this building, where Spyro took care of an Armed Thief that was nearby as Spike and Ember picked up the gems that were on the platforms in the area they were in, though it wasn't long before that was done and they proceeded to move onto the next area of the building. As they moved towards the next chamber a Genie decided to get in their way, who was quickly removed by one of Spike's Arcane Missiles, allowing them to enter the area that the hippo was standing in at the moment, though it was in that moment that they found out that the next berry bush was actually out of reach, if they were talking about using platforms to get up to where the item in question was resting. What the siblings did, instead of backtracking to the acid area that was behind them, as there just so happened to be a few rocks that were spat out of the water while they were walking through the area, ones that none of them were willing to touch since the rocks might harm them in some manner, due to them having been inside a river of acid, was split up and look around the area they were in. Spyro and Ember focused on the Armed Thief and the pair of Shield Thieves that were blocking the metal door that the hippo would be smashing through at some point, while Spike took out a few metallic vases and collected the gems, before focusing on the berry bush as his siblings took care of the enemies that were bothering them. What Spike ended up doing was using a bit of his magic to pick up one of the few metallic shards and sent it flying at the bush, cutting one of the berries free in the process, putting a smile on the hippo's face as he gobbled up the berry and returned to his enlarged state, allowing him to bash his way through the metal door and head to the area that was at the end of the walkway they had just opened up.
The area they were walking towards happened to be above the area that the circular metallic chest was resting in, and it also had a rather large berry bush, one that the siblings had to guess was what the hippo had been trying to reach the entire time, and there was also an inactive exit portal to their left, meaning they had already reached the end of the main objective in this realm, which meant the hippo with the red shirt, to their right, had to be someone that had one of the Orbs they were looking for.
"Thanks for helping me reach the Great Berry Bush, because now my friends and I can eat all the berries that we could ever want at long last!" the hippo said, though at the same time he reached into his pack, as if he was looking for whatever was in there, before finally pulling something out and held it out for the siblings to take, making them wonder if it was the Talisman that they had come to collect from this realm, "Here, you guys can take this thing, as a gift from all of us, for your deeds in helping me reach this point."
The item that he was offering them was a golden lamp, just like the type that were often used in the stories of the great and powerful genies, or at least that was what Spike had read in the scrolls and tome of the Dark Hollow library, but he was quick to determine that this was the Talisman that he and his siblings were here for, as the moment he added it to the Guidebook the inactive exit portal sprung to life, allowing them to return to the castle is they so desired, especially now that they had all the Talismans to open the way to the dungeon. What they did was head over to the other hippo that was standing nearby, as they were sure that he had one of the Orbs they were after and knew that by helping him they could restore order to Shady Oasis, not that it really seemed like anything was going on at the moment, which was rather odd when they thought about the other realms they had helped out so far.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you guys decided to stick around, instead of leaving after you got the Talisman," the red shirted hippo said, informing the siblings that some of the hippos in this area seemed to know what the item in question was and that some of them definitely didn't know what it was, though it didn't appear that he was annoyed by that fact, as it actually looked like he was relieved that it was in safe hands, or claws in this case, "Listen, three thieves came by earlier and made off with our three magical brass lamps, though there's no telling what they'll do to the lamps if they're allowed to carry them outside Shady Oasis."
"So you want us to get them back? We can do that." Spyro stated, showing the hippo that he and his siblings would be able to get the lamps back from the thieves that had made off with the lamps in the first place, as it would be like old times where they chased the thieves for the dragon eggs, and when the hippo nodded the three of them left the area, though not before grabbing the nearby gems that were around the large berry bush, along with hitting the Question Mark Jar that was there as well, just to move it to a new position.
They backtracked a little and found that one of the thieves they were looking for had appeared in the pair of sections, with the square structures, that were linked with a hallway, though the thief in question ran the moment it noticed them walking towards it, but it didn't take the siblings long to determine that there was some sort of pattern to his movements and corner him by having someone be in front of him and someone behind him, allowing them to box him in and then flame him for the lamp he was carrying.
"You know, there's something about this realm that's bothering me," Spike commented, because while he was happy to see that they were able to help the residents of this realm out, in getting the hippo to the berry bush that had been his destination, there was one thing that he kept thinking about and it was time he told his siblings about it, "have you guys noticed that most of the people in this realm are thieves?"
"Yes, if you're referring to just our enemies," Spyro replied, though at the same time he turned and looked at Spike for a second, who was in the process of pulling out the Guidebook so he could see what Elora wrote about this realm, which was when he and Ember sat down and waited for their brother to finish whatever he was doing, "though I hope you aren't going to tell us that the hippos are thieves as well."
"Well, according to Elora, that's the truth of the matter," Spike stated, where he stared at the page for this realm for a few more seconds as he continued to read the words that their friend had written before their arrival, as the more he read about the various realms the more interested her was in learning about them and their residents, "in fact Shady Oasis is a shared realm between two factions of thieves, as in the hippos that we're currently assisting and the thieves that we've been taking out to reach the exit portal, not to mention the Great Berry Bush. It appears that they are supposed to take turns, meaning that one clan controls the realm for a specific amount of time before it switches back to the other clan, and that likely means the thieves that we've been taking out likely tried to use this opportunity, with Ripto causing chaos in all of the other realms, to become the sole inhabitants of this realm. Who knows, if we had been called in to deal with Ripto, say a week ago or a few months from now, we could have been assisting the other clan of thieves in taking out the hippos that we're currently assisting... Avalar is truly an interesting place, and this really makes me want to learn everything there is to know about this land, its homeworlds, and the realms that everyone lives in."
"And suddenly everything makes more sense, all thanks to Elora and her Guidebook." Ember remarked, though she had to admit that the Guidebook was really coming in handy during this adventure, be it as a source of information for her brother to read from or as a storage container for the various Orbs and Talismans that they had to collect, so they didn't have to carry all of them in a separate bag or something, showing that she was glad Elora had given it to them when they arrived in Glimmer, before she stood up once more, "Come on, we've got some more thieves to chase down, a jar to break open, and some Orbs to collect, and then we can finally put an end to the trouble that's plaguing Avalar."
What they did was head back to where the Great Berry Bush was located and then jumped over the edge of the area that it was on, where they glided around to the lower level and spotted the second thief that was carrying one of the lamps they had been asked to retrieve, along with the Question Mark Jar resting near it, but what they did was glide over to the area that the Powerup Gate was located in, as there was a hippo standing to the left of it.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, its good to see you guys," the hippo said, though he seemed sad about something and they had the feeling that they would be learning about whatever seemed to be bothering him, where he glanced at the area that was behind them, which was an acid filled area or something like that, incredibly dangerous for them if they tackled it with no protection, hence the Invincibility Gate near them, "my brothers have been trapped in solid rock, but since you guys don't have any sort of move that smashes rock you'll have to come back when you discover something that will help us out and free my brothers from their prisons."
"Yeah, about that, I think I can help you out," Spike replied, where he pulled out the metallic shard he had used earlier and focused his magic on it, where Spyro and Ember watched as it shifted before their eyes and dissolved into thin air, as in it left nothing behind, though at the same time the hippo tilted his head for a few seconds, showing that he had no idea what Spike had done, causing the dragon to sigh for a moment, "What I did was change a piece of metal into air, meaning that all I have to do is focus on the rocks that your brothers are trapped in and then repeat what I just did, turn the rocks into air and free your brothers."
The hippo seemed uncertain, as he had no idea if this was going to work at all, before sighing as he let Spike do his thing, which was when he focused his mind and reached out to the area that the other hippos were in, finding that they were coming their way through a river that was connected to the area on the other side of the Powerup Gate, though he could feel the magic that had trapped the hippos in question and prepared himself. The moment the first rock emerged from the tunnel they were heading down Spike cast his spell, where Spyro, Ember, and the hippo watched as the first of the trapped hippos was freed from their prison, as the rock dissolved before their eyes and left nothing behind, just like what happened to the metal shard a few moments ago, but Spike was far from done. He kept the spell going as the rest of the rocks fell into the area in front of him, freeing the hippos from the prisons they had been trapped in, much to their joy as they jumped over to where their brother was standing, seemingly avoiding the dangerous part of the area like it was nothing to them. Spyro and Ember continued to be impressed by Spike's magical abilities, as neither of them had any idea that he had started learning any of the spells that were in the Transmogrification school of magic, the art of changing one thing into something else, but this just told them that it was a good thing that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters had taught Spike so much, as his magic was coming in handy this time around.
It took a few moments, but in the end Spike was able to free all eight of the hippos from their stone prisons and made sure they were all free to do whatever they wanted, to which he powered down his magic and shook himself for a second, as it always felt good when he used his magic to help others, even if the hippo that had asked them for assistance was a little surprised by what had just happened.
"Thanks for freeing my brothers... I guess I should tell Elora that you guys are awesome," the hippo said, where he took a moment to reach into his pocket and withdrew an Orb, which he handed over to Spike, before beckoning for his now freed brothers to follow him as he started to leave the area that they had been standing in, leaving the siblings alone as they wandered off to one of the other sections of the building.
"I'm so glad you took all those lessons from Cosmos and the others," Spyro commented, as all of the spells and tricks that Spike was spending his time learning had really come in handy during this adventure, and they weren't done with it yet since there was still Gulp they had to take out, at the very least, "because you have saved us from having to backtrack so many times, and yes, Ember, I'm happy you got us those lessons from our friend, so we could swim and climb ladders, since it saved us some time as well."
Spike and Ember nodded their heads as Spike placed the Orb inside the Guidebook, though as that happened Spyro used the Invincible Gate that was near them and walked out onto the water that was nearby, where he discovered that it was actually some sort of goo that would cause stuff to sink if they rested on it for too long, thus trapping whatever had fallen on it, so he quickly smashed the pair of metallic vases and got off the goo once he had the gems. Ember used that time to break four straw baskets that were off to the side and picked up the gems, before she and Spike joined Spyro at a new type of chest that had a bullseye on top of it, though what Ember did was harden her tail and struck it repeatedly until it shattered, releasing the gems that were inside it. From there the siblings focused on the thief that was nearby, the one that had the lamp they were looking for, and chased after it, but due to the small area that it was running around in it was rather easy to contain it on the small path it was using and then flame it, recovering the lamp that it had stolen and, at the same time, let the siblings torch the Question Mark Jar, sending it to another location in this realm. The next thing they did was smash a few more metallic vases and collect the gems that were inside them, before igniting the missile that flew around the area they were in and smashed open the circular metallic chest that they had walked by earlier, to which they glided down to where the chest had been located and picked up the gems they had freed.
With that down the siblings walked over to the area that Spyro had first cleared out when they were following the hippo through the realm, the area that had the platform with three levels and was surrounded by more of the acid water, so they just repeated what they did with the last two thieves and made sure to move him into an area where escape was impossible, allowing one of them to flame him into submission for the final lamp. Once the lamp was in their possession, as it was the last of the three they needed, the siblings quickly flamed the jar they were chasing and watched as it moved to the area that the second berry bush they had struck was located in, which meant that all they had to glide over to the area in question and did so without delay. From there the Question Mark Jar seemed to vanish, though Spike, having seen what the last ones had done, headed for the starting area of Shady Oasis and found it resting near the first berry bush he and his siblings had seen, where they smashed it open and picked up the gems that had been inside it, finding that they now had every gem in this realm, which made them happy since they were reversing the damage that Ripto and all of his minions were causing to the lands of Avalar. With that done the siblings retraced their steps and headed back to where the Great Berry Bush was resting, as it was time to give the hippo the three magic lamps that he had asked them to collect so they could get the Orb he had, because they knew he had an Orb on him, and it only took them a few minutes to reach the area that the exit portal was located in, to which they focused on the hippo they were there to see.
"Wow, you guys actually managed to recover our magic lamps!" the hippo said, taking the lamps from the siblings for a moment, though that was when he reached into his pack for a moment and looked for something, which was followed by him withdrawing an Orb that he held out for them to take, which Spike accepted instantly, "You guys can have that, as a fairy left it here a few days ago and I've kind of tired of carrying it around... it won't even hold a proper shine, not like our lamps do anyway!"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember said nothing to that, leaving the hippo to clean him lamps again as Spike added the Orb to the Guidebook, though once that was done they checked with their dragonflies and found that the realm had no more gems for them to collect, so they headed through the exit portal and headed back to the castle, as it was time to tackle the Speedways and then take down Gulp, and possibly Ripto at the same time.
With Spyro, Spike, and Ember gathering the last of the Talismans they needed to get inside the castle's dungeon, so they could face their foe at long last, the first thing they did upon returning to Autumn Plains' castle was head back towards the outside area that the first four portals were resting in, as it was time for them to tackle the pair of Speedways that were in this homeworld. They knew that Elora would want them to face Ripto and Gulp first, since they were the more pressing issue at the moment, but it wouldn't take them long to clear out the pair of Speedways and gather everything that was there, be it gems and the lone Orb that was hiding somewhere in that area, so they would have to keep their eyes open once they started flying around the realms they would be visiting first. The only realms they were annoyed by were Breeze Harbor and Zephyr, the only ones that they couldn't help to the best of their ability thanks to the ongoing war that was happening between the two races, which was the reason they were focusing on taking down Ripto first, so they could return to those two realms and put an end to their war. Thinking about that reminded them about Moneybags and all three of them were glad that the bear was nowhere to be seen as they headed outside, allowing them to glide down to the area that they had started in when Elora brought them to this realm, before heading over to the hidden tunnel that the first Speedway portal was located in.
It didn't take them long to use the whirlwind to get up to the tunnel in question and pass through the portal that was in front of them, but when they appeared on the other side of the Metro Speedway portal they found that this realm was made of metallic buildings that seemed to have been built on some islands, and some even came with raised bridges that could be lowered to connect two locations together. What they did was fly forward and follow the white pigeons that happened to be sitting on what appeared to be the levers that controlled the bridges, or at least that was what one or two of them might be linked to, but that didn't stop the siblings from flaming the couple of birds that seemed to be the start of the path they had to follow, though Spike was keeping his eyes open for the other things they needed to take out. It didn't take long for the path to bring them to an area where three metal towers stood, where the siblings separated from each other and focused on taking out one of the towers apiece, allowing each of them to take out one of the three remaining pigeons and, at the same time, some bungee jumpers that wanted to mess with the siblings. With the three of them working together it took them a few moments to clear out the area of targets, which also completed two of the four things they would need to take out to clear out a Speedway, though the next thing they did was fly up to the top area and found a walkway of some kind, one that had a metallic gate for them to charge through. As it turned out charging through the gate broke it, just like the arches back in the Flight Realms they used to fly around for practice, though that, in turn, lead them to an area with eight guys that had signs that were intended to slow people down, so while Spike focused on them both Spyro and Ember focused on following the metallic gates that were around the realm.
Spike took a few moments to take out the various workers that were holding the slow signs, even if he was aiming at the signs themselves and not the people holding them, but once he was done with his objective he flew over to part of a building and landed on it, where he could go over the gems he had collected as he waited for Spyro and Ember to join him with the gems they had collected.
"So, is the count four hundred?" Spyro asked, showing Spike that he and Ember had finished their task not even a few seconds after Spike had finished taking out the rest of the workers, where a number of gems were added to what he was counting, which signified that they had also finished their part of the Speedway, even though he and Ember were glad to have done something so simple this time around.
"Yep, just like the Ocean Speedway." Spike replied, as it didn't take him long to determine how many gems had been in this realm and how many they had managed to recover during their time here, especially since their dragonflies made sure to inform them that all of the gems in this realm had been collected, before he stored them inside the bag that he had inside his satchel, the one that was the new Bag of Holding, since he didn't want to leave it laying where a certain bear might get his hands on it, "Now that we have the gems, however, its time to see if we can't find the person that has the Orb in this realm, so we can complete whatever strange mission they want us to take on, especially when we consider what we did in the other Speedway."
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement as they took to the air once more and started to search the rest of the realm for any signs of the person that held the Orb they knew was in this area, with Spike following after them once he was done putting the gems away, though it did take them some time to locate the person in question, a humanoid being that was wearing a green suit and a nice hat, mostly because he was hidden behind one of the few waterfalls that they had flown by, making them a little curious as to why he would do something like this.
"Ah, its good to see the three of you," the figure said, seeming happy to have some help at long last, even though his realm wasn't really under assault from Ripto and the various enemies that were bothering the other lands that the siblings had visited so far, but they remained silent as they waited for the Mayor, as that was what he had to be based on the posters that were around them, had to tell them, "we've, ugh, been having a bit of a crime problem lately, one that I think you guys might be able to help me with. You see, there's a band of cat burglars that have been raiding my re-election funds by scaling the walls of the various buildings that make up my home, and they have stolen everything that's inside my safe, so I need you to help take them out and recover what was stolen... and by that I mean you'll be following Hunter as he knocks each burglar off the walls of the structures, so you need to collect the stolen loot."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember headed outside after agreeing to help the Mayor out, though as they took to the air it took them only a few seconds to spot Hunter flying through the air, where they followed after him and found that he happened to be wearing the same jetpack that he had used back in Ocean Speedway, though this time he came equipped with a small cannon of some kind. As such the siblings followed him as he flew around the area and followed a very specific path, where he blasted the cat burglars, cats in the shape like Elora and Hunter that happened to be wearing jumpsuits over their bodies, and when one of them was struck they were blown off the building they were climbing and also dropped the bag of loot that was in their hands. The thing that the siblings found to be interesting was that the bags had the gem icon that was on Moneybags' bag, the one that he carried with him at all times to be exact, making them wonder if the bear might be in on this operation or something, especially considering his involvement in the ongoing war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, but they shelved the thought for now as they followed Hunter. Between the three of them it was easy to collect the twelve bags of gems that had been stolen by the cat burglars, since none of them even got close to the water that was below them, and once they reached the end of the path that Hunter was following he thanked them for the help and headed off to do something else, even though they knew he would be in the next Speedway that they would be heading towards once they had the Orb from this realm.
The Mayor was beyond pleased with what they were able to do and handed over the Orb once he had all of the bags that had been stolen from him, to which Spike slipped it inside the Guidebook and put it with the others, before he and his siblings headed for the edge of the Speedway, which would take them back to the castle so they could head to the area that the other Speedway was located in.
It didn't take the siblings very long to disappear from the area that Metro Speedway was located in and return to the castle of Autumn Plains, though once they were back inside the tunnel they headed outside and made their way back to the ladder that would allow them to head inside the castle, as the other portal they were going to use was near the area that the door to the dungeon was located in. The siblings quickly made their way over to the area that the portal was in and then glided over to the small island that was their destination, where they stared at the portal for Icy Speedway for a few seconds before passing through it, as it was time for them to see what the other realm had in store for them and what they would need to do to gain the scattered gems and the Orb. What they found on the other side of the portal was a large snowy area that had a decent sized building in the middle of the island, something that looked like one of the structures that the Ice Builders would have built, and sure enough they found some of the beings in question riding vehicles around part of the ground and some using some contraptions to fly in the air, though they seemed to be making a few rude gestures in their direction. As such the first thing they did was split up and let Ember charge through the vehicles that were on the ground, while Spyro and Spike took out the gliders that were up in the air, so it wasn't long before they took out all eight of each type of targets, making sure only to hit the vehicles and gliders and not the Ice Builders that were using them at the moment. Of course it was in that moment that they discovered that there were three other targets for them to take out, the other three that were part of what they needed to take out to get the gems, and those were more arches, some skaters that looked like the Bone Builders with dance clothing, and ice serpents that were hanging out in the water that were around the island.
Instead of sticking together for this, and taking more time than what they needed, the siblings decided to split up and tackle the area from three different directions, as in Spyro and Spike cleared out the outer reaches of the island, where a number of the skaters and ice serpents were hanging out, while Ember headed through the building and cleared up the area that was near it, eventually allowing them to land on top of the building a few moments later.
"You know, its nice to relax before we face Ripto, or Gulp to be exact, since our main target will likely send his other dinosaur to do battle with us," Spyro remarked, though he knew that Spike was going to be busy for a few seconds, just to make sure that they had all the gems that had been scattered throughout the Speedway, before they got up and started their search for the person that held the Orb they were looking for.
"We can relax once Ripto is taken care of, and the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor is stopped," Ember said, as that was what she was focused on at the moment, taking care of the foe they had been called in to defeat and then bring an end to the pointless conflict that was happening between two of the realms, something that all of them agreed on after their visit to the realms in question.
"Well, we've recovered the same amount of gems from this Speedway, four hundred to be exact," Spike spoke up, as he didn't want to think about the war that they were going to have to try and stop, which might be easier now that there was no airship involved, but he focused on putting the gems the gems away and stared out at the rest of the island, as he had a feeling he knew where the person they were looking for was located, "and I do believe that the person who has the Orb we're looking for is inside that igloo over there."
Spyro and Ember glanced at the igloo in question and decided that it was a good place for someone to hide, to which the three of them took to the air and flew over to where the small structure was located, though when they landed Ember charged into it and smashed it to pieces, where they discovered that Hunter, who was now wearing a scarf and a beanie on his head, was the one hiding inside the igloo, and he happened to have his own vehicle, much like the ones the Ice Builders had been using, resting behind him.
"Wow, you guys took care of the Speedway's challenge like it was nothing, which means that you might be ready for a much harder challenge!" Hunter said, where he tapped the side of his vehicle for a moment and made sure the siblings looked at it for a few seconds, even though they were more interested in what he was doing here, since they were sure he hadn't left Metro Speedway by the time they departed from the area, "How about you try paragliding for a change? All one of you have to do is fly through the rings as I pull you with my snowmobile."
"Sure, I'll take your challenge." Spyro stated, where he walked over to where the item in question was resting and let Hunter do what he needed to do, so he could be hooked up to it for a time, while both Spike and Ember backed off so they could watch what happened next, even though he was planning on showing Hunter just how skilled he was with a sport that he had never tried before.
Spike and Ember watched as Hunter climbed onto the snowmobile and drove off, lifting the paraglider and Spyro into the air, though as their brother started to weave around the area, to get a feel for what they would be doing, Spike had to consider something that had been bothering him since he and his siblings left Hunter in one realm, only to find him in the next one they picked out, even though he never used the portals to get from place to place. As Spyro and Hunter moved to start down the path that the rings were down, to see just how skilled Spyro was at this sort of thing, Spike thought about how their friend could have gone from collecting monkeys in Scorch, to taking said monkeys back to the realm that the zoo was located in, to learning that the Professor wanted a pair of golden shoes for one of his experiments, before arriving in Fracture Hills before he and his siblings arrived, all without using the portals to do so. When he thought about it he knew that it didn't make much sense, as there was no way for Hunter to be everywhere at once, not without him for his siblings spotting him during their trek through the castle and the various realms, but he eventually returned to the key piece of information that Hunter had given them, and that was that he was gathering items for the Professor's experiments. In that moment he realized that their friend had to be testing something for the Professor, some sort of personal teleportation device that allowed him to go from one realm to the next, without having to use any of the portals to do so, and that would explain how he was able to get from Scorch to Fracture Hills so quickly, especially since he and his siblings never saw him use any of the portals to move between Autumn Plains and those realms.
By the time he came to that conclusion, and determined that it had to be the right answer since there was no other way to explain how Hunter was able to move from one realm to another without using the portals, he was able to watch as Spyro flew through what appeared to be the final ring of the set that he was following, causing Hunter to bring him back to where he and Ember were waiting, even though they glided back to where the igloo had been located.
"I guess I need to find something else to do with you guys, as you're even better than me at this." Hunter said, though once he unhooked Spyro from the paraglider he turned towards the back part of his snowmobile and picked something up, the Orb they were looking for to be exact, before he handed it over to Spike, who gladly accepted it and put it inside the Guidebook, "Though with all of Autumn Plains' realms taken care of, and the Speedways finished off, I guess that means you guys will be facing Ripto at long last?"
"That's the plan." Spike replied, where Spyro and Ember nodded their heads, to confirm that they would be heading to the dungeon next, to see if they could put an end to Ripto and his plans, before he came to the decision that he might as well ask Hunter about the idea that he came up with, to explain how he could move from one realm to another without even using the portals, "So, Hunter, how's the Professor's project coming along? You know, the one that he's been having you test for him, that allows one to move from one realm to another without having to use any of the portals that are scattered throughout the homeworlds?"
"I should have known you would figure out what's going on, Spike." Hunter replied, where he shifted the fur that was on the upper part of his right arm, almost to where his shoulder was located, and revealed a metallic band that seemed to have no lights on it, none that they could see at the moment, but Spike was sure it was working at the moment, "This thing is supposed to let me move from one realm to another by simply thinking about it, so if I wanted to go to Zephyr, or say Scorch, than all I have to do is think about my destination..."
In that moment Hunter disappeared before their eyes, leaving an empty space in front of the siblings, one that Spyro confirmed was empty when he swung his claws through the area for a moment, and when they returned to just standing where they had been when their friend disappeared the air shimmered for a moment before Hunter reappeared in front of them, looking the exact same as he had been a few moments ago, only with some sand on his hat.
"...and I can teleport there in a matter of seconds." Hunter finished, though once he was done explaining what he was doing, thanks to Spike figuring things out on his own, he sighed and got rid of the sand that had gotten on his hat, before he focused on the siblings once more and what he was going to tell them, "The Professor still hasn't worked out all the kinks in the programming, since there are times where I'll land on my back or with my head in either the sand or the snow, but once this technology is completed we can outfit our guards with something that will allow them to deal with problems at a much faster rate. I know the Professor has some technical name for this device, but I really don't have a normal name for it, I could never come up with one, though I'm not surprised that you figured out I was using something to get from one realm to another."
"So, I have to ask, but can we test it out?" Spyro asked, because while he knew they were supposed to be heading to the dungeon, to deal with Ripto and Gulp, he was a little interested in something that would allow them to instantly move from one realm to another, even if that didn't matter to them since they were nearly done with their adventure, rather he was only asking because he knew Spike would want to give it a test run at some point.
"Sorry, but the Professor told me that its coded so only I can use it, whatever that means." Hunter replied, though he already knew that some of them would want to test this out and help the Professor complete his research on the device he had shown them, meaning that they might actually stay awhile, once Ripto was defeated, and help him do whatever he needed to get the device working.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, where they decided that it was best if they let Hunter return to whatever the Professor wanted him to do, leaving them to return to the castle, which was the moment they bid their friend farewell and headed for the edge of the realm, eventually causing them to disappear and then reappear on the small island, allowing them to return to where the dungeon's door was located.
"You guys are amazing!" Elora said, where she turned to face the siblings the moment she heard them walking down the steps that would bring them to the area that she happened to be standing in, though as that happened she could feel all fourteen Talismans inside the Guidebook, informing her that they had completed the task that would allow them to unlock the door she was standing near, "Now that you guys have all fourteen of Avalar's Talismans, you can break the seal that Ripto put on the door and descend into the dungeon, where he and Gulp are no doubt waiting for your arrival... are you ready to face them?"
"You bet we are." Spyro stated, showing Elora that the three of them were ready for Gulp and whatever Ripto had in store for them once they beat his dinosaur, because they knew that it was time for his rampage to come to an end, before they captured Ripto and decided what to do with him, though he was sure their new friends had a few ideas in that regard, which he would be looking forward to seeing once their foe was beaten.
"Good, than head down there and beat them up!" Elora replied, where the door to the dungeon opened, thanks to the power of the Talismans inside the Guidebook, before she thought about something else that might be useful during the fight that was about to go down, something that she would need to tell them before they moved, "Also, I'm bringing in a few of the trained pterodactyls that I've been working with, ones from Skelos Badlands that aren't like the ones you might have encountered earlier, so they'll be dropping useful items for you three to use during the battle with Gulp. Just thought I would warn you guys about that, before you went down there."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads before they jumped into the hole that was the entrance of the dungeon, where they glided down into the arena that they would be facing their next foe in, though it wasn't long before they found that the area they would be fighting in seemed to be more of an overlook than a dungeon, one that had lava around the platform Ripto and Gulp were in, and there happened to be a throne made of gold and gems near the edge of the outer part of the area, though right now their focus was on Ripto and the fact that he had caught Zoe.
"Gulp, we've finally made Avalar ours, and that means you've earned a special reward." Ripto said, revealing that he had no idea that the siblings were gliding down to his location, as he simply pulled Zoe out and held her up so Gulp could see her, though it was in that moment that Spyro, Spike, and Ember landed right behind him, causing Gulp to tear his focus away from Zoe for a moment, something that Ripto noticed, "What is it, Gulp? You want the fairy? I hope you enjoy your special snack, and there might be more where that ca..."
In that instant, before Ripto could finish his statement, Ember rushed in front of him and spun around, smacking him in the stomach with her tail, forcing him to release Zoe as he rolled backwards, which was followed by her brothers knocking him up into the air when he reached where they were standing, sending him sailing onto the throne that seemed to be overlooking the entire area.
"You dragons are really getting on my nerves!" Ripto stated, where he picked himself off the face of the throne and turned around to face them, where the siblings could tell that he was absolutely furious with them at the moment, before he focused on Gulp for a few seconds and seemed to have a good idea on how to get rid of them, "Gulp! Its lunchtime! Get rid of these bothersome pests!"
Gulp, as the siblings discovered, now had a pair of what looked like energy cannons on his back, but what he did when the fight started was charge after one of them, which made it really easy for them to dodge the first attack since all they had to do was split up and force him to pick whoever he wanted to crush, as the end of his charge was followed by him making an attempt to crush one of them into the arena's floor. At first he seemed to be going after Spyro, figuring that sense he appeared to be the leader that he was the first one that needed to be taken out, though it wasn't long before he missed his attack and failed to crush his target into the floor, which seemed to make Ripto mad and let the siblings see that Gulp, despite the fact that he appeared to have little intelligence, was worried about something, so he switched who he was targeting and went after Spike. What Ripto soon discovered was that Spike was using his magic in this fight, just like what had happened in the battle against Crush, but instead of hitting Gulp with Arcane Missiles, or any other spell, he was mostly using small barrier spells that shattered once their foe hit them, and the reason behind this was because every time he hit one of the magical constructs he stopped for a few seconds, allowing Spike to pull back even more. After a few moments of that Gulp changed targets and started to rush after Ember this time, where Ripto stared at the battle in shock as she used her Peace Keeper training to its full potential, not backing down as she used the hardening technique that was becoming one of her favorite skills, though while she couldn't actually hurt Gulp at the moment this skill allowed her to take no damage, even if she rolled out of the way to avoid his crushing attack.
When the siblings managed to get him back into the center of the arena a few pterodactyls flew in and dropped a few eggs around the area, which revealed a number of metallic barrels that contained explosives inside them, which was the reason why each of them charged into their own barrel and sent them flying into Gulp, where they exploded and caused the dinosaur to roar in annoyance, before he raised his cannons to they were pointing at the ceiling. In that moment he loosed a number of electric spheres into the air, like he had no specific target in mind, and they rained down upon the entire arena, though Spyro and Ember were smart enough to charge over to Spike's location the moment the cannons were even raised, as the spell he used was actually the Reflection spell, where the combined charge of the spheres went back to Gulp and shocked him for a few seconds. Sure, the spell wasn't enough to actually bring him down or hurt him all that much, but it did weaken Gulp a tiny bit and that was what mattered at the end of the day, though once he was done firing at them Spike lowered the barrier and he separated from his siblings, as it appeared that their foe was going to do what he did when the battle first started, take turns chasing one of them down until each of them got a chance to be his target for a time. Sadly, much to Ripto's annoyance, the same thing ends up repeating itself over the course of the next minute or so, with Gulp trying, in vain, to catch one of them and then give up so he could chase another one, at which the siblings found that trying to make him tired might not work enough, as he seemed to have a lot of energy and missing one of them seemed to be enough to keep him going for a time, to make up for his mistakes.
This time around, when the pterodactyls flew into the area, the eggs they dropped dispensed rather large bombs for them to use, where the siblings made sure they were standing near one apiece and then flamed them, which seemed to be enough to send them flying at Gulp, who was in the center of the platform and appeared to not care about them, which was when they exploded in his face and dealt some more damage to him, not that he was showing any signs of slowing down in the slightest.
What was interesting was that after he got shocked by Spike's second Reflection spell, to counter the second volley of electric spheres, Gulp actually seemed to get a little faster in how he moved, even though he still missed them quite a bit when he charged at one of them, but the siblings weren't complaining as they continued to move around the arena and do what they had been doing so far, as it seemed to be working. Gulp resumed chasing one of them once the electric spheres failed to reach their targets, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember resumed keeping their distance from their foe and made sure they were just out of reach every time he got close to one of them, leaving him to collide with the floor and not hurt any of them, much to Ripto's annoyance. It didn't take the pterodactyls long to fly back into the arena and drop some more eggs for the siblings to use, where they discovered that this time around they were being given missiles that were like the ones they used to blow open the circular metallic chests, to which the three of them separated from each other and focused on Gulp for a few seconds, blasting him with their new weapons in unison, causing him to roar in annoyance as he raised his cannons towards the sky. Spike simply stood still as his siblings joined him, where Gulp fired his attack into the air and all of them struck the barrier that he had summoned the moment Spyro and Ember were beside him, even though it did last a bit longer than it normally did, before he loosed the charge at Gulp and shocked him again, knowing that they were ever so slowly weakening their foe and would eventually cause him to admit defeat, or knock him out instead.
"Gulp, what are you doing?!" Ripto loudly remarked, the annoyance filling his voice as he spoke, showing the siblings and his minion that he was displeased by what was happening at the moment, though at the same time Spike was of the opinion that their main foe felt they were cheating or something, based on what he said when Crush was taken out some time ago, "Just crush them flat and stop messing around!"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that Gulp seemed to increase his speed even more, though it wasn't by much since the siblings were able to avoid his charges with ease, though in addition to all that he tried to stomp on the floor that they were fighting on, like he was trying to knock them into the air and make things easier for him to take them out, but his tactic just knocked them into the air and let them glide elsewhere. As Spike predicted it was only a matter of time until the pterodactyls returned to the arena that they were fighting in and dropped a few more eggs for them to use in the battle against Gulp, though this time he found that the weapons were random, as this time they got two barrels and a missile, but that didn't stop them from using the items to their advantage as they continued to wear down Gulp. Spyro and Ember also made sure to stop near their brother when Gulp recovered from the three explosives colliding with him and then raised his cannons into the air, where Spike just used his Reflection spell to stop the cluster of attacks and then sent the charge back at their foe, starting the entire process all over again, only this time he noticed that the large dinosaur was getting even faster as time moved on, no doubt to appease Ripto in some manner. Based on his observations it didn't look like they were really doing anything to Gulp, or he was used to pain and was focusing on them, but he was definitely getting faster after every instance of them blasting him and him being hit by his own attack, meaning that it was only a matter of time until he overwhelmed all three of them and actually did some damage to them.
In that moment Spike came to a decision and waited to speak his mind as they continued to avoid Gulp's charges at them, though once the pterodactyls came into the arena he was ready for what was going to happen next, because once he and his siblings blasted Gulp again he raised the cannons on his back and Spike raised the Reflection spell again, but this time he braced himself and kept the charge stable for a few more moments.
"Ember, open my satchel and take one of the berries that I picked up from Shady Oasis." Spike said, making sure to keep the charge in one area, as it appeared that Gulp wanted to keep blasting them and that, in turn, just empowered his Reflection spell even more, where he found both of his siblings seemed confused for a few seconds, even though Ember moved to do what he was suggesting.
It took Ember only a few seconds to find the container that the berries were in and discovered that Spike had picked up five of them after discovering what they were capable of, though she carefully took one out and closed the lid, which was returned to Spike's satchel, before she sighed for a moment and popped the berry into her mouth, finding that it did taste like a cheery as she chewed on it and then swallowed it. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, but that was when she found her body growing in size, to the point where she was half as tall as Gulp was, something that required her brother to enlarge his barrier for a moment, though once she was done growing Spike loosed the Reflection spell to shock Gulp and then dropped the spell as he and Spyro moved to the side. Ember rushed at her foe the moment the spell had been dropped, where her scales shimmered as they hardened, just like she was used to using since the battle with Crush, before she rammed into Gulp and the two butted heads with each other, showing that the pair were in a stalemate with each other as they attempted to push their opponent backwards. Spyro, on the other claw, stood there with a look of shock on his face as his sister challenged Gulp, while Spike stood back and wrote down his observations, as now he knew that they could use the other berries in the future, before watching as Ember pushed forward and actually started to force Gulp backwards. Sure, it was a tiny step at first, but that was only the beginning of something great as Ember, protected by both her hardening skill and the invulnerability that the berry gave her, while being empowered by both of those things as well, started to force her foe backwards, heading towards the throne that Ripto was sitting on, who seemed shocked by what was going on.
Gulp, finding that he was being pushed back, tried to blast Ember with the cannons that were on his back, where the electric spheres did nothing to her, much to his shock and surprise, though that was followed by something amazing, as Ember raised her front legs and grabbed onto Gulp's body, to the best of her current ability, and then pulled on him with all her might, where Gulp found himself being heaved into the air for a moment. Once that had happened Ember turned around and slammed her foe down into the center of the arena, with his head facing the direction that Ripto was in, and the force of that blow ended up sending cracks all over the floor that was around them, while at the same time knocking Gulp out in the process. At the same time, before any of them could react, the cannons that were on Gulp's back loosed the charge that the dinosaur had been preparing, even if it wouldn't work on Ember, and the spheres hit the area that was in front of Ripto's throne, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as the large seat fell backwards and took Ripto with it, something that their foe clearly wasn't expecting based on the surprised look on his face. The moment that was over, and nothing else happened, Ember released her hardening skill and shrunk back to her normal size, where she shook her head for a few seconds, as if to get rid of any lingering bits of the berry's power, before Spike pulled out the Guidebook and let the magic inside it flare for a moment, no doubt taking away Ripto's flags that had been flying on the outside of Autumn Plains' castle and restored it to what it had been before their foe came to this homeworld.
"Awesome! We knocked out Gulp and saved Autumn Plains!" Spyro remarked, as he was happy that they were able to face and defeat the second dinosaur that Ripto had under his thumb, because now that Crush and Gulp had been taken down Ripto had no minions to fall back on, so if he caused trouble again it would be them against him, and he could see that both Spike and Ember were pleased with themselves as well.
"And, with the magic of the Guidebook, the castle is back to normal." a voice said, where the siblings turned to the side and watched as Elora walked over to where they were standing, though before Spyro or Ember even got a chance to ask how she had gotten down here Spike stopped them, as there just so happened to be a pterodactyl nearby that had what looked like a saddle that had leg straps on it, ones that matched Elora's legs to be exact, so it was easy for him to tell how she had gotten down here, "Plus, thanks to your presence in Avalar, most of the residents are starting to get along once more... with a few exceptions. Listen, I know its not much, but since you guys have done so much for Avalar I was thinking that maybe you could enjoy a few days in Sunny Beach, to make up for the vacation that we interrupted."
"That sounds nice, it really does, but there's a few more things we have to do before we can rest," Ember remarked, as she was referring to the war that was going on between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, along with the fact that there had to be a number of criminals, as in the ones that Ripto let out of their cells to cause chaos, that needed to be returned to their cells at some point, "Now that Ripto is separated from Crush and Gulp, and he no longer has access to any of the magical artifacts that could empower him, you and Hunter can capture him the next time he shows himself."
"But, on the off chance that he comes back with more firepower, just have Hunter tell us what's going on," Spike said, referring to the teleportation device that the cheetah had showed them earlier, when he confronted him about being able to move from one place to another, before he glanced to Elora for a second, who seemed surprised that they weren't going to take a break from being heroes, "Don't worry, we'll relax once we're sure that Avalar is safe and that each of the various realms have been returned to what they were like before Ripto showed up."
Elora smiled at them when he said that, as she could tell that Spyro and Ember agreed with him, before bidding them farewell for a time and then climbed onto the back of the pterodactyl that she had used to reach the area the siblings were standing in, where she strapped herself in and took off, leaving them to depart from the overlook and head to one of the other realms to see what sort of work needed to be done to restore them to their previous states.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember discovered something interesting after they defeated Gulp, as there was a whirlwind that lined up perfectly with the area they had glided through to get down here in the first place, to which the three of them jumped into it and headed back up to the area that Elora had been standing in, when she was waiting for them to recover the rest of the Talismans that were needed to break the seal on the door to the overlook. It was possible that there was a dungeon below Autumn Plains' castle, just like Summer Forest's castle had one, but at the moment none of them really cared about that since they were focusing on something that was far more important, figuring out which realm they should go help, as in more than what they've already done for them. They knew that Ripto was still out there, as it was possible that he survived the fall from the area his throne had been located in, but it was just like they told Elora, that without both Crush and Gulp, and a scepter to use magic, he was next to no threat and that their new friends would be able to handle him if he showed himself again. Still, it didn't take them long to return to the entrance of the passage that took them down to the overlook, where they started to walk forward and headed for the front of the castle, as it was time to pick a realm to head to and see what else the three of them could do to assist the residents of the realm they picked.
"So, where are we going?" Ember asked, because while she was glad that she and her brothers had been able to take down Gulp, and made it even harder for Ripto to do anything if he showed himself again, she knew there was more for the three of them to do before the rest of Avalar was safe from what Ripto did to them, especially when they thought about all of the stuff they encountered so far, "Personally, I'd like to return to either Zephyr or Breeze Harbor, just to see what's happened since we were last there and to see if we can stop the war in some manner, since I'm still mad over the conflict that a certain bear started."
"No, that's a good idea, as I was thinking the same thing." Spyro remarked, where they passed by the portal to Magma Cone and continued towards the castle's entrance, though he meant what he said, because at the moment it seemed like the two realms in question were their best options right now, and he was sure that Spike agreed with them, "I would like to stop the Land Blubbers and the Breezebuilders from hurting each other as well, though we're going to have to figure out a way to get them to understand that Juliet wasn't abducted, like Moneybags told them, and that she left of her own accord, to find true love."
"Though maybe we should focus on Breeze Harbor first, since they might have more weapons since the last time we were there," Spike added, as the last time they had been to the realm in question he had destroyed the large airship that the pelicans had been preparing to launch, one that they discovered was carrying bombs that would lay waste to a good part of Zephyr and the Land Blubbers, so it was possible that the Breezebuilders might have acquired more weapons since the destruction of the airship, weapons they would have to wipe out.
Spyro and Ember thought about that idea for a few seconds, as they had been expecting Spike to say something and add in his opinion on the matter, before deciding that he had a good idea, as taking out any weapons that the residents of Breeze Harbor had gotten recently would prevent them from attacking Zephyr, which, in turn, would allow them to aid the Land Blubbers and push the war back into a stalemate. As they finally reached the entrance of the castle, however, they were stopped as Spike spotted a shimmer to their right and turned to face it, where the siblings waited for a few seconds and watched as Hunter appeared before them, using the bracelet that the Professor had given him to travel between all of the realms without having to use any of the portals to save time.
"Hunter, what are you doing here? Did something happen?" Spyro asked, because they had told Elora that she could contact them by having their cheetah friend use his special teleportation bracelet to find them in seconds, but all three of them were expecting that to happen after they started helping one of the other realms, not a few minutes after taking out Gulp and sending Ripto over the edge.
"Its... Its Ripto." Hunter explained, causing the siblings to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as that wasn't what they were expecting to hear when Spyro asked him what was going on, especially since they just beat Gulp and knocked Ripto off the overlook, hence the reason they were waiting for him to explain what was going on, "While you guys were dealing with Gulp, and freeing Autumn Plains from Ripto's clutches, the Professor and I were working on the Super Portal that's in the middle of Winter Tundra's castle, where Elora flew in on her pterodactyl and informed us that you guys were able to take down Gulp as well. I'm not entirely sure how Ripto got from Autumn Plains to Winter Tundra so quickly, especially when he doesn't have something like the Professor's handy gadget that I've been using, but he showed up by the door and distracted us with a few small bombs, mostly to get us away from the portal, and then he stole the Power Crystal that the Professor was using to boost the power of the Super Portal. Now he's got control over Winter Tundra's castle, where he's working on mastering the power of the Power Crystal, since he's planning on turning it into a brand new scepter to replace the one that Gulp destroyed after you guys showed up, so there's no telling what he's going to do once he masters the power that's inside that gem."
"It sounds like you didn't use the Professor's device at all." Spike stated, where he beckoned to the bracelet for a few seconds, as he already thought of a way that it could have been used to safeguard the rest of Avalar, where both Spyro and Ember glanced at him for a moment, as they were curious as to what he had to say, "I mean, you could have simply teleported away from Ripto, by heading to another realm, and then teleported back to the area that was behind him so you could take the Power Crystal, and possibly the bombs, away from him, and that would have put an end to his plans, allowing you guys to capture him."
"Yeah... well..." Hunter started to say, though that was when he found that all three of the siblings were staring at him, as they were interested in what he had to tell them, before he sighed for a moment, as he knew that there was no way he could even argue with one of them, especially Spike for that matter, "You're right, I could have done that and in the spur of the moment, combined with my usual cowardice when faced with a foe that's threatening my home, I was unable to think of something like that when Ripto showed his hand... that's why I tend to fight small groups of enemies, or at least try to in some instances, like what happened with the Earthshapers in Fracture Hills."
"Well, just point out the portal that will take us to Winter Tundra," Ember said, because while she wanted to deal with the ongoing war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, since it was unacceptable that such a thing was happening, she did know that taking down Ripto, and saving Avalar, was more important at the moment, and she was a little eager to see if there were any other realms for them to help out before they faced Ripto.
Hunter did exact that, as they happened to be standing above the area that the smaller portal devices were located in, the one that allowed them to go from Autumn Plains and head to Summer Forest, where they discovered that a new one had appeared near the first one, which had a label that revealed that it would take them to Winter Tundra, the third and final homeworld for Avalar. As such the siblings glided down to the area and approached the portal that they were going to use, though at the same time Hunter disappeared from the area he had appeared in, no doubt heading back to where Elora and the Professor were waiting, to give them the good news, before the three of them jumped onto the device and vanished from the area they had been standing in. A few moments later they appeared at the starting point of the land they were heading to, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember found themselves at the start of a bridge or walkway of some kind that connected to the area that the castle Ripto had taken over was located in, which was in the middle of a rather large snowy location, which made sense given the name of this homeworld. They then discovered that the castle was pretty big, maybe on the size of Autumn Plains' castle, but they also discovered that the sky was set to a midnight setting and that they were near the peaks of some mountains, reminding them of the Magic Crafters homeworld, making them a little interested in seeing what else the homeworld had to offer.
Of course they found Elora standing nearby, looking a tad bit worried, even though she definitely had faith in their abilities after seeing the three of them take down both Crush and Gulp, though once the three of them walked over to where she was standing she turned around and gave them a light smile, showing that she was happy to see them, despite the fact that another castle was under Ripto's control at the moment.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad to see you guys again, even if I wish we could have waited a few hours to call on you for help once more," Elora said, confirming the fact that she was happy to see them again, though even as she said that they waited for her to tell her what exactly had happened when she came to tell the Professor and Hunter about the news that Ripto had been defeated, even though he appeared in Winter Tundra not ten minutes after Gulp's defeat, "as you can see, we've been locked out of the castle, thanks to Ripto, whose also stolen the new Power Crystal that the Professor was going to use to empower the Orbs that are in the Super Portal, so now he has a brand new scepter and there's no telling what he's going to do with it."
"Okay, so we'll check out the realms that are connected to this homeworld, make care of whatever is happening to each of them at the moment, and then we'll tackle Ripto," Spyro stated, because that was what they had done in the last two homeworlds they had visited and they were eager to see what sort of realms they would be visiting in the near future, though before he did anything else there was something that was bothering him, "So, Hunter told us that Ripto used a bomb or two to get you guys away from the Super Portal, but how in the world did he get his hands on some of those in such a short period of time?"
"According to what Ripto said, when he showed himself, he got some from Moneybags, no doubt using the gems that he stole from the treasury to purchase them," Elora replied, where she sighed for a moment, showing them that she was used to Moneybags doing anything for a couple of gems, or even for a high price at times, but helping a villain was new for her and she didn't like it, while at the same time Ember growled for a moment.
"Of course it was Moneybags... that bear just can't help himself." Ember said, as she was angry with the bear that was appearing to be more of an enemy than an ally every time they learned something about him and his involvement with the various races of Avalar, before she looked at the area that the gate to the castle was in, where the large Super Portal was resting behind it, and frowned as she spotted the bear in question, "Great, he's here as well. No doubt he'll try to have us pay him for something so we can enter the castle... let's get this over with, before I beat him into the ground."
Spyro and Spike started walking forward the moment she said that, where they walked down the short walkway that was in front of them and reached the main entry area for the entire homeworld, where it wasn't hard to pick up a couple of gems that were in their way and smash some metallic vases to their right, allowing Spike to note down that one of the realms they could visit was Mystic Marsh, before they approached Moneybags, but even as they did that they spotted a few small boulders, and one large boulder, that seemed out of place.
"Why hello there Spyro, Spike, and Ember. It is good to see you again." Moneybags said, where it appeared that he had no idea that Elora had ratted him out to them about the fact that he had sold bombs to Ripto at some point in time, be it before they showed up in Avalar or sometime after they beat Crush, but they were all angry with him and so far he was just adding a few more items to that list, "Now I know what you're thinking, you don't like the boulders that are around us, especially since one of them just so happens to be blocking the way to the area that the Super Portal and Ripto are waiting in... and I just so happen to have one more skill that I can teach you, though it doesn't come cheap."
Neither Spyro or Spike really had time to stop what was coming, even though neither of them really wanted to when they considered everything they had learned so far, as Ember hardened her entire body again and headbutted Moneybags right in the chest, causing him to cough in pain as he was forced to kneel for a moment, before she jumped onto the small boulder that was to her right and then jumped into the air, so she could spin around and bring her tail down on him, which knocked him into the ground and cracked some of the stone in the process.
"We learned what you did, Moneybags, as you sold bombs to Ripto," Ember growled, showing the bear that she was very angry with him, she was even angrier than when she heard what Gnasty Gnorc did to the dragons a year ago, all due to one dragon calling him ugly, and right now her brothers knew not to get in her way, though she was ready for him to try anything, just so she could smack him again, "so no, we're not going to pay you for the skill that you kept from us, rather you're going to tell us what the skill is and why we should care about it, otherwise I'm going to have Spike head over to Elora and tell her everything that you're responsible for, especially the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor."
"But... But that would ruin me!" Moneybags stated, as if he felt that he was an outstanding member of the community and that Avalar would be lost without him, even though it was painfully clear that he was only helping himself to all of the gems that had been inside Avalar's treasury, the same gems that they were collecting, but right now none of the siblings really cared for what he was saying.
"Moneybags, you've made your bed, and if you stand in our way you'll be laying in it soon enough," Spike said, though at the same time he reached into his satchel and pulled out the notes he had taken on everything the bear had done to the various realms they had discovered, or at least to the people they had encountered, and the very first article just so happened to be about the war his sister mentioned, "but, if you give us the skill and stay out of our way, there's a good chance I won't show Elora and the others everything that we've gathered on you."
Moneybags paused in what he was doing, attempting to get back up after what Ember did to him, and actually took a moment to think about what Spike and Ember had just said, or at least that was how it looked to Spyro, as he seemed to be thinking about the consequences of what would happen if Spike actually gave his notes to Elora, who would show all of it to Hunter and the other guards, before he eventually sighed as he pushed himself off the ground and weakly stood in front of them for a second.
"Very well... you win again. The final skill is the Headbash," Moneybags said, where he gestured to the boulder that Ember had used earlier, to deliver a rather nasty blow to his back, one that was going to hurt for a long time based on the previous hits he took from her, before knowing what the siblings wanted him to do next, "however, I cannot demonstrate this skill, both because of the injuries that Ember has inflicted upon my body and due to the fact that I do not have the type of body that could even perform it in the first place. All I know is from what I have seen other lizards do, as some of them have taken to jumping into the air above a rock and then do a forward somersault before heading down to the rock below them, to crack it open with their heads, or possibly horns in your case... that's all there is to it."
Ember glared at Moneybags for a moment, her gaze informing him that if this was a waste of their time she was going to hit him again, before jumping back onto the boulder that she had used to get to his back in the first place, which just so happened to be the moment that she jumped into the air and focused on what Moneybags told her, where Spyro and Spike watched as she spun around about three times before crashing into the boulder with her horns, as they were the first to make contact, which shattered the boulder into small pebbles and opened the way for the three of them to head inside the castle at some point.
"Well Moneybags, it seems you were telling the truth." Spyro remarked, more because he was amazed that the bear even had a third skill that he was holding back from them, one that actually worked as he described, even though he had to admit that their new skill, which he was sure they would use plenty of times in the future, was rather nice, but that was when he glanced at the bear again, "Now I would get going before Ember changes her mind, otherwise you'll have a rather angry dragon chasing you around until you're beaten into the ground and then hauled off to jail for your crimes."
In that moment Moneybags seemed to make the best decision he could, as he got up and limped away from where he and his siblings were standing, showing him and Spike that Ember hadn't held back this time around and that the bear would be feeling those wounds for some time, before they focused on the matter at claw and started to look around the rest of the homeworld, more for the missing gems and any Orbs that might be hidden around the area. The first thing they did was explore the area to their right, where Ember stopped using her hardening skill again as they smashed a lone metallic vase and picked up the gems that were near the portal that would take them back to Autumn Plains, the smaller one that had opened up some time ago. While she did that Spyro approached one of the small boulders and smashed it open with the new technique, allowing him to claim a gem from it, just like Ember had done when she tested it out, though that was followed by the pair heading over to some straw baskets so they could break them and pick up the gems that were inside them. Spike, on the other claw, stared at the large boulder for a few seconds and then decided to try out the new technique as well, where he jumped into the air and spun around like his siblings had done, before he rushed down at the stone and shattered it before his very eyes, more because he was shocked by the power of their new skill and less because of the Orb that happened to be buried inside the boulder, which remained untouched by what he did, allowing him to dust it off before adding to the Guidebook.
The nearby tunnel was the next area that they explored, as they found a few gems on the ground and discovered that it shifted from a normal floor to an icy floor, one that was similar to the ring that they had seen back in Colossus, so they had to skate around the area for a few seconds so they could collect the gems that were around them, before coming to a stop as they reached the end, finding the Professor standing near an inactive portal.
"Ah, it is good to see the three of you again, even if we do wish it was under better circumstances," the Professor said, though in that moment, before any of the siblings could voice their opinions on the matter, he beckoned to the portal that he was standing near for a few seconds, showing them that he wanted to talk about it for a moment, before they went off and continued their adventure, "This is the portal to Cloud Temples, a portal that usually has a hard time staying active due to some interference on either our side or on their side, but with the power of the Orbs you have collected so far, and the Talismans of the realms you have assisted, we should be able to restore the connection for the foreseeable future, giving you the chance to restore order and possibly stop this from happening again."
The siblings stood there for a moment as the magic of the Guidebook activated the portal that the Professor had been standing near, though once that was done they bid him farewell for now and headed outside, as there was more for them to explore before they headed inside the castle, especially since they intended to help all the realms before heading into the area that Ripto was hiding in. The instant they were outside the cave they headed back to where the castle's gate was located, where Ember smashed a boulder that was laying nearby and picked up the gem it left behind, leaving Spike to do the same thing to another boulder before he could even break a metallic vase that was near his position, and that let Spyro head down into the nearby area to smash open one of the bullseye chests, just like the one they had seen back in Shady Oasis. With that chest broken, and the gems collected, the siblings cleared up the remainder of the boulders that were in the area and walked towards the edge of the cliff that the castle had been built on, finding a set of stone stairs that took them down to a lower part of the homeworld, so they followed it and picked up the gems that happened to be laying on all of the steps. Those stone steps brought them to a small river that likely moved through part of the homeworld, if the other two were anything to go by, and it allowed the siblings to find three more straw baskets and two metallic vases, not to mention the gems inside them, not to mention a hidden cave with three gems, an inactive portal, and a familiar face that annoyed Ember when she looked at it.
"Moneybags, what are you doing down here?" Spyro asked, because that was who happened to be standing in the cave that they had located, standing next to the inactive portal that they had spotted, and he was hoping that there was a good reason behind this, otherwise he was sure that Ember was going to take out more of her rage on him, for all of the things he had done since their arrival in Avalar.
"Oh, I'm, ugh, activating the portal to the last Speedway," Moneybags replied, where he sounded worried about all of this for a moment, which was understandable due to what Ember had done to him so far, though as soon as he said that he turned to the side and let the siblings watch as the portal flared to life before their eyes, revealing that this was the portal to Canyon Speedway, "I'll be on my way... wouldn't want to stop you from saving Avalar."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as Moneybags departed from the cave and headed to wherever he was planning on heading towards, though at the very least he was useful to them in some manner and wasn't actually trying to block them from stopping Ripto, but for right now none of them really cared about the Speedway and knew they would come back once they had taken care of the other realms that were attached to this homeworld. Once the portal was open they turned around and headed back to the stone steps, where they climbed up to the area they had been exploring earlier and came to the decision that it was time to head inside the castle itself, hence the reason all three of them headed for the now open door that they had opened. That was the moment they noticed the massive Super Portal, one that was twice as large as the other portals they had gone through in the past, in both the Dragon Realms and Avalar, which was made out of white stone and gold designs, and even had a number of purple crystals while having a spot for the missing Power Crystal, but while all three of them were interested in the portal they focused on the gems that were on the ground around them as they explored the area. Spike noticed a small normal portal nearby that went to Robotica Farms, to the left of the Super Portal to be exact, which made him wonder what was in the tunnel to the right side of the portal, but he knew that they would explore that area at some point and headed into the whirlwind that was near them, allowing Spyro and Ember to explore the area around the Super Portal, where they collected gems, smashed straw baskets, and smashed metallic vases as they sought out any additional Orbs that were in the area.
What Spike discovered was that the whirlwind took him high enough and allowed him to essentially glide to the top of the steps that lead to the area Ripto was waiting in, though as he glided through the air he shifted his course and found an Orb that just so happened to be resting on the castle wall, something that he landed near and added to the Guidebook, before collecting the three gems that were nearby and then jumped off the wall. What he was planning on doing, while his siblings were picking up every gem that was in the area, along with breaking straw baskets and smashing metallic vases, was to use the whirlwind again, though this time he glided over to the other side of the castle wall, where a river seemed to be flowing off into a side area of some kind. It was in that moment he discovered a small tunnel of some kind that was hard to access, or at least it would be without the whirlwind, so he quickly checked his gear and made sure all of them had the mark of the Water Safety spell, before jumping down into the area below him, where he landed in the water and dived under it. From there he followed the underwater tunnel that he discovered as he wondered where it was leading him, but it quickly became clear as he eventually reached an area where he could breathe again, which just so happened to have an Orb at the end of it, which he collected before gliding down into the area in front of him, finding that it was the cave that contained the portal to the last Speedway.
With that taken care of he exited the cave, used the whirlwind that was outside the entrance to get back up to where his siblings were exploring, and quickly returned to the area that the Super Portal was located in, where he quickly found Spyro and Ember collecting the rest of the gems that were around the area, as they glided down to the front of the castle and joined up with him, so they could explore the rest of the homeworld together. Of course the only thing left for them to check out was the tunnel to the right of the Super Portal, where they picked up the couple of gems that were laying on the ground and quickly found another inactive portal, with the Professor standing near it, so the first thing they did was smash the nearby straw baskets before they approached him.
"Ah, you guys are going to like this." the Professor remarked, where he tapped the portal that was next to him for a few seconds, even though none of them really needed the gesture to understand what he was talking about, before he moved on to what he wanted to say before they finished exploring the homeworld they were in, "With the number of Orbs that you have collected, since you started helping the residents of Avalar, you have more than enough to reactivate this touchy portal, allowing you to access Metropolis and assist them with whatever is happening to them."
The siblings nodded their heads in understanding, as it was nice to see that they had four more realms to help out, five if they counted Canyon Speedway, before they headed back to the area the Super Portal was located in, where they headed up to the door that lead to the area that Ripto was located in and found that Elora had already opened the way for them, when they were ready to face their foe. For now, however, the three of them gathered the rest of the gems that were in this realm and then headed back down to the area that was in front of the castle, as it was time to pause for a few seconds and determine which realm they wanted to help out first, of the four that were attached to this homeworld, and then tackle whatever challenges that realm had for them, before repeating the process and then facing Ripto once the rest of Avalar was back to how it was before his arrival.
With Winter Tundra taken care of, as they had collected all of the gems that were in the homeworld, had seen where all of the portals to the other realms were located, and made sure to collect the Orbs that had been scattered around the land that they walked around, Spyro, Spike, and Ember came to a stop near the walkway that they had first walked down to get down into this area. The reason for this was because it was time for them to pick a realm out of the four portals that were resting all over the homeworld, as they would leave the Speedway for last, before the big fight with Ripto, and right now it looked like all four of the realms were interesting, just by what the siblings could imagine based on the names that were on the portals. Spike was sure that he could open the Guidebook and learn about the various realms, before they made their decision on the matter, but, at the same time, that hadn't stopped them from making a decision when none of them knew anything about the realms of a homeworld, so he did nothing as they came to a stop, as he was interested in hearing what his siblings had to say before a decision was made.
"So, which realm do you guys think we should tackle first?" Spyro inquired, because while he could continue to be the leader of their group and tell them which of the four realms they should take on first, which was what happened in the last two homeworlds they had visited, he wanted to hear what Spike and Ember had to say before they came to a decision on the matter, even though they'll take them all on at some point, "Personally, I'm thinking of heading to Mystic Marsh and seeing what's going on in that realm."
"I have to say that Cloud Temples interests me to some degree," Spike replied, showing that he was happy that Spyro was asking their opinions, even though he knew that they were likely going to start with the portal that happened to be the closest to where they first arrived when they came to this homeworld, which was Mystic Marsh, the realm that his brother had mentioned, "for some reason I have the feeling there's some magic involved in that realm."
"Honestly, I don't have a preference as to which realm we take on first," Ember added, because she wanted to go back to Autumn Plains and stop the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, but when she considered the realms that they had access to right now, and what each of them brought to mind when she thought about their names, she guessed she could give them something to think about, "though maybe we could check out Metropolis at some point, as I have the feeling that its somewhere that Moneybags would hang out and try to con people out of their gems. However, I do think that we should follow your lead, Spyro, as it worked well in the past and I don't see much of a reason to change from what we've been doing so far."
"Very well then, we're off to Mystic Marsh." Spyro said, as he was still surprised by the fact that his siblings placed so much faith in his leadership skills and trusted the decisions that he made while they were exploring the homeworlds of Avalar, but at this point he was getting used to it and wasted no time in heading over to where the portal was located, as it was time for them to help out another realm that Ripto might have messed with.
Since the portal to the realm in question was close by it didn't take the siblings all that long to reach it and walk into it, though it only took them a few seconds to appear in the starting area for the realm they had picked out, where they found themselves standing on what appeared to be a sealed off well of some kind, though out in the area in front of them they found a few pineapple shaped buildings, without the spiked part, which came complete with a few bridges, an entire upper area, and a much nicer landscape than what they were expecting. There was someone standing near the area that they appeared in, who seemed to be floating above the ground a little and was wearing a purple robe, and even had a pair of pigtails for his brown hair, though Spike noticed a bit of magic around the being in question, meaning he had to be a wizard or magic user of some kind, before they glanced at the rest of the realm that they could see. The next thing the three of them discovered was that there just so happened to be a Powerup Gate nearby, with a mark that indicated that they needed to take down a large number of foes to power it up, meaning that it would be some time before they found out which ability it gave them. That, of course, was when they found some snail creatures that had a shell covering them, even though it looked like some of them had tusks and metal armor while some of them elephant trunks where the head of the snail would be, making them wonder what sort of foes they would be dealing with now, even though that also meant there were one or two more types of enemies they couldn't see at the moment.
The siblings glanced at each other for a moment, because so far this realm wasn't even remotely close to what they were expecting when they considered the name 'Mystic Marsh', as they were more expecting something that was close to what the Beast Makers homeworld was like, or one of the realms that happened to be scattered around the swamp area that Bruno and the rest of his clan called home, before they pushed that thought out of their minds as they walked over to where the resident of this realm was floating, waiting for assistance.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, boy am I glad to see you." the magical being said, though even as he said that he gestured to the nearby fountain, which seemed to be broken in some manner by what they could see at the moment since no water seemed to be flowing at all, before they turned back towards the person they were talking to, "Things haven't been the same since our magical fountain shut off, as it kept the Snail Elephants, Snail Rhinos and the other creatures of our realm calm and soothed their violent nature, making them incredibly peaceful and more willing to exist alongside us Water Wizards and the various visitors to our realm... it would be nice if you could find out what evil force is stopping the fountain from working and restore it to what it used to be."
"Sure, we can help you restore order to this realm." Spike replied, but it was nice to know that the residents that they were helping out were the Water Wizards and that they had an idea of what they needed to do to, which no doubt meant exploring the rest of the realm and taking out all of the enemies that were in their way, until they figured out what was causing the fountain to turn off and let the water flow once more.
The first thing the siblings did was back up and break the pair of straw baskets that were behind them, since there always seemed to be something near the starting area of each realm, before heading over to one of the trees to pick up the gems that were laying near it, which was when a white furred monkey appeared from the tree, hanging from a branch thanks to its tail, and they found that it had some black stripes on its fur. When they got close the Striped Monkey pulled out a fruit and hurled it at them, to which the siblings moved out of the way and dodged it, since they knew that it was hostile and took it out with a quick burst of fire, or at least Ember did while Spyro and Spike collected the gems that were near the tree. From there they returned to the path that lead away from where they had first arrived and headed toward the location of the first bridge, where Spyro charged into the Snail Rhino that was in the way and knocked the creature out of the way, allowing Ember to walk onto the bridge and smashed the second foe, same as the first, that was trying to block people from using the bridge. Of course as she did that both she and her brothers watched as the Snail Elephant that was in the area in front of them pulled himself out of his shell, revealing that the name meant that it was one animal and had the characteristics of two animals, as standing before them was a large purple elephant, showing that they could be either a snail or an elephant, depending on the situation they were in.
As it turned out a quick burst of fire was more than enough to take the Snail Elephant out and open the way for them to explore the area that he had been guarding, where Spyro and Ember found a few glass vases by a stone wall and made sure to break them, though while they did that Spike used his Arcane Missiles and blasted the Striped Monkey out of the nearby tree, allowing him to collect the cluster of gems that were around it.
With that area cleared they headed back to where the Powerup Gate was located and found that the building it was near was also close to where the fountain was located, and it just so happened to have a Snail rhino hanging out behind the building, so Ember dealt with it as Spyro smashed the three metallic vases that were nearby, so he could get the gems, before they headed over to the fountain. Spike had to admit that it was a rather nice looking fountain, as it seemed like something that the Artisans would have made if they had been commissioned to make something like a magic fountain that could sooth a realm's creatures, and while he studied it both Spyro and Ember collected the gems that were around it, since there happened to be a couple resting on the fountain. Once he was done looking at it the three of them moved away from the fountain and found something interesting, a second Powerup Gate that was incredibly close to where the first one was located, meaning that it had to be the Spring Jump Gate this time around, as there was no way, in Spike's mind, that any of the other abilities would have two gates so close to each other. While he thought about that Ember dealt with the lone Snail Rhino that was near the second gate and Spyro knocked a Striped Monkey out of the tree that was near them, allowing Spike to deal with the pair of straw baskets that were near the Powerup Gate, before they headed into an area that had a Snail Elephant, a Snail Rhino, and a Striped Monkey that was in the middle of throwing fruit at the pair of creatures that were hanging near the tree. Since those three enemies were so distracted it was rather easy for Spike to blast the Striped Monkey out of the tree, allowing Spyro and Ember to safely take out the remaining two foes, where Spyro just flamed the large Snail Elephant and Ember hardened her tail so she could whack her target, the Snail Rhino, in the face, taking them both out in a matter of seconds.
Once those enemies were taken care of the siblings quickly collected all of the gems that were in the immediate area, those that were by the building they had walked by and the ones that were near the tree, before they headed over to one of the other structures and walked around it, smashing a few metallic vases in the process and collecting the fallen gems that had been inside them. As soon as those vases were broken, and Ember picked up a gem that was resting near the odd river that seemed to cut through part of this realm, they doubled back to the area that the second Powerup Gate was in and took out the pair of enemies, a Snail Elephant and a Snail Rhino, that happened to be near the bridge that was resting near the gateway, allowing them to smash one more metallic vase and pick up a few gems before they headed over the new bridge. Since there was a Snail Rhino on the bridge Ember simply charged through it, allowing them to access the area that was close to the stone wall and found three more enemies hanging out nearby, so Spyro dealt with the Snail Elephant while Spike simply charged through the other Snail Rhinos. With those enemies taken out the siblings quickly collected all of the gems that were in the area that they were in, and smashed a few straw baskets as well, though in the process they found a whirlwind that would take them up to the tops of the buildings that happened to be all over the realm, as a number of them had wooden walkways that connected the roofs, but while Spyro and Ember did that Spike noticed that there was a sad looking duck in the water and knew that they would return once the fountain was turned back on.
When the three of them reached the top of the building that the whirlwind was connected to they found a few gems resting in front of where they came to a stop, and Spike also spotted the Professor standing in an area that happened to be behind them, no doubt testing the technology that Hunter was testing for him, for some additional results, but for now he and his siblings had work to do and knew they would come back here once the fountain was fixed. From there they glided over to the next roof and walked around it, collecting the couple of gems that were waiting for them, before doing the same thing to the structure that was leading them to where they could fix the fountain, though as they touched down on the next roof they had to charge into the Snail Rhino that was blocking the way. With that foe defeated they quickly picked up the gems that it was guarding, while noticing a section of roof that was nearby that could be charged along for a few seconds, before they followed the path that was in front of them, where Ember knocked out the Snail Rhino that was in their way, allowing Spike to blast the pair of Striped Monkeys out of the top of the tree that seemed to be growing on top of the structure, a very small tree given the sizes of the others in this realm. From there they continued to follow the bridge and took out one more Snail Rhino, thanks to Spyro charging into it, and one more Striped Monkey, again by Spike blasting it, before they reached the end of the walkway and found themselves near the cliff that was overlooking where the starting area was located.
From there they jumped over to the tops of the trees that were in front of them, finding that they formed platforms for the siblings to walk on, and then jumped over to the cliff in question, where Spike found an odd pot that seemed like it was missing something as well, which he would keep in mind for later, as Spyro and Ember were in the middle of dealing the pair of Snail Rhinos, smashing the metallic vases, and breaking the straw baskets that were near the pot's location. As soon as the area was cleared out they discovered that the only way to move forward, by following the path that they had used to reach this point, was to dive into the water of the river that was flowing into the lower area, into the small river that Spike had noticed earlier, and that was what the three of them did, they dived into the water and headed down the tunnel that they discovered. They found a few gems, a couple of glass vases, and four grey platypuses that were blocking the way, in the sense that each of them puffed out and inflated themselves into spiked balls, so all the siblings did was wait for the four Puffing Platypuses to deflate and then took them out, allowing them to collect the gems in peace before they headed towards the top of the tunnel. It didn't take the siblings long to leave the water and jump up to a new small area to explore, where they found a few gems and a circular hole that seemed to contain a second tunnel, one that had two more Puffing Platypuses, as Spike called them, and a few gems, so they simply repeated what they did to the first area the creatures were in and moved on towards the other side of the tunnel.
That tunnel, as it turned out, brought them to a walkway that was split into two parts, but the major thing the siblings found out was that there was a sleeping Water Wizard near the top of the fountain, so what they did was smash the straw basket that was behind them, while making sure to get the gems that were there, before they jumped over the small gap that was in front of them, where they let Ember smack the miniature Snail Elephant that was beyond that while Spike made sure to blast the Striped Monkey out of the tree that was along the way, before they came to a stop in front of the sleeping Water Wizard, who woke up as soon as they approached him.
"Wha...? I must have dozed off there for a moment." the Water Wizard said, though that was when he finally noticed that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were standing in front of him, to which he turned around for a moment and gazed through the inactive exit portal that was right behind him, allowing him to notice that the fountain had been turned off, before he glanced to the side and rubbed the back of his head for a few seconds, "Golly, it looks like I let the fountain switch off while I was sleeping. Here, I'll let you three have this Orb if you don't mention my little nap to Hydrar."
Spyro and Ember were not impressed with the Water Wizard, as they had been under the impression that Ripto had been behind the problems that this realm had been facing since the fountain had been turned off, and that was likely who the residents of Mystic Marsh were going to blame for this, when in reality it was just one of the other residents who just fell asleep on the job, but they said nothing as Spike collected the Orb and added it to their collection, as while he might be a little annoyed he certainly wasn't showing it. With that done they turned to the right and found a third Powerup Gate off to the side, one that no doubt allowed them to get up to the area that was above the area the gate was in, where it looked like someone was standing there, waiting for someone to assist them in whatever was happening at the moment, though as that happened Spike also noticed an empty bird's nest near the portal they had activated by acquiring the first Orb from this realm. From there they passed through the Spring Jump Gate and launched themselves into the air, where each of them went to a different location, as Spyro landed near the male being that was standing next to a vehicle while Ember glided over to the wooden walkway and smashed all the straw baskets she found over there, leaving Spike to knock a vase out of the air by breaking the balloon, allowing him and Ember to collect all of the gems that were in the area before they headed over to where their brother was waiting for them to rejoin him.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, its so good to see some friendly faces." the explorer, as that was what Spike determined that the person had to be since he wasn't dressed like everyone else in the realms they had visited so far, said, his tone telling them that something had happened recently and that he needed someone to help them out, though that only made them interested in what he needed help with, "Listen, a bunch of rotten thieves have stolen the spark plugs for my vehicle and now I'm stuck here, so I need someone to find the four spark plugs and retrieve them... though if you guys help me out I'll give you guys an Orb."
"Then we'll chase them down and recover what's been stolen from you." Spyro said, to which Spike and Ember gave him a nod, to show that they agreed with what their brother was saying, which seemed to appease the explorer as he went back to working on his vehicle, no doubt to make sure it was ready for when they returned with his missing spark plugs, even though they had to find the thieves first.
As it turned out there just so happened to be a kangaroo-like thief standing behind the rock that was right behind the area that the siblings were standing in, even if that meant he was on a lower level than they were, and when they glided down to chase him he ran off towards the tunnel they had used to get up to where the sleeping Water Wizard was located, to which Ember followed after it as Spyro and Spike watched. The plan was rather simple, two of them were going to watch and see what sort of path the Kangaroo Thief took, as they knew it was a loop around a specific area and wasn't all that special when they thought about it, so once they determined what sort of path their target was following they could easily position themselves along the way and stop their target in his tracks. As it turned out the path the Kangaroo Thief took brought him out of the wooden area that was near the explorer, meaning that it definitely wasn't a tunnel either of them had explored, and sure enough Ember was hot on his tail, to which Spyro moved to block the other entrance, the one he had jumped into as Ember started to chase him, while Spike got his magic ready. The reason for that was to prevent the Kangaroo Thief from jumping into the pink colored water that was nearby or from rushing towards the fountain, and with a roof to prevent him from leaping over their heads, so it was a modified barrier spell that he was planning on using one their target was trapped between them.
In a matter of moments the siblings had the Kangaroo Thief cornered and Spike had the barrier up, allowing either of his siblings to use their flames to take the thief down, allowing him to safely collect the first of the four spark plugs and put it inside his satchel, where it would be safe while they explored the area and tried to find the rest of the set, to help the explorer out, even though none of them were bothering to question how he had gotten to where he was in the first place, since there were no roads in this realm.
From there the siblings headed over to the area that Spike had found the empty bird's nest in, where he now found that he was partly incorrect, as the parent bird was there while no eggs were present, but what they were focused on at the moment happened to be the piece of ground that was raised enough so they could glide over to a cave, which they proceeded to do so since that could be where one of the thieves was located. What they found inside the small cave-like tunnel, as that was what it really was, happened to be a few gems in the water that rested in the middle of the area, a pair of gems laying off to the side, on a walkway, a cauldron that seemed important in some manner, and the second Kangaroo Thief that they were looking for. It was in the next few moments that the siblings discovered that his loop was even tighter than the first one's was, as he glided through the air and landed in the starting area for this realm, then used the Spring Jump Gate that was near the first Water Wizard to launch himself back up to the raised ground so he could get into the tunnel again, before restarting the entire process all over again. Spike decided to use his barrier in a different manner this time, using part of it to block the opening the thief ran through first, as well as block him from using the water to swim behind them and escape, thus allowing both Spyro and Ember to approach their target and knock him out once he had no where to run off to. The plan, as it turned out, was a success, as the Kangaroo Thief ran straight into the area that they had laid their trap in, thanks to Ember chasing him once they were ready, and in a matter of seconds they had taken him down and recovered the second spark plug, before Ember informed the pair that the third thief was close to the starting area, as he was just hanging out near the tree that was over the first bridge they walked over.
Sure enough the third thief was right where Ember said he was, though to Spike's amazement, and disappointment, the Kangaroo Thief just ran in a perfect circle around the open area he was in, while making no attempts to run over the bridge and head to another part of the realm, so it was really easy for the siblings to just corner him and flame him, which let them claim the third spark plug and move on to find the last one. As it turned out the fourth and final Kangaroo Thief was waiting near the second Spring Jump Gate, near one of the buildings that happened to have a small tunnel at the top, so the siblings used the gate to get up to where their target was standing and glided after it as it jumped to the structure that had the curved ramp that wrapped around a good portion of the building, where they picked up some of the few remaining gems in the process. From there they chased the thief over the connected roofs of the central buildings and then watched as he jumped down after a while, so he could run back to the Spring Jump Gate and get back up to where he started his loop, though instead of following him both Spyro and Ember turned towards Spike, as they were sure that he already had an idea on how they could stop this Kangaroo Thief in his tracks and take back the spark plug that he was carrying at the moment. True to their thoughts Spike did have an idea, though it was one that involved using the small area that their target started in, as he was going to seal one side of the tunnel after the thief ran through it, while giving his siblings time to chase after it, allowing him to use his barrier to seal that side and then wait for the thief to run right into the trap, because once that happened, and he paused in his confusion, that would allow either Spyro or Ember to get up there and flame him.
With that done they were allowed to claim the fourth and final spark plug, to which Spike dismissed the barriers and then followed Spyro and Ember back to where the explorer was waiting for them to return, who had a smile on his face as his missing spark plugs were returned to him, because it meant he could finish whatever he was doing and leave this realm at some point in time, how the siblings were unsure, but continued to not question it.
"You have my thanks, little dragon friends, because with these spark plugs back I'm back in business." the explorer said, where he pocketed the spark plugs for a moment and then withdrew an Orb from the pack that was happened to be laying in his vehicle, something that he handed over to Spike, no doubt because of the fact that he had seen the Water Wizard hand one over to him earlier, "I found this Orb in the ground earlier, where I cleaned it off and determined that it could be a museum quality piece, but you guys deserve this for helping me out... though I'm sure I can find something even more interesting to replace it."
Spyro and Ember said nothing to that as Spike collected the Orb and added it to the Guidebook, meaning that there was only one more Orb for them to collect in this realm, especially since the Professor was here, but once that was done the siblings headed out and moved over the connected roof, only to come to a stop when they grew close to where their friend was waiting, as there was something Spyro wanted to ask before they moved forward.
"So, Spike, I know Ripto isn't behind the disaster this realm was facing, but would he have a reason to mess with the residents of Mystic Marsh?" Spyro asked, because most of the realms in Summer Forest and Autumn Plains had been that way, as in the forces they dealt with were minions of Ripto, in a sense, and a good number of them were important to how Avalar operated, so he was curious as to what his brother had to say this time around.
"Well, this realm isn't one of the 'major' ones, like Aquaria Towers being the source of a good deal of water or how Hurricos is where a good portion of Avalar's power comes from," Spike replied, though he couldn't fault his brother for even asking the question, as he had been thinking about the same time while they were exploring this realm, and he had pulled out the Guidebook the moment they came to a stop, to see what Elora had to say about this place, "According to Elora this realm is a place of meditation, where people can come and forget their modern problems by meditating near the fountain or in another part of the realm, basically by experiencing the same calming nature of the fountain, before leaving once they completed their meditation."
"Okay, so if Ripto was behind the disaster it would have been because he hates meditation?" Ember inquired, as while that seemed like a rather stupid reason for their foe to do something like this, even though he wasn't behind what they had seen in this realm, she was still amazed that Spike was able to come up with a potential reason that would have told them why he had done it, and her brother even nodded his head to confirm her statement, before she took a moment to consider something else, "What are the chances that Moneybags could have paid off the sleeping Water Wizard to fall asleep and turn the fountain off, to distract us from what he's done?"
"About as good as the chances of him outfitting a bunch of barn animals, like pigs, cows, and sheep, with weapons so they can attack a realm, sort of like what Toasty did a year ago." Spike answered, showing that he really didn't believe that Moneybags was behind the disaster of this realm, indicating that it might be the fact that Ember didn't like the bear and that she might be willing to pass some of the blame onto him, even if it wasn't his fault, before he put the Guidebook away and glanced down at the area in front of them, "Come on, its time we visited the Professor and help him out."
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement once more and jumped over the edge of the bridge that they had been standing on, where Spike followed after them as they glided through the air and came to a stop when they reached the area that was below them, before they approached the Professor, who was standing in the middle of one of the tall buildings the Water Wizards put around this realm.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you guys are here, because I need your assistance." the Professor said, where the siblings waited for a few seconds, as they were curious as to what type of help he needed from them, before he shifted his clipboard and revealed that his pencil was missing, meaning that he might not have any other pencils on him right now, before he focused on what he wanted to tell them, "I'm perfectly useless without one of my trusty pencils, and I seem to have lost the one that I had on me when I teleported to this realm, so I'd like you guys to find it and return it to me... but you'll need this egg. Maybe you can trade it for my pencil?"
The siblings raised their eyebrows for a moment as Spike carefully collected the egg, which looked like a bird's egg to be exact, and an idea formed in his head as he put it away in his pack, though from there he and his siblings jumped back to the river that was near them and discovered something they had missed when they first came through this area the first time around. There were a few Puffing Platypuses that were lingering in the river, guarding a number of gems and a few glass vases, so Spike remained on the path that would take them up to where the bird's nest was located and let his siblings swim through the water, colliding with their foes and knocking them out while collecting all of the gems that were in the river, which was followed by their dragonflies indicating that they had collected all the gems in this realm. Once that was done Spyro and Ember followed Spike as he lead the way back to where the first Spring Jump Gate was located, one that allowed them to get up to where the bird's nest was located, which was where Spike lifted the egg with his magic and put it inside the nest. The bird that happened to be flying above the tree, seeing them return the missing egg, dropped a seed of some kind and returned to the nest, where Spike picked up the seed and considered the other unique locations they had passed by earlier, before he recalled the location of the empty pot they had seen and quickly made his way over to where it was located.
Spyro and Ember decided that it was for the best that Spike take the lead this time around, as he seemed to have a good idea as to where they had to go, and it only took them a few moments to return to where the empty pot was sitting, where Spike planted the seed and stepped back, which was followed by an interesting looking flytrap plant bursting out of the soil, to give them a rubber duck. Spike then took the item and headed back to where the sad duck he had spotted some time ago, back when they first started their adventure in this realm, was located, meaning that he glided down to the area in question and walked over to the area in question, leaving his siblings to follow after him as he made his way through the realm once more. When they reached the sad dusk Spike gave her and her kid the rubber duck, where they became happy over what they had been given and handed over a turnip, causing Spyro and Ember to raise their eyebrows for a moment, but that didn't stop Spike from accepting it as he headed back to the first Spring Jump Gate, which let him jump up to the area that one of the Kangaroo Thieves had been positioned, or, to be more accurate, the cooking pot that was located in that tunnel. Interestingly enough the cooking pot shuddered for a few moments when the turnip was put into the stew that someone had been making, before the fountain turned off anyway, though that was followed by it spitting out a golden coin, one that Spike instantly knew where it needed to go and found that his siblings even knew where it had to go.
As such the siblings returned to the fountain and Spike tossed the coin into the water, where the Professor's trusty pencil was sent their way not even a few seconds later, to which he collected it with a smile on his face and then headed back to where the Professor was waiting for them, as it was time for him and his siblings to finish off the rest of this realm so they could head to another one once they returned to Winter Tundra.
"You guys found my pencil!" the Professor said, where he happily accepted the pencil the moment Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to him and gave him his pencil, though as he did that he also handed over an Orb that happened to be resting behind him, but it was clear that he was focused on something else at the moment, "Now I can start calculating the age of the universe again, even if I have to start at the beginning... and I should make a note of the flaw in the device I used to get here, to make sure it doesn't happen to Hunter. You guys can have this Orb, mostly for safekeeping... Elora is of the opinion that I might misplace it at some point, even if I lost my pencil due to a flaw in my device."
Spike wasn't sure that someone could calculate the age of the universe with just a clipboard and a pencil, even if the Professor was incredibly smart, but he decided to say nothing as he put the Orb inside the Guidebook, and once that was done the three of them bid the Professor farewell and made their way towards the exit portal, as it was time to leave this realm and pick one of the other three, to save them before facing Ripto.
It didn't take the siblings long to return to Winter Tundra, after their visit to Mystic Marsh, and instead of stopping for a few seconds, to discuss the remaining realms they would tackle and which they wanted to take on next, Spike and Ember simply followed Spyro as he lead them towards the next realm they would be visiting, and that meant heading over to the first tunnel that they found the Professor at the end of earlier. The portal in question would take them to Cloud Temples, one that seemed interesting just by the name, and while he knew they could visit Robotica Farms and Metropolis, the realms that the other two portals would lead them to if you decided to pick those portals, he felt they should focus on the portals that were outside the castle and then deal with the ones that were inside the castle. Elora, as they discovered, had walked over to the passage that would allow them to enter the area that Ripto was in, no doubt practicing with the stolen Power Crystal for when they arrived, but first all three of them were focused on saving the rest of the realms from whatever was happening to them at the moment, regardless if Ripto was behind the problems the realms were facing or not. They still found it rather odd that Mystic Marsh hadn't been bothered by the villain they were here to defeat, rather the residents had been in danger due to one of the Water Wizards falling asleep, something that would likely be corrected for the future, before they turned their attention to the portal they were heading towards and passed through it.
When they appeared in the starting area for Cloud Temples, however, the siblings discovered some nice looking stone temples, ones that had tiles on the roofs and near the various entrances, that were resting on some sturdy clouds, ones that Spike determined had to be enchanted in some manner to be able to hold all of the buildings that the residents of this realm called home. Standing near the flag that bared the symbol of this realm was a yellow skinned individual that was wearing an orange colored robe and happened to be floating above the ground, where the flag indicated that they knew who they had to talk to, so they could learn about what's happening to the realm and what they needed to do to restore order, but they remained still for a moment as they took in the rest of the area in front of them. The other bring they noticed was a red skinned individual that was wearing a black robe, though his appearance made it look like he was a tiger that had blue colored hair, which was rather weird when they considered the other colors, and he happened to be carrying a magical wand. Spyro and Ember glanced at Spike for a moment, knowing that he was going to be critical to helping out this realm, thanks to all of the magical knowledge that he had accumulated over the years, before they moved away from where the starting area was and headed over to the being that was floating nearby, as it was time for them to figure out what was happening to this realm and what they could do to help everyone out.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad that you guys are here." the being said, to which he shifted his head for a second or two and glanced at the other being that was standing at the edge of the area that they were in, as they happened to be on a rather small island that rested on some clouds, before he focused on them once more, "I used to be the most powerful Wizard in all of Avalar, or I was until that Warlock over there stole my magic wand... not to mention that his friends have stolen all of the magic wands that my friends had been carrying, allowing them to use the power within our wands to take over the entire realm."
"Well, don't worry, we'll take your wands back and save this realm from the Warlocks." Spike stated, where the Wizard put a smile on his face, showing that he believed what Spike had to say, though at the same time his siblings approached the Warlock that was standing in their way, because now that they knew the wand he was carrying was stolen that meant they knew who their enemies were.
As it turned out the Warlock, seeing them coming his way, pointed his wand at them and cast a stone bolt at the pair, one that was rather fast as they soon discovered, but it was easy to dodge the attack and let Ember smack him over the edge of the island that held the starting area, though he did drop the wand he was holding, allowing the Wizard to rush over to them and collect his wand. Interestingly enough the Wizard hugged his weapon for a second, showing that he was happy to have it back, before he cast a spell on the five moving platforms that were moving around the area that was between them and the temple that was in front of them, where they stopped and then snapped into place between the two areas, forming a walkway that looked like a diagonal Z in Spike's eyes. Once the walkway was in place the siblings turned around and focused on the stuff that was around them, where they found three gems resting on the ground and picked them up, before heading over the walkway so they could see what the other enemies in this realm were, since they knew there were one or two more for them to worry about. It didn't take them long to reach the area that was in front of the first building and discover that there was a stone ram waiting for them, one that suddenly burst out of its stone casing and charged at them, causing Spyro to flame it down and open the way for him and his siblings to see what was inside the building and continue their exploration.
Inside the building they found two more Statue Rams, as Spike and Ember decided to call them, surprising Spyro for a moment since he wasn't used to both of them suggesting the same name at the same time, but then he regained himself and took down the pair of enemies that were inside the building, allowing them to pick up the gems that were around the room, smash a few straw baskets, and break a few metallic vases. Once the room was cleared the siblings turned to their left and headed for the other opening that the building had, one that brought them to a short walkway that connected to the second building, though the first thing they had to do was break a few more metallic vases before they could even think about entering the next structure. The moment the three metallic vases were smashed open, and the gems inside them had been collected, the siblings entered the second building and found a brand new statue resting behind the Statue Ram that was in front of them, where this one looked like a small creature that had fur and some decent sized horns, but the first thing they had to deal with was the Statue Ram that broke out of its casing and charged at them. As Spyro and Ember dealt with that, by rolling out of the way and then flaming their foe, Spike stared at the other creature as it broke out of its casing not even a few seconds later, informing him that someone must have sealed all of the Rams and whatever these creatures were in stone statues, leaving them to decorate the buildings they would be walking through. If that was the case, and those statues had been for decorating the temples, than that meant the Wizards were the ones at fault and not the Warlocks, as that would mean that the Warlocks had gotten tired of seeing animals trapped in stone statues and did all this to free them, but for now he focused on blasting the creature, a Rock Spitter as he soon discovered thanks to the creature spitting a rock at him, and then repeated himself when a second one showed up a second later.
As soon as he had taken out both Rock Spitters, and his siblings had taken care of the Statue Ram, they explored the rest of the area they were in and smashed all of the metallic vases that were in the building, and those that were on the small walkway outside the building, allowing them to collect all of the gems that were now scattered around the building, though Spike did notice that the defeated Rock Spitters left behind a magma rock, which he tossed over the edge so none of them set fire to the building.
With that area cleared out the siblings walked out onto the second walkway, which wasn't connected to either of the walkways they had walked on so far, and found a whirlwind that took them up to the next level of this building, which was when Spyro charged a Statue Ram and took him out, allowing Ember to break the three straw baskets that were nearby as Spike looked at the cubed shelves that were around them, taking a moment to look at the scrolls, books, and pieces of parchment that were around him. He was instantly fascinated by what he discovered, as some of the pages were signed by the Wizards of this realm and others were signed by Warlocks, as he could tell the difference thanks to the distinct writing styles that were on the pages, and the contents of the pages only confirmed something he thought about when they first laid eyes on this realm, that it was a place of magic and study, before someone snapped and this happened. From what he could tell, by checking what Elora had written in the Guidebook, the only reason this realm would have been bothered by Ripto was because most of the magical wands and scepters came from here, and there was even a rumor that the one who made the Talismans for the realms of Summer Forest and Autumn Plains lived somewhere in this realm, but Elora was unable to determine if that was true or not. Of course he then realized why Ripto had never come here in the first place, after his first scepter was smashed and eaten by Gulp, because he didn't have the Orbs necessary to empower the portal he and his sibling had walked through a few minutes ago, which put a smile on his face as he looked at the rest of the scrolls and tomes, as he knew that he could spend days here, before someone tapped his tail, causing him to turn around for a moment.
It was in that moment that he found Spyro and Ember looking at him, not with disappointment, as one might expect due to how eager he got whenever he discovered something new to learn about or found some tomes and scrolls that caught his attention, rather they had been hoping that he would have pushed the desire to check all of this out later, once they were done with Ripto, and not stop them while they were saving this realm.
"Sorry, I guess I was too eager to see what the tomes and scrolls said, so much so that I temporarily forget why we had come to this realm in the first place," Spike said, where he rubbed the back of his head for a second, to show that he did understand what his siblings were silently conveying to him, before he returned the books and scrolls to where they had been a few moments ago and then slipped the Guidebook back into his satchel, before turning towards his siblings once more, "Okay, I'm ready to continue with our quest."
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads before walking over to the nearby opening and jumped into the air, where Spike watched as they glided over to the opening that was in the building they had been in a few minutes ago, only this time is was connected to a walkway that was near the roof, one that was separated into two parts, so he followed after his siblings and glided over to the other building. As they landed on the first half of the walkway the first thing they did was pick up the gem that was laying near them, adding it to their collection, before Ember jumped over the gap first and hardened her tail as the Stone Ram burst out of its casing and charged at her, which was the moment she beat it into the ground and took care of it. That opened the way for Spyro and Spike to join her as she headed for the other opening that would allow them to leave the building once more, as there was nothing else they could do on the broken walkway, though as they headed outside they found a Rock Spitter that broke free of its statue and a Warlock, who no doubt freed the trapped creature with his stolen wand, though near the wall was a Wizard without a wand. Since the way was blocked by a golden door of some kind, which had a head that either resembled a laughing dog's head or one of the Warlock's heads, all they could do was focus on their enemies, so while Spyro and Ember chased down the Rock Spitter, and avoided its attacks, Spike took care of the Warlock, stopping the incoming rock bolt with his magical barrier, allowing him to take care of the Warlock in a matter of seconds, even if that disappointed him a little. It didn't take Spyro and Ember long to take out the Rock Spitter and make this area safer than it had been a few seconds ago, allowing the Wizard to move from where he was hiding and claim his wand, which he used to get rid of the golden door that was blocking their way, allowing the siblings to see that there were a few more foes outside the area they were in, not that they were surprised by that.
With the door opened the siblings smashed the nearby pair of metallic vases, to collect the gems, and then headed through the opening the Wizard had created, where they quickly took care of the pair of Rock Spitters that were standing near the edge of the balcony they were on, though all Spyro and Ember did was hit them over the edge with their tails and dismissed them from the realm, even though Spirit Particles flew up out of the clouds a few seconds later. Once they were taken care of the three of them quickly cleared out this area of all the gems that were near them, where one happened to be inside a straw basket and some were just laying on the ground, before they even glided over to the ground that was in front of the next building they would be moving through, even though there were a fair amount of enemies outside the building, which would need to be taken out first. There happened to be two Statue Rams, these ones also breaking out of their casings as the siblings approached them, and another Warlock, so what happened was that Spyro and Ember pulled the rams away from the Warlock and let Spike deal with him, though that ended in Spike trying something new, as he just dodged the incoming attack and then blasted his foe with a fireball, knocking him to the ground in seconds, just in time for Spyro to flame his foe as Ember smacked hers in the face with her hardened tail. With those three enemies taken care of the scared Wizard, who was hiding behind a nearby tree, rushed out from where he had been hiding and picked up his wand, where he then cast a spell on the building's entrance and opened the way so they could progress to the end of the path they were following. As they watched him do that, however, all three of them also noticed an area that they could walk through to their left, where it looked like a rather tall person was standing, like he was admiring a tree of some kind, which meant they might have found an area that held one of the Orbs they were looking for, but for now they focused on the more immediate issue as they headed inside the building.
The first thing they did upon entering the large structure was take out the Rock Spitter and the Statue Ram that were in the area that was just beyond where the golden door had been located, but as Spyro and Ember did that Spike glanced to their right and found the location of the Powerup Gate for this realm, though this time around there was a Wizard that happened to be standing beside it, something that was unusual when he considered the majority of the realms they had been to so far. The other thing that interested him, as his siblings finished off their foes, was the opening that was right in front of them, one that none of them could reach without him activating his Substitution spell, but for now he decided that they would come back to this point once the rest of the realm was safe from the Warlocks, so he joined his siblings as they collected the gems that were around them, mostly by smashing a metallic vase for the gem it held. From there Spike had his siblings stop as he investigated the area near the Powerup Gate, just to be sure there weren't any gems for them to pick up, which was when he backtracked outside and smashed some baskets that were near the tree the last Wizard had been hiding behind, allowing him to pick up the gems and then return to where his siblings were waiting for him. After that they walked up the short ramp that one of the Wizards was standing at the top of and found that there was a Warlock standing in front of a gap between this building and the next structure, one that had a golden door as well, to which Spyro picked up the nearby gems as Ember whacked the Warlock in the chest with her tail, causing him to fall to one knee as Spike blasted him over the edge.
That, of course, allowed the Wizard to pick up his wand and cast a spell that did away with the golden door, revealing three more Statue Rams that seemed frozen for now, though as the siblings glided over to the structure, which seemed to be a connection point between two buildings, the rams broke out of their casings and charged at them, leading to all three of them flaming their foes down. With those enemies taken care of Spyro and Ember picked up the gems that were on the inside of the structure, where Spike paused and stared at the lone tower that the other path could have taken them to, a path that the tall figure they had seen a few moments ago was standing near, before he shelved the thought and caught up with his siblings again. As they glided over to the other building that the structure was near they found another Warlock messing with the wand he had stolen, standing in front of the inactive exit portal for this realm, with a powerless Wizard standing to their right, so what happened was that Spyro and Ember distracted the Warlock as Spike blasted him in the chest, forcing him to drop the wand he was holding and let the Wizard reclaim what was rightfully his. With that done they collected all of the gems that were around them, and made sure to smash the couple of straw baskets for the gems that were inside them, before regrouping with the Wizard, who was now standing to the left of the exit portal for some reason, but they decided not to ask questions as they approached him.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for freeing our city from the claws of those evil Warlocks, and for helping us recover our stolen wands." the Wizard said, which was followed by him waving his wand for a moment, causing Spyro and Ember to wonder what he was doing this time, before an Orb appeared out of thin air, where Spike understood that he must have been a keeper or guardian for the Orb and had sealed it somewhere to keep it safe from the Warlocks, least they leave this realm and bother someone else with their stolen magic, "Please, take this Orb, as a token of our gratitude... and because I foresee that it will be helpful to the three of you in the near future."
Spike took the Orb and added it to the Guidebook, activating this realm's exit portal in the process, before he and his siblings headed outside the room and glided back to the structure that rested between the two buildings, as there were a few more things for them to grab while they were here, both Orbs and gems to be exact, and they already knew where the other Orbs were located, they just had to help the residents in question first. Instead of heading back into the previous building they had been in, where the Powerup Gate was located, the siblings jumped over the edge and glided down into the area that the tall guy was standing in, where they landed near him and started to clear out the area of gems and straw baskets, even though there happened to be one of the circular metallic chests near where the guy was located, meaning they either had to break it with Ember's tail or find a missile to break it. While they did that Spike found that there were a few straw baskets up on the points that were near the guy they were ignoring for the moment, mostly so they could clear out the area that was around him, and that even included two metallic vases that were off to the side of the tower Spike had spotted earlier, but none of them stopped until they were sure the area had been cleared of gems, save for the one chest they hadn't smashed yet. While they were doing that Spike did consider heading over to where the Powerup Gate was resting and seeing what sort of power they could get from it, as he was sure it was either the Superflame or the Superfly abilities, before deciding that he would find out when his siblings did and not a moment before, which would no doubt surprise Spyro and Ember if he told them about his decision.
In the end they finished clearing the area of gems and breakables, choosing to leave the circular metallic chest in case there was a missile that was linked to it, and headed over to where the tall guy was standing, even if Spike had to use a whirlwind to get back to where his siblings were since the tower didn't have a walkway that connected it to the area Spyro and Ember were in, where they found that he was wearing a blue shirt, brown pants, and had straps that seemed to help keep his pants up, but he seemed a little wary of their presence.
"I'm a secret agent, and I'm heading to my super secret hideout!" the tall guy stated, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember just stared at him for a moment, because while they were willing to believe that the young twins from Scorch were secret agents, based on the realm and what Spike had found out for them, they refused to accept that this guy was one, as he loudly proclaimed that statement to them, which would have been bad if he was a secret agent and they were the ones that were trying to wreck the realm, "Only members of my secret club are allowed to enter my hideout, so I'm not leaving this area until the three of you leave or hide someplace where I can't see you."
The siblings glanced at each other for a moment, as they weren't sure what to make of this guy, before Spike looked at one of the branches in the tree and had an idea, because he used a bit of his magic and made it disappear, using the same spell he had used back in Breeze Harbor, the Invisibility spell, only this time it was toned down and focused on a single item, instead of an entire area. The tall guy, on the other claw, didn't see the branch disappear and suddenly reappear as Spike let go of the magic, to which Spyro and Ember nodded their heads and followed their brother behind the wall that was around the entire area the guy was standing in, though that was when he weaved his magic around them and gave each of them a temporary Invisibility spell, one that ensured they could see each other and no one could see any of them for a few minutes. As it turned out they only had to wait a few seconds before the tall guy left the area they had found him in and watched as he headed towards the tower that Spike was interested in, to which they followed him as he made his way over to the area in question, where they found that it had been a good idea on Spike's part to use the spell on them, as there wasn't enough room for the three of them to hide if they followed the guy without the spell, and it wasn't long before the guy opened the tower's door and headed inside. Spike did have to stop Ember from smashing the couple of straw baskets that were revealed to them, as that would break the spell and alert the guy to the fact that someone was following him, to which she nodded and followed after him and Spyro as they carefully followed the guy through the rest of the tower, even if it meant heading outside and using some steps to get to the top level.
After the top room of the tower they found a very short walkway that connected it to a small floating island, one that had a small building on it, and watched as the guy ran towards the building and stopped as soon as he stood in the center of it, which was the moment that Spike dispelled the Invisibility spell so they could approach him, where the guy looked surprised to see them again.
"What, you guys managed to get to my secret hideout, without following me?" the tall guy said, which was the moment that the siblings were sure they were dealing with someone who wasn't very bright, even though none of them said a word as he pulled out an Orb and handed it over to them with a large smile on his face, as if he had determined something that wasn't actually true, "You guys must be members of my secret club after all, so here, take this secret decoder, as we can use it to send messages back and forth when we discover something."
The siblings said nothing to that as Spike put the Orb where it belonged, in the Guidebook, before they departed from this area and quickly smashed all of the straw baskets they had passed as they followed the guy up to this area, allowing them to backtrack a little before they reached the tower's entrance, which was when their dragonflies indicated that the rest of the gems were away from the tower... though as they headed into the large building, after using the whirlwind to get back to the entrance, they paused as they saw an interesting sight.
"No way. Is that what I think it is?" Spyro inquired, because what they were looking at was the Powerup Gate that they needed to use to help the residents of this realm in another manner, one that would give them an Orb in the process, but it was the gate itself that he was staring at, as the symbol that was on it was one they hadn't seen before and he knew that Spike was already studying what they were seeing.
"If you're referring to the fact that this is a powerup we've never seen before, than yes." Ember remarked, as she was caught a little off guard by what they were seeing, as she had been sure they had experienced all the different types of abilities these Powerup Gates could give them, but she was wrong in that regard since there was a new one resting in front of them, which did make her curious as to what it would give them.
"It is nice to see visitors that are so interested in our Superfreeze Gate," the nearby Wizard said, to which the siblings turned towards him for a moment, as they were interested in what he had to say on the matter and if there were any hints he could give them for when they tested out the power of the new powerup, before he considered something that would likely give them the chance to test it out for themselves, "anyway, our mystical bell towers haven't been rung in days, as they have been overrun by Trolls, and from what I've discovered fire spells don't work on them, as it just makes all of them crazier than they were before. From what I've been told this Superfreeze Gate will help us tame the trolls, but we really need those bells to ring."
Spyro smiled for a moment as he passed through the Gate in question, where Spike and Ember watched as his chest scales, his horns, the fin shaped spines, and even the tip of his tail turned an icy blue color, almost as if their brother had been empowered with the power of frost itself, to which Spyro headed into the room behind them and found a pair of Trolls, red-orange skinned creatures that had fire on their heads, standing near one of the walls, where he breathed on the pair and loosed a bit of frost, freezing them both in blocks of ice.
"Amazing! This is simply amazing!" Spike replied, as he was impressed by what the Superfreeze Gate had given Spyro, who was rather impressed with his look and the power that he could wield for a certain amount of time, and he could see that even Ember was thinking about what their brother was able to do now, before an idea came to him, "I wonder if there are any additional Powerup Gates like this one, where they'll give us something that we haven't seen before, as I'm hoping we haven't seen the last of these gates."
"Only one way to find out, and that's by visiting the other realms and helping them out." Ember said, as while she and Spyro knew that Spike was excited to find something new, like a brand new type of Powerup Gate, they also knew that the answer to their brother's thoughts would be revealed in the future, as there were two more realms for them to assist once they were done here.
While she said that Spyro retraced his steps and walked through the Superfreeze Gate again, restoring the timer on his new power, before watching as Ember and Spike did the same thing, coming out looking similar to what he currently looked like, which was when they moved out and headed towards the pair of Trolls he had frozen a few moments ago and found that they were still frozen. Just to be sure they didn't escape yet the siblings applied a little more frost to the pair and then climbed on the ice cubes they were trapped in, allowing them to jump up into the other area they had spotted when they were first walking through this building, meaning they could explore the rest of the realm and see if they could find the rest of the gems while they were ringing the bells. What they discovered was that there were a pair of Trolls that were wandering around the room that was in front of them, even if they picked up a few gems in process, and, oddly enough, there was another Superfreeze Gate in this area, why they had no idea, but they wasted no time in freezing the pair, one by where one of the bells was located and one that was running near the second Superfreeze Gate. With those two stuck like that Spyro glided over to the second one and then jumped up into the chamber that the first bell was resting in, leaving Spyro and Ember to smash the straw baskets that were nearby and collect all of the gems that were in this area, before watching as their brother froze one more Troll and then jumped onto the new ice cube so he could charge into the bell, allowing it to ring.
What was interesting was that when the first bell was rung the Troll that Spyro had frozen was broken out of his small ice prison, which made sense due to the fact that they had been really close to where the bell was located, and ran over to where Spike and Ember were standing, positioning himself so that they can use him to jump up into the chamber where the second bell was located, and it wasn't long before they froze him and the Troll that was near the bell, allowing them to ring it as well, before they headed back to the Wizard that was near the first Superfreeze Gate.
"You guys did well in helping us ring the bells, but there's still one left," the Wizard stated, informing the siblings that he could have said something else, about them expecting an Orb and him not being able to hand over one due to the fact that they hadn't actually finished helping him out, but he didn't say that and that made the siblings happy, before he took a moment to gesture to what was behind the Superfreeze Gate, "you can use the whirlwind that's behind the Superfreeze Gate to access the area that the last bell is in, and, like the other two, there are a number of Trolls around it."
The siblings nodded their heads and headed through the Superfreeze Gate, allowing the whirlwind that was behind it to take all of them up to the area that was above them, where they found a Troll jumping up and down near the edge of the entrance to the area that the final bell was located, along with a Troll that happened to be running around the area that was around the tower the bell was in. What they did first was follow the one Troll that was running in a circle and picked up all of the gems that were in the area, including smashing some straw baskets, though as they did that Ember spotted the missile that would allow them to blow open the circular metallic chest that was near where the tall guy had been standing, so they froze the running Troll and formed a step so she could get up to the missile, allowing it to shoot off into the distance and detonate on the chest in question a few seconds later. With that taken care of the siblings focused on the Trolls that were near the entrance to the bell's tower and froze them while they were moving, forming a pair of steps for them to get up into the tower, where they found two more Trolls in the tower in question and proceeded to freeze the pair in their tracks, allowing Spyro to jump on them and collide with the final bell, which put a smile on their faces as they left the tower and glided down to where the Wizard was standing.
"Thanks, you guys are lifesavers, you know that?" the Wizard remarked, where the siblings glanced at each other for a second or two, as they had figured that out on their own over the course of their adventure in Avalar, before they focused on him again as he pulled out an Orb and handed it over to them, "Here, you guys can have a souvenir from the Cloud Temples gift shop, as thanks for helping me out."
Spike said nothing to that as he collected the Orb and stored it inside the Guidebook, though once that was done he and his siblings headed to where the circular metallic chest had been located and picked up the gems Ember had freed with the missile, but the moment those gems were done, and their dragonflies indicated that everything had been picked up, they headed for the exit portal so they could head to one of the other two realms that needed assistance, before they focused on Ripto and brought an end to his rampage.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, or Ember long to return to Winter Tundra, or more accurately the cave that the portal to Cloud Temples had been located in, and headed for the main castle that held the inactive Super Portal and the remaining two portals that would take them to Robotica Farms and Metropolis, before they even considered facing off against Ripto and liberated the rest of Avalar from their foe's grasp. After seeing what was going on in Mystic March and Cloud Temples, as in discovering that Ripto wasn't behind whatever was happening to the residents of those realms, the siblings had the feeling that the same would be true for the remaining two realms, that neither of them had been touched by Ripto, meaning that the problems the residents were facing were either of their own design, like the Water Wizard that fell asleep at the fountain and turned it off, or outside their control. Of course there was also the Speedway that Moneybags had opened for them, after Ember beat the stuffing out of him for selling Ripto the bombs he used to take the Super Portal's Power Crystal from Elora and the others, but that would be the last thing they took care of, since they were more interested in helping the residents of the remaining two realms out. Once all of the remaining realms were assisted, and the Speedway was cleared out, they would turn their attention to the final battle and approach Ripto at long last, to put an end to his rampage and restore order to Avalar, and once that was done they could focus their attention on other things, like the war that was on all of their minds.
The siblings pushed that thought out of their minds for a moment as they returned to the courtyard that the Super Portal was resting in, directly in the middle of it by Spike's estimates, which was where they paused for a moment as they looked at the stairs that would take them to where Ripto was waiting for them, who was no doubt practicing with his new scepter, in anticipation for their arrival.
"So, which of the realms should we visit next?" Ember asked, as while she had an idea of which realm they would be heading to next, since there were only two to pick from at the moment, there was always the chance that Spyro might surprise her and Spike with whatever he was about to say, hence the reason she asked before they actually picked out the portal they would be heading through.
"Robotica Farms," Spyro replied, knowing that he had, at some point during this adventure, been picked as the leader of their group, in the sense that Spike and Ember listened to his opinion on where they should go, and that even extended to what they should do occasionally, but he was happy to see that his siblings liked his opinions as he turned towards the portal in question, "we can check out Metropolis and Canyon Speedway once we're done with this realm, and then, once we've helped all of the realms in this homeworld, we can take the fight to Ripto and put an end to this."
Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement as they followed Spyro as he headed to their left, as the portal to Robotica Farms was to the left of the Super Portal, before the three of them headed through the portal and traveled to their next destination, so they could meet the residents of the realm they were now heading to and figure out what sort of problem they were dealing with, and, more importantly, what they could do to help them out. What they discovered, upon their arrival in the starting area for this realm, was that the realm looked like what the name suggested, it was a massive farm area, with a number of farm buildings and vehicles, though the interesting part was that the fences, buildings, and even the windmills that were on the farm house were made almost entirely out of metal, even though Spike was of the opinion that everything in this realm was made out of metal. There were even electric fences, ones that likely designed to keep any bugs out of the farm area, but based on the fact that Spyro, Spike, and Ember could see something that looked like a metallic bug, floating in the middle of the path that would take them to where the exit portal was located, meant that the fences were useless in some regard. The other interesting fact was that there was a massive light off in the distance, which seemed to be a rather important feature in this realm, though at the moment it didn't seem to be turned on and that might be the cause of this realm's problems, meaning there had to be a switch or something that they needed to flip to fix what whatever the problem was.
The residents of this realm, as they soon discovered by looking at the flag that was in front of them, were tall beings, who stood at the same height that Hunter did, that were made out of metal and appeared to be robotic farmers, as even their clothing seemed to be made out of colored metal, though the one in front of them had a bug sprayer that must have been useful against small creatures, and, oddly enough, the Robot Farmer that was in front of them seemed to be having problems with his hips, as they were vibrating.
"Howdy, Spyro, Spike, Ember. As you can see, we're having a bit of an infestation at the moment... do you guys think you can find the time to help us take care of them?" the Robot Farmer inquired, which was interesting to the siblings, as he had welcomed them to the realm and then immediately asked them for any help that they could provide him and the other Robot Farmers that were working all over the rest of the realm, though instead of saying anything they simply nodded their heads to show that they would help him out, "Great, then make your way over to the giant bug lamp and turn it on so we can zap any more invading pests."
With that said the siblings glanced at the area that was in front of them and focused on the pair enemies that were in front of them, as there happened to be one that was floating in the air just in front of the first structure, a large metallic bee shaped robot, colored in the shape of an actual bee, while the other one, that was on the other side of the structure, was a large grasshopper shaped robot, with a green coloration, that was kicking metallic barrels in their direction as they emerged from a hole in the ground, but smashed against the front of the area they were standing on.
"So the realm is Robotica Farms and the residents are Robot Farmers, which means that our enemies are going to be robots as well... so Robot Grasshopper and Robot Bee?" Spyro commented, as that was what he could determine just by looking at the pair of enemies that were in front of them at the moment, mostly because he wanted to have a chance to name some of the foes they had to take out, just like Spike and Ember had done in the past, before he glanced at Spike, who was making a note of what they were calling their new enemies.
"That sounds about right." Spike replied, where he nodded his head as he finished writing those names into his notes, before he put everything away in his satchel and then focused on the area that was in front of them, because while he knew they could call these enemies by 'Robo' instead of 'Robot' he liked the sound of the latter and was sure that the rest of the dragons back home would agree with him.
As Spyro stepped down into the area in front of them, or the side area that the Robot Grasshopper couldn't hit them in if they were careful, the Robot Bee focused on him and tried to blast him with its stinger, which was more like a missile when he saw what was happening, but before it could even reach him he rolled out of the way and then leapt into the air so he could burn his target with his flames, knocking it into the side of the structure that was in front of them. While he was doing that Ember picked up some nearby gems as Spike found that there was a rock that looked like it was covered in honey, but then discovered that it was a simple metal object that was shaped like a honeycomb, so he ignored it, since none of them really needed projectiles at the moment, as he and Ember headed over to where Spyro was standing. Once they were back together they focused on the Robot Grasshopper that was on the other side of the structure that they had to pass through, to get to the rest of the realm, meaning they had to be patient and wait for an opening to take the robot out, which quickly came as Ember rushed at her target, hardened her tail, and jumped over the barrel so she could smack the Robot Grasshopper in the face, breaking it in seconds. With that foe taken out, and the way was open, Spyro and Spike joined her as she explored the area that was in front of them, where they collected all the gems that were on the ground around them and noticed that this area had some normal sheep wandering around, along with a few enemies to take out as they progressed through the realm.
What happened was that Ember rushed onto the walkway that the next Robot Grasshopper was standing on, kicking more of the barrels down towards where the first one of its type had been standing, even though they exploded before even hitting that area, and smashed the robot into the ground, though while she did that Spike spotted another Robot Bee and loosed an Arcane Missile at it, blasting the robot into a wall and wiping it out. While they did that Spyro found a new foe for them to focus on, a metallic beetle that looked like it was just as dangerous as the other foes in this realm, and when he charged it the beetle actually flipped over on its back and struggled to get back up so it could fight him, where he had an idea and jumped into the air, so he could spin around and used the Headbash to smash the Robot Beetle into a pile of pieces. Once the Robot Beetle had been wiped out, in addition to what his siblings had done, Spyro picked up a few gems that were lingering nearby and then stopped when he found a large fan that looked like it might allow them to lift themselves up to the area that was above them, a shortcut once the machinery was turned on, since it was currently off at the moment, before he shook his head and headed back to where his siblings were located. Ember was in the middle of smashing a few straw baskets and picking up the rest of the gems that were around them, while Spike took in the fact that the Robot Farmers were growing large metallic vegetables, where the ones he was staring at were carrots, making him wonder if there were more metallic food items in this part of the realm or if there were multiple areas that contained all of the other stuff farmers grew.
Once they were sure this section of the realm had been cleared out they headed over to the lone structure that the Robot Grasshopper had been standing in front of and found that the blades that were attached to its fan were spinning, and had likely been spinning the entire time and this was when they noticed since the area had been cleared out, which was why they carefully waited near the opening before heading through, as none of them wanted to hurt their dragonflies by getting hit by one of the blades. It only took a few seconds for an opening to appear and for Spyro to take it, where he found a Robot Beetle waiting in the area in front of where the end of the path was located and rushed towards his foe, as he moved to the left and avoided the spinning attack that was coming his way, before charging into the robot once the attack was done, allowing him to Headbash the robot and break it. After he smashed the Robot Beetle into the ground his siblings emerged from the passage and they spread out as they searched the area that they were in, where Ember took care of a few straw baskets while Spike spotted some metallic vases and charged into them, breaking them apart so he could pick up the gems they contained. Spyro also found a few gems on the earthen step that let them walk down into the area that held a large metallic see-saw, one that would allow them to get up onto the next area that would take them to the large lamp that seemed to be their end destination, but they would have to move fast since one side of the see-saw was in their area and the other was near the top of the ledge in question, as it would lower when they walked over it, so he quickly smashed three more metallic vases before rejoining his siblings.
What the siblings ended up doing was charging up the see-saw one by one, making sure to be quick about it so the device didn't suddenly shift on any of them, though thanks to their skills they were able to do that rather easily and were able to explore a brand new area with ease, where they started picking up gems as they spotted another see-saw that would allow them to progress even further in this realm. While they did that Spyro spotted a Robot Bee floating near the next see-saw, so as Spike and Ember moved behind the see-saw, to smash the couple of straw baskets that were beyond it, and collected the gems that they freed, so he jumped into the air and flamed the bee as his siblings found a path that lead them to another lower area that contained a few metallic vases and a number of gems to pick up, including more metallic carrots. Once that area was cleared out they regrouped with Spyro and took turns charging up the see-saw that would take them to the next part of this realm, where Spyro spotted two more Robot Bees patrolling the area in front of the structure that they needed to pass through, so he stepped to the side and let Spike walk forward, which was when Spike engaged his magic and blasted the pair out of the air with some Arcane Missiles. The moment that was done Ember stepped forward and walked by the spinning fan that was attached to the structure that was in front of them, and made sure to jump over the barrels that were coming their way, before reaching the Robot Grasshopper that was on the slim walkway that connected two parts of this realm together and used her hardened tail to smash hit to pieces, allowing her to reach the end of the walkway and head into the next part of the realm as her siblings caught up with her.
On the other side of the walkway they found a Robot Beetle and a Robot Bee waiting for them, so while Spyro rushed forward and collided with the Robot Beetle, to force it one its back, Spike gathered his magic and blasted the Robot Bee out of the air, allowing his brother to finish off his foe in a matter of seconds, before they could look around the area they were in and start picking up the gems that were near them. Interestingly enough there was a circular metallic chest to their left, one that Ember was sure had a missile that would blow it to pieces, so they smashed the straw baskets behind it, to collect the gems, and then headed out to see what the rest of this realm had in store for them, even though Spike was interested in the electrified water that was between where they were currently standing and an area that seemed to have a few scarecrows that were being bothered by a number of bees, or what they assumed were bees. There was also a lone Robot Farmer, where the siblings noticed that he looked like he was in need of assistance, so what they did was smash the straw baskets that were around the farmer and then headed out to where some more baskets were located, near another turned off fan by the looks of it, before the siblings turned around and headed over to the next building that was near the area they had been looking at a few moments ago. The next building looked like it had been a barn at one point in time, but from what they had seen the entire structure had been cut in half and separated into two sections, connected by a lift that served as an elevator, though in front of the barn rested a Robot Grasshopper that was kicking barrels at nothing, so Spyro broke some metallic vases to the side and Spike blasted a nearby Robot Bee out of the air as Ember smashed the Robot Grasshopper with her hardened tail.
As soon as that happened the siblings regrouped on the lift, which just so happened to lower itself down into the area that was right behind where the Robot Grasshopper had been standing, though the only thing that they found, when they road the lift up to the top of the barn, was a missile that, when Ember lit the fuse, raced off into the distance and collided with the circular metallic chest, so they backtracked a little and collected the gems that had been inside the chest, before heading back to where the Robot Bee had been floating earlier.
With that taken care of Spyro, Spike, and Ember continued along the path that would take them to the inactive exit portal for this realm and smashed a few straw baskets that were near the electrified water, before they spotted a Robot Beetle that was patrolling the area in front of them and happened to have a Robot Grasshopper kicking some barrels at one of the walls. While Ember smashed the Robot Grasshopper, and Spyro dealt with the Robot Beetle, Spike picked up the gems that were near them and then walked forward, where he found two more Robot Bees hanging out in the area that they would be moving through, so he lashed out with his Arcane Missiles and blasted them out of the air, as he didn't want the small missiles the bees used to be used against him and his siblings. The next thing the three of them noticed was that there were two see-saws in this area, one that seemed to go nowhere and another that was connected to a small passage that went through one of the fan structures, and there was even a vent resting on the side of the cliff to their right, something that looked like they didn't need to mess with it at all. Spyro headed up the first see-saw and found a Robot Beetle hanging out in the area that wasn't important, so what he did was charge it and the Headbash it, smashing the robot to pieces to he could collect the gems that were up there, where he glided down into the area that Spike and Ember were currently heading to, one that had a few metallic vases and another Robot Beetle. It didn't take Spyro long to smash the next Robot Beetle, nor did it take his siblings long to break the metallic vases that were nearby, though once those had been taken care of they headed over to the area the beetle had been guarding and found nothing but a couple of gems, which they collected before heading back to where the second see-saw was located.
This time around they had to purposely lower the see-saw so one of them could charge towards the other edge and then jump into the air, where they would have to glide over to the passage that was just below the structure and then use Spyro's Hover technique to get up to where the short passage was located, and they would have to plan their jumps so they didn't get hit by the fan blades. It didn't take Spyro long to actually make the jump and touch down inside the short passage, where he waited for Spike and Ember to do the same thing and made sure to give them some room for when they did what he just did, where he smiled as both of them completed the jump that he just went through, allowing them to focus on the next thing they needed to do, glide over to a Robot Grasshopper. What was interesting was that the foe in question didn't even seem interested in them, as the barrels it was kicking at the moment went over an edge and didn't seem to be hurting anything, so Ember quickly hardened her tail and smashed the robot into a pile of pieces, just like what happened to the others they had seen so far. Once that was taken care of they headed down into a slightly lowered area that was ahead of them and found a few gems, which they collected in a matter of seconds, before they found a few stone steps that just so happened to bring them up to where the large lamp was located, where they ignored the Robot Farmer for a few seconds and scouted out the area that was around the object they had been told to turn on, where all they found were a couple of gems and picked them up, before heading back to the Robot Farmer.
When the siblings headed down to where the Robot Farmer was standing, and picked up the gems that happened to be in the area near him, they watched as the lamp turned on all of a sudden, without them actually touching anything this time around, so once that happened, and they were sure it didn't turn back off all of a sudden, Spyro, Spike, and Ember turned towards the Robot Farmer that was standing near them.
"Way to go you guys! Them varmints won't be coming near our crops now." the Robot Farmer exclaimed, or at least that was what the siblings felt he was trying to do, since it seemed like robots had a really hard time with expressions, but they said nothing as he reached into the sack that was resting near them and pulled out an Orb, before turning back to face them, "Here, you guys can have this as a reward for helping us out."
Spike accepted the Orb in question, since that was what they had come to collect, but at the same time it didn't really feel like they had earned this one, not like all of the other Orbs that they had picked up along the way, and stored it inside the Guidebook, before stashing the book away as the exit portal was activated before their eyes, which was the signal for them to find the other Orbs that were in this realm and finish helping the residents out, hence the reason they walked away from the exit portal and the Robot Farmer that was standing near it.
"Okay, just out of curiosity, there's something I have to ask about." Ember remarked, where they came to a stop near the area the last Robot Grasshopper had been standing in, though as they came to a stop she stared at an area that was near them and found another Robot Farmer that was near the Powerup Gate for this realm and some large metallic pumpkins that seemed to be following a set path, before she focused on her brothers again, "Why would Ripto want to mess with this realm, if he had been involved in attacking it? I mean, the Robot Farmers seem to be producing nothing that the rest of Avalar would care about, so why would he want to bother this place?"
"Because there is much more to this realm than what we can see," Spike replied, as he had pulled out the Guidebook the moment Ember asked her question, since he was expecting it to happen at some point, and he was definitely eager to see what he could learn about Robotica Farms, before they finished helping them out and headed for the last realm of this homeworld, and he could see that his siblings were interested in what he had to say, "According to what Elora wrote in the Guidebook, the Robot Farmers grow more than what we've seen so far and have many patches of farmland that they tend to, though while we have seen only metallic vegetables there are patches that grow actual wheat, vegetables, and anything else the residents of Avalar might eat. Of course the other realms do grow and produce some of their own food stores as well, so everything doesn't solely depend on what the Robot Farmers produce and if someone is bothering them, but that would be the reason that Ripto would attack this realm, to cut off most of the food supplies and force the residents of Avalar to submit to get their food back."
"Its surprising that there are so many realms that could force Avalar into submission," Spyro commented, because he did understand the significance of the realms they had been to so far, especially after everything they had seen so far since they started this adventure, but it was like he said, there were a number of realm that, if one were to be taken out by someone, that would force this land to stop resisting and simply give in.
"But that seems to be the reason behind why Ripto would attack this realm, to cut off the amount of food the rest of this land has access to." Spike stated, to which he closed the Guidebook and slipped it back into his satchel, where Spyro and Ember could see that he was disappointed in what he learned, though he sighed for a moment, "I was hoping to learn more about this realm than what Elora had written, but I guess that means that there isn't much more to discover about this realm, other than the fact that these guys are farmers and that they tend to their fields all the time."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll discover more about this realm once we've defeated Ripto and you visit Cloud Temples to see what is in their archives." Ember remarked, because while she and Spyro knew that Spike was disappointed in what he had found out so far, and how limited that information was, they also understood what their brother could do when they finally brought an end to their foe's rampage and restored order to this land, as she was sure that Elora and the others would answer all of Spike's questions and then some, before they returned to their home.
Spike nodded his head as a happy smile appeared on his face, showing his siblings that the idea of seeing what the archives of Cloud Temple had for him was more than enough to overcome his disappointment, after what he discovered from reading the Guidebook's section on Robotica Farms, to which they got up from where they sitting and headed out to where the other Robot Farmer was standing, who seemed surprised to see them after a moment, though there was one of the Question Mark Jars in this area, something they would chase later.
"I used to drive my tractor all around the farm, both this section and all the other sections by using this track, but one of the others, a fool in my books, has decided to block the path with pumpkins." the Robot Farmer declared, informing the three of them what the problem was and what they could do to fix it, as Spike noticed that the Powerup Gate was one of the Supercharge Gates, meaning they would have to charge through the area, smash through all of the pumpkins, and get back to where this robot was standing, "Do you guys think you can help me out? All I know is that the track and be cleared by using a bit of Supercharging, to smash the pumpkins and open the way."
Instead of heading down the track one at a time, like they did the last time they found one of these areas, Spyro was the first one to walk through the Supercharge Gate and went down the track that was in front of them, choosing to break all of the pumpkins that were in the way, while Spike and Ember followed after him, breaking the vast number of straw baskets and smashing the metallic vases that their brother left behind. The reason for this was because Spyro had his focus on the number of pumpkins that needed to be smashed apart, along with keeping an eye out for the various jumps and turns that were in front of him, allowing his siblings to see what they needed to do ahead of time and respond before they reached the area in question. It was a good strategy that allowed the siblings to break every pumpkin that happened to be in their way, smash all of the straw baskets that were on the track, break all of the metallic vases that were between where all of the pumpkins were located, and pick up all of the gems that were along the way, both the ones that had been resting on the track and the ones that had been freed from the containers they had been in. Of course they didn't do this is one go, they had to go through the track two or three times to actually collect everything that was on the sections of track that the Supercharge Gate was connected to, before Spike verified that all of the items had been picked up and that they had no reason to run down the track anymore, regardless of how fun it might be.
Once they were done with that they headed over to where the Robot Farmer was standing, as it was time to tell him the good news, get the Orb he was holding onto, and then see where the Question Mark Jar would take them, before they helped the robot near the scarecrows and collected the last Orb that was in this realm, so they could leave and head over to Metropolis, to see what sort of problems they were facing.
"A fine piece of steering that was, dragons." the Robot Farmer declared, sounding happy about what they had done for him, in clearing out the track and making it what he used to use in the past, before he reached into his pack and pulled out an Orb, something that he presented to the siblings as their reward, "Here, you guys can have this thing-a-ma-jig that I found resting in the corner of the barn we keep the cows in, far away from the pens that the cows were wandering around in, and I'll get back to driving my tractor."
Spike accepted the Orb and quickly stashed it inside the Guidebook, so it could rest with the rest of their collection, before he and his siblings turned around and found that the Question Mark Jar was close to where the exit portal rested, as it was on the small lower ledge they had walked on earlier, to which they headed over to it and flamed it, only to be a little surprised when it headed over to where the other Robot Farmer was waiting for them, to which they glided over to that area and approached the robot in question.
"Oh, I'm glad you guys came by to help me out," the Robot Farmer said, where he turned to face them once they came to a stop near him, even though Spyro hit the Question Mark Jar to send it away so they could focus on the robot that they were talking to, before he gestured to the area the scarecrows were in, "Those bugs are making a joke of my expensive robot scarecrows, which are supposed to scare off the bugs and protect the crops... I'm beginning to think I was robbed when I bought them from that bear. Anyway, can you guys take care of them and make sure they don't come back? They don't respond to what's inside my bug sprayer, or any of the other things I've tried so far, so chasing them away seems to be the only thing that might work."
"Bear? Of course he'd do something like this." Ember remarked, to which she shook her head for a moment, as she was not expecting to hear that Moneybags had sold something to the residents of this realm, even though that really didn't come as a surprise to her considering that he had a hand in half of the realms that were in Avalar, before she sighed and focused on the matter at claw, "Sure, we'll take care of them... and Spike will likely ask the Alchemist of Fracture Hills if he can make something to help you guys out."
Before the Robot Farmer could say anything to that the siblings glided over the electric water and landed in the area that the scarecrows were in, where they found four pinkish colored robot bugs hovering near one of the scarecrows, as if they hadn't noticed the fact that they had company, but before the bugs could fly off Spike threw up a barrier around the scarecrow in question and trapped the metallic bugs. Once that was done he then opened a small opening for Spyro to slip through, before the bugs were able to notice and make use of the opening, to which he and Ember watched as their brother flamed the metallic pests, breaking them in the process, but the moment the last one had fallen, and Spike took away the barrier, Ember headed over to the bugs and smashed them with her hardened tail, just to make sure none of them got back up. The moment that was done they explored the rest of the area, finding some gems on the two walkways that connected the area together and found three metallic vases that were near the wall that held some of the electric fences, but after a few moments they found that was it, there was nothing else for them to collect over here, so the three of them headed back to the Robot Farmer to give him the good news. With all three Orbs in this realm collected, along with the majority of the gems, all they would have to do is chase the Question Mark Jar and claim the gems that were inside it, then they could leave this realm and focus on the last realm that needed assistance, before heading to face the foe they were supposed to be defeating.
"My fields are safe from those flying vermin, at long last!" the Robot Farmer declared, to which he pulled out an Orb and handed it over to Spike, who was smiling as they accepted it, before he turned to head over to where the scarecrows were located, indicating that he was planning on returning to what he had been doing before the metallic bugs showed up and started messing with him, "I found that doodad in the ground yesterday, though I have no idea why it was there in the first place... but you're more than welcome to have that as a reward."
It didn't take Spike long to store the Orb inside the Guidebook and put the book back in his satchel, though once that was done he and his siblings headed back to where the starting area was located, as that would allow them to locate the next area the Question Mark Jar had headed to, before it came to a stop and they smashed it for the gems that the jar held inside it. The area that the teleporting jar moved to happened to be near the second see-saw that they encountered in this realm, which gave them a chance to see that all of the large fans had been turned on, meaning that once they smashed the jar and collected its gems they could use one of the devices to return to the exit portal, before they located the jar in question and smacked it, causing it to teleport again. After that it headed to the front of the first structure they had to pass through to enter the rest of this realm, though when they located it again, and smacked it again, the jar shattered and let the siblings collect the gems that had been inside it, before they checked with Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, to be sure that all of the gems in this realm had been collected. A few seconds went by before the dragonflies indicated that all of the gems had been collected and that they were free to leave Robotica Farms, to which they quickly headed over to where the fans were located and used one of them to get back up to where the exit portal was located.
With this realm taken care of Spyro, Spike, and Ember headed through the exit portal and began the short trek back to Winter Tundra, as it was time for them to tackle whatever was happening in Metropolis, challenge Canyon Speedway, and then, at long last, face Ripto and bring peace back to Avalar, before stopping the war that Zephyr and Breeze Harbor were currently engaged in.
With the Robot Farmers of Robotica Farms assisted, and their problems taken care of, Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to Winter Tundra and stepped out to where the Super Portal was located, allowing them to take a moment to do whatever they wanted before they headed into the tunnel that would take them to where the last realm of this homeworld was located, so they could help it and than head to where Ripto was waiting for them. The siblings were honestly surprised that they had reached this point at last, that they had restored order and peace to the majority of Avalar's realms, something that each of them felt had been a long time coming at this rate, and soon they would face the person that was responsible for most of what had happened to the various realms of this land, even if Winter Tundra hadn't been bothered by him. All they had to do now was help out Metropolis, take care of the problems they were facing at the moment, then clear out the Speedway of all the gems and the Orb that was hiding in that area, before they regrouped and headed into the area that their foe was hiding in, to put an end to his rampage at long last. Soon Avalar would be returned to normal, so that Elora, Hunter, the Professor, and everyone else could enjoy the peace that they had been enjoying before Ripto had accidentally been called to this land with Crush and Gulp, though all three of them were ready to take the fight to their foe, even if their foe wasn't ready for them to come and face him.
"So, are you guys ready to take on Metropolis and see what's happening to them at the moment?" Spyro inquired, as he knew what the answer was before Spike and Ember even said anything, because he was ready to bring this adventure to an end and start helping the Professor so he could find a way to send them back to the Dragon Realms, as Nestor and the other Leaders weren't going to believe the tale they had to tell them.
"Indeed we are." Spike replied, where Ember nodded her head for a moment, just to show that she was ready for their venture into the realm in question, to which they readied themselves to head into the tunnel and see what the final realm of Avalar had to throw at them, as he was eager to record their findings for the dragons back home, because this was going to make an interesting story for them to read.
Spyro smiled for a moment before heading into the tunnel that contained the portal that would take them to the last realm they needed to help, Metropolis to be exact, though it only took them a few seconds to head through the portal and see what the realm had to offer them, in what the realm looked like, what the enemies were, and what they needed to do to assist the residents. It only took him and his siblings a few moments to arrive in the starting area for the realm that they were heading to, though as they glanced around the metallic area that they had appeared in they instantly discovered that this realm was going to be futuristic, more so than the majority of the other realms they had taken on so far, and in the zone to their right and behind them rested a futuristic city, confirming their thoughts. Standing nearby, or floating to be exact, was a humanoid creature that didn't have any legs and seemed to be made out of metal, as the arms, chest, and the head sections seemed to be made out of metal, though the metallic business suit told them that the residents of this realm were similar to the residents of Robotica Farms, even if the designs between the two were different. Where the robot's legs would have been located rested some sort of cone shaped object that seemed to be allowing the robot to float in the air, without the risk of falling, though based on what they could see the robot was worried about something, or at least that was another thing they were assuming since it was hard to read a robot's face.
From where they were standing it didn't seem like the realm was in any danger, since there didn't seem to be any foes in the immediate area, so what they did was walk over to where the robot was floating at the moment, since they knew he would tell them what was going on and what they could do to assist him and the other residents of this realm, before they started their trek to where the exit portal was located.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, it is good that you showed up, as this insurrection from the farms has gotten quite out of hand and we're losing control of the situation." the robot stated, to which the siblings raised their eyebrows for a moment as they heard that, mostly because there didn't seem to be any angry farm animals wandering around the area, but none of them were going to call the robot a liar, since the other one had been telling the truth and they knew that they would find some enemies at some point during their exploration of this realm, "We need someone, or a group of someones, to help us restore order! You three should make your way through this part of the city and find the Inventor Droid, as she has been working on something big, something that might be able to stop this insurrection."
"Don't worry, we'll find the Inventor Droid and help you guys out." Spyro replied, knowing that most of the residents that they encountered, when they first arrived in a realm to assist them with whatever problems they might be facing at the moment, were happy after having confirmation that help had arrived, before he and his siblings moved away from where the Droid was floating and focused on the task at claw.
The first thing they did was pick up the couple of gems that were nearby, giving them a good view of the other part of the city that they couldn't access, before they smashed the pair of metallic vases that were beside the Droid and quickly picked up the gems that had been inside them, which was when they headed into the tunnel that was in front of where they had appeared. That was the moment that Spyro, Spike, and Ember found out that the Droid had been correct in what he told them, that the enemies of this realm were farm animals, as the one that standing on the other side of the tunnel was a bipedal cow that seemed to be wearing a suit of some kind and a bubble-like helmet of some kind, though his weapon was a gun of some kind, one that was different and the others they had seen so far. As they got close to the cow he raised his weapon and fired a beam, a laser beam to be exact, in the area in front of him and moved it side to side, no doubt to keep them from assisting the Droids of this realm, but in that moment Spike noticed that all they had to do was jump and glide over to where the cow was standing. Once they knew what to do Spyro quickly glided over to where their foe was standing and landed behind him, where he used is tail to trip the cow from behind, allowing Ember to glide above him and slam her hardened tail into his exposed chest, knocking the cow out and releasing a Spirit Particle in the process, before they entered the chamber that was in front of them.
It was in that moment that the siblings discovered another Droid floating near an elevator of some kind, where they picked up the four green gems that happened to be resting around the elevator, before heading to where the Droid was waiting for them, as the elevator seemed to be the only way for them to move forward, making them wonder if something had happened to the device in question.
"With all of the budget cuts that we've been experiencing, the elevators need serious work!" the Droid commented, informing the siblings that there was something wrong with the various circular elevators that were scattered throughout this realm, meaning that whatever information the Droid could provide them would be quite helpful as they explored the rest of Metropolis, before the Droid focused on them for a moment, "As you can see, this one is stuck, though I suspect that if one of you were to whack it you would be able to get it working again."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as it seemed strange that a maintenance Droid would think simply whacking an elevator would turn it back on or fix whatever was wrong with it, but that didn't stop them from climbing onto it, which was the moment that Spyro and Spike gave Ember some room as she used the Headbash on the elevator and caused it to shudder for a few seconds, only to sink into the floor as it headed down towards the other room that it was connected to. When the elevator came to a stop in the small room that it brought them to, and allowed them to get off it without having to worry about it leaving on them, the siblings spotted a small tunnel that lead to the next area they needed to explore, where they found a pig that happened to have a decent sized missile strapped to its back, or maybe it was a rocket due to the fact that it was larger than the missiles they had seen in the past. Before any of them even moved towards the tunnel they picked up the four gems that were around where the elevator came to a stop, where all of them were yellow colored, before they focused on the tunnel, where the pig ignited its rocket and raced towards the area that they were standing in, but in the seconds before it could hit them Spike snapped up a barrier and let the pig hit it, protecting himself and his siblings from the explosion that followed. Once that was done he lowered the barrier and picked up the three gems that were to their right as Spyro and Ember knocked the next cow onto its back and quickly knocked it out, allowing them to move a little before they spotted a bipedal cow, without any armor on and happened to be holding a shield in one hand, blocking the way forward.
Instead of attacking the cow instantly, like they did to all of the other enemies they had seen so far, the siblings took a few steps back and made sure they were out of the cow's sight, as he looked ready to attack anyone that tried to pass him and wasn't part of the insurrection, which was the moment that they turned to each other for a few seconds, as there was something they needed to talk about before they went any further.
"Okay, who in their right mind gave farm animals weapons?" Spyro inquired, though the look in his eyes told both of his siblings that he was hoping that Moneybags wasn't behind what they had discovered, especially since he was going to be in hot water once they told Elora and the others about his involvement in the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, but even then he knew there was a slim chance of his hope being correct.
"Given his access to weapons, and all sorts of military weapons, I'm willing to blame Moneybags," Ember replied, but even as she said that she sighed, because it seemed like she was blaming the bear for every problem they found as they explored Avalar, or the majority of the problems anyway, and neither of her brothers could blame her for thinking that way, since Moneybags hadn't done anything to show that he was on their side.
"We would have to ask one of the rebellious animals to figure out how they got the weapons they're using against the Droids of this realm," Spike added, because while he knew that his siblings wanted to figure out what was going on, to this realm anyway, he knew that the answer could only be gained from the animals that were attacking the Droids, something that was going to be hard since all of them seemed highly aggressive and didn't want to talk about anything, before he took a moment to think about something, "anyway, we're going to need names for the enemies we've seen so far, and I already have a few ideas on what we can call the three types we've seen so far."
Spike's suggestions on the names were simple, as the suit wearing cows he felt should be Space Cows, the pigs were Rocket Pigs, just because that seemed to fit them more than anything else, and the cows that didn't have suits could be called Blaster Cows, as he was positive that what those cows did with their guns was different from what the Space Cow had done with his weapon. Spyro and Ember thought about the names for a moment, not even surprised by the fact that their brother already had names for the enemies they had encountered so far, but as they considered the names they found that neither of them could actually complain about them, as each name fit the type of enemy in question and would give them a good idea of what they should expect if they found one of those foes further along the path they happened to be following, something they knew would happen. As such they returned to the path they had been following and dodged the blast that the Blaster Cow fired at them, to which Ember approached their foe and watched as it raised the shield it was holding to protect itself from the front, leaving its backside exposed as Spyro walked around it and flamed their target in the back, causing it to fall in the process. There happened to be another Blaster Cow to their right, up some steps and just so happened to be guarding a pair of metallic vases, so while Spyro and Ember dealt with that foe Spike turned his attention to the pair of Rocket Pigs that were guarding the next passageway, along with a Space Cow, so all he did was take a few steps forward and use his barrier to protect himself from the incoming attacks. The moment the Rocket Pigs were taken out, and the smoke cleared, Spike struck the Space Cow with one of his Arcane Missiles, knocking the cow off the floor and sent it flying over the short gap that was behind it, though as that happened he heard the sound of his siblings breaking the metallic vases.
He barely had to wait at all as Spyro and Ember returned to him, to which the three of them jumped over the small gap that was in front of them and landed in the next small room that they would be walking through as they made their way to where the Inventor Droid was waiting, where they found two gems and a pair of metallic vases, stuff they quickly dealt with before heading down the passage that was in front of them. The next chamber just so happened to have three more Rocket Pigs standing near the middle pillar, to which Spike wasted no time in blasting all three of them with his Arcane Missiles, knocking them around the chamber and taking them out so he and his siblings wouldn't have to worry about them or the explosions that came from their rockets. The did, however, pick up all the gems that were in the area and smash the couple of metallic vases that were nearby, along with Spike throwing up another barrier over the very short tunnel that would take them to the next room, mostly to take out yet another Rocket Pig before any of them could be hurt by that type of foe, before they found a ladder that could be climbed. At the top of the ladder they found a platform, with a slightly raised section to their right, that had a circular metallic chest resting on it, along with a gem to their right, though that was when they noticed a second ladder that would lead them to an area that looked like one of the Droids might be in need of some assistance, but since they usually helped the other residents out after they took care of the main problem, even if it meant backtracking to do so, Spike kept the location of the Droid in his mind as he and his siblings started to turn and leave the area.
That was, of course, followed by Ember hardening her tail as she lashed out at the circular metallic chest, though as Spyro started to open his mouth, however, Spike stopped him and beckoned to the ceiling of the area, as it appeared that there was no way for a missile to easily get into this area, so letting Ember smash the chest now was a good thing, and not even a few seconds later she busted the chest to pieces and collected the gems that had been inside it, allowing them to continue moving through the rest of the obstacles this realm had to throw at them.
The first thing they did was let Spike power down the barrier that he had set up over the passage to the next room, a small place that had an elevator that was being guarded by one of the Space Cows, so Spyro jumped over the laser beam that was coming from their foe's gun and landed beside him, giving him the best chance to flame the cow and knock it down, allowing them to access the area. Once the Space Cow was taken care of the siblings collected the couple of gems that were around the elevator and then jumped onto the device itself, where Spike used the Headbash on the elevator to get it to move, just like Ember had done earlier, to which they discovered that the elevator took them to a level that was just below the area they had been walking through already. The moment they came to a stop the siblings climbed off the device and smashed the four metallic vases that were around the elevator's resting area, before they faced the nearby opening and jumped over the small gap that was between them and the passage that would take them right to where a second elevator was waiting. This one happened to have a number of gems resting around it, so they quickly collected all of them and then jumped onto the elevator, allowing Spyro to have a turn at using the Headbash to power something and let it raise into the air once it had been turned on, taking them to what appeared to be a park area of some kind, or maybe a place to view the night sky.
While Spyro and Ember looked around the area for gems and breakable items, like the glass vase that was nearby and the chest that needed a Headbash to break it, Spike threw out a pair of Arcane Missiles and blasted the pair of Rocket Pigs that happened to be standing near some electrified water, or an electrified pit of some kind, since there didn't appear to be any water in this realm, not inside the structures anyway. While he did that Spyro and Ember broke the glass vase and the bullseye chest that was near the Rocket Pigs, before Spike took them out, though once that was done they headed over to the walkway that happened to be the path they needed to follow and discovered something interesting, there was a Space Cow and a Blaster Cow guarding the way forward. The only reason that was interesting was because most of the previous cow enemies had been apart from each other, never standing so close to the other, and while many might think that this was bad it was actually rather easy for them to deal with the pair of enemies, as both Spyro and Ember glided to the sides of the Space Cow and avoided its laser, causing it to turn around as they rushed at the Blaster Cow. What that did was lower the first cow's defenses and let Spike blast it in the back, knocking it to the floor in the process, while Spyro and Ember dodged the incoming blasts from the Blaster Cow and let it lower its shield in front of Spyro's face, which was the moment that Ember attacked it from behind and knocked it out, allowing the three of them to continue along the walkway as they continued to explore the rest of Metropolis.
The siblings discovered that there happened to be a few gems along the way, though as they collected them Spike threw up a barrier and knocked out yet another Rocket Pig, one that came from the tunnel that was in front of them, one that would no doubt take them closer to where the inactive exit portal for this realm was located, before they turned their attention to the Blaster Cow that was in the way. Fortunately, thanks to the practice they had on the previous cows of this type, it was rather easy for them to get around the blasts and the shield that their foe had to use against them, which was followed by them flaming the cow and knocking it backwards through the tunnel, something that gathered the attention of a Space Cow that appeared to be guarding another elevator. None of them were even worried about this sort of foe, as both Spyro and Spike glided to their foe's sides and tripped the cow, allowing Ember to come crashing down on their target and knock it out, which gave them access to the elevator as another Spirit Particle was released into the air, though unlike most of the previous elevators this one didn't have any gems resting around it, meaning they could simply use the device and continue on their way. As such the siblings got on it and let Ember use the Headbash to get it moving, where it took them up into the air and gave them a decent view of the rest of the structure they happened to be in, where they did spot a few tunnels that went through the buildings, a number of gems and vases scattered everywhere, and a few sphere shaped constructs, ones that were connected to something in the electrified area.
Once the elevator came to a stop the siblings turned around and jumped onto the cliff area that was in front of them, though as they spotted another Droid, this one standing near the inactive exit portal, Spike froze for a moment as he spotted the Powerup Gate for this realm, the only difference between it and the previous ones they had used as that this one had two symbols on it, the Superflame and Superfly symbols to be exact.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, its good to see you." a voice said, where Spyro and Ember were looking at the female Droid that was standing beside the strange Powerup Gate, as they could tell that it was female based on the shape of its body and the metallic dress it was wearing, while at the same time their brother was staring at the Powerup Gate, showing that he was more interested in it at the moment, "I had heard that you were coming to assist me, though I wish to thank all of you for your efforts in thwarting this attempted coup, by stopping the pigs and cows that you fought to reach this point. Here, please take this item, which living creatures seem to like, as a token of our gratitude."
For the first time, during their adventure in Avalar, Spike barely noticed as one of the residents of the realms they had helped out produced an Orb as their reward for helping them, rather Spyro took it and let it rest on the ground for now, as he was sure that it would take his brother a moment or two to get over whatever he was feeling right now and then come back to him and Ember.
"And here I thought finding the Superfreeze Gate was amazing," Spike commented, referring to what happened when he, Spyro, and Ember found the ice version of the Superflame Gate in Cloud Temples, an ability that none of them were even expecting to find, and yet here they were, staring at something that none of them had even seen before, in fact the seven of them were likely the only ones that had laid eyes on this Powerup Gate, before he turned and faced the Inventor Droid for a moment, "What do you call this?"
"Its a first for Avalar, the first of several Combination Powerup Gates, designed to give the user two abilities when they pass through it, instead of one," the Inventor Droid replied, her tone suggesting that she was happy to see that Spike was taking such an interest in her work, especially since he wasn't someone that had worked on it with her, while part of what she said informed him that she had more of these planned and that the Superflame/Superfly Gate was only the first in a long line of Combination Powerup Gates that she intended to make, before she spotted something, "Though its a good thing you guys are here to test it out, as there is a group of invading sheep, using spaceships I might add, coming towards our position, with codes to get through the protective barrier!"
"Hold on a moment, how did they get their claws on spaceships?" Spyro asked, because now things were starting to make even less sense than they did when they first stopped and questioned how farm animals had acquired all of the various weapons they were using, and he could tell that both Spike and Ember were staring out into the area in front of them as three spaceships, with bipedal looking sheep, based on what they could see from a distance, quickly breached the transparent barrier and ended the area.
"Correction, sheep have hooves, not claws." the Inventor Droid stated, clearly showing that she didn't understand that dragons were the ones that used claws in place of hands, though it wasn't the thing that was bothering them right now, as they were more interested in Spyro's question than anything else as they kept their eyes on the spaceships, before the Droid spoke up again, "There are two possibilities, one that is rather unlikely and one that has a high chance of being the correct option. The former is that one of the other Droids gave the sheep the access codes, to attack us for some unknown reason, while the latter is that someone who has access to an arsenal of weapons and equipment was approached and struck a deal with the rebellious farm animals... and there are only a few people with that type of power."
"Let me guess, one of them is Moneybags." Ember said, though she was angry, because if they found out that the bear was behind yet another battle in one of the realms of Avalar, even if it wasn't a war like what was going on between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, than she was going to take Spike's notes on the matter and give them to Elora, Hunter, the Professor, and whoever else needed to see it.
"Affirmative." the Inventor Droid answered, showing that she must have already assembled a list of candidates that had that type of power, at least the ones that she and the other Droids knew about to be exact, while clearly ignoring the fact that Ember was angry at what she was seeing and wanted to break all of the spaceships, to put an end to this and see if one of the sheep would tell them anything about how they got their weapons, "The others are Hunter and the Professor, both of whom are allies of Metropolis and haven't been seen here since Ripto started his rampage, so neither of them could be behind this attack."
"Well then, we'll take the fight to them and clear the skies, and see if we can't capture one in the process," Spyro said, as he knew that Ember would be upset over this, especially if Moneybags was actually involved in what they were seeing at the moment, but at least she knew what they were doing, while Spike seemed to get over what he was feeling since he laid eyes on the Combined Powerup Gate.
Spike wasted no time in slipping the Orb the Inventor Droid gave them into the Guidebook and then returned it to his satchel, which was the moment that he ran through the gate that was in front of them and took off, focusing his attention on the spaceships that were currently flying around the area, to which Spyro and Ember nodded her heads and followed after him, leaving the ground as they passed through the modified gate and took to the skies. The sheep, seeing them take to the air, did the smart thing and remained in three different areas, mostly to split the siblings up, and then fired on them when one of them got too close, showing that they were aggressive and that they were more than willing to attack dragons to complete their coup. Spyro and Ember simply rolled out of the way as the blasts came at them, recalling the training and lessons they received on how to fly, and returned fire as soon as the spaceships they were chasing stopped what they were doing, where they blew the ships apart with a well placed Superflame fireball, leaving Spike to deal with his foe, who he hadn't destroyed yet. Every time Spike's spaceship fired at him, as his siblings discovered, their brother would summon a barrier to protect himself from the attack and then, before his foe could repeat that process, he would reflect the blast back at the spaceship, damaging it in the process, though they could tell that he was trying to find a way to knock out the vehicle and capture the sheep that was piloting it. In the end, however, he simply blasted the spaceship he was chasing with a Superflame fireball and knocked it out of the air, just like Spyro and Ember had done, to which the three of them turned around and headed back to where the Inventor Droid was waiting for them, as it was more important to talk to her than it was to collect all the gems, ballooned vases, and everything else they had seen while they were flying around this part of the building the portal had brought them to.
"Excellent work! You three knocked those sheep right out of the sky." the Inventor Droid stated, once more showing that she was impressed by what they had done, in her own way of course, before she pulled out a second Orb for them to take, even though she didn't have a bag like all of the other residents they had assisted in the past, meaning she had to have some sort of storage area she was keeping them in, "Here, take this orb device as proof of your... oh no, my radars are showing that we have more sheep incoming!"
The siblings sighed, as they would have thought that quickly taking out the first wave would have told the rest of the sheep that they weren't to be messed with, but even as they considered that five more spaceships breached the barrier and passed into the area they were in, to which they headed back through the Combination Powerup Gate and took to the skies once more. This time around they wasted next to no time in attacking the invading sheep, where they split up and targeted three of the five ships, doing exactly what they did when the first wave attacked this area, and it wasn't long before the sheep that were piloting them were knocked out of the air, much to their surprise, allowing the siblings to focus on the other two spaceships that remained. The fourth one fell just as easily as the previous ones did, especially since both Spyro and Ember attacked it at the same time and from two different directions, allowing Spike to focus his attention on the fifth and final attacker, unless there was yet another wave after this, something he would have to find out once they were done helping the Inventor Droid out. What Spike was doing was studying the spaceship for signs of weaknesses, ones that he could use in his plan, and sure enough he found a spot that looked like if it was frozen he could knock the vehicle out of the sky, to which he flew close and envisioned what he did back in Cloud Temples, when he and his siblings first used the Superfreeze ability, and loosed a burst of ice instead of a burst of fire.
The results were instantaneous, as whatever was powering the spaceship was frozen in a matter of seconds and that, in turn, knocked the spaceship out of the air, where Spike watched as the vehicle crashed into the ground near where the exit portal was located, though as the latch to the control area opened he landed in front of the sheep that had been flying the spaceship around and stared at it, just to give the Inventor Droid enough time to cuff him.
"Listen, you and your friends are in a lot of trouble, but you might be able to lessen your punishment if you cooperate with me for a few moments," Spike said, where he could see that the sheep was giving him his full attention, whether it was because he had no choice or because it was better than listening to the Inventor Droid he had no idea, but it gave him the chance to talk with the sheep for a few moments, "How did you and your friends acquire all the weapons that you used to attack this city?"
"Bought them from merchant," the sheep replied, not even surprising Spike by the fact that he could talk, mostly due to the fact that they had been intelligent enough to use weaponry and pilot spaceships, and there was also the fact that he and his siblings had encountered Toasty and the fact that he could talk, before the sheep remembered something else that might be important, "He stayed in shadows, mostly, but he had bag with green gem emblem on it and wore glass in front of one eye, though he happily took gem payment for weapons, spaceships, and access codes."
"This merchant, was he a bear by chance?" Spike asked, though while he was hoping the sheep would say no, just so he could prove Ember wrong, he was writing all of this down while the Inventor Droid seemed to be recording what their friend was saying, and he even spotted his siblings flying around the rest of the area, smashing everything that was on the various bits of land so they could collect all the gems that were in this part of the realm.
"Yes. Like I said, he mostly stayed in shadows, but when taking payment we got good look and saw it was a bear with glass, a bag, and good suit." the sheep answered, where Spike detected that he wasn't lying to them, he was being truthful and that meant that Moneybags was behind selling him and the other farm animals all the weapons, armor, and vehicles they needed for the coup that he and his siblings happened to stop.
Spike sighed as he nodded his head, allowing the Inventor Droid to inform the sheep that he had been a big help and that he was going to be escorted elsewhere, so they would be out of harm's way, though the Droid did leave behind one more Orb for their collection, to which he slipped it into the Guidebook as he watched his siblings, before making sure all the evidence they had against Moneybags was neatly compiled in a single place. By that he meant that one of his journals, one of the smaller ones to be exact, was going to contain everything they learned about the greedy bear since they arrived in Avalar, every deal he would have forced them to make, and, more importantly, everything he had done to disrupt the peace that the residents had been trying to enjoy, while highlighting the war that was raging between two realms, just to show what he was actually capable of when gems were involved. In fact, as he thought about it, he determined that it was rather frightening to even consider what Moneybags would let happen if someone gave him gems for something, and the best example was the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, a conflict he sparked because he saw the opportunity to earn some gems from the two realms, and he was sure Spyro and Ember would agree with him. Moneybags needed to be stopped, it was as simple as that, where he resolved to tell his siblings the news as soon as they returned to him, giving him some time to collect his thoughts as he finished writing everything they discovered about the bear into a small journal, one that would be given to Elora the next time they saw her, and instructions not to tell Moneybags until after Ripto had been defeated, so he didn't have time to run away.
"Well, that's all of the gems collected." Spyro remarked, as he and Ember had taken care of everything that could have contained a gem, clearing out the rest of the realm in the process, meaning that all they had to do was help out one more Droid and this realm was done, before he and Ember turned towards Spike for a moment, "So, um, did the sheep tell you who was responsible for all of this?"
"Let's just say that Ember was right." Spike answered, to which he put his stuff away and headed down to the area that the elevator was resting in, the one that would take them back to the location of the other Droid they had skipped over earlier, where he could tell that his siblings were following after him and that both of them were shocked by the information that they had been given.
"Moneybags..." Ember growled, as she was way beyond disliking that bear, because at this point there was absolutely nothing the individual in question could do to make up for everything they had discovered during their adventure in Avalar and her siblings knew it, now all they had to do was find Elora, give her the information that Spike had prepared while they were gathering the gems, and then punish Moneybags for his crimes.
Now that they knew who was behind the farm animals getting all of these weapons, and the Inventor Droid even had proof that what Spike had written down was true, the siblings quickly made their way back to where the other worried Droid was located, so they could help him, get the Orb that he would offer them as a reward, and then get out of this realm before Moneybags fled from Avalar. There was a chance he could have done so already, after Ember beat him up outside Winter Tundra's castle, but they would have to wait and see what was going on when they returned to the castle to confront Ripto, though for now they focused their minds on Metropolis and nothing else, allowing them to quickly return to where the Droid was located. There the siblings found an ice ring with a bull on the other side, where the Droid told the three of them that the bull was actually in the armory and that they would need to use the bombs it was in possession of to defeat it, to which Ember jumped in there and started to engage the bull, leaving Spyro and Spike to watch as they both considered the fact that Moneybags was going to be labeled as public enemy number one, and he honestly deserved it at this point, given everything they've discovered so far. It would be interesting to see what happened when Elora and the others learned of his crimes, as in what sort of punishment they would give him, though that would have to wait until Ripto was taken care of first, as the bear might believe that he was in the clear and they didn't want to tip their claws so soon, so hopefully Elora didn't move until they were ready to do so.
In the end it didn't take Ember all that long to knock back the bombs and take down the bull, especially thanks to all the training that she received from Titan and the other Peace Keepers, where the Droid ended up giving them a 'visually pleasing reward', an Orb, that was added to their collection, though once that was done the siblings headed back towards the exit portal, as it was time to put an end to Ripto's rampage and punish Moneybags.
It took Spyro, Spike, and Ember a few moments to retrace their steps to the exit portal for Metropolis, where they got to see the various Droids hard at work repairing the damage that had been caused by the invasion of farm animals, along with the fact that a number of the defeated rebellious animals had been captured, in addition to the sheep that Spike had captured when the last wave of spaceships had entered this area. While all of them were annoyed about what they had discovered, even if Ember was the one that held the most anger at the moment, none of them could deny the fact that they now had more than enough evidence to show Elora and the others that Moneybags wasn't on their side and that he was only acting in his own interests, meaning they could finally punish the bear for his crimes. Sure, the invasion of Metropolis wasn't as bad as some of the other events they had discovered, especially since there was a full blown war going on between two realms, but this put the final nail in the coffin for Moneybags and they were going to make sure that their friends found out what the bear had been doing behind their backs. Of course that would have to wait for the more immediate threat to be taken care of first, which was Ripto and the fact that he held the Power Crystal that went to the Super Portal, but once their main target was defeated they would turn their attention to the bear that was annoying Ember with every action he made, to which they headed through the exit portal and headed back to Winter Tundra.
A few moments later they reappeared just outside the portal that took them to Metropolis and departed from the small room that the portal was resting in, where they made their way to the last Speedway that happened to be in Avalar, since that was the last thing they needed to clear out before they even faced Ripto, and it would give them a chance to cool off before that happened.
Even though the portal to Canyon Speedway was below the place that the castle was located on, and they had to glide down to the area in question, the siblings quickly made their way to the portal and passed through it in seconds, as they were a little eager to see what sort of small island area they would have to fly around this time, especially after the areas that the last three had taken them to. They quickly discovered that the Speedway was inside a canyon of some kind, which wasn't a surprise based on the name that was on the portal, though below them rested a river of lava and there was no snow in this place, something that was odd when one considered that it was part of Winter Tundra, but Spike knew that a homeworld was large and that this place had to be a good distance from the snowy area they had been in a few seconds ago. Another thing they discovered was that there had to be some tunnels between the canyons of this area, meaning that there had to be some targets inside the tunnels that they had to take out, but instead of worrying about that right now they focused on the first obstacle that they needed to take care of and found some rams that happened to be resting on some ledges above the lava. Normally the siblings would have ignored the rams, but since this was a Speedway area they knew that there were eight of them and that they needed to be taken out, so Spyro started to follow the rams that were in front of them as Spike and Ember focused on looking out for any additional obstacles that they might need to take out while they were here.
As they followed the rams, however, the siblings discovered a path that some bikers seemed to be following, so while Spyro continued to follow the path that the rams had created both Spike and Ember pulled away from Spyro, as both of them were focusing on the bikers that had revealed themselves, which was why Spike headed into the tunnel to their right and chased the bikers they had missed while Ember focused on the path to the left and hardened herself as she charged onto the path they were following, smashing the bikes in the process. Spike found that the path he picked out brought him to an area that had a number of vultures flying around in a circle, at a high point of the area the bikers had lead him to, and below him rested the end of a ring path, one that Spyro would likely be finishing in the next few seconds, if his thoughts were correct. As it turned out he was right to think that way, as not a few seconds later his brother emerged from a path under the ramp he had been following and flew through the last of the rings, while at the same time Ember seemed to smash the last of the biker off the path they were following, to which Spike chuckled for a moment as he focused on the vultures, as they seemed to be the last target they needed to take out. What he ended up doing was loose a burst of Arcane Missiles up into the air and watched as each one of the eight bits of arcane energies rushed through the air and struck the targets he had picked out, blasting each of the birds out of the air and caused them to fall into the lava that was below them.
With that done, and all four types of targets had been taken care of, Spike flew up to a point of the canyon that would allow them to rest for a few seconds and waited for his siblings to join him, though it didn't take Spike and Ember long to reach the area he had picked out and came to a stop a few seconds later, allowing him to focus on the gems that suddenly appeared when they came to a stop.
"Well, that was fun... and a tad bit easy." Spyro commented, because while he was glad that they were able to take on the challenge of the Speedway and conquer it like the other three they had tackled, to recover the missing gems before seeing what Hunter wanted them to do in this realm, he had to admit that this Speedway was way too easy, as he was sure that even one of them would have been able to take care of the targets in one go, meaning that all three of them was overkill this time around.
"True, and easy makes things a little boring." Ember said, showing that she agreed with Spyro, that this Speedway had been one of the easiest Flight Realms they had tackled in a long time, especially since she was sure the ones back home hadn't been this easy, but as she said that she glanced at Spike, who was in the process of counting the gems and seeing if the count was the same, "So, four hundred gems this time, right?"
"That's correct, the same as the other Speedways." Spike replied, to which he quickly finished his count and then let their dragonflies collect the gems he had been looking at for a few seconds, gems that had to be the last ones that Ripto had scattered across the realms, meaning all they had to do was retrieve the Orb that was in this realm and then take the fight to their main target, before he turned towards his siblings once the gems were collected, "Well, normally I would say that we should take to the skies and see if we could find Hunter... but he's over there, standing next to what appears to be a plane of some kind."
Spyro and Ember glanced at the area in question and found that Hunter was definitely standing next a winged vehicle that definitely looked like a plane, even if their friend was holding something in his hands, to which the three of them took to the air and headed over to where Hunter was standing, as they were curious as to what he wanted them to do this time around, especially since he likely had an Orb on him.
"Oh, hey guys, I'm glad to see that you took care of the Speedway so quickly." Hunter said, showing that he must have been working on the plane while they had been flying around the area, though as they landed near him he turned to face them, showing that he must have been working on this since the last time they saw him and that he was ready to use it at long last, "Say, would one of you like to hop into my plane and help me test it out? Thanks to all the repairs I just did to it, both on my own and the ones that I had to ask the Professor about, it won't be crashing anytime soon."
"Sure, we could use one more distraction before the fight with Ripto," Spyro replied, showing that he was willing to jump into the plane and fly out into the canyon so Hunter could make sure everything was in working order, even if there had to be another part to this that they weren't seeing, not that Spike and Ember were saying anything at the moment, so all they had to do was wait and see what their friend had to say.
"Sweet! Okay, I've got the plane connected to this remote, which has a map of the entire canyon, so what I want you to do is use the plane's machine gun to shoot down the various targets I set up." Hunter stated, informing the siblings of the other part of what he wanted one of them to do, though that didn't stop Spyro from nodding his head, showing that he was ready for anything and everything that their friend could throw at them.
Once Spyro climbed into the plane, and took his seat at the controls, Hunter sent the vehicle out into the canyon and started to test it out, where Spike and Ember watched as their brother opened fire on the balloons that happened to be his targets, as he blasted them apart as Hunter moved him around the area and then headed to another part of the canyon to continue the test. This time around Spike and Ember took to the skies and followed the plane, mostly so they could see where Hunter took their brother and how many targets he had to take down as he moved through the area, but one thing they agreed on was the fact that Spyro was doing a good job of blasting the targets apart, showing how skilled he was at this sort of thing. Most of the targets, as they soon discovered, were green colored balloons and a few were blimp shaped balloons, but that didn't stop their brother from blasting at each one of them as Hunter moved him around the Speedway, making sure to test the machine gun function to the best of its ability, just in case there was something else that Hunter needed to work on in the future. In fact the only real challenge that Spyro had was near the end of the test, as the last couple of balloons were harder to hit than the others had been, but that proved to be nothing before Spyro's skill as he blasted all of them and waited to see if there were any additional targets, while Hunter recalled him back to where the plane had been resting a few moments ago.
Hunter said nothing as he moved the plane back into position and had it land where it had been resting earlier, which was when he helped Spyro out of the area he had been sitting in, before he took a step back and smiled as he checked the plane for a few seconds, just to be sure that nothing had come loose during the practice run, even though the siblings were sure that such a thing hadn't happened.
"Well, everything checks out and the plane is in one piece. Here, I found this before you guys arrived and figured that I would give it to you when you found me." Hunter said, where he produced the final Orb that the three of them would be collecting during this adventure, as that was Spike's opinion since it appeared that they had helped all of the realms that rested throughout Avalar, and handed it over to them, to which Spike slipped it into the Guidebook immediately, "Now go kick Ripto out of the castle!"
"That's the plan." Spyro replied, though even as he said that he and his siblings took to the air and departed from the area that Hunter was in, as they knew that he would spend the next couple of minutes making sure his plane was stable before heading to Winter Tundra, giving them more than enough time to head to where Ripto was waiting and see what sort of fight they were going to have with him.
As such the siblings headed for the edge of the canyon area, as they were looking for the boundary that would allow them to leave this realm, and it only took them a few moments to return to the cave that the Canyon Speedway portal was resting in, to which they headed outside, accessed the whirlwind to get back up to the front of the castle, headed through the door that was in front of them, and made their way up the steps so they could return to the passage that would take them right to where Ripto was waiting, with Elora standing beside it.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad to hear that you've helped all of the other realms, even if their problems weren't caused by Ripto this time around." Elora said, informing the siblings that she must have already heard from the residents of the four realms they had helped out, though it was clear that her focus was on making sure Avalar was safe, since she glanced at the open passage that was to her left for a few seconds, before turning towards them again, "Now that you guys have assisted all of the realms that exist throughout Avalar, I guess its time for you to face Ripto and put an end to his plans, and restore peace to Avalar at the same time."
"Its been a long time coming, but we're ready to tackle him and whatever he's got to throw at us." Spike replied, which was the moment that he opened his satchel and removed the journal that contained all the evidence they had collected on what Moneybags had done, something that Spyro and Ember recognized instantly, before he gave it to Elora, who raised her eyebrow for a moment, "We discovered some... interesting... events during our travels in Avalar, where a few of them were outright horrible when we realized what was going on, and that journal contains everything we've learned so far, and who the culprit is, so you might want to look at that and show it to Hunter and the Professor while we tackle Ripto. Trust me, everything that's inside that journal is important."
"Very well, I'll be sure to look at it while you deal with Ripto," Elora stated, showing the siblings that she trusted them and that she would do as she said, meaning that the rest of their friends would know Moneybags' sins in the next couple of minutes, before she considered one other thing that they needed to be told, before they headed through the passage and confronted Ripto, "Oh, the Professor has been gathering the energies of the Powerup Gates into the rest of our Orb collection, the one we kept hidden from Ripto, and, despite the fact that he wants to work on that plane of his, Hunter will be flying around the area to drop the Orbs off for you to use, though you should know that you have to get three of them to access one of the abilities they'll give you. And there's also the chance that you guys might be able to wield new abilities that we've never seen before, so there's no telling how the fight with Ripto will go... but, despite all that, I have the feeling you guys are going to emerge as the victors and restore peace to Avalar."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads as they headed down the passage and discovered that the arena they would be fighting Ripto in was a circular ring that had lava around it, something that wouldn't bother two of them, and it only took them a moment to figure out where Ripto was standing, as he had attached a golden handle to the stolen Power Crystal and turned it into a scepter. None of them were surprised by that, since he seemed to love using scepters, though before they moved Spike set his satchel and hat aside, so neither of them were damaged by the lava if he fell in, before he and his siblings glided down into the area in front of them, where Ripto attempted to fire a beam of rainbow energy at three sheep, even though he ended up missing.
"Gaaaah!" Ripto declared, showing his annoyance for the fact that the sheep actually dodged his attack and scattered not even a few seconds after the beam disappeared, meaning he would have to try and target them one at a time, which would have made good target practice had the siblings not arrived when they did, even if they were still gliding into the area their foe was standing in, "Come back here and let me hit you, you useless animals!"
"You know, that's not the right way to treat them," Spyro commented, to which he and his siblings landed near Ripto, as in each of them landed between their foe and one of the sheep he had been targeting, meaning the sheep could get out of this area, since they were sure Hunter would fly in and help them out of here, but their focus was on their foe and their eyes were open for any attacks he threw their way, "trust me on this, mistreating sheep can come back to bite you at some point, even if it takes years for something to happen."
"What, not YOU THREE again?!" Ripto moaned, his tone revealing that he really didn't like them, both for putting an end to his plans in the various realms of Avalar and the fact that they had beaten both Crush and Gulp, though it was also clear that he had been hoping that they would have given up at some point, "There's no way you three should have been able to follow me here, not when I have this new scepter and the power that is inside it."
"Sorry Ripto, but with the power of the fourteen Talismans and sixty-four Orbs, we were able to open the door and use the passage to reach this area." Spike remarked, though the interesting fact was that Ripto must have tried to cast a spell on the door in question, not even taking into account that they might have acquired enough items to break the seal before it was even placed, before he considered something for a moment, "Though it looks like you need some practice with your new scepter, before you can cast the more impressive spells... why don't you try coming at us with it?"
"You know, I actually like that idea." Ripto said, where the siblings had to resist the urge to chuckle at him, as they did find it a little humorous that someone who disliked dragons, for reasons unknown and would likely never figure out based on how things were going, was agreeing with one of them and what they said, which was followed by the funny part, as he slapped his face as soon as he realized what he had done, before glaring at them with anger in his eyes, "Dragons, you have sealed your fates!"
"I'd like to see you try your luck against us!" Ember stated, showing Ripto that she was ready as she, Spyro, and Spike prepared themselves for the greatest battle they would have in Avalar, against the person that had been causing problems for the various residents of the realms, to which she hardened her scales and assumed her battle stance as Spyro did the same, while Spike silently prepared some spells as they waited for the battle to start.
Ripto, despite his inexperience with his new scepter and the power it held, did do the smart thing and stayed out of their range as he started to move around the arena they would be fighting in, something that he had gleamed from seeing the three of them take down both Crush and Gulp earlier, and what he used to attack them were blasts of magical energy, where it wasn't hard for the siblings to know where the power was coming from. What Spyro, Spike, and Ember did was maintain their distance and dodged the incoming attacks, as Ripto was making a point to target all three of them at the same time, mostly to make sure that none of them could approach him while he was distracted, but even as he did that Spike knew that facing the three of them was going to be quite difficult for someone like Ripto, regardless of the fact that he had seen their previous fights. What was rather interesting was that Ripto seemed to understand that point after a few seconds and actually did something about it, instead of running like Gnasty Gnorc did, as he used his scepter to create two more of himself, Mirror Images to be exact, so each of them faced off against one of the siblings, though he did make sure to use a smoke cover for a few seconds so he could shroud himself, making it hard to determine which of the Riptos was the real one and which was the fake one. While Spyro and Ember fought their Riptos, and Spike dodged the blasts that were coming from his foe, Spike recalled the information he knew about this particular spell, as it could create between one to five copies of the user, for whatever purpose the user had in mind, and each of them had access to every skill and scrap of knowledge that the original had, meaning the clones knew every spell that Ripto knew, though the downside for their foe was that none of them were all that skilled with their scepters, so all they really had to worry about was dodging the blasts that were thrown at them.
Of course Ripto didn't take into account a few things, like the fact that none of the blasts really did anything to Ember thanks to her hardening skill, as she stopped dodging once and one of the blasts struck her in the side, but she emerged with no damage taken, as the evidence was shown by the fact that Cinder hadn't taken any damage, and didn't seem all that impressed before she went on the offensive. Spyro, on the other claw, dodged the blasts like they were nothing and let each bit of magic fly off into the side of the walls that were keeping the lava contained in this arena, though they did no damage to the walls and only seemed to infuriate Ripto more than he already was, especially since the one he was facing couldn't hit him at all. Spike stayed in one area and did what he was used to doing, summoning a barrier that could only take one hit between him and his foe's attacks, mostly because they didn't cost that much energy to use and he was able to, as some dragons called it, spam the spell as much as he wanted, so he kept himself safe as he studied their foe, both his version and the ones his siblings were fighting, so he could see what sort of weaknesses Ripto had, mostly for when the Mirror Images were taken care of and he moved onto something else. In fact what they were doing seemed to be making Ripto even angrier at them, not that he had any right to complain or be angry since this was mostly his doing, and when someone got this mad they were likely to make mistakes and reveal an opening they could use, which was what they were looking for so they could get this fight started for real, especially since Hunter hadn't shown up yet.
After a minute or two of doing that the siblings nodded to each other and lashed out at their foes, Ember striking her Ripto square in the face with her hardened tail, Spyro charging into his to knock him backwards, and Spike reflecting one of the blasts into the chest of his foe, forcing all three of them to collide with each other and shatter the spell, revealing a single Ripto once more, who only frowned at them as he picked himself up.
"Come on Ripto, you can't beat us," Spyro stated, because while he knew that Ember, at the very least, wanted to fight their foe he also understood that Ripto didn't have the power to best them, hence the reason he wanted to bring an end to the fight, so they could pin him down and put an end to his rampage, "how about you just surrender and give us the Power Crystal, then we can end this fight..."
"NO! I refuse to surrender to a dragon, much less a group of them." Ripto replied, where he glared at them for a few seconds, his eyes still showing his intense anger towards the three of them purely because of what they were, though as he did that he raised his scepter and focused his power, showing that he was going to continue to attack them and that there was nothing they could do to stop them.
This time around Ripto made sure that each of his attacks contained the rainbow energy that he had used against the sheep earlier, even if he had missed, to which the siblings scattered as they continued to attack him, where it looked like he might have empowered himself to the point where most of their basic skills did nothing, as he only chuckled as Spyro charged into him. Spike understood what their foe was doing, it was an empowerment spell that relied on knowing what sort of attacks and tricks one's foe was using and he was sure he could pull it off as well, even if he hadn't practiced this particular spell at all, but even as he considered that he and his siblings noticed Hunter fly in on his jetpack, which was better late than never, and he had a sack that contained the modified Orbs the Professor had been working on. What the siblings discovered was that there were three colored Orbs for them to pick from, a fiery red, a pulsing blue, and an acid green, though instead of dropping them anywhere near them, even if they were scattered, Hunter seemed to insist on dropping the Orbs all over the area, meaning there was a chance that Ripto could pick some up and empower himself for a short period of time as well. Spike and Ember, seeing that happen, did the first thing that came to mind and focused on running to the various Orbs as Spyro stayed near their foe, dodging the incoming blasts as he distracted their foe, even though he had likely seen Hunter drop the Orbs and wanted to pick up a few of them himself, just to keep their power out of their claws, which was a smart thing to do.
Of course, as Ember picked up a red Orb and knocked it over to where Spyro as standing, so he could collect it, Spyro also picked up a green one, giving him two to use in this battle, though so far neither of them were giving him any powers that could be used against Ripto, where Spike quickly understood what was going on, as it appeared that modifying the Orbs decreased the amount of power each of them had, so to use the powerups they likely needed three or more Orbs to draw out the power within them. As he thought about that, however, Ripto seemed to change tactics and rushed towards the blue Orb that was near him, to which he grinned for a moment as he rushed the Orb and loosed his green flames at it, causing the entire thing to disappear, much to Ripto's surprise, before it appeared near Spyro, who collected the Orb and accessed whatever powerup was inside the three he held. It was in that moment that Spike and Ember watched as their brother rushed through the area like he was using the Supercharge ability, something that caught Ripto off guard since the first attack came from the front due to Spyro rushing around to his front so he could see him, though that was when they discovered that Spike's thoughts were correct, that Ripto's empowerment spell only worked for their skills, as the ones that came from the Orbs could actually damage their foe, as Spyro slammed into him and knocked him backwards for a moment, even though being charged into had to hurt Ripto a little.
During that series of events Ripto did manage to pick up a pair of green Orbs as he ran away from Spyro, and Spike and Ember couldn't prevent that since he ran away from where they were positioned, though when the Supercharge ran out Ripto grinned as he picked up a blue Orb and started to charge after Spyro again, showing that he understood what he needed to do. While he did that, however, Spike and Ember did the reasonable thing, they ran around the area and picked up some of the Orbs that Hunter was dropping for them to use, though their brother saw what they were doing and made sure to whack a green one out of Ripto's reach, which happened to be the third one that Spike collected, allowing a look that was similar to the Superflame ability, only acid green colored, to appear on him for a time. In that form Spike found out something interesting, he could spit spheres of poison or acid that exploded when they struck the ground, meaning that this was a Poison Spitting ability of some kind, though he focused on targeting Ripto, who fled from him the moment he gained the ability and started to use it against him, even hitting him a few times int he process. When his new ability faded, and he no longer had the power to spit exploding green spheres at his foe, Ember grabbed the last Orb she needed and took on the Superflame look once more, where she went on the offensive and started to blast Ripto as many times as she could, mostly so she could get the maximum usage out of her ability before it faded away.
After the three of them had a turn using one of the powerups that the Orbs could give them, and made sure to hurt Ripto with their abilities, their foe got annoyed with what was going on and rushed to the middle of the arena, where he raised his scepter into the air and then stabbed it into the floor, where the siblings watched as he quickly summoned a mechanical version of Gulp for him to ride on and use in combat.
While anyone would be intimidated by what Ripto was able to do with the scepter, by summoning such a being to his side in a matter of seconds, the siblings continued to move around the area that they were in and continued to gather the Orbs that were being dropped by Hunter, though even as that happened Spike noticed that the robot didn't have any of Gulp's abilities, meaning that allowing their foe to gain three Orbs would give his machine the ability to use what Gulp had used against them earlier. Just to be sure that such a thought was correct the siblings gathered a few Orbs each and then let Ripto have a chance to get a few himself, where the last one he picked up was a blue one and he quickly returned to the middle of the arena and loosed a number of electric orbs into the air, to which Spike let them rain down on where he and his siblings were standing and used the Reflection spell to bounce them back at the machine, this time barely doing anything to it since it wasn't like Gulp. Spyro, taking on the Poison Spitting ability this time around, found that he was able to spit eight spheres at the robot as it cowered due to him getting enough Orbs to use one of the three powers he and his siblings could use, where half of them did nothing and four of them actually damaged the robot, meaning it could be more of an Acid Spitting ability than a Poison Spitting ability. Spike managed to take on the Supercharge ability as Ember took on the Superflame, to which they took turns hitting the robot with their new powers and damaged it a few times in rapid succession, all while making sure it couldn't do anything to them, which had to be annoying Ripto since he couldn't do any damage to the three of them.
When their abilities faded away, and they returned to normal, Ripto's robot returned to the middle of the arena and shattered into a thousand pieces before their eyes, pieces that faded away since they were made out of magic, though while Ripto fell to the floor one of the fragments of his robot, before it disappeared, actually reached the area that Hunter was in and spooked him, causing him to drop the entire container of Orbs he was carrying and scattered all of them over the arena. Ripto, seizing the opportunity, grinned as he stabbed the fallen Orb that was in front of him and created a new robot, a pterodactyl this time around, before taking off as the rest of the platform started to collapse, where Spyro took one and headed into the sky, showing Spike and Ember that the other Orbs had contained the energies of the new type of Powerup Gate that the Inventor Droid created, the Combination Powerup Gate that was the Superflame and Superfly they used in Metropolis. Unfortunately the rest of those Orbs fell into the lava that was around the arena as it shattered, or at least that was what Ripto would have thought, to which Spike and Ember nodded as they dived into the lava and sought out one of the other Orbs that would allow them to do what their brother was doing, who decided that he might as well mess with Ripto a little and reveal something interesting to their foe, just like what happened when they engaged Gnasty Gnorc a year ago.
"Its too bad your siblings fell in the lava," Ripto said, though his tone revealed that he was overjoyed that two of his foes were now removed from the battle and that he could focus on the remaining dragon that was in front of him, as if he felt that he could actually win this fight now that it was just the two of them, "Sorry dragon, but it seems that your time has come at last!"
Spyro said nothing to that, mostly to look like he was terrified of what happened to his siblings, and as Ripto laughed at what happened he noticed Spike and Ember burst out of the lava that was directly behind the area that their foe's new robot was floating in, where his siblings leveled themselves with Ripto and blasted the robot in the back, something that caused their foe to stop laughing as he glanced back at them.
"WHAT?! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!" Ripto shouted, his tone showing that he didn't like what happened, even if he had no idea how they had survived bathing in the lava that was below them, though even as he said that Spike and Ember returned to Spyro's side as they faced their foe, as it was time to put an end to this battle and restore peace to Avalar, and reclaim the Power Crystal as well.
"Sorry Ripto, but Ember and I are unique among dragons, thanks to our lava immunity." Spike replied, though both he and his siblings had to resist the urge to chuckle as a look of shock appeared on their foe's face, showing that he wasn't expecting such a response in the first place, but as he thought about that the look of anger and hate returned to his eyes, showing that he was annoyed with them once more.
"THAT'S CHEATING?!" Ripto declared, confirming the fact that what Spike and Ember did had ticked him off and that he wasn't happy with them, but that was before his robotic pterodactyl took off from where it was floating and started to move away from the siblings, showing that the final round of their battle was about to start and that they had to be ready for anything he could throw at them.
As it turned out Ripto flew around the area that was above the ruined arena and tried to blast them with green blasts of energy, though he was at a disadvantage thanks to the fact that his robot didn't have the skills that they possessed and only moved in a straight line, to which the siblings blasted their foe with the Superflame fireballs, which raced through the air and slammed into the side of his robot. When that happened Ripto would speed off and try to hit them from another area of the arena, mostly hoping to catch them off guard or something, but, once more, the skills that Nestor and the other dragons had taught the siblings was more than enough to overcome their foe's tactics and let them blast the robot a few more times, causing Ripto to repeat the process all over again. The only thing that made this round of the fight a little different from the other rounds, save for the lost Orbs, was the fact that Ripto did fly out of the arena and tried to move around the outskirts of the entire area, only to be forced backwards as the siblings caught up and turned him back to where they were supposed to be fighting. Other than that there was nothing they had to worry about as they dodged the incoming blasts and rolled out of the way as the robot pterodactyl tried to charge one of them a few times, while they, in turn, proceeded to blast the robot with their Superflame ability, damaging it more than it could ever hurt them, before they noticed that smoke was coming from the robot.
In no time the robot eventually stalled and exploded rather suddenly, though what the siblings did was fly into the spot it had been in and caught Ripto before he could fall in the lava, mostly so they could send him back to the land that was his home, while Spike caught the scepter and carefully extracted the Power Crystal, restoring order to Winter Tundra as he and his siblings exited the area... only to find that Elora and the others were standing near the Super Portal, waiting for them to return.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I don't think we can ever thank you guys enough for what you've done for us," Elora said, her tone showing that she was incredibly grateful for what they had done, in taking Ripto out and restoring the peace that he had broken, though that was before she leaned forward and put a kiss on both Spyro and Spike's heads, while bumping her fist with Ember's for a moment, before she focused on what else she was going to say as Spike returned his satchel and hat to their proper places.
"Hey, we were more than happy to help you guys out, once we figured out what was going on." Spyro replied, where he gestured to Ripto with one of his wings for a moment, even though the person in question was half there and half not there, thanks to what happened during their battle, before glancing back to their new friends, "So, do you think you can send him back to the land he came from?"
"I can indeed." the Professor spoke up, to which he turned towards the Super Portal for a moment and pulled out a remote of some kind, one that he tapped a few numbers into and let the siblings watch as a new portal opened before their eyes, while they noticed that, while they were fighting Ripto, he had put some Orbs into the structure so he could use the portal, before he glanced back to them and nodded.
In that moment Spyro, Spike, and Ember bid farewell to Ripto before they tossed him into the portal and sent him back to the land he had come from, where they waited for a few seconds before the Professor turned off the Super Portal for now, allowing them to return to the matter at hand, as there was something else they needed to take care of, even if Moneybags, who was standing nearby, had no idea what was coming next.
"Now then, are we ready to move forward?" Ember asked, to which Elora and the others nodded their heads, even if the bear in question seemed to be lost at the moment, where she glared at Moneybags and walked towards him, since he was the one that needed to be punished next, and it was in that moment that he understood what was going on, even if he didn't want to believe it, "Moneybags, for your crimes against all of Avalar, you are under arrest, so I would suggest that you simply stand down before you make things worse for yourself."
"You said you wouldn't tell them about my involvement." Moneybags stated, though that was when Hunter pounced on him and made sure to cuff him, showing the bear that everyone that had sided with the siblings knew what he had done and that they were very unhappy with him, not that any of them really liked him in the first place, but his attention was on the siblings at the moment.
"I did, but then we found a talking sheep while we were stopping an invasion in Metropolis, and he told us that you sold him and his allies the weapons they were using, so I changed my mind." Ember remarked, though she said nothing else as Hunter pulled an angry Moneybags away from the area they were in, no doubt to be imprisoned for the rest of his life in Avalar's dungeons.
The siblings watched Hunter cart off Moneybags, knowing that they had done Avalar two great services during their time in this land, in stopping Ripto and bringing the greedy bear to justice, even if Ember wanted a piece of him, meaning that they could now focus their efforts on making sure peace had been restored to this land and then, once that had come to pass, the three of them could turn their attention to heading back home.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember were happy with themselves, as they were able to help Elora, Hunter, the Professor, and the rest of Avalar with their problems by taking down Crush, Gulp, and finally Ripto, secured the stolen Power Crystal, set their beaten foe back to the land that he had come from, and brought peace back to the majority of Avalar, which would bring joy to the rest of the land. In addition to such a thing, which was worthy of being written down for the ages, something that Spike would be doing later, the siblings had been able to gather enough evidence to convince their new friends of the threat that Moneybags posed to this land and what he had done since they were brought to Avalar, sending the greedy bear to jail for his crimes, even if Ember personally felt that he deserved more than spending the rest of his life in jail. Still, it was far better than letting him roam the land and profiting from all of the people of Avalar, since he would have likely sold them some terrible or worthless items to make them forget about Ripto, just like he did to Robotica Farms, and soon all of his assets and gems would be seized by the guards, to be put to good use fixing all the problems he caused. The siblings were sure that the bear had a good number of gems that would be turned into the treasury, not to mention items that could be used to help the residents of the other realms out, so once the guard took the time to seize what Moneybags owned they knew things would change for the rest of this land.
Just thinking about that caused Spike to focus on the sack that he had been carrying on his satchel, since he had been sure that Moneybags would have ransacked it if he left it unattended, before he undid the binding and let the sack drop to the ground for a moment, where he glanced at Elora and the Professor, as it was time for him and his siblings to return the stolen gems to their rightful owners.
"By my count, there are ten thousand gems inside this sack," Spike stated, as he had been keeping track of how many gems he and his siblings had collected over the course of their adventure in this land, but now that Ripto was defeated, and Moneybags was heading to jail, it was now time to give Elora the stolen gems so she could return them to the treasury at some point in the future, "and that should be everything that was taken from your treasury, so we're giving you guys everything that Ripto stole from you."
"Actually, about that, you guys can keep the gems, as a token of thanks," Elora replied, where she did notice that Spike made sure the sack was placed near her and the Professor, but once that happened she picked it back up and reattached it to the satchel that Spike was wearing, even though she did know that her actions were going to confuse the siblings for a few seconds, even though this was something she and the others had agreed on.
"Are you sure about this? I mean, these gems belong to you guys." Ember remarked, because while she was surprised by this information, especially since they had gone through the effort to collect all of the gems that had been scattered around the realms of Avalar, she wanted to be sure that Elora meant this and that she wasn't pulling their legs, even if she would be fine with their new friends taking back their gems.
"Yes, I'm sure. What you guys collected is about a fifth of what's inside our treasury," Elora said, though she said that with a smile, to indicate that they wouldn't miss the gems at all, to which Spike nodded his head and let her reattach the sack to his satchel, because since she was letting them have the gems he was going to make sure they were given to Nestor and the other Leaders when they returned to the Dragon Realms, "but we can work with forty thousand gems, and whatever Moneybags was hoarding inside his residence... he's bound to have some interesting items stashed away in his house, not to mention all the gems he's been gathering over the years."
"Speaking of which, we still need to help you guys out with Zephyr and Breeze Harbor," Spyro stated, because now that Ripto had been taken care of, and Moneybags was being sent to jail, there was one more thing they needed to do before they could finally end this adventure and try to find their way home, especially since all three of them had been rather annoyed by what they found in the two realms he mentioned.
"Spyro, you and your siblings have done enough for us since your arrival, but we can't possibly ask you three to help us, and the rest of the guard, stop a war." Elora replied, to which the siblings raised their eyebrows for a moment, as they had been planning this for a while and were honestly surprised when she told them that this was something that she and her allies couldn't ask them to tackle, before she glanced at the Super Portal, where the Professor happened to be working at the moment, "Listen, since we likely intercepted you on your way to a vacation spot, we're going to use the Super Portal and open the way to whatever realm your destination had been, even though we're going to need the Power Crystal and all of the Orbs you've collected, I just need to borrow the Guidebook I gave you back in Glimmer."
Spike nodded his head and withdrew the book in question, where Elora took it and turned towards the Super Portal for a second, while at the same time he made sure to give the Power Crystal to the Professor, who smiled for a moment as he took it, before he took a few steps back and stood beside his siblings as the pair worked on what they were doing, to make the Super Portal ready for use. Elora spent the next few moments withdrawing all of the Orbs that were inside the Guidebook and stored them inside the portal's support pillars, both making them disappear into the pillars themselves and fit a few of them inside the slots that lined them, but she also made sure to pull out the Talismans, no doubt so they could be stored somewhere safe once the portal was open. The Professor, on the other claw, used some sort of moving metallic disk to rise up to where the uppermost slot was located and slipped the Power Crystal into the slot that was at the top of the portal, adding its power to what they were going to do, before he backed off and focused on making sure his calculations were correct. Of course, while all this happened, the siblings were a little caught off guard by the fact that Elora wasn't asking for help in dealing with the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, something that had been on their minds for some time now, but, if Elora wanted them to go on vacation, as a reward for what they did, they guessed that they could do that, even if such a thing slightly annoyed Ember.
"Okay, everything seems to be in order, just let me put in the new coordinates," the Professor commented, where he pulled out a device for a few seconds and made some adjustments to it, though when he tapped the button that was on it they watched as the space between the parts of the structure shimmered for a time, before a portal sprung to life before their eyes, causing him to turn towards the siblings, "Spyro, Spike, Ember, the way to Dragon Shores, as I believe that is what lies on the other side of this portal, is now open, and you three can come back whenever you want."
"Are you absolutely sure you guys don't need help?" Ember asked, because while the idea of a vacation sounded nice, as she was sure that her siblings were thinking the same thing, she really didn't want to leave Avalar just yet, since there was a full blown war going on at the moment, and she was hoping that she wasn't coming off like she was begging for their friends to chance their minds on the matter.
"Don't worry about us, we'll take care of the realms and whatever problems they're dealing with." Elora replied, as she knew that the siblings would do everything in their power to stop something they didn't like, but after going through the effort to take out Ripto and his minions, and fix all the problems they had come across during their visit to Avalar, she did know they deserved a break before something caught their attention, "But, if things get out of hand, we'll be sure to reach out and ask you guys for some help, be it someone like Ripto or a problem we can't solve."
Spyro glanced at Spike and Ember for a moment, finding that neither of them really liked the idea of leaving the war behind like this, before sighing as he nodded his head and headed through the Super Portal, as he guessed that a little bit of rest was in order, after everything that they had been through, though it only took him a few moments to appear in the part of Dragon Shores that portal lead to, only for him to come to a stop as he saw what was in front of him. It didn't take Spike or Ember long to join him, though when they arrived in the area behind him they stared at the area that they had appeared in and looked at what was in front of them, as all three of them were caught off guard by what they discovered, as it was different from what they were expecting to find. It looked like a castle had been built into the part of Dragon Shores that was aligned with where Avalar was located, though that was only the start of the differences, as there was a large metal door in front of them and directly above them rested a large metallic dragon, one that looked more like a toy of some kind, while two dragon statues, reminding the siblings of what Nestor and the others had been trapped in when Gnasty Gnorc attacked them, rested nearby, also made out of metal. There was also a small swimming pool of some kind nearby, where the other side of the Super Portal rested, even if it was just a small portal on this side, as well as a small path that might take them to where the beach was located, but the rather interesting part was that there was a Gnorc, one dressed like a mayor with ruined clothing, standing in front of them.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, we've been awaiting your arrival for some time now," the Gnorc said, surprising the siblings for a few more seconds, as none of the Gnorcs they had faced when they were taking down Gnasty's forces had bothered to talk to them, to stop them in their tracks, but Spike wasn't all that surprised, since he had felt that they were smart and could speak when given the chance, especially after all the machinery they developed, before the Gnorc gestured to the gate that was behind him, which started to open, "Welcome to Dragon Shores Park!"
"You guys made an amusement park... out of Dragon Shores?!" Spyro commented, as that was surprising to both him and his siblings, especially since they were sure that none of the Leaders would have allowed this to happen in the first place, making them wonder what was going on at the moment, but before he could even ask the question he noticed that the Gnorc had something to say, hence the reason he remained silent for a moment.
"We got permission from your Leaders to make this place, provided we built it on the side of island that isn't where the beach rests, hence the path that you have no doubt noticed." the Gnorc said, though he sounded rather pleased with what he and his species had been able to do, especially in such a short period of time since the siblings didn't even know this was happening, before he beckoned to the area that was beyond the gate, "But please, enter the park and have some fun, especially since we put in a lot of hard work to make this place for you and the other dragons... also, if you win ten tokens, you can visit the theater."
Spyro glanced at his siblings for a moment, who were surprised by that information as well, before the three of them walked through the short passage and entered the courtyard that served as the center of the strange park, where they found a tank filled with water, an area with wooden targets, a set of stairs leading to something, a river with some odd seats, and the building that had to be the theater, before they headed towards the tank.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, step right up and see what we have to offer you today!" the Gnorc, who was standing next to the water tank, stated, to which he gestured over to the water tank for a moment and caused the siblings to glance at it for a few seconds, though that was when they noticed that there was someone inside the tank and happened to be sitting on a plank of some kind, or rather it was the yeti from Colossus, before they focused on the Gnorc again, "Inside this here booth you'll find some of the most vicious creatures in the entire land, and all the three of you have to do is take one of my baseballs and spit them at the target to dunk the various creatures into the tank. Do that and I'll give you one of the three tokens that I'm carrying."
Spyro stared at the tank as Ember picked up the baseball and quickly spat at the target in question, where the bored yeti was dropped into the tank and tried to swim in vain, before something collected him and replaced him with a brand new creature for them to dunk, an Earthshaper to be exact, though the Gnorc upheld his part of the deal and gave Spike one of the tokens that was in his possession. Once that was done Spyro took a turn and spat out the baseball that was given to him, hitting the round target with ease and watched as the Earthshaper was dropped into the water, who sunk like a rock and likely had a spot where he could be retrieved, before the tank was reset and the chef they beat up back in Sunny Beach was put on the plank. Spike took a moment to collect the second golden token before picking up the baseball and spat at the target that sprung up, where he and his siblings watched as the chef was dropped into the water and tried to get out of the water, before the helper Gnorcs, as that was who Spike suspected were collecting these guys, pulled him out of the water and started to reset the booth again. In that moment the Gnorc to their left gave them the third token that was in his possession and admitted that he was out of them, but he would let them play as much as they wanted, to which they decided to see what else the other Gnorcs had to offer, before they decided on what they were going to do, as the park wasn't very impressive and they were sure they would be bored out of their minds at some point.
As they walked around the courtyard the siblings found a supposedly locked door that opened when they neared it, but what was on the other side was a Powerup Gate that contained a Superflame Gate, one with an infinity sign that Spike recognized, meaning that it would likely give them the ability for a long period of time, or at least while they stayed in Avalar, but instead of messing with it they headed over to where the Gnorc with the wooden targets rested. What they found out was that this was supposed to be a shooting range, meaning one of them needed to stand in the area that was near the Gnorc and shoot fireballs at the wooden targets, this time being yellow ducks for some reason, and once Spyro took his position the Gnorc gave him a miniature Orb that contained the energies of the Superflame ability, informing the three of them on how they were going to deal with this game. Spike noticed that there were ten targets for his brother to hit and when the timer started Spyro took air and started blasting the targets with the ability he was allowed to use for this game, striking the various targets as they moved around the area with ease, and when he took out all ten of them the Gnorc stopped the time and proclaimed that he was quite skilled, before giving them a token so he could see who would take on the second attempt. The second round involved targeting eight of the Water Workers they had faced in the past, who happened to be Ember's targets this time around and she wasted no time in accepting the Superflame ability so she could blast them in the face, mostly to vent her annoyance over the fact that they weren't helping Elora and the others with the war between the two realms, before all eight of her targets were taken care in a matter of seconds. Spike took his position after accepting the token and found that what he had to focus on were the Scarlet Lizards from Glimmer, eight of them to be exact, though it didn't take him long to target the various enemies and blast them with the fireballs that came from the ability they were given, not that Spyro and Ember were surprised since he was used to throwing around magic at their various opponents.
It wasn't long before Spike was done with his targets and collected the sixth token, which was when the Gnorc told the three of them that he was out and that they could play again for fun, though that was followed by them informing him that they might be back later and headed over to the Gnorc that was standing near the stairs... and, as it turned out, a coaster of some kind that seemed to go all over the entire part of the island the park was built on.
The Gnorc informed them that they would be using a trolley to ride the coaster and that they would be required to pop all of the balloons that were scattered along the track, reminding Spyro of what he did back in Breeze Harbor, which was when he stepped aside and let Spike take on the challenge first, since he and Ember hadn't used the trolley before and would need some practice. As such he watched as Spike stepped up the stairs and quickly rode off on the trolley the moment he reached the top step, where he and Ember observed what he was doing, or the tracks that they could see from where they were standing, meaning they would have next to no idea what would happen when it was their turn to ride the trolley, for the other two tokens. It didn't take Spike long to return to the beginning of the track, where the Gnorc smiled and gave him a token for clearing the challenge, before Ember stepped forward as the next round was set up in a matter of seconds, where Spike figured out that magic was definitely involved with all of this, no doubt the Magic Crafters helped the Gnorcs out due to the challenge the park might present to them. A few moments later, when the second course was ready, Ember climbed onto the trolley and disappeared as she moved along the track, popping the balloons that were along the way as she kept her eyes open for obstacles and whatnot, just like Spike had done, and it wasn't long before she returned to the start of the track, earning them yet another token for their brief collection. When it was time for Spyro to take a turn, however, he found that he was the one that would have to use the trolley's cannon to take care of a good number of balloons, to which he headed out the moment he took his position and proceeded to do what his siblings did, as well as blast all of the targets that needed to be blasted.
In the end it only took Spyro a minute or two to clear out the track, much to the amazement of the Gnorc that was in charge of this game, who had no idea he had practiced this sort of thing back in Breeze Harbor, before they collected the ninth token and headed over to the Gnorc that was standing by the river with the odd seat, which was apparently named 'Tunnel of Love', causing them to raise their eyebrows. The Gnorc explained that this 'game' was more about sitting in one of the heart shaped boats and riding it around the tunnel for a few moments, where they found that one of the boats had an Earthshaper and two Fauns in it, while another had the Colossus yeti and a Monk sitting next to each other, which only made them a little bit curious. Due to the fact that Spike and Ember weren't that interested in the tunnel, even though they were interested in the pairings that showed up if they watched the exit part of the tunnel, Spyro decided to give it a try and took a seat in the empty boat, where he moved along the tunnel and his siblings waited for him to return, allowing them to watch the other boats that went by. What was interesting was that Handel and Greta appeared in one of the other boats, Agent Zero, the tall man from Cloud Temples, was alone, and the penguin chef was paired with an Earthshaper, though that was before Spyro's boat arrived, allowing Spike and Ember to see that he had acquired his own partner as well, as one of the Fauns from Fracture Hills was sitting next to him, who kissed him on the forehead when it was time for him to get off the boat, almost as if she enjoyed being around Spyro.
Spike was sure the Faun in question was the same one that had been the first one they encountered back when they were helping out Fracture Hills, but instead of worrying about it the three of them headed over to where the final Gnorc was standing and presented the tokens to him, which allowed them to enter the building that all of the Gnorcs seemed proud of, where they found a number of seats and sat down, while noticing that some of the individuals they had seen so far were inside the building as well.
What they discovered was that all the Gnorcs they had seen, back during their first adventure, were acting out various events that happened when they were fighting Gnasty Gnorc and freeing the Dragon Realms from his invasion, and they even had three of the smaller Gnorcs playing them, who happened to be wearing costumes that seemed to allow them to look and act like their characters did, something that Spike picked up on, even if the colors were a little off, just to show the audience they weren't who they appeared to be. The interesting part was that the actors seemed to be starting their play at the beginning of their tale, on the day of the big interview to be exact, where Lindar's comment about their first villain's looks caused nearly all of the dragons to be trapped in green crystalline statues, save for the three of them, and the actors did a decent job of replicating what Spyro, Spike, and Ember had gone through, even if most of them hadn't actually seen the events in person. Spike understood that the actors must have gotten their hands on a copy of the book that contained everything that happened during their first adventure, as once they bested Gnasty Gnorc, and saved the Dragon Realms, the first thing he did was turn his notes into a book and had it copied for all the homeworlds to enjoy, meaning the actors must have been lent one so they could make this a reality. The siblings had to admit that watching themselves like this was a little weird, even if the actors were quite good at what they were doing, but they said nothing as they watched the play, even though they knew it was only a matter of time until the events of Avalar were brought to this group as well, which might be interesting given what happened.
The play mostly focused on the more important battles and events, like taking out Toasty and the other Commanders, the various challenges they had to face, which included Tree Tops apparently, before eventually coming to a shocking end with the battle between them and Gnasty Gnorc, where the villain was frozen with his own spell, something that did cause the audience to cheer as the actors bowed, and while all that happened Spyro and his siblings slipped out of the theater and headed for the beach.
"You know, those guys did pretty well, even if it was odd looking at our own faces," Spyro commented, though at the same time he and his siblings headed outside the park and started to make their way to where the beach was located, just to try and relax a little, as the theater had been the only really interesting part of the amusement park, "Spike, do you think you'll be able to make costumes like that in the future?"
"Maybe, since I'll be learning that spell at some point." Spike replied, as he knew that the spell in question was one of the more tougher ones to use, meaning only Cosmos or one of the other master level Magic Crafters could use it, before he considered what he had seen while they were watching the play happen, especially since the second book of their adventures would be coming out soon enough.
"Spyro... Spike... I can't do this..." Ember said, where her brothers stopped and turned to face her, which was when they found that she was staring back at the portal that would take them back to Avalar, the land they had just come from some time ago, and they could tell that something was bothering her, even though they were trying not to think about what they hadn't been able to do, "I can't go to the beach and just relax, nor can I pretend that what we saw when we were visiting Zephyr and Breeze Harbor didn't happen... I'm heading back to Avalar and I'm putting an end to that war, with or without the two of you backing me."
"No, you're right." Spyro stated, where he and Spike turned around and stood beside Ember, as while it was fun trying to relax after such a hard adventure, especially since it had been to a land they had never seen before, he knew that she was right and that they couldn't just leave like that, especially since a war was still raging between the two realms Ember had mentioned, before he gazed at the portal they would be heading through, "Elora and the others probably went back to Autumn Plains, since the portals to Zephyr and Breeze Harbor are outside that castle, so it shouldn't be hard to find her and convince her that she needs our help, or just take the fight to the war in question, with just the three of us standing against the other groups... but one way or another that war is going to end!"
Spike and Ember paused for a moment, because when Spyro was determined about something he could get others to help him out, to which they nodded their heads and quickly retracted their steps so they could return to the portal, where they would return to Avalar and find their new friends, as they knew Elora would need help is quelling the war and they were the best chance they had at stopping it from escalating any further. The gatekeeper Gnorc was surprised to see them return to where he was standing, clearly thinking that they might be heading back into the park to have some fun, before Spyro headed through the portal and began the short journey back to Avalar, with Spike and Ember following after him not a few seconds later, causing the Gnorc to tilt his head in confusion for a few seconds. It didn't take them long to return to Winter Tundra and find that Elora, Hunter, and the Professor were gone, as Hunter made sense due to the fact that he had arrested Moneybags earlier, but that didn't stop the siblings from heading outside the castle and using the smaller portals to head back to Autumn Plains. When they arrived at their destination a few seconds later, however, they didn't see anyone standing near the portals to the two realms that were fighting each other, meaning they had either returned right before a counterattack could be prepared or they were too late, to which they headed for the ladders that would allow them to enter the castle and climbed up them as quickly as they could.
When they reached the top of the ladders, and looked around the chamber that they were in, the siblings were a little relieved to find that Elora and Hunter seemed to be talking about something, only for the pair to stop when they noticed that the siblings had come back to Avalar, especially so soon after the Professor had opened the way for them to go back home, something that they deserved after all the hard work they put into stopping Ripto.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, what are you guys doing here?" Elora asked, as she was surprised to see that the three of them had come back to Avalar, so soon after she told them that she, Hunter, the Professor, and the other guards would take care of any messes that had been left over, especially the war that was going on at the moment, "Shouldn't you guys be on vacation, enjoying yourselves after everything you've been through lately?"
"We tried to do that, but we eventually gave up and came back to help you guys out." Spyro replied, because while he and Spike did try to relax while they were visiting Dragon Shores, or the amusement park to be more exact, the fact that the war was still raging was enough to prevent them from really enjoying what they were doing, to which they focused on their friends for a few seconds, "Especially since there's a war going on at the moment, something that you're going to need help with stopping, even if we have to find the leaders of both factions and talk sense into them, be it by finding the pair and talking to them or by beating them in battle."
"He's right, we need their assistance." Hunter said, to which Elora raised her eyebrow for a moment as she heard him say that, as she wasn't used to him being the first one to agree with something that someone said, but at the same time she knew that he was right, to which the pair turned towards the siblings again, "After you guys took down Ripto, and how well you did it I might add, we would be foolish to turn you guys away after you came back to help us, so let me tell you what we've got planned so far: Elora was going to gather the guards that are able to fight and have recovered from their short battles with Crush or Gulp, while I go investigate which realm the battle is taking place in, and then, once we know which portal to use, we were going to head out and bring the war to an end."
"Good, then we'll help Elora and wait for you to return," Spyro stated, as he and his siblings were eager to bring the war to an end and it appears that they arrived at the right moment to help their friends out, though even as he said that Hunter tapped the device that the Professor gave him and disappeared, indicating that he was off to check Zephyr and Breeze Harbor for signs of where the war was taking place.
With Hunter doing that Spyro, Spike, and Ember followed Elora as she headed to where the guards were located, so they could see the guards for the first time, inform them as to what they were planning on doing, and then, once they had a group that would help them, take the fight to the two realms that were currently fighting each other in a war that was caused by a greedy bear, but they had the feeling that the war would be over soon enough.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember followed Elora as she lead the way to the part of the castle that the guards of Avalar were resting in at the moment, recovering from their various wounds since they had been taken out by Crush and Gulp, even if Ripto had likely made sure to keep them alive so that they would serve him when he took control of this land, something that would never happen at this point. The siblings were sure that the guards would be happy to hear that Ripto had been taken care of and that they could return to their duties, but there was one other thing that they agreed on and that was the fact that none of the guards would like what they were about to tell them, especially since the three of them disliked the notion of war and it was clear that Elora and Hunter disliked the idea as much as they did. Based on what they remembered, from their visits to Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, the ones that would likely be under attack were the Land Blubbers and that they had to be ready for whatever the force of Breezebuilders had brought with them, even if they were sure that the birds didn't have an airship anymore, thanks to what Spike did to their last one. Still, now that the three of them had assisted both sides in some manner, they knew what to do when they got to the battlefield and what to look out for, meaning it shouldn't take them that long to tell the guards what they needed to know and get them ready for the battle they were going to head into, but the true challenge would be locating the leaders of the two factions and getting them to stop.
Their thoughts were interrupted as Elora opened a door that was in front of them and allowed the four of them to walk into a room that they had assumed was the infirmary, since they had been told that was where the guards had been when they asked Elora about them, but instead they found themselves in what seemed to be a training area, one built into the lower parts of the castle while giving the guards a view of Autumn Plains, the part that was on the other side of the stone wall they had seen earlier. The guards in question happened to be standing as tall as Elora and Hunter did, though the ones that were in front of them looked more like humanoid lizards, something that was interesting considering that they had only seen a Faun and a cheetah in the guard, those being Elora and Hunter of course, but they were also slightly different than lizards. Sure, they had scales that weren't as tough as the scales that the siblings had, and none of them had any hair to speak of, though their feet did have three talons and their hands had five fingers, something that interested Spike since they were a new species they had discovered, and all of them seemed pretty strong in their own right, but the thing that interested the siblings was the fact that each of them had tiny wings, about the size of their wings, growing out of their backs. The main guards of Avalar were an interesting bunch, since the siblings weren't expecting to meet anyone like this when they set out to help Elora and Hunter end the war that was raging between two realms, but they knew that time was of the essence and that they needed to focus on the task at claw, otherwise Spike would have started asking questions to make his notes more complete.
As Elora walked up to one of the guards, no doubt to inform him of what was going on, the siblings noticed that there was an even mix between the male and female guards, not that they were all that surprised by that information, but all of them wore metallic armor that would protect them from most of the dangers they would be facing in the near future, no doubt steel armor based on what they had seen so far, meaning they were ready to go once they figured out which realm they were heading to.
"Aeros, how are you and your forces doing?" Elora asked, mostly because she knew that everyone needed to be ready for what was ahead of them, even though it looked like all of the guards that were around them seemed to be ready for some sort of action, but it never hurt to ask one of them how things were going, especially since she knew that Spyro, Spike, and Ember would head out and take down the war on their own if things came to that.
"Good, we're doing good." the lizard, Aeros, replied, though at the same time a number of his fellow guards seemed to stop what they were doing, which was practicing with their weapons, before turning to look at him and the others, even if they did seem surprised to see the siblings standing behind Elora, mostly since they knew that dragons were only mere legends in this land, before he focused on why they were here in the first place, "I have fifty guards, counting myself, that are ready to follow you and Hunter into battle, to bring an end to the war that's apparently plaguing Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, and we're all outfitted with armor and weapons to neutralize the aggressors."
"That's good to know, even if neither of them are really at fault for this, since Moneybags was the one that drove their conflict to the point where it became a war," Elora said, informing the guards as to what the siblings had discovered during their adventure, even if she didn't say anything about them being the ones to reveal this to her, but it seemed that the guards had known that fact ahead of time and nodded their heads in agreement, "but you won't be following either of us into battle, rather you'll be following Spyro, Spike, and Ember's lead when we get to where the battle is happening, since they're the ones that saved Avalar by taking care of Ripto, and they seem to have been trained in the art of battle, or at least one of them is anyway."
"Is that so?" Aeros inquired, where his tone did suggest that he was a little surprised by this turn of events, since all of the guards seemed to be thinking the same thing, before all of them raised their left hands and balled them into fists for a moment, where they rested those fists in front of their chests and bowed towards the siblings, "Spyro, Spike, Ember, we of the Royal Guard would be honored if you lead us into battle, to restore order to Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, especially after hearing how you took down Crush, Gulp, and even Ripto."
"We're happy to meet you guys as well, and to lead you into battle, even if we wish this meeting could have happened under better circumstances." Spyro replied, showing the guards that he and his siblings were happy to finally meet the Royal Guards that Elora had told them about at the beginning of their adventure, even if they knew them as just guards for a long time, before he thought about what they were getting themselves into, which was the moment that Aeros and the others stood up straight as they sensed a change in the conversation, "Now then, depending on which realm the war is taking place in, there are a few objectives we'll need to take out to slow down the Land Blubbers and the Breezebuilders, so they don't hurt each other all that badly to be exact, before we talk sense into their leaders. If the war is happening in Zephyr, like it was when we first arrived in Autumn Plains, than we'll have to hunt down and destroy all of the munitions buildings that the Breezebuilders will have created for their assault, as taking those out will weaken their ability to do any damage to the Land Blubbers. If Hunter says we need to head to Breeze Harbor, well, we'll have to be careful, as there are a number of boilers that need to be deactivated along the way, to take down the defenses that would hurt the attacking Land Blubbers, but we don't have to worry about them having an airship, especially after what happened to the last one they had been in the process of launching."
"Right, I heard one of them mention that the sky fell down on them," Elora commented, where the siblings knew that such a thing made sense, mostly since the residents of the realms gained information from her and likely told her what the three of them did in each realm they helped out, though thanks to what Spike did, by hiding them for a few moments, none of the Breezebuilders knew what really happened to their airship, "as in a bolt of lightning, or something that looked like it, tore itself out of the sky and struck the airship, blowing it to pieces when no one was on it... they were shocked by that turn of events, but, based on what you wrote down, it was for the best."
"Considering the fact that the airship was carrying bombs to lay waste to Zephyr, yeah, I would say that it was a good thing it was taken out," Ember said, though she had to admit that it was a good thing Spike had known the spell that had blown the airship to pieces, taking out one of the weapons the Breezebuilders had been preparing for the war, before she thought of something else to tell the guards, "but its like Spyro said, if we go to Zephyr we need to take out the munitions that are scattered all over the place, while if its Breeze Harbor we need to take care of the boilers and the various pieces of machinery that might be connected to their defenses. Other than that we need to knock out anyone we come across while we're exploring whatever realm the war is taking place in, as in subdue them and potentially arrest some of them, and keep an eye out for the leaders of the two factions, as getting them to stop fighting is important, because if they stop the rest of their forces will stop once an announcement is made."
Aeros and the other Royal Guards glanced at each other for a few moments, clearly thinking about what the siblings had told them and what Elora had said earlier, before nodding their heads in agreement, showing that they understood what they would be doing when Hunter came and told them which realm the war was taking place in, meaning all they had to do now was wait for their friend to return. As such the guards gathered their gear and made sure their weapons, which was swords, axes, spears, and a number of other weapons that Ember had seen the Peace Keepers use all the time, were prepared for the battle that they were about to charge into, even though they would be subduing the soldiers of the two forces. Spyro, Spike, and Ember, on the other claw, didn't need weapons or armor, not when each of them had their own items that would help them out, but that didn't stop Ember from making sure the weapons were up to the standards she had learned about, leaving her brothers to wait and see what happened when Hunter finally arrived, who was likely to go into battle using his bow and nothing else. Elora, however, seemed to be a little lost on what she should do right now, as she glanced at the various weapons for a time and seemed to be thinking if she should join them, but Spike knew she would stay back and watch, as she definitely didn't have the combat experience that they had, or the experience that the Royal Guards had, and knew that she would come to that decision on her own before Hunter returned. Of course this did mean the siblings had to do the one thing they didn't like to do all that much, waiting for something to happen, but they sat near the entrance to the area they were in and kept an eye out for Hunter, as the moment he arrived things were going to change rather suddenly.
It wasn't long before Spike felt a shift in the air and turned his head towards the passage they had walked through to get to the barracks, as that was the area they were in, which was followed by Hunter coming to a stop as he reached the room everyone was gathered in, which meant that he must have located where the war was taking place and that he knew which portal they had to go through.
"Hunter, what did you see?" Elora asked, because now that Hunter was back it was time for them to spring into action and bring an end to the war that was raging between two realms, something that was bound to happen now that they had Spyro, Spike, and Ember on their side once more, a blessing that she really thought wasn't going to occur until they came and told her they were helping them out, "Which realm is under attack?"
"Its Zephyr... the Breezebuilders are sending far more than what they sent when Spyro and his siblings gave the Land Blubbers their aid," Hunter replied, showing the siblings that he must have read the part of Spike's notes about the realm in question and had come back with some interesting information, while at the same time Aeros and the other members of the Royal Guard readied themselves for the fight of their lives, "I don't know if something happened and made the war escalate to this point, but it really seems like the Breezebuilders are trying to wipe out the Land Blubbers and put an end to the rivalry that's between them."
"Then we'll have to head to Zephyr and weaken them to the point where we can find the leaders of both factions, so we can put an end to this." Spyro remarked, to which everyone glanced towards him and his siblings for a moment, as they seemed to be eager to hear what he had to tell them, even though he was already heading for the passage that would take them outside the castle and allow them to head to their destination, "Remember, we're going to knock out and subdue anyone that stands in our way, as well as wipe out all of the various munitions that the Breezebuilders have brought to give themselves an edge against the Land Blubbers, but our goal is to locate the leaders and convince them to bring this war to an end. Now, whose ready to stop a war?!"
Aeros and the other members of the Royal Guard cheered, showing that they understood what Spyro and his siblings were asking of them, before the siblings rushed down the passage that was in front of them and were followed by the rest of their group, and that included both Elora and Hunter, even if there was the possibility that they would stay back and watch the fight that would unfold once they arrived in Zephyr. It didn't take them all that long to reach the area that served as the castle's entrance, where Spyro and his siblings glided through the air as they headed towards their destination, where the rest of the guards quickly jumped down the set of ladders, instead of using them, and quickly caught up to the siblings, who smiled once they landed on the ground and kept moving. From there it only took them a moment or two to reach the area the portal to Zephyr was located in, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember rushed through it first, mostly so they could see what was happening on the other side and ready their forces for whatever they discovered, even though all three of them were sure they were going to see signs of war upon their arrival. When the three of them appeared in the starting area for this realm, the same one they had appeared in the first time they came to help the Land Blubbers out in their fight against the Breezebuilders, it didn't take them long to discover that there was a lot of smoke in the air and the sounds of war raging off in the distance, though unlike the last time there was no one to greet them and, interestingly enough, there was a blown up section that formed a walkway to section of the realm they hadn't been to yet.
Based on the flames that seemed to be in a good portion of the area, and the familiar sounds that none of them liked to hear, the siblings could tell, without even seeing the battle itself, that the Breezebuilders were winning and that they had to be gaining ground as the minutes ticked by, meaning that if they didn't act soon the Land Blubbers were going to be routed and Zephyr was going to fall, before Spyro glanced back and found that their allies had joined them.
"So, this is the war that has been raging since Ripto's arrival," Aeros commented, his tone revealing that he was sad to see such a thing happening to one of the realms he was sworn to watch over, even if he couldn't thanks to Ripto's arrival with Crush and Gulp, and that he was outraged to even witness what was going on at the moment, something that was reflected in the faces of his fellow Royal Guards, especially Hunter and Elora, "Okay men, you heard what Spyro and his siblings told us earlier, so my orders will be the same as what they said: subdue all enemies you come across, destroy any munitions buildings that you find, and locate the leaders of these two forces, so we can put an end to this war before either side really gets hurt from what's happening."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as it was a little late to hope that neither side had been hurt from this war, but instead of saying anything they rushed towards the new path that had opened up, thanks to what the Breezebuilders did, and found that it lead them to a rather large plains that seemed to rest between the edge of this realm and the edge of Breeze Harbor, but that was before they noticed what Hunter had said earlier. It was clear that the Land Blubbers were in danger, as the Breezebuilders had brought with them everything that might be an advantage, as in they modified their cannons to be moveable, meaning they could move, fire, and then repeat as necessary, there had to be at least ten munitions locations for the birds to use, and there seemed to be at least five to ten times the number of enemies from the last time the siblings came here. Based on what they could see the Land Blubbers were trapped inside what appeared to be the last fortress that they had access to, which meant that had to be where their leader was located, but they were firing missiles in return and were trying their best to hold out, even though it was pretty clear that whatever defenses they had were falling apart one after the other and that they were definitely losing ground. Even the group of Royal Guards noticed that fact, as they did pause for a moment to see what was going on and just what they were getting themselves into, but instead of letting the sight bother them, like some people would be if this was the first time they even laid eyes on something like this, the guards readied themselves for the fight of their lives, while at the same time Spyro, Spike, and Ember started to charge down the hill and head towards the plains, as it was time to end a war.
The Breezebuilders didn't even know what hit them as the siblings charged into the side of their forces and smashed into the first couple of enemies that were directly in front of them, where the birds in question seemed surprised to see that they were under attack from another enemy, where Spyro slammed his horns into one of them, Spike loosed a burst of Arcane Missiles into the air to take out the Falcons that were delivering ammunition to the rest of their forces, and Ember used her hardened tail to smack her target in the face. While they did that the Royal Guards did the same thing, as in they smashed into the side of their enemies and started fighting the Breezebuilders that were trying to harm Zephyr and the Land Blubbers, focusing their efforts on the Pelicans that were armed, because while the siblings had seen these foes without weapons, back when they ran through the harbor, this time they were armed with weapons, like missile launchers and actual bladed weapons. Of course that was before the siblings noticed that some of the Pelicans had a few different weapons, as they had blasters that looked like the ones that the farm animals had been using in their coup in Metropolis, meaning Moneybags must have sold the warmongering birds more weapons before they revealed his evil to Elora, Hunter, and the Professor, leading to his arrest. Hunter, interestingly enough, left the plains for a moment and came back with some of his toys, as in he let Elora climb into the plane they had helped him with and she took to the air, so she could blast the Falcons out of the air and take away some of the ammunition that their foes were using, even if it might be a moot point thanks to some of the more advanced weapons their foes had.
Hunter, despite his earlier cowardice in the face of Ripto and his minions, seemed to have gained the desire to take part of this battle and protect one of the realms he was supposed to be watching over as a member of the Royal Guard, as when he returned he was wearing a lighter version of the armor that Aeros and the others were wearing, and he wasted no time in loosing arrows at his targets, intending on subduing them like the siblings told the rest of their group to do, and that included using some elemental arrows that seemed to be another of the Professor's inventions.
Spyro jumped backwards as one of the Pelicans brought down the head of a spear on top of him, one that was more elegant than what he was expecting to see, though he rolled out of the way as his foe lashed out in his general direction and tried to push him away from the rest of the army, but the Pelican didn't take into account the fact that he had part of Ember's training and knew how to fight. Their little duel came to an end as he slammed his head into his foe's chest, just hard enough to make him fall over and stop moving for a time, as in he knocked him into a state of unconsciousness, but once that happened he rushed back into the forces that they were attacking and found that what they had done was more than enough to convince the Land Blubbers that they were here to help them out. Sure, the Land Blubbers weren't built like the Breezebuilders, due to them being slugs, but that didn't stop any of the soldiers from turning the cannons that were on their fortress on the birds that were attacking them, making sure to fire at locations where none of the Royal Guards were located. Still, despite the Land Blubbers assisting them, instead of hiding in their fortress, Spyro could see that there were more enemies standing in front of them and that it would take some time for them to actually beat the warmongering birds, but they had come to stop this war and such a thing meant getting involved for hours if necessary, as he and his siblings weren't leaving Avalar until this conflict was resolved.
What interested Spike, as he blasted another Pelican in the chest and knocked his foe to the ground, was that there was another ally in their fight to stop the war, as the Professor appeared near the bottom of the walkway that let them get down to the plains they were fighting on, where he brought one of every Powerup Gate to this area and primed each of them so the Royal Guards could make use of them. In that moment Spike noticed that Aeros and some of the others of his kind rushed over to where the Powerup Gates were located and headed through them, granting them a range of abilities to use against the Breezebuilders, letting Spike understand that maybe the gates in question had let him and his siblings use them due to the similarities between Aeros' race and themselves. It was something that had interested him since they first used one of the Powerup Gates, as he had been curious as to how they could have used the gates when there were no dragons in Avalar and it looked like the answer had been given to him, but he turned his thoughts to the battle that was raging around him and blasted another group of Falcons out of the air, which caused him to drop his bombs on his own allies and weakened the rest of the Breezebuilders by a tiny bit. Of course that didn't stop him from using one of the Powerup Gates, as he used the Superfly Gate and took off, allowing him to take to the air and focus on blasting their foes from above, or take on the various Falcons that were trying to drop bombs on his allies and his siblings, even though the munitions buildings were their main target at the moment.
Ember, on the other claw, didn't seem to care about the Powerup Gates and continued to fight her way deeper and deeper into the forces that the Breezebuilders had brought with them, using her hardened scales and the knowledge that the Peace Keepers had imparted to her over the years to lash out at her foes, knocking many of them to the ground in a matter of seconds. Many of the Pelicans tried to stop her, as they swung weapons at her and tried to blast her as she got close to them, where she weaved her way through the incoming attacks and struck down the various enemies that were near her, even though her current objective was to make her way over to one of the munitions buildings so she could take it out, as that would weaken their enemies to some degree. Fortunately it appeared that one of the Pelicans that were near the building she was targeting was using a cannon to fire at their enemies, even though she found it amusing that the Breezebuilders hadn't stood down when they noticed that the Royal Guard had come to stop the war, but that didn't stop her from smacking her target into the ground. Once she did that, and cleared out the area that was around her, she seized control of the cannon and turned it on the rest of the Breezebuilders, blasting a number of the birds from behind, much to their surprise, before she turned the cannon on the munitions building that was her main target and blew the entire thing to pieces, showing the Royal Guards that such a thing was possible and that they had to stay determined so they could do the same thing she just did.
With one of the munitions buildings destroyed, and reduced to a burning wreckage on the battlefield, Ember moved from where she was standing and continued to smash her way through the enemies that were in front of her, as she was planning on breaking the couple of structures that were further away from the rest of the Royal Guard, so they can focus on what was near them.
What the siblings were discovering, as they fought their way through the enemies that were near them and lead the Royal Guards as they turned the tide against their foes, was that there were a large number of enemies for them to deal with, just like Hunter had told them, but even then, from what they could see, it was like the entirety of Breeze Harbor had emptied out and was trying to take out Zephyr. Basically one of Avalar's realms was trying to take the other out, all due to what Moneybags did to them, and yet against all the odds the Breezebuilders faced, in fighting the Land Blubbers, half of the Royal Guard, and the dragons that had taken out Ripto and his minions, it seemed like they were desperate to burn all of Zephyr to the ground. The, of course, didn't stop Spyro, Spike, or Ember from subduing all of the enemies they fought as they made their way through the army, targeting the munitions buildings that remained, though they were thankful that Spike had blown away the airship that the birds had been preparing for war, as that did drastically reduce what their foes were able to do to this land. It was still hard to imagine that all of this fighting was over Juliet, the peaceful Breezebuilder that had fallen in love with Romeo, one of the Land Blubbers, even if Moneybags had stretched the truth to make this war happen in the first place, and the siblings knew that trying to tell the birds the truth wasn't going to work, as the Pelican they had told that information to earlier had ignored them and followed his orders, hence why they told the guards to find and subdue the leader, to put an end to this madness.
As Spyro and his siblings thought about that, despite the different areas they were in, they spotted a bird that was just a little taller than all of the others, who seemed to resemble Juliet based on how his legs and body looked, though instead of guns, like a good number of his soldiers seemed to be carrying, he had opted to put a bracer of some kind on his legs and attach metal tonfa to them, which had blades instead of the pipe shaped weapons, which meant he could do some real damage if he lashed out at someone with his legs.
"So, Lord Capulet is here as well," a voice said, to which Spyro quickly turned his gaze away from the Breezebuilder he had been looking at and found that one of the Royal Guard, Aeros to be exact, was now standing near him, with markings on his armor to show that he had been hit a few times since they joined the battle, before he glanced at the fort that was where the Land Blubbers were trying to hold, "I wonder if Lord Montague will show himself as well."
The moment Aeros made that comment the fort's front door opened and a large Land Blubber, one that was taller than the rest of his kind and easily stood at three-fourths Lord Capulet's height, moved out of the fort and stared at his foe for a moment, allowing Spyro to see that he was wearing armor as well and was carrying a large broadsword in one of his hands, indicating that he was ready to fight. It seemed that having both of the Lords on the field inspired both of their armies, especially since the rest of the Land Blubbers seemed to abandon their fort and charge into battle, allowing their leader to make his way over to where Lord Capulet was standing, even though the Breezebuilder in question also started to move as well, so they could meet each other in the middle of the battlefield. The moment the two Lords neared each other they instantly lashed out at their foe, as in Lord Montague raised his broadsword to defend himself against the fierce barrage that Lord Capulet sent his way, before retaliating with his own attacks, the display revealing that, despite the sheer difference in the power of their armies, that the two Lords were nearly equal in personal power and skill, especially since it looked like Lord Montague could move with ease, despite the body he was born with. The downside to the pair fighting was that it caused the rest of the Breezebuilders to rally and continue their assault, even though it was clear that, despite the numbers they possessed, they didn't stand a chance against the siblings and the Royal Guard, especially with Elora and Hunter getting in on the action in their own ways.
"Great, we know where the leaders are, but we'll be hard pressed to get to them," Spyro commented, because he did know that it would take some time for one of them to reach the dueling Lords and get the pair of them to stop this rather pointless war, even with the Powerup Gates, before he glanced around the area to make sure the rest of the munitions buildings were falling, thanks to Ember's hard work, "At least we're turning the tide of this battle..."
One of the Land Blubbers shouted something and caused the siblings to glance in the direction he was pointing in, as he seemed to be interested in the sky, before their eyes widened as an airship, almost identical to the one that Spike had blown up back in Breeze Harbor, descended from wherever it was hiding and started to fire upon the enemy forces, even though the siblings knew it had bombs aboard it, which would be released when the ship got closer to where the battle was taking place. The highest point around here happened to be the fort that the Land Blubbers had been guarding, but now that they were out on the field, backing Lord Montague, Spike used the last bit of his Superfly ability and reached the highest point of the fort, where he landed and then braced himself as he tapped into his magic again, because if their foes were going to bring in an airship, one with bombs to tear the land apart, he was going to respond with an appropriate spell to end it. Aeros and the other Royal Guards seemed confused as to what was going on, since they had no idea what Spike was actually capable of, and their confusion only increased when the skies turned into storm clouds and thunder started to fill the area, which caused Elora to fly Hunter's plane down to the ground so she wouldn't get caught in whatever was happening, though they were the only ones that seemed to be worried since the two forces seemed to be ignoring the rather sudden change in the weather. In fact the two forces and their Lords didn't seem to care much for the weather, but when the rain and lightning arrived, however, they seemed to stop what they were doing as they watched a strange storm form in the area they were fighting in, even though many quickly found that Spike was the one that had created it and that he had a purpose for doing so.
Fortunately it appeared that there were no Breezebuilders on the airship, meaning it was likely remote controlled in some manner, but that piece of information didn't stop Spike from summoning the powerful bolt of lightning that was shaped like a serpent, where his creation roared, a sound that filled the entire area, and then tore itself out of the sky as it crashed into the airship, blowing it to pieces, just like the last one, much to the shock and surprise of everyone that had witnessed the event happen. Even Elora and Hunter were surprised by this turn of events, even if Spike exhausted himself in the process, but what shocked them was that most of the Breezebuilders continued to fight, despite the fact that they had no way to guard against that level of magical power, which was when Spyro abandoned his current foe and started to make his way towards the Lords that were still fighting. He had been right in labeling them as the targets, because if they continued to fight, despite what just happened to that airship, which was now a flaming wreckage off in the distance, that only made their forces continue this pointless war, meaning he had to convince the Lords to stop fighting and have them tell their armies to stop, otherwise this was going to keep going until one side admitted defeat and was wiped out, since that seemed to be the way things were progressing. Ember, on the other claw, continued to smack and bash her way through the enemies that she was fighting, making sure to subdue each of them in the process, but since they were in two different areas she couldn't help Spyro out, who eventually found that he would have to settle for standing on a rock and seeing if his voice could reach his targets.
Spyro came to a stop on the rock for a moment and braced himself, because if this failed, and the Lords continued to fight, it would be some time before they managed to put an end to the battle, regardless of who won, which was why he was determined to bring this war to an end by targeting the pair that was fighting at the moment, just like his siblings were trying to do in their own ways.
"Everyone, stop fighting!" Spyro shouted, though even as he said that, hoping to get some attention from the pair of Lords that were some distance from him, he found that the noise of the battle was preventing what he was saying from reaching anyone, to which he focused his mind for a moment, took a deep breath, and then shouted again, this time with everything that he had, "I. Said. STOP FIGHTING!!!"
Spike and Ember watched as what appeared to be a shockwave of some kind, like a phantom wave that didn't hurt anyone that it passed through, seemed to emit from where their brother was standing, projecting his voice and what he was saying to everyone on the battlefield, causing everyone to pause for a few moments as their bodies shook, almost like Spyro had poured his magical energies into what he was doing. That was followed by some of the weak-willed members of both the Breezebuilders and the Land Blubbers falling over and hitting the ground, like they had been knocked out by a powerful source of power, and after a few seconds things returned to normal as everyone turned towards Spyro in shock and surprise, before both of the Lords stopped what they were doing and lowered their weapons, something that both of their armies did once they noticed what was happening. Spike understood what was going on instantly, just like he was sure that Ember had figured it out as well, as Spyro had just used the Voice of a Leader, a technique that allowed the user to exert their willpower over those that were around them, to the point that those that were weak-willed got knocked out by the sheer power that the user possessed, and if a command was added to the ability, like Spyro had done, there was a good chance of it working. This was an incredibly rare power, even among dragons, one that only manifested every now and then and would require a great deal of training to master, but Spike knew that none of the other dragons had access to this sort of power, as the last user of this power was around two hundred years ago, Titan's predecessor to be exact, and the Peace Keepers called it by another name, Conqueror's Spirit, since they were the ones that generally had someone manifest such an ability.
Regardless of the rarity of the ability, based on what Spike knew from his studies, the awakening of the power had a rather good effect, as it brought an end to the war in its entirety and caused the two factions to stop what they were doing at the moment, to which both Spike and Ember smiled as Spyro tilted his head in confusion for a moment, as now they could talk some sense into the two Lords and make sure such a thing never happened again in the future.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember were currently sitting at a table in one of the rooms of Autumn Plains' castle, one that looked like it was designed to be a meeting area of some kind for the Royal Guard and whoever they served, which seemed to be no one at the moment since there was no King or Queen to speak of, so the room was used by Elora, Hunter, the Professor, and the guards when they needed to talk about something. All three of them were resting from the battle they had just finished, especially since Spike had expended a great deal of his energy to create and use Storm's Wrath, the incredibly potent and highly dangerous magical spell that took on the shape of a serpent made out of lightning, to destroy yet another airship that the Breezebuilders had been planning on using to decimate the Land Blubbers. Ember, on the other claw, had used all of her skills and tactics to subdue all of the enemies they came across, where the Royal Guards now understood why she was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, but for now she was munching on some of the meat, cheese, and other items that had been put on the table before their arrival, mostly since they hadn't eaten anything since they came to Avalar and she was hungry from all the energy she expanded. Spyro, however, was silent as he thought about what he had seen during the war and what had happened when he told the two forces to stop fighting, because he was still stunned by the fact that he had managed to get them to stop what they were doing, and while he had no idea what he had done he knew that Spike and Ember did, even if they weren't saying anything right now.
He was sure that his siblings would tell him what happened soon enough, once they made sure that Lord Capulet and Lord Montague had set aside their differences and made sure that war between their races never occurred again, hence the reason they were here in the first place, so he was more than willing to wait and see what his siblings had to say, which was why he remained silent as they waited for Elora and the others to arrive.
A minute or two later the door opened and the siblings glanced towards it, where they watched as Elora and Hunter walked into the chamber they were sitting it, followed by the pair of Lords, who were now wearing finer clothing, walking in behind him, where the Professor seemed to be heading elsewhere for some reason, which none of them were going to ask about, but Aeros did join them, mostly to make sure the Lords didn't try to attack each other. It was rather interesting to see the Lords without any of the other members of their races standing nearby, as they were definitely much taller than what they were expecting to see, even after everything they had witnessed back on the battlefield, and both of them held their own aura of authority, which also made sense since each of them were the leaders of their own species. Elora and Hunter, on the other claw, had taken the time to take off whatever armor they had put on and were back to how they had looked when the siblings first met them, but while they were happy to have stopped the war they also seemed surprised by something, no doubt the same thing that Spyro had been thinking about since the battle had ended. The table seemed to be a little too large for all of them to be sitting at, or at least that was how things seemed to be at the moment, but the siblings said nothing as they waited for someone to say something, since they wanted to make sure the air was cleared between the pair of Lords, so this didn't happen again, before they even considered heading home.
"Lord Capulet, Lord Montague, thank you for coming to this little meeting I set up," Elora said, because while she was happy that the two leaders weren't at each others throats, like they usually were, she was still stunned by what she and the others had seen at the end of the war, while at the same time her words revealed that she had been quick to talk with both of the Lords and got them to agree to this meeting, "There are a few things I want to go over, like why this war even happened in the first place, before we head back to trying to restore order to the rest of Avalar, and I know the two of you are interested in hearing why the two of you went to war with each other."
"Its because Lord Montague and his fellow Land Blubbers stole Juliet with the intent to harm her and force me to surrender to their demands." Lord Capulet stated, reminding the siblings of what happened when they tried to convince the one Breezebuilder that none of this was actually the fault of the Land Blubbers, though at the same time the large bird glared at the large slug, who was sitting on the other side of the table so they had to exert themselves to get to where their foe was sitting.
"Says the bird that has been stockpiling weapons for the last few months, with the intention of blowing all of Zephyr to pieces, and freaked out when I wanted a few of my own to make my people feel safe," Lord Montague replied, his tone revealing that he hadn't bought the weapons to declare war on the Breezebuilders, even if the thought had likely crossed his mind when the items were delivered to him and his forces, which meant that if Moneybags hadn't been behind this war happening it would have been the fault of Lord Capulet, in the siblings eyes anyway.
"Actually, the both of you are wrong. Neither of you are to blame for this war happening," Spyro said, where the pair of Lords turned and looked at him for a moment, which was where he noticed that the desire to fight seemed to fade from their eyes for a moment, but he decided to focus on what he wanted to tell the two Lords and didn't want to waste time trying to get them to stop arguing with each other, "Listen to me, Juliet is safe and sound, as she willingly chose to be with Romeo and was trying to bring an end to your feud in their own way, even if they were waiting for the perfect chance to tell you what was going on, so the bear that told you she had been kidnapped, and was being held as a hostage, lied to you with the intention of inciting a war."
"Excuse me? Are you implying that Moneybags lied so he could steal our money?" Lord Capulet asked, though even as he said that Spyro, Spike, and Ember got the feeling that some of the residents of Avalar would have a hard time accepting the truth of the matter, hence why it was a good thing that they had evidence of the bear's crimes and would be able to show them what was going on.
"He is, because that is what he and his siblings discovered while they were helping your realms out," Elora answered, where she withdrew the notes that she and Hunter had looked at, which had caused them to gather the Royal Guard in the first place, and handed it over to Lord Capulet, so he could see the truth for himself and realize that he and his fellow Lord had been played by the bear.
Spyro glanced at his siblings for a moment, who were curious as to what the Lords would say when the both of them finished reading the notes that had been given to Elora earlier, but none of them said anything as they waited for one of the Lords to say something, even though it was pretty obvious that Lord Capulet was quickly infuriated by what he was reading, something that was echoed by Lord Montague when it was his turn to read the journal.
"So... Moneybags is to blame for what happened..." Lord Montague commented, eventually putting down the book and let Elora collect it, since it was evidence of the bear's crimes against the residents of Avalar, before he glanced at the siblings for a few seconds as he thought about what the other Land Blubbers had told him when the initial attack had been repelled some time ago, before he sighed, "I would like to punish Moneybags for his crimes, especially since he is now responsible for all the destruction that has happened to our realms, not to mention all the civilians that this war has hurt since it started, be they be on my side or on Lord Capulet's side."
"That won't be necessary, since the rest of the guards are in the process of seizing everything he owned," Aeros said, speaking for the first time since this meeting started, though even as he said that the bracelet Hunter was wearing flashed for a second, where the cheetah excused himself to see what the Professor needed help with, before he turned his full attention back to the Lords, "With Elora's help we're going to make sure all of the gems that have been paid to him are returned to their original owners, such as the payments you might have made for the weapons, and whatever is left over will be used to help repair all the damage that he's caused to all of the realms of Avalar... as for the bear himself, well, he was captured right after Ripto was defeated, so right now he's sitting in one of the dungeons, waiting to be sentenced for his crimes against all of us."
"That's good. At least he'll pay for what he's done." Lord Capulet stated, though it was clear, from his posture and his tone, that he was thinking about something else at the moment, or rather someone else, where it didn't take the siblings long to determine that he was thinking about his daughter, Juliet, and the fact that she wanted to marry a Land Blubber, no doubt the oddest way to end the rivalry in his eyes, before he glanced at the siblings, "You said that Moneybags lied about what happened to Juliet, that she wasn't kidnapped by the Land Blubbers to be used as a hostage, but we haven't seen her since Ripto showed up in Avalar..."
"They went to Idol Springs, to escape the constant fighting between your two realms," Ember remarked, as it wasn't hard for her to recall what she and her siblings had heard when they helped the two lovers out, even if the only thing Juliet was upset by was the fact that Romeo was slightly shorter than she was, but at the same time the two Lords seemed a tad bit surprised by that information, "My best guess is that they thought that if they remained missing for too long the two of you would call a truce, for a time, and join forces in looking for them, to teach you the benefits of being friends or working together, but that plan backfired thanks to Moneybags taking that information and twisting it to suit his own purposes, so he could incite the two of you into declaring war on each other so he could profit from it."
"I'm ashamed of the fact that we let him get away with all of this for so long," Elora added, showing that she didn't like the fact that she and Hunter, members of the Royal Guard, even if she was in a different division than Hunter, were also ticked off by the fact that Moneybags played them as well, meaning that the bear had deceived everyone in Avalar into believing that he was a friend and that he would help them out, even if he was really helping himself to their gems while they were focused on something else.
"Well, you won't have to worry about him trying that again anytime soon," Spike said, because now that everything the bear had done was revealed to Elora and the others, and that information was likely being told to everyone else in Avalar, it was only a matter of time until they sentenced Moneybags and punished him for his crimes, even if Ember would likely think that anything the bear was given was too good for him, since she didn't like him at all, before he turned back to the pair of Lords, "Anyway, Romeo and Juliet are fine and, when Hunter gets back from helping the Professor with something, we can send him to Idol Springs to make sure that's where they are, even if its possible they might have come running due to the news that you two were getting ready to destroy the other."
"Which you three and the Royal Guards stopped." Lord Capulet remarked, though where one would expect the Lord to be angry about that fact, since he had been denied the opportunity to finally take out his rival, he actually seemed to be thinking about his actions and everything he had witnessed, especially the fact that he and his forces had ignored the swift arrival of the Royal Guards and their attempts to stop the war, where he shuddered for a moment as he recalled what had occurred when Spyro raised his voice at him, Lord Montague, and their soldiers.
"Is that so?" a familiar voice asked, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember stopped for a moment, as they were surprised to hear it so soon, since they were sure the owner was back in the Dragon Realms, to which they turned around and found Nestor standing in the doorway, with Titan, Cosmos, Bruno, and Lateef following him and Hunter, who had lead the five Leaders to the chamber.
"Hey, check out who I found in Winter Tundra, standing beside the Super Portal," Hunter remarked, which meant that the Professor might have seen the dragons come to Avalar and had sent Hunter to talk to them for a few moments, to see what was going on, before he stopped by the siblings for a moment and glanced back at the older dragons, "So these are adult dragons... you know, if it wasn't for what happened an hour ago, you guys would have terrified me when I first laid eyes on you, but now, after seeing what Spyro, Spike, and Ember are capable of when they fight, I'm more terrified of what would happen if I pissed them off."
"It sounds like we missed seeing the end of the war," Titan stated, his tone revealing that he would have enjoyed using his axe in battle again, especially since it wasn't everyday that something like a war revealed itself to him and the others, while at the same time Elora and the others from Avalar raised their eyebrows, as they were unsure of what to make of the newest arrivals, even if it was clear that the siblings knew them.
"Nestor, what are you and the other Leaders doing here?" Spyro asked, because while he and his siblings were happy to see them again, even though it had been some time since they had been in the same area as all five Leaders, he was a little curious as to what was going on at the moment, even though he was sure that Spike already had an idea as to what was going on and was keeping quiet.
"Nora detected a new portal opening on Dragon Shores and we went to investigate it," Cosmos replied, showing them that he and the others had been worried about something bad happening to the island, especially after letting the Gnorcs build on the island in question, before he considered what they had discovered when they finally reached their destination and met a certain Gnorc, "there we met the Gnorc who oversees the gates and he told us about the new portal and the fact that the three of you had been pulled to a new land of some kind, and that you were apparently going to stop a war that was raging at the time... one that you stopped, based on what we just heard."
"You should have seen them go at it! Ember was a force to be reckoned with, thanks to her hardening ability," Hunter said, because while he had gotten in on the action, and had convinced Elora to help them out in her own way, it was hard to even acknowledge the fact that they helped since Spyro, Spike, and Ember were the ones that deserved the credit for putting an end to the war.
"Hardening ability? You mean this?" Titan inquired, where he raised his left hand for a moment and it shimmered for a few seconds, quickly taking on the same blackened shine that happened whenever Ember used the same technique, even if she hadn't actually named it since since she had been focused on stopping Ripto and his plans, "This ability is known by two names, the first being Color of a Soldier, or, as it is more commonly called among the Peace Keepers, Warrior's Armor, an ability that allows one to channel their spirit into armor, to protect themselves or to deal great damage to a foe, or both if the user is incredibly skilled."
"That's what he meant." Ember said, where she focused for a second and her front right claws hardened, even though she made sure to cover her entire limb and not leave a section bare, and once she was done she smiled for a moment as the Leaders and their new friends glanced between her and Titan, but even as that happened Hunter realized that they were using the same ability.
"Well I'll be, I've never heard of a dragon, Peace Keeper or otherwise, being able to gain this ability at such a young age, much less the control you seem to have over it," Titan remarked, though at the same time he chuckled for a bit as he released his ability and let his hand return to normal, which was followed by Ember doing the same thing to her claws, only for him to rub her head for a moment, to show that he was very proud of her, "When we get back, and I tell the others about this, we'll have to do something special, because stopping a war and mastering the Warrior's Armor technique to such a degree are things that need a proper celebration."
"But, before that, we should properly introduce ourselves to Spyro, Spike, and Ember's new friends," Lateef said, as he knew that none of them had really told the faun, the cheetah, or the others their names since they arrived in this land, as just saying that they were looking for the siblings had quickly informed the cheetah that they were allies, which was when he focused on the pair that was staring at them, "I am Lateef, Leader of the Dream Weavers, and these are my friends Nestor, the Leader of the Artisans, Titan, Leader of the Peace Keepers, Cosmos, Leader of the Magic Crafters, and Bruno, Leader of the Beast Makers, and its our job to watch and guide the five clans that call the Dragon Realms home... though its soon to be six, given the work that's been going on lately."
"Six?" Elora inquired, though at the same time the pair of Lords excused themselves, as it was clear that this meeting had taken a different turn and they were no longer the center of attention, to which they left the room and focused on the next task they would be doing, looking for Romeo and Juliet, but as that happened Elora tilted her head for a moment as she glanced at the siblings, "I thought you guys said there were only five homeworlds in your home land, like how Avalar has three, not the six that Lateef is talking about."
"Well, some of the dragons have been working on creating a new home for some of the other dragons, the Machinists as they'll be called in the future," Spike replied, informing the pair as to what Lateef was talking about, even though it had been some time since he and his siblings had been to that homeworld, since the first time had been when Gnasty Gnorc was in control of the area and the last time had been when they were helping some of the dragons move things into the various locations they wanted things in, which had been a long time ago, "I didn't want to confuse you, but we will have six homeworlds at some point in the near future, once the soon to be Machinists dragons finish their work on their new home and then move in to continue their work."
"So they're the technical dragons. Good, then the Professor will have friends to talk with," Hunter remarked, though as he said that Spyro knew Hunter would be disappointed, because at the moment the Dragon Realms didn't have anything like what the Professor was used to, not in terms of the various machines that they had seen during their adventure, but, at the same time, only time would tell, especially since they could help the Machinists out.
"And, in addition to that, the Phoenixes are planning on revealing themselves to the rest of our clans." Nestor stated, to which the siblings raised an eyebrow as they heard that, mostly because none of them were expecting that sort of thing to be said, especially since they had been sure that the race in question valued their privacy, meaning something must have changed since the last time they saw the Phoenixes, "I know, it caught me by surprise as well, but they're determined to join the rest of us and step out of the fog of legend that our predecessors wove to hide them, so sometime in the near future we'll have more than just dragons hanging around the various homeworlds."
"Sweet, that means we can hang with Sol more often!" Spyro said, because that had been one of the things he and his siblings had been slightly annoyed by, the fact that they weren't able to hang out with their only friend whenever they felt like it, even if they understood why such a thing was happening, but now it seemed that someone had changed their mind and was going to reintroduce the Phoenixes to the Dragon Realms.
"You three seem to have a lot of friends," Aeros commented, reminding the entire group that he was still there, as the Lords didn't need assistance in leaving the room, allowing him to see and hear what was going on for himself, but he could tell that they had already befriended Elora and Hunter, which was good in his eyes, before he considered something he had heard after the war ended, "and some of the Royal Guards are thinking of trying to do the same thing, especially after your performance in stopping that war earlier... not to mention the large serpent made out of lightning and that strange wave that knocked some of our enemies out."
"A lightning serpent?" Bruno inquired, to which he thought about it for a moment, no doubt thinking about a creature that could control the element for a few seconds, before he shook his head and focused once more, mostly because magic and technology weren't the strongest points for the Beast Makers, which was when he glanced at Cosmos, who was in the middle of thinking about something, "Cosmos, do you have any idea what he's talking about?"
"It sounds like Storm's Wrath, an incredibly potent and destructive magical spell, but only certain Magic Crafters even know how to use it," Cosmos replied, which was just like Spike thought, as he had said something to the same effect when he told both Spyro and Ember about it the first time he used the spell, even though it didn't seem like Cosmos had caught onto that fact yet, which was just fine since they could surprise him in a few moments, "I mean, I know its possible that Spike could know about the spell, but even then he's only eleven years old and that spell is something that only the master level Magic Crafters are capable of pulling off, and it usually takes two of us to make sure nothing bad happens..."
"Well, I've used it twice so far, to destroy airships that were carrying weapons to flatten an entire realm," Spike stated, which was the moment that Cosmos simply stared at him in shock, nearly with his mouth open as he heard that response, while three of the other four Leaders were surprised by what they were hearing, even if it took Bruno a moment to really understand why the others were so shocked.
"You've used the Storm's Wrath spell... TWICE?!" Cosmos nearly exclaimed, though at the same time his tone told both Elora and Hunter how weirded out the Leader was, while Spyro and Ember remained where they were sitting, because if this was how their Leaders were going to act when Spike dropped his news on them, about the spell, than they were going to be beyond shocked when they heard what happened at the end of the war, "On your own, with no one to assist you, and without anything bad happening?"
"That's about right... of course using the spell did drain me both times, but that's common with the higher level spells, especially ones that require you to manipulate the weather like that." Spike replied, showing Cosmos that he understood how to form the spell and, based on what he had said so far, how one was supposed to channel and use the spell, which he seemed to have trouble processing, even though he had been surprised when they had told him and the other Leaders about his battle with Blowhard.
It was in that moment that Cosmos did something that Spyro, Spike, and Ember, not to mention the other Leaders that were near him, weren't expecting, his grip of his staff disappeared and it fell to the ground, displaying his shock for all of them to see, which was around the time that Nestor picked it up and tapped the dragon's shoulder, causing Cosmos to refocus on what was going on at the moment as he accepted his staff.
"I see... well then, we're going to have to reevaluate and redesign your training sessions." Cosmos said, though it was easy to hear the part of his tone that held his shock, since he wasn't used to hearing about young dragons being able to do these sorts of things in the past, before he shook his head for a moment as he considered what he and the other Magic Crafters would have to do when the siblings returned to the Dragon Realms, "I mean, we had to do that after you three brought down Gnasty Gnorc, since your knowledge and usage of spells was more than what we were expecting at the time, but it does appear that we'll have to do the same thing again... but still, for Ember to master the Warrior's Armor to such a degree, and for you to use such a spell on your own, twice I might add, its quite impressive."
"If you think that's impressive, you should have seen what happened at the end of the war we stopped." Ember said, as this was the big piece of news that they could possibly drop on their Leaders, the knowledge that a dragon, Spyro to be exact, had unlocked and used the Voice of a Leader, Conqueror's Spirit as Titan knew it, because that was going to blow their minds more than what she and Spike were able to do, "Spyro unlocked and used Conqueror's Spirit."
What happened next was a chorus of 'Excuse me?!', 'He did what?!', and, of course, their brother's reaction of 'I did WHAT?!', with Titan and Cosmos dropping their weapons to the ground as they heard the news, while Nestor, Bruno, and Lateef stood there with shock written all over their faces, and Spyro, well, his jaw just dropped after he heard that, while at the same time Elora, Hunter, and Aeros glanced at each other, unsure of what to make of this situation.
"I don't get it. What's so special about this spirit thing anyway?" Hunter asked, because while this was the first time he had heard of such a thing, mostly due to the fact that he hadn't talked to the siblings all that much during their adventure to stop Ripto, just hearing the name and seeing the reactions told him that whatever Spyro had done to stop the war was massive in the dragon world.
"May we sit down?" Lateef inquired, mostly since they had been standing the entire time since their arrival in this area and was directing it towards the ones that seemed to be the ones that ran the land that the siblings had been called to some time ago, to help them with a problem they would learn about later, though when the faun nodded her head he and the others sat down, with Titan and Cosmos taking a moment to collect their gear, "Thank you. Now then, the reason that Conqueror's Spirit, or Voice of a Leader as some call it, is so important is because its an incredibly rare and rather potent ability that allows one to exert their willpower over those that are around them, knocking out the weak-willed in seconds, and if the user adds a command while they use the ability there is a good chance of the command working... Titan, that is what you teach the other Peace Keepers, right?"
"It is, but we haven't see anyone with this ability in two hundred years." Titan replied, where he rested the head of his axe near him and took out a stone for a moment, where he carefully tended to the head of his weapon since he had been so foolish as to drop it, and it didn't take him long to fix what was going on, before he put the stone away and focused on the others that were in the room, "In years past, when there were users of this ability, Conqueror's Spirit was used to scare certain enemies into submission and even stop certain events from escalating to the point of no return, but, and this is the most important part, those that possess Conqueror's Spirit are said to have the qualities of a leader, with those that do have it going on to be some of the greatest Leaders in dragon history."
Spike nodded his head in agreement, as he had read the scrolls and tomes that told him exactly what Titan was saying at the moment, which did act as confirmation for Elora, Hunter, and Aeros, who seemed rather shocked by all of this, not that he could blame them since they were now learning that Spyro was more special than they originally believed, but at the same time the other Leaders knew that they were going to have to change up the training sessions in the future, especially after everything they had learned so far.
"I don't remember using such a power." Spyro commented, because that was the thing he didn't understand, as while Spike and Ember seemed to know what had happened at the end of the war, to get the two Lords to stop what they were doing, he wasn't sure he had done what his siblings had said, even if it would have been nice to have his own unique skill that neither of his siblings possessed.
"That's fairly common in those that possess this skill, as all of the previous users said the same thing when they were told what they had done," Nestor remarked, as he had read the stories and heard the ancient tales as well, like most of the Leaders that watched over and guided the Dragon Realms did when they took their position, before he took a moment to think about what he had learned in the past, when he became the Leader of the Artisans dragons to be exact, "All of them unconsciously used the Voice of a Leader a few times, unaware that they possessed such a skill, before eventually growing aware of their skill and then, with some time and a great deal of training, were able to master it to a degree... but right now Titan and the other Peace Keepers are the only ones that can possibly instruct you on how to use this power, and how to access it at will."
"So what you're saying is that Spyro is destined to replace one of you one day?" Elora asked, mostly because she had no idea how the Dragon Realms operated and figured that she might as well ask the question while the Leaders were here, since they were willing to discuss something that seemed like a rather important topic for their land, based on what happened when Ember told the Leaders what her brother had done.
"We shall see... I mean, we still have to train him first." Titan replied, reminding Elora of the fact that Spyro had only just gained this ability earlier that day and had no time to really understand what he was doing, so now that they knew he had Conqueror's Spirit, even if such a thing was still surprising when they thought about it, both to them and to the young dragon in question, they just had to train Spyro to the best of their abilities.
"But first, Spyro, Spike, and Ember deserve some time off, to rest and relax, before we start any new lessons," Nestor said, because he was sure that the war had interrupted whatever vacation the siblings had been trying to enjoy, or that was that the Gnorc had told them earlier, and felt that, after saving another land from another villain, they deserved some time off before they resumed their studies, even if such things would need to be modified, thanks to all the information they had learned today.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, because despite everything that happened, and what they had told their Leaders about, it would be nice for them to actually have a vacation that wouldn't be interrupted by a war between two realms, and yet, at the same time, they were looking forward to seeing what the future held for them and their new friends.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember spent the rest of the day doing what Nestor and the others had said, as in they took some time off and rested, something that was definitely needed after their adventure in Avalar, meaning they actually relaxed, ate some food at long last, and also got some much deserved sleep, since they knew that, without something driving them, they would have crashed at some point. Elora and Hunter were more than happy to let them spend the rest of the day in Autumn Plains' castle, especially after everything the three of them had done to help the various realms out since their arrival in this land, and that included revealing that Moneybags was just using them to get at the gems that were resting in Avalar's treasury, but now the bear was in jail and would soon be punished for his crimes. Nestor and the other Leaders stayed in the castle for a time, mostly because Cosmos wanted to talk with the Professor, no doubt about the portal and what he had done to let the siblings return to Dragon Shores, and they would be ready to return to their home land when the siblings were ready, even though all three of them intended on returning to Avalar at some point, as they had made a few friends here and they weren't about to forget about any of them. That gave Elora and Hunter some time to learn about the Dragon Realms directly from the five Leaders that watched over and lead the dragons that called it home, as everything they knew about dragons was outdated and incorrect, based on what they read from the book the Professor had, and the Leaders were more than happy to answer the questions.
The siblings, on the other claw, rested in the chamber that they had been given, where Spyro was laying in one of the recliner chairs that were usually found on the beach, while Ember was in the middle of sampling some of the food that had been left in the chamber, after Elora and Hunter brought them here, though Spike was sitting off to the side with some of his supplies, only this time he was trying something different in a different journal.
"Spike, what are you doing?" Ember asked, as she knew that her brother couldn't be writing about their adventure in Avalar at this point, not since it was over and they had brought an end to the war that was going on between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, which meant that she was interested in what he might be doing at the moment, while at the same time their dragonflies rested near Spyro, just enjoying the sun.
"Oh, I'm trying to add images to my journal," Spike replied, where he stopped what he was doing for a moment and placed the picture that he had been working on, since they came to the chamber anyway, on the table, where Ember found that he had been working on a colored picture of Elora, back when they met her in Summer Forest, "I want the other dragons to have a better idea of who or what I'm talking about, when I go to describe locations and the people that we encountered, so I figured that adding a few pictures here and there might help them imagine what happened during our adventures in this land."
"Well, your drawing skills have certainly improved since our first art lesson," Ember remarked, as the drawing her brother had been working on was pretty good and she didn't see any flaws in how Elora looked, showing her that Spike had a fine eye for detail and that transferred into other things besides his writing and notes, before she beckoned for him to take the picture back and he did so, since it was still incomplete and he needed to perfect it.
"Thanks. I've been working hard to make this possible." Spike said, where he carefully returned the picture to where it had been a few moments ago, while at the same time Ember noticed a few slips of paper that had names on them, to tell her brother who or what was going on that particular piece of parchment, before picking up his materials again so he could continue working on the pictures, "I'm sure Argus and the others will enjoy seeing these pictures, since it will give them a better idea of how everything looked when we first visited a place or when we first met someone... though I should check our archives when we get back, to see if there's any information on Ripto."
"Ripto? Why are you so interested in him?" Spyro asked, because while he was trying to relax and enjoy himself, which his siblings should be doing before they returned to the Dragon Realms and started the next level of training that Nestor and the others had in mind, he was a little curious as to why Spike would want to focus some of his time on the villain they had just defeated, "Especially when you consider the fact that he apparently came from another land that dragons have never been to."
"Well, he didn't like dragons and even interacted with a few in his past, even if he didn't talk about it," Spike stated, as he had known that one of his siblings would have questioned what he was saying and he was perfectly fine with such a thing happening, since he had been thinking about this since the moment they first encountered Ripto, even if he had other things to keep his mind distracted during their adventure, "I'm just curious if the archives mention him or the land he came from, because if they don't than that means there could be another land out there with dragons living in a state of peace with the other residents of that area."
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other, as while they weren't as interested in the land that Ripto came from, like their brother happened to be, the notion of there being another land with dragons was something that interested them, but they said nothing as they left Spike to what he was doing, because once he set his mind to researching something there was no stopping him, and it was only a matter of time until he went to Cloud Temples to see what sort of knowledge they had on their shelves. The fact that he hadn't rushed to Winter Tundra and headed into the realm in question was quite a shock to them, as they had been under the impression that he would have done that once Ripto had been defeated and the war had been stopped, but it seemed that rest and relaxation was what he was focused on at the moment, even if he would be visiting Cloud Temples at some point in the near future. Ember, on the other claw, was more interested in what Titan had to teach her when they got back home, especially since she had access to Warrior's Armor, long before she was supposed to have access to it apparently, which meant the Peace Keepers would have to introduce some new training to keep up with her skills. Spyro, however, turned back around in his chair and glanced at the rest of Autumn Plains for a few seconds, thinking about the incredibly rare and potent power he had unlocked at the end of the war, one that the Leaders and his siblings seemed sure that he possessed, though while he doubted that he knew that time would tell, and he was looking forward to whatever training was coming his way.
Eventually Spike stopped what he was doing and put his writing materials away so he could relax as well, as in falling asleep like Spyro and Ember quickly did once they were done talking, as they were all tired from their adventure and were in need of some well deserved rest, that way all three of them could be ready for whatever the future held for them and whatever challenges awaited them.
When the siblings woke up they found that it was morning and that they must have slept through the night, which was just fine with them when they considered everything they had been through since their arrival in Avalar, to which they got up and headed outside the room they had been given for the remainder of their stay, which wasn't going to be long since they did have to return to the Dragon Realms. Spike was already considering ideas on how to make a more permanent portal between their home and Avalar, so that way they could visit Elora, Hunter, and the others whenever they wanted, as long as it was during one of their breaks and not during the training that the Leaders were going to be giving them, and, at the same time, allow their new friends to come and visit them as well. As he thought about that he had the feeling that the Professor was probably hard at work on the same thing, to create a portal that linked their two lands together, which made sense since he was the one that created the Super Portal and connected it to the land that Ripto came from, as well as to the Dragon Realms to catch the three of them when they were heading to Dragon Shores. Spike was sure that, with some time and help, the Professor would be able to make this vision a reality, and he could always ask Nora about this, as she was the one that detected the new portal appearing on Dragon Shores, so it was possible that she could help him make a new portal and have it instantly connect the two lands together.
It didn't take the siblings all that long to locate the chamber that the meeting had been held in, where they managed to convince the leaders of the Land Blubbers and the Breezebuilders to stop their pointless war, and they found that there were already a few people there, as in all five of their Leaders and their new friends from Avalar, as Elora, Hunter, and even the Professor were inside the chamber.
"Ah, there you guys are." Hunter commented, informing the siblings that he and the others had seen them come into the chamber, even if it looked like they might have been talking about something before their arrival and either stopped all of a sudden or finished it as they walked down the hallway, though all three of them noticed that he had switched back into his normal attire, which was nothing, "I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have to enter your room and shake you three awake, even though Titan assures me that such a thing is a bad idea."
"Well, depending on a dragon's mood when such a thing happens, anything can happen," Ember stated, though she was glad that Titan and the others, as she was sure they had a claw in stopping Hunter, had prevented such a thing from happening, especially with how tired all three of them had been from their adventure, not to mention how quick she was to anger when certain things, like the war, happened, "but he's right, waking a sleeping dragon, when they haven't had any rest for a long time, can be a bad idea."
"Besides, considering how bad Ember got pissed off earlier, what with the war and Moneybags' actions, did you really want to risk provoking her?" Spyro asked, though he was mostly doing this because they were talking about the subject and not something else, even though his thoughts were still on the potential training he might be given in the near future, which his siblings were also thinking about, even if their training would be different than his.
"That's what stopped me as well, Elora reminding me of what she saw of Ember's anger." Hunter replied, reminding the siblings of the fact that Elora had likely caught a glance or two of that whenever they told her about Moneybags, not to mention the war, before he shrugged for a moment, since there wasn't much more for him to say on this matter, "Anyway, its good to see that you guys are up and that you have recovered from your adventure, even if that means that you'll be heading back to your home soon enough."
"You know, with the Professor no doubt working on a new portal, you guys can come and visit us," Spike said, as one glance at the person in question confirmed his earlier thoughts, that the Professor was hard at work trying to make the connection between their lands much better than what it current was, though it would be nice to have new visitors in the Dragon Realms, as they could give Elora and Hunter a tour and show them the land they called home.
"Spike, its nice of you to offer, but we have to stay here and tend to the realms you guys helped out." Elora replied, not that the siblings really needed the reminder of what they had done to help out the various realms that the residents of Avalar called home, as all of it was fresh in their minds, though it was clear that Hunter was the only one that didn't like what she had to say, "Ripto caused a lot of damage to Avalar, regardless of whether or not Moneybags helped him in that regard, so it will take us a while to get things back to the way they had been, before his arrival, so we may not be able to do that for some time."
"Of course you guys can take a short break, especially after everything you've done." Spyro stated, because he knew that their new friends deserved some time off from their duties and that they likely needed a few days off, though even as he said that both Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, and Aeros, who was standing nearby, seemed to be of the same opinion, "I mean, you guys withstood Ripto's rampage for an entire week, allowing you the time to gather what you needed to call the three of us here, and even then you worked without rest to help us get through the realms of Avalar and acquire the Orbs that we needed to get through the final barrier... and you guys helped us bring an end to the war that was plaguing Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, so you definitely deserve a break. Not to mention the fact that Aeros and the rest of the Royal Guard can assist the citizens of the realms and make sure everything is in order for your return, meaning you won't have to worry about being called back within a few minutes of leaving."
Elora seemed to want to argue the fact, that she and Hunter were needed here, to help the rest of the realms recover from what happened to them, but in the end it was a glance to Aeros that convinced her to accept the offer, because the Royal Guard in question felt that they did deserve some time off, especially since he and the other guards had a lot of work to catch up on thanks to their week in the infirmary, due to their injuries from Crush and Gulp.
"Okay, I guess we can take a few days off." Elora said, eventually admitting defeat on the matter, even if it did seem like she liked the idea anyway, though her statement did leave Hunter cheering for a moment or two, mostly since he was happy that Spyro, Spike, and Ember had, in their own way, convince her to do something else, before she turned towards Aeros for a second, "But if I hear that something major happened, like another battle broke out or something, I'm coming right back to Avalar to make sure its taken care of."
Aeros nodded his head, showing that he did understand what she was saying, causing Elora to beckon for Hunter to take the lead for now, to which they started to walk out of the chamber they had gathered in, as the Leaders indicated that breakfast would be ready by the time they got back home, and headed for the portal that would take them back to Winter Tundra. Since the war had only come to a stop yesterday, and the meeting had been directly after that, the siblings knew that the Professor didn't have time to make a new portal or realign the Super Portal to the Dragon Realms, as in one of the homeworlds and not Dragon Shores, which would present a problem since the set of portals on the island, to all of the lands that the dragons called home, were designed to stop someone from going from one homeworld to another. Since they would be coming from another portal, and not from one of the ones that were in the area in question, Spike had to wonder if the portals would reject them or not, like they had done when he and his siblings first learned about them when they visited the island for the first time, but he guessed he was going to have to wait and see. There was also the chance that Nora had modified the portals so they could return without being stopped by anything, since she happened to be the master of Teleportation magic, though Cosmos had said nothing about that, leading the three of them to remain silent as they used the square portal to head back to Winter Tundra, so they could use the portal in the castle's courtyard and head back to Dragon Shores.
It didn't take them long to reach the Super Portal and pass through it, where they quickly reappeared near the front gates of Dragon Shores' new amusement park, something that Elora and Hunter were surprised to see, before Nestor lead the way around the exterior of the park and headed for the location of the portals he was looking for, allowing their new friends to see another part of the island while they walked. Spyro, Spike, and Ember were happy to be back in a familiar area, since the park had been something none of them were expecting when they first spotted it, and it wasn't long before they spotted the area that they had visited a few times in the past, which had been the inspiration to come here to get away from the massive storm that the Dragon Realms had been experiencing, which, from the looks of it, was no longer a concern, meaning it had been dealt with. They assumed that the storm had been dealt with once they noticed that the three of them were missing, or at least Nestor would have since they had been in the Artisans homeworld the last time he had seen any of them, meaning that the first thing he would have done, after checking the entirety of the land they called home, was head out and visit the other homeworlds, to get rid of the storm and to find them. Of course Nora had likely been on the case since the moment the Professor hijacked the portal and brought the three of them to Avalar, hence why she noticed the new portal so quickly, but just as they thought about that Nestor turned down a path and they smiled for a moment, as at the end of the path rested the five portals that represented the five lands of the Dragon Realms, and, based on the increased size of the area, the siblings could tell the Machinists already had a spot picked out for their portal to the island, even if the space was large enough for a few more portals.
"Wow, you guys used different styles for your portals?" Elora asked, as she was impressed by the designs of the five portals that were in front of them, especially since all of the portals in Avalar had been crafted in the same likeness, which had been odd to the siblings since they were expecting each homeworld to have their own flare, much like the lands that made up the Dragon Realms.
"Yep. We've got the portal for the Artisans homeworld," Spike replied, beckoning to the portal in question, while at the same time he noticed that Hunter didn't seem to care and the Professor seemed to be studying the five portals, maybe to get a feeling for the area so he could attempt to open a new portal at some point in the near future, before he shifted his gaze to the next one in the circle, "then the portal for the Peace Keepers, followed by the Magic Crafters portal, then the portal for the Beast Makers, and finally we have the Dream Weavers portal. Each of these portals are connected to an identical structure in one of the five homeworlds, so the Peace Keepers portal will take someone to the land of the Peace Keepers, or that would be the case if they weren't enchanted to prevent someone from going from one homeworld to another, mostly to prevent potential invaders from attacking a land while their defenses were down."
"Ah, about that, Nora has modified the enchantment you are referring to," Cosmos commented, to which the siblings turned towards him for a moment, as they were curious as to what he had to tell them, and he could tell that Elora was also interested in what he was about to say, making him wonder if she was going to take the siblings up on their offer to come back and visit more often, just to learn more about them, the magic they had access to, and everything else that was in the archives, "that's more of an emergency setting now, meaning that someone can go from the land of the Dream Weavers and travel to the land of the Peace Keepers in a few minutes... even though Nora claims that it still needs some work to make everything run smoothly."
"Should have known she would have figured something out." Spyro said, more in the sense that he knew Nora was really smart when it came to Teleportation magic, especially when she figured out the odd green fire that allowed Spike to teleport something from one location and put it somewhere else, a power that was still, as far as he knew, unique for the two of them, so it wasn't hard to imagine that she would be capable of something like this.
Elora and Hunter glanced at each other for a moment, showing that they weren't sure what they should think of that comment, before Nestor beckoned for them to pass through the portal to the Artisans homeworld, to which he and the other Leaders did so first, followed by Spyro, Spike, and Ember, before the pair, and the Professor, followed them through the portal, only to stop on the other side when they noticed the land that was in front of them.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember... is this where you guys live?" Elora asked, where she, Hunter, and the Professor looked out at the landscape that was around them, taking in the beauty of the Artisans homeworld for a few moments, as she was a tad bit surprised to find a place like this, especially after all the tales that were in the book that they had found with the rest of the stuff the Professor had, "Its so... peaceful."
"As it should be." Spike said, though he and his siblings smiled as they followed Nestor and the others through the large door, allowing them to return to the area they had been in before another of them even decided on using the portal to head to Dragon Shores, which really felt like it had been a long time ago at this point, "The dragons that call this land home are some of the most peaceful and tranquil dragons you'll ever meet, and each of them has taken to some form of art, like painting, cooking, sculpting, and so on... and yes, this is the homeworld we call home."
"Are you sure about that? I mean, Ember is a pretty violent dragon when she wants to be." Hunter remarked, as he did find it a little odd that Spike claimed that they were Artisans dragons, the most peaceful of them all apparently, and yet all three of them were able to defend themselves and deal great damage to those that were in their way, especially after what he witnessed yesterday.
"As it stands, the Artisans dragons are the most peaceful and tranquil of the five clans," Nestor commented, causing the group to turn and look at him for a moment, while at the same time the rest of the Leaders separated and started to do their own thing, as now that the siblings had returned they could head back to their homeworlds and continue what they had been doing, before starting the new level of training for the siblings, "the Peace Keepers are the most aggressive and serve as our soldiers, the Magic Crafters can be a little shy and are happy to spend their days in their own studies so they can learn more about the various types of magic, the Beast Makers help bring new life into our lands and live in a swamp that contains some of the best herbs and materials in the Dragon Realms, and the Dream Weavers sleep during the day so they can guard our dreams during the night. Of course, even with all of that information, Spyro and Spike are Purple Dragons, a very rare and very special type of dragon, and they are not bound by the traditional definition of the land they were born in, even though Spike is more of a Magic Crafter than an Artisans dragon, and Ember is just like them in that thought, since she's more of a Peace Keeper."
"Oh, I see... so rule breaking dragons, got it." Hunter said, showing that he sort of understood what Nestor had said and that what he got from it was that Spyro and Spike, because they were a rare type of dragon, were being given special treatment in terms of which clan they could act like, and that Ember was included so she didn't feel left out, to which the siblings simply shrugged as they looked at each other for a moment.
Elora, on the other claw, seemed interested in what they were learning about and focused less on the fact that the siblings were not bound by the traditional definition of the Artisans dragons, but as she walked out into the main area of the homeworld, and took in everything that was around them, Spyro, Spike, and Ember heard the sound of someone flying towards the area they were in, and it wasn't one of the Leaders.
"Guys, there you are!" a familiar voice said, where the siblings glanced in the direction that the voice was coming from and found Sol flying towards the area they were standing in, though it wasn't long before he came to a stop and landed near the group, even though his gaze was focused on his friends at the moment, "I was getting curious as to when you might come and visit the island again, especially with the storm we all experienced, but when I got back to the hub area of the Beast Makers homeworld, to visit Bruno and see if I could fly here, I heard that you guys were missing and I decided to help your Leaders out... I had no idea you guys were taken to another land."
"Trust me, it was quite an adventure," Spyro replied, as that was an understatement and he knew it, as a lot of stuff happened since the moment they went through the portal to Dragon Shores and the moment they were brought back to the Dragon Realms, but for now it was important not to bother their friend with the war they had stopped, before he took a moment and glanced at their new friends, "Sol, allow me to introduce Elora, Hunter, and the Professor, our friends from Avalar, the land we were brought to when we 'disappeared'. Guys, this is Sol, one of the Phoenixes that used to keep their existence hidden from the rest of the dragons, and he's one of the first friends we ever made."
"So, you're a Phoenix." Hunter remarked, where he, Elora, and the Professor looked at the being that was in front of them and took in how Sol looked, as this was the first time they had seen anything like him, since Phoenixes weren't even mentioned in any of the books that Elora had read, making the species even rarer than the dragons were, "Though to be perfectly honest, and this isn't meant as an insult, I was expecting you to be a bit bigger."
"I'm not fully grown, that's why. I'm only eleven years old, and I wont mature for some time," Sol replied, where his tone revealed that he wasn't annoyed by what Hunter had said, rather he found it somewhat amusing that he made a small comment about the fact that he wasn't as tall as he was expecting, especially since he was around the height that his friends were at, before he focused on something else, which was Elora, "So, um, what are you supposed to be exactly? You look like some sort of goat creature."
"I'm a Faun, you dork." Elora stated, doing exactly what she did when Spyro made the comment, where she bent over to stare at Sol for a few seconds, while at the same time her tone and her face revealed that she wasn't annoyed by what had been said, before she shifted her stance once more and returned to how she had been standing earlier, though she was sure that Spyro was glad that he wasn't on the receiving end of that statement this time around.
Before she said anything else, and before Hunter could say something, Elora noticed that Ember rolled her eyes at her statement once more, meaning she really didn't care for it, while this time both Spyro and Spike chuckled for a moment, confirming her thoughts about Spyro in a matter of seconds, though Sol stood there for a moment and tilted his head for a moment, showing that he was confused by something.
"Oh, sorry, I had no idea you were a Faun... whatever that is." Sol said, because he knew that there were no Fauns in the Dragon Realms, since he was sure that one of the Beast Makers would have said something about them if they did exist, though at the same time he knew that Spike would likely tell him about the species at some point in the next day or two, before he considered something else, "Also, what's a dork?"
"Don't worry about it, Sol," Spike spoke up, where he was happy that their friend didn't mind the fact that he and Spyro had taken a few moments to chuckle at what Elora had said, before he tapped his satchel with his wing for a second, to indicate that he had information to share with the rest of the Dragon Realms, "We'll tell you all about our adventure in Avalar, the realms we saw, and everything else that happened while we were there, but first we should let our new friends see our homeworld and enjoy ourselves."
Sol smiled as he joined the group as Spyro started to move, as he and his siblings had a lot to show Elora and Hunter, while the Professor would likely be spending his time chatting with the Leaders before they left for their homeworlds, and he was sure that they would have questions, ones that they would be more than willing to answer, though even as he, Spike, and Ember walked away from where they had been standing they were happy to be back home and knew that the Dragon Realms were never going to be the same from this day forward.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember spent a few days showing Elora and Hunter the rest of the Dragon Realms, as they were curious as to what the rest of the homeworlds looked like, where the Leaders were more than happy to let their new friends visit the lands that they watched over and meet some of the other dragons, just to see what the other clans did in comparison to the Artisans dragons. The Professor, on the other claw, had been taken to Nora on the first day and so far it seemed like the two of them were busy, discussing portals and seeing where they might be able to put the portal to Avalar, to allow the siblings, or anyone else that used it, to travel between the two lands, without having to go to Dragon Shores and then take the long way around the island. Spike knew that it was only a matter of time until the pair determined where to put the portal, so he didn't see the need to bother them at all, something that his siblings agreed with as they showed Elora and Hunter around the other lands, where they were joined by Sol, as he had only seen the land of the Beast Makers and the Artisans dragons since the news had gone out that the Phoenixes were coming out of hiding, showing them that he was also eager to see the other lands as well. The siblings were happy to see that both their new friends and their old friend got along so well, and that neither of them got annoyed by the other being there, so they simply used Marco's balloon, one of the larger ones, to leave their homeworld behind and headed for the other lands that the dragons called home, giving them time to answer any questions their friends might have.
Hunter was surprised and confused as to why they needed to use a hot air balloon to leave one of the homeworlds and head to one of the others, as he was used to the square portals that connected the lands of Avalar together and allowed near instant teleportation between the three lands that he and Elora helped watch over, where Spike explained that this was the way things worked and the dragons saw no need in linking the lands that way. He was sure that Nora could make some portals like that and link the homeworlds of the Dragon Realms in such a way, but that would put the Balloonists out of a job, one that they were good at, so it was possible that they would never have the fancy portals that their friend was used to using. Hunter also questioned why the dragons didn't just make a quicker form of transportation, similar to the planes and whatnot that he was used to using, where Marco explained that the dragons were only just starting to get into the various forms of technology and that it would be some time before they had anything like what the cheetah was talking about, and that the Machinists would be the ones to make something faster for him and the other Balloonists to use. Elora, on the other claw, nodded her head in understanding and said nothing as they moved from one homeworld to the next, showing the siblings that she was enjoying what was going on at the moment and that the break from her duties had been sorely needed, even though she would be returning to said duties when she and Hunter headed back to Avalar.
Interestingly enough Elora and Hunter enjoyed looking around the desert area of the Peace Keepers homeworld, and some of the other realms that were connected to it, such as Ice Cavern, something that caught the pair off guard when they saw the wonderful caverns that existed in this land, though Elora did understand the role that the caverns played for this land, even if Hunter was barely paying attention. Both of them were stunned by the beauty of the land that the Magic Crafters called home, especially since they were seeing the land in its more peaceful state and none of the other wizards were in the middle of trying to duel each other, though Spike did inform them that this was where he would be coming in the future for whatever training that Cosmos had for him, while Ember would be heading to the Peace Keepers land for her lessons with Titan. From there they made their way to the Beast Keepers homeworld, surprising the pair by the fact that the fourth land the dragons called home was an island that was also a massive swamp, though Marco didn't head down for a closer look, which was just fine with the pair as they moved over the tops of the trees, giving them a decent view of the land below them, even though Sol mentioned a few of the things he had seen over the years as they headed over the homeworld. Of course it wasn't long before they laid eyes on the land of the Dream Weavers, the floating land that was made up of a number of small islands that were close together, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember noticed that their friends were stunned by what they were seeing, even if there were a few dragons up and about, where Spike told them that there were two sects for the Dream Weavers, one that operated during the day and the other at night.
Elora quickly put together that it was that way so that the Dream Weavers that worked during the night, while the rest of the Dragon Realms were asleep, would have their dreams guarded by the members of their clan that were up during the day, where Spike nodded his head to show that she got it right, before she and Hunter turned their attention to the sixth and last homeworld they would be seeing, until Marco told them that the Machinists dragons weren't ready to show the other dragons what their land looked like and that they would be able to see it in the future.
Sure, that had made the pair a little annoyed since they had been eager to see if, and the siblings were surprised by the fact, but determined that it made sense due to the fact that the Machinists dragons only had a year to work on their new home and that they would likely complete their work in another year, maybe two, but they were also willing to show Elora and Hunter what the land looked like when the Machinists were ready to reveal it everyone else. As such Marco took them back to the Artisans homeworld and dropped them off as soon as they arrived, allowing him to tend to his hot air balloon while they headed into the central area of the land, where the six of them joined the rest of the dragons for the meal that had been prepared while they were gone. That gave the pair a chance to see the various types of food that all of the dragons enjoyed, even though their own personal interests had been maintained as well, showing them that the cooks actually listened to what had been said earlier, allowing them to enjoy themselves as they joined the siblings and the rest of the dragons that called this land home. Even the Professor was there, having arrived ahead of them thanks to Nora using her magic to teleport them back to this area, so he was able to enjoy himself for a time as well, while the dragons celebrated what Spyro, Spike, and Ember had done for Avalar, showing them that Nestor had explained the situation to the other dragons and they had prepared themselves accordingly, even if the siblings weren't surprised by what they were hearing, since the same thing had been true for what happened after Gnasty Gnorc had been stopped.
The other couple of days that Elora, Hunter, and the Professor spent in the Dragon Realms was spent seeing how the other clans operated and what the siblings did every day, even if they were still relaxing from their latest adventure and were readying themselves for the beginning of their new lessons, something that all three of them were looking forward to, since they had no idea what the Leaders had to teach them this time around.
Eventually a week went by and Elora declared that, while their time in the Dragon Realms had been exactly what they needed, it was time for her, Hunter, and the Professor to return to Avalar and resume their duties, but, at the same time, she promised that they would come back at some point in the future and visit the siblings, especially since she intended on bringing them some of Avalar's knowledge, since she knew Spike was interested in some of the realms. Spyro, Spike, and Ember, along with the rest of the Artisans dragons, bid the trio farewell as they headed through the portal that would take them back to their home, a portal that had been installed near the waterfall that rested off to the side in the main area of the Artisans homeworld, allowing them to head back to Avalar without having to go through Dragon Shores, just as Nora intended. Of course Nora had shown up to make sure the portal worked exactly as it intended and followed the trio as they walked through the new portal, though a few moments later she returned and declared that Elora, Hunter, and the Professor had made it back to their home without anything bad happening, to which the siblings nodded their heads before they returned to the last bit of relaxation they would be allowed to have, because when the next day arrived they would start their new training. Nestor knew the siblings were eager to start their training, just to see what sort of skills the other Leaders had to offer them this time around, but he knew that they would enjoy what was coming their way, just like what happened after they bested Gnasty Gnorc, and that they would be ready for whatever the future held for them, even if he knew what was coming.
When the morning of the next day arrived, and the siblings readied themselves for what the Leaders had to offer them this time around, Nora appeared and took Spike back to the area that his training was being held in, which left Spyro and Ember to follow Nestor as he took them to where Marco was waiting, as he was taking them back to the land of the Peace keepers. That was the way things had been since Spike first developed the great magical power that was making him one of the greatest wizards the dragons had ever seen, not that Spyro or Ember were annoyed by that since they were also well known to the rest of the clans, in their own ways to be exact, so they turned their minds towards what sort of lessons Titan had for them this time around. Spyro knew that Ember was going to be given some sort of combat training, just like she had been given in the past, and that it might center around the power she had quickly developed over the course of their adventure in Avalar, the Warrior's Armor ability as Titan called it, but even then he was interested in seeing what sort of training his sister would be going through. At the same time, however, he thought about the ability that he supposedly unlocked earlier, the Voice of a Leader, or Conqueror's Spirit, and wondered what sort of training he would have to go through to even unlock the ability to use that power on his own, instead of having it come out whenever it wanted, if he chose to believe the others and what they said anyway, even though he was sure they were telling the truth, which only made him think about the power as Marco took them to Titan's homeworld.
It took them the same amount of time that it usually took them to travel from their homeworld to Titan's land, which was less than an hour thanks to how lose the two islands were to each other, before Marco reached their destination and landed on the dock so Spyro and Ember could disembark and see what sort of training the Peace Keepers had for them, hence the reason they followed Titan the moment he showed up.
"Titan, I assume that you have everything ready for Spyro and Ember?" Nestor asked, because while he knew that the siblings didn't need him to be there, and walk them to the area that Titan had no doubt prepared for their lessons, he just wanted to be sure there was nothing Titan needed from him before leaving the two siblings to their training, which they were focused on at the moment.
"Yes, I made sure to get things set up once we came back home," Titan replied, indicating that he had prepared what he needed once the siblings had returned from Avalar, as they had been preoccupied by showing their friends around the lands that the dragons called home, while at the same time he headed for the area that Spyro had used to practice his new Hover technique, and later mastered it, since that was where he intended on training the siblings.
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, knowing that they were in for quite a training session if the last ones were anything to go by, though as they followed Titan into the area that he would be teaching them in, one they both recognized immediately, they spotted Magnus, the large sumo dragon, Gunnar, the fierce looking warrior that was holding a pair of curved sword in his hands, and Trondo, who was bouncing his own dagger back and forth for a moment, standing in the area they would be training in.
"So, we're going to fight?" Ember inquired, because what she was seeing at the moment was that three Peace Keepers were getting ready for what seemed to be a fight or a brawl, but, since this was the area that she and Spyro had used as their training grounds since Gnasty Gnorc's defeat, she had to assume that the three dragons were here to fight her and test her reflexes or something, which was why she was walking towards the Peace Keepers.
"Not quite yet. First, I must tend to Spyro," Titan said, though he chuckled for a few seconds, as it was nice to see that Ember was so eager to see what sort of training she would be doing for the foreseeable future, before he shifted his gaze to Spyro, who was now standing alone since Nestor was back near the path that would take him back to the central area of his homeworld, so he could leave and tend to his own duties before coming back to pick up Spyro and Ember when their training was over, "Now, I know you have been wondering what sort of training you will be doing, and the answer is quite simple, even if you won't like it: you'll be spending a great deal of time meditating and focusing on the power that you have unlocked, as working on your willpower will allow you to tap into it again."
"Really? Is that it?" Spyro asked, where he had to stop himself from sounding disappointed why what he was hearing, as he had been hoping that Titan would tell him that in order to use the power he had supposedly gained during the end of the war, since he believed what Spike and Ember had said, was by trying to use the power repeatedly, until he gained a sense for what he needed to do.
"Those are the basic steps to learning how to wield this power, according to my predecessors," Titan remarked, but he couldn't fault Spyro for sounding a little disappointed, as he would have been the same way if he had learned that he had access to one of the rarest powers in the Dragon Realms and that to start learning how to harness that power he needed to spend some time meditating on said power, "but once you have reached a certain point, what I have no idea, you can start on trying to project your willpower on those that are around you."
"He's really got it then? Conqueror's Spirit?" Trondo inquired, though it was mostly because he was sure that the one that would have unlocked such a power would have been Ember and not Spyro, based upon how skills she was in her own right and the fact that she had already tapped into one of the skills that a Peace Keeper used in battle, but if Spyro had the rarest power of them all, like Titan had said, it would be worth helping him draw it out and harness it.
"That's right. We were in the middle of stopping a war and he used it to get the leaders of both factions to stand down, much to the amazement of our new friends," Ember said, where she smiled for a moment, as it had been a grand moment for such a thing to awaken, even if Spyro had no idea what had happened and only had both her word and Spike's word to go on, and she could tell, just by looking at the other Peace Keepers, that they believed what they had been told, even if Spyro hadn't shown off the skill to them yet.
Spyro sighed for a moment as he jumped up on some of the stones and made his way to the highest point, using his Hover move to reach that area, before he sat down and closed his eyes, as it appeared that he had no choice in the matter and that this was the only way for him to even figure out how to tap into his new power, leaving Titan and the others to what they would be doing in the next few moments.
"Now then, while Spyro is meditating, the four of us will be testing your Warrior's Armor and, at the same time, seeing how well you react to facing multiple enemies," Titan stated, where he and the other Peace Keepers readied themselves as their weapons shimmered, and Magnus' stomach area did the same thing, showing Ember that they could extend the skill that they had spend time perfecting to their weapons, making them even more dangerous in the process, "Don't worry, we won't be trying to wound you, like we would be trying to do if we were fighting you as a real enemy, but this will give you a chance your Warrior's Armor against ours and see how Peace Keepers actually fight when engaging our enemies."
"Bring it on!" Ember remarked, though even as she said that a shimmer raced over her body as she activated her own version of the skill, reinforcing her body like she had done when they were fighting the enemies back in Avalar, and gave the four dragons a chance to ready themselves by assuming their battle stances, before she raced forward and picked out who her first foe was going to be.
Trondo grinned for a moment as Ember picked him to be her first opponent, where he rushed to meet her and raised his hardened dagger as he moved to attack his foe, though as he did that Ember spun around and let the edge of her tail collide with the incoming attack, where their two Warrior's Armors came into contact with each other and shook the area around them, complete with dark yellow sparks dancing between the pair to show the others what was going on. A few seconds later Ember forced Trondo backwards and the collision was broken, where Trondo had to harden his chest as quick as he could, because what happened next was that Ember finished spinning around and then charged right into him, intending to force him away from her with the force of her head, now combined with the power of her skill. Titan had to admit something as he watched that, as Ember was like a prodigy when it came to fighting and she seemed to adapt the more she fought, because all it took was that one collision and she knew that when two Warrior's Armor collided the air around the two fighters shook and the one that lost the match was at a disadvantage for a few seconds, something Ember had seized without realizing it, or she did understand it and that was why she lashed out where she did, but he stood back for a moment as Magnus and Gunnar rushed into the area she was positioned in. Gunnar kept Ember busy for a moment or two, mostly to make sure she didn't notice what was going on behind her, before he moved out of the way as Magnus dropped himself on where Ember was standing, which wasn't a sumo move in Titan's eyes, and for a moment it almost seemed like he succeeded in crushing Ember into the ground, but Cinder was unharmed, the giveaway that the young dragon was up to something.
A few seconds later Titan watched as Magnus was lifted up into the air for a moment, where Ember had forced herself into a stance so she could use her front legs to catch the dragon and prevent him from pushing her deep into the ground, before she heaved him into the air and then jumped into the air as she spun around, allowing the side of her tail to come into contact with Magnus' side and knocked him over into one of the earth spikes that were nearby. Titan was, once more, impressed by what Ember was able to do, as he knew that it wasn't easy to stop Magnus and his weight like that, meaning she had either done something like this in the past or they were underestimating her, something that could very well be a possibility given what was happening in Avalar when he and the others learned where she and her siblings had been taken to, but that didn't stop him from readying himself. Gunnar noticed that as well and rushed at Ember while she was taking a second to recover from what Magnus had done, which included making sure her landing was good, where he swung his blades at her and forced her to roll around for a time as she dodged the incoming attacks, almost as if she was already running out of power for her skill and that she wanted to make the most of it. At least that was what Titan thought at first, but that was when Ember rolled under Gunnar's legs when he tried to attack her, forcing his blades into a rock that she had lead him to, before she leapt up once she was behind him and used her hardened tail to knock him away from where his weapons were stuck, showing the Peace Keepers that she meant business.
Titan raised his axe into the air as he neared Ember, as he took the opportunity that presented itself and rushed her while she was dealing with Gunnar, but as he lowered his hardened axe down on her, however, she turned around rather quickly and raised her front legs into the air, where lightning branched off from their Warrior's Armors coming into contact with each other, only this time they struggled against each other for a time, showing that Ember was strong when it came to using this skill, and it ended with the shockwave ending as he knocked Ember backwards.
"You are quite skilled with that power," Titan remarked, where he shifted his axe into his other hand for a second, as he had to stop his right hand from shaking after the collision of their powers, which just showed how strong Ember was at the moment, meaning that she was going to be one of the strongest users of this power when she finally mastered it in the future, "but you have a ways to go before you mater this power, hence the reason we're training with it right now, though we might need more Peace Keepers to do that, judging from what we've done so far."
"And, at the same time, your using the noise from my training to help Spyro out," Ember stated, to which she shook herself for a few seconds, as that was the first time she had been knocked back when using this skill in battle, showing that she had faced someone with a stronger Warrior's Armor than what she had, while at the same time revealing that she had figured out what sort of training Titan had in mind for Spyro, because if her brother could block out the sounds of what they were doing he would have a better chance of drawing out his power.
As Titan nodded his head, to show that Ember had hit the nail on the head, all of them paused for a moment as they felt a slight shudder pass through the air, where Magnus even rubbed his arm for a second, like it was cold, which was the instant he and Ember glanced over at Spyro, as it appeared that he was having a little success in drawing out the power he had awakened, as that feeling came from Conqueror's Spirit, there was no doubting that fact, though this only made him wonder how long it would take Spyro to actually start using it... and, of course, what happened after Spike started his new lessons with Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters.
Spike quickly found that the area he had been brought to was the same area that he had done his previous training with Cosmos, and whoever he brought in to assist in his lessons, to which he set his satchel aside for a moment, so it didn't get damaged by whatever training he would be going through for the foreseeable future, before he turned towards the open part of the area and found that Cosmos was definitely waiting for him, with Nora standing near him. Of course, as he did that, he noticed that there were a few other Magic Crafters in the area as well, keeping themselves hidden until he walked a certain distance into the training area, though he spotted Cyrus, Ajax, Cedric, Hexus, Lucas, and Altair standing near the pillars that were in the area. Based on what he knew that the Leaders had learned, about their adventure in Avalar, it was easy to assume that this was Cosmos' version of stepping up his training, going from one on one, and sometimes even two on one when Nora stepped in, and was pushing it closer to ten on one, no doubt to really give him a chance to see a few of the other spells the Magic Crafters had access to. As such he readied himself for whatever was going to come next, while at the same time Talon rested near the satchel so he didn't get in the way, though he refrained from accessing his magic at the moment, mostly to wait and see what Cosmos had to tell him, but he did keep an eye on the other dragons, just in case one of them made a move towards him.
"Now then, I know you are eager to see what sort of training we're going to be doing," Cosmos said, though as he said that the rest of the assembled Magic Crafters moved out from where they were standing and readied themselves for what they were going to be doing once he was done talking, while noticing that Spike was already waiting for all of them, even if he had no idea what they would be doing, "What we'll be doing is the same thing that we did before you and your siblings were called to Avalar to help them with their problems, meaning we'll be engaging in a magical battle between the eight of us and you, to see what your capable of and give you an idea of what sort of spells we have access to... even though I have the feeling you'll recognize some of these spells, since you can use Storm's Wrath."
"An incredibly powerful spell, and highly dangerous if things go wrong," Altair commented, which made sense due to the fact that he was one of the dragons that had mastered the art of manipulating the weather that was around him, so it was possible that he had worked on that spell once or twice in the past, before some lightning crackled around his hands as he glanced at Spike, showing that he was getting ready for their fight, "I am eager to see what you are capable of, and that's without the power of the advanced spell you used."
"Well then, I'm eager to see what you have to throw at me." Spike replied, though at the same time he readied his own magical energies as he glanced at the Magic Crafters that were around him at the moment, as he was waiting to see what they were going to do first, basically allowing them to make the first move so he could react accordingly, especially since he had no idea what sort of spells they were going to use against him.
The first thing that Spike noticed was that Cosmos waved his hand and that seemed to be the signal for the others to start the training session, which was where Altair raised his hands and loosed the lightning he had been preparing, where Spike had to roll out of the way to avoid the attack, but he did notice that, while the attack missed him, it did strike a new barrier that filled the area they were in, one that Nora seemed to be powering. Spike knew there was another reason for her to be here, to force him to not rely on the Substitution spell he had used when he trained against Cosmos, or the rest of the Teleportation spells he had access to, to which he pushed himself backwards as a pair of fireballs struck the area he had been in, showing that the Magic Crafters were going to pressure him and test him to the best of their ability. Those weren't the only spells the others were limited to, as Spike noticed that shards of ice were being sent in his direction and he had to force himself out of the area before he could be hit, even if he had to move again as more lightning came at him from some of the other dragons. Cosmos, on the other claw, stood there for a moment and watched what was going on, especially when Spike threw up a barrier to stop some of the spells from hitting him, before he waved his staff and loosed a burst of magical power at the shimmering shell that was protecting Spike, shattering the spell rather easily, though while that would have been followed by the young dragon using the Substitution spell to get out of the area, like in the past, this time Spike rushed to another part of the training area as he and the others focused on him.
For a moment Cosmos wondered if Spike was just going to keep running and do nothing to fight back, but that was when he shimmered for a moment and seemed to separate into several Mirror Images, causing him to raise an eyebrow for a second, as he wasn't expecting the young dragon to have developed this spell as well, even though he should have seen something like this coming due to the usage of Storm's Wrath, but all that meant was that he and the others had to be careful, since they had no idea which one was the real Spike.
That information didn't stop him and the other Magic Crafters from using their spells against Spike and his clones, as if they actually hit one of the clones that one would be knocked out and be reduced to nothing, allowing them to narrow down where Spike was located, while at the same time he noticed that all of the Spikes were in the middle of preparing their own spells. Cosmos had to admit that it was interesting to see Spike use this sort of spell, since he wasn't sure where the young dragon had even learned how to use the Mirror Images spell, and the others were even surprised by this fact as well, but when his next blast of lightning struck one of the clones he found out something that he wasn't expecting, as the clone continued moving, instead of being reduced to nothing. The other Magic Crafters seemed surprised by that as well, but that was when the clone that Cosmos had hit rushed towards him and dissolved into a temporary blinding flash that caused him to shield his eyes for a moment, but the moment he was able to open his eyes again a burst of Arcane Missiles slammed into his chest and knocked him backwards a bit, informing him of the fact that Spike was using the clones as a diversion so he could actually hit his foes while they were distracted. Of course the others noticed that and struck some of the other clones, but this time they threw up a barrier after doing so, protecting themselves from the blinding lights, which cancelled out what Spike was trying to do, and that also stopped the Arcane Missiles from hitting them, showing Spike that he was going to have to do better than that if he wanted to overpower any of them, which was going to be hard when the young dragon considered how strong his opponents were.
A few moments later the last of the clones were taken care of and Spike was the last one standing, though as he came to a stop for a second, allowing Ajax to loose some fireballs at him, that was the instant that Spike turned around and took a deep breath for a moment, which was when he loosed his flames at them, or at least that was what Cosmos and the others were expecting, even if the reality was that he used an ice breath to freeze the fireballs and let them crash to the ground around him, breaking them in seconds.
"Interesting, an icy breath," Lucas said, as none of them were expecting something like this when they agreed to help train Spike, but, at the same time, he knew that Spike wasn't to be underestimated and that they had to keep their guards up, so they filed this information away for later as they prepared themselves for any additional tricks that Spike might have for them, since they had no idea what else he had mastered during his latest adventure.
Cosmos nodded his head in agreement, because while all of them were surprised by this information, since he hadn't seen the ice breath or heard of it before this point in time, he knew that Spike was thinking of a plan that would help him overcome their tactics, so to prevent anything like that from happening he raised his staff and gathered a decent amount of magic energy, forming a sphere of energy that had the same color as the Arcane Missiles, an Arcane Orb, and loosed it at Spike... but in the following seconds Spike rolled out of the way, even though he hadn't seen the attack coming, before he came to a stop and focused on them, with a small red ring around his pupils.
"No way... is that what I think it is?" Nora commented, where she appeared beside Cosmos for a moment, despite the fact that she was focusing on Spike at the moment, something that the rest of the group was doing, as all of them were in the middle of trying to figure out what was going on and had likely come to the same conclusion that she had reached in a matter of seconds, even if it was hard to believe what she was seeing.
"Only one way to find out," Lucas said, which was the moment that he and the other Magic Crafters raised their hands and their staffs, clearly gathering their magic for a few seconds as they focused on Spike, before they loosed a number of smaller blasts that were designed to do next to no damage to whoever or whatever they hit, while giving them a chance to see if what they had seen was real or not.
For a second it seemed like Spike was doing nothing, though as the blasts neared him, however, the Magic Crafters watched as he moved and rolled out of the way of the incoming attacks, with the red ring in his eyes, and even the pair of blasts that came from behind were avoided as well, much to their surprise, but in that moment Cosmos nodded his head a little bit, confirming what Nora had just asked.
"There's no doubt about it, that's Eyes of the Seer, or Sage's Vision," Cosmos said, naming the third and final special ability that a dragon was able to use, but while it was a rare power in this day and age, sort of like the power that Spyro had unlocked, it was still more common than Conqueror's Spirit was, though at this point he wasn't surprised by this, not when he considered what Spyro and Ember were able to do, "the ability to briefly peer into the future, ranging from a few moments to a few minutes depending on one's skill, allowing the user to see incoming attacks and react accordingly, and that's only the basics... it is said that this is an observation power, but I have no idea what that might mean, which means we'll learn more about it as Spike uses his new skill."
Even as he said that, however, Cosmos had the feeling that Spike, much like Spyro, would unlock the true power of the new ability that he had unlocked and would impress the dragons of the Dragon Realms in the process, though that made him curious as to what the future held for the siblings, something that would make itself known in due time, meaning all they had to do was wait and see what happened next.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that the following couple weeks were filled with the same thing as when they returned to their home, as in they spent a great deal of their time going through the training that Nester, Titan, and Cosmos had for each of them to go through, since each of them was doing something different and none of their lessons really crossed with what the other was doing. Spyro discovered that most of his training was meditating while Ember and the other Peace Keepers were fighting, where he determined the purpose of such a thing, as he was supposed to be focusing solely on his meditation and push out the sounds of the battle that was happening around him, something that was supposed to help him boost his willpower and, at the same time, draw out his new power. Ember, of course, spent her time training with the group of Peace Keepers that Titan brought to the area they were fighting in, as every day he switched up who she was going to be facing, mostly to keep her guessing, and all of this was designed to help teach her more fighting skills and test the strength of her Warrior's Armor, something that the Peace Keepers were shocked by when they first discovered her using it. Spike split his time between training with Cosmos and researching the various bits of information that had interested him, as in the bits of information on the Dragon Realms he hadn't read yet and, more importantly, the vast knowledge of Avalar that Elora let him borrow, since she did bring them some copies of the books he had been interested in, mostly to learn more about the land they had been called to.
At the same time Spike also made sure that his journal, the one that detailed their adventure in the land that Elora and Hunter lived in, was added to the vast libraries of Dark Hollow, which was what happened with the previous journal that contained their adventure to save the Dragon Realms and defeat Gnasty Gnorc, even though he knew that the Gnorcs might get their hands on a copy of it at some point and create a new play from it.
In addition to all of that the siblings were allowed a day or two off every week, which were used to hang out with Sol and just explore the rest of the Dragon Realms, showing him the realms they had saved and telling him about what they had to do to save the various areas of the homeworlds, though what was amusing was the fact that the dragons of the various lands were shocked by Sol's arrival and the fact that he was with the siblings. The reason it was amusing was due to the fact that most of the dragons knew that the Phoenixes were just a legend, something that had protected the fiery birds from those that wanted them for some odd reason, but now, after seeing Gnasty Gnorc getting taken out by them, the leader of the Phoenixes had decided to break the silence and reintroduce her species to the Dragon Realms, which the other dragons were still coming to terms with. Thanks to spending time with Spyro, Spike, and Ember, and getting around their own shock when they first discovered that his species were real, Sol was able to chuckle at what he saw every now and then, but they also knew that, at some point in time, the dragons would finally come to terms with the fact that the Phoenixes were real and not just a legend that the Leaders told them, to help Sol and the others stay hidden for however long they had been at this game.
Sol wasn't the only one that they hung out with, as there were times where Elora and Hunter came by to visit, or just the Professor so he could talk with Nora about something that was going on, but the siblings were happy to have their new friends visit them from time to time, showing them the various realms that they didn't get to see the first time they visited the Dragon Realms. Elora and Hunter, once more, showed a different level of interest in the lands that the dragons lived in and the various realms that were attached to each homeworld, where Elora was way more eager to see what each of the realms had to offer and listened to whatever Spike had to say on each place, while Hunter just looked at the various realms and wondered if they would make good training areas, even if the siblings knew that he was mostly thinking about how he could create a number of tracks for him to fly around, if the dragons permitted such a thing. Spyro had the feeling that the Leaders wouldn't let such a thing happen, especially with the fact that the Flight Realms that existed in each of the lands, but he didn't say anything about that and just let Hunter have fun thinking about whatever was on his mind, since he seemed to be having fun designing things in his mind. The nice thing was that Sol, Elora, and Hunter, despite how they encountered each other, seemed to be having fun hanging out with each other, something that the siblings were happy to see as they toured the Dragon Realms and showed off everything that their friends might want to see, just to take their minds off of their training for a short period of time.
When they weren't hanging out with their friends, and weren't touring the Dragon Realms, Spike focused on the new spells he had learned from watching Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters in their training sessions, as there had been a number of interesting spells that he had seen, even if some might be harder for him to cast in this form, due to the fact that those were some of the more advanced spells, much like Storm's Wrath. What that meant was that he would have to wait until he matured before he could learn some of the spells that the other Magic Crafters had access to, not that such a thing really limited him since he had such an understanding of the various types of magic in the world, not to mention the spells as well, something that still shocked a number of his instructors when they heard what he was capable of. There was also the fact that some of his sessions were spent on him trying to hone and master the new power he had awakened during his first session, Sage's Vision as Cosmos called it, though he had to admit that such a skill was hard to master and that he would have to work hard to unlock the power that it offered him. The same was true for Spyro and he knew it, that the skill he had developed would take some time to get the hang of and master, even if it would take some time before he was able to totally master it, while Ember didn't seem to be having any problems with her own skill, as her mastery over the Warrior's Armor skill had impressed all the Peace Keepers, as they weren't used to seeing such a young dragon have this level of control over the power in question.
Spike was also sure that Titan and the other members of his clan might have something special in mind for Ember at some point in the future, as she had shown them that, despite not being born in the Peace Keepers homeworld, she was a Peace Keeper at heart and that she was one of the greatest warriors the Dragon Realms could have asked for, even if she was still growing and developing her skills.
His thoughts turned out to be correct, because six months after they started their new training sessions, and showed the Leaders how skilled they actually were in the face of their challenges, Titan had Ember continue her sparring with the group of Peace Keepers that had been assembled, though at the same time Spike knew something was up because his own training had been moved to the same area that his siblings trained in. While it was an interesting change of pace, as this gave Spike a chance to perfect his skills in an area that wasn't familiar to him, in the sense that he had fought in this place like Spyro and Ember had, there was one thing that informed Spike that something big was going to go down, and it wasn't the fact that he had been brought to this area. It was the fact that there were more than just them and their various instructors in this area, as every dragon clan had assembled in this area, why he had no idea and could only guess as to what was going to happen next, but to anyone else it looked like every dragon had gathered here today, leaving four of the five homeworlds open in a sense, and they were joined by all of the Phoenixes, as they were interested in what was going to happen and felt that this was something they didn't want to miss. Even Elora and Hunter were present, despite the fact that they were surprised by the level of fighting that was going on between Ember and the other Peace Keepers, where the three remaining Leaders assured them that Ember was training and nothing else, mastering her skill and developing any new tactics that could be gained from engaging the older warriors.
Spike snapped back to what was going on around him as he tapped into his own power for a moment, since he knew that Cosmos was up to something, before getting a glimpse of what was coming his way, which was the moment that his instructor raised his empty hand, summoned what appeared to be a bolt of lightning, and hurled it into the sky, though as he did that Spike dived forward and let the burst of bolts strike the ground he had been standing in a few seconds ago... and when the smoke cleared he was standing near Cosmos, with a bolt of energy pointed at the Leader.
"I yield." Cosmos said, where he sweated for a moment as Spike withdrew his Arcane Bolt, which wasn't an incredibly powerful spell in the grand scheme of thing, but in the claws of a powerful magic user like Spike, who was capable of using the more advanced spells on his own, there was no telling just how strong the spell could have been, "I have to admit that your skill has improved since we started throwing the more advanced spells and teachings at you, even if you haven't used the majority of the spells we've shown you so far, and that just makes me eager to see what you do in the future, once our training is complete."
"Still, its taking me some time to get the hang of this power," Spike replied, which was the moment that he focused his mind for a few seconds and stopped peering into the future, since he wasn't used to seeing what the incoming seconds had in store for him, and when he opened his eyes again he knew that the red ring was gone, meaning that he was back to normal, until he used that power again.
"That is a good sign, meaning that not everything comes easily for you." Cosmos stated, because if Spike had been able to master the Sage's Vision ability in a matter of months, quicker than any dragon that had possessed the skill in the past, he would have been worried, but it was good to see that even Spike, just like Ember and Spyro, had limits and that he would be spending his time trying to improve himself and his skills, before he glanced over at the area that Ember and the others were in, "The same might be said for Ember, though only Titan can really tell us what's going on, as it seems that she's having a good time at the moment."
Spike glanced over to the area that his sister was in and found that she was in the middle of fighting a couple Peace Keepers, where Enzo tried to hit her with his large club, Halvor was in the middle of trying to bypass her Warrior's Armor with his empowered mace, Marco was trying to hit her with his halberd, and a few others were attempting to hurt her in some manner, or at least break her ability, but in the end she knocked them all backwards and positioned herself to show her foes that she was ready to continue.
"That's enough for now," Titan stated, where the Peace Keepers lowered their weapons and dispelled their Warrior's Armors not a few seconds later, something that lead to Ember doing the same thing, mostly because she waited to see if there was any trick for her to be looking out for, but based on what she had seen there was nothing for her to worry about right now, before Titan turned towards her, "Your skills have improved since you and your siblings came back from your adventure in Avalar, where the three of you did a wonderful job in restoring peace to the various realms of the land that Elora and Hunter help maintain, among other things that we have discovered since your return."
"Yeah, putting an end to Moneybags and his trickery, and stopping that war," Ember remarked, where she stretched for a few seconds, just to make sure she didn't get stiff from the training session they had finished, but that was when she considered what Titan was saying and wondered if there was something more he had to tell her, which was why she took a moment to glance at the Leader for a moment, "and we can't forget about Ripto, which was the main reason that we were called there in the first place, but you guys knew that already."
"Indeed we did, and that is why we have something special planned for you." Titan said, where he paused for a second as Trondo approached him, carrying a silver blade, one that was incredibly special for the Peace Keepers, and took it, but as he did that he noticed that Spyro stopped his own meditation and joined the others that had gathered in the area that they were in, before he turned towards Ember and rested the edge of the blade on her shoulder, "Ember, you have shown the characteristics and attributes of a Peace Keeper dragon, despite being born as an Artisans dragon, and hearing about how you helped put an end to a war between two races, one of the things we're supposed to fight in and stop whenever they break out, has more than earned you this honor: I name you Protector of the Realms, the greatest title that can be given to a non Peace Keeper dragon, and, when you become of age and mature into an adult, you'll be able to run for the position of our new Leader, whenever I decide to retire or step down."
"Um, Spike, care to explain what just happened?" Elora asked, keeping her voice down so she didn't interrupt what was going on at the moment, as she was sure that this appeared to be some sort of knighting ceremony, or something like that, and that Ember was being rewarded in some manner for her part in stopping the war between the Land Blubbers and the Breezebuilders, and the reason she was asking Spike was because he likely knew what was going on, since the rest of the dragons were watching what was going on at the moment.
"Its actually like what you think it is, Titan knighted Ember for her service in stopping the war," Spike replied, where he did the same thing and kept his voice low, because that was when his sister bowed her head as Titan moved the blade to touch her other shoulder, while at the same time the rest of the Peace Keepers smiled and nodded their heads, which caused the rest of the dragons, and the Phoenixes, to cheer for her, "The title that he bestowed her with, Protector of the Realms, usually means that the dragon in question has displayed the characteristics and mindset of a Peace Keeper, and, more importantly, they have proved themselves to a good portion of this land and did something major, such as being instrumental in stopping a battle or a war, just like how Ember helped us stop the war, even if Spyro was the main cause for that. One of the benefits to having that title is the fact that, as Titan said, it now makes Ember eligible for taking over as the new Leader of the Peace Keepers, something that Trondo could have been chosen for since he's the greatest Peace Keeper under whoever the Leader is, but now that there are two candidates for that position the rest of the clan will go through a vote when Titan decides its time to retire, if Ember desires the position anyway."
"Why doesn't he do the same to you and Spyro?" Hunter inquired, because while he understood what was going on at the moment, and what Ember happened to be going through, there was something bothering him and it was the fact that Titan seemed to be ignoring Spyro and Spike, since they had gone through the effort to stop the war as well, and, maybe even more importantly, there was the fact that the other purple dragon had unlocked a rather rare power that had totally shocked the Leaders when they heard what he had done.
"Well, Spyro has Conqueror's Spirit, a skill that all but assures that he'll be a Leader one day, so there's no reason to even bother with something like this," Spike answered, since that was basically what Titan and the other Leaders had told the pair, back when they explained all of this after the war was over, and he could see that Elora nodded her head to show that she understood what he was saying, before he thought about the rest of the question, "even though Nestor and the others have made sure that we have been included in whatever celebration type parties have gone down since our return to the Dragon Realms. Besides, I'm not sure you noticed this or not, but I'm more of a Magic Crafter than a Peace Keeper, so such a thing would be decided by Cosmos, not Titan, and I'm not aware of any special events that would take place for a dragon to be knighted to a special position in the Peace Keepers, so Ember would be the only one of us that would be given a special rank like this."
Elora looked like she wanted to say more, and figure out everything that could be linked to something like this, but as she opened her mouth to say something she had to stop when Titan declared that they would be starting the party, which was the signal for the other Peace Keepers, those that hadn't been fighting, to move out and started setting up a number of tables so the Artisans dragons, the cooks, to lay out all of the food for the party. That told Elora and Hunter how major something like this was, especially since this was the first time they had seen something like this happen to another land, as they had seen a few of Avalar's residents be knighted by Aeros or one of the other guards, so instead of talking about what was going on they joined the dragons as they moved out to start the party. There was a large amount of food, plenty for everyone to pick from and gave both Elora and Hunter a chance to see what the dragons made with their claws, since this was the first time they would actually be experiencing this sort of thing, and it wasn't long before Hunter grabbed an entire plate full of food, as he was eager to see what the dragons ate and what they snacked on, especially some of the desert items that were on one of the tables. Spike smiled as he watched as their friends from Avalar enjoyed themselves as they joined the party, just like Sol and the rest of the Phoenixes did when they finally noticed what was going on, and there was the fact that Spyro walked up to Sol and the pair walked away from the rest of the Phoenixes, chatting about the event and what they were going to do next, drawing the rest of the fiery birds to the party.
Spike knew that it had been a long time since one of the Peace Keepers had knighted a dragon that was from one of the other clans, and there was the fact that they had gone through a lot of effort to try and make sure none of them had seen this coming, but it wasn't long before he pushed that thought out of his mind and joined the party that all of the Dragon Realms was engaged in, even if this wasn't the biggest event they could be celebrating.
After Ember was bestowed the title of Protector of the Realms, and the party that was celebrating that fact was over, the dragons went their separate ways and returned to their homeworlds, where the Phoenixes decided to see what the rest of the clans did in their spare time and spread out for the rest of the day, so they could do what Sol was doing and see if they could make friends with the other dragons. Ember was incredibly happy that Titan and the others did something like that for her, even if she wasn't expecting something like that after they returned to their home, especially after telling all of the Leaders about the war and what the three of them had done, and it made her wonder what the future held for the three of them, their friends, and the rest of the Dragon Realms. The rest of their day was spent hanging out with Sol, Elora, and Hunter, doing whatever they wanted while they relaxed and took a break from their training, as they had no idea how long they had until the Leaders would call them back to the lands they trained in, but they had the feeling that Nestor would make sure they were given a day or two off to relax, before having them return to what they had been doing earlier. As such it meant that the group could do whatever they wanted for a time and wouldn't be bothered by anyone else, not until it was time to head back home for dinner and the rest of their afternoon activities, especially since Spike had a lot of books to get through thanks to what Elora brought for him to read.
What they ended up doing was asking the Balloonist for the Peace Keepers homeworld, Gosnold, to take them out to where the Machinists land was located, as all of them were interested in seeing if those dragons had completed work on new home or if they would have to come back at a later date to see what sort of land they had created for themselves, and this time the Balloonist agreed with their request.
It wasn't long before they discovered why Gosnold was willing to take them to the island in question, because all of the work that had been going on had finally been completed and the Machinists were more than willing to let others come and see what they had done to the land that Gnasty Gnorc had been ruling from, and they were surprised by what they saw when the hot air balloon got close to the island in question. The Gnexus, which had been the heart of the island when it was owned by Gnasty Gnorc, had been transformed into a much larger circular landing area, where the metallic dragon heads had been moved to different parts of the homeworld, no doubt containing portals to the modified areas that the siblings had run through when they first came to this place. The group found that there were a number of structures that were scattered around the area, which had to be some of the houses that the Machinists would be living in once they moved into this island, though they were blocky looking and seemed heavy just by looking at them, and they were made from a combination of wood, metal, and stone. Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that part of the area reminded them of what they had seen back in Breeze Harbor and Metropolis, as part of the realm had a number of gears, smokestacks, vents, bulbous tanks, steam pipes, support struts, and turbines scattered around the area, meaning that the same thing had to be true for the rest of the realms that the Machinists would be living in, but where Sol was worried that all of this might be ruining the environment the siblings noticed that the area was very clean, where the wood was polished, all of the metal gleamed in the sunlight, and the stone was marbled and flawless.
The rather interesting thing that the group had seen, despite everything that was in front of them, was that the couple of plants that were in the hub area of the homeworld had taken on an angular appearance, mimicking the machinery that rested around them, showing Elora and Hunter a glimpse of the magical nature of the lands that the dragons called home and made the siblings pumped to see who would be the Leader of this land in the near future, and there were a few other items scattered around the area as well.
"What's with the decorations?" Hunter asked, where he beckoned to the party supplies and the couple of banners that had been positioned in certain places of the hub part of this homeworld, as it was odd to see something like this, despite the fact that they had left an island that had been the center of a party, though at the same time he could tell that Elora was just focusing on what they were seeing at the moment.
"Oh, the dragon clans are in the middle of preparing for the Year of the Dragon Festival," Spyro replied, as he knew that the most important festival for the dragons was coming up, one that happened once every twelve years and would fall on the day of their twelfth birthday, so this year they wouldn't actually be celebrating their own birthday, rather they would be helping Nestor and the others out when the time came, and maybe once the festival was over they could have their own party, however unlikely that was.
"The Year of the Dragon Festival?" Elora inquired, because that wasn't something that she had learned about, and she could see that Sol titled his head for a moment, showing that he did understand what Spyro had mentioned and that he must have forgotten that it was that time of the year, while Ember and Spike seemed to nod their heads, mostly to let her know that she had heard Spyro correctly, "What's so special about this festival?"
"Its the period of time that new dragons are brought into the world," Spike answered, though as he said that he took a moment or two to think about what he had read in the past, mostly so he could inform her as to what was going on and why the festival was so important, even though he was sure that both of their friends from Avalar would be interested in what he had to tell them, "The Year of the Dragon happens once every twelve years, where the fairies help deliver twenty-five to thirty eggs to the homeworlds, eggs that contain the next generation of dragons and will hatch within a certain period of time after the festival starts, but the fairies are known to deliver a few eggs to the lands before the year of the festival actually arrives. The festival is for us to celebrate the arrival of the next generation of dragons, make sure all of the eggs arrive safe and sound, and then start our preparations to make sure the homeworlds are ready for them to join us, not to mention figuring out their names and everything... its quite a lengthy process, hence why we start it off with such a large party, before getting to the actual work."
"Every twelve years? That means it falls on your birthday." Hunter said, something that Spyro and his siblings already figured out and said nothing to, as there was no reason for them to be annoyed by such a thing, though at the same time Elora shook her head for a moment, mostly to show that she couldn't believe that he was focusing on that fact and not the major piece of information that they had just been told, before he considered something else, "Hey, why aren't there any other dragons around your age, when you said that between twenty-five to thirty eggs arrive during each festival? Does that mean the fairies screwed up or something?"
"For your information, Hunter, our eggs were the only ones that were delivered nearly twelve years ago," Ember said, as that was what Nestor had told her and her brothers when they asked about it some time ago, when they first learned about the festival and how important it was to the Dragon Realms, though she was happy that this festival was coming up at long last, so they could see what happened when the fairies delivered the eggs to them, "We were told that it was rare for such a thing to happen, especially with how many eggs are supposed to be delivered every twelve years, and there are twelve eggs in our homeworlds already, delivered ahead of time by the fairies, so we'll just have to wait and see how many more arrive once the festival starts."
"Interesting... now I'm eager to see what happens when that time arrives," Elora remarked, because while she had the feeling that Hunter might not be all that interested in what they were learning about, since he was mostly interested in all the sports he enjoyed and whatnot, she had to admit that she was incredibly interested in what she was hearing and did want to see what the festival was like when that time arrived.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads for a moment, as they were happy to see what Elora and Sol were eager to see what the future held for the Dragon Realms, even if Hunter might not be as interested as they were, before they turned their attention to the homeworld as the hot air balloon continued to move by the island, as they had the feeling that the next Year of the Dragon Festival was going to be one of the more unforgettable ones and that made them eager to see what the future held for them.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember spent the next couple of months going through the rest of the training that the Leaders had for them at the moment, though it wasn't hard for them to see that Nestor and the others were mostly focused on something else, where they quickly determined that the Year of the Dragon Festival was on their minds and the fact that it was time for the next generation of dragons to come to the Dragon Realms. As such the siblings decided to cut part of their training time out and assisted the Leaders, not to mention the rest of the clans, in preparing the homeworlds and all of the various realms for what was the most important festival in the entirety of the Dragon Realms, something that surprised the Leaders for a moment, but in the end they accepted the help, especially with what came next. They weren't the only ones that helped them out, as Elora, Hunter, Sol, and the rest of the Phoenixes joined them in moving decorations, setting up areas that the dragons would be celebrating in, and made sure that everything was set up exactly how the Leaders wanted, though that included trying their hardest to get the tables and the rest of the party supplies ready, minus the food, since that would be made right before the festival actually started. It gave their friends a chance to see the various realms in greater detail and even chat with the rest of the dragons that they hadn't really talked to since they were first introduced to everyone, which gave the siblings a chance to smile as they worked on everything that the Leaders needed help with.
Hunter, obviously, was rather surprised that they were being dragged into something like this, since it appeared that he was more interested in the various sports he could have been practicing, and he even brought an interesting board of some kind with him, a skateboard as he called it, before finding that there weren't any good places to try out what he had in mind, at least in most of the homeworlds and realms anyway. The siblings thought about it and determined that there were a few walkways back in High Caves that he could use if he really wanted, and maybe some places in the land the Dream Weavers called home, and the good thing was that he didn't have to worry about any enemies trying to bother him while he was trying out the board. Spyro, Spike, and Ember did take a moment to try out the board, just to see why their friend was interested in it and why he preferred it over the festival preparations, though after a time the siblings turned away from it and returned to what they had been doing, figuring that Hunter could have whatever fun he could have for a time, before Elora dragged him back to helping them out. It was rather funny and interesting to see such a thing happen, even if they weren't expecting it to even happen, and Elora made sure that most of her time was spent helping them out in making sure everything was ready for the festival, even noticing that the twelve eggs the siblings had mentioned earlier had been carefully distributed to the various homeworlds.
"So, when does the massive party start?" Hunter inquired, surprising the siblings for a second, as they weren't really expecting Hunter to ask such a question after all the information that they had given him the last time he asked about the festival and why it was so important to the Dragon Realms, though Spyro, Spike, and Ember determined that it had to be because he was curious as to when he and Elora would stop helping them with the decorations.
"It will be in the near future." Spyro replied, because based on what he and his siblings knew the festival was going to be in the next couple of days, as they had spent the last couple of months preparing for this event to happen and had kept the day their birthday would have landed on in their minds, and Nestor even confirmed their thoughts the first time they asked about the festival, before he thought about something else, "Or more like six days... its hard to believe that all those months went by so quickly and that the Year of the Dragon Festival is nearby upon us, something we're eager to see since this will be the first time we'll get to experience such a thing."
"That's good to know, especially since some of us are eager to experience it as well," Elora said, though even as she said that she came to a stop beside Spike, her tone revealing that she was definitely eager to see what the festival was like, even if Hunter was getting tired of helping out with all the preparations, especially since she was enjoying her time in the Dragon Realms, where she glanced at the siblings for a moment, "So, Spike, what do you say to spending some time with me, when the festival arrives I mean, like dancing or just having fun when the party starts?"
"I would say that I like the sound of that, and that spending time with you sounds nice." Spike stated, because he really didn't have any plans for when the festival started, besides just having fun anyway and seeing how the festival held up to everything he had read about, but sharing the moment with all of their friends sounded even better than the festival being just him, his siblings, and the rest of the dragons, especially since the Phoenixes would be able to join them as well, and he even had a smile on his face as he said that.
"Oh, don't forget that Lila said that she would like to come check out the festival as well," Hunter remarked, naming the Faun that had taken a liking to Spyro during their visit to Fracture Hills, the one that had asked them to help the Satyrs out and free them from their stone prisons, so they could free the temple from the magic the Earthshapers had cast on it, and the siblings had seen her again when they visited Dragon Shores, when she appeared on the love boat that Spyro had rode on for a couple of seconds.
"That depends on Spyro." Elora replied, showing the siblings that what Hunter said was true, that Lila wanted to see what the Dragon Realms was like and experience the festival that would be happening in the near future, and since they had a portal that connected this land to Avalar, which had only been possible thanks to Nora and the Professor working together, it wouldn't take them all that long to arrive once the festival started, where they noticed that Hunter shrugged as he walked over to an area to keep moving things around the area.
"Sure, it might be fun." Spyro said, mostly since he was surprised that Lita still cared about him, since they really didn't do anything once their adventure in Avalar was over, though at the very least this would allow her to see a brand new area and experience something massive, just like Elora and Hunter would be doing, before he thought about something that he hadn't considered yet, "Hey, whatever happened to the Professor?"
"Oh, he's been messing with a smaller Super Portal, so he won't interfere with the one connecting our two lands to each other, and he's been rather busy lately." Hunter remarked, which made sense when the siblings thought about it, as Hunter was the one that usually helped the Professor with a number of his experiments, mostly so he could get some toys of his own, like the plane and everything else they had seen during their time in Avalar, "If he's discovered anything, like a new land for us to explore or something, I haven't heard about it, so I would have to assume that whatever he's doing hasn't worked the way he wants it to and is focusing all of his time on fixing the problems... but, based on what I've seen so far, it looks like he might miss the festival."
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens," Ember commented, as she would rather have all of their friends, both new and old, present when the festival finally started, so all of them could experience the greatest event in the entirety of the Dragon Realms, but it seemed that they were going to have to settle for most of them being there, though she did stop herself from thinking about the bear that had annoyed her during their visit to Avalar, figuring that he had been punished for his crimes at this point.
Spyro and Spike glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew the look in Ember's eye had meant she had briefly thought about Moneybags, if even for a split second, and she had made sure not to let such a thing ruin her mood, so they turned their attention to what they were doing and focused on moving the rest of the party supplies to the areas that each of them needed to be in when the festival started. The siblings had to admit that a lot of work, way more than they were originally expecting, went into making sure everything was ready for when the Year of the Dragon came around, showing them just how important the event, and the festival that came with him, was to the rest of the clans, something that made all of them even more eager to see what happened when the festival started. The interesting thing, among everything that had been said, was that Sol had remained silent while they were talking, no doubt because he didn't want to interrupt anyone, but he definitely seemed excited for what was coming next, especially since the next generation of Phoenixes was supposed to be coming at the same time as the next generation of dragons, only Sol and his kind didn't throw a massive festival when such a thing happened, hence why so many of the Phoenixes were going to be joining the dragons when it was time for the celebration to start, just to see what happened and to have a bit of fun.
The siblings were glad to have Sol and the rest of the Phoenixes out in the open, instead of remaining hidden on the island that they called home, and they knew that some of them were already happy about the decision they had made, as they had seen a number of them over the last couple of months and could see that they were enjoying themselves, which was great in the grand scheme of things.
While they worked on making sure everything was where the Leaders wanted the decorations to be, and even moved some of the items they had already put down due to someone suggesting that they move something to a brand new part of the area, the siblings considered the training that they had gone through over the last couple of months, making sure all three of them remembered what they had learned. Of course Hunter decided to ask about that while they worked, as he was a little interested in the training that they had gone through, where Ember was the one that spoke up first, going into great detail about the mock battles that she and the other Peace Keepers had used for her training since their adventure in Avalar had come to an end. It wasn't long before Hunter realized that she was giving him far more than he was originally thinking about, as she was going into every training session she had been given and detailed every move that all of her instructors used against her, though while he might be getting annoyed by what he was hearing Ember could tell that Elora was fascinated by what she was saying and that was the whole reason she even continued talking. Eventually she came to a stop and let Spike take over, where he went into even greater detail about the magic duels he had been in and the spells that both he and his instructors used against each other, which was why it was a good thing that they did his training in an area that would ensure that no one else got hurt by any loose spells, especially when Cosmos had let him channel the Storm's Wrath during one of their sessions... and ended up blowing away most of the training area in the process, despite all of the protections that had been weaved into the area.
That fact was more than enough to surprise Hunter and Elora, even though they were getting used to Spike being able to perform magical feats like this, and yet it interested one of them more than the other, leading him to continuing his own tale on his training for the foreseeable future, giving their friends a chance to hear what they had missed since they went back to Avalar, before he eventually stopped and let Spyro take his turn.
Spyro, of course, didn't have that much to say since most of his time was spent meditating while Ember was doing all of her training with Titan and the other Peace Keepers, though what interested the pair was the brief moments where he was actually able to manifest his power, despite the fact that he actually had the skill to hold it for a couple of minutes, but he didn't show it off while they were working. It wasn't because of the fact that he didn't want to use the power on all of his friends, family, and the dragons that were around him, as he actually had the control to focus on those that he wanted to target with his power, meaning if he wanted to use his power on Titan, and none of the dragons that were around him, all he had to do was focus on his intended target and access the Conqueror's Spirit. It was more due to the fact that he didn't want to go around showing off the power for no reason, using it like a toy of some kind, which would show Nestor and the others that he wasn't suited to be a Leader, something that he was still coming to terms with since he hadn't even considered the possibility for his future. Hunter seemed to be of the opinion that such an excuse was stupid and that he should be able to show off the power for a few seconds, just to show them what it was like when someone felt the power fall on them, but Elora glared at him and got him to stop trying to force Spyro to do something he didn't want to do, as she knew that having this power felt weird to him and that he was still coming to terms with being able to wield it, something that would take months, if not a year or more, for him to do that.
In the end, Hunter gave up on trying to see Spyro's power and went back to the work that he and Elora were helping the siblings and Sol with, as they were getting close to being done with what Lateef wanted them to do, because they were in the middle of helping the Dream Weavers at the moment and had saved the main homeworld for last, since the realms were harder to make ready and that was why they had done those areas first, before coming back here to finish the work they had started earlier. Of course the siblings had been originally been expecting to find that most of the dragons in this homeworld were asleep, due to the time of day that they were helping them out, but even they happened to be wrong about that, as every dragon that called this land home was up, showing Elora and Hunter just how important this festival was to the dragon clans, if they didn't believe what they had been told earlier. Fortunately Elora didn't need to be told any of that, but she found that the reminders were nice and that it really told her why the dragons went through so much to make the festival as great as it could be, where she considered herself lucky to even be part of this, even if she was mostly helping the dragons set up, and while Hunter may not share that thought she was fine with that, as he would change his tune at some point once the festival actually started. The siblings, even if they didn't hear their friend say anything like that since everyone was silent, had to agree with Elora and knew that things would change once the festival started, something that everyone was eager for, each for their own reasons, and that the Dragon Realms would change once all of the eggs hatched and the new generation of dragons entered the world.
Eventually Lateef came by and watched as they put the finishing touches on the decorations, which was when he told the group that they were free to do relax and do whatever they wanted, meaning that they were free to rest and that they no longer needed to help the clans out in their work, to which the group headed back to the Artisans homeworld, where they would wait for the festival to arrive so they could finally enjoy themselves. The other thing they could do was stop and get some lunch when they returned to the land that Nestor watched over, while also telling him and the others that all of the work that needed to be done in the Dream Weavers homeworld was done at last, but that would be something they could do when they arrived at their destination. At this point there was nothing more for them to worry about, as Nestor and the other Leaders would make sure everything else was taken care of and, when the time was right, they would watch as the Fairies brought the dragon eggs to the land that the siblings called home and celebrate this wonderful event, and once the festival was over they would begin work on making sure everything was ready for the new generation of dragons, with dragonflies and everything else that they might possibly need. That, of course, would let the siblings remember what they had gone through when they were younger, and the trouble they had gotten into when they first explored the wide open world they had discovered, though they knew that it was going to be nice to share those moments with the next generation and help them grow into fine young dragons, especially since they had good role models to look up to.
That put a smile on the siblings' faces as they headed back to their home, as they were looking forward to what the future held for them and they knew that everyone, be they a resident of the Dragon Realms or a visitor from Avalar, were also eager to see what would happen once the festival started and everything that might happen in the weeks following the end of the celebration.
The last couple of days went by rather quickly for the siblings and their friends, much faster than what any of them were expecting, no doubt due to the excitement that all of the dragons felt for this year's festival, and even Elora, Hunter, Sol, Lita, and the rest of the Phoenixes were excited by what was going to happen, especially since this was the first time that anyone that wasn't from the Dragon Realms was seeing the Year of the Dragon Festival. Spyro, Spike, and Ember quickly found that their homeworld was lively and that all of the Artisans dragons were wandering around, mingling with each other, and even Nevin, the painter that remained in his castle most of the time and didn't leave when he was trying to find inspiration or create his works of art, was attending the festival, showing the siblings that all dragons attended the festival, regardless of what their positions were. Before the Fairies arrived, and started to deliver all of the eggs that would be the next generation of Artisans dragons, the chefs of the siblings' home made sure that all of the refreshments were laid out where they were supposed to be, as all sorts of food and drinks were brought out ahead of time, allowing their friends to see what else was going on before everything started. Nestor stood by the siblings as they watched all of that, making sure everything was in order and that nothing went wrong before the festival started, and he could tell that the entire group was more than ready for what was coming next, which was good when he thought about it, and he knew that it wouldn't be much longer until the Fairies arrived with the dragon eggs that he and the others would watch over.
It wasn't long before Spyro, Spike, and Ember noticed several groups of Fairies flying through the air, in pairs so they could carry the eggs that would be the next generation of Artisans dragons, and they headed down to where some of the dragons were standing so they could deliver the eggs they were carrying, though as the minutes ticked by Spike noticed something interesting, there were a large number of dragon eggs being delivered to their homeworld, far more than what happened during the last couple of festivals, according to what he had read in the books.
"So this is the first part of the festival," Lita commented, as while she and the others had been told what to expect, in terms of what would happen once the Fairies arrived with the dragon eggs, it was another thing to actually witness what the siblings had described to them, even if Spike was the one to do that since he was the only one of the three that had read the books in question, "Amazing."
"It sure is, just look at all of these eggs." Hunter remarked, because he could see ten eggs already, the combination of the eggs that had already been in this homeworld and the new ones that had been delivered, though instead of focusing on that he simply stood there and waited for something else to happen, showing the siblings that he was more interested in the celebration itself and was less focused on the delivery part of it, "So, when does the second part start?"
"Soon, just be patient and the party will start." Ember replied, where she rolled her eyes for a moment, as she wasn't surprised to see what Hunter was being impatient and that he wanted the celebration to start, so he and his friends could experience the Year of the Dragon Festival for themselves, though at the same time Spyro and Spike said nothing as they moved out to watch what was going on, instead of just staying back and watching their elders, leading Elora and Lita, and eventually Hunter, to follow after them.
The siblings were happy to see the new eggs being safely delivered to the dragons of their home and that the Artisans were happy to have them, especially since all of them were being taken back to where Spyro, Spike, and Ember called their home, Stone Hill to be exact, meaning that there was one place in every homeworld where the eggs were placed for some time, before they hatched and the new baby dragons entered the world. Eventually the Fairies stopped delivering eggs to their homeworld, though what really interested Spike was the fact that there were a large number of eggs that had been brought to this land, more than what the Artisans received in the past, and while he didn't have a chance to actually count the eggs he knew that Nestor and the others might not be prepared for what was coming their way. Spyro and Ember were also a little surprised by what they had seen, since they knew it wasn't common for that many eggs to be delivered to a single land, but they said nothing about it as their friends from Avalar got ready for what was coming next, the massive celebration that everyone was waiting for. In fact, as they waited for the rest of the Artisans dragons to arrive, from placing the eggs in a safe location, the siblings noticed some unfamiliar faces join them, all of the other members of their clan that they actually hadn't had a chance to really talk to and learn more about, but instead of focusing on them right now the siblings focused on what they would be doing in the next few seconds, as Thomas and the other musicians were getting ready to get the festival started.
In the next couple of minutes the musicians started playing a tune that they had been working on, one that sounded like it belonged to a party, and Thomas even called out 'I like to move it, move it' for some odd reason, but all of that was the signal for the celebration to start and start it did, as the Artisans dragons started to dance to the music that was being played at the moment, leading Sol, Elora, Hunter, and Lita to join them. Spike and Elora did exactly what they had been planning on since Elora asked him about the party a few days ago, they moved to one area and started dancing, in the sense of just following the beat and having fun, while at the same time Spyro and Lita gave it a try as well, which wasn't all that hard since the Fauns of Fracture Hills loved to party and this seemed to be exactly what Lita was expecting, leaving Ember, Sol, and Hunter to dance wherever they wanted. While they did that the rest of the hub area quickly filled up with the rest of the Artisans dragons, some dancing, many socializing as they enjoyed themselves, and a few checking out the refreshments first, to see what they could grab before some of the others came and took something, but it was clear, by just looking on the faces of the assembled crowd, that everyone was enjoying themselves. That let Elora and the others understand that all of the hard work would come after the celebration was over, as in the easiest part for the dragons was receiving the eggs, but they pushed those thoughts out of their minds as they focused on the party and the fact that they were here to have fun.
Nestor also joined the festival, because this was a time where all dragons could take a day off and not worry about any of their duties or responsibilities for a time, and while Thomas and the other musicians did have to play music for the others to enjoy themselves one only had to look at the group in question and would discovered that they weren't annoyed by this turn of events, as soon there would be no need for music to be playing and they would join the others, to celebrate the latest Year of the Dragon Festival. He was also happy to see that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were enjoying themselves as well, especially with their new friends and the fact that two of them happened to be dancing with a partner, and Zoe, the Fairy from Avalar, was here as well, taking the day off to enjoy herself, instead of sticking around the area that Elora and Hunter were from while they were here. Even Sol, a Phoenix, was enjoying himself more than he was expecting, and the rest of the Artisans were happy to have him and the others join them for this festival, something that was likely true for the rest of the homeworlds that the Phoenixes were visiting right now, which brought a smile to his face as he started to dance as well, as now was the time for all of them to relax and just have fun, especially after all the hard work that they put into making this festival the best it could possibly be. Based on what he was seeing this festival was already far better than the ones that had seen in the past, maybe due to the fact that they were actually sharing it with other races for once and not keeping it to just dragons attending the event, but in the end he decided to stop thinking about it and focused on just enjoying himself like everyone else was doing right now.
Eventually the musicians took a break and got some refreshments as they mingled with the rest of the crowd, but the loss of the music didn't stop many of the dragons from dancing and having fun, though that was when all of the games that had been set up earlier were brought out and allowed them to move onto something different, like where the siblings and their friends paused for a time to watch a game of Sheepball take place. Suffice to say that Elora and Hunter were a little surprised that such a game even existed, while Sol and Lita were actually impressed by how skilled the dragons that played the game were, and all of them noticed that none of the sheep were annoyed by what was going on, prompting Spike to inform them that these sheep were used to this sort of thing happening, and, more importantly, all of them were treated well and weren't abused at all. Spike had made sure that the events that lead to Toasty rebelling wouldn't happen again, even if it had been an interesting development in some sense, but he was happy that Elora and the others were both impressed and amazed by what they were seeing at the moment, be it the game of Sheepball or something else, and it wasn't long before they joined in the fun, playing some of the other games that were going on while letting the more experienced dragons play their game in part of the hub area. There were areas where someone could toss a ring at some bottles, even if there weren't any prizes involved, an area where some dragons were in the middle of a game of chess for some reason, and a number of other games that allowed everyone to have fun and just forget about their duties and their responsibilities for a time.
The siblings had to admit that today was turning out to be a wonderful day, as the festival was everything that they thought it would be as they also munched on some of the food that had been laid out earlier, and it was a rather nice way to unwind before they faced whatever the future had for them, as they knew that things were going to change once the eggs hatched and the new generation of dragons entered the world.
When the afternoon arrived, however, Nestor knew that it was time for the festival to wind down and so it did, where the Artisans dragons and their guests eventually stopped partying, only to let out a chorus of yawns, showing that having all of that fun had exhausted them, which was why he suggested that they get some rest before they did anything else, as the eggs weren't going anywhere anytime soon. Despite the fact a lot of the dragons wanted to see the eggs, and wait for some of them to hatch, all of them agreed with what they were being told and headed back to the realm that the eggs were in, just so they could rest near them and then, when all of them were well rested, they would take the time to move all of the eggs to the various realms of their homeworld, just like the other clans would be doing soon. Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to the corner of Stone Hill that was technically the area that they lived in, something that would change in the near future, once they matured to be exact, where Argus rested near several eggs that were close to the tunnel that went into the area that contained the tower, Astor rested near the wall, near the tunnel that was opposite of the one Argus was near, Gavin took up a position near Argus, and the rest of the Artisans that came with them were scattered around the area the tower was in. The siblings weren't all that surprised to see Bubba, a Beast Maker, resting with their clan, as he was resting near the small castle's entrance, and the reason that he was here, instead of hanging with the rest of his own clan, was due to the fact that all of the young dragons that were going to hatch needed to be looked at once they hatched from all the eggs that were around them, just to be sure nothing was wrong with them.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember rested near the well as well, where Hunter and Lita rested near Spyro, Elora stretched for a few seconds and then laid down near Spike, and Sol took up a position near Ember, where he yawned for a moment and then rested on the ground as the rest of the dragons did the same thing, showing that all of them were tired and that they needed some sleep before they did anything else.
Time passed for the siblings, the rest of their clan, and their friends, how much they had no idea since they were tired from the festival and needed the rest, and the only sounds that were in Stone Hill were the sounds of the others snoring every now and then, and the only odd thing was when Spike was sure he heard the sound of some earth moving, but he figured that one of the others was moving and decided not to wake up. That was, however, until he and the others heard Hunter letting out a yell that sounded like he was in pain, where Spike snapped his eyes open and got up instantly, only to find that Spyro, Ember, the rest of their friends, and the rest of the dragons were getting up as well, showing that all of them were on edge as they wondered what was going on, before discovering something interesting. Standing near Hunter was someone that was wearing a purple robe that happened to be covering their entire body, with a hood that prevented them from really seeing anything at the moment, other than the fact that the person might be a girl based on the face that was in front of them, where her fur had to be creme colored, or her face was anyway, her eyes were blue, and Spike was sure that she had blue eyes. Of course he wasn't the only one that noticed the intruder, for that was what the mysterious figure was to them, while Hunter was the only one that wasn't looking at her, as he was more interested in holding his tail, which seemed to be what the figure had stepped on, alerting all of them as to what was going on, and that was when they noticed that she was holding one of the dragon eggs, which were now missing.
"Get her! Stop her!" Argus stated, pointing at the mysterious lady for a moment, allowing all of the dragons and their guests to focus on her in a matter of seconds, though as soon as that happened the lady shook for a moment, showing that she was scared of them and that she had been hoping to do whatever she was doing without drawing their attention to her, something that had ultimately failed.
Hunter, in an interesting display that was uncommon for someone like him, was the first one to react and practically launched himself at the lady, intending on catching her, stopping her from leaving Stone Hill, and recover the egg she was attempting to steal so they could figure out what happened to the other ones, only for him to fall short as the lady rushed over to a hole in the ground and dived into it as the siblings started to move, but before they could do anything Bubba did the strangest thing and followed after her, burying his head in the ground, sealing the tunnel.
"Zoe, can you head through one of the other tunnels and see where she went?" Elora asked, showing the siblings that she was taking things into her own hands and that she was hoping that one of the other two tunnels would be able to give them an idea as to where the eggs had been taken, to which the Fairy in question nodded her head and flew into one of the other tunnels, leaving the group to wait and see what happened.
Before anyone could say anything the air near them shimmered for a moment as Nora suddenly appeared near them, but the look on her face showed her that the Artisans weren't the only ones that had been hit recently, which was terrible if all of the other eggs had been stolen as well, though the siblings and their friends remained silent as they waited to see what was going on.
"No, they got you guys as well," Nora said, her tone showing them that the other clans had been hit as well, meaning all of the eggs that the Fairies had delivered to the Dragon Realms had been stolen by some unknown foe, for an unknown reason as well, which was going to anger the vast majority of the dragons that had been waiting for these eggs for the last couple of months, "all one hundred and fifty eggs have been stolen!"
In that moment all of the dragons that were nearby stopped what they were doing and stared at her, because each and every one of them had been expecting the Artisans to have gotten the majority of the eggs this time around, unlike the previous festivals, but hearing that the record had been shattered in such a manner, and that there were well over one hundred eggs, was enough to shock some and anger others... but Spyro and Spike, despite being shocked and trying to calm their angered sister, knew that they were about to embark on another grand adventure.
Spyro and Spike found that calming Ember down really wasn't the easiest thing in the world, especially since she was very pissed off about someone coming into the Dragon Realms and stealing all of the eggs that had been delivered to the clans, something that they understood since they weren't happy about what was going on at the moment, but in the end Nestor was the one that allowed them to actually curve their sister's anger. Spyro knew that Hunter would ask why he didn't use his power on his sister, since the cheetah seemed to be of the opinion that he needed to misuse Conqueror's Spirit on everyone that was around him, but he wasn't about to use the ability on his sister, since he knew that they could talk a bit of sense into her, and with their Leader helping them they were able to calm Ember down without having to resort to such an extreme power. At the same time Lindar headed over to where Bubba was located, since the latter was buried in one of the tunnels that were in the ground near the well, and spent some time trying to pull him out of the tunnel, though so far it seemed like he was going to remain stuck in the ground and that meant that tunnel was going to be unusable for the foreseeable future. At the very least that left two more tunnels for them to use to chase the lady that had stolen the eggs, as there were two near the well, though for now the siblings waited to see what Zoe had to say when she returned from the hole she had flown into, and who knew when that would be, so they simply sat down and stared at the other dragons as they waited.
"I can't believe it. All those eggs, stolen from under our noses!" Ember growled, showing that, despite the fact that she had been calmed down thanks to Nestor's efforts, she was still pissed off about what had happened and that it would be a while before she was able to push aside her anger, which her brothers and the rest of the Artisans were used to dealing with thanks to all the time they spent around her.
"A hundred and fifty eggs to be exact," Spike commented, though that number was interesting to him, as most of the previous festivals had around the same number of eggs delivered to the Dragon Realms, usually around thirty based on what the records indicated, and the only other year that was an oddity, just like this one would be in the future, was the last one that had occurred, as three eggs had been delivered that year, the lowest in recorded history, and those eggs had been his, Spyro's, and Ember's, before he returned to the issue at claw, "Its going to take some time and some real effort to find all of those eggs and bring them back to the Dragon Realms, especially since we have no idea where those tunnels lead and whose now guarding our eggs."
"So why don't we just dive into the hole and see what's down there?" Hunter asked, because he was of the opinion that they should just get this over with and start the next adventure that had revealed itself, especially since it would be interesting to work alongside Spyro, Spike, and Ember again, but even as he said that he was stared at by the dragons and the rest of his friends, "What did I say?"
"Hunter, we should wait for Zoe to return before we decide on what we're going to do," Elora stated, since that was the whole reason she had asked the Fairy to head into one of the tunnels, to see what was on the other side of the tunnels and give them an idea as to what they might be expecting once someone went through the holes, though she did know that their friends were eager to get going and she couldn't blame them, before she noticed someone move, "Sol, where are you going?"
"I'm heading back home, just to make sure our eggs are just fine." Sol replied, reminding Elora and Hunter that both the dragons and the Phoenixes had new eggs at the same time, once every twelve years interestingly enough, and that he was worried that someone might have made an attempt on the eggs that had been left in his home, hence why he and the others of his kind were getting ready to leave.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads for a moment, to show that they understood what Sol was saying, before their friend took to the air and followed after the rest of the Phoenixes as the group headed back to the island they called home, just to make sure that their eggs were fine and that they hadn't been targeted either, even though they had the feeling that Sol and the others would be relieved when they reached their destination. Based on the island that the fiery birds lived on, and the fact that they had an active volcano as their living area, whoever had stolen the dragon eggs would have been seriously hurt if they went after the Phoenix eggs, and even if they dug a hole to the outside of the volcano the guards that had remained behind would have prevented their precious eggs from being stolen. As such the siblings knew that their friend and the rest of his kind would be happy when they returned to their home and found that their eggs were alright, but given the distance between here and the island that the Phoenixes lived on it was possible that Zoe could return before Sol did, but they also had the feeling that Lady Eternia would make sure he stayed with the others, so it was unlikely they would see him for some time. Spyro knew that Sol would want to be part of the rescue team, to recover the eggs alongside him and his siblings, and possibly Hunter based on what he was seeing, but it seemed unlikely that such a thing would happen, so they just had to wait and see what happened next as they waited for Zoe to return from wherever the tunnels took her.
Of course as he thought about that Elora suddenly got up and headed through the portal that would take her back to the hub area of the Artisans homeworld, surprising the siblings and Hunter for a moment, though a few minutes passed before she reappeared in the area of Stone Hill that they were in, though this time she had replaced her leaf bracelets with some metallic ones that covered more of her arms, along with some light weight looking metal armor to replace her dress, even if it was modeled to look nearly identical to her normal attire.
"Elora, what's with the armor?" Ember asked, deciding to take her mind off of what they had seen earlier and focus on something else, even if that meant what their friend had gone and put on, since none of them were really expecting Elora to put on a suit of armor that looked like it had been modeled for her body and no one else's, and even Hunter seemed to be thinking about something at the moment as he looked at the armor.
"I had this made for me, after the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor," Elora said, though at the same time Spike noticed that there were a few small buttons on the side of the bracelets that had replaced her leaf ones, telling him that there was more to the armor than what they were seeing at the moment, even though he was sure that Hunter knew what Elora was wearing, "Listen, after seeing what you three did a year ago, back when Ripto was running around, inspired me more than I was willing to admit at the time and caused me to devote some of my time to learning how to fight in close quarters, hence the armor that I had the Professor make for me... and, now that you guys are going through this, I feel that the proper course of action is for Hunter and I to join you, once Zoe comes back anyway."
The siblings glanced at each other for a moment, as this wasn't something they were expecting to hear, especially due to the fact that they were used to doing things on their own and working alongside the various allies that they found along the way, despite the fact that they had found very few allies over the course of their previous adventure, but that was the moment they turned their attention back to Elora.
"Your help is greatly appreciated," Spike replied, because while he knew that he, Spyro, and Ember could handle this on their own, like they did back when Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto were trying to take over the Dragon Realms and Avalar, he also knew that having a few allies helping them out would make things that much easier, especially since there were over one hundred eggs scattered around whatever land the tunnels lead to.
"Great, roped into an adventure without having a say in anything." Hunter commented, where he seemed to be a little annoyed about something, no doubt because Elora hadn't asked him if he wanted to help the siblings recover the eggs, as the three of them were intending on going down the holes at some point in the near future, regardless of what Nestor had to say, but they patiently waited for the pair to work things out.
"Hunter, if you don't want to help you can stay here and help the other dragons out," Elora said, informing her friend that he really had two choices and that he was allowed to make his own decision on what he wanted to do, while she also made it clear that heading back to Avalar wasn't an option, even if she hadn't said anything about that, something that the siblings had noticed rather quickly, "I'm sure Nestor and the other Artisans might need some help restoring order to their homeworld, especially since there might be a few dragons that are annoyed by this turn of events."
"Hey, I didn't say that I wasn't going to help our friends out," Hunter stated, as if he was offended by the very notion that he wouldn't help the siblings recover the stolen eggs and take down the villain that had ordered their goons to come here and annoy the dragons that called the Dragon Realms home, before he shifted his stance as he focused on Elora for a few moments, "rather I was just saying that saying that I would have liked to have my own say in the matter, even though I was going to say the same thing and offer my help in recovering the eggs."
"Listen, we're happy to have the two of you along for the ride," Spyro said, mostly because he knew that the two were likely going to argue about what was going on and what they meant, but at the very least speaking right now allowed them to understand that he and his siblings liked the idea of having some help, especially since they had no idea where all of the eggs had been taken or how long it would take them to locate them, "but before we do anything we should wait for Zoe to return and see what she found on the other end of the tunnel, since these holes can lead anywhere."
Elora and Hunter nodded their heads in agreement to that fact, as they had no idea where the tunnels lead and that meant that they needed to prepare for whatever was coming their way, to which Spyro and Ember focused on the holes as they waited for Zoe, letting their friends from Avalar get their gear ready while Spike got some new writing materials, as he was going to make sure this was written down for the others to read about, just like the previous adventures he and his siblings had gone through. The rest of the Artisans, those that he and the others saw anyway, did seem annoyed by what had just happened, after all the effort they went into preparing their homeworld for the festival and the arrival of the eggs, but, despite what they were feeling at the moment, they knew that the three of them wouldn't stop until they recovered all of the stolen eggs and delivered justice to whoever had ordered this event to happen in the first place. Spike had to admit that he was interested in seeing the land that the eggs were taken to and discovering all that he could about the new areas he and the others would be visiting, but for now his mind was on making sure that everything he needed was inside his satchel, before returning to where Spyro and Ember were sitting, waiting for Zoe to return. While they did that there was only one other thing that happened and that was the number of attempts that Lindar made as he tried to pull Bubba out of the hole that he was currently stuck in, though so far it looked like they might need some of the other dragons to come over and help dig him out, hence why a few walked off to find some shovels so they could do that.
A few minutes later Spyro, Spike, and Ember snapped to attention the moment Zoe flew out of the hole she had flown into earlier and headed over to the area that she was heading to, which happened to be Argus, though as that happened Elora and Hunter followed them as Lita hung back and helped the rest of the dragons out with Bubba, giving the group the time they needed to talk about what was going to happen next.
"Where are the eggs?" Argus asked, because he had noticed that fact the moment Zoe returned to them, not that he was actually expecting her to return with any of the stolen eggs in the first place, since they had asked her to do a little bit of recon and figure out what was going on, but at this point any information she could provide them with would be great, just to give them an idea as to what the siblings could expect in the future.
"The holes come up on the other side of the world!" Zoe stated, where Spike shifted his gaze for a moment, as there was something he remembered reading about that seemed to be exactly what Zoe was talking about, but he kept quiet for now and let their friend talk about what she had seen, as he was also interested in what else she might have to tell them before they headed down the tunnel, "I found some of the eggs, scattered around a couple of areas, but they were far too heavy for me to carry back on my own!"
"The other side of the world?" Spyro inquired, as he had no idea how a tunnel was able to go from one side of their world to the other, even if he wasn't sure how large their world was in the first place, since that wasn't something that any of the dragons had talked about and he was sure that Spike hadn't read about it, but he would have to wait and see what the truth of the matter was.
"The Forgotten Realms!" Spike stated, because that had to be what Zoe was talking about, since it was the only thing that even remotely matched what little she had said about the area that the eggs were in, so there was a slim chance that he might be wrong about all of this, while he noticed Argus was thinking about this as well and that his siblings seemed a little confused as to what he was talking about, "Basically they're the homeworlds that the dragon clans used to call home, before the Dragon Realms became our home, and, according to what is written in the archives of Dark Hollow, we were banished by a sorceress that wanted to rule over the land and didn't want to share with anyone else."
"That's correct, even if our archives are pitiful in detailing the place we used to call home." Argus said, where he wasn't all that surprised to see that Spike already knew about the Forgotten Realms, and that he knew about the being that might have been behind them having to leave those lands behind, before he focused on what they were going to do next as he looked at the nearby hole, "Spyro, Spike, Ember, its time for the three of you, and your friends, to head down one of the tunnels and head to the Forgotten Realms, to find the stolen dragon eggs and bring them back home... I only wish the rest of us could help you out, but, since you're the only ones that can fit down the holes, there's not much more we can do besides wish you luck in your quest."
"Yeah, come on! Let's go!" Hunter declared, showing that he was actually ready for the adventure to being, even if he didn't like the fact that Elora had been the one to speak up before him, to which the siblings watched as he did what had to be a few warmup moves and then, once he was ready, he jumped into the air and tried to dive into the hole, only to get stuck with his head above the ground, "Um, can I get a little help?"
"Sure, no problem." Argus answered, where he raised his tail for a moment and brought it down on Hunter's head not a moment later, where he made sure to put enough force into the movement to free Hunter and avoid hurting him, since he was trying to help them out, and soon Hunter was heading down the tunnel, to which he turned towards the siblings for a moment, "You guys ready to get moving?"
"You bet we are!" Spyro exclaimed, where he took a moment to turn to his siblings, who nodded their heads to show that they were ready as well, before he noticed that Elora was of the same opinion, to which he jumped into the air and spun around like he was going to do the Headbash technique, only to disappear into the hole and was quickly followed by his siblings and Elora, showing that they were all heading to the Forgotten Realms.
As the siblings headed down the tunnel, and braced themselves for whenever they reached the end, they passed right through an area that seemed to be filled with some magical energy and the area around them seemed to disappear, which meant that they had to be patient for a few moments, as all of them were positive that they would appear in a brand new area at some point in the very near future and waited to see what happened next.
It took a few minutes for Spyro, Spike, and Ember to finally appear in whatever destination the magic sent them to, as all of them were sure that it was Teleportation magic that they had passed through, though as they opened their eyes they had to pause for a moment as they stared out at the area that was in front of them, as it was unlike anything they had seen in the past, meaning they must have reached the Forgotten Realms. The area that they discovered seemed to be a wonderful paradise that seemed to resemble a spring of some kind, which happened to be positioned between two mountains that were smaller than what they were familiar with, and there were even a few ledges that formed a short set of stairs for the three of them and their friends to use, with a crystal clear pond that had a small stream that fed into it. The grass that was below their claws was lush and had a soft green coloration to it, there were a couple of trees around the area in front of them that had different colors, as one had yellow leaves and another had orange leaves, while the sky above them had a cerulean blue coloration to it and had a few clouds that seemed to be fading away. The other thing they noticed was that there were two portals in the area in front of them, one that appeared to be made out of brick and colored to fix a certain theme, with a roof that looked like it might be to a house of some kind, while the other seemed to be a smaller house that had a triangular peak, which interested the siblings more than they were willing to admit... and, at the same time, there were a number of baskets and gems scattered everywhere.
Of course they weren't the only ones that were looking at the area that was in front of them, as Hunter had landed to their left and Elora had landed to their right, showing that the magic had made sure they had arrived safe and sound, but even then Spike was looking around the area and found out something interesting that would complicate things, especially when he took their mission into consideration.
"So, this is one of the homeworlds of the Forgotten Realms," Hunter remarked, as he looked around the area that all of them were in and found that he was reminded of one of the lands that he and Elora came from, even though the only difference was that there seemed to be no castles in this area, which might change as they explored the rest of the area, since there had to be more for them to see, "Its nicer than what I was expecting."
"And yet we have a problem, we don't have a way to get the eggs back to the others," Spyro added, because if they had passed through some magic to get to this area, like he and Ember knew they had, that meant it was going to be hard for them to get any of the eggs back to the Dragon Realms, though at the same time he turned towards Spike and quickly noticed that his brother seemed to be thinking about something, "Spike, do you have any ideas?"
"I might have an idea." Spike replied, where he pulled out one of the spare pieces of paper that he carried with the rest of his writing materials and quickly wrote a message on it, before stepping away from the group for a moment, which was when he loosed a burst of green flame at the page and it disappeared before their eyes, causing him to turn back and look at his siblings and their friends, "Now we have to wait and see what Nora says."
"What... was that?" Elora asked, because while she was familiar with the various powers that Spyro, Spike, and Ember had displayed so far, and the ones that they had trained to get over the last year, this was one that she didn't recognize and it interested her as she watched it happen, since this was the first time she had seen the green flame in action and knew that Hunter was thinking the same thing.
"Spike has a rather unique power that only one other dragon has learned, a breath attack that doesn't hurt anything that he uses it on," Ember explained, though as she said that she knew that it had been some time since she and Spyro had actually seen this technique in action, mostly thanks to the amount of training that they had been through, but it was easy to recognize what their brother was doing, even if one of them had to explain it to Elora and Hunter, "rather it allows him to move an item from one place to another, meaning its a Teleportation Breath. What Spike is doing is making sure Nora, the other dragon that figured out how he created the technique, can receive messages from where we are, which might give us a way to move the eggs back to the Dragon Realms."
Elora and Hunter glanced at each other, mostly due to this being the first time they had seen something like this, but decided to wait and see what happened next, though it wasn't long before a puff of smoke appeared near them and the piece of parchment that Spike had sent off returned, where a smile appeared on his face as he noticed the replay on it, as it appeared that Nora had gotten back to him, giving them a way to move the eggs without the aid of a portal. With that little problem taken care of the siblings started to do what they usually did whenever they came to a new homeworld, they started to pick up the various gems that were around them and smashed the straw baskets that were resting near one of the walls, while Hunter ran off to find some of the eggs his way and Elora simply helped them out, by smashing a couple of straw baskets and collecting the gems so one of the dragonflies could store them in a safe place. When she thought about that, however, she found that Spike had already prepared a Bag of Holding for this adventure, meaning he had made a new one when he got his writing materials, so all the gems that they were finding went into the bag and, at the same time, she was able to slip the gems she had in her hands into the bag rather easily, where she watched them disappear into the storage area that Spike had created. Ember also glanced at the body of water that was to the right of the area they had arrived in and found that there weren't any gems or bottles in it, even though there could have been some down there like what they discovered back in Avalar, before she joined her siblings and Elora as they came to a stop on one of the ledges, as one of the eggs happened to be laying out in the open.
Spike wasted no time in gathering a bit of his magic and loosed a burst of green flame at the egg, where they took a moment to watch as the egg disappeared from where it was resting, though as that happened a crack happened to form on the egg as it vanished, and, interestingly enough, Nora sent Spike another message, revealing that moving the egg in such a manner had caused it to hatch, which was rather surprising to the siblings, but at the very least the hatchling had arrived safe and sound, no doubt thanks to the shell that protected it.
"One down, one hundred and forty-nine to go." Elora commented, though even as she said that she knew that all of them faced a rather daunting task, as they had to explore a number of unknown lands and face the various dangers that would be waiting for them, to find and retrieve the stolen eggs and, more importantly, find the villain that issued the order and take them out, since she knew the siblings would be focused on that as well.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads to that, but as they moved up to the ledge that was above them, which let them notice that the villa portal that they had seen was to a realm called Sunny Villa, they came to a stop as a rainbow stream of energy came straight towards the ledge that they were standing on, and when it reached the ground in front of them the lady they had seen earlier, who ran off with the last of the eggs, appeared before them, where Spike figured she had used some Teleportation magic to get to this area.
"So, you're the ones the dragons sent to rescue the eggs," the lady remarked, where the siblings got the idea that she wasn't too impressed by what she was seeing at the moment, even though Ember was wearing her bracers, Spyro had his scarf on, and Spike had made sure to put his wizard hat on, while Elora stood near them, mostly to prevent Ember from doing anything she might regret, "Listen, if you guys know what's good for you, you'll go back into the hole you used to reach this area and head back to the land you came from, as those eggs belong to us now and I've hidden them in places that you will never be able to find in a...."
"Sorry, but those eggs don't belong to you, they belong to us!" Ember growled, where she immediately growled for a moment, to show everyone that she wasn't too happy to hear the lady say something like that, before she jumped forward with the intention of crushing the lady into the ground so she could beat the information out of her, because if she was the one that had hidden them around the realms her knowledge would be useful to them.
The lady freaked out and teleported out of the area that she was in, showing them that she didn't like the sheer anger that was on Ember's face, something that even Spyro and Spike didn't like to see, which actually stopped the lady from completing the threat that she was going to make, since it seemed like she had come to do that, before Spike noticed that she had dropped a Guidebook, one that contained information on the Forgotten Realms... but before he could even open it, and see what it said, they found a familiar figure standing near the other portal.
"Moneybags?! What are you doing here?" Spyro asked, though at the same time he and the others walked over the small river that was behind where the lady was standing and headed over to where the bear was standing, though it was in that moment that they found that he was standing next to a cage, where a brown furred kangaroo, with green eyes and red hair that was done up in two pigtails, and she happened to be wearing a safari shirt that fit her body, where her upper body was the same size as the lower part of her body, and she had a small backpack on.
"Oh wonderful, its your three again, along with Elora and Hunter," Moneybags commented, his tone revealing that he wasn't all too happy to see them again, especially since they had been behind revealing his evil to Elora, Hunter, and the Professor, leading to him being arrested, which was something that Spyro and his siblings were curious about, "I'll have you know that the Sorceress tried to teleport some of her goons to the Dragon Realms a year ago, to prepare for an event of some kind, and she accidentally opened a portal right into my cell, freeing me from the cell that you put me in, and now I work for her, keeping some of the dangerous criminals of these realms locked up."
"Criminal? She doesn't look like a criminal, which is what you are." Ember remarked, though she was a few seconds from lashing out and grabbing the keys to the cell, as from what she could tell the kangaroo must have been locked in the cell against her will, hence the reason she was angry about the entire situation, and that was something that annoyed her, especially combined with the fact that they were dealing with Moneybags again, who had acquired a brand new bag to replace the old one that was taken from him.
"Moneybags, open the cell." Elora stated, because she remembered what the siblings had revealed to her once Ripto was defeated, about the evil that this bear was capable of when gems were offered to him, and right now she had to agree with the others, that the kangaroo wasn't a criminal and that she didn't deserve to be locked away like this, though she did see that the kangaroo knew that they were on her side, even if they had just met her.
"I'm not allowed to do that, not without being bribed of course." Moneybags replied, where he lifted his bag for a few seconds and pointed at the gem on it, as if he was trying to inform them that the only way he was going to move from this area was if he had a number of gems inside it, just like what happened back in Avalar and his numerous attempts to take the gems that the siblings had recovered.
Ember hardened her tail and smacked Moneybags in the chest, dealing some damage to him in the process, while at the same time Elora, instead of just watching all of this, raised her fist and delivered an uppercut to the bear's chin, which knocked him onto his back for a few seconds and brought a smile to the kangaroo's face, though that also gave Ember the chance to climb onto the bear's chest and glare right into his eyes.
"I'm in a bad mood, thanks to this Sorceress having her goons steal our eggs," Ember stated, though even as she said that she raised her tail and made sure that it was just above Moneybags' chest, because if he pissed her off again, like he had done back in Avalar, she was going to beat him up until he agreed to open the cell that the kangaroo was in, "Open the cell, or I'm going to beat you up until you do."
Moneybags paused for a moment, clearly thinking about what he had experienced back when the siblings say through his plans back in Avalar and what Ember had done every time he made an attempt to get their gems, before he raised his empty hand and pointed the palm at the circular cage that the kangaroo was in, where the siblings and Elora watched as the metal bars faded away and the cage disappeared, letting the innocent kangaroo out while also opening the portal back to the realm she had to call home, prompting Ember to get off of him.
"Shelia, I hope you appreciate this favor I'm doing in letting you out," Moneybags stated, though even as he said that Ember got off of him and moved over to where her brothers and Elora were standing, allowing the bear to get up and dust off his suit, even though he was going to be in pain for some time thanks to the couple of blows that they had dealt to his body, which he definitely deserved.
"That's good of you mate," the kangaroo, Sheila, replied, her voice sounding like she was very friendly and that she did understand what was going on at the moment, to which she raised her left hand for a moment and held it out, which was an odd gesture in the eyes of the siblings and Elora, since none of them would have quickly forgiven Moneybags for all of the crimes he had committed in the past, "no hard feelings, eh?"
"Right... after all, I'm just doing my job." Moneybags said, almost as if he was relieved about something, as if he might have been worried that Sheila would hold a grudge against him for locking her in that cage for an undetermined amount of time, and he even shook the hand that was offered to him, before the pair pulled their hands back and stared at each other for a few seconds.
In that moment Sheila pulled herself back, so that she could balance on her tail for a few seconds and take her feet off the ground, which was followed by her kicking Moneybags square in the chest with her feet, where she put enough force into the blow and knocked the bear off the ground, sending him flying off into the distance in a matter of seconds, though that brought a smile to Ember's face.
"I've been wanting to do that for a while now," Sheila stated, revealing that she didn't like the bear all that much and that she had been waiting to pay him back for locking her in that cell for however long she had been inside it, before she focused on the group that had convinced Moneybags to let her go free, "I reckon you three must be dragons, and you must be a fawn."
"Yeah, my name's Spyro, and these are my siblings Spike and Ember, and our friend Elora." Spyro replied, where he took a moment to gesture to each of them, though he did notice that Elora was happy that someone actually knew what a fawn was, unlike what happened when they first encountered her back at the start of their adventure in Avalar, "You'll have to forgive us if we stare for a moment, we're new to this land."
"I figured as much." Sheila said, showing that she could tell they were new to this land and that they were exploring the area, though at the same time she seemed to be considering something as she glanced at them, "You know, I never thought I would get the chance to see a dragon, especially since you guys used to rule this entire place, a thousand years ago based on what I've heard... then one day you just disappeared all of a sudden, and it was only a matter of time until the magic of our homeworlds started to dry up. This place used to be full of magic, with all sorts of magical objects and areas, but now what little we have left is fading away and the rest of the portals are starting to go as well... anyway, I need to go home and do some damage control, but you're more than welcome to come and visit."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads as Sheila headed through the portal that was behind her, though now they knew something that might explain why the eggs had been stolen in the first place, someone might be trying to bring back the magic that used to exist throughout the entire land, even if they went about it the wrong way, but the siblings were going to recover the rest of the stolen eggs, figure out what they needed to do to confront the lady that had stolen the eggs, and then find the Sorceress to see if an arrangement could be made... but time would tell, and so far they had no idea what the future held for them and their friends.
With Sheila freed from her cell and allowed to return to the realm that she called home, and Moneybags was dealt with for now, Spyro, Spike, and Ember continued to explore the rest of the homeworld that they had found themselves in and Elora followed after them, watching what they did while helping them out to the best of her ability, which was mostly collecting the scattered gems that were around the portal to Sheila's realm. As they walked away from Sheila's portal, and started to see what the rest of the homeworld had to offer them, which was a passage between the pair of miniature mountains that lead to part of the land that they hadn't been to yet, and it appeared that Hunter was standing up on a ledge that was above the path they were now following. Based on the area he was in, and what the siblings remembered from their time in Avalar, he either wanted to see if they remembered how to jump and glide, as well as Hover, or he was on the lookout for eggs and had ignored Moneybags completely, thanks to the memories that the bear brought to mind, which was understandable if that was the case. There was also a portal beyond where Hunter was standing, without a direct path to where it was located, and it seemed to have more of a circular design to its border, almost like a cloud of some kind or some sort of weather pattern, so instead of moving through the rest of the path, and seeing what the rest of the homeworld had to offer, they headed up to where their friend was located, just to see if he had found any eggs or anything of importance to their quest.
"Oh, hey guys, I see you found the portal I just spotted," Hunter remarked, though his tone did tell them that he had seen Moneybags and had decided to put the bear out of his mind so he could focus on the task at claw, which was finding and recovering all of the stolen eggs that had been taken from the Dragon Realms, "it seems like you'll have to glide over to where its resting, but that shouldn't be a problem for the three of you, though I can't say the same about you, Elora, since I have no idea how much training you have in jumping over gaps like this."
Elora raised her eyebrow for a moment before she rushed over to the edge of the ledge that they were standing on, where she jumped into the air and moved over the gap that was in front of them, just like Hunter had done when he was testing Spyro and his siblings back in Avalar, before she landed in the area that was in front of the portal to Cloud Spires, as that was the name that was attached to the portal.
"I would say that I have around your level of skill, Hunter," Elora remarked, showing the siblings that she must have gone through some serious training to reach this point, which made sense since she wanted to help them in some manner after they had taken care of Ripto, though while they smiled and glided over to her, and smashed the baskets that were near Hunter to get the gems inside them, all three of them noticed that Hunter had frowned for a moment.
"Well, you may be able to cross over small gaps like this, but how about jumping over to that cave?" Hunter replied, where he pointed over to the opening in the mountain that was to the left of the path the siblings would be heading down in the next couple of seconds, even though he had to jump over to them as well before he could do that, before he took a moment to think about something, "Also, I could have sworn that I saw something in there while I was passing through a few moments ago, hence why I backtracked to see what the glow was... who knows, maybe one of the eggs was hidden in that cave, no doubt due to whoever stole them thinking it might be safe in that area."
"Only one way to find out." Spyro stated, where he jumped into the air and glided over to the cave entrance, where he had to use his Hover technique to land inside the cave, before he turned around and watched as Spike and Ember did the same thing, showing their mastery over the technique he had created once more, only for them to notice a hole in the ground, which might be important later, as they waited for Elora and Hunter to join them.
Elora put a bit of effort into jumping the gap, more than she seemed to be thinking it would take, showing that she still had some way to go before she could reach the level that the siblings were at, though Hunter jumped over with little effort on his part and that put a smile on his face, even though Elora simply shook her head as she looked around the small cave they had jumped over to.
"Hunter, there's nothing here." Elora said, even though she could clearly see the pair of baskets that were nearby and the hole that might lead to a passage of some kind, but even as she said that she didn't see anything important that would justify the effort they went through to get to this cave, hence the reason she and the siblings turned towards Hunter, as it appeared that he just wanted to test their jumping skills again.
"What? There's a few baskets and a passage below us," Hunter replied, but even as he said that he stared right into Ember's eyes for a moment and could feel her gaze, to which he sighed and reached into his pack for a second, where he withdrew a dragon egg and placed it down in front of them, mostly so he didn't tick off Ember, "also, I found this egg a few moments ago and was going to hand it over once we were done exploring this cave, which I thought had more in it and would take longer to go through."
Spike took a second to gather some of his magic and then breathed on the egg, allowing the green fire to wash over it and teleport it back to the Dragon Realms, which would also hatch it based on what they had learned earlier, though once that was done Hunter headed out to see what else he could find, leaving the siblings and Elora to break the baskets and pick up the gems before they slipped through the hole in the floor and see what was below them, only to stop as they discovered a Powerup Gate in the passage Hunter head lead them to.
"A Superfly Gate? Here, of all places?" Elora inquired, as she knew that the various Powerup Gates were common in the realms of Avalar, and that the siblings had used them to great effect while they were taking down Ripto's forces, but it was rather surprising to see that they were in the Forgotten Realms, something she wasn't expecting to see, before she noticed that Spike was thinking about something, "Spike, is something wrong?"
"No, I'm just piecing together the pieces," Spike replied, as while it was interesting to see this sort of thing in a brand new land, one that they knew nothing about and were sure that the Powerup Gates were unique to Avalar, he was capable of taking all of the pieces that they were seeing and putting them together, "The Forgotten Realms used to be ruled by the ancient dragons, based on what I've read and what Sheila just told us, which means that they must have used several of these Powerup Gates in their daily lives, either to make their lives easier or to assist the residents of the various realms, just like we did in Avalar. At some point a sorceress, either the same Sorceress that Moneybags is working for or one of the descendants of the one that took over the Forgotten Realms, banished the dragons and forced them to find a brand new home to settle in, meaning they had to fly over the seas and oceans to get to a new island, not to mention even using boats to move the young dragons as well. Based on that information, and what we're seeing, its possible that the ancient dragons might have arrived in Avalar at some point in the past and didn't stay long, but they stayed long enough to leave behind a couple of Powerup Gates and the book that you guys read after Ripto arrived... and, at the same time, its also possible that they found Ripto's home as well, but decided to leave that place as well, even if the residents retained a strong dislike for dragons."
"So... Avalar and Ripto's land were places the ancient dragons visited, before eventually settling in the lands that one day became the Dragon Realms?" Spyro asked, because that was what he was getting from what Spike had said, mostly due to the fact that he wasn't fascinated by history like his brother was, though he could see that Elora was interested in what Spike had to say, especially since she seemed to be thinking about it at the same time.
"That is my theory," Spike stated, showing that he really didn't have all the necessary evidence to back his claims, even though he was ninety percent sure that his thoughts on the matter were correct, as it would explain why there were nearly identical Powerup Gates in Avalar and the Forgotten Realms, even if the two lands didn't seem to be connected at first, but his tone also revealed that, if he was wrong, he would admit such a thing if they discovered the truth.
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a second, as they weren't sure what to make of Spike's theory, but quickly decided not to worry about it too much, as right now they needed to recover the stolen eggs and see if they could take a bit of sense into the Sorceress, which was why they moved out from the area the Superfly Gate was in and searched the rest of the cave that they were in. There happened to be a number of straw baskets and scattered gems in front of them, something that the four of them collected rather quickly before they reached the end of the passage, which was when they noticed something interesting, there happened to be an egg near them, only it was higher than any of them could reach right now, hence the reasoning behind where the Superfly Gate was located. As they headed back to the powerup in question Spike determined that this could have been an old area for dragons to teach hatchings how to fly, before taking them to the Flight Realms of the various homeworlds, assuming that the Forgotten Realms had those as well, which he was sure they would find at some point, due to the fact that the Flight Realms were in the Dragon Realms. While he and his siblings used the Superfly Gate to reach the ledge the egg was on, however, Elora simply used the whirlwind that had formed near the opening they had jumped through and returned to the surface in her own way, where Spike teleported the egg back to Nestor and the others before he and his siblings glided down to the area that Elora was standing in, which happened to be the ledge that Hunter had been standing on earlier.
From there the group made their way through the passage that would lead them to the rest of the homeworld that they were exploring at the moment, Sunrise Spring as Spike came to call it, as that was the name that the Guidebook he had picked up earlier gave this land, where they picked up the gems that were on the ground, broke the straw baskets that were near them, and even smashed a pair of metallic vase as they moved forward. When they reached the area that was below the portal to Cloud Spires they found a couple of trees that lead the way to the next part of the land, with a pair of stone walls that looked like they belonged to a castle or fortress of some kind, something that they noted as they walked forward and continued to pick up the gems that were in their way. As they did that they also made sure to smash the few straw baskets that were around them as well, picking up the gems in the process, before they quickly reached the end of the tree area and found an area that had a circular structure that had a portal attached to it, one that was pointed in the direction of the trees they had come from, but that was when they noticed that the magic of the portal wasn't active, as all of them could see the stone behind where the portal to another realm would normally rest. That was confirmation that the magic of the Forgotten Realms was fading and that something needed to be done to correct what was going on, which Spike knew they would focus on once they had recovered all of the eggs that had been stolen and confronted the person that Moneybags worked for.
Of course that was when they noticed a creature that seemed to be made out of a darkened stone, like a golem based on what Spike had read, but it seemed to be wearing an outfit that reminded the siblings of the hula girls they had helped when they visited Idol Springs and its hair seemed to be a short mohawk, and it seemed a little excited to see them, so the four of them came to a stop to see what the problem was.
"Is something wrong?" Elora asked, because she had the feeling that the golem was supposed to be returning to its realm and the fact that the magic was no longer active was definitely bothering it to some degree, but she knew there was always the chance her thoughts were wrong and that something else might be worrying the creature, while at the same time the siblings remained silent.
"Yes, actually, I'm late for a dinner party at the Tiki Lodge," the creature, who had to be a Tiki from what the siblings could gather, said, where he even gestured to the portal that was near them and seemed to look at the area that the magic had been located in, before he sighed for a moment as he turned back towards them, "and, as you can see, the portal to my home realm has stopped working, rather suddenly I might add. Bianca said that she was working on a way to fix this mess and that the dragons were the key to everything... I do hope she fixes this mess soon, before the rest of the magic in our homes dries up as well."
The siblings and Elora glanced at each other for a moment, as it sounded like Bianca had to be one of the names of the two important people in the Forgotten Realms, either being the Sorceress in charge of everything or the lady that had stolen the eggs earlier, but for now the only thing they could do is continue to look around the area, even though they did find some sheep as they did that. As they explored the area that was around the Tiki's portal, however, Elora found a small boulder that looked like it had a crack in it and, more importantly, that it had been moved recently, as part of it was dirty, like it had been pulled out of the ground, to which Ember stared at the rock as she hardened her tail, where she crushed the rock in seconds. That was when an egg was revealed to them, resting in a small indent in the ground that the boulder must have been in earlier, though as Spike moved the egg out, and brushed the dust and dirt off of it, that was when Elora asked if it had been a wish idea for Ember to do that when the boulder was on top of the egg, where Ember told her that the eggs were supposed to be hard, designed to protect the hatchlings until it was time for them to hatch, so with the rock taking the brunt of the damage her attack hadn't done any damage to the egg. Elora thought about that for a moment and then nodded her head in understanding, where they and Spyro waited for a few seconds before Spike teleported the egg back to the Dragon Realms, while noting that using his Teleportation Breath like this was having an effect on the magic of the Forgotten Realms, as he could feel it getting stronger as each egg was sent home, telling him that hatching the eggs in this manner was helping the residents of this land in more ways than one.
Once the egg was gone, and Spike was sure that everything was just fine, they smashed a few metallic vases, broke a straw basket, and collected all the gems that were scattered behind the structure that the Tiki's portal was attached to, and the moment the area was cleared out they returned to where the Tiki was standing, and by that they faced him once more, and headed to the right this time, where a lake happened to be waiting. What they discovered was that there was another powered down portal on a small patch of land in the lake, near a stone wall that was connected to the main structure that was to their right, which seemed to be a castle of some kind, even if it was smaller than what they had seen in Avalar, and there was even an opening for them to go through when they were ready to investigate the area. Ember glanced into the water for a moment and found that there were a number of gems scattered around the bottom of the lake, including a decent number of glass vases and, more importantly, one of the stolen eggs, so what happened was that Spyro dived into the water to get the gems and vases while she dived down to retrieve the next egg they had discovered, something that she quickly returned with so Spike could send it on its way. It didn't take Spike long to send the egg back home, though as soon as he was done with that he glanced at the other powered down portal and found that it was in the middle of a large structure that looked like a seashell, which made sense considering that there was a Seal in a shirt in front of it, looking like he was sad about something, but they didn't have to talk to him to figure out what was going on.
The only other structure of note for this area was the lighthouse that was above the area the Tiki's portal was in, but Spike didn't have to investigate it as Spyro got out of the water and searched the area in question, breaking the couple of straw baskets and metallic vases that were near him, as well as picking up the gems that were there, before staring at the structure for a few seconds and then glided down to where the group was standing. Spyro revealed that the lighthouse had to be another powered down portal, one that had a closed door in front of where the portal was located, meaning it would become active once a few more eggs were found and hatched, according to what Spike said anyway, to which they headed for the castle and started to pick up the gems that were around the opening. While they did that Ember noticed a sign that had an image of Sparx, Talon, and Cinder on it, showing that Zoe must have found the possible location of an egg and that only their dragonflies would be able to get it out of the area in question, only they would have to come back at some point in the near future to see if the sign had changed, even though Elora found it interesting that they had found this in the first place, before heading into the castle itself. As it turned out there was next to nothing inside the castle, save for a circular chamber that had an opening in the roof, where a decent sized hot air balloon was resting and, interestingly enough, it had a few ropes attached to it, where someone might be able to pull it down to this area, making them wonder if there was something to this that they weren't seeing, as this wasn't in the Guidebook that Spike had found.
As the siblings stared at the hot air balloon, and were trying to see if there was anything they could do to it, Elora took a moment to break the straw baskets that were nearby and then smashed the metallic vases that were on the other side of the chamber, allowing her to collect the gems that were inside them, before storing them inside Spike's bag as they left the area and thought about what they were going to do next.
"Spike, how many gems did we find?" Spyro asked, because he was interested in what they were able to recover, as he was of the opinion that these gems needed to gathered in one place before they decided what to do with them, due to the fact that, when they thought about it, these gems were technically property of the ancient dragons that lived in these lands and should be returned to Nestor and the others, but, at the same time, they had no idea who the gems belonged to before their arrival, so it was possible they had been stolen from the residents of the various realms, meaning that they could return the gems as a sign of good faith.
"Four hundred so far," Spike replied, though he understood why Spyro was asking the question, even if he knew what his brother was really thinking about, which was why he was more interested in thinking about the realms that they had access to and which one they should assist first, while Ember was more focused on finding the eggs and recovering them and Elora was just curious as to what they were going to do, especially since this was the first time she was seeing how they worked when they explored a brand new homeworld, "So, out of Sunny Villa, Cloud Spires, and Sheila's Alp, which of the realms are you interested in tackling first?"
"You know, I'm interested in seeing what Sheila's realm is like and if she needs any help," Spyro said, as there had to be a reason behind why the Sorceress captured the kangaroo and why Moneybags was the one that had been assigned to watch over her, until they came along anyway, and he could tell that his siblings were interested in seeing that as well, and, as it turned out, Elora was the same way, mostly since this was the first major adventure she had been on.
The moment he said that, and let his opinion be known, his siblings and Elora shared a glance before nodding their heads in agreement, showing him that they agreed with his decision and that they were ready to leave, to which they left the area the hot air balloon was in and retraced their steps to where the portal to Sheila's realm was located, which would let them see what their new friend's home realm looked like. It didn't take them long to reach the portal in question and pass through it, where they appeared in a square chamber of some kind, one that was roughly the same size as the room they had left a few moments ago, where they found wooden posts in the four corners of the chamber, which looked like Sheila maintained them and made sure none of them were about to break. The walls were made out of stone, possibly even polished to gleam in the light of the pair of torches that were in the room, which actually gave off more than enough light for whatever their friend was doing when she was in here, and parts of the walls were made out of a blue stone, one that might not be a precious type, otherwise the group was sure that someone would have come and taken all of this for themselves at some point. Sheila, as they discovered, happened to be standing to the left of the area they arrived in and was looking at the desk that was in front of her, meaning that she had to be thinking about something at the moment, but what interested them was the fact that there was an opening in the chamber they were in, opposite of where they were standing, one that looked like it might contain a portal to another location.
That was when they noticed that there was a second opening behind them, looking just like the first one, but as soon as they started to question why the chamber was like this, Sheila turned her head and was surprised to see that she had some guests, to which she moved away from the desk that she had been standing at and hopped over to where the group was standing, with a smile on her face.
"Spyro, what a wonderful surprise, I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon," Sheila said, her tone revealing that she was happy to see them again, even though they could tell that just by looking at her face, but the group said nothing for a moment as they waited to see what else Sheila had to say, as it looked like she had more to tell them, "I wanted to thank you guys for taking care of Moneybags and convincing him to let me go, which was the right thing, since I'm no criminal and that's what the Sorceress labeled me as some time ago."
"No problem, we're used to dealing with that bear." Spyro replied, though at the same time he knew that his siblings and Elora were looking at the room, trying to figure out why the area was like this, so he thought that he might as well ask the question anyway, even though he was sure that Spike would be able to figure it out with time, "So, what's up with this chamber? We're not used to walking through a portal, to enter a realm, only to appear in a chamber that has two portals in it and nothing else."
"Oh, this is an old area that the allies of the dragons used to use to head out into the other realms and help some of the other residents of our lands," Sheila explained, revealing that this was a staging area of sorts, where she could go over anything that's happening to the realms that this area allowed her to go to, as Spike determined that there had to be an item of some kind in this area that allowed her to determine which realm she could visit, "these days I use it for the same thing, just to make sure the residents of the other realms are okay and to help them with anything that might be beyond their abilities, or take out the Rhynocs that serve the Sorceress. In fact, since I've been locked up for a couple of days, I was going to head back to my home realm first and see if anything has happened since I've been gone."
"Would you like some help in cleaning up your realm?" Elora asked, mostly because she knew that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were really good at this and, if Sheila accepted their help, they would be able to tackle whatever was waiting on the other side of the portal that was in front of them, which would show some of the residents of this land that they were here to help, even if they were mostly after the stolen eggs.
Sheila seemed to think about that for a moment, as if she hadn't actually been thinking that they would offer such a thing to her, before nodding her head and beckoned for them to follow her as she headed through the portal that would take her to her home realm, and when the group followed after her they found themselves on the side of a mountain, or on a flat path to be exact, and discovered that there was a sheer drop off to their right, something they planned on staying away from, before following Sheila.
"Hiya Sheila... and friends." a voice said, where the group noticed three Mountain Goats, about the same size as Sheila and happened to be wearing brown pants, a yellow shirt, and a red open vest on top of their shirts, standing a few steps in front of them and that it was the first one, the closest to them, that had spoken up, "Its good to see you again, because while you were gone a bunch of Rhynocs came and kicked us out of our homes, but its okay though... Bobby, Pete, and I have been working on a clever way to get them back, which will work now that your here."
Before the group could say anything the three Mountain Goats rushed over to the area on their left and jumped over the small stream that cut through the area, landing on the ledge that was on the other side of the water, only for them to notice that it was much higher than what the siblings were used to using, and without any stones to form a walkway it would be hard for them to even progress at all, especially since Spike would have to exhaust his magic with a number of teleports just to make sure they could move through this realm.
"Well, this is a good time to try out something the Professor designed for me," Elora commented, where the siblings watched as she looked at her bracelet for a moment and tapped one of the small buttons that they had seen earlier, but as the seconds ticked by it didn't look like there was anything different about her, making them wonder if the test had been a failure and that she would have to talk to the Professor the next time she saw him.
"Elora, I don't think that did anything." Ember remarked, deciding to voice what she and Spyro, at least, were thinking, while Spike was interested in what the buttons were supposed to do and Sheila just tilted her head, showing that she had no idea what they were doing and was choosing to remain silent as she waited for them to stop what they were doing, as it appeared, in her eyes, that she was the only one that was capable of moving forward.
"Well, only one way to find out," Elora replied, where she rushed towards the stream and jumped into the air, though instead of it being her normal jump, which they had seen earlier when they were following Hunter to the cave, this time it almost looked like she used the Superfly ability, only a weaker version of what the siblings had used in the past, before she turned around and looked at them for a moment, "I'd say it works as intended. The Professor designed part of this armor to contain a lesser version of the powerups you guys used when Ripto was running around Avalar, but he wasn't able to get the combat ones, like the Superflame, working before the eggs were stolen, so all I have is the Superfly ability right now, and some other tricks you'll see later."
"I would say that the armor is interesting," Spike said, though at the same time he gestured to Talon and his partner nodded his head, to which his dragonfly flew over to where Elora was standing and took up a position near her shoulder, where she raised her eyebrow for a moment as she noticed that, "Spyro, Ember, and I will remain here while you assist Sheila in taking care of the Rhynocs that are bothering the Mountain Goats, though while you're doing that Talon will be following you guys and picking up the gems that are scattered around the realm."
Elora nodded her head to that, as she knew that Spike was trusting her with Talon, even if the dragonfly was bonded to him and likely wouldn't intervene if she got hurt by something, but as Sheila jumped up to join her, while revealing just how high she could jump without help, Ember made sure to pick up the couple of gems that were near the entrance, so she wouldn't have to worry about those ones as she followed Sheila into the rest of the realm. Once Elora and Sheila were standing side by side, and the siblings had to remain behind for the time being, they moved towards the next ledge and jumped up to the next area, while Talon took a moment to pick up the gems that the pair were walking by, letting the two of them focus on any enemies that were in this area and helping the Mountain Goats out. It was in that moment that they discovered one of the Rhynocs, a purple skinned creature that walked on two legs and happened to look like a rhino, and while it was wearing some clothing that looked nearly identical to what the group of Mountain Goats was wearing it also held a pick in its hand, which had to be its weapon. Sheila reacted immediately, lashing out with a swift kick to the face that knocked the Rhynoc to the ground and caused a gem to land, where Elora raised her eyebrow to that as she recalled what Spike had told her about the first villain he and his siblings had taken down, who used a magical spell to turn gems into warriors for his cause, making her wonder if the same was happening here, before focusing on the task at hand as she and Sheila broke a few straw baskets and let Talon pick up the gems that they either found or freed.
As soon as the area was cleared of gems, and that included straw baskets, Sheila jumped a few times and reached the cave that was high above where they had been standing, where she found a circular chest that she smashed by coming right down on top of it with a powerful smashing motion of her feet, freeing the gems inside it and allowing Talon to pick them up, before she hopped down to where Elora was standing and they then jumped up to the next area that they had to move through to help the Mountain Goats out. That was when Elora found a decent sized wooden house resting in front of them, with the back of it resting against the mountain side, and one of the Mountain Goats happened to be standing by the front door of the structure, no doubt waiting for them to approach him, though Elora walked over to where the nearby tree was located and found some straw baskets hidden by the side of the house. There was also a ledge above her that also had a few gems resting up there, which Talon eagerly collected so they could be added to the pile that was inside the bag that Spike had brought with them, before she headed over to where Sheila was standing so they could talk to Billy, even though it was hard to tell the three Mountain Goats apart since they looked identical to each other. Billy was thankful that they had helped him get back to his house, so much so that the other two had already progressed onward to see what was blocking the way to their respective homes, and revealed an egg he had found that he had intended on turning into an omelet, but then decided that Sheila deserved it more and handed it over to them in seconds.
Elora took the egg and headed back to where the siblings were resting, even though they were a little surprised to see that she had found one of the missing eggs, but instead of sending the egg off immediately, like he did with the others, this time Spike was going to wait for her and Sheila to finish helping the Mountain Goats out so they could send all of the eggs back at the same time, to which Elora nodded and headed back to where Sheila was waiting so they could move forward and see what else was waiting for them.
From there the pair headed into the cave that was to the right of Billy's house and found that the next house might be at the end of the area, which would take them to the third house, but instead of focusing on all of that at the moment they spotted another small cave to the right of the entrance, where Sheila jumped up and smashed apart the boulders that were blocking the way with her feet. It was then that Elora, who managed to get up there as well since it wasn't a bad jump this time around, found a moose blocking the way, one that had a hat on its right antler, though it was aggressive and tried to charge them, to which the both of them moved out of the way and then, as the moose went by them, Elora tripped it by using her hooves to catch its legs, allowing Sheila to kick the moose in the side. Elora was sure that there were moose that called this realm home, and weren't aggressive like this, as the gem that came from the creature, which disappeared like the Rhynoc did earlier, told her that she might be right about how she was thinking about things, before watching as Sheila smashed another circular chest open and let Talon collect the gems, only for them to head back to the main part of the cave that they needed to walk through. There happened to be another moose in the area that was in front of them, which was something that Sheila took care of as soon as she saw it, while Elora saw a Rhynoc approaching them and raised her left arm to block the incoming attack, before gripping the handle of the pick, pulled it out of her foe's hand, and then kicked her foe in the chest, knocking it into a gem state as well. As that happened Sheila smashed the rest of the boulders that were in the area and let Talon pick up the gems that came from them, before she smashed a pair of circular metallic chests that were up in the side cave that she discovered, giving them even more gems to collect, and once those were picked up she joined Elora as they approached the next house, while breaking a few straw baskets near it.
Sheila quickly smashed the boulder that was preventing Pete from entering his house, though once that was out of the way he gave them one of the stolen eggs, even though he thought it was a random egg and wanted Sheila to help him play a prank on Billy by smashing the egg on Billy's house, where Sheila disagreed and let Elora take the egg back to the siblings, since she knew that it was important to them.
Once Elora returned to where Sheila was standing, which wasn't a long walk since it seemed that the alps were much smaller than what they were expecting, and once the pair were back together they moved through the next opening, once they were sure that all of the gems in the cave were picked up, and found that a moose was waiting for them, only for it to get a kick in the face from Sheila. As Elora smashed a pair of metallic vases, however, she and Sheila found that there were a number of mushroom shaped houses between them and the area that the last house was in, which the Rhynocs were coming out of, but without saying anything at all Elora could see that Sheila had a plan and that she needed a distraction to do whatever was on her mind. After what she had experienced, at the end of what the siblings did for Avalar, it took Elora a second to jump down into the area that the Rhynocs were in and beckoned for them to come at her, where they charged at her and she braced herself for what was coming her way, though the first one that reached her swung his pick at her, only for her to grab the weapon and pulled it away from him as she kicked him in the chest. From there she did the same thing to another Rhynoc and armed herself with the two picks as the rest of her foes rushed at her, where she made sure to dodge the various attacks that were coming her way, to the best of her ability anyway since she wasn't a fighter like Ember was, but these particular foes happened to be rather clumsy and weren't that great at trying to hit her, as they did hit each other and get into smaller fights with each other.
While she was doing that, however, Sheila jumped onto the tops of the mushroom houses and jumped high into the air for a moment, before using the same kick she used earlier, the one that allowed her to smash the couple of circular metallic chests they had encountered, to flatten the houses and crush them, reducing the number of foes that were in the area, as it appeared that they were allowed to infinitely spawn as long as a house was up, not that such a thing mattered due to how poor the Rhynocs were at fighting, and soon all of the houses were gone.
"You know, you're a pretty decent fighter," Sheila commented, though at the same time Elora, who finished taking out the last of the Rhynocs that were in the area, dropped the weapons and joined her in looking for all of the gems that were in this area, be they in straw baskets, metallic vases, circular metallic chests, or even one of the boulders that littered the area they were in.
"Thanks, but I'm still learning how to fight," Elora replied, which was the truth since she had only been training for less than a year, due to the fact that she had started training with Aeros after seeing what Spyro, Spike, and Ember were even capable of during the war they stopped, something that caused her to chuckle for a moment, "now Ember, on the other hand, is the more experienced warrior... trust me, if she was here you would have been even more impressed by what she's capable of doing."
"I can tell you have a history with them, something you'll have to tell me about later, once you guys are done with the quest your currently on." Sheila said, because she had the feeling that the Sorceress had pissed off the three dragons that Elora was with, no doubt due to the eggs that they were interested in collecting, which meant that it was a good thing she had befriended them, as she was sure that being on their bad side was a bad thing, especially when she thought about what happened to Moneybags earlier.
Elora nodded her head as they finished clearing out the area, which involved taking out a moose as well, before they jumped up to the area that the last house rested in, where Bobby gave them an egg that had been put inside his house at some point while he was gone, though as she collected that the portal that was nearby activated, reminding her of what the siblings told her about their adventure in Avalar. Before she headed through it, and then headed back through the portal that would take her where to the area the siblings were in, Sheila smashed some boulders that were above where the house was located and headed into the cave area that she discovered, where Talon joined her as she smashed what she found inside it, be it more circular metallic chests or a few metallic vases. The moment that was done, and she came back to the area that Elora was in, Talon revealed that there were no more scattered gems in the area, to which Elora bid Sheila farewell for now, even though she was sure she and the others would see her again, and headed through the portal so she could return to Sunrise Spring, before heading back to where Spike and his siblings were waiting for her, even if it meant going through the portal to Sheila's realm again. The siblings were happy to see her again, especially since they had been curious as to what the rest of the mountain area looked like, before she put the third egg down and let Spike use his Teleportation breath on the small group of eggs, sending them back to the Dragon Realms.
With that done, Sunrise Spring cleared of gems and eggs, and Sheila assisted in helping the Mountain Goats get back to their homes, the siblings got up from where they were sitting and headed back through the portal that would take them back to the first homeworld of the Forgotten Realms so they could figure out which of the other realms they should check out next in their quest to recover the stolen eggs and, eventually, confront the Sorceress.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora long to return to Sunrise Spring, where they walked out of the portal to Sheila's realm and walked away from the structure for a moment, allowing them to look at the only portals that were active, the ones that lead to Sunny Villa and Cloud Spires, even though they knew that the remaining portals in this land would reactivate once they recovered enough eggs. They did pause for a moment, just to think about what they were seeing as they came to a decision regarding their next destination, though that allowed Spike to double check the gems that they recovered so far and, once that was done, he made sure to write down everything that Elora had seen in Sheila's realm, getting down some of the basica details and descriptions of the enemies, mostly for the other dragons when they eventually read about this new adventure. Ember was more happy that Elora was able to actually recover some eggs, as none of them had any idea that some of them would have been hidden in Sheila's realm and that they would need their new ally to recover them, but that informed all of them that if there were any other prisoners like the kangaroo, in the other homeworlds that they would be visiting at some point in the future, they would have to make sure to do the same thing, help them out and recover the eggs that rested in their realms.
"So, which realm are we going to take on next?" Elora asked, because she was curious as to what Spyro was going to pick next, due to the fact that he was the leader and both Spike and Ember were used to following his suggestions on which ones they should be tackling, and she could tell that his siblings were interested in which realm he was going to chose, even if there were only two realms to pick from right now.
"Sunny Villa," Spyro replied, where he beckoned to the area that the portal in question happened to be located in, as it was near the very first egg they had recovered since arriving in the Forgotten Realms, before glancing at the area that the other portal was located in and the path that was just beyond it, mostly to look at the inactive portal they had found as they explored the homeworld, "we can tackle Cloud Spires once we're done helping the residents of this realm out, and by that point I think we will have recovered enough eggs to return power to one of the other two portals, meaning we can help those guys out as well. We'll also have to ask someone about the hot air balloon that is resting in that castle, since I'm not sure why that's there in the first place, but we can do that later, once someone actually goes to check it out."
"Well then, let's get moving." Ember remarked, to which she started walking over to the portal that her brother had picked out, as she didn't like the idea of remaining in one place for too long, especially with all of the eggs that were still out there, waiting to be rescued from those that had stolen them, and she knew her siblings felt the same way, hence the reason Spyro, Spike, and Elora looked at the portal as well.
The group nodded and quickly headed through the portal that would take them to Sunny Villa, as they were curious as to what they were going to find on the other side, and it wasn't long before they appeared in the starting area for the realm they had picked out, where they found themselves in what appeared to be a square area that might be a side area of the main realm. As it turned out the area that was in front of them seemed to be part of a village or town, based on the somewhat tall buildings that were off in the distance, and there happened to be marble pillars in the area they were in as well, complete with wooden beams built into the walls and, interestingly enough, stones that were laid out in a tile pattern, serving as the flooring beneath them. That was when Spyro, Spike, and Ember got their first look at the Rhynocs that Elora had told them about, or the ones that she had seen back in Sheila's realm anyway, and these ones were pretty much the same as the ones Elora had fought, only they were dressed as warriors and not mountaineers, but they didn't seem very threatening, reminding them of the Gnorcs they fought at the start of their first adventure. The other thing that they got to see was one of the residents of Sunny Villa, who happened to be a male lion that walked on two legs and seemed to be wearing a white toga, or at least that was what Ember assumed he was wearing, and he seemed somewhat worried about what was going on at the moment, meaning if they talked to him he would tell them what they needed to know.
The siblings glanced at each other and nodded, as it was time for them to follow the pattern that they had established back in Avalar, talk to the first resident of the realm they were visiting and learn what needed to be done to help them out, as this time they were sure this would net them an egg, before approaching the Lion in question, where Elora walked with them as she recalled the pattern she was seeing for the first time.
"Excuse me, is something wrong?" Spyro asked, even though he knew that it was a stupid question to ask, as he, his siblings, and Elora could see the Rhynocs that were waiting near the decent sized opening that would allow them to leave the starting area for this realm and tackle everything that this realm had to throw at them, but that didn't stop him from asking the question, since there could be more problems than they were aware of.
"Yes, hordes of ferocious Rhynocs have overrun our town," the Lion replied, where the group glanced at each other for a moment, as they were sure he was exaggerating about the number of enemies that were in this realm, mostly due to the fact that there didn't seem to be that many wandering around the area they were in, but they weren't about to call him a liar as they listened to what else he had to tell them, "oh, and they've kidnapped our Mayor, who has spoken out against the Sorceress a number of times... I guess this is her way of punishing those that stand against her and her rule, not that she's making friends by doing things this way."
"Don't worry, we'll do something about this." Ember stated, because based on what she was seeing the Rhynocs that were in front of them might be cowards, just like some of the first Gnorcs they had encountered, so all they needed to do was take them out so they could turn their attention to the more important part of why they were here, finding the stolen eggs and returning them to the Dragon Realms.
The first thing the group did was clear out the square area they had appeared in, as there happened to be a pair of straw baskets for them to break and a few gems for them to pick up, though it wasn't long before they collected all of that and headed for the rest of the realm, where they noticed that the pair of Rhynocs freaked out and ran away from them, as if they were terrified of dragons or were preparing an ambush for them. As it turned out Ember just charged one that was heading to the right and smashed through the small shield that her foe was trying to hide behind, where she knocked the Soldier Rhynoc, as she knew Spike would call them that, into the pillar and reduced him to a gem, confirming what Elora had told them earlier, not any of them had doubted her words when she told them about what she saw. She glanced over to the area that the other Soldier Rhynoc was in and watched as Spyro did what she did to his target, also getting a gem out of it, before they turned to look at Spike, who was studying the magic that might be on the gems while they did that, showing them that he was trying to figure out if the Sorceress was using the same spell that Gnasty Gnorc used, or if these were real beings that they were taking out, instead of fakes.
While they did that Elora made sure to pick up a few gems that were near them, even though she did spot another foe who was standing on the other side of the river that seemed to be moving through the area that they were in, and she did find that it was one of the Soldier Rhynocs, but for now she left it alone and returned to the siblings, where she put the gems inside the bag and waited to see what Spike had to say on the matter.
"Its the same spell... the Sorceress is using gems as soldiers for her army." Spike stated, where he slipped the pair of gems he had been studying back into the bag as soon as he said that, showing his siblings and Elora that he didn't need to look at them anymore, before he thought about the information he had just discovered and what he had learned after the first adventure they had been on, "That means the spell to turn gems into soldiers was originally one of the Transmutation spells that the ancient dragons created, for what purpose I don't know, and the Sorceress, having access to whatever we left behind when we were 'banished', found the spell and has been using it to her benefit since she started ruling over the Forgotten Realms... I'm not sure how Gnasty Gnorc got his hands on the spell, but its rather interesting to see that two of our foes had access to the same spell and used it in the same manner."
"Can you reverse it?" Elora asked, mostly because if Spike could cast such a spell, and target all of the Rhynocs that were scattered throughout the Forgotten Realms, they might be able to reduce the number of enemies that they had to fight as they recovered the stolen eggs and restored order to all of the realms they would be going through, though at the same time Spyro and Ember raised their eyebrows, showing that neither of them had considered asking Spike this when their first adventure started.
"No, only the one who casts the spell can reverse it... its just the way this particular spell works." Spike replied, but he continued to think about it for a moment, as he had to admit that turning all of their enemies back into gems would make things much easier for them, since they were more interested in the stolen eggs than anything else, but he knew what the answer was and knew that Elora and his siblings wouldn't like it, "Of course that's to reverse it, as we're more than able to break the spell by taking down the soldiers the Sorceress created... but, even if I was able to do something like that, there's a number of things I would need to do, like visit each realm and gather the locations of the focal points, to list a few things off the top of my head..."
"So, since we're already heading to the realms to take out our enemies and recover the eggs, there's no point in doing all of that hard work?" Ember inquired, which was just fine with her, she wanted to tear her way through the forces that the Sorceress sent at them, just to show their foe that it was a mistake to steal from them, though it didn't take Spike long to nod his head in agreement, showing that she was right in her thoughts, even if Elora's way would have been the much safer route this time around.
"Oh well, it was worth asking and seeing if such a thing was possible." Elora said, because Spike was the master when it came to understanding magic, especially after seeing what he was capable of when he got serious, so if he said that it was impossible to do something, like what she had suggested, there was really nothing she could do but acknowledge his comment and move on with their quest.
Once the conversation was over, and Spike made sure everything was put away, they moved from where they were standing and jumped over the small river that cut through the part of the town they had started in, where Elora tripped the Soldier Rhynoc that was near them and punched him in the face, besting him in seconds as the siblings smashed the various straw baskets that were around the area and picked up all the gems that were on the ground. From there the four of them jumped back over to the area the first pair of Soldier Rhynocs were in and discovered that there was an area off to the left of the opening they had walked through a few moments ago, where a Lion was running between two enemies that seemed interested in catching him. Ember, seeing that, hardened her tail and jumped into the air, where she spun around and struck her target in the chest with a attack, crushing the armor the Soldier Rhynoc was wearing over his chest, while at the same time Spyro charged into the other one and crushed him into the wall, allowing them to drop the pair of enemies and allowed the Lion to finally come to a stop. While they did that Ember and Elora picked up the gems that were in the area they had discovered and kept an eye open for any additional enemies that might be coming after them, since it was possible that these enemies were only luring them into a false sense of security while the bigger and more tougher foes were getting ready to hit them while they were distracted.
The moment they were sure that there were no more enemies coming their way, to attack them while they were in the middle of making sure the Lion was okay, Spyro nodded his head and revealed that nothing was coming at them, and, more importantly, that they were in the clear for a few moments, where Elora walked over to the Lion and made sure he was okay from what he had been doing, which had been running between the two Soldier Rhynocs.
"Are you alright?" Elora asked, as she wanted to make sure none of the residents of this realm had been hurt by the forces that the Sorceress sent to this town, especially since she and the siblings knew that the Lions hadn't done anything wrong, even if some would see the Mayor standing up to the Sorceress to be the problem, making her wonder what was going on in the Forgotten Realms.
"Yes, I'm fine." the Lion replied, where he huffed for a few moments, showing that he was exhausted from having to run between the two Soldier Rhynocs and, more importantly, that none of the residents of this realm were fighters, which meant that the others had to be in the same amount of danger, even if these foes didn't seem to be all that aggressive when they faced the siblings, "I... would have had them in time... I was just... um... lowering their defenses by running between them over and over again."
The siblings decided not to chuckle at that as Elora finished making sure that the Lion was just fine, mostly since he appeared to believe what he said, to a degree anyway, and once they were ready to go they made sure that the rest of the gems in the area they were in was picked up, even if there was an iron barred door blocking one of the paths they could take, so they headed over to the wooden steps and resumed moving through the town. There happened to be a Soldier Rhynoc running down the ramp part of the wooden steps, one that didn't seem to be paying attention to who was in front of him, so Elora tripped him and Spike, instead of wasting his magic, simply loosed a bit of fire to take him out, where all three of their dragonflies picked up the gems that they walked by as they entered the next part of the town. It was in that moment that the group discovered another foe, a much taller Rhynoc that happened to be carrying a large chicken leg as a club, making it a Club Rhynoc in their eyes, with two of the smaller Soldier Rhynocs waiting nearby, all of them appearing to be eager for something to happen. As such the siblings decided to greet their foes and rushed at them, where Ember took a few seconds to harden her body and took the blow that was coming her way from the Club Rhynoc, surprising it in the process, before she jumped into the air and lashed out with her tail, crushing the chest armor of her target and taking him down, while at the same time Elora punched one of the Soldier Rhynocs in the face, so Spike could finish him off with a bit of fire, while Spyro simply charged his into the ground.
As soon as those enemies were taken care of the group started to collect the gems that were around them and the couple of buildings that they were near, following the path that wrapped around the main tower that was in this area, and they made sure to take out the couple of Club Rhynocs and the lone Soldier Rhynoc that were in their way, while making sure to break all of the straw baskets that they found. While they did that Spike spotted another set of wooden steps that would allow them to access both an area where some gems were located, which Elora decided to take, and a set of roofs that, based on what he saw, would give them access to a higher area that might contain another portal, something that interested him more than he was willing to admit. Of course the other thing of interest was the dragon egg that was just resting on one of the steps, so while he quickly used his Teleportation Breath on it, like he did to all of the others they had found so far, Spyro moved by him and flamed the Club Rhynoc that was on the next step that was just his brother, where he found the foe had just ignored their arrival and he took it out to make sure it didn't try anything funny. With the egg sent back to the Dragon Realms, the Rhynoc taken care of, and the gems collected, the group moved forward, but what that meant was jumping over to one of the nearby roofs and had their dragonflies gather the gems that were on top of it, before turning around and making their way to another roof so they could jump into the interior of the tower, where they found a whirlwind that took them to a higher level.
From that level they could see that there was a little area off in the distance, just above the starting area of the realm that they had appeared in, that happened to contain another egg, to which Spike glided over to small area they had just found, which had a stream coming from it, and he made sure to smash the straw baskets that were around the egg after he sent it back home. With that area cleared he glided back down to the first area they had walked through and quickly made his way back to where his siblings and Elora were waiting for him, which was the top of the tower, where a few more gems were waiting for the dragonflies to pick them up, and that allowed them to jump down to an area that contained another portal, one that had a sign in front of it. The sign, as it turned out, had Sheila's face on it, meaning that it would have likely been closed if they had come here without freeing her from her prison, so it was a good thing they had made sure to stop Moneybags and let Sheila go, but for now they picked up the gem that was in front of it and jumped down to the path that would take them to where the exit portal for this realm was located. All four of them knew that they could have gone through the portal, to talk with Sheila and see what sort of trouble she was going to be dealing with in this realm, but it was better that they reach the end of the realm and make sure the inhabitants were safe and sound, before even thinking about heading through another portal to another part of the realm.
What they discovered was that there were a few enemies in front of them, as there were two Soldier Rhynocs that cowered as soon as they spotted the group and a Club Rhynoc that grinned as he raised his club into the air, to which the siblings simply moved forward and engaged them, leaving Elora to pick up a few gems in the process, where she watched as Ember blocked the incoming attack from the larger foe and flamed him into the ground, while her brothers flamed both of the Soldier Rhynocs before they had a chance to run away. From there they approached an area that a large chicken happened to be wandering around in, as it was just as tall as one of the Club Rhynocs they had encountered, and just as they considered how tall the beast was a weaponless Club Rhynoc stepped out and chased the chicken off behind one of the corners, only for them to hear the sound of the chicken being taken out by the foe in question. After a few seconds the group moved forward and dropped down into a lowered area for a moment, where some gems and a straw basket rested, which the four of them collected before returning to the path that would take them to the exit portal and found that one of the Soldier Rhynocs were trying to block the way, something that prompted Elora to lash out with a kick to their foe's jaw and knocked him to the ground, only to be replaced by a gem. From there they continued forward and found another pair of straw baskets that were broken instantly, though Spyro charged down into the fountain area that was in front of them and slammed into the Soldier Rhynoc that was chasing a Lion around the fountain, allowing the Lion to stop once his pursuer was taken down and was given some time to catch his breath.
From there they collected all of the gems that were in the area near the fountain, and smashed a few straw baskets in the process, before locating the Club Rhynoc in a matter of seconds, who was now armed with a weapon this time, but as it raised its new club into the air Spike launched Ember into the air and Elora watched as she collided with her target and stuck his chest, taking him out in seconds, opening two pairs of iron doors, meaning that they had succeeded in stopping what was going on to this town and, at the same time, found the Mayor near the exit portal.
"Ah, thank you for saving our town from the Sorceress' Rhynocs. As Mayor, I shall reward you with one of our realm's famous chicken eggs!" the Mayor said, though as the siblings and Elora started to open their mouths, to tell him that there was no need for such a thing, mostly due to the fact that they were only doing what was right, the Mayor produced one of the stolen dragon eggs and placed it in front of them, before heading through the exit portal, which was odd since they thought he would have made sure his town was truly safe from the attackers.
"Okay, maybe he knows something about the hot air balloon and went to tend to it." Spyro commented, because that was the only thing that remotely came to mind when he considered what was going on right now, though even as he said that Spike looked at the egg and quickly sent it back to the Dragon Realms, before all four of them spotted another area off to their left, one that seemed to be connected to a passage of some kind.
As it turned out the stone steps they discovered were connected to a passage that took them right to where another portal rested, something that interested all four of them since they weren't used to this, but first they picked up all of the gems that were around them, including the straw basket that was along the way, before they passed through the portal... only to end up in a large training area of some kind that had high areas and low areas, before they spotted Hunter nearby, who was dressed in his skateboard attire and had his board in one hand.
"Oh, hey guys, check out what I found." Hunter remarked, where he waved a hand and beckoned to the area that was out in front of them, showing them that he was excited about what he had uncovered and that he was eager to test out his skills for a moment, before an idea came to mind as he glanced at them again, "Hey, you guys want to take a break and test out your skateboarding skills?"
"Hunter, we've barely done anything since our arrival in the Forgotten Realms, so its too early for us to even consider taking a break." Spike stated, because while he knew that Hunter liked to show off his skills whenever he got the chance, as that hadn't changed since the day they met him and the others, he had been hoping that their friend would realize that there were more important things that needed to be done and that skateboarding wasn't one of them, especially since none of them had the skills that he possessed.
"Well, I know this place has some gems for you to collect, if you're willing to use a board to get them," Hunter said, as if that would make the siblings stop what they were doing and just go along with what he was suggesting that they should do, before he considered something else that he had seen earlier, while at the same time Elora spotted a couple of red lizards hanging around various parts of the area, especially a few using balloons to be up in the air, "Also, I might have seen an egg or two in this area, when I first walked through the portal, but I can't be sure if that's what I saw or not, but I am sure that the lizards of this arena are linked to the eggs."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other as Elora brought her palm to her face, as they weren't surprised that Hunter couldn't be sure about the eggs or not, rather they were surprised that he wasn't trying to find them on his own, if he thought there might be some in this area, but, in the end, the siblings decided to humor Hunter and jumped down onto the area that was in front of them and let it form three skateboards for them, to which they headed out to see if they could find the eggs Hunter had seen.
"Hunter, did you actually see an egg in this area, or are you just messing with them?" Elora asked, because she wasn't going to get on a skateboard and head around the arena that they were in, like the siblings were doing since she had the feeling that their friend seen things, but she figured she might as well ask him while they waited for the siblings to finish scouting out the rest of the area and seeing if there was anything interesting here.
"I'm pretty sure there's an egg in this gladiator arena, in addition to all the gems that I mentioned," Hunter replied, as he knew that lying to the siblings was a terrible idea, especially with how angry Ember could get when someone annoyed her in some manner, though he was pleased that the siblings were willing to try the skateboards out and maybe even relax a little, before they fought someone else, "but when I found this place I thought it would be a good idea to use it to calm the three of them down, before they did something they might regret."
Elora shook her head when she heard that, as she knew that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were exploring the area to find the missing dragon eggs and the gems, instead of focusing on any sort of relaxing like Hunter seemed to think, but even as she thought about that she noticed that Ember kept messing up her various attempts to get back on the board, instead of walking onto one of the platforms that would give her another one. Eventually, after failing to get back onto the board she had been using, Ember growled and hardened her tail, something that was proceeded by her smashing the object that was in front of her to pieces, showing Elora that she definitely wasn't having fun at the moment, no doubt because all of her focus was on the eggs and who stole them. Spike seemed to be fairing much better, which made sense due to the fact that he was generally the calmest and most levelheaded of them, and he did seem to be able to do a few tricks, but even as Hunter seemed to be getting ready to comment on what they were seeing Spike hopped off his board and lifted it with his magic for a few seconds, which was the moment that Elora chuckled, as it was just like Spike to study whatever type of magic he found, as long as it was an unknown spell. Hunter, on the other hand, shook his head as he watched this, as he was expecting them to do something different than what they were doing at the moment, and Spyro was the only one that seemed to be sticking to the skateboard, as he was moving around the area they were in, smashing baskets and letting Sparx collect the gems that he went by, while at the same time hunting down the red lizards that Hunter had mentioned to him and his siblings a few minutes ago.
It wasn't long before Spyro managed to tag all of the red lizards that were in the area, of which there were fifteen by his count, and came to a stop once he had done that, where some of the lizards rushed out and brought him the egg that they had found earlier, showing him that they were excited by his skills with the skateboard or something, before heading into their homes, giving Spike a chance to teleport the egg back to the Dragon Realms.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that to happen," Hunter remarked, though at the same time this told him that he was right when he mentioned that there could have been an egg in this arena, before they noticed that some of the lizards came out of the barrow that they lived in and took up positions around the course again, causing him to raise an eyebrow as he realized what they were doing, "and it seems that they're issuing you a challenge, maybe to track them down in a specific amount of time or something... maybe they have another egg and they're just having some fun?"
"Yeah, they have another egg... be right back." Spyro said, where he jumped onto his skateboard once more and left the area that his siblings were in, showing them, Hunter, and Elora that he was willing to rise to the challenge and see if he could get his claws on the other dragon egg that was in this area, while at the same time displaying that he wasn't going to use his power on creatures that were weaker than him, since he knew that Hunter was thinking something like that as he headed back out into the arena.
Spike, Ember, Elora, and Hunter watched as Spyro moved around the arena with a level of skill that was lower than what Hunter was capable of doing when he was on a skateboard, but, at the same time, his form allowed him to do things that the cheetah was unable to do and his speed was much better as well, which resulted in him moving around the arena like someone who was experienced in this sort of thing. Spyro avoided the various training dummies that had been set up around the area, following the red lizards that were around the arena, and made sure to make each and every one of the jumps that needed to be made, while not even having to waste any time on breaking the straw baskets or collecting the gems they had seen in this area. Spike and Ember were happy to see that Spyro was having a good time, even though they needed to be focused on the task of finding the eggs that had been stolen, but at the very least he was doing this because of an egg and not because he wanted to have fun when they should be working to stop the Sorceress, and it wasn't long before Spyro found the fifteenth lizard and returned to where the group was standing. Once he returned to the area that was near the portal back to the town, which everyone was standing near, he climbed off the board as another lizard came over to them and gave them the other egg that had been hidden in this arena, where Spike took a moment to use his Teleportation Breath to send it back home.
"Well, it seems there were two eggs in this area," Hunter remarked, though at the same time he picked up his board for a moment and looked at the siblings, where he rubbed the back of his head for a second as they turned and looked at him, while at the same time Elora glanced at him as well, as she was interested in what he had to say, "before I get back to the hunt for the missing eggs, and join you guys in one of the other realms, I'm going to practice my skills in this area and see how I measure to what you were able to do."
The siblings wished Hunter well, even if they felt that he could be putting more effort into hunting for the missing eggs that they were here to find, before Elora joined them as they walked through the portal that would take them back to the town, though when they arrived near the area the Mayor had been imprisoned in they turned away from the portal and made their way back to the tower that would take them to where Sheila might be waiting. With all of the enemies taken care of, and all the gems collected, it didn't take them all that long to return to the tower and glide over to where the portal was located, or jump in Elora's case, to which they walked through the portal and headed to wherever it was going to take them, as this time the siblings wanted to help Sheila out.
"Oh, hey guys," Sheila said, where they found her in a chamber that looked like the one they had found her in when they walked through the portal to her realm, the halfway point as it turned out, but this chamber was modeled after the town that they had assisted, "I got word that some Rhynocs were running around this town and one of their important towers, so I was going to take the fight to them and make them regret coming here. You're more than welcome to join me, if that's what you want."
The group nodded their heads and followed her through the portal that was behind her, where they found that they were in a small passage that would allow them to enter the world in front of them, but as they noticed a Lion standing in front of them, staring at the top of the tower that Sheila was here to clear out, the group found sound that would prevent them from moving forward, there was a drop in front of them. There were a few ledges along the side of the wall, which Elora would be able to climb with her own power and the power of her armor, to which she and Sheila stepped forward as Spyro, Spike, and Ember waited near the portal that would allow them to head back to the town, giving them a chance to listen as the Lion informed them that the love of his life had been kidnapped by Rhynocs and that she was being held at the top of the tower. That was all the pair needed to hear, as they quickly jumped down onto the ledge that happened to be below them, giving them a chance to pick up a gem or two, before they jumped down onto the path that was in front of them, where Elora rushed at the closest Soldier Rhynoc and punched him in the face, while at the same time Sheila made sure to deliver a powerful kick to the second foe, taking them both down in seconds. From there they found a side area to their right that allowed Sheila to jump up to an area with a circular chest in it, which she smashed to pieces as Talon, who had joined them, collected the gems they walked by, before she returned to Elora and they moved forward, even if that meant jumping up to the ledge that was in their way, allowing them to tackle a Spear Rhynoc, which was basically a Soldier Rhynoc that was carrying a spear.
Elora gripped the handle of the spear and tore it from their foe's hands, allowing Sheila to take him down, before she discarded the spear and they moved forward once more, allowing Talon to pick up gems as they quickly found a second Spear Rhynoc, who was ignoring the direction that they were coming from, something that let Sheila kick his rear and sent him over the edge, while Elora jumped up to the passage that was above them and found a third one in her way, only for her to sidestep the incoming attack and take her foe down with a kick to the chest. At the end of the passage she found an area with four metallic vases and a circular metallic chest, where Sheila joined her and smashed the chest, leaving the four vases to her, and once all of the gems were collected they jumped up to the ledge that allowed them to return to the short passage and continued to move towards the tower that was their main destination. From there the two of them dealt with a Spear Rhynoc, by Elora taking his weapon and Sheila kicking him, before they used a pair of ledges to get up to the next passage, where two more Spear Rhynocs were waiting for enemies to come at them, only for the pair to take them down as quickly as the previous ones had fallen, allowing them to reach the base of the tower, and take out one more foe while they touched the ground. Elora made sure that Talon was fine and that he was able to pick up all of the gems that they had walked by, including the one that dropped from a straw basket, though once that was done she and Sheila started to use the stone sections that were connected to the side of the tower to ascend to a point where they could enter the inside, all so they could get to a higher level.
There were only six more Spear Rhynocs that stood in their way, in groups of one, two, and three, so it was easy for them to take out the foes that stood in their way and collect the gems that were along the way, before eventually coming to a stop as they reached the top of the tower, where a pink Lion, clearly female based on the longer hair and the fact that she was staring at her nails, and she informed them that she had a restraining order on Marco, telling them that he was more of a stalker, but she did hand over an egg that she had found earlier. It was clearly an offer, to tell Marco about the order and to get him to stop following her, to which Sheila agreed instantly, because based on what little she had seen of the siblings so far, and what she had heard, it was possible that Marco would believe the siblings and Elora, meaning the female Lion wouldn't have to worry about him ever again. Elora shared that though and said nothing as she took the egg, as she knew that Ember would be glad that another one had been found, before Sheila found the rest of the gems that were in the area and let Talon collect them, and once all of them were picked up she and Elora retraced their steps so they could rejoin the siblings. It took the pair a few moments to return to the siblings and Marco, where the Lion was sad to hear that the love of his life didn't want to be with him, surprising Elora by the fact that it only took them to say that to him, instead of the siblings saying anything, but he seemed willing to accept it somehow, leaving them to whatever they were going to do next.
Spike took a moment to send the egg back to the Dragon Realms, so it could join the other eggs they had recovered so far, before they headed through the portal as well and started to make their way back to the exit portal for this realm, as there were other realms for them to search and help out, and soon they would figure out why the Sorceress would go through all of this effort to restore magic to her land, and if there was any other reasons that they hadn't discovered since they started this adventure.
It didn't take the siblings and Elora long to return to Sunrise Spring, to the area that was right in front of the portal that had taken them to Sunny Villa, but instead of heading for one of the other portals, like Elora was thinking they would do, Spyro jumped down the ledges that were in front of them and made sure his siblings followed him towards the small bit of water that was nearby, causing her to raise an eyebrow as she followed them. She had to wonder if Spyro was going to try what Hunter had done back in the gladiator arena, as in make an attempt to calm Ember down before she did something that she might regret, but she said nothing as they moved towards the bit of water in question, even if all three of them knew Ember wouldn't be too happy about the time that was being wasted at the moment. At the same time Elora was happy with the progress that they had made so far, as an entire homeworld had been cleared and two realms had been helped, along with a good number of eggs being recovered already, even if there were of them out there, waiting to be discovered by them and taken back to the Dragon Realms, just like the ones they had retrieved so far. As she considered all of that Spyro and Spike came to a stop near the water and stared out at it for a moment, looking like they were thinking of something else and not the mission that they were currently on, to which she nodded her head in agreement as she sat next to Spike, just to do the same thing until Spyro told them it was time to move forward.
"Spyro, what are we doing?" Ember asked, showing that she knew her brother was doing something and that she was trying to focus on something else at the moment, the retrieval of the eggs that had been stolen no doubt, but it was easy to see that the anger was still in her eyes and that she was still fuming over what they had discovered earlier, when Hunter had screamed due to his tail being stepped on.
"We are relaxing for a few minutes," Spyro replied, as he was thinking back to what he had learned when he was in the middle of his own training, to master the power that he had unlocked at the end of the war in Avalar, and was applying that to what was going on at the moment, while Spike and Elora seemed to be looking at the water, "Look, I know you're angry over the eggs being stolen and brought to the Forgotten Realms, just like Spike and I aren't happy that such a thing happened either, but right now we can't afford to be going into the realms with our minds shrouded by anger, as that might lead to one of us making a mistake of some kind."
"Or getting hurt, when we could have dodged an attack," Spike added, as he had been thinking about the anger that his sister was feeling and knew that both he and Spyro did feel some level of anger as well, because it was an appropriate reaction to what they had witnessed, though neither of them were at the level that Ember was at, "Look, there's a time and a place for anger, but right now we can't let it rule us, otherwise we're going to lose focus of what we're trying to do and some of our foes will get lucky hits on us as we move through the realms, which would only make you even angrier than you already are. Just take a moment to calm down, to let the anger be replaced by something else, and when you're ready we'll get up and head to the next realm, to fix whatever problems are going on and recover what belongs to us."
Ember said nothing to that as she stared at the water that was in front of them, clearly thinking about what she had been taught and what her siblings had told her, even if Elora had been silent the entire time, but even then she knew that they were right and that she had been letting her anger get the better of her since they started this quest, even if she was slow to notice it at first. She thought back to the magical skateboard for a second, knowing that she didn't have to do that to a magical item, even if it would have reformed after some time, and realized that she needed to take a moment to let go of her anger, something that would only last for a time since there was a chance that they might find something that would reawaken all of her anger, before coming to a decision on the matter. For a moment nothing seemed to happen to her, but as the seconds ticked by she calmed down and let go of all the anger that she had been feeling since the eggs had been stolen, or the vast majority of it anyway, and it wasn't long before Spyro, Spike, and Ember noticed that she seemed to be calming down at last, which was good since none of them wanted to see her get hurt by the enemies they would be facing in the upcoming realms. After a few minutes ticked by Ember took a deep breath and shook herself, where her brothers and Elora noticed that she definitely seemed much calmer than she had been earlier, which was great since they were going to be heading into a new realm at some point in the near future, they just had to be patient and wait for her to be ready to depart.
A few moments later Ember got up with a look of determination in her eyes, just like when they went to face Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto, showing that she had let go of her anger for the moment and that she had freed herself from it, which put a smile on Spyro, Spike, and Elora's faces as they got up and departed from the area the water was in, only to head up to the portal to Cloud Spires, as it was the next realm that Spyro wanted to take on.
The realm in question, as they soon discovered, was built high in the mountains, so high that the edge of the area was a layer of clouds, despite the number of clouds that were above them, and that was when they noticed a number of nice stone buildings that could be considered beautiful, even though a number of them seemed to be connected to weather based on how they looked. It wasn't hard for them to determine that this realm was linked, in some way, to the various types of weather that existed in the world, which made Spike interested in what they could possibly learn about this place and its importance to the Forgotten Realms, as he was sure that they had found one of the important realms, even though they could see some Rhynocs off in the distance. As they picked up the gems that were in the starting area, however, they noticed that there were some stone braziers on both sides of the path that connected to the area that would allow them to progress through the realm, even though they weren't white colored like the various pillars they were seeing, and there were even raised platforms and sections, meaning that gliding was going to be a thing in this realm. Once the pair of gems had been picked up the group walked down the short bridge that connected the starting area to the next area and found a large Rhynoc that, interestingly enough, was wearing golden armor and had white wings growing out of its back, though it didn't take Spike long to determine that it was an elaborate set of fake wings that were attached to the bracers on their foe's arms, so they had limited movements and could only fly for a few seconds.
In fact the Winged Rhynoc, as they were going to call it, flapped its wings at them when they got close, to create gusts of wind to prevent them from reaching it, but with four of them to contend with, instead of one or two, it was rather easy for someone to get behind him and flame him into submission, as that was what Ember did as her brothers and Elora took a moment to stand their ground. From there they carefully explored the area that was around them and found all of the gems that were laying on the floor, including smashing a straw basket for what it held, before noticing that there was a small circular raised platform near the edge of this area, one that didn't seem linked to anything else, meaning that it had to be an area where a whirlwind would form, after they did something in this realm. The other thing they noticed was a small flying creature that, at a glance, might resemble a Fairy, but upon looking closer the creature wasn't like a Fairy, it had some short spiked hair, and it was wearing a small blue shirt, though it appeared to be one of the residents of this realm, something the group determined thanks to the fact that it wasn't trying to attack them. They were expecting to find someone waiting for assistance, as that was the theme back in Avalar and it seemed like it was going to repeat in this land as well, so they readied themselves for a moment and came to a stop in front of the creature that was waiting for them, as they were interested in hearing what the Rhynocs were doing to this realm.
"Oh, thank goodness someone came to check up on us," the creature said, the voice appearing to be male, which was good to know since the body didn't tell them anything, though the group remained silent as they waited for him to reveal what was happening to this realm, as so far everything seemed to be in order, even though the presence of a Rhynoc had to mean there were more scattered around the rest of the realm, "Listen, the Rhynocs have somehow shut down all of our cloud generators, which help us produce all of the clouds that we deliver to all of the other realms, meaning that, unless things change soon, none of us will be able to see another rainbow again, not to mention that the lack of rain with have some serious effects on some of the other realms."
"So the Sorceress is attacking realms that rebel against her, even if a single person is doing it, and she's attacking a realm that is vital to the rest of the land," Elora commented, where she had to resist the urge to bring her palm to her face for a moment, because the more they learned from the various residents of the realms they were visiting the more she became annoyed with the Sorceress, especially since she appeared to be the type that ruled with an iron fist and was all to willing to attack the realms that opposed her rule, "Well, that gives us another realm to want to take her out, but first we'll undo all the damage that has been done to you realm and take care of the Rhynocs that were sent here, so soon all of the generators should be turned back on."
That seemed to please the creature, a Weather Imp as Spike discovered, thanks to the Guidebook he had picked up at the start of this adventure, and the next thing they did was tap the large button that was on the side of the structure that was in front of them, activating a small stone lift that was to their left, which rose into the air and allowed them to access to a higher point. It took them a few seconds to get up to the structure in question and found another Weather Imp up there, who commented that if his wings were bigger he would be able to glide over to the other side of the gap that was between where they were standing and the next area that they had to move through, but there was another problem that they discovered within a few seconds. Elora didn't have wings at all and that meant that she would have to jump up to the area in question, but that wouldn't help them when they came across an actual gap that didn't have an area she could do what she was about to do, though that didn't stop her from jumping back down to the area they had started in and then jumped up to where the siblings would be landing. Once Elora was on the other side of the gap the siblings glided over to where she was standing and they moved forward, where they found a pair of foes that were Rhynocs, only they had fake hair attached to their helmets, a round shield in their left hands, and a bolt of lightning in their right hands, meaning that they were more armed and dangerous than the Winged Rhynocs.
The pair of Lightning Rhynocs tried to lash out at them with their weapons, where the siblings and Elora dodged the attacks as the bolts touched the ground, doing nothing to anything since they didn't touch anyone, which was when Spyro and Ember tackled the one on the left, where Ember whacked him with her tail and let Spyro finish him with a burst of fire, while Spike summoned a barrier to block the next incoming attack so Elora could kick their foe in the face and knock him to the floor. There happened to be a third one hanging out on the other side of the structure that rested between them and him, so what the siblings did was keep their split groups and tackled him from two directions, where a quick burst of fire and a charge was enough to take him out, allowing them to turn their attention to the gems and straw baskets that were in this area, while staying away from the slightly raised platform that was near them. Once the gems were picked up, and they were sure there weren't anything else that needed to be picked up, they found that there was a whirlwind in the middle of the structure, one that would allow them to get over to the next building they needed to progress through, but this time they were faced with the same problem they had seen earlier, the fact that Elora didn't have any wings, and this time there weren't any ledges or areas she could jump to so she could join them. Even as they thought about that Elora seemed to be thinking the same thing and sighed for a moment, where she lifted her arm again and looked at the buttons that were on it, before pressing one to activate one of the other powers that she had asked the Professor to put into it when she first asked him to make the armor for her.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as a pair of metallic wings, dragon wings to be exact, emerged from the back part of her armor, sized to fit her frame, and when they looked at it they came to the conclusion that there was nowhere for them to even come from, as the Professor made it look like they were a natural part of the armor, though Elora seemed happy with what she was seeing at the moment.
"Elora... what are those?" Spyro asked, as he had the feeling that he knew what these were, because it was hard to not know what dragon wings looked like, even in metal form to be exact, and he could see that both Spike and Ember were interested in what they were seeing right now, despite the fact that Spike was far more interested in what Elora had done than Ember was.
"Dragon wings, made by the Professor with a specially enchanted crystal so they can fold up and become small, all so they can fit inside a storage area in the backside of the armor," Elora replied, where she flexed the wings for a moment, to show the siblings that hers acted like theirs did, to an extent anyway, though she was simply amazed by what she was even seeing right now, as she wasn't expecting this to be completed in the time she gave the Professor, "they're supposed to move and act like your wings do, and they're supposed to respond to my thoughts like actual wings would... but, well, we didn't have time to test them out and make sure they worked like they're supposed to. So, um, could you guys move on to the next platform and glide into me if these don't work at all?"
The siblings glanced at each other for a moment, not sure what to make of the situation, before they turned towards Elora and nodded their heads, to show her they understood, which was when Spyro climbed up onto the platform and let the whirlwind raise him into the air so he could glide over to the opening of the building that was their next destination, all so he could land and move to the side to wait for the others to join him. Ember was the next one to cross the gap, mostly because Spike wanted to make sure that Elora was ready for what she was going to be doing in the next moment or two, though when she landed near Spyro they both turned and waited for Spike to join them, where he took his turn and made his way over the gap as well. The moment they were together, and their dragonflies were waiting nearby, Elora stayed still for a moment, clearly thinking about what she was doing at the moment, before steeling herself as she stepped into the area that the siblings had done so, allowing the metallic wings to react to what was around her, just like what happened when Spyro, Spike, and Ember stepped into the whirlwind. In a few seconds Elora found herself being lifted into the air, to the top of the structure that the whirlwind was housed in, and once she reached the top her wings unfolded before their eyes, just like a dragon's would, where she glided through the air like she had seen the siblings do, even though she had no experience doing this sort of thing before.
Spike braced himself, clearly intending to move if something happened or if Elora's wings didn't work like they were supposed to, but, as he and his siblings found out, Elora flew through the air by mimicking the movements the three of them had used earlier and quickly landed on the edge of the area the siblings were standing on, where she braced herself for a few seconds and got over what she had just done, though she did have a smile on her face.
"So, that's what its like when you guys fly." Elora said, where her wings returned to how they had been when she first called them out, so she could be ready for any other gaps that were like the last one they had just crossed over, though she had to admit that flying through the air, even for a short period of time like that, had been rather exciting and it was something she could get used to if she did it a few more times, "At least the wings work like they're supposed to and didn't fail on me, like the Professor was worried might happen since we didn't have time to test them out."
"Well, you did great for your first time," Spike replied, because for a moment he had been wondering if he was going to have to do something for her, but in the end she had flown through the air without any assistance, just like how she and the Professor intended the wings to work, and that made him interested in what else the armor could do, which he was sure they might see as they continued on their quest.
Elora chuckled for a moment as she readied herself, while at the same time rubbing the back of her head for a second or two, as she wasn't expecting Spike to even say something like that, but decided that it was time to focus on the task at hand and not worry about her armor and the fact that the wings had worked like the Professor had designed them, which was when the four of them turned towards the inside of the building, as it was time for them to move forward and tackle the rest of this realm. The inside of the building had four metallic vases and a few gems resting on the floor, to which they smashed the vases open and picked up all of the gems that were around them, before they headed through the other opening and found two Lightning Rhynocs patrolling the area that was in front of them, which made sense seeing how the Sorceress seemed to be attacking anyone and everyone that defied her rule, regardless of what they did. From what they had seen the Weather Imps seemed peaceful and didn't appear to be the type of people that even deserved something like this, and yet one of them must have done something to tick off the Sorceress, but the ones they had encountered so far were peaceful and that meant the four of them were going to take down the Rhynocs and restore order to this realm, before moving onto the next one to repeat the process all over again. As such Ember crushed the armor of one of their foes and opened the way for Spyro to flame him down, while at the same time Spike blocked the blow of the other foe with a barrier and let Elora lash out with a kick to the face with the side of her leg, where both of the Lightning Rhynocs were taken out in a matter of seconds, allowing them to move forward.
From there they found a couple of gems that were scattered around the area and, interestingly enough, a platform that was off on the side that seemed like it would lead them up to another part of the realm, but without a whirlwind there the group needed to find a way to activate it, which might be after clearing this particular area or activating the exit portal back to the Forgotten Realms. After they came to that decision one of the Winged Rhynocs landed nearby and readied his wings for a moment, to use the gust to push them away so it could attack them in whatever manner it wanted, but Elora used that to her advantage as her wings opened and she was lifted into the air, only for her to swoop in and kick their foe in the side with the side of her leg. That allowed Spyro to flame their foe before he had a chance to retaliate, though as he went down Elora landed nearby, somewhat surprised by what just happened, but, at the same time, she was willing to take it, as it allowed them to bring down another foe so they could focus on two more opponents that were in the next part of the area they were heading to next, which were two more Winged Rhynocs. The first thing they did was have Sparx, Talon, and Cinder claim the gems that were on the ground before they glided over to the area that the next group of enemies were in, where they found that the pair was guarding a dragon egg, prompting Ember to smash her hardened tail into one so Spyro could finish him off, while Elora struck the second one with a swift kick to both the head and the chest, allowing Spike to focus on making sure the egg was fine before sending it off to the Dragon Realms.
With the egg secured, and the area cleared for the moment, the group headed out and smashed any metallic vases and straw baskets that they found, which even allowed them to find a Lightning Rhynoc that tried to torch Elora, only to be stopped by Spike's barrier so Elora could kick her foe into the side of the rock wall to their right, before collecting all of the gems that were in the area. That even included heading down into the gap that separated the two areas, the area that the egg had been in and the part that was near the building they had passed through, allowing Ember to collect the gems that were down there, before she joined them in finishing up the rest of the area that was around the pair of generators they were walking around, which would allow them to move forward once they activated the lift to the next level. The moment all four of them were ready to continue, and by that they meant all of the gems had been picked up and they were leaving nothing behind, Spyro, Spike, and Ember jumped up onto the lift as Elora stayed back for a second, where she kicked the button that would reactivate things and then joined them. Not a few seconds later the lift activated and rose into the air, allowing them to access the highest point that the structures allowed them to be at, though as they climbed off the lift, and touched down on the floor of the generator, they found a sight that really wasn't a surprise, especially when the siblings considered what they had seen back in Avalar, as Moneybags was standing near them once more.
"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite group of dragons, and... Elora..." Moneybags started to say, though that was when he noticed the metallic wings that Elora had, where he realized that they were identical to the wings that the siblings had, and and to resist the urge to moan, because it was bad enough that the Fawn had turned into a decent figher, but she was also mimicking the dragons that had saved Avalar, "alright, I'm not going to think about why I'm seeing this. Listen, I have been placed in charge of these bellows, by the Sorceress herself, and I will only activate them for a small fee, which I'm sure you can pay this time around."
"Moneybags," Elora said, as there was a lot she wanted to say to the bear, especially after everything he did back when Ripto was running around Avalar, but instead of focusing on that she decided to focus her attention on the current mission and the fact that they needed to get to the next bellow, which they originally thought was a generator, "Are you really this stubborn and desperate, or are you more terrified of what the Sorceress will do to you, instead of what we might do to you for blocking our way?"
"Honestly, its a little bit of both at this point," Moneybags admitted, causing the siblings to raise their eyebrows for a few seconds, as it made them wonder who this Sorceress was and what she was doing to the Forgotten Realms, but even then he shook the sack for a moment, just to show them that he meant business and that he wasn't about to leave until he got what he wanted.
Ember and Elora glanced at each other for a second as they saw that motion, where Elora rushed behind the bear and kicked him in the back, knocking him forward into the waiting hardened tail that Ember had for Moneybags, which was the moment that she hit him a few times, just to get her point across, before raising her claws for a second, to show that she was more than willing to continue if he wanted to be stubborn, to which the bear sighed as he raised a hand and worked his magic on the area, activating the other lifts they needed to use to get through the realm.
"Good boy... now if only you would learn to stop opposing us," Ember commented, though even as she said that she made sure to whack Moneybags off the bellow they were on and watched as he hit the floor a few seconds later, which did put a smile on her face, something that pleased both of her brothers and Elora, even though they knew that it was only a matter of time until a frown replaced it.
With the power restored to the bellows, and the lifts moving, the group moved onto the one that was connected to the bellow that they had been standing on and found that there was a Lightning Rhynoc standing on the next lift, who held his weapon at the ready, to which Spike made sure to use a temporary barrier to stop his incoming attack so Ember could smash him into the wall behind him. From there they quickly used the other lift to head up to the highest point of the next bellow, where another Lightning Rhynoc seemed to be waiting for someone to mess with it, which was why Spyro and Elora stepped up next, as Elora dodged the incoming attack and kicked him in the face, stunning him for a few moments, which was more than enough time for Spyro to finish him off with a quick burst of fire. After those two foes were taken care of the group reached the edge of the area, which was pointed in the direction of the starting area, and that allowed them to see an opening in the next building that they would need to move through, even though they had to be close to the area that the exit portal was located in. With the gems in the area collected, despite the fact that there hadn't been all that many in the first place, and group glided down to the opening of the next building and spotted a pair of Lightning Rhynoc waiting for them, where Ember flipped forward and brought her tail down on the closest one, crushing him into the floor so Spyro could finish him off, while Spike used a barrier to stop the other one from running, letting Elora punch him in the face so he would fall to the ground in defeat.
From there they picked up the gems and smashed some metallic vases, before heading through the opening that lead them onto a stone walkway that a Winged Rhynoc was guarding, who quickly fell to the group as Spike ensured he couldn't flee by jumping over the edge, with a barrier to be exact, and that allowed his siblings and Elora to take him down, before they found two more Lightning Rhynocs that weren't paying attention, so they dispatched them quickly, opening the way to the exit portal and the Weather Imp that was standing near it.
"Hey, you guys activated the bellows!" the Weather Imp stated, where he seemed excited by what they had done, even though they had believed the structures had been the generators for the area, before Moneybags had told them the truth in his own way, but they remained silent as they nodded their heads, to confirm that they had done exactly what had just been said, causing the Weather Imp to think about something, "I wonder if I can get the cloud generator working again, now that the bellows have been reactivated..."
In that moment the tallest building in the realm, which had to be the cloud generator, became active before their very eyes and, at the same time, one of the missing eggs popped out of the highest point of the structure, which was followed by clouds coming out of it as well, something that the egg used to safely get down to where they were standing, where the moment it landed Spike made sure that all was well before sending it back to the Dragon Realms. As soon as the egg was safe and sound, and the Weather Imp headed through the exit portal, they found that there was a large portal that rested right behind where the resident had been standing and, at the same time, a whirlwind had formed on the platform that was near the exit portal, meaning the other one they had seen earlier might be active as well. Spike noticed that the new whirlwind went right up to a new cloud that had been formed, one that looked like it might have a portal in it, but instead of them heading that was they jumped over the small gap and headed through the larger portal that was nearby, which brought them to a building of some kind, one that had no windows from what they could see. There was a Weather Imp a few steps in front of them, which wasn't a surprise when they considered the residents of this realm were in trouble at the moment, and next to him rested a circular pool that a fiery orb, with hands and sunglasses, seemed to be resting in, which only made them interested in what was going on.
Spike was sure that it was some sort of sun spirit or something, since this was a realm that dealt with the weather of the Forgotten Realms, but he remained silent as they walked over to where the Weather Imp was floating, so they could figure out what they needed to do to help him out, especially since there was a chance that he might end up giving them one of the stolen eggs in return.
"Our sun has gone out, but, with the lava infusion cauldron and three sun seeds, we might be able to make a brand new one in no time," the Weather Imp stated, causing the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment, because none of them were expecting to hear that statement be said, even though Spike quickly realized that the sun spirit was a sun seed and that forging a new sun would provide the various lands of the Forgotten Realms with sunlight, "however, they keep burning out before we can get them there."
"That won't be a problem for us," Elora replied, as this sounded like one of the easiest tasks they could have helped someone out with, and she could tell that the siblings agreed with her, to which the three of them walked forward so they could see if there were any enemies in this area that needed to be taken out and smash all of the metallic vases that were scattered throughout the area, while having the dragonflies collect all the gems they passed by.
Spike found that simply breathing fire on the sun seed was what they needed to do, which wasn't hard for them to do at all, so he and his siblings took turns following the item as it followed along a predetermined path, even though the first one simply went straight for the cauldron and nothing else, making it really easy to get that one into the pot so they could return to the Weather Imp and get another one. The second sun seed seemed to be going down the same route as the first one did, but when it got near the cauldron it veered off to the right and headed around a raised platform that brought it to the back of the pot, which the group was fine with since it allowed them to find more stuff to break so they could pick up the fallen gems, and soon it was inside the pot with the first one. From there they headed back to the starting area for this part of the realm and activated the device that let the third seed start traveling along the path that it needed to take, where it went up the ramp that was near the area it was dispensed from and traveled along the left side of the room, were the siblings followed after it to make sure it didn't shrink down and disappear, before they reached the backside of the pot again and it joined them others. Once all three of the sun seeds were inside the cauldron the group watched as they spun around for a few seconds, where they diverted their gaze for a moment as a blinding flash of light happened, and once they opened their eyes they found that a large sun, with shades for some reason, was floating above the cauldron and a smile on its face.
With that done they returned to the Weather Imp, who handed them what he called a 'defective sun seed', which was one of the missing eggs, and once it was in their possession Spike made sure that no harm had come to the egg before sending it back home, to which they headed back through the portal that was behind them, so they could return to the main part of the realm, and then used the nearby whirlwind to see what else was above them, since they were sure that it would bring them to another area that needed assistance. The area they were now in was circular, where a number of bells seemed to be resting in a near perfect circle around the center of the area, where a cloud seemed to be resting, and Ember growled for a moment as she saw something that annoyed her, there was a blue robed Egg Thief standing nearby, along with one of the stolen eggs. As such Ember jumped forward and started to chase her target around the area, while Spyro, Spike, and Elora figured out what was going on in this area, where it appeared that mischievous spirits were in the middle of preventing the bells from ringing, preventing the Weather Imp from waking up the cloud in the middle of the area, where they determined that the Powerup Gate to their right, a Superfly Gate, was the key to helping this guy out and that was what two of them were going to do. Elora was the first one to step forward, as her armor, when it was in the wing mode, was supposed to interact with certain powerups and this was one of them, but again, it wasn't tested and there was no way to know if this was going to be successful, hence the reason she ran through the gate, only to take to the air like the siblings did when they used the Superfly Gates.
Spyro nodded his head as he watched Spike take to the air as well, this time heading in the opposite direction that Elora was going in, and observed the pair as they lashed out at the spirits that were stopping the six bells from ringing, as his brother flamed them and Elora simply waved her arms at them, either dispelling them due to her presence or because they didn't want to be bothered, but in the end that allowed the bells to be rung once all six of them were free, waking up the cloud in the process. The Weather Imp was very happy with what they were able to do and gave them an egg that had been resting in this area, making Spyro wonder why one of the stolen eggs would have been stored in this area, before Ember walked over to them with another one, where Spike made sure that both of them were just fine before using his Teleportation Breath on the pair, sending them back home. With the eggs taken care of the group quickly explored the rest of the area they were in and collected all of the gems that were scattered around the bells and the spot that the cloud rested on, and that included breaking all of the straw baskets they discovered along the way, before their dragonflies told them that all of the gems had been recovered in this area, causing them to bid the Weather Imp farewell as they headed through the portal and returned to the main part of the realm. From there they returned to the area that the exit portal was located in, though instead of leaving they headed back to the starting area for this realm and retraced their steps to the spot where the one platform was located in, so they could see if there was a whirlwind there or not, since it would be odd to have a platform with no real purpose to it.
When they returned to the area in question they found that there happened to be a whirlwind on it, allowing them to access the last area they hadn't explored yet, which seemed to be some steps that lead them to another area and they had to be aware of a gap between a few steps, but their dragonflies picked up the gems they walked by, allowing all four of them to focus on any enemies that might be up here. As it turned out there were three Lightning Rhynocs up here, on top of the building they had passed through a few moments ago, but all of them seemed to be scared of the group and that worked out to their benefit, as they lashed out and took down their opponents within a matter of seconds, clearing the way forward once more. From there the group jumped and glided over to the top of the larger building that was near where the exit portal was located, this time allowing them to walk along the walkway that was near the roof, only they had to wait for the bursts of fire to stop coming out from some of the vents so they could move forward, so it was more a case of starting and stopping, only to repeat themselves a few times. Of course that also meant they had to jump over a few gaps to reach the end of the walkway, but they were rewarded with a platform that they needed to glide to, where an egg and some gems were located, to which the four of them did that and quickly landed on the platform, allowing Spike to make sure the egg was fine before sending it off, while Spyro and Ember picked up the rest of the gems, while waiting for their dragonflies to tell them if they were done here or not.
Once Sparx, Talon, and Cinder determined that all of the gems had been picked up, and Spike knew for a fact that all of the eggs in this realm had been reclaimed, the group headed back to the area that the exit portal was in and headed back to Sunrise Spring, as it was time to move on to the next realm and see what sort of trouble was going on there, while recovering what was stolen at the same time.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora long to return to Sunrise Spring, after taking care of the mess that was going on in Cloud Spires and recovering the eggs that had been in that realm, though as they emerged from the portal one thing was definitely clear in their minds and that was the fact that they were likely going to be facing a group of Rhynocs in every realm they visited in their quest to recover all of the stolen dragon eggs. The reason behind that thought was because there had been a few of those enemies in Sheila's realm, there had been some rather cowardly ones in Sunny Villa, and they had fought quite a number of them in Cloud Spires, so they were sure that it was safe to say that each realm was going to have a few of those enemies scattered around them. Of course they were up to the challenge that was being thrown at them, as the siblings were used to this sort of thing and Elora had proven that, even with her level of training, she was strong enough to fend for herself and had integrated herself into the group rather easily, so all four of them were prepared for whatever the other realms had to throw at them in the future. As they walked away from the portal, and jumped down into the path that would take them back to the area that the inactive portals were in, Elora spotted Hunter off to their left and realized their friend was just standing near Sheila's portal, looking like he was lost in thought or something, or maybe he was just waiting for them to come back so he could talk with them.
In fact Hunter noticed them about the same time that they noticed him, to which he walked over to them with a smile on his face, even though he hadn't found any of the other stolen eggs yet since they had cleared out the homeworld after they first arrived in Sunrise Spring, where the siblings waited for a moment and decided that they might as well see what he had to say before they moved forward.
"Hey guys, it seems you've done a good job assisting the realms of this land," Hunter remarked, referring to the fact that they had entered three realms so far and had come out looking better than when they entered the portals, but that was when he noticed something that really caused him to pause for a moment as he looked at them, "Um, Elora, since when did you have wings?"
"Oh, they're something the Professor made, to go with my suit of armor," Elora replied, where she realized that she had forgotten to put her wings away, after they had returned from Cloud Spires, but for the moment she was thinking of keeping them out for one more realm, just in case the next realm had gaps that required her to glide like the siblings did, something that they would find out soon enough, "I can retract and summon them whenever I want, to help me get across gaps that I can't jump across normally, and they really came in handy in the realm we just finished helping, as I was able to glide around like Spyro, Spike, and Ember do whenever they glide from place to place."
"I see. Well, I was going to head over to the other portals and see what their realms had to offer," Hunter said, where the siblings glanced in the area that he was heading to and nodded their heads, while Elora tilted her head for a moment, as she was surprised that Hunter didn't seem to care about the wings at all, but decided that he was focused on the quest and nothing else at the moment.
Once they were done talking the five of them started to head down the path that would take them to the two inactive portals and the residents that were waiting for something to happen so that their way homes could be restored, though as they walked down the tree filled path, however, the siblings had the feeling that someone was watching them and that whoever was doing that would make themselves known at some point. After a few moments Spyro came to a sudden stop and glanced around the area that they were in, something that Spike, Ember, and Elora did, as Elora was just getting used to how they worked as a team, while Hunter, however, didn't realize what was going on and tripped over Spyro's tail not a few seconds later, resulting in him face planting on the ground in front of them. It would have been funny, to a degree, but the siblings and Elora were focused on something else at the moment and kept glancing around the area that they were in, before hearing someone chuckle for a few seconds, to which they glanced at the nearest tree for a moment as all of them readied themselves for battle. Of course that was when Spyro and the others realized that it was the young lady that had ran away from them when Ember scared her off, the one that tried to threaten them into leaving at the beginning of their quest, to which they calmed down and focused on the person that was near where they were standing, because it looked like she was spying on them for some odd reason.
"Look out guys, Bianca has come to play." Spyro remarked, because there was a chance that the lady had come to do something to them while they were traveling through Sunrise Spring, given the fact that Ember had scared her off earlier, but at the same time he and his siblings remained on their guard, as they had no idea what she was planning on doing this time around, while Hunter picked himself up off the ground.
"Wait, how do you know my name?" the lady asked, informing the siblings that they now had someone to attach the name to, as they really had no idea who the Tiki had been referring to when he said that name to them the first time, but now they had a person to link to the name, even if it confused the lady in question, who seemed unsure of what she was supposed to do next.
"That Tiki told us earlier." Ember said, where she gestured to the Tiki that was standing in front of the portal back to his realm, something that she and her siblings now knew to be active as the former inactive portal was now working once more, meaning he had to be waiting for someone to arrive so he could thank them for their hard work in reactivating the way back to his home realm.
"Well, regardless of that fact, you should have let me finish my warning earlier," Bianca stated, deciding not to bother with the fact that the dragons and their friends knew her name, as she quickly walked out from behind the tree she had been using to spy on them and faced the group, who didn't seem to be that alarmed by her presence, "this place isn't safe for small dragons, fauns, and... pussycats."
"Oh, there's no need to worry about us," Elora stated, because after what she had seen and experienced so far, thanks to what the siblings did in Avalar and what she had done with them since this adventure started, she knew that the four of them could handle anything that was thrown at them, and even Hunter, if he wasn't distracted, could take care of himself for a certain amount of time, "we can look after ourselves."
"Oh yeah? Then how about this!" Bianca replied, where she gathered her magic into her hands for a moment, before combining them into a ball of energy that she hurled at them, either intending to scare them away and leave without even attempting to get any of the other eggs, which was very likely, or to hurt one of them enough to convince them to leave the Forgotten Realms and the rest of the stolen eggs behind.
Spike, seeing the rainbow colored ball coming their way, weaved his own magic together and pulled up a barrier that stopped the attack in its tracks, where he could see that Bianca was surprised by what she was seeing, which was when Spyro and Ember rushed out and chased after their target, who paled for a second as she turned around and proceeded to flee from the area, with two bursts of flame added for good measure, to convince her to back off.
"Well, that's the last we'll see of her, for a while anyway." Spyro commented, as he had the feeling that Bianca would show herself again at some point in the near future, possibly before they figured out what to do with the hot air balloon or maybe, and this was a stretch, she would come back when they found the area that was the next homeworld, before he and Ember turned back to face the group as Spike lowered the barrier, "Also, that was some pretty quick thinking, Spike. Did you see that spell coming with your ability?"
"No, I had the feeling she would try something like this and responded accordingly," Spike answered, where that was the truth of the matter, he hadn't used his Sage's Vision to see what Bianca had planned for them, rather he was used to dueling with Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters, to the point where he realized what Bianca was doing mere seconds after she decided on her course of action, even though revealing that he could use magic might complicate things for them in the future, since the lady was likely going to tell the Sorceress this bit of information.
"Say, is it just me, or does Bianca look kind of cute when she's angry?" Hunter remarked, though even as he asked that the siblings glanced at each other, not because of the fact that he might be smitten by one of their enemies, because he was easily distracted by certain things, rather it was more due to the fact that he thought Bianca was angry at them, as it seemed to be more of an act she was going through, to scare them off and get them to leave the Forgotten Realms, which was working on them at all.
"Whatever you say, Hunter." Elora said, because it was hard for them to really make a decision based on what Hunter had said, mostly because Bianca was wearing a robe that prevented all of them from seeing the rest of her body, but none of them were going to bother trying to get Hunter to think about something else or even criticize what he was thinking about right now, since he'd do that at some point in the near future.
Hunter decided to wander off and head to one of the other portals they weren't going to pick just yet, as Spyro was going to pick the portal that the Tiki was standing in front of, so he, Spike, Ember, and Elora bid their friend farewell for the moment and quickly walked over to the stone structure that the Tiki was standing in front of, since they were curious as to why he hadn't gone back home yet, even if it was the next realm they were planning on checking out.
"Well, would you look at that, you guys must have helped Bianca fix the portal!" the Tiki commented, revealing that he was of the opinion that they must have been called in by the young sorceress, for that was what Bianca was, to help her and her mentor got over the issue of the lack of magic in the Forgotten Realms, even though it was more due to the eggs that they were rescuing, which were hatching when they returned home and seemed to be influencing the flow of magic in the lands the dragons used to call home, "You guys can come visit me at the Tiki Lodge whenever you want."
The group glanced at each other for a few seconds, not sure if they should tell the Tiki that they hadn't been working with Bianca and that this was a consequence of them retrieving the eggs that had been stolen, but before they could even say anything the Tiki turned around and headed into the now active portal, to which they waited for a few seconds before heading through the portal themselves. It didn't take them all that long to arrive in the starting area for Molten Crater, as that had been the name that was on the portal they had walked through, though when they were allowed to see what they would be dealing with the group discovered that the starting area was inside a circular building of some kind, without any sort of roof, and that there were two paths, one that was right in front of them and was open while the one to the right a bit was locked off, limiting their options. Standing near the path that they would have to take was a light brown creature that walked on four legs and looked like one of the boars that were in the Beast Makers homeworld, informing them that the creatures were Warthogs, though beyond that foe, resting in the tunnel that contained the path in question, was one of the Rhynocs that had been sent here, who looked like a hunter of some kind and was using a whip as its weapon, which meant it was a Bullwhip Rhynoc. Of course that was when they spotted a Soldier Rhynoc standing behind the Warthog, and that he wasn't as armed as the ones they had seen in Sunny Villa, but the group knew that underestimating their foes would be a costly mistake, so they made sure that their guards were up as they finished looking around the area they were in, before getting their adventure in this realm started.
The only other things that stood out to them were the large rock statue that was to their left, meaning that it had to be of some importance to the Tikis since it seemed to be shaped in the same manner as their heads were, a small lava pool that told them there might be more lava in this area, something that Spike and Ember were okay with, and a locked chest, which meant they needed to find the key that went to it, so the first thing they did was walk over to the Tiki that was near them, all to learn what they needed to know about the situation in this realm.
"What seems to be the problem?" Spyro asked, knowing that the Rhynocs were the major problem and that taking all of them out would help bring peace back to this realm, just like they had seen in the previous realms so far, and doing that would give them one of the missing eggs that they were looking for, along with one that was just laying around another part of the realm and two portals to two other areas, if the realms continued to have six eggs in them, save for the fact that Sheila's realm only had three eggs.
"Rhynocs are running rampart around the Molten Crater," the Tiki replied, telling the group exactly what they already knew by simply looking at the area they were in, but Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora said nothing as they waited for the Tiki to tell them the other thing that was necessary for them to help them out, the end goal that would return everything to what it had been like before the Rhynocs arrived, "I tried to get some of the other Tikis to help me repel the attackers, but I can't get anyone out of the Tiki Lodge to help me do that, so I need your help dealing with them."
"That's what we're here for, taking out the aggressors and restoring order," Ember remarked, even if that wasn't the whole truth of the matter, as she felt that it wasn't necessary for the Tiki to know about the missing eggs the four of them were recovering, and it didn't seem like anyone was complaining about her decision to do that, though even as she said that the others turned towards the foes and readied themselves for what they were going to do.
Based on what they knew the animal creatures that they would be fighting weren't the normal animals that called this realm home, rather all of them would be gems that the Sorceress transformed into soldiers for her cause, so what they did as they approached the Warthog and the Soldier Rhynoc was split into two groups, where Spike and Ember dealt with the Rhynoc while Spyro and Elora would deal with the Warthog. By that Spyro spun around and tripped the Warthog as it tried to rush him, by moving out of the way as well, and that caused his target to fall to the ground, where Elora quickly kicked it in the side as it tried to get back up, weakening it to the point where a quick burst of fire could take their foe down, which let them pick up the gem as they turned to see what the others were doing. Ember hardened her body for a moment and allowed the Soldier Rhynoc to lash out at her, where the blade it was holding stopped when it struck her neck and even cracked a little, but it was the moment of weakness that followed that Spike seized, by charging right into the Rhynoc's chest and knocked him down, allowing them to collect the gems from their fallen foes. From there they picked up a couple of gems that were scattered here and there, and smashed the three metallic vases that were behind the stone statue that was near the metallic chest, but once they had those gems they approached the steps that would allow them to access the passage the Bullwhip Rhynoc was guarding.
Their foe, of course, tried to whip them as soon as they got close, where Ember hardened her scales and let the whip do no damage to her, or to Cinder for that matter, before she grabbed onto the weapon itself by biting it, allowing Elora to spin around and kick the Rhynoc in the face with the side of her leg, taking their foe down in a matter of seconds so they could move forward to the next part of this realm. With that foe taken care of they picked up the gems that were on the floor and then moved through the passage that was in front of them, though the moment they walked outside they found a pair of Warthogs standing on the other side of a bridge that was in front of them, even though the area that they walked out onto was a piece of earth that had grass, which had to be enchanted or something since there was a small of river of lava between the area they were on and the area that the Warthogs were occupying. When Elora stepped up to the bridge, however, both of the angry Warthogs rushed at the stone structure with the intent of running her into the ground so they could get to the siblings, though that was just fine with her, as she jumped backwards and made sure to backflip as she did so, allowing Spyro to charge into the first one and knock him to the ground, while Spike blasted the next one a few steps back with an Arcane Missile so Ember could smack it with her tail. With the pair of Warthogs taken care of they picked up the few gems that were nearby and then stopped when they realized that there wasn't a wall to their left and that they were allowed to stare out at a molten landscape that seemed like a new land was in the middle of being formed, and there was happened to be a wall of stone, mountains to be exact, that wrapped around the entire part of the realm they were in, keeping the lava and magma in this one area.
It was a rather amazing sight, one that sort of reminded them of what they had seen in the past, like Magma Cone for instance, where it made them wonder how long it would take for the rest of the realm to form and become livable for the Tikis to spread and colonize the new land that would be available for them, though it would be a long time before anything happened and they might not be around to see it.
After taking a few moments to stare at the molten landscape, and take it all in, the group resumed moving forward to see what the rest of the realm had to offer them, where Spyro found a Bullwhip Rhynoc blocking the way, to what they did was different from what they had done so far, as Elora rushed towards their foe and ducked under the Rhynoc's arm as he tried to lash out at her. As he turned to follow her, however, that opened him up to being attacked from behind and Ember was the one that capitalized on it by hardening her body and jumped into the air, where she rolled forward and bashed into her target's back, slamming him into the ground and caused a gem to replace him, though as that happened Spyro and Spike found a pair of Soldier Rhynocs, a Warthog, and another Bullwhip Rhynoc off to their right, guarding a passage that would help them reach the exit portal for this realm. Spike, instead of getting near the group of enemies, summoned his magic and commanded the wind for a moment, where he sliced through the shields that the Soldier Rhynocs were carrying, using the Wind Blade spell, one that was designed to use the wind to slice right through things, and he made sure that the wind only damaged the shields and nothing else. While he did that Ember kept her Warrior's Armor up and let the Warthog charge into her, where it staggered backwards for a moment like it was in pain, before she lashed out at it with her tail and took it down, allowing Elora to jump over her and kick the first Soldier Rhynoc in the face with the side of her left leg, before dodging the incoming sword strike from the other and punched it in the face.
As those foes fell down, and they noticed that another Soldier Rhynoc had been hiding behind the boulder they were walking around, Spyro stared at the Bullwhip Rhynoc and it stared at him for a moment, before he shifted his head and his foe lashed out at the other Soldier Rhynoc, surprising it in the process, only for Spyro to flame the foe he had been staring at, taking it down as well. Once all of those foes had been taken down, and the area was almost cleared, Ember spotted one more Bullwhip Rhynoc hiding around the corner from where the third Soldier Rhynoc had been standing, so she used her method of hardening herself and then spun through the air to smack him into the ground, before they jumped over a small bit of lava and found one of the eggs hidden under a ledge, which they had walked by a few moments ago. As such Spike took a moment to make sure that nothing was wrong with the egg, where he found that it was just fine, just like all of the other eggs they had recovered so far, before using his Teleportation Breath to send it back to the Dragon Realms, but once that was done the four of them made sure to pick up all of the gems that were around them, before heading for the passage that would allow them to move forward. They had to jump over a small bit of lava, to land on a small stone walkway, before jumping over another small bit of lava to reach an area that a pair of Rhynocs, one Bullwhip and one Soldier from the looks of it, were waiting in.
Since this chamber wasn't the size of the other areas they had been in the group was forced to do something else to their foes, where Spike used his magic to protect himself from the whip that was coming his way and then forced it to rest on the ground, which was the moment that Ember rushed forward and smashed her hardened tail into her foe's chest, all to take him down, while Spyro charged into the chest of the Soldier Rhynoc as Elora kicked him as well. Once that was done they smashed a straw basket for the gem that was inside it and then headed down the rest of the passage, where a Warthog rushed at them while they were walking, but it was forced to stop as it ran right into Ember, who hardened her body the moment she saw it, stunning their new foe so Spyro could flame it, before they found another small bit of lava that seemed to serve as a river between them and the area they needed to use to progress. Standing on the other side of the next jump was another Bullwhip Rhynoc, who definitely seemed like he was waiting for someone to come and try to get by him, so what they did was have Ember approach the gap and he lashed out at, though her body was hardened and took no damage from the attack, but she did bite the whip to stop it from being pulled back to its wielder. That allowed Spike to launch a small volley of Arcane Missiles at their foe, where he blasted him in the chest a few times before he fell backwards and collapsed on the ground behind him, reducing him to a gem that they picked up as they moved forward once more, only this time they discovered the central area for the entire realm.
Resting in the middle of the area was a temple or structure of some kind, which rested on a raised patch of stone that sat in the middle of a pool of lava, and there were a few bits of ground that they could use to get up to the temple, as they spotted a wooden bridge that connected it to one of the other patches, and the temple, from what they could tell, had the exit portal that they were looking for, meaning they were almost done taking care of the Rhynocs. Speaking of which there happened to be two more Soldier Rhynocs that were standing in front of them, somehow not even noticing that the one Rhynoc that had been guarding the way had been taken down, and Elora was the first one to rush out of where they were standing as she kicked the foe on the left and put him in the ground, stunning him for a moment. The instant of surprise that the second Soldier Rhynoc experienced, since he wasn't expecting such a thing to happen, was more than enough for Ember and Spyro to charge him into the ground, allowing a gem to take his place, while giving Spike a chance to flame the one that Elora had hit, where both of the Soldier Rhynocs fell in a matter of moments, opening the way for them to move forward once more. In that moment they spotted a side path that seemed to be made of small stone walkways, only wide enough for one of them to walk on them at any given time, so Ember jumped onto the first one and left the others to pick up the gems that were around them, even if that meant breaking a few straw baskets to get what they were after. Ember ended up charging right into a Soldier Rhynoc that was blocking the way and then jumped over to another part of the path she was following, knocking the foe that was on it, one more of the Soldier Rhynocs, into the lava so she could pick up a golden key, which had to be for the locked chest they had seen at the starting area for this realm, before she retraced her steps and returned to where the others were waiting for her.
As they jumped over to the next piece of ground, which had a bridge that connected to the ground that connected to the stone platform that the temple was built on, though while Elora and Spyro dealt with the Bullwhip Rhynoc that was in their way, by dodging his attack, kicking him in the face, and then flaming him into the ground, Spike found a small patch of ground that had a straw basket on it, so he jumped over to it and smashed it for the gem it held. From there they found that a Warthog seemed to be guarding the bridge to the base of the stone platform, so Ember took the charge that was coming her way and then hit it with her tail, taking it out in seconds, before they found a few patches of ground nearby, ones that had straw baskets to break, so she and Spike went out to collect them, as the lava didn't bother them and that left the gems and containers that were near the Bullwhip Rhynoc's location. It didn't take the four of them that long to pick up all of the loose gems that were around the area, to which they got back together at the base of the steps and made their way to the top of the temple, but before they talked to the Tiki that was near the exit portal they turned to the right and found two Soldier Rhynocs that were standing on a wooden bridge, one that no doubt took them over to the other parts of the realm, where Ember just charged through them and let her siblings flame them both into submission, which let them pick up the gems that were left behind, before they returned to the area that the Tiki was standing in, to give him the good news about the downfall of the Rhynocs.
"Wow, you guys did it. You repelled the Rhynocs!" the Tiki said, his tone revealing that he was very happy with the fact that his realm was now safe from the forces that had been attacking them for some time, while at the same time the iron barred door that lead back to the starting area sunk into the ground, which meant that they would be able to return to the area that the locked chest was in rather quickly, instead of having to backtrack, before the Tiki pulled out one of the stolen eggs and out it down in front of them, "Here, you guys can have this egg... they were giving away eggs at the Tiki Lodge earlier and I was given this one, though its far too big for me to bother with and it seemed different than the ones I've had in the past, so I'll give it to you guys."
Based on what the Tiki said this was the only stolen egg that had been among the bunch, so Spike quickly made sure that nothing was wrong with it and then, upon finding nothing wrong or out of place, used his Teleportation Breath to send it back home as the exit portal turned on, allowing the Tiki to depart from his realm, but before they headed through it there were two more portals for them to focus on before they returned to Sunrise Spring. With that taken care of they turned back to the bridge and started walking across it, where all four of them had to pause for a moment as they, once again, stopped Moneybags in front of one of the portals they needed to walk through, one that seemed to be blocked off by a door, meaning the bear was going to try and get some money out of them at some point. Instead of worrying about that the group continued towards the area that was in front of them, where they found a golden birdcage that had blue glass between the golden parts, or at least they assumed it was glass as they walked towards it, only to discover that it was just metal that was blue colored, but the door was locked and there was no way to open the portal to the section of the realm that it lead to. That was, of course, when Spyro found a sign nearby with the face of a bird of some kind, one that reminded him of the birds from Breeze Harbor, since it seemed that this one was wearing an army hat that had a card in the top part of it, before discovering a quick message had been written on the sign, though while he could read it he let Spike do it, mostly since he would copy it down for later.
"Let's see here, 'Sgt. Byrd is currently on an important mission... to the inside of a cage. Tough luck'," Spike said, taking a moment to read the entirety of the short message that was on the sign, while at the same time writing down exact what was said as he made a note of where this portal was located, since he had the feeling that they would be coming back to this realm to get into the sealed off area, "Its signed by the Sorceress, meaning that Sgt. Byrd must have done something to tick her off... or, if he's anything like Sheila, he's been falsely imprisoned and is being held against his will, likely in one of the other homeworlds that we'll be visiting at some point in the near future."
"Great, that's something to look forward to." Ember stated, because she was telling the truth, as anyone that opposed the Sorceress was an ally of theirs and it sounded like Sgt. Byrd definitely opposed the one who ordered the dragon eggs to be stolen in the first place, meaning that they would have to keep an eye out for him when they headed to the other lands that made up the Forgotten Realms.
The others nodded their heads in agreement as they smashed the straw baskets that were nearby and picked up all of the gems that were on the ground, before turning towards the gap that was between them and the area that the other portal was located in, where Moneybags was standing to be exact, before Elora sighed and jumped over to where the bear was standing, moving before the siblings had a chance to do so.
"Moneybags, we meet again." Elora said, because she was already getting tired of the bear's presence, especially after learning what he had done to Avalar during the time that Ripto that was there, and she knew that the siblings were getting tired of having to listen to him try and take the gems they were collecting, even though she had the feeling that he was going to do the same thing he did the last few times she had seen him.
"Elora, I see that you're still mimicking a dragon," Moneybags replied, where he raised his empty hand for a moment and tapped one of the wings, Elora's right wing to be exact, and found that it was pretty sturdy, before lowing his hand as he stared at her for a few seconds, showing that he was thinking about something, "Normally I would criticize your love interests, and the fact that you seem to have fallen for a dragon when you should be interested in one of the other Fawns, but I have more pressing matters to attend to. A pair of egg thieves ran through this portal earlier and paid me to stand guard over their hideout... but, if you convince your friends to part with some of their gems, I'll open the door that's in front of the portal and let you chase after them, to get back the eggs that they were carrying."
At first Elora said nothing to what Moneybags said, making him think that she was actually going to do that, but that was when she lashed out and punched him right in the nose, causing him to fall over for a second as a look of surprise appeared on his face, though before he could get up the siblings jumped over to the area that Elora was standing in and stared at the bear, who growled as he waved a hand and opened the way to the area the thieves were in, showing that he understood what they were trying to tell him, for now anyway.
"When will you learn?" Ember asked, mostly because she would have thought that someone would have learned not to mess with them about paying for things while they were trying to do something important, like how he was trying to get them to pay for everything in Avalar when they were in the middle of fighting Ripto and how he was currently in the middle of trying to get the gems in exchange for the ability to head to where some of the eggs were located, but Moneybags was a foolish bear and would likely never learn from his mistakes.
Elora watched as Spyro smashed a few straw baskets that were near them, allowing him to pick up a few gems in the process, before he and his siblings headed for the portal to the only section of the realm that they hadn't explored yet, but as they started to make their way towards it Moneybags got up and made a terrible decision, as he raised his left hand and threw a fist at Elora while her back was turned, only for her to turn around and catch the attack, mostly because she felt that he would try something like this. The siblings watched as she pushed Moneybags' fist backwards and then punched the bear in the chest, causing him to stagger for a moment, before he dropped his bag and rushed at her as he threw a few more punches at her, showing that he must have lost his mind at some point, where she used the sides of her bracers to prevent the attacks from hitting her, surprising her foe in the process. Once his guard was open Elora lashed out with a few of her own punches, where the first couple struck the bear in the chest, all of which would cause him to stagger for a time, before she delivered a powerful uppercut that knocked him onto his back, where she showed Moneybags that she wasn't messing around and that she was able to contend with whatever he was trying to do, including trying to attack one of them from behind. The siblings, on the other hand, nodded their heads in agreement as they saw her do that, as they weren't surprised that the bear would try something like this and were happy to see that no harm came to Elora while she fought him, but in the end Moneybags laid on the ground and just stayed there, either due to the pain that he was in or because he understood what she was trying to teach him.
Once that was down they walked through the portal and found themselves in a small room that lead out into a larger area with rocks and, more importantly, a Supercharge ramp that seemed to form a loop around the entire area, meaning that these thieves would be fast and that they would have to chase after them, only Elora would be forced to remain near the entrance, as she didn't have something that would make use of this powerup. She was fine with that, however, as she could look around the area and gather the gems that were in the area, be they on the ground, contained in the metallic vases, or inside the straw baskets, leaving the siblings to chase down the thieves in question, and even as they walked up towards the entrance of the area they found a Tiki that told them about the 'shifty' characters he had seen. With that done the group separated from each other as Ember rushed onto the Supercharge platform and started to chase the first thief, who had a yellow robe this time around, but as that happened they discovered that the path she was trying to follow didn't contain the power of the Supercharge ability, meaning she just had to follow the thief and bash into him when she got close to her target's backside. Sadly the thief didn't get all that far, as he managed to make it around the entire track once, before Ember collided with his backside and struck him down, allowing Spike to come up and take the egg that she just saved, though as that happened a red robed thief entered the area and the ramp activated, allowing Ember to actually use the Supercharge ramp this time as she growled and followed after the new thief. The red thief put up quite the chase, far more than what the yellow thief did since he was able to force Ember to run the course more than once, but in the end she caught him and smashed him into the ground, allowing Spike to collect the other egg that he had been holding, where he looked at the pair of eggs and found that nothing was wrong, so he sent them back to the Dragon Realms.
From there they searched the rest of the area, where they found a circular metallic chest that Elora was standing by, as she couldn't break it on her own, to which Ember smashed it with her hardened tail and let the others pick up the gems that had been trapped inside it, before they made sure that the rest of the gems in the area were claimed, where they found nothing else to be claimed. Once that was done they headed back to the portal that brought them into this section of the realm and headed back to the main section they had been running through earlier, only this time Moneybags had taken a hint and disappeared, no doubt heading to one of the other realms or, if they were lucky, to another homeworld so they wouldn't have to mess with him again. As soon as they discovered that the four of them headed back to the short passage that would take them back to the starting area for this realm, where they found the locked chest that Ember had the key for and they opened it up, revealing a couple of gems for them to pick up and add to the bag that contained all of the other gems that had been found so far. The moment that was done, however, the four of them admitted that this was all they could do at the moment and headed back to the exit portal that would take them back to Sunrise Spring, because while they couldn't complete everything in this realm the first time around there was still one other realm for them to help out, before they figured out what was inside the tower that was near the castle.
The siblings and Elora were under the impression that they were nearby done with what this homeworld had to offer, meaning they would have to find someway to head to the next land that existed in the Forgotten Realms, which could very well explain the hot air balloon they had seen, but for now they were going to focus on helping the residents of the realms and recovering the stolen eggs, before worrying about how they were going to move forward.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora long to return to Sunrise Spring, after being unable to fully complete all of the sections of Molten Crater, something the siblings weren't used to since all of the realms they had visited during their first and second adventures had been able to be fully completed during their first visit, even though in the latter it was due to Ember convincing Moneybags to give them all the skills they needed right off the bat and them finding their way around all of the Headbash items. Once they appeared in front of the portal that would take them to Molten Crater, which they would do after they found Sgt. Byrd, whoever that was, the group turned to their left and headed over to the lake that rested in this realm and started to make their way over to the area that the last realm portal was in, as they were all convinced that the tower held a speedway portal, something they would do before leaving this area. As they did that, however, they discovered something interesting, that being the fact that one of the residents of the realms they had helped so far was in the castle area, standing below the hot air balloon, meaning that they had to be waiting for something to happen and, as it turned out, there was one more rope that didn't have someone below it, meaning that once the final realm was helped out they could leave Sunrise Spring if they really wanted to.
Instead of worrying about the castle and the hot air balloon, even though it was good to know about it and the fact that Sheila and the others were trying to help them out, the siblings and Elora jumped over to where the small bit of land the last realm portal was resting on and approached the Seal that was standing in front of it, as they were interested in hearing if he had anything to say before they headed to his realm.
"Yes, Bianca did it! The portal back home is working again!" the Seal said, speaking the moment they were near it, once more showing that the residents of the homeworlds and their realms believed that Bianca was the one behind the portals being reactivated, and in a sense they weren't wrong since it she had brought the eggs to the Forgotten Realms, despite the fact that her mentor was the one that commanded her to do so, "I can finally head to the beach! Maybe I'll see you guys there at some point."
Before the siblings or Elora could say anything the Seal hopped into the portal and headed to Seashell Shore, which was the name of the realm in question, to which the four of them waited for a few moments, just to give him time to head back to his realm, before passing through the portal themselves, as it was time to see what was waiting for them on the other side of the portal. It didn't take them long to reappear in the starting area for the realm, where they found that they were underwater and that they seemed to be in some sort of cavern, one that happened to have a seashell structure off in front of them, which did have what looked like a submarine lodged in the side of it, and there were some seaweed and seashells as well. Of course that was when Spyro, Spike, and Ember remembered something, Elora didn't have all of the enchantments that Spike had put on them a year ago, before they found themselves in Avalar thanks to the Professor messing with the portal they were using, to which they turned towards her for a moment, worried that she might end up running out of air before any of them could find a place to get above ground. Elora, as it turned out, was one step ahead of them as she tapped another button on her bracelet, this time retracting her wings into her armor, which were replaced by what appeared to be a pair of cylindrical tanks that had a tube connected to them, which were connected to a mask that covered her eyes and mouth, followed by a suit that reminded them of what Hunter had worn when they spotted him back in Aquaria Towers.
It was a scuba suit of some kind, and even came complete with covers for her hooves, though it really showed them that she had really prepared herself for whatever the future held for her, and that the Professor was able to provide her with a number of useful items that she had used so far, making them wonder what else it could do, before she nodded to them and they headed to the area that the first Seal was located in.
"Guys, you won't believe what happened!" the Seal said, even though they were sure that it wasn't the same one that had been talking to them outside the portal to this realm, as he was far too excited and worried about something else at the moment and not even remotely worried about the portal that let people visit this realm, "While I was gone, off to get some supplies for our relaxing day at the beach, my friends decided that it would be a good idea to borrow the Rhynoc's submarine... and then, while taking it for a joyride, they ended up crashing it into a pile of rocks, not to mention the hollow seashell that's behind me. The Rhynocs, oddly enough, failed to see the humor in what my friends had done and stuffed them in the jail that's to my right, but I'm not sure how to break them out of there."
"Leave it to us, we'll take out the Rhynocs and free your friends," Spyro replied, as he knew that the Rhynocs had to be in the middle of attacking this realm, just like they had been attacking the other realms they had visited so far, and the fact that they had a submarine meant that there had to be a really good reason for them to come here, though instead of even wondering why the Sorceress would have her forces attack this place she had the feeling it was like what Ripto did, just to force the residents of a realm or homeworld to submit to her will.
The first thing they did was turn to their right and found a couple of glass vases resting off to the side, which Ember smashed in a matter of seconds so Cinder could pick the gems up, while Spyro, Spike, and Elora headed into the area that was in front of them, as there were a number of enemies that were scattered around the area that the submarine was in, foes they had to take down. There were a pair of Rhynocs that were wearing some scuba gear and seemed to be carrying a blaster of some kind, meaning that they were facing some Scuba Rhynocs, and there were a few Octopuses that didn't seem to like the fact that they were in this realm, revealing two of the enemies they had to worry about in a matter of seconds, but Spike was positive there were one or two more foes they hadn't discovered yet. This time around, as Spike and Spyro rushed through the water and charged into the foes that were in front of them, and were joined by Ember, they found that Elora didn't have the speed that they did and that there had to be some limitations to the scuba gear that she was using right now, causing Spike to wonder if there were any enchantments he could add to her armor to make it even better than it already was, which was hard to do since they didn't know what her armor was truly capable of. Even Elora seemed to understand that and focused on breaking the glass vases that were around them and let the siblings focus on avoiding the incoming attacks that their enemies sent at them and charged into their targets, scattering gems for her and the dragonflies to pick up, before Ember shattered a large seashell and found that it also had a gem inside it, informing her siblings of what they needed to keep an eye out for in the future, before she smashed a wooden blockade on the next structure they had to move through and then returned to what she had been doing.
With the first area cleared out, and all the enemies were taken care of, the group entered the seashell structure that was in front of them and found another Scuba Rhynoc that was blocking the way forward, so Spyro moved around for a few seconds, acting like a distraction as his foe tried to focus on him, opening a hole in his defenses so Elora could kick him in the back of his head. The Rhynoc crashed into the side of the building they were in and reverted back to his gem state, to which the group started to pick up the gems that were near them and, at the same time, swam up into the hollowed shell of the submarine, which didn't look like it could be piloted by someone, and made sure to pick up the gems that were inside it as well, before looking for the way out of the area. That wasn't hard for them to do, since there was a passage that curved upwards into an area that was above them, where the siblings swam up it and Elora followed after them, where they picked up some gems and burst out of the water as they reached the top of the surface, which was the moment they discovered that they were now in a small building of some kind and that they were allowed to walk above ground for some time, before having to go below the water again. Elora was the last one to come up from the passage, where she climbed out of the water and pulled the mask off for a moment, letting out all of the water that might have gotten inside her mask since she put it on while she was underwater, before she looked at the siblings, who were completely dry thanks to the enchantments that Spike had put on them and had refreshed a few days ago.
"Hm, the scuba gear is interesting, but let me try something," Spike commented, because while this part of the armor would allow Elora to swim underwater, for a limited amount of time thanks to the oxygen tanks that the Professor had put into the armor, he raised a claw for a moment and summoned his magic for a few seconds, where he etched the symbol of the Water Safety spell onto the upper right part of the chest piece, before stepping back to look at his handiwork, "There, now you should be able to swim in the water like we do, minus the charging ability of course."
"Really? That would make things easier." Elora said, as while she liked the scuba gear that the armor provided, so she could swim underwater and follow the siblings as they moved through the realm they were in, she had to admit that just having the same abilities that Spyro, Spike, and Ember had would make things that much easier for her, before she got up and dived back into the water for a moment.
Spyro and Ember had to chuckle for a moment, as Elora was eager to test the Water Safety spell out, just like they had done when Spike first used it on them, back when he first learned how to use the spell, to which they remained silent for a time as they waited for their friend to return to them while Spike stared at the water and seemed to watch what Elora was doing at the moment. When Elora returned to the chamber she revealed that the spell had worked, not that she was really expecting the spell to fail when she considered that Spike was the one that was casting the spell, meaning that, with the spell put on her armor, she was able to breath underwater and swim with some decent speed, even if that meant she was stuck with kicking and punching foes, instead of charging her opponents, and, as a bonus, she was also able to see what was around her as well, causing Spike to smile as she revealed that the spell worked as it was supposed to. Thanks to that she was able to retract the scuba gear into her armor and returned to the basic state, with no additional items out to get in the way, but they knew that she could press a button and call the wings back out if they were needed over the course of their adventure in this realm. Once Elora was done doing that, and her armor was back to normal, the four of them looked around the building and picked up the couple of gems they found, before heading for the opening so they could head out and continue their quest to recover the rest of the stolen eggs and restore order to this realm, by taking out all of the various Rhynocs that were scattered all over the place.
What they discovered, as they walked outside the building they had been in, were two of the large seashells in the area that was in front of them, though one of them started to move and Ember charged into it, quickly smashing the shell and revealing a Scuba Rhynoc that seemed to be in the middle of pretending to be a seashell, where Elora lashed out with a kick and struck him down. While they did that Spike smashed the other seashell, finding that there was only a gem inside it, while Spyro broke three straw baskets and collected the gems that landed on the ground, before they headed towards the wooden bridge that was nearby and a larger Rhynoc, who was dressed in a blue sailor uniform, that was in the middle of throwing metallic barrels down the rest of the bridge and let them collide with the wall that was to their right, meaning he was just trying to stop them from moving forward. Ember, seeing what was going on, hardened her body and stood at the end of the bridge, where the barrel struck her and exploded, dealing no damage to her thanks to her ability and also surprised the Sailor Rhynoc at the same time, though that didn't prevent her target from continuing to throw more of the barrels at her, where Elora jumped over each of them and rushed over to the end of the walkway, allowing her to loose a kick at the Rhynoc's face. As that foe fell down, and a gem fell as well, Spyro and Spike dived down into the water and found a few glass vases for them a break, a couple of scattered gems to pick up, a Scuba Rhynoc to take down, and one of the stolen eggs to collect, though their foe had no idea that they were there and allowed Spyro to take him out with a rather quick charge to the chest.
A few moments later the entire underwater area that they were in had no more items for them to pick up, so Spike grabbed the egg and pulled it over to where Ember and Elora were waiting, as Elora helped him drag the egg out of the water and gave him a chance to look it over, only to find that there was nothing wrong with the egg and quickly sent it off to the Dragon Realms, allowing them to move forward once more.
From there they jumped over the gap that was between them and the next part of the area that they needed to head through, which happened to have another seashell building that was being protected by one Sailor Rhynoc that was near the edge of the area and two more that were resting on ledges off to the right side of the area, but before the first one could even attack them Elora kicked him in the back of the head and let Ember finish him off with a quick burst of flame as Spyro and Spike joined them. Instead of letting the other two Sailor Rhynocs throw their barrels at them, and possibly hurt any of them in the process, Spike loosed a burst of Arcane Missiles into the air and struck both of his targets down in a matter of seconds, allowing Spyro to pick up the gems near the seashell building and smash the metallic vase that was over there as well. As it turned out the pair of Sailor Rhynocs were guarding a couple of straw baskets and a gem, which Spike picked up as Spyro smashed the wooden planks that happened to be blocking the way forward, where they found a pair of Scuba Rhynocs that were walking under some large seashells, something that the group looked at for a second, as it was amusing to see them do something like this, before they smashed the seashells and took down their foes. Once that was done they smashed the couple of metallic vases that were inside the building and then headed for the other opening, so they could see what else the realm had to offer them, where there were three more of the large seashells in the next area and two of them seemed to be moving.
As Spyro, Ember, and Elora rushed forward, to smash the seashells and take down the Scuba Rhynocs that were using them to hide themselves, Spike found a side path to their right and noticed that it might take them up to the top of the building they had just walked through, making him curious as to what one might find if they went down the path that he had just discovered. The others glanced at her for a moment, almost as if they were curious as to what he was doing right now, before he climbed up the steps and made his way to the highest point, where he jumped into the air and glided over to the hidden path that was behind him, only to find a circular area above the chamber that he and the others had passed through a few moments ago, to which he picked up the gems that were around it and then dropped down so he could return to his siblings and Elora. With that taken care of the group continued to move forward and discovered that one of the Sailor Rhynocs was in the middle of the path that would allow them to continue towards the end of the realm, so what Spyro did was charge into the metallic barrel that was coming their way and bounced it back to the Rhynoc, who was taken down by the explosion in a matter of seconds. From there they walked forward and found another Sailor Rhynoc to their left, where Elora kicked him in the back of the head and let Ember finish him off with a whack from her hardened tail, to which Spyro and Spike climbed up the ledges that were nearby and found one of the Scuba Rhynocs hiding under one of the large seashells, so they smashed it and then took him down with a charge.
Once that was done the group got back together and then jumped over to the raised sections that were across from where the path forward was located, where they smashed a couple of straw baskets and a seashell, picking up the gems in the process, before leaping over to the other raised section, where one of Sheila's portals was located, though for now the four of them ignored that and smashed the pair of Scuba Rhynocs into the ground, after breaking their seashells and then taking both of them out.
With that done, and the area was cleared of gems and breakables, the group returned to the tunnel that would allow them to move forward, an underwater tunnel to be exact, so they dived into the pool and then swam through the passage that would allow them to reach a much larger cavern that had a giant golden seashell resting on one wall, though they had to focus on were the three Scuba Rhynocs that were blocking the way forward. What happened was that Spyro, Spike, and Ember charged into one of them each, before they even had a chance to fire at the group, leaving the way for Elora, even with her low speed, to punch and kick them once more, dropping three gems in the process, which was when the four of them focused on the cavern and did notice that there was also a large hole in the ceiling, giving them another area to explore once they reached the exit portal. As they truly entered the cavern they found another opening that looked like a portal, thanks to the swirling energy that was coming from it, but before doing anything else they headed out into the rest of the cavern and hunted down the couple of Octopuses that were in the way, were Spike and Elora took one out and left the other to Spyro and Ember, who also broke the wooden planks that blocked the way forward. What surprised them was the fact that there weren't that many more enemies in the area, rather the Octopuses were the last ones that they could see at the moment and ignored the scattered gems for now, as they found one of the Seals being grabbed by an Octopus, causing Ember to swim forward and slam her tail into their foe, releasing the Seal and dropping a gem.
There didn't seem to be anything else that they needed to worry about, since it didn't look like any additional items were dropped by the lone Octopus, so the group swam up to the Seal that was calming down, though he was happened to be holding onto a key of some kind, but they decided to see what he had to say to him before they started to hunt down all of the gems that were scattered throughout the area they were in.
"My plan worked like a charm! That Octopus had no idea that I took the jail key from him while he was busy shaking me for the last minute or two!" the Seal said, where he swam up the tunnel that was above them and unlocked the barred opening, freeing the Seals that had been taken prisoner by the Rhynocs, before handing over the key so the other side of the passage could be opened, before the siblings and Elora noticed that the exit portal was nearby and that it turned on once the Seal returned to where they were swimming, "Oh, before I forget, one of the Rhynocs had this egg in his lunch box, one that seemed to big for him to have anyway, so you guys can have it."
Ember frowned for a moment as she heard that, wondering why a Rhynoc would even have a dragon egg, as that was the egg the Seal produced for them to take, in a lunch box, but Spike made sure that the egg was fine and that no damage had been done to it, given what they just learned, before sending it to the Dragon Realms, which was followed by them turning around to collect all of the gems that were scattered throughout the area they were in. There were quite a number of gems and glass vases in the area, not to mention a few gems that rested in the passage that the Seals had been trapped in since their arrival, so it took them a few minutes to clear out the area of all the gems and everything breakable, and the moment that happened they headed towards the passage that brought them to this area and jumped out of the water so they could head somewhere else. The first portal that they headed for was the one that was the one that was connected to Sheila's realm and wherever else it was connected to, because they were curious as to what else was going on in Seashell Shore and if there was anything they could do to help Sheila out, just like they had done back in Sunny Villa, while hoping that it wouldn't be limited to her and Elora this time around. Thanks to the fact that all of the enemies had been taken out, and there were no more gems for them to pick up, the group was able to reach the portal in question and headed through it without wasting any time, so they could see what was on the other side and offer their friend their assistance, before even attempting to see what the other two portals had in store for them.
On the other side of the portal they found Sheila standing near one of the walls, just like they had seen earlier, when they were heading to her realm and the section of Sunny Villa that she was visiting to save the tower, though it was a few moments before she noticed that they were even there to begin with and turned to face them, once more with a smile on her face as she did so.
"Oh, hey guys, its good to see all of you again." Sheila said, her tone revealing that she was definitely happy to see all four of them again, even though she might be hoping that it was under better conditions or something, before she took a second to glance back at the opening that was behind her, no doubt thinking about the reason she had come to this realm in the first place, "I heard that some of my Seal friends are planning on taking down a Rhynoc fortress, and I'm on my way to lend them a foot, both because its the right thing to do and that i do enjoy fighting the various Rhynoc that are sent to the various realms."
"Maybe we can help you this time," Spyro commented, because the last two times they had tried to help Sheila it was only Elora that had been able to do that, thanks to the height of the jumps that he and his siblings couldn't do right now, so he, Spike, and Ember were hoping that they could help her out this time around, even if both of his siblings were being quiet as they waited to hear what Sheila had to say.
Instead of saying anything Sheila beckoned for them to follow her and all four of them followed her through the other opening that was behind her, and it wasn't long before they discovered a passage between two wooden walls that seemed to be leading them to the area that the fortress was located in, this time without any massive jumps that only Sheila and Elora could do, meaning all five of them could progress through the area. As they moved forward they discovered that there were two wooden platforms that needed to be traversed so they could reach the other bit of ground, and that the other side of the area had a circular shaped object that looked like a turret of some kind, one that loosed a cannonball at them when they got close to the area it was in. Ember hardened her body and jumped towards the projectile, where she struck the cannonball with her tail and sent it right back at the turret it came from, smashing the entire thing to pieces in a matter of seconds, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Elora to pick up the couple of gems that had been on the platforms, while Sheila stood there with a look of shock on her face, as she wasn't expecting that to happen at all. With that done Spyro took a step forward and charged into the Scuba Rhynoc that was in front of them as Spike smashed the crate that was to the right of their foe, before Sheila and Elora jumped up into the cavern that was to their left and found a passage that brought them to a dragon egg and a circular metallic chest, where Elora collected the egg as Sheila smashed the chest so Talon, who followed them up there, could collect the gems.
Spike took a moment to look over the egg when the pair returned, where he found that there was nothing wrong with it and then sent it back to the Dragon Realms, allowing them to progress forward and found three Seals standing next to a pair of straw baskets, though what was both interesting and worrying was that two of them happened to be carrying a box of explosives in their hands, meaning that they were going to blow up the fortress that was in the area beyond them, one that definitely had some defenses they would have to worry about.
"Hi Sheila, and friends. The Rhynocs built this fortress on our beach sometime ago," the explosionless Seal told them, where he beckoned to the square looking structure that was in the area behind him and his friends, giving the group a few seconds to notice that there were a number of turrets and Rhynocs that would defend the fortress before they were able to destroy the offending structure, before he turned and looked back at them, "so, since they have been attacking our realm since their arrival, we're going to blow their stupid fortress to smithereens! However, we need you and your friends to take out the turrets and open the way for us to blow the structure apart!"
"That shouldn't be too hard." Ember remarked, where she kept her Warrior's Armor up as she turned into the area that the fortress was located in, while at the same time her brothers stepped up beside her as Elora joined them, before Sheila did the same thing after a few seconds, as she was still surprised by what she was seeing, causing the Seals to raise their eyebrows for a moment, only to shrug as they fiddled with their explosives.
As the group marched forward the three turrets that were pointing in their direction loosed a cannonball towards the area they were standing in, three of them to be exact, and Spike was the first one to react as he quickly gathered his magic and loosed three powerful Arcane Missiles into the air in front of them, smashing into the cannonballs and blew all of his targets to pieces. Sheila was, once more, surprised by what she was seeing at the moment, but that didn't stop her from rushing forward and jumping to the highest area she could reach, where she struck down the Rhynoc that was up there as Elora found a way up there and punched another one in the face, showing the siblings that she and Sheila would take care of the enemies that were above the turrets. Ember was just fine with that as she rushed forward and struck the turret that was in front of her, smashing it to pieces in a matter of seconds, as Spyro rushed forward and charged into the weakened turrets that Spike struck with his magic, and it wasn't long before Sheila jumped into the air and rushed down to smash a few of them as well. Elora, out of the corner of her eye, noticed that the Seals that were watching them, to see what they were doing, where surprised by what they were seeing at the moment, as in they were surprised by the fact that the five of them were tearing down the defenses that the Rhynocs had set up since the fortress had been constructed, and it didn't take them long to smash all of the turrets that were around the fortress and take down all of the Rhynocs that were guarding the area.
With all of that done, and they were sure that there weren't any defenses or enemies they had missed, the group took a moment to regroup near the area that the Seals were in and watched as they rushed forward and headed through the now opened front door, where they watched as the explosives were placed and the Seals, except for one, rushed out as the entire fortress exploded... revealing that the Seal that had remained inside had survived, interestingly enough, and he simply waited for the five of them to approach him.
"Wow, I can't believe that I survived that explosion! And the egg I found is safe as well!" the Seal exclaimed, showing that he was excited by what he had just witnessed, before he pulled out the egg that he had found and revealed that it was one of the missing dragon eggs, something that he placed in front of them and hopped over to the area that both of his friends were waiting in, leaving the group to their devices.
With the fortress taken out, and all of the Rhynocs had been defeated as well, the group quickly picked up all of the scattered gems that were laying around the area, as well as smashing the straw baskets that they had ignored earlier, but once that was done they found there was nothing else they really needed to do in this section of Seashell Shore, so they headed back to the portal and bid Sheila farewell, allowing her to relax or do whatever they wanted as they started to make their way to the next portal they planned on heading through. It didn't take the four of them that long to return to the main part of the realm, outside the portal that had allowed them to meet up with Sheila, before they headed back over to the area that the path that would take them to the exit portal was located in, as they could either head through the portal in the side of the cavern wall or head through the hole in the ceiling and see what was up there. Spyro took a couple of seconds to think about little they knew about the two areas, before heading through the portal that was in the side of the cavern, so they could see what was on the other side and find the eggs that were resting somewhere in that section of this realm, based on what they had seen so far. What the group quickly discovered, as soon as they appeared on the other side of the portal, was that the four of them were at the start of what looked like a passage or tunnel that only had a single path and nothing else, and there just so happened to be a Seal swimming in front of them, to which they swam up to him to see what was going on this time around.
"Oh, hello. I heard you guys were looking for dragon eggs, and I used to have one, but, well," the Seal said, to which he beckoned to the tunnel that was behind him for a moment, causing the group to look at it for a second, as they had no idea what it was, other than a passage that would take them somewhere else, before they glanced back to the Seal as he started to tell them something else about the situation, "I decided to use it to test our ultra-high-speed-super-fluidity tunnel... the good news is that it made it to the end of the tunnel, without a scratch I might add, but the bad news is that there is no way to get it back now... not without swimming down the tunnel and reaching the end anyway."
Ember raised her eyebrow for a moment before swimming up to the opening that was behind the Seal, where she made sure to harden her entire body before rushing forward, leaving her brothers and Elora behind to hold down the fort for a time, as she was going to tackle the challenge that was being presented to them and, as she started to swim down the tunnel, she was going to smash all of the Rhynocs that might be in her way. There were also mines in the tunnel, which was rather interesting and didn't do anything to her thanks to her Warrior's Armor being active, so she focused on using the current to direct her as she smashed into all of the Scuba Rhynocs that were hanging out in the tunnel, who weren't even bothered by the stream at all. Ember found that none of her enemies even attempting to attack her, rather they were surprised that she was even there as she crashed into each of them, clearing the way forward as she kept an eye out for the missing egg that the Seal had sent down the tunnel, as she wanted to claim that and then get out of here before she yelled at the Seal for doing that to one of their eggs. She was sure that Spyro was likely having some words with the Seal while she was doing this, or maybe Spike was the one doing that, so she focused her mind on her task and not on what her siblings or Elora might be doing at the moment, even though none of the mines really slowed her down and none of the enemies even hindered her process. Interesting enough it didn't take her all that long to reach the end of the tunnel and locate the missing egg that had been sent down this way, where she landed near it and noticed that it was perfectly fine, just like the Seal had informed them, to which she picked it up and found that the stream seemed to stop, allowing her to make her way back to her siblings and Elora without having to worry about any obstacles.
When she arrived at the start of the area, and the door closed behind her once she was through it, she presented the egg to Spike and the others, allowing her brother to glance at the egg for a moment before using her Teleportation Breath to send it to the Dragon Realms, while the Seal made a comment about submarines needing to be egg-shaped, to which the four of them rolled their heads and headed back through the portal that was near them. Once they were on the other side of the portal, and were back in the end area of the realm, before they headed up through the opening in the ceiling and found a path of ground that circled around the enclosed area that was up there, where they picked up a couple of gems after pulling themselves out of the water. The moment all of the gems were picked up the group headed for the big opening that contained another portal, one that would allow them to head to a third section of this realm, to which they walked through it and waited to see what the new area they found was like, and what they needed to do to find the sixth and final egg that had to be resting in this realm. It didn't take them long to arrive in the other section that this realm had, nor did it take them long to spot a Seal that was standing near the edge of the walkway that they were on, and there was a vehicle of some kind resting behind him, one that looked like something that someone could sit on and use the controls to ride around the rest of the area.
"Boy am I glad that you guys are here, because we were challenged to a naval battle by Bluto the Rhynoc," the Seal told them, where he gestured to the vehicle that was near him for a moment, indicating that it wasn't going to be used to ride around the area and collect things, rather it was going to be used to do battle with someone that was a member of the forces that were currently attacking this realm, even if they had taken care of the majority of their enemies, "its our speed boat versus his nuclear submarine, an incredibly powerful piece of machinery... if we win, and beat him, we'll get the dragon egg that he's guarding, but if he wins we have to submit to the Sorceress, and none of us want that."
Spyro frowned when he heard that, and he could tell that Spike, Ember, and Elora were annoyed by what they were just told, before he hopped onto the speed boat and stared at the controls for a moment, where he gripped them and had the vehicle move forward, as he was going to break whoever Bluto was and put an end to the Sorceress' attempts to take over this realm. His siblings and Elora followed after him, jumping on the bits of earth that he had to drive by and quickly took down the pair of Scuba Rhynocs that were standing in Spyro's way, by charging them into the ground, as it appeared that Bluto was going to cheat to get what he wanted, something that wasn't going to happen while they were around. As such they allowed Spyro to enter the area that his foe was waiting in, where they found a mechanical shark that seemed to be the submarine that Bluto was controlling, but, as it turned out, both of them had to collect crates of ammunition that were dropped into the pool that they would be fighting in, and when either of them did that they could turn around and fire a missile at their foe, where Spyro decided not to do that immediately as he drove around the area and smashed all of the crates that he could get his claws on, robbing Bluto of the ammunition that rested inside them, even though he was sure that his foe had a few missiles in stock already, instead of starting with nothing. Spyro found that he was right in the next couple of seconds, as Bluto fired a missile at him without picking up any crates, so he turned around and fired one of his own missiles at the incoming attack, cancelling it out, before loosing another one that struck the side of the submarine that his foe was using.
Bluto, interestingly enough, had to pause every now and them to repair some part of his submarine, something that Spyro took advantage of and blasted the shark submarine over and over again, before eventually causing it to blow up and caused his foe to land nearby with a sad look on his face, even though he did remain true to his word and delivered an egg to Spyro, which was the last dragon egg that had to be inside this realm. With that done he let Spike, Ember, and Elora take a moment to explore the area and locate the rest of the scattered gems that rested in this realm, which included a number of glass vases and straw baskets that were around this area, before eventually coming back together as they discovered that all of the gems had been collected. From there Spyro returned the speed boat to the Seal as he regrouped with the rest of the group, where they found that the Seal was amazed by what they had been able to do, since this was apparently the first time Bluto had been bested in battle, before they bid the Seal farewell and headed through the portal that was near him, so they could return to the area the exit portal was located in. Once they returned to that part of the realm they made sure that there were no more gems scattered around the rest of the realm, something that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder confirmed after buzzing around for a few moments, indicating that they had collected everything that could be found in Seashell Shore, be they eggs or gems.
With that done Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora headed through the exit portal that would take them back to Sunrise Spring, as it was time for them to see what the tower portal had to offer them and then, once they were done with that area, they could focus on the hot air balloon and see what the rest of the Forgotten Realms had to offer them as they restored order to the realms the Sorceress was currently attacking.
With Seashell Shore assisted, and their Rhynoc problem had been taken care of, the siblings and Elora returned to Sunrise Spring and found that the Seal that had gone through the exit portal earlier was waiting for them for some strange reason, where he informed them that he was going to be standing by the hot air balloon with the couple of residents from the other realms they had assisted so far. That informed the group that all of their hard work was actually paying off, that Sheila and the others would be bringing down the hot air balloon for them, so they wouldn't have to worry about figuring out how to get the vehicle down to the floor, but instead of following the Seal over to the castle in question, and moving forward to the next homeworld, they headed to another area. Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora were interested in what was on the other side of the tower's portal, hence the reason that they jumped over to the steps that would lead up there and started walking once they landed, only to find that the door that had been on it earlier, when Spyro had investigated the area, was gone and that there was definitely a portal waiting for them to use it. Interestingly enough they discovered that the name of the area they would be heading towards was Mushroom Speedway, meaning that the homeworlds of the Forgotten Realms had a Flight Realm as well, just like the Dragon Realms and Avalar did.
As such the four of them went through the portal and made their way to the small island that it would lead them to, as they were sure that was what they would discover once they arrived at their destination, especially since that was what the rest of the Flight Realms the siblings had been in were like, small islands that were near the actual homeworld, but they knew that time would reveal if they were right or not.
When they arrived at their destination they discovered that the island in question was smaller than what they were expecting it to be, there was a collapsed tree trunk to their left, and there were a number of large mushrooms scattered around the area that they were now in, be it near them or off in the distance, meaning that the name of the Speedway was living up to its name. It basically looked like they were ants in a grassy area of some kind, since they were smaller than the dandelion that was in front of them, which was rather interesting when they thought about it and glanced around to look at the rest of the area, finding that all of them were smaller than everything that was in this realm, meaning that all of it had grown to their current sizes, either because that was normal or because someone modified the realm. As they stood there, however, Sparx, Talon, and Cinder flew off and went to look around the area in question, as the difference between this Flight Realm and all of the others was that none of the siblings were already flying around the realm and that they were actually standing on the ground, meaning that there had to be some sort of decision that needed to be made before they started looking for the items that needed to be tapped for the flight challenge. It wasn't hard for Spike to determine that their dragonflies had flown off to find someone to talk to, since they were at the point where they could actually make sounds and actually talk, meaning that they could converse with their dragonflies like Bruno and the other Leaders had been able to do so, leading to the siblings to simply stand there as they waited for their partners to come back, before any of them even considered taking on the course they had discovered.
It didn't take the three dragonflies long to return to where the group was standing, even though the siblings did spot some decent sized butterflies flying around the realm, but once they arrived the group turned and focused on them, as all of them were interested in what they were going to be doing here and knew that the dragonflies would be able to reveal what was going on.
"According to the butterflies, there are two flying challenges in this Speedway," Sparx said, where the group heard the buzzing that was common when dragonflies talked to someone, be they dragon or something else, but, at the same time, they could also make out the words that were being said at the moment, even though they remained silent as they waited for Sparx to finish what he had to say, "one called 'Time Attack', which seems to be what you guys usually do when you first visit a Flight Realm, and 'Race the Butterflies', where one of you will have to race a couple of Butterflies and get first place to get the prize."
"So, there are two eggs, for sure, in this Flight Realm," Spike commented, because it sounded like what they had found when they did the Speedways of Avalar a year ago, even if it was just a decent number of gems and a single Orb, and he could see that his siblings seemed to be agreeing with him at the moment, "though there could be another one lurking in part of this realm... Spyro, what do you think we should do?"
"Take it one step at a time, and that means starting with the Time Attack," Spyro remarked, though his decision was based on the fact that he was thinking it was the same as the previous Flight Realms they had taken on, where they would have to take down four sets of targets and collect the gems that came from them, potentially even getting an egg for their efforts as well, "then one of us can race the Butterflies for the other egg."
"Well, while you guys do that, I'm going to go find Hunter," Elora said, where she stepped away from the siblings for a moment and tapped one of the buttons on her bracelet, causing her wings to unfold in a matter of seconds, before she considered what she was going to do, as the Professor claimed that they were supposed to work in the Speedways, or the 'Flight Realms', as the siblings called them, but that function was untested as well, "I know for a fact that he loves these Speedways, so he's likely here somewhere, either working on his equipment or getting ready to try the challenges on his own, so while you three tackle the challenges I'll go see what Hunter's doing."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember looked at her for a moment, mostly because they could see that she was eager to test part of the wings out and that they were ready to assist her if something bad happened, before Elora rushed forward and jumped into the air, like she had seen when the siblings took to the air in the Flight Realms of the Dragon Realms, just to practice their moves, all while hoping that things worked out for her. A few moments later she found herself flying through the air like the siblings had done in the past, where a smile graced her face as she noticed what was going on, and she did a few flips in the air to make sure things were working like they were supposed to, before she headed off to find Hunter, since she knew that he had to be here somewhere. As she flew around the island, getting excited by what she was able to do with the armor's wings, Elora noticed what the targets the siblings had to take down where, as there were eight rings in a curved line behind where they appeared, along with eight dandelions that seemed to form a curved path around to the back of the hollowed trunk, which was where she spotted some decent sized green colored spiders, eight of them to be exact, and then located some Butterflies flying around a mushroom that was in the water. It was clear that those weren't the ones that were taking part in the race, as they didn't seem to care about the siblings all that much, but while all three of them started with the rings they separated from each other once that was done, with Spyro following the dandelions, Spike turning to head for the spiders, and Ember focused on the Butterflies that were near the mushroom, showing Elora just how skilled they were while they flew around the island.
In fact, after watching them for a minute or two, Elora landed on top of part of the hollowed tree trunk and watched as the siblings landed near the starting area for this island, where the Butterflies delivered an egg to them, but instead of sending it off to the Dragon Realms, like they usually did, Spike and Ember stood off to the side with the new egg as Spyro challenged the Butterflies to a race for the other one, even though Spike also counted the gems that they recovered from taking out the targets of the challenge they just completed. Not even a few seconds later an entire race track, formed from a number of green rings and red dots, where the dots seemed to indicate the path a racer had to follow, appeared all over the island, meaning that Spyro would have to fly over the entire area and race the couple of Butterflies, who flew over to where the starting line was located so he could join them. Elora watched as he followed them towards the starting line and noticed that the five Butterflies were spaced out to indicate who was in first place and who was in the other places, while Spyro was, of course, in last place to start with, and it wasn't long before the race officially started and the six racers took off rather quickly as they followed the course that was in front of them. What she discovered was that there were also a couple of blue stars shaped rings, with five points to be exact, that actually served as boosts that allowed someone to go faster for a short period of time, not enough to really give Spyro an edge, but, despite that fact, it was clear that he was able to remain near the closest Butterfly that was in front of him and it wasn't long before he actually overcame the first one and started to follow after the next one.
Elora found that Spyro's speed and grace while flying was something that Spike and Ember hadn't been exaggerating about when they told her about it, as he was able to overtake the next couple of Butterflies by the time he reached the third and final lap, meaning that it was between him and the leader, and it wasn't long before he was able to overcome the last Butterfly that he had to pass and managed to fly through the final ring while being in first place, where he gained a second egg as his reward... though once that was done Elora continued flying before finding Hunter at the base of one of the large mushrooms, one that was hollowed at the base.
"There you are, Hunter, I've been looking for you." Elora said, though at the same time she noticed the vehicle that was behind her friend, which happened to be his plane that had been modified since the last time Spyro and his siblings had seen it, as this time it was orange colored and its wingspan was longer than it had been a year ago, but even as she saw it she wasn't going to ask how he had gotten it to the Forgotten Realms, as she had the feeling that the Professor might have helped him do this in some manner.
"Oh, hey Elora, I see you're breaking in your wings... as odd as that sounds." Hunter remarked, revealing that he was still caught off guard by the fact that his friend even had such a thing, even if it was supposed to help her traverse all of the realms and homeworlds that she and the siblings explored, before he finished what he was doing and closed the lid on his plane's engine area so he could turn and look at her again, "I figured that, while you, Spyro, Spike, and Ember were busy with the other realms, that I would take a small break and take my new and improved plane out for a test drive... and, if the sensor that the Professor installed is to be believed, there are a couple of flying saucers coming in with weapons ready to blast the race course to pieces."
"So you're going to take the plane out and fight the saucers that are coming?" Elora inquired, though she wasn't really surprised by what she was hearing, as Hunter had a soft spot for Speedways and didn't like it when people were trying to tear one apart, or at least attempt to damage one in some manner, despite the fact that it seemed like he was mostly doing it as an excuse to test his machine out, instead of looking for the missing eggs.
"And they might have an egg, based on the readings." Hunter stated, informing Elora that there was another reason behind what he was doing, but before he could really say anything his plane made a noise and he had to excuse himself for a moment, to which he climbed into the vehicle and started pressing buttons so he could start moving and take to the skies at long last, where Elora flew away and landed on top of the hollowed trunk.
Once she had done that, and made sure that the siblings remained still for a moment, Hunter took to the air as a few saucers flew into the area, seven of them to be exact, and this time around Hunter wasn't the only one that had a weapon to use against his foes, as the saucers loosed balls of energy that would likely stall his plane and cause him to crash if he was unlucky, though the siblings and Elora weren't worried, as they knew that such a thing wouldn't happen. Hunter flew through the air and started firing at the saucers that were invading the island, rolling out of the way when he got close to one of his foes or when he had to dodge the incoming attacks from his enemies, and it wasn't long before the first one exploded before their eyes, showing them that Hunter was ready for combat. He even added a few tricks in, which Elora knew was to make sure the plane worked as it was supposed to, and the first one he did was right after blasting the next opponent he was tracking down, as the moment that foe was blown up he did a quick turn of some kind, like he was doing a backflip, and came up behind the other foe that had been following him, so he blew it up from behind before heading out to find the other enemies he needed to take out. While that was going on Elora quickly flew over to where the siblings were waiting, where Spyro had to admit that Hunter was doing a good job at dealing with the saucers that were trying to take him down, and it wasn't long before another saucer was blown out of the sky, leaving three more for him to blast out of the sky as he outmaneuvered them in seconds.
As such it wasn't long before the remaining enemies were blown out of the sky and he freed an egg from the saucers, one that Elora grabbed onto as soon as she noticed it, even if that required her flying out to do that, before she returned it to the siblings as Hunter flew off to make sure his plane was just fine, only for Spike to determine all three eggs were just fine and sent them to the Dragon Realms. Once that was done the siblings took to the air and headed for the edge of the realm they were in, where they did wait for a second as Elora followed after them, though she knew that once they made it to the area that they were heading for they would disappear from the island and would reappear in Sunrise Spring, which the siblings had told her about during their rest after saving Avalar and stopping the war. She was also sure that Hunter would find his own way back, once he was done fiddling with his plane, but for now her focus was on following the siblings, returning to the homeworld that was pretty much cleared out at this point, save for a section of Molten Crater and the odd sign that Zoe had left earlier, and then seeing where the hot air balloon would take them to the next homeworld, which would allow them to repeat the same thing in a brand new environment. The siblings were also ready to see what the next homeworld had to throw at them, especially the realms that they would find once they got there, something that Spike could look up thanks to the Guidebook he had picked up earlier, though they were sure that the realms were under attack by the Sorceress, just like the ones they had just finished assisting.
It didn't take them long to return to Sunrise Spring, where they landed in front of the tower that contained the portal to the Speedway, so what they did was turn around and glide down to the castle's entrance, though as they did that, and Elora made sure to put her wings away so they could all fit in the large basket, Sheila and the others quickly pulled the hot air balloon down and let go of the ropes, allowing the basket to touch the ground.
"Hey guys, this balloon will take you to a homeworld that is closer to the Sorceress' base of operations, though it will take about an hour to get there," Sheila said, informing the group as to what they were going to be doing for the next hour or so, which was just fine with them since it would give them a chance to rest from everything they had done so far since they started their quest to find and recover all of the stolen dragon eggs, "and you can use it to come back here whenever you want to, just in case you left something important behind."
"Well, that's good to know. Thanks for the tip." Spyro replied, because it was nice to know that they could always use the hot air balloon to return to this homeworld, since there was still that portion of Molten Crater and Zoe's sign that they needed to look into at some point in the future, before he turned towards the others for a moment and beckoned with his head for a moment, giving the sign that they were waiting for.
It took Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora a few moments to climb into the basket and get themselves comfortable, even if they were rather surprised by the fact that the entire thing was large enough for four people to sit in, as if someone in the Forgotten Realms had known they were coming ahead of time and had created one that had enough room for all of them, but once they were inside the basket, and were ready to go, they discovered that it responded to magic and Spike made sure it knew that they were heading to the next homeworld, which was when they headed through the ceiling and started the journey to the next land they were going to explore.
As it turned out there wasn't much for the group to look at as they traveled from Sunrise Spring and headed to whatever the next homeworld was, a place called Midday Gardens according to the Guidebook, so they spent the majority of their time just resting and recovering from what they had done in the couple of realms they had helped out so far, that way they could tackle all of the new realms at one hundred percent. Spyro wasn't all that surprised that the trek from the first homeworld to the second was nearly the same amount of time as what he and his siblings had to do in the Dragon Realms when they wanted to travel from their home to the next homeworld, and the reason behind that was because the ancient dragons had used to live here, so it made sense that they would try to have everything be sort of similar to what they were used to, with some slight alterations. Ember, on the other claw, said nothing as she recovered from using the Warrior's Armor so many times, because even though she could use it for a long period of time without rest, thanks to the intense training she went through, it was nice to have a moment to regain her power in some manner, and the other reason she was keeping quiet was so she didn't interrupt what Spike was doing. Elora looked out at the area around them and found that it didn't take them all that long to leave Sunrise Spring behind, though what was interesting was that there were a number of stone platforms and steps that could be used to allow someone to follow after them if they had enough skill to do something like that, and she was sure that some of them were molten rocks that were cooling off.
In fact there were more molten rocks appearing in the area in front of them, following the same path that the hot air balloon was following, to which the siblings stopped what they were doing and glanced at the area that happened to be in front of them, and it wasn't long before they discovered a brand new molten area that reminded them of Molten Crater, as the area in front of them had a ring of tall mountains that stopped the lava from pouring out into the rest of the sea that was near Sunrise Spring. That was before they found a number of somewhat tall molten rocks, which were about a quarter of the height of the mountains, scattered all over the area that was below them, causing the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they looked at the area the hot air balloon happened to be moving through, though they were all curious if another realm was in the process of being made, just like Molten Crater. That was before they found what seemed to be the middle of the area, as there was a tall mountain, taller than the various mountains that formed the ring, that was spewing lava out into the rest of the area, while an odd circular ring rested in the area that was right in front of it, one that seemed to be made out of lava resistant stone and metal, and on the other side of the ring, lined up with the large mountain, was an odd structure that looked like something from Sunrise Spring, or Sunny Villa to be exact. Spike had the thought that someone was in the middle of studying the lava filled area for some reason, maybe to keep track of what it was doing and how it changed as the weeks and months went by, but right now it didn't seem like anyone was in this area, most likely due to what the Sorceress was doing to the Forgotten Realms.
Of course that was before they spotted something interesting, there was a huge green colored spherical shaped beast standing near the edge of the circular ring, with decent sized legs, small arms, a powerful looking tail, and a yellow pattern on the front of its chest, chin, arms, and legs, that came complete with small spikes on its back, but when they saw Sheila standing down there, near the other edge of the ring, Spike manipulated the hot air balloon and made it land near their new friend, so they could get out and see what was going on, while making sure it would retreat to a safe distance in case this was a boss encounter.
"Hey guys, I'm glad I could catch up with you." Sheila stated, where the group could tell that she was a little winded from having to run and jump over the molten rocks that had allowed her to reach this area in the first place, just to catch up to them in the first place, even though Spike knew they must have been traveling for about thirty minutes, since this area seemed to be resting between Sunrise Spring and Midday Gardens, "I forgot to mention something before you guys left with the hot air balloon, and that was the fact that the Sorceress was planning on ambushing you at some point, as she loves to use that tactic against those that oppose her, especially against the more troublesome individuals, because that's how she captured me and three others that you'll likely meet in the other homeworlds. Anyway, once I recalled that bit of information, I left Sunrise Spring and came here, since this seemed to be the best place to place an ambush between my home and the next homeworld, and I'm glad that I managed to catch up with you guys, since she totally had something ready to attack you guys. No worries, though, as this wussy green toad won't be a match for two of us, much less all five of us at the same time... and there's a chance that this toad has one of the eggs you're looking for."
"Well, that explains why she thought an ambush would work on us," Spyro remarked, because using the eggs to lure them into an ambush or a trap was a rather smart idea, even though this one totally failed and there was no way it would work on them this time around, to which the four of them faced the toad that was in front of them as Sheila joined them, showing their foe that the five of them were ready for whatever attacks it had up its sleeves, "come on, let's show the Sorceress that we're not to be underestimated."
As the others nodded their heads Ember rushed forward and charged right into the center of the creature's chest, an action that knocked it backwards and sent it closer to the edge of the arena that they were fighting on, almost like she had hit a balloon of some kind, but as the creature stared at her, with a look in its eyes that indicated that it was going to attack her, a couple of Arcane Missiles flew through the air and struck the creature again. Not a few seconds later the creature fell into the lava that was behind it and Sheila found an opening that she could exploit, as she got near the edge of the ring and jumped into the air, where she spun around and stomped on their foe's head for a moment, something that allowed her to bounce back to the arena as the creature was pushed under the lava for a few seconds. That was followed by their foe bursting out of the lava and touching down on the arena floor, where it spun around and started to move after one of them, where it seemed to be heading for Elora, who grinned for a moment as she jumped backwards as Ember, having activated her Warrior's Armor over her entire body, swapped places with her and stood her ground, allowing her to stall the creature in its tracks, surprising it in the process. While it was stunned, and Ember caused it to stop spinning after a few more seconds, Elora jumped up and kicked the creature in the face with the side of her leg, knocking it backwards like the others had done, allowing Spyro to repeat the process by charging into their foe's chest and pushed it even further back than it had been a few moments ago, before Elora rushed forward and kicked it in the face again so it would fly off into the lava again, which was Sheila's cue to hit it again.
This time around, when the creature rolled after one of them, Spike stood his ground and summoned a barrier that quickly stopped it in its tracks, where he determined that their foe was designed to scare them away from the Forgotten Realms, just like Bianca had done earlier, and wondered if this was something that Bianca had made, but pushed the idea to the side as Spyro pushed their foe backwards with a charge to the chest. What was surprising was that the creature, as it jumped to the side, summoned a ring of fire around it and it seemed to chuckle for a moment, as if it felt that none of them would be able to do anything about it, before they proved it wrong a few seconds later thanks to Ember, as she rushed forward with her Warrior's Armor up and passed through the flames without being hurt. The charge pushed their foe even further back, forcing it closer and closer to the edge of the ring they were fighting on, and when it jumped it tried the ring of flames again, only for Spike to weave his magic into the area and opened a ring for someone to jump through, bypassing their foe's technique entirely, which was the moment that Elora passed through it and punched the creature in the face, somehow doing enough to push it back like she had charged into it. That made Spike wonder if their foe had been designed to mimic a balloon in some manner, based on how a single hit, regardless of what the attack happened to be, had the power to knock their foe backwards, but he knew that now wasn't the time for him to be thinking about that as Spyro waited for the third ring of fire to die down before hitting the creature into the lava, allowing Sheila to jump into the air once more and smash it into the lava for a few more seconds.
The creature growled as it burst out of the lava again and started to roll around the area once more, where they found that it was targeting Ember once more and was intending on running her over again, though it hadn't learned its lesson from the first time it tried this and was stopped by rolling right into Ember's Warrior's Armor, something that allowed her to knock it backwards all over again. It was in that moment that they discovered that the creature was going to try the fire ring trick again, where it chuckled at them once more, clearly thinking that it had the upper hand in this battle, despite the fact that they were taking it down, and instead of trying anything Spyro just waited for the ring to die down before striking at their foe with a quick charge. From there the creature jumped to the side again, where the group realized that it was in the middle of attempting to make sure it wouldn't be knocked back into the lava, and created a brand new ring of flames to protect itself once more, and this time Spike simply loosed an Arcane Orb into their foe's chest and watched as it was pushed even closer to the lava once more. At that point the creature tried the ring of fire again, showing that it wasn't very bright and that it wasn't learning from what they were doing to it, but as Spike weaved his magic into the area, and created an opening for Elora to jump through so she could kick the creature in the face with the side of her leg, he did notice that some bits of Transmogrification magic lingering on their foe, meaning Bianca or the Sorceress had been behind what they were seeing at the moment.
It didn't take Sheila long to smash into their foe's head and bury it in the lava some more, just like she had done so far, though not a few moments later it burst out of the lava again and started to roll around the area once more, clearly trying to run one of them over, before eventually coming to a stop as it faced them and jumped to the side as it summoned a ring of fire. That was when it added another attack to the routine, as not a few seconds after the ring of fire was created it seemed to suck the fire into its mouth and then loosed a few fireballs at them, where Ember stood still and let the attacks hit her Warrior's Armor, shrugging them off like they were nothing, before she rushed forward and struck their foe in the chest once more, pushing it back towards the lava once more. The creature jumped to the side again and tried the same tactic on them, where this time around Spike summoned a barrier around them to prevent the fireballs from reaching him, his siblings, Elora, or Sheila, and once that was done he blasted the creature in the chest with an Arcane Orb, getting it rather close to where the lava was located, but this time around, instead of letting it jump to the side, Elora rushed forward as it landed and kicked its face again, knocking it into the lava once more. Sheila made sure to smash the creature into the depths of the lava once more, inflicting even more damage on it, despite the fact that it didn't appear that they were even slowing it down, something that caused Spike to wonder if it was time to test out the reversal spell that he had found in the tome he had been reading before this adventure started. Not a few moments later the creature burst out of the lava and tried what it had just done once more, summoning a ring of fire and then sucked up the fire to loose a group of small fireballs at them, where this time around Spike loosed a burst of Arcane Missiles to cancel out the incoming attack, which allowed Spyro, Ember, and Elora to rush forward, hitting the creature with two charges and a kick to the face, knocking it right back into the lava that was around them.
This time the group remained still as they watched what happened next, as the creature struggled in the lava for a few seconds, just like it had done before Sheila struck it, before it eventually sunk beneath the lava and disappeared, where it took Spike a few seconds to determine that it was no longer kicking, meaning they had won the fight and had defeated the ambush that the Sorceress had set for them.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Sheila stated, because the last ambush she had fought in had ended with some bad results, her being captured and caged in her own homeworld, before Ember dived into the lava, something that made her raise her eyebrow for a moment as she turned and looked at the others for a moment, "Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think dragons are immune to lava."
"Well, Spike and Ember are unique among dragons, they're immune to lava." Elora remarked, though she didn't fault Sheila for thinking that way, as for a time she had been thinking the same thing when the siblings had been called to her own home, to deal with Ripto and his minions, before discovering that they were more unique than what she and the others had originally thought, especially since this was an unusual power for them to have.
Sheila stayed silent for a moment, as she wasn't sure what to make of the situation, though that was before Ember burst out of the lava and landed nearby with the egg the creature had been carrying, where Spike took a look at it, just to make sure that nothing was wrong with it, before sending the egg off to the Dragon Realms, which was the moment that they bid Sheila farewell, who waved farewell to them as the hot air balloon came down to them, before climbing up into the basket and took off so they could reach the next homeworld and continue their quest to recover all of the remaining stolen dragon eggs.
It took the group another half an hour to reach their destination, Midday Gardens as they discovered thanks to what Spike had discovered for them, but at the very least they were able to rest and recover from the battle that they had been in after leaving Sunrise Spring, not to mention all of the realms that they had assisted since they arrived in the Forgotten Realms, which was going to happen all over again once the hot air balloon came to a stop. Spike spent some time getting some information on the homeworld that they were heading towards, while Spyro and Ember simply sat down and rested for the rest of the journey, allowing Elora to smile as she looked out at the area they were heading through and focused on the next island that they were getting closer and closer to, which they could see off in the distance. Based on what they knew Sheila had turned around and headed back to Sunrise Spring, to rest from the battle as well and then, once that was done, head out to help out another realm that they may or may not visit at some point in the future, though time would tell, especially since she had dropped something interesting, there were three more allies they might find in the near future. At the same time the group knew that Bianca was only trying to scare them off, based on what they had seen and what Spike had been able to figure out on his own, including what they discovered during the fight with the odd creature, but that only made him interested in meeting the young sorceress again.
Eventually the four of them stopped what they were doing as they drew even closer to their destination and stared out at the homeworld in question, where it seemed that there was a steadily rising brown mountain and a dense forest all over the land, making them curious as to what the realms of this land would be, before they discovered a clearing that seemed to be the area they would be exploring as they looked for the missing eggs. From what the group could tell there were a few interesting structures that were scattered around the homeworld they were heading towards, where one seemed to be a square shaped keep with an opening in the top, which had to be where the hot air balloon was heading, another was a temple of some kind, and a few different looking structures that had to be the portals to the other realms, which Spike would name as they moved through the land. All of them were interested in what the new realms would have in terms of enemies and challenges that would give them the stolen eggs, just like what they had done for the various realms they had assisted so far, as well as the fact that they were curious as to who their new ally would be, since they had to be against what the Sorceress was doing to the lands of the Forgotten Realms. Elora took a moment to make sure that her armor was at the ready, just like how Spike packed up his stuff and Ember tapped her bracers against each other for a moment, while Spyro simply stood there and shifted his scarf for a moment, knowing that things were going to get harder from this point forward, to an extent anyway.
After a few more moments the hot air balloon came to a stop above the hole in the keep's ceiling and stalled, which was when it lowered through the opening and descended towards the ground, where the group jumped out the moment it reached the floor and looked at the tile pattern that was below them, before raising their eyebrows for a second as they glanced out through the opening that served as the doorway for the keep, as the rest of the realm was rather beautiful from what they could see at the moment.
Before doing anything else the group took a moment to look at the area that was around them, where they quickly found four paintings on the walls of the keep, two to their right and two to their left, to which the four of them looked at them for a moment, because it might help them determine the races that they would be helping out in the various realms that were attached to this homeworld. The first one that they looked at was a small Panda that seemed to be about their height, with blue and white fur instead of black and white fur, and she seemed to be wearing a nice pink shirt, before moving onto the next paining that revealed a creature that walked on two legs and had a tail that seemed to have a light attached to it, a Firefly as Spike told the others, and it was wearing a blue uniform of some kind and some large glasses over its eyes, maybe protecting its eyes from some sort of light. Once they were done looking at those two they turned towards the other pair and discovered that one of them was a white furred Polar Bear that was wearing winter gear, while the other was a creature that stood on two legs, had nothing that looked like it belonged to an animal, and happened to be holding a cup of coffee with an interesting uniform on, before noticing that its ears were slightly pointed and that they were known as Purple Villagers, based on the color of their skin apparently. Based on what they discovered in Sunrise Spring, about how the residents helped them with the hot air balloon, it was possible that the residents of the new realms would do something like that as well, meaning there was another reason to be helping them out, before they smashed the three straw baskets that were in front of them and collected the gems that had been inside them.
Once that was done, and they knew that there weren't anything else for them to collect inside the keep, Spyro turned towards the opening and headed through it as his siblings and Elora followed after him, only for Spike to stop them as soon as they headed outside the keep, allowing them to see the rainbow trail appear in the air once more as Bianca came down into the area that was in front of them, and she didn't seem happy when she appeared in front of them, though they knew it was a facade to scare them.
"Okay, I have to admit that the lot of you have managed to survive much longer than what I originally thought, but this is where things will get harder," Bianca stated, where she actually seemed like she was surprised that the four of them had been able to get this far in their adventure, especially since they overcame the creature that she sent to ambush and scare them into leaving the Forgotten Realms, just like she tried to do in Sunrise Spring, but it was clear that her heart wasn't in this and that she was only following what her mentor told her to do, "none of you have the slightest idea what sort of dangers lie ahead of you, dangers that will leave you speechless when you see them."
"Technically, we do know what's ahead of us," Spike remarked, where he pulled out the Guidebook for a moment, as he had been reading it during the journey to Midday Gardens and had a good idea of what might be expecting in the new realms that they would be exploring in the near future, which was the moment that Bianca recognized the book, as she took a moment to notice her own Guidebook was missing, before he returned it to his satchel before she even tried to take it back, as they needed the book right now, "but thanks for the warning, even though we'll gladly face whatever you have to throw at us as we recover the eggs that you stole from the Dragon Realms."
"Well, I'll make my suggestion anyway," Bianca replied, her tone revealing that she wasn't happy with the fact that her missing Guidebook was in the claws of her enemies, even if it was in safe claws since Spike wasn't going to let any harm come to it, before she focused on the reason why she had come to the group in the first place, "just grab your cat friend, and whatever eggs you've found already, and head back home while you still can. I'm telling you this for your own good, because if you continue down the path you're heading down my mentor will step in and send an even stronger creature after all five of you."
The group stood there for a moment as Bianca teleported out of the area, by using her rainbow colored magic once more, though they knew that she was referring to the four of them and Hunter when she gave them that warning, but this meeting did confirm one thing in their minds and that was the fact that Bianca really didn't want to hurt them, she just wanted them to leave with the eggs they had recovered so far, along with the fact that she was trying to get them to leave before her mentor stepped in.
"Well, regardless of her warning, we've got a little over thirty eggs," Elora said, though at the same time she smiled for a moment, as she was rather happy with what she and the siblings were able to do since this adventure started, just like she knew that her friends were pleased with the progress they had made so far, especially since that was the first of four homeworlds that they had to visit, before she glanced at the others, "So, shall we start exploring this land and see what there is to see, as well as locating the gems and eggs that are here?"
"That's the plan." Spyro replied, as the first thing they were going to do was search the area that was around the keep that they had landed in, picking up the gems and any eggs that were near them, before heading out to see who their next ally is and what they needed to do to help them out, even if the very first thing they would have to do for whoever was in this homeworld was take care of Moneybags, since he was sure that the bear was somewhere in this land.
The first thing that the four of them did was smash the pair of metallic vases that were right outside the keep, before locating a circular metallic chest that was to their right, tucked away behind the edge of the keep's wall, so while Spyro took a moment to smash it Elora stared at the river that seemed to cut through the majority of the area between them and the steps that would lead to the next structure. It seemed so strange to have a river just end like that, especially since she spotted a wooden bridge, made out of planks and branches, over to the left of the keep's opening, but as she did that the others smashed some straw baskets and a couple of metallic vases, showing that she might be overthinking what she was seeing at the moment. Instead of wasting another moment she jumped into the water and found that there were a couple of gems scattered on the bottom of the ground, accompanied by a few glass vases that she tossed out of the water so one of the others could break them, before grabbing the dragon egg that she discovered and hauled it onto the surface, where she found that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were standing nearby. As such she delivered the egg to Spike, who made sure that it was just fine, like all of the other eggs they had recovered so far, before sending it off to the Dragon Realms, giving Spyro and Ember a few seconds to smash the glass vases and collect the gems that were inside it, before they headed for the cave that was near the end of the river, allowing them to smash three more metallic vases in the process.
What they discovered was that one of the portals to the couple of realms that were in this land happened to be inside the cave, not that they were surprised by such a thing in the first place, but the pillars were rather interesting in the fact that they had what appeared to be ice crystals in them, and the top of the portal was a dome, though they did have to deal with some slippery ice that rested on the ground that was between the entrance, the portal, and a side passage. Before any of them walked out into the chamber Spike noted that the name of the realm was Icy Peak, meaning it was going to be a cold environment, something for them to think about as they moved forward, as the four of them stepped onto the ice and proceeded to skate around the area that they were in, allowing them to pick up the gems that were scattered around the chamber they were in. Once all of the gems were pick up, which was rather easy to do since there weren't that many of them to begin with, Spyro lead the way over to the other passage and found that it was rather short, because there was an egg at the end of it, to which he stepped to the side and let Spike study it for a moment, before using his Teleportation Breath to send it back home, which was the moment that they headed outside the cave. From there they walked over to the area that the stairs to the next section of the gardens was in and ignored them for the moment, as the four of them were interested in the other portal that was near the bridge they had seen earlier, where Spike smashed the couple of straw baskets that were in their way, of which there were four in total, before joining the others as they headed up the stone ledges that lead up to the portal.
One thing the four of them discovered was that there were a few gems near the area they were heading towards, but the portal in question seemed to have been carved into the stone wall that was behind it and have a few small domes that were likely made of brass, but the portal itself wasn't active and there was no one from the realm for them to talk to, as Hunter was the only one standing up there and he was holding a green rock with black bumps on it.
"Hey guys, I had a feeling that I would see you here." Hunter said, though he made sure to wait for the group to smash the metallic vase that was on the steps and pick up the gems that were along the path they were following, before he took a moment to point at the red bullseye that was just above the part of the structure that held the portal itself, "I was told that if we hit that bullseye a portal to one of the other realms will open, allowing us to rescue more of the stolen eggs, so I decided to wait for you guys to arrive before I struck it, just so you could see what it looked like before I did anything, since I'd rather not interfere with Spike's notes on how part of a realm or homeworld looks before you guys start to mess with the various walls and structures."
The group nodded their heads for a moment and watched as Hunter hurled the stone at the bullseye, where the item in question shattered as soon as the stone came into contact with it and, just as they were told, the portal activated before their eyes and revealed that the realm it lead to was called Enchanted Towers, making Spike wonder if it might be a realm of magic, which would be interesting. Hunter seemed very pleased with himself, and the group felt that he should be since he was actually making an effort to help them recover the stolen eggs, before they bid him farewell for the moment, as all of them knew that they would see him at some point in the near future, and departed from the area, even though they did pick up a loose gem that was near their friend as they did that. Of course as they did that Hunter headed elsewhere, no doubt to find an area where he could relax a little or possibly test out his skateboarding skills, but the group pushed that out of their minds for now, since Hunter was likely to find an egg or two while he was doing that, before they climbed up the stairs that lead to the next level of the area, giving them a better view of the level that they were heading to. In that moment they discovered that the temple was definitely square shaped and seemed to be resting in the middle of a stone ring that had high walls, cutting off the area that was the center of the homeworld from the rest of the island, but that was common when they thought about it, as the Dragon Realms had areas like this. From there they headed to the right and started to pick up the gems that were on the ground, along with smashing a few straw baskets as well, before locating two things of interest, one being a large circular metallic chest that required a Superflame Gate for them to break it, while the other was an egg thief that was right behind the temple.
This time around Ember didn't growl or attempt to run down the egg thief, as Spike summoned some magic walls that blocked their foe in and let Spyro charge into him, allowing Ember to focus on smashing the metallic chest that was near them and let Elora collect the gems that were resting inside it, before Spike sent the egg off and they climbed up the steps to the center of the temple... where they found Moneybags standing next to another cage, this one resting in front of a portal that reminded them of what was in Molten Crater, where a blue penguin was standing with an army hat on his head and a belt around his waist, and something else on his back.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora, its good to see you again." Moneybags remarked, even though the group knew that he had to be exaggerating about that, because every time they had encountered each other had ended in him being hurt in some manner, all because he wouldn't accept the fact that trying to stall their progress through an area was a bad thing, especially when there were dragon eggs involved, before he gestured over to the penguin, "The Sorceress caught this naughty bird letting off rockets in her fireworks factory, not to mention blowing up a number of crates that were being made ready for a festival and putting several of her employees in the hospital, a very serious crime if you ask me... but, if you were willing to pay his rather large and outstanding fines, I might be willing to look the other way and release him into your custody."
"I have done nothing wrong! The Sorceress was creating weapons to level an entire realm, so I destroyed them before any of them were completed!" the bird stated, his tone implying that he couldn't believe that the bear was even saying this about him, where the group determined that he had to be telling the truth, because he really didn't seem to be the type that would lie about something like this, before he glanced at the group for a few seconds and took in the fact that three of them were dragons, which caused him to pause.
"The Sorceress has issued her decree, and you're a criminal to the known realms, just like Sheila and the others that have been captured so far," Moneybags replied, showing that he didn't care about what the bird said, or for the bird at all, and that he was only interested in claiming the gems that the siblings and Elora had recovered since they started exploring the Forgotten Realms, which they weren't giving him, before he seemed to think about something else, "just think, none of this would have happened if you just accepted her rule over these lands and helped her out with her plans... I'm sure she would have rewarded you graciously for your efforts, maybe she would have given you a realm to rule over in her name, and you squandered the chance without thinking about it."
"Moneybags... let him go." Spyro said, though while he knew that Ember would be angry at the bear, Elora would be annoyed with him, and Spike would be thinking about how to unlock the cage with his magic, he focused on the bear and nothing else for a few moments, where Moneybags turned and glanced at him, the look in his eyes showing that he was getting ready to say something about the fee.
As soon as he heard that Moneybags growled and turned towards Spyro, where he felt the power of his gaze fall upon him in a matter of seconds, forcing him to shake for a moment, as the power behind the gaze was powerful and not what he was even expecting from the leader of the group, and the look in his eyes told Moneybags that he was serious, that he wanted him to free the bird from his cell... though after a few moments of sweating, by staring at the powerful gaze that was in front of him, Moneybags faltered for a moment and hung his head in defeat, before extending a hand as he undid the cage and freed the bird from his cell, who flew over and landed in front of Spyro.
"Sgt. James Byrd, 90068, awaiting orders, sir." the penguin, Sgt. Byrd as he called himself, said, where he even took a moment to salute Spyro the instant he stopped talking, showing that he instantly knew that Spyro was the leader of the group and that he was the one he should be reporting to, informing the group that he was definitely part of a military and that his training had come out while he was talking.
"At ease, soldier... though you might want to find your commanding officer for your orders." Spyro replied, which was the moment that Ember raised her eyebrow for a moment, because she was a little surprised by the fact that Spyro even knew what to say in this situation, before determining that he must have either picked it up due to listening to the Peace Keepers that were training her, which was the most likely, or it was his nature as a natural born leader that was shining at the moment, something that even Spike and Elora noticed as well.
"What are those on your back?" Elora asked, because the item that was on Byrd's back looked like a jet pack of some kind, or at the very least some sort of missile system that she wasn't familiar with, and she could see that the siblings were interested in what she was talking about at the moment, even if Ember was keeping an eye on Moneybags, just to make sure he didn't run away from the area they were in.
"These are the latest military hardware, DBX9 Rocket Launchers, state of the art." Sgt. Byrd answered, where he took a moment to turn around so the group could see what them a little better, which was when they shifted for a few seconds and gave them an understanding as to how the missiles moved, though he was mostly doing this since it was clear that his new allies were interested in his weapons.
"So why didn't you use them to destroy the cage and escape?" Ember inquired, because that was the part that was bothering her at the moment, that if the rocket launchers were as great as Sgt. Byrd claimed they were, since he claimed that they were 'state of the art', why didn't he use the missiles to blast his way out of the cage and fly off before someone tried to stop him, something that the others considered as well.
"Because these were my last two missiles and I wanted to conserve them," Sgt. Byrd replied, showing the group that he had been keeping his rockets around for a specific reason and that was the reason behind why he didn't use them to blow up the cage he had been trapped in, though it was in that moment that his gaze turned serious as he quickly turned and stared at Moneybags for a moment, "FOR THIS!"
It was in that moment that the group discovered what he was doing, just as Moneybags wrapped his arms around the sack he carried around with him, before Sgt. Byrd blasted him with both of the missiles that he had and they watched as the bear was struck right in the chest, sending him flying off into the distance, reminding them of what happened back in Sunrise Spring when Sheila struck him.
"Now I feel better." Sgt. Byrd said, his tone revealing that he didn't like the bear at all, which was understandable given what they had seen since they arrived in this homeworld and what they had learned from what Moneybags had said after walking up to where the cage had been located, a cage that no longer existed since it disappeared earlier, which was when he calmed down and glanced at them for a moment, "If you don't mind me asking, where did you dragons come from? We were told that all of you perished a thousand years ago, or left us, or whatever you choose to believe since there are quite a few rumors on why you guys left these lands."
"Actually, based on what we've learned, none of your rumors are true, rather the truth of the matter is that all of the dragons that called these lands home were banished by the Sorceress," Spike replied, referring to the information he had read about in the past, when he first discovered a reference to the Forgotten Realms in one of the tomes or scrolls that were in Dark Hollow's library, and combined what he knew with what the residents of the lands had told them so far, all to discover the truth and deliver it to those that talked to them, just to show them how terrible the Sorceress was, even if she seemed to be doing a fine job of that on her own.
"Well, that's interesting to know." Sgt. Byrd said, because while there were a decent amount of rumors as to why the dragons disappeared from the lands a thousand years ago, be it of their own desire to leave, or because they died, or for some other reason, it was rather interesting to see that the rumor about the Sorceress being the reason behind the mess they were in was the one that was the correct one, before he focused on the portal that was behind him, "Anyway, I need to head back to my home realm and get back to work, as I have the feeling that I'll be busy blowing up Rhynocs for the foreseeable future, since the Sorceress doesn't like armies rising to resist her."
The siblings and Elora bid Sgt. Byrd farewell for now, even though they would be entering his realm first to see what they could do to assist him in cleaning up the mess the Sorceress was making at the moment, and let him fly through the portal that was resting behind him, before Ember sighed for a second and glanced at the area that Moneybags had been standing in earlier, almost as if she disliked the fact that she lost another chance to hit the bear.
"Spyro, did you use Conqueror's Spirit on him?" Elora asked, referring to how Spyro had stared down Moneybags and was able to get him to silently accept what the dragons were telling him to do, since that reminded her of what happened during the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, hence the reason why she was even asking if he had used the ability on Moneybags, something that interested Spike and Ember as well.
"No, I didn't use it at all... it would have been a waste of its power." Spyro replied, because while he had gone through all of that training to use his ability, just like how Ember had trained to use Warrior's Armor and Spike had done the same to understand Sage's Vision, he wasn't about to go out of his way and waste it on someone like Moneybags, who just so happened to be working for the Sorceress, so the less they revealed to the bear the less their true foe would know when it came time for them to face her, before he shook his head, "Anyway, its time that we finished exploring the rest of Midday Gardens, not to mention picking up all of the gems and eggs that are scattered around this land."
With Moneybags dealt with, and Sgt. Byrd freed from his cage, the group quickly picked up the gems that were around the steps that lead up to the portal that lead to the realm that their new ally called home, before leaving the area and took a moment to look at the backside of the temple, where they discovered four metallic vases that Ember smashed so their dragonflies could pick up the gems that fell to the ground. Once that was done they finished picking up the rest of the gems that were around the temple and then headed over to the next area that was to the left of the structure, if one was looking at it from the front, where they found another wooden bridge, a small river that was below it, and a structure that appeared to be a tree house, like what was in the Beast Makers homeworld, minus the swamp nature. Standing near the base of the structure was Hunter, though it didn't take them long to determine that there was a portal inside the opening of the tree house, to a realm called Spooky Swamp, making the siblings and Elora wonder what could cause the residents to name their realm that way, even if Spike could be able to figure out something if he pulled out the Guidebook, and they found a ladder that reminded them of what they found in Avalar a year ago. Ember slipped into the water for a moment and smashed a few glass vases that were in the small river, which they discovered was cut off from the area that the main source of water was in, along with a number of gems before she joined the group on the bridge, which was the moment that they approached Hunter, just to see what he had to tell them.
What they discovered was that all Hunter had to say was a reminder of how they could climb up ladders, something the siblings really didn't need since they had made sure to practice their skills, nor did Elora since she was used to jumping over certain things that got in her way, so in the end there was nothing new for them to learn, so Ember smashed one of the bullseye chests that was nearby and picked up the gems, before they headed for the steps that were near them, which lead up to the highest level of the gardens. As soon as they climbed up the next couple of stone steps and smashed a few straw baskets that were off on their left, letting the dragonflies pick up the gems that were dropped, before heading into the other part of the plains that were up there and started to explore what was in front of them so they could clear out the rest of the homeworld. While Elora picked up some metallic vases and smashed them, to get the gems inside them, Spike found the portal to Bamboo Terrace, a structure that looked like something out of an area that monks would meditate in, though that was the moment that they found the Powerup Gate that housed the Superflame ability, which would have let one of them smash the chest near Sgt. Byrd's portal to pieces, but, thanks to Ember, they didn't need to use it at all and could focus on something else. There were a couple of gems near the portal to Bamboo Terrace, which the group picked up, along with a pair of metallic vases that met the same fate as the previous vases and baskets they had found, before heading over to the path that was circling back to the keep that they started in and found the river that lead to that area, along with a few straw baskets near a tree.
The next thing that they discovered was that there was a structure that looked like it belonged to a barnyard, which made sense considering that it was the portal to Country Speedway, an area they all knew that Hunter would be in once they were there and started looking for him as they cleared out the challenges that would be there, before Ember broke a few metallic vases that were near it to collect the gems that were inside them. From there the siblings continued to pick up the gems that were on the ground that was around them, heading towards the ledge that would drop back down into the beginning part of this homeworld, before Elora found a small cave and jumped up into the opening, completely ignoring the metal ladder that Spyro, Spike, or Ember would have used to get up there, where she smiled as she saw what was inside the short cave. There was an egg in the middle of the cave, one that she picked up as she collected the pair of gems that were near it, which was the moment that she jumped out of the cave and walked over to where the siblings were now standing, where she placed the egg down and let Spike go over it for a moment, before sending it off to the Dragon Realms like all of the others they had found so far. Once that was done they approached the sign that was nearby, one that came from Zoe and was just like the one in Sunrise Spring, asking them to come back later, before Zoe actually flew down into the area and informed them that there might be an egg in one of the four planters that were in the area near the Powerup Gate that they had ignored.
Instead of smashing them, like anyone else would in this situation, Spike focused his mind for a few seconds and then peered into the next couple of moments that would happen, using his own special power, before his eyes returned to their normal appearance and he tapped the planter that was near the Powerup Gate, where Elora pulled out the egg that was hidden inside it and let him send it back to Nestor and the others... but once that was done, and they were sure there were no other gems or eggs for them to collect, they started to walk over to the portal to Sgt. Byrd's realm, as it was time to help him out with his problems, before turning towards the other realms.
"I wonder what Sgt. Byrd's realm is like." Elora commented, as she was a little curious as to what she and the siblings might discover in the home realm of their new ally, even if Spike could simply open the Guidebook and tell them what could be there, something that he wasn't doing since he had opened the book during the flight to Midday Gardens, and it wasn't hard to see that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were eager to discover what was in Sgt. Byrd's realm.
"Its probably under attack, just like Sheila's was when we freed her and went to aid her," Spyro replied, as he had been thinking about the realm since the moment they freed the penguin from his cell, and he had blasted Moneybags for what he had done to him, and he had determined that whatever was happening to the realm they were heading to had to be a little similar to what happened to Sheila's realm, "meaning that we'll have to find a way to aid Sgt. Byrd in clearing out the forces that are attacking his home, collecting the gems that are scattered around the area, and finding whatever eggs might have been hidden in his realm."
"Personally, I'm just hoping that we can actually help him out, instead of sitting on the sidelines," Ember remarked, as that had been rather annoying when they went to assist Sheila in clearing out the couple of Rhynocs that were plaguing her realm, only for the three of them to stay back near the portal back to Sunrise Spring as Elora went out to help their first new ally in cleaning up the mess her realm was in, something that she hoped wasn't repeated again.
Spike added nothing to what his siblings were saying, because he understood what they were saying and had to agree with what they had said, even if they would be allowed to rest a little more if they couldn't follow after Sgt. Byrd, so they focused on the portal they were heading to, in the middle of the temple, and passed through it... where not a few seconds later they found themselves in a square chamber that reminded them of what they had seen when they headed into the portal to Sheila's realm, only Sgt. Byrd's had maps of the various homeworlds and realms, along with some missiles that must have replaced the ones that he had spent to blast Moneybags.
"Oh, hello again, I was not expecting you guys to follow me so soon," Sgt. Byrd said, showing that he had been of the mindset that the group would have gone and done something else, instead of heading into the portal that lead to this chamber and his realm, before he focused on what he was doing at the moment as he finished his preparations and made sure his equipment was ready to go, "anyway, I have to return to my realm and assess the damage that's been done since I was captured, as I have the feeling that the Sorceress might have attacked the base while I was gone. I would like to get back to training the Hummingbirds, so they could be in peak physical condition for the inevitable war with the Sorceress, but I have the feeling that I'll be busy blowing up Rhynocs and making sure the realm is safe from future incursions, before I can get back to that."
"Well, maybe we can help you and the Hummingbirds out." Elora commented, because it sounded like what they had seen in Sheila's realm was happening to the land that Sgt. Byrd called home, that the Rhynocs were here and their new ally might need some assistance in taking them out, hence the reason that she was offering their assistance to him and the rest of the residents of his realm, something that Spyro nodded his head to, showing Sgt. Byrd that they were here to help him out with his problems.
"Hm, some backup would be great, since I have no info on how many Rhynocs are in my realm," Sgt. Byrd said, where his tone revealed that he was thinking about what Elora had told him, along with the fact that the siblings seemed to be in agreement to what she had said, before he came to a decision on the matter and turned to look at them again, as he had turned away for a moment, "Very well, I shall accept your offer of assistance and suggest that we move forward now... and apologize for not having any gear for dragons or Fauns."
The siblings and Elora took a moment to assure Sgt. Byrd that it was fine, as most of them didn't need gear and would show him why that was the case, before they headed through the portal that was behind their new ally and discovered what the rest of the realm looked like, as they seemed to be in an enclosed space that had a few glass walls that would prevent them from moving forward, with stone walls around them, and the base, as they discovered by looking through the glass, seemed to be resting in a chasm or canyon of some kind. Flying in the area that was right in front of them was a Hummingbird that had light blue feathers on their chest, blue tail feathers, with a pink belly, yellow talons, and a yellow beak, and came complete with a military hat of some kind, not like what Sgt. Byrd was wearing. From what they could see there were a few openings for them to walk through, to explore and look for the gems and eggs, but at the same time it seemed like they might be able to actually assist Sgt. Byrd this time, instead of staying back like they did when they went to assist Sheila in making sure her realm was safe and sound. Another thing they knew was the fact that there were a few types of Rhynocs in this world, enemies that would be trying to take down Sgt. Byrd and his allies, but for the moment they remained silent as they waited to see what their new friend did, which was when they watched as Sgt. Byrd walked up to the Hummingbird that was in front of them.
"Cpl. Gabrielle, its good to see you again." Sgt. Byrd stated, because it had been a few days since he had seen her, or any of the Hummingbirds for that matter, as the last time he had spoken to any of them was right before the mission to blow up the weapons the Sorceress had been building, a mission that had resulted in him being imprisoned in that cell until his new friends came to save him, before he focused on the task at hand, "What's the situation?"
"Sir, the situation is this," the Hummingbird, Cpl. Gabrielle, responded, speaking with an accent that was a little unlike what the group had heard in the past, though since she didn't have arms, due to her wings being her arms, there was no salute, like what Sgt. Byrd had done when he talked to Spyro after being released from his cell, before they focused on what she had to tell their new friend, "yesterday, at 1845 hours, a force of Rhynocs invaded the base. We defended the base as best as we could, sir, but without your leadership we were unable to put up an effective resistance, and by 1900 hours the rest of the squad was captured... and the Rhynocs had complete control of the base."
"Okay, so take down the Rhynocs and rescue the rest of the Hummingbirds," Spyro commented, showing that he and the rest of the group understood what the pair had been talking about, which was followed by Sgt. Byrd and Cpl. Gabrielle nodding their heads to confirm that he was correct, which was great since it meant that they didn't have to waste time on trying to figure out what had been said, before Cpl. Gabrielle flew off to do something else while they took the fight to the enemies that were in the base.
The first thing the group did was locate a number of gems that were resting on the ground that was around them, and three straw baskets that happened to be near them and were smashed instantly, before they turned towards the passage they had seen and found an interesting sight, a Rhynoc that was wearing gardening gear and was carrying a flowerpot in his right hand, something that was totally strange when they considered the realm they were in. Even the foe that was in front of them, a Gardener Rhynoc as Spike was going to call it, seemed surprised to see them and clearly had no idea what it was supposed to do, meaning that the Sorceress might have staffed the overrun base with nobodies just to slow Sgt. Byrd down, in the off chance that he was freed from his cell, meaning the siblings and Elora would have to be careful when dealing with their main foe when they finally reached her. Elora, taking the chance that was given to them, rushed behind their foe and kicked him in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground and leaving a gem behind in a matter of seconds, leaving Sgt. Byrd to stare at the area for a moment before he opened the birdcage cell that was attached to the wall in front of them, freeing the Hummingbird that was trapped inside it and allowing her to flee to where Cpl. Gabrielle was waiting. It was in that moment that they discovered something that would stall their progress, as there was no path for the siblings to take and they took a second to walk out of the area the first trapped Hummingbird had been located in, where Spike found an opening that was far above them, out of range for him and his siblings to do anything.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me... again?!" Ember remarked, as this was the one thing that they could do without at the moment, because she knew that Spyro was interested in taking down the enemies that were attacking Sgt. Byrd's home and Spike wanted notes on everything that was here, to let the other dragons know what they had seen while they were recovering the stolen dragon eggs.
"What's wrong? Surely you can fly up there." Sgt. Byrd said, showing the group that he was drawing on the knowledge that everyone in the Forgotten Realms knew, even though it had been a thousand years since any of them had even seen a dragon, and that he was curious as to why Ember looked annoyed about the distance that rested between where they were standing and where the opening was located.
"You're confusing us with adult dragons, who are free to fly wherever they want and don't need the aid of a Powerup Gate or the help of a Flight Realm," Spike replied, though she shared Ember's annoyance, because he really wanted to see the rest of the realm so he could both help Sgt. Byrd out and complete his notes on the area that the base was located in, and this time it was looking like Elora would be stuck down here with them, but even then he had to wonder if she might have something in her armor to get her up there, "Spyro, Ember, and I are young dragons, twelve years old to be exact, so we're unable to actually fly without the assistance of those two items, so we can't just jump up there and see what else the realm has to offer, and while I could teleport us up there I would have to expend a great deal of magical power before we finished off the attackers, it would leave me exhausted and of no use to anyone for a time."
"And I'm a Faun, though while I can jump pretty high on my own, well, this is beyond me... which is the reason why I had the Professor help me out," Elora stated, where she raised her arms for a moment and tapped one of the buttons that she hadn't shown the siblings yet, to which they watched as small openings appeared in the lower part of the armor and metal moved out to wrap around her legs, though once that was done, and her armor returned to normal with some new leggings, which had three green arrow tips pointed towards the sky.
She gave Spyro, Spike, and Ember a moment to take in what she was showing them, since she wasn't explaining what the new part of the armor was supposed to even do, before she shifted her stance and made it look like she was getting ready to jump, which was the moment that she leaped into the air like she had used the Spring Jump Powerup and landed in the passage that they needed to use to move forward, followed by a grin appearing on her face as she quickly slipped back down to where the siblings were waiting.
"This is my Spring Jump Mode, a mode that allows me to utilize the Spring Jump Powerup without having to actually use the gate in question," Elora finished, making sure to let the siblings and Sgt. Byrd know that she was following up on the statement that she had started a few moments ago, before she glanced down at her legs and found that nothing was wrong with her body or the power that she used, "it is, however, the only powerup that the Professor was able to add to my armor, in addition to what you have seen so far, so I should be able to follow Sgt. Byrd through the base and help him take down the Rhynocs that are scattered around the realm."
Spike grinned for a moment, as this was interesting to see and he wanted to know more about it for his notes on what happened during their adventure in the Forgotten Realms, before Spyro and Ember sat down nearby as Talon flew over to where Elora was standing, showing that the siblings knew there was nothing they could do and that Spike was entrusting his dragonfly to her again, to which she nodded and jumped back up to the opening as Sgt. Byrd joined her. In the first part of the passage they found Cpl. Gabrielle floating near an opening that lead to one of the Gardener Rhynocs, who was guarding a wooden door that Elora quickly discovered hadn't been set up by Sgt. Byrd or the Hummingbirds, to which she stood to the side and picked up some gems as her new friend blew apart the door, allowing them to progress deeper into the base. From there they entered a room that had a lowered floor and another opening, to which Elora jumped down and landed on the ground, where she found one of the Gardener Rhynocs and kicked him in the face, opening the way for Sgt. Byrd to blast a Rhynoc that had a yellow shirt on and some wings, these ones looking more realistic than the ones she and the siblings had seen in Cloud Spires, not that such a thing mattered since it fell in a matter of seconds. The reason it fell was due to Sgt. Byrd blasting it in the face before it could use its flyswatter on either of them, even though both of them were still a good distance away from their foe, allowing Elora to collect the gems that were on the ground in peace, and the one that was blown out of the air by Sgt. Byrd blasting the balloon it's glass vase was attached to, even if she had to leave a circular metallic chest behind for now.
On the other side of the opening that the Swatter Rhynoc had been flying in, a name Elora was sure Spike would agree with once she told him about it, the pair discovered another Gardener Rhynoc that threw a pot at them, clearly trying to hit one of them in the process, though the pair were able to dodge the attack before Sgt. Byrd blasted him in the face, letting Elora pick up the gems around them as he blew apart the wooden door that was above them and flew through it, which was quickly followed by Elora jumping up to join him... before they came to a stop at the next area's opening, where it was easy to tell it was a cavern this time around, as Cpl. Gabrielle caught up with them.
"Sir, I have news!" Cpl. Gabrielle stated, causing the pair to turn towards her for a moment, even though Elora could tell that she wasn't being mentioned due to the fact that she wasn't part of the military group that Sgt. Byrd was the leader of, before she dropped one of the dragon eggs on the ground in front of them, "I've captured the enemy rations, however small it is. They won't be able to march far on empty stomachs."
Elora wanted to tell Cpl. Gabrielle that the Rhynocs that were invading this realm didn't need to eat like normal beings did, because they were creations made from gems, something that Spike had told her when she asked about it, but in the end she decided to just accept the stolen egg and quickly returned to where the siblings were sitting so she could drop it off, which she did in a matter of seconds and retraced her steps to where Sgt. Byrd was located, knowing that the siblings would check the egg out and wait till they were done exploring the realm to send it back home. Once she came to a stop by Sgt. Byrd they learned something interesting from Cpl. Gabrielle, as the Rhynocs that were in control of the next part of the base, the cave that was in front of them, had installed a metallic door that needed some pressure plates triggered so they could move forward, and, as it just so happened, there was one of the weights to their left. From what Elora could see there was one Swatter Rhynoc and two Gardener Rhynocs in the cave that they were heading down into, which seemed to have some lava inside it, but she made sure to keep her eyes open for any additional enemies that might be hiding at the moment as she and Sgt. Byrd headed into the area in front of them. While Sgt. Byrd blasted the flying Swatter Rhynoc out of the air, and Cpl. Gabrielle flew into the middle of the cave and floated at the top of the stone pillar, Elora glided down to the ground that one of the Gardener Rhynocs were standing in, and to do that she switched to her wings for a moment to get down there, before she dodged the flowerpot that was being thrown her way and then delivered an uppercut to her target, clearing another foe from their path.
Once she took that foe down she watched as Sgt. Byrd blasted the other Gardener Rhynoc into the wall and then did the same for a Swatter Rhynoc that was flying through the air, one that they hadn't seen earlier, but it wasn't long before all of their enemies had been cleared out and they were allowed to find the next caged Hummingbird that was hanging above the lava. A few moments later, once he had freed another member of his squad, Elora watched as Sgt. Byrd flew back up to where the weight was resting, the one that Cpl. Gabrielle had pointed out to them, and landed on top of it for a few seconds, which was when he picked up the weight with his feet, something that was rather interesting to see, before he flew down into the area that she was in and dropped the item he was carrying on one of the pressure plates. After that was done Elora found that the other one had been on a platform that one of the Gardener Rhynocs had been standing on earlier, where Sgt. Byrd flew over to it and picked it up as well, only to deliver it to the plates that were near the metallic door that was standing between them and the next area they needed to head through. Once that was done they watched as the door opened and revealed the cavern that they would have to traverse next, so the first thing they did was pick up the rest of the gems that happened to be resting around the cave that they had cleared out, and the moment that was done they headed into the next area, discovering that a new enemy, Rhynocs that were wearing what could be the gear of a firefighter, minus the helmet, and were trying to spit plungers out at them.
Elora took a moment to consider what she was seeing, because it seemed like they would be called Spitting Rhynocs if she followed the naming scheme that Spike had come up with over the course of his adventures, and the first one fell to one of Sgt. Byrd's missiles, to which she dropped down into the lower part of the area and kicked one of the two enemies that was in front of her. After that she dodged the plunger that was being sent her way, by the other foe that was in the area she was in, and then uppercut it in a matter of seconds, allowing her to drop two gems to the ground as she turned to see the other Spitting Rhynoc, the fourth and final one in this cavern, be blasted into the wall by another missile, which cleared out the area for now. From there Elora glanced at the ceiling of the area and found two Swatter Rhynoc and two of the tied up glass vases, to which she stood to the side and watched as Sgt. Byrd flew up towards the ceiling, where he proceeded to blast both of his new targets and take out the balloons that the vases were tied to, allowing Elora to pick up all the gems that fell to the ground, before discovering that the cave was cleared out of gems and enemies. Once that was done they headed for the opening that would lead them outside and found that there was a straw basket in their way, one that Elora smashed to get the gem inside it, before they headed outside and found Cpl. Gabrielle waiting for them, where she reminded Sgt. Byrd of the other type of missiles that he had access to, ones that he had to find in an area to use them and packed a bigger punch than the ones he was currently using.
Instead of picking the one that was near them up, even though Cpl. Gabrielle was reminding him about that skill, they headed down into the area that was right below where they were standing and found two of the Spitting Rhynocs standing in their way, where Elora jumped down into the area that was in front of the first one and kicked him in the chest, but this time she used the power of her Spring Jump Mode to knock him back into the second one, taking them both of them out in seconds. She was pleased to see that her attack had worked out quite well, especially since it took out two enemies at the same time, before finding a side passage that revealed two more Spitting Rhynocs, one on their lowered level and one up on a higher platform, and a Gardener Rhynoc waiting for them, to which Sgt. Byrd flew up into the air and blasted the highest foe in the face, allowing Elora to rush forward and dodge the pair of incoming attacks, the plunger and a flowerpot as it turned out, before kicking the Spitting Rhynoc in the face before landing and uppercutting the Gardener Rhynoc. That allowed her to clear out the area that she was in and start picking up all the gems that were scattered around the area she was in, minus the circular metallic chest that was nearby, while at the same time Sgt. Byrd flew up into the air and freed another Hummingbird from her cell. Once they had done that Sgt. Byrd flew over to where one of the more powerful missiles was resting and picked it up with his feet, where he returned to the area that was able the circular metallic chest and dropped the missile on it, blowing the entire chest away in a matter of seconds, allowing Elora to collect all of the gems that he freed, before they headed out to see where the rest of the missing Hummingbirds were imprisoned, since Sgt. Byrd knew there were two more that needed to be found.
In fact one of the things they discovered was a Swatter Rhynoc that was quickly blown out of the air, before the pair moved up to the new area that Cpl. Gabrielle happened to be floating in, which was right in front of the exit portal for this realm as Elora discovered, something that rested on the other side of one of the glass windows that allowed her to see that the siblings were resting near the entrance to this realm, before watching what was going on now.
"Mission accomplished! Its good to have you back, sir!" Cpl. Gabrielle stated, her tone revealing that she was happy to have her commanding officer back, or at least that was what Elora thought at the moment, before revealing another egg that she must have found while she was retreating from the front lines, something that Elora took since it needed to be delivered to the siblings.
As such Elora and Sgt. Byrd headed back to the area that the siblings were sitting in, though the reason that Sgt. Byrd was doing that was because he carried one of the more powerful missiles with him, so while Elora delivered the second egg to Spyro, Spike, and Ember, so they could check it out, he dropped the missile on the circular metallic chest that was along the way and blew a hole in the ground. That allowed him to fly down into a passage that had a few bits of lava and a pair of Gardener Rhynocs that seemed to be guarding something, who he quickly took out as Talon, who was following him for a few seconds, picked up the gems that he floated by, before locating another Hummingbird's cage and freed her as soon as he spotted the cage, followed by picking up the nearby gems and smashed the straw basket to get what was inside it. With that done, and there was nowhere else for him to go, Sgt. Byrd turned around and flew back to where Elora was waiting, as she had remained at the top of the new hole since she wasn't sure she could have made the jump back out, despite the power of her armor, but once the two of them were back together they headed back to where the exit portal was located, all so they could see what else their enemies had in store for them. It didn't take them long to reach the area in question, where they passed Cpl. Gabrielle and started to engage the enemies that were around them, which was when Sgt. Byrd flew into the air and started blasting all the Swatter Rhynocs that might be in the caves above them as Elora took on the pair of Spitting Rhynocs and the Gardener Rhynoc that was with them. Even from the lower area that she was in, which was near a river of lava, she could see Sgt. Byrd blasting a few enemies, be they Swatter Rhynocs or a few Gardener Rhynocs, before he flew out of part of the cave and loosed another missile at the area that was above the spot that Elora was in, where he took out a Spitting Rhynoc.
Once all of those enemies were taken care of, and the pair were sure of that, Sgt. Byrd spent the next moment or two blasting all of the balloons that happened to be holding a glass vase and let Elora pick up the gems that were inside them, as well as picking up some of the powerful missiles to blow up a few circular metallic chests that happened to be around the area they were in, all so Talon could pick up all of the gems that had been inside them, before looking down at the river of lava that Elora had been near. Since it was clear that Elora couldn't do anything about this, since the wings of her armor only worked for flying around the Flight Realms, Sgt. Byrd flew through the tunnel that the river was going through and eventually came to what appeared to be the end, where he discovered the fifth and final Hummingbird cage, to which he freed her from the cage that she was trapped in. Once that was done she thanked him for the assistance and revealed that she had retrieved an egg from their enemies, which she gave to him and caused Sgt. Byrd to pick it up with his feet so he could deliver it back to where Elora was standing, who smiled as she accepted the egg and wished him luck in training the Hummingbirds for their eventual battle with the Sorceress' forces, something that he might have allies for, since she was sure that Sheila and whoever the other captured allies were would help him out. A few moments later she tapped on the glass, to get the attention of Spyro, Spike, and Ember, to which they got up and headed through the portal that was right behind them, allowing them to return to Midday Gardens, before she did the same thing with the exit portal, as she was eager to really regroup with the siblings.
The moment they were back together Elora gave Spike the last of the eggs she had helped Sgt. Byrd recover from the Rhynocs that were, allowing him to check it before sending it off to the Dragon Realms as well, but instead of heading for one of the other new realms, like one would expect, they headed back to the hot air balloon and departed from Midday Gardens for a time, as there was something in Sunrise Spring for them to wrap up.
When they returned to Sunrise Spring, which was after a forty-five minute hot air balloon ride, the group climbed out of the basket and headed for the portal to Molten Crater, as it was time to see what was on the other side of the portal that was connected to Sgt. Byrd, because now that he had been saved from his cell they could see what else the molten realm had to offer them. There was also the sign Zoe had left behind near the castle, one that made them wonder if she might have found something for them to do, but they would check that out once they wrapped up their business in the land that the Tikis called home, since they were sure it had a few more eggs and gems for them to recover, especially since all of them were here to recover all of the stolen eggs. From what they could tell the residents of the various realms were out and about at the moment, socializing with each other as they talked about what had changed since the siblings and Elora had come to the Forgotten Realms, most of them still thinking that they were here to help Bianca restore the magic to the lands that everyone called home. It was interesting to see all of that, especially since it was clear that the Sorceress wasn't thinking about the needs of her people and Bianca seemed to be picking up that slack, where the siblings filed that bit of information away for later, because it was becoming more and more obvious that Bianca wasn't the same as her mentor and that maybe, just maybe, they could try to convince her to help them, instead of standing in their way and trying to stop them from getting the rest of the dragon eggs.
In the end they pushed that thought to the side for the moment and focused on the task at hand, where it didn't take them all that long to reach the portal to Molten Crater, nor did it take them all that long for them to make their way to the location of the portal that had been closed the last time they had been in this realm, which was thanks to the shortcut they had opened near the starting area of the realm, allowing them to pass through the portal that was their destination and found Sgt. Byrd on a stone platform on the other side.
"Oh, hello again, I'm reporting to a call for assistance." Sgt. Byrd stated, not even surprised to see that they were here, in the area that he had come to, before he gestured to the section of the realm they had been trying to get into, which was a lava filled area with several openings and a number of Tiki statues that were missing their heads, indicating that he had been called in to deal with that problem, "The Tikis of Molten Crater have a problem that they can't handle on their own, so they called me in to help them out... and who knows, maybe there are a few eggs here to recover."
"Well, we'll sit here and watch, since we can't do much like last time." Spyro replied, though that was a rather annoying fact of this adventure, that there were areas that they couldn't explore and would have to sit part of the adventure out as someone else gathered the eggs that they would have found on their own, though this time Elora sat down as well, as she could tell that this place was beyond her armor as well.
Sparx, Talon, and Cinder followed after Sgt. Byrd, collecting the various gems that were on the ground and platforms that their new friend passed by, before he blasted open a wall and found an egg right behind it, one that he grabbed and delivered to the group, knowing that they would make sure the egg was safe and sound before waiting for him to find the other egg that had to be in this area. The group then watched as Sgt. Byrd flew around the area that they were in, where he blasted the birds that were flying around some of the Tikis that were just standing still, and delivered the various heads to the beings that they were supposed to be connected to, where Spike took notes on what he was seeing at the moment, as when a head was returned to one of the still Tikis the individual in question came back to life. Based on what Spike was seeing at the moment, while Sgt. Byrd flew around the area, the magic that was animating the various Tikis seemed to be contained inside the stone heads that their friend was returning to the rest of the bodies, so it really didn't matter which body they were returned to, as the Tikis might correct that error on their own once all of the heads had been returned to all of the bodies. Spyro, Ember, and Elora had different levels of interest in what Spike was saying, since part of this was about magic and two of them weren't as attuned to that as Spike was, while Elora did have some level of knowledge on the matter, even if it wasn't anything like the scholar knew, but he was just fine with that, as he was more than ready to tell his siblings and Elora all about the magic that they might discover during their adventures.
It didn't take Sgt. Byrd all that long to go out and recover the couple of heads that had been scattered around the rest of the section of the realm they were in, nor did it take him more than a few moments to help the dragonflies recover the gems that were here, before the three of them determined that all of the gems had been collected, allowing him to return and be given some thanks by the Tiki that had called on him for assistance, resulting in another egg being given to them, where Spike ensured the pair of eggs were unharmed before sending them back home.
Once that was done the siblings and Elora bid Sgt. Byrd farewell for now and headed back through the portal that was right behind them, which would take them back to the main area of Molten Crater, and then made sure to head through the exit portal so they could return to the main part of Sunrise Spring, which was followed by them heading back to the castle that the hot air balloon was in. Of course that was when they noticed the sign again and found Zoe floating near it, where she informed them that she had located an egg and that only Sparx, Talon, and Cinder would be able to reach it, and she made sure to let them know that the magic of the dragonflies would bring the egg to them, so Spike could check it out before sending it back home, to which the siblings nodded their heads as they understood what they were being told at the moment. As such the dragonflies followed Zoe to a crawdad farm, leaving the group to take a seat once more as they waited for them to come back, though Ember closed her eyes and rested for a time, as it was better than just staring at a wall or something, while Spike and Elora went over what happened in Sgt. Byrd's base, just to make sure everything was written down the way Elora had encountered them, leaving Spyro to smile as he simply waited for his partner and his siblings' partners to return. Spyro was happy that Elora and Hunter had joined them in this adventure, as they had been rather helpful in recovering the eggs, and he was interested in seeing what might happen once they returned to Midday Gardens and traveled to the other homeworlds that existed in the Forgotten Realms, along with discovering what the Sorceress might have in store for them.
After a time Spike found that two hundred more gems were added to his Bag of Holding, the one that contained all of the gems they had recovered so far, informing them that the dragonflies were doing good, and not a few seconds later Zoe returned with Sparx, Talon, Cinder, and an egg, to which Spike checked it out and found that everything was all right, before sending it back home, something that was followed by the group returning to the hot air balloon and heading off for Midday Gardens once more, as it was time to explore a brand new realm once more.
It took them another forty-five minutes to return to Midday Gardens, after the dragonflies headed to the side area that Zoe had found and returned with the egg that was apparently hidden in that area, though once they touched down in the keep of the new homeworld Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora climbed out of the hot air balloon's basket and walked right through the opening that was in front of them. There were a good number of realms to chose from, especially since all of them were brand new to the group and there was no telling what they might find on the other side of the portals, even if Spike might be able to do that with the Guidebook, something that wasn't really necessary at this point in time, since the lands of the Forgotten Realms were rather straightforward in their minds. Now that Sgt. Byrd had been helped, and his base was free of the Rhynocs that had been attacking his home, it was possible that they might see him at some point in the near future and assist him with a brand new area of one of the other realms, just like what happened when they freed Sheila from the cage she had been in and found her in Sunny Villa later on, so the group decided to wait and see when they might see their new friend again. Of course, as they walked out of the keep, Spike, Ember, and Elora paused for a moment as Spyro took a few moments to look around the bits of the homeworld that they could see right now, clearly thinking about the realms that they had seen when they cleared Midday Gardens out, before coming to a decision on what they should do next.
"Since its close to where the keep is located, we should check out Icy Peak and see what's happening on the other side of the portal," Spyro said, as it was one of the two realms that were close to where they were standing right now, while the other realm happened to be Enchanted Towers, so his plan was to head into the cave to their right and tackle whatever dangers were in the realm in question, before seeing what was on the other side of the other portal and then, when those two were taken care of, seeing what else this homeworld had to offer.
"That sounds like a plan," Spike replied, where Ember and Elora nodded their heads in agreement, showing Spyro that they were fine with the realm that he was picking out for them to tackle next, even though all of them were sure that there would be a few Rhynocs on the other side of the portal and that they would be trying to do something bad to the realm in question, something they would discover in the next few moments.
With a destination set the group turned toward the cave and headed towards the entrance, where they entered the small cavern and walked over to where the portal was resting, along with skating over the icy ground for a few seconds to reach the structure, before they passed through it and headed to Icy Peak, as it was time to see what they could do to help the residents of the realm out. A few moments later they appeared in the starting area for the realm that Spyro had picked for them to explore, where they found themselves up near the top of a mountain peak, or a few peaks as it turned out since they could see a few of them around them, that were partly covered in snow, had blue ice crystals that seemed to be growing on certain areas like a blockage of some kind, and some stone structures that looked like the painting they had seen in the keep when they first landed in Midday Gardens, especially a gondola that was connected to the area that the exit portal was in, only it wasn't working right now. That was when they found a Polar Bear nearby, one that was wearing some winter gear and was standing on a rotating cannon platform, firing at something that happened to be flying around the area they were in, where the group noticed that the target in question were some vultures that didn't seem like they should be in the realm in the first place. It wasn't hard for them to determine that the birds were more of the Sorceress' creations, no doubt allies of the Rhynocs that happened to be attacking the realm right now, meaning that if they blew them out of the air they would get some gems for their efforts, as well as take out more enemies to make the realm that much safer for the Polar Bears that called this realm home.
A few seconds later Elora shivered for a moment as she looked at her armor, where it seemed that she was messing with what had to be the heating system of her gear, since Spike had to assume that such a thing had been added to her armor in the off chance that they encountered an icy realm at some point during their adventure, but even then he could see that there seemed to be a problem with the system, since she was getting uncomfortable already, to which he walked over to her and had her return the system to normal, before applying the Heat Aura spell to all four of them, repeating what he had done in Crystal Glacier a year ago, back when they were taking down Ripto.
"Ah, that feels so much better," Elora commented, though while she was happy with what Spike had done she knew that her armor needed a few modifications, upgrades, and repairs to make sure what she just experienced didn't happen in the future, in case they encountered another realm like this, "It seems that there is a small glitch or something in the heating system that was installed in my armor, as the system suddenly upped the temperature by four or five degrees, instead of stopping at the temperature that I tried to set it to, and it was starting to make things rather uncomfortable for me, though your quick thinking and spells have fixed things, for now."
"I'm happy to be of assistance, though I'm sure that the Professor can help you out in fixing the heating system and restoring the armor to what it was supposed to be," Spike replied, knowing that the Professor could easily fix the problems that Elora had discovered with her incredibly suit of armor, because he was the one that created it for her and had to have a few ideas on how to improve it and its functions, but that would have to wait until after they finished this adventure, a fact that Elora might not like all that much.
Elora nodded her head for a moment, knowing that Spike was correct and resolved to ask the Professor about it the next time she saw him, but it wasn't worth stalling the adventure and returned her focus to the area that was in front of them at the moment, where she found that there were a few boxes that seemed to have explosions inside them, resting on the icy ground that was between them and the first ice barricade they needed to break, before they approached the Polar Bear that was getting off the cannon.
"Is something wrong?" Spyro asked, because from what he could tell the Polar Bear was upset about something right now, no doubt the ice that was blocking the way forward and the pair of vultures that were flying around the part of the realm that they were in, though at the same time his siblings and Elora looked around the area for a few seconds, just to be absolutely sure there were no enemies in this area.
"My friend Doug and I were supposed to go ice fishing today, but Rhynocs have blocked the way to our meeting area with ice barricades," the Polar Bear replied, informing them that he was having problems and that he had no idea how he was supposed to get through the area that he was currently in, something that the group was going to figure out in the near future, before he glanced at the skies for a second, "also, I was trying to hit those vultures with that cannon, but my aim isn't the best in the world and I can't hit them at all... they're rather annoying, to be perfectly honest."
Spyro raised an eyebrow to that and glanced at Spike for a second, where his brother focused on the pair of vultures that were flying in the air at the moment and gathered some of his magic as he readied himself, which was the moment he and the others watched as he loosed some Arcane Missiles up into the air and they struck down the vultures with perfect accuracy, much to the Polar Bear's surprise. As he did that Elora climbed onto the cannon and shifted it for a moment, as she had limited experience with this sort of thing, due to spending her time practicing her fighting skills, but even then she blasted the wall of ice that was blocking the way forward and made sure to blast the ice on the platform that was to the right of the icy ground, releasing a whirlwind in the process. While she did all of that Ember glanced at the boxes that were in front of the path they were going to walk through and flamed one, before giving it enough of a push to sent it sliding towards one of the other boxes, blowing two of them away in the process, giving Spyro a chance to take out the last one with a quick burst of fire, effectively clearing the area of hazards. With the couple of hazards taken care of they picked up the couple of gems that were around the starting area, which was the moment that Elora climbed off the cannon and took a moment to jump up onto the platform that she had opened, where she took a moment to tap a button and brought out her wings, since they did work with the whirlwinds, before gliding over to the lone pillar of earth that two straw baskets happened to be resting on. It didn't take her long to smash the straw baskets and free the gems that had been inside of them, where Talon flew over and picked them up for her, before she jumped into the air and glided back over to where the others were standing, so they could continue along the path that was in front of them and see what else the realm had to throw at them, especially since none of them had seen any Rhynocs yet.
As it turned out the path that would take them to the next area was a short set of stone steps, which brought them to a cavern that appeared to lead to the next area of the realm, to which the four of them kept their guards up as they moved into the and found a smaller Rhynoc that was wearing metallic armor and had a gun of some kind in his right hand, which meant it was a Shooter type of enemy, though Ember hardened her body and struck their foe down, allowing her siblings to deal with the couple of explosion crates and a few metallic vases.
Once the room was cleared out they headed towards the other opening for the cave and found that there was a slight gap between the ledge of the cave and the next area that they needed to progress through, where they found one of the taller Rhynocs that was equipped with some gear that made it look like he was a mountaineer, especially with the pickaxe he was carrying, so the four of them labeled it as a Mountaineer Rhynoc for the future, as there were likely a few more of them in this realm. Standing near the new type of Rhynoc was one of the Shooter Rhynoc, who seemed to be oblivious of the fact that enemies were even coming his way, so while Spyro dodged the incoming swing of the pickaxe, and then made sure to charge his target in the chest, Elora rushed forward and quickly kicked the ignorant Rhynoc in the back of the head, knocking him into the wall he was staring at. The moment those foes were done they picked up the couple of gems that were on the ground and smashed the straw baskets that were nearby, before ascending up the steps that were in front of them and entered a building that had an icy floor, meaning they would be skating across it to reach the other entrance that was in the structure. As they did that the group spotted two explosive crates that had rats or something on them that were in the middle of igniting the boxes, where Spike used a long ranged fireball on both of them and caused both of the boxes to detonate, wiping out the potential enemies that were in their way, while Elora noticed that there were some cracks in the ground that didn't look like they could break it open from this area. That was, however, before Ember glared at the cracks and jumped into the air, where she spun around and slammed her head head into the ice, as she was using the Headbash technique on the ground and shattered the ice in seconds, leaving a massive hole in the ground that the others stood around for a time.
As Ember and Cinder collected the gems that were under the water, which appeared to be beneath the icy ground, the rest of the group walked out and headed into the next part of the realm so they could see what else awaited them, while watching as Ember quickly swam around the water that was below the new area that they had discovered, before finding a Shooter Rhynoc to their right and Spyro charged it down. That was when Spike set fire to one of the explosion crates that were on the ice in front of them and let Elora push it towards the Mountaineer Rhynoc that was in the middle of the ice, where they watched as it touched the Rhynoc's toe and exploded, taking it down in a matter of seconds, before Spike used some fireballs to take down the other two explosive crates that were nearby. Once those enemies had been taken care of Spyro also smashed the pair of metallic vases that were behind the foe he had taken out and then they waited for a few seconds, as Ember finished clearing out the area that was below them and then swam back to the hole she had created, allowing her to climb out of the water and walk over to where they were standing, showing Elora that she wasn't affected by the cold nature of the water, no doubt due to Spike's enchantments. After that they skated across the icy ground and reached a new set of stone stairs that allowed them to walk up to the higher level and see what was waiting for them, where a Shooter Rhynoc seemed to be waiting to do something as Ember smacked him into the floor with her hardened tail, mostly to make up for swimming around the watery area for a few moments.
There were some straw baskets that were resting behind the central point of the area they had walked up to, one that was blocked by ice crystals, but as Spyro smashed them Ember found a missile that could be fired at a circular metallic chest that was off in the distance, one that they needed to glide to, before Spike located another vultures that was flying through the air, to which he blasted it out of the air as Ember ignited the missile. Elora, while they were doing that, found the cannon that would allow her to break some of the ice that was blocking the way forward and climbed up to where it was located, where she found one of the Mountaineer Rhynocs guarding it and jumped into the air as she dodged the incoming attack, allowing her to kick it in the face and take him down. From there she accessed the cannon and used it to blast open the ice that was blocking the way force, the ice that was near it to reveal a circular metallic chest, and the ice that was blocking the whirlwind that would allow the siblings to get the gems that were off in the distance, before finding one more beyond that and blew it apart as well, to clear the area out. As she climbed off the cannon, however, she found an egg that was on a ledge, where the path up to it had to be through the path that she had just opened, but before doing anything else she returned to where the siblings were standing, since they seemed to be waiting for her to stop messing with the cannon before they did anything. It was in that moment that Spike determined that they couldn't jump up to the structure that the whirlwind was on, or at least he and his siblings couldn't due to Elora having the best jump ability out of all of them, to which she nodded her head and jumped up onto structure in question, where she allowed her wings to take her up into the air and then glided over to where the missile had struck earlier.
When she landed a few seconds later she found that there was an egg over there, something that she really wasn't expecting to see in this area, but she picked it up as the dragonflies collected the gems that were around her, which was the moment that she opened her wings again and glided back to where the siblings were standing, where Spike looked at it for a few seconds and then sent it off to the Dragon Realms, before Ember rejoined them once more, as she went to break the other circular metallic chest and collect the gems that were around it.
Once that area was done they headed through the passage that Elora had opened, by breaking the pair of ice walls that had been blocking the way and discovered two Shooter Rhynocs that were guarding the other side of the passage, but such a thing meant nothing to them as Spyro rushed towards the first one and charged him into the wall while Elora took a moment to attack the other from the side, this time punching him in the face to deal with him. While they did that Ember smashed a metallic chest to their left as Spike picked up the gems that were to their right, allowing them to claim all of the gems that were in the middle of the passage, before the area was cleared and the four of them regrouped at the other side of the passage so they could advance into the next part of the realm. From there they found another Shooter Rhynoc standing guard over a patch of ground that was covered in ice, one that had a Mountaineer Rynnoc in the middle of it and was surrounded by three more of the explosive crates, so what they ended up doing was Ember smashed the lone foe in front of them into the ground as Spike used his magic to throw a few fireballs into the area in front of them, all to set fire to the explosive crates and remove them, which also took down the other foe as all of them detonated. The instant the area was cleared of enemies Spyro spotted a side set of stone steps that seemed to be leading back to the area that the other egg was in, to which he jumped over to them as Elora and his siblings picked up the gems that had been laying around the Mountaineer Rhynoc, even though he did have to collect a few gems of his own and take down a Shooter Rhynoc that was guarding the egg.
With the egg claimed he glided back down to the part of the realm they had been in a few moments ago and walked through the passage that lead him back to where his siblings were waiting, where he placed the egg down on the ground and let Spike make sure there was nothing wrong with it, before sending it back home as well, even though they were a tad bit happy to see that they were recovering the eggs at a decent pace.
From there they turned to the left and started to climb up the stone steps that were over there, which allowed them to reach another part of the realm that was being guarded by a pair of Shooter Rhynocs and had path that lead to where another cannon was located, something that made sense due to the fact that the way forward, possibly to where the exit portal was located, was blocked by a wall of ice and there was another wall nearby, so they focused on the task at claw and stared at the enemies in front of them. Elora rushed forward and caused both of the Shooter Rhynocs to turn and follow her for a few moments, where she dodged the incoming attacks and spun around to kick the first foe in the side of his head, sending him flying into the wall and taking him out, which opened the way for Spyro to charge the other one down a few seconds later. Once the two foes were taken care of they smashed a pair of metallic vases and picked up the rest of the gems that were in the area around them, before climbing up the stone steps that lead the way to where the cannon was resting, where a Mountaineer Rhynoc seemed to be waiting for someone to try and use the weapon, but as he raised his pickaxe Spike simply blasted him in the chest and knocked him to the ground. With that done Elora took a few seconds to climb onto the weapon and took in the targets she needed to take out, the one that was blocking the way forward, the side one they had seen, and some ice that was covering a platform that could be accessed by a glide, giving her three targets to hit.
As she blasted the three walls of ice, and knocked all of them down, she took a moment to blast the four explosive crates that were in front of the path that would lead them to the area the exit portal was in, since Spike was in the middle of using his magic to blast a pair of vultures out of the air, as they were guarding the platform that was within gliding distance of where they were standing. Once she was done with the cannon she climbed off of it and watched as Spyro glided over to the whirlwind platform that she had opened up and used that to glide over to the lone platform that was off in the distance, where a bullseye chest was located, one that he smashed with the Headbash technique, before jumping into the air and gliding back to the area that was just below where she, Spike, and Ember were standing, as in the last area that they had cleared out. When he rejoined them they jumped over to the path of ground that was in front of the forward path and started to pick up the gems that were on the ground, including smashing three straw baskets to get the couple of gems that were inside them, before they walked into the opening that Elora had created and found that it lead into yet another structure that seemed to be made in the style that the Polar Bears used for their entire realm. In front of them stood two more Shooter Rhynocs, who primed their weapons the moment they noticed the group was coming, but that meant nothing to the group as Ember rushed forward and smashed both of them were taken out, as one got charged into a wall and the other was smashed into the ground, allowing Cinder to claim the gems they left behind.
From there they walked forward and found another Polar Bear standing near the edge of the walkway that was right outside the building they had been in, which was where the exit portal, not to mention the gondola that connected back to the starting area of the realm, happened to be resting, to which they approached the Polar Bear, as they were curious as to what he might tell them before the exit portal turned back on.
"I'm glad that you guys took out the Rhynocs, as they would have made fishing impossible, so here, you can have this egg I was planning on using as a fishing lure," the Polar Bear said, where he withdrew the egg in question and placed it on the ground in front of them, even if Ember was a tad bit annoyed by the fact that he was planning on using the egg to try and catch some fish, while Spike made sure there was nothing wrong with the egg before he sent it back home, before the Polar Bear seemed to think about something he had seen earlier, "You know, I only placed the first ice block in Bob's way so he didn't beat me to the fishing hole, as I didn't have enough time to cover the entire path he would be taking, but I guess that was more than enough to convince the Rhynocs to do the same thing... note to self, never try something like that in the future, when the Sorceress' forces are nearby."
Spyro glanced at his siblings and Elora for a moment, as they were a little surprised by the fact that the Polar Bear, who had to be Doug, admitted that he was the one that put up one of the ice walls they had blasted down, but they said nothing to that as the exit portal turned back on and the person they were talking to headed through it, causing them to wonder what the residents of Midday Gardens might be doing this time around, since they didn't need help with the hot air balloon, like what happened in Sunrise Spring earlier. With that taken care of the group headed back into the building that was behind them, as it was time to find the side portals that lead to the other sections of the realm, before pausing for a moment as they found another cannon for them to use, where Elora climbed onto it and blasted some ice off of the platform that was near where they were standing, while at the same time Spike found a few more vultures flying around the air and took them down as well, just like he had done in the past. From there they glided over to the platform one at a time, allowing the freed whirlwind to pull them higher into the air and let them glide down to a path that was on the side of the first building they had walked through earlier, the one that had the hole in the icy floor thanks to Ember breaking it with a Headbash, and they even found an opening that allowed them to look into the area, even if it was totally worthless to them at the moment. After that they picked up a few gems that were in front of them and smashed the pair of straw baskets that were at the end of the path, before gliding over the gap that was between them and the next area, only to pick up a few more gems and smash a few more straw baskets, before stopping as they located the whirlwind platform that Elora had jumped on to glide over to where an egg and some gems had been resting.
Since they had already cleared this area out, and there was nothing for them to do now that they had claimed the gems that had been over there, they jumped back down into the area that was below them and returned to the area that the exit portal was located in, before stopping before the building that lead to the exit portal and glided over to the other passage Elora had opened earlier, finding a few gems and, more importantly, Moneybags.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, its good to see you all again, and this time I have something you might be interested in, and I don't mean criminals," Moneybags stated, referring to the fact that the Sorceress seemed to be branding some of the residents of the Forgotten Realms as criminals for trying to protect their home realms or taking out the weapons that she was in the middle of creating, before he focused on what he was talking about and held out a couple of tickets, which seemed to be connected to the closed door that was further down the passage they had jumped to, "Behind that door is the single greatest show on this world, ice dancing, and I happen to have some seasonal tickets for you to purchase, so you can enjoy the performance and relax for once... I just need a small fee before I hand them over to you."
"May I see them?" Elora asked, as while she knew that the siblings would be more than willing to pay for tickets to a show like this, since one of the eggs might very well be behind the door, and that was if the individual wasn't Moneybags, she was going to investigate something before any of them did anything, where she could see that Spike was interested in what she was planning at the moment.
"Sure, I don't see why not." Moneybags remarked, where he handed over the tickets as soon as he said that, allowing Elora to hold them for a couple of moments and see if her thoughts were correct on the matter, while at the same time he seemed rather happy with what he was doing at the moment, "You know, I heard that there might be an egg being offered as part of the first place prize, so it might be in your best interests to help one of the contestants out during the routine or something, as I'm sure that none of them are remotely eager to take an egg home with them, though I hope you take a moment to appreciate what I'm doing for you."
"These are fake." Elora stated, as she had been studying the tickets for a moment and realized that they were nearly the exact same as what she had seen back in Avalar, when the siblings brought the forgery of his 'rule' to her attention in Autumn Plains, before she gripped the tickets and tore them to pieces in front of Moneybags' face, while Spyro, Spike, and Ember glared at the bear, "Moneybags, you really should have been more careful with them, especially since I'm the one that realized you created a near official looking slip of paper for one of the Speedways back in Autumn Plains, the brilliant forgery that my friends brought to my attention when you gave it to them, which was a mistake when you consider all that they were able to do for the residents of Avalar... also, for trying to swindle us, you really deserve this."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember circled around to Moneybags' back and had him approach the edge of the area, where he did seem annoyed by what was going on right now, before he turned around and faced Elora, who delivered an uppercut to his chin and then kicked him in the chest, sending him off the edge of the area and caused him to hit the ground, where he rested for a moment. Once that was done they turned around and watched as the door opened before their eyes, as Spike was the one to open it after seeing what the bear had done whenever he was opening the way forward, to which the four of them walked through the portal so they could see what the section Moneybags had been trying to force them to buy their way into, especially since he claimed an egg was in here. What they found on the other side was a chamber of some kind that definitely seemed to be an ice ring of some kind, with a few openings that reminded them of what they saw in Colossus, as in the area the hockey players came out of, meaning they might have to deal with some annoying hockey players to help someone, before they focused on the more important person in the area. There was a female Polar Bear in the middle of the ice ring, who happened to be wearing a pink dress and a pink bow in her air, along with some white gloves and some skates to allow her to perform whatever routine she was going to perform, though she did seem to be annoyed about something, to which the group approached her.
"Oh, hello, its nice to see more came to watch the performance tonight," the Polar Bear said, where despite the look that was on her face her tone revealed that she was excited by what was going on right now, even though the group knew it was still a few hours before night truly arrived, meaning that this had to be more of a practice session or something, only for her to focus on them, "I'm trying to do a little more practice for my routine, but every time I start the movements the hockey players come out into the ring and smack me with their sticks, forcing me to wait for them to back off before having to restart the entire process all over again... I wish I had someone to help me out."
The siblings and Elora glanced at each other for a moment and quickly rushed to her aid, where Spyro focused on the door that was behind the Polar Bear, Ember focused on the pair to the left of the entrance, and Spike and Elora turned to look at the one of the right, to which they stood guard as the Polar Bear started to spin around and skate in the area that was between the four of them. Every now and then the doors opened and some of the hockey players, Rhynocs to be exact, not that the group was really expecting the hockey players to be anything else, skating out and raised their sticks to smack them into the ground, where Spyro flamed his foes, Ember whacked hers with her hardened tail, Spike blasted his with some Arcane Missiles, and Elora either punched or kicked hers in the chest. While they did that the Polar Bear spent her time practicing the routine that she would be performing later on, when the actual performance between her and the other contestants happened, where she seemed to realize that she could do her practice without being bothered and put all of her energy into what she was doing at the moment with a smile on her face, showing that she was happy to have the four of them there to defend her while she did her practice. Another thing they discovered was the fact that there were a few practice judges watching what was going on at the moment, making the siblings wonder why they hadn't tried to stop the Rhynocs earlier, but decided to pay it no mind as they took down the hockey players and cleared the area a few more times so the Polar Bear could practice her routine.
Eventually she came to a stop and the judges started throwing roses down into the area, no doubt to make her feel good for all the practice that had been put into mastering the routine, though Spike did notice an egg being thrown, one of the stolen ones they were looking for, and grabbed it with his magic, making sure to check it out on the ground as Spyro and Ember made sure the Polar Bear was happy with the results. Once she confirmed that she was happy with what they had done, and wanted them to have the egg, Spike sent it back home and they headed for the portal that would take them back to the main part of the realm, leaving the Polar Bear to celebrate her victory, as it was time for them to hunt down the other side area and see what they needed to do to recover the eggs that were there. As such the four of them headed for the exit portal and found a side path to their right, one that lead down to a new area that they hadn't explored earlier, so they picked up the gems that were on the stone steps they found and followed it down to a cave, one that had a portal that was what they were looking for, which was why they headed through it. The area it brought them to seemed to be a number of tracks that reminded them of what they had seen back in Molten Crater, the speed tracks that the egg thieves had been using to run from whoever was chasing them, and it only took them a few moments to find a yellow robed one on the track with a red robed one hanging on a piece of earth, waiting for the first to be taken out. Based on what he could see at the moment Spike was able to determine that there were multiple routes for someone to take and that meant that Ember would have to be careful as she charged after her targets, even though that was all he got to say before his sister rushed forward and focused on her target.
Spyro, Spike, and Elora waited for a few moments as the yellow robed egg thief eventually returned to where the start of the area, as there was a side area that they were sitting on, before Ember stopped and informed them of a side path she had smashed into earlier, but since she was chasing the thief she didn't bother herself with claiming any of the gems that were in that area. As such Spike followed after her for a moment and found the side cave that she was referring to, where he found a circular metallic chest that Ember smashed with her hardened tail so he could get the gems, all so she could continue after the thief, to which Talon picked up all the gems that were near Spike and cleared the area out, which let him head back to where the others were sitting. While he did that he found another side path that had a few gems in it, which brought him to a whirlwind tunnel that put him high up in the air and allowed him to glide to an area that three straw baskets were resting on, so he flew over there and smashed them open to get the gems that were inside it, before gliding back down to where the others were resting. Once he landed the three of them waited as Ember charged around the area and eventually smashed into the back of the first thief, causing him to drop the egg that she delivered to Spike, so he could check it out, before glaring at the red one and went off as it started running, allowing the others to simply watch the pair as they moved around the rest of the tracks, since the yellow one had a specific path and the red seemed to be using another one at the moment.
It wasn't long before Ember smashed the other thief into the ground and claimed the egg it was holding, to which she brought it back to Spike and watched as he made sure both of them were just fine, before sending them back home so they could be added to the eggs they had recovered so far, and when that was done they turned around and headed back to the main part of the realm, which was when they headed towards the exit portal so they could leave this realm and pick the next one that they wanted to deal with.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, Ember, or Elora that long to head through the exit portal of Icy Peak and return to the cave that the portal to the realm was resting in, which was when the four of them left the cave and stopped outside it for a second or two, mostly because it was time for Spike to remove the enchantment that he had placed on all of them earlier, to combat the chilly nature of the realm they had just assisted. It was a rather useful spell for him to use, just like the Frost Aura spell that was the polar opposite of it, something that Spike would use if they found a rather hot realm that was like the Skelos Badlands, as while Molten Crater was a little hot it was nowhere near the level of the realm in Avalar that the spell had been used in, and it took next to no power for him to put it on all four of them. Elora certainly liked the spell, since part of her armor hadn't been working like it was supposed to, and she said nothing as the Heat Aura enchantment was removed from the area the symbol had been resting in, allowing Spike to focus his effort on what he was doing, something that took next to no time at all and allowed them to move forward not even a few moments later. Of course, before they actually moved at all, the group glanced at Spyro for a few seconds, as he seemed to be thinking about the remaining realms that they needed to visit and assist in some manner, even if it meant taking down more Rhynocs and whatever else was in the realm, to repel the Sorceress' forces and restore order.
"Well, since its nearby, we should check out Enchanted Towers next," Spyro commented, as he was doing the same plan that they had used back in Avalar, when they were freeing those homeworlds from Ripto's clutches, as they assisted the realms that were outside the castles and then headed into the castles to help the other realms, and it seemed that doing the same plan would work out quite well, before he noticed someone near the stone steps that lead to where the portal to Sgt. Byrd's realm was resting, "though maybe we should see what Hunter's up to first."
The group wasn't surprised to see that Hunter was hanging out in the homeworld at the moment, even though they knew that they would see him at some point in one of the other realms, though as they approached him he waved a hand to silence them and then turned his gaze back to the area that was in front of where the portal to Sgt. Byrd's realm was resting, causing the four of them to do the same thing. As it turned out he was spying on Bianca, who must have moved into Midday Gardens while they were dealing with the problems of Icy Peak, though resting in front of her was a pot that contained a flower that, oddly enough, had a mouth in the middle of its petals, but it didn't take Spike long to determine that Bianca might be practicing Transmogrification magic, meaning the flower had been something else and she had turned it into its current form. The group noticed that she was holding a book in her left hand, a spell book that she was reading from at the moment, and in her right hand was a blue crystalline wand, one that had bits of magic around the tip, revealing that she must be combining Hand and Wand magic with Transmogrification magic, something that was rather difficult for a novice to do, but they said nothing as she turned a few pages, focused her power, and seemed to recite a few magic words as she turned the flower into a large apple. That didn't seem to be what she was trying to create as she turned to another page, where she cast the spell again and transformed the cherry into a pink bunny that looked like the couple of rabbits that were wandering around Midday Gardens, though as Hunter lightly chuckled, as this wasn't at all threatening, Bianca cast the spell again, turning the rabbit into a much larger version of what it had been and gave it more of a bipedal stance, only it was more monstrous than it had been a few moments ago.
Not even a few seconds later the monster roared for a second and then charged right into Bianca's chest, knocking her backwards through the air and caused her to land on the ground, while at the same time causing her to drop both her wand and her spell book, meaning that if it tried to attack her again she wouldn't be able to defend herself in time, which was why the siblings and Elora focused on the creature.
"We have to help her!" Hunter stated, because even he could see that Bianca was in trouble and that there was next to nothing she could do to save herself if the monster attacked her again, something that the group was anticipating, even if they were standing still to see if they were even needed right now, because if the young Sorceress could get her hands on her wand she could stop the monster she had created in seconds.
What actually happened was that the monster rushed forward and gobbled up Bianca, knocking both her spell book and her wand to the side for the moment, though that was the instant that Hunter jumped up onto the area that Bianca had been practicing in and rushed at the creature, charging right into its chest and pushing it back, while the siblings and Elora climbed up into the area as well. Hunter wasn't the only one that rushed in to face the creature, as Elora and Ember charged forward and struck the monster at the same time, allowing the three of them to engage their foe in battle as both Spyro and Spike stood nearby, though Spike wasn't wasting time as he readied another spell he had read about in one of the tomes he had studied in the past, one designed for something like this. It wasn't long before the creature knocked all three of them back, with Ember and Elora landing to the side without taking any damage, while Hunter landed on his back for a moment and seemed to be the main target of the creature, where was where he rolled back a little and then threw himself forward, using his momentum to strike the monster in the chest, causing it to release Bianca, who landed near the area that Spyro was standing in. Spike used that opening and cast the spell that he was preparing, one that loosed purple magical chains that wrapped around the monster's arms a few times and then landed on the ground behind it, creating an anchor that prevented it from rushing forward to attack any of them, where a few seconds later Bianca gathered herself, picked up her wand from where it was resting, and then loosed a spell that transformed the creature back into a rabbit, one that Hunter picked up as Spike released it, before throwing it to another part of the homeworld.
As Bianca huffed for a moment, as she wasn't expecting all of that to happen when she was trying to practice some of her spells, Spike walked over to where her spell book had landed and picked it up for a moment, finding that it happened to be a book he had read in the past as he made sure that it wasn't damaged at all, before he returned to where Bianca was standing and returned it to her.
"Thanks for the help." Bianca said, though her tone revealed that she wasn't too happy about relying on any of them for any sort of assistance, especially since she was working for the Sorceress and was, as a result, standing between the five of them and the eggs she had stolen, but she did seem happy to see that the spell book wasn't damaged at all, even if the one who handed it to her was Spike.
"No problem. I couldn't just leave you in that predicament," Hunter replied, where the siblings and Elora glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew that it was more about the fact that he already had a crush on her and had likely rushed to her aid the instant she was in trouble, though it was the right thing to do, as that creature seemed far more aggressive than what she had created earlier and clearly didn't have control over it.
"You know, after everything we've seen, I have the feeling you're nowhere near as bad as you want us to believe, even if you're trying hard to make us see you that way," Spike commented, referring to the fact that all of the residents that had mentioned Bianca had spoken about her in high regards, the total opposite of what happened when they talked about the Sorceress, her mentor, something that his siblings and Elora knew about as Bianca glanced at him, "rather, I believe that you are genuinely good at heart, but your going about things the wrong way because you haven't been shown a better way, like your mentor is only using you as a tool and not seeing you for who you are. Bianca, help us locate and recover the rest of the eggs that the Rhynocs stole from the Dragon Realms, to return them to their rightful owners, and I'll see what I can do in regards to getting a couple of dragons to move back here, to restore the magic to the Forgotten Realms, without having to worry about it disappearing ever again."
"Really? You can do that?" Bianca asked, where she seemed shocked by the information that Spike was telling her, as if she hadn't been expecting one of them to even say something like that, especially after she went to their home and helped the Rhynocs steal the eggs that all of them had been watching over, even if they had been sleeping at the time, but at the same time she was considering what would happen to the land she called home if some of the dragons came back and brought back all the magic that had been disappearing.
"I'm positive that some of the scholars will want to come back, just to check the lands out and make notes on what they see and who they meet," Spyro remarked, because he knew that Spike wouldn't tell Bianca something that was a lie, especially when she was trying to set things right in the land she called home, even if she was going about it wrong, and he was more than willing to inform her of what he knew, since Bianca didn't seem all that bad, "but yes, we should be able to convince some of the older dragons to move here to restore the magic that's been disappearing."
"I... I..." Bianca started to say, though that was when she stopped for a moment, clearly torn between the fact that she now had a way to actually restore the magic of the realms that she was trying to help and the fact that her mentor had given her some orders to follow the last time they had been in the same area, before she sighed for a moment, "I want to accept your offer, I really do, because it would settle all of this in seconds, but, um..."
"You need time to think about it, and think about what your mentor's opinions on the matter," Elora remarked, as she had a feeling that she knew that was going through Bianca's mind at the moment, just like she had the feeling that the rest of the group knew the same thing, and her thoughts were confirmed by the fact that Bianca seemed to shift her stance when she said that, "also, you need to see what your mentor is doing to the realms you're trying to help, because she's sending her Rhynocs to attack anyone and everyone that stands against her."
Bianca paused for a moment, where it was clear that she had no idea if they were telling the truth or not, before she gathered her magic and teleported out of the area they were in, using the rainbow beam that she used whenever she was teleporting between areas, though as Bianca did that Hunter left the part of the realm that they were in as well, leaving the siblings and Elora standing there for a moment. Instead of standing there, and thinking about what Bianca had done, the four of them turned around and made their way over to the portal to Enchanted Towers, as it was time for them to focus on another realm and see what sort of trouble the Sorceress was causing to the residents they would be assisting, since that seemed to be common among all the realms they had been to so far. Not a few moments later the group appeared in the starting area for the realm that they were heading to, where they found that they were standing on some grass that was nearly surrounded by castle walls, at least they were designed in such a way that made them look like they belonged to a castle, before they spotted a couple of towers that they would be passing through as they explored the realm. One thing they discovered immediately was a Rhynoc who was wearing an orange vest and a yellow safety helmet, while at the same time holding a machine that seemed to be capable of breaking rock, a jackhammer if Spike was recalling what the new Machinists called a tool like this, meaning it was a Jackhammer Rhynoc. Off in the distance were some spherical flying creatures that seemed like they might be dangerous, but from they were standing the group had next to no idea what they really looked like, so they decided to move forward and start their trek through Enchanted Towers, to help the residents out and recover all the eggs that were here.
Of course there happened to be one of the residents of this realm, one of the Purple Villagers as they were called, in front of the area that they had appeared in, one that looked annoyed with the nearby Rhynoc and the fact that it was now chasing a sheep down with its jackhammer, meaning it had to be hungry, before it even noticed that they were standing nearby and turned to face them.
"You seem annoyed about something," Spyro said, and he wasn't referring to the lone Rhynoc that was near them, a foe that they would take down in seconds so they could move forward and see what else the realm had to offer, though at the same time both his siblings and Elora picked up a few gems that were laying near them, "and its not the Rhynoc that is currently chasing a sheep around the area. Can you tell us what's going on in this realm?"
"There's a number of crummy Rhynocs that came to our realm and forced us to build a statue of the Sorceress, out of pure gold no less," the Purple Villager stated, where his tone revealed that he and the other inhabitants of this realm didn't have that much material to actually fulfill the order that they had been forced to make, though even as he said that the group did know there was more he had to tell them before their adventure in this realm got started, "so we made it out of brass, due to the fact that we had more than enough of that material. Then, when we finally completed the statue and showed it to her, she complained that it was too ugly and that she was going to make us suffer for this insult... personally, I think the statue is far prettier than she is. I also don't see how someone as kind and as helpful as Bianca can stand being an apprentice to such a horrible creature, as I would rather throw myself off a cliff if I were in her shoes, as I wouldn't be able to stand listening to the Sorceress."
"Its because she doesn't know any better, that's why she's still the Sorceress' apprentice," Spike replied, informing the Purple Villager as to why Bianca was able to stand being in the position that she was in, even if they might have shattered that bond with what they told her earlier, though now he was interested in seeing the statue that was located somewhere in this realm, just to have an idea of what the Sorceress actually looked like, "basically, her mentor is taking advantage of her, even if she's in the middle of trying to help all the realms that make up the land you and the others call home, and by help I mean restore all the missing magic."
"Well, hopefully she opens her eyes soon," the Purple Villager said, where he seemed like he actually liked Bianca way more than the Sorceress, more in the sense that he would work for her if she was the one in charge of the lands that her mentor was ruling over at the moment, before he shock his head and returned to whatever he was doing before the four of them arrived in this realm, meaning it was time for them to move forward.
The first thing that Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora did was focus on the Jackhammer Rhynoc that was chasing a sheep as they walked out of the starting area that they had appeared in, though what happened first was that Elora waited for it to get near them again and then lashed out with her leg, smacking the Rhynoc in the face and allowing a gem to hit the ground a few seconds later. After that they walked forward and found something interesting, a small river of lava that was between them and the area in front of the first tower they would be exploring, which was where the group stopped for a moment as they stared at a pair of creatures that looked like light green colored geckos who happened to have wings, but right now the pair was sleeping on the ground in front of the tower. When they got close to the river one of the geckos got up and puffed itself into a circular shape, just like the creatures the group had seen off in the distance, where they took a moment to glance at each other and nodded their heads, knowing that the new enemies, Flying Geckos as they would be called, would be rather easy to take out. The reason behind that decision was because Spike focused on the pair that was in front of them and quickly blasted them with a burst of Arcane Missiles, revealing a pair of gems that landed on the ground a few seconds later, informing the group that they must have been made by the Sorceress to aid the Rhynocs in subjugating the Purple Villagers and punishing them for the 'ugly' statue they had created. With those enemies taken care of the others collected the gems that were on the ground, both on the side of the river that they were standing on and the side that the Flying Geckos had been sleeping in, before they were sure that the area had been cleared and then headed for the first tower that was their current destination.
As the group walked up the curved ramp they discovered two Jackhammer Rhynocs blocking the way forward, though this time around Ember hardened her body and stepped forward as their enemies came at them, trying to break her into pieces and take her down, but when the Rhynocs stopped trying to do that, and looked at their tools in confusion for a few seconds, she spun around and knocked them to the floor with her tail. That was the moment that Spyro moved in and struck them with a burst of fire, before noticing that a tall brown skinned Rhynoc, who was wearing a white shirt and some blue overalls, that was guarding the middle of the tower, and his weapon of choice was an oversized mallet, meaning that it was a Mallet Rhynoc, a simple name if ever there was one. Of course it seemed ready for battle, given that it had raised its mallet for a moment and was waiting for one of them to come at him, where Ember jumped forward and spun forward for a few seconds, striking her foe in the face with her hardened tail and allowed a gem to fall, which the dragonflies made sure to pick up, before they found a second Mallet Rhynoc standing off to the right. Spyro walked over to where the other foe was standing and rolled out of the way as it brought his mallet down on where he had been standing, giving him an opening to exploit as he breathed fire on his target, taking him down in a matter of seconds, before they paused for a couple of seconds to break some straw baskets and collect the gems that were around them. While the dragonflies did that, however, Ember did notice a bullseye chest on a platform behind them, one that happened to be just above the area the first two Flying Geckos had been sleeping in, so she jumped on a blue crystal post and then used it to get up to where her target was located, allowing her to smash the gems and let Cinder collect them, before returning to her siblings and Elora so they could move into the next area of this realm.
Not a few seconds later they walked up a rather short set of stairs and discovered that they were already at the top of the set, because there had only been two steps in total, where they stared at the next tower that was in front of them and found that there was no walkway between the two towers, which meant that they were going to have to glide over to the next tower. As such Spyro jumped into the air and glided down to the opening that served as the entrance they would be heading through, where he took a page from Ember's book and spun around as he neared the floor, allowing him to smack a Mallet Rhynoc in the face before it even knew he was there, before a burst of fire reduced it to its original form and Sparx picked up the gem that landed on the ground. Once that was done he signaled for the others to join him, where Ember was the first to glide down to where he was standing and it only took her a few seconds to land near him, before Spike and Elora did the same thing, allowing the four of them to regroup in the middle of the tower so they could see what the rest of the realm had to throw at them. There was an opening in front of them that had a platform just a slight jump away from where the tower was resting, to which Spike jumped over to it, because an egg happened to resting in the middle of it, and proceeded to check it out for a few moments, finding that nothing was wrong and sent it back home not a few seconds later, before jumping back to the others so they could move forward.
From there they walked up the curved ramp that was on the other side of the opening that they were walking to and approached the opening that lead into the next tower, where two Jackhammer Rhynoc were waiting for them and started to move towards where they were standing, only to be stopped by Ember hardening her body, repeating what happened when she used it to the previous pair. This time around Elora rushed forward and kicked one of them in the face, knocking it to the ground as Spyro took the other one down with a burst of fire, allowing them to move forward and find that there was a Mallet Rhynoc waiting in the next opening that they needed to walk through, who was waiting for them to come at him so he could smash them into the floor. Spike was the one that stepped forward and used a barrier to stop the mallet in its tracks, surprising their foe for a moment, which allowed Ember to jumped forward and spin into their foe's face, all to knock it to the ground and take it out, leaving a gem behind, before they picked up the couple of gems that were in the center of the tower that they were currently in. As they did that they found a pool of lava that spat out molten rocks, just like what they had seen in Magma Cone during their last adventure, though it didn't take them long to determine why that was a thing, due to a Flying Gecko that was between the tower that they were standing in and the next tower that was taking them to where the statue of the Sorceress was located, but none of them cared about the rocks as Spike took a few seconds to gather his magic and then blasted the Flying Gecko out of the air, clearing the way in seconds.
Once that foe was taken care of the group took turns gliding over to the lower entrance of the tower that was in front of them, where Spyro picked up a lone gem since he was the first one that left the previous structure, and quickly used the whirlwind that was in the middle of the small chamber to reach the next level of the tower, allowing them to access a new platform that looked like it would allow them to reach the area the statue was in. Instead of staring at the statue from the area they were standing in the group glided across the gap that was in front of them and landed in the next part of the realm that was currently under attack, where they were able to get a good look at the statue and actually take it in for a few moments. Spike looked up at the statue and took in the fact that the Sorceress was a theropod, a dinosaur to be exact, and had a stance that was like how Bianca stood, or how the Purple Villagers and some of the others stood, and it seemed that she was wearing a small vest of some kind, a frilled necklace that belonged to a queen, a thin pointed crown that may have some gems in it, and a pendant that contained a large purple gemstone. The Sorceress, if the statue was accurate in detailing how she looked, and they had every reason to believe that the Purple Villager had been telling the truth, was pudgier than what they were expecting and her armor and legs had a decent amount of fat to them, meaning that she was going for an extravagant and indulgent appearance, despite the trouble she was inflicting upon the realms she was ruling over, before they focused on something interesting, a scepter that had a dragon egg at the top, meaning that their foe would be using one to cast spells, which annoyed the siblings.
Spike took a few moments to jot down what they were seeing, just because it gave them a good idea as to what their foe actually looked like, before they moved forward and continued what they had been doing earlier, as there were a good number of enemies scattered around the area, apparently protecting the statue despite the fact that the Sorceress hated it and wanted to punish the Purple Villagers for their hard work. As such they headed to their right and found two sleeping Flying Geckos, or they had been sleeping until they approached them, which was the moment that Spike weaved his magic through the air and struck them both them down in a matter of seconds, allowing Elora to rush forward and jump over the Mallet Rhynoc that was right behind his targets, surprising her foe in the process since it wasn't expecting her to do that at all, before she spun around and kicked her foe in the side of its head. From there they circled around the platform that the statue was resting on and found two Jackhammer Rhynocs and two more Mallet Rhynocs guarding the area, and there happened to be three missiles resting around the area, which they ignored for the time being, hence the reason that the four of them approached the enemies that were guarding the area. The pair of Jackhammer Rhynocs were easy to take out, as all the group had to do was let Ember harden her body and wait for the pair to collide with her, which was followed by Spyro and Elora charging and kicking them into submission, before they even worried about the Mallet Rhynocs, which was when Ember rushed forward and smashed into the first one that was in front of them, hitting it with her tail, before she spun around and gripped the mallet that the other was using, somehow ripping it from her foe's grip and then struck her foe in the face, defeating it in seconds.
Once all of the enemies were taken care of the first thing the group did was search the area for the gems that were scattered around the area, just like what they had seen in the last couple of realms, and smashed a few metallic vases as well, before the siblings split up and took up position near the missiles, with Spyro coming to a stop near the first one near the ledge they had glided to, Ember standing near the one next to the lava pool, and Spike standing near the one that was on top of some steps, with Elora standing behind him. The instant they were in position they took turns lighting the missiles that were in front of them, where Spyro's seemed to destroy the lower half of the statue's body, Ember's struck down the upper part of the statue's body, and Spike's ended up breaking the Sorceress' head, showing them that the Purple Villagers must have set up the missiles to blow up the statue at some point and that the Rhynocs had prevented any of them from doing them. Either way it was a good way to get rid of the statue and, at the same time, reveal a hidden path below the platform it had been resting on, maybe one that had one of the portals to the other sections of the realm they were in, but instead of heading down there, to see what they had revealed, the group regrouped near the exit portal of the realm, where they found a Purple Villager standing next to it, who happened to have one of the eggs that they were looking for and seemed to have a smile on his face.
"You guys did a good job in clearing out the Rhynocs, and blowing apart the statue we were planning on blowing up when the Sorceress came to look at it, even though she had guards to stop us," the Purple Villager commented, where he patted the egg for a moment and stepped away from the area that he was standing in, just in time for the exit portal to switch back on, which was good to see as they focused on the Purple Villager for a moment, "anyway, we were debating between hiding this egg somewhere in our realm, to keep the Sorceress from getting her hands on it, but you guys seem more than capable of keeping it safe."
The siblings and Elora said nothing to that as the Purple Villager departed from the realm, mostly because it was one of the stolen dragon eggs and the guy was acting like it belonged to him and the rest of the residents that called this realm home, before Spike sighed and sent the egg back off to the Dragon Realms, so it could be safe and sound, where they took a moment to jump into the hidden path they had discovered and headed through the portal that was below where the statue had been resting... revealing what looked like a massive area that someone could use a skateboard in, and Hunter, of course, was standing nearby.
"Hunter, are you slacking off?" Ember asked, because the only reason they would even find their friend in an area like this was because he was more interested in mastering the moves that he could use with his board, while at the same time showing that she really didn't much care for an area like this, given what happened the last time they found a skateboard area, which was back in Sunny Villa.
"No, actually I've been looking for eggs." Hunter remarked, where he took a moment and placed two eggs right in front of where they were standing, much to the surprise of the siblings and Elora, since they really weren't expecting him to have found a pair of eggs so quickly, before he rubbed the back of his head for a moment, "I know you would be mad at me if I tried to hold them back and hand them out as you did tricks, so I'm going to give these to you right now and keep looking for the rest of the eggs that we haven't collected. Though if you want to take a break, and relax a little, I can show you a few tricks or you can just skate around and enjoy yourselves, doing whatever you want."
Elora found that Spyro was the only one of the siblings that wanted to even bother with a skateboard, more for tricks and trying to see what Hunter had to teach him, while Spike used his to travel around the area and take notes on what he was seeing, mostly to give it to the Machinists or one of the other clans when they got back home, as he was sure that a few dragons might like this sort of thing, and Ember, well, she just sat down and decided to rest until her brothers were done with what they were doing. Elora, instead of standing around, decided to try her hand at using the skateboard, more in the sense to find the missing gems and break open their containers so Talon or Cinder could follow her around the area and collect whatever gems she found, where she found that her skills were rather horrible, which made sense due to the fact that this was the first time she was even using a skateboard, but at least she was able to do a few movements and get to where the gems were located. She had to admit that it took some time for her to even get all of the gems, but it didn't take forever due to Spyro and Spike using their skateboards to get to some of the higher places in the area and smash the containers that were in their way, freeing the gems that were inside them, before eventually she determined that all of the gems had been collected and returned to where Ember was sitting. Once Spike was done with his notes he returned to them and checked out the eggs for a moment, making sure that nothing was wrong with the two of them, before using his Teleportation Breath to send them back home, allowing him to take a moment to relax as well as they waited for Spyro to finish what he was doing.
When Spyro was done using the skateboard, and returned to where the rest of the group was waiting, they bid Hunter farewell and headed through the portal that lead back to the area that was beneath where the statue had been resting, only to use a whirlwind to get back up to where the portal was resting and headed beyond the exit portal, picking up a few gems before using a second whirlwind to get to a ledge that was resting above them. From there they glided over to the ground that was a short distance from where they were located and found that there were a number of Flying Geckos that were guarding the area, as well as two side portals to pick from, one that was Sgt. Byrd's portal and another that lead to a whole different part of the realm they were in. As they landed on the ground Spike gathered his magic and lashed out at the Flying Geckos that were around them, striking all of them down with his Arcane Missiles as his siblings and Elora made sure to pick up all the gems that were around the area, both what had been there when they arrived and those that were dropped by the enemies that Spike was blasting with his power. Once the area was clear, and the group was sure of that, they headed inside Sgt. Byrd's portal and found that he was preparing his weapons and gear for the next patrol that he would be going on, just like the last time they had seen him, after freeing him from the cage that Moneybags had put him in, and it wasn't long before he turned to look at them.
"Oh, hello again," Sgt. Byrd said, where he took a moment to put on his gear and made sure that everything was in order, which wasn't hard for him to do since he wasn't wearing all that much to begin with, before he turned and saluted them, something that seemed to be part of his nature, showing them that he was ready to get started on whatever he was going to be doing in this realm, "I'm ready to patrol the towers and the perimeter of the islands."
Instead of saying anything the group simply nodded their heads and watched as he headed outside, where they did the same thing and found that he was flying through the air the moment he was outside the portal they had used to get to where he had been waiting, already firing rockets at the Flying Geckos that they hadn't been able to get to, though it did look like he was going to be busy, so Ember let Cinder follow Sgt. Byrd around to collect the gems he was finding. Once she had done that the four of them headed through the other portal and found themselves in a small room with one of the Purple Villagers, where they learned that he had been playing with his pet wolf, Farley, and that he had thrown a ball into the hole on accident, causing his pet to head down there. As such Spyro jumped down first as the others collected the gems that were near the Purple Villager, which was when they jumped down to join him and found a rather cute looking wolf, a pup to be exact, waiting for them, though instead of picking up the ball with their mouths and spitting it, which was just gross, Elora picked it up and tossed it around the area that they needed to pass through, allowing the siblings to smash any straw baskets and metallic vases that were along the way as the two dragonflies collected the gems they freed, before coming to a stop near a door. They then discovered a button on the ground and a switch on the wall that needed to be pressed, to which Elora simply stood on the button and allowed one of the siblings to climb up the walkway she made as she tossed the ball so the wolf would follow them, before the door opened and they were allowed to leave the area they were in, finding a walkway that lead to another door and a button.
In that moment they found three Mallet Rhynocs that were blocking the way, but they were terrified of the wolf that was near the group, allowing either Spyro or Ember to take them out in a matter of seconds as Spike smashed all of the containers that were near them, before they reached the next button and Elora made sure to get the wolf over the gap that was between the two points. From there they found an area that had three buttons that needed to be pressed and two moving platforms, so the group moved things around to make sure that the wolf was on the platform that went up to where the door was located while making sure that one of them was up by the button that opened the door, though it only took them a few moments to get that sequence of events done and open the way forward. After that the group discovered a cracked wall that was shattered when Ember struck it with her tail, where a Mallet Rhynoc cowered as the wolf walked up to it, allowing the group a few seconds to collect the gems that were in the passage before Ember struck down the last foe that was in their way, allowing them to open a door back to where the Purple Villager was waiting. In that moment the guy thanked them for rescuing Farley, which wasn't that hard since all of the enemies were terrified of him, before he gave them one of the stolen eggs and mentioned that his wolf had been chewing on it, unsuccessfully anyway, which was when Elora carried it outside as they looked for a way to get to a higher level and see what Sgt. Byrd was doing, only for Spike to use a spell that created a temporary whirlwind for them to use to get up to the platform that was above where the portal they had just used was resting.
As they reached their destination they found one of the Bone Builders and his skeleton buddy nearby, where it looked like the skeleton was missing some bones, to which they sat down and watched as Sgt. Byrd flew around the area, blasting more of the Flying Geckos out of the air, breaking vases scattered all over the place so Cinder could pick them up, and took the time to hunt down the lizards that were hoarding the bones... and when he was done he returned to where the group was standing and returned the bones to the skeleton, who proceeded to do the same dance it had done when they helped them out in Skelos Badlands. Once that was done, and they claimed another egg, Spike took a moment to make sure the pair of eggs were fine before sending them off to the Dragon Realms, let the dragonflies make sure all of the gems had been collected, and they were sure that they had been collected, before they bid their friend farewell and headed for the exit portal, to head to another realm and start this process all over again.
"So, which realm should we take on next?" Elora asked, where she made sure to ask the question as soon as they returned to Midday Gardens and not while they were leaving Enchanted Towers, though she had to admit that the various enemies had been rather interesting this time around and that the Sorceress, in a twisted way, had a reason behind her actions, even if she was the one that caused them by ordering the Purple Villagers to build the statue of her in the first place, but that still didn't make their main foe right and only revealed that she was vain.
"Well, we have Spooky Swamp and Bamboo Terrace to pick from," Ember remarked, remembering the names that she and the others had learned when they were first exploring the homeworld that they were in the middle of assisting, due to Spike being the one to inform them of what the portals said, even though none of them really needed the help and just let him do what he normally did during their previous adventures, before she considered something, "there's also Country Speedway, but that's something that we'll take on before we leave this homeworld for the next one, just like we did when we were leaving Sunrise Spring earlier. Spike, is there anything you can tell us about the realms we have to pick from, or is that Guidebook Bianca dropped just dead weight?"
"Give me a second." Spike replied, where they came to a stop nearby and he reached into his satchel for a moment, though it took him no time to pull out the book in question and open it to the last page he had been reading, which had been the page about Midday Gardens as a whole, before he flipped to the topics that he wanted to look at, "Let's see here, Bamboo Terrace sounds rather straightforward and is inhabited by Pandas, just like that one painting we had seen earlier suggested, and they also harvest the bamboo they grow as building materials, be it for whatever they're building in their own realm or for something that someone else wants to make. Spooky Swamp, on the other claw, is nothing like the swamp that the Beast Makers live in, so we won't have to worry about the smell or odor sticking to us after we leave the realm in question, but there is one thing we'll have to worry about, and that's the fact that the realm is enchanted to a degree and causes everyone there to speak in haikus."
"You've got to be kidding me," Elora said, where she sat down near Spike for a moment and stared at the page that he was reading right now, as she was curious if he was being serious or if that was how the realm worked, before discovering that Spike was correct and that Spooky Swamp had such an enchantment on the entire swamp, which was rather weird and, at the same time, was something that none of them were expecting to deal with, "Okay, you aren't pulling my leg, but how are we going to deal with this? Can you break the enchantment, or maybe place a safety type spell on us?"
"That's a good question," Spike admitted, even though it wasn't something he was expecting to encounter, because he hadn't considered the possibility of needing a spell that could either break an enchantment or having a safety spell that would protect the four of them from an enchantment that rested on a realm they would be heading to, before he placed the Guidebook on the ground and pulled out the latest spell book he had been reading, "I mean, there are safety spells for all sorts of things, like the Heat Aura for icy realms and the Cold Aura to deal with the heat of some of the magma realms, just like we used back in Avalar, but I'm not sure if there's a spell to protect us from an enchantment like this... it wouldn't hurt to check my spell book and see if such a thing even exists."
"Well, we can take a few minutes to rest and relax a little, before picking out where to go." Spyro said, even though he was planning on picking Spooky Swamp for the next realm, regardless of whether or not Spike found a spell that would deal with the haiku enchantment, though he knew that a small rest was good for them so they weren't tired, just in case the enemies of the next realm were more difficult than what they were used to dealing with, since some of the foes they had dealt with in the last couple of realms had been easy to take down.
Spike nodded his head for a moment as he returned to what he was doing, where Elora sat near him and stared at the titles of the various pages that he was reading, giving her a slight understanding of the spells that were inside the spell book, which had to be some of the more advanced spells given what Spike was able to do, since Cosmos knew that he was possibly the greatest wizard the dragons had seen in a long time. Spyro and Ember sat nearby, simply looking at the rest of the realm as they waited for Spike to see if there was a spell he could use or not, where they found that the residents of the last couple of realms were waiting inside the keep that the hot air balloon was resting in, as in Sgt. Byrd, one of the Polar Bears, and one of the Purple Villagers, meaning there were two more realms for them to assist and two more people for them to send to the keep, even though none of them had any idea what they were doing. One had to assume that they were going to be giving their hot air balloon a power boost or something, so they could make it to the next homeworld and continue their adventure, but there was no way of knowing ahead of time since it didn't seem like anyone wanted to tell them what was going on, even though it would be easy to get some information if they asked Sgt. Byrd. Other than that there was nothing else for them to really focus on, as Bianca wasn't in this homeworld anymore and Hunter was in whatever realm he had moved to after his session in the last skateboard area, or maybe he was still there, practicing his skills, but none of them were thinking about that as they waited for Spike to finish reading the pages of his spell book and see if there were any spells that could help them out.
In the end, after a few minutes, Spike stood up and gathered his magic for a few seconds, where Spyro, Ember, and Elora watched as he etched a new symbol onto their bodies, one that looked like the three lines that made up a haiku in the first place, the first and third being the same size with the second being longer than them, with a fourth line that went diagonally through them, like it was supposed to cancel something out.
"Okay, that should do it." Spike commented, where he made sure to put the same enchantment on his body, which wasn't that hard to do, before slipping both the spell book and the Guidebook back into his satchel, putting them back in the areas they had been resting earlier, though that was when he glanced at his siblings and Elora once more, "This is an enchantment that's supposed to counter the haiku spell that's on Spooky Swamp, meaning that we should be able to explore the swamp without having to speak in haikus whenever we want to talk to each other, but the only way for us to even know if it works or not is by heading to the realm in question and seeing what happens when we speak... that's if we're heading to Spooky Swamp next and not Bamboo Terrace."
"Don't worry, we'll be tackling the swamp next," Spyro replied, though he had to admit that he was surprised that his brother was able to find something that could counter the enchantment that was on the swamp, meaning that whoever had lived in the Forgotten Realms, before the Sorceress banished them, had created the spell and managed to pass it down to the later generations, eventually coming to Spike.
Spike, Ember, and Elora nodded their heads for a moment and followed Spyro as he headed for the portal that would take them to Spooky Swamp, where they took turns climbing up the wooden ladder that was connected to the tree house that contained the portal in question and headed through the portal, which took them to the next realm that they would be exploring and assisting for a time. It didn't take them long to arrive in their destination, where they found that the next starting area was definitely in a swamp, just like the name on the portal suggested, though the water was an eerie green color, there were reeds growing out of the water, a number of large trees rested around the area, and there were some structures that looked like large lanterns, though whether or not they could be lit would be something they determined as they explored the realm. The group could also see a large building that looked like a magical castle or something, which could be something they might explore at some point in time, before they found one of the Fireflies, who looked identical to the painting that was resting in the keep, being chased by a dark green scaled beast that resembled an alligator, which meant they had already found one of the enemies that they would need to take out as they helped the residents of this realm out. Other than that the group found that there were some piranhas in the water, meaning that it was a bad idea to fall into the water that rested around the realm, not that any of them were thinking of doing that, and there were some signs that warned people of the dangerous fish that were lurking in the water, but instead of worrying about that the four of them decided that it was time to move forward.
The first thing that they did was collect the gems that were in the area around them, smash a few straw baskets, and take care of the Alligator that was in the middle of attacking the Firefly that was going to tell them what was going on with this realm, in the sense of what the Rhynocs were doing and what sort of target they needed to be working towards, where Ember just whacked their target with her tail and knocked it into the ground, allowing the Firefly to relax for a few seconds as they approached it.
"That gator was mean!" the Firefly stated, referring to the Alligator that had been chasing him, which the group really didn't need to be told since they had been able to determine that ahead of time by watching what was going on for a few seconds, though they said nothing as they waited for him to finish what he had to tell them, "I thought I was a goner. Thanks for saving me."
The group said nothing to that, as they were sibling waiting for the Firefly to say something about the situation that was engulfing his realm, but he didn't offer anything more to them and eventually walked away from where the group was standing, leaving them to climb up the wooden ladder that was attached to the building in front of them and head into the room that was up there, where they found a large candle that happened to be out, so Spyro just flamed it and lit the entire inside structure that they were standing in.
"Okay, so this is just a hunch," Elora said, where she paused for a moment, as she realized that she was speaking like she normally did and wasn't forced to speak in haikus, like the rest of the residents of the realm were, confirming that the new spell Spike had used was successful, which put a smile on his face as he jotted down what she had discovered, just so he could tell the other dragons something new when they got back home, "but something tells me that we need to relight all of the lantern structures, why I'm not entirely sure, and take out all of the Rhynocs that have invaded this realm, since they're the ones that likely put them out. While we're doing that we should keep an eye out for the side portals that we've seen in the other realms we've visited so far, since I'm sure there is one of them here, at the very least, and it will have one or two of the stolen eggs we're looking for."
"And we might want to refrain from talking when we're near the residents of this realm, as they might get upset if they see us talking like we normally do, instead of in haikus." Spyro added, knowing that if the Fireflies were used to talking to each other in haikus, and were used to getting replies in a similar manner from those that visited their realm or called the swamp home, than speaking in their normal style would likely annoy the Fireflies.
The group nodded in agreement once he stopped talking, as they knew that Spyro was right about not talking when they were near the various residents of this realm, before they started to move once more, which was when they walked through the opening that was in front of them and entered the area that was next in their quest to explore Spooky Swamp, take out the Rhynocs, and recover the stolen eggs. As they walked out onto the ground that was right outside the structure they had been inside they found a pair of straw baskets that were broken in seconds and, more importantly, a bridge that connected to the next piece of ground that needed to be explored, though guarding the bridge was a Rhynoc that was wearing a pair of overalls, a yellow cloth hat, and was carrying a lantern that seemed to be its weapon. As such the group labeled decided to call it a Lantern Rhynoc, and would call the others like this the same name, and waited for it to swing its lantern at them, which was when Spyro charged at the opening that it created and knocked their foe to the ground, which allowed the dragonflies to pick up the gem that fell and another they were walking by. On the other side of the bridge was an Alligator and another new type of Rhynoc, one that was wearing pants, a torn white shirt, a straw hat on its head, and carried a slingshot in one of its hands, meaning it was a Slingshot Rhynoc, though as it aimed at them Ember jumped in front of the ground and hardened her entire body, preventing the rock from hurting her or the rest of the group while also stopping the lone Alligator from chowing down on her, causing it to look sad after trying to bite her. With that done Spyro just whacked the foe that was in front of Ember with his tail, knocking it to the side, while Elora rushed forward and spun around so she could kick the Slingshot Rhynoc in the face, allowing them to drop a pair of gems in the area as Spike kept his eyes open for anything that might require some magic to take down, even if he could just charge foes into the ground if they needed additional firepower.
From there they found that they had one path to take and a small side area of sorts to explore, where they walked down the couple of stone platforms and descended into the area that was below the main path that would take them to the rest of the realm, allowing them to break two straw baskets and two bullseye chests so Sparx, Talon, and Cinder could pick up the gems they freed. While they did that Spike spotted a large pink skinned bug with a stinger for a nose, which meant it was a mosquito, flying around the area that the main path was in and seemed to be waiting for someone to come near it, so he loosed an Arcane Missile and blasted the Mosquito out of the air, because if Alligators were enemies than he had to assume the same was true for that creature, and the gem that followed justified his actions. Once the lower area was cleared of gems, and they were sure of that, they returned to the main path and jumped over the gap in the ruined bridge, allowing them to reach the wooden ladder that would take them up to the room that contained the next candle that needed to be lit, to which Spyro headed up there, alone, while Spike, Ember, and Elora jumped to the side a little and landed on the area that he would drop down into soon enough. There were a couple of straw baskets and a number of metallic vases that they ended up breaking, where that gave them some time to see that Spyro rekindled the light of the candle that was in the structure above them, before he jumped down and rejoined them, allowing them to continue what they were doing and smashed a few more metallic vases, even though that included flaming an Alligator that was rushing at them and charging into a Lantern Rhynoc.
While the group was doing that Elora found a chest that was locked, meaning that there was a key somewhere in this part of the realm that would unlock it, though this time she didn't bother asking Ember if she could just use her hardened tail to smash it, even though it would have been easier for them to do that, so she turned her attention towards the area that they were heading to as she kept an eye out for the key in question.
The next thing they discovered was a broken bridge that was being guarded by a Slingshot Rhynoc, as in it was on the other side of the bridge and was ready for one of them to come and try their luck, to which Spike used a barrier to quickly stop the incoming rock that was loosed in their direction and then let Ember jump into the air, where she spun around and brought the backside of her tail down on her foe, crushing him into the ground and opening the way for the others to jump over to where she was standing. That allowed them to walk up to a large door that belonged to the structure that was in the middle of the realm, which was starting to look for like a cottage instead of a castle, before Spyro charged into an Alligator that was trying to attack them from behind, allowing him to smash a pair of metallic vases at the same time and let their dragonflies claim what was resting on the ground around them. As he did that Elora jumped over to a patch of land that they were walking by and smiled as she found the first egg of this realm, where she made sure to break a few straw baskets and pick up the gems that were near her, before carefully lifting the egg up and then jumped back to where Spike was standing, allowing him to look over it for a moment like he did with all of the other eggs they had recovered in the past, only to send it off a few seconds later. Once they were done with the egg they found another bridge that had one of the Alligators on the other side, so what they did was let Spike blast their foe into the wooden ladder that was behind it and took it out, allowing them to walk forward and see what else the rest of the patch of land the third candle happened to be resting in had to offer them.
This time the structure the next candle was in only had one entrance, meaning that while Ember smashed a nearby bullseye chest, Spike shattered some metallic vases, and Elora dodged an attack from a Lantern Rhynoc, before delivering a kick to take it down, Spyro lit the next light before rejoining them, where they jumped over the gap that was in front of them and let Elora punch the Mosquito that was in their way in the face as Ember tripped up and smashed the Slingshot Rhynoc that was near it... before they sighed as they found a path leading right to Moneybags, who was guarding a large ornate door, though the two Alligators that were in front of him fell to Spyro flaming them.
"This door is jammed shut. Only the power of gems, can hope to move it." Moneybags stated, showing that he had also been ensnared by the haiku enchantment and that he was still up to his old ways, trying to force them to give him the gems that they had acquired so they could move forward through the realm that they were currently exploring, though at the same time there was a smirk on his face that indicated that he believed he finally had them and that they had no choice but to give him the gems that would allow him to open the door.
Spike quickly smiled in return, something that stalled the bear for a few seconds, before he focused his mind and let his magic roll over the door that was in their way, where all four of them could see Moneybags looking worried about what he was doing, which was followed by a clicking sound being heard as the door opened and revealed the area that was just beyond it, much to the bear's surprise, as he was switching between Spike and the door with shock on his face, showing that he was shocked by what he had done and was speechless as a result.
"Nice try, Moneybags, but you can't pull one over on us." Spike commented, where Moneybags was flabbergasted by what was going on, as the fact that he was speaking normally, and not in haikus like everyone else in the realm, was the breaking point for the bear, which was the moment that he tapped the symbol that came with the spell he had cast on all four of them earlier, "Oh, and we have an enchantment to counter the spell on this realm, so we don't have to speak in haikus like you and the Fireflies."
Moneybags said nothing as Spyro and Ember struck him with a combined fire breath combo, flaming his rear in a few seconds and sending him over the edge of the area that they were standing in, before the group smiled for a moment, as they were pleased to deal with the bear once more, just like they had done all of the other times they had encountered him during this adventure, and then focused on what was in front of them. On the other side of the door they found one of the Lantern Rhynocs that happened to be waiting for some enemies to overcome the door, though Spike threw up a quick barrier and blocked the incoming attack for a second, allowing Elora to rush past his defenses and punch their foe in the face, dropping a gem in the process as they focused on the rest of the area that they were in. The first thing that they did was smash the four straw baskets that were around where the door was resting and then, once those couple of gems were picked up, they jumped down onto a broken bridge that would have brought them to the next patch of land that was resting along the path that they happened to be following. There was a Mosquito resting at the end of the bridge, between them and the patch of land, so what they did was split their focus for a moment as Ember hardened her body and quickly smashed the Mosquito into the edge of the bridge with her tail, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Elora to jump over to where a Slingshot Rhynoc was standing, who barely had time to load its weapon when it realized that they were coming towards it and fell when Spyro charged right into its chest. From there they walked over the other bridge that was connected to the patch of land and found that it brought them to the backside of the cottage that rested in the middle of the realm, though they had to take out an Alligator and a Slingshot Rhynoc that were near the wooden door, where the former fell to a quick burst of fire from Spike as the latter collapsed after being kicked in the back of the head by Elora.
Once those two enemies were taken care of they found that the exit portal was nearby, meaning they had reached the end of the realm, and that there happened to be another wooden ladder to their right that would take them up to the area that the fourth candle was resting in, but before they did anything one of the Fireflies jumped down to where they were standing and produced an egg.
"You are brave, dragons. Far braver than I, by far." the Firefly said, revealing that he was amazed by what the four of them were able to do, even if he was speaking about the siblings and not Elora, due to the whole haiku enchantment that was on the realm at the moment, before he gestured to the egg he was currently holding for a moment as he placed it on the ground, "Here, take this darn egg."
Before the siblings for Elora could say anything, or even acknowledge what the Firefly had done, he turned to the side and headed through the exit portal, where Spike took a few moments to make sure the egg was correct before sending it off to the Dragon Realms, before Spyro headed up the wooden ladder that was nearby and lit the next candle, something that was followed by the sound of a large door opening. The group had to determine that the door was likely the front of the cottage, which was near the start of the realm, even if they hadn't found the path to that area, before Spike spotted a platform that was near the structure that Spyro was in and made sure his brother knew about it, which was when the three of them watched as he glided over to the area in question and revealed a path they could take. As such the three of them climbed up the wooden ladder, or just jumped up to the opening in Elora's case, and then glided over to the patch of ground that Spyro was standing on, before discovering that there was another wooden ladder that needed to be climbed up to reach the top of the tree that was behind it. From there they found that they had to glide over to a few more trees to move along the path that they were currently following, where a split eventually revealed itself, as one of them had to glide over to a tree on their right to collect the key to the locked chest they had seen earlier while the others glided over to the tree on their left to find another egg, so Spike went over to the latter with Spyro and Ember as Elora collected the key they had been looking for. A few moments later, after looking over the egg for any damage, Spike used his Teleportation Breath to send it back home and then they moved once more, returning to where the locked chest was located and made sure to open it with the key that Elora recovered, allowing them to pick up the gems that had been inside it, before turning around and heading back to the area that the exit portal was resting in.
When the group reached the exit portal a few moments later they headed through the path on their left and found out something interesting, it brought them to the front door of the house and they discovered a portal beyond it, before finding a second portal beyond it that was designed in the manner of Sheila's portal, meaning they might be helping one of their new friends in the near future, but first they stopped in front of the Firefly that was in front of the door's portal, so they could learn what he wanted them to do.
"The tea lamps are lit! Now I'll tell you the secret, of what's in this house." the Firefly stated, where the group felt that the structures the lights had been in were lanterns and not tea lamps, but it wasn't their place to correct the Firefly and as such they remained silent as he explained things to them, because they were interested in hearing what sort of trial or foe they had to overcome, "A creepy wizard, lives inside, but hates the light. He has awoken! He swore to destroy, whoever lights the tea lamps. Better you than me!"
The group glanced at each other for a moment, because if it was a wizard that they would be facing Spike would be able to overcome the magic that would be used against them, to which they headed through the portal and quickly found that they were on the inside of the house not a few seconds later, where it wasn't hard to locate the wizard that was going to be their enemy for the next couple of minutes. The wizard was a tall Rhynoc that was wearing a dark green robe, with light green moons and stars resting all over the material, but as he got up, since the Firefly insisted on referring to it as a guy, they discovered something that was rather disappointing, the wizard was throwing bombs at them, trying to blow them up so he could return to his nap. Spike frowned as they discovered that, because he had been a little eager to see what their foe had up his sleeves, in terms of magical power, but once he saw the bombs he focused his mind for a few seconds and found that the 'wizard' really didn't have a shred of magic in him, rather the only magic that he could feel was the power that the Sorceress used to make him, causing him to just sit down as he started to blast some of the bombs out of the air with his Arcane Missiles. Spyro dodged some of the other bombs and flamed down the various Alligators that were coming out to fight them, who didn't drop gems for them to collect, while Ember hardened her entire body and just whacked the bombs back at the wizard with her tail, leaving Elora to shift back to her Spring Jump Form, which allowed her to jump over to where the wizard was standing, as he was in the middle of the chamber and was surrounded by a good bit of water, so she could punch him in the side of his face before using his chest as a base so she could launch herself back to where Spike was sitting at the moment.
As it turned out the wizard didn't have any other tactics than what they had seen during the first few moments of the battle, so it didn't take the group all that long to bring down the wizard and caused him to collapse on the platform that he had been standing on, allowing them to claim an egg that he was apparently guarding and let Spike send it back to the Dragon Realms, before they returned to the main portion of the realm and then headed into Sheila's portal, where they quickly found her standing near one of the walls, only for her to move in front of them, once she noticed that she had some company at long last.
"This swamp smells so sweet! The springtime trees are fragrent." Sheila said, where she paused for a moment, as she definitely seemed like she was at a loss for words as to what she was supposed to say to complete the haiku that she had been forced to start speaking in, though that was quickly before she determined what the last line could be, even if Spike was considering using the spell on her as well, "I'm off to kick butt!"
"How about this?" Spike inquired, where he quickly cast the spell on Sheila and they watched as the symbol appeared on her vest for a moment, where she stared down at it for a moment and then glanced back up to him, showing that she had no idea what he had done and wasn't sure what she should even say in response to what just happened, "There, you should be able to speak normally, instead of being forced to speak in haikus all the time."
"Amazing. I'm not bound to the enchantment anymore!" Sheila stated, where she was surprised by the fact that Spike was telling the truth, almost like she had doubted that such a thing was even possible, before she glanced at him and the rest of the group for a moment as she recalled what she had seen during the battle they had been in, "Is there anything the four of you can't do?"
"Oh, we're sure there are things we can't do, but most of it we haven't discovered yet," Spyro replied, though for the most part he knew that he and his siblings couldn't do anything that Sheila and Sgt. Byrd could do, and he couldn't forget about the limitations he, Spike, and Ember were bound by due to their age, since they were young dragons, "I'm sure that we'll find something else we can't do at some point in the future."
"Well, I'll take your word for it." Sheila said, showing that she understood what he was telling her, even though she noticed that his siblings agreed with what she was saying, before she glanced at the portal that was behind her for a few seconds as she considered something about the area she was heading to, "Anyway, I'm sure you know this, but don't let the Fireflies know you've done this, as they'll be very unhappy with the four of you, regardless of who did the deed... but, at the same time, I might need some assistance in the area behind me, since I have no idea what's waiting for me in this part of the swamp."
The group nodded their heads and followed Sheila through the portal that was behind her, where they quickly found themselves in an area that almost looked like some ruins, even though they appeared to be in great shape, and there were some boulders that were in their way, ones that were quickly smashed by Sheila hitting them with her feet or Ember using her hardened tail on them, as well as a straw basket that was crushed with a charge from Spyro, before they found two Fireflies resting in the next area they were heading towards.
"We have bombs here." the Firefly on the left said, informing the group that there was a reason that the two of them were carrying around explosives, which they only now saw since they were rather small and were carried in their pockets for some odd reason, but they said nothing as the individual told them what was going on, "We must destroy the egg cage! But we just go boom. Kangaroo can help. You can clear the path for us. Will Sheila help us?"
Sheila didn't say anything except nod her head, to which the Firefly that had spoken declared, in haiku, that it was now 'bombing time', before he jumped out into the area that was behind him and started to follow a path that seemed to be rather important to him, though just as he started to do that Sheila followed after him and jumped into the air to smash some of the tall mushrooms into the ground, so they didn't block the way. At the same time Ember used her hardened tail to smash the couple of boulders that were in their way as Spyro and Spike gathered the various gems that were on the ground, be they laying on the ground, laying on some of the structures that were near them, or in some straw baskets and metallic vases, leaving Elora to look all over the area as she kept an eye out for enemies, even though that let her locate some hidden areas that Sheila could smash with her legs once the eggs had been rescued. It took them some time to get the first Firefly to the other side of the area that they were in, due to the path that he seemed to be following and the fact that there were some things for the siblings to smash to get the gems, before he finally delivered the bomb to the cage and freed the first of the two eggs that were in this area, allowing them to return to where the other Firefly was waiting so they could do the entire thing all over again. Spike made sure to put the first egg down before they followed the other Firefly back out into the area that they had cleared, watching Sheila smash the rest of the mushrooms into the ground as she followed the individual they were helping out, where the siblings realized that there wasn't much for them to do this time around, before the second cage was broken wide open, allowing Elora to show Sheila the side areas she had seen so she could locate the gems that were resting in this area.
After a few more minutes Sheila and Elora came to a stop as they realized that they had all of the gems that were in this area and regrouped with the siblings, where Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora headed back to the main part of Spooky Swamp and headed for the exit portal, so they could head to Bamboo Terrace and finish off the last of the realms that were in Midday Gardens, before heading for the next homeworld at long last.
"That realm wasn't so bad," Elora commented, speaking the moment that she, Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to Midday Gardens and landed in front of the portal that lead to Spooky Swamp, the realm that they had just assisted by taking out all of the Rhynocs that were bothering the residents of the realm, before she considered something as she looked down at the magical rune Spike had placed on all of them, "I'm glad you were able to find a spell to deal with the haiku enchantment that was resting on the realm, as that would have been annoying to deal with."
"Spooky Swamp was interesting, to a degree." Spike replied, because it had been nice to show up Moneybags and stop another of his schemes to steal the gems that they had recovered so far, not to mention recover all of the eggs that had been placed in that realm, before he took a moment to remove the enchantment that he had placed on him, his siblings, and Elora, allowing the rune to disappear in a matter of seconds, "I'm also glad that I took some time to research the book and see if such a spell existed, because I'm not sure if all of us could have lived through speaking in haikus for the duration of our visit, but now we won't have to worry about it."
"That's right, and we have one more realm to assist," Spyro said, where he walked up the steps that would lead them to the highest point of the homeworld and came to a stop as he glanced at the area that the portal to Bamboo Terrace was located in, which was the final realm that they needed to head to and repeat what they had been doing to the realms they had visited so far, even if that wasn't counting the Speedway that was near it, "Once we're done dealing with the enemies that are bothering the residents of Bamboo Terrace, and have recovered all of the stolen eggs that are scattered around the realm, we can tackle the Speedway, get the eggs that are scattered around that island, and then return to the keep so we can head out for the next homeworld and see what sort of realms we'll have to deal with next."
"Getting to the next homeworld sounds nice, especially since we'll find Moneybags trying to sell us another hero that was captured by the Sorceress' forces." Ember added, referring to the fact that they were likely going to find the bear and someone that was being engaged against their will, due to trying to help the residents of the Forgotten Realms in taking down the person that was ruling over them with an iron will, especially since she seemed to be sending her forces to all of the realms to enforce her desires upon each and every one of them, "Besides, Sheila did mention that there were three other captured heroes that we were going to meet and Sgt. Byrd is definitely one of them, so it makes me curious as to who the other two could be."
The rest of the group nodded their heads for a moment, as they had to agree with Ember's statement and were a bit curious as to who the next captured hero had to be, which was something that they would discover once they reached the next homeworld, which was the moment that they stopped thinking about the next homeworld that they would be visiting and headed through the portal that was in front of them. Not a few moments later they appeared in the starting area for Bamboo Terrace, which looked like an intricate structure that mimicked what they had seen in the painting when they first arrived in Midday Gardens, a style that Spike knew was mostly timberwork of beams, posts, and joints, and it seemed like the structure they had appeared in was a bare pavilion, which made sense due to the pair of houses in front of where they were standing. Beyond the pair of houses rested another structure that looked like it contained the path forward, one that was being blocked by a round boulder that had a panda's face on it, which was rather odd and meant that it had to be a security measure of some kind, though to their right rested another pavilion that was resting on a lone pillar of earth, one that seemed to connect the starting area to the area the exit portal was in, if the previous realms were to be believed due to what they knew. Other than that this realm actually seemed rather relaxing and nice, even if it was under attack by the Rhynocs at the moment, informing the group that another peaceful realm was in the process of being torn apart due to the Sorceress ordering her forces to attack the realm in question, to which the group determined that it was time for them to get moving and see what they needed to do this time around.
While they walked over to where the first Panda was located, to replicate what they did with the previous realms they had visited, Elora took a moment to switch out the Spring Jump Form for her wings, as she had the feeling they would be more important for this realm, before they came to a stop in front of the Panda, who did seem a little worried about what was happening to his realm.
"What seems to be the problem?" Spyro asked, even though he could guess what was going on without having to ask the question, due to everything the group had seen so far, since they started this adventure and explored the Forgotten Realms, but he knew it was better to ask the residents what was going on so the four of them could have a much better understanding of what they needed to do to make things right, especially since such a thing might give them some new information that they weren't aware of.
"Well, Rhynocs have been harassing us all day, stopping us from harvesting bamboo." the Panda replied, showing that she wasn't happy with what was going on at the moment, which was understandable given that the Rhynocs were in the middle of bothering her and the rest of the Pandas that called the realm home, before she sighed for a moment as she thought about something, "Our workers haven't been able to gather any of the bundles of bamboo that we need to build the whirligig that will take you guys to Evening Lake."
"The whirligig?" Ember inquired, because this was the first time that they had heard of such a thing, given that none of the residents of the other realms in Midday Gardens had mentioned such a thing, but at the same time she didn't bother to question the part about Evening Lake, due to the fact that she was under the impression that it was the name of the third homeworld that they would be heading to.
"Its a vehicle that is faster than a hot air balloon, so instead of taking two hours to get there with the hot air balloon it will take a hour to get there with the whirligig." the Panda stated, revealing that it was a step up from the vehicle that they had been allowed to use after helping the residents of Sunrise Spring out, something that interested the group and meant that they would be able to save a bit of time in the future, once the vehicle was completed, "Anyway, we've been trying to gather the bamboo needed to build it, but with the Rhynocs harassing us we haven't been able to make any progress... we've even tried asking them to leave, peacefully I might add, but there's no reasoning with them."
"Gem creations, generally, have limited intelligence and only listen to a few orders, so it makes sense that they would ignore you and continue to follow what the Sorceress told them," Spike commented, recalling what he had learned about the spell in question, thanks to everything they had seen during their first adventure and everything they had seen during this adventure, though at the same time he was a little curious if there was a way to improve the spell, something that he might try out in the future, before he focused on what was going on at the moment, "but don't worry, we'll take out the Rhynocs that are here and restore order to your realm."
"I believe you, so I'll be waiting for the Rhynocs to be cleared out." the Panda said, where she was the first resident to actually reply to the fact that the group was promising that they would take care of the problem that the realm was facing at the moment, not that the siblings or Elora were surprised by that fact, which was the moment that she stood off to the side and let the group move forward.
The first thing the group did was pick up the couple of gems that were resting around the pavilion, adding them to the Bag of Holding that Spike was carrying, before they quickly found a Rhynoc that was wearing a green kimono, had some fireworks in one hand, and had a match in the other, meaning that it was a Firework Rhynoc and that it was going to use the fireworks to attack them. It was rather easy to dodge the attack, as the siblings just rolled to the side as Elora jumped into the air, where they allowed the firework to head over the cliff that was behind the pavilion that they had started in and exploded a few seconds later, before Spyro charged into their foe and knocked it to the ground, allowing them to turn to their left and see what else was near the pair of houses. There was a brown furred buffalo, who had rather sharp horns on its head, that was guarding the area between them and the area that the boulder was in, though it proved to be rather hostile as it tried to charge them into submission, only to be stopped by Ember as she hardened her entire body and let her foe collide with her, only causing the Buffalo to stagger for a moment as it collided with her. That was an opening that allowed her to hit the Buffalo with her hardened tail and defeat it, dropping a gem to confirm that they had found another of the Sorceress' creations, before locating a taller Rhynoc that was wearing a blue kimono, though its weapon of choice was an umbrella, the weirdest of choices, meaning it was, as per their naming scheme, an Umbrella Rhynoc, where Elora kicked it in the face and brought it down before it could hurt them.
Once that was done the group picked up the gems that were on the ground near them, and smashed a pair of straw baskets which were resting near a wall, as a pair of Pandas walked up to the boulder and rolled it out of the way, revealing a passage that would allow the four of them to reach the next part of the realm, one that was also designed in the same manner as the houses and the pavilion. From there the group entered the intricate wooden passage that had just been opened and collected the gems that were in the area, along with a few more straw baskets, before they walked through the other side of the passage and entered the much larger second area of the realm, where they found a house, a tower, and a couple of enemies that needed to be taken out. The first foe they took out was one of the Umbrella Rhynoc, where Spyro dodged the incoming attack by rolling out of the way, infuriating his target in the process, before flaming his foe in the back and bringing it down in a few seconds, while that allowed Spike, Ember, and Elora to focus on the rest of the area that they were in, not to mention the rest of the enemies that had to be walking around the area. What happened was that Ember stalled a Buffalo that charged at her, where it staggered for a moment as it came into contact with her hardened body, allowing her to strike it down with a quick swing of her tail, dropping a gem that was added to the collection that Elora was picking up off the ground, while Spike spotted another Buffalo in the area and used his Arcane Missiles to blast it into one of the raised sections of the ground that was around them. Elora, after picking up a decent number of the gems, jumped over a small gap that was nearby and picked up an egg that was resting over there, bringing it back to where Spike was standing so he could check it out and send it back home.
With the egg taken care of Elora turned her attention to the area that a Umbrella Rhynoc was in, chasing one of the Pandas around no less, where she jumped over the attack that was coming her way and then kicked her target in the side of its head, knocking it to the ground and allowing the Panda to return to what they had been doing before the Rhynocs invaded this realm. At the same time Spyro found a Firework Rhynoc to the right of the opening they had walked through, who was in the middle of tormenting yet another Panda, so what he did was head over there and charged into his target in a matter of seconds, freeing that Panda from what was happening, which was when the two they saved joined a third one at the tower the group had seen and formed a stack of their own by stand on each others shoulders until they could reach the lever that was above them. They then pulled the lever and caused a bridge to lower, one that would allow them to head through another wooden passage and access the next part of the realm, but instead of heading over to that area the four of them regrouped near the house and found a side path that seemed to curve around in the direction of the very first passage they had walked through earlier. The group found a gap that they jumped over, discovered an Umbrella Rhynoc that was blocking the way forward, who got taken down by Spike being simple and just flamed it before it even had a chance to attack them, and picked up a couple of gems along the way, before finding a hole in the side of the mountain that the first passage was connected to, where the group glided over to the cave in question.
What they found was an Umbrella Rhynoc guarding a few gems, a couple of straw baskets, and, more importantly, a dragon egg, so out of them Ember was the first one to react as she spun around and slammed her hardened tail right into the shoulder of her target, crushing it into the floor in a matter of seconds, which allowed Spyro and Elora to focus on the gems as Spike made sure that the egg was fine and then sent it off with his Teleportation Breath.
Once the egg was sent back to the Dragon Realms, to join the other eggs they had rescued so far, the group turned around and glided down into the area that the bridge to the next part of the realm rested in, though when they reached the bridge in question they discovered something interesting under the water that prompted Spyro to dive into the water for a few moments. What he discovered were a few glass vases and a number of gems that he added to the collection that Spike was carrying, and that included smashing a wall down that had nothing on the other side, meaning it was just a rather weak wall and by smashing it the water would shift a little, though once that was done he jumped out of the water and landed on the bridge, allowing him to regroup with the others. From there they found one of the Umbrella Rhynocs guarding the entrance of the next wooden passage that they needed to pass through, to which he approached their next foe and drew its attention to him, something that allowed Ember to get behind it, use the wall near their foe to jump into the air, and then used her tail to crush her target into the floor, something that allowed Elora to enter the small chamber and collect the gems that were in their way. As the Umbrella Rhynoc fell to the ground, and the gems were picked up, the group walked over to the other opening of the passage and discovered that they were already at the area that had to be where the exit portal was located, causing them to raise their eyebrows for a moment, due to the fact that they weren't expecting such a thing to happen at all, mostly since the other realms had taken longer to get from the starting area and find where the end was located.
The only structures in this area, that they could see at the moment, were a tower that was resting near the pavilion they had seen when they started their adventure in this realm, which didn't seem to be connected to either of the sections of the realm, and a temple that had to be where the exit portal was located, though there was a ruined bridge that would have connected the area they were in to the temple, meaning that the Rhynocs must have ruined it at some point during their assault, to keep their targets in one area to make their lives easier.
After checking out the area the first thing they did was pick up a few gems that were laying off to their left, though at the same time Elora found an Umbrella Rhynoc that was guarding the path on their right and rushed at it, where it tried to hit her with its umbrella and missed a few times as she dodged them, which was quickly followed by her punching her foe in the face and knocked it to the ground. Beyond that rested one of the Buffaloes they had seen since they started helping out the Pandas, where a quick ball of fire rushed by where she was standing and struck down the Buffalo that she would have fought if the siblings didn't join her, though because it was a fireball and not a burst of fire she knew Spike was the one that had stuck the next foe down, allowing them to access another couple of gems as they curved to the left and were soon pointed in the direction of the temple. That allowed the group to see that there were an Umbrella Rhynoc and one of the Firework Rhynocs standing guard in the area that the path had brought them to, where Ember hardened her body once more and let both of their foes try to hit her, the umbrella doing nothing and the firework just exploding in her face while doing no damage to her, but that was exactly what she was expecting to happen. As the pair of foes stared at her in shock, due to the fact that neither of them were expecting such a thing to occur, Spike blasted the Firework Rhynoc with his Arcane Missiles and knocked it into the wall that was behind it, while at the same time Spyro charged into the Umbrella Rhynoc as Elora kicked it in the side of the head, taking it down as well. Of course, as they took those foes down, they did find another Buffalo guarding the edge of the area, where the path to the temple was located in, but Ember was the one that took it down by allowing it to charge into her hardened body and then jump into the air so she could slam her tail down on her foe's backside, crushing it into the ground.
From there the group picked up the gems that their foes had been guarding before approaching the waterfall that was in front of them, where Ember dived into the water and smashed a few glass vases so she could add them to the pile of gems they had recovered so far, not to mention the couple of gems that were there in the first place, though it wasn't long before she jumped out and rejoined them. Once that was done they took turns jumping over the two raised stone platforms and reached the area that was in front of the temple, where a Firework Rhynoc was in the middle of preparing a firework to knock them out of the air, but Spike reacted within seconds and blasted their foe before it even had a chance to fire a second attack at them with another Arcane Missile. Instead of heading into the temple immediately, like one would normally do, the group explored the outside and made sure that there were no more enemies lingering in the area that they were in, finding a lone Firework Rhynoc that was hiding behind the temple, so Elora kicked it in the side of the head and took it down as it raised its weapon at them, allowing the siblings to collect the gems and smash the couple of straw baskets that were behind the temple. With that done they turned around and made their way back to the opening that would allow them to enter the final structure of the realm, not counting any of the side areas that they would be exploring in the near future, before coming to a stop when they approached the Panda that was standing near the exit portal, meaning they had reached the end of the realm and had succeeded in helping the residents out.
"You guys are amazing! Those Rhynocs didn't stand a chance, and now I can freely extend the emergency bridge that connects to this area to the starting area," the Panda said, revealing that she was incredibly happy about the fact that they had taken care of all of the enemies that had been attacking the realm, while assisting all of the Pandas that were being chased by the Rhynocs, before she considered something for a few moments, "Now that the Rhynocs have been taken care of we can harvest the necessary bamboo to build the whirligig that will allow you to reach Evening Lake, and Sgt. Byrd told us that you guys are looking for these, so here's the dragon egg that was hidden inside the temple."
Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora glanced at each other for a moment as the emergency bridge was activated, because that statement explained why there were so many enemies in this part of the realm, before Spike made sure that the egg was just fine and then sent it to the Dragon Realms, just as the Panda headed through the exit portal, which was when the group headed for the other opening to their right... something that brought them to a portal that looked like something that was connected to an icy area of some kind, as in the realm someone called home, before they located a sign that had a picture of a white furred creature.
"Lets see, 'To all explorers: there is no yeti here, and there never was! He was just a myth!', and, just like the last one we found, its signed by the Sorceress." Spike said, reading the sign that was resting near the sealed off portal, something that reminded them of what they had seen back in Molten Crater, before he considered what the sign had said and what they had learned from both Sheila and Moneybags in the past, while the rest of the group waited for him to speak his mind on what they had discovered, "Based on what we know, this yeti has to be the third individual that the Sorceress captured and locked away in a cell, one that we'll likely find in Evening Lake and free as soon as we discover where the cage is located, which means dealing with Moneybags as well... and the Sorceress seems to be trying to stop people from looking for the heroes that she's framing, which doesn't seem to be working at all."
"Well, hopefully this yeti is nothing like the one from Colossus," Elora remarked, referring to the danger that the yeti in question had posed to the Monks of the realm that it had been resting in for some time, even if the siblings had been able to turn the tables on it without actually fighting it, something that still annoyed Ember whenever she thought about what happened in that realm, mostly because she wanted to fight the creature and see how strong it was, instead of having it be knocked out by a large stone.
"We'll find out when we find where Moneybags is hiding in Evening Lake." Ember commented, though at the same time she turned away from the portal and looked around the rest of the area that they were in, mostly because she was ready to continue exploring the rest of the realm and see if they could find the rest of the eggs that had to be here, even if one or two might be out of reach at the moment.
Spyro said nothing as he turned and climbed the stone steps that were to their left, of which there were a few of them and came to a stop a few seconds later, something that revealed a gap between where they were and the next platform that would bring them to a lone platform near the temple, one that he had to glide to and then jumped into the air to do the same thing for the final platform, only to come to a stop as he landed on the lone area and waited for the rest of the group to reach where he was standing.
"Is that what I think it is?" Elora asked, as she was staring at a yellow jar with green stripes, which happened to have a red question mark on it, though she was being serious about the question, mostly because she had heard of this type of jar before, back in Avalar to be exact, even if she had never seen one with her own eyes and only read about it when she went over what Spike had written down about the realms that had them, but this did match the description that was in the book she read earlier.
"Yeah, its a Question Mark Jar." Spyro replied, as he knew what they were looking at and figured that this time around he could show Spike that he was paying attention to what Spike had said in the past, even though this sort of thing was a little interesting in how they worked and had to wonder if his brother had learned how to track them down when they teleported to a new area of the realm, something that they would discover in the next couple of seconds.
Once Elora knew that they were staring at the teleporting jar that moved around whatever realm that they were in, and understood what was going to happen when they struck the object in question, Spyro smacked it with his tail and it disappeared not a few seconds later, which was the moment that the rest of the group turned to Spike as he felt the magic that was in the air. Not a few seconds later he glided over to the backside of the temple and walked back to where the exit portal was resting, where he waited for a few seconds and let the group discover that the Question Mark Jar had moved to the walkway that connected the temple to where the closed off portal was located, surprising the four of them with the fact that it hadn't moved that much from the area it had been resting in earlier. Ember glared at the jar as she slapped it with her claws, not even bothering to use her tail this time around, and they moved the moment it disappeared, but as the group started to leave the temple through the main entrance, as they had used the side entrance that was opposite of the one that lead to the closed off portal, they discovered an egg thief standing near the ramp that lead into the temple, which was when Ember glared at it and started to chase the thief as it ran off with the egg. The thief, as it turned out, jumped over the ruined bridge and headed for the emergency one, where a Firework Rhynoc happened to be standing, but that poor fool was taken out by Ember charging into it as she followed the thief, who ended up getting slammed into not a few seconds later as it tried to get away from her, which was when the rest of the group walked over to her side, where they found a side path connected to the pavilion that lead to another section of the realm.
Spike took a few seconds to make sure the egg was just fine, and it was in the same condition that all of the other eggs had been in when they recovered them, before sending it back home and they returned to the search for the Question Mark Jar, since they were sure that it would move if they went to another section of the realm, and Spike leaded them back to the area the three Pandas had been in, who were still standing on each others shoulders. Oddly enough the jar was next to them, where Elora kicked it with her right leg and it disappeared again, only for it to reappear not a few steps away from where they were currently standing, as it was in the shadow of one of the structures in this area, the house that was to the right of the wooden passage that first lead to this area when they were first exploring the realm. The group stared at each other for a moment, as they were honestly expecting it to move further than that or maybe head up the hill that was near the tower, that had lead them to the cave with one of the eggs, but in the end the four of them sighed as they walked over to the jar and Spike gave it a good whack with his claws, mostly out of annoyance due to the fact that the jar was more of a joke this time around. This time around Elora found the jar before Spike did, as it happened to be in the middle of the opening that lead to this part of the realm, in the middle of the wooden passage to be exact, and it took them a few seconds to locate it and strike it down by Spyro flaming it, causing it to move right behind the boulder that the Pandas had moved out of the way earlier, something that caused them to sigh again as it moved back to the starting area for the realm and beckoned them to come get it.
As such the four of them spent a few moments walking back to where the starting area was located and smashed the jar so they could get all of the gems that were inside it, though once that was done they headed for the emergency bridge was located and headed up the side path that would take them to a new area that would hold a few things for them to obtain while they were there... where they found themselves in a room that a Panda was standing in, along with one of the Powerup Gates that was a Superflame and, based on the symbol below it, the powerup would least for as long as they were in this section of the realm, making them wonder what they needed to do this time around.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, you guys have to help us!" the Panda declared, informing the group that the residents of the lands of the Forgotten Realms were starting to hear their names and use them when they were helping people out, meaning that someone was telling them what their names were since they really hadn't given them out, where Sheila and Sgt. Byrd were the ones that had to be doing it, but none of them were annoyed by that and remained quiet as they waited to hear what the problem was, "My friends are trying to go home after a long shift in the fields, but those rotten Rhynocs keep bothering them and won't let them leave the area."
The group said nothing as they passed through the Powerup Gate and empowered themselves, or at least the siblings did since Elora and her armor couldn't access the various offensive abilities that the gates offered, but she could point out where the Rhynocs were as she and the others came to a stop on the boat the Panda was letting them use and let it start moving as they followed the river that was flowing through the area in question. Once they started moving the siblings took turns focusing on the Umbrella Rhynocs that Elora called out, blasting them out of the area before they could even head to where the Pandas were standing, allowing the Pandas to leave the various areas that they had been forced to stand in for who knew how long. Of course that gave the group a chance to see that all of the houses were above the area that the river was in, meaning that the various enemies that they were taking down had knocked the Pandas off the short ladders that allowed them to access their homes, where a few of the Pandas even celebrated over what was going on as the group moved through the area and continued to help everyone else out. The group also discovered that there was no challenge to this mission, as none of the Umbrella Rhynocs even got close to the Pandas that were trying to head home, not with the siblings taking turns knocking all of their targets off the ground and out of the air, as a couple of their targets tried to attack the Pandas from the air, before they eventually found that no more Rhynocs were in the area and that all of the residents of this realm were able to return to their homes. Such a thing made the Pandas happy, as they waved at the group as they let the boat take them all over the river for a few seconds before heading into their houses, to rest up and do whatever it was when they weren't working on collecting bamboo or working in the fields, like they had been doing before the Rhynocs showed up earlier.
As such the four of them quickly returned to the Panda that had asked for their assistance and gave her the news that she was waiting for, where they got an egg for their efforts and Spike quickly sent it back to the Dragon Realms, which was the moment that they left the section of the realm that they were in, returned to the main area of Bamboo Terrace, and made their way towards the exit portal, as it was time to head back to the keep, that was back in Midday Gardens, and see how long it would take for the whirligig to be made ready for them to head for Evening Lake.
Once Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to the main area of Midday Gardens the first thing they did was glance at the portal that lead to Country Speedway, the last realm that needed to be assisted before they left this land and headed to Evening Lake, so they could resume looking for the eggs and take down the Rhynocs that were in the various realms, but what they did wasn't what they normally did. What the group did was walk back to where the keep was located, by heading over to the sign that Zoe had left on the cliff and jumped down into the area that was right outside the building that was their destination, where they found Sgt. Byrd and one of the residents of the other realms moving bamboo around and starting to construct something, the whirligig based on what they were told earlier. Based on what the group could tell the device was going to be square shaped and that there were a few sandbags resting nearby, almost like what the hot air balloon had possessed earlier, but for the most part it didn't seem like the device was even ready, mostly because there were a number of parts scattered around the area that was the inside of the keep and it seemed that the people the group had assisted were in the middle of putting it together. They could see that there were gears, beams, and an assortment of pieces that would go into making the device that would allow them to reach the next homeworld of the Forgotten Realms, so they were looking forward to seeing what the finished product looked like, especially given the fact that it would be much faster than the hot air balloon.
Even though they were standing there for a few moments, and only got to look at the whirligig as it was assembled, Sgt. Byrd noticed that the four of them were even there and flew over to where they were standing, indicating that he knew why they were here and that he had something to tell them, no doubt about the device itself, which was why they kept quiet for a few seconds as he stopped in front of them.
"It will take us some time to assemble the whirligig and make sure it is operational so the four of you can get to the next homeworld, Evening Lake, without difficulties." Sgt. Byrd stated, where he quickly informed the group that it would take him and the rest of the residents of Midday Gardens a while before they would be able to finish their work on the device the Pandas had told them about, even though Spike was interested in seeing what it was like when they finally completed their work, "I would recommend visiting the Country Speedway and taking some time to relax, otherwise it might be boring for you to watch us put the whirligig together."
"Well, then we'll come back later, once we're gone flying around the Speedway." Spyro replied, not that he was all that surprised by what he was hearing, due to the fact that the last thing they had done in Sunrise Spring, before using the hot air balloon to leave and come to this homeworld, was head through the portal that lead to the island in question and made sure to clear out the Speedway, so it made sense that they would do the same thing here, clear out the Speedway before using the device to head to Evening Lake.
As such Spyro turned around and lead the group back to where the portal to Country Speedway was located, the barn shaped structure that would lead them to the island in question, and it didn't take them all that long to reach the area in question, which was the moment that they walked through the portal and headed to the area that the Speedway had been built in, so they could find the gems and eggs that were aroound that island. It didn't take them long to appear in the starting area for the Speedway, where the group was able to see that their thoughts on what might be here were accurate, to a degree, as there was a farmhouse off in the distance, a tower near it, a water tower to their left, a number of the blue stars that seemed to be scattered around the area, and, interestingly enough, some planes that were flying around, which had to be the individuals that they would challenge to a race later, once they finished the first challenge. As they glanced around the area, and made absolutely sure that they had a good idea of what the layout looked like, from the ground to be exact, their dragonflies flew off for a few moments, no doubt because they were trying to find the racers that called this place home and learn what the challenges of this Speedway were, mostly because the last Speedway had the usual task of taking out four objects to get the gems and the second had been to race the locals, who had told them what the pair of challenges had been in the first place. Of course it didn't take Sparx, Talon, or Cinder long to return to the area that the group was standing in, since they were taking in the area that was around them while Spike made notes on what they were seeing, before they focused on the dragonflies for a moment as they came to a stop, to learn if the challenges were the same as the last Speedway.
"According to the locals, there are two flying challenges in this Speedway," Talon stated, speaking in the same buzzing sound that he, Sparx and Cinder spoke in when they talked to someone, something that the group was used to at this point in time, though the group remained silent as they waited to see if there was anything different from the previous Speedway they had taken on, "the usual Time Attack and Race the Bi-Planes."
"So the Speedways in the Forgotten Realms will share the same challenges, just with different racers and obstacles for us to take on," Spike commented, where he remembered what they had faced when they visited the last Speedway and tackled the challenges that were offered to them, while at the same time seeing that his siblings were thinking the same thing as Elora checked out her wings once more, before he glanced at Spyro, "So, should we do what we did last time and take it from there, or would you like to do something different this time around?"
"We should follow the same thing we did earlier, the three of us can take out the targets that are scattered around the island, Elora can go find Hunter, and then one of us can race the planes." Spyro replied, showing that he understood what they needed to do and that he was more than willing to follow the same pattern that they had used back in the previous Speedway, which had worked out quite well and allowed them to walk away with three eggs and four hundred gems, and this should give them a break before they returned to the keep and checked out the progress that Sgt. Byrd and the others were making on the whirligig.
Elora nodded her head and took off not a few seconds after she did that, once more enjoying the fact that she was able to fly with the wings that came with her armor, though as she took to the air she noticed a few things as she started to look for Hunter, like the first target that the siblings needed to take out were the group of eight rings that were in the air, leading them to another part of the realm. While following that path she noticed that the siblings would have to take out two more targets, one being the eight cows that were standing on two legs and were holding signs that looked like they might be protesting dragons or something, meaning that they had to be forced to do this by the Sorceress, while the second target were some tractors that were driving around part of the island. The fourth and final target, as it turned out, were the blue planes that were flying through the area and seemed to be minding their own business, though that was all Elora saw and that meant they had to be the final targets that the siblings would have to take out, something that would be easy since they would likely share the ring target and then split once the final ring was claimed. As such she landed on the top of the farm house, which seemed to be vacant at the moment, and stared out at the starting area as Spyro, Spike, and Ember took to the air and started to follow the rings that were in front of them, where they flew through them and quickly reached the end, which was the moment that Spyro focused on the cows, Spike targeted the planes and blasted them out of the air, and Ember hardened her body as she rushed on the ground, allowing her to smash the tractors that were coming her way.
She was, once more, amazed by how well the siblings worked together and how they tackled obstacles that were in their way, be they actual enemies or stuff like this, along with being impressed by the fact that they were able to add her to what they usually did without breaking the motions that they went through, as if there had been a fourth member of the team all along and not three, even though she knew that the siblings were just that skilled at what they were doing, which seemed to impress everyone they encountered. With the siblings working together they were able to take out all four of the targets that she had seen and soon Spike was sitting near the starting area, counting the gems that they had won from completing the challenge while Ember looked over the egg that had been part of the prize as well, though that left Spyro to take to the air once more as he focused on overcoming the five planes that served as the other racers in the race that he would be participating in. Elora watched as Spyro and the planes flew all over the island as they followed the course that the green dots and rings formed, while the blue stars served as speed boosts once more, but that was when she spotted a red star that allowed Spyro to loose a rocket, in a sense, that struck the plane that was in front of him and allowed him to pass it, basically allowing him to get a higher place as he raced for first place. What interested Elora was the fact that none of the other racers even tried to get the same powerup as well, even if it was a one time use until they passed through another red star, almost like they were allowing Spyro to get further ahead of them, making her wonder if the various racers might be doing this like they were told to guard an egg and this was the simplest way to do so without someone accusing them of being traitors to the Sorceress, even if they would totally do it at some point.
Either way Spyro was able to overcome the planes that were in front of him, both by what Elora saw and by his own hard work, before overcoming the fifth and final opponent near the end of the course, close to the end of the third lap, which earned him a second dragon egg that he brought over to Spike and Ember, serving as the cue for her to resume her search for Hunter... who, as it turned out, was inside the house that she had been sitting on as she watched the siblings, only the structure was hollow for some reason, and Hunter was working on something.
"Hunter, what are you doing?" Elora asked, because the last time she went looking for him in a Speedway she had found him near a plane that allowed him to take the fight to the saucers that were invading the island, making her wonder if there was something else Hunter had learned about, just like he had figured out the saucers were heading to the previous island, and was preparing for what was coming.
"Oh, hey Elora, I'm just working on my jet pack," Hunter replied, though at the same time he set his tools aside and put on the device that he had been working on, before turning to face her for a moment as he pulled out a blaster as well, as if he was expecting to use it against someone or something in the very near future, "and, as it turns out, there are sheep in flying saucers and cows in space suits coming towards the island, clearly coming to abduct someone, so I'm going to head out and take the fight to them... and maybe get my hands on an egg while I'm at it."
Elora raised an eyebrow for a moment as Hunter headed out and took off not a few seconds later, where he flew over to what seemed to be his starting area, the first place that the invaders were heading towards, and she flew out to see what he was doing, though it wasn't a few moments later that some saucers started to fly into the area and Hunter used his blaster to blow the ships out of the air. As he flew around the set path that his scanners had picked up, which had to be attached to his jet pack in some manner, Elora watched as he knocked out the various saucers that were flying through the air and, at the same time, loosed a few shots at the ground that were targeting the cows that were holding up some beings that were standing on two legs, who had to be the pilots of the various planes that were around the island, be they the ones that were damaged by the siblings or the ones that Spyro raced against, but that didn't stop Hunter from blasting the various enemies that were in the area as he focused on his mission. She had to admit that it was rather nice to see Hunter focused on something like this, being a hero while not falling to his usual cowardice, something that had been harmful in the past, meaning that the events that Ripto had set in motion, combined with what the siblings had done in front of him, had caused a change in her friend, one that seemed to be setting him down the path to become a hero, and she could see that the residents he was saving were certainly happy with his actions, due to the fact that they cheered and clapped after he saved them from the saucers and the space cows.
When Hunter finished taking out the enemies that had invaded the Speedway, and had freed all of the people that had been in the middle of being abducted, he was given an egg for his efforts, as thanks from the residents that had been saved due to his actions, which he made sure to give to Elora, so she could take it to the siblings and make sure it was returned to the Dragon Realms as well. It didn't take her long to reach the starting area of the island, where she placed the egg on the ground and watched as Spike made sure that all three of them were just fine, after counting and making sure that they had received four hundred gems after completing the first challenge that had been thrown at them, but after a few moments Spike smiled and used his Teleportation Breath to send all three eggs back home, as it was time for them to join all of the others they had recovered so far. Once that was done the four of them took off and started to fly away from the island, as it was the only way to actually leave without locating an exit portal or using a spell to leave the area, and it only took them a minute or two to reach the edge of the area, which allowed them to vanish from the Speedway and head back to Midday Gardens so they could check on the progress of the whirligig. The group found that it only took them a few moments to reappear in front of the portal they had headed through earlier and turned to their left, where they headed over to the edge that would allow them to jump down to where the keep was located and see if Sgt. Byrd and the others had completed their work, or if they needed to do something else before the new vehicle was ready to go.
What they discovered was that a tall wooden construct was resting between the residents of the realms that rested in Midday Gardens, one that easily stood as tall as Elora and then half of another, where the central beam was connected to two frames on the sides of the vehicle, which had a square base, and had some fans that had five blades on them, while a central propeller existed on top of the whirligig, to lift them into the air, though based on what they were seeing it was complete and the residents were ready to let them move on with their quest.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, its good to see you again. As you can see, the whirligig is complete," Sgt. Byrd stated, speaking the moment he noticed that the group had returned to the keep and was looking at the vehicle that had replaced the hot air balloon they had started with, though even he was impressed by the fact that, even with the majority of the pieces being assembled ahead of time, they were able to complete the vehicle before the group returned to them, "this will allow you to get to Evening Lake in an hour, so you can continue your quest to recover the dragon eggs and help the other realms that the Sorceress is attacking."
"Don't worry, we'll be sure to bring her down for her crimes against you guys and the other realms," Elora said, as that seemed to be something that they were working towards, bringing the Sorceress down and restoring order to the lands that Sgt. Byrd, Sheila, and the others called home, and she was just fine with that, as she didn't like Bianca's mentor with what she had seen and was sure that such a thing wasn't going to change anytime soon.
"Well, then you had best get going!" Sgt. Byrd declared, indicating that it was about time the four of them climbed into the whirligig and left Midday Gardens behind, so they could focus on the next homeworld that they would be helping out and the enemies that would be waiting for them, since he was sure there were more Rhynocs waiting for someone, or a group of someones, as it were, to try and claim the eggs.
Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora nodded their heads for a moment before climbing into the sitting area that had been provided in the whirligig, while at the same time Elora made sure to put her wings away so they didn't do anything to the device that had been made for them, though that was when Spike glanced at the console that had been built into the area they were sitting in and felt some magic at work as the whirligig started to move, leaving them to depart from the keep and head in the direction of Evening Lake.
While the whirligig flew in the direction of the next homeworld, definitely moving at speeds that were faster than what the hot air balloon had used when they were using it earlier, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora used the time to rest and recover from their adventures in the realms that had been in Midday Gardens, though each of them did something different as they waited for them to arrive at their next destination. Spike, of course, pulled out the Guidebook once more and started to read up on the realms of Evening Lake, just to give him some insight as to what they might discover in the future, just like he had done when they were flying to Midday Gardens, even though they had been interrupted by Bianca sending a creature to ambush them, even if the creature didn't hurt any of them. Ember sat down and closed her eyes as Spike did that, showing that she was going to rest and recover from the usage of her Warrior's Armor once more, especially since she could get a recap on what she missed once they reached their next destination, be it another arena or the homeworld that they were heading towards. Spyro and Elora, however, glanced out at the area that the whirligig was passing through and found that they were heading towards a rocky area, similar to what they had seen when they were nearly part way through the distance between the first homeworld and the second one, but there wasn't as much lava as the last area, so there wasn't a chance of a new realm being created in the near future and being added to Midday Gardens, which was nice since they could look at some trees this time around, despite how few of them there actually were.
As they moved through the air, however, there was something Elora noticed when she glanced back and that was the fact that Sgt. Byrd was in the process of following after them, meaning he must have recalled the ambush that had lead to him, Sheila, and the other heroes being captured by the Sorceress, something that told her they might be getting closer to where an ambush was waiting. While that happened the pair found out something interesting, the lava this time had more of a green coloration this time around, before discovering circular houses of some kind that had spikes on their roofs, why she had no idea, and that the lava definitely surrounded an area that was a circular arena, meaning they might have found the area that Sgt. Byrd was heading to. Once they found that out, and Elora made sure that Spike glanced out at the area to see what was around them as Ember opened her eyes, the group found a tall creature, roughly around the same size of Crush, one of the dinosaurs that Ripto had used against Avalar, standing in the middle of the arena, who looked like a tall hybrid of a bunny and a Rhynoc, to a degree since it had leathery skin and no fur, and it was wearing a green loincloth around its waist, something that covered the upper portion of its legs. The creature had hooves for legs, not in the same manner that Elora had, had large spikes that were coming out of its shoulders, like a defense mechanism of some kind to protect its head from incoming attacks, a smaller spike in the middle of its head, one that didn't look dangerous at all, and happened to be holding a large gun of some kind in his left hand, one that seemed ready to blast whoever came to the area, which was going to be the four of them, based on what they knew.
In fact, before the whirligig even reached the area that the creature was standing guard in, Sgt, Byrd rushed forward and fired some of his missiles at the monster that was in their way, where the group realized that his weapons had done nothing to the creature and that Sgt. Byrd had to move out of the area as the creature tried to hit him by firing a blast from its weapon, but once he was out of the area the beast returned to his previous state as the whirligig landed on the edge of the arena so the group could climb out and face it.
"It seems that my tactical instincts were correct, the Sorceress was planning on attacking you here," Sgt. Byrd stated, where he flew into the area and came to a stop behind the group, making sure that the creature didn't see him since he didn't want to be blasted by the weapon again, though it appeared that their new foe hadn't noticed his return, as if it was more interested in the siblings at the moment, which made sense given what they knew, "and it also seems that my rocket launchers did nothing to this creature, meaning I'll need to find another way to do damage."
"Well, based on what's around us, you could probably pull some molten rocks out of the lava and use them to deal some damage to this guy," Ember remarked, though at the same time she turned around and climbed back onto the whirligig, something that surprised Sgt. Byrd for a moment since he wasn't used to seeing one of the group do something like that, before she turned and looked at the rest of the group, "Spike, Elora, the two of you can tackle this guy... even I can see there is no challenge to be had and that it will fall in no time."
Spike and Elora glanced at each other for a moment as Spyro nodded his head and joined Ember, not because they didn't want to fight this creature, like they had fought the last one, but because this one seemed far too straightforward for them to have a five against one battle, as that seemed far too much in both his eyes and Ember's eyes, so once they had determined what was going on the whirligig moved out of the arena and let the pair observe the battle from above as the pair readied themselves for what was coming their way.
"Well, I was not expecting this." Sgt. Byrd admitted, as he was expecting to do battle with all four of them and seeing what sort of skills the siblings really had to show him, since they had been forced to sit out every single time he had been near them, but he guessed that he was going to have to accept the fact that it was just going to be Spike and Elora that would be facing this creature, hence why he focused on their foe, "I trust that the two of you have a plan of attack for this creature, even though I'll be trying to get some ammunition for you to use against it."
"It shouldn't be too hard to come up with a plan of attack," Spike said, though he made sure to give Sgt. Byrd the Bag of Holding and his satchel, which were returned to the whirligig so they wouldn't be in the way or be in danger of taking damage, before focusing his magic for a moment as he considered what they were going to do against this foe, which was why he glanced over to Elora for a second as he spotted some molten rocks in the lava, "and I think I might have come up with an idea on what we can do against this creature."
"I think I have an idea of what you're thinking about," Elora replied, because she was used to what Spike was able to do with his magic and could easily tell when an idea or thought had come to him, especially when she saw him take a few seconds to glance at lava and the rocks that were near them, to which she tapped one of the buttons and switched back to the Spring Jump form she had used earlier, as there was a mechanic of it that she hadn't shared with the siblings, even if there was a chance that Spike might have figured it out without her saying anything about it, "and, if I'm right, it should be more than enough to take this creature down. Shall we?"
Spike nodded and the pair separated from each other as Sgt. Byrd took to the air, so he could see what the pair had in mind for this creature, even though their foe was in the middle of aiming at one of them with its blaster, only for that to fail as a blast raced out to where Spike was standing and struck a magical barrier that hadn't been there a few seconds ago, causing the blast to shatter as it struck the barrier. Spike followed that up by moving away from the area he had been standing in and loosed a few Arcane Missiles at their foe's chest, causing it to stagger for a moment, which was just what he wanted as part of his magic latched onto one of the molten rocks that were in the nearby lava and teleported it into the area that they were fighting in, letting it fall to the ground of the arena. Instead of allowing it to hit the ground, and maybe smashing it into pieces as a result, Elora rushed over to where the molten rock was located and jumped into the air, where she kicked a section of the rock that still had Spike's magic on it, to protect her leg from the molten nature of the rock, with the side of her leg and used the power of her Spring Jump Form in a different manner. Rather than using the form to do taller jumps, like she had done in the past, she transferred the power into her kick and sent the rock flying through the air, where it rushed right into the creature's chest and caused it to stagger as she landed on the ground, showing that what she and Spike had done had worked to some degree, causing their foe to roar in annoyance before raising its weapon and taking aim once more, this time targeting Elora as she recovered from her attack.
Spyro and Ember weren't worried about what they were seeing, as Elora was able to dodge the first blast, which raced off and struck one of the peaks that was near the arena, while the second one, which was fired a few moments later and in rapid succession, was stopped by Spike's quick thinking, though whether it was due to him peering into the future a little or due to him reading what their foe was doing didn't matter to the pair, as they could see that Spike and Elora worked well as a team and this was all the proof they needed.
This time around Sgt. Byrd realized what Spike was doing and flew out over the lava for a moment, where he found a rock that looked like it would suffice and grabbed it with his feet, as the part he grabbed wasn't overheated and didn't burn him at all, before he pulled it over to the closest of the pair and let go of it, showing them that he was going to play support for them so they could focus their attention on the creature and nothing else. That allowed Spike to use a few of his Arcane Missiles to blast the creature as Elora jumped into the air and kicked it a few times, despite the fact that the two of them knew that normal attacks didn't seem to be doing anything and that their attacks were more to keep it distracted while they waited for Sgt. Byrd's assistance, even if they could actually beat this monster on their own. This time around Spike charged some magic into the molten rock that landed near him and then launched it forward like it had come from a slingshot, striking the creature in the chest and causing it to stagger as the rock exploded on it, delivering a powerful blast from the rock breaking and the magic exploding, forcing the creature to roar again as it glared at them. When Spike went to grab another molten rock, with the purpose of teleporting it over to Elora, they were surprised when the creature did something that neither of them were really expecting, it turned its blaster on the rock and blew it out of the air before it even landed on the ground or could be kicked by Elora, meaning that it had some level of intelligence that only sprung up from time to time and, more importantly, that they had to plan around that sudden burst. Their foe was also a fan of moving a little every now and then, to take up a better position before trying to fire at one of them, so all Spike and Elora had to do was make sure they moved and dodged the incoming blasts, or intercept them with a barrier spell every now and then, which did seem to confuse the creature whenever it saw what Spike was doing.
After the third molten rock hit their foe in the face, by Spike teleporting one over to Elora so she could kick it right into the creature's chest and stagger it, the pair watched as the creature threw a fit for a few seconds and jumped into the air a few times, where the collision of it hitting the floor caused some cracks to appear in the stone floor, where steam came out of the cracks every now and then, along with short bursts of fire that they had to avoid. This time around Sgt. Byrd had a new weapon to use against the creature, one that he must have remembered that he had while he was watching the pair fight the creature, and he dropped a red orb of some kind that had spikes on it, an item that was the size of the Orbs that the siblings had collected back in Avalar, though he also messed up by allowing the first of those orbs to land near their foe, who snatched it up and empowered his weapon so it could fire a wave of flames at them. Fortunately Spike was ready for that sort of thing and a quick barrier spell stopped the wave from hurting them, though instead of waiting for another one to be dropped he switched things up and starting hurling Fireballs at their foe, blasting the creature in the chest as he forced it to take a couple of steps back, allowing Elora to get a few kicks in at the same time as they pushed their foe back some more, showing it that it would have a tough time trying to bring them down. Elora did try one of the fire orbs out as one landed near her, though while she was expecting the suit not to work with the orbs, since it hadn't been built to use any of the offensive powerups, she found that grabbing the orb allowed her to channel the power into her active form, her Spring Jump Form, and her legs took on a red glow for a moment, where she quickly found what she could do when she kicked at the creature, due to releasing a wave of flame that followed the path of her kick.
As such the combination of her new fire kicks, which needed a better name if she found a way to do this in the future, and what Spike was doing was enough for them to force their foe to throw another fit and crack the floor of the arena once more, showing that it was mad at the pair for being able to do this to it without either of them actually taking any damage from its attacks. With that done Sgt. Byrd dispensed a new item for them to use, an orb that had a purple color to it this time around, though this one seemed to be more about power than anything else, as when Spike got his claws on it nothing special happened and he simply teleported it over to Elora, who spun around and kicked it right into their foe's chest once more, causing it to stagger even more this time around, either an indication of the power of this orb or the fact that their foe was getting weaker as the battle progressed. Interestingly enough this time the creature didn't even attempt to capture one of the purple orbs that were being dropped into the area, not that there were that many since Sgt. Byrd was making sure to put them down near the pair that was fighting, and it wasn't long before Spike and Elora nodded as they moved to put the finishing touches on this battle, by Spike dodging to the side, to avoid some blasts from their foe's weapon, before teleporting the next orb over to Elora, who spun around and used her Spring Jump Form to send the orb right into their foe's chest. That caused the creature to stagger for a few seconds, dropping both its blaster and, even more importantly, an egg it happened to be carrying, before it fell over the edge of the arena and collapsed in the lava, revealing that the battle was over and that they didn't have to worry about anything anymore, where Sgt. Byrd smiled as he bid the group farewell, and made sure to tell Spike and Elora that they did quite well in their battle, before headed back to Midday Gardens, allowing Spike to send the egg back home.
Once the creature was taken care of, and the egg had been sent home, Spike and Elora returned to the whirligig and joined the others, where they took a seat and let the device take off once more, this time heading for Evening Lake so they could continue their adventure, rescue the eggs that were in that homeworld, and save the realms from the Rhynocs that were no doubt bothering them at the moment.
Just like what happened when they left the arena that the first creature had been waiting to ambush them in, which had been the area that Sheila had helped them out in by hitting their foe into the lava, the group rested for another half an hour as they waited for the whirligig to arrive in Evening Lake, the third homeworld of the Forgotten Realms and bringing them even closer to the Sorceress. The four of them knew that the moment they landed at their destination they would explore the area, recovering the stolen eggs that were around whatever structure served as the main one for the land, just like how Sunrise Spring had a castle and Midday Gardens had the keep, even though Spike thought that it might be another castle, just because of how popular they had been in the Dragon Realms. It wasn't a hard assumption to make, due to the fact that the dragons once called these lands home and built similar structures back in the lands that they now called home, so his siblings and Elora nodded their heads as he informed them of why he came to that understanding, indicating that they believed what he was suggesting. Other than that the group returned to what they had been doing as they flew to the area that the arena had been in, as in Spyro took the time to watch the area go by, Ember continued to take her nap so she could recover her energy, Spike turned the pages of the Guidebook once more, and Elora smiled as she looked at the land that was passing them by.
When they finally got close to the area that the homeworld was in, however, the group stopped what they were doing and made sure to wake up Ember, where the four of them glanced at the island that was in front of them and found that the land they would be exploring was in the middle of a circular lake, one that had hills all over it and happened to have stone walls here and there, like what they saw back in the previous two lands they had assisted, before spotting a castle that did appear to be the central point of the lake. There were a few stone towers around the area, whether they held a portal to one of the other realms or just contained some gems didn't matter, as they would explore the entire area once they landed, but from what they could tell the area was in good condition and that there didn't seem to be many areas for them to really explore, though as they got closer they found out something interesting. It seemed like there were a couple of portals underwater, complete with a shipwreck of some kind and a whale that was just swimming around, which was something none of them were expecting to see in the homeworld, as a realm would have made sense, but that just meant that this place was going to be far different than the lands they had assisted so far. All in all this island appeared to be in good condition, just like the last two areas the group had passed through, and they were eager to see what sort of realms they would be assisting, by reading the names of the portals in question and, more importantly, finding the portal that had a cage in front of it, as there was an ally here they needed to rescue from Moneybags.
Interestingly enough the whirligig landed outside any of the structures that were in this land, and one even had an opening that would have allowed something to land inside it, though Spike made sure that everyone had everything that belonged to him, and he made sure to have his satchel and Bag of Holding back where they belonged, before the four of them climbed out of the device, where the device just sat on the ground, clearing waiting for the group to climb back onto it and use it to get to one of the other two homeworlds.
"So this is Evening Lake," Elora commented, where she took a moment to enjoy the air and what they were seeing, as this land was rather interesting with the fact that there were a couple of portals underwater and everything else they had seen from far above the castle, before a smile appeared on her face as she glanced at the siblings, who seemed eager to continue their adventure, "its rather beautiful."
"Indeed it is, but we should get moving." Spyro said, because while he knew that most of them would want to stand around for a few moments and take in the sights, which would give Spike some time to take some notes on everything that they were seeing right now, there were eggs to collect, gems to pick up, and an ally to save before they went into any of the other realms and assisted them.
As he started to move, however, Spike held a claw out and stopped him from walking forward, where he glanced into the air for a moment as a rainbow stream moved through the air, a familiar sight to them now since they had seen one person use it to teleport between the homeworlds, before it struck the ground in front of them and Bianca appeared a few steps in front of them, though she held up a hand before they even said anything.
"Look, I already know from experience that trying to warn you about the dangers that are waiting for you, or trying to scare you off, isn't going to work, so I'll skip all that." Bianca said, where the group raised their eyebrows for a moment, as her tone suggested that she must have learned something since the last time they had seen her and, despite what she just said, she did want to warn them about whatever she had learned so they didn't get caught off guard, or at the very least that was what Elora was thinking at the moment, "I tried to reason with the Sorceress earlier, to convince her that we were wrong to steal the eggs like we did, since we could have just asked for your assistance in the matter, and she didn't want to hear anything that I had to say, but just after I left the room I overheard her telling one of her guards about a trap that she was planning on putting somewhere in this homeworld. Now, I have no idea where this trap might be, and I really don't want to think about what the Sorceress might do if she manages to capture one of you, but I wanted to warn you about the trap, even though I know that you guys will be more concerned about the eggs than your own well-beings, despite the fact that none of you have actually been hurt so far, so at least tell Hunter about the trap."
"Don't worry, we'll be sure to tell Hunter the news the next time we see him," Elora replied, though she did have to wonder what sort of trap the Sorceress could have set for them, even if Bianca couldn't tell them anything about what it was or where it might be located, but just thinking about that made her wonder if they might have convinced Bianca that they had been telling the truth earlier.
"I figured that since you guys did save my life earlier, not to mention giving me an alternate method to restoring the magic to the realms everyone else lives in, this was the least I could do." Bianca added, but even as she said that she took a moment to reach into her right sleeve with her left hand for a few seconds, like she was looking for something specific that she wanted to share with them, before a light smile appeared on her face as she withdrew a scroll from her sleeve and handed it over to Spike, "I also wanted to give you guys this, a map that the Sorceress created after her soldiers told her where they hid all the eggs, once we returned from taking them, which should hold the locations of the remaining eggs that you haven't recovered yet."
"That will let us save some time, since we'll know where to go," Ember said, though that did bring a light smile to her face for a moment, because with that map in their claws, or Spike's claws as it were, they would be able to locate the eggs much faster, to some extent anyway, before she considered something Bianca had told them earlier, at the very beginning of their quest to recover the eggs, "Didn't you say that you were the one that hid all of the eggs?"
"I did say that, but it was mostly to get you guys to flee before the Sorceress knew you guys had come here," Bianca replied, informing them that the lie she had told them at the beginning of their quest was for their own good, hence the reason that she gestured to her own attire for a moment, like she was trying to paint a picture in their minds so they would understand what she was trying to say, "I thought that if you came across a magic user like me, who could appear and disappear with a single spell, while at the same time spouting some nonsense about hiding the eggs so well that you would have never been able to find them, you would have fled back to the Dragon Realms and left us alone... but now I see that we were wrong to steal the eggs in the first place and will do everything in my power to make it up to you, and these are the first steps down that path."
"You're doing the right thing by helping us out." Spyro said, and that was the truth of the matter, because from what he and the others had seen and heard Bianca was a shining star of hope to the residents of the Forgotten Realms, even if they were surprised by the fact that she was the Sorceress' apprentice, but at the very least everyone they had helped out seemed to know that she wasn't the enemy, rather they knew she was on their side and was working to return these lands to what they had been so many years ago.
"I know. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm heading back to Midnight Mountain so I can speak with the Sorceress and try to convince her to stop what she's doing," Bianca stated, though even as she readied her magic she could tell that the group was a little worried for her safety, especially when it was clear that she might be siding with the four of them and not with her own mentor, but she kept the smile on her face as she readied herself, "I know, it might be a waste of time, but I would like to make one more attempt before you guys reach her, and even if that fails I might be able to learn something else that could help you guys out."
Before Spyro and the others could say anything Bianca took off in the same stream of rainbow energy that she used when she was traveling between homeworlds, meaning that she was heading to the final land of the Forgotten Realms, a land called Midnight Mountain according to her, but even though she had left them Spike took a moment to look at the map that she provided them with and looked for the section that was related to where they were, allowing the others to start gathering gems once more. The first thing they did was have Ember smash a pair of metallic vases that were resting right behind them, exactly right behind the whirligig, and that included picking up the gems that fell, before they looked out at the rest of the realm and considered what they were going to do first, in terms of which direction the four of them wanted to move in, which was when Spike reapplied the Water Safety spell to Elora, due to the water they would have to swim through at some point. After that the group turned towards the tower that was to their right, the one that they all thought the whirligig would have landed in due to the opening that was at the top of the structure, and picked up the pair of gems that lead inside, which brought them to something that they had never seen before, an oval shaped vehicle that had pointed tips and was standing upright, while possessing what appeared to be four legs of some kind that held the rest of the object in place, though currently it didn't appear that there was a way to get into it. The only reason they even had the idea that someone might be able to get inside it, even if it seemed large enough for multiple beings to be inside it, was due to the circular windows that had been installed in the sides of the oval, two of them to be exact, but since there wasn't anything else in the area the group headed back outside and continued exploring the new homeworld.
From there they walked along the edge of the lake and smashed a few metallic vases that were in the way, where all of them made sure to pick up the gems that were freed in the process, before quickly reaching the end of the ground that they could walk on, to which they glided over to the upper part of a portal's structure, one that happened to be under the water, to pick up a lone gem. After that there was little for them to do but jump into the water, so that is what the siblings did and Elora joined them not a few seconds later, after making sure that she was in the base form of her armor and not using something like the Spring Jump Form, though once she was done checking her armor out she joined the siblings and dived under the water, enjoying being able to swim like they did. It was in that moment that Spike noted that the portal the four of them had been standing on the roof of lead to a realm called Frozen Altars, meaning it had to be cold there and that he might need to bust out the Heat Aura spell when they got there, but for now they turned to the right and swam into the other part of the lake, where the whale, which apparently had some swimming attire on, the shorts, happened to be located at the moment. With that information gathered they turned their attention to the wrecked pirate ship design of the next portal, one that lead to a realm called Lost Fleet, while off to the right rested another portal, where this one was attached to a smaller tower and lead to Charmed Ridge, though the bridge that connected it to the main castle did seem to have the Speedway portal, which would take them to Honey Speedway, which seemed interesting. There were some caves that no doubt lead to the other portals, to the other realms that they wold be assisting in the near future, though as they started to move they were interrupted by the whale swimming into the area that they were in, causing it to open its mouth for a moment as it neared them.
Spike, seeing the egg that was inside the large creature's mouth, swam forward for a few seconds and grabbed onto it, before retreating as quickly as he could, which was why he headed back for the surface so he could make sure the egg was just fine, especially since it had been trapped inside a whale the entire time, something that he was absolutely sure one of the Rhynocs had done after the Sorceress had told them to hide the stolen eggs.
"I'm surprised one of the Rhynocs hid an egg inside that whale's mouth," Elora commented, where Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, due to the fact that none of them had seen that coming when they dived into the water a few moments ago, but at the very least Spike was able to rescue the egg from the area it had been resting in so he could check it out and then send it back to the Dragon Realms.
"According to the scroll, it was labeled as 'thrown into water of Evening Lake'," Spike replied, showing them that what Bianca had given them had hints as to where all of the eggs were located, or sometimes even direct instructions as to the where the eggs happened to be resting, before he used his Teleportation Breath on the egg, to send it off, "I guess the Rhynoc that carried that egg didn't stop to consider the fact that the whale might accidentally eat it and, based on what I have seen so far, I'm almost convinced that the Rhynocs aren't as intelligent as the Gnorcs were."
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a few moments, as there had been some odd Gnorcs when they went on their first quest to save the day, but at the same time they had to agree with what their brother was saying, that the foes they were currently going up against didn't seem that bright and made the Gnorcs look good, while Elora just stood there and waited for them to get moving, as she had no knowledge on how the beings in question acted and would have to take Spike's word for it. Once he was done with the egg the four of them dived back into the water and started to scout out the rest of the lake that was part of this homeworld's name, where they started smashing the green glass vases that were in the water and picked up the loose gems that happened to be around the area, both the ones that had been resting there before their arrival and the ones they freed. Ember, seeing some cracks in the side of one of the towers, again underwater like most of the things they had seen so far in this land, slammed her hardened tail into the weakened wall and smashed it open, revealing a chamber that had a couple of glass vases, a few loose gems and, more importantly, another egg that had been hidden in this land, so she grabbed it and hauled it back to the area that Spike had put the first one in, though once that was done she returned to the chamber and picked up the gems she had left behind.
When Ember rejoined the group they headed down one of the caves and found another portal, this one looking like one of the stone fortifications that was around the castle, but that allowed them to discover the location of the portal that would take them to the Fireworks Factory, another odd name for a realm since the residents could have picked anything else, though none of them decided to question the name that was on the portal and picked up the gems that were near it, along with smashing a few glass vases. Once that was done they headed back to the area that the Speedway portal was in and found a passage that allowed them to circle back to where the portal to Frozen Altars rested, allowing them to break more glass vases in the process before they reached the portal in question, to which they jumped out of the water for a few moments and looked around the rest of the area that they were in. It was in that moment that Elora pointed out the ladder that was attached to the side of a tower and happened to head up to the top, or at least to a chamber that was far above where they were standing, to which the four of them headed through the water for a moment and then started to climb up the ladder, where Spyro started climbing up it first as Spike, Ember, and Elora followed after him. The chamber in question happened to be the same size as the area Ember found the egg in a few moments ago, where they smashed a few metallic vases, picked up all the gems that were laying on the ground, and then paused for a moment as they found another sign from Zoe, reminding the group that once they found the yeti that was being held by Moneybags in this land, and freed them, they needed to head back to Midday Gardens and finish it off, since they left a section of Bamboo Terrace behind and there was Zoe's sign in that land as well.
With that in mind the group turned to leave the chamber and then paused for a moment as they spotted an opening in the structure that was above the water, close to where the portal to Frozen Altars was located, so Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora glided over to it, even if Elora had to switch forms for a moment, to which they found a lone egg up there, where the siblings let Elora pick it up and jump down to where the other egg was resting, as the group determined that they could afford to put the eggs in one place before sending them all to the Dragon Realms.
As they did that Ember spotted another area that rested above the water and might hold an egg, something that the group was quick to agree with, mostly because there were flames pouring out of some devices and the scroll Bianca gave them mentioned something like that, to which they swam over the surface of the lake and reached the other patch of land that they had spotted, before they smashed some metallic vases and climbed some stone steps to reach a Powerup Gate, or, to be more precise, an Invincibility Gate. Spyro passed through it for a moment, taking on the appearance that came with this gate, the more molten appearance that allowed him to swim through lava like his siblings did, where he jumped over to the ledge that was in front of him and then jumped to the area the egg was resting on, where the Invincibility power allowed him to take no damage from the flame spitters that were in the wall to their left. Spike and Ember, on the other claw, really didn't care about the powerup and only used it to get over to where their bother was standing, as doing that allowed them to take no damage from the devices that were designed to hurt one of them, before the three of them turned and looked over at Elora, who was standing beside the gate. It was clear why she was hesitating, mostly because she had no idea if her armor would allow her to use this specific powerup, even if it was one of the gates that didn't have a combat ability, before she braced herself and stepped forward, where she passed through the Invincibility Gate and came to a stop for a moment, but when she glanced at herself she found that, somehow, she did acqure the power of the gate she had walked through, even if it was odd for her to have a molten appearance to her entire body.
Elora then jumped over to the ledge that was in front of her, where she didn't take damage from the flames, and then jumped over to where the siblings were standing, allowing her to smile for a moment as the ability faded and her body quickly returned to normal, showing them that the gate in question had a rather quick timer on how long the powerup lasted, not that such a thing really mattered in the grand scheme of things.
"I had no idea you could do something like that," Spyro said, as he and his siblings knew that Elora's armor had been created for her and was designed to work with some of the Powerup Gates that were scattered around Avalar, something that made sense due to the fact that those structures had been made by the dragons that once visited her home after they were banished from the lands that they were exploring at the moment.
"The Professor said that I was able to use the gates that weren't associated with combat abilities, but even then I had no idea I could use the Invincibility Gates." Elora replied, though at the same time she looked at her arms and the rest of her body for a moment, as she had been caught off guard by the fact that she had taken on a similar molten appearance to what the siblings used when they walked through the gate, but that was when a smile appeared on her face, "Though its good to know that I can use those gates as well, because that might make some of the upcoming realms easier for us and, more importantly, I won't get left behind if a passage can only be accessed by this powerup."
The siblings nodded for a moment, as they had to agree that discovering this fact meant Elora would be able to join them in the future, without having to worry about being left behind, even if one of them might stay back with her to help her find a way to rejoin the group, before they glanced out at the area they were in and found that if they jumped and glided to their left they would be able to land on another patch of land. As such that was what the group did, even if Elora carried the egg that had been found at the end of the short path that the Invincibility Gate had allowed them to access, so it didn't take them long to land on the area they had spotted and start to look around it for gems and vases, while looking out for the remaining eggs that they were more interested in. That was when they found a bullseye chest in front of another ladder that was on the side of a tower, to which Ember jumped into the air and smashed it with a Headbash, just like they did whenever they found one of these during their travels, allowing their dragonflies to pick up the gems that she ended up freeing from the chest that she smashed open, which was when they turned their attention to the ladder and the area that it would lead them up to. The ladder brought them to the top of the tower that the vessel they had seen earlier was in, the one that was resting where they thought the whirligig would have rested when they first arrived in this land, to which they picked up the gems that were on the floor, while avoiding the hole that the vessel would move through when it was time to use it, while also determining that this was a chamber of some kind between the room they had been in earlier and the actual top of the tower, before spotting a walkway nearby.
The walkway in question allowed them to find yet another egg, which was good since these were what the group were really looking for, to which Spike quickly checked it out and determined that it was good to go, to which Elora picked it up and they all glided back down to where the other two eggs were resting, to which Elora put them down and let Spike go over them one more time before sending all four of them back to the Dragon Realms, before pulling out the scroll to look at it for a couple of seconds.
"Well, according to the information we were given, that's all of the eggs that were in this land," Spike said, where he rolled up the scroll and tucked it away once more, to which he took a moment to think about something as everyone took a few seconds to look at the rest of the area they were in, especially since they knew they had missed something, "I'm sure that we got most of the gems that were scattered around this homeworld, but its hard to imagine that we might have missed the area that Moneybags would be standing in, no doubt with the hero that the Sorceress captured and locked away some time ago."
"They have to be here somewhere," Ember remarked, as it didn't make sense for there to be one homeworld that had no hero, like how Sunrise Spring had Sheila and Midday Gardens had Sgt. Byrd, but even as she looked out at the parts of the land that they could see at the moment she didn't see anything that might lead them to where the bear and the caged hero would be resting, meaning that they must have missed something at some point.
"Wait, I just felt something." Spike stated, where he glanced around the area for a moment, as if he was looking for the zone that Moneybags was hiding in, causing the group to pause what they were doing as he said that, clearly eager to see if he might have seen something with his power or had used his magic to locate something, before he got up and stared at the water that was in front of them, "Come on, I think I know where they are."
Spyro and Ember jumped into the water the moment Spike did, and where followed by Elora a few seconds later, to which the four of them dived back down to the area that the portal to Frozen Altars was located in and found a side path that they must have missed earlier, where Spike swam forward and let Ember smash the glass vases that were in the way, only to swim upwards and jump out of the water a few seconds later, revealing a chamber they had missed... where they found Moneybags standing next to a tall cage that contained a white furred creature that had blue grey skin, with a pair of purple horns and, interestingly enough, a club made of ice.
"Heh heh, the Sorceress has a real prize on her hands this time around," Moneybags commented, clearly speaking to the group as they jumped out of the water and landed on the floor that Spike had found, while at the same time Ember took a few moments to smash a few metallic vases before coming to a stop near the rest of the group as they stared at the bear as they listened to the newest scheme he had for them, "It took two dozen Rhynocs to bring down and capture this dimwitted yeti, so the lot of you had better believe that he's not getting out cheap, not with all the damage that he caused before he was brought down."
"Moneybags, you're right about one thing, he's not getting out for a low amount of gems," Elora said, though as she said that Spike gathered his magic for a moment and latched onto the magic that was keeping the cage together, where all of them watched as he broke apart the magic that kept the cage together and freed the yeti from the cell that he had been forced into earlier, "he's getting out for free!"
"Ah, the first rejuvenating breath of freedom," the yeti stated, where he took a few moments to actually stretch now that he was freed from the cell that he had been trapped in since he and the other heroes had been captured by the being they had been trying to bring down, before he glanced at the group for a moment, where the group were able to figure out his gender based on his voice, even if that was when he knelt to them for a few seconds, "with the humility of a wounded sparrow, I genuflect to my noble deliverers."
"Don't worry, its no big deal." Spike replied, while at the same time the rest of the group nodded their heads to show that they agreed with what he was saying at the moment, though they did find that the yeti was far more intelligent than what Moneybags made him out to be, even though Spike was thinking about the fact that he could break the cage on the fourth and final hero that they would encounter in Midnight Mountain.
"Also, I would have let you out anyway," Moneybags said, almost as if he was trying to save face with the yeti and have him see him as someone who was only doing as he was told, like he had freed him once the Sorceress was looking the other way on the matter, while at the same time the group glared at the bear, as they couldn't believe that he was even trying this sort of thing, and the yeti seemed to agree with them as he glared at Moneybags.
"Why you brazenly avaricious, duplicitous, larcenous ursine!" the yeti declared, which was the moment that he raised a hand and grabbed Moneybags by the collar of his suit, something that allowed him to pull the bear close to him and use his ice club on him, allowing the group to witness as he clubbed Moneybags twice with the weapon, showing that he was able to wield it rather well, before he stopped and glanced at the group, "One more, perhaps?"
"At the very least!" Ember remarked, because none of them liked Moneybags and this was part of his punishment for everything he had done since they found out the sort of crimes that he committed, especially the war between the two realms back in Avalar, and it wasn't long before Spyro, Spike, and Elora nodded their heads in agreement, to show that they agreed with what she had said.
In that moment the yeti let go of Moneybags and slammed his club into the bear's chest, sending him flying into the wall that was right behind him, basically leaving the bear in a dazed state for the foreseeable future, but the reason they were leaving the bear alone was because they would arrest him once they recovered all the stolen eggs and put a stop to the Sorceress' plans, whatever those were.
"Pleased to afford me the sublime honor of enjoying your visitation in the nearest future." the yeti said, showing that he was pleased with what the group had done for them and that he was eager to have them visit the realm that he called home at some point, or at least that was what they gathered from what he had said, even if he had done so in the way that he was used to doing, "Oh, and I am called Bentley."
"Its nice to meet you, I'm Spyro," Spyro replied, though at the same time he gestured to the others for a few seconds so Bentley had an idea as to which name belonged to which of them, showing that he was definitely smarter than what the Sorceress and Moneybags were leading people to believe with their lies, "this is Spike, Ember, and Elora."
Bentley bowed his head for a moment, showing that he understood what they were saying, before he turned around and headed through the portal that was right behind him, heading back to his realm while leaving the group to their own devices for a few moments, because they didn't need to head back to the whirligig, as in the next few moments they were going to head through the portal that was in front of them and assist Bentley in whatever was wrong with his homeworld, so they could clear out Midday Gardens and then start helping the residents of Evening Lake.
It didn't take Spyro, Spike, Ember, or Elora all that long to head through the portal that Bentley had gone through a few moments ago and headed to the realm that their new friend had gone through, as it was time for them to assist the yeti in clearing the Rhynocs out his home, recover the couple of eggs that had been scattered around the area, and add whatever gems were there to the bag that Spike was carrying. As such it took them a few moments to appear in the square chamber that both Sheila and Sgt. Byrd had used before heading to either their own home realms or the sections of the realms that they were assisting in some manner, and Bentley's area was just as decked out as the others they had seen so far, so it was possible that the yeti might be looking at the information he had before heading home. It did make them wonder what the rest of Bentley's home looked like, even if they did think it might be cold based on Bentley's appearance, which was why Spike made sure the Heat Aura spell was on him and the others before they did anything else, mostly since they had no idea just how cold the realm in question actually was. Elora had made sure to switch back to her wing form as well, just in case they found some places where they needed to glide over a gap or something, a common occurrence in all of the realms they had been to, but that showed anyone that was familiar with them that the four of them were ready for whatever the realm they were heading to had to offer, which was why they came to a stop near Bentley.
As they suspected it only took a second or two for Bentley to even notice that they were there, as he was much taller than they were and could easily see more than they could at any given moment, where he quickly smiled as he turned towards them, showing the group that he was happy to see them again, despite the fact that they had just seen each other a few moments ago when they freed him from the cage he had been trapped in, while also revealing that he might be more focused on something else at the moment, which was understandable when the group considered that both Sheila and Sgt. Byrd had been the same when they entered their realms.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, its good to see you again," Bentley said, his tone revealing that the group was right in their thoughts, he was happy to see them despite whatever might be happening to his realm, though it did seem that he might be thinking about his realm at the moment, before he turned back to face the group, "Forgive me for inquiring, as I know it might be a touchy subject for you, but I have heard a number of tales that tell that dragons were exterminated a thousand years ago, something I now know to be a fabrication of some kind, so what brings the three of you, and your faun friend, to these lands?"
"Based on what we know, the Sorceress lied about dragons being killed off, or whatever tale you and the others have been told over the years." Elora replied, because this was something that they had to answer whenever they talked to one of the heroes that they rescued from the cage that they had been trapped in, either by convincing Moneybags to open the door or let Spike do the honors with his magic, before focusing on Bentley's question, "Basically, they were banished from these lands a thousand years ago, by the very person that is currently ruling over the lands they once called home, and she had her forces steal the latest batch of dragon eggs from the Dragon Realms recently, which is why we're here in the first place, to take back the eggs and take her down... though we've also learned enough about the Sorceress to know that she needs to be taken down as well, so we have two objectives, instead of the original one we started with."
"I see, so you're on a quest to recover something that was stolen," Bentley stated, showing that, even with how Elora explained it, he understood what he was being told and that he got the gist of what they were doing, especially the part that involved taking down the Sorceress and freeing the Forgotten Realms from her grasp, before he stood straight up and glanced at the portal behind him, "I will gladly help you in your quest to recover your stolen eggs and take down the one that stole them in the first place, but first I must attend to my younger sibling, as I'm afraid that he might have gotten himself in trouble during my absence, as he often does whenever I leave him alone, though I ought to teach him to be more responsible one of these days."
"Well then, allow us to assist you to the best of our ability," Spike said, mostly because that was what the four of them did, they helped out the residents of the realms and the captured heroes were no different, even if he and his siblings had been unable to actually help Sheila and Sgt. Byrd out when they visited their realms, due to some jumps and ledges that he and his siblings couldn't get over, which had left Elora to use her incredible armor to follow after them, but this time he was hoping for something different and could tell that Ember was hoping for the same thing.
Bentley nodded and beckoned for them to follow him, to which he quickly walked through the portal that was behind him and headed back to his realm, where the siblings followed after him and found themselves in a tall passage that had been carved into what might be a mountain, even if the passage was finely crafted and had torches that lit the way for them, along with the fact that it was tall enough for Bentley to move around without having to worry about hitting his head on the ceiling. The siblings and Elora found a few metallic vases in front of them, which Spyro smashed with a charge as Elora picked up the gem that was in front of the stairs that lead to a blocked opening, one that happened to have some snow, in the form of a ball, blocking the way, before they spotted a smaller yeti standing near the stairs, looking like he might be bored of what was going on and was waiting for something exciting to happen.
"Bartholomew! Its relieving to see that you're okay." Bentley stated, revealing that this had to be his sibling, as in a younger brother based on the name he had said, though the group remained silent as they watched the pair, because they were more interested in what the rest of the realm had to offer and what sort of enemies they might encountered once they moved out of the passage they were standing in, but they stood still and waited for their new friend to make sure that his younger brother was alright.
"Of course I'm okay!" the younger yeti replied, almost as if this was common for the pair, like the younger one was a troublemaker and Bentley had to clean up whatever mess he got himself into, or at least that was what the group had to assume at the moment and would have to wait and see if their thoughts were proven right, before Bartholomew looked at the ball of snow that was blocking the way, causing everyone else to look at it, "Anyway, there's a boulder blocking the way home... do you mind smashing it with your club?"
Bentley nodded and approached the ball in question, which seemed to be a boulder and not just snow, which was the moment that he swung his ice club at it and shattered the snow covered rock like it was nothing, opening the way for the six of them to enter the next part of the realm, because this time it seemed like the siblings would be able to help their new friend out and not have to sit back like they did the last two times. As such they followed Bentley and Bartholomew into the next area of the realm and found that it was a mountain cavern that would lead them outside, provided they find a way to get over the gap that was between where they were currently standing and the area that went through the rest of the realm, but that wasn't what the group focused on this time, because there were a few enemies in the new area that Bentley had opened the way to. The pair of Rhynocs that were in front of them happened to be wearing wool clothing to keep themselves warm, as in a red colored shirt and dark green colored pants, which came complete with a little wool hat for their heads and they were even carrying torches in their right hands, to offer as much warmth as they could get as they did whatever it was the Sorceress ordered them to do to this realm. The group glanced at each other for a moment and it wasn't long before they nodded their heads in agreement, as these foes would be Torch Rhynocs, but they seemed to be paying no attention to the area that they were in and that allowed Bentley to approach the first one that was in front of them, who seemed to notice someone was coming its way and swung the torch that it was holding, where Bentley just swung his club and smashed the Rhynoc into the ground, where Elora rushed passed him and kicked the second one in the side of the head, allowing them to bring both of their foes down in seconds.
Once that was done the group started to clear out the area by picking up the couple of gems that were laying on the ground and smashed a lone metallic vase, though it was Bentley who assisted them in getting two circular metallic chests since they were resting on some totem poles, which had the carved heads of a hawk, a bird, and what looked like a badger or something, and by helping them that meant he smashed the poles apart to break the chests. One of the chests Ember smashed with her hardened tail, surprising Bentley and Bartholomew for a few moments, before their yeti friend used his club to smash open some ice and allow them to get some additional gems for their efforts, only to eventually stop when they cleared out the rest of the area, meaning it was time to move forward. Fortunately Bartholomew knew what to do and gestured to the gong that was on the other side of the gap, the one that would allow them to leave the cavern that they were currently standing in, and pulled out a snowball, one that he threw towards Bentley when his older brother understood what he was trying to do. It was in that moment that Bentley demonstrated a skill that he must have spent a few years perfecting, as he spun his club around in a circle in front of his body, using a single hand to direct the wind that he was creating, and the snowball that Bartholomew tossed went right into it, only to be deflected right in the direction that Bentley was pointing in, allowing it to hit the gong that was their target. Not even a few seconds later the sound of the gong caused one of the stalactites that was hanging from the ceiling, and happened to be made from dense looking ice, to fall from the ceiling and stopped when the edges landed on both their side of the area and the side the gong was on, to form a bridge of sorts for them.
As the group walked over to the other side Spike found one of the missing dragon eggs and checked it out, allowing Bentley and Bartholomew to see what they were looking for, though once he was done making sure that it was alright he sent it off to the Dragon Realms with his Teleportation Breath, a trick that seemed to excite the younger yeti, before they resumed moving through the realm they were in. While they moved forward Ember picked up some gems and then came to a stop when she spotted a seal, more like an animal than the ones they had assisted in Seashell Shore, playing with a ball of snow that it hit over to where she was standing, but, instead of falling for the same trick twice, she hardened her body once more and let the ball hit her, revealing the rock that was inside it as the collision tore the stone to pieces in a matter of seconds. Spike took the opportunity to move forward and blasted the Snowball Seal that was off on the small platform, the same one that attacked Ember, with an Arcane Missile that took it down, before he shifted his stance and did the same thing to the second one that was just a little further down the path they were following, allowing him to clean up the area around them so Bentley could smash a totem pole to get at the circular chest for them, which would let Sparx, Talon, and Cinder claim the now freed gems and add them to their collection.
"What was up with the rock inside the snow?" Bartholomew asked, informing the siblings and Elora that this wasn't a common occurrence in this realm, not that they expected it to be since even the normal animals of a realm had aggressive versions of them created by the Sorceress and her spell, the same one that Gnasty Gnorc used in the past, though while he did that his brother continued moving, allowing one of them to answer the question while they continued to move through the rest of the realm the yetis called home.
"Its the only way for snowballs to be effective against enemies, by hiding rocks inside them," Spyro replied, as it wasn't hard to remember what happened the first, and only, time that one of them had been hurt by the objects in question, as a foe had hidden a rock inside one of the snowballs and struck them with it, hence why they took damage when they felt that they were safe from harm, "but don't worry, we'll help your brother clear out the area and return everything to the way it was before the Sorceress sent her Rhynocs to bother you, so you won't have to worry about those seals throwing snow covered rocks at you or anyone else."
Bartholomew said nothing to that, showing that he was either shocked by the information that he had been given or that he didn't care as much as his brother did, though as they moved towards the next gong Bentley showed the siblings and Elora that he could deal with the Snowball Seals as well by actually redirecting the incoming snowball right into the one that sent it over to them, clearing out another foe in the process before he smashed another totem pole so Ember could break the chest. The second totem pole that he moved to smash just so happened to have a Torch Rhynoc standing on top of it, why the group had no idea, but to prevent Bentley from being attacked Elora shifted gears and switched back to her Spring Jump Form for a moment, allowing her to spring up to the area that the Rhynoc was standing in and kick him off the top of the totem pole, something that allowed Bentley to break it if he wanted to do so still, only for him to change his mind when he realized there was nothing else up there. Elora guessed that he had been planning on stunning the Rhynoc with the totem pole being destroyed and then smacking it with his club, but he didn't seem annoyed by what she had done and moved to smash some more ice so they could enter a side passage, where another Torch Rhynoc happened to be located, who appeared to be lost for some odd reason, along with a few more large snowballs that might block the way to another area. What happened was that Spyro flamed the Torch Rhynoc and let Bentley clear the way by smashing the three snowballs that were in their way, allowing them to pick up some gems before finding a second Torch Rhynoc that was standing in front of some ice, only for Bentley to smack him into the ice and break it, something that let Ember walk out and smash a circular metallic chest that was at the end of the path.
Once the side path was cleared out they retraced their steps and returned to the area that Bartholomew was standing in, which was when he tossed another small snowball into the air and Bentley used his wind technique to send it flying into the gong that rested over the gap that was in front of them, something that caused an even larger snowball to fall into the gap and form a bridge for them to walk on, though the siblings and Elora didn't even question where the object had come from, since it was possible it had just rolled off a ledge nearby and stopped here.
With the way cleared the group was able to cross over to what appeared to be the entrance to an area, possibly the place that Bentley and Bartholomew called home, but there happened to be a large metallic crate, which was as tall as Bentley was, standing in their way and proved to be too much for Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora to move, as they tried to move it at the same time and could barely get it to budge. Once they were done Bentley stepped forward and pushed the crate with his empty hand, opening the way for them in a matter of seconds, though none of the siblings or Elora were annoyed by that fact, since it made sense for a yeti to be stronger than three young dragons and a faun, before they followed him into the area that he had unlocked. On the other side of the short passage he had revealed rested another egg for them to collect, though while Spike checked it out, and made sure it was alright, Bentley headed out and started to smash the large snowballs that were in the area, break the ice apart, and crush the lone totem pole to bits, allowing Ember to strike down the Torch Rhynoc that was in the area with her hardened tail while Spyro and Elora picked up the gems that were all over the place, the ones that had been there before their arrival and the ones they freed moments later, especially the ones that came from a circular metallic chest that Ember smashed open. The side path that Bentley opened up also had a Snowball Seal at the end of it, something that he took out by redirecting the snowball back into his foe's face, which allowed him to open one of the circular metallic chests and a straw basket so the dragonflies could collect the gems that were freed, before they rejoined the group once more.
From there it was a simple matter for Bentley to move two more large metallic crates into position and form a short walkway that brought them to the front of a house, even though the group smashed two more metallic vases as they moved through the area, before Bentley smashed two more totem poles to get at the circular chests that had been resting on top of them, allowing the dragonflies to collect the gems that had been inside them.
"And with that, we're back home." Bartholomew said, though at the same time he moved to the side for a moment and pulled out one of the eggs that they had been looking for, which just so happened to be when the nearby exit portal reactivated so the group could head back to Evening Lake, to which he looked at the siblings and Elora for a moment as he thought about something, "You know, I was going to offer this to my brother, so he could add it to that rock collection that he's been building over the last couple of years, but know that I know its an egg, one that you're looking for, you guys can have it instead, as I'll just find another rock to replace it at some point."
The group really didn't have much to say to that statement, other than thanking Bartholomew for keeping the egg safe like he had, even if he had no idea it was an egg, before Spike sent it back home, which was the moment that all three of their dragonflies revealed that the realm had been cleared of gems, to which they bid Bentley farewell for now and used the exit portal to return to the chamber that the portal to Bentley's realm was resting in, which was followed by the four of them returning to the whirligig and setting off for Midday Gardens once more.
Thanks to the whirligig it took the group fifty minutes to return to Midday Gardens, instead of the hour that they were told which had to be because of the fact that they stopped for the ambush when they were heading to Evening Lake, but that did give them time to relax and ready themselves for what they were going to do when they reached the homeworld they were heading back to. Spike spent his time adding Bentley's Outpost to his journals in all the detail they had seen during their visit, that way the dragons back home would be able to see the realm they had just assisted and, at the same time, the Gnorcs that ran the amusement park in Dragon Shores would be able to make better costumes once he published what happened during this adventure. Spyro and Elora glanced out at the area they were passing through and kept an eye out for any Rhynocs that might be coming to take them down, since there was no telling whether or not the Sorceress had assigned more enemies to the area the large creature had been in, but in the end they found no more enemies and just enjoyed the ride back to Midday Gardens, even though they wouldn't be able to do much since Bentley would be doing all the work when they reached the section of the realm that was their destination. Ember, of course, spent her time either cleaning her bracers, to make sure that they weren't totally dirty from all of the realms they had been through, or just resting until they reached the homeworld that the whirligig was heading towards, though she knew that the residents that built it wouldn't be in the keep when they landed in the near future.
Eventually the whirligig came to a stop inside the keep that the hot air balloon had brought them to when they first came to Midday Gardens, only to be replaced by the new device they were using to travel between the homeworlds, but the moment that happened the group climbed off of it and headed for the portal to Bamboo Terrace, where it only took them a few moments to pass through the portal and head back to where the exit portal rested, since that was where the portal to Bentley's section of the realm was located... before they passed through it and found their new friend standing in the middle of a square chamber, just like Sheila and Sgt. Byrd had done in the past.
"Ah, I was not expecting to see you guys so soon, especially after our last encounter," Bentley remarked, though at the same time he didn't seem annoyed by that fact, rather he seemed happy to see them again, even if it had only been an hour since he had seen them, before he glanced at the portal that was behind him and what he was going to be doing on the other side, "I was actually about to leave for a walk to my favorite hill, but first I'll have to clean the place up, as the Pandas have informed me that some Rhynocs have taken over the place and that they're not allowing visitors anymore, almost like they're trying to hide something."
"Well then, let us help you take them out," Ember said, because after the ride to Midday Gardens, as quick as it was, she was ready to fight someone and take them down, even though she knew that the last thing they needed to do in this homeworld was check out the sign that Zoe had left behind for them, which would result in their dragonflies heading out to clear an area out and claim anything that they found in the area that Zoe discovered, while the mention of the Rhynocs trying to hide something in this place made her even more eager to clear the area.
Bentley nodded his head and headed through the portal that was behind him, allowing the group to follow after him and discover that Bartholomew was present in this section of Bamboo Terrace as well, where this section did have one of the temples they had passed through earlier, and, of course, had a couple of Rhynocs blocking the way, just like their new friend had informed them. As it turned out Bartholomew informed them of an egg that had been taken to the top of the hill that just so happened to be the area that Bentley was heading to, so what they did was walk out and look at the rest of the section of the realm that they were in, where three Umbrella Rhynocs happened to be in the next part of the area and, at the same time, there were a few bounders that were shaped like panda heads, as odd as that sounded. What happened was that Elora rushed by the closest foe and jumped into the air so she could spin around and kick the one next to the wall in the face, taking it down as Bentley used his club to take out the one she ran by, while Ember hardened her tail and smashed the third and final Umbrella Rhynoc into the ground, allowing them to pick up the gems that were in the area, take out the lone straw basket, and, at the same time, break apart the boulders that were in the area, something they left to Bentley and his ice club.
Once the area was cleared out, and they were sure of that, Bentley walked over to the opening that would allow them to enter the temple and smashed the boulder that was in the way, revealing a slanted walkway that would let the five of them get higher in the area, where an Umbrella Rhynoc sent a boulder their way, like it was trying to flatten them and force them into submission, only for Ember to step forward and smash her way through the boulder by hardening her entire body and letting the rock collide with her. The moment she did that was the moment that Spyro charged forward and dealt with the Rhynoc by loosing a quick burst of flames at it, allowing him to claim the gems that were nearby and break a straw basket that was resting in the small pavilion that he had claimed, while at the same time the rest of the group moved up the slanted walkway that was resting to their right. It was basically the same thing that the first pavilion had, one of the Umbrella Rhynocs was standing next to a boulder and sent it down to them, where Bentley smashed it in seconds with a single swing of his club, though this time their foe decided to rush at the area that they were in, where it was stopped thanks to Spike setting up a quick barrier in front of it, something that allowed Elora to jump into the air and knock it into the ground with a quick kick to the face, before they were able to reach the pavilion itself. The next pavilion rested at the end of another slanted walkway, where this time there was an opening blocked by a pair of boulders, which could house a meditation area of some kind, so the group marched up the slanted path and watched as the Umbrella Rhynoc that was outside the next pavilion hit the next boulder with enough force to make it bounce, not that such a thing meant much to Bentley as he swung his club and smashed it out of the air, before breaking the boulders that happened to be blocking the way into the meditation area.
That was when they found three more Umbrella Rhynocs, a few more boulders, and a circular metallic chest in the area the pair of boulders had been blocking, to which Bentley smashed one of their foes into the wall, Spike blocked a pair of attacks from the other two so Spyro could flame one and Elora could kick the other into the floor, and Ember smashed the chest so their dragonflies could claim the gems that had been inside it. The other pair of boulders, as it turned out, were covering another entrance that lead to the pavilion that the Umbrella Rhynoc with the bouncing boulder had been standing in, while at the same time there was no structure to their right, just a walkway that would take them to the top of the hill after some time spent walking, so Elora kicked the foe to their left as Ember smashed the circular metallic chest that was behind it. From there they walked over to the structure that served as the entrance of the temple area and found a few gems and straw baskets on top of it, so Spyro walked over to them and collected the gems that they spotted, which was when Bentley continued up the slanted walkway that seemed to be taking them to the top of the temple and used his club to smash his way through the boulders that were coming his way, allowing him to reach an area that an Umbrella Rhynoc was standing in, who was the one hitting rocks at them, which let Ember crush it into the ground. From there Spike used an Arcane Missile to knock out the other Umbrella Rhynoc that was at the top of the hill, allowing Spyro to smash the straw baskets that were nearby and Ember to smash the circular metallic chest that was close by, which was the moment that Spike claimed the egg that was resting up there, the last one that was in this realm.
With the temple area secured, all of the gems collected, and the eggs sent back to the Dragon Realms, the siblings and Elora bid Bentley and Bartholomew, who joined them a few moments later, farewell as they headed for the portal back to the main part of the realm and then headed back to Midday Gardens, which was where all four of them came to a stop as Sparx, Talon, and Cinder followed after Zoe as she took them to another area that had an egg, one that only the three of them were able to reach.
"And now we wait." Ember remarked, where she sat down and closed her eyes again, because she would rather get some of her energy back while they waited for the dragonflies to return, instead of staring out at the rest of the land that was in front of them and daydream about whatever she wanted to think about, like the training that she did with Titan and the other Peace Keepers, which was why she chose to sleep and left the others to what they were doing at the moment, which was sitting near the sign as they waited for the dragonflies to return.
"Indeed, though I will use this time to research the other realms we'll be visiting." Spike stated, because that was the only thing he could do at the moment, as he had finished writing down everything in his journal earlier and was saving the part about their backtracking for the ride back to Evening Lake, which was why he pulled out the Guidebook and picked up where he left off so he could understand the upcoming realms a little more, starting with Frozen Altars, the first portal they had encountered, and possibly ending with the Speedway, the last place they would clear out later.
Spyro and Elora said nothing as they sat down as well, mostly to relax a little more, though they both knew that once Sparx and the others returned they would have an egg for them to send back home and would have added some more gems to the Bag of Holding that Spike was carrying, but other than that there wasn't much for the four of them to do while they waited for the dragonflies to return to this part of the homeworld. Based on what happened the last time they let the dragonflies go off on their own, to the area that the crawdads were in, they were able to clear out the area, recover all of the gems that were there, and rescue the egg Zoe had found, which was why the siblings and Elora weren't worried about them, as they knew the three dragonflies would be able to overcome anything that was thrown at them. After a few moments Elora headed over to where Spike was sitting and discussed what he had written about Bentley's Outpost, as she wanted to make sure that it was correct, even though she knew that Spike would have gotten everything correct on his own, but at the very least it was something to pass the time while they waited for Sparx and the others to return. Spyro did wonder if Bianca might show up while they were waiting and ask them what they were doing, but their other new ally never made an appearance in Midday Gardens and left the group to their own devices, which was fine since he was sure that Hunter would be annoyed if they were visited by Bianca again and he wasn't, since he totally had a crush on her and wasn't even bothering to hide it the few times he had been there with them when they saw Bianca.
Eventually Zoe, Sparx, Talon, and Cinder returned to the sign and revealed that the three dragonflies had collected all of the gems in Spider Town, which was the name of the place they had visited, a small town that only they could access thanks to their size, along with the fact that they had recovered the egg that Zoe had found, which was when Spike looked it over for a moment or two before sending it back to the Dragon Realms, before they bid Zoe farewell and headed back to the whirligig and took off not even a few seconds later, as it was time for them to return to Evening Lake and pick which realm they were going to assist first.
With Midday Gardens cleared out, as in all of the realms had been helped out and the siblings had cleaned up the sections that they had missed the first time around, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora spent some time traveling back to Evening Lake, though the moment they landed they would be able to depart from the whirligig and do visit the new realms so they could help them out as well. Spike had a few ideas as to which realm they might tackle first, based on what they did for the last two homeworlds, but the only way any of them would know which realm would be their next destination would be what Spyro said when they reached the area the whirligig was heading towards, since he was the leader of the group and generally had some good ideas on where they should go at any given moment. Spyro, of course, was silent as he looked out over the area that they were moving over, taking a moment to glance at the arena that Spike and Elora had fought that creature in, as the pair had done rather well in taking down the individual in question, before focusing on the realms they knew the names of and was debating which one they would head to first, especially since his brother was the only one that actually knew anything about the realms in Evening Lake, even though he was sure Spike would answer any questions he might have if he asked him something. Other than that Ember continued to rest, even though she really didn't need it this time around, since none of them had done much during their second visit to Midday Gardens, but none of the others were going to tell her otherwise as they focused on what they were doing during the flight back to the next homeworld, so Elora joined Spike in making sure the journal was correct.
When they reached the landing area of Evening Lake, where they were, once more, surprised by the fact that they didn't land inside the tower and the whirligig landed outside it, the group climbed off the device that had brought them here and stretched for a few moments, to get themselves ready for what they would be doing in the near future, before they looked at the area that was in front of them.
"So, which realm should we hit first?" Elora asked, because all of them seemed rather interesting, based on the names that were attached to each of the portals they had seen when they first explored this homeworld, and while she and Spike had some ideas on which one they would pick, if they were the leaders of the group, they knew that Spyro had the final say in the matter and waited for him to tell them what they were doing.
"I was thinking of Charmed Ridge this time around," Spyro replied, referring to the realm that had a portal that was near the Speedway portal they had seen earlier, something that sort of surprised the group for a moment since most of them were expecting him to pick Frozen Altars, due to it being the closest of the realms that were available right now, only for him to turn and look at them, "I figured that, instead of head for the first portal we found during our initial search of this land, we could try one of the other realms out and see what sort of trouble the residents are in, and there's also the fact that I didn't think any of you wanted to start a homeworld off with the first realm being an icy realm."
"That's an interesting way to think about it, and it does make sense," Spike said, as he honestly wasn't expecting the answer that Spyro had given them on the matter, but it was like he said, it did make sense when one thought about it, that he would want someplace other than an icy realm to be the first one they visited in a new homeworld, where it was pretty obvious that he wasn't taking the realms of their new friends into consideration, since they cleared those realms out first before doing anything else, before he glanced over to Ember for a moment, "Ember, what do you think about heading over to Charmed Ridge, instead of focusing on Frozen Altars?"
"Honestly, I don't care," Ember remarked, her tone revealing that she didn't care which realm they went to first, as it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things since they'll be visiting all of them at some point in time, since she was sure that they needed someone from each realm to help them get to the final homeworld, Midnight Mountain from what they had discovered, while at the same time showing that she was fine with whatever Spyro picked, even if she was more focused on the eggs they would be recovering.
"Sounds like Charmed Ridge is where we'll be going." Elora said, though she had to admit that she was curious as to why the realm was named that way, even though it might be somewhat magical in nature, before determining that they would find out all of that once they reached their destination, since they generally found out the reason behind the names once they visited the area in question.
Spyro nodded as he dived into the water that was nearby and started to swim towards the portal in question, where it wasn't long before Spike, Ember, and Elora followed after him, after making sure Elora had the Water Safety spell put back on her armor, and it only took a few moments for them to pass through the portal that was their destination and head to the realm that Spyro had picked out. It didn't take the four of them all that long to appear in the starting area for the realm that they would be helping out, where they found that they were positioned on a platform that rested in front of a gated area with high walls, though it appeared that Charmed Ridge consisted of a castle that didn't look like the castles they had seen in the past, due to it being smaller than the others, and there were a number of flowers and a large amount of grass in front of them, along with tall mountains that rested all around them. The group determined that they had to be really high up, due to the fact that it was rather easy to see the snow that was on top of the mountains, making them wonder if one of the was Bentley and Bartholomew's place, not that they had seen a magical kingdom off in the distance while they were helping the yetis out, but that was before their attention was turned to the area in front of them as they looked for the resident of this realm that would inform them of what was going on in this realm. It was in that moment that a Fairy, someone that looked like Zoe, only she was as tall as Bianca and Hunter were and had a purple dress on, flew over to where the four of them were standing, though Spike didn't bother with the whole color identification thing that he used back during their first adventure, since these were different Fairies and probably operated under different rules than what they were used to dealing with.
"Oh thank goodness you guys are here, because we're in trouble." the Fairy said, not that the group was expecting this realm to be peaceful and quiet, mostly since every realm in the Forgotten Realms seemed to be under attack by the forces that served the Sorceress and this one didn't seem to be any exception to that, hence the reason the Fairy beckoned to the area that was just beyond where they were standing for a few seconds, to direct their attention, "We urgently need your help because the evil Cat Wizards of Felinia have stormed our castle and have kidnapped our Princess, and, to make the situation even more urgent, if we don't rescue her soon they'll force her to marry Prince Azrael!"
"Felinia? According to the Guidebook, that's an island that rests about an hour away from Evening Lake and, unlike the four homeworlds that officially make up the Forgotten Realms, its not ruled by the Sorceress," Spike commented, as he had seen the passage in question when he was researching the lands that they would be visiting as they recovered all of the stolen dragon eggs, meaning there wouldn't be any in Felinia since their foe didn't rule it, thanks to the efforts of the wizards that came from the island, something he was even more curious about now, before he returned to the thought that sprung up while the Fairy was talking, "the other bit of information I gathered from the Guidebook is that everyone who lives on the island is peaceful and wouldn't resort to attacking another island or realm like this... something must have set them off for this to happen."
"You're right, the Cat Wizards used to be our good friends, but that changed almost a year ago," the Fairy spoke up, as it seemed like she was willing to share what she knew with them in the hopes that they would go out and beat up the Cat Wizards that were invading the realm, but, at the same time, the fact that she mentioned the time period that things between the two races changed was enough to really interest the group, "We got news from a well dressed bear that told us that the Cat Wizards were preparing for war and that they would attack us one day, to steal our Princess and force her to marry their Prince, and at first we didn't believe it, so we ignored him every time he came to us to sell us weapons to defend ourselves against the incoming assault... perhaps we should have listened..."
"No, you were right to turn Moneybags away," Elora replied, though at the same time she couldn't believe what she and the others were even hearing, because at first it had started to sound like what happened between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor a year ago, back when Ripto was running around, but now she knew that it was the same thing, only one of the races had decided not to take part of the war, which was why there was an angry look on her face, instead of just the siblings' faces this time around, "I can't believe that Moneybags would try to incite another cross realm war, all for the sake of taking the gems from both sides as he watches former friends try to kill each other."
The Fairy, confused as to what Elora was talking about, paused for a moment as Spike quickly explained the reality of the situation to her, or what they assumed the situation was since they only had one side of the story at the moment, but hearing that the bear in question was inciting a war for gems, without caring about the people he was putting in danger, made her angry, which was why the group made sure that she didn't fly off and try to do something drastic to stop what was happening to her realm. The main reason for that was because the group felt that there was more to this than they were seeing at the moment and that they wanted to assist the Fairies in restoring order to the realm, that way whatever the truth of the matter was would be revealed to them over the course of exploring the area the Fairies called home, which meant the castle and the side sections they would explore later. Spyro also made sure to tell the others that they weren't going to hit their foes with enough force to return them to their original gem forms, like they did for the other realms they had visited so far, rather they were going to hit their foes hard enough to knock them out, that way they could explain themselves to the Fairies once the realm had been saved and they found a way to stop the war. Ember, who was used to just knocking enemies down and leaving gems behind, nodded her head as she heard that, mostly due to the fact that out of the entire group she was the only one that had to tone down her attacks, but at the very least they would be able to knock their foes down.
Once their new acquaintance had a better understanding of what might be going on, and that the group would make sure to get to the bottom of the situation during their trek through the realm, the Fairy took off and left them to tackle the enemies that were invading her realm, no doubt so she could go talk to some of the other Fairies that called this realm home and tell them what she had learned from them. The first thing the group did was pick up the gems that were laying near them, on the platform that was right in front of the first area they would need to glide to, and the moment the area was clear the four of them jumped over to the ground that was in front of them, one that had some stone structures that connected to the end of the realm, an area that was blocked off, and a ladder that would let them get to a higher point so they could move forward. What they discovered weren't any of the Cat Wizards they had been informed about, rather the group spotted two new types of Rhynoc in the area, meaning they could have been forced to side with the Sorceress' forces, somehow, though one of them was wearing armor and had a spear that wasn't actually a spear, due to the metallic fist that was in place of the spear tip, while the other was dressed in lighter clothing and was carrying what appeared to be a crossbow, hence Spike determined that the armored ones would be Spear Rhynocs, despite their mess up when they made their weapons, and the others were Crossbow Rhynocs. Spyro, seeing the pair of Rhynocs, decided to amend his earlier order right then and there, stating that any Cat Wizards were to be treated as he said earlier, that the four of them should knock those foes out, but the Rhynocs were to be treated the same as every other time they encountered them in the previous realms, something that caused Ember to harden her body and smash her way through the Spear Rhynoc that was right in front of her, taking it down in seconds.
With that foe taken care of the siblings collected the gems that were in the area around them, while at the same time Elora approached the Crossbow Rhynoc and jumped to the side as it fired an arrow at her, which was the moment that she punched it in the face and knocked it to the ground, allowing her to claim the gem that ended up replacing it, before even looking at the ladder they would have to climb, which was rather short in comparison to some they had seen in the past and were definitely shorter than the ones back in Avalar. It didn't take them long to reach the top of the ladder and start to walk on the walkway that was above the area they had jumped into, one that required them to jump up a few ledges to get to the upper part of the area, where they discovered a blue furred cat, who stood on two legs, that was wearing an orange robe over most of their body, but the item that Spike was interested in was the purple stone in the necklace the first Cat Wizard happened to be wearing around his neck. The reason Spike was somewhat interested in it was due to the fact that he could sense the magic coming from it, be it a small amount of power, but it was more than enough to make him a little curious about the necklace and he stood still as Spyro charged forward, dodging the fireball that was thrown at him, which allowed him to collide with the Cat Wizard and knock him to the ground, only he did so in a way that dazed his foe for a few seconds, more than enough time for Spike to move. As soon as Spyro knocked his foe to the ground, and both Ember and Elora stood back, Spike stepped forward and pulled the necklace off from where it was resting, allowing him to sit off to the side and study it for a few moments as he tried to figure out what sort of magic it contained, while at the same time the Crossbow Rhynoc and Cat Wizard that were further along the path paused as they waited for the group to move and approach the area they were waiting in.
"Fascinating, its a mind control necklace," Spike commented, as it didn't take him long to determine what the spell on the necklace was, due to his own knowledge of spells and the various purposes that each of them possessed, before he glanced at the now peaceful looking Cat Wizard that was sleeping nearby as some new pieces were added to the puzzle of what happened to the two realms, "I think I understand what's going on here, Moneybags clearly sold something to the Cat Wizards, otherwise this attack never would have happened, and its likely that he and the Sorceress were working to bring down Felinia by inciting a war between them and the Fairies of this realm, but the Cat Wizards never would have agreed to work with the Sorceress... rather she had Moneybags sell them necklaces that likely boosted their power, only the enchantment allowed her to take control of them and force them to serve her."
"So she's taking away their free will... why am I not surprised?" Elora said, because at this point she had more than enough reason to dislike the Sorceress, and even more reason to dislike Moneybags for that matter, something that she knew the siblings would agree with, before she glanced at the Cat Wizard that was in front of them and focused on the necklace it happened to be wearing at the moment, "Well then, since we know the necklaces are bad, why don't we take them off when we face the Cat Wizards?"
Spyro nodded his head in agreement, because this was starting to get old in his mind, to which he moved forward and found that the Cat Wizard cast a spell on the Crossbow Rhynoc, enlarging its size so it was almost as tall as the first foe that had tried to ambush them earlier, though he rolled out of the way and dodged the incoming attack, which was aimed so that it would head off into the distance, before flaming the now large Crossbow Rhynoc to the ground. While he did that, and transformed the Rhynoc into a gem, Ember rushed forward and tackled the Cat Wizard that was near the Rhynoc to the ground, hard enough to knock it out without overdoing it, allowing her to take the necklace and add it to the stash that Spike was forming, using a second bag to contain all the necklaces they recovered from this realm. After that Elora jumped onto the moving section of a wall that was in front of them and used it to propel herself over the next foe that was blocking the way forward, another Cat Wizard to be exact, so she struck its neck and knocked it out, like she had seen the guards back in Avalar do while they were training, allowing Spike to take the necklace as they resumed their quest, while at the same time collecting all of the gems that were around them as they moved forward. Of course there happened to be another Fairy in front of them, where behind her rested a hole they could jump into, which some enemies were no doubt guarding on the other side, so the four of them prepared themselves for what they were about to do and then, once they were ready, they descended into the hole and found that there were a few enemies waiting for them, meaning it would take some time to clear the area out as they restored order to this realm.
There were three enemies for them to worry about as they descended into the area that was in front of them, one of the Crossbow Rhynocs, one of the Spear Rhynocs, and a Cat Wizard that was in charge of enlarging the Rhynocs, which would eliminate the ability to charge these foes to the ground, but that was fine for the group as they got closer to the bottom of the area. The first thing they did was rather simple, Spike quickly used his magic to create a barrier around the Cat Wizard, to prevent it from casting any helpful spells that would make their lives harder, allowing Ember to dive out of the air and smash into the Spear Rhynoc that was standing near the wall, taking it out before it even had a chance to use its weapon against any of them. That, in turn, allowed Elora to land behind the Crossbow Rhynoc without any problems, where she spun around and kicked out her foe's feet, causing it to fall backwards as Spyro dived right into its chest not a few seconds later, allowing them to take out the three enemies that were at the bottom of the hole in a matter of seconds, even though Spike lightly zapped the Cat Wizard he was holding until it was unconscious, allowing him to claim another necklace as they moved forward. With those enemies defeated the group gathered the gems that were near the ladder that would take them back up to the top of the hole, an odd choice if ever there was one, and smash a straw basket for the gem that was inside it, before Elora spotted another Cat Wizard that was near the edge of the area they were in, so she rushed at it, dodged the fireball that was aimed at her, and then punched it in the face to knock it out, all to claim another mind control necklace for Spike's collection.
After that the group paused for a moment as they stared out at the area that was in front of them, as there was a post that a Cat Wizard was standing on and another one that was in front of them that a second was on, where it seemed that they were in the middle of passing a large chess piece between themselves, so Spike stood still as he used his own magic to latch onto the object and stop it, allowing the others to move forward and collect the gems that were in front of them, only to teleport to them once they were clear... which was when they came to a stop as they spotted Moneybags standing in front of a ramp that likely could be turned into stairs, meaning they would have to deal with him again.
"Well, well, well, we meet again." Moneybags said, apparently not noticing the fact that none of them were happy to see him again and continued to act like everything was right in the world, even though he was, once more, the cause of misfortune for some of the races in the land that he was being employed in, despite the fact that this time he was actually being hired to do that, in a way, by the Sorceress, before he gestured off in the distance, "Today is your lucky day, as the friendly Cat Wizards and I have come to an agreement of sorts: if you pay me a small fee, a toll if you will, they will use their magic to raise these steps and allow you to move on with your quest."
"Yeah, how about no?" Spyro replied, though in that moment he swung his tail and struck Moneybags' legs with it, an attack that the bear didn't see coming until it was too late, which was the instant that Ember jumped on his back, pushed herself into the air, and then delivered a Headbash to his back, before Elora kicked him in the side of the head and forced him over to the stairs that he had been guarding.
"What was that for?!" Moneybags exclaimed, but even as he said that he had to cough for a few moments, which did show how effective their attacks were, while at the same time having to moan as he moved his back, as Ember never held back when they were dealing with the bear, which was the moment that he turned and faced the four of them again, even though one would have thought he would have learned his lesson by now, "All I did was ask for a simple toll and you beat me up like I was asking for the entire fortune you dragons possess..."
"Do these look familiar?" Spike asked, which was when he opened the second bag he was carrying, which had been in the off chance that the first Bag of Holding was broken by something, and revealed the mind controlling necklaces they had recovered so far, though that was when Moneybags froze for a few moments, revealing that he did recognize them and that he knew that he was in trouble, "You sold the Cat Wizards these necklaces, no doubt with the claim that these would allow them to better protect themselves, and took over their minds so they would aid the Sorceress in taking down the realms that opposed her, all while pocketing any gems you made from this war, even if one of the sides didn't want to buy any weapons this time."
"Well... um... I'm sorry?" Moneybags replied, though while he was clearly trying to make it seem that he was only doing as he was told, to stay on the Sorceress' good side, despite all of his current failures since their arrival, the group didn't even have to glance at each other, as they knew that the bear was lying and that he was only trying to save his skin from yet another beating, one that he deserved.
Instead of wasting too much time on Moneybags, even though they could have done so, Ember charged into his rear and sent him flying off the cliff, allowing the four of them to watch him for a few moments as he disappeared into the clouds that were around the castle, which was when they moved so they could see what the rest of the realm had to throw at them as they restored the peace that the bear had broken. The first thing they did was clear out the Crossbow Rhynoc that was to the side of where the bear had been standing, which was just Ember hardening her body to take the arrow and then use her tail to first knock her foe to the ground, only to deliver a powerful tail smack to the chest, allowing her to get a few gems for her efforts, before she joined the others near the stairs. Spike used his magic to move the stairs into the position that would allow them to move forward, to which the four of them moved up the steps and came to a stop on the walkway Moneybags had been guarding, where three more Spear Rhynocs happened to be waiting for them and charged the instant they came to a stop, which was just fine with the group as a bolt of magic slammed into the first one and took it out in seconds. The other two fell not a few moments later, where Ember tanked the hit from the first one and then quickly charged through her foe's defenses, knocking it to the ground, allowing Elora to jump onto the head of her foe's weapon, something that stopped it in its tracks, before she punched it in the face and knocked it out, allowing them to claim a few more gems as they moved forward. From there the four of them jumped over to a walkway that had three more enemies waiting for someone to try and take the area, one Spear Rhynoc and two Crossbow Rhynoc, where Spike threw some of his Arcane Missiles into the air and struck down the two crossbow enemies that happened to be hanging in the back of the pack, something that let Spyro rush forward and jump into the air, confusing the enemy that was in front of him, before he charged right into his target's chest and knocked it to the ground.
At that moment they found two options to pick from, continue forward or glide to a cave that was behind them and pick up the first egg of this realm, where it wasn't hard for them to determine what to do as Ember glided over to the egg and Elora joined her, as she would carry the egg back to Spike while Ember cleared out the area that was in front of them, as both of them were sure that some gems and some enemies might be in front of them. There were a few metallic vases in the cave behind the egg, along with a Superflame Gate that seemed rather pointless in the grand scheme of things, but Ember smashed the vases and let Talon pick up the gems she passed by, found that the end of the main part of the cave came to an opening that was near the ladder leading back to the starting area, and then turned towards the ladder that was near where the egg Elora was carrying had been resting. At the top of the ladder Ember found that there was an area that held two of the Cat Wizards, though as Elora joined her, while keeping the egg safe and sound, she called out to Spike, who looked at the area and, in a rare bit of magic, teleported over to the foes in question, since they were far away from the main part of the realm, and knocked them down before they even knew he was even standing behind them, allowing him to knock them out and take their necklaces for his collection, before returning to Spyro's side. Once that was done she took a look at the area that was in front of her and found that she could lash out at the two Cat Wizards they had walked by earlier, that Spike had held up with his magic, so she grinned as she glided into the area and landed behind her first foe, where she used her tail to trip him and knock him out, before using the fallen pillar that was nearby to glide over to where the second was located, all to repeat the process.
Once she was sure both of the Cat Wizards were knocked out the rest of the group came back to the area and Spike made sure to collect their necklaces as well, before Elora placed the egg they had seen in the cave and one that had been guarded by the last Cat Wizard that Ember had taken out, allowing him to send two more eggs back to the Dragon Realms, but before they left the area Ember also smashed a circular metallic chest and collected the gems that had been trapped inside the container.
After all of that was collected and cleared, and they were sure that all of the enemies had been taken out, the group returned to the area they had found the cave in and continued through the rest of the realm, where they found one of the Cat Wizards messing with the wall that was to their left, remaining the siblings of the Green Druids back in land that the Magic Crafters lived in. As that happened the group found another cave off to their right and decided to check it out once they passed through the area that was in front of them, to which the siblings slowly moved as the sections of the wall were moved by their targets, while Elora jumped over the edge to their right and glided over the lake that was near them so she could land where some gems were and then use a ladder to get back up to the other side of the moving sections. It didn't take them all that long to reach the area that Elora was in, and it only took them a minute or two to reach the highest point of the area, which was when Elora glided over to the Cat Wizard that was messing with the wall and punched him in the face to stop him from messing with the wall and take his necklace, while at the same time the siblings glided to the lower entrance of the cave, which was followed by them waiting for Elora to join them. They discovered a number of enemies that happened to be resting inside the tunnel that the cave brought them to, where Ember hardened her body and took out the pair of Spear Rhynoc that were right around the corner from where they were standing, allowing Spyro to move into the area behind them and knock down the Cat Wizard that was behind the pair of Rhynoc with a whack of his tail, only to discover another Cat Wizard that was empowering a Crossbow Rhynoc... only for Spike to surround the magic caster with a barrier to cancel the spell, allowing Elora to kick the Rhynoc so he could knock his target out.
Once all of those enemies were taken care of Spike collected the necklaces from the unconscious Cat Wizards they had fought in the tunnel, while at the same time the rest of the group collected the gems that were on the ground, before they found one of the portals to the side sections of this realm, something that they would keep in the back of their minds as they returned to where the wall with the now still sections was resting, all so the four of them could investigate the area that rested beyond it, as they had to be close to the exit portal for this realm.
The first thing the group discovered was that there was a straw basket on the area they were heading towards, so it was smashed apart as soon as they discovered it, before they turned towards the path that would take them to the end of the realm and found that there was a Cat Wizard using a boulder spell to prevent anyone from coming up the path that was in front of them. Fortunately, since it appeared that it was two small boulders, instead of one large boulder like Spike originally thought it was going to be, the group was able to quickly reach the raised sections of earth that their foe was standing on and Elora punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground and allowing Spike to claim the necklace that he was wearing, before they focused on the next part of the realm they were heading towards. It appeared that they had reached the edge of the castle, as the locked door was right in front of them, though there was a Fairy, this one wearing a green dress, floating near another Cat Wizard, though since their foe didn't notice them at all Spyro tripped him with his tail and them bashed him into the ground, allowing Spike to take the necklace before opening the gate that was in front of them, something that had been blocking the way until they reached it. As the gate opened they discovered a Crossbow Rhynoc waiting for someone to come near it, so Ember charged in with her hardened body and smashed her way through the enemy that was in their way, allowing the others to join her as she looked at the courtyard that was beyond the gate, where they found a number of glass vases and a couple of enemies blocking the way, as in some Spear Rhynocs, another Cat Wizard on the ground with a section one on the level above them, and possibly one more somewhere.
As such Spike dealt with the Cat Wizards, surrounding both of them with barriers to prevent them from empowering any of their foes with a larger size and some additional strength, while Ember smashed her way through one of the Spear Rhynocs with a hardened charge, Spyro dodged the other Spear Rhynoc and charged his target down, and Elora found a Crossbow Rhynoc in the other side of the courtyard, only for her to kick her target in the face and take it down, which was followed by them breaking the glass vases and collecting the gems they freed. What they discovered was another gate that was on the other side of the castle, from where the one Spike had opened earlier was located, a gate that likely connected to the starting area of the realm, before the group found that the Crossbow Rhynoc had been guarding the center of the entire castle, where a structure stood and happened to have a whirlwind in the middle of it, something that would allow them to move forward. The ground found that there was one more Cat Wizard on top of the structure, who seemed to be focused on the gate in front of him, so Spike knocked him out with a quick spell to the back and claimed the necklace he was wearing, before gliding over to the other Cat Wizard he had contained and knocked him out as well, allowing him to pick another necklace up and clear out the entire area. From there the gate opened and revealed a platform that rested between the starting area and the castle, where the exit portal was resting and, more importantly, it showed them where the Fairy Princess and the leader of the Cat Wizards were located.
With their targets located the group dropped down onto the gate and used it to cross over to where the Princess and the Prince were standing, where they found that Prince Azrael didn't wear a robe, like the rest of his people did, and wore an open vest over his chest and pants, while at the same time the Princess had a more elegant dress on, in comparison to what the other Fairies were wearing, and had a golden crown to show her status.
"Oh, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, its nice to see you... isn't Prince Azrael the dreamiest?" the Fairy Princess asked, her tone revealing that she did love the Prince of Felinia, who seemed rather happy to be near her, even if he was also slightly annoyed by something, despite the fact that the other Fairies might be worried that she was being forced into some sort of relationship with the Prince, before she placed an egg in front of them, "Anyway, we're going to elope and find a way to safely bring this conflict to an end."
"I don't think you'll have to worry about the conflict anymore," Spike replied, where he opened the pouch and poured out the necklaces that he had been collecting since they started helping out this realm and dealt with the problems that Moneybags inflicted upon them, where he could tell that both of the royal figures were interested in the pieces of jewelry that he revealed, "these, as I'm sure you no doubt know, are necklaces with a mind control enchantment on them, which allowed the Sorceress to force the Cat Wizards to do her bidding, no doubt forcing your hand to go through with this invasion, even if you didn't want to... right, Prince Azrael?"
"Yes... that cursed bear convinced us to purchase those necklaces so we could better protect ourselves, only it was a trap set by the Sorceress," Prince Azrael replied, though as he glanced at the necklaces the group could see that he hated the pieces of jewelry, due to the fact that they had enslaved his people and forced them to fight their Fairy friends, before he turned his gaze towards the group and stopped staring at the jewelry, "because war was imminent, and there was nothing I could do to stop it, I came here to rescue Princess Ami before my brainwashed subjects managed to get their claws on her and delivered her to the Sorceress. Our plan was simple, we were going to gather up the Fairies and flee to one of the other islands, so we could find a way to combat these mind controlling necklaces and free everyone that was under the Sorceress' control, even if it meant abandoning Charmed Ridge for a time... little did I know that all we needed to do was hold out for you to arrive."
Before the group could say anything the Cat Wizards that Spike had freed from the Sorceress' control, by removing the necklaces that Moneybags had sold to them, woke up in a daze, which made sense due to the fact that the group had knocked all of them out, to prevent harm from coming to them, but that didn't stop them from finding out where their Prince was located and apologized to the Fairies that they had been fighting, which was when Princess Ami told her own subjects the truth of the matter, something she would have done had it not been for the group's actions. Of course none of the Fairies were happy about the situation, as in the fact that the Sorceress was planning on taking control of their realm by using their own friends against them like this, and they were more than pleased to hear that the siblings and Elora had saved all of the Cat Wizards by removing the necklaces they had been tricked into purchasing, as well as the fact that they were happy to have turned away Moneybags when he tried to sell them some stuff earlier. The group, on the other claw, were more than happy to see that whatever bad blood might have arisen from this event had been quickly washed away once the truth had been revealed, leaving both the Fairies and the Cat Wizards happy with them, along with both of the royals that ruled over them, something that was confirmed when Prince Azrael insisted that he reward them with a tour of Felinia at some point, along with some seats at the upcoming wedding, once he and Princess Ami put both of their lands back together and cleaned up the mess Moneybags made.
The group accepted the rewards that the pair were giving them, even if it would be some time before they happened, before the Cat Wizards handed over the gems they found while they were under the Sorceress' control, figuring that the four of them deserved them more, to which the dragonflies added all of the gems to the pile they were gathering before they left the two races to their business, with Spike making sure to take the necklaces with them after sending the egg back home. The first thing they did was head back to the center of the castle and use the whirlwind to get back up to the highest point of the area, where they found a Question Mark Jar waiting for them, which hadn't been up there earlier, though that didn't stop Elora from hitting it and causing it to move to another part of the realm, to which the group followed after it, so they could get the gems that were inside it. Since the jars liked to backtrack from the area the exit portal was in, and headed back to the starting area, it wasn't hard for the group to determine a likely course it would take, so what they did was return to the first gate they had lowered and used the whirlwind that had formed on it to get to a higher position, which was when the four of them glided over to the slanted path the boulder throwing Cat Wizard had been guarding and landed on the ground, before finding that the jar was on the walkway near the moving wall. Once they discovered its location it only took them a few seconds to whack it, as in Ember struck the jar with her tail, and forced it to move once more, where Spike lead the rest of the group to where it was now hidden, since he could track the magical energies the jar used to teleport from place to place, only for them to glide over to the cave that contained one of the portals to the side sections of this realm.
After that the jar ended up moving into the shaded area that was by where Moneybags had been standing, which was an odd choice since it was still easy to find it, while the next location was rather obvious since it was in front of the ladder that would allow them to return to the starting area, and from there it brought them all the way back to the starting area for this realm, before moving to the actual platform that was the starting point, though that was when it shattered and gave them the gems it contained. Once that was done the group turned around and headed back to the area where the lake was located, as they figured that they would clear out that side area first and then hunt down the other one, as all of the realms they had visited so far had two side sections to them, be they areas the group could do or areas that their new friends could help them with, where the first one for this realm fell into the former category. It didn't take them that long to return to the portal in question, which was when they passed through it and quickly found themselves in an area that a number of waterfalls apparently emptied into, though there was a tall structure, a mountain based on what they were seeing, and no visible way for them to actually climb up it, or at least that was true for the siblings. Elora, on the other claw, had her Spring Jump Form, meaning that she could easily ascend to the top of the mountain and see if there were any eggs or gems in this area, something they knew they would find since it made no sense for there not to be an egg in one of these side sections... though that was when the group found someone standing in the area in front of them, not a Fairy or a Cat Wizard, just a normal person by the looks of things, even if he was wearing green clothing and had a large green hat resting on his head.
"Oh, hello there, are you here about the legend as well?" the kid asked, as that was the voice that came from the being that was in front of them, an innocent kid that had no idea what was happening to the rest of the realm, before he glanced at the top of the mountain, like the four of them didn't even exist or anything, which was odd when the group thought about it, but decided not to question it at all, "Supposedly there's a golden goose at the top of the mountain, and I want to be the first one to reach the top so I can grab it and take it home! I used the couple of gems I had to buy some magical seeds from a bear in a suit, something about them being able to sprout instantly, but so far I haven't been able to get out of this area, as the beans don't seem magical."
"That's cause Moneybags was lying, the beans aren't magical at all." Elora replied, because that was classic Moneybags right there, sell someone something they might need to reach an area in question, only for the item to either be totally useless or be just what they needed, but given his recent track record she knew it was more the former, that the beans were totally normal and did nothing, to which she sighed for a moment, "Kid, its your lucky day, as I'm going to help you get to the top of this mountain and see if the legend is true."
The kid dropped the sack he was hold as Elora shifted into her Spring Jump Form and moved out into the area in front of them to give the little boy an idea of what she was doing, as she jumped up to the ledge on their left with her own base power and smashed a straw basket that was up there, allowing Talon, who was following her, to pick up the gem that was dropped, before Elora jumped back down to the first area and then used her power to leap onto the ledge on the right of the entrance, which was higher than the first one. With that in mind Elora jumped back down and the kid hurried to climb up onto her back, as that seemed the best place for him to be, though once he was ready she started to ascend the ledges that were in front of her and only paused when the kid wanted her to do so, so he didn't get sick, or to smash any straw or metallic containers that were in her way, leaving the gems for Talon to pick up. Of course the kid did spot an egg and was more than willing to let Elora put him down for a few moments so she could get it, mostly due to the fact that he believed it was an egg from the golden goose, but she set it down in the center of the area and let the boy take his place so they could move forward, where she repeated what she had been doing so far and cleared out the area so they could reach the spot that, according to the legend, the golden goose was supposed to be resting in. What surprised Elora was there there was, in fact, a golden yellow colored goose resting at the top of the mountain, or the tower as that was the structure that they were standing on, so she let the boy down and picked up the egg that was nearby, along with letting Talon pick up the gems that were around them, before she smashed the clearly weak flooring that was in front of her and opened a way back down to the beginning of the area, allowing her to transport the egg, the boy, and the goose to safety, before having to go back for the first egg they found.
Of course she also found a bullseye chest at the bottom of the tower, something that was smashed when she first dropped down into the lower area of the structure, so in the end the dragonflies proclaimed that they had cleared this part of the realm out, as Ember had smashed some metallic vases as well, to which the group bid the kid farewell, even if he was more interested in the goose, and headed back to the main part of the realm... though it wasn't long before they found a passage in the castle that lead them to where one of Sgt. Byrd's portals was resting, with their friend standing inside his square shaped chamber.
"Oh, good day friends!" Sgt. Byrd said, his tone showing that he was happy to see them again, while at the same time he seemed a little tired for some reason, like he had been busy declaring war on the Sorceress' forces, be they in the same area the four of them were in or a different realm entirely, before he shifted a little, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm late for a, um... engagement with a Fairy friend, and she doesn't like it when I'm late."
"Well, let us enter the area for a few moments and see if there is anything we can do to convince her that you were tied up in saving some lives," Spike replied, because based on what they were seeing they knew that Sgt. Byrd had been rather busy dealing with enemies and most ladies, from what he had read about, did like heroes and their heroic deeds, so confirming that statement would allow his Fairy friend to know that he was telling the truth and that he wasn't trying to lie to her at all, especially since her realm had been under attack recently.
Sgt. Byrd, as it turned out, was more than willing to let them tag along for a moment and it didn't take them long to find the Fairy that he was supposed to be meeting, who was definitely cross with him about being late and that she didn't want to hear his line about national security, but she was willing to listen to the group as they explained that he had been busy cleaning up the Rhynocs and saving the lives of the residents of the other realms, once more showing the group that their deeds had reached far and wide at this point.
"While I believe you when you say that James has been busy, saving lives and all, we might have to call off our date for the time being anyway, since there are some Cat Witches in the temple." the Fairy commented, not that the group was all that surprised by that information, as they expected there to be enemies in an area like this, given what they had seen and experienced in all of the previous realms they had been to, which only made them interested in what the Cat Witches were even doing in this temple.
What happened next was that the siblings and Elora headed out into the temple itself and called out the group of Cat Witches that were inside the area, where they found that there were twenty-five of them in total, they all had light pink fur and were wearing outfits that identified them as witches, including the brooms that they flew out on, but seeing the group of four made them stop what they were doing. Spyro took the chance to inform them that they had freed the rest of their people from the Sorceress' grip, with Spike making sure to show them all the necklaces they had recovered over their trek through the realm, something that caused the entirety of the witches coven to cheer, even though it did confuse the Fairy that was Sgt. Byrd's friend, hence the reason the group informed all of them as to what happened in the main part of the realm. As it turned out Prince Azrael had sent the coven to the temple to protect a dragon egg they had discovered, that way when it was time to pull out of Charmed Ridge they could safely move it without their foe, the Sorceress, finding out about their actions, but since the group had freed all of the Cat Wizards from the enchantment their foe had placed on all the wizards of Felinia, and had proof that everything was alright, that caused the Cat Witches to apologize to Sgt. Byrd and his friend, before flying through the portal so they could rejoin their Prince, earning the group another egg in the process, which they were happy to recover. Once that was done they wished Sgt. Byrd farewell and left him to his date, since he did deserve some alone time with the one that he had some affections for, to which they returned to the main section of the realm they had been assisting, only to discover that the Fairies and the Cats were working together, to put the realm back together and to repair the damage the Sorceress had forced upon the land.
The group was happy to see that they had succeeded in stopping the Zephyr and Breeze Harbor War, as it was called back in Avalar, from happening to another pair of realms, along with the fact that they managed to prevent it from getting to the point where both sides were willing to tear each other part, making them annoyed with Moneybags all over again, but for the moment the group headed back towards the exit portal, as it was time to pick another realm to help as they considered what they were going to do with the evil bear once this adventure was over.
After taking care of the problems that were in Charmed Ridge, and making sure that the Fairies and Cats didn't need any additional help after everything Moneybags had put them through earlier, the siblings and Elora returned to Evening Lake and hit the water of the lake once more, to which the four of them headed back to the area that was near the whirligig and quickly climbed out of the water. They were planning on taking a small break to get over what they had experienced back in Princess Ami's realm, mostly because of the fact that the Sorceress and Moneybags had really done off the deep end by trying to take control of an entire island of magic users and then hurl them at some of the more resistant realms that were in the Forgotten Realms, just like the place all the Fairies called home. Despite the fact that they had seen the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, and did everything in their power to stop it once Ripto had been taken care of, they were still rather annoyed that Moneybags would even attempt to do the same thing in this land, along with the fact that he tried to enslave an entire race to incite a war in the first place, meaning that he needed to be captured once the Sorceress had been taken down, given what they had seen of him in the past. Elora, of course, shook her head a few times as they rested near the whirligig for a few moments, mostly because she couldn't believe that she, Hunter, and the Professor had once put their trust in the bear in question, for him to be a guardian of their realms, and he stabbed them in the back and proved that he wasn't on their side at all, he was on his own side.
"I hate that damned bear!" Ember remarked, where she growled for a moments, as she really didn't like Moneybags all that much and what they had seen in Charmed Ridge earlier, with the mind control necklaces and him conning a little boy out of his gems for some beans that didn't seem to work at all, infuriated her to no end, though at the same time she did her best to calm down, since she'd rather not head into the next realm with her mind clouded, "I can't believe that he had the stones to try something like this again, especially since we're here and would have come across this war in due time, and tried to brush it off like nothing was wrong! Once we take care of the Sorceress, and free these lands from her grasp, we need to capture Moneybags and imprison him for the rest of his days!"
"You're right, he needs to go back to jail," Spike replied, because he knew that Moneybags had deserved what he got a year ago, back when they stopped Ripto and revealed the bear's crimes to Elora and the others, and right now, after all of the things they had seen the bear commit since they arrived in the Forgotten Realms, he knew that the four of them were going to make sure that Moneybags was imprisoned according to his crimes, even if that meant he would be spending the rest of his life behind bars, before he thought about something else, "So, Spyro, which of the remaining realms do you think we should head to next?"
"That is an excellent question, and I believe I have an answer: Frozen Altars." Spyro stated, as he had been thinking about which realm they should tackle next the moment they returned to the area that the whirligig was in, not that it really mattered since all of the new realms would be cleared out at some point in the near future, before he watched Spike take a moment to safely store the bag of necklaces in his satchel, so they didn't lose them, "I figured that, after everything we saw back in Charmed Ridge, and how annoyed all of us are after what we discovered while we were helping the Fairies and Cats out, we could take a break and go somewhere to cool off, that way when we head to the next realm we'll be able to focus on it without our minds being clouded."
"That sounds like a good plan." Elora stated, mostly because she agreed with what Spyro was saying at the moment, as it made sense when she thought about it, especially since all of them were annoyed by what they had seen during their trek through Charmed Ridge, so heading to Frozen Altars seemed like the best course of action, to allow them to cool off and let go of what they were feeling at the moment.
Spike nodded his head and quickly put on the Heat Aura spell on all of them, just in case the place was as cold as what they experienced back in Bentley's Outpost and some of the other icy realms they had visited recently, though once that was done, and they were ready to go, the group dived into the water and headed for the portal that Spyro had picked out, where they quickly passed through it and headed to the realm in question. It didn't take them long to appear in the area that was clearly the starting area for Frozen Altars, where the group found that they were in what appeared to be some sort of ancient temple, as there was a pyramid made out of finely cut stone resting nearby and had stone fortifications around it, even though the ground and some of the roofs were covered in snow, and it wasn't hard for them to see that this realm was positioned in the middle of some mountains, like Charmed Ridge was, only these ones were more covered in snow than the other mountains were. Another thing Spike noticed, before they did anything else, were the couple of mirrors that were on some of the structures that were around the pyramid, as he could see a few of them from where the four of them were standing, though based on what he could see it appeared that they might be arranged in such a way as to harness the power of the sun for some reason, a reason that he was sure they would find out as they explored this realm and helped the residents out.
As they finished taking in everything that was around them, and realized that it was a good thing that Spike had taken the opportunity to use the Heat Aura spell on them, they watched as an Ice Fairy, basically the same as the Fairies back in Charmed Ridge save for the fact that they had icy blue skin, blue hair, and a blue dress on, flew into the area and came to a stop in front of them.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, welcome to Frozen Altars," the Ice Fairy said, showing that she was happy to see them and that she knew they were here to help the residents of this realm out with whatever problem they seemed to be facing at the moment, because all of the other realms had been attacked by Rhynocs and it would surprise them if this realm was different from the others, mostly since they didn't see any enemies at the moment, "on behalf of the Ice Fairies, I want to grant the three of you a special power for as long as you're visiting our realm... I'd offer the same power to you, Elora, but none of us are sure how to integrate it with your armor."
"Its no big deal, I can go without the power," Elora replied, because while she had no idea what the power was sure was sure that it was one of the offensive abilities that the siblings could get from one of the Powerup Gates, meaning that her armor wouldn't work with it in the first place, hence the reason she was going to ask the Professor about it at some point in the near future, once this adventure was over anyway.
The first thing the siblings did, after the Icy Fairy blew an icy wind at them that did nothing, was see what ability she was allowing them to have access to while they were in this realm, which was when they discovered that they were able to use the Ice Breath ability again, or Superfreeze as the residents of Avalar called the only Powerup Gate that allowed them to access this power. How they determined what sort of power they had been given was rather straightforward, as Spike surrounded himself with a barrier and had Spyro attack it, while Ember and Elora stood behind Spyro so they weren't in the way, so it was rather easy for them to see the icy breath come out instead of the usual flames, which allowed them to understand what they had been given. Once that was done the next thing they did was pick up the gems that were near the starting area and started to explore the realm that they were in, as the Ice Fairy had told them nothing about what the problem was and they refused to believe that there were no problems in Frozen Altars, given all the problems that the others realms had been in during their timely visits. As they did that Spyro followed the stone steps that apparently lead to the area they had appeared on, which happened to be near a closed door that the exit portal could be resting behind, but instead of worrying about that he pressed on and the rest of the group followed him, picking up any gems they came across while smashing a few metallic vases at the same time. They were even able to smash a few straw baskets as well, as those were pretty common in all of the lands they had been to, before pausing as they finally discovered some of the foes that were attacking this realm, a small Rhynoc that was wearing an orange skirt with a golden necklace and had a few bits of charcoal to use as a weapon, a small creature that had a pair of tusks and was covered in wool, a small mammoth as it turned out, and a tall Rhynoc that was dressed like an ancient temple guard, in cloth and not armor, that carried a club as its weapon of choice.
As such it was rather easy for the group to determine that the first foe was a Charcoal Rhynoc, on account of the fact that it threw the charcoal at them, a Mammoth, which was rather straightforward in terms of naming them, and the taller Rhynoc was a Club Rhynoc, though they discovered that the fight was rather easy for them when Spike used the Ice Breath to freeze the Mammoth and the Charcoal Rhynoc in blocks of ice, allowing Spyro and Ember to charge into them, which did shatter the ice and defeat their enemies, while Elora dodged the incoming club and knocked the Club Rhynoc down with a swift kick to the face.
"So you guys can freeze anyone and take them out by breaking the ice?" Elora commented, as this was the first time she had actually seen this type of powerup in use, even if this was a slightly different version of the ability since the siblings had gotten it from an Ice Fairy and not one of the Powerup Gates that were scattered around these lands, "So this is what you guys did back in Cloud Temples, when you were trying to get all the Orbs."
"That's right, but we never tried charging the ice, since we needed the trolls to get to the bells." Spyro said, as he did recall what Elora was talking about, especially since it had been only a year ago, and was able to tell her what they had done during their visit to that realm, even if it was just a tiny bit of what had happened, before he glanced at the wall of snow that was on a platform they needed to jump over, meaning there had to be some way around it, while at the same time Ember picked up the rest of the gems in the area, "So, any ideas on how we're supposed to get through this snow and explore the rest of this realm?"
"Maybe we should check out this structure?" Ember replied, gesturing to the stone structure that the three enemies had been standing nearby, one that happened to be near the end of the stone walkway that they had used to get down from the starting area of this realm, something none of them had checked out due to wanting to clear the enemies out as soon as they were able to.
What they discovered, besides another straw basket to break, was a Penguin that was similar to Sgt. Byrd, minus all of the military hardware that their friend wore every time they saw him in the realms they were visiting, though in place of all that gear he was wearing a red suit, possibly a custom made snow vest for him and the other Penguins of this realm, but it was easy for the group to determine that he wasn't happy about something.
"Is something wrong?" Spyro asked, even though the look on the Penguin's face was all the information they needed to know that there was definitely something wrong with this realm, despite how seemingly peaceful the area was, meaning the trouble was likely lurking around a corner that they had yet to discover, though at the same time Elora took care of the straw basket so Talon could get the gem that was inside it.
"Yeah, we bought a laser defense system, which is powered by the sun, to defend ourselves against the Rhynocs and other threats, but we can't use it on account of our flippers," the Penguin replied, where he held out his arms for a second or two so they could see his flippers, though it wasn't hard to imagine the trouble he and the rest of the Penguins had at using things when the group thought about Sgt. Byrd and how his weapons were modified so he could use them, which was something they could pitch to the Professor the next time they saw him, "oh, and the system was sold to us by some bear in a suit, who had a sack with a gem icon on it, but it feels like he might have robbed us."
"He did, because that was Moneybags, someone who cons the innocent and starts wars that tears realm apart, all for the sake of taking all the gems for himself," Elora remarked, though she couldn't resist bringing her hand to her face for a few seconds, as she honestly couldn't believe that they were already hearing about another species that Moneybags had successfully conned, no doubt because he likely showed them a defense system that they could operate and then made sure to deliver one that was useless to them, leaving the Penguins in a worse position in the process, "Don't worry, we'll see what we can do with the defense system and help take down the enemies that are bothering this realm... and, once we finish our adventure, we'll find that rotten bear and put him behind bars, where he belongs."
The laser defense system, as the group found out, happened to be the mirrors that were on top of the structure and that they were controlled by some levers that someone had to pull, which would direct the beam of light to whatever the user wanted to target, meaning that Elora, who was the only member of the group, stepped inside the structure and had to listen to the siblings as she directed the beam at the wall of snow, mostly because she found another flaw and that was the fact that there were no openings for the user to look through. There were only two ways for her to even figure out that she had the beam on the wall of snow, the first being that Spyro and the others had her stop after a certain point and told her not to move anything, while the second was that the wall, for some reason, decided to explode after a few seconds of having the beam of light shine on it, like an explosive had been resting inside it as a trap for the group, and if that was the case than the Ice Fairies saved them some headache by giving the siblings the Ice Breath, prompting them to find a new way to take the wall down. Once that was done she positioned the mirrors so that the beam was no longer moving in the area that they were in and joined the siblings in front of the now opened passage, as they could finally jump up the stone steps and see what else the realm had to offer, even though there were no doubt more enemies for them to face, more gems for them to collect, and eggs for them to retrieve. As such they jumped up the stones and reached the next area that they would be exploring, finding that it was just a square section of the city that the pyramid was in, if it was a city anyway, to which Spyro charged through three straw baskets while Elora rushed at the Charcoal Rhynoc that was on the other side of the area that they were entering, dodging the charcoal that was thrown at her as she kicked her foe into the ground and returned it to its original gem state.
From there they found two paths they could use, where there was an opening to their right that they needed to be a little higher to get over and a ramp off to the left in front of them that seemed to wrap around to the top of a structure, so what the group did was take down the Mammoth that was in the way, by Spyro charging into it, before Spike used some of his Arcane Missiles to quickly strike a Club Rhynoc down, thus clearing the path that was in front of them, allowing the four of them to break some straw baskets before doing anything else. With the way cleared the group glided over to the wall and landed on top of it, which allowed them to collect the pair of gems that were on it, before they discovered that there was a Charcoal Rhynoc nearby, another defense structure, a walkway which happened to be near the pyramid, and what appeared to be a rather large evil looking snowman that was guarding the cave that was the next area they would be heading through. What they did next was freeze the Charcoal Rhynoc so Ember and Elora could get up to the walkway, not that Elora needed a step thanks to her jumping skills, but that allowed them to collect a number of gems before heading up some of the steps and entered the room that it brought them to, which was when Ember smashed the bullseye chest that was up there, freeing the gems that were inside it, while Spyro and Spike picked up the gems that were near their frozen foe. That was, of course, when Elora glided over to the top of the defense structure, found a few gems that were up there, and then glided over to a small patch of land that was nearby, where she picked up an egg and brought it back over to Spike, who nodded his head and sent it back to the Dragon Realms not a few seconds later, finding that the gift the Ice Fairy had given them didn't mess with his Teleportation Breath.
Once they were sure that the area had been cleared, and that included the straw basket that was behind the defense structure, the group took a moment to walk over to the Penguin that was standing next to the opening, either because he had something he wanted to say or he was just standing guard to prevent the Rhynocs from using the laser system on him and the others in this realm.
"Oh am I glad to see you guys," the Penguin said, showing that he was happy to see the siblings and that he likely had some information to share with them before they did anything else, though Spike was sure that part of it was connected to the large snowman that was blocking the way forward, hence why they remained silent as they waited for the Penguin to reveal what was going on, "Eustace and I were having a snowman building contest earlier, to take our minds off of the Rhynocs that invaded our realm, only for the Sorceress to personally come by and cast a spell that brought all of our creations to life! Since then the evil snowmen have been stomping around, building ice walls and generally causing all sorts of trouble, mostly due to the fact that none of us have been able to stop them."
"Means the Rhynocs must have placed some gems in the snow, given everything we've seen so far." Spike said, as he didn't know any spells that could animate the snow into such a state, after the Penguins were just trying to have fun, so what made the most sense to him was that there had to be a gem inside all of the snowmen that were in this realm, just like all of the other foes they had seen in the past, and if that wasn't true that meant he had found a new spell that wasn't in what Cosmos and the others taught him.
Elora stepped into the center of the structure and accessed the controls once more, where the siblings stared at the area that was in front of them and helped her move the beam that was connected to the mirrors, though it wasn't long before the beam struck the Snowman that was in their way and forced it to move a few times, hence the reason they had the beam follow it before their foe shattered into a thousand pieces, dropping a gem and confirming Spike's thought on how the Snowmen had been brought to life. With that done, and the cave entrance no longer blocked off, the group made their way into the ice cave that had been blocked off earlier, where they discovered a Club Rhynoc blocking the way at first, only for Ember to freeze it with her Ice Breath and let Spyro take it out with a charge to the chest, allowing them to continue through the cave without wasting much time on having to fight some enemies. The only other enemy that was in the cave, that they could see at the moment, was one of the Mammoths, one that Spike just blasted with an Arcane Missile and was done with it, allowing Spyro and Ember to smash the straw baskets that were on the ground and collect the gems that were near them, while Elora jumped onto the platform that was in the middle of the round chamber they came to and did the same thing to another pair of baskets, which allowed them to pick up all of the gems in the area and then move forward to see what the rest of the realm had to offer. The cave brought them to a chamber that looked like the inside of an actual building and not part of a cavern like they would have thought, though Elora was the first one to spring into action as she jumped down and punched a Charcoal Rhynoc in the face, opening the way for the siblings to jump down into the area and pick up the gems, along with smash a few straw baskets, before they gathered near the opening and prepared to head back outside.
As they headed outside the first thing they had to do was freeze the nearby Mammoth before it could charge at them, which is what Spyro did, and the only reason none of them shattered the ice was due to not knowing if they needed a step or not, like the side of the pyramid they had passed by earlier, though after looking at the area that was in front of them for a few moments, and seeing what was waiting for them, Spike determined that they could take the Mammoth down and move forward, causing Ember to smash the ice and take their foe down. With that done they smashed a few straw baskets that were near them, picked up the gems that were on the ground, and then dealt with another Charcoal Rhynoc that was standing in front of the next defense structure, which was mostly just Ember smashing it into the ground with her hardened tail, instead of using the ability they were given this time around, giving them access to the structure. Elora then stepped into the control area and started shifting the mirrors, allowing the beam of light to appear in part of the area and moved it as the siblings told her what she was supposed to do, though it was clear that they were targeting the Snowman that was patrolling this part of the realm, since this appeared to be the only way to take such a foe down, even though she was sure Spike had a few spells that would do the job in a matter of seconds. As soon as the Snowman was shattered, and the siblings were sure of it, Elora rejoined them after powering down the structure and they started to explore the other parts of the area they were in, smashing straw baskets, charging a Mammoth into a wall, and discovered one of the two portals that would take them to a side section of this realm, one that was in the image of Bentley's portal, meaning they would be seeing their yeti friend again at some point.
Instead of heading into that portal the group continued to explore the rest of the area that they were in, finding three metallic vases to smash as they entered an area that had a Charcoal Rhynoc standing guard over an edge, which just so happened to lead to a lowered section that had three Mammoths running around, though since their foe hadn't noticed them coming it was rather easy for them to do what happened next. Elora took the opportunity that was presented to her and kicked the Rhynoc in the side of the head, knocking it to the ground and causing it to revert to a gem, before Spike gathered some of his magic and loosed three Arcane Missiles into the area that the Rhynoc had been watching over, which struck down the three Mammoths that were wandering around the area, allowing Spyro and Ember to pick up the gems that were down there and smash any straw baskets they might find. As soon as the siblings were done Elora stepped into the control center for what appeared to be the last of the defense structures and found that the beam of light happened to be touching down in the area that the three Mammoths had been in, meaning she could have just torched them with the mirrors and the power of the sun, before she turned it all off and joined the siblings as they continued exploring the rest of the realm. A passage off to the right of the path that brought them to this area happened to contain the area that the exit portal was in, just like they assumed since the door on the other side of the room was the same one that they had seen when they first started exploring this realm, but instead of worrying about that right now, since they did spot a very familiar bear, whose back was turned towards them so he didn't see them, they remained outside and followed the path that was curving away from where the last Charcoal Rhynoc had been standing.
What they discovered were two more straw baskets, a Mammoth that Spyro froze so Ember could smash it to pieces with a charge, three more metallic vases and a way onto the roofs of the structures that made up the entirety of the realm that they were exploring at the moment, though as the siblings picked up all the gems Talon flew ahead with Elora as she jumped into the air and glided over to one of the roofs. It was clear what she was doing, as she was figuring out where all of the gems were located and was making sure that one of the dragonflies followed her so the gems could be picked up, all without having all of them jumping and gliding all over the place, so the siblings stood there and watched as she made her way over a few roofs, making sure that she didn't leave anything behind. Even then it didn't take her all that long to come to a stop when she found one of the missing dragon eggs, one that happened to be on a small platform that rested just above the starting area, even if it was to the side a little, so she picked it up and jumped over to the other roofs to let Talon finish what he was doing. Once all of the gems had been cleared, at least in the areas that the group had been in so far, Elora turned around and made her way back to where the siblings were waiting, where she placed the egg on the ground and let Spike go over it for a few seconds, only to send it back home so it could be returned to the homeworld that it had been taken from, which was when they started to move once more and headed for the area that the exit portal was resting in, since it was time to wrap part of their visit to this realm up.
As such they returned to the chamber that the exit portal was resting in, along with Moneybags and another Penguin for that matter, though as soon as the four of them stepped in the first thing they did was pick up the gems that were on the ground and smashed three straw baskets that were near Moneybags, who flinched the moment he spotted them, to which Ember glared at him and stopped him from moving as the others approached the Penguin.
"Thanks for clearing out the Rhynocs and the evil Snowmen," the Penguin said, showing that he was grateful for what the group was able to do in the short amount of time that they had been in this realm, even though most of this could have been prevented if Moneybags had sold them the right defense system or had helped them out once the system had been installed in the first place, before the Penguin focused on them as he put an egg down in front of them and the exit portal was reactivated, "though we were able to save this egg from the Rhynocs, who could have been getting ready to try and roast it or something, but since you guys are looking for these I'll return this to you."
Spike looked over the egg for a few moments, finding that there was nothing wrong with it while the Penguin opened the door behind him and allowed them to access the starting area of the realm, before sending it home as well, which was when he, Spyro, and Elora walked over to where Moneybags was standing, even though all of them were annoyed by the fact that they had found the bear so soon after the events of Charmed Ridge.
"Oh, hello again." Moneybags said, his tone revealing that he wasn't ready to see the four of them so soon, not after what happened back in Charmed Ridge and the pain they had inflicted upon him for his crimes against the Fairies and the Cats of Felinia, though it did seem like he might have another plan to try and get them to spend some gems, even though it was likely a fake like the last couple of times they had encountered them, "Say, did you guys know that Frozen Altars is the birthplace of the great sport known as cat hockey, and that there's a sold out match happening today?"
"And let me guess, you'll sell us a 'spare ticket' so we can save an egg," Spyro remarked, because at this point he knew Moneybags well enough to know that no matter what they did, or how many times they struck the bear for everything he had done to the realms they were visiting, he was going to keep making attempts to con them out of their gems, just like he was doing to the residents of this realm, though even as he said that Elora snatched the ticket in question, as there was only one of them this time around, "Yeah, we're not interesting in your scheme."
"Not to mention the ticket's a fake." Elora added, due to the fact that she recognized Moneybags' handwriting, after taking a few moments to look at the item she had taken from the bear, which was when she ripped it to shreds as Spike used his magic to open the doorway and revealed the portal that Moneybags had been trying to hide from them, which was when she thought of something as she glanced at Ember, "Though its funny that you should mention hockey..."
In that moment the siblings froze Moneybags in a block of ice by combining their Ice Breaths, something that came as a surprise to the bear, though Ember stared at it for a few seconds before sending the block through the opening that the Penguin had opened earlier, and she would have sent him over the edge of the area if there had been a way to do so, but this was just fine, even if she would punish him harder the next time they saw him. With that taken care of the group headed through the now opened portal and found themselves outside a large hockey ring, like the ones from Colossus, only this one was made out of ice and there happened to be a Penguin standing near the edge of the area, who appeared to be conflicted about something and that only made them want to approach him so they could see what was wrong. It was in that moment that they discovered he had 'sprained' his flipper and couldn't compete, though upon asking him about it they learned something interesting, he had been bribed to forfeit to the Rhynoc he was supposed to be facing off against, by Moneybags no less, and that the bear had promised him that he would have the payment before the match got to this point. At that point it was rather easy for the group to determine what they were hearing, Moneybags, despite the fact that none of them had heard this, had likely bet on the Rhynoc winning so he could cash out once the match was over, to make up for all the gems that they hadn't given him over the course of this adventure, and that he was likely cheating the Penguin at the same time, forcing him to play in a match that he wasn't actually prepared for due to the bribe he was supposed to be taking.
As such the siblings and Elora took to the ring and positioned themselves according to what Ember knew, even though all of them had the same knowledge that she had, which was why Spyro was in charge of stopping cats from entering the goal that their foe would be heading towards while Ember guarded him from the Rhynoc that was playing against them, as apparently it could be ten on one and there would still only be a single Rhynoc, while Spike and Elora would be trying to score. The plan, as it turned out, worked to perfection, as their foe was unable to do anything against their teamwork and was unable to even score a single point against the four of them, as every time a cat entered the ring the Rhynoc would go after it, only for Spike and Elora to reach it first, where Spike would freeze the cat and they would push the ice block back to the goal that was on their side of the ring. In the unlikely event that their foe was able to actually acquire a cat, which did happen after the group had scored their first point, Ember would do her best to prevent it from getting the new cat past her, and if that were to happen, which it did, Spyro's speed was more than enough to catch the cat before it even got close to the goal that the Rhynoc was trying to score in, allowing him to redirect the cat back to his siblings and Elora so they could score another goal. As they quickly discovered the match was only to five points, a rather low number when the four of them thought about it, and it seemed that the fans even agreed with them, as they insisted on the match going on for a few more minutes, just so they got their moneys worth out of the tickets they had purchased, no doubt due to the fact that either Moneybags sold them the tickets or they were just pricey to begin with.
In the end the group emerged victorious with a score of fifteen to zero, causing the Rhynoc to throw his hockey stick to the ground in annoyance, earning them an egg, which was sent back to the Dragon Realms, and earned the team they had been filling in for a place in the later rounds of the competition, as there was more than just this one match, but the group bid the Penguin farewell and wished him luck, especially now that he knew what to do when his team took to the field later, and returned to the main part of the realm... only to head over to Bentley's portal and discover that he was now wearing boxing gloves over his hands.
"Oh, hello friends." Bentley said, once more appearing to be happy that he was seeing them again, which was nice since the group felt the same way when they encountered him and the others in these sections of the realms they were in the process of helping, though they were more interested in what he was doing here, "I have received word from my little brother that he has been having some trouble with a yeti, and so I'm here to resolve the issue with some boxing."
That interested the group more than they were willing to admit and they followed Bentley into the area that held the boxing ring, a square arena that was smaller than the hockey ring, where it wasn't hard to spot the Yeti of Colossus in the other corner of the ring, though as they stared at it Bartholomew informed his brother that his precious ball had been taken by the Yeti, before backing off to let the pair fight it out. While Bentley and the Yeti engaged each other, and started to throw punches at their foe, Ember inquired about whether or not one of them might be able to get in on the action and fight the Yeti, only for Bartholomew to inform her that this was a yeti fight and that only yetis were allowed to engage each other, like a rite of honor or something, where Spike clarified that it would bring dishonor to whatever side they replaced, something that may or may not tick Bentley off. Ember surprised them by standing still and nodded her head, because while this might be one of the few times she could actually see the Yeti of Colossus, and could be the only time she could actually engage it, she had to wait until the match was over and then come back when the Yeti was ready to face someone that wasn't another yeti, so she sat down and watched the pair fight each other. As it turned out there were two matches to this event, as Bentley won the first rather easily and gave them the egg that was apparently the reward, before the next match even started, though the second match was out of three rounds and the winner of two would be declared the winner, but while that happened Bartholomew realized that he had loaned his ball to one of the Penguins and that there was no need for them to do this, though he let the match drag on since there was an egg at stake.
As such it wasn't long before Bentley was able to win them a second egg, the sixth one of this realm, and Spike made sure to send the pair back home before he and the others bid Bentley farewell, where they quickly made sure that all of the gems in Frozen Altars had been picked up before making their way towards the exit portal, as it was time to pick a new realm from those that remained and start the process all over again in a brand new area.
With the residents of Frozen Altars helped out, and they had recovered all the gems and eggs that were in that realm, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora quickly returned to Evening Lake and swam up to the surface so they could take a moment to rest above the water and plan their next move out, as there were only two realms left for them to assist, which wasn't counting the Speedway that was near Charmed Ridge. Despite the fact that they had gone into Frozen Altars to cool down after all they had learned about Moneybags in the first realm they picked out for this homeworld, which involved starting another war and a few other things, they were still ticked off at the bear and knew that once the Sorceress was taken care of they were going to figure out a way to deal with the greedy bear. At the very least the four of them had been able to assist all of the Penguins and restore order to their realm, like they had done for the realms they had visited in the past, and they would do the same thing for the next location they went to, hence the reason that they left the lake behind for a few moments so they could actually talk to each other. One thing they could do, while they were sitting there, was stare at the whirligig for a few moments, though it did make them think about what would go inside the tower that Bentley and some of the other residents of the realms they were helping would eventually stand in, just like the castle in Sunrise Spring and the keep in Midday Gardens.
"So, which realm do you want to tackle next?" Ember remarked, because at this point there were only two realms left for them to deal with, before they headed into the Speedway and completed all of the challenges that the residents had to offer visitors to their realm, though her question was directed towards Spyro, "Do we head through the portal to Lost Fleet, and see what the Rhynocs are doing there, or should we head to the Fireworks Factory and assist whoever is there?"
"Honestly, it doesn't matter at this point, not when they're the last two," Spyro admitted, as while he was perfectly fine with the group asking him which realm they were going to tackle next, since they had been doing that for a while now, he did know that there were only two realms left and it really didn't matter at this point in time, before he focused on what his sister was asking him, "but, if you really want to know, I was thinking we could tackle whatever dangers Lost Fleet has to offer, along with collecting all the eggs and gems that are there, before we see what the Fireworks Factory has, since I'm sure the residents of Evening Lake's realms might have a way for us to get to Midnight Mountain."
"Makes sense that Bentley and the others might have a better way for us to get to the last homeworld, just like Sgt. Byrd and the others from Midday Gardens built the whirligig for us." Spike commented, as the moment they helped out the last realm of the second homeworld they learned of the device that would allow them to quickly get to this land, as the hot air balloon would have taken them longer, so that told him there was the possibility that Midnight Mountain might be more than an hour away if they used the whirligig, but they wouldn't know what was going on until they assisted the final realm of this homeworld, "We're getting close to the end of this adventure, not to mention the Sorceress that needs to be taken out, since she clearly doesn't have the best interests of the Forgotten Realms in mind."
"There's also the fact that we haven't encountered a sign for the other hero yet," Elora added, referring to the fact that Sgt. Byrd and Bentley, and potentially Sheila as well, had signs that revealed they were busy being locked inside the cages the group had found them in, guarded by Moneybags no less, and she was sure that they would find something that told them who the final hero of the Forgotten Realms was, since she was positive they would encounter them whenever they reached the final homeworld.
"True, there's still that we have to keep an eye out for," Spyro said, showing that he agreed with Elora's statement, as it was something they would find in due time and might discover in Lost Fleet or Fireworks Factory, since they had no idea which one the sign would be in, before he shook his head and focused on what they were going to do next, "Come on, let's see what's in Lost Fleet and restore order to the realm in question, since I'm sure there are Rhynocs there as well, just like all of the other realms we've been to so far, and then we can worry about what's in the Fireworks Factory."
The rest of the group thought about that for a moment before nodding their heads in agreement, to which the four of them dived back into the water and quickly headed for the portal that they were going to be assisting next, though it didn't take them long to pass through the portal and head to the next realm that was on their list to help out, especially since it only took a couple of second for them to appear in the starting area for Lost Fleet. Unlike Frozen Altars, where they stood on a platform that was covered in snow, or Charmed Ridge, where it had been a platform above another one, this time around them were standing on some sand and could see that the sky was normal and that, at the moment, they didn't see any mountains that were surrounding the area, which made sense due to the fact that this could have been a realm that was underwater, but that wasn't the case either. As it turned out there were a few large ships that were near them, all of them looking like they had been damaged in some manner and had sunk at some point in the past, before they noticed something that would limit their ability to explore the realm, a river that looked like it was either made up of acid or was covered in an acid substance that floated on top of the water, meaning they either had to find the Invincibility powerup to get around it or were just going to totally ignore the rivers while they explored this realm.
It was in that moment that an Opossum, who was standing like Elora and Hunter did, while wearing what appeared to be a miner's outfit, or maybe calling it an explorer's outfit was more correct given the fact that it didn't look like there was any sort of mining to do in this realm, walked over to the area that they were in and stopped for a moment, meaning he was the one that was going to tell them what was happening to the realm they had picked out.
"You be careful, roun' dese parts, li'l dragons and faun." the Opossum stated, though his accent was hard to place and it seemed like he was messing up a few of the words that he used when talking to them, why they had no idea, but at the same time the group remained silent as they listened to the information that he had to give the four of them about the realm they had picked out, "Dere be more ghosts in dis shipyard din I kin shake my pick at! Durned shame too, 'cause I was mighty close tuh findin' my treasure."
Once the group had been given that piece of information, and barely had time to think about what they had been told over the last minute, the Opossum headed off and left them behind, showing that his words had been more of a warning than anything else, making them wonder what in the world was happening to this realm, even though it would involve the four of them taking down the Rhynocs that were here. The first thing they did was turn to the right and noticed a large red crab that seemed to be approaching them, where all of them moved out of the way as it tried to snip at them with one of its claws, so what happened next was that Ember crushed it into the ground with her hardened tail, causing a gem to fall in the spot it had been standing in, allowing them to know that the Crabs of this realm were enemies, not that they were expecting anything else when it tried to attack all of them first. Once they had determined that they explored the area that was around them and found that there weren't many gems for them to pick up, as there were three near one wall and two more near another Crab, who Spyro charged into, but other than that there were a large number of purple coral clusters that were scattered around the starting area and the rest of what they could see that the moment, meaning there was a lot more of it all over the realm, though it wasn't long before all of the gems were collected and they resumed following the path that was in front of them. Of course that meant encountering another Crab that was hanging between the two wrecked ships that were near the starting area, which were close to each other and had a narrow passage between them that lead to the next part of the realm, though Spike solved the problem by blasting the Crab with an Arcane Missile, which allowed them to continue moving again.
It was when they tried to enter the next part of the realm where they discovered one of the ghosts that the Opossum had told them about, though they frowned when they noticed that it was carrying a lantern in its left hand and that it wasn't even transparent at all, which was why Elora jumped into the air and kicked it in the side of the head, revealing that it was just a pair of short Rhynocs that were playing dress up, so she kicked the other one, who had been the legs, and took them both out as they earned a pair of gems for her efforts.
"Well that was disappointing." Spike commented, because when he heard the mention of ghosts he had been hopeful that they were the real deal and not some foolish Rhynocs just playing games, but, as it turned out, it was just some short Rhynocs having fun, scaring away anyone that tried to loot the ships for treasure, no doubt because of the eggs that they had hidden here, on the Sorceress' orders, "I guess we can call them Fake Ghost Rhynocs, or even Faker Rhynocs due to the fact that they aren't what they're appearing to be."
"I think both of them are good names, so it all depends on what you want to call them." Elora replied, as Spike was the one that usually came up with the names of the enemies that they encountered and he made sure to tell the rest of them what he had decided on after they encountered a new foe, that way everyone knew what to call each of their enemies in the realms they had been to so far, though it was rare for Spyro or Ember to even come up with something, as they were more focused on beating their foes and clearing a realm out, so they were leaving the decision up to Spike, who would have a name in no time.
Before they even left the area that the first pair of short Rhynocs had been in, as in not a few seconds after Elora told him her thoughts on the matter, Spike already had a decision and decided to call them Fake Ghost Rhynocs, since it would allow anyone reading his journals, and the books that would be published later on, to understand that their foes had been pretending to be ghosts the entire time. As it turned out there was a river of acid beyond where the Fake Ghost Rhynoc had been stationed and further beyond that was another one that happened to be guarding a turret that they could use in some manner, though aiding the other Fake Ghost Rhynoc was a flying version of the foe Elora had taken out, which was smaller than what her foe had been, meaning it had to be a single Rhynoc in a costume, making it, as Spike called it, a Fake Flying Ghost Rhynoc. With that information the group moved to strike down their enemies, where Spyro, Ember, and Elora jumped over the acid river and ducked under the incoming attack from their flying foe, which allowed them to corner and take down the Fake Ghost Rhynoc, though while they were doing that Spike loosed a Fireball through the air and struck down their flying foe, clearing the immediate area in the process. Once that was done Ember spotted one of the circular metallic chests and smashed it open with her hardened body by charging into it, proving it was as effective as smashing one of these chests with her tail, allowing the dragonflies to pick up the gems she had freed before they focused on the turret and the potential enemies or openings it could be used on.
As it turned out the Opossum that had ran ahead of them, and had emerged unharmed due to the Rhynocs that were in the area, had painted a red cross on part of the wrecked ship that he was standing near, indicating where an opening was located and that he needed someone to blast it open, which is what Elora did when she climbed onto the turret and loosed a charge from it, blowing open a hole in the side of the section of the ship the Opossum had pointed out, giving all of them a way forward once more. Instead of worrying about the birds that were flying in the air, or trying to climb up a wall of sand that they could likely get to later on, the group collected all of the gems that they had access to, including two that were on a small platform on the side of the ship, before heading through the opening that Elora had created, where they smashed some straw baskets and picked up the gems before turning to the right of the opening. In the area that was in front of them stood another Fake Ghost Rhynoc, which was why Elora jumped into the air and kicked the first one off of the second one, allowing Spyro to charge into the other one and take it down so they could defeat two enemies at the same time, while Ember spun around and used her hardened tail to smash her way through two Crabs that were trying to go after the others, taking them both down before they even had the chance to hurt anyone. Spike, on the other claw, took a moment to loose another Fireball through the air, where he struck down a fake Flying Ghost Rhynoc that was on the other side of the acid river that was blocking their way, thus allowing them to jump over to the area it was guarding so they could pick up all the gems that were in the area.
From there the group found the next area that the Opossum had jumped to, where they would have to glide over a small sunken area to reach him, but that didn't stop Ember from using the Headbash to take out the Crab that was down there and retrieve the gems it had been guarding, which was when they glided over to the Opossum and found that the reason he had stopped was due to the enemies that were in the tunnel he had discovered. Since it was clear that he was waiting for the way to be cleared, no doubt because he had seen how skilled they were at fighting the various enemies of this realm, Spike used his Arcane Missiles to take down the two Crabs that were right in front of them, opening the way for Elora to reach the Fake Ghost Rhynoc that was at the end of the tunnel and kick it in the head, which allowed Spyro and Ember to either charge or flame the other two into the ground, just like the last couple of times they had encountered this type of foe. After those enemies were taken out Ember headed to the right with Elora and found a few gems that lead them right to a Crab, one that she smashed into the side of the wrecked ship that was in front of them, opening the way for Elora to access the turret that it had been guarding so she could blast a new hole in this side of the ship, thanks to the red cross the Opossum put on it. There were also two birds flying around this part of the area, though before Elora could even target them, after blowing another hole in the side of the ship and allowing the Opossum to head inside the vessel, Spike blasted both of them out of the air with some Arcane Missiles, saving them some time and giving the dragonflies some additional gems to collect as they moved through the rest of the area.
They regrouped near the tunnel and then glided over the larger acid river that was in front of them, where Spyro, who was at the front of their formation, landed and charged into the Crab that was in their way, defeating it in a few seconds so the others could land, which would allow them to glide over to part of a wrecked ship that happened to be in the acid river that filled this area. As it turned out there was also a Fake Flying Ghost Rhynoc over there and was taken down rather fast as Spyro flamed it and let Ember smack it with her tail, only for them to discover that it was guarding a path down to some gems, before they turned around and started climbing up to the front of the vessel, which was followed by them gliding through the opening that Elora had created, where they came to a stop when they found the Opossum standing next to the inactive exit portal, which had a chest and a whirlwind near it.
"Wouldja lookit that!" the Opossum commented, where he turned to face them as they touched down in the chamber that he was standing in, revealing that the chest had been opened, no doubt him him to make sure everything was still in the container, allowing the siblings and Elora to see a pile of golden coins and, more importantly, one of the missing eggs that they were looking for, which the Opossum didn't seem happy to see, "Some fool hid a dag gum in me treasure... you can have it, if you want."
The group, of course, accepted the egg and then watched as the Opossum actually picked up his chest and moved on to another part of the realm, no doubt to count all of it in a private area, so while Spike checked the egg out the others spent a few moments looking around the chamber, finding a number of gems to pick up and an Invincibility Gate that was in front of one of the acid rivers, meaning they could use it to explore the area and maybe find things that they would have missed without the powerup, before Spike joined them after sending the egg back home. There was also a Crab near the Powerup Gate they had discovered, one that Spyro charged into and defeated in seconds, though once he had done that the four of them headed through the Invincibility Gate and dived into the acid that was in front of them, where both their bodies and their gear were protected from the acid by the ability that they had accessed, allowing all of them to swim around and check out the area that they were in. As such the group followed the path that was under the acid, of which there were multiple paths and they picked one at random, before they jumped out of the water when they reached what appeared to be a dead end, after picking up a number of gems in the process, which was when they found a small area that had one of the eggs they were looking for, allowing them to send it back to the Dragon Realms before using the nicely placed whirlwind behind it to leave the area. That, in turn, brought them to a higher position that allowed them to glide out into an area that they had passed through earlier, but if they turned around as they started to glide, however, the four of them could land on a wooden walkway that lead them right to one of the side portals for this realm, allowing them to pick up a gem as they landed and then headed through the portal.
Not a few seconds later they discovered that they were in a small passage that the Opossum from earlier was in, but behind him rested a pool of acid water and to his right rested another Invincibility Gate, making them wonder what he was going to ask them to do, before they noticed the submarine that was resting in the pool of acid, how none of them knew since they needed the Invincibility Gate to access the area it happened to be resting in.
"Dese here waters used to be my favorite divin' spot," the Opossum stated, speaking to them the moment that they approached him, while at the same time that made them question both his sanity and the danger of the acid, since all of them were under the impression that this area had been here for a long time and that there was no way this guy could have swam around this area without the use of a machine like the submarine, "but I can't get any loot with these subs patrollin' around. Think you kin pilot this here sub I brought for scrap?"
The group determined that they could clear the area out, though they also discovered that they were only capable of sending one of them, maybe two if it was one sibling and Elora, into the submarine, so Spike and Elora climbed into the vessel and closed the hatch so they could head under the acid water, where it looked like someone had reinforced this submarine to resist the acid, while at the same time Spyro and Ember used the gate to gain the ability to follow after them as they moved through the area the loot was in. Spike determined that the targeting system of the submarine was bad and wouldn't put it past Moneybags to sell something like this to the Opossum, though that didn't stop him and Elora from firing at the six enemy subs that were in the water with them, though while they did that Spyro and Ember swam around and collected the loose gems that happened to be in the area, but it wasn't hard to figure out that they were looking for any eggs that were in the area. Surprisingly enough the enemy subs didn't even try to fight back, like they were being piloted by Rhynocs that had no idea what they were doing at the moment, but that didn't stop them from clearing out the area that they were in and picking up all of the gems that were resting everywhere, even if those that were outside the submarine had to circle back to a second Invincibility Gate that was down in the acid river, again making them wonder how it wasn't falling apart, before they decided not to both questioning things all that much.
When they finished clearing out the area, and made sure that both the enemy subs had been taken out and the gems had been picked up, the group returned to the opening that would take them back to the Opossum and climbed out as they reached the area in question, though while they were given an egg as a reward for their actions, which was just fine as Spike quickly determined, the Opossum revealed that more enemies were coming into the lake, as he called it, so Spyro got into the submarine this time and headed back into the acid water again with Ember joining him outside. That left Spike and Elora to stand guard over the egg, but even if they didn't dive into the lake they heard the sounds of the others tearing apart the new submarines that were invading the area, so it wasn't long before Spyro and Ember returned to the area that they were in and told the Opossum that the seven submarines that had invaded the area had been taken out, earning the group another egg for their efforts. As such Spike took a moment to make sure both of the eggs were alright and then sent them back to the Dragon Realms, so they could be added to the others they had rescued so far, before they bid the Opossum farewell and headed back through the portal that had brought them to this area in the first place, allowing them to return to the main part of the realm so they could resume the search for the missing eggs and the other side section that they would be heading into at some point. From there they glided back down into the area they had cleared out earlier and headed back to where the exit portal was located, which would allow them to access another part of the realm and, more importantly, the other side section once they figured out where the other portal was located, even though it was possible that the path to that area was hidden by the acid rivers.
The whirlwind that they had been walking towards brought them to the upper level of the main ship that was in the middle of the realm, where they were able to collect a couple of gems that were up there, find a wooden plank that would have allowed them to glide to where the first side portal was located, and a turret they could use on something, where the group determined that it had to be for the birds that were flying through the area. Instead of wasting time on trying to aim at the five birds, and missing a number of shots just to take one of them down, Spike hurled a few Arcane Missiles into the air and struck them down, allowing the dragonflies to collect the fallen gems that he freed, while at the same time allowing them to pick out where they wanted to go next, even though the paths they could pick from were becoming more and more limited as they explored the realm they were in. Ember was the first one to move, as in she climbed up to the area that the turret was resting in and glided over to a cave that was off in the distance, where she ended up smashing one of the circular metallic chests and claimed the gems that were inside it, though as she did that the others glided over to the front part of the other ship that was near the starting area, which just so happened to have a whirlwind that Ember used to catch up with them. From there it was a simple matter for them to pick up the gems that were around them, walk up the sand and enter an area that had five Crabs patrolling the place, and start clearing the way so they could explore the last bit of the realm, which was why Spyro charged into his targets, Ember smashed hers with her hardened tail, and Spike and Elora worked together to bring two of them down, by Elora kicking them into a Fireball that Spike had prepared for them, allowing them to clear the entire area of foes in a matter of seconds.
Of course, as they cleared that area out, Spike spotted that the three smaller boats that were partly buried in the sand that they were walking on, like lifeboats that some ships used, did provide a way up to an area that three more Crabs were patrolling, to which the four of them jumped onto the first one, leapt to the second, made sure to land on the third one, and then jumped up onto the area the Crabs were on, where Ember smacked them down with her hardened tail, before Elora kicked a fourth one that had been hidden by the others. Once those foes were taken care of they walked up the rest of the hill, while making sure to pick up the gems from their defeated enemies and the ones that had been on the ground, before finding a point where they just had to walk down into an area below them and did so without delay, even though Spyro flamed the Crab that was in their way so they could move forward without being bothered by it. There were two more Crabs right in front of them, on another lower level of the path they were following, along with one to their right, one that could be accessed by jumping over some of the acid river, and two more even further beyond the first pair, which was right before the portal they had been looking for, the one for the other side section, so the group focused on their foes for the next couple of moments. That was when Ember smashed through the first pair that was in front of them, Spike blasted the one that was off to the side with another Arcane Missile, and Spyro charged one of the last two as Elora kicked the other into the ground, allowing them to clear the area and claim the gems that had fallen, along with the ones that had been laying on the sand in the first place, before they headed through the portal that was in front of them.
What they discovered, when they finally appeared in the other side section of Lost Fleet, was an area that looked like it had been part of the seafloor at some point in the past, before the water had receded to allow visitors to visit the wrecked shipyard they had passed through earlier, and it also looked like someone had converted part of it to a skateboard arena, which explained why they found Hunter standing near a Rhynoc that was practicing with a board, though its skills were rather bad as they watched it wipe out a few times, before they approached their friend, even though that let them find out that there were more Rhynocs in the area than just the first one.
"Guys, you're just in time, because a Rhynoc skateboard gang just showed up while I was looking for the stolen eggs and challenged me and my friends to a race." Hunter stated, not that the group was all that surprised by what their friend was telling them, because they were in an area that had been remodeled into a skateboard arena and there was a team of Rhynoc skateboarders getting ready for something, but the group said nothing as they waited for him to give them all the information that he had, before they agreed with help him out, "Listen, I know that I could have just ignored them and not agreed to the race in your stead, but they mentioned that they have a dragon egg, which they're supposed to be guarding, and I knew you guys would have been mad at me if I turned down a race with one of the missing eggs at stake. Also, they said that while the four of you might be tough fighters, and are capable of taking out multiple Rhynocs in seconds, one of them claimed that all of you were slower than a bunch of Molten Crater fire slugs. I've seen you in action, and I know for a fact that all of you are way faster than a fire slug... and I've seen some surprisingly fast fire slugs over the last few years, be they from Avalar or these lands. Still, the Rhynocs agreed that if we faced them in a race, and one of us was able to beat all of them, they would willingly hand over the egg they're guarding... plus, if we do this right, one of us might be able to save another dragon egg from the sand crab burrows I've seen."
"A race for one of the eggs, now that we can do." Spyro replied, because while it was interesting to hear that this batch of Rhynocs felt that they were better than everyone else, when it came to skateboarding, he and his siblings, along with Hunter and even Elora, had some skills when it came to this sort of thing, which was why he felt that it was okay for them to get involved in this sort of thing.
Hunter, happy to see that they were all in agreement, produced boards for them to use, each of them colored in a way to match the rider that it belonged to, like how his was modeled after his fur, which was followed by the five of them taking their places at the starting line that was to the left of the portal they had walked out of, letting the five Rhynocs know that the race was going to begin and took up their positions at the front of the pack. The first lap around the area was rather straightforward, as the group kept up with the Rhynocs as they moved around the track that had been created in this area, which included smashing the straw baskets that were in the way as they let Sparx, Talon, and Cinder pick up all of the gems that they went by, but it was near the end of the first lap that they got serious, right before they crossed the finish line to start the second lap. As soon as they reached that point in time Spyro flipped through the air, due to performing a trick on one of the few ramps in the area, and landed ahead several of the Rhynocs, which was followed by their foes being surprised as Spike, Ember, Elora, and Hunter flipped through the air as well, each doing their own set of stunts as they did that, before landing near Spyro as they continued racing against the skateboarders that were ahead of time. The better Rhynoc skateboarders were surprised by the fact that they had caught up so quickly, like they had been relying on their own insults on the group's speed, though it wasn't long before Spyro was able to flip over the second place Rhynoc and speed forward, eventually overcoming the first place racer that had been rather lazy in what he was doing, which totally shocked the entire Rhynoc team when they noticed that. Of course he wasn't the only one that passed by the former first place racer, as Spike and the others did the same thing in due time, causing all of their foes to actually cry when they got passed, though that let them spend the final lap just racing and taking out the sand crabs that were in their way, since they seemed to have the other egg they were looking for.
In the end the five of them reached the finish line for the third lap way ahead of the Rhynocs, where they smiled as each of them climbed off of their boards and waited for their foes to finish the race, though when the group of Rhynocs did that their leader handed over the egg that they were supposed to be guarding and then the pack headed off, leaving the group to check the egg out and send it back home... though before they did that one of the sand crabs walked over and gave them the second egg that Hunter had spotted, before heading off, allowing them to send two eggs back to the Dragon Realms, clearing the realm out.
"Ah yeah, we sure schooled those Rhynocs," Hunter remarked, showing that he was incredibly happy with what they were able to do in such a short period of time, while at the same time his statements about the skills of the siblings was true, even if some of them didn't practice all that much in the past, though he was pleased to see that all of his friends were happy that they had recovered all of the eggs in this realm, along with the gems according to what the dragonflies told them not a few moments later.
"And, since we've cleared this section of the realm out, we have all the eggs and the gems," Spike said, as he had been keeping track of the number of eggs they had collected in each realm, where six seemed to be the magic number, save for the Speedways and the ambush areas, and knew that their dragonflies wouldn't lie about the gems, so it was easy for him to determine when they were done with a realm, before another thought came to mind, "Oh, there is something we need to tell you before we leave this realm, Hunter, and that's the fact that Bianca warned up about a trap that the Sorceress set up in Evening Lake, even though we aren't sure where its located, and she asked us to tell you about it, so you wouldn't fall for whatever trap our foe set up."
Hunter nodded his head and saluted the group, showing that he got the message and that he would keep an eye out for anything suspicious or out of place, to which Spyro lead the others back to the main part of the realm and they headed back towards the exit portal, as it was time for them to check out the final realm of Evening Lake, then tackle the Speedway they had neglected to enter earlier, before heading for Midnight Mountain to put an end to the Sorceress and whatever plans she had in mind for the remaining stolen eggs.
After clearing out everything in Lost Fleet, be they the eggs and gems that the group were looking for, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to Evening Lake and headed over to the nearby passage that would take them to where the portal for Fireworks Factory, the oddly named realm, was located, as it was the last realm that they needed to visit and assist before discovering what sort of vessel would allow them to reach Midnight Mountain. Since there were no other realms for them to worry about, other than the one they were heading towards, there was no reason for any of them to return to the surface and talk about what they needed to do this time around, which was why they swam over to the location of the portal in question and passed through it, so they could help the last of the realms in Evening Lake. Once they were done with this last realm they would check out the area that the new vessel would be located in, where the residents of the realms would be located, and check out how long it would take the group to create the object in question, which would allow them to head over to the Speedway and clear it out before it was time to leave for the final homeworld of the Forgotten Realms, which would allow them to bring this adventure to an end. Of course the adventure would only end once they confronted their foe, the Sorceress, and reclaimed the Forgotten Realms from her control, but that would come in the near future, since they were so close to reaching their final destination, hence the reason that they focused on the task that was in front of them and the realm that they were heading towards.
What the group discovered, when they appeared in the starting area of the final realm of Evening Lake, was that the architecture was similar to what was in Bamboo Terrace, only instead of houses and towers this realm had brick walls, tall towers made of brick, lanterns that lit the way, a cannon off in the distance, and normal colored lava that seemed to be the hazard that the group needed to avoid, even if Spike and Ember were immune to that. The first thing they did was pick up the couple of gems that were resting on the ground around them, in a starting area that didn't loop to where the area that the exit portal was in, before they walked down the short stone bridge that was in front of them and spotted a foe right away, a Rhynoc that was wearing armor and was carrying a bomb, meaning it was a Bomber Rhynoc. What interested the group was the fact that when they approached their first foe of this realm, who they would likely take down with a quick burst of fire, it was taken down from behind, which was the moment that Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora spotted Greta, the little girl that was working with her brother Handel, back in the outpost in Scorch that they had helped them infiltrate and retrieve the flags from, only she was wearing what appeared to be a while ninja outfit or something, which made some sense due to the fact that she and her brother were supposedly secret agents. The surprising part was the fact that she was even here in the first place, because to the best of their knowledge there was no portal between Avalar and the Forgotten Realms, as the Professor would have told them about it, before the group decided to approach the little girl and see what she needed help with this time around.
"Oh, hewwo, it's good to see you guys again." Greta said, where her tone revealed that she was happy to see the four of them again, especially since it had been almost a year since she had seen any of them, but the group stood there for a few moments as they wondered how in the world she could be here, before she focused on something else and glanced away from them for a moment, "That naughty sorcewess has stolen the Pwofessor's wocket plans and I'm on a secret mission to find them. Handel was supposed to meet me here, but I can't find him anywhere. Maybe you guys can help me out a little?"
"It seems that we might have found our way to Midnight Mountain, a special rocket designed by the Professor," Elora commented, as that was something that they had been worried about, since the hot air balloon had been replaced by the much faster whirligig and she was sure that a rocket was much faster than the whirligig would be, though hearing that left her with more questions than actual answers, "Greta, when did the Professor open a portal to the Forgotten Realms? And why didn't he tell us anything about a new set of islands that we could explore?"
"To be honest, I have no idea." Greta replied, revealing that she must have been surprised when the Professor came to her and her brother with the mission in the first place, meaning that their friend must have been scouting out all of the islands before he told the siblings and Elora anything about the Forgotten Realms, meaning that they would have to find him to get some answers to her questions on the matter, before Greta dashed off into the distance, showing that she was eager to continue her mission.
"Well, at least we have an idea of what's going on in this realm." Spyro remarked, as the first resident of every realm had given them the information they needed to know what the Rhynocs were doing to the realms, but this time around it looked like the Rhynocs might be defending the Sorceress' fireworks factory, the same one that Sgt. Byrd attacked at some point in the last couple of days, though it still belonged to someone else and the Rhynocs needed to be evicted from the land the factory had been built on.
With Greta moving forward, to continue her mission, the group decided that they might as well get moving as well and see what else the realm had to offer them, hence the reason they moved away from the starting area and headed over to the other Rhynoc that happened to be near the first tower that was in this realm, though it was wearing what appeared to be a black ninja outfit that covered the majority of its face, and it carried a bamboo staff, to which the group just called it a Ninja Rhynoc and left it at that. Ember found that it tried to hit her with the staff that it was carrying, which only snapped in half when it struck her hardened body, much to the dismay of the Ninja Rhynoc, before she put it down with a swift hit from her tail, allowing the others to smash the straw baskets that were around the tower it had been guarding, which was when they collected all of the gems that were on the ground. From there they approached the arched opening that was in front of them, which two Ninja Rhynoc were guarding at the moment, though Spyro found that he was able to charge one of their foes into the ground while Elora dodged the incoming attacks from the other one, only to kick it in the side of the head and knock it down, which was followed by Ember smashing two metallic vases off to their left, only to find a side area with two more vases and another of the Ninja Rhynoc. Sadly that foe didn't stand much of a chance as Spike gathered a bit of the wind that was around them into what appeared to be shuriken, something that they expected the ninjas to have in their arsenal and found that the last of their foes, for now anyway, didn't have any metallic versions of what Spike had created, to which he threw the Wind Shurikens through the air and they slammed into his foe's chest, knocking it to the ground in defeat so they could smash the vases and collect all of the gems that were in the area.
Once the front part of the realm was cleared out the group moved through the arched opening and found a few more Ninja Rhynoc waiting for them, where the one in front of the bridge even had a firework launcher that was aimed right at the four of them, but Spike dealt with that by shielding them for a few moments when the attack was fired, allowing them to take no damage from the fireworks, before a pair of Wind Shurikens struck his target in the chest, while Elora kicked the other Ninja Rhynoc in the head to clear out the area. There was one other Ninja Rhynoc to their left that seemed to be more interested in a random firework that was on the ground, though when it noticed Spyro walking over to it, however, it picked up its staff and prepared to defend itself, even though Spyro rolled out of the way to avoid the incoming attack and then charged into his target, taking another foe out in the process. Something he noticed, however, was that some of the enemies they were taking down didn't drop any gems and some of them were dropping them like they were supposed to whenever he or one of the others took them down, and when he brought it up to Spike he found that his brother had noticed the same thing, though the answer, as the rest of the group discovered, was that he was of the opinion that their foe might have found a way to create multiple Rhynocs from a single gem, trapping the gem in a dispenser of some kind that only replenished her forces when one soldier was taken out. The reason behind that idea was because he noticed that there was a large box on top of the walkway that was just above the arched opening they had walked through, one that did seem to be in the middle of summoning new foes for them to take out, even if Ember and Elora were smacking the ones that tried to come after them, meaning that smashing the boxes would weaken their foe's forces and make their job in this realm that much easier.
Spyro paused for a moment, as he honestly wasn't expecting that sort of answer when he asked Spike about the lack of gems from the foes they were taking down, but the way Spike explained it was rather easy to follow, as they just had to keep doing what they were doing and smash any boxes they found along the way, to which he returned to the head of the group as they crossed over the bridge that the pair of Ninja Rhynocs had been guarding.
There were two Ninja Rhynocs right in front of them, guarding the other end of the bridge, while standing a few steps behind them was one of the Bomber Rhynocs and two more Ninja Rhynoc, meaning that the Sorceress really wanted this place to be well protected after what Sgt. Byrd did to it, though the first two stood no chance against the group was Spike used his Wind Shurikens, a spell he had been taught by Cosmos over the last year and was only now using, to knock both of them out. From there it was Ember's turn as she hardened her body and jumped towards the Bomber Rhynoc, taking a bomb right to the face, not that it mattered since her body was tough enough to avoid taking damage in this state, before she spun around and rolled right into her foe's chest, knocking it to the ground in a matter of seconds, where a quick hit from her tail knocked it out for good. Once that was done it was Spyro and Elora's turn to deal with the remaining Ninja Rhynocs that were at the back of the pack, where both of them dodged the incoming attacks by rolling or just moving as their foes attacked them, before Spyro flamed his opponent and knocked it to the ground, which was when Elora kicked her opponent in the side of the head and opened the way for them to explore the area now that the group of five had been taken out thanks to their teamwork. After that was done two more Ninja Rhynocs decided to drop down in front of the opening that would lead them into the building that was right in front of them, as the towers didn't seem to be all that important to the Sorceress, but neither of them really did much as they stood there, other than spin their staffs as they waited for one of them to approach the opening, so Spike knocked both of them out with his Wind Shurikens so he and the others could continue exploring the rest of the realm.
As the group explored the part of the realm that they were in they found one of the circular metallic chests off to the left of the longer bridge, though it didn't appear to have anyone guarding it, so what they did was let Ember harden her body once more and smash the chest to pieces, allowing them to claim the gems that had been inside it before finding yet one more Ninja Rhynoc standing near the river of lava that ran through this realm. Elora walked over to it and dodged the incoming attacks that it sent her way, clearly trying to hit her so it could protect whatever its boss was doing in this realm, before she spun around and punched it in the face, knocking it to the ground so that Spyro could smash his way through three more metallic vases, only to discover that there was a ledge near the first opening they had walked through. As such Spyro jumped into the air and glided over the river of lava that was between them and the ledge, as it was easy to get over it without needing the bridge, to which he smashed a few straw baskets and picked up the gems that were around him, something that was repeated near the tower that the circular metallic chest was at, due to there being a few straw baskets over there as well, before they regrouped near the end of the bridge. Elora was the last one to join them, due to the fact that she found an opening in the side of the tower and had smashed all the straw baskets that were inside it, allowing Talon to pick up all of the gems that she had found, since he had spotted what she was doing, before he flew over to Spike and took up his position once more, which was the moment that they continued to explore the area and kept their eyes open for any additional gems or potential eggs that might be resting in this realm.
What they did next was walk around the second tower that was in the area they were in and found that there was a straw basket outside it, which Ember smashed, before discovering an opening that allowed them to smash a few metallic vases and claim a couple of gems for their efforts, only to discover a number of small patches of ground that were in this side of the river of lava, one of which had a gem or two while the other had an egg. As such Spike made his way over to the patch of ground that the egg was on, where he was able to check it out and make sure that no harm had been done to it since it was left here, before sending it off to the Dragon Realms, while Ember collected the pair of gems that were on the other two patches of ground, though once all of that was done they returned to Spyro and Elora so they could use the new opening and continue exploring the rest of the factory. As they entered the structure that so many enemies had been trying to defend, and had failed, the group found another Ninja Rhynoc waiting for them, though Spike just knocked it out with some Wind Shuriken to the chest, allowing them to claim the gem it dropped and let them smash the straw basket that was in the corner, before they used the short ladder to their left to climb up to the next level of the area. What they found at the top of the ladder was one of the Bomber Rhynocs in the middle of a passage, who clearly hadn't noticed any of them yet since its back was to them, though that provided the perfect opportunity for Ember to rush up to where it was standing, up into the air as she hardened her body, and then crushed her target into the floor, allowing the others to pick up a new gem thanks to her efforts.
As they entered the next room they found one Ninja Rhynoc on the roof and one by the opening that would lead them back outside, who was holding a fireworks launcher, so Spike used his Wind Shuriken to knock them both out as the rest of the group smashed a few metallic vases and claimed the gems that had been inside them, though as they walked outside two more Ninja Rhynoc tried to ambush them, only to fall to Spyro and Elora hitting both of them into the ground, allowing them to find Greta standing next to what appeared to be a cannon in the shape of a dragon's head, though it was in a new style than what the group had seen in the past.
"It seems that you guys will have to use this cannon to get across here," Greta commented, though it was a fair fact for her to point out, as there was no bridge or walkway connecting the area they were in to the next area that would let them figure out where the exit portal for this realm was located, which meant the only way across at the moment was by the cannon that happened to be in front of them, one that was clearly designed to work with fireworks, "you just have to climb aboard. As for me, I just have to fwee my mind..."
It was in that moment, after giving the group the information on how they were going to get across the gap that was in front of them, that Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora watched as Greta turned and ran at the edge of the area, where she jumped into the air and seemed to sail over the gap, like it was nothing, before landing on the other ledge and moving forward on her own, even though they would be fighting the enemies that she was running by. After seeing that happen the first thing the group did was smash the two straw baskets that were near the cannon and then, with nothing else to do in this area, they approached the cannon and found that they were going to have to take turns using it, where Spyro was the first one to jump into the opening and watched as the hatch closed behind him, though that was when the cannon turned and shifted so it was pointing at the area that Greta had jumped over to, before he was fired through the air and quickly landed on the area that was above the patch of land he had jumped over to earlier. Spike found that the cannon used the power of the wind to send things over the gap, since there was no explosion like an actual cannon did when they were fired, to which he and the others took turns doing the same thing so they could catch up to Spyro, as they were eager to see what the rest of the realm had to offer and how many other enemies would be standing in their way before they reached the exit portal and acquired the plans that the Sorceress had apparently stolen. The moment they had landed on the new area they explored the area that was outside the structure in question and found that there were a few gems and a couple of straw baskets around the edges of the area, before discovering a light brown box that was positioned over the ledge that was near the starting area, though when Spyro charged into it he freed a gem, confirming Spike's thoughts on the infinite Rhynoc spawning boxes, even if they were easy to break.
With the outside taken care of, and getting a chance to see that this was another realm that was surrounded on all sides by mountains, the group headed into the structure and found that there were four Ninja Rhynocs waiting for them, to which Spyro charged through one of them, Spike dodged an incoming attack and knocked the second out with some of his Wind Shuriken, Ember just tanked the hits from her foe by hardening her body and then lashed out with her tail when it was tired, and Elora kicked hers in the side of the head to knock it out. Once those foes were taken care of the group made sure to smash two more straw baskets, and collecting the gems, before heading for the other opening that would let them move forward through the realm, where a slightly curved walkway connected the structure they were currently in to another one that was near the starting area, which also happened to have two of the Bomber Rhynoc just patrolling the area, waiting for enemies to show up. Since neither of them seemed to be paying attention to what was happening behind them, Ember charged forward and jumped into the air so she could smash the first one into the ground, all with her body being hardened to avoid damage, though Elora was the one that followed her and kicked the other one in the back of the head not a few seconds after Ember hit her target, taking them both down in seconds. On the other side of the walkway they discovered another Rhynoc Box to their left and smashed it instantly, instantly cutting down on the number of foes that were in this realm, before Ember smashed a circular metallic chest with her tail and freed the gems that were inside it, while Spyro entered the upper part of a tower that was in front of them and smashed a couple of metallic vases to add to their collection of gems.
Elora also smashed another Rhynoc Box that was to the right of the end of the bridge, once more depriving whatever enemies remained of reinforcements, before they scouted out the area that was near the tower that Spyro had gone into and found a Ninja Rhynoc guarding a portal to one of the side areas of the factory, so Ember took it down before it could even attack her and they quickly collected the gems that were laying on the ground around them, before they headed to the inside of the next structure, where they found Greta waiting for them.
"Uh oh, it looks like the Sorcewess has already used the plans to build her own wocket... we have to destwoy it!" Greta stated, causing the group to look around and realize that they couldn't actually see the rocket that the Sorceress had built in this realm, meaning it had to be on another level or something, though that didn't stop Greta from trying to lead them to whatever it was that she was looking for, "Just follow me!"
As it turned out the next couple of Ninja Rhynoc had no idea what was coming their way as Greta attacked the first pair from behind, kicking them to the ground before they even had a chance to defend themselves, before heading for the next two that were guarding the rocket area and smacked one into a wall before doing a long backflip to land behind the last foe and take it down, only for her to press a button that caused the rocket to launch from the opening that was in the floor in front of them... but when the rocket was in the air it exploded and dropped an egg onto the ground, which meant that someone was trying to launch it into orbit for some reason.
"Huh, I guess they had a large self-destruct button ready in case things went south." Elora commented, though at the same time they found that the egg landed near the starting area, near a cannon that they must have ignored, meaning it was likely the way back up here, not that such a thing mattered when she could just jump down to the area that the egg had landed in, pick it up, and then jump back up to where the structure was so she could deliver the egg to Spike, which is exactly what she did.
Spike looked over the egg as Greta hummed a little, showing that she was happy about what they were able to do in the last couple of minutes, before she took the Professor's plans for the rocket and headed through the now reactivated exit portal, no doubt returning to the area that the other residents were gathered in so she could have them work on the new vessel that will allow them to reach Midnight Mountain, before Spike sent the egg back to the Dragon Realms... only to discover a rather advanced looking portal in the chamber that the rocket had been in, with a sign that had a monkey on it this time around.
"Wait a minute, that monkey looks oddly familiar." Elora commented, where she stared at the picture for a couple of seconds as she considered where she might have seen someone that looked like what was in front of them, while at the same time the siblings read what the sign had to say, even though they knew it was from the Sorceress, informing them that she had captured the other hero of the Forgotten Realms, before she realized who it was, "Of course, that's Agent 9, who Hunter and I haven't seen in years."
"Agent 9? Who is that exactly?" Ember asked, because this was the first time they had heard of someone that went by that name, especially from Elora since they had spent a great deal of time in Avalar and the realms, so it was a little odd to learn about someone that had been living there long enough for Elora to know about them, though at the same time she had the feeling that they were going to learn something new.
"One of the Professor's old pupils, though he disappeared about three years ago," Elora replied, where she raised her hand for a moment and placed it on her chin, showing that she was thinking about what was going on at the moment, but she was happy to see that they had figured something out and that Hunter would be happy to hear this piece of news the next time they found him, which would be in the next Speedway, "of course that's two years before we summoned the three of you to Avalar to help us take down Ripto and end his rampage. You know, when we started this adventure I had no idea that we would actually figure out where Agent 9 wandered off too... I wonder what he's been doing for the last couple of years."
"Well, that's something we'll likely find out when we find the cage that Moneybags will be guarding, when we finally get to Midnight Mountain, since he's the fourth hero." Spike stated, reminding them of the fact that, since they had found the Sorceress' sign and her note about the other trapped hero, they would be finding Agent 9 in the next hour or so, which all depended on how long it took the rocket to be made and the trek to the final homeworld, before the others nodded their heads in agreement, to which they used the whirlwind behind them to return to the exit portal.
With the discussion done with, and the group now looking forward to the fact that they would be meeting Agent 9 in the near future, the first thing the group did was just clear out the gems that were in the area they had passed through as they were following Greta, and that included smashing the metallic vases their friend had rushed by earlier, before they headed outside and considered their options, as there were two side portals to pick from, with Agent 9's being the last one that they would have to come back for, which wasn't a surprise at this point. The portal they ended up picking out was the one that was right outside the entrance of the structure that Greta had moved through, where they passed through it and headed to the side section that it would take them to, which appeared to be a passage of some kind with Handel, who was also dressed in white clothing like his sister, standing near the start of the area, along with the fact that there was an egg to their right, even if it was on a level that was slightly above them.
"Oh, hey guys, I think I see an egg behind you," Handel said, showing that he was, still, not very observant for a secret agent that was in training, since that was what the group had assumed a year ago when they helped him and his sister out in Scorch, mostly because of the fact that the first thing the group had spotted was the egg, but they decided to remain silent as they came to a stop in front of him, just to hear what he had to say, "but, from what I can tell, its out of reach. You guys will have to take the long way wound, through all of the Whynocs to get to it."
"Or I could do this." Elora replied, where she jumped up to where the egg was located, as it was within her basic skills in jumping, and quickly stood up as she picked the egg, before she jumped back down to where the siblings were standing as she smiled at Handel, who tilted his head in confusion for a few seconds, before heading through the portal that was behind them, showing that he didn't like what he had seen.
Spike took a few seconds to make sure the egg was just fine, though once it was sent off the group headed into the passage that Handel had been at the front of and found a number of foes that were waiting for them, to which Ember was the first one to approach the pair of Bomber Rhynoc and smashed one into the ground with her hardened tail, which Elora followed up by punching the other one in the face. From there they jumped over the next gap that was in front of them and found a number of Ninja Rhynoc waiting for foes to come at them, where the group smashed their way through their foes and knocked them to the ground, dropping more gems to the ground in the process, allowing them to add more to their collection as they moved forward, along with smashing a metallic vase to pieces. As it turned out there were seven more Ninja Rhynoc in the next area they had to move through, where Ember smashed her foes into the ground, Spyro just charged through his opponents, Spike used his Wind Shuriken to take down two more, and Elora reached the one that had a firework launcher, who she punched in the face to take down. From there they cleared out the area of straw baskets, as there were a couple in the area they cleared out, before heading through the passage that was in front of them and found another Bomber Rhynoc guarding the upper part of it, who Ember took out with a smack with her hardened tail, though as they explored the upper area Spike knocked out yet one more Bomber Rhynoc as the others picked up some gems and smashed some metallic vases.
From there they cleared out a side area, which just had a metallic vase, and then totally cleared out an entire large room of Ninja Rhynoc and a Bomber Rhynoc, something that wasn't hard for them to do given how easy these enemies were to take out, along with smashing a few more metallic vases and picking up some gems in the process, before they reached the area the egg had been resting in and jumped down to where the portal was located. From there the group headed back to the main part of the realm, after clearing the area out completely, and headed over to the edge of the area they were on so they could glide over to the tower that would allow them to glide to the area that the other side portal was resting on, only for them to pass through the portal once they reached it. When they appeared in the other side area they discovered the area that Handel had run off to and found that they were on a stone bridge, one that lead them to the spot that Handel had moved to, no doubt to practice his skills or something, before they spotted a Combination Powerup Gate resting behind him, along with two serpent creatures flying through the air, which seemed to be a crude imitation of what the siblings looked like.
"Uh oh, looks like the Sorceress had something else hidden in this realm," Handel commented, no doubt referring to the pair of serpent dragons that were flying through the air at the moment, though even as he said that it wasn't hard for Spike to feel the magic in the air around the pair, likely a spell that was similar to the spell that turned gems into warriors, before the little boy turned to look at them, "I guess you'll need this Combination Powerup Gate to take them out and put an end to whatever the Sorceress has been planning."
The siblings found that the Combination Powerup Gate would give them Superflame and Superfly, allowing them to take to the air and fly after the two serpent dragons that were in this area, where Spyro and Ember followed after the red colored serpent as Spike chased the purple one, where they noticed that they must have been machines or something that had been given life, confirming Spike's thoughts on the matter as they attacked their targets. Elora, since she couldn't use the Superflame ability and her kicks seemed to do nothing to the serpents, which was rather annoying, decided to use the Superfly ability and flew around the area, smashing the metallic vases that were scattered around the part of the factory they were in and picked up the gems that she flew by, allowing them to be added to the bag that Spike was carrying, due to Talon following her again. As she did that it was easy to see Spyro and Ember bombing the serpent they were following, due to the fireball part of the Superflame ability, and bits were blown off of their target as they chased it around the area, be it flying around in the air, heading through the building that was nearby, or flying through an underground passage that connected two points of the area together. Spike, however, gathered his magic and lashed out at the purple serpent he was following, blasting it with small bolts of lightning, a few fireballs from the Superflame ability, and, of course, his new Wind Shuriken spell, where that serpent did its best to overcome the pressure it was under, only to fail as Spike blew off fragments of his target, before eventually causing the serpent he was chasing to explode, allowing him to fly over to where Elora was standing so they could watch Spyro and Ember continue chasing the other serpent.
When the other one was blown out of the sky, just like the first one, Handel commented on the fact that he spotted an egg land in the lava and Ember dived into the river to retrieve it, where Spike made sure that it was okay when his sister brought the egg up for him to check out, which was followed by him sending it back to the Dragon Realms, causing the four of them to head back to the exit portal so they could return to Evening Lake and finish off the Speedway realm, before they focused their efforts on the final homeworld and, more importantly, the Sorceress.
With the Fireworks Factory taken care of, save for the area that Agent 9 would help them clear out once they rescued him from Moneybags, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to Evening Lake and made their way towards the area that would house the device that would take them to Midnight Mountain, which might to be the rocket that Greta had acquired the plans for. It didn't take them long to burst out of the water and touch down on the patch of ground that was above where the portal to Frozen Altars was located, where they were able to see the area that the whirligig was located in and, as they expected, there were a number of residents inside the tower that had been empty earlier, only this time there was a dark silver colored rocket, almost like the one from the realm they had just exited, resting between them. This one had four feet that touched the ground, instead of three like the last one had, though it did seem large enough for more than a single dragon to sit in, meaning it was likely large enough for all four of them to sit in it and rest while it took them to their next destination, though it did look like Bentley and the others were in the middle of fixing it up so it could be used, just like Sgt. Byrd and the others had done back in Midday Gardens. As they expected Bentley wasn't alone, where they found that one of the Penguins from Frozen Altars was nearby and the Opossum from Lost Fleet was there as well, Greta, of course, was there as well, though both Princess Ami and Prince Azrael were present, helping the others out and lending their aid to the group, no doubt to partly repay them for saving Charmed Ridge and the Cats.
"Ah, my esteemed friends, you have returned." Bentley said, turning away from the rocket that he and the others were in the middle of making ready for their departure, which seemed to be nearing completion, just like what happened when they reached the area that the whirligig was in, where the group came to a stop near him so they could hear what he had to tell them, before they left for the Speedway, "The Professor's rocket, which our friend Greta was able to steal back from the Sorceress' Firework Factory, is nearly ready to depart for our adversaries base of operations, but it will take a few more minutes before it is ready to take you to the final homeworld."
"Don't worry, we kind of figured that was the case," Spyro remarked, as Sheila and the residents of Sunrise Spring had helped them access the hot air balloon while Sgt. Byrd and the residents of Midday Gardens had assembled the whirligig so they could reach Evening Lake, though it was nice to see that things were progressing rather well for Bentley and the others of this homeworld, "We're going to go clear out Honey Speedway real quick, which should give you and the others more than enough time to get the rocket ready to depart for Midnight Mountain... its going to be nice to bring this quest to an end and bring the Sorceress to justice for her crimes."
Bentley nodded his head and returned to his work, allowing the group to head outside and dive back into the water that was near them, which was when they headed back towards the area that the portal to Charmed Ridge was located in and quickly located the Speedway portal, hence the reason they moved through it and headed to their destination, so they could clear out the Flight Realm and then move on to the final homeworld of the Forgotten Realms. When they appeared in the starting area, and came to a stop for a few moments, the group discovered that they were on another small island, which wasn't a surprise given the previous Flight Realms they had visited so far, though the sky was darker than the other two had been and it appeared that there was a number of large flowers growing out of the area around them, which was before they focused on the major parts of this realm. What they discovered was that there were a number of beehive areas, or what looked like beehives, scattered around the area and that there was a river of honey that seemed to be cutting through the entire Speedway and had vessels riding on top of it, though as the group glanced at the Speedway, to take in the sights, the three dragonflies flew off for a moment to see what sort of challenges would be thrown at them, even though they suspected that the challenges would be the same as the last two Speedways they had tackled. Elora, on the other hand, was more interested in heading out and finding Hunter, since she knew that he had to be here, due to the fact that he loved these areas, and it was possible that he had another egg for them to return to the Dragon Realms, but she would head out once the siblings started the first challenge.
In fact it only took Sparx, Talon, and Cinder a minute or two to find whoever they needed to talk to so they could get the information that the group needed, about the challenges they would be facing, before returning to the starting area so they could tell the siblings what they needed to do to acquire two of the three eggs that were resting on this island, while Elora went out to find Hunter and the third egg.
"The bees have informed us that the challenges are the same across all four Speedways," Sparx stated, informing the group as to what was going on, which made things much easier for the siblings since they already knew what to expect thanks to the first two Flight Realms they had taken on and bested, but they patiently waited for the dragonflies to finish talking before they said anything, "so your choices are Time Attack and Race the Bumblebees."
It was pretty straightforward for the siblings, as Elora watched as they took off and started to head towards the area that had eight rings that had been changed into honeycombs, to go with the theme of the entire island, though while they did that she took to the air as well and started her search for Hunter, even if she would be spending the next couple of minutes seeing what the siblings did. As soon as the eight rings had been flown through, and the first obstacle had been taken care of, Spyro continued forward and started to fly through the eight beehives that rested around the island, as that seemed to be another target for them to focus on, due to the fact that anything that was in groups of eight in one of the Flight Realms was generally a target that they were required to take out, hence why he focused on them. While he did that Ember flew over to the flowers that had angry looking bees flying above them, eight of them to be exact, where she used her hardened tail to smack them out of the air and send them into the water that rested around the island, showing that she had found the third obstacle they needed to best, something that left Spike to deal with the boat riders that were on the river of honey. Instead of flaming the boat riders as he flew by them, like he would have done in the past, Spike used his Wind Shuriken as he flew along the river, causing the riders to lose control and wipe out in the process, which still counted towards their objective, though as he did that he noticed that the riders were all bears that almost resembled Moneybags, only they were dressed in different clothing and didn't have the expression the evil bear had.
Once all four of the obstacles had been taken care of, and in record time in Elora's mind, she watched as the siblings were given four hundred more gems to add to their collection, something that Spike would take the time to count to make sure it was all there, along with the egg that was the reward for beating the first challenge, which was set off to the side as Ember sat near it, making sure no harm came to it as Spyro took to the air once more, since he was the fastest of the three in terms of racing. Spyro followed after the gang of giant bees, much like the ones that Ember had taken out, save for the fact that these five seemed much calmer than the other eight did, using the red dots to guide him along the course that they would be following, while making sure to fly through the green rings to confirm that he was following the path, using the blue stars to give him a boost every now and then, and use the red stars to fire weak rockets at the racer that was in front of him, mostly to stun whoever he was firing at. Elora found that she was right in her assumptions about the race, as Spyro was not only able to keep up with the bees that were his opponents and learn the course that they were following at the same time, but he was also able to overcome the racers that were in front of him, much to the surprise of the bees that he eventually passed by, before he was able to make it to the first place position by the end of the second lap, which showed that his skills in the field of racing weren't to be denied. That, of course, allowed him to use the third lap to put some distance between him and the former first place holder, something that shocked all of the bees that he was racing at the moment, before he eventually located the finish line and flew through it, where Elora and the others cheered as he was awarded the second of the three eggs that were hidden on this island, allowing him to fly over to Spike and Ember as they waited to see what Hunter had to do to get the third and final egg, which was what Elora was doing.
She found Hunter standing out in the open this time around, instead of hiding in one of the structures, granted there weren't many this time around and the only one, which rested in the middle of the island and looked like the hive that all of the bees lived in, didn't seem to have any openings, at least none that Hunter could use without being turned away, but that didn't stop Elora from landing near him.
"At least you were easy to find this time, Hunter." Elora said, where she folded her wings up as she walked up to her friend, mostly so once she had the egg that he would find she could leave the area and get to the siblings in a few seconds, but, at the same time, there was something she needed to tell him, before asking about the egg, "Listen, we might have found where Agent 9 disappeared to three years ago."
"Agent 9? You mean the trigger happy ape that was one of the Professor's pupils?" Hunter remarked, reminding Elora of the fact that their old friend used to enjoy practicing with his blaster, to the extent that it always broke after a short length of time and always needed to be replaced, something that was possible due to the fact that he worked with the Professor, even if the blaster never made it into the Avalar guards since Agent 9 disappeared before all of the testing could have been finished, "That's good news, especially since I know he's been missed by the others back home."
"I know. We're likely going to run into him in Midnight Mountain, no doubt trapped by Moneybags," Elora added, as she felt that Hunter should know as much as she and the siblings did, though even as she said that, and got that off her chest, she focused on the real reason that she had sought Hunter out, which was why she was looking at the dragon egg shaped rock that was nearby, "So, I take it you found one of the eggs?"
"Yeah, I did, and there's a large saucer, being piloted by sheep, flying towards this island that wants it back, so I came up with a plan to fool them," Hunter replied, where he pulled out the egg he had found and set it by the stone that was just about the same size and shape of the egg, something that impressed Elora since she didn't think Hunter would do this to retrieve one of the stolen dragon eggs that they were looking for, "I figured that, since you guys were coming here, that I would lay low and wait for you to arrive, then, once one of you found me, I would hand over the egg and use this rock to lure the saucer out into the open, giving you guys time to send the egg off with the others, if Spike hasn't done so already, and distract it long enough for you guys to escape from this Speedway."
Elora had to admit that it was a rather smart plan for Hunter to come up with, nothing like what he had done back in Avalar when he was helping the siblings collect the Orbs they needed to open the way to where Ripto and his minions had been located, but, at the same time, it showed that he was willing to change what he normally did and that he was rather smart for coming up with such a plan in such a short period of time. Fortunately Hunter had a boat at the ready and, with the egg given to Elora, he jumped into it and started moving down the river of honey, with the fake egg in hand, which was shortly followed by the saucer in question descending from the sky as it started to follow him down the river, something that was her cue to leave, hence the reason she jumped off the nearby ledge and opened her wings. From there it took her a few seconds to return to where the siblings were sitting, where she placed the third egg down and explained what was going on, since they had no idea what Hunter had told her, before Spike sent all three eggs back to the Dragon Realms and made sure the four hundred gems had been stored away inside the bag that he was carrying, which was followed by them getting up. Once all four of them were ready to go they took to the air and started to fly towards the edge of the island, to the boundary that would allow them to return to Evening Lake, though as they did that Elora glanced back and found that Hunter was focused on his mission and that he wasn't making any gestures that would tell the sheep that they had been played by the one they were chasing, to which she focused on what she was doing and left Hunter behind. It didn't take them that long to reach the edge of the island, where the magic latched onto them and sent them on their way to Evening Lake, meaning that it was time for them to see if the rocket was ready to be launched so they could head to the fourth and final homeworld, as it was nearly time for them to put an end to the Sorceress' plans.
As such it wasn't long before they returned to Evening Lake and jumped out of the water that was near the tower that was their destination, where most of their new friends wished them luck on their journey before heading back to their own realms, no doubt to clean up the mess that the Rhynocs had left behind, before they found that Bentley was the only one left by the rocket, which seemed ready to depart.
"My esteemed friends, the rocket is fueled and ready to go!" Bentley stated, confirming their thoughts on the matter, that the reason the others had left was due to the rocket being complete and that they needed to make sure the messes the Rhynocs left behind were dealt with, which made sense when they considered what happened to Princess Ami's realm and Prince Azrael's people, before their yeti friend beckoned to the rocket with a smile on his face, "Its time to boldly go where no dragon has gone before... well, not in a thousand years at any rate."
"Good, I'm eager to kick the Sorceress in the rear," Ember remarked, her tone indicating that she didn't much care for the foe that was in control of the Forgotten Realms, not after everything that they had learned since they had arrived in this land and started helping the various residents out with their problems, before another thought came to mind as she focused on Bentley for a moment, "Since we're upgrading to this rocket, and that generally means we're leaving behind the device that brought us to the homeworld we're currently in, why don't you take the whirligig and use it when you need to get from one homeworld to another? With your intelligence I'm sure you'll have full control over it in no time."
"I would be honored to accept such a gift," Bentley said, though one look from Spyro, Spike, and Elora informed him that they agreed with Ember's statement, that he could definitely use something like the whirligig to get from one island to another, especially if the Sorceress had something waiting for them before they reached Midnight Mountain, though that was when he stepped to the side and let them do their thing.
Not even a few seconds later the ground found that a disc lowered from the base of the rocket and allowed them to ride it up into the sitting area, like an elevator of some kind that didn't seem to mess with the actual systems of the rocket, which was when they found that they could actually set a course without using magic, as there was a screen that held all of the homeworlds that existed in the Forgotten Realms, to which they selected Midnight Mountain and the rocket took off a few seconds later, allowing them to rest and prepare for what the future held for them.
The siblings and Elora discovered a few things while they were resting inside the rocket's container area, or whatever it was actually called, and one of those was that the screen they had used to select their destination informed them of how long it would take to reach whatever location they picked, where it estimated that almost an hour would pass before they reached the final homeworld of the Forgotten Realms. Based on that information Spike could determine that all of the lands that made up the former home of the dragons were more spread out than what the Dragon Realms were, which did make sense when he considered the amount of time that it took to get from one island to the next, to which he recorded all of the information that he had gained in his journal, so Argus and the others would know what he found. Ember, as per usual, spent her time in the rocket resting, recovering her energy from all the times she used her Warrior's Armor to take down the enemies that were in their way, mostly because she didn't care to study the machine they were in and figured that she would have time to study it once they were done with their quest, even if she wasn't going to sit down and study it like Spike was planning on doing. Spyro and Elora, however, spent their time looking outside and making note of the area that they were passing through, where the former was doing it just to pass the time, since there wasn't much to do in the rocket besides sit or rest, and the latter was making notes for Spike, who occasionally looked out at the area that they were passing through so he would have a batter idea of what Elora was talking about.
Other than all of that there wasn't much for them to do, other than for Spike to pull out the Guidebook and see what else he could learn about Midnight Mountain, though that was when the rocket warned them that they were descending into an area that an egg was in, showing them that the Professor might have heard about the ambushes and added such a feature in case there was one more for the group to deal with, even if he hadn't shown up to talk with them yet. As such the group readied themselves as they descended down into the new area that they would be staying in for a few minutes, as this wasn't going to be a place that any of them would be returning to, yet what the four of them found as they looked out the windows was a massive skull of what appeared to be some sort of aquatic animal, which Spike determined had to be a shark or something, as there were no records of any dragons growing to be the size of a mountain. This time around it appeared that this ambush area was devoid of all lava, either intentional on the Sorceress' part or this was the only place where such an ambush could be placed, though that wasn't the only thing they spotted as they descended towards the area that was below them, as there was the familiar sight of the whirligig resting off to the side, with Bentley, carrying his trusty club, climbing out of it. That told the group that he must have been told about the possibility of an ambush shortly after they departed from Evening Lake, meaning it would have been impossible for anyone else to warn them about what was in front of them, though that was when they got a glimpse of the creature they would be facing off against this time around, a large bat-like creature that was easily almost twice as tall as Bentley was, with orange leathery skin and darker orange markings on its shoulders and chest, and, interestingly enough, purple shorts that had an opening for a long tail that almost seemed like a whip.
As the rocket landed, and they were lowered into the arena, which consisted of a metallic platform that was floating on the water for them to stand on, the group determined that this could be a monster that was far beyond what they had faced so far, meaning it might be more powerful than the last ones they had encountered, though they came to a stop near Bentley as the rocket moved off to a position where it would be out of the way.
"You have my sincerest appreciations for the gift you have given me, as the whirligig granted me the ability to catch up with the rocket once the Fairies gave me some bad news." Bentley said, his tone revealing that he was happy to be given the whirligig, something that he was planning on using more in the future, though at the same time his words told them that Princess Ami and her people had spotted something and told their friend about it, before he beckoned to the foe that was in front of them, "My friends, this may be our last stand. The Sorceress has created this, her most powerful monster yet, to destroy every iota of her opposition, beginning with the five of us. Fortunately, whether or not they were planted here by our true foe, there are a number of combustibles that we might be able to make use of, so let's get in there, as there is a battle to be had!"
What the group discovered was that the creature they were going to be facing loved to throw up a barrier around it to protect itself from any and all attacks, a magical barrier based on what Spike was feeling at the moment, though even as that happened the five of them spread out and watched what their foe was doing, to get a feeling for what it was really capable of so they could figure out their plan of attack. A few moments later the barrier dropped and the creature swung its arms, which its wings were attacked to, towards the center of the platform, where four large red eggs were thrown out into the area that they were in, which was followed by the eggs shattering after landing and revealed that they carried the Crabs from Lost Fleet, foes that were easy to take out after everything they had experienced so far. As such it didn't take the group all that long to take them down, though while they took down all of the Crabs that had spawned on the platform their foe summoned its barrier again, protecting it for a time, and it was only when all of the other enemies were defeated that it even lowered the protective barrier and moved to a new area, though the flight was short and barely gave them any time to use the weapons that Bentley had discovered on their opponent. Once their foe had picked a good position to float in, for the next couple of moments, it launched a few more eggs into the area and forced them to fight another pair of Crabs, instead of actually fighting them like it was supposed to, and they found that the barrier was back up in seconds, causing Ember to growl as the cowardly foe protected itself without actually fighting them.
Spike, on the other claw, headed over to Bentley and inquired if the items he was trying to assist them with could be modified into spheres or if they could be made to channel some power into one of them, where the yeti paused for a few seconds and informed him that such a thing was plausible and that he could see if he could do such a thing while the four of them kept their foe preoccupied, to which Spike returned to the 'battle' as Bentley did that. While he and the others focused on what they were doing, following the bat creature while it protected itself and deployed more Crabs for them to take down, one of the things that he did was channel his magic into the barrier that was protecting their foe, which was followed by them watching as the magical shield disappeared for a few moments, giving them more than enough time to actually attack their foe, before he let go with a smile on his face. That meant he could forcefully lower their foe's barrier and open the way for Spyro, Ember, and Elora to damage it, to turn the tide of this battle in their favor, while at the same time that meant that Bentley could focus his attention on figuring out how to shift the combustibles into the spheres that were like what Sgt. Byrd used during the fight he assisted them with, which would really help them out. Still, that didn't stop Ember from hardening her body as she jumped into the air and spun as she struck their foe's chest, during one of the moments that the barrier was taken down, and that caused their foe to stagger for a moment, which made sense when the group considered how painful such an attack had to be.
After that their foe tried a new attack by spitting a fireball into the air that expanded and exploded into a shower of slightly smaller fireballs that rained down upon the area that they were fighting in, though it was rather easy to avoid the attack and not take any damage from what was going on, though that was followed by Bentley throwing out a modified combustible that would explode within a few moments, so it was best if they did whatever Spike had told him about and then got away from it, before it exploded. Elora, figuring out what Spike had done, nodded her head and rushed over to the flaming item, where she channeled the power into her Spring Jump Form, as she had switched to it after they landed in this area and found the foe that they were currently facing, which was when she charged at their foe as Spike forced the barrier down once more, where she jumped into the air and kicked at their opponent, releasing two waves of fire that slammed into the creature's chest and caused it to stagger for a moment. Bentley cheered as he watched that happen, as he now knew what Spike had asked him to do and was happy to see that it had been successful, to which he returned to modifying more of the combustibles for the battle to come, though the group discovered something odd, the creature was able to spawn in the first creature that they had fought, the one that Bianca had sent at them, like it was trying to turn the fight into a two against four. Ember, however, was not amused by the situation and rushed at the new creature, where she charged into the creature and knocked it backwards until it fell into the water, revealing that it couldn't swim and that such a thing was enough to take it out, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Elora to focus on their main target by Spike lowering the barrier so the others could hit it, even though this was, by far, the weakest foe they had fought so far.
It was rather strange for the Sorceress to create something like this, as while she might think it was a powerful beast that would be able to take them down, and put an end to what they were doing at the moment, it was cowardly and didn't like to fight them at all, not like the last two she sent their way, after the one that Bianca sent at them, as even Bianca's had a bit of fight in it, where Ember just rolled her eyes as they continued fighting, showing that she wasn't happy about such a weak foe being sent at them at this point in time... though it wasn't long before they brought the creature down and it collapsed in the water, defeated, allowing them to acquire the egg it had been holding.
"That was... disappointing... seriously, that was the Sorceress' strongest monster?" Ember remarked, because she had been expecting a harsh fight where one or more of them would have been hurt over the course of the battle, something that would have required all of them to rest before they reached Midnight Mountain and started the final leg of the quest they were on, but all they got was a creature that was too cowardly to even face them up close and personal, "Now I wish I hadn't opted out of the previous battle, before we reached Evening Lake, as that creature was far stronger, and was way more willing to fight, than this guy was!"
Spyro, Spike, and Elora chuckled for a moment, which Bentley joined in on a few seconds later, because it was just like Ember to make such a remark, before they sent the egg off and thanked their new friend for the assistance in bringing the creature down, where Bentley rubbed the back of his head for a moment, only for them to return to the resting area of the rocket and blast off so they could reach the final homeworld and put an end to the Sorceress' reign.
After dealing with the latest creature that had been sent after them, to stop them on their quest to recover the stolen eggs and put a stop to whatever the Sorceress was planning, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora spent the next thirty minutes just resting after the battle they had been in, though for the most part they were just recovering all of the energy they had spent during the previous fight and were readying themselves for whatever Midnight Mountain had in store for them. This was the final homeworld of the Forgotten Realms, the land that the Sorceress ruled with an iron fist from, and it was where they would find the rest of the stolen eggs, minus the couple of eggs that they had to leave behind in Evening Lake, mostly due to the fact that they needed Agent 9's help to get the rest in Fireworks Factory, which would be when they found the sign that Zoe had left for Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, for the other egg they had left behind. Of course, as the group thought about all of the eggs they had recovered so far, they still had to wonder what sort of plan the Sorceress had in mind for them, as it was clear that she didn't care about the realms that existed throughout the four homeworlds, as she was constantly sending her Rhynocs to attack the various residents of the lands that she ruled over, though one thing they knew was that they would figure out her plans when they reached the next homeworld. One thing the four of them were sure about was that none of them would like whatever the Sorceress was planning and that they would be annoyed when they finally learned what she had in mind for the stolen eggs, though since there was nothing any of them could do at the moment, given that they were resting inside a rocket, they returned to resting and waited for their ride to land in their destination.
Of course there was one other thing they all thought about, and that was whether or not Bianca would totally deflect from her mentor's side or if she would be in their way when they reached Midnight Mountain, as during their visit to Sunrise Spring she had been against them, then she seemed to be more neutral when they helped her out in Midday Gardens, and then she even helped them out by giving them the map in Evening Lake, so one would assume that she would be on their side when they reached the final homeworld, but since they had no idea they turned their attention to resting and preparing themselves for what was coming their way.
The first thing the group saw when they finally neared Midnight Mountain, and looked out through one of the round windows that the rocket had, was that the final homeworld was positioned on the peak of a mountain, which made sense when one considered the name of the land, though that was followed by them seeing that there were a number of rather nice looking towers and structures that rested around the land. The closest structure was similar to the keep that they had landed in when they first landed in Midday Gardens, only this one was round and not square shaped, and the reason they knew that was due to the circular opening in the roof, which would allow them to access the inside of the structure, but that was when they noticed a much larger structure that rested a fair distance away from the keep, one that looked like a circular castle with small spikes attached to the sides. It was clear that the large circular structure was the home of the Sorceress, as it was the only building in the area that seemed to be a place where she would rest, and there was even a small tower on one of the islands close to the castle, though that did allow them to see that the peak this homeworld had been built on had been flattened at some point, where Spike could feel the magic that had gone into shaping this land and knew that their foe must have used the magic of the dragons to create this area for herself, before eventually banishing the dragons to have lone control over the Forgotten Realms.
There were a few other things the group noticed, as in the giant crystals that were resting all over the various isles that made up the homeworld, due to the fact that the Sorceress had broken things up and created little islands that were connected by stone bridges, though that was all they could really see as the rocket reached their destination and the disc that allowed them to enter and leave the vessel allowed them to stretch their legs again... though as they walked out of the keep, and started to take in the interesting night sky that was above them, they paused as a rainbow trail rushed over to where they were standing, revealing Bianca once more, only she seemed annoyed.
"Bianca, is something wrong?" Elora asked, because the group could easily assume that something had gone wrong during the last time they had seen their new ally and this instance, though that was when they noticed that she had taken the time to pull her hood back, revealing her rabbit ears for the first time since their arrival in the Forgotten Realms, and that her robe was open, allowing them to see that she was wearing an orange shoulder-less dress that had markings on the sleeves that matched her belt and boots.
"You could say that, as I finally found out what the Sorceress planned to do with the dragon eggs that she had me and the Rhynocs steal," Bianca replied, her statement immediately grabbing the attention of the siblings and Elora, as this was something they had been trying to figure out once they realized that their foe was going to do with all of the eggs and the baby dragons that were inside them, especially since she wasn't interested in restoring the magic to the rest of the lands that she ruled over, which was the reason that Bianca had even followed her orders in the first place, to bring back all of the missing magic and restore the land to its former glory, "its just, well, I knew that the Sorceress was unreasonable the last time I spoke with her, when I warned you about the trap in Evening Lake, but I never suspected how terrible her true plan could possibly be. Guys, she's been planning on killing the hatchlings so she can take their wings, which she claims is the source of a dragon's power, so she can cast an immortality spell on herself and, at the same time, give her the ability to use all of the Powerup Gates that the dragons left behind when they were banished, which would basically turn her into the strongest person in the world."
"SHE'S PLANNING ON KILLING THE HATCHLINGS?!" Ember exclaimed, where Spyro, Spike, Elora, and Bianca could hear the anger that was in her voice, as she didn't like anyone that stole the eggs and threatened their safety, just like the Egg Thieves they had chased during their first adventure and this one, though while the rest of the group was angry after hearing that information their anger paled in comparison to her rather intense anger.
"Ember, stop." Spyro stated, where he opened his right wing for a moment and held it out to stop Ember from doing what she was thinking at the moment, which was to rush over to the castle, basically storming it on her own, to engage the Sorceress while her anger ruled her mind, something he and Spike, at the very least, was the last thing they needed right now, hence why he was stopping her before she did anything she might regret, "Listen, we're all angry over hearing this information, but we can't go rushing off to face her, because if we fight her while anger rules us we'll only be inviting total disaster upon us, meaning she'll end up winning in the end."
"Still, something about that explanation seems wrong... why only go after the hatchlings' wings?" Spike commented, because while he was angry with the Sorceress, after hearing what she was planning on doing to the hatchlings once they were born, he knew more about the magic that all dragons had, thanks to what he learned during all of his studies in the past, and one thing stood out to him, "The Sorceress lived under the rule of the old dragons for a time, so she should know that our magic doesn't just come from our wings, but our entire bodies, so why the interest in only the wings, which would only give her a fraction of the power she's looking for?"
"Honestly, I have no idea," Bianca replied, where she shook her head for a moment, as she still couldn't believe that her former mentor was so keen on killing all of the dragons that were in the lands that she ruled over, all to make herself the strongest being in existence, along with the fact that she would be able to live forever if the spell actually worked, as she had no idea if such a spell even existed or not, before she focused on the other bit of information that she had to tell the group, before they moved forward, "Listen, thanks to the fact that you guys have been able to collect over a hundred of the eggs, you've saved them from my former mentor's plans and, at the same time, you've restored the magic to the rest of the four homeworlds, enough to where I should be able to open a portal right into the very heart of the Sorceress' stronghold, but that still leaves a number of eggs unaccounted for. If you guys can recover those eggs as well, not only will you save them from the Sorceress' foul plan, and ruin her chances of obtaining immortality, but you'll also boost my own magic for when the final battle comes around... also, Hunter and I have been gathering your forces, when he's not busy helping you recover the rest of the eggs."
"Wait, our forces?" Elora asked, because that was news to her, the fact that the four of them even had soldiers that were willing to fight for them in some manner, and she could tell that it did confuse the siblings as well, maybe enough to defuse Ember's anger for the foreseeable future, at least until they challenged the Sorceress and she remembered why she hated the person so much.
"Yeah, the heroes you freed and the residents that you helped, they're willing to help you by taking down the army of Rhynocs that the Sorceress is preparing to unleash upon the lands," Bianca answered, though she did know that this bit of news would be surprising as well, not on the level of the Sorceress willing to kill the hatchlings anyway, but at the very least the four of them would know that when the final battle started their foe's reinforcements wouldn't be arriving, leaving them to deal with their foe.
"Well then, we'll get back to saving the eggs and assisting the remaining realms," Spyro stated, as it was time for them to move on and start clearing out Midnight Mountain of everything that was waiting for them, be it enemies, gems, or the eggs that would be scattered around the area, before he focused on Bianca again, who seemed ready for what the near future held for them, "and then, once we're ready, we'll take the fight to the Sorceress and bring her down, to free the entirety of the Forgotten Realms from her iron grip."
Bianca nodded her head, to show that she understood and that she was on their side, before disappearing as a new trail of rainbow magic flew through the air, heading towards the castle so she could begin work on opening the way into the Sorceress' stronghold, allowing the siblings and Elora to start looking around the isles that make up this homeworld and do what they did when they encountered a new land. The first thing they did was head back into the keep and picked up a lone gem that was on the ground, not to mention that they also smashed three metallic vases as well, before heading outside so they could pick a direction to move in, while Spike studied the map that Bianca had given him, so he could see where the eggs had been hidden. That, of course, was why he headed to the left after walking out of the keep, as he had to smash a pair of straw baskets, jump up a few stone steps that were behind them, and then walk along the short path that was up there, before he glided over to a small patch of land that an egg was resting on, causing the others to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they watched him do that, mostly since they weren't expecting an egg to be that close to the starting point of this homeworld. It didn't take him long to send the egg back home, to which he glided back over to where the others were standing and they returned to the front of the keep, where they smashed the couple of metallic vases that were resting in front of some crystals and picked up some gems as well, before picking the bridge that was to the left of the keep's entrance and walked up it. That allowed them to pick up a few more gems as they headed to the first isle that was connected to the one that they landed on, where they spotted a familiar advanced structure, the one that had had the sign that told them about Agent 9, which was when the group noticed the cage that had a light brown furred monkey that was standing inside it, who was wearing a light green suit with red gloves, a pair of boots, and a helmet, though he did have an annoyed look on his face.
Of course Moneybags was standing nearby, as they expected since he was the one that tried to sell them the freedom of the other heroes that the Sorceress had captured before their arrival in the Forgotten Realms, to which they smashed a pair of metallic vases and picked up the few gems that were in the area around the cage, while glaring at Moneybags, and once that was done they approached him at long last.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora. Look at what I have right here," Moneybags said, where he actually patted the roof of the cage for a moment, like he owned a toy or something that they might be interested in, while at the same time he seemed to be ignoring the lessons that they had tried to teach him since the first day they met him, not that they were surprised by such a thing, "its a life-sized space monkey action figure, complete with a fully functional and operational laser blaster. Now, I would love to let him out of his cage, so the four of you could play with the little guy, but I was ordered by the Sorceress to ensure that he stays in his triple locked protective cage, as he's a menace to all of the Rhynoc that live in the Forgotten Realms, and you won't be able to bribe me this time... unless, of course, you give me all of the gems you have acquired so far."
"Moneybags, you know who this 'little guy' is, this is Agent 9, the Professor's pupil who went missing three years ago," Elora remarked, though she wasn't at all surprised by the fact that Moneybags was trying to sell Agent 9 to them, like he had tried to do so when they found him standing outside Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, and Bentley's cages earlier, but at the same time all four of them weren't in the mood to deal with the bear, not after hearing what the Sorceress was planning on doing to the hatchlings, hence the glares they were giving him at the moment, "let him go and we won't beat you up for once... I know your body could certainly take a break from being hit by us."
"I'm afraid I cannot do that. I have given you my terms, so either take it or leave." Moneybags replied, showing that he was going to be his usual stubborn self in this type of situation, though at the same time it really drove home the point that he didn't care about anyone and was entirely focused on the gems that he could gain from whatever transaction he was trying to make with the residents of the realms that he went into.
Elora sighed for a moment, giving the siblings enough time to move to the side since they felt that she was going to do something to the bear, before she growled and spun around, planting the side of her left leg in Moneybag's chest, causing him to stagger for a moment as he realized that she had struck him, before she punched him in the face twice and then, while he was distracted, she grabbed onto his arm, the one that was holding his precious bag of gems, and then lifted him into the air so she could slam him down on the ground in front of the cage... though as she did that Spike used his magic to tear through the spells that were keeping Agent 9 locked up.
"Hey, thanks for rescuing me." Agent 9 said, though even as he did that he cheered for a few moments, showing just how excited he was at the prospect of being freed from the cage that he had been trapped in, before he eventually settled down, or at least it was his version of calming down, and glanced at Moneybags for a moment, who was picking himself off the ground after Elora let him go, "Say, have any of you ever seen a dancing bear before?"
The group, declaring that they hadn't seen anything like that, since they knew Agent 9 was referring to Moneybags and not any of the other couple of bears that they had helped or seen during their quest in the Forgotten Realms, got a front row seat to Agent 9 using his blaster on Moneybags, as in he blasted the ground a few times, near the bear's feet to be exact, and forced him to dance for a few seconds, something that lead to Moneybags fleeing while Agent 9 cheered about his freedom, before he focused on the group once more.
"Whoa, Elora!?" Agent 9 exclaimed, acting as if he hadn't heard her name being mentioned by Moneybags, and she, at least, was sure that had been the case since he was so annoyed with the bear that was keeping him locked in a cage, but this did bring a big smile to his face, showing that he was happy to see her again, "Long time no see. Its been, what, at least three years since we last saw each other, right? Boy are you a sight for sore eyes, even though I remember you being more into reading your books and letting others do the fighting, yet here you are, kicking Moneybags' tail like you've been the one fighting for the last couple of year. Also, you're probably wondering why I'm here, and not in Avalar, but its a rather simple tale that involves me finding a portal to these lands by accident a while back and that I have been having a blast sticking it to the Rhynocs... well, up until they captured me, anyway. Say, who are your new friends?"
"Its good to see that you haven't changed at all, Agent 9." Elora replied, because it seemed like he was the exact same as he had been before his disappearance three years ago, not that she was actually expecting him to change since the last time she had seen him, but at the very least the rest of their friends in Avalar would be able to rest easy knowing that he had been found, "These are my friends Spike, Spyro, and Ember, and they're dragons that Hunter, the Professor, and I called to Avalar a year ago to help us with a villain that accidentally got summoned to our home, though I've been paying back that debt by helping them recover the dragon eggs that the Sorceress stole... also, we're apparently the leaders of what seems to be a rebellion against the Sorceress."
"Whoa, hold on a minute. These are the dragons that have been tearing apart the Rhynocs, and you're the faun that's been helping them?!" Agent 9 stated, his face showing the group that his mind had been blown as he put all the pieces into the puzzle he must have been working on in his mind, though none of them said anything as he smiled and returned to how he had been a few moments ago, like nothing important had happened, "Listen, I'll help you guys take down the Sorceress and her army of Rhynocs, but first I have to head back to my lab and clean up the place... I'll see you guys once I'm done taking out the trash."
The group had no time to say anything as Agent 9 turned around and disappeared into the portal that was resting right behind him, taking him back to his own realm so he could prepare for the future, a realm that they would be visiting in the next couple of minutes, to which the group simply turned around and started to walk away from the structure that housed the portal their new friend had wandered into.
"Wait, why would the Sorceress open a portal to the same set of islands twice?" Ember asked, because she could see how Agent 9 got to the Forgotten Realms three years ago, but if the Sorceress had opened the portal that had brought the monkey to these lands it didn't make sense as to why she would do the same thing two years later, the event that ended up bringing Moneybags to this particular set of islands.
"She was probably experimenting three years ago and had no idea what she was doing," Spike replied, as it seemed possible when he thought about it, because he had been a little curious about what Agent 9 had told them and he had an idea as to what had happened, hence the reason he was going to explain it to the others since he was the expert on magic and what someone could do with the proper training, "no doubt she was looking for the lands that the dragons called home, so she could figure out where to send her army when the Year of the Dragon Festival happened, and Avalar, which had dragons staying there at one point in the past, seems to have been one of the areas she picked first, which would be the time that Agent 9 stumbled into her portal and ended up here. The Sorceress probably had no idea he was even there, not until the Rhynocs messed with him and he started blasting them to get out of the castle, or wherever she used as her practice area to determine where we were living these days, and now he's ready to bring them all down."
The others said nothing to that as they neared the other bridge that was connected to the area that the keep was in, as it was time for them to begin clearing out the rest of Midnight Mountain before they helped Agent 9 deal with the foes that were in his realm, to which the smashed the couple of straw baskets that were on the stone bridge and approached the next isle that they could explore. It was there that they got a glimpse of the portal that lead to Crystal Islands, which was carved out of some stone and had two large crystals sticking out of the top of it, though after seeing that the first thing they did was collect the nearby gem that was laying on the ground and smashed three more straw baskets that were right behind the portal, though as they spotted a bullseye chest, which one of the siblings had to smash, Ember paused as she spotted an Egg Thief on the middle of the bridge that was to the left of the one they had just used. The rest of the group weren't surprised by what happened next, as Ember rushed off not a few seconds later and they could hear the Egg Thief screaming, or at least that was what they assumed it was doing, as it ran away from Ember, apparently not expecting an angry dragon to be chasing it, and it barely had time to complete a single lap as it was struck in the back when it came down the walkway that was just passed the bridge it had started on. With the egg secured Spike made sure it was okay as Spyro smashed the bullseye chest, freeing the gems that were inside it, before they watched as the egg was sent off, which allowed them to move up the bridge that Ember had chased the Egg Thief up and the four of them resumed looking for the rest of the eggs and the remaining gems.
As they walked up into the next area they discovered that the portal to Desert Ruins was up there, which was inside a large stone structure that had been carved into the shape of a helmet, though in addition to finding another portal they discovered that one of the crystals looked like something had collided with it and cracked it, meaning they might find an egg or some gems if they smashed it. There were also a number of straw baskets in the immediate area, not to mention a metallic vase near the Desert Ruins portal and a few more lining the path to their right, the one that Ember had used to chase down the Egg Thief, so they spent the next couple of moments clearing the area out and collected all of the gems that were resting around them, including one behind the portal itself. Once that was done they smashed their way through the cracked crystal, which was Ember hardening her body to make sure her tail could smash it with ease, though that was when they found a gap between them and one of the smaller patches of land that rested on top of a pillar of earth, along with an egg that happened to be resting on it, where Elora went ahead and jumped over the gap, allowing her to pick the egg up and return it to the others, all so Spike could send it home. From there they decided to head into the lower part of the castle that they had access to, as there was an opening near them that would allow people to simply walk in, where the group found that it was a short walk to the area that contained the door Bianca was working on, though she simply gave them a nod as she focused on her work.
The group knew that there were no enemies in the various homeworlds, save for back during Gnasty Gnorc's attack on the Dragon Realms, but it was weird to see that the Sorceress didn't have any guards posted outside her stronghold and that Bianca was able to do her work without being interrupted, to which they determined that their foe had to be arrogant and believed that her power would overcome anything that challenged her, before the four of them continued moving around the area to clear it out.
What they did was pick up the couple of gems that were resting in the area that was around Bianca, as well as taking a few moments to smash the metallic vases that were near the various walls, before the group spotted a river of pink ooze, possibly lava or acid based on what they had seen in the past, though there was an egg resting on a platform that was a short glide away from the edge of the area that they were standing on. As such Elora jumped over to the small area in question, picked up the egg that was over there, and then returned it to the siblings so Spike could send it off as well, so he could cross another one off the list that Bianca had given them, before they headed through the other tunnel opening that contained some stairs that lead them outside. It didn't take the four of them long to walk down the steps and collect the gems that happened to be resting on the couple of steps, though the moment they were outside the first thing they did was locate a bullseye chest over to their left and let Ember smash it with a Headbash, allowing them to see that there was a portal contained in a structure that looked like a mine shaft, which made sense since the name of the realm was Dino Mines. While they glanced at the portal Elora spotted a couple of straw baskets and smashed them so the dragonflies could pick up the gems that had been inside them, before the four of them headed down a path that took them to a pink waterfall that was made up of the pink ooze they had seen earlier, where they smashed a couple of straw baskets and a few hidden metallic vases along the way, before locating a square shaped portal that had a serpent's head on top of it, one that indicated it was Haunted Tomb.
None of them were at all surprised when they found a gem and a straw basket near the new portal, which they made sure to pick up before heading back to where the portal to Desert Ruins was located, to smash the couple of metallic vases that were over there, before discovering that they had cleared out this part of the homeworld and that it was time to see what else was left for them to clear out. Upon returning to the area that Dino Mines' portal was located they quickly found the sign that Zoe had left for them, reminding them of the one that was left in Evening Lake, which they would take care of after they helped Agent 9 clear out his realm, before they spotted a few steps that had a few metallic vases, to they made sure to smash the pair of vases and a pair of straw baskets that were in their way. The stone steps brought them up to an area that happened to have some cracks in the ground, where Spyro had the others stand back for a moment as he jumped into the air and smashed through the cracked stone with a Headbash, allowing them to enter a small cavern that had a couple of gems resting on the ground and, more importantly, an egg that Spike sent back home as soon as he landed in the cavern that his brother had discovered. From there the two of them used the whirlwind that formed after the ground had been shattered and returned to where Ember and Elora were standing, to which they headed over the next stone bridge that was near them and walked over to where a lighthouse was located, one that housed a portal that would take them to Harbor Speedway, the final Flight Realm of the Forgotten Realms, to which they picked up the gems that were laying on the ground and then smashed a couple of straw baskets that were behind the portal.
From there they walked over to the ledge that was near the bridge that had brought them to this area and glanced over to their left, where a tower that looked like the Sorceress' castle rested on a large patch of land, to which they jumped into the air and glided over to the area in question, though when they landed the four of them stared at the locked tower for a few seconds, wondering why it was even over here in the first place.
"There's some magic on the door, magic that matches what Bianca's dealing with right now," Spike commented, but that caused an idea to spring to his mind, as it was rather simple now that he thought about it, meaning he would be able to tell his siblings and Elora what they were staring at, even if his first statement would give the answer away, "This has to be the Sorceress' treasury, where she's hoarding all of her wealth and keeping it safe from anyone that would try to take it from her... and, judging from the power of the seals, we'll need to beat her and recover all of the other eggs to open the way to her hoard of gems and whatever treasures she's been stockpiling over the last thousand years."
"Still, aren't we missing an egg?" Spyro asked, because they had found five so far and based on what they had seen during their visits to the other homeworlds of the Forgotten Realms there were six eggs, so that meant one was missing and Spike was the one that had the map that pointed out where all of them were located, since he was sure that Bianca wouldn't lie to them or keep information from them.
"We are, but the clue is shrouded by magic," Elora replied, as she was looking at the map that Spike was looking at, as she was curious as to what the map might say about the egg that they were missing, though this told them exactly what they needed to do next, even though they were planning on taking out their foe in the very near future, "basically we need to take down the Sorceress to figure out where the last egg is located, among other things."
Spyro sighed for a moment, as he wished that it could have been easier for them to figure out what was going on, but once they had determined that they had cleared out the homeworld of all the eggs that they could claim, not to mention all of the gems that they had claimed, to which they glided back down to the main area of Midnight Mountain, as it was time for them to help Agent 9 out and then wrap things up before their showdown with the Sorceress.
With Midnight Mountain cleared of eggs and gems, even if they were missing one of the eggs for some reason, the group headed towards the portal that would take them to the realm that Agent 9 had been living in since he found himself in the Forgotten Realms, as it was time for them to help him out and then backtrack to Evening Lake to take care of the stuff that they left behind, just like what happened when they rescued and assisted Sgt. Byrd and Bentley. When they passed through the portal in question they found themselves in the square chamber that linked Agent 9's realm to the rest of the lands, just like what they had seen when they were helping the others out, only this one had some additional lights that were more advanced than what they had seen so far, but that wasn't what they were focused on. As the group suspected Agent 9 was standing near one of the walls, looking over a map as he seemed to fiddle with his blaster, like he was imagining shooting at all of the Rhynocs that were in the realms in question, and for now he hadn't noticed them, another thing that was common when they entered these areas, to which the group approached him so they could see what his realm looked like and if it was possible for them to assist him. They knew there was a chance that Agent 9's realm could be like Sheila and Sgt. Byrd's, where Elora was the only one that would be able to assist them thanks to her jumping abilities and her armor, but after seeing Bentley's realm they were thinking that Agent 9's would be the same way as their yeti friend's, though they would know soon enough.
"Oh, hey guys, I didn't see you walk in," Agent 9 said, though at the same time he seemed to finish what he was doing at the moment and picked up his blaster for real this time, to which he walked over to where they were standing and focused on the four of them for a moment, before jerking his head towards the portal that was behind him, "Let me tell you, never spend a week in a cage, because, thanks to the scanner that the Professor installed in her for me, I can tell that the island that has been my home for the last three years is now infested with Rhynocs and that I'm going to be busy clearing them out so the Professor can continue his work."
"Well, then let us help you out," Spyro replied, because based on what they had seen so far, from the other realms the four of them had visited since they arrived in the Forgotten Realms, there were Rhynocs in every realm and they had taken out a fair number of them on their own, so it wouldn't be too much for them to do the same thing again, "we'll take care of the Rhynocs, rescue any eggs they might have brought to the lab, and let the Professor move in once the area has been cleared of the Sorceress' minions."
Agent 9 considered that for a moment, clearly thinking about what he had heard while he was in his cage and what he knew the Rhynocs were capable of, before he beckoned for them to join him as he headed through the portal, which was shortly followed by the group discovering that the realm that Agent 9 lived in was definitely an island that had a few of the more modern security features added to it, like an electric fence at least, before finding the Professor standing nearby, as the portal leading to this place was on a platform that had some smaller platforms in front of it.
"Ah, Agent 9, welcome back... and good, you've already met Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora. Thanks for rescuing him from the Sorceress," the Professor said, where part of what he said was addressed to Agent 9 and part of it was addressed to the group as a whole, showing that he was happy that they had found each other and that they had already joined up to face their enemies, though that was when he focused on the task at hand, "though I'm afraid that I have bad news, the Rhynocs have taken over the entire island and they're in the process of tampering with my equipment... and before you even ask, I think the Sorceress teleported them past my security measures."
"Don't worry, we'll take care of them," Elora stated, where the siblings and Agent 9 nodded their heads in agreement, showing that they wanted to take care of the Rhynocs that had invaded this realm and restore it to normal, though it was easy to see that the Professor had nothing else to say to them and beckoned for the five of them to move on, to which the group jumped over the platforms and headed to the island in question.
What they discovered, after jumping over the pair of platforms and landing on the metal walkway that was resting on the beach that was in front of them, were seven wooden targets that were resting around the area between them and the first electric fence that was currently in their way, though there were some palm trees as well, not to mention some gems for the group to pick up. Agent 9 stood on the walkway for a few seconds and started to fire at the wooden targets that were in front of them, striking all seven of his training targets in rapid succession, though while he did that the siblings and Elora watched as a Rhynoc, having blue skin and wearing a red uniform, pulled out a blaster while it was hiding behind one of the targets, only for their friend to blast it as well, taking down an enemy before they could even get close to take it down, even if Spike was long ranged like their new friend was. Spike decided that the new type of Rhynocs would be called Blaster Rhynocs, as he figured that 'Laser Rhynocs' wouldn't make much sense due to the weapons that their current foes were using, though once the first enemy was taken out the group split up and started collecting the gems that happened to be resting on the beach. That meant smashing some straw baskets, just picking the gems up off the ground, or Ember using her hardened tail to smash a circular metallic chest that was resting in a cave that was to the right, just before the first electric fence, where she found more straw baskets, three to be exact, that were smashed and the gems were added to the collection, before they approached the electric fence at long last.
Once the five of them were in front of the obstacle the Professor shifted from the area that he was in and appeared near them, where he informed the group that they would have to be careful, since the Rhynocs had tampered with one of his inventions and modified it to be like the boxes from Fireworks Factory, meaning it was providing an endless stream of enemies for them to fight, and that the only way to stop it was to hit the red panic button that was resting near the door in question. Once they had been given that piece of information, and nodded their heads to show that they understood what he was telling them, the Professor lowered the electric fence and allowed them to enter the next part of the island, where the group moved forward and found that three Blaster Rhynocs emerged from the passage that they had been warned about, and all three of them were using the wooden targets as shields to protect them. Agent 9, while being a tad bit eager when he laid eyes on the Rhynocs, focused on firing at the red button and silenced the machine that would have allowed their enemies to bring reinforcements into the area, though while he did that Spyro rushed forward and charged into one of the Rhynocs, Ember used her hardened tail to smash the second into the ground, and Spike purposely struck the last one in the shield to take away its defenses so Elora could kick it into the wall. With the first batch of foes taken care of the group quickly swept the area for gems, as there were no straw baskets or metallic vases in the area, even though it was clear that Agent 9 had been caught off guard by how well the four of them worked as a team, taking down enemies with little to no communication needed, and he was totally caught by surprise when he watched Elora in action, something that caused her to chuckle for a moment as they moved forward, and Agent 9 also shot a vase out of the air to pick up a gem that had been inside it.
Four more Blaster Rhynocs stood between them and the next doorway that housed whatever machine they were in the middle of using, not that such a thing matter when Agent 9 blasted the red button that silenced it, before firing at one of the Rhynocs that were trying to protect themselves with a wooden shield, where his blaster tore the shield apart and knocked his target into the wall, opening the way for the group to attack their enemies and knock them around the area as well, allowing them to move forward with ease.
Once the side area had been cleared out, of both enemies and gems, the group found the doorway, which was resting near the second opening the Rhynocs had been trying to use to secure the area, and entered the first chamber of the lab that had been built on this island, where they found that the Professor had teleported into the area once the way had been cleared and was already facing the terminal that was in front of him. There was a couple of main screens in the area that caught the attention of Spike, because it looked like their friend was in the middle of studying the rest of the world and the magical energies that seemed to be connected to it, or at the very least the natural energies that they were able to harness with the right machines and conditions. What really interested Spike was that there was a rainbow colored dot on the screen that held the world, one that seemed to be positioned above what he assumed had to be the Dragon Realms, making him wonder what the Professor might have discovered and what he might be in the middle of researching, hence the reason that he and the others focused on seeing if he needed any help before they cleared the chamber of any straw baskets or metallic vases. Not a few seconds later the Professor noticed them and asked if they would help him out, as the terminal that he was working with indicated that there were a couple of Rhynocs hiding behind the consoles that were in front of the screens, to which Agent 9 stood in the middle of the chamber and the part he was on rose a little, forming a new platform that allowed him to shoot at the enemies he had been informed about, where the group watched as six foolish Blaster Rhynocs poked their heads out of where they were hiding and were blasted by Agent 9.
"Well done, you've cleared them out," the Professor commented, as now his terminal was revealing that there were no more Rhynocs in the chamber that they were standing in, to which he gestured to the opening that would allow the group to move through the rest of the island, not to mention the rest of the lab that he had built so he could do his research on the Forgotten Realms, "I have a feeling the Rhynocs haven't been kind to the machine room, given that they have had a week to do whatever they wanted with the place."
"Don't worry, we'll handle them!" Ember remarked, because that was the truth of the matter, the five of them were going to find all of the Rhynocs that were on the island and deal with them, not to mention whatever else they might have brought with them or done to the lab, while at the same time the rest of the group nodded their heads to show that they were in agreement, not that the Professor really needed to see such a thing since he knew that the siblings and Elora would be able to keep up with Agent 9.
The Professor nodded his head and teleported to the next chamber that they would be exploring, where the group had to assume that he was using the same gadget that he gave Hunter back in Avalar, which had been how he was able to move from realm to realm despite the speed they used to do so, though the group quickly cleared out the area of any odd gems or straw baskets before using the steps that had risen when Agent 9 went to blast the Rhynocs, before they found the electric door that lead to the machine room. As they joined the Professor it was easy to see that some birds had been allowed to invade the room in question, no doubt either through the opening that was on the other side of the room or through a hole that hadn't been there the last time he and Agent 9 had been in the lab, though he did ask them to take care of the birds, since they weren't supposed to be in here and would need to be removed before the area was cleaned up so he could continue his research. The moment he stopped explaining what he needed done the group joined into the larger chamber and started hunting down the birds that were in the area, though it was, unfortunately, rather easy for them to do that, as only two of the six birds were even flying around the air and proved to be Agent 9's targets, leaving the other four for the siblings and Elora, who found their way up to the couple of nests that were in the room and knocked out the birds that were resting above the machines. While the group did that they smashed the straw baskets that were in the room, and picked up all of the gems that were laying around the area, though it wasn't long before they cleared out the entire room and regrouped near the Professor, where he revealed that he had found a dragon egg while the five of them were doing that and made sure that Spike was able to send it back to the Dragon Realms.
Once Spike sent the egg back home, and saved another one from the Sorceress, the Professor turned on the machine that was in this room, a gravitonometric generator, a machine that he didn't feeling like explaining at the moment since all of them were focused on clearing out the rest of the lab and recovering the rest of the eggs, before twelve more blue birds flew out of the machine in question and circled around the room they were in. As such the five of them spent the next few moments clearing out the rest of the birds, some of them being taken out by Agent 9 firing a blast at his targets, Spike using his magic to use the Wind Shuriken to hit a few, and Elora using her jumping ability to get up into the air, at least to a certain height, to kick a few birds out of the air, leaving Spyro and Ember to charge into the ones that landed on the floor and knock them out. It didn't take them long to clear out the birds that were flying around the room, where they found that nothing else was waiting to attack the five of them, to which the Professor quickly declared that the machine room was now cleared of enemies and that it was time for the group to follow them outside as he lowered the electric fence that had been blocking the way out, where they discovered that he actually walked through the opening and headed outside, to which they discovered a large mechanical device that looked like a chest of some kind, with a circular opening that had a red spherical item resting in front of it.
"Since you're gearing up for the final battle, I decided to create some new bombs that have a lower blast radius, as now it should be whoever they hit should be taken out, that, by my calculations, should be rather effective against enemies that are wearing armor." the Professor explained, revealing what the red object was, something that none of the group would have expected when they considered the item in question, though at the same time they said nothing as they let him continue with what he had to say, mostly to learn as much as they could before moving forward, "Before I start giving them to the troops, and getting them ready for the big battle, could you test them out and make sure that they work? I don't want to give your forces any defective equipment."
The siblings and Elora, still a little caught off guard by the fact that they were the leaders of the forces that would be fighting the Rhynocs when the Sorceress was challenged, even if they wouldn't be there since they were the only ones that could face their true foe, nodded their heads as they watched Agent 9 pick up one of the bombs that rested on the ground and glanced to the area on their right, where the group found three Rhynocs wearing area, making them Armored Blaster Rhynocs. The siblings and Elora waited for Agent 9 to hurl the bomb through the air, where it struck one of the Rhynocs in the chest and detonated instantly, tearing through the armor like it was nothing and knocked his target to the ground, an event that shocked both of its companions, opening the way for Elora to kick one of the others in the face while Ember just smashed her way through the second's armor, showing that they didn't need to use bombs at all. Once those enemies had been taken care of Agent 9 threw another bomb at the circular metallic chest that was on a ledge above them, blowing it apart as well and allowing Elora to pick up the gems so they could be added to the collection, before the electric fence that was behind where the Armored Blaster Rhynocs disappeared and revealed four more of them blocking the area that the exit portal was located in. It was in that moment that Agent 9 understood just how strong Spike's magic was as the dragon blasted one of the Rhynocs in the chest with an Arcane Missile, knocking it to the ground, leaving Ember to smash the next one with her entire body while Spyro and Elora rushed around the other two so that they would blast each other, which worked like a charm, oddly enough.
Once all of their enemies had been take care of, and the group made sure to pick up all of the gems that were on the ground and smashed the straw baskets that were around the area that the machine had been located in, the five of them approached the area that the last four Rhynocs had been guarding and found that the Professor had teleported over to the area in question, revealing the exit portal.
"Thank you for saving the laboratory and my machines," the Professor said, though at the same time he placed one more egg in front of them, showing that he must have found it while they were clearing out the Rhynocs that had been guarding the area in question, before the nearby portal came to life before their eyes, "I found this egg a few moments ago, while you were clearing out the Rhynocs that were guarding this area, and, based on my calculations, there might be one more somewhere nearby, so you might as well grab it as well."
The group nodded their heads and resumed looking around the rest of the island, where Ember smashed one of the circular metallic chests and claimed the gems that had been inside it, before they headed back to where the dispenser was resting and approached the other electric fence they had spotted earlier, where it wasn't hard for them to spot a machine that was definitely a generator on the other side of the fence, to which Agent 9 retrieved another bomb and tossed it over the top of the fence, weakening the fence and lowering the field so they could see the last part of the island. What they found on the other side were a couple of straw baskets, a circular metallic chest that Ember smashed with her hardened tail, and a beach area that had a few Rhynocs on small speedboats driving around a nearby area, and it appeared that one of them might have the other egg for them to acquire. As such the five of them stood near the edge of the area and let Agent 9 blast the Rhynocs that were driving around the area, where the siblings and Elora watched as he knocked out all of the speedboats that were in the area in front of them, while the last one that their new friend hit started to drive out of control before colliding with the edge of the area that they were standing on, sending the egg flying into the area that they were in, allowing Spike to make sure the egg was just fine before sending it off to the Dragon Realms. With that done, and they had all three of the eggs that were in the realm of their newest ally, the group followed Agent 9 as they made sure all of the gems that were in this realm were picked up, even though they had to shoot three more vases out of the sky to get the rest of the gems, totally clearing the realm out.
With that done, however, the group headed for the exit portal so they could return to Midnight Mountain, as it was time for them to clear out the remaining realms and then challenge the Sorceress, to save the Forgotten Realms from the evil that their foe was committing, but as they approached the exit portal the Professor stopped them for a few seconds, which interested them since they thought that he had told them everything of importance.
"Elora, I finished work on the Mark III," the Professor said, though while Agent 9 had no idea what his mentor was talking about, since this was the first time he had heard that term in the time that he had been working with him, Elora knew the term as she glanced down at her own armor for a moment, informing the siblings of what he was referring to, and that was followed by a second portal appearing nearby, "its back in my lab, in Avalar, since I didn't want the Rhynocs to find it and ruin it before I had a chance to deliver it to you... if you want it, anyway."
It wasn't hard for Elora to agree to what the Professor was saying, where the siblings and Agent 9 followed the pair through the portal that had sprung up, where they quickly appeared in what appeared to be a mirror imagine of the lab that they had just cleared out, only this one was much nicer looking than the one that they had been in a few moments ago, though they remained silent as they followed Elora and the Professor. It didn't take them long to reach a chamber that was similar to the one that the screens had been in, where they found out what the Professor had been working on for some time, at least in the Forgotten Realms, though when everyone entered the chamber the siblings and Agent 9 stood back and watched what was going on, since they were interested in what the pair was doing. Elora walked into one of the side areas for a moment, where the group didn't see what she was doing, before she eventually returned to where the others were waiting, only now she was wearing a light green bodysuit that was similar to what people wore when they went swimming underwater, like what Hunter used back during their trek through Avalar. The siblings were surprised that she had switched out her armor for something that didn't look like armor at all, since she was more interested in helping them out, but that was when she smiled for a moment and came to a stop in the middle of the chamber, which was when the three of them and Agent 9 watched as the floor around her opened up and revealed a number of mechanical arms and other pieces that came from the Professor's workshop, and even the ceiling opened up a little as well, revealing that whatever was going on had to be interesting.
It wasn't long before they realized what was going on, as the immediate area that was right in front of Elora had what appeared to be metallic shoes, or at least the bottom part of one, which she stepped onto a few seconds later and waited as more arms moved into the area she was standing in, where the rest of the hoof part of the armor moved out of the area that they were resting in and latched onto the part of her armor that she was standing on, locking into place while she stood still. As the leggings part of her new armor was put on, and was locked into place, the siblings watched as the upper part of her legs were covered as well, which connected with the body section of armor that was attached to her back not a few seconds later, though as that happened Elora raised her hands and gripped the inside of the gauntlets that were offered to her, where bits of metal moved out from where they had been resting. The siblings watched as the rest of her chest was covered in the new armor, allowing the arm sections to connect to the center of the armor within seconds, leaving Elora standing there with what appeared to be a full body suit of armor, just like what she had been wearing a few moments earlier, before a helmet was placed around her head, even though she had to move her hair to avoid it being caught by the metal, though it made her look like a metallic faun of some kind. Once that was done, and the arms moved back into the areas that they had been in moments ago, and the room returned to normal, Elora walked around like she had done before her new armor had been put on, though as she walked around the group was able to see that most of the armor was purple colored and had green coloring on the undersides of the arms and legs, and that included most of the face plate of her new armor.
Once that was done, and the room returned to normal, Elora turned towards the group and quickly tapped the side of her helmet for a moment, where it came undone and let them see her face again, though Agent 9 was totally caught off guard by what he was seeing at the moment, while the siblings were happy to see that she liked the new armor, even if it seemed that all this one did was boost her defense, to keep her safe while they were beating up their enemies.
"Its a little heavier, due to the additional armor pieces that we added, but I like it," Elora remarked, where she said that to the Professor, since he was the one that had put in the time and energy to make this suit of armor for her, before she turned around and joined the group, where she found that Agent 9 was totally stunned by what he had seen, while Spyro, Spike, and Ember were interested in the armor, "Come on, I'll tell you guys about the changes that were made to my armor on our way back to Evening Lake, so we can wrap things up and focus on Midnight Mountain."
The siblings nodded their heads and bid the Professor farewell for now, since they were sure that they would see him again at some point in the future, hopefully before the big fight with the Sorceress, before the three of them and Elora headed through the portal that had brought them to Avalar, so they could return to the Forgotten Realms and then use the exit portal and head back to Midnight Mountain. Since all of the enemies had been cleared out it was rather easy for them to do that, so they were able to return to the final homeworld without much delay, which allowed the group to head back to the keep that contained the rocket that had brought them to this land in the first place and entered the sitting area once more, before Spike put in the command for the rocket to lift off and take them back to Evening Lake. Once they were in the air Elora told them that the Mark III armor, or the third in the series when Ember tilted her head a little, was basically an improvement over the previous armor she had been wearing, the Mark II as she and the Professor called it, and this one had none of the flaws that the old set possessed, like the flawed heating system that was exposed back in Icy Peak, as the Professor found out about the problem after they had started this adventure and decided to add it to the next version of the armor, since he had no idea when the two of them would be in the same area again. Some combat features had been added as well, as while she was changing into the attire that the armor was on top of, to protect herself from all the metal she was wearing, the Professor had given her an idea of what she might expect in the future, but she didn't want to spoil the surprise for the siblings, even if she was sure that they would find out soon enough.
As such the siblings focused on what they would be doing soon, clearing out the rest of Fireworks Factory and then letting the dragonflies clear out the area that Zoe had found for them in Evening Lake, before returning to the final land to get ready for the big battle with the Sorceress, since they knew that she was waiting for them to arrive so she could bring them down, or attempt to at the very least.
It took them forty-five minutes to return to Evening Lake, which made sense due to the fact that they didn't have to stop for an ambush or something, though once they landed in the tower that the rocket had been built in the group climbed out and made their way into the water, all so each of them could swim over to the area the portal they were looking for was located in. As such it only took them a minute or two to find the portal for Fireworks Factory and pass through it, only to appear in the starting area of the realm that they were returning to, where they discovered that all of the enemies were still taken out and that there was no one for them to beat up, something that allowed all four of them to head over to the nearby cannon so it would launch them up to where the exit portal was located. Elora, of course, refrained from doing that and simply jumped up to the platform in question, allowing the siblings to take turns firing themselves up to where she was now standing, and once that was done they headed over to the hole in the ground that would allow them to drop down into the area that one of Agent 9's portals was located in, though they were hoping that he had recovered from what he had seen earlier, which was the awesomeness of Elora's new armor being put together over her body. Fortunately their friend was there ahead of them, which made sense due to the fact that they had taken the long way to reach this point, and he actually appeared to be waiting for them to arrive, no doubt either having been told what was going on by one of their other friends or just by guessing what would happen.
As it turned out he was here to help Handel retrieve the rest of the rocket plans that the Professor had made, which meant that Greta hadn't completed the mission on her own, though since they were there to help him out the five of them walked through the portal that had been resting behind Agent 9 and entered the area that they would be moving through, where Handel seemed to be waiting for them and asked if they could clear out all the Ninja Rhynocs for him. Without even wasting a second Agent 9 was already on the move, entering the room that was in front of them and blasting at the foes that were inside it, but he wasn't alone as Spike used his Wind Shuriken to deal with some of their enemies while Elora showed off one of the new tricks that she had, as all she had to do was point the palm of one of her hands at her target and she found fire a blast at them, like a blaster had been built into her hands. With the three of them standing at the front of the pack it wasn't hard for them to clear out the first room and move into the second one, though that allowed Spyro and Ember to rush around the rooms they moved into and smashed the Rhynoc Boxes that were scattered around the structure that they were moving through, which also let them focus on picking up all of the gems as the others made sure to knock down all of the enemies that were coming towards their location. With the five of them acting like that it didn't take them all that long to blast and beat their way through the building that the rooms were in, where at the end of the line they found a dragon egg that Elora picked up, though as that happened Handel cried as something caught him, to which the group turned around and made their way back to the starting point of this area... even if that meant they had to blast a whole new group of Ninja Rhynoc that happened to get in their way, as if they didn't learn their lesson after seeing how badly the first batch had been wiped out.
In the end, however, the group was able to make it back to the beginning of the area without taking any damage at all, and they saved Handel from the Bomber Rhynoc that seemed to be the leader of the entire pack, where the little boy took a moment to thank them and handed over the other egg that he had found, before moving onto looking for the plans that he was here to steal back, even if the group felt that he might have missed part of the briefing that he and Greta got, which was when Spike sent both eggs back home and they left for their final destination.
With Fireworks Factory totally cleared out, and the dragonflies confirmed their thoughts on the matter, it didn't take the group that long to return to Evening Lake and look for the sign they had seen earlier, which happened to be at the top of the ladder near the passage that lead to Bentley's portal, where it was easy to see Zoe waiting for them, as Princess Ami showed her a place called Starfish Reef and said there was an egg there. Not even a few seconds later Sparx, Talon, and Cinder followed after her, leaving the siblings and Elora to rest and wait for their eventual return, allowing Spyro to stare out at the area that was around them, Ember to sit down and actually get a few moments of rest before the dragonflies returned with the egg and gems that they would find, Spyro made sure to write down everything that had happened since the last time he opened the journal, and Elora looked over her armor, to be sure nothing was wrong. None of them were in the mood to think about what the Sorceress might be planning at that very moment, since her plan was to kill all of the hatchlings, but they did know that they were going to bring her down when they finally decided to breach her stronghold and attack her, once the rest of the realms had been cleared out. Of course that thought process was eventually put on hold as the dragonflies returned not a few minutes later, where the group learned that they came back with another two hundred gems and another dragon egg, one that was sent home as soon as it was returned to them, before Zoe even told them that all three of the dragonflies were now stronger, meaning they could withstand one additional hit for the dragons that they were paired with, even if that might not matter since none of the siblings took damage these days.
Once that was done, and they were positive that everything in Evening Lake had been claimed, the group returned to the rocket and blasted off for Midnight Mountain once more, so they could turn their attention to the last couple of realms that they had to visit, not to mention the eggs and gems that they contained, before focusing on ending the Sorceress' reign over the Forgotten Realms.
It took the group some time to get back to Midnight Mountain, time that they were willing to spend resting and getting their energy back for what was ahead of them, though they also spent a couple of minutes discussing the realms that they had left and which one they would tackle first when the rocket reached their destination, that way they would be able to get started without wasting any time at all. As they discussed what little they knew about the remaining realms, however, all of them knew that they were at the end of their quest, as the Sorceress was right around the corner and would be waiting for the four of them to come out and challenge her, hence why Bianca and Hunter were in the middle of gathering the forces that had been helped in the past, preparing them for the battle to come. Spyro still felt uneasy about that, since he wasn't expecting them to be the leaders of an entire army in their eventual battle with the Sorceress, but Spike, Ember, and Elora were just fine with it, since they knew that the people in question would be focused on listening to the orders that Spyro had for them, even if it would be to engage the Rhynocs when the time came. Eventually the group came to a decision on which realm they were going to tackle when they finally reached Midnight Mountain, they were going to tackle Crystal Islands and see what the problem was, since there was a problem with every realm they had been to so far, before heading to one of the other realms once the area had been cleared.
When the rocket finally landed at their destination, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora climbed out of it and headed for the area that the portal to Crystal Islands was located in, which was just a few moments in front of the keep that the rocket landed in, before heading through the structure and headed towards the realm that was the first one on their list, so they could find the eggs and gems that were scattered around it. What they discovered, when they appeared in the staring area of the new realm, was that there were a number of floating islands that seemed to make up this realm, which made sense due to the name that was attached to the portal, before they spotted all of the crystals that were attached to each island, as the majority of what they were able to see had been transformed due to someone's magic, save for the ground that they were standing on. The ground had to wonder if the Sorceress had been behind this, to test her power out when the eggs had been brought to the Forgotten Realms, or maybe she did it after Bianca questioned her motives, back before the group reached Evening Lake, though they would only find out what was going on by asking the residents of the realm, and it just so happened that there was an orange skinned person, about their height by the looks of things, that was wearing wizard robes and a hat, and was carrying a wand in one hand. That caught Spike's attention, since he was the wizard of the group and knew more about magic than Spyro and Ember did, as Elora had only read about the magic of Avalar, but that really made him interested in what they were going to learn while they were here, before they helped out the couple of residents that were scattered around the realm.
"Shh, we have a secret, but you can't tell anyone else... we stole some of the Sorceress' magic!" the wizard, who Spike found out was a Gnome Wizard according to the Guidebook that he had picked up at the beginning of this adventure, said, though at the same time the group had to wonder why he felt that he and the other Gnome Wizards had stolen some of the Sorceress' magic, since it was likely possible that they had gotten their powers from the magic returning to the entirety of the Forgotten Realms, but they said nothing for a few seconds as they waited for him to finish telling them what was going on at the moment, "We're hiding here whilst we practice using it, but we had an unfortunate accident earlier that, um, turned everything in this realm into crystal, and it also aggravated the indigenous creatures."
"So you need help in quelling the rage of the creatures that call this realm home, so you can prepare for the battle with the Sorceress' forces?" Spike inquired, just to make sure they were understanding what the purple robed Gnome Wizard was telling them at the moment, since it seemed pretty straightforward to him when he thought about it, though it didn't take the Gnome Wizard long to nod his head, to show that he had gotten the gist of what he had been saying, which meant that they could move on and see what the rest of the realm had to offer them.
The first thing they discovered was that the area around the starting area had a small bit of water between the patch of ground they had started on and the next part of the realm that they had to progress through to fight their way through the rest of the realm, though that was when Elora smashed a pair of straw baskets that were nearby and picked up the gems that were around them, allowing them to progress once more. That was when they discovered the first couple of enemies that they would be facing in this realm, a creature that looked like a flower, only made out of crystal, that didn't like looking at the four of them and shook one of its arms at them, as if beckoning them over to fight it, and there just so happened to be another Crystal Flower, as that was what Elora called them before Spike could say anything, on the other edge of the area. The other foe that was in the area was a beaver that, oddly enough, could fly through the air and for the moment it seemed passive, though whenever it stared at them it seemed annoyed, meaning that they would have to deal with some Flying Beavers while they were exploring this realm, but even then it only made the group wonder if there had been Rhynocs here at one point and the accident that the Gnome Wizard had mentioned was responsible for turning all of them into crystalline creatures. The only reason Spike even considered that was due to the fact that all of the Rhynocs they had encountered over the course of this adventure had been transformed gems, just like what Gnasty Gnorc did for his attack on the Dragon Realms, so whatever spell the Gnome Wizards had messed up might have been influenced by the original nature of the Rhynocs, even if he had no evidence to back that thought process up.
Either way he and the others watched as Ember leapt over the small bit of water and landed near one of the Crystal Flowers that were going to be their enemies for this realm, where she spun around and slammed her hardened tail into her target, smashing the crystalline foe to pieces in an instant and deposited a gem for her trouble, to which Spyro took a moment to approach the other one and flame it, the heat blowing the Crystal Flower apart. Spike was a little surprised by that information, as he wasn't expecting this type of enemy to be weak to fire based attacks, or at least dragon flames, but it was good to know for later, in case they discovered an enemy that resisted Ember's hardened attacks, but as he and Elora crossed over to where his siblings were waiting he loosed a Wind Shuriken and knocked the Flying Beaver out of the air as well. With the upper area cleared Spyro dived into the water and found that there were a few gems down there, as well as a few glass vases to smash, though what he was surprised by was the red octopus that tried to grab him, almost like it was going to strangle him if he was caught, so what he did was charge into his few foe and crashed it into the wall that was behind it, taking out one more enemy and giving them another gem for the collection. From there he rejoined the others as they stood near the edge of the area, where all four of them stared out at the area that was in front of them and spotted a large clue colored creature that was definitely made out of gems and looked like a bear, to which the group wasted no time in labeling this particular enemy as a Crystal Bear and glided over to the island that it and two Crystal Flowers were waiting on.
This time around Spike was ready and loosed a larger Fireball than what he was used to, one that slammed into the Crystal Bear and blew it to pieces, though as he did that Ember smashed one of the Crystal Flowers with her hardened tail, leaving Elora to charge her new palm blaster for a moment before firing at the other foe, where they were surprised to find that her attack was successful and that the Crystal Flower that she had targeted had been blown apart by the attack, showing that the Mark III suit was definitely more powerful than the Mark II suit. With the enemies taken out the group took a few seconds to clear out the rest of the area, picking up the loose gems that were just laying on the ground, even if Spyro backtracked a little to pick up two that they had missed near the edge of the first island and then rejoined them as Elora found two metallic vases and had them smashed as well, allowing them to enter the building that was in front of them so they could progress through the realm. It was when they entered the building, after climbing up a few steps to get inside the structure, that they found a blue robed Gnome Wizard being bothered by a pair of Flying Beavers, no doubt due to the fact that he helped modify the realm on accident, but that didn't stop Spike and Elora from blasting their targets out of the air, with Spike choosing a Lightning Bolt this time and Elora sticking with her palm blaster. While they did that Spyro and Ember dived into the water that was beyond where the Gnome Wizard was running around and smashed the couple of glass vases that were down there, along with charging into the pair of Octopus that wanted them dead, allowing them to clear the area of enemies and pick up the gems that had been both on the ground and laying in the water, though once the entire section of the building was cleared the group gathered near the Gnome Wizard.
"Thanks for saving me. Say, would you guys like to see a magic trick?" the Gnome Wizard asked, causing the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as they knew that none of the wizards that were in this realm really had a great deal of mastery with their magic, since it appeared it was a recent acquisition on their part, though Spike did report that there was some lingering magic in the area and decided to see what the Gnome Wizard wanted to show them, "Watch carefully now! As you can see, there is nothing up my left sleeve, and there is nothing up my right sleeve, but with a wave of my hands and the magic word... Alakazam!"
In the following instant he turned and cast his spell on the area that was between the floor they were on and the small opening that would take them outside, creating three large red gemstones that would serve as steps for them to get out of the building, though Spike was sure that they would disappear in due time and made sure that the group was through the opening before that happened, even though the Gnome Wizard seemed overjoyed by what he had done. The moment they were outside the building they found a Crystal Bear and a Crystal Flower waiting for them, to which Ember hardened her tail and jumped into the air as she spun forward, utilizing her spinning attack as she crashed into her foe's face, which smashed the Crystal Bear to pieces in a matter of seconds, showing the rest of the group that her hardness was stronger than what this particular type of enemy had. The Crystal Flower, on the other claw, was blasted apart by Spyro loosing a quick burst of fire at it, allowing them to clear the immediate area and resume looking for the rest of the gems and any eggs that they might be able to save before locating any of the side portals to the other sections of the realm, which was the moment that Spike actually found an egg nearby, he just had to glide down to where it was resting. The egg was on a small floating bit of rock, so all he had to do was land, check it out to be sure that the Rhynocs had done nothing to it, and then sent it off to the Dragon Realms, before gliding back to the entrance of the building and quickly making his way back through it, even though he reactivated the spell that the Gnome Wizard had used so he could get back to where the others were waiting, this time making sure it was permanent for as long as they were in this realm.
Once they were back together they smashed a few more straw baskets for the gems that were inside them and Elora blasted apart a Crystal Flower with her palm blaster, which she had to admit was a rather nice addition to the suit of armor that she was wearing, before they glided over to the next island and found a reddish robed Gnome Wizard standing near the edge of the area, which had two Crystal Bears guarding the area in front of them.
"You know, all of this magic is just misdirection," the Gnome Wizard stated, as if he was trying to inform the group that they had been lied to and that this realm had always been like this, though none of them were buying it, mostly due to the fact that Spike could easily detect the truth of the matter and knew that all of the Gnome Wizards had some bits of power, no doubt due to their wands, but they said nothing as the wizard continued his statement, "which is why I'm going to activate that whirlwind over there... Abracadabra!"
Sure enough the Gnome Wizard fired a beam of energy into the center of the next structure that the group would be making their way towards, this one looking more like a small temple than the building they had passed through a couple of minutes ago, though Spike ensured that it would remain active and not disappear, since the Gnome Wizards seemed to be under the impression that making paths appear and disappear was a fun thing to do with their magic. With that done Spyro smashed the bullseye chest that was right in front of them and claimed the gems that were inside it, allowing them to head into the area that the pair of Crystal Bears happened to be guarding, where Ember spun through the air again and smashed one of them to pieces with her hardened tail, though Elora surprised them by kicking the other one in the face with her right hoof and smashed it. Since she happened to be wearing the Mark III armor they knew why it was possible for her to kick solid crystal and come out as the victor, given the strength of her attacks and the boost that the armor gave her, but the more interesting part of all that was that the leg that had struck the Crystal Bear was undamaged, where she reminded them that the Professor had designed this suit to be a total upgrade from the last one, though even she was rather impressed by what their friend had created for her. With those two enemies taken out, and they got over just how awesome Elora's new armor was, the group spread out and collected everything that was in the area, be they loose gems, smashing the metallic vases, break a few straw baskets, or diving into the water to smash a couple of glass vases, pick up the gems that were under the water, and charge the three Octopuses into the walls, to clear the area of enemies and every gem that had been left behind.
From there, once they were sure the area was cleared, the group returned to the structure and used the whirlwind to raise into the air and glide to an area that had two more Crystal Flowers and a Crystal Bear, though those enemies paled in comparison to the true foe that lurked in the area that they were heading to, as Moneybags was standing near the edge of the area in question, so Ember smashed the Crystal Bear with a well placed Headbash while Spyro and Spike torched the pair of Crystal Flowers, before they landed and frowned at the greedy bear that was in their way.
"Ah, hello again young heroes. Did you know that I happen to be a very talented amateur magician?" Moneybags said, though at this point, as Elora smashed the pair of straw baskets and the pair of metallic vases that were nearby, the group was under the impression that he was purposely forgetting each of their previous encounters, like one would try to bury an event that they didn't want to talk about, though it was possibly that he was just stupid and they were having to deal with the idiocy that he possessed, but they decided to stop and hear what he had to tell them, "My specialty is the, err, the 'Amazing Extending Bridge' trick, and while I would love to show it to you, so you can be on your merry way to find the rest of the dragon eggs, I'm afraid that I can't do that... not without being given a small donation..."
"Moneybags, we don't have to be told that, as we know that you're a talented amateur magician... because you're very good at making our patience disappear." Spike remarked, to which his siblings and Elora nodded their heads, to show that they agreed with his statement, though that was when he ignited his own magic and caused the bridge that the bear was guarding to extend and connect this island to the next one that was in front of him, before he glanced at Moneybags for a few seconds, who was shocked by what he had done, "Also, you should know by now that this bridge stunt of yours isn't going to work on us, especially not with one that can be extended by magic."
Moneybags stood there for a moment, where it looked like he was sweating after seeing that his latest scheme to get some of their gems had failed, which made since due to the fact that none of them were buying what he was seeing, which was when Elora raised her hand and blasted the bear in the chest, knocking him over the edge of the area and caused him to fall, even though Spike knew that the magic of the realm would deposit the bear back in Midnight Mountain so he could prepare for the next trick he had in mind. From there the group walked over the bridge and entered the next island that they were going to explore, though that was when they found a green robed Gnome Wizard waiting near the other end of the bridge, to which the four of them stopped for a moment so they could see what he had to tell them, before worrying about the Crystal Bear and the three Flying Beavers that were beyond the starting area.
"You know, I've been working on a new trick, one that I can show you as long as you promise not to tell the Great Zamboni what you see... he steals all my best work!" the Gnome wizard said, apparently not caring about the enemies that were in the area that he was standing in, even if the group knew they were going to take care of them, but they nodded their heads to show that they agreed to his terms, even if they had no idea who the Great Zamboni was, to which he raised his wand and readied himself, "Alakazam!"
The magic word that the Gnome Wizard decided to use informed them of who he was talking about, because he just so happened to be using the same term that the second wizard had used when they helped him out, and there was more evidence that pointed them to who the green robed wizard was talking about, as the trick that he used was to create three large crystals that formed a partial set of steps that would allow them to glide to the upper part of the area. Before doing that, however, Spike spent a few seconds to make sure the steps remained where they had been summoned, just like he had done to all of the other tricks that the other Gnome Wizards had used over the course of their visit to this realm, and while he did that Ember jumped into the air and smashed the Crystal Bear that was in front of them, opening the way for the others to deal with the remaining enemies. While she did that Elora raised her arm, focused for a moment, and blasted one of the Flying Beavers out of the air, allowing Spyro to ascend the gem steps and then flame the remaining two Flying Beavers that were near the final gemstone, clearing the area above the water of enemies, before he dived into the water and smashed into the pair of Octopuses that he found. Spike, as Spyro cleared out the underwater area of enemies, gems, and glass vases, glided over to a side area and found a Crystal Flower that was ready to smash someone into the ground, so he simply blasted it with a Fireball and blew it apart, allowing him to pick up a few gems and smash the straw basket that was in the area he had spotted, before locating one of the side sections that seemed to be through Bentley's portal, to which he returned to the others since he knew they would find it in no time.
Once the area was cleared out they climbed up the crystal steps and then glided to the upper part of the area, where they found another structure that had a Gnome Wizard standing in front of it, even though they spotted an inactive exit portal inside the building in question, which informed them that they had succeeded in helping the residents of this realm out, even if there were no Rhynocs for once, but that didn't stop them from coming to a stop in front of the wizard so they could hear what he had to tell them.
"Oh, hello. You guys can have this," the Gnome Wizard said, where he revealed one of the stolen dragon eggs that the group was looking for, something that put a smile on their faces when they saw it, though at the same time it wasn't hard to see that he was annoyed about something and that he was going to speak his mind before they moved to explore the rest of the realm, "I was going to use it in a trick that I've been practicing, but my magic keeps bouncing off of it."
Spike knew that such a statement made sense, mostly because dragon eggs were rather resistant to magic, meaning that if someone cast a spell on them the spell in question would be bounced away like nothing had happened in the first place, where the only exception that he knew about was, well, his Teleportation Breath, as it was about the only magic that seemed to work on the dragon eggs. In fact Spike waited for the Gnome Wizard to leave the area before he even sent the egg back home, just so the wizard didn't get annoyed about his magic working on the egg, though once he did that, and the exit portal was active once more, the group moved around the area and found that there was a Crystal Flower that wanted a piece of them, not that it mattered since Elora simply blasted it with her palm blaster. With that foe taken care of they smashed a metallic vase that was nearby and did the same to a pair of straw baskets that happened to be resting near a cave opening that was near the structure that housed the exit portal, one that took them to a short passage that possessed something interesting, what appeared to be a slide of some kind that went from the high point that they were currently standing on and went down to what appeared to be the exit, meaning that there were two different portals for entering and leaving, instead of just one like all of the other side realms they had been to in the past. Instead of heading forward immediately, and possibly walking into a trap if there were additional enemies in this realm, the group let Spike see what sort of magic was in this area, only for him to find that the entire smooth stone slide had a slipperiness spell cast on it, meaning all they would have to do was lay on their stomachs and slide forward.
As such it wasn't long before the four of them, with Spyro in the lead, slid out of the starting area for this part of the realm and followed the path that happened to be right in front of them, where Sparx, Talon, and Cinder made sure to grab all of the gems that they slid down the slide that was in this part of the realm, even though they did have to maintain a bit of control by steering themselves, before they eventually reached the end of the slide and found that a dragon egg was at the end, allowing Spike to send it back home as well.
Once the side section of the realm was cleared out, and they made sure to smash the three straw baskets that were resting near the egg, the group headed through the portal that was in front of them and returned to the area the entrance was connected to, allowing them to continue moving as they explored the rest of Crystal Islands, since there were a few more eggs to recover before this realm could be crossed off the list. With one side area cleared the group made their way back to the edge that the last Crystal Flower had been located and found out something that they had missed, there was a patch of land that was floating off in the distance, far enough to where they had to glide to reach it, though that wasn't the most exciting thing, as there was a locked chest and a whirlwind resting on the area in question. When they glided over to the area Ember tapped the chest with her tail for a moment, clearly debating whether or not she should just smash it and be done with it, before the others watched as she hardened her tail and smashed it anyway, deciding to not bother with finding the key that went to it, allowing them to collect the gems before figuring out where the whirlwind might take them to, even if Spike already had an idea as to their next destination. Not a few seconds of gliding through the air they landed in front of the portal that he had found earlier, the one that would allow them to head to the side area that Bentley would be in for some time, to which they headed through it to see what their yeti friend was doing in Crystal Islands, mostly since this place seemed to be far different from where they usually found him.
As such they headed through the portal and found the square chamber that Bentley was waiting in, where he seemed happy to be in this realm and seeing them only made him much happier, though they knew that he was trying to not think about the fact that he and the other heroes were going to be declaring war on the Sorceress, or at least her Rhynoc army, in the very near future.
"Ah, hello friends, the Amazing Randini is about to put on a display of prestidigitation!" Bentley remarked, though at this point none of the group were all that surprised by what was going on, as all of the wizards that they had encountered in this realm were basically street magicians, something that involved low amounts of magic and was more about slight of hand, or claw in their case, but while they had seen a few Magic Crafters that excelled at this type of magic they had to admit that they were a little curious about the wizard that was putting on a show, "I've heard that it's quite impressive, so I'm going to watch the show. You're free to come along, if you wish."
The siblings and Elora glanced at each other for a moment, like they were debating whether or not they should follow him into the area that he was heading to, before deciding that they would join him, mostly in the off chance that any of the remaining eggs and gems might be in the side section that he was going to be entering, to which the five of them passed through the portal that was behind Bentley and discovered the area that they would be in for a time. It appeared that the area that the show would be held in was one one of the further islands, away from the ones that they had been exploring earlier, though that was when they found a few tall stone pillars that Bentley had to move, though the one to the right did let them enter a small side area that had four circular metallic chests, ones that Ember eagerly smashed apart so she could get the gems that were inside them. That allowed Bentley to move the next one out of the way and enter the area that the show was going to be held in, where a purple robed Gnome Wizard, who looked similar to the first one they had met, even if they were two separate people based on the wands, beards, and robe colors, only to determine that he had to be the Amazing Randini that was going to be hosting the show. As it turned out the moles that were part of the show seemed to be far too excited and the wizard asked Bentley for help so he could get ready for the actual show, which was where their friend took his club, marched out into the flattened area that was in front of them, and started swinging his club at the moles that came up out of the ground, while at the same time avoiding the Gnome Wizards that seemed to be the aids of the one Bentley was assisting. While he did that the group looked around the rest of the flattened area and picked up the couple of gems that were laying around and smashed the straw baskets that were nearby, since those didn't seem like they were part of whatever show was going to be happening soon, before returning to the wizard as they waited for their friend to finish whacking the moles.
As it turned out one of the assistants recovered an egg while they were helping Bentley with the moles, to which the Gnome Wizard that was in charge of this area gave it to them as their reward for the help, though while they went back to their work Spike made sure the egg was unharmed and then sent it back to the Dragon Realms, leaving two dragon eggs that had yet to be discovered, to which they bid Bentley farewell for now and headed back to the main part of the realm to continue their search for the missing eggs.
Once they were back in the main part of the realm they discovered that there was more to the area that housed the portal to Bentley's small side area, as there was a Superfly Gate nearby and, more importantly, an Egg Thief that was using a plane to take off with one of the eggs they were looking for, to which the four of them rushed through the gateway and took off as they chased their target into the sky. They followed the Egg Thief through the air for a few moments, allowing it to make a loop around the entirety of the main part of the realm, before Elora loosed a blast at the back of the plane and caused it to crash in one of the flatter areas that the four of them had passed through earlier, allowing them to land a few moments later and claim the egg that the thief was trying to make off with, to which Spike sent it home after that. With the egg safe the four of them took off and returned to the area that the Superfly Gate was resting in, to which they flew right through it and recharged the time they had to use this particular power, something that allowed them to fly all over the rest of the islands and collect all of the loose gems that were scattered everywhere, since they didn't want to leave any of the treasure behind. Of course that brought them to the roof area of the first building the group had passed through some time ago, at the start of their adventure in this realm, which also happened to be where the key to the locked chest had been located, though they were more interested in the number of glass vases that had explosives attached to them and the few gems that were laying on the ground, especially when they spotted the sixth and final egg for this realm, since that was the common number for the normal realms that they visited.
The moment they had cleared out the area of everything that they could collect Spike looked at what they had found in this realm and counted all six of the eggs, along with a grand total of seven hundred gems from everything that they had collected during their time in this realm, to which the four of them headed back towards the exit portal and headed through it, so they could pick the next land that they were going to help out as they freed the rest of the Forgotten Realms from the Sorceress' grip.
With Crystal Islands complete, as in the Gnome Wizards had been helped and all of the stolen eggs had been claimed, it only took the group a few moments to return to the main area of Midnight Mountain and appear in front of the portal that had taken them to the realm they had just assisted, even if Spike was sure that at some point in the future he and the other Magic Crafters would come back and return the realm to normal, or not. There was no telling if the natural creatures of that realm would adapt to the new look of their home or not, hence the reason that he thought about restoring it to what it had been before they learned that the couple of wizards had accidentally made the entire realm what it was when they got there and started to explore it. Spyro and the others were focused on the next realm that they were going to be assisting, though there were only three for them to choose from before they went and faced the Sorceress, as in there was Desert Ruins, Dino Mines, and Haunted Tomb, though as usual Spike and Ember waited for a few moments to see what their brother had to say on the matter, due to the fact that he was the leader and he usually had a good idea which realm they should take on next, especially when they considered what happened in the past. Even Elora was used to it at this point, despite the fact that this was the first adventure she had been on with them, which was why the three of them waited when they returned to Midnight Mountain, to see which realm Spyro ended up picking this time around, even if they would be taking them all on in the very near future.
"Personally, I feel that we should take on Desert Ruins next," Spyro said, because it seemed like they might as well clear out the realms and circle around the Sorceress' stronghold, as in hitting the one he had mentioned first, then hit Haunted Tomb, and finally clear out Dino Mines, before walking over to the area that Bianca was in and fight their foe, to free the rest of the Forgotten Realms in the process.
"That works for us," Ember remarked, as she honestly didn't care which realm they tackled next, not when all of them had eggs for her and the others to save from the Rhynocs that were guarding them, especially now that they knew what horrible plan their foe was planning for the eggs, which was still upsetting when she thought about it, though she pushed it from her mind as she started to walk away from the area that the portal to Crystal Islands was in.
Spyro and the others nodded their heads as they joined Ember, to which the four of them headed up the bridge that was in front of them and approached the helmet shaped structure that housed the portal Spyro had picked out, to which they passed through it and headed to the starting area of the next realm they would be tackling, though a few moments later, when they appeared at their destination, they stopped as they saw what was around them. It appeared that the set of ruins that dominated this realm, since it was in the name of the land and everything, was surrounded by high rocky walls which prevented anyone from leaving the area once they dropped down into this area, there were a number of stone statues that matched the structure the portal had been resting inside, and a large stone structure that had to be the main ruins. That was when they spotted some of the enemies for this realm, large scorpions that seemed to be guardians or something, though the group would find out more about them when they left the starting area and started to face the creatures in battle, allowing them to actually name them for the future, before the four of them turned their attention to the resident of this land that happened to be standing near the starting area. What they discovered was that the resident in question was a mouse, dressed in the clothing of an explorer, that stood like Bianca and all the others did, though he didn't seem to have any gear that would allow him to contend with the dangers of this realm, hence the reason the group walked over to him, as it seemed like it had something he wanted to tell them.
"Oh, hello, you must be that helpful group that I've been hearing about... Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora, right?" the mouse said, where the last part of his statement was more of a question and was directed at all four of them, even though he did beckon to each of them as he said their names, showing that descriptions of them much have been given out at some point in the past and that he recognized them rather quickly, before the group nodded their heads to show that he was right about who was who, "You know, I've been hearing a great deal about the four of you, about how you're helping the residents of the other realms, taking down the Rhynocs, and getting in the way of whatever the Sorceress has been planning, and, after coming to this realm, I was hoping that you would help me out a little. My girlfriend, Tara, went off to raid the Tomb of the Stone Golem, but I haven't see her since and I've been getting worried about her, and I would go after her, but, um, all these scorpions terrify me..."
"Okay, then we'll clear out the enemies that are in our way and find Tara," Spyro stated, because while this was a little different than what they saw in all of the other realms they had been to since arriving in the Forgotten Realms, like the castles and fortresses that the four of them had cleared out, that wasn't going to stop them from taking care of the foes the Sorceress had created, find the eggs that were hidden here, pick up the gems that were along the way, and find Tara near the area that the exit portal was in, who may or may not be cross with them since it seemed like she was a treasure hunter and might think they were trying to steal something from her.
The first thing they did was look at the brown Scorpions that were in front of them, as there were two blocking the way forward, and it didn't seem like they were in the mood to fight them, but the moment any of them tried to approach the edge of the area the pair of foes became aggressive and tried to hit all of them with the stingers of their tails, though it was Ember that they were attacking, since she had her Warrior's Armor skill and hardened her body the moment she saw the attack coming. Once she stopped the incoming attack from hitting her, and stunned the pair of Scorpions at the same time, she spun around and quickly crushed one of them into the ground with her still hardened tail, allowing Spyro to take the other one out with a charge to the side, while Spike and Elora picked up the couple of gems that were around the starting area for this realm, before regrouping near the edge of the area. It was then that they found what appeared to be a platform that, if they stood on it for a length of time, would sink into a green river of what was possible lava or poison, given the previous times they found areas like this, so instead of jumping across at the same time the four of them took turns so they could safely get across and reach the other side so they could continue exploring the area. The next area did have another head sculpture in it, which seemed to be fairly common in this realm, along with a pair of green hands that were positioned to look like places that they could jump to and walk along, meaning they had to keep their eyes open for a way up to those areas, since it might let them locate the eggs or some hidden treasure. That was when Elora spotted a much larger Scorpion that was a lighter shade than the other ones they had taken out a few moments ago, where this one looked like it might have armor over its claws and face area, natural armor and not metal like they were expecting, but that didn't stop them from labeling this foe as an Armored Scorpion, which would be what they named the rest of this type of enemy while they were in this realm.
As it turned out the Armored Scorpion was rather easy to take out, as Spike decided to hurl a large Fireball at it, so he could test what its defenses were, instead of relying on Ember to get that information like she usually did, but all that did was blast his foe to pieces and dropped a gem for their efforts, which was something that they were getting used to seeing as they explored the realms, since the Sorceress was in the mood to turn her gems into all sorts of creatures so she could harass the residents of the lands she ruled over.
With that foe taken care of the group looked around the area, finding a gem and some metallic vases near the hand that was near the left side, which were smashed within seconds of discovering them, before they headed to the other side of the area and found one of the normal Scorpions waiting for someone to come near it and bother it, though a quick blast from Elora's palm blaster took it out. From there they found a set of stone steps that looked like they had been carved out of a hill, like someone had pulled stone from a hill and then smoothed out the remainder to form a walkway, which let the group take out another Scorpion that was hanging out on one of the steps, by Ember smashing it with a side swipe from her tail, only to find a locked chest at the top of the steps. Spyro glided over to one of the hands and then headed to the second one, picking up the gem that was along the way, allowing Spike and Elora to pick up any gems on the steps that they had walked up, before Ember smashed open the locked chest and claimed the gems, once more proving that she didn't care for the Sorceress' attempts at keeping some of her treasure safe. From there they regrouped near a bridge that connected the area they were on to a raised section of stone that held a path that would allow the four of them to move further into the area surrounding the temple, only there was an enemy that looked like it was a metallic cup given life and that it was capable of spewing short bursts of hot magma on the floor it was standing on, heating the entire walkway so none of them could actually progress. Spike stood there for a few moments, debating what name to give them, as he could be simple and call them Firebreathers, or just separated it into Fire and Breathers, while feeling that Magma Cups might actually work out much better, given the nature of the enemy they had just discovered, before eventually deciding that he would call this foe a Magma Cup, as the other names really didn't fit all that well.
When the now named foe went to spew out more magma, and heat up the floor again, Spike aimed at the short bit of time between the bursts and loosed a wave of ice magic at his target, a Cone of Frost as he called it, that froze the Magma Cup where it was standing, showing that Spike's magic might actually be stronger than the magic that the Sorceress used to breath life into the stolen gems, and freezing his foe in this manner allowed Spyro to charge into it and shatter it, while at the same time leaving the gem it was made from intact.
With the way clear the group walked over the metallic walkway that was in front of them, which was held up by a few supports that usually held up bridges, before climbing up the short ladder the Magma Cup had been guarding, which was when they found one of the Armored Scorpions waiting for someone to come through this area, only for Spyro to knock it down with a quick burst of fire. As he did that Elora picked up the couple of gems that were nearby and slipped them into the bag that Spike was carrying, so they could join the rest of the collection they had amassed so far, before they spotted a second walkway that had one of the Magma Cups resting on it, only this time around they would have to glide over to the area that their foe was guarding before they could hit it. Fortunately Spike was up to the challenge, as he studied the time between the Magma Cup's attacks for a minute or two, before gliding over the moment he spotted an opening, allowing him to unleash another Cone of Frost on his target and froze it where it was standing, allowing the rest of the group to jump over to where he was standing so they could progress, while Spyro made sure to charge into the frozen foe to get the gem it dropped. From there they dropped down into an area that one of the normal Scorpions was patrolling, which was the moment that spun around in the air and kicked downward at their foe, crushing her target in a second, though while the siblings were surprised that she had an attack like that in her arsenal, due to this being the first time they had actually seen it, they weren't going to chew her out over not using it and nodded their heads as they collected the couple of gems that were in the area.
It was then that they found another pair of circular platforms that looked like they would sink into the green water that would be a common thing in this realm, this time with one of the Scorpions resting on the first one, so Spyro jumped onto the first platform and flamed the Scorpion to get it out of the way, only to find that when his platform lowered the one in front of him raised at the same time. Instead of worrying about the moving platforms and what they might reveal, for now anyway, the group carefully made their way over the platforms and came to a stop on some ground that was right below one of the portal structures that belonged to Sheila, which would be nice since they hadn't seen her since their visit to Spooky Swamp. Once they spotted the side portal the group quickly smashed the pair of metallic vases that were near them and then spotted another metallic walkway that was between them and the next part of the realm they would have to fight their way through, complete with yet another Magma Cup, so three of them stood back as Spike replicated what he had done to the previous Magma Cups they had come across so far. A few moments later the four of them were moving over the metallic walkway that their foe had been in the middle of heating up, before they jumped over to an area that had one of the Armored Scorpions guarding what appeared to be the entrance of the actual temple, though that didn't stop Ember from smashing her target with her hardened body, just to make sure it went down quickly. As the Scorpion fell the group decided not to bother with the temple's main entrance and glided over to a raised platform that would allow them to jump to an area that pair of ladders was resting in, so Elora blasted the Scorpion that was on the patch of ground they jumped to and they moved on without slowing down.
Just in front of the ladders was a bullseye chest, one that Spyro smashed as Spike, Ember, and Elora climbed up the ladders to see what else they would be dealing with in this realm, which gave them a way to glide over to where the portal to Sheila's side area was located, a way to glide over to the palm of the stone hand that rested far above the green water, and another metallic walkway that had a Magma Cup heating the area up. Ember took a moment to glide over to the palm of the hand and then glide over to an area that a bullseye chest was resting in, which she quickly smashed to pieces with a Headbash so she could get at the gems it held, though as she did that Spike focused on the Magma Cup and waited for a few seconds, only to freeze his target with a Cone of Frost, allowing Spyro to charge it and clear the walkway of foes. From there they jumped up a few stone steps and picked up a single gem along the way, which was when they discovered that this was to give them enough height so they could jump and glide over to a hidden statue arm they hadn't seen earlier, one that had a few gems and a straw basket on it, to which they did so and headed over there, making sure not to land or touch the green water, since they didn't know if it was dangerous or not, before jumping over to the patch of land that was just beyond it. That, in turn, allowed them to reach one of the eggs that had been hidden in this realm, to which Spike took a few moments to make sure it was fine before sending it off, which was when the others noticed that they could glide over to the area that Sheila's portal was in, or glide over to a cave that might house another egg, even though the outside of the cave was close to the location of Sheila's side area.
As such they glided over to that area and smashed the pair of straw baskets that were just outside the cave entrance, which was when they found a few platforms heading deeper into the cave, where Elora went first for once and glided over to the first platform, the safe one, and then did the same thing to reach the second platform, though that was where she blasted the Scorpion that was on it out of the way so she could move onto the patch of ground that an egg happened to be sitting on. Instead of taking out the Scorpion that was on the area that the egg was resting on she jumped over to where a few gems were resting, something that ended up confusing her would be foe for a few seconds, up until Spyro landed in the area behind it and flamed it, which allowed Spike to land and make sure the egg was fine before he sent it home as well, though Ember did join Elora in collecting the gems, which involved taking out another Scorpion that was in their way, only this time it was smashed by Ember's hardened tail. With the Scorpions defeated, the egg sent home, and the gems picked up the group took a few seconds to see if there was anything they might be missing, which was when Spyro found a cracked section in one part of the wall and busted through it, allowing the four of them to walk through a passage that had a few gems, including a few small jumps that let them avoid some of the green water, which was likely acid due to the few bubbles they saw this time around, before arriving at a statue arm that held the key to the chest that Ember had smashed earlier, to which the group simply glided back down to an area they had been in earlier and made their way back to the temple, as it was time to resume the search for Tara.
Just beyond the entrance they found a pair of metallic vases, which they smashed the moment they laid eyes on them, and then turned their attention to the offending individual that was in the chamber with them, Moneybags, who just so happened to be standing in front of the door that would allowing the group to explore the inside of the temple and figure out where Tara was located.
"Oh, hello again..." Moneybags said, where, once again, he seemed to be his usual self and had made sure to switch out of the attire he had been wearing when Elora blasted him earlier, though it was impressive that he even owned more than one suit, along with the fact that he had changed so quickly, especially since they had come straight here after what they did in Crystal Islands, so he didn't have all the time in the world to change, though the group was curious to see if he had changed on trying to hinder their progress or if one of them would punish him again, "I bet you guys are happy to see me this time around, because, as it just so happens, I'm the only one that knows the, um, password needed to open the door to the Tomb of the Stone Golem... but it seems to have slipped my mind for the moment..."
In that instant Spike focused his magic and the door opened before Moneybags' eyes, just like what happened when the bear tried to stop them back in Spooky Swamp and he used his magic to open that door as well, though once that was done the group stared at Moneybags, who sweated a little as he realized that he had pissed them off again, which at this point was really easy for him to do, proving the point he made in Crystal Islands.
"You're going to have to try harder than that if you want our gems, Moneybags," Spike remarked, though that was the moment that Ember lashed out and smacked the bear in the chest with her hardened tail, something that the group knew had to hurt and wasn't good for the bear's health since all of them were just punishing him for his crimes, before she left him moaning on the floor, showing that he was in pain, before a thought came to him as they started to move into the next part of the temple, "Oh, and the 'password', as you called it, was 'Gullible', wasn't it?"
The only reply Moneybags gave him was a moan that suggested that he was right, which was just fine if the bear didn't feel like talking, since that would only be adding additional layers to the hole he seemed to be digging for himself, before the group moved forward and left him behind, since they wanted to focus on what was in front of them and not worry about a greedy bear for the foreseeable future. The first part of the tomb that they were going to have to fight their way through had three of the normal Scorpions standing guard near the top of the steps that were in front of them, while at the same time there were two of the Armored variety of Scorpions hanging out in the back, clearly waiting for anyone to challenge them in battle, before allowing treasure seekers to advance to the next area of the structure. Elora blasted one of them with her palm blaster, opening the way for Spyro to flame the other two in seconds, something that allowed them to move without actually stopping for anything other than the gems that fell, before Spike focused on the enemies that were in front of the Magma Cup that was guarding the next metallic walkway that was in their way. What he did was rather simple, he cast his Cone of Frost again and this time froze three enemies where they were standing, two of them being the Armored Scorpions and the other one being the Magma Cup, though once that was done he let Spyro and Ember charge into them while Elora blasted the other one. With that done they moved to the edge of the area that they were in and came to a stop when they discovered that there was another metallic area that one of the Magma Cups was guarding, to which Spike just glided over to it and froze it so the others could smash it to pieces, allowing them to jump onto a normal walkway that would let them head outside or jump down to an area that had a Scorpion guarding a trio of ladders that headed up to the ceiling of structure.
It was rather easy for them to take care of the Scorpion, since Spyro charged it into the wall, while Spike stared at the top of the ladder for a few seconds, where he decided not to play around and just used a minor teleportation spell to get around the flaming ladders that a Magma Cup was trying to create so they wouldn't be able to move forward, only for him to freeze and break his target a few seconds later. As the Magma Cup went down Spike also spotted an Armored Scorpion that didn't last very long, not when Ember joined him a few moments later and used her hardened tail to smash it into the ground, allowing them to see what else the upper part of the structure had for them, since there had to be a portal to a side area somewhere inside the structure, before spotting a hole that seemed to head down to an area like that. Instead of heading down there right now, and seeing what was there was to see, Elora glided over to a ledge that was nearby and picked up the gem that was over there, before they regrouped near the structure's exit, as it was time to see if they could find Tara and tell her that her boyfriend had been worried about her, though that did let them find a few more gems as they headed outside. It was in that moment, as they headed outside the structure, part of the statue head that was resting nearby was shattered as a female mouse, who was far more athletic looking than the other mouse had been, emerged from the area she had been in, only coming to a stop when she saw them.
"Well, well, would you look at this, a group of would-be treasure hunters have come to raid the tomb after I spent the entire day doing all the hard work." Tara said, where the group had to assume that she was Tara, since she was the only other person in this entire realm, though her tone revealed that she wasn't amused by what she was seeing, hence the reason that the group was planning on interrupting her before she annoyed Ember, "I'll have you know that I had to flip a number of switches and push boxes to solve the puzzles that would open the way to the tomb's treasure, and yet all I was able to find was an egg!"
"Did you get help from a bear in a suit, whose holding a bag of gems?" Spyro asked, because based on what they had seen, since coming to the Forgotten Realms, Moneybags was responsible for a number of crimes against the residents of these lands, not that they were surprised by that when they considered what happened back in Avalar, though that was when Tara nodded her head for a few seconds, to which he gestured to the opening they had used to get here, "That bear is called Moneybags, and he's basically a conman that lies to whoever he's 'helping' so he can walk away with their gems, while also being responsible for a war between two realms... if anyone knows where the missing treasure is, it would be him, since it seems like something he would steal and then fool others into searching for it."
"Then I'm going to have a word with Moneybags," Tara replied, where it looked like she was angry with what she had just heard, not that the group could blame her since they knew the bear was a criminal that needed to be imprisoned at some point in the future, to which she produced the egg that she found in the 'treasure room' and placed it on the ground in front of them, like a peace offering of some kind, before focusing on the exit they had come from, "you can have the egg, as I'm going to focus on the missing treasure..."
The group said nothing as Tara left the area and headed back into the tomb, where Elora made sure to call out that Tara's boyfriend was worried about her, something the mouse may not have heard due to her annoyance with the bear that had ruined her entire day, to which Spike sent the egg back home as Spyro and Ember cleared out the gems and the lone straw basket that was in this area, something that included Elora blasting a Scorpion off a ledge so the others could get the gems and the straw basket that was up there. With the area cleared out, and the exit portal was reactivated, the group retraced their steps and headed towards the area that held the portal to Sheila's section of the realm, as it was time to see what she was up to and help her out, since they had helped her out a few times in the past, hence the reason they retraced their steps through the structure Tara had walked through. As they did that it was easy for them to spot the now enraged explorer that was chewing out Moneybags, confirming their thoughts on the matter as they headed outside, so the four of them decided not to worry about her and focused on the area that they were heading towards, where it took them a few moments to climb up the ladders so they could glide over to the portal in question. Once they landed on the area that the portal was resting in, and they were sure that there were no additional gems for them to pick up or any straw or metallic containers for them to break, they headed through the portal that was in front of them and quickly reappeared in a square shaped chamber that was very familiar to them, given each of their new friends had their own area like this and everything.
Sheila, as they were expecting, was standing near one of the walls of the chamber, clearly thinking about something as she looked at a map of what might be the area, though the sound of them entering the area that she was in seemed to be enough to snap her out of whatever thoughts she was having and caused her to turn towards them with a smile on her face, showing that she was happy to see them.
"Hey guys, haven't seen you for a while, but its good to hear that you've been taking down the Sorceress' forces and saving the people she's been attacking," Sheila said, her tone revealing that she meant what she said, though at the same time it was easy for the group to see that she was distracted by something, no doubt the fact that she would be joining the others in a full on war with the Sorceress' forces, even if the Rhynocs were just gem creations, "Look, before the big battle starts, I thought I would go on a walkabout and just relax, to take my mind off of what's going to happen when you guys challenge the Sorceress... I never thought that we would reach this point, and now that it has I need a few moments to relax before the big event."
The group understood what Sheila was talking about and decided that they might as well not bother her while she was doing this, though that didn't stop their friend from offering that they take a break and join her on her walk, since she figured they had to be stressed out as well, despite the fact none of them were all that worried about the actual battle that she was talking about, since they would be fighting the Sorceress while she and the others dealt with the Rhynocs. In the end, however, Elora offered to join her for a few minutes and they, along with Talon, walked through the portal, where the pair found that there was a Scorpion in front of them and it seemed to be guarding the way forward, to which Elora moved to the right and distracted it so Sheila could smash it with her feet, freeing a gem for Talon to pick up as they progressed through the rest of the area. From there they jumped over a small river and landed on an area that a large blue Scorpion was guarding, one that was armored and seemed to have projectiles that it fired from its tail, meaning it had to be a Blaster Scorpion, though its weakness was that it could only target one of them at a time and that lead to Elora blasting it with her palm blaster, which did enough to take it out. After that the pair traversed the moving platforms that were in front of them and found an area that had a normal Scorpion and a Blaster Scorpion, enemies that fell within seconds of the pair encountering them, before they continued to move forward, knocking down the various Scorpions that were in their way and smashing a lone straw basket that they discovered, before finding a metallic walkway with one of the Magma Cups trying to heat it.
Elora, having studied them alongside Spike, had figured out the pattern and had Sheila move the moment the opening was revealed to them, where she smashed the foe into the ground and opened the way for them to move forward, before they used another platform to cross over to where an egg was resting, one that Elora picked up and carried as they moved through the rest of this section of the realm. The first thing they had to worry about was another Magma Cup, which was rather easy to take down once Sheila noticed the pattern for herself, and that was followed by another Scorpion just below the area the Magma Cup was in, only to make them pause when they found an area that would require some high jumps to get up to, even with the platform that stopped at a certain height. Elora took a moment to switch back to her Spring Jump Form so she could join Sheila, who smashed her way through the Scorpion that was up there, before Elora fired at the Blaster Scorpion that was further along the way, allowing them to move forward without having to stop for much, even if they did have to pause for the platforms so they could get to the next patch of land. Of course that was yet another metallic walkway with a Magma Cup walking on it, so Sheila smashed it and they crossed over to another platform that brought them to an actual bit of land that they could walk on, even if that meant breaking a Scorpion so they could do so, before accessing two more platforms to reach the last gem of this area and a second egg, which was where Sheila stood near the portal that would take Elora back to the others and let her go through, insisting that she needed more time to herself after that walk, which was followed by Elora nodding her head and heading through the portal with both eggs that they had found.
Once she was back with the siblings she told them what happened and let Spike check the eggs before sending them off to the Dragon Realms, which was followed by all four of them heading back towards the tomb as they made their way to the area that the hole in the floor was in, since that was the last area for them to actually explore, though upon reaching that area, and passing through the portal, they found an underwater area that caused Spike to make sure all of them had the Water Safety spell on, before they dived into the water. It was there the group found Hunter, decked out in his scuba equipment again, with the manta ray that he had been training the last time they were in an area like this, which seemed to be an underwater ruin of some kind, and it just so happened to have Rhynocs on metal sharks, something that ignored the group as they swam to where Hunter was waiting.
"Oh, hey guys, I've been trying to train my pet manta ray, who I've decided to call Poseidon, to carry and use all sorts of underwater weapons, for any future underwater missions," Hunter said, though even as he said that he withdrew an egg and let Elora take it, showing the group that he must have discovered it earlier, before their arrival, and that he knew keeping it from them was a bad idea, especially after what happened with all the Orbs he had in Avalar, "I found that egg while we were doing some of our practices, but with all of these Rhynocs its hard to get anything done... I'd hate to bother all of you, given the quest you're on, but do you think you could help me out a little?"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember rushed out the moment he asked them if they could help him out, where Spike manipulated some of the water and crushed a few of the Rhynocs and their sharks, while at the same time Ember hardened her body so she could crash into them without being harmed, allowing Spyro to claim all of the gems that fell, which he was just fine with since he didn't have the same level of power that his siblings had, and it wasn't long before all of the Rhynocs were taken care of and the gems had been collected, to which they bid Hunter farewell, regrouped with Elora, sent the egg back home, and then headed for the exit portal to pick the next realm to assist.
With Desert Ruins assisted, even though there weren't a lot of Rhynocs in that realm and it didn't look like the residents were actually under attack for once, which was odd when the group considered what they had seen in the past, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to the main part of Midnight Mountain and headed over to the area that the last two portals to the other realms were located in. All that remained for them to do, besides the Speedway, was help out both Haunted Tomb and Dino Mines, so they could stop whatever the Rhynocs were doing to them, or whatever villainous group happened to be in place of the Rhynocs, collect the eggs that were in both realms, and then pick up the gems before coming back to this land so they could head to the next realm and then repeat it with the other realm. Once the last of the realms were taken care of they would tackle the Speedway, before heading to the area that Bianca was standing in so they could breach their true foe's stronghold and break the Sorceress' hold on the Forgotten Realms, though even as they thought about that they came to a stop near the square shaped portal that would take them to Haunted Tomb, but all four of them were positioned so they could see the portal to Dino Mines as well. One thing the group hoped, without saying anything to each other, was that they didn't see Moneybags in either of the remaining realms that they had to choose from, because seeing him in the last two realms was more than enough and they didn't want to see him again, so soon anyway, to which they focused on which of the remaining portals they wanted to go through next.
"So, Haunted Tomb or Dino Mines?" Elora asked, mostly because Spyro likely had a good idea as to which realm they should take on next and she was curious as to what he had to say, especially since she was used to following his lead when it came to picking out which realm was next on their list and was now used to fighting all of the enemies that were standing in their way, since the Sorceress was having her Rhynocs guard the stolen eggs.
"The former, actually," Spyro replied, thinking back to what he had been thinking earlier, when he had been asked the same question before he picked out Desert Ruins, though he was now staring at the portal that they were standing near, as he was interested in seeing what was on the other side of the portal in question, where he noticed that his siblings and Elora nodded their heads in agreement to what he was saying.
With their destination determined, and nothing to stop them from going through the portal, the four of them headed through the magical gateway that was in front of them and quickly crossed the distance between the area they had been standing in and the starting area for the next realm that they would be tackling for a time, just like they did with all of the other realms. The starting area that they appeared in seemed to be the first chamber that someone walked into when they entered an ancient tomb, based on the wall designs and the circular support pillars that were carved into the stone walls, with normal torches to light the entire area up, though that was when the group noticed a large golden coffin, or rather a sarcophagus, and a stone door that seemed to be the way deeper into the tomb. One thing that Spike noticed was that there was a button on the ground nearby, something that might be connected to the door that was in front of them, though instead of focusing on that he and the others turned their attention to the resident of the realm that was standing near them, who seemed to be eager for some visitors, like the Rhynocs hadn't been to this realm yet. It was in that moment that they discovered that the residents of this realm were purple skinned dogs, not the same coloration of Spyro and Spike's scales, though he was wearing what appeared to be an Egyptian set of attire around his waist, a collar around his neck, a large hat on his head, and he happened to be holding a staff in his left hand, meaning that he was an Egyptian Dog, based on the naming scheme they came up with earlier.
"Ah, yet another group of daredevil adventurers have come to rob our catacombs of loot... let's just hope all four of you are made of tougher stuff than the last guy!" the Egyptian Dog said, his tone telling the group that he found some amusement in the fact that people came to this realm in search of loot and that they failed all the time, even if they were only here because of the fact that there were eggs here, since they didn't want to rob them of all the treasure that was in their realm, due to that being what the Sorceress would have done, "If you can survive the trials of the catacombs, along with answering my riddle, we will give you a prize befitting your efforts. Here is my riddle: I am a vessel without hinges, lock, or lid, yet within my walls, a golden treasure is hid... what am I?"
Spike tilted his head for a moment, going over the words for a few seconds, before a frown appeared on his face, as it was a rather straightforward riddle when he thought about it and he already knew the answer to it, though as he figured out what the answer was Elora could see that he was debating whether or not he could tell the Egyptian Dog the answer now or wait till the end of the catacombs, since it wasn't clear when they were supposed to answer the riddle, hence the reason she turned towards the resident of the realm for a moment.
"So, can we answer the riddle now, or do we have to wait until the end of the trials?" Elora asked, because she figured that she could ask the question for Spike, since he was preoccupied with the simplicity of the riddle they had been told, before they got started on seeing what sort of enemies would be standing in their way for the duration of their stay in this realm, since they didn't see any foes at the moment.
"You have to survive the trials first." the Egyptian Dog replied, which informed them that they were going to have to fight their way through all of the enemies that were in this realm before Spike could answer the riddle that they had been told, to which the group nodded their heads to show that there was no confusion in what the guy was saying, before they turned their attention to the rest of the starting area.
From there the four of them moved into the area that was in front of them, where they found a few straw baskets to smash and a couple of loose gems just laying on the stone floor, though in addition to that it was easy to find that there was an image of a Rhynoc on the sarcophagus' lid, which opened not a few moments later and out popped a Rhynoc that happened to be dressed up like a mummy. From what the group could gather the Rhynocs had succeeded in delivering some eggs to this realm, but had been captured by the residents that called this place home, hence why the one that came out of the sarcophagus was dressed up the way it was, though Elora wasted no time in kicking it in the side of its head and knocked it to the ground, only to discover that no gem had been dropped. In that moment Spike understood what was going on and had Ember smash the sarcophagus that was resting near them, where his sister hardened her tail and swung at the object in question, which resulted in her smashing the coffin to pieces in a matter of seconds, as it appeared that it had been made out of a golden yellow colored stone, instead of actual gold, and it dropped the gem they were missing when Elora kicked their foe into the ground. Spike revealed that it was the same thing that they had encountered back in Fireworks Factory, someone was taking the gems and was setting them up inside a device that would allow an infinite number of Rhynocs to be produced, meaning that they would need to smash all of the sarcophagus' that they found as they explored the rest of the realm, though he could also tell that the others were glad to have him around, since he had figured out a potential problem within seconds of discovering it.
With that done the group started to move forward once more, this time spotting a ledge that Elora could totally jump up to with her normal jumping abilities, even though the area did contain the exit portal and what appeared to be one of Agent 9's portals, but instead of worrying about that, and possibly pissing off the Egyptian Dog that was behind them, the four of them approached the button that was near the stone door and Spike stepped on it, lowering the door so that his siblings and Elora could walk through it first, before he joined them on the other side. Interestingly enough there were a few stone steps in front of them, on the other side of the door, so they were able to pick up a few gems as they looked out at the rest of the area that they would be exploring, even though there happened to be a button nearby that was also linked up with the door behind them, in case they needed to backtrack, but they weren't about to do that. From the area that was at the bottom of the steps the group found another sarcophagus resting some distance away, no doubt waiting to dispense a Mummified Rhynoc or two to face them, though that was when they spotted a new type of foe that seemed to resemble the Earthshapers from Avalar, only their skin was a lot smoother than the ones in Fracture Hills, the pair were wearing wrappings all over their bodies, and they had what appeared to be either shields or ammunition containers on their backs, meaning they needed to be taken down as well. It took the group a few seconds to come up with a name for the new enemy, as there was no way they were going to call them Mummified Earthshapers, since that seemed lazy and there was the fact that these guys didn't have the same powers as the ones back in Avalar, so they stuck with Mummified Guards, since that was pretty straightforward.
Once they had named the new type of enemy the group moved forward and smashed three straw baskets that were near the edge of the area, allowing them to collect the gems that were inside the containers, before they dealt with their new foes, where Spike used a barrier to stop the first Mummified Guard's heated spheres from hitting them, though as he did that Elora jumped over the gap that was to their left and reached the area that the second Mummified Guard was in, allowing her to kick him with the side of her leg. That took the first foe down in seconds, allowing the one in front of the siblings to be stunned for a moment, which was when Spike pulled the barrier back and bounced all the spheres back at the one that they came from, hitting him with the same force that he had thrown them with, allowing him to take out his target in seconds, opening the way for Ember to use her hardened tail on the Rhynoc Sarcophagus, as they were going to call it by the same name as the Rhynoc Boxes from Fireworks Factory. With those three targets taken down, along with a Mummified Rhynoc that got hit by Ember as she was smashing the coffin it was coming out of, the siblings jumped over the small river that was between them and the area that Elora was walking down into, though that was when they found a pair of armor wearing jackals, who had dark blue fur and seemed to stand still, like statues, until one of them got close, to which Spyro charged into the first Armored Jackal and took it out in seconds, leading to Spike freezing the second with his Cone of Frost so he could true around and charge it down as well.
As it turned out there were no enemies in Elora's way, so she was able to break a few straw baskets as the siblings did the same to a pair of metallic vases, before they used the highest point of this section of the catacombs to glide over to the other side of the chamber, where some stones were falling from the ceiling, to which Spike used another barrier spell to give them a layer of protection so they could smash the straw baskets that were in the area and pick up all the loose gems that were around them, before jumping back down to the area the pair of Armored Jackals had been in, which was when Spike let the barrier spell dissolve and let the rocks fall again.
With that area cleared out the group stepped on the button that was near the small river and opened the door to the next part of the tomb, where they immediately found a few straw baskets, a Rhynoc Sarcophagus, and one Mummified Guard in the area on the other side of the door, to which they got to work the moment they spotted their enemies, as the Rhynoc Sarcophagus fell to Ember smashing it to pieces, while at the same time Spyro actually let the Mummified Guard throw a sphere at him so he could launch it back in return, by aiming and spitting it at his target. That, of course, allowed Spike and Elora to deal with the straw baskets and claim the gems that had been inside them, before they rounded the corner and spotted two more Rhynoc Sarcophagi between the area they were standing in and the area that the next door was resting in, which was being guarded by an Armored Jackal, so the pair waited for the others to finish up what they were doing before they attacked the next group of foes. Once the four of them were back together Spike and Elora struck down the Mummified Rhynocs that were able to emerge from the Rhynoc Sarcophagi, the former blasting his foe in the chest with a Fireball while the latter kicked her target in the side of the head, though that opened the way for Ember to rapidly smash both of the coffins to pieces with her armored body, allowing Spyro to charge forward and hit the Armored Jackal before it could even do anything to them. After the Armored Jackal was taken care of the siblings and Elora took a few moments to clear out the rest of the area that was around them, smashing the couple of straw baskets that were in the area and picked up all the gems that had been left on the ground, before they tapped the button and opened the door so they could move forward once more.
The next chamber of the tomb that they had to visit had more falling rocks that were coming from the ceiling, where it took Spike a few seconds to cast the same spell that he had used earlier and made sure that a barrier was resting above their heads, allowing them to smash a couple of metallic vases and pick up the gems that were in the area, before reaching the end of the area and found that they didn't need to press a button this time, so Spike let go of the spell as they moved into the next area. The first thing the group did, as they entered the next area, was smash a straw basket as each of them took in the enemies that were around them, as in one Rhynoc Sarcophagus and one of the Mummified Guards, at least that was what they could see at the moment, to which Ember rushed forward and smashed into the coffin that was in their way, preventing more Mummified Rhynocs from spawning, while Spyro let the larger foe throw a sphere at them so he could spit it back at him, beating him down in seconds as well. What they discovered was that there was an Armored Jackal up by where the foe Spyro had taken out was located, though further along the path that they would be following, to move forward through this tomb, there were two more Armored Jackals guarding the door and behind them stood one of the Mummified Guards, meaning they would have to be careful in this area. As such Spike gathered his magic and loosed a Cone of Frost on one of the Armored Jackals, freezing it as Spyro charged into the thawed one and then turned around to smash through the second one, clearing out those enemies in moments, allowing Elora to charge forward and swing her leg into the Mummified Guard's face, taking him out as well.
From there they climbed up the ladder that was on the right side of the area and reached the area that the last foe of this chapter was waiting in, where Spyro charged into the Armored Jackal and allowed Spike to check out the egg that was resting up there, before he sent it back home and they headed over to where the door was located, making sure to press the button near the start of this area before they moved into the next chamber. The next area was another one that had falling rocks, causing Spike to sigh as he made sure to throw up a barrier to protect them, while leaving an opening that allowed them to deal with a Mummified Guard that was getting ready to throw some of his heated spheres into the area that they were walking through, which was why Spyro gobbled one up and spat it back at their foe, taking it down in a few seconds so they could access the button it was guarding. Instead of pressing that immediately, and heading into the next chamber, what the group did was pick up any gems that were on the ground and smashed the couple of metallic vases that they found, before pressing the button and opening the door to the next area, where the four of them discovered one more Rhynoc Sarcophagus, a couple of straw baskets, one of the Mummified Guards, and a set of stone steps that lead to a portal that would take them to one of the side sections of this realm, which they ignored for the moment. What they did next was smash all of the straw baskets that were in the area, where Ember made sure to harden her entire body as she rushed forward and smashed the Rhynoc Sarcophagus that was near the portal they had discovered, eliminating another enemy from their path, before Spike approached the Mummified Guard and used a shimmering barrier, the Reflection spell that he didn't use all that often, to bounce the incoming heated sphere back at his target, taking it out as well so they could have free reign of this part of the realm as well.
With the area cleared of enemies they moved up the path that the Mummified Guard had been guarding and found that it brought them to the area that could be seen from the starting area, meaning that the starting area and end area for this realm were basically side by side, something that wasn't common when they thought about it, before they spotted an Egyptian Dog standing near the inactive exit portal, clearly waiting for them to reach the end of the trials, though it was clear that this wasn't the one they had talked to earlier, meaning the first one and this one had to have the same riddle for them to solve, hence why they approached him to see what he had to say.
"I see the four of you have managed to survive the trials... most impressive. Now let's find out if your wits are as quick as your feet. Do you remember the riddle?" the Egyptian Dog said, part of his statement revealing that he was actually impressed by the fact that they were able to make their way through the catacombs and overcame the challenges that had been in their way, though when Spike nodded his head, to show that they did remember the riddle, it was clear that the Egyptian Dog was going to repeat it anyway, so he remained silent for a few seconds, "My riddle was this: I am a vessel without hinges, lock, or lid, yet within my walls, a golden treasure is hid... what am I?"
"An egg." Spike replied, as he had gotten it within the first few seconds of hearing the riddle, because while it seemed all to simple to be a grand riddle that was meant to stump those that heard it, like some of the greater riddles he had been told since their return from Avalar, there was something about this one that made it different from the others, though he remained silent for a moment as he waited to see what the Egyptian Dog had to say.
"That's correct. Say, have you heard that one before?" the Egyptian Dog asked, revealing that Spike had gotten it right and that such a thing had caught the dog completely off guard, like he was expecting a guess and not a legitimate answer, but that didn't stop him from revealing an egg to the group, meaning that the 'prize' that they had been told about was one of the eggs that they had come to find, giving them two from this realm.
"Yeah, I have. In fact, according to the older texts, it used to be a way to identify the Egg Keepers that swore to serve the first purple dragon and keep all dragon eggs safe," Spike said, though at the same time he rubbed the back of his head for a moment, because that was ancient history and these days the dragons watched over their eggs on their own, even though he doubted that even the force of the Egg Keepers would have been able to stop the Sorceress' forces from doing what they did, before he returned to the matter that they were dealing with, "or at least that was what the riddle used to be, a thousand years ago, before dragons were banished from the Forgotten Realms and eventually settled in a number of locations across the world... at least we think so, given the information we've acquired."
"We, too, have tales of such a thing, hence why we were keeping these eggs safe from the Sorceress and why we were so keen to test you when you arrived," the Egyptian Dog stated, though as he gave them the egg that he had been holding onto, since the Rhynocs showed up in the realm with it and the other five that they were in the middle of recovering, the exit portal became active once more, before a look of determination appeared in the dog's eyes, "We have heard about the rebellion that the other realms are going through, turning against the Sorceress and her Rhynocs, and now that we know that the Sorceress is behind why the eggs are in these lands its time that we honored the ancient pact with the first purple dragon and help you fight your foes."
Before Spyro, Spike, Ember, or Elora could say anything the Egyptian Dog ran off to gather the majority of the other dogs that called this realm home, so they could go over everything they needed to do before the big battle, though at this point none of them were all that surprised by what was going on, since every realm they had assisted seemed to be in the middle of siding with them, to create a force of soldiers that would take the Sorceress' Rhynoc army down, but even as they came to that decision there was something they needed to discuss.
"Not to sound like I don't know anything, but whose this 'first purple dragon' you mentioned?" Elora asked, because she hadn't gotten through all of the tomes and scrolls that were in the Dark Hollow library and didn't had the same level of knowledge that Spike had when it came to dragon lore, in fact he was probably the only dragon in the Dragon Realms that knew as much as he did, and that was saying something when she considered how much Argus and the others that called that realm home knew about the subject.
"I'll explain everything later, once the Sorceress has been taken care of." Spike said, though at the same time he made sure to smash two straw baskets that were resting near Agent 9's portal, so Talon could pick up the gems that had been resting inside them, before he turned back towards his siblings and Elora for a few seconds, "What I can tell you is that we managed to impress the Egyptian Dogs and they're going to honor an ancient pact they made with the dragons over a thousand years ago, when we called these lands home... basically, we have another group of allies for the big battle, and the rest of what we said I'll tell you all about later."
Elora, sensing that there was more that Spike wanted to say and didn't due to the fact that they were focused on the quest they were on, nodded her head before they determined what they wanted to do first, as there happened to be three options for them to pick from, the first being a ladder that was near the exit portal, Agent 9's section of the realm, or the side section they had passed by a few minutes ago. It didn't take them long to determine that they should check out the ladder that was nearby, to which Spyro climbed up it first and discovered a lone gem for him to pick up, though that was when he found that the area that was in front of him held a slide, just like they had seen in the last couple of realms they had visited, to which he slid down it and collected the gems that were along the way, before finding that there was an area of the realm that looked at the end of the slide. There was one other thing he discovered, and that was that at the end of the slide there was an egg, where he stood there and waited for Elora to come to him, since he couldn't transfer the egg over to the area that the others were standing in and let her pick it up so she could glide over to where Spike was standing, before Spyro finally rejoined them and watched as Spike sent the egg back home. With that done the group headed to the first of the two side sections of the realm that they were going to tackle, which was the one that had the stone steps that lead up to the portal in question, and it didn't take them long to find their way to the area the portal was in, where they passed through it not a few seconds later.
The area that it brought them to appeared to be some sort of arena, one that had four directional areas and a square shaped center piece, with braziers around the entire area to light the entire place up, though that was when they found one of the Egyptian Dogs standing in front of them, where they had no doubt that he had something he wanted to tell the four of them, to which they came to a stop in front of him and noticed that there was a vehicle of some kind resting right behind him, which reminded them of a tank.
"Well hello there, the first round of the annual demolition hovercraft competition is about to begin! There is room for one more contestant, but one of you will have to answer my riddle to participate." the Egyptian Dog said, where he waited for a few moments to make sure the group understood what he was saying, something that they were expecting after the first Egyptian Dog had told them a riddle and the last one expected them to answer it, to which they waited for him to tell them what the riddle was, "The riddle is this: If one dragon can lay one egg in twelve years, how long would it take for one hundred dragons to lay one hundred eggs?"
"Twelve years," Spike replied in seconds, because that wasn't even a riddle in his mind, even if someone needed some knowledge on how dragons worked to be able to answer it, while at the same time his siblings and Elora nodded to show that they agreed with the answer that he was giving, since they knew he was right and that they would be taking on this challenge to recover the eggs that were in this section of the realm.
"Very impressive, that is correct. Good luck in the competition." the Egyptian Dog stated, where he seemed shocked that the riddle had been answered so quickly, though at the same time he seemed to eventually regain himself, no doubt figuring that a dragon would know the answer to such a riddle, before beckoning to the hovercraft that one of them would be using in the competition.
The group found that the hovercraft only had room for one of them to control it, so this time Spyro jumped onto the vehicle as the others stood back, where he messed with the controls for a few moments and made sure that he knew how to control the hovercraft, though once that was done he moved forward and entered the arena that was in front of him, so he could challenge the other contestants. As it turned out there were four red colored hovercrafts, as the one that Spyro was driving was blue colored, scattered around the arena that was in this section of the realm, where the others had to watch as Spyro maneuvered the hovercraft out of the way of the incoming attacks that were coming at him and fired a few shots at his foes in return, though that was when they watched as the first one was broken in seconds of the first round starting. From there it didn't take him all that much longer to track down the other three enemies and blast them as well, blowing up their hovercrafts as well, before he took a few moments to make sure there were no more enemies in the area before heading back to where the Egyptian Dog was waiting, who was really surprised by the fact that he had finished the round in such a short period of time. Once he came back to the area that the others were standing in the Egyptian Dog told them that there was a final round as well and that he didn't know how well the group would do in it, even though he was referring to Spyro and not the others, though the reward for winning the first round was one of the dragon eggs, one that Spike claimed as his brother headed back out into the arena so he could face the other foes.
The ten hovercrafts that Spyro had to fight this time around were more spread out and were eager for him to join the fight before they got started, though when he entered the arena again Spyro started to move out of the way of the attacks that were coming his way and fired a few shots in return, blowing away a number of the other contestants in a matter of seconds, just like the first round of the competition, before eventually taking the last one down and returning to where the others were waiting, to which he climbed off the hovercraft and returned to the Egyptian Dog.
"That was a battle for the ages!" the Egyptian Dog declared, to which he produced another egg and let Spike take it, though his tone revealed that he was actually excited about what he had seen and was glad that his riddle had been answered, before he focused on them for a moment, like he was thinking about something, "You're the first dragon that has won the competition in a thousand years! I'll make sure to write all this down for the future."
The siblings and Elora said nothing to that, as Spike made sure that both of the eggs were safe and sound before he sent them back to the Dragon Realms, causing them to leave the side area that they were in and headed back to where Agent 9's portal was located, where they quickly found their friend standing in the middle of the chamber, just like they found all of their friends when they entered the portals that were connected to their homeworld.
"Oh, hey guys, did you know that one of those dogs with the funny hats put a curse on me, because I had no idea they could do that, all because I shot him in the butt a few times because he annoyed me." Agent 9 remarked, where the group knew that someone must have asked Agent 9 a riddle and their friend had no idea what the answer happened to be, so he shot the Egyptian Dog a few times by the sounds of it, before he moved his tail for a few seconds as he glanced at it, which made the group wonder what he was doing, "He said he turned my tail into a snake, or that it would become a snake after an hour or two... does it look like a snake to you guys?"
"No, and I can guarantee that you haven't been cursed." Spike said, because he didn't detect any curses on Agent 9, as there were no magical signatures on his body and that meant that the Egyptian Dog in question had lied after he had been shot, figuring that the thought of his tail turning into a snake, and the panic it brought, was enough in the grand scheme of things, though it didn't sit well with Agent 9, who turned around and stormed through the portal that was behind him, an action that caused them to follow after him.
It was in that moment that they found that Agent 9 had found another Egyptian Dog and that there was a fence that was blocking the way forward, an electric fence to be exact, to which the group came to a stop behind Agent 9 as they waited to see what the resident of this realm had to say, even though whatever was guarding this area wouldn't be able to stand against the five of them.
"Behind this door lies the five deadly trials of King Rover, where no one has survived all five of them before. In fact, it is so dangerous that I cannot let any of you through this first door, not until you answer my riddle." the Egyptian Dog said, though at the same time the group remained silent as they waited to hear what he had to say, especially since Spike was sure he could answer the riddle in the first couple of seconds after they were told what it happened to be, to which he readied himself for what he was about to say, "My riddle is this: I follow you wherever you go, but the more of me you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?"
"Footsteps." Spike said, not even wasting a second in answering the riddle, though this time he refrained from sighing or saying anything else, because this was a rather simple riddle and he was starting to get disappointed in what sort of riddles they were being offered, as they didn't make him think for more than a few seconds, though the Egyptian Dog did open the way for them.
With the way open the group discovered that there were ten aggressive looking snakes that wanted them dead, not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things as they lashed out the snakes, Elora and Agent 9 blasting their targets with their blasters, Spyro charing through them, Ember whacking them with her tail, and Spike blasting them away with some low powered Fireballs. The next chamber happened to have fifteen more Attack Snakes, as Spike was going to call them, and it didn't take them long to wipe out the enemies that were in the second trial, where the group had to wonder why this was so hard for those that came before them, before they cleared out the area as quickly as they finished off the first one, allowing them to access the next trial. It was then that the group discovered that the third one had a mix of Attack Snakes and Mummified Rhynocs, though that didn't do much in the grand scheme of things since the group just repeated what they had done for the last two trials and quickly conquered the challenge that was being thrown at them, though it was the fourth trial that raised the stakes. The reason behind that was due to the couple of Rhynoc Sarcophagi that were in the area, along with a few Attack Snakes and some Mummified Rhynocs, where Ember focused on smashing all of the Rhynoc Sarcophagi while the others dealt with the other enemies that were in the area, before the fence fell and they were able to access the next area, where the group found that three Mummified Guards joined the battle. Of course the new enemies didn't do much in the grand scheme of things, as Elora focused on kicking those foes in the side of their heads as Ember smashed the couple of Rhynoc Sarcophagi, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Agent 9 to deal with the rest of the enemies that were in the area, before they wiped out all of the foes that were in the final area.
Once the area was cleared out the final door opened and they found an egg waiting for them, to which Spike took a few moments to check it out before sending it back home, to which they bid Agent 9 farewell and headed through the exit portal to return to the main area of Haunted Tomb, before heading back to Midnight Mountain so they could clean up the last realm and the Speedway, before finally facing the Sorceress so they could put an end to her plans.
It didn't take the group long to return to Midnight Mountain and appeared in the front of the portal that had taken them to Haunted Tomb, where they jumped over the small bit of water and started to walk up the path that was to their right, as there was one more realm for them to assist before they headed to the Speedway and then, with everything else cleared out, they could finally tackle the Sorceress and liberate the Forgotten Realms.
"Its hard to believe that we're here, at the end of our adventure," Elora commented, because it felt so strange that they had finally reached this point in their quest, where they were nearing the lair of their true foe, and she wondered what the siblings had thought about when they had neared Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto's lairs, though she suspected that she would have to double check Spike's books for both of their adventures to figure that out.
"I know, we just have to assist the residents of Dino Mines and clear out the Speedway," Spyro replied, but he knew what Elora was talking about, that after everything they had been through it was hard to believe that they were near the end of this adventure, but their new friends were gathering the forces of the realms they had assisted and were preparing for the battle with the army of Rhynocs that their foe was preparing, "then we can tackle the Sorceress at long last and make her pay for everything she's done to both the Forgotten Realms and to the dragons."
Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, because both of them knew that they were near the end of their quest and that soon the four homeworlds they had visited would be freed from the person that controlled them, but first they had to do what Spyro said, figure out what was going on in Dino Mines and resolve it, take on the challenges of the Speedway, and then, once all that was done, they could face the Sorceress at last. As the four of them agreed on what they would be doing in the very near future they reached the area that was in front of the portal that would take them to the last major realm of the Forgotten Realms, the one that rested in the shape of a mine shaft, to which they headed through the portal and headed to Dino Mines, as it was time for them to see what was going on in this realm and what they had to do to liberate it. It didn't take them long to appear in the starting area of the realm in question, where they found that they were at the edge of what appeared to be a western town, a place that sort of reminded the siblings of what they had seen back in one of the Peace Keepers realms back in the day, though this place did seem more like a town and there even appeared to be a jail of some kind, meaning this place was, as Titan would have called it, an old western town, complete with barrels, wagons, and wooden posts holding up the front of the buildings. That was when they spotted the first foe of this realm, a large green dinosaur that was wearing cowboy garb, or at least what the siblings recognized as that type of clothing based on what they had been told in the past, and it had two guns that seemed to be loaded and ready for when it fired at its foes, though in the end Spike decided that Cowboy Dino was a good name for this type of foe.
Of course one thing they discovered was that this foe was rather quick to pull out its guns and fire off a few shots at the group when they came within range, so they either had to avoid the attack or let Spike cover them with barrier for a few seconds, something that confused the Cowboy Dino and opened the way for either Spyro to charge it, Ember to use her hardened tail to knock it out, or Elora to kick it in the side of the head so she could take it down. Interestingly enough, when the group lashed out at their target, it managed to fire off one last shot and that hit a cactus that was resting near the starting area for this realm, where the cactus exploded and dropped a gem, to which Spike tilted his head for a few seconds as Spyro knocked the Cowboy Dino to the ground, as he wasn't expecting the cactus to act like that, meaning they would have to break them as they cleared out this realm. That was also when they spotted another type of foe that was off to the left of where the first foe had been standing, a blue skinned dinosaur that was dressed up in some attire that was similar to what the Cowboy Dino was wearing, with a poncho over it, and came complete with a sombrero that was on its head, though it was holding a stick of dynamite in its mouth, like it was going to throw it at them if they got near it, or if they entered its range. It took the group a few seconds to nod their heads to each other, as they knew that this was going to be called a Dynamite Dino, since it was carrying explosives, though it was rather easy to take down since Spike used a bit of his magic to ignite the poorly placed stick that was in the dinosaur's mouth, blasting their foe into the barrel that was behind it and taking it down, allowing them to progress through the rest of the area, before Elora used her Spring Jump Form to jump over the next Cowboy Dino and kicked it from behind when she landed on the ground.
With that done Spike stared at the barrel that had been behind the Dynamite Dino and found that there was a gem on the other side of it, on a part of the town that was hard to access from this area, though that was when Elora walked over to him and jumped over the barrel with her active form, allowing her to pick up a gem or two, and break a cactus for one more gem, before she returned with a dragon egg that had been back there. It that moment the siblings understood what was going on, the egg had been placed in a location one of them would have had to glide to so they could reach it, an area that would have been dangerous since there was the possibility that they could have fallen into the depths of the area and not reach their target, but thanks to Elora they didn't have to worry about such a thing and it wasn't long before Spike was able to send the egg back to the Dragon Realms. From there they found another Cowboy Dino that was blocking the entrance to the jail, where they would likely find one of the residents of this realm, though Ember hardened her body and smashed into it, knocking it to the ground and allowed them to enter the structure it had been guarding, though while she did that Spyro took care of the straw basket that was off to the side and made sure to burn the cactus as well, to get the gem that was apparently held within it, making him wonder if the Sorceress had enchanted a few gems to take on the form of a cactus, or if this was common in this realm. The other thing the group noticed was that there was a wagon that had been turned upside down and placed between the jail building and another building, preventing anyone from using the path that had been there in the past, to which the four of them sighed as they headed into the jail so they could see if they could find one of the residents of this realm.
As they entered the jail, however, they found that there was a small rabbit, male by the shape of the body and stood about their height, that seemed to be dressed in the attire of a sheriff, someone that was supposed to maintain order in a place like this, which told the siblings and Elora that he had either been defeated by the dinosaurs and had been swiftly imprisoned for doing the same to the outlaw dinosaurs, or they had tricked him into entering the jail cell and trapped him so they could run the town their way, though given the theme of this realm Spike was going to go with Western Rabbit for the residents, as Rabbits sounded too plain to him.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, boy am I glad you four are here." the Western Rabbit said, though they could tell he wasn't all that happy about his current predicament, not that they could blame him considering that there was no door that would let him leave the cell that he was currently trapped inside, but they knew he had something he wanted to tell them, before they headed out to deal with the enemies of this realm, "As you can see, I'm in a bit of a pickle, because I had one of those dinosaurs locked up in here and I came to talk to him about the gang he was part of, but when I came to check on him I found that he was gone, so I opened the cage and came in to look for clues, only for one of the dinosaurs to lock me in this cell, allowing them to take control of the town."
"Don't worry, we'll take care of them," Spyro replied, as he had to assume that the Western Rabbit wanted them to take down all of the dinosaurs that had escaped and were no running amok in the town, though even as he said that, and the others nodded their heads to agree with him, he spotted some wanted posters, which were common in places like this, to which he prepared himself for what he was going to say next, "Though on an entirely different subject, I couldn't help but notice that you have wanted posters of our friends, and by that I mean Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9."
"To be honest, I was actually going to take those down after I talked with my prisoner." the Western Rabbit admitted, as he took a moment to look at the wanted pictures that Spike had spotted, which the rest of the group now noticed as well and frowned at for a few seconds, before he sighed as he thought about what they were talking about and focused on them once more, "Listen, my deputies and I were ordered by the Sorceress to put them up when she declared your friends to be enemies of the realms, and at the time of her saying that she was fond of plaguing any realm that disobeyed her with her Rhynocs, to beat us into submission until we pledged to follow her orders again, but that never stopped my deputies and I from accepting the help that Sheila and the others gave us, where we made sure to give them a very generous head start whenever we were done catching the more dangerous criminals we were after, to pull the wool over the Sorceress' eyes. Once we heard that the four of you were here, in these lands, and that you were taking down the Rhynocs while liberating the other realms, we knew that change was coming and that we needed to stand against the Sorceress... and then this happened."
"Lovely, that just gives us another reason to fight the Sorceress," Spike remarked, though at this point he wasn't at all surprised by what the Western Rabbit was saying, especially since they had encountered the Sorceress plaguing all of the realms upon their arrival to the Forgotten Realms, no doubt because some of them might have been uprising due to the lack of magic, something that Bianca had been in the middle of fixing before she had been ordered to steal the eggs from the Dragon Realms.
"Look, help us out and I'll do more than officially join the forces that you have been gathering, I'll officially apologize to your friends for how they had been treated over the last couple of years." the Western Rabbit added, showing that he did know that how Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 had been treated over the last few years had been wrong and that the residents of the Forgotten Realms needed to make it up to the heroes that the Sorceress tried to lock up and forget about, especially with Moneybags recently helping her by labeling them as dangers to the realms.
The group nodded, showing the Western Rabbit that they were going to do everything in their power to take down the dinosaurs that had taken over the town and restore order to this realm, to which they started with the first thing they did when they entered a new part of a realm and smashed the few metallic vases that were around them, no doubt left by their new enemies, before collecting the gems and heading through the other opening, even though they did notice that the exit portal for this realm was, oddly enough, inside the cell the Western Rabbit was in. Of course, like all of the other instances where they found the various exit portals, it was inactive and would only become active once they figured out a way to get inside the cell, something that they were going to figure out once they found and defeated all of the enemies that were in this realm, hence why they focused on what was in front of them at the moment, since this realm was a bit more dangerous than the last ones. The first foe they discovered was a Dynamite Dino that seemed to be watching over the opening that they walked through, though before it could throw its explosive at them Elora raised her arm and used a small blast to light the stick, something that caused it to explode in the dinosaur's face and drop it to the ground, where a gem fell for them to collect as the body disappeared. It was in that moment that what they were seeing clicked in Spike's mind, the gang of dinosaurs that they were dealing with was the same as the Gnorcs and Rhynocs that they had fought in the past, they were gem creations that the Sorceress sent into the realms that were bothering her, meaning she really didn't like this realm, given the nature of the enemies they had seen so far, and that also meant that whoever used the gems to soldiers spell could create whatever they wanted and weren't restricted at all.
Once he figured out that information for himself, since he was sure that his siblings and Elora might not have figured it out on their own, he told them that the dinosaurs were like the Rhynocs, they were gem creations, which was when they seemed to grasp what they had seen so far and nodded their heads in understanding, though that meant there was really no reason for them to hold back against their current set of enemies. With that discovery made the group continued to move forward, where Spyro took a moment to use the Headbash technique on a bullseye chest that was off to their right, allowing the others to see what they had to deal with as they saved the rest of the realm from the Sorceress' forces, even though one of the first things all of them noticed was the wooden bridge that connected this side of the area to an area that was in front of a rectangular building. There happened to be two Cowboy Dinos in the area that the bridge was in, as one was standing in the middle of it and the other was on the opposite side from where they were standing, though that was also when they discovered that there was another Dynamite Dino off to their left, hiding near the overturned wagon they had seen a few minutes ago, and it appeared that they were out of their enemy's range, meaning they could scout the area out and then attack when they were ready. Spyro charged forward and flamed the Dynamite Dino before it even had a chance to fight back, allowing him to claim the gems it was guarding, break a straw basket, and flame a cactus for its gem as well, though as he did that Spike loosed a Wind Shuriken at the first Cowboy Dino and knocked it onto the ground that was behind it, giving Ember a chance to harden her body and smash the second one into the side of the building, opening the way for them to move forward.
It was after the second Cowboy Dino fell that Ember spotted a Dynamite Dino off to her left, who threw the stick it was holding in its mouth at her and covered the area in a tiny explosion, which didn't do any damage to the building or to the bridge, though when the smoke cleared Ember was standing there with her eyebrow raised, as her Warrior's Armor had been active during the attack and she had emerged unscathed, before she knocked that foe down as well and beckoned for the others to come over.
After Spyro, Spike, and Elora joined her they collected the gems that were in the area outside the building, while also breaking a cactus and a pair of straw baskets to find a few more, before they headed inside the actual structure and found a few enemies waiting for them, one of the Dynamite Rhynocs and a new type of enemy, a blue dinosaur that happened to be sitting on what seemed to be a cannon, only the barrel stayed at one height and it fired what appeared to be small metal shells at them, where Spike threw up a barrier to stop the attack from hitting them. The Gatling Dino, however, went through an entire round before realizing that none of them were being damaged by its attacks, even though the Dynamite Dino had stopped after the second stick, though it was in the moment that the new enemy went to reload its weapon that Spike lowered the barrier and they attacked, where Elora jumped forward and kicked the Dynamite Dino through the glass window that was behind it, the combination of her attack and the glass taking it out, while Spyro charged over to the Gatling Dino and smashed into its chest, defeating it in the process. With those enemies taken care of Ember smashed the pair of metallic vases that were nearby and picked up the gems that were inside them, while Spike walked through the door that the new foe had been guarding and found that there were two of the Cowboy Dinos standing in front of what seemed to be an underwater tunnel, meaning they had to be taken care of so the group could actually continue on their quest to take care of the troublemakers that were attacking this realm, even if it was just the Sorceress who was messing with the Western Rabbits.
Instead of getting close to either of them, as one of them randomly shot at a snake that was moving through the area and only missed to scare the creature so it could relieve its boredom, Spike used his spells to take them out, only this time he opted for some Lightning Bolts to their chests, knocking them down so he could pick up the gems both of them left on the ground, even though the others took care of the cacti and the couple of metallic vases that he didn't get since he was focused on clearing out the enemies of this area.
Once the area had been cleared out, and they were sure that there weren't any other paths for them to take, the four of them walked over to the underwater passage that the pair of Cowboy Dinos had been guarding and Elora dived into the water, where they started to swim around the tunnel and kept their eyes open for any gems and enemies that might be down in this area. As they headed underwater, and found some gems to grab as they smashed a glass vase, it didn't take them long to find a fourth type of enemy, a seahorse enemy that was yellow-orange colored and, for some reason, had a gun like the Cowboy Dino, meaning they had to be careful when engaging these Seahorses, as it tried to fire at them to stop all of them from progressing, though the water drastically slowed down its attacks. That allowed them to charge at the Seahorse and clear out the area that they were in, even if they had to go around the central earthen pillar that just so happened to be in this area and take down the other Seahorse that was oblivious to the fact that they were even there, which allowed them to pick up the couple of gems that were nearby and smash a few more glass vases, before Ember faced a cracked portion of the wall to their right. It didn't take her long to smash her way through the wall and found a few gems that were resting around an egg, one that Elora grabbed onto and stayed at the back of the group so it would be safe as the siblings fought their way to the other exit, so they could leave the area and touch normal ground once more, which would give them a chance to make sure it was fine and send it back home. There were four more Seahorses resting between them and the tunnel's exit, though as the siblings charged through their targets Elora noticed that they were also avoiding the small boxes of dynamite that were floating in the passage with them, but in the end they were able to reach the end of the tunnel and emerge from it without leaving anything behind, though Spike made sure to throw up a barrier when he spotted a Cowboy Dino facing them.
When Elora joined them she gave Spike the egg and it wasn't long before he sent it back to the Dragon Realms, which was followed by Ember hardening her body and crashing into the Cowboy Dino that was in front of them, allowing her to become the focus on the Gatling Dino that was further along the path to their right, where she and the others found that the projectiles their foes were using had no effect on her when she was using her Warrior's Armor. That allowed Spyro to get around the dinosaur and charge into its side, taking out another obstacle as the others collected the gems from the couple of straw baskets and a cactus that were behind them, to the left of the exit they had emerged from, but once that was done they moved into the next area that was in front of them and discovered that there was a water container nearby, one that had one of Agent 9's portals near it, meaning they might have found where the other eggs would be found. There was also another bridge for them to cross over, one that was being guarded by one of the Gatling Dinos, while at the same time there was a Dynamite Dino off to their right, looking like it was ready to throw the stick that was in its mouth at them, but Elora beat it to the punch by loosing a small blast at it, exactly like what she had done earlier, while Spike blasted the Gatling Dino with a well placed Wind Shuriken to the chest. With those enemies taken care of the group collected every gem that was in the area, breaking the various cacti that were around them as well as smashing a bullseye chest that was a little hidden, before they crossed the bridge and spotted another Cowboy Dino waiting for them, one that Spyro dodged the attacks of and flamed so they could reach the other side and start picking up all the gems that were over there, before climbing up the stone steps as well.
At the top of the path they found another cactus to flame and a metallic vase to smash, though that was when they focused on the cracked wall that was in front of them and Ember pushed on it for a few seconds, revealing a rotating wall that lead straight to the prison building, more specifically the cage, where the Western Rabbit's jaw dropped as he watched them use the secret opening to enter the cage that he had been trapped inside.
"Well I'll be, so that's how my prisoners keep escaping!" the Western Rabbit exclaimed, showing that he had never, not even once in his life, seen this secret opening to the cage that he kept all the criminals he captured inside, before he and his deputies punished them for their crimes against the various realms that they were supposed to watch over, before he pulled out an egg and placed it before them, "Well, since you helped me out, by helping me escape and revealing the real problem we've been having, let me help you out by returning this dragon egg I found earlier... I think one of the dinosaurs was trying to make off with it and left it behind, but I know it will be safer in your, um, claws."
Spyro figured that the end of the Western Rabbit's statement was mostly due to him locking up creatures that had sharp claws and that this was the first time he might have worked with friendlies that had claws, given that none of their new friends had claws like theirs, but once the egg had been handed over he managed to find the lever that lowered the bars, even though they were a little curious as to why he didn't just do that in the first place, before heading out to make sure the town was okay. Once it was just the four of them again Spike wasted no time in making sure the egg was just fine, and he found that nothing was wrong with it, something that was common among all of the eggs that they had recovered so far, before he sent it back home so it could join the others and, eventually, be returned to the homeworld that it had been stolen from, something that Nestor and the other Leaders were no doubt working on right now. With the egg safe and sound the group turned around and headed back to where the water container for the town was kept, where they took turns climbing up the ladder that was on the side of it and then, once they were at the top of the container and found that there was no lid to it, they jumped in and discovered that it did have a portal inside it, meaning they had a path to one of the side sections of this realm, to which they smashed the trio of glass vases, picked up the gems that had been inside them, and then headed through the opening that the portal rested in.
It didn't take them long to discover that the area in front of them was a tunnel, much like the dynamite filled tunnel they had seen earlier, though it seemed like it might be getting close to collapsing, like it had a few days before the entire passage was sealed off for a time, and they found another Western Rabbit, this one wearing a badge that identified him as one of the deputies that the other one, the Sheriff, had mentioned to them earlier, even though they had no idea how his hat was staying on his head, especially since Spike detected no magic being used.
"Oh, hello, the Sheriff told me to expect you at some point, or at least he did the last time I saw him," the Deputy said, though it was clear that he was more focused on what he had seen than on the fact that the group had arrived in the part of the realm that he was stationed in, for the time being anyway, though the group remained silent as they waited to see what he had to tell them about this part of the realm, "One of them dinosaurs threw a dragon egg down this flooded mine shaft earlier, while we were trying to round up the escaped criminals, and I'm unable to go get it, on account of the fact that I'm, well, not a strong swimmer."
The group looked at each other for a moment before Ember hardened her body and rushed forward, where Spike was the first one that understood what she was doing, as the Warrior's Armor would protect her from any dangers that might be in the mine shaft and that meant whatever defenses the gang of dinosaurs left for them would be unable to stop her from smashing her way through them as she followed the path the egg went down. It took a few more seconds for Spyro and Elora to realize what Ember was doing, as they were used to her hardening her body whenever they got into a fight, which meant it was a good thing Titan had trained her to better use this skill over the last year, so which the three of them just floated around the area that the Deputy was in and waited for Ember to return to where the portal was located. As it turned out it didn't take Ember all that long to return with the egg that had been sent down the mine shaft, as by Spike's estimate it only took about three to four minutes, meaning the shaft was either smaller than what they expected or she made great time in getting to where the egg was located, even though the group was willing to bet that it was the latter that was true, given how protective she was of the stolen eggs. With that taken care of they bid the Deputy farewell and quickly headed through the portal that was behind them, allowing them to return to the main part of Dino Mines, which was when they took a moment to rest a little as Spike made sure the egg was just fine and then sent it off to the Dragon Realms, adding one more to the list of eggs they had saved from the Sorceress and her foul plans, while at the same time restoring order to the Forgotten Realms.
With that done the group then glided over to the area that Agent 9's portal was located in and quickly passed through the portal in question, where it only took them a few seconds to appear in the square chamber that they found all of their new friends in when they walked through one of their portals, and, just as they suspected, their newest friend was in the middle of the chamber, no doubt eager to deal with the dinosaurs that were causing problems for this realm, or maybe he was just in the mood to blast things, which was the most likely answer.
"Oh, hey guys, I've got big news: the Sheriff promised me that I could be a Deputy, once the Sorceress is taken down and the Bailey Gang is put behind bars!" Agent 9 stated, his excitement visible to the group, as he was overjoyed that he was being given the chance to be one of the Deputies that protected the Forgotten Realms from danger, this time being a publicly recognized hero so that no one would be able to throw him in a cage for saving the day, even though the group knew he would have to tone down his excitement, least he lose the position after getting it.
Before the group could say anything Agent 9 ran into the portal that was behind him and entered the other section of this realm, where they followed after him and found themselves in what appeared to be another town that might look like the one they had explored earlier, before they found the Sheriff and learned what was going on, before discovering that one of the other Deputies was in this area and that he had information to share. That was when Agent 9 surprised them a little, as he remained calm as he listened to what the Deputy had to say, which was when they learned that the Bailey Gang was hiding out in this part of the realm, in the buildings to be exact, and that they had stolen an egg, which apparently was totally unlike them, though that was when Spike revealed that they were no doubt working for the Sorceress and she was having them collect all the eggs that had been scattered in this realm, meaning the last two had to be with the gang that Agent 9 was helping the Sheriff take down. As such it wasn't long before Agent 9 took to the field and carefully started to blast at the dinosaurs that revealed themselves to him, this time actually setting his blaster to stun so he could help both the Sheriff and his existing Deputies take in the Bailey Gang easily, though while he did that, and somehow kept himself from being hit by his enemies, the group followed after him and let Sparx, Talon, and Cinder pick up the gems that were scattered around this part of the realm, since there were a number on the ground and a few inside the various containers they spotted as they followed their friend. It was when they reached a building that looked like a mail building or one that the Sheriff used, as it was rather hard to tell what it was supposed to be since all of the identifying marks were missing and all it had were wanted posters of their friends, that they happened to find one of the remaining eggs, so Elora carried it as the siblings focused on collecting the gems they passed, letting Agent 9 have all the glory for this mission.
Eventually Agent 9 succeeded in taking down all of the dinosaurs that were part of the Bailey Gang and made sure all of them were knocked unconscious, to which Elora claimed the second egg that they had been in the process of making off with as they headed back to the Deputy to give him the good news, though as Agent 9 did that the group bid him farewell as Spike sent the pair of eggs back home, and with the gems collected it was time for them to clear out the Speedway... and then, at long last, face the Sorceress.
With Dino Mines assisted and their problems taken care of, just like all of the other realms they had visited so far, the group returned to Midnight Mountain and headed for the lighthouse that contained the portal to the Speedway, as it was the last thing they needed to clear out before they assaulted the Sorceress and freed the Forgotten Realms from her iron grasp, as everyone that they had interacted with was getting ready to fight back at long last. They said nothing as they walked over to the structure that was their destination, because this time around there wasn't much for them to talk about due to the fact that there were no more realms for them to assist and no more lands to visit, rather Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora were focused on what would be happening once they cleared out this final Speedway. The fact that they had reached this point, by reaching the final homeworld and had assisted everyone else in these lands, was still surprising, but now that they were here all they could do was finish gathering the rest of the gems and eggs before they faced the Sorceress and kicked her off her golden throne, since she clearly didn't deserve to rule over these lands after all the hardships she had forced upon them since they arrived in Sunrise Spring. Spyro was sure that Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 were in the middle of getting all the residents of the lands ready for the incoming battle that they were going to be engaging in, with the Rhynoc army that their foe was building, so once they cleared out the Speedway it would be only a few moments later before they found their friends so they could see if all of them were ready for the battle for the Forgotten Realms.
When they reached the portal to the Speedway they pushed their thoughts about the battle out of their minds as they headed to the island that served as the final area that would be cleared out, and it didn't take them all that long to arrive at the starting area for the land, where they quickly found that there was a lighthouse in this place, a dock, and potentially a large ship in the distance, before the dragonflies headed out to find the residents and quickly returned so they could tell the group what they would be doing in this Speedway.
"The challenges are the same as the last couple of Speedways," Sparx stated, while at the same time Talon and Cinder nodded their heads in agreement, showing that the group should know exactly what to expect when they headed out, as it seemed that all of the Speedways shared the same challenges and the only thing that was different was Hunter's part of everything, "so Time Attack and Race the Blue-Footed Boobies, the birds that hold the highest speed record and haven't been beaten in a race."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment as they took to the air and headed out to see what sort of obstacles they needed to clear out so they could clear the Time Attack challenge, where Elora took off and landed at the top of the lighthouse so she could see what her friends were going to do, before she bothered to head out to see where Hunter might be hiding out this time around. The first obstacle she noticed was a number of seagulls that were flying in a circle around the island, eight of them to be exact, meaning they had to be the Blue-Footed Boobies the dragonflies had mentioned, but at the same time there were at least two additional obstacles that they could tackle and follow a different path that the one the birds were leading them on. What she found was that there were a number of metallic arches that were on small bits of land, along with lobsters that were holding lights in their claws for some reason and some fish who happened to be riding in small boats as they headed around the island, meaning the four obstacles were pretty easy to figure out this time around, as they were the seagulls, the arches, the lobsters, and the fish. Elora stood on the walkway of the lighthouse and looked out at the rest of the island as her friends separated from each other and focused on taking out their targets, as in Spyro dived down and followed the fish, Spike dealt with the seagulls, and Ember flew through the arches, all of them smashing their respective targets with ease, before regrouping to deal with the lobsters so they could complete the first challenge.
In fact it didn't take them long to clear out the first challenge and the seagulls gifted one of their two eggs, the dragon eggs to be exact, to the siblings, where Spike and Ember sat near it as Spyro started to race the rest of the Blue-Footed Boobies around the island so he could get the second egg they had, since they knew the birds had the other egg, before Elora jumped into the air, spread her wings, and headed out to find Hunter, though it didn't take her long to find him due to the fact that she checked the entrance of the lighthouse and found him inside the structure.
"Hey Hunter, how's it going?" Elora asked, because based on what she and the others had learned, after they came to the Forgotten Realms and found their friend in the previous Speedways they had cleared out, she was interested in what he might have discovered this time, since it would likely result in them getting one of the last couple of eggs that they had yet to find, and noticed that Hunter was readying his jet pack.
"Oh, hey Elora, I'm doing good." Hunter replied, to which he stood up and slipped on the device that would allow him to fly through the air, even though he was a little jealous of the armor that Elora was wearing and the abilities that it gave her, especially the metallic wings that she was fond of using all the time, before he focused on what he was going to be doing in the next few moments, "Anyway, my radar went off a few seconds ago and revealed that there's another sheep saucer taking off from the ship that's in this Speedway, though I have no doubt it has the other egg that's supposed to be in this land... I just have no idea how there can be so many sheep saucers."
"Its probably due to Moneybags selling them the vessels," Elora stated, due to the fact that such a thing had occurred back in Avalar, where some of the farm animals had revealed that Moneybags had sold them the weapons and ships that they used to wage war on Metropolis, something that caused Hunter to nod his head in understanding for a few seconds as he headed outside so he could take to the air.
Once Hunter was ready he took off and Elora did so as well, where she positioned herself above the lighthouse and noticed that the siblings had already finished the race, or Spyro did to be exact, giving Hunter enough space to chase the saucer that held the last egg of this Speedway, something that had to freakout the sheep that was piloting the saucer as it tried to get away from Hunter. Elora had to admit that the sheep had some decent skills, given that it was running away from Hunter and that its saucer happened to be damaged from a battle it had been in at some point in the past, in fact it could have been the one from the last Speedway, who had chased Hunter down due to believing that he had an egg, but either way this meant that it wouldn't be long before the chase was over. It wasn't long before the egg Hunter was after popped out of the saucer and landed on one of the earth posts the arches had been resting on earlier, where their friend stopped what he was doing and collected it as the sheep spun out of control and crashed into the side of the large ship that was resting in the water, shattering the saucer without damaging the ship in the process. With that done Elora took to the air and flew down to where the siblings were resting, where Hunter joined them and delivered the egg that he had rescued for them, to which Spike made sure all three of the eggs were just fine before sending them back to the Dragon Realms, before they thanked Hunter for the help and all of them, as all five of them this time around, headed for the edge of the realm, as it was time for them to head back to Midnight Mountain and focus on their real target.
It only took a few moments for them to breach the edge of the area and return to the last homeworld of the lands that they were in the middle of liberating from the Sorceress, where the group headed over to where the main structure was resting, as it was time for them to talk with Bianca and figure out where their forces were gathering, even though the siblings would be focusing on the Sorceress while the others focused on the Rhynoc army.
"Hey Bianca, how's the portal to the Sorceress' stronghold coming?" Spyro asked, as that was what Bianca had been working on since their arrival in this homeworld and she told them what the Sorceress' true plan had been, something that still pissed the group off when they thought about it, though even as he said that Bianca stopped channeling her power at the door that was in front of them and turned towards them.
"Good, as I just finished it, but I haven't actually opened it yet," Bianca stated, though at the same time she turned to the side and opened another portal nearby, one that likely took them to a very specific place in the Forgotten Realms, and focused on it for a few moments, due to the fact Spyro and the others were interested in it, "This will take us to the area that the Sorceress' Rhynoc army is gathering in, the area that our allies area gathering in for the battle of their lives, all so you can focus on our real foe, without having to worry about her calling for reinforcements during your fight."
The group nodded and headed through it, knowing that she would open the way back so she could let the siblings do battle with the Sorceress, before finding themselves in what appeared to be an ancient battleground, as there were blast holes all over the place, like two magic users had gone at it over something, and Spike could feel the magic in the air as he spotted a circular fortress off in the distance, above the area they were in, which was where the Sorceress had to be at the moment, preparing herself for battle. In front of them stood all of the residents of the Forgotten Realms, and when they meant all of them they weren't kidding, as everyone from the Lions of Sunny Villa and the Seals of Seashell Shore, to the Gnome Wizards of Crystal Islands and the Egyptian Dogs of Haunted Tomb were present, all of them carrying their own weapons and armor, to show that they were ready for what was coming. None of them were surprised to see that both Princess Ami and her Fairies, along with Prince Azrael and his Cat Wizards and Witches, had come to this area, in fact it made since due to the fact that they had a bone to pick with the Sorceress for trying to tear the relationship between both their lands apart, and it wasn't hard to spot Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 at the front of the army, clearly waiting for the battle between them and the Rhynocs to begin. Another thing that they weren't expecting to see were a few portal structures, which looked like the Super Portal from Avalar to be exact, and many of the forces from Elora's home were in the middle of marching out, as in the Land Blubbers and Lord Montague, the Breezebuilders and Lord Capulet, and what seemed to be the entirety of the Royal Guard that was being lead by Aeros.
The Professor came over and informed the group that he had called for reinforcements, since the Rhynoc army was made up of every type of Rhynoc the four of them had fought over the course of their adventure in the Forgotten Realms, and even explained why he had two other portals, ones that looked like they belonged to the Peace Keepers and the Magic Crafters, as even some of the dragons from the Dragon Realms were offering to help the residents take back their home from the evil Sorceress.
"Well, it seems like you guys have everything under control," Spyro commented, because while he knew that everyone that called the Forgotten Realms home was eager to take it back from the Sorceress that ruled over them, even if they had to fight in a massive battle to do so, he really wasn't expecting what he and the others were seeing, before he sighed as he thought about what was going to happen into this area, "Okay, the same rules as what happened when we stopped the war in Avalar stands: knock out your enemies and wipe out whatever ammunition structures they have... I'm only saying that since we have no idea if these guys are real Rhynocs or if they're gem creations."
"Right, and while we do this you can go take out that evil Sorceress," Hunter remarked, where the group watched as he took some armor from the crate that the Professor was offering him, which looked to be a more advanced version of what he wore during the war the siblings stopped, meaning it had to be somewhat modeled after Elora's armor, which she was fine with since her Mark III was still superior to whatever the Professor had created.
The group nodded as Hunter left them, clearly eager to bring peace to the Forgotten Realms, to which they followed Bianca back to Midnight Mountain and approached the main structure that housed the portal to where the Sorceress was waiting for them, where both she and Elora promised that they would do everything in their power to stop her if she tried to flee the area when they beat her. Not a few moments later the portal to the Sorceress' lair was opened and the siblings stepped through it, where it didn't take them long to appear at the edge of a metal fighting area that was resting in a pool of lava, almost like what happened when they fought Ripto a year ago, and standing on the other side of the circular arena was the Sorceress, who looked exactly like how the statue in Enchanted Towers portrayed her, even if she didn't like what the Purple Villagers had made. True to their word both Bianca and Elora stood on the stairs that were in front of the portal that would take them back to Midnight Mountain, basically blocking the exit with everything they had in their respective arsenals, to which the siblings focused on their foe, who seemed more interested in something else that was happening, no doubt commanding the Rhynocs to start the battle so she could crush her foes into the ground. What both interested and annoyed the siblings was the fact that the Sorceress' scepter actually held an egg at the top, meaning she was using it as a source of power, much like how Ripto used the Power Crystal when they fought him, something that caused Ember to growl as she stared at the evil magic user that was in front of them.
"So, you've arrived at last." the Sorceress said, to which she turned around and faced the siblings, where she could see both Bianca and Elora standing guard near the exit and simply frowned at them, as if she was disappointed in what she was seeing right now, before focusing on the siblings as they got ready for what was coming up next, "You three, along with those two, have been a thorn in my side since you came to these lands, aggravating the residents of the realms into raising their arms against me and my forces, and, to top it all off, you had the nerve to steal the eggs back... I'm going to enjoy this more than I should."
"News flash, Sorceress, but those eggs don't belong to you, they belong to the dragons of the Dragon Realms," Ember replied, though at the same time she, Spyro, and Spike spread out from each other so they could see what their foe had in mind for them without endangering the others if one of them were targeted, though both Spyro and Spike could see that she was ready to ignite her Warrior's Armor and just plow right into their foe, since she really didn't like the Sorceress, not that her brothers blamed her for that.
"Sorry dear, but the moment they arrived in these lands they were no longer yours, they were mine, which means that you have been stealing from me and plotting to overthrow my government since the moment you arrived." the Sorceress stated, almost as if she had a screw loose, which was entirely possible since it took a special kind of mental person to say what she was saying and actually believe every word of it, even though she was a tyrant that had expelled the rightful rulers of the land a thousand years ago and was treating everyone like trash.
"Listen, as much as we don't like you, perhaps we can talk about coming to a peaceful solution," Spyro said, though as he said that he lightly tapped into his real power, the one that had freaked out both himself and the Leaders of the Dragon Realms when they first learned that he had it, because he was hoping that the Sorceress had a weak will so he could lure her into surrendering without them having to waste time on a lengthy fight, even if that was what all three of them were ready for and that was what Elora and Bianca were expecting to see.
The Sorceress opened her mouth to say something, like she had a retort to what he had said, before she staggered for a moment as Spyro's power made itself known, though the reason he was going to a lighter version was because it would be easy to assume that Spike had done something and failed, instead of revealing that he had Conqueror's Spirit, as he was sure their foe might know about it and would try to defend against it if she suspected that one of them had it... before their foe freed herself from the power and focused on them, proving her willpower was quite strong.
"There will be no negotiations between us!" the Sorceress declared, though that was when she waved her scepter at her feet for a moment and lifted herself off the ground with a levitation spell, where the bottom of her feet stopped at the top of their heads, making the siblings determine that this was a waste of her magical power, especially since they were going to be starting the fight soon, "Once I'm done with the three of you, and those two guarding the door, I'm going to crush your army and restore my order to these lands."
The first thing the Sorceress tried was a basic Fireball, as if she was warming up or testing them, though instead of just targeting one of them she made sure that her spell was sent towards all three of them, where Spike determined that she must have a tracking spell or something that was allowing her to do so, but Spyro rolled out of the way, Spike just batted his to the side, and Ember jumped over the one that was heading her way, showing the Sorceress she was going to have to do better than that to bring them down. After that she tried another spell on them, Hellfire, which was basically a spell that rained Fireballs from the sky, even though she had to loose a burst of magic into the air for the spell to work the right way, and as the three of them dodged the attacks that were coming for them, which was rather easy since it seemed that the Sorceress might have no aiming skills at all, she rushed forward and raised the scepter into the air as it gathered magical power, intending to unleash the Earthen Hammer move on Ember. Spike knew the spell well, it was a melee attack that used the Earth Element, like how the Fireballs and Hellfire used the Fire Element, and it formed some rocks around the egg that was at the top of the scepter, basically to both protect the user and damage the target, but, due to the fact that their foe had no idea what they were really capable of, Ember hardened her body in seconds and stopped the attack, which was when a look of shock appeared on the Sorceress' face, followed by a quick grin that shifted into a pained expresion as she was knocked backwards by a tail whack to the chest. Spyro charged at her the moment she was distracted, intending on knocking her to the floor before this battle dragged on any longer, but the Sorceress blocked it by using her scepter to pull moisture out of the air and form a rather thick ice wall that stopped him in his tracks, showing them that she had more tricks up her sleeves.
Spike blasted her in the chest with a Lightning Bolt, knocking her backwards and breaking the Ice Wall seconds later, but even as that happened he knew the look that had appeared on the Sorceress' face for a few seconds, she recognized the Warrior's Armor skill that Ember had used, making him wonder if there was more to her plan than simply kill all of the hatchlings and make herself immortal. His actions, however, made him their foe's next target as the Sorceress readied a spell to blast him into the wall, not to mention drop him into the lava that he could totally swim through, though as she did that, and raised her scepter, Spike tapped into his own power, Sage's Vision, and peered into the future to see which spells she was planning on using against them, or him since he seemed to be her target. The first spell he countered with was the same one she was charging, where they both loosed large balls of fire at each other, basically a much larger Fireball that the dragons called a Fire Orb, similar to an Arcane Orb, and the two attacks collided in seconds, detonating when they met each other and covered the area in smoke for a moment, though that didn't stop the Sorceress at all. The Fire Orb was followed by small bits of the arena's floor breaking off of the stone and rising into the air so she could form sharpened spikes to loose through the air, something that Spike mimicked within seconds before they sent their Earth Spikes at each other, where both volleys matched up perfectly and shattered upon meeting in the middle of the area between them, only for the Sorceress to try blasting him with a Lightning Bolt, which was easily blocked by the same spell. That was followed by them loosing a volley of Ice Shards, basically the ice version of the previous spell, at each other for a few seconds, but as the two spells ended, but before the Sorceress could make the next move, Spike lashed out with burst of Wind Shuriken and struck his foe in the chest, knocking her backwards.
"So, one of you is a skilled magic user... far stronger than that worthless girl," the Sorceress stated, where she glanced at Bianca for a moment, who frowned as her former mentor talked about her once more, as she still couldn't believe that she followed someone like the Sorceress for the years that she did, learning the basics of magic until she was sent to the Dragon Realms to get the eggs, "Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth... you're quite strong."
"And you're easily distracted!" Spike stated, which was when he formed a whirlwind near Ember as Spyro charged into their foe's chest, knocking her into the area that he intended for her to be in, though as that happened their sister quickly used the whirlwind to launch herself into the air as she hardened herself, so she could spin around and barrel down into the Sorceress' chest as she fell onto her back.
The arena floor shuddered due to that attack, which made sense due to what Ember was doing with Spike's help in hitting the Sorceress, though as soon as they did that Ember jumped backwards and joined her brothers as they watched their foe's movements for a few seconds, where the Sorceress growled as she pushed herself up, before she swung her scepter and launched a number of Lightning Spheres, small orbs of lightning energy, into the air and let them swarm down on the area that the siblings were standing in. Basically each cluster consisted of ten orbs that rained down on them, only the siblings rolled out of the way and avoided the attacks that were coming their way, though Spike used a magical barrier to protect himself so all of them emerged unharmed, something that annoyed the Sorceress as she considered what she could do next, even though the siblings resumed the spread out pattern they had been using so far. That was followed by her channeling her power into the floor again and raised two fists made of stone to crush them into the ground, where Ember laughed for a moment as one of them lashed out at her while she still had her Warrior's Armor active, as her more metal-like body was more than enough to overcome the stone exterior of the fist that was sent her way, leaving Spyro and Spike to deal with the other one. Spike, however, used the leftover fragments of lightning that their foe had used against them to form lightning spears that punctured the fist and destroyed it, leaving the Sorceress without her spell, though that didn't stop her releasing a wave of fire to separate herself from Spyro and Ember, where the former leapt over the waves as he charged at her and the latter just smashed her way through them thanks to her power, before they rushed into her chest and knocked her to the floor again.
It was in that instant that the Sorceress got really upset with them, as evident of the clear sky suddenly flashing as she used her power to summon a storm so she could summon down more powerful bolts of lightning, but, once again, her lack of knowledge on their skills really made it hard for her to determine what they were able to do and what they weren't able to do, as Spike's power was enough to rip the storm out of her control and stop the attacks before they even had a chance to rain down on them. If the Sorceress was caught off guard by that she didn't have a chance to show it, not when she was using the stone of the arena they were fighting on to form some Earthen Walls to protect her from Ember, which weren't working since Ember's attacks were enough to crush metal armor, while she focused on trying to blast Spyro with some of her other spells, the same spells she had been using earlier, but Spyro was having none of that and avoided them with little effort, before he and Ember crashed into her again. Spike rejoined the battle moments later, using his magic to manipulate the arena floor to make sure the Sorceress didn't attempt to jump into the lava or anything, by creating his own Earthen Walls that were much stronger than hers had been, before blasting her with a Fire Orb that knocked her back towards the center of the arena, basically putting them back in the same formation they had started in when they first entered this area. When the Sorceress started to get back up, however, she did so with a look of determination and hatred in her eyes that caused Spyro to unleash the power of his own power, causing his Conqueror's Spirit to clash with what their foe was trying to use against them, as it wasn't the same as what Spyro was using, and the collision of the two powers caused the entire arena to shudder for a few moments and Spike, Ember, and Elora braced themselves, as Bianca had no idea what was coming and had to brace herself as she started to stagger, though she continued to stand like Elora did as they waited for the battle to be over.
By the time the two were done with what they were doing, and the collision of powers had stopped, the Sorceress fell to one knee for a moment and huffed with sweat on her face, showing that she underestimated the sheer power that was lurking in Spyro's body, something that he was only beginning to tap into since he only unlocked this near legendary skill a year ago, and while that happened the purple gemstone in her necklace shattered and a gleaming purple key hit the floor a few times before coming to a stop in front of Spike.
"Give up, Sorceress, you can't beat us," Spyro stated, because he could tell that she didn't have the magical strength to overcome Spike, nor did she have the physical power to beat him and Ember, so instead of wasting time and energy on a useless battle he just wanted her to admit defeat and surrender the egg that was attached to her scepter, so they could take her in and imprison her for her crimes against the Forgotten Realms, which were numerous and would earn her the rest of her life in jail, or near close to it anyway.
"All three of you are strong, I'll give you that," the Sorceress remarked, though at the same time both Elora and Bianca joined the siblings, as it appeared that the battle might be over and they wanted to hear what the Sorceress had to say for herself, or what madness she was going to spout next, before they took her down, to which she focused on the siblings as she continued talking, "though none of you can compare to Him, back when we fought a thousand years ago and I used a spell to banish the rest of the dragons from these lands..."
"The last guy who tried to imprison all the dragons ended up imprisoned himself," Ember replied, as she was referring to Gnasty Gnorc, the first villain that she and her brothers had taken out, not that the Sorceress would know who she was talking about, since she only found the Dragon Realms some time ago and clearly didn't have the time to see what had happened recently, though even if she did have time Ember felt that they would have been here anyway, so this fight was one that they were destined to have, "though its like my brother said, you can't beat us, so just give up on your dreams of achieving immortality and surrender already, before we're forced to knock you out."
"Immortality? Oh, you have no idea what my true plans are," the Sorceress said, where she didn't even attempt to shift her stance as she talked, showing them that she was more interested in speaking with them for a time, no doubt to let her get her power back so they could jump right back into the battle, or at least that was what Spike would do, before she let out a chuckle as she considered something, "Immortality was just a step in my grand plan, because once I figured out that He was still around, doing whatever it was that He might be doing, I set in motion a plan that would ensure I would come out as the top magic user the next time He and I encountered each other."
"I have no idea who you're talking about." Bianca stated, not that she was surprised, as some of the lessons that her former mentor gave her were too difficult for a novice to complete, no unless you were a total genius anyway, but this was the first time she had ever heard the Sorceress mention someone like that, using 'He' and 'Him', meaning it had to be a rather important person in her former mentor's life, possibly even the one that trained her in the first place, unless she just stole everything she knew from the dragons, which was very likely.
"Yeah, I'm not understanding what you're saying either," Elora added, though it was more due to the fact that the Dark Hollow archives had so much for her to read and discover that she was only a hundred or two years in the past, from this point in time anyway, while Spike was clearly at the thousand year mark and was likely reading into what the dragons used to do when they ruled the Forgotten Realms, before being banished anyway.
"Insolent little brat, how can you not know what I'm referring to when you're the one pretending to be a dragon with those wings of yours?" the Sorceress remarked, where Elora raised her eyebrow for a moment and opened a wing, as she had no idea why their foe was even mentioning such a thing in the first place, before deciding that it was better to not ask and just let the defeated magic user say what was on her mind before the siblings knocked her out, causing the Sorceress to sigh for a moment as she readied herself, "I speak of the first purple dragon!"
"The first purple dragon... you mean Malefor?!" Spike inquired, where the Sorceress actually nodded her head to show that he understood who she was referring to, while at the same time his siblings, Elora, and Bianca looked at him, as they had no idea who they were talking about and hoped one of them would shine some light on the subject, which was a good thing he knew as much as the Sorceress did, possibly even more, "He was one of the five dragons that ruled and watched over these lands a thousand years ago, back when the dragons called the Forgotten Realms home, and he was the first of our kind, the first purple dragon in all of existence, who was a master of magic and physical combat by the time he reach his maturity, which is fifteen years old for dragons. The stories about him are endless, about how he helped King Rover deal with the Midnight Serpent, helped the cat people settle in what would eventually become Felinia, gave the Ice Fairies their powers after saving Evening Lake from the wicked Yeti of the North, struck down the Dread Whale that was plaguing the waters around the lands, bested the Earthen King in a test of strength and skill while using his foe's power to shape what would become Enchanted Towers, conquered the Firelord to create Molten Crater and the area that surrounds it, and so much more... he's a legend among dragons! He's also the first, and only, dragon that was capable of using all three of our most powerful skills..."
"Warrior's Armor, Sage's Vision, and, more importantly, Conqueror's Spirit." the Sorceress stated, showing Spike and the others that she did know about the skills and that she had likely noticed what Spike had been using earlier, as it wasn't hard to see what Ember was using and she did just get a taste of the final power from Spyro, to show her that all three of them had one of the three skills that dragons revered.
"Oh... OH, I get it now!" Spike said, because the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit in his mind, as the information that the Sorceress shared with them was more than enough for him to look at the puzzle that had formed when Bianca told them that her former mentor was going to kill the hatchlings and take their wings for a spell, "This isn't just about you becoming immortal, this is about you getting revenge on the one dragon that bested you a thousand years ago, back when you challenged him to a fight and he humiliated you after you torched the area we saw earlier, when we saw your army of Rhynocs! Its like you said, immortality was only a step you needed to take in the grand scheme of things, though killing the hatchlings and taking their magic for yourself would have strengthened your own magical power, I guess, and would have allowed you to access all the Powerups that we dragons are able to use, but the real purpose of all of this was to lure the stronger dragons into the Forgotten Realms so you could, somehow, strip them of their powers and abilities to add them to your arsenal, and we were prime targets the moment you realized what sort of abilities we had, especially since we revealed them to you over the course of our battle."
"I made up the line about the wings to piss off this brat, knowing she would deliver the information to you and would weaken you before the battle started... or so I hoped," the Sorceress replied, where she stood up and faced them, while at the same time revealing that everything Spike said was correct, that her true plan was to basically kill every dragon that lived in the Dragon Realms, be they hatchling or adult, so she could somehow siphon their powers and add them to her own, turning her into an immortal goddess of some kind, "That key goes to Malefor's archives, where I found a number of spells that would help me exact my revenge on him, and once I felt his power in this world again, somewhere on one of the many islands that are scattered around this world, I sent in motion my plan to gain all the power I could possibly need for my rematch... and you have given me the greatest skills of them all, which will allow me to topple Malefor and claim my long awaited revenge, before I enslave the rest of the world to do my bidding!"
It was in that moment that the Sorceress raised her scepter in the direction of the battlefield, where the group knew that all of their friends were fighting the Rhynoc army that she had created, before Spike felt a bunch of magic leave the area that she was pointing in, meaning she must have withdrawn the power from all of her creations to empower what power she had. That was followed by her using that power to transform part of the arena into what appeared to be a large suit of armor with her in the center of the chest, and they knew that fact thanks to the couple of small vertical lines that her face was behind, though the entire thing looked like a massive stone Rhynoc warrior that was half buried in the lava, a rather poor decision on the Sorceress' part even though she had likely reinforced the lower part of the body and the legs to avoid sinking into the lava in a matter of seconds. The moment the armor was ready, and the Sorceress was prepared to smash them, she raised the rock arms into the air and brought the hands together, where Spike watched as she started to gather magical energy between the hands, creating a massive sphere of fiery energy that was known to the dragons as the Emperor of Fire, one of the strongest fire spells in the world, at least to Spike's knowledge anyway. When she hurled it at them, however, Elora and Bianca jumped backwards, as they had no idea if they would be able to help or not, which was when Spike threw up several barriers between them and the incoming attack, while adding one to keep the others safe from the attack, though this time around, instead of being alone in stopping this attack, Spyro and Ember tapped into their own powers and added their own innate magic to what Spike was doing, adding a brilliant blue colored section and a purple section that had a yellow addition to it, representing Ember and Spyro respectively.
Together, against the sheer power that the Sorceress was using, they stalled the massive attack and forced their foe to increase the power that she was using against them, which only caused them to pour more power into the attack, before the three of them noticed a few strands of light purple energy dance around the area they were standing in, where Spike had an idea what was going on and dispatched the barrier in front of him and his siblings, something that was followed by him, Spyro, and Ember loosing three beams of that energy into the air that struck the massive ball of fire, blew it apart, and then struck the chest of the Sorceress' rock armor... where they had to cover their eyes for a few seconds as the entire thing shattered and they heard the sound of something hitting the lava, before opening their eyes and discovering that their foe must have fallen in the lava, and the egg scepter had landed nearby.
"What... what in the world was that?" Bianca asked, because she had no idea what the siblings had done to wipe out both the massive attack and the armor that the Sorceress had been using to protect herself, not to mention using to fight them, but she had to admit that it was rather interesting and it seemed to have taken quite a bit of magical energy from all three of them, as they looked a little tired.
"It... doesn't matter. We won, the Sorceress has been defeated." Spyro said, and that was the truth of the matter, they had beaten the Sorceress and, while he would have preferred to catch her and convict her for her crimes, this would break her hold over the Forgotten Realms and free everyone from her iron rule, to which he, Spike, and Ember headed back to where Bianca and Elora were standing as they carried the egg and the interesting key with them.
It was time to tell the residents of the Forgotten Realms the good news, that they were no longer bound to the ruler that had been abusing them for all the years before their arrival, and then, after some food and rest, they would go over what they needed to do to gather the rest of the eggs and bring an end to this adventure, even though all of them were sure that another would come at some point in the future.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember followed Elora and Bianca outside the arena that they had fought the Sorceress inside, where they returned to Midnight Mountain and then used another portal so they could access the area that all of the residents of the Forgotten Realms had been fighting in, to take down the Rhynoc army that their foe had been in the middle of creating so she could use them on the rest of the lands. When they appeared in the area in question they found that there were no more Rhynocs in the area in question, rather there were a number of gemstones littering the area and a number of the people they had assisted were in the middle of picking up the treasure that had fallen during their incredible battle, as it was likely stolen from the rest of the realms and would be returned to their rightful owners. The Royal Guards from Avalar were making sure that there were no additional enemies in the area, of which the group figured that there were no more given that the Sorceress had retracted her spell to create the incredibly powerful spell that had forced them to tap into their inner power to take it out, which had left Spyro, Spike, and Ember a little winded, even if Spike was used to the more intense spells and how much they drained him. The rest of their friends were helping out whoever had been wounded over the course of the battle with the army of Rhynocs, even though it appeared that no one had suffered any devastating injuries and the Cats of Felinia were in the middle of using their magic to tend to everyone, aided by their Fairy friends, though it was nice to see that no one had been harmed over the course of the battle.
That brought a smile to their faces as they surveyed what was going on at the moment, the battle was over and the Forgotten Realms had been freed from the Sorceress, meaning that the leaders of the realms would need to meet with each other and either nominate a new leader for their lands or go with a council that would make sure everything was taken care of for their people.
"I've never seen the residents of the realms this happy," Bianca commented, where she looked around and found that all of the people she had been trying to help since she became the Sorceress' apprentice, a misguided one as she came to realize thanks to the siblings and Elora, were genuinely happy about the fact that they had banded together against the greatest threat their lands had faced and fought against the army that the Sorceress had been building, and they were happy to be freed from her tyrannical rule over them, "I always thought this would happen when the magic was brought back to these lands, because that was something that was seriously making everyone sad, but never in a thousand years did I think that our happiness would return as we liberated our lands from the Sorceress' evil tyrannical rule, nor did I think that we were going to topple her as well."
"Well, these three have a habit of stopping villains and liberating lands," Hunter remarked, where he walked over to where the group was standing, as they had stopped when Bianca paused to look out at the smiling residents of the lands she had been trying to help, though it was easy for the group to see that their friend was still wearing his armor and that he had emerged from the battle without taking any damage from the Rhynocs he and the others had fought, "I should tell you about how we called them to Avalar so we could deal with Ripto and his goons, even though part of that was my fault in the first place, and everything they went through to restore order to our realms... they even stopped a war between two of our realms and made peace between the rulers of those lands."
"Yeah, a war that was caused by Moneybags," Elora said, reminding Hunter of the reason why the war had occurred in the first place, even though she knew that he understood that fact and didn't need to be reminded, so really this served as more information for Bianca to understand the evil that had allied itself with the Sorceress, even if the magic user was the true evil when she considered everything she told the siblings earlier, before they unleashed their power and knocked her into the lava, which had to bring about her end.
"Once everything is said and done, we'll need to find him and punish him for his crimes," Ember stated, because out of all the villains they had encountered over the years, of which there were a few, Moneybags was the only one that hadn't been punished for his crimes, at least not totally since all his stuff in Avalar had been claimed and distributed to those he had wronged as compensation for his crimes, "I'm not letting that bear get away after all we've discovered about him since we came to these lands... attempting another cross realm war, between Charmed Ridge and Felinia, robbing the Tomb of the Stone Golem, which really pissed off our new tomb raiding friend, and everything else he's done."
"Well, he won't be able to leave the Forgotten Realms without us knowing," a voice said, where the siblings turned and found that Cosmos was the one that had spoken, even though he was joined by Titan as they found that the rest of the Peace Keepers and Magic Crafters were in the middle of heading back to the Dragon Realms, even though they would be back in due time to see what else they could do to help the residents of these lands out, "We're keeping an eye on all the portals that might take someone to one of the other lands, be it the Dragon Realms or Avalar, so he won't be able to get away by using one of those, and if anyone finds him we'll be able to capture him and make him pay for his crimes against Avalar, the Forgotten Realms, and everyone that he's sold something to in the past."
"Good, I'd hate for him to get away and cause trouble somewhere else," Spyro replied, as he knew the bear deserved his punishment a thousand times over at this time, before he glanced at the area that Sheila and the others were gathered in and found that they were talking to some of the other residents of the other realms they had assisted, "You know, this is when I would say something about how I 'hope that whatever form of leadership that follows the Sorceress' rule is better than what we took down', but I can tell, just by looking at our new friends, that we won't have to worry about the past being repeated in the future, not with how they're respected by the residents of the realms we helped."
"The five of you did well in helping them out, and yes, I'm counting Elora and Hunter in that statement," Titan said, as he knew, without being told anything, that Elora and Hunter had grown since the siblings arrived in Avalar and that they had used whatever skills they had gained over the last year to help them take down the Sorceress' forces, before he took a moment to look at the new friends they had made and put a smile on his face, "as for them, well, I'm sure you won't have to worry about what they'll do from this point forward, as they seem to have the best intentions for this land in their hearts, meaning the four of them will be fine leaders one day."
"Well, it will take some time to overcome the evil the Sorceress committed, but we'll manage," Bianca stated, though even as she said that she glanced back at the arena that the siblings had fought her former mentor in, as they could see it from this ancient battlefield, where she still couldn't believe everything that she learned within the last few moments of the fight, before the siblings defeated her, "Still, its hard to wrap my head around the fact that she had the eggs taken so she could lure dragons to these lands, somehow siphon their powers and magic to give herself immortality and the power to do whatever she wanted, all because she wanted revenge against Malefor, the purple dragon that beat her in a duel a thousand years ago, before you were all banished from these lands."
"She must have gone crazy, because no one has seen Malefor since the day we were banished," Cosmos replied, as he was about to go into the knowledge that Spike knew on the matter, given what he had said during the end part of their battle with Bianca's former mentor, before he tapped his staff on the ground a few times as he considered what he was going to say on the matter, "according to what we know he went off in search of the dragons after we had been banished, but, since we never heard from him again, we just assumed that time had caught up with him and finally claimed him, just like it does for all dragons at some point in their lives."
"The Sorceress said otherwise, declaring that she felt his power again and knew that he had returned," Spike said, as that was the part he was interested in, because he knew, just like all of the other scholars, that Malefor was supposedly dead and gone, but, at the same time, the look in the Sorceress' eyes told him that she truly believed that he was alive and that it was time for her to prepare for his eventual arrival in the Forgotten Realms, or at least that was his assumptions on what was going through her head.
"Well, none of us have felt or seen anything, so I'm going to have to rule that she went insane, to a degree," Cosmos stated, though at the same time he wasn't going to rule out anything, because for someone like the Sorceress to have said such a thing, and apparently meant it based on what Spike told him just now, there was a rather slim and chance that the first purple dragon was still alive, as impossible as that sounded, before Titan moved an arm and Elora handed him the egg she had been holding onto, the one the Sorceress had been using with her scepter, "Did anything else happen when you three battled the Sorceress?"
"Yeah, all three of us used some sort of beam of light purple energy for a few seconds, one that left us a little winded after the battle was over," Spyro replied, though that was the moment that a look of shock appeared on Cosmos' face as he dropped his staff, much like what happened when he and the other Leaders were told that Spike had used one of the most powerful spells they knew, twice, and that it had been on his own, "What, did we do something wrong?"
"No... you three just continue to surprise me, that's all," Cosmos replied, where he knew the other Magic Crafters were going to throw a fit when they heard what the siblings were able to do, especially since one of them was Spike, who was a master of all the types of magic that they taught him, one of them was Spyro, a purple dragon that just so happened to be in the process of tapping into his true powers, and the last one was Ember, a blue dragon that had gone far beyond what he and the other Leaders knew a blue dragon could do, before he turned towards Spike for a moment, "Am I correct in assuming you know what it is that you used?"
"The Aether," Spike said, where he knew why Cosmos was so shocked, even if he was still surprised that he, Spyro, and Ember had used such a power in the first place, but it had allowed them to bring down the Sorceress before she was able to gain the advantage in their battle, "known as the fifth element, one that is incredibly hard for someone to teach or for someone to master since not many magic users can tap into that power, unlike the other four elements that are far more common in our world... its said that Malefor was the first dragon to discover its existence and that the only dragons that have an innate ability to draw on its power, when they're ready anyway, are the purple dragons."
"So Ember's a rule breaking dragon, not that I'm surprised." Hunter remarked, because this was common for him to see these days, someone would tell him and Elora, and Bianca as well in this case, something about the dragons and it was usually the fierce blue dragon that was the one that broke all the rules, matching her brothers in strength and skill, and if she was able to tap into something called the Aether, which Cosmos was shocked to hear, he knew not to get on her bad side, even if he had learned that pretty early on in their adventure through Avalar.
Hunter's remark, oddly enough, shifted the flow of what they were doing, where Cosmos promised Spike that there would be a new training session at some point in the future, since this adventure was nearly done, even though he had no idea what he was going to offer a dragon that could tap into the Aether, which was why he was focused on getting them and their friends through the portal that would take them back to the Artisans homeworld for some rest... though it was when they crossed to the other side, and came to a stop on the hill that the other side of the portal was on, that all of them were shocked by what they saw. There were at least a hundred or so hatchlings scattered around the area in front of the portal, where Spike determined that some magic had been placed on the structure to prevent the hatchlings from going through it and entering a battlefield, where some of the seemed to be sleeping, some were in the middle of playing with each other, some were in the middle of eating, and some were by the older dragons, where it was easy to see that Lateef and the other Dream Weavers were in the middle of figuring out the names of all the hatchlings and determining which of the lands all of them belonged to. Spike's quick count informed them that there were a grand total of one hundred and forty-six hatchlings, of all shapes, sizes, and colors, scattered around the central area of the Artisans homeworld, which matched up with the number of eggs they had recovered, meaning the egg that Titan was holding was the one hundred and forty-seventh egg to be recovered, which made him wonder why it hadn't hatched yet, but that left three more eggs somewhere in the Forgotten Realms, and he had a good idea where one of them could be found.
"Well, its a good thing we got them out of the Forgotten Realms when we did," Elora stated, as this wasn't something she was expecting to see, all of the eggs they had found, save for the one the Sorceress had been using as a power source, had hatched and all the baby dragons were free to grow up, save for the couple of eggs they hadn't found yet, which was a bummer when she thought about it.
"I would have to agree with that," a voice said, where the siblings turned and found that Nora had walked over to the area that they were standing in, which allowed them to look out at all the hatchlings they had saved from the Sorceress' foul plans, though she had a smile on her face as she did what they were doing, even though she had total faith in their ability to find and recover the eggs that had been stolen from them, "and, thanks to the power you used to send the eggs back to this area, the eggs were able to hatch in a safe environment, far away from anything that could harm any of the poor hatchlings that were inside them."
"Wait, I don't get it. How could Spike's magic work on the eggs, especially when mine couldn't?" Bianca asked, as that was something that had been bothering her since she first witnessed Spike use his odd breath to teleport one of the eggs out of the Forgotten Realms and send it somewhere else, which appeared to be this area, and she had never gotten an answer for how he was able to do it, "I know for a fact that several magicians tried to cast some spells on these eggs, and I even tried once, to see if I could get it to hatch, but all of our magic just slipped off the eggs and left them alone, yet when Spike did it he was able to move them from one land to another... so why does his magic work?"
"Spike is, well, unique among the dragons that use magic, as he's the first one to use Teleportation Magic in a way that was brand new, as even I, as the Master of this type of magic, had a hard time pulling it off," Nora admitted, and that was the truth of the matter, that Spike's innate magic had allowed him to use his Teleportation Breath before learning how to properly channel magic in the first place, not that she and the other Magic Crafters could be surprised by this, since he had done some incredible things in the past, "Basically his Teleportation Breath was enough to get around the fact that our eggs are supposed to resist magic and other harmful elements, allowing him to move them to a safe location, though that did cause all of them to hatch, we're still looking into what happened, and due to that happening part of the magic flowed into the lands you live in, which is why magic returned to the Forgotten Realms... Spike caused the eggs to hatch and helped bring your magic back, oddly enough."
Spike rubbed the back of his head for a moment before he, Spyro, Ember, Elora, Hunter, and Bianca headed down to the area that was in front of them, where they joined the adult dragons and tended to the hatchlings that were scattered all over the central hub for this island, even though they were under the watchful eyes of pretty much every dragon that called the Dragon Realms home. Hunter and Elora were happy to see the hatchlings, who titled their heads in confusion as they encountered the pair, even Bianca was treated the same way, but that was followed by the baby dragons smiling and rushing to the newcomers for a moment, showing that they wanted to see them and figure out what in the world they were, which was why the trio ended up sitting down, even though Elora folded most of her armor up to resemble her usual attire, so the hatchlings didn't get hurt on the sharp points of the wings and whatnot. Spyro, Spike, and Ember did join them after a few moments, just to see how the hatchlings reacted to their friends, even though it was clear that Spyro did have to step to the side for a moment to explain to Nestor and the other Artisans, who had seen Bianca take the eggs earlier, that she had been tricked into a terrible plan when all she thought she needed to do was to bring back a few dragons to the Forgotten Realms, which would have restored their magic in due time, and that the Sorceress was the one they should be blaming, ending in Bianca getting up and apologizing for her actions. She knew they were mad at her, since she had stolen the eggs, but thanks to the siblings the Leaders understood who was to blame for the crime and that the one that had tricked her had paid for her actions, even if they had no idea what had happened during the final battle yet, before they returned to what they had been doing and officially welcomed Bianca into the group as well, showing her that they were willing to trust her since the siblings trusted her, hence her desire to prove them right.
About thirty minutes into tending to the hatchlings, however, Ember got up and headed for the hill that held the portal they had come out of, one that the Professor would be moving in the near future so it would be hard for the hatchlings to accidentally head through it, causing the group to follow after her, as they were curious as to what she was doing, even if her brothers had a good idea, based on what happened at the end of their last adventure.
"Ember, shouldn't you be relaxing?" Hunter asked, as he knew that Ember was one of the few dragons he didn't want to mess with or upset, because he had seen what she had done to Moneybags during their adventure in Avalar, but even then he knew that she and the others needed some rest and heading back through the portal was the last thing they ought to be doing at the moment.
"Hunter, there are three more eggs out there, and we need to find them." Ember stated, to which Spyro and Spike were the first ones to nod their heads in agreement, hence the reason that Spike went over to Cosmos so he could ask him a question before they headed back through the portal, and it didn't take Elora or Bianca long to do the same thing, which showed her that both of them were more than willing to help them recover the last of the eggs, "So we're going to go back to Midnight Mountain, see if we can't find the other eggs, and maybe figure out where that key goes to while we're at it, or just find the Sorceress' treasure stash and ransack it so it could be returned to the Forgotten Realms."
"And we're all ready to go," Spike said, where both Spyro and Ember noticed that there seemed to be something else inside his satchel, not a hatchling since it wasn't moving, but instead of questioning what he was doing they focused on the portal and started to make their way towards it, to which Hunter sighed and just followed after them, as he had been hoping for a little rest before they tried to find the remaining eggs.
It didn't take them all that long to return to the battlefield that the forces their new friends had commanded had been in earlier, though now they were in the process of heading back home so they could repair the damage the Sorceress had done to their homes, before eventually making their way back to Midnight Mountain, where they found the sign that Zoe had left for them and the siblings sat around it while Hunter headed off to look elsewhere, basically allowing Sparx, Talon, and Cinder to head off to a new area only they could explore. Bianca, not understanding what they were doing, asked the group what was going on and Elora explained that there had been three other areas like this, one for each of the other lands they had assisted during this adventure, places that only their dragonflies were able to enter, leaving them to rest in the area around the sign that Zoe placed for them, and that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder had learned much from watching the siblings fight their enemies, so there was no danger of losing one of them. While they rested Spike made sure to pull out his journal and wrote down everything that had happened since the last time he had opened it up, revealing to Bianca that he kept rather detailed notes on everything he, his siblings, Elora, Hunter, their dragonflies, and everyone else did, and it even included rather well detailed descriptions of her and the other residents of the Forgotten Realms, which included Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, Agent 9, the Sorceress, and everyone they had assisted, giving her the ability to actually visualize the areas she was in and the people she was meeting. Spike also told her that he had done the same thing for their last two adventures, he wrote down everything that happened over the course of their quests to save the Dragon Realms and to liberate Avalar from Ripto's clutches, and that he only published a new book whenever their adventures were over, which meant that the one that contained everything from this adventure was going to continue until he and the others found and recovered the last of the dragon eggs, as only then would their quest be complete.
Bianca was amazed by what she was hearing and determined that the first thing she was going to do, when she got back to the Dragon Realms, was find a copy of the two books in question and see what the siblings did on their first and second adventures, as now she was interested in what they had done before coming to the Forgotten Realms to find all the eggs she had taken from them. Elora then went on to tell her that the friendly Gnorcs that ran an amusement park on Dragon Shores, an island that was the favorite relaxation spot for all the dragons in the Dragon Realms, had taken the first adventure and made a play out of it, creating a near perfect replica of what the siblings had done during that adventure, which included the final battle with Gnasty Gnorc and how they ultimately turned the tables on him. Of course that lead her to ask if they had completed their work on the second play, the one that involved the events from Avalar, and Spyro said that the Gnorcs had finished it some time ago, but, due to the craziness of the Year of the Dragon Festival, none of them really had the time to go see if they had done well, something they were planning on correcting once they were able to wrap up this adventure, which would be when they found the last couple of eggs they were missing. He even mentioned that, thanks to Spike's greater details, that the second play would be even better than the first one, and that this one was going to be the best out of the three once he was able to publish the book, both for historical purposes and entertainment purposes, something that greatly interested Bianca and made her wonder what she would find when she got around to obtaining one of the books and cracked it open. Spike understood her desire to read the books he had published in the past, where he made sure to tell her that he'd ensure some copies were found and delivered to her once this adventure was done, before he returned to his work as he carefully wrote down everything that had transpired since he and the others returned to Midnight Mountain, after clearing out Evening Lake, before he eventually stopped when Sparx, Talon, and Cinder returned to them with the egg they had found.
The dragonflies revealed the same thing that they told the siblings whenever they returned from the areas that Zoe found for them, where they acquired two hundred gems, giving them a grand total of fifteen thousand gems, fought off a bunch of mechanical insects that the Sorceress intended on sending out so they could crush the three of them, which was a weird idea in the grand scheme of things, and recovered one of the remaining eggs, to which Spike sent it back home like all of the others, giving the rest of the dragons another hatchling to care for... but as the group started to move, so they could head out and see where the last two eggs might be hiding, they found something that made them stop: Moneybags was standing on the bridge in the middle of the homeworld.
"Seriously, is he stupid or something?" Ember asked, as none of them were planning on moving just yet, because it appeared that he had no idea they were even in Midnight Mountain, like he was under the impression that they had gone back home after beating the Sorceress and her army of Rhynocs, giving them a chance to see what the greedy bear might be planning this time around, since they knew that he couldn't flee the Forgotten Realms without someone finding him and capturing him for his crimes.
"Yes, that he is." Spike replied, though while he didn't like calling other dragons or people stupid, it just felt wrong to him for some reason, Moneybags was the only individual that he felt could be slapped with that term and it would stick with no problem, though at the same time he had to wonder what sort of plan the bear had in mind so he could escape from the lands that the Sorceress had used to rule over, but, even as he considered that, he felt that it was fortunate that he had asked Cosmos about something before they came back to Midnight Mountain, as it appeared that he might be able to use the item he had asked about earlier, before he sighed, "So, shall we head over to where he's standing and see what he might want to talk about, or should we ignore him as we look for the remaining two eggs that are missing?"
"As much as I would rather not deal with Moneybags right now, we should get it over with," Spyro remarked, because he knew that Ember didn't care much for the bear in question, just like he, Spike, and Elora didn't care much for him while Bianca was only just now learning about the crimes this one individual had committed in the past, to which he sighed for a moment as he started to walk over to the other side of the bridge that Moneybags was standing on.
The others followed after him, as they wanted to see what the bear was going to say this time around, mostly due to the fact that he always had some sort of scheme in mind to get the gems that they had collected from the various lands that were scattered throughout the Forgotten Realms, though when they finally approached the bear he paused in what he was doing and stared at them for a moment with a look of worry in his eyes, clearing realizing that none of them were all that happy to see him again and that he had best be careful this time around.
"Moneybags, we meet again," Elora commented, where she crossed her arms for a moment as she stared at the bear that she, Hunter, and the Professor used to trust, before the siblings revealed that he was a criminal that was responsible for so much of Avalar's woes, and some of the woes that the residents of the Forgotten Realms had been plagued by, as it was time for them to deal with him and put his madness behind them, "So, what sort of crazy scheme have you been thinking about since we last encountered each other?"
"Actually, now that the Sorceress has been dethroned, and my only job has been terminated, I'm actually no longer in need of your gems," Moneybags replied, where the group rolled their eyes for a moment, as the bear was the only person they had met that classify working for the rather mad Sorceress, in the sense of what he had attempted to do to the four of them over the course of this adventure, as an actual job, "so I'm packing up and leaving the Forgotten Realms, since it is clear that I'm not wanted in these lands anymore and that the residents want my head for what I've done."
"You've learned from your mistakes?!" Ember remarked, as that was a surprise, that the bear had figured out that his actions had been in the wrong and that he might be learning from what he had done, which was rather disappointing due to the fact that she wanted to beat him up some more for his crimes, but if he had actually learned from his mistakes, and was going to turn over a new leaf, she was willing to see what he did and beat him if he messed up.
"You could say that, though I do have a grand plan in mind so I can buy my freedom so I can leave these lands and go somewhere else," Moneybags said, something that caused the group to roll their eyes as Bianca tilted her head, as that statement had ruined what they had been thinking a few moments ago, just like what happened whenever they met up with this bear, before he patted his sack for a few seconds, "a dragon's ransom, to be exact, but that's not something the lot of you need to worry about, so just leave with the knowledge that I won't be bothering you again and that this will be the last time we see each other."
Spike, upon hearing the specific words that Moneybags had said when he was telling them about whatever plan he had in mind this time around, decided to see if he could figure out what the bear was talking about, hence the reason he activated his Sage's Vision for a moment and peered into the future for a few moments, before frowning as he returned to the present and focused on the bear once more.
"Moneybags, hand it over." Spike stated, because thanks to peering into the future he was able to see what the bear had meant by a 'dragon's ransom', though he wasn't happy by what he had seen and now understood what the bear had, while at the same time Spyro and Ember glared at Moneybags as Elora and Bianca readied themselves for whatever was going on, since they didn't have the power that he had access to.
"What are you talking about? I don't have anything, other than the clothes on my back," Moneybags replied, his tone revealing that he didn't like being bothered by the siblings and that he was going to be leaving in the near future, though while he said that Spike noticed that he was sweating a little, showing that he was definitely hiding something and that his words had caught him off guard.
"I'm referring to the dragon egg you found," Spike said, because now it made sense why one of the clues had been crossed off on the map that Elora had given them earlier, back in Evening Lake when she decided to give them some help in recovering the eggs she had stolen from the Dragon Realms, though his words caused his siblings to be at the ready as Elora and Bianca did the same thing, which was when he tapped the side of his head for a moment, "and before you ask, I have a power that allows me to peer into the future for a few moments, a minute or two thanks to my training, so its easy for me to see exactly what you were referring to."
"Cursed dragons, is there anything you three can't do?" Moneybags asked, though as he looked at Ember, who was in the middle of hardening her tail with a smile on her face, showing that she was happy that she was being given a reason to punish him once more, he sighed before he opened the sack and withdrew the dragon egg he had found in this land, the golden key to his escape from the Forgotten Realms, before handing it out for Elora to take, who claimed it and then took a few steps backwards, "There, you got me, now get the beating out of the way so I can leave."
"No, not this time." Spike replied, to which he reached into his satchel and withdrew the item that he had obtained before they came back to the Forgotten Realms, where Spyro and Ember's eyes widened for a moment as they recognized the hammer-like scepter that he was now holding in his claws, even though he did have to sit for a few seconds to go all of this, before he focused on Moneybags, "This is the Scepter of Crystallization, a magical artifact that we recovered from the first villain that we defeated two years ago, something that changes size to match the user, and we've been researching it since we recovered it... Gnasty Gnorc used it to trap all of the dragons in crystal statues, which we freed them from, and then the three of us turned it on him when he tried to use the power against us. Since you haven't learned from all of the mistakes you have made in our presence, from attempting to take our gems and going to the cross realm war you were responsible for, and even suggested using a dragon egg to buy your freedom, its time that you received your punishment for all the crimes you have committed over the years."
Before Moneybags had a chance to really run, or understand what Spike was talking about when it came to the power of the scepter, Spike gathered the magic that was within the scepter, allowing it to charge in the crystal that was resting at the top of the artifact, before he blasted Moneybags in the chest, where his siblings, Elora, and Bianca watched as the bear screamed for a moment as the light green crystal spread over his chest... and then, after a flash of light that caused them to look away for a few seconds, the group found a crystallized version of Moneybags, standing in a position that was him guarding his bag of gems, standing where the bear had been.
"There, a fitting punishment for your crimes." Spike said, where he slipped the scepter back into his satchel and then stared at the statue he had left in the bear's place for a few seconds, as it was still an interesting spell to use, even though he was reserving it for the villains that really deserved such a punishment, just like Moneybags did, before he turned his gaze towards Bianca, "We should be careful whenever we get around to moving him, because the only way to break this spell to have someone like the bear free him, as the three of us were able to break Gnasty Gnorc's spell on the other dragons because the same species... for Moneybags, well, I think if someone from Avalar were to touch it they would free him, so we'll need either some dragons or some of the residents of these lands to move him."
"Okay, I'll figure something out," Bianca said, though at the same time she glanced off in the distance, towards the lone tower that the siblings and Elora had ignored the last couple of times they were in Midnight Mountain, before seeing something odd that shouldn't be there at all, where she figured she might as well tell her friends about it, "though it looks like, now that we have one hundred and forty-nine eggs and fifteen thousand treasure, the door to the Sorceress' treasure vault has opened... maybe she hid to the last egg in there?"
The siblings and Elora glanced at each other and shrugged for a moment, as it seemed like a decent place to check out for a few minutes, since they had no idea where the last egg could be hidden, though as they walked over to an area that would allow them to glide to the patch of ground the tower was on they had the feeling that it was going to be an interesting end to this adventure.
With Moneybags dealt with, and imprisoned so he wouldn't be able to flee at this point in time, the siblings, Elora, and Bianca headed up to the area that was near Harbor Speedway's portal and then glided through the air so they could reach the patch of land that the other structure was resting in, so they could see what was inside the Sorceress' treasure vault and claim it for the residents of the Forgotten Realms. Of course Elora had to reactivate the wing form of her armor so she could glide over the gap that was in front of them and Bianca used her magic to teleport over there in a matter of seconds, that way the five of them could land near the portal and ready themselves for whatever might be inside it, even though it was pretty obvious based on what little Bianca had told them. Spyro, Spike, and Ember had to assume that it was like Gnasty's Loot, which was the name that they had given to Gnasty Gnorc's treasury that they raided two years ago, to retrieve the gems that he had stolen from the Dragon Realms, where all they would have to do is track down the pieces of treasure and clear the area out, before figuring out what sort of secrets it had, if it had any in the first place. Once the treasury was taken care of they could turn their attention to the rest of the Forgotten Realms and try to locate the last egg they were missing, since Spike knew there was one left and had no idea where it might be resting, since not even the map Bianca had given them had revealed anything to them, and even their new friend was confused as to where it might be resting, though they made sure to ensure her that this wasn't her fault, as the Sorceress likely moved it.
After that the siblings decided that they would focus on the egg after they raided the Sorceress' treasury, because then all of them could devote their full attention to the search, hence the reason the five of them headed through the portal that was in front of them and headed to the starting area that was on the other side of the structure, though when they finally arrived at their destination they found themselves in a small tower that looked like the one that the portal structure had been built into, which caused them to look outside for a moment. What they discovered over the next few seconds was rather interesting, as it appeared that they were on a mountain peak that had been transformed by some rather powerful magic, just like the rest of Midnight Mountain had been at some point in the past, and that there were a large number of crystal mountains all around the transformed peak they had appeared on, though even as they walked outside the tower that was the starting area they knew there had to be more for them to discover. There were also blue crystals that seemed to be attached to the tunnels and parts of the peak that were around them, even though it looked like there were a few more towers in the area as well, where Spike felt the presence of portal magic and realized that the treasury had more than one location, as it appeared the Sorceress had spread her stolen wealth over a number of areas, before the siblings came and knocked her down. Spike could also see that the key the Sorceress had dropped earlier was reacting to being in this area, as it was glowing a little, something that told him that there was a very real possibility of the Sorceress moving Malefor's archives into her new treasury so she could keep it under lock and key, and make sure that she was the only one that had access to it, before putting the key away so he could focus on their current task.
As he did that, however, the siblings heard a sound that was rather hard for them to forget, as it sounded like one of the Egg Thieves they had encountered during their adventures, or just Thieves at this point since there were no more eggs for the individuals to steal, which made them wonder how they could have gotten into the treasury when the portal back in Midnight Mountain had only just become active for them, even if Spike had an idea on that.
"I think I've got an idea on how these Thieves were able to get in here: Teleportation Magic," Spike stated, where the rest of the group turned towards him for a moment, so they didn't have to focus on the annoying taunt that the Thieves gave off whenever they were making off with whatever item one of them happened to be stealing, be it an egg, a key, or possibly small chests full of treasure, even if the last one was just a guess since they had no idea how the creatures would carry stolen treasure out of an area, "Think about it for a moment, they've likely been trying to pierce the Sorceress' magic for a while now, to get inside the treasury so they could make off with her riches, and we presented them the perfect opportunity to do that, by battling the Sorceress and making her draw in so much of her power, which likely weakened the barriers protecting this place and allowed the Thieves to teleport themselves inside."
"Huh, that's... um... yeah, that's totally possible." Bianca said, though she was used to the Sorceress being the one she talked to whenever she wanted to learn or discuss something when it came to magic, but after having met Spike she was beginning to see just how little she actually knew about magic and how others might use it for their own gain, but when he mentioned all of that she determined that he had to be right and focused on what she could tell them, "Well, this is the Sorceress' treasury, there's no doubt about that, but it looks like the Thieves have arrived in mass, given that it appears they have brought some sheep saucers in to abduct some of the treasure as well, so it seems that if we want to reclaim the treasure we'll have to figure out a way to knock them out of the sky."
"Well, before we deal with the saucers, let's hunt some Thieves!" Ember commented, because this would be a good way for them to relax after battling the Sorceress and liberating the Forgotten Realms from her iron rule, something that her brothers and Elora agreed with, and their dragonflies seemed eager to get started on what was around them, as they could see a number of gems that were resting around the area already.
Bianca nodded and informed them that she would focus on seeing what she could do to help them get into the air so they could attack the saucers, along with the fact that she knew that Hunter might have slipped in here while they were dealing with Moneybags, to which the group of four nodded their heads and headed off, collecting the couple of gems that were near the starting area and followed the trail that was in front of them. One thing they noticed, in addition to all the snow that was on the ground of the mountain peak, was that there were a number of flagpoles that had green flags at the top of them, which seemed to be resting near the edge of the area so they didn't fall into the depths of the area, but that was followed by them focusing on the Thief that was right in front of them, who was holding a small wooden chest in one of his hands and was grinning at them. What they discovered was that the Thief ran in a basic circle around the tower that was the starting area for this realm, allowing the four of them to pick up a few gems in the process and find that there were two more paths that they could take, which might link up at some point since this place didn't seem all that big, and it wasn't long before Ember collided with the Thief's back, knocking it to the ground as it dropped the chest it was carrying, to which Elora claimed it as the Thief sighed and teleported out of the realm, no doubt heading back to the land that he and the others of his kind called home. That was followed by them opening the chest and discovering that, according to Spike's count on what was inside the wooden container, there were about a hundred or so gems inside the chest, as that meant that the chest was actually a Chest of Holding, much like the Bags of Holding he had created for all three of their adventures, though instead of discarding the chest Spike claimed it and slipped it into the second sack he carried, the one that had held the mind control necklaces Moneybags had sold to the residents of Felinia, so it was empty right now and was a perfect place to store the chest.
From there they walked up one of the paths they had spotted earlier and found that they had been right about what the rest of the realm looked like, as there were a number of towers that seemed to have closed doors, each of them also having a gem icon on the door with a number to indicate how much they needed to open the way forward, along with a pool of pink lava that they were going to ignore. After taking all of that in they group spotted a Thief nearby and the path that it took them on was to jump over a gap that was in front of them and enter the structure that was where the other path they had spotted earlier, when they were chasing the first Thief, was located, and the path eventually looped back up to the area that the Thief had been standing in earlier, allowing them to pick up a few more gems in the process as they cased their target down. It didn't take them too much longer to knock their foe to the ground and claim the chest that he had been carrying, allowing Spike to add the gems that were inside it to the bag the rest of their treasure was resting in and place the empty chest inside the second bag, though while he did that Spyro, Ember, and Elora looked out at the rest of the area and quickly spotted one of the other Thieves that were running around this realm, since that would allow them to complete their mission that much easier. The third Thief happened to be at the top of the curved walkway that they had found the second one near, where it seemed to run around the highest tower's base and around the area they were in, even if that revealed another Thief that was standing near one of the locked doors, where a bullseye chest happened to be resting, but instead of pulling off to deal with the new target they dealt with the one that they were currently chasing and eventually crashed into its backside, claiming another chest before focusing on the other one they had spotted, who had the simplest circle of them all and was easily flamed into submission.
Once that was done they emptied both of the Chests of Holding into Spike's bag and smashed the bullseye chest that was near them, giving them a great deal of gems in the process, before they spotted a fifth Thief resting near the rest of the towers and ran out to deal with him, where they had to jump over a few gaps between the patches of ground and made sure to avoid the lava, before colliding with him near another bullseye chest that they smashed... though with all of those gems the sixteen thousand gem door opened and allowed them to enter the tower it was linked to, where it was easy to find Hunter on the other side of the portal.
"Oh, hey guys, sorry for disappearing on you like that," Hunter said, as when they returned to Midnight Mountain he had disappeared after they had been there for a few moments, though they were just fine with him doing that since it was to find the last couple of eggs, even if there was only one missing at the moment, before he gestured to the end of the passage that they were currently inside, where the group found a submarine resting nearby, "I did a quick check on this old submarine earlier and determined that its okay to go underwater and fire missiles, so it should be ready for two of you to use to chase down any underwater Thieves and claim the treasure they're trying to steal... I mean, I know its not the eggs we're looking for, but we might as well take the Sorceress' loot and give it back to the people it was taken from, if they want it back anyway."
The siblings realized what Hunter was saying, as he was referring to the fact that Elora had told them to keep all of the treasure they had gathered while they were saving Avalar from Ripto and the chaos he was causing, with the help of the bear Spike had imprisoned, to which the group nodded their heads and headed into the water, where Elora and Spike used the submarine while Spyro and Ember stayed outside it, just in case there were any vases to break or additional gems to pick up. The area that they entered was like an underwater version of an area that one of Midnight Mountain's towers rested in, so it was interesting to ride the submarine around the area as they noticed that there weren't any vases to smash or gems to pick up, though there were seven other vessels moving through the cavern and they were what Spike and Elora focused their missiles on. Of course Ember, despite the fact that they had missiles that would pierce the armor of the submarines the Thieves were using and take their targets down, rushed through the water with her Warrior's Armor on and smashed her way through two of the submarines that foolishly got in her way, surprising the Thieves that were in the middle of using the vehicles in question. Spyro, on the other claw, just decided to relax and swim around the area as Sparx helped him collect the gems that fell from all the enemies that were falling, allowing them to be transported to the bag that Spike was storing all of them inside, before all four of them turned their attention to the remaining submarines that were in the area and continued to chase after them, showing the Thieves that were piloting them that they weren't going to let them get away with the gems that they were trying to steal.
After a few more minutes of following the rest of the submarines around the area, and smashing them with either a well placed missile or Ember getting annoyed and using her power to smash them, the group returned the submarine to the tunnel that Hunter had been standing in earlier, as it appeared that he had moved on after telling them about the fact that the submarine was good to go, and Spike did a quick check of the gems. It was then that he discovered that they now had over seventeen thousand gems, more than enough to break the lock on the other door they had seen earlier and left the area that the first door had brought them to, where they quickly returned to the main part of this realm and headed over to where the other door was located, where they quickly approached the portal that was behind the now opened door and headed through it. As such it only took them a few moments to arrive in the side area that the portal would allow them to access, where they found a peak that looked like it had been transformed into a skateboard course of some kind, which really seemed odd when the group considered what the Sorceress looked like and the fact that this seemed a little too weird for her to create, at least until Spike took a moment to feel the magic in the air and realized where most of the treasure was located. The treasure that rested in this part of the treasury, or the vast majority of it anyway, was resting in the form of the six Yetis that were waiting at the start of the track, with what appeared to be sleds inside of the boards they were expecting to use, and Hunter was standing near them with his skateboarding equipment on, showing that he wanted to test the area out and might have been challenged to a race by the Yetis, no doubt under the lines that if he and the four of them lost they had to forfeit the treasure they had claimed so far.
"Man, you guys sure took care of those submarines fast, as I just finished putting on my gear a few moments ago and then you step out of the portal," Hunter remarked, showing that he was actually going to spend some time on the course and see how skilled the Yetis were, while they took care of all the submarines that were in the underwater area, before he gestured to the individuals that were patiently waiting for someone to challenge them, "Bianca told me that this place is supposedly the best turbo-skateboard course in the entirety of the Forgotten Realms, and that its been missing for, well, a thousand years, no doubt due to the Sorceress using her magic to steal it so she could cripple the residents of the lands that she was taking over. She also told me that these guys are magical replicas of the Sasquatch Six, an infamous gang in the past, who used souped up snow-discs as their skateboards, since they came before the skateboard was even created, so it seems like they're the guardians of this portion of the Sorceress' treasure... and, since I figured she doesn't need it anymore, we could race the legendary team and take them down, and take the treasure."
At this point the group wasn't even surprised by the fact that the Sorceress stole something that didn't belong to her, given what she had done to take control of the Forgotten Realms a thousand years ago, which was why it didn't take any of them that long to find the area that allowed them to get on their boards and take their positions behind the Yetis, who had become active after realizing they had challengers at long last. Once all of them were ready, and the group was sure of it, the race officially began and all of them headed down the ramp that was in front of them, though as they did that Elora did spot an area they would have to jump up to later, as there was a gem up there, and the dragonflies did pick up every gem that they moved by, that way the siblings, Elora, and Hunter could focus on the race and not on collecting all of the loose pieces of treasure that the Sorceress left in this section of the realm. The first round was spent getting to know the layout of the course, since none of them actually knew it and the Sasquatch Six had an advantage over them, but even then the few tricks that the group pulled off allowed them to pull ahead of the last place Yeti and leave him in their dust, which was rather weird and Spike just determined that since they weren't the real deal, and had likely been waiting here for over a thousand years without anyone to practice their skills on, they were incredibly rusty and that was what allowed them to get ahead of the first Yeti. As soon as the first lap was over the group proceeded to perform a number of tricks that gave them a good boost, since Hunter was kind enough to make sure all of them had the same type of skateboard again, and it wasn't long before they pulled ahead of all the Yetis, who seemed confused as to what was going on as Hunter, the last of their group oddly enough, passed by the Yeti that had been in first place since the race started.
By the time they got ahead of their opponents the second lap was over, allowing the group to spend the entirety of the final lap putting some distance between them and the Yetis, while at the same time collecting the couple of gems that they had missed during the last two laps, basically allowing them to clear out the course of all the treasure that had been resting along it and let them claim victory since none of their opponents managed to catch up with them... though once all of them had crossed the finish line for the third time the Sasquatch Six shattered and the magic formed into a rather large chest that rested near the portal that would take them back to the main part of the realm.
"Yeah, we schooled them like a bunch of frost-bitten, flat-footed, molasses-eating, lead-pants-wearing, cross-eyed glacier-trolls riding slabs of plywood with sandpaper on the bottom!" Hunter exclaimed, showing that he was excited by the fact that they had won the race against the magical copies of the legendary Sasquatch Six, even if the siblings and Elora were more of the opinion it would have been correct if they had beaten the real deal, which was impossible since none of them existed anymore, before he glanced in their direction for a moment and rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, I got a bit overexcited there... but hey, at least we got the treasure they were guarding."
Spike opened the chest and his eyes widened for a moment as he saw all the treasure that was inside it, as it was yet another Chest of Holding and it seemed to contain at least a thousand gems inside it, maybe more along the lines of one thousand two hundred and fifty gems by his estimates, which put them well above eighteen thousand gems, meaning they could access another tower as they bid Hunter farewell, since it was clear he wanted to use the course some more. Once the four of them were back in the main section of the treasury they headed back to where the twenty thousand gem tower was located, making sure they left no gems behind, before opening the door that was their current destination, the one that required them to have eighteen thousand and five hundred gems, which was easy considering what they had picked up and gathered by that point in time. It was in that moment that they discovered that the door didn't reveal a portal to another part of the realm, rather it allowed them to walk over a bridge and enter another tower that had two openings, the first being the one they entered through while the other was where a Superfly-Superflame Powerup Gate rested, which meant they were going to take to the skies and blast the sheep saucers out of the air for the gems they carried. Normally that was when the siblings took off and sought out their enemies, though this time around they were surprised when Elora rushed through the Combination Gate and flew into the sky, where she located one of the sheep saucers and loosed a fireball at her target, blowing the saucer to pieces like the siblings would. Since her actions surprised the siblings she told them that the Professor had figured out how to allow her to use the offensive Powerups with her armor, even though she had refrained from doing so since there weren't any in the previous realms, something that caused them to smile as they headed out and sought out the remaining six saucers as Sparx, Talon, and Cinder collected the gems that fell from the foes they knocked out of the air.
With the four of them flying around the skies of the realm, and being able to loose fireballs at their targets whenever they got close to each other, it didn't take the group that long to find the remaining six sheep saucers and blow them out of the sky, allowing them to gather the rest of the gems, though as they flew around Spike noticed that there was a veil that seemed to shimmer as he got close, no doubt where the key he acquired went to, but for now he regrouped with the others as they counted the gems they had... a grand total of twenty thousand, which allowed them to enter the final tower and see what it had in store for them, even though they were totally surprised by what was on the other side.
"No way... how can she be here?" Spyro asked, because what they were seeing at the moment was a massive arena that looked like the one they had fought the Sorceress in earlier, and had beaten her in, though the main thing they were staring at was the individual that was hanging out in the center of the area, either ignorant of the fact that they were there or waiting to pull them into a trap of some kind, as the person in question was none other than the Sorceress, and she had a new scepter with what appeared to be the last dragon egg on top of it.
"I don't know how she survived our last fight, but she's not walking away from this one," Ember remarked, as she had had enough of the Sorceress and her plans to dominate the world, especially since it meant the deaths of hundreds of dragons to fuel her delusions, as she believed that Malefor was gone and this was just the Sorceress being insane about the entire thing, though that didn't stop her from growling for a few seconds.
"If you must know, I managed to cast a temporary Lava Immunity spell on myself, one that only lasts for a short period of time thanks to the strain it puts on one's magic," the Sorceress replied, showing them that she could hear them and that she wasn't happy that they had found out where she was hiding, hence the reason she turned and glared at the area they were standing in, which was currently above the arena that she was standing on, "I was hoping that you three would have left these lands for a time, allowing me to regain my power so I could invade your domain and kill every dragon while you slept, to gain the power I would need if I was going to face Malefor, but, once again, you decided to throw another wrench into my plans by showing up where you aren't wanted!"
"Just give up, you can't beat us." Spike stated, because that was the truth of the matter, as while he and his siblings were still a little winded from using the Aether for the first time, something that took longer to recover from than when he used his other spells and elements in a fight, the Sorceress had practically drained herself with those final attacks of hers and a new scepter wasn't going to do much for her, so if they got into a fight she was going to lose, and it seemed that both Spyro and Ember realized that, even Elora, who wasn't as familiar with magic as he was, knew it.
"Arrogant fools, I'll show you just how wrong you are," the Sorceress said, where Spike could feel the magic in the air as their foe gathered it and transformed the platform into another massive stone set of armor, just like she had done at the end of their previous battle, though it was odd for her to do that since her power had to be incredibly weakened after what happened earlier, though as the group considered what was going on Bianca stepped into the area and frowned the moment she spotted her former mentor again, "I didn't want to use this, not until I was ready to steal the power and life energies of every dragon in the lands you call home, but after our last battle I'm not going to take any chances, so I'm going to use all the stolen magic in this treasury to take the three of you down and steal your powers first!"
"Stolen magic?" Bianca inquired, though that was something that also surprised most of the group as well, despite the fact that Spike was considering what the Sorceress had just said, but it wasn't long before he figured out what she meant and Bianca was a few seconds behind as she connected the dots herself, "No way... you mean to tell me that after you used a spell to banish the dragons from our lands, all because one dragon beat you in a magical battle, instead of helping us out you spent the last thousand years stealing our magic and storing it in a safe place for you to use?"
"When I discovered that my foe was still alive, and that I needed to prepare, I make sure to take enough magic so that we would have to invade their lands for their eggs when the time came," the Sorceress stated, revealing that her plan was totally insane and that she might have gone mental at some point, which was believable given what they were seeing and hearing at the moment, but at the same time it revealed how much effort she went into planning out her revenge on an ancient dragon that was likely dead, "but with the power these three possess, and how they beat me earlier, I'm going to use everything I have access to at the moment, because taking your powers will allow me to overpower the rest of your kind and steal their powers as well! And then I'll hunt down and kill Malefor!"
The siblings sighed and determined that there was no talking to her, not when she had clearly gone mental and that she wasn't listening to them at all, which was why Bianca did the next best thing and tapped into part of the stolen power as well, something that definitely pissed off the Sorceress as she prepared to lash out at them by hurling a large Fireball at them, which Spike stopped with a barrier. It was only a few moments later when the three of them flew out of the smoke and took to the air, as Bianca had used her portion of the stolen power to grant them a temporary Powerup, as in all three of them gained the ability to fly around the skies of the arena, the Superfly Powerup, and Spyro was given the Superflame ability as well, to compensate for the fact that he didn't have magic like Spike or the armor skill like Ember, though he was more than fine with this arrangement. The first thing the Sorceress did, after seeing that all of them had escaped from her first attack, was create more spells to throw at them, as in she loosed a rather impressive Hellfire spread at Spike, as it was three times the size as the last one she used, Spyro was on the receiving end of a volley of Ice Shards, and Ember had a few Lightning Bolts heading her way, showing them that their foe wasn't playing around this time and that she was fighting to take them all down. Spyro decided to loose his own Superflame enhanced fireball at the incoming shards of ice, which caused the icicles to melt and disappear in a matter of seconds, Ember just ignored the Lightning Bolts by rolling through the air as she locked onto the chest area that the Sorceress was in, and Spike used another barrier spell to stop the Hellfire in its tracks, basically showing the Sorceress that all three of them were more than prepared for whatever tricks she had for them and that they wouldn't stop until she was taken down.
Since Ember was the closest one of them she rushed straight through the air and approached the area that their foe's suit of rock armor happened to be standing in, though as she hardened her entire body once more, and made sure that her claws were the sharpest of them all, the Sorceress channeled her power and caused a wall of stone to erupt from the lava that was all around them, but Ember was having none of that as she spun around in midair and used her speed to smash her way right through the Earthen Wall, before she swung her claws and cut a deep gash into the stone that was protecting their foe, not enough to hurt her but enough to show her they weren't playing around. While that happened Spike did feel the magic in the area they were in pulse for a moment, like the Sorceress was preparing to do something big while they were distracted, and it wasn't long before some dark clouds started to gather over the area that they happened to be fighting in, just like what happened whenever he used the Storm's Wrath spell, which was rather amusing since it was a hard spell for most dragons to use, especially since he was the only one that could cast it on his own, so what he did in response to that was nothing, merely adding a bit of his own magic to the spell while returning to the fight, making it seem like he had missed it. Spyro and Ember, who had seen him use the spell at least twice in the past, realized that there had to be a reason for him to do that and decided to ignore the darkened sky as well, while at the same time Elora knew that something was going on and beckoned for Bianca to say nothing, where she nodded her head as well as they focused on the fight that was taking place right now.
From there the Sorceress restricted herself to only Fire based attacks, where Spike understood that she was trying to boost the power of the attack she was forming and then, when it was ready to be thrown at them, she would attempt to unleash it upon him and his siblings, though in response to that Spyro used his own Superflame to cancel out the attacks that came in the direction he was in, Ember just smashed her way through hers as she dug her claws into the rocky armor their foe was using, and Spike either used a barrier to protect him or used one of the other spells he knew to cancel out all of the Sorceress' attacks that were coming for him.
"What's wrong, little dragons? Surely all of you have more power than this!" the Sorceress called out, where it wasn't hard for them to realize that she was taunting them into attacking her, which they could do quite easily since that had been what they did during the last fight, but this time around they were playing things smart and not just burning through their energy supply, especially since they hadn't rested after their previous battle with the former tyrant of the Forgotten Realms, "Or are all of you winded from all the power you spent earlier? It doesn't matter either way, because with this spell I'm going to waste all three of you and then claim your powers for myself!"
The siblings happened to be near each other when the Sorceress said that, giving her the idea to summon the Storm's Wrath without even bothering to make sure they were standing in one spot and wouldn't be moving for a time, but that just so happened to be the moment where Spike used his power and ripped the spell out of the Sorceress' hold, even if she had no idea what was going on, before the coiled serpent roared and burst out of the sky... where it slammed into the armor that the Sorceress was using and blasted it to pieces, scattering rock everywhere as she collided with the floor that Spike hurriedly created, before the three of them landed near by.
"Ugh... what happened!" the Sorceress demanded, her tone revealing that she really didn't understand what had just happened and that she was trying to make sense of the situation that had rapidly unfolded before her, though as soon as she spotted the three of them she raised her scepter and prepared to lash out at them, which was the moment that their friends stepped in as Bianca used her magic to restrain her arms and legs while Elora snatched the scepter that held the final dragon egg, before returning to the others.
"I stole the Storm's Wrath from you, that's what happened." Spike replied, though it wasn't easy stealing a spell that another magic user was forming, especially one as powerful and as destructive as the one the Sorceress had picked out, as there was a good chance of the other magic user noticing and detonating the spell early or luring a foe into a false sense of security and then smashing them with a spell they thought they had taken from their enemy, among other things, "Thanks to the fact that you were fighting all three of us, and your attention was split four ways thanks to that spell, I was able to add a small fragment of my power to it and you were none the wiser, allowing me to steal the Storm's Wrath from you and use it against you, hence the reason your Stone Armor spell shattered like that."
"So you've beaten me again, so what?" the Sorceress stated, where she struggled against the magic that Bianca was using to keep her in place, showing that she didn't much care for what her former apprentice was doing, though he eyes were on Spyro, Spike, and Ember, as it appeared that she had gotten a taste of their true power and had been hoping to bring them down so she could take it for herself, even if she was trying to win a battle against someone that wasn't alive anymore, showing the depths of her insanity, "I'll just come back when you least expect it, when your guards are down, and then I will make sure that none of you ever see anything again!"
"Yeah, I figured that you would say something like that," Spyro said, to which he glanced to Spike for a moment, who nodded his head as he focused on his bags for a moment and started to look for the time that would allow them to deal with the Sorceress, permanently to be exact, as it was a good thing that Spike had thought to ask the other dragons about the item before they left the Dragon Realms earlier, before noticing that the Sorceress was confused about what the two of them were doing, "We recovered some special during our first adventure, a scepter that our first villain carried and used to trap all of the dragons in crystalline statues until the three of us freed all of them from their prisons, and we have been studying it for the last two years, based on what I was told earlier, so that's what your punishment is going to be, for all of the crimes that you committed against dragon kind and the residents of these lands."
The Sorceress, realizing that they had something planned for her, started to really resist the magical bindings that had been placed on her body by Bianca, though even as she did that Spike pulled out the Scepter of Crystallization and fired a burst of magic right into her chest without wasting a single moment, which was where the group watched as the material started to cover her body and then shielded their eyes as the flash happened, creating a crystalline statue of the Sorceress, a mimicry of the statue she forced the Purple Villagers to make, that rested before them.
"There, she won't trouble anyone for a time," Ember remarked, as she knew that there was always the chance that someone might accidentally touch the statue and free the Sorceress from her prison, if they happened to be a resident of the Forgotten Realms anyway, though even as she said that Spike sighed as he slipped the scepter back into his satchel, to which she glanced at her siblings and their friends for a moment, "I guess this adventure is over."
Before anyone could say anything the egg that was attached to the top of the Sorceress's new scepter shuddered for a moment and Elora removed it so she could set it on the ground, where they watched as the egg hatched before their eyes, revealing not one hatchling, as was common, but two hatchlings resting in the eggshell, where one was a green dragon and the other was a white dragon.
"Is... is this common?" Bianca asked, because this was the first time she had seen two dragons hatch from the same egg, even though she hadn't seen the other eggs hatch after they had been rescued from where they had been placed after she and the Rhynocs had taken them, but she had to admit that this wasn't something she was expecting to see and was happy that the siblings had saved the pair from the Sorceress.
"Multiple hatchlings is uncommon, but not unheard of," Spike replied, though even as he said that he made sure to put a few enchantments over the new hatchlings, that way when they left this area they wouldn't be harmed by using the various portals to go from place to place, even if such a thing was highly unlikely, nearly impossible to be exact, but it was never a bad thing to be on the safe side.
With the Sorceress defeated and punished for her crimes, against both all of dragon kind and the residents of the Forgotten Realms, the siblings, Elora, and Bianca headed through the portal that had brought them to where their foe had been hiding and started to make their way back to the portals that would take them back to the Dragon Realms, as it was time to relax before they did anything else.
With the treasury cleared out of all the gems that had been deposited in the realm, and the Sorceress defeated for a second time and punished for her crimes against everyone, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, and Bianca left the arena they had found her in and headed for the portal that would take them back to Midnight Mountain, as they had two hatchlings to deliver before they did anything else. Hunter joined them not a few moments into their walk, mostly due to the fact that he had finished using the skateboard course, for a time anyway, and that he wanted to check in with them, though it didn't take him all that long to spot the hatchlings and realize that they had found the last egg that they had been looking for, even though it had hatched shortly after they had found it. As such he didn't say much as they returned to Midnight Mountain and four their way back to the area that the portal to the Dragon Realms was resting in, as the Professor made sure that a more stable one for them to use, or at last that was their assumption based on what they had seen in the past, before taking that portal so they could head back to their own homeworld, since this adventure was finally at an end. This time around the siblings were happy to be back, as they were now used to going out on their quests to save the lands from some sort of evil and finding certain things that were either needed for the quest, like the Talismans from Avalar, or recovering stolen items, like the eggs the Sorceress was after, and each of them were looking forward to the break that would be coming up soon so they could relax and enjoy themselves, before getting back to their training.
When they returned to the Artisans homeworld, however, they found that they weren't the only ones that had arrived from the Forgotten Realms, an area that they needed to find the original name of since they weren't 'forgotten' anymore, as it was rather easy to spot Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 standing near the area that the Professor was in, and all of them seemed surprised by just how peaceful this island truly was.
"This is where you guys live?" Sheila asked, speaking the moment the siblings and the rest of their group returned from their little expedition to find the last couple of eggs, though her tone suggested that she was amazed by what she was seeing at the moment, especially since none of them had been told what to expect when they stepped through the portal that had brought them to this island, "Its beautiful. I can see why Hunter spoke so highly of it, after we fought off the Rhynoc army the Sorceress had made to conquer our lands... I wouldn't mind spending some time here, relaxing and taking in the peace that is in the air."
"I'm sure Nestor and the others would be fine with that, once everything settles down," Spyro replied, because he had the feeling that the Leader of their homeworld would be more than willing to allow their new friends to visit the Dragon Realms, especially after everything they had done to help them recover the stolen eggs, including the fact that they had pardoned Bianca for her earlier actions and knew that she wasn't to blame for the deeds she committed, before he took a moment to consider something, "Oh, by the way, when you guys get back to Midnight Mountain you'll find a crystalline statue resting on one of the bridges, one that happens to look a lot like Moneybags, so just know that it actually is the greedy bear in question, as Spike used the scepter we recovered from Gnasty Gnorc to punish him... and the Sorceress as well, for that matter."
"WHAT?! You mean she's alive?!" Agent 9 declared, where it looked like he was priming his blaster as he considered what he was going to do the next time he saw the Sorceress, especially after everything she had done to the lands that he and the others called home, while at the same time the other heroes were a little surprised by that information, since they were sure the Sorceress had been slain in the first battle the siblings had with her.
"And punished for her crimes, contained in a crystalline statue as well, located in the treasury that we needed a good number of gems and eggs to get into," Ember said, though even as she said that Elora and Hunter noticed that Nestor was walking over to them and made sure to hand over the hatchlings that they had been carrying for the siblings, where the twins seemed to smile as they were taken by the Leader that approached them, even though they had no idea what was going on at the moment.
"It seems like it was a good idea on your part, Spike, to take the Scepter of Crystallization with you," Cosmos stated, as he and Argus, at the very least, joined Nester as they approached the group and noticed that they had come back with two hatchlings, meaning one of the last couple of eggs had hatched shortly after the siblings had recovered it, though even as he said that Spike dug into his satchel and withdrew the scepter, making sure it was back in Cosmos' hands, where they watched as it grew a little to match the user, the most interesting enchantment the scepter had.
"Yeah, it came in handy when we returned to Midnight Mountain," Spike replied, though at the same time the group moved down into the area that the other Artisans dragons, along with a number of individuals from the other clans and the other Leaders, happened to be sitting at the moment as they tended to the hatchlings and determined which of the six lands they belonged to, before he glanced at their new friends for a moment, "Oh, before I forget, be careful when you get around to moving the statues of Moneybags and the Sorceress, because if anyone from Avalar were to touch Moneybags' crystal, like Agent 9 for instance, it would free him from his well deserved prison, while if anyone from the Forgotten Realms were to touch the Sorceress' statue the same thing would happen."
"Noted. Maybe we can ask our new friends to assist us," Sgt. Byrd remarked, where he glanced at Elora and Hunter as he said that, revealing that he was talking about the Sorceress' statue and that he knew a few people from Avalar would be able to do the deed, while he and the others from the rediscovered islands would be able to do the same thing for the statue of Moneybags, though at the same time he and the other heroes weren't shocked by the fact that the greedy bear had been punished by the siblings and were fine with his punishment.
"With the Sorceress defeated, and the lands she ruled over have been liberated, I wonder what sort of knowledge we will find in her libraries." Argus commented, because while the libraries of Dark Hollow were extensive and well preserved, and there were a number of tomes and scrolls on the subject of the Forgotten Realms, all of which Spike had read at one point in the past, he was eager to see what the libraries of their former home had, provided the Sorceress didn't burn or destroy everything from before her rule, like some rulers did.
"I don't know, but I'm more eager to find Malefor's Archives," Spike replied, though as his comment caused Cosmos, Argus, and Nestor to raise their eyebrows, as they all knew the stories that mentioned the first purple dragon having his own private collection of tomes, scrolls, and everything else he deemed to be of importance, he reached into his satchel and carefully withdrew the crystalline key that he had recovered from the Sorceress, during their first battle when he and his siblings unlocked the power to use the Aether, "The Sorceress had the key to the first purple dragon's Archives, which we claimed during our first battle with her, and it wasn't until we entered the treasury that we discovered where she might have hidden it, or at least I figured out where it might be located, since Spyro and Ember were more focused on tracking down the Thieves that were running around the treasury."
Spike noticed that Cosmos and Argus, at the very least, were stunned by the information that he was giving them, as Malefor's archives were considered one of the lost dragon treasures, of which there were only a few things they called by that term, before Argus recovered and ran off to find the rest of the scholars, declaring that it was time to recover a piece of their history. Spyro and Ember weren't surprised by what they were seeing, as Spike was basically a representation of the scholars of Dark Hollow, so if he said he was eager to head back to the treasury and see what there was to see in the area he thought the Archives were in that meant the others would be the same way and would come running once they knew what he was going to be doing. At the same time, however, the group noticed that Spike made sure they knew just how important the structure in question was, as he spoke of it like it was an important place, like how they would label one of the realms and islands, while the Sorceress clearly thought nothing of it and mostly labeled it as an unimportant place just to piss them off, even if such a thing meant nothing to the majority of them. Of course they would have preferred to stay in the Artisans homeworld and relax, especially after having to fight the Sorceress for a second time, but they knew their brother would have pestered them to come with him, since this was the Archives that belonged to the first purple dragon and there was no telling what might be in there, so Spyro and Ember just decided to go with it, while Elora and Bianca were coming to see share the experience with them, though Hunter seemed torn about the decision for a moment or two before he decided to join them, even though Sheila and the others declined, due to the fact that they were going to be preparing a celebration, one that marked their liberation from the Sorceress' rule.
When Argus and the others returned to where the siblings were standing Spike lead them, Nester, Cosmos, and the rest of their now enlarged group back through the portal that was behind them, crossed the ancient battlefield once more, and returned to Midnight Mountain, where they made their way towards the tower that contained the portal that would allow them to access the treasury.
"I must say, this is a rather interesting place," Cosmos commented, speaking the moment they arrived in the final area the siblings and their friends had cleared out, taking in the sights of the treasury as everyone walked through the opening that was in front of them, allowing all of the dragons to see what Spyro and the others had seen when they came through here only an hour ago, before he focused on the task they had set for themselves, "Spike, where did you say you felt the presence of the Archives?"
Spike, instead of responding with a verbal answer, headed out and retraced his steps towards the area that he had seen the shimmer in earlier, when he and the others were flying around the realm as they hunted down the sheep saucers that the Thieves had brought with them, before eventually coming to a stop near the area that the bridge to the tower that contained the Combination Powerup Gate rested in. It was near that small bit of lava that Cosmos and the scholars, the latter having a basic understanding of magic so they could protect their own archives from disaster, noticed the shimmer that Spike had seen earlier, though now that he didn't have to worry about any Thieves, missing eggs, or having to fight an old foe, like he did the last they were here, Spike pulled out the key and focused his magic for a moment. What he was doing was preparing a revealing spell, one that would cause the shimmer to disappear and reveal the structure that the Sorceress had tried to hide, since he was sure that Malefor didn't have the time to hide it when the rest of the dragons had been banished from these lands and he disappeared shortly after they did. One thing he felt while doing that was that all of the stolen magic was leaving the treasury, no doubt returning to the lands that it had been stolen from, before instead of worrying about that he focused on his spell as he and the others watched as the shimmer started to disappear before their very eyes, revealing the structure that the Sorceress had hidden, no doubt because of the fact that it reminded her of the first purple dragon and her defeat. The Archives seemed to be a large circular building, as the siblings determined that it had to be more round than the arenas they had fought the Sorceress in, and it seemed to be at least two stories tall, but whether there were two floors or not remained to be seen, as that was something they could figure out when they went inside the structure, while they also noticed that it was made out of light gray stones that were neatly stacked, almost like an Artisans dragon had made it, and that there was some magic keeping it from being destroyed.
The walls weren't the only thing that the group could see at the moment, as there was a well crafted stone bridge, that was made from the same material as the Archives itself, that connected to the area they were standing on, there was a metal door, either iron or steel, that was definitely enchanted to resist being destroyed, and two statues that were on the left and right sides of the door, which were tall stone dragons that were dressed in armor, like they were the ones that could be the original Peace Keepers.
"The Archives... they do exist!" Oswin remarked, as all of the scholars knew the description of the area, thanks to what was in their scrolls and tomes from a thousand years ago, but most of them had been under the impression that it was a myth or a legend that was meant to encourage them to keep searching, so it see it with his own eyes, just like all of the other scholars were doing, left them without much to say and left looks of surprise on their faces.
Once the spell was complete, and the Archives were resting in front of them in all its glory, Spike walked over to the bridge and started to make his way towards the metal door, giving him a chance to admire the work that went into making what many would assume was a simple bridge, even though he did spot some indents that housed small crystals that lit the way to where the door happened to be resting. A few seconds later Spyro, Ember, and the rest of their group started to walk along the bridge as well, where it didn't take them very long to reach the area that Spike had stopped in, though that was when Cosmos and Nestor stepped forward to push open the door that was in front of them, as it was actually one of the doors that split in half when they were opened, allowing them to enter the Archives. As they stepped into the ancient structure a number of torches and lights were turned on at the same time, where Spike and Cosmos knew they had been enchanted to turn on when someone entered the Archives and were no doubt enchanted to turn off whenever that someone, or group of someones in their case, left the structure, though their jaws nearly dropped when they saw what was in front of them. The area that they were staring at was a massive library that was filled with rows and rows of books, magical tomes, and scrolls, where the group discovered that there were two additional stories to the floor that they were currently standing on, filled to the brim with knowledge that no dragon had laid eyes on for a thousand years, which nearly caused one of the scholars to faint by what they were seeing, but the others stopped that from happening before they spread out to see what else was in the Archives.
While Spyro, Ember, and Hunter just looked around, mostly to see if they spotted anything out of the ordinary that might be of significance and warrant any of the scholars to look at it, Elora and Bianca joined the scholars as they carefully picked up scrolls and tomes, finding that none of them looked like they were going to fall apart, where Argus reminded Elora that dragons took great pride in keeping their past intact, hence all the enchantments that went into making sure the Dark Hollow libraries didn't fall apart. Argus also remarked that whoever had made all the enchantments on the Archives, both the structure and the contents within it, had to be incredibly powerful, meaning it was either Malefor himself who created what they were seeing, which would throw many of the scholars into a coma if they knew they were touching something the first purple dragon created, or they were created by the Head Librarian who aided the legendary dragon, before the banishment spell was cast anyway. Sadly there was no way for them to tell who created everything, so for now all they could do was marvel at the treasure trove of knowledge that they were rediscovering and make sure all of this was made known to the Dragon Realms, as there were scholars and magic users that would love to see what they had found thanks to Spike and the others recovering the key to the Archives. Bianca was simply amazed by everything that was in the Archives, as she had no idea that the Sorceress was even hoarding all of this knowledge in the first place, and had to take a moment to wonder just what they might find if they spent some time going over the shelves and checked the names on all of the tomes and scrolls, something the scholars, Cosmos, and Spike would be doing for some time. There were also the second and third floors that needed to be explored at some point, where more tomes and scrolls were located, but for now the group remained on the first floor, taking in the sheer amount of items for them to look at, even if some of them might be bored of what they were seeing.
As the group explored the Archives, however, Spike came to a stop when he found a part of the wall that was opposite of the entrance that was bare, like there had been another opening at one point, before discovering what appeared to be a slot for a key, to which he pulled out the key he and his siblings had recovered from the Sorceress earlier and slipped it into the small opening. At first nothing happened, which would generally be something that caused anyone else to pull the key out and give up on what they were trying to do, but Spike knew that keys were meant to be turned and that was what he did, he used his magic to turn the key until he heard a clicking sound, which was the moment he let go of the key as he noticed something, purple runes were appearing on the once bare wall. It wasn't magically hidden instructions on what to do next or anything, rather it looked like the opening had been sealed by powerful magic and that the locks could only be broken by a dragon wielding the key, which gave them another reason as to why the Sorceress was so bent on taking out the dragons and using their energy to empower herself, she was likely trying to get inside whatever was on the other side of the opening so she could use whatever was in the next chamber to take down whoever opposed her. That was when all of the runes disappeared and a ball of magic appeared in the center of the opening, where the stone faded away and left a hole that lead into the next room, though as the others started to notice what he was doing Spike stepped into the next area and the ball of magic moved diagonally downwards a little, like it was following some stairs or a ramp, before it broke into two smaller spheres that went in two separate directions. Of course none of them were ready for what the spheres did next, as the energy contained in both of them ignited all of the lights that were in the next chamber, revealing a rather massive chamber that was nearly the same size as one of the main hub areas of one of the homeworlds back in the Dragon Realms, and there were more rooms around the perimeter of the larger room that were like the Archives that they had been in moments ago.
What really caught their attention were all the items that were scattered around the massive chamber, as there were statues made of gold, silver, and other metals, weapons and armor that looked old while still being in good shape, magical items that the dragons had long since considered to be lost forever, a few piles of treasure, and who knew what else, as it was easy to count eleven more rooms that were like the Archives they had been in earlier.
"Wow, what is all of this?" Hunter asked, because based on what he knew there was no reason for Malefor to have all of this stuff, especially since some of it looked rather important and should be with the races of the various lands that the siblings had assisted over the course of their latest adventure, while at the same time he could see that all of the dragons were surprised by what they were seeing.
"The stories were true... it really does exist," Spike replied, where he and the other scholars glanced around the rather massive chamber and considered everything they had read when it came to Malefor's Archives, though there was only one location, across all of the tomes and scrolls that the dragons had access to, that this could possibly be, though now he was starting to see why it was so hard to prove this place existed in the first place, as it was well hidden behind something else and had a very special lock and key that opened the way, "This isn't just Malefor's Archives... oh no, the Archives were only part of something far greater and much grander... this is the Arcanaeum!"
"Okay, you've lost me again." Bianca said, mostly due to the fact that everything she knew about magic was flying right out the window as she spent more time with Spyro, Spike, and Ember, though it was also due to the fact that the Sorceress made sure that most of what they knew about the time the dragons ruled these lands was sealed away or not talked about at all, especially now that she knew the reason why her former mentor did all of that, but she was still lost whenever Spike and the others brought up Malefor and what he did.
"The Arcanaeum is, according to legend, the place where Malefor did all of his private training, so others didn't learn any dangerous secrets, and served as a vault," Argus stated, though even as he said that he pulled off his glasses, took a moment to clean them of any dust that might be on them, and then put them back off, as if he had been worried that he was seeing things and this proved to him that they were actually seeing what he was talking about, "supposedly he would use this as a place to store all of the important and dangerous magical artifacts of these lands, in the times where the four homeworlds and their realms were under attack, that way none of our enemies could gain a weapon of power and use it against us, or against Malefor, since many foes did try to take him down over the years, with the Sorceress being the last one we knew about. Just think, all of these artifacts and relics have been sitting in this hidden vault, protected from the likes of the Sorceress, waiting to be returned to their rightful owners, and that's only the surface of the Arcanaeum, as the stories tell that there is so much more to this place than what we're seeing at the moment... who knows what knowledge we might discover while we're here!"
As Spyro, Ember, and Hunter joined the group in looking around the massive structure they had discovered, which was far larger than the outside lead them to believe, Spike noted several interesting items that were scattered around the area, the first being shimmering scales that had been woven into a suit of armor and almost looked like moonlight that had been reflected, making him think they were from the Midnight Serpent, while there was a fiery crown that was too large for a dragon to wear, meaning it was the Firelord's crown, a floating staff that had a chilly aura coming from it, which had to be from the story about the Yeti of the North, and so on. There were plaques that revealed the names of every item that they could see, like the Scepter of Felinia, no doubt handed over for safe keeping, the Jewels of the Sea, which likely came from Lost Fleet, what appeared to be a harpoon that clearly had magic dancing around it, though that explained why it was called Whalebane and was likely the weapon that dealt the killing blow to the Dread Whale, and so on, making him and the others simply amazed by what they were seeing. That was when he found that the side room he was walking by was rather bare, making him curious as to what might be in it, before he found a number of smooth crystalline spheres resting on top of some pedestals, each with a name that revealed exactly what he had discovered, these were Farseeing Stones, spherical objects that allowed individuals to converse over great distances and, depending on one's skill according to legend, about to see an area in question and let the one using it observe something that might be happening, but the knowledge to craft and use them had been lost a thousand years ago, no doubt housed inside the Arcanaeum so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. There were eight stones present, with names to areas that he would need to check the Archives for, but it was the ninth pedestal that caught his attention, as the Farseeing Stone that was supposed to be above it was missing and he knew the Sorceress didn't have it at all, otherwise they would have found it, so it was possible that Malefor had taken it before the banishment spell had gone into effect, and the interesting part was that it bared the name of 'Warfang' for some reason.
Before he even had a chance to process that information Elora called him over and he got a chance to see Cosmos tap a crystal that was in the center of the massive chamber, embedded in the ground for some reason, before a magical orb appeared above the gemstone, one that looked an awful lot like the planet that had been on the Professor's screens when they helped Agent 9 clear out the lab, meaning that this was a magical globe of their entire world, and there were even names for the landmasses that appeared all over it.
"It seems like Malefor and the rest of the dragons might have been mapping the world," Cosmos commented, though he certainly wasn't expecting to find something like this, as it revealed landmasses they never knew of before, while also showing the Dragon Realms, Avalar, a few other landmasses that they would have to search the Archives to learn about, and finally the one that the siblings had rescued from the Sorceress, "this could give us an idea of where the rest of the dragons went a thousand years ago, as not everyone landed in what became our new home, though I'm sure it will take a few years to truly go over everything they were working on before the Sorceress attacked."
"Interesting... according to this globe, the Forgotten Realms used to be called 'Avilion'," Argus added, as he took a few moments to see what the sphere had to say and he had to admit that he was interested by all the landmasses that they were seeing right now, mostly due to the fact that most of the would be new areas for them to explore at some point in the future, once they figure out how to get to each of them without opening portals everywhere, to which he glanced over to Bianca for a few seconds, "So, in addition to everything else you've heard so far, the Sorceress also erased all mentions of what you home used to be called, probably to make everyone dislike dragons and obey her rule, though I'm not totally sure how she aimed to accomplish that since she had to give the order to erase the name herself."
"Oh, at this point I'm not even surprised by what I'm hearing," Bianca replied, because she had gotten used to the fact that her former mentor was evil to the core and that nothing she did was for the betterment of her home or the various realms, which she had spent a number of years trying to help out, and this was nothing new, though now she had a rather important piece of information to tell Sheila and the others, once they were done exploring everything that the scholars wanted to check out before they decided to go home.
"Still, all of this is fascinating," Nestor said, though while he wasn't a scholar like Argus and the others, since his calling was more along the lines of carpentry and using his hammer on wooden structures, even if he could help others with the stone and metal structures they built around the Artisans homeworld, he was fascinated by all of the information they could gain from studying the Arcanaeum and its contents.
"Hey guys, you might want to check this out," Hunter stated, as he had moved out the moment he had seen what the crystal had done, even though it was interesting to see that Spike's theory about the dragons calling Avalar home for some time to be somewhat accurate, since they had Avalar on the map, and he had found a rather interesting room that he was sure the dragons would be interested in seeing, even if all of the outer rooms had to be that way, "there's a staff of some kind, which is floating in the middle of this room, along with a number of other weapons and bits of armor."
Spyro, Cosmos, and Argus were the first ones to reach the room that Hunter was looking at, where they stopped the moment they laid eyes on the room their friend had looked at, where they found a number of metallic armor pieces that were either made out of silver, steel, or the more rare truesilver, a metal that was somewhat resistant to magic, though it was in that moment they paused as they saw the staff Hunter had found, as it was roughly the size of Cosmos' staff, only there was a purple gem attached to the top and it had a magical ring of runes dancing around it, along with a smaller gem on the opposite end of the weapon, while the shaft itself had a golden coloration to it.
"Wha... What is that?" Bianca asked, as while she knew what a staff looked like, due to some of the tomes and scrolls she had read over the years depicting weapons such as this, she wasn't expecting to discover something like this while all of them were in the Arcanaeum, mostly due to the fact that it could have been discovered when the dragons came back to check out the rest of the ancient vault and to see what else it had to offer them.
"...Akilesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian..." Spike replied, because this was an artifact of power he wasn't expecting to find when they discovered the true nature of the Archives, mostly due to the fact that many of the stories that depicted Malefor had him wielding this very staff against his enemies and the dangers that these lands faced, meaning he had used his own incredible power and the power of this weapon in battle, so it was odd to see it here, since he would have thought the legendary dragon would have taken it with him when he fought the Sorceress, before he raised his wings to stop both Hunter and Bianca from approaching it, "Don't. There's no telling what sort of traps or enchantments Malefor might have placed in this room, before he sealed the Arcanaeum a thousand years ago, and I'd rather not trip one of them while we're here, as we could damage the structure and the rest of the artifacts in the process."
"Still, to think that we would discover Akilesh as well..." Cosmos said, his tone revealing that he was shocked by what Hunter had brought them to, though at the same time he knew the stories of this weapon and the considerable power that it contained, something that only a true master of magic could ever hope to wield without crumbling before the staff's magical might, so it was a good thing Spike had stopped their friends from touching the ancient staff, before he glanced out at the remaining rooms they hadn't explored yet, wondering what they contained.
"I think we have seen more than enough for one day." Argus stated, though the reason he wanted to leave wasn't due to the fact that he was tired of everything they were discovering as they explored what the Arcanaeum had to offer, rather all of this was exciting and it made him want to spend the next week to a month doing nothing but seeing what this entire structure had to offer him and the rest of the scholars, rather it was due to the fact that this discovery was Spike's and the dragon in question needed a day or two off, to relax from this adventure, before they delved into the secrets of Malefor's Arcanaeum and figured out what else might have been hidden from the Sorceress.
"As much as I want to spend the next month doing nothing but sifting through this place, and delivering the artifacts to their respective owners, I think some rest is in order," Spike said, though he had to prevent himself from yawning while he said that, because battling the Sorceress twice, stealing her own attack from her, and using the Aether for a brief period of time had left him feeling tired and it had been the excitement of visiting the Archives, before discovering that it was the legendary Arcanaeum, that had kept him going, only now it was fading and he was starting to feel tired, something that his siblings had to be feeling as well.
Spyro and Ember stopped themselves from yawning as well, showing that they were somewhat tired as well, which did make sense given everything they had been through, to which Nestor called for all of them to return to the Dragon Realms and get some rest, since Cosmos and the scholars needed to get back to the hatchlings, where they started to leave the Arcanaeum and head back for their home lands, as they would be back in the future, to see what other secrets and knowledge the structure had to offer them.
Spike yawned for a moment as he, along with Spyro and Ember, finally rose from their slumber and prepared to meet the new day that was in front of them, though they had fallen asleep in a different part of Stone Hill than what they were used to and took them a moment to remember what was going on when they looked at the area that was around them, which was pretty easy for them to do. After discovering the Arcanaeum and the artifacts that were inside it, along with the powerful staff known as Akilesh, the group had returned to the Dragon Realms and the siblings, who were finally feeling tired after exploring all of the realms that Avilion had to offer and battling the Sorceress twice, had sat down in Town Square, had a meal with their friends, and then, once that was done, they finally returned to the area that was their home and fell asleep in the area that Nestor and the others had prepared for the three of them. What that meant was that once the older dragons knew the eggs were hatching when Spike returned them to the Dragon Realms, something that still caught the siblings by surprise when they thought about it, Nestor and a few of the others came here and moved their stuff to a safer area, so that way none of the hatchlings would ruin anything they left behind, like the art pieces that they kept around to remind them of their first art session and so on. Of course the siblings knew that one day, likely when the hatchlings settled down and didn't need constant supervision from the older dragons, Nestor would likely finish work on the area that he was preparing for the three of them, as sleeping in a field all the time was fine for the first few years, but after saving three lands from danger he was of the opinion that it was time for them to have their own place to lay their heads and rest.
After thinking about that the siblings wished each other good morning and glided down to the main courtyard of the realm that was their home, where they found that Nestor and the other Artisans were already up, tending to the twenty-five hatchlings Lateef and the other Dreamweavers had determined were the ones that belonged to their homeworld, or rather all twenty-six of them, as the final egg they had recovered, which contained the twins called Yin, the green dragon, and Yang, the white dragon, belonged to the Artisans and, interestingly enough, the unhatched egg they recovered from the Sorceress, during their first battle with her, also resided in their homeworld. What they were seeing reminded them of what happened when they were younger, the older dragons were tending to the hatchlings, as in making sure they were fed and had them burp every now and then to be sure everything was alright, and they could see Lindar and Zoe standing near the unhatched egg as they waited for it to hatch, since the Year of the Dragon was still technically upon them, due to the length of time it ran, but they were sure it would happen soon enough. Of course the main part of the Festival was over, due to what happened before the eggs had been taken, though there was plenty of time for the egg to hatch and all three of them suspected that it would be fairly soon, based on the looks on Lindar's face while he focused on what he was doing at the moment, but as they landed nearby the hatchlings, seeing them, flocked over to where they were and tried to get up on their backs for a moment, to which they complied, since it would be fun to help play with the hatchlings. Yang climbed onto Spyro's back, Yin got on Ember's, and Spike wasn't exactly sure which hatchling got on his back, since there were twenty-three more hatchlings scattered around the Artisans lands, which wasn't counting the one that was inside the remaining egg Lindar was watching over.
With their passengers in position the three of them carefully rushed around the area, which was a speed between their usual walking speed and their charging speed, basically a quick walk, and the hatchlings giggled as they were carried around the courtyard that they were located in, giving the siblings a chance to see the rest of the new hatchlings that were in Stone Hill, all while giving the three hatchlings a greater view of the area they were in. When they neared the area that Lindar was in, and some sheep scattered in the process, the hatchlings headed off to do something else, either bored of the ride or deciding that the others were doing something funner and that they wanted to join them, not that the siblings were all that surprised since their focus hadn't been that great when they were little, until they gained a few years of experience and matured a little. From there they walked over to where Lindar and Zoe were standing and watched as the egg actually started to shift on its own, showing that their timing couldn't have been better and that they had woken up at the right moment, to which they watched as the egg cracked open and a small green hatchling emerged from it, who took a few seconds to stare in their direction, which was when Zoe picked up one of the nearby apples and offered it to the newly hatched hatchling, who devoured it in seconds and prompted Lindar to make sure the little one burped. While all of this was happening the other dragons that called Stone Hill home smiled as they tended to the hatchlings that were here, where the siblings were a little surprised to find that a few of them could actually take to the air for a few moments and could remain at the full height of an adult dragon for a few moments, showing that there might be some skilled dragons that would be joining their number in the future.
After a few minutes Spyro, Spike, and Ember big their elders farewell for a time and they headed through the castle so they could use the exit portal to take them back to the main hub area of their homeworld, mostly so they could head over to Town Square and see what Elora, Hunter, and Bianca were up to, as they insisted on sticking around to help them tend to the hatchlings, and it was the best place to get breakfast since none of the hatchlings were allowed in that realm, due to the danger areas they knew about.
"Its good to see that the three of you are energized for whatever the future holds," a voice said, where they found that Bianca was actually sitting near the area that the portal to Stone Hill was located in, though she was sitting on the shortest of the three pillars the siblings remembered climbing on in the past and she was closing a book after putting a bookmark in to keep her place, not that the siblings were surprised by this.
"Well, we needed a good nights sleep after all the adventuring we did," Spyro replied, to which Spike and Ember took a moment to nod their heads in agreement, as they had explored the entirety of the Forgotten Realms, now Avilion and they realized that they needed to constantly remind themselves of what the land's old name used to be, so they didn't slip up in the future, before he focused on Bianca, instead of worrying about what to call her home, "I'm surprised you're out here, in the hub area for the Artisans homeworld, instead of being with Hunter and Elora, especially since you were so keen on helping them and the other dragons tend to the hatchlings."
"I wanted to take a break from all that... and besides, Cosmos was kind enough to lend me a few books," Bianca said, where Spike noticed that they were all books that covered the basics on how to wield magic and the spells that a novice could use, where she rubbed the back of her head for a moment as she noticed that Spike had seen the titles, no doubt recognizing them due to the fact that he had read them once in the past, "After seeing you guys fight the Sorceress twice, and discovering the sheer amount of magical knowledge in the Arcanaeum, I realized that my knowledge on the subject of magic and my overall skill were... lacking... and Cosmos was willing to lend me a few books so I could actually learn how to wield the vast powers that come with tapping into the elements and the types of magic, even though I'm sure that I'm not going to reach Spike's level for a number of years."
"I'm sure you'll do fine." Spike stated, because he was sure that Bianca had the skill to be a rather decent magic user, potentially on the level of power that Cosmos commanded, since he was the strongest Magic Crafter in the Dragon Realms at the moment, even though he was sure some of the dragons considered him to be the strongest magic user in the lands they called home, especially after he revealed what he did at the end of their last adventure, "You were able to break the Sorceress' seal on the area we fought her in, were able to open a few portals for us, and were able to restrain your former mentor when we confronted her the second time, so I'm positive that, once you have some real training, you'll be able to cast even stronger spells in no time."
"I'll take your word for it, Spike," Bianca replied, where she glanced down at the book she had been reading before the siblings had approached her, taking a moment to think about what she had seen Spike do and wondered if that was even within her abilities, even if summoning and controlling the Storm's Wrath on her own was out of the question, though that was when another thought came to mind as she glanced back up to the siblings, "Oh, before I forget, you guys won't have to worry about the celebration that the residents of the Forgotten Realms... sorry, Avilion, that's going to take some getting used to saying... are going to be hosting today, as Sheila and the others promised me that it would be ready at the time they specified earlier, as in this afternoon."
"So, are you and Hunter going to kiss during the celebration?" Ember asked, mostly because she had seen how Hunter reacted whenever Bianca was in danger, especially when they found her practicing her spells in Midday Gardens and he was the first one to rush to her aid when her creation got out of hand, as Hunter later put it, as it was clear to her that their friend was in love with Bianca, even if they had only just met.
"I don't know... when are Spike and Elora going to go on a date and kiss?" Bianca replied in kind, because while she really didn't know the group all that well, given that she only had a day or two's worth of spending time with them, it was clear that they were like her and Hunter, or at least that was her assumption based on what she had seen, but even as she said those words she did wonder what would happen during the celebration.
Spike was definitely a little embarrassed by the direction the conversation had gone in, but, at the same time, it did seem like Bianca was trying to hide the blush that was on her face, no doubt thinking about what she and Hunter might do when the celebration happened, something she was definitely looking forward to since it would declare their freedom and welcome in the new future that was in front of them, now that they didn't have to worry about the Sorceress and her foul plans anymore. Of course thinking about that made Spike recall the fact that Bianca had passed on the information about the two crystalline statues he had left after using the Scepter of Crystallization on both Moneybags and the Sorceress, an item that he returned to its rightful resting place, and suspected that Moneybags' statue had been moved already, likely to either part of Avilion or maybe back to Avalar, though the Sorceress was likely going to be moved to a public area in the lands she tried to rule over. Elora, on the other claw, that was something he wasn't sure about, as he knew they had done a few things since Ripto's defeat, like dancing and having fun in the others' presence, so he wasn't sure if the two of them were a thing like Bianca and Hunter were, but he guessed he would have to see what the future held for him, instead of worrying about what their friend had just mentioned, even if Spyro rolled his eyes as Bianca made her comment about him and Elora. He really wasn't surprised that Spyro did that, mostly since his brother wasn't in the mood for love and his relationship with Lila was likely going to come crashing down at some point, even though Spyro was trying it out and it really didn't seem like things were going anywhere... though there was also the chance that his brother was only interested in dragons and that was why he didn't like the conversations, since there were no other dragons their age.
In the end, however, Bianca decided that they had talked enough about their relationships and headed back to Town Square so she could join Hunter and Elora, to which the siblings joined her and followed her through the portal, and once they were back in the realm in question they found their way to where their friends were waiting and joined them for the morning meal, which was the reason behind their visit to this realm in the first place... what they weren't expecting, on the other claw, was the fact that Titan and Cosmos were still visiting their homeworld, since the siblings would have expected them to go back to their lands once everything was taken care of.
"Titan, what are you and Cosmos still doing here? Shouldn't you be back in the Peace Keepers homeworld, tending to all of the hatchlings that we rescued?" Ember asked, as she was a little confused as to why the two Leaders were even still here in the first place, hence the reason she was asking one of them what was going on, though if something was wrong she knew that she and her brothers, along with Elora, Hunter, and Bianca, would be able to take care of it, though she did see that their friends weren't worried by the presence of the Leaders.
"And we'll be leaving soon, but not before speaking to your friends," Titan said, showing that they hadn't stayed back in Nestor's land purely to speak to the siblings, rather this time around they were here to speak to the individuals that had helped them during their latest adventure, or at least that was what Ember was assuming and that seemed to be the case as he turned towards Hunter and Elora, "Hunter, after having a chance to witness what you're capable of, and hearing about your training in Avalar, I would like to offer you the opportunity to train with me and the rest of the Peace Keepers, to further advance the skills you displayed during the battle against the Rhynoc army, and I would like to offer the same to you, Elora, as I have no doubt that the skills you have gained over the last year helped you out, as you assisted Spyro, Spike, and Ember in their quest to recover the eggs, so you may hone your skills as well."
"Hold on, you want us to become Peace Keepers?!" Hunter stated, as he hadn't even considered such a thing to be the reason why the Leaders had chosen to stick around Town Square so they could talk to him and the others, though even as he said that he had to wonder what sort of training they would start with, since Titan had no idea where he and Elora were in terms of their own lessons, despite the fact that Elora was far ahead of him.
"Honorary Peace Keepers, to be exact, similar to how we labeled Ember until her knighting ceremony," Titan replied, not that he was surprised by Hunter's remark, as he had seen how the cheetah used both his bow and arrows, along with a pair of short swords that he had a rocky understanding of using, something that could be corrected if he were to accept the lessons that he and the other Peace Keepers had to offer, before he returned to the topic they were discussing, since it was the last thing he needed to do before he went home, "Think of it this way, we can help you become better warriors so that you can defend Avalar from any other threats that might come knocking... or help out with another adventure, if one happens to come our way again."
"And with everything we might learn from the Arcanaeum, there very well might be one in the near future," Cosmos added, because what he and the others had seen was far more than what they were expecting to find, as the contents of the Arcanaeum would keep him and the scholars busy for years as they discovered all the lost knowledge and powerful artifacts that Malefor went through so much effort to hide from the enemies of their kind, though the part of his statement about the 'near future' was more in reference to the siblings, mostly since Spyro, Spike, and Ember had a habit of finding themselves in odd situations that further expanded what they knew about the world, before he shook his head as he put those thoughts off to the side for a time, "however, just as Titan is offering the two of you some training in the art of battle, I would like to do the same, only my offer is for you, Bianca."
"Me? Are... are you sure?" Bianca asked, as while she knew that she had impressed Spike a little, or at least she had to assume she did to some degree, she wasn't aware of the fact she had done the same to the Leader of the Magic Crafters, especially since her skills were nothing in comparison to what the star of their clan, even if she knew Spike wasn't one of the Magic Crafters, could do with his power.
"Indeed. You have potential, that much I know for sure, and I'd like to help you grow," Cosmos replied, though even as he said that, and knew that Bianca would end up accepting the offer, because he could see that she desired to know more about magic and this was her chance to finally stretch her wings and soar, in a sense, but as he did that he turned towards the individual that he really wanted to talk to, since he knew this was going to make an impact on what the young dragon would be doing in the near future, "however, I'm afraid that I have some bad news. Spike, due to the emergence of the Aether in your arsenal of power, you are going to surpass what little I have left to teach you in three to six months, and I have no doubts that you'll take to the Arcanaeum once we find out what sort of magic is left inside there... but, well... how do I put this?"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember had never seen Cosmos like this, as it seemed that the Leader of the Magic Crafters was in the middle of getting ready to say something that would shock them and was worried about what Spike might think of him once he said what was one his mind, while their friends had no idea what was going to happen, even if they were caught off guard by the fact that Cosmos admitted that he wouldn't be able to teach Spike for much longer.
"Cosmos, what is it?" Spike asked, because he was sure that whatever seemed to be bothering the Leader right now was something that they could talk about for a few minutes, as he was positive that the Artisans that loved to cook would be done in the near future and breakfast would be served soon, and he really wanted to hear what Cosmos had to say about him learning magic from him, even though he was well aware that he was getting dangerously close to clearing out the rest of the tomes, magical or otherwise, that the Dragon Realms had to offer him.
"We're going to elevate you to the rank of Archmage," Cosmos stated, deciding to get straight to the point of what he wanted to tell Spike and that there was no use beating around the bush, especially since the young dragon had the power to peer into the future and could have seen what he was going to say if he wasted too much time in getting to what he was going to tell him, though that was when he saw the shocked looks on the faces in front of him, "I have discussed this with the other Magic Crafters, and we have gone over everything you have done since we started teaching you how to wield the vast magical powers that we know about, and while a twelve and a half year old dragon becoming an Archmage is totally unheard of, save for the possibility of Malefor, it is a position that you deserve. Of course you'll need to go the ceremony of calling your staff to you, like all of the Archmages that have come before you, but something tells me that you'll do well once it comes time to undergo this honor."
Spike, even though he was silent for a time, nodded his head as the Leaders excused themselves and headed back to their homeworlds so they could tend to their own hatchlings, but after a time Bianca and the others asked him what was going on and he told them, as breakfast came, that an Archmage was a dragon that had mastered all of the types of magic that were available to all of them, or at least to a degree. It was, in some ways, similar to the title that Ember had gained after her knighting ceremony a year ago, only issued to magic users like him or Cosmos, and it also allowed one to be a potential candidate for the position that Cosmos currently had, but all of the other Archmages had been named as such after they reached their maturity, basically after reaching fifteen years ago, so if this ceremony worked he would be the youngest Archmage in the entirety of dragon history. He further explained that calling a staff was part of the process, one where he would tap into his magical power and summon his staff to his side, which meant that it would either be crafted out of the available material that Cosmos would be preparing for the event, something that was how most of the other dragons who went through this created their weapon, or an existing staff would be summoned to his side, which was rather unlikely given how the previous dragons went through this process. Hunter then decided to joke about the chance that he might end up calling Malefor's staff to his side, though Spike didn't humor him by talking about it, because the only dragon that could wield Akilesh was the one who created it and even he wasn't sure he could handle the sheer power that the staff possessed, before they left the conversation behind and dug into their food.
After eating breakfast, and spending some time resting and making sure the hatchlings were okay, Bianca finally got up and told them it was about time that they returned to Avilion so they could head to the celebration that Sheila and the others were throwing to celebrate their liberation from the Sorceress and, more importantly, to honor the heroes that had freed them and their realms. Thanks to the portal that the Professor had set up, in the area that the portal to Dragon Shores rested in, the siblings and their friends were able to return to Midnight Mountain with ease, where they spent the next hour using the rocket to get back to Evening Lake, as Bianca told them that the celebration was being held in Fireworks Factory, this time actually using fireworks to celebrate something. The Professor's ship, as they rediscovered, was large enough for all of them, as in the four of them that had used it before and now they were being joined by Hunter and Bianca, though it was a chance for them to rest and allowed Spike to continue his work on the third book he was writing for the series, just to pass the time before they arrived at their destination, while the others either looked out at the area they were flying through or just read the books they had brought with them, which the latter was what Bianca did for a good portion of their journey. Hunter and the others were thinking about what they had learned over the course of this morning, about Titan wanting to train some of them to be better warriors and Cosmos wanting to do the same with Bianca, though for the most part all of them were more interested in seeing what the celebration had to offer them, as all of them were sure Sheila and the others had something grand planned for the event.
When they finally returned to Evening Lake, and the ship came to a stop, the group headed for the water and Spike made sure that all of them had the Water Safety spell on, that way none of them had to worry about goggles and all of the stuff Hunter used whenever he and his siblings found him underwater, and once that was done they headed through the portal to Fireworks Factory and headed to the realm in question.
What the siblings and their friends discovered upon their arrival in Fireworks Factory, and they appeared in the area that they had started their adventure in this realm in, was that there were a number of individuals already here, such as Princess Ami and Prince Azrael, the leaders of the other races, Lord Capulet and Lord Montague, their friends that they had rescued from Moneybags, and a number of individuals from all the realms of Avilion, who were smiling as they talked about things and helped themselves to the food that had been provided. It was interesting to see their friends and allies from Avalar interacting with their new friends and allies from Avilion, especially with a number of dragons that were here as well, even though the Leaders opted to stay behind and look after the hatchlings with some of the others, so some of them could enjoy the celebration and the others would tend to the next generation. That just meant that once this was over, and everyone went back to their realms, that they would make good friends with each other once the Professor was done linking all three of the lands together, in a better way than what they currently had at the moment, especially since the siblings had to spent an hour on the rocket to get from one homeworld to the next, but they were happy to see what everyone was up to. In fact there were Satyrs from Fracture Hill providing music that everyone danced to, the Fauns of Molten Cone were dancing with the Purple Villagers and Lions, and the siblings were sure they spotted Romeo and Juliet off in the distance, no doubt the reason their fathers were present, to make sure nothing happened to them, and that wasn't mentioning all of the other individuals that were scattered around the realm, as they were using every bit of the factory for their celebration by the looks of it.
Shortly after taking in the sights the group ended up splitting up, where Spike and Elora went over to the area that the dancing was taking part in, allowing them to join the dance session that was happening at the moment, while Bianca and Hunter joined hands as Bianca quickly took them to a higher position so they could have some alone time, leaving Spyro and Ember to do whatever they wanted. Ember was fine with this, mostly because it allowed her to walk over to where the rest of their new friends were standing and let her see how they were doing, where Sheila informed her that she had to deal with the Mountain Goats that were still trying to prank each other, especially since one of them had been hit into the side of a rock wall after she left to help the siblings in the other sections of the realms they found her in. Sgt. Byrd was with his Fairy friend, where he actually admitted to the fact that, while it was against the rules that he was used to following, the two of them were in a relationship and that they were interested in seeing where it took them, which was a surprise to most of his friends that heard him say it, but all of them were happy for them. Bentley, on the other hand, informed her and Spyro, who walked over to join them since it would be funny to tell of of this to Spike once the celebration was over, that he and the others were going to form a Council that would be made up of several important individuals, such as the four of them, due to them being the heroes of their respective homeworlds, Bianca, for all the work that she put into trying to help all of the realms out, and Prince Azrael, since it seemed like Felinia might soon become a land of Avilion now that the Sorceress was no longer in charge. Agent 9 surprised the pair with how calm he was, mostly because they expected him to be a little crazy after the war with the Rhynocs, but according to him, who got this information from the Professor, that battle had finally snapped him out of the crazy point in his life where he needed to act that way, basically showing that he would be returning to his previous self, the one that Elora and Hunter knew, in no time, even though he would still have a few bouts of intense excitement in the future, so he'd be about the same as he was when the siblings freed him from the cell Moneybags had put him in.
Of course that was only six members and they were currently deciding who else might join them to make it seven, just in the off chance they ever had to vote and could make sure there was no tie that left them unable to make a decision on something, though as that happened Lila, the Faun that Spyro had been hanging with for some time, approached them and asked if she could speak to Spyro, alone, who agreed and walked off with her... to which the rest of the group watched as the pair had a private conversation that was far away from everyone else, though it ended with the two of them going their separate ways, which was followed by Spyro rejoining them as Lila walked over to one of the Satyrs, who seemed to be waiting for her so they could dance.
"Oh my," Sgt. Byrd commented, as the group had an idea of what might have happened, even if Spyro seemed to be unfazed by what Lila had likely said to him during their rather quick private conversation, despite the fact that the Faun had other plans for the celebration and was in the middle of partying, or maybe she was just enjoying herself and would be on the lookout for someone else to date in the future, "Spyro, are you alright?"
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Spyro asked, because while it was a little sad that the more romantic part of what he and Lila had been doing was over, even though they only shared a few dances to the best of his knowledge, it wasn't like he was losing a friend or something, so he wasn't sure why the rest of his new friends were looking at him like they were just waiting for him to cry about what had just happened.
"Spyro, dude, you just got dumped." Agent 9 remarked, where he actually kept his voice down for once, which was a surprise for his friends and showed that he was making sure not to broadcast it to the rest of the guests that were in the middle of enjoying the celebration, even though he was pretty sure someone would figure out what was going on when Spyro rejoined the party and danced with someone else, "I'm sorry for your loss, since I'm sure you were enjoying it as much as she did."
"Guys, its no big deal. We both agreed that, while we enjoyed the other's company, it was never going to work out for the two of us, so we decided to break up and go our separate ways," Spyro explained, showing that his relationship with Lila wasn't like what Bianca and Hunter had, or what Spike and Elora might have, and that he wasn't sad about what they had just done, as he was sure Lila would find someone else who connected with her more than he did, though at least he could see that Ember understood what was going on.
"Oh, I understand why the romantic bonds between you have been broken, you're looking for an individual that is of the same species!" Bentley stated, showing them that the smart Yeti had figured things out for himself, which caused the others to nod their heads in understanding, especially Spyro, whose nod confirmed the statement Bentley had made, and that also showed his friends from Avilion that he was looking for someone special, even if he had no idea when that would even happen since there weren't any other young dragons in the world that were near his age, or at least that was what he and the others assumed anyway.
Ember, however, did refrain from mentioning the art piece that Spyro had made during their first art session, the one that seemed to depict a young black dragoness, if what she recalled was to be correct, and yet her brother had no idea who it was supposed to be or why it had suddenly come to him while he was making his art piece, but she said nothing about it since it wasn't her place to talk about it. Of course, as she considered that, one of the Hummingbirds flew over to where they were standing and informed Sgt. Byrd that it was time, whatever that meant, to which their friend excused himself for a time and headed off to join the Hummingbird, something that caused the Fairy to shake her head for a few seconds, like she was annoyed that the military life was interrupting him once more. Not even a few moments later their attention was turned towards the sky as fireworks started to shoot into the air and explode in a vibrate display of colors, to celebrate their victory over the Sorceress and the liberation of Avilion from the evil rule that had been forced upon them, and that wasn't the only thing that happened as Sgt. Byrd and the Hummingbirds let off the fireworks. It was during that moment that Hunter and Bianca, who had been dancing on a roof that overlooked the area the music was coming from, stopped and kissed, showing that what they felt was definitely true love and not something that was temporary, while at the same time Romeo and Juliet did the same thing, showing their fathers that they were not messing around either, and that was when Spyro and Ember watched as Spike and Elora sat down next to each other and Spike draped a wing over Elora as they watched the fireworks.
Ember chuckled for a moment as she and Spyro joined the celebration, mostly keeping the chuckle light so only her brother could hear it, though for now her attention was on enjoying the party that was unfolding around them, as she did know that the next couple of weeks were going to be rather busy and there might not be a moment to enjoy something like this, so she intended to enjoy the party to the fullest as she waited to see what the future held for them.
After the celebration that the residents of Avilion held, to mingle with the rest of the people from the other realms of the lands they called home and from the other lands the siblings had assisted, not to mention celebrate their liberation from the rule of the Sorceress, Spyro, Spike, and Ember made sure that Fireworks Factory was cleaned up and ready to go for when the residents of the realm got back to what they actually did, before the Sorceress tried to enforce her rule on them. Their new friends returned to the homeworlds that happened to be their homes and got themselves ready for what the future held for them, mostly because they were going to become members of the new Council that was being formed, so right now they were more focused on enjoying the rest of their free time before they started to fulfill their new duties, of which there would be many. Of course Bianca would be joining them, since the residents of the realms of Avilion knew that everything she had done was for their benefit, even if she had been either misinformed or used by her former mentor, but as she did that she also started the lessons that Cosmos offered her, because she wanted to learn more about magic and learning from the Leader of the Magic Crafters seemed like the best thing she could think of, especially since Hunter and Elora would be doing the same thing with the Peace Keepers. Not only that, but they also got a chance to see the siblings whenever they did their own training, where Elora and Hunter were fascinated by what Ember was able to do in her young dragon body, since all three of the siblings were a few years away from reaching their maturity, and Spyro was generally nearby, using the sounds of his sister's training session to help him out with his own training, since he seemed to be in the process of trying to master his own power.
Spike's training, however, left Bianca speechless, as she had seen the purple dragon in question when he was fighting the Sorceress, both in her own stronghold and inside the treasury, but it was another thing to see him channel the powers he had access to and use spells that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters were always surprised by, like how he used the Storm's Wrath with ease, and was getting used to the strain it put on his body, and a number of spells that she couldn't even imagine using in the future.
When the siblings weren't busy with their training, or busy with their studies in Spike's case, the three of them took some time to hang out with the hatchlings they had saved from the Sorceress, mostly because it allowed the rest of the Artisans dragons some time to rest for a time while they watched the siblings play with the next generation, something that brought some smiles to their faces. One other thing the siblings did was return to Dragon Shores after the celebration was over, where this time around Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and their friends from Avilion joined them, allowing everyone to see why the dragons liked this island so much and why it took some time for them to allow the Gnorcs to build their rather large amusement park, which one could hardly see from the beach that rested near the six portals that lead back to the homeworlds the dragons lived on. It was during that time that Nestor and the other Leaders told Bianca that a number of the other dragons, a few Magic Crafters, a couple of Peace Keepers, and a few Dream Weavers, at the very least, would be moving back to Avilion, as they knew that without dragons the magic Bianca had worked hard to return to her home would dry up again in no time and whoever was watching over the lands at that point would be forced to do something about it, and that those dragons would help everyone out to the best of their ability. Spike knew that some of the Magic Crafters had volunteered because of what rested in the treasury, they were eager to get their hands on what was resting inside Malefor's Arcanaeum, and he wasn't surprised to see that a few of the Artisans scholars would be joining the group for a few weeks, which was why he devoted himself to his studies so that the moment he was no longer tied down by what he had to learn he could join them and see what else the legendary place had to offer.
While they were visiting Dragon Shores the siblings showed their new friends the theater the Gnorcs had set up and looked over the plays that they put on for anyone that came to their amusement park, where all three of them were only slightly surprised to see a new posting, their adventure in Avalar, though not as surprised as Hunter, Elora, Bianca, and the others were when they saw what the play was about. Spike explained that the Gnorcs, who had taken a keen interest in the adventures that he and his siblings had undergone in the past, were using their own acting skills, which were decent in terms of what an Artisans actor could do, and some magical costumes to make it seem like they were the characters that they were playing, as Elora was surprised to see herself on stage for a moment, as the magical costume were so realistic it made her and the others pause for a moment. Spyro and Ember weren't too surprised by that, as they had seen what the first play had been after their second adventure had ended, though they did admit that Spike's description skills had improved since the publishing of his first book, as the play that was based on the second one was far better than the first one, and that only made them wonder just how good the third one would be once the book was published and the Gnorcs found a copy of it so they could get new costumes and everything. Spike also told Bianca that he would be sure to give her the books of their previous two adventures and a copy of the third one once it was made, just so she had the complete set for now, as he knew that once a fourth adventure came up he would be writing everything down and making sure it was all recorded for the future generations to read about, showing his friends just how much of a scholar he actually was and that he was rather good at his chosen profession, and that wasn't counting his magical powers.
The Gnorcs put on a good show and revealed just what happened during their second adventure, giving Bianca and the others from Avilion the chance to learn more about Avalar, even if they would have to read some books to get the rest of the knowledge they were after, and it made them wonder what would happen when they got their hands on the third book in the series, something they would have to keep an eye out for in the future.
Other than a trip to Dragon Shores, to relax and unwind after everything that happened, the next couple of months went by with not much happening, save for Cosmos actually banning the scholars and Magic Crafters that volunteered to relocate to Avilion from entering the Arcanaeum, something that caught many of them by surprise and a few even cried out that it was unfair that none of them were allowed to see what was inside the legendary structure. Elora had to admit that it did seem like the Leader of the Magic Crafters was being unfair, but Cosmos reminded them that it was only due to Spike finding it, and unraveling the spells that allowed them to even see the structure and enter the inner area that was beyond the Archives, that they even knew the stories of the Arcanaeum were real, meaning that, as the one that actually discovered the structure, Spike was the one that deserved to start the investigation into what else might be hidden away inside the Arcanaeum. That, of course, meant the group had to wait for Spike to go through the ceremony that would let him become the youngest Archmage in the history of all dragons, something many of them were still shocked by even if they knew he deserved it, so instead the group that volunteered to head to Avilion turned their attention to making sure nothing bad had happened since magic returned to the lands, giving them time to study the lands that dragons used to call home as they waited for Spike to complete his preparations. Even Bianca, who had only just learned of Malefor's Arcanaeum and why it was so important to the dragons of the Dragon Realms, was caught off guard by the command as well, though she did understand the reasoning behind it, so she said nothing as the Magic Crafters and scholars talked with Cosmos, no doubt hoping to get him to change his mind or speed up Spike's training in some manner, despite the fact that it would be done in the near future anyway.
Bianca knew that the ceremony to become an Archmage wasn't as simple as when the Peace Keepers gathered to knight someone who displayed the characteristics of their clan and, according to Ember, even stopped a war, even though it was possible that Elora and Hunter could be knighted, and she knew that Cosmos was gathering components for when the day of the ceremony came, promising that it would be one of the greatest days in their recent history, and she found herself agreeing as she wondered what the future held for them.
Bianca huffed for a moment as she wiped some sweat from her forehead and decided to take a break from what she was doing, which had been channeling one of the four Prime Elements, as that was the name that all magic users used when they were referring to Fire, Ice, Earth, and Lightning, the same elements that Spike had used to great effect in the first battle with the Sorceress, and used her chosen element on the training dummy. The last six months, not counting the days she and the others spent hanging out with Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, and Sol, and it was a surprise to even see a phoenix in the first place, let alone discover that they had their own island and were integrating themselves back into the everyday lives of the dragons, was spent either reading the books and scrolls Cosmos gave her, making sure Avilion was running smoothly, and practicing the new spells that were in front of her. As she thought about the others she glanced around the area they were in for a few seconds, recalling that they were standing on a plateau that rested somewhere on the edge of the island that the Magic Crafters called home, a place that either had no name or it did and wasn't important at the moment, though her focus was less on the flat area she was training in and was more on the others that were all over the place. At the moment Ember was in the middle of practicing with Titan, where both of them were currently using the Warrior's Armor skill as they attacked each other, Spyro was meditating as he tapped into his Conqueror's Spirit so he could improve his use over the skill, while Elora, Hunter, and the rest of their friends, from all three lands, were gathered in one spot as they waited to see what happened next, even though Spike was in the middle of setting up what appeared to be some sort of magical circle, one that he told no one about and she assumed it had to be related to the event that would be happening today.
As she thought about that, however, she glanced down at her hands and watched as the last couple of sparks quickly vanished from her fingers, as she had blasted her training dummy with a Lightning Bolt, but instead of using her wand to direct the spell, like she normally did whenever she cast a spell, this time her wand was attached to her belt and she had used her hands to call upon the magical power she possessed and used it to blast her target... she, who the Sorceress had deemed as 'worthless', had finally moved on to casting spells with her hands.
"Bianca, I must say that you are doing quite well in your efforts to learn magic from us." Cosmos commented, as he had been telling the truth when he said that he wanted to help her tap into her inner power and bring it to the surface so she could cast greater spells, and he wasn't the only Magic Crafter to want that after the others had seen just how well she had improved over the last six months.
"Thank you, though it certainly helps to have instructors that are supportive of what I'm doing," Bianca replied, though at the same time she thought back to the last time she had any sort of magical lessons and stopped herself from letting a frown appear on her face, because the event in question wasn't a nice one, which was understandable given who her old mentor was, before she focused on Cosmos again, "unlike the Sorceress, given that she liked to make it seem like I had almost no skill and that I was lucky that the level of skill I did have was enough to keep me from being removed from her service service entirely... come to think of it, she only taught me a few basic spells, and the rest I had to learn on my own since she didn't spare a lot of time to teach me."
"Ah yes, the sign of an instructor that doesn't want to be surpassed," Lucas stated, as the Keeper of Secrets had come to see what was going to happen with his own eyes, because once all of this was done and recorded, and everyone was rested, the next thing he had planned was a trip to the Arcanaeum, as he knew Spike would be itching to figure out what else might be resting inside Malefor's fault and the secrets that it had to contain, before he returned to the matter that they were talking about, "You have a degree of magical talent, while currently not on the level of Cosmos or even Spike, that did worry the Sorceress when you first approached her to become her apprentice, meaning that, due to her paranoid nature, she didn't want to encourage your growth anymore than what was strictly necessary, out of fear that you might grow to the point where you would try to usurp her stolen throne. Anyway, we are more than willing to help you tap into your true potential and to help you reach the heights of your magical power, just like how Titan offered to help Elora and Hunter out with their training... and that's not mentioning the fact that the Professor has been helping the Machinists out, so we should be able to reveal who the Leader is fairly soon."
"Everyone has been doing a wonderful job lately," Bianca said, because that was the truth of the matter, all of them were doing well and no one was falling behind, as Elora and Hunter took their training seriously, especially since Titan let them move onto the weapon forms that the Peace Keepers would be teaching Ember the moment she matured in about two and half more years, and, from what she heard, the Processor and Agent 9 were hard at work with the sixth dragon clan, even though they were taking a break to be here today, before she glanced at Spike, "So, when does the ceremony to become an Archmage actually start?"
"Soon, we're just waiting on Spike to finish setting up the summoning circle." Cosmos replied, gesturing to the magical circle that Spike had been working on since she and the others arrived in this area, where Bianca could see that there were a number of runes etched into the ground, or at least that was what she assumed since she hadn't gotten that far in her studies yet, before the Leader glanced off to a table that had been set up nearby, in preparation for this day, "It took us a while to get everything we needed, but there are bits of every wood, metal, stone, and gem gathered her, so Spike will be able to craft his staff from the available materials and then, once he gives it a good test run, we can bestow upon him the title of Archmage... who knows, maybe he'll look for an apprentice once this is all over."
Bianca, while having the feeling that Cosmos might be referring to her, since she was the only other magic user that could even be considered an apprentice at this point, decided to say nothing to that statement as she watched Spike put what seemed to be the finishing touches on the circle that he had been making, as he took a step back and studied all of the runes he had created, making sure that all of them were correct and that he wouldn't have to tear them apart and start over, before he nodded his head in satisfaction, which seemed to be the sign that everyone was waiting for as Titan called the practice session to a stop and everyone gathered near the sitting area.
"Spike, are you ready?" Cosmos asked, though at the same time many Magic Crafters would believe that to be a rather foolish question on his part, simply because the purple dragon in front of him was one of the strongest magic users in the entire world, that they knew of anyway, but he wanted to be sure that Spike was ready for what he was about to do and that they weren't moving too fast for him, regardless of what he had done in the past.
"Yeah... I'm ready." Spike stated, as this was what he had been preparing for ever since he learned that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters intended on making him an Archmage, learning the spell that would allow him to craft his staff from all the materials that had been brought to this area, even though there was still a slim chance that he could summon an existing staff to him and prove his worthiness to wield the staff of someone who came before him, hence why there were runes in the circle that addressed that fact.
"Very well then, you may begin whenever you feel like it." Cosmos replied, to which he stepped away from the circle, so his magical energies didn't interfere with what Spike was going to be doing, which was also why the others were sitting away from the circle, and quickly joined the assembled group that would be watching this rather historical event, as this was one of the few times that an Archmage was elevated to such a position at such a young age, but Spike had proven that he was ready for such a thing.
Spike waited for everyone to be positioned where they wanted to be, so they had a good view of what would happen once he started the spell up, and made sure that his satchel and hat were resting with his siblings, mostly so they weren't in the way, before he stepped into the center of the magical circle and focused his mind as he drew upon his powers, this time focusing solely on it and nothing else. As soon as he did that the runes in the circle started to glow as they powered up and their magic joined the spell that he was weaving, where the magic started to wash over the plateau everyone was on as it sought out the materials Cosmos had prepared ahead of time, placing them in areas that had runes underneath them so that way the spell knew where to go and where not to go, or at least that was the working theory that he and the rest of the Magic Crafters had been using since this spell was first created so long ago. Spike knew that this wouldn't be a fast process, as the spell was designed to create the best staff for him out of the materials that went into every staff that had been built since the time of Malefor, and only Akilesh was different from those that followed it, in what way no dragon knew since none had been told what went into making it, but Spike pushed that thought from his mind as he focused on his spell and watched the magic as it moved around the area they were in. After a few more seconds a pair of magical orbs appeared in the air in front of the area Cosmos had been working on earlier and started to truly search the materials that had been left for his magic to pick from, as they were magical assistants, in a sense, that were created by the spell to help whoever used it locate the best items for their personal staff, so he and the Magic Crafters weren't surprised to find that the pair of orbs had appeared, rather it was a sign that things were progressing quite well.
Of course none of the magic users, save Bianca, were surprised when the pair of orbs vanished and all the materials they had been lifting were set back down where they had been earlier, nor where they surprised when the runes glowed far brighter than they had been earlier, not bright enough to actually blind someone, which was why Spike, even though he hadn't matured yet, forced himself onto his back legs for a moment and adopted a two-legged stance as he reached out with what would be his right hand in the near future. This was common when this spell was in use, as the magic user, upon seeing the orbs disappear, would use their magic to call forth the materials that the magic had selected and all of the pieces would lift out of their respective piles and start to take on new shapes as they were modified to fit a new staff, and it generally took a few minutes for someone to complete this task, though it did give him an idea of how Cosmos' staff had been put together. As soon as the staff was completed, and the magical circle died down, the magic user would be tasked with testing the weapon out and making sure it was as perfect as it could be, which it would be since there were no stories or records of a failed staff, as while the dragons did have pride in certain things something like failing to make a staff would have been passed down for the following generations, so all he had to do was wait and see which materials would be lifted from the table Cosmos set up ahead of time. What did surprise them was that none of the various items the orbs had looked at earlier seemed to be moving, rather they all seemed still as the runes continued to work their magic, where Spike had to determine that this was one of those staffs that remained hidden from the sight of everyone until the weapon was ready to go, why they were never able to figure out and there were two such weapons in the history books, so that was what he figured was going on.
A moment or two later, after holding the same position that he shouldn't be holding, Spike felt the magic that was in the air shift, to his right to be exact, and braced himself as the staff the spell had created for him appeared, hence why he started to close his claws around its' shaft, though as he did that he noticed the shocked looks on the faces of Cosmos and everyone else that was in front of him, to which he turned his head for a moment... and found Akilesh, of all things, in the air to his right, and his claws were in the process of gripping the shaft.
The instant his claws wrapped around Akilesh's shaft, and he determined that it was actually a combination of metal and wood instead of just one of them, the sheer power that was resting within the staff flared to life and rushed out of the weapon with a force that pretty much forced Cosmos and the others to back away as two things happened, the first being that a large purple cloud of magic formed a circular barrier, of sorts, between Spike and the others, preventing anyone from evening rushing to his aid. The second thing that happened, as Spike soon found out, was that the power of the staff dug into his arm and coursed through his body, in the manner that it was trying to overwhelm him and cause his body to break from the inside out, as if to prove that he didn't have the power or skill to wield the powerful staff, but even as that happened he did his best to focus his mind as he battled the raw magical might of Akilesh. Fortunately what the staff was doing to him didn't affect Talon at all, as his dragonfly was with the others, near Spyro and Ember, and he seemed just fine at the moment, not taking any damage from what was going on, to which Spike focused on the challenge he had called to this area, even if he was surprised by what was happening, and worried less about everything else. That wasn't all that was happening at the moment, as the power of Akilesh seemed to be digging into the ground as well, as he could see cracks forming around the circle he was standing in, while the sky itself appeared to be darkening, displaying just how powerful this weapon was and why, when they first found it in the Arcanaeum, he had stopped the others from touching it, even if part of him had wanted to study it the moment they had discovered it.
Even as he fought the power of the staff Spike could see that Bianca, Elora, the rest of his friends, and his siblings did try to rush over to where he was standing, though Cosmos and the others had to throw down a barrier between Akilesh's magical veil and the area that they were currently standing in, no doubt to protect them from the dangers of what might happen next while trying to contain the vast energies of the staff so they didn't tear apart the plateau, though Spike was sure that such a thing might occur either way.
After a minute or two of struggling against Akilesh, and battling the power that was within it, Spike had a chance to see the veil between him and the others intensify, preventing him from seeing the others and vise versa, meaning he had to turn his full attention to the staff and focus on nothing else, even though it was rather painful as the magic dug into his arm and tried to overpower him. As that happened, however, Spike felt the presence of something, or rather someone, watching what was going on at the moment and noticed that the area around him seemed to expand, like he was being moved to a different reality, or that was just an illusion spell the staff was casting to mess with his mind, before the barrier itself enlarged the area that it covered. That was when he noticed a light purple cloud off in the distance, or that was what it seemed to be right now, that was shaped like a dragon that was standing on two legs, an adult dragon to be exact, but he couldn't make out any features as he stared at it, where he quickly determined that it was either a construct formed by the staff's power or it was an echo of the last one to use Akilesh, as in an echo of Malefor himself. Whatever it was, as it was hard to tell what it really was without any distinguishing features, seemed to be observing him as he fought the power of the staff, though that was followed by another source of power appearing in the area around where Spike was currently standing and he turned to face it, or at least he tried to and could only shift his head to the side a little, displaying just how much power the staff actually had that it was taking most of his concentration to keep it from expanding and potentially hurting the others that had come to witness the ceremony. The other individual, as he discovered, seemed to be a near copy of the first individual, where they were both dragons as far as he could tell, since he couldn't see any features on either of them, but this one seemed to be a mix of the light purple light and a dark purple light, unlike the first one that seemed to be all of one color, as if revealing a duality of some kind.
It was in that moment that Spike realized what the second individual was, as according to all of the stories they had on the first Archmage ceremony, as in Malefor's to be exact, the first purple dragon had created his staff and then sealed a being of power, an elemental that represented the power of the Aether, inside it, though the story also claimed that the creature had been a problem for the residents of Avilion, though he guessed this was confirmation that the stories were true, or at least to a degree. If this was an elemental that contained the dual nature of the Aether, the strongest magical force in this world, it explained why Akilesh was so powerful and why only Malefor was capable of wielding it, because the entity that had been trapped inside the staff required a master of the four Prime Elements to even overcome it and the power it commanded, and he suspected that one had to have an understanding of the fifth element, the Aether, to even overcome the elemental's true power. Still, even as Spike thought about that, he forced his mind to focus on what he had to do and opened himself to the magic that was within him, which was both a good idea and a bad idea since it opened the door for the power of the staff to surge through his power and rapidly accelerate the process that had been started when he first grabbed the weapon, but it was the only way for him to do what he needed to do, as the ceremony also required that the Archmage that was undergoing it had to cast four powerful spells, or rather seals that demonstrated their power over the Prime Elements that all magic users tapped into, and that was what he needed to do, only this time he was going to demonstrate his true power to the creature that was contained within Akilesh. From what he could tell the area that he was in had to be separated from the part of the Magic Crafters homeworld that the ceremony was held in, as the ground that was below him was reddish colored and was mixed with a black color, while the sky was more iridescent, but while it would have been nice to look around the area he focused his mind on what he was going to do.
The first element Spike called upon was the one that most magic users, including himself and Bianca, first used when they started to learn how to wield magic, which just so happened to be the element of Fire, hence the reason the symbol for the element appeared above him as he channeled his power, rapidly creating a massive fireball above his head, the Emperor of Fire spell, and used his magic to direct the spell at his target. Due to the nature of what the Aether elemental was doing, using its power to dig into his body so it could either knock him out or detonate the magic he possessed, it was also unable to move from the spot that it was floating in, meaning that the Emperor of Fire was able to reach Spike's target in a matter of seconds, only to slam into a shimmering barrier not a few seconds later, showing him that his foe had taken a moment to protect itself from harm, but that was just fine with him since the spell hadn't exploded yet. In fact, that was exactly what Spike wanted, because in the heart of the massive fireball rested the true spell he was supposed to be using, the Fire Seal spell, and once he was able to breach the elemental's defenses one of the four seals would be in place, but he wasn't about to stop there, since there was no telling how long the struggle would go on for, and that was why he was going to use all four of the Prime Elements against this foe. As soon as the massive fireball was in position Spike switched to the second spell, Earthen Daggers, which allowed the user to do something similar to what the Sorceress did during her fights with him and his siblings, when she created her Stone Armor, as in he was able to shift the earth around them and create two massive dagger-like projectiles, ones that could supposedly break the top of a mountain, but instead of them both being on one side of the Aether elemental Spike made sure one was to his foe's left and right, sandwiching it between the two Earthen Daggers and putting some strain on the barrier it had made. After that he manipulated the moisture that was all around them and created what appeared to be a multi-headed serpent creature made of ice, an Ice Hydra to be exact, a spell that usually caused an area to freeze over when it exploded up its target, but thanks to the barrier that his foe was using the Ice Hydra remained intact.
The problem with these three spells were that they were similar to the Storm's Wrath spell, as they were some of the most powerful spells that he and the Magic Crafters knew about and they were pretty draining on their own, so he was pushing it at the moment, but as the Aether elemental's barrier shuddered for a moment Spike tapped into the final spell that he had hidden, summoning the power of the Storm's Wrath once more as it barreled out of the sky and slammed into the barrier his foe was using. For a moment nothing happened, which was about what Spike expected, though not even a few seconds later the shimmering barrier shattered before his eyes, something that would have surprised the elemental if it was like him and the other dragons, but instead of wasting time Spike made sure that the four elemental spells struck his target with the last of their power and blew the area around the Aether elemental up. Of course none of the four spells had enough power to do a lot of damage, since most of their power had been transferred into the barrier, but they had done their job as the four seal spells were finally revealed, where he was sure his foe would have raised an eyebrow to express its surprise, if it had any, which was why Spike coughed for a moment as he went on the offensive with his spells, before his foe had time to recover. The Fire Seal, being the closest of the four, was the first one to latch onto his foe, but as that happened, and the seal became active, the Aether elemental's power surged through the staff and went into Spike's arm and body, inflicting more havoc on him in the process, as if his foe was punishing him for trying to tap into the power that was contained within the staff, but he stopped himself from screaming as he pushed forward. The pain intensified as Spike activated the second seal, the Ice Seal, and it wrapped around his foe's body like the first seal had done, though this was the elemental's way of showing him that for every seal he used the greater his own torment would become, to punish him for even trying to tame the power within Akilesh, and he fought through another bout of it as the Lightning Seal was added to the others.
It was when the Earth Seal was finally applied to the elemental that Spike finally screamed in pain, as the elemental decided to send a much bigger wave of power into his body, where this time around he felt his scales breaking under the sheer amount of power that was coursing through him, as it was nothing like he had felt in the past and he hoped that Talon wasn't being affected by this. Though as all that happened, and it seemed like the seals weren't enough to do the job, Spike did his best to fight the pain as he recalled one final sealing spell, one that could only be cast by those that had truly masted the Prime Elements, and he called upon his power once more as he forced his left arm to rise so the palm could face his target, where he silently hoped the elemental didn't summon a barrier while he did this. What appeared in front of him had to be the symbol of the Aether, which looked like curved hooks that had one opening facing the right and the other facing the left, with the former being on top and the latter being on the bottom, but while it was interesting to see Spike wasted no time in applying the final seal, the Aether Seal, to the elemental, who was only now realizing just what was going on as it spotted the final spell. As soon as the final seal was added to the others another wave of energy surged through his body and he expected something to snap this time, like the arm holding Akilesh or one of his legs, but what actually happened was that the pain disappeared as he witnessed his scales healing before his eyes, while the rest of his body was restored to its former glory, making him wonder if he was successful. The answer came not a few moments later as he felt the power of Akilesh flow into him for a few seconds, like it was his to command now, and he was sure that the echo that was in this odd realm had sensed the change in the air, as he felt something pushing him forward as he focused on the Aether elemental for a few seconds, where he understood what he needed to do.
With the seals in place, and the elemental unable to move, Spike, no longer pinned down by the power that had been threatening to destroy him a few moments ago, turned Akilesh on the elemental and loosed a beam of purple energy that returned it to the staff, putting it back in the prison that Malefor had created for it, before he sighed and waved the staff once more, dismissing the magical barrier that had separated him from the others and allowed him to return to the area that the ceremony had been taking place in... where he huffed for a few seconds as he turned his attention to the others, finding that no one had been hurt by what just happened.
"...no way..." Argus commented, as he and the others were stunned by what they were seeing, because while none of them had been able to see whatever had happened on the other side of the barrier, and they tried to get a good look at what was happening, they certainly heard what seemed to be a battle and heard Spike's screams of pain, hence the reason why Spyro, Ember, and their friends looked like they were ready to beat something up, but with the barrier disabled they were allowed to see what was going on, even if all of them were shocked by what they saw, "Spike... did you...?"
"Tame Akilesh? Yeah..." Spike replied, where he stared at the staff for a moment, still caught off guard by the fact that he had summoned it from the room in the Arcanaeum that Malefor had left it in, though he was exhausted from what he had been through and it was a miracle that he was even able to stand, something that was likely going to be corrected in the next couple of moments as he turned towards Cosmos, the rest of the Magic Crafters, and the scholars who had come to record this special event, "I think I did... though I hope you'll forgive me for what happens next, as that took a lot out of me, way more than what I was expecting it to."
Cosmos barely had time to nod his head as Spike collapsed on the ground in front of them, where everyone rushed to make sure that he was alright and that no harm had been done to him or his body, though he and the other Leaders were proud of what the young dragon was able to do, just like they were proud of what he and his siblings were able to do, and he knew that Spike had more than earned the rank of Archmage, even though he was sure that they would find another reason to be proud of the siblings as they faced what the future held for them and their friends.
It took Spike a week to recover from his ordeal, because even with the power of Akilesh healing his wounds he still used far too much of his power during the Archmage ceremony, not to mention he had tapped into the Aether to make the final seal that allowed him to bind the elemental in the first place, hence the reason why he spent the next seven days resting and mostly reading whatever was near him. He spent his time resting on one of the hills in Stone Hill, overlooking the rest of the realm as some of the Artisans dragons tended to the hatchlings, no doubt having learned from what happened when he and his siblings were little and loved to explore the area that was around them, and there were times where he chuckled when one of the hatchlings did something funny, like make a fool of the dragons that were watching them. Spyro and Ember, not to mention all of their friends, checked on him several times to be sure nothing bad happened to him after what occurred during the ceremony, not that he could blame them due to all the damage that had been healed once he tapped the staff, but it was nice to hang out with them every now and then and listen to the stories of what they did, since he needed to rest and staying in one spot was the doctor's orders, in a sense. He knew that the others might be annoyed by him having to stay in Stone Hill and do next to nothing, though that didn't stop Elora, Hunter, and Bianca from telling him about their lessons and what they were able to do so far, while Sheila and the rest of their friends revealed that nothing major had happened in Avilion, so things were okay for them, even though they were preparing for whatever the future held.
There was one other thing Spike did with his time while he was confined to the area he spent a week resting in, he took the time to study Akilesh in greater detail, as it was floating near the area that he was resting in and seemed to be waiting for him to do something with it, but based on what Nestor told him no one dared to touch the staff, fearing that it would do what it did to him during his ceremony, which was understandable when Spike considered what he had been through when he touched the weapon. He knew that right now he had nothing to fear from grabbing the staff, since he had tamed the power that was inside it, but it wasn't hard to understand why Argus and the others had refrained from even touching it, though he had to guess that Akilesh had followed him after he collapsed on the ground, no doubt waiting for a mental command or something to restrict it to one area, like how Malefor must have kept it inside the Arcanaeum for the last thousand years. Of course he still couldn't get over the fact that he had called the staff to his side, even though he did know it was possible for the staff of another Archmage to be summoned by the ceremony, due to what he had read in the ancient tomes and scrolls, but that couldn't have prepared him for summoning the legendary powerful staff that the first purple dragon had wielded so long ago, that part was the part he couldn't get over. In fact he wasn't the only one that was surprised by this event, as Cosmos and the others had been expecting him to create his own staff out of the various materials they had prepared for him, but nothing could have prepared all of them for what he had done, and now he had one of the strongest staffs, in the entire world, at his disposal, which would take some getting used to.
Argus and the other scholars, despite their desire to head back to the Arcanaeum and see what it had to offer them in terms of knowledge and potential artifacts, actually waited for him to rest and recover, showing that they understood the point Cosmos had made earlier, about how Spike deserved to be the head of any expedition that involved the structure he had discovered, which was surprising and he suspected that his display with Akilesh had convinced them not to go ahead without him, allowing him to rest without having to worry about the expedition happening without him.
By the time the seventh day came around Spike had recovered enough to actually cast some spells again and walked around Stone Hill like nothing was wrong, allowing him to head to the other homeworlds that the dragons lived on, if he wanted to anyway, but what he ended up doing was spending a few more days making sure everything was fine and gave Argus and the others some time to make sure all of their preparations were ready for a visit to the Arcanaeum. While he waited to see if the scholars were ready, however, he joined Spyro and Ember as they headed back to the land of the Peace Keepers, where he was able to watch as Elora and Hunter joined the training sessions that Titan had for the rest of his clan, where Elora had chosen to return to her normal attire, when they first met her, and Hunter had nothing on, but from what he could tell they were doing just fine. Despite the fact that Elora was used to the weight of her armor, and the weapons that it had, she showed them that she was capable of following the lessons Titan had for her and Hunter, where she was able to use her wooden training staff to parry the incoming attacks that were coming her way and even pushed a few of the Peace Keepers backwards, and that included knocking Hunter onto his back, showing that he still had much to learn and that Elora was highly skilled when it came to fighting. It was a surprise when the siblings considered it, as Elora had been more of a neutral person during their second adventure, back when they first met her, but it appeared that stopping Ripto and showing off their skills during the war must have convinced her to become a warrior, not that they were complaining since it had helped them during their last adventure, something Spyro mentioned when Elora took a short break from her lessons.
Elora was more than happy to help them out, especially after all the hard work they put into helping Avalar out when Ripto was running around, and this training was going to help her and Hunter defend their home in case something else bothered them in the future, though that did tell the siblings that she would be up for another adventure, if another one happened to reveal itself to them and the others. Hunter was able happy to be of assistance, especially since hanging out with the siblings allowed him to get over his natural cowardly nature and become a true warrior, even if his skills were far below what Ember, Elora, and the others were capable of, but at the very least this prepared him for whenever he was forced into a situation where he couldn't use his machines and gadgets. In fact Bianca was of the same opinion that Elora offered them, meaning that if another adventure revealed itself she would find a way to join them and repay her debt to them, after everything they did to bring magic back to Avilion and liberate them from the Sorceress' grasp, though she did spent a great deal of her time training with Cosmos so she could tap into her true power, something she was grateful for since she was able to expand her magical abilities, even if she and the Magic Crafters were eager to see what Spike would do about a potential apprentice in the future. Based on everything she learned Archmages were supposed to accept an apprentice at some point and teach them what they knew about magic, and Spike was the only Archmage in the Dragon Realms, as while Cosmos was powerful, and he used a staff to channel his power, he wasn't on the same level that Spike was on and was no doubt hoping that Spike might take him under his wing at some point, since it was clear that the young purple dragon knew more about magic than anyone else in the three lands.
The only problem Spike discovered was carrying Akilesh around, as normally when a Magic Crafter reached the rank of Archmage they were already an adult and the staff they made also served as a walking stick, to a degree, but he was still a few years away from maturing and that meant that he either had to carry the staff on his back, between his wings, or he had to leave it in one spot and then call it to him whenever he wanted it, where the latter was what he started doing, due to the fact that it was good practice and allowed him to strengthen his magic once more.
By the time a second week had passed Spike was back to his old self, where the exhaustion and low level spells he cast were a thing of the past, meaning he was able to follow his siblings and friends without falling behind, he was able to summon some of the more powerful spells, and he felt much stronger as well, showing that the ceremony and his battle had allowed him to reach some new heights, in terms of magical ability anyway. Other than what he went through there was nothing major happening to the Dragon Realms, Avalar, or even Avilion, besides all the training that was going on and the elders caring for the hatchlings, but that was perfect for what Spike had in mind and he started to gather the scholars and the couple of Magic Crafters that wanted to visit the Arcanaeum, as it was time for them to return to Malefor's hidden vault and see what else they might be able to discover. Argus and the other scholars jumped at the chance to finally head into the legendary vault and see everything that it had to offer, while at the same time Cosmos and the Magic Crafters that would be coming with them would be looking out for magical items and seeing where they matched up with the history they read about, like Spike had done when they first entered the vault. Some of the relics and artifacts that were inside the vault would be returned to their respective owners, as now that the Sorceress had been taken care of there was no need for them to remain locked up, but first they had to find out what else was inside the Arcanaeum, before they bothered with moving some of the items out so they could be returned to their former owners.
Spike determined that the date of their expedition to the Arcanaeum would be two days from the day he mentioned it to Argus, Cosmos, and the others, giving the dragons a decent amount of time to make themselves ready for the event, even though all of them were excited by what they might find inside the ancient structure and what else they could learn about the fast, though he and his siblings left the others to their preparations as they returned to playing with the various hatchlings that called the Artisans lands home.
When the date of the expedition arrived Spike was at the front of the group as he walked through the portal that would take them to Avilion, or Midnight Mountain to be exact, where Bianca was waiting for them to arrive, as she wanted to see what else was inside the Arcanaeum as well and none of them were even going to try and talk her out of it, as everything she had seen so far only made her wonder what else was waiting to be discovered. With everyone gathered Spike lead the way back to the treasury that the vault was located in and everyone glided over to the small island the portal was located on, even though Bianca realized that this would get old past and was considering the possibility of making a bridge to make things easier for the future, but that was a thought that she pushed to the side as they entered the treasury. Once all of them were inside the final realm of Midnight Mountain they started to make their way to where the Arcanaeum was located, though this time it was easier to see it since Spike hadn't reapplied the cover spell that Malefor put on it, as the only being that could have misused it was now trapped in a crystal statue that, according to Bianca, was going to be put on display somewhere in Midday Gardens, because that was where the residents of Avilion voted it should go. Elora spoke up and told them that Moneybags' statue had been moved to Zephyr, since they were the ones that suffered the most from the bear's cross realm war when the siblings were visiting Avalar, but it was nice to know both of the statues had been placed where the residents would just stare at them and not think to touch them, even though Spyro, Spike, and Ember were sure Elora and Bianca had told the others about the magic that went into the statues.
That thought was pushed aside as they found the bridge that would allow them to access the Arcanaeum, along with the rest of the structure's outside as well, to which they braced themselves and headed inside, entering the Archives not a few seconds later and came to a stop when they reached the core of the vault, the center where they discovered the large globe that detailed the entire world.
"Fascinating." Nora commented, as she had heard the group found the Arcanaeum, something she knew to be true after seeing Spike tame Akilesh, which was currently on the young dragon's back, but she was amazed by just how much was stored away inside the massive vault, showing her that Malefor went above and beyond when it came to guarding any relic or artifact of power, especially after seeing what the staff was capable of, "The stories claimed that the Arcanaeum was full of knowledge and artifacts, all saved before the big battle with the Sorceress, but even then they don't prepare you for just how much stuff is inside this place... we could spend years trying to understand the secrets of the first purple dragon and the artifacts he kept safe from those that would misuse them."
"And there's the chamber that Akilesh had been stored in," Spike said, gesturing to the room that Hunter had found the last time they were here, an area that was now missing the staff he was carrying, though there were still sets of armor and plenty of weapons inside it, hence why he considered it an Armory, one that Malefor must have used before he had to seal the Arcanaeum, to prevent the Sorceress from getting at all of this, "We know there are twelve chambers that rest around the central one, with one of them being the Archives, the one that served as Akilesh's home being an Armory, and a third that served as a holding area for several Farseeing Stones, making it a Farseeing Room, in a sense, but that leaves nine more for us to explore and see what they might hold. There's no telling what else Malefor might have hidden inside this place, especially when we take the legends and stories into consideration, though from the looks of the room this staff was in earlier it doesn't seem like Malefor put any traps down, in case the Sorceress breached the front door, but, at the same time, we should be careful as we explore the rest of the Arcanaeum."
Argus and the other dragons nodded their heads in understanding as they dispersed into the chamber that served as the heart of the Arcanaeum, where it was easy to see that Argus turned back and walked right back to where the Archives rested so he could see what knowledge they had to offer, several of the dragons stayed in the heart of the structure and studied the various artifacts that were from the various realms of Avilion, and Nora headed into the Farseeing Room to see if she could tap into the stones, mostly to see how they worked for herself. The siblings, on the other claw, stepped into the Armory again and looked at the various weapons and armor that Malefor had gathered over the years and sealed away to prevent them from being misused, though while Spyro was interested in the armor, and was no doubt trying to imagine a dragon wearing some of them, Ember was interested in the personal weapons of the first purple dragon, as she was interested in seeing if she could find something to rival Akilesh. While part of her didn't much care for magic, she had to admit that having the powerful staff around was a good thing, especially since it was in Spike's claws, she was curious if there might be more weapons like it, ones that maybe she and Spyro could wield, or some sort of relic that would allow them to keep up with their brother, hence the reason Spike was standing near her as she checked out the relics, both due to his own curiosity and so he could inform her of what each item was. She was sure that each of them had an interesting history and had done something amazing in the past, and she also included Spike's new staff in that thought process, but she was looking for a weapon or item that spoke to her, in a sense, even though she saw a number of weapons that ranged from swords to spears and even halberds to battleaxes, showing her that Malefor must have been a master fighter to have so many weapons, if they were all his anyway.
In the end she discovered a side room of the Armory, which didn't overlap with any of the other rooms, that contained a pair of what she assumed were fangs of some kind, even though they looked like a pair of curved identical daggers that were made of powerful metal, one Spike determined had to be the same that Akilesh was partly crafted from, but her brother eased any worries she might have of these weapons containing a creature that was like what was inside his staff, even though she could tell that the daggers were more powerful than normal weapons.
"No way... these are the Fangs of Felinia!" Spike stated, as he had read about the powerful daggers that were in front of them, just like the other scholars had done over the years as well, and he knew what he could tell Ember, though this just made him wonder what else they might find in these rooms, because the possibilities were numerous, "These daggers used to be part of an ancient creature, possibly a massive cat or a panther or something, that stood as tall as the heart of the Arcanaeum and was capable of leveling large areas in a matter of minutes, but according to the tales Malefor fought Felinia, severed both of its large fangs, and then used those fallen items to deliver the finishing blow. The creature fell on an island that would one day become the island that Prince Azrael and his people would be living on, hence why they share the same name, and it was said that Malefor had several forms he used when carrying these weapons, the daggers you see right now, a hand claw variation, as in like claws over our actual claws, and a few others."
Ember had no idea what Spike was talking about and asked him to explain it better, where Spike lifted the daggers off the pedestal they were resting on and placed both of them over her bracers, one for each of her arm bracers, to which she watched as both weapons seemed to disappear entirely, though that only prompted Spike to tell her to envision one of the forms he told her about and she did, where three long metallic blades rose out of her bracers without damaging them, though from what she could tell these weapons would allow her to fight slightly further away from a foe, instead of getting up close and personal all the time.
"Okay, now that's pretty cool." Ember remarked, where she stared at the blades for a moment and quickly determined that they would be a perfect fit for her, both in her current stance and possibly when she matured into an adult, especially since there were other forms the weapons could take and she was interested in seeing what else she might be able to do with them in the future, before a thought came to mind, "You think we'll find something for Spyro? Maybe a sword of some kind, or some other weapon?"
"Hm, it all depends on what else we find," Spike admitted, because there were a number of tales about the weapons and armor that Malefor had used before the Sorceress started trouble and banished the dragons from Avilion, so there was really no telling what might be lurking in the rest of the Arcanaeum's other nine rooms they had yet to explore, or if they might find something for Spyro to wield in the future, "We've seen weapons, armor, scepters, staffs, tomes, scrolls, and different pieces of treasure, not to mention the Farseeing Stones and all the materials that have been stored away, so there's really no way for us to know the extent of what is in this structure... not until we explore all of it, anyway."
"Hey Spike, you might want to see this." Spyro said, where Spike and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as this could be something interesting, before they walked out of the room that they had found and followed their brother to the chamber he had discovered, another side room that belonged to the Armory, making them wonder just how many rooms like this existed in this part of the Arcanaeum, before they found four thick swords floating above four pedestals that lined the room Spyro had discovered while Spike and Ember discovered Ember's new weapons, "I have no idea what these are and figured that you would have some idea as to what they might be, since you've read most of the tomes and scrolls that are in the Dark Hollow archives."
"The Runeblades of the Elemental Lords... powerful swords made from pieces of the massive elementals Malefor had to face at one point in time," Spike replied, where he stepped forward and found that there were no enchantments, and more importantly no traps, for him and the others to worry about, though that was when he stopped in front of a blade that was about half the width of the head of Titan's battleaxe and had a number of runes running along the length of the metal, before he stopped a faint fiery aura to it, where the other three had an icy aura, a rocky aura, and a lightning aura, which brought a smile to his face, "Flamestrike, forged from a fragment of the Firelord, Frostbringer, crafted from a spike that fell from the Lord of Frost, Tremor, made from a piece of the Stonefather, and Storm's Fury, forged from a few pieces of the Stormlord... they're weapons that were empowered by the various runes that you can see on the blades, allowing the wielder to tap into their respective powers, meaning fire, ice, earth, or lightning."
"And this one?" Spyro asked, as there was a fifth blade, one smaller than the other four and looked more like one of the normal blades that Titan and the other Peace Keepers used, that was floating off to the left of the opening that they had walked through to get inside the room they were in, though he was sure that there was a windy aura or something that rested around the blade in question.
"Windshear, the Blade of the Windlord," Spike said, though this was another surprise he wasn't expecting to see while they explored the Arcanaeum, because while it wasn't as powerful as Akilesh was, and he suspected that was the case for many of the weapons that were resting in this vault, before he returned his attention to the weapon in question as he took a moment to recall everything about it, to give his siblings an idea of its history, "The Windlord isn't like the other four Elemental Lords I mentioned, as he was one of the minor Elemental Lords and held less power than his superiors, but the Windlord recognized the power that Malefor commanded and offered to ally himself with the first purple dragon, and to show his sincerity he took a piece of himself, empowered it with the power of wind, and crafted this Runeblade with the help of those that crafted the other four, before delivering it to Malefor."
Spyro stared at the blade for a few moments before removing it from the area it was floating in, where he could tell that fighting with the weapon would be rather difficult in his current form, but at the very least he decided that he might as well have a tool that would allow him to keep up with his siblings, as he noticed Ember's new toy when Spike helped her out with them, before finding a sheath that the blade went into and a belt that he could wear, allowing the three of them to leave the Armory with their new items.
"Hey guys, you won't believe what I discovered," Hunter said, as he had been quiet during their expedition, no doubt spending time with Bianca and seeing what she could learn from all of the knowledge that rested in the Archives they had walked through earlier, before he rubbed the back of his head for a moment as he considered something, "okay, its more like what Bianca and I discovered, but you guys should come check this out... we found a massive room or chamber that has more of those dragon statues, like the ones that are guarding the outside of the Arcanaeum."
"No way, you guys found the Deepcore Army?!" Spike nearly exclaimed, as there were tales of Malefor using an army of stone warriors, who looked like the statues that rested outside the structure, to defend certain parts of Avilion from all of the enemies that wanted to bring him and the other dragons down, as in the ones before they settled into their lives and created the stories Bianca knew about, but in the aftermath of every dragon being banished from these lands it was believed that the army had been wiped out, though now it seemed like the peace the first purple dragon had fought for resulted in him hiding the force away until it was needed again.
Hunter shrugged and lead the way to the opened room he and Bianca had explored earlier, where the siblings found that there was a staircase in front of them that took them lower into the Arcanaeum, making them wonder why how many floors the structure even had, before eventually coming to a stop as they glanced out at a massive chamber that was far larger than the rest of the structure, one that held hundreds of stone dragon statues, all armed with weapons, standing at attention, waiting to be called into action once more.
"Now that is an awesome sight... the legendary Deepcore Army," Spike said, where he and the others joined Hunter and Bianca in looking out at the force of stone warriors that seemed to be slumbering at the moment, which made sense due to the fact that Malefor was the only one that could awaken them, but even as that happened he noticed the spell that was on the plaque in front of them, 'Piertotum Locomotor', a spell that was roughly known as an awakening spell for inanimate objects, but he didn't say it out loud due to the fact that he didn't want to accidentally awaken the army from their slumber, even if they would serve whoever woke them up, "They guarded the realms of Avilion while Malefor fought off the stronger foes, protecting dragons and the other residents until they were broken beyond repair... and they must have been sealed away to prevent the Sorceress from using them to enforce her rule over these lands, especially since they were supposed to be rather hard to take down."
"So everything in this vault is dangerous and Malefor was paranoid that someone might use all of it against him and the other dragons," Hunter remarked, though in that moment Spike frowned at him, causing the cheetah to sigh for a few seconds as he rubbed the back of his head, where he realized that badmouthing the first purple dragon was unacceptable, given everything he went through to protect his home and his people, "Okay, maybe I'm wrong about him being paranoid, but you have to admit that everything in the vault is, in some way, dangerous to Avilion and the residents that call all of the realms home, especially after what happened during your ceremony."
"Still, we should check with Prince Azrael and the other leaders of the other realms, to see what items Malefor might have borrowed from them a thousand years ago," Bianca spoke up, as she had been mostly silent since they entered the Arcanaeum and this was likely the first time she had spoken since they returned to the structure, though at the same time Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads to agree with her, because it was easy to understand what she meant and all three of them agreed with her, "With the Sorceress defeated many of these items can go back to their respective owners and realms, since some of them have been expecting their magical artifacts to be returned at some point in time, so they'll be happy that we're upholding Malefor's side of the agreement, to hold them until a threat is taken care of and then return them once the coast is clear."
After that Spyro, Spike, and Ember looked at a few of the other rooms that were inside the Arcanaeum, where one of them held Cosmos and the couple of Magic Crafters that had come with them, though it was easy to see why they were so interested in the room they had discovered, because it contained a number of magical artifacts that the old dragons used to use and supposedly gave to Malefor when their time came, to either hold onto them or to pass them on to those that came after them. It also contained a number of spell tomes that detailed some of the stronger spells of magic, ones none of them had even seen before, and there was a rather interesting tome that excited Nora, as it was a book on the magic that was her specialty, Teleportation Magic, where she discovered that it was possible to move entire structures from one place to another, provided everything was set up in one location ahead of time. That explained one of the other rooms the siblings found, as there was a slot in the floor that Akilesh's base fit into and caused the magic to flow around Spike as he and the others witnessed what was going on, revealing locations that they had been to in the past and made them realize that they could move the Arcanaeum whenever they wanted to, while also discovering that the Sorceress must have done something to prevent anyone from using that type of magic a thousand years ago, otherwise Malefor would have just moved the vault to a place the Sorceress couldn't get to, instead of what they had found out earlier. Nora and the others braced themselves as Spike gave the spell a go, where they found that the Arcanaeum seemed to draw upon the magic that was around it, instead of the user's, to move from one location to another, and nothing inside the structure or the rooms moved as he moved them from the treasury and brought them to the plateau his ceremony had been on, before moving them back to their previous location with a smile on his face.
They had a reliable way to move the Arcanaeum to a location that was more convenient for all of them, if they wanted to do that anyway, and once the test was done Spike pulled the staff's base out of the slot and they continued to explore the rest of the vault, even though he eventually returned to the heart of the structure a few minutes later and stared at the globe that represented their world. He could see Avilion easily enough, thanks to the label that was placed on it, and on the other side of the world rested the Dragon Realms, just like the stories and tales claimed, while Avalar rested in the same hemisphere of their world that the land he and his siblings called home resided in, where he was sure Glimmer was the realm pointing in the direction of their home while Autumn Plains seemed to be pointing in the direction of Avilion, something that made him think about how Moneybags came to these lands. By studying the globe he found that there were a number of islands that had been labeled by Malefor and the others, with names that connected to the Farseeing Stones he had found earlier, but that was before he spotted something that was both interesting and surprising at the same time, there was an icon of the Aether over the part of the Magic Crafters island that his ceremony had taken place in, showing that the globe could detect when the powerful element was in use, and there was another on Midnight Mountain, no doubt reflecting when he and his siblings first tapped into the Aether. What was really interesting was that there was a third Aether icon on the globe, one that happened to be located in the equator of their world, where a large landmess was resting, and from what he could tell it would probably take a week or two, by using an airship or a boat, to reach it, but the icon wasn't the only interesting thing, the most important part of this was that it was a landmass they had never visited in the past... and the icon was pulsing, demonstrating that whoever was using the Aether was still active and alive.
While Spike considered there to be a possibility that there were other dragons out there in the world, based on what they had learned from Ripto and visiting Avalar, he had determined that it was impossible for there to be another dragon that could tap into the Aether and unleash its power, yet here the globe was showing him that he was wrong and that he and his siblings weren't the only ones with this ability, making him wonder if there was another purple dragon waiting in the land Malefor went to, be it the first purple dragon himself or someone entirely different, with the latter being more likely than the former. As he considered that he realized something, whoever the other energy signature was must have felt Akilesh being used for the first time in a thousand years, which would automatically make one assume it had to be Malefor, since he was the only one to wield the staff, though Spike felt that it was possible for the first purple dragon to impart some knowledge to whoever took over as leader of the group of dragons he must have found, if the missing stone in the Farseeing Room was any indication. From what little he knew Warfang seemed to be the name of a city, instead of an island or a continent, which he and the other dragons were used to, meaning that to get any answers as to what was going on, and to find out who the other Aether user was, they would need to make arrangements to travel to the new continent and see whatever was going on for themselves, something he knew was going to be difficult since all they had were hot air balloons and potentially the Professor's rocket, but they would need something bigger since he knew a few dragons that would want to embark on this adventure.
One thing was for certain, and that was whenever they embarked on the quest to discover the meaning behind the third Aether icon, as he knew that Spyro and Ember, at the very least, would want to figure out what was going on, they were going to be in for what was likely to be one of the greatest adventures of their lives, discovering new things and maybe learning more about the past than they could from a scroll or tome, and he was totally excited to see what the future held for them this time around.
After visiting the Arcanaeum again, where both Ember and Spyro found a weapon that would allow them to switch things up in the future, Spike and the other scholars went over the artifacts and items of power Malefor had stored away inside the vault, determining which of them could be returned to their owners and which of them would have to stay locked up, as all of them knew there was a chance the individuals some of them belonged to would prefer they stay safe. Like the Scepter of Felinia, a magical artifact that had to belong to the ruler of the island that Prince Azrael ruled, that one they were sure the previous owner would want back at some point in time, while something like the Crown of the Firelord, an item that seemed more like a trophy than anything else, would likely stay inside the vault for the foreseeable future. As such Cosmos and the scholars allowed Spike to use Akilesh in the Teleportation Room, allowing them to move the Arcanaeum to whatever realm they wanted to visit in their quest to return the artifacts to their respective owners, even though anything that belonged to the first purple dragon would remain inside the vault for further study, and that also included whatever resided in the other rooms they hadn't explored yet. Elora and Hunter were still a little surprised by the fact that Malefor had crafted such a powerful enchantment on the Arcanaeum and didn't simply teleport it to a land the Sorceress couldn't get to, and Bianca even agreed with them, but they accepted the reason that Spike and the other scholars gave them, since they knew more about the subject than anyone else. Spike did wait for everyone to take their positions before he started to move them from the treasury and head to their first destination, just like he had done when they tested the spell out earlier, and once everyone else was ready the structure disappeared from the treasury and they headed for the realm that Spike had picked out.
Their first destination, as it turned out, was Magma Crater, the home of the Tikis that the siblings had assisted near the start of their adventure in Avilion, where they sought out Rocky, who seemed to be the leader of the beings that called this realm home, and found that he was overseeing the preparations for a party the others wanted to throw, either due to what happened to the Sorceress or just because they liked to party, where the latter was the more likely reason. Rocky was glad to see them, especially since they had done a great job fixing what the Sorceress had done to their realm, as in taking out all of the Rhynocs and calming the other creatures that they shared their home with, before he asked them if there was anything he could do to assist all of them, especially since Bianca was nearby and he knew that she was one of Avilion's new Council members. Once the question was asked Bianca explained that they had found the vault that the first purple dragon, hence the structure that was behind them, floating above the edge of the area, and Informed Rocky that they had found the Crown of the Firelord, a creature whose death apparently went into creating Molten Crater, based on what they were able to gleam from their studies and what Spike had told her, before getting to the point by asking if he and the others wanted them to return the artifact to him and the other residents of this realm. Rocky seemed surprised by the fact that they had found something like the crown that once belonged to the Firelord, even though Cosmos held the large flaming crown in question, but in the end he accepted the return of the artifact and had the group follow him so it could be placed in a shrine that was hidden near the exit portal for the realm, allowing Cosmos to place the crown in the space that had been created for it.
Interestingly enough that lead to a small elemental creature, one made of fire that was about the size of one of the hatchlings the siblings had rescued during their adventure, rapidly forming before their eyes, where Spike had to assume that the Tikis had created the shrine a long time ago, no doubt after the defeat of the Firelord, so that they could maybe create a new Firelord, one that wouldn't bother the rest of Avilion, though they did observe the little critter as it hummed for a few moments and wandered off to have some fun, to which they bid Rocky farewell for now and headed back to the Arcanaeum, so they could move to their next destination.
Not a few moments later the structure appeared in Frozen Altars, where they found the Ice Fairies and Penguins relaxing after all the madness that happened when the Rhynocs invaded their realm, though this time they were being more careful when they created snowmen, making sure they didn't come to life despite the fact that the spell had been broken during the siblings' visit to this realm. The residents were surprised to see that the group had found the Frostbite Staff, as that was the name of one of the other staffs that rested inside the Arcanaeum, the one that had a chilly aura to be exact, though the Ice Fairy that touched it was unfazed by the staff's power, which was understandable given that she and the others seemed to be immune to the cold, before she flew to the top chamber of the central pyramid and placed it inside the area in question, where she used her power to cover the opening with a metal door that only she and the other Ice Fairies could open, meaning they wanted to keep it safe. With that one taken care of the group teleported themselves to Lost Fleet, where they found the Opossum that loved to explore shipwrecks so he could collect the treasure that had been lost at sea and catalog each ship he explored, something that was more peaceful without the Rhynocs bothering him all the time, though he did stop when he noticed the structure appear nearby and came to investigate what was going on, despite the fact that he was surprised to see them again. The Opossum was, however, pleased when the group handed over the Jewels of the Sea to him, the powerful gemstones that likely controlled the water in this realm and would likely allow Ed, as that was the Opossum's name, to freely explore the rest of the shipwrecks that were currently out of his reach and maybe return the realm to what it once was, when he was ready to do so anyway. Given what the siblings knew of Ed it was possible that he would just keep the realm like it was, as he and the other residents had grown used to Lost Fleet being like this, but at the very least he was happy to have their relic back and that was just fine with them, allowing them to move onto their next destination.
After that the group picked out a few more realms to visit, such as heading to Haunted Tomb so they could visit the Egyptian Dogs for a few moments, who were quite happy to see the siblings again and were overjoyed to have the Scepter of King Rover, the item their first ruler had used so long ago and likely handed over to Malefor for safekeeping when the Sorceress put her plans in motion, back in their possession. They made sure to drop by Charmed Ridge, since they knew Prince Azrael and his residents were residing for the time being, and he was happy to see that the ancient scepter of Felinia was returned to him, even though the relic wasn't crafted from the power of an ancient creature, not like Ember's new weapons were, rather it was a magical symbol of his land, though it gave him another reason to be in their debt, as he had long thought the scepter had been lost to history, or something to that effect. Once they were done delivering that relic to the Prince of Felinia they teleported to some of the other realms and made sure to deliver the relics that belonged to the lands, where some of the residents were surprised to have the items return to them and others didn't seem all that annoyed since they figured their relics would have been returned at some point in time, even if Malefor had disappeared a thousand years ago. In fact there was one realm where the relic they were returning, a weapon known as the Blade of King Justin, the ruler of Enchanted Towers during the time that Malefor was around, was rejected and they were told that they could keep it, as the Purple Villagers had no need for the weapon and trusted that it would remain safe in the vault it had been found in. Other than that there were a number of rooms and other relics for them to study and figure out what each of them were, especially with the information that was resting in the Archives, before they returned to the treasury and resumed their expedition, while Spyro, Ember, and Hunter headed off to do something else while they waited for Spike and the others to finish what they were doing.
For the next couple of months Spike spent his time scouring the three floors of the Archives, taking in the knowledge of the past and learning more about the time that came before the Sorceress' rule, something that greatly interested all of the other scholars and Bianca, especially Bianca since everything she learned was a surprise to her, while at the same time exploring the rest of the Arcanaeum to see what else he might find, though it was the globe he spent a good deal of his time studying, since it was so interesting. The globe allowed them to see what Malefor and the others had mapped out in the distant past, continents and sets of islands that he and the scholars knew nothing about and had to read the tomes and scrolls in the Archives to learn about the areas in question, though whenever he looked at the globe his attention was on the third Aether icon, resting on a continent that had to be where Warfang was located. It was a mystery he wanted to solve, especially when some of the other scholars and Cosmos noticed what he happened to be looking at and spotted the icon as well, shocking them since they only knew of the two instances Spike had told them about, where all of them came to the conclusion that there had to be another Aether user in the world, no doubt a purple dragon, which interested all of them more than they were willing to admit. As such Cosmos and the others declared that they would talk with Nestor and put together a true expedition, one to a new land that they knew next to nothing about, save for its location, so they could unravel the mystery of the third Aether icon and determine what was going on, and if the individual the globe was telling them about was a villain it would be good for the siblings to help whoever called the continent home, since they would no doubt learn more about Malefor and the past that they were only beginning to rediscover.
Spike had the feeling that their friends would be excited about the idea of an expedition to somewhere new, an area that no dragon in the three realms had been to since this was the first time they were made aware of its existence and where it was located, though at the very least having Cosmos and the others helping him meant they might be able to find some way to get to the continent and start their expedition.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember found themselves sitting in the hot air balloon that allowed them to travel between the lands that Nestor and the other Leaders ruled over, though it was early in the morning, somewhat earlier than what they were used to, and to top it off it was also their thirteenth birthday, meaning a year had passed since the start of the last Year of the Dragon Festival and all of the hatchlings they had saved were now one year old, even though it would be a few more years before they understood what that meant. All three of them expected that something would happen when they reached the homeworld that was their destination, since they hadn't been told which one they were heading to, and then it would likely be a short party before everyone went back to their business, which was Spyro figuring out how to be a Leader, as he had started shortly after Spike's Archmage ceremony and the expedition to the Arcanaeum, Ember would likely be facing off against Titan and the others as she prepared for the future, and Spike would go back to his lessons. Despite all the time that Spike put into studying the Arcanaeum and everything that was in there, and there was way more than what he first thought they would fine, he still found time to tap into the knowledge that was inside the scrolls and tomes that were in the Archives, allowing him to potentially learn more spells for the future, since there was no telling what Malefor might have locked away inside the structure, even though he came to the conclusion that, after securing everything that had been in the Sorceress' possession, that their third foe had made up the spell to empower herself with dragon blood, so it either didn't exist or Malefor took that knowledge with him when he sealed the Arcanaeum. Either way he wasn't the only one that was learning new spells, as part of becoming an Archmage meant that he did have to take an apprentice at some point in time, and Bianca had taken to the basics rather well, building off of what Cosmos and the others had offered her in the past, so he was eager to see how far she was able to progress under his teachings.
"So, what do you think we'll be doing today?" Spyro inquired, mostly because he was sure that Spike, at the very least, had an idea of what was going to be happening when they reached their destination, since he was one of the smartest dragons in the Dragon Realms, so that made him eager to hear what his brother might have to say about what they would be doing, while Ember looked out at the water they were flying over.
"Hm, its hard to say." Spike admitted, though while he had been thinking about what the Leaders might have planned for them this time, since Nestor and the others liked to surprise them on their birthday, part of him was sure that with all of the hatchlings running around the Leaders just wanted him and his siblings to have a little fun, without being hounded by the little ones, before they returned to the Artisans homeworld, but there was something more believable that could be the answer to the question, "Personally, I think we'll be meeting the dragons that decided to become Machinists, and who was picked to be their Leader, before we do anything else, so we'll spend some time learning about the new dragon clan and then we'll likely head to Dragon Shores or something."
"I'd love to get back to my training with Titan," Ember remarked, where she raised one of her front legs for a moment and the bracer shimmered for a moment as she summoned the metal claws that happened to be one of the forms that the Fangs of Felinia could take on, and she was eager to see what she could do when she matured into an adult, because she was sure that would allow her to tap into the true power of the weapon she had claimed, before releasing her hold on the form and it reverted back to just being her bracers, to which she focused on her brothers again, "Now that I have my own weapons he's more than willing to teach me some of the basics, but insists that we wait until I mature before we even bother with the more difficult fighting styles he and the other Peace Keepers have developed over the years... though that means I have to wait two more years before I can do that."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. In two years our worlds are going to change," Spyro said, because he knew that once he and his siblings matured the Leaders would have big plans for them, especially since he was supposed to be a Leader one day thanks to his own hidden power, though he was hoping to have one or two more grand adventures before the arrival of their fifteenth birthday.
Spike and Ember looked like there was more to say, so they could continue their conversation as they passed the time until they arrived at their destination, before Marco informed the three of them that they would be arriving soon, which prompted the siblings to look over the front of the basket and discover that they were heading to the sixth homeworld, the home of the Machinists dragons. It was a surprise as they looked out at the familiar blocky and silver colored landscape that was in front of them, where somehow the natural parts of the new homeworld were already looking more angular than what they were supposed to, like the magic of the dragons that lived here was informing the land of what they were going to be doing with their lives and the land shifted in response. The landing area used to be the Gnorc Gnexus, since it had been under Gnasty Gnorc's command until three years ago, which was their first grand adventure, but now it was the land that the new dragon clan would be calling home, and the portals to the other realms had been shifted around to new positions that better suited the new residents of the land, though it also looked like the dragons had connected the area the hot air balloon would be landing in to the land that the nearby lighthouse was on, where Spike could see some houses resting further inland. From what they knew the Machinists were a mix of a few former Artisans, ones the siblings usually didn't hang out with or know much about, maybe one or two Peace Keepers, as Ember heard that there were a few of her type of dragon that liked machines and would be moving over to help the others out, and there were supposed to be one or two Magic Crafters joining the group, forming the first generation of Machinists dragons, and based on what he knew he had heard that it was one of the former Magic Crafters that would be the first Leader of this clan.
What they discovered, as Marco took them down to the landing area so they could disembark and figure out what was going to happen next, was that someone had come to meet them and probably escort them to an area so they could get a tour or something of the new and improved Machinists homeworld, though the dragon in question happened to be Eldrid, an alchemist that liked to tinker with bits and pieces of machinery, hence the goggles he was wearing and the tube-like horns that were attached to his head.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you could make it." Eldrid stated, his tone showing them that he was happy to see the three of them again, though they came to a stop near him while Marco went to work making sure his hot air balloon was ready or the return trip, or a trip to one of the other homeworlds, to which he gestured for them to follow him as he walked away from the docking area they were in and glanced out at the rest of the land that was around them, "We, and by that I mean myself and the other new Machinists dragons, have been hard at work rebuilding the Gnorc Gnexus into a place that we can call home, and with Nora's help we were able to temporarily close some of the portals so we could shift their location to a place that made more sense to us. As you no doubt noticed, when you got close to our homeworld, we connected the docking area to the patch of land that the lighthouse is located on, though that's not all we've changed since the last time you three were here, as we changed the name of Gnorc Cove to Innovation Cove, mostly to reflect the fact that we will be using it as a place of work in the future, while the area you fought Gnasty Gnorc in will be called The Citadel for the time being, as we've decided to make it the home of the greatest Machinists dragon that isn't the Leader, so the name will change once someone has been chosen to fill that position, and the treasury you raided is going to be known as Testing Grounds in the future, for some of the machines we plan on creating."
"It sounds like you guys are going to be busy," Spike commented, and that seemed to be the truth of the matter, as it appeared that Eldrid and the rest of the new Machinists had put a lot of time and effort into expanding the area that the three metal dragon heads had been resting in, the ones Gnasty Gnorc had used to stall their progress, and he was sure that the new clan had moved the heads somewhere else, since there was no reason to break them down or get rid of any of them, before a question popped into his mind, "So, who did you guys pick to be your Leader?"
"Me, actually." Eldrid replied, where he chuckled for a moment, as if he found the entire thing to be funny for some odd reason, though the siblings weren't all that surprised, as he was one of the few dragons that actually wore anything that was remotely mechanical on his body, and his were the odd horns he had, so it was easy for them to see why he had been picked over everyone else, "I know, its a surprise, but I shall do my best to stand up to the standards that Nestor and the others live with and make sure to pass them on to the Leader that follows me, once we get to that anyway, since it will be a number of years before any of the hatchlings come of age and start figuring out what they want to do with their lives, and by then we should have a good idea as to what sort of tests we'll give them, like the art lessons you were given all those years ago. Oh, and don't worry about the little ones, they're resting near the lighthouse in a safe area that we set up once we realized we had some eggs coming, and we've asked Nora to put the safety spell on the portals so none of them accidentally wander into a realm and get themselves hurt in the process."
"Considering our first year or two, that's a good move." Spyro said, as he knew that he, Spike, and Ember had been rather adventurous when they were only a few days to a few weeks old and that one of the first things they did was freak out Nestor and the others Leaders by escaping Stone Hill and heading elsewhere, something that clearly prompted him and the others to 'hatchling proof' the portals that rested throughout a homeworld.
"Indeed, and that's not the only precaution we're taking with the next generation," a voice said, where the siblings glanced to the side for a moment and found that Nestor and the rest of the other Leaders were standing nearby, meaning all six of them were present now, though that was when they spotted someone else they weren't expecting to see during their visit to this homeworld, as Lady Eterna, the one who lead the Phoenixes, was standing near them, "but that's not why we had the three of you come here today. Cosmos and the scholars have discussed your want to leave the Dragon Realms for a time, to head down to the equator of our world so you can figure out what the significance of this third Aether icon might be, and we've arranged for a vessel to be made ready for the three of you, plus a few others that would no doubt want to join your in this new adventure you've been thinking about."
"Such as Sol," Lady Eterna commented, referring to the Phoenix that had been the first friend the siblings had made, before they were brought to Avalar and found both Elora and Hunter, not to mention everyone else, though it was a little odd for her to mention him while she was the only one of her kind in the area, meaning Sol was either somewhere nearby or they were talking about the near future, "We heard that you were planning on figuring out a way to leave these lands, for a time, and he decided that it was time to join you on one of your adventures, to see what its like visiting a new set of islands or a new continent, instead of waiting for someone to write about the experience."
"We'd love to have Sol join us, but we have a problem," Spyro said, as he was sure that Nestor and the others already knew this and he was likely just repeating what they were thinking about, even though he also knew that Spike and Ember understood what he would be referring to and they were remaining silent as they waited to hear what their Leaders had to tell them, "we don't have a vessel that would allow us to reach the continent in question, and without knowing what is resting on the continent the third Aether icon is resting on we can't risk accidentally teleporting into a wall or something, so a boat or something is what we'll have to use to reach the landmass we discovered earlier."
'Thankfully, we have a way to get around that problem," another voice pitched in, where the siblings turned to their right for a moment and found that the Professor was standing near them, though as they did that it was easy to see that he was holding something in his hands that seemed like a device of some kind, but none of them said anything as they waited to see what was going on and what their friend meant, as a vessel was the main problem they were facing and had no idea how to really solve it, "You see, we, and by that I mean myself and the Machinists, have been working on a little something, a surprise for the three of you, and when we learned of your desire to head to a brand new continent we had to call in a little help to make sure we finished our surprise on time. I also had to ask Nora for some assistance in opening a larger portal between here and the area we were working in, given that we didn't want to ruin the surprise by having one of you see it on accident, but now that its complete, and we're all sure about that, we can show you the project that we have been working on and reveal how it can help you get to your destination."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember opened their mouths to say something, as they had no idea what the Professor was referring to when he mentioned a secret project he and the Machinists had been working on, which actually explained why none of them had been allowed to actually visit this land until this point in time, before Spike felt something and turned to look out at the water that was near the metal dock they were standing on. Blue magic danced around part of the water, where it was easy to determine that it was Teleportation Magic at work, before a large portal opened up before their eyes and no doubt connected to whatever realm the Professor and the new dragon clan had been secretly working on, though that, as it turned out, wasn't the surprise that their friend had been referring to. What the Professor was talking about was a large metallic ship that emerged from the portal, one that reminded them of the metal ship from the last Speedway of Avilion and of the airships that the Breezebuilders made, though it did look like the battleship that had been resting near the edge of the Harbor Speedway, something that interested the siblings as they walked to the edge of the dock and observed it as it moved towards them. As the ship got closer to where they and the others were waiting it quickly became clear that people were standing on the deck of the vessel, as in Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Sol, not to mention Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Agent 9, and Bentley, but that only made them interested in what was going on and knew that Nestor and the others wouldn't tell them everything, meaning that it was up to them to figure out what was going on, though it was easy to determine that the Professor and the Machinists had prepared a ship for them.
"It took us some time to make this, even with the help of the Professor and the others," Eldrid commented, as he and the others were looking at the large ship as well, taking in the sight that was in front of them as the ship came to a stop near the dock and lowered a walkway for all of them to use, which was the reason why the Leaders started to walk over to where the ship was resting and the siblings followed them, "but in the end we were able to produce a mighty ship that will be able to carry you to the continent you saw the Aether icon on, even if it took us some time to make sure everything was working right before we could show this to you."
"I also helped Nora with her magic, given my skill in using Teleportation Magic," Bianca added, speaking the moment the group neared the walkway and started to make their way up onto the deck that she and the others were standing on at the moment, though as the siblings stepped onto the deck they found that there was a bridge of some kind, as in the command center for a ship like this, nearby and it was more square shaped, instead of a tall rectangular shape, like what they had seen in the past, and it no doubt had an opening that allowed people to head to the lower levels of the ship, as that were where the sleeping quarters likely rested, "I was also told not to tell you anything about this, since they wanted it to be a surprise for you, but I think this might be what you guys need to reach that continent."
"Its very impressive, and makes me eager to see what the Machinists create in the future, be it on their own or if they work with someone else again," Spyro said, to which Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement as they looked out at the deck that they were standing on for a few moments, finding that there were a few rails that would keep them from going over the edge, or at least that was their assumption on the matter.
"I'm glad you think so, because we put a lot of time and effort into making this," a voice said, where the siblings were a little surprised to find that Lord Capulet was standing nearby, though behind him stood another Breezebuilder who had dark feathers, almost black colored by the looks of things, while he wore a vest and some attire that announced that he was a commander of some kind, though he was also wearing an eyepatch over his left eye, where they had to determine that he had been through many of the Breezebuilder's conflicts in the past and that was why he was so serious, "Allow me to introduce Fury, whose agreed to be the captain of the AS Harmony for a few years, until he can train your Balloonists to pilot a vessel such as this... and no, we did not load the ship with weapons and ammunition, so this is more of a research and transport ship, instead of the usual warships we're known for crafting."
"That's the right move, especially given the fact that we have no information on the continent that the Aether icon is coming from," Spike added, though while it was amazing that the Breezebuilders had resisted the urge to add cannons and other weapons of war to this ship, including a few bombs since they really liked to blow stuff up, he knew that sailing towards an unknown continent, where they had no idea what sort of defenses could be waiting for them, with a heavily armed ship would likely result in them being blown up, "if we had weapons the defenders of the continent might assume we're coming to invade their homes and would react accordingly, which would result in us being blown out of the water by the defenders or even whoever is tapping into the Aether, be it another purple dragon or Malefor himself."
"Spike, I doubt we're going to find Malefor on the continent, as he would have to be a thousand years old and be an incredibly old dragon for that to be a possibility," Ember remarked, showing that, unlike some of the others who thought that the first purple dragon might still be alive, she didn't believe such a thing and suspected that whoever the Aether icon was revealing was likely a troublemaker that the three of them and their friends would have to deal with, before she let out a sigh as she considered the other part of his comment, "still, you're right about not heading there with a warship that is armed to defend itself... that might cause problems for us before we even reach our destination. Also, this is a pretty big ship, more than what any of us were expecting, so whose coming with us?"
"You aren't leaving me behind this time!" Sol stated, where the siblings glanced at him for a moment, as while it was possible that the older Phoenixes had trained him, like how Titan had trained Ember or Cosmos had trained Spike, none of them were sure what sort of skills he even possessed, but, at the same time, none of them were going to argue, because it would be nice to hang out with him again, and share a possible adventure him with.
"And we're coming along as well." Elora added, gesturing to herself, Hunter, and Bianca for a moment, before she took out a piece of paper and handed it over to Spike, who took it and noticed that the list contained him and his siblings, her and the rest of their assembled friends, five of the six Leaders that watched over the Dragon Realms, as Eldrid had opted to stay behind and get used to his new position, and the Professor, with Fury as the Captain and a few others that seemed to be the crew that would make sure everything ran smoothly.
Eldrid, seeing that the siblings were eager to depart for the beginning of their expedition, disembarked from the ship and returned to the dock that was nearby, along with Lord Capulet and the others that wouldn't be joining the siblings and their friends on this quest, before Fury got the ship moving as Nestor informed the siblings that he and the others had the feeling this adventure would start as soon as they revealed the ship to them, so they packed some of their stuff ahead of time, though not a few minutes later, when the ship was no longer near the dock, it stopped.
"Is something wrong?" Spyro asked, because while everything seemed to have been working a few moments ago he had no idea why the ship would suddenly stall on them, especially after all the time and effort that everyone put into making the ship in the first place, though his siblings were silent as they looked around the ship as they tried to figure out what might have happened.
"We're changing something," Fury commented, though at the same time the siblings could hear the sounds of parts of the ship shifting and rearranging themselves, to which he kept the serious look on his face as they looked around, knowing that none of them would be able to figure out what was going on, which allowed him to focus on making sure the ship was operating the way it was supposed to be.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember walked to the edge of the ship and found something that stunned them, there were two large propellers rising out of the water, where Ember even confirmed that the same was true for the other side of the ship, and it wasn't long before Spike discovered that the propellers used both technology and magic, as there were some bits of wind magic attached to the structures. Such a thing allowed the four propellers to actually lift the ship out of the water and push them into the sky, between about fifteen to twenty feet into the air from where the water rested, based on what he was able to see, though that made them realize what the name of the ship actually was, the AS meant Airship, which was rather interesting when they thought about it, even though they should have known that the Breezebuilders wouldn't have settled for a seafaring ship, rather they would have settled for another airship. Once the ship was level, and they were no longer rising higher into the air, Fury made sure that all of the ship's systems were running just fine and then they started to move through the air, where he directed them in the direction of the continent that was on the globe Spike had spent his time studying, showing them that it was time for their next adventure to begin at last.
The first thing Spyro, Spike, and Ember did, after the airship departed from the land of the Machinists, was head out and check out the rest of the vessel that would be taking them to the continent they had seen on the globe, mostly so they could become familiar with everything the Professor, the Machinists, and the Breezebuilders put into the ship, since it would take two weeks to reach their destination. There was the bridge of the ship, or the command center to be more exact, which was where Fury took up his post as he made sure all of the components and systems of the airship were working, while keeping them on track, as the continent was their destination and he made sure they were pointed at the landmass in question, so they knew he would correct their course if they suddenly shifted off course. Another thing they discovered were the rooms that would serve as their quarters for the duration of their flight, which was good since all three of them didn't like the idea of sleeping on the deck of the ship while it was flying, and there were other rooms that definitely belonged to Sol, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9, not to mention the rest of their group and even the crew members, which meant a lot of thought had been put into making this ship a reality. Spike did nod his head a few times as they walked through the corridors of the airship, finding that everything seemed to be in order as he made note of what he and his siblings were seeing, as this was the first time they had been inside a working airship, before they reached their chambers and found a bed, a desk, and some other basic necessities that they didn't need, though Spike did leave Akilesh in his room, since he didn't want to walk around with it all the time.
Once they figured out where their rooms were located, and had some time to look around, the siblings returned to the deck and made their way to the command center, where Nestor and the other Leaders were waiting, along with the rest of their group, which was fine since the structure in question was large enough for all of them and then some, which meant they could look out over the area they were flying over and take in the new sights, even if it was going to be water for a portion of their journey.
"The Professor did a good job helping the Machinists and Breezebuilders in putting this ship together," Elora said, as she and the others had taken the time to see what the siblings had seen, so they knew where their rooms were located as well, but they had left after discovering that piece of information and left the three of them to look at their quarters for a few minutes, though she was happy to be taking part of a new adventure, "I can't wait to see what sort of lands we might find as we travel to the continent the globe showed us."
"You know, I have to ask this: what are the chances we'll find the land that Ripto came from?" Hunter asked, though this was more due to the fact that he was partly responsible for bringing the villain to Avalar, even though they were able to banish him back to his home land due to the siblings knocking him down so they could send him back into the Super Portal the Professor had been working on, and he was a little curious if they might find the land Ripto had come from, the same one he wasn't interested in returning to, based on what he remembered.
"I mean, its possible that such a thing might happen," Spike admitted, as he recalled what was on the map and knew that there were a number of islands near the area that Warfang was resting in, though those were likely the same as what their homeworlds were like and were likely connected to the continent in some manner, but he also knew that there were a number of other landmasses scattered around the sea and knew that one of them had to be Ripto's home, though he had no idea which hemisphere his home rested in, "but there's no real way to know, not until we pass by an island with his people resting on it, though after we beat him he would likely spot us and ignore us entirely."
"Not to mention the fact that if we were to be attacked we can defend ourselves," Elora added, referring to the fact that they had three powerful magic users, a number of warriors, and everyone else that was traveling with them, not to mention the fact that she had her armor she could use as well, though she was wearing her normal attire and could easily switch it out for the bodysuit if she needed to, "not that I'm expecting such a thing to happen... would be a shame if this ship were to be damaged in such a way, after all the work that went into it."
"Still, we'll be discovering things that no one has seen for a long time, or at all," Bianca said, as while she was sure that the islands and landmasses that were between the Dragon Realms and the mystery continent had been discovered by Malefor and the scholars of his generation, since they were on the globe that rested in the Arcanaeum, there was a slim chance that they only discovered them and didn't explore them like Spike and his siblings would, so they might uncover something entirely new, which was why she was so excited about this adventure, "there's no telling what we'll find during our flight to the continent Malefor supposedly went to."
The siblings nodded their heads for a moment, as there was no telling what they might find during this adventure and who they might encounter, even though Ember was of the opinion that they wouldn't be seeing Malefor at all, not unless he was an immortal dragon or something, though their gesture showed the rest of the group that they were interested in what they might discover and were looking forward to seeing what they might pass by during their flight.
"I know the Professor will ask this once we arrive, but I'm interested in whatever technology the continent has, if it has any that its residents use," Agent 9 added, once more catching the others off guard for a moment, as it was still odd to see a much calmer version of him, instead of the rather insane one that liked to shoot Rhynocs, but from what the siblings could tell the insanity had been due to the Sorceress' forces and taking them down had allowed him to calm down, even though they knew that once a fight began he'd likely form a bridge between his calm side and his insane side, which was, according to Elora, what he used to be in the past, "Maybe we could bring something back for the Machinists and the Breezebuilders that worked together to make this ship, with the Professor lending them some help... or we could bring them the gift of technology, if they have nothing."
"We'll have to wait and see," Ember stated, even though she was of the opinion that such a thing might not happen when they reached the continent and figured out what they had access to, though her focus was on something else as she thought back to the couple of scrolls she had looked at, back when they were in the Arcanaeum, "I'm interested in seeing how they fight, since there's no telling if they use the same techniques that the Peace Keepers use or if they changed up their style over the years."
That got a chuckle out of the others, mostly because they knew Ember was a warrior and she liked learning all of the different combat styles that the Peace Keepers had access to, despite the fact that she was restricted in what she could actually use at the moment, for another two years anyway, though she was just fine with them doing that as she stared out at the sky that was around the airship.
"So, how's the last year treated you guys?" Spyro asked, though this time he was looking over at Sheila and the others from Avilion, mostly because he and his siblings knew Bianca had spent most of her time training under Spike's wing and assisted Nora in moving the airship to the land the Machinists called home, but they had no idea what the rest of their friends had been up to and he was hoping that this would give them the time to talk, since they had two weeks before they reached their destination, "I would have thought that you guys would have been too busy to do something like this... not that I'm complaining, as it was nice spending time with all of you when we were taking down the Sorceress' forces and saving the realms from her rule."
"Honestly, I didn't think we would be able to set aside some time for this trip when Bianca first told us that everyone was working on it," Sheila admitted, not that the siblings were surprised by the fact that they were the only ones that didn't know about the airship until today, since it appeared that the Professor and the others swore everyone to keep it a secret until they were ready to deliver it to the Dragon Realms, "but, despite everything, we managed to clean up the majority of everything the Sorceress had built, even though it will take time for us to heal all of the wounds she has inflicted upon our realms, and both Prince Azrael and Princess Ami insisted that we take some time off and join you in this quest, as they ensured us that they would hold the fort until we got back. I also thought that it would take some time to convince these three to join us, since I figured Sgt. Byrd would be busy training our defense forces, Bentley would have been busy keeping his brother out of danger or trouble, and Agent 9 could have been busy practicing his skills, but all I had to do was mention that you would be uncovering the greatest secret known to dragons and they jumped at the chance to help out, even if it means being away from home for two to four weeks."
"Still, its nice that you guys came along, regardless of what we find or discover," Spike said, as it was nice to have all of their friends present, or at least the vast majority of them, and he was sure the residents of Avilion would be just fine since they had Prince Azrael and Princess Ami watching over all of them, and that included Sol, as he knew that the Phoenix had been sad when he was left out during their last adventure and was likely going to try and make up for it this time around, even though they had no idea what was waiting for them.
"Oh this is so exciting! I can't want to see what we'll find!" Sol commented, speaking for the first time since they left the Machinists homeworld, showing the group that his excitement must have rendered him speechless for a time and he was only now speaking his mind, proving Spike's thoughts to be correct, though no one could blame him for being excited, as this was going to be an adventure that wasn't like the other three the siblings had been on, as there was no villain for them to take down, not yet anyway, there was nothing for them to collect, and there were no gems for them to pick up, so all they could do was wait and see what the future held for them.
With the conversation done the group split up and found something to fill the days that they were going to spend on the airship, as all of them needed something to do that wasn't just sitting in one spot for hours on end or sleeping until Fury informed them that they reached their destination, though it was pretty clear what some of them were going to do as soon as they split up. Spike moved over to an area of the deck, which was behind the command center, and used that area as a makeshift training area so he could continue the lessons he had been giving Bianca, with Cosmos joining them while others watched them work from afar, but he did make sure they were careful whenever they practiced, as some of the more powerful spells could ruin parts of the ship and the wind spells needed to be kept at a minimum so they didn't affect the propellers that were keeping them in the air. It wasn't what Bianca was used to, given that the areas she used for her practice sessions happened to be flat ground and didn't move like the airship did, but she gave it her best and continued to take in everything that Spike was willing to teach her, even if some of the spells seemed rather difficult, despite the fact that such a thing was due to how far behind she was in her lessons, something which impressed all three of the other magic users that were around her, since Nora was sticking around to help them make a portal back to the Dragon Realms, if they were allowed to do so anyway. While they did that Ember, Titan, and the rest of the fighters gathered in another part of the upper deck and continued their own training, though that was when Titan, who had been preparing for this trip for a long time, gave them wooden versions of the weapons they were currently training with, as he didn't want to damage part of the ship either, something that his students acknowledged and started using as he instructed them on how to fight with his personal weapon, the battleaxe.
Sol, for the most part, switched between the two groups, mostly because he liked to see magic in action and knew just how skilled Spike was, so it was like a show for him and the magic users weren't bothered by his presence, giving him the chance to watch as they manipulated the elements on a lesser level than what they were used to, to ensure that the ship was just fine and that nothing would be ruined if a spell got out of hand. Of course whenever he wasn't watching them do that he was training with Ember and the others, mostly in the sense of figuring out how Ember was able to fight while she ran on all fours and did his best to mimic what she was doing, even though Titan did separate him from the group a few times so he could give him some pointers on what the correct method should be, since he knew mimicking Ember wasn't the best idea in the world, not when she was so focused on her own training. Sheila and the others from Avilion either remained inside the command center, likely going over things that they needed to address when they got back home or just catching up with each other, or joined the others outside, mostly in the sense of watching Spike's teachings or seeing what Ember and the others were up to, even though Bentley did try the Peace Keeper training out, mostly to gain greater control of his powerful swings, despite the fact that everyone felt he really didn't need that, but that didn't stop them from letting him join in the lessons. Spyro, on the other claw, divided his time between watching the others, meditating so he could have a greater command over his own powers, walking around the deck of the airship so he could see what was all around them, or just sitting near Spike, as in behind the command center, so he could read one of the action stories his brother had found, since those were the types of stories he liked the most.
Since Nestor and the others came prepared the group discovered that there was one other dragon aboard that hadn't revealed himself when they boarded the ship and had been waiting for lunchtime to come around, and that was Alvar, the head chef dragon from Town Square, though this gave him a chance to cook for all sorts of creatures as he made dishes that resembled what the siblings were used to, in addition to ones that he recently came up with. It was like a cherry on top for them, as Alvar's food was possibly the best in the entirety of the Dragon Realms, and that wasn't to say the rest of the chefs couldn't compete with him, its just that the siblings felt his food was far better than what everyone else made and their friends, even though experiencing his cooking for the first time, had to agree with their assessment. Alvar was happy that they liked his food, especially some of the new dishes he had prepared, as there some new fish dishes that had been made from some fish Bianca and the others delivered, some pasta dishes that tasted amazing, some vegetarian dishes for those that couldn't stomach eating meat, and so on, showcasing his skills to everyone that was with them, as even the Captain was impressed with his skills. Of course there was another reason behind him joining them, as the first was because Nestor and the others had asked him to join them, where the siblings discovered that he was hoping to find new ingredients to test out and maybe even add some new dishes to what he was capable of making, which wasn't that much of a surprise and the group determined that they would be able to help him out in some way. Alvar also made sure to go easy on the supplies, as Fury didn't want him to go through everything they had before they found the continent or anywhere else to restock, showing that he understood what the commanding officer wanted and was sticking to it, while no doubt planning out the next couple of meals well in advance.
Eventually the day gave way for the night to arrive, though before that happened Fury made sure to set the airship down in the water so it could be converted back into a ship while the night crew made sure they stayed on course, mostly because he didn't want to run the propellers all the time and run the risk of one blowing up, even though he was sure that Lord Capulet had made sure such a thing wouldn't happen and showed that he wasn't taking any chances. The siblings and the others watched as the airship stopped and descended into the water, where once they were back in the water the ship became a normal ship as the propellers were hidden once more, allowing the night crew to take over as they headed back to their rooms for a good night's sleep, and that would be a thing since Lateef would make a quick run through all of their dreams to be sure no nightmares came to bother them, before getting some sleep himself. It was during the night that Spyro discovered something odd, during his dream there was a dark purple scaled dragon, or at least that was what he was assuming the coloration was, that he spotted off in the distance and she, which was something he learned as he focused on her, seemed to smile for a moment before eventually disappearing after some time, leaving him to his dreams as he shifted in his bed a little. He really wasn't sure who the female dragon was, save for the fact she was someone he didn't know, though there wasn't much he could learn about her since she seemed to phase into his dreams for a moment or two and then disappeared shortly after he spotted her, so all he could do was fall asleep and hope this was a one time thing during their journey.
That, as he soon discovered, wasn't the first time he had the dream, as every night following that he had the same odd dream whenever he went to sleep, he would see the female dragon for a few moments and then she would disappear as quickly as she appeared, and there were a few instances where the dream that followed seemed to be the two of them engaging enemies, ones that he and his siblings had taken out during their adventures. After having the same dream occur for a third time he approached Lateef and asked him what might be happening to him, where the Leader of the Dream Weavers listened as he explained the situation, and both Spike and Ember listened in since this was the first time they had heard of this happening and were interested in discovering if there was anything they could do to help him out, or if this was something he was going to have to deal with himself. It didn't take Lateef all that long to determine what was going on, as someone was manipulating Spyro's dreams to show him the dragon he was seeing, which would mean that one of the Dream Weavers had to be doing it, but since this was starting as they ventured into new territory he was ruling that out for the other, more favorable, explanation, someone in Warfang, or some other part of the continent they were heading to, might be warning Spyro, potentially of a danger. Spike also mentioned that there might be a chance that the dreams might be telling him about an ally they could look out for when they reached their destination, instead of her being an enemy for all of them to worry about, to which Lateef nodded his head and amended his statement to include what Spike had said, something that only confused Spyro since he wasn't sure what to make of his dreams.
In the end, however, Spyro eventually came to the decision that there wasn't much he could do about the situation he was in and determined that he would try to figure out their meaning before they reached the continent, leaving the others to whatever they were doing as they waited for the airship to get near their destination so they could begin their search for the individual the third Aether icon had been pinpointing.
When the fifth day of their flight came around Spike spotted an island off in the distance, by looking down at the water to see what was in front of them, and Fury had the airship head down so they could dock near the island, which was about the size of one of the realms back home, but from what they could tell there weren't any inhabitants for them to worry about, rather all they could see was wild animals. The siblings and their friends climbed off the ship and explored the rest of the island, finding that it was mostly just trees, grass, and a few rocky areas, but there were no structures that would tell them about any ancient residents and there were no large mountains that surrounded the island, so they were free to explore to their hearts content, though Alvar did join them as he sought out items to collect so they could restock their supplies and maybe pick some new stuff up. As such Titan and Bruno joined him, because Titan could use his weapon to handle the more aggressive creatures while Bruno calmed the others down with his skills, though both of them were ready to help Alvar gather whatever he needed to restock the kitchen, leaving the others to see if they could find anything else to add to their ship, though for the most part all they could locate were a number of fruits and vegetables that Alvar needed, which was interesting since they weren't expecting to see things they were familiar with. For the most part the group found that this island was rather peaceful and that it was unlikely that anyone had settled here in the past, as Spike didn't fell any magic in the air, so all they did was keep gathering supplies that were on the island and eventually regrouped an hour or two later, finding that Titan, Bruno, and Alvar to return with their spoils.
From there they made sure to transfer all of the supplies they had gathered onto the airship and put them in the area Alvar wanted them in, so he could sort them later when Fury had them take off again, and once everyone was back aboard the airship he reactivated the propellers so they could take off and continue their flight to the continent that happened to be their destination.
For the majority of their journey the siblings and their friends found that they did the same thing every couple of days, as in Fury would have them stop whenever they found an island and had a group explore it for anything they could use to restock their supplies, just like they did on the fifth day of their journey, but other than that Spike was surprised to see that none of the islands they spotted had anyone living on them. It was odd since he was expecting to discover clues as to what was waiting for them on the continent they were heading towards, but for the most part he found nothing and it was a tiny bit worrying, especially as they drew closer and closer to their true destination, though it did give them a chance to study a couple of new realm-like islands, so they could add them to their knowledge back home. Nestor and the others, despite their initial thoughts on the journey, had to agree with Spike and were surprised by the lack of anything that would reveal clues as to who or what they would discover when they reached the continent, though at the same time Nestor was the only one worried that they might be sailing towards a trap, one meant for the siblings, since there was no telling who else knew that Spyro, Spike, and Ember could tap into the Aether, showing that he was worried about whoever the third icon represented. Spike had to admit that Nestor's thoughts on the matter did make sense, but he, his siblings, and all of their friends were hoping that this wasn't a trap and that they were about to discover some ancient and lost secrets about the dragons as a whole, which would be great if such a thing happened, though they continued what they did while the airship traveled towards the continent, just so they didn't get rusty.
Spyro found that his dreams, following his conversation with Lateef and his siblings, were roughly the same and all he was able to see of the female dragon was what he had seen the first time, where he had the same feelings he had the first night, but from what he could tell it was hard to really make out any of her identifying features or even figure out what her name might be, even though part of him was convinced she was happy about something. It was interesting that he was the only one, out of everyone on the ship, that was experiencing weird dreams like this, among the dragons anyway since he was sure whoever was manipulating his dreams wasn't messing with the Breezebuilders and everyone else that was traveling with them, and that was confirmed by Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and the others revealing that they had nothing odd happen while each of them slept. Lateef tried to help him several times over the course of their journey and observed the dream that he was having, where even he had a hard time determining the features of the female dragon Spyro was being shown, meaning that he couldn't do much to help Spyro out, much to his annoyance since this was his area of expertise and he couldn't do anything to help him out, so all they could do was wait and see if the dreams shifted and revealed more details about the female dragon he was seeing. Spike felt that whoever was messing with Spyro's dreams wouldn't reveal anything else until they got closer to their destination, or this might be all they were getting and would have to live with it, but the only way to know that would be to see what the future held for them, so they focused on what they were doing and less on the dream, purely waiting to see if Spyro discovered something new.
Spike kept an eye on their surroundings as they traveled towards the continent that they had spotted on the globe, as in he was looking for anything that might be close to their destination so they could know if the airship was getting close to the landmass they were all eager to visit, though for the most part the only thing the group were able to discover were islands that resembled the first one they stopped at, basically allowing them to restock their supplies and not much else, which was fine with Alvar. Other than that he made sure to keep up Bianca's lessons and let Cosmos join in whenever he wanted to, while Ember and the rest of the group either relaxed or trained with Titan, giving them something to do when he wasn't writing down everything they discovered on the various islands, as despite each of the islands not having any clues as to whether or not they had been home to some creatures, like dragons and whatnot, but there were plants and animals for them to discover, and for him to write down in his new journal. For the most part the animals of the islands were ones everyone had seen in the past, like warthogs, boars, oddly enough some cows, a number of birds of prey, and a few other common animals, meaning Alvar could restock his supplies with things they were used to having, but so far the group hadn't found anything totally unique that would interest him, but that didn't stop them from looking. There was one other thing the Professor had installed in the airship and that was a device which allowed him to create a globe that was basically the globe from the Arcanaeum, only this one couldn't give them the positioning of the third Aether icon, rather it allowed them to see how far away they were from the continent and let Fury plan their course a little easier.
It was on the thirteenth day of their journey that Fury noticed something off in the distance that seemed interesting, at least in his eye it was that way, and called for the others to come and take a look, though that was when Spyro, Spike, and Ember, not to mention their friends and the rest of their group, noticed what appeared to be a flying set of islands that had a rather large number of trees scattered around each patch of land, meaning it had been a massive rainforest at one point in time, and the rather interesting part was the ruins they could see.
"Interesting, this is the first time we've seen any signs of a previous civilization during this journey," Bianca said, as she found the ruins, from what they could see anyway, to be rather interesting and it was amazing that this rainforest could even thrive up here, even though they weren't too far away from the ground and the water, though she also noticed the rivers that seemed to be flowing through the patches of land they were currently staring at, "I don't know if they belong to an ancient clan of dragons, or if they belong to a tribe of people that are like the residents from the various realms we've been watching over, though something tells me we can find out if we explore the island for a while... unless you guys would rather continue towards the continent and leave this for a return trip."
"Hm, I'm not entirely sure." Spyro stated, as he could see that some of the group was interested in heading out to see what the islands had to offer, not that he could blame them since Spike was among them, and the others were eager to move on and continue towards the continent so they could figure out what the Aether icon had been showing them, but he could tell that the decision was his and he needed to think about it, "It would be nice to stretch our legs for a couple of minutes and explore a new area, since Spike it making notes on everything we come across, but based on the map we're so close to the continent that if we continue for another two to three hours we'll reach it, meaning we can get started on our main quest and figure out who that icon was telling us about... honestly, both are good options at the moment and I'm not sure which one we should pick."
Spike started to open his mouth, so he could say something, but before he could say anything he felt someone else use magic, as he was positive that it wasn't Cosmos, Bianca, or even Nora, which was why he turned his gaze towards the furthest island that they had discovered, where he and the others, since they were interested in what had stopped him from speaking, watched as a beam of blue energy, what could have been Ice Magic if he was correct, go off, meaning that someone was in the middle of fighting something.
"Well, I think that solves our problem," Ember remarked, because if there was a fight going on, like what they had seen during their visits to the realms in Avalar and Avilion, than it was worth docking the airship near the edge of the islands so they could head out and investigate whatever was going on, especially if they discovered a new villain and found out what sinister plan they might be in the middle of, since that would make them seem like heroes to the residents of the continent they were heading towards, "What do you say, Spyro? Should we dock and see what's going on?"
"Given how close we are to the continent, yeah, we should stop and check things out... wouldn't want a villain to be setting up shop near the land Malefor went to." Spyro said, though this was either rather good timing on their part or they were just lucky that this was happening at the same time they talked about stopping or moving forward, but even as he said that Fury started to maneuver the airship so whoever would be exploring the area would be able to disembark and board the ship whenever they wanted, to which he turned towards the others, "So, whose up for a little exploration... and possibly fighting a villain's commander, if we're right about things?"
"As much as we would like to join you, I do believe that Sheila, Bentley, Agent 9, and I should stay back and help your Leaders make sure the airship is properly defended, in case we fall under attack," Sgt. Byrd stated, showing that, while he and the others did want to head out with them, they also knew how important the airship was and didn't want any harm to come to it, and the reason the siblings knew that was because their friends from Avilion nodded their heads to show that they agreed with what Sgt. Byrd was saying.
"Though I'm totally up for exploring a new area," Sol added, not that anyone was surprised by this, as he was the only one out of the entire group that hadn't actually worked with the siblings to save the day, so he was long overdue for such a thing and he was eager to head out and see what was going on, while at the same time Hunter gathered his bow and all of the arrow types he had, Elora slipped into her armor, and Bianca let lightning dance around her fingers as she nodded, meaning that they were ready to go as well.
As such Spyro, Spike, and Ember didn't argue with their friends as the seven of them headed outside to wait for Fury to dock the airship near the islands, because once the ship was in position they were going to head out and truly start the next great adventure of their lives, taking in the unknown and unraveling the mystery behind the Aether icon, all while helping whoever was in need of assistance, starting with whoever was in the middle of the fight they had just been made aware of a couple of monster ago.
The first thing Spyro, Spike, Ember, and their friends discovered was that the way forward was broken between a couple of floating platforms that stopped when they reached what appeared to be an entrance for a ruin, no doubt belonging to the people who lived in this area, so their first course of action was to jump off the ledge and glide down to the first grassy rock so they could begin this adventure. Of course Elora had to activate her metallic wings to follow the siblings, Sol spread his own wings to do the same, and Bianca used magical platforms so she and Hunter could join them, even though she was sure Hunter would be able to jump the gap if he so desired, before they jumped over to the second platform and found that there was a stone resting in the ground near one of the edges that overlooked the sea below them, only it was near the area that the entrance was in. Spike took a moment to stare at the stone as they approached it, taking in the carvings that made him wonder if the residents of this land worshiped one of the Elemental Lords, the ones that Malefor had bested in the past and forged the Runeblades they had found in the Arcanaeum, but the stone didn't give him very much information as to what the locals worshiped, to which he sighed and hoped he could find a tome or something like a Guidebook to give him and his friends the information that would tell them what was going on with the stone. From there they jumped up to the main platform that was in front of them and stared at the stone entrance that reminded the siblings of what they had seen back in Idol Springs, just not as refined as the passages that were in the realm they were thinking about, even if Sol was the only one who didn't know anything about that.
The interesting thing was that there were some wooden fence posts around the area, which seemed to be set up so no one fell over the edge, and there were a number of bushes and vines near the entrance, giving the group the chance to take in what they were seeing before they headed into the actual ruin and explored the rest of the floating islands that they had stopped at.
"Fascinating." Bianca commented, as she had seen some interesting ruins in the past, thanks to the realms that she had watched over while she was 'learning' from the Sorceress, but it was another thing to actually discover something that was entirely brand new and made them wonder what else they might discover, before she glanced over to Spike, who was already sketching out what they were seeing, "Spike, what do you think they might have worshiped?"
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure... not yet, anyway." Spike replied, something that would normally bother him, since he would have a Guidebook to answer his questions and then some, but this was one of the rare times where he and his siblings would discover something entirely new that they knew nothing about, before he finished his sketch and quickly put away the materials he had pulled out, which was when he turned towards the entrance, "Come on, let's head inside the ruin and see what else we might discover while we look for whoever fired off that attack earlier, since I'm sure they're still in the middle of fighting whoever their foe is."
As the others nodded their heads, to show that they understood what he was saying and so they could get started on their new adventure, they paused as a red furred ape, which was wearing some golden bands on its arms and legs, some gold on its native-like headpiece, and some cyan blue tribal clothing, emerged from the ruin and paused as it stared at the group for a moment. It was clear that the ape, an Ape Soldier as the group quickly decided it would be called, was shocked by the fact that they were standing there and clearly had no idea what to do as it looked at all seven of them, even though it was staring at the siblings, before it turned around and fled as it make noises, no doubt warning whoever its superiors were, meaning they might have discovered who their enemies were, which they were used to finding out based on all of the other realms all of them had been to. Instead of standing around and doing nothing, after being surprised by the Ape Soldier's actions, the group stepped forward and entered the ruin that was in front of them, where they found that the walls on either side of them weren't as smooth as the other ancient structures they were used to exploring, though they found that it didn't last very long as the passage came to a stop and revealed that a path had been carved into this area, and the Ape Soldier was in the middle of fleeing from them. Spike did make note of the raised sections of earth that had blocked the way forward and caused them to turn in the first place, meaning that whoever built these ruins had built them into the islands themselves, instead of transforming the area and then building the ruins, so they were going to run into areas like that and the group decided not to worry about it, as the path seemed pretty straightforward and it didn't look like there were any obstacles in their way, save for the lone Ape Soldier.
Of course that was when the Ape Soldier they were following turned around as a second one jumped down into the area the group happened to be standing in, showing that the apes wanted to take them down, though as that happened Sol charged at the Ape Soldier that had been leading them through the ruin, where he disappeared from where he had been standing and then slammed into his target's chest with a small burst of fire erupting from him as he did that, which knocked down his target instantly, while Hunter used his short swords to parry the incoming attack from the other foe that was in the air and used his Peace Keeper training to take him down.
"Hunter, I know you have been training with Titan and the others, but that was amazing," Bianca said, showing that she was impressed by the change in Hunter's style since he started learning what Ember had learned in the past, just like the others were a little interested in what he might be able to do now if his reflexes were this good, before she glanced over to Sol for a moment, who was tapping the Ape Soldier's body, no doubt assuming it would turn into a gem after he took it out, "and Sol, that was amazing as well. What was that skill you used?"
"We call it Phoenix Dash, which is mostly a charge move... and I wasn't expecting to do that much damage to my foe, especially since this is my first real fight," Sol replied, though at the same time he tilted his head as he focused on the Ape Soldier that was in front of him, because he was waiting for something to happen and it wasn't happening, which made him wonder if his foe was going to get back up and attack them from behind, "Um, aren't they supposed to revert back to being a gem when we beat them up, or is this normal?"
"Sol, these guys are actual apes, so they're not the gem creations we're used to facing," Spike replied, though none of them were going to blame the Phoenix for thinking that any foe they faced in battle was going to revert back to being a gem when they bested them, since he and his siblings were used to that being the accepted norm for their adventures, but from what he could tell there was no magic surrounding the Ape Soldiers, so they were the real deal for once, which was rather odd given what they faced in the past.
Sol took a few seconds to think about that and then decided not to worry about it as Spyro continued forward, so they could explore the rest of the ruins and see what else they might be able to discover, though now that they knew about the Ape Soldiers, at the very least, all of them remained on their guard as they moved once more, since there was no telling what their new enemies might do since they were actually smarter than what they faced in the past, since the Rhynocs and Gnorcs had been rather dull in their tactics, while the Apes seemed a little smarter. Of course they weren't able to get very far from where the two downed Ape Soldiers were resting, as two more of them had appeared further along the path they were following and they brought a friend, a leader type enemy that was wearing more armor than the Ape Soldiers were and was carrying what appeared to be a mace of some kind, meaning they were dealing with an Ape Leader as well, which was why the group readied themselves for battle. Ember rushed forward as the Ape Leader swung his mace at them not even a moment later, where she shifted her weapon with a single thought and used the metal claws to parry to attack and stall it, surprising the Ape in the process, though while she did that the two Ape Soldiers rushed to attack her sides so they could bring her down, unknowingly opening themselves up to being attacked themselves. By that Ember meant Spike and Bianca firing off a pair of Fireballs at their targets, blasting their targets backwards and putting some distance between all of them, allowing Spyro and Sol to charge right into their exposed chests and knock them out, giving Ember the chance to push her for backwards and swing her metal claws at her foe's chest, cutting apart his chest armor and helmet before she hardened her head and headbutted him, knocking the Ape Leader to the ground.
The group waited for a few moments, to be absolutely sure that none of the Apes were thinking of getting back up so they could hit them while they were distracted, but it appeared their enemies were unconscious and that meant they were allowed to move forward, which was exactly what they did as they rounded the corner and found a massive hollowed tree trunk that seemed to be the passage that would take them to the next part of the ruin. That brought them to an open area that looked a little like a combat arena, despite the lack of stands and everything else since this was just a square shaped chamber of the ruin that had one high wall that an even larger Ape was standing on, one who looked like it might have even more armor on its arms, legs, and head, especially the head since the helm it was wearing seemed to be a bird of some kind, and its mace was slightly bigger than the Ape Leader they had taken out. The Ape Commander, as they felt it should be called, stared at them for a few seconds before hooting some orders to its minions that were in the area, which was why four Ape Soldiers jumped down into the area to challenge them, even though only three made it as Hunter was the first one to react, interestingly enough, and one of his arrows pierced the shoulder of the Ape Soldier he happened to be targeting, pinning it to the wall before Bianca knocked it out with a Fireball to the chest. As they did that Spyro and Sol charged into one of the other three Apes, as in they picked the same one and took turns hitting it, while Elora parried the incoming attack from the Ape that challenged her, surprising it by how well her armor kept her arms safe, which was when she kicked it in the side and knocked it into Ember's tail whip attack, knocking the Ape out in seconds. The last one fell to Spike using the wind to send it flying backwards, though this time he wasn't the one to knock it out, rather his spell was the distraction that allowed Hunter to punch the Ape Soldier in the face and knock it out, which, at the same time, caused all four of the Ape Commander's minions to be defeated, causing the seven of them to glance up at the Ape that was in the middle of trying to bring them down.
Instead of hooting out more orders the Ape Commander glanced behind it for a moment and two Ape Leaders came running out from the area it was glancing at, where they jumped down into the arena and glared at the group as both of them readied themselves for battle, which was that the group did as well once they found out what both of the Apes were planning on doing. Those weren't the only enemies they had to worry about, as two more Ape Soldiers joined the fray by using a nearby hollowed tree trunk, one the group hadn't been in yet, to assault the area they were standing in, to which Elora and Bianca turned to deal with the pair of Ape Soldiers that were joining the battle and left the other pair to the rest of their group, knowing that they could handle their enemies. Spike and Ember were the first ones to react, where Spike set up a barrier to block the incoming attack that the Ape Leader that was coming at him happened to be sending his way, the magic stopping the mace in its tracks, while Ember, instead of defending this time, jumped into the air and avoided the mace that was coming her way, allowing her to headbutt her target not a few seconds later. After doing that Ember pulled back as the Ape Leader fell backwards, separating them so Sol could flash forward with his Phoenix Dash and slam right into his target's chest, knocking it out in the process, while at the same time Spyro charged into the other Ape Leader's side so he could push it away from Spike, sending it right into the kick that Hunter had prepared for it, something that let them take the final foe down and was followed by the barrier being dismissed as the group got back together. The pair of Ape Soldiers that Elora and Bianca had tangled with were laying on the ground nearby, as Elora had punched her foe a few times, until it was knocked out, and the other one fell as Bianca blasted it with a Lightning Bolt, allowing them to regroup and turn their attention to the Ape Commander, as it had two options before they challenged it.
The Ape Commander stared at them before throwing a stick of dynamite down into the area they were standing in, no doubt expecting it to blow up when it came into contact with one of them, but Bianca just waved her hand and knocked it back up to where their foe was standing, letting it blow up in its face, before it raged and tried to send down a few more so it could blow them up, to which the group sighed and headed for the second hollowed tree trunk, as they figured that the Ape was no threat to them and they were eager to see what else the ruin had to offer them. During their brief trek through the hollowed tree trunk they found a pair of clay vases that seemed a little out of place, especially since there was nothing inside them to tell the group what sort of purpose it served, though when they exited the trunk Spike stopped them when he noticed the pressure plate that was in the ground, one that was no doubt connected to the square stone head that was off to their right. Of course he tested his theory not a few seconds later and they watched as a few darts flew out of the stone head, where the mouth actually opened to fire the projectiles, only to come to a stop when they hit another tree trunk that would allow them to get further into the ruins they were in, though Spike made a quick note of what the stone head looked like and what the pressure plate looked like, for future reference and for his next book, before they climbed into the next hollowed tree thunk and continued to explore the ruins.
What they discovered was that the next hollowed tree trunk was broken in the middle, as a third of the central part of it was missing and allowed them to watch as an Ape Soldier jumped down into another area that they hadn't seen before, which appeared to be part of the way out of here, or so they assumed, but Spike did set up a barrier in front of them as he spotted an Ape using what appeared to be a cannon that fired wooden stakes at them, which were stopped by the magic, allowing Sol to use his Phoenix Dash to smash into the Ape and ruin the weapon.
"A stake cannon, interesting." Spike commented, as it was an interesting item to find in the middle of the ruins, due to the fact that it looked like something that might have been salvaged from the materials in the ruin and made by all of the Apes that were running around these ruins, meaning they must have had the time to set up their defenses from what had been here beforehand, though he made a quick sketch of it and put his materials away.
From there they discovered that the only thing they could do was jump down into the area below them, where they found a wall of stakes set up to prevent someone from moving to the left, even though they could head forward and climb the steps that were in front of them, though they found that there were four stone heads, two on either side of the wall to be exact, which happened to be firing stakes at the stone walls that rested across from them. Interestingly enough one set fired with the top head first and then the lower head next, while the one that was on the other side of the wall was lower first and then the upper one, though after seeing that for a few moments Bianca raised her hand and blasted the spikes that were in the ground apart, meaning all they had to do was avoid the spikes and investigate the area that was beyond where they were standing. They discovered a few vases resting on the ground and two Ape Soldiers that seemed annoyed by their presence, though that didn't stop Elora and Hunter from punching them into the walls while the rest of the group explored the rest of the area, something that involved Ember finding a square stone that the Headbash technique could be used on, where she sunk it into the ground and was sure there was a sound of some stone moving, no doubt back in the area they had seen the Ape Commander in. That, of course, was when three of the Ape Leaders landed behind the group and tried to lash out at them, where Spike threw up a barrier for a moment and blocked all three of their attacks at the same time, though when he dropped the magic Ember flipped into the air and smacked her hardened tail into the face of their first enemy, Spyro and Sol charged into the second one, and Bianca knocked the third back with a quick spell so Elora and Hunter could push it into another wall, effectively clearing the area of enemies once more.
After clearing out the side area they returned to the stake traps and avoided them once more, though that was when they climbed the steps that seemed to be the main path and found a side area, where an Ape Commander, an Ape Leader, and two Ape Soldiers seemed to be standing guard over a pair of cages, ones that contained bipedal llamas inside them, one in each cage to be exact, and that was when an Ape riding an orange furred creature that had yellowish-orange wings, blue legs, and a dark blue face, something Spike was going to call a Dreadwing based on what they were seeing, used its mount's feet to carry one of the cages away.
"It seems we've found the natives, and they're in trouble... which isn't surprising," Spyro commented, because he and his siblings, at the very least, were used to the fact that the natives of every realm they went to help had been in trouble, in some way, shape, or form, and this was just following the norm for them, hence the reason the three of them were ready the moment they noticed what was going on, leading the others to do the same.
As the group engaged the Apes, and by that Sol crashed one of the Ape Soldiers into the ground while Ember tripped the other with her tail and smacked it a few times until it was knocked out, the Ape Commander tried the same tactic the group had seen earlier, with it throwing sticks of dynamite at them, but that was easy for Spike to take care of as he blew them up before they even touched the ground again, allowing Hunter to loose a few arrows into the Ape Commander's body, in the none vital areas, while Elora punched it in the face a few times as she made sure to avoid the arrows. The Ape Leader, on the other claw, was brought down in seconds by Bianca restraining it with magical chains for a few seconds, as that allowed Spyro to charge into it and knock it out, eventually allowing them to clear the area of enemies as the four Apes were knocked out, though the battle was far from over as the Dreadwing, minus the cage, returned to the area they were in and landed on top of the platform between them and the other cage. What they discovered was that their new foe was somewhat quicker than the Apes they were fighting, which was interesting since it was nearly as tall as one of the Ape Commanders they had seen, and it had two styles of attacks, a bite attack for anyone that happened to be in front of it and a wing bash, where it would lash out with its wings whenever someone was on either side of it, so that meant they had to be careful in how they approached this creature. That caused them to go on the defensive for a few moments, watching the bat-like creature as it tried to swing at them or bite whoever was the closest to it, and it came pretty close a few times had Spike and Bianca not summoned some barriers to stop the attacks in their tracks, though a loose arrow from Hunter was all they needed, as the moment the arrow was lodged into the back part of the Dreadwing's back, just behind the Ape that was controlling it, that was when lashed out with it as some of them actually hit the creature, Spike and Bianca used some Fireballs to wounds it, and Sol used his Phoenix Dash to inflict some damage.
Between the seven of them it took them no time to deal with the Dreadwing, which collapsed after a moment or two of their battle, allowing the group to jump up to where the other cage was resting and smashed it open, where the llama creature, who was wearing tribal attire, watched as the walls and lid of his wooden cage collapsed around him, as they made sure none of it hit him, before he stepped out and focused on them, allowing the group to see that his only weapon seemed to be a blowgun, a simple wooden rod that one could fire darts out of by exhaling.
"While I appreciate the assistance, as those Apes had us locked up good, I was under the impression that Cyril was the only one coming to aid us," the llama creature said, showing that he was grateful for the aid, even though he and the rest of the residents of this land must have been told that only a single person, a dragon most likely, had come here to assist them and that no reinforcements were coming to aid them, which meant something had happened for them to call for help, which came in the form of this Cyril, and then the Apes came later, "Who are you guys? And do the other Guardians know you're here?"
"I'm Spyro, along with my siblings Spike and Ember, and our friends Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Sol," Spyro replied, as he gestured to the rest of the group as he said their names, mostly to let the llama creature know who they were and to show him that they were here to help, which was rather obvious since they tore into the Apes that had been trying to cart him and the other resident somewhere else, before he considered the other part of the question, "Also, we have no idea who this Cyril is. We were heading to Warfang, or at least the continent its resting on, and we noticed the battle that was raging off in the distance, so we stopped and decided to see if the residents of these floating islands needed any help with what was going on."
"I... I see..." the llama stated, his tone revealing that he was a little surprised by the information he was being told, no doubt due to the fact that he and the others of his kind were used to their being only one island full of dragons and that this would reveal that there was more to the world than what he was used to seeing, before he shook his head and shifted his stance a little as he glanced in the direction of the fight that was still going on, "Cyril came here to assist us, the Atlawas, after the Stone Sentinel, our God of the Earth, started to become aggressive and lashed out at whoever was near it, though we suspect that the Apes are the cause behind our god's strange actions... I must go make sure the others are okay, and that none of them have been harmed by the Apes, before I assist the Guardian of Ice in his battle."
Before the group could say anything the llama creature, or the Atlawa as he called himself, jumped down into the area that the unconscious Apes were in and headed off for another part of the floating islands, no doubt to fulfill what he had just told them, to which the group shook their heads and kept moving, though one piece of information Spike noted was the title their new ally had given one of the combatants, the Guardian of Ice, meaning Ice Magic, which interested him way more than he was willing to admit and made him want to meet whoever was fighting the Stone Sentinel. With the Atlawa rescued, however, the group headed back into the ruin and jumped up to an area that contained another stone square and, more importantly, the Ape Commander they had seen earlier, the one they hadn't taken out, so while Ember made sure to activate the stone trigger, and likely raised some steps in the process, Spyro and Sol charged into their target's back and knocked it into the area below them, taking it out with the lit explosives it was carrying, a fatal mistake that let them take it out. From there they jumped back down into the arena-like area they had seen and located the trigger they had missed earlier, to which Spyro performed the Headbash on it and raised the fourth and final pillar into place, which formed a set of posts for them to jump up onto and allowed them to move deeper into the ruins, even though Spike had to form a whirlwind to get all of them back up to the area the Ape Commander had been in. Once that was done they took turns jumping on the tops of the pillars and found that the way forward was by walking on top of the first hollowed tree trunk they had used, where Spyro was the first one to head down the path on the left and waited for the others to catch up with him before he went too much further.
Once they were together again the group headed down the passage they had discovered, which was when they found two Armadillos, only slightly more armored than the normal armadillo that all of them had learned about, come to a stop a fair distance in front of them, but it was clear that there was another enemy to worry about and that they would have to take them down as well. Hunter, realizing that his bow would do nothing and his melee attacks would only hurt him, drew the blades he carried and used them to cut into the shell of his target, finding that it was actually softer than what he had been assuming it was and that meant he could have used his arrows or fists to fight these guys, though that didn't stop Sol from loosing a burst of fire on the other Armadillo, which took care of it in no time. With those two enemies defeated, and the group made sure no flames spread to the rest of the ruin, they continued forward and kept their eyes open for any other enemies that might be new, since there was no telling what else they might find in this land, even though they did find an area they had to jump down into not a few seconds later, where three of the Armadillos were waiting for them to come down and face them. Ember was more than willing to do that, as she jumped down and engaged the metal claws as she lashed out at the first one, leaving Spike and Bianca to blast the second one with a pair of Lightning Bolts as Elora took a moment to kick the third with her armored hooves, allowing Hunter and Sol to deal the finishing blow to it, before they regrouped in the lower area and moved forward once more. That eventually brought them to a chamber that had three Ape Soldiers and two Ape Leaders, where the Soldiers looked like they were ready for battle and the Leaders actually hid behind some crumpling stone statues while preparing sticks of dynamite to use against them, though Bianca had an idea and cast a blinding spell that gathered the power of light, so named Solar Flare, to take away the vision of their enemies for a few seconds, just long enough for the lit dynamite to spell disaster for their enemies.
As soon as the smoke cleared the group investigated the area their enemies had been guarding and found that there was another stone trigger that Ember used the Headbash on, which caused one of the two sunken pillars to raise like they had seen in the other chamber, along with noticing that there was a large log that was resting on a post in the middle of the area, meaning it might be useful later, before discovering that there was no actual way forward and that there was a second stone trigger opposite of where they entered the area. Once that one was smashed into the floor the second pillar raised out of the ground and came to a stop near the log they had spotted when they first entered this area, though when they jumped up to the highest point of the second pillar Spyro discovered that they would have to make sure one of them was on the log at any moment, as it moved in the opposite direction of where he was standing. Of course that was when he noticed something and made it so that the log's lower side was pointed towards the second stone trigger and the other side was higher in the air, as there was a ledge they could jump to that would allow all of them to reach a platform that would require a small jump to get to the pathway that might take them to the next part of the ruins, maybe even the exit if they were lucky. As such he stayed on the lower part of the log and let the others go single file up the log and jump over to the ledge he had spotted, where he watched and made sure everyone got up to the opening he had spotted, and once he was the last one left he rushed up the log and glided over to the ledge as well, quickly catching up with the rest of the group so they could move forward and see what else they would have to do while they were in this place.
Of course they rounded the next corner and found that there were a number of Apes in the next area of the ruins, not that they were expecting anything different at this point, and so far it looked like one Leader, one Commander, and one of the Soldiers that was commanding one of the stake cannons, though the area between them and the Leader looked like it was a trap, given the large leaves on the ground. Instead of wasting time on the trap Hunter jumped over it entirely, once more showing off his agility now that he was actually acting like a warrior and the fact that he had improved himself after the events of Ripto's visit to Avalar, where he punched the Ape in the face and knocked it to the ground, though as he did that Sol joined him and then used his phoenix Dash to smash into the Commander's chest, giving Hunter a chance to take out the Ape Soldier that was on the cannon, eliminating three enemies in rapid succession. Spyro had to admit that what they had shown Hunter two years ago, when they were pulled to Avalar to deal with Ripto, had a massive effect on both his personality, since he had left behind his cowardly nature, and his fighting skills, as training with Titan and Ember had improved his melee skills to a degree that even he wasn't expecting. Once the pair were sure their three enemies were taken down, however, Sol beckoned for them to jump over the trap and they resumed exploring the rest of the area they were in, each of them looking for any exits that would allow them to leave this particular ruin, which was larger than what they were expecting it to be, allowing them to jump over two other traps before heading towards what appeared to be the exit of this area.
Two Armadillos were waiting for them, along with a Stone Elemental that seemed to be blocking the way out of here, so while Ember and Sol charged into the first two enemies Elora jumped into the air and brought her leg down on the Stone Elemental's arm, causing it to stagger, meaning it had to be one of the weaker elementals Spike had read about, and she was joined by Spyro charging right into the creature's chest, shattering it in seconds... though after that happened the group paused for a moment as they found a rope and wooden flank bridge that was connected to another patch of land, meaning they were allowed to leave the ruins at last.
"I wasn't expecting those ruins to be that big, as it almost felt like exploring a realm from Avilion," Bianca commented, as she wanted to talk for a moment as they walked across the bridge and then used another one that connected to what appeared to be the next major floating island, bringing them even closer to the area that Cyril and the Stone Sentinel had to be fighting in, if what the Atlawa had told them was true, which she had to believe it was.
"Things probably changed since Malefor and the others left Avilion," Spike stated, though he shared the thought that Bianca had come up with, that ruin felt like a realm that he and his siblings would have run through in the past, but he did have an idea as to why these floating islands and their ruins were so different from everything else, making him curious as to what they would find when they finally reached the main continent and discovered Warfang, "though we'll have to wait and see what the future has in store for us."
"Enemies, that is what the future has in store for us," Elora remarked, gesturing to the three Ape Soldiers that were in the middle of charging towards them, though at the same time she and the others noticed that the bridge that connected their path to the next major floating island was broken, meaning they would have to be careful as they moved through the rest of this area and entered the next floating island.
Instead of knocking the Ape Soldiers off of the bridge, and letting them fall into the water below the islands, the group pushed them back towards the smaller patch of land that happened to be resting behind their enemies, giving them more room to move around, though the siblings turned their attention to a Dreadwing that flew down into the area, letting their friends deal with the Apes while they focused on their main foe. Spyro found that this was the best chance for him to use the weapon he had picked up in the Arcanaeum, the wind elemental Runeblade, and drew it as best as he could while his siblings distracted their opponent, allowing him to swing the weapon a few times and use the wind to deliver some cuts to his foe, though it would take him some time to master wielding this weapon. That was when Spike loosed a few Fireballs at the Dreadwing as Ember used her metal claws to cut into it, where the three of them quickly brought down their foe in a matter of moments and once that was done they turned and watched as Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Sol finished beating up the Ape Soldiers that had been in their way, allowing Spyro to sheath Windshear before they resumed moving forward, which involved walking across the other bridge. On the patch of land that the bridge lead them to they discovered two of the Stone Elementals and one Armadillo that seemed to be waiting for enemies to arrive, where Sol used his Phoenix Dash to smash the Armadillo into the ground while Ember charged her way through a Stone Elemental as Spyro and Elora beat up the other one, and once those three enemies were taken care of they reached the end of the path they were following and stared at the broken bridge that would have allowed them to walk down to the next major island. As such the siblings glided down to where the opening was located as Elora and Sol spread their wings to join them, while Bianca used her magic to move herself and Hunter down to where the others were standing, before they headed into the potential ruins that were in front of them.
It was easy to get through the short passage that would allow them to enter the next ruins, and that included avoiding some stake traps along the way, before they paused as they entered the circular area and watched as an Ape Commander stepped into the area, who raised his mace into the air and seemed to channel some magic into the area that Spike knew was designed to trap them in this area, but he used his magic to grab that magic and then blasted their foe in the chest, knocking it backwards so they could move forward. That was when six Armadillos and a number of Ape Soldiers revealed themselves and lashed out at the group as they walked up the circular ramp that would bring them to the top of the area, to which the group defended themselves as each of them fought back against their enemies, bringing each of them down as they carefully made their way towards their destination, no doubt surprising all of the Apes with what they were able to do in the process. Of course it didn't take them long to reach the area that the Ape Commander had been standing in, who was still unconscious from what Spike did to it, to which they headed through the opening that was beyond it and headed outside the circular ruins, where another Dreadwing dropped down into the area that was in front of them, like it wanted to challenge them, though it really couldn't handle the sheer power that Spyro, Spike, Ember, and their friends brought to bare against it, as it took them a few moments to bring it down and knock it out so they could move forward. From there they jumped over to a small patch of land that had a small stone pillar on it, as in rough stone and not the smooth pillars that had been inside the ruins, before they found a bridge that would allow them to head over to an island that looked like it might be where the Atlawas had to be growing some of their crops.
What was interesting was that there was a river that seemed to be moving through this island and the Atlawas were using it to possibly power something, based on the couple of waterwheels that were in the area, though each of them had some Ape Soldiers on cannons guarding them, or just guarding the level they happened to be on, though there were a few stone triggers near a windmill, or the tribal windmill, so they figured out what needed to be done. Sol charged into the Ape that was commanding the stake cannon while the others dealt with the couple of Armadillos, five to be exact, before they used the Headbash on the three stone triggers to cause the first windmill to spin, which caused the first waterwheel to start moving again, though it was the large wings of the waterwheel that were their ride up to the next level of this island and that was what they did. Once they arrived at the next level of the farm the group was assaulted by three Ape Soldiers, two Armadillos, and an Ape on a stake cannon, so Spyro dealt with the stationary Ape and smashed the cannon, while the others quickly took down the rest of their enemies, allowing them to Headbash the two stone triggers that were resting near the windmill and found the third one resting near the next waterwheel, allowing them to turn it back on and let them ascend to the next level. After reaching the third level of the area the group dealt with the two Apes on the cannons and made sure to press the stone triggered into the ground, so they could reactivate the windmill and the waterwheel that it was connected to, even though they did have to fight their way through a few more Armadillos before they could reach the device that allowed them to head up to the highest point of the area, which was when they smashed the two cannons that were up there and headed into the passage that the Apes had been guarding.
The waterway that the Apes had been outside had three Stone Elementals inside it, though unlike the others they had seen so far these ones seemed more neutral and allowed them to move through the rest of the short path, though as the group walked through the other opening they found the Atlawa from earlier standing in front of three Stone Elementals, though they, too, were neutral and it seemed that he was asking them for assistance or an audience with the god that was going berserk at the moment, but he did spot them and nodded as he resumed his work, no doubt silently thanking them for clearing out the Apes before he moved out of the area.
From there they climbed down the steps that were in front of them and found four more Stone Elementals that, once again, were oddly passive despite the fact that their superior elemental was going berserk, either meaning that Cyril was doing so much damage to the Stone Sentinel that it couldn't convert the others into being angry or it didn't have enough time to do it before the dragon's arrival, but they weren't about to question it as they walked through the opening that the elementals were guarding. After that they entered an area that appeared to have another Ape Commander that beckoned to them and started to throw sticks of dynamite down on them, though Spike and Bianca used their magic to bounce all of it back up to where it was standing, knocking it and the other Apes out in a matter of seconds, allowing the group to climb the stone platforms so they could reach the highest point of the area and then walk through a hollowed tree trunk so they could reach the next section of this island. That was when they discovered what was in the next area, as there were a few Ape Soldiers on some cannons, a pair of Ape Leaders that were readying some dynamite, and a pair of swinging log traps that looked like they had been triggered by the Apes, no doubt because they were thinking of using it against the group, but Ember was the first one to charge forward and smashed the cannon in front of them to pieces, knocking out the Ape that was behind it instantly, while Sol jumped into the air and blasted one of the Leaders in the chest as Bianca did the same with a Fireball to the other one. Spike used his magic to stall the traps and make them useless, so that the Atlawas could reset their traps once their ruins were no longer being overrun by Apes, leaving the others to break through the stakes that were in front of them and break the other cannon that was halfway through the area. There was even one of the Ape Commanders waiting at the end of the passage, though it just stood there with a shocked look on its face as it held a lit stick of dynamite, so all the group had to do was wait for the Ape to blow itself up, which it did, before they jumped up to the area it had been 'guarding' and moved towards the next part of the area.
That brought them to a chamber that looked like they could fight someone in it, or more like an Ape Commander and two Ape Soldiers, so Spike and Bianca used their magic to take down the larger Ape while Spyro and Sol charged into one of the smaller ones and Elora and Hunter punched the other in the face, prompting a few more Ape Soldiers to come running up the passage they had just walked through, meaning they must have been surveying the battle and were just waiting to be called into the fray. Ember, as it turned out, was more than enough to take down the three Apes that were trying to sneak up on them while they were busy, using her hardened body and her new metal claws to take them down, and once they were all laying on the ground, unconscious, she regrouped with the others so they could continue moving towards the exit and reach the area that Cyril was in. This time around there was nothing in the next passage to slow them down, unlike the last couple of new passages they had entered while they were exploring these ruins, though they kept their guards up as they followed the path that was in front of them and quickly reached an opening that revealed a larger area than the last chamber they had been in, but as they took that in Hunter noticed the Atlawa from earlier fighting some of the Apes in an area that didn't connect to this chamber, meaning that they couldn't help him even if they wanted to, and they did want to assist him, so they focused on the enemies that had to be in this area and moved forward to see what sort of traps and tricks were in store for them. Something interesting that they discovered was that someone, but it the Apes or the local Atlawas, had set up some stone pillars between the raised sections of ground, meaning that it would be a little harder to move around this chamber and figure out where the exit was, so all they could do was head to their right and both Elora and Hunter knocked the unsuspecting Ape Leader into the ground.
Once that was done they found a curved socket of some kind that had been built into the ground, which the Ape had been staring at, meaning a key of some kind needed to be delivered to this area so they could move forward, to which the seven of them headed through the other opening that was near the fallen Ape and entered a larger portion of the area that was unlocked, which had more Ape Soldiers for them to deal with. It was clear that none of the Ape Soldiers were at all ready for their arrival, as Spyro charged through a few of them and used Windshear to actually cut one of the stake cannons that were above them apart, Ember charged into all of her targets and knocked them down with her metal claws, Spike and Bianca used their magic to blast or freeze those that came near them, Elora and Hunter punched and kicked the ones that decided to oppose them, with Hunter loosing a few arrows to stun some of the other Apes, and Sol made good use of his Phoenix Dash to smash his targets into the ground and even used his breath attack as well. Spike was sure that the Atlawa, if he was still around, would have been shocked at the display, as while none of them were actually holding back none of them were going all out either, otherwise this place would have been wrecked by their combined skills and abilities, but once the fighting was done the group took a few seconds to relax before they headed out to see if they could find the key that would open something, preferably the exit so they could find Cyril. Eventually they made their way up to the highest point of the area and found where two stone triggers were resting, though when Ember and Spyro struck them into the ground the group discovered that the doors that were below them opened and revealed that there were four large stone spheres for them to move around, meaning there were three other slots they needed to find.
With the Apes cleared out of the area it actually didn't take them all that long to find out where the other three slots were located, as one was near the opposite end of the area, from where the opening rested, and the other two rested in an area that was unlocked thanks to them striking both triggers, though with that done they found that the wooden gate that was blocking the way forward lowered and allowed them to meet up with the Atlawa again, who just so happened to finish pounding on the door that was in their way, allowing the group to leave the area.
"The seven of you are strong... maybe you can help Cyril face the God of the Shrine." the Atlawa stated, showing that he must have seen part of the battle that they had been in, or he was just assuming that since they had made it this far all of them were skills warriors in their own right, though at the same time he stepped out of the way and headed once more, no doubt to continue rescuing his tribe members.
The group really didn't have much to say to that, so instead of talking they walked through the opening that had been opened for them and found that there were a couple of small floating sections of ground that lead the way to where an airship was resting, one that was made out of equal parts wood and metal while having no propellers to lift it into the air, to which they headed down to the ship and climbed aboard it, as they were sure it belonged to the Apes. Once all of them were on the airship it started moving and their thoughts were proven to be correct, as a number of enemies, mostly Ape Soldiers, charged out from the front of the ship and the back of the ship, showing that they must have been sleeping or something since it was likely they came from a rather large crew quarters, given the number of Apes they had taken out since they stopped near the edge of the floating islands, but that didn't stop them from engaging their enemies. It was a repeat of what happened back in the large puzzle area, as Spyro soon discovered, as none of their foes were able to do much when they faced the power that was arrayed against them, though even when Spike stopped casting spells, mostly to observe how this airship could move slower than their airship despite the fact that it didn't have propellers, the Apes still didn't stand much of a chance against them. Even the couple of Leader and Commander ranked enemies didn't do much in the grand scheme of things, as the group, regardless if it was six of them or all seven of them, beat up anyone who came at them and left their unconscious body on the deck of the airship, though that didn't stop Hunter and Sol from actually engaging in a friendly competition to see how many each of them could take down, so much so that the others stopped fighting at one point and stood near Spike so they could see what happened, and all they could say was that they felt sorry for the unfortunate Apes.
Even the lone Dreadwing that came in to see what was going on, no doubt due to the Apes being worried about what might have happened to the airship, didn't last all that long as Hunter jumped up to the highest point of the ship and then propelled himself into the air, showing that he had been working on his jumping skill as well, and put a few arrows into the Dreadwing's back, causing it to crash into the side of the next area they would be exploring, knocking it and its rider out in a matter of seconds.
"That still only counts as one!" Sol stated, referring to the fact that Hunter had only focused on the Dreadwing and not on the rider at all, so he had taken out one foe instead of both of them, though even as he said that the airship came to a stop and they started to disembark from it, where Hunter landed nearby and joined them, only for him and Sol to learn that Spike had been keeping count and that the Dreadwing had actually tied them, meaning that if Hunter had hit the rider as well he could have won their little competition.
With the airship ride over the group jumped up to where the Dreadwing had fallen, making sure the rider was out as well so it didn't report anything when its mount woke up, before they headed through the opening that would take them to the next area they had to explore, before they were allowed to reach the area that Cyril and the Stone Sentinel were in, hence why they kept their guard up, since there was no telling what they would run into. What the group discovered as they followed the new passage was that some of the Stone Elementals were cleaning up the ruins of the Armadillos that had been trying to kill them earlier, meaning the group didn't have to waste their energy on fighting those enemies and could actually turn their attention to finding a few stone triggers to open the way forward, as that appeared to be the only way to move through the ruins they were exploring. They found one that was being guarded by a swinging log trap, one that Spike stalled so Ember could Headbash the trigger, though what it was supposed to open or interact with they had no idea, so they continued moving by jumping up a pillar that was more like stairs and then dropped down into an area that had another moving trap, causing Bianca to step forward and stall it with her magic so the next trigger could be hit, but as that happened Spike determined what the triggers were for, and that was to raise some pillars so some steps could form near the entrance of this area, to allow easy access back outside, so it wasn't necessary for them to mess with this set of triggers and they focused on leaving the area they were in. Fortunately the way out wasn't too far away from where they had found the second trigger and they came to a stop when they found a bridge leading to the final floating island in the long chain that they had been exploring, where they could see what appeared to be a decent sized shrine, even if parts of it had fallen due to the fight that was still going on, something that was easy to tell by the shards of ice that went flying through the air a few seconds later.
"So, he is still trying to calm the Great One." a voice said, where the Atlawa they were familiar with appeared near the group once more, though this time his gaze was focused solely on the area that was in front of them and not on anything else, which was understandable considering that this was a battle between Cyril and one of the gods that the Atlawa were worshiping all the time, "You don't have to join this battle if you aren't up to it... I'm sure Cyril will succeed in his mission and then my people can come home."
"Sorry, but we're heroes, and helping people out is what we do," Spyro stated, where the others nodded their heads to show that they agreed with what he was saying, not that he expected to disagree with them, before they stepped forward and started to walk across the bridge that was in front of them, as it was time to meet the Guardian of Ice and his foe, all while bringing peace to these islands.
On the other side of the bridge they discovered a massive Stone Elemental, which reminded the siblings of when they fought the Sorceress and she used the armor spell to stand in lava, that looked more primal than any of the others of its kind, and by that the group meant the crystals that were coming out of the creature's arms and shoulders, though the only odd thing about it was the black metal collar it was wearing, something that seemed out of place. The group knew that this had to be the Stone Sentinel, who was more imposing than what they were expecting, but that was when a blue scaled dragon while a light purple colored chest, standing like Nestor and the others, landed nearby, though they could tell that this had to be Cyril due to the fact that there were icy white colored spikes on his shoulders, elbows, legs, and tail, and he happened to be wearing a golden metal sash around his waist and golden metal scales that covered the upper part of his legs, which came complete with some short blue colored cloth and the icon of the Ice Element on the center of the sash that was positioned on his waist. In addition to all of that Cyril also had a pair of golden bracelets on, resting behind his wrists and stopping only halfway up to where his elbows were, and he had what appeared to be a golden collar around his neck, though as they took all that in Cyril revealed that he had one other thing for them to see, a polearm that was more commonly called a guandao, or at least that was what Titan called a weapon like this, which had a long blade at the end of the top of the shaft that the wielder would hold onto, only that could easily be mistaken for a dragon's head based on how it was shaped.
As the group took all of this in, however, the Stone Sentinel raised its right arm and swung it down towards the area that Cyril was standing in, which was the moment that Spike stepped forward and channeled his power into a barrier that stopped the attack in its tracks, even though he could feel the power behind the attack and realized that this creature was stronger than what he had the others might be expecting. Cyril, seeing that happen, glanced at them for a moment and paused as he realized that there were three dragons and four others coming to his aid, though it was hard for them to tell if he knew what their races were, before he nodded his head and beckoned for them to stand at his side, showing that he was willing to accept them as allies even though he knew nothing about them, hence the reason the rest of the group moved up and separated from each other as Spike let the barrier go, giving himself and Cyril enough time to move as well so they didn't get hit by the attack. Hunter stared at the creature for a moment, understanding that his arrows wouldn't do anything to such a beast, but that didn't stop him from switching to his blades and running up the still outstretched arm of the Stone Sentinel so he could hack into the shoulder or the collar, even though it was the latter that received his attention since it reminded him of what the siblings mentioned about Charmed Ridge, the mind control necklaces anyway. That drew the attention of their foe as it tried to grab him and crush him, which was why Bianca teleported Hunter to safety as the hand got close to him, before she loosed a bit of lightning at the collar, because everyone seemed to agree that it had to be their main target, though all of them had to be careful since they didn't want to accidentally kill the creature that they were fighting, something Cyril seemed to agree with as he spun his guandao around in a circle a few times and loosed a wave of ice that covered their foe's feet, preventing it from moving for a few moments.
While that was amazing, since it certainly took some skill to pull off a move like that, the opening Cyril created just so happened to be everything that the group was waiting for, as Elora started blasting the collar with the blasters that were in her armor, Ember used the whirlwind Spike created to get up and lash at the metal from another angle, Sol dashed up the arm that Cyril froze a few seconds later so he could channel the power of his Phoenix Dash into the collar, and Spike made sure to hit it with a burst of ice that weakened the metal even further. As that happened the Stone Sentinel roared and broke the ice that trapped it, causing the others to move, Spike sent Spyro into the air and his brother drew Windshear to deliver a short burst of power at the collar, enough to weaken it without hurting their foe, causing the entire collar to break before their eyes and caused the creature to topple forward, giving them barely enough time to move out of the way so all of them could avoid being crushed. From there they waited to see what happened next, since they were sure the collar had been the problem, and not a few moments later the Stone Sentinel rose from where it had crashed and returned to its full height, only this time around its eyes seemed less angry and more calm, hence the reason that it bowed its head to all of them for a few seconds, something that was followed by it raising its head and waving at the area the group had come from, where the Atlawa and the rest of his tribe appeared to be cheering. It was clear that they were happy that Cyril and the group had released their god from the terrible rampage it had been unleashing on the islands, which must have been contained on this one island based on how the area looked, meaning that they understood that they were free to return to their homes and what their lives had been like before this event had happened in the first place.
"You have impressed the Atlawa and Kane, their leader, which is no easy feat," Cyril commented, though at the same time he smiled as the group gathered near him, most likely due to the fact that they had helped him bring peace back to these lands, especially since he had been expecting to fight the Stone Sentinel on his own and not have a team of heroes suddenly show up and rapidly put an end to the fight he had been in, though he wasn't going to argue with the results since he had weakened their foe significantly before they arrived, before he focused on something else, "Now then, might you know of someplace private where we can talk? I would like the chance to speak with all of you, before I fly back to Warfang and tell the other Guardians what I have discovered in Tall Plains."
"Actually, since we're headed there anyway, we can give you a lift in our airship," Spyro replied, to which he turned his head for a moment and focused on Bianca, since she was the one that could quickly get to the airship and direct Fury to the area that they were in, not that Spike wasn't good with Teleportation Magic since he was able to summon Akilesh from the other side of the planet, "Bianca, do you think you can direct Fury to this location?"
Bianca nodded her head, showing that she understood what Spyro was asking of her, and gathered her magic as she quickly took off in a familiar stream of energy that the group was used to seeing whenever she personally teleported from one place to another, allowing the group to focus on Cyril as they waited for her to bring the airship over here, since they all knew that backtracking through the ruins would take some time.
"Well, that certainly raises more questions," Cyril stated, no doubt referring to the fact that they were headed to the same place he was going to be heading to, though the group was happy to hear that the city even existed and that they weren't chasing a ghost of the past, but that was when he thought about the other part of what Spyro had said for a few seconds and tilted his head a little, "Also, what's this about an airship?"
Spyro and the others chuckled for a moment, as it was possible that the level of technology they were just now getting used to was totally foreign to Cyril, and possibly the rest of Warfang as a whole, though at the same time they knew that it was going to be a long and interesting flight as they completed the final leg of their journey, so they could truly being their search for the individual that the third Aether icon had told them about.
While Bianca headed back to the airship, so she could direct Fury to the area that the shrine was located in so they could continue with the rest of their journey towards the mysterious continent, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the others stood near Cyril and regained the energy they had spent clearing out the Apes that had been attacking the ruins and lands that the Atlawa called home. Interestingly enough Kane and his people came over to the area they were standing in and praised the group for helping rescue the Stone Sentinel from the madness that had plagued him, though as they did that Spike walked over to the area that the fragments of the metal collar had landed in after they broke it and investigated the pieces, though he could easily tell what it was as he looked at it. While he studied the fragments, and understood why the Stone Sentinel had been going berserk since the arrival of the Apes in this area, which Cyril had called Tall Plains, a name that really didn't match what they had seen despite the fact that they weren't going to argue with the locals since they were likely the ones that had named it, Spike overhead Kane stating that his people now had a new set of gods to worship, meaning all seven of them, which was both odd and interesting at the same time. The Stone Sentinel didn't seem to be annoyed by what Kane was saying, it actually seemed like the creature knew the Atlawa were like this and that there was no reason to be angry with the llama creatures, so the group decided that they might as well not question it either, though Spyro was the one that did speak up once Kane had stopped talking to them.
"Kane, its nice that you and the rest of the Atlawa want to worship us, but its not necessary," Spyro said, because while he and the others had come to this place to help them out and drive off the Apes that had been attacking them, who would likely get back on their wooden airship and depart once they came to, they weren't here to force people to worship them as gods, even if it was to honor what they had done by freeing another of their gods from his rampage, "we're just doing what heroes are supposed to do, and that is helping those in need."
"Very well, I guess I can understand your reasoning." Kane replied, showing that while he still wasn't sure what the term 'hero' meant, as he likely thought that it meant 'great warrior' or something to that nature, he did know that they had a duty to fulfill and that they needed to leave at some point in the near future, hence why he wasn't pushing for them to stay here and accept being gods of the Atlawa, before he pulled out a stone seal and handed it to them, "Just know that, in light of your decision and your actions, all of you are now part of the Atlawa tribe... one of us... and we won't hesitate to help you, and you'll also have a place to call home as well."
Spyro, a little caught off guard by what Kane had decided to do for them, nodded his head and accepted the seal that looked like some of the stone pillars they had seen in the past, though once he had the item Kane and the others turned around and headed back over the bridge that was nearby, showing that they were heading back to their homes so they could restore order to everything the Apes had disrupted during their invasion, leaving the group alone with Cyril, at least until the airship arrived.
"Not only did you help me save the Stone Sentinel and impress Kane, but you were also welcomed into the tribe as a reward for your actions," Cyril commented, where he raised a hand to his chin for a moment, clearly thinking about what he had seen since the group had come to his aid and helped him subdue the Stone Sentinel, which had retreated into its shrine after the Atlawas departed from the area it called home, before he turned towards the area Spike was in and stared at the time the young dragon was looking at, "So, do you have any idea what that collar was?"
"Yes, its a mind control device, a rather large one at that," Spike stated, where he lifted some of the fragments with his magic and studied them in greater detail, since the last items they had seen of this type had been a necklace and there had been a number of them for him to look at, before he pulled a bag out and enchanted it like he did during their other adventures, creating a Bag of Holding so he could carry the fragments away from this area and then put the pieces inside it so he left nothing behind, "best guess is that the Apes were trying to take control of the Stone Sentinel, though for what purpose I have no idea... we would have to capture one and question it for the details of the mission they were given, but, given that they communicate by hooting and whatnot, that might be hard to do."
"I see. That is troublesome." Cyril said, referring to the fact that the Apes were behind the Stone Sentinel's rampage, no doubt due to the fact that they must have been the ones that placed the collar around the creature's neck, before he sighed for a moment as he considered what he had seen at the end of the fight, since there was one member of the group that had disappeared shortly after the battle had ended, "So, how long do you think we'll have to wait for your friend to return with this airship of yours?"
Instead of replying the group glanced off to the right of the final island, as in from where the bridge ended and faced the shrine the Stone Sentinel resided in, just in time to see the airship come into view and continue towards the area that they were standing in, where Cyril was shocked by the difference between this vessel and the one the Apes used, before a walkway extended out for them to walk on... though once they were aboard the airship Fury retracted the walkway and departed from Tall Plains, continuing their journey to the new continent Warfang was on.
"I must say, when you said airship I wasn't expecting all of this," Cyril commented, taking in the sight that was around him for a few moments, even though it was clear that he was thinking about what the other Guardians would think if they saw this vessel, especially since it was so different from the ones the Apes used to move between areas, though he did put his guandao behind his back, between his wings, and walked without it bothering him, though they came to a stop in the chamber that Nestor and the other Leaders were in, even if he had no idea who they were.
"Ah, hello there, its nice to make your acquaintance," Nestor said, though while he had been expecting the group to tackle whatever had been causing the disturbance in the area they had been flying by, and Bianca had told them that the group had done just that, he really wasn't expecting them to find one of the dragons that might call Warfang home, but it was good for them since they could show someone that they weren't there to declare war or anything, before he gestured to himself and the other Leaders, "I am Nester, Leader of the Artisans dragons, and these are Titan, Cosmos, Bruno, and Lateef, Leaders of the Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, and Dream Weavers clans, and I see that you have met Spyro, Spike, and Ember, along with their friends Sol, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, Agent 9, and the Professor, not to mention Nora, Alvar, Fury, and the crew that's operating the airship."
"It is a pleasure to meet all of you, though I am Cyril, Guardian of Ice," Cyril replied, where he took a few moments to make sure that he knew which name went to which individual, as the five older dragons were easy to tell apart due to the fact that all of them were different from each other and reflected their clan, something he would have to learn about while he was here, "also, thank you for the timely assistance, as I wasn't sure if I would be able to subdue the Stone Sentinel and stone its rampage on my own, especially after all the time I spent fighting it."
"Again, its no problem, as its what we do for a living," Spike stated, to which the rest of the group nodded their heads to show that they agreed with what he had said, even though this was the first time Sol had taken to the field and had done a wonderful job during all of their fights, something that none of them were really expecting and were glad to see, especially given how he fought his enemies, "it would have been wrong of us to leave you and the Atlawa in the situation that you were in... though I could tell that there was more to the Stone Sentinel than what someone could normally see by just studying the creature."
"That's correct, and that's because it is, or rather was, the Commander of the Stonefather's forces, as in the second-in-command, back when we used to live in Avilion," Cyril said, where he noticed that most of the assembled group was either shocked by the news or, in the case of Spike and Bianca, interested in what he had to say, especially since the former was already pulling out some paper to write down what he learned during this conversation, causing him to chuckle for a few seconds before he continued speaking, "According to the stories we were told, and by that I mean the Guardians, when Malefor defeated the four Elemental Lords their Commanders allied themselves with him and peace returned to our home, where they assisted us in defending our home and even convinced some of the lesser Elemental Lords to ally with our Leader, even if there were those that chose to attack Malefor, like the Midnight Serpent and whatnot. Anyway, when we were banished from our homes the Stone Sentinel and the other three Commanders followed us to the continent of Doxantha, where it is said that each of them took up residence in one of the four smaller islands that rested near our new home, with the Stone Sentinel taking what would be called Tall Plains, even if I think it should have been called the Floating Isles or something. The Ice King took up residence in Dante's Freezer, an island named after the first Guardian of Ice, the Molten Golem claimed the Isle of Bozibig as its home, where the volcano known as Boyzitbig rests, and Concurrent Skies became the home of the Thunder Prince, though once they found a place to call home they and their followers pledged to help Malefor and the Guardians of Warfang whenever any of them needed help... this was the first time that one of them went on a rampage, and it was due to the Apes using a mind control collar on it, based on what you found."
"Still, the Stone Sentinel put up quite the fight, so does that mean you're as strong as it?" Hunter asked, as that was something that had been bothering him since they discovered Cyril during his fight and he knew that someone else would ask it if he didn't, so he wanted to get this out of the way before they learned anything else, even though Spike was in the middle of writing down everything that they were learning.
"Oh no, each of the Guardians has about two-thirds of the power that our allies have, so the Stone Sentinel is actually stronger than I am," Cyril admitted, where he didn't seem all that happy to admit such a thing, like his pride had taken a blow by just saying those words to the group, before he regained himself and didn't let the fact bother him all that much, since there was more for them to talk about, "though I would have to imagine that the Apes found it while it was sleeping and picked that moment to slip the collar around its neck, as it would be incredibly hard, if not impossible, for them to take the Stone Sentinel down to a level where they could weaken it."
"And, just by seeing them do this to one of the Elemental Commanders, you fear that the Apes might try to do this to the other three?" Spyro inquired, as he had learned a lot from listening to Spike and was able to pick up on things that his brother would normally ask about or pieces of information that were rather important, so hearing that the Apes had done this to one of Warfang's allies meant that they might try it again, but with one of the other three they had just learned about, and he could tell Spike was thinking the same thing.
"Its possible, hence why we need to reach Warfang as quickly as we can," Cyril stated, though right now he wasn't at all surprised by the fact that some members of the group were already guessing at what he was worried about, as they appeared to be rather smart and knew what they were doing, but even as he said that he noticed something interesting that he had overlooked before, and that was the nature of Spyro and Spike's scales, "Wait a moment... you have TWO purple dragons in your group?!"
"Indeed we do, and they, along with their sister Ember, are some of the greatest heroes the dragons of the Dragon Realms have ever had," Titan proudly said, because all three of them, regardless of whether they had purple scales or blue scales, were the greatest heroes their lands had seen in at least five hundred years, maybe even longer since he wasn't one to spend time in a library and he was sure either Cosmos or Spike would correct his thoughts if he voiced them, and that was when he turned towards the rest of the group, "and their friends are slowly coming into their own as heroes as well, especially since three of them helped bring down the Rhynocs the Sorceress used to try and take over Avilion, back when it was known as the Forgotten Realms."
"Besides, after beating Gnasty Gnorc and going on our second adventure, we realized that the three of us had a grand destiny that was waiting to be revealed," Spike added, showing Cosmos that he must have found the tomes and scrolls that spoke of the purple dragons and why they were so special, even though the main reason they kept them from them was due to the fact that they didn't want to inflate their egos, which would have allowed any of their foes to claim victory over them, but now he wasn't worried about a thing, after what he had seen and learned, "and, after discovering where the Arcanaeum was located, we uncovered the existence of the continent we're heading towards, Doxantha as you called it a few moments ago... though now it seems that it was leading us towards a brand new adventure, one that will be unlike anything we have experienced in the past."
"Hold up... you found the ARCANAEUM?!" Cyril nearly exclaimed, showing the assembled group that it must have been one of the most legendary places in the history of Warfang, one no doubt talked about in the history books and whatnot, and that hearing that something like the legendary and mythical vault existed had been a surprise that he wasn't expecting to hear while they were talking, before he straightened himself a few seconds later, "Sorry about my outburst, its just that the Arcanaeum has been lost since we were banished from Avilion and all of us assumed it would stay that way... Ignitus, Volteer, and Terrador aren't going to believe this."
"Am I right in assuming those are the other Guardians? The ones for Fire, Earth, and Lightning?" Bianca inquired, as the three names didn't ring any bells for her or the rest of the group, so they had to assume that they belonged to the rest of the Guardians that they hadn't met yet, even though she had no idea what to expect when they reached Warfang, but it was worth getting as much information as they could before they arrived.
"Yes, they are three of the other four Guardians, and there's one other that acts as our leader, a High Guardian if you will, but he's been busy lately and its been the four of us," Cyril stated, which was information that Spike gladly wrote down for the future, that way he could fill it all in when they encountered the rest of the Guardians, as he had the feeling they would meet the other three at some point during their visit to Warfang, and, if they were lucky, they might even find and speak with the High Guardian, who just might be the Guardian of the Aether and what the Aether icon had been telling them about when they looked at the globe.
"You said that one of the Elemental Commanders resides on an island called 'Bozibig', correct?" the Professor asked, as there was something he wanted to clear up before they talked about anything else, even though he was sure all of this was fascinating to Spike, as it was that way to him and the others, he just wanted to get it off his chest before they focused on another subject, "Who came up with the name?"
"That would be the Manweersmalls, moles that live underground on the island in question," Cyril replied, though even as he said that he had to chuckle for a moment, as there was something funny about the entire comment the Professor had made and it was a good way to get him away from the shock of discovering that the Arcanaeum really existed and that it wasn't just a legend, "Apparently the name of their tribe is a play on the phrase 'man, we're small', and the same is true for both the name of the volcano and the island they call home, as the names of those two are a play on 'boy is it big', only they slightly modified the lettering that went into the name of their island so it wouldn't be confused with the volcano, for the few individuals that come to visit them... and I have it on good authority that the Apes call the island by another name, 'Munitions Forge', which is no doubt where a lot of their metal comes from, or at least that is what I've heard from those that head to the island."
It was in the following moments, before anyone could say anything else as the Professor considered the information he had been given, that Fury tapped on the side of the doorway and stepped into the part of the structure that the group was standing in, which meant he had discovered something they would want to see, though whether it was something like the floating islands or the continent itself remained to be seen.
"You might want to see this," Fury stated, to which he turned around and started to leave the area they were in, as if that was all he had to say, but since none of them really knew him all that well it was hard to tell what he was thinking or what some of his actions meant, before he paused for a few seconds and glanced back at them, "I think we've found what we're looking for."
As soon as he said that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were hot on his tail, followed by their friends and everyone else, and that included Cyril, where they headed outside and raced towards the very front of the airship, so they could have a great view of what their pilot had discovered, before all of them froze as they stared out at the sight that was in front of them, all while Cyril smiled as he stared out into the area that was in front of them. What rested in front of them was the massive continent that they had seen on the globe, the continent the Aether icon had been resting on, though seeing the actual landscape itself was more than what they were expecting, as there were several mountain ranges all over the island, with a few wide forests here and there, large rivers that seemed to cut through a good portion of the areas in question, and they could make out three other islands that were off in the distance. From what they could tell the island that was to the south of Doxantha had to be Bozibig, thanks to the volcano that was on it, or at least that was what they assumed since it was much further away from the main continent than the other two islands were, while the one to the right of their location seemed to be a frozen place that had to be Dante's Freezer, meaning that the one to their left had to be Concurrent Skies, which made sense due to the seemingly peaceful skies of the area in question, though they would have to get close before they could really make anything out of the final island. Spike could also tell that there were a number of structures all over the continent, some looking to be like ruins and the others appearing to be temples or shrines, and there was even a swamp area that seemed to have a view of the ocean, though by his estimates Tall Plains and Concurrent Skies resided in the northern hemisphere of their world, while both Bozibig and Dante's Freezer resided in the southern hemisphere, all of which he was sure he'd be writing down once he opened his journal again.
That was when all of them laid eyes on a massive city that rested between the center of the island, where a mountain or an inactive volcano rested, and the right side of the continent, even though it appeared that part of the continent that was near the city had been reshaped into a dock, for ships that came and went from this place, and further beyond the city rested a massive dam that seemed to regulate the flow of water to a certain part of the continent. The city itself was a sight to behold, as there were towers made of fine and smooth stone, buildings that were square shaped, circle shaped, and every other shape possible, no doubt residential buildings for those that called the city home, possibly stands for those that were selling goods, and they were pretty sure there were glass windows like the realms they had visited in the past, not to mention the stone dragon statues, structures that looked like libraries and temples, and a central structure that had to be the temple the Guardians gathered in. Even the docking area was full of structures and buildings, ones that were smaller than the ones in the main part of the city, but it was clear that they served a purpose as well and that none of them had been built for the sake of building something to fill the space, showing them that whoever had constructed the city had put a lot of time and effort into planning everything that needed to be put in the city, once more displaying how much effort Malefor put into caring for his people, even after they lost their original homes. This had to be the place they were looking for, the city known as Warfang, the area that Malefor went to when the dragons were banished from Avilion, yet none of them were quite ready for the sheer beauty and impressive nature of the city and the continent that it had been built on, as it exceeded all of their expectations and made them wonder what they had been expecting when they first heard the name of the city.
Cyril was, of course, the only one that wasn't stunned by what they were seeing at the moment, which made sense to the group when they considered that he and the other Guardians lived in Warfang for their entire lives, but he was happy to see that all of them were amazed by what they were seeing, especially the Leaders, as Nestor looked like he wanted to get down there and check out the architecture of the city, though he shifted his focus back to the city not a few seconds later, mostly due to what he had learned during his visit to Tall Plains.
"Warfang, the capital of Doxantha... it always gets this sort of reaction out of those that visit it for the first time," Cyril said, informing the group that what they were doing was normal and that none of them had to be ashamed of what was going on, even if he knew none of the group were ashamed at being amazed by the sight that was in front of them, before he spotted a yellow dot moving from the city and heading towards their position, "and it seems that a guest is coming to see us, instead of waiting for us to land somewhere."
The guest, as it turned out, was another dragon that was like Cyril and the adult dragons the group were used to, but unlike Cyril this dragon had a yellow scaled body with a blue scaled chest, and he even had what appeared to be lightning or electricity marks on his arms, legs, chest, neck, and tail, symbolizing that he had to be the Guardian of Lightning that they had heard about, Volteer. What the group discovered was that Volteer, while possessing a body that they were more familiar with, was also wearing the same golden armor that Cyril was wearing, complete with a yellow cloth that was cut to the same size as the blue one Cyril had, and his sash had the symbol for the Lightning Element on it, though he also had an identical pair of bracelets and the same collar, the only difference was that his bared the mark of his element, just like how Cyril's showed the Ice Element symbol, now that Spike considered it. The other interesting thing that the group found was that Volteer also carried a weapon, though unlike Cyril's guandao the Guardian of Lightning carried what appeared to be a metal whip, though that was when Ember realized that it was actually a sword that could transform into a whip, one that seemed sharp enough to do some damage and was likely able to channel Volteer's power whenever he was in a fight, just like how Cyril was able to utilize his powers while using his weapon. Just seeing him as he landed near them gave the group an idea of how the other two, Ignitus and Terrador, would look when they saw them, at least in terms of armor or attire, as they were sure both of the remaining Guardians they hadn't met would be wearing the same golden items and would have their own weapons, but for now there wasn't much they could do.
As Volteer landed on the deck of the airship he glanced at the area they were in an took in everything that there was to take in, likely due to the fact that this was the first time he had ever seen something like this, but the group waited for him to say something before any of them spoke, all while Cyril remained silent, no doubt eager to see what Volteer had to say about everything that was going on.
"Fascinating! This is simply exhilarating, seeing a fully functional airship that is a fusion of technology and magic and is nothing like what the Apes have!" Volteer stated, showing that he was overjoyed to see their vessel and the fact that it was something entirely new to him, since the one the Apes had was nothing in comparison to the AS Harmony, though not a few seconds later he rushed over to the edge of the area they were in and looked at the propeller that was the closest to where they were located, no doubt studying what was in front of him, "Remarkable, never would I have considered doing such a thing to make flight without wings a reality... this is an extraordinary ship, one unlike any other, and I simply must study it and everything that it holds!"
"Volteer, while I share your, um, enthusiasm for wanting to study this airship, there are other matters that we need to address at the moment," Cyril said, stepping forward so that Volteer could see him, not that he was easily someone that could be missed in a crowd with his golden attire and his weapon, and it wasn't long before the other Guardian noticed him standing there and let out a sigh, showing them that he understood what had been said, even if he wanted to spend some time getting to know the airship and how it was made.
"You're right, Cyril, I just got caught up in the excitement of seeing something entirely brand new." Volteer replied, to which he turned towards the group for a moment, while his words revealed that while he did have an energetic side, which was understandable given what they knew of certain scholars and other dragons, Spike even included himself in that since he knew that he was just as bad as the others when it came to finding new knowledge, "As you no doubt already know, due to Cyril being with you, I am Volteer, the Guardian of Lightning, and I have come to welcome you to Warfang... though we should bring it down outside the city."
The first thing Spyro and the others did was introduce themselves to Volteer, just like they had done with Cyril earlier, and while they did that Fury maneuvered the airship so that it was above the area just outside the docks, that way none of the other ships would be disrupted by them returning to the water, something that gave Volteer a chance to see how the airship operated as they descended towards the water and the propellers eventually disappeared after they reached their destination, allowing the Captain to dock them in the area the Guardians specified. The area in question looked like a place where tourists or visitors that weren't here on business would dock, of which it appeared that it wasn't being used by any of those types and allowed them to dock without having to worry about anything, though this time around Fury insisted that he and his crew would be able to hold down the fort, not that he was expecting any trouble since this city seemed far safer than what he was used to, allowing Sheila and the others to join their friends as they disembarked from the airship and followed the two Guardians into the city. When they got off the airship, and actually entered the city, the group were in for a surprise as they noticed that there were more than just dragons walking around, as there were a number of adult dragons, some dressed as guards, warriors, and scholars while others were actually dressed in clothing that reminded them of what Nestor and the others wore, meaning they were civilians, though what really caught the eyes of Spyro, Spike, and Ember were the number of young dragons walking around, some of them being their age and others being a year old at least, just like the hatchlings back home. On top of that there were a number of Moles, like the Professor, only much younger, that were either dressed in casual clothing or were wearing what appeared to be samurai armor, which wasn't the same as what the adult dragons were wearing, as they wore metallic armor over their arms, body, legs, head, and even parts of their wings, where the group was sure it was either plate armor or chain mail, it was hard to tell without getting up close and personal to investigate what it was.
Hunter was even surprised to see that there were a few Cheetahs walking around, both male and female from what he was seeing, and all of them were dressed as rangers and carried their own bows with them, meaning they were either here to help the dragons out or they were part of the guard as well, or both given that there had to be people outside the walls of Warfang, but this did tell them that the city was well guarded.
As they walked through the city, however, the group could feel that they were the center of attention, though Cyril told them that it was due to Spyro and Spike, as purple dragons were legendary and the whole continent knew about them, or at least what a dragon of their type could do according to the stories they had learned, and all of them were interested in hearing about the tales that the group had to bring. The city was old and there had only ever been one purple dragon to all of dragon kind, something Nestor and the other Leaders agreed with since none of them had seen a dragon like Spyro or Spike until they and Ember hatched, so Malefor was the only purple dragon anyone had ever known, informing them that it must have been a long time since the first purple dragon had passed and that this was the first time anyone had seen a dragon like them, though they did smile a wave a little, just to show the residents of Warfang that they were friendly. While they made their way through the city, giving the group time to look at some of the shops and take in what they sold, Cyril explained that everyone in Warfang had been waiting for the arrival of a second purple dragon, even though all of them were now surprised by the fact that there was a second and a third at the same time, so they could right the wrongs that the Apes were committing, as he admitted that there were smaller events over the years and what they had seen back in Tall Plains was the worse offense of them all, and restore order to Doxantha, something that would take some doing since there was much they needed to do. That was why they were heading towards the Temple of the Guardians, where only they, their apprentices, and certain guests were allowed to enter, as they needed to tell the others about what they had just found out and figure out where their foes were going next, because now that they had allies with an airship it would make certain things much easier for them and the rest of their forces.
It did take them some time to reach their destination, as they had to go through a few gates that were raised, even if it did give the group a chance to realize that if someone attacked the city from the outside they would be secure and able to fight back, and Sgt. Byrd even mentioned that there was likely a set gate or something that could be raised to protect the side of the city that was facing the water, which Cyril and Volteer agreed with, showing them that his military experience was coming in handy, even if it was for guessing at what else the city had to defend itself with. Other than that they had a number of catapults and cannons, so that in the event of a siege they could attack whoever was trying to take the city, as in they believed in being prepared for the worse while hoping they were just being paranoid, something that they shared with the first Guardians of the city, and the reason they told the group was because they trusted them, or at least Cyril trusted them and Volteer trusted his fellow Guardian's judgement on the matter. There were archers, warriors, mages, and every other type of warrior they could possibly ask for living inside the walls of Warfang, which basically meant that if it came to the city being under attack they would be able to defend themselves to the best of their abilities and make sure whoever tried to take them down would regret their actions, and right now it appeared that the Apes were preparing for something, that much Cyril acknowledged in public without saying too much else, mostly because he didn't want anyone to panic as they headed for the Temple of the Guardians. Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the others understood what he meant, as panic would weaken their defenses and possibly compromise everything that would keep the city safe, but based on what little they had seen so far they had to assume that Cyril and Volteer might be overthinking things, as the residents they had seen so far seemed to be the type to stay and fight, and hearing what the Apes were doing might make them want to prepare for a confrontation, but they respected what the Guardians were doing and said nothing about the Apes as they headed towards their destination.
The Temple of the Guardians was a circular structure that had a few openings, which could be closed by doors by the looks of things, and on either side of all of the doors were more of the dragon statues they had seen earlier, which stood like the statues they had found in the Arcanaeum, though when they entered the temple the group found that there were two rings they had to walk through before they reached the center chamber, which had to be their destination. As they walked into the central chamber the group discovered that there were no statues in the chamber in question, though at the same time Spike noticed what appeared to be a teleport pad, a circular pad that was enchanted to allow someone to teleport between two points, according to what Nora hold him about her theory, and that was off near the back of the chamber, while at the same time there was a larger circular disc in the middle of the chamber, though whatever it was he had no idea. That was when they spotted two other dragons, adults to be exact, that were standing between the teleport pad and the central disc, where the first one they spotted was a green scaled dragon, who had some light green spots on his arms, legs, and tail, and had a brown scaled chest, while his spine spikes were more jagged, almost earth-like, he had ram-like horns, and his tail ended in an earthen ball, which was rather interesting when they looked at it, though he wore the same golden attire that the others wore, his sash had the symbol for the Earth Element, and he had a green cloth attached to his sash. The other dragon had red scales, who had light red spots that were similar to the green dragon's, and his chest scales were light orange colored, though he had red-pink frills on his arms and cheeks that looked similar to the flame-like spikes on his spine, and he even had a small frill below his mouth that resembled a goatee, though like the rest of the Guardians he wore the same golden attire, only his had the symbol for the Fire Element and he had a red cloth in the place the others had their pieces of cloth.
From what the group could see it appeared that the green dragon, who had to be Terrador, the Guardian of Earth that they had learned about, had a pair of fist-like weapons that meant he would punch whoever his foes were, even though it seemed that the metal had been twisted to look like earthen fists, while the red dragon, who they knew had to be Ignitus, the Guardian of Fire, carried what appeared to be a rapier that looked like it belonged to a general or something, and it had a red tassel attached to the base of the handle.
"Cyril, Volteer, its good that you have returned." Ignitus said, his tone revealing that he was happy to see that the two other Guardians had returned to the temple that they had been meeting in, though as he and Terrador turned and looked at the doorway they noticed the group that was following the pair into the chamber they were in, and his focus was on the three young dragons that were with them, not to mention the older dragons, "Well, um, this is interesting, and certainly not what we were expecting when we noticed that something was coming our way..."
"One word: airship!" Volteer stated, revealing what he had seen earlier, where Ignitus and Terrador seemed surprised by the statement, since they also weren't expecting that as well, while at the same time Cyril made sure that everyone was inside the room before the doors to this chamber were closed behind them, not that he expected any of the residents of the city to come to the temple and bother them, before he recalled what he had seen earlier, "It is a fascinating ship, one unlike anything the Apes have ever created, and I have already expressed my desire to study the vessel when I met this group a few minutes ago... though I think Cyril has learned more from them than I have."
"Really? Now this I have to hear." Terrador replied, because while he was interested in the fact that they came to their city in an airship, something he would have to see for himself in the future, whatever Cyril must have discovered had to be far more important than what Volteer had found, though at the same time he had the feeling the group were friendly and that they could be trusted, which he would see for himself in the future.
That was when Cyril introduced the group to the other Guardians, where it was clear that they were surprised by the fact Spyro and Spike were purple dragons and that Ember was their sister, but neither of them said anything as he went about making sure they knew who was who, before describing what the Apes had been doing to the Stone Sentinel and what he had discovered during his time in Tall Plains.
"They're trying to subjugate the Elemental Scions... that is not good." Ignitus commented, where he turned towards the middle of the chamber for a moment and stared into the magical pool that was in front of him, though as he said that Cyril made sure to mention that what he had said was the name of the four elemental beings he had mentioned earlier, that the Stone Sentinel and the other powerful elementals were known as the Elemental Scions, "Friends, we should head to Dante's Freezer, Bozibig, and Concurrent Skies to make sure the rest of our allies are still okay, or free them from the Apes if our enemies have placed a collar around their necks... but first, before we decide on whose going to which island, there is something I would like to find out. Nestor, seeing how you are the leader of this group, maybe you can answer the question that hasn't been answered: why did you decide to journey to Doxantha?"
"We found Malefor's Arcanaeum and inside it was a globe that revealed the existence of this land to us," Nestor said, as while he knew that the siblings or their friends could answer the question, since they were the ones that had wanted to go on this adventure more than anyone else in the Dragon Realms, they were more than willing to leave answering it to him so they can figure out what they were here to figure out, "when we investigated the globe it had an icon on it that we were interested in and that icon rested over this continent, which we now know to be Doxantha, so we arranged for our allies to prepare an airship to carry us to where Warfang rested, all so we could figure out what was going on and what we could do to help the residents of the continent out."
"The Arcanaeum... where you found the Fangs of Felinia, Windshear, and who knows what else," Ignitus said, showing them that he recognized the weapons that Spyro and Ember carried, as it wasn't hard to recognize the runeblade that the former carried, thanks to all of the descriptions that were in the tomes and scrolls they had in Warfang, while at the same time he understood Cyril's rather quick and uncertain description of the weapons Ember had, and she even took a few seconds to show the Guardians that she had the weapons, before he sighed and shook his head, "well, we'll have to talk about the area that served as Malefor's private training area and vault later, as we have more pressing matters to focus on, those being the arrival of two purple dragons and whatever the Apes are planning."
"Just tell us what we can do to help and we'll do everything in our power to assist you guys," Spyro stated, because it was easy to tell that Ignitus and the other Guardians were in trouble, with what the Apes were doing to the islands that were around Doxantha and the elementals that called them home, and he, his siblings, and their friends were more than willing to help them take down whoever was behind what they had discovered, especially since none of them liked people that mind controlled others in some manner, and those Apes were now on the list, "My siblings and I took down Gnasty Gnorc, faced down Ripto, and fought the Sorceress so we could liberate Avilion from her grasp, while our friends have helped us stop wars in two of the lands we've been to in the past, so we're ready for whatever you can throw at us, or whatever the Apes can throw at us, to be more precise."
"Cyril claims that the lot of you are good fighters, which I am eager to see in the field," Terrador stated, where he took a moment to look at the group for a few seconds as he thought about what they had been told when Cyril and Volteer had returned to the chamber they were in, revealing that while he might believe the Guardian of Ice he wanted to see what all of them were capable of for himself at some point, though that was when he glanced back to Ignitus, "and we could use the help, since the Apes have been acting strange lately, and that's counting the recent attack on Tall Plains, which you repelled by the sounds of it."
"The globe must have sensed the impending danger and tried to warn someone," Ignitus said, showing that he had been thinking about part of what they had told him and the others, and while it was possible that he didn't believe part of what he had been told he wasn't about to question it, because he could tell that the group was highly skilled in a fight and that they would be fools to turn them away, so he would save the questions for later, to which he turned his attention back to the disc in the middle of the chamber, "We can discuss all of that later, as right now we need to focus on heading to the other islands our allies call home and make sure none of them have been taken by the Apes, though its hard to know which one our enemies are heading to first, even with this viewing table."
"Maybe I can help?" Spike asked, because magic was his forte and if it was something that Ignitus and the others were having trouble with, as that seemed to be the case, he figured that he might be able to tap into the magic of the device and see if he could figure out what the Guardians were trying to see, to which Ignitus beckoned to the central disc and he used his magic to tap into its powers, where he could see several images pass through his mind's eye, a frozen land, a land that had an active volcano, and one that seemed to be where the skies met, "Hm, from what I can tell it appears that the Apes are going after all three of the remaining Elemental Scions, instead of tackling one at a time, so we would have to send forces to Dante's Freezer, Bozibig, and Concurrent Skies to ensure your allies are safe from the Apes, and maybe we can find out what they're really planning at the same time."
Ignitus thought about it for a moment, while he and the other Guardians weren't happy with the news that the Apes were going after the other Elemental Scions that lived on the remaining three islands, but before he could say anything one of the doors opened and the Guardians glanced at it, as they knew of only three individuals that would come and join them in the temple, even if some would consider barging into the building to be quite rude, due to the fact that the doors had been closed, but he was willing to overlook it when he realized who was joining them and their guests.
"Where is he?" a voice asked, one that caused Spyro to stall as soon as he heard it, while at the same time the rest of the group turned to look in the direction the voice had come from, as they were curious as to who had spoken and who had decided to come to where the Guardians discussed things, and since none of the Guardians were moving to remove the individual that meant they were welcome in this chamber, "I heard he was sighted... earlier..."
It was in that moment that Spyro, his siblings, and their friends found who the voice belonged to, as it belonged to a teenage dragon who had to be their age, as in thirteen years old, though it was easy to tell that the dragon was female due to the voice they had heard, where her body was a dark purple color and her chest was a ruby red color, and she had a few interesting markings on her forehead, shoulder, and possibly her back, white symbols that Spike felt he had seen in one of the books he had read in the past. What was also interesting was that her wings had sickle-like spikes, which could be mistaken for blades, and there was even a sickle spike at the end of her tail, that one looking more like a blade that she could use to hurt those she fought, not to mention there were six horns on her head, split evenly between the left and right sides, which was also when they noticed that her mouth was beaked, an uncommon thing in dragons, but it didn't color their opinions of her. She was also wearing a platinum collar around her neck, a pair of platinum bracers on her front legs, and one more bracer that was attached to her tail, resting near the tail blade she had, though it was rather odd to see someone wearing pieces of jewelry that were made out of platinum, a material that was uncommon in the Dragon Realms, but that meant it had to be more common in Doxantha. While the others had no idea who she was, since this was the first time they had met her and none of the Guardians had said anything, Spyro was frozen, his mind reeling as all of his dreams came rushing back to the surface as he realized that they had been telling him about her, and when he tried to recall one of the dreams the blurry image was replaced by her.
In addition to that a name surfaced, one that he couldn't possibly know since this was the first time they had crossed paths in their entire lives, yet everything he had learned since they started their journey to Doxantha pointed to the two of them possibly knowing each other, something that was confusing him when he thought about it, before he focused on the name he had learned, hoping to get some answers as to what was going on.
"...Cynder..." Spyro said, surprising his siblings, their friends, and the rest of the Leaders as he said that, though even as he said that he knew Spike was noting down everything they had learned and that this would be something that might appear in the journal that detailed their fourth adventure, but the majority of his focus was on the female dragon that was staring at him right now.
"Spyro! Its good to see that you're alright!" the female dragon, Cynder, stated, where she walked over to where Spyro was standing for a few seconds, almost like she was going to nuzzle him or drape a wing over him, before she paused as she realized that something was wrong, mostly by looking into his eyes for a few moments, "What wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."
"Um, can someone explain what is going on?" Bianca asked, because while it was easy to tell that Spyro might have seen Cynder in a dream or something, maybe even a vision when he tapped into his powers, no one seemed to be saying anything and she was hoping that one of the Guardians would be able to give them some answers, where she could see that Ignitus and the others glanced at each other for a few moments, before sighing as they turned to look at the rest of the group that was inside the chamber.
"According to what the Chronicler, one of our friends, told us Cynder has several memories of a past life, though most of them involved her and a purple dragon," Ingitus replied, where some of the group tilted their heads as they listened to what he had to say, while Spike took note of everything and nodded his head, as he was one of the few dragons that could understand what was being said, before he glanced at the pair in question, "and it appears that Spyro is the purple dragon that she was seeing in her dreams. From what we know she started having these dreams when she was young, around the time when she was four years old to be exact, and it was between her fourth and fifth birthday that we tested her to see what sort of skills she would develop, such as the skills of a warrior, mage, alchemist, and so on, and during the art test she ended up making a plate that had a purple dragon's head, only it was goofy looking."
"Seriously? That's what Spyro did when we were four and a half and had our first art lessons," Ember remarked, as she couldn't believe that her brother and Cynder, who had never seen each other in the flesh until this point in time, had made near identical art pieces when they were the same age, something that made her wonder if Spyro had the same ancient memories that Cynder had, especially since he only started to really dream about her two weeks ago, when they started the journey to this continent.
"Fascinating, then that means you two must be destined for greatness!" Volteer stated, as while the other Guardians were a little surprised to hear that Spyro and Cynder had done the same thing at the same age, despite being in two parts of the world and not having actually met the other, he was excited about the possibilities that had just been revealed to all of them, before another thought came to mind as he focused on the pair again, "Cynder, we simply must tell your father about this and see what he has to say about it! I'm sure he'll be excited about this wonderful opportunity..."
"Volteer, as much as I agree with you, we have more pressing matters that need to be addressed... informing the High Guardian about Spyro and Cynder's connection will have to wait." Ignitus said, his tone revealing that, when it was just the four of them, he was the one that was in charge and that the others generally looked to him for guidance, before he took a moment to sigh as he glanced at the central disc once more and considered what Spike had told him, "Okay, here's what we're going to do: Terrador, I want you to head to the Isle of Bozibig and make sure everything is in order, Volteer, you should head to Dante's Freezer and see if the Ice King needs reinforcements to repel the Ape invaders, while I head to Concurrent Skies to assist the Thunder Prince, so that leaves you, Cyril, in charge of the temple and the city. Cynder, I want you to join Spyro's group and go with them to whatever island they decide to check out first, as I am leaving the decision in their capable hands, but I want all of us to make sure the Apes fail in their mission to subjugate the Elemental Scions and are driven back to their hideout, all so we can potentially put an end to whatever they're planning. Once that's done I will arrange for Spyro and Cynder to visit the Chronicler and see if he can't help them in some way... and then, as soon as all of that is over, we'll make sure to inform the High Guardian about their connection."
Terrador and Volteer nodded their heads before they headed through the doors so they could head to the islands he wanted them to check out, while Cyril nodded and understood that he was getting the easy mission, since he had just came back from his own assignment, before Ignitus followed the other two Guardians, though Cynder wasted no time in moving over to where the group was standing, so she could join them when they left Warfang, and she stood near Spyro, though Spike, Ember, and the others knew that this was either going to complicate things or strengthen their forces, something that they would find out as soon as they reached whatever island they chose to go to next.
Not even a few moments after Terrador and Volteer departed from the temple, the former heading for the Isle of Bozibig and the latter making their way to Dante's Freezer, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group decided that it was time for them to do the same thing so they could decide with of the three islands they would be hitting next, so they could take out the Apes that were attacking the areas in question. Based on what the group had seen so far Spike was able to determine that the Guardians would likely be leaving the Apes to them, which would mean Volteer would focus on checking on the Ice King and Terrador would do the same with the Molten Golem, both making sure that the Elemental Scions that lived on their islands hadn't been captured by the Apes, and if there were collars around their necks they would have to break the metal collars to free them. Of course they weren't the only ones that left the temple and followed the pair of Guardians, as Ignitus happened to leave the structure not a few seconds after they did and took off, heading off in the direction of Concurrent Skies so he could make sure the Thunder Prince was safe and sound, and they weren't counting the recent addition to their group as they walked through the city and headed back to where the airship was located, as by the time they reached it Spyro would have an idea as to which island they should head to. Cynder walked besides them as they retraced their steps through the city and headed back to the dock, making sure to stay close to Spyro as she studied the rest of the group and what they were doing at the moment, almost like some of them were doing something wrong in her eyes, yet she didn't speak her mind while they walked.
Spike had the feeling that Cynder would ask them something at some point in time, mostly because she had to have questions about them and why they were walking towards the dock, though he decided to say nothing as they walked and let her be the one to open the conversation when she felt like it, as he was more focused on the three islands that needed to be helped and what he could learn about them before they arrived at each of them.
"So, um, can I ask you guys something?" Cynder spoke up, showing that Spike's thoughts were correct, she felt that something was wrong and wanted to get it out of the way before they reached their destination and took off for the island Spyro picked out, though it wasn't long before the group nodded their heads, as all of them were interested in hearing what she might ask them, "I know Spyro's my age, and I would have to assume the same is true for the two of you as well, but that brings me to my question: why aren't you flying to the area we're heading towards?"
"Because they're underage and haven't reached the age where they mature?" Bianca replied, though she felt that it was a rather weird question for Cynder to ask them, especially since all of them were likely thinking it would be something more like who they were or even what sort of memories Spyro might have of her, and she could tell that the others were a little caught off guard by what she had asked them, "From what I've learned dragons mature when they reach the age of fifteen and become adults, which is when they can fly freely and not be restricted to the ground for the most part, save for when they glide from place to place or head to one of the Flight Realms that gives them the ability to fly."
"Really?" Cynder said, almost as if she was caught off guard by that fact, though that was when she flapped her wings a little and took off from the street they had been walking on, where she actually flew into the air and did a few tricks as the group stared at her, before she landed in front of them and noticed the shocked looks on their faces, "What? I started to learn how to fly when I was younger, even though I could only glide and perform a few moves, and I've been flying for the last two years now... are you telling me that none of you can fly yet?"
"Normally, that would be the case," Cosmos stated, though the group resumed walking as they headed back to where the dock was located, so they could board the airship and be on their way to the first island Spyro wanted to help out, as he knew the young dragon was considering their options before he said anything, but it was clear that he had a reason for making this comment and that interested the others, "and by that I mean a dragon, or a group of dragons, would have a moderate amount of exposure to the nature of the Flight Realms and their power, so they would know what flying is like before they matured... however, due to the fact that Spyro, Spike, and Ember have gone through more Flight Realms than any dragon their age, I do believe that, if they tried to fly, they would be able to do so with little problem."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few moments as they heard what Cosmos had to say, and that was followed by the other four Leaders nodding their heads in agreement, showing that all of them agreed with his words, to which the three of them recalled what they did when they first learned how to fly in the Flight Realm, where it wasn't all that long before their wings were flapping and the three of them actually took off from the ground. It was a surprise, due to the fact that they had been under the assumption that flying like the adults would come when they turned fifteen and took on their adult forms, though none of them were going to complain about it since this could help them at some point in the near future, how they weren't exactly sure and would figure things out as they discovered them. From there they returned to the group and continued down the street they had been walking down, where it wasn't long before the dock and their airship came into view, allowing them to climb aboard it and give Fury the rundown on what they were going to do, even though the rest of the group turned towards Spyro for a moment, as they were curious as to which island he was going to pick out. Cynder, on the other claw, tilted her head a little as she observed them, mostly because she was curious as to how they functioned as a group, though she could easily tell that Spyro was the leader of the group, despite the five Leaders actually being far older than him and the others, but she said nothing as she joined the others in waiting for him to pick out where they were going.
"Fury, set our course for Dante's Freezer," Spyro said, because he had taken the time to think about it and from what he could tell it was best to get the colder island out of the way first, even though he knew Spike would be able to put the Heat Aura spell on all of them so they wouldn't have to worry about the cold at all, though as he said that Fury nodded his head and headed back to the command structure of the airship, so he could give the order for the crew to get them a good distance away from the dock before activating the propellers.
It wasn't long before the airship took to the skies and headed for the island that Spyro had mentioned, where it would take them maybe an hour to reach the island in question, as that was about the time it took for them to get to Doxantha from where Tall Plains rested and everyone was sure the time would be true for this flight, giving all of them some time to rest and prepare themselves for the next part of their adventure. Of course that was what Elora and the others did, but Spyro, Spike, and Ember took to the skies themselves and flew around the airship, making sure to stay away from the four propellers as they got used to actually flying, instead of waiting for a Flight Realm to be made known to them, something they likely weren't going to find on this continent, since it was so different from what they were used to. None of them were all that surprised by the fact that Cynder joined them, mostly to show off her skills and see if they could mimic what she was doing, where they proved to her that they were capable of replicating her moves with ease, even though there were some hard ones none of them had tried before and knew that it would take some time for them to master, which would be something for the future, when the fate of the continent wasn't in danger. One thing Spike noticed, as he and his siblings observed Cynder as she flew through the air, was the lack of a dragonfly that all young dragons had, to protect them from danger and everything that Nestor had told them about, and even all of the hatchlings back home had their own dragonfly friends, even though it had taken Bruno and the other Beast Makers a long time to find all the dragonflies that were necessary for the young ones to be safe, at least until they got older anyway.
Once they were done flying around the airship, after about ten or fifteen minutes, the four of them returned to where the others were waiting and joined them, allowing them to rest for a time as they waited for Fury to get them close to the area that Dante's Freezer was in, so they could figure out where Volteer was headed and what the Apes were trying to do to the Ice King that called the island home.
Sometime later Fury announced that they were getting close to the island that Spyro had specified earlier, where they headed outside and noticed that it was lightly snowing, which was liekly due to the nature of Dante's Freezer and it was nice to see that the airship's propellers weren't bothered by the snow, though it did give them a chance to stare out at the island that they would be exploring for the next hour or so. The island was covered in snow and ice, not that they were all that surprised by that since they had seen it earlier, but the landmass, as they discovered, was actually larger than what they were expecting and Spike determined that it could easily be a small continent in its own right, smaller than Doxantha anyway, and there was a massive fortress resting on the island, one that had been frozen in time. Spike's best guess was that either the ice King, the first Guardian of Ice, or both were responsible for what they were seeing at the moment, as it would have taken a lot of power to transform an island like this, not unless Malefor was involved and used the Aether to create what they were seeing. Thanks to what Spike had seen they knew the Apes were here, somewhere, and that meant the Ice King was in danger, hence the reason Volteer was likely heading for the area that the Elemental Scion was located in to see if their ally was in trouble, leaving them to take care of any enemies that might be between the start of the island and the area he was heading towards, though Sgt. Byrd insisted that he and the others would repeat what they did during their visit to Tall Plains, to keep the airship safe while the main heroes headed out and took down the Apes. Just to be sure no one got cold Spike made sure to put the Heat Aura spell on himself, the group that was heading down into the frozen fortress, and made sure Cosmos did the same with those that would be guarding the airship, though as they did that Fury got them close to what appeared to be the entrance, even though they would have to jump down to some broken ice spikes that must have covered this area at one point in time, confirming that the Apes were here.
Cynder seemed confused as she watched what Spike did, either due to the fact that she wasn't familiar with magic or this was a spell she wasn't used to seeing, but she decided to say nothing about it as Spike and Cosmos finished making sure all of them were ready for their stay in this island, before the main group dropped down into the starting area that was below where Fury docked the airship, as in Spyro, Spike, Ember, Cynder, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Sol headed down to start their trek through Dante's Freezer.
"So, this is the island that the Ice King claimed as his home," Spike stated, where he and the others stared at the old metallic fortifications that had been frozen at some point in the distance past, even though there were a few ice statues near them that looked like they might have been more recent, like within the last few years, though it was hard to make out what exactly the statues were supposed to be, before he glanced at the black flag that was ruined and the barricades that were supposed to keep someone off this island, "it looks like whoever these guys were tried to attack the Ice King and were frozen for their actions, meaning either the same thing happened to the Apes or they haven't gotten to the area that Volteer is heading towards."
"According to what I learned, as part of the history lessons all dragons learn, these were Trolls," Cynder said, showing that she knew something that might help Spike understand what they were discovering at the moment, while she glanced at the area they were in for a few seconds, mostly testing the Heat Aura spell that had been put on her and found that she wasn't at all bothered by the snow and ice that was around her, "Supposedly they came to the island, either in search of resources or to take down the Ice King, and they were stopped by the Elemental Scion that calls this place home, freezing all of them where they stood... Cyril even said that there's a chance..."
In that moment, as they passed by one of the statues, the ice shattered and a green skinned individual, wearing black armor over the majority of its body while carrying an axe in its right hand and a shield in its left hand, emerged from the icy prison that it had been trapped in, where it growled for a moment before lashing out at the closest individual that was near where it was standing... though Cynder surprised them by parrying the blow with her tail blade and then pushed her foe backwards as she gathered her magic and swung her claws, where the wind responded and cut into the Troll Warrior's armor as she knocked it down.
"...that they might wake up again." Cynder finished, showing that she was able to defend herself just fine and that she didn't need someone to protect her, that she was a warrior in her own right, something that impressed Ember a little, as that meant they weren't carrying any dead weight around with them, before she glanced at the other statues that were in the middle of breaking apart, "It seems he was right."
Sol was the next one to move forward, where he used his Phoenix Dash to both melt the ice that was keeping the only other Troll Warrior contained and take it out at the same time, showing that he wasn't wasting any time, though with that foe taken down the group moved into the area the pair had been guarding, finding something odd, as there happened to be a cauldron that seemed to have some hot stew inside it, which seemed to make sense when they noticed that there just so happened to be a Troll Warrior that hadn't been frozen. Spyro took that one out as the others looked around the area for anything that might be able to help them, as in he headbutted the Troll Warrior in the chest and then unleashed his blade, keeping the power contained inside the weapon so all he really did was use the blade to cut through the armor and take down his foe, before he sheathed Windshear as his foe collapsed on the ground. Cynder nodded her head to that, as it was time to see what Spyro was capable of for herself, though at the same time that was when Elora found that if they took one of the nearby cannonballs, even though there was no cannon that used them and a catapult rested nearby, and rolled it in the snow they would have a projectile that would break apart part of the ruined wall that was blocking the way forward, or at least that was the theory. Hunter kept his bow at the ready as she, Bianca, and Sol did that, preparing a big snowball that seemed to fit on the catapult in question, mostly because he wanted to be sure nothing came at them when they opened the way forward, though as they loaded the catapult he loosed three arrows into the area that was in the area that was in front of them, as three Ape Soldiers, wearing coats instead of armor, rushed at them and were hit in their shoulders, allowing Spike and Ember to strike them down.
With those enemies taken care of, and they were sure nothing was going to get in the way, Elora fired the catapult and the snowball they had prepared smashed through the ruined part of the fortifications and opened the way to the interior of the fortress, meaning they could continue fighting their way forward and see just how many Apes were on this island, even though they suspected it might be the same number as the ones they had faced in Tall Plains. When they entered the next area it was easy to find one of the Ape Commanders, this one dressed up with what looked like bear pelts over its armor, standing on top of the next wall they needed to pass through, though it did use the magic in its hammer to seal off the opening they had to pass through. Four of the Ape Soldiers jumped down into the section of the fortress they were in, where there were a number of barricades that were supposed to keep them from reaching the main gateway, so what the group did was lash out at them without wasting any time, as in Spyro tripped one that Cynder charged into seconds later, Spike and Bianca blasted another with a pair of Lightning Bolts, Elora and Hunter punched another into the wall behind them to knock it out, and Ember and Sol took turns charging into the final foe that was in their way. As those four enemies fell to the ground four more Ape Soldiers rushed out to face them in battle, where the first thing that happened was that Hunter knocked one out of the air with one of his arrows and let the others faced the remaining three, though while all of this happened the Ape Commander started to light some sticks of dynamite, where Bianca waved her hand and bounced it back at the foe that was watching them, blowing it up in the process and deactivated the barrier it had cast.
As soon as that was done they passed through the opening that it had been guarding and discovered that it had to be a dead end, the end of a section of the exterior of the fortress, though not even a few seconds later they found an opening in the stone wall to their left, which looked like it might have been an entrance at some point and the attackers had made sure to smash it to to pieces so they could invade the fortress. As it turned out the opening went into a hallway and then out into another part of the island, meaning that the stone wall was just another wall that had been built as part of the fortifications, so they paid it no mind as they moved into the new area and discovered another Ape fortification a short distance in front of them, with an Ape Commander standing on top of it. Spike stared at the area for a few seconds and found that there was a catapult nearby, meaning that it was going to try and use the barrier spell on them so they couldn't move forward, so when the spell was cast Spike countered it and allowed the others to move forward, though it was easy to clear the area out when Bianca spotted a pile of gunpowder and had everyone stand back, which was followed by her hurling a Fireball onto the barrels as Spike threw up a quick barrier around them, allowing the explosion to take out all of the fortifications that were in their way, knocking all of the Apes out in the process. With that done Spike dropped the magic and they moved into the area that was beyond the fortifications, only to stop as another Ape Commander came into the area that was beyond the wooden structure and sealed the way forward with its magic, allowing a number of Ape Soldiers and Ape Leaders to jump into the area that they were in, showing that they had planned this and they were trying to ambush them.
Spyro charged forward and slammed his head into some of their enemies, Spike lashed out with some Ice Bolts that he made from the snow that was around them, Ember summoned her metal claws and cut down those that opposed her, Cynder used the wind like she did earlier and knocked a few of them out of the air, Hunter hit one with an arrow and then used his blades to take down another one, Elora kicked one and blasted a second into the rock wall, Bianca used some fire to blast her foes backwards, and Sol used his Phoenix Dash to take down his foes, effectively taking out the enemies that were in the way and the barrier fell so they could move forward.
"You know, you guys are better at fighting than I thought you would be," Cynder remarked, as she had been curious as to how the group would have fought when they encountered enemies, and she had to admit that part of her had been a little worried that she would be the one helping Spyro carry the others through this island, but it seemed that her worries were unfounded, "Where did you learn to fight like that?"
"Titan trained us, and we learned from fighting the enemies of the various realms we visited," Ember explained, but as they said that the group moved towards the area the second Ape Commander had been in and turned the corner, where it didn't take the group long to locate what appeared to be an icicle cannon, the icy version of the stake cannon they had seen in Tall Plains, "Don't worry, we'll tell you all about our lessons when we're back on the airship... it would be nice to spar with you, if we're given the chance."
Before Cynder could say anything Bianca teleported herself into the air above the ice cannon and blasted it with a well placed Fireball, blowing the weapon apart while knocking out the Ape that was commanding it, allowing the others to take a moment to break the couple of barricades that were in the way and joined her, allowing them to progress deeper into the island as they kept their eyes and ears open for more enemies. With the cannon taken care of they moved around the corner and quickly found yet another Ape fortification, this one slightly more armed than the previous ones they had seen since they arrived in this area, though that was off to their right and to their left appeared to be a small group of Trolls that were trying to overcome the explosive barrels that were coming their way, but that was when the group discovered both groups didn't care for their existence. The reason for that decision was due to the fact that both the Trolls and the Apes lashed out at them from both sides, where Spyro and Cynder smashed into the Troll camp that was nearby, by charging into the Troll Warriors and used their elemental breaths to take down their foes, by smashing them into the ground or hitting them into the walls of the area that was around them. One thing the pair discovered was that there was an even larger Troll that was decked out in more armor than what they were expecting, so it was a Troll Leader or a Champion, and they lashed out at it together, Cynder striking with her wind and causing it to stagger so Spyro could strike it with both his sword and his flames, allowing them to take down the Troll Leader before turning to see what the others were doing with the Ape camp that was in the way.
What they found was Spike and Bianca channeled their power into the area and stopped the barrels before they could explode, surprising the Apes in the process, before they tossed them backwards and let the others blast them with their skills when the opportunity presented itself, blowing apart the encampment that was in front of them and opening the way for the group to move forward.
"Okay, now I can see how you took care of the Apes that were assaulting Tall Plains," Cynder remarked, referring to the fact that she had heard that they faced these enemies in the area that Cryil had gone to, since they had talked about it on the flight to Dante's Freezer, but now she was seeing what the group was capable of and had the feeling that the Apes really didn't stand a chance against them.
"Yeah, we've got warriors capable of taking care of themselves, an archer that can hits things better than he did when we first met him, and two mages, one an Archmage and one an apprentice, capable of grand feats," Spyro replied, though at the same time he and Cynder joined the rest of the group and continued to move up the ramp the Apes had set up to block them from moving forward, because thanks to Spike and Bianca shifting the explosives, and the others hitting them, the way had been opened for them to move forward.
"Really? You guys have an Archmage? At thirteen years old?" Cynder asked, because while she wasn't a master in the magical arts, and hadn't mastered her own elemental powers yet, she still knew about the Archmages and that most of them were adults, meaning over fifteen years old when they obtained the title, and based on Spyro's words she knew that it had to be one of the two spell users that were near them.
"Actually, I was twelve and a half when it happened, the youngest Archmage in all of history," Spike answered, though at the same time they reached the top of the wooden ramps and discovered an area that looked like it had been under attack recently, but as all of them looked at the area they were in it appeared that it had to be the Apes and Trolls, which meant that the Apes had pushed the Trolls back to this point and they had interrupted the battle that had been going on before their arrival, and they carefully investigated the area they were in as they moved forward.
"Interesting." Cynder said, but even as she said that they found that they couldn't move forward anymore, so they had to jumped down into the area that was to their right and found what appeared to be a tower that either the Trolls had built or had taken over at some point in time, though that was when a thought came to mind when she considered the power that Spyro had shown earlier, or, to be more exact, what he hadn't shown, "Hey, Spyro, why aren't you using one of the other elements you used to use against our enemies?"
Spyro tilted his head for a moment, wondering what Cynder was even referring to, before he considered the Prime Elements that Spike told him and the others about, before he focused his mind for a moment and thought about one of the other three elements he knew about, where he felt a power stir within him, this time without one of the Powerup Gates to aid him, and loosed a burst of lightning from his mouth that struck the three Troll Warriors that were marching out of the tower, knocking them to the ground and dazing them so Elora and Hunter could knock them down without even wasting a moment.
"Because he was used to using Powerup Gates and never tried to channel his inner power," Bianca remarked, as she knew all about how often Spyro and his siblings used the magical gateways that granted them powers, so it was easy to determine that he had focused on only his fire breath and nothing else, but now it looked like Spyro was starting to tap into his true power, or at least the power that a purple dragon was capable of wielding, "though adding lightning to his skills means that we'll be better suited for whatever the future holds for us."
Spike nodded for a moment, mostly caught in the act of watching Spyro use the Lightning Element for the first time so he could write it down in the future, though as that happened he noticed four more Troll Warriors emerge from the tower, all intending on striking them down and heading to war with the Apes again, but as they did that Spyro charged forward and smashed into them with the new power he just unlocked, striking all four of them down purely on his own. It gave him a chance to understand his new skill, to a degree anyway since he would need to practice with this more in the future, and once he was sure the four enemies had been taken care of all of them waited for a few moments, to make sure no more enemies were coming from the tower, and when they found that there were no more foes for them to worry about all of them started to move forward. What was interesting to them was the catapult that was near the entrance to this area, one that seemed to be aimed at the tower, though that was odd because the Trolls had been the ones that built the catapult and they had pointed it at their own hideout, even though there weren't a lot of forces inside it, but as they moved forward the group discovered that they needed to pass through a tower in one of the walls and moved into a new area, an area that had more Apes and an even greater heavily fortified area that they would have to fight through. There were several Ape Soldiers, a few Ape Leaders, and even an Ape Commander who was standing on top of the ramparts, reminding the group of what they had seen back in Tall Plains, a large group of enemies that were intending on stalling their quest to save the day, and that meant they needed to be ready for whatever was going to be coming their way.
As such the eight of them rushed out from the tower they had been standing in and charged out of the tower, where Spike blasted some of the Apes with a few Lightning Bolts, Ember charged into a few Soldiers and used her claws to cut down a Leader that tried to attack her while she was distracted, Hunter used a few arrows to knock down a few Leaders that marched into the area they were in while Elora kicked a few of the Apes that were near him, Sol charged into a few of his targets before loosing a few Fireballs at them, and Bianca used her magic to make sure none of the sticks of dynamite even reached the area they were in. Spyro, despite the fact that he had just unlocked a new type of power and had no idea how to truly wield it, thought back to what had happened when they were in Avalar, or Metropolis to be exact, and felt the chill in the air, despite the spell Spike had used on him and the others, before he loosed a wave of frost that froze some of the Apes that the others weren't attacking, something that allowed him to charge into and knock his foes out. Cynder also got in on the action by using the wind as she lashed out at her foes, cutting gashes into their armor as she hit them with enough force to knock them out, but even as she did that Spyro could see a faint smile on her face, either due to the fact that they were fighting together again or due to the fact that he had unlocked two elements during their visit to Dante's Freezer, even if they were far from done and had to keep an eye out for any Dreadwings that the Apes might use on them, even if he knew that the Dreadwings would be in for one tough fight if they landed now. As the last of the Apes fell that was when they discovered that the force that truly controlled this fortified area was actually the Trolls, as a number of the Troll Soldiers stepped out of the fortress and one of the Troll Champions marched out of the tower that happened to be behind the group, indicating that their foes had noticed what was going on and were letting them overextend themselves before even attempting to ambush them.
The group had to be more cautious whenever they engaged the Trolls, as they were more organized than the Apes in this island were, which was interesting considering the fact that Apes in Tall Plains had been way more together and much more organized than their friends in Dante's Freezer, so they stayed on the defensive for a while and struck out at their foes whenever an opening revealed itself to them. Sure, that meant it would take a little longer for them to clear the area out and move forward, but this was just fine for the group as Ember parried attacks as Hunter, Elora, and Sol did the same thing, with either their own weapons or whatever they had on hand, while leaving the offensive to Spyro, Spike, Cynder, and even Bianca, when she wasn't busy making sure none of their enemies tried to hit them from behind or from the skies while they were distracted. When the group of enemies fell the metal doors of the fortification opened and four more Troll Soldiers marched out to tear them apart, while at the same time two more Troll Champions marched out of the tower, something that was odd because they knew they cleared out the area in question and that there shouldn't be any enemies coming out of that area, but instead of questioning it they lashed out at the new group of enemies that were coming at them, so they could clear out the area and then move forward, even though some of them had to worry about the Troll Champions and fight them away from the area the couple of Soldiers were in. One thing they used to their advantage were the couple of explosive barrels the Trolls on the other side of the fortifications sent towards them, to which Spike and Bianca covered themselves and the ground in a protective barrier when they hurled the explosives at their enemies, which blew their foes up and cleared out some of them so they could focus on those that remained.
What was hilarious for the group was that whatever Trolls were on the other side of the fortifications were bombed by some Apes that were flying overhead with some Dreadwings, blowing apart the tower that was behind the wall in front of them, though that was followed by an Ape Commander and several Ape Soldiers walking out to confront them, as if they didn't mind the fact that the group had smashed their earlier groups despite the larger numbers their enemies possessed, but they weren't the ones that ended up fighting the Apes, as a group of icy blue creatures, who stood on two legs and looked like they were made out of ice and snow, lashed out at the Apes.
"Well, it looks like the Ice Elementals are on our side," Spike commented, referring to the minor elementals that had just sprung up out of the snow that was around them and lashed out at the couple of enemies that were blocking the way forward, where he and the others watched as their new allies beat the daylights out of the Apes, even though he knew that the elementals would depart for another area so they could continue hunting down the intruders, "though if they're like all of the elementals we saw in Tall Plains, who dislike those that attacked their leader and lash out at them accordingly, that means the Apes might have already found the Ice King and attempted to put a collar on it... and if they succeeded then Volteer is likely fighting their leader to free it."
"You got all of that, from seeing the Ice Elementals attack the Apes?" Cynder asked, because while she could follow the logic that Spike told them, about how these guys were ticked off at the group of Apes that had been getting ready to face the eight of them, she was impressed by the fact that he was able to determine all of that from just seeing them appear in this area and attack their enemies, from the little bit of information that they had on the matter.
"Spike is the most intelligent dragon in the Dragon Realms, who has read everything inside our archives, the archives of Avalar, what little archives Avilion has left, and has started in on the Arcanaeum's library of knowledge," Ember stated, though at this point she wasn't even surprised by that fact, because she had gotten used to Spike being able to draw all of the connections she had Spyro had heard over the years with little information on what's going on, and about ninety-five percent of the time he was right about whatever was going on, so if he said that the Ice Elementals were on their side, all due to the Apes pissing off the Ice King, she believed it.
"...the Arcanaeum..." Cynder said, revealing that the knowledge of Malefor's vault wasn't a secret to the dragons that lived in Warfang, in fact it would have been a surprise if she didn't know about it, especially since she was one of the few beings that seemed to be allowed to barge into the Temple of the Guardians without being reprimanded by Ignitus and the others, though before she could say anything else the Ice Elementals finished beating up the Apes, turned towards the group and lowered their heads, like they were nodding to them, before they departed, "Well, I think its safe to say that we can move forward again."
With the way opened the group passed through the fortifications as the Ice Elementals headed off to whatever area they were heading to next, to smash the Apes that were invading their home, and walked around the ruined tower that the Apes had blown up, where they found one of the Ape Soldiers standing near a doorway that would have sealed a bridge between this part of the island and the next part, though it fled as soon as it saw them. The group paid it no mind as they continued along the same path the lone foe was running along and found it on the middle of the stone bridge, where it hooted at them for a moment before heading through the other side of the bridge and closed the gate, where they took a few seconds to watch as a pair of Dreadwings flew over the bridge and dropped the same oddly shaped containers that had blown up the tower and the Trolls, to which Spike threw up a barrier around them and made sure none of them were harmed by the explosions, even though that was when they discovered that some of them were explosive and some had some of the Ape Soldiers inside them, as four of those enemies were between them and the gate that was behind them, no doubt to keep them from moving forward. The four of them didn't stand much of a chance as Cynder gathered her magic for a moment and then dove into her shadow as Spike lowered the barrier, something that interested him for a few seconds as he studied what was going on, before she rushed forward and lashed out from the shadows of the four Ape Soldiers that were in front of them, where she momentarily appeared from each shadow to hit them before disappearing a few seconds later, and it was easy for the rest of the group to know when she was done, as she jumped out of the shadow that Spyro was casting and faced them as the Apes collapsed on the ground.
As that happened the gate opened and revealed the couple of Apes, Soldiers, Leaders, and a Commander, though the group noticed none of them were moving and that meant they could pause for a moment and figure out what Cynder had done, as what she had done was rather interesting and it wasn't common for someone to use the shadows like that, and Spike knew that based on what he had read in the past.
"What was that?!" Sol asked, as he had been quite during their visit to Dante's Freezer and he figured that it was about time for him to speak up and figure out what was going on, even though he was sure Spike would quickly figure it out and tell them in no time, or Spyro might awaken some of the memories that they had been told about and could inform them as to what she had done.
"She tapped into the Shadow Element, one of the Minor Elements," Spike stated, as he understood what Cynder had done within the first few seconds of her using the power, though at the same time he was actually impressed by the fact that she had access to two of the four Minor Elements, which all his studies claimed were weaker than the four Prime Elements that he and the other magic users could tape into, but from what he had seen all eight of the elements, nine if one counted the Aether, were equal in power, before noticing the confusion that was around him, "You know how Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth are the Prime Elements, right? Well, there are four more elements that are collectively known as the Minor Elements, mostly because not many dragons have ever tapped into them, and those are Wind, Shadow, Fear, and Poison... and technically there is a ninth element, the Aether, but that's even rarer than the Minor Elements."
The reason he didn't mention that three of them had access to the Aether was because none of them really had a fine control over the element in question, and the reason he was counting himself among his siblings was due to the fact that he needed Akilesh to channel the element, so since he needed something to assist him in controlling the element he didn't feel like labeling himself as someone who could control it, though Cynder tilted her head for a moment before nodding, to show that she understood what he was talking about. As soon as the conversation was over the group walked over to the other side of the bridge and lashed out at the Ape Soldiers that were standing in their way, though as they did that Bianca made sure to use her magic to knock back several sticks of dynamite so they didn't explode on her and her friends, rather they exploded on the Ape Commander that had thrown them and the Ape Leaders that were behind it, basically clearing some of the enemies so they wouldn't have to worry about engaging and wasting time on them. With those enemies taken out the group found that there was another cauldron in front of them, where they determined that the Apes might have been in the middle of making some food before they showed up, before discovering a hole in the wall to the right that was the way forward, to which they walked through the hole in groups of two, something that was the right move given the fact that they discovered a long hallway on the other side of the opening. What they discovered as they walked was that there were a number of icicles that looked rather sharp, all hanging from the ceiling of the hallway, so instead of leaving all of them as a potential danger Bianca used her magic to break all of them before the group even reached them, clearing the way forward so no one had to worry about being impaled by ice, even though she and Spike could have protected the entire group with a barrier spell if such a thing was necessary.
At the end of the hallway they discovered a lone Ape Soldier that seemed to be minding its own business, though as they came into view the Ape in question pulled out what appeared to be some flint and steel so it could light a trail of what appeared to be gunpowder, which raced towards the inside of the wooden fortification that was in front of it, blowing the Troll base to pieces as some Dreadwings dropped troop transports into the area, deploying more Ape Soldiers, and maybe even some of the Ape Leaders, to this area. From what the group could tell there were six enemies for them to deal with, so Hunter and Bianca stood back as the others charged into their enemies, mostly because they wanted to keep their eyes open for any enemies that might drop into the area while the rest of the group was taking care of their enemies, and it wasn't long before another pair of containers were dropped into the area and six more Ape Soldiers were dropped into the area, where he and Bianca took care of them, him by loosing arrows at them while Bianca blasted them with some of her Lightning Bolts. From there, once the enemies were down for the count, the group walked forward and quickly passed through the gate that was in front of them, entering what appeared to be a makeshift arena of some kind, though when all eight of them were in the middle of the area the gate behind them closed and the one in front of them opened as a Troll, riding some sort of armored creature, which Spike identified as an oxen that looked more like an undead than something that was alive, meaning it was possible that the Trolls were defying the natural order of things by rising the dead, which would prevent the unfortunate souls in question from resting.
In that moment he growled and channeled the power of ice into the area, freezing the oxen before their foe, who he was labeling as a Troll Horsemen, despite the nature of the steed, where it was standing so the rest of the group could hit it without having to worry about it riding around and possibly escaping the area, where he watched as it was charged into, blasted by fire and lightning, struck with several wind gashes, and hit by both Elora's fists and Hunter's arrows, before it finally collapsed and took the rider down with it. As soon as the first Troll Horsemen fell the group watched as the gate opened once more and six more enemies rushed out to fight them, four of the Troll Soldiers and two more Horsemen, to which Spike focused on sealing the movement of the Troll Horsemen so the group could focus on them, before worrying about the Soldiers that were standing between them and the entrance. Based on what Spike knew defeating the couple of Troll Horsemen meant that their steeds would be freed from what they had been cursed with, or at least that was what the stories about this sort of thing claimed would happen, but after a time he shifted his attention to the four Soldiers as well and the group quickly took them out, since they seemed to be stunned by the fact that they had taken out all three of the larger enemies that had been sent into this area. As soon as those six enemies were taken care of they quickly moved through the gate their enemies had been guarding and then paused when they found three Troll Champions standing between them and the barricades that lead to the next tower they would be walking by, meaning they had to fight them and whatever the other enemies of the area were before being allowed to move deeper into the island. Instead of the eight of them facing off against the Troll Champions, and wasting more energy on them, about ten Ice Elementals picked that moment to jump out of wherever they had been hiding and smashed into the Trolls while they were distracted, which meant the group wouldn't have to worry about them at all, and while the Ice Elementals were beating up the Trolls they spotted an Ape Commander level its mace with the top of the tower and break it, opening the way forward so the group could continue towards where the Ice King happened to be resting.
Instead of moving forward the group actually assisted the Ice Elementals in dealing with the Troll Champions that had been waiting for them and quickly brought them all down, even though they had to be careful not to hit their allies in the process, though once the deed was done the Ice Elementals nodded their heads towards the group and then disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, no doubt heading for another area to battle their enemies.
"Okay, so the Ice Elementals really don't like the Trolls or the Apes," Spike commented, though at the same time he made sure to make a note of that information, by writing it down in his journal anyway, before slipping all of his writing materials back into his satchel and turning his attention towards the opening the Ape Commander had been standing in when it broke the top of the tower, as now they knew where they were supposed to go.
"Maybe we'll be lucky and the Ice Elementals will take care of our enemies for us, so we can focus on finding the area the Ice King is in and assist their leader," Hunter added, as there was always the possibility of what happened in Tall Plains to repeat itself, as in the elementals of the island to join their battle and open the way towards where their leader called home, and while he had gotten better at fighting he was silently hoping for the Ice Elementals to do the same as the Stone Elementals they had seen on the other island, though he guessed time would tell.
With the area cleared they headed over to where the Ape Commander had been spotted and started to walk down the long hallway that it had revealed to them, something that eventually brought them to a higher location, as there had been a few steps at the end that they climbed up, before the foe they had been following appeared in the doorway of the structure that was in front of them and then used a circular barrier to keep them contained in the middle of the area, all so some Ape Leaders could throw dynamite into the area and Ape Soldiers popped out of the snow to attack them. What happened was that Spike and Bianca took turns sending the sticks of dynamite at the Apes that were throwing all of them into the area they were standing in, so that way they would blow up on the ones that had thrown them, leaving the rest of their enemies to the rest of the group, where the unfortunate Ape Soldiers didn't stand much of a chance as they were beaten up by Spyro and the others. What was interesting was that the Ape Commander actually came back out and took part in the last couple moments of the fight, which was bad timing on its part as the group turned its full attention on it as the last of the Ape Soldiers fell to the ground in defeat, so it wasn't all that hard for them to lash out at the new foe and take it down before any of them could be hurt, causing the barrier to fall so they could head into the structure this group had been trying to guard. It appeared that the structure the Apes had been guarding had been the area that particular group had called home, based on the cauldrons of stew and the tents that the Apes would have slept it, and there was a door that looked like it had been smashed to allow the Apes greater movement in this area, though there were a few Ape Leaders in this structure, three anyway, and they tried to bomb the group with dynamite, only for Spike and Bianca to do what they normally did in this situation and bounced the sticks back at their enemies, blowing the Apes up while the rest of the group headed for the other doorway and headed outside.
On the other side of the door they found what could have been a small courtyard of some kind that rested between the building they had walked through and the next one that stood in their way, though there was no door to break down for the next structure and that meant that they could just walk down to the other end of the building, where they found six Ape Soldiers waiting for them. Instead of engaging the Ape Soldiers the group smashed the door they were guarding and headed into the larger chamber that was on the other side, where they found an Ape Commander and charged at it, something that caused the Ape Soldiers to charge at them and was when the group divided their attention between the seven enemies that were in the chamber at the moment. Spyro and Cynder charged into the larger foe and smacked it around with their elements, this time going with fire and wind, leaving the others to deal with the other six enemies that were in the area, though the Ape Soldiers didn't stand much of a chance against them as Spike and Bianca blasted them, Hunter opted for his blades to cut them down, Elora punched her target into the wall, and both Ember and Sol charged into their targets. The battle ended in the seven Apes laying on the ground, all of them knocked unconscious from all of the attacks they had suffered, before they headed through the doorway the Ape Commander had been guarding and found a path that seemed to head to another structure, which wasn't surprising at all, though Spike did use his magic to bounce some sticks of dynamite back at the Ape Leaders that were further along the path, blowing them into the walls and knocking them out, allowing them to progress without being bothered by enemies, at least for a time. After that they took down the door that was to their right and walked into what appeared to have been a storage building at one point in time, and that seemed to be what the Apes were using it as, based on the couple of explosive containers, small barrels based on what they could see, that were in the side chamber, and the three Ape Soldiers that were in the room with the cauldron weren't expecting any company, despite them breaking the door down, so they were able to quickly knock them out and move through the other doorway as they continued exploring Dante's Freezer, which was far larger than what Spike had originally believed it to be.
The moment they were on the other side of the doorway, and by that they smashed down the lone barricade that was in their way, the group turned to their right and found an area that some Apes Soldiers happened to be in, four of them to be exact, though it didn't take them all that long to attack the group of enemies and take them out, allowing them to reach another ruined building that seemed to be the way forward, where they found four Ape Leaders sitting at some tables, as if they were minding their own business. Sure enough the enemies hooted at the group as they entered the building and ignited some dynamite so they could blow them up, where Spike and Bianca sighed for a moment as one of them set up the barrier and the other made sure the sticks of dynamite were knocked back to those that threw them, which allowed them to clear the way without having to actually fight their enemies. Once the group of enemies were taken care of they found the way forward and continued moving, though outside the building they found another bridge to cross, this one not having any gates or doors that would close on them, so they simply climbed the steps and started to walk across to the next part of the island they would be clearing out, even though all of them were curious as to how much more they would have to fight through before they reached the Ice King's domain, before Spyro stopped them as most of the bridge fell apart before their eyes, leaving them with a few sections of stone to jump on. It was rather odd that the structure picked that moment to fall apart, just as all eight of them were starting to walk across so they could access the other side, but this wasn't as bad as some of the things the siblings had faced in the past, as all they had to do was take turns jumping over the stones that were left and soon enough everyone was on the other side, already putting the collapsed bridge out of their minds as they sought out the rest of the path that they were following.
As they stepped out into an area that looked like it had been the site of a battle, even though there weren't any of the usual fortifications this time, Hunter spotted four Dreadwings off in the distance, ones that looked like they were carrying explosive containers that were going to be dropped on them, so he, Spike, and Bianca decided to knock the four enemies out of the air, Hunter sticking to his arrows while Spike and Bianca blasted their targets with Lightning Bolts, causing them to crash into the ground and be knocked out by their own explosives. From there they approached the next bridge that seemed to be taking them away from the fortress, which was rather interesting when Spike thought about it, before they spotted a few Ape Soldiers, an Ape Commander, and a Dreadwing waiting for them, or maybe waiting for the Trolls to come and attack them, though it didn't matter in the end as the Apes lashed out at the group, causing them to go on the defensive once more. This time around Cynder was the one that faced off against the Dreadwing, using her command over the Shadows to dive into them and attack the creature from any direction she wanted, including from below if she wished, where Spike took a moment to sit this battle out as he studied how Cynder fought, all while determining that the power she was displaying was a spell known as Shadow Play, so named due by the one who created it because he felt like the spell was similar to playing a game, even though it was clear that their new ally was very serious when it came to fighting and used the spell appropriately. Other than checking out the spell that Cynder was using there wasn't much for Spike to worry about, as the others were able to clear out the Apes that were in the area as she dropped the Dreadwing to the ground as well, allowing them to scout out the area and see if they could figure out where they were supposed to go from this point, as their options weren't that great.
The bridge that they had been heading towards was shattered, though from what they could tell it lead deeper into the massive forest and wouldn't be where the Ice King would have made its home, while at the same time the only gate that was in their area was sealed tight, no doubt due to the Apes, so the next best thing was the hole in the snow that was between the two, a small cave that required Elora, Hunter, and Bianca to crawl after the dragons and Sol... which brought them to a cave that was much larger than what they were expecting, and, as it turned it, it was right where they needed to be, as they quickly found Volteer off to their left, and he wasn't alone. Standing near the Guardian was a tall black armored figure that had to be the leader of the Trolls, a Troll King or Lord, and it carried a sword and shield that looked like they were partly frozen, no doubt because of the fact that it was fighting a much larger foe, an elemental who stood as tall as the Stone Sentinel did and was made out of what appeared to be hardened ice, though its features had been molded to resemble a suit of armor, a helm, and carried what Spike had to assume was a scythe, due to the curved blade it held in its right hand. The power he felt in the chamber indicated that they had found the Ice King, something that must be correct due to the collapsed tunnel that was nearby, no doubt left behind by the Apes to trap Volteer and the Troll Lord inside this area, so they would have to fight the enraged Ice King, though that was when the group noticed the blackened collar that rested around the elemental's neck, informing them that they were too late to stop the Apes from seizing control of one of the Elemental Scions, but if they acted fast they might be able to save it before the Apes had full control over it, which was odd since all of the Apes had fled the area. Another thing that interested Spike was the throne that was far behind the Ice King, though it was the odd hollowed indent where a key of some kind would have been placed, no doubt to be hidden based on what they were seeing, but before he could think about it too much the Ice King struck the Troll Lord in the chest and sent its foe flying into one of the walls, where the Troll didn't move at all, causing it to turn on them.
Volteer, noticing their arrival, nodded his head as he lashed out with his weapon, doing next to nothing as he hit the chest of the Ice King, and the same thing happened when Hunter hit it with one of his arrows, Elora's fist did nothing at all, and Ember's claws barely made a dent in the armor, though when Sol used his Phoenix Dash that seemed to have some effect on their foe, indicating that magic was the key to weakening the Ice King, but while that was nice to know, in case they failed to free it, the group focused on their true target. By that Spike and Bianca lashed out with their magic, where they tapped into the earth below them and formed chains around the Ice King's arms and legs, mostly to keep it from attacking any of them, but once that was done the rest of the group understood what they needed to do and focused on their true target, the collar that had been placed around the elemental's neck, because if what they had discovered back in Tall Plains was to be believed once the collar was broken the Ice King would return to normal. Cynder, despite only hearing about what they had done during their visit to the other island, helped out as well, where she lashed out at the collar with both the wind and then used the shadows to deal some extra damage to the metal, before moving out of the way so the others could use their skills to lash out at the metallic collar that had been forced around the Ice King's neck, no doubt with an enchantment that prevented it from shifting form to get rid of the object. Of course the real problem was when the Ice King shattered the Earthen Shackles that Spike and Bianca had cast, showing them that it had more energy and wasn't as tired as the Stone Sentinel was when they first found Cyril earlier, so they decided to scatter as the Ice King swung his scythe at them and cut into the wall that lead to the part of the cave the tunnel had lead the group to, though that didn't stop them from lashing out at the collar with all of their might, since it was the key to returning things to normal, even if it might take some time to break it.
After a few minutes of dodging both the scythe and waves of ice, which made sense due to who their foe was, Spyro noticed an opportunity and took it, where he launched himself into the air with his wings, where he was happy that Cynder had made the comment about them flying earlier so that he and his siblings could see that they could fly without the aid of the Flight Realms, and flew at the Ice King, where he pulled Windshear out and sliced through the collar like he had done when they fought the Stone Sentinel, breaking the object in seconds while not harming the Ice King, who staggered for a moment before looking around like it was confused, before nodding its head in thanks.
"I must say, while I had my doubts that the Apes would be capable of such evil, it seems that the impossible has been made possible before my eyes," Volteer stated, showing that he now believed the story that Cyril had told him, Terrador, and Ignitus, despite the fact that he had a few doubts about the Apes being capable of pissing off and annoying not one, but two of the Elemental Scions, where the group realized what their foes were going to do next as Volteer rolled up his whip and returned it to where he held it as he turned towards the group, "I must return to Warfang and inform Cyril that the Apes are more of a threat than we initially realized, that they might try to attack the city at some point and that we need to organize our defenses before its too late."
"Good, and while you do that we'll head to the Isle of Bozibig and Concurrent Skies," Spyro replied, though even as he said that the Ice King seemed to realize something and waved one of its hands towards the wall that was behind them, as in the passage that had allowed them to reach the cave in the first place, where it manipulated the ice and formed a path for them to leave the area it had been residing in, "if the Apes assaulted two of the islands and the Elemental Scions, I'm sure that Terrador and Ignitus will discover the same thing when they find the Molten Golem and the Thunder Prince, so they'll be needing our assistance in saving our allies and figuring out what the Apes are up to."
Volteer nodded and departed from the area they were in, heading through the passage the Ice King had opened for all of them to use, to which the group followed him so someone could direct Fury to where the broken bridge located and pick the rest of them up so they could head to one of the other islands and repeat this process, all while trying to figure out what the Apes were really up to, something that was going to be known to them in due time.
With Volteer assisted, and having departed for Warfang so he could tell Cyril about the Apes that were attacking their allies, Spyro and the others left the Ice King to whatever it was doing by heading for the surface, even though Spike was the last one to do so since he was collecting the collar the elemental had been wearing, though this time around, instead of just sending Bianca back to where Fury had docked the airship, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Cynder, and Sol spread their wings and took off, which was the moment that Bianca used her magic to teleport herself, Elora, and Hunter out of the area as she followed the group. Spyro and his siblings had to admit that this was something they could get used to, as in flying whenever they wanted to and not being restricted by their age, which was what they had been told or learned a long time ago, where each of them rolled through the air a few times, to make sure they knew the tricks that they had been taught in the past, all while Cynder and Sol watched what they were doing, though the former joined them and the latter decided to stick to what he was doing at the moment. It did give them a good view of Dante's Freezer, even though the view from the airship itself was even better than what they were seeing at the moment, and as they did that they could see the rest of the Apes, ones they hadn't fought due to them being either elsewhere on the island or ones they had knocked out and had regained themselves, were retreating from the island by using their own inferior airships, like the one that the group had seen in Tall Plains. It did look like the Apes were retreating, something that seemed to be correct when the group noticed that the Ice Elementals were making sure the invaders were leaving the island, and that included the Trolls, who seemed to be filling boats that looked like vikings created them.
It was good to see that their enemies were fleeing from the island, especially since the residents of the land didn't want either of them there in the first place, before they located the area that the airship was resting in and headed for it, so they could land and Spyro could tell Fury which of the two remaining islands he wanted to hit next, since they knew that the Apes were planning something and Terrador would likely need some assistance in freeing the Magma Golem if their enemies managed to place a collar around its neck.
"Spyro, it is good that you and the others are unharmed," Nestor said, though at the same time he knew that three members of the group, the siblings who saved the Dragon Realms from Gnasty Gnorc and Avalar from Ripto, were great heroes and at this point he was convinced that the only way to bring them down was by exhausting them in battle, and he was also happy that Elora and the others were just fine as well, despite the fact that they were a few years behind what the siblings were capable of, "So, have you decided on which island you want to tackle next?"
"The Isle of Bozibig, where Terrador went," Spyro replied, as the island that the Magma Golem called home seemed to be the best place to go next, though his decision was more due to the other name that the landmass was called, as it had been called 'Munitions Forge' at one point, meaning weapons and armor had to be made there and he was worried that the Apes might try to seize control of the island so they could claim the weapons that were meant for Warfang, "and then, once we're done checking that island out, we'll head to Concurrent Skies and help Ignitus out, before heading back to the city and seeing if we can figure out what the Apes are doing."
Nestor nodded as the group made themselves comfortable, though due to the fact that Fury had been standing near him and the other Leaders it wasn't long before the airship took off and headed in the direction of the island Spyro had mentioned, giving the group a chance to rest and recover before they reached their next destination, where they would repeat what they had just done in a new area. Spyro, recalling what he had done during their journey through Dante's Freezer, took some time to meditate while they traveled through the air, so he could contemplate his new abilities, as in the awakening of the Lightning and Ice elements, giving him two new types of breaths to use without having to use the Powerup Gates anymore, and in addition to that Cynder told him that he had four different elements to tap into, or at least that was what her memories told her. Spike sort of confirmed what she was saying, reminding Spyro and the others that purple dragons could tap into all the elements while some dragons, such as Volteer for example, could only tap into a single element, so based on that he had to determine that Spyro had access to all four Prime Elements, as in Fire, Earth, Ice, and Lightning, and, if he trained hard enough to be able to withstand the strain that was placed on his body, he could even tap into the Aether on command, the element that only purple dragons could tap into. Of course most of the group knew that such a thing was no long entirely valid, as there was one individual, Ember to be exact, who could tap into the element, despite the fact that she shouldn't be able to, but they kept that information quiet as Spike helped Spyro gain some understanding of the elements he had just unlocked, that way he could develop his true powers over the course of their adventure, as well as prepare him for when he tapped into the power of the Earth Element.
Bianca and the others were interested in what Spyro would be capable of in the future, since he was only starting to tap into the power of a purple dragon and was in the process of catching up to what Spike was capable of, but, despite all of that, they spread out and took the chance to rest so they would be ready for the moment they reached the island that they were heading towards. Hunter returned to his chamber for a time and came back out with some replacement arrows, as he had lost a few in both Tall Plains and Dante's Freezer, though he found that it was a good thing he had prepared so many, in the off chance that a new adventure started when they found the continent that Warfang rest on, though at the same time he had a number of arrows that had elemental markings on them, where the siblings and Elora knew that they were elemental arrows, meaning he could deal lightning damage to an enemy if he used that arrow, and the only reason he wasn't using them was because he only had a few of them. Elora spent some time making sure her armor was ready for the intense heat that they might be dealing with when they reached their destination, as they had seen that there was an active volcano on the island, Boyzitbig as the residents of the island called it and not to be confused with the name of the island, though they had no idea how hot it would be and would have to wait and see if her current suit of armor could handle everything that was throw at her. Spike, despite helping Spyro with his meditation and whatnot, spent most of his time thinking about everything they had discovered during their journey through Dante's Freezer, where he determined that something definitely didn't add up and he couldn't quite place what that something was, which was going to bother him as they made their way through the next island and possibly the one that Ignitus went to.
Cynder, of course, stayed near Spyro and did her best to help him out in his attempts to understand his powers, as all she knew was that he had learned them over the course of a few days, or at least that was her assumption since it made the most sense, as even purple dragons needed a few days to truly tap into the powers they had access to, but that didn't stop her from helping him out. The older dragons, not to mention those that stayed on the airship to protect it, did focus on the newest addition to the group for a time, though at time point they knew that she fit in with everyone and decided to focus their efforts on trying to figure out what the Apes were up to, so they could help Spike figure out what their true plan was, as even they had to admit that there was something off about all of this. Of course Alvar also served them a quick meal, so the group would be able to regain some of their energy before they reached the next island, which gave Cynder the chance to taste his food and found that it was actually quite delicious, something she wasn't expecting to find and eagerly devoured the rest of her meal, all while no doubt wondering if he could teach some of the chefs in Warfang a few things before he had to go home, as she suspected that once their mission was over the group would head back to the Dragon Realms, though she was hoping she was wrong about that. Spike could tell that she was thinking about her and Spyro, the memories that they apparently shared, where he was curious about the mysterious Chronicler that had been mentioned during their talk with Ignitus and the other Guardians, especially since the dragon in question was the only one who could help Spyro out, something that would happen once they dealt with the Apes and whatever foul plans they were trying to set in motion.
It took them about an hour and a half to reach their next destination, which made sense given that the third island was a bit further away from where the rest of the continent, that way the eruptions didn't disrupt the lives of the dragons that called Warfang home, though the approach gave them time to look out at the island that they would be exploring for the foreseeable future, until they chased the Apes off and gave the Fire Elementals back their home. From where they could see the volcano was definitely active, given that it was in the middle of spewing lava out into the surrounding area and was pumping ash into the sky, though from what the group could tell it almost seemed like the Magma Golem and the rest of the Fire Elementals kept the fire and ash from spreading too far and kept it contained to the island, for the most part, as all of them were sure that some of it had to spread beyond the island, just not far enough to endanger anyone else that could be living near Bozibig. Of course Fury noticed all of this and directed them to a safer place where they could dock while the group headed out to see if they could find Terrador, to which they descended towards the water and docked near what had to be the edge of the island, though it was better than staying in the air and risking some damage to the airship due to how much ash was in the air, even though there wasn't a lot of it near the ground yet. While that happened the group took in the dark purple volcano that had red lines of lava running down the sides of it, the partially blackened beaches that had to go all the way around the island, bits of machinery that looked like forges or smithies, which the Manweersmalls would have used to forge weapons and armor, tracks that were no doubt connected to the mines, and who knew what else, so it was hard to figure out where Terrador could have gone, as it didn't seem all that straightforward this time around, unlike the last two islands the group visited.
While they docked, and Sheila's group prepared to stay back like usual, Spike made sure to switch the Heat Aura spell with the Cold Aura spell, meaning they would be able to handle the heat of the island while they figured out where to go from here so they could begin the search for Terrador, hence the reason that he and the rest of their eight member group disembarked from the airship and walked out onto the beach Fury had docked near.
"You know, I know the name of the volcano is a play on the phrase 'boy is it big', but, well... boy is it big!" Hunter said, as he and the others were staring at the massive active volcano that was either at the heart of the island or the backside of it, something that was hard to tell from the air due to all of the ash that was up there, where the name and description of the volcano didn't prepare them for just how massive it was, and even then it was dwarfed by the massive inactive volcano that was located in what appeared to be the heart of Doxantha, probably a day or two walk from Warfang, maybe more since they had no idea how big the continent truly was.
"You've got that right," Cynder remarked, though even as she said that she couldn't help but stare at it for a few more seconds, because she had only been here once or twice over the years and it never ceased to amaze her as to how large this one volcano was, especially with the inactive one near her home, before she shook her head and glanced around the area that they had docked in, as it was time for them to get moving, "Okay, Terrador should be here... somewhere... so all we have to do is find a path to take and then follow it... hopefully it will lead us straight to him and the Magma Golem, who might be pissed off if what we've seen so far is to be believed."
"Both the Stone Sentinel and the Ice King were pissed off when we found them, so chances are the last two Elemental Scions will be the same way," Spyro stated, because while he would like to be wrong about this, since he'd rather beat the Apes to the punch and save one of their allies before the collar was put around their neck, he had the feeling that they were going to have a repeat of the last two islands, something that Spike and Ember definitely agreed on given the serious expressions on their faces, and that wasn't counting the other members of their group, "Come on, let's start searching this island and see if we can't find Terrador, even though we'll have to smash our way through the Apes that are bothering the Fire Elementals and the Manweersmalls that live here."
What was interesting was that there were two Ape Soldiers hanging out near where Fury docked the airship, though this time around the smaller Apes were wearing almost nothing save for a tunic and a soldier piece, no doubt minimizing how much they had to wear due to the heat that the island possessed thanks to the seemingly always active volcano, and neither of them were paying too much attention to what was going on as the group approached them... though when they spotted the group both of them became active, until Spyro iced them with his Ice Breath, allowing one of the others to break the ice and knock the Apes out.
"Okay, so either the heat is getting to the Apes, or those two were lazy," Spike commented, though either option was plausible at this point, as he wouldn't put it past some of their enemies to be exhausted from the heat that was around the island, as he was sure most of them, save for Sol, would have been weakened a little by what the Apes were feeling, while the lazy option was less plausible given how strict and active the other groups of Apes had been, but there was always the chance the pair had ignored their superiors and were just lazy, before he shook his head, "oh well, we had best get moving before the rest of the Apes realize those two haven't reported in yet."
As he said that and the group walked forward, however, four more Apes, three being Soldiers and one being a Leader, walked down one of the metallic rails that were in the area and noticed them walking, to which the Apes hooted for a few seconds and then charged at them, where none of them had weapons this time around, so Hunter and Elora punched the Leader into the ground, Ember and Sol charged into one of the Soldiers, Bianca tripped another so Spike could charge into it, and Spyro and Cynder knocked the last one to the ground with their tails, making it easy for them to knock it so they could move forward. With those enemies taken care of the group looked around the rest of the area and found that the only way forward was by using the same opening that the Apes had walked out of, so they walked over to where the rail was located and started to head up it, walking towards the opening as they kept their eyes open for enemies, even though there didn't appear to be any at all. What the group discovered, while all eight of them entered the tunnel the Apes had come from, was that there were a few beetle-like creatures, which had purple shells and fire red wings, that rushed at them and tried to bite them into submission, or at least they tired to as Spike threw up a barrier to keep them from him and the others, all while Bianca blasted them with a Lightning Bolt here and there, taking care of some of the Fire Beetles, as Spike called them, as they moved forward. Once they reached the end of the tunnel they found a more open area that had one Ape Commander, whose armor was dark purple and hammered together rather crudely, who watched over a few Ape Soldiers, three of them to be exact, and the Commander used the mace and its magic to seal the door that appeared to be the way forward.
The group was used to that happening, as in the highest ranking Ape sealing the way forward so they had to fight all of the Soldiers and Leaders, so what they did was lash out at the enemies that were down there, where Spyro and Cynder charged into the Commander and knocked it off the edge that it was standing on, allowing Spike and Bianca to blast one of the Apes with some Earth Spikes, Ember and Sol knocked another one around until it was knocked out, and Elora and Hunter punched the last one down. As that happened five more rushed into the area from a pipe that was above where they were standing, so Hunter used one of his arrows to knock one out of the air as Bianca blasted another one, leaving the other three to the rest of the group, though what was interesting was that the remaining enemies accidentally stepped in one of the pits that were around them, which had to be full of rather hot metal or liquid, that distracted them so the group could knock them into the walls and take them down. After that group was taken care of another group of five Ape Soldiers, this time joined by an Ape Leader, jumped into the area Spyro and the others were fighting in, though that was when Spyro blasted a few of them with his new Lightning Breath, knocking his targets to the side, while Cynder lashed out with the with, knocking the other Soldiers to the ground so the rest of the group could tackle them while they were unable to do much else, leaving Bianca to knock back a few sticks of dynamite and take out the Ape Leader. Once all of the Apes were down for the count, and the group made sure of it as they checked all of the unconscious enemies that were around the area they had discovered, they headed for the door that the Ape Commander had sealed with magic and found that part of the way was open, where the only thing left to do was break down the door that seemed to have been made by the Apes, which would be easy since it was mostly wood.
As such it didn't take them long to smash their way through the wooden door, an odd and poor choice when they considered all the fire that was around them, and enter the next part of the island that they would be exploring, though as they did that they walked down into an open area that clearly had a path leading forward, though it was the small gray furred creature that was in the middle of the new area that drew their attention, since it looked sort of like the Professor, only without all of the scientist equipment and had a hat on that happened to have a candle on top of it.
"Whose there?" the mole asked, where Spike had to determine that this was one of the Manweersmalls that they had been told about, due to the description of a Mole that was similar to the Professor despite no having the coat, glasses, and everything else that the Professor had, though at the same time it was easy to figure out that the individual had to be blind to some degree, as he turned his head a few times before pointing his nose at them, "You don't smell like the Apes, nor do you spell like one of our Fire Elemental allies... you are you people?"
"Allies of Warfang and the Guardians that watch over Doxantha," Spyro replied, knowing that if he announced that he and the others were allies to the races that called the continent and surrounding islands home, like they were, it would tell the Manweersmall that they could be trusted and that they would do everything in their power to restore order to the land that the Apes were in the middle of disrupting, while at the same time Hunter made a small comment about 'smelling fire', which was mostly ignored so they could focus on what was going on, "Terrador, the Guardian of Earth, came here earlier, to made sure the Apes weren't causing any problems and check on the Magma Golem, the Elemental Scion that lives here, and we came to help him do just that."
"I see. Well, I am Mole-Yair, leader of the Manweersmalls," the individual stated, though at the same time he appeared to be thinking about something and might not know how to tell them what his mind had come up with, even though Spyro and the others had a good idea as to what might be bothering him right now, since they were recalling what they had seen back in Tall Plains, "though my people have been captured by the Apes, who are forcing them to forge weapons for their army, or at least they're trying to, as I know the rest of my subjects are trying to defy the Apes to the best of their abilities, so we don't betray the trust that the High Guardian put in us."
"Then we'll smash the Apes, free your people, and assist Terrador when we find him," Cynder remarked, as she had the feeling that Mole-Yair would mention that the Manweersmalls were trusted by her father, in what way she had no idea and was likely never going to find out, though before she could say anything else the island shuddered for a moment and they had to brace themselves, before everything seemed to return to normal, "Please tell me that Boyzitbig isn't becoming more unstable, because that's the last thing we need right now."
"Unfortunately, it is... which means the Magma Golem is displeased about something." Mole-Yair said, though as he said that the group glanced at each other for a few seconds, because that meant that the Apes had already secured the black collar to the neck of the Elemental Scion that they and Terrador were here to help, and, at the same time, it seemed to be connected to the volcano in some way, meaning that if they failed to free it this entire island, at the very least, was going to be finished, "Listen, I might be able to help you find where the Guardian of Earth went, so you can assist him and try to appease the Magma Golem, but first we need to free my people along the way, to get them out of harms way in case you fail in your mission."
"Then let's not waste anymore time and get moving!" Hunter stated, showing the siblings and the rest of the group, as in those that knew him, that he was definitely no longer the scared and cowardly cheetah that had failed to stop Ripto, rather he was a warrior who wanted to make sure the residents of this island were fine and that they could flee in the off chance that they failed their mission, and his seriousness rubbed off on the group as they nodded their heads and started to move once more, now that they realized that time was of the essence.
As such the group headed down the path that was in front of them and found a drop off point, a small one that Spike altered with his magic so it was a ramp that would allow the Manweersmalls they saved to retreat to a safe point, even if that was the beach they lanced on if need be, before they found one of the Moles working near another ledge and there was a purple crystal that had some magic attached to it, forming a collar around their neck, to which it was shattered by Spike's magic and he collected the trap in a spare sack. Spyro, Ember, and Elora realized what he was doing, he was picking up all of the mind control items so they couldn't be used against the residents of the areas they were found in, and maybe contained in the Arcanaeum where none of their enemies could get at them when he thought about it, though as they did that Spyro had the Manweersmall head back to where the first Ape Commander of this island had been, where he and the others got the chance to see that Mole-Yair was definitely following them, while also maintaining some distance so they could fight the Apes that were along the way. Once that was done the group headed down the steps that were in front of them, where Spike used his magic so the nearly blind Moles would have an easier time moving towards the edge of the island and be safe in case they failed to stop the Magma Golem from raging to the point where it detonated Boyzitbig and took the island with it. The only thing the Apes gained from the volcano becoming unstable and wiping out the island was that it would erase any evidence of their crimes and future plans, though they had to put their thoughts on hold as they found two more Ape Soldiers standing in their way, were Elora kicked one into the air and Cynder used the wind to create a little whirlwind below the other to do the same thing, allowing Hunter to knock them out of the air with some well placed arrows so they could move into the area they had been guarding.
The passage that was at the bottom of the steps, and just beyond the pair of Ape Soldiers, brought them to an area that had an Ape Commander that was in the middle of commanding three Soldiers and one Ape Leader that stood near it, using them to defend itself and the way forward from the group, to which the eight of them readied themselves for what was coming their way as they stepped into the chamber. Bianca stood back so she could deflect some of the dynamite to the area that the largest foe in the area was standing in, as in the Ape Commander, so she could blow it up, though at the same time Spyro and Cynder charged into the Ape Leader and knocked it down, allowing the rest of the group to tackle, hit, or blast the three Ape Soldiers that seemed to be the rest of the guard, meaning once they were down they could see if there were any Moles in this area. Beyond the first chamber they found two paths that seemed to cut through the hill or small mountain that lead to where their target was waiting, where the Apes were in the middle of forcing the rest of Mole-Yair's tribe to dig out gems from the ground, to since it seemed that the paths would regroup at some point Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember took the path on their left while Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Sol took the path that was resting behind the area the Ape Commander had been standing in, to which they smashed their way through the wooden doors and entered the caves the Manweersmalls were being held in. From what both groups could tell there were a decent number of Ape Soldiers, a few Ape Leaders, and a number of Fire Beetles residing in the two tunnels, so Spyro charged into his foes, Spike and Bianca blasted the Fire Beetles in their tunnels, Ember cut through her foes with her blades, Elora and Hunter punched their foes into the walls, Sol used his Phoenix Dash to take his opponents down, and Cynder used her wind power to knock her targets down so she could finish them off with her tail.
While they fought the Apes the group, even if they were separated, made sure to smash the devices that were being used to enslave the Moles that called the island home, freeing them from the work that the Apes were forcing them to do, allowing them to flee from the area as they moved through the tunnels, before eventually meeting back up at the end of the cave system, in front of a boulder that seemed to be blocking the way forward.
"Thank you for saving my people, even though my brother is not among them," Mole-Yair said, eventually catching up with the group as they stared at the boulder, which didn't last very long as Spike used his magic to transform it into a small stone that Hunter or Elora could throw at the Apes, something that would really surprise their enemies the next time they found them and started to engage them, "I suspect that the Apes are keeping my brother, Exhumor, near the volcano, in one of their labor camps, and he might be able to direct you to where the Magma Golem's domain is located, once you tell him we're allies... though do try to stay on his good side, just trust me on this."
"Okay, we can do that." Cynder replied, though at the same time the group started to move through the opening that was in front of them, showing that they were eager to keep moving since the volcano was becoming inactive, especially since no one wanted to be caught out in the open if the volcano was detonated, hence the reason they were helping the Moles so they could leave the island if the worst case scenario were to happen.
Once they knew that there was someone they needed to find and talk to, so they could figure out the path that would take them to the Magma Golem's domain, where it took them a few seconds to find four Ape Soldiers heading towards the opening they had walked through, where Hunter tossed the stone at them and Spike undid the magic, allowing the stone to return to being a boulder so it could crush them into the wall. Of course it looked like they were knocked unconscious by what they had done, though that allowed the eight of them to turn their attention to the two Ape Leaders that were also coming their way, to which the four dragons beat one of their enemies up by charging into it and whacking it with their weapons, spells, or horns while Elora and the others knocked their foe out with some well placed hits and an arrow in the knee, causing the Ape in question to raise its fists to the sky in annoyance before Elora knocked it out. There were two more Ape Leaders further along the path they were following, which appeared to head through an area the Moles used to either heat metal or move it, so the group simply repeated what they had done to the last group of Ape Leaders and took these ones out in a couple of moments, allowing them to head to what appeared to a curved path that lead to a new part of the island, before they paused as the lava to their left shook for a moment. That was followed by four worm-like creatures, who had natural armor that looked like the Fire Beetles the group had fought earlier and was even colored the same way, bursting out of the lava and came to a stop on the ground as they glared at the eight of them, no doubt trying to determine whether or not they were allies or enemies, but it quickly became apparent that no one had to say anything for the local creatures to determine whose side they were on.
The reason for that was due to four flaming elementals, looking similar to the Ice and Stone Elementals they had seen so far, except for the fact that these ones were made of fire and possibly molten stone, though they appeared to be the ones that the Magma Worms, as Spike would call them, and it wasn't long before the Fire Elementals nodded their heads and departed from the area with their pets, no doubt heading to find the Apes that were invading their home, just like the last two types of elementals they had seen.
"While I don't think I'll get used to having allies during our visits to these islands, I'm glad those worms obey the Fire Elementals and left with them," Bianca commented, though it was easy for the group to determine why she was saying this in the first place, mostly because she was looking at the lava pool that the Magma Worms had jumped out of and had caused them to stop in their tracks, at least until the elementals came to collect their pets, "especially since I'm sure that the worms are immune to fire, based on the fact that they're capable of swimming through lava, which would have forced us to rely on the rest of the elements to fight them."
Spike had to agree with Bianca, as the Magma Worms would be immune to fire and that would have forced them to use one of the other elements if they were enemies, but it was pretty clear that they were allies, especially since the next group of Apes, which were just beyond where they had encountered the worms for the first time, were in the middle of being taken out by the angry Fire Elementals and the Magma Worms grabbed onto the Ape Soldiers and hurled them at the rock walls that were around them. Basically the same thing they had seen during their visits to the last two islands was being repeated once more, where they had a chance to watch the local elementals beat the Apes up for their crimes, but it did force them to wait for a few moments before their new allies cleared the area and allowed them to head down the path the Apes had been guarding, allowing the Fire Elementals and their Magma Worms to head out and find another group to engage. What was interesting was that there was a short path beyond where the group of Apes had been waiting and that brought them to a short passage, one that allowed them to reach an area where a large scorpion, which had the same natural armor that the Fire Beetles and Magma Worms possessed, while having the same coloration as well, though while the Magma Scorpion stared at them the group could see that there was a black collar around its neck, meaning the Apes had placed it on the creature so they could control it, which no doubt infuriated the Fire Elementals. So what they did next was what they did for the Stone Sentinel and the Ice King, instead of lashing out to take their foe down they dodged the massive pincers that tried to snap them in half, jumped over the tail when it came at them, and used their power to lash out at the collar, where Spyro found that using Windshear on the metal collar was the finishing blow that broke it into pieces and freed the creature from the mind control the Apes forced upon it, all while knocking off the Ape Leader that had been on its back.
What Spike noticed was that the Fire Elementals were watching them as the fight unfolded, where freeing the Magma Scorpion from the mind control and returning it to normal caused their new allies to nod their heads as the creature took a moment to turn and stared to move towards the next part of the path it had been tasked with guarding, as now it was out for revenge and the group was more than willing to help the Magma Golem's people in reclaiming their home, as it did allow them to conserve their energy for the big fight that was coming up in the near future, and the first thing their new ally did was knock out the Ape that had been riding it. With that done they came to a ledge, which was at the edge of the area the Magma Scorpion had been guarding, and found out something interesting, they could jump over some metallic platforms that looked like they were rocking and totally ignore the area that was below them, though at the same time there were a few Ape Soldiers and maybe an Ape Leader in the area, though it was the Magma Scorpion that rested near the back of the area that drew their attention. Spike had an idea and quickly shared it with the rest of the group, where he made sure to put an enchantment on the platforms so that the Apes couldn't see them, in fact the Apes seemed blind to the fact that they were even up there, since at this point the ones in Tall Plains or Dante's Freezer would have hooted at them, to declare war or something like that, but the lack of enemies coming after them was all Spike needed as he set up a set of shimmering walls to keep them hidden as they moved towards the opening that would lead them forward. While he did that he also added in a little whirlwind near the Magma Scorpion that was in the area they were staring at, though as they moved through the area Spyro quietly dropped down into the area and slashed through the collar with Windshear, which broke the collar and freed the creature, allowing Spyro to rejoin the group as they watched the creature go to town on the Apes that were around it, especially when it was joined by the rest of the Fire Elementals and the creatures that were allied with them.
As such it took the group of creatures a few moments to take out the enemies that were down there and retreat so they could find another way to move forward, even if the group knew that they would likely meet up with them at some point in the future, but Spike made sure to pick up the pieces of the mind control collar before they moved down the path that was beyond the opening they had stopped at... which brought them to an area that had an old stone structure, one with a bell that seemed to be made out of either metal or tough stone, causing them to spread out for a moment as they took in the object they had discovered.
"While this seems to be out of place, it was probably used by the Manweersmalls in the past," Spike commented, as it was the only thing that made sense to him when he considered what they were seeing and why this might be here, where he could see Bianca nodding her head in agreement, though as he said that he quickly made a note of the bell and the rest of the shrine that they had discovered, before focusing on something else, "still, there is some sort of power in this area, a faint one to be exact, though I suspect that it might be a link to the final element a purple dragon can tap into, the Earth Element... Spyro, do you feel like taking a moment to see if you can tap into a new power?"
"I guess so. A new power would be nice." Spyro remarked, where he stepped forward and came to a stop in the center of the shrine that they had discovered, which was when he closed his eyes and focused his mind for a moment, allowing the others to stand around and see if any enemies rushed out into the area they were standing in, as they knew that such a thing had come to pass during their visits to the other two islands, but they kept their guard up as a few moments ticked by, moments that they might not have if the volcano acted up again.
As they stood there a number of Apes, about six of the Soldiers to be exact, emerged from the path that would allow them to head deeper into the island that they were exploring, though as the group readied themselves for the battle that would be starting soon, Spyro joined them and blasted the group of Apes with a burst of earth magic, as in thick stones that struck his foes and knocked all of them backwards, the Earth Shot spell according to what Spike knew.
"Nice, now you have access to all four of the elements you used in the past!" Cynder remarked, though while she said that Ember and Elora moved forward to knock the Apes out entirely, that way they would sleep while the group moved further along the path they happened to be guarding, while the others could tell that she was referring to the memories that she and Spyro supposedly shared, or at least that was what the Guardians told them.
"Using the Ice, Lightning, and Earth Elements is going to take some time before I get used to it." Spyro stated, because that was the truth of the matter, it was one thing to tap into a brand new power for a short period of time, but it would be some time before he was able to truly master the new elements he had access to, which was why it was a good thing that Spike was an Archmage, as he could have his brother give him some pointers at some point during their quest to help the Guardians restore order to Doxantha, before he focused on what they were doing, "Come on, let's get moving before either Boyzitbig blows or the island shakes again... I'll try out the Earth Element a few more times while we face the rest of the Apes that will be in our way."
Cynder nodded her head in understanding, as she knew that it would take Spyro some time to re-familiarize himself with the powers he used to wield, just like it took her some time to do the same thing once she realized that she had some memories of the past, before they headed for the set of stone steps that the group of Apes had used to reach this area and used them to move onto the next part of the island, even though they were quickly stopped by two Ape Soldiers and an Ape Commander when they reached the top of the steps. While Spyro considered using his new element in battle he eventually determined that it would be best if he held off and waited for when they were heading to the final island, which was why he blasted the larger Ape in the chest with some lightning, knocking it to the side so that he could open the way for someone to do something, which was when Cynder dove into the shadows and used her Shadow Play skill to knock all three of their enemies down, opening the way for them to move forward. It didn't take them long to find the next area of the island, where it looked like a mining area that had been wrecked by the Apes at some point, making all of them take a moment to think about how organized the Apes had to be and who was controlling them, as at times it didn't seem like their enemies were all that good at what they did, but this was different, as someone smart was leading them to do war with the residents of Warfang. That was around the point that they found what appeared to be the front of a train that had three Apes, two Soldiers and a third that stood taller than them, who wore a conductor's hat, through from what they could tell the Conductor was either hooting or actually talking to his subordinates, as it was hard to tell what was being said due to how far away they were, but before they could do anything the Apes climbed aboard the train and it left the area they were in, using the tracks that the Manweersmalls had installed to depart to another area.
Fortunately their enemies did one thing that made it incredibly easy for them to determine what to do next, they took turns flipping three levers, each one being flipped once, which sealed the opening that the train had gone through, so all they had to do was fight the Apes that were in the area and then flip the levers, which would no doubt open the way for them to head deeper into the island. Another thing that they had going for them was the fact that the Fire Elementals had come to do war with the large group of Apes that were in this area, and they were joined by the Magma Worms and the Magma Scorpions that Spyro and the others had seen since they arrived on the island, where the group basically didn't have to do anything to the Apes, but, despite that fact, they separated from each other and assisted their allies, as it would be rude of them to make the elementals do all the work. It was then that the group discovered this island's cannon, due to the fact that Spike found an Ape that sat on a metallic cannon that seemed to fire either molten metal or spikes that were made out of fire, though what he did was shield himself as Bianca blasted with a Lightning Bolt, allowing them to break the cannon before they moved out to continue the fight, even though they found another cannon and broke it as well. While they did that Spyro and Cynder found a group of Ape Soldiers that were in the middle of getting ready to head out and tackle the Fire Elementals that were burning their comrades, while their pets knocked them down a peg or two, though the two of them did something interesting in Spike's eyes, Cynder used her power over the wind to knock their enemies into the air and keep them up there for a few seconds, where Spyro blasted the wind with lightning and the shock knocked out their enemies, allowing them to drop them on the ground and move forward. Elora and Hunter punched their enemies and blasted a few, even if the former was using her blasters and the latter used his arrows to knock a few Apes down, and Sol used his Phoenix Dash to push his foes around, leaving Ember to use her metallic claws to deal some damage to her enemies as they assisted the Fire Elementals in their war against the invading Apes.
It took them a few minutes to clear out the area that they were fighting in, mostly because the Apes had left a decent number of their forces behind to guard the levers, but in the end the group were able to claim the area and flip the levers, opening the gate that the Apes had closed when they first entered this area, before they found what appeared to be a section of a train, one designed to carry large pieces of metal, so they moved it back onto the track, thanks to the bits of machinery that were nearby, and were off in the next couple of moments, with Cynder using the wind to give them the push they needed to get moving. The plan was simple, head down the tracks and find the next part of the island that they needed to explore so they could get to the area that Terrador and the Magma Golem were in, though what was interesting was that the train the Apes were riding was in front of them, like they had simply moved the train into the tunnel that had been carved into the mountain they were now under and only moved when the group came for it. That, of course, didn't stop them from attacking the back of the train, because there was the chance that the Apes might have something aboard it that didn't belong to them, even though the Fire Elementals were already pissed off due to their leader having the black collar put around its neck, so taking this obstacle down would help them appease the elementals that called the island home, for now at the very least. About the only way they could accurately attack the train, especially when they jumped to two separate tracks in a larger portion of the tunnel and would meet up again at some point, was by having Spike and Bianca step forward and blast their target with their magic, going for anything and everything that might slow it down and make it stop, while at the same time staying away from the more destructive spells that would collapse the mountain on them, which they didn't want, so they just had to be patient and wait until the train derailed or something.
Eventually the Ape that was acting as the conductor for the train got tired of them and, at the moment that the tracks lined up again, rammed them off onto a third track they were only now seeing, where they braced themselves for a trip to another part of the mine before realizing that the tracks eventually stopped and the section of the train they were riding would land in one of the lava pits, so they jumped off and both Spike and Bianca made sure those that couldn't fly landed on the ground safely, before they glanced at the track that lead out of the mountain and watched the train go by, no doubt heading deeper into the island, which was what they had to do as well.
As they moved forward the group found two of the Magma Scorpions hanging out in this area, complete with collars and riders, so what they did was focus on taking out the riders and smashed the collars, though while they did that Hunter used his arrows to take out the Dreadwings that were in the air, mostly since he wanted to make sure neither of them and their riders tried to bomb the area they were in, allowing the others to free the Magma Scorpions and collect the remains of the collars before they moved forward. With those individuals freed the group moved forward, where they had to jump over some small rivers of lava to reach a larger patch of land, which was about when they found a pair of Dreadwings that were coming towards them, where Hunter knocked one out of the sky with his arrows and Bianca combined a Lightning Bolt with Spike's so they could bring down the other foe, much to the dismay of the riders that fell with their mounts, as the Apes hooted in annoyance when that happened. From there they crossed over another section of stone platforms and found that there were a couple of Magma Worms hanging out in the rivers, where they stared at the group for a second or two, like they were trying to determine something, before they realized that they were allies and disappeared into the lava, leaving them to their work as they headed for the next part of the area, even though it brought them to another Magma Scorpion that they freed from the Ape that was riding it, thus allowing it to leave and join the rest of the forces that were standing against the Apes, though how it was going to do that they had no idea. After that they found an area which had some steps that lead up to another area, and possibly the tracks from the looks of it, though the Dreadwing that landed in front of them didn't stand much of a chance when the full power of the group was turned against it, so they dropped it and headed up the steps that they had discovered.
What they discovered was that they couldn't head down the track that was beyond the gate at the top of the steps, so what instead of heading through that opening they turned around and headed back the way they came, where Spike and Bianca blasted the Apes off the platforms they were standing on, which were to the side of the tracks and used those to traverse the distance between the end of the tracks and where they were heading, something that allowed them to avoid the couple of smaller metal minecarts that were transporting items between the areas of the island. It didn't take them all that long to reach the tunnel that was sort of connected to the one they had come out of, which just so happened to be around the time that the last minecart moved through the area and missed all of them, where they headed inside the new tunnel for a few moments and found another Manweersmall standing near the edge, something that informed them that the tracks they were following weren't connected to the cave they had been in earlier.
"Whose there?" the Mole asked, where he turned around and stared at the group for a few seconds, showing that his sense of smell was great or he had some sight that allowed him to see them better than the first Mole did, though at the same time the group came to a stop in front of him, mostly since they didn't want to piss him off since they had the feeling that this was the one they had been sent to find, as he looked so much like the other Mole they had talked to, except for the fact that he had a blue neck piece that was attached to his hat, "Who are you allied with?"
"The Guardians of Warfang and the Elemental Scions... oh, and Mole-Yair sent us." Spyro replied, figuring that this had to be the brother that they were looking for, even though it was odd that the path he and the others had taken had met up with the Mole they were looking for, since he had the way into the domain of the Magma Golem, before the volcano went and blew up on them, but he wasn't about to argue with the results of what he and the others were experiencing right now, not with what was ahead of them.
"My brother sent you? Then that is good news, because it means you can help us," the Mole, Exhumor, said, where he turned and glanced at the area that was beyond the tunnel they were in, giving the group a chance to see a massive camp that the Apes commanded, which meant that they would be facing a small force of Soldiers, Leaders, and Commanders before they could reach the area that was their main destination, "the rest of the Manweersmalls are being held in this camp, even though they are doing their best to resist the slavery that the Apes are trying to force upon them, so we need to free them and fast, before..."
It was in that moment that they, not to mention the Apes in the camp that they were spying on, had to pause what they were doing and brace themselves as the island shuddered again, this one more violent than the one they felt earlier, meaning the volcano was reminding them of the danger it posed, before everything returned to normal, causing the Apes to hoot at each other as they returned to their business, as they wanted to get done before the volcano detonated and swallowed the entire island, while the group stood up and glanced at each other.
"Before Boyzitbig blows." Cynder finished, as she understood the danger that they faced, they had to clear out all of the Apes and free the Manweersmalls before the volcano finally erupted in an event that would definitely be one for the history books, if they didn't get to the Magma Golem and free it from the mind control necklace the Apes had forced onto it before they arrived on the island, which was when she turned towards Exhumor for a moment, "Out of curiosity, how much time do we have left?"
"I... I honestly don't know. That was more violent than the last, and sooner than what we normally experience, so I'd have to guess maybe half an hour, at best." Exhumor stated, where he knew that his statement had a chance of being right and a chance of being horribly wrong, showing the group that the Apes messing with the Magma Golem was throwing the daily lives of the Manweersmalls into chaos, preventing them from using their knowledge of the volcano to accurately read what was going to happen next, meaning they would have to be quick before the island shuddered again, because if that happened it would no doubt mean they were out of time.
In that moment Spike smiled as something incredible unfolded, as the Fire Elementals, Magma Worms, and Magma Scorpions invaded the camp that was in front of them and started beating up the Ape Soldiers, Leaders, and Commander that were in the area, and some even hurled fireballs into the air to knock down the Dreadwings that were in the sky and prevent them from bombing the area, showing that they had certainly had enough of the Apes and were declaring war on them, meaning the group didn't have to waste energy fighting the Apes. Of course they still headed down into the camp and smashed up the cages that the Manweersmalls were trapped inside, freeing all of them from the slavery that the Apes had been trying to force upon them, and occasionally they helped out their allies by charging, blasting, or hitting some of the enemies that were in the area, to level the playing field in a way, even though one of the Fire Elementals beckoned for them to get a move on. That was all the motivation Spyro and the others needed as they departed from the area their new allies were in and headed through the now opened gate that had opened once all of the Manweersmalls had been freed, which was oddly specific when they thought about it, and as they walked into the passage that was on the other side of the gate they found that more of the residents of the island were fighting back against the Apes, allowing the eight of them to move deeper into the island and not waste any of the time that they had, especially when they had no idea when Boyzitbig was going to explode. In fact the next part of the Ape camp the group walked through was being overrun by the residents of the island, once more confirming that none of them liked the Apes that were trying to claim the island, allowing them to press onward as they used some stone pillars to reach a tunnel that might be the ticket to the area they were looking for, or at least they hoped so since time was ticking and they couldn't afford to waste what time they had.
That brought them to an area where they had to drop down into a more light blue colored area and smash through a rock wall to move forward, and they even freed two more Magma Scorpions that took out their riders before heading right through the opening so they could find some Apes to punish, before that brought them to a massive nest of Fire Beetles, the only fire based creatures that didn't care for them. Of course the Fire Beetles tried to attack them, though Spike and Bianca focused on breaking down the massive hive and wiping it out, just so it didn't mess with the Moles whenever they returned to their normal lives, while the group took care of the vast amount of beetles that were flying through the air, an easy feat considering the two elements that Cynder used and the powers that the others commanded. In fact it didn't take them all that long to wipe out the nest and open the door that was somehow connected to it, allowing them to move even deeper into the island, even though they had to blow down a wooden door after that. Once that was done they found yet another area, this one with a circular ramp of sorts that lead to a higher level, where the Fire Elementals were battling and beating the Apes, so since it was clear that their allies wanted them to move forward, as indicated by the first elemental they came across, the group simply headed for the highest point of the area and watched as the Apes were beaten by the Fire Elementals and the creatures they had thought they had enslaved, along with seeing a few minecarts move through part of the area, before they reached their destination. From there they passed through the door and found themselves in what appeared to have been a throne area of some kind, no doubt where the Magma Golem was located due to the fact that Terrador was up here and nodded to them once they entered the area, though it looked like the Apes had put train tracks in this area, which were mostly busted up, and off in the distance rested the volcano, meaning there was much more to the island that what they had seen so far, though if Spike was correct there was a hollowed slot, like the one the that was in the Ice King's domain, that was missing whatever was supposed to be inside it.
That just so happened to be the moment that the Conductor and his train entered the area, only for a massive molten hand to come crashing down on top of it, where the upper body of a creature, one that was similar to the Stone Sentinel and the Ice King, except for the fact that it was made out of molten rock and fire, rose out of the lava that was around the area and gripped the train as it picked it up, where the large black collar around its neck revealed the truth of the situation, the Magma Golem had arrived and it easily crushed the train like it was nothing, before hurling it out towards the water as it turned towards the group.
"This is the Magma Golem? Dude, it's like three or four times the size of the other two, and yes, I'm referring to all of its height and not what we're seeing!" Hunter remarked, though at the same time he and the others split, because now that they had the Elemental Scion's full and somewhat divided attention it started to try and smash them, hence why they split up so they could hit the collar with everything they had, since that was the key to saving the Magma Golem and even having a chance to stop the volcano from blowing.
Spike understood what Hunter was talking about, as it made sense that the Elemental Scions would have shrunk their forms to a more manageable size so they could better hide themselves from their enemies, or Malefor's enemies since all of them had followed the first purple dragon here, but instead of focusing on that for too long he and the others took to the skies or stayed on the ground, as they knew what they needed to do next. Everyone attacked the black collar that the Magma Golem was wearing, to wear down the metal so it was easier for them to break, just like they had done during their visit to the last two islands, though this time around their foe's size made things much harder for all of them, as they had to be more careful with an opponent of this size since they didn't want to hit any of the other parts of its body with one of their attacks, even if they were sure that a good portion of their attacks wouldn't do anything to it. Even Terrador, who was good at fighting and flying, had to be careful of where he attacked, because the Magma Golem really wasn't giving any of them any openings that they could exploit, not like when they fought the Stone Sentinel or the Ice King, though they had to do something, otherwise the volcano was going to blow and take the island with it, not to mention everyone that was near the island as well. It was Bianca who managed to push them in the right direction, where she teleported into the air that was behind their target and blasted the back of the collar with a powerful Lightning Bolt, causing the Magma Golem to stagger for a moment, which opened the way for the rest of the group to do their best and hit the collar with everything they could muster, just like they had done to the Stone Sentinel and the Ice King.
It was hard to tell if they were making progress, given the fact that this collar was massive and it was attached to an even larger individual than the ones they had faced in the past, but in the end Spyro noticed that the collar seemed to be weakening and that was the opening he was looking for as he flew into the air and used Windshear to cut into the collar from the back, just like he had done in the past, and the collar came apart, allowing the Magma Golem to stagger and then pause for a few seconds... and when it regained itself the first thing it did was turn towards the volcano and focus, where the group got the sense that it was correcting the problem the Apes had caused.
"Well, the island endangering explosion has been stopped," Terrador said, where he landed near the group, who had regrouped after the Magma Golem had been freed from the collar it had been forced to wear and Spike had claimed it so he could seal it away, though he had to admit that they were skilled and that he and the other Guardians were fortunate to have them as allies, especially when they came to Warfang in their time of need, "I must return to the city and inform the other Guardians as to what the Apes are doing, as this is far beyond anything we have ever seen them do in the past and I fear that there is more to this than what we are currently seeing right now. While I do that, however, I would ask that you head to Concurrent Skies and assist Ignitus, or head to Dante's Freezer if you've already helped Ignitus so you aid Volteer, so we can stop the Apes and figure out what they're really planning, as there is a reason behind these attacks and I fear that we're not going to like the answer."
Spyro and the others nodded their heads in agreement, as they were planning on heading to Concurrent Skies next, before Terrador took off and headed back for Warfang so he could inform Cyril and Volteer about the true danger the Apes posed to Doxantha and those that called it home, which was when the group started to leave the throne area that the Magma Golem resided in, even though they had the feeling that this was simply the start of something big and that it wouldn't be long before they understood whatever plan the Apes were trying to set in motion.
Not a few moments after Terrador departed from the area that the Magma Golem had been located in, and they had freed the Elemental Scion from the collar that the Apes had put on it, Spyro and the others that could fly took to the air and quickly headed back to the area that the airship had been docked in, while at the same time Bianca made sure to surround herself and the rest of the group with her magic so she could teleport them to their destination. The interesting part about all of this was that they could see the Manweersmalls and the Fire Elementals hanging out with each other, no doubt the former taking the time to thank the latter, though at the very least the massive elemental that called the land home had been able to stop what the Apes had been up to, since they had been trying to detonate the volcano and take out the island. Spike, on the other claw, had the feeling that there was so much more to the Ape's plans than what they were seeing, so what he was planning on doing was spending some time thinking about this when they returned to the airship, since he was the most likely to figure out what their enemies were doing, even with the little fragments of information that they had gained since they started this adventure. Spyro, Ember, and Cynder were silent as they flew through the air, Spyro was no doubt thinking about the new power he had unlocked during their trek through this island, Ember was likely imagining what she was going to do to the Apes when they encountered them again, and Cynder had to be a little worried about her home, since there was the chance that their enemies might attack Warfang at some point in the future. Sol, however, was silent as they flew to the area that the airship was in, no doubt going over what his first adventure was like and how it might have differed from what he was actually expecting, though at the same time he kept his thoughts to himself, something that would change once this adventure was over.
It didn't take them long to reach the beach that the airship was docked at, where the flying group landed and walked up the ramp that was in front of them, which was followed by Bianca and the others landing and following them, meaning that everyone was accounted for and that, once all of them were ready to depart, it was time to head to the final island and see what the Apes were doing there, even though all eight of them were sure it wouldn't be as bad as what they had just stopped when they freed the Magma Golem.
"Fury, set our course for Concurrent Skies," Spyro stated, because it was now time for them to assist Ignitus and see if they could figure out what their enemies were up to, as just attacking the islands, and nearly destroying one, seemed like the start of something much worse, but they had no idea what that something would be this time around, unlike the last couple of adventures they had been on.
The Breezebuilder in question nodded his head and walked back to the building of the airship that held the controls that would allow him and his crew to move the ship away from the island, where the group rested for a few moments and watched as Bozibig started to get smaller and smaller as they moved away from it, before the ship stopped and the four propellers rose out of the water, allowing them to take to the air once more. Once that was done Fury turned them and headed for the area that Concurrent Skies rested in, allowing the group to take some time to disperse and spend their time preparing for the next island, just like they had done when they left the previous islands, where Spyro spent some of his time meditating on the nature of the Earth Element he had unlocked during their visit to the last island. Spike, as the others expected, returned to the inside of the airship and spent some of their time thinking about everything the Apes had done to the three islands they had been to, and what little they had gained from the Guardians that they had assisted, but from what he could tell there were too many pieces of the puzzle missing, though the thing that stood out to him were the hollowed slots that had been near the Ice King and Magma Golem, and he was sure the Stone Sentinel had one near it, only none of them had seen it when they were in Tall Plains. He was positive that he had seen a reference to keys before, back during one of their visits to the Arcanaeum and the vast Archives that were inside it, but for now he spent his time thinking about the danger that the Apes posed to Doxantha and what they might be planning, especially since they were acting differently than what the Guardians were used to experiencing.
While he did that Ember and Cynder spent a few minutes testing each other, mostly because they wanted to do that, before heading to the area that Spike was in, where Ember made sure that they stayed away from Spike while he went over everything that they knew and everything that the Apes might be planning, as it was better to allow him to do this himself and not interrupt his train of thought, even if he might be able to pick it up quickly later. Bianca, Hunter, and Elora decided that this time around they would rest and just relax while they waited for the airship to come to a stop near the final island they would be exploring, while at the same time Sol rested in a seat and watched them, and after a few more minutes they were joined by Spyro, who was done meditating on the Earth Element and wanted to join the others. While they rested, however, the Leaders that had joined them on this adventure, not to mention the rest of their friends, joined them and asked them about what happened during their trek through Bozibig, since they had felt the tremors and had been worried for their safety, even though they were happy to see that Spyro and the others were safe and sound. At the same time Cosmos joined Spike and went over the information they had gathered on the Apes, where Cynder joined them and gave them what she knew about the Apes, where the race in question had been rather peaceful and were content to live in the area that they called home, but other than a number of small events there were no records, to the best of her knowledge, of the Apes doing stuff like this in the past.
The Apes were up to something, that much was apparent when the group thought about it, but despite all that Spike had no idea what their enemies might be planning, only that the hollowed slots seemed to be important and that two of them had been empty when they encountered the Elemental Scions that were quickly freed from the Ape's control, and he worried that the Stone Sentinel had one of those as well... though something told him that they would figure something out when they traveled through Concurrent Skies and saved the Thunder Prince from the Apes.
It took them another hour and a half to reach the location of the island that they were heading towards, given the fact that the Isle of Bozibig was further away from the rest of Doxantha and the other islands, but once the airship got close to the final of the four islands Fury called for everyone to head to the deck of the ship and they did so without delay, making sure that they had everything they needed before joining the Breezebuilder. What surprised the group was that Concurrent Skies was a floating crystal island, even though Cynder claimed that many of the dragons that tapped into the Lightning Element called it a wasteland, that seemed like it had been a place of beauty for the visitors and the residents, though the skies were darkened and lightning danced from one cloud to another, showing them that the elementals that called this land home had to be upset. That meant the Apes were already here and that the Thunder Prince might have been chained like the last three Elemental Scions they had assisted, meaning they would have to keep their eyes open for the types of enemies that would be waiting for anyone that might be attempting to help the elementals out, though that also meant they might find the Lightning Elementals who would be attacking the invaders, their allies once they proved that the Apes weren't their friends either. One thing they also noticed was that there were a couple of towers that looked like they had been forged from either metal or the various crystals that were scattered throughout the island, only they were darkened and would likely light up once the Elemental Scion who ruled this island was freed, which they would be able to do once they fought their way through the enemies that were going to try and stop them.
Of course Spike also realized why Fury had called them up to the deck, it was both to allow them to see the island that they would be traveling through for the next ten to twenty minutes and to see that they wouldn't be able to dock normally, like they had done for the last three islands, meaning they would have to glide down to an area that seemed to be the starting area for this island, as it was oval shaped thanks to the crystals and appeared to have a path that lead deeper into the rest of the land.
"This is as far as I'm willing to take the airship, especially with all the lightning that's moving above us," Fury said, as it was easy to tell that he was worried about the lightning racing down at the ship and blowing up part of it at the worse possible moment, so it seemed that he would be doing what they did during their visit to the Isle of Bozibig, before he turned and looked at the group of eight that would be heading down to the island, "I'll make sure to move the airship to a safe location and wait for you to calm down the Thunder Prince, since he's likely connected to the storm that's above our heads, like how the Magma Golem was connected to Boyzitbig, meaning that once you finish your mission I'll be able to move in and pick all of you up."
"Once we're done here we'll head back to Warfang, to figure out our next move." Spyro replied, because that was the current plan he had in mind, save the last of the Elemental Scions and see if they could figure out what the Apes were up to, due to the fact that he figured Spike would have figured out what the Apes were doing by the time they stopped what was happening in this island, especially when he stopped and considered what his brother had figured out during their last couple of adventures.
As Fury nodded, to show that he understood what Spyro was saying, Spyro ran towards the edge and jumped into the air not a few seconds later, where Spike, Ember, Cynder, and Sol joined him in gliding towards the starting area for the last island, and Bianca made sure to surround herself, Elora, and Hunter with her magic so she could teleport them down to the area the others were heading towards, and when all eight of them were together again the airship moved out to a much safer area, where the rest of their friends stayed aboard it in case any Apes tried to attack it with one of their own lesser airships, though they weren't worried about Sheila and the others. The first thing the group spotted, as they looked at the area that was around them and stared at the darkened crystals that likely reflected the mood of the Thunder Prince, was an Ape Leader that had white fur and blacked armor, though there were purple spikes on the helm, shoulder piece, and the shield it was carrying, though this time, instead of a mace like they were expecting, the group found that the Ape was holding a sword in its right hand. That difference, alone, told the group that they should be expecting some resistance this time around, meaning that maybe the Apes had come here in greater numbers that any of the islands that they had been to so far, though as Spyro took a step forward the Ape Leader turned to its right and headed down the only path that they could take, meaning they were going to have to walk into whatever trap it had prepared for them and take it out, just like they had done in the past. As such the group sighed and followed after the Ape, since they didn't have much choice in the matter since it was either move forward or depart from the island entirely, where Spike found that there was a lower section and an upper section for the area they were passing through, though there were no side paths to worry about and both of them met back up at the end of the path the Ape Leader had headed down.
Sure enough they found the Ape Leader they were following and discovered that had readied eight Ape Soldiers, with the same white fur and less armor that the larger foe the group happened to be following, who dropped into the area to do battle with the group as their boss headed deeper into the island, apparently breaking a metallic gate of some kind in the process, which was fine with Spyro since that meant they didn't have to worry about figuring out how to open it once their enemies were taken down. Not a few moments after the Ape Leader was gone the group lashed out at the Apes that were around them, Spyro tapping into the Earth Element to summon some stones around his tail as he smashed it into his target, using the Earthen Flail spell according to Spike, Cynder wasted no time in stunning her target with some of the wind and then beat the Ape Soldier up with her tail, Ember used her metal claws to take her foe down, Spike and Bianca chose to blast their foes with Fireballs, since they knew lightning spells might not effect these enemies due to their armor, while Sol used his Phoenix Dash to take his target out, leaving Elora and Hunter to punch and kick their foes into the walls so they could knock them out. Once all eight of their enemies were taken down the group headed through the broken gate that the Ape Leader had charged through, entering a slightly higher area than what they had been in earlier, before they spotted their target, who hooted at them and then fled down the path that was behind it, making them wonder if it was actually a cowardly Ape or if this was a trap, only to decide that it was the latter option and that they needed to be on their guard as they followed it deeper into the island, especially since they might be heading for one of the towers.
What was interesting was the fact that the Ape Leader was waiting for them in the lightly narrow passage that it had been following, as it was a little smaller than all of the hallways and tunnels the group had walked through during their visits to the other islands, where the Ape lunged at them and attempted to cut them down where they stood, though that was when Ember parried the attack with her metal claws, even though she silently admitted that the Ape had some decent strength, and then Hunter put an arrow into the Ape's exposed right shoulder, since the armor piece was on the left side of its body, something that opened the way for Cynder to charge into its chest and knock it out.
"These Apes are more prepared and better organized than the other ones we've fought," Hunter commented, as even he could tell that the Apes that were attacking Concurrent Skies, and disturbing the Thunder Prince, were better armed and were more organized than those they had seen so far, meaning it was a good thing that they had kept their guards up since the moment they arrived at the edge of this island and started exploring it, especially since none of them had any idea as to how many enemies had been brought to attack this island.
"I wonder if Gaul, who serves as the King of the Apes, is behind all of these attacks," Cynder said, reminding the group that there was a lot about the continent of Doxantha that they didn't know, at least until Spike entered the library that was inside the city and started to discover all the history and knowledge that was beyond the walls, before she shook her head and focused on what they were doing, "Look, I'll tell you guys about him later, but just know that we've had problems with King Gaul over the years, ever since he took the place of his predecessor, an Ape that went by the name of Caesar, but we have been unable to determine if Caesar died a natural death or if he was murdered by a power hungry individual who is using the rest of his kind against Warfang."
"My best guess is the latter, he was killed," Bianca replied, though that was, as she said, a best guess on her part and she found that Spike was agreeing with her, even though she knew the dragon would research the books in the library of Warfang when they got back to the city, to fill all the gaps that Cynder left behind whenever she talked about something, before she turned and looked at the next area that they would be entering, knowing that there were likely more enemies for them to deal with before they found Ignitus and the Thunder Prince.
As the group entered the next area of the island they found two more of the odd pool-like areas that had a ring of crystals all around them, they quickly found some worm-like creatures that reminded them of the Magma Worms from the Isle of Bozibig, only these ones had a bluish backside and a pink underbelly, while having some electric fins on the backs of their heads, meaning they were Electric Worms, which no doubt had the same bond to the Lightning Elementals that the Magma Worms had with the Fire Elementals. The group slowly entered the area that the Electric Worms were in and gave them some space, where it was easy to tell that the creatures were trying to determine if they were friend or foe, though that was when Hunter took a few steps back and pulled the unconscious Ape Leader into the area and readied his bow with no arrow, where Spike and the others quickly determined what he was doing. He was showing the pair of worms that they were allies, by revealing that they were the ones who had taken down the Ape in question, who were enemies of the Lightning Elementals that called the island home, though he said nothing as they waited to see if the Electric Worms even understood what he was trying to do, though based on how the Magma Worms reacted it was possible that these ones might be more similar to the others. The Electric Worms looked at them for a moment, glanced at the Ape that Hunter was using as his visual aid for them, and then turned to look at each other, something the group really wasn't expecting, before the pair nodded their heads before returning to what they were doing before their arrival, or at least that was what they thought the worms were doing, but at the very least it appeared that the Electric Worms understood what Hunter was trying to tell them, since they weren't trying to kill any of them.
The group shared a quick glance with each other, as they honestly weren't sure if that would have worked since the Magma Worms needed the Fire Elementals to understand that the eight of them weren't enemies, but maybe the Electric Worms were somewhat smarter than their magma counterparts, though after thinking about that the group moved out of the area they happened to be standing in and headed for the passage that was near the second worm, allowing them to head deeper into the island once more, even though they had to open a metallic gate to do so. What the group discovered was that they had reached the first of the towers, as the path they had found brought them right to an opening that had the front of a tower in front of them, and as they approached it one of the Ape Commanders, this one having more armor than the Ape Leader and carried an electric mace, stepped out of the tower and closed the door behind it as it fired a small burst of magical power into the sky. Spike noticed the magic and used his own power to grab it and hurl it at the couple of Ape Soldiers that were jumping down into the area that they were in, transferring a shock to the six Apes and stunning all of them for a few seconds so the others could attack them, which was why Spyro and Cynder charged at the Commander and struck it so they could push it away from the rest of its forces. That was followed by Spike blasting one of the Apes with a burst of Ice Shards, Bianca smacking one with an earthen Fist, Elora blasted one with her blasters, Hunter used his fists to knock one into the side of the tower that was in front of them, Sol loosed some Fireballs at his target, and Ember swung around with her hardened tail to smack her foe to the side, effectively allowing them to clear the area of enemies so they could move forward.
As they did that eight Ape Leaders stepped out of the tower and prevented them from heading inside, to which the group readied themselves for what was coming their way and attacked the Apes that were in their way, where they had to charge, blast, and beat their way through the new enemies that were in front of them, before they dropped all eight of the Apes and then Hunter loosed a pair of arrows into the sky, downing a Dreadwing that was coming towards them with what appeared to be one of the explosive containers, where it hit a crystal and collapsed on the ground nearby, so they could enter the tower without having to worry about reinforcements. With that done the tower's door opened and the group started to walk inside, where they spotted an Ape Commander hooting at some Soldiers and Leaders that had to be in the other parts of the large structure, no doubt warning them about the fact that there were enemies coming into the tower, though that only allowed the group to make themselves ready as they moved forward. Due to that eight Ape Soldiers moved out and rushed at the area that the group was standing in, where Hunter was the first one to react as he loosed a few arrows into the crowd, striking two of them in the shoulders that knocked them backwards, allowing Cynder to dive into her shadow and unleash the Shadow Play spell on all of the Ape Soldiers that were in front of them, though as she did that Hunter also loosed another arrow into the air and caused a Dreadwing to slam into a crystal, downing another one before it could bomb the area they were standing in. When those enemies were taken care of the group marched into the tower and confronted the Commander that was overseeing the defense of the main gate, where they found that the inside was the same as the outside and it looked like there were electric fences that moved every now and then, where Volteer could no doubt tell them about the obstacles in question, though it wasn't long before the eight of them brought down the Ape Commander and resumed moving forward.
What was interesting was that there were two Ape Leaders on the other side of the passages they could pick from, as Spike was sure that both of them ended in the same place from what they could see, though it was Bianca who stepped up and bounced the sticks of dynamite back at their enemies, allowing her to clear the way for them to move forward without having to waste any energy on the foes that were blocking the way. Once they cleared that area and walked through the next door they discovered that the tower was larger than what they were expecting it to be, as they just so happened to walk into a large chamber, which had five Ape Soldiers guarding the area and a raised area that seemed to be the path the group needed to take, so they lashed out at their enemies before any of the Apes had a chance to hoot at them or warn the rest of their forces about them. This time around it was mostly Ember, Elora, and Hunter who dealt with the Apes, as Ember slammed into one and used her metal claws to take down another, while at the same time both Elora and Hunter knocked their own individual target out before collectively taking out the second with a pair of kicks, though as they did that the rest of the group jumped up to where the next doorway was located and opened it so they could see just how many enemies they would have to fight next. As the group soon discovered the doorway in question didn't open for them, rather it opened for several Ape Soldiers that tried to ambush them, even though Spike realized that the towers might be the homes of the Lightning Elementals, of which they had seen none since they arrived in this island, though that didn't stop the group from facing off with the Apes and bringing them down, mostly due to Sol using his Phoenix Dash on a few of them and left the others for the rest of the group.
Once they were sure that the rest of the enemies were taken care of Spike investigated the area and found that there was some magic tied to the black hexagons that were on the floor of the tower, where a platform rose out of the hexagon that was near them and allowed them to jump up to the next section of the structure that they appeared to be climbing from the inside, only to stop when they realized that to move forward they were going to have to take out all of the Apes that came out of each door, or at least that was what it seemed like they would be doing. Not even a few moments later the next door opened and seven Ape Soldiers marched out of it, practically throwing themselves at the group, while an Ape Leader joined them, so Spyro and Cynder smashed into the Leader and one of the Soldiers so that the rest of the group had one foe apiece, where Spike and the others started to engage the Apes by blasting them into the walls, hitting them with fists or legs, or hitting them with the weapons that a few of them had. As soon as the last Ape fell the hexagon that was nearby raised the next platform and allowed them to jump up to the next area of the tower, where they paused for a moment as they watched a device on one of the walls summon a construct that looked like an eyeball that had a crystalline eye and electric tendrils for legs, an Electric Conduit to be exact, though Spike smiled for a moment as he felt the power that was coming from it. The reason behind his smile was that the creation was being powered by one of the Lightning Elementals that called Concurrent Skies home, meaning it had to be a sentry of some kind and that their allies might have realized they were fighting the Apes, or at least that was their hope since this could also be a random event, but the Electric Conduit turned towards the doorway that the Apes were using and shocked each and every one of them that dared to come out of it, be they Soldier, Leader, or even a Commander.
"You know, I'm glad the elementals of these islands see us as allies, instead of enemies," Elora commented, where she and the others watched as the Electric Conduit, who had been joined by a second to shock the Apes into submission, took care of the foes that would have been theirs to deal with, as in her and the rest of her friends, allowing them to save some of their energy for the fights that were ahead of them, "otherwise we would have been hard pressed to fight our way all the way through everything we found on each island, especially with the time limit we had earlier."
"We are fortunate that such a thing has happened, even though Concurrent Skies is where Volteer and all of the other dragons that learned how to wield the Lightning Element came to study," Cynder replied, showing that she agreed with what Elora was saying and that she had more information to give the group, hence the reason Spike was already prepared to note down exactly what she said, so he could add it to the information that they already knew about Doxantha, before he raided Warfang's library anyway, "the same is true for the Guardians of Ice and Dante's Freezer, the Guardians of Earth and Tall Plains, and the Guardians of Fire and the Isle of Bozibig. The elementals are reacting to us being allies because of that fact, and that we've helped them in some way, like saving all of those magma creatures for example, though this time it seems that Ignitus might have warned the Lightning Elementals ahead of time, so that they would know we're allies from looking at us and watching us take down the Apes."
Spyro nodded his head, showing that he understood what they were being told, as the last of the Apes that were near them fell and the three hexagons that were near the start of this chamber activated, allowing three platforms to rise so the group could head over to an opening, one that seemed to head outside the tower, and as two Ape Soldiers entered the structure Hunter knocked them down with some arrows to the shoulder, allowing Spyro and the others to knock them out as they crossed to the opening, all while letting him claim his ammunition as he joined them. As they walked outside the tower there was an Ape Leader that hooted at them as it drew its sword, indicating that it wanted to cut them all down and stop them from progressing through the rest of the island, so Cynder knocked it down to where the rest of the group was waiting, by using the wind to do so, and they quickly beat it up before moving to the left, since that was where the path forward happened to be resting. That was shortly followed by them discovering a more open area, one that had an upper area and a lower area, though off in the distance there were a few golems that were made out of crystal and happened to be powered by lightning, though what set the creatures off were the Apes, which wasn't a big surprise, something that was followed by one of the golems hitting an Ape Leader in the face and knocked it right into a crystal, knocking the Ape out before it even had a chance to fight back. Of course that was when they got a glimpse of the Lightning Elementals, as a bolt of lightning burst out of the sky and landed near some of the Apes, one that formed into a more humanoid form that did resemble the other elementals they had seen, at least in form, before a suit of metallic armor formed over its lightning based body, where it punched one of the Apes and a burst of lightning arced up and struck them down.
That wasn't the only elemental they noticed, as it appeared that more of them were heading down to the other parts of the island to repel the invading Apes, meaning they would be able to save time once more, though in addition to all of the Lightning Elementals there appeared to be creatures made out of wind or air that seemed to resemble the elementals they were used to seeing, though their armor appeared to be made out of a lighter metal, maybe pale peach colored from what they could see, that joined the Lightning Elementals in their battle.
"So we have three new creatures to add to our list of allies: Lightning Elementals, Wind Elementals, and I would have to say Crystalline Brutes," Spike commented, where he and the others glanced at the area that was in front of them and watched as the elemental creatures smashed the Apes that were around them, and, as some of them expecting, the few Electric Worms that were in the area join in on the fun, punishing the Apes that were trying to take over the island, though that didn't stop him from writing all this down for the future.
"I still can't get over the fact that you name every creature you come across, be it ally or enemy," Cynder said, as that was something that had been interesting when she first heard about it, which was when they went to Dante's Freezer to aid Volteer in making sure the Ice King was safe and sound, though she still couldn't get over the fact that Spike named all of the creatures and they were either accepted by the others or one had a better name and he accepted it when all of them decided on a better name.
"Its for his books, so readers have a better time understanding important individuals from the minor critters, like the birds we saw during our trek through Dante's Freezer," Ember replied, as she and the others understood why Spike did this and why they had fallen into the routine of either letting him name their enemies or helping him from time to time, as she recalled one of the times she had done it and it had been rather interesting, before she turned her attention to the area that the elementals were fighting in, "Hey Spike, since there are Scions for the four Prime Elements, do you think its possible that there might be an Elemental Scion for the four Minor Elements?"
"Hm, in theory there should be a leader for the elementals, and the Windlord wasn't slain like the four Primal Scions all those years ago," Spike stated, where he paused for a moment and considered the question as he looked at the sky for a few seconds, where one could see lightning dancing between the clouds and could feel the wind blowing, which made sense when he considered the name of the area, as Concurrent Skies likely meant where all four of the winds met, or that was his thoughts on the matter, before he returned to the question, "so yes, there should be an Elemental Scion for Wind, Shadow, Fear, and Poison... and possibly the Aether as well, but that's purely hypothetical, as the only one that knew the answer to the question is long gone."
Everyone except Cynder knew who he was referring to, as he was talking about Malefor, the strongest dragon that had existed in the entire world and the one that everyone sung the praises of, be it in stories or song, who was one of the few dragons that had tapped into the power of the Aether, especially with the Aether Elemental that was resting in Akilesh, but instead of focusing on that he finished his notes on what they were seeing and then put his writing material away so they could move forward at long last. With that done the eight of them moved forward, where Spyro blasted some of the Apes with his Earth Shot spell, Cynder knocked a few backwards with the wind, Ember parried the incoming attacks with her metallic claws before cutting down her foes, Spike and Bianca blasted their targets with Fireballs, Sol rushed around the area and Phoenix Dashed his targets, Elora punched and kicked those that were near her, and Hunter used his arrows to knock down the Apes that happened to be his opponents, even though he also loosed a few into the air and knocked the couple of Dreadwings out of the air. The Lightning and Wind Elementals nodded their heads towards the group and focused on the number of Apes that were in the area, where they and the Crystalline Brutes smashed their enemies into the crystals that were around them, allowing the group to move forward and follow the path that was in front of them, one that seemed to be heading towards the next tower. When they drew closer to the tower the group noticed that there were two paths for them to pick from and both of them seemed to head to the same area, so what they did was split up again and headed down both paths, where they found a number of Ape Soldiers waiting for them and lashed out at the enemies that were standing in their way.
As the group started to fight their enemies Spyro noticed that there were a few Ape Leaders in the area as well, even though the one that was in front of him, Cynder, Spike, and Ember didn't last that long when Ember parried the attack that was coming at them and then pushed it backwards, allowing Spyro to charge into its exposed chest while Spike blasted the Ape Soldiers with his magic and Cynder headbutted her foes, while using her tail to finish them off. While they did that it was easy to tell that Elora and the others were having a good time dealing with their enemies as well, given the fact that they could hear Bianca blasting some of the Apes and Sol loosing Fireballs at his foes, and when they finished off their enemies the group also watched as Elora kicked one of the Soldiers into a crystal as Hunter used his blades to cut down the other one, where both groups effectively took care of the enemies that were in front of the next tower and started to move towards the entrance. At first they thought that the area they were walking into was the same as the last tower, as in it was a starting chamber of some kind, and the inside of the chamber was basically a hexagon with a central pillar, though there were six Ape Soldiers that were guarding the way forward, though they weren't expecting the group to actually get passed the guards that had been posted outside the tower and were slow to react to the group being behind them, which meant it was easy for the eight of them to take their foes down and move forward. What surprised them was the fact that the second door headed outside, meaning this tower was far smaller than the first one had been and that they didn't have to spend some time figuring out how to move forward, to which they headed outside the tower and entered the next part of the island that they would be exploring.
Interestingly enough there weren't any Apes directly outside the second tower, which was surprising and meant that they either didn't post guards in this area or the elementals that called this island home had wiped them out, but as they walked forward it was clear that the former was correct, as the latter would have been accurate if there were Apes laying on the ground, but with no Apes in the area at all that meant their enemies hadn't posted guards in this area, which was odd given what they had seen so far. As they dropped down into the area that was in front of them, which appeared to be a circular ring based on what they were seeing, Hunter noticed some Dreadwings flying towards the area that they had discovered and loosed some arrows into the air, knocking two of them out of the air while the third one managed to drop off the container that it was carrying, deploying an Ape Commander and about seven Ape Soldiers into the area, though all of that didn't stop Hunter from knocking the Dreadwing out of the air, that way they wouldn't have to worry about any additional enemies being dropped into the area, or at least from this group of them anyway. With that done the group lashed out at their new foes with Spyro and Cynder pushing the Ape Commander backwards, Spike blasted his foe, Ember cut down two enemies with her claws, Bianca used a Fireball to rock her foe, Elora kicked another into a wall, Sol blasted an Ape in the chest with a Fireball, and Hunter used his blades to knock down the remaining enemy. Of course once that group of enemies fell that wasn't the end of it, as several more Apes jumped down into the area, being a mix of Soldiers and Leaders, though while the rest of the group focused on them Hunter loosed a few more arrows into the air and struck the Dreadwings that were trying to bomb the area, all while making sure to note where they landed so he could retrieve his arrows when they moved forward.
Once they were totally done with the enemies that were in this area, and that included the ones that jumped down to battle them, the group moved forward and found three of the Crystalline Brutes moving to another part of the island and they followed after them, where they quickly found a number of Apes that were under the command of a Commander, so it wasn't a surprise when a battle broke out between the two forces, something that summoned the Lightning and Wind Elementals to aid the crystalline beings. It was an interesting event to witness, where the residents of the island tore the Apes down and knocked all of them out as the battle progressed, causing several of the Apes to hoot in annoyance, and while that happened Hunter loosed a few arrows into the air and knocked the Dreadwings out of the air, preventing them from either bombing the area or dropping reinforcements for the Apes, something that pleased the elementals that were currently fighting at the moment. Once all of the Apes were taken care of, and they were sure of that, the group quickly jumped up the stone platforms that were outside the tower that seemed to be in their way, meaning there would be some Apes inside the structure that they would have to fight, and landed in front of the entrance, to which they walked forward and focused on what they might discover this time around. One thing they noticed was that this tower might be taller than the other two, or at least that was what it appeared to be from where all eight of them were standing, before they noticed that the floor of this tower appeared to be an elevator of some kind, to which they stepped into the center of it and waited for a few seconds, to see what it would do.
Sure enough Ape Soldiers, Leaders, and a few Commanders dropped down onto the elevator platform that they were in the middle of using, though instead of wasting their energy on them the Lightning and Wind Elementals came to their aid and knocked all of the Apes around, allowing them to prepare for the battles that were ahead of them, though at the same time Spike noticed that the exterior shell of the tower eventually broke away and it seemed like there was a magical barrier of some kind that let the elevator know the path it was supposed to take. Of course the platform was connected to the rest of the tower that was in front of them, which seemed to be central to whatever the Apes were doing in this island, before the elementals bid them farewell as they reached the upper part of the path that the elevator was taking, which was when the group focused on the fight that would likely break out when they stepped into the center of the tower and discovered what the Apes had planned for them. Three Electric Conduits formed in the area around them, where they surveyed the area that they were supposed to be guarding and found that there were no Apes or enemies for them to attack, so they returned to the areas that they had been resting in and powered down, though not before causing the two hexagons that were in front of the group to form some platforms for them to use to move forward. That brought them to an area where a few Apes were standing, Soldiers to be exact, so the group wasted no time in attacking them with claws, spells, fists, and charges, effectively opening the way for them to head through the area they were guarding, only for them to stop as they realized something when they came to an opening and stepped out onto a ledge, one that was short and just so happened to be positioned so they could glide to the next tower.
The interesting thing about all of this was that the portion of the island they were exploring had darker skies than the rest of what they had seen, meaning they had to be getting closer to where the Thunder Prince was located, to which they wasted no time in gliding over to the next tower, or teleported in the case of Bianca and Hunter since neither of them had the metallic wings that Elora had, before they landed on the hexagon shaped platform in front of them. That was when the group found out that they were wrong about something, the area they had glided to wasn't a tower, it was a spire that actually formed a path with a few more, to which they followed it without wasting time, though as they did that it was easy to spot an Ape Commander standing in the way, even though Cynder knocked it off the spire it was standing on and letting it fall into the waiting grasp of some Wind Elementals, who would no doubt beat the Ape up once they touched down in the area they were heading towards. As it turned out that wasn't the only Ape that was up here, as on each spire there just so happened to be one Ape Soldier, so the group took turns knocking them off and watching as the elementals caught the unfortunate Apes, before moving forward and repeating the process as they followed the path that was in front of them, since there wasn't much else they could even do right now. Of course not everyone got a turn, since they only touched down on four spires, so what happened next was that Spyro and his siblings let Elora, Hunter, Sol, and Bianca move down into the more open area first, which just so happened to be when an Ape Commander stepped out of the tower that was their destination and used the magic in its mace to seal five of the six sides of the hexagon shaped area, before sending in the Ape Soldiers and a few Leaders to deal with them, to which the three of them and Cynder sat down and watched the show that was going to unfold before their eyes.
What the Ape Commander wasn't expecting was that the four individuals, who weren't dragons, could put up any sort of a fight and was more than willing to fight all of the enemies that jumped into the ring, where Hunter opted to switch to his blades this time around and parry the incoming attacks from those that challenged him, before he was able to cut one of them down and move to the next. Elora kicked the couple of Apes that came after her, while at the same time showing that her armor was more than able to keep her safe from harm when one of them tried to scratch her, before she quickly blasted the Ape that dared to try such a thing in the chest and knocked it off the spire that they were fighting on, before moving towards her next target. Sol, despite not having any weapons like the others, stood his ground and made sure that none of the Ape Soldiers even touched him, all so he could blast them with Fireballs and knock them off the spire they were fighting on, showing that he was glad the siblings gave him and the others the chance to fight since this wasn't large enough for all eight of them at the same time, before he used his Phoenix Dash to send an Ape right into the electric fence the Commander had set up. Bianca opted to use the wind this time around, throwing the Wind Shuriken that Spike had used to great effect during the liberation of Avilion, and while she was still a novice at some of these spells, due to how much she had to learn before she caught up to where she was supposed to be, she was able to blast her foes backwards and even knocked a few off the spire they were fighting on. The Ape Commander hooted at them as the fence fell, showing that it was annoyed with what they had done to its forces and that it was going to be attacking them next, only for Cynder to spot a Wind Elemental that swooped into the area and lifted the stunned and surprised Ape into the air, taking it to an area where it and the other residents of this island could beat it up, causing them to chuckle for a few seconds since none of them were expecting that to happen either.
Once they were done chuckling the siblings and Cynder joined the rest of the group and they headed into the tower that the Ape Commander had been guarding, which was when they discovered that they had to descended into the depths of this tower so they could move forward and did so by using the platforms that formed a spiraling path down to the lower part of the structure. Of course there were Apes inside the tower, not that the group was even surprised by this fact at this point in time, but there were also Electric Conduits that shocked and attacked the Apes that were intruding upon the areas that the Lightning and Wind Elementals called home, so the group was able to save even more of their energy and simply watched as their allies knocked the Apes down a few pegs, before all of them were knocked out and the group was able to move forward once more. When they exited the tower the group discovered that an Ape Commander, who had two rather sinister looking Electric Cannons, given the nature of the island they were exploring, and a number of Apes surrounding it, both Soldiers and Leaders by the looks of what they were seeing, so it was very clear that they had set up this ambush with the sole purpose of taking them out, though one thing their foe didn't take into consideration was that Cynder could dive into her own shadow and use her Shadow Play spell to wreck havoc on her enemies. As she started to attack the Apes, and they started to run around like chickens that had their heads cut off, the rest of the group assaulted their enemies as well, lashing out by blasting them, kicking them, cutting them down, or just charging them into a wall, and it wasn't long before they had routed the Apes and cleared the area out, allowing them to regroup and head through the opening that the Apes had been trying to guard.
That was when they found more of their allies fighting off the Apes, downing them left and right, though this time the elementals didn't want them to stop and assist them, as one of them pointed at the group and then pointed down the rest of the path that would allow them to reach their destination, to which the group nodded and moved forward without even wasting a second, knowing that if the elementals really wanted the help they would have had the group stop, though this just allowed them to save their power for the Thunder Prince and the collar it was no doubt wearing. In fact the rest of the path that was in front of them seemed to be a battlefield as the Lightning Elementals, Wind Elementals, and Crystalline Brutes fought off the Apes that were invading the island, reminding them of what they had seen since they started this adventure, though instead of staying and helping the group respected the wishes of their allies and continued to move even deeper into the island, following the path that seemed to be taking them towards another tower. One thing all eight of them noticed was that there were small sentry towers, about as tall as the crystals that surrounded the island, that had orbs of lightning at the top of them, which zapped the Apes whenever one of them tried to flee an area or invade another one that might be easier than the one they were currently in, though since the sentry towers ignored the group they were able to move through the area with ease and observe what was going on, allowing Spike to take excellent notes so all of the other dragons would know exactly what happened. The others kept their guard up in case there was another force of Apes that were hiding, to attack someone while they were distracted, but from the looks of things the group was able to follow the path and not engage anyone else, though they did have to stop to a brief stop so they could open the gate that was in front of what seemed to be the final tower of the island, or so they hoped.
What they discovered on the other side of the gate was an area that looked like it had been scorched to some degree, and recently based on what they were seeing, so either that meant the elementals had attacked a force of Apes in this part of the island, which was possible due to the unconscious Ape Soldiers, Leaders, and Commander, or someone else had attacked this area and had moved forward before they even arrived at this part of the island, which was when Cynder took a few moments to study what was around them.
"As I thought, this is Ignitus' handiwork," Cynder commented, informing the group that she recognized what they were seeing and that she knew who had damaged the area, which meant Ignitus must have fought the Thunder Prince and had moved to another section of the island so they wouldn't get caught in the fight, or to make sure it was the last thing they found before they headed back to Warfang, since she was convinced that the tower had an elevator that would take them to the very top of the structure, "which means he's fighting the Thunder Prince as we speak."
"Then we'll head up to the top of the tower and assist him," Spyro stated, because that was what they had done since they arrived in Doxantha, took care of the Apes that were attacking the various islands, freed the various elementals and the other creatures that called the islands home, and assisted the Guardians in helping the Elemental Scions, so that was what they were going to do and everyone knew it, hence the reason they headed for the tower so they could see if it had a way up to its summit.
From what they could see, as they entered the tower, there was an elevator that seemed to be what would bring them to the top of the tower, though it wasn't being guarded and that meant Ignitus or the Thunder Prince had taken down the Apes that had been in here some time ago, to which they stepped onto the platform that was in front of them and came to a stop not a few seconds later. Once they were all on the platform it powered up and started to rise into the air, heading up to the top of the structure that had to be resting at the end of the island, though as they passed by the couple of floors that rested on the inside of the tower the group discovered that all of them were empty, as in whatever Apes they could have faced had either been taken out or ran off due to whatever had happened here. It gave them time to rest and save their energy for whatever was at the top of the tower, where Spike could tell that the structure seemed to have been made to test the dragons that were trying to harness the Lightning Element, which meant it would have been a good place for Spyro to test his skills in one of the new elements he had unlocked, but they remained silent as they waited to see what would happen when they reached the very top of the structure. The next couple of floors didn't seem to have anything for them either, so there was nothing for them to do but sit on the platform as it moved towards the top of the tower, which allowed them to see the lightning dancing between the clouds and guessed that the wind was the same as it had been when they were visiting the rest of the island.
When they reached the top of the tower they found that Ignitus was definitely up there, as he was in the middle of a duel with a large metallic being whose inner body was made out of what appeared to be rather powerful lightning and it carried a blade that seemed to match its size, reminding them of the Lightning Elementals, meaning this had to be the Thunder Prince and it definitely had a collar around its neck... though standing near Ignitus was a gusty elemental that reminded them of the Wind Elementals and it nodded towards the group, especially Spyro.
"Ah, it is good of you to show up," Ignitus commented, where he held his rapier at the ready as the Wind Elemental held what appeared to be a blade that channeled the wind itself, though they were focused on the foe that was in front of them and not much else, before the group realized that the arena they were in was large enough for a few of them and some of them would have to take to the air to get a better shot at the collar, "the Apes beat us to this tower and put one of those collars around the Thunder Prince's armored neck, so we've been trying to destroy it so we can free our ally from what the Apes have done... oh, and allow me to introduce one of our other allies, the Windlord, the Elemental Lord that rules over all the Wind Elementals."
Spyro, Spike, Ember, Cynder, and Sol took to the air as Elora, Hunter, and Bianca stayed on the platform and aided the two fighters in what they were doing, where Spyro loosed some well placed Fireballs at the back of the Thunder Prince's collar, Ember rushed into the battle and swung her metallic claws to distract their foe, Cynder called upon the shadows to lash out with shadowy claws and cut into the collar, Sol blasted the collar with something new, discs made out of fire, or as Spike called it Blaze Discs, and Spike used the Wind Shuriken to damage their target. While they did that Elora dodged the attacks that were coming her way, which was no easy feat given the speed that their foe was moving in, Hunter had to do the same thing and used his blades to hit the collar since he knew hitting anywhere else was a bad idea given the fact that their foe was made out of lightning, and Bianca used some Ice Spikes to hit the collar whenever an opening revealed itself to her. Ignitus and the Windlord joined them in battling the Thunder Prince, dodging attacks that were coming at them while trying to hit the collar as well, with both their blades and their own magical powers, though while they did that they let Spyro and the others do the majority of the work since they were the most familiar with what was going on, but that didn't stop them from lashing out at the collar the Apes had put on the Elemental Scion that was in control of this island, as the moment it was freed the storm that was building around them. Fortunately that seemed to be working, the group was more than able to lash out at the collar and do damage to it, even though five of them were flying around the area that they were fighting in, and Spike grinned for a moment as he joined his magic with Bianca's, which caused a seam to appear in the metallic collar.
That was the moment that they were waiting for, as Spyro rushed in with Windshear, a weapon that the Windlord was able to recognize as soon as it was drawn, and swung it at the collar they were targeting, allowing the power of the blade to cut through the metal and break the collar free, where the Thunder Prince knelt for a few seconds as it was freed from the magic of the collar, before it raised its hand and dismissed the storm in moments, allowing the skies to return to what they had been earlier.
"There, the Elemental Scions have been freed and the Apes have been repelled," Cynder said, where she and the rest of the flyers returned to the platform so they could speak with Ignitus, before they headed back to the airship and headed back to Warfang so they could determine what they needed to do next to overcome the Apes and their plans, before she glanced over to Ignitus for a moment, "I still don't understand what Gaul is trying to gain, besides some incredibly powerful allies, from attacking these islands and putting those collars on the Elemental Scions... we're missing something, I just can't figure out what that something is."
"...we... failed..." a voice said, to which the group glanced at the Thunder Prince for a moment, as it sounded like it was a little exhausted and tired, something that made sense due to the fact that they had been fighting it and Ignitus had been fighting it with the Windlord, though while Spike was interested in confirming that the Elemental Scions could talk he made sure that all of them remained silent for a time, before the elemental raised its left arm, pointing at an indent that looked like a key of some kind had been resting in it, "...Elementium Key... gone..."
"Elementium... Key?" Spike inquired, where it was clear to the group that his mind was already racing through every single book, tome, scroll, and piece of information he had read over the years, searching for the term that the Elemental Scion had mentioned, before he recalled a reference, a rather small one to be exact, that gave him a small idea as to what the Thunder Prince was talking about, before he glanced to the others, "We need to get back to Warfang, now, so we can search the library for clues as to what the Apes are currently doing... I have a slim idea as to what might be happening, but I want to confirm it before I freak and worry everyone out."
Spyro and the others glanced at each other, because when Spike was worried about something that meant all of them should be worried about whatever he was talking or thinking about, to which they nodded and started to depart from the area that they were in, where Ignitus joined them as they did so, as they were curious as to what Spike was focused on and what they could do to help him figure out what sort of danger the Apes posed to Warfang and the rest of Doxantha, and possibly the rest of the world if they weren't stopped.
Thanks to the Thunder Prince returning Concurrent Skies to the white and calm version that it was supposed to be, instead of the darkened version that the group had seen during their exploration of the island, and the Windlord making sure the winds were calm as well, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the others were able to fly out to the area that the airship was waiting in, as they didn't dare get closer in case another storm suddenly appeared around them. Cynder flew alongside them as Sol and Ignitus followed them, while Bianca teleported herself, Elora, and Hunter through the air, since none of them had wings like the others, though all of them were thinking about what they had discovered and what Spike might know about what they had learned when they freed the last of the Elemental Scions from what the Apes were doing to them. It was nice to see the island in a state where it was calm and peaceful, which was no doubt something that Volteer and the other dragons who tapped into the Lightning Element experienced whenever they came to train and meditate on the element they were using, according to what Cynder had told them during their trek through this island. Fortunately they found that the airship wasn't too far from where the final tower was located, as it appeared that they had either moved it as the group moved through the island or they assumed that was where the group would be waiting, meaning that they could meet up with Nestor and the others before heading back to Warfang so Spike could tell them what the Apes were trying to do.
As such it didn't take them long to reach the area that the airship was resting in and landed on the deck that Nestor, the other Leaders, and the rest of their friends, including Fury, happened to be standing on, to which they shook their wings for a moment as Bianca landed near them, dropping off Elora and Hunter as well, though after all eight of them and Ignitus landed on the deck Spyro turned towards Fury for a moment.
"Fury, set our course for Warfang," Spyro said, because he knew what Spike had told them earlier and knew that they needed to tell the other Guardians about what they had discovered so far, before his brother figured out what the Apes were doing and told them about it, before the Breezebuilder nodded his head and headed back to the area that all of the controls rested in, so he could move the airship back to the city in question.
"Spike, is there anything you can tell us about your theory? Anything at all?" Ignitus asked, because while he trusted the group that he had paired Cynder with, which was a great decision from what he had seen during the fight with the Thunder Prince, he was hoping that Spike would be able to share something with them before they reached Warfang, to give them a sense of what they should be expecting, while at the same time the rest of the group followed the dragon in question back to the inside of the airship so they could rest for a bit.
"Like I said, I'd rather do some research on the matter before I say anything, because if I'm right... well, I won't say anything that might worry you guys." Spike replied, though while he knew Ignitus was hoping for some answers, all so he could figure out what the Apes were doing, he really needed to figure out if his thoughts were right or if he was blowing things out of proportion, hence the reason why he wasn't telling anyone anything, even though he could see that Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in understanding, since they knew him the most out of everyone.
"Did something happen when you guys found the Thunder Prince?" Sheila asked, though the reason she was even asking that was mostly due to the fact that this was different from what happened when they returned from assisting the other Elemental Scions, especially when she considered what happened during their visit to the Isle of Bozibig, which had been in the process of being destroyed by what the Apes were doing, so she was already worried by the fact that Spike seemed to be lost in thought and wouldn't tell them what was going on.
"We saved the Thunder Prince, with Ignitus and the Windlord assisting us, but it seems that the Apes took something called an Elementium Key from the Elemental Scion we came to free." Cynder stated, as that was basically everything that had happened during their trek through the island that they were now leaving, though even as she said that she could see that Sheila and the others were thinking about what she just said, to which she shrugged for a moment, to show that she had no idea what was going on, "Spike has an idea as to what the Apes are doing, but instead of potentially worrying us he is withholding the theory he came up with, at least until we return to Warfang and check out the library for any tomes or scrolls that might aid him in understanding what's going on."
"I agree with his desire to prevent mass panic, even if it would be contained to our vessel," Bentley said, showing that he understood what Spike was doing and that he was just fine with what the young dragon was doing, as he was a smart individual and he knew that the moment he understood what the Apes were doing he would tell them and let them know what sort of sins the Apes were committing, especially when he considered everything that happened in Avilion, before he and his siblings liberated the land from the Sorceress, "Still, we must be patient and trust in our friend, all so we can find out what the Apes are plotting, though I am certain none of us will like what we learn."
Cynder said nothing to that, where she could see that Sheila and the others were a little worried about what Spike might know and wasn't telling them at the moment, but they were friends with him and his siblings so she knew that they trusted the main part of the group that she was hanging out with, to which she turned around and headed back to the area that everyone was gathering in. She discovered that Spike was clearly thinking about what they had seen back at the top of the tower that the Thunder Prince ruled from and what they had learned, as he was meditating at the moment and she knew he would come out of it when they returned to Warfang, so she didn't try anything and sat down near Spyro, as there wasn't much they could do except sit down and think about what they had learned. One thing she knew was that the Apes had committed a grave sin by attacking and attempting to control the Elemental Scions, the ancient allies of Warfang and the dragons that called the city home, so she had the feeling that once all four of them had recovered from this they would be seeking a war with the Apes, one that many of the residents of Warfang would likely join once they told them the news. She also hoped that her father, the High Guardian, had returned while they were helping the Ice King, Magma Golem, and the Thunder Prince, so they could tell him what they had discovered and see what he might want them to do next, in retaliation to what the Apes were doing, but for now all she could do was think about what her father might say the next time she saw him as the airship moved towards Warfang.
It took them an hour and a half to travel back to Doxantha and head towards the area that Warfang rested in, though as the group waited Titan spent his time making sure Ember and the other warriors continued to practice their skills for the future, Cosmos did his best to assist Bianca in learning whatever spell she felt like learning, even though she picked one that he found to be rather easy, and the others did whatever they wanted while they waited for the airship to land in the dock that was outside the city. Spike, of course, continued his meditation as he considered everything they had seen when they freed three of the four Elemental Scions from the collars that the Apes had planned around their necks, though he had no idea if the Stone Sentinel was like the other three, since he hadn't seen what he had spotted on the other three islands and would need to either confirm or deny his thoughts. The wind was calm and it didn't look like anything would stop them from reaching their destination, though for the most part everything stayed inside the airship as they waited for Fury to inform them that they had arrived so Spike could figure out what the Apes were doing and what they could do to stop whatever they were planning. All in all everything seemed rather peaceful, just like whenever the airship moved from one island to another, though that didn't stop everyone from being at the ready, because the moment they arrived at the city they were going to head to the library and give Spike the time he needed to figure out what the Apes were doing, as even Ignitus agreed with the plan that the group had come up with.
While all of them were thinking about what the Apes might be doing, in addition to pissing off the Elemential Scions and the forces that they ruled over, Fury walked into the area that they were in and the look on his face told them that he must have seen something while they were heading towards Warfang, something that caused the group to get ready and draw Spike out of his meditation.
"All of you need to see this," Fury stated, his tone informing them that he must have noticed something odd while he was moving the airship and that he wanted them to know exactly what he had seen, which was followed by him heading back towards the deck of the ship not even a few seconds later, causing the group, joined by Spike, to follow after him so they could see what he might have found, since he had told them nothing about what he might have seen and that only made them more interested in what he might have found.
As such all of them, meaning the main group, the rest of their friends, and everyone else that was in the room when Fury arrived, rushed up to the deck of the airship and came to a stop when they reached the front of the ship, where they stared out at the area that Fury was looking in for a few seconds, only to pause when they noticed that the dormant volcano, which was a good distance away from Warfang, had suddenly become active, as it was spewing lava that filled the sunken area around it, before they noticed the massive ring of fire that happened to surround the volcano, something that stunned Ignitus when he saw it.
"I... I don't understand. How could the dormant volcano suddenly become active, especially to this degree in such a short period of time?" Cynder commented, showing that this wasn't something she was used to seeing, and everyone else felt the same way since this wasn't what they were expecting to see when they returned to Warfang, though none of them had any answers as to why this had happened, even though all of them were thinking about the Apes and that this had to be connected to what they were doing.
"I have no idea how this could have happened." Ignitus replied, and that was the truth, he had no idea how what they were seeing could have come to pass since the volcano had been dormant for a thousand years, something that made all of the Guardians assume it was never active in the first place and never would be, so this shattered part of what he and the others believed, before he turned towards Spike, who was staring at the ring of fire and what laid beyond it, while the rest of the group focused on the volcano, "Spike, could this be connected to that theory you mentioned earlier? Or is this something else we need to worry about?"
"It might be connected to my theory... but, to be honest, I can't be a hundred percent sure, not until I check the library for clues." Spike said, as he needed to see if there was anything about the Elementium Key and the Elemental Scions in Warfang's library, and if there were no clues in this city than he would have to check what was inside the Arcanaeum, which was the only other place where he might be able to figure out what was going on and what the Apes were up to, because he was positive that the Apes were behind the sudden awakening of the volcano.
Ignitus said nothing as he nodded to Fury, who continued to make sure they were taken to the dock that was where they would be touching down soon enough, though as they flew over Warfang it was easy to tell that everyone, regardless of their species, were worried about the awakening of the seemingly dormant volcano, so much so that Ignitus jumped off the deck and headed down to meet up with the other Guardians, to which the rest of the group did the same, and Spike had Nora join them, since they would need her powers at some point.
"I was wondering when you would return, Ignitus, and it is good to see that everyone is safe," Terrador said, as he and the other two Guardians were waiting near the middle of the city, no doubt to calm those who were scared while waiting for the group to return to the city after they freed the last of the Elemental Scions from the mind control collars the Apes tried to use on them, "though, as you no doubt saw, we're in a bit of a pickle, as none of us were expecting the dormant volcano to suddenly wake up and start acting like a normal volcano, save for that strange ring of fire that is surrounding the entire area. Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"No, I do not... but Spike has a theory, he just needs to check our library for some information first," Ignitus replied, as there was no use holding anything back from his fellow Guardians, where Terrador, Cyril, and Volteer faced Spike for a few seconds, clearly surprised that he might have an idea as to what's going on and all he needed to do was check the library for something, before he told anyone what might be happening anyway, "I, for one, am for allowing him to do this, since we'll gain far more information on what the Apes are planning if we give him some time to search through all of the tomes and scrolls that are inside the library."
The other Guardians, having seen the group in action and could only speculate as to what Spike would tell them once they reached the library, nodded their heads and everyone moved not a few seconds later, leaving calming the citizens of the city to the rest of the guards that had been in the area with them, though they took off and flew to the area that the building in question resided in, causing the flyers to fly after the Guardians as Bianca teleported the rest, and once all of them were outside the library Terrador opened the doors and revealed a library that reminded Spike of the Dark Hollow archives, only ten to fifteen times bigger.
"Oh wow, I figured you guys had a lot of tomes, scrolls, and ancient texts, but this is more than I expected... its easily a third of what's inside the Arcanaeum, and makes me wish we weren't racing against time," Spike stated, because he would have loved to sit down and just go through the entirety of this library so he could see what happened after Malefor settled here and built Warfang, before he shook his head so he could focus on the task they needed to complete, as there would be time for this later, hence the reason he turned towards Nora and the Guardians, "Nora, can you open a temporary portal back to the area that the Stone Sentinel is resting in? Someone needs to head back there and see if they find a slot that a decent sized key would fit into, as the Thunder Prince said its Elementium Key was missing and we never checked to see if the one from Tall Plains had been taken as well."
Cyril wasted no time in volunteering to undertake the assignment, something that caused the other three Guardians to pause for a moment, before they nodded and Nora moved off to the side so she could open the portal in question, so he could see if the key Spike was talking about was still there, though while all of that happened Spike moved into the rows of the library and started weaving his magic through the air, clearly looking for something specific. It would have gone by a lot faster if whoever the librarian was had been inside the building, since they would have been able to tell him the exact location of what he was looking for, though for now he was going to do everything in his power to locate the tome or scroll that would either confirm or deny his theory, even though he was hoping for the latter since it was more preferable to the terrible nature of the former. While he did that Spyro and the others spread out and looked for anything that might tell them about the Elementium Key the Thunder Prince had told them about earlier, mostly since it gave them something to do while Spike was looking in what was likely the correct area of the library, and this would make sure they were out of the way for the foreseeable future, since none of them wanted to be in Spike's way when he was like this, something Cynder was getting used to since she joined the group in their quest to stop the Apes. Bianca and the Guardians detected a bit of magic that was being channeled near the area that they were in, which was just Nora maintaining the portal that Cryil had used to travel to Tall Plains and would use to get back here with the information that Spike had asked for, but other than that it didn't appear that anything interesting was happening, so they continued to make sure they were out of Spike's way in case what he was looking for was located in another part of the library.
It took him a few minutes to go through every title that was in the section of the library that he started in, the one that held all the myths and legends that the citizens of Warfang knew about, some of which were likely forgotten by those who currently lived inside the city, before he smiled as he found a tome that had the word 'Elementium' in the title, and when he looked through it he found that it was exactly what he was looking for, to which he recalled his magic and dashed over to the tables that were near Nora, calling for the others to regroup.
"I knew I had seen the term 'Elementium Key' somewhere before, and it comes from a seemingly ancient tale about the first purple dragon and what he did to save the world," Spike stated, where he could tell that he had everyone's full attention, because mentioning Malefor, even by title, was a way to get the attention of every dragon that knew the name or the title, and it was clear that the Guardians and Cynder knew the name as well, which made sense since he was such an important figure to the residents of the city, before he turned his attention to the book, "and by that I mean for us, the dragons of the Dragon Realms, we know it as a myth, something we could never truly prove without heading out into the rest of the world and asking questions, and even then we'd never get a solid answer... at least, not until we found Warfang and looked in this library, where you guys have it written down as both a legend and an event that happened. Elementium is, well, a rather powerful and potent magically charged type of metal that is created from mixing the hardest metal in the entire world, Tungsten to be exact, with a small amount of power from each of the nine elements a dragon can learn how to wield: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth, Wind, Shadow, Poison, Fear, and the Aether. Now, I want it to be known that this isn't the same thing as when the runeblades were created, as that was infusing the raw Tungsten with fragment of a powerful elemental, like how Windshear was crafted from a piece of the Windlord itself, rather this process was different and was highly dangerous... oh how I wish I could go back in time and observe how Elementium was made by those that crafted the legendary metal, as its one of the greatest lost treasures of our world, as no one knows how to make it anymore, due to the art being lost with Mal..."
"Spike, can we focus on what's happening right now?" Spyro asked, as while he hated to interrupt his brother when he was talking about something that interested him, and he really hated to do it since talking about a topic like this usually let him discover a clue or a hidden meaning that no one else had thought about, they needed to know what was so special about the Elementium Key and why the Thunder Prince told them it had failed, "What's the big deal about the Elementium Key? And why would someone like an Elemental Scion, namely the Thunder Prince, tell us it failed?"
"Right, sorry, I went off on a tangent." Spike said, where he sighed and pinched the area between his eyes, as it was a habit he was starting to develop whenever he talked about something that interested him, hence why Spyro stopped him before they wasted too much time on something that wasn't important, even if that part of this topic would be at the back of his mind for later, when he had all the time in the world to think about it, before he lowered his claw and resumed the important part of the conversation, only for Cyril to appear on this side of Nora's portal, which was closed the moment he rejoined them in Warfang, causing a shift in the conversation, "Oh, Cyril, you're back. Did you find the hollowed slot near the area we found the Stone Sentinel in?"
"Yes, I did, but whatever was supposed to be resting inside it was missing." Cyril replied, his tone revealing that he had the feeling that discovering that whatever the Stone Sentinel was guarding was a bad thing for them, though at the same time that was all he said as he joined the other Guardians as Spike considered what they had just been told, since he was the only one that even understood what the significance of what he had discovered, before he refocused on the topic they were talking about and resumed telling the others what he knew.
"Okay, like I was saying, Elementium... which is Tungsten infused with a bit of power from the nine elements a dragon can learn about, Cyril... is a powerful and potent type of metal," Spike continued, giving Cyril the shortest recap of what he had told the others a few moments ago, just to make sure he was up to speed with everyone else, before he focused on his brother's question and why the Thunder Prince's statement was so important for all of them, "According to what I do know, from both the myth we have in the Dragon Realms and the tale you guys have in this library, the sum of all the Elementium that had been made a thousand years ago, thereabouts anyway, was used to create five special keys, what the dragons of Doxantha would come to call the 'Elementium Keys'. All of the Elementium was smelted down into a single pool and then was divided into five portions, where the first Guardians of the Prime Elements... Ishlandur for Fire, Dante for Ice, Zygoren for Lightning, and Thraklor for Earth... helped channel a greater portion of the elements they wielded into four of the five Keys, creating the Elementium Keys of Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth, which were eventually given to the Magma Golem, the Ice King, the Thunder Prince, and the Stone Sentinel for safekeeping. The fifth portion was the one that Malefor worked on and channeled the power of the Aether into it, creating a fifth Key, the Elementium Key of the Aether, a Key that all have considered to be lost to time itself, though I have a few theories as to where it might be and what could be done to recover it from where its resting..."
"Why didn't they create Keys out of the other four elements?" Bianca inquired, because from what she could tell the other four Elemental Lords, the Windlord and the other three they hadn't met or been told about yet, those that were in control of Shadow, Poison, and Fear, could have aided the first purple dragon and those that made the first couple of Keys all those years ago, resulting in the creation of four more Keys that would have pushed the number of them up to nine in total, not to mention them being given to the Elemental Lords who helped create them in the first place.
"Like I said, creating Elementium is, according to legend, incredibly hard and extremely dangerous," Spike said, though he didn't fault Bianca for asking the question in the first place, as it was a valid thing to ask and he was sure that, if those that had forged the five Keys had the time and resources they could have forged four more Keys, before he focused on the rest of his answer, "as such they only had enough Elementium to forge the five Keys I just mentioned, and, based on what I have been able to determine, there are no fragments of the powerful metal left in the world, save for the Keys the Apes stole from the Elemental Scions."
"Okay, but what's so special about the Elementium Keys anyway?" Cynder asked, interrupting Spike once again, as she felt that he was starting to drift off on another tangent and wanted to stop it from happening, while at the same time the rest of the group considered what Spike was saying and wondered if they could piece together what he was trying to tell them, the bigger picture anyway, even though it was possible that they would be learning what that something was in the next few minutes, especially when they considered how excited Spike was about sharing this information with them, despite his earlier worries that he might freak some of them out if he told them his theory.
"They were created to be the keys to a very special prison, one that Malefor specifically designed so it would never be opened and the individual would forever be sealed away," Spike replied, though even as he said that he opened the book to the page in question and revealed a rather crude illustration of an earth elemental that looked entirely different from the ones that the group were used to seeing, in fact it was entirely different from all of the types of elementals they had seen, and he had the feeling that if he saw the creature in question he would be able to provide the library with a greater image than what the book possessed, "and like I said earlier, four of them were were given to the Elemental Scions that helped him create them in the first place, to make sure they were kept safe and sound..."
"...which the Apes have stolen from their keepers." Ignitus said, though at the same time he stared at the drawing that the book had been opened to, which everyone was currently staring at while they considered what Spike was telling them, but all of them remained silent as they waited for Spike to continue speaking, as there had to be more to this than what he had revealed, given that he hadn't mentioned his theory to them yet, which was what everyone was waiting to hear about since he had said his words could worry them.
"That is true, and we can tell that they have already been used because, if I'm reading all of this right, the prison that they go to is buried deep inside the now active volcano," Spike stated, causing the Guardians to think about the volcano and the fact that all of them had questioned, in some form or another since their return to Warfang, why it had suddenly become active when it had been dormant for the last thousand or so years, since the founding of their city, before he took a moment and stepped away from the book he was reading from, "however, the last Elementium Key, the one Malefor made with the power of the Aether infused into it, no one knows where it was hidden, save for the tales and rumors that say it was transported to the Well of Souls, the only place where it would be safe, if you chose to believe those tales, even though none of them have any evidence to support them."
"Would this be a bad time to mention that the Apes took over the landmass that the Well of Souls is located on, and that we have reports that they are looking for something?" Cyril inquired, because after everything he had heard so far, even though he was late to the party since he used Nora's portal to head back to Tall Plains and check out the area that the Stone Sentinel resided in, he was convinced that the Guardians had underestimated the Apes and allowed them to run around without being stopped, "If the Elementium Key of the Aether is hidden inside the area that is known as the Well of Souls, like the tales claim it is, what could we do to prevent the Apes from claiming it and unlocking the prison that all five of them go to?"
"Interestingly enough, we don't have to do anything. According to the tale the part of the Well that holds the Key can only be accessed during the Night of Eternal Darkness," Spike replied, figuring that it was so easy to assure everyone now that he had all the pieces of the puzzle, because even if the Apes had secured four of the five Elementium Keys there was no way for them to acquire the fifth one and break the prison that Malefor had creature, making him wonder why he had been so worried earlier, before he noticed the couple of blank stares he was getting, "that's when the two moons of our world, the ghoulish green colored moon called Zella and the larger reddish colored moon called Adrano, form a very short eclipse that creates a nonstop darkness for a brief period of time. The reason we don't have to do anything is because the last Night of Eternal Darkness was a year ago, meaning that the Apes have to wait another hundred years before the next one happens and all their hard work has been for nothing, as we can just take our time dealing with the Apes and recover the Elementium Keys that they stole from the Elemental Scions."
"Spike, while I have to say that you have done an fantastic job telling us why the Elementium Keys are important and what they do, I am sad to be the one to tell you that part of your statement is incorrect," Volteer stated, which was one of the rare times where someone told Spike that he was wrong about something, as that usually didn't happen and instead of it annoying the dragon in question, as it did to anyone else that was told they were wrong, Spike was one of the few who remained silent and listened to see where his logic went wrong, "you were correct in thinking that the last Night of Eternal Darkness would have happened last year, however it never occurred and both the Chronicler and the High Guardian told us that it was late, meaning it was supposed to happen sometime this year."
"Wait... the last Night of Eternal Darkness is LATE?!" Spike nearly exclaimed, though now his earlier thoughts about what the Apes were up to returned in full force, because if he had been wrong about the event that would open the way to where the last Elementium Key was hidden, as Volteer was suggesting he was, than that meant it was only a matter of time until the Apes secured the key and delivered it to the prison, before he realized something important, "Of course none of us would have noticed it, we were busy fighting the Sorceress and liberating Avilion from her control... Ignitus, is there any structures that would allow us to stare into the sky and see where the moons are located?"
"Wait, you were serious about our world having two moons?" Sol asked, because that was news to him, not that he was saying Spike was wrong or anything, since he knew his friend was smart and wouldn't be wrong about something like this, rather his statement was due to the fact that he had believed that their world only had one moon, though since none of the Phoenixes had bothered to learn how to stargaze, something the dragons could have taught them, it seemed like he and the rest of his kind were missing out on some rather important information.
"Yes, like Spike said we have two moons, Zella and Adrano," Ignitus replied, as that was the easier question for him to answer, even though it was interesting to see that the young Phoenix had no idea there were even two moons in the first place, before he turned and focused on Spike again, despite the fact that his answer was likely going to annoy the young dragon when he opened his mouth, while the rest of the group waited to see what he had to say, "and no, we don't have anything that allows us to stare into the sky and see where the moons are located... we usually get that information from the Chronicler or the High Guardian, who are more versed in observing the moons than we are."
"But the Arcanaeum has that globe that brought us here... maybe it can show us the positions of the moons as well, given who made the ancient vault?" Bianca spoke up, because that sounded like the most logical thing they could do, since there were a few hours left in the day until night arrived and there was no telling if the Night of Eternal Darkness was going to happen tonight, tomorrow night, or sometime in the future, but she figured that she might as well ask the question now and see if the others agreed with her.
Spike thought about it for a moment and determined that it was worth a shot, since there was no telling what else the globe in question could do, to which Nora, already determining where the conversation was going to go despite the fact that no one said anything to what Bianca had just said, channeled her magic into a portal that they could use to head back to Avilion for a short period of time. As such the main group that had visited the islands headed through it first and found that they were in Midnight Mountain once more, which was understandable given the location of the Arcanaeum, before the four Guardians joined them and followed them as they headed for the vault, finding that there were no people to stop them, meaning the residents of the various realms were busy and shouldn't be disturbed. It didn't take the group all that long to make their way to the realm that Malefor had hidden the Arcanaeum inside, where Cynder and the Guardians had to pause when they laid eyes on the structure, due to the legends that revolved around the vault, before they hurried up and caught up with the group, only to pause again when they saw the heart of the structure, something that Spyro and the others were used to seeing at this point in time. Spike wasted no time in heading over to where the globe was located, as that was what they had come for and they didn't have time to waste on showing Cynder and the others everything that they had discovered so far, before he wove his magic into the air and tapped into the magic that created the globe, where Spyro and the others stood still as he went to work determining what they wanted to know. A few seconds ticked by and nothing seemed to be happening, though that was when the globe started to shift and rolled in the air so they could see the landmass of Doxantha, where the third Aether icon had been for a time, though that was when they spotted another island that rested near the one that Warfang rested on, which had to be half a day away from Doxantha, and there was an icon on the island that seemed to resemble an eclipse.
Of course that was when Spike shifted the view of the globe and they watched as the view shifted so they could see even more of the world that they called home, before spotting two small spheres moving off world, as in outer space as the Professor would call this, before they all noticed something that caused them to pause, the two moons, as those were what the spheres had to be, were close to lining up, meaning the Night of Eternal Darkness was going to happen in the very near future and the Apes were going to get their hands on the final Elementium Key.
"Well, that's not the news I was hoping to discover," Ignitus said, because while finding the Arcanaeum was one thing, and there was no telling what was lurking inside the various rooms that were around them, he was worried about the fact that the Apes could recover the final Elementium Key and break the prison that Malefor had constructed all those years ago, back before the founding of Warfang and the rest of Doxantha, before he and the other Guardians turned towards Spike, "So, you had a theory on what the Apes were doing... though I'm hoping that we're wrong and we're just blowing things out of proportion."
"No, we're not wrong... in fact, this is one of the few times I would wish I was wrong about something," Spike replied, as he shared Ignitus' thoughts on the matter, because while he had been thinking that the Apes were up to no good and were trying to upset the elementals into attacking Warfang, which seemed like a valid strategy, the missing Elementium Keys and what he had confirmed meant they were in for a real disaster that had very real consequences if they failed to stop the Apes, "Gaul and his Apes are plotting the end of the world... and they're going to do it by breaking the being that Malefor sealed away all those years ago!"
"Which means we have to travel to the Well of Souls, fight the Apes, and stop them from getting the final key," Spyro said, repeating what Spike had just said, though at the same time he and the others remained silent, because while they were used to saving the day, in all sorts of ways, this was the first time they were setting out to save the world and there was a lot of pressure on them to succeed in their quest.
Spike, however, let the information sink in as he stared at the globe, imagining the world being destroyed by a walking catastrophe, if they failed to stop the Apes from securing the last Elementium Key, while the Guardians realized that the fate of their world was now in jeopardy because of what Gaul and his army were doing, though he could only hope they managed to reach the Well of Souls and stop it before their enemies obtained the last piece of their terrifying puzzle.
Spyro, Spike, Ember, Cynder, and the others remained silent as they considered what Spike had told them, about what the Apes were planning and how close they were to fulfilling their plan, though one thing they made sure to do was return to Warfang so Ignitus and the other Guardians could handle the panic that might have arrived due to the awakening of the long dormant volcano, something that worried him and the others. Spike had made sure to take a piece of paper and sketch out the path that they needed to take so they could reach the landmass that the Well of Souls was located on, because now that they knew Gaul and his Apes were planning on releasing an incredibly powerful entity, one that could destroy the world if it was allowed to be freed from the prison that Malefor had constructed, with the aid of his elemental allies. With the Apes residing on the landmass the Well of Souls was located on, and the Night of Eternal Darkness approaching, there was a high chance that the Apes might be able to acquire the final Elementium Key, something they needed to either acquire before their enemies could or prevent their foes from getting their hands on the item in question. Other than knowing that their world was now in jeopardy, and that the Apes were far more dangerous than what the Guardians had assumed they were, the majority of the group was silent and didn't have much to say as they returned to Warfang and started to walk back to the structure that the Guardians usually stood in, where the group had met Ignitus and Terrador earlier.
While they were doing that another dragon, this one wearing what Spyro assumed was leather armor and had the same bipedal stance of all adult dragons, with brown scales and light gray under scales, landed nearby and whispered something to Ignitus and the other Guardians for a few seconds, something that seemed incredibly important based on the looks on their faces, before the dragon took off and headed deeper into the city.
"This is not good, it appears that the Apes have been sighted inside the Ancient Grove," Ignitus said, where he and the other Guardians took a moment to shake their heads as they thought about what they had just heard, because it wasn't what they wanted to hear after learning the truth of the attacks on the four islands that were around Doxantha, before they glanced at their allies for a few seconds, "its supposed to be a place untouched by civilization, though we have built a temple about ten to twenty minutes away from the forest in question, and the rivers that exist in that area are filled with poison, meaning the only ones that can actually inhabit that area are the true residents of the forest... though I'm fairly sure that the Apes have brought in their own supplies so they don't have to drink from the rivers or eat anything that the forest provides."
"Sounds like they're going after the Elemental Lord of Poison," Spike commented, referring to the fact that the four elementals that served as the Lords of the Minor Elements, like the Windlord, had to live near Doxantha due to a pact that they must have made with Malefor a thousand years ago, or at least that was what he assumed was the case, so he had to assume that another Elemental Lord was in danger, which seemed to be a common trend with the Apes, though it did make him wonder where the Lords of Shadow and Fear were, "and, based on the globe, it seems like this Ancient Grove is on the way to the landmass the Well of Souls is located on, so we can either stop the Apes and then move forward or just ignore the forest and continue towards our main goal."
"We should take care of the Apes, then move for the Well of Souls," Spyro replied, showing that he had snapped out of whatever trance he had been in, since he and Cynder had been silent since they learned what the Apes were doing and where the final Elementium Key was located, before he considered something as he turned towards Nestor and the rest of the Leaders, "Nestor, in the off chance that we fail to acquire the final Elementium Key, we should gather our allies and get ready to guard Warfang with our lives, as I'm sure Gaul and his Apes will try to take over the city before they do anything with the being that can, well... you know, wipe out everything, which gives us a chance, however slim, to take Gaul down before he has a chance to awaken whatever is inside the volcano."
"Understandable. We shall gather as many allies as we can," Nestor stated, showing the Guardians that he and the other Leaders were used to hearing Spyro suggest something and usually went with it, to which the five of them headed over to the area that Nora was in and started to move to a more private area, where Spyro and the others turned towards the Guardians, who were a little surprised by what was going on and decided not to question what they were seeing, as this meant that if the Apes succeeded in getting the last Key they would have allies to aid them.
"And this time Sheila, Bentley, Agent 9, and I will assist you in battling your enemies," Sgt. Byrd stated, informing the group that they would be joining their friends this time around, because whenever they stopped to explore the islands it didn't appear that any Apes were cared about the airship, as they never came to attack it despite the fact that the group used it to travel between the islands, so instead of sitting on the sidelines he and the others had agreed to join Spyro and the others in their quest, especially in light of what they had discovered.
Spyro, instead of arguing and claiming that they would totally wipe out any Apes they encountered, decided to just nod his head and they headed back to the area that the airship was located in, where Ignitus joined them so he could direct them to the area that the Ancient Grove was located in, while the other Guardians remained behind and worked to set up their defenses, in case the Apes tried to attack the city. It was clear that the citizens of Warfang were in the middle of making their preparations for whatever the future held, those that couldn't fight were staying safe while the guards made sure everything was fine while they waited for orders from the Guardians, though they also paid no attention to the group as they returned to the dock and boarded the airship without delay. Once everyone was aboard it Spyro had Fury take off and Ignitus gave him the directions that would allow him to get them to the area that the Ancient Grove was in, to which the group simply spread out and made sure they were comfortable for the ride towards the part of Doxantha that the forest was located in, even though it would likely take forty-five minutes to an hour to reach it. After the Apes were taken care of, and the group was sure about that, they would likely regroup on the airship and head towards the Well of Souls, their true destination, to stop the Apes from acquiring the last item their King needed to bring about the end of the world, something that made all of them remain silent as they waited for the airship to reach the Ancient Grove, all while Spyro and Cynder stared off into the distance as the airship moved through the air.
Spike knew what was going on with the pair without having to be told anything by Ignitus, as Spyro and Cynder had memories of a previous life and it was possible that they were recalling something they had seen in the past, which was the most likely, or the mention of the Well of Souls had stunned them and they were thinking about it, but until someone said something all he could do was guess as to what was going on. Ignitus, however, did tell him something interesting, and that was the fact that there should be a small island between Doxantha and the Well of Souls, which was the area that the Chronicler was supposed to be residing in, so if they were willing to stop for a time they could awaken the memories that were slumbering inside Spyro, or they could wait until later, once they were done fighting the Apes. Spike found that to be interesting and realized that Ignitus was right, there was something between the two landmasses that they might want to stop at for a time, but he would leave that decision up to Spyro when they reached it, since his brother was the leader of their group and he usually came up with some good ideas on what all of them should do, like what they had seen in the past, so he was going to wait and see what happened in the Ancient Grove. Ignitus seemed to agree with him, as he had seen Spyro in action, at least how he fought thanks to the battle with the Thunder Prince, to which he remained silent as they headed for the area of Doxantha that was their destination, even though he was likely thinking about the terrible nature of the plan that the Apes were setting in motion and how they had failed to see it until now, though Spike knew he would overcome his thoughts and focus on preparing for the future.
He was hoping that the reports of Apes being sighted in the Ancient Grove were just imaginings and that nothing was there, mostly so they could focus on the Well of Souls and the army of enemies that would be standing between them and the last of the Elementium Keys, though he knew that time would tell and there was nothing he could do if they discovered Apes in the next area they would be checking out, to which he laid down and decided to get a little rest before the airship reached its destination and they started fighting any enemies that were waiting for them.
The group found that Spike's estimates about the time were correct, as it took them about forty-five minutes to reach the outskirts of the Ancient Grove, which was a massive forest when they looked down upon it, one that seemed like a dark and foreboding place, though that didn't stop Fury from maneuvering the airship to a spot where the enlarged group could disembark and start their trek through the forest, even though they knew Fury would be looking for a suitable area to act as their pickup point. Sheila came equipped with nothing, showing that she was relying on her jumps, her kicks, and whatever she learned from Titan on the way to Doxantha, Sgt. Byrd made sure his jet pack was operational and that he had plenty of rockets to fire at their enemies, even though he was leaving a good portion of them on the airship since he couldn't carry all of it, Bentley carried his club and that was about it, showing that he was going to smash whoever got in their way, and Agent 9 held his trusty blaster at the ready. Once the four of them were ready they walked over to the ramp that the rest of the group was standing near, to which all twelve of them disembarked from the ship and touched down in what appeared to be the starting area of this forest, where they found dark green grass, a purple poison river that cut right through the entire area, and the trees grew in a variety of heights, the tallest ones being about a hundred feet in Spike's estimates, and due to the leaves and the moonlight the entire forest had an ethereal feel to it. Spike made sure to note down everything that they were seeing in one of the pages of his journal, since Ignitus informed them that no one really knew anything about the Ancient Grove, where the only exception was the first purple dragon, though this just meant it was his chance to reveal something unknown to the rest of the world, provided they stopped the Apes from fulfilling their incredibly insane and dangerous plan.
Once everyone was standing in the starting area of the forest Ignitus wished them well and headed off in the direction of Warfang, to help with the defenses, while at the same time Fury started to move the airship to a more suitable location, leaving the group alone as they considered what they were doing in this forest and if they would find any enemies, as right now it didn't look like there were any Apes in the Ancient Grove, though that wouldn't stop them from searching and just making sure the reports were correct.
"It looks like we have some company, of a sort," Bentley stated, where he beckoned to three small beetle-like critters that reminded the group of the Magma Beetles from the Isle of Bozibig, though these ones had violet colored shells that had glowing purple spots that resembled the color of the poison that was in the nearby river, though Spike felt that these were allied with the Elemental Lord of Poison, just like the Magma Beetles were allied with the Magma Golem, though as he thought about that the Poison Beetles became angry and started to move towards them, which was when Bentley took them all out with a swing of his ice club, "judging from Spike's expression, and the rest of the group's, I deduced that these were minions of the yet to be named Elemental Lord of Poison that was mentioned earlier, so I went easy on my swing, doing enough damage to knock them out for a time while making sure I didn't do too much or too little, as the former would have broken them and the latter would have dazed them for a few seconds."
"That was a good move, as it might show the Poison Elementals, if there are any in this place, that we aren't here to hurt them and that we're only here for the Apes," Spyro commented, as while it was interesting to see Spike being beaten to something, even though his brother was in the middle of studying the creatures and confirming Bentley's statement for himself, he was more focused on the fact that the Poison Beetles had attacked them without warning, meaning that if one of the other three Elemental Lords was inside the Ancient Grove it was either being attacked at this very moment or it was under the control of the Apes, where he was hoping the former was correct so they could repeat what they did on the four islands they had been to so far.
"That's if we find any Apes in this forest," Agent 9 remarked, where he help up his empty hand the moment Cynder turned to look at him, no doubt believing that he was trashing the scout that had made the report earlier, though even as he did that the rest of the group started to look around the area and see if they could figure out how they were going to move forward, since they were all sure this wouldn't be as easy as the four islands they had been to, "I'm not saying that the scout was wrong or anything, just that its possible they might have fled when one of them realized that a dragon had seen them and was reporting their existence to Warfang."
"I will admit, it is a sound strategy... fleeing to avoid confrontation," Sgt. Byrd added, because he had a great deal of military experience and he was all for using it to determine what the Apes were up to, given whatever they learned about them, though at the same time he had to admit that this place was rather interesting and he could see why the dragons would have built a temple near it, to make sure they were close in case something happened to their ally, "Either way, we won't be able to figure anything out if we stand around talking, so we should be moving forward and take in everything that this forest has to offer, and maybe we'll find out what our enemies are up to."
Cynder nodded for a few seconds and then they joined the rest of the group in exploring the starting area they were currently in, each of them looking for the path that would allow them to move forward and see if they could find any Apes, like the scout had told Ignitus and the others earlier, though that was when they found some pale large lily pads that were floating on the poison river and slowly fell down the small waterfall that happened to be near them, which looked like they might be usable in jumping up to the next area. Those that could make the jump on their own did so without delay, while the rest of the group took turns jumping up onto the lily pads, which were strong enough to support their weight, which all of them found to be odd and Spike said it was the nature of this place that made it that way, before all of them were up on the area near the upper part of the waterfall and they started to move once more. What they discovered was that there wasn't much up on the left side of the river, if they were looking from the forest's opening, so that meant they needed to head to the right and that was what they did, each of them jumped over the river and headed for the wider area that was near them, which allowed the group to head for a tall tree as they delved deeper into the forest, meaning they had found the way forward. Not a few moments later they passed by the rather tall tree, which was maybe fifty feet tall, and started to head down the path that was in front of them, only to stop when they noticed some pillars, or rather long tree trunks when they got a better look at them, which fell in their way and would either have to be smashed to pieces or just jumped over to avoid them, but before someone could speak up they paused as they heard a growl in some of the nearby bushes and turned towards the area in question.
That was when a dog-like creature, which had dark purple fur and greenish skin, an odd mix to be sure, jumped out of the bush it had been hiding in and faced the group, where it growled at them and howled, something that was followed by a second one jumping down into the area while a third one smashed through the logs that would have been in the group's way and tried to attack them from behind while the other two did the same thing from their side. Spike discovered that these creatures were very fast, their teeth would no doubt hurt if one of them was allowed to bite any of them, and they seemed to have a vast interest in dragons, as instead of heading for, say, Sol, Bianca, Hunter, or Sgt. Byrd, where some of them were the closest to the creatures, the hounds actually went for Spyro, Ember, Cynder, and himself, meaning they had to be pets of the Apes that were bred to hunt down dragons. Spike felt that it was easy to name them, going with Death Hounds due to the fact that they were dog-reptile hybrids that were bred for the purpose of killing dragons, showing them that the Apes really didn't like the dragons of Warfang at all, to which he loosed a gout of flames that torched his target and didn't bother the surrounding area, while Ember headbutted her foe with her hardened body and then used her metal claws to cut it down, leaving Spyro and Cynder to take turns bashing their target with their tails before they knocked it to the ground with a combined blast from their fire and wind breaths. The rest of the group, while the four of them took care of the Death Hounds that were trying to tear them apart, walked over to the area that the fallen logs were resting in and made sure their path wasn't blocked at all, to which they moved any fragments out of the way and made sure they were able to move forward, that way once all of them were together again they could jump over or duck under the larger log and advance into the next part of the forest.
When they bypassed the larger log they found that three of the Death Hounds and a small group of Poison Beetles were waiting for them, though this time around Agent 9 decided to turn to the side as soon as they spotted the couple of flying enemies and opened fire on them with his blaster, allowing Sheila to land in front of one of the Death Hounds and kick it right into one of the raised bits of earth that were around them, with Bentley whacking the other two in the side so they landed on top of the first one, giving way for Sgt. Byrd to loose a rocket at the three of them and deal enough damage to totally knock the three of them out for the foreseeable future.
"Its nice to see that you guys can handle yourselves in a fight," Cynder commented, as she had been a little worried about the four new additions to their group, mostly since she knew nothing about them or their skills, but after having this chance to see them in action she knew that she didn't have to worry about rushing to their aid, as they could handle the enemies that they would be fighting in the near future, though now she understood why Spyro and the others didn't ask Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 to stay behind this time.
"I'm just happy that we're no longer waiting on the airship," Sheila replied, though at the same time the group started to head down the path that was to their left, which seemed to be the way forward since it was the only path in the area for them to take, and while she said that the rest of the heroes from Avilion nodded their heads in agreement, "Don't get me wrong, I know you guys can handle yourselves in battle, but it was starting to get a little boring as we waited for you to return after seeing what the Apes were doing to Dante's Inferno, the Isle of Bozibig, and Concurrent Skies, though now its time we kicked the Apes to the ground and make them regret putting their plan into action."
What they discovered was that the way forward must have been blocked by trees at some point in the past, and while it was possible to use a tree to make a walkway for them to jump over the tops of the couple of trees that were in front of them, as one did seem like it might collapse in the near future, Spike decided not to mess with nature in such a way and instead channeled his magic into making an opening for them to walk through, allowing him to create a temporary oval shaped opening that was tall enough for all of them to use. With the way opened they stepped into a circular chamber-like area that reminded the group of when they found the Magma Beetle colony, back during their visit to the Isle of Bozibig, which meant that this one had to be for the Poison Beetles they had seen so far, though it didn't appear to be all that active and was surrounded by a small pool of poison, to which the group walked around it for a few seconds, giving Spike time to close the path he had opened, before they found a passage that had a few holes that beetles were coming from, and they were still aggressive towards the group. As such the group engaged the Poison Beetles, where Elora, Hunter, and Agent 9 opened fire on them and blasted all of the enemies out of the air with enough force to knock them out, just like what happened to the last couple of groups they had encountered, allowing Bianca to work her magic as she sealed the openings that their foes had been coming from, meaning they had some time before more of the Poison Beetles tried to break through the wood and hunt them down. With that done the group headed through the passage they had discovered and found that it was rather short, leading them to an area that was filled with the poison water and had very little ground for them to walk on, save for some separated sections which formed a path for them to take, so the group decided that the ranged individuals would stay put for now and open fire on any enemies that tried to attack whoever was making their way across the area, where Spike was chosen to be first since he could ensure the other side of the path was clear so they could resume moving forward.
It took them a few minutes to get everyone across, even though Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Cynder could just fly over the entire thing thanks to what Cynder told them back in Warfang, but in the end there were no enemies for them to even worry about, which was rather weird since this would have been a place they would have made sure some soldiers would have been positioned if they were the villains, so they were allowed to regroup on the other end of the gap and continue their exploration of the Ancient Grove... which was followed by them finding a bipedal creature that looked nothing like any of the other creatures in the forest, even though it had a mossy green color to its body and seemed to be made out of fallen branches and moss, like it was a creature straight out of a swamp.
"Here, let me try something out," Spike said, where he stepped forward and approached the creature, which he was going to call a Swamp Growth since it didn't scream Poison Elemental like the creatures of the islands they had been to, though while that happened he made sure to present himself not as a warrior bent on taking over the forest, like the Apes could have if they were here, but rather as someone who was here to help the creature take its home back from those that were in the middle of invading it, "Hey there, my name is Spike and I'm an ally of Warfang, as are the rest of the group that's behind me, and we came here to find the Apes that were sighted here earlier and take them out, and liberate whatever land they have taken from those that call the forest home..."
He didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say as the Swamp Growth rushed at him and swung its arms at the area he was standing in, hence the reason Spike quickly teleported out of the area that he had been standing in and reappeared in the area that was behind where the creature had been standing a few moments ago, to which he followed that up with a Fireball to the back, causing it to stagger as the rest of the group moved in to knock the creature out so they could see what else was wrong with the forest. Ember rushed in and barreled into the Swamp Growth's chest while she was channeling her armor skill, knocking it to the ground so Bianca could blast it with some Ice Shards, though that only made it stagger for a few moments as it picked itself back up, only for Bentley to appear nearby and smack it with his large club, sending it into a tree and knocking it out in the process. They were only knocking these creatures out so, in the off chance that they were minions of the Elemental Lord of Poison, each of them would come back to their senses and join their master in attacking the Apes that were in the forest, or whatever enemies were in this area since something had to be pissing off the creatures that called it home, though once everyone was sure the creature wasn't going to get back up anytime soon they headed to the right and followed the path that the Swamp Growth had been guarding. That brought them to another area that was like the one that they had just walked through, as in there was a single path and it was made up of several small pillars that they would have to take turns jumping on so they could reach the highest point of the area and move forward. This time around Elora, Hunter, and Agent 9 were able to hit a few Poison Beetles out of the air, as there were actually enemies in this area and they did try to stop Spyro and the others, though it didn't take them long to take out the foes that were trying to stop them, by knocking them out, which allowed everyone to make their way through the area and reach their destination.
Once they were back together the group continued to move down the path that the segmented stone pathway had brought them to, where they had to smash their way through some twisted branches so they could access the next part of the forest, which was when three Death Hounds and a Swamp Growth appeared in the area beyond the branches and attacked the group. Cynder used her Shadow Play skill to dive into her shadow and appeared several times in the next few seconds, lashing out at the four enemies that were in the area and knocking them away from each other, allowing the rest of the group to attack their foes while they were distracted by what she had done, which was just fine with the group as spells were loosed, punches were thrown, and enemies were pushed around the area they were in. Those weren't the only enemies that were in this area, as there were three more of the Death Hounds and a Swamp Growth passed another set of branches, hence the reason they made sure to break down the barricade that was in their way so they could fight all of them at the same time, allowing everyone a chance to fight the enemies they had discovered while making sure no one missed a chance to engage their foes. Bentley even surprised them by swinging his club at one of the Death Hounds and smashed some branches that were blocking the way forward, so the moment all of their enemies were taken care of, and they were sure of that none of them would get back up for a time, Spyro started to walk forward and the rest of the group followed after him so they could figure out what else the forest had to throw at them and how many additional enemies might be waiting for them.
The group headed for what appeared to be an intersection, where both paths would likely take them deeper into the forest and take them to different parts at the same time, though when they reached a certain point Spyro disappeared from the path that they were following and the rest of them stopped for a moment as Spike stepped forward, to see what they might have accidentally discovered, where he tapped the air in front of them and it vibrated for a few seconds, which caused the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment.
"I don't believe it, we found a temporary portal between two points," Spike stated, causing the group to recall what Nora had done when he was telling them about what the Apes were up to after he investigated what was inside Warfang's library, though at the same time he knew that it was weird for them to discover something like this, since there were no magic using dragons in the area that could do something like this, meaning someone was watching them and was either trying to assist them or was trying to mess with them, "I wonder where this leads..."
Spike stepped through the shimmering wall and appeared in an area that looked like a cave of some kind, or at least a mix of a cavern and the forest they had been in a few moments earlier, though it didn't take Ember, Cynder, and the rest of the group all that long to catch up with him and Spyro, even though they were staring at the massive pool of poison that was nearby, before discovering that there was only a single path for them to take, meaning there was only one way for all of them to move forward from the area they were now in.
"I think someone is trying to assist us, so we don't get lost in the Ancient Grove," Bianca commented, as she felt what Spike had felt, even if she wasn't as used to determining what the magic was just by touching it or seeing it in action, like she assumed her mentor had done when Spyro walked through the shimmering wall, alerting them to the fact that it even existed in the first place, before she considered something, "Spike, what are the chances that this is the Chronicler that we have heard about, thanks to the couple of times that the Guardians mentioned him?"
"Personally, with what little we have discovered so far, I'm willing to bet its fifty-fifty," Spike said, though even as he said that he and the others glanced at the area they were in and wondered how far away they were from the area they had been in a few moments ago, since none of them had any idea how large the Ancient Grove actually was, but if this was an ally helping them they would be able to save some time, especially since they were in a race against the eclipse that would happen in a day's time, based on what he saw in the Arcanaeum.
That was when they spotted a few individuals walking in the area that was in front of them, where all four of them had white fur with red stripes on their arms and legs, though three of them were small and resembled Ape Soldiers while the fourth was taller and resembled an Ape Leader, and they had the same amount of armor that their Ape counterparts had, meaning they might have found some new enemies to fight for the foreseeable future. Cynder revealed that they were called Skavengers, with a 'k' where the 'c' would have been, and that she understood why the scout would have thought that there were Apes in the Ancient Grove, since the Skavengers looked very similar to their main enemies and it had deceived whoever had scouted out this area, but at the very least the dragon had been truthful in the fact that there were enemies in the Ancient Grove, since these guys didn't like dragons either. As such the group rushed forward from where they were standing and attacked the enemies that were in front of them, where they knew that they were enemies due to the fact that each of them drew their blades and rushed at the area the group had been in, indicating that they wanted to cut them down and do whatever they wanted with the twelve of them, though since Ember was the first one to reach their foes she activated her armor skill and parried the attacks with something they couldn't break. Once she forced all of them to stop in their tracks, much to their surprise, Ember pushed all of them backwards and opened the way for the rest of the group to lash out at their enemies by Spike and Bianca blasted one of them with magic, Bentley quickly whacked the Skavenger Leader out into the massive flow of poison that was in front of them, Sol and Sheila tripped one of the Skavenger Soldiers and knocked it into the wall, and the last one fell to Elora kicking it into the ground.
With those four enemies taken care of the group walked towards the edge of the area and found that there were no bridges between where they were standing and the next patch of land that would allow them to move forward, so Spike used his magic and forced an ice bridge for everyone to walk over, making sure it was reinforced enough so that the large amount of poison didn't destroy it all that quickly, though as they moved forward the ranged members of their group dealt with the critters that were in the poison, which could be the Poison Beetles, and knocked them out so the path they were following was safe. They had to do that two more times, where Spike created longer ice bridges than the first one he had made and allowed the rest of the group to move towards the next patch of land, and that included making sure to take down the bridge that they no longer needed, while allowing Hunter, Elora, and Agent 9 to take out any Poison Beetles that were lurking in the poison water that they were moving over, though as they did that, and reached the other edge of the poison filled area, Spike noticed that the critters they had assumed were Poison Beetles were actually worms that did look like the Magma and Electric Worms, so these would be Poison Worms. When they reached the other side of the area the group followed the path that was in front of them and found that there were a few Poison Beetles and two of the new Poison Worms in the poison pools that were to their right, though once more they dealt enough damage to the beetles so they would be knocked out, something that caused the pair of Poison Worms to pause in what they were doing and stare at the group for a few seconds, before diving under the poison again. The group glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they were curious as to whether or not these worms might have realized that they weren't enemies and were only defending themselves against the attacks that the Poison Beetles sent their way, though if that was the case it was very possible that the elementals that called the Ancient Grove home might realize that enemies had come to aid them, though time would tell if that thought was true or not.
From there they headed through an opening that had two of the Death Hounds hanging out in the area, to which the group wasted no time in attacking them by Sheila jumped to the side of one and kicked it in the side, pushing it into one of the walls, while allowing Spyro to charge into the other one and knock it into a log before he opened fire with his flames, as it appeared that fire was the weakness of these enemies, while making sure not to burn down the forest, and once the other one was knocked out the group resumed moving forward... which was when they stopped as they found a fortress in the massive cavern they had found themselves in, one that had an airship, a flying pirate ship by the looks of things, off behind the fortress.
"Well, I have no idea what I was expecting to find down here, but it certainly wasn't this," Spyro commented, where he did notice that there were a few pools of poison around the area in front of the fortress, though at the same time this did reveal that Ignitus' statement about there being no civilizations in the Ancient Grove wasn't totally true, as there was a reason the Skavengers were here and it likely wasn't a good one, especially since the dragon temple was so close to the location of the forest they happened to be exploring, "Keep your guards up, as I have the feeling that we'll find some of those dog-like enemies, those Skavengers, in this area and discover what they're doing in this forest... even though I'm sure whatever they're doing can't be good for Warfang or our allies."
"Well you're right about the fact that the Skavengers are here, since they're coming for us," Cynder said, where she moved her tail for a moment and pointed at the area that was in front of them, which was when the group found at least ten of the Skavenger Soldiers jumping off the airship and rushed out to the area that they were standing in, hence the reason she readied herself for battle and the others did the same thing, since they knew that these individuals wanted all of them dead, or at least knocked out.
Not even a few moments later the group was engaged in a massive battle with the Skavenger Soldiers, where Spike and Bianca hurled spells at the enemies that stayed on the fortifications that were in front of them, Spyro and Cynder smacked around their targets with their claws and tails, Ember parried several attacks with her metal claws so Bentley and Sol could beat up her foes, and the others assaulted the rest of the Skavengers Soldiers that were in the area, before any of them discovered that several Skavenger Leaders were joining the battle. Bentley proceeded to smash one of the larger dogs into one of the walls of the fortifications, Sgt. Byrd opened fire on a few of their enemies that were hanging out in an area that was away from the rest of the group, Sheila jumped into the air and then rushed down to use the force of her attack to smash a Skavenger Leader into the ground, stunning it in the process so she could kick it in the chest and knock it to the ground, and Agent 9 focused on those that were hanging off at the back of the pack, so the others could focus on the foes that were in front of them. What was interesting was that Bianca found a trail of gunpowder that seemed to head behind the fortifications and proceeded to light it with a Fire Shuriken, something that all of the Skavengers missed her throw through the air since they assumed she had missed her target, though not a few seconds later the crates that had been in the way exploded and opened the way for them to reach the airship at long last, so the moment they finished off the rest of their enemies, who were unconscious on the ground, they moved towards the new opening to see what else they would have to fight, in addition to the Skavenger Leaders that were on top of the fortifications and were trying to rain down sticks of dynamite on them.
While Spike found the way forward, which was by heading to the edge of the area and then jumping around the slim corner that was right there, something that he formed an ice walkway around so everyone could move forward, Bianca stayed back and used her magic to bounce the dynamite back to the enemies that were around them, blowing up the couple of Skavenger Leaders that were trying to bomb them. With the couple of Skavenger Leaders taken care of it was easy for them to jump on the various crates that were in the air and get them high enough so that they could glide over to the deck of the airship that was resting in this area, and as they landed they found one of the dynamite throwing enemies waiting for them, who didn't last very long as Bentley punched it in the face and knocked it out. From there the group took a few moments to study the ship they were on, finding a cannon that had been pointing at the area they had been fighting in earlier and wondered why none of the Skavengers had bothered to use it on them, though that was when Spike took a moment to look out at the area they had been fighting in and found that the cannon was pointing had been positioned to face somewhere else, a wall of trees that seemed to have a slightly different color than the rest of them. Instead of firing the cannon, like the Skavengers would have done, the group started to move forward and made sure the cannon was smashed to pieces, though that was followed by them heading over to the trees in question and Spike used his magic to open another oval opening for everyone to walk through, just like he had done at the start of their trek through the vast forest that made up the Ancient Grove.
On the other side of the oval opening they found a short path that had two flaming piles of branches, so Spyro used his Ice Breath to disrupt the flames and opened the way for the group to smash their way through them, which was when they found a Skavenger that seemed to be riding on a bird-like beast that looked similar to a Dreadwing, something that Cynder identified as a Skurvywing, though the red feathered creature didn't last all that long as Hunter loosed an arrow right into its unprotected wing and sent it right into the wall of trees to their left, knocking it out in the process.
"You'd think these guys would put armor on their mounts, instead of leaving vital areas exposed like that," Hunter said, though at the same time he checked his arrow supply and found that he still had quite a lot of them, which was good since he had made sure to shock up ahead of time, before he sighed as the rest of the group nodded their heads, showing that they agreed with his assessment on the fact that the Skavengers were foolish in how they prepared the Skurvywing for battle, even if it allowed them to take it out in seconds.
With the Skurvywing taken care of the group moved down the other path that was in the area and moved towards an area that was larger than what they were expecting, though there were a few pools of poison that had some of the Poison Worms hanging in them, and that was followed by a creature, who was like the Swamp Growths in terms of how it was built, smashing its way through some branches and revealed that it was more like the Poison Beetles, at least in the sense that they shared the same coloration in places, and it looked angry, which made sense then they thought about what the Skavengers were up to, before Spike determined it was a Grove Beast.
"So, what do you think?" Spyro asked, because the last time Spike had tried to tell one of the creatures of this forest that they were allies it lashed out at him and tried to kill them, even though the Poison Worms knew that they meant them no harm and were only after the ones that were disrupting the peace, hence the reason he was even willing to entertain the thought of allowing Spike to try talking to the creature, because there was always the chance that he might convince it to let them move forward so they could continue fighting their enemies.
"I'm not sure. We'll have to approach it and see what happens." Spike admitted, mostly due to the fact that he wasn't sure if the Grove Beast would attack them or allow them to move forward and attack the Skavengers, since the last time he tried something like this he was attacked for his actions, though as soon as he said that he glided down into the area that was below them and the rest of the group did the same thing, either gliding or jumping down, where he focused on the Grove Beast and walked up to it.
As the group moved into the area another Grove Beast burst out of the ground nearby and stared at them, no doubt to see what they were up to and if it needed to be worried about them, before they stopped in front of the first one and it just stared at all twelve of them, taking in the fact that there were dragons, a cheetah, and a number of species that were likely new to it, which was when Spike wove his magic through the air and created a basic image of them beating up the Skavengers that had invaded the Ancient Grove. As he did that the Grove Beasts seemed to focus on the magic for a few more seconds, making the group wonder if they even understood what Spike was trying to show them, before they took a few steps back and started to head for the path that lead to the next part of the forest, while at the same time the couple of Poison Worms dived into the poison and disappeared, reminding them of what happened during their visit to the Isle of Bozibig, or at least the group that had visited the island anyway. As such the group followed after the Grove Beasts and walked behind them as they lead them deeper into this part of the forest, where they headed up some steps and made their way to an area that had a large root inside it, where a few more Grove Beasts happened to be waiting and the pair that they were following approached them, even though it appeared that they were communicating with each other even though none of them were saying anything. It didn't take the newcomers long to understand that the group was here to take care of the enemies that were attacking the Ancient Grove, as none of them made a move to attack any of them and beckoned for them to follow, to which Spyro followed after the creatures of the forest as the others followed after him, all while Spike made notes on what they were seeing so he could tell Ignitus and everyone else about this.
The tree trunk that the Grove Beasts brought them to actually put them in an area that seemed to be under the rest of the forest, even though Spike was sure that whoever had sent up the temporary portal earlier had done so again, all to move them deeper into the forest, and from what they could see it appeared that they were going to have to take turns jumping on tree branches and land on massive jellyfish to move forward. As that idea came to mind, however, it was when Cynder opened her wings and took to the air, where she flew along the path that was in front of them and headed for the opening that had to be the exit for this area, to which those that could fly took off after her while Bianca gathered her magic around the rest of the group so she could teleport them to the area that would take them back to the surface. They also discovered that there were no enemies down here, which meant they could just fly and not have to worry about their foes for a few moments, though the path was a lot longer than they originally thought and it took them a few minutes to reach the highest point of this area, which was passed all the jellyfish that would have been a nightmare to bypass if they couldn't fly like they did. When all of them landed at the top of the area, and they were joined by Bianca and the others, it was then that two more of the Death Hounds tried to ambush them, though it was also the moment where some of the Grove Beasts showed up and beat the stuffing out of the deadly hounds, showing the group that the hounds weren't part of the natural order and that they were likely allies of the Skavengers, before they turned and moved the branches out of the way for the group could progress to the next part of the forest, even though none of them really had any idea how much more they would have to go through to reach the end of this place.
Those weren't the only enemies that appeared in their path, though the group didn't have to worry about the other Death Hounds that they found on the way, as the Grove Beasts insisted on punting the Death Hounds into the trees and that told the Swamp Growths that the group were allies, causing the couple of swampy critters to bow their heads for a few seconds before they joined the force that was taking the fight to the invaders, allowing Spyro and the others to save their energy for the real danger that was inside the Ancient Grove, be it an Elemental Scion, the leader of the Skavengers, or an Elemental Lord, all of which were possible in their minds.
When they reached the next area they found that the Skavengers had been blown out of the sky, due to the fact that one of their airships was resting in a massive pool of poison, so the group flew over to the ship as their allies headed for another part of the forest, where they found a lone Skavenger Leader and ambushed it, taking it down in a few seconds since it wasn't expecting something like this. Since that was the only member of the ship's crew that they had found, and it was already unconscious, the group disembarked from the ship and headed over to another part of the area that housed the next part of the path that they were following, which brought them to a large tree trunk that they used to get even deeper into the forest, despite the fact that Bentley had to duck a little so he could fit inside it. What the group discovered was that the area that was on the other side of the tree trunk was somewhat different than what they were expecting it to be, as there was a large tree that seemed to be growing in the middle of a pool of poison, a tree that seemed like there was more to it than what they were currently seeing, so all of them kept their guard up as they explored the area, as none of them had any idea what was in here and knew that this could very well be a trap. While the majority of the group did that, however, Spyro and Cynder stood near the tree trunk that had allowed them to enter this area and stared at the tree for a few moments, mostly due to the fact that Spyro was sure he had seen something like this in the past, or maybe it was one of his previous life memories surfacing, which wasn't the first thing he had felt something like that happen since it had occurred during their visits to the previous islands, only he had seen a different version of events and preferred what he and the others had been able to do.
"This is where I fought Arborick, the Guardian of the Grove, when I was looking for you," Spyro said, though he had to assume the part about him looking for Cynder was his past life, since this was the first thing he had been to this place and he had the feeling that it was the same for the dragon that was beside him, before he focused on the tree for a moment, as he was sure the creature was waiting for something to happen, "Arborick! We come in peace! We have driven off all of the enemies that were invading your sacred forest and seek your blessing to move forward with our quest!"
He honestly wasn't sure why he had said that, mostly it felt like something appropriate to say since this place was the domain of the ancient tree sentinel that was resting in the area before them, while at the same time the rest of the group joined them, which was a good thing since they were in time to see the tree shift as the branches were moved to a safer position while large arms, a large chest, and a large head were made out of the wood, forming the upper torso of a being that looked similar to the Stone Sentinel, only this one was made out of wood and had to be the Elemental Scion for the forest, if they were right about this being the domain of the Elemental Lord of Poison. Arborick stared at all of them for a few moments, no doubt going over what Spyro had said and the fact that it had likely tossed out several Skavengers at some point before their arrival, not that they had seen any of those creatures, and while it did that the group could make out their airship off in the distance, where Fury was no doubt having the crew stop so they didn't get any closer. That was when the poison that was around Arborick shifted for a moment and an even larger being, this one looking to be one and a half times larger than the Magma Golem they had freed, appeared before them, where it appeared that it was wearing a suit of metal armor that kept the poison it was made from contained in a single space, with the metal being silver colored and didn't really clash with the purple colored poison it was made from. Spike instantly understood what they were seeing, as this had to be the Elemental Lord of Poison, one of Malefor's ancient allies, and in its hand were two twisted collars that looked like the ones the Apes put on the Elemental Scions, confirming his beliefs that someone had tried the same thing to the rulers of this forest, to which he crafted a magical image showing the pair that they knew who tried to do such a thing to them and that they were in the process of taking the Apes down.
The Poison Emperor, as that was the true name of the Elemental Lord of Poison, eventually nodded its head and set the broken collars down in front of them, allowing Spike to add them to the sack that contained the rest of the pieces he had been collecting, before both it and Arborick started to move out into the forest, even though the latter had to fashion itself some legs to do so, though once they were gone the group breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, it looks like both the Elemental Lord and Elemental Scion for the Poison Element are just fine, and, if I'm right, we might have just gained some new allies for the battle with the Apes." Spike commented, as that would be the best case scenario for this entire venture, even though it did tell them that the Skavengers were allies with the Apes since there were no Apes in the forest to start with, meaning one of the Leaders they had seen, due to there being no Commanders, must have tried to put the collars on the pair and had failed, resulting in everything in the Ancient Grove being mad.
"Let's head back to the airship and get out of here, we still have a world to save and a dragon to meet." Spyro said, as he was more worried about what the Apes were up to and what the Chronicler might say whenever they reached the area that he called home, to which the group nodded their heads before he and the other flyers took off, leaving the forest behind so they could focus on more pressing matters.
Spyro was sure that the Poison Emperor and Arborick would be able to take care of the other enemies that might still be inside the forest, as it was a large place after all, though when they landed on the deck of the airship, and were joined by Bianca and the others, he made sure Fury got them underway once more, as it was time to head toward the landmass the Well of Souls was on and stop the Apes from fulfilling their terrible plan, and maybe stop in to see the Chronicler, if he was willing to entertain guests, before they reached their true destination.
With the Ancient Grove safe from the Skavengers, and both the Poison Emperor and Arborick were safe from being forced to serve the Apes, due to the beings breaking the mind control collars before the group even arrived in the forest, Spyro and the others sat on the deck of the airship as Fury continued to travel in the direction of the landmass that the Well of Souls rested on, so they could focus on their true enemies. Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 were pleased with themselves, as it had been a while since any of them had been involved in an actual fight, in fact the last time they had actually fought any enemies was when they were engaging the Sorceress' forces, though Ember and the rest of their group congratulated them on a job well done, as they had done a good job dealing with their enemies in the forest and had shown that they had improved their skills since this adventure started. Spike also made sure to make a note of what they had discovered back in the Ancient Grove, that the Apes must have found some new allies in the form of the Skavengers and their leader, a larger dog-like being that Cynder called Skabb and his pair of parrots, Scratch and Sniff, though even Cynder was shocked by this turn of events and had to think about it for a few moments, as this was the first time she had seen anyone even ally themselves with the Apes, though that meant they would no doubt engage Captain Skabb at some point in the near future. Her reasoning was sound, in Spike's eyes, as if the Skavengers were allied with the Apes it was possible that Skabb was somewhere near the Well of Souls, where Gaul would no doubt be located, and to reach the area that the Elementium Key was located in they would have to fight Skabb and his crew, in addition to the Apes and whatever other dark allies they might have made.
The only good thing that came from their visit to the Ancient Grove was that they had allies, where Spike realized that he could have better explained the situation to the Poison Emperor, since it had helped create the five Elementium Keys, while the bad part about all of this was that they now knew their enemies had been increased from what they had a few hours ago and that the battle to the center of the Well of Souls would be even harder now.
"If the Skavengers are allies of the Apes, like we're saying they might be, than the Well of Souls' defenses will be far greater than anything you have seen so far," Sgt. Byrd stated, as he went over what they knew about the situation and knew that they had to take the new type of enemy they had discovered into consideration, even though the Skavengers didn't seem all that threatening from what he had seen during their time in the Ancient Grove, and while he said that he noticed that Spyro was staring out at the area that was in front of the airship, possibly recalling a memory or something, before he turned towards the rest of the group, "which means that its a good thing that we're joining you guys, since we have no idea what sort of defenses they might have installed in the area around the Well of Souls. Of course things might be in our favor if the Apes are under attack from the Skavengers and any of the other foes we've seen, like those Trolls you encountered back in Dante's Freezer, but we'll have to wait until we reach the landmass before we determine what's going on and what we'll need to do so we can reach the area that the Elementium Key is located in."
"We'll need to rest up for what's coming our way," Ember added, because for the most part she, her siblings, and the majority of the rest of their group had gone to multiple islands and had faced a number of enemies, without any true rest to be exact, so before they reached the Well of Souls she knew that they needed some sleep so none of them collapsed at the worst moment and opened a hole in their defenses, where she could see that Elora, Hunter, and a few of the others were getting tired and seemed to be agreeing with her.
"Agreed. We're no use to Warfang if we're exhausted," Elora said, though while she was used to traveling with Spike and his siblings, and taking part of their adventures while only resting between the various homeworlds, it had been some time since they had actually rested and she knew that all of them had to be getting tired, meaning it might be time for all of them to get some rest and prepare for what they would find on the landmass they were heading towards, "so all of us should take this chance to rest and ready ourselves for when we'll arrive at our destination, that way we can face the Apes and whatever allies they have without having to worry about collapsing during our trek through the area."
"The landmass the Well of Souls is on isn't the only landmass that we'll be passing by," Spyro commented, where the group turned to look at him for a few moments as he stared out at the area that was in front of the airship, showing them that he was focused on whatever he was doing right now and less on what they were talking about, even though he had taken the time to listen to what they had said since they returned to the airship, before he glanced at the others, "if what I recall from my old memories is correct, and there's a chance I might be wrong, we should be getting close to where the White Isle is located."
"The White Isle?" Hunter asked, as this was the first time that term had been used and he had no idea what Spyro was even talking about, though at the same time he wasn't the only one that was lost due to the fact that the rest of the group seemed to be looking a little lost as well, while Cynder appeared to be the only one who might have an idea as to what Spyro had mentioned, meaning they might discover something interesting soon, something that prompted Spike to take out his writing materials so he could make notes on what she might share with them, which he and the others had known was coming once a new area had been mentioned.
"Its an island that rests between Doxantha and the landmass the Well of Souls is located on," Cynder stated, showing everyone that she knew what Spyro was talking about and that she would be able to answer any questions the others might have on the subject, or at least she hoped so since one of the individuals that was near her was Spike, who was one of the smartest dragons in the world and he had an interest in things that rivaled all the dragons she knew, before she returned to what they were talking about, "and, from what I've been told, its also the home of the Celestial Caves, which just so happens to be the home of the Chronicler, who helped me understand the memories of my previous life, or rather the couple that I have anyway, which is why I recognized Spyro the moment I heard his description and saw him earlier... and, if we were to make a stop at the White Isle, the Chronicler would be able to help him understand all of the memories from his old life as well."
"Do we even have the time to do something like that?" Ember inquired, because while she was interested in seeing if the Chronicler would be able to revive Spyro's old memories, the ones that he shared with Cynder to be exact, her focus was on the fact that the eclipse of the Celestial Moons was close and they were already running out of time, so it might be something they would have to do when the Apes, the Skavengers, and the rest of their enemies were taken out and they were sure the world was no longer in danger, "According to what Spike figured out, after looking at the globe that told us about the danger that we have been dealing with, the moons will be forming their eclipse in the very near future... I'm not sure we can make such a stop, given what's coming our way."
"We have an entire day before the eclipse happens," Spike reminded them, even though he was the only one on the airship that even knew that piece of information, since he had done the research necessary to understand what the Apes were up to, after they assisted the Thunder Prince and Windlord with their own problems, before he considered what he and the others had seen back in the Ancient Grove, "however, if the Chronicler really has the power to open temporary portals between two points, like we discovered back when we were exploring the Ancient Grove, we could stop at the island for a time, see if he can help Spyro with his old memories, get some well deserved sleep, and then use one of his portals to get close to the Well of Souls, which would make up for whatever time we might spend on the White Isle and let us sneak up on the Apes without them hearing the airship."
The group glanced at each other for a moment before Spyro decided that Spike was right, they should head to where the White Isle was located and see if the Chronicler would be willing to help them, which he should given that he was one of Ignitus and the other Guardians' friends, given what they had been told earlier when they first encountered Cynder, to which Spyro made sure Fury knew that they might be stopping at an island in the middle of the sea, provided that he was right about it being on the way to where the Well of Souls rested.
As it turned out Spyro's old memories about the part of the sea they were in proved to be right, as not thirty minutes later the group spotted an island that they seemed to be approaching, one where the coloration of the sea changed to an aqua blue, unlike the normal blue everyone was used to seeing, before they noticed that the beaches were made of white sand, there were shards of ice sticking out of places, and there was a temple of some kind built in what appeared to be the heart of the entire island. This had to be the White Isle that Spyro had mentioned and that Cynder had told them about, based on what they were seeing at the moment, though as they did that Hunter pointed out a large tortoise that seemed to be either circling the island or was just swimming around it before it dived under the water, where it seemed rather peaceful and made them wonder if this place was possibly the most peaceful location in the entirety of Doxantha and the islands that surrounded it. Based on what they could see there didn't appear to be any airships, either the faulty ones of the Apes or the pirate-like ones that the Skavengers used when they were exploring the Ancient Grove, and it didn't look like there were any normal ships either, which would mean that this island might be free of enemies and that they wouldn't have to waste time dealing with the Apes or the Skavengers while they looked for the Chronicler. Of course Spyro wasn't totally convinced that there weren't enemies lingering on the island, which the rest of the group assumed was from the couple of memories he had of this place, though none of that stopped them from getting ready to disembark from the airship and see if they could find the dragon that they were looking for, all while hoping this wasn't a waste of their precious time, as the moons were getting closer to forming their eclipse.
Fury, knowing that they were in a race against the clock, was of the opinion that they just continue on to the landmass that the Well of Souls was located on, to stop the Apes before they acquired the final Elementium Key that they needed to fulfill their terrible mission, but in the end he sighed and lowered the airship into the water that was on the edge of the island so the group could disembark and find the dragon that they were looking for.
"So this is the White Isle," Cynder commented, where she and the others disembarked from the airship and reached what she knew the rest of the group called the 'starting area' for the island that they were stopping at, leaving those on the airship to do whatever they wanted while they sought out the Chronicler to see if he would be willing to help them, which she was sure he would since Spyro was with her, someone the ancient dragon had been interested in meeting since the day he learned about him, though that was when she turned towards Spyro, "Do you know the way to the temple that the Chronicler calls home?"
"I thought that, given your knowledge of the place, you would know the way to the Chronicler," Hunter stated, because based on all of the things that Cynder had told them about this island he had assumed that she knew the way forward, but now it was sounding like he might be wrong in his assumptions, though he waited to see what the dragon had to say as all of them advanced through the island and headed towards the temple.
"She doesn't... but I do." Spyro replied, answering the question that Cynder had asked him while making sure Hunter's statement was addressed as well, though as he said that he started to walk into the area that was in front of them as he tapped into his memories, because the more time he spent looking at the area they were in the more something in his old memories stirred and came to the surface, "From what I can determine, from the couple of times my old memories have come to the surface and have made me pause for a few moments, Cynder and I might have walked different paths during our old lives, only intersecting very now and then, before finally meeting up and traveling the same path... or at least that is what I think happened. Sparx and I, or rather the Sparx that I traveled with in the past, came here to meet the Chronicler and figure out why he was talking to me in my dreams... or something like that... but we were the only ones, as Cynder was somewhere else when we came here, and we met up at some point after meeting the Chronicler."
"Interesting. Well then, lead the way." Bianca said, as all of this was interesting, hearing about the past lives that both Spyro and Cynder once had and how they were affecting what was happening right now, though at the same time it might prove to be to their benefit if Spyro was able to recall the exact path he took while he was exploring this island, and it was easy to tell that Sparx was confused about part of Spyro's comment, meaning that the dragonfly in question didn't have any memories of the past and that the pair of dragons might be the only ones with this sort of bond.
Spyro nodded and started walking forward, where he lead the others toward a tunnel that had a circular door, which seemed to be as tall as an adult dragon, that happened to be blocking the way, though as they approached it Spike noted the blue markings on the door and had Spyro loose a burst of his Ice Breath at the door, something that caused the group to turn their heads for a moment as his brother did just that. Not even a few seconds later the sphere in the middle of the stone door glowed and rolled to the left, opening the way forward, where Spike revealed that the door was meant to stop land invaders from getting deeper into the island and that the only method to open the way was to use the Ice Breath on it, just like he had Spyro do, and once all of them were in the next segment of the tunnel the door rolled back into place and sealed itself. He had the feeling that it would either open when they wanted to head back or they would have to use the same tactic to open it again, though instead of focusing on that he and the others turned their attention to the stone door that had yellow markings on it, where Spike said nothing as Spyro channeled his Lightning Breath on the door and made it open before their eyes, showing them that Spyro understood what needed to be done. From there Spyro had to do the same thing twice more, using both his Earth Breath and his Fire Breath to open the next two doors that rested in the tunnel, though once they were passed the door that responded to his flames the group found themselves in what appeared to be the outermost area of the enter temple, or at least that was what it looked like due to the walls that were in front of them, meaning they were making progress.
One thing that kept everyone on their guard was the fact that there were no enemies, though there were three stone dragons in the area the tunnel had brought them to, just like the ones that Spyro and the others had seen inside Malefor's Arcanaeum, who turned and looked at the group for a few moments before bowing their heads towards them, showing off the flexibility of the statues so Spike could wonder if the slumbering army of statues could do the same thing, which was when a few platforms appeared to their left and formed a path that lead to another tunnel. It was rather interesting, since everyone in the group could have sworn the statues would have been tasked with making sure they weren't intruders or something, but in the end Hunter had to guess that if someone came through the four elemental doors and used the right techniques on them, or elements to be exact, the statues might have to stand down, though while he did wonder what might happen if an Ape forced a couple of dragons to open the way Bianca stated that such a thing would likely alert the statues and they would attack the invaders. From what they could tell it seemed like all of the tunnels on the outskirts of the temple were still intact and didn't look like they were falling apart, while at the same time the one they were currently walking through lead them to a small area that seemed to be where trees were growing, ones that seemed native to this island since Spike knew none of them had seen these types before, due to the purple hue each of them had, a hue that matched both his and Spyro's main scales. He also came to the conclusion that the statues were both caretakers for the grounds of the island and guardians designed to protect the Chronicler, even if he assumed that such a powerful dragon really didn't need the help and only took it so that the Guardians knew he was safe from harm, and the former of that odd thought was proven to be true when they noticed a pair of statues tending to the trees and the flowers that happened to be growing around them.
The area that the second tunnel, which was shorter than the first one, brought them to just so happened to have a small walkway to the left of the end of the tunnel, one that put them on a higher level than most of the surrounding area and showed them where they were going next, as there just so happened to be a ledge that the dragons and Sol could glide to while Sgt. Byrd used his jet pack to get over there and Bianca used her magic to teleport the rest of the group over to the area in question. Once they reached the next part of the area Spyro headed to their left, as there was nothing to the right of where they landed, where the group walked through what appeared to be some woods that were growing on the island and found some statues that were tending to the area, along with a wall to make sure visitors knew the boundaries of the temple that rested on the island, though as soon as the statues spotted them one of them moved a small pedestal, which had a dragon's head carved into it, right into a slot and the next door opened so they could move forward. Spyro, who was partly relieving his memories of what he might have done to move through this place, nodded his head towards the statues and moved towards the door so they could progress deeper into the island, where he made sure the others were through the door before the statue closed the way behind them, where everyone assumed it was some sort of way to keep the Chronicler, and the temple, safe from danger. From what all of them could tell it was hard to find this island in the first place, where Spike guessed that there was a magical fog or something that made those the Chronicler didn't want to see, like Apes for example, unable to find the island and would eventually spell their doom, while at the same time the inverse was also true, the ones that the Chronicler wanted to see would be able to find the island no problem, meaning it all depending on the dragon that lived on the island, and, more importantly, it meant that he was expecting them to arrive at some point in the near future.
Cynder was still stunned by what Spike had to say, since she was still getting used to the fact that he was able to take a few moments or minutes to study something and could know exactly what was going on, or at least have a good idea as to what might be happening, though since the others weren't even phased by Spike's explanation she decided to say nothing about what she heard and continued to follow Spyro, since he was focused on recalling the way forward and less on what his brother was saying at the moment... though that meant leading them through a short passage that brought them to an area that could be a courtyard for the temple, one which had four tall statues with stone slots in front of them, where all four slots had a crystal orb inside them.
"Four statues, each having a different colored collar and crystal to represent the four Prime Elements," Cynder said, as she and the others were studying the area that they were in, even though there were a few pools in this area that looked clear and pretty pristine, meaning there had to be a well or something nearby, especially since Spike quickly tested both of them and found that they were safe to drink, before she glanced at Spyro, who was in the middle of the courtyard and just so happened to be staring at the statues.
"A voice once said '...Sacred Treasure... Hallowed Ground... Pathways Unfold... Lost is Found... Prove your Worth with Quick Desire... Ice and Earth, Lightning and Fire'." Spyro recalled, as once upon a time a voice had echoed when he came to a stop in this exact courtyard, to see what sort of test he was going to be given, before he stared at the four crystals that were in front of the four statues, which were shaped to be adult dragons and likely wouldn't move like the other statues did, which was when he started to blast the four crystals in the order he was given, starting with Ice, than the Earth one, followed by Lightning, and then finally Fire.
As soon as he struck the last crystal, where each of them were now glowing with the coloration of the element they represented, the door that they were connected to glowed for a second before opening, revealing the way forward while showing the others that Spyro had learned a lot from hanging out with Spike, even though it was mostly due to him seeing what his past self had done, despite the fact that the test in this area was different from what he recalled, but he decided that there would be time to talk later as he pushed forward once more. As they entered the passage that was on the other side of the door the group found a book that was moving on its own, flapping as if it were a bird or something, though the oddest thing was that Spike resisted the urge to zap it back to being a normal book, mostly because there was a magical signature on the tome, one that he didn't recognize, so he thought it would be bad to annoy the Chronicler and decided to leave the tome alone, even though it was on a subject he hadn't read about yet and that really made him resist the urge he was feeling right now. That, in turn, brought them to what appeared to be a chamber of some kind that had five doors, or six if they counted the one they were coming through, where one was directly across from where they were standing, two were to their left and the last two were to their right, though Spike noticed that the doors to the left had symbols that were connected to the Fire and Ice Elements, Fire being the closest to them and Ice being the closest to the door that was across from them, while the right doors had symbols for Earth and Lightning, Earth being close to them while Lightning being near the blank door. There was also a large indent in the floor, reminding them of the chamber that they had first met two of the four Guardians in, Ignitus and Terrador to be exact, meaning that the Chronicler likely hosted meetings in this very temple and had cushions and other things set up so everyone could relax while they talked, even though Spike spied a few small shelves that had some books on them, which he would look at later, if they had the time to do so.
"Wow, what is this place?" Agent 9 asked, because he and the others had been silent as they had moved through the fortifications between the starting area and the temple that they had entered, mostly since this seemed to be important for Spyro and none of them wanted to get in the way of what he might uncover while they explored what the island had to offer them, he figured that now was a good time to ask a question and see if either Spyro or Spike could answer it, though the others were looking at the area they were in.
"I think this might be a training area of some kind, where dragons are supposed to master one of the Prime Elements, either before or after they train at one of the islands," Spike replied, referring to the fact that Ignitus must have trained at the Isle of Bozibig, Terrador at Tall Plains, Cyril at Dante's Freezer, and Volteer at Concurrent Skies, before he considered what had to be on the other side of the final door, the bare one that seemed totally different from what they were seeing right now, even if the rest of the group seemed more interested in what was around them.
"You would be correct in your assessment." a voice said, surprising most of the group for a few seconds, due to the fact that they had assumed that they were alone in the chamber that they were in, before the more ordinary door opened before their eyes and revealed that they definitely weren't alone, which was the moment everyone turned towards it, as all of them were interested in seeing what the Chronicler looked like, as that was the only person that should be inside this temple and they were eager to see if they were correct or not.
Standing in the middle of the circular doorway was a gray scaled dragon, an adult that stood on two legs like all of the other adults the group were used to seeing these days, who happened to be wearing a dark blue robe that stopped at his knees and seemed to have light blue symbols on it, where Spike was sure that each of them were magic based and that it would take him some time to see what each of them meant or if they gave the dragon some powers, like the Water Safety spell he used every now and then. The dragon had pale blue colored eyes, large dark gray colored wings that had a pale coloration to the membrane, while having a few dark gray spine and tail spines, in addition to a dark gray spike at the end of his tail, before the group noticed that he had four horns on top of his head, the upper pair curved towards the ceiling while the lower pair were curved downwards, and the tips of all four of them ended in a bronze spike. He had a light gray colored goatee under his mouth, one that looked like it was well maintained like the rest of his body, which was followed by everyone discovering that he was also wearing a few golden bracelets on his tail, sort of like the platinum ones that Cynder was wearing, and he had a golden collar that rested around his neck, one that had a light blue crystal attached to it, one that Spike was sure had some sort of magical power to it. In addition to everything that they were seeing the dragon also had a brown belt around his waist that a sack of some kind was attached to, one that had a couple of scrolls sticking out of it, though most of them were sure he could seal the top of it in some manner to protect the contents of the sack and to prevent the scrolls from flying out whenever he was flying through the air.
All in all Spyro and the others were positive that this dragon was powerful, even if most of them couldn't feel the bits of power that the dragon possessed, and the look on Cynder's face told them that this had to be the Chronicler, while told them that they had succeeded in their mission to find the dragon that could help Spyro with the memories of his old life, just like he had helped Cynder do the same thing all those years ago, according to what they were told when they first met the dragon that stood by Spyro's side almost all the time.
"This part of the temple is used to test a dragon's connection to the elements, and there is another chamber below us that contains four more doors, for the elements of Wind, Shadow, Poison, and Fear." the dragon continued, revealing that there was more to this chamber than what they were seeing and that told the group that the floor they were standing on had to be an elevator of some kind, so whoever was trying to learn about their elements could access the other doors for their trials, before the dragon bowed his head for a moment as he stared at the group that was in the chamber, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Chronicler, one of Warfang's allies and friend to the four Guardians and the High Guardian, though I am also the caretaker of this temple and the Books of Time, which have recorded almost every part of our history and have a section devoted to the lives of every dragon in the world."
"No way... the Books of Time exist?!" Spike exclaimed, because those tomes were considered a myth to everyone and all of the other scholars agreed that they didn't exist in the first place, despite the existence of the Arcanaeum, but hearing that the books were real, that the tales were possibly true, and that they were close to the library that the Books of Time made up, made this entire visit to the White Isle worth it, even if he had to read the tomes later, after they saved the entire world from the Apes' terrible plan.
"Indeed they do, though that isn't why you came to find me." the Chronicler replied, confirming Spike's statement in a matter of seconds as he stepped into the chamber the group was standing in, where all of them were interested in what he was going to be doing, before he walked over to where Spyro was standing and smiled at the young dragon, who tilted his head for a moment, where the group remained silent as they watched what was going to happen, "Spyro, it is good to see you again, even if you might not remember who I am."
"I... I kind of remember you, but its hard to be sure," Spyro said, where Ember and the others realized that he might be having a hard time recalling all of the memories of his old life, or the ones that were associated with the dragon that was in front of them, but that made sense due to the fact that he had only just started tapping into his memories of his previous life, unlike Cynder who had dealt with them at an early age, according to what they told her, before he thought about what the dragon had said, "Wait, you remember me?"
"Yes, but not in the way that Cynder remembers you. I don't have many memories of my previous life, unlike how you and Cynder have a good number of memories of your previous lives," the Chronicler stated, informing everyone that there could be a few other dragons in the world that remembered what had happened in their previous life, or at least they had to assume that the individuals in question were dragons and not people like Gaul or some of their enemies, before the Chronicler looked over Spyro for a few moments and then beckoned for him and the others to follow him, "I know why you have come to the White Isle, even though you were focused on taking out the Apes before the eclipse happens: you came to this island so I can awaken your old memories and help you understand them, just like I did for Cynder all those years ago when they first started to manifest themselves. I have the power to do such a thing, though at the same time I can open the way to the Well of Souls, so all of you can take a few hours to rest and then, when morning arrives, you can head to your destination and engage the Apes that are trying to get their hands on the last Elementium Key... oh, and the answer to the next question is 'no', I had no idea that Gaul was going after the Keys that the Elemental Scions were given by Malefor all those years ago, otherwise I would have warned Ignitus and the others ahead of time."
Ember paused for a moment, due to the fact that she wasn't expecting the dragon to answer a question she hadn't even asked, before deciding not to worry about it as everyone followed the Chronicler into a much larger chamber, which could very well be the heart of the entire temple from what they had seen so far, where they found an intricate looking hourglass in the middle of the chamber, one that Spike assumed was designed to tell the time of the day that was outside the temple, while the ceiling had a numerous amount of markings, ones for the days, months, and events that could be happening in Doxantha, if Spike's thoughts about it were correct.
"Come, sit in front of me and I will work my magic to help you with your memories," the Chronicler said, though as he said that he pulled over some cushions and set them down in front of the hourglass, while at the same time the couple of doors the group could see in the chamber, save for the main one that was opposite of the one they had walked through, showing that he was likely giving them something to do while he worked with Spyro for the next few minutes, "As for the rest of you, well, you are free to explore the rest of the temple and do whatever you want to relax, though I have set up a small alert that will go off once we're done."
Before the rest of the group did anything Spyro sat in the area that the Chronicler wanted him to sit in and Cynder sat near them, no doubt to support Spyro in case something happened while his memories were being awoken and he dealt with everything from his past life, though once those two were ready the group split up and headed through the doors that had been opened for them, where Spike found himself in a library that rivaled what was inside the Arcanaeum, which caused a familiar look to appear in his eyes as he dashed forward and started pulling books over to a table so he could see what knowledge they contained. Sgt. Byrd, Bianca, and Agent 9 found that the door they walked through brought them to the edge of the island, where a beach that seemed large enough for them to have Fury dock the airship rested, as in there seemed to be a large portion that the vessel could sit in while not covering the entire area, so if they wanted to relax at the beach there was an area where they could do that, to which Bianca teleported out of the area and headed to the airship so she could help Fury move into this area. Ember, Hunter, Elora, Sol, and Sheila found what appeared to be a training area of some kind, one that seemed like it was supposed to get dragons ready for whatever trials the elemental doors might have for those wanting to learn about the elements they were tapping into, in addition to an area or two where adult dragons could train with a variety of weapons, all of which drew Ember's attention as she noticed that they were pristine and didn't look like they would be breaking anytime soon. Everyone else found that the door that Sgt. Byrd and his group used could take them to other parts of the temple, in addition to the beach, where they assumed the doors were probably enchanted to take someone to their most desired location, at least in terms of what the temple held, though they didn't go too far from each other, as the moment the Chronicler was done with Spyro, and said that it was okay to rejoin him, they would return to his side and see what he might remember.
An hour passed before anything happened, which was when the Chronicler broke the connection with Spyro and let the young dragon continue on his own, knowing that he no longer needed his assistance in figuring out the memories of his old life, before he found Spike and made the suggestion that he head back to the Ancient Grove and tell the Poison Emperor the whole truth, since there was a part of his statement they had forgotten to tell the ancient being. Spike agreed with the idea, but at the same time he had no idea how he was going to get back to the forest they had just explored and then get back here in a timely manner, as even with his teleportation spells it would take some time for him to get from one point to another, though that was when the Chronicler informed him that he was going to open the way for him, by using his power on the unopened door in the chamber the hourglass was in. The ancient dragon revealed that part of his power allowed him to, as Ignitus put it once upon a time, 'fold time and space', which meant he could create long distance portals that would allow someone to go from one point, say the temple they were in, and bring them to another point, like the Ancient Grove, in the span of a few seconds, which was how he was able to respond to the summons of the Guardians so quickly, whenever they needed to talk with him about something. As Spike wrapped his head around the advanced teleportation spell that the Chronicler was telling him the specifics of, one that was far more advanced than what Nora was currently capable of, the ancient dragon approached the ordinary door and channeled his magic into it, causing a shimmer to wash over the stone and reveal a portal that would take someone to the Ancient Grove, which was when Spike rushed through it so he could tell the Poison Emperor and Arborick what he had forgotten to tell them.
"I know Spike might ask this when he gets back, though I'll ask it for him," Bianca said, as she had returned from telling Fury where to land the airship about thirty minutes ago and had joined Spike inside the library, mostly because the history of dragons had interested her after she learned about Malefor and how he used to protect Avilion, though she was slightly interested in what she had just seen and knew Spike would have a question about it, so she was going to beat Spike to the punch and tell him what she would be learning when he returned, "If you have the power to open a portal that connects two points, such as Warfang to the White Isle, and allows for instant travel between those two locations, than why don't you open a portal between here and the part of the Well of Souls that the last Elementium Key is resting in?"
"I can't." the Chronicler admitted, though at the same time he wasn't angry with Bianca, since he knew she was trying to figure out a way for them to get the last Elementium Key without having to fight all the Apes, Skavengers, and whatever else resided in or around the Well of Souls, before he held up his hand to stop what was coming next, due to the fact that he knew she would try to say something, hence him stopping her first, "Allow me to explain: Well of Souls is a place of evil, malice, and despair, where the black hearted gather and the souls of the ancient evils awaken to walk the halls when the eclipse occurs, and the closer the moons get to forming the eclipse the greater those sinister aspects become, so much so that I cannot open a portal into the heart of the mountain... in fact its a miracle that I'm even able to open a portal to the outskirts, otherwise you would be returning to Warfang once the eclipse was finished."
Bianca thought about it for a moment and guessed that it made sense, the darkness that surrounded the mountain was too great for someone like the Chronicler to pierce, making her wonder if the cause was the final Key itself, due to the fact that it had been forged by Malefor himself, though before she said anything else Spike came through the portal and informed them that he had told the Poison Emperor the rest of the news, even though it appeared that the Ancient Grove was preparing for war. Once Spike was back the Chronicler closed the portal and the door returned to normal, indicating that he was done with it for the time being and that he would no doubt use it again when it was time for the group to head to the Well of Souls, a place where they would be fighting nothing but enemies and would likely have little time for breaks, given that they needed to stop Gaul from acquiring the final Elementium Key, though Bianca made sure to tell Spike what she had learned, so he understood why they couldn't just teleport into the heart of the mountain and grab the Key right now, once Spyro was done messing with his memories. When she mentioned Spyro, however, that was when strands of magical energy started to gather around the dragon in question, where Cynder backed up a bit in case something bad were to happen, though that was followed by the alert, a few chimes to be exact, going off in the temple and caused the rest of the group to stop what they were doing so they could rush back to this chamber and see what was going on, and see what sort of information Spyro had learned. Not a few moments later the magic condensed into a purple glow that caused a number of purple colored waves of energy to be emitted from the area that Spyro was now floating in, where it was easy to tell that none of the waves damaged anything and just seemed to pass through the area, before all of it came rushing back to Spyro as he snapped his eyes open, where they seemed to be surrounded by the glow of the Aether, the element he had only tapped into once in the past.
As the magic disappeared Spike noticed that the glow started to fade as well, returning his brother's eyes to what they normally were, before he touched down on the cushion that the Chronicler had him sit on earlier, where everyone could tell that while he seemed normal, as there were no physical changes to his body, the air around him felt slightly different, no doubt due to the memories of his old life being fully awakened at long last.
"S... Spyro?" Cynder asked, where despite the fact that she knew the Chronicler was able to help him deal with all of the memories he had of his old life, just like he had helped her when they first started to surface, she seemed somewhat worried for him, far more than anyone else in the chamber, and that was counting Spike and Ember, his siblings, though she did pause when Spyro turned to look at her for a moment.
What happened next was that Spyro walked over to where Cynder was standing and came to a stop when he was in front of her, just like she had done when they first encountered each other, despite the fact that Cynder had stopped not a few seconds after discovering that something was wrong about the situation, where Spyro followed that up with a smile as he did what Cynder had stopped herself from doing earlier, he nuzzled her for a moment, where the group watched as Cynder seemed overjoyed as she embraced Spyro, who returned the gesture not a few seconds later.
"Its alright Cynder, I'm fine... in fact, I've never been better, and now I remember all that you remember," Spyro said, showing the group that the Chronicler had succeeded in awakening all of the shared memories that the pair had, and had likely awoken all of the others that were inside Spyro's mind, since they knew there were more than just the ones the pair had in common, before they pulled back from each other for a moment, which was when he glanced over to Spike as he considered some of the memories he just unlocked, "Spike, the being that the Apes are dead set on freeing, the one that's imprisoned inside the ancient prison that is located in the depths of the now active volcano of Doxantha, its something called the Destroyer, isn't it?"
"That's right, and Malefor put a lot of effort into making sure it was sealed away," Spike replied, though at this point he wasn't going to question how Spyro knew about the Destroyer, especially when he made sure not to reveal too much and freak out everyone that had been in the library earlier, before he sighed as he recalled what else the book in question had revealed to him, "According to the tome I read, when the Destroyer is awakened the Belt of Fire will quickly form around the volcano that it will crawl out of at some point in time, though once the massive elemental emerges from the volcano it will start to walk around the entire world, forming something Malefor named the 'Ring of Annihilation', and once it returns to its starting point, calculated to be between half a day to a day's time, it will pass through the Belt of Fire and jump back into the volcano... if that happens, well, the Belt of Fire will spread across the world in a torrent of fire and ash, while the world itself will be torn asunder until nothing is left."
"The end of the world... the event we're trying to stop." Ember said, where she and the others thought about it, as not a whole lot of new information was being given to them, save for the name of the beast Malefor had sealed away and what it was going to do once it was released from its prison, before she considered something that none of them seemed to be talking about, "Wait, you said that Malefor wrote all this down, right? So how in the world did he even know about this Destroyer, when none of the other dragons at the time did? Also, how do you two know about it?"
"Because we fought the Destroyer in our previous lives," Cynder answered, something that made the rest of the group pause for a moment, as none of them were expecting to hear her say such a thing in the first place, before she considered the memories that Spyro had focused on when he asked Spike about the Destroyer, which was when she sighed as she started to speak again, "or at least we tried to. In our past lives we were defending Warfang, which had been under attack by the forces of the Dark Master, and after we bested the Golem that he sent to crush the city, something that took us a lot of time and effort I'll have you know, our enemy waited until nightfall to reveal his hand, calling forth the Destroyer and sent it on a walk around the world, forming the Ring of Annihilation. Spyro and I traveled underground, through an ancient part of the city that doesn't exist in this life, and came out near the dam that you guys no doubt noticed earlier, when you first reached Doxantha, a dam that we attacked and eventually destroyed, allowing the water to rush in and stall our foe as it entered the area we were in. From there we attacked it with everything we had and even destroyed its heart, which we thought would have ended the battle then and there, but the Dark Master wasn't about to play fair and seized control of the Destroyer, forcing it to crawl out of the water and then crawl towards the volcano, due to the fact that we did break its legs while we were attacking it. In the end we had to fight the one pulling the strings, the Dark Master himself, who I keep seeing as a mass of shadows, in a battle to save the entire world from destruction, and I think we won that fight, but failed to win the war..."
"From what I have gleamed from your memories, you and Spyro beat the Dark Master in battle, either sealing him away or outright destroying him with the spirits of the ancient dragons aiding you," the Chronicler commented, speaking for the first time since Spyro had emerged from his mind and showed Cynder that the dragon she remembered was still there, he only needed some help to recall what he had forgotten and get used to his old memories, even if it would take him some time to fully get used to everything those memories revealed to him, "but with the Destroyer reaching its true destination, the volcano, he succeeded in his goal and ended up tearing the world apart... something that lead to both you and Spyro making the ultimate sacrifice, as you both gave your lives to stop the world from being destroyed and put it back together... or at least that is what I can gleam from both of your memories. In the end you two beat the Dark Master and saved the world, even if it was altered to what it currently is, and life started all over again... eventually bringing us back to a different version of the war that caused one world to end and another to begin.
"Okay, but how did Malefor know the Destroyer even existed?" Elora inquired, as that was the part of the puzzle that was bothering her at the moment, even though she was trying her hardest not to think about the fact that history was, in an odd way, repeating itself and that Spyro and Cynder were caught in another plot that involved the end of the world, one that they needed to stop at all costs, before an idea came to her as she considered her own question, "Is it possible that Malefor had the memories of a previous life as well, ones that involved Warfang, the Destroyer, and the very real threat it posed to the rest of the world?"
"Honestly, I don't know." the Chronicler replied, though it was an interesting thing to think about, Malefor possibly knowing what the future held if the Destroyer was left unchecked and that he could have used that knowledge to seal the creature away, to prevent it from fulfilling its terrible destiny for as long as the prison was able to hold it there, slumbering in the depths of the volcano, before he sighed for a moment, "Listen, while all of you are sleeping, to rest up for the attack on the Well of Souls, not to mention all of the enemies that will be guarding it, I'll find the High Guardian, Cynder's father to be exact, and tell him the news... if things take a turn for the worse, and the Apes get their hands on the final Elementium Key, you'll want him by your side when the war starts."
"Its good to know that he'll be there, if we fail to be exact," Spike said, but even as he said that he realized that Spyro must have fought the forces of the Well of Souls on his own, meaning this time the odds were more in their favor than they had been in the past and that they had a better chance of overcoming their foes and acquiring the final Key, which he would seal away in the Arcanaeum, to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, before he turned towards Cynder for a moment, "So, um, whose your father anyway? I don't think we've learned anything about him, save for the fact that he's the High Guardian of Warfang, since we arrived in the city and started helping the Guardians restore order to the various islands and the rest of Doxantha."
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you," Cynder remarked, though at the same time she smiled as she and Spyro headed off to an area where they could either sit or lay down so they could talk about their past and what they were going to do differently this time around, leaving the rest of the group to do whatever they wanted before heading back to the airship for some dinner.
The Chronicler was right, of course, they were going to need all the rest they could get for what the morning of the next day arrived, as they were going to be fighting a massive amount of enemies, with no hope of allies this time around, so all of them would need to be prepared for anything that might happen when they assaulted the Well of Souls, which could very well be the greatest battle of their entire lives and would no doubt decide the fate of their entire world.
The Chronicler was true to his word and let the group stay in the temple as they rested and prepared themselves for the battle of their lives, as the forces that were waiting for them at the Well of Souls would likely be greater than everything they had faced in the past and they needed all the rest they could get, since there was no telling what might be waiting for them on the landmass that was their true destination. Spyro was the only one that knew what might be waiting for them, given what he had seen in his past life, though even he knew that things might be different because this time they hadn't fought Captain Skabb and his Skavengers, where he dealt with them in his past life before he even reached the White Isle, so they were likely going to run into those enemies while they were exploring the Well of Souls. As such Spike and the others took the time to listen to what Spyro had to say and what he might know about what they would be seeing in the near future, all so they might have some edge when they left the White Isle and started their assault on the fortress the Apes were in, to stop their enemies from acquiring the final Elementium Key that they were trying to steal from where Malefor placed it a thousand years ago, when he sealed the Destroyer away. That was something that made the group go silent for a moment, the Destroyer and what it would do if it was allowed to break out of the prison it was trapped inside, creating the Ring of Annihilation and blowing apart the entire world, something Spyro and Cynder had stopped by making the greatest sacrifice they could have made.
While they were talking the Chronicler did what he told them earlier, he opened a portal to the area that Cynder's father, the High Guardian of Warfang, was resting in so he could inform him as to what was going on and enlist his aid if the Apes succeeded in acquiring the final piece of their puzzle, and he made sure none of them followed him by closing the portal behind him, that way they would learn who the High Guardian was later, regardless of what the Apes did, as all of them suspected that he might congratulate them if they stopped the Apes and made sure the final Elementium Key remained in the Well of Souls.
In addition to that the group made sure to tell Nestor and the others on the airship about their plans, how they would be spending the night at the temple and that, when morning hit and they had their breakfast, the Chronicler would open the way for them to head to where the Well of Souls was located, to make up for the time they were spending on the White Isle and to give them the element of surprise this time around. Right now they needed such a thing, as there was no telling what the Apes were doing and what they might have prepared for the eventual arrival of those that would try to stop them from acquiring the final piece of their puzzle, though they would be lucky if the Apes assumed they weren't coming and weren't ready to defend the path to the area the Key was located in, despite the fact that the group knew it likely wouldn't turn out to be that way. That was the reason they were preparing for a grand battle between them and the Apes that were waiting for them, hence why Ember and some of the others used the training area and made sure they were as ready as they could be for when the morning arrived, while the rest of the group relaxed and waited for their host to arrive, to tell them that he had spoken with the High Guardian and that the mysterious dragon knew about the threat that the Apes posed to the rest of the world. Cynder, of course, remained silent about her father, refusing to tell the rest of the group about him since she knew they would be seeing him in the near future and that they would be shocked by what they might discover, hence the reason Spike decided to stop asking and just wait and see what the future held for them, something that the others followed not a few seconds later.
Eventually the Chronicler returned to the temple and informed them that he was successful in telling his friend about what the Apes were up to, not to mention the fact that his friend would move out of where he was located, regardless of whether or not the group actually stopped the Apes from acquiring the final Key, but the group were hoping that they would be able to swipe the Elementium Key and then get out before the Apes were able to acquire it. Once he was back the group invited him to join them for dinner, where Cynder confirmed that the food was good and that Alvar was very talented, especially given that he was one of the greatest chefs in the Dragon Realms, and it wasn't long before the ancient dragon agreed with Cynder as they ate the meal that had been prepared for them, even though Nestor and the others did try to question the Chronicler for a time. It was mostly due to the fact that he was one of the oldest dragons they had the pleasure of meeting and there was no telling what he might know or what he might share with them, something that Spike shared after looking at what was located inside the Chronicler's library, an area that he would love to look at and might even return to once they were done saving the world. Other than that it appeared that this dinner was basically the same as the ones they had since they started this adventure, the expedition to the continent of Doxantha so they could figure out what the third Aether icon meant, but they needed something like this before even thinking about attacking the Well of Souls, which might be the greatest fight of their entire lives.
Once dinner was over, and both Cynder and the Chronicler thanked them for it, the group returned to their chambers and turned in for a few hours, so they could be as rested as they possibly could for when they attacked the Well of Souls, not to mention all of the Apes and whatever defenses they might have set up ahead of time, while the Chronicler returned to his temple and rested as well, to prepare for what the group was going to do when morning arrived.
When the early hours of the morning arrived Spyro and the others got up and had a quick breakfast, not that Alvar was bothered by them getting up early since he was used to the various cook times of the foods he prepared for everyone in the Artisans lands, before the group quickly gathered everything they might need for their assault on the Well of Souls and all of the enemies that would be waiting for them. Spike, even though he had brought Akilesh with them and kept it in his chamber, decided not to bring the staff with him, since he had the feeling that he might not need something as strong as it during their assault, before he closed the door, sealed it with magic to make sure no one went for the staff, and rejoined the group as they headed for the temple and the chamber that the Chronicler would be waiting in. As they did that, where Nestor and the others wished them well in their quest to stop the Apes from acquiring the final Elementium Key, Spike did notice that the moons were visible in the sky and that they were much closer to forming an eclipse, way ahead of time if his thoughts were correct on the matter, meaning he had either studied the globe in the Arcanaeum wrong or they had underestimated how quickly the eclipse was going to form, though this did mean they had a few hours, at best, before the Night of Eternal Darkness happened. All of them also noticed that, despite the fact that it was supposed to be about five or six in the morning, the coloration of the sky made it look like it was around nighttime, to which they turned their attention to what they were doing as they walked into the temple and came to a stop when they reached the chamber that the Chronicler was standing in, where the bare door had been turned into another portal for them to use.
"As I promised, you now have a portal that will take you to the outskirts of the Well of Souls, which is the closest I can get during the Night of Eternal Darkness," the Chronicler stated, not that the group was expecting him to try and hold all of them back, not when the fate of the world was at stake and there was a chance that they might be able to stop it from happening if they got their hands on the Key the Apes were after, before he glanced at the portal for a moment, "also, I'll make sure that the connection between this side of the portal and the other side remains intact, that way you can return to this temple in a matter of seconds, even if it means backtracking to the area I'm sending you to."
"Good, then we'll be able to beat the Apes to Warfang if the worst comes to pass," Spyro said, though he knew that all of them were strong and that they would be able to overcome anything that was thrown at them, just like they had done in the past, to which he focused on making sure they succeeded and charged through the portal that was in front of them, as he was eager to get this part of their adventure over with and Cynder was the first one to follow him, followed by Spike, Ember, and the rest of the group as they left the temple behind and headed for the Well of Souls.
What the group discovered when they appeared on the other side of the portal, which rested on what appeared to be a cliff that had a large area for them to stand on, was that the Well of Souls was actually a massive mountain that had a very sinister fortress built around the outside of it, while the mountain itself had a peak that seemed to be shaped like a dragon's head that had the mouth open, while the sky was darker than it had been at the Chronicler's temple, it appeared to be snowing, and there were lightning flashes every now and then... and, on top of all that, everyone could feel the sheer darkness, the malice and despair, that the Well of Souls seemed to be emitting.
"So this is the Well of Souls... its a beacon for the forces of evil, like Gaul and his Apes." Spike commented, as he knew what the Chronicler had told them about the Well of Souls, even if he didn't tell them how it had been formed or anything like that, before he shook his head and stared out at the area that they would be fighting their way through, even though the first step was to glide down to the pillars that would allow them to even get to what appeared to be the front gate, an area that seemed ripe for disaster, before he sighed as he stared at the moons for a few seconds, "Spyro, we should get moving... the moons are getting closer to forming the eclipse the Apes are waiting for."
Spyro nodded his head as he and the other flyers took to the air and headed down to the path that would take them to the front gate of the fortress, while at the same time Bianca made sure to use her magic so she and the others could keep up with them, where they found that there weren't any enemies at all and that they were allowed to reach the lone pillar of rock that was in front of the main entrance, which was where the group found two Apes, Soldiers by the looks of them, who had sickly yellow colored fur and wore dark purple colored armor, that retreated as soon as they saw them, as in they headed towards the fortress.
"Great, now they know we're here," Cynder remarked, though there wasn't much they could do about it, as those were most likely scouts and they had fled as soon as they saw the group heading towards the fortress, meaning all they could do now was continue with their mission and head for the front gate, which was what they did since there didn't seem to be anything outside the fortress that they could use.
Cynder's statement about the Apes knowing they were there was confirmed when they landed in front of the front gate and the green metallic door opened before their eyes, almost like Gaul was inviting all of them to come inside, but as the group stepped inside the fortress they kept their guards up, as there was no telling what sort of traps and tricks their enemies had for them, nor did they know how many foes they would be fighting at one time. As it turned out there was a courtyard of sorts on the other side of the gate, just like what Spyro and the main group had seen back in Dante's Freezer, but this time it appears that the snow was unable to enter the open fortress, where Spike assumed a barrier of some kind had been set up in the past, meaning they could walk on the stone ground without slipping on the snow or ice, though the lightning did strike some of the metallic bits of the area, so they did have to be careful about that. While the group looked for a way forward, which could be a tunnel or a doorway that would open once they did something, they were assaulted by a large group of Apes, ten of the Soldiers to be exact, who jumped down into the area that they were in, where Ember had to assume that they came from the roofs of the structures that surrounded them, to which she and the others lashed out at their enemies without wasting a single second. Spyro and Cynder rushed into a pair and knocked them into one of the walls that were around them, Spike and Bianca blasted their target with a decent sized Fireball, Ember blocked the attack that her target sent her way and then cut it down, Hunter and Elora struck another one until it was unconscious, Sol used his Phoenix Dash to strike one down, Sheila kicked her foe a few times until it was knocked out, Sgt. Byrd decided not to waste a missile and chopped his foe in the back of the neck, Bentley just whacked his opponent into a wall with his club, and Agent 9 tripped the Ape Soldier that was coming at him before he blasted it in the back, enough to knock it out for the foreseeable future and give them plenty of time be it and the others woke up.
Once they were done with their enemies a tunnel opened, as in the sealed stone door that covered it opened so they could progress to another part of the fortress, though they knew that flying and teleporting were out of the question since there was no telling what the barrier that was around this place would do, hence the reason that the group headed for the tunnel they had just unlocked. Inside the tunnel the group found a green beam of energy that was coming from the wall at the end of the passage, where Spike threw up a barrier in front of them and started walking, where he explained that this was designed to hurt whoever came into contact with the beam, but due to him using a magical barrier he prevented any of them from taking damage and allowed them to reach other area the beam was coming from, allowing him to smash the small dragon head statue it was coming from so he could lower the barrier. The tunnel brought them to another section of the fortress that had a metallic door blocking the way, though there were two Ape Soldiers that jumped down into the area that the group had just entered and rushed into another tunnel that was opposite of where the door rested, though from what Bentley discovered the door seemed to be locked and the only way forward was to follow the Apes, only they soon found out that the Apes didn't head into another tunnel, it was actually a circular chamber that once held a statue of some kind, either an Ape or a dragon, but it had been smashed to pieces and the fragments were hard to make out. After that Sheila spotted a hole in the floor that they could use to move forward, to which they took turns jumping down into the underground part of the section of the fortress they were in and found that it did lead them to a short tunnel, one that just so happened to have a decent sized rock moving like an elevator between where they were and the level that seemed to be above them.
The rock elevator brought them to another part of the outer ring of the fortress, as that was what the courtyard-like areas reminded them of, though as they did that an Ape Commander, this one carrying a curved shield and a large axe in its right hand, walked out of the tunnel that was their ticket to moving deeper into the fortress, before they discovered that this particular type of Ape Commander had a nasty trick up its sleeves, it could turn invisible. Spike was sure that magic was involved for this to happen, even though none of the Apes so far had shown any knowledge or skill with the art, and Cynder even confirmed that this was the first time she was seeing something like this, but fortunately the group had him on their side and he knew what to do, as he simply cast a Dispel spell into the area they were in and the Ape Commander was made visible once more. The Dispel spell was designed to be used against an enemy, without risking whatever spells the user had on them, which meant that the caster was exempt from the spell in question while their targets were forced to go without their spells for a time, something that caught the Ape Commander by surprise when it noticed that they could see it and that they were following its movements with ease, before it tried to attack them and Ember parried the attack with her metallic claws, allowing the others to attack it while it was stunned. The battle came to a rather swift end as Bentley struck their foe in the chest with his club and knocked it into one of the nearby walls, allowing Bianca to blast it for a moment and make sure it was unconscious, though they had to turn their attention to the six Ape Soldiers and the two Ape Leaders that invaded the area as soon as the first foe fell, showing that their enemies were trying to attack them while their guards were down when they took care of an enemy, a viable strategy in the grand scheme of things, but it didn't help them all that much, given the power the group possessed.
That time around they found that their enemies were far stronger than what they were expecting, as one of the Ape Leaders swung its sword and lightly cut into Elora's armored arms, not enough to damage what was below the outer metal but enough to make them realize that they really had to be careful when they fought the Apes that guarded the Well of Souls, where she blasted her foe in the chest and knocked it backwards into a wall, just as the rest of the group took down the rest of their foes, which was where the group paused for a moment, to make sure there were no more foes coming for them, before some more Apes and some Death Hounds dropped down into the area to fight them. This gave them a good idea as to how strong their enemies were and just how many of them had to be lurking in the depths of the fortress, as it seemed like there were no end to the enemies that were coming down into the area they were in, especially with Hunter and Bianca turning their attention to the air so they could cull the Dreadwings that were trying to drop more enemies into the area they were fighting in. Of course Spyro and Cynder lashed out with their fire and wind elements, Ember struck her targets down with her metallic claws, Elora punched and blasted her foes, Spike lashed out with his magic and knocked the Apes near him into the ground, Bentley sent his foes flying into the walls that were around them, Sheila kicked some Apes and knocked them out, Sol blew his targets up with Fireballs, and both Sgt. Byrd and Agent 9 opened fire on the foes that were in the air, making sure not to interfere with what Hunter and Bianca were doing.
It took them some time to take care of all the Apes that were attacking them, or the Apes just stopped coming down into the area that they were fighting in, but once all of the enemies were taken care of, and everyone made sure all of their foes had been knocked out, they regrouped and moved towards the tunnel that the first enemy had emerged from, where the door had opened and they were allowed to enter it at last. This time around it was actually a tunnel, made of earth and stone unlike the carved ones that they had seen in the past, and they moved towards a new part of the fortress, one that was actually outside the fortress and didn't seem to go anywhere, save for a ledge that reminded them of the area they had started in, before Spyro turned to the right and found some steps that lead up to another area, just like he recalled from his memories and found it odd that they matched up with what they were seeing. Instead of questioning it the group went up in groups of three so they could make sure no enemies were waiting at the top of the platforms, and if there were Apes at the top of the path having three meant they would be able to push their foes backwards so the rest could join the fun, though what they discovered was that there were no enemies in the immediate area for them to worry about, though Spike did throw up a barrier to protect himself, Spyro, and Cynder from the explosive barrels that were coming their way, meaning none of them would take damage from what was going on. After that Spike followed the path and made sure to keep the barrier up, giving the others some time to catch up with him and the others, before he located the stockpile of explosives that the Apes were using against them and blew it up with a well placed Fireball, revealing five Ape Soldiers and an Ape Leader in a decent sized room-like chamber, one that they could fight in when the rest of the group reached the area he, Spyro, and Cynder were in.
Once the rest of the group rejoined them it didn't take them all that long to clear out the Apes that were in the tunnel that the explosive barrels had been rolled down, allowing Spyro to lead the others right to an open dead end, as it seemed the path they were following didn't go on for very long, to which he jumped into the air and glided down to another area, one that seemed to be the way forward, causing the rest of the group to join him a few moments later, before they started to move forward once more. The area it brought them to appeared to be similar to the ledges that they were seeing, with some railing to keep the Apes from going over the edge, though this time around they discovered something interesting, the Trolls from Dante's Freezer had come to the Well of Souls, no doubt hearing the siren call of the area, and were here to make an alliance with Gaul, or they were here to tear the Ape King down and claim the place for themselves, though they did know that the Trolls were enemies as the first group they encountered, containing six Troll Warriors for them to divide among the twelve of them, and the reason they knew that was due to the enemies in question rushing towards all of them with their weapons drawn. These Troll Warriors put up more of a fight than the frozen ones in Dante's Freezer did, but at the same time the group had more allies than the last time they encountered these foes and they were the ones that were victorious after they lashed with their enemies, to which Spyro continued to lead them as he approached a sinister glowing green waterfall that reminded them of what they had seen in the Ancient Grove, and it had rock platforms that seemed to be how they were supposed to get to the top.
Instead of wasting time waiting for the perfect set of rocks to come down the waterfall, where they disappeared and were never seen again when they reached the bottom of the area that was in front of where they were standing, the group decided to do things the easy way as Spyro and the other flyers flew up to the highest point, the area that the platforms would have allowed them to get to, before Bianca and those she teleported appeared behind them. Once they were ready they marched through the opening that was in front of them and found the river that fed the waterfall, where a number of Troll Champions, since all of the figures in the distance seemed to be shaped like the Trolls and were larger than the group of Soldiers they had taken out, pointed in their direction and started to fire bolts of red energy at them, where Bianca used her magic to summon a barrier while Spike called forth the ice to form a strong bridge that would allow them to cross over to where their enemies were standing. The Troll Champions weren't happy to see them, not that the group was surprised by that fact since it appeared that every force of evil in Doxantha was gathering in the fortress that had been built on the Well of Souls, save for the Skavengers since those were the only ones they hadn't seen yet, but even then none of them held back as they engaged the four Troll Champions, two from the area the bridge lead to and two from an upper part of the area, and knocked them to the ground, allowing them to climb the rock platforms that their foes had been guarding. Or at least that was the plan as all of the Troll Champions got back up and, in an odd twist, shattered their armor to reveal that these ones possessed the power to continue fighting as floating skeletal torsos, which was rather odd when they thought about it, though Spike knew it made sense due to the Well of Souls and the fact that the eclipse was happening, meaning some of the darker and more evil spirits might be returning to this world and were using their powers to prevent them from reaching the area the Elementium Key was located in.
Despite the fact that these Troll Champions had to be taken down twice, which was a new feeling for the group since none of the previous enemies bothered to get back up after they took them down the first time, the group found that they were able to repeat the process of knocking them out, where Spike noticed that such a thing seemed to cause their spirits to fade back into the Well of Souls, causing the bodies and armor to disappear, meaning that the Troll Champions they took out might come back later on, even though he hoped he was wrong since he'd rather not deal with more enemies at the end of their journey through this area.
With their enemies defeated the group was able to climb up the couple of rock platforms with ease, which brought all of them to another stone door that had been opened and revealed a passage that would allow them to continue moving forward, even though Spike found one of the beam firing dragon head statues at the end of it, so he used a barrier so they could get close to it and then smashed it like the first one they had found. Once that was taken care of they discovered that the area at the end of the passage was full of rock platforms for them to climb up, ledges to walk on, and green water to avoid, so they just decided to fly and teleport to what looked like the highest point of the area, which also happened to be where two Troll Champions and a Troll Horseman were waiting for them, hence the reason they landed to take them out so they could figure out where to go from there. Of course those weren't the only enemies in the area, as the moment they landed a number of Troll Warriors rushed out of small summoning circles to face them as well, at least ten of them to be exact, so the group lashed out at their enemies and spread out so none of their friends got caught in the crossfire that was about to fill the entire area as they blasted, kicked, punched, and attacked the enemies that were coming at them, all while Spike made sure to keep an eye on the magic in the area so he could turn things around. For a time it really seemed like it was a never ending wave of enemies as Troll Warriors fell, disappeared, and then reappeared, Troll Champions fell, rose for a second attempt, fell again and disappeared, only to reappear, and the Troll Horseman just disappeared entirely, as it never came back after it was beaten the first time around, though the tide turned in their favor as Spike sealed off the summoning circles that were in the area, preventing more Trolls from being brought to this area, allowing the rest of the group to lash out and take their foes down, and even everything was said and done they watched as the spirits departed once more, to be revived to fight them again in the near future.
"I'm going to say it, since no one else will: I hate this place." Hunter remarked, as this was easily the worst place he had visited in the entire world, as it appeared that the enemies were just going to keep respawning, as he was starting to call it despite whatever technical name Spike gave to what was happening, until they either found a way to stop all of them from coming back or got the Elementium Key and booked it as hard as they could, though even as he said that he and the rest of the group took a few moments to catch their breath and ready themselves for the next part of this area.
"Yeah, I didn't like this place all that much in my previous life," Spyro stated, as he recalled all the ordeals that he had gone through to even make it to the point they were at right now and knew there was more to come, while Cynder nodded her head to show that she agreed with them, as while her memories were different from Spyro's she didn't have any fond memories of this place, in fact she was sure that, in her past life, she hated it way more than Hunter did, but she kept that to herself as the group started to move again.
With the area cleared, at great cost since it did take them some time to actually clear out all of the enemies so Spike could seal the summoning circles, probably ten to twenty minutes that they really needed given that they had no idea how close Gaul was to acquiring the Key, the group used some rock platforms that appeared after the last foe had been beaten and jumped up to yet another passage, one that had one of the beam firing statues that Spike just shattered from afar since he didn't want to toy around with it and its magic. When they stepped out onto the ledge that was at the end of the passage they found that there was an Ape, who was wearing a set of purple attire that made it look like it was an assassin or something, which meant it was bad at its job since it arrived on a Dreadwing and was currently flying a short distance in front of the ledge that they were standing on, which just so happened to be the moment it started to laugh and talk to all of them, or at least that was what they were assuming it was doing. It appeared that it might have dressed itself wrong this morning, as all they were getting was mumbles and nonsense that didn't make any sense when they thought about what it was trying to say, so Hunter readied some of his arrows, Sgt. Byrd prepared a set of missiles, and Agent 9 quickly primed his blaster while the Ape talked, before the three of them loosed their attacks and struck the Dreadwing with everything they had, to which it staggered for a moment before falling into the depths of the area. Of course they waited for a second or two, just to be sure the Dreadwing and its passenger didn't come back up for a second round or anything, and when the skies remained clear of enemies they resumed moving, as they had no time to waste on foolish foes, not when Gaul was their target and he was getting closer to figuring out how to acquire the final Elementium Key he was after.
That was when they found that there was a path, made up of a number of floating rock platforms that were moving at different speeds from each other, though instead of wasting time with that, like some of the other stuff they had seen so far, the flyers quickly flew up into the air and found an area that had a tunnel they could walk through, allowing Bianca and the rest of their group to teleport up to where they were standing, which was followed by them moving forward since time was of the essence. The tunnel brought them to a small area that had what appeared to be a locked door, or at least that opinion was what they originally thought it was and were proven wrong when it opened and revealed an area that an Ape Commander happened to be patrolling, which was followed by it noticing that they were entering the area and hooted for a moment, causing a number of Ape Leaders and a group of Ape Soldiers to join it, indicating that it was declaring war on the group and that it had called reinforcements immediately. Those weren't the only enemies the group had to fight, as a number of Death Hounds were called into the area as well and they rushed at the area that Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember were standing in, which was when Cynder used her Shadow Play to knock them away from the rest of the group, so they could focus on the Apes that were around them, and then dived into the shadows so she could lash out at her targets and weaken the forces that their enemies had arrayed against them. In addition to all of those enemies Hunter and the rest of the long ranged fighters turned their attention to the skies so they could take out the Dreadwings that were trying to drop containers down into the area that they were in, which no doubt contained more enemies since none of them seemed to be carrying explosive containers, allowing the others to lash out at the Apes with all of the moves that were in their various arsenals.
Once all of those enemies were taken care of, even though there had been quite a number of them and it had taken them the same amount of time that it took them to clear out the Troll infested area, the door that their enemies had been guarding opened and revealed another tunnel that had one of the beam firing statues they were getting used to seeing, one that Spike smashed with magic so they could simply walk through the tunnel and figure out what was on the other side of it, just like the previous tunnels they had seen so far. That allowed them to walk through another door and find a circular chamber of sorts that had a number of floating rock platforms that would let them reach a new area, so they took them three at a time and quickly reached a new tunnel that they walked into so the rest of the group could have some space when they reached the final platform, while Spyro, Cynder, and Spike lead the way forward. Interestingly enough the tunnel brought them to a large chamber that held what appeared to be a large dragon statue, or at least that was what all of them assumed since this one was shattered as well, which made sense due to the fact that the Apes hated the dragons and they would smash any statues that were in any area that they took over, where Spike sighed for a moment, as it was a little sad to see something like this broken beyond repair. From there the group found a path carved out of the stone of the sides of the chamber and started to follow it, even though they had to glide over to another part of the chamber, one that allowed them to walk through an opening that allowed them to step outside and realize that, against all the odds, they were standing near the top of the peak of the Well of Souls, where they could see that the moons were even closer than they had been when they started this mission.
"I had no idea we were so close to the peak of the mountain," Sol commented, because that was the part of what all of them were seeing that shocked him and the others, because they knew there was no way they could be at the peak when they had been in part of the fortress not a few minutes ago, before he turned towards the rest of the group, "So, I guess all we can do now is fly up to the peak and go from there?"
"And descend into the area that Gaul should be waiting in," Spyro replied, recalling what his memories told him about the last time he had been here, meaning that they could be walking or flying into a trap and they needed to be ready for whatever their foe tried to go when they reached their destination, which was when he noticed Spike staring at the beam of glowing purple energy that seemed to be emitting from the peak of the mountain, "Spike, is something wrong, or should we be worried about something?"
"Gaul's trying to get the Key, that much I can tell," Spike stated, as it was easy to tell what Gaul was trying to do, given all of the knowledge that they had gathered since this adventure had started, though at the same time, with the eclipse and what they had felt earlier, it was hard to tell how much progress their target had made in his quest, to which he shook his head and the group took off, the flyers heading into the air as Bianca moved the others with her magic, where all of them rushed towards the peak.
The group paused for a moment when they reached the peak of the Well of Souls, which really did look like the mouth of a dragon's head when they looked at the area that was around them, before they headed through the opening that was in the middle of the area and discovered that it was leading them to a large chamber that seemed different from what they were used to seeing, due to the throne they spotted near one of the walls and the massive Ape that was in the middle of the entire room. It was larger than the Ape Commanders, which was saying something, where they found that it was rather hard to determine what fur coloration he might have thanks to all the armor he was wearing, one that seemed to have been inspired by vikings, though as he glanced up at the area they were flying through they found something odd, he had a green gem where his left eye would normally be and he had a number of scars on his face that suggested he had been in a number of battles in the past. In addition to all of that the Ape was carrying what appeared to be a pair of blades that were scimitars, while also carrying a staff on his back, one Spike determined was brimming with power and didn't look like any of the ones he had seen in the various books he had read so far, suggesting that Gaul, as that was who this had to be, had a number of magical artifacts and that he was ready for battle, before the group noticed a number of other beings that were in the room with the Ape King. Standing near Gaul, even though they were closer to the throne, were two figures who seemed important, the first one looking like a taller Skavenger that was dressed up as a Captain, based on the attire that it was wearing and the chest full of gold, which also had a cannon, that seemed to be strapped to its back, though it also had a hook for its right hand, a pistol of sorts that acted as a peg leg for its right foot, and had two parrots with it, one on each shoulder, meaning it had to be Captain Skabb.
The other figure had to be the leader of the Trolls, based on the dead-like skin that rested on its mouth, the only bit of it that they could see given the darkened metallic armor the creature was wearing, armor that was similar to what the rest of the Trolls wore, and on its back it carried a curved blade that had a long handle that was attached to it, a scythe based on what the group knew, while the crown on its head indicated that it was either a lord or a king, but it was an evil being based on what they were seeing... to which they remained silent as they landed, especially when they noticed nine robed figures that lurked in the shadows, making it twelve to twelve if a fight broke out between them.
"Ah, the whelplings have arrived," Gaul said, announcing their arrival to the rest of the group, where they found that their initial thoughts were wrong about the numbers and that there were a lot more enemies in this chamber, as it was all too easy for them to now see the Ape Soldiers, Leaders, and Commander that were around them, with a number of Troll Soldiers and Champions standing near them and were joined by Skavenger Soldiers, Leaders, and Commanders, which meant that they were outclassed and that a fight might prove to be fatal for them, "it is fitting that you and your allies are here tonight, to witness the dawn of a new age, because when I retrieve the final Elementium Key we will be able to finally destroy Warfang and put an end to the world of dragons!"
"Yeah, by awakening the Destroyer and having it blow the entire world apart!" Bianca stated, because while she could feel the darkness that was in the air, no doubt the byproduct of the Well of Souls and what Gaul was doing, she was still surprised by the fact their foe was so willing to bring about the end of the world, apparently to kill the dragons and end the peaceful world that they had put together, "That's why we came here, to stop you from getting your hands on the Key that will set in motion a terrible chain of events..."
"Ah, but you are too late, as I have found the Elementium Key... I only prolonged retrieving it so I could savor the looks on your faces once you realize you've been beaten." Gaul stated, almost as if he didn't care for Bianca and was focused on the main fighters that he was interested in, those being Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember, since the Ape seemed angry at all of the dragons that lived in Doxantha, while at the same time all of the other beings that were in the chamber were looking at him as they waited for him to do whatever it was that he was doing.
Spike started to open his mouth, so he could question Gaul and figure out what he was talking about, before he and the others saw that the Ape's right hand was lodged deep into the beam of energy that rested between him and them, something none of them had seen when they glided and teleported down into this area, but as Spyro took a step forward, to try and stop Gaul from doing what he was planning, the enemies shifted and caused him to stop... causing the Ape King to withdraw his hand and reveal that his right arm was blackened, either due to his armor being melted and merged to his arm or his entire arm was damaged from the ordeal, which was when the group noticed shining metallic key, which had a decent sized bow, the oval shaped part of it, that went with the hand-sized key.
"The Elementium Key of the Aether," Spike said, as he could see that the grayish-white lustrous key that Gaul was now holding pulsed with the power of the most powerful element in the entire world, where he had to assume Malefor either hid it inside a spirit realm of sorts or the realm that was connected to the Aether itself, a realm called Convexity based on what he knew and understood the latter could be right due to the fused nature of his arm with his armor, before he took a moment to glance at the rest of the group as he lowered his voice so they could hear him, "We have to stop him, before he leaves the mou..."
Not a few seconds later the mountain shuddered for a moment, where the group and their enemies staggered for a few moments as they braced themselves, though Gaul was the only one that didn't seem bothered by this and departed from the area that he had been standing in when they arrived, heading for a doorway that would allow him and his allies to leave the chamber and depart from the mountain, though Hunter, seeing that happen, readied one of his arrows as he aimed at Gaul's back. What happened next was that part of the ceiling collapsed and would have crushed them if Spike didn't use his magic to summon a barrier to protect them from what was going on, though as he did that the Apes, Trolls, and Skavengers departed from the chamber as the walls started to break, where he informed the others that Malefor must have set up a trap for anyone that came looking for this Elementium Key and Gaul either triggered it on accident or he might have known about it and triggered it on purpose. As he said that the mountain rocked and more fragments of the ceiling collapsed on the ground that was around them, where Spike waited for the shaking to stop and then blasted a hole in the wall that was near them, because he assumed that there was only one natural exit, save for the hole they had used to enter this area, and he was happy to see that he was able to open a way for them to get outside the mountain, to which he kept the barrier up as he extended it to the opening he had created. With that done he allowed them rest of the group to head through the opening, where the flyers took to the air as Bianca wrapped her magic around the others so they could leave the area, and once all of them were outside Spike dropped the barrier as he rushed outside, taking to the air so he could join the others and watch as the Well of Souls cracked and broke before their eyes.
The entirety of the mountain was breaking under the intensity of the trap that Malefor had prepared in the event that someone tried to claim the final Elementium Key, but as they headed for the cliff area that the Chronicler had opened the portal to, so they could return to the White Isle and head back to Warfang, it was easy to see a number of airships, from all three of their enemies, departing from the Well of Souls and seemed to be heading in the direction of Warfang... to which they headed through the portal that was waiting for them and reappeared in the temple that the Chronicler was waiting in, and he made sure to close the portal once all twelve of them were in front of him.
"We failed... Gaul has the Key, meaning he can release the Destroyer whenever he wants." Spyro said, because failing like this was new to him and the others, as they had been able to overcome everything that had been thrown at them in the past, but this time their foe had outsmarted them several times and had all the pieces that would allow him to free the Destroyer from its prison, starting the end of the world, before he considered something as he recalled the look that was on Gaul's face, "We have to get back to Warfang and get the defenses ready, as I think Gaul will march on the city before he reveals that he can release the Destroyer, so we might have a chance to save the world from him and the other villains that have joined his cause."
"I will use my power to open a portal for your airship to travel through, so we can reach Warfang in a few seconds and get started immediately," the Chronicler replied, showing Spyro and the others that he was more willing to help them and that he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that the city was prepared for the battle that was coming its way, and that included joining them in battle since he wasn't going to sit this out since the fate of the world was at stake, to which he departed from the chamber so he could get ready before they left the island.
Spyro and the others glanced at each other for a moment, as while none of them were happy that Gaul had gotten his hands on the final Elementium Key, and had gained the power to release the Destroyer, they had a chance to take down the Ape and stop him when he attacked Warfang with his army, meaning they had to make sure Ignitus and the others were ready for what was coming their way and then do everything in their power to save the world.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of the group left the temple that the Chronicler lived in and headed for the area that the airship rested in, as it was time for them to return to Warfang and get the defenses ready, because if their thoughts were correct Gaul and his army would arrive at some point in the near future, to try and take down the dragons in a war, and that was the only opportunity they had to take the Ape King down, before he released the Destroyer from the prison it was currently trapped inside. Nestor and the others rushed out to greet them, to see how their mission went, only to pause when they noticed that none of them were happy and inquired as to what happened during their mission to the Well of Souls, where Spyro had Fury get the airship into the air before he explained that they had failed, that Gaul had outsmarted them and he now had the last Elementium Key, meaning he was posed to destroy the world and their belief that he would be marching on Warfang in the very near future. By Spike's estimates, and the airships that their enemies possessed, they had half a day to prepare for the incoming war that would decide the fate of the world, giving them time to prepare all of the city's defenses and send their allies out to the Dragon Realms, Avalar, and Avilion so they could recruit all of the allies that they possibly could, as they were going to need all of the warriors, mages, rangers, and everyone they could get their claws on, especially since their enemy's army consisted of the Apes, Trolls, and Skavengers, along with their leaders, Captain Skabb, the Lord of the Trolls and his nine Troll Wraiths, and King Gaul himself.
Cynder was the one that informed them as to who the Troll leader had been and who the nine robed figures had been, all so they understood who they would be going up against, though as she said that Fury informed them that the airship was now in the air, which was the moment that the Chronicler had them head in the direction of Warfang and then channeled his power into the space that rested in front of the airship, creating a portal that allowed them to instantly travel back to the city their enemies would be attacking in the near future.
"Nester, you and the other Leaders need to head back to the Dragon Realms and recruit as many warriors and mages as you possibly can," Spyro stated, where he turned towards the Leaders of their home islands for a moment, to which the five dragons in question nodded their heads in agreement to what he was saying, and while he said that Fury lowered the airship back into the water that was near the city's dock, before he focused on the orders that needed to be given out to the rest of the group, "Elora, you and Hunter should head back to Avalar and do the same thing, to gather the Royal Guard and whoever else you can recruit for this battle, while Bianca and the others from Avilion should do the same thing with the lands they live in, as there's a chance that many of them will rush to Warfang's aid, especially when we consider what Malefor and the ancient dragons did for them."
"I will assist Nora in opening portals to the lands in question, and then I will head out to speak with the Cheetahs and the various elemental leaders," the Chronicler said, showing that he knew that Spyro was looking for allies and that he had an idea that would give him a vast number of warriors for the battle that was coming their way, to which Spyro nodded his head to show that it was a good idea and that he was fine with him doing that, before he turned towards the dragon that he had mentioned, "Come, let us head to the center of the city and get to work."
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember headed out as their friends used the portals that Nora and the Chronicler quickly made for them, allowing the four of them to focus on warning Ignitus and the other Guardians as to the danger that was coming towards the city while their friends gathered as many allies as they could, even if Spike knew where they could get some additional warriors, though it didn't take them long to locate the dragons in question, as they were standing in the middle of the city, no doubt taking a break from directing the other residents of the city.
"It is good to see the four of you again, after we parted ways above the Ancient Grove," Ignitus said, though even as he said that the group could see that a number of the city's residents were in the middle of preparing all of the defenses that protected the city from danger, before he and the other Guardians noticed the looks on their faces and frowned as he considered what they had been trying to do, "What's wrong? The looks on your faces, the frowns to be exact, tells me that something bad happened while you were exploring one of the lands you went to, after we parted ways, and that we need to be made aware of what that something is."
"Gaul recovered the last Elementium Key, but he and his allies will be marching on the city in the next twelve hours, or at least that's what Spike thinks," Cynder replied, where the four Guardians had shock written on their faces when she gave them that piece of information, because they were expecting the group to acquire the Key that was the main goal of their mission, before all four of them determined that their foe must have done something to get to the Key first, before the group were able to stop him, which was when she gestured towards Spyro with a wing, "Spyro is having the others head back to the three sets of islands that he and his siblings have explored in the past, to recruit as many allies as they can get their hands on, while the Chronicler will be assisting us by opening portals for our allies to march out of and then he'll be heading out to speak with the various elemental leaders... and that's not counting whatever else Spyro, Spike, and Ember might have in store for us."
"How are your preparations coming?" Spyro asked, because he wanted to see how much progress Ignitus had made in preparing the city, or at least since they parted ways to be exact, and from what they could see right now it sure looked like the residents were in the middle of preparing a number of cannons and catapults that would be firing in the direction of the Belt of Fire, as that was the most likely direction their enemies would be coming from.
"Those that can fight are readying themselves for the battle that's coming our way, while those that cannot fight, like our hatchlings for example, are being escorted to a safe area of the city," Terrador stated, showing the group that either he was in charge of the defenses or he just felt like talking, though at the same time it didn't matter in the slightest since it allowed the group to understand what was going on at the moment, before he glanced at the walls that surrounded the city, the main areas that their enemies would be targeting, "It has been some time since we've even used our defenses, so we've been busy making sure that they're ready for battle and that they're stocked with everything we can use against our enemies, where our forces are being positioned to protect our weapons, so once the initial siege is broken they can gather in an army formation and march out to battle our foes."
"Good, though we can do better than this," Spike said, where he had been thinking about something and realized that he could actually boost their chances of repelling the initial siege that Terrador was talking about, which was when all four of the Guardians turned towards to him as his siblings and Cynder did the same, something that was followed by a smile appearing on his face, "remember, we have access to the Arcanaeum as well, and inside that vault we have a number of weapons and items that would be useful in a situation like this, namely the Runeblades of the Elemental Lords, which we can temporarily lend to the four of you until we figure out what to do with them, and the Deepcore Army."
"Hold up, you guys have access to the Deepcore Army? The ancient army of stone statues that were used to keep the lands of Avilion safe?" Cynder asked, as this was the first time she had heard them being mentioned by the group, which made sense due to the fact that Spyro and his siblings were more focused on stopping the Apes from fulfilling their plans, even if they had failed to stop Gaul in the grand scheme of things, before she considered something as the three dragons nodded their heads to inform her that they did have access to the army in question, "Well, that would certainly help us, if you can get them to wake up and leave the Arcanaeum, and after everything I have seen so far I have the feeling that you would be able to do such a thing rather easily."
"While we were in the Arcanaeum we found the awakening spell," Ember remarked, recalling what she had seen when Hunter lead them to the area that the army of stone statues had been resting inside, and what Spike had discovered at the time, before they found the globe that revealed the Aether icon that brought them here in the first place, though that was when she tapped Spike with her wing for a moment, "and Spike, being the youngest Archmage in the world, should be more than able to cast the spell, though we'll need a portal between the Arcanaeum and here... so either we need the aid of the Chronicler or Spike can try his luck with the spell."
"Given how many times I've seen the spell in use, I should be able to do so on my own," Spike said, where he readied his magic for a moment and found a wall that was nearby, to which everyone watched as a portal opened nearby and took a look at it, something that was followed by them discovering that it lead to Midnight Mountain, before they glanced back to Spike for a moment, "and, once the Deepcore Army is awakened, we should be able to hold off the siege while the rest of our allies prepare themselves."
"That sounds like a plan, so we'll stay here and make sure the defenses are ready for when they arrive," Ignitus said, while at the same time Cyril and Volteer nodded their heads in agreement and then flew off to make sure their stations were ready, though Terrador headed over to the area that their warriors were gathering in so he could share the goods news with them, leaving Ignitus with the four dragons that were in front of him for a few moments, knowing that they would do everything in their power to defend the city and save the world.
Spyro, Cynder, and Ember followed Spike through the portal and appeared in the area near the portal to where the Arcanaeum was located, to which they headed back into the realm that they had found the vault in and quickly made their way to the structure in question, where it didn't take them long to reach the vault and walk inside the structure once more, where Cynder still found herself in awe over what they were seeing. This time around Spike didn't stop to look at anything he hadn't catalogued yet, even though it pained him to do such a thing in the first place, and he headed over to the room that the army of statues would be located in, though as they stepped into the area in question Cynder paused as she took in the vast number of stone statues that were resting in the massive room, as she never thought that she would lay eyes on such a sight, despite what she had seen during this adventure.
"So, this is the Deepcore Army... amazing." Cynder said, taking in the fine work that went into making the statues and their weapons, as they looked lifelike and looked ready to do battle with whoever their enemies were, just like all of the tales she had heard over the years, before she glanced at Spyro and Ember for a moment as they focused on Spike, who was in the middle of focusing his magic, "So, how long do you think this will take?"
"Not long, actually." Spike replied, because while he knew that many tales mentioned that awakening the army was hard and time consuming, like many of the major spells in the world, the truth of the matter was that the spell was one of the more simple ones, especially after all the time he spent studying the spell after discovering the existence of the army in the first place, and he didn't even need Akilesh to do this, to which he channeled his magic into the chamber that they were now standing in, "Piertotum Locomotor!"
Spyro, Cynder, and Ember watched as Spike's magic was channeled into the chamber and the stone statues suddenly started to twitch for a few seconds, something that was followed by the first line of statues awakening from their thousand year slumber as they fully woke up, where the lines behind them started to wake up as well and stand at attention, before he started opening portals in front of the army he had awoken.
"Soldiers of the Deepcore Army, I have awakened you from your thousand year slumber because the safety of our entire world is at stake," Spike called out, where the group watched as the heads of the statues snapped up and looked at him while he talked, showing them that whoever used the spell to awaken the army acted as the commander, or at least that was what it looked like from their side, "I have also opened the way for you to assemble in Warfang, the city that the last dragon who called upon you built after he and his people were forced to leave Avilion, who are preparing to stand and defend our world, and I would ask that you join us in defending our world!"
The statues of the army tapped their weapons on the ground and marched through the portals that were in front of them without delay, where Spyro walked through it and discovered that the portals lead to the front of the city and that all of the warriors were gathering in front of it, assembling in the same rows that they had been standing in back in the room, before he headed back to the Arcanaeum and joined the group that was gathering the four runeblades from where they were resting, so they could be delivered to Ignitus and the other Guardians for the time being. As they did that Ignitus and the others readied themselves for the battle that was coming their way, dragons, Cheetahs, and Moles moving around so they could have their various stations ready for what was coming their way, even though there was no word from Nestor and the others, which made sense since only ten to thirty minutes had passed since the order was given. Other than that Spike knew they didn't have much time to look at the rest of the Arcanaeum and see if there were anything else they could use to defend the world, to which he closed the portals once the rest of the army was through, while he and the others made sure they were on Warfang's side when that happened, before they armed the Guardians with the runeblades and readied themselves for the wait that would come before the alliance of villains arrived to do war with them.
The hours passed slowly for the defenders of Warfang, which was fine since it meant that the Apes and their allies hadn't appeared yet and they had more time to ready their defenses, even though there wasn't much they could do except wait for either their allies to appear or for their enemies to suddenly appear and attack the city, something that all of them were eager to get to so they could defend the world. Spike knew that the worst possible outcome would be if Gaul just decided to give up on his plan to attack the city and just released the Destroyer, something none of them were ready for, but even without peering into the future he had the feeling that such a thing wouldn't happen until the Ape King felt that victory was no longer an option for him and his forces, which they would discover over the course of this battle. The only problem that Spyro and the others found was that Elora and the others had yet to arrive, meaning either they were having a hard time getting allies or their allies were forcing them to stay put for the foreseeable future, which would be the worst case scenario, but they would have to deal with whatever their friends could get them, especially since they were expecting them to arrive at some point. Other than that there was nothing else they could do but wait for the Apes to arrive and see how many soldiers their dark alliance brought with them, since that was something they didn't know, because even if they had managed to smash the guardians of the Well of Souls the siblings and Cynder knew that Gaul wouldn't have made all of his forces stay near the mountain, rather he would have prepared a good chunk to wait for his arrival.
In fact the only way they knew their foe had arrived was due to the Belt of Fire growing in intensity, no doubt due to Gaul adding the final Elementium Key to the prison and likely gaining control of the Destroyer, or at least that was Spike's thoughts on the matter while the others felt that it was just a normal occurrence that they were seeing, before a number of shapes appeared in the flames, which was when the group and the defenders of Warfang noticed that their foes were creatures that looked like corrupted earth given a more humanoid form.
"What is the name of our Ancestors are those fiends?" Ignitus inquired, because from what they could see these odd beasts seemed to be a fusion of the Apes and the earth itself, as Spike even noticed that some of them were the same size as the Ape Soldiers, the Leaders, and the Commanders, meaning they had to be the same level of beings in a new army that they hadn't seen before, while at the same time the rest of the defenders that were along the wall seemed eager for their foes to arrive and do battle with them.
"Grublins, arranged in sizes of Soldiers, Leaders, and Commanders," Spyro commented, recalling all of this from his memories about his past life, while at the same time Cynder nodded her head in agreement not even a few seconds later, before he considered something as he scanned the enemies that were making their way towards Warfang, even though it appeared that their true enemy might be closer than they were thinking he was, "they're dangerous warriors, ones that Malefor might have sealed away with the Destroyer so Warfang could be built in the first place, and the Deepcore Army should be able to deal with most of them, but they aren't the most dangerous creatures the Dark Master used against us in our past lives. We need to keep an eye out for the Golem, a massive creature of fire and earth that smashed through Warfang's defenses, the walls to be exact, like they were butter and dealt some major damage to the city itself, before we were able to bring it down and destroy it... so Spike, if you see such a massive beast, lay into it with your magic and take it down before it reaches the city."
"Given that we're fighting for the future of our world, if it shows up I'm going to blow it up," Spike stated, though he did smile for a moment, because he was eager to see if the creature even showed up or not, due to the fact that this gave him the chance to test out a few spells he had picked in his reading before this point in time, thought that was when they all paused as a war horn sounded off in the distance, something that was followed by enemy airships entering the space near the Belt of Fire, "though it looks like our enemies have arrived at long last."
"Good, then use the cannons to fire at the back of their army while our soldiers deal with the front line," Ember said, where she twitched for a moment, showing the others that she was eager to do battle and that she didn't like the idea of standing on the wall while the Deepcore Army fought their battle for them, but she was willing to stand her ground and listen to what Spyro told her to do, before she expanded her metallic claws for a moment, "but anyone who gets up here will have to face my claws!"
Spyro and the others nodded their heads in agreement as Ember said that, just as the Apes, Skavengers, and Trolls joined the force of soldiers that were marching out of the Belt of Fire, revealing all of their enemies were here and that it was only a matter of time until the commanders showed up, even though Spyro could see the imposing form of Gaul off in the distance, flanked by Captain Skabb and the Lord of the Trolls. That was followed by the enemies charging forward as they rushed towards the front gate of the city, where the Moles and dragons that were manning the cannons started to loose elemental charges at their enemies, as in massive fireballs, boulders, bolts of lightning, and ice shards out into the incoming army, blowing up the back lines of the Grublins as massive twisted siege towers entered the battle, but those didn't last very long in the grand scheme of things as those on the cannons displayed surprising accuracy with their shots, meaning they held the advantage at the moment. It wasn't long before the front lines of the enemy army neared the area in front of the Deepcore Army, to which the stone warriors shifted and charged into battle, using their weapons to hack and slash into their enemies, though that was also when Ignitus and the other Guardians, as well as all the dragons that weren't using the cannons, dropped down into the pray and started attacking the enemies that were in front of them, all while the Cheetahs that called the city home used their strongest arrows to deal as much damage as they could to all of the Grublins, Apes, Skavengers, and Trolls. Ember, seeing that their enemies had reached the gates, even if their army of statues were stalling their foes, flew down into the battle that was going on at the moment and slammed into one of the Skavengers that had some space around them, knocking it to the ground as she engaged both her Warrior's Armor and the metallic claws as she attacked her foe and started cutting down the enemies that were around them, and it wasn't long before Spyro and Cynder flew out into part of the army that was near Ember.
While the three of them did that, and tore into the enemies that were near them, Spike focused his magic and blasted a number of smaller Grublins out of the air, as those ones looked like large flies for some odd reason, meaning that while his siblings and Cynder fought their enemies he was focusing on making sure the cannons remained unharmed, which was the same thing that some of the Cheetahs, Moles, and dragons were doing, the first loosing arrows into the air to take their targets down, the second using crossbows to do the same thing, and the third followed his lead to blast the flying enemies out of the air, before they became a problem. What was interesting was that they weren't the only ones fighting the dark alliance that was marching on Warfang, where one of the Moles pointed to the west of the battlefield when a new war horn was sounded, where Spike paused for a moment and spotted an army of Cheetahs, dressed like the ones that were currently standing around him and were heavily armed by the looks of things, who paused for a few seconds as they took in the army that was trying to lay siege to the city, before they charged forward and slammed into the dark alliance that their allies were attacking, as they hacked and slashed into the Apes, Skavengers, Trolls, and Grublins. As Spike turned his attention back to the battle that was unfolding before them, and blasted some of the Grublins out of the air, one of the Moles mentioned that the one leading the Cheetah forces at the moment was Chief Prowlus, a well known warrior among his people and the residents of the city, not to mention one of the best leaders they had seen since the founding of their village in the valley that rested a few hours from Warfang, and Spike had confirmation of his skills as he parried an attack that was coming at him, disarmed the Ape Leader he was fighting, and then cut it down before moving onto the next foe that dared to stand in his way.
For a time it seemed like the two forces, despite the power of the Deepcore Army, were evenly matched and that none of them were going to get the upper hand, which seemed to be when Gaul ordered that the Skavenger airships take to the field and soon they emerged from the area that they had been kept in, but even as they emerged from where they had been hiding Spike and the others noticed a few portals open up in the air near the eastern side of the battlefield and an airship that looked like the AS Harmony emerged from it. What Spike discovered was that this airship was heavily armed and that it fired on the enemy airships as soon as it emerged from the portal that had been opened for it, though out of the other portals came the flying saucers that Spike and the others had seen in Avalar, who fired upon the Ape airships as they joined the battle, blowing several of them out of the air in the process, causing the defenders of Warfang to cheer for a few seconds before returning to the battle. Of course those weren't the only allies that joined them, as several portals opened up on the ground and Elora, who was joined by Hunter, marched out with the residents of Avalar behind them, and all of them were armed so they could hack into their enemies when they charged into the side of the dark alliance, all while Elora flared her wings as she took to the air and kicked a Dreadwing in the side of the head, knocking it out of the air and making it collide with some of the Apes, while Hunter loosed some arrows and knocked down a few more Dreadwings so the rest of their forces could emerge from the portals they were using. As Spike expected the Chronicler was behind these allies coming to their aid, as he appeared on this side of the portals and made sure everyone had arrived before he closed the portals he had opened a few moments ago, which was around the time that he opened some new portals and the Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers, and Machinists marched out to do battle with all of the enemies that were attacking Warfang, even if Nestor and the other Artisans headed into the city to tend to those that weren't joining the battle, despite the fact that Argus and the other scholars stayed safe to watch the outcome and record what they saw for themselves.
"You know, I knew we would be facing incredible odds," Hunter commented, where he came to a stop beside Spike for a moment and loosed an arrow into the air, one that exploded into a cluster of arrowheads and rained down on the foes that were in the air at the moment, which stopped some of their enemies from advancing and allowed their allies to strike out at their stunned enemies, something that prompted the nine Troll Wraiths to take to the field, "but even then I never imagined that we would be facing all of these enemies... we've got a thousand enemies, possibly even more that we don't know about, standing between us and Gaul, before he releases the Destroyer from its prison."
"Don't worry Hunter, we've got this." Elora said, where she landed near the pair for a moment, as if she was going to talk to them for a few seconds, before she spotted some larger flying enemies coming their way and launched herself at them, knocking the three Dreadwings out of the air in rapid succession before blasting a fourth one while Hunter hit it with one of his arrows, something that caused her to land once that one fell as well, "We just have to keep an eye on Gaul and what he does, though if we can get Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Cynder to him we might have a chance at stopping this war from going on for too long."
As she said that Lady Eterna and the Phoenixes, the last ones to emerge from the portals to the Dragon Realms, took to the air and rained Fireballs down on their foes, joining the battle as Spike and the others noticed that they were wearing metallic armor that looked like they had been enchanted to resist the flames that the Phoenixes could generate, while the arrival of such allies shocked their enemies and inspired their allies, no doubt because of the stories they had heard about the majestic birds, before the defenders knocked their foes backwards and gained some control over the battlefield, which allowed Titan and the others to push the dark alliance away from the main gate. Spyro was pleased with what was going on at the moment, because that was when he drew his runeblade and swung it through the air, blasting several of the Apes that were in front of him backwards while avoiding his allies, either due to them getting out of the way in time or the weapon reacted to who he considered enemies and allies, something he would have to ask Spike about, though his action caused Ignitus and the other Guardians to unleash the power of their runeblades and blast holes in the army that they were currently fighting. While that shocked and surprised a good number of their enemies, even if they would be fighting to the bitter end from the looks of things, it did make the defenders of Warfang cheer as the Troll Wraiths finally reached the area that they were fighting in, where they dispersed and targeted those that they deemed to be the pillars of the army that was defending the city at the moment, where one of them, who looked more like a king, stepped forward with a sword and a mace, an odd combination to be sure.
Spyro found that the one with two weapons was targeting him, out of the entire army, meaning that it deemed him to be the most important target to take down, though that put him at a disadvantage since he really couldn't fight like Titan or the Guardians could, with two legs instead of four, so he had to dodge both the sword and the mace, picking when to parry and let himself be pushed backwards, even though their fight cleared an area since none of the defenders or their foes wanted to be near the fight that was going on. It was times like this, where he was fighting a much more experienced opponent, that he wished he had access to the Warrior's Armor skill, something that Ember loved to use whenever she was in a fight and was currently using in addition to the Fangs of Felinia, as she cut down the enemies that happened to be around her at the moment, or even Spike's skill, Sage's Vision, so he could predict some of the moves that his foes made, though his attention was returned to reality as he dodged the incoming attack the Troll Wraith sent his way. While he was doing that, however, he noticed that Cynder was moving towards them and an idea formed in his head, to which he used his new elemental powers and loosed them at his foe whenever he dodged one of the incoming attacks, either firing some Fireballs, Ice Shards, Earth Shots, or Lightning Bolts at the Troll he was fighting, attacks that actually annoyed his foe, even though it didn't dodge them at all, which was rather weird and made him wonder if his foe felt that it was unable to be beaten in battle. That was perfectly fine with him, because foes that believed them to be invulnerable or untouchable were the ones that usually left a hole in their defenses and never bothered to correct it, thinking that such a thing would never bring about their end, and he was sure he had spotted something that might turn the tide of this fight in his favor, even though his foe likely hadn't spotted it yet.
A few moments later Spyro did something that surprised some of the defenders, he hurled Windshear at his foe and the Troll Wraith moved a little to avoid it, though he was perfectly fine with that as he channeled his Ice Magic into the area and summoned a burst of ice that trapped the lower part of his foe's body, before Cynder, who was up in the air and was in the direction that he had thrown the runeblade in, caught Windshear and drove it into the Troll Wraith's back, causing it to stagger to the best of its ability for a moment before going still as its spirit departed and left behind a lifeless robe as the pair regrouped as the battles around them resumed.
"These guys are tough, I'll give them that," Spyro remarked, though at the same time he huffed for a moment, as that battle had been rather intense due to the pair of weapons his foe had been using against him, despite the fact that his foe might have been playing with him and underestimated the power that he had, or the tricks that he might have learned over the years he and the others had been adventuring around the islands of the world, and Cynder took a moment to slip the runeblade back into the sheath he was wearing.
"Not as tough as the Golem was," Cynder stated, because based on what she remembered the Golem that had torn a hole in Warfang's outer wall, ripped apart the main gate, and broke a good part of the city in their battle, even if it was just a past life she was recalling and using to help her understand the new reality they were in, meaning it was one of the most difficult foes she and Spyro had ever fought, even though it was nothing compared to the Destroyer and the Dark Master, with the latter being the toughest foe either of them had fought in their entire lives, before the ground shuddered for a few seconds and they glanced towards the Belt of Fire, "though I was hoping we had time before one showed up on the battlefield, just like the last time we fought it, or that it wouldn't show up at all."
The creature in question stood at a fourth of the total height of the volcano in the distance, or one and a half times the size of Warfang's wall, that was made out of earth, fire, and lava, due to the fact that its chest looked like magma, and while it walked on four legs, sort of like a spider, it had a more humanoid body with two massive earthen arms and a tail that looked like it would smash something to pieces, though it roared for a moment and caused the dark alliance to cheer as it started to advance into the fray. Of course that was when Spike took to the field for real, where he flew through the air and loosed a torrent of Ice Magic at his foe, by blasting it in the chest and knocking it off course so it would stay near the Belt of Fire and not get anywhere near the city, since he knew that allowing it to get anywhere near the city was a bad idea and that keeping it near where it had showed itself was the best thing he could do, even if that seemed to annoy his foe in the process. The Golem, growing annoyed with Spike rather easily, swung its arms at its target and Spike either fly around the air to avoid the attacks or even utilized the teleportation spell he had used to great effect back in the past, like when he fought Blowhard, where his greater control over magic allowed him to use the spell a great number of times and not get tired, though he focused on loosing bursts of Ice Shards at the Golem's back, arms, and chest, since those seemed to be the best targets for him at the moment, while the legs would wait until the moment his foe started to move out of the area, or tried to at the very least. One thing he noticed was that there were a few dark crystals attached to certain parts of the Golem's body, the arms and chest to be exact, and he was sure the head had a few as well, which was why he targeted those areas with his ice spells so he could slow his foe's movements down, not by a lot since his foe was massive and there was a lot of ground to cover, but at the very least his thoughts were proven to be correct when one of the dark crystals on the creature's right arm shattered and it staggered for a moment, revealing that this enemy had a weakness that he could use against it as he continued to target the crystals as he dodged the incoming attacks.
Normally this would be the time where Spyro, Ember, and possibly Cynder might join him in his battle, though they were more focused on the enemies that were around them as they guarded the main gate of Warfang, so Spike turned his attention towards the Golem and rained his Ice Magic down on his targets, weakening the dark crystals that were all over its body and even blew a good number of them up as it tried to hit him, before he found the main core and blasted it with a powerful beam of magic, blowing the Golem's heart up and causing it to fall backwards so that it was halfway in the Belt of Fire and half was pointing at Warfang, before he landed near Spyro and Cynder.
"Okay, either the Golem is weaker than I remember, or you are much stronger than I thought," Cynder remarked, all while she tripped a Skavenger over and knocked it out with a powerful headbutt to the chest, which was when she turned towards Spyro and Spike for a moment as Ember flew over to where they were standing and knocked down another foe that was advancing on them, an Ape Commander who dared to approach them, even though she glanced out at the army their allies were fighting at the moment, "however, defending Warfang this time around is going much more smoothly, as we were able to arrive before the battle began this time, instead of arriving while the siege was already happening, so we should be able... to... oh you have got to be kidding me!"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced in the direction that Cynder was looking in and found that there were several more massive enemies, Golems to be exact, emerging from the Belt of Fire and roaring as they touched the ground that was on this side of the flames, causing the soldiers of the dark alliance to cheer while the defenders of Warfang paused, as while it was possible for Spike to take one out one his own there were at least eight more Golems standing before them and that meant the advantage had switched back to Gaul's side. That was followed by all of their enemies pausing for a moment as a portal opened near the group of dragons that were leading the defenders, which was when they watched as Bianca and the rest of their missing friends marched out of it with a smile on their faces as they stared out at the area that was right in front of them, though the reason behind their smiles became clear not a few moments later as Spyro noticed Prince Azrael and Princess Ami, the latter armed with a powerful looking wand, marching out of the portal. Not a few seconds later a few Cat Witches flew out of the portal, using their brooms like they had seen in the past, and flew around until they came to a stop by their leader, who was carrying the scepter they had returned to him, which was when a number of other portals opened up between where they were standing and the main gate of Warfang, something that brought a smile to the faces of the group as they realized what was happening. The forces of Avilion, lead by Bianca and the council that now ruled in place of the Sorceress that they beat a year ago, were finally joining them as they marched out of their realms and assembled on this side of the portals, all of them armed for battle and appearing to be ready to take down the soldiers of the dark alliance, including their commanders, and while they marched Prince Azrael declared that they were here to fight and that all of their soldiers repeated it, like a chant for some odd reason, but the group wasn't going to bother stopping it since it seemed to help them out.
Once everyone was on this side of their various portals the Chronicler stepped through the one that Bianca and the rest of their friends had stepped through and closed them all, where they focused on the enemies who stood between the city and where their target was standing, who was no doubt considering if it was time to take the field himself or just fold and release the Destroyer, before Spike landed near the group that was near Bianca, as there was something he wanted to confirm before the battle resumed.
"So, is that everyone from the other lands?" Spike asked, because based on what he was seeing it appeared that all of their allies were present and that they shouldn't be expecting any additional forces, not unless the Chronicler knew where to find some more allies and could convince them to join the battle for the fate of the world, while at the same time he did notice that it appeared that everyone was waiting for something to happen, either for Spyro to issue the command to charge and resume the battle or something else they didn't know about.
"Not quite." the Chronicler replied, though that was when he opened eight more portals, off in the distance so they were away from the rest of the army that had gathered in front of the city, before Spike and the others noticed something interesting, the forces that started to march out of the new portals were elementals, like the Fire Elementals of the Isle of Bozibig or the Lightning Elementals of Concurrent Skies, which caused smiles to appear on the faces of Ignitus and the rest of the Guardians when they realized what was going on.
The four Elemental Scions, being the Stone Sentinel, the Ice King, the Magma Golem, and the Thunder Prince, joined the battle while they were joined by the four remaining Elemental Lords, the Windlord, the Poison Emperor, and the other two the group hadn't met yet, a shadowy elemental dressed in the armor of a lord and a deep red elemental, dressed in special cloth to keep it contained and caused some Apes to shudder as they laid eyes on it, where Spike knew the former was the Shadow Master and the latter was the Fear Monger... and all of the elemental leaders had returned to their true height, just like they had seen during their visit to the Isle of Bozibig, meaning they were ready for battle.
"Defenders of our world!" Spyro called out, allowing his voice to carry all over the battlefield as he assumed the role of their commander, which made sense when he considered the power he had access to and rarely used, which was where all of the soldiers that were guarding Warfang glanced at him for a moment as he drew Windshear from its sheath for a moment and pointed it right at the dark alliance that was resting in front of them, even though his true target was Gaul, because if they could take him out they would prevent the rise of the Destroyer, "Charge!"
The moment the word left his mouth the assembled army charged forward and rushed towards the area that the dark alliance was gathered in, who seemed surprised by the amount of enemies that were suddenly in front of them and needed Gaul to command them to charge before they moved, before the battle resumed as the two sides smashed into each other once more, even though this time around it appeared that the dark alliance wasn't prepared for the amount of foes that were now in front of them, as several Apes, Skavengers, Trolls, and Grublins were knocked back the moment the battle resumed. While that happened the massive Elemental Lords, to refer to both the Lords and the Scions as a whole, collided with all of the Golems that had been summoned to the battlefield, where a look of shock had to appear on Gaul's face as the Stone Sentinel punched one in the face to stun it and then quickly shattered the core so it could move forward, the Ice King totally froze his foe where it stood and shattered it a few seconds later, the Magma Golem manipulated the flames that were in its foe's body and blew it up from the inside, and the others followed a similar pattern as they beat down the Golems that Gaul had summoned. Spike was pleased by what he was seeing, because the power of the four remaining Elemental Lords and the unbound fury of the Elemental Scions, who the Apes had attempted to mind control, was more than enough to turn the tide of the battle in their favor, more than even he was expecting when he watched what was going on at the moment, before he turned his attention back to the battle and blasted a Skavenger backwards with a Lightning Bolt to the chest. The smaller elementals that followed the Elemental Lords were eager to punish all of their enemies for the crimes that had been committed against their leaders over the last couple of days, which the group was expecting given what they had seen during their visits to the various locations the elementals called home, and it was nice to see that the Apes, at the very least, were getting scared of what they were seeing.
Of course the elementals weren't the only ones that dominated their enemies, as Spyro and Cynder charged right into a cluster of enemies and blasted them backwards with a combination of fire and wind, Spike focused on the larger foes and wrapped his magic around some of them so he could either freeze them or shock them into submission, Ember used both her Warrior's Armor and her metallic claws to deal some impressive damage to several of the enemies that dared to challenge her, and Sol charged into an Ape Commander and pushed it into the air, allowing him to gather his flames for a moment and then charge into its chest so he could dive bomb several enemies. While that was going on Elora flew around the battlefield and punched several of their enemies into the ground, and she made sure to blast some of them with her blasters as well, though Hunter and Agent 9 focused their fire on the skies as they targeted the Dreadwings and the couple of Skurvywings that were in the air, to reduce the amount of enemies that were in the air so the defenders that were on the cannons would be able to lock onto their targets that much easier and ensured that they and their allies didn't get overrun with enemies. Sheila jumped around the battlefield with the Mountain Goats from her home realm following her around, where she kicked her targets into the ground and the others beat them up so they would stop fighting the rest of the defenders, before she moved again and sought out some enemies to kick, even though she did leap into the air and rush downwards to smash some cannons that were being brought out when she found some Skavengers trying to even the playing field with what the defenders had. Sgt. Byrd, on the other hand, took to the skies with the Hummingbirds that he had been training and they proceeded to drop small missiles behind enemy lines, targeting the middle and back ranks of Gaul's forces before any of them had a chance to join the battle, while at the same time Bentley and a few other Yetis smashed into some of their enemies and smashed them around with their weapons, even though Elora was sure that one of them was the Yeti from Colossus, given that the individual uppercut an Ape Commander like a boxer would, just like when she and the others found him in Avilion. Bianca also got in on the action, blasting several of her enemies with either her Fireballs or her Lightning Bolts, though she also kept an eye on the sky and loosed some Ice Shards into the air when some of the flying enemies tried to pass over her head, making sure they didn't get to the city they were defending, even if she was looking for the leaders of the dark alliance.
As it turned out both Captain Skabb and the Lord of the Trolls decided to try and join the battle, but they were taken down with little effort by Ignitus and the other Guardians, who had been fighting several of the other enemies and only moved when their targets entered the battle, where Ignitus and Volteer took care of Captain Skabb while Terrador and Cyril dealt with the Lord of the Trolls, as in they dodged attacks and showed their targets why they were the Guardians of the four Prime Elements, blasting them with Fire, Ice, Earth, and Lightning, before toppling their enemies, allowing Spyro and the others to focus on their true target... and it looked like Gaul was tired of messing around, as it appeared that he was now advancing towards the army, to which Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember marched to meet him.
"Defenders of Warfang, I must congratulate you on your efforts to protect this city," Gaul said, where it was clear that his voice was being projected to every corner of the battlefield, causing the fighting to stop for a moment as everyone took a moment to listen to what the Ape King had to say, though at the same time that didn't stop the group of four from what they were doing, especially since his right arm, the one that had retrieved the final Elementium Key, seemed to be glowing at the moment, "and so I shall reward all of you with the honor of being the first ones to witness the resurrection of the Destroyer, and the end of the world!"
Before Spyro or the others could say anything the glow that was surrounding Gaul's arm intensified for a moment and made them pause for a few seconds, though that was followed by the ground below them shuddering as the now active volcano blew some lava up into the air for a few seconds, though as everything died down that was when they froze as a massive creature, made out of fire, earth, and lava, just like the Golems had been, raised its hands and gripped the edge of the volcano's opening, allowing it to pull itself free so it could climb down the volcano's side, even though the creature's sudden arrival shocked everyone, as there were some gasps when they saw it.
"No... no no no, we can't be fighting this thing again..." Spyro commented, as now that he had access to the memories from his old life he knew what the Chronicler said had been true, he and Cynder fought this beast and had beaten it, only for the Dark Master to cheat and allow it to complete its terrible destiny, leading to them sacrificing themselves so that the world could live on, and while he knew Spike and Ember were strong he didn't think any of them had a chance at stopping the Destroyer this time around.
"The Destroyer has commenced its journey to form the Ring of Annihilation," Gaul continued, showing the group that he was taking some sick pleasure in tormenting the defenders of Warfang with the knowledge that they wouldn't be able to stop the end of the world, while at the same time it looked like some of the Apes, Skavengers, and Trolls were thinking about what they had done to aid the Ape King in bringing his terrible vision to reality, before he continued with what he had to say to all of them, "though at the end of the journey, when it returns to this volcano and climbs inside it, the Belt of Fire will spread across the surface of this world in a torrent of fire and ash... there will be no escape!"
If Gaul was looking to install fear and despair into his enemies, with his forces suffering the same thing, he succeeded, as many of the defenders stared at the Destroyer and stopped fighting, knowing that facing such a legendary beast was not something they could do, and even the siblings, who were used to saving the day, had no idea what they could do, as Spyro and Cynder had failed to stop the Dark Master the last time this happened and even if they beat Gaul they would never be able to catch up with the beast, and they knew that not even the Chronicler would be able to assist them, so all they could do was watch as the Destroyer descended down the side of the volcano. Of course that was when the air that was all around them shuddered for a few moments, not in the way that the ground did when the beast emerged from the volcano or when the Golems appeared to do battle, rather it seemed much gentler than what everyone had experienced over the last few minutes, and it seemed to be emitting from a certain point, one that Spike traced back to the area that was some distance in front of the massive beast that was just starting its terrible journey. That was followed by a new portal, which seemed to be about the size of an adult dragon and not made for an army to march through, opening in the air that was in the Destroyer's path, where the beast actually stopped for a moment as it glared at the portal, meaning it didn't like what was happening, either due to wanting the path cleared or knowing what was coming, though with a beast like this it was hard to tell what was going on. What emerged from the portal was a dragon that walked on two legs, even though he had strong wings that allowed him to fly out of the portal and land on a floating rock that rested in the air, and they were sure it was a male dragon based on the body that looked similar to the other adult dragons they had seen, who was wearing a set of attire that looked a lot like what Ignitus and the other Guardians were wearing, only his seemed to be made out of platinum, like Cynder's jewelry was, meaning this had to be the High Guardian. The dragon also had three horns on his head, one on either side of his head and the third on top, like where Spyro had the curved ridge between his two main horns, and all three of the new dragon's were curved back towards his back, while the dragon also had a line of ridges that ran down his back, much like what Spyro had, and his tail ended in a triangular spade.
In addition to all of that the newcomer also had a rather imposing presence, which made sense given that he was the High Guardian of Warfang, but what really interested the group was that he had purple scales that were a little darker than what Spyro had, no doubt due to age or the fact that he was born with them, though as they noticed that Spike started to connect the dots that were in front of him, especially when he took in the sheer power that seemed to be emitting from the dragon as the portal closed behind him.
"Ignitus! Its father, he's come to aid us!" Cynder happily said, where Ignitus and the other Guardians, who had been in the middle of making their way to where she, Spyro, Spike, and Ember were standing, nodded their heads to show that all of them understood what she was saying as they stared at the dragon that was focusing on the Destroyer, even though both Spyro and Ember realized that Spike had figured out what was going on, even if there were parts of the mystery that hadn't been solved yet.
"Cynder, there's only one other dragon, in all of our history, that has had purple scales... and you said that none of us would have believed you, even if you told us," Spike stated, though he was still shocked and surprised by what they had just discovered, despite the fact that it was hard to determine what was more worthy of his attention, the truth behind who Cynder's father was or the fact that the dragon in question was actually alive and well, even though everyone in the Dragon Realms thought he had disappeared entirely, "Your father is Malefor!"
Instead of saying anything, Cynder nodded her head to show Spyro and the others that Spike was correct, which really made Spike consider things for a moment, before everyone focused on the first purple dragon as he started to move once more, flying straight for the Destroyer's face as the massive beast realized that he was heading straight for it, which was when the beast swung one of its massive fists at him, only for Malefor to flap his wings and get above the arm without the attack hitting him, before he reached the area near the Destroyer's head and swung his right fist at the beast. That was when a circular crater formed in the side of the beast's head and the force of the attack knocked the Destroyer backwards, causing it to tumble into the ground that was near the base of the volcano, displaying the legendary strength of the first purple dragon, something that both stunned Spyro, Spike, Ember, and all of their friends while leaving them in awe as they waited to see what happened next. Malefor, instead of heading down into the area that the beast was resting in and using his strength to beat it into submission in a matter of seconds, remained in the air as he etched several symbols into the air that was in front of him, where Spike could have sworn that he noticed the nine symbols that were associated with all of the elements a dragon could tap into, those being Fire, Ice, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Shadow, Poison, Fear, and the Aether, and once all nine of them were in the air, eight in a circle around the ninth, which was the Aether symbol, he started to gather his magic as a sphere of magical energy formed in front of him, though it seemed like he was combining the nine elements into a single attack. Gaul, sensing that something was wrong, started to move as soon as the attack started to take shape, something that was followed by Spyro and Cynder nodding to each other as they loosed their own breath attacks at the Ape King, though instead of using one of the elements that they had access to, like one would think, the pair tapped into the Aether for a moment and Gaul used his magical scepter to try and parry the attack, though the magic in his weapon was no match for their attack and he was wiped out in seconds, as in the attack shattered him to pieces as it knocked his staff to the ground.
Once Gaul was taken care of, and the pair stopped their attack, Malefor seemed to nod his head for a moment as he returned his attention to what he was doing, which was when he loosed his own attack and it rushed down to where the Destroyer was resting, unleashing a powerful explosion that engulfed the area the beast was in and forced everyone to brace themselves as the shockwave came at them, though when the smoke cleared the Destroyer was nowhere to be seen, meaning Malefor had wiped it from the face of the world, something he must have spent years learning how to do, in the event that it was freed, before he turned around and landed in front of Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember.
"Cynder, it is good to see that you are unharmed," Malefor said, where his voice, despite having an imposing nature to it based on the fact that he had far more experience than anyone in the world, showed that he was happy to see that his daughter was just fine and that the residents of the city he was supposed to be protecting were safe and sound, though he also took a moment to embrace Cynder, before she returned to the ground as he turned towards them, "You must be the ones that the Chronicler told me about, when he came to warn me about Gaul's plans."
"That's right, I'm Spyro, and these are my siblings, Spike and Ember," Spyro replied, though he was still shocked by the fact that the first purple dragon was alive and that he was standing in front of them, something that had to be freaking out Spike at the moment since all of the records and stories said he just disappeared after a point in time, or at least that was what his brother had told him at one point in the past.
"Is that so?" Malefor inquired, where he sounded interested in what Spyro had said, no doubt due to the fact that he likely remembered what Cynder had told him once upon a time, about the other dragon that she recalled in her memories, the one she was linked to in some manner, before he smiled and walked towards them for a moment, "Come, its time that we returned to Warfang and celebrate your victory over this dark alliance, as without their leaders the Apes, Trolls, and all of the Skavengers will return to more peaceful lives."
Spyro and the others had no idea what was going to happen next, since they had been expecting the end of the world or something like that, but it appeared that Malefor was right, without their leaders the soldiers of the dark alliance were already starting to scatter and go their separate ways, meaning their army could relax as the Deepcore Army returned to guarding the walls of the city, allowing them to see whatever the future held for them.
With the battle for the fate of the world over, and the dark alliance was shattered by the might that Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and their friends had brought to bare against them, their forces were able to enter Warfang and rest for a time, as they deserved it for their efforts, while the Deepcore Army stayed outside and continued to defend the city, in case some of their enemies tried to attack the city while their guard was down. From what the group discovered none of the civilians that had been inside the city had been injured by any of the attacks that came from the dark alliance that Gaul had formed and lead against them, where they smiled as they noticed that all of the young and old dragons, along with the Cheetahs and Moles that had fled to safety, were just fine and none of them appeared to be hurt, even though Nestor and the rest of the Artisans dragons had assisted them to the best of their abilities. Ignitus and the other Guardians walked with them, mostly because they were following the same individual as they walked into the city and made sure everyone was alright, and they were joined by Chief Prowlus, who wanted to make sure the rest of his kind were fine, even though he eventually breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed that the Cheetahs of Warfang were unharmed, something that the rest of his group echoed when they laid eyes on them. Other than that it appeared that no damage had been done to the city as a whole, which was great since the group and their allies had done everything in their power to make sure their enemies couldn't do such a thing, and the Guardians were happy that they had been able to prepare for the attack, which the Chronicler was happy to assist them with, given that he had brought the heroes to the city after the events of the Well of Souls and had helped them summon all of their allies.
In addition to that Malefor, the dragon that the group was following, made sure everyone was safe and sound and that none of them had been harmed in the process of the battle, before making sure that some food was prepared, as he was planning on having a feast to celebrate their victory over the dark alliance and securing the safety of their world from what Gaul had wanted to do, something that Alvar joined since it would allow him to see what the chefs of the city did when they made food and show off his skills. Spike was still surprised by the fact that Malefor was alive and that he was standing in front of him, his siblings, and his friends, because all of them had assumed that the first purple dragon had perished at some point in the past, after founding Warfang and ensuring that the Destroyer was imprisoned in the volcano that rested some distance from the city, where the Belt of Fire had died down and disappeared with the death of the beast Gaul had released to destroy the world. Spyro, Ember, and the rest of their friends were surprised by the fact that they were meeting Malefor and that he was just as strong as the legends and stories claimed, because he was over a thousand years old and looked like he was about twenty to thirty years old physically, while his power was the stuff of legends, but while all of them assumed there was a reason for this none of them said anything as they followed the legendary dragon as he walked towards a building that held a large dining area, like a banquet hall of some kind. In fact the only one that wasn't surprised by the discovery of Malefor, and that didn't count the Guardians or the Chronicler, was Cynder, though that was because she was his daughter and spent her entire life with him teaching her how to fight and how to wield her all of her powers, and that even included the fact that he took her to see the Chronicler at one point, so she could tap into the memories of her old life.
The residents of Warfang were overjoyed by their victory over the dark alliance, as many of the ones that the group walked by were cheering and hailing them as the heroes that they were, where everyone made sure to smile and wave at them, as they were happy to find that the dragons, Moles, and Cheetahs of the city were mostly unharmed and those that had been injured during the battle, even if there weren't that many thanks to the Deepcore Army, were receiving some attention from the healers. Warriors were turning in their weapons and armor to make sure any cracks, chips, or dents were dealt with in a timely manner, before arming themselves once more so they could flock to the walls and make sure the Apes, Trolls, Skavengers, and Grublins didn't come back while they were celebrating their victory, even though Ignitus and the other Guardians claimed that they didn't need to due such a thing. Malefor, on the other claw, wished them well as he flew off with them, apparently going to take control of the Deepcore Army so that they spread out and assisted those that would rather defend the walls than celebrating with the others, before returning a few minutes later so he could show the group he was leading to the building that he had been leading them towards. He informed the group that they were heading towards a banquet hall, where they were going to rest and celebrate their success over the dark alliance Gaul had put together to smash them, and that made everyone interested in what was going to happen when they reached the building that was their destination.
The banquet hall, which was located in the part of the city that the Guardians' temple was located in, had a long table in the middle of it that seemed to be large enough for everyone to sit at, or at least that was what Spyro noticed when they entered the large chamber that Malefor had lead them to, and it looked like there were a fair number of seats positioned along both sides of the table, along with an ornate chair that sat at the head of the table, one that was likely reserved for Malefor, where he stepped towards it and smiled at the group as he glanced back at them.
"Friends, feel free to rest and relax before the evening meal, our banquet, arrives so we can celebrate your victory over Gaul and his forces," Malefor said, showing Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group that he had been serious about wanting to celebrate their victory over the dark alliance, while at the same time they could mingle with each other and just chat for a time, before the food arrived and they started to eat whatever was prepared, just like the rest of their forces were doing before they sent them back home, as everyone deserved some time to rest after the massive battle that they had taken part in.
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads as their friends started to spread out, along with the Leaders from their lands that they called home, showing that everyone wanted to chat with those that were around them while Cynder stood by them, though as they did that Chief Prowlus approached Hunter, though he was flanked by three Cheetahs, two adults and one teenager by the sizes of the individuals in question, meaning that something interesting might happen before the food arrived and the four of them, along with Elora and Bianca, walked over to the part of the hall that Hunter was in, as they were curious as to what the leader of the Cheetahs had to say.
"Hunter of Avalar, you fought well out there," Prowlus said, showing that he must have been paying close attention to what their friend had been doing in the middle of the battle they had been fighting earlier, which made sense to Ember since this was likely the first and only time he and the other Cheetahs had seem another Cheetah that wasn't clothed like the rest of them and likely fought a little differently than him and his clan, "Tell me, who taught you how to fight like that? Your moves with your bow and swords were quite impressive, even if they were different from what we teach the warriors of our clan."
"Thanks. I learned how to fight like a real warrior from Titan," Hunter replied, though that was when he beckoned to the dragon in question, who happened to be standing near one of the walls at the moment, where it appeared that he was sharing a laugh or a story about some of his fights with Terrador, before Spyro noticed that his friend seemed bothered by something, as he sighed not a few seconds after doing that, "though I was supposed to learn how to be a warrior from my parents, who suddenly disappeared a few days after my first birthday, leaving me to be raised by some of the Royal Guard for a number of years."
"Hunter, why didn't you tell us this once we beat Ripto, or took down the Sorceress?" Spyro asked, because he knew that if their friend had said anything about the fact that his parents had gone missing, especially after discovering what had happened to Agent 9 when Elora found him during their last adventure, the three of them and their friends would have done everything and anything to help Hunter discover what might have happened to his parents and, possibly, find out where they had gone.
"With how busy you guys were, I didn't want to weigh you down even more," Hunter admitted, showing that he knew what the siblings had done was far more important than looking for his missing parents, especially after seeing everything that the Sorceress had done to try and take over Avilion, by ruining everything Malefor had done for the residents of the various realms, "All the Professor could tell me was that they were somewhere in our world, beyond the boundaries of the lands that make up Avalar, and that there was no telling where they could have gone, even though he was sure a portal had been used and that it had malfunctioned when they used it to go somewhere."
"That certainly sounds like something the Professor would say," one of the adult Cheetahs said, who sounded male to the group that was near Hunter, before he pulled off the hood that was covering his head and revealed an older Cheetah that almost looked like an older version of Hunter, while the other adult pulled their hood back and revealed a female Cheetah that had light red colored hair, which just so happened to be nearly the same length of Elora's hair, before the pair smiled for a moment as they embraced a stunned Hunter, "Hunter, we're glad that you're alright."
"My clan found Akello and Sarah outside our village a number of years ago, no doubt around the time that they went missing from Avalar," Prowlus explained, revealing that the two Cheetahs that were embracing Hunter were his long lost parents, the ones he hadn't told anyone about because it no doubt made him sad to not have a family and mad at the fact that he was unable to find either of them over the years, making the group wonder who the last Cheetah was, since they were being quiet at the moment, "From what we were able to tell they were going to expose someone called 'Moneybags' for his crimes against Avalar, but before they could tell whoever was in charge what was going on they stepped through a 'portal' and were thrown somewhere else in the world, which ended up being outside our village."
"Seriously? Moneybags is behind you losing your parents?" Ember remarked, mostly because she had been doing well lately, in the sense that she had gotten over her anger towards the annoying bear that had tried to thwart their attempts to save both Avalar and Avilion, though this just caused her to growl for a moment as she heard what Prowlus had to say and noticed that both of Hunter's parents nodded their heads to confirm that this was the truth of the matter, "You know, if it wasn't due to the fact that we imprisoned Moneybags in a crystalline statue a year ago, for his crimes against all of the residents of both Avalar and Avilion, I'd be tempted to beat the stuffing out of him once more and leave some bruises that would take a few weeks to totally heal... though I'm sorely tempted to find out where his statue is resting so I can smash it to pieces and take him out."
"You'll have to tell us the story of how such a thing happened later," Sarah replied, though while she was interested in hearing how the dragons had been able to capture and imprison Moneybags, not to mention what sort of crimes the bear had committed since the last time she and her husband were in Avalar, there was something more important for them to do at the moment, hence the reason she and Akello pulled back from Hunter and beckoned for the last Cheetah to join them, who did so and pulled their hood back, revealing a younger Cheetah that was female and looked like she was a little younger than Hunter was, by a year to a year and a half, "Hunter, this is Amelia... you're little sister."
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, and Bianca could tell that Hunter was torn between feeling happy and overjoyed, as not only did he find his long lost parents, who he never told anyone about due to the fact that it would have reopened his own wounds, but he also discovered another member of the family, a sister to be exact, something that was followed by him embracing all three of them as he cried tears of joy, though as that happened the group backed off for a moment so he could share this moment with his family.
"You three never cease to amaze me," Nestor remarked, as he had been keeping an eye on Spyro, Spike, and Ember since they arrived in the banquet hall, not that he was expecting anything to happen while Malefor was near, as only a fool would dare to attack Warfang now that the first purple dragon was back, which was why Gaul must have been so keen on attacking the city, as he knew Malefor was somewhere else, before he focused on the trio, "first you save the five lands that make up the Dragon Realms from Gnasty Gnorc, then you save Avalar from Ripto and Moneybags, then you liberate Avilion from the Sorceress' foul grasp, and now you've gathered an army to save the world, all while helping Hunter locate his missing family members, even if you had no idea such a thing was even happening during this adventure."
"Once a hero, always a hero," Cynder said, though at the same time she smiled, as it was good to hear the endings of the adventures that Spyro had been through with his siblings, even if she hadn't been there to support him and help him learn how to wield all of his powers over the course of those adventures, but even then, after seeing how quickly he took to using the Aether with her, to smash Gaul to pieces and scatter the ashes, she was glad that Spike and Ember had made sure he was safe and helped him become both a hero and a leader, "isn't that right, Spyro?"
"It sure seems that way." Spyro replied, as he knew what Cynder was referring to and understood that the only ones that likely knew what they were referring to were the Chronicler, the four Guardians of Warfang, and Malefor himself, as he knew Cynder had told her father about him, based on how he acted as soon as he introduced himself, so those were the ones that understood what he had done in his past life, saving the day and battling the forces of evil, even though the two of them paid the ultimate price to save the world.
It was in the following moment that a number of Moles entered the banquet hall and carried plates of food in, ones that looked similar to what the siblings and their friends were used to, like the ones Alvar made, but with a flare that had to belong to the chefs of Warfang, and there was more than enough for everyone, including pitchers that were filled with a variety of drinks for them to enjoy. What was interesting was the fact that Malefor had everyone place their weapons on a few benches, just like how Nestor and the other Leaders did whenever they had their meetings, so no one was armed as they sat down in the seats that were around the table and helped themselves to what had been prepared some time ago, and the Moles even mentioned that there was more coming. Spike got the sense of how things operated by how everyone sat, as it appeared that Malefor, as the High Guardian, sat at the head of the table and usually the four Guardians sat near him, two to the left and two to the right, where it appeared that today things had changed as Cynder and Spyro sat to his right and Spike and Ember remained to the left, with the four Guardians sitting between them and their friends, leaving the rest of the group resting further beyond them. He suspected that it was based on station, not to mention the fact that Malefor was highly respected among all the residents of Warfang, Doxantha, and the surrounding islands, including Avilion and the realms that he assisted over the years, so positioning the four of them near him was likely based on the fact that they were the heroes of the war, summoning the allies needed so they could protect the city from Gaul and the army he had built to wipe Warfang from the face of the world, before wiping out said world.
Of course, out of everyone, Spike was the slowest to do anything as he considered who was sitting to his right, as he knew the stories of Malefor better than anyone in the three lands, possibly four since he had no idea how much everyone on Doxantha knew about the first purple dragon and his deeds, and it was hard for him to consider the fact that he was sitting next to the living legend that had done so much for the lands of the world.
"Spike, is something wrong with the food? You haven't touched any of it." Malefor commented, seeing that Spike had spent most of the time considering who was sitting next to him than what was resting right in front of him, though at the same time it demonstrated that he was incredibly observant and noticed things that others might miss, which Spike knew from all of the stories he had read about the dragon in question, something that Cosmos and the other magic users also knew from what they had read in the stories as well.
"Its because he's still shocked by the fact that he's sitting next to a living legend," Cynder remarked, as she knew why Spike was so slow in eating, though after mentioning that the young Archmage scratched the back of his head for a few seconds and started to eat the food that he had collected before Malefor had spoken, to which she chuckled as she saw that before glancing towards her father, "According to Spike, you're quite revered and well spoken of, so much so that even the youngest Archmage in the entire history of our world, whose power and knowledge can be rather scary at times, is rendered speechless by simply being in your presence."
"Really? An Archmage, at thirteen years old?" Malefor asked, to which he paused what he was doing for a moment and looked at Spike, who nodded his head to the question, something that made the rest of the table glance in their direction for a few seconds as he quickly looked at the banquet hall and seemed to focus on the various benches that were around them, where it was clear that he was looking for something specific, before he glanced over to Spike once more, "I know you are familiar with the ceremony that all Archmages go through, since I am the first one the went through it and devised the method that all Archmages following me would use to create their staffs, yet I do not see your staff... if you are an Archmage, where is your staff?"
"Truth be told, I was twelve and a half when I went through the ceremony," Spike replied, mostly because he wanted to make sure Malefor knew just how old he was when he went through the Archmage Ceremony and called his staff to his side, just like all of the Archmages that came before him, before he sighed for a moment as he stopped eating and set all of the utensils he was using down for a moment, which was when he sighed as he glanced at Malefor, given the nature of the artifact he could use in battle, "as for my staff... well, please don't be mad at me."
Malefor, instead of saying anything, raised an eyebrow as Spike got up from where he was sitting and took a few steps back so he was away from the table, before he stood up on his hind legs and called upon his magic for a few seconds, to which everyone watched as a staff started to materialize in the air in front of his front right claws, a staff where the handle was made out of equal parts metal and wood, with a golden coloration, while having a purple gem at the top of it, with a smaller one resting on the end of the staff that touched the ground, and it even had a magical ring of runes dancing in the air around the top crystal.
"No way... it cannot be..." Ignitus said, showing that everyone was looking in the direction of Spike and his staff, even though Nestor and the others knew that this sort of reaction was coming once they understood what Malefor had asked of Spike, since it was confusing as to why he would call himself an Archmage and not have a staff, though he was stunned by what he and the others were seeing at the moment, due to the fact that the staff Spike carried was a legendary one that many had assumed had been lost for the last thousand years.
"Impossible! That staff was said to be missing, impossible to find!" Terrador added, taking in the details of the weapon that Spike was holding as he grasped it and used it to stand for a few more moments, even though it was clear that this stance was unusual for him, showing just how odd it was for a young dragon to become an Archmage, despite the fact that he was carrying the one staff that was a legend among the dragons of Warfang and the rest of Doxantha, especially when someone considered who had wielded it in the past.
"Oh this is so interesting. Who would have known that such an extraordinary discovery would have been made during this celebration banquet!" Volteer commented, mostly speaking to himself as he said that, because most of the Guardians liked to ignore him when he talked like this and he was perfectly fine with it, since the point of his statements was usually understood by the others, before he turned his attention to the staff Spike was carrying at the moment, as this was one more thing he would have to study in the future.
"Is that what I think it is?" Cynder inquired, showing the group that even Cynder knew of the staff, which made sense considering that her father was Malefor, the dragon that carried it into battle and wielded it against the Elemental Lords he fought when he was assisting the residents of Avilion, before the Sorceress came along and Malefor stored the staff inside the Arcanaeum for the last thousand years, before she and the Guardians turned towards the first purple dragon, who just so happened to be staring at Spike at the moment.
"Akilesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian, the very staff I crafted once upon a time and carried into battle, where I fought all of the enemies that were threatening Avilion," Malefor stated, though instead of looking annoyed or angry that someone was carrying the staff that he once wielded, and had constructed to be a prison for a powerful Aether Elemental that had nearly destroyed Spike when he underwent his Archmage Ceremony, he actually seemed interested and happy by the fact that someone was capable of carrying the staff he had crafted, though when he held a hand out Spike nodded and let the staff float over to its original owner, who grasped the handle and studied it for a few seconds, no doubt making sure that the elemental was still inside it, "Fascinating. You were able to battle the dangerous elemental that's contained within this staff and come out on top by containing it, which is no easy feat for a young dragon such as yourself... that means you must have tapped into the Aether at some point before attempting the ceremony that called this staff to your side, not to mention the fact that you must have extraordinary talent when it comes to magic and the elements."
"The first time we used the Aether was in our first battle with the Sorceress, and by that I mean Spike, Ember, and I used it together," Spyro said, because he figured that he would share that piece of information with Malefor and the rest of the dragons that were around them, even if the Cheetahs and Moles might have no idea what they were talking about at the moment, though even as he said that he noticed that Ignitus and the other Guardians were shocked by something he had said, "What's wrong? Did I say something I wasn't supposed to?"
"The Aether is a power reserved for purple dragons, and Cynder has been the exception to that rule for as long as we can remember, due to something that happened in her past life," Ignitus replied, though at the same time the rest of the Guardians nodded their heads in agreement, showing the group and their friends that Cynder was, as Hunter used to put it, a rule breaker and that she must have been trained on how to wield the Aether over the last couple of years, which made sense due to who her father was, "even so, its odd for there to be a blue dragon that's capable of tapping into the power of the Aether, though I'm a little surprised you haven't used it once during this adventure, especially after finding out that the fate of the world was at stake."
"That's due to the fact that we haven't had a chance to learn how to wield the power of the Aether, even though Spyro knows more than we do thanks to his memories," Ember stated, giving Malefor and the Guardians the reason behind why she and her siblings didn't wield the power of the ninth and final element at all during this adventure, even though it had been rather interesting to see Spyro and Cynder use the power of the Aether to smash Gaul to pieces and end his life in a few seconds, before she returned to the conversation that was going on, "Anyway, the first time the three of us tapped into the Aether was during our first fight with the Sorceress, who was channeling a rather powerful fire spell, the Emperor of Fire according to Spike, and it was during that clash that we tapped into the power of the Aether, to blow the attack apart and ruin the Sorceress' defenses so we could beat her... even though she latter reappeared in her treasury and we had to beat her again, where we sealed her in a statue for her crimes against Avilion and dragon kind."
"So, Morrigan was causing trouble again... why am I not surprised in the slightest?" Malefor commented, to which the group and the siblings glanced towards the first purple dragon for a moment, as this was the first time any of them had even heard a name that could have been linked to the Sorceress, which was rather interesting since all of them were used to calling her by the title that she insisted on being called, before he sighed for a few seconds and focused on the heroes once more, "What did she do this time?"
"Well, she created an army of Rhynocs, which are rhinoceros-like enemies, to attack the realms of Avilion and force all of them to bend their knees to her," Spike answered, as he could easily tell Malefor the answer to the question, due to the fact that he had written all of this down at one point after the adventure to the land in question, even though the main reason behind the adventure happening was going to infuriate the dragons that were in the banquet hall, "she attempted to create a cross realm war between Charmed Ridge and the island of Felinia, much like how Moneybags did the same in Avalar, with the Breezebuilders and the Land Blubbers, and basically attacked any realm that dared to stand against her rule, all while imprisoning the heroes of the four homeworlds, who we rescued and helped reclaim their lands so we could get closer to our target... there's also the fact that she was willing to steal all one hundred and fifty dragon eggs that were delivered during the last Year of the Dragon Festival and kill the hatchlings when they hatched."
"Excuse me? She did WHAT?!" Cynder exclaimed, while at the same time the Guardians and the rest of the dragons that were present, the ones from Warfang to be more exact, were outraged by what Spike had said, while Malefor paused for a moment as a look of anger crossed his face, no doubt due to the fact that the one who forced the rest of the dragons to leave Avilion was willing to kill hatchlings, especially a hundred and fifty of them, a number that was beyond anything their records had shown in the past.
"She had her forces steal the eggs and hid them all over Avilion so she could wait for them to hatch, but we managed to find and recover all of them," Ember stated, mostly because she didn't want this conversation to ruin the mood and it seemed that the others seemed to share the same thought, to a degree anyway, because the dragons calmed down and the look of anger that was on Malefor's face disappeared not a few seconds later, before she considered the words that she and her siblings had heard when they bested the Sorceress in battle, "According to what we heard the reason she even stole the eggs in the first place was so she could take the magic that was inside the hatchlings and empower herself, despite the fact that the eggs were a trap for the adult dragons and the strongest of the Dragon Realms, all so she could make herself immortal and gain enough power to fight her ancient foe, the one who beat her all those years ago and utterly humiliated her in the process. Basically she felt your magic at some point, either due to you training someone or practicing some of your spells, and she devised a plan to drain all the magic from the residents of the Dragon Realms and steal all of the powers that we had access to, with the three you created being her main targets."
"Warrior's Armor, Sage's Vision, and Conqueror's Spirit," Malefor said, not that anyone was surprised by this, because he was the one that created the three powerful techniques and was the only dragon that could use all three of them, or at least that was what the legends and stories claimed when Spike considered what he had learned from his studies, even though he and the other scholars were sure those stories were true, especially after what he had seen when Malefor took out the Destroyer, "So, she was after immortality and the power to bring me down... such a foolish reason for her to attack another landmass and steal the eggs of the dragons that called that land home, so I would say that she got whatever was coming to her, even though it sounds like you trapped her in a statue or something, though it does make me interested in how strong the three of you are."
"Well, Ember has access to the Warrior's Armor skill, and she's carrying the Fangs of Felinia," Cynder said, though she had the feeling that her father already understood what she was saying and that he didn't need someone to say it, given the fact that he was the one who wielded the blades that Ember was using, even if she had to detach them from her metal bracers, but it appeared that her father was perfectly fine with this as he let the staff head back to Spike, who carefully stored it on one of the benches before he bothered to move it to a safer location, even if he felt it should be back where it had been resting before this point in time, "Spyro has been carrying around Windshear the entire time, and Spike has a fair amount of magical power that is uncommon for a dragon of his age, so it makes sense that they would have been able to beat Morrigan before they found the Arcanaeum and the artifacts that were inside it."
"All three of them are strong warriors, based on what I saw during the battle for Warfang, and Spyro is a natural born leader, given how easily he took control over the army," Terrador commented, adding to what Cynder was saying, even though the only ones that really knew how skilled the siblings were, and all the skills they possessed, were Nestor, the rest of the Leaders, and their friends, while Cynder only had experience in what she had seen over the course of the adventure that had just ended, "We are fortunate they discovered something on the globe that rests inside your Arcanaeum, which warned them that something was going to happen on this continent, and that they came to help us take down Gaul and his forces, especially with all of the forces that they brought to bare against the army that was marching on Warfang, as I'm not sure how we would have dealt with such an event if we faced it alone."
"Okay, I have to apologize about something, the icon that was on the globe was an Aether icon, indicating that there was somewhere on Doxantha who was using the Aether," Spyro stated, as it was about time that they revealed what had brought them to this continent in the first place, even though it had spiraled into a quest to save the world from Gaul and his sinister plans, and it was easy to see that most of the people that were around them were interested in what he had to say on the matter, "The globe showed us three Aether icons, the first one resting on the part of Avilion that we fought the Sorceress in, or Morrigan as you called her earlier, while the second icon happened to be positioned over the part of the Dragon Realms that Spike had tapped into the powerful element when he was trying to tame Akilesh, which he did and gained control of the staff... however, it was the third icon that caught our attention, as we had no knowledge of Warfang, the islands we went to, or the fact that Gaul was even acting up. We came here to investigate who the third Aether icon was telling us about, mostly due to the fact that we had been worried that an enemy was learning how to tap into the final element and would turn that power against the world, though its hard to tell if it was referring to Malefor's power, Cynder learning how to wield the element, or Gaul going after the final Elementium Key... but right now, however, I guess it really doesn't matter what it was telling us about, given that it brought us here to help save the world."
"Still, that doesn't change the fact that there are now five Aether users in the world," Ignitus replied, where it was easy for Nestor and the others to see how surprised the four Guardians were, which was due to the fact that the Aether was the rarest element in the world for a dragon to tap into and it seemed to be the hardest for one to learn, something that might be easy now that they knew Malefor was alive and well, even though they had thought he had simply disappeared at one point in the past, before he glanced in the direction of the first purple dragon, who seemed to be thinking of something at the moment, "Malefor, is something wrong?"
"No, everything is just fine... in fact, after hearing all of this I've come to the decision that I would like to engage Spyro, Spike, and Ember in a fight and see their strength for myself." Malefor stated, where his words stunned everyone that was in the banquet hall at the moment, causing everyone to pause what they were doing so they could turn to look at him, and even the Chronicler seemed surprised by the statement, though at the same time Cynder's tail twitched for a few seconds as she heard what her father had to say.
"Not without me fighting by their side." Cynder added, because after everything they had been though, since Spyro and the others arrived in Warfang the first time around, she was joining them and would continue to do so, even if such a thing meant fighting her own father, despite the fact that she had some experience in such things thanks to the training he had given her over the years, before she glanced towards her father, "Though I think that we should rest for a day or two, to let our bodies and magic recover from the battle that we just fought in, since it took a lot of power and skill to make sure our enemies didn't get inside Warfang."
Malefor didn't seem upset by Cynder saying that, rather he seemed happy that she was so willing to stand by Spyro's side and join the battle, to which he raised his goblet into the air and returned to the true nature of their feast, to celebrate their victory over the dark alliance that threatened to tear their world apart with the aid of the Destroyer, something that everyone mimicked as they continued the celebration feast, allowing them to focus on the here and now while not even worrying about what the future held for them.
Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the rest of their friends, and Cynder was counted in that at this point, found that the celebration banquet went on for a few hours and it was a nice thing to experience, as Malefor and the Guardians wanted to make sure they were thanked for their efforts to save both Warfang and the rest of the world, even though none of them had raised their hands or claws to defeat the Destroyer, something that only the first purple dragon had been able to take out with his power. Despite all their skills Spyro was still under the impression that they wouldn't have been able to deal with the rather large beast that Gaul had released, and there was a chance that the only way they might have been able to topple it was with Akilesh, but thanks to the timely arrival of Malefor they didn't have to worry about it, so he pushed that thought from his mind and focused on the celebration banquet that was happening all around them. Of course he was still surprised by the fact that Malefor wanted to face him, his siblings, and even Cynder in battle, to see what sort of powers they had for himself and see how his daughter had progressed since the last time he had trained her or had watched her train, something that none of the group knew since they only had a limited knowledge on what happened in this city, though Cynder seemed ready for it and that was enough for Spyro and Ember, even if Spike was focused on the knowledge that rested inside the library they had looked through earlier.
In addition to all of that there were some stories being shared by the rest of the table, Nestor and the other Leaders telling Ignitus and the other Guardians about some of the things that the siblings had done before their first adventure, like the time Spike accidentally bit into a gem when he first started taking to the lifestyle of a scholar, even though Ignitus was impressed by the fact that Spike had started being a scholar so early in his life, something that had surprised the Artisans when it happened. Elora and Hunter also had a few tales to tell both the dragons of Warfang and Hunter's parents, where they told them about the events that had caused them to seek out someone to help them with Ripto, even if Hunter was no longer the scared and cowardly Cheetah he had been when those events happened, and how they ended up with Spyro, Spike, and Ember helping them deal with the threats their realms faced. Of course Akello and Sarah were surprised by the fact that Moneybags was willing to start a terrible cross realm war between the Breezebuilders and Land Blubbers, one that the siblings had to stop once Avalar was safe and sound, which was around the time that Bianca took over the conversation and told them about how Moneybags arrived in Avilion, which she and the other residents had been calling the Forgotten Realms since the Sorceress, or Morrigan thanks to what Malefor said, took over and started ruling over everything with an iron fist. That eventually brought them to the fact that the siblings, Elora, and Hunter gathered an army of soldiers from the realms of Avilion to face the army of Rhynocs their foe had created, using the same spell Gnasty Gnorc had used to create gem soldiers, before they invaded the Treasury that they unlocked and eventually found that Morrigan had fled to it, resulting in Spike using the staff from their first villain to imprison Moneybags and Morrigan in their own crystalline statues and were now on display in Avalar and Avilion.
Malefor remained silent as the stories were shared, mostly because he was interested in what Nestor and the others were saying at the moment and didn't want to interrupt the stories that were being told, just like how the Guardians, the Chronicler, and even Cynder were interested in the stories, though Hunter's parents seemed pleased with how the greedy bear was punished and the fact that the residents of Avalar were making sure no one touched the statue, since that was the only way for him to be released, someone from his home needed to touch it to free him. In case anyone was confused by something Spike explained the spell he had used on Moneybags and Morrigan, since it was one that Gnasty Gnorc had used on the Dragon Realms and he, Spyro, and Ember had saved the day by freeing the dragons, recovering the gems and eggs that had been stolen, and how they beat Gnasty Gnorc and used his own spell against him, to trap him inside his own statue, one that none of the other Gnorcs had touched since they beat him. The most interesting part about all of that was the trick that Spike and Ember had played on their first villain, the lava immunity trick that surprised many of the dragons that were in the banquet hall, and that included Malefor since none of them had that sort of skill and he was unfamiliar with someone even having such a power, but they had used it to good effect to stun both Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto a year later, causing some of the others to laugh in the process, showing that it was funny thing to hear. Spike using Gnasty Gnorcs scepter on Moneybags and Morrigan seemed to be a stroke of genius to the dragons that were in the hall, as now they understood why they had trapped the pair in statues, before they moved onto the next story that was lined up, one that Elora started since it involved how she went from a simple bystander and developed into the warrior she was, thanks to the training she underwent and the armor she wore almost all the time.
Eventually the celebration ended as nighttime arrived, to which Malefor quickly escorted them across the street and let them use the building in question, a building that had more than enough rooms and beds for everyone, so they could get a good nights sleep and recover all of the energy they expanded during the battle for Warfang, while making sure all of them gathered their weapons and gear before leaving the banquet hall, since he knew none of them wanted to leave their stuff behind, even though the Guardians did hand over the runeblades they had been allowed to use, which would be returned to the Arcanaeum in the very near future. Of course Spike did ask a rather important question to the first purple dragon, that being if he was going to take back the Arcanaeum now that he knew it was safe and sound, since he figured Malefor hadn't tried to reclaim it due to Morrigan being near it almost all the time and revealing it would have given her the weapons to take over Avilion, and possibly the rest of the lands that existed in the world, something that caused Spyro and the others to pause so they could hear what the answer to the question was. It was clear that Malefor wasn't sure if he should take the ancient vault back or leave it in the hands of the next generation of purple dragons, Ember, and, of course, his daughter, so his answer, as it turned out, was that he would decide what to do about it at some point in the future, to which Spike nodded his head and headed towards the room that he was being given for the night, so he could join the rest of the group and rest at long last.
When morning arrived Malefor, the Guardians, and Hunter's parents joined the group on the airship as they headed to the southeast of where the continent rested, coming from the direction of the Dragon Realms, as there was an island he used as a training area since he didn't want to use the Arcanaeum, mostly out of worry that Morrigan might discover the whereabouts of the vault and the treasures that it held, but now he didn't have to worry about that, an island that was an hour and a half away from Doxantha.
The group did nothing major while they traveled through the air, not since they would be witnessing the battle between Spyro, Spike, Ember, who were the heroes of three lands, and Cynder, who would be facing off against Malefor, the first purple dragon and possibly the greatest dragon in the history of the world, in terms of magic and strength, so they knew that this would be a grand fight and that everyone needed their strength for what the future held for them, hence the reason Titan refrained from trying to have Ember and the others train while they traveled. The island in question was one of the larger ones they had seen, as it seemed to be the same size as the White Isle and had a mountain or volcano in the center of it, though the rest of the ground seemed to be flat and rocky, with some patches of grass here and there, though as they approached the island Malefor directed them to an area where the airship would be safe and sound, to which Fury nodded his head and descended towards the area in question. Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember found that the island was the perfect place to have a fight, a destructive one considering the power they were going to be facing, so once the airship was in position the four of them flew off the deck and headed out into the area that was in front of them, where Spike left Akilesh on the deck, because despite the fact Malefor knew he could wield it he wanted to see how he measured up to the legendary dragon with his own power, before trying the staff. Malefor followed after them as the Guardians, the Leaders, the Chronicler, and the rest of the group remained on the deck so they could see what happened when the five of them started to fight each other, especially when they considered the powers that the five individuals had, so they kept quiet and waited to see what unfolded.
It took them a few moments to put some distance between them and the airship, though once they were five to ten minutes from the airship the first ones that landed were Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember, where they looked at the area they were in and readied themselves for what was coming their way, as all of them knew that Malefor was strong, he would be quick, and his magic was unlike anything they had seen in the past, so it would be a tough fight for all of them and they knew it, though they remained silent as Malefor landed nearby and stretched for a moment, showing that he was ready for the fight and that he was interested in seeing what they had to show him.
"Well then, you can come at me whenever you're ready to start this battle," Malefor said, though at the same time he quickly switched from his stretching stance to a stance that indicated that he was ready for them to come at him, as his stance was more of a sideways one and he was staring at them, showing them that he was waiting for them to make the first move before he did anything, hence the reason the group gathered near each other for a few seconds, before even charging into the fray to battle the dragon that was in front of them.
One would have expected the four young dragons to talk about something, like a plan of attack, but the siblings knew how the others fought and they had gained enough experience from fighting with Cynder to understand her movements as well, meaning that all four of them had an idea of what they might do when the battle started and how they could use the techniques of the others to their advantage, especially when they considered that their foe might be looking into the future with his Sage's Vision, according to what the legends said. As such the four of them quickly dispersed from where they had been standing and spread out in a circular formation around Malefor, though Cynder was the one that rushed right at their foe and leapt into the air, where she swung her front claws at her father as she attempted to scratch him, to which he replied in kind and parried the incoming attacks, even though this did show the siblings another way to fight in their current state, as Cynder used her wings to stay aloft while she went on the offensive. Ember realized something she and the other Peace Keepers must have missed over the years of training, they could attack while being in the air and could use their wings to stay in the air, and she meant that in the sense of a young dragon and not an adult, but it gave her some ideas on what they could do in the future, to which she turned her attention back to the fight as Spyro, mimicking Cynder's movements, flew into the area from Malefor's right and swung his claws at him, though she figured he'd do that given the memories of his old life. While all of that was going on Spike gathered his magic for a few seconds, where Ember was sure he was going with a large Fireball to start things off, before he loosed it and sent it flying right at his target, no doubt intending to hit Malefor while he was distracted by Spyro and Cynder, even though that didn't work all that much as their foe knocked Cynder backwards a bit and then punched the Fireball with his bare hand, blowing the entire thing up and casting some smoke into the area that was around him.
It was in that moment that Ember rushed at Malefor from the back, intending on using the smoke to cover what she was going to be doing, and leapt into the air so she could spin around while she was in the air and then bring down her tail on her target's shoulder, something that would have the Warrior's Armor wrapped around it since she figured that the base attack wouldn't do anything to the powerful dragon and that she needed the skill to wound him, though as her tail got close to Malefor's shoulder he suddenly reached up and gripped it, giving her enough time to deactivate her skill as he used her like a flail and knocked both Spyro and Cynder backwards, before releasing her.
"How did he know my attack was coming?" Ember remarked, keeping her voice low so only Spyro, Cynder, and Spike could hear what she had to say, while at the same time Malefor shifted his stance back to what it had been like when they launched their assault, even though it had ended with him using Ember as a weapon, which was why she was glad she had deactivated her skill, otherwise that attack would have done some damage to Spyro and Cynder, before she glanced at the dragon that was near them, "That smoke should have prevented him from noticing me... was he using Sage's Vision to see what was coming?"
"That's the power that gives one those red rings around the eyes, right?" Cynder asked, because she knew the legends that revolved around her father and the various powers that he could use whenever he was fighting someone, and there were her own experiences whenever she trained with him, though as she said that Spike nodded his head a little to show that she was correct in what she was saying, "I've never seen him use that, in all the years that I've spent training with him, so I would have to say that him dodging your attack and using it against us was his reflexes, even though it was a good tactic that would have worked against the Apes and their allies."
"I agree, he was using his reflexes to turn the tide of this battle in his favor, for a few seconds," Spyro added, though that was due to the fact that he had seen his own brother use the power a few times and he could have sworn that the air was different whenever he used the Sage's Vision skill, just like whenever he used Conqueror's Spirit or when Ember used Warrior's Armor, so since the air had been the same as when the battle started it had to be Malefor's reflexes that allowed him to overcome the attack and show all of them that they had to be careful during this fight.
"I doubt he'd start using Sage's Vision, right at the start of our fight, so I'd say reflexes as well," Spike said, as he had been observing Malefor's movements and knew that this wouldn't be an easy fight, especially given the fact that their foe had broken their first attack by simply defending himself and then using one of them against the rest, before he glanced at the older dragon and knew that he was patiently waiting for the four of them to come at him again, to which he turned back towards the others, "Come on, let's test a few more tactics out and see if we can't find something that works, before we resort to simply attacking him with everything we have... that should be our last ditch effort against Malefor, especially with all the skills he is said to have, and, before any of you ask, Akilesh is for when we run out of options."
Spyro, Cynder, and Ember nodded their heads in understanding, mostly because they knew that Spike was trying to see if there was a hole or weakness in Malefor's defenses, something they were unsure of due to the fact that this battle had just started and there was no way for them to know the answer to that in the first few moments of the fight, to which the four of them rushed out of the area they had been standing in and headed for Malefor again, though this time around Spike gathered his power and blasted the area that their foe was in with a bunch of Lightning Bolts. None of them were supposed to hurt Malefor, regardless if they hit him or not, and the smoke that was generated by the attack increased as both Spyro and Ember loosed bursts of their fire breath into the area, aiming for the ground and not their target, allowing Cynder to focus on the element she was picking out as she dived into her shadow and disappeared, even though the others knew what she was up to. Not a few seconds later Cynder burst out of her father's shadow and swung her tail right at his neck, intending on knocking him to the side so that Spyro and the others could rush in and do some damage, but her plan was ruined as her father avoided the attack by moving his body out of the way, which was the moment that the rest of the group rushed into the area and lashed out at Malefor, where Spyro gathered his flames around his claws and swung them at his target, Ember readied a Warrior Armor reinforced headbutt, and Spike loosed a volley of Ice Shards at the same time, combining the three attacks with Cynder's Shadow Play technique. For a moment it seemed like they were actually going to hit him, even if it would result in a scratch or two on Malefor's platinum armor, though that was about the time that Spike noticed the magic around their foe's wings, where when he flared them the sheer gust he produced with his wind magic knocked all four of them and their attacks away like they were nothing.
Instead of pausing Spike gathered his magic again and sent out a number of copies of himself, Mirror Images to be exact, into the area that was around them so he could confuse Malefor to some degree as he searched for the real one, as this spell was designed to basically copy whoever used it and the copies would mimic the motions of the user, so any spell he used they could use and any tactic he had thought of they would use, so it was like there were eleven Spikes, instead of just one of him, and that meant there might be a chance for them to do something.
"Ten Mirror Images, very impressive for one so young," Malefor commented, referring to the fact that this was a spell that was in the middle ground of what a mage could learn how to wield, and the fact that most users could only summon about three to four copies of themselves, even though the dragon that was speaking, according to legend, could easily do the same thing that Spike was doing, which would be bad if he decided to cast the same spell, but based on what they were seeing it appeared that he might be sticking to what they've been facing so far.
Spike bowed his head a little, to show that he accepted what Malefor was saying, and the copies followed his lead not even a few moments later, though as soon as that was done he burst into the space between them and the ten copies did the same thing, though while the real Spike loosed a burst of Ice Shards while the others tapped into the other elements, with some repeating what the others were using, using spells that he practiced and hadn't really used in battle, and just as he expected Malefor used his wings and the wind to knock the spells back. Once that was done he punched the wind with his fist and destroyed the spell in seconds, creating an opening that Spike was waiting for, as that was the moment that Spyro, Cynder, and Ember rushed into the area that Malefor was in and lashed out at the dragon that happened to be in front of them, hoping to take him by surprise this time around, even though he was waiting for something to happen that would derail this tactic. Cynder dove into the shadows and used them to make shadowy copies of herself as she fired a burst of shadowy energy at her father, a deviation of the usual fire breath that dragons used, meaning that most of them were fake and one of them was real, while at the same time Ember roll forward through the air with her Warrior's Armor up, making her a wrecking ball, in the words of some of the residents of the realms they had saved in the past, showing that they were going to hit him from two different directions. Malefor, just as Spike expected, turned around and dealt with both attacks, using the bottom of his foot to pause Ember in the air by kicking backwards, before pushing himself and Ember into the air to avoid the incoming attack that Cynder sent at him, making the shadows pass under them without even touching him, something that was followed by Spyro swinging Windshear and loosing a wave of wind magic through the air, one that rushed at where their foe was standing.
Malefor raised his arms and blocked the incoming attack with his bracers, where Spike determined that they had to be magical to some degree, as they stalled the wave for a few moments and that gave Malefor time to force his arms apart a few moments later, breaking the attack into two halves and sending the fragments away from the area they were standing in, and when the smoke cleared Cynder noticed some light gashes that were in her father's bracers, showing that platinum could stand against the power of a runeblade, to a degree anyway.
"Impressive. Most impressive. All of you have good abilities, and you're able to work like a grand team with only a day or two of working together," Malefor commented, though at he said that he brushed off his attire and checked the bracers he was wearing, looking at the scratches that he would have to mend at some point in the future, before he shrugged and glanced at the four young dragons that were in front of him, where he didn't count the Mirror Images that were lingering in the area that was around them, though it was easy to see that they were ready to attack him again, "Well then, I guess its time I went on the offensive a little."
Spyro and the others readied themselves as they charged into the area that was in front of them, where the images Spike had summoned readied several spells as that happened, though that was followed by Malefor spinning around as he loosed a number of Lightning Bolts through the air and struck down all of the copies of Spike that were around them, cutting down on the number of enemies he had to deal with, but Spike determined that it was a good tactic for both sides of this battle, as it would open the way for the others to do something. Of course he also channeled his magic and loosed a burst of lightning magic at Malefor, even though the lightning danced around his horns for a moment before it rushed at the area his target was in, where he found that their foe raised his hand and loosed an identical spell to counter his, which blew up the area between them and kicked up some smoke as the others rushed towards their foe, each of them having their own tactic at the ready. Cynder used the Shadow Play spell again, though this time she increased the number of copies she created and made sure some of them focused on loosing bursts of wind, shadow, poison, and fear magic at her father, even if she was sure he would block the attacks as they came at him, while at the same time the rest of the copies went on the offensive with her claws and tail, where Ember hardened her entire body and rushed down at Malefor from the area that was above them. Spyro loosed balls of fire out into the area that they were fighting in, purely to set the grass on fire and cause some additional smoke to rise so they could block Malefor's sight and allow the others to strike their foe, because now that he knew they could scratch his bracers, even if a runeblade had done the deed, though he was hoping for this to do something to push the tide of the battle in their favor.
Malefor, however, called upon the power of his lightning magic and blasted all of the copies that Cynder had created, wiping all of them out in a matter of seconds, though that was followed by him waving his hands and using the flames that Spyro had created to loose Fireballs at the dragon he was targeting, before he jabbed his elbow backwards and struck Ember in the chest before her attack could hit him, to which he grabbed her and sent her flying towards Cynder, who had to dodge the attack as Ember staggered and coughed for a moment. Ember realized that Malefor had punched through her Warrior's Armor, showing that his strength was far stronger than the skill she was wielding and that his base strength was nothing to be trifled with, rather it told her that they needed to be careful as they continued the battle that was going on, because if a single punch was enough to cause her to stagger and cough, when she was wielding the skill, it made her worry about their chances to actually bring him down or make him bend the knee towards them. At the same time this did confirm the legends that Spike had read about the first purple dragon, the ones that he told her and Spyro about so they understood just how strong Malefor was supposed to be, and this was after saving Avilion and the Archmage Ceremony he had gone through, so being careful sounded like the best thing they could do at the moment, especially since they had no idea when their foe would go on the offensive for real, since this was mostly him responding to their attacks, just like when they first started this battle. She and Cynder stood there for a few more seconds, allowing them to take a breather as Spyro and Spike rushed into the area that was in front of them, where Spyro alternated between firing bursts of of his fire breath, loosing some bursts of Ice Shards, firing off bursts of Lightning Bolts, and then even surrounded himself in a ball of earth magic and rushed at the area Malefor was standing in, intending on pushing him backwards a little. What he discovered was that their foe was ready for those attacks and jumped into the air to avoid the majority of them as they struck the area he had been standing in, though he raised his fist and smashed through the Earthen Ball Spyro had made, scattering the stones in a matter of seconds as he grabbed onto the dragon that had been inside the sphere and sent him flying through the air.
In that moment Spike did something the others hadn't seen before, he loosed a number of large Fireballs into the air and they disappeared a few seconds after leaving the area that he was standing in, reminding Spyro and Ember of their brother's rather unique Teleportation ability, the green flames, and the first Fireball burst out of the ground that was right below where their foe was standing, where the first one struck him in the chest and prompted him to jump backwards for a few seconds as the next couple missed him and rushed into the air. Spike was fine with that as he called upon the power of the earth for a moment and shifted the earth that was in the direction that Malefor had moved in, where he created a thick wall of stone that pushed him into the air, while preventing him from going anywhere but the way he had come from a few seconds ago, but that was followed by Spyro gathering the power of the wind as he loosed another wave of wind magic at Malefor, this one larger than the one he had used to damage the platinum bracers earlier. Malefor, in response to what was going on, gathered some of his magic and channeled the wind around one of his fists, which he swung at the wave and paused it for a few seconds, something that was followed by him breaking the attack and his defensive measure at the same time, though that wasn't the only thing the group had planned for him as Ember and Cynder appeared in the air that was above him, to which Ember loosed a massive burst of her fire breath and Cynder combined her own shadow breath into the attack, making it a massive shadowy flame that rushed down at the area that Malefor was standing in, all while Spike readied a spell in case their foe moved from where they were attacking. Interestingly enough the attack wiped out the area their foe had been standing in, though that was when Spike noticed a hint of magic and followed it for a few seconds before he loosed a fast moving Fireball through the air, where Malefor appeared not a few moments later, only he uppercut the spell and sent it into the air so it could explode and not damage anything in the process.
Spike paused for a few seconds as Spyro, Cynder, and Ember rejoined him, so they could look at Malefor and figure out what their next plan of attack was, because so far it seemed like all they were able to do was loose attacks and blow up the area that was around them, as Malefor was just as strong as the legends and stories claimed, even if Spike felt that he had actually lowered his power so he could fight on their level without totally overpowering them with his true power, and if that was the case he needed to come up with an idea to turn the tide of this battle back to their favor, one that didn't involve Spyro and Cynder exhausting themselves with the Aether.
"I have an idea, based on what I've seen so far," Spike commented, once more keeping his voice low so Malefor didn't hear what he had to say, even though he had the feeling that the first purple dragon needed to be preoccupied before he was ready to launch his attack at their foe, to which he glanced at the sky for a moment and then turned his eyes back to their foe, giving no chance for someone to figure out what he was doing, "just remember what happened to the airship some time ago and you'll be fine."
"Okay, sounds like a plan." Cynder said, to which Spike gathered his magic and disappeared from the area that they were standing in, though as that happened she tilted her head for a moment as she thought about what Spike had said and discovered that she really had no idea what he meant by his statement, to which she turned towards the others for a few seconds, who clearly knew what Spike was talking about, "Um, what did he mean by that? The airship is perfectly fine, and so were the other ones that came to our aid earlier."
"Don't worry, Spike knows what he's doing," Spyro replied, as while he knew Cynder had no idea what his brother was talking about, due to the fact that they might not have said anything about their first visit to Breeze Harbor, their focus had to be on Malefor and not on Spike, especially since they weren't really doing anything to the dragon, which was why Ember activated the Fangs of Felinia and readied her metallic claws for the next round of their battle, "we just have to keep your father busy so he doesn't ruin what Spike has planned."
Cynder nodded as Spyro and Ember rushed forward, where the pair seemed to be gathering their magic as they made their way over to where Malefor was standing, though that was when Spyro swung Windshear and loosed a powerful wave of wind magic at his target, while at the same time Ember channeled her power into the metallic claws to create a flaming wave of energy as she swung her claws, which made it appear that they were sending two powerful elemental waves at the dragon they were fighting. The reality of the situation was different from what Cynder was actually expecting, as both of the waves quickly combined into a flaming inferno as it rushed through the air, the wind from Spyro's attack fueling the flames of Ember's technique, where her father summoned the power of the earth and formed a Stone Wall between him and the attack, simply to block it while he focused on what he was going to do next, which was why Cynder was moving once she noticed what her father was doing. She got into the air and waited for the combination attack to reach the wall her father had thrown up, where the moment it happened she gathered her magic and fired a sphere of shadowy energy downward, intending on taking her father by surprise since he was distracted by the attack he was stalling, though he did surprise her by breaking the attack by using the same element, with a greater force, to break her attack, to which she had to flap her wings to get out of the way so she didn't get hit by the attack. Cynder knew her father's reflexes were great, as she had never actually won a fight or training session whenever he was her opponent, but right now, when it was four on one, part of her was wondering if he was using their own cloud cover against them, by taking a few seconds to peer into the immediate future while no one could see his face, though Spike had said that her father wasn't using his Sage's Vision against them, something she was having a hard time believing based on what she had seen so far.
While Cynder moved backwards, so she could get a good view of the area as she avoided the counterattack that had been sent her way, one thing she noticed was that Spyro and Ember seemed to be drawing in the power of the Aether as they moved away from each other, no doubt to pin her father between two attacks, to which she did the same thing and landed at a third point, so they formed a triangle to the viewers, before they loosed a beam of magical energy that raced through the air and zeroed in on their opponent. Malefor, seeing the attacks coming since Spyro, Cynder, and Ember didn't bother to hide them this time around, called upon the power of the Aether as well and showed them that it could be used in more ways than one, as instead of using it as a breath attack, a pure and simple form that was quite powerful, which was seen when Gaul was smashed to pieces by Spyro and Cynder during the battle for Warfang, he used it like a barrier that wrapped around him, something that would keep whatever was inside it safe for a time. Sure enough he found that the barrier shuddered when the three attacks struck it, mostly since it was the Aether hitting the Aether, but the one thing all three of his opponents lacked was the experience needed to truly wield the power of this element, without exhausting themselves anyway, and he knew that Spyro's old memories would have given him a bit more control over the element in question, while Ember was sort of like Cynder, something was allowing her to tap into the Aether, despite not being a purple dragon like he, Spyro, and Spike were. He was sure that Spike, from what he had learned of the young dragon since they had met each other, would be interested in figuring out why such a thing was possible, how a blue dragon could tap into the power of the Aether, a power reserved for purple dragons and Cynder, but for now he had to focus on the fight and that was when he swung his arms and the beams stopped as his foes staggered for a moment, allowing the Aether to disappear while leaving a scorched mark on the ground to show where each of them had been standing, three beams for the three that attacked him and a circle to show the barrier he had made.
"That was a good effort, using the Aether against me, but I'm afraid it wasn't good enough, though if Spike had been here you might have had a chance," Malefor said, though as he said that he glanced around the area they were in, showing the others that he was now looking for the missing dragon that was preparing something, since Spike had been absent for a few moments, though that was when lightning flashed in the sky and he paused for a moment as it started to rain on all of them, to which he raised an eyebrow for a few seconds, "Interesting, it wasn't supposed to rain on this island, at least not for another day or two, and yet here we are, getting rained on... just what could he be planning with this?"
Not even a few moments later lightning arched up towards the center of a storm that appeared to be unfolding right before their eyes, with the element appearing to come from multiple spots that rested all around the area that they had been fighting in for the last couple of minutes, though Spyro and Ember knew this attack well, as it just so happened to be one of Spike's favorite spells, even if it was rather destructive and needed some time to be put together, hence the reason they were heading away from where Malefor was standing. Cynder, not understanding what spell was being used right now, did the smart thing as she followed Spyro and Ember, leaving her father in the middle of the area, where he stared up at the spell that was currently forming in the center of the storm, before she spotted Spike in the middle of the air, as it appeared that this spell required a high place and he was forced to fly in the air while this was happening, even though she was sure he could create a stone platform to stand on, but decided not to question his logic. That was swiftly followed by a roar sounding throughout the entire island, something that would have shocked anything that lived here, of which there wasn't very much since her father had picked this island for a reason, before everyone watched as a massive serpent made out of lightning emerged from the center of the storm and coiled around Spike for a few seconds, making Cynder wonder why the spell needed to do something like that before it was used against their opponent. Once the serpent had done that it moved back into the clouds that it had come from, which was swiftly followed by Spike channeling the power of the spell downwards, towards the area their foe was standing in, causing the serpent to burst out of the sky like a large bolt of lightning that collided with his target and blew the entire area that Malefor was in apart, blasting a massive crater into the ground and wiping out the storm in the process.
When the smoke cleared the group was allowed to see the crater that had been blasted into the ground, where Spike and Ember noticed that it was about the same size as the last one their brother had made when this happened, to which their brother flew down to where they were standing with Cynder, who was shocked by what she was seeing right now, but all of them were eager to see what sort of damage was done to Malefor, since he had been the target of the attack and that was one of the strongest lightning spells in all of existence.
"What... was that?" Cynder asked, because she had no idea what sort of spell that was and was amazed by all of the damage that had been done to the part of the island that was around them, while at the same time Spike huffed for a few seconds, mostly because that was one of the most draining spells he could have used and it appeared that he might have been able to do something to the first purple dragon, or at least he hoped so since there was no telling what his spell had done to Malefor, given his history.
"A spell known as Storm's Wrath, one of the strongest lightning spells in the entire world," a voice replied, where the group watched as Malefor appeared in the smoke that was in the center of the crater, meaning he happened to be floating in the middle of the area, though there were bits of smoke that were emitting from his body and there appeared to be some scuff marks that indicated that he had definitely been hurt by the attack, or at least that was what they assumed was the case given what they were seeing, "a spell that requires five dragons to channel and contain the power of the storm in a single form, which classifies it as one of the master level spells of our world, and yet the surprises continue, for Spike is able to do what takes five dragons to do, showing that he deserves the position of Archmage. You also packed more than enough power into the attack, allowing it to scratch up all the platinum armor I'm wearing and even break a few parts of it off in the process, though you would have done a lot more damage to me had I not activated a powerful spell I have been working on for the last thousand years."
Before Spyro, Cynder, Spike, or Ember could say or do anything a burst of brilliant purple energy quickly formed all around Malefor's body, taking the shape of a massive sphere at first, though that was before it expanded into the shape of a bipedal dragon that seemed to be wearing a shroud or robe of some kind, where Spike's mouth nearly dropped as he and the others felt the massive amount of magical energy that was rolling off of whatever Malefor was doing, as this sort of spell wasn't in all of the books and scrolls that Spike had read in the past. Before they even had the chance to take in and understand what they were seeing Malefor's power flared for a moment and the sphere started to transform before their eyes, the bottom of the mass taking on the appearance of the legs of a bipedal dragon, the middle shifting into the tail and chest of a dragon, and the upper part turned into the arms, wings, and head, though that was when armor started to appear all over the transparent construct their foe was making. The armor in question looked identical to the samurai armor that the Moles of Warfang were wearing, only it covered more of the construct's body and there were even pieces that covered both its tail and its wings, before the group noticed that it had a pair of sheathes attached to its belt, where they looked like they were katanas and one rested on either side of the being's body, and because the blades had to be massive they knew that it would be hard for them to get close to Malefor, if not impossible. Malefor, however, was resting in the middle of the construct's forehead, in what appeared to be a flattened gem of some kind that was a different shade of purple from what the rest of his creation possessed, though it was hard for them to see if the construct would mimic his movements or follow whatever he was thinking.
The group gulped for a moment as they took in what they were seeing, as this was far beyond everything that any of them thought Malefor was capable of when they recalled what all of the tomes and scrolls said about the dragon, and they were sure that the Guardians and the rest of the watchers would be thinking the same thing, as the construct was massive, around the same height of the Destroyer, and it possessed a massive amount of magic, which was either Malefor's given life or the construct had its own magic that was brought to life whenever Malefor called upon it.
"This is the power that I spent the last thousand years working on and perfecting, so called the Spirit of Valor," Malefor said, his voice reaching them rather easily, no doubt due to a spell that he had cast after the construct completely formed, though at the same time the group realized that fighting this would be rather difficult, if not impossible, which was about the time that the construct's arms started to move, as it slipped the sheath that was on the left side of its body out of the sash and held it in its left hand for a moment, even though it was horizontal towards where the mountain rested, and its right hand was moving towards the handle of the blade, "here, allow me to show you the true power of this ability, and the gap that rests between us."
Before the group could say anything the air around them seemed to shake as the construct's power flared as the right hand gripped the handle of the weapon it was reaching for, which was about the time that Spike, sensing that something big was coming, quickly summoned a magical barrier around himself and the others as Malefor had the construct draw its blade and swing it in one swift motion, where the power rushed out as a wave of energy that flattened the land that was between them and the nearby mountain, before it actually cleaved the mountain in half thanks to the clean horizontal cut that removed the upper half of the entire mountain, and the barrier protected them from the wind pressure of what their foe had done, until everything settled down.
"I developed this power to wipe out the Destroyer, but, upon seeing how destructive it can be, I switched to trying to make an Elementium combination spell," Malefor explained, showing the group that he had switched from this power as soon as he realized just how powerful it was in its current form, though at the same time Spike lowered the barrier as he and the others stared at the massive construct and realized just how strong Malefor's true power was, and that was if this was his true power, because if he had anything greater than this they knew they would never be able to touch him, much less beat him, "So, what do you want to do now?"
Spyro, Cynder, and Ember had no idea what they were going to do now, especially with this power standing in front of them and resting between them and Malefor, but before they could do anything Spike flew up into the air and started to channel his power into the area around him, which was around the time that they and Malefor watched as he summoned Akilesh back to his side, where this time around the air around him vibrated as he unleashed his power and the magic that was inside the staff that he was now gripping in his right claw. Instead of focusing on the Aether, thanks to the elemental that happened to be resting inside the staff, Spike focused on what Malefor had said and what they had seen when the first purple dragon revealed himself to all of them during the battle for Warfang, as in he channeled all nine elements at the same time, the main eight in a circle around the Aether, which rested in the center, though he started to form it above his head, instead of right in front of him. The Elementium spell, so named by their opponent, might be the only thing that would allow him to deal any damage to Malefor, hence the reason that he was focused on building the spell as it started to form a massive sphere of energy above his head, one that caused the air around him to vibrate as Spyro, Cynder, and Ember vacated the area so they didn't get caught in what was coming next. From what Spike knew the attack Malefor had used to wipe out the Destroyer could be called an Elementium Blast, though what he was building right now was more like an Elementium Bomb, something that seemed to stall their foe as he considered everything that was going on, especially the fact that Spike was mimicking exactly what he had done against the Destroyer, and once he had a massive sphere, one that was the size of the remainder of the mountain, he sent it down towards Malefor.
Malefor sheathed the blade his construct had used to wipe out the mountain and raised both of its hands into the air so he could stall the sphere that was coming his way, where Spike found that his attack, despite the power that was inside it, stopped halfway between where he was flying and the area that Malefor was standing in, causing the entire island to shake as their energies clashed against each other for a few moments, though that was around the time where Spike gave his attack one final push and Malefor dropped the construct's arms so he could draw the other blade and cleave the Elementium Bomb in half, using his magic to direct the fragments into the remainder of the mountain to blow it away and make sure no one else got damaged.
"I... I concede." Spike said, where he landed near his siblings and Cynder, giving him a chance to huff since that was the first time he had created an Elementium type spell and it had failed, as Malefor had sliced it in half without it doing any damage to their foe, though as he did that the construct walked over to where they were standing and started to fall apart before their eyes, mostly because it seemed that Malefor knew the battle was over and there was no reason for him to use the Spirit of Valor against them.
"You fought well, especially against some of the powers I used against you... especially you, Spike, as now I know my staff has found a worthy dragon to wield it," Malefor stated, though he smiled for a moment as he raised his hand and took a moment to pat Cynder on the head while he talked, who was stunned by the sheer power her father wielded, not to mention the fact that she hadn't seen any of this in the past, before he glanced at the four of them, "Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, I would like to kick your training to a whole new level and show you some of the tricks I have learned over the years, so that way when another threat reveals itself you and your friends won't need someone like me to step in and take care of something like the Destroyer... especially you, Ember, as you need to learn how to stop relying on the Warrior's Armor skill and really develop your own powers."
The group had no idea that they had impressed Malefor enough to make him consider personally training them, even if Spike was the one that had done enough for that to happen, but none of them were going to complain, and Cynder was of the same opinion since she had been trying to get her father to advance her training, even though now she knew that it was due to him possibly preparing for the Destroyer, and the four of them were now looking forward to what the future held for them, their friends, and the various lands of their world.
With the battle over, and the siblings and Cynder understood the power that Malefor possessed, his true power to be exact, the group took the time to walk back to where the airship rested, giving them some time to think about what they had seen and what they had faced, as now all of them knew that the legends about the first purple dragon were accurate and that he had beaten all four of them without even needing the three special powers he had created, the ones that Spyro, Spike, and Ember had unlocked before Morrigan tried to steal the dragon eggs and become immortal. Cynder now understood why her father never used his full power against her in the past, when he was showing her how to fight and how to wield her powers, though she was still surprised by the fact that he was so much stronger than what she expected him to be, something that the rest of the group clearly felt since none of them were talking as they walked away from the wrecked area that they had been fighting in earlier. Spike shifted his stance so that his staff rested on his back as he followed the group, where he kept his mouth shut as he considered everything that had happened during that fight and what he might be able to do to improve his skills, even though he was stunned by the incredibly powerful skill that Malefor had used against them and the fact that it had broken the nearby mountain, before the fragments of the spell he had used wiped the rest of it out, showing that Malefor was much more skilled than he was and that it would be some time before he got close to that level of power, which was just fine with him. Spyro, Cynder, and Ember continued to remain silent as they walked, where all three of them continued to think about ways they could improve their skills and eventually expand their arsenal of abilities, so this didn't happen again in the future, though out of all of them the one that needed the most improvement was Ember, or at least according to what Malefor had said earlier.
Upon their return to the airship the group found that their friends, the Leaders, the Guardians, and the rest of the crew of the airship were shocked by what they had just witnessed, either due to the power that Malefor had wielded or the power that Spike had called upon to try and defeat their foe, not that the group faulted them for thinking that, as all four of them were still recovering from what had happened during their battle with the first purple dragon, before they focused on their friends as they stopped on the deck of the ship.
"I must admit, when you said that the five of you would be engaging in a battle with each other, to see the difference in your powers, I was not expecting all of this," Ignitus commented, where the rest of the group nodded their heads as he said that, because all of them had been surprised by the appearance of Malefor's final skill and the spell Spike had used in an attempt to bring down their foe, though at the same time he and the other Guardians, which included the Chronicler, had suspected that Malefor would win, despite what actually happened during the battle they had just witnessed, before he thought about something, "So, what are you going to do now that the battle is over?"
"First we should return to Warfang and return the Deepcore Army to the Arcanaeum," Malefor said, as now that the forces of Gaul's dark alliance had departed from the area that was between the city and the volcano, which had switched to an inactive state after the Destroyer had been wiped out, there was no reason for them to force the stone statues to remain outside the city, and even if they needed the forces again they would be able to summon them again, or at least Spike could if he and the others needed the statues again, before he glanced at Cynder and her friends, "after that we can take a break and do something else, to allow Cynder and the others some time to rest and recover from the battle, before we face the future and the training I have in mind for all four of them."
"Maybe we can visit the Dragon Realms?" Cynder inquired, because while she knew the group wanted to spend some time exploring Warfang, and take in the sights that they had saved from Gaul and his army, she was more interested in seeing the lands that Spyro and his siblings called home, since she and the others knew nothing about the Dragon Realms and were interested in learning about the other islands the dragons had settled on, "Or maybe one of the other lands that Spyro, his siblings, and their friends had saved in the past?"
"With my powers, that should be easy to do," the Chronicler replied, referring to his powers that allowed him to open portals between Doxantha and the other three lands of their world, which had been used to great effect during the battle for Warfang, though as he said that Ignitus and the other Guardians nodded their heads, as they understood what he was talking about, before they noticed that the heroes of the three lands did the same thing not a few seconds later, showing that all of them also understood what he had said, "Very well then, once we're done with the Deepcore Army we can head to one of the other lands and explore them for a time, before we head back home to make sure everyone is ready to return to their daily lives."
Spyro, seeing that they had come to an agreement on what to do next, turned towards Fury for a moment and gave him the command to raise the airship into the air, so they could head back to Warfang and deal with the army of statues that was currently resting outside the city, even if that meant returning them to the Arcanaeum for the foreseeable future, before any of them considered which of the three islands they might visit once they were done transporting the army back to where Malefor had placed them a thousand years ago.
Due to the fact that the island was close to where Doxantha was located it didn't take them long to return to where the city was located, where Spike and those that could fly headed down to where the Deepcore Army was resting, even though the Chronicler headed out to make sure the rest of the forces that had been called to do battle with the dark alliance were sent back to their homes and the lives that had been interrupted by Gaul, meaning soon everyone would be back to what they were doing before they had been called to war. While they flew through the air it was easy to see that the residents of the city were happy to see them and even cheered for them, causing a few of them to wave as they headed towards their destination, though out of all of them Spike focused on what he was doing and landed near the statues that were patiently waiting for someone to give out new orders, hence the reason the first thing he did was open the portal back to the vault they had found the army of statues in, something that impressed Malefor. Spike suspected that it was due to the nature of all of the enchantments that went into making and protecting the Arcanaeum from those who might misuse it, or all of the artifacts that were inside it, though he didn't think about it all that much as he commanded the army to march back to the Arcanaeum and get some rest before they were needed again, to which the stone statues marched back through the couple of portals he had opened and returned to the Arcanaeum. Of course he made sure to follow them back to the vault after a few moments, where he watched as they formed the same formations that he and the others had first found them in when they discovered the vault, before watching as the army returned to being a solid state and stopped moving, just as he expected, so once everything was done he walked back through the portal and returned to Warfang.
"The deed is done, the Deepcore Army is sleeping once more," Spike stated, though at the same time he closed the portals that were around them and turned towards the rest of the group, who had been watching him work on moving the army back to where they would be contained for the foreseeable future, until they were needed again, before noticing that the rest of their army had departed as well, meaning that everyone had returned home, save for those that had explored all of the islands of Doxantha.
"Good, then that means its time we head home as well," Spyro said, where he glanced at the city for a moment, as he suspected that if he and Cynder hadn't perished the first time around, when they fought the Dark Master and tried to stop the end of the world, this would have been their home for the rest of their days, or at least until they retired to another location to live out the rest of their days, before he sighed and glanced towards the others, "You know, I'm still surprised that a simple exploration to investigate something turned into a war for the fate of the world, and that we had to lead our forces against the enemies that tried to take the city."
"We? Oh no, that was all you, brother." Ember commented, because while she would have been happy to be one of the leaders of the army that had saved the world, like Spyro was saying, she knew the truth of the matter, which was that she, Spike, and the rest of their friends, and that included Cynder, had followed Spyro into the fray and battled the forces of the dark alliance, though at the same time she opened her wings for a few seconds, "After all, you're the one with the power to call upon Conqueror's Spirit whenever you want, and you stopped a war with it, so it makes sense that all of our friends from Avalar would follow you into battle, no doubt prompting the others to join them as well."
"Wait, you have Conqueror's Spirit?!" Cynder asked, as she knew about that power thanks to everything her father had taught her over the years, including the fact that her father was the first one to wield the power and was credited as the one that had made it, along with the other two powers, before she turned towards Spyro for a moment, because this was the first time she had heard of him having this power, "Why didn't you use it in our fight against my father? I'm sure you would have been able to make him pause for a few seconds and open the way for us to attack him."
"To be perfectly honest, while I have some control over the power, I didn't think it would do much against him, given that he's had a thousand years to perfect it," Spyro explained, because while he knew that it would have been easy to use the power during their fight against Malefor, who was staring at them with his eyebrow raised, showing that he knew that he had access to Conqueror's Spirit and understood that he was hesitant to try it against someone who was superior with the same technique, but he also knew that the first purple dragon would no doubt train him on how to wield the power for whatever the future held for them.
"Well, it is good to know that you have access to it, as it will give me something else to teach you," Malefor said, as he had been taking notes of everything Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember were capable of and found out the areas that each of them were lacking in, or what they needed to improve upon before someone like Gaul or the other villains showed up to try and do something to their world, even though he was sure he could ask Titan and the others as to what lessons the group still needed to be taught, before they landed on the deck of the airship.
"You know, something has been bothering me for a while," Spike commented, as this was a question he had been thinking about since they learned that Malefor had sealed away the Destroyer in that prison he had constructed and used the Elementium Keys to lock the prison, though as everyone else landed he could tell that they were interested in what he was going to say, to which he glanced at the first purple dragon for a moment, "How did you know that the Destroyer was located on this island, and that he would come out of that volcano? Nothing in the Arcanaeum even suggested that such a being even existed, as I have read a good number of the tomes and scrolls that were inside it and looked at the titles of the others, and the globe only showed us those that were tapping into the Aether, so I'm curious as to how you figured out that the Destroyer even existed in the first place."
Malefor paused for a moment, showing that he had to take a moment to consider the question that Spike had asked while the rest of the group glanced at him as well, showing that they were now interested in it since someone had pitched the question, before he sighed and inquired if they could get the airship moving towards the Dragon Realms, as while he knew the Chronicler could open a portal between Doxantha and their destination a short flight would allow him to give the group his answer to the question, to which Spyro nodded and made sure Fury got them moving through the air, even if everyone quickly gathered in the chamber that they used to talk before they arrived at their destinations.
"To be honest, you won't find all that much about the Destroyer in the Arcanaeum, as I removed almost everything in the Arcanaeum and carried them with me when I started my search for Doxantha," Malefor said, though even as he said that some cups were distributed to everyone that had entered the room they were in, as Alvar made sure they had some drinks to keep their throats wet, where Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember were close to where the first purple dragon sat and the others positioned themselves around the rest of the tables, before they resumed their conversation, "however, all of those tomes and scrolls were written by my hand, not the hands of those that came before me, as they were my notes on what I discovered and what I could do to stop what I knew. Cynder, while you are Spyro are dragons that have almost all of the memories of you old lives, the one where you sacrificed everything to stop the mysterious Dark Master and the end of the world, at the hands of the Destroyer, you aren't the only ones that have memories of a previous life, as I have a few memories of a life that happened before this one... ones that revolved around the Destroyer, where it was located, and what it would do to our world if it was allowed to rise from the volcano it calls home."
"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Ignitus inquired, because this was the first time he and the other Guardians, and that included the Chronicler, based on the look that was on the dragon's face, had heard such a thing and even Cynder was caught off guard, showing Spyro and the others that Malefor had told no one about the memories that he had, almost like he was worried about something, "We're not angry or mad, just confused as to why you wouldn't tell any of us about these memories, especially since they seemed so important for you to act on a thousand years ago, when you arrived on what would become our new home."
"Because the couple of memories I have were all centered on the Destroyer and not my past self, like a warning about what was coming in the future," Malefor replied, though he didn't fault Ignitus for asking his question, as he would have done the same thing if he was in the Guardian's position and someone he worked with revealed something like this, while he noticed that Spyro, Cynder, and the others were interested in what else he might have to say on the matter, "My best guess, after reviewing the couple of old memories for a long time, is that I must have been around at the time that the Dark Master's forces had marched on Warfang, the battle that Cynder has told me about in great detail as she described what she and Spyro did to save the city, and that I bore witness to the end of the world, after trying to take down the Destroyer with the plan that our saviors came up with. Based on what I have been able to determine, after listening to all of the things that Cynder has told me about the battle for old version of Warfang, she and Spyro never crossed paths with my old self, so I must have been in the background or something, no doubt fighting the Grublins and all of the forces that were trying to take the city for their foul master."
"I'm sure you were there, leading our forces against the Dark Master's armies," Cynder stated, as while she was a little surprised by the fact that her father had memories of an old life, like she and Spyro did, she found that it was odd that she didn't recall seeing a dragon that matched her father, meaning they didn't interact with him before they faced the Dark Master and tried to stop the end of the world, but she still felt that her statement was true and that her father, in his past life, had been on the battlefield, defending Warfang with Ignitus and the other Guardians.
"You might be right," Malefor said, showing that he did agree with his daughter, that it was possible that he had been on the battlefield and that was why they hadn't seen each other in their past lives, where Spyro decided to just nod while the pair were talking, as while both Cynder and Malefor knew all about the memories of their past lives he was still coming to terms with all of the memories of his past life, so he had no opinion on what Cynder had said, before Malefor sighed for a moment and focused on the main question he had been asked earlier, "Spike, the reason I knew about the Destroyer, and where to find it, was due to the memories of my past life, since I witnessed it rise out of the volcano and listened to the Dark Master tell the defenders of Warfang the same thing that Gaul stated when he awakened the creature, so I took that knowledge and combined it with everything I discovered in this lifetime, allowing me and my allies to create the five Elementium Keys, which no longer exist thanks to what Gaul did, and seal the Destroyer away."
Spike thought about that for a moment and nodded his head, showing Malefor that he understood the explanation as to why he knew about the Destroyer's existence and the fact that it could end the world, though once that was done Spyro noticed that no one seemed to care for a new topic or something, so he figured that it was time for them to really get back home and asked the Chronicler if he would be willing to assist them, given the dragon's powers, and even if that failed he could always see if Spike could do it. It didn't take the Chronicler long to open the way for them to return to the Dragon Realms, allowing Fury to fly the airship through the portal that was in front of them, though when they reached the deck once more Spyro, Spike, and Ember smiled for a moment as they stared out at the island that served as the home of the Machinists dragons, even though it appeared that they were flying towards the Artisans homeworld, meaning they might have some time to show their new friends the lands that they and the other dragons called home. Fury made sure to angle the ship so that one side faced the islands that they would be flying by, allowing Spyro and Cynder to sit near the right edge of the airship, where they were joined by Malefor and the others who hadn't seen these lands yet, before Spike started to explain everything to their new friends, just so they understood what they were seeing and could ask whatever questions they wanted, which he would endeavor to answer. He informed their new friends that they were currently looking at the home of the Machinists dragons, those that worked machinery and energy sources, such as the airship that they were currently on despite the fact that they had some help making this vessel, and that they were constantly coming up with new ideas on how to improve certain things, which the Professor had a hand in helping since these were his type of people, or would be once they got used to their new lives, as the Machinists were relatively new in comparison to the other five homeworlds and types of dragons that made up the Dragon Realms.
"This is where Gnasty Gnorc ruled from, isn't it?" Cynder inquired, mostly because she and the others knew the story that Spyro and his siblings had told them about the individual that didn't like dragons, even if Malefor was very familiar with creatures that didn't like their kind, so this was more about her making sure she was remembering things correctly and that they understood the information that they had been told, especially due to the fact that it appeared that there were a few things that didn't look like the dragons had built them, meaning the Machinists must have taken over this area and converted it to suit their needs.
"I wouldn't say he 'ruled' from this island, as he was banished here and formed his army from some of the Gnorcs that were native to this area," Spike replied, where he thought about the now freed Gnorcs that were currently operating the amusement part on Dragon Shores, the one he and his siblings had visited after they bested Ripto and sent him back to the land that he called home, an island that must be located in another part of their world, since they didn't see an island that might be where their second foe came from, "of course he then used a spell to turn gems into soldiers, so he could get more of our treasure and boost his ranks, but when he attacked us we turned the tables on him, freeing our lands and recovering what he had stolen, before we sealed him in his own crystalline statue, which, if memory serves, should be in one of the realms of the Machinists homeworld."
Nestor and the other Leaders nodded their heads, confirming Spike's statement about the statue Gnasty Gnorc was trapped inside, before the airship departed from the homeworld they had been staring at and quickly headed for the next one that was between them and the land that the Artisans called home, though it was easy to see that Cynder, Hunter's family, and the Guardians were interested in what they were seeing at the moment, as the fifth homeworld was an island that floated in the sky. Spike informed them that this was the home of the Dream Weavers, special dragons that tended to the dreams of every creature in the Dragon Realms, with the majority of them sleeping during the day and working at night while a smaller portion of them did the inverse of that, work during the day and sleep during the night, though Spike made sure to tell their new friends that these dragons made sure nightmares were stopped and that every creature had pleasant dreams, something that clearly interested their new friends. From there it wasn't long before they reached the outskirts of the Beast Makers homeworld, the massive swamp that Bruno watched over as he lead the others of his kind, which was around the time that Cynder learned that the dragons who called this homeworld home, even if she was still getting used to the new terms that Spyro and the others used when they explained things, helped bring new life into the world and that they tended to all the creatures of the Dragon Realms, especially if a creature was sick or seriously ill, and that the Beast Makers had been the guardians of a secret for as long as they could remember, keeping the existence of the Phoenixes safe, in case someone might try to harm them. In fact the island that Sol and the rest of his kind called home was close to where the Beast Makers lived, even if there was an hour flight between the two landmasses, and that was the reason why a portal existed to make things easier, since the Beast Makers also tended to the Phoenixes, though now that they had rejoined the world as a whole, no doubt thanks to what the siblings did, they were no longer keeping themselves hidden and were helping their friends whenever they needed assistance.
Sol also explained one of the major differences between young dragons and young Phoenixes, where the former were given dragonflies to help protect them from dangers as they grew up, at least according to what he learned from the time he spent with Spike and the others, while the latter didn't have any dragonflies, mostly because of the fact that he and the rest of his kind lived in or around a volcano, one that wasn't active to the point where it was constantly flowing, much like how Boyzitbig, rather it was just boiling from time to time and everyone was sure that it wouldn't erupt for another fifty years, at the very least, though the heat was the reason behind why there were no dragonflies on the island, since all of the young dragonflies would collapse due to the heat. The fact that all of the hatchlings in the Dragon Realms were given a dragonfly, both to protect them from danger and to keep them company, interested Cynder, her father, and the Guardians that were listening to what Spike and Sol had to say, because none of them were expecting such a thing to happen over the years, hence the reason that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, with an 'I' instead of a 'Y', were introduced to Cynder and the others, something that caused Cynder to raise her eyebrow for a moment since she wasn't expecting to meet someone that had a name that was so similar to hers. Spike then went on to explain that most dragons no longer needed the aid of their dragonflies, as protectors to be exact, after they matured into adult dragons, meaning that when they turned fifteen the same would happen to the three of them and would allow Sparx and the others to relax, without having to protect the three of them from danger, as they would be old enough and strong enough to do that themselves, especially after what had happened during their battle with Malefor and the battle for Warfang.
With that explanation done the group watched the swamp go by and was replaced by mountains that had all sorts of structures and walkways built into the peaks, as they had raised themselves higher than the other homeworlds so that the others could actually see the land of the Magic Crafters, where magic was abundant and everyone worked on the various types of magic, with Cosmos acting as the Leader for them all, something that would likely change once Spike matured, as the young dragon was the youngest Archmage in the world and Cosmos was thinking he might be passing on the position to Spike at some point. In addition to all of the elemental spells, be they Prime or Minor, Cosmos and the other taught the other schools of magic, like Transfiguration, Teleportation, and so on, and each school had a Master, like how Warfang had Guardians that stood for the element that they had mastered, with Nora standing as the Master of Teleportation Magic, even if she had learned something new from Spike, the Teleportation Breath that he had used to great effect during their third adventure, the one that brought them face to face with Morrigan. Malefor also noted the direction that held the area that Spike had performed the Archmage Ceremony in, where he had summoned Akilesh from the Arcanaeum and nearly broke himself during his battle with the elemental that was contained within the staff, though the first purple dragon said nothing about that and simply nodded his head, allowing them to continue towards the next homeworld, which would be the more barren lands of the Peace Keepers, even though Titan and the others made sure their hatchlings were kept in a safe area, until they were ready to start their warrior training. Still, despite what Titan and the others had to say, Cynder and the rest of her group were eager to lay eyes on the desert canyon that served as the home of the Peace Keepers, even if they were surprised by the tar pit that the dragons didn't do anything with, or at least that was the case in the past and could change with the arrival of the Machinists and their new friends, though there wasn't much else to say, other than this was where Spyro, Spike, Ember, and their friends learned how to fight like true warriors, with Ember being one of the strongest warriors Titan had ever seen.
Eventually they reached the outskirts of the Artisans homeworld, where Cynder and the others gazed upon the land that Spyro, Spike, and Ember called home, taking in the seemingly peaceful meadows, the gentle waterfalls, the vast plains of grass, and the number of intricate statues, stonework, and marble hallways that could be seen from the air, where they found that Fury was setting down the airship near a dock that lead into the main area of the homeworld, though once that was done they started to disembark and enter the island they had flown to.
"So this is where you guys have been living?" Cynder asked, mostly because it wasn't what she was expecting when she thought about the various areas that Spyro could have been living in, though at the same time it was easy to see why he and his siblings liked this place, as it was incredibly peaceful and totally different from what she was used to, due to the fact that Warfang was totally different given the lands that surrounded it, while at the same time her father and the others looked out at the area that was on the other side of the tunnel, "Its so peaceful here, totally different from everything that I was expecting when I thought about where you might have been reborn."
"Trust me, I understand the feeling," Hunter commented, because he recalled what he had learned in the past, after the events that brought the siblings to Avalar in the first place and stopped everything that Moneybags had set in motion, before he, Elora, and the others glanced out at the area that they had gotten used to visiting since they learned of the lands the dragons called home, something that was followed by a smile appearing on his face, "Spyro, Spike, and Ember are Artisans dragons, as this is their homeworld, yet all of them are entirely different from the peaceful dragons that call this land home, with Spyro being a warrior and a leader, Spike being a strong Magic Crafter, and Ember being a Peace Keeper at heart, so I can understand why its hard to believe that this is there homeworld."
"Still, this place is rather nice, though getting here will be rather challenging," Ignitus remarked, referring to the fact that it would take them about two weeks or so to travel between the two sets of islands that they and their new friends lived on, though even as he said that Hunter, Elora, and Bianca, at the very least, glanced at each other and chuckled for a few seconds, causing him and the other Guardians to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they turned towards the small group of individuals that were standing near them, "Um, what's so funny?"
"Spike can open a new portal, linking Warfang to the Dragon Realms," Bianca stated, because while Nora was the one that had built the portal structures and enchanted them to connect to the various realms the siblings had explored, which was rather impressive when she thought about it, Spike was one of the most powerful dragons in the world, second to the first purple dragon, and he was capable of making sure the portals opened to the exact location they had picked out when they were setting the portals up.
The Guardians seemed to consider that for a moment as Spike lead the way back to the more hidden area of the main part of their homeworld, where they and Malefor found portals connecting this area back to several other areas, one being Dragon Shores, another being Avalar, and a third being Avilion, though there were a few more portals that were around the area and a few seemed to be offline, and that was the moment that Spike's magic flared for a few seconds as one of the other portals became active. Ignitus looked at it for a few seconds before heading through it, where he found that the portal lead to the docks of Warfang, set up in an area that would make it easy for people to move from one area to the other and some of the residents of the city seemed surprised to see him, before he headed back through the portal and appeared near the group. Cyril, Volteer, and Terrador seemed impressed, mostly because it was a dragon that wasn't the Chronicler that had done the deed, while Malefor nodded his head to show that he was still impressed by what they were seeing, as Spike continued to impress him with his feats of magic, something that he figured was going to happen for a few more weeks before everything returned to normal.
"Well, now that we have a way back home, I think I'll stay here with Spyro and his siblings," Cynder said, though while it was clear Hunter and the rest of the group were surprised by what they were hearing, since they figured that she would return home afterwards and come to a decision after some time, the ones that were happy to have her decide such a thing were Spyro, Spike, and Ember, before she smiled for a moment as she glanced back at her father and the Guardians she had followed for a long time, "I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds, both in these lands and our new training that will be coming at some point in the future."
Spyro and his siblings smiled as that happened, because they were eager to show Cynder what the Artisans did every single day and what their lives were like, before they started the training that Malefor had in mind for them, which would be about the same time that Spike continued his search for knowledge as the others determined what they were going to do when they weren't training with Malefor or the other Guardians, as they were sure Ignitus and the others might get in on the action at some point, all while waiting to see if any additional villains showed up in the near future.
Cynder yawned for a moment as she woke up and stretched for a moment, though as she did that she found herself in an area of Stone Hill, the realm that Spyro, Spike, and Ember called home, as the siblings rested on one of the upper parts of the realm so they could be separated from the hatchlings that were in this realm, despite the fact that it was clear they didn't have a house of some kind, something that surprised her and the Guardians when they explored the realms that were part of the Artisans lands. The use of portals to get from one part of the island to another, realm to realm based on what Nestor and the others told her when they explained the portal system to her and the others from Doxantha, had been interesting when they learned about it, since it was so different from what they were used to seeing, but all the information that they gained after she made her decision to stay with Spyro and his siblings allowed them to understand the Dragon Realms and the dragons that called the islands home. Interestingly enough the dragons of these lands also took that afternoon to rest and celebrate their victory over the dark forces that had threatened their world, as Cynder and the others had found that Alvar and the others had prepared a second celebration feast for them, even though they quickly learned that such a thing was a little common due to the three previous adventures that the siblings had gone on, to best Gnasty Gnorc, Ripto, and Morrigan, and now Gaul's dark alliance would be added to the list. While they celebrated their victory over the dark forces that sought the end of their world Spike finished his work on the latest journal he had been working on, one that he and the other scribes would turn into a book and distribute the copies to the libraries of their world, but Cynder had focused on the party and not much else, leaving the dragon to his work before he eventually joined the celebration as well.
Eventually she finished stretching and glanced out at the area that Spyro, Spike, and Ember called home, mostly due to the fact that she still couldn't believe that Spyro lived in such a peaceful land and that neither he or his siblings had stayed true to the nature of the Artisans dragons, despite the fact that Spike was the only one that might have done that, given his desire to write and add to the libraries of the world, and it wasn't long before the others stirred and got up from where they had been resting.
"Good morning Cynder," Spyro said, though he stretched for a few moments, something that Spike and Ember did as well as they got up from where they had been resting, before he walked over to the area that Cynder was sitting in, staring out at the rest of Stone Hill and taking in the beauty of the land that he and his siblings called home, before he glanced out at the realm in question for a few moments as he sat down near Cynder, where a thought came to him, "So, how was your first day in the Dragon Realms?"
"It was... interesting." Cynder admitted, because she had learned a lot of information from Spike while they had their tour of the islands that made up the Dragon Realms, and that included what the Leaders had to say about their lands and what each dragon clan did, before she even considered the celebration that she and the others had been roped into once she made her decision to stay here and not head back to Warfang with her father and the Guardians, "I'm still coming to terms with the fact that this is the place that you called home, as it is much more peaceful than what I imagined, but I can get used to calling this place home... I'm just surprised that you guys don't have a house or something to sleep in, instead of resting on the ground all the time."
"Well, Nestor and the others are in the middle of making a residence for us, since its time we had one," Spike said, as he and Ember joined their brother and Cynder by the edge of the area, where they could stare out at the ocean that was in front of them, even though he was focused on what he was saying and what Nestor had told him the last time one of them had asked the question about the progress on the residence they could call home for a good portion of their adult lives, before they separated and lived in their own houses, "it should be done at some point in the near future, like the next week or two if we're lucky, so soon we won't be sleeping on the ground and we'll be able to sleep inside a house and inside some beds, just like you're likely used to since Warfang is so different from the Dragon Realms."
"You're right about that," Cynder remarked, showing Spike that he was right in what he was thinking and that she was considering the lands that she would be calling home for the foreseeable future, even though she would be visiting the other lands at some point since just learning about them wasn't enough, despite the fact that the only one that she hoped for a short visit to was the Beast Makers island, before she considered what they would be doing today, which was a total mystery to her, "So, um, what are we going to do with our day?"
"We'll have to find Nestor and see what sort of plans he's come up with," Ember stated, mostly because that was how things worked in the past, she and her brothers would be told what they were doing by Nestor or one of the other Leaders that watched over the Dragon Realms, which usually lead to them discovering what sort of training they would be doing or techniques they would be learning that day, before she shrugged for a moment as she considered all of that, "there's no telling what he or the other Leaders might tell us, so we'll just have to find Nestor and see what he has planned, since I'm sure your father isn't ready to start training all of us just yet."
Cynder thought about that for a moment, as she knew that her father needed time to ready himself for whatever he had planned for the four of them, something she was eager for since it had been some time since she had trained with her father and learned a new trick or technique from him, meaning Ember was right to say that he wasn't ready and that they could do whatever they wanted for a day or two, because all of them knew that it wouldn't be long before they would start the training her father was working on. As such there wasn't much for the four of them to do besides head for the part of Stone Hill that the exit portal rested in, the magical device that would allow dragons and others to head from a realm and return to a homeworld, basically the reverse of the portals she had seen so far, though Spike admitted that Nora was in the process of updating the square shaped devices that were positioned at the 'end' of the various realms, and by that he meant switching them out for the standing structures, just like the ones that dotted the Artisans homeworld. It appeared that they were in the process of making their lands more like Avalar and Avilion, in terms of how the portals were set up in those two regions of the world, and Cynder found that it would take her some time to get used to the fact that the dragons of the Dragon Realms used portals in their homeworlds, to get from one part of it to another, and would fly between the islands that the other clans called home, even though she had Spyro, Spike, and Ember to assist her in understanding their part of the world. She was also sure that Nestor and the other Leaders had given her father and the Guardians a rundown on what the portals were, how all of the various types worked, and anything else they could think of to make sure their new friends understood what they were seeing, especially since they had to take in the fact that Warfang didn't have any portals before Spike set up the one that now connected the two regions of the world, something that was going to take some time to get used to having access to.
Once she was done thinking about that Spyro took off and headed for the exit portal, where Spike and Ember wasted no time in doing the same thing, to which Cynder spread her wings and took off as well, following the siblings over to the area that contained the exit portal and then watched as Spike and Ember disappeared after they entered it, leaving Spyro to assist her if she needed help, which was why they entered it about the same time, leaving Cynder to find that they were in front of the portal to Stone Hill not even a few seconds later, and that all of them were fine, which was understandable since she was sure the dragons would have fixed any problems at this point in time.
"Come on, let's go get breakfast," Spyro said, where he started to move towards the tunnel that would take them to the tower which would allow them to access Town Square's portal, since that was where Alvar and the other chefs usually spent their time, be it time for the various meals of the day or trying their hands on some of the more challenging dishes, something that Alvar would be spending time on since he had seen what the dragons of Warfang made for the celebration banquet Malefor had set up for them, before he glanced towards the others, "once that's done we can decide what to do with the rest of our day, and I have a few ideas on what we can do."
Cynder had learned, from listening to Spike, Ember, and the other dragons, that Spyro's ideas were generally good and well thought out, especially when it involved leading his siblings during their adventures in the other lands, showing all of them that he had the skill to one day become one of the greatest Leaders that the Dragon Realms had ever seen, and they were happy that he had left behind his pranks, the various tricks he pulled on all the adult dragons when he and his siblings were younger. That bit of information surprised Cynder, as she never considered Spyro one to play pranks on those that were around him or those that he respected, or at least that was what her memories of their previous life told her, so she had to keep a straight look on her face when she learned about the pranks that he had played on the others, before discovering that he eventually grew out of the habit and started adapting to whatever his future held for him, which seemed to be a hero to the various lands of their world, even if Spyro preferred by a flyer, based on the fact that he was the one that came up with the Hover technique, one that he and his siblings no longer needed for the most part. Of course that was when she shook her head and followed after the siblings, as she had been thinking about what she had learned the previous day a little too much and was falling behind, even though Spyro stopped to make sure she could catch up with them and not get lost, so it wasn't long before the four of them were walking through the tunnel that would bring them to the tower that was connected to the area their destination was located in. This time around, instead of using the whirlwind that was in the direct center of the tower, which would normally allow them to be moved up to their destination, the group took off and flew up to the walkway that was in front of the portal they were looking for, which took all of five to ten seconds when Spike considered it, before they quickly moved through the portal and headed to the realm that they would be eating breakfast in, which would be when Spyro told them what his ideas were.
It didn't take the group long to discover that they weren't the only ones who had gotten up early and came to Town Square for some breakfast, as they could see Hunter and his family sitting in one part of the center of the realm, Elora was off to the side with Bianca, their friends from Avilion were gathered together as they discussed something important, Sol happened to be sitting nearby, and it appeared that the Guardians were talking with the Leaders, no doubt going over how their lands were going to operate now that Spike had opened the way between them, all while Malefor stood off to the side and smiled as he saw everyone getting along. Breakfast, as the group discovered, was the same as what Spyro and his siblings were used to, eggs, bacon, pastries, fruit, omelets, and whatever else Alvar wanted to make for them, showing all of their new friends his skills once more as he impressed the Guardians with his skills, which was saying something given the good food he had tasted back in Warfang, hence his desire to show their guests just how skilled he was, along with the Leaders and their other friends. So far, based on what the siblings and Cynder were seeing, it appeared that the four lands that had been saved from the various evils that they faced, with the latest being the worst villain of them all, would be able to get along just well and that was good news for everyone that called those lands home, and Spyro was sure that one of the first things Malefor did, before their training started, would be to revisit Avilion and see the old lands that the dragons once called home, and maybe stare at Morrigan's statue for a time.
"Well look who it is, the sleepyheads have finally risen from their slumber," Hunter remarked, though at the same time it was easy to see that he was jesting with them, as it was actually about the time that the siblings usually woke up and that was why they were up now, due to their habits, instead of sleeping in like they could have, given everything they had been through since the newest adventure had started, before he smiled at them as they joined their friends, "Anyway, I have something I want to tell you guys: Elora and I are going to head back to Avalar for a few days, let my parents and my sister see the lands that they had been trying to protect from Moneybags and the other enemies that you guys dealt with... and Prowlus is coming along as well, to see how the rest of the Cheetahs in the world live, even though he had to make him promise not to smash Moneybags' statue, as he's been angry over all the crimes the bear has caused."
"Trust me, while I'd like to do the same thing, that would kill him," Ember stated, as she figured that if the statue was cracked wide open, like Prowlus wanted to do after hearing about everything Moneybags had done to Avalar and Avilion, it would probably kill whoever was trapped inside it, not like what would happen if, say, Hunter or Elora were to touch the statue and free the individual that happened to be sealed away inside it, before she munched on some of the food that was in front of her, "its better that he stays locked away inside that statue, so make sure no one from Avalar touches it while you're there... not that you need the reminder, Hunter, given what Spike has said in the past on the matter, so this is more for your family and their chief."
"I'll make sure that no one touches the statue, and I promise that I'll refrain from damaging it," Prowlus replied, where he showed that he understood what the group was saying and, at the same time, that he was willing to put aside his offer to break the statue of the one who had sent Hunter's parents to another part of the world, with no telling if the area on the other side of the portal was even hospitable for the pair that were threatening his operations in Avalar, even though he and his clan had welcomed the pair, and eventually their daughter, with open arms, "As much as I would like to punish the one that separated Akello and Sarah from their son, I will honor the judgement of those that watch over Avalar and stay away from the statue."
"Anyway, we'll be leaving once we've eaten breakfast and said our farewells to our friends," Elora said, as while she would have loved to stick around for a while and see how Cynder got used to living in the Dragon Realms, which would be interesting since she was so used to living in Warfang and dealing with the various dangers that both plagued Doxantha and the various islands, she was interested in showing Hunter's parents and little sister the lands that Spyro, Spike, and Ember had saved from Ripto and all of his minions, and then she would be back once everything settled down, to see how Cynder was fitting in with the siblings and the rest of the dragons of the Dragon Realms, "Got to make sure no one tried any funny business while we were helping save the world, and fix whatever problems we might find during our tour of the realms that make up our own home."
"And, while I would love to stick around and see what sort of magic lessons Spike might have for me and the rest of the Magic Crafters, we have to get back to Avilion as well," Bianca added, because she, Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 had to get back to their homes and see how everyone was doing after the massive battle for Warfang, especially with the discovery that the original dragons that watched over their lands were still around and that they had helped the residents of Warfang save the world from Gaul of the army he had built, before she faced the pair again, "but don't worry, we'll be back once we're sure everything has settled down... and the we'll see how Cynder is getting used to living in these lands, since its quite a change from what she's used to experiencing."
"Tell me about it," Cynder said, as she could already tell that there were a few times that she was going to have to get used to doing already, all from her first day in the Dragon Realms, and she was sure that there were other things that she would learn at some point in the future, either from the Leaders and the adult dragons or from Spyro and his siblings, but right now she was more interested in the food that was in front of her and what they were going to do today, given what Spyro had said earlier, before she turned towards the groups that would be leaving them in the near future, "still, I'll be waiting to see you guys again, and if something is happening in your lands, like a villain is attacking them or you need help with someone, just remember that we're ready to help you out."
Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads to that, as they agreed with what Cynder was saying about helping any of their friends that needed help, and it would be nice to visit some of the other lands after their recent adventure, though that was when they focused on their breakfast and enjoyed the food that Alvar had prepared for them and their guests, where Nester, the other Leaders, Malefor, and the Guardians joined them, showing that they had stopped whatever they happened to be talking about and were ready to eat what was being served at the moment. Ignitus and the Guardians told them that they would be returning to Warfang once the meal was over, and the Chronicler was heading back to the White Isle as well, though both of them would be returning at one point in the future since they knew Spike wanted to look at the archives of both Warfang and the White Isle, so they figured that they would bring him a few books the next time they came back to the Dragon Realms. Such a thing excited Spike, due to the fact that there was no telling what information the books might contain and whatever he might learn from what the Guardians and the Chronicler were willing to lend him for a time, though he knew that he would return the books in a pristine condition once he was done reading them, given what he had done in the past, to the tomes and scrolls that were in the Dark Hollow library, something that seemed to make the Doxantha dragons smile when they head it, since that appeared to be one of the conditions for them lending him some of their books. There wasn't much else they could deliver to the group, though Malefor did say he would have some gear readied for them by the time their training sessions started, showing that he intended on having all four of them experience how to move while wearing armor, even if he might be preparing gear that was like what Ignitus and the other Guardians were wearing at the moment, though such a thing excited Cynder since she had been waiting for such an event to happen and she now knew that it was coming at some point in the future.
Once breakfast was over Hunter and Elora bid the group farewell as they headed towards the exit portal for the realm they were in, so they could head back to the portal that would take their group back to Avalar, and it wasn't long before Bianca's group did the same thing so they could make sure everything was fine in Avilion, just like she had told them a few minutes ago, so in the end it was Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Sol that were resting in Town Square, though Sol had to leave a well, just to make sure the rest of the Phoenixes were fine and had returned to their home after helping their friends defeat the dark alliance Gaul had created.
"So, what are the four of you going to do for the next couple of days?" Nestor asked, because he knew that, after each adventure that the siblings went on, the dragons in question liked to relax for a few days and get their energy back, just like what happened after they beat Morrigan or when Spike did his Archmage Ceremony and claimed his staff, and while he had an idea as to what the answer would be, given everything he and the other Leaders had seen so far, he wanted to see if his thoughts were right or wrong on the matter, despite the fact that he was positive he knew what the answer to his question was going to be
"First, we're heading to Dragon Shores and the beach!" Spyro replied, due to the fact that visiting the island was one of their traditions at this point, to celebrate their victory over the villain they had bested, even if the first time they visited the island was totally different from what he was thinking about, though he could see that Spike and Ember, at the very least, were interested in visiting the beach again, and Cynder seemed eager to visit the island that she had learned about after she and the others had arrived in the Dragon Realms, before he considered the other part of the question, "After we do that, well, I'm not entirely sure what we'll do after we spend some time at the beach, but I'm sure one of us will come up with an idea while we're having fun... and once we're fully relaxed and rested we'll be ready to tackle whatever training Malefor has planned for us."
"Well, be sure to enjoy yourselves while you're there," Nestor said, as he knew that they would enjoy themselves while they were there, just like they had done in the past the last couple of times they had visited the island in question, and he knew that the rest of the Leaders would think the same thing when they were told what the group would be doing, before he considered something that he needed to tell Spyro, Spike, and Ember, "Oh, and just so you know, the Gnorcs are in the middle of remodeling their amusement park, so they can add a number of new games and whatnot to the park, so you'll want to avoid that area for the foreseeable future."
"They must have heard what we did in Avilion, or maybe even Doxantha," Ember remarked, not that she was even a little surprised by what they were hearing, because the Gnorcs that worked on the park liked to make sure the dragons and their friends were entertained, so she was a little eager to see if they came up with something new, to test a couple of their skills and have a little fun, before she shrugged for a moment, "anyway, its good to know that they're busy, though it will take some time before we get to see what they're working on."
Nestor said nothing to that and let the group finish their meal, where he headed over to the area that the rest of the adult dragons, the Leaders and Guardians, were standing in, though the moment the four of them were done they got up from where they were sitting and headed for the exit portal so they could head back to the area that contained the portal that would take them to Dragon Shores, an island that Cynder was focused on since it would be different from everything else she was used to seeing. It didn't take them long to reach the portals rested in, where Spyro lead the way through the portal that happened to be the one they were interested in and it wasn't long before they stepped out onto the other side of it, where Cynder focused on the area that was around them and took in the fact that there was such a beautiful area so close to the Dragon Realms, before noticing the portals that were around them, far more than what she was expecting to see when they arrived in this area. Spike explained that there was a portal for each of the Dragon Realms, with some being for the other lands they had saved from the various villains that had threatened them, and he also included the fact that there might be another one that could be added for Warfang, if Malefor and the Guardians wished such a thing to happen in the future, though once the explanation was done Spyro headed for the area that the beach was in, something that totally surprised Cynder when they emerged from the path and arrived at the beach. It was clear that, while she was used to the watery areas of her home island, finding such a location was beyond anything she was expecting, so she paused for a moment as Spyro pulled off his scarf, Spike took off his hat and his satchel, and Ember did the same thing with all four of her metallic bracers, to which Cynder took a moment to do the same thing with her jewelry.
Not even a few seconds later Spyro tackled Cynder and knocked both of them into the water, where he laughed for a few moments as he splashed her a few times, something that was followed by Cynder emerging from the water and shook herself for a few seconds, since she was surprised by everything that was happening since she wasn't expecting it, but that was when she spread her wings and splashed Spyro in return, causing her to chuckle in response to what was going on, as she found this to be fun already. Spike stayed on the shore for a time, using his magic to manipulate some of the sand and digging tools that Nestor and the other Leaders had left behind the last time they were here, where he started building a structure of some kind, which he originally started as a castle and found that it quickly expanded into a city that could have been a replica of Warfang, or at least that was the case before he started to make it on a mountain, causing him to turn his head to the side for a moment as he did that. He wasn't sure why he did something like that, but as he worked on his sand sculpture Ember rushed over to where Spyro and Cynder were waiting and joined them, where they started to really enjoy their time in the water as they splashed each other and pushed the water around, though it was clear that Cynder was already enjoying herself, even though she had a few ideas as to what to do when she got to the sand, even though she and the others were in the middle of swimming through the water and splashed each other every now and then.
Of course Spike made sure to bring a few books as well, which he levitated while he was manipulating the sand and all of the tools that were around him, showing that he was still studying while he was supposed to be relaxing and enjoying himself, even though Spyro and Ember knew his definition of enjoying himself was different from theirs, but they paid him no mind as they focused on swimming around the water and splashing each other every now and then, even though it did gave Cynder a chance to spot the amusement park that Spyro and the others had talked about. Truth be told she was a little surprised by the fact that such a place existed and was even more surprised when she paused for a moment and found the green skinned creatures that were called Gnorcs, who were in the middle of checking the progress they were making on the renovations that Nestor had told them about, though it looked like they were busy and didn't look down at the area that the dragons were in, given that there was a good distance between them and the area the park was in, one that she was a little interested in investigating at some point in the future. Spyro, Spike, and Ember knew what she was thinking about, as they had considered the same thing when they first heard that the Gnorcs were renovating the area, but for the most part all of them enjoyed their various activities and their time off, as this was well deserved after saving the world from Gaul and his dark alliance, and while their friends also deserved some time off they knew that they would be visiting Dragon Shores at some point in the near future.
Since it appeared that everyone else was going to be busy and wouldn't be coming for a time, since the siblings knew it was only a matter of time until Nestor and some of the others arrived, the group simply enjoyed themselves and forgot about whatever worries might have been plaguing them since the start of their last adventure, though while they did that Spike noticed some magic in the area near them and found that Nora had sent them some of Alvar's food, contained in a container for later, so when lunch came around they could eat or have a snack whenever they wanted. He had to admit that the only thing that was missing, besides the other dragons that usually took a break at the same time they did, were the various sports Nester and the others played, even if he had no skill in playing any of them, though since it appeared his siblings and Cynder were having fun he decided not to bother them with the idea, since no one here had any idea what the rules were or how to play the games. While that happened some more splashing occurred, which he was used to, though it was also around that time that Spyro and Cynder kissed for a few seconds, even if Ember took the time to hum the 'kissing in a tree' tune when she saw it, to which the pair tackled her and laughed as they enjoyed themselves, knowing that they would be busy once Malefor was ready to start their training and that was why they were making the most of the moment, hence why they pushed their worries away and focused on enjoying their free time, before even thinking about seeing what the future held for them and their friends.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember found that they were given a week off from doing anything, meaning that Nestor and the other Leaders and Guardians wanted them to rest and relax after everything that had happened to them, as in their efforts to save the world from Gaul and his dark alliance, so after heading to Dragon Shores the group just spent their time resting in some of the realms of the various homeworlds and showing Cynder around so she could see the lands that they called home, not to mention the fact that they saved them at one point in the past. The tour was more in depth than what had been given during their flight back to the Artisans homeworld, after they returned to the Dragon Realms to be exact, and it gave Cynder a chance to see some of the other realms while they waited to see what sort of training would be coming their way, as all four of them knew it was coming and that either Malefor, the Leaders, or the Guardians had something planned for them, even if they were eager to see what sort of lessons the older dragons had for them. At the same time it was easy to see that some of the dragons, from all six of the clans, were busy with something and didn't want to spoil the surprise for them, meaning they were doing something that wasn't the house that would be going in Stone Hill and that also caught their attention as each of them considered what in the world the dragons in question had to be doing, even though they also found out that several individuals from Warfang were helping them with whatever they were doing. The only thing that Spike could think of was an event for when the next generation of dragons, the hatchlings he and his siblings had saved from Morrigan's terrible plans, receiving their dragonflies, though in the end he decided not to worry about it all too much, as he knew that they would be let in on what was going on at some point in the future, to which he and the others returned to the tour they were giving Cynder.
Of course Cynder was impressed by several of the realms that they visited, such as Trondo's training grounds and the ice caves that were in the Peace Keepers' homeworld, the area of the Magic Crafters lands that had been where Spike had done the Archmage Ceremony and claimed Akilesh, a quick visit to the swamp that the Beast Makers called home and a brief visit to Tree Tops, along with a visit to the part of the Dream Weavers homeworld where Spike had found his wizard hat during their first adventure, before ending their tour with a visit to the Machinists homeworld, where they found the dragons in question busy working on the airship and several other vessels that would fly in the air.
"I know I said it before, but the lands of the Dragon Realms as so interesting and different from what I was expecting to find when we came here," Cynder said, referring to both herself, her father, and the Guardians that watched over the city of Warfang, even if she was the only one that had stayed in the Dragon Realms, something she was sure had surprised some of the Guardians, even though her decision was more due to finding Spyro at long last and picking up from where they had left off, before she smiled as she glanced out at the area they were in for a moment, "I'm sure that Volteer, at the very least, will be coming back to these lands at some point so he could start learning about everything you guys have, like what your realms look like and how you managed to build an airship, though I think staying here will be the best decision of my life, given what's happened so far."
"I'm glad you like the Dragon Realms, Cynder, even though it will take some time to get used to," Spyro stated, though at the same time the four of them shifted their wings for a few seconds, so they could glance down at the area that the airship was resting in at the moment, as he and his siblings knew that there were some residents of Warfang, and the rest of Doxantha, that were incredibly interested in the airship they had used to reach the continent, as it was beyond what the Apes and the other races had used to assault the various islands, "I'm still trying to figure out what the adults are doing, and why Nestor is keeping it a secret from all of us, but it must be something important that he doesn't want us to worry about or something... and I'm sure Spike already has some ideas on what they might be doing."
"I do, but right now I don't think any of them are worthwhile enough to share," Spike commented, mostly because he was under the impression that it had something to do with the hatchlings and the dragonflies that would be paired with them at some point in the future, since there were a hundred and fifty-one hatchlings and that meant there was an equal number of dragonflies that would be paired with them, to which he sighed for a moment as they shifted their course and turned back towards the direction that the Artisans homeworld rested in, "Ember, what do you think the adults might be doing at the moment?"
"Honestly, I have no idea, but I'm more interested in waiting to see what sort of training we'll be doing when Malefor says its time for us to start training," Ember replied, showing that her attention was more on what the first purple dragon had told them after their battle with him, a rather intense battle when she recalled everything that had happened during that event, especially since she and the others gained an understanding of the true power that Malefor commanded, even though she had no idea how they would be able to overcome the Spirit of Valor, as that was a power that seemed far too powerful for them to take out, unless Spike found a weakness to exploit.
The others glanced at each other for a moment, as each of them had taken a few seconds to think about what sort of training Malefor had for them while they were flying through the air, before they nodded their heads in agreement and started to fly back in the direction of the Artisans homeworld, so they could rest, maybe get some lunch, and then maybe show Cynder one of the other realms of the island the siblings called home, to give her an idea of what they did when they were younger, while putting their thoughts on Malefor's training at the back of their minds.
When the week was over, and Cynder had gotten a little used to how things worked in the Dragon Realms, they got the visitor that she and the siblings were waiting for, as Malefor showed up about a week after the initial tour of the lands that Spyro, Spike, and Ember called home, meaning he either had come up with some sort of training routine for them to go through or there was something that he wanted to tell them, hence the reason that they stopped what they were doing, or would have done that if they had been in the middle of something, and faced the dragon that was approaching them, as it was time to see what was going on.
"I hope all of you are ready, because I have prepared some lessons for all four of you," Malefor stated, confirming the thoughts that the siblings and Cynder had on the matter, while at the same time they noticed that the Chronicler was also present, meaning he might be here to teleport them to the area that Malefor was going to be using for their training or if he was here to watch them, so he could record any new techniques the first purple dragon used to train them, though that was when the gray scaled dragon opened a portal in the air near them, causing them to stand at attention as they waited for Malefor to speak again, "the Chronicler has agreed to help us get to the area that we'll be training in, and that includes taking notes on what we'll be doing, though trust me, you'll be surprised by the location that we'll be spending some time in while I help you master the techniques you showed me during our battle earlier."
"Well, I can't speak for the others, but I'm ready for whatever training you have for me," Ember replied, as she recalled that Malefor had been able to punch his way through her Warrior's Armor like it was made of paper or something like that, which made sense when she considered just how strong the first purple dragon had to be thanks to the number of years he had backing him, all without using his version of the technique that he was said to have created, along with the one that Spyro unlocked and the one that Spike used every now and then.
"So are we." Cynder said, where Spyro and Spike nodded their heads as well, because they knew Ember was a warrior and that she enjoyed polishing her fighting skills whenever it was possible for her to do so, which was why all four of them were eager to see what in the world her father had in store for them and what they might be able to learn from him, as all of them knew that he wouldn't offer them training if he didn't have a way for each of them to improve their skills, hence why they were standing at attention while they waited for her father to tell them what was going on.
Malefor nodded his head and the Chronicler opened a portal to the right of where the group was standing, just like he had done when they visited the White Isle and met him for the first time or when he brought their armies to do battle with the dark alliance that Gaul had gathered, which was when Malefor stepped through the portal and disappeared from the area that they were standing in, which happened to be part of Stone Hill, and it wasn't long before the group approached the portal and followed Malefor through it. On the other side of the portal they found themselves in the treasury that was right outside the Arcanaeum, where the Chronicler joined them a few moments later and followed both them and Malefor into the ancient vault, though as they stepped into the first part of the structure the gray dragon whistled for a moment as he looked at the Archives that were around them, showing the group that even those that called Doxantha home could be shocked by everything the legendary vault had to offer. It only took them a few minutes to walk into the area that was the heart of the vault, which just so happened to be the area that the globe that warned the siblings about Gaul rested, even though Spike was sure that the Aether icon was either pointing to Cynder or Malefor and not the villain in question, before they headed for one of the locked doors that lead into one of the other parts of the Arcanaeum that they hadn't explored yet, one that opened as soon as he approached it. Of course that was when the group paused for a moment as they took a few seconds to look at what was on the other side of the now opened doorway, because they had seen a few of the areas that lined the heart of the Arcanaeum, one of which was the home of the Deepcore Army and another was the armory the first purple dragon used to keep the runeblades and the Fangs of Felinia inside, though this one was far different than what they were expecting to find, as it appeared the chamber they were in wasn't a chamber, it was more like an island that was just liked the one they used for their earlier battle.
As they walked out onto the plains that were in front of them, where it was easy to see a mountain range that looked similar to the mountain that was on the island they fought on a week ago, Spike took to the air and found that the island they were on stretched out in every direction, like they were in an area that was an endless landmass that didn't seem like anything they had seen in the past, and he realized how there could have been a training area inside the Arcanaeum, just like the stories claimed, especially when the vault itself wasn't trashed by the power Malefor wielded, before he flew back down to where the others were standing, where he found that there was a structure that seemed like an opening that did match the door they had walked through earlier.
"This is the Training Grounds, the area that I used to use so I could study and practice my magic in secret, so that none of my enemies could discover my secrets," Malefor explained, where he took a few steps forward and put some distance between him and the dragons that he would be training, while at the same time the Chronicler moved out of the way and came to a stop near the structure that would allow the group to head back to the Arcanaeum, even though Spike noticed that there were some markings on the metal, no doubt to make sure no destructive magic flowed out into the rest of the vault and wrecked anything, before he turned around and faced the group of four once more, "now, however, we will be using it to improve your skills and work on whatever weaknesses you might have, which I have taken notice of thanks to our earlier battle, so you had best be ready for anything and everything."
"We're ready for whatever you have to throw at us," Spyro stated, though at the same time he readied himself as he partly drew Windshear from the sheath he was carrying, while Ember drew the metallic claws of the Fangs of Felinia, Spike readied his magic for a few seconds, and Cynder shifted her stance so she could be ready for whatever her father might have in store for them, where they showed him that all of them were ready to face whatever training he had prepared for this day and that they would do everything in their power to overcome his lessons.
"You may think that, and I'm eager to see what over our training sessions," Malefor replied, but even as he said that his body shimmered for a moment before three Mirror Images appeared around him a few seconds later, showing them that it was going to be four against four, which was bad for them since they couldn't even overcome his power during their earlier battle, which was followed by all of them smiling for a few seconds as he resumed what he was telling them, "but, to make sure each of you have a chance to develop your own skills and not be bothered by someone else that's fighting your target at the same time, I will use the Mirror Image spell and three copies, so that way there is a foe for each of you, and I'll be positioning each of you in different parts of the Training Grounds, so you can focus on what you're doing and less on what one of the others is doing at any given instant. Spyro, you and I will be staying right here, near the doorway that will allow us to head back into the Arcanaeum once we're done training, which means that Spike will be pairing up with the copy to my left, Ember will be taking the one to its left, and Cynder will be pairing up with the one that is standing to my right, who will escort all of you to the areas that you'll be training in and get you started on the lessons I have made to help you improve your skills."
The group nodded their heads, to show that they understood what Malefor was telling them, before spreading out in accordance to what he had said, where Spyro and the main Malefor remained in the area that was around them while the others were taken to different parts of the endless realm that they were in, though while his siblings and Cynder did that Spyro kept his stance up and braced himself, as there was no telling what sort of lessons the first purple dragon had in store for him, much less what he had for the others.
"Now, I'm sure that you're expecting a lesson on how to fight or something, based on your stance, but that will come in the future, as today I have something different planned," Malefor said, though at the same time Spyro had the feeling that he knew what the dragon was talking about, as there was another power the first purple dragon had discovered he had access to and refused to use the first time they had engaged him, meaning he might be focusing on his Conqueror's Spirit and the fact that he didn't use it all that often, before the elder dragon shifted his stance a little, "I know you have access to Conqueror's Spirit, so I want you to awaken that power and use it against me, which will allow our powers to clash with each other for a few seconds and let me understand how much training you have with it, something that will let me determine what sort of training to give you after this session."
Spyro paused for a moment, as that wasn't what he was expecting to hear when he and the others followed Malefor to this area, before he sighed and shifted his stance not a few moments later, returning the runeblade to its sheath as he focused his mind for a few seconds, recalling what he had done to draw upon the power he had unlocked during the war between the Breezebuilders and the Land Blubbers, before he readied himself as he turned his full attention towards the dragon that was in front of him, who was simply waiting for him to make the first move. In the following instant Spyro activated his Conqueror's Spirit and sent the power flying through the air towards the dragon that would be training him for the foreseeable future, who stood still as the air around him shifted as he loosed his own power through the air, which was followed by the space between them shuddering as the two instances of the ability clashed with each other, sending out waves of pressure that would have knocked the weak willed out, if what Spyro recalled was correct. Of course that was accompanied by a bunch of black lightning, which had a red outline on each bit of lightning, that flashed around the entire area that they were standing in and did nothing to the ground that was around them, not that such a thing mattered since the pressure was enough to crack the ground that was near them, even though it was pretty clear that Malefor wasn't using his full power, since Spyro wasn't immediately overpowered by his instructor. He had spent enough time with Spike to know that Malefor was measuring his current level of power and would come to a decision on what lessons he would be given in the future, which was confirmed by what the dragon had said earlier, before Spyro found that he was being pushed back a little by the pressure of Malefor's Conqueror's Spirit, something he was expecting to have happen as soon as he learned what his first lesson was going to be.
In the end Spyro found himself being knocked backwards by the pressure of their abilities colliding with each other, an action that cancelled out the collision that was going on, but he wasn't at all surprised by what had happened, because Malefor had spent a thousand years mastering this ability and that collision confirmed his thoughts on the matter, as his foe was able to lower and raise the pressure of his Conqueror's Spirit at will, all to test how his reacted to a force of equal power, before raising the amount of power to see how it reacted, eventually leading to him being blown backwards by the sheer force of Malefor's ability, showing them who was the stronger user.
"Your skills are impressive, despite only having a few years to tap into this ability," Malefor commented, where Spyro got up from where he was resting and shook himself for a couple of seconds, as he was surprised that being knocked back like that hadn't knocked him out, just like what happened to the weak willed during the war, and the elder dragon made sure he was alright, to make sure nothing bad had happened to him after being blown back by the collision, "however, the lessons that I will be giving you from this point forward will allow you to further develop your ability, which will allow you to get closer and closer to the level of power that I can wield, though this isn't the only power I will teach you, as I want to see if you are capable of tapping into Warrior's Armor and Sage's Vision, the other two abilities I created all those years ago and mastered over the last thousand years."
In that moment Spyro had nothing to say to what Malefor was saying, due to the fact that he had no idea if he could even learn the other two powers that his siblings had tapped into over the years and had learned how to wield, though at the same time he sighed as he removed the sheath that was on his back and placed it by the opening that would take him back to the Arcanaeum, which was when he returned to where his instructor was standing and readied himself, as he did know that learning how to wield Warrior's Armor would take some time and effort, and that wasn't counting Sage's Vision and the power to stare into the future, though he focused on what he was doing and less on what the others were doing at the moment... which was around the time that Ember launched herself into a fury of attacks as she attacked the copy of Malefor that was her current instructor.
"You have the skills of a seasoned warrior, though you rely on your Warrior's Armor too much and your focus can be broken rather easily," the copy said, though even as it said that it dodged Ember's clawed attack, where she was combining her Warrior's Armor with the Fangs of Felinia, more in the sense that her own claws were protected and the metal was left alone, before it swung a fist at her and struck her in the chest, causing her to fly backwards and cough as her skill faded once more, just like what happened when they fought Malefor on the island a week ago, "Ember, what you need to do is learn how to tap into your inner magic and fully draw it to the surface, instead of what you've been doing lately, so that your skill won't deactivate whenever your concentration is broken. You just have to remember that what you're doing will be different from how Spike taps into his own magical power and uses it for the spells he casts."
"Right. I'll take your word for it." Ember remarked, where she stood still for a moment and thought about how Spike used his magic in the past, something that she never really bothered to think about since she was more focused on using her claws and whatnot to fight the enemies that they encountered during their adventures, and wondered if Malefor was trying to get her to tap into a magic that was like what her brother wielded, though as she reached deep inside herself she did feel something resonate inside her, hence the reason she readied herself for what was coming next.
It wasn't long before she burst into the air once more and rushed towards the area that her foe was standing in, just like she had done earlier, though this time around Ember focused more on tapping into the power that Malefor had told her about and whatever else she was supposed to do with it, though it wasn't all that long before an idea came to her as she applied the hardening of her Warrior's Armor to the Fangs of Felinia, turning the blades ebony black, something that caught Malefor's eye as the copy dodged the attack again, even though she dug the claws into the ground and used them to stop herself from going to far, allowing her to enter the battle once more. This time around Ember changed things up as she focused her mind and the Fangs shifted form, becoming a pair of arm blades that were attached to her bracelets, to which she flew around the area that Malefor's copy was standing in and decided to try something else as she focused on the power he wanted her to awaken, mostly due to the fact that she was positive that it would be gone in no time and that she had to use it while she had access to it. What she did was swing her front legs through the air, like she was clawing at one of the flying enemies that they had fought back during their quest to save the world from Gaul and his forces, though because she was still some distance from her foe it looked like she was wasting energy, before a ripple rushed towards the area that her foe was standing in, who stood there for a few seconds as he considered what he was seeing, which was when the copy swung its arm and a similar ripple effect rushed out from where he was standing, cancelling out Ember's attack after they clashed for a few seconds. Ember noticed what had happened, the clash was similar to what her brother and Malefor were doing at the moment, only far less violent than the clash of what she assumed was their Conqueror's Spirits striking each other in the middle of the area they were training in, though it was easy for her to figure out why her attack had failed, due to her foe being far stronger than she was, which just so happened to be the reason why she was still flying through the air as she used the new technique a few more times, trying to hit the copy from the other directions, and yet none of them seemed to hit their mark.
She knew that she needed practice with this technique, especially since it was so new to her and it wasn't new to the dragon that had created the power in the first place, though eventually she was forced to land and huff for a few seconds, which was when the copy walked over to where she was now standing, no doubt to give her some pointers or some words about what she had done and how she could improve her skills, both new and old, hence the reason she remained silent as the copy came to a stop near her.
"It would seem that I was correct, you do learn quickly," the copy stated, showing that Malefor had been expecting her to do something new during their training session, or at least that was what Ember gathered from what the copy said, but she remained quiet for a few moments as she waited for it to tell her something else as she recovered her stamina, as she found that the new technique exhausted her rather quickly and that was why she needed some additional training to be able to wield it without exposing herself in battle, "that was a technique that I call Emission, one that allows the user of the Warrior's Armor to attack a target that isn't in front of them, where the user releases a burst of energy that assumes the shape of a ripple and, if you're skilled enough, nothing at all so it takes the shape of an invisible attack. Its a technique that drains one's stamina rather quickly, when they start to tap into this particular power, but through regular training you will be able to constantly use this power without having to worry about the stamina drain, which is what we'll be working on for the foreseeable future..."
In that moment Ember, who was thinking about what she was being told, gathered her power and swung her weapon at her opponent not even a few seconds later, where a ripple rushed out at the area that she was standing in and zeroed in on Malefor's copy, who barely had a chance to use the same attack since it was in the middle of talking at the moment, though it did have a chance to loose a rather low version of the Emission technique to parry the one she sent at it, which caused the area in front of them to shudder for a moment before returning to normal.
"Good one, you got in an attack while my guard was lowered," the copy said, showing that it must have misjudged the amount of stamina Ember had access to, even though Ember just regained enough to scrap together another attack, but it chuckled for a moment as it considered what they were going to do next, despite the fact that Ember was sure its guard was up in case she decided to lash out at it again, something that both of them seemed to be thinking about as they stared at each other, almost like they were daring each other to make the next move.
While that was going on Cynder flew through the air as she kept her eyes on the copy of her father that she was in the middle of fighting, where she wasn't even annoyed by the fact that she wasn't getting to train against her actual father at the moment, because she understood that Spyro was the one who had a bunch of untapped potential and it was clear that part of this training session was to draw that power to the surface in a controlled environment, though she paid no mind to that as she dived into the shadows again. One thing she had noticed since the start of their training session was that her father was ready for anything and everything that she might have in mind, as the first time she dived into the shadows the copy managed to knock her out of it rather quickly, though this time around she made sure to send out several copies of herself so that they could be distractions and open a way for her to attack her father, hence the reason that four of them burst out into the air not a few seconds later and readied some bursts of Shadow Breath. The copy was more than ready for what she was doing as it swung its arm and the wind turned against them, slicing into the Shadow Copies and breaking them apart in a matter of seconds, but that was perfectly fine with her as she burst out of the copy's shadow and loosed a burst of shadow magic, even though the copy managed to stop the attack in its tracks and knock her backwards, to which she just dived back into the shadows and loosed more copies into the ground so she could come up with an idea as to what sort of plan she could come up with next. During that moment she glanced over at the area that the entrance rested in and spotted the runeblade that Spyro carried into battle all the time, to which an idea came into mind as she rushed over to the area in question and used her power to snatch the weapon that was just resting against the opening, before she tapped into her inner power like she was getting ready to loose a more powerful attack, though this time around, when she burst out of the shadows as her copies did the same thing, she drew Windshear from its sheath.
What she did was end up with a surge of magical energy that wrapped around the runeblade that Spyro used, a mass that could easily rival a wave of energy that Spike would use in battle against a magically superior opponent, which was the moment that she swung it at the copy of her father and the wave went rushing through the air, where the magic slammed into a barrier that sprung up and smashed the area around it to pieces, leaving a crater in its place as the copy remained standing in the direct center of it.
"Impressive, you managed to tap into the power of the runeblade rather easily, and by that I mean the true power it is contained within the blade," the copy said, where it flew through the air and landed near where Cynder was standing, who huffed for a moment as she considered the amount of magic that she had poured into the attack, though it happened to be smiling at her while it said that and glanced at the blade she was holding onto, "and that was a power known as Wind Scar, a powerful wind style attack, though like what Spyro and Ember are doing it can be rather draining for a first time user of the technique, which is why we'll be seeing how many times you can use it and improve your power over the other elements that you can tap into."
Cynder nodded for a moment, though that was followed by Spike and his foe flying through the air as they attacked each other with their magic, as in Spike was going on the offensive as he lashed out with some of the more high ranking spells he knew about while the copy he happened to be paired with went on the defensive, shielding itself from everything that was being sent at it, as the air heated up in their area of the Training Grounds due to the massive Fireballs Spike was hurling at his foe, intending on wielding the heated up atmosphere with his lightning spells. Of course one Lightning Bolt flashed by the copy he was fighting and struck the ground, blowing a small crater into the earth in the process, though he didn't pay that much attention to what was going on as he did a barrel roll and avoided the incoming attack that just so happened to be heading towards him, before the next Ice Shard shattered the incoming spell that was getting close to the area he was flying through. He knew what Malefor had planned for him, he was trying to get him to wield the power of his staff and use it in his spell casting, just like an Archmage was supposed to do after crafting their staff, though for right now he was more interested in making sure his magic was up to par with what his opponent was using against him, which he realized were the adept spells, the middle ground between basic and advanced, and once he was sure that everything was ready he planned on summoning his staff back to him so he could get the show on the road. That was, of course, when his foe loosed a rapidly formed Flame Emperor from its magic and sent it straight at the area that Spike was flying around in, to which he expanded his magic for a few seconds and called Akilesh to his side, where he spun it around and channeled the magic that was inside it into an Aether Barrier that protected him as he was pushed into the ground, blowing a bigger crater into the ground of the Training Grounds.
A few moments later Spike burst out of the smoke with his magic wrapped around him and his staff, where he found that he was able to get high in the sky for a few moments as the copy focused on him, which was around the time that he shifted his staff and his magic formed a vortex of glowing yellow energy that seemed to mimic the supposed coloration of the sun, something that caused Malefor, his copies, and the others to pause for a moment as they looked at what was currently going on, before Spike hurled a wave of solar-like energy at his opponent. Not a few seconds later the copy held its right hand up and stopped the attack before it could hit the ground, which would have wrecked part of the area that it just so happened to be standing in at the moment, though as soon as that happened Spike appeared right behind the wave of energy with the tip of his staff pointed right at the copy, like he was empowering the attack with even more magic, before he shifted his stance and forced the copy backwards through the air. That was followed by the copy remaining still for a few seconds, like it was considering something, before it flipped backwards and kicked off the air so it could rush at the area that Spike was currently flying in, only for the observers to realize that, while the copy was doing that, Spike had readied his power again, using the same unnamed spell that he had learned over the last week, as another mass of sun-like energy was gathering around him as they watched what was going on. That was when Spike loosed the wave attack once more, even though this time it coiled around as it rushed through the air, and the copy stopped so it could stall the mass of energy, which it seemed to succeed in based on what everyone was seeing, only for the magic to burst passed it's location, even though Spike could tell that it teleported out of the way to make sure it didn't get wiped out, just in case the attack had more power than what Malefor was expecting.
"You learned a new spell in a week's time, and now I'm interested in seeing what else you'll do once all of our training is finished," the copy said, showing that Malefor was pleased with Spike's progress and that he was eager to show him some of the spells that he had learned over the last thousand years, which was perfectly fine with Spike since it meant he would be learning even more than ever before, though at the same time all three of the copies and the real Malefor took a moment to shift their stances once more, indicating that they were ready to continue with their lessons.
The Chronicler smiled as he watched the siblings and Cynder resumed facing their opponents, listening to whatever tips or tricks that the first purple dragon had to tell each of them, though from what he could see it appeared that each of them would be able to defend themselves against whatever the future held for them and the lands that they had saved in the past, to which he continued recording what he was seeing and knew that whatever foe happened to engage them after this day was going to be wishing that they hadn't bothered the group, something he was sure that everyone the group had helped would agree with, and suspected that Malefor felt the same way.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember found that the months that followed their practice session were pretty much the same thing as what they experienced since they returned from Doxantha and returned to their normal lives, meaning that they spent one day a week training with Malefor, so they could continue to build upon the lessons that he started teaching them, while they spent the other six days doing whatever each of them wanted, even if most of them chose to relax while Ember practiced some of the movements she started to learn during their training sessions. From what the four of them could tell it seemed like their mentor was happy with their progress and that he was already coming up with additional lessons to give each of them, though that didn't stop Spike from heading out to Warfang's library to see what sort of knowledge was inside it and the various tomes and scrolls that had been gathered by Malefor and the Guardians that protected the city, and that included his rare visits to the White Isle to see what was in the Chronicler's collection. Spyro and Ember weren't surprised by such a thing, as they had gotten used to Spike's desire for knowledge, and Cynder was getting used to it, just like she was getting used to everything else that was in the Dragon Realms, though the Leaders did chuckle when they heard that, due to the fact that they knew Spike would do something like that and didn't even attempt to stop him, especially since there were a few of their own scholars that went to Warfang for the library as well. Not only did that happen, but Cynder was correct in her earlier guess as to who might be coming to the new lands she called home, as Volteer and a few of the dragons from Doxantha came to study the airship and the various machines that the Machinists were working on, showing that they were eager to expand their knowledge and see if there was anything they might be able to add to the city.
Spike noticed that the residents of the Dragon Realms, Avalar, Avilion, and Doxantha, while taking some time to get used to the idea that there were portals leading to the newest lands he and his siblings had visited, had formed good bonds with the other lands and it looked like friendships were blooming between the various residents of the various realms and lands, which was good to see and made everything he and the others did even more worthwhile when they saw what was going on. Another thing they noted was the fact that there was another addition to the training that Titan gave to the rest of the Peace Keepers and those that wanted to join them, as Hunter and Elora were joined by Amelia, who wanted to see what sort of lessons Titan had to give those that came to him, though it wasn't long before Hunter's parents and a number of the Cheetahs joined them, to learn more tactics so they could protect their clan from the dangers they faced, and that included helping the dragons of Doxantha whenever Malefor or the Guardians called for aid. Ember was a little surprised to see so many of Prowlus' clan join Hunter and the others in their training, and the others were caught off guard when they found the Cheetah in question training with the rest of his clan, but in the end all of them smiled as they watched everyone train, since it appeared Titan was making sure all of them knew how to defend themselves and use the weapons that they chose to wield when they were on the battlefield. Of course the Cheetahs weren't the only ones from Doxantha who joined the training sessions, due to the fact that there were a few Moles and a number of dragons who wanted to see what Titan had to offer them, where it appeared all of them were taking to the lessons, just like how Hunter and Elora had done when they first started their training, after the siblings had saved Avalar from Ripto's schemes, and it was clear that Hunter had been put in charge of making sure his parents and sister knew what was going on, or at least that seemed to be what was going on at the moment.
The other important thing that happened since their training with Malefor started was Nestor informing the siblings and Cynder that their house was finally finished, as he and the others had completed their work on it and they could now move into it whenever they wanted, and none of them had to worry about moving things to where the house rested, as he had made sure to put some things inside the structure and moved their personal items away from where they had been sleeping for the last couple of years, like the art pieces and everything else... though while it wasn't a surprise that their house rested in Stone Hill, since it had been their home for their entire lives, Cynder's jaw dropped when she found the structure she and the siblings would be calling home for the foreseeable future.
"You guys call this a house? Its a castle!" Cynder remarked, where she stared at the marble walls of the building that was in front of them and found that it seemed to be square shaped, or at least the base of it seemed to be that way, and it looked like there were three wings to the structure, one for each of the siblings since she would be joining Spyro, though the reason she said it was a castle was due to the shape of the windows that were near the entrance and the shape of the walkway that seemed to be on the roof of the structure, "Are all of the Artisans houses like this, or is there a reason that would explain why this house looks more like a castle... besides the fact that you guys are the heroes of four lands and I'm the daughter of Malefor."
"Its the style of the Artisans dragons," Spike replied, though he knew that Cynder would have been shocked by what they were seeing at the moment, despite the fact that this was the first time he had seen this structure, before he glanced out at the area they were in and noticed that their house rested on a cliff that just so happened to have a walkway down to a beach, meaning some of them would have a view of the water and he had the feeling that it would be Spyro's room that had such a thing, which he was totally fine with, before he took a step towards the circular opening that served as the entrance of their home, where he noticed some magical runes that rested around it, "and it looks like Cosmos and some of the other Magic Crafters added some runes to our front entrance, and likely all of the other entrances as well, no doubt to make sure intruders are unable to get inside the building, even though its unlikely that we'll have to worry about intruders after everything that's happened."
Spyro, Cynder, and Ember said nothing to that, as Spike had a vast amount of magical knowledge that dwarfed what all three of them knew and that meant he likely knew what he was sensing or seeing at the moment, which was why they followed him towards the entrance and walked into the house that Nestor and the others had made for them, where it was easy for them to tell that there were two stories and that meant their rooms were likely up on the second floor, hence why they were interested in what was down on the first floor right now. What they discovered was a grand atrium that was the first thing someone found when they walked into the house, as they could see the upper floor from where they were currently standing and noticed that there happened to be three openings around them, one to the left of the center of the room, one to the right, and one to the north of the center, though it was easy for Spike to notice that the one to the right lead to a rather large library, one that might rival what was inside Dark Hollow, to a degree anyway. To the north rested what appeared to be a kitchen and dining area, just in the off chance that Alvar and the others were busy elsewhere and didn't have time to make something for the rest of the Artisans homeworld, revealing that cooking was a skill they would have to learn at some point, just to be prepared, and that was when they noticed that the chamber on their left seemed to be a cleaning area that they could fly into from the outside, meaning if one of them came home, and had gotten dirty while they were away, it would be rather easy to clean themselves off before heading into the rest of the building. They also noticed the marble pillars that connected the floor to the walkway that was above them, meaning they didn't have to worry about the second floor collapsing, not that they were worried about such a thing since Nestor and the others built this for them, and they also spotted curved ramps that lead from where they were standing and reached the upper floor, with what appeared to be steps.
Spike found that there was some magic on the two sets of stairs, one on the left side of the central room and one on the right side, where he tapped into it and found that the steps actually sunk into the rest of the stone and formed a ramp that one could slide down or walk up, depending on what their preference was, though as he returned them to normal he knew that they could always fly up to the second floor and suspected the stairs were more for their guests, Hunter, Elora, and Bianca to be exact, before they headed upstairs to see what else had been left for them.
"Why am I not surprised by what they built for Spike's room?" Cynder commented, because the first room they looked at, as soon as they reached the top of the stairs and looked at what the second floor had to offer them, just so happened to be the one that was above where the library rested, where they found a bed that had a desk near it and had a number of bookshelves resting around it, where Spike noticed that some of his favorite titles were on them and that there were a decent amount of spell tomes that had to be from Malefor, for maybe the Chronicler, along with the books he wrote in the past, about their last four adventures, though at the same time Spike smiled.
"I've got a place to sleep, an area to work and study in, a place to keep my staff," Spike said, as he was looking around the room and found a spot where Akilesh could rest, something that was definitely a gift from Malefor, hence the reason he summoned the staff and set it above the small circular post, allowing it to float in a magical field that was like what they had seen when they found the Arcanaeum and he stopped the others from touching the staff, before noticing a note that rested on one of the books, which he read immediately, "and, according to this, the room that we can clean ourselves in has an enchantment on the opening, courtesy of the Chronicler, as it will open a portal that will allow us to get from here to the Training Grounds, so we don't have to go the long way around... and that I might be able to attune it to other areas as well, provided I learn what the Chronicler did to make this happen in the first place."
"They even put that bust you made in your room as well," Spyro added, because sitting on the desk, in the upper left corner of it to be exact, rested the odd bust that resembled a mare's head and had a hairstyle that screamed 'scholar', as his opinions on the item didn't change since the last time he had seen the object in question, before he noticed Cynder was staring at the bust with a level of interest, just like the Artisans had when Spike first made it, "Cynder, Spike was trying to make a horse's head when he made this bust, no doubt recalling something he read about in one of the books he had read before that point, yet everyone is sure that he simply got the characteristics of the head wrong when he made it, but the experts said it was a good first attempt and let him keep it."
"You sure about that? It sure looks like he was going for a unicorn whose a bookworm." Cynder replied, though she did take a few moments to stare at the bust and realized what Spike was going for, even though the mare didn't match the records of the horse-like races that her father and the banished had encountered in the past, before they settled on the continent Warfang was built on, but even as she considered all of that she turned towards the others for a moment, due to that being the moment she remembered something that had been said in the past, "You guys made something too, right? I know Spyro made a dish or something with my image on it, based on what you guys said when I mentioned the art item I made all those years ago, and now I know what Spike made... what did you make, Ember?"
"A crystalline scepter, one that's unlike anything that has been recorded over the years," Spike stated, recalling what his sister had made all those years ago with ease, though at the same time they left the room they were in and walked over to the room that was above where the kitchen happened to be resting, since that was the next one they would be checking out and it had to be Ember's room, which meant it was an odd coincidence that they were talking about her art piece while they were headed towards her new room, "trust me, I've checked all of the records in Dark Hollow's library, the archives of Avalar, both Avilion's library and the Archives in the Arcanaeum, and now everything that's inside Warfang's own library, and I still can't pinpoint what sort of scepter that is, which is rather interesting and is just as infuriating when I think about it."
"Hey, maybe Ember has a memory of a past life and that's what she made into her art piece." Spyro said, because if his brother was unable to figure out anything about the mysterious scepter that Ember had made, even if he still felt it was just something she made in the heat of the moment, the only other explanation was what he just said, maybe it was a lone memory or something, though as he opened his mouth to say something else, however, they stopped at the entrance of the next room and glanced at what was inside it, "Oh yeah, this is definitely Ember's room."
What they found was a room that had a bed, something they were expecting to find in all three of them, though there were a number of weapon racks on the walls, which had a variety of weapons from swords to spears, halberds to axes, maces to spiked shields, and a few others, where the design of the room looked like a warrior would be sleeping here, and that was the truth when they considered Ember's habits, as there was even a suit of armor that looked like it would fit her current frame, which would change when they hit their fifteenth birthday, and there was a rack that was empty, despite the fact that Ember realized she had an area to put the Fangs of Felinia in, so she could have her normal bracers back, if she wanted to go without the daggers for a time.
"And they even provided a space for the scepter," Ember commented, where she glanced to the right for a moment and found that the scepter was leaning against one of the walls, giving Cynder a chance to look at it while she, Spyro, and Spike looked at the rest of the room that would be hers for the foreseeable future, at least until two of them moved out and built their own residences, which just so happened to be something that all dragons usually did, or at least that was true for the Artisans dragons, which might not be necessary since all of them were different from each other, before she pulled the daggers out of her bracers and put them on the stand that had been added to the room, "You know, I could get used to a room like this, especially since it looks like Nestor and the others did a good job making it match my interests and the dragon clan that I follow the teachings of... and it looks like I have enough room to practice with some of the new weapons that Titan and the others must have gifted to me, which is nice."
"You were right, this is unlike any of the scepters that I've heard about," Cynder remarked, though that was when she rubbed the back of her head for a moment as she glanced at the item in question, before setting her claws on the floor as she considered why Ember would have used the time of her art lesson to make an item like this in the first place, despite the fact that she came up with no reason behind why such a thing would happen, especially since it didn't seem like Ember had any memories of a previous life, as she was sure that they would have done something more than this, "but, other than that, you have a nice looking room as well."
"Yeah, though it makes me interested in what the last room looks like," Spyro said, referring to his room, since it was the one they hadn't seen yet, though even as he thought about that he had to amend his thoughts, due to the fact that it was going to be the room he shared with Cynder, something he was perfectly fine with given their shared past, before he moved away from the opening that lead to Ember's room, which was when they found wooden doors that they could close to make sure no one could look at them from the other rooms, giving them some privacy.
They found that the final room was the same size as the last couple they had looked at, with a bed that was the same size as the ones Spike and Ember had, and the first thing Spyro noticed was the couple of aviator items, like the goggles, a vest, and a few other items that went with his scarf, that rested near one of the walls, a stand that had both his art piece and Cynder's art piece, a stand for Windshear to rest on, and a number of gemstones that were accompanied by what he had to assume was a device or something that they could be used with, hence the reason that the siblings glanced over to Cynder for a moment, since she was the only one that would tell them what was going on right now.
"So, dad sent some of my stuff here, just like I thought he would," Cynder commented, where she stepped forward for a moment and picked up one of the gemstones that happened to be resting near the grinder and the other tools, as she was checking it out to make sure none of the items had been damaged during the journey from her room in Warfang to the room that she was now sharing with Spyro, before she glanced back to the others for a moment, "its a hobby, I like to take raw stones and turn them into gemstones, like the ones that you guys have in these lands, even if they're somewhat smaller than what you're used to seeing, and they usually go into all sorts of items, like jewelry, armor, sometimes even weapons that are just for show... really, I make them into whatever someone wants me to make and they get added to the item in question."
"You two are so Artisans dragons, there's no denying that," Ember remarked, because while she wasn't expecting to discover what sort of hobbies Cynder liked, or the fact that Malefor's daughter liked to take raw stones and turn them into beautiful gemstones that were likely used throughout Warfang, it was the discovery of the fact that Cynder liked to take something in its raw form and produce something extraordinary after working with it that surprised her, because it made her sound more like one of the Artisans dragons that called this land home, "one likes to make art by flying through the air and performing stunts, while the other turns raw stones into beautiful gems that others use... it will be interesting to see what the two of you do in the future, or at least that's what Nestor and the others will think."
Spyro and Cynder glanced at each other for a few seconds, as while Spyro wasn't expecting this either he was more than fine with whatever hobbies Cynder might have, especially since he was sure that watching her work her magic on the raw stones would be interesting, before the two of them chuckled for a few seconds as Spyro took the sheath that was on his back off and placed Windshear on the provided stand that was in front of them, before they left the room and flew out through the balcony that was attached to this room, which made sense given that Spyro liked to fly and do tricks, which allowed them to fly through the air and explore the rest of the area the house was in. It was interesting to see that there was even a beach near their house, which was a surprise since they were sure Nestor and the others wouldn't place the house near one, but they weren't about to complain about the situation that they were in, which was why they focused on flying through the air and explored the part of Stone Hill that they were in, mostly since Spyro and his siblings hadn't been to this part of the realm before. Spike knew that at some point he would have to explore the rest of the island and the rest of the homeworlds, to expand what he and the others knew about the rest of the Dragon Realms, even if his siblings might not have the same desire that he had, but it was nice to see the area that they were going to be calling home was just like the rest of Stone Hill, meaning that they would quickly adapt to this part of the realm in no time, even if Cynder would take longer to get used to it than the rest of them. Of course Cynder was flying around with Spyro, at the head of their group to be exact, though Spike and Ember were just fine with that as they considered everything, as their house was more than enough for the four of them and it appeared that each of them had something that allowed them to pursue their interests or hobbies, so they turned their attention towards what the future held for them and what might happen as the next few weeks and months went by.
Other than checking out their house, and being pleased with what they had seen, the group found that the weeks and months that passed them by were the same as what they were expecting, most days were filled with them doing whatever they wanted to do and one of the days was set aside for Malefor's lessons, where he built on the first lessons he had given them and tested them to see if any of them could awaken new abilities during their sessions, like how he was trying to see if Spyro could awaken the other two powers he had created. Spike, Ember, and Cynder knew that it had succeeded, or to a degree anyway, as Ember did notice the familiar sheen of the Warrior's Armor on her brother's front right limb a few times while he listened to Malefor's teachings, even if it didn't last anywhere near as long as what she was capable of, and Spike could have sworn that Spyro might have tapped into Sage's Vision, since he did dodge an attack he couldn't see coming, but that could have been reflexes after training with their mentor for the length of time they had been given. At the same time Ember continued to expand her abilities in regards to the skill that she used almost all the time, using the Emission technique and whatever else their instructor had for them, though for the most part she found that it might not be at all possible for her to tap into the other two skills, meaning Spyro wouldn't have to worry about her stealing his thunder and using the Conqueror's Spirit, and, based on what she had seen, it didn't look like she was going to unlock Sage's Vision either, which she was also fine with. Cynder, on the other claw, started to tap into the Warrior's Armor skill while they were training, something that was rather hard to see thanks to the natural coloration of her scales, but Ember was sure she had tapped into the power and Malefor was seeing how quickly his daughter caught up to what she was doing, while at the same time making sure to continue her individual lessons.
Spike, of course, didn't tap into the other two skills and instead focused his attention on mastering the spells that he found inside the various tomes and scrolls that he studied in his free time, where he continued to impress Malefor with what he was able to do, no doubt due to the fact that he wasn't used to a dragon that was capable of learning new spells in a few days to a week at most, which all depended on the difficulty of the spell in question, and that he could use them in their training sessions, showing that his magical skill was nearly unmatched.
Other than that there wasn't much else for the group to do, save for exploring the Dragon Realms and taking the time to show Cynder what the rest of the lands looked like, more in the up close and personal sense, so they quickly returned to their normal habits in no time, just like what happened after the end of the last couple of adventures, and let time pass them by as each of them considered what the future held and what they were going to do once they matured into adults, as that day was coming fast. Of course, before they reached their fifteenth birthday and became adults, they first had to get through their fourteenth birthday and whatever chaos it might have for them, as it was going to be more about the one hundred and fifty-one hatchlings that the siblings had saved from Morrigan's foul plans and less about the three of them, or rather four since they needed to add Cynder to that thought, which would be rather interesting when the big day came around. When they thought about that, however, they came to a stop in the center of the Artisans homeworld and looked out at some of the adult dragons who happened to be in this area, where it appeared that they were in the middle of preparing for a special event and Spike nodded his head as they saw that, as he understood what was going on and knew he could explain it to the others if they were curious about things, but even then he frowned for a few seconds as he considered what had happened in the past, when their last couple of birthdays had happened.
"Spike, is something wrong?" Spyro asked, because while they were staring out at the area that the adults were in at the moment, moving what seemed to be party supplies into containers so they could be transported to an area that was being prepared for something big, like the Dragonfly Ceremony for example, it was odd to see that Spike had a worried look on his face, hence the reason that he and the others glanced at him and tore their attention away from what was in front of them, "You seem worried about something."
"Oh, you know, just thinking about what happened the last couple of times our birthday came around," Spike replied, as he was referring to Gnasty Gnorc attacking the Dragon Realms, them being called to Avalar to deal with Ripto, Morrigan ordering Bianca to steal the dragon eggs during the Year of the Dragon Festival, and them heading to Doxantha once they found out that they had an airship, thanks to their friends from the lands they had helped out, before he glanced at the others for a moment, "where we ended up in some grand adventure to save a land from a villain and their evil plans for the land in question, and they've only gotten even bigger as the years have gone by, especially when we think about last year's adventure to Doxantha."
"I understand what you mean, especially when we consider last year's adventure," Ember remarked, as she had been thinking that the reason for Spike's worried expression was something that was tied to Malefor and their lessons, or even some of things he had studied over the last couple of months, but now that Spike had voiced his concern, however, it was easy for her and the others to figure out why Spike seemed so worried, even if he didn't show any of the adults the worry that was on his face, "I mean, we fought Gaul's dark alliance to prevent the end of the world, which makes it the biggest and most serious adventure we have ever been on, so I can see why you're thinking about what might happen when our fourteenth birthday comes around, including worrying about it."
"Hey, maybe we'll be lucky and whatever adventure we discover will be smaller than the last one." Spyro said, as while he did know that Spike was right about part of their situation, that an adventure was likely coming their way and would reveal itself when their fourteenth birthday came around, just like how the last couple of adventures had been revealed to them, he was hoping that the next adventure was either smaller than last year's adventure or, even better in his mind, this year just got skipped so they could rest and have a peaceful birthday again, though something told him that they would be tackling some sort of adventure in the near future.
"As they say, time will tell." Spike replied, though while it was interesting to see that Cynder was silent, mostly due to the fact that she was recalling everything that she had learned about them and their last three adventures, he knew that a new adventure was coming their way and suspected that it would strike in the very near future, during their fourteenth birthday and the Dragonfly Ceremony, to give all of the young hatchlings their dragonfly companions, they just had to wait and see what was coming their way.
Spyro, Cynder, and Ember nodded their heads for a moment, as while they had differing opinions on the matter, due to some hoping for a peaceful year and some expecting that an adventure was coming their way, before they glanced at the area that was in front of them and watched the adults continue their work as they prepared for the ceremony that would be held at the same time as their next birthday, where each of them were eager to see what the future held for all of them and their friends.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember found that the days leading up to their fourteenth birthday, which was also going to be the day the hatchlings finally received their dragonflies at long last, were a little hectic and that most of their focus was on helping Nestor and the others move items over to the portal that would take them to the area that they would be holding the Dragonfly Ceremony in, since it appeared that the adults didn't want to ruin the surprise for all of them and their friends, as none of them were allowed to go through the portal, at least for now. Spyro, Cynder, and Ember were just fine with that, since they could turn their attention to making sure everything was quickly moved over to the portal that the adults were using, meaning they would be able to get whatever they were working on done without ruining the surprise for the group or the rest of the hatchlings that were wandering around the Artisans homeworld, even though Spike knew that there were some enchantments on the portal to keep the young ones safe and sound on this side. Of course, at the same time, Spike also had the feeling that Nestor and the other Leaders might have discovered something new, a brand new island of some kind, and that they wanted to surprise the group with its existence when the ceremony happened, where he was hoping he was right about the matter and that there was a new island for them to explore, once the hatchlings were pared up with their dragonflies and the ceremony was over. They weren't alone in helping the adults move items between parts of the Artisans homeworld and the area the portal rested in, as Hunter, Bianca, Elora, Sol, and even Amelia joined them and gave them a helping hand, meaning they could wrap up what they were doing and simply relax until they were needed again, as there was a chance that someone might need their help with something again and they wanted to be ready for when that happened.
Of course there were a few days where the group stopped what they were going and trained with Malefor, that much didn't change even though they were getting close to the day of the Dragonfly Ceremony, though Spike was interested in what the first purple dragon had to teach them, just like his siblings and Cynder were eager for what else he might have to show them, so they could keep their minds off the ceremony and their thoughts on whether or not they would have yet another villain to deal with when their next birthday happened.
"So, out of curiosity, what's supposed to happen during the ceremony?" Bianca asked, as she waited for a time when the group wasn't doing anything, as in they were resting between helping the adults and training with Malefor, to ask the question that had been on her mind since she learned about the rather important ceremony that the dragons held after the Year of the Dragon Festival, even though this time it appeared that it was happening two years after the eggs had hatched, which might be different from what usually happened.
"To be perfectly honest, not much actually happens during this event," Spike replied, as he was the one with all the knowledge on the matter, even though Spyro, Cynder, and Ember had learned a little about it since learning what Nestor and the others were doing right now, hence the reason he took a moment to think about what to tell Bianca as they rested for a time, "basically, think of it as a massive birthday party for the hatchlings, with cake, presents, and everything else that a party has, and during the party the magic that's in the air will allow the dragonflies to find their partners, allowing the bond between them to form."
"Did you guys go through this when you got your dragonflies?" Cynder asked, because she had no idea what Spyro and his siblings had done when they gained Sparx, Talon, and Cinder with an 'I' all those years ago, either due to all three of them keeping it secret or nothing major happened during that time period, though right now, thanks to Bianca asking the first question, she figured that this was the perfect time for her to see if the siblings went through the ceremony that was going to be held in the near future.
"No, we didn't have a grand ceremony when we met our dragonflies," Spyro answered, due to the fact that he recalled what happened that day rather well, even though he could see that Spike wasn't annoyed by him jumping in during his explanation of what was going on and what they had done in the past, before he considered what to tell Cynder and the others, since none of them really knew how the three of them first met their dragonflies, "I think, since there were only the three of us fourteen years ago, that there was no need to hold such a massive ceremony, so Nestor and the others just brought our dragonflies to the area we were in and after some time our bonds were formed, even though we did have to learn how to trust our partners thanks to some of Nestor's training."
"So it all depends on how many hatchlings there are," Elora commented, because from what she and the others had discovered, and they were no longer surprised by this information, Spyro, Spike, and Ember were the only dragons that had hatched during their Year of the Dragon Festival, so that meant the massive festival they had witnessed, which Cynder only heard about thanks to the stories everyone told her about, didn't happen either, allowing her, Hunter, and Bianca, at the very least, to understand something about the dragons of the Dragon Realms, that the number of hatchlings had an effect on the various celebrations that occurred in their lands.
"That's correct, and with one hundred and fifty-one hatchlings being there, well, a grand party will be held before all of them are paired up with their partners," Spike stated, showing everyone that Elora was correct and that they actually understood what he and the others were telling them at the moment, but even as he thought about that he knew that something was going to happen when the ceremony started, if what they had seen during their last couple of birthdays was anything to go by, even if the others were hoping for nothing happening this time around, before he shrugged for a moment as he pulled out a new journal and tapped it, "also, just remember that this ceremony will be record breaking as well, since the last Year of the Dragon Festival shattered our records on how many eggs can be delivered at one time, so I'll be ready for whatever happens when the ceremony starts."
That statement made the rest of the group chuckle for a few moments, as they knew that Spike would be eager to see what happened during the ceremony so he could write it down for the later generations, while at the same time he had his journal ready in case he was right and another adventure started at some point during the party, something the rest of the group could do without since they'd like one year without having to run off and save the day, even though they would no doubt spring into action if something happened, before they went back to what they were doing, as in the four dragons training with Malefor while the others watched and observed everything they did. In addition to all of that the group also showed their friends the house that they had been living in since the day Nestor informed them that it was complete, as they knew that Hunter, Elora, and Bianca were interested in whether or not they would have moved into an actual house at some point and decided that it was time for them to sate their curiosity on the matter, even though they would have to do the same thing with the rest of their friends from Avilion at some point as well. Sure enough everyone was surprised by what they were seeing, or at least everything that wasn't Spike's room or the library, as they expected those to be part of the house in the first place, though Cynder's hobby, just like what happened when the group explored the house on their own, was the biggest surprise, no doubt due to the fact that she was Malefor's daughter, though at this point Spyro and his siblings were fine with it and the others didn't make a big deal about it, which put a smile on Cynder's face. Of course that was the time that they noticed that there weren't any guest beds, which made sense due to the fact that the four lands of their world were connected by portals and if they did happen to have any guests over they could head home by using one of the portals, so a guest space was unnecessary, something that didn't bother their friends at all, because it gave them the option of sleeping on the ground or heading back to their own homes.
One thing they did had to do was tend to the hatchlings that were in the Artisans lands, who knew that their second birthday was coming up and that Nestor had something big planned for all of them, not to mention all of the other young dragons that called the Dragon Realms home, though for the most part it appeared that they were willing to listen to what Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember had to say, allowing them to calm them down and get them ready for the big day, due to the fact that bonding with a dragonfly was important for all of them, though everyone had the feeling that once things got started there would be no calming the hatchlings down. That gave Nestor and the other adults the time they needed to get certain things delivered to whatever was on the other side of the portal they were using, where the group knew they had to be the presents that would be given out to the hatchlings once they were bonded with their dragonflies, since this was also a birthday party in a sense, though by keeping the young ones distracted Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember were able to keep them distracted and make them guess what sort of gifts they might get. As far as they knew none of the hatchlings had shown any signs of what Artisans skill they were the most interested in, like being scholars, painters, sculptors, and everything else the siblings had seen over the years, though Cynder realized that it was only a matter of time until those skills rose to the surface and the hatchlings started their training in whatever field called for them, just like what the rest of the clans would be doing in the near future. Seeing how excited the hatchlings were did make the siblings wonder if they would have acted the same way, had there been more than just the three of them since the moment they hatched, but it was impossible to tell at this point in time and that lead to them making sure the young ones stayed calm as they waited for the day of the ceremony to being, which would be when they were set free to have fun, talk with their friends from the other lands of the Dragon Realms, and do whatever they wanted before the dragonflies were brought out.
Another thing they discovered was that Hunter, Amelia, Elora, and Bianca, at the very least, would be joining them so they could witness the ceremony for themselves, due to the fact that this was the first time that anyone that wasn't from the Dragon Realms could witness such a thing and have it written down so the future generations could know what they had seen when the party started, where Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of the dragons were happy to have them join them and witness what was going to happen when the big day arrived at last.
When the day of the ceremony arrived Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember rose as soon as the sun did, made sure everyone had everything they needed, with Spike leaving Akilesh behind since he could summon it in seconds if he needed it, and then headed out for the central hub area for the Artisans homeworld, where they would be meeting Nestor, the rest of the Artisans dragons, and the hatchlings that lived in this land, along with their friends, who had been told what time to arrive the last time they had seen them, which was yesterday afternoon. With it being their fourteenth birthday, where none of them were actually expecting gifts since today was all about the hatchlings and their dragonflies, the group set aside the thoughts on what they had planned for the rest of the day, as once the ceremony was over they wanted to head back to Dragon Shores and relax for a few hours, and came to a stop the moment they reached the area that Nestor and the rest of their group happened to be waiting in, where it was easy to see all of the excited hatchlings that were waiting to leave the Artisans homeworld and head to wherever the ceremony would be happening. Sure enough Hunter, Amelia, Elora, and Bianca were waiting nearby as well, showing that they had listened to what Nestor had told them, got a decent amount of sleep, and arrived before the hatchlings would be ready to leave for the area that they would be spending the rest of the day in, hence the reason that the group walked over to where the others were standing and came to a stop, even though they knew they would be moving soon enough. Nestor didn't have much to say, which was a first even though the group knew that trying to speak to twenty-six excited hatchlings at the same time, as they were the lucky ones that got the twins that had been rescued from Morrigan's treasury, when the siblings confronted her for the second time, was impossible, so what he ended up doing was turning towards the area the rest of the portals rested in and beckoned for the hatchlings to follow after him, where the group helped the rest of the adult dragons make sure the hatchlings followed Nestor as they wondered what was on the other side of the portal they were heading towards.
After they walked through the portal in question, however, the group found themselves in a marble hallway that made all of them think that they had been moved to another part of the Artisans lands, since none of the siblings recognized the area that happened to be around them, though Nestor kept moving and revealed that they were in a large castle, because of the large atrium that he lead the group to not even a few moments later, though it was around that time that he opened a large wooden door, much like the one that rested in the Artisans homeworld, and revealed the area that the ceremony was going to be held in. It appeared that they were in an area that was mostly flat, with some steps cut into the stone walls that surrounded the part of the realm Nestor had lead them to, which just so happened to have a lush green field off to their left and some of it was even in front of them, while to their right seemed to be a hill that lead to another part of the new realm they had discovered, though it was the area that was in front of them that held their attention, due to all of the stone tables that were scattered around the front of the castle, where it was easy to see that each of them had party items and whole cakes resting on them, and that was just the start of everything. There were presents scattered around the area they were in, six sets based on the different wrapping that each clan used whenever they wrapped gifts, there was a lone waterfall off to their right, one that seemed to end in a pond that probably fed back into wherever the water was coming from, and they could see a few dragons standing around the edge of the area, readying fireworks so that when the rest of the group arrived they could set them off and celebrate the special day that had arrived at long last.
It was in that moment that they discovered that there were a number of balloons, like the type that someone would normally see when a parade moved through an area, or at least that was what Elora told them about some of the couple of celebrations that Avalar had in the past, resting in the air and the dragons had done a grand job of replicating some of the individuals the siblings had seen in the past, either as allies or their enemies, as there was one for Agent 9, Sgt. Byrd, Sheila, Bentley, Sol, and a few small ones that looked like real life replicas of the Guardians of Warfang, while the enemies happened to be the villains, a decent sized Gnasty Gnorc, a small Ripto, a less menacing Gaul so they didn't scare the hatchlings, even if the Ape's likeness was almost lifelike, and a large one that happened to look like Morrigan.
"All right Morrigan," Hunter stated, where the siblings had to resist the urge to chuckle at what happened next, as it looked like their friend was totally fooled by the balloon version of the third villain they had taken care of, due to the fact that he had whipped out his bow and knocked an arrow in a matter of seconds, one that was pointed right at the balloon he was focused on at the moment, "I don't know how in the world you freed yourself from that crystalline statue Spike put you in, without any of us noticing until now, but put your arms up and don't move!"
"Hunter, you do know that what you're aiming at is just a balloon made in her likeness, right?" Bianca asked, because while it was funny to see Hunter immediately aim at the magic user that tried to steal the dragon eggs and use them as a way to empower herself so she could take out Malefor, something she knew to be impossible based on what happened during the first purple dragon's training sessions with the siblings and Cynder, she was a little worried that he might start jumping at shadows or anything that had Morrigan's likeness.
"Well... maybe?" Hunter remarked, where he pulled his arrow back and put his weaponry away, something that was followed by him rubbing the back of his head for a moment, to show that he was embarrassed by what he had done and wondered how the hatchlings would react to his actions, especially since they were Artisans and were the most peaceful dragons in the entire world, before he faced Bianca again, "You know, I have to admit something, the dragons did a great job replicating her likeness, as I was totally fooled the moment I laid eyes on it."
"I'll give you points for being honest, Hunter." Bianca said, though at the same time she smiled for a moment as she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips, because it was nice to see that, even though he had been fooled by the likeness of the balloon he had focused on, he was willing to face the one that had ruined her life and the lives of those that lived in Avilion, even though she was locked away inside the crystalline statue Spike had created and there was little chance of her being saved from her well deserved fate.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, and Amelia chuckled for a few seconds, while at the same time the hatchlings that were behind them cheered for Hunter like he was someone they wanted to learn more about or something, which most of the group knew was possible thanks to what Spike had recorded in the past, though as that happened Nestor moved them out of the passage that they were standing in and directed them to the tables that were scattered around the area that was in front of the castle. While they did that, and it was easy to see that the Peace Keepers and the rest of the clans were making their way through the large castle, which seemed to be in the middle of the entire realm that Nestor had brought all of them to, Spike finally noticed that Elora chose not to wear her armor this time around, rather she was wearing the suit she had worn under the metallic armor and carried a case with her, one that made him and the others wonder what was so special about it.
"I'm not wearing my armor since this is a special day and we're not anticipating anything happening," Elora said, which showed the group that she noticed what was going on and that she spotted the glances that were being sent her way as the rest of the dragons and the hatchlings joined the Artisans, before she held out the case she was carrying, due to the fact that she knew that all of them would be interested in what she was holding, "though the Professor made a new set of armor for me, the Mark V to be exact, and he's been experimenting on new ways for me to put them on, as this version rests inside a briefcase and will come out when I need it."
That interested the group, because they weren't expecting Elora to have something like that or the Professor to even make such a suit of armor, even though it proved that he was continuing his research into the types of metal that were in their world and was no doubt working his way towards tungsten, one of the strongest base metals in their world, meaning there would be no end to what sort of armors he might produce in the future, which would allow Elora, and those that might follow in her hooves when she decided to retire, to withstand everything that their enemies sent at them, before they turned their attention to what was going on at the moment. It wasn't long before the rest of the dragon clans arrived in the area in front of the castle and the Leaders stood near each other for a moment as they got things started, where the hatchlings burst into action and started playing with the provided items that had been brought to the party, showing the siblings, Cynder, and their friends that they had learned some useful things from watching the siblings over the years and were applying those lessons to the next generation of hatchlings. Not only was it interesting to see the hatchlings playing with each other, as in the fact that they were having fun and running around with the various toys that had been brought to this area, where it was clear many of them were starting to form friendships as they had fun, though their excitement rose when the presents were passed out, one per hatchling to be exact, where the group found that there were wooden weapons, small magical orbs, books containing magical knowledge or just plain reading material, wrenches and other tools, and a number of other things that belonged to the dragon clans, though none of the items that the group saw were the type that would force someone to follow the path they normally represented. That was due to the fact that none of the Leaders wanted to force the hatchlings to chose a path in life right now, as that usually happened when they were older, like around four years old for example, though it was clear that none of the hatchlings were even thinking about that as they enjoyed themselves and the various items that had been gifted to them, including what the others got, but it was rather nice to see one hundred and fifty-one hatchlings enjoying themselves and playing games with what the adults had set up ahead of time.
Of course Hunter, Amelia, Elora, and Bianca joined the hatchlings and showed them how to play some of the games that had been set up, while the siblings and Cynder focused on making sure everyone was safe and enjoyed their special day, though that was before some of the young ones roped the four of them into the celebration, wanting to include their idols in what was going on and not make them spend the rest of the day just standing there, doing nothing while they and the rest of the hatchlings enjoyed their day, to which they sighed and joined in on the fun. There was apple bobbing, some dart spitting games, a few games where one could grab a plastic ring and toss it towards some bottles that had been set up in a triangle formation, much like bowling, and a few other games that the hatchlings seemed to be having fun with, something that brought a smile to the faces of the Leaders and the rest of the adult dragons, who had put a lot of time and effort into making this possible. Of course there were a few hatchlings that asked who some of the balloons were, not that such a thing bothered the siblings since the young ones didn't know much about their friends and what happened over the last couple of years, so the group took turns telling the next generations about the villains they had faced, or at least just their names and who they were, since going into detail for some of them would have ruined the mood, but as that happened Cosmos walked over to where Spike was standing and handed him a tome, a new Guidebook that went to the island that they were currently visiting and the realms that were connected to it, meaning their earlier assumptions on what this place was were actually incorrect for once. It was then that Spike learned that this island was known as Castle Hills, it was located to the north of the Artisans homeworld, two hours by flight based on what was inside the book, so that meant that there could be a seventh homeworld for the dragons to call home, before discovering that there were eight realms for them to explore at some point in the future, once the Dragonfly Ceremony was over anyway, where the book said that the realms were called Dragonfly Dojo, Crop Circle Country, Luau Island, Cloud 9, Monkey Monastery, Honey Marsh, Thieves Den, and Jurassic Jungle, all of which interested him and the rest of the group when he showed them what was inside the new Guidebook.
It wasn't long before the main event happened, where Nestor and the other Leaders stood to the side for a moment and a swarm of dragonflies, one hundred and fifty-one to be exact, emerged from the castle that would take them back to the rest of the Dragon Realms, where Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group moved to the side for a moment and watched as the vast number of dragonflies took to the air and flew around the area that they were in, though not a few seconds later the swarm started to break apart, where the group and the adults raised their eyebrows for a moment as the first hatchlings to receive their dragonfly partners were the twins, Yin and Yang. That told the group that the twins were likely destined for some sort of greatness, or at least that was their assumption based on what was happening, but even as that happened the rest of the swarm of dragonflies dispersed and followed the bits of magic that were in the air, where they were able to find the hatchlings that would be their partner and friend for the foreseeable future, something that brought a smile to the faces of the young dragons. The dragonflies themselves seemed happy as well, as most of them settled on top of the heads of their new friends, sort of like what Sparx, Talon, and Cinder did over the years, which showed the group that everyone seemed to be enjoying the day and was followed by Alvar stepping out and cutting the various cakes into slices for the young dragons, while at the same time the adults held cups so they could cheer for what was going on at the moment, as this was a successful Dragonfly Ceremony and they deserved some time off, especially the group that had saved the lands of the world from harm. Spyro, Spike, and Ember, at the very least, were happy for a day off and happened to be enjoying what was going on at the moment, especially since it appeared that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder were the idols of the rest of the dragonflies, given the fact that it appeared that some of them were in the middle of asking their seniors what they did to protect their dragon companions, which caused the group to chuckle as they turned their attention to the rest of the ceremony and the celebration that would be going on for another hour or two, before the adults decided that it was time to send everyone back to the lands they called home.
Around thirty minutes later, however, Spike pulled himself out of the new book he was reading as he felt a surge of magic in the air, one that was somewhat familiar to them and wasn't any of the dragons from Warfang or the islands that rested near Doxantha, which was when Cosmos noticed what he was doing and called for everyone to lower their voices for a few seconds, something that was followed by a flare of magical energies as a circular metallic portal opened up in the flat plains area that was a level below where they were celebrating... though a few seconds later, when the portal finally stabilized, Ripto, in all his glory, appeared in the center and stepped out, followed by Crush and Gulp, where the dinosaurs seemed to be wearing black metallic collars around their necks and seemed rather docile, while Ripto himself had a brand new scepter to cast his magic with.
"So we meet again, Ripto," Spyro commented, where he, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Hunter, Amelia, Elora, and Bianca took a moment to separate themselves from the rest of the group so they could stand at the edge of the area the party was currently being held in, putting themselves between the villain that had shown up and the hatchlings that were standing behind them, who happened to be interested in what was going on and had to be watched over by the adults, allowing the group to give Ripto their full attention, "What do you want this time, to conquer the Dragon Realms, or maybe one of the other lands that make up our world? And how in the world did you find this island in the first place?"
"How I got here is not important," Ripto stated, where he immediately climbed up on Gulp, just like he had done the last time the majority of the group had seen this individual, though Spike and Bianca glanced at each other for a second or two, as they knew that Ripto might have found the coordinates for the Dragon Realms, much like how Morrigan did when she tried to steal the dragon eggs two years ago, before they focused on the returning villain that was in front of them and the minions he was mind controlling, since those were what the collars had to be, "rather, what is important is the fact that I'm here to get my revenge on you, your siblings, and the dra..."
As Ripto was about to utter the word 'dragons', and show that he still didn't like them, he froze as soon as he saw the two hundred dragons that were gathered in front of the castle, which was counting all of the hatchlings, the group, and the adults in that number, which was perfectly fine with the group, as they knew Ripto had trouble with just three of them, so adding Cynder meant that it would be impossible for him to outright beat them, especially with all the training they had done since the end of their last adventure.
"Wh... Where in the world did you get so many dragons? And who are you?" Ripto asked, the first question meant that he had no idea about the Year of the Dragon Festival and the fact that the dragon eggs hatched during that time period, to bring new life into the world, while the second was directed towards Cynder by the looks he was giving off, which did make some sense due to the fact that this was the first time he had seen her and had no idea who she was, though it was also clear that he might be rethinking his plans for revenge, given the number of dragons that were in front of him, and that wasn't counting Elora and the others, who were standing next to the heroes of the four lands.
"The Year of the Dragon Festival happened two years ago, which was when the eggs hatched," Cynder replied, though while it was interesting for her to be meeting Ripto, especially after all the stories she had heard about him and what he had done to the residents of Avalar, she had to admit that he didn't seem anywhere near as dangerous as Gaul and all of his allies were, so she had the feeling that they would be able to take him down once they faced him, before she took a moment to consider the second question the villain had asked, "and I am Cynder, a former resident of Doxantha, where the majority of the dragons moved to after they were banished from their home land, a land called Avilion that Spyro, his siblings, and their friends liberated from Morrigan, who titled herself as 'the Sorceress'."
"And by 'fiends' I'm assuming that you're referring to the scaredy-cat and the useless faun that are standing next to you at the moment?" Ripto inquired, though at the same time he chuckled for a moment, almost as if he found something funny about what he had said, no doubt thinking about what happened when he was accidentally brought to Avalar and bombed the area that Elora, Hunter, and the Professor had been in so he could get the crystal that would have been put inside the portal they were working on, where his chuckling had to come from the fact that they sighed away from him and let the siblings deal with him.
"Yeah, she's referring to us, and you'll find that this 'scaredy-cat' isn't afraid of you anymore," Hunter stated, where he drew his blades and held them at the ready, showing that he had matured since the last time Ripto had seen him and that he was no longer the wuss he had been, someone who was to scared to raise his hand towards someone like Ripto and the other villains they had faced in the past, rather he was a warrior that was ready for battle and he was hoping the small villain came down to where they were standing so he could lash out at him.
"And I'm far from 'useless' these days," Elora added, though that was when one of the Machinists dragons, who she had entrusted the briefcase she had been carrying earlier to, slid the case over to where they were standing and she took a moment to use her hooves to stop it, before stepping onto part of it to open it up and reveal two gloves waiting for her as the rest of it resembled a chest piece of some kind, where she gripped the inside of the gauntlets and brought the rest of it up to her chest, which was when she pulled her arms apart and the chest piece expanded until her arms, legs, body, and head were covered in the familiar suit of armor that she wore, only this version was designed to be carried in a small container and unfold whenever she needed it, something that was followed by her assuming a battle stance as she stared at Ripto once everything was said and done.
"So, you were ready for something to happen," Ripto growled, showing that he was annoyed by what he was seeing at the moment as he waved his scepter for a moment, where he was either thinking about what he was going to do next or he was readying it for whatever spell he had in mind to get things started, something that Spike focused on since he knew their foe was going to do something in the next few moments, before he faced all of them again, "still, I figured out a very interesting weakness since the last time we fought... say goodbye to your dragonflies!"
In that moment Spike and Bianca, sensing that something was coming their way, quickly threw up a wall of magic that covered them, the adults, the hatchlings, and the dragonflies from what Ripto was doing, though that was followed by the returning villain laughing for a moment as he and his minions returned to the portal, where they traveled through it and left the area that the others were in, though when the magic was done the pair lowered their barrier and glanced around the area they were in, something that was followed by Spyro jumping into actions.
"Nestor, you and the others need to tend to the hatchlings and make sure everyone is accounted for," Spyro stated, as he was used to taking the leadership role the moment something like this happened, just like what occurred when they had to defend the world from Gaul and his dark alliance, before he glanced at the rest of the group for a few seconds, due to the fact that they all knew a new adventure had started on their birthday, "Let's make sure everything is alright before we do anything else, especially since Ripto was targeting the dragonflies and no one else."
The rest of the group nodded for a moment as they branched out to see what the damage was, even though some of the hatchlings were excited by what had happened and were eager to witness everything that happened next, though he hoped that none of the dragonflies had been displaced by the spell and that they could just break open the portal Ripto had used so they could track him down and then beat him once and for all, despite the fact that he had the feeling that nothing would change and that they would have to assist the realms that were connected to Castle Hills before they were able to challenge Ripto, but he would have to wait and see what the others said when they regrouped in the next couple of minutes, before discovering what they needed to do for this new adventure.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember spent about ten to fifteen minutes watching the adults as they checked on the hatchlings and figured out what Ripto had done with his spell, even if the spell had clashed with the barrier Spike and Bianca had used to protect themselves and several of the others from what was going on, though while they did that Hunter, Amelia, Elora, and Bianca helped their friends out so they could figure out what had happened and what the four of them would need to do before they found the returning villain and dealt with him again. One thing that Spike noticed, while they were waiting for someone to tell them what the damage was and what needed to be done this time around, was the interesting crystalline statue that resembled one of the dragon statues Gnasty Gnorc had created during their first adventure, though he was sure that no dragon was trapped inside it and there seemed to be a number of openings on the base of the statue, making him wonder what might be missing from the statue and if they would find the fragments during this adventure. Spyro, Cynder, and Ember, on the other claw, were ready to go explore the other realms so they could figure out if Ripto had messed with them, see if the residents needed any assistance, and then figure out what needed to be done so they could figure out where their foe had gone, as the portal he had opened on the ground had no magic between the parts of the device and that meant the portal was offline at the moment. The only ones that weren't overly worried about anything were all of the hatchlings that had been celebrating their special day, before Ripto had rudely interrupted everything, though for now it seemed like Nestor and the Leaders could deal with them and make sure they did nothing reckless now that a villain had revealed himself to the group that saved the day.
Eventually the siblings and Cynder stopped what they were doing, which wasn't much since they had been sitting near the area they had assembled in when they found Ripto and his mind controlled minions had invaded this island, when their friends walked away from the area that each of them had been standing in and came to a stop when they neared the group that would be heading out into the realms that were connected to Castle Hills, showing that they had something to tell them before this adventure actually started.
"So, what's the damage this time around?" Spyro asked, because this would give them an idea on what they needed to do before they chased Ripto down and kicked his rear for the second time, even though he suspected that Spike had an idea as to what he could do to make sure the short villain wouldn't come back for a third time, despite the fact that he was hoping that not much had happened and that they would be done with this adventure rather quickly, so they could return to the celebration that had been interrupted.
"Despite our best efforts, we're missing ninety dragonflies," Bianca replied, where she sighed for a moment, as she had been hoping that the barrier she and Spike had created would have been able to stop whatever spell Ripto had been using on the massive group that had been resting in front of the castle, just like she knew that the siblings and Cynder had been hoping for good news, though that was before she considered something, "so part of Ripto's spell worked and, from what Cosmos, the rest of the Magic Crafters, and I could gather, they've been scattered across this homeworld and the eight realms that are connected to it, so to get them back you'll have to explore these new lands and rescue them. While you do that, and reverse whatever damage Ripto has done, those of us that can use magic will be focusing on opening the portal Ripto used to get here, so once you recover all the dragonflies, since I know you won't fight him until you've rescued all of the missing dragonflies, you can head through it and deal with him. There's also the ancient statue that seems to have been affected by Ripto's magic, given the missing fragments, so you might want to keep an eye out for any large or small jade fragments so you can put it back together."
"Also, Amelia and I will be helping the dragons restore order, before we head out and check the realms for any of the missing dragonflies," Hunter added, referring to the fact that he was going to follow what he had done in the past, where he would appear in the various realms of Avalar and Avilion and either offer a challenge to the group or lend them his aid in recovering one of the orbs or eggs they were looking for, before he glanced over to Elora for a moment, who seemed ready to tackle whatever was happening to the realms of this new land, "Elora will be heading out with you, just to see if the enemies even need five individuals fighting them, despite the fact that I'm of the opinion that four is the magical number this time around and eight is too much, but time will tell, especially since you'll need to complete a realm before figuring out the true number of individuals in your group this time around."
The group nodded and separated from each other, where Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora started to explore the rest of the homeworld while Hunter, Amelia, and Bianca headed back to where the rest of the dragons rested so they could help them out, though what was interesting was that they found a chunk of jade resting nearby, between them and the statue, to which Spike picked it up with his magic and slipped it into one of the openings, the one on the far left based on the cuts that had been made on the jade, before they headed out to see what else there was for them to do before they tried one of the new realms out. Another interesting thing they discovered were a number of gems that were resting on the ground nearby, where Cynder raised her eyebrow as the siblings collected them, though Spyro explained that this was common for them, as a villain usually left behind gems that were stolen from the owners of the land, reminding her of what she had learned since she started living in the Dragon Realms, though while that happened Spike wandered off and came back with a new bag of holding, something to store the gems until this adventure was over. They smashed three of the straw baskets as well, or at least they allowed Cynder to do it since this was the first time she had done something like this, before they resumed collecting the gems that were on the ground as they explored the rest of the area, before they found one of the dragonflies hanging out near the waterfall that rested near the castle, either due to someone missing it or the fact that they had only just been dropped by Ripto's magic, though it seemed happy to see them and allowed Spike to do something interesting, as he released a burst of bubbles for a moment. This was one of the non combat spells he had discovered recently, Bubble Breath as it was called, though since it did no damage there was no reason for him to even worry about it, though he mixed some of his Teleportation magic into the spell, where the bubbles formed a small sphere around the dragonfly and safely teleported it over to the area Nestor was in, who could make sure whoever they rescued was safe and sound before returning them to their companions.
It was a rather interesting and useless spell in the grand scheme of things, but Spike had found a way to make it just a tiny bit useful, hence the reason they moved out after he saved the first of the dragonflies, so they could figure out how many more were in the immediate area and how many more gems they would find before deciding to head towards one of the nearby realms, which was why they took to the air and flew towards the upper part of the area while Elora jumped up into the area in question, allowing them to pick up some more gems, locate an area that an adult dragon stood in, and rounded a corner until they came to a stop when they spotted a magical metallic gate blocking the way.
"What in the world is this?" Elora asked, because she was interested in what the siblings and Cynder had found, even though the metallic gate had a blue hue and there just so happened to be a lock on it that had an icy symbol, like it was saying that someone needed to use their Ice Breath on it to open the way forward, hence the reason she glanced over to Spike for a moment, as he was likely the only one that really understood what was in front of them and could either confirm or deny what she was thinking about.
"Its an Elemental Lock, meaning that using the element in question will open it," Spike replied, though even as he said that he turned around and started to leave the area that they were in, something that was interesting due to the fact that he and Spyro had access to the element of Ice, thanks to Spyro recalling his memories and practicing the elements that he used to use in his past life while Spike simply used magic that also had the element, before he glanced back at them for a moment, "Come on, let's go see what else the rest of Castle Hills has to offer and if there are any other Elemental Locks for us to break, as we can always come back later and break this one when its time to move forward."
Spyro nodded his head and joined Spike as they headed back to the main part of the homeworld that the celebration had been in, causing Cynder, Ember, and Elora to follow after them not a few seconds later, where they found a gem near a floating rock that a dull red scaled dragon, who had a yellow underbelly, was standing near, a gem on a pillar of earth that contained a structure that looked like another portal and had a sleeping bear resting in front of it, complete with pajamas, before they headed out into the area that Ripto had appeared in. That was around the time that they reached an area that looked like it could have been molded to resemble a small course of some kind, a glide and hover course based on what they were seeing at the moment, so what they did was simply fly over to the end of the course, while Elora jumped over to the other stone and then jumped over to where they landed, and found a dragonfly that Spike rescued instantly, while the others collected the gems and stopped a few seconds later, when they found a structure that reminded the group of the Powerup Gates from Avalar and Avilion. Spike took a moment to look at it and figured out what it was, it was a challenge structure that would activate whenever someone passed through it, informing the others as to what they had found, as it was like the structures that they had seen in Avalar, as in the Powerup Gates that ended up in them getting an Orb for their efforts, so it was the same principle, save for the fact that they didn't need to beat up enemies to power them, which was nice when they thought about it. What they discovered, when Spyro moved through the magic of the pillars, was that a number of scarecrows suddenly appeared in the area outside the castle, informing them that they needed to flame the eight targets that had shown up, something they determined when they spotted the flame icon that was floating between the two pillars, which was followed by the group heading out and tackling the scarecrows, because Spyro, Spike, and Ember had access to the Fire Breath, Cynder found that her Shadow Breath set one on fire, and Elora's blaster, despite her thoughts on the matter, set her target on fire as well.
Between the eight of them it didn't take them long to overcome the challenge and rescue the dragonfly that had been attached to the pillars, breaking them as Spike sent the dragonfly back to the rest of the dragons, to which they moved out and resumed picking up the rest of the gems that were resting on the ground or in some straw baskets, found another Elemental Lock for the Lightning element that rested on a second gate, one that seemed to head out to a beach or an area that was similar to that, before they regrouped at the dragon with the stone platform and used it to leave Castle Hills so they could head to the first realm that needed some assistance... and not a few moments later, due to the platform having passed through some magic that was in the air, they appeared in a dojo, at the start of the realm.
"So this is Dragonfly Dojo," Elora commented, as there were several structures that reminded her of what they had seen in Bamboo Terrace, only the pillars that held the roofs of the dojo the magic had teleported them to were wider than what was in the realm she had been thinking about, and even the entire roof itself was larger than what she was expecting it to be, though before any of them moved Zoe, who had come with them and had been sent out after Ripto made his move against the dragons, flew down to where they were standing, "Zoe, what's going on in this realm?"
"Shortly after you asked me to figure out what was going on, several creatures called Riptocs, as that was what they called themselves, attacked the dojo and froze the dragons that call this place home," Zoe stated, which was when the five of them glanced out at the area they were in and spotted a creature that was somewhat taller that Ripto and had a horn in the area their nose would be, though it was wearing a purple ninja outfit and, unless they were seeing things, there was even a yin-yang symbol on the back of its attire, before they turned their attention back towards Zoe, "though I don't think you need to be told what to do at this point."
"Nope, we'll just free the dragons, beat up our enemies, save the dragonflies, and collect the gems," Spyro remarked, as that seemed to be the general plan for the majority of their previous adventures, meaning beating up the enemies that were in each of the realms, recover something that was essential to that particular adventure, and collect all of the gems that were laying on the ground, to which he nodded his head towards the others and they moved out immediately, as it was time for them to get this adventure started.
The first thing the group did was spread out and smash the four straw baskets that were around the dojo that served as the starting point of this realm, allowing them to collect the gems as they crossed the small bit of water that was around the dojo and landed on the flat ground, though that was when Ember came face to face with the first Ninja Riptoc, which she felt was a rather dumb name for what was essentially Ripto's people, as she was sure Spike was thinking something that was along those lines, who tried to kick her and she moved her body out of the way so she could smash her foe into the ground with her tail, this time not even bothering to harden it at all. As she did that her foe broke apart and a gem fell in its place, revealing that Ripto's army was just another force of gem creations, meaning he must have realized that no sane person would dare to challenge the dragons and had to create his own forces this time around, though at the same time she did notice that Spike noted what had happened as Spyro and Cynder smashed two more Ninja Riptocs into both the ground and the nearby stone wall. While all that was going on Elora found some steps and collected the gems that just so happened to be on them, including smashing some straw baskets at the top, which was around the time that one of the Ninja Riptocs landed in front of her and beckoned for her to come at it, though that was exactly what Elora did not a few seconds later as she dodged an incoming attack and then kicked her foe in the chest, hard enough to return it to its base form and her collection, which would be given to Spike once they regrouped. Spike, on the other claw, found that there just so happened to be a dragonfly flying around the starting area for this realm and made sure to encase it in bubbles as he sent it back to the Leaders, who would make sure it was reunited with its hatchling, before he found another Ninja Riptoc hanging near a wooden bridge that lead to the next part of the realm, so he used the wind to knock it onto its back and revert it back to its true form.
Once the enemies that were in the area were cleared out, and the gems had been collected and added to the newest bag that Spike had enchanted, the group got back together and approached the dojo that had a dragon sealed in a block of ice, something that reminded the siblings of their first adventure, when they freed the dragons from those crystalline statues Gnasty Gnorc had trapped them inside, and it wasn't long before the group was able to free the trapped dragon, mostly due to their Fire Breaths to be exact.
"Ah, thank you for releasing me," the dragon, who had orange scales with a gray chest and was dressed up in what the group assumed was a yellow martial arts uniform, stated, showing that he appreciated them taking the time to save him from the ice that he had been trapped in, even though they would have saved him no matter what, since that was what the siblings were used to doing and both Elora and Cynder were learning from their example, "We have heard tales of your adventures, about how you saved the known lands, the residents of those lands, and even the very world, and not once did I ever think we would be saved by your claws. Spyro, you, your siblings, Cynder, and your friend need to do everything in your power to return the Dojo to its once peaceful state, by driving out the Riptocs that have dared to attack this sacred place, and I will do everything in my power to help you through the rest of our realm."
Before anyone could say anything the dragon channeled his power for a few seconds and the door that was on the other side of the nearby bridge opened, meaning that it had been locked beforehand, and once he was done with that the group thanked him and headed out, as it was time to see what else had happened to this realm and what they could do to restore it to what it had been before Ripto attacked Castle Hills, even though they discovered a hallway that seemed to connect to the next area of this realm. That was when they found a tall variety of Riptoc that had orange skin, a blue outfit on over its chest and waist, and carried a wooden staff, though at this point Spike could safely say that the Riptocs were all dinosaurs in some manner, or at least that was his assumption since they had only seen two types so far, though like most of the larger enemies the siblings had faced in the past this one wasn't susceptible to a simple charge, which was fine due to Cynder jumping into the air, avoiding the staff, and then grabbed onto her foe's back so she could pull it backwards and drive it right into the ground, head first, resulting in her beating it and a gem landing in its place. With the Staff Riptoc dealt with the group was able to move forward and explore the rest of the hallway that was in front of them, finding one of the Ninja Riptocs hanging out about part of the way through it, who didn't stand much of a chance as Spike froze it where it was standing and then smashed the ice he had created with his Ice Breath, allowing them to collect the gem that had been their foe and the rest of the gems that were along the way. Not even a few moments later they reached the end of the hallway and found that they were in what seemed to be a rather nice looking garden, one that fit the theme of the realm they were currently in, only it was filled with enemies, not that they were expecting to get out of this area without a fight, given what they had seen in the past, and there happened to be a dragonfly nearby, so Spike headed for that while the rest of the group rushed out to deal with the enemies that were in their way.
Cynder found a couple of Ninja Riptocs hanging out near each other and dived into the shadows for a moment, where she unleashed her Shadow Play technique and knocked all of them backwards, hard enough to bring them down, which at the same time Ember jumped into the air and spun forward as she struck the chest of the Staff Riptoc that was her target, allowing the two of them to knock down several enemies at the same time, even though Elora was busy seeing what sort of portal rested above the area and Spyro wandered over to an area that had a hatchling trying to get a kite that was stuck in a tree at the moment. As such he took to the air for a moment and freed the kite so the young dragon could play with it, though once he did that he made sure the hatchling was escorted back to the first dragon of this realm, since it wasn't all that safe for him at the moment, before he regrouped with the others as they finished taking care of the enemies that were in this area, something that was followed by them finding another piece of the jade statue, a fragment that looked like it might have a lightning mark etched into it. With that piece acquired, and the area was cleared of gems and enemies, the group walked up to the structure that was in the middle of the area and freed the next dragon from the ice that he was trapped in, where the green scaled dragon apologized for the state that the dojo was in and that he was more than happy to open the way forward for them, knowing that time was of the essence and that he could explain things to them later, once the day had been saved, allowing the group to press on through the next structure and smash their way through the Staff Riptoc and the pair of Ninja Riptocs that were near it.
While they started to move out of the area Cynder inquired as to why they didn't check out what the portal had for the five of them, since she knew about the portals Spyro and his siblings had discovered during their third adventure, though that was when Spyro informed her that they liked to deal with the problems of the main realm first, as in the dojo and the enemies that were in the middle of attacking it, before they headed through the other portals and visited the side sections of the realm, where some sort of challenge awaited them, something that caused Cynder to nod her head as she followed them through the building and headed into the next part of the realm. What was on the other side of the building was a path that seemed to have been cut into a mountain, one that was now in two pieces, as in to their left and right, though the walls had been smoothed to the point where it looked almost natural and there were some stones in front of them to mark the different heights of the path, so they collected the gems that were around them as they moved forward, even though they were a tad bit surprised by the fact that there were no enemies in this area, at least not yet anyway. At what seemed to be the end of the path they did find one of the Staff Riptocs hanging around, who was knocked to the ground thanks to Elora blocking his attack with her arm, showing him that metal was superior to wood, before she finished him off, allowing the others to break the couple of straw baskets that were nearby and then glide to a large section of rock that had one of the dojos on it, where a quick burst of fire dealt with one more Staff Riptoc and freed the third dragon that had been trapped in this area, who thanked them before departing from the area that they were in, allowing them to collect the rest of the gems in peace.
That was the plan the group had come up with, though they paused as they found Moneybags, in the flesh and not the crystalline statue he had been imprisoned in, sitting near the edge of the area, looking like he was meditating while the enemies had been taken care of, but since it appeared that he hadn't noticed them yet the group finished collecting all of the gems that were in the area and then carefully approached the bear, because there was a chance that he was going to try and sell them something, just like old times, and they froze for a moment when he opened his eyes and stared at them for a few seconds.
"Oh, what a lovely surprise, its so good to see the four of you again... and where are my manners, we haven't been introduced yet," Moneybags said, though at the same time his tone surprised the group for a moment, because they had been expecting him to say something about how dreadful it was for them to have met again and that he had a plan to take some of their gems from them, only for Ember to beat the stuffing out of him until he retaliated, "I am Moneybags, once a dastardly money grubbing villain who did anything and everything to take the gems of those that were around me, be it those that called my land home, the realms that those had sworn to protect, or even the heroes that were in the process of dealing with the true villains of the lands I have visited."
"I am Cynder, formerly a resident of Doxantha, the land the majority of the dragons moved to when Morrigan, who took to calling herself the Sorceress, banished them," Cynder stated, though even as she said that she had to tilt her head for a few seconds, as when she heard about Moneybags and all the terrible crimes that he had committed over the years, against pretty much everyone that was around him, but even when she thought about all of that she realized that the bear in front of them really didn't resemble the one she had been told about, personality wise anyway, "Truth be told, I've heard a lot about you and all the crimes that you committed, and some of them are downright horrible, though you aren't what I was expecting to find when I considered the possibility of meeting you."
"Yes, my days in that crystalline prison have taught me a lesson, as hard as that seems," Moneybags replied, though as he said that he raised his left hand for a moment and the chasm behind him shifted, where they watched as a number of stone platforms moved into position and formed a path for them to take to the next dojo, before he shifted his hand for a moment and a sack of gems appeared before them, to which he glanced at them for a few seconds, "Here, as proof of my sincerity and desire to change for the better, I have opened the way for you to move forward and you can have half of the remaining gems that have I to my name, which is no small amount mind you, all without any strings attached... you can use them for whatever purpose you want, I won't complain at all."
Spike stared at the sack for a moment, as he and the others were surprised by what they were seeing, before he took a moment to gather his magic and loosed a burst of his Teleportation Breath at the sack, where Moneybags sat there and didn't move at all, barely blinking an eye at what was happening, something that really surprised them when they thought about it, though instead of saying anything the group simply nodded their heads and moved into the next area of the dojo, where they came to a stop as they reached their next destination.
"You know, we heard that Crush and Gulp went missing from the areas of Avalar we let them live in, though we were busy trying to help you guys out and didn't investigate it," Elora said, as she had been thinking about something since she and the others had seen the pair of dinosaurs that were with Ripto, despite the fact that they had mind control collars on them, and now she was starting to make some sense of what was going on, even though she was sure Spike had figured something out before this point in time, "even though we now know what happened to them... but I had no idea Ripto had stolen Moneybags' statue as well, much less broken him out of his prison."
"He probably applied a great deal of magical power to break the crystalline statue, which is ill-advised since that can cause severe mental damage to the trapped individual," Spike replied, because he had been thinking about that since the moment they spotted Moneybags and his sudden change in attitude towards them, not to mention the fact that he gave them, literally gave the five of them, half of his remaining fortune, a bold move when they considered the individual they were thinking about, before he glanced towards the bear that was still meditating where the group had found him, which was rather odd as well, "Given what Moneybags was doing back during our adventure in Avalar, causing realms to go to war with each other and staging coups, I'm sure that Ripto intended on hiring him as a general or something, to help him stage his assault on Castle Hills and the realms we'll be visiting, but if I'm right about what's going on he might have caused potentially irreversible harm to Moneybags' mind... resulting in what we're seeing."
Elora realized why Spike was so insistent that no one tried to break individuals out of the crystalline prisons, by using magic to be exact, and that if one wanted to break the statues it had to be a resident of the land that the individuals came from, like how she or Hunter could have broken Moneybags out at some point, but while she was worried about what they were seeing, especially since the bear they had met was not the same greedy bear they were used to seeing, she had to accept it and move on. That was the reason the two of them moved forward and joined the group that had dealt with the enemies that had been in this area, while also freeing the dragon that had been trapped in the dojo, before Spike flew over to the area that another hatchling seemed to be standing in and found that there was a dragonfly in the area, which was why he focused on the dragonfly as Spyro moved into the area and freed the kite that was in the tree, allowing the others to collect the gems that were around the area and add them to their collection. Once they were done with the side area that a second hatchling was resting in, where the last dragon the group had freed came over to collect him, the group flew out of the area and returned to the bridge that lead into the next building, where they found a dragonfly waiting for them, after they smashed the Staff Riptoc that was in their way, so they rescued another dragonfly and walked down the hallway that was in front of them, collecting the gems that were around them. A few moments later they found a second portal to one of the side sections of this realm, one that had what appeared to be tanks etched into the stonework around it, which was rather odd given the peaceful nature of this realm, to which they moved passed it and continued towards the end of the realm, something that would signal them to backtrack and deal with the two side sections they had discovered the portals to, which would give them a few more dragonflies to save.
Eventually they reached the end of the hallway, and that included smashing another Staff Riptoc into the ground, only to stop as they discovered that there was a gap between them and the area that the final dojo rested in, a circular area by the looks of things, and there happened to be a dragonfly resting over there, to which the group smashed the couple of straw baskets that were around them and then reached the area the dragonfly was in, who Spike saved as the others took a moment to recover the gems that were resting around the area before heading up the ramp. As they climbed the ramp the group shifted to the side for a moment as they spotted another hatchling and Spyro helped him retrieve his kite, even though that was when a dragonfly emerged from where they had been hiding and joined them so Spike could send it back to the others, allowing them to return to where the main path was located and ascend to where the final dojo rested, and they knew that due to the portal that was off in the distance, near a door that lead back to the starting area of this realm, just like what the group had seen in the past. At the top of the ramp, standing around the last dojo, they found three Ninja Riptocs and a Staff Riptoc waiting for someone to come and save the last elder dragon that called this place home, which was why the group lashed out at them immediately and without wasting any time, resulting in the speedy defeat of the four enemies that were up there, allowing them to approach the final trapped dragon and break the ice that was around him, all while making sure to pick up the gems that were around the area as well. As they expected the final adult dragon was happy with what they had done and revealed that one of the dragonflies had been near him when the Riptocs froze him and the others, hence the reason he made sure to shield it from the attack, though he did allow it to return to them so Spike could send it back to the others, before he headed off to make sure everything else was fine with the realm, even though the group had taken care of most of the enemies that had been in their way.
The next thing they did was glide over to where one more Staff Riptoc was standing, which was near the exit portal for this realm to be exact, and took it out by Ember spinning through the air and striking it down, something that allowed the group to investigate the path that was beyond it and found some gems before they reached the starting area of this realm, where the group informed Cynder that they would be heading back to the other portals and seeing what the side sections of this realm had to offer them, and the one they decided on was the portal that rested in the garden area that they had located the second fragment of the jade statue in earlier... which was when they discovered that the area on the other side of the portal was a large Speedway, causing a smile to appear on Spyro's face.
"According to the Guidebook, this is Banzai Speedway, the most peaceful Speedway in the entirety of Castle Hills and all the realms that we'll be exploring," Spike said, where he pulled out the book in question and read it for a few seconds, quickly finding the information that was inside the book so the others could figure out what was going on, though that was when he found what he was looking for and glanced at the others for a moment, "and, according to what is written here, there are two challenges for use to complete, the first being taking down the obstacles that are scattered around the small island that we're on, while the second one is the race against the locals... or at least it would be, though it looks like some of the Riptocs have invaded the area and claimed it for themselves."
"I'll take care of the racers, while you guys take care of the obstacles," Spyro stated, though instead of waiting for one of them to say something he took to the air and headed off to the area that the Riptocs were lingering in, showing that he was going to do exactly what he had said, that he was going to show the invaders just how skilled he was in this skill and that he was prepared to knock all of them out of the air, to which Spike, Ember, and Elora chuckled, something Cynder did echo a few seconds later, as they knew Spyro well at this point and trusted him with that task.
Spike, Cynder, and Ember found that the first obstacle they needed to deal with was a set of eight blue rings in the air, where two of them knew that they were the easiest of all of the various obstacles they had seen in the past and found that the path brought them to the main part of the island, allowing them to split up and tackle the other three obstacles that were in this area, with Spike going after the large lanterns that were hanging from the trees and lighting them, Ember took to the ground and charged through the Riptocs that were hauling carts around, and Cynder smashed her way through the Ninja Riptocs that were in the air, knocking them to the ground. Elora, on the other hand, spent some time flying around the Flight Realm, as the dragons called these side areas, and kept her eyes open for Hunter, just in the off chance that he had found his way into this realm while they were fighting the Riptocs, even though she knew he should be back with the rest of the dragons, before nodding her head as she returned to the starting point for this realm, as she didn't see her friend anywhere, which was a first when she thought about it. Once she was done with that the three dragons that tackled the obstacles landed nearby and a dragonfly came over to where they were standing, just like what happened during their third adventure, before they turned their attention towards the air and watched as Spyro flew by with the racers that he was currently challenging, just like he had done in the past, though they knew that he would soon return to this area with another dragonfly and they could leave for the tank area. Sure enough only a few minutes passed before Spyro returned to them and proclaimed that he was victorious over the Ninja Riptocs he had been racing, showing that his skills hadn't rusted since the last time he did this, and another dragonfly joined the one that the others had recovered, to which Spike made sure to safely teleport the pair of dragonflies back to the others, allowing the group to leave the side section of the realm they were assisting and return to the main section in no time.
From there they took to the air and made their way over to the area that the other portal was located in, which just so happened to have a small opening near it was resting in, where they landed on the wooden balcony and walked over to the portal so they could pass through it, where they quickly appeared on the other side of the portal and found the dull red scaled dragon standing in front of them, apparently standing near a metallic tank that had a green paint job, which seemed ready to be used by someone.
"Ah, welcome to our Tank Training Arena," the dragon said, even though the group still felt that it was odd for such a peaceful realm to have an area like this in the first place, despite the fact that it was possible this was more of a way for him and the others to relax when they weren't training dragonflies in the art of being a dragon's companion, though the group remained silent as they focused on him and waited for him to tell them what he wanted of them, "Would you like to use our tank and take out the dummies we've set up?"
The group glanced at each other for a few seconds and eventually nodded their heads, where Ember climbed into the tank and closed the hatch, mostly because there was only room for one individual to sit inside the vehicle, due to it being slightly taller than her, her brothers, and Cynder, before she found that the controls were easy to use and made the tank move forward as the others followed her, from a safe distance to be exact, just so they could see what the arena had to throw at whoever challenged it. The first thing Ember did was blast down the rocks that were in her way, mostly to get a feel for what the tank was able to do, before she made her way towards the false wall that happened to be in front of her and blew it down as well, all while the group continued to follow behind her and kept their eyes open for any Riptocs that might be lingering around this section of Dragonfly Dojo, though it wasn't long before they found an orange colored tank guarding the way forward, nor did it take Ember long to remove it with a precise blast. From there they found a gate that was being guarded by another tank and had two targets resting on either side of the gate, so what happened was that the tank was taken down by Ember while Spyro and Cynder used some of the fallen rocks to hit the targets, opening the gate so that Ember could drive forward and fire upon the three tanks that were in front of them, not to mention another one which had been hiding behind some rocks, before opening a way forward and followed it. Spike noticed that there was no information in the Guidebook about just the tank wandering the arena and defeating the various foes the dragons had placed in this area, which was why Elora loosed a blast from her armor and quickly blew up the next tank that was in their way, allowing Ember to move forward and open fire on her targets so the others could catch up with her, take stock of what was around her, and then act however they wanted.
Of course Cynder smacked the next two targets and opened the gate so Ember could advance, before diving into the shadows that were in front of her so she could strike the couple of tanks that were in the area with her Shadow Play and her own enhanced wind powers, even if she really did nothing to them and caused them to turn towards the area she was flying in, something that caused her to smile as Ember opened fire on all six of them and blew them up, allowing them to advance deeper into the arena and see what else the tanks had to offer them. From there they continued to move forward and found a few more tanks in their way, something that was easy for the group to take care of as Spyro and Cynder flew through the air to claim their attention, Spike used his magic to move all of the rock walls out of the way, while Elora and Ember used their individual tools to blast the enemies that were between them and the end of the section of the realm they were currently exploring. As it turned out that area seemed to be the end of the realm, where they made sure the last of the tanks were taken out before Ember turned around and headed back towards the dragon that inquired if they were going to challenge the arena or not, though while they did that Spike looked at the Guidebook and realized that this realm had seven hundred gems and, by his own estimates, he was sure they had collected everything that had been scattered around the dojo, so they returned the tank to the dragon and found one of the missing dragonflies waiting for them, the tenth one based on Spike's estimates. With that done, and the realm cleared out by the looks of it, the group headed for the exit portal so they could head back to the main part of this land and figure out where they were going to go next, as there were two paths for them to pick from and more realms to explore, before they figured out how to breach Ripto's portal and bring an end to their foe's evil plans.
Once the group returned to the part of Castle Hills that contained the stone platform that had taken them to Dragonfly Dojo, which they didn't need to revisit since they had rescued all of the dragonflies and had gathered all of the gems that had been scattered around the realm, Spyro walked forward and lead Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora out of the side area they had appeared in, since it was time for them to head through one of the other portals that were in Castle Hills and assist those that called the realm in question home, just like they just did. Spike, upon investigating the Guidebook, suggested that they head towards the Elemental Lock that could be opened with the Lightning Element, mostly because he was sure, without talking to the tired bear that was on the pillar of earth near the castle they had been celebrating in front of, that the portal to Cloud 9 was disconnected and would only be restored when they gathered enough dragonflies, though the realty of it was that the magic of the portal was still active and the bear would likely tell them to leave and come back when they had saved moved of the missing dragonflies. As such the five of them headed down the path to their right and glided over to the jade statue that they had found a fragment of, where they quickly slipped it into one of the slots and then continued towards the area Ripto's portal was located in, where it was easy to see that Bianca and the other magic users were trying to breach it so the group could head through it and take their foe down, just like their friend had done during their third adventure, but they focused on what was in front of them and nothing else. As such it didn't take them long to reach the area that the first Elemental Lock was located in, the Lightning Lock to be exact, which was when Spyro focused his magic and blasted it with his power, blowing the lock off and opening the gate in a matter of seconds, allowing them to walk forward and resume collecting the gems that were on the ground beyond it as they moved into the next part of the homeworld.
What they discovered, in the area that was at the end of the path, was what appeared to be a farm area that came with a barn that just so happened to have one of the metallic ladders for them to climb, though thanks to Cynder helping them discover the art of flying without needing anything to assist them, like they were used to doing in the past, the ladder wasn't something they even needed to use this time around, though that didn't stop them from walking into the new area and seeing what it had to offer them.
"I have to say, saving the day your way is rather interesting," Cynder remarked, though at the same time the group walked into the area that was in front of them and separated from each other for a short period of time, despite the fact that she was near Spyro, so they could collect the gems that were on the ground and smash the straw baskets that were in the area, though she had to smile for a few seconds as she thought about it, "fighting gem constructs without having to hold back, collecting stolen gems, saving the residents of a realm, recovering stolen dragonflies... I have to admit that I could get used to saving the day this way."
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," Spyro said, because he had been a little curious as to how Cynder would react to the types of adventures that he and his siblings had gone through in the past, before they visited Doxantha and changed things up for a time, though at the same time his attention was on the fact that Ripto had returned, he stole both Crush and Gulp from the areas they had been living in, and broken Moneybags out of his prison, even though the bear was no longer the same individual he and the others remembered, before he shook his head and refocused on what they were doing at the moment, "Come on, let's see if we can't find any of the other dragonflies and then figure out which realms we have to pick from this time around."
Cynder nodded her head and followed Spyro as he explored the area that was around them, though that was around the time that they found one of the dragonflies resting in the middle of this part of Castle Hills and it noticed them as well, which was why it flew over to them and followed them as they regrouped with Spike, who took a moment to channel his power and safely sent it back to the others they had rescued so far, which would make another hatchling happy to have their partner back. From there they found that the path to the left of the opening to this area had a few large flowers and a crocodile creature, who wore the attire of either a farmer or a gardener, standing near a large raft that looked like it had been made from a large honeycomb, though based on the glance he gave them it was clear they needed to save more of the dragonflies before heading to Honey March, as that was the realm Spike assumed it would lead them to, so they took a moment to pick up the nearby gems before leaving the crocodile creature behind. Around that point they found a gate that was like the Challenge Gate that rested near the main castle of this homeworld, only this time it was lightning based and not fire based, so that meant only Spyro and Spike could tackle whatever challenge it had for them, since they were the only ones that had access to the Lightning element, hence the reason they walked through it to see what happened and what they needed to do. What they discovered was that eight metallic posts appeared in the area around them, just like the scarecrows that appeared when they activated the previous challenge, so once they appeared the pair took off and split the posts between them, Spyro starting in the area that the Challenge Gate was in while Spike headed down the other path they hadn't explored yet, leaving the others to make sure they had picked up the rest of the gems that were around them before seeing what was down the path Spike had picked.
What Spike found at the end of the other path was a beach area that had some nets that prevented people from even leaving the area, though that wouldn't stop a flying dragon that could get over it, though instead of focusing on that he turned his attention towards the metallic rods that were his targets, where he found two resting along the path between the barn area and the beach area, while the other two happened to be near the water, so in the end he managed to get all of his targets and helped free another dragonfly. As he did that, however, he also found another dragonfly that had been near the third metallic rod he had breathed some lightning on, who flew over to where he was standing and followed him back to the others, so they could see that they had found two more dragonflies, three in this area to be exact, before he sent the pair back to Nestor and the others, allowing them to explore the beach area he had located, which had to lead them to Luau Island, and resumed picking up the gems that were in the area. As the siblings and Elora expected, from the last gem collecting adventure, there were a number of gems under the water and it didn't take them long to dive under the water, with Spike making sure to put the Water Safety spell on Elora, just in case, because as of now there was next to no reason for him, his siblings, and even Cynder to need it since they were used to swimming and whatnot, though if they had to go underwater for a long period of time, like Seashell Shore, he would quickly etch the spell on them, since that was the only time he felt they might need that spell at this point in time.
Once they were done with clearing out the area of gems, and they were sure that none had been left behind, the five of them headed back to the area that the barn was resting in, as it was time to see what sort of help the resident of the realm it connected to needed, since all of them were sure someone had to be up there, which was why they flew up to the upper part of the barn and landed in front of a creature that looked like a pink version of the Purple Villagers, only it was dressed as a farmer, though that was when they spotted a circular vehicle that looked like a functional UFO, something that would interest the Professor, the Machinists, and their allies.
"I have no idea what you did, but the UFO is working!" the Farmer said, showing that he was excited about what they had done by collecting the dragonflies, even if he had no idea they had reconnected things by rescuing the dragonflies that Ripto had displaced with his magic spell earlier, before he turned towards them for a moment and looked like he had one more thing to say before everything was said and done, "You should be careful of the Space Cows, if you go to Crop Circle Country, as they're everywhere! EVERYWHERE I TELL YOU!"
"Um, thanks for the warning." Spyro replied, though as he and the others climbed onto the center of the large circular vessel they had discovered, which would take them away from the barn and deliver them to the next realm that needed their assistance, he wasn't all too surprised by the fact that there were space animals wanting revenge on the Farmers that watched over them and helped them grow, especially after what they had discovered in the past during the last couple of adventures they had been on.
It didn't take them long to appear in the starting area of Crop Circle Country, a ledge that allowed them to look out at a country-like area that reminded the siblings of one of the Speedways they had checked out when Morrigan tried to steal all of the dragon eggs for her own schemes, complete with barns that seemed to serve as bridges between parts of this realm, a large barn near their location, and some UFOs that seemed to be beaming down enemies that were attacking the home of the Farmers, meaning they would have to deal with them in due time.
"Oh, you must be the dragons that my friend called in to help us," a voice said, where they found another Farmer off to their left, who seemed worried about what was happening to his realm and the enemies that were between him and whatever he was going to ask them to do, hence the reason the group remained silent as they waited to see what he had to tell them before they got started with assisting the residents of this particular realm, "While he was gone, getting you guys to help us, the Space Cows were joined by a force of Space Riptocs, who are here on a mission to find dragonflies and snatch them so they can't be returned to the dragons that they're paired with... or at least that's what I gathered from the couple of enemies that I overheard earlier. From what I've seen, they haven't been successful in finding any of the missing dragonflies and have taken to assisting the Space Cows in abducting our cows and locking them inside the large red barn that's nearby, so once they have every cow under lock and key they can just take them all at once."
"That's just retarded. They should be taking them to the mothership or something, not leaving them in someplace that we can rescue them from," Cynder remarked, because while she felt that what they had seen in the Dragonfly Dojo, from all of the Ninja and Staff Riptocs, had been a rather good plan on the part of their enemies, even if none of them had been able to stand against their teamwork and skills, it was sad to see that the next group of Riptocs they faced weren't smart and it made her wonder if the others were going to be stuck at this level of intelligence, before she sighed, "but you don't have to worry about anything, we'll take care of the intruders, secure this realm, and rescue your cows so you can return to what you were doing before the abductions happened."
With the Farmer happy that they would help him out, and that was with Spyro and the others confirming what Cynder had just said, the group moved out from the starting area and started to explore the first part of the realm they were now in, which was when they found that the first set of enemies they would have to face were the Space Riptocs, two of them red skinned and two of them green skinned, though they were more like the dinosaurs they had faced in Dino Mines, only these ones had shorter arms than the ones the majority of the group was thinking about. Since these were large enemies that meant charging was, in a sense, useless to the group, but that was perfectly fine with Ember as she jumped forward and spun forward so she could smash her chosen foe into the ground, opening the way for Spyro and Cynder to fly right at the pair of green Space Riptocs that were near each other and slam their heads together, allowing them to eliminate both of them in the process. As they did that Elora dashed forward and spun around so she could kick the last Space Riptoc in the side of its head, knocking it to the ground as the four defeated enemies were reduced to gems, allowing them to take a few moments to see what else was on this side of the bridge and pick up the gems that had been dropped, even though it was the perfect time for them to show Cynder how they dealt with metallic vases, by smashing them to pieces, and she followed what they were doing, since this was the first time she had dealt with anything like this. While they did that one more Space Riptoc teleported down to the area they were standing in and raised its ray gun so it could fire at one of them, though that was when Spike loosed a burst of his Ice Breath and froze the dino where he stood, allowing him to smash the ice apart and reduce it to another gem for Talon to collect, while he returned his attention to what else was in the section of the realm they were in.
One interesting thing Spike noticed was that this realm had a pretty decent view of the Celestia Moons, which were no longer near each other like they had been a year ago, during their last adventure, though he was positive that he was the only one that had noticed such a thing and that the others would be more focused on collecting the gems and smashing any of the straw baskets or metallic vases they discovered, even though they did discover that the barn they had been told about was off to the left of where the starting area was, though there was no telling how much of the realm needed to be run through before they reached the backside of the building. After that Spike took a moment to head down into the area that rested below the barn styled bridge, which just so happened to be broken in the middle and had some Space Riptocs guarding both sides of it, though Spyro and the others followed him down into the area he wanted to explore, which let him locate the first missing dragonfly that had been transported to this realm and he made sure to safely transport it back to the others, while at the same time the rest of the group smashed the straw baskets and metallic vases that happened to be around them. The moment they cleared everything out of the area that was around them they returned to the upper part of the area and accessed the barn bridge, where the couple of Space Riptocs fell in a matter of seconds as Spike took a moment to shock one of them and Elora jumped over the gap to strike the second one down with a sidekick to the head, something that allowed the others to glide over the gap as well and join her as they advanced into the next part of this realm and kept their eyes open for any enemies.
While they entered the next part of the realm the group found that two more Space Riptocs teleported down into the area in front of them and stood between where they were standing and the area that one of the Farmers were standing in at the moment, though neither of them stood much of a chance as Ember rushed in and hardened her body for a second or two, stopping the blasts from hurting her, before she used the Emission technique to knock both of them down to the ground in seconds, allowing Spyro and Cynder to take them out.
From there they walked into the crop area that was in front of them and found that the Farmer was curious if any of them had seen any of their cows, since that seemed to be what the Farmers were looking for while they were making sure none of the Space Riptocs or the Space Cows captured them and did whatever it was they would do to the Farmers, but all they could tell him was that they hadn't seen any of the normal cows, much less the Space Cows, and continue moving as all five of them focused on gathering the gems and breaking the containers they were trapped in. After that the group found that there was one of the Space Riptocs a few steps behind the Farmer, though it didn't look like the Space Riptoc even cared about the Farmer and only fired at the group as they approached it, which was followed by Spyro flaming it down so the others could explore the area that was in front of them, though that happened to be around the time that the group found the second of this realm's dragonflies hanging out in front of the small barn that was right in front of them, so Spike assisted it while the others cleared out the breakable containers that were around them. What was interesting was that there was one of the metallic rods on top of some haystacks, which just seemed out of place as they stared at it for a few seconds, though when Spyro breathed his Lightning Breath on it the UFO that was in the air near the barn that was near them lowered itself and positioned it as a platform so they could jump onto it and then jump into the upper part of the barn, even though none of them really needed it as Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember took to the air and Elora made sure to follow after them.
Once the group reached the upper walkway that the barn would have let them glide to, if they didn't have the power to fly like a normal dragon, they found another barn bridge that was broken in the middle and quickly dropped down into the lower area to collect the gems that happened to be down there, but at the same time they found a small ladder that brought them to the top of the second half of the shattered bridge, which happened to be where the third dragonfly of this realm was resting and Spike sent it off within a few seconds, even though they did spot the portal to a side section resting nearby and ignored it for the time being.
After that the group regrouped on the other side of the barn bridge and walked down the path that would lead them to the next part of Crop Circle Country, where two Space Riptocs teleported down into the area and aimed their blasters at the group, who dispersed rather quickly as Spike loosed a burst of lightning magic to shock and stun their foes, allowing Spyro and Cynder to charge into the first foe and knock it to the ground while Ember and Elora kicked the second one in the chest to make sure it fell over, before they regrouped and collected the gems in the area as they kept an eye open for any other enemies that might be waiting for them. They then found their way to the location of another barn that had two Space Riptocs guarding it, where it wasn't long before Spike sent a burst of Ice Shards out and struck down the one that was far away from the barn, allowing Spyro and the others to beat the second one down before they turned their focus towards the gems and straw baskets that were around them, even though they did find another metallic rod on top of one of the haystacks, meaning it had to bring down another UFO for them to use as a stepping stone. As such the group flew through the barn and reached the ledge that it lead them to, so they could land and collect the gems that were on it, but it was around that moment that three new enemies teleported down into the area that was near them, three cows that just so happened to be standing on their hind legs, standing like the Farmers did, and were carrying blasters while wearing space suits, just like the Space Cows from Metropolis, so the siblings knew exactly what they needed to do next. As the trio of Space Cows readied themselves for battle, so they could blast whoever was in front of them and then find more of the missing farm animals that they and their allies were looking for, Elora quickly rushed forward and kicked one in the side of the head, while Spyro flamed one of the others and Ember spun through the air to strike down the last one, which ended in their enemies laying on the ground and reverting to gems and allowed them to pick up every gem that was in the area, before they considered moving forward.
The next area the group visited was just like the others, it had a barn, some haystacks, a number of straw baskets and a decent number of metallic vases, before they spotted one of the Challenge Gates that was resting nearby, one that had a flame icon to indicate what sort of challenge it had for them, before the five of them spotted a ladder that was on the back of one of the corn storage towers and found that it would allow them to glide down into the upper part of the barn, where the portal to the second side section of the realm rested, so they focused on clearing out the rest of the realm, even if that meant smashing a single Space Riptoc into the ground in the process. When they approached the Challenge Gate, so they could take care of the challenge and rescue the dragonfly that was tied to it, five more enemies teleported down into the area that was near them, four Space Cows and one Space Riptoc, though instead of dividing the number of enemies up between them Spyro nodded his head as Cynder dove into the shadows, releasing another burst of her Shadow Play as she knocked around the five enemies that were in front of them and dropped them to the ground, allowing them to pick up the gems that fell a few seconds later. Once that was done Spyro rushed through the Challenge Gate and found that a single scarecrow appeared nearby, though when he flamed it the straw object either dissolved and teleported to another part of the small area they were standing in or a new one appeared when the last one fell apart, but due to the fact that it was near where the first one was located Spyro wasted no time in striking the second one and watched as it moved again, to which he repeated the process a few more times before he reached striking it eight times, something that caused the Challenge Gate to deactivate and allowed a dragonfly to fly over to them, the fourth based on what Spike wrote down, and it wasn't long before it was sent to where Nestor and the others were waiting.
It was around that moment that they approached the final structure of the realm, the barn that lead back to the start of the realm, and quickly smashed the Space Riptoc that was in front of them into the ground, though once that was done Spyro made sure the Farmer and the cows that were inside the barn were standing far away from the barred door and used his flames to blow up the small crates of TNT that had been placed in front of it, blowing open the lock and allowing the trapped cows to go free, even if all they had to do was turn around and march through the open back of the structure, though he wasn't about to complain as he and the others faced the final Farmer of this realm.
"Thanks for your help in saving our cows from the invaders." the Farmer said, his tone revealing that he was pleased with what they had done and that he felt they were deserving of a reward, though based on what Spyro, Spike, and Ember knew, from their previous adventures, it was possible that he had one of the dragonflies and had been planning on doing something with it, but was handing it over before something else happened, "Here, I was going to use this thingamajig in my barbeque smoker, to add some flavor, but you guys deserve it as a reward for your efforts."
The group said nothing as the fifth dragonfly of this realm emerged from where it had been hiding, where the Farmer had been keeping it until this point in time, and Spike sent it back to the others they had rescued, though instead of them heading through the portal that was to their right, the exit portal to be exact, the group returned to the starting area of the realm and kept their eyes open for anything that might have changed, since the siblings and Elora knew that sometimes parts of a realm changed in response to whatever they had done for the residents of a realm. Interestingly enough their thoughts were correct as they noticed an odd looking weapon resting near the starting area of this realm, where it looked like a modified spotlight that was designed to fire at the large UFO that was hanging high in the air, the one that must have taken the cows while the space enemies were looking for dragonflies, though instead of investigating the weapon the five of them walked over to the first Farmer, who declared that the UFO was back to steal his cows and that he needed help taking it out, since they had set up weapons and couldn't power them. One thing Spike felt was odd was the fact that the Farmer called the weapon, which had to be either sound based or something else, a cannon, when it looked nothing like what a cannon looked like, though that didn't stop Spyro from using his Lightning Breath on it and loosed a short burst of energy into the air and struck the UFO, causing it to stagger in the air before it drifted off to another part of the realm, no doubt putting itself in range of the next sonic weapon, to which they sighed and followed it, just to get this over with and blow the UFO out of the air so the Farmers could get on with their lives.
Sure enough the UFO moved into the second area of this realm and positioned itself near the second sonic weapon, an action that made the five of them a little annoyed by what they were seeing, and it wasn't long before Spyro powered up the second 'cannon' and blasted their target once more, causing the vessel to stagger before moving once more, which was followed by them moving forward as well, though they did make sure to note the fact that the freed cows were now wandering the second area, as they felt it would be worth helping the Farmer with them once they were done with the UFO that was their main target at the moment. It didn't take them all that long to locate the area that the Farmers had put the third sonic weapon in, allowing Spyro to turn it on and blast the UFO once more and really tick off whoever was trying to pilot it all over this realm, to kidnap the cows that had been freed, before it flew off to another part of the realm and it didn't take them long to follow after it, especially since they could fly and Elora's wings had been updated to the level that they mimicked an actual dragon's wings, to a degree. From there they found that the last area that the UFO flew into was the area that the Challenge Gate rested in and it didn't take Spyro long to power the final weapon, something that allowed them to blast the vessel once more, causing it to crash into the ground nearby and they found a dragonfly, in a protective case that had been cracked, inside the wreckage, so they pulled it out and Spike sent it on its way, giving them six of the ten dragonflies that had to be in this realm. With that done they returned to where the second Farmer was located, after the first barn bridge, and found that he wanted them to move all the cows to a certain area, even though all of them were pretty safe from what they could currently see and there was no reason for them to actually help force the cows to a new area, but, given that the Farmer might have a dragonfly, the five of them sighed and separated so they could move the cows to the area they needed to be put in.
What was interesting was that the cows simply got up and moved when one of them approached their target, so all they had to do was walk up to their target and it would move over to where the Farmer was standing, eventually bringing all five of them to the person that wanted the cows to be near them and caused him to cheer for what they had done, so much so that he even handed them the seventh dragonfly of this realm, something that put a smile on their faces as Spike sent it off to the others, before they departed and headed for the first side portal they had discovered... which brought the five of them to an area that looked like the edge of a cliff, one that had a large UFO that had some platforms around the area directly below it.
"Oh, hello there. I didn't see you guys arrive," a voice said, where they found a Farmer standing nearby, who seemed to be studying the UFO that was in front of them and was no doubt wondering if it had any of the stolen cows that the rest of the Farmers had been worried about, before he glanced at them for a moment and seemed to connect some dots that none of them were aware of, hence the reason he beckoned to the UFO that was in front of them, "I noticed that this UFO is being piloted by a Space Riptoc that managed to capture a dragonfly that suddenly appeared in this part of our realm some time ago, though I have no idea why it hasn't left yet... maybe its waiting for the other Space Riptoc to arrive, before it takes off for whatever realm they call home."
Spyro glanced at the others for a few moments before he stepped forward and walked down to the lower area of the walkway that the Farmer had been standing on, where he found that Spike and the others were flying nearby, since it was clear he wanted to do this alone and Spike was only getting near him so he could see what sort of obstacles he would be facing for the next couple of moments, which was when Spyro grinned for a moment as he took to the air and flew over to the first of the two platforms and used the Headbash technique to activate it, before quickly flying over to the other one so he could do the same thing. Once the two buttons had been pressed a ring of platforms, which just so happened to have five parts of the entire ring, lowered down into the area between the earthen pillars and the center of the UFO, though as that happened he spotted a metallic rod on each of the platforms, making five in total, so what he did was take to the air and fly in the opposite direction that the ring was moving in, allowing him to use his Lightning Breath to activate the five rods and forced them to form a ring of energy that lowered another ring into place. This time around he found that the new ring was moving in the direction he had flown in, so what he did was reverse his movements again and repeated what he had just done, allowing him to activate the next five metallic rods that were located on the new ring, and once he did that the central part of the contraption that was resting below the UFO lowered into position, meaning that the Space Riptoc that had gotten its hands on a dragonfly wasn't even ready to take off, it was just messing around, waiting for the rest of its allies to come back with whatever they could get their hands on. As such it didn't take Spyro long to collide with his target's chest and knock it off the platform that had lowered into the center of the area, leaving the UFO unguarded, but for now his concern was for the eighth dragonfly that they had rescued from this realm, who was sent to the others by Spike not a few seconds later, even though Spike also made a note about what they had discovered and made sure to send a note to the Machinists, as a defenseless UFO sounded like something those dragons could experiment with, once the Professor and the others joined them.
Once they were done in this side section of the realm, and they were sure of it based on what the group was seeing at the moment, the group headed through the portal that was nearby and returned to the main part of this realm, which was when they headed for the second side area that they had seen earlier, when they were heading through the rest of this particular realm, and headed through the portal in question, arriving in a large farm area that just so happened to be the area that they found Hunter in, as Spyro and the others weren't even surprised by the fact that he was here, while Cynder tilted her head for a moment, surprised by his sudden arrival.
"Oh, hey guys, I figured it was only a matter of time until you arrived," Hunter remarked, though even as he said that he closed the lid that was behind him, revealing a decent sized UFO that looked more armed than the ones that they had seen since their arrival in this realm, before he held his hands up and stopped them from saying anything, since he knew them better than most people, Elora and the rest of the dragons not being counted in that, "I know, you guys wanted to find and recover all of the dragonflies on your own, just like how you gathered all the Orbs and all of the stolen dragon eggs in the past, but the Professor wanted to take this time to experiment with something new that would be able to help you guys out in the field."
"Then go take out whatever enemy UFOs are trying to stop us from recovering the remaining two dragonflies, and the five of us will render assistance as possible," Spyro replied, because at this point he knew Hunter had grown up and had become a skilled warrior in his own right, using his own skills, weapons, and even the toys the Professor made for him to take down the enemies that they might face in the various realms, and this was his way of showing his support towards what their friend was doing, to which the others nodded their heads in agreement.
Hunter nodded and climbed into the UFO that was behind him, where he took off and raised himself into the sky so he could figure out what was going on, though as he did that Spyro and the others noticed that there was another UFO in the air that seemed to be in the middle of stalking cows so it could abduct them, but in that moment Spyro raised a wing and stopped the others from moving, as the moment Hunter loosed a lightning based blast from his vessel he understood that even now Hunter didn't need their help. That attack was a stun blast, something that pushed electricity or energy into the enemy craft and made it go still for a few moments, allowing Hunter to move his own vessel through the air and use his tractor beam to carefully lift the cows that were outside their pens, so he could move them back to the pen and place them inside it, where he was able to get two of them inside it before the enemy vessel regained itself and took to the air again, even though that was followed by Hunter stunning it once more, just to make sure he was able to get all of the cows back to their home. Spike, Ember, Cynder, and Elora understood the same thing not a few moments after Spyro did, where they watched Hunter take down the UFO that was trying to abduct the cows that were in the area and weren't even a little surprised when a dragonfly flew over to them, the ninth one by Spike's count, meaning that whatever challenge had been in this area had been completed by Hunter, though in the following seconds the cows pushed open the gate as two more UFOs entered the area, putting it three to one as they chased the now fleeing animals that they were interested in. Even then the group knew not to get involved in their friend's fight, as Hunter seemed to have things under control as he loosed three smaller stun charges into the air and stunned the UFOs that were around him, showing them that the capabilities of his UFO were already fine and it appeared that it would be sometime before he even used the offensive capabilities of his new vessel, which they might see in the future.
In the end Hunter was able to outmaneuver the other UFOs and make sure the cows were put back in their pen, while making sure to chase off his foes so they didn't spook the cows again, and while everyone celebrated, to show that they were happy with what Hunter had done, Spike made sure to send both the ninth and tenth dragonflies, as the latter had appeared shortly after their friend succeeded in driving off his enemies, back to the others before they headed back to the main land of Castle Hills, since this realm was done and it was time to pick a new one to work on saving.
It took Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora a few minutes to return to the area of Castle Hills that the barn rested in, as in they reappeared in the upper part of the barn and they jumped down without wasting a single moment, because there were two more areas for them to check out before they attempted to move towards the other Elemental Lock they had found earlier, when they were first exploring this homeworld, which would take them to another part of this island and a few more of the other realms Spike had learned about in his reading. From what Spike could tell, based on the magic he felt, it didn't appear that the way to Honey Marsh had been opened and that meant they should check out the boat that would let them get to Luau Island, which was why the group headed to their left and didn't even bother keeping an eye open for enemies, mostly because of the fact that there hadn't been any enemies in the previous homeworlds the group had explored during some of their previous adventures, which was always nice. Cynder did take a moment to ask about that, as according to the books Spike had published he and his siblings had fought many enemies in the five lands that made up the Dragon Realms, as in the homeworlds, and then when they started their next adventure there were no enemies in the homeworlds, where the group informed her that Gnasty Gnorc had prepared for his assault for a long time and none of the other villains did the same thing he did, even though that was their understanding on the matter. In the end there was no real explanation as to why none of the homeworlds in their other adventures had no enemies for them to worry about, though none of them had complained since it allowed them to rest or just talk without being on guard all the time, to which Cynder nodded her head as they reached the dock area they had seen earlier, as the boat that rested near it was their ticket to the third realm that they would be checking out and assisting.
When they reached the dock the group found something interesting, there was a bipedal pig that was dressed in some clothing that made the five of them determine that he was a tourist, and their thoughts were confirmed by the map that he pulled out a few moments after they arrived in the area he was standing in, before he noticed that he had some company and lowered his map, revealing that he had a blue shirt on and maybe a green swimsuit that served as his pants for the foreseeable future, though while he did have some sandals he wore nothing over his eyes, which they did feel was a little odd considering that he was trying to head to an island to relax.
"I don't know what you guys did, but the boat has been repaired and now I can get to Luau Island," the Pig Tourist told them, not that the group was expecting the decent sized vessel to be broken in some manner by Ripto's arrival in Castle Hills or the use of his magic to move some of the dragonflies to the various realms of this island, but none of them said anything to that as they waited to see if the individual had something else to tell them about what was happening to the island, just like the Farmer had done before they entered Crop Circle Country, "of course, you're welcome to come along as well, to relax and prepare for whatever your adventure has in store for the five of you."
While the group knew that the Pig Tourist was being nice, in saying that they could spend some time resting for the next leg of their journey to take down Ripto for the second time in their lives, all five of them also knew that the next leg of their quest was already upon them and would start when they reached the next realm that was open for them to check out and deal with the enemies that were bothering it, hence the reason they jumped down onto the boat and waited for the Pig Tourist to join them before part of the barrier surrounding this area lowered and they headed out into the open water, even though they quickly disappeared as they encountered the portal magic once more. What they discovered was that they reappeared at the edge of a dock that was identical to the one they had been on a few moments ago, so they could get to this realm, hence the reason they climbed off the boat and looked at the area that was in front of them and found that the island did look rather nice, like a place where the dragons and the residents of the other realms would vacation to when they wanted a break from what was happening in their home realms. That was when they paused as the siblings spotted something familiar, as standing on the path of ground that was in front of them, across the small bit of water that was between where the dock rested and the next part of the realm, just so happened to be one of the wooden Idols they had faced back in Idol Springs, though this one seemed to be holding a stick that had a sausage at the end of it, like it was trying to cook it, just like the couple of Idols they had faced in the past. It was odd to see one of them in this realm, even though that meant that one of the Worker Colosi might have sold some to the residents of this island and the Idols might have reacted to the magic that Ripto wielded, reminding them of what occurred during his assault on the lands that made up Avalar.
"Never thought I'd see those guys again, much less so close to the Dragon Realms," Elora commented, because she did know about the Idols and how they came alive when Ripto assaulted Avalar, especially when she recalled what Spike had written on the matter, though it was still odd to see one of them here, making her wonder how many of them were on this island and how many of them wanted them dead, something that they would figure out as they progressed through the rest of this realm and dealt with the obstacles that were in their way.
"True, though we won't have to worry about them all that much," Spyro remarked, though it wasn't because he was arrogant or anything, rather it was because of the fact that he knew they could deal with the Idols and not get caught in their attacks, but even as he said that he glanced around the rest of the area and found a few more foes for them to face, one of them being a green Riptoc who was dressed in the attire of a tourist and had the form of a T-Rex, meaning it and the others of its kind were going to be Riptoc Tourists or Tourist Riptocs, when he considered Spike's naming methods, and, unless his eyes were deceiving him, there was a Riptoc in the water with some scuba gear on, meaning there was also the Scuba Riptoc enemies for them to face as they explored this island, before he turned towards the others, "Come on, let's see what sort of chaos Ripto's forces are causing for this realm and take them down, along with rescuing all of the dragonflies that were sent here and recovering the stolen gems for those that call Castle Hills home."
Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora nodded their heads as they started to walk down the dock that was in front of them and noticed that there were a few tikis resting near them, which was when Ember cleaved one in half, did a backflip that allowed her to push off of the first one and jump to the other side of the dock, before cutting a second one in half, which revealed two gems for them to collect, though as she did that Spike made sure that Elora had the Water Safety spell on her armor, to prepare her for what this realm might have them do. Once the area around the dock was cleared out, and they were sure the gems had been acquired, the group dived into the water and started to scout out the rest of the area, where they found some of the glass vases that four of them were familiar with and Cynder had been told about earlier, so they smashed their way through the couple of glass vases the group could see while Elora, instead of focusing on what the four dragons were doing, rushed through the water and kicked the Scuba Riptoc in the chest, earning her a gem as she made her way out of the water. With four dragons swimming through the water, and by that Elora knew they were charging in a sense, it wasn't long before the group made sure that there was nothing left in the water, which included finding a second Scuba Riptoc and taking it down in seconds, before they burst out of the water, where they landed on the ground that would allow them to head into the main part of the island and see what else they would have to force their way through this time around, though while they did that Spike spotted a dragonfly nearby and it rushed over to where they were standing, allowing him to use his magic to send it back to the others. With the first of the dragonflies of this realm saved, and likely nine more to go based on what they had seen so far, the group took a moment to see what was around them before moving, which was when Spyro loosed a burst of his Fire Breath on the Idol and burned it down as Cynder jumped into the air and hardened her body, showing her power to call upon the Warrior's Armor, and struck down the Tourist Riptoc that was standing near the Idol, even though there was a green button that was behind it, something they filed in the back of their minds for now.
Once that was done Spike found another fragment of the jade statue, which looked like a shield of some kind that was formed by wings, though since none of them seemed to grant him and the others any new powers, to which he made sure to put it inside his satchel as the others joined him, though while they regrouped it was easy to see the location of one of the portals to the side sections of this realm, something that the group knew they would find a way to in no time, so they moved away from the water and headed to another part of the realm, which was why they headed for a locked gate that one of the Pig Tourists was standing behind.
"Hey, I'm glad you guys have showed up," the Pig Tourist said, though even as he said that it appeared that he might be terrified of something, which was understandable given the fact that the Riptocs seemed to be attacking every realm in Castle Hills and they were bothering everyone that called the realms home, hence the reason they remained silent as they waited for him to tell them what in the world was going on in this realm, "the Riptocs, after invading the island, have come to the decision that they're going to hold a luau feast to celebrate their success, even if they haven't found any of those missing dragonflies yet, and they're planning on cooking everyone they've captured so far... and I've heard a few of them whispering about hot and spicy sauce."
"Okay, so we'll take them down and free everyone," Cynder remarked, speaking what was on everyone's mind at the moment, even if no one wanted to say it right now, though even as she thought about that she knew that the Riptocs had to be some of the more ridiculous enemies she had encountered over the years, as some where smart and some weren't, before Spyro and the others nodded their heads to show that they agree with what had been said, which was followed by them leaving the area so they could focus on locating the rest of the dragonflies.
"Keep an eye open for a switch for each gate, they'll let you open them up," the Pig Tourist stated, giving the group one more piece of information before they left the area that the first gate was located in, though it was clear that this was everything he was going to give them for the time being, which was fine when they considered what was going on with this realm, though they could tell that he was putting his faith in them and knew that the five of them would do everything in their power to save the day.
What the Pig Tourist told them, before they walked away from the gate, was enough for Spike to determine that the Riptocs had to be carnivores and that all of the gem creations they had seen, which were mimicries of the real deal, were trying to see what food even tasted like, even if it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, hence the reason the five of them focused on everything else that was going on in the realm and what they could do to help the residents of the island out, especially given what they had just discovered. Of course the information about the switch was nice, as that told them that the button they had seen earlier was important and it wasn't long before Elora kicked the button, something that was followed by the gate opening and allowed the Pig Tourist to escape from the cage that he had been held in, causing him to cheer for a moment as the group walked over to where he was standing and focused on the area that they was next on their list to clear out. From there they walked over to where a large clam shell was resting, or at least a fragment of one by the looks of things, and found an Idol minding its own business, though when they appeared it the wooden construct tried to threaten them with its stick, something that was followed by Cynder loosing a burst of shadowy flames at their foe and burned it down, allowing the others to clear the area of gems and straw baskets, before heading back towards the 'cage' that the Pig Tourist had been locked away inside, which was actually a tunnel that lead to another part of the realm and must have been sealed before they hit the button. The tunnel brought them to an area that was mostly water, with some places for them to walk on, a cage that needed to be opened, which one of the dragonflies was currently trapped inside by some magic, and an underwater section that the group had known was coming up at some point, meaning they had to clear out the area and then unlock the gate, hence the reason Spike loosed a burst of Ice Shards that struck down an Idol and a Tourist Riptoc that were to their right, eliminating the guards that were protecting the dragonfly.
The next thing they did was fly over to the other gate that was in the area, bypassing some floating platforms that they felt could be flotation devices in some manner, before Ember spun around and struck down the Tourist Riptoc that was in front of them, something that opened the way for them to talk to the Pig Tourist that was stuck in the cage, but since they knew the situation none of them felt the need to really talk to someone at the moment and headed to their right, as that seemed to be the most reasonable area for them to explore. They quickly discovered that the button for the next gate was located on a cliff that was on the other side of the area, one that didn't have a normal path for them to use, to which they dived into the water and dealt with the Scuba Riptocs that happened to be underwater, no doubt guarding a hidden path or looking for dragonflies, and once their enemies had been dealt with the group collected the gems that were around them and kept their eyes open for anything that might help them out. Eventually their search yielded a cave that they could use, one that brought them to an area that had a few straw baskets and some metallic vases, and once the gems in the small area were collected it was easy to find a stone ladder that resembled the ones the group had used in the past, though at the top they found another cage and realized there was a second button in the area for them to press, to let this Pig Tourist out. Fortunately it appeared that the button for this cage was resting right behind them, as there was a ledge where two of the Tourist Riptocs happened to be standing and Spyro wasted no time in striking it down with a burst of fire, allowing the others to collect the gems that were in the area and, more importantly, press the button they had been guarding, which opened the gate they had just discovered and caused the Pig Tourist to cheer.
With that done the group headed for the tunnel that the Pig Tourist had been locked away inside and discovered that it brought them to where the other button rested, allowing Ember to smash it and open the gate that was resting on the other side of the area, freeing the trapped individual that was inside it, before they smashed some straw baskets, picked up the gems that had been inside them, and then used the wooden platform that was to the right of the button to jump over to the next ledge that was in the area. From there they used a second wooden platform to jump over to where two of the Idols were wandering, where Ember smashed one into the ground and Spike froze the second so one of the others could break it with a swing of their tail or a swift kick from Elora, before discovering that their enemies had been guarding a button that just so happened to go to the cage that the dragonfly was in, releasing it from the cell the Riptocs had put it in when they invaded the world. Once the gate was open the group paused for a moment as the dragonfly flew up to the area the five of them were standing in and let Spike send it back to Nestor and the others, though once that was done they turned their attention to the stone ladder that was in front of them and climbed it rather quickly, where they found one of the Challenge Gates waiting for them and Spike was able to determine that it was another 'strike the target' type, which just so happened to be what the rest of them had been, hence the reason he, Spyro, Cynder, and Ember rushed through it and took to the air as they noticed three wooden masks appear all around the upper parts of this section of the realm, which made it really easy for the four of them to determine what their targets were. As such the four of them took a moment to decide on what they were doing and that ended with Cynder returning to the Challenge Gate and landed to the right of Elora, which allowed Spyro, Spike, and Ember to fly around the area they were in and strike the masks, which ended up moving the two platforms that were in the water up to the area they were in, something that was followed by Cynder jumping over the pair of now floating platforms and found a dragonfly waiting at the end, who flew over to her and followed her back to the Challenge Gate.
Once the others returned to the pair Spike made sure to send the third dragonfly of this realm back to the others, and that just so happened to be when the platforms returned to normal, before they made sure the area around them had no more gems for them to collect, and neither did the platform below them, and then glided down to the location of the first Pig Tourist they had found in this area, who cheered as they entered the tunnel he had been trapped in and headed for the next section of this realm. On the other side of the tunnel they found another section of the realm that was mostly under the water, not that anyone was surprised by this, and this time around it appeared that there was an impressive ruin of some kind in the middle of the water, so what they did was let Elora smash the Idol that was in front of them while Ember smashed the metallic vases that were to their left, before they dived into the water. The group split up for a couple of moments as they smashed through the Scuba Riptocs that were scattered all over the place and made sure to pick up all of the gems that were around them, just like they had done whenever they entered a new section of a realm, before Spike amended their earlier thoughts, as the ruin was just some pillars that formed a path that might lead to another part of the realm, and it wasn't long before they burst out of the water and landed on an area that had an Idol that happened to be guarding some straw baskets and metallic vases. From there they found some stone ladders that allowed them to reach an area that a Tourist Riptoc was standing in, where Elora kicked it in the side of its head to take it down, before the five of them jumped over to the stone ladder that was across a small gap and climbed it up to where an Idol was standing, one that was smashed by a Lightning Bolt to the chest, allowing the others to collect the gems before they glided through the air and landed on a raised section of stone that was just above the water.
It was there that they found a Tourist Riptoc that just so happened to be guarding the fourth dragonfly of this realm, though when they made that discovery Spyro and Cynder smashed into its chest and took it down, allowing Spike to use his magic to send the dragonfly to safety while Ember and Elora collected the gems that were around them, before they returned to the water and headed for the ruined path they had seen earlier, once more choosing to ignore the portal that would lead them to the first side section of this realm, as it would be done once the rest of the realm was no longer being threatened by all of the enemies they were fighting. What they found, as they explored the ruined path, was that someone had put up some nets under the water, no doubt intending on catching some fish or the five of them, so they took it nice and slow as they moved through the underwater tunnel, which was rather short since they came to another underwater section of the realm, just like the last one they had been in, so their first order of business was charging their way through the water and struck down the couple of Scuba Riptocs that were scattered all over the area, before collecting the gems as each of them resurfaced near a stone covered area. The first thing they did was smash the couple of metallic vases that were near the stones, while Cynder headbutted the Tourist Riptoc that was nearby so Elora could kick it into the ground, which allowed them to access the stone ladder that was behind their foe and used it to ascend to another section of this area, one that had a pair of Idols guarding it, a number of straw baskets to break and a number of gems to pick up, and a button they suspected would lower the gate that was right next to it.
As it turned out they were right to press the button, as the Pig Tourist thanked them for releasing him and one of the missing dragonflies of this realm, the fifth one, flew over to them, where the individual they had freed would see it like a reward that it was giving them, before Spike sent it back to the others and they continued to explore the rest of the area, as there was more to do before they even considered moving towards the next part of the realm, even though they had to be getting close to the area that the exit portal rested in. Once that was done they flew through the air and found another dragonfly that was on one of the wooden platforms, hence the reason Spyro flew a bit further and quickly flamed down the Tourist Riptoc who was standing behind it so Spike could land and send the sixth dragonfly of this realm back to the castle the others were being sent to, before they walked along the rest of the wooden walkway that was in front of them, took out an Idol that was standing in their way, and then came to a stop on a ship, a larger one than the one they had used to get to this realm, which had a cannon on its deck. The cannon, once ignited, loosed a cannonball that smashed the fallen rocks to pieces and revealed a small cave that a dragonfly and some metallic vases had been trapped inside, either due to the Riptocs trapping them inside it or this being where Ripto's magic sent it and the couple of vases had been in there when it arrived, though it didn't take them long to fly over to the cave, send the seventh dragonfly back to the others, and then smash the metallic vases for the gems that were inside them, before heading back to where the last Pig Tourist had been imprisoned, as it was time to see what was in the next area of this realm. As it turned out the tunnel in question contained the exit portal for the realm and brought them back to the starting area of this island, meaning they could just glide over to the area that the other portal to a side section rested in, though it was nice to know that none of the Riptocs would be succeeding in their mission in this realm and that the residents would be able to party or rest without having to worry about intruders for the foreseeable future, since once Ripto was taken down they wouldn't have to worry about any enemies coming to bother them or interrupt what they were currently doing.
In the end the group ended up heading back to the portal they had passed when they were swimming into the final area of this realm and picked it without delay, though when all of them appeared on the other side of the portal they had picked they found that the area around them was either part of the island or another island that was close by, though this one had a massive underwater section to explore, a manta ray that most of them recognized, and, sure enough, Hunter just to happened to be standing nearby, clearly getting ready for something based on the scuba gear that rested near him, and they had an idea on what he could be doing.
"I figured you guys would show up at some point, though I was planning on taking care of some Riptocs with my pet manta ray, Poseidon," Hunter remarked, though at the same time he finished checking the rest of his gear and made sure all of it was put on correctly, while the five of them noticed that the manta ray was outfitted with everything they had seen during their third adventure and maybe a few other things, before they focused on Hunter and wondered how many of the missing dragonflies they would be able to get from this area, "From what I heard the Riptocs have assaulted a manta ray farm that the residents of the realm set up, don't ask me why they have something like this, and this is the area that its located in, so I was going to set things right before I got back to looking for the other dragonflies, even though we might find one once the Riptocs are dealt with."
Instead of saying anything this time around, like they would normally do, Spyro and the others said nothing as Hunter climbed onto his pet manta, quickly made sure that everything was in order as he slipped the mask over his face, which did allow them to notice that his warrior gear was resting nearby so none of it got wet or anything, before he dived under the water and they moved towards the edge of the area so they could see what was going on and if they needed to follow him for some odd reason. There seemed to be a few Scuba Riptocs in the area, just like Hunter said there were, and it did look like there might be a few small octopuses that wanted to prevent Hunter from completing his self imposed mission, though for the most part it looked like Hunter didn't need their help and there wasn't anything for them to collect, so the group remained silent and stretched their wings, or arms in Elora's case, while they watched what was going on around their friend, who was doing quite well on his own.
"You know, he's certainly not the same Cheetah that you guys met a few years ago," Cynder remarked, as she found it odd that such a skilled warrior could have started out as someone who didn't want to fight anything and had preferred to let others do it for him, especially when she recalled what Spike had written on their second adventure and what they had learned during that time period, though now he was likely one of the most skilled warriors in Avalar and she could see that he didn't need help in clearing out something that he could have called a game between him and one of them.
"No, he's not. Hunter is a fine warrior, and excellent pilot, and one of our best friends," Spyro said, though he and his siblings, not to mention Elora, knew what Cynder was talking about, as it did seem like just meeting and seeing the three of them in action had been enough to convince Hunter to grow up and take a more active role in protecting Avalar, which had spread to Elora since she had developed into a fine warrior as well, even if she was more used to using her arms and legs, instead of whatever weapons were near her, but that was when he glanced back down at what was in front of them and knew that the Riptocs would be taken care of in no time.
A few moments later Hunter surfaced and pulled the mask off his face, where he pulled himself off Poseidon and took a second to give his manta ray a treat, though once that was done he smiled for a moment as he faced the group, meaning he must have found the eighth dragonfly of this realm, which would make sense given what they had seen so far, and that it would come to them once everything was said and done, hence the reason the group remained at the read as Hunter got ready to reveal what was going on.
"Those Riptocs didn't stand a chance against us," Hunter remarked, though at the same time he reached into his pack for a moment and withdrew his hand, where the group found a spherical container that had a dragonfly inside it, showing them that the enemies Hunter had taken down had been carrying the next dragonfly, before he handed it over and Elora opened the container in a few seconds, as it was rather easy to do so, before Spike sent it back to the others, "and we were able to recover one of the dragonflies, so things are looking up for us."
"Good job Hunter, you were great out there," Elora replied, as that was the truth of the matter, their friend had been able to deal with the enemies on his own, even though he had his pet manta ray helping him take the Riptocs down, and she suspected that the more time he spent with Spike and his siblings the greater his skills would become, though it was clear that there wasn't anything else for them to say, to which the group bid Hunter and Poseidon farewell and took off from the island that they had discovered Hunter on, so they could head back to the main part of the realm and see what the other side section had to offer them.
When they returned to the main part of Luau Island the group took to the air and returned to the starting area and found one more Tourist Riptoc to take down, before they collected the rest of the gems that were in the area, where Spike felt that they might have found nine hundred throughout the entire realm, and headed through the portal and reappeared in an area that had what the group had to assume was a concert area of some kind, consisting of drums and four Idols that seemed to be drummers, who outright challenged the four dragons. As such Spyro stood at the head of the pack, to mimic the head of the pack of drummers, Spike stood diagonally to his brother's left, Ember did the same to Spyro's right, and Cynder brought up the rear as the four of them faced the drummers, while Elora stood off to the side and watched what was going to happen so Spike could have the best notes on what happened and how long it took them to master the art that was apparently being turned into a test. Once all of them were in position the Idols started, sounding the first note and waited for one of them to follow, before they sounded the first and second note so the group could follow them and perform the song that they were trying to teach them, even though it was pretty easy to follow what they were doing since there were four of them and four of the Idols, meaning all the group had to do was memorize the movements their own Idol was doing and follow the pattern that was being established. As it turned out the Idols had them do five movements before cheering, somehow earning them the ninth dragonfly of this realm, even though the group was sure that they would have been forced to do more before earning the right to rescue one of the dragonflies, before the Idols started a second set of notes that seemed a little more complex than what the first one was, mostly in the sense of it being nine notes that were in a different order than the first song.
In the end the group were able to complete the second song and walked away with the ninth and tenth dragonflies that could have been found in Luau Island, so Spike sent them back to Nestor and the others before they headed for the exit portal, as it was time for them to see which realm they could pick next and tackle the challenges that it had to offer them, all while their allies focused on opening the way to where Ripto was hiding so they could put an end to his schemes and restore order to Castle Hills and the realms that were connected to it.
Once Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to Castle Hills, in the dock area that was near the farm and the honey area they hadn’t been to yet, they walked away from the ship they had reappeared on when they headed through Luau Island’s exit portal and quickly made their way towards the castle that seemed to be resting in the middle of this island, based on everything they had seen since this adventure had started, and found that Bruno and the others were making sure all of the dragonflies that had been recovered, before they rejoined their partners. Considering that some of them had been in some odd areas when the group recovered them, like taken by Space Riptocs or captured by Tourist Riptocs, it made sense that the Leader of the Beast Makers would make sure all of them were fine and that any injuries were healed before allowing them to leave the area of the castle that they appeared in, due to Spike’s magic, and headed out to find the hatchlings that they had been paired with earlier, when the celebration started and before Ripto arrived. This allowed the five of them to see that they had rescued a good number of dragonflies, thirty-six of them based on Spike’s calculations and the fact that each land of this island, be it the main homeworld or the realms, seemed to have ten dragonflies, where he came to that conclusion based on what they had seen in Dragonfly Dojo, Crop Circle Country, and Luau Island, and he was sure the same could be said for the rest of the realms, given that they knew that ninety dragonflies had been displaced by Ripto’s spell. At the same time this allowed the group to see that Nestor and the other adult dragons were pleased with their progress in assisting the realms of Castle Hills, not to mention rescuing all of the dragonflies that had been displaced, which put a smile on their faces as they started to move out of the area and head for the next realm that needed assistance, even though there was one stop they needed to make before they reached the portal that was their destination.
Their stop was the crystalline dragon statue that was resting near the castle, where Spike removed the jade fragment they had recovered from Luau Island and carefully slipped it back into one of the slots that were in front of them, knowing that it really didn’t do anything for the four of them or Elora, before they walked away from the statue and headed for the structure that rested on the earthen pillar that was near the castle, where they found that the small bear that was standing up there, who was dressed in pajamas, was exhausted, like he didn’t get a good night’s sleep or something.
“Hooray, you guys did it! You got the swirly thing to work again!” the Teddy Bear exclaimed, his tone revealing that he had no idea that he was standing next to a portal between his realm and the land that was around them, though at the same time Spike wasn’t about to correct him, due to the fact that there were some people in this world that reallyly didn’t understand portal magic and he knew his explanations would be lost on individuals like the Teddy Bear that was in front of them, before he focused on them again, as in there was one or two more things for him to tell them before they headed to Cloud 9, “Go ahead, step right into the swirly thing and it will take you into the clouds… though I hope none of you get dizzy easily, as its rather easy for it to happen to those that use it and it happened to be once. I actually got dizzy once and almost lost my ham and sheep sandwich when that happened… did I really just say ‘ham and sheep sandwich’?”
“Yeah, you did say that… though I wonder if Alvar can make some of those, with cheese and his usual spin on all the ingredients he usually uses.” Cynder remarked, answering the question while at the same time taking a moment to think about some of the wonderful food that Alvar had made in the past, as he was a great chef and, by this time in time, she truly understood why Spyro and the others liked his cooking so much, even though all of them were likely thinking about lunch and when they might take a break to eat something, just so they weren’t running on empty in the near future, which was when she glanced at the others, “Spyro, what are your thoughts on the matter?”
“First, we’ll help Cloud 9 and figure out what’s going on,” Spyro replied, though he knew why Cynder had asked the question in the first place, as they had used a good amount of energy since Ripto had shown up and displaced ninety of the dragonflies, which was impressive due to the fact that Spike and Bianca had used their magic to protect everyone that was outside the castle, and none of them had taken a break since this adventure had started, so he knew that, at some point, they would have to rest for a few moments and recover their energy before tackling the next realm, “then we’ll come back, take a short break, and then pick out which realm we’ll tackle next, since the Riptocs have to be bothering the residents of the remaining realms we haven’t been to yet.”
Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora nodded their heads in agreement before they followed Spyro into the magic that was inside the structure that the Teddy Bear was currently standing near, where each of them disappeared as they headed for Cloud 9, the next realm that they would be tackling, and quickly reappeared in what seemed to be the starting area for this particular realm, which was a circular area that rested in a temple, or outside a temple, that just so happened to be resting in the clouds, which was rather interesting as they glanced around the area they were in. One of the first things they noticed, and that wasn’t counting all of the rather nice stonework that went into making the temple, which actually reminded the majority of the palaces from the realms of Scorch and Shady Oasis, was the orange scaled Riptoc that was wearing green armor and, interestingly enough, a fake halo above its head, like it was an angel or something, which made it easy for them to label it as an Angel Riptoc. In fact, based on the shapes of the openings that they could see, it was easy for some of them, namely Spyro and Ember, to wonder if this realm, Cloud 9, could have been part of the same desert that made up the area that both Scorch and Shady Oasis resided in, but Spike was the one that revealed such a thing wasn’t what had happened, as it appeared that the Teddy Bears had built this realm in the clouds and might have been inspired by one of the lands they had seen in the past. Besides, Elora was the resident expert on all of the realms of Avalar, even though Spike rivaled her knowledge on the matter, and she had to agree that this place wasn’t connected to the realms in question, which was why Spyro, Cynder, and Ember nodded their heads and started to move, as it was easy to waste time talking, when they could be using the time for other matters, like talking to the nearby Teddy Bear and learn what was going on.
“Hey guys, I’ve got some bad news: the Riptocs have invaded our palace and, at the same time, have sabotaged the machines that powered our hourglass,” the Teddy Bear said, though none of them were even a tiny bit surprised by the fact that their new enemies were bothering this realm, as it seemed like Ripto had sent all of his Riptocs out to bother the various realms of Castle Hills and that they would no doubt find more of the gem creations in the next couple of realms that stood between them and their true foe, before the Teddy Bear shifted his stance for a moment, like he had more to say, “without the hourglass, none of us can sleep… but your electric powers might be able to turn everything back on and restore our realm to what it was before these Riptocs started bothering us.”
“Got it, we’ll take care of the Riptocs and restore the machines to their full capability,” Spyro replied, as he was following the pattern they had established back during their second adventure, talking to the first resident of the realm he had picked out, since he was the leader and it appeared that the others were still following his decisions, before tackling the enemies and challenges of the various realms that they were exploring, and the same would be happening in this realm, before he nodded his head and the five of them moved out to see what sort of enemies they would have to fight this time around, especially after what they had seen in the last couple of realms.
The first thing the group did was carefully collect the gems that were resting on the platform that served as the starting point for this realm, a platform that was square shaped and had four points that were facing the north, south, east, and west, where each point happened to be the same length, though the reason behind them trying to be safe was due to the lack of railings that were on the edges of the area, so they quickly collected all of the gems and even smashed a straw basket or two, before they left the starting area and started to explore the rest of the realm. With that area cleared out the group walked down the bridge that was in front of them and entered the area the Angel Riptoc was standing in, which just so happened to be the moment that Elora rushed forward and kicked her target in the middle of its chest, before spinning for a second to kick the back of its head, knocking it forward as its head crashed into the ground, causing a gem to appear before them as the majority of the group collected the gems that were around them and broke a few more straw baskets. While they did that Spike found another fragment of the jade statue that rested outside the main castle of Castle Hills, one that happened to have the symbol for Ice etched into it, so he picked it up and pocketed it inside his satchel, where he understood that if none of them had access to the Ice element this would have given them that power for the Elemental Lock, before he closed the satchel as he rejoined the others.
From there it appeared that they had two options on where to go, glide over to the structure that was to their left or head over the short walkway that was to their right and see what was inside the building it was connected to, though Spyro picked the structure that was to their left and flew over to it, which was followed by the others doing the same thing as they reached the flat area of the structure and found that there were a few gems for them to collect, along with a whirlwind that would allow them to reach the upper part of the structure. As such the group made sure to pick up the gems and smash the straw baskets that were around the area, even making sure to walk down a few steps to clear out a slightly lower area, before regrouping at the area that the whirlwind was in and stepped into it, allowing it to take them to the second floor of the structure, which was more like a walkway than an actual floor, where the five of them spread out and collected the gems that were around them, before pausing as they noticed that there was a device on the next structure, one that looked oddly similar to the sonic weapons of Crop Circle Country. Spike had the feeling that the form of the weapon had been mass produced by someone in one of the realms, no doubt to keep costs down by the looks of things, while each realm had a different function for their versions of the sonic weapons, so this realm was likely going to have them power something, likely the hourglass the Teddy Bear had mentioned during his explanation on what was happening to this realm, but the only way they would figure out what was going on would be by activating it with their Lightning powers. When the five of them landed on the next platform it was easy for them to repeat what they had done so far, pick up the gems and smash any straw baskets that were in the area, before using another whirlwind to move up to the top of the new structure and stop in front of the oddly placed sonic weapon that was resting in front of them, even though that was when Spyro loosed a burst of his Lightning Breath and quickly restored the machine’s power to it, so they could see what it really did.
What happened next was that the machine shifted for a moment, so that the center of the head of the device was pointed at something else, before a beam of energy was loosed through the air and struck something off in the distance, where they followed the bronze colored beam of energy and noticed that it was hitting what appeared to be a massive hourglass, one that was resting just beyond their reach, or at least it seemed that way at the moment and might become more clear as they advanced through this realm.
“I see, they’re messing with Time magic… or, if not that, they have a relic that controls time,” Spike said, as he was taking the moment to study what they were seeing right now and what he could feel, since he was the one that was the most attuned to magic, out of the five of them, and he was sure he was feeling something that was akin to the Chronicler’s powers, which explained why the Teddy Bears were unable to sleep, at least to a degree, “they’ve become attuned with Time magic, not to the degree that the Chronicler is capable of wielding anyway, and since their machines are turned off the Time magic that is tied to this realm has been messed up, causing the residents of this realm to lose sleep and… well, who knows what else might happen if the hourglass is turned off for too long.”
The others glanced at each other for a moment and knew that Spike was already thinking about what might happen to Cloud 9 if the main time manipulating artifact was turned off for too long, especially if the residents were already feeling the effects of the hourglass being deactivated or suspended, and they knew that if things progressed too far they would call in the Chronicler to fix things, given his power over Time itself, but they were hoping that things didn’t get that far. Once they were done clearing out the area that was around the first of the Time manipulating machines, and all five of them were sure there were no more gems for them to pick up, they flew over to the next structure and cleared it of gems and a few straw baskets, before landing on the next structure, which had a whirlwind that really didn’t do much other than give them a few more gems, before they returned to the first whirlwind structure, due to the fact that there was a moving platform between the second floor and the structure that was above the starting area. The only reason they bothered with the platform was because one of the portals that would take them to the side sections of the realm were up there, so it let them know where to go once they figured out how to fix things in this realm, so they dropped down into the area that the first foe of this realm had been standing in and headed for the other building so they could progress through the rest of Cloud 9 and fix whatever was going on as they looked for the dragonflies, even though it was a little odd that they hadn’t seen any of them so far, which would change soon enough.
As they soon discovered there was only two paths for them to pick from as they entered the first part of the other building that was near the starting area of this realm, the one that would allow them to head deeper into the realm and the one they had used to enter the building, so the group kept their eyes open as they picked up a few gems, smashed a few straw baskets, and shattered one or two metallic vases, all while keeping an eye out for dragonflies, enemies, and the other machines that needed to be powered before ruin came to this realm. That was when they discovered a second type of Riptoc that was invading this realm, which was common since most of the other realms had one or two types of Riptocs bothering the various residents, and this one was wearing what appeared to be the attire of a cupid, mostly a gown or dress while carrying a bow, though it did have blue scales and, based on what they could see, pretty bad aim since it missed Elora, who barely moved as their foe fired at her, which happened to be when Spike loosed a Fireball that blew it up and opened the way forward. There were also two of the Angel Riptocs beyond where the Cupid Riptoc had been standing, where Ember rushed forward and spun through the air as she collided with the first one, crushing it into the ground, opening the way for Elora to rush forward and kick her foe in the side of its head, allowing them to drop their foes while the others collected the gems that had been lining the walkway that the three enemies had been standing on, before discovering a hallway that would take them deeper into the realm and would let them locate the other machines that needed to be turned back on.
There was one of the Cupid Riptocs lingering in the hallway, though it didn’t stand much of a chance against the group as Spyro rushed forward and jumped into the air to avoid the incoming arrow, though his target was something else as he unsheathed his blade for a moment and cut his target’s weapon in half, opening the way for Cynder to barrel into its chest and knock it to the ground, earning a gem for their efforts and allowed them to move deeper into the territory that their enemies controlled, despite the fact that the realm would be returned to the Teddy Bears soon enough. The hallway eventually came to a large chamber that had some water in front of them and a path leading to the upper part of the structure that they were now in, hence the reason Ember dived into the water to collect the gems while Spyro lead the others up the square shaped stairs that lead the way to an opening, one that had to lead outside, though Spike shocked the Cupid Riptoc who was guarding the stairs with a Lightning Bolt, so the others could continue forwards. It didn’t take Ember long to burst out of the water and land on one of the square sections that the others had been walking on, and jumping over since there were gaps between certain steps, before she spotted two of the Cupid Riptocs on the highest point of the stairs and flapped her wings as she took off, slamming her tail into the first one before spinning around to loose a burst of fire on the second one to take it down.
Once the others caught up with her they walked out of the structure they had been walking in and found that the area in front of them was slightly larger than the first area of this realm they had explored, or at least it seemed to be that way, and while there were a few enemies in this area the group could also see one of the machines that they were looking for, along with a Teddy Bear that was standing near a structure, one that was either important to get them to the machine or would allow them to get somewhere else in this area. The first thing the group did was take down the enemies that were in front of them, which was why Elora and Spike beat up the pair of Angel Riptocs that were in their way, the former jumping over the incoming attack and kicking her foe in the chest while the latter froze his foe with a burst of his Ice Breath and then smashed the ice in seconds, allowing them to clear the area of immediate enemies, save for a Thief that was wearing red robes and a small storm cloud that looked like it had been given life. Spike, seeing the storm cloud, which looked like it wanted a piece of one of them, weaved his magic into the area between them and cut off the magic that was fueling it, as it seemed that this realm was definitely under the effects of the massive hourglass being deactivated, if everything else wasn’t enough to convince him of that, and a gem landed where the Storm Cloud had been floating, allowing him to collect it as Cynder crashed into the back of the Thief, who coughed up a wand for them to take, leaving Ember and Elora to smash the metallic vases around them and collect the gems that were in the area.
As it turned out the wand was for the Teddy Bear that was near them, who seemed happy to have it back and used it to activate a whirlwind for them to use, or a ‘swirly’ as they apparently called them in this realm, but the group didn’t really need it as the four dragons opened their wings and flew up to the tops of the structures that were in this area while Elora jumped up to where they were standing, which was when they found a few Cupid Riptocs standing in their way and a dragonfly that was waiting for someone to come and rescue it. While Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora focused on taking down the couple of enemies that were in front of them, and made sure to pick up all of the gems that were resting on the tops of the structures, Spike made sure to send the first dragonfly of this realm back to where the others were resting, so it could be counted among those that had been saved and returned to the young dragon that was its partner, before they regrouped and headed for the end of the structures, which was when they found a rainbow that had been turned into a walkway that would allow someone to reach the area the second machine was in, even though the group simply flew over to it. In that moment Spyro gathered his magic and loosed a burst of his Lightning Breath to power the time manipulating machine while the others smashed the metallic vases to get at the gems that were inside them, where Spike made sure to watch as a second beam joined the first one in the air, signifying that they had done what needed to be done and that it was time to move on to find the third and however many machines were left before the hourglass was restored to its former glory.
With the second machine turned on, and Spike was sure of it, the group headed back to where the one Storm Cloud had been floating and entered the hallway that was just beyond where Spike had found it, where they followed the new path since they had cleared out the previous one, though at the same time they knew that finding the dragonflies that were in this realm was going to be a challenge, because back during their adventure in Avalar the later realms had more interesting methods for them to acquire the Orbs and the same had been true in Avilion, and it seemed that it might be true for Castle Hills. The hallway had a few gems for them to collect, which they did as each of them kept an eye open for enemies, but in the end they were able to reach a building that seemed like the one that lead them to the second machine, even though it wasn’t actually the first building and the area around it wasn’t the first area of this realm, but that didn’t stop Spike from spotting a lone Angel Riptoc and shocked it with a Lightning Bolt, allowing the others to collect the gems as they moved further into the next section of this realm. At the very end of the path they were following the group found that this part of the realm was definitely different than the other two areas they had passed through earlier, though as they flew over to the next platform, and Spike released a Storm Cloud from what was going on as the others smashed a lone Cupid Riptoc right into the ground, all of them were already looking for the next machine or the path that would take them to their destination.
As soon as they finished clearing out that structure the group glided to the next one and Spike freed the Storm Cloud that was in the middle of the area, allowing his siblings and Elora to smash the couple of metallic vases that were around them, before they headed to the next structure and dealt with the next foe, yet another Storm Cloud, before collecting the gems that were resting all over the area, even if they were still surprised by the lack of dragonflies in this realm. It was easy for them to see that this structure had one of the whirlwinds that would allow them to head up to the next floor, which was why the five of them cleared out the gems and smashed a few straw baskets before even accessing the whirlwind and went up to the next level of the structure, where they quickly found one of the Angel Riptocs standing guard over the floor and noticed a moving platform that moved to where the third machine was located. Once they knew what was around them it was easy for the group to clear out the area by having Ember smash their foe into the ground, while Spike, Cynder, and Elora picked up all of the gems that it had been guarding, allowing Spyro to fly over to the third machine and use his Lightning Breath to power it back up, adding a third beam to the hourglass, though Spike felt nothing different and had to wonder how many more machines rested throughout the realm. From there the group noticed that there was a dragonfly on some of the pillars that had been on the previous structures they had walked through earlier, hence the reason Spyro flew over to it while the others were collecting the rest of the gems and had it follow him back to where Spike was waiting, so he could use his magic to send the second dragonfly of this realm back to the others, though as soon as that was done the group found another platform that seemed to lead to an area that no doubt lead to another part of the realm, which was why they used it and moved out of the area.
Interestingly enough the group found a hallway on the platform the moving one brought them to, where it was easy to find a third dragonfly waiting for them and Spike sent it back to Nestor and the others, which was followed by the five of them moving through the hallway, collecting the gems that were along the way, and found that there were no enemies to worry about, before discovering that there was a ramp at the end of the hallway and that it lead to higher point of this part of the realm, a ramp that was raised like the one chamber they had been in earlier. For now all they found some gems and some metallic vases along the way, meaning all they could do was collect the gems and smash the vases, before finding that there was a Angel Riptoc guarding a Challenge Gate, though such a foe didn't stand much of a chance against them as Spyro blasted it with a burst of his Fire Breath, opening the way for them to access the gateway in question and they did spot a Teddy Bear standing nearby, along with the fact that there was a pool of water behind it. From what it looked like the challenge was to use the gate and empower themselves, so they could mess with the Storm Clouds that were resting above the water, though while Spyro activated the gateway it was just a cover as Spike weaved his magic through the air and dispelled all of them, breaking the spell that was resting on them and freed the fourth dragonfly from where it was being held, allowing Spike to send it along as well while the area returned to normal, hence the reason Cynder and Ember dived into the water to smash the glass vases that happened to be resting in front of them. While they did that Spike took a moment to note that the fourth machine rested near their location, meaning that another one was going to be turned on in the near future, and it wasn't long before Cynder and Ember returned to them, revealing that there was a path under the water and that it lead up to the area that the machine rested in, so while the pair headed through that path the rest of the group flew through the air to reach the other side.
Once the five of them were back together they collected the gems that were in the area and made sure to smash a few straw baskets, before gliding over to the platform the next machine was resting on and found a Cupid Riptoc next to it, so Spyro took out two birds with one stone as he loosed a burst of his Lightning Breath, which slammed into their foe and empowered the machine at the same time, where they watched as it fired a beam of energy at the hourglass, before they bothered to jump over to the final platform of the area, which connected to the main palace they had learned about at the start of their visit to this realm, where Spike shocked a Cupid Riptoc and Elora kicked an Angel Riptoc into the ground, so they could approach the Teddy Bear that seemed to be guarding Cloud 9's exit portal.
"Hooray, you guys reactivated the hourglass and restored its magic to our realm!" the Teddy Bear exclaimed, showing that he must have been watching their progress through this point of the realm and that he was happy with what they had done to assist the residents of the realm, though that was when he reached into a pouch that he happened to be carrying and withdrew one of the dragonflies that they were looking for, the fifth one based on what they knew, who flew over to them so Spike could send it back to the others, "Now we can finally sleep in peace."
With the fifth dragonfly saved the group explored the area that was around the exit portal and eventually made their way through the path that went through the palace, making sure to pick up all the gems and smash a few straw baskets that were around the area, before discovering a platform at the end of the path and some ladders that would allow them to move to a higher point, so Ember took care of the lone platform, which seemed to be a way for them to glide down to the starting point of this realm, while the others collected any gems that were around them. From there the group took a few moments to climb up the metallic ladders and looked out at the area they brought the five of them to, where it was easy to find a room full of machines and the sixth dragonfly of this realm, so what they did was let Spike send it back to the others as they checked out what else was in the area, especially since they had no idea where the second exit portal was resting, since that was the only thing they were missing at the moment. With that done the group climbed up some of the gears and a ladder that was at the end of the path, before using a second set of gears to reach a side section that held a short path that lead to a portal, hence the reason they headed through it and reappeared on the top of the palace, which appeared to be under attack from Riptocs or something, based on the ships that were flying around the area, which was why they walked over to the Teddy Bear that was standing nearby.
"Please, you guys have to help us... the Puffy Palace is under attack!" the Teddy Bear exclaimed, which was easy for the group to see as they stared at the four larger wooden ships, which had to have metal mixed into it, and some smaller metal ships that were more like some of the ships they had seen in the past, during their visits to the other side sections of the various realms, though that was around the time that Spike chuckled for a moment as he understood what he was seeing at the moment, "Um... I fail to understand what's funny about this situation."
"Easy, those ships are toast," Spike stated, where he gathered his magic for a moment and sent it out over the rest of the area that was around them, where Spyro and the others watched as the clouds shifted into storm clouds and several lightning serpents, smaller forms of the one spell Spyro and Ember had seen a few times in the past, quickly burst out of the clouds and slammed into the larger ships with ease, blowing all of them up in the process as he turned to look at the rest of the group, "Serpents of Lightning, a lesser version of my favorite Lightning spell, but more than enough to take down all of the larger ships that are attacking this area."
Spyro and the others chuckled for a moment as they took off and flew out to make sure the lesser ships were taken care of, or if they were still in the air the group would smash them in a matter of seconds, where Spike watched as the rest of their enemies fell in a matter of moments and the Teddy Bear revealed that he had found a dragonfly, the seventh, who flew over to Spike and was send back to the others in due time, before the others returned to his side and they departed for the main realm once more, as there was one dragonfly missing before they bothered with the first side section, which would be where the remaining two would be waiting for them. As it turned out the eighth dragonfly was just outside the entrance that allowed them to access the gear room that the sixth dragonfly had been located in, who joined them and was sent back to the others without delay, though once Spike did that the group took to the air and flew back to the start of the realm, where they entered the portal and headed for the last area of this realm, so they could find the remaining dragonflies and then head for the next realm. When they appeared in the side section of the realm a smile appeared on Spyro's face, as he could see that they were in what seemed to be another Flight Realm, a Speedway, and he barely waited for Spike to say anything as he took off and raced over to the area that the racers were waiting in, though it was hard to tell if this place was a rainbow factory or some other machine that was important to the Teddy Bears, but they knew that it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Spike informed the rest of the group that this was Rainbow Speedway and the four obstacles they needed to take care of were the rings, the yellow stars that rested all over the area, some Riptocs that were racing on the rainbows, and some Riptocs that were using planes to fly through the air, which was why the group did the set of rings together before separating to tackle the other obstacles, all while Spyro followed the racers as they showed him the course and smiled as he overtook the one that was in front of him.
Soon enough the group returned to the starting area of this part of the realm and noticed that the ninth dragonfly was waiting for them, showing that they had overcome the first challenge of the area, before watching as Spyro finished the race and gained the tenth dragonfly as well, which was when Spike sent the last two dragonflies back to the others and joined the others as they headed for the exit portal, as Spyro was going to have them pause for a few moments and get a snack before they headed off to deal with the next realm that the Riptocs happened to be messing with.
The first thing the group did when they returned to the main part of Castle Hills was head back to the castle and grabbed some of the food that Alvar had set out for them, no doubt knowing that they had expanded a great deal of energy and that they would need a bit of rest before they headed out into the other part of the homeworld they were exploring, which would allow the group to see the other couple of realms that were attached to this land before they forced open Ripto's portal and dealt with the villain that had come to bother them this year. While that happened Spike made sure to deliver the fragment he had picked up during their visit to Cloud 9, just to make sure the jade statue was as complete as it could possibly be, something that was sure to appease the residents of the realms since this appeared to be somewhat important to them, before rejoining the others as they regained their energy, even though they knew Spyro was waiting to see what realms were next before he came to a decision on what to do next. Ember, of course, was ready for anything and everything that they might encounter in the next realm that they decided to tackle, not that the others were surprised by that fact, while at the same time Elora and Cynder were eager to recover the remaining dragonflies that were scattered throughout the last couple of realms that were in this island, not to mention the few that were in Castle Hills as a whole, as they were sure that there were a few more somewhere in this part of the island. Spike's estimates showed that they had to be halfway done with their quest, as he was positive that they had recused more than forty-five dragonflies, though he was sure that forty of them were scattered throughout the remaining four realms and the others would be somewhere in this homeworld, they just had to keep an eye out and rescue them accordingly.
Once they were done eating and resting, Spyro got up from the area that they had been sitting in and headed for the path that rested near the portal to Dragonfly Dojo, the one that would lead him and the others into the mountain, even if that meant jumping over a small gap to get up there, and it wasn't long before they reached the curved passage and came to the other Elemental Lock they had seen when they were first exploring the area, the one that would be broken with a burst of the Ice Element, hence why he used his Ice Breath to break it so they could move forward. With the lock broken, and the gate opened, the group moved into the next part of the homeworld and followed the path that was on the other side of the structure the Elemental Lock had been attached to, where they made sure to collect the gems that were in front of them while Spike pulled out the Guidebook to check which realms they would be seeing in the next few moments, just so he could inform the others. It didn't take them long to reach a larger area that had a section that looked more like a jungle than the mountain range they were currently exploring, and while they collected the gems and smashed a few straw baskets it was easy to see an ancient structure that looked like a portal had rested in the center of it at one point, one that would reactivate once they rescued more of the missing dragonflies, and speaking of which there happened to be one near the bipedal professor mouse that was in front of the structure. As such the group walked over to where the dragonfly was floating and Spike sent it back to the others, adding another one to the number of those they had rescued since this adventure had started, before the others cleared out the area that was around Jurassic Jungle's portal, as that was the realm this particular portal would take them to in the future, hence the reason they exited the area and returned to the larger area that was right outside the area the structure was resting in.
From there they followed the next mountain pass and came to another large area that was sort of like the one they had just been in, though this time there was a set of stones that were carved into a path, one the group could see was heading to the highest point of this area, possibly the highest point of the entire homeworld, while the area in front of them had a passage of some kind that was carved out of the stone, smoothed down, and even had what could have been large gems added to the pillars that were to the left and right of the passage, even if the siblings knew that the Thieves wouldn't place real gems in an area like this, so they had to be carved out of stone as well. Sure enough on the other side of the short passage there rested a blue robed Thief that seemed to be standing near a magic carpet, or at least that was what the five of them thought they were seeing at the moment, though resting in front of the passage was one of the Challenge Gates, this time looking like an Ice style challenge, and, more importantly, one of the missing dragonflies, where Spike sent it back to the others before Spyro stepped through the pillars of the gate. Interestingly enough eight campfires appeared around the area that they were standing in, so Spyro and Spike separated from the group and focused on putting out the flames, since the two of them were the only ones that could tap into the power of Ice, and while most of their targets were in the area near the portal to Thieves Den, the realm the Thief seemed to be guarding at the moment, a few were back by Jurassic Jungle's portal, which were the ones that Spike focused on. Sure enough when all eight of the campfires had been put out, which had magically appeared when Spyro stepped through the Challenge Gate, another dragonfly came over to the area they were standing in and Spike sent it back to the others, meaning that, by his count on those they had rescued so far, there had to be one more in the homeworld, giving them a grand total of fifty, before they focused on the last couple of realms that needed to be assisted.
With the Challenge Gate cleared, and the entire area cleared of gems, the group climbed up the path that lead them over the passage that would take them to the lone Thief and followed the icy part of it towards the highest point of this island, where they discovered a number of gems to collect, a few straw baskets to break, a wooden structure that looked like it belonged in a monastery, a hot air balloon that was attached to a wooden boat that seemed large enough for the five of them to stand in it, and a monkey that was dressed in white monk robes, meaning it had to be one of the Monkey Monks Spike had read about, and while they approached him the last dragonfly of the area, who had been resting in the center of the wooden structure, flew over to them so it could be sent to the others.
"I don't know what you young ones did, or if something has changed, but you can use my balloon to get to my realm and stop the Riptocs that are attacking it," the Monkey Monk said, showing that he either believed that they had rescued more than enough dragonflies, to restore enough magic to the various portals, which Spike knew to be incorrect, or he felt that the wind or something had changed, allowing him to use the balloon at long last, or at least offer it to them so they could get to his realm and see what was going on.
The group nodded their heads, showing that they were going to see what was going on in Monkey Monastery, before waiting for Spike to send the dragonfly back to the others so they could jump onto the hot air balloon and let it take off from the area that the Monkey Monk was standing in, taking them up into the air before heading for the area that served as the portal between Castle Hills and their destination, as it was time to tackle the next realm Spyro had chosen, due to the fact that it was the only one that appeared to be accessible based on what they had seen so far.
The starting area for the realm they had picked out happened to be similar to the starting area of Dragonfly Dojo, the first realm they had picked out, missing the flooring by the looks of it since it seemed that the ground was mostly stones that were covered by ice, not enough to make them slip and slide all over the place but enough to give them the idea that Ice magic wasn't the best if the ground had a layer covering it, before they realized that the hot air balloon was gone, or at least Cynder was surprised by that since there wasn't one near them, and focused on the area in front of them. From what they could tell the starting area of the realm was stuck between two snow covered mountains and there was a structure some distance in front of them that happened to carry the style of what the Monkey Monks used when crafting the various structures that were all over their home realm, and there was no telling what else was in this realm since the structure seemed to be blocking everything, meaning they had to go through it before they could see anything else. Given the snow that was currently falling as they stood around the starting area, reminding the siblings of when they first visited one of the realms that had been covered in snow and ice, Spike took a moment to make sure all of them had the Heat Aura rune etched on each of them, just like he did whenever they came to a realm like this and used the opposite spell whenever they visited a realm that had an intense heat, before the five of them started to move, as it was time to find a resident of this realm and figure out what the Riptocs were doing. Fortunately there just so happened to be a Monkey Monk standing near the edge of the starting area, who must have tilted his head for a moment and moved it back into position as they walked over to where he was standing, meaning that he must have been studying them and their movements, before the five of them came to a stop in front of him, intending on figuring out what was happening to this realm.
"Those unbalanced Riptocs have invaded our sacred monastery, and, since we practice divine compassion, none of us can raise our hands towards them," the Monkey Monk stated, showing the group that he and the others of his race were more like the Artisans dragons, who practiced the arts and didn't fight like the Peace Keepers did, something that made things a lot easier for them to understand without him actually telling them all that much, before he scratched the back of his head for a moment, "Can you help us?"
"That's why we're here." Spyro replied, to which the others nodded their heads in agreement and walked over to the other side of the starting area, even if that allowed them to pick up a few gems in the process, before they found a gap that rested between the area they were in and the first area of the realm they would be exploring, meaning that the five of them would have to glide over to the area that was in front of the temple and take down the enemies that were in front of it, since they knew that enemies would be waiting for them to interfere with their plans.
As such it didn't take the five of them long to get into the air and glide down to the area that was in front of the temple that was their first destination, where it was easy to find a pair of Mammoths, small creatures which were about as tall as the siblings were, wandering around the area and they huffed when the group approached them, which was why Ember rolled forward and landed on the ground first, before she swung her claws at both of her targets while her inner magic flared, hence the reason a few claw marks appeared on both of them, her Emission technique in action, and she reduced them to gems as the others landed near her. While she did that Spike found the first dragonfly of this realm waiting nearby and sent it back to Nestor and the others, though as he cast the spell he felt it was odd that they had already found the first one of this realm when it had taken them some time to locate the first one during their visit to the previous realm, but he wasn't going to complain about that as the others smashed some metallic vases and collected all the gems that were area the area they were standing in. With the dragonfly secured, and the area cleared out, the group headed for the steps, even if they had to skate over some ice for a few seconds, and found a few ice sculptures that had been carved into the shape of the Monkey Monks and placed on either side of the steps, though they made sure to break the couple of straw baskets that were near the statues before approaching what looked like the temple entrance, which was when they found a passage on their right and that the door was locked, so they headed to the right and moved forward. From there it was easy to find that they would have to jump over another gap and land near a wooden chest that seemed a little out of place to the group, especially given the area that they were in, and that they needed to find a key so the chest could be unlocked and the items inside it could be revealed.
Once they had a chance to study the chest, and understood that a key was necessary to unlock it, the group jumped over to the next part of the path they were following and had to make sure they didn't slide around too much, thanks to the ice that was on the area in question, before finding that it only covered a small area and that the diagonal path that rested nearby was just normal, so it was slightly harder to collect the gems that were in the first area and then they glided to yet another ice covered area that served to let them explore the rest of this realm. The next part of the realm had a few gems resting on the ground and some metallic vases to smash, though that was when they found a Mammoth standing between them and the rest of the enemies that they would be facing during their trek through this realm, as in two types of Riptoc that were slightly different from each other, an orange scaled Riptoc that was carrying a club made of ice while a light yellow scaled Riptoc carried a shield that would no doubt stop their breath attacks from hurting it. The group took a moment to glance at each other and nodded to each other, as it was easy for them to label the new enemies accordingly, with the club enemies being the Club Riptocs and the shield bearing enemies being the Shield Riptocs, though that didn't stop Spike from blasting the Mammoth with a well placed Fireball while Elora dodged an incoming attack and kicked the Club Riptoc in the chest, knocking it backwards as Cynder used her Shadow Play to get behind the Shield Riptoc and struck it down before it should turn its shield towards her. Interestingly enough, as they struck down the foes that were around them, the siblings paused for a moment as they found a young Yeti standing near what appeared to be a house carved out the stone of the mountain and covered in a bit of ice, no doubt keeping the stone together from the looks of it, but the reason they did that was because they recognized the Yeti in question.
"Bartholomew?! What are you doing here?" Spyro asked, because this was Bentley's little brother, who they had seen a few times during their visit to the realms of Avilion, and while they had seen him a few times over the years it was odd to see him here, in a realm that none of them had known about until the Leaders had brought them to Castle Hills and let all of them learn about these lands, so he was interested in seeing if they could gain anything from their friend, even though it did make them wonder if Bentley was nearby and happened to be busy crushing Riptocs.
"Bentley and I were planning on moving here, to Monkey Monastery, so we could learn more about the Yetis that lived during the days that Malefor ruled over Avilion," Bartholomew replied, where it was easy for the group to determine that he was speaking of the Sasquatch Six, the Yetis who had been notoriously difficult for anyone to defeat in racing, as they liked to use shields of some kind to race along areas and it had taken the group a bit to bring them down, or at least the echoes that had been left behind according to what Spike had told the others when they discovered what was going on in the Treasury that the Sorceress had hidden herself in, before the small Yeti rubbed the back of his head, "of course we were planning on revealing this information to you with a surprise party, or at least that was my brother's plan, and then these Riptocs, stupid name by the way, started causing trouble for our new neighbors... by sealing the Yeti that protect the monastery in the ice, and there are five of them from what I've seen."
"Well, we can take care of that." Cynder stated, though at the same time she knew she was going to have to ask Spike about the tale that he had told her in the past, when she asked about their adventure in Avilion, and focus her attention on what he and his siblings had seen during their third adventure, but that was something that she could ask him about later, once they were done taking down Ripto, and it wasn't long before the others nodded their heads in agreement before they left the area that Bartholomew was standing in, who knew that they would do everything in their power to save the day and repel the invading Riptocs.
From there they jumped over to the steps that had been carved into one of the sides of the mountain and made their way up to where a Mammoth was standing, one Spyro took care of with a quick burst of his Fire Breath, though while he did that Elora smashed the couple of metallic vases that were along the way, with them making sure not to leave any in the area outside Bartholomew's new house, before Ember walked over to where a Club Riptoc was standing and let it swing its weapon at her, though instead of activating her Warrior's Armor, like she usually would, she stood still and the attack hit her square on the head, where her base defense shattered the ice club it was carrying. It was disappointing, due to the fact that she and her dragonfly were expecting the attack to do something, but that was followed by her smashing her foe into the side of the mountain and defeating it in a matter of seconds, to which she returned to the others and found that the wall of ice that was near where the Mammoth had been standing had to be a lot thicker than what they were expecting it to be, so instead of wasting his magic to blow it open Spike had them investigate the structure that was near them, since it did look like a cannon was at the end of it all. The first thing they found on the area he wanted them to investigate was one of the Shield Riptocs, though that was when Elora flipped backwards and brought the backside of her right leg down on top of her target's shield, the force of which knocked it down into the ground, before she spun around and kicked it right in the face, allowing a gem to fall as they walked along the ramp it happened to be guarding, finding a Club Riptoc blocking the way forward, which was quickly remedied as Spyro charged right through its defenses.
Of course there were a few more gems for them to pick up along the way, since there were a decent number of them, but interestingly enough those were the only two enemies for them to deal with on this structure and they found one of the Monkey Monks stranded on the top of the structure, near a gap between them and the area that a turret, not a cannon like they originally believed it to be, happened to be resting on, so the five of them stopped in front of the Monkey Monk so they could see what sort of information he had to share with them, all while keeping their guard up in case enemies came at them while they were talking, which likely wasn't going to happen, but it never hurt to be cautious.
"Greetings, young ones. I believe that the turret that rests behind you will aid you in your current quest," the Monkey Monk stated, drawing their attention to the weapon in question, one that seemed out of place considering that they had been told that the residents of this realm were supposed to be peaceful, so a turret like this just seemed out of place to all of them, but none of them said anything to that as the Monkey Monk turned to face them once more, meaning he might have more to say, "though we usually use it for our annual snowball war event... though I'm sure the Riptocs have messed with it, something we'll have to fix once our realm is safe once more."
The group really had nothing to say to that statement, as it sounded like the Monkey Monk wanted them to use the modifications the Riptocs had made to the turret, and the others that were scattered throughout the realm, if there were any more anyway, to make the lives of him and the other Monkey Monks easier, though instead of sticking around Spyro glided over to the platform the weapon rested on while the others collected the gems, both on the structure and on the platform near them, before climbing onto the turret so he could take down all of the ice walls that were blocking the way, in the area that was around them to be exact. There were three ice walls to take down, one to the far left while the other two were right in front of where the turret was resting, one that happened to have a taller Yeti trapped in side resting right behind it, which could be accessed by the whirlwind to their immediate right, while the other seemed to have a path that lead to another part of the realm, so the group waited for Spyro to make short work of the walls and then climbed off the turret once the job was done. From there they flew over to the area that the frozen Yeti was in and flamed the ice that was around him, freeing one of the protectors of this realm from the ice they had been trapped inside, who thanked them for the timely rescue, before they jumped down into the area that the Mammoth had been in earlier and faced the path that was right behind them, as all five of them knew that they would be coming back to this area at some point and that meant they could investigate the other path at some point in the future. As it turned out there was a gap between the area that was on the other side of the ice wall and the next part of the path that they had decided to follow, so they jumped over it and kept themselves from sliding too much as they collected the couple of gems that were around them and smashed the straw baskets that were around them, before jumping to another part of the path and repeating what they had just done, which was when they jumped over to an area that a Shield Riptoc was standing in.
As it turned out the foe in question didn't last all that long against them, not with Elora kicking its shield down into the ground so Spyro could flame the Riptoc's chest, and while they did that the others moved forward and glided over to the next part of the segmented path they were following, which was when Ember smashed her way through the Club Riptoc that was in their way and let Cynder take on the next foe that stood in the next part of the path, a Mammoth that she used her Wind powers on, by knocking it into the wall to her right. From there it was easy to find two Shield Riptocs and one of the Club Riptocs standing near a Monkey Monk, so what happened next was that Spike gathered his magic for a moment and loosed a pair of Fireballs that knocked down the club wielding foe, but that was when the pair of shield carrying foes chuckled for a moment, like they thought they were invincible or something, causing Spike to chuckle for a second as he applied his Teleportation magic to the next pair of Fireballs, causing them to disappear after a few seconds and slam into the backs of his targets, opening the way for them to proceed further into this realm. Once that area was cleared of foes and gems, like they had done in the past, the five of them used a whirlwind to get up to the top of the next structure that was in front of them and landed on an icy area that two Club Riptocs and a Shield Riptoc were waiting in, so while Spyro flamed his target, Cynder did the same thing with her Shadow Breath, allowing Ember to spin through the air as she struck down the Shield Riptoc, allowing Elora and Spike to collect the gems that were in the area, so they wouldn't have to retrace their steps later on. With those enemies taken care of the group moved forward and found a turret at the end of the area the whirlwind had brought them to, where Spyro used it to take down an ice wall that was off in the distance and blast one of the flying Riptocs out of the air, as in it was a dinosaur with wings, though there were two more in this area, ones that were lower than where this turret could aim, so he climbed off the weapon and spotted another turret down near where the last Monkey Monk was standing, hence why he glided down to the second turret and used to to blow the other two Flying Riptocs out of the air, as well as smash an ice wall that revealed another frozen Yeti.
Interestingly enough defeating the three Flying Riptocs was enough to cause a dragonfly, who must have been taken by the enemies he had taken down, to fly over to him, so he let Spike and the others join him so Spike could use his magic to send the second dragonfly of this realm back to the others, though that was also when he flew over to the frozen Yeti and used his Fire Breath to free the individual in question, before the group gathered near the first turret of this area and glided down to an area that seemed to be the way forward. What was really interesting for the group was the fact that the next area they landed in was where the exit portal happened to be located, meaning they had picked the end path earlier, though that didn't stop Ember from using her Emission skill to take down both Mammoths that were guarding the portal, allowing Spyro to loose a small burst of his Fire Breath to ignite the fuse of a firework that just so happened to be resting nearby, one that flew off into the distance and smashed open an ice wall, meaning there was more for them to explore in this area, before heading back to where Bartholomew was standing. Resting near the exit portal were two paths, one to their right and one to their left, so what they did was take the path on the left and followed it, climbing up the steps that had been carved into the mountainside and made sure to collect the gems that were along the way, though there were no enemies to deal with and the path, which was full of places where they had to jump over a number of small gaps, brought them to where the third frozen Yeti was located, so they quickly freed him and then glided back to where the first turret of this area was located, as Spike noticed something odd and that was the fact that the other path didn't lead to where the other ice wall had been resting, so the group followed him for a few moments.
With the ice wall taken care of the group found that a simple glide was more than enough for them to get to the small platform that had been covered by the ice wall, where they found a key resting on the ground and it was easy to figure out that it went to the chest they had seen earlier, so Spike tucked it away before they jumped over the platforms that were in front of them and made their way over the path that was in front of them, allowing the five of them to reach the first side portal of this realm, or second since this was the end of the realm, but instead of going through it they glided over to an area that a fourth frozen Yeti was resting in and freed him. Once that was done they glided down to where the exit portal rested and took the other path that Spike had pulled them away from, where the five of them climbed the ramp-like path that was in front of them and picked up the gems that were along the way, before reaching the top of the path and quickly found that they were definitely back at the start of the realm, high enough so they could glide over to a small cave that the fifth and final frozen Yeti was resting in, so they glided over to it and freed the Yeti from his prison. Like most of the other things they had done for the residents of the other realms just completing something like this didn't yield an immediate reward, or the return of a dragonfly, so that meant they needed to tell Bartholomew that they had freed the protectors of the realm before they found the third, or possibly fourth, dragonfly of this realm, based on whether or not they found one on the way to where their friend was standing. With the Yetis freed, and they were sure of that, the group jumped back down to the first area of the realm they had explored and made their way back to the lone chest that they had seen some time ago, where Spike slipped out the key and unlocked the chest, revealing that the third dragonfly of this realm had been trapped inside it, which was rather odd, before Spike sent it back to the others and the group turned around for a moment, as they had noticed the door they had walked by had been opened, when the last time they walked through this area it had been closed.
That was when they found the fourth dragonfly of this realm right behind the opened door, meaning that the one that would have flown over to them when they gave Bartholomew the good news was going to be the fifth at this point, and it didn't take Spike long to send the dragonfly back to the main castle that the others had been sent to, before they started to climb the stone steps and collected the gems that were resting on them, even though that included smashing a couple of straw baskets at the same time. Of course there just so happened to be a Club Riptoc at the point where the path split, something that was easy for Spike to take down with a well placed Fireball to the chest and was followed by them picking the path on their left, which ended in a dead end that had a pair of straw baskets resting at the end of it, along with the fifth dragonfly of the realm, causing the group to sigh for a moment, as it appeared that labeling the dragonfly that would come to them after giving Bartholomew wasn't going to work based on how quickly they were finding the next dragonfly, but that didn't stop Spike from sending it back to Nestor and the others. Once that was done they headed back to the split in the path and headed up the steps that formed the other path, one that ended in the second side portal of this realm, so what they did was smash the couple of metallic vases that were nearby and cleared out the gems, before retracing their steps as they made their way back to where Bartholomew's new house was located, since this time around they knew that there wasn't anything to get in their way, not unless they ignored their friend and followed the other path that was resting near him, so they focused on Bentley's brother and nothing else.
Sure enough they found Bartholomew standing guard over his house and he appeared to be looking out at the area that surrounded his place, no doubt keeping his eyes open for the Yetis that had been protecting the realm until the few types of Riptocs had come in and frozen them, though as they approached him he stopped what he was doing and faced them, showing them that he was interested in what they had to tell him and, unless they were wrong, it seemed like he did have something to tell the five of them as well.
"All five of the Yeti protectors of this realm have been freed from their prisons," Spyro stated, because that was what Bartholomew needed to hear, since he had asked them to head out and free the Yetis from the icy prisons the Riptocs had placed them in when they assaulted the realm they were in, something that made the group wonder what sort of crimes the Riptocs might have committed in the rest of the realms that they needed to assist, before they tackled Ripto and put an end to his assault on Castle Hills.
"Yes, and I can tell that they're getting ready to return to their duties," Bartholomew said, appearing to have the same personality that the group was used to dealing with, back during their third adventure, before he headed inside his house for a moment and came back out a few seconds later, accompanied by the sixth dragonfly of this realm, who flew over to the group and joined them without wasting any time, knowing that Spike would be sending it back to the others, "I found that dragonfly while you guys were dealing with the Riptocs and freeing the Yetis, so I figured that I would return it once you guys got back... oh, and thanks for saving the Yetis from their prisons."
The group nodded their heads and waited for Spike to send the sixth dragonfly back to the main castle, so it could join the others they had rescued so far, though once that was done they glided over to the area that the other path rested on, or the one the five of them had ignored earlier to be exact, and climbed up the stone steps they discovered where the one ice wall had been resting, making sure to pick up the gems that were around them as each of them kept their eyes open for any foes to take down. There was one Club Riptoc in front of them, who fell as Ember spun through the air and brought her tail down on her target's shoulder blade, though once that foe was taken care of the group glided down to the other side of the area and landed at the start of the path that seemed to head to an ice covered platform that was above their friend's house, where they made sure to pick up the gems that were in their way, even though that was around the time that they noticed two more Club Riptocs standing between where they were standing and the platform that happened to be their current destination. Elora was able to strike down one of their enemies with a swift kick to the side of the head, a blow that would knock out any normal enemy and simply reduced her target back to its original gem state, while Cynder charged through the other one, allowing the others to reach the end of the path and find the seventh dragonfly for this realm waiting for them, which was followed by Spike sending it back to the others while Ember and Spyro cleared out the gems that were around the area. Once that was done, and the group was sure that they had cleared out the majority of what the Riptocs had done to this realm, they took to the air and headed for the portal that rested near the exit portal, as it was the closest of the two side portals of this realm, though it didn't take them long to reach the portal in question and head through it so they could see what the first side section of this realm had to throw at them.
What they discovered was one of the hatchlings, no doubt one of the ones that called Castle Hills home, standing near a dock of some kind that had a plane that looked like it was a little dangerous, though that was when they learned that the Riptocs were building turret facilities so they could destroy the monastery and chase everyone that called this realm out, almost like they wanted the realm to themselves and their allies, though since there was only one plane the group picked their best pilot to take to the skies and blast the Riptocs, and that meant picking Spyro for the job. What Spyro found was that the area the portal had brought them to was surrounded by a circular mountain range, a rather tall one at that, and wasted no time in climbing into the plane so he could take off and see what sort of damage the Riptocs had done, even though it didn't look like they had done anything major, save for building twenty small factories that were scattered all over the central area of the mountain range, though once he determined that piece of information he opened fire on the enemy forces that were guarding the factories. Sure enough the Riptocs weren't too pleased with someone attacking their forced, even though they were the invaders in this situation, though it was easy for Spike and the others to see that Spyro had the upper hand as he flew around the area, caused the plane to do a few tricks as he blew up his targets, and avoided everything that the Riptocs fired at him, something that ended in the various groups of enemies blowing up without him taking any damage, allowing him to focus his attention on the factories that were no longer guarded. Once he was sure all of the factories were taken care of, and all of the Riptocs that were guarding them had been blown away, Spyro returned to where the others were standing and landed on the dock, where he left the plane behind and gave the hatchling the good news, something that was accompanied by the eighth dragonfly of this realm, not the dragonfly of the young dragon that was in front of them, flying over to them so Spike could send it back to the others.
As soon as that was done the group wished the hatchling well and returned to the main part of the realm, where they headed for the area the formerly sealed door had been resting in, which was easy to get to, and headed for the portal that was their destination, though on the other side of the portal they found that they were in an area that looked like a slide of some kind, one carved into a different area of the mountain range and was covered in ice, meaning it was going to be hard for them to do whatever the Monkey Monk in front of them wanted them to do. What surprised them was the fact that this was a legendary or famous slide and that it came with two challenges that had different difficulties, and the only reason the Monkey Monk was admitting this now, instead of waiting for someone to finish the first one and return to him, was due to the fact that he knew they were skilled and was curious if they could handle both of the challenges, something that would become clear to him once they tackled the first challenge. As it turned out whoever headed down the slide had to make sure they hit enough of the flags on their way down, since this appeared to be a timed challenge, and the Monkey Monk informed them that using magic was against the rules, meaning that Spike would have to sit this challenge out, and it was followed by Elora declaring the same, since she wasn't used to this sort of thing and knew that she would only stall their progress through the area they were in. Spyro also stood to the side, as he did just do the last challenge and felt that it wouldn't be fair if he hogged all the glory, leaving Ember and Cynder to tackle the challenge, which was why Ember took a step forward and started sliding a few moments later, where the group watched as she accurately made her way down the course, which was rather well set up due to all the sections that had been carved into the mountain and set up to be a nice racing area, or a slide as the Monkey Monk called it, to which they watched what was going on and waited for Ember to return to the area that they were standing in.
It didn't take Ember long to return to where they were standing, with the ninth dragonfly of this realm and the Monkey Monk declaring that her skills were impressive, before Cynder stepped forward and tried the harder challenge out, even though that meant heading down the slide to the right of the portal they had walked through, though that was when they surprised the Monkey Monks as Cynder returned a few moments later with the tenth and final dragonfly of this realm, to which Spike sent them both back to the main castle of Castle Hills and they departed from the realm, as it was about time for them to pick another realm and help the residents of that realm out with their problems, all while drawing closer to stopping Ripto at long last.
With their journey through Monkey Monastery complete, and the group knew they had all the gems and had rescued all of the dragonflies that had been sent to that realm by Ripto's spell, Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to Castle Hills and made their way back to the central castle, mostly since that would allow them to check and see if the other two realms that were near the area that the hot air balloon that took them to the monastery was located, as they wanted to see if the ways to Jurassic Jungle or Thieves Den were open, so they could head to one of those realms next. Sadly, based on what Spike was feeling at the moment, both of the portals in question weren't ready to be used, so all they could do was head back to the area that was beyond the first Elemental Lock they had encountered, the one that lead them to Crop Circle Country and and Luau Island, because there was one more area for the five of them to explore and it would take them to Honey Marsh, where the Blue Crocodile would be waiting for them to give the group the good news. Once they were done with whatever problems that were in the marsh, however, the group suspected that the other portals would be ready and they could use one of the others to explore the realms they connected to, though right now they focused their attention on reaching the area that was their current destination and quickly passed by the area all of the adult dragons were waiting in, tending to the dragonflies that had been rescued, to which they waved at them for a moment before heading out, all so they could assist another realm with their problems.
Sure enough they found the Blue Crocodile standing next to the large raft that seemed to be the way to get to the next realm they would be exploring, where it appeared that the individual in question was pleased with what they had done, as in the magic had been returned to this area, or at least Spike knew that was what the stranded residents of the various realms likely thought, though the way to Honey Marsh was definitely open, hence the reason they came to a stop in front of the Blue Crocodile and waited to see if he had anything to say to them before they climbed onto the raft.
"I don't know what you guys did, but the raft is ready to go!" the Blue Crocodile stated, informing them that they had been right to think that he would have claimed that the magic had been restored to this area and that the way was open once more, especially since Spike knew that some people might not understand him when he talked about magic and that the residents in question were incorrect in their thoughts, but he decided not to do that as they listened to what the Blue Crocodile was saying, "Hop aboard and get ready for the Honey Marsh Rapids."
The group said nothing to that as they climbed aboard the raft and a section of the fence that was beyond the Blue Crocodile opened before their eyes, sort of like what happened when they went to Luau Island earlier, and it wasn't long before the raft shifted and headed out of the area it had been resting in, though when they got a certain distance from the area the resident of Honey Marsh had been standing in the magic wrapped around them and took them to the realm that was their next destination. Not a few seconds later they reappeared in the starting area of Honey Marsh, which appeared to be some ground that was at the start of the marsh itself, though instead of swampy water resting in some places the group could definitely tell that the realm lived up to its name, as the areas that were normally filled with water were filled with honey, which had some large flowers resting nearby and had some small bee hives resting off to the side, though all five of them were a little impressed by what they were seeing. At the moment none of them could see any enemies to take down, before they talked to the Blue Crocodile that was right in front of them, but that didn't mean there weren't any foes in this realm, as all of the other realms had Riptocs attacking them and it would be weird if this realm was the odd one out, so they kept their eyes open for any enemies that might be lurking in the area that was ahead of them as they approached the Blue Crocodile that would tell them what was going on and what they could do to assist this realm. Despite what they were seeing Spike knew that it wouldn't be outrageous to think that there might be some bees that were rebelling or just attacking the residents of this realm, so his mind as at the ready so he could make sure he accurately wrote down what he and the others saw, for the book that would be written about this adventure, while listening to what the Blue Crocodile had to tell them.
"Allow me to welcome the five of you to Honey Marsh, even though we have a slight problem plaguing our realm at the moment," the Blue Crocodile stated, not that the group was even a little surprised by that information, as it was easy for them to determine that there was something bad happening to this realm, based on what they had seen during their visits to the other realms, though they remained silent as he finished telling them what was going on, "those Riptoc critters have messed this place up but good. I think they've set up some honey stills, to drain our honey for some reason, but it would be mighty nice if you guys took out all of their stills and stopped the Riptocs from doing whatever they're trying to do to our realm."
"Considering that Ripto is behind sending them out to attack the realms, I wouldn't put it passed him to try stealing your honey for his lunch or something," Spyro commented, because he really didn't see much of a reason for their foe to send his minions into this realm and have them steal as much honey as they could get their claws on, but that thought was likely him thinking about why Ripto had sent his forces into the realms of Avalar, where he had been trying to conquer the realms, because it was clear that their foe was only attacking the eight realms of Castle Hills to distract them, no doubt to make sure they didn't come after him, before he focused on the individual that was in front of them, "Don't worry, we'll take care of the Riptocs and whatever they're doing to this realm, even if that means taking down however many stills they have set up since they came to this realm and started their assault."
As the Blue Crocodile nodded his head the group headed out and started to clear out the area of the gems that were resting near the starting area for this realm, which was when Elora reached into one of the two bee hives and pulled out a gem that had been hidden inside, something that she repeated on the other hive and found another gem inside it, though she made sure Spike cleaned the honey off of the gems before putting them with the rest of the gems they had recovered so far, though once they had cleared out the starting area the group moved forward to see what else Honey Marsh might throw at them. It was around that point that they found the first type of enemy that they would be fighting in this realm, a pair of green scaled Riptocs who wore blue overalls, wore a straw hat on their heads, and carried what appeared to be a banjo in their hands, which would no doubt be used as a melee weapon when they got close to where they were standing, though that was when Ember jumped into the air and simply smashed her tail into the one on their left, crushing it into the ground, while Cynder charged into the chest of the other Banjo Riptoc, allowing them to take the pair down while the rest of the group collected the gems, smashed some metallic vases, and cleared out a few bee hives. After that the five of them climbed up the step that was in front of them and found another type of Riptoc, this one wearing a red shirt with the blue overalls and had a yellow beany on its head, though interestingly enough it carried a laser gun, instead of any of the other weapons that it could have been wielding since it seemed out of place in this realm, but that didn't stop Spike from blasting the Laser Riptoc in the chest with a Lightning Bolt, dropping it to the ground and reduced it to its gem state so the others could smash a couple of straw baskets and pick up the gems that were around them, before following the path as it lead them deeper into the realm.
Not a few moments after finding the first Laser Riptoc they found a second one standing at the top of some steps that were made out of stone, where Spyro took to the air for a few seconds and then loosed a burst of his Fire Breath to take it down, before it could fire at one of them, allowing Cynder and the others to catch up while he scouted out the area, just in case there were more enemies that they needed to know about ahead of time, even though the steps did bring them to an area that had some bee hives, a few metallic vases, and a Laser Riptoc off to their left, guarding what appeared to be one of the honey stills they had learned about a few moments ago. Of course there were also two Banjo Riptocs on platforms near the Laser Riptoc, not to mention a rather large bee that was flying above some of the honey river that was flowing through this part of the realm, though instead of allowing the Giant Bee to attack them Elora raised her arm and loosed a small beam of energy at it, just like she had done in the past, and blasted it out of the air, opening the way for the group to head out and deal with the other enemies that were standing between them and the first honey still. Spyro dealt with the Banjo Riptoc to their left by charging into its chest, Cynder took out the Banjo Riptoc to their right with her Shadow Play as she knocked it into a nearby wall, and Ember jumped over the blast that came from the Laser Riptoc, which was followed by her crushing it into the ground with her tail, before they backed off and let Spike channel his magic into the still, which caused the structure to fall apart before their eyes, not that it was hard for him to do that since the still was mostly made out of wooden planks and metal pipes, so it was easy to tear it to pieces. Once that was done the group headed to the couple of tree stumps that had been resting behind the second Banjo Riptoc, something that allowed them to climb up to an opening that lead them right to the second honey still, one that appeared to be inside a large tree and was guarded by a Laser Riptoc, so Ember smashed their foe into the ground and let Spike dismantle the still, while allowing the others to smash some metallic vases and collect the gems that were around them.
Once the area was cleared out, and they were sure of it, the group followed the wooden platforms that were in front of them and found a pair of Giant Bees flying along part of the path that they were now following, which was when Spike sent out a pair of Ice Spikes and knocked the pair of enemies out of the air, allowing the others to continue along the path and collect the gems that were along the way, which brought them to another set of tree stumps that lead right to where the third honey still was located. As they entered the next area it was easy to spot an actual waterfall of honey, meaning that the bees of this realm had to be very busy to produce all of the honey that they were seeing, enough to make rivers, waterfalls, and even an entire sea of honey that rested around the island the five of them were currently exploring, though even as they thought about that Spike realized that there had to be a barrier of some kind off in the distance, one that surrounded the entire realm and was like the barrier that separated the Beast Makers homeworld from the vast sea that was between it and the other homeworlds. At the top of the waterfall, which was a river that quickly turned into the small waterfall, they found the third honey still, a Laser Riptoc that seemed to be guarding it, a red robed Thief that likely had a key or a dragonfly, and a few Banjo Riptocs that seemed to be scattered around the area that the still was in, which was when Elora jumped into the air and bypassed the beam that the Laser Riptoc fired at them, causing the others to scatter as well, even though that meant Spyro, Cynder, and Ember rushed out to the rest of the enemies that were in the area while Spike shattered the still with his magic. In addition to the couple of Banjo Riptocs that were scattered around this part of the realm there was one more Laser Riptoc, so what happened was that Cynder used her Shadow Play to deal with the Laser Riptoc and one of the Banjo Riptocs, Ember smacked the other Banjo Riptoc around with her Emission skill, and the Thief ran off as Spyro chased after him.
Something that was rather interesting was that the group found the first side portal in the area that was just beyond where the third honey still was resting, and the reason it was that interesting was due to the fact the five of them weren't expecting to find one of them so quickly this time around, since they were thinking it would be some time before one of them located a side portal, though instead of worrying about that the group made sure they remembered where it rested for later, once they were done helping the Blue Crocodiles with their problem. As it turned out Spyro was able to take the Thief down while the rest of the group was clearing out the realm, where he revealed that the Thief had been carrying one of the dragonflies of this realm, which just so happened to be the first one they had recovered, and Spike quickly used his magic to send it back to the main castle that everyone was resting in, before the five of them made sure the rest of the area was cleared of gems and metallic vases, which revealed the second dragonfly of this realm had been hiding near the edge of the area and Spike sent it home as well. With that done the group started to climb the wooden stands that were on the other side of the section of the realm they had been exploring, coming from the area that the small waterfall was resting in, where they found a Banjo Riptoc guarding the lowest part of the wooden path, though there was a large flower that served as a platform for them to walk on for a few seconds, and Ember was the one that took the Banjo Riptoc down as she let him hit her, smashing the instrument to pieces, before she headbutted him and took him down. From there Cynder flamed the Giant Bee that was in their way and opened the way for them to climb up to the area that the fourth honey still was located in, which just so happened to have a Laser Riptoc guarding it, just like the other stills they had seen so far, but while four of them headed up to where their foe was standing, so they could take it down and wipe out two more Giant Bees that were beyond it, Spike climbed up a different path and found the third dragonfly of the realm, who he send back to the castle, before he rejoined the others and smashed the still with his magic.
As it turned out the pair of platforms the two Giant Bees were guarding, which were taken out by Elora blasting them with her palm blaster, lead them right to a passage that was made out of stone and reminded them of a castle's hallway, though they didn't worry about the nature of the passage and followed it to the area of the realm that it was leading them to, where the group quickly came to the end and discovered a path formed from large flowers and were being guarded by some of the Giant Bees, at least three of them at the moment. Interestingly enough, as they followed the path and struck down their enemies, by letting Cynder use her Wind powers to smack the Giant Bees around, Spike found a lower path and separated himself from the others, allowing them to follow the main path while he investigated the other one, which was where he found two more Giant Bees guarding a dragonfly, the fourth to be exact, so he loosed a few Fireballs at the pair of Giant Bees, struck them down, and then gathered his magic to send the dragonfly back to the others, which was when he headed for the passage that a Banjo Riptoc was guarding. Cynder ended up tripping the Banjo Riptoc and that was the moment that Ember spun around and struck it with her tail, crushing it into the ground, allowing them to enter the tunnel that it had been guarding and follow it to the next section of this realm, though the next area turned out to be full of large bee hives, not like the ones that rested on the ground, and there was a path of platforms that lead to the fifth honey still, which was unguarded, so it was easy for Spike to smash it to pieces as the others followed the rest of the path and headed for the tree stumps that were at the end of it. From there it was easy to find a few enemies blocking the way forward, a Giant Bee and a Laser Riptoc, the former brought down by Spyro flaming it while the latter was taken out by Elora blasting it in the face with her blaster, allowing them to approach a Blue Crocodile that seemed to be waiting for the five of them so he could tell them something.
"While I'm glad to see you guys, we've got a bit of a problem over here," the Blue Crocodile stated, where he waved his right hand for a moment and beckoned to the couple of large bee hives that were scattered around the area that the last couple of platforms had been located in, which was why the group glanced over at the area in question and wondered what sort of problem he and the other residents of this realm were having, though some of them were thinking about how they could break the bee hives, in case they were asked to do such a thing once the resident was done talking, "we've seen those Riptocs using the couple of bee hives to stage their attacks on our realm, by using the bees that call the hives home, and we've been thinking of ways to take them down, to no success."
Spike considered what was in front of them for a moment and weaved his magic into the area that rested in front of where they were standing, where he focused on the closest bee hive and the honey that rested below it shifted for a few seconds, something that was followed by spears made out of honey forming and piercing the hive that was his target, an action that did some decent damage to the structure in question, before he frowned as he realized his spell didn't do as much as he was hoping for, so he switched to channeling some magic into the pile of rocks that rested nearby, where he empowered the stone he picked and hurled it at the hive he had struck. This was the Boulder Bash spell, one of the Earth style spells that was designed to rip out sections of the ground and use them against the caster's target, but in this case he was using stones that had been provided by the residents of this realm and that turned an ordinary stone into a large rock that was enough to smash the weakened bee hive to pieces, and once the energy was spent it returned to being a small stone that floated on top of the honey. As soon as the first one had been broken, however, Ember flew through the air and used her Emission skill to smash the couple of bee hives with the force of her own power, something that surprised both the Blue Crocodile and the couple of Riptocs that were hiding inside the bee hives, though once four of the bee hives had been smashed open they returned to the resident they were helping out and reported their success to him, stunning him in the process as he revealed the fifth dragonfly of this realm, allowing Spike to weave his magic over it like he had done for the last ones the group had found. Once that was done the group turned around and continued climbing the area that was near the resident they had just assisted, though none of them had any idea on how many more honey stacks all of the Riptocs had built throughout the rest of this realm and they had no idea where the exit portal was, so all they could do was move forward and tackle the enemies that were in their way.
The first foe that stood in their way was one of the Laser Riptocs, who fell to the ground as Ember struck its chest with her Emission skill, allowing the others to jump over to the stump that was in front of them and follow the path that was leading them towards the uppermost part of this area, even though Elora made sure to smash the couple of metallic vases that were off to the side before rejoining the dragons that were moving forward, before spotting the sixth dragonfly of this realm off to their left and let Spike fly over so he could send it back to the castle. One thing he discovered was that there was a wooden chest off in the distance, over the tops of the trees that he was standing on, so what he did was smash all of the straw baskets that were in his way and collect every gem he found on the walkway, before studying the chest for a few seconds and then turned around so he could rejoin the others as they headed for the area that the sixth honey still was located in, which also just so happened to be the area that the exit portal rested in, which only made them wonder where the second side portal could be resting. Instead of worrying about the missing side portal, which they would no doubt find at some point in the near future, the group jumped over the gap that was in front of them, something that happened to be a flat piece of ground between the honey river and split it into two halves that formed the waterfall that had been near the wooden platforms they had climbed up to get here, before they landed near the final honey still and had the lone Blue Crocodile move out of the way as Spike shattered the still with his magic, something that was followed by him and the rest of the group walking over to the area that the Blue Crocodile was now standing in.
"You did it! You guys saved up a whole lot of trouble by get'n rid of those troublesome Riptocs and breaking all of their terrible honey stills." the Blue Crocodile said, his tone showing that he was very happy with what they had done, to save the realm from everything that the Riptocs had been doing to it, though that just so happened to be when a dragonfly flew down to the area that they were standing in and joined the group, meaning they had found the seventh dragonfly of this realm and wondered if there was only one side portal to this realm, unlike the two they were used to.
Once Spike sent the seventh dragonfly back to where the others were waiting the group jumped over to where the exit portal was located and discovered that the honey had frozen in some odd manner and formed a wall that covered a hidden passage, even though the honey was still flowing like a waterfall should flow, so what they did was follow the new tunnel and picked up the gems that were along the way, before quickly reaching the end and stopped as they found one side path that did have the other side portal inside it, along with a flower and platform path that seemed to be heading downwards, to an area that they couldn't really see at the moment. The path in question brought them to some straw baskets and some gems that were laying on the ground, before they spotted another tunnel that could be heading back to the starting point of this realm, so they followed it and collected the gems like they had done throughout the rest of this realm, before discovering that it definitely lead them back to the start of the realm, to which they made sure to collect the rest of the gems that were around them and took to the air, to see if they could find the key to the chest Spike had seen earlier, since they were sure that a dragonfly was resting inside it. What the group discovered was that the first area that Spike had separated from the rest of them, so he could get one of the dragonflies on his own, just so happened to have a path in the trees that was slightly had to find if one wasn't looking for it, though since they were flying it was even easier for them to find the key and grab it, but instead of heading back towards the chest it would open they headed for the first side portal they had passed by and entered it, figuring that they would get it out of the way, then unlock the chest, before checking out what the second side portal had to throw at them, which should clear out of the realm of dragonflies and the gems that had been scattered in this realm.
What they discovered was one of the Blue Crocodiles that happened to be standing near a tank, in what appeared to be a shooting range that was like the range they had seen in Dragonfly Dojo, and while four of them stood in front of the resident that would no doubt tell them what sort of challenge they would be getting themselves into Ember studied the tank for a few moments, showing that she wanted to make sure that it was the same as the other tank before they even considered taking the challenge, even though this was where the eighth dragonfly would be found, and then the ninth had to be in the chest.
"Welcome to Honey Marsh's Sticky Swamp Shootout," the Blue Crocodile stated, where he waved his hand towards the tank for a moment, allowing the group to see the course that one of them would be driving through in the very near future, though that was around the time that Ember rejoined the group and listened to what the resident had to say, just in case there was something interesting he had to say before they took on the challenge, "us honey folk done love shootin' stuff with our tank, so much so that we've devised the hardest course possible. We're even giving away a dragonfly that showed up in our realm earlier, something that hadn't been there earlier, to anyone that manages to take down all of the targets without being defeated."
"Don't worry about us, we'll take care of this," Ember replied, to which she climbed into the tank and closed the lid as soon as she was inside the vehicle, not that the group was even surprised by what they were seeing at the moment, given what they had seen during their time in Dragonfly Dojo, though it wasn't long before she started moving it forward and focused on the challenge they had discovered, which meant blasting at whatever was in her way as she followed the path, since she was sure this was just like the previous time this challenge had rolled around, "and by that I mean I'll blast all of the targets that are in my way and complete your challenge."
From there Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Elora walked behind the tank as Ember moved forward and used the small circular platform that was in front of her to move to the next area, where she opened fire on the enemies that were in her way and smashed the fortifications that they were using the defend themselves from danger, though from what she could tell it appeared that only the blue enemy tanks counted towards her total, so that left the others to lash out at the yellow insect enemies who accompanied the tanks. Of course, as the group made sure to take down their enemies, they found that Ember really didn't need their help at all, as she was blasting everything that needed to be blasted and focused on all of the tanks that decided to stand between her and the end of the course, though it wasn't long before Ember noticed that she had been wrong to assume the tanks were her true targets, as the flying versions of their enemies were the ones she needed to take down and informed the others accordingly, leaving the tanks for either herself or for Spike to take out with his magic. The only reason the rest of the group was even helping Ember was due to the fact that it allowed her to focus on her targets as she drove through everything the course had to throw at her, not to mention the fact that they hadn't been told that this was a single person challenge, like the Monkey Monks had done during their visit to the monastery, but it did give Spike a chance to see everything so he could accurately record everything in his next book, which he was happy to have after everything that they had seen so far. Eventually Ember reached what appeared to be the end of the course and drove right through it, something that returned her and the others to the start of this area, to which she parked the tank and climbed out of it as the others joined her, where they glanced at the Blue Crocodile, who expressed his surprise by the fact that they had cleared out the challenge on their first try, which was the really surprising thing since most of the residents of this realm usually needed two or three tries before they succeeded in beating the challenge, though that was when the eighth dragonfly of the realm joined them and Spike sent it back to the others.
As soon as that was done the group returned to the main part of the realm and took off as they targeted the area that the chest was resting in, where they found that it was rather easy for them to make their way back to the final area of this realm and located the chest that was their target, something that they landed in front of and waited for Spike to slip the key into the lock, where they watched as the lid opened and a dragonfly, the ninth, flew out so he could send it back to the castle that the others had been sent to, before they headed for the location of the second side portal. What they found in the other side section of this realm was what appeared to be a slide like what they had seen in Monkey Monastery, only this time it was made of honey and not ice covered stones, though there was a bee that happened to have a cage attached to its small legs, ones that had a dragonfly inside it, before the bee flew off and the Blue Crocodile that was standing near them threw several pieces of bark into the honey for them to use as makeshift skateboards, because those were what the group first thought about when they noticed the pieces of bark. Instead of relying on their wings, like they would normally do in a situation like this, the group jumped onto the fragments of bark that had been placed in front of them and landed on them, something that caused them to move forward and start heading down the slide as they followed the bee, which was when they found out something interesting, the bark of these trees seemed to repel the honey, or at least not get stuck in the sticky stuff, so that meant they were able to do rather well as they chased after their target and headed down the slide that was in front of them. There were, of course, a few obstacles for them to jump over and avoid, and that even counted a couple of gaps that happened to be in the way, but for the most part it appeared that they were able to keep up with the bee as it lead them towards the bottom of the slide that they were racing down, so much so that the group also threw in seeing which of them could get to the end first, like an actual race, because this seemed far too easy for them to do and the bee was far behind them, even though it was still following the course that they were racing down.
In the end Spyro was, of course, the winner of their little race, as he was the first one to reach the end, though both Spike and Ember were surprised that Cynder beat them and smiled at them, which was followed by Spike coming in third with Elora managing to actually get ahead of Ember and take fourth, though the bee was the sixth one to reach the end and that was when it released the dragonfly, where the group watched as Spike sent the tenth dragonfly of this realm back to the castle before they departed from the area that they were in, allowing them to head back to Castle Hills and figure out which of the remaining realms they were going to help next, even if there were only two more for them to pick from before they tackled Ripto and put an end to his plans.
Once the group got back from Honey Marsh, and returned to the area the Blue Crocodile had been standing in before they used the raft to get to the realm they had just finished assisting, Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora headed for the main castle that was in the middle of the homeworld, mostly to make sure everything was alright with the dragonflies they had rescued so far and that there was nothing they needed to do before they headed for the last two realms of this land, those being Thieves Den and Jurassic Jungle, even though they had no idea which realm was open to them. This sort of reminded the majority of them of what happened back during their second adventure, where they needed a number of Orbs to restore the power to certain portals, or their trek through Avilion, as there had been some portals that required them to recover a number of the stolen dragon eggs before their power had been restored, even though they now knew that Spike's Teleportation Breath had aided the eggs in hatching. Sure enough it appeared that all of the dragonflies were having fun with their hatchlings and seemed to have gotten over the fact that they had been displaced by Ripto's spell, especially since some of them had been placed in some dangerous situations in the realms that they had been sent to, though once they knew that the newest dragonflies were fine the group continued up the stone path that would take them back to the area that the hot air balloon for Monkey Monastery was located, since that was where they would find the two remaining portals for the last couple of realms that they needed to assist, before their showdown with Ripto.
"So, which realm should we tackle next?" Elora asked, because she knew that there were only two more realms for her and the dragons to assist, as by now they had cleared out six of the eight realms of enemies and recovered the dragonflies that had been sent to each of them, and she was curious as to which one Spyro would pick out, not that it mattered since they would be helping the residents of both of them in the near future, something that was followed by the others turning towards Spyro for a few moments, as they came to a stop in the jungle-like area.
"We should head up to the carpet that will take us to Thieves Den," Spyro replied, as he figured that they might as well take care of the furthest realm from the center of the homeworld first, that way when it came time to head back to where Ripto's portal was located they could stop by the portal to Jurassic Jungle and see what sort of problems the residents of that realm were facing, even though he knew what they were going to see next was going to be strange for them, unless the Thieves were still villains and had an ambush ready for the five of them, "then we'll come back and deal with all of the problems and Riptocs that are scattered throughout Jurassic Jungle, before heading for Ripto."
The others nodded their heads as they head that, showing that they agreed with Spyro's plan and that none of them were even going to offer up the idea of them heading for the other realm first, hence the reason they headed up the rest of the stone steps and entered the area that the structure that lead to the carpet was resting in, where the five of them quickly found the blue robed Thief standing near the carpet and noticed that, just like all of the other Thieves they had seen in the past, had a bag over one of its shoulders and had two pieces of jewelry attached to its headpiece, though as they came to a stop near it the Thief turned to look at them.
"I'm not really sure how you guys managed it, but you guys are shiftier than I originally gave you credit for, given that there's five of you and not just one of you," the Thief commented, his words implying that they hadn't rescued all of the missing dragonflies and had, in his eyes, stolen them from the various realms that were scattered throughout Castle Hills, and that their actions in the other realms had impressed him, even if he was mishearing whatever he had heard, but right now none of them said anything as they listened to what the Thief had to say, "Now you can use this carpet to fly off to our Den whenever you want to."
The interesting part of the Thief's statement was the fact that he didn't mention anything about the problems that had to be plaguing his realm, as all of the other stranded residents of the other realms had told them a little about their home realm before they used the provided transport to head through the portal area and head off for the realm they had picked out, though none of them said anything as they nodded their heads and climbed onto the carpet, finding that there just so happened to be enough room for all five of them on the carpet. Once that was done the group found themselves being lifted into the air by the magical carpet, as Spike knew it was enchanted and the others didn't need to hear it since they could see that with their own eyes, before they reached the area that the magic of the portal was located in and, just like the times they used the other portals of this homeworld, disappeared from the area they were in and headed towards the starting area for the Thieves Den. A few moments later they reappeared in what seemed to be a cave of some kind, one that had a number of large lanterns surrounding the starting area for this realm, lanterns that were either made out of gold or bronze, and there happened to be six of them, not to mention a stone path that seemed to lead into the main part of the realm, before they noticed a golden emblem of some kind below their claws, something that had to be rather important for the residents of this realm, which was when Elora picked up a nearby gem as they moved forward, so they could find someone to talk to and see if they could figure out what was happening with this realm. The path consisted of some sections that lowered and quickly came to a stop, even though it did give them a few gems to add to their collection, before they found a circular pedestal that allowed them to jump into the mouth of the massive snake head that was right in front of them, since it contained the path leading forward, though it was hard to tell if the skull was made out of bone or if it was carved from the stone this realm had been built in, or a mountain as Spike quickly determined as they looked at what was around them.
Standing near the other side of the snake's mouth were two interesting things, one of them being an obstacle course of some kind, or maybe it was a security measure due to the swinging axe that was in the doorway, while the other was a blue robed Thief that was standing off to their right, and the reason that was both odd and interesting was the fact that he didn't bother running away from them as they approached him, meaning that either he knew they were here to help or he was terrified of the fact that four dragons and a faun had invaded his realm and were here to steal all the treasure that all of the Thieves had been gathering over the years.
"Spyro, its... well, its nice to see you again, despite what happened in the past," the Thief said, something that caused the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment, due to the fact that they knew the dragons and Thieves didn't have that great of a relationship, with the Thieves stealing everything they could get their hands on, especially when they thought about what happened during their first adventure, with the Thieves stealing the couple of dragon eggs that had been resting throughout the homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, even though Spike thought about something while the others just waited for the Thief to tell them what was going on with this realm and what they needed to do to restore order to the den the Thieves called home, "Ripto has send some of his Riptoc Wizards into our den and, from what we can tell, they're using their magic to turn our gems into monsters, to either steal more of our treasure or disrupt our operations, though we really have no idea what we're supposed to do in this sort of situation, so we were... well, to be honest, we were hoping that you guys would come help us, despite what happened in the past."
"I know there are some dragons out there that might hold the past against you and your kind, but there are times where you have to look past that and focus on the future," Spyro said, though at the same time he glanced over to Cynder for a moment, who nodded her head in agreement, no doubt thinking about something that only they shared, before he turned his attention back to the Thief that was in front of them at the moment, since this would be good news for him and the rest of his realm, "but don't worry, we'll take care of the Riptocs that have invaded this place and, more importantly, do what we can to restore the order that they have broken since they invaded this place."
"Say, aren't you the Thief that we saw back in Wizard Peak?" Spike inquired, mostly because this was odd for them, as he and his siblings weren't used to working with or assisting any of the Thieves they had seen in the past, though at the same time he knew that there was one Thief that had realized that it wasn't going to be able to keep the dragon egg it had been carrying from him and his siblings and, in what had been one of the smartest moments one of their foes could have made, it bowed its head towards them and gave them the egg it had been carrying.
"Could be, as I was sent out to scout out many realms and you could have seen me anywhere," the Thief replied, but even as he said that the siblings glanced at each other for a moment, as the tone of the Thief's voice made them wonder if Spike had figured something out, though they decided to say nothing about this so they could focus on the enemies that were scattered throughout this realm and the challenges that were waiting for them, before the Thief seemed to think of something before they moved away, "Oh, and a word of warning, there's a rumor that some of the Riptocs that are in the middle of attacking this realm are immune to the various breaths that a dragon can channel, so you might want to either use their own weapons against them or use some different tactics this time around."
"Well, that will make things interesting." Cynder remarked, where she found that Ember was nodding her head, as the two of them were more warrior-like than some of the others in their group, especially since Spike was their mage, though as soon as that was done the five of them walked forward and started to investigate the area that was around them, just to see what could have been resting in the first part of this realm, despite the fact that all of them were also focused on everything else that might be ahead of them.
What they found were a few gems resting between where the Thief was standing and the area that the swinging axe was in, a weapon that had an emerald edge on both sides of the large weapon, where they discovered that a few couple of the gems they saw had legs and tried to run from them, which was rather odd given what they had seen in the past, before finding a blue scaled Riptoc that happened to be wearing a fluffy purple wizard-like hat, purple gloves, and pink slippers, while wearing a light blue colored pair of pants and carried a magical wand, something Spike wanted to collect, as long as it didn't break apart when the Wizard Riptoc was defeated. The odd thing was that it was standing on top of a pool of water, one that the path they were following happened to wrap around, so while Spyro and the others followed the path, and collected the couple of gems that happened to be resting on the ground, Spike readied his magic as the Wizard Riptoc glanced at him for a few seconds, as he was daring the creature that was in front of him to do something, though that was around the time that the Wizard Riptoc swung his wand and hurled a star shaped blast at Spike, which was just what he wanted as he channeled his magic into a crystalline mirror-like shield that stalled the attack, before firing it back into his foe's chest. Not even a few seconds later, after his attack hit his target, the Wizard Riptoc collapsed on top of the water and broke apart like all of the other enemies they fought in the other realms, and just like all of the types of Riptocs they had fought in the past a gem fell in the process, though Spike made sure to claim the fallen wand, as it looked like Ripto might have actually given these particular minions of his real magical wands, so he pulled out one of his spare bags and pocketed the wand, as it would be worth studying before putting with all of the other magical stuff inside the Magic Crafters homeworld. Once that was done, and he was sure the area had been cleared, he joined the others and nodded his head, showing that he had a spell, as in the Reflection spell, that could deal with their enemies, though for now he figured he would let the others try their luck on whatever number of Wizard Riptocs that had to be scattered throughout this realm, especially since there had to be more than one type of enemy in this realm.
As soon as Spike had rejoined the others, and they were ready to go, the group waited for another swinging axe that was in front of them to move before they took turns jumping over the gap it was swinging through, which was when they found a straw basket that walked like the gem they had seen earlier, one that, when they smashed it, revealed a gem that they could collect and they did so as soon as it hit the ground, though as soon as that was done they jumped over the next gap that was in front of them and moved deeper into this realm. The stone platform they landed on just so happened to bring them near the area that the next Wizard Riptoc was currently standing in, though instead of relying on Spike to take the foe down Spyro rushed forward and quickly drew Windshear as he approached his target, which was where the group watched as the magic of the runeblade sliced through the Wizard Riptoc like it was nothing, causing a gem to fall not a few seconds later as the group caught up with him and stared at the weapon he was carrying, no doubt due to the fact that they were a little surprised by what the sword had done. Spike, on the other claw, wasn't all that surprised by what they had just witnessed, due to all of the knowledge that he had on the runeblades and their vast powers, and he felt that such a thing wasn't outside the realm of possibility when wielding such a powerful weapon, though instead of worrying about that he quickly wrote down something in his journal before they moved forward and kept their eyes open as they explored the rest of the den that the Thieves called home. The next area they reached was a large chamber that appeared to either be a treasure trove or a holding chamber before the treasure was sent out to the rest of the realm, as there was a vast amount of gold, large gems, small gems that were the ones they collected, jade statues that had no magic lingering on any of their surfaces, and who knew what else, though as they approached the middle of the chamber, where they found one of the whirlwinds waiting for them, Spike noticed something odd in one of the treasure troves, a scabbard that looked a lot like the one that Spyro carried on his back, to which he raised a claw and pulled the blade out a little, seeing a Tungsten blade and felt a vast power inside it.
Spike paused for a moment as he thought about all of this, because he wasn't expecting to discover such a weapon in this area and considered what he had found inside the Arcanaeum, four main runeblades and four minor runeblades, but even inside the massive vault, and all of its chambers, he felt that there was something missing inside it, no doubt hidden from the entire world, so he took a gamble as he stared at the blade, a katana that was different from the other eight runeblades, as he dipped into the Aether for a moment and watched as the blade glowed, something that caused him to sheath the blade and tossed it into his bag, because he was going to ask about it later.
Once that was done he jumped the others as they used the whirlwind to get up to the floor that was above them, one that had a number of straw baskets, loose gems, a path that happened to lead deeper into the realm as a whole, and yet another massive crystal hanging from the ceiling, which the whirlwind stopped before so they could avoid being pierced by the sharp bits, before they branched out and resumed picking up everything that was on the ground, all while keeping an eye open for any enemies that might be in the upper chamber. Even though the group was used to having enemies to take down, based on all of the realms that they had been through since they started their adventures, this realm seemed quiet, too quiet given that most realms had three enemies for them to worry about and this realm was the exception, as there appeared to be only one type of Riptoc in this realm and, based on what they could see, there were only a limited amount of them, though that didn't stop them from being cautious as they explored the upper chamber. From there they moved into the next chamber and found that there was a Wizard Riptoc standing in their way, where Ember stepped forward and hardened her body with her Warrior's Armor skill and slammed into the Riptoc, knocking it to the ground for a moment as she backed up to see if it disappeared like all of the other foes they had fought, something that was followed by it getting up and raising its wand once more and was smashed into the ground by Cynder jumping into the air and using her power against its head. What the group found, as they waited for a few seconds, was that the Wizard Riptoc got back up, almost as if it was shrugging off the damage that had been dealt to it, before it raised its wand again, showing them that either the power of a runeblade or Spike's reflection spell were what they needed to use against these enemies, which was when Elora rushed forward, pulled Windshear from its sheath, and cut down the Riptoc before it could fire at them.
"Great, now we know that the Riptocs are unable to be taken down by normal means," Elora remarked, which was the moment that she returned the runeblade to its sheath on Spyro's back, while allowing the others to collect the gem that had fallen when their foe was slashed, though she did have to sigh for a moment as that happened, because confirming what the Thief at the start of this realm had said was not what she was hoping to have occur, meaning that she, Cynder, and Ember would have to focus on collecting the gems and doing the challenges that had to be scattered throughout this realm, if there were any.
"They must have been formed from special gems, to be able to resist our breath attacks and still retain their forms after being struck by your attacks," Spike stated, though while he said that he made sure to make a note of what they had just discovered about their enemies and the confirmation of what could take the Wizard Riptocs down, just to make sure that those that read his journals in the future knew what had happened in this realm and understood the decisions that he and the others had made, though as they explored the rest of this part of the chamber to watched as Spyro quickly tossed the runeblade over to Cynder, who proceeded to cut down the Wizard Riptoc that was on the other side of the area that they were currently exploring.
With the fourth Wizard Riptoc taken care of the group made sure to clear out the rest of the chamber that they were currently standing in and quickly discovered that the structure that was in the middle of the area happened to have one of the whirlwinds that seemed to be the favorite mode of transportation in this realm, before they used it to get to the next floor of the cave system that they were exploring and found yet another chamber to explore, not that they were surprised by what they were seeing, before spotting a wall that looked like it might collapse at some point, so Spike weaved some of his magic over it and modified it, splitting it in half and creating a large opening for them to walk through, one that just so happened to reveal a side section of the chamber.
"So that's where the next Wizard Riptoc is hiding," Ember remarked, claiming Spyro's runeblade for a moment as she rushed forward and struck down her target, just like the others had done so far, meaning there were five enemies down and who knew how many more of them resting around the rest of this realm, before she returned to Spyro's side and put the runeblade back in its sheath, before she glanced at the side section of the chamber that her target had been standing in and noticed something, "and it happened to be guarding one of the side portals, meaning that, once we're done clearing out the main section of this realm, we know the location of the next area we'll be tackling."
As soon as Ember struck down the fifth Wizard Riptoc the group explored the rest of the area and collected the gems that were scattered around the chamber, even though Spike climbed up the couple of steps that were nearby and picked up the gems that were along the path that he was following, which brought him to the top of the area and found three large lanterns hanging from the ceiling, though that happened to be when he smiled for a moment and he flew over to one of them and rescued the dragonfly that was resting inside it, even though there was no glass for him to worry about, and soon the first dragonfly of this realm was sent back to the main castle and the other dragonflies. Once that was done he rejoined Spyro and the others as they approached the opening that would lead them deeper into this realm, where it was easy to see the next Wizard Riptoc blocking the way forward and Spike just waited for it to loosed a blast at them so he could use his Reflection spell to take it down, allowing him to pocket the wand, just like the others he had taken since they came to this realm, where they smashed a few straw baskets and picked up a few gems before heading for the gap that was in front of them and noticed the emerald bladed axe that was swinging through the gap. Interestingly enough the second dragonfly of this realm just so happened to be in front of the gap, which was actually a gauntlet of gaps and had a number of emerald bladed axes swinging through the gaps, though since it appeared to be the way forward Spyro went first and let Spike second the dragonfly back to the others, before they took turns carefully jumping down the platforms as they quickly descended towards the bottom platform, so they could explore the rest of the den and see where the rest of the dragonflies might be waiting for them. Part of the way down the path they found the second side portal of this realm, which was a little odd when they thought about it, though the more important thing was the seventh Wizard Riptoc that was standing on the bottom platform, which was why Spyro was glad that he was the first one to reach the platform they were heading towards and cut down the Riptoc with Windshear, allowing the others to join him moments later, which was followed by them moving forward once more.
Once everyone was together again they headed down the path curved passage that was in front of them and climbed down the large slab steps that had been carved into the area, no doubt leading towards some areas that had a great deal of treasure inside them, though while they walked down all of the stone slabs the group picked up some gems, smashed some straw baskets, and found a pool that the eighth Wizard Riptoc was standing in, which was when Elora took her turn and cut down their foe by borrowing the runeblade, even though she knew Ember had to be annoyed since the blades she was carrying, the Fangs of Felinia, couldn't do the same thing, before they headed down the stone slabs that were in front of them and reached a large chamber that had a massive machine in it, before they glanced at the Thief that happened to be standing to their left.
"Is something wrong? You know, besides the obvious damage that the Wizard Riptocs have done so far." Elora asked, as while she knew that Spyro and his siblings weren't used to helping Thieves out, and she understood that after what she had seen from the ones that were running around some of the realms in Avalar, she did know that these Thieves were in trouble and her friends wanted to make sure all of Ripto's minions were taken care of, meaning all of the realms were safe and sound before they dealt with the villain that was attacking Castle Hills.
"Well, to be honest, I can't swim... and the switches to open that door are below the water," the Thief replied, though what he said was a little odd and it did catch the group off guard, but none of them said anything to that as they took a few seconds to consider what they could do to activate the switches and open the door, as that would lead them to the next part of the realm, before he seemed to think about something that might be useful to the five of them, "Oh, if you guys do attempt to activate the switches, be careful of the pool cleaner, as its rather dangerous and someone could get hurt if part of it hits one of you."
Spike seemed to want to do something with his magic, but by the looks of things it appeared that the pool cleaner just so happened to be resting above the water that all of the switches were resting in, and he could see four of them, so what they did was have Elora remain up here and clear out the gems that were above the water, not to mention any containers that might be up there, while he and the others dived into the water and separated from each other as they focused on each of the switches, making sure to collect the gems and smash the glass vases that they discovered along the way, just like most of the other underwater areas they had explored in the past. It didn't take them all that long to activate the four switches and open the door that they were connected to, meaning they would be able to move even deeper into the realm and see what sort of challenges might be waiting for them, before the four of them burst out of the water and headed over to the area that Elora was standing in, where she told them that she had found something odd, something that she felt was a key to a chest they hadn't found yet, which Spike slipped into his pack for later. Once it was done they headed up the path that was in front of them and found some metallic ladders that lead to the top of the chamber and let the four of them glide over to the top of the machine that was in the middle of the chamber, and it was one that none of them had to worry about since it wasn't near the water, before they spotted the opening that the locked door had been located in, which had another Wizard Riptoc standing in their way. It was in that moment that Cynder rushed forward and drew the runeblade from Spyro's back, where she flew over to where the Wizard Riptoc was standing and cut him in half, dropping the ninth Wizard Riptoc and allowing the others to glide over to where she was standing so she could return Windshear to where it had been resting earlier, before they advanced into the passage that had been resting behind the locked door, even though they knew that they had to be getting close to the end of this realm.
What they discovered was that there happened to be a whirlwind off to the left of the doorway and Elora took it, as it brought her to the upper level of the area and she picked up the gems that were up there as the siblings and Cynder did the same thing on the main path that they were following, before they reached the area that the tenth Wizard Riptoc was standing in and Ember made sure to cut it down with the weapon her brother carried, so once that foe was taken down Elora jumped down to where they were standing as they collected the gems that rested around them. During that Spyro found a ledge that lead to a small pool area and spotted the third dragonfly of this realm resting down there, which was the reason why Spike glided down to the area in question so he could send the dragonfly back to the others, but once that was done he returned to them and they investigated the path to the right of where the last Wizard Riptoc had been standing, even though that ended in a dead end, something that caused them to backtrack a little. As it turned out the path that Elora had taken just so happened to be the way forward, as the small platforms allowed them to navigate what appeared to be the path that was leading them deeper into the realm, something that let them collect the gems that were along the way and, more importantly, locate the fourth dragonfly of this realm, which Spike sent on its way, before they used the whirlwind that was at the end of the path to move even higher and then used the platforms that were in front of them to make their way to where the exit portal was located. That, of course, made them wonder where the remaining dragonflies were located, because normally three of them would be located inside the two side sections, and even if they did whatever challenges were in those areas that only gave them seven, maybe eight after they talked to the Thief that was standing near the exit portal, meaning they needed to keep their eyes open for the other two dragonflies before they headed through the portal that was in front of them.
"Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, thank you for your help in restoring order to our realm," the Thief said, his tone showing that he was happy with what they had done and that he was pleased that things seemed to be back to normal for him and the others of his kind, before he reached into a pack, not the sack he was carrying, and opened it so a dragonfly, the fifth of this realm, flew out and rushed over to where the group happened to be standing, not that the Thief seemed upset by what the dragonfly had done, "We heard that Ripto had displaced your dragonflies across the homeworld and the eight realms that make up Castle Hills, so, since we found that one, we figured that we would return it to you before you left our realm."
"We're happy to be of assistance," Spyro replied, as while it was still odd for them to help the Thieves that had been harassing the dragons and the other races of the lands they had been to in the past, and he figured that it had to be same way for the other side, he decided that, despite their earlier thoughts, there were some Thieves that were willing to work together with them and not outright rob them blind, before Spike sent the dragonfly back to the others, "We'll take a few more minutes and make sure the rest of the realm is secure, not to mention the side sections that we spotted the portals to earlier, before we depart for the homeworld and the last realm that needs some help, and then focus on taking down the villain that's causing problems for all the realms of Castle Hills."
As the Thief nodded his head, to show that he understood what Spyro was saying, four of them headed for the next platform that was in front of them and used the whirlwind that happened to be resting on it, as it seemed like it would let them reach the upper path again, where it appeared that one of the Challenge Gates was up there, but Spike stayed back for a few moments and noticed that the Thief raised an eyebrow, causing him to move the top of his back for a moment and reveal the weapon he had found earlier.
"So you found it... a weapon known as the Sword of Power..." the Thief said, showing that he recognized what Spike had found, meaning there had to be a reason why this was here in the first place, though at the same time just the name alone, which wasn't the true name of the weapon, was enough to cause Spike to pause before he covered it, as now he had more questions than answers, to which the Thief held a hand up to stop him from saying anything, "That is the name we know it by, as it was given to us for safekeeping and we were told to release it when someone found it, so please, take it with our gratitude... and only show it to the first of your kind."
Spike stood still for a moment, still caught off guard by what he had found, due to the fact that such a blade hadn't been found inside the Arcanaeum when he checked all of it out, but he nodded his understanding and flew over to where the others were waiting for him, just telling them that he had asked the Thief about something they had seen earlier in this realm, because there had to be a reason behind why he had been told to show it to Malefor and no one else, but for now he focused his attention on what they were doing as they finished assisting this realm. As it turned out the Challenge Gate was one of the Ice types, so Spyro and Spike approached the gate and passed through it without delay, where eight campfires appeared in their immediate area, two of them were resting on the platforms that were behind them and the other six were in the chamber that was just beyond where the Challenge Gate had been resting, even though it appeared that there was some openings in the floor that they had to be careful of, along with some stairs that seemed to lead down to an area that they would have to explore at some point in the near future, once this challenge was over. It wasn't hard for the pair to deal with the eight campfires, as they split up when they entered the chamber that was beyond the gate and made sure that each of them took three of the fires, before quickly backtracking to the other two and taking them out in seconds, allowing the sixth dragonfly to fly over to where they were standing and Spike quickly sent it back to the castle that the others had been sent to, allowing them to continue exploring the area as they sought out the chest that the key went to, since that had to be where the seventh dragonfly had to be located. It was then that Spike corrected their earlier thoughts about the floor of this area, as the stairs weren't connected to it and were actually below where they were now standing, so they jumped down to the walkway that was below them and followed the gems that were on the ground, as there were a number of them around the area, and found the stone steps in a matter of seconds, so they followed the path that they formed and kept their eyes open for wherever the chest had to be resting, before even thinking about both of the side portals they had seen earlier.
The path even had an outside area that they could explore, which the group did so without delay and found that there was a gap between where they were standing and the walkway that just so happened to have a chest at the end of it, one that had to be what Spike was looking for and they wasted no time in gliding over to where it was located, where he took out the key and slipped it into the lock, allowing him to open the chest and revealed the seventh dragonfly had, as they had expected, been trapped inside the chest, so he sent it back to the castle and the five of them took off, so they could head to the first side portal they had seen... where they discovered an area with a number of metallic platforms and rods that could be powered by either Spyro's Lightning Breath or Spike's Lightning magic.
"Hey, you guys here looking for some missing dragonflies?" a Thief asked, as there happened to be one standing to the left of where they appeared after they stepped through the first side portal that they had seen, though even as he said that he gestured out into the area that was in front of them and they noticed something interesting, there happened to be a Wizard Riptoc in the area, on one of the platforms from what the five of them could see, "That Wizard Riptoc managed to find and capture one earlier, and he's shifted the area that's usually here into his own personal tower, though you'll need to power those electric rods to get anywhere."
This time around Spike stepped forward and left the others standing near the Thief, where he followed the path that was in front of him and reach a couple of platforms that were currently moving around in a circle, like a ferris wheel if he recalled what the Gnorcs had planned for their part of Dragon Shores, so what he did was gather some of his magic and loose a small burst of small powered Lightning Bolts through the air, striking all of the targets in a matter of seconds, since he could target all of them at once, but what was interesting was that nothing happened when the six of them had some power restored to the rods. As such Spike thought about what was going on for a moment and realized that the tower, as the Thief called it, was just an assortment of platforms that lead to the high platform the Wizard Riptoc was standing on right now and, more importantly, he realized that all of the rods needed to be powered for anything to happen, so he took to the air and gathered his magic as he focused on every target that was scattered throughout the area, something that was followed by him sending out more Lightning Bolts that struck all of the other rods and restored power to all of them, causing him to pause as he watched what happened next. Once all of the rods were powered the main platform lowered into place and the Wizard Riptoc was vulnerable to attack, where Spike gathered his magic and stalled the incoming star blast, using the Reflection spell to smash it into his foe's face and stop the magic that was manipulating everything that was in this area, to which he smiled as he found the eighth dragonfly of this area and sent it back to the castle, before he rejoined the others and they bid the Thief farewell as they headed towards the other side portal. While they did that Spyro informed Spike and the others that he had a feeling that the other section had to be a Speedway, something he was still looking forward to since he did like racing those that flew around the area in question, and it wasn't long before the five of them reached their destination.
Spyro grinned as he noticed that it was a Speedway and took off before Spike could give him the rundown, to which Spike and the others took off so they could deal with the four obstacles of this Speedway, where they tackled the rings that were in the air first, before they separated from each other and tackled the others obstacles, with Cynder landing on the track and knocked out the camels that were in her way, Elora followed the couple of stone platforms and struck down all of the cobras that were in baskets, and Ember smashed her way through the planes that were flying through the air, which earned them the ninth dragonfly of this realm. Once that was done they watched as Spyro followed the planes that were the racers of this Speedway, who seemed to be more skilled than all of the other racers that he had faced in the past, but at least it gave the group a good show as he flew through the air, overcame whoever was in front of him, and eventually the race ended with him emerging as the victor, as he had reached first place and he kept it that way, allowing him to find and rescue the tenth and final dragonfly of this realm. The moment the race was done Spike sent the pair of dragonflies back to the castle before he and the others left the side section that they had been flying around, because, with eighty of the ninety missing dragonflies rescued and seven of the realms helped, there was one more realm to tackle before they faced Ripto and put and end to his assault on Castle Hills, which was the reason that they departed from the Thieves Den and headed back to the main homeworld, to get ready for the final realm of this island and whatever was waiting for them in the jungle.
Once Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to the main part of Castle Hills, and left behind Thieves Den, they headed down the path that would take them back to the castle that was in the middle of the homeworld and stopped a few moments later, when they reached the area that contained the jungle trees and the ancient structure that served as the portal to the final realm of this island, Jurassic Jungle according to what Spike said, where they found that the professor mouse was still standing to the right of it, though as they approached it they discovered that it was more of a Rat Professor and not a mouse like they had originally thought.
"Hooray! I have no idea what you did, but now my contraption is working once more!" the Rat Professor stated, almost as if he thought that the portal structure was something that he created at some point in the past and that he knew the ins and outs of it, though at this point none of them decided to say anything about that to the resident of the final realm, as he would either realize his folly at some point or he would forever remain of the opinion that he created the structure that the portal rested in, "Go ahead, step right through the energy and it will transport the five of you somewhere cool... at least I think it will, as I can't guarantee anything after what I've been through..."
The group glanced at each other for a moment before they walked around the Rat Professor, where they were still a little surprised that they had gotten the type of critter wrong the last time they had seen the individual in question, where they headed through the portal that was behind the professor and departed from Castle Hills once more, heading to the final realm that needed to be explored and assisted, before heading back to Ripto's portal so they could put an end to his schemes at long last. The area that they appeared in a few moments later appeared to be another ancient structure that was facing a jungle that a path had been carved into, either by the Rat Professor and the other residents or by the types of Riptocs that would be bothering this realm, though there was no portal attached to this structure, which was what they were expecting since this was the starting area for this realm and the exit portal was located elsewhere in this realm, but as they glanced at the area that was in front of them they noticed a few mechanical enemies. That caused the five of them to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as they honestly weren't expecting to find a few robotic enemies, meaning either they were made from Ripto's spell or they were creations made by the residents of this realm, the Rat Professors from what they had seen, and they were rebelling against those that had created them, though Spike did note down that there were two types of enemies for them to deal with, where one happened to be a large silver colored dinosaur, one that was definitely a robot of some kind, and a pair of green scaled dinosaurs that weren't robotic at all, no doubt similar to the residents of Skelos Badlands. Once they took in the form of at least two of their enemies, which would be nice and more like they had faced in the past, the group walked out from the area that they were standing in and turned to their right, as that was where the first Rat Professor of this realm, as in the first one that was on the other side of the portal, happened to be standing and that meant they could figure out what was going on in this realm, though once he told them what was happening to this realm they would head out and take on the challenges that were scattered throughout the jungle, just like they had done to the previous realms of this island.
"Ah-ha, Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, its good to see that you have arrived at last!" the Rat Professor said, where his tone revealed that he had been waiting for them to arrive and, more importantly, that he was pleased to see him, even though it was easy for them to determine that he had been waiting for them to arrive so whatever problems were in this realm could be taken care of by the professionals, before he glanced out into the area that was beyond where they were standing at the moment, "The R-1000 and T-Rex 1000's have done what we considered to be the impossible, as they have escaped from their inescapable cages and are currently running amok in the jungle, targeting the science labs and all of the areas that our research was left in..."
"Let me guess, you want us to take them down before they do any damage to your labs?" Cynder inquired, because at this point in time she was totally used to the lifestyle that Spyro and the others had been living and knew what they would do in this realm, talking to the first resident of the realm they were visiting and seeing what was happening to the realm in question, something that was usually followed by Spyro promising the resident that they would deal with the problem and restore order to the realm, which was when the Rat Professor nodded his head to confirm what she had said, which she was pleased to see, "Don't worry about the R-1000's and the T-Rex 1000's, not to mention those Caveman Riptocs, as we'll take care of them and restore order to this realm, even though this will be the first time we've encountered these types of enemies during our adventures."
"Oh, well, I guess I can put it in simplified terms that dragons such as yourselves, not to mention a faun like Elora, can understand without being confused," the Rat Professor replied, where it didn't look like he was aware of the fact that he just called all of them dumb, using his own choice of words, especially since Elora was wearing the start of the art armor that she and the Professor had put together and Spike was one of the smartest dragons, if one the smartest dragon, that lived in the Dragon Realms, though instead of being annoyed the group remained silent for now, "basically, the R-1000's and T-Rex 1000's are mechanically enhanced nanotech propulsion-oriented Riptocs, which we have been working on in our labs for the last year or so. They're quite start of the art, more so than anything you've dealt with."
"Fascinating... nanotech, propulsion based technology... those could help the Professor create even better suits of armor for myself and the other protectors of Avalar," Elora commented, because based on what she recalled the Professor had big plans for the next couple suits of armor that he wanted to make for her, before he went into making better armor for the Royal Guards of Avalar and better weapons for hunter and the others, though that was when she thought about something else that they could ask before they got underway, "Since you know so much about them, surely you must have found some sort of weakness in your creations?"
"Well, we did find a massive flaw in the R-1000 models, that when they are exposed to sub-zero temperatures their bodies can shut down or break," the Rat Professor stated, though at the same time his tone revealed that he was losing his patience with the five of them, almost like he was expecting them to just hear what he had to say and then leave as soon as they knew what was going on to this realm, something that Cynder didn't appreciate, "while the T-Rex 1000's are, based on our observations, vulnerable to electricity, so a blast from such an element should shut them down or break them, but we haven't gotten close to do such a thing to them... that's all I have to share on our models, anything else would go over your heads and cause you to stare at me with dumbfounded stares."
The group stood there for a moment as they stared at the Rat Professor for a few seconds, who returned to looking at his clipboard as he walked away from the area that the five of them had appeared in, as in he walked into the structure that was behind them and seemed to focus on whatever notes happened to be on his clipboard, before they sighed and walked down into the area that the three enemies were standing in, as in Elora did a backflip and crushed one of the two Caveman Riptocs with a kick to the head, opening the way for Ember to barrel into the chest of the other foe, leaving the way for Spyro to loose a burst of his Lightning Breath to blow down the T-Rex 1000 that was near them.
"Okay, before we go any further, I have to ask: is anyone else annoyed with that Rat Professor?" Ember asked, because while she was annoyed with the individual in question, due to the fact that it seemed like he had called them dumb at one point and she honestly couldn't confirm or deny her thoughts on the matter, she had no idea what the others were even thinking at the moment and had to wonder if any of them were feeling what she was feeling right now, especially Spike, given his intelligence and everything that he knew about.
"He and the other Rat Professors are probably used to those that don't know what they're talking about," Spike said, though even as he said that Cynder returned to the two stone pillars, which had metallic fences near them, and smashed a few straw baskets and metallic vases, so she could collect the gems that were inside them, before he glanced at the area that was around them, even though he did glance at the structure the Rat Professor was currently standing in, before he frowned for a moment as everyone regrouped near him, "though, to be perfectly honest, I wish he would have attempted to tell us everything that is going on, with all the specifics that they've learned about since their experiments started, but all we can do is move forward and see what else this realm has to throw at us."
Spyro and the others glanced at each other for a moment, as the frown that was on Spike's face was exactly what they were expecting to see at some point during their trek through this realm, though as soon as he was ready to move forward and explore the rest of this realm they left the area they were standing in and made sure to smash a few metallic vases so they could pick up the gems that were around them, before they climbed the steps that were behind there the T-Rex 1000 had been standing and paused as they noticed that a ruined carved stone bridge rested between the area that they were standing in and the next part of the jungle, and below them rested what appeared to be a molten ravine, which was when they noticed a decent sized volcano to their left.
"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this," Spyro commented, because the presence of a volcano in this jungle told him and the others that they would have to be careful as they progressed through the rest of the realm, as there was no telling what might be resting throughout the rest of this place, since there could be some magma creatures if they were unlucky, but for now he focused on what was in front of them and carefully started to cross the stone bridge that was in front of them, leaving the others to observe what was going on so they knew where to go and what to avoid, especially since part of the bridge collapsed in the process.
Standing on the other side of the stone bridge was one of the T-Rex 1000's that they would be taking down over the course of their trek through this realm, where he dodged the beam attack that was coming his way as Spike sent a quick Lightning Bolt through the air and struck his target so it would go still, even though Spyro made sure to smack it for a few seconds as the others flew over the ruined bridge and joined him, where they found that, just like all of the other enemies they had fought, the enemies of this realm were made from gems, meaning the Rat Professors either captured some of Ripto's minions and twisted them or these mechanical Riptocs were of their own creation. Once they were back together the group made sure to surround the temple that the T-Rex 1000 had been standing in front of and collected the couple of gems that were scattered around this part of the realm, even though that meant smashing some straw baskets and some of the metallic vases, before they found a chest on the right side of the stairs that lead to the temple's entrance, one that meant they needed to find a key to unlock it, before they regrouped at the front of the structure and headed for whatever was inside the temple. As it turned out there was a pool of lava at the top of the steps, meaning that whoever had built this temple must have built a lava resistant pool so the molten material didn't devour the sides of the pool and spill out into the surrounding area, something that Spike was a little interested in when he considered what they were seeing, before he found a single platform between them and the entrance of the temple, so the siblings and Cynder just flew over the entire gap and landed in the opening while Elora jumped onto the platform and joined them. From there they entered the main part of the temple and followed the tunnel as it lead them right to another T-Rex 1000 that happened to be blocking the way, where this time Spyro decided to try something else and used a bit of his Ice Breath to freeze the robot where it was standing, something that was followed by Ember smashing it to pieces with a swift whack of her tail, before they found out what it happened to be guarding, a set of platforms that were surrounded by more magma.
As it turned out getting across the set of five platforms, and avoiding the few bursts of fire that came from the magma every now and then, was easier said than done as the group took turns jumping over the platforms and avoided the fire as they moved towards the other side of the passage, where they regrouped and explored the other side of the area that was filled with magma, only to find a pair of straw baskets and a pair of gems resting nearby, though what caused them to stop was the fact that there happened to be a Rat Professor in front of them.
"Gems, still fresh, three days old... they're following us..." the Rat Professor said, where it appeared that he had to be taking notes on whatever had caught his interest, possibly the Caveman Riptocs that were hanging around the realm, even if the group had only seen a few of them since they started exploring Jurassic Jungle, but that was when he turned his head to the side for a moment and noticed that the five of them were standing nearby, as they were curious as to what he was doing right now, "Oh, hello there. I've been studying this temple for a while now and, from what I can tell, it can be quite fascinating at times, all things considered, given the magma and the platforms that are behind you... also, from what I can tell, the strange drawings that are on the walls of this temple have to be a clue to something, possibly a great treasure left behind by the ancients who built this place, but I haven't been able to decipher them since I started my studies. In fact the only thing I have been able to decipher is that the statues inside this chamber have gems that react to heat, so maybe you guys can figure something out."
The chamber in front of them was more of a square shaped area that had a few statues that appeared to be appeared to be carved into the wall to their right and the one on their left, though there were four enemies in the chamber, three of the Caveman Riptocs and one of the T-Rex 1000's, were Cynder quickly used her Shadow Play spell to deal with two of the more simplistic Caveman Riptocs, Elora kicked the third one as Elber struck it at the same time, leaving Spyro to use his Ice Breath to freeze the T-Rex 1000 as Spike quickly blasted the ice with a Lightning Bolt to blow their foe apart. Once all four of their enemies had been defeated, and they were sure there were no more around the area, Spike noticed a few things right off the bat, one being that there was a table near the opening that the Rat Professor was standing near and the other being the fact that the five statues had different colored gems resting inside their chests, gems that were reflected on the square pedestals that the humanoid statues were resting on, where he stared at them for a few moments as Spyro and the others smashed all of the breakable containers and collected the gems that were around them, before heading up the metallic ladder that was nearby and headed up to the upper level as Spike stared at the statues. What they discovered was that there happened to be a T-Rex 1000 up on the area that was above the opening they had found the Rat Professor near and Spyro froze it with his Ice Breath, allowing Ember and Elora to smash it to pieces with ease, meaning that what they had been told earlier was rather inaccurate, as it appeared that the T-Rex models were also susceptible to the sub-zero temperatures that the Ice element inflicted upon those that were caught in the blast, before discovering that it had been guarding the first dragonfly of this realm, which flew over to them and then headed down to the area Spike was standing in at the moment, who paused what he was studying before sending it back to Castle Hills, leaving them with nine more dragonflies to locate before they faced Ripto.
What was interesting, while Spyro, Cynder, and Ember started to collect the gems that were laying on the ground and smash the metallic vases that were scattered around the area, Elora found the key to the chest resting on top of one of the statues, so she collected it and jumped down to where Spike was standing, to slip it inside his satchel for later, since she was sure they would find a way back to the starting area once they located the exit portal, before seeing if he needed any assistance in figuring out whatever he was looking at. Spyro paused before he and the others got too far ahead of Spike and Elora, since he knew they wanted to see what else the realm had to throw at them, before noticing that his brother was currently staring at the five square shaped indents that rested throughout the temple chamber they were currently exploring, which was when Spike took to the air and stared at the couple of indents he and the others were seeing, as he had spotted something interesting and that made the others wonder what he had found out. Spike stared at the indent that had the red gem inside it and found one etching of a snake inside part of the indent, before he moved over to another one, the green one, and found two markings attached to it, only for him to fly around the chamber and discover that the blue one had three markings, the purple one had four, and the yellow one had five of them, where it was easy to figure out exactly what he needed to do next. What he did was focus on the five statues that were near the table, something that did rest near a larger statue that a dragonfly seemed to be trapped inside the chest of, by magic that he would prefer not to tamper with, so he channeled his magic and lashed out at the gems on the statues in the order the indents spoke of, as in red first, then green, followed by blue and then purple, before ending in yellow, and of course he used a small Fireball to hit the gems in question, before the table and the chest of the large statue glowed and the second dragonfly teleported to the top of the table. Once that was done Spike smiled as he quickly sent the dragonfly back to the main castle and then took a moment to write down what he had discovered in his attempts to solve the puzzle that was in this chamber, where he felt that this puzzle was surprisingly easy, especially after how hard the Rat Professor made it out to be, before he and Elora headed up to where the others were standing and resumed following the path as it lead them out of the chamber and let them delve deeper into this realm.
The path that was located at the top floor of the temple, and would take them outside, eventually brought them to a wooden bridge, one the group found was above a massive pool of magma, which appeared to be the center of the active volcano they had seen earlier, and it appeared that there was another structure that rested on the other side of the area from where they were standing, where they quickly discovered a stone platform between the two structures and that one of the T-Rex 1000's happened to be standing on it, though that didn't stop Spike from freezing it with a burst of Ice Shards so Elora could smash it to pieces. Once that foe was taken care of the group moved through the opening that was in front of them and entered the other structure, where they picked up a few gems along the way as each of them kept their eyes open for any dangers that might be waiting for something to ambush, before discovering a few stone platforms that were connected to the walls and had magma between them, so they carefully jumped over the gaps and made their way to the end of the passage they were following, even though that was where they discovered that there was another volcano off in another part of the jungle, something that only made them wonder how many of them there were in this realm. It was in that moment, as they walked over the wooden bridge that was beyond the end of the passage they had followed, that they discovered one of the side portals that belonged to this realm, one that was in the area below the bridge, where it even had a Challenge Gate resting near it, so what they did was have Spike, Elora, and Ember head down into the lower area, so they could smash the metallic vases that were in the area and collect the gems that were resting on the ground, while at the same time Spyro and Cynder headed for the T-Rex 1000 that happened to be standing on a circular stone platform that rested at the end of the bridge, leading to Spyro freezing it with his Ice Breath so Cynder could smash it, though that was when they found another wooden bridge, opposite of the first one, that lead to another platform that one of the T-Rex 1000's was standing on and appeared to be waiting for them.
Of course that was when a Lightning Bolt rushed passed them and struck the T-Rex 1000 and struck it down, where it was easy to see Spike, Elora, and Ember were ready to join them, due to the fact that the trio in question walked up to the area they were standing in, before the five of them moved forward and discovered something interesting, there was no bridge leading to the next structure, which was connected to the next volcano, rather there were a few stone platforms for them to jump on and traverse to get to their destination, which was what they did as they moved forward and headed for the structure that was the path forward. They had to be careful when one of them landed on the platforms in question, as they shifted a little whenever one of them touched them, but fortunately nothing major happened and they were able to reach the end of the magma path and land in front of the tunnel that was leading them into the volcano, hopefully so they could cut through it without being near the magma at all, though, as they soon discovered, there was a T-Rex 1000 in the way and it seemed to be waiting for them to come towards it. Spike shocked it with one of his Lightning spells and that opened several weaknesses for Elora to kick apart and Ember to smash with her tail before the foe fell apart and opened the way for them to move forward, which brought them to a part of the volcano that had a few openings that allowed the five of them to see some light from the outside, though their main focus was on the straw baskets that were near them and the gap that was just beyond where the T-Rex 1000 was standing. As such they jumped over the gap and smashed the couple of straw baskets apart as they approached a Caveman Riptoc and a T-Rex 1000, which was where Spyro shocked their robotic enemy into submission and opened the way for Cynder to smash it while Ember knocked down the Caveman Riptoc and smashed it with her tail, leaving Spike and Elora to keep an eye out for potential enemies, even though it did look like there was a path of small wooden walkways that seemed to be leading slightly deeper into the area, which had two of the Cavemen Riptocs and one of the T-Rex 1000's standing in the way.
As the enemies fell before the might of the group, and they made sure to break the metallic vases and straw baskets that were along the way and collect the fallen gems, Spike noticed that there were a few ruined walls that seemed to be part of whatever tribe had built the temple the statues had been in earlier, though due to the nature of the area that was around them, which was the inside of the volcano that was all around them, made it impossible for him to determine what was going on, so all he could do was carefully write down everything that he saw as they made their way down towards the end of the path that the bridges formed, which happened to be where a second Challenge Gate was located. Instead of heading down to talk to the Rat Professor that was standing at the bottom of the path, near where the Challenge Gate was resting, the ground found a wooden bridge on their right and took it as they headed through the tunnel that it brought them to, where they picked up the gems that were on the ground and quickly came to a stop as they reached another area that had a Challenge Gate waiting for them, along with a few metallic fences that had electricity dancing over their surfaces as they stared at them, before turning their attention towards the ring of magma that seemed to be between them and the area the exit portal had to be resting in. As such the group moved forward and smashed the few metallic vases that were in the new area they had found and discovered that one of the Rat Professors happened to be standing near the Challenge Gate, no doubt with something he wanted to tell them and would lead them to one of the dragonflies of this realm, which was why they quickly cleared out the area they were in and approached the individual in question, though as they did that it was easy to see that there was a red robed Thief either standing on top of the magma or floating above it with some magic.
"Oh, hello heroes, I'm in a bit of a pickle... that mean old Thief stole something from me. Can you believe that?" the Rat Professor stated, where he glanced out at the area that was beyond where he was standing and focused on the Thief that was carrying something in his sack, which was when they glanced at the individual in question as Spike noticed that the Challenge Gate had the Invincibility symbol floating between both posts that made up the gate, meaning that once one of them charged through it they would be able to run over the magma without being harmed, "He stole a bio-molecular hologram projector from me, something I need for my experiments, and if you would recover it I would, of course, reward you graciously for your actions."
The group glanced at each other for a moment before they rushed through the Invincibility Gate that was resting near them and jumped down into the area that the Thief happened to be standing in, even though they were a little surprised by the fact that there were a few Caveman Riptocs standing on top of the magma to their left, which was why Cynder took care of them with her Shadow Play power while the rest of the group followed the Thief as he headed to the right, even though it appeared that he was making a circle around the small volcano that was in this area, something that was a bad move as he ran straight into Cynder, who knocked him out and let Elora claim the sack before it hit the magma, allowing them to make sure the goods were inside it before they returned to the Rat Professor.
"You know, I wasn't expecting you to return so quickly," the Rat Professor said, which the group was expecting him to say this time around, as there were five of them and it was easier for them to figure out what their enemies or the Thieves were up to, so they could outsmart them, before he checked the sack that was offered to him and nodded his head for a few seconds, showing that they had found what had been stolen from him, before he reached into his pack and pulled out the third dragonfly of this realm, "Here, I found this dragonfly wandering around the jungle earlier, like it was lost, and I was planning on taking it back to the lab to study it, but I guess you guys deserve it more than me."
Ember looked like she wanted to say something, about how annoyed she was with the Rat Professor and his need to experiment or study anything that he got his hands on, but she said nothing as Spike sent the third dragonfly home and they returned to the area the Thief happened to be located in, where they smashed the oddly placed straw baskets that were in front of them, which shouldn't be there given that magma was below them, before collecting the gems and came to what appeared to be the end of the area, a chamber that a Rat Professor was standing in, even though there was an opening near him that a platform moved up into and disappeared a few moments later.
"Hello heroes, I'm glad that you made it to this area of our realm, and took out the rampaging enemies that happened to be standing in your way," the Rat Professor said, where he held a hand out and the fourth dragonfly of this realm flew out and joined the group for a moment, even though it flew near the third one, as Spike had held off on sending it back to the castle, just in the off chance that they found the exit portal beyond where Thief was standing, and it turned out that his thoughts were correct on the matter, "As a reward for your heroic efforts, and in the name of good science, allow me to offer you this dragonfly that I found sometime ago."
Spyro nodded his head as Spike used his magic to safely teleport the two dragonflies back to Castle Hills, though once that was done they cleared out the area that was around the Rat Professor and used the platform to move down into the area that the exit portal was resting in, where they smashed the couple of straw baskets that were around them and then moved down the passage that happened to be resting near the portal, which brought them to a wall that opened up and revealed that they were back at the starting area of this realm. From there the group took to the air and headed for the temple structure they had seen earlier, where it didn't take them long to land in front of the chest that they had seen and Spike slipped the key into the lock, something that was followed by them releasing the fifth dragonfly of this realm and he sent it back to the others as well, meaning they had five more dragonflies to locate before they were able to say that they had recovered all of the ninety missing dragonflies that Ripto displaced with his spell. With the chest opened the group headed through the temple and the areas that they had explored earlier, as this time they didn't need to worry about any enemies or the breakable containers that had been removed during their earlier trek through this realm, and it didn't take them long to reach the area that the first side portal was located in, the one that had a challenge gate near it, so that was when they passed through the portal and headed into the first side section of this realm. The area that they appeared in seemed to be near the top of a volcano, one that seemed like it might be getting ready to blow, by Spike's estimates based on what he was seeing, before they glanced at the area in front of them and found a slide, carved out of the stone of the volcano's side, that was waiting for someone to use it, not to mention a Rat Professor was standing nearby, like he had something to tell them before they left the area he was currently standing in.
"My calculations indicate that this volcano is about to blow, and the only way to escape it is to use this slide and get to the bottom!" the Rat Professor stated, almost like he had no concern for his own safety, while at the same time confirming Spike's thoughts on the matter, that the volcano was getting ready to blow and that they had a short period of time before such a thing happened, before he gestured towards the start of the slide, almost as if he was indicating that it was time for them to get out of the area, "Don't worry about me, just focus on saving yourselves!"
"Yeah... how about no?" Cynder remarked, where she took to the air and grabbed the Rat Professor with her claws, so he would be dangling from her claws for the foreseeable future, something that surprised the resident in question, before she glanced towards the others for a few seconds, who nodded their heads and rushed over to the slide as Spike used his Ice powers to create boards of ice for the four of them, mostly since the challenge appeared to be heading down the side of the volcano by sliding, but this meant they would have an easier time controlling their movements as they raced the eruption that would be coming in the near future.
As it turned out the volcano happened to erupt shortly after they started sliding down the path that had been carved into the stone that was in front of them, where they made sure that each of them avoided the open pits of magma that were in their way while Cynder flew through the air with her passenger hanging on for dear life, even though she wasn't planning on dropping him anytime soon, though what the group found out was that the path they were following was easy for them to traverse and they came to a stop in the chamber of a temple that the slide brought them to, where they were joined by Cynder a few moments later and she dropped off her passenger. It was in that moment that they found out that the Rat Professor she had saved was the one that was supposed to be at the end of the slide, meaning he would have been safe due to some teleportation device that he quickly pointed out to them and declared that, while they were fine heroes, they really needed to work on improving their minds and their intelligence, since he was of the opinion that they should have just left a surperior mind behind and let him save himself, before Spike sighed and lashed out with a quick headbutt, knocking the individual out as he revealed the sixth dragonfly of this realm. Normally Spike would ignore what the residents of the various realms said about him and his siblings, but this time around the Rat Professor directly insulted all of them and, in his own terms, claimed that they were dumb, though Spike was of the opinion that if the Rat Professor had a teleportation device he would have mentioned it before hand, though since the individual did that he just snapped and knocked him out, as he really hated being called 'dumb', before he sent the dragonfly back to the main castle and they headed though the nearby portal to leave this part of the realm behind. Spyro and the others understood why he was so upset over what the Rat Professor had said, and they knew that if he had insulted them any further than what he had done one of them would have lashed out as well, but in the end none of them really said anything as they followed him back to the main part of the realm and resumed looking for the remaining dragonflies.
Once they were back in the area that the first side portal was resting in, just like they did whenever they left one of the side sections of a realm, it was easy for them to spot the Lightning Challenge Gate that was resting nearby and Spyro just passed through it to see what happened, which was followed by eight metallic rods appearing in the surrounding area, as in near the gate and not scattered throughout the area, so it was painfully easy for him to just fly around the area and use his Lightning Breath to activate the eight metallic rods and release the seventh dragonfly of this area, which Spike sent back to the main castle before they headed for the area they had seen the other Challenge Gate in, one that happened to be another Invincibility Powerup based on what they were seeing at the moment. It was in that moment they learned that the R-1000's, the enemies they hadn't seen during their adventure in this realm, had blown up a lab and stole whatever equipment had survived the destruction, at least according to the Rat Professor that was standing nearby, so what they did was pass through the gate that was near the resident and started to explore the magma filled area, where Spyro and Spike separated into two groups, given that they were the only ones that could actually freeze the R-1000's and open the way for the others to take their foes down, so Cynder followed after Spyro while Elora and Ember did the same with Spike as they focused on tracking their metallic targets and taking all of them out. The R-1000's that were scattered throughout the area didn't even attempt to take any of them down, which was rather odd and made them wonder if there was more to the story than what they had been told, as it really didn't seem like these guys were dangerous at all, though while they took down the metallic dinosaurs Spike found the eighth dragonfly of this realm and had it follow them as Elora picked up the fallen components that the R-1000's had stolen from whatever lab the Rat Professor had mentioned, which seemed to be immune to the magma that was around them.
It didn't take the group all that long to explore the magma filled area and discover the location of the second portal that would take them to the other side section that they had been looking for, so they moved through the Invincibility Gate that was resting in front of the stairs and returned to the Rat Professor that had asked for their assistance, granting them the ninth dragonfly of this realm as they turned over the container of items they had recovered, before Spike sent both dragonflies back to the main castle and they headed back to the side portal... which brought them to an area of the realm that had a massive tower resting in a crater of some kind, one that seemed like a gauntlet of some kind as they stared at it, before noticing the Rat Professor standing nearby.
"Welcome, brave adventurers, to the Tower of Scary and Ridiculous Height!" the Rat Professor declared, like he was someone that was working on an amusement park ride or something, based on what they had seen in Dragon Shores and watched someone tackle what the Gnorcs had made to amuse the younger generations of dragons, which they might see at some point in the near future, before they focused on the individual that was in front of them and wondered if he had anything interesting to tell them about the tower, which was when he did what seemed to be a wicked laugh, the 'mwa hah haah' type of laugh, "If one of you can climb to the top of the tower, and overcome all of the challenges that rest between us and the peak, you will prove yourself worthy of the tower's secret treasure... oh, and no one can help you, all they can do is watch and wait for the challenger to fail."
The group barely had time to even talk about who would be taking on the challenge of the tower, mostly because that was when Ember rushed forward, gripped onto the metallic ladder that was in front of her, and started climbing the side of the tower, something that was when the carved heads above her started to loose boulders towards her, though as the Rat Professor grinned, as if he felt that things were going to shift in his favor, Ember smashed through the boulders and continued moving forward. Spyro and the others glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew that Ember had used the Warrior's Armor skill to break the boulders that were coming her way and pushed herself up the ladder that she was currently climbing, eventually bringing her to an area that had a few dart launchers that did nothing to her, thanks to the skill she was using to protect herself, before she reached an area that some spiders happened to be climbing on, as some obstacles for the tower, but their attacks did nothing to her as she moved along the path that was in front of her. It was clear that the Rat Professor wasn't very happy with what was going on, as he was expecting Ember to be knocked down by one of the obstacles that were in her way and seeing her smash her way through everything that was being thrown at her didn't sit well with him, though he watched with a frown on his face as Ember pushed through the challenges that were in front of her, before tapping something that allowed him to teleport out of the area he had been standing in and quickly reappeared on top of the tower, just as Ember reached the area in question. From there Spyro and the others watched as the pair seemed to talk to each other for a few moments, something that was followed by Ember flying down to them and revealed that she had found the tenth and final dragonfly of this realm, the ninetieth and final missing dragonfly that had been displaced by Ripto's spell, based on what Spike had recorded, meaning that they had everything they needed so they could breach the portal their foe had created and could put an end to his plans.
With the dragonfly sent back to the main castle, and Spike was sure that they had recovered all of the missing gems that had been scattered throughout this realm at the same time, the group headed through the portal and returned to the main part of the realm, as it was time for them to head for the exit portal and return to Castle Hills, so they could check with Bianca and take the fight to Ripto at long last, so they could put an end to his plans and restore order to this land, and get back to the event he had interrupted with his arrival.
With Jurassic Jungle taken care of, and the group was sure that they had left nothing behind based on what Spike told them, Spyro lead the others back to the area of the main castle of the homeworld that they had been assisting, because they had no idea if Bianca and the rest of the magic users had managed to breach the portal that Ripto had left behind earlier, so this could give them a few moments of rest before they face the villain that was messing with Castle Hills and the surrounding realms that they had saved from what the Riptocs had been doing. It didn't take them all that long to get back to the area that was their current destination, where it was easy to see that Nestor and the other dragons were busy making sure that the rest of the dragonflies were checked out and allowed to join their hatchling partner, something that put a smile on the faces of the younger dragons, based on what the group was seeing at the moment, which made them do the same thing as they entered the area in question. While they did that Spike could see Bianca off in the distance, surrounded by a few of the other magic using dragons as they poured their magic into breaching the portal that Ripto had created when he teleported into this homeworld, meaning that he and the others would have to wait for some time before they could challenge their foe and bring order to Castle Hills and the realms that were connected to it, hence the reason the five of them walked over to where Alvar was standing, so they could get some refreshments and some rest before the portal was opened and they could tackle Ripto at long last.
"Spyro, you and the others never cease to amaze me," Nestor commented, his tone revealing that he was quite pleased with what the group had been able to do since this adventure had started, even though he was used to hearing about this sort of thing after the previous adventures had been brought to a close, though that was followed by a number of the other dragons nodding their heads in agreement, showing the siblings, Cynder, and Elora that all of them were happy to see that they had recovered the dragonflies and saved the realms from whatever had been happening to them since Ripto had shown up, "you've managed to recover all of the missing dragonflies, which means that you must have assisted the other realms and restored order to them at the same time."
"Indeed we have," Spyro replied, where he accepted one of the juice containers that had been offered to him, as he definitely needed some after their adventure in the jungle and everything that they had faced, something that the others were doing at the same time, before he considered what they had seen and done over the course of this adventure, due to the fact that he was curious about something, hence the reason he glanced at Spike, "and, according to what Spike said, we should have all of the gems as well, so those can be returned to the dragons that call Castle Hills home, once we've taken down Ripto and brought order back to these lands."
"Yes, we have recovered all ninety missing dragonflies and seven thousand gems," Spike stated, not that anyone was even surprised by that statement, because he had been keeping track of the coloration of the gems they had collected and had a very accurate count of what they were worth, just like what happened in their previous adventures, before he took a moment to think about something as he stared at the portal Bianca was working on breaching, which was why he shifted his gaze over to Cosmos, who was either resting from using too much magic or observing the work that was going on, as there was something he wanted to ask, "Hey Cosmos, do you remember where we put the Scepter?"
"The Scepter? Oh right, the one you took from Gnasty Gnorc," Cosmos replied, showing that he did know what Spike was referring to, even though it was an odd thing to ask and made him wonder what the young dragon had in mind for such an artifact, to which he nodded his head a few seconds later as he recalled the area of the Dragon Realms that he and the other Magic Crafters had placed the scepter in, to keep it safe until someone wanted to use it, "Yes, I do recall the area that we put the scepter in, after the last time you used it... give me a few minutes and I'll be right back with it, since I have a feeling I know why you would ask for such a thing."
Spike said nothing to that as Cosmos headed into the castle so he could find the portal that would take him back to the Dragon Realms, all so he could find and recover the Scepter of Crystallization, because he and his siblings had a habit of trapping their villains inside crystalline statues and moving them to areas so they didn't break out and cause more havoc to the islands of this world, and now that Ripto had revealed himself he figured that he might as well have Gnasty Gnorc's scepter with them, in case he got the chance to imprison their foe inside a statue. Spyro and the others, however, said nothing to that as they returned to resting and recovering the energy they had spent since their last break, despite the fact that some of them were staring at the area Bianca was standing in, though the reason they were doing that was so that the moment she breached the portal and waved to them they would be able to move the moment she informed them that she and the others had done their task, as they knew she had to be getting close to breaching Ripto's barrier and opening the portal that was in front of her. Elora did know that Spike was thinking about Moneybags, not to mention the fact that Ripto had broken the crystalline statue the bear head been trapped in after their adventure in Avilion, which had resulted in severe mental damage to Moneybags' mind and created a much nicer version of him, something she and the others needed some time to get used to, though she did know that Spike was likely thinking of ways to make sure the other crystalline statues were safe and sound, to prevent the other villains from escaping. Other than that there was little for the group to actually talk about, as they had no idea where Ripto had decided to make his last stand and it would be a little foolish of them to waste time making plans, not that Spyro, Spike, and Ember needed plans since they had a habit of challenging the villains of their previous adventures and coming up with a plan as soon as they saw the area they would be fighting in and understood what their foe had in terms of attacks and skills, but since this was Ripto, who the group had faced in the past, they had a decent idea of what to expect this time around, though that didn't mean they couldn't be on guard for any new tricks he might have learned over the last couple of years.
Hunter, who had been sitting nearby, actually remained silent for once, no doubt thinking about what happened the last time they saw Ripto, before Cosmos returned to the area they were sitting in and revealed that he had returned with the Scepter of Crystallization, something that he handed over to Spike and let the young dragon slip it into his pack, but as that happened there was a rush of magic in the area they were sitting in and Bianca beckoned for them to join her as the other magic users departed from the area, where it was easy for Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora to see that there was a hole that was made out of magic that went down into the ground, though it did seem like it was an oddly shaped portal that Ripto had created earlier.
"There, we've breached Ripto's portal, so now you can challenge him and end his plans," Bianca said, where she took a moment to raise her arm to her brow, showing that she had put a lot of time and effort into breaching the magic that Ripto had left behind when he and his minions jumped through the portal earlier, before she glanced at the group for a few seconds, knowing that, while she would have loved to join them in this fight, she would have to stay back since she had next to no magic left at this point, due to her being exhausted from trying to breach the barrier.
"Don't worry, we'll be back with good news," Spyro stated, because unless Ripto had totally changed up everything he had used during their second adventure, not to mentioned obtaining a vast amount of power that rivaled that of Malefor, he was sure that he and the others would be able to take their foe down with some ease, though even as he said that he, his siblings, Cynder, and Elora readied themselves for whatever they were going to find on the other side of the portal and jumped into the portal that was in front of them.
It took the group a few moments to travel from the area of Castle Hills they had been in and arrive in the starting area of the pocket realm that the portal was connected to, a realm that looked like there was an active volcano in the middle of it, a tall wall of charred rock that seemed to create a circular barrier or something, a sea of lava or magma that rested all around the metallic platform that served as the starting area for this realm, and there happened to be some pillars of earth on top of the circular charred wall, though why it was like that none of them knew since this realm seemed to be of Ripto's design... and speaking of their foe it was easy to see Ripto standing a short distance in front of them, complete with both Crush and Gulp standing nearby, with their mind control collars resting on their necks.
"So, it appears that you have foiled my plans to dominate these lands, just like you did in Avalar," Ripto stated, where his tone revealed something that the siblings and Elora knew they would discover as they chatted with him, even if it was for a few seconds, and what they found was that he was upset with them and was totally annoyed by the fact that the five of them had ruined everything he had set in motion since he came to Castle Hills, something they were pleased with since it meant their foe would make mistakes over the course of their battle and those openings would be something they kept an eye out for, though while Cynder didn't have the same experience with Ripto she remained on her guard, which caused the others to do the same thing as Ripto shifted his gaze towards the dinosaurs that were standing near him, "Crush, Gulp, why don't you make yourselves useful and smash our interlopers into the ground, though be sure to give me a show this time around, as the last time you fought these pests I was sorely disappointed in your fights."
As Ripto finished talking, however, Spike flew through the air and rushed towards the area that the large dinosaurs were standing in, where he loosed a burst of magic that split apart and slammed into the collars they were wearing, which broke the collars in seconds and he seized the fragments with his magic, to store them inside the pack he kept all of the mind controlling items inside, though as Crush and Gulp regained their senses, and realized what had happened to them, Spike grabbed them with his magic and teleported them out of the arena that the others were standing in, putting both of them on top of the portion of the rock wall that was close to the area Ripto wanted to fight them in, before he landed near Spyro and the others as he focused on Ripto.
"Sorry, Ripto, but you'll have to face us alone, instead of mind controlling others to fight your battles for you," Spike commented, as he had been planning on freeing Crush and Gulp from the collars that had been placed around their necks at some point in the past, where it appeared that the pair of dinosaurs were pleased with what he had done for them, but even as he said that he could tell that Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora had shifted into their battle stances as they focused on their foe, who seemed to be growing more annoyed with them.
"If there's anything I hate more than a normal dragon, its a purple dragon... and I hate a magical purple dragon, who is immune to lava and can break my mind control collars, even more!" Ripto stated, his tone confirming that he wasn't happy with what Spike had done and he was reminded of what he had witnessed during their previous battle, though that was when he pulled out his new scepter and pointed it at the group, or at Spyro since that seemed to be the one he was more interested in taking down, despite what he had said after Spike had informed him that he couldn't rely on Crush and Gulp fighting for him this time around, but they remained silent as each of them waiting for Ripto to finish speaking and start the fight at long last, "Spyro, Spike, Ember, the three of you have caused me enough problems in the time I've known you, since you smashed my plans in Avalar and have toppled my attempts to take over this place, while I have also had enough of your companions, Cynder and Elora, as all of you have been thorns in my side and I will take great pleasure in breaking all five of you. Prepare yourselves... Hocus Pocus!"
In that moment the five of them separated themselves from each other as Ripto jumped backwards and threw up a shield of ice around his entire body, no doubt believing that the element would be able to protect him from harm, but as he did that he swung his scepter and a burst of Ice Shards rushed out from the area he was standing in and rushed right for the area that Ember was standing in, an interesting decision in the grand scheme of things since she hardened part of her body and smashed her way through the barrage that was coming her way, though it was hard to tell if he was annoyed or just focused on what he was doing. Ember got close to where Ripto was standing and took a deep breath, where it was clear that their foe was reinforcing his barrier with more magic, before she loosed a burst of her Fire Breath that smashed into the barrier and melted several bits of it in the process, where she ducked as soon as that happened and let Elora send a blast through the opening, something that slammed into their foe's chest and knocked him backwards, but it didn't bring down the Ice Barrier Ripto had created, who staggered as he weaved his magic through the air and sealed the opening she had created, before he send out a greater amount of Ice Shards towards all five of them. Spyro and Spike channeled their inner flames for a moment and loosed a pair of attacks through the air, Spyro focusing on Fire Breath to melt the shards that were coming at him while Spike used some Fireballs that melted their way through the incoming attacks and rushed through the air to slam into the Ice Barrier, surprising Ripto as parts of it melted within seconds, which allowed Cynder to use her Shadow Play technique and slipped through the opening so she could reappear in Ripto's shadow, something that was followed by her bursting out of the shadow so she could slam into his back and knock him into this side of the Ice Barrier, something she did a few times before pushing herself out of the barrier in question. As Ripto started to get back up and stare at them, just like he had done in the past, Elora pushed herself into the air and then flipped forward, where she rushed downwards and struck the Ice Barrier with a powerful kick, where she watched as her armored hoof smashed part of the ice apart, enough to create a small opening that didn't seem to do much for the others, while at the same time their foe grinned like he was a winner.
Elora knew that Ripto had no idea what was going on, as Spike loosed a burst of magic that seemed to disappear after a few seconds, which was when their foe fixed the part of the barrier that Elora had broken with her attack, though when Ripto's magic stopped focusing on the barrier Spike waved a claw for a moment and the magic he had snuck into the hole while their foe was distracted exploded, surprising Ripto for a moment as the barrier was smashed to pieces, though as that happened Elora rushed into the falling ice and punched Ripto in the face, something that forced him into the barrage of attacks that Ember had for him, striking him with several blows from her front claws and her tail. The final attack put a fair bit of distance between the two of them and Ripto, despite the fact that it was clear the Ice Barrier wasn't holding up against the attacks that were being sent his way, summoned a brand new Ice Barrier and weaved even more magic into it with a wave of his scepter, creating a barrier that seemed even tougher than the first one he had created, something that caused Spike to take to the air and rain homing attacks down on the area that Ripto was standing in, as in his spells would zero in on the area their foe was in. It was in that moment that Ripto did exactly what Spike wanted him to do, as he hurled a few Ice Shards into the air to intercept the Fire spells that he was sending down into the arena, meaning that his focus was being split between those that were around him and the Fire spells that were raining down on the area he happened to be standing in, something Spyro and the others used to their advantage as the Fireballs melted several of the Ice Shards and several of the Ice Shards broke the Fireballs. Spyro used his intense Fire Breath to melt several openings in the new Ice Barrier for Elora to use, as in slipping blasts through them, while Ember used her Warrior's Armor in combination with Cynder, who used the same tactic, to smash through part of the barrier and knock around Ripto, who was trying his best to stop them from hitting him, before Ember smashed him through the backside of the Ice Barrier a few seconds later, where he rolled for a few seconds and coughed as he focused on them.
It was clear that Ripto was considering what was going on and what sort of spells he was going to use from this point forward, even though he hadn't used any of the spells that he had channeled back during their first fight with him, which could mean that his new scepter might be weaker than his stolen one that was powered by the stone he had taken from the Professor, though it was in that moment that Ripto waved his scepter for a moment and his form actually enlarged for a few seconds, so much so that he was actually as tall as Elora, before a wall of fire, a Fire Barrier, formed around him and he laughed as he stared at the five of them.
Spike raised an eyebrow for a moment, as it was odd that their foe could even bother creating something like this in the first place, especially after everything that happened since the battle had started, though as soon as he saw that both he and Spyro switched to the Ice element this time around, as Spyro focused on freezing part of the barrier so Ember, Elora, or Cynder could smash through the section he targeted, while at the same time Spike remained in the air and rained down Ice Shards on the area that Ripto was standing in, who had to divert some of his attention to loosing Fireballs into the air, returning them back to what they had been doing earlier. While they did that Ember, Cynder, and Elora had to be a bit more careful this time around, as while the Warrior's Armor protected two of them from the flames one of them had to wait for an opening so she could actually punch or kick their foe, openings that were provided by either Spyro or Spike, though there was an opportunity that presented itself as Spike weaved some ice fragments around Elora's armor and that formed a layer of ice over her body, like a set of Ice Armor, something that allowed her to jump through the flames and not take any damage in the process, so she could punch him through the flames, despite the fact that he was taller than he had been a few moments ago. The interesting problem that Ripto didn't appear to have dealt with was the fact that he couldn't accurately see through the flames that were sort of protecting him, as Spike knew that creating a Fire Barrier was a good way to protect oneself from certain attacks, though without the accompanying spell, which would allow the caster to see through the flames with ease, the user's vision would be limited for the foreseeable future, something that could be stopped by the caster or by someone knocking them senseless for a few moments, the latter they had done a few times since this battle started. Of course Ember wasn't going to complain about the current situation, because when their foes made bad decisions it was easier for them to defeat whoever they were facing, though as she thought about all of that she smashed right through the part of the Fire Barrier that Spyro froze and struck Ripto hard enough to force him out of it not a few seconds later, which was followed by Cynder smacking him around with her Shadow Play technique before Spyro struck him with a swift hit to the chest with his tail.
As Ripto staggered backwards for a few seconds he wasted no time in lashing out with a burst of Fire magic that was sent out from the area he was standing in and rushed towards the locations that everyone happened to be in, where Elora dodged the Fireball that had been sent towards her by rolling out of the way, Spike simply fired a more powerful Ice Shard into the heart of the spell coming at him and cancelled it out, Ember hardened her body and smashed through all of the Fireballs that were coming at her while smacking Ripto backwards, Cynder used her Shadow Fire Breath to stall and cancel the sphere that had been flying at her, and Spyro drew Windshear and swung at the incoming Fireball, making sure to add enough power to send it right back at their foe, blowing up the area Ripto was standing in. Spike knew that his brother had done well in managing the power of the blade that he carried, as it would have been easy to accidentally add too much of the wind's power to the Fireball and could have caused it to blow up in his face, but Spyro had done well and had used their foe's attack against him, which was great since it made Ripto pause and question what he was doing, and, if he and his siblings were correct in their thoughts, it was unlikely that their foe would surrender to them, hence the reason they were on their guard and caused both Elora and Cynder to do the same thing. As it turned out Ripto got up and moved out of the area he had been resting in, apparently channeling the flames to create a pathway for him to use, like a slide that one would have assumed he would have made out of ice, though Spike was sure that his scepter was the key to what he was doing and that if they took the scepter out Ripto wouldn't be able to fight them, though as Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora stayed on the platform and defended themselves from the spells that Ripto sent at them, all Fire based since that appeared to be the element he was stuck on, Spike channeled his magic and prepared one of the stronger spells he had in his arsenal, one that could stop Ripto in his tracks.
What Spike did was pull in the moisture that was in the air, even though he had to do so from an area that was a fair distance from the volcano they were fighting near, but instead of creating one of his Lightning based spells, like the one that he was fond of using against their enemies and certain airships, he focused on making a spell that was Ice based and was rather powerful, where the fragments of ice transformed into the Ice Hydra over the course of a few moments, but the moment the spell was ready be beckoned with his head and that caused the others to move out of the way as he sent it down at Ripto, something that froze the entire area around Ripto and trapped their foe in a large block of ice, which was when Spike landed nearby so he could observe his handiwork.
"Is he done? Have we beaten him and broken his plans?" Cynder inquired, mostly because she knew that this wasn't what she was expecting when Ripto showed himself to them and the rest of the dragons that were in the castle, and that was taking into consideration what she had learned since she met Spyro and the others, especially since she had read the book that detailed their previous battle against Ripto, something that told her and the others that his new scepter, while strong in some areas, was weak in certain aspects and it appeared it might not have been meant for battle, though she knew that Spike would be able to tell her if she was right or not.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything a crack formed in the ice prison and caused them to back away from the area that it was resting in, where they silently watched as it expanded rather quickly before the entire thing shattered and their foe hit the ground not a few seconds later, though as Ripto coughed for a moment, to make sure everything was just fine after being trapped inside a block of ice for a few moments, his scepter glowed brightly for a instant as Spike prepared to intercept whatever spell he had in mind... where he transformed into a massive caveman, something that ripped a few bits of his clothing apart and ruined both his cape and his collar, all while making the scepter take on the appearance of a club with a gem at the top, though he stood as tall as Crush did while having some armored bits that looked like he was taking from Gulp's form as well.
"Ripto smash!" Ripto declared, showing Spike that the spell he had used to transform into his giant form had come at the cost of his intelligence, or at least that was what he was assuming based on what they were seeing right now, before he raised his right arm and held the scepter-club up high for a moment, where they could see that magic was gathering around the gem that rested at the top of the weapon, and then brought it down on the area the group happened to be standing in, showing them that he was going to crush them if they didn't dodge the attack.
Spike, on the other claw, quickly weaved his magic through the space between them and the incoming weapon, where the scepter-club slammed into the top of the barrier he threw up and the two conflicting magical energies, Ripto's being more wild while his was more refined due to what he learned over the years, caused the entire area around the platform they were fighting on to shudder, where the others watched as the lava shifted rather suddenly, the volcano erupted for a few seconds, black earth spires burst out of the lava, and parts of the rock wall cracked, showing the others that what had to be the final part of this battle was going to be dangerous. Even Crush and Gulp, who had been on the sidelines since the battle started, backed away from the edge of the wall they were standing on, as the moment the first crack appeared they feared for their lives, a reasonable response based on what the group had seen, demonstrating some of the danger that everyone faced now that Ripto seemed to be pouring all of his magic into brute strength, with little thought for any of the consequences that such a thing might bring, meaning Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora would have to be careful, since all four of them weren't as magically attuned as he was. In the following moments Spike used his power and forced his foe's attack backwards, something that would have shocked Ripto if he was in his right mind and not being a hulking berserker, but he quickly regained himself and swung his weapon in Spike's direction, coming from Spike's left, so he threw up a new barrier to stop the attack from hitting him, while at the same time trying to modify the barrier so it could stop the damage to the surrounding area, not to mention the rest of the realm they were fighting in, but from what he could see either his alterations weren't working or Ripto's enhanced power was more than what he expected it to be. The only good thing that came from this was that the others could attack Ripto without him lashing out at them, or at least that appeared to be what was going on from Spike's perspective, so he maintained his position and pushed their foe back after a few moments of them struggling against each other, making sure not to let the collision of his refined magic and Ripto's wild magic last for too long, especially after everything that had happened during their first collision.
While Spike focused on making sure the magic was contained in a single area, and not running wild all over the place like Ripto was planning, since he felt that their foe had decided to try and smash this entire realm with his wild magic while he was in this state, Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora took to the air and started to fly around the arena that they had been fighting in for some time, where it was clear that Spyro and Cynder were combining their Fire and Wind magic into a more powerful attack that knocked Ripto a tad bit forward, something that was corrected as Ember lashed out with both her armored claws and her Emission skill while Elora tried kicking their foe a few times and blasted him a few times from afar, when Ripto was distracted by the others. Of course Spike wasn't able to stay in one spot for very long, mostly because he noticed that their foe started to shift his attention to the others that were buzzing around the air and lashed out with his scepter-club, where he made sure his barriers were in place as he also moved away from where he had been standing a few moments ago, allowing his magic to clash with the wild magic of Ripto as he continued to try and minimize what the collision did to the surrounding area, which wasn't easy. He was beginning to suspect that the scepter Ripto was using was far stronger than what he originally thought and that their foe had no control over its full power, which would make him rather foolish for coming here with something he couldn't control, something that could explain why he had been using the more basic elemental spells, but that was when he shifted his attention back to the battle as Spyro loosed a massive blast of his Fire Breath at Ripto's back, something that was fueled by Cynder lending her Wind Breath to it so they could singe their foe's back and distract him for a few seconds, while Ember and Elora lashed out at whatever opening their foe revealed to them, as every bit helped in this situation. One thing Ember noticed was that Ripto did use his spare arm as he swung at whoever got close to him, whenever he wasn't distracted by what the others were doing, and there was the rare instance where he was able to focus on her and strike her with his fist, though her Warrior's Armor protected her for any damage that would have been dealt, but such a thing allowed her to understand that being struck by his fist would hurt the rest of the group, if such a thing happened to any of them.
Not a few moments later Ripto seemed to change tactics on them again, as he channeled his power into the scepter-club and hurled several spheres that were the size of Spyro through the air, targeting all of them at the same time, which prompted Spike to summon multiple barriers to catch the spheres, even though it appeared that Ripto was truly trying to break the realm they were fighting in, but as the others moved out from behind their barriers, so they could lash out at Ripto once more, their foe gathered his wild magic and loosed a bolt of lightning that rushed through the air and slammed right into Elora's chest, blasting her out of the air as she screamed, surprising the dragons for a moment.
"ELORA!" Spike exclaimed, where he and the others watched as Elora crashed into the platform and came to a rest in the dead center of the circular area, even though there was a decent amount of smoke covering her, no doubt from her armor being busted by all the electricity that had coursed through it thanks to Ripto's spell, before he glanced at their foe and focused on what he was going to do as he channeled his magic once more, grabbing the fragments of the collars he had removed from Crush and Gulp and pulled them out so he could work on them.
What Spike did was modify the collars and the magic that was inside them to draw in the wild magic that Ripto was in the middle of wielding against them, or at least that was his theory as he considered what he was trying to do, before he hurled the fragments into four directions and quickly activated his modifications, where the wild magic that was in the air, trapped by his barriers, broke apart and drifted into the hearts of the metallic fragments, showing that he had created a prototype item that could draw in Ripto's wild magic, while he used his magic to tug on Ripto's power so he could draw it away from their foe and return him to normal. The problem with such a prototype item and his spell was that he couldn't actually cast any additional spells while he worked to exhaust Ripto to the point where he couldn't use the majority of his magic, something that should return him to his smaller form and restore his intelligence to what it had been before the change had been made, something that caused Spyro and the others to keep their distance so they didn't get in the way of what he was doing, so they started to head for the area that Elora had landed in, who coughed as she started to get up and dealt with the damage to her armor. It was in that moment that Ripto, despite the fact that he should have been more focused on Spike was doing to him, channeled a bit of his wild magic into the space between him and Elora, which caused the others to move since it appeared that he was using bolts of lightning to drive them away from the areas that they had been flying in, before he quickly fired a sphere of wild energy that slammed into the area that Elora was sitting in, which knocked her backwards and forced her to come to a rest near the edge of the platform, where the group noticed that she had a larger cloud of smoke covering her, making them wonder how much of her armor had been broken by Ripto's spell, where Spike turned his attention back to their foe.
It was in the next couple of moments that Spike tugged on Ripto's magic with everything he had and drained the spell that their foe had used to transform into his Crush-sized form, reverting him back to his normal size in a few seconds, but as all of that happened Spike pulled out the Scepter of Crystallization and fired a short burst from it, something that did knock their foe's weapon out of his hand while also freezing his arms and legs in jade, because there were a few questions they needed to ask before he totally sealed Ripto inside his own statue.
"Gaah! Beaten by a bunch of dragons, again!" Ripto growled, showing that what Spike had done had allowed his mind to return to its previous state and that he was no longer consumed by the near mindless berserker state he had been in a few moments ago, before he growled at the four of them while ignoring Elora, since he was more interested in Spyro and the others, though that didn't stop Spike from wandering over to where their friend was resting, so he could see what sort of damage had been done to her armor.
"Talk, Ripto. Tell us how you figured out where Castle Hills was located, along with anything that might tell us why you thought this would be a good idea," Spyro stated, because he wanted to know how in the world Ripto figured out where this homeworld had been located, especially since he and the others only recently learned about it, and that included any worthwhile information their foe could tell them about why he even put this plan into action in the first place, though as he said that Cynder and Ember stood at the ready, just in case he tried anything despite the fact that his arms and legs had been sealed in jade.
"I found a necklace that was supposed to shroud me from being detected whenever I use portals," Ripto said, either due to the fact that he realized that he was in a losing situation and that it was better to talk, or he had come up with a lie for when they bested him and was telling them what he had come up with, but the group remained silent as they listened to what he had to say, even though they would be checking out his story later on, before he chuckled for a moment as he considered something he wanted to tell them, "as such it was easy for me to pass through one of the Professor's portals and arrive in the land that the lot of you call home, allowing me to learn about your pitiful celebration and the area that it was going to be held in. Once I figured out the area that your dragonfly celebration was being held in, and how weak all of your hatchlings would be without them, I went about gathering my henchmen, stealing Crush and Gulp back, and taking enough gems from this land so I could create an army of Riptocs to do my bidding... yet the lot of you smashed them to pieces and have taken both Crush and Gulp away from me, along with ruining my plans once more."
"I don't buy most of what you just said." Cynder remarked, because she refused to believe that Ripto had been able to plan all of this on his own, especially after everything she had learned from reading the highly detailed book about Spyro, Spike, and Ember's adventure in Avalar and everything they did to stop all the plans that he had set in motion, before she thought about something as she glanced at their captured foe, "Tell us who hired you to attack the Dragon Realms, and maybe, just maybe, we won't seal you away in a crystalline prison for the foreseeable future."
"I don't work well with others, so no one hired me." Ripto stated, his tone revealing that he either had nothing to tell them or if he did have something to say he was being incredibly loyal to whoever hired him and was keeping whatever he knew to himself, keeping his lips sealed as the saying went, though at the same time he glanced at the part of the platform that his scepter was resting in, like he was planning on breaking out of the hold he had been stuck in, where Spike paused for a moment and blasted him with the Scepter of Crystallization again.
Spyro, Cynder, and Ember watched as the jade surged out from the areas that Spike had covered when he used the scepter a few moments ago, where it quickly covered Ripto's body and let out a flash as he was imprisoned inside one of the jade statues that Gnasty Gnorc had trapped all the dragons inside, but once that was done, and he put both scepters in his sack, he and the others turned their attention to where Elora was resting. It was in that moment, as the rest of the smoke cleared, that the group paused as they noticed something odd, her metallic wings no longer looked metallic, due to the fact that they now looked slightly smaller, more accurately sized to fit her body, and bared the same coloration as the rest of her body, while the areas between the 'fingers', as Hunter liked to call them from time to time, were green colored, matching Spike's wings, which made sense due to the fact that the armor had been built in his image. In addition to that it appeared that her metallic tail, which she occasionally used to smack her foe's around, had done the same thing her wings had done and moved around like a real tail would, something that meant her normal faun tail had been replaced by what they were seeing at the moment, where the main part of it was colored like the rest of her body and the underside of it had the same green coloration of her new wings. Those weren't the only changes that they could see, as it looked like her hands had become more claw-like, looking more like what Spike and the others had, though an argument could be made that they looked more like what Nestor and the other adult dragons had, something that reflected the piece of armor that had been resting above her hands before she had been blasted by Ripto, and the same was true for her hooves, as they totally looked like the clawed feet that an adult dragon had, which would take her some getting used to. The other thing that was interesting was that Elora had a pair of horns on her head, looking similar to what Spyro had, even if they were half the size and were silver-white colored, like Cynder's horns, and the areas around her transformed arms, legs, tail, and her wings had changed into scales, giving her a half-faun half-dragon appearance, though when she finally regained her senses, after being blasted so much, she looked down at herself with confusion in her eyes.
Spyro and the others stayed by her side for a few moments, trying to calm her down as she took stock of her changes, something that Spike was going to help her with once they left this area, though once he was sure she was ready to move he would use his magic to teleport them back to Castle Hills, so they could deliver the good news to everyone else and get started on figuring out what they were going to do once they got back to the main castle, once the celebration was over officially over and they were allowed to return to what they were doing before Ripto showed up and tried to conquer the realms they had just saved, and, at the same time, try to figure out how to help Elora with her changes.
Once Elora was ready to depart from the area that Ripto's portal had lead them to, and they had fought their foe in, Spike gathered his magic and let it wrap around the area he, his siblings, and the others were standing in, and that included both Crush and Gulp, since they had been taken from the part of Avalar they had called home and forced to do Ripto's bidding in his bid to take out the dragonflies, even though that plan had been doomed to failure since the moment he put it in motion, especially given what the group had done in the past. From what the group knew the two large dinosaurs would be taken back to the areas of Avalar that they had been in before Ripto showed up, no doubt returning to whatever they had been doing before they had been kidnapped, something none of them really wanted to think about since they knew it should be hard for even one of the dinosaurs to be taken against their will and meant that the collars must have been applied before Ripto had them follow him out of the realms he had taken them from, and it seemed like Crush and Gulp were excited to be heading back home. In addition to all of that Spike made sure to wrap his magic around the jade statue that was resting nearby, while at the same time making sure to avoid applying too much magic to Ripto's prison, because he knew what had happened to Moneybags and the damage that had been caused to his mind, so it was better to avoid repeating that, in the off chance that one of the adult dragons wanted to interrogate Ripto and figure out if there was anything else he might have to share with them about how he discovered Castle Hills and how he learned about the celebration he had interrupted, due to the fact that Cynder wasn't convinced that what he had told them was the truth and that there was more he could tell them after some questioning.
The moment Spike knew everyone was ready, especially Elora given what had happened to be, he cast the spell he had been preparing and teleported all of them out of the volcanic area that they had faced Ripto in, as in they disappeared from the platform and the rock wall they had been standing on and quickly reappeared near the portal that let them head to the realm Ripto had prepared for his battle with them, where Crush and Gulp blinked as they stared at the area that was around them, showing that they were somewhat confused by what was going on, before Ripto's statue appeared near the group, who focused on walking over to the castle. Based on what the group could see it appeared that Spike's spell had worked, not that they were expecting anything less given everything he had done in the past, as everything that had been inside the volcanic area had been transported to this part of Castle Hills, or at least everyone that had been in the small realm in question, so they didn't have to worry about leaving anyone behind as they left the pair of dinosaurs, who seemed confused as to what the two of them were supposed to do next. After making sure the dinosaurs were fine the group carefully walked towards the castle that was in front of them, mostly due to the fact that Spike was supporting Elora to the best of his ability while the others gave him some aid every now and then, which was because Elora was getting used to walking with dragon claws and not her hooves, especially with the weight of her new tail and her wings, since it really threw off her balance, though none of them were going to complain about helping her out. As they approached the castle, however, Nestor and the others noticed the five of them coming and raised to meet them, especially after seeing that Crush and Gulp had been brought back with Ripto's statue, though that was when Hunter and Bianca paused as they noticed what had happened to Elora, something that caused them to run over to where the group was walking and helped Spike out, by taking Elora's arms and putting them around their necks.
It was clear that, while everyone was pleased by Ripto's defeat and the fact that they could resume the celebration that had been interrupted, all of them were shocked by what had happened to Elora, meaning all of the adults would be waiting for the group to tell them what had occurred during their fight with their uninvited guest, even though the majority of what happened during this adventure would be learned when they read the new book that Spike had to be working on, just like what happened in the past, despite the fact that he would tell them about the final battle they had with Ripto, so he could explain what happened with Elora.
"Guys, what happened?" Bianca asked, though she made sure to ask the question when they reached the front of the main castle and let Elora sit down on the step that lead inside the structure, but what was interesting was that all of the hatchlings were having a blast as the majority of the adult dragons escorted them out into the area so they could resume having fun, almost like Ripto's arrival was a thing of the past, which was good for them, before she focused on what she had asked and was hoping the group could tell her, Hunter, and the Leaders what had happened.
"We fought Ripto in a volcanic realm, one that seemed more like he created it than it being a real place that exists in our world, somewhere," Spike replied, informing the others as to his thoughts on the area that they had faced Ripto in and why he felt that way, even if this was mostly to give Nestor and the Leaders some context as to what happened after they headed through the portal Bianca and the others had breached, even though he was focused on studying the magic that had hit Elora and changed her form, while also drawing out the scepter he had taken from their foe, just so Cosmos and the others could see it, "though while we were doing that we forced Ripto into a corner and he used the power that rests inside this scepter to turn himself into a caveman version of himself, who stood as tall as Crush and seemed to have some of Gulp's armor, even though he also turned his intelligence into sheer magical power, so much so that his magic became more wild and unrefined... something that has me convinced that this is the Scepter of Unnatural Power, one of the lost scepters that the archives speak of. The collision of his wild magic and my refined magic caused the arena to shake, crack, and even caused spikes to erupt from the lava, where I had to focus all of my attention on keeping the collisions between our magic to a minimum before I even attempted to draw out his power and return him to his original form, and while I did that Ripto took the opportunity to hit Elora with a few desperate spells... I'm sure he had no idea which spells he was using when he was in his transformed state."
"The Scepter of Unnatural Power, also called the Scepter of Gigantification for its power to turn individuals, regardless of who they are, into larger versions of themselves," Cosmos commented, showing the rest of the group that he did know what Spike was talking about, which made sense considering that he had read the same material that Spike had looked at over the years, though as he said that he used his magic to lift the scepter up and studied it, no doubt trying to figure out something about the magical artifact, something that would have to wait as he glanced at the group and focused on Elora again, "in terms of all the scepters that are out there in the world, those that we know about, its a dual-edged blade, as its both beneficial and damaging to the user since it turns one's intelligence into pure power, which can be physical, magical, or even both if the user is skilled enough, and, based on what you've said, it seems like Ripto was willing to sacrifice all of his intelligence to destroy you."
"Well, he certainly tried to break us," Ember remarked, recalling what they had seen during the battle with Ripto, both in the early stages of the battle and when he gambled on the full power of the scepter, though she had to admit that it was a good thing that the scepter was in their claws, since it would allow the magic users to better understand it, provided this sort of thing didn't happen again, before she glanced over to Elora, who had been silent since they got back to the castle and let her sit down for a time, "but I'm not entirely sure how the scepter fits into what happened to Elora... meaning I either missed something, or you need to explain it in simpler terms."
"The scepter turned Ripto's normally refined magic into a vast amount of wild magic, almost chaotic when one thinks about the modifications," Spike stated, as he had been expecting someone to say something about this before they got back to the celebration and he had been thinking about it since the moment the change had happened, even though he had to admit that what he knew might not calm Elora, "from what I can tell, while Ripto had no idea what spell he cast or what it could do, which is a consequence of the scepter in question, the magic that struck Elora and changed her body into its new hybrid state left a small trace of the magic behind. Now, based on all the magical knowledge I have gained over the years, I can tell that there are three outcomes in the next couple of days: the first being that the magic will wear off in due time and return your body to what it used to be, even if it will be somewhat painful in the event that this happens, while the second outcome will be that you will be stuck in this hybrid state for the rest of your life..."
Spyro and Ember, who were more familiar with Spike and his mannerisms, especially when he talked about a subject that he was interested in, realized that he had paused when coming to the third outcome and that he either needed some time to come up with something to say or he didn't want to talk about what it could be, something they knew had to be bothering Elora, especially since it was her body that they were currently talking about, though before either of them could say anything, or before Cynder or the others could speak up, Elora shifted for a moment.
"Spike... what's the third outcome?" Elora asked, though as she said that she had the feeling that she knew what it was without being told, especially since the first was to return to her original faun appearance and the second was to remain in her new hybrid form, but hearing Spike say it would confirm it for her and the others, even though there was the chance that she might be wrong and the final outcome was something totally different from what she was thinking, even though she knew Spike well enough to have a good idea of what he had to be thinking about.
"The third outcome is that the magic doesn't fade away and the changes continue, only stopping when the spell runs its course and you're more like Nestor and the others, an adult dragon," Spike replied, where he noticed that Hunter was shocked by what he was hearing and that the rest of the group seemed to be silent as they thought about what he had just said, though he sighed as he sat near Elora and draped his right wing over her back, which was a little harder due to the fact that she had wings now, before he thought about something else he needed to say, "however, we won't be seeing any additional changes for a few days, so we'll be able to monitor the magic that affected your body and see what it might be doing in the near future. Also, Hunter, its going to be rather difficult for any of us to reverse the changes on our own, due to the fact that the only one who could reverse the spell, despite having no idea that he even cast it, is Ripto, and even if I undid part of his prison so we could talk to him, mostly the head and part of his neck, I'm certain that the only way he'd even agree to 'aid' us is so he could get his hands on his scepter and try to smash us while our guard is down, so we'll have to wait and see what the future has for us."
"Can't you use your Sage's Vision to peer into the future and see what it has to throw at us?" Cynder inquired, mostly due to the fact that she was curious if Spike could peer into what was going to happen in the next couple of days and see if he might be able to learn which of the outcomes would be the one Elora would be chasing, since that would give him an idea of what to expect and possibly overrule one of the terrible outcomes he and Elora would rather avoid, since she knew he'd tell Elora whatever he discovered, just to put her mind at ease or get her opinion on something.
"I'm afraid that I don't have your father's skill with this power," Spike admitted, which was the truth, despite the fact that he had been attempting to improve his ability to peer into the future and obtain a level of power that Malefor had, but at the same time he was mostly fine with that since it meant things didn't come easy to him, even though the same wasn't true for some of the other things he learned about, before he focused on what everyone was thinking about as he turned to face Elora again "however, based on everything that I know, I would have to say that there's a three percent chance of the third outcome even happening, while the other two have a near equal chance of happening, so I don't think we have to worry about any additional changes happening."
"I trust you Spike, and I'll let you and the others do the checkups you're thinking about." Elora said, showing that she did trust him, especially when she considered the fact that the other magic users looked up to the young Archmage, so if he said something they would likely bow their heads and go with it, before she pressed her new clawed legs against the ground and forced herself to stand, where she had to wave her arms for a few seconds to maintain her balance, which did trigger her tail to move as well, showing that Elora, despite the metallic versions of the limbs she now possessed, had no real control over things and that it would take her some time to get the hang of things.
"Don't worry, we'll help you get the hang of walking and, if we're able, flying like a true dragon." Titan declared, which showed them that he was willing to lend Elora some assistance in getting used to her new form, though as he said that he titled his head for a moment as the rest of the adult dragons escorted the hatchlings and dragonflies out into the area that was in front of the castle, something the group knew would be followed by the celebration resuming at long last, despite the fact that there was more for them to do before they could relax.
From that point forward the hatchlings and the dragonflies resumed what they had been doing before Ripto and both of his mind controlled minions had appeared nearby, where the adults picked up where they had been in letting the new pairings be formed between the dragonflies and the hatchlings that they would be guarding for the foreseeable future, just like how Spyro, Spike, and Ember had been paired with Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, though as that happened the group walked over to where the statue containing their uninvited guest rested. Spyro quickly came to a decision on what they should do with Ripto, as he felt that transporting him to where the other statues rested should be their priority, so Ripto could join Gnasty Gnorc and Morrigan in the area their statues were being kept in, though once that was decided he and the others turned towards the pair of dinosaurs that were resting near the portal that lead to the volcanic realm they had fought Ripto in, where Crush and Gulp seemed confused on what they were supposed to do, but before he could say what was on his mind Elora walked over to where they were standing, even if it was more like she stumbled forward while she headed for the area they were standing in. Fortunately Hunter walked beside her while Bianca stayed near them, so it was hard for her to actually fall on her face or anything given the support that Hunter was giving her, meaning that the three of them were able to walk over to the area that the group of dragons had walked over to, even though they had been trying to give Elora some space to get used to her changes, something that meant she was going to learn about her new changes while she did what she had done since they helped Avalar by taking down Ripto, though her focus was on Crush and Gulp, which did interest the group a tiny bit. The reason her focus was on the dinosaurs was because she had something that she needed to share with the group, that while Crush needed someone to boss him around, just like how they saw when he was following Ripto, Gulp was actually more intelligent and was someone that she and the others talked to, all so they could learn more about how he came to be in Ripto's service, something that interested Spike and made him question what she wanted to do with the pair, where they learned that she wanted to return them to the part of Avalar that they called home, before their former boss kidnapped them for this venture.
That seemed to excite Gulp, meaning that it likely did the same thing for Crush, so Spyro decided to let Elora do what she felt was best and walked over to where the others were standing, which was where she had Elora modify the circular portal that had taken them to Ripto's realm, though as she did that Spike joined her and manipulated the structure so that it was no longer resting on the ground, where someone could trip and fall into it, and put it against the nearby wall, while at the same time opening the way to the area that Elora was thinking about. Of course that meant Elora had to tell them about the area that she had mentioned and where in Avalar they might be able to find the realm in question, though as they did that Spike made sure to remember the magical coordinates of Ripto's arena, something he was tempted to call Volcanic Crater and, more importantly, see if he could find out where in the world it was located, since it might give them some information on who could have hired Ripto to attack their lands, if they believed what Cynder said. Truth be told he was of the opinion that Ripto, while being smart enough to get both of his minions back, obtain a new scepter, and stage an attack on the Dragon Realms, hadn't allied himself with someone who gave him the resources to stage the invasion that they had toppled over the last couple of hours, and he had the feeling that Ember, at the very least, had the same opinion on the matter, while Spyro was likely agreeing with Cynder, no doubt due to the fact that he knew her more than they did, thanks to the previous life they shared. One thing he was sure that all of them agreed on, and that was counting Hunter and even Bianca, who only learned about Ripto after joining their group, was that even if Ripto had been hired by another to attack them at this time he was likely the sort of person who wouldn't sell out whoever his partner was, nor would he tell any dragon or their allies about who his partner might be, so if someone wanted to weaken the Dragon Realms that individual was safe for the foreseeable future, until they figured out what was going on.
In the end Spike was able to open the portal back to the realm of Avalar that Elora had informed them about, even if he was assisting Bianca in what she was doing, and made sure it was large enough for Crush and Gulp to walk through, so they didn't have to duck at all, which was when Elora nodded her head and the pair of dinosaurs walked through it without wasting a second, leaving the group behind so they could return to what they had been doing before Ripto showed up and put those mind control collars around their necks.
"Ripto is captured, Crush and Gulp are no longer being mind controlled, the realms of Castle Hills have been saved from the forces that were bothering them, and the dragonflies have been saved," Nestor remarked, as he had walked over to the area Spyro and the others were standing in, as they were more focused on helping Bianca make sure the dinosaurs were sent back to the part of Avalar that they apparently called home, before he smiled as he glanced back at the area the celebration was being held in, "all of you are the greatest heroes of our world, and every adventure that you tackle just reinforces that idea in my mind. So tell me, what are you going to do once this celebration is over?"
"Well, we'll likely return to our training with Malefor," Spyro commented, as that seemed to be a wise thing to do, as it was probably all the skills they had developed or improved upon while they were facing the first purple dragon that had allowed them to tackle the challenges of this adventure, though while he said that Spike glanced at his satchel for a couple of seconds before returning his attention to the others, something that both reminded him of what else they needed to do and made him wonder if Spike had collected an item that he and the others had missed, "in addition to that I'm sure Spike will be studying the globe that's inside the Arcanaeum, since we found Doxantha and Warfang by discovering the Aether icon, though we'll all be helping Elora get used to her new form, when she's not busy with Titan and the Peace Keepers, but other than that I can't say what else we might do from this point forward. I mean at this point, after what we've seen since our first adventure and the defeat of Gnasty Gnorc, I'm almost convinced that another adventure will spring itself on us in one years time, when we turn fifteen and become adults at long last, despite the fact that I have no idea where we would even go for such a thing."
"Give me some time with the globe and I might be able to figure that out for you." Spike stated, because if his brother wanted another adventure in the future, which was likely going to happen around the time they turned fifteen, like how all of the others started around their previous birthdays, he was sure that he could find a way to make the time to study the globe that rested inside the Arcanaeum, especially since there was a chance that he could ask Malefor as to what else was on the surface of the magical globe the first purple dragon had created over a thousand years ago, though his statement caused the others to laugh for a few seconds, as they knew he'd do it in a heartbeat.
"If you do find another landmass to explore, like how you found Doxantha and the islands that we assisted, you can count on me coming to help you out," Hunter said, where Bianca nodded her head as well, showing the four dragons that they were more than willing to stop whatever they were doing and would rush to their side to overcome whatever evil or danger they encountered in the future, even though they had sat this adventure out so they could help Nestor and the other dragons with the hatchlings, not to mention breaching the magic of Ripto's portal, before Hunter noticed something that Spyro had noticed, "Oh, did you guys find anything else while you were exploring the realms of Castle Hills? I'm only asking due to the fact that Spike glanced at his satchel a few times."
"I, um, located something in the Thieves Den, when we were assisting the Thieves," Spike replied, though while he had been planning on telling the others about this at some point, after beating Ripto anyway, he wasn't expecting Hunter to notice that he was glancing at his satchel every now and then, before he pulled it open and used his magic to carefully draw out the sheathed blade he had discovered, something that caused the others to raise their eyebrows as they looked at the weapon he had found, "its a runeblade, the missing ninth blade that Malefor was said to have created, yet we didn't find it inside the Arcanaeum, despite the number of times that we investigated the chambers that are inside it, and based on what one of the Thieves said it was given to them for safekeeping, no doubt by the first purple dragon before Avilion was assaulted by Morrigan, where they let me take it with their gratitude. I think, based on the stories and legends, that this might be Almos, a weapon that is known as the Sword of Power, the Seeker of Dreams, and the Blade of Creation and Destruction, as in it represents the dual nature of the Aether, the power to create and destroy, but the only way to verify that this is the blade in question is to present it to Malefor and see what he has to say."
"I'm willing to bet its the weapon you're thinking about, given your knowledge," Bianca stated, because at this point in time she knew that there was a rather high chance that this was Almos, which was an odd name for a blade, even though she had gotten over the name Akilesh after spending some time with Spike and his group, so that meant she would get used to the name of this weapon in due time, but her statement informed them that if Spike felt that this blade was called Almos, and had a few titles that he named in rapid succession, then she trusted his judgement and there was no reason for them to second guess what he was saying.
"The Thieves likely let you take the weapon so that it might be returned to the one that gave it to them," Nestor said, as he had been silent as he listened to the group talk, speaking only when he felt like he had something to add to their conversation, though at the same time he was thinking about the whole 'adventure' part of their discussion and it made him wonder what had caused this one to happen in the first place, something that the group was no doubt thinking about at this very moment, before he focused on what else he had to say, "I'm sure Malefor will make the time to talk with you, if you asked him about it, or you can wait until your next training session before showing him the blade that you recovered... though before you do that there is something else you guys should worry about first."
"Vacation!" Elora nearly exclaimed, because she remembered what Spyro, Spike, and Ember had told her and Hunter, and later Bianca and Cynder, what they did whenever they finished an adventure, by taking down the villain and collecting all of the stolen gems that were scattered around the realms, and that counted recovering whatever else they happened to be looking for, like the Orbs or the dragonflies, meaning that Nestor was saying that it was time for the group to head back to Dragon Shores and take some time off, a day at the very least, before they went back to their daily lives and waited for the next adventure to show itself.
"Indeed, all of you deserve a day or two off, before you get back to your training or studies," Nestor said, even though he knew that the siblings, at the very least, had grasped what he had been saying, long before Elora had said the word that gave the others a clue as to what he had been referring to, and he knew that while this adventure wasn't as tedious as the others they had been on, based on what Spike had written in his journals and published in his books, the group deserved a short break before they got back to their normal lives, even though he wouldn't call their lives normal after everything they had been through and what they were currently doing, training with Malefor, of all dragons.
The group said nothing to that, because most of them were excited by the idea of spending some time relaxing at the beach of Dragon Shores, and possibly the amusement park that was on another part of the island, something that caused Nestor to nod his head and return to where all of the other Leaders were standing, so he could rejoin the celebration that was happening at the moment, which was followed by all of the floats and whatnot returning to the area that was in front of the castle, making it look like nothing had happened to the area and that they hadn't been interrupted. While all of that happened the group noticed that the adult dragons, hatchlings, and dragonflies weren't the only ones that resumed the celebration, as they watched as some of the residents of the realms they had assisted emerged from the areas the portals to their realms rested in and mingled with everyone else, as Monkey Monks, Rat Professors, and several others came out to have some fun, even if one of the Rat Professors, the one that Spike had struck earlier, glared at them from afar, which they mostly ignored. What surprised the group was who joined the celebration a few moments later, as Moneybags, now wearing the attire of someone who spent their days meditating and not much else, a monk to be exact, joined the party and actually looked like he was having some fun, where some of the dragons were a little surprised and glanced over to where the group was standing, where Spyro motioned for them to roll with it, since they were still coming to terms with the fact that Moneybags was no longer the bear that they remembered, to which the dragons in question nodded their heads as they returned to the celebration. While all of that happened Spike pulled out his journal and wrote down what he and the others had seen since they engaged Ripto, since that was the only thing he hadn't written yet and this would allow him to make sure everything was up to date before he started the process of transforming what was inside this journal into the next book in the series of their adventurers, which many dragons would be interested in reading, even if both of his siblings and Cynder weren't among their number.
"You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to the fact that Moneybags is no longer the bear that we imprisoned after Ripto's assault on Avalar," Elora commented, as she and Hunter were staring at the bear in question, while Bianca did the same thing a few moments later, though the siblings and Cynder turned their attention away from him and focused on all of the other residents that were joining Nestor and the other dragons, before something came to mind and she figured that she could ask it before she ended up forgetting about it, "Spike, do you think he'll ever return to what he was before Ripto used his magic to break him out of the jade statue he was imprisoned in, or are we stuck with the new Moneybags for the rest of our lives?"
"Based on everything, I don't think we'll be seeing the old Moneybags ever again," Spike replied, though even as he said that he paused what he was doing and glanced at the bear that seemed to be having fun, which was odd when they considered everything that they had seen in the past, during their second and third adventures to be exact, before he took a moment to think about the spell that trapped Moneybags inside the crystalline statue, which he had used on some of the other villains they had faced, "not unless we discover some sort of magic that messes with the mind, more in the sense of restoring what had been lost, so I wouldn't count on the old money grubbing, war inducing Moneybags to return, not after what Ripto did to him."
"I may not like him all that much, given that he displaced my parents all those years ago, but at least the new version of Moneybags seems likeable," Hunter remarked, because while he was one of the few individuals, and not groups, that had a bone to pick with the bear he realized that his quarrel was with the old Moneybags and not the new one, where he could see that the new one seemed more bearable than what he had been before Ripto showed up, though with all of the skills he had picked up he knew that if the old Moneybags reappeared he and Elora, not to mention all of their friends and allies, would be able to overcome anything that he threw at them, "though we'll have to wait and see what he does, to see if he remains true to the new persona he's created for himself or if this is a ploy and that he'll return to his old life... but, even as I think about that, I don't think the latter will be happening, given his fear of Ember and the beatings that she gave him in the past, so I would have to agree with Spike, in the sense that we're stuck with the new Moneybags."
The rest of the group glanced at each other for a moment and eventually came to the conclusion that Spike was right and that all they could do was get used to the fact that Moneybags was no longer the bear that they knew, to which they returned to what all of them had been doing since they returned to the castle, as in they stopped resting near Ripto's new prison statue and returned to the celebration that was going on, as today, despite Ripto's arrival and assault, was about the hatchlings and the dragonflies that would be paired with them, where Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember and the others could hold their own celebration in a day or two, when something important wasn't happening around them, to which all of them focused on the party and stopped worrying about what they had discovered during this adventure, as there would be time for that in the future.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, and Bianca spent the next week assisting the Leaders with making sure that the realms of Castle Hills were fine and that there was no lingering damage from Ripto's attack, which was what happened after the group defeated all of their past villains and saved the lands that they had been exploring, or at least that was what Cynder had learned by reading the couple of books Spike had published and listening to what Spyro and the others had told her when she asked them for clarification on some of the events she had read about. The group had to admit that it was rather nice to visit the realms that they had explored during this adventure, without having to worry about Riptocs trying to smack them into the ground or attacking them with whatever weapons they happened to be carrying, and the residents of the realms in question were happy to see that things had returned to how things had been before Ripto launched his attack on everyone, which made the group happy at the same time, since it meant their efforts had been worth it. At the same time this allowed the group a chance to let both Hunter and Bianca see the various realms that they had missed out on helping, due to the fact that they stayed behind to help the dragons or breach the magic around Ripto's portal, where it was easy to see that they were impressed by some of the things that they saw as Spyro and the others lead them across the various realms, especially the massive hourglass that was resting in the sky of Cloud 9, something that interested Bianca once she learned that it was actually using Time magic, even though she would have to learn what the group had learned by reading what Spike wrote about the realm in question. One of the other things that happened was that the Professor took Elora's ruined armor, which she had pulled herself out of after their adventure was done and gave it back to him, so she was mostly wearing the suit that went over her body, though she wasn't sure how long it would take him to make a brand new set of armor for her to wear, something she was totally fine with, given everything that she had been through.
While they did that, however, the group also spent some time helping Elora get used to walking with her new legs, as in the group spend some time in front of the main castle before they headed to whatever realm they were planning on checking out, giving her a few minutes or so to go over the movements that would allow her to walk with her new legs and tail, and while it did look like she was getting the hang of it, as the number of times she fell to the ground was steadily decreasing as she got the hang of what she was doing, even though this was all to prepare her for what Titan and all of the other Peace Keepers had in store for her, which she accepted without asking any questions. As it turned out the dragons of Dragonfly Dojo were incredibly happy that the group had repelled the invaders that had been attacking the realms and had recovered all of the missing dragonflies, who had been allowed to partner up with the hatchlings, though even as they checked out the realm in question the dragons that watched over the dojo revealed that they had something for them, or Cynder, to be more exact, which turned out to be a female dragonfly with light green skin and translucent purple wings, a dragonfly who hadn't been partnered with anyone and they felt that it was rather odd for a young dragon to not have one of the small critters following them. Cynder tilted her head for a moment, not out of confusion since she knew just how important the dragonflies were to the hatchlings that had attended the celebration Ripto had interrupted, though while she knew that she didn't need a dragonfly partner, due to everything that she had been through in Doxantha, she nodded her head and Sting, which was the name of her new partner, flew over to where they were standing, where Sparx, Talon, and Cinder greeted the newest addition to their party as the others did the same thing. While they walked through the rest of the realm, and made sure that all of the dojo buildings were intact, the group learned that Sting had all the skills that all of the dragonflies learned during their training, so basically she had the same skills that Sparx and the others had, and that she was eager to do what the other dragonflies did, especially after hearing what the group did to save the all of the realms from the Riptocs.
Once they were done checking out Dragonfly Dojo, and realized that everything was just fine in this realm, the group headed back to the main homeworld and headed for the next realm Spyro wanted to check out, as he was going to make sure they checked all of them out before they headed back to the Artisans homeworld and resumed what they had been doing before the celebration had started, though from what Spyro could tell all of the residents that he and the others talked to were happy that order had been restored to their various realms and that they were thankful that they had come to their aid when the Riptocs attacked them. Of course many of them knew that the group had been interested in all of the missing dragonflies, since they eventually learned that the dragonflies were part of the reason behind Ripto's assault on all of the realms and the homeworld, but they also knew, from talking with Nestor and the other Leaders, that the group had been more focused on stopping whatever the Riptocs had been doing to the realms and had put the dragonflies at the back of their minds, something that Spike had to correct, as he and the others had been more focused on saving the realms and recovering the dragonflies, doing both at the same time. The reason he had to do that was because the one that mentioned such a thing was the same Rat Professor that annoyed the group during their trek through Jurassic Jungle, though this time around Spike withstood the desire to smack the resident in question and simply corrected what he had said, allowing him and the others to leave the area and resume checking out the remaining realms of Castle Hills, just to make sure that everything was just fine and that Ripto hadn't left anything dangerous behind, to attack the realms in the off chance he was defeated by the group. Based on what the group knew they suspected that Ripto had focused all of his attention on casting his spell to displace the dragonflies and then had retreated to his personal realm to wait for them to arrive, so he could take them down and complete his revenge, even if that had failed since they had beaten him. Hunter informed the group, when they were far away from the Rat Professor in question, that he understood why they were so annoyed with some of them, even if it seemed to be directed at one of them and not the entire group of individuals that called the realm home, but other than that he kept his mouth shut and followed the group as they checked out the rest of the remaining lands that had been attacked.
In the end the group found that none of the realms had any additional enemies for them to worry about and none of them were in danger, even though they did spend a few days making sure the realms were fine, before they returned to Volcanic Crater, where Spike simply went there to study the lingering traces of Ripto's wild magic so he could figure out what he could do for Elora, giving Hunter and Bianca a chance the see the area as well, though even as he did that Spike could tell that there wasn't much wild magic left in this realm anyway.
"So this is where you guys fought Ripto," Hunter commented, where he glanced out at the area that was around them and noticed all of the cracks that were in the rock walls, while at the same time feeling the heat of the volcanic crater that was around them, even though it was rather impressive that there was a platform resting on top of the lava and wasn't even starting to break apart, but as he considered everything he realized that this was less like a realm and was more like a battleground, something that Spike had likely determined, which only made him wonder what would happen to this place once the dragons started exploring it, "Spike, do you have any idea where this place might be on the globe?"
"While I'm assuming its somewhere near Castle Hills, to make it a realm of the homeworld, I'll need to do some light research to figure out the truth," Spike replied, though at the same time he glanced at the air that was around them, as he was following the trails of magic that were lingering all over the place, where it was easy to discover something that would make his studies harder, as the traces of wild magic that he had been following were starting to break apart and he was sure that they wouldn't be here for much longer, to which he sighed for a moment as he glanced at the others, despite the fact that he was focusing on Elora, "however, whatever traces of wild magic that have been lingering in this realm are now starting to dissipate, and from what I can tell the same is happening to you..."
"So we'll have to wait and see how it effects my body," Elora said, knowing exactly why Spike wanted them to come to this realm in the first place, which was rather thoughtful of him and showed that he was remaining true to his word, but despite the fact that he was trying to help her out she had the feeling that her hybrid form was going to be what she would be using for the foreseeable future, possibly for the rest of her life based on what she and the others had been told when Spike went over the outcomes of the magic's effects on her body, to which she shrugged for a moment, "other than that it appears that we're not going to learn much from the lingering bits of magic that are in this realm."
"I think its time we headed back to the Artisans homeworld and get some rest, and then, eventually, the vacation that will allow us to relax for a time," Spyro remarked, knowing that most of the group was eager to spend some time hanging out at the beach, so they could see what the Gnorcs did to their portion of Dragon Shores and then enjoy their day off, so they could rest and recharge for whatever the immediate future held for them, which was likely going to be training with Malefor and helping Elora get used to her new body, before their fifteenth birthday came around, which could be the start of another adventure if the pattern held.
Once they were done talking the group waited for Spike to use his magic to take them back to the main castle of the homeworld that the dragonfly celebration had been held in, though when they arrived they headed for the portal that would take them back to the Artisans homeworld, so they could tell Nestor the good news about the other realms and the fact that everything was just fine, which would make him and the other Leaders happy once they heard the news, before he and the others gathered their stuff and prepared for the eventual day they would be spending at Dragon Shores and all the fun they would be have.
Once the group had informed the Leaders of the Dragon Realms as to what was going on in Castle Hills, and by that they meant that there were no more Riptocs and no traps left behind by Ripto, they spent a few more days making sure all of the hatchlings and their new dragonfly partners were getting along just fine, something that was rather easy to tell when they looked around their own homeworld, before a week had passed since the celebration had occurred and Nestor said it was fine for them to take some time off. As such Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia gathered their stuff and headed for the portal in question, carrying several containers that Alvar had made for them before they departed for the beach, where the group quickly passed through the portal and appeared at the Nexus, showing Amelia the chance to see the portals to all of the other homeworlds once more, before Spyro started down the path that would take them to their destination, even though some of them were glancing in the direction of the amusement park that had been created by the Gnorcs. Nestor also informed the group that, despite the fact that many of the adult dragons would have preferred to take a day or two off, to get over all of the preparations they had gone through to make sure everything was ready and in place for the dragonfly ceremony, the older dragons would be tending to the hatchlings and starting their training to learn how to communicate and trust their new friends, just like what happened when Spyro, Spike, and Ember did back in the day, when they were younger and had no idea what the future had for them. Not a few moments later the group focused their minds on what they were doing as they breached the tree line and stepped out onto one of the greatest places in the entire world, something that Cynder could easily debate due to the splendor of Warfang, but the beach caused a smile to appear on the faces of their friends, as this would be a relaxing day off and they would be able to regain their energy for the future.
As such the group set their stuff down and started to set aside their gear, as in Spyro set Windshear near his towel and put his scarf near it, Spike took off his hat and satchel, both Cynder and Ember removed their bracers, Hunter put his bow and arrows down while changing into a swimsuit, Bianca and Amelia changed out of their respective attires and revealed that they had put on some swimsuits, the former having a two piece with the latter having one that covered her chest and went down to her lower legs, before coming here, while Elora also had a modified top and shorts, mostly due to the presence of her new tail and wings, which required some new swimming attire to replace her old stuff. Not a second or two later, once all of them were done putting their gear down and made sure the stuff that Nestor and the others had prepared for them had been set down as well, the group rushed over to where the water was and dived right into it, as they had been waiting for this since the moment Nestor had told them about the break they could have once the realms of Castle Hills were fully assisted, which they had done and ensured that nothing dangerous had been left behind by Ripto, who none of them were thinking about at the moment. The first thing everyone did was tackle the waves and started to swim around the beach, even though this time Spyro wasn't the only one that tackled someone into the water, as Hunter did the same thing to Bianca and Spike gently did the same thing with Elora, who turned around and splashed him with some of the water, showing that she was already having fun and that she wasn't thinking about the changes to her body, which everyone was happy to see. Bianca did the same thing, only she poured some of her magic into it and the water flowed as she directed it, making it so light that it was just like the rest of the splashes that everyone else was using while they were having fun, even though she moved on to declaring a 'splash war' against all of them, eventually causing Spike to weave his magic through the air as they both played with the water that was around the part of the beach that they were currently in, something that caused the others to laugh as they watched what was going down.
Of course that wasn't all they did, as while Bianca and Spike had fun messing with the water Hunter got out and pulled something out of one of his containers, revealing a surfboard that he had been working on in his spare time and he quickly rushed out to test it out, while at the same time Amelia pulled out some tools as she got out of the water and started to manipulate the sand that was around her, showing the others that she was going to be building a sand castle or some sort of sculpture while they were relaxing. After a few more moments of enjoying themselves with the splash war Spike and Bianca stopped messing with their magic and walked out of the water so they could return to their towels, something that was followed by both of them pulling out some new books that they intended to read for a time while they were here, only that was when Cynder noticed that Bianca had two intermediate spell tomes, showing her level of skill when it came to wielding magic and that she was trying to improve her abilities, while Spike had a group of scrolls that were covered in a protective field, so they didn't get damaged by the water or anything else, and several books, all of which the group knew he had either removed from the Arcanaeum or from Warfang's library. The others, for the most part, either enjoyed their time inside the water or pulled themselves so they could clean their bodies and dug into the sand so they could build a castle or whatever they wanted, something that left Hunter as the only one that was hanging out inside the water, despite the fact that many of them would be diving back into the water in the future, though that was around the time that Spyro pulled Cynder away from the beach and took her over to the amusement part area, mostly because nothing had changed since the last time he and his siblings had been here and he knew that she might like a chance to relax in a way that she hadn't tried before, even though the others remained at the beach. Elora, on the other hand, floated in the water as the others did whatever they wanted, mostly because this allowed her to relax and close her eyes for a time, something that allowed her to really take her mind off of what had happened when they fought Ripto and focus solely on relaxing, which was what everyone was doing for the rest of the day.
As it turned out, while the games were rather simple, Cynder found that some of the amusement park attractions were a little fun and that the final 'reward', as the Gnorcs called it, was access to the theater that Spyro and the others had told her about, so once she had that she and Spyro departed from the park and headed back to where the others were hanging out, who had left the water and cleaned themselves off, which was about the time that they started to pull out the food that had been packed for them. As they started to do that, however, Spike paused for a moment as he felt something that was in the air around them, to which he glanced at an area that was further down the part of the beach that he and the others were in and watched as a swirling vortex of energy, a temporary portal, quickly opened before their eyes, which meant someone was coming to Dragon Shores, more uninvited guests when they considered what Ripto had done, and it also could mean that more trouble was coming their way, to which everyone rapidly collected their gear, with Spike taking a moment to weave a spell around them to dry all of them off, before they pointed their weapons and held their magic at the ready as they waited for whoever was coming to arrive. The group was expecting a brand new villain to step out of the portal, declare war on the dragons, decimate part of Dragon Shores to enrage them, and then run off to a continent that they would have chased them to, but what actually happened was that a small group of individuals fell out of the portal a few moments after it opened, in the manner that Elora and Hunter recalled when they first called Spyro, Spike, and Ember to Avalar, meaning they crashed into the part of the beach that was in front of them, something that was followed by the group lowering their weapons as they raised their eyebrows, as two of the individuals were dragons, about the same size as Spyro and the others and with a matching body type, a quadrupedal stance, which meant that they were young dragons who had to be close to maturing as well. The first dragon that came out of the portal was a red scaled dragon that had a yellowed colored chest, a colored that was shared with its fin shaped spines between its curved horns, which looked nearly identical to what Spyro had, save for the fact that they were straighter than Spyro's were, while his spines were curved a tad bit more and his tail spike was more like something it could use to stab someone with, and it was accompanied by an orange dragonfly with gray wings.
The other dragon had pink colored scales, an odd and rather uncommon color to be sure, while its horns were more on the side of its head and curved back towards its back, with its fin shaped spines were much smaller than Spyro's and the red dragon's spines, plus they were dark pink colored, though its chest scales were dark yellow colored and its tail spike was shaped like a heart, something that was rather interesting and weird when the group thought about it, before they noticed that it was wearing a golden necklace that had a small heart shaped ruby inside it, and its dragonfly had the same pink coloration with light blue wings.
"Um, hello? Are you guys okay?" Spyro asked, because while he knew that they had no idea who these dragons were, much less their dragonflies for that matter, he could tell that neither of them seemed to be any threat and the rest of the group seemed to understand the same thing as he discovered it, something that was followed by all of them lowering their weapons and cancelling whatever spells Spike and Bianca had been readying, though as that happened the temporary portal finally closed, meaning that whoever the small group in front of them were, and he was hoping they would inform them as to who they were, was going to be stuck in the Dragon Realms until they figured out where in the world the four of them had come from and what they needed to do to get them back home.
"No idea. Let me get back to you on that." the red scaled dragon replied, speaking as if he, and it was a he due to the voice that came out of his mouth, happened to be talking to a friend or something, though that was when he opened his eyes and glanced at the area he had landed in, where he looked down at the sand that was beneath his claws and found that he was standing on a beach, to which he turned towards the pink dragon for a moment and nudged it with his wing, all while the dragon was pulling their head out of the sand, as they had a rather tough landing, "Hey, Aurora, you've got to check out where we ended up."
The dragon, who the group was assuming was female by the name, finally pulled her head out of the sand and shook herself for a moment, mostly to get rid of all the sand that happened to be on her head, before she glanced at the beach that she and her friend had appeared on, even though Spike was making a note of what was said between the two, just in the off chance that they said something interesting that would allow him to understand where they had come from and what he and the others could do to send them back home, even if the latter would involve a brand new portal to the land that the pair had come from, to further connect their world, no doubt after an adventure of some kind.
"Wow, this place is amazing," the pink scaled dragon, Aurora, commented, where she glanced around the area that she and her friend were now standing in, while at the same time their dragonflies did the same thing, before her partner took a moment to tap her head so she could turn her attention to the group, something that caused both dragons to turn and look at the group for a few seconds, as they were shocked and surprised by what they were seeing right now, just like how Spyro and the others had been shocked and surprised when they discovered Warfang and its residents, "No way, we found someplace that has dragons...not to mention cheetahs, a rabbit, and... whatever that is."
"I'm a faun... or, I was a few days ago," Elora stated, figuring that she was the one that Aurora was talking about, due to her new form, though at the same time he stared at the pair of dragons that had suddenly appeared in Dragon Shores, as she and the others were already thinking about what could have drive them to use a temporary portal to explore a new area, because based on what little Aurora had said it sure sounded like they were explorers, looking for new lands to learn about and whatnot, meaning they would rush to Spike once they learned what sort of knowledge he had, though at the moment it didn't look like either of the dragons posed any threat to them and the group put their weapons away, before the pair got the wrong idea about them, "Anyway, that's not important. Can you tell us who you guys are and where you came from? I'm only asking because we haven't seen you around the Dragon Realms or Doxantha before, so that means there another landmass that the dragons happen to be calling home, one we haven't explored yet."
"I'm Flame, this is my dragonfly, Flare, and this is Aurora, with her dragonfly, Daisy." the red scaled dragon replied, as it seemed that he wanted to be helpful and show the group that he and his friend weren't dangerous, though at this point it was hard for the group to really consider anything truly dangerous, especially given who they trained with, but Spyro was happy that both of the dragons were willing to be peaceful and not lash out at them, due to the fact that they had their weapons out and at the ready when they emerged from the portal, before he thought about the other part of what Elora had asked him, "We're from a set of islands that were once called the Isles of Rebirth, to signify us putting our lives back together after everyone was banished from our original home over a thousand years ago, the Forgotten Realms as we have taken to calling them, but we've taken to calling the islands 'Capora' these days, and we have four homeworlds that we call home, which are Dragon Kingdom, Lost Cities, Icy Wilderness, and Volcanic Isle."
"Fascinating, a brand new set of homeworlds to explore and study! I have to get back to the globe and see where your home is located, before we prepare a new expedition to it," Spike said, showing that he was already thinking about what he and the others might learn about the new land that they were just hearing about, even though the description of the land, about it having four islands, would make things much easier for him to determine where on the globe Flame, Aurora, and their dragonflies had come from, which, in turn, would help them figure out how to get the small group back to their homes, since they likely wanted to get back home.
"So he's a scholar, interesting." Aurora commented, revealing that she, and possibly Flame as well, were studying the group as the group studied them, seeing what they could learn about each other before either side truly trusted the other, and that she determined what Spike could be based on what he had said, even though she was far from the truth when the group considered everything that he had done in the past, before she focused on something else, "Okay, we've told you who we are, so you might as well do the same for us, so we have an idea of who we're talking to."
"That's easy, I'm Spyro, and this is my dragonfly, Sparx," Spyro replied, though at the same time he started to gesture to the rest of the group with one of his wings, so Flame and Aurora had an idea of who was who, while the others nodded their heads and even waved a hand or claw towards the pair, something that reinforced what Spyro was telling them right now, before he focused his attention on the pair while he continued speaking, "along with Spike and his dragonfly, Talon, Ember and her dragonfly, Cinder, Cynder, that's with a y and not an i, and her dragonfly Sting, our friends Elora, Bianca, and Hunter, not to mention his little sister Amelia. Also, you are partly correct about Spike being a scholar, even though he's also the youngest Archmage in the history of the Dragon Realms, that's the part of the world that you guys teleported to by the way, if not the entire world as a whole, I'm starting to learn the responsibilities of being a Leader, even though the last adventure kind of put a hold on that, Ember's one of the greatest Peace Keepers in our lands, Cynder is a strong fighter and can wield five of the nine elements that a dragon can call upon, both Elora and Hunter are honorary Peace Keepers, for their skills in battle and for impressing Titan, and are formidable warriors in their own right, Bianca is a magic user that is learning from Spike and she's rather skilled in a fight, making her a formidable sorceress, and Amelia hails from a clan of Cheetahs that work along side the dragons of Warfang, making her a great warrior as well... oh, and that's not counting the rest of our friends, who are busy in the other homeworlds of our world, keeping the peace and assisting those in need."
Flame and Aurora stood there for a moment, their expressions revealing that they were shocked by what they had just been told, while at the same time Spyro was sure he saw a little relief on their faces as well, no doubt something that meant they were happy that the group hadn't attacked them, or that they hadn't come to attack a new set of islands, as the pair now knew that the eight of them were strong and had experience fighting whatever enemies came at them, but even as they waited it was clear that the group was curious as to what the arrival of the two dragons could mean for them and the rest of the lands, even though neither dragon moved for a time.
"Spyro, I think you broke them," Hunter remarked, because he was sure that informing a pair of dragons, who had just come out of a temporary portal from an unknown set of islands, that they were in the presence of formidable warriors and magic users, especially the youngest Archmage in the entire world, was enough to make anyone pause for a time and even appear like the news had shut them down or something, though as he said that both Flame and Aurora seemed to shift for a moment, more like they were in control of their bodies and not swaying because of the rush of information they had just received from Spyro, "Never mind, it seems like they're coming to."
"Sorry about that, you just caught us off guard with all of your achievements, even though I'm sure that's not all of the things that you guys have done," Flame said, to which Aurora nodded her head to confirm that statement, even though it was clear that the two of them were going to be coming to terms with what they had just learned, especially since there was more for them to learn about their world and all they had to do was ask, and likely get a lecture of sorts from Spike, before the red dragon rubbed the back of his head for a moment, "To be honest, we haven't done much with our lives and we're the only young dragons from Capora, of our generation anyway, so its rather amazing to hear what you guys have done, without learning everything you might have done over the years... but this was far more than everything I had hoped to find when we stepped through that portal earlier."
"You weren't fleeing from a villain that was bent on taking over your lands, were you?" Spike asked, because he knew that would be just their luck, that they were trying to relax from an adventure that had just ended and a brand new one had come to take its place, though at the same time the group seemed to be thinking the same thing, that there was a chance that the arrival of Flame and Aurora in the Dragon Realms would herald the arrival of a brand new adventure, one that would take them to a brand new set of islands for them to explore and learn about, though they patiently waited for the pair to explain what was going on.
"Goodness no, Capora has been rather peaceful, minus a few incidents and the fact that there's a banished dragon by the name of Red," Aurora replied, immediately informing the group that there was no villain chasing them and that they hadn't used a portal to get away from the lands that they called home, all to locate some heroes to help restore order to the four homeworlds that made up Capora, rather it showed them that the pair was just exploring the world and could have used the wrong portal, since Spike was sure that explorers would have either used a ship of some kind to explore the vast seas of their world or would have double checked their portal and made sure it was permanent, at least until they deactivated it and opened it in a brand new location, though the 'banished dragon' part reminded the siblings of Gnasty Gnorc, since he had been banished to an island as well, "we're just trying to explore the rest of the world and make a map or globe of whatever we uncover along the way, and it seems like you might have something that will accelerate that part of our quest... if you're willing to share, anyway."
"We'll get to that later, once we get back to the Artisans homeworld. However, before we leave, we were about to have lunch, so why don't you join us?" Cynder inquired, though while she knew that it wasn't her place to do such a thing, as it was usually Spyro that did something like this, she could see that Spyro was thinking the same thing and he even nodded his head to show that he agreed with her, that they might as well invite the pair of dragons to join them and maybe learn something more about them, before they headed back to where Nestor was located, even though this was going to bring in the attention of all the dragons that lead the various clans, potentially even her father.
Flame and Aurora, including their dragonflies, took a moment to think about that before they joined the group, even though they were surprised by the assortment of food that had been brought to the beach, but as that happened the rest of the group knew that a banished individual meant something bad was going to happen in the near future, which was why they needed to find out where the islands that made up Capora were located and establish a connection to that area as soon as they were able to, as they had the feeling that this 'Red' was going to do what Gnasty Gnorc did at some point in the near future and they would likely need to be ready to intercept him, even if they were hoping that they were blowing things out of proportion and that there was no danger, which would be nice after everything they had gone through to restore order to the realms of Castle Hills.
"Wow, the food was delicious," Aurora commented, speaking once she, Flame, and the group that had shared their lunch with them had finished off all the food that had been brought to the beach, as everything she had tasted was beyond what she had been expecting when Cynder made the offer earlier, though at the same time Flame and their dragonflies nodded their heads to confirm her statement, before she glanced at the group of dragons, and their friends, that had brought the food to this place, "Seriously, its beyond anything that we've had in the past, and both of us have had some decent dishes before this day, but they pale in comparison to what you shared with us."
"We'll be sure to pass on your compliments to Alvar," Spyro replied, as he knew that the chef in question appreciated it when dragons told him how much they liked his food, something that was true when he made new dishes for Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and the rest of their friends, showing that he was able to adapt to the situation and prepare dishes accordingly, and he knew that his siblings, Cynder, and the rest of their friends agreed with him, before he focused on what they were about to do as he slipped on his scarf again, "Just give us a few moments and we'll make sure everything is packed up and ready to go, then we'll take you to the Nexus, which holds the portals to the homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, so we can start a tour and show you some of the lands that we call home."
"You mean a tour that will have both parties sharing information about their lands?" Flame remarked, showing that he understood what Spyro was saying, or what he hadn't said to be more exact, though at the same time Aurora and both of their dragonflies nodded their heads to confirm his statement, which was also the moment that Spike focused on what he had said for a moment, but, as it turned out, none of them really said anything and let the group clean up the mess that had created due to everything that had contained the food they had brought to the beach.
The group took a few moments to collect everything that they had brought to the beach, in terms of food containers, before making sure that each of them had their gear on and slipped their weapons back into position, so the moment they were ready to go Hunter and Bianca picked up the containers and started to follow the dragons as they lead the way back to where the Nexus rested, something that was followed by Flame and Aurora following them, even though they did spot the amusement park that was off in the distance and inquired about it. Cynder took a few moments to inform them that it was something that the Gnorcs, a race that was allied with the six dragon clans of the Dragon Realms after their villainous boss had been beaten a number of years ago, had built after coming to an agreement with the dragons that served as the Leaders for the clans, even though Nestor and the others had made sure the park had been built some distance away from the main beach that the dragons used as their relaxation spot, despite the fact that not many of them came here, as most of them were busy with their daily lives these days. Aurora inquired as to what Cynder was referring to and Ember told her about the hatchlings, who had hatched a little over two years ago, during the Year of the Dragon Festival, which caused both Aurora and Flame to nod their heads, as they also had such an event, under the same name, two years ago and there were a number of young hatchlings wandering around the lands of Capora, something that caused Spike to listen to what they were saying, even though he refrained from pulling out his writing materials, at least until they reached the Artisans homeworld and started the tour. Not a few moments later the group approached the Nexus and the pair of dragons paused as they stared at the six different portals that were resting in this area, the ones that lead to the Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers, and the Machinists homeworlds, where just the name of the islands in question made both Flame and Aurora take a moment to wonder what they would be seeing as the group showed them around the lands that they called home, even if Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia came from some of the other lands and not the Dragon Realms.
When they passed through the Artisans portal, however, Flame and Aurora's jaws nearly dropped as they stared out at the homeworld that they had been brought to, where Spike noted that the pair had been able to pass through the portal without the magic knocking them backwards or something, making him wonder if Nora had changed the magic on them or if it was due to the fact that these two were strangers, but it was clear that they were caught off guard by the fact that they were staring at such a peaceful landscape, especially since some of the adult dragons were teaching the young hatchlings about the various arts that made up their homeworld.
"This place is so... peaceful." Flame commented, as it was unlike anything that he and Aurora had seen during their time in the lands of Capora, or at least that was what the group considered when they saw how the pair reacted to seeing this place, though while they did that Elora and Hunter made sure to put the containers down in an area that was out of the way of the other dragons, or at least until they were done with their lessons and noticed them resting near the portal to Dragon Shores, before he and Aurora glanced at the group, "I can't believe that you guys call this place home, as it just seems odd that the four of you would be the only ones to carry weapons around, while the other Artisans are focused on their instruments and whatnot... they are Artisans, aren't they?"
"Yes, this is the Artisans homeworld, which also serves as Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember's home," Hunter stated, as he recalled what happened when he and Elora had first seen this place, that they believed that it didn't fit with the siblings that they had called upon to save Avalar from Ripto, along with how Bianca, and later Cynder, had reacted when they laid eyes on the land that was in front of them, though at the same time he chuckled as they followed Spyro as he left the area that the portal to Dragon Shores was located in, "also, before you ask why they're allowed to get away with being totally different from the rest of the Artisans dragons, just know that Spyro and Spike are purple dragons, so the rules that most dragons of this land live by don't apply to them, Ember is an honorary Peace Keeper and chooses to live by their set of rules, and Cynder, well, she hails from the city of Warfang, from the continent of Doxantha, and she's adapting to how the Artisans dragons live, even if they're letting her off the hook due to her parentage... or whatever their reason is for letting her be a rule breaking dragon."
"Isn't it weird for there to be two purple dragons, at the same time no less?" Aurora inquired, showing the group that while she was interested in what was around them, just like how Flame was interested in the landscape and the dragons that were showing off their skills to the newest generation of hatchlings, one of the things she was focusing on was the fact that there were two dragons that happened to have the same legendary scales, something that informed Spike that all of the groups of clans that ended up separated from those that lived in Warfang knew about the legend and everything that came with it.
"No, because Spyro and Spike are some of the greatest heroes of our world, along with Ember, Cynder, and everyone else they have befriended over the years," a voice said, which was when Nestor walked over to where they were standing, not that the group was all that surprised to see him since he was usually watching over the hatchlings as the other Artisans taught all of them about the various professions that their clan focused on, before the Leader took a moment to focus on Flame and Aurora, who froze for a moment as they became the center of his attention, "I don't believe we've met, so allow me to introduce myself: I am Nestor, Leader of the Artisans dragons."
"I'm Flame, with my dragonfly, Flare, and this is my friend Aurora, with her dragonfly, Daisy," Flame replied, where he took a moment to gesture to the others of his small group for a moment, so Nestor knew who he was talking about, even if it was pretty obvious at times, while at the same time repeating what he had told Spyro and the others when they had first met each other, even though he took a moment to consider something that they had just been told, "So, you guys are lead by Dragon Leaders, as opposed to our Dragon Elders, which I guess means that all of the groups of dragons took up a similar naming convention when referring to their leaders and realms."
"Leaders, to be exact, not Dragon Leaders," Spike stated, though at the same time he knew what Flame was talking about at the moment, since it appeared that the dragons of the Dragon Realms and the dragons of Doxantha had a very similar method to naming the realms, homeworlds, and their leadership roles, where Spyro and the others simply said nothing to that and let him talk, given the vast amount of knowledge that he had on all of the clans, before he focused on Flame and Aurora for a moment, "but yes, it does seem like all of the clans, regardless of where they ended up calling home after our banishment from Avilion, ended up using the same method or naming convention when it comes to all of the realms, homeworlds, and the leadership positions that each clan ended up creating over the years."
"Either way, its good to meet you two," Nestor said, showing the pair of dragons that he was happy to meet them and that he was just fine with them being there, even though he was curious as to what was going on at the moment and was hoping that one of the siblings or their friends would be able to tell him where they had come from, hence the reason that he seemed to be in the middle of thinking about something at the moment, before opening his mouth again, "though I will admit that I'm curious as to where you came from, since I know you aren't from any of the homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, nor are you from the continent of Doxantha."
"We came from Capora, which is our name for the four homeworlds that our Dragon Elders rule and watch over since the day we first landed on their shores," Aurora replied, though as she said that she noticed that Nestor was walking over to an area that seemed to have a tunnel that would take them somewhere, which was directly across the way from where the large doors they had walked by was located, making her wonder what they were going to be doing, "Flame and I are explorers, which is nothing like the clans that you set up since you started living in these homeworlds, and we wanted to leave our home to see what else the world had to offer us, all so we could map out the world, though we used a temporary portal to get to, um, Dragon Shores. I guess we were a little too eager to get to exploring, as the Professor said that some of his calculations might be wrong, since he was messing with a 'Nora' portal network..."
"Wait, you guys know the Professor?" Elora commented, as this was the first time she had really talked since the pair of dragons had arrived in Dragon Shores and joined them, before they cut their vacation short and came back here, but that piece of information was enough to interest the rest of the group, as they knew that there had to be a reason for the Professor to do something like this, without telling them anything about what he was doing, "We've talked with him a few times since the war for the fate of our world... we'll have to get back to you two on that later, as its a lengthy tale for us to get into and it would take an entire day to go over everything that happened... but he's been rather busy lately, so its nice to hear that he's doing well."
While she said that, however, Elora glanced over to the others for a moment and found that they were thinking the same thing that she had considered once Aurora mentioned that the Professor was somewhere in Capora, meaning that he must have been expanding his knowledge of the world and was searching for additional threats that the group could take out before they threatened the world, especially after what they had seen when they found Cynder, Warfang, and the first purple dragon himself, though all of them tilted their heads for a moment before they refocused on what they were doing at the moment.
"Well, from what I know he's been busy helping Flame and I out, while trying to help the other residents of the islands that we call home," Aurora continued, finishing up what she had started to say, before Elora interrupted her, but that was the moment that she stopped in her tracks as they reached the end of the tunnel that Nestor had been leading them to, as both she and Flame could see the massive airship that the group had used to get to Doxantha resting in front of them, not to mention the hot air balloon that was at the end of the dock, "Wow, what in the world is this ship?"
"The AS Harmony, or the Airship Harmony, if you prefer," Spyro stated, where he took to the air and flew over to the deck of the ship, as the vessel had been a gift to him and his siblings and Fury, the Captain of the vessel, could usually be found on somewhere on the ship, though he hadn't trained Marco and the other Balloonists on how to use it, something that would take time and effort to do, so if they wanted to use it they would need the Breezebuilder in question to take the helm and operate it, "We used this vessel to make a two week journey to the land of Doxantha, because we discovered something interesting on the globe that showed our entire world, instead of spending three weeks to a month by traveling over the seas... trust me, its quite impressive and, at the same time, we can use it to show you the other homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, without expanding too much of our energy in the process."
Flame and Aurora glanced at each other for a few moments before joining the group as they flew over to the deck of the airship, where Spyro chatted with Fury as the others readied themselves, something that was followed by him heading to the part of the vessel that contained the controls so he could get them underway, allowing Spyro to rejoin the group as Spike got started on explaining things to the new pair of dragons that were sitting near him, as in he told them about the Artisans dragons and what sort of professions they spent their lives working on, something that surprised the pair when they heard it. It was actually amusing that the pair was caught off guard by the fact that some dragons spent their days working on the same profession, without seeing if there were others that they might be good with, even though Spike did explain that all Artisans dragons explored their options early in life and most of them were like this, with the exceptions being Spyro, Ember, and himself, even though he was on his way to being one of the greatest scholars, Ember was one of the honored Peace Keepers, and Spyro was being groomed to be a Leader one day, which was no easy feat when they considered what Nestor and the others had to deal with. While they were doing that the airship shifted for a second, which was followed by their new friends rushing over to the edge of the deck and watched as the massive propellers emerged from the water and pushed the airship into the air, something that totally caught them off guard since they weren't really expecting the ship to fly when they had been told that this was an airship, to which Spike shifted their discussion to their airship and informed the pair that the Professor had assisted the Machinists dragons in building the airship, which was yet another surprise for Flame and Aurora, something they weren't expecting to learn after they passed through the portal that had brought them to Dragon Shores. Nestor, of course, stayed behind so he could return to his duties with the rest of the Artisans dragons and hatchlings, leaving the group to depart from the dock that the airship had been docked at and headed in the direction of the other homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, allowing Spike to inform them as to what was going on while they looked out at the lands for themselves.
The group found that Flame and Aurora were definitely surprised by the fact that the Peace Keepers homeworld was so different from the Artisans homeworld, going from a lush island and shifting to a desert-like island, not to mention the fact that there was a cavern of ice below part of the desert and that the dragons had devised their own versions of all of the structures that the other clans used throughout their daily lives, all designed to handle the heat of the desert and to keep the dragons cool. They were both rather impressed when it came time for them to see the mountainous area that the Magic Crafters called home, especially since they were expecting the homeworld to be an island and not up in the air, which made both of them glad that they had the airship so they could quickly breach the clouds and take them up to all of the marble halls and structures all of the magical dragons were used to seeing, though that also gave them a chance to see some of the other magical beings that lived in the other lands, even though Bianca informed Flame and Aurora that they were likely going what she was doing, trying to become Spike's apprentice, which was she had done sometime after Spike had become an Archmage, which only caused them to be silent as they listened to what the group had to say. That was followed by them eventually passing over the swamp area that the Beast Keepers worked in every day, where Aurora said that she was grateful for the airship at this point, as it allowed them to be above the smelly island and not get the smell of of the swamp on them, despite the fact that the siblings informed her that there was shampoo and everything that took care of the smell and odor. After that they passed by the floating islands that made up the land of the Dream Weavers, one of the homeworlds that really interested the group since they were surprised by the fact that seventy-five percent of all the dragons that called this island home slept during the day and worked at night, leaving the remaining percentage to sleep during the night and work while the sun was up, just like the rest of the dragons of the other islands. They eventually came to the last and final island, which happened to be the more mechanical island that the Machinists called home and worked in, where the group informed the newcomers that these dragons had assisted the Professor while the airship was still being put together, not to mention everyone else that worked on the vessel, which seemed to impress the pair and made them wonder what else the Machinists might be working on.
Of course there was also the fact that the newcomers got a chance to see the island that the Phoenixes called home, which was really a surprise that both dragons weren't expecting to see, especially since both of them seemed to be under the impression that the fiery birds actually existed and that they weren't a myth, something that was due to Sol's ancestors wanting to be left alone and not be hunted by those who wanted them for their feathers and whatnot, but due to what the siblings had done for the Dragon Realms and some of the other lands, saving them from danger and those that had been threatening them, the Phoenixes had come out of hiding and had joined the Dragon Realms.
"The Dragon Realms are more impressive than what I thought they would be," Flame commented, not that he was expecting anything less of a place that was run by dragons, especially since it appeared that Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the others had done everything in their power to make sure everything was fine in the lands they had told them about, even if they didn't know a lot about Avalar and Avilion, which appeared to be the true name of the lands the dragons used to live in over a thousand years ago, before he turned to glance at the group, where he noticed that Spyro was in the middle of talking to Fury again, "though I'm still surprised by the fact that you have all these Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers, Machinists, Phoenixes, and who knows what else in the other islands that you've assisted over the years. You have the makings of an army!"
"In a sense you would be right, as almost all of the adult dragons in the Dragon Realms participated in the war that was for the fate of our world," Amelia replied, speaking for the first time since the pair of dragons had arrived in Dragon Shores and had started to see what the Dragon Realms had to offer, though at the same time Spike weaved his magic through the air for a moment and a massive portal opened in the space in front of the airship, something that allowed the vessel to travel from the Dragon Realms and end up in Avalar, near Summer Forest, which put a smile on her face as she took a moment to glance down at a place that would have been her home had her parents not been displaced and sent to Doxantha by the evil Moneybags, even though that caused her to think about the newcomers for a moment, "but don't think, for even a moment, that the dragons were alone, as they had the aid of everyone from the lands that they helped out, the stone soldiers of the Deepcore Army, the majority of the Runeblades, and everything else that was used against the enemies they were fighting."
"Note to self, you guys would be the perfect allies if something were to go wrong in Capora, not that I'm saying that I want something bad to happen," Aurora said, showing the group that she was impressed by what Amelia had said, even if it was still a shocker when she thought about everything that had been mentioned, while at the same time her statement made the group take a moment to wonder about Red and how similar to Gnasty Gnorc he was, just in the off chance that the exiled dragon tried to attack the lands of Capora and take his revenge on them for what they did to him, even if they knew nothing about why he was banished in the first place, "its actually rather nice to learn that, in the unlikely event that something bad were to happen to our home, we might have some friends to call upon to help us restore order."
"The only thing we would have to worry about is Red suddenly returning to take his revenge on the Dragon Elders who banished him all those years ago," Flame added, though at the same time he knew what Aurora was talking about, as he didn't want the banished Elder to suddenly come out of his banishment and attack the homeworlds of Capora, which would be bad since they were enjoying a time of peace at the moment, before he glanced over at the others for a moment and found that Spike was already pulling out his writing materials, showing him and Aurora that he was interested in what they had to say about the Dragon Elder that had been banished, "Listen, there's not much we can tell you about Red, as neither Aurora or I are scholars like you are, other than the fact that he experimented with dark magic, supposedly for the betterment of dragonkind, until he, according to the stories, summoned a creature from another dimension and it lashed out at the house of one of our Elders, something that caused the Elders to gather together and sent it back to the place it came from, or at least I think that's what they did, and then they banished Red for his crimes."
"Dark Magic?" Cynder inquired, something that was followed by Flame and Aurora nodding their heads, showing the group that they had heard what the red dragons had said correctly, though as they did that she glanced over to Spyro for a few seconds, who seemed to be thinking the same thing that she was thinking, as the two of them were the only ones that knew something about the villain that tried to bring about the end of the previous world, something they had partly succeeded in doing based on what the Chronicler told them, "Sounds like the Dark Master's handiwork..."
"We'll, ugh, take your word for that," Aurora said, where her statement showed that she had no idea what Cynder was even talking about, even though it was more accurate to say that it was a 'who', and the look on Flame's face showed that he was of the same opinion, though at the same time Cynder decided not to worry them about an ancient evil that she and Spyro had beaten, who they were sure hadn't been reborn in this world like they had been, before the pink dragon glanced over the edge of the airship and focused on the lands that were below them, "Anyway, the lands of Avalar, from what we can see, are quite lovely and they seem rather peaceful."
"Trust me, they weren't like this three years ago," Elora commented, where she smiled as she glanced out at the land that she and Hunter called home, as she remembered what the siblings had done when they had been called to Avalar so they could deal with Ripto, and Hunter was still sorry for accidentally intercepting the villain and his minions when they were using a portal to travel from one place to another, and she knew that Hunter and his sister had to be smiling at the land that they were staring down at, "We had some problems a few years ago, what with a villain trying to take control of our realms and two races were in the middle of a war with each other, thanks to the sinister actions of a certain bear that we have imprisoned, but, thanks to Spyro, Spike, and Ember, we were able to repel the attacks, take out the villain, and restore order to Avalar. Of course, once everything had been returned to normal, Hunter and I joined the siblings when their third adventure came around, which was where we met Bianca and she joined our cause, to help us take down an evil magic user called Morrigan, who was trying to gain immortality and the power to take down Malefor, even though her plans ultimately failed thanks to what the siblings did."
"She must have gone insane, because no one has seen Malefor for a thousand years, not since the days that we lived in the Forgotten Realms, or Avilion, based on what you said," Flame stated, showing that he was still coming to terms with the fact that he and Aurora now knew the name of the lands that the dragons once called home, before they were forced to leave their homes, while at the same time revealing that everyone that called the homeworlds of Capora home had the same thoughts about the first purple dragon, that Malefor was missing and that no one had seen him for a long time, not that the group blamed them for thinking such a thing, before he noticed something interesting as he glanced back at the group, who happened to glance at each other for a moment, "Um, is something wrong?"
"No, everything is fine... though trust me on this, Malefor is alive and well," Spyro replied, where it was easy for him and the others to see that Flame and Aurora were shocked by the news, which was understandable given that he and the others had thought the same thing they had been thinking, something that was corrected when they saw the legendary dragon in battle, with their own eyes, though even as he said that Spike weaved his magic into the air again and the vessel passed through another portal, this one taking them to the island they had fought Malefor in, and once they were on the other side of the portal he nodded his head and Fury started to descend towards the island.
"Indeed I am," a voice said, where Spyro and the others watched as Malefor, in all his glory, landed on the deck of the airship not a few seconds after he finished talking, though at the same time the airship landed in the water and came to a stop near the island that happened to be where Malefor had battled and trained with Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember in the past, before the previous adventure had started anyway, before they noticed as the first purple dragon stared at the group for a few seconds with a look of interest in his eyes, even though Flame and Aurora were totally stunned by what they were seeing at the moment, "I felt some strange magic in the air and wondered what was going on, so I decided to investigate what I was feeling and discovered that your airship was descending towards the island we train on, hence the reason I flew up to see what you were up to, since Nestor told me that you would be spending the entire day relaxing in Dragon Shores and that it would be a day or two before we resumed your training... which brings me to my first question, Elora, what happened to you?"
"Oh, Ripto, the villain that attacked Castle Hills during the dragonfly ceremony, let his magic go wild when we faced him in combat and his last pair of spells had quite the effect on me," Elora replied, though at the same time she took a few seconds to open her clawed hands for a moment and stared at them, because at this point she was used to her new form and knew there was no way she was going to revert back to what she had been like before Ripto had struck her, despite what Spike had said when he explained what she might go through in the coming weeks, "Spike says it was chaos magic, or something to that effect, and that my current form is what I'll be using for the rest of my life, even if there is a chance that I might revert back to my original faun form... though I have to say that being half dragon is actually pretty awesome, even if it was a massive shock for the first couple of days."
"I see. Well, I'd like to see what Spike has written on the matter, just to add the knowledge to what we have stored in the library of Warfang," Malefor said, mostly due to the fact that he was interested in what had happened to Elora and why she had such an interesting form, instead of what he had seen the last time the group had trained with him, where Spike took a moment to nod his head and confirm that he would make sure the first purple dragon had his notes on the matter, before Malefor turned his attention to the newcomers, "I don't believe that we've had the honor of meeting before today, so allow me to introduce myself: I am Malefor, known as the first purple dragon in every history book and tome, formerly the Protector of Avilion, and am currently serving as the High Guardian of Warfang."
"Ugh, I'm Flame... and this is Aurora," Flame stated, though his tone and the look on his face reflected the fact that he and Aurora were totally surprised by the fact that they were actually standing in front of Malefor, the one dragon that was more legendary that anything else in their world, where Spyro noticed that Aurora, on the other claw, seemed to go still as they realized who they were staring at, before he regained his focus, "we're explorers that come from Capora, which is the name for the islands that our dragon clans call home, much like how Avalar is the overall name for the islands that Elora and Hunter call home, and we used a temporary portal to explore a brand new part of the world, which brought us to the island called Dragon Shores that Spyro and the others happened to be relaxing at during our arrival. We told Spyro and the others a little about the lands that we called home while we were flying through the air, though we mostly focused on Red, a Dragon Elder that was banished for trying to use Dark Magic and successfully summoned a creature from another dimension, which caused the other Dragon Elders to send it back to the place it came from and then they banished Red for all of his crimes."
"Dark Magic, you say?" Malefor commented, where he placed a hand on his chin for a moment and considered what Flame had just told him, which was what he had told Spyro and the others while they were heading to this island, though it was more like he was actually thinking about the memories of his previous life and was seeing if he had known anything about what they were currently talking about, before he shifted his gaze over to Spyro and Cynder, as they were the only ones who knew who he was considering, who nodded their heads a few seconds, "It seems like we might have found out what happened to the Dark Master, which isn't good considering what he did in the past... Spike, can you open the way back to the Arcanaeum? There's something we need to check out."
"I'm confused. What's going on?" Aurora asked, though while she said that Spyro informed Fury as to what they were doing while Spike weaved his magic into the air near the island, at a point where they would be able to leave the island and not damage anything that was around them at the moment, something that informed her that she and Flame had missed something important, as the group had figured something out and it appeared that whatever it was had sprung them into acting, by taking them to another part of the world.
"We think there's a reason the Professor sent you to Dragon Shores, and we're going to either confirm or deny it by seeing what's on the Arcanaeum's globe," Spyro replied, informing Flame and Aurora that there might have been more to what the Professor had done for them, as it was possible that their friend had noticed something odd and wanted them to be aware of it before something terrible happened, but based on what they had seen in the past, the events that lead up to all of their previous adventures, he and his siblings, at the very least, were sure that a new adventure was coming and their friend had sent the newcomers as a warning of some sort.
Spyro was hoping that there wasn't another evil being out there in the world, plotting to take over another land and rule over those that called the land home, just like all of the villains that they had taken out in the past, especially after they had taken down Ripto and put an end to his latest scheme, but he knew that the only way for him and the others to learn what was going on was to check the Arcanaeum and see what the globe had to offer them, before they figured out what the next step they were going to take was.
It didn't take Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, their friends, and the rest of their group to pass through the portal Spike had created, something that allowed the airship to depart from the island that they used when they were learning from Malefor and reappeared in the air near Midnight Mountain, the homeworld where the portal to Morrigan's treasury was located, as that held the way to where the Arcanaeum was resting, even though they could change its position and move it to another land if they really wanted to, something that Spyro was considering asking Spike to do in the future, given all the times that he and the others were coming here to check things out. Flame and Aurora stared out at Midnight Mountain as the airship came to a stop near the structure that Spyro and the others had landed in when they used the rocket during their third adventure, even if that was mostly to regain every egg that Morrigan had stolen from the Dragon Realms, showing the group that the newcomers were surprised by the beauty of the land that was in front of them, even though that would pale in comparison to what would happen when they saw the legendary Arcanaeum. Once the airship came to a stop the group took to the air and flew over to where the portal to the treasury was located, with Hunter and Amelia being teleported to the small island that the portal in question rested on due to Bianca using her magic to move them from one place to another, which caused both Flame and Aurora to take to the skies for a moment and follow the group, though it was still clear that they were shocked by the knowledge that Malefor was still alive and that they had met him, something neither of them had even considered to be a possibility based on what they were seeing.
A few moments later they reached the island that held the portal to the treasury and passed through it, where the siblings and their friends stepped out into the snowy area and smiled for a moment, as they remembered this place and what they had done to acquire all the stolen gems that Morrigan had stored away in this place, while Flame and Aurora seemed a tad bit surprised by what they were seeing, though that turned into total shock when they followed the group through the realm they were now in and stared at the imposing structure that was the Arcanaeum.
"No way... the Arcanaeum does exist!" Aurora exclaimed, because she knew everything that Spike and the other scholars had known before they reclaimed the lands of Avilion from Morrigan's grip, and that included the belief that this structure was just a myth and that it had been lost to time, so she was a little stunned to discover that it actually existed, despite the fact that Flame was surprised by what they were seeing, though not on the level that Aurora was on, though this did show that they must have ignored part of what the group had said earlier, about the Arcanaeum.
"Technically speaking, this is the Archives, one of the chambers that rests inside the Arcanaeum," Spike replied, though that was when the group walked up the ramp that was in front of them and entered the part of the vault that contained all of the tomes and scrolls that Malefor had collected and sealed away before Morrigan took over the lands of Avilion, which was when Aurora's jaw dropped for a moment as she stared at all of the information that was in front of her, while Flame seemed only slightly interested in what he was seeing, before Spike glanced back at them, "however, just beyond it rests the center of the Arcanaeum, where the globe rests, which will tell us what's going on and inform us as to what we'll need to do next, something that all depends on what we discover."
Aurora opened her mouth to say something, after having returned it to normal after seeing the Archives, but that was the moment that they walked into the center of the Arcanaeum and her jaw dropped again, and this time Flame joined her as they stared out at everything that rested all around them, all the artifacts and materials that Malefor had stored inside the structure, before they noticed all of the open chambers that lead to where the runeblades rested, an area that Malefor had used for his training, the chamber of the Deepcore Army, and everything else that could be explored, before both she and Flame stared at the globe that was in the center of the vault... where there was a vortex of darkness swirling around part of the world, which caused Malefor to frown for a moment as they stared at it.
"Is that dark spot normal?" Flame asked, mostly because of the fact that this was the first time they had seen something like this and they had no idea what it had looked like before this point in time, so he figured that asking someone who was more familiar with the globe was the best thing he could do, while at the same time Aurora was staring at the globe and was focusing on the area that the dark vortex was swirling around, because she was trying to figure out what they were even seeing at the moment, even though she found the entire thing to be interesting, since the globe allowed someone to see what sort of dangers their world faced.
"No, its not," Malefor replied, where he stared at the globe for a few seconds and then raised his hand, where he tapped on the icon of the dark vortex and a small square magical screen appeared in front of him, where Spike realized that the globe had the power to give someone an idea as to what the warnings might be, which was something he and the others hadn't known when they noticed the Aether icon that lead them to Doxantha, Warfang, and the battle for the fate of the entire world, though that was when he and the others found an image of a dark crystal that radiated darkness resting on the screen, where he glanced at Spyro and Cynder, who sighed for a few seconds, "though it is as I feared, the Dark Master is alive, in some sense anyway, and he's likely allied with Red, whose both his apprentice and underling, especially since it appears that he might be using both his Dark Magic and dark crystals to try and take over a set of islands."
"I don't believe it... Red's actually trying to take over Capora!" Aurora remarked, because while Malefor was talking he had taken a moment to manipulate part of the globe and revealed what the islands looked like before the vortex had suddenly appeared over them, where she was able to recognize the shape of the lands that she and Flame called home, though at the same time this information told the group exactly what was going to happen in the near future, "What can we do to restore order to our home?"
"We'll need to travel to Capora, smash the Dark Crystals, and take down Red," Cynder stated, where Spyro and the others nodded their heads for a moment, as they understood what she was talking about and it sounded like they were about to start a brand new adventure, though at the same time she, Spyro, and her father knew the true goal of his adventure, as they needed to find and defeat the Dark Master, the true evil that was lurking in the shadows, "not to mention anything else that we might need to do while we're there, like collect gems or recover specific items that will help us on our quest to save the lands you call home."
"Okay, that... sounds like a plan." Flame commented, though at the same time it was easy to tell that he was lost and had no idea what was going on right now, mostly due to the fact that he and Aurora weren't heroes like Spyro and the others were and the fact that he could tell that they had a system in place when they explored the lands that they had been to in the past, before he considered something that had been said, "What's this about a Dark Master? According to what Aurora and I know, and this is from the Dragon Elders, that's not one of the titles Red has... in fact, I'm not sure he even has any titles that he prefers to go by."
"The Dark Master is, well, one of the evilest beings in our world, one that I had hoped we'd never hear from," Malefor said, where most of what he just said was basically a lie, as he was trying to imply that he and the Dark Master had fought each other and that he had come out on top, like he had beaten the ancient evil and had banished him for his crimes, though Cynder and the others knew that he was one of the few individuals that knew about the world that came before this one and that some of them had memories from their past lives, where only three of them knew about the evil he was talking about and the threat he posed to everyone in Capora, much less the entire world if he succeeded in whatever plans he had been working on, "he's probably working with Red, as partners to be exact, but Dark Magic was always his calling card, or his signature if you prefer, and this icon is telling me that he's active in some manner, so we need to act swiftly and take out these crystals, before looking for either him or his partner."
Spyro and Cynder, having a greater understanding of who the Dark Master was and what he could do, knew that Malefor was downplaying everything that their foe was capable of, even though labeling him as one of the evilest beings in their world wasn't entirely wrong, despite the fact that he was the evilest of them all, but they remained silent as they took a moment to consider what they were going to do next and everything that was required before they headed out to tackle the dangers that were plaguing the homeworlds of Capora.
"Okay, but there's still a problem none of you have considered yet: we can't get back to Capora." Aurora said, as while the others talked she noticed something that Malefor and the heroes had missed during their discussions, even though she did have to admit that the idea of Red being allied with one of the most dangerous individuals in the world, someone that Malefor seemed to have been hunting for a long time and wasn't too pleased to discover was active once more, wasn't a good one, before he returned to the point she was trying to make, "Remember, we used a temporary portal to get from our home lands and were dropped off in Dragon Shores, all without a way to get back home, so there's no way that we'll be able to get there in a few minutes, which means we'll have to use your airship to travel to the area that Capora is in and go from there."
"Well, that is where you would be wrong... if we're right in our thoughts, anyway." Hunter said, deciding that now was the time for him to speak and share what was on his mind, even though he had been thinking about what Malefor and all of his friends had said since they returned to the Arcanaeum, about the Dark Master and the potential danger that he posed to the rest of the world, which just reminded him of Gaul and what he had done to bring about the end of the world during the adventure that was before Ripto's latest assault, "The Professor sent you guys to Dragon Shores on purpose, as he's familiar with the fact that whenever Spyro and the others finish an adventure they head to the island in quest and relax for a time, before they get to training and preparing for what the future has to throw at them, so once he discovered that Red had plans for the homeworlds of Capora, and likely uncovered the existence of these Dark Crystals or even the area the Dark Master is holed up in, he opened the way for you to explore a brand new island, allowing us to learn that danger is coming and counter it before it has a chance to truly take over your home."
The group remained silent for a moment as they considered what Hunter had said, even though they were impressed by what he had told them and knew that he must have been soaking up everything that Spike had said, or at least how the young Archmage spoke about certain things, where Bianca nodded her head to show that she agreed with him and that she was happy to see that he was no longer the scared Cheetah that Spyro and the others had met, as he had grown into a fine warrior and she was glad to be his girlfriend.
"Basically, Hunter is saying that because the Professor opened the way for you to head to Dragon Shores, we can reverse engineer the magic involved and head to Capora, no doubt ending up in his lab," Spike explained, as that was what Hunter meant by what he had told Flame and Aurora, who still seemed a little lost at this point in time and were still coming to terms with the fact that the Professor had used their desire for exploration to call heroes to their home, all due to Red and his allies, though once he said that he glanced at the others for a moment, as each of them needed to make sure they took the time to gather everything they needed before he opened the way to the part of Capora the Professor was in, waiting for them to come to him, "from there we can learn what is going on in your homeworlds, how many underlings Red and the Dark Master have under their control, which will tell us the main enemies we'll be dealing with, and what sort of items we'll need to keep an out out for, like the Orbs we collected in Avalar, so we could restore the power to certain portals and remove the seals that were placed in our way."
"I... I see." Flame said, though even as he said that he realized something, the group they had landed in front of was likely the best chance Capora had at returning to what it had been like before Red did whatever he was doing, as there was no way for them to know what had chanced since they had been gone, even though it was possible that Red had attacked the other homeworlds and not the one that the Professor had set up shop in, so they would have no way of knowing what had happened until they returned to their home, "So, what do we do next?"
"We return to the Artisans homeworld and everyone will get ready for a new adventure, even though we just finished one a week ago," Spyro remarked, where the rest of the group nodded their heads once more, to show that they agreed with what he was saying, but even as he said that he realized that they might be able to call upon a few more allies, from the other lands that they had saved over the years, which made him thankful for the portals Spike, Nora, and Bianca had set up to connect the Dragon Realms to Avalar, Avilion, and Doxantha, "I'll also seek out some of our previous allies and see if any of them can come with us, as I'm sure Sol might be wanting to tackle another adventure."
"Before we do that, however, there's something I need to do," Cynder stated, where she headed over to the chamber that contained the other runeblades and disappeared for a few moments, something that caused Malefor to chuckle as they saw it happen, though it wasn't long before she emerged from the chamber and the group could see that she was carrying one of the other powerful blades on her back, where Spike noticed the darkness that wrapped around the blade as she pulled it out a little, revealing that it was the blade known as Penumbra, the runeblade which was made from a fragment of the Shadow Master, which meant she was taking it so that way if they came across a foe that couldn't be taken down by normal means she would have something to use this time around, "Okay, now I'm ready to go."
Spyro and the others nodded their heads for a moment before they turned around and headed back through the opening that allowed them to enter the Arcanaeum in the first place, which was followed by them heading back to the area that the airship rested in, even if that meant going through the treasury once more, though once everyone reached the ship they landed on the deck and made sure that everyone was aboard before Spike opened a portal back to the Dragon Realms, to which Fury directed the ship through the portal and they reappeared in the air near the Artisans homeworld, where they could rest and gather everything that they could possibly need for the latest adventure they had discovered. Flame and Aurora, on the other claw, were still surprised by what they had discovered and said nothing for a time as they watched the group that knew the Professor and, in an interesting turn of events, were being called to Capora to deal with Red and whatever was going on, which did make them wonder if the Professor trusted them or if he didn't want to see them get hurt by whatever was happening to their home, if they believed what Spike and Hunter had said another the individual that had opened the portal that dropped them off in Dragon Shores. While they thought about that the airship entered the air that was near the Artisans homeworld and descended towards the water that rested near the dock, which was followed by Spike quickly weaving his magic through the air and removed the portal he had created, though once the airship came to a stop in the water the group thanked Fury for his assistance and headed back into the main part of the homeworld, as they didn't have a whole lot of time before Spike attempted to open a brand new portal to the area that the Professor had opened the portal Flame and Aurora had used to get to the island they had been resting on. As they walked back into the heart of the homeworld, however, the group could see that Nestor was surprised that they had returned after such a short period of time, more due to the fact that Malefor was with them this time around, to which he walked away from where he had been standing and walked over to where the group was located, showing that he was interested in what was going on, especially since he noticed Cynder was carrying a weapon she didn't have earlier.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, Cynder, is something wrong?" Nestor asked, because he knew three of them well enough, and was starting to get to know Malefor's daughter to the same degree, to know that something was up and that a brand new adventure might be coming their way, especially due to the arrival of Flame and Aurora, not to mention the fact that they were both thinking about something with a dark look on their faces, meaning it had to be linked to the lands they called home, and this was all from seeing what was different about the group between the last time he saw them and what he was seeing right now.
"You could say that, given that we just discovered that our home is under attack by Red and the Dark Master," Flame said, beating the named dragons to the punch, while at the same time speaking up for the first time since they left realm that the Arcanaeum was located in, mostly because he had been lost in thought about everything they had learned and he was sure that Aurora was doing the same thing, before he sighed as he glanced at the Leader that was nearby, who was interested in what they had to say, "Apparently the Professor might have sent us to Dragon Shore to warn Spyro and the rest of his group about a potential threat to the islands of Capora, who happens to be a banished Dragon Elder called Red, but it seems that he's teamed up with someone called the Dark Master, who taught him how to wield Dark Magic, and is likely assisting him through the use of Dark Crystals, according to Malefor anyway."
"I see. So, that means a brand new adventure is about to begin?" Nestor inquired, though this time his question was directed directly to Spyro and the others, since they were the ones that usually went on adventures and knew more about the art of saving the world, or at least the various lands, than he and the other dragons did, which meant that, if what he had just learned was accurate, the group would be gathering everything they needed in the next few minutes and then would be heading to Capora so they could figure out what is going on and then tackle the enemies that had revealed their hand to the Professor.
"Yes, despite our desire to get some rest after the last one ended," Spyro said, though he wasn't annoyed by what Flame and Aurora had done, as the work of a hero was never over and he was sure that, even if Red and the Dark Master had waited before revealing their hand, the Professor would have called upon them to take care of the threat to the world, or at least a threat to the islands that he had discovered and hadn't told anyone about until he was ready to inform them about what he had found, before he focused on the task that had been placed in front of them, "We're going to take some time to gather whatever we might need for a new adventure, though I'm going to see if I can get in touch with Sgt. Byrd or any of our other friends, to see if they're available to help us out with this adventure, and once we're done we'll likely have to return to Dragon Shores to trace the magic to the area that the Professor opened his portal in."
"According to what I know, Sgt. Byrd might be the only one that's available right now," Nestor remarked, as he knew that Spyro and the others had invited their friends to share a celebration with them, as in join in and see what happened when the dragonfly ceremony happened, though many of them had declined due to their own responsibilities, which had been a surprise for the group and they accepted it rather well, before he got to what he knew about their friends, "Sheila's busy with some of the Mountain Goats that share her realm, something about a massive prank that got out of hand, Bentley is actually heading to Monkey Monastery, as I think he wanted to check in with Bartholomew and make sure his brother had everything set up, and Agent 9, from what I understand, is somewhere in Avilion, possibly helping some of the residents out with whatever problems they're facing, while Sgt. Byrd should be taking a break from the action, and Sol went home, to help out the rest of his kind, so I don't think you'll be seeing him anytime soon."
"Well, one is better than none, as some of the older dragons are fond of saying," Ember stated, though the statement was true, as having a single ally was better than having none of them, even though she realized that they didn't need too many allies at this point in time, not after everything she and the others had faced during their previous adventures, but she didn't say anything about that since she knew the rest of the group could be thinking the same thing, "either way, we need to take some time to gather everything we might need for this adventure, since there's no telling what will be waiting for us when we arrive in Capora and see what the Professor has to tell us."
Spyro, having the least amount of stuff among the group, did as he said and focused on tracking down Sgt. Byrd, as he did know that having someone like him on their team would be great, due to the fact that the Professor had likely upgraded his weaponry and jet pack so he could be better equipped for whatever missions he took on, not to mention everything he, his siblings, and the others had seen since they first met him, though while he did that the others went about gathering what they needed before they made the trip to Capora. Spike focused on making sure he had all of his writing materials in order, something that really confused both Flame and Aurora the moment they saw what he was doing, which lead to him taking a few moments to explain that, in addition to being the youngest Archmage in the world, he also chronicled what he, his siblings, and their friends did during their previous adventures, to the point where he had several books published and that lead him to depart for a few seconds, as he informed the pair that he had to deliver the journal containing their latest adventure to Argus and the other scholars, so they could get to work adding it to their archives in the form of a new book. Ember spent her time polishing her bracers and making sure that the Fangs of Felinia were ready for battle, even if they weren't as powerful as the runeblades were, something she had discovered during their venture through one of the previous realms of Castle Hills, when they assisted the Thieves and faced the magical enemies that had been harassing the residents of the land in question, but she was sure that this time around she had the feeling that she would be able to use the Fangs to their full effect once more. Cynder pretty much did the same thing that Ember did, as in make sure her attire was at the ready and ensuring the sharpness of the runeblade she had picked out, something that her father helped her with since he was more familiar with the weapons than the group was, though he quickly returned it to her with a smile on his face, as he found that the blade was in pristine condition, which just so happened to be exactly how he left it over a thousand years ago, and he was happy to see his daughter carrying a runeblade at last.
While Hunter made sure that his bow, arrows, and short swords were ready for another adventure, and checked out his armor as well, Elora carefully pulled out the rectangular container that the Professor had made for her the last time she had seen him, at the end of their last adventure when she told him about what happened to the Mark V armor, which had resulted in them skipping the Mark VI, the sixth in the series, and caused their friend to create something new for her, as in a suit of armor that didn't have anything over the parts of her arms and legs, so it was a suit of armor that would cover the more faun-like parts of her body, while making sure not to get in the way of her new wings and tail. The Mark VII, as it turned out, seemed to be made out of the same metal as the other suits of armor she had worn over the years and it fit over her body like a glove, which meant that the Professor did a fantastic job making sure to take her new wings and tail into account when he learned that she wouldn't be able to actually use the Mark VI, though she did test out the armor with a few kicks and punches, where a smile appeared on her face as she found that it worked as well as her previous suits did, despite the fact that her hands and feet weren't covered, for now at the very least. Amelia, on the other hand, did what her brother did and made sure that her weapons were at the ready, as in her bow, arrows, and her own curved blades, though for the most part there wasn't much for her to do since she didn't have anything special to worry about, but she was able to tell that everyone was nearly ready for the adventure, even though Flame and Aurora were still surprised by what they were seeing at the moment, like they weren't expecting everyone to suddenly check their weapons and make sure everything they had was at the ready, though once she was done checking her weapons out she returned them to the areas that she usually kept them in and walked over to where Elora was standing, as she was standing near Spike in a part of the homeworld that seemed to be where they would be gathering once they were ready.
Something interesting happened while they were waiting for everyone to get ready for the newest adventure, as Nestor walked over to where Spike was standing and whispered something to him, while beckoning to the back that contained the scepter that their first villain had used against all of the dragons that lived in the Dragon Realms, to which he nodded his head and the Leader walked away from the area that they were standing in, though he said nothing about what he had just learned, showing that he was waiting for Spyro to join them so he only had to say what he knew once, but not a few moments later they saw Spyro, with Sgt. Byrd walking beside him, heading towards the area they were waiting in, which meant he must have been successful in convincing him to join them.
"Sgt. Byrd, its good to see you again." Cynder remarked, which was true, it was always nice to see the penguin due to the fact that he was a skilled flyer with his jet pack and his accuracy with his missiles was spot on, meaning that he was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, and she knew that the rest of the group had to be thinking the same thing, that it was nice to see him again, even if they were wishing it wasn't during an adventure, "Has Spyro told you anything about what we'll be doing?"
"Yes, he told me that you're heading to a new set of islands that are under attack," Sgt. Byrd replied, his tone revealing that Spyro had taken a few minutes to tell him what they knew about the adventure that had been dropped on them, one none of them had been expecting once they finished taking care of Ripto's latest attack, before he and Spyro came to a stop as they reached the area that the others were standing in, "and that you don't know much about what's going on, other than the fact that we'll be dealing with a banished Dragon Elder who uses Dark Magic, some Dark Crystals, and someone whose called the Dark Master. I am willing to join you in your quest to save the lands of Capora."
"That's good to now, even though I have a bit of bad news," Spike said, because Nestor had told him something interesting and he knew that Spyro and Ember, at the very least, would be interested in hearing what he needed to tell them, since it was connected to the first adventure the three of them had gone on and the first villain they had taken out, though it was easy to see that the others, including Flame and Aurora, were waiting for him to tell them what he had learned, "Nestor just informed me that Gnasty Gnorc's statue is missing, as in its no longer in the area that it was stored in, which makes me wonder if the Dark Master and Red stole it with the intent of releasing him as a possible ally, so he can get over his desire for revenge against dragons while using him against the residents that call Capora home, but the remaining statues are still accounted for, so he's the only one we'll have to worry about this time around."
"That's not totally bad news, since they could have taken Ripto's statue and Morrigan's statue as well," Spyro replied, as it was bad that Gnasty Gnorc might be back for another round with him and his siblings, not to mention Cynder and the rest of the group, but the fact that the other statues were still contained was good news, especially since some of the villains they had taken care of had been rather dangerous during their adventures, despite the fact that he was actually thinking about Morrigan at the moment, before he glanced at the others, "Spike, can you open the way to Capora?"
"We just need to head back to Dragon Shores, since that's where the lingering bits of magic are located," Spike stated, as while it would have been better to open the temporary portal here, in the Artisans homeworld, he knew it was going to be harder on them if they didn't have the magical trace that the Professor's portal left behind, hence the reason they needed to head back to the beach Flame and Aurora had landed on, "once we're there I will focus on finding the magic that was used to bring Flame and Aurora to us, so I can try to reforge the Professor's portal."
Spyro nodded his head and informed Nestor that they would be off, along with the fact that they would be back as soon as the homeworlds of Capora were freed from Red, Gnasty Gnorc, the Dark Master, and whoever else might be attacking the lands at the moment, to which the Leader in question nodded his head and beckoned for them to get underway, where the group started to walk away from the area that they had been waiting in and headed for the portal that would take all of them back to Dragon Shores. Flame and Aurora followed after them without delay, which made sense due to the fact that they would be saving the lands that the pair of dragons called home, though it didn't take them all that long to reach the portal that they were heading towards and passed through it, allowing them to return to the Nexus of Dragon Shores, even though this time they were here for a very different reason, which was why Spyro stepped to the side and let Spike take the lead, as he would be able to trace the magic back to where the portal had opened and could likely open the way back to the Professor's new lab. It didn't take the group all that long to reach the part of the beach that they had been in earlier, before the arrival of their new friends, which was when Spyro and the others stopped as Spike walked away from them, as he was feeling the magic that was in the air, something that took him all the way to the area that the portal had appeared in, meaning the part of the beach that Flame and Aurora had hit when they emerged from it, before he stopped and a rush of magic passed through the area he was standing in. Spike found that it was incredibly easy for him to locate the magical trace that the Professor's portal had left behind, where he weaved his own magic through the air for a couple of moments and the group watched as a near identical replica of the portal their new friends had fallen through opened up in the space that was in front of Spike, who said nothing for a moment or two as he stabilized the portal with the lab that had to be on the other side, though once that was done he nodded his head and stepped to the side, allowing Spyro and the others to head through the portal first so he could ensure that it remained open and that it didn't close on them while they were heading to the Professor's new lab, while at the same time Malefor stayed back so he could search for the Dark Master, in case he tried to assault one of the other lands while they were stopping Red.
Sure enough when the group appeared on the other side of the portal they discovered that they were inside a decent sized building, one that was decked out in all sorts of science equipment and computers, along with a door that seemed to head to whatever homeworld they had appeared in, before Spike stepped through the portal and closed it once he was in the lab as well, as everyone was accounted for, before they found the Professor standing nearby, who smiled as he faced them, no doubt because he was expecting them and was glad to see that they had arrived.
"Ah, good, you guys are here. I'm afraid I don't have much time to talk, as Red and his minions have started their assault on the lands of Capora," the Professor said, where he focused on the computer for a moment and revealed an image of a dark gemstone that was as tall as the young dragons and seemed to be pulsing darkness into the area that was around it, or at least it showed them what the gems could do, no doubt due to him seeing it happen earlier, "from what I can tell Red has ordered his minions to place these Dark Gems all over the four homeworlds, why I have no idea, and they are infecting the lands with the dark energy that is inside them... and, as you might have heard, it appears that he, or one of his allies, figured out where you were keeping Gnasty Gnorc's statue and freed him, as the Gnorc in question walked into a cave and Red sealed it with magic, no doubt placing him in charge of their operation in the homeworld we're in, which happens to be Dragon Kingdom, from what I've learned."
"Okay, so we'll smash the Dark Gems, speak to the Dragon Elders that rule over these homeworlds, and take down Gnasty Gnorc and whoever else is helping Red." Spyro stated, as that seemed to be what they needed to do for these homeworlds and the realms that were connected to them, just tackle the enemies that were assaulting the areas, smash all of the Dark Gems that were scattered around every realm, and restore order by defeating the commanders that had been placed in charge of the lands, which sounded exactly like what Gnasty Gnorc did during their first adventure, before the rest of the group nodded their heads to show that they agreed with him.
The Professor said nothing else, where the silence suggested that they might as well get started, to which they started to head over to where the door was located, so they could head outside and see what sort of damage had been done to the homeworld that they were in, Dragon Kingdom according to the Professor, though they all knew that once they were on the other side of the door they would head out and smash every Dark Gem that happened to be in their path, all so they could tear into Red's plans and restore order to the homeworlds of Capora, before worrying about the Dark Master and whatever plans he was currently working on.
What the group discovered, as they walked through the door that was in the Professor's new lab, was that the part of the homeworld that was outside the lab happened to be built between a few hills, which were about the same size as the stone walls that the siblings were used to seeing in Stone Hill, maybe a tad bit taller in some areas, but they also saw several structures around the area as well, ones that appeared to be oval shaped, despite the fact that it was more of the upper part of the shape and the lower part of the oval likely didn't exist. Part of the design of the structures reminded the majority of the group of what they had seen in Scorch, especially since there were some flags at the top of them, while it was easy to see a larger structure directly across from where they were standing, one that seemed like a store of some kind, something they would check out before they headed out to see what else the homeworld had to offer them, and it appeared that someone might be working in the structure, who they would meet and talk to when they reached the building in question, since it was possible that they might have some information for them to use against their new enemies. The rather interesting thing that the group could see was that all of the trees that were in this area had pink leaves, something none of them were even expecting to find and it was something that neither Flame or Aurora had told them about when they were describing their homeworld to the group, though even as they considered that the pair of dragons happened to be following them, either to assist them or to witness their heroic actions in progress, where Spyro and the others were fine with either option, as long as they didn't get in the way of their adventure.
There was also a new Fairy that was helping the Professor out, who had a pink dress and blond hair, called Trina that took a moment to follow them outside and introduce herself to everyone that was in the group, though once that was done she headed back into the building that the new lab was in and returned to what she had been doing before the group arrived in the lab, though once she did that the group walked forward and found that the other structures in the area, near the shop to be exact, were either locked or had a door that they might need to smash, before they came to a stop in front of their destination and the door opened, revealing Moneybags, in all his glory, now wearing the attire of a shop owner and came complete with a fez on the top of his head.
"Moneybags, what in the name of the ancestors are you doing here?" Cynder asked, because the last time the group had seen the bear was when they finished their adventure in Castle Hills and he had been enjoying himself, unlike the bear that Spyro and the others had warned her about, though seeing him in this homeworld, which was currently under attack by a new villain, did make her wonder if he had been lying to them earlier and that he had reverted back to his old ways once the previous adventure was over, all so he could travel to a new land and get away from them, even though part of her was hoping that she was wrong and that there was a reason behind what they were seeing.
"Pretending to be one of Red's allies, so I can get information on his operation," Moneybags stated, though as he said that he held the door open and beckoned for the group to enter the shop, where they found a circular chamber that was split in half by a wooden divider, a divider that would normally hold items that the owner would sell to customers, though right now it appeared that nothing was on their side of the shop as Moneybags walked behind the counter and came to a stop as he faced the group, "After you guys took out Ripto, and restored order to the realms of Castle Hills, I found a portal in a place where it hadn't been and figured that the best way I could be of assistance to you, to repay what I have done in the past, would be to pass through the portal and figure out where it would take me, before trying to figure out what might be going on and if you needed to be warned of a villain's plans for the world, only I didn't have a portal to get back to Castle Hills and the Professor didn't want to talk to me, no doubt assuming that I was the same bear that you guys had taken out and imprisoned some time ago. Now, Red doesn't trust me enough to give me a copy of whatever he's planning, or a map of the areas that he's placed all of those Dark Gems, which are draining the life from the areas they've been placed in and seem to be replacing the goodness of the lands with wickedness, but I was able to obtain a few things that you might find useful, one of those Guidebooks that I know Spike likes to carry with him and a page that was torn out of a spellbook, one that mentions a Lockpick spell."
"Really? Let me see." Spike said, where he and the others waited for Moneybags to pull out the items in question, though it wasn't long before a large tome was placed in front of them, the Guidebook that would tell them whatever they wanted to know about the homeworlds and realms that they were connected to, which was followed by a page that looked like it had been torn out of a spellbook at some point in the past, which caused him to growl for a moment, "I don't know who would disrespect a book like this, by tearing out a page like this, but hopefully we can restore it to what it once was, even though I'd like to have a chat with whoever did this... however, this spell is interesting and might be useful, especially given the locked door that's nearby and any locked chests that we might come across."
"While you go about assisting the lands of Capora, I will try to get some information from Red or those that are allied with him, just to help you out," Moneybags stated, showing that he was being truthful in his desire to help them out, despite the fact that it might take some time for him to do such a thing, but at the very least he was happy to see that some of the heroes that were in front of him were willing to trust him, instead of focusing on who he had been in the past, before he glanced outside, where the group did the same thing and noticed that there was a dark barrier resting over a cave, which had three dark vines resting in front of the magical barrier, "though from what little I could gleam, from watching Red use his magic to create the barrier that's over the cave that one of his allies wandered into earlier, before you all arrived in this land to be exact, I'm willing to bet that you guys will have to find and smash a certain number of those Dark Gems to bring down the barrier and face whoever is inside the cave."
"Thanks for the help, Moneybags." Spyro said, figuring that he might as well make sure the bear knew that some of them were happy for whatever assistance he was giving them, even if some of them were still coming to terms with the fact that the bear they knew no longer existed, before he nodded to the others and they headed outside the shop, as it was time to see what else the area that was outside the Professor's lab had to offer, which was also the time that Spike decided to turn one of the empty sacks he happened to be carrying into a gem carrying sack, something that caused Flame and Aurora to turn their heads for a moment as they saw what he had done, even though Sgt. Byrd decided to scout ahead and see what else the rest of the land had to offer.
"What are you doing?" Aurora asked, because while most of the spells that Spike used were beyond what she and Flame had seen in the past, even though the same couldn't be said for the Dragon Elders that ruled over the lands of Capora, as she had no way of proving that one way or the other, she was interested in why the young Archmage would have pulled out a sack and use his magic to enchant it with some sort of spell, while at the same time noticing that the others were in the process of spreading out, heading for some straw baskets and metallic chests.
"This is now a Bag of Holding, something for us to hold all of the stolen gems that are scattered across the homeworlds of Capora and return them to their rightful owners," Spike replied, though at the same time he nodded his head and Spyro smashed the couple of straw baskets that were resting near where the locked door was located, where a few gems, more than what they were used to seeing, dropped on the ground and Sparx collected them, where Flame and Aurora saw the gems disappear from where they were resting, while Cynder and Sting picked up the loose gems that were on the ground and Ember smashed the metallic chests so Cinder could claim those gems, before Spike opened the sack and revealed the collection that had been started, "though to be honest, with the couple of containers that we've smashed open, we actually have more gems than what we find in the early stages of some of the realms when we start an adventure, because we're already around five hundred gems and we've barely started this adventure. Say, do you guys know how many gems are supposed to be in your treasury?"
"Nope. We're too young to know something like that." Flame stated, though as he said that he was caught off guard by the fact that Spike was able to accurately count the number of gems that were inside the bag, because from the quick glance he gave the bag he knew he wouldn't be able to do that in a short amount of time, making him wonder if there was a spell or something that allowed him to accurately count what was inside the container without actually counting the contents, but given everything he had seen so far he knew that if such a thing was happening Spike would have mentioned it, so it seemed like the young Archmage was full of surprises.
"Well, we can add another breakable to the list, as there are small dark crystals growing out of the ground and if you break them they yield gems," Cynder commented, though even as she said that the rest of the group turned to look at her, which allowed them to see that there was one small dark crystal growing out of the ground and some fragments that indicated that there had been a second one a few moments ago, before she used her tail and smashed the crystal with ease, where a couple of red and green colored gems fell when that happened, where Spike considered what they were seeing as Sting collected the gems, so they could be added to the collection as well.
"Interesting. It appears that the dark crystals might be growing out of pockets of gems that have been covered by all of the dark energy the Dark Gems are putting out, and when you smash these ones they release those pockets," Spike said, as he knew that some of the members in their group had to be interested in what had happened when Cynder smashed the pair of dark crystals and this was his best explanation, which could mean there were a vast number of unclaimed gems resting throughout the lands and homeworlds of Capora, meaning Flame, Aurora, and the rest of their kind would be able to have a fortune recovered and delivered to them once this adventure was over.
The group glanced at each other for a moment and decided to say nothing on the matter, figuring that it was best to take Spike's explanation on the subject until someone told them otherwise, before they headed for the locked door they had spotted earlier and let Spike approach it first, where he glanced at the page that Moneybags had given them and read the spell page in question, before he weaved his magic through the air and, after a moment or two, a click could be heard as he pushed the door open, allowing them to walk into a tunnel that would likely take them to the next part of the land that they were currently exploring. As they started walking there was a decent sized chamber of sorts that had a pair of straw baskets for them to smash and a number of gems for them to collect, though that was when they noticed that the tunnel was shorter than what they were expecting it to be and noticed that it had brought them to another part of the land that the Professor had built his new lab in, complete with a Dark Gem which had been stabbed into the ground in front of a lone tree, where the bark had turned green and the leaves had turned blue, and there were a few sinister vines in the area around the gem. The interesting thing that the group discovered, as they exited the tunnel and spread out so they could see what was around the area, was that there didn't seem to be any enemies for them to fight, meaning Red was either arrogant in assuming no one could break the Dark Gems or he didn't have enough soldiers and decided to leave this area free for the time being, where either was perfectly fine with the group since that meant they didn't have to expand their energy fighting their foes, something that would change once they progressed to another point of this land. While they did that Flame and Aurora, who were watching what the group was doing, explored the area as well, though Aurora headed over to the Dark Gem so she could study it for a few seconds, as she was interested in what it was and found that it pulsed with a bit of dark energy, something that eventually caused Spyro and the others to focus on the main gemstone that they would be breaking at some point.
"Just look at this Dark Gem... its practically radiating dark energy, which is corrupting the area around us," Aurora said, as it was interesting to get an up close and personal look at the gemstones that Spyro and the others would be smashing over the course of their adventure, though at the same time she really didn't like the look of it, not with all the evil energy it was radiating at the moment, "Normally when I find a gemstone that I like, regardless of the coloration of the stones, I would say something about how it would look inside a ring, necklace, or some other piece of jewelry, but all I can think about as I stare at this stone is that it needs to be destroyed, not turned into something that someone would wear, which might let the darkness invade their bodies... though I'm not sure how you'll go about smashing them to pieces, since this one looks much sturdier than the small crystals we saw earlier."
It was in that moment that Cynder jumped into the air, flew around the area that the Dark Gem was in, and came to a stop above the gem, where she spun around for a few seconds and rushed down to where her target was resting, allowing the force of her Headbash, something she had picked up from Spyro and the others since she joined them, to surge down into the top of the evil gem as her head struck it, shattering the Dark Gem into a thousand pieces and removed all of the vines that were in the area, while at the same time restoring a nearby bridge that had been shattered at some point before they arrived in this land.
"Simple, we use the Headbash technique on them," Cynder remarked, showing Aurora that they had come equipped with a number of skills and that all of them were useful towards stopping Red and his allies, even if they might pick up a new trick or two if they were lucky, though while everything returned to normal she noticed that Spike had enchanted a second bag and darkened the coloration so he didn't confuse it with the first one, which meant he was taking the fragments of the Dark Gems to study and lock them away once this adventure was over, "though to be honest, I was expecting the gems to be a little harder to destroy, given that the Dark Master is involved in what Red is doing, but we should keep our guard up, in case our foes have something waiting to surprise us."
"I... had no idea you had such a technique," Aurora commented, as she wasn't sure what to think about what Cynder had shown her and Flame, to which she glanced over to the area that had the tunnel that lead to the first Dragon Elder anyone in Capora talked to and learned from, but at the same time it appeared that Spyro and the others didn't really need to be told anything at this point, because according to them they had gone on five adventures since they turned ten, or at least Spyro, Spike, and Ember had done that, so she guessed she and Flame would be learning from them.
"It was something we picked up during our second adventure, and later taught Cynder how to do," Ember replied, though as she said that the group noticed an odd metallic structure on the left side of the area, opposite of where the tunnel was resting, which seemed to be something they needed to smash open with a powerful firework of some kind, so for now the group turned away from where the structure was located and focused on the couple of items that were scattered around the area, as they were choosing to clear out the village before heading over the bridge that was beyond the tree that had been freed of the darkness the Dark Gem had forced upon it.
They found a couple of straw baskets that were near the tunnel Aurora had glanced at, which seemed to have some iron bars that were designed to keep dragons or evildoers outside the tunnel and whatever it would lead them to, and it also had two dark crystals resting in front of it, which the group smashed with ease and collected the gems they dropped on the ground, before they found a square pressure plate that lower the iron bars, permanently from the looks of it, so they were able to enter the tunnel without delay. As the group walked into the tunnel Hunter noticed that there was a crack in the wall to their right and beckoned to it, where Ember smashed her head into it and the force of her attack shattered the cracked stone in seconds, revealing a small area with a number of straw baskets that she let the others break down and collect the gems, before they headed down the rest of the tunnel, even though there were a few dark crystals for them to smash as they sought out what was hidden inside the passage they were following. At the end of the passage they found a chamber that looked like a dragon's resting place, which came complete with pots that had large burned out candles that were near the top of the pots, a few pots that seemed to be containers, a few chains, and a few other items that seemed to belong to the Dragon Elder that was standing near their location, a dragon that the group noticed was blue scaled and had a pale chest, though he carried a golden staff that had a headpiece that was carved in a dragon's head and had a decent sized gem at the top of the weapon, one that seemed to change colors as they watched it. Of course the group naturally assumed the Elder was male, based on the fact that most of the dragons that filled the leadership roles at the moment, in their lands and the others they have saved, were male and not female, something that Ember and Cynder were going to change at some point in the future, and he seemed to be wearing a light blue robe with a golden necklace and a pair of golden bracelets, though their attention was drawn away from the Elder as they noticed there was a hole in the ceiling of the chamber and that there were some large vines that were in the middle of reaching down into the area they just so happened to be standing in.
"Ah, Flame, Aurora, its good to see you again... and, if what the Professor said is to be believed, you must be Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia." the Elder said, speaking the moment everyone was inside the chamber that he apparently called home, or at least served as his relaxation spot and he didn't want to leave due to the vines that were blocking the way, though this showed the group that their friend had informed the Dragon Elders of their impending arrival, no doubt letting them know that help was on its way and that they were the help in question, "You must be setting out to stop Red's plans and smash the Dark Gems that he's using to subjugate the land that he once called home... now, I would tell you about him, but something tells me you don't want to sit around and listen to me, so I'll get to something that should interest you: the Horn Dive technique, which will allow you to smash the Dark Gems."
"Elder Harnell, they, um, already have a technique for smashing Dark Gems," Flame stated, informing the Dragon Elder as to what the group was able to do on their own, while at the same time giving Spyro and the others a name so they didn't have to keep calling the dragon 'Elder' and whatnot, before he rubbed the back of his head for a moment as he noticed a Dark Gem resting near a ledge that would allow them to leave the chamber that they were standing in, which was when he noticed that Elder Harnell seemed interested in what he was talking about.
"I see. Well then, care to show me what you've got?" Elder Harnell asked, directing the question to the heroes, who just so happened to be patiently waiting for something to happen, before he gestured to the Dark Gem that even he could clearly see from where he was standing, showing the group that he was interested in what Flame had mentioned and if he might be able to point something out to them while they smashed the evil gem that was in his area, which he likely couldn't take down on his own due to the fact that he was somewhat older that the Leaders of the Dragon Realms.
Ember grinned for a moment as she propelled herself backwards through the air, doing a good backflip that allowed her to get in the air above the Dark Gem in question, before she rushed downwards and smashed the gemstone into dust with the Headbash technique, something that caused the large vines to shudder as their power source was broken and they fled not a few moments later, even though the boulder that was blocking the path out of this area happened to break at the same time, allowing her to return to where Elder Harnell and the others were standing.
"I don't know what you call that technique, but we refer to it as Horn Dive," Elder Harnell said, though he nodded his head to show that he was just fine with what Ember had shown him, because it seemed like it was the same move that he and the other Elders would have taught the young generation of dragons that were living in Capora, despite the fact that such a thing made them wonder if all the hatchlings had been taken to a safe place when Red assaulted Dragon Kingdom and the other homeworlds, before he tapped his staff on the ground for a moment, to draw their attention to him, "and it is what I would have taught you, all to give the four of you the ability to smash those Dark Gems into dust and put an end to Red's plans, so you are more than ready to face whatever the former Elder has to throw at you."
The group nodded their heads, knowing that Elder Harnell was speaking the four dragons in their group, and headed up to where the second Dark Gem had been resting, something that allowed them to jump up into the opening that had been revealed when the boulder had been smashed and they walked over to the ledge that was in front of them, which was the moment that the group stared out at the open area that was in front of them, complete with a high stone wall that had a few opens for them to focus on and some platforms to jump around, even though there was a structure down to their right that had a bullseye that seemed to open it.
"So, structure first, or jump over the platforms?" Amelia asked, because she was curious as to what the group would do in this situation, especially since this was the first time she was actually exploring with them and wanted to prove herself to them, including her brother for that matter, though that didn't stop her from pulling out her bow as she glanced at the rest of the area they were in, showing the others that if they wanted to head inside the structure to their right she would hit the target with an arrow and open the way forward.
Instead of replying, like they normally would, the siblings and Cynder jumped forward and glided over to the first platform that would lead them to the highest point of this area, something that caused Elora to follow after them, even though she was amazed by her enhanced abilities, before the rest of the group did the same thing, where they smashed a metallic chest that was off to the side and a pair of straw baskets that were in their way, before they found a large pink skinned Gnorc, who happened to be holding an axe, standing on one of the ledges that they would be exploring. The Gnorc Brute, as the group decided to call it, fell easily as Bianca was the first one to react as she blasted their foe right in the chest with a Fireball, something that left gems in its place and caused those that knew what they were seeing to nod their heads as the gems were collected, even though that meant Spike had to inform Flame and Aurora that there was a spell that certain magic users, mainly villains, cast on the gems of the land they were taking over, which transformed the gems into soldiers for their cause, meaning the majority of the enemies everyone would be facing were gem creations and that they didn't have to hold back when they got into a fight. That also caused the newcomers to ask why the group was naming the foes that they faced, as it was easy to notice as soon as Bianca lashed out at the Gnorc Brute, where Spike also revealed that the naming scheme was for the books he wrote, due to the fact that naming an enemy allowed readers to understand who he was talking about, without having to describe them multiple times, something that caused them to nod their heads as they accepted his explanation on the matter and then followed after him as he rejoined the others. As it turned out there was a tunnel in the area that the Gnorc Brute was standing in and they followed it to another part of the area, one hidden by the high wall they had seen, so they glided down to the platform that was in front of them and spotted another Gnorc Brute off to their left, who Spike shocked into submission with a Lightning Bolt, before smashing the metallic chest that was behind it and then glided over to the pressure plate that opened the way into the structure that seemed to be the end of this area, so which they smashed some straw baskets before activating the plate and lowering the iron bars that were blocking the war forward.
What was inside the structure was a sculpture that was in the middle of the first chamber and four metallic chests, which were being guarded by a Gnorc Brute that Flame, oddly enough, torched their foe before the group could do so, showing them that he and Aurora had to have been trained in combat, even if it was using their inner flames, though while he took a moment to huff the group smashed the metallic chests before heading for the opening that would lead them into the next part of the structure, where they found a pink dragon egg with a white flower design resting on the floor, something the majority of the heroes weren't expecting to see at all.
"I can't believe it, our eggs are being stolen as well?!" Aurora exclaimed, as she could understand why Red would want to corrupt the land and convert it into a more fitting domain for himself and his partner, if they believed what Spyro and the others had said about the Dark Master being a silent ally of some kind, she really had no idea why they wanted the eggs that would be the next generation of dragons that would call Capora home, who both she and Flame would teach when they were old enough to become Elders, and that was if they were honored to take on such a role.
"The Dark Master is probably hoping to corrupt some of them when he has time," Cynder commented, recalling what she knew on the matter, even though it wasn't a good memory and she really didn't know why she knew something like that in the first place, though Spyro nodded his head in agreement, to show that she was correct in her thoughts, before Hunter walked forward and picked up the egg from where it was resting, mostly due to the fact that they had no idea where they could put it for the foreseeable future, before she sighed for a moment, "don't worry, we'll recover all of the eggs that have been taken while we bring down Red."
Flame and Aurora glanced at each other for a few seconds before nodding their heads, which showed the group that they understood what they were being told, which was when the group headed through the opening that was just beyond the area the egg had been resting in and discovered that there was a small bit of land in front of them, which had a small river off to their left and a Gnorc Brute guarding the entrance of the next structure, where the group had to assume that the path they were following would lead them back to where the bullseye was located. Ember dealt with the Gnorc Brute that was standing in their way, where she rushed forward and spun around so that the full force of her tail attack struck her target in the chin and knocked it onto its back, before she loosed a short burst of fire to take it out, allowing the others to focus on breaking a pair of straw baskets, two metallic chests, and a bullseye chest that Spyro smashed, before they found a pair of spherical orbs resting near the entrance of the next structure, where Spike informed the others that these were Fire Bombs, which were supposed to be containers that held an enhanced version of a dragon's Fire Breath inside them, meaning they should be able to burn things that the group wouldn't normally be able to burn on their own. Even if they might not use the items in question, given the powers they had access to, the group collected them before they headed through the entrance that was in front of them, though as the group entered the tunnel they noticed that there was a tall pink skinned Gnorc, carrying a mace instead of an axe, though this one was wearing iron armor, where Elora lashed out with her leg for a moment and noticed that her enhanced form was enough to take out their foe's metallic armor and left it vulnerable, something that Aurora took advantage of as she blasted the Gnorc Warrior in the chest, confirming that she and Flame were able of fighting back and that they weren't going to be a burden to the group of heroes. From there they found that the tunnel that the Gnorc Warrior happened to be guarding lead them directly to a ledge that had a bullseye chest near the edge of it, including a large firework that likely went to the decent sized metal container that was near the sealed structure the group had seen earlier, so what they did was smash the chest open and then activated the firework, which flew through the air and smashed open the container in question, something that was followed by them heading down into the area that was just outside Elder Harnell's hidden chamber.
Once the container was blown open they found that the containers did house gems inside them, so while Ember flew over to where all of the gems were resting the rest of the group dropped down into the area that was in front of the structure that was sealed and Amelia loosed an arrow right at the bullseye, something that caused the iron bars to lower not even a few seconds later and allowed the group to walk into the area that was just beyond the structure, which was more like an entry point to another part of this land, even though this one seemed to be heading back to the heart of the area, back to the Professor's lab to be exact. From what they could tell there were two Gnorc Warriors in this area, one guarding a large locked chest and a pair of metallic chests while the other seemed to be guarding the way forward, so Spyro and Cynder focused on the first one that was in front of them while Ember and Elora quickly took down the other one, leaving the rest of the group to collect all of the gems that were resting on the ground, before noticing two things, one being a firework that would break one of the metal containers while the second item was a piece of machinery that seemed to be what the Professor would have made, something they would look at in due time. As it turned out the second Gnorc Warrior wasn't guarding the way forward, rather it was guarding the metal container that the firework went to and a metallic chest that was resting near it, though Flame and Aurora waited for a few moments, to make sure the dragons that were taking care of the second Gnorc Warrior and cleared the area, before they lit the fuse and sent the firework right into the container it would blast open, allowing the pair of dragons near it to claim the gems that had been freed from the container. Once that was done the group got back together, as Spike was choosing to leave the golden chest alone for the time being so they could focus on the machine that was resting near the structure that seemed to be the way forward. The machine seemed to have a screen of some kind that would indicate the power the machine had, which seemed to be at zero right now, a few bits of machinery that either gathered power or transform something into something else, before they spotted what appeared to be a hologram of the Professor's head that was floating in the middle of the machine, above what seemed to be a platform that someone could stand on, to which they turned their attention to the head, as this meant their friend had something important to tell them.
"Friends, you have found the activation pad for my latest device: the Ball Gadget!" the Professor exclaimed, showing them that he was incredibly happy with what he had made, even though they had no idea what it was supposed to do and that would require him to give them an explanation as to what it was, not to mention why they should care about it in the first place, but the group remained silent as they waited for the Professor to tell them what was going on, "However, I'm afraid that you'll need to hunt down and collect eight Power Stars."
"Power Stars? Never heard of those before... are you sure we need something like that?" Spyro asked, where he took a few seconds to glance at the others, who shook their heads to show that they had no idea what the Professor was telling them about, which was also when Spike pulled out the Guidebook that had been given to them and started to see if he could find something that would power the machine that the Professor was talking about, something that was followed by Spyro focusing on the hologram of their friend's head.
"Is that so? Well then, how about Red Coins... Heart Pieces... Gold Tokens?" the Professor asked, naming a few items that apparently held great power, or at least their friend assumed they held great power, but the names meant nothing to the group and they just stood there with blank looks on their faces, causing their friend to sigh for a moment as he thought about what he had been talking about and their reactions to everything he had mentioned, "Oh, I'm at a loss then... what sort of items can we collect from the lands of Capora to power my new gadget?"
"How about Light Gems?" Spike inquired, as he had been reading the new Guidebook and found a mention of something that might help them out, both in powering the Professor's gadget, and any others he created, as well as possibly having a way to counter Red's Dark Magic, before he turned the book over and showed the passage to the hologram, figuring that he might as well give the Professor a chance to see what he was talking about, "According to this passage they're the exact opposite of Dark Gems, so instead of sucking out the life of an area they create and restore life, so maybe we can collect some of them and use them to combat some of Red's tricks, including powering some of the gadgets that you might have come up with since the last time we saw you."
"I see. Yes, these should do just fine, which means you will need eight Light Gems to power the Ball Gadget," the Professor said, showing that he was fine with the item that Spike had pointed out to him, not to mention the rest of the group since this was the first time they had heard of the gems in question, and that he was fine with using the gems to power all of the gadgets that he had prepared for their current adventure, before he seemed to think about something for a few seconds and pressed a button that was inside his lab, "Oh, and I locked the Nursery door earlier, so the eggs would be safe, so let me open the way for you to move forward."
The group nodded their heads as the door in question opened and they bid the Professor farewell for the time being, but when they walked through the doorway they noticed something very familiar, at least to Spyro and his siblings, as a group of blue robbed Thieves, four of them to be exact, just so happened to be exiting the building they were entering and there was a female dragon shouting at the evildoers to stop what they were doing, which happened to be stealing what seemed to be the last of the dragon eggs, though as they entered the chamber that the pink adult dragon was standing in they did spot a gleaming gemstone off to their right, which Spike grabbed since it was a Light Gem.
"More Thieves stealing dragon eggs? That's a surefire way to piss me off." Ember commented, because when Morrigan had all of their eggs stolen her anger had nearly blown, something that was only stopped due to her brothers calming her to the point where she didn't make mistakes in the field and cost them dearly, before she sighed for a moment as she turned her attention towards the adult dragon that was standing near the now open door that seemed to lead back out to the first area of this homeworld, "How many eggs did they steal? I'm asking because we're going to do everything in our power to get them back."
"Oh, at last count there were eighty of them," the pink dragon replied, though at the same time she smiled for a moment as Hunter returned the first one they had found earlier, where she put it down in an area that seemed to hold ten eggs at the same time, meaning that there had to be ten eggs to a set from the looks of what they were seeing, or something like that, before she stood up and turned to face the group once more, the smile on her face confirming that she was happy to have them helping her out in recovering the eggs.
It didn't take the group all that long to nod their heads and tell Nanny, the name that Flame and Aurora told the rest of the group just so happened to be the pink dragon's name, who happened to be wearing an apron over her body, before they headed out through the opening and discovered that they did return to the starting area of this homeworld, which was the moment that Spike turned around and headed back to the golden chest that was near the Professor's new machine, as it was time to see what was inside the chest. A few moments later, after using the Lockpick spell that Moneybags had given him, Spike discovered that a light green egg with blue swirls had been locked inside the chest, to which he carried it back to the Nursery and handed it over to Nanny, who was surprised that a second one had been positioned near the building she was in, before he headed back to where the others were standing, even though he made sure to enchant a third bag to contain all of the Light Gems they found during their adventure. From there they headed over to where the Professor's lab was located and found a ledge that needed more than a normal jump to get up, which was easy for the group to get up due to the fact that the dragons could fly and the others had trained to enhance their jumping skills so they didn't have to rely on Bianca teleporting them everywhere, and there just so happened to be a golden chest up there, so once they were up on the ledge Spike used his magic and unlocked it, even though he was surprised by how easy it was to use the spell he had been given, where they discovered that a Light Gem had been locked away inside the chest, which they collected with all haste before following the path that was just beyond the chest's location. As they followed the path the group smashed a few straw baskets and some metallic chests before finding a Gnorc Warrior standing in the middle of the tunnel that was in front of them, where Ember smashed the armor and Hunter took it down with an arrow to the chest, which resulted in gems and his arrow being left behind, before they walked through the rest of the tunnel and found that it lead them to an area that was pretty wide and happened to have a portal to a side section of this homeworld, not to mention a number of pedestals that moved when someone hit a target that was over on the right side of the area.
Interestingly enough they found that this was where Sgt. Byrd had wandered off to and that he seemed to he standing in front of the portal in question, to which the group picked up the gems that were all over the area, smashed a few straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and some dark crystals as they headed over to where their friend was standing, even though it was easy to tell that another Dark Gem was resting on a ledge that would normally be accessed by the platforms, which they could get around with their flying ability, before they came to a stop in front of Sgt. Byrd.
"Friends, beyond this portal rests Island Speedway, but its off-limits to dragons, no doubt due to Red's orders," Sgt. Byrd said, making sure to salute the group when they came to a stop in front of him, as he treated them like his superiors most of the time, even though they were friends and had no real authority over everything that he did, though the news that the Speedway was off-limits to dragons did annoy Spyro, since he enjoyed taking on the challenges of the Flight Realms and the various racers that they found when they explored each Speedway, "however, with your permission I will take to the skies and face all the challenges that this Speedway has to offer, while bringing you the spoils."
While Spyro really wanted to do the Speedway, like he and the others had done in the past, he nodded his head and stood to the side as Sparx followed Sgt. Byrd through the portal, mostly because there was a chance that he might find a couple loose gems or something and would need them to be delivered to a safe location, though while he did that the rest of the group scoured the area and cleared it out, making sure to pick up any gems that had been left behind before focusing on the Dark Gem and the platforms. Elora decided to try her luck with the Dark Gem as she flew into the air and spun around a few times, just like she had seen the others do when they used the Headbash, or Horn Dive as Elder Harnell called it, in the past, before rushing down towards the gemstone and struck it with all her might, smashing the gem into pieces that caused the sinister vines and dark purple sludge to disappear, revealing an opening to the structure that the gunk had been covering, which revealed a dragon egg that had a flame design on it. While Amelia recovered the egg, which wasn't being taken back to the Nursery since there might be more found in Island Speedway, Flame and Aurora found a firework to use on the metal container that was on the highest platform and a Light Gem, to which they lit the firework and sent it off towards its destination while picking up the gem so it could be added to Spike's container, something they weren't even going to question since he came prepared for anything, leaving Ember to collect the gems that had been inside the metal container. Once all of that was done the group simply waited outside the portal, as there was no telling how long it would take Sgt. Byrd to finish off whatever was around the Speedway, Elora spent some time making sure nothing hurt, as she expected some whiplash from smashing that Dark Gem, but, interestingly enough, her body was just fine and nothing was broken by the looks of it, which was really weird for her when she thought about it, before she decided to blame it on her new dragon aspects and joined the others, even though they could see a cracked portion of a rock wall that they would be smashing once Sgt. Byrd was done with the Speedway.
When Sgt. Byrd emerged from the portal a few minutes after he entered it he revealed that he had recovered a dragon egg from the first challenge, a dark purple egg that looked like it had yellow stars for a design, while gaining a Light Gem from the second round that had been offered to him, plus about five hundred gems from blasting the targets with his missiles, though once they had those items the group thanked Sgt. Byrd for his assistance and headed over to the cracked wall, all while their friend headed off to find another portal to access, before they smashed the through wall and opened the path it was trying to hide. The tunnel they revealed, while being somewhat short, did have a few straw baskets and a bullseye chest for them to smash open, which was what they did so they could get at the gems that were inside them, before they reached a small area that seemed like it might be at the back of the Professor's lab, where they found that a pair of small thing Gnorcs, which were green skinned and seemed to be carrying crossbows, guarding the area, though that was when both Flame and Aurora showed the group that they were willing to fight for the safety of their home and the rest of the residents that called their lands home, as Flame jumped into the air and smashed the Gnorc Archer off to their left into the ground with his tail, while at the same time Aurora moved out of the way to avoid an arrow and flamed her target with a burst of her Fire Breath, dropping the two of them in a matter of seconds. Once those enemies had been taken care of the group smashed a metallic chest that was resting in the area, found a light blue egg that Bianca picked up, since Hunter and Amelia were carrying the last two they had found, and found a few straw baskets to break, before they headed up the rock platforms and approached the opening that was above them, which gave them another Light Gem to add to what they had collected so far, even if that meant they had to drop down into the Professor's lab, who seemed rather busy and simply opened the door so they could head back outside.
With that done the group made a quick stop at the Nursery and dropped off the eggs they had recovered so far, which did impress Nanny since she wasn't expecting to have a number of eggs returned to her so quickly, before they headed over to the area that the cracked bridge had been located in, a bridge that had been restored after the Dark Gem that was near it had been smashed to pieces, as it was time for them to move into the next part of this land and see what was waiting for them as they restored order to the lands of Capora.
Once Spyro was sure that they had cleared out the first area of Dragon Kingdom, an area that Flame and Aurora said was called Dragon Village, a name that made sense when everyone considered what they had seen since their arrival in the new land that they were assisting, he and the others headed over the bridge that rested near Elder Harnell's cave so they could approach the structure that appeared to be the way forward, though what was interesting was that they found the firework that went to the metallic container that happened to be resting near the Dark Gem that had been resting in this area, which was when Ember lit the firework with her Fire Breath. That allowed the firework to rush through the air and smash into the container that was in the area they were leaving, blowing it to pieces in a matter of seconds so Cynder could collect what had been inside it, though once that was done the group entered the structure at long last and found that there was one of the golden locked chests resting in the middle of it, where Spike stepped forward and weaved his magic through the air as he used the Lockpick spell once more, which allowed him to claim another Light Gem that he added to the bag he had made for them, even though he made sure to make an icon on the three bags so it was easy to tell which bag was which. Once he was done with the chest he and the others walked through the other entrance that the structure had and walked into a tunnel that seemed to be leading them to the next part of the homeworld that they were currently assisting, where it was easy for them to notice that there were some roots growing out of certain points of the walls and grounds, though none of the roots were in their way as the group jumped down the occasional step that was in their way, even though they eventually reached an area that had a number of straw baskets for someone to smash, which Flame did this time around. Aurora also broke something at the same time, as in she smashed a bullseye chest that just so happened to be in the area as well, though once that was done they headed up the steps that were opposite the few steps that had brought them to this small chamber they had located all of the straw baskets in, before discovering a platform that seemed to be moving between two parts of the path they were following, so they jumped on top of it and made sure to split up into two groups.
The moment everyone was on the other side of the gap that the platform moved above they continued following the rest of the tunnel that was in front of them, before they reached what appeared to be the end of the passage and found that they were entering what seemed to be a swamp of some kind, based on the dark green coloration of the ground, some of the mushrooms that were around them, and a dark patch of water that was below them, which just so happened to have one of the Fire Bombs resting on a platform, which was likely what the rest of the water in the area looked like, though the first thing they did was smash the dark crystal that rested at the end of the tunnel and moved into the swamp, which was when a frown appeared on Ember's face.
"Great, another swamp... hopefully the smell won't linger on our bodies when we leave, as we don't have the time to take a bath and get rid of the smell," Ember remarked, referring to the fact that the swamp that the Beast Makers called home did that, even though the dragons had actually devised a bathing method to cleanse their bodies and whatever they had with them of the smell, but she was thankful that the other swamps she and the others had explored over the years didn't have that sort of thing attached to them, where she noticed that Spyro, at the very least, nodded his head in agreement as Spike noted down what they were seeing.
"Don't worry, Crocovile Swamp isn't like that, so you won't have to worry about any smells," Flame stated, though as he said that he did find what Ember said to be somewhat interesting, meaning that the land of the Beast Makers had made her make sure a statement in the first place, giving him and Aurora an idea of what Spyro and his siblings were used to dealing with, before noticing that Spike was already writing down what he had said, in his own way of course, which was when he chuckled for a moment, as he knew what was coming next, "also, Crocoviles are bipedal crocodile creatures that are hostile towards dragons, or at least that is what Aurora and I were told when we learned about the homeworlds and the areas that each one, so either we'll be dealing with the native species of this swamp or we'll be facing those odd gem creations we've seen you take down so far."
"So, this is Crocovile Swamp... interesting." Spike commented, mostly speaking to himself as he noted the name of the new area that they would be exploring, and his thoughts were confirmed when he noticed that Flame and Aurora nodded their heads once he said that, before he nodded his own head for a moment and put his writing materials away for now, which showed Spyro, Cynder, Ember, Elora, and Hunter, at the very least, that he was ready to go and that he was ready to see what the rest of the swamp had to throw at them before they were able to restore it to its former glory, before Red and his allies placed all of the Dark Gems all over the lands of Capora.
Once they were done talking the group headed down the curved path that was in front of them, which brought them to a tunnel that seemed to have a number of wooden spikes that were coming out of the walls, some from the left side and an equal number coming from the right side, placed apart from each other so the group was able to split up a little as they moved through the tunnel and collected the gems that rested on the ground, before reaching the end of the tunnel and found that they could see the rest of the swamp from where they were now standing, something that included a brand new mechanical pad that Moneybags appeared on, or a hologram of to be more exact.
"Moneybags, did Red or one of his allies set this up for you?" Cynder asked, mostly because she could tell that both Flame and Aurora were caught off guard by the fact that the pad even existed in the first place, meaning that this hadn't been in this part of Dragon Kingdom before the former Elder began his assault on the lands of Capora, though while she said that Spike studied the device that had been set up, despite the fact that Spyro was worried about the fact that if Red made this device, or one of his allies made it, it might be capable of listening in on what Moneybags did or said, while Flame's eyes seemed to be on a locked metal door that was near their location.
"Yes, and all of these pads were designed so I can charge extra to any would be heroes," Moneybags replied, though even as he said that he had to shake his head for a moment, indicating that he couldn't believe what had been forced upon him by the former Elder that was assaulting the lands of Capora and bothering the residents of the four homeworlds, before he focused on the group once more and noticed that some of them seemed concerned about something, "but, like I said back in Dragon Village, I'm not going to do what the old me would have done... oh, and don't worry about your enemies listening in on our conversations, as I was able to disable all of them with the Professor's help, so we're free to talk to our hearts content, even though I know your busy saving the world."
Spyro and the others nodded their heads once the bear stopped talking, showing that they agreed with what Moneybags was saying, before the hologram repeated the gesture and vanished from the area it had been floating in, even though the group knew that it would return once they approached the remote shop pad to speak with the bear, to which they walked away from where the pad was located and found that there just so happened to be a Dark Gem resting near the pad, one that was quickly smashed into pieces a few seconds later by Spryo performing the Horn Dive on it, as he figured that since they were in Capora they could use the other name for the Headbash technique. As the sinister gem was smashed a part of the nearby rock wall lowered from where it was resting, like it was a platform that had been raised to prevent anyone from accessing the area it had been covering, though it was followed by three rock pillars emerging from the ground that the Dark Gem had been stabbed into, which formed a pathway up to the uncovered area, and all of the sinister goo also disappeared with the gem's destruction, returning the ground to normal as well. Once they did that Ember headed over to a pair of metallic chests and the group found one of the Crocoviles waiting for them, as it emerged from the tall grass that was near the containers that she was heading towards, revealing that the foes in question were dark green scaled bipedal crocodiles, just like they had been told, and that they were wearing tribal gear, though the one that jumped out in front of Ember had a wooden boomerang, something Ember ignored as she smashed her tail into its chest and took it down with ease, reducing it to a pile of gems like all of the other enemies they had fought so far, meaning the Crocoviles also had a few gem creations scattered around this swamp. With the Boomerang Crocovile taken care of, and the chests were broken open with a swift bash of her head, even if she couldn't break the nearby metallic container yet, Ember rejoined the group and followed Spyro as he headed up the three pillars that had been freed with the destruction of the Dark Gem, which was when they discovered a tunnel at the highest ledge and found that there was a breakable wall right in front of them, even if there was also a path that seemed to be the main direction they needed to follow, so Cynder smashed through the weak wall and found that there was another section of the tunnel that could be explored, which had a large purple spider, who had six white spots on its abdomen, resting in the middle of the side passage.
As it turned out the Redtipped Spider, referring to the red markings that were on the spider's legs, was rather easy to take down, due to the fact that Aurora flamed it and it was quickly reduced to a pile of gems, meaning that most of the enemies that she and Flame were used to dealing with in this land were gem creations, before the group headed down the rest of the side passage and found something interesting at the end, one of the golden chests that happened to be resting at the end of this part of the tunnel, which was when Spike stepped forward and quickly unlocked it with his new spell, where he was able to claim another Light Gem for their efforts. Once that was done they headed down the rest of the main part of the tunnel and found that there was another Redtipped Spider standing in the way, one that Flame charged into and took out so the others could continue towards the next part of the swamp, which just so happened to look like a dead end, as it was just a path of land that had a webbed area that several of the Redtipped Spiders were coming from, a bullseye chest, a plant like enemy that had a yellow head with black spots, which Aurora revealed were called Jupiter Traps for some reason, a red headed white spotted version of the new plant foe, another metallic container, and a few wooden platforms that went out over the water. Once they determined what was in this area the group moved forward, where Spike focused on using his magic to blast all of the spiders that were coming out of the webs, until they decided to stop coming out, leaving Spyro to take down the red Jupiter Trap with a burst of fire while Cynder used her Shadowfire Breath on the yellow Jupiter Trap, while Amelia spotted a firework that, when Aurora lit it, rushed over to the metallic container and smashed it apart so the others could collect the fallen gems, all while Hunter jumped over the platforms and found one of the light green eggs resting at the end of it, so he carried it back to the others and Spike used his Teleportation Breath to send it back to the Nursery, something that surprised the newcomers. Bianca explained what just happened to Flame and Aurora not a few seconds later, revealing that one of Spike's more unique powers was the ability to channel his breath and his magic in a different manner than the other dragons could, turning a normal Flame Breath into what he called his Teleportation Breath, capable of moving an object from one place to another, which he had used during his third adventure with Spyro and Ember, to return all one hundred and fifty stolen dragon eggs back to the Dragon Realms, before Spike told them that he sent the egg back to the Nursery, where Nanny could return it to the place it was supposed to be resting in.
As soon as Flame and Aurora knew what was going on, and had gotten over their surprise by what Spike had done to the egg Hunter had recovered, the group headed back through the tunnel that they had used to get to this area and returned to the area that the pad Moneybags' hologram had appeared above, where it was clear that they could pick from the path that was over to their left, where a Crocovile was standing, or they could climb up the stone steps that were outside the structure that was near the pad in question. What Spyro did was head over to the steps that had some spears being thrust out of their slots in the wall and then withdrawn into the inside of the structure, where he simply waited for them to be in the standby state before moving forward as he ascended the steps, which brought him to a ledge that a Crocovile, who was holding a club, was standing on, that he quickly brought down with a quick burst of his Fire Breath, even though he did take a few moments to collect the gems as the rest of the group caught up with him. One everyone was back together they jumped around a gap that rested on a corner of the structure and climbed some stairs that brought them to another Club Crocovile, who was smashed into the ground by Elora as she flew passed its head and spun around so she could kick it in the back of its head, knocking it right into the stone it was standing on, before they paused as they noticed that there were two metallic containers in the area that was right in front of them, even if the pair were slightly lower than the group at the moment, before Spike noticed a cannon off on a platform to their right. As such Cynder flew over to it and landed on the floating platform it was resting on, where she gripped the controls and waited for the group to get out of the area that both of containers were resting in, something that was followed by her blasting them open with some well placed blasts from the cannon, though once that was done the others collected the gems that had been freed as she flew back over to where they were standing, so she could rejoin them as they checked out what the rest of the structure had to offer them, before checking out what seemed to be the main path of the swamp.
What they discovered was that there was one more Club Crocovile standing at the top of the structure and it wasn't happy to see them, not that it mattered since Spike froze it with a burst of his Ice Breath and Bianca shattered the ice with a low powered Lightning Bolt, though as the others collected the gems that fell they noticed that there were some cracks in the top of the structure, as in the central part of the stone itself, something that was followed by everyone getting out of the way as Cynder returned to the cannon and fired a few more blasts, wrecking the top and revealing that a Light Gem had been stashed away up there, which Spike claimed before they moved forward. Once the Light Gem was in their possession the group returned to the ground and started to follow the path that the Club Crocovile was guarding, who was taken out with a combined arrow strike from Hunter and Amelia, though once they were done with that foe they moved forward and found that they could either head down to a lower area or continue with what was in front of them, though to make sure the area was cleared out Flame and Aurora flamed another Club Crocovile into the ground, allowing the others to pick up all of the fallen gems as Spyro picked out the next area to explore, which just so happened to be heading down the path that their latest foe had been guarding. What they discovered, however, was another pad that was nearly identical to the one that Moneybags was using to talk with them from his shop, though this one seemed to have a hologram of someone else waiting for them, the Professor to be exact, which really made them wonder what else they might need Light Gems to power, since the Ball Gadget couldn't be the only machine that the Professor had made during his time in Capora. It was their curiosity that lead the group to make sure the area the communication pad was resting on had no enemies around it, or at the very least around the immediate area that it happened to be resting in, before circling around the pad so they could summon the hologram of the Professor, who seemed to be in the middle of some calculations when the hologram appeared in the air, which was followed by him noticing something and turned to face them, meaning something must have alerted him to their presence.
"Ah, Spyro, I'm glad you and the others are doing well, not that I expected you to be harmed in any way, and that you have uncovered one of my other gadgets," the Professor said, showing that he knew the group was able to overcome the foes that had been lurking around Dragon Village, and that the enemies who were lurking in Crocovile Swamp would share the same fate as the Gnorcs, before he focused on the pad that they had discovered, meaning this had to be the gadget and that there wasn't some machine resting somewhere else in the swamp, waiting for them to access it, "I created this special Supercharge Gadget so you would be able to smash through all of the locked doors and metallic containers that might be in your way, as in those that don't have a firework or cannon to take them down... but, by my new calculations, which are based solely on the new powerful item Spike told me about, I have determined that you will need to collect forty Light Gems to power this gadget."
"Well, we've got a few Light Gems right now, so we'll come back once we have enough," Bianca replied, to which the rest of the group nodded their heads to show that they agree with that statement, though this did give them an idea on just how many Light Gems they would need to recover over the course of their adventure in these lands, despite the fact that she had the feeling that there was another gadget that would require even more Light Gems to power and use against those that threatened the four homeworlds that they were here to save.
The Professor nodded his head and the hologram disappeared a few seconds later, where they followed the path that was just beyond the pad that served as both a communication device and as the Supercharge Gadget in question, though what they found just beyond the pad was a pair of metallic containers, which were being guarded by a Club Crocovile that was taken out by Bianca shocking it with a Lightning Bolt, though while she did that Spyro jumped over a few tree stumps that were in the water to their left and smashed the bullseye chest that was located out there, purely to get the gems and take one more item off their list of stuff to do later, before rejoining the group as they moved forward. At the top of the path the group found that they could head to their right and double back to Moneybags' pad, while in front of them stood one of the Club Crocoviles, which seemed to be the most common variety of this type of enemy, before finding that there was a cell of some kind that had some blue critters that looked like they might be related to bulls, due to the horns, but they were slow when the gate was opened and really didn't do much, so Flame took the three Critters, as the dragons called the odd creatures, out with a burst of his Fire Breath while Elora kicked the Club Crocovile into the wall that was behind it, all to clear this part of the area of enemies. The path that was to the right of the cage that the three Critters had been placed in, which might be a tunnel and not a cage, was where one of the Boomerang Crocoviles happened to be standing and it arched its arm back as it focused on the group, though before it could swing at them Ember used her Emission skill to hit it in the face and take it down, allowing Cynder to smash a metallic chest while Spike climbed up the stone steps, which was when he found a golden chest at the highest point and unlocked it with his magic, causing a pink egg with white flowers to be freed from its prison, which he quickly sent off to the Nursery before they resumed moving through the rest of the area they were in. From there they headed into the tunnel that originally looked like a cage and followed it to the area that it was leading them to, where Spyro and the others had to dodge a few of the spike traps before quickly reaching the end of the tunnel, which was a large area that had a few Jupiter Traps scattered everywhere, another shop pad, and a temple that seemed like it could have been forgotten at one point in time, regardless of what the group was told, though they did find a switch off to their right, which seemed important.
What the group did was separate into two groups and took care of the Jupiter Traps, one focusing on the foes that were at the top of this particular area, near the tunnel that brought them to this area, while the other group focused on the foes that were in front of the temple, though once all of the foes were taken care of they pressed the button that was near the start of this area and another one that was just outside the temple, something that caused the pair of barriers, one being a set of iron bars while the other was a stone door, lowering and allowing them to enter the temple, where they found one of the Club Crocoviles guarding the area. Since this particular foe had its back turned towards them it was easy for Hunter to take it down with a swing of his melee weapons, the blades cutting it down in a matter of seconds and allowing gems to fall, though at the same time some iron bars sank into the and revealed two metallic chests, a bullseye chest, and a golden chest off to their left, so Spike waited for Cynder to smash everything that was inside the small chamber and stepped into the area so he could unlock the golden chest, which just so happened to have an egg, which had purple as the color for the upper half, red for the lower half, and a yellow zigzag in a circle around the center of it, resting inside it, so he sent it back to the Nursery as soon as he freed it from where the Thieves hid it. From there they entered the chamber that was to the right of the entrance and found that there was a locked door that seemed to be connected to four electric nodes that were all over the chamber, but instead of activating them with their Lightning Breath Spyro headed towards the main door that seemed to head deeper into the area of the swamp that the temple had been built in front of, where the door sank into the floor and revealed that there were a number of platforms for them to jump on, while avoiding some swinging stone axe traps, which seemed to have a Light Gem at the end of the area. Amelia stood at the edge of the area and loosed an arrow into the chest of the Club Crocovile that was standing on the first platform they needed to jump to, eliminating one of their enemies in the process, before she nodded her head and let the others move forward, though it was Elora who flew through the area that was in front of them and dodged the stone axes as they swung through the air, showing Hunter and the others that she was getting a grasp on the skills that Spyro and the other dragons used, before she landed on the last platform of the area, claimed the Light Gem, and returned to Spike's side so the gem could be placed inside the bag he made for all of them.
Once the area was cleared out, and they were sure that there weren't any other paths to pick, other than the one that had the electric nodes outside it, the group headed outside the temple and found some stone steps that were in front of the temple itself, allowing them to climb up a few steps and take down a Jupiter Trap that was at the top of the path, which let them smash a few straw baskets and some metallic chests before heading down the tunnel that their foe had been resting in front of, where they avoided a few spike traps and took down a pair of Club Crocoviles that happened to be in the way, before noticing that the tunnel switched into being made of odd stones. Interestingly enough one of the stones wasn't the normal green coloration, rather it was a blue coloration and that made Spyro smack it with his tail, something that caused a section of the wall in front of them to sink into the floor and reveal a hidden area that had a Light Gem and three straw baskets waiting for them, something that Spike collected while Amelia smashed the baskets, before they headed down the rest of the tunnel that was in front of them, all so they could see what else the area had in store for them, even if it quickly brought them to an area that had a few wooden platforms resting above the water. The path that was to their right, which included smashing two metallic chests before reaching the final wooden platform so they could smash a bullseye chest and a pair of straw baskets, something that Ember did this time around, before the group focused on the path that was on their right, where Elora kicked a Boomerang Crocovile in the chest and took it out as Spyro and the others moved forward, as in they jumped over the stumps and wooden platforms as they explored the rest of the area they were in. Some of the wooden platforms lead over to an area that seemed to have a ruined structure, which just so happened to be where they spotted another Light Gem behind the ancient window, so Flame and Aurora headed over there while the others followed the rest of the path, saving an area with posts they could swing on for later, before they stopped a few seconds later when they found a wooden cage that contained a mole inside it, who was wearing yellow shoes, a vest made of straps, a pair of gloves with some weaponry on them, and some goggles on his head, though before they could approach the mole Flame and Aurora caught up with the rest of the group and handed over the Light Gem they had recovered.
With the Light Gem claimed, and they were sure there were no enemies resting around the area that the cage was resting in, the group walked up to where the mole was imprisoned and found that there was a stone button right in front of the cage, meaning that whoever had trapped the unfortunate creature inside it had been stupid and placed the release right in front of it, though none of them complained about it as Spyro pushed the button in question and watched as the part of the cage, the part that was in front of where they were standing, lowered and freed the mole.
"Hey guys, thanks for freeing me. The name's Blink... Blink the Mole." the mole said, revealing his name to the group as he walked out of the cage that he had been trapped in and stepped onto the ground that was in front of him, allowing him to stand in front of the entire group for a few moments as he stretched for a few seconds before focusing on the group once more, where it looked like he was thinking about something as a smile appeared on his face, "You guys must be the group of heroes that my uncle, the Professor, told me about, who would be coming to these lands and would put a stop to all of Red's plans: Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia, not to mention Flame and Aurora, who were dragged into this mess without being told anything... oh, and I wouldn't feel too bad about the Professor not talking about me and the rest of the family, once he focuses on his work its like the rest of the world doesn't exist."
"Its a pleasure to meet you, Blink," Spyro replied, though at the same time he had to admit that it was interesting that the Professor even had a nephew, despite the fact that none of them really knew anything about their friend or his life, not to mention the fact that he had told Blink something about everyone in their group and the fact that he planned on bringing all of them to Capora, to fight the enemies that were attacking the homeworlds and take down Red, before he returned to what was happening in front of him and the others, "Say, did the Professor outfit you with those weapons on your gloves, or did you make them yourself?"
"He built them for me, even said that he was inspired by what he did for Elora and his various suits of armor when he sat down and made them," Blink stated, informing the group as to how he had gotten the gloves, meaning that he must have asked the Professor was something to help him defend himself and all of the ideas that Elora had given their friend had, in some way, been taken into consideration as the Professor created the gloves that Blink was wearing right now, before he glanced at a hole that happened to be resting near where they were standing, which was when an idea seemed to form in his mind as he focused on them again, "so they give me special abilities when I'm exploring underground, which I had just stopped doing when some of those Crocoviles ambushed me and threw me in that cage. You know, I would love to stay up here and help you guys out, to take down Red and his plans, but, um, I have fresh-air-a-phobia... it means I have a fear of not being trapped deep underground... so, why don't I dig a hole and see if I can't find you anything that you're looking for, to aid you on your quest. Ugh, what are you looking for, exactly?"
Spyro and the majority of the group sat down near the cage as Spike informed Blink that they were looking for Dark Gems to smash, even if it was highly unlikely that he'd locate one, Light Gems so they could power the Professor's gadgets in the future, and any of the stolen dragon eggs, while Talon flew over to Blink so he could follow their new ally into the depths and claim any normal gems he might find during his exploration, to which their new friend nodded his head and dived into the hole that was nearby, so he could see whatever there was to find in this area. Instead of exploring the area and taking some time to clear it out, like they had done when Sgt. Byrd had focused on the Speedway that was apparently off-limits to dragons, the group took the time to rest a little as they waited for Blink to return, even though Elora and Hunter informed the others that neither of them even knew that the Professor had a nephew, so this was news to all of them, but he was eager to bring Red down and that was enough for the group right now, since Blink definitely had the Professor's desire to bring evil to justice, in his own style anyway. It didn't take Blink long to return to the surface and hand everything that he had found while he was exploring the underground area, the first item being one of the blue colored eggs, a Light Gem to add to Spike's bag, and a decent number of gems that were added to the total amount the group had, which none of them were even bothering to count at this point since they weren't totally interested in it at the moment, and the information that he smashed a number of dark shards while he was underground, to which the group applauded his efforts and let him dive back underground, even though he informed them that he would find another cavern to clear out and find them some more stolen eggs and Light Gems before doing that. The group determined that Blink was another helpful ally and that it would be worth allowing him to do the side areas of the parts of the homeworlds that they would be clearing Red's minions from, though once Blink was gone they headed over to the opening that was to the cage's left and found an area that had another of Moneybags' shop pads and, more importantly, a Dark Gem, something that was followed by the group heading up the ramp so Spyro could smash it to bits with the Horn Dive, which caused the darkness to recede and open up the doorway that was in front of them.
On the other side of the opening the group found a chamber that looked like someone lived here, due to the furnace, bits of wood, and some stone pots that had a few glass bottles resting in front of them, before they noticed a dragon, who was just like Elder Harnell, minus the fact that this one had pink scales and a pale chest area, plus its horns and fins were blue colored, though it was carrying a golden staff that was identical to the one that the first Dragon Elder had been holding onto and was wearing an identical set of attire, meaning they must be a symbol of the leadership role that certain dragons in Capora took on, but they said nothing as they came to a stop in front of the dragon, as they were interested in hearing what it had to tell them.
"Spyro, darling, you and your friends will need to learn as much as you can, so you'll be able to take on whatever Red and his minions send at you." the dragon elder said, showing that he must have been waiting for them to arrive, just like Elder Harnell had been waiting for all of them to arrive after the Professor told the Elders what his plans were, even if the last Elder had been caught off guard by the fact that they knew how to smash the Dark Gems, before he thought about something for a few seconds, which was followed by him focusing on them again, "Just so you know, since I'm sure the Professor and Elder Harnell didn't tell you anything about him, Red used to be a member of the Order of Dragon Elders, until his jealousy and hunger for power led him to try and overthrow our leader, something that resulted in us banishing him... I'm afraid that this is all I can tell you about Red. However, before you guys leave, to continue your adventure, the least I can do is tell you how to use the Pole Spin technique, a technique that is designed to help you navigate an area, be it the rest of the swamp or another part of our lands... all you have to do is jump onto a pole, where you should be able to coil around it, and then launch yourself at another pole after spinning for a few moments. That's all there is to the Pole Spin, as its a rather simple move to add to one's list of skills."
Instead of saying anything the group nodded their heads for a moment before Spyro headed over to the right side of the chamber that they were in, where he jumped onto the pole that happened to be attached to the wall and found that it was rather easy to do what the Elder, who went by the name Magna according to Aurora, had told them about, where he could use his claws to grip the pole and spin around it, before launching himself up to the next pole and then repeated that so he could reach the top of the area, which happened to have a cracked wall that he smashed and revealed an egg with the flame design, to which he waited for the others to catch up with him before Spike sent the egg off to the Nursery. Once all of them knew how to use the Pole Spin technique, or at least the dragons did since this was something that was designed for all of them to use, the group started to leave the house that Elder Magna was resting in, though it didn't stop Aurora from setting off a firework that smashed a metallic container they must have missed, as in it looked like there was an area they missed while they headed for the Dark Gem, but Spike also made sure to climb up to where the Elder's bed rested and found a Light Gem across from it, which he claimed without delay. With that in their possession it was easy for them to backtrack to the area that was just outside Elder Magna's house and Flame spotted a pole that rested just above the entrance, so he backtracked into the house and, from what the group could tell, headed up to the part of the house that Spike had located the Light Gem in, which was followed by a firework rushing over to an area that was to the left of the house's entrance and Flame used the Pole Spin to reach the area so he could collect all of the gems that had been resting inside the metallic container he had smashed and the few metallic chests that were near it, including a bullseye chest as well, before he rejoined the group. From there they headed back to the opening that would lead them back to where the cage that Blink had been in and found some poles that would allow them to access a higher area, to which the dragons took turns doing that with Spyro taking the lead, who found a Club Crocovile guarding a pile of gems, a metallic chest, and a bullseye chest, so he flamed the creature and opened the way for the others to smash the containers and claim all of the gems that were in front of them, though once that was done they jumped back down to where Elora and the others were standing and they headed back into the part of the swamp that lead them right to Blink.
It didn't take them long to reach the wall that had three poles attached to it and the dragons ascended to the top of it, as that was where the next path they needed to take had to be resting, which was followed by Hunter and the others using their own jumping skills to reach the highest point of the area, even though they had a chance to watch Spike shock one of the Club Crocoviles into the wall to its left, reducing it to a pile of gems, before everyone focused on the swinging stone axe that was in front of them and the wooden platforms that were just beyond it. It was rather easy to avoid the axe trap and land on the first wooden platform, though as the majority of the group focused on the rest of the path Bianca blasted the Club Crcocvile that was to their left with a Fireball and opened the way for Aurora to smash the metallic chest that it had been guarding, though once the gems had been claimed they followed the main path that Spyro and the others were following, even though Ember jumped up into another side area and smashed the Club Crocovile that just so happened to be guarding the area in question. The reason for that was due to the blue egg that was resting behind the foe in question, one that Spike sent off to the Nursery as soon as Ember made sure it was fine and unharmed, though once that was done they followed the rest of the path that was in front of them and walked out of a tunnel that seemed to have been made from a tree trunk, a small one to be exact, before finding that the path came to an end and that there happened to be a new one just above where Blink's cage was resting, so the dragons glided over it to, Elora flew over there, and Bianca used her magic to teleport the rest of the group over to the tunnel in question. From there they followed the tunnel and found that there were three small caves that the Redtipped Spiders happened to be resting in, ones that were taken out as soon as they rushed out of their homes and tried to assault the group, by Cynder using her Shadow Play to take them out in a matter of seconds, before they found a Dark Gem passed all three of the small caves and that was when Flame smashed it to pieces, something that caused the wall in front of them to collapse and reveal a brand new part of the swamp for them to explore, even though they had the feeling that they had to be reaching the end of the swamp.
As they walked through the opening, and started to head down the three wooden stumps that were to their right, it was easy for the group to spot a green skinned bipedal frog who happened to be resting in front of what appeared to be his shack, as they were certain it was male based on its body, though he seemed to be lost in thought about something that had happened recently, which was what the majority of the group assumed since they were used to residents of an area looking defeated or in need before they arrived to help them out.
"No thankee, strangers. Whatever you's a sellin', I ain't a buyin'." the bipedal frog stated, showing that he believed that the group was a bunch of merchants and that they were here to sell him something that he believed he didn't need, despite the fact that he was totally wrong about their reasoning for approaching him in the first place, though even as he said that he paused and glanced at them, almost like he might reconsider what he had just said, "But if you's a havin' trouble with the old sinkin' stuff, I can wake up one of those giant lilies for ya... however, maybe you kin' help me out first, as those darn swamp critters keep runnin' off with my food. I ain't ett in... pert near a week now!"
The odd pause at the end of the bipedal frog's statement was due to him croaking, like he was angry, which made sense due to the fact that it appeared that the Swamp Critters, as he called them and Spike had to agree it was a better name than just Critters, have been stealing his food, though at the same time it was interesting that he was offering them an exchange of sorts, they help him take care of however many Swamp Critters that were coming after his food and he would open the way forward by causing some giant lilies to rise out of the swamp water, to which the group nodded their heads and informed him that they would be willing to help him take care of the Swamp Critters. As it turned out Fredneck, as that was the name of the bipedal frog that they were going to be helping, had a path around the side of his house that let the group access a new part of the swamp, one that they realized they never would be able to access normally, that had some fruits and vegetables resting in the water, surrounded by trees, and happened to have a cannon that had two barrels that were pointed down into the area he was showing them, even though Fredneck informed them that he hated the smell of gunpowder and couldn't use the weapon, so it was up to them to take care of the Swamp Critters. It was in that moment that Hunter, the one who had the most skill in using all sorts of gadgets and weapons that the Professor made for him, so he could assist the siblings and everyone else in their quests, jumped up onto the platform the cannon rested on and took control of the weapon, where he focused on the area that was in front of them and waited for a few seconds, due to the fact that there weren't any enemies in the food covered area right now. It took a moment or two before some of the small Swamp Critters emerged from the areas that they had been hiding in and started to make their way towards the area that Fredneck left his food in, which seemed to be his own fault based on what the rest of the group was seeing, but they said nothing about that as Hunter primed the cannon and quickly opened fire on the Swamp Critters that invaded the area that the food was resting in, not wasting shots as he accurately followed and blasted each foe that dared to come near the food that Fredneck wanted to eat, even though those weren't the only foes as some bats flew down and tried to do the same thing that the critters were doing.
Interestingly enough when the first wave of enemies were dealt with Fredneck cheered and handed over a red dragon egg that he had found earlier, revealing that he had been planning on eating it and that he was unable to due to the incredibly hard shell it had, something that caused Ember to take a deep breath so she didn't lash out and bust his knees for even daring to mention eating a dragon egg in front of a group of dragons, though Hunter wasn't about to stop as he fired upon the second wave of enemies that came out of the swamp, carefully eliminating the Swamp Critters and the bats that were coming their way, before climbing off the cannon after the last foe fell, earning them a Light Gem. From there the group wished Fredneck well and headed over the path that the lilies formed, after the bipedal frog summoned the pads for them to walk on, which was when they found another Light Gem resting on a platform that was off to the right of the path, one that Amelia claimed and added to Spike's bag before they continued to see what else the swamp had to throw at them, as they knew they had to be reaching the end of the area at the rate they were going. What was interesting was that the path the lily pads formed brought them back to the start of the swamp, which was confusing since there didn't appear to be a door or something that would allow them to access the next area, though that was when Flame and Aurora stepped up for a moment, revealing that they had an idea of where they had had to go next, causing them to backtrack to Dragon Village and head for the area the Professor's Ball Gadget rested in, meaning they had to avoid the obstacles that were in their way once more as they headed back to the start of this homeworld. While they walked Spike had the sneaking suspicion that the Ball Gadget would allow them to get to the next part of the land that Dragon Village and Crocovile Swamp were part of, even though there was no direct path to take to reach Dragonfly Falls, the third and final area of this land according to both Flame and Aurora, meaning they were getting closer to taking Gnasty Gnorc down and seeing what was happening to the other homeworlds of Capora.
None of them had any idea what Red and the Dark Master were planning, other than trying to take over the four islands that Capora was made up of and enslave those that called the homeworlds home, but right now the group was ready to tackle everything and anything that their enemies might send their way, smash any Dark Gems that were scattered all over the islands, and then take down their true targets so they could restore order to the lands, just like they did to every villain that dared to take over the world.
It didn't take Spyro and the others all that long to reach the area that the Ball Gadget rested in, given the fact that they had cleared out all of the enemies the last time they had been in this area, though when they reached it the group found that the machine was working now and that the pad was ready for someone to use, to which the group glanced at each other for a moment before deciding who would try the gadget out first, something that was followed by Spyro stepping onto the pad not even a few seconds later, which caused the Ball Gadget to fully activate. What happened next was that the two arms of the machine moved forward and seemed to cover the pad that Spyro was now standing on, accompanied by the upper lid doing the same thing, though not a few seconds later Cynder and the others watched as the machine rumbled for a time and the arms eventually pulled themselves back and revealed what they had done, Spyro was standing on a pad in the middle of a glass sphere, hence the reason the machine was called the 'Ball' Gadget, and there were two circular shields, or at least that's what they assumed the discs were, even though the Professor likely had a more technical name for them and hadn't told them. Once Spyro was ready the floor below him opened and the sphere disappeared, as in it entered the pipe that had been revealed to him, meaning that he was starting whatever course would take them to Dragonfly Falls, though not a few seconds later the machine returned to normal and the group took turns trying it out, until eventually all of them were equipped with the same sphere that Spyro had been placed inside and headed down the pipe that Spyro had gone down a few moments ago, eventually appearing in a cave that Spyro was waiting inside, even if he was still contained inside the sphere he had been put inside. It was in that moment that the group determined that the Ball Gadget wouldn't take the user to the other part of the land that it was connected to, not instantly anyway, rather it would take the user to an area that would allow them to reach the part in question, so it was like running an obstacle course and clearing out a small portion of the land at the same time, which Flame and Aurora had to be okay with since this would allow them to help reclaim their lands.
As it turned out the area that was outside the cave happened to be a curved course that made the group realize that the Professor had purposely designed the Ball Gadget to work with, not to mention the fact that the glass was tough enough to smash through several wooden crates that were in the way and that the spheres had the power to snatch the gems that were freed from the ruined containers, and the spheres were capable of jumping over gaps that happened to be resting in their way, which made them impressed by what they were seeing. Interestingly enough there were a few Gnorcs in this area, tall ones that were much thinner than the majority of the other Gnorcs they had faced and happened to be carrying a sword in one of their hands, though what was more impressive was the fact that the glass spheres were able to run over the Gnorcs before they forced themselves onto the level that was above where they were rolling around, where they had to avoid some of the wooden training devices, which had been enlarged by the Gnorcs to protect this area from those that tried to get to Dragonfly Falls, but it was easy to get around them as the group moved forward. For the most part it didn't look like there were any side paths to explore, meaning it was a straight path and that there weren't any stolen eggs or Light Gems for them to collect in this area, so each of them focused on the direction that the path seemed to be heading in and focused less on worrying about the gems that they had to smash to restore order to the lands or the lighter gems that needed to be collected, since it was clear nothing was in this area for them to collect, other than the normal gems that Moneybags used to take from them. As such it didn't take them all that long to reach the other side of the course, where it was easy to see another pipe that had been installed into part of the area, identical to the pipe that brought them to this area in the first place, before Spyro moved into it and descended into the depths, which was when the rest of the group followed after him a few seconds later, as it was time for them to see what Dragonfly Falls looked like, what sort of foes would be standing in their way, and just how many stolen eggs they would be recovering, not to mention all of the Dark and Light Gems that were scattered around the realm.
From what they could tell the other side of the pipe brought them to another cave, though it took them a few moments to be released from the spheres they had been using to explore the connection area between realms, and once all of them were freed they headed up the path that was in front of the Ball Gadget and discovered that there was a Club Crocovile standing between them and a spike trap, though it didn't last all that long as Cynder smacked it backwards and let the trap it was guarding take it out, revealing it was a gem creation as well, though once the gems had been picked up they headed forward and bypassed the trap so they could see what else the new realm had to throw at them. Just beyond the area that the spike trap was resting in was a number of stone platforms for them to jump up, though at the top of the stones the group found a crack in the wall and Ember smashed it, revealing an area that had a few straw baskets, a pair of metallic chests, a bullseye chest, and some gems scattered about the small chamber, though before they got to collecting what was in front of them Bianca pointed out a golden chest that was behind them, in a small alcove, and quickly blasted the Club Crocovile that was guarding it with a Lightning Bolt. Once the foe was taken care of Spike flew over to the alcove and landed in front of the chest, where he weaved his magic through the air and unlocked the golden chest, which allowed him to claim a Light Gem for their collection, before he flew back to where the rest of the group was standing and headed down the path that was to the left of the smashed section of the wall, which just so happened to be where they found the entrance of the falls and Hunter punched the Club Crocovile that was in front of them in the face, taking it out so one of the others could worry about it, which was when they moved forward and smiled as they noticed a decent sized area that wasn't the main part of the falls, something Flame and Aurora would recognize the moment they saw it. There were a pair of straw baskets near the left side of the area, accompanied by a bullseye chest and a Club Crocovile on the level above all of them, so while Cynder dealt with the containers Amelia loosed an arrow to take her target out, revealing another wall with a crack in it, something that Spyro smashed his way through so he could reveal a passage that had a few bats inside it, not to mention the first Dark Gem of this realm, which had a few dark crystals resting behind it.
When Aurora smashed the sinister gem, and shattered it to pieces like the last ones they had found since this adventure had started, part of the ceiling in front of them collapsed, though the falling rocks were nowhere near them, and the light of the sun caused the weakened sinister vines to sink into the ground, which caused a section of the wall to fall and that, in turn, revealed an area for them to explore, one that happened to have some straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and, more importantly, a pink egg with the white flower design, to which the rest of the group smashed the containers and picked up the gems as Spike sent the egg back to the Nursery, and once that was done they turned around and headed back to the area that was outside the small tunnel the Dark Gem had been placed inside. From there they resumed following the path that they had seen a few moments ago and noticed that there were two metallic chests along the way, not to mention a bullseye chest that Flame smashed near the tunnel's entrance, though once everything was smashed they headed over to the area they had been walking towards earlier and found one of Moneybags' shop pads, where it was easy to see that the bear didn't have anything to tell them when they arrived at the pad, before they headed deeper into the more jungle like area that was around them and found a somewhat thin walkway that connected this area to what was on the other side of the area, where they found three goats standing on the other side of the walkway, who reared their heads and charged at the section of the walkway that the group was standing on. Amelia was the first one to react as she loosed an arrow into one of the goats and took it out, revealing that they were gem creations as well, before Elora punched the second one as it drew closer to them and Hunter cut into the third one at the same time, allowing the others to pick up all of the gems that had fallen on the walkway, before finding a shepherd, who was wearing a blue shirt with suspenders and brown shorts, that was shaking its staff at them, no doubt due to it being annoyed by what they had just done. Spyro and his siblings did know that some of the Shepherds didn't like them, due to the fact that dragons usually ate sheep and other animals that they tended to, so it was annoyed by the fact that they had killed the three goats that had been in front of it, even if they hadn't touched the goats, which was followed by Spike freezing the Shepherd with a burst of his Ice Breath and let Spyro, Cynder, and Ember smash it to pieces, eliminating another gem creation in the process.
While they did that Hunter noticed a cannon off to their right and jumped over to the path that would bring him to the weapon in question, which was when Amelia loosed an arrow into the chest of the Club Crocovile that was in his way and Flame flew over to a button that happened to be resting on the first stone pillar that Hunter had landed on, where he took a moment to use the Horn Dive to activate the button and something in the area moved, which turned out to be a wooden platform that rested on the left side of the area they were in, one that rested near a metallic door. Hunter was able to take control of the cannon in a matter of seconds and quickly zeroed in on where his target was resting, where he fired upon the door in question and blasted it open, revealing another hidden cavern of sorts that just so happened to have a Light Gem inside it, though behind the gem rested another crack in the wall, so while Spike claimed the gem Cynder smashed through the wall and found an area that had a large amount of gems, straw baskets, and metallic chests, an area that they cleared out in a matter of seconds before returning to the walkway the Shepherd had been on. When they reached the spot the Shepherd had been standing in they found a tunnel that had some spike traps, something that each of them were getting used to seeing at this point in time, before they reached an area that had some Gnorc Brutes in the area the tunnel brought them to, two of them based on what the group was seeing, while a Club Crocovile was patrolling the water that rested below them, where it was easy to see that one was wearing armor and the other wasn't. As such Hunter and Ameila took one of the Gnorc Brutes, where Amelia loosed an arrow and took out the one that had no armor on while Spyro took to the air and knocked off the armor the other was wearing, allowing Hunter to put it down as well, though as that went down Aurora dropped down into the area and torched the Club Crocovile that was down there, before smashing all of the straw baskets that were around the watery part of the area as she rejoined the group, something that included burning one of the Jupiter Traps into the ground, even though Spyro rejoined his siblings and the others as well, after having found and smashed a pair of metallic chests and a bullseye chest for the gems they held.
As it turned out the area that the two Gnorcs were positioned near happened to be another tunnel that actually split into two different paths, so they quickly picked the one on their left and found that there were a few Vultures flying around the open area, in the sense that any of them might lash out at the group, some stone pillars that looked like they might be close to falling apart and that they had to be careful while they were using them, some rocks that could be broken, and a Dark Gem that happened to be resting on the left side of the new area they had discovered. This time around Spike took a turn and smashed the new Dark Gem to pieces, shattering it into a number of pieces as the darkness in this area vanished and revealed that there was a waterfall near where the gem had been resting, which included a cannon that Elora flew over to and took control of not a few seconds later, where she fired upon the pair of boulders that happened to be under a second cannon in the area, one that fell down to a more accessible area and allowed Hunter to jump over to it, all so he could blow up the boulder that was blocking the main path. While they were doing that Amelia loosed a few arrows into the air and knocked out the three Vultures that were in the air, who crashed into the ground that was near yet another Club Crocovile, something that startled the creature in question, which Ember was totally fine with as she used the Fangs of Felinia to cut her target down, something that opened the way for them to check out two areas, one being a nest for the Vultures and the other appearing to be a tunnel, though it was easy for some of them to pick an area out as they picked the nest, due to the fact that a light green dragon egg with blue swirls rested in the nest, one that Spike claimed and sent back to the Nursery. From there they headed down the tunnel that was nearby and found that there were some crates, as in ones that they couldn't break without performing the Horn Dive, something they refrained from doing as Cynder took a moment to jump up to the hidden area that it seemed to be connected to, where she found an intricate golden door that she had Spike investigate, who revealed, by probing it with his magic, that the door required a large number of Light Gems for them to open, so all they could do was return to the passage they were walking down and found that the area it let them access was a large open area that had a waterfall, some moving platforms, and a large statue of a Dragon Elder, no doubt the one that they might find in this realm, just like Elder Harnell and Elder Magna in the previous two realms, but the really important part was that there was a Dark Gem out in the open for them to smash.
Elora headed over to the area that the sinister gem was resting in and smashed it to pieces, something that caused part of the left side of the wall of the cavern it was in to shatter before filling part of the cavern section with water, to which the rest of the group decided to focus on the area she had picked out and not on the rest of the area, since they were sure it would loop back to the area the statue was in, to which they dived into the water, with Bianca using a magical barrier to surround her and the other none dragons so they didn't slow everyone down, before Ember smashed through a weak part of the wall and allowed them to access another part of this realm. What they discovered was that there was a small cave on the other side of the wall, where they could jump out of the water and found that there was only a Light Gem in this area, so Spike collected it as the others headed back through the hole and headed back to the main part of this part of the realm, where they focused on taking out the Club Crocovile that was patrolling the water near the statue and one of the armorless Gnorc Brutes that was guarding some straw baskets, before they climbed up to an area that a crack in the wall rested in, this one different than the others. The reason this was different from the others was due to the fact that Zoe had placed a Sparx sign near it, something that was followed by Spyro, Spike, and Ember allowing their dragonflies to head into the section of the realm that only they could access, even though they weren't the only ones that headed into it, as Sting, Flare, and Daisy heading into the area as well, showing that even the dragonflies of Capora were interested in learning from those that had accompanied the heroic dragons and their allies, so while the dragonflies went off to see what they could find in the other area the group sat around the area they were in and simply rested, giving Spike a chance to write down everything that had happened in Dragonfly Falls so far. It only took the dragonflies a few minutes to fly through the cave that only they could access and revealed that they had found a light yellow dragon egg that had a few white spots on its shell, which meant it was the start of a brand new set of eggs, not to mention a Light Gem that Spike added to the bag that contained the other Light Gems, before their dragonflies returned to their partners and the group glided down to a tunnel that rested nearby, which seemed to be the correct path forward, given what they had seen in the other section of this area, the one that Elora had opened earlier.
There were a few bats inside the tunnel, who weren't hostile at all, not like the ones that were going after Fredneck's food in the swamp, before they were able to reach the end of it, an area that was an open water area, sort of like some of the island realms the group had assisted in the past, meaning that there might be enemies under the water, though what they did was glide over to their right and found that there was a Gnorc Brute guarding a wall that had a crack in it, which was the moment that Cynder moved first and pulled out the runeblade she was carrying, marking the first time she was going to use Penumbra in battle, to which she sliced through the armor and her foe in one swift motion and reduced it to a pile of gems. That, in turn, allowed Ember to spin forward as she smashed through the ruined portion of the wall as the others took care of the ring of straw baskets that were resting nearby, though on the other side of the wall they found another light yellow egg with white spots, something that Spike sent to the Nursery as soon as they discovered it, before someone smashed the metallic chest that was nearby and they headed outside to see what else the rest of this area had in store for them, even if they were keeping an eye open for any Dragon Elders that might be in this realm. What they did next was glide over to an area that a lone Club Crocovile was patrolling, which was when Elora kicked it into the ground and let one of the others, Spike, blast it into the wall, allowing the others to clear out a few straw baskets at the same time, though as soon as that was done, and the area was cleared out, Spike spotted a golden chest near their position and moved over to where it rested, where he used the Lockpick spell to unlock it and claimed the Light Gem that rested inside it, to which he and the others focused on the area that was in front of him, or rather the platforms that were floating on the water and the Vultures that were flying around above them. This time around Bianca focused on the Vultures as she loosed a short burst of Ice Shards into the air, striking the hostile birds out of the air with ease, allowing Spyro and the others to traverse the platforms without having to worry about enemies as they headed for the small path of land that contained another Light Gem, something they let Spike deal with while each of them stared out at the rest of the area, searching for any other foes or items that needed to be claimed, before heading over to an area that had some raised steps that seemed to be the path to another part of this realm.
What they found as they climbed the area was what appeared to be a mine shaft, or at least an abandoned one that had been converted into a tunnel of some kind, off to the left of the raised sections that formed the steps, which was where they found Zoe hanging out in the air near the structure's entrance, where the group headed over to where their friend was resting so they could see if she had found anything for them to do, as during their third adventure she had found a few areas where only their dragonflies could access, something Flame and Aurora had learned while they were waiting for the dragonflies to return from the cave.
"Hey guys, I spent some time looking through the next area and I think there's a dragon egg and a Light Gem somewhere past this structure," Zoe said, showing the group that she had taken some time to speak with the Professor and came to an understanding on what the group was looking for this time around, even if the search for the missing dragon eggs was the same as the last time she had assisted them and the Light Gems were totally new to her, before she considered what she had seen during her search through the area in question, "however, based on what I could see, I think there's either some magic in place that will prevent dragons from exploring it, no doubt Red's magic at work, or its an area that Hunter and Amelia, for example, can tackle on their own."
"Well, my sister and I can handle anything that the area has to throw at us," Hunter remarked, to which Amelia nodded her head in agreement not a few seconds later, showing that they were more than able to tackle whatever was lurking inside the section of the realm that Zoe had investigated while the group was busy making their way towards this area, which was when the pair glanced over to the others for a few seconds, Hunter gripping his blades while Amelia checked some of her arrows and her bow, "the question is this: are you willing to let us separate from the group for a time and tackle all of the challenges that the side area might have to throw at us?"
"Hunter, you don't have to ask something like that. We trust you to take out however many enemies are in an area and recover the stolen dragon egg," Spyro stated, where the others agreed with what he had said, because at this point they knew that Hunter had the makings of a great hero and Amelia, despite her late start since she had only started being a hero during the war for the fate of the world, was the same way, before they focused on the pair that were how standing in front of the structure that Zoe was floating near, "Don't worry, we'll wait here and rest while you two explore the area that's beyond this opening, and then once you're back we can see what else this place has to throw at us, before we even think about taking on Gnasty Gnorc."
The reason Spyro said that was because the way things were going in Dragonfly Falls, as they were restoring order to this realm in record time in comparison to every other realm they had visited so far, it was possible that they might go back to Dragon Village, breach the barrier that was protecting the cave that was near the Professor's lab, and then beat up Gnasty Gnorc so they could move onto the next homeworld and see what might be happening to the rest of the lands, before they found Red and put an end to whatever plans he and the Dark Master were putting in motion. Hunter and Amelia nodded their heads, as they knew Spyro had faith that they would be able to overcome everything that was in the area Zoe had told them about, before they marched into the area that was beyond the opening and kept their weapons at the ready, all while Spyro and the others scattered around the opening and the rest of the area, where they sat down and waited for their friends to emerge with whatever they found inside the area Zoe scouted. This apparently confused Flame and Aurora for a few moments, as they had to wonder why the entire group didn't just tackle whatever was waiting in the section of this realm that Hunter and Amelia were now heading through, where Cynder explained that sometimes they had to split up into smaller groups, instead of tacking an area with everyone at the same time, even though that was something she had learned from reading Spike's books on the first couple of adventures, before she joined them and their friends, so this was more like the siblings were returning to what they had done at the start of their adventures, even though there were times where facing someone as a group was the best thing for them to do. The newcomers paused for a moment before they moved to the side and simply waited for their new friends to return to where they were waiting, where they could see that Spike was writing things down and that he was making sure the dragonflies, minus Sparx who had flown after Hunter and Amelia, told him exactly what they had found in the cave they had investigated earlier, when they found the sign near the crack, joining the others who were now resting around the entrance, even though Cynder headed to part of the other walkway that a Gnorc Brute was standing on and smashed it into the ground, eliminating a foe so it didn't try to take them out while they were waiting.
It didn't take Hunter and Amelia all that long to return to where they were waiting, where they handed over an egg with a flame design and another Light Gem, where Spike sent the former back to the Nursery and placed the latter inside the bag that the others were resting in, before they headed over to where Cynder had cleared out the Gnorc Brute and jumped along the pieces of ground that were on the other side of the path they were following, which brought them to another area that had some enemies and some floating wooden platforms, including another Dark Gem for them to smash as they moved through this area. The first thing they did was locate a Club Crocovile and a Gnorc Brute guarding two parts of the area that they were moving into, where Ember stuck the armor off the Gnorc on the right side of the area and let Flame and Aurora move in with attacks that took it down in seconds, while at the same time Spike quickly blasted the Crocovile with a Fireball, clearing out the immediate area of enemies so they could smash the straw baskets and metallic chests that were around them and claim all of the gems that were inside them, not to mention break a bullseye chest as well, which had been behind the Gnorc Brute. There was one moving platform that was in the air, moving between the area that the Club Crocovile had been guarding and the area that the next Dark Gem happened to be resting in, but instead of worrying about catching the platform when it came over to the Crocovile's area Spyro just flew through the air and reached the area that it was resting on, where he spun around for a few seconds and then smashed the gem to pieces with the Horn Dive, which purged the area of the darkness that was on the ground around it and lowered a section of the wall that was just behind where the gem was resting, revealing a way forward, which came complete with a whirlwind, some straw baskets, a metallic chest, a bullseye chest, and some scattered gems. While he did that Ember flew over to part of this area and found a Light Gem to add to their collection, which was a little beyond the area that the Crocovile had been and was to the left of the path the floating platform, though once that was collected everyone regrouped where Spyro was standing, which was when some of them noticed that Spike was studying the dragon head statues that had been near the latest Dark Gem and was writing down what he was seeing, before they used the whirlwind to get up to a tunnel that was above the area the gem had been resting in and moved forward.
What they discovered was that the tunnel, while having a few spear traps in the ground for them to avoid, backtracked to part of the start of this realm and meant that they had basically gone in one big circle, though even as they figured that out they knew that it was a little odd for them to have cleared out an area this quickly and made some of them wonder what else there was to do before they headed to the cave that Gnasty Gnorc was hiding in and faced the first foe that had allied themselves with the Dark Master, which would pave the way for them to head to the next homeworld.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Aurora asked, because while she wasn't familiar with what Spyro and the other heroes had done in the past, where Flame was in the same boat as her, it was easy to see that the heroes were in the middle of thinking about what they had just done and what they were going to do next, especially when they took into consideration everything they had done since they arrived in Capora, "I don't think the Professor will open the way to the next land until we take down Gnasty Gnorc and free this island from Red and the Dark Master's grasp, but I don't think there's anything else we can do right now, not without gathering more Light Gems anyway."
"Then we'll head to the cave and take care of our target," Spyro replied, though even as he said that he noticed that Spike did have the scepter of their first foe inside his satchel, showing that he was hiding it until they needed it, in case their foe realized that they were carrying it, before he turned towards the path that would take them back to the Ball Gadget and focused on what he and the others were going to do, as his siblings, Cynder, and their friends were ready to go, something that caused both Flame and Aurora to straighten themselves for a moment, "and once Dragon Kingdom is freed from the darkness that Red and the Dark Master are trying to impose upon it, just like they're going to be imposing it on the other three lands, we'll have the professor send us to the next island and repeat what we had just done, until we've freed all of your homeworlds and have made sure that all of your enemies have been taken care of."
Flame and Aurora stood there for a moment, thinking about what the group was planning on doing, before they followed Spyro as he started to head back to the area that the Ball Gadget was resting in, as it seemed to be the only way back to the first realm of this homeworld was to use the Professor's latest invention and head back to the first platform they had found when they explored Dragon Kingdom, even though it didn't take them any time to reach the gadget in question due to the fact that all of the enemies that had been lingering in the falls had been taken out. Once they reached the gadget the group did what they did earlier, Spyro used it first and entered the section of the homeworld that connected the first realm to the realm that they had just finished dealing with, followed by everyone else following after him, though since all of the Gnorcs that had been in the side section had been dealt with it was rather easy for them to reach the area that the other pipe rested in, which allowed them to travel back to the area that rested just outside the Nursery. Not a few seconds later they walked into the structure in question and found that Nanny was happy with the fact that they had recovered so many eggs already, even if the vast majority of them were still missing, before the group headed through the entrance of the building and stared at the area that was just outside the Professor's lab, as it appeared that he had set up a brand new machine had been set up near the lab, one that looked like a teleportation pad, though for now they headed over to the cave that was covered by a dark barrier where the sinister vines shuddered for a moment and disappeared like all of the other vines they had purged so far, before the magical barrier fell shortly after that. Not only did the barrier fall and all of the sinister vines disappeared, which told Spike that they might need to smash ten Dark Gems in every homeworld, the sky cleared as the lingering darkness disappeared as well, meaning the Dark Master's influence over this land had to be gone at this point, to which they walked forward and headed into the cave that Red had sealed earlier, according to what the Professor had told them earlier, where they found a small platform that looked like someone could have been trapped inside here as well, leading the group to wonder if Red and Gnasty Gnorc had been planning on trapping either Flame or Aurora inside this place, before finding a dragon egg with a flame design resting near the platform, which Spike sent back to the Nursery, something that was followed by them heading deeper into the tunnel and discovered a stone walkway that lead to the center of the entire cavern.
Standing in the middle of the area the group was heading towards, wearing what appeared to be a steel suit of armor that covered his chest, arms, shoulders, legs, feet, and his head, in a style that sort of matched what he had been wearing the first time Spyro, Spike, and Ember had faced him, and this time he was carrying a warhammer in his right hand, one that had a massive head at the end of the shaft and it had a few metallic spikes attached to it, though his overall appearance was the exact same, not that they expected his appearance to change since the last time they fought, and it wasn't long before the entire group reached the center of the cavern, even if they had to rush over the stone walkway as it started to break up as they ran over it.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, its been a while since I last defeated you in battle!" Gnasty Gnorc stated, even though he had to take a moment to laugh about something, possibly the fact that the walkway had broken and forced the group to rush over it in a matter of seconds, but even as he did that the group glanced at each other for a moment, as it appeared that their foe had retained his simple nature and didn't have the intelligence of some of the other enemies they had faced, as he was nowhere near the level of Gaul or Morrigan.
"I think you mean that its been a while since we saw each other, as we beat you the last time we fought," Spyro replied, as he knew that there would be some time for them to talk with the foe that was in front of them, though at the same time the rest of the group spread out and made sure that everyone could see what Gnasty Gnorc was doing, because with the broken walkway the only thing they could do was beat their foe and figure out exactly what they were going to do next, even if Spike could likely reform the walkway with his magic and hold it up until they were back in the tunnel that brought them to this area, "in fact, we sealed you in a crystalline statue when we beat you."
"You did?! Really?! I don't remember that at all! Man, I guess it really has been a long time." Gnasty Gnorc said, which was where the group determined that even if their foe knew what Spyro was talking about he was likely repressing the events that Spyro had mentioned, not that it mattered since the group was planning on taking him down and using his scepter on him for a second time, since attacking a whole new set of islands was just like what happened during the first adventure the siblings had been on, so they were going to punish him in the same way they had done earlier, "Either way Red has tasked me with guarding this area and destroying whoever tries to take back this homeworld, so since you have come to this point its time for us to fight each other again, not to mention the fact that you will be defeated once more and your broken bodies will be offered to Red and his ally."
The group assumed that what Gnasty Gnorc meant by his statement was that he was going to beat all of them up and then offer their unconscious bodies to those he was following, though before any of them could really do anything he raised his warhammer into the air for a moment and brought it down onto the ground that was in front of him, where a shockwave rushed out from where he was standing within seconds of that happening, something that caused the group to jump into the air and avoid the attack, even though Spyro was the first one to react as he flew to the backside of their foe and loosed a bit of flame at his foe's backside. The reason he attacked that area, instead of focusing on the chest or maybe the parts of his arms that were exposed, was because despite all of Gnasty Gnorc's preparations he failed to make sure his rear was protected as well, something that caused him to jump up and down for a few seconds as he fanned the flames, before he regained his senses and gripped his warhammer once more, something that was followed by him slamming the head onto the ground in a slightly different manner, one that kicked up a number of whirlwinds that rushed out to where everyone was standing. Bianca stepped forward and waved her hand for a second, where her magic washed over the area they were fighting in and seized control of the whirlwinds that were heading towards her friends, but instead of allowing any of them to maintain their form she converted them into a different wind spell and swung a wave of wind magic at their foe, where it formed a pair of three claws and cut some light gashes into their foe's chest, something that surprised Gnasty Gnroc for a few seconds as he staggered backwards, where Hunter rushed forward and swung his blades for a moment, mostly to distract their foe as his blades barely did any damage to his armor, but the force of Bianca's attack and his distraction was enough to make their foe fall backwards, where Amelia jumped onto Gnasty Gnorc's chest and forced herself into the air so she could punch him in the face, mostly since his face wasn't protected, even though that also let her propel herself back into the air and put some distance between her and their foe.
That seemed to piss Gnasty Gnorc off as he picked himself up and slammed his warhammer into the ground, even though this time around he put enough power into his attacks to cause part of the ceiling to fall in the form of earthen spikes, but as that happened Spike weaved his magic through the air and shifted the spikes into something else, quickly creating a pair of Earthen Fists in the air near him before he smacked their foe in the face a few times, something that allowed Spyro and Cynder to lash out with their runeblades, this time cutting into his chest armor with ease. Of course they didn't stop at just using the blades themselves, as in they both channeled the elements of their blades into a combination attack of the Wind and Shadow elements that slammed into their foe's chest and knocked him backwards easily, where Ember used the Fangs of Felinia and switched to their dagger form as she dug into part of their foe's armor, one of the weaker parts, and ripped it off not a few seconds later, something that caused Gnasty Gnorc to growl as he huffed in anger once more, which the group was totally fine with at this point, since it meant he might made some mistakes. Of course that anger caused him to break some of the nearby parts of the wall, even though that was due to him striking the ground with his warhamer and caused four sections of the walls to collapse in seconds, revealing four metallic posts that were channeling the power of Lightning, or electricity based on what they knew their foes used in the past, where he raised his weapon and loosed a burst of yellow lightning at Spyro, who smiled for a moment as Spike and Bianca landed in front of him and used their own magic to stall the attack and redirected it into their foe's chest, causing cracks to form in the chest piece of his armor and on the arms and leg sections as well. That, of course, didn't stop Gnasty Gnorc from drawing power from the nodes that were around the chamber they were fighting in and hurl it at the group, showing that his intelligence wasn't as good as the foes from some of their past adventures, where Spike took charge of turning his magical power against him while Bianca used her Ice magic to slow down his arms and legs so the others could attack him while he was distracted by what was going on in front of him, where they dealt damage to both his armor and the rest of his body, before Flame and Aurora rushed forward and, despite their lack of experience fighting enemies, joined both Ember and Cynder in lashing out at the warhammer and knocked it out of their foe's hands.
"NO! I can't believe that you guys have defeated me again?!" Gnasty Gnorc stated, showing that he actually knew what they had been talking about earlier and that he knew that he had been defeated, which made sense due to his ruined armor, all of the scratches that were lingering on his arms and legs, and the couple of bruises that Amelia put on his face, before he growled for a moment as he noticed that his foes were now guarding his warhammer, preventing him from claiming his weapon and channeling the power of the nodes, even if the latter was totally useless in the grand scheme of things, which caused him to fall to his knees for a moment, "I guess its about time that I went back to my realm... just as soon as I take all of you would-be heroes out with me!"
In that moment Spike used his magic and pulled out the Scepter of Crystallization, something that caused Gnasty Gnorc to pause for a moment as soon as he spotted what was going on, before he loosed a burst of magic from the scepter and let it hit his target in the chest, where everyone watched as he sealed Gnasty Gnorc inside a crystalline statue for the second time in his life, and hopefully it would stay this way, before a Fairy emerged from the warhammer and thanked them for freeing her, even if she realized that they had been here to stop their foe and not rescue her, which was when she headed outside and the group did the same thing as Spike made a walkway back to the entrance of the cave. The reason they did that was because they were sure that the Professor would have the teleportation device ready and that, with Gnasty Gnorc defeated, he would be able to send them to the next homeworld with ease, so they could tackle whatever challenges it and the new realms had for them, and sure enough their friend was standing beside the device in question, where he quickly informed the group that this would allow all of them to teleport over to Lost Cities, the second homeworld of Capora, and it would drop them in the realm known as Coastal Remains, so they could resume their quest to stop Red, who was either lurking somewhere in Icy Wilderness or Volcanic Isle. Spyro and the others nodded, showing the Professor that they knew what they were going to do next, and stepped onto the platform that was in front of them, though they were told that they had to teleport over to the next homeworld one at a time, as there were a few kinks in the machine and that he was sure he would have it taken care of by the time they cleared out the next island of enemies and Dark Gems, to which they used the machine and moved forward, as it was time to see what else the enemies of Capora had in store for them.
It didn't take Spyro and the others all that long to teleport from Dragon Kingdom and reappear in Lost Cities, the second of the four homeworlds of Capora, where Spyro was the first one to appear on the beach that seemed to be the starting area for this realm and walked off the teleport pad that had allowed him to instantly get from one place to another, opening the way for Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the others to appear on the pad of the machine that the Professor installed in all four lands that Red was in the middle of taking over, though from what Spyro could tell this place seemed normal, as it had plenty of sand and some trees that were just fine. Of course there just so happened to be a cave in this area as well, one that had the sinister vines covering the area in front of it and a magical barrier keeping the tunnel or passage safe, meaning they would have to find a number of Dark Gems and smash them, as Spike was sure that by smashing the ten Dark Gems that had been scattered throughout Dragon Kingdom they were able to lower the barrier that protected Gnasty Gnorc's new lair, so he was sure that they needed to smash all of the Dark Gems that were scattered throughout this land to do the same thing to the barrier that was near their position. Another thing some of them noticed were the couple of large see shells that rested around this area, one that seemed like it had been converted into a temporary shop of some kind, given the fact they could see Moneybags standing inside the shell and he seemed to be going over something, meaning he might have some news for them before they got started on exploring this area, finding the Dark and Light Gems, and recovering any of the eggs that might be in the first realm of this homeworld.
"Spyro, its good to see that you and the others have arrived safe and sound," the Professor commented, which was when a hologram appeared in the space that was in front the teleportation pad, even though it was easy for Spike to tell that their friend had been studying the workings of the teleport pad and had been looking out for any problems that might have come from it being used by so many individuals, before they focused on the hologram and waited for it to tell them what else it had to tell them before they got started on, "I'm sorry you couldn't just teleport from one homeworld to the next as a group, but matter transportation is still in its early stages and I haven't ironed all the problems out, even though its a miracle nothing bad happened this time around... and trust me, if I had been given the time to do so, I would have asked Lady Nora to set up a few portals between the homeworlds, but we'll have to make due with what gadgets that we have access to, and I have no idea what's going on in this land, though I do know that the Dragon Elder you're looking for should be somewhere in Cloudy Domain."
"Don't worry about that, as I'm sure Moneybags will tell us what happened to this land," Spyro remarked, as he and the rest of the group could see that the bear was waiting for them to arrive, if the glance he shot their way was any indication, though even as he said that he and the others knew that it was still a little odd for them to be working with him, but he had turned over a new leaf and he was willing to give the bear a chance, especially since he was so willing to spy on what Red was doing and should be telling them about his plans.
The Professor nodded his head and the hologram disappeared, to which the group removed themselves from the teleport pad and walked over to the large shell that Moneybags had set up shop in, though as they did that it was easy to see that there were a few straw baskets, a pair of bullseye chests, some metallic chests, and a number of scattered gems, even if it was easy for them to spot the first golden chest of this land, to which they headed towards the shop and found that the bear was ready for all of them to arrive, hence the reason they came to a stop near his counter.
"I'm glad that you guys arrived safe and sound, and before you ask I have my own teleport pad that allows me to teleport between the four homeworlds of Capora," Moneybags stated, though while none of them had been thinking about that, as the bear had explained that all of his machines had been inspected by the Professor before he installed them in the lands that Red and his allies were in the middle of attacking, it was good to hear how he had gotten here in the first place, since he hadn't used the same machine that they had used to get to this land, "Now then, onto the business at hand: Red was here a few minutes ago, talking to some of the Gnorcs that were following Gnasty Gnorc's orders, and, in his anger at the defeat of one of his commanders, or whatever he calls them, he froze one of them in a chunk of ice and shattered it, which returned it to a pile of gems that he ignored and left behind, but before he left Red ordered a large obese mermaid to head out and keep an eye out for all of you, though she had green skin, a blue tail, and a golden belt of some kind that had one of those Dark Gems on it."
"Ineptune? She's involved in this madness?" Aurora inquired, informing the group that she and Flame had some idea as to who Moneybags was talking about, while at the same time Spike thought about the placement of the smaller Dark Gem, a dark fragment possibly, making him wonder if it was possible that Red was brainwashing some of his allies into working for him and the Dark Master, "She's a powerful mermaid, so much so that she developed the ability to spew toxic slime, or at least that is what the rumors and stories claim, but she's been silent for some time and none of the Elders have said anything about her for some time... its hard to imagine that Ineptune would willingly join Red..."
"Well, she's out there, and Red's likely headed off for another homeworld to make sure the rest of his operations are just fine, which is all I have to share," Moneybags said, even though what he had given them was more than enough, as it did look like Red was upset over what was going on and that meant he might make a mistake, something that they could use against him in the future, before he sighed and rubbed the back of his head for a few seconds, "it would seem that Red doesn't trust me and won't share anything with me, so all I can offer you is what he's doing in the lands he's trying to take over and give you an idea as to who might be standing in your way... though let me warn you that there's something... off about Red, something I can't put my finger on, so be careful when you face him."
"Its okay, you did your best." Elora replied, which was odd due to the fact that they were so used to an evil Moneybags and not the more friendlier one that they were dealing with, though he was helping them to the best of his abilities and that was all they could ask for, even if Red wasn't giving him any information that he could hand over to them, before she took a moment to grin as the others did the same thing, even though they did have to wonder what the bear meant about the odd feeling that Red gave off when Moneybags saw him, "but leave the exploration of this land to us, as we'll take care of all of the enemies that are attacking this homeworld and smash the Dark Gems that Red scattered around the realms, then we'll see to dealing with Ineptune and heading to the third land."
What the group did, after speaking to Moneybags, was explore the area that was around them and made sure to smash all of the straw baskets, metallic chests, and the bullseye chests that were scattered all over the starting point of this land, all while Spike headed over to the golden chest and unlocked it with the spell Moneybags had given him, though he was a little disappointed in the fact that all that was a cluster of gems, instead of an egg or a Light Gem, but he guessed it was better than leaving it locked and making them wonder what was inside the container. It was easy to see that there were a few paths for them to pick from, where some were likely dead ends or paths back to this area, or maybe they were wrong, though the one they picked out was the seashell that rested near Moneybags' shop, one that just so happened to have an opening at the top of it that allowed them to access a tunnel, which appeared to bring them to a clearing of sorts that had a village made of stone buildings, where a small creature, one that was like a hairless mole and was wearing a tiki mask over its face, emerged from the house that was in front of them and pointed a spear at them. Spike was able to determine that this was a Pygmy, a tribe of cannibals that ate anyone and everyone that they killed, so what happened next was that Hunter drew his blades and parried the incoming thrust before cutting down their foe, something that was followed by it transforming into a pile of gems, meaning that either the real tribe had been killed by Red and revived in the form of loyal gem creations or the real tribe was elsewhere in the land and Red had created a mimicry of them, though that was when Elora flew into the air and did a backflip when she was above the house, something that was followed by her performing the Horn Dive on the house, as there was a bullseye on top of it and smashed it to pieces, as she had the feeling that it had been designed to be a endless spawn point for the Spear Pygmy, so named by Spike in the off chance that there were a few more types of Pygmy in this land. Of course that was when Aurora corrected the group as Ember quickly flew over to the other house that was in this area, so she could smash it to pieces, as there were no other types of Pygmy in Lost Cities, so all of them were carrying spears and there was no need to add a label to them, to which Spike nodded his head as soon as he heard that and made sure to make a note of that fact, though once both of the houses were taken care of the group made sure to smash all of the straw baskets and metallic chests that were in the area.
Before they moved out of this area, and moved deeper into this realm, they spotted a Gnorc Brute that was standing near one of the golden mysterious doors that they had found earlier, to which Spyro walked over to the area it rested in and charged into the Gnorc's chest, causing the armor to fall off it, before Amelia loosed an arrow into their foe's chest, all to reduce it to gems, and allowed the others to enter the area, where Ember smashed a bullseye chest before Spike weaved his magic through the air and made sure the door recognized the Light Gems they were carrying, where the door split in half and opened the way for them to see what was on the other side of it. There was a tunnel on the other side of the gold door, a short tunnel based on what they were seeing, though it brought them to a hidden area that didn't look like it could be accessed from another part of this realm, but that was when Ember growled as she heard the sound of a Thief in this area, something that caused her to rush out and spot the creature in question, to which she charged after it while the rest of the group smashed the straw baskets and other containers that were in here, even if Bianca focused her magic on the couple of Archer Gnorcs that lined the upper area and blasted them into the wall behind them, while at the same time Elora and Hunter dealt with the Gnorc Brute that was near the end of the tunnel. As it turned out Ember was able to take down the Thief that was running around the area and claimed the white egg, which had green dots over part of it, one that Spike sent back to the Nursery as soon as Ember handed it over to him, though that was around the time that they noticed that Cynder had separated from them and was in the process of returning to where they were standing, revealing that she had found some straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a Light Gem to add to their collection, something that caused Spike to raise his eyebrow in surprise, as he found it hard to believe that there was a Light Gem hidden behind a door that needed a certain number of Light Gems to open it up. After Cynder returned to them, and made sure to add the Light Gem to their collection, the group finished off everything else that was in this area and headed back to the doorway that allowed them to enter this hidden area in the first place, before they walked over to a ledge that had a Gnorc Brute standing above the area they came to a stop in, something that was followed by Spike freezing it with a burst of Ice Shards so Spyro could smash it with a charge.
Once that was done they headed down the tunnel that the Gnorc Brute had been guarding and found that there were a few swinging traps, where the normal ones would be using logs and these ones were using large seashells as defenses, to which the group moved forward, by going one at a time and not charging forward as an entire group, allowing them to get beyond both of the traps, even though there was another one right beyond it, before the path brought them to an area that had the first of the Dark Gems of this realm, which was being guarded by a Gnorc Brute. As such Ember rushed over to where their foe was standing and used the Fangs of Felinia to slice apart its armor so Bianca could blast it in the chest, though once the Gnorc fell, and revealed that there were a few metallic containers near the Dark Gem, Elora flew into the air and smashed the gem to pieces, something that caused the darkness in this area to fade away while stone pillars rose out of the water, including one that happened to have a cannon on it, which interested Hunter, not that the group was even a little surprised by what they were seeing. Ember headed back to where the rest of the group was standing as Elora carried Hunter over to where the cannon was resting and dropped him near it, where her friend grinned for a moment as he assumed control over the weapon and fired upon the rest of the part of the realm that they were in, blowing open all of the metallic containers that were scattered around this area and even the door that was blocking the way forward, which allowed everyone else to pick up the gems that were resting near the shattered Dark Gem, leaving some of the other gems for later, since it appeared that they could use some poles to get to an area that an egg rested in, before they headed for the no longer blocked path Hunter had opened up. Spyro was the only one who bothered to use the poles that were near them, as Ember and the other dragons flew through the air while Bianca teleported everyone else to the opening that had been resting behind a metallic door, though it was easy for him to discover that the egg was the one with the red top, a yellow zigzag, and a purple bottom, even though that was when Spike joined him and sent the egg back to the Nursery as the others entered the tunnel that was beyond the door Hunter had blown up, which had more of the seashell traps that were standing in their way.
What was surprising was that when they reached the end of the tunnel it was easy to discover a cracked section of the wall that Ember smashed through, which was when the surprise came in when they found a second Dark Gem resting near the area that the first one was resting in, something that was followed by Flame smashing it to pieces with the Horn Dive, but that caused some stone pillars to raise out of the ground to their right and formed a walkway back down to the start of this realm, before they glanced out at the rest of this area and found that there was a Light Gem off in the distance and a dragon egg resting near the top of a tower. As it turned out there was a ledge for one of them to glide down to and it was when Aurora did so, showing that she wanted to be useful to the heroes, where she glided over to one of the platforms and started to cross them, using some of the floating seashells to get further along the path that was in front of her, which was when she found her way to the tower and recovered the light green egg, something she delivered to Spike as the rest of the group came to a stop near a cracked portion of the rock wall that was near the tower, where the egg was sent back to Nanny and the other eggs they had recovered, before Ember smashed the wall open as they determined that the Light Gem could be recovered later on, no doubt when they circled back to this area again. What the group found inside the tunnel was a bipedal turtle who was wearing a white robe with blue sides, a green shirt over a white part of the robe, and a red hat that had a white flower attached to it, though the smile on her face, and they were sure that it was female based on what they were seeing at the moment, informed them that it was either an ally or someone that was in need of their assistance, where the latter was common when they explored lands that were in the middle of someone trying to enforce their rule over everyone. The other thing that the group could tell, from looking at the tunnel they were in, was that the end of the tunnel seemed to have collapsed at some point in the past, to the point where it looked like it might be more of a dragonfly area and less of an area that they could explore like they did to the rest of the parts of the realms that they had passed through in the past, though that was when the group came to a stop in front of the bipedal turtle, all to see what sort of trouble she needed them to deal with before they headed towards another part of this realm.
"Ah, you must be the heroes that the Professor and the Elders mentioned," the bipedal turtle said, her tone revealing that she must have realized that saying all of their names, like some of the others had done when they met them earlier, was a waste of time and that she had something more important to tell all of them, hence the reason that the group remained silent as they waited for her to say something, before she opened her mouth to continue speaking, "Listen, my hatchlings can't seem to get into the water, and, naturally, with me being a turtle I want my newborn children to be able to go into the ocean unsupervised. Do you think you can help me out?"
"Sure we can." Aurora replied, knowing that, if what she had seen so far was any indication, the Turtle Mother, as both she and Flame knew the individual as, would be just like Fredneck, meaning that if they helped her out she might give them a reward, possibly one of the missing dragon eggs and a Light Gem, before she glanced at the others and they nodded not even a few seconds later, showing that they agreed with what she was saying, something that seemed to please the Turtle Mother as she beckoned for them to follow her, where it appeared that she used some sort of magic to removed the rocks that were in the way, meaning it had been placed that way to protect her hatchlings.
As it turned out the tunnel brought them to a section of the beach that they wouldn't have been able to access normally, even though the oddest thing in the area was the cannon that was in front of them, where the majority of the group took a step back and allowed Hunter to step forward, as he had the best skill when using this type of weapon, where they learned that there were twenty turtles in the first group and that they needed to be protected, to which Hunter nodded his head and focused on the area that was in front of them, something that was followed by some vultures and crabs emerging to take down the hatchlings. It was actually a little surprising when they noticed how many enemies were emerging from the sand or flying out of the air, something that was followed by Hunter and Amelia nodding their heads towards each other as Amelia started loosing arrows into the area that rested in front of them, mostly focusing on all of the vultures that were in the air so her brother could focus on knocking out all of the crabs, though while that happened Bianca stepped up and watched what was going on, because if more enemies showed up the pair of Cheetahs would need help dealing with the extra surge of foes. Once the first class, as the Turtle Mother called them, was safe and sound she revealed that the next class was getting ready to head out from the safe area that they were contained in, to which the Cheetah siblings turned their attention to the area that was out in front of them and opened fire on every foe that was in front of them, making sure to protect every hatchling who emerged from the safe area as they took down the vultures and crabs that came out to take them down, even though this time around Bianca lashed out with small Lightning Bolts to shock some of their foes so either Hunter or Amelia could take them out, or her spell would fry them in seconds, something that was followed by the rest of the group staring out at the beach as they watched what was going on, Spike making notes of everything that he and the others were seeing. Now that they understood what was going on it was rather easy for Hunter and Amelia, not to mention Bianca, to take down all of the enemies that were trying to harm the hatchlings and make the area safe for all of them to head out, all so they could enjoy the beach without having to worry about predators coming to take them away from their mother, though once the second class was safe, and no more came out of the hidden area, that was when the Turtle Mother gave them their rewards for assisting her, a red and purple egg with yellow zigzag pattern and a Light Gem, which Spike dealt with a few seconds later.
Once that was done the group headed outside and headed for the other path that they hadn't checked out yet, one that just so happened to have another golden chest near it, so while Ember and Cynder flamed the pair of Pygmy enemies that were near the tunnel's opening Spike walked over to the area that the chest was in and opened the chest, finding another pile of gems inside it, to which he sighed for a moment and collected them, though once that was done, and both Ember and Cynder had taken down their enemies, they headed into the tunnel and wondered what else this realm would throw at them before they were done clearing Coastal Remains of Dark Gems, Light Gems, stolen dragon eggs, and enemies, just like all of the other areas they had cleared out in the past. This tunnel happened to have some crabs guarding it, as in one of the normal ones that had been bothering the turtle hatchlings while the other one had a blue armored shell that had a few white spikes sticking out of it, meaning it was an Armored Crab, though when Spyro whacked the Crab with his tail, a very simple attack that did wasted none of his energy and actually took out the Crab, which made him frown, before Elora kicked the Armored Crab before it could use its pincers on one of them and knocked it onto its back, opening the way for Cynder to use the Horn Dive to smash it into the ground, resulting in more gems falling for them to collect. There were two more Crabs resting beyond where the Armored Crab had been standing, who were easy to take out as Flame took a moment to whack them with his tail, before they emerged from the tunnel and found that they had backtracked to the area that Moneybags had set up his shop in, meaning they needed something else to get the Light Gem that they left in the previous area, though they decided to ignore it for the time being as they headed over to one of the two paths that were near the cave that would lead them to Ineptune's lair, to which the group jumped up into the closest one to the cave and found that there were a few Armored Crabs waiting for them. It was around that time that Cynder used her Wind magic in a different way, she created a small gust under both of the Armored Crabs that were in front of them and made sure to knock them both onto their backs, opening the way for Ember to smash the first one while Spyro repeated that on the second one, once more displaying that the Horn Dive was a rather impressive move to Flame and Aurora, especially given that it could be used in other instances, besides smashing the Dark Gems.
At the end of the tunnel they found four Pygmy tribesmen waiting for them, where Bianca froze one of them with a burst of her Ice magic, Flame torched one while smashing the ice block Bianca had formed, Amelia punched a third in the face to take it down, and Ember used her Emission skill to knock the fourth one, the larger of the group, onto the ground so Spyro could flame it into submission, though once all four of those enemies were reduced to a pile of gems the group moved forward and headed into the area of the realm that they had been guarding. The sign that was at the end of the tunnel seemed to warn them about all of the piranhas who were swimming around in the water that happened to be resting in front of them, to which they focused on the moving seashell platform that was near the end of the tunnel and let Spyro take the first ride, even though he spotted a Pygmy that was resting on the right side of the area and that caused Spike to fly over there so he could shock the foe in question, before he smashed the straw basket and bullseye chest that it had been guarding and returned to the area that the others were waiting in. Spyro revealed that the seashell path happened to have a dragon egg at the end of it, one of the purple ones with yellow stars on it, where Spike made sure it was safe as they heard that and teleported it back to the Nursery, even though he could see some sort of structure through the cracks that were in the area that the egg had been resting in, one that didn't appear to be anywhere near where they would be going in the future, so he put it at the back of his mind as he and Spyro returned to the others so they could see what else this place had in store for them. A few moments later they discovered that the only thing that had been in this area was the dragon egg, not counting all of the gems that had been collected, so everyone headed back through the tunnel that had brought them to this area and headed back to where Moneybags' shop rested, before heading over to where the next ledge was resting, even if this one had one of the Gnorc Brutes guarding it, who was taken out by Spike using an Earthen Spike not even a few moments later, to which the group climbed up to where the foe had been standing and headed into the tunnel that was up there.
What they discovered were a few Crabs and an Armored Crab that happened to be guarding the tunnel, to which all of the smaller enemies were simply kicked by Elora while Ember approached the other foe and knocked the Armored Crab onto its back, giving her the chance to smash it to pieces by using the Horn Dive, before they found a second one that was just beyond the area the first one was located in, something that was followed by Flame rushing forward and knocked his foe onto its back so Aurora could perform the Horn Dive on it, though once that was done they spotted a bipedal otter, who was wearing the attire of a surfer and had a surfboard in his hand, standing at the end of the tunnel, which seemed to be above a lowered pool of water.
"Dude! Some dudes drained my pool... like dude..." the surfer said, his tone revealing that he must have come here to surf for a time, to enjoy himself and not worry about whatever it was that was going on in the realm or homeworld that he had come from, but he couldn't do that since there was next to no water in this cavern, save for the small amount that was in front of them, to which the group informed him that they would figure out what was going on and help him out, since it was possible that this problem was linked to a Dark Gem, something that put a smile on Otto's face, as that seemed to be his name, based on what was written on the surfboard.
What the group found was that there were five normal Crabs wandering around the area that was in front of them, even if they emerged from the sand and approached the group so they could use their pincers on them, so it was easy for Hunter and Amelia to kick them, just like how Elora had done in the past, and take all of them down as Ember and Cynder took a moment to smash the couple of metallic chests that were around the area, though once that was done they found a few steps that a Gnorc Brute was protecting, this one having armor this time around. Aurora charged forward and stuck their foe in the chest, knocking all the armor off of their target, before she moved out of the way as Elora rushed forward and struck it down with a swift kick to the face with the side of her transformed leg, though while their foe fell she noticed two of the Gnorc Warriors, the sword wielding Gnrocs, guarding what appeared to be the opening to the next section of this realm, to which she moved out of the way as Cynder moved into the area and used her runeblade to parry an incoming attack from the first foe. As she did that Spyro did the same thing with the second one, where he also took a moment to parry the incoming attack, where both he and Cynder pushed their foes backwards and cut the Gnorc Warriors down, but after both of the Gnorcs were defeated they came to an area that appeared to be a water wheel that had to be connected to the pool that was outside this tunnel, though another thing they found were a few of the Critters from the swamp off to their left, who were frozen by Spike loosing a wave of Ice magic at them and Bianca blasting that to pieces with a quick Lightning Bolt, where both spells had been weaker than normal since they didn't need to waste a bunch of energy on the weaker enemies of this area. The group spent a few moments making sure there were no other paths for them to take, as the only way into this cavern was the tunnel they had used a few moments ago, something that was followed by them looking at the machine that rested in front of them, where Spike noticed a pair of poles and realized that someone would have to use the Pole Spin technique to power the machine, to which Aurora climbed up to the highest point of this area and latched onto the closest pole, before jumping to the next one and waited as it rotated back to the starting position, so she had to jump between them a few times and restored power to this area.
A few moments later the machinery started up and Aurora jumped off it, where she joined the others as they headed back to the opening of this tunnel and discovered that the water had risen back to the height it was supposed to be at, to which they headed over to the ruined tower that rested across from the area that the tunnel was located in and found a hole for them to fall through, which allowed them to access another passage, which brought them to an area that one of the shop pads was located in, including some metallic chests and straw baskets, before the group spotted a Dark Gem and Spyro smashed it with the Horn Dive. What happened when the sinister gem was shattered was that the life returned to all of the trees that were around them and, at the same time, the stone walkway that would have allowed them to access the pair of tunnels that were in front of them was restored before their eyes, where they headed down the left tunnel, which was being guarded by a Gnorc Archer that Hunter downed with an arrow not even a few seconds later, before they found that there were a few more of that type of enemy in the next part of the tunnel that was beyond the first one, which was when Amelia loosed an arrow and took the first one down, something that opened the way for the rest of the group to approach the remaining two Gnorc Archers. Spyro loosed a burst of his Lightning Breath and shocked the first one while Ember smacked the other one into the ground, though once that was done Cynder used her Shadow Play skill and struck both of the Gnorc Brutes that were guarding this part of the realm, knocking their armor off, which was when Ember took out the first one with her Emission skill while Elora lashed out with her leg and struck the second one into the wall, but as soon as those enemies were taken care of Spike flew up to the highest stone platform and collected the light blue egg that was up there, one that he sent back to the Nursery as soon as he made sure it was safe and sound, leaving the others to smash the straw baskets and collect the gems before they headed back outside.
What they found inside the other tunnel was a bunch of gems, a pair of straw baskets, a pair of metallic chests, a bullseye chest, and another water wheel that was followed by Flame walking over to the platforms that would allow him to restore the power to this area and started to jump between the three of them, something that was followed by them shifting not a few seconds later, sort of like what happened when Aurora did the earlier one, though it wasn't long before he was able to come to a stop when the machine was pumping at full power, which was when he rejoined the rest of the group as they headed outside, only pausing near the shop pad when they spotted Blink emerging from the ground near it.
"Hey guys, I uncovered another dangerous area to explore, and I might be able to find some things for you," Blink said, as he knew that the group was looking for all of the stolen eggs, Light Gems, and Dark Gems that they could find, so hearing that he might have located some of what they were looking for was good to hear, even though he gestured towards the hole that he had emerged from, as if he wanted them to know where the underground area was located, before he took a moment to glance at them again, "So, what do you say?"
"Go head and see what you can find." Spyro replied, to which the group nodded their heads for a moment and Blink did the same thing not a few seconds later, to which he dived back into the hole he had created and headed for the area that he had seen while he was underground, something that was followed by the group taking up some positions around the shop pad so they could rest and recover from some of the battles they had been in, even though they hadn't expanded all that much energy since they arrived in this homeworld.
Spike did spot a tunnel near the shop pad, though according to the Guidebook it would bring them to the next realm of this homeworld, meaning that it was one of their next destinations when he thought about it, to which he focused on what he was doing, writing down all of the stuff that had happened since they stopped to help the Turtle Mother and both of the schools of hatchlings that she wanted to make sure were safe and sound, even though he was sure that they would be able to get one or two more Light Gems once Blink was done exploring the area he had discovered, as there was one near Otto and it was possible that the bipedal otter had a second for them. As it turned out Blink did find a dragon egg and one of the Light Gems, where the dragon egg was one of the light blue ones, to which Spike made sure the egg was sent back to Nanny and the other eggs while storing the Light Gem away, though once their friend assured them that there was no more items for him to collect, at least for the time being, Blink headed back into the ground and started to look out for a brand new area for him to explore, which meant they would meet up with him again and the group moved out of the area so they could head back to where Otto was standing. What they discovered was that there were a few bullseye chests near the area the otter was in and both Ember and Cynder made sure to smash them as Spike collected the Light Gem that was at the top of a ruined pillar, before they regrouped near Otto and found that he was incredibly happy with what they had done for him, as the pool was almost entirely pull of water at this point, which was when he rewarded them with one more Light Gem for their collection. Once that was done the group returned to the area that Moneybags' shop was in, for this particular realm anyway, because they were going to use the area to regroup for a moment and decide which direction they were going to explore next, as they had to pick between Sunken Ruins or heading into Cloudy Domain, though once all three of the areas were cleared out the way to Ineptune's lair would be opened and they would be able to free this land from Red's grasp, even though they did have to wonder what else Red was planning, as there had to be something more than trying to take over the lands in his plans.
What Spyro and the others did was head back to the area that they had found Blink in, as he had decided that the next realm they were going to tackle would be Sunken Ruins, which meant exploring the tunnel that was near the shop pad they had discovered in that area, taking down any enemies that were over there, and then see if they could figure out where the ruins were located, since he figured that a realm that had the word 'sunken' in its name either had a teleport pad, a portal, or even a protected elevator for the residents of the land to use, something that would be proven as soon as they found the area they were looking for. As such it didn't take all of them long to return to the area they found Blink in and quickly found the tunnel they had spotted earlier, where a Gnorc Archer stood in their way and happened to be raising its bow so it could fire an arrow at one of them, something that was followed by Bianca freezing it with a burst of her Ice magic and opened the way for Ember to smash through it, dropping more gems for them to pick up, before they paused for a moment as they found some more of the seashell traps in the part of the tunnel that was in front of them, the swinging traps that were easy for them to dodge as they moved forward. There were also four Pygmy on the other side of the swinging seashells, who looked like they had a bone to pick with whoever was near them, to which Cynder took care of all of them by using her Shadow Play spell and knocked all four of her targets into the walls that were around them, restoring her foes to their true gem state, before discovering that there was another set of seashell traps that rested beyond the first set, something that she and the others carefully navigated around before they found a pair of metallic chests that rested near the end of the tunnel, which lead out to part of the land that had to be where the path to Sunken Ruins rested.
As such the group made sure to smash the chests as they walked outside, where they found an armored Gnorc Brute who was standing in the middle of the area, or rather it was close to the tunnel's exit, though that didn't stop Elora from using her feet to smash the armor off of their foe's body and opened the way for Spyro to strike it down before it even had a chance to retaliate, allowing the group to spread out and see what else the area had in store for them, before finding the way down to their destination. One thing they noticed was that this beach had some ruins under the water, meaning this was definitely the area that they needed to be in, though the first thing they did was smash open the straw basket, a pair of metallic chests, and a bullseye chest that were off on the right side of the area, coming out of the tunnel anyway, not to mention picking up the gems that had been resting in front of them, before the group paused as all of them noticed that all of the breakable containers had been taken care of and regrouped near some of the ruins that would allow them to access the next realm. Once they had regrouped Spyro was the first one to jump up onto the small ruined area that was in front of them, before jumping up into the ruined tower that rested behind it, before he jumped down onto the ruined walkway that was in front of him and carefully made his way over to the next ruined tower, something that was followed by Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of the group following after him, though as they moved towards the next structure Aurora dropped into the water that was near the second tower and found a Light Gem for them to collect, one that caused Spike to return to where she was standing and collected the gem in question, before they headed over to where the rest of the group was waiting for them. After that they made sure to smash a couple of straw baskets that were on the lower level of the next structure, while at the same time smashing the bullseye chest that was on the upper level that the majority of them were walking on, before they spotted something interesting, one of the final structures of this area had a Dark Gem that had been stabbed into the floor and was in the middle of corrupting this area, while no doubt blocking the way into the next realm, which was why Spike stood still as he observed what happened next as Spyro smashed the sinister gem, which caused the ruins, a circular dome and some pillar, to rise out of the part of the beach that they had been trapped in and came to a stop once they reached a certain point.
With the Dark Gem destroyed the group jumped up the couple of pillars that were around the central dome and found out that something interesting, there were a number of cracks all over the glass dome and that was followed by Ember using her tail to smash it, even though both Flame and Aurora moved at the same time, showing Spike that they understood what needed to be done and didn't seem all that upset by the dome's destruction in the slightest, to which the group took a moment to jump down onto the platform that was in front of them and stopped as it shifted, sinking in the circular tube that seemed to take them to the next realm they would be exploring. It took the group a few minutes to reach the bottom of the circular tube, something that gave them a chance to see some odd windows that could have allowed them to see outside, if they had been freshly installed anyway since these ones were pretty dull from age, before the platform came to a stop and the group was able to move forward, finding that they were definitely in a circular chamber that looked like it belonged to a ruin that rested below the water, if the moss growing from the ceiling was any indication of the condition of this area, before they walked forward and smashed the small dark crystal that was in front of them, not to mention to pair of straw baskets that rested near it. In the next chamber they found three of the Swamp Critters, or in this case they were more like Ruin Critters given the area they were resting in, that seemed to be guarding a green scaled creature that looked like it had been a Gnorc at one point, though its legs had been merged into a fish tail that allowed it to slither around the area it was in, like a snake creature of sorts, and it looked more like a fish than the normal Gnorcs they had faced since this adventure had started, though it was carrying a trident that had three points, meaning it was armed and was likely trying to guard this ruin from them, or whoever tried to invade it. Bianca used a quick burst of Fire magic to burn the Ruin Critters into the ground and reduced them to a pile of gems in a matter of seconds, though once that was done Elora took a step towards the Trident Mer-Gnorc, as Spike was going to call it since he was sure there were other variations of this new type of enemy, where she kicked it in the chest and knocked it into the wall, something that was followed by another pile of gems falling onto the ground.
Once that was done Spike stepped forward and unlocked the golden chest that the Trident Mer-Gnorc had been guarding, even though he had to frown a little as he found a pair of Lightning Bombs, which were basically the same as the fire ones they had found earlier, inside the chest, though he added them to their collection as Flame smashed the bullseye chest that rested nearby, though as soon as all of that was done they turned towards the opening that was to the right of the short tunnel they had walked through to reach this chamber and smashed through a dark crystal as they headed into a new chamber that one of Moneybags' shop pads rested in, even though there was a door to the left of the first tunnel that was likely a backtrack point once they reached the end of the ruins. What they found inside the chamber with the shop pad were two more bullseye chests, which were smashed by Ember and Cynder, before they spotted a Trident Mer-Gnorc standing in front of a door that seemed to be the way forward, which was when Spike shocked it with his Lightning Breath and took it out, as he was sure he could save the majority of his power for later, when they were face to face with a larger group of enemies or something, though once the chamber was cleared out they walked towards the door and it opened up without any of them having to do something specific, like find a key or pull a lever. The chamber or tunnel that was on the other side of the door in question was blocked and part of the floor had been shattered at some point before they had arrived, a hole that revealed an underwater area for them to explore, to which Spike made sure everyone had the Water Safety rune on them, something that Bianca told Flame and Aurora about while he added the rune to them, though once all of them were equipped with the rune in question Spike nodded and Spyro dived into the water, where the rest of the group did the same thing not even a few seconds later, as it was time to see what they could find under the water and just how many enemies they would need to take out before they reached the next part of the ruins. For the most part it looked like this was going to be a small tunnel of sorts that allowed the group to get around the blockage that was the collapsed ceiling they had spotted when they walked through the door, though there were two Trident Mer-Gnorcs waiting for them and that caused Spike to rush forward and charge right into the chest of the one that was the closest to them, leaving the other one for Cynder to take down in the same way, before they smashed a few glass vases that were near them and then jumped out of the water, by using the other hole that was near their location.
As they jumped out of the water Spyro spotted one of the Trident Mer-Gnorcs standing in front of a golden chest, which was followed by Hunter rushing forward and using his blades against their foe, one blade parrying the incoming attack his foe sent his way while the other one cut the modified Gnorc down with ease, though once that was done he stepped aside and let Spike check out what was inside the golden chest, which was followed by a pink egg with the white flower design popping out of it, to which he made sure it was safe and sound before sending it to the Nursery. With that done the group returned to the hole that they had jumped out of and found a door that was on the other side of the area they happened to be standing in, to which they leapt over the hole and approached the next area of the ruins, which was a chamber that had a Dark Gem resting in the center of it, surrounded by a number of dark crystals, along with some metallic chests, a few metallic containers, and what appeared to be vents that might open some whirlwinds in this area for them to use, which would allow them to move deeper into the ruins. Elora smashed the Dark Gem not a few seconds later, while at the same time Flame and Aurora cleared out every dark crystal that rested around them, though once the sinister gem was broken the darkness faded from the chamber they were in and the four fans activated, creating four whirlwinds that would allow them to explore the rest of the area that the group was currently standing in, though as the majority of them focused on all of the sides of the chamber Spike used the four whirlwinds to access the highest point of the chamber, one that just so happened to be the resting place of another pink egg with a white flower design on it, though once the egg was sent off he glided over to a platform that had a bunch of gems, a bullseye chest, and a straw basket, to which he collected every gem that was in the area and then glided over to the next platform. The reason behind him doing that was because he found a golden chest up there and, possibly more important given the nature of what he found inside some of the previous chests in these lands, was a firework that would smash one or two of the metallic containers that were near where the Dark Gem had been resting, though the chest just so happened to contain a Light Gem and he added it to the collection, before he lit the firework's fuse and sent it flying through the air, where it flew down into the area below him and smashed three of the metallic containers to pieces, though as he flew down to where the others were waiting to watched as the freed gems that had been inside the containers were collected and added to their gem bag.
As soon as the containers were broken the group headed up some stone steps and approached a tunnel that had one of the dark crystals inside the start of it, where Aurora smashed it with a quick headbutt and picked up the gems it dropped a few seconds later, though once that was done they headed down the short tunnel, as it was rather short, and entered a small chamber that had some straw baskets, a bullseye chest, a golden chest, a hole that would allow them to head under water, and what Spyro and the others had to assume was a mermaid, a female figure who had pale skin, a light brown vest of some kind over her chest, and a fish tail that was striped, switching between blue and purple, and when they came to a stop the mermaid looked at them with interest in her eyes.
"Oh, hello there. What sort of fish are all of you?" the mermaid asked, showing them that she was incredibly interested in what they were and seemed to be mistaking all of them for the various types of fish they had seen in the past, making all of them wonder how long it had been since someone had come to visit the residents of the ruin, before she tilted her head for a moment as she stared at them for a few more seconds, almost like she was surprised to see that each of them were missing something important, in her eyes anyway, "Also, where are your fins?"
"We're not fish, nor do we have fins, as most of us are dragons, with some being Cheetahs and one being a rabbit," Spike replied, as he felt that correcting her now would be good for later on, so she didn't get stuck calling them fish all the time or pass on that information to the rest of the mermaids and their various allies, even though it was a little hard to make a call on what Elora was, since she was half faun half dragon, before he and the others focused on the mermaid as he told her what their names were and beckoned to the others as he revealed their names, "My name is Spike, and this is Spyro, Cynder, Ember, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Amelia, Flame, and Aurora, and we're here to smash any Dark Gems that have been scattered around the ruins, take down Red's forces, and restore this realm's order to what it used to be."
"Well, dragon fish, cheetah fish, and rabbit fish, here's a hit to help you out," the mermaid said, showing the group that she sort of understood what they were saying and that she was only partly listening to what Spike had told her, even though this meant she believed that all of them were creatures of the sea or of the water that surrounded the ruins, but since she was willing to give them a hint on what they needed to do in this realm they were more than willing to listen to her for a few more minutes, "to get through these ruins, you'll have to follow the markers that were set up a long time ago, by who I honestly have no idea."
Spyro and the others glanced at each other for a moment, silently deciding that there was no reason for them to even try to correct the mermaid as to what their true races were, since they were sure she'd screw it up again and call them by yet another underwater species, like a sea dragon for instance, before Spike headed over to the golden chest and unlocked it with his magic, leaving the rest of the containers to the rest of the group, before he found a Light Gem resting inside it, one that was added to the rest of the Light Gems they had collected so far as the normal gems were added to the gem bag, but once that was done they headed into the hole and moved deeper into the ruins. What they discovered were a couple of red gems that seemed to be sort of floating in the water, almost like they were forming a path of some kind, and that there were two Trident Mer-Gnorcs in the underwater area, to which Cynder and Ember smashed their way through them with ease as the others made sure to pick up the gems, before they reached the other side of the tunnel and jumped out of the water, allowing them to open the door that was in front of them and find that an Armored Crab was standing between them and a gadget pad that the Professor's hologram was waiting at, so Elora kicked the crab and allowed Spike to take it out with the Horn Dive so they could approach the gadget pad.
"Oh, hello everyone, allow me to reveal my latest invention to you, the Invincibility Gadget," the Professor said, which was rather interesting when they considered the area that they were entering, which had a number of dark crystals, a couple of straw baskets, a Trident Mer-Gnorc, and Armored Crab resting nearby, though that was when they spotted a hole near the pair of enemies that seemed to head into an acid filled area that had to lead them to the Light Gem that was trapped on the other side of a wall to their left, before they focused on the hologram once more, "yes, I know, I'm updating all of the Invincibility Gates that rested throughout Avalar and Avilion, in fact I used the Powerup Gates as inspiration for the brand new gadgets you've seen so far, and this should allow you to enter the pool of acid that's nearby, without having to worry about being harmed in the process."
"That's amazing." Aurora replied, as she and Flame couldn't believe that the Professor had been designing something like that this entire time, before Red and the Dark Master had started their assault on the lands of Capora, though even as she said that there was something that came to her mind as she recalled the Ball Gadget and the Supercharge Gadget that the group had seen so far, especially since they had gotten one of them to work, "So, how many Light Gems do we need to collect to power this gadget? I'm sure we don't have the forty needed for the Supercharge Gadget, so we might not have enough for this gadget either."
"According to my calculations, you will need twenty-four Light Gems this time around," the Professor stated, though at the same time he checked his readings and seemed to figure something out all on his own, which wasn't a surprise when they considered everything he had done since the day they met him and discovered what he was capable of, before he shifted his gaze away from the clipboard that he was working on and faced the group once more, "and, based on the reading that I'm getting, you have more than enough Light Gems to power this gadget, so have fun with your temporary invincibility as you explore the rest of the ruins."
The group nodded their heads, to show that they understood what the Professor was saying, even though most of them were slightly surprised by the fact that their friend claimed that they had the necessary Light Gems, especially since they expected the number to be higher than forty this time around, before the hologram disappeared and the group took turns walking over the Invincibility Gadget, where Spyro found that his body was coated in what appeared to be liquid metal of some kind, instead of the more molten appearance that the Invincibility Gate gave him, though this time since this wasn't lava Spike and Ember had to join him. Once all of them had the metallic coating over their bodies, just to see what each of them looked like, the first thing they did was take down the Trident Mer-Gnorc and the Armored Crab, the former falling to Spike's Lightning Bolt while the latter collapsed as Elora kicked it so Flame could perform the Horn Dive on it, and once all of their enemies were taken care of they smashed the couple of containers that were in the area, took care of the couple of dark crystals that rested around the chamber, and then returned to the gadget pad to restore their coatings to their full strength as they headed for the hole that rested nearby. What they discovered was that there was a short passage under the chamber that the group had been standing in, one that, for some odd reason, had a pair of propellers that were slowly spinning, like they were trying to block the way forward, though it was rather easy for them to charge passed the blades and reach the end of the tunnel, allowing each of them to jump out into the chamber that the tunnel had brought them to, one that seemed to be where the Light Gem they had spotted earlier was located, which meant it was one less thing they would have to backtrack for later on. Save for a straw basket and a metallic chest there was nothing else in the area, which was why Spike focused on collecting the Light Gem that was in front of them while Ember smashed the containers, though once that was done the group found that one of the glass windows that was in front of them, which had prevented them from jumping up into the area the gem had been resting in, was loose and that they could open it with ease, allowing all of them to drop back down into the area that the gadget pad was resting in and head for the tunnel the Trident Mer-Gnorc had been guarding, as it had to be the way forward.
What they discovered was that there were three straw baskets in front of them, which Spyro smashed with a wave of his tail as he walked by them, before they glided down a small drop that was partway through the tunnel and landed on the rest of the path they were following, where it looked like they would have to follow the path that was in front of them and were unable to climb back up to the area they had been, though of course they just fly back up to the area in question if they really wanted to, which was followed by the group focusing on the area that was at the end of the tunnel, a shop pad that rested in front of a door. Since none of them needed to buy anything from Moneybags, even if the bear wasn't in the mood to sell them anything since he was trying to help them out, Spyro approached the door and the group marched into the large chamber that was on the other side, one that had an Invincibility Gadget in front of them, a mass of gems resting near one of the walls, a Sparx sign left by Zoe, a dark crystal, a pair of straw baskets, a pair of metallic chests, and a hole in the floor that seemed to give them access to another part of the ruins, even though it was hard to see an area that would require them to use the new gadget. As such the group waited around the sign while Sparx and the other dragonflies flew into the hole in the wall that the sign was resting near, because this was an area for their friends to take on and they would no doubt return with a dragon egg and another Light Gem, just like the last time they headed into one of the cracks, which allowed the group to scatter for a moment and took up positions around the large chamber that they were in, though as they did that Bianca stopped by Spike and asked him about the mermaids, more in the sense if one of their spells could transform them into a shape that was similar to the mermaid's. Spike thought about it and determined that such a thing was possible, especially since Elora was a prime example of Transmogrification Magic, even if it was more like Chaos Magic and less like what Morrigan used to create her monsters, but at the same time it wasn't worth spending time and energy manipulating their forms to match what the mermaids had, especially since they could easily make their way through the ruins and overcome whatever was in front of them, which was when Bianca informed him that she wasn't going to do that, rather she was simply curious about his thoughts on the spell, before she walked over to the area that Hunter was in and kept an eye open for any enemies that might be coming at them.
When Sparx and the others returned the first thing they returned to the group was one of the yellow dragon eggs, which Spike made sure was perfectly fine and hadn't been damaged by the Thieves that had stolen all of them, though once the egg was in their possession the dragonflies also revealed that they had found a Light Gem, so Spike quickly stored the gem inside the bag the others were in before sending the dragon egg back to the Nursery, though once that was done they got up from the areas they had been resting in and regrouped, as it was time to plan out where they were going next and take on whatever challenges would be waiting for them. As it turned out the way forward was below them, as there was a pair of pipes that formed an area that they could wall jump between, a power that Flame and Aurora revealed that they could learn from one of the Dragon Elders, a skill that neither of them had learned before this point due to them assuming that they would never need such a skill in the first place, which was followed by the group heading through the hole in the floor and descended into the lower area that was below them, where a number of containers, being straw baskets and bullseye chests, happened to be resting. Of course that wasn't the only thing that they found down there, as there were a few Ruin Critters wandering around the area in question, especially near the tunnel that appeared to be the only way forward right now, to which they glided down into the chamber that was below them and Spyro flamed all three of the Ruin Critters into the ground, allowing the others to spread out and smash all of the containers that were scattered around the area, though he did see a seashell platform that could be powered with their Lightning Breath, if they wanted to get back up to the area that the second Invincibility Gadget was resting in. There were also a few metallic containers and a dark crystal, where the group left the containers alone for the time being, since they didn't have any fireworks in their immediate area, but made sure to smash the dark crystal before jumping up to where the tunnel was located and headed through it, which allowed them to smash some straw baskets, a few metallic chests, and a dark crystal as they moved deeper into the ruins, even if it seemed like they were getting further and further away from where the start of this realm was located, before they found a door that let them enter another part of the ruins, another chamber that needed to be cleared out of containers and any enemies that might be lurking behind the pillars.
What was interesting was the fact that there were no enemies in the part of the chamber that they walked into, giving the group a chance to simply smash all of the straw baskets, metallic chests, a bullseye chest, and some dark crystals that just so happened to be scattered around this chamber, before they found some stone steps that seemed to lead up to another level, something that was followed by them clearing out the rest of the floor they were on and then climbed up the steps so they could access the next floor. Once they reached the top step it was easy to find a golden chest resting nearby, not to mention a number of fish statues that seemed to be in the middle of firing what could be laser beams or bolts of energy at the wall that was opposite of where they were resting, to which Spike approached the chest and unlocked it, revealing one of the light green eggs with blue swirls, something that was immediately returned to the Nursery with his Teleportation Breath, allowing the others to focus on the area all of the statues were resting in. What they had to do next was easy for them to figure out, as they came to a stop after Spike recovered the latest egg and simply watched where all of the lasers went when they were fired from the statue they came from, which was when Spyro nodded and Amelia jumped into the area that was in front of them, where she jumped over the areas that all of the lasers were in, leapt across the gaps that rested between each set of fish statues, and quickly reached the end of the floor that they were standing on, landing next to a Light Gem that Spike could add to their collection, though as she did that the rest of the group followed her lead and quickly overcame the fish statues that were apparently protecting this area. As such it was easy for them to overcome the trap that had been set up in this chamber and collect the Light Gem that Amelia had landed near, along with smashing a bullseye chest and a pair of metallic chests, though once that was done they noticed that there was a seashell platform to the left of where the Light Gem had been resting and Spike used a Lightning Bolt to empower it, allowing the others to ride it up to the area it was supposed to take them to in groups of two, even though it actually brought them to a tunnel that ended with a dark crystal at the very end and a new chamber beyond that.
This chamber seemed to be more of a cylinder in shape and had a coiled ramp that allowed them to descend towards the bottom of it, something that was easy for the group to do since most of them glided down to the lowest part of this area and smash the dark crystal they found in front of another door, which lead them into yet another chamber, one that was full of scattered gems, metallic containers, straw baskets, metallic chests, dark crystals, an Invincibility Pad, a pool of acid, a bullseye chest, and some steps that lead to the area that was far above them. Of course the first thing the group did was smash all of the containers they could break, pooling the gems into the bag that Spike had created for the normal gems so none would be left on the floor for Red to come back and manipulate into enemies that would attack them later on, when they reached one of the later realms to help out, though once that was done the group walked over the Invincibility Pad and dived into the acid without delay, where it was easy for them to discover that there was a Light Gem resting below the floor they had been walking on, even though Spike realized the power it had been giving off must have protected the gem from the acid, to which they grabbed it and headed for the other opening that would allow them to leave the pool of acid that they were currently swimming through. When they reached the chamber that the other opening lead them to it was easy to see that there was a ruined statue that seemed to be freshly broken, to which Cynder smashed a pair of metallic chests and collected the gems that were around it, while Aurora smashed a bullseye chest and Flame dealt with a pair of straw baskets that rested near a dark crystal, before the group got back together as Spyro flew up to an area that a button was resting in, one that he smashed into the ground with the Horn Dive, though while he was expecting something in this chamber to change he and the others discovered that nothing new happened, to which Spike opened a temporary portal back to the other chamber and found that some poles had moved into position, something that caused Ember to head right through the portal so she could be in the other chamber.
What Ember was able to do was locate another button and used the Horn Dive on it as well, which caused three poles in the chamber that Spyro and Spike were in to emerge from their hiding spots and open the way to the highest point of this area, something that allowed Cynder, who volunteered to move next, to reach the highest point of this chamber and found a Dark Gem, surrounded by four dark crystals, up there, something that she smashed to pieces with her Horn Dive, where the destruction of the sinister gemstone caused the pair of statues and a tunnel to be restored to their former glory, even if it was a little odd that the statues looked like the Mer-Gnorcs, even though it was possible that the male merpeople were like this and Red took their form when he was messing with all of the Gnorcs that were guarding this place. Cynder also found a short tunnel that allowed her to access a firework that took care of the metallic containers that were in the other chamber, the one Ember was in, so that allowed her to break the containers and let Ember collect the gems that had been freed, which was around the time Cynder informed Spike of a golden chest she had found, to which he followed her over to where the chest was located and flew over to it, though when he unlocked it he discovered a light green egg with blue swirls resting inside it, one that he sent back to Nanny not even a few seconds after recovering it. Once that was done they regrouped with the rest of the group and headed through the tunnel that had been reconstructed, though it was in that moment that they found a Mer-Gnorc that happened to be holding some starfish, or maybe they were shuriken that had been made in the shape of starfish, but its weapons weren't enough to stop the group as Ember struck the Starfish Mer-Gnorc in the chest with her Emission skill, allowing the others to smash the bullseye chest and the dark crystal that were in the middle of the tunnel, which meant the area was cleared out in a matter of seconds and they proceeded to move even further into the ruins, making them wonder just how much more they would have to overcome before they reached the end of the structure and were allowed to return to the surface, as there had to be an exit that would take them to another part of the main beach they had been exploring earlier.
The path the Starfish Mer-Gnorc happened to be guarding happened to be coiled and allowed them to ascend to another level, one that happened to have another shop pad in front of a door, which seemed to be the telltale sign that they had reached a brand new area in the lands of Capora, based on what they had seen of the other realms, which was followed by the group walking into a circular chapter that had a floor that was mostly made of acid, save for a circular walkway that would allow them to access the rest of the chamber without having to deal with the pool of acid. What they had to do was head over to where a seashell platform was resting, which allowed them to see that there were a few metallic containers in this area and a golden chest in the area near the entrance they had walked through, to which Spyro and Spike took on all of the challenges of this chamber while the others remained near the ruined tunnel that would be restored once the Dark Gem that was responsible for its destruction was smashed to pieces, though Spyro focused on making his way around the area while Spike focused on the golden chest. As it turned out there were three buttons that were scattered around this chamber, ones that Spyro had to use the Horn Dive on, though when the first one was smashed into the ground a statue of a Mer-Gnorc rose out of the acid, or at least part of it did, and that revealed the location of the Dark Gem, though when he found and pressed the second button he and the others could see that the statue was attached to a platform that did seem to fit the pool of acid, so Spike figured that once all of the buttons had been pressed the pool of acid would be a thing of the past, even though that was when he noticed there were actually four buttons, not three. Once all four of the buttons had been pressed the statue rose out of the acid and put the Dark Gem high enough to where one of them could smash the sinister gem with ease, so while Flame did that Spyro made sure to ignite the firework that was nearby and let it blow apart the three metallic containers, freeing the gems that were inside it, before Flame broke the gemstone and the ruined entrance for the next tunnel restored itself a few seconds later, though once that was done Spike finally unlocked the golden chest and claimed the Light Gem that had been locked inside it, allowing him to catch up with the others not a few seconds later so they could head through the new tunnel and see what was on the other side.
The pair of Trident Mer-Gnorcs that were on the other side of the tunnel's entrance weren't expecting the group to enter the tunnel they were guarding, though Hunter and Amelia loosed their arrows into the first one and took it down within a few seconds, which was followed by Bianca blasting the second one in the chest with a Fireball, allowing them to enter a much smaller chamber that had two Crabs and an Armored Crab guarding the area, where Spyro flamed the smaller Crabs as Ember slammed into the Armored Crab to knock it onto its back, which was when Cynder smashed it into the ground as a few more normal Crabs appeared in another tunnel, though she used her Shadow Breath to take them out. There were another pair of Mer-Gnorcs standing past the second group of Crabs, one of the Starfish variety and the other being of the Trident variety, where Spike loosed an Ice Shard into the Starfish Mer-Gnorc's chest and took it down, opening the way for Elora to reach the Trident Mer-Gnorc and kick it into the wall to its right, which eliminated all of the enemies in this tunnel and allowed them to enter a smaller chamber, one that had a few metallic chests and a few dark crystals for them to break open. As such it didn't take the group all that long to clear out the small chamber of breakables, which included a couple of straw baskets, before they found that there was a platform, which just so happened to have a propeller in the middle of the stone it was made from, moving between part of the area they were in and the next part of the chamber, to which the group waited for a few moments and then got up onto the moving platform, which brought them to the level that was just above them and revealed a golden chest for Spike to open, one that happened to have another Light Gem inside it, though once it was collected they found some steps that lead them up to a tunnel that had a button inside it, one that opened the door behind it, something that let them return to the start of the ruins at long last, to which they headed back to the main platform that had brought them down into the ruins and headed back up to the surface, as it was time for them to head out and look for the path to the final realm of this homeworld, before they worried about Ineptune and whatever Red was planning for the rest of Capora.
Once the lift returned to the dome that the group had caused to rise out of the water earlier, and stopped, Spyro and the others removed themselves from the area and glided over to where the tunnel that would take them back to Blink's last location was resting, where they carefully bypassed the swinging seashell traps and quickly returned to the area that was their current destination, though it wasn't the one that they would be stopping at since they had cleared out this part of the realm some time ago and was the reason they headed back to where the pool of water rested, where they had met Otto and learned of the fact that the water had been drained from the area. As it turned out Otto was still standing near the edge of the area they had found him in, either waiting for the rest of the homeworld to be saved or he was waiting for the best time to surf inside the area they had restored to its former glory, though that didn't stop the group from reaching his location and heading back down the tunnel that had brought them to him in the first place, where the otter wished them well in his own way, or at least that was what they assumed he was saying since he was pretty much saying 'dude' all the time now, but none of them wanted to stop and talk since they were nearly done with freeing this island from Red's grasp. Once the group returned to the area that Moneybags' main shop was located in, and the bear wished them well as they passed by the cave that was blocked off by a dark barrier, Spike had them head back to the large seashell that had the hole in the top, due to the fact that he recalled another tunnel they hadn't explored earlier, probably due to the enemies they had faced at the time and all of the treasure they had been recovering, though it didn't take them long to reach the first area that they had found the Pygmies in and find the tunnel that Spike had been thinking about.
They quickly found that it was one none of them had been through before, due to the fact that there were what seemed to be ruined parts of the walkway and sunken parts that looked like quicksand, so what each of them did was take turns as Spyro was the first one to move forward and the others followed after him, though at the very least they didn't have to go down a long tunnel and have to jump over a few dozen sections of a ruined walkway, as they were able to reach another area that might have enemies or items for them to collect. What they found in the area on the other side of the tunnel were a few wooden structures, the platforms that would rise once something was pressed, though the main thing they found happened to be resting above where they were standing, some windmill looking structures that looked like one of them could swing on the middle of the wood to get somewhere else, though that didn't stop Flame from smashing the couple of straw baskets that were in front of them while Aurora collected the fallen gems. Once that area was cleared out the group found a step up to the next part of the area and found that there were a few straw baskets in the area, along with a Pygmy house off in the distance, which was followed by Ember rushing forward and charged into a lone Pygmy that emerged from the small structure, before she jumped into the air and smashed the house with the Horn Dive, though as she did that she found some more straw baskets near a button on the ground, which was followed by Flame smashing the button into the ground and that seemed to raise the couple of wooden platforms they had passed by a few moments ago, where Cynder used them to get up to the higher platform and then started using the Pole Spin to move across all of the wooden poles that were keeping the makeshift windmills up. Even if she had to avoid the spinning blades, which slowed her down a little, it didn't take her long to reach the area that was at the end of the path she was following, one that ended with her reaching a platform that had a Light Gem waiting for her, though as she collected the gem she could see Spyro smashing a few metallic chests and some straw baskets, and when she returned to where Spike was standing she added the newest Light Gem to the collection, just like they did whenever they found one in the past, before they focused on the tunnel that was heading out of this area and would no doubt take them to Cloudy Domain, the last realm that they had to help out in this homeworld.
The tunnel, as it turned out, was another one that had some quicksand and some patches of ground for them to get over, though at the end of it the group discovered another shop pad that told them that they had reached the next area, or at least part of it since they weren't in Cloudy Domain just yet, though there was a gap in the ground in front of them and a few stone steps off to the side, not to mention a Gnorc Brute standing near a seashell platform, so it didn't take Ember all that long to knock off it's armor and open the way for Cynder to take it down with a headbutt. The seashell platform, once it was being powered by Spyro's Lightning Breath, took him over to a side section that had three Armored Crabs, a decent number of metallic chests, a number of straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a Gnorc Brute, where the rest of the group caught up with him and lashed out at the Armored Crabs, taking them out in seconds, before Spyro used his runeblade to take down the Gnorc, something that was followed by him using his Lightning Breath so Hunter could use the seashell platforms, of which there were two in this area, to get up to where another Light Gem rested. With that in hand he made his way down to where the group was standing and added the gem to the bag that contained the rest of the other Light Gems, though once that was done they made their way back to where the newest shop pad rested and crossed over to the other side of the area it happened to be resting in, which was where they found an elevator that looked more like a rather large propeller and an opening in the cave it was resting in, to which everyone stepped onto the platform and Spike used his power to activate the platform, allowing it to rise into the air and left the cave behind, a trip that allowed them to see the rest of the island when they reached a certain height. Of course that wasn't the only thing they could see, as they got a chance to stare out at the other islands that made up Capora, due to the fact that Flame and Aurora spotted Dragon Kingdom off in the distance, an island that was covered in snow and ice, which had to be Icy Wilderness, and a third island that had a volcano that had to be Volcanic Isle, the lair of their foe, as that had to be where they would fight Red once they took care of Ineptune and whoever protected the third island, while above them rested a number of metallic structures that were either floating in the air, floating on the clouds, or generating their own clouds.
Fortunately it didn't take them all that long to reach the large platform that the elevator came to a stop in, where it locked into place when they reached their destination, to which the group walked off what they had been riding on and stared at the reddish sky that was around them, not to mention all of the machinery that seemed to be scattered all over the place, before they noticed something interesting, there were a few Gnorcs that had what appeared to be wings, just like the few Flying Rhynocs the group had faced when they were assisting the residents of Avilion. None of them were at all surprised to find another shop pad up here, even if no one needed to use it, before spotting a metallic container off to the left of the start of the thin path that would allow them to delve deeper into this realm, which was when they found a golden chest to the right of the same area, something that Spike approached while noticing that the Gnorc Brute that was in front of them did nothing since its back was turned towards them, which caused Ember to grin as she jumped into the air and whacked it in the side of the head, sending it flying off the walkway and, interestingly enough, caused some gems to fall as Cinder and the other dragonflies collected them. Once that was done they focused on the chest as Spike unlocked it, revealing the Light Gem that had been resting inside the container, one that was quickly added to the bag the others were resting in, but once that was done the group turned their attention to the path that rested in front of them and walked across it, though it was a short walk over to the first structure of this realm, a small one that had a pair of straw baskets for them to smash, had a button to press, and a bullseye off to the side, where the oddly placed sign was hit by Aurora a few seconds later and caused the propellers that they had walked by to rotate until they revealed another pair of buttons, where it appeared that each of the two buttons caused some platforms to lower down into a new position for them to use. Ember struck the one that was to the left of the platform, approaching the first structure anyway, while Flame did the same to the one on the right side, though the group jumped up onto the platform to the left of the path and found a Flying Gnorc between this platform and the next one that an armored Gnorc Brute was standing on, so what they did was let Bianca blast the Flying Gnorc in the chest with a Fireball and opened the way for Flame to strike the Gnorc Brute in the chest, knocking the armor off so Amelia could put an arrow in its chest, allowing them to jump over to the area it was guarding.
They found a pair of metallic chests that were quickly broken open, a purple bullseye that, when smashed, produced gems for them to collect, and could see a Light Gem near their location, even if they had to access it through another method, to which they turned towards the structure that was to the left of the platform all of them were standing on and Spike took a moment to blast the Flying Gnorc with a Lightning Spear and opened the way to the center of the structure, where he took a few seconds to unlock the golden chest that was inside it while the others broke the pair of straw baskets and the pair of metallic chests that were near it, before he revealed a dragon egg with a flame design, which he sent back to the Nursery as the others headed through the open door that was behind the chest. As it turned out there wasn't much on the other side of the doorway, other than two straw baskets and a button, one that caused a platform in front of them to lower to a new position and showed them that there was another platform, this one smaller and moving much faster, that would let them move forward through this area, to which Spyro quickly jumped over to the much smaller one and rode it to the next area it would take them to, even though he then had to flame a Flying Gnorc and jump onto another small platform to press onward, but from what he could tell this was taking him over to where a Dark Gem was resting. One thing he found out was that there was another type of platform in this realm, a disappearing one that would only vanish once all three of its rings were glowing, though he was able to take out a Flying Gnorc and a Gnorc Brute with ease, one being flamed while the other receiving a charge to the chest, before he entered the structure it brought him to and smashed all four of the metallic chests that were around him, not to mention the bullseye chest that was in the middle of the area, before lighting a firework that flew off and shattered the metallic container that was near where he was standing. It was around that time that Spike and the others caught up with him, since they took the platforms one at a time, before they jumped over to the platform that happened to be where the Light Gem was resting and added it to the bag Spike carried, though from what they could tell the Dark Gem Spyro had spotted could only be accessed from another section of this realm, to which they glided down to the walkway that was down below them and returned to the main path, only for Spyro to head down the main path, figuring that they would backtrack in a bit and they could grab what was over on the other path later, after they smashed some Dark Gems and liberated part of this realm.
With the way forward open the group a Gnorc Brute standing outside the first structure of this realm and that was when Elora kicked it in the chest, knocking it into a pile of gems while Aurora smashed the nearby bullseye chest as Bianca took a moment to focus on the Flying Gnorc that was between them and the first Dark Gem of this area, where she quickly hurled a Fireball through the air and took her target down, opening the way for them to jump over the pair of platforms that were in front of them and landed on the larger platform, in front of the Dark Gem to be exact. Cynder smashed the sinister gem to pieces not a few seconds later, something that caused the darkness to fade as one of the broken machines pieced itself back together and started to work once more, which could mean that the Gnorcs had damaged this place when Red told them to attack it, though the others smashed the couple of dark crystals that were near them and stared at the metallic container that was nearby, which they would have to find a firework for, which was followed by them moving over to the next part of the realm. There was a Flying Gnorc in the air near where they were standing, to which Spike put it down with a swift Wind Shuriken spell, though as he did that Ember found a firework resting nearby and flamed it, where the group watched as it flew through the air and smashed into the metallic container that was near their current location, which was a little weird since they were thinking that it might take down the first one they had seen, to which Amelia collected all of the fire bombs that had been freed from the container before they headed over to the whirlwind that was near where the firework had been resting, where Ember informed them that she had also smashed some metallic chests as well, before they used the whirlwind to get to the level above them. What the group found on the next level were three more metallic containers and a path that lead deeper into this realm, which had a pair of Flying Gnorcs and a Gnorc Brute standing in the way, so what happened next was that Spike and Bianca blasted the flying enemies out of the air as Elora rushed forward and punched the Gnorc Brute in the chest, dropping it to the ground and opening the way for them to collect a Light Gem, before they jumped over to the next structure and found a shop pad waiting for them, which was when Flame and Aurora told them that they were close to the next Dragon Elder's location, based on what they remembered anyway.
What they did was head around the curved structure that was in front of them and smashed some straw baskets, before locating what appeared to be a Gnorc Warrior who had a shield with Red's face on it, or at least that was what they were assuming the red drawing on the metal was, even though it didn't last too long as Ember smashed her way through all of its armor and Spyro put it down with a burst of fire, while Flame smashed a purple bullseye for the gems, which was when they found a short walkway that brought them to another gadget pad that had the Professor's hologram on it, which made them wonder if there was another gadget they needed to save up for.
"Well done my friends, by my calculations, which I double checked, you have finally gathered the forty Light Gems needed to power the Supercharge Gadget," the Professor informed them, meaning that they must have gathered the necessary gems a few moments ago, which Spike could confirm after looking at what was inside the Light Gem bag he was carrying, which informed the group that they could backtrack to the swamp and see what they might have missed if they wanted to, even though they would be focused on making sure the realms of this homeworld were safe and sound.
As it turned out this version of the Supercharge Powerup wasn't the same as the one they got from the Gates or from all of the markings that were on the ground, as this gadget quickly energized their bodies with the power of the Supercharge as each of them stepped over the pad, something that was rather interesting to Spike as he thought about what they were now capable of and noticed the slightly orange glow to their bodies, which was followed by Flame jumping over to the next platform and smashed through the metallic door with a simple charge, something that seemed to surprise him and Aurora when they came to a stop. What they found on the other side of the door was three metallic chests and a golden one, to which the group made sure to break the metallic ones and collect the gems that were inside them, while at the same time Spike used his magic to unlock the golden chest, which had a light green egg with blue swirls inside it that he sent back to the Nursery, though as he did that the others took out the pair of Gnorc Brutes that were outside the structure and made sure to smash the straw baskets and purple bullseyes that were around the area. Once that was done the group glanced out at the area and found that there might not be a way forward from where they were standing, meaning there had to be a path nearby that none of them had noticed yet, before they headed back to where the Supercharge Gadget rested and whacked the bullseye sign that was on the back side of the structure that had to be where the next Dragon Elder had to be waiting for them, something that seemed to open the front of the building, or at least that was what they assumed based on what they heard a few seconds later. Of course that was followed by Cynder using the new gadget and charged back to where the three metallic containers were resting, where she smashed them to pieces and collected the gems with ease, but once that was done they stepped into the main structure, which was where they found a dull yellow scaled dragon in the middle of a seemingly empty area, with a pale colored chest, who happened to be wearing the same attire as the rest of the Dragon Elders and carried the same staff as the others, but he seemed somewhat older than the couple of Elders they had the honor of meeting.
"Ah, the young heroes have arrived at last. I have been expecting you for some time," the Elder said, where he tapped his staff against the ground for a few seconds as he tapped his brown horns for a moment, almost like he was trying to hear something or listen to someone who wasn't in the area right now, before his focus shifted towards them and they could see that they had it entirely this time around, "Sorry, I thought I heard someone talk. Anyway, I hear that your interested in Red, not to mention learning new skills to help you in your quest... well, from what I remember Red was banished from the Order of Dragon Elders for his terrible crimes against us and the residents of Capora, though I have to say that it pains me to think of the evil that my friend has been possessed by."
"Possessed by? You mean he wasn't always evil?" Aurora asked, because this was the first time that she had heard such a thing and she could tell that Flame was the same way, making her wonder if they might be on the track to learning a secret that only the Elders knew about, though at the same time Spike had his journal and writing materials at the ready, as he wanted to make sure he got all of this down before they moved onto the next part of the realm, all while the others stood at the ready, as they were more interested in the next skill they might be learning.
"Yes, he used to be one of our greatest champions, a defender of the light, while being one of the greatest magic users we have ever seen," the Elder said, where he seemed to think about what he was talking about for a few seconds, no doubt due to the fact that he was calling upon some old memories, before he opened his eyes and focused on the group again, almost as if he was looking at something else and not those that were standing in front of him, which was when he sighed and resumed talking, "he was a scholar, who studied the past and whatever interested him, but one day his personality changed, and I mean it changed entirely and without reason, leading to a darker Red than what we knew... I wonder what sort of dark secrets he learned that could have caused this to happen. Anyway, that's all I have to say on the matter, so let me teach you a trick I picked up over the years, the art of using your wings as shields..."
"Not to sound disrespectful or anything, but we sort of learned this trick in the past," Cynder said, where she and the rest of the dragons folded their wings in front of their faces for a few moments, even if Flame and Aurora didn't do that since neither of them actually knew what the heroes were doing, something that caused the Elder to raise an eyebrow as he stared at what they were doing, to which he nodded his head a few seconds later and beckoned for them to lower their wings, showing that he was impressed by what he had seen.
The Elder, who Flame and Aurora revealed was called Titus, an interesting name when the group considered the names of all the other dragons they had met over the years, indicated that he would allow the main group to teach their new friends the Wing Shield at some point in the future, or at least they could learn how to wield this technique while traveling through Cloudy Domain and the rest of the realms that were ahead of them, though once he said that the third door that was in this structure opened and revealed a path for the group to take, one that formed as they walked outside, even if it was a little short and they had to jump to the next platform they were going to explore. The next platform just so happened to have one of the light green eggs with blue swirls resting on it, one that Spike sent off to the Nursery as soon as they found it, though once that was done the group glanced at the area they were in and spotted a Gnorc who was using a balloon to float in the air, who carried a boomerang in its right hand, something that was followed by the Balloon Gnorc throwing its weapon at them and Spyro lowered his wings accordingly as it came at them, where he was able to redirect the weapon back at its owner and smashed the balloon to pieces, dropping the Gnorc in the process. Once that was done they headed up the path that the Balloon Gnorc was guarding and tackled the couple of enemies that were resting along the way, a few Balloon Gnorcs and a few Flying Gnorcs, something that gave Flame and Aurora time to mimic what they had seen Spyro do earlier, which was followed by them being surprised when they were able to redirect the boomerangs towards those that threw them, allowing the group to reach the end of the path and discovered a Light Gem for their efforts, though as Spike claimed it he spotted something interesting, there was a platform with a whirlwind off in the distance, one that they could glide to from where the Light Gem had been resting. As such the group flew over to where the platform rested, all while Bianca made sure to teleport the others to the area the others were heading towards, something that allowed them to access an area that a golden chest rested in, one that had a number of golden yellow gems inside it when Spike used the unlocking spell on it, before discovering that this was the end of the path and they headed back to where Elder Titus was resting, as it appeared that this was the end of the path the third door had revealed, which involved them heading all the way back to the start to see what the other side area they had ignored held for them.
They discovered another Balloon Gnorc resting in the section that had been opened earlier, where Elora stepped forward a few seconds later and found out something interesting, she was capable of replicating the Wind Shield technique, just as Flame and Aurora could, and sent the boomerang back at the one that threw it, allowing the others to see that there was another one in the area ahead of them and Spike blasted its balloon without delay, choosing a Lightning Bolt this time, to which the immediate area was cleared of enemies and they had to chose between two directions, one heading off to their left and the one that was in front of them. That was when Ember decided not to play around as she flew through the air and tackled the path that was in front of them, where she found a number of Flying Gnorcs and a Balloon Gnorc, to which she drew the Fangs of Felinia and cut down the foes that were in her way, even though all she found in the area was one of the Light Gems, something that she claimed and returned to where Spike was standing, allowing him to put it away while at the same time revealing she had found a number of disappearing platforms in the area it had been resting in, though once that was done they headed down the main path of this area. They found a pair of Balloon Gnorcs guarding the path Spyro was heading down, where Cynder and Aurora landed in front of him and raised their wings to redirect the incoming boomerangs towards their owners, taking them out in seconds, before finding a moving platform that would allow them to access a disappearing platform that had a dark purple egg with yellow stars on it, while the second area seemed to be the main walkway, to which Hunter jumped down into the lower area as the others reached the upper path, where he used a second moving platform to get up to them a few moments later, something that was followed by him hanging the egg over as Spike checked it out and then sent it back to the Nursery. With that done Ember smashed a pair of straw baskets and a bullseye chest that happened to be resting near them, allowing Cinder to pick up the freed gems, before they headed for the smaller platforms that were close to where everyone was standing and discovered that they were connected to each other, as in one would move when someone was standing on the other one, so Hunter and Amelia volunteered to use the pair themselves, where they did so and loosed a few arrows at the Flying Gnorcs and the seagulls that were apparently in the middle of dropping bombs on one of the platforms, with the dragonflies collecting the fallen arrows so they didn't run out in the near future.
As it turned out the pair of rotating platforms seemed to be the only way to move forward, so with Hunter and Amelia in the middle of using them Spyro and the other dragons flew through the air as Bianca teleported herself after them, only all of them waited for their friends to reach what seemed to be the end of this area and beckon for them to catch up, where they found that Hunter and Amelia came to a stop outside a structure, even though the odd thing about this area was the couple of laser walls that could be protecting something, though Spike determined that it might be to keep certain foes out of this area, even if it utterly failed in that regard. The structure seemed to be more of a break area and less of some place they might find any Dark Gems, Light Gems, or even dragon eggs in, so what they did was smash the purple bullseye that rested nearby, something that was followed by Ember growling as she charged outside and started to follow a Thief who had been keeping silent since the moment it spotted them, even though that ended with her crushing her target into the wall and forced it to drop the white egg with green dots it had been carrying, which Spike sent back to the Nursery not even a few seconds after his sister recovered it. Once that was done the group allowed Hunter and Amelia to use the next set of rotating platforms to reach the next structure that happened to be in front of them, which allowed them to take out the Flying Gnorc that was in front of them, opening the way for them to reach the area that the next Dark Gem was resting in, even though they had to go through three Flying Gnorcs and a Gnorc Brute, so Bianca used a Lightning Bolt to blast the Flying Gnroc that was right in front of them out of the way so Spike could loose a pair of Fireballs at the next top, though that was when Elora jumped forward and quickly knocked the next foe off the walkway it was standing on. With that done the rest of the group caught up with her and they headed around the side of the structure, where they smashed the first of the dark crystals and entered the center of the building, which just so happened to be an area that had a few straw baskets and some metallic chests, leading to Ember and the others to smash them open as Spyro used the platform to rise up to the upper level and walk out to where the Dark Gem was resting, even though he smashed it with the Horn Dive not a few seconds later and caused part of the next structure to repair itself, including a walkway that they would have to jump over to so they could continue exploring this realm.
As they expected there was another shop pad at the end of the walkway, at the start of the next area since the Dark Gems seemed to be placed at what appeared to be the end of one area and the start of another, though once they had a chance to see that there was another Dark Gem resting near the area they were in, even if they would head over there by using the path that was in front of them, the group used the nearby whirlwind and headed up to what was above the start of this section of this realm, which was when they found Sgt. Byrd standing outside an oddly place portal.
"Ah, hello again my friends, I have discovered another Speedway that uses the same rules as the last one," Sgt. Byrd said, to which he gestured to the portal he was standing near, though even as he said that Ember smashed the Gnorc Brute that was on the walkway that was behind them and kicked it off the edge, before returning to where the others were standing so they could listen to what their friend had to say, which just so happened to be when he switched back to focusing on all of them as he smiled, "What do you say, shall I take it on and recover whatever there is to find?"
Spyro nodded his head and sure enough Sgt. Byrd headed through the portal that was behind him, to which the rest of the group scattered and took up some positions around the portal, as this would allow them to rest up a little, make sure all of their equipment was fine, and have some conversations if they wanted to, though for the most part they remained silent as they waited for their friend to return to them, and when he did a few minutes later he first handed over a purple egg with yellow stars and then gave them the Light Gem that went with the second challenge, but once the egg was sent back to the Nursery Sgt. Byrd saluted all of them and departed from the area they were in. Once that was done the group took a moment to turn around and walked along the walkway that was behind them and found an armored Gnorc Brute that was walking on part of it, who didn't do much to the group as Ember struck its armor off and opened the way for Elora to kick it while Spike shocked it with a Lightning Bolt, which was overkill when the rest of the group considered what they were seeing at the moment, before they found two more Flying Gnorcs that were in the air between the top of the rather thin structure that was at the end of their walkway and the next structure, which happened to be the area that the next Dark Gem was resting in, though this time Hunter and Amelia took their foes down as Flame messed with the button that rested near them, which seemed to mess with a fan that generated a whirlwind, though since it was below them it didn't seem like it was even remotely necessary for them to use. Once the enemies were taken care of they glided over to the base of the next structure and walked around for a few moments, which allowed Aurora to mess with another button that messed with some platforms that formed a way back to the start of this section of the realm, though that was when they entered the building and used the platform that was inside it to reach the area that the next Dark Gem rested in, which was followed by Flame smashing it to pieces with a Horn Dive and they watched as the darkness in this area was reversed, restoring another structure to its former glory and lowered four platforms into position, allowing them to access another building that happened to rest at the end of it.
Inside the building they found one of the Ball Gadgets and the group accessed it without delay, though what they found on the other side was what appeared to be a raceway of sorts, a ramp that seemed to head to a lower area and might have a dragon egg, possibly even a Light Gem, but from what the group could see the path forward was rather easy for them to get around and nothing really showed them down as they claimed the dark purple and yellow stared egg, something that was followed by the machine resetting everyone, with part of the track shifting, and they raced forward once more, which swiftly ended with them grabbing a Light Gem at the end, even though that ended with them being ejected back into the building the Ball Gadget was located in. Of course that was when they discovered that the building they were in was right behind the starting area of this realm, as in they were near the first area they had explored, and there just so happened to be a firework for them to light, one that smashed the first metallic container of this area to pieces and revealed all of the gems that had been locked inside it, something that caused them to glide down to where it was located and they picked all of them up, even though that was where Spike determined that they had gathered everything in this realm, as in all of it and not leaving something behind for them to pick up later, to which the group climbed back onto the platform and let it take them back down to Coastal Remains. It didn't take them all that long to return to the area that they had first found this platform in, so when it came to a stop they jumped off of it and headed back through the rest of the tunnels that were in front of them, though upon their return to the beach that the Transportation Device was in they came to a stop in front of the cave that was blocked by the darkness, where the dark trees returned to being lively, the dark goo disappeared, and the barrier itself faded away, opening the way for Spyro and the others to head into Ineptune's lair and see if they could talk some sense into the toxic mermaid, though even as that happened the dark sky, caused by the ten Dark Gems that had been scattered all over the place, faded away and returned to normal.
The tunnel that was on the other side of the cave entrance allowed them to delve deeper into the area that they had just saved from Red's darkness, even though it looked like the area they were entering was part of Sunken Ruins and had been separated from the rest of it at some point in the past, and the odd thing was that the couple of Crabs that were in this area fled, meaning they didn't have to waste energy on them, before they eventually reached a large acid filled area that had a large platform for all of them to stand on... though as they did that, however, a large mermaid, easily twice or even three times larger than the last one they had seen, emerged from the liquid and they found that it matched what they had been told when they first entered this homeworld.
"So, you are the heroes that Red told me about," Ineptune commented, where she swam around the area they were in for a few moments, where it was clear that she was studying all of them for some time, her eyes lingering on Elora for a time, no doubt due to the fact that Elora was now two creatures merged into a single form thanks to what Ripto did to her, but as she did that Spike noticed the darkness that came from the gemstone that was attached to her belt, making him think of it like the other dark pieces of jewelry he and the others had seen in the past, "You know, none of you are as tall as I was expecting, after seeing Red a few times."
"Well, that's because Red is an adult dragon and we're still teenagers, there's a difference," Spike replied, though even as he said that he had to wonder if there was anything else the mermaid might have to tell them, just like when they fought Gnorc and all of their other enemies, but that was when everyone jumped to the side as Ineptune loosed a burst of her poison breath at them and only hit the platform, which seemed to run off the platform and fall into the pool that was all around them, to which he glanced at Spyro and the others, who nodded their heads as they spread out and made it so the toxic mermaid had to choose who to go after.
What happened was that Ineptune went after Flame and Aurora first, throwing a trio of Poison Balls at the former before loosing a burst of her Poison Breath at the latter, something that was followed by the inexperienced dragons dodging the attacks that were aimed at it, before Aurora charged into the gemstone that was resting in the middle of the belt, causing some damage to it that caused Ineptune to be pushed backwards by the force of the attack, where Spike nodded his head for a seconds, as attacking the mind controlling gem seemed to be the best way for them to damage the mermaid and put an end to this battle. What happened after that was that Ineptune went under the acid and part of the platform seemed to lower not a few seconds later, replaced by a brand new platform that had a turret of some kind on it, though that was the moment that Bianca raised a barrier between them and the device so none of its blue beams, which were rather weak, did any damage to them before the platform switched out with the previous one and they kept their eyes open for Ineptune, as there was no telling who she might attack next, especially since she knew neither Flame or Aurora were the weaklings she might have been told about before they came to this island. A few moments later Ineptune hurled another set of her Poison Balls through the air and targeted Cynder this time around, who her magic and dived into the shadows to avoid both the attacks that were coming at her and the Poison Breath that followed it, though once that was done she burst out of the shadows and slammed into the crystal everyone would be targeting, damaging it a little more in the process while also knocking their foe backwards, which was around the time that Hunter and Amelia realized that they might not be able to do much against this foe, unlike how they helped take down Gnasty Gnorc. Not a few moments later the same thing as before happened, one of the three sections of the platform lowered and was replaced by one with a turret, which Bianca prevented from touching them with a magical barrier, before Ineptune moved around and targeted someone else, where it was Spike this time, who used his magic to parry the incoming attacks with Fire based spells of equal power, and when he opened the way forward Ember charged straight into the gemstone and knocked their foe backwards, where she took a moment to frown as some of the poison drained out of the area and they lowered to a new level, making them wonder if there was a new attack they needed to watch out for.
Not a few moments later the group discovered that Ineptune didn't change her attack pattern, save for two sections of the platform shifting with turrets this time around, and that meant they were able to overcome her poison based attacks with ease, making way for Spyro and the others who hadn't charged into the dark gemstone to do the same thing whenever the way was open for them to do so, before Spike stepped up after the ninth strike to the dark gemstone and blasted it with a spell he had been readying, shattering the gemstone and breaking the mind control that had been placed on Ineptune by Red. Once that happened Ineptune paused for a moment before realizing what had happened, informing the group that her usual belt had been replaced by a brand new one, as the new one had been a gift from Red the last time she saw him, due to the fact that she had no communications with the Dragon Elders and had no idea he was so evil, so she had been tricked into wearing a mind control device and it seemed to have worked, so much so that she even sealed away one of the Fairies of Capora, Aqua, inside part of her attire and that was when she freed the Fairy in question, where she even apologized profusely for doing such a thing to her, where the blue robed Fairy sighed and accepted the apology before she gave Spyro and the others a gift, the Water Breath, meaning every dragon, despite their innate elements that they started with, now had two elements, with Spyro, Cynder, and Spike being the ones with more than two. As Aqua did that Ineptune took a moment to soak up the poison that was around them and returned it to a pure watery area so the others could be safe when they swim over to a tunnel, one that seemed to have a way for them to use their new breath for a few seconds, though the tunnel happened to be the one that allowed them to enter this area in the first place, so they took a moment to actually test the breath out, which was Spyro trying it out and discovered that they were capable of summoning water to fire at things, capable of turning water wheels, something that allowed them to head outside the cave and return to the start of this homeworld, all while Ineptune returned to the area she called home. With this homeworld saved from Red's plans, and they were sure of that after everything they had seen so far, the group headed over to where the Teleportation Device was located and prepared to teleport over to Icy Wilderness, so they could see what Red was doing to that island and stop it as well, before putting a stop to Red's plans entirely.
With the realms of Lost Cities liberated from Red's forces, and Ineptune was free to return to her home, even though she insisted on making amends for what she had done while she was under the influence of the mind control gem, the group returned to where the Professor's Teleportation Device rested and started to use it so they could get to the third island and see what sort of dangers awaited them, not to mention all of the challenges that their friends had likely discovered after helping them with the last portals and holes they had found them near. As such Spyro was the first one to use the device and teleported over to Icy Wilderness, or more specifically Frostbite Village according to Flame and Aurora, and when he arrived in their next destination he made sure to move out of the way so the others could safely teleport to the new realm that they would be exploring next, where it appeared that he had appeared in an area that had a few houses around the device's location, one that just so happened to be where Moneybags was setting up shop while they explored the third island and faced everything Red had assembled to stop him and the others. One thing he was grateful for was the fact that Spike had made sure to cast the Heat Aura spell on everyone in the group, that way they wouldn't be all that bothered by the snow that was falling on this area, not to mentioned the chill that was in the air, as he could pleasantly stroll through the area the Teleportation Device was in and not be all that bothered by what was going on around him, though that was around the time that Spike and the others started to teleport over to where he was standing and glanced out at the area he had been staring at, where they could see that the trees were covered in snow and had no leaves, or at least the ones that were near Moneybags' shop were that way.
Once everyone had appeared on this side of the Teleportation Device, and knew that they could now travel between three of the four homeworlds whenever they wanted, the Professor's hologram appeared near the machine not even a few seconds later, indicating that he had some information to share with them before they started exploring this homeworld, hence the reason the group paused for a moment as they waited to hear what he had to tell them this time around, even if they knew it was likely advice from the previous Dragon Elders they had encountered.
"Spyro, it is good to see that you and the others have arrived in the beautiful, but cold, Icy Wilderness," the Professor said, though as he said that he glanced down at the clipboard he carried around with them and checked some of his notes for a few seconds, which meant he was likely double checking something he had written down earlier, before he glanced back up to the group that was patiently waiting for him to reveal whatever it was that he wanted to tell them, or whatever one of the other Dragon Elders wanted him to tell them, "Now, from what I have been told, you need to make your way to a realm called Ice Citadel, which is where you'll find the next Dragon Elder who might be able to tell you more about Red and teach you a brand new move to help you out in the future."
"Good to know that we have an idea of where to find them," Elora commented, as they had no idea if the Dragon Elder for this homeworld was male or female, due to the fact that the other Elders didn't want to tell them that before they met the next Elder, though at the same time the rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement, as it was nice to have some idea as to where they had to go next, even if none of them really had an idea where Ice Citadel was located, something that would require Flame and Aurora to help them out.
The Professor nodded his head for a moment and the hologram disappeared, to which the group stepped forward and walked down into the village that was in front of the Teleportation Device, where they discovered a fountain that was totally frozen over and some paths that seemed to head out into the other areas of this realm, and possibly the other two realms that they would tackle before facing the guardian that Red had placed in this homeworld, before noticing that a penguin happened to be standing near a metallic gate, who seemed different from the other penguins they had seen in the past, though instead of worrying about it they headed into Moneybags' shop, where Spike found that he had put a few enchantments down to help with the cold, just to see what he had to tell them.
"Ah, I'm glad you were able to free Lost Cities from Red's grasp," Moneybags said, speaking the moment the ground came to a stop in front of the counter that he was standing behind, though at the same time he let out a sigh as he considered what he was trying to do for them, almost like he was indicating that he had no luck in getting on Red's good side, before he glanced at the group and did his best to smile, where it did seem like he was worried that they might not be happy with him, given that this was the new Moneybags and not the old one they were used to dealing with, "I'm afraid that I don't have any good news for you, as Red refuses to actually give me any information on his plans and operations, so all I can do is tell you what he did after you defeated Ineptune and liberated Lost Cities from Red's dark grip: one of the Gnorcs told him about your achievement and Red outright blasted the creature into oblivion with a blast from his staff, showing that he had no mercy to spare for those that gave him bad news... though as that happened I noticed something odd, he had this intense aura of malice and darkness that seemed far too strong for someone like him, one that made me wonder if I was staring at Red or someone else."
"Well, Red is allied with the Dark Master, so I suppose its possible that the evil of the latter could have rubbed off on the former," Cynder commented, though while she said that she and Spyro knew that such a thing was likely incorrect, as it either seemed like Red could be wearing something on his body that allowed the Dark Master to mind control him and bend his will to whatever foul plans their true foe was working towards, or it might be that their true foe had possessed Red's body and was in control of his actions, though since they had no idea which of their ideas were true or not there was nothing they could do but speculate, before she returned to the other matter, "also, don't beat yourself up over this, as it seems that our enemies are far more cunning than Ripto and the others that we have faced over the years... minus Gaul, as that Ape was much smarter than some of the other foes we've faced."
The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement, as the Ape King was definitely one of the smarter foes they had faced since each of them had started their own adventures, even if Flame and Aurora had no idea who they were talking about, before they left the building that Moneybags had set his shop up in and walked over to the area that the penguin was standing in, where it was easy for them to see that it stood almost as tall as Amelia did, while at the same time it had a blue checkered vest over its chest, a red bow tie, and a pair of glasses in front of its eyes.
"Ah, you must be the heroes that I heard about earlier, the ones taking the fight to Red and his allies," the penguin said, to which the group took a moment to nod their heads in confirmation, as it appeared that the individual that was in front of them was an ally and not one of Red's minions, and even if he was they were ready for the fights that were ahead of them as they explored the rest of this realm and the other realms that were part of Icy Wilderness, before they watched as the penguin beckoned to the iron barred gate that rested right behind him, "The area behind me is protected by a very clever security system that, might I add, I personally designed myself... something complex that those brainless Gnorcs would never be able to figure out, not even if they spent a hundred years trying to open it, but I'm willing to bet that one of you dragons, with your skill and intellect, could open it in no time at all."
"It wouldn't happen to be as simple as hitting all of the electrical nodes in this area, would it?" Spike inquired, as while they were listening to the penguin talk he noticed that there were a few of the metallic nodes resting around the area, which he and the others must have missed when the Professor was talking and when they rushed over to see if Moneybags' shop to see if he had some new information to tell them, before he glanced back to the penguin and noticed that he seemed at a loss for words, since he might have been expecting someone to actually ask him what the catch was or what they needed to do to open the barred gate, "A shame, I was looking forward to a challenge this time around... oh, and there are some Gnorcs that are much smarter than the others, so those ones would have likely figured it out before the others did, so you might want to think of a new security system to replace this one."
From what Spike could see there were six electric nodes that needed to be activated, one that happened to be to the right of where the penguin was standing, and that was walking towards the individual in question, the next was on top of the frozen fountain, one was resting near a metallic door and behind some tall ice spikes, the fourth was behind a fence that rested near the sealed off cave that rested near the Teleportation Device, another rested between some ice spikes, and the sixth rested right behind the device they had used to reach this homeworld, though once all six of them were active it wasn't long before the barred gate lowered and opened the way forward. Once the way was open Ember quickly smashed a bullseye chest and some straw baskets that were resting near the frozen fountain, though as soon as she did that, and picked up the gems that had been freed, they started to head through the tunnel that the barred gate had been blocking, where the penguin, Phil as he called himself, informed them that he knew they could solve his security measure and that he wanted them to keep an eye out for his wife, Peggy, as they explored the rest of the realm they were exploring, where the group nodded and headed into the tunnel at long last. Inside the tunnel they found a pair of metallic chests and, more importantly, a Gnorc wearing a snow uniform that allowed it to resist the cold and carried a sword in one hand, which was followed by Hunter rushing forward and used one of his blades to quickly parry the Gnorc Warrior's blade while using the second one to cut it down, all while Flame charged through the chests to break them up, before they walked down what was left of the tunnel and came to a stop on a ledge that was above a sunken section of the realm, as it looked like an area that a lake could have been in at one point in the past, before discovering a water wheel to their left and a pair of straw baskets to their right, which were smashed not a few seconds later. In that moment Aurora stepped forward and tapped into the new element they had unlocked after beating Ineptune and freed Aqua from her prison, where she summoned the water for a moment and channeled it on the water wheel, which caused the device to move and allowed a platform to move in the area that was in front of them, possibly at the same time as a metallic one did the same thing, before Cynder took to the air and landed on the platform, which allowed her to jump up to a small area that had a button that she used the Horn Dive on it, something that caused a barred gate that was some distance in front of them to lower, revealing the way to a Light Gem and who knew what else.
While she did that the nearby snowman burst open and a mole wearing a snow suit, making it look more like an eskimo, or an Eskimole in this case, with a spear landed behind Cynder, though that was when Spyro rushed through the air not even a few seconds later and smashed right into the Eskimole's chest, smacking it right into the wall that was behind it and let a pile of gems fall, meaning that Red had created even more types of enemies for them to deal with, even though he did see a female penguin resting in the area below them, as it was wearing a pink dress made and he made an assumption on what it was, before he and Cynder used the platform to head over to the Light Gem, which involved breaking a bullseye chest and a pair of metallic chests before giving Spike the gem they found. Since it seemed that Peggy was busy right now, and might not have noticed that they were in the area she was standing in, the group gathered in the lowest part of the area and touched down on the icy ground, before heading into a cave that just so happened to have a Dark Gem inside it, so what happened was that Elora smashed the sinister gem to pieces while Spyro did the same to a nearby metallic chest, though as the gemstone was shattered part of the nearby ground broke open and revealed a tunnel that had been hidden previously, to which they headed down the iced over stone steps that were below them and came to a stop for a moment when they found an area that had eight Eskimoles guarding the area. What was interesting was that some of them were in the middle of pushing explosive containers between them, using the slippery icy ground that rested in front of where they were standing, though what was important about this area was that there happened to be an egg with a flame design in this area and a golden chest near it, so that was when Bianca sent out a burst of Wind Shuriken and took out three of the eight enemies, Amelia used her arrows to take down a few more, and Spike blasted the remaining few, though once all of their foes had been taken care of the others dealt with the couple clusters of straw baskets that were around the area they had found, allowing Spike to focus on the egg and golden chest, sending the former back to the Nursery and the latter had some Lightning Bombs inside it. Once they were done with everything that was inside this area, and they were sure that there were no more hidden passages in this area, the group turned around and headed back up to the area that they had seen Peggy in, as they were sure that they would be able to find a Light Gem, possibly an egg as well, by helping her out, before they focused on the rest of the realm they were in and whatever else Red had placed in this realm to stop them from finding the Dragon Elder and the other Dark Gems.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here! Nasty creatures have taken over the skating rink... and I can't find my husband Phil, who was supposed to be helping me." Peggy said, revealing that there might have been a real reason behind why the barred gate had been set up in the village, instead of what he told them when they came to a stop in front of him earlier, but even as they thought about that the group decided to see what in the world was going on in the skating rink, to which they took a moment to walk through the tunnel that was behind Peggy.
What they discovered was that the skating rink was more like a playground with a house near it, maybe even a school due to what was around the area they had discovered, though that was when they found out that there was a cannon pointed down at the area in front of them and most of them stepped to the side as Hunter took control of the weapon and smiled for a moment as he focused on the area that was in front of where they were now resting, as he was waiting to see just how many enemies would rush out, because if it was anything like the turtle schools he might need help from Amelia and maybe even Bianca. As it turned out there were a number of Eskimoles that emerged from parts of the frozen lake that was down in the area he was firing on, though it wasn't long before Yetis appeared on the ledge that was above the lake, who seemed annoyed about something at the moment, so what Hunter had to do was take out all of the Eskimoles before he focused on the Yetis, and once the ones that were on the ledge were defeated more enemies appeared around the lake once more, with Amelia pointing them out to her brother. Once the entire first wave of Eskimoles and Yetis were done for, and Hunter was sure that there were no more coming for a time, Peggy rewarded their efforts with a dragon egg, one that had a purple upper half, a red lower half, and a yellow zigzag in the center, though they weren't given much time to rest, as the second wave of enemies started to invade the skating rink, something that was followed by Bianca loosing Lightning Bolts down at some of the Yetis and Eskimoles while Amelia loosed a few arrows into the air, striking some of their targets down before they got too close to damage the cannon that Hunter was controlling. It took them some time to take care of all of the enemies that were trying to invade the skating rink and do whatever it was that they were trying to do, as there had to be a reason besides ticking off Peggy, but once all of their foes had been taken care of Peggy rewarded them with a Light Gem and they headed back to the area that they had found her in a few moments ago, to which they jumped back up to the tunnel that would take them back to the start of this realm, because it was time to see where the next part of this realm was located and what it had to throw at them.
Once they returned to the main part of the village the group was able to find another iron barred gate that had a button in front of it, so they were able to open it up within a few seconds of reaching the area in question and headed into the new tunnel that was in front of them, where they found a Gnorc Brute guarding it and discovered that it was wearing armor to make sure it didn't fall within a single hit, though that was when Ember charged its armor right off its body and Elora was the next one to step up as she kicked it in the side of its head, sending it into the icy wall and caused a pile of gems to fall as they progressed through the tunnel. Of course they made sure to smash some metallic chests that were near the start of the tunnel, though the interesting thing about what was beyond where the Gnorc Brute had been standing was an area that a large snowball rolled through, so all they had to do for a few moments was keep pace with the snowball and walked down the path it was following, something that brought them to an area that seemed to be the end of the line for it and another one, showing that two large snowballs were smashed to pieces in this area, along with icy pillars, platforms, and light poles and they tried to figure out which path to head down next, before they spotted a few Eskimoles in this area, at the very least. Ember cut one of the Eskimoles down and opened the way for the rest of the group to jump down to where she was standing, though they also found a pair of Gnorc Warriors wandering around the area and a Gnorc Brute standing above some of them, so what happened was that Elora kicked the blade of one of the Gnorc Warriors to the side and then jumped into the air as Hunter loosed an arrow into her foe's chest, Cynder used the wind to slash through the other Gnorc Warrior, while Spike loosed a Fireball into the Gnorc Brute's back and knocked it out, allowing them to eliminate the foes that were in this area, or at least the ones they could see. That was followed by them heading over to where a pair of dark crystals happened to be resting and smashed them to pieces as soon as they found both of them, before jumping up a set of stone pillars and reached an area that happened to have another Dark Gem resting in the ground, one that Flame used the Horn Dive on and smashed it to pieces, causing the darkness that was in this area to disappear in a matter of seconds and made the mass of small snowballs that were blocking an opening disappear as well, opening the way to where Blink happened to be standing, meaning he must have found another cavern with a dragon egg and a Light Gem, even though there were some gems, a bullseye chest, and a metallic chest near him.
"Hey guys, I found another cavern in this area, one that should be more challenging than the last one," Blink stated, where it was clear that he was excited about what he might uncover inside the cavern, even though most of the group knew that things usually got more challenging the further along they got in an adventure, just like Spyro, Spike, and Ember had seen over the years, before he glanced at the hole that was behind him for a few seconds and smiled, "What do you say? Shall I go take a look?"
Spyro wasted no time in letting Blink know that they were going to wait here and rest for a time, allowing their friend to head into the hole and left them behind, where some of them made sure to smash the bullseye chest and the metallic one that was resting near it, before they spread out and simply waited for Blink to return, though this time around they knew it would take him some time to get back to them, as this cavern was likely more difficult than the previous ones he had gone through since they freed him from the cage he had been locked inside. Spike took the time to write down everything that had happened since he and the others arrived in Icy Wilderness and explored the area that was around Moneybags' new shop, mostly to make sure everything was written down exactly as it had happened, while the others stared out at the rest of the area that they had to explore, as there was more to this realm for them to explore and this would give them some time to determine which path to follow once Blink came back with the dragon egg and Light Gem that had to be inside the new cavern. It took Blink some time to make it back to them, revealing that the first thing he had found was a light blue egg that he delivered to Spike, who immediately sent it back to the Nursery so Nanny could add it to all the other eggs the group had recovered since this adventure had started, before adding a Light Gem for them to add to their collection, even though Blink admitted that the cavern he had found them in had been rather challenging and time consuming, which he was totally fine with since he had emerged with a whole bunch of gems for them to take, as in fifteen hundred from the area that the dragon egg had been resting in and two thousand from where the Light Gem had been resting, gems that he gave to the group, which Spike added to the bag that contained the rest of the normal gems. Once Spike was sure all of the gems were in the bags that he was carrying on his satchel, and Blink headed back underground so he could do whatever it was that he did between helping the group recover what had been stolen, to which they headed over to the snow covered path the Gnorc Brute of this area had been resting in, as it lead up to a wooden platform that allowed them to get to the point where they could jump up to an area that a button was resting in, one that was being guarded by a Gnorc Brute and a Yeti that smashed a snowman apart.
The Gnorc Brute didn't last all that long as Ember smashed its armor off and Cynder charged into its chest, while the Yeti fell once Bianca blasted it in the chest with a Fireball that caused it to fall off the ledge it was standing on, though when it came time for the button to be pressed, which Elora did once everyone was ready, a barred gate that was resting on the other side of this area lowered and opened the way for them to enter a brand new area, even though there was a Gnorc Warrior and an Eskimole standing on two of the three pillars that would allow them to access the area that the barred gate had been resting in. The first thing that happened after that was that Elora kicked open the metallic chest that was resting near them, though while she did that Amelia loosed an arrow at the Eskimole and Spike shocked the Gnorc Warrior with a Lightning Bolt, opening the way for Spyro and the others to make their way over to the new tunnel that had been opened by the button being pressed, even if they had to jump over a few platforms to reach it, though they had to take down yet another Gnorc Warrior that was standing directly in front of the tunnel, who fell as Spyro swung at it with the runeblade that he was carrying. What they discovered on the other side of the area it had been standing in was a few swinging log traps that had spikes attached to them, so what they did was jump over the gap that was in front of them, when they had a chance to do so, and then bypassed the one that was beyond that, entering an area that sort of looked like they might be entering a brand new area, where Spike confirmed that they were still in Frostbite Village, though the problem they quickly discovered was that this place had some walls, made out of timber and positioned as climbable posts in some sense, that none of them really had a move to use for these, so while they could just jump up the platforms they decided to check out the rest of the area and see what it had to throw at them. There, of course, was the shop pad that allowed the group to figure out that this was a new area in some sense, a barrel shaped caravan that had a broken wheel to their left, and it did look like there might be a cannon nearby, one that was out of reach, before they found two Eskimoles playing with a crate that was full of dynamite and two more resting on some steps that lead to another tunnel, so Hunter and Amelia quickly took care of the ones with the crate while allowing Spike to loose a pair of Fireballs into the air so he could take down the other two that were near the tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel, however, the group found a large mammoth standing in the way, which appeared to be who Red might have selected to be the guardian of this homeworld, so it was weird to see it outside the cave they had spotted after their talk with Moneybags, but at the same time Spike noticed that there was a black collar around its neck and that it was very weak, where he nodded towards the others and both Spyro and Cynder flew forward, swinging their runeblades right at the collar and sliced it to pieces, though when they landed near the group the mammoth, instead of appreciating what they had done, went into a blind rage and smashed its head into the upper part of the tunnel, causing them to pull back as the end of the tunnel collapsed, meaning they wouldn't have to deal with the creature at all.
"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that to happen," Spyro commented, though as the others nodded their heads, and both he and Cynder sheathed their blades since they weren't needed at the moment, he tilted his head for a few seconds as he wondered what they were going to do now, as it sure looked like the way forward had been blocked for now, as there was no telling how much snow had fallen on the other side of the tunnel and how much they would have to dig out before they were able to reach the area that the mammoth had been standing in, something that made them wonder who the true guardian of this homeworld was, "So, what now?"
Spike started to open his mouth, as he had a few ideas on what they could do, but before he could say anything he felt a surge of magic in the air and watched as a portal opened in the space to their left, an ebony colored portal that had a red outline that seemed to take them to a glacier or something, to which he checked it for a moment and found that there was no evil or ill intent to the magic he was feeling, meaning someone might be watching them and had decided to help them out, so it wasn't long before he nodded and Spyro charged through it, followed by the rest of the group following after him so they could see what was on the other side... where they found a tunnel that seemed to bring them right to Bentley, who everyone was surprised to see at the moment, since he was busy elsewhere.
"Bentley? What are you doing here, in the lands of Capora?" Bianca asked, because the last thing she had heard was that he had been in the middle of a journey to Monkey Monastery, so he could visit his younger brother and likely take some time to see what the other Yetis were up to, maybe to learn something from them, though at the same time the rest of the group moved out of the tunnel that they had appeared in and dropped down into the area their friend was standing in, even though Flame and Aurora were surprised by what they were seeing at the moment, minus the side path that had a few wooden spike traps for some odd reason.
"Ah, hello friends. I was on my way to Monkey Monastery, when one of the portals I used suddenly dropped me off in this area and stranded me here," Bentley remarked, though his tone revealed that he wasn't too happy about what was going on, even if he was happy to see the group once more, before he glanced out at the area that was beyond the tunnel that they were standing in, where they could see that they definitely weren't in the same place they had been in earlier, before their run-in with the mammoth, which was when he glanced back to them, "Listen, do you mind helping me clear out the way to a nearby cave? I might be able to use it until I can find some transportation back home."
It didn't take the group long to agree to Bentley's request, as Bianca and Spike could easily form a bridge or something for him to use to get to the area in question, to which they started to move out and see what this new area had in store for all of them, even if this time around Hunter and Amelia were the ones to move forward and left the rest of the group in their dust, which Spyro and the others were just fine with since the Cheetah siblings didn't need their help, to which they took a moment to jump onto the side of the area and climbed on it, ignoring some frozen gems that Spyro was able to free with his Fire Breath. Hunter and Amelia made their way over to the cave that Bentley had pointed out, which appeared to be a home of some kind and that it had been vacant for some time, though when they entered the cave in question there were five Yetis for them to deal with, who seemed to be under Red's control since the first one they came across Amelia was able to cut down in seconds and left a pile of gems behind, something that caused Hunter to nod as they moved into the rest of the cave and hunted down all of the targets that seemed to be invading the area that Bentley wanted to reside in until he was able to return to the realm he was supposed to be in. A few minutes later the pair made their way out of the cave and revealed that they found a few golden chests inside the cave, which Bentley was more than willing to give them anything that was inside the chests in question, to which Spike and Bianca used their magic to create a walkway for their friend to get to the cave, which was already outfitted to be someone's home, even though Hunter said that none of the five Yetis that were inside it seemed to be using the cave for anything, before Spike found that the first golden chest had a few golden gems while the second had a pink egg with white flowers inside it, which he sent to the Nursery as soon as he got his claws on it. Once they were sure Bentley felt this place would be a good place to reside until he got in touch with the Professor, as he had no idea the genius mole was even in Capora, he rewarded them with a Light Gem he had found a few minutes before they suddenly arrived in the tunnel he had been standing in and also tapped something that lowered the gate that was blocking the other path they had seen, the one that had the wooden stake traps they had seen to the right of where he had been standing earlier, before he wished his friends well as they left to see what was at the end of this area, since they had no idea what else this part of Icy Wilderness had in store for them.
With the Light Gem added to their collection the group headed back over to the area that the wooden spike trap rested in and jumped up to the next area that was in their way, where they found a Yeti guarding some frozen gems, a pair of dark crystals, four buttons, and a machine that seemed to have two hammer shaped heads attached to it, so it could smash the area that was behind where the Yeti was standing and an area on the other side of the platform it was resting on, so Flame used his Fire Breath to torch both the foe that was in front of them and the gems that had been in front of it. Once that was done the group smashed the dark crystals and then positioned themselves in the rest of the area accordingly, where Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember moved over to where the buttons were located and performed the Horn Dive on each of them, even though the hammer machine was stopped by Bianca's Ice magic freezing it, though once all four of them were pressed into the floor the nearby gate opened and they moved through it, avoiding the wooden stake traps before Elora punched the next Yeti that happened to be in the tunnel that was beyond the gate in the face, before finding that there were some poison fountains attached to the walls of the next area they would be moving through. One thing they found out was that Hunter and Amelia had their own methods for taking care of the metallic containers they passed by during their travels through the realms of Capora, one that they didn't share with everyone else due to all of the fireworks that had been scattered throughout the area they had explored so far, and revealed that they could use smaller cylindrical fireworks, attacked to an arrow, to blow their targets up, so when it was just the two of them they would use this method to break the metallic containers open and get the gems that were resting inside them. With that done the group carefully headed down the rest of the path and entered a chamber which had a raised platform that a Light Gem rested on, though when Spike collected it a barred gate rose out of the ground of the tunnel they had just walked through and sealed all of them inside the chamber as twelve Skeletal Warriors pulled themselves out of the ground and attacked them, where Elora kicked one in the side of the head and knocked it into a wall, revealing a bunch of gems in the process, meaning that Red had been experimenting with what he could create and that they didn't have to hold back against these enemies, which was what the others had been hoping to discover.
The Skeletal Warriors were pretty much worthless in a fight, as everyone in the group, especially Flame and Aurora, who weren't used to fighting enemies like this and were learning from watching all of the more experienced fighters, as it took a single hit from everyone in the group to defeat their respective foes, even if Spike focused on blasting the Skeletal Mage that was off to the side with a Lightning Bolt, though once all of the enemies had been taken care of the gate that was blocking the next tunnel lowered and they walked through it, where they found a golden chest along the way and Spike used his magic to open it, revealing an egg with a purple top, a yellow zigzag center, and red bottom. From there the group headed down the rest of the tunnel and found that they would have to jump along some platforms, while dodging some swinging stone axes, though while they took turns doing that Ember smashed a section of the wall on their left and found another dragon egg in this area, a pink one with white flowers, where Spike sent it and the multicolored one back to the Nursery so the pair could be added to the other eggs they had recovered so far, which was followed by them moving down the rest of the tunnel. There was a part of the tunnel where Hunter loosed an arrow through the air to hit a bullseye and raised a platform so the others could access what appeared to be the next part of this area, where a Yeti was standing with two Eskimoles standing near it, so Aurora flamed one of the Eskimoles as Ember did the same to the other one, which was when Spyro and Cynder used their combined Fire and Wind power to loose a powerful burst of flame to take down the Yeti that was standing in their way, allowing the rest of the group to land near the area they were fighting in and found yet a spinning spike trap that was easy bypassed since it stopped at one point and gave them more than enough time to get passed it and then jumped over a gap so Spike could blast a Yeti in the chest with a Fireball. The tunnel the Yeti was in the middle of guarding had another spinning trap for them to bypass, which ended by bringing them to a bullseye chest and opened the way for Hunter and Amelia to focus their arrows on the enemies that they could see from where they were currently standing, striking down several bats that were heading their way and taking down a Yeti that was on the other side of the cavern that they were standing in, though once those enemies were down for the count Bianca used her magic to make a walkover over to where a pair of metallic chests rested and then connected it to the tunnel the Yeti had been guarding, giving Ember a chance to smash the bullseye chest before following the rest of the group.
The tunnel they started walking through had another spinning trap for them to get around and then they found an area where some bones rested and a Yeti stood behind them, where a Light Gem happened to be resting, to which Cynder took a moment to use her Shadow Play and rushed over to her target's shadow so she could smash him through the bones and open the way to where the Light Gem rested, though as Spike collected the gem Ember smashed a few metallic chests as the others followed the rest of tunnel towards then end, or what they hoped was the end since they had no idea what else might be in this area or where an exit might be located. The group then found a Skeletal Warrior that seemed to be trying to guard a cavernous area that was the next part of the area, possibly the second realm of this homeworld, they needed to head through, which had some rather large bones resting all over the place and there was a Yeti rolling barrels down the spine that was in front of them, to which Spike threw up a barrier and let the barrels hit it, something that opened the way for Elora to fly around to where her target was rested and punched it into the bones that rested behind it, which was when Spike opened the way for the others to move forward, even though they could see a light green egg with blue swirls that rested below the spine walkway, though Spike flew down to where it rested and sent it to the Nursery. Once that was done he returned to where the others were standing, even if Flame and Aurora dealt with the pair of metallic chests and a lone bullseye chest to get all of the gems that were inside them, and headed down another spine as Hunter and Amelia rained arrows down on the bats that were coming in their direction, allowing Bianca to blast the next Yeti with a Lightning Bolt while Ember dealt with a Skeletal Warrior that was nearby, not to mention a second one that was a little further away from where the first one happened to be resting, which opened the way for the group to head over to where a new tunnel was resting and started to follow it deeper into the area they were in, which Spike was starting to assume was the inside of a massive glacier, or an underground cavern of some kind, even though Spyro had to flame a Yeti that suddenly popped up in their way, clearing out in a matter of seconds. The next tunnel had a few straw baskets for them to break and two of the poison vents to avoid, before they arrived in an area that had another large spine that was being used in a different way, as there were two large boulders rolling between two parts of the area and a Yeti who happened to be guarding yet another Light Gem, who Amelia took down with an arrow as Bianca formed a walkway for them to use so they didn't have to rely on the crumbling platforms that someone would normally use while exploring this area.
The walkway brought them to some spinning bone platforms, which the group totally ignored since Bianca's walkway was much more reliable than what had been placed here in the distant past, before they spotted a platform that had a dragon egg with a flame pattern on it, one that Spike immediately sent back to the Nursery as soon as they claimed it, while at the same time Ember knocked the Yeti who was standing on the platform above them onto its back so Cynder could knock it out and leave a pile of gems behind, opening the way for them to move forward. The tunnel that the Yeti had been in the middle of guarding happened to have a crack in part of the wall that Sparx and the other dragonflies flew into, allowing the rest of the group to sit down and rest as they waited for their friends to return, with both a dragon egg and another Light Gem, and, true to what the group believed, it didn't take Sparx and the others long to return to where the small crack was located, bringing a yellow dragon egg for Spike to send to the Nursery and a Light Gem to add to their collection, but once all of that was done they resumed moving down the tunnel they were in. When they reached the end of the tunnel the group found that it was another cavern that had some spine areas that the Yetis and Skeletal Warriors were standing on in the previous parts of this realm, though Bianca also used her magic to make a better walkway for them to use to get over to where a Yeti was standing, even if Spyro blasted it with his Lightning Breath to open the way forward, with Elora taking a moment to punch the Skeletal Warrior so she could collect its gems as the others headed up to the next platform that seemed to be leading them somewhere. As it turned out there was a Light Gem at the highest point of this area, to which the group paused for a moment as they considered what to do next since there was no path for them to follow from that point, before Spike spotted a section of the wall near the tunnel they had come from that seemed to be an area that Hunter and Amelia could climb, even though Bianca insisted on shifting her walkway so they could reach the end of the path he had discovered, mostly to let their friends conserve their energy for whatever else was down here, which was when Amelia loosed an arrow at a Yeti and hit a bullseye sign that opened the way to a Light Gem that was above the area she and her brother would have climbed had they taken on this area on their own, allowing Spike to fly over to where the Light Gem rested and claimed it like the others everyone had found since this adventure had started.
From there the group followed the next tunnel as it lead them deeper into the realm that they were in, bringing them to a few bear traps that activated and chomped down on nothing that was near each of them, to which Ember just cleared the way forward by charging through all of them, before finding another wall for Hunter and Amelia to climb, which seemed to head right into a fortress of some kind, which meant they had found the area the Professor had referred to as Ice Citadel, to which they decided to take a small break and regain whatever energy they had lost, as everyone had the feeling that the next leg of their journey was going to be difficult and that they would need to be prepared for anything and everything that might be inside the citadel.
Once everyone was ready to get underway, and continue their trek through the rest of the land that they were currently exploring, Bianca weaved her magic through the air and formed some platforms out of some of the nearby ice so that those who couldn't fly would be able to get up to where the opening, a window or something, that would allow them to enter the realm known as Ice Citadel was located, though as soon as she did that everyone headed up to the decent sized opening and passed through it, discovering a large chamber on the other side as soon as they reached their destination, allowing them to descend into the area they had discovered. What was interesting about this area was the fact that there was a hole in the middle of the chamber and a rather small cage hanging in the air above it, meaning whoever this place was supposed to contain it also would serve as a way to dispose of them, as from what the group could tell the hole seemed to be connected to a pit that could be impossible to escape, but no one was inside the cage and that fact let them know that they could move forward once more, even though they were sure that this area might have been reserved for them, due to the fact that they were messing with Red's plans. With that thought in mind the group headed over to the opening that would allow them to leave this chamber and walked into an area that had a decent number of gems resting in behind a pair of bear traps while a pair of straw baskets and a bullseye chest rested behind them, so Spike loosed a pair of low powered Lightning Bolts to deal with the bear traps and opened the way for Ember to smash the containers that were behind the gems, though as soon as that was done they turned to their right and found a lone Gnorc Warrior who seemed to be patrolling this part of the citadel, to which it paused for a moment when it saw them standing there. What was interesting was the fact that this Gnorc Warrior, instead of charging at them so it could try to cut one of them down, actually dropped its weapon as soon as it realized what was going on and turned around so it could run away and warn someone that the citadel had been invaded, though that was when Elora rushed forward and spun around so she could kick it into the wall to her right, as none of them wanted their presence to be known to their enemies just yet.
Once that foe was taken care of the group walked down the passage it had been patrolling, finding a metallic chest to the right and a trio of bear traps that were ahead of them, where the latter appeared to be in the middle of a small area that was connected to another passage, though while Cynder dodged all of the bear traps and struck down a Gnorc Warrior that guarded the next area they would be walking through, Hunter and Amelia found the weakness of the bear traps and used their blades to break them in seconds, at the same time that Flame smashed the metallic chest, before Spike walked up to where a golden chest was resting and unlocked it, though he was rewarded with a few Fire Bombs, which he put into a bag before moving away from the chest. With that area cleared out, and they made sure to smash a few straw baskets as well, they found that there were actually two Gnorc Warriors guarding the next passage, though that was followed by Bianca blasting the first one in the chest with a Lightning Bolt as Aurora rushed over to where the second one rested and flamed it with her Fire Breath, but as soon as those enemies had been taken down the group collected the gems that were nearby, and made sure to smash a pair of straw baskets and a metallic chest, before they headed for the door that their enemies had apparently been guarding for some time. On the other side of the door, however, they found a larger area than the two small chambers they had been inside, where it was easy to find a few dark crystals resting all over this place, a Gnorc Warrior that seemed to be patrolling the area, a pair of platforms that would allow them to reach the upper part of this area, and a shop pad that seemed entirely out of place, especially since Red and his allies didn't trust Moneybags and likely wouldn't have set up one of his shop pads in an area like this, though none of them were going to complain, as this could give them a chance to pass on a message to the Professor, since they had no idea how long it would be before they found another of his gadget pads. Of course, as soon as they stepped out into the chamber that was in front of them, it was easy to determine that there was more than one Gnorc Warrior in this area, as there were two of the left side of the chamber, where Spyro flamed the first one and Ember struck the second into the ground with her tail, while one more was on their right, who was taken down by Flame and his swift charge to the chest, allowing them a few moments to collect all of the gems that were on the level they were standing on, smashed all of the straw baskets that were near them, and also shattered the couple of dark crystals that they could see, before regrouping at the shop pad.
"Ah, hello my friends, it seems that you found another shop pad, though I have no idea how one ended up inside the area the Professor told you about," Moneybags commented, showing the group that he either didn't know that someone had stolen one of his shop pads and just put it inside the area they had found it in, or he did know it had been stolen and what Red had done to the subordinates that gave him bad news had distracted him enough to forget about the shop pad, but given that this was a new version of the bear it was likely that the former option was the correct one, "Is there anything I can do to assist you? I only ask since I know you don't need any of the items I have for sale, meaning you've discovered something that needs to be passed onto someone else."
"We found Bentley while we were exploring Gloomy Glacier, who told us that he stepped through a portal and ended up in the previous realm we cleared out," Spyro replied, though while he knew several of the others had to be worried that this shop pad had been modified to listen in on their conversations with Moneybags, and he couldn't fault them for thinking about that, he figured that Red had more important things on his mind than whatever they and the bear talked about, so he was more than willing to give Moneybags the information on what had happened so far, "and we were hoping that you would tell the Professor about this situation, so he can set aside some time to help Bentley get back to Castle Hills, since he was supposed to be heading to Monkey Monastery before he appeared in Capora."
Moneybags paused for a moment, where they could see that he was actually writing down what they wanted him to tell the Professor, and once they confirmed that he had everything down right the connection was terminated and the group headed over to where the pair of platforms rested, where each of them quickly made their way up to the upper level of this chamber and found that there were two enemies patrolling the area, a Gnorc Archer and a Gnorc Warrior, but since neither of them had noticed the group it was easy for Spike to loose a Fireball into the ranged enemy's back and blow it away in a matter of seconds, even though Amelia loosed an arrow into the melee foe's chest and took it down, opening the way for them to jump down onto the area their foes had been guarding. Once their enemies were taken care of they took care of the couple of straw baskets that rested nearby and smashed a few dark crystals, before they discovered that there was a firework up here that raced down into the area that was below the walkway they were walking on, revealing that there was more below them to explore, which was followed by the sound of some metallic containers being blown up in the process, which Spike was sure they had seen previously and had ignored due to the fact that the group wanted to tell Moneybags about Bentley and the message they had for the Professor. While most of the group headed back down to the area that the firework had flown through, and headed towards the opening in question, Spike spotted another small platform and noticed that it lead up to where a Light Gem rested, to which he collected it and added it to the Light Gem container, though once that was done he headed down to where the others were waiting for him, but as he joined them he watched as Flame and Aurora dealt with some containers that were near them, one targeting a pair of straw baskets while the other dealt with a trio of metallic chests, and once all the gems that had been resting in this area had been taken care of they headed for the area the firework had passed through. There just so happened to be three Gnorc Warriors just beyond where the pile of gems had been resting, to which Cynder used her Shadow Play technique to take them all down so the rest of the group could deal with the straw baskets that were beyond her targets, before finding another Gnorc Warrior standing near a Gnorc Brute, who seemed to be guarding something, but that didn't stop Elora from kicking off all of the armor the bigger enemy was wearing so Spike could shock it, nor did it stop Hunter and Amelia from loosing some arrows right into the Gnorc Warrior's chest.
As soon as those enemies were taken care of, and that included breaking some bear traps and a container of explosives, the group reached the area that the metallic containers had been resting in and gathered all of the gems that must have been inside the containers, though while they collected the gems Flame approached the furnace that the Gnorc Brute had been guarding and noticed that it was inactive, making him wonder if it might be connected to the door that was on the level that was above them, to which he flamed the machine and activated it, only for the machine to spit out a Light Gem that Spike added to their collection. Once they were sure that this area had been cleared out the group headed back over to where the pair of platforms rested and headed back up to the upper level of this chamber, where Aurora used her new Water Breath on the water wheel that rested nearby and caused a metallic beam to move out of the way, allowing them to open the door it had been resting in front of so they could enter another part of the citadel, even though the passage that rested on the other side of the door happened to have a Yeti on the other end of it, to which Hunter loosed an arrow at it and took it out in seconds, allowing the rest of the group to smash the couple of bear traps that rested in their way as they walked over to where the Yeti had been standing. There was also another Yeti down to the right of where the first one was standing, who Amelia took down with a well placed arrow as well, where the rest of the group smashed a straw baskets, a metallic chest, a bear trap, and a dark crystal before noticing that there was a metallic version of the bullseye targets that yielded gems to them when they were smashed, where the metallic one did the same thing, which was when they turned to the left at the area the second Yeti had been standing in and found a few more containers to break, a bullseye chest that had some straw baskets and a bear trap near it, though that was when Spyro smashed the button that happened to be resting in front of the door and opened the way into the next chamber. The area in question wasn't a chamber, like all of them had been expecting, rather it seemed more like a rocky tunnel that had been dug into the mountain that the rest of the citadel had been built into, where it came complete with metallic tubes, a number of bear traps that Ember started to smash as soon as she saw them, some straw baskets that Aurora took out so she could get some more gems for them, and another furnace that Cynder lit with her shadowy Fire Breath, which, interestingly enough, didn't yield anything to add to their collection, unlike the previous furnace.
Once they were sure that this area had been cleared out Flame activated the button that was in front of them and opened the door so they could enter the next section of the citadel that they would be exploring, revealing a tunnel that had a lone Gnorc Warrior guarding the end of it, to which Elora rushed forward and kicked its sword and shield out of its hands, all in a few seconds, before she punched it in the chest and knocked it into the wall that was behind it, leaving a pile of gems for her to pick up as the others smashed a straw basket and a metallic chest she had ignored so she could deal with the foe that had been in their way. What was interesting was the fact that the wall she had stuck her foe into, which happened to be the left side of the tunnel they were following, the wall collapsed and a golden chest was revealed for Spike to walk up to, where he unlocked the chest and discovered a dragon egg with a flame design inside it, one that he checked out for a few seconds before sending it back to the Nursery, though Ember checked the other wall that was in the area their enemy had been in and found that her luck wasn't as good as Elora's as her wall didn't fall apart. As soon as she was done doing that, and claimed that she was ready, the group headed down the next passage and found a Gnorc Warrior with a Gnorc Brute standing further beyond it, to which Spyro quickly drew his runeblade and swung it at the first foe that was in their way, reducing it to a pile of gems as Ember and Cynder lashed out at the Gnorc Brute, the latter knocking its armor off so the former could headbutt it in the chest and knock it into the wall that was behind it, opening the way for the others to join them as they headed down the next passage that was near them. What caught them off guard for a moment was the fact that the door that the passage brought them to happened to have a Dark Gem on the other side, in a small chamber that had no other openings, almost like they were going to have to backtrack in case they missed something, though that was when Aurora smashed the sinister gem to pieces and caused its darkness to fade from the area they were in, which also caused the floor below them to shatter and drop them into a straight passage that lead right to a new chamber, but as the dragons and Elora spread their wings Bianca made sure that she, Hunter, and Amelia had a Slow Fall spell active so no harm came to them as they descended down into the new area they would be exploring.
The chamber, as it turned out, was actually a prison cell of some kind for a number of gems, a straw basket or two, one of the bullseye chests, two metallic chests, and, more importantly, a green scaled bipedal dragon who had a pale chest, only it was carrying the staff of a Dragon Elder and wore the same attire as the rest of the Elders they had met so far, and due to the fact that Flame and Aurora seemed happy about something meant that this had to be the Elder the Professor told them about earlier, when they first arrived in Icy Wilderness, though with the ceiling opened that meant it could leave the prison that it was trapped in, something they could tell by the number marks on the walls.
"Ah, heroes, it is good to finally meet you," the Dragon Elder said, his tone revealing that he was happy based on what they had done, though at this point none of them were all that surprised by the fact he knew them, as the Professor had told all of the Elders that they would be coming in the near future, without telling Flame and Aurora his plans, though that was the moment he glanced at the ceiling for a moment and he grinned, almost like he knew what he needed to do next, before he glanced at the group once more, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Elder Alain, and I have been trapped in this cell for some time, ever since Red returned from his exile and captured me."
"Its a pleasure to meet you, and don't worry about Red, we'll..." Spyro started to say, though that was the moment that he stopped speaking as Elder Alain tapped his staff on the ground and demanded their attention once more, despite the fact that he felt that such a thing was unnecessary since most of the group had been focusing on the Elder, as he might have a technique to share with them that would allow them to bypass some of the obstacles they had faced in Frostbite Village, something that only made him wonder why the Elder was being rude to them.
"Yes, yes, I get it, you've met the other Elders and they've taught you everything you currently know... however, there is, in fact, one more technique you have to learn," Elder Alain stated, though that was when he looked at the group for a second or two as he thought about something, almost as if he was seeing something that wasn't actually there, but the group took the time to remain silent as they waited to hear what sort of information he had to share with them, before they tried to leave this cell and continued their trek through the rest of the citadel, "some place to go, have you? Oh very well, I'll get to the technique and you can be on your way: the technique I have to offer you is the Wall Kick technique, one that allows the user to jump from one wall to another, though they have to be within a certain distance of each other to give you any real height, and if you want an example of the types of walls you can use it on just look at the one that's by us, you could use the Wall Kick on it if you wanted to... also, you must learn what types of walls will allow you to use the technique on them, so hopefully your A.D.D. doesn't get in the way."
Spike's eyebrow twitched for a moment, as he couldn't believe that this Elder had the nerve to claim that they had a hard time paying attention to whatever was going on around them, especially when he considered the thought that everyone was able to focus on the events that were playing out before them and could accurately tell anyone what had happened, but instead of doing anything they headed over to the pair of close walls in question and Spyro stared at them for a few seconds as he recalled what Elder Alain had said, to which he jumped onto the right wall and then used his contact with the wall to get some extra height as he jumped to the other one. Spike and the others watched him for a few moments as he made his way to the top of the close walls and smiled when he finally reached a passage that would allow them to head even deeper into the citadel, to which he moved out of the way as all of the other dragons did the same technique that he had just shown off, eventually reaching the area that Spyro had stopped in, though that didn't stop Elora and the others from trying it out as well, because this seemed more like a commonplace technique and not something exclusive to just the dragons, and sure enough they were able to reach their friends, much to Elder Alain's surprise, showing that he wasn't expecting them to perform the Wall Kick technique so well. The passage the close walls brought them to had a trio of dark crystals waiting in the middle of the area they would be walking through, so Ember quickly smashed her targets apart as Cynder did the same thing to some straw baskets and a bullseye chest that were near the crystals, though Spike was more interested in the golden chest that was nearby and walked over to it so he could unlock it, revealing another Light Gem to add to their collection, and once he safely stored it inside the Light Gem bag they headed through the opening that was to the right of the now unlocked chest, where they found a few more containers to break and a Gnorc Brute that seemed to be blocking the way forward. It didn't take the group all that long to take their next foe down, especially since Aurora hit its armor off with a swing of her tail and opened the way for Flame to use his Fire Breath to finish it off, where they found a crate full of fireworks, a straw basket, and a bullseye chest resting behind the area their foe had been standing in, though as those were smashed and blasted open Spike spotted a Gnorc Archer in the next part of the passage and used a small bit of his magic to form a barrier to stop an incoming arrow, opening the way for Amelia to return the favor.
With that foe taken care of the group took a moment to smash some straw baskets and a bullseye chest, so Sparx and the rest of the dragonflies could pick the gems up, before they headed down the rest of the tunnel that was in front of them and kept their guards up as they waited to see what sort of danger it would bring them to, even though they would be able to handle anything that was thrown at them, but that was when they discovered that the tunnel brought them outside, as in to a section of the citadel that was outside, and a new area was confirmed by another shop pad, something they weren't interested in questioning at this point and took stock of what rested in this area. What they discovered was a gadget pad in front of a circular metallic door, meaning it had to be the Supercharge Gadget this time around, some metallic containers off to the left of where the large door was resting, a Dark Gem resting on a platform that was above everything, and a pair of breakable containers to the left of the tunnel opening that they emerged from, a straw basket and a bullseye chest to be exact, so what they did was make sure the containers to the left were broken before they stared out at the rest of this new area and formed a plan of attack. From what Spike could tell it looked like the water in this area was frozen over, due to what rested near the couple of metallic containers, though even as he came to that determination Ember walked onto the gadget pad and empowered herself instantly, where she smashed through the metallic door and entered what the rest of the group felt might have been a sewer of some kind, or maybe it was a way of transporting water throughout parts of the citadel, to which they stood still for a few moments as Ember emerged from the upper part of the passage that had been on the other side of the door and landed on the area that the Dark Gem was resting on. Of course that was swiftly followed by her performing the Horn Dive on the sinister gem and shattered it into a thousand pieces, though while all of the darkness faded from this area the frozen waterfall shuddered for a moment before it shattered before their eyes, an action that revealed a hidden tunnel that had to be the way forward, something that would normally be hidden by a good sized waterfall, though that was followed by Ember restoring her Supercharge power and rushed through the new tunnel she had discovered, something that was swiftly followed by her gliding down into the area they were standing in, revealing that there was an opening above the tunnel opening that had brought them to this section of the citadel in the first place, and she also happened to have a pink dragon egg with a white flower design with her.
As soon as the egg was sent back to the Nursery the group made sure to smash the metallic containers that were resting near a passage that seemed to be the way forward, after Spike corrected himself once he figured out what the path Ember had taken had actually been, before they found a Gnorc Brute guarding the passage and it happened to be wearing armor this time, so Cynder smashed the armor off so Spyro could use his Flame Breath to take it down, which revealed a golden chest for Spike to unlock, which revealed a pair of Fire Bombs for him to collect, even though none of them used these odd items and he simply collected them so their enemies didn't take them to use against them. Once that was done the group headed into the next part of the tunnel that they had to go through and found a dark crystal that had three bear traps, a bullseye chest, a pair of straw baskets, and a metallic chest near it, not to mention a Gnorc Archer that Hunter quickly took out with one of his arrows, allowing the rest of the group to smash the containers and collect all of the gems that had been inside the various containers, before they resumed following the rest of this passage, which seemed to be bringing them to another part of the exterior of the citadel, one that happened to have a portal resting off to their right. That was when the group spotted a brand new enemy that they would have to contend with, a golem that was made out of ice and just so happened to have the form of a troll, or at least something like that, so Spike labeled it as an Ice Golem and the group took a moment to move out so they could surround it, where it tried to swing its club at them and that was the moment that Sgt. Byrd, who had been standing near the portal they had spotted, loosed a missile at the creature and blew it apart, but none of them were worried once they saw the gems that fell on the ground, indicating that this foe had been yet another gem construct and that the rest of the Ice Golems had to be the same way. Regardless of what Sgt. Byrd did Spike made sure the rest of the group understood what his thoughts on this new foe were, as he believed that their Fire Breath would be the key to defeating these enemies, due to the fact that he knew there would be more of them in the citadel and it was easy to see that they agreed with his thoughts, though with everyone in agreement they headed over to where their friend was standing, as it appeared that he had found another Speedway, which was rather odd given the nature of the citadel that they were currently exploring, meaning another dragon egg and Light Gem would be theirs in due time.
"Sgt. Byrd, how are you doing?" Spyro asked, because it was interesting to see their friend in an area like this, though even as he said that he knew what was going on before anyone said anything, as Sgt. Byrd must have uncovered another area of a realm to tackle, one that only he could fight since Red had placed a rule on all of the Speedways and Flight Realms to prevent him and the others from tackling the challenges for once, though this time around they also had someone to help them get around that rule and return the stolen dragon eggs to their rightful owners.
"Oh, you know, still soldiering on," Sgt. Byrd remarked, to which he chuckled for a few moments, meaning it had to be a bit of military humor that only he would understand, even though that didn't stop him from doing what he was doing for a few moments, before he stopped and focused on the group once more, showing that he was also being serious about the situation they were in, as it sure seemed like they were in the middle of invading Red's stronghold, or maybe one of them since it was hard for them to determine how many locations Red had prepared before their arrival, "So, shall I take to the skies and do what I do best, or is this a social visit?"
It didn't take Spyro long to nod his head and let Sgt. Byrd head through the portal that he had been standing near, though while they waited for their friend to return to the area they were in, with the spoils from the Speedway he had discovered, Ember returned to the area that they had found the Supercharge Gadget in and swiftly made her way back to them so she could ram her head into the metallic door that they had seen earlier, smashing it to pieces, though as she did that Spike walked over to see what was inside the chamber she had opened up, not to mention unlock the nearby golden chest so it could be crossed off his list. What they found inside the small chamber were three metallic chests, two dark crystals that needed to be smashed, and a pair of straw baskets that were easily taken care of, though there was one item in this area that was far more important than anything else and that was a pink dragon egg that had a white flower design on it, where Spike sent it back to the Nursery so it was out of the way, allowing Ember to smash the rest of the containers and crystals that were in this small chamber, before he turned around and used his magic on the golden chest, which was followed by a sigh when he realized there were just a few Lightning Bombs inside the chest, which he pocketed inside the bag that he had placed the rest of the bombs in earlier. Flame also made sure to break the metallic chest and the pair of straw baskets that were near the golden chest, though Aurora also shattered the two dark crystals that were in this area, but once they had done all of that the group simple sat down and waited for Sgt. Byrd to return, as it appeared that there were two more paths for them to pick from and they would do so as soon as their friend had returned with news of his success, including the stolen items that he was looking for, giving Spike the time to write down everything that had happened after they had climbed into the citadel and started to explore what was on the other side of the opening they had discovered. As it turned out it only took a few minutes for Sgt. Byrd to walk through the portal and return to them with new of his success, and he also told them that it was just a Speedway and nothing else, and the first item was a purple dragon egg with yellow stars, where Spike sent it back to the Nursery as soon as it was in their possession, before he handed over another Light Gem, as he had found one by doing the second challenge the area had to offer, one that was added to the bag the others had been stored in earlier, though once he had handed over both of the items Sgt. Byrd wished them well and took off, heading for yet another portal that would take him to a Speedway, even though he was looking for something else he might be able to help the group with in the future.
Once everything that was on the other side of the portal was in their possession, and Sgt. Byrd had taken off, Flame took a moment to walk into the chamber that rested near where they had found their friend and they discovered a pair of straw baskets, a fireworks crate, three metallic chests, and a button that they suspected went to the door that was near them, so the group dealt with the containers that were around them and pressed the button so they could force the door to open, which revealed a chamber that had three Gnorc Warriors and a Gnorc Brute guarding it. What happened next was what all of them were used to at this point, Flame tripped one of the warriors with a swing of his tail and let Aurora flame it, Elora stunned the brute with a punch so Hunter and Amelia could loose a pair of arrows into its chest, Bianca quickly shocked one of the other warriors which was followed by Ember smashing it into the ground, leaving Spyro and Cynder to take out the last warrior with a combined sword swing, effectively clearing out the chamber before they started to check it out and see if there was another way forward or if this was a dead end. The only things they discovered in this chamber, one that was a dead end, were that there were a number of straw baskets that were broken open and a furnace that Spike was able to activate with a burst of his Flame Breath, something that gave them another Light Gem to add to their collection, and once it was inside the bag the others were in Hunter noticed that there was a metallic cube nearby that was below an open tunnel, one that he, Elora, Amelia, and Bianca would have to duck to enter, though they followed it towards the area it was connected to and appeared in an area that had another furnace, this one giving them nothing when Spyro activated it, so they headed through the opening that was nearby. That brought them to an area that had a shop pad in it, a pair of straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a golden chest, all of which rested on the other side of the chamber they walked into, but that was when they found something interesting standing near the elegant glass windows that were on the left side of the decent sized chamber they had fought, a bipedal female fox who was wearing a nice blue dress that had a few white spots on the arms, possibly additional fluff, who had a sapphire pendant around her neck, where it looked like she might be a princess or something, and she was shivering as she spotted them.
"Oh, hello there, I didn't realize that I had guests. I am Vicky, the Ice Princess," the bipedal fox stated, where she made sure to gesture to herself in case they didn't understand what she was saying, though they understood what had been said and were waiting to see if she needed help with anything, even though it was pretty clear that she needed some assistance, so they figured that they could help her out before they made their way back to the other part of the citadel so they could see what else was in this place, before heading back to Frostbite Village to see what they might have missed, "so named due to the fact that this island is called Icy Wilderness, and the fact that its freezing in here! Please, could you find and light all of the boilers that are scattered around my castle? I'd ask my servants to do it, but I haven't seen any of them for some time, as I've only seen those green skinned creatures, a red dragon, and all of you, and I trust all of you far more than I trust the other two groups, especially since the former ignores me and I haven't seen the latter for some time."
Spyro quickly agreed to help out the Ice Princess, Vicky as she called herself, who informed them that they were allowed to smash the items that were in this chamber, referring to the containers, and open the golden chest, as none of them were hers and she didn't want anything that was left behind by the red dragon, which had to be Red, and his allies, so while the majority of the group gathered near the opening that left this chamber Ember smashed the containers while Spike took a moment to unlock the golden chest, earning them a number of gems to add to their collection. Once that was done they headed through the opening the others were standing near and headed through the tunnel that was on the other side, as it brought them to another section of the citadel, or castle as the Ice Princess called it, that had a Dark Gem resting nearby, though there just so happened to be a Gnorc Brute standing guard over the sinister gem and it waved its axe towards the area they were standing in, no doubt trying to scare them off so it didn't have to waste time fighting them, where Elora was able to kick the armor off and open the way for Hunter and Amelia to use a pair of arrows to take it down. The moment it was reduced to a pile of gems Ember smashed the Dark Gem with the Horn Dive, not to mention the trio of dark crystals that were near it being broken by the force of her attack, where the others watched as the darkness in this area faded and restored it to what it had been like before Red put the sinister gem in this place, revealing a cannon that Hunter climbed into almost immediately, where he quickly turned it on all of the metallic containers that were in this area and fired on all of them, blasting them to pieces so the gems that were trapped inside could be freed at long last, though he also made sure to take down a metallic door that was blocking something to the right of the cannon and another metallic that was in front of where the cannon rested, but once that was done he let the dragonflies collect the gems before he climbed off the weapon as they picked out where they were going next. What they did was head through the tunnel that was to the left of the cannon's position and found that there was a Yeti standing in the middle of the passage, where Spyro flamed it not a few seconds later and opened the way forward, even though Bianca shocked the next Yeti that was just beyond where the first one had been resting, before they smashed the bear traps that were positioned all over the tunnel, smashed the dark crystal the Yetis had been guarding, and made sure to take care of the straw basket and metallic chest that rested nearby, before they truly headed down the rest of the tunnel.
On the other side of the tunnel the group found an area that had a yellow dragon egg with white spots off to their right, where Aurora jumped onto the pole that was nearby and allowed it to move as she used the Pole Spin for a few moments, something that was followed by her jumping to the second one and let it move her up to where the egg was located, which she jumped over to and beckoned for the others to catch up with her, which was mostly Spike doing it since he wanted to check out the egg and then send it off to the Nursery, before she found a metallic platform that needed a burst from one of their Lightning Breaths to activate. Spike, however, also helped her out and powered the platform so she could use it to move over to the other platform that something was resting on, a Dark Gem to be exact, to which Aurora used it to get over to where the gem was positioned and then smashed it when she reached the area it was in, causing the darkness to fade away and restore a snow covered walkway that seemed to lead to another tunnel, where she waited for the others to catch up with her before they followed Spyro down into the area and found three enemies waiting for intruders, a Gnorc Archer, a Gnorc Warrior, and a Gnorc Brute. Flame smashed the archer into the wall to their left with a swing of his tail and a short burst of fire, Spike blasted the warrior with a Lightning Bolt, and Ember smashed the armor off the brute so Elora could rush forward and spin kick their target into the opposite wall that Flame had hit his foe into, though once all of the gems had been picked up they headed down the rest of the tunnel, though Bianca shocked another Gnorc Archer that was around the corner and stopped when they discovered there was an electric device that, when powered, opened the way back into Vicky's chamber, who didn't seem to have noticed them. As such they headed back to where the cannon rested and Cynder flew into the circular structure, where she used a platform to reach the upper level and whatever was resting up there, only for her to call Spike over to the area that she was positioned in and revealed that there was a purple dragon egg with yellow stars up there, to which he sent it off to the Nursery after making sure no harm had been done to it, which was where she glided over to the other area that Hunter had opened up and claimed a Light Gem that happened to be in the short tunnel in question, which she returned to Spike as they watched as Spyro headed over to the other structure that was in this area, the last place they could explore before having to backtrack.
As it turned out there was a Gnorc Warrior guarding a pipe passage, just like the one that had allowed them to enter the chamber that they had found Vicky in, and Spyro flamed his foe into submission before heading into the pipe, which was when the rest of the followed after him for a few moments and discovered a chamber that had a few Gnorc Warriors and some bats inside it, where Hunter and Amelia focused on the flying enemies while Bianca blasted one of the melee foes with a Lightning Bolt, Flame hit another into the ground, and Aurora dodged an incoming attack to burn the last one so the area would be cleared out. Once their enemies had been taken care of the group made sure to smash the couple of straw baskets and a dark crystal as Ember ignited the furnace, which spat out another Light Gem for them to take, which was added to the collection they were gathering, though before they headed through the pipe that brought them to this area Spike spotted a platform that lowered down into part of the chamber that they were standing in and determined that they could use it to get to another part of this realm, to which Amelia leapt into the pipe's opening and then jumped up onto the platform. What she discovered was that it brought her to another passage that rested inside the citadel, or castle since that was what Vicky called this place, and it was possible that Red or the Dark Master's magic was at work on this area, but she called down for the others to follow her as she smashed a bullseye chest and a straw basket as she memorized where they had been resting so Spike knew how to write about this part of their adventure, before she turned her full attention to the rest of the passage, where a Gnorc Brute and a Gnorc Warrior happened to be guarding, even if it was possible that there might be more foes waiting for them. Once everyone was up where she was standing, however, Spike loosed a small group of Wind Shuriken that took out the more imposing Gnorc Brute, opening the way for Elora to rush over to where the other foe was standing and kicked it into the wall, allowing the rest of the group to catch up with her, even though Flame took a moment to smash a dark crystal to pieces along the way, before Ember smashed three metallic chests and three straw baskets that were near where Elora was standing, before Hunter and Amelia loosed a few arrows into the rest of the passage so they could take down the three Gnorc Warriors that were guarding a door.
The group wasted no time in pressing the button that was in front of the door, only to discover that it brought them back to a section of this realm that they had been in already, to which they turned around and headed back the way they had come from, as it was time to tell Vicky that all of the furnaces, or boilers as she called them, had been lit, where it didn't take them long to reach the chamber she was standing in and discovered that the Ice Princess felt much better than what they had seen when they first entered this area, making Spike wonder if there was something wrong with something she was wearing or with the twisted castle itself.
"Ah, that's much better... I mean, you certainly fixed most of the problem, but its still chilly," Vicky commented, where she took a moment to shiver and reveal that things seemed to be just like they were when they were fist in this area, though that was when she reached into part of her dress and pulled out something, a Light Gem as it turned out, before she held it out towards the group for a few seconds, almost like she was offering it to them as a reward, "however, you tried to do me a service and that should be rewarded, so here, take this crystal that was left with me when I woke up in this twisted version of my castle, as a note called it a personal heater or something like that... it didn't work, but I feel that you might have a use for it."
"Don't worry, we'll put it to good use," Spike replied, where Spyro accepted the Light Gem and kept it near him, as once the group left this chamber he was going to store it inside the bag once Vicky was out of their line of sight, just so she had no idea how many Light Gems they had collected so far, before he thought about something as he studied the magic that was in the air, as there was a massive sinister signature that had to either be Red or the Dark Master, possibly both of them working together, and that it was manipulating the castle into its current form, before locating a smaller signature that he could work with and change in some manner, "Um, do you mind if I take a look at your necklace? I think someone might have cast a foul spell on it after you were captured."
Vicky raised her eyebrow for a moment as she knelt for a moment so Spike could get a good look at the magic that he had spotted during his investigation, though that was followed by him gathering his magic for a moment as he focused on the magic that had been placed on the necklace and quickly shattered it rather easily, where a look of relief quickly appeared on Vicky's face, to which Spike explained that whoever had kidnapped her had made sure she was always cold, regardless of the state of her furnaces, something that was followed by the princess actually picking him up and hugging him, as this totally solved her problems for the foreseeable future, before she put him down and allowed them to leave. Elora seemed a little annoyed by that, but she made sure that no one else realized what expression she had shown for a moment, even if she understood it was a gesture of gratitude and not something else, before they exited the chamber Vicky was standing in, and could finally enjoy for the first time since she woke up in the apparently twisted version of her castle, and headed back to the area that the other path was resting in, where the portal that Sgt. Byrd had been standing near. It didn't take them all that long to return to the area in question and found that the stairs that lead to where the next Dark Gem had to be resting, due to the darkness that was above them, had been frozen over, something that was followed by Bianca using her magic for a moment and shifted the ice away, allowing them to walk up to where the sinister gem rested so Aurora could smash it to pieces, dispelling the darkness and causing the bridge that was in front of them to lower into place, only it brought them to an area that had a Thief running around and it didn't take Ember long to smash the creature into one of the walls, claiming the white egg with green spots so Spike could send it back to the Nursery. Once that was done it was easy for them to find a button that revealed an area that had a Supercharge Gadget, one that allowed them to empower themselves and charge through the tunnel that was in front of them, where Spyro lead the way and smashed the couple of metallic containers that happened to be resting in the middle of the path, though that didn't stop Spike from claiming a Light Gem that was long the way while Ember smashed a side door to get break some additional containers she found in the small area she unlocked, before they smashed through one final door and came to a stop as they realized that they were back in the village that they had started at for this realm.
The group decided that a brief rest was in order, especially after all of the enemies they had faced on the way through the citadel that was actually a castle, though once they had a chance to rest up they would tackle the rest of Frostbite Village, as each of them knew that there were some areas that they had missed during their first trek through this realm and that meant more eggs and gems could be recovered, something everyone was looking forward to doing once they had a brief moment to rest before they tackled whatever Red had prepared for them.
The first thing the group did, after resting in the village that they had first appeared in when they picked Icy Wilderness after clearing out the realms of Lost Cities, was stop as Ember headed back into the tunnel that connected Frostbite Village to Ice Citadel, or rather Ice Castle since Vicky was convinced her castle had been shifted from its normal appearance and Spike was willing to believe her after the magic that had been in the air, before they focused on Ember as she charged outside and headed for the other locked metallic door that happened to be resting in this area, where it was clear that she had taken a moment to empower herself with the Supercharge Gadget so she could smash the door to pieces. With that done they found a tunnel that had two of the spinning spike traps and two of the swinging log traps, to which the group carefully moved through the area all three of the traps had been placed inside the tunnel, though there was a side path to their immediate left that ended with two Eskimoles guarding a pair of metallic chests, where Bianca jumped into the air and blasted both of her targets with small Fireballs, opening the way for Aurora to smash the chests open and take the gems that had been resting inside them, before they rejoined Spyro and the others. At the end of the tunnel they found a new area for them to explore, even though there was a Dark Gem in front of them and three dark crystals resting near it, so Flame jumped into the air and smashed the sinister gem to pieces, clearing out the corruption as Cynder smashed the smaller crystals, though his actions caused a platform that a cannon rested on to rise a bit from where it had been resting earlier, meaning they could use it to blast some things open and continue moving through this area. Of course there was also a shop pad in this area, something that they mostly ignored since Moneybags seemed to be missing, likely telling the Professor the news that they wanted him to know about, before discovering that there were some Eskimoles in this area and that there was a close set of walls near the shop pad, to which Spyro used the new Wall Kick technique to see what was up there, which turned out to be an Eskimole that he flamed, a dark crystal, a metallic chest, and another close set of walls, which was smaller than the first.
That was when he found one of those golden doors that required a number of Light Gems to open, where he called Spike up to check out the door and his brother quickly determined that they needed a decent number of Light Gems to open the door this time around, probably close to a hundred based on what he was feeling at the moment, as they had about sixty to seventy of the gems in question, so it would be a while before they had enough gems to break the seal and see what was on the other side, possibly another Thief with a dragon egg. Since they couldn't open the golden door the brothers flew down to where the others were standing and watched as Amelia took down an Eskimole that was close to where the cannon rested, while at the same time Hunter jumped up the first set of close walls the brothers had jumped up and then jumped over to the cannon, where he took a few moments to make sure it was working properly before focusing on the area they were in, as there were a few things he could blast apart with this cannon. What he did was blow apart a metallic door that was high above the area the Eskimole his sister had taken out had been standing in, as well as blast apart two of the metallic containers that had been resting along the walkway that lead up to where a large snow boulder had been resting, though he also used a cannonball to blow apart the boulder, as it was, in reality, just a massive stone boulder that had been covered in snow, though once that was done he climbed off the weapon and joined the others as they made their way up the walkway that lead to the tunnel the boulder had been blocking. The group quickly made their way up the path that was beyond the latest Dark Gem's location, picked up the gems that Hunter had freed from the pair of metallic containers, and walked into the tunnel that was now unblocked, which quickly brought them to a chamber that actually had some water inside it, unfrozen water to be exact, though as they stepped into the area it was clear that some of the icy stalactites on the ceiling were in the middle of cracking, to which Spike weaved his magic through the air and froze all of them so they wouldn't break, as he was sure they weren't supposed to break at all, while Bianca used her magic to form a wide walkway for the group to walk on, as there were a few places for them to check out in this area.
In fact the first area they headed for was the one where an armored Gnorc Brute and a lone Eskimole were standing, the latter resting on a wooden platform, where Ember smashed her tail into the chest of the larger foe and knocked its loose armor off, where she dodged the incoming axe swing their foe send her way and grinned as Elora spun around and kicked her foe in the side of its head, knocking it right into a wall, all while Spike loosed a short Lightning Bolt that shocked the Eskimole into submission, before they spotted a side passage that held a golden chest inside it. As such he headed over to the golden chest as Flame broke the pair of straw baskets that were near it, along with Cynder smashing a metallic chest that was outside the small side passage, though after using his magic to unlock the chest, which Spike had to admit was a rather handy spell, he discovered that a dragon egg had been resting inside it, one of the purple topped, red bottomed, and yellow zigzagged centered eggs, to which he sent it off to the Nursery before rejoining the rest of the group as they made their way through the rest of the cave the tunnel had brought them to. From there they headed over to a wooden platform that rested near an icy wall that looked like it could shatter at any moment, to which Aurora performed the Horn Dive and smashed the sinister Dark Gem they had found, which had been on the wooden platform, causing the small bits of corruption to fade away as the group watched the icy wall shatter, revealing a tunnel that would allow them to get even deeper into this part of the realm, hence the reason they started to move down the brand new tunnel. The group quickly discovered that the tunnel was rather short and there was an Eskimole that was emerging from a snow house of some kind, just like the Pygmies they had faced earlier, so what happened in the next couple of seconds was that Hunter used his blades to parry their foe's incoming attacks while Cynder smashed the snow house, though once the structure was in pieces, and there was no way for any additional Eskimoles to spawn from it, since Spike had determined that the snow house was like what they had seen in the past, before Hunter knocked his foe down and reduced it to a pile of gems for the others to take. Once that was done they glanced at the path that was in front of them, some of the poles that had a Gnorc Brute at the end of it, before Amelia noticed that there was a hidden path below the bridge that allowed them to get to where the Eskimole and its house was located, to Aurora flew down there and quickly returned with the information that there was a golden chest below the bridge, where Spike quickly headed over to it and used his magic to unlock the chest in question, revealing a number of gems for him to take.
With that done he returned to the others and watched as Elora flew up to where the Gnorc Brute was standing and kicked off its armor, allowing Amelia to use an arrow to knock it out and leave a pile of gems behind, before she spotted a second Gnorc Brute further up the path, this one without armor, and punched it into the wall that was to the left of where it was standing, opening the way for Cynder to use the Pole Spin technique and make her way up to where the second foe had been standing, before she reached the highest point of the area and located a Light Gem, one that she collected not even a few seconds later and returned it to Spike, who slipped it into the bag the others were held in. Once that was done the group glanced around the area that the destruction of the last Dark Gem had allowed them to access and found out that there were no other paths, except, of course, for the one that allowed them to access this area, so what they did was head back to where the cannon was resting, took a moment to ignore the metallic door, and headed back to the main village that Moneybags' shop rested in, before making their way back over to the area that contained the tunnel that had come to an abrupt end after that mammoth smashed the end of the tunnel, so everyone stopped when they reached the area the caravan was resting in. Once they reached that area the group headed over to the set of close walls that were on the right side of this area and came to a stop as Ember quickly used the Wall Jump technique to get to the highest point, despite the fact that she had to do so a few times before reaching the highest point possible, where she smashed a few straw baskets and then smashed a Gnorc Warrior into the ground with a swift whack of the edge her tail, though once that was done she jumped over to a button that was resting on a nearby pillar and activated it, causing the metallic pillar the cannon that was in this area happened to be on. With that done Hunter jumped up the other set of close walls, the one that rested on the left side of this area, and spotted an armored Gnorc Brute standing near a snow covered boulder, to which Bianca loosed a lightning bolt that was absorbed by the armor, something that knocked all of its armor off, so Hunter could use an arrow to take it down, opening the way for him to jump over to the cannon and activate it, with Bianca creating a platform for him to jump on so he could reach his destination, though once he had control of the cannon he blasted the boulder apart and beckoned for the others to head up to the new tunnel he had revealed, before returning to his friends.
The tunnel didn't have much inside it, so they were able to get to the large chamber it brought them to with ease and they found that a Dark Gem rested in this area as well, one that Spyro smashed to pieces with the Horn Dive and cleared out all of the corruption that was in the chamber, which freed some magically floating platforms that lowered down into place and resumed floating around the rest of the chamber, though based on what the group could see the platforms would let them access a Light Gem and who knew what else. Instead of using the platforms, even though it was nice to see the rest of this area return to normal, Spyro flew over to an area that a bullseye chest and four straw baskets rested in, where he smashed them to pieces and took a few moments to pick up the gems that were freed from the containers that they had been locked inside, even though Spike landed on one of the platforms and let it take him to where a Light Gem rested, one he claimed as soon as he got near it, but once that was done they headed over to a new tunnel and walked into it, even though Aurora smashed the few dark crystals they ended up passing by. What they discovered was that the tunnel came to a quick end and that it contained a few bullseye chests, a new straw baskets, and a few metallic chests, meaning this had to be a lost treasure trove of some kind and it didn't take them all that long to smash up all of the containers and free the gems so the dragonflies could collect them, but once that was done, and everyone was sure they had reached the end of this area, they turned around and headed back outside so they could reach the area the latest cannon rested in, which was when the dragons glided over to a lower area, which had a few gems and a breakable wall, while Bianca formed some walkways for her, Hunter, and Amelia to walk on, before Ember smashed the wall to pieces and revealed another tunnel for them to explore, even though this one was rather short as well and ended with them finding a light blue dragon egg that Spike quickly sent back to the Nursery, so it could be placed with the others they had found so far. Once he was done with that the group decided that, despite the fact that all of them assumed the tunnel would still be collapsed, they would take some time to check out the tunnel and found something interesting when they reached the area that the mammoth had been and found that the fallen snow had been cleared out, either by the creature or by someone else, to which they headed into the dead end area and found a Light Gem resting on the other side of the area, one Spike collected not even a few seconds after spotting it.
What none of them were expecting to find was an entrance to Gloomy Glacier resting in this area, though from the looks of it there wasn't anything for them to collect or fight, to which they turned around and started to retrace their steps back to the village, before Amelia pointed out an area they hadn't explored and they jumped up the platforms so they could land in front of another tunnel, which had a bullseye chest and some straw baskets to break, before they headed down the tunnel and discovered an area that had a few Eskimoles and a pair of Gnorcs guarding it, along with a few platforms that seemed to form a way to cross the other side of the area. Spike and Bianca targeted the Eskimoles, each taking one of the two and shocked them with Lightning Bolts, something that opened the way for Hunter to take down a Gnorc Warrior with one of his arrows, to which some of the others jumped over the platforms to reach the other side, where Elora kicked the Gnorc Brute to take care of its armor so Ember could charge into its chest, though Cynder used her Shadow Play technique to get passed the spinning spike trap that was in front of her and then took down a Gnorc Brute that was inside the small tunnel it happened to be guarding. From there she found a Light Gem that she brought to Spike, after smashing the pair of metallic chests and the bullseye chest that rested near the gem, though as that happened the others headed down into the lower section of this area and mostly dealt with a bullseye chest that was resting on a platform, even though that was around the time that Ember spotted a Thief and chased after it, as it was holding a white dragon egg that had green spots on it's shell, and it didn't take her long to smash into her target's backside, forcing it to drop what it had stolen let her take the egg back to Spike, who made sure it was unharmed before sending it back to the Nursery. Once the egg was safe the group took a few moments to clear out the rest of the area, of straw baskets and a few other containers that were in this area, before they headed back up to the tunnel that brought them to this area and made their way back to the village that Moneybags' shop was resting in, as at this point Spike knew they had taken care of all ten Dark Gems that were scattered throughout this homeworld, the magic number apparently since the last two had the same number apiece, and that had to mean the way into the Guardian's lair had to be open, as he was curious as to who they would have to fight to free this land from Red's grasp, before heading to the last homeworld to confront Red.
Sure enough it was easy to see that the dark barrier that had been covering the cave entrance had disappeared once the tenth Dark Gem in this homeworld had been broken, with the vines having disappeared, the darkness had vanished, and the sky had returned to normal, to which the group stopped in the space that was between where the cave rested and the area that the Teleportation Device rested in, as they could take some time to rest and recover some of their energy before deciding where to go next.
"So, are we going to head into the cave and face whoever Red and the Dark Master have picked to act as the Guardian of this homeworld?" Flame asked, because while he and Aurora were getting used to acting as heroes, as they had learned a lot from watching Spyro and the others fight the enemies that had been standing in their way, there was much they didn't know about how to be heroes or how to work in a group as dynamic as this one was, hence why he asked the question, as he knew Spyro was the leader and the others usually followed his decisions.
"Normally I would say yes, but right now I know we missed a few things in the previous realms," Spyro replied, referring to the couple of realms where they had been forced to leave due to the fact that they didn't have the skills or techniques that would have allowed them to clear out an entire realm during their first visit to it, something that they preferred to do since it meant they didn't give their enemies time to really plan for what they were doing, before he focused on the others for a few moments, "so that's what we'll do: we'll return to the realms that we didn't finish clearing out, recover whatever we might have missed the last time around, and then, once we're done making sure all of the other realms have been taken care of, we'll return to challenge whoever Red's next Guardian is."
The group took a moment to nod their heads before they headed over to the Teleportation Gadget and used it to teleport back to the first area that Spike had made notes about, as he reminded them of the Supercharge Gadget that was located in the swamp and so they carefully teleported back to Dragon Kingdom, which would allow them to head back to Crocovile Swamp for a few moments, as that was the first realm he knew they needed to finish cleaning up, with the gadget pad and an area that had some electric nodes they would have to activate. As such it only took the group a few moments to return to the first place they had appeared in some time ago, when they first started this adventure after learning what Red was doing and who he was allying himself with, but once everyone was standing in front of the first Teleportation Device they headed off and headed towards the area that allowed them to visit the first Elder of Capora, who taught them the other name for the Headbash technique, where most of the group were actually fine with calling it the Horn Dive technique, and once they reached the area that contained the tunnel that lead to Elder Harnell's home they walked over the bridge that rested nearby and headed into Crocovile Swamp, which meant dodging the couple of traps that were in their way again, though at this point none of them were worried about the traps. It took them a few minutes to reach the area that the pad they were looking for was located in, and that was mostly the trip from the Teleportation Device to this realm, but once the group reached their destination Ember activated the Supercharge Gadget and empowered herself so she could run over to the metallic container that was near the entrance to the area the gadget was located in and smashed it to pieces, and while she did that Aurora smashed some of the metallic containers that rested near the gadget pad itself, as they hadn't found any fireworks to break those ones, allowing the two of them to pick up a good number of gems in the process, even if Flame was surprised that none of their foes had come back yet. Spike explained that, due to their enemies actually being gem creations, the one way they could return would be for Red or the Dark Master to gather some additional gems and use the spell that created minions on them, and since neither of them had done that, no doubt figuring that it would have been a wasted effort in the grand scheme of things, they didn't have to worry about enemies returning to bother them, so that was why the majority of the group was a little more lax and lower some of their guard at the same time, where Flame nodded his head in understanding before they got back to the reason why they were here in the first place.
Once all of the metallic containers had been smashed apart, and they were sure that there were no more of them resting in the area that was around them, Cynder empowered herself and smashed her way through the metallic door that was at the bottom of the nearby temple they had broke the top of earlier, where they found a chamber that had two more of the metallic containers for her to break, which included some metallic chests as well, before Spike found a Light Gem right in the middle of the chamber and collected it so it could be added to their collection. The moment they were done breaking everything that was resting inside the previously hidden chamber, and left nothing behind, the group made their way over to the winding tunnel that lead to the temple that contained the electric nods they had seen earlier and headed through it without delay, where they were able to avoid the couple of spike traps and reached the area that the other temple rested in, allowing them to walk into the structure and head over to where the electric nodes were resting. Not a few moments later they stepped into the room that the four electric nodes were resting in and activated all four of them, as in Spyro hit one of them while Spike hit two of the others as Bianca blasted the fourth, something that caused the nearby door that they were connected to to lower and open the way for them to explore the part of the temple it had been protecting, one that had a few straw baskets at the very least, before they discovered an area that held one of the Thieves, though while Flame and Aurora had no idea how he had gotten inside this area the rest of the group did, where Spike explained that the Thieves had their own Teleportation Magic, but, once they were carrying something, that magic seemed to unable to even be used until certain requirements were met. Of course that was when Ember raced forward and started chasing after the Thief that was on the other side of the new chamber, allowing the others to head into the lower section of the chamber and smash a few straw baskets, not to mention a few metallic chests as well, before they came to a stop and watched as Ember smashed into her target and forced it to drop the white egg with green spots it was carrying, where Spike checked it out for a few seconds and then sent it back to the Nursery, adding another dragon egg to the amount they had recovered so far, before they departed from the area and headed to the next realm they needed to clear out.
With Crocovile Swamp cleared out, and they were sure of that, the group made their way back to the area that was outside Elder Harnell's cave and headed for the area that the Professor put the Ball Gadget in, where they used it to travel back to Dragonfly Falls and resumed their search for anything they had missed in the past, even though it was quite a trek through the rest of the realm so they could make it to the area that Hunter and Amelia had tackled on their own, a nice one since there were no enemies for them to worry about. Along the way to their destination the group stopped when they passed by the area that the first golden door was resting in, so it didn't take them long to jump up the pile of crates that allowed them to reach it and that was when Spike weaved his magic over the door, unlocking it when its magic realized they had all the Light Gems necessary to access the area it was protecting, so once the golden door was open, and they found a path on the other side, the group walked forward and stopped when they found a decent sized area that had a Gnorc Brute or two seemed to be guarding, which turned out to be four after Spike took a moment to look around some corners, to which Hunter and Amelia loosed a pair of arrows into the air and took one down. From where Cynder flew down to the area that was below them and swung her runeblade at an armored Gnorc Brute, cutting it down in a matter of seconds, leaving one of the brutes for Elora to punch in the face and then take out with a swift kick to the head, while the last one was flamed by both Flame and Aurora, though once those four enemies were taken care of the group spread out and started looking for anything that needed to be collected or broken, the latter falling to several metallic chests and straw baskets that were scattered around the area, before Spyro glided through a short waterfall and found a path that lead to what appeared to be the other part of this hidden area. Interestingly enough there happened to be a shop pad in this area, meaning one of the Thieves might have accidentally stolen it at some point in the past, since none of the other explanations made sense to any of them, though they stopped worrying about everything else and smashed the few straw baskets and metallic chests that happened to be in the area that Spyro had brought them to, before they headed down the other path that was nearby and walked down the tunnel it was connected to, one that brought the group to an area that had a few blue monkeys that seemed to be guarding the area, but Spike weaved his magic through the air and put them to sleep, as they didn't seem like the gem creations, as they hooted at them and made threatening motions, where the creations only attacked without taking the time to think about their actions, allowing the others to explore the area they were in.
Sure enough there happened to be a Thief in this area and Ember rushed after it within seconds of seeing it, where Spyro and the others simply sat nearby and watched as the pair ran around the area that they had discovered, even though they could see that Ember was gaining on her target rather easily, and it wasn't long before she struck the Thief down and took the white dragon egg with green spots that it had been carrying, something that she returned to Spike and let him check for a few seconds, before sending it back to the Nursery as well. Once that was done the group glanced around the rest of this hidden area and quickly regrouped not a few moments later, as from what they could tell there was nothing else for them to collect or worry about in this area, to which Spike checked out what was inside his journal and took a few seconds to figure out which realm was next, though that was around the time that Aurora found a cracked wall and Ember charged right through it, revealing a small cavern for them to explore before Spike finished determining which realm was next, as he was sure it was one of the Lost Cities' realms at this point. What they discovered inside the small cavern, after looking at it for a few seconds, was that there were a number of bats flying around a Light Gem, though since these ones seemed a little more hostile than the other bats, Cynder took a moment to gather her Wind Breath and that was when Aurora took a step forward and combined her Fire Breath to it, as she had seen Spyro do it and she was relieved to see that it worked for her, in the sense that it wasn't just something Cynder could perform with her boyfriend since they had practiced it quite a bit in the past, but the combination attack dealt with the bats so Spike could claim the Light Gem. As he did that Ember and Flame glided down into the lower section of this area and smashed some of the metallic chests that were down there, not to mention a bullseye chest, before they picked up all of the gems that were in the water and used a whirlwind to get up to where the others were standing, as that meant there was nothing else for them to worry about and they made their way back to where the Professor's lab was located so they could use the Teleportation Device to head over to Lost Cities, as Spike had determined that the next realm they needed to clear out was actually Sunken Ruins, so they had to head back to Coastal Remains and make their way through the realm so they could reach the elevator that would take them down to where the Mermaid and the other aquatic foes had been located in the past.
This time around it did take them some time to make their way through the passages and tunnels that rested throughout Coastal Remains, ride the elevator down into Sunken Ruins, and then make their way through the tunnels of the ruins, as in both the normal water ones and the acid ones, before they reached the area that they had allowed Sparx and the other dragonflies to tackle on their own, which was where Spyro used the Invincibility Gadget to empower himself and then took a moment to use the new Wall Kick technique on the overheated pipes, where he found that using the Invincibility Gadget like this worked quite well and allowed him to reach an area they didn't explore earlier. One thing he found was one of the fireworks that, when activated, flew down into the lowest part of this area and wiped out three metallic containers that he and the others had ignored earlier, during their first visit to this particular realm, to which Aurora headed down there to collect the gems he had freed, though as she did that Spyro jumped over some of the sections of the ruined floor and was able to find a pair of Trident Mer-Gnorcs guarding a dragon egg, even though Bianca blasted them with a Lightning Bolt to open the way forward. What he discovered was that this particular egg was one of the fire designed ones and he took it down to where Spike was waiting, who checked it out for a few seconds and then sent it back to the Nursery, though as he did that Aurora returned to where the rest of the group was waiting and declared that she had recovered all of the gems, something that was followed by them retracing their way through the rest of the ruins and the passages that would allow them to return to the elevator, which would allow them to return to Coastal Remains and head towards Cloudy Domain, as Spike was sure there was one or two things they had missed there as well. While they headed out of the ruins the group had a chance to see the Mermaid that had talked to them the last time they were here, as it appeared that she had moved to another part of the realm and waved at them while they were walking by her, something that reminded Bianca of the spell idea that she had asked Spike about earlier, the potential mermaid spell, but while she wanted to talk about it while they walked she figured that it could wait until after Red and the Dark Master were beaten and Capora was saved from all of their foul plans.
As such it took them a few more minutes to make their way from Sunken Ruins and return to the platform that would take them up to Cloudy Domain, though once they reached their next destination they headed through the realm so they could reach the area that they had met Sgt. Byrd in, where Spike remembered that none of them had tried out the hidden area that was below one of the machines, something that was eventually followed by him and the others discovering that there was a whirlwind that raised them into the inside of the structure they had walked on earlier, not to mention a close set of walls that allowed them to reach a Light Gem, before discovering that it rested on a platform that fit the hole in the roof that had been a walkway the last time they had walked through this area.
"Well, that's everything we might have missed during our visits to the other realms," Spike said, though while he said that he had the feeling that the glass roof that doubled as a platform only activated the latter function whenever someone just so happened to come from below, as odd as that sounded when he thought about it, but decided that it was all he could come up with without asking the Elders why they had constructed something like this in the first place, before he glanced at the rest of the group, "So, whose up for facing the Guardian of Icy Wilderness?"
The group nodded their heads, as that was the next location that they had to go to now that they knew every realm they had been to so far had been cleared out, to which they headed back to the area that the platform was located in and made their way back to the Teleportation Device so they could face the next Guardian Red and the Dark Master had picked out to stall them or slow them down, though even as that happened Spyro and Cynder glanced at each other for a moment, as they had the feeling that this next fight was going to be even harder than anything they had seen so far and this was going to be one of the few times they hoped they were wrong.
It didn't take Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group all that long to reach the homeworld that they were heading towards, as each of them reappeared on the Teleportation Device the Professor had installed in Frostbite Village and moved out of the way so Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Amelia, Flame, and Aurora could safely arrive in this realm once each of them used the machine themselves, though since Spyro was the first one of the group to return to the land that they had been saving earlier he came to a stop as he stared at the cave that would allow them to enter the domain of the next Guardian that was waiting for them. Normally he and the others would have assumed that the mammoth they had seen earlier would have been the one they would have fought to save this land, though since they had freed it the only way it would be inside that cave was if Red tracked it down and put another mind control collar around its neck, though as he thought about that Cynder and the rest of their group used the Teleportation Device to appear near him and walked down to where he was currently sitting, before they faced the cave that was in front of them. Given the fact that they hadn't fought all that much during their backtrack session, since all of their enemies had been taken out before hand during their exploration of the other realms, each of them was rested to a degree and was ready to go, based on what Spyro was seeing, though when each of them nodded their heads he knew that they were ready to go and he stepped forward, passing through the area that the dark barrier had been resting in earlier and entered the cave, which also the moment they noticed that a metallic structure had been built on the hill or mountain that the cave was attached to, something that each of them shelved as they delved into the cave so they could see who they would be fighting this time around. What was interesting was the fact that the path that was on the other side of the cave's entrance brought them to part of the structure's inside, which came complete with some steps that seemed to be heading towards the summit of the building and they jumped up each of them, before stopping as they found an opening that lead to the heart of the structure, or at least it seemed like the structure's heart, though it was easy to see that they weren't alone as each of them noticed that someone was standing in the middle of the area.
What the group discovered as they entered the cylindrical heart of the structure, where they walked on a stone platform to get closer to their soon to be opponent, was that a bipedal dragon was waiting for them, one who was younger than all of the Elders, had red colored scales and a yellow colored chest area, though he had a pair of curved horns that coiled back towards his head and just so happened to be purple colored, and he had crimson colored eyes, though what Spike found to be interesting was that he carried a staff with a large dark crystal on it, probably because carrying an actual Dark Gem would have been too much for him, while he wore a golden necklace that also had a dark crystal set inside the heart of it, but interestingly enough the dragon did nothing but stare at them as they came to a stop.
"Red, this is an unexpected surprise," Spyro stated, because that was the truth of the matter, as the majority of the group were used to the big bad of their adventures resting in the final homeworld that needed to be explored, in this case that should have been Volcanic Isle, the fourth and final land of Capora, though at the same time this either meant that their foe had gotten tired of seeing his work being unraveled before his eyes and came to confront them personally, leaving the Dark Master in control of the final homeworld, or he had come to surrender to them and face his punishment for the new crimes he had committed, to which he refocused on what was going on at the moment, "I'll make this short and sweet: either surrender and submit yourself to whatever punishment the Elders give you for your recent actions against the lands of Capora, or we'll have to beat you into submission the hard way."
In that moment the group waited for a few moments and found that Red had nothing to say to that, almost like he didn't care about what Spyro had said at all, though that was when Flame and Aurora tilted their heads for a moment, as the two of them had been expecting more from the dark and evil dragon that they had been told about, something that caused Spike to access his magic for a moment so he could see the strands of magical energy that were resting all around them, but as he did that he was greeted by an immense darkness that was surging out from the area that Red was standing in at the moment, a darkness that was far too much for someone like Red to gather on his own, especially in the short period of time since his banishment from the lands of Capora, before he realized something.
"Spyro, that's not Red." Spike said, though this was one of those rare moments where he hoped he was wrong and that all he had been feeling was the nature of the dark crystals that their silent opponent was currently wearing, because if he was right about what was going on they might be in for a world of hurt, but even as he said that statement the others took a moment to tilt their heads as each of them stared at the dragon that was just staring at them, though that was when Red let out a chuckle as he dropped the staff he had been carrying.
The group watched as a dark power surged around the space their foe was standing in and Red seemed to welcome it as he lowered his head for a few seconds, where his scales seemed to be darkening before their very eyes, though instead of becoming a dark red coloration they took on a dark sinister purple color, like Spyro or Spike's except totally tainted by the darkness, where the spines on his back became sharper and more menacing, his horns seemed to shrink before splitting and became a few smaller horns that resembled a twisted crown, and his eyes became black as the sclera took on a rather sinister evil looking yellow coloration, before the darkness peeled back and became a thin suit of armor that looked like it was ebony colored, almost like what a dark ruler would wear into battle.
"No... it can't be..." Cynder stated, though both she and Spyro rushed forward and drew their runeblades as they neared the area that Red was currently standing in, where their attacks were stalled as their foe raised his hands and two ebony colored katanas appeared in his hands, weapons that stopped the runeblades in their tracks and caused the floor around him to sink a little as their energies clashed with each other for a moment, where both of them were surprised by what they were seeing at the moment as they stared at their foe's face, which wasn't being protected by a helm and had been twisted into something much more menacing, a face both she and Spyro recognized.
"Spyro, Cynder, its good to see you again," a sinister voice stated, a voice that informed Spike that whoever was speaking was the source of the darkness that he had detected after they entered the chamber and Spyro started talking to Red, or who his brother had assumed was Red, though that was when their foe shifted his hands and pushed Spyro and Cynder backwards a tiny bit, before a second swing of his blades knocked them both backwards as they landed near the group and glared at their foe, who definitely had a sinister smile on his face.
"Spike was right, this isn't Red... its the Dark Master!" Spyro remarked, where the statement was directed at the rest of the group, mostly to confirm Spike's statement that they weren't staring at Red and were now facing someone whose evil was the darkest in the entire world, especially when he and Cynder considered what he had done before the end of the last version of this world, the one that he was in the process of destroying before they beat him and sacrificed themselves to piece the world back together, creating the new version of the world that all three of them had been given a new life in, but even as he thought about that he and Cynder focused on their foe, something the others did as well, especially since none of them had any idea what their foe would do next.
"Indeed I am, and I am glad that you remember me." the dragon said, revealing that, against all odds, they were speaking to the Dark Master, someone even Malefor was hoping they'd never see again, something that caused Spike to think about what they were seeing at the moment so he could figure out what in the world was going on, as he already had an idea or two floating around in his head, before the sinister dragon turned his head towards Cynder, "And I can understand why you might have assumed that I was dead and gone, as you and Spyro watched as the spirits of the Ancestors dragged me into our planet's core when we last fought, but when you sacrificed yourselves to save this world my form was sundered without warning and my soul was separated from my body... and, after almost a thousand years without a body, I struck gold when Red discovered a crystal I was using as my hiding place, who didn't sense the darkness it possessed and I was able to convince him to create a phylactery, one I stuffed his soul inside after it was completed."
"And now I get why the Elders of Capora were so surprised by Red's sudden 'change of heart', his 'descent into darkness', and the need to banish him after confronting him," Spike commented, where he was grateful that the Dark Master was like some of their previous enemies, those that liked to talk before a fight started, because it allowed him to understand what was going on at the moment, even though the knowledge that he had gained wasn't all that useful, especially since none of them had any idea where the Dark Master might have hidden the phylactery, "you ripped his soul out of his body and locked him away, allowing you to get used to your brand new stolen body and commit all the crimes that the Elders have pinned on Red, all while preparing for the future."
"Which brings me to the most important question: what do you want?" Cynder inquired, though at the same time she and Spyro knew that whatever the Dark Master wanted couldn't be good for the rest of their world, especially when they took a moment to consider the fact that this dragon, this monster that clearly had no heart, had nearly destroyed the world the last time she and Spyro had fought him, so the fact that he was still alive and kicking, even in a stolen body, meant that his plans for the world had to be disastrous to some degree, "If you're planning the end of the world again, then don't bother, as the Destroyer was wiped out some time ago when Gaul tried to start what you did during the last version of this world, so you're missing a pawn in that case."
"No, you and Spyro have shown me that destroying this world will never work, so I have spent my time in this new world carefully coming up with a new plan," the Dark Master answered, though in that moment that he waved his hands and his weapons disappeared in seconds, exactly as fast as they had appeared, before the chamber shuddered for a moment as it seemed to rise out of the area that they were positioned in, where Spyro and the others watched as the roof opened up and allowed them to see the rest of Icy Wilderness, making them wonder what in the world their foe was trying to do as all of them readied their guards for whatever was coming next, "one that will allow me to take total control of this world, to forge it in my image once more, and to do that your light must be broken by being overwhelmed by the darkness that you will soon be facing."
No one said anything as they waited for the structure to come to a stop, where it was easy for them to see that the Dark Master had been planning for this day and that he had created an unnecessarily tall tower or something, as from what the group could see they were now as tall as the highest glacier that was in this island, and that was saying something, as now they were standing higher than they had been earlier, though the rest of the tower rose up behind their foe, creating what appeared to be a rather intimidating structure that he would use to assert his dominance over this island, before he took a moment to raise his hand and a swirling darkness shrouded the entire island, possibly stretching out beyond the land that they were going to be fighting above.
"Of course, taking over the lands of Capora was always a later step of my plan, as the first step was to find Ripto, give him a new scepter and the necessary information he needed," the Dark Master continued, revealing that he was actually behind Ripto figuring out where Castle Hills was located and gathering everything he needed to launch his assault on the land in question, something the majority of the group had been curious about after they brought down the villain that had tried to weaken the dragons by displacing all of the dragonflies, before the darkness gathered around him and a katana, this one with a blade that was twice as long as what a normal katana possessed, appeared in his right hand, "once you took Ripto down, and he managed to confirm that creating a dragon crossbreed was possible, I started my assault on Capora and let the Professor send Flame and Aurora to the rest of you, all so you would be brought back to these lands and grow even stronger than you had been before this 'adventure' started. I also let you assume that the Professor had fixed his various shop pads, in the sense that you could speak without being heard, all so I could listen in to whatever you were saying and where you were going at any given moment, though I will admit that his gadgets have been rather interesting... maybe I'll force him to be my scientist once I take all of you down."
"You... your after one of our bodies, aren't you?" Spyro growled, showing that he didn't need Spike to explain things to him this time around, as he had learned enough from watching and listening to his brother over the years to be able to draw his own opinions on whatever they were hearing, though he did catch Spike nodding out of the corner of his eye, showing that his brother agreed with his statement, hence the reason he focused on the Dark Master as he gripped the handle of the runeblade he was carrying and the others prepared themselves as well.
"Indeed. That is why this battle is happening now, as all of you are strong enough to either bare the weight of my soul or become enforcers to spread my influence," the Dark Master said, where he raised his empty left hand towards the center of the darkness for a moment and continued to wear the smile on his face, almost as if he was pleased that everything had come together so perfectly on his end, though as that happened the group could see that red lightning danced around the center of the sky, meaning something had to be going on above their heads, before he glanced down at them for a couple of seconds as he readied himself, "the question is this: who is the strongest among you, the one that will outlast the rest of the group... let us see how strong you really are!"
In that moment the Dark Master swung his left hand towards them, causing the darkness in the sky to descend down on the rest of Icy Wilderness, before he gripped his weapon with both of his hands and flew through the air as he targeted the group, where both Spyro and Cynder clashed against his attack with their runeblades, causing Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group to separate from each other, with Spike taking a moment to weave his magic through the air so he could temporarily enchant Hunter, Amelia, and Bianca's attire so they could fly through the air like dragons, as he had the feeling that them remaining on the ground would be a bad thing given who they were fighting. Once that was done Spike rushed through the air and targeted the Dark Master while Spyro and Cynder held him in place, where he loosed a volley of large sized Fireballs at their foe and made sure that they came from the right, meaning he wouldn't be able to use his sword to take all of them out in a few seconds, which would also give his brother and Cynder a chance to get out of the area before the spheres struck their target, only for him to be proven wrong as the Dark Master shifted his left hand and parried the incoming attack by releasing the same number of Fireballs into the air that Spike's were coming from. It was in that instant that Spyro and Cynder pushed themselves backwards while their foe was distracted by what Spike had done and them, in a moment and without warning, rushed forward so they could cut him down, only for the Dark Master to parry both of their attacks with the edge of his long katana, which was such an odd weapon when the group took a few seconds to even consider why he was carrying such a thing, but as that happened he also shifted his stance and knocked both of them back not even a few seconds later. Hunter, Amelia, and Bianca appeared in the area that they were fighting in, having used the enchantment Spike had given them to get into position, before Amelia loosed a few arrows into the air, Bianca sent a few Lightning Bolts out into the space that was in front of her, and Hunter used his blades to lash out at the Dark Master, but, instead of their attacks hitting their target the Dark Master spun around and swung his blade a few times, breaking all of the arrows apart, parried Hunter's attacks and knocked him backwards, and countered all of Bianca's Lightning Bolts in a matter of seconds, with none of the lightning sticking to his weapon.
Ember then rushed through the air and struck the Dark Master with the full power of her Warrior's Armor and made sure the Fangs of Felinia were in a bladed tonfa form as she smashed into her foe's side and seemed to send him flying, or at least that was what she was hoping and was proven wrong as the sinister dragon revealed something terrifying, he also had access to the skill she had used against him and had stopped the attack from doing all that much damage to him, all so he could rapidly fly through the air, as in he flew backwards and then approached Ember's position from an entirely different direction, before he swung his weapon and she parried the attack, event though that sent her flying through part of the tower and smashed her back into the interior. That was a shocker to most of the group, as they were used to seeing Ember being able to take on almost everything that they faced when she used the Warrior's Armor technique, though this confirmed that the Dark Master was dangerous, far more than what they were expecting to discover, and when he flew towards the area that Ember had been sent into, showing who he was targeting next, both Spyro and Cynder intercepted the attack with their runeblades and were pushed into the structure as well, something that was starting to fall apart, as what the two of them had done had knocked their foe into a lower part of the tower. A few moments later the pair huffed for a few seconds as they noticed that the Dark Master must have been separated from them, though that was before he jumped through the hole they had created in the side of the structure and rushed at the area the two of them happened to be standing in, though the odd thing was that he did a series of backflips so he could enter the area they were resting in, to which they parried his incoming attack and jumped backwards, but that was when the three of them rushed at each other and let their blades clash with each other as they moved through the structure, where it appeared that the collision of their energies was in the middle of breaking the area that they happened to be fighting in. Of course the tower breaking didn't stop any of them from separating from each other and clashing again and again, as neither Spyro or Cynder cared all that much since it appeared that the structure their foe had built was collapsing around an area near the village that also did no damage to where Moneybags had set up shop, though another reason for them not to care about that was due to the fact that they were sure that someone had told the bear to move, though their attention was brought back to the fight as the Dark Master swung his blade and they dodged the attack, where the edges of the tower caught on fire after his blade cut parts of them into two halves.
It was hard to tell if that was just the Dark Master showing off just how much power he had, and his magical power had to be above Spike's given that he hadn't died and been reborn like them and a few others in Warfang, though that was when they clashed with the incoming attack that was coming their way and they stood their ground in the middle of the falling apart stone floor that was inside the tower, something that caused the Dark Master to raise an eyebrow for a moment as he observed what his main targets were doing, as they were the ones that smashed his plans the last time they saw each other and he was planning on taking them down first.
"Oh, where did you two get this strength?" the Dark Master inquired, showing the pair that he was a little interested in how they could have gotten much stronger than what he was expecting them to be, as both of them weren't holding back and that meant he was seeing their true melee strength, because they understood just how dangerous he was and knew that holding back their true strength would only make things worse when their foe stopped playing around, as the Dark Master certainly wasn't using his full strength at the moment, which definitely worried them a bit.
"As if we'd tell the likes of you!" Cynder remarked, though in that instant both she and Spyro combined their powers into a single attack, where Spyro used channeled the power of Windshear as Cynder did the same with Penumbra, allowing the shadowy flames and the wind to merge into a single burst of energy that smashed into the Dark Master's chest and blew up the area that they were fighting in, hopefully pushing their foe outside the tower as one of the support pillars shattered not a few seconds later, to which she and Spyro nodded to each other as both of them headed through the opening that they had created with their combined attack.
When the two of them appeared outside the tower they heard the sound of something breaking and glanced up towards the sky for a moment, where it looked like part of the upper levels of the tower were falling towards them, to which they moved out of the way and landed nearby, mostly to see where the fragment landed and watched as it crashed into the ground that was near the Professor's Teleportation Device, something that was followed by Moneybags rushing over to it while a metallic dome sprung up to keep it safe, even if that switched the machine into the offline mode, though he made sure that the two Penguins were with him before the dome closed. After that happened, and they could see that the piece of the tower was on fire as well, the Dark Master rushed down at the area they were standing in and Elora kicked him in the side of the head, sending him flying through the air and that opened his defenses so Spike and Bianca could release a volley of Fireballs, Ice Shards, and Lightning Bolts, mostly to make it impossible for their foe to overcome the amount of spells that were coming his way and do some damage to him, even though Spike was also looking for a way to separate him from Red's body, despite the fact that such a thing meant that they had to find the phylactery that held Red's soul, all to prevent the Dark Master from remaining inside the body he had stolen. The Dark Master, on the other hand, used his blade to cut down the attacks that were coming from his left and used some magical spells to cancel out the spells coming from his right, the same spells no less, to which Spike had to sweat for a moment, as it sure looked like their foe might also have Sage's Vision, something that would make this fight incredibly harder if that was true, as he would be able to see all of their attacks coming accordingly and counter them with near perfection, so instead of worrying about that he hoped that their foe was being lucky and nothing else. In the following moment, after stopping all of their attacks from hitting him and knocking him out of the air, Hunter and Amelia rushed in with their blades, as they knew that bows would be useless against someone like him, though he dodged the attacks that were coming from Hunter and kicked him in the chest, which sent him flying into the snow covered top of the nearby mountain, before delivering an uppercut to Amelia before he took a moment to hurl her into the same area that her brother was resting in, before Flame and Aurora appeared nearby and combined their Fire Breaths into a single entity that raced towards their foe.
Before it could reach the Dark Master, however, their foe waved his left hand and called upon the power of Ice, where he froze the attack before it could even hit him, before he rushed through the air and left his blade behind, something that was followed by Flame getting kicked in the side of his body and being sent into a different peak while Aurora received a punch to the side of her head, one that knocked her into another peak, though as he grabbed his blade Cynder loosed a powerful burst of wind energy, Spyro added a powerful charge of his Lightning Breath, and Elora, in an odd twist of fate, was able to draw upon something that had been building inside her and released a powerful burst of flames into the mix, where the combination attack exploded when it came into contact with their foe's back, blowing the entire area that he had been in apart not a few seconds later.
"Elora?! When did you..." Cynder started to ask, though it was in that moment that she, Spyro, and Elora noticed movement inside the smoke and realized that the Dark Master was still kicking, not that they were really expecting anything else since he was a tough customer and were really hoping that the attack would have stalled him for a few more moments, mostly to give them some time so Spike could come up with a plan of action that would allow them to take down their foe, in the sense that he'd stay down and admit defeat, but even now it seemed like he wasn't willing to give them that either, which just meant they would have to beat him into the ground, somehow.
"No idea how I learned your Fire Breath, nor do we have the time to find out," Elora replied, figuring that she would take a few seconds to answer Cynder's question, even though she really had no idea how she had managed this and figured that the most likely explanation was that the reward of the Water Breath had awakened something inside her, though she was planning on asking Spike once this was all over as she focused on the smoke, where the Dark Master brushed off some of the dust that had gotten on his body, or at least that was what she assumed they were seeing, meaning that he might be ready for the next stage of their battle.
It was in that moment that the Dark Master vanished and reappeared on the top of a nearby peak, where he swung his blade for a moment and actually cut a cube out of the stone, one that he sent right at the trio that had fired the attack at him, something they had to dodge as the stone went off into the distance and smashed into one of the glaciers that rested around the island, though that didn't stop their foe from using his magic to lift the fragments and hurl them at everyone he was fighting, showing them that he planned on bringing down as many of them as he possibly could so he could focus solely one Spyro and Cynder, the main ones that he wanted to defeat last. Several of them moved out of the way to avoid being stabbed or impaled by all of the ice fragments that were being sent their way, while the likes of Spyro and the others that could use magic lashed out with their powers so they could break down the pieces of the glacier, and in the end all of them were able to emerge unscathed, but as that happened Spike landed on the ground and focused on the center of the sky, as there was a spell he wanted to use and hopefully the others would keep the Dark Master busy so he could build all of the necessary energy to do what he had in mind. Spyro, Cynder, and everyone else that knew what he was doing, as out of their entire group only Flame and Aurora had no idea what he was doing, rushed into the various areas of the village that they had been fighting above, where it was clear that the Dark Master didn't seem to care about the structures that were around the island, not that Spyro or Cynder expected anything less when they considered what he had done in the past, though when the Dark Master landed on part of the ruined tower Spyro rushed forward and swung Windshear right at him, releasing the power stored within in the form of the Wind Scar attack, only for the Dark Master to disappear from the area he had been standing in and appeared on a higher floor that was somewhat intact, where he stared down at him for a few seconds with a smile on his face as he noticed the smoking hole the attack left behind. It was clear that the Dark Master was simply toying with them, showing that he believed that he was above them all and that he didn't have to use his full power to bring them down or make them kneel, though Spyro smiled to himself for a moment, as having that sort of mindset would be the end of their foe, especially since it appeared that he was currently ignoring Spike and what he was doing at the moment.
Fortunately, due to what the Dark Master had done to the sky, it was rather easy for Spike to tap into the power that was building above their heads and prepared his attack without their foe knowing, though while he was doing that most of the group fell back, as Hunter, Amelia, Flame, and Aurora knew that the Dark Master would overpower them and it was that reason that prompted them to look for openings before any of them tried to attack him again, hence the reason Spyro, Cynder, Ember, Elora, and Bianca remained in the air, where everyone but Bianca attacked their foe with the weapons that they had in their possession. The shocking thing was that their foe was able to spin around whenever someone tried to hit him, no matter what direction they were coming from, smashing apart any spells that came at him while also parrying all of the attacks that were coming at him, showing the group that he must have been practicing his fighting skills against his shadows or something to get as good as he currently was, but regardless of what sort of skills he had they had to keep him distracted so Spike could hurl whatever spell he was preparing down at him. While they were doing that Bianca weaved her magic through the air and wrapped a sphere of fire around the Dark Master, where it was hard for them to believe she had been able to do such a thing after seeing everything that their foe had done in the past, but that didn't stop her from hurling another large Fireball at what she had done, though it was in that moment that the Dark Master swung his strange katana and shattered the sphere of fire, not to mention the large Fireball, and the force of his attacks caused some of the group to lower themselves in the air as they braced themselves so they could withstand the force of his attack, before he swung his weapon diagonally at Spyro and Cynder, who dodged the attack. What happened after that was something all of them weren't expecting to find, as the Dark Master's attack, which had also been a thin wave of energy since none of them had been near the area their foe had been floating in as he fought them, had struck the ground as well and actually cut through all of the stone and earth that was in its way before it finally dissipated, basically cutting a gash into the ground with ease, something that he repeated as he aimed at Bianca, who dodged the attack by teleporting out of the way, even though the second attack carved up the area that was near Vicky's castle, who was going to be pissed when she saw that her domain was split in half.
"Damn, its like fighting my father all over again, only much worse," Cynder remarked, referring to the fact that when they faced her father, and later received his training to better themselves for whatever adventures were coming their way, but the difference between the Dark Master and her father were night and day, as her father thought about the land and only used his most dangerous techniques whenever he felt the need was great and that he could minimize the damage, while the Dark Master seemed to be of the opposite opinion, using whatever techniques whenever he wanted so he could inflict quickly inflict the maximum amount of damage to his opponents.
"Oh, is someone having second thoughts?" the Dark Master inquired, where he smiled for a moment, showing them that he felt that they should surrender before he ended up killing one of them with his attacks, but given the fact that he was in the middle of breaking Icy Wilderness the group wasn't about to stand around and do nothing, especially since it was in that moment that Hunter and the others lashed out at their foe as they joined the dragons that were facing him, but, just like what had happened so far, history repeated itself as he parried the incoming attacks in a matter of seconds before he came to a stop with a smirk on his face, all while focusing on Spyro and Cynder, "I've thought of a wonderful present for all of you, both enemies of old and enemies of now... how about I give you despair!"
In that moment Spike, taking advantage of the fact that the Dark Master was talking and not paying attention to what was going on around him as his enemies readied themselves, called forth the lightning serpent that was the Storm's Wrath, his favorite Lightning style spell, and hurled the massive spell down at his target, though as the lightning serpent burst out of the sky, and rushed down towards the area that their foe happened to be floating in, the Dark Master raised his hand and used his energy against the serpent, not to reign in its power and use it against the others, like one would assume, rather to break the entire spell to pieces and scatter the energy entirely. Spike growled for a moment, as he couldn't believe that his foe had been able to do something like that, before he grinned as his power flared, because in the off chance that the Dark Master did something to the Storm's Wrath he had three more elemental attacks prepared, as the sky broke open as a Flame Emperor orb, a pair of Earthen Daggers, and an Ice Hydra with seven heads rushed at his target as Spyro and the others dropped out of the area so they could avoid what was coming next, because the energy of the Storm's Wrath was still in the middle of dissipating and that meant his target must have no idea what was coming next. That was, however, when the Dark Master proved Spike wrong again, as he swung his weapon and cleaved the Earthen Daggers apart, used his own magic to blast apart the Flame Emperor in a matter of seconds, and grabbed the Ice Hydra so he could hurl it at the ground that was below him, even though it appeared that he, somehow, stole the spell from Spike's control, without going through the sequence that required him to do so, like how Spike did against Ripto, though when the attack hit the area of the homeworld that the Dark Master sent it to the group watched as a massive icy fortress suddenly sprung up all over the place, a large mimicry of Vicky's castle. What happened next was that the Dark Master weaved his magic all over the entire island and the group watched as he gathered a whole bunch of ice, stolen from the glaciers and the mountains that were scattered around the homeworld, before he added everything he had stolen to the massive icy fortress, which he also raised into the air and made what appeared to be a floating fortress made of ice though that was when he took a moment to beckon for them to come at him once more.
Hunter moaned for a moment, as he declared that the Dark Master was just 'flexing' on them at this point, basically in the sense that he was showing off for fun at this point, before the group rushed through the air and wasted no time in lashing out at their foe, where Spike continued to think of something, anything, that might be able to help them out and bring the Dark Master down, before recalling that they had recovered the ninth and final runeblade, which was when an idea came to mind, one that would take time for them to put in motion. As they lashed out at the Dark Master, however, the attacks that their foe sent their way ended in him breaking the icy fortress that he had constructed, but the terrible part about this was that each of the fragments that fell away from where they were fighting ended up, somehow, being on fire and struck the ground that was scattered throughout the homeworld, where Elora and the others could see that either their foe was trying to burn this island to the ground or it was a side effect of their battles, something that they would have to fix once this battle was over. It was around that time that Spyro and Cynder called their true full power to the surface, resulting in a flaming aura for Spyro and a dark one for Cynder, as they rushed through the air, smashed right into the Dark Master's chest, somehow bypassing his weapon entirely, before the pair were able to smash him through the floor and came to a stop once they smashed into the side of Vicky's castle, something that was followed by Aurora flying into the area so she could pick up the Ice Princess, who was shocked by what was going on, and took her outside so she could be dropped off at the shelter that Moneybags and the others that weren't part of this fight were hiding in. The Dark Master grinned for a moment as he stared at his current opponents, as he knew that both Spyro and Cynder were strong and this confirmed all of his suspicions, hence the reason that they continued to move around the entirety of the castle he had trapped Vicky in earlier, where the pair couldn't help but watch as the entire structure was sliced apart by what was going on, fragments flying out all over the homeworld that they were trying to save as their foe spread the flames that were attached to each of the metallic pieces, before Elora appeared near them and punched the Dark Master in the side of his face, knocking him into the air so the pair could follow him once more.
What was interesting was that their foe came to a stop and stood on the side of the structure that was up in the air, where they simply flared their wings and stared at him for a moment, as there was literally no telling what he had in mind or if he would fight like they had seen in the past, even though he hadn't done anything remotely close to what they had seen the last time they had fought him like this, so all they had to do was be patient and see what he had planned next, but even as the pair thought about that it was easy to see that the handles of their weapons were glowing a little, meaning Spike must have a plan for the runeblades.
"Oh, and if you're thinking of surrendering, I want you to drop to your knees and beg for mercy!" the Dark Master stated, his statement being for everyone that was currently fighting him, not to mention those that were watching them fight, as if he still believed that he was above what everyone else was capable of and that no one could really touch him, but it was in that moment, while Spyro and Cynder were watching him, that he held his hands out and the upper part of the fortress he was standing below shattered, the fragments falling down towards the entire area that they were fighting in.
Spyro and Cynder nodded to each other for a moment before they rushed through the air, where they swung their blades and cut their way through all of the heavy ice that the Dark Master intended on dropping on them, though what was a tad bit interesting was that he also cut his way through several parts of the ice and clashed with the pair in the center of the mess he had made, where they carefully flew around the area they were in and let their blades do the talking as they fell through the air and got closer to where the ground rested, but during that exchange Cynder managed to cut off the strap of the necklace the Dark Master was wearing, not that he seemed worried about that as they escaped the area in question and flew up to the top of the icy fortress. As the pair landed on the top of the icy fortress, just to pause for a few seconds since the Dark Master wasn't right behind them like usual, they had to huff for a moment as they realized just how strong their foe was and hoped that whatever plan Spike was creating was more than enough to bring their foe down, but if that failed they were going to have to bring in the big gun and have Malefor deal with the Dark Master, because at this point even Spyro was starting to doubt their chances of success against the might they were facing. Of course neither of them could rest for very long as the Dark Master landed nearby and rushed at the area that they were standing in, where both of them went on the defensive as they parried the incoming attacks that were being sent their way, though that didn't do much in the grand scheme of things as their foe knocked them backwards with the base of his weapon's hilt and pushed them backwards, though as both of them paused for a moment, just to catch their breath and come up with a plan, their foe forcefully lifted them into the air with his magic, lashed out with his blade for a moment and forced them to parry the attacks in question, and then he kicked both of them into one of the icy walls that were nearby, smashing the area to bits in the process. It was in that moment that both of their weapons glowed for a moment as they vanished, meaning Spike needed them for something, before a familiar unique runeblade, the ninth and final one that had been recovered during their last adventure, to which Spyro drew it and rushed out into the open area that their foe was fighting in, where Cynder did the same thing and used her elemental powers to lash out at their foe, though for the most part nothing seemed to be working as the Dark Master parried their attacks and the area that was around them shattered under the weight of their energies colliding with each other.
In the end Spyro and Cynder, who were eventually joined by everyone else but Spike, crashed into the roof of the massive icy structure that they were fighting above and huffed as they stared up at the Dark Master, as all of them were having a hard time imagining actually winning this fight, all while their foe floated up in the air that was above where they were now resting, the look on his face showing that he still believed that he was going to win this battle and that there was nothing they could do defeat him, even if Spyro noticed that Aurora had grabbed the necklace for some reason, before returning his attention to their foe.
"All of you fought well, but now this battle is over," the Dark Master said, where he shifted his stance for a moment as he made sure his weapon and his power were at the ready, showing the group that the next attack was likely going to be his last, that the end was coming and that if they did nothing he was going to wipe all of them out in an instant, while the odd smile on his face indicated that he was happy that they fought him with everything they had learned over the years, as in they should have no regrets now that they've failed to overcome his incredible power, "the time for darkness to cover this world has come at long last!"
It was in that moment, while the Dark Master was talking, that Spike landed on the part of the roof that was near him, but his eyes were focused on Spyro and the others as Almos, the runeblade that was connected to the Aether, started to glow, to which the group, sensing that he had a plan since his power had weaved around eight of them and left Spyro alone for a moment, stood up as the lone dragon leapt into the air and swung the blade, surprising the Dark Master for a moment as he actually pushed him higher into the air, pushing him away from his friends and family.
"Dark Master, it seems that you still don't get it," Spyro stated, where this time around he could feel the energies that were in the air, more so than when he trained with the others and faced Malefor in battle, and that a decent amount of it was currently wrapping around the blade he was carrying while he spotted eight other points in the area, exactly in the space that he was pushing his foe towards, though that was when he focused on his foe again, "your plans will never succeed, not if we have anything to say about it!"
That only made the Dark Master grin, almost like he was expecting someone to challenge him again, before their blades clashed in the air once more, though this time around nothing in their immediate area was ruined as Almos glowed bright blue for a moment, which was when Spike activated his magic and the other eight runeblades appeared in between the two weapons, before the spell sent the eight of them flying in eight different directions while, at the same time, opening their foe's guard for a few seconds as Spyro flashed up into the air and started to channel his full and unbridled power into the next attack. At the same time, before the Dark Master had a chance to recover himself since not even a second had passed yet, the rest of the group appeared in the space around their foe, standing behind one of the runeblades that he had called to this area, even summoning most of them from the Arcanaeum, where Cynder quickly appeared behind Penumbra, Flame took up a position behind Flamestrike, Elora appeared behind a sinister red blade, which was Dread, the runeblade of Fear, Hunter floated behind Frostbringer, Ember made sure Tremor was in front of her, Bianca waited right behind Storm's Fury, Aurora had Windshear floating in front of her, and Amelia floated behind a runeblade that had a poison droplet marking on it, which made it Scorpion's Sting, the runeblade of Poison. As soon as everyone was in their positions, and no more than a few seconds had passed, the eight of them grabbed the runeblades that were in front of them and rushed forward, their speed being increased by whatever spell Spike had weaved into the combination attack he had prepared, where they were able to smash through the Dark Master's lowered defenses and slash into his body with ease, even though each of their attacks caused him to spin around in place as he was struck, though as that happened the only one to remain in place was Spyro, as he was making sure that all of his power would be brought to bare against their foe. Once the first volley of attacks was complete, the first eight strikes to be exact, Spike nodded his head and the rest of the group repeated the motions, allowing the second strike to knock their foe around once more as they returned to the area that they had started in a few seconds ago, before Spyro burst out of the air, with Almos glowing in a bright light, and struck the Dark Master in the chest, hard enough to actually phase through Red's body and hit the soul of the Dark Master instead, even though that was followed by him smashing their foe into the top of the icy fortress.
The icy structure shattered into a thousand pieces and rained down on the majority of Icy Wilderness, showing just how strong this attack was, before Spyro slammed the Dark Master into the ground and jumped to the side so he could huff for a moment, as channeling all of his power into a single attack like that had nearly wiped him out, and over the next couple of seconds Cynder and the others landed near him, though at this point if the Dark Master persisted they knew that it had to be game over for them, but when the smoke cleared they found that most of the shadowy armor had been broken and that some decent damage had been done to their foe, but the Dark Master was still kicking, even if the attack had snapped his weapon in half as well.
"You tried to break the connection between Red's body and my soul," the Dark Master said, showing that he understood what Spike's plan had been, though that was when he chuckled for a moment, almost as if he couldn't believe what they had tried to do and the amount of power that they had brought to bare against him, before he refocused on them as he glanced around the part of the homeworld all of them were standing in, maybe looking for any other traps that might have been prepared ahead of time, "Well then, I suppose its time we brought this battle to an end."
"I couldn't agree more," a voice said, this one sounding exactly like how the Dark Master had sounded before he revealed himself to the group, meaning it had to be Red's voice, though that was when Spike chuckled as he removed part of his magic and revealed that the Aurora that was standing near them was just an illusion, as he had realized why the necklace was so important and what it was, something that was followed by chains of red energy wrapping around the Dark Master and pulled his arms, legs, wings, and tail in several directions, even though he had a few seconds to turn around and find that Aurora was standing behind him with the necklace pointed at him, meaning that the soul of Red was restricting their foe, even if he could only give them a few precious moments to do something.
"Aurora! Red! Do it now!" Spyro stated, where he forced himself to stand up and tap into the Aether for a moment as he swung the tip of Almos at the Dark Master's back and released a burst of golden energy that raced forward and slammed into his target's back, causing their foe to grunt in pain as he realized that they were doing something different, though as he said that Cynder and the others that had access to magic added some of their own magical chains to what was going on at the moment, just to keep their foe restrained before he was able to do anything.
Not a few seconds later Aurora raised the necklace for a moment and applied her magic to it, where the metal snapped and then she smashed the dark crystal that had been in the center of the piece of jewelry, something that was followed by a transparent specter appearing in the space in front of her, one that looked exactly like how the Dark Master had before he revealed his true nature to them, to which Red gathered all of his magical power and rushed forward, like an arrow that was loosed from a bow, and struck the Dark Master in the chest with enough force to release a flash of golden light and caused everyone to cover their eyes... though when the light faded the darkness of their foe pulled out of Red's body, as in it was actually Red's body and not the twisted form their foe had used, before escaping into the air.
"Of course he's not done for," Spyro moaned, where he watched the dark mass that was the Dark Master's foul soul flying off in the direction of Volcanic Isle, meaning that their foe was fleeing and, more importantly, might be heading for another body that he could have prepared ahead of time, just in the off chance that he could have been pushed out of Red's body, but they were in no condition to move yet and so he called for everyone to take some time to recover their energy, along with healing their bodies since the Dark Master had packed quite a punch, which was when he noticed that Red was laying nearby, probably exhausted as well, given all the effort he likely put into getting his body back, and if it wasn't for the fact that he was breathing he would have assumed being separated from his body for so long might have killed him, but at the very least they had freed him from their foe's influence.
Spike and the others nodded their heads in agreement, as they felt that resting was required after the battle they had just been in, though Spike made sure to return all of the runeblades they weren't using to the Arcanaeum and had Almos put back in the pack he had been keeping it in, before all of them laid on the ground and rested as they stared at the sky, as none of them had been expecting to fight the Dark Master and it only made them wonder what in the world would happen the next time they faced him in battle again, especially after everything that happened over the course of this battle.
The group spent some time, roughly half an hour based on Spike's estimates, resting in the area that they had landed in near the end of their battle with the Dark Master, a battle none of them had been expecting when Spyro said that it was time for them to face the Guardian of Icy Wilderness and free it from Red's control, but now they understood that Red was just a pawn in the grand scheme of things, as the dragon in question had been a vessel for the Dark Master's soul and his own soul had been pushed out so their foe could have control over his body, something that worried Spike more than he was willing to admit. Spyro and Cynder were about the only ones that bothered to move after the first minute or so, where the pair rested near each other and Spyro draped a wing over Cynder, though Hunter, Amelia, Elora, and Bianca checked out their injuries and made sure they hadn't sustained anything serious that would knock them out of this adventure, but, after some time, they found that all of their various injuries were minor and were easily dealt with over the course of the next few minutes, though once they did that each of them returned to resting in the snow as they waited for someone to tell them it was time to move forward again, even if their bodies would protest after the battle that had just ended. Aurora and Flame, on the other claw, walked over to where Red was resting and made sure his body was fine, because they had no idea just how long his soul had been disconnected from his body and how much damage the Dark Master could have done to him by doing something like that, where again the only way for them to know what sort of state Red was in was due to the fact that his body was shifting, as in he was breathing despite the fact that he hadn't opened his eyes yet, so all the pair did was take a few moments to make sure he was fine, as in make sure any injuries were taken care of, before pulling back so they could get some rest as well, as that battle had exhausted them as well. While all of that happened Spike took a moment to pull out some of his writing materials and quickly drafted a letter, one that detailed what they had just discovered during their last battle, before he nodded his head and put the quill down as he loosed a burst of his Teleportation Breath to send it to the dragon that needed to be told what had just happened, because they needed allies for the final battle with the Dark Master and there was only one dragon who could handle the pressure.
While all of them rested they got to see the residents of Icy Wilderness, joined by Moneybags, emerge from the dome they had been hiding under when the battle started tearing apart the landscape, where it was easy for them to see that both Phil and Peggy, the Penguins that they had assisted at the start of their visit to this homeworld, were shocked by what had happened to their home, though it was Vicky, the one who ruled over the island as its Ice Princess, who fell to her knees as she looked out at the destruction that had been caused to her domain, as the entirety of the island had been damaged over the course of the battle she and the others had witnessed. Of course, out of the four of them, Moneybags found the staff that the Dark master had been carrying before he revealed himself to the group, though once it was in his hands he walked over to where the group was resting and handed it over, figuring that they would know what to do with it, where Spike waited for a few moments before smashing the crystal that was at the top of the staff, where they found that an icy Fairy was freed from the prison that she had been trapped inside, just like the last two they had freed when they bested Gnasty Gnorc and freed Ineptune from the Dark Master's control. Freezia, which was the Fairy's name, was grateful for the prison being broken and, as a reward, she granted the dragons that didn't have access to the Ice element the same power that the other fairies of this land had granted them after they had been freed, though once that was done she flew over to where Vicky was resting, staring at the ruined nature of her domain, though that was when the group learned that there was more to to the Ice Princess than just her title, as both she and the now freed Fairy turned their power on the area that rested in front of them and manipulated the ice to patch up the area the Dark Master had ruined. It was interesting to see the pair weave their magic into the area and work on returning things to what they had been before the battle had done all the damage that they could see, though one of the things the group noticed was that one of the things Vicky did while they were working was create an ice sculpture of the Dark Master, in all his evil and sinister glory, before she pierced the sculpture with a number of Ice Spikes, smashing it to pieces in a matter of seconds, showing that she was angry and that part of her wanted to punish the one that was responsible for this mess.
"So, who do you think she's going to blame? Us, Red, or the soul of the Dark Master?" Ember inquired, though it was just something she was doing to pass the time, as simply resting was just going to get old after a time and she felt that taking a moment to talk might allow them to discuss something, even though she was sure that someone in their group might be interested in what Spike had done, as he had said nothing before pulling out his writing material and sending the letter to the dragon that he wished to speak with.
"I don't think she'll be blaming anyone for some time... she seems distracted by the damage caused to the island and all of the structures that the other residents owned," Flame replied, where it was easy to tell that he was conflicted by what they were seeing right now, almost as if he wanted to go over to some of the ruined structures and help fix them up, though as soon as he thought about that he sighed and focused on the Teleportation Device that rested nearby, the only thing that had been left untouched thanks to the Professor's additions and the fact that they managed to redirect all of the attacks the Dark Master had sent their way, only in the sense that they made sure his attacks didn't damage the machine, even if Spike could have used his magic to teleport them back to another island to move forward.
"The Dark Master was strong, much more than what I was expecting," Aurora remarked, because that battle had been the hardest thing any of them had experienced, though instead of referring to herself and Flame, like one would except, her thoughts also included the rest of the group, as from what she could tell even Spyro and Cynder were caught off guard by the sheer power their foe had used against them and on the land they had fought above, but as she thought about that she faced Spike for a moment, "Hey, Spike, who did you send that letter to?"
"Malefor. After the battle we just finished, and how exhausted we are from it, we're in no condition to actually fight the Dark Master when we find him," Spike stated, though even as he said that he knew there was only one other thing that he could add to the next fight that was going to be between them and the Dark Master, and he knew that there would almost certainly be a second battle between them since the soul of their enemy had fled after being expelled from Red's body, so he wanted to be ready for anything and everything, hence why he was reaching out to Malefor, "so I sent him a letter that explains everything that just happened, as in us discovering the Dark Master, the fact that he tore Red's soul out of his body and possessed it as his vessel, and the fact that he's far stronger than we are, so much so that when the next battle starts he'll likely have an advantage over us. Given the fact that Malefor likely fought the Dark Master in the past, maybe when the foul dragon was possessing someone else's body, and the fact that he's far stronger than we are, well, we need Malefor's help if we're going to take down the Dark Master for real, so he's who I sent the letter to, so we should be seeing him at some point before we find our foe again, provided we don't run right into the soul of our enemy when we reach the next homeworld and start exploring the realms that need to be saved from our foe."
"Its a good idea, given how strong Malefor is and how easy it was for him to overcome us," Spyro added, though even as he said that Cynder nodded her head, showing the rest of the group that they agreed with what Spike had said and, more importantly, what he had done, because this would definitely even the odds the next time they encountered the Dark Master and fought him, even though he was sure Spike had something else planned for when such an event happened, though he trusted his brother and his judgement, before he pushed himself onto his claws and stopped resting on the snow covered ground as he focused on the rest of the group, "Okay, let's get moving and head to Volcanic Isle, but let's not get in over our heads and take things slowly... and if anyone feels the need to stop and rest, we'll all do so for a time, just so we don't make any mistakes in the Dark Master's domain."
Spyro was sure that their foe might have more defenses set up throughout the final homeworld of Capora, given what he and the others have seen over the years as they faced the other villains that had been trying to take over the other lands of their world, and that was why he was telling the others that if they wanted to take a break during their trek through the final homeworld he was fine with it, where everyone else glanced at each other for a moment before nodding their heads to show that they agreed with what he had said, to which they headed over to the Teleportation Device and accessed it so they could head to Volcanic Isle and see what sort of dangers awaited them this time around.
It took them a few minutes to access the machine, where the Professor summoned a hologram to speak with them and to reveal that none of the device's components had been damaged by the battle that had raged, allowing Spyro and the rest of the group to teleport to the final homeworld, one by one like they had done in the past, though the place that the final Teleportation Device was located in happened to be a beach of some kind that had a number of boats that appeared to have been turned into houses or other such structures, though off in the distance they could see a volcano that had to be the reason behind this island's name, though before they did anything a hologram stopped them.
"Spyro, after all the readings that I got during your battle with the Dark Master, I have determined that his soul, as you told me that was what that dark shape was, is definitely somewhere on this island," the Professor stated, where it was clear to the group that he was in the middle of double checking his calculations and happened to be tracking down the dark and sinister power that came from the Dark Master's soul, meaning either he would find their foe first and tell them where he was hiding, which would give them time to rest and wait for Malefor to show up, or they would find him first and head back to a safe area to rest, "I don't know where he's hiding, but I'll let you know the moment I figure out where he might have gone to wait for whatever he's waiting for."
"Given what we know of him, he's either got a hidden base in the air somewhere, and a path for us to take to head up to where its sitting, or an underground hideout," Cynder remarked, once more referring to something that only two of them, as in her and Spyro, knew about the Dark Master, as in their past life their foe had a tower of some kind in the air and they had to fight their way to the front door, meaning they had been weakened before the final battle had even started, so due to what she knew she had to suspect that either of those options had to be correct, where Spyro nodded to show that he knew what she was talking about.
The Professor said nothing to that as he nodded his head and the connection was terminated, allowing the group to walk away from the Teleportation Device, even though that was when they found that the device was resting on a platform that rested on top of a pool of water, to which Ember dived into the water and looked around for anything interesting, mostly any of the Light Gems or dragon eggs that they were looking for, or maybe a path to a Dark Gem, though all she found was a lone glass vase that she smashed for the gems that were inside it, and while she did that the rest of the group discovered a cave off to the left of where the device rested. The reason behind them heading into the cave, and not worrying about the village that was just beyond the small wall that was between the device and the wooden structures, was because they were sure it would be a loop or a dead end, so basically they were clearing it out before they did anything else, and Flame was the first one to enter the cave, where he smashed the dark crystal that was in the opening and found that there were three bear traps, a straw basket, and a metallic chest behind it. With the dark crystal smashed to pieces, and all of the bits collected a few seconds later, Ember rushed into the area and used the Horn Dive on the ground, smashing everything that was near her so they didn't have to waste time breaking all of them in a one by one fashion like they usually did, but as she did that she found three more bear traps resting in front of another dark crystal, which was when Elora stepped up and closed her eyes for a moment, as she wanted to try something out, which was when she loosed a burst of her brand new Ice Breath and froze the bear traps, leading to Aurora charging through them and the dark crystal so she could smash them all to pieces, allowing them to see what else the cave had for them to explore, even though it was looking like it could be shifting into a tunnel of some kind. The next part of the tunnel that the group explored happened to have two more of the bear traps and three metallic chests, so while Spyro charged through all of the chests he left the bear traps to Ember, who just froze them and smashed both of her targets in seconds, though while all of that happened the rest of the group moved forward and Elora froze the next three bear traps so Flame could knock them out with a Horn Dive, as in the shock wave of the attack broke their targets apart, before they moved through the end of the tunnel and found that they were now standing inside a ruined ship, like the bottom deck, and that there was more for them to explore.
"So that's why this place is called Stormy Beach," Spike commented, as while they were walking through the area that was around the Teleportation Device and the cave there had been some dark clouds in the sky, but now it looked like a storm might be in the middle of developing, something they were going to have to keep an eye on while they explored this realm and collected everything that needed to be collected, before he glanced at the rest of the ruined ships, "and that explains all of the ruined ships we've seen so far."
"Yeah, this island is not the most pleasant place to be," Flame replied, as he and Aurora didn't have that much knowledge on this realm, or the others that they would be exploring in the very near future, though as he glanced out at the area that was beyond where they were currently standing it sure looked like there were a few Gnorcs guarding the area, though at this point he wasn't even surprised to see them scattered around the realms that were infected by the Dark Gems that the Dark Master had placed around the realms of Capora, before something came to mind as he glanced at Elora, "Say, how in the world did you unlock the Fire Breath?"
"I think the stress of the battle awakened something inside me," Elora said, as she had been thinking about how she had been able to do that sort of thing and this was her explanation for why she could suddenly use the elemental breaths that Spike, Spyro, Cynder, and Ember had used in the past, though right now it appeared that she had access to Fire, Ice, and maybe the Water Breath attacks, which was around the time that they carefully climbed up to the highest point of the ship they had stepped out onto so they could what else this realm had to throw at them, "though if you want a better reason or explanation you should ask Spike, he's likely figured it out by now."
Spike chuckled for a moment, as Elora was right, he had a few theories on what happened during their battle with the Dark Master, especially since she was the first known half-dragon in the history of their world, that he was aware of, but for now he focused on what they were doing, since they would have time to discuss his thoughts on what had happened to Elora earlier, though that was when he paused for a moment as they stared at the next area of the realm they would be tackling, as there was a Gnorc Brute that was wearing dark purple armor that looked rather sinister, meaning it had to be waiting for them to come and face it. Of course the first one to reach the Armored Brute, as Spike was going to call this type of foe, was Spyro, who flew down into the area their target was standing in and used his Ice Breath to freeze the Gnorc in a block of ice, where he lashed out with his tail and smashed the block to pieces, scattering a number of gems as he defeated his foe and he nodded to the others so they could glide or jump over to the area he was standing in, even though there was a golden chest resting nearby and that meant they might have found something already, so Spike headed for that to see if it had anything important inside it. While he landed Spike spotted an Armored Warrior, which was just a Gnorc Warrior with sinister purple armor on, standing to the right of the area he landed in, which was when Ember froze and smashed her foe to pieces, allowing Cynder to smash the pair of dark crystals that rested nearby as the rest of the group joined them, only for two more Armored Warriors to drop down into the area they were standing in, no doubt from the roof of the area they were walking through, even though Flame and Aurora used their new Ice Breath power to freeze their targets and smash them with their tails, seemingly eliminating all of the gem creations in the immediate area. With that done they took a few seconds to smash a pair of metallic chests that rested near the golden one that Spike was heading towards, even though they did find three metallic containers resting near the chest, something they would have to come back for once they were able to locate a Supercharge Gadget or a firework, to which the rest of the group remained near the planks leading to the next part of this realm, where Spike opened the golden chest and discovered that all it held inside it were a number of gems that he added to their collection, but once that was done they moved forward once more.
At the end of the short path that was near them the group found one Armored Warrior guarding some crates and a lone dark crystal, where Hunter rushed forward and used one of his blades to parry the incoming attack and then cut through the crack in the neck to take his foe down, though as that happened Ember, Aurora, and Cynder used their newly acquired Ice Breaths to freeze three more Armored Warriors who had been hiding behind the crates, before they used their tails to smash the ice blocks and take down the enemies they had frozen. Once that was done they headed down the walkway that was nearby and headed over to what appeared to be the front of a ship that had crashed into the rocky wall to their left, though there were two more Armored Brutes guarding a golden chest and were protected by four bear traps, so what the group did was allow Spike and Bianca to freeze the four bear traps, with the former using his actual Ice Breath and the latter using a lower powered version of her ice spells, showing that she was conserving her power for later, since they all knew they would be fighting the Dark Master again and that she needed all her strength for when that happened in the very near future. That allowed Spyro to freeze the two Armored Brutes that were standing near the now frozen bear traps and moved out of the way so Elora, Amelia, and Hunter could smash the ice blocks and take out all of the enemies that had been standing on the part of the ship they were heading towards, though that also allowed Aurora to collect all of the loose gems that were near the golden chest as Spike used his magic to open the chest, even though that one also had a fair number of gems inside it, making him wonder if the golden chests in this realm were going to contain just gems and none of the Light Gems or stolen dragon eggs that he and the others were used to collecting. After he did that Aurora took a moment to light a fuse and a firework, which had been resting in the area the gems had been resting in, went flying over to where the couple of metallic containers rested, to which Flame walked back to the area in question and collected all of the now freed gems that were resting on the ground they had walked over, allowing each of them to be transported to the bag Spike was carrying and joined the rest of the gems that had been recovered so far, before he returned to where the rest of the group was standing and pointed out a platform that lead up to another half of a ship.
As it turned out Spike, who flew up to the platform and then entered the area Flame had spotted, before finding the first Light Gem of this realm and quickly added it to the bag that contained all of the others they had collected, though once he did that he glided down to where the others were waiting, though that was when they approached the next section of this part of the realm and found four Armored Warriors standing guard, which happened to be incredibly foolish when Spyro froze all of them in one attack and stepped to the side so Ember and Cynder could smash the block to pieces in seconds, which also smashed their foes as well. With that done the group glanced around the area that they were standing in and found that the only way forward was to glide over to an area that a few gems were resting on, with Bianca forming several floating ice platforms for her, Hunter, and Amelia to jump over so they could keep up with the dragons and Elora, while at the same time making sure not to expend too much of her magical energy in the process, but, as it turned out all the gems were the only things left in this area, so they collected them and then headed over to the tunnel that lead back to the area that contained the Teleportation Device, which would allow the group to check out the rest of the realm. From there they discovered something interesting, the fact that the area near the Professor's device was rather shallow and that they could see an area that had three metallic chests, an area with a pair of straw basket and a bullseye chest, before discovering that there was an underground area of sorts that seemed to be under the main houses and just so happened to be where one of the Thieves was resting, to which Ember charged forward and chased after her target for a time, even though it ended with her smashing it into a wall and forced it to drop the white dragon egg with green spots that it had been carrying, one that she returned to Spike so he could check it out and send it back to the Nursery. Once that was done Ember informed all of them that there were three straw baskets that they could smash, which was what Aurora did once they heard about the containers in question, before they headed over to an area that had two dark crystals and four more straw baskets to smash, something that happened as soon as they discovered them, before they searched the rest of the area and discovered that there was another firework resting near a pile of gems, one that, when lit, seemed to head out and smash into some metallic containers that had to be near the structure that served as Moneybags' last shop, which all of them would investigate later.
One other thing the group discovered, as they checked out the area, was that the fodder critters for this realm seemed to be hermit crabs, as the critters in question were just wandering around and didn't seem to care about them all that much, so what the group did was head over to the right side of the area they were exploring, and that was coming from the area the Teleportation Device was resting in, and found a few straw baskets for them to smash, including another golden chest that had a pile of gems inside it, before they came to a stop when they spotted a brown skinned walrus that seemed to be dressed up as a pirate, based on the black hat and the vest it was wearing.
"Spyro, boy am I glad to see you and your allies," the walrus said, his tone revealing that he was glad to see them and that something had to be happening to the rest of the realm, or at least the area that was behind him since he happened to be guarding an iron barred door, though at this point none of them were at all surprised by what they were hearing or what they would hear in the next couple of seconds, given everything that had happened in the previous realms they had been to and assisted, "we've got a problem on our hands! Gnorcs are storming the beach and someone has to stop them! Now, there is a cannon resting behind this doorway, but, well, with these flippers I can't really use it, so I need help taking down the Gnorcs and saving Stormy Beach."
"Don't worry, we'll take care of them for you." Spyro stated, to which the rest of the group nodded their heads to show the walrus, who declared that his name was Wally so they didn't refer to him by his species, that they agreed with Spyro and that they were ready for anything that could be thrown at them, something that was followed by the door being opened not even a few moments later, where Hunter stepped forward first and walked through the tunnel that was on the other side of the doorway, before they discovered that there was a cannon and an area for the rest of the group to stand in so they could watch what happened next.
The area in question happened to be rather large and had a number of downed ships, which had likely been ruined by the storms that this realm was inflicted with, though some of the ships had been converted into housing areas and it looked like the Gnorcs were using them as places to hide while they gathered their strength, which was simply them waiting for their boss to create more soldiers to do whatever it was that he wanted, though as they took in the rather sandy area, as there wasn't a lot of water in this place, Hunter took control of the cannon and readied himself. Sure enough the Gnorcs emerged from their hiding spots not even a few moments later, though what was interesting was that each of them were of the Armored variety, meaning he was firing at Armored Brutes and Armored Warriors, the supposedly tougher foes despite the fact that they could be instantly frozen by all the Ice spells his friends had thrown at the enemies they faced before this point in the realm, though as he fired at the incoming Armored Gnorcs he discovered that the armor had to be for show, as a single blast from the cannon was enough to take one of his foes down. The only interesting thing that he discovered was the fact that the Armored Gnorcs were rushing out in waves that were greater than the last time he took on a cannon challenge, where Amelia stepped up and, with her arrows lightly empowered by Bianca's magic, she loosed a few of her arrows into the open area and froze a number of their targets with her Ice enchanted arrows, something that allowed Hunter to focus on the moving targets first before blasting the frozen enemies that his sister was leaving for him to take down, all while the rest of the group sat down and watched what happened, occasionally calling out which ship the next wave of enemies was coming from, just to help Hunter out. As it turned out the first set of enemies they had taken out had contained sixty Armored Gnorcs, according to what Spike counted as he watched what was going on, and it came with one of the missing dragon eggs, one with a purple top, a red bottom, and a yellow zigzag in the center, though Spike sent it off to the Nursery as Wally informed them that the second wave of enemies, or set as the group was calling them at this point in time, were starting to emerge from their hiding places and were rushing at the area the cannon rested in, to which Hunter and Amelia focused on their foes once more and were joined by Bianca, who ensured that she didn't use too much of her magic by only using the minor Ice spells, basically allowing her to freeze her targets for a few moments, even though Hunter would hit them a few seconds later.
With the second set of enemies defeated, and Spike had counted seventy-five of them this time around, Wally gave them a Light Gem for their efforts and it was quickly added to the bag that contained the others they had found so far, though as soon as they were done with the Armored Gnorcs they returned to the section of the realm that Moneybags had set up his last shop in and quickly investigated the rest of the area, though the first thing they did was collect the pile of gems that had been inside the metallic containers that had been blown up earlier, which was when they found that the bear had a small sack for them to collect, one that contained all of the gems they were looking for. Moneybags had no idea how long it would be before any of them returned to collect everything that had been inside the three metallic containers that had been in front of his last shop, so what he did was place all of the scattered gems in a sack with the express purpose of handing them over to the group, though at the same time he also informed them that Red was still unconscious and that it was going to be some time before he woke up, to which the group nodded their heads as Spike pocketed the gems, just to show him that they understood what he was telling them, before they moved out of the area started to look for the path that lead to the next realm or section of this realm. As it turned out there were some steps that they could take, as well as jump over to some floating cloth-like platforms, that lead up to what appeared to be some sails that had been restrained and shifted into an area that someone would walk on, so the group carefully made their way up there and found that the cloth walkway that was near the area that Moneybags had set up his last shop in, before they found a tunnel resting near the highest point of this section of the realm, where it was easy to see a dark crystal and a straw basket in the first part of the tunnel. Ember as the first one to jump into the tunnel and smashed through the dark crystal in question, which was when Flame walked by her and smashed the straw basket to get at the gems that had been inside it, though once that was done they walked down the path to their right and found an Armored Brute blocking the way, where Aurora froze it with her Ice Breath and let Cynder smash the ice block to pieces, before Spike walked over to the next golden chest and found that it also contained more gems for him to collect, even though he did have to avoid some small magma pits that rested in the area the chest was in, though once that was done Spyro walked over to the edge of where the chest rested and took a moment to jump down into the lower part of the tunnel and smashed three dark crystals he discovered.
It was then that they found a path that seemed to be leading deeper into the mountain that Stormy Beach had been built in front of, guarded by an Armored Brute that was smashed to pieces by Spike using his Ice Breath and Cynder swinging her tail at it, before they started to walk on the wooden walkway that rested across the somewhat larger magma pits that were in this area, where Spike had to determine that the wood must have been enchanted to prevent it from going up in flames, to which they smashed a pair of straw baskets, broke a bullseye chest, and crushed three more dark crystals as they found themselves inside another ruined ship that happened to lead to a hidden cavern inside the mountain, one that had a number of enemies for them to face. The first thing they did was activate a firework that rushed through part of the area they had discovered and smashed into a metallic container that rested near them, where Flame collected the gems as the others used the front of a nearby ruined ship to move forward, with Bianca using her magic to freeze two Armored Archers that were guarding a golden chest that was above the entrance, allowing the others to tackle an Armored Brute that was in the middle of the area they were in, who was frozen by Aurora and smashed by Ember, though Spike dealt with an Armored Archer that was in front of them, with a Fireball to be exact, before loosing a pair of low powered Lightning Bolts to take out the ones Bianca had frozen a few moments ago. From there they spread out and started smashing all of the bullseye chests that were in this area, of which it appeared there were quite a few of them, possibly five or six based on what they were seeing, though once all of them were smashed apart, and the gems had been collected, the group got back together near a close set of walls and used the Wall Jump to ascend to the upper part of the area, which was when they jumped over some platforms to get to where the golden chest was located, even though Spike was disappointed in just finding more gems and no Light Gems or missing dragon eggs, to which they glided over to an opening that had some dark crystals inside it. They found an Armored Warrior guarding the area and quickly took care of it, with Spyro freezing it with his Ice Breath while Cynder smashed it to pieces, before they walked over a small gap in the floor and smashed the couple of dark crystals, something that was followed by them climbing up some steps and found a Dark Gem that just to happened to have three dark crystals resting near it, though when Aurora performed the Horn Dive on it, and smashed it to pieces, a few pieces of the ceiling fell to form some steps for them to jump over so they could reach a dragon head that had been carved into the area they were in.
In that instant Spyro determined that they were at the end of Stormy Beach and that they were moving into the next realm of this homeworld, a realm that Spike claimed had to be Molten Mount, or at least he assumed that was the next one due to what little they knew about this area, before they returned to the previous water filled area to take a short break, to get a little more rest before they faced whatever was waiting for them on the other side of the opening that had opened due to the Dark Gem being smashed to pieces, all while they waited for Malefor to either show up or send them a letter telling them that he was on his way, as it would be nice to have some confirmation on that before they found the Dark Master and brought this adventure to an end with a massive battle for the fate of their world.
After a few minutes of rest, and Spike kept track of the time so he could tell Spyro how long they had been resting, the group got up from where they ended up resting and headed over to where the Dark Gem had been resting earlier, even though their focus was on the couple of stone platforms that formed a path of sorts that lead over to the stone dragon head, which would allow them to access Molten Mount, the next realm of this island that they would be tackling head on, though based on what they had seen in Stormy Beach Spike had the feeling that they might be facing the bulk of the Dark Master's army in the next realm and the realms leading up to where the soul of their foe was hiding. Once they reached the area the Dark Gem had been resting in Spyro was the first one to jump over to the first of the small stone platforms, fragments of part of the ceiling that collapsed when the sinister gem was shattered, before he crossed over to the second one and opened the way for one of the others to follow him, where he knew that either Cynder, Spike, or Ember would be the first to do so, and then leapt over to where the stone dragon head was resting, something that allowed him to see that there was a path that lead deeper into the mountain. Of course the tunnel did happen to have a dark crystal that was guarded by two bear traps just beyond the opening he had stopped at, something that he felt was rather interesting, to which he charged through the dark crystal and used his Ice Breath to freeze the pair of traps so they could be broken to pieces, even though he did have to take a moment to jump over a small break in the ground to reach the area that the second one was resting in, which was around the time that the others caught up with him and noticed what he was doing. None of them were mad that he had started without them, as there were no enemies in their immediate area and that was what they were focused on, which was when they moved forward and approached part of the tunnel that had a metallic chest that was surrounded by two straw baskets, ones that Ember smashed to pieces with a Horn Dive, freeing the gems that had been trapped inside them so they could be added to the bag that Spike carried, before they focused on what was just beyond those containers.
The set of stone steps that were behind the three containers had no enemies guarding it, which was rather weird since all of them were expecting a few Armored Gnorcs to be positioned between them and the area they were heading towards, before they stopped when they emerged from the tunnel, which was another surprise since everyone was sure that they would have headed straight into the mountain without stopping at all, before noticing that the area they were now in lead to where the true volcanic mountain rested, one that had a few rivers of lava slowly moving out of it, not to mention the charred path that was in front of them that some trees had once been resting in, even though their charred stumps were all that remained for them to see.
"So this is Molten Mount," Aurora commented, where she and the others took a moment to take in what they were seeing right now, even though it was more due to the fact that this was the first time she and Flame had ever been to this area and were seeing it for the first time, even though it appeared that Spyro and the others might have been to a place that was similar to this in the past, during one or more of their previous adventures, "well, it... certainly lives up to its name, based on what we're seeing at the moment."
"And we're going to be going through this place to find the Dark Master," Flame added, though that did make him wonder just what sort of enemies they would be facing in this area, especially since none of them had any idea on what might be waiting for them this time around, and he suspected that the Guidebook that Spike pulled out every now and then, the one Moneybags had given him at the start of this adventure, wouldn't be of much assistance in what was going on at the moment, hence why he and Aurora were focused on the molten area they would be progressing through.
"Reminds me of the Isle of Bozibig, if I'm being honest," Cynder said, referring to one of the four major islands that were near the main island that Warfang rested on, something that only Spyro and the majority of her friends would know about thanks to the adventure that had brought them together, before she focused on the mountain itself for a time, because something told her they might find what they were looking for if they headed over to it, before she glanced at the others for a few seconds, "its probably due to the massive volcano that this island is named after, though hopefully this volcano remains docile and doesn't start erupting on us while we're exploring this realm... either way, I'd like to get moving, as I'd rather not give the Dark Master a chance to do whatever he's trying to do as we push through the remaining realms that he has taken over."
Spyro nodded his head in agreement, due to the fact that he was the only other individual in the group that had an idea of what she was referring to, thanks to their shared past, before they moved out of the tunnel and started to explore Molten Mount, though the first thing they did was locate a few metallic containers that were in front of them and Ember lit a small firework that was near the tunnel's entrance, though instead of it heading over to the containers that were resting near them it smashed into a container that was in the rock wall to the right of the tunnel's entrance. The group was surprised by that, just a little bit anyway, but it gave them some gems and there wasn't much time for them to complain about what they had just witnessed, so what they did was move forward and kept the metallic containers in mind for later, since they would either find a firework to smash the containers or a Supercharge Gadget that would allow them to smash through all three of them, though as they walked forward it was easy for them to determine which option it was, as there was one of the Professor's Gadget Pads resting on the other side of the charred path they were following, one that just so happened to be one of the Supercharge Gadgets. As such Spyro stepped through it and rushed back to where the containers were resting, smashing all three of them to pieces while Sparx made sure to collect the gems he freed, though once that was done they headed back to where the rest of the group was standing and noticed that the next part of the path seemed to be a number of stone platforms, which were resting on top of a sea of lava and had birds of fire guarding it, where their new enemies weren't exactly Phoenixes, like what Flame and Aurora were thinking since they looked nothing like Sol and the rest of his kind, so Spike determined that they had to be Fire Birds, but all that meant was that these foes could only be taken down with their Ice Breath or, if someone wanted to try it out, possibly even the Water Breath. Bianca was the first one to lash out at the Fire Bird that was in front of them, where she loosed a quick wave of ice that froze her target in the air and she let it drop into the lava that rested below it, even though the gems it had been made from landed on the edge of the platform that was in front of where the Fire Bird had been flying, though as she did that the rest of the group was able to see something that would slow them down a little, there were geysers of flames spewing from the lava and that made them stop for a few seconds, only to jump over to the next platform when the geysers were down.
What was interesting was that there were only two platforms resting in the lava and that it brought them to an area that had a few stone steps, which allowed them to access a higher area that had a fireworks crate resting near a Fire Imp, a small creature that was bipedal and was made out of pure fire, though much like the Fire Bird the newest foe was also weak to their newly acquired Ice Breath, as Elora did that and watched as it fell into the lava below them, as it had been dancing in the air before trying to throw a Fireball at them, even though she did move out of the way so Flame could light the fireworks crate and blew it up, freeing a few more gems for them to claim. From there they jumped over to another platform, which was the top of a rock pillar, and found that the other side of it was being guarded by another Fire Imp that was also dancing around the space it was supposed to be guarding, though a quick burst of Spike's Ice Breath took it down and opened the way for them to jump over to the path that was on the other side of the gap that was in front of them, one that had a charred tree and who knew what else, so each of them kept their guards up as they glided over to the path and landed near the ruined tree. As soon as they landed it was easy for the group to spot a pit to their right that had lava they needed to avoid, especially since it launched a bit of lava into the air for a few seconds, so what happened next was that Amelia broke a nearby straw basket for the gems as the others walked up to where a bipedal hyena, who happened to be wearing a light green robe over her light orange colored fur, which had brown spots and a white chest area, was standing, though they could see that she was carrying a wooden staff in her right hand, one that was either enchanted to withstand the heat or she didn't care too much about it if it were to catch fire. It was a little odd to see a Hyena in this area, where Spike was labeling her in the same manner as he had done to the Penguins that they had helped back in Frostbite Village, though while he thought about what they were seeing, and was curious as to what she might ask them to do, where he was sure that she was female based on the shape of her body and chest area, Hunter smashed a dark crystal to bits as he and Amelia joined the rest of the group, as both of them were interested in hearing what she had to tell them, as it could be a clue that would help them find the Dark Master or any of the remaining dragon eggs, even though they were a little caught off guard by how much she seemed to be laughing.
"What's got you laughing?" Flame asked, because he was curious as to why she was laughing so much, even though the most likely explanation was due to the fact that she was a Hyena, as he and Aurora had heard that some of them had a rather serious condition where they laughed at everything and anything that was said or happened in the area that they were standing in, as a normal Hyena usually limited what triggered their 'laughter buttons', or at least that was what some of them said when asked about their laughter, though while they had heard of the Hyenas it was still hard for both him and Aurora to imagine that they actually lived in the dangerous area they were standing in.
"Those rock monsters over there burnt down my house," the Hyena stated, to which the group raised their eyebrows for a moment as they heard that, as it sure sounded like something that no one should laugh at and confirmed what Flame had been thinking about a few moments ago, that they were dealing with one of the Hyenas that laughed at everything, even if nothing funny was going on at the moment, before she tried to focus on them, which everyone could see was hard for her to even do given her condition, "I'm actually quite sad and upset by this turn of events, but, as you can see, I'm one of the Laughing Hyenas, who laugh at everything that happens, even the most upsetting or heartbreaking events... maybe you could get rid of those rock monsters for me?"
What surprised the group for a moment was that Aurora offered to deal with the Rock Monsters, of which there were four of the more humanoid shaped earthen creatures, which Elora determined were much like the Earthshapers, save for the fact that their bodies were bulky, though as she jumped over into the area she could see that each of them had a rather dark mist coming from their eyes as she approached them, something that Spike realized meant the Dark Master might have placed the Rock Monsters here to stop them in their tracks and maybe even take some of them down in the process, only for Aurora to tilt her head as she stared at her enemies. The area the Rock Monsters were in appeared to be a couple of platforms resting near the edge of a lava waterfall and there seemed to be a Dark Gem off in the distance, even though there was a shop pad nearby that they would ignore, as there was no reason for the group to worry about Moneybags at the moment, before the group noticed that the structures that were near them appeared to be the remains of the Hyena's house, or at least that was what they assumed they were seeing, before they focused on what Aurora was doing as she walked up to the first foe she would be dealing with. It was in that moment that Spike noticed something interesting, there was a dark aura surrounding the first Rock Monster and it growled at Aurora as she came to a stop in front of it, but what she did was open her mouth for a few seconds and that caused the darkness around the creature to disappear not even a few seconds later, revealing that it was something made from the shadows and not actually a Rock Monster, even though Spike was sure that there were some of those creatures in this realm for them to deal with, before Aurora moved out to where the other three enemies were standing and, as Spyro and the others expected, repeated the same thing on all three of them, causing the shadows to disappear in a matter of minutes, since she took her time dealing with them. Spike took a few moments to think about what they were seeing, even though the Hyena was laughing at everything she was seeing as she let the others break down the couple of metallic chests that were in one of the ruined structures and smash a dark crystal that was nearby, before he determined that these had to be creatures of fear that the Dark Master had summoned to either stall them or deal with them, but it seemed like laughter might be their weakness, and once the fourth one was taken care of the Hyena handed over a dragon egg, a yellow one with white spots, which Spike sent back to the Nursery as the others headed over to where Aurora was waiting for them.
Along the way they found a side passage that might be a tunnel leading deeper into the mountain, or at least the next part of the realm that needed to be cleared of enemies and stolen items, even made sure to smash a bullseye chest and a pair of metallic chests that were near it, before they reached the area that Aurora was standing in, where she jumped over to the lone earthen pillar that the Dark Gem was resting on and then smashed it with the Horn Dive, something that caused a number of rocks to float out of the lava that rested below them and connect to the pillar that was nearby, meaning there were two paths for them to check out now. Instead of getting a chance to talk the group noticed that there were three Fire Imps dancing above the new path and they seemed to be taunting them, to which Flame loosed a few bursts of his Water Breath and confirmed that the water was enough to take care of these enemies, though that was when they noticed that there was a red robed bipedal being that held a staff in his right hand, meaning he had to be a summoner of some kind, but as Flame got close to him he fled not a few seconds later, using his magic to teleport over a floating platform that just so happened to have three more Fire Imps dancing over the path it followed and lead right to a dragon egg, where this one had a flame design on it, to which Bianca stepped forward and used a small bit of her magic to freeze the three foes where they were dancing, sending them right into the lava that was below them, before Hunter and Amelia loosed a pair of arrows into the air and pinned down the Fire Summoner. Spike made sure to freeze the Fire Summoner before he had a chance to flee with his magic, allowing Cynder to smash the ice block while Ember made sure the egg was just fine, where Spike determined that this was the tenth egg of the flame design and that they wouldn't be finding anymore of this type in the future, which put a smile on Ember's face since that meant they had rescued a whole set of Capora's dragon eggs, but even she knew there were more of them for the group to find, hence the reason she jumped onto the nearby platform and let it take her over to where a portal rested, where she used her Ice Breath to freeze the Fire Imps before reaching the end of the path and jumped onto the area that the portal was in, though from what she could tell taking down all of the Fire Imps and the Fire Summoner didn't do much.
Once she reached the end of the path, however, Ember found that Sgt. Byrd was standing in front of the portal, meaning he must have found another Speedway to tackle for a dragon egg and a Light Gem, before spotting a golden chest near it as well, something that Spike would want to take a look at, to which she waited for a few moments as Spyro and the rest of the group landed near her, though as soon as that happened they focused on their friend, as they wanted to hear what he had to say before headed through the portal and tackled whatever challenges were waiting on the other side, which would give them a short break before they got back to what they had been doing earlier.
"The heat here is more than I was expecting it to be... I don't know how you handle it!" Sgt. Byrd remarked, though it was in that moment that he staggered for a moment as he felt the heat pull back, as if he had been cooled off by something or someone, as the latter was more reasonable when he took a moment to think about what was going on, before he took a few seconds to shake his head and stand straight once more, showing that he was ready to tell them what was going on before he headed through the portal, "Anyway, I have found another Speedway and thought it would be best to show our foe that we are superior in the air, though I wanted to tell you first, before I up and disappeared on you."
"Understandable, so we'll be here, waiting for you to return," Spyro replied, to which their friend nodded his head, to show he understood what Spyro was saying, before he headed through the portal and departed for the Speedway that was on the other side, where the rest of the group scattered around the area that they had found and rested for a few moments, though as they did that he glanced down at his body for a moment and realized why none of them had been affected by all the heat that was in this area, "Spike, you put that Frost Aura spell on us earlier, when we first entered this area, while we were taking in what we would be going through, didn't you?"
"I did, and I made sure to give Sgt. Byrd the same spell before he flew off," Spike stated, where he used his magic to unlock the golden chest that was resting nearby and smiled as he found that it contained a Light Gem inside it, one that he added to the bag that contained the others he and the group had recovered since the start of this adventure, before he paused for a moment as he glanced at Aurora, as what she had done to the creatures of fear was rather interesting and that it was worth talking about for some time, before Sgt. Byrd returned with good news, "What did you do to those creatures? They were creatures made of fear, an element that not many can conquer, and yet you beat them easily."
"Its... something one of the older dragons of Capora, one everyone refers to as 'Grandmother', told me, that I shouldn't be afraid to face my fears and that I should laugh at them," Aurora replied, almost sounding like it was something that she was embarrassed by, that she would face such a dangerous creature, four of them to be exact, and do such a thing to each of them, but at the end of the day she had bested all of them without taking any damage in the process, which was rather impressive since she and Flame were still totally new to the adventurous lifestyle that the rest of the group was used to at this point in time, "Truthfully, I wasn't expecting that to work so well, but, after seeing what happened, I'm glad it did, as it might mean that the Dark Master's weakened after everything we did during our previous battle... or at least I'm hoping its that way, given my lack of any real fighting experience."
While Spyro and the others took in that information Cynder informed Aurora and Flame that they were doing quite well for their first adventure, as they had adapted to what the rest of the group did when they engaged all of the enemies they had faced so far and it made her wonder what the pair would be capable of if either of them took the time to actually train with one of the more experienced dragons, like Titan for example, before she sat next to Spyro as everyone waited for Sgt. Byrd to return to the area that they were resting in, so he could hand over the dragon egg and Light Gem that he would find in the Speedway he was currently tackling. Not a few moments later Sgt. Byrd returned to the area they were waiting in and revealed that, as the group was expecting, he was successful in taking down the challenges that the Speedway had thrown at him and, more importantly, he had some items to return to them, where it was easy for them to see that the dragon egg was one of the purple ones with a few stars on it, the eighth of its set by Spike's count, and a Light Gem to add to the bag the others had been stored in, though once that was done Sgt. Byrd headed off and departed from the area that the portal was resting in, allowing the others to leave as well and head for the tunnel they spotted earlier. It was then that they found that there was a small platform between the edge of the area and the start of the tunnel, once more resting in the middle of a decent sized river of lava, though while there was a side area that had a pair of metallic chests resting in it, where that was where Aurora smashed the chests to pieces as the others found an Armored Brute standing in the tunnel's entrance, who fell as Spike froze it with his Ice Breath and let Elora take it down by smashing the block of ice to pieces, allowing them to advance into the tunnel and see what else this place had to throw at them. The tunnel, as it turned out, was only wide enough for one of them to move forward at a time, so what happened first was that Spyro used his Water Breath to take down the Fire Imp that was standing in their way and then stood to the side so Ember could rush forward, who used her Ice Breath to freeze the Armored Brute that was behind her brother's downed foe, even if she had to jump over a small gap or two to do so, before using her armored body to smash through the block of ice and take down her foe, though once that was done she beckoned for the others to follow as she moved forward.
There was another Fire Imp just beyond where Ember was standing, someone who was taken down by Hunter using one of his blades and caused him to glance at Spike for a moment, like he was silently accusing Spike of enchanting his blades while he wasn't looking, something that caused the dragon in question to shake his head for a moment, as he had done no such thing and assumed that the Fire Imps, even though they were made from fire, could be cut down by ordinary blades and weapons, but once they were done with that foe it was easy to find that an Armored Brute and an Armored Warrior were standing near two metallic chests. Neither of those foes lasted all that long in the grand scheme of things, as Bianca froze both of them with a pair of Ice Bolts and opened the way for Flame and Aurora to smash their foes to pieces, though Ember smashed the chests that were nearby as the others moved down the next part of the tunnel, where they found one of the swinging stone axe traps and an Armored Brute on the other side of it, one that Spyro froze with his Ice Breath and then smashed with a quick swing of his tail, opening the way for them to enter an area that had a number of wood poles in the stone wall to their right, a path that lead the way forward. There were also two Fire Imps in this area and an Armored Brute standing at the top of the short path that the wooden poles formed, where Spike manipulated some of the moisture to form a pair of Water Bolts so he could take down both of the Fire Imps in seconds, which worked like a charm, and that was when he jumped over to the platform they had been guarding and found that there was a Light Gem resting on it, so he added it to their collection as the rest of the group used the wooden poles to get up to where the other foe was waiting, as in the dragons used the Pole Spin technique to get up to where their foe was standing and smashed it to bits after one of them froze it, leaving Hunter and the others to jump on top of the poles to follow them. After the Armored Brute was taken care of they walked out of the tunnel and entered another area of the mountain that had a few Fire Birds guarding the next part of this realm, though what they did first was smash the bullseye chest and a pair of straw baskets, though as Ember smashed the bullseye chest, and Hunter and Amelia did the same to the baskets, Elora rushed through the air and smashed the three Fire Birds that were guarding the stone platforms that were in front of them into the ground, which also opened the way for them to access another shop pad, even if they ignored those devices for the most part, but as she did that she found a ruined bridge to the left that would have lead to a side area, something that all of them were going to find their way to at some point in the near future.
The group also found that there was a pair of metallic chests, a pair of straw baskets, and an Armored Brute that just so happened to be guarding a cannon, so what happened was that Spike froze their foe with a short burst of his Ice Breath so Elora could smash it to pieces, opening the way for the others to smash open the containers as Hunter took control of the cannon, something that allowed him to focus on a few metallic containers that were off on the side area they were staring at, of which there were tree targets and he smashed them with ease, before he smashed a ruined stone wall that would have blocked the way forward, but once that was done he climbed off the cannon and noticed that there were two more enemies guarding the way forward. The two Armored Warriors didn't last very long, not when Spike enchanted the pair of arrows that Hunter and Amelia prepared with an Ice enchantment and those arrows froze their targets, allowing two of the others, Ember and Cynder, to smash through them with ease, though with those enemies done they ignored the side path to the right, as they would likely be coming back this way later on, and used the wooden poles to move towards the next part of this realm, doing what they had done in the final part of the last tunnel they had explored, though one thing all of them kept an eye on where the three Fire Birds that were off on their left. The set of wooden poles brought them to a rocky area that happened to have a torch, which seemed to be unnecessary and they left it alone since it seemed wrong to mess with it, even though Spyro smashed the pair of straw baskets that were waiting for them and let Flame and Aurora start jumping along the tops of the rock pillars that seemed to be leading them to the large rocky area that the now ruined bridge would have lead to, though as they did that Bianca loosed three Ice Bolts into the air and took down her targets, as she struck all three of the Fire Birds and eliminated them with ease, allowing the pair to lead the group over to where the metallic containers had been resting, though they were stopped in the area that the ruined rock wall had been resting, as there was a Fire Summoner and nine Fire Imps guarding the area, who must have appeared after Hunter had shattered the rock wall, which was when the group lashed out at their targets without wasting a single second. The reason it was too easy for the group was due to the fact that Elora smashed the Fire Summoner into the ground with a kick to the back and a swift kick to the head when it tried to blast her, leaving Spike and the others to either use the Ice or Water Breaths, or the elements in Bianca's case, while Hunter and Amelia used their melee weapons to take their targets out, before the group of enemies were taken care of and they headed over to the area the containers had been resting in, which allowed them to collect the gems Hunter had freed earlier, along with a Light Gem that was claimed instantly.
With the area taken care of, and they were sure of it after a pair of hidden straw baskets were smashed, the group glided back to where the cannon was resting, with Bianca making a brief path of platforms for her, Hunter, and Amelia to use so they could keep up with the dragons and Elora, before they discovered that three Armored Warriors were guarding the pair of stone platforms that lead to the tunnel and one was in the new tunnel they would be heading through, to which the group repeated what they had done earlier, Hunter and Amelia used Ice enchanted arrows to freeze the first two so Ember and Cynder could smash them while Elora flew to where the third one rested and dodged its sword swing, which let her knock it off the edge of the opening. Once those three enemies were taken care of Spyro stepped to the front of the pack and lead them into the tunnel that their foes had been guarding, a tunnel that, just like the other ones, had lava filled gaps in the ground, though this one was twice as large as the last one they had walked through, but the first thing he did was use his Water Breath to take out the pair of Fire Imps that were right in front of them, opening the way for Spike to freeze the Armored Brute that was behind their foes so Flame could smash it to pieces, even though that was when Aurora took a moment to walk by her friend and used her Water Breath on another Fire Imp before it could hit Flame, and then used her Ice Breath on another Armored Brute that was behind her target, all so Cynder could smash it. From there they found an area that had a path that split, with the path heading to the left appearing to head right to a Dark Gem that had one of the dark crystals near it, while it was hard to tell what the central path had in store for them, so Spike froze the lone Armored Warrior that was guarding the left path and let Elora smash it as they headed into the more open area, which was about the same size as the area the split rested in, though that was when Ember smashed the Dark Gem to pieces as the others noticed that there was a lava waterfall nearby, but when the Dark Gem was shattered it caused the lava waterfall to solidify rather quickly and then it shattered into a mass of large fragments that fell into the pool that was below it, causing the group to raise their eyebrows once more, since this seemed wrong to them due to no more lava coming from the upper area it had been coming from, though that was when they noticed that the upper area was sealed off as well, allowing them to enter a new part of the realm they were exploring.
This area appeared to be near the edge of the volcano, one of them anyway, and there appeared to be a path leading even deeper into the massive mountain, where each of them took a moment to wonder how much longer it would be before they found a path that lead deeper into their foe's domain, where the first thing they did was take a few seconds to smash a pair of metallic chests that were resting in front of the path they would be following, allowing them to collect the gems that had been inside them, before Spyro used his Ice Breath to freeze the Fire Bird that was near the first of the platforms he and the others had spotted, even if there was a missing platform between this one and the next one. Of course most of them had a way around that problem, as the dragons and Elora could just fly over there while Bianca used her magic to form a few steps for her and the others to follow after them, though as they reached the second platform Elora punched the Fire Bird in the face as soon as they got close to it as the others noticed that this area had three buttons that needed to be pressed at some point, no doubt to open a door or something, where Ember struck the first one and they watched as some wooden platforms, with bolts connected to the bottom of them so they could be raised or lowered accordingly, moved upwards a tiny bit. The second and third buttons proved to do the same thing, appearing to form a path leading up to an area that looked like a dead end from where they were standing, even though Spike did take out a Fire Imp with a Water Bolt so the others could glide over to the area the platforms were in and made their way over to the start of the path in question, something that allowed them to get up to where a Light Gem was resting, though as that was added to the bag the others rested in the group noticed that there was an Invincibility Pad resting below them, where all of them jumped down to where it rested, mostly to see if they could locate the reason behind it being here. After a few moments Spike determined that this Gadget Pad was kind of useless in the grand scheme of things, not when he and the others could fly above the lava, to which they started to make their way towards the passage that had brought them here in the first place, with Ember stopping by an upper area that she noticed as she was flying through the air and found that there were five metallic chests, a bullseye chest, and a bunch of gems, all of which were added to the bag that Spike was carrying, before she rejoined the group after clearing out the side area she had discovered.
It didn't take them all that long to return to the area that the split path rested in, where they found an Armored Warrior standing in the middle of the tunnel they were now going to investigate, one who was frozen by Aurora's Ice Breath and was smashed to pieces by Cynder smashing the ice block to pieces, before they found an area that two more Armored Warriors happened to be guarding, which contained the path leading even deeper into the mountain, though Spike and Bianca froze their targets with their Ice powers, the former using his Ice Breath and the latter using her Ice Bolt, which allowed Flame and Aurora to smash them apart. With that done they quickly cleared out the area the pair of enemies had been standing in, which could have resembled a chamber of sorts, and made sure to break a few straw baskets for the gems that were inside them, before they headed over to the tunnel that their enemies had been guarding, one that let them reach yet another shop pad, making the group wonder why there were so many scattered throughout this realm in the first place, before recalling that the Dark Master claimed that he had kept track of their progress with these, before they found a lone Armored Warrior guarding a ruined bridge, near some lumber that seemed out of place, much like the rest of the lumber that was scattered throughout the other areas of this realm. This time around Elora just kicked their foe in the chest and knocked it off the edge that it was standing on, opening the way for the others to glide over to an area that four Fire Imps appeared to be guarding, a set of stone steps to be exact, where Bianca's Water Bolts were enough to take all of them down so Spyro could lead the rest of the group into the area that their foes had been guarding, one that seemed to have a number of straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a couple of gems that rested on the ground, before he found a tunnel that seemed to lead even deeper, though it was being guarded by two Fire Imps that he took out on his own this time around, using his own Water Breath to take them down, before coming to a stop as he found a fork in the road that had three directions for them to pick from. As it turned out all of the tunnels were connected, as Ember found a Thief in this area and immediately chased after it without waiting for the others to say anything, to which they stood near the entrance and waited for her to finish what she was doing, something that ended with her smashing the Thief into one of the walls and called for Spike to make sure the egg was just fine, a white one with green spots, before he sent it back to the Nursery so it could join the rest of the eggs they had recovered.
In addition to the Thief there was also a golden chest that Ember had spotted, where she lead them right to it and Spike stepped forward so he could unlock it, where he frowned for a moment as he found that only gems were inside it, ones he collected since he had gone through the effort to unlock the chest, before Spyro returned to them after dealing with one of the bullseye chests and some straw baskets that were resting on some stone pillars, though once this area was cleared out, and they were sure there were no other paths to take in this area, the group turned around and headed back over to where the latest split in the path had rested. A few moments later they headed down the main part of the path and found that there were a few straw baskets, not to mention a bullseye chest, before discovering an area that three more of the Armored Warriors happened to be guarding, where Hunter, Amelia, and Bianca froze their targets so Ember, Cynder, and Aurora could smash through the blocks of ice that surrounded their foes, though as that happened Spike found a couple of straw baskets, metallic chests, and another bullseye chest for the group to break, even though he was more focused on the next part of the tunnel, which just so happened to have a pair of swinging stone axes blocking part of the way, even if such a thing didn't matter in the grand scheme of things as they were able to simply move passed the traps with ease and move down the rest of the tunnel. After the swinging stone axes the group found three more traps, of the wooden spike variety, that just seemed out of place as they looked at them for a moment, even though it was easy for them to wait for one or two of the spikes to be lowered into the ground so they could jump over to the stone steps that happened to have a pair of Armored Warriors guarding it, where Spyro and Spike froze the pair with their Ice Breaths so Cynder and Elora could smash them to pieces, though that was also when Ember found a weakened part of the right wall and charged right through it, which allowed the others to see that she had discovered a small side area that had a pair of bullseye chests, a pair of metallic chests, and a golden chest inside it, where Spike waited for the others to smash the containers before he used his magic to unlock the more important chest and found that a Light Gem had been resting inside it, one that he added to the rest of the collection before they headed back outside so they could follow the main path towards whatever destination it was heading towards.
As they did that the group had to jump over a stone platform to reach an area that had another weakened wall, one that also contained a golden chest and a pair of straw baskets, though once the containers were dealt with Spike unlocked the chest and found that it contained one of the remaining dragon eggs, a pink one with white flowers, which he sent back to the Nursery as he determined that they had recovered all ten of the pink eggs, before Ember smashed another wall down and looted the area that was on the other side, which had two bullseye chests and a pair of metallic chests, though once all of the gems were collected they headed back outside and climbed the stone steps that were near them. It didn't take the group all that long to get up to the top of the steps and then jump over a lone stone pillar so they could reach the next part of the tunnel, where they found a few Fire Imps guarding the area in question, though Bianca was more than ready for them this time around as her Water Bolts knocked all of them to the ground with ease, allowing the others to focus on an area that a lone Armored Warrior happened to be standing in, who fell as Spyro used his Ice Breath and Cynder used her tail to smash it to pieces. From there they made their way through an area that had some fire geysers, which blocked them from reaching some dark crystals, ones that looked like there might be another way to get over to them, though that was when the group found another Armored Warrior blocking the way forward and quickly took it out, even though this time it was Hunter and Elora that did the honors, before they jumped over a gap while its fire geyser was down and found a Dark Gem resting in front of them, something that Aurora smashed to pieces as soon as she saw it, which caused a pair of close walls to form from the small pool of lava that was in front of them, no doubt leading to another section of the realm that they were currently exploring. Before anyone used the new set of close walls Cynder headed over to the right and made sure to smash all of the dark crystals they had seen a few moments ago, just to make sure they left nothing behind, before she rejoined the group as they started to climb up the new path that had been created for them, despite the fact that they had to jump over a ruined bridge so they could get to the next stone platform that everyone could walk on, which was also when they found an elevator shaft that seemed to head into the ground, like it was connected to the start of a mine or something.
It was in that moment that Spyro called for them to take a short break, for a few minutes away, as he was positive that this would take them to the start of the next realm, whatever it was called since Spike was probably looking for that small bit of information, and he wanted to make sure they were well rested for whatever dangers might be lurking in the mines that would be their next destination, all while wondering what the Dark Master was doing in preparations for their next fight, one that he hoped they would be ready for when they found him, even though he was hoping Malefor showed up, since they needed his help this time around, and knew that they would find out what was going on in the near future, once they found their target's hiding place.
Spyro made sure to give the group a few minutes of rest so they could be ready for anything and everything that the next realm, a mine from what he could tell by looking at the elevator shaft they were sitting near, might have to throw at them as they made their way towards the area that the Dark Master was lurking in, preparing for their arrival and the final battle for the fate of Capora, a battle that he intended on winning, especially since he and his siblings had won all of the major battles since their first adventure had started, though this time there was one major difference and that was the sheer amount of power their foe commanded. The Dark Master was the strongest foe he and his siblings had faced over the years, just like he had been the strongest foe he and Cynder had fought in their previous life, and the previous battle they had been in with the foul dragon, or soul in this case, informed him that it was going to be an incredibly difficult fight the next time they found him and that Spike had done the right thing to call in Malefor, as they would need the first purple dragon's power to bring down the Dark Master, even though this time around he really had no idea how they were going to permanently defeat their foe, especially with the power he wielded. He had to admit that it was a tad bit annoying to admit that they needed help to take down one of the villains of their adventures, where Gaul didn't count since he had been planning the end of the entire world and they needed all the warriors they could muster to stop his army from overrunning Warfang, but, as the others were no doubt thinking, they needed Malefor's help in taking down the Dark Master and liberating the lands of Capora from his dark grasp, just like what had happened in the past when they freed Avalar and the other lands from the villains that were trying to take them over, even though he suspected that Spike was coming up with a plan of attack now that they had an idea of what their foe could do. As he took a few minutes to think about that he noticed that Cynder seemed to be in the middle of thinking about what they had witnessed during the first battle with the Dark Master and had to be comparing it to what the two of them had witnessed before they sacrificed themselves to save this world, where he sighed and hoped that such an event didn't happen again, to which he stood up and faced the rest of the group.
"Okay, its time that we descended into the mines and see what's waiting for us," Spyro said, where the others nodded and started to pick themselves up from the areas that they had been sitting in, even though all of them were grateful for Spike casting the Frost Aura spell on them before they actually tackled the realm they had just finished exploring, before he took a moment to glance at the size of the platform that would allow all of them to reach the mines that were below them, as there was a slight problem with it, "though it looks like we'll have to divide ourselves into groups and take turns riding this elevator down into the mines, since the platform isn't as large as the other platforms we used to get to some of the other realms we saved from our foe's minions."
"Then you, Spike, Ember, and Cynder should be the first ones to head down into the mines," Flame stated, as he could see what Spyro was talking about and figured that sending their most experienced heroes down into the next realm first was the best move they could make, where he was surprised when the others nodded their heads to show that they agreed with his statement, though he smiled for a moment as he focused on their leader once more, just like what everyone else did once they finished nodding their heads to his statement, "we'll join you once the elevator comes back up for us, so we can tackle the rest of the realm together, since I'm positive that the Dark Master put some enemies down there to slow us down so he can prepare for our next battle."
Spyro said nothing for a moment before nodding his head for a second, which was when he, his siblings, and Cynder took a moment to step onto the platform and used it to descend into the depths, where they found that the shaft was long and that it went rather far down into the ground, which made sense based on the sheer size of the realm that they had just finished exploring and liberating from the Dark Master, before they found what appeared to be the end of the shaft and braced themselves, though it was easy to see a couple of bullseye chests were waiting for someone to smash all of them, but for the most part it didn't look like there was anything else in this area for them to worry about, save for a few cracks in the ground, to which they sent it back up to the others and spread out. While they waited for the elevator to come back down, with the rest of the group no doubt riding on it, though once it came to a stop, and Elora, Hunter, Amelia, Hunter, Flame, and Aurora climbed off of it, Ember beckoned to the three bullseye chests that were scattered around the rest of the area that the elevator came to a stop in, something that was followed by three of them smashing the chests to pieces and collected the gems that had been resting inside them, but when one of them was broken it knocked down a couple of wooden planks that were attached to a stone wall and it revealed a small crevice that contained a metallic chest, one that Ember smashed by charging through it, though once all of that was done they started to move out of the area the elevator was now resting in. The opening they walked through brought them to a small open area, like a chamber of sorts, that had a lone Armored Warrior patrolling the area, either meaning their foe was running out of guards or this was something that might have been designed to make them lower their guard if they believed that their foe was running out of soldiers to throw in their way, though that didn't stop Spyro from freezing the Armored Warrior with his Ice Breath and opened the way for Cynder to smash the block to pieces, defeating the first foe of the new realm, one Spike claimed was called Magma Falls, even though he personally felt the name might be misleading, something that he would confirm or deny once they saw the rest of this realm. The group also found a pair of metallic chests resting another set of wooden planks and one of the fireworks crates, to which Flame used a bit of his Fire Breath to take care of the fireworks crate, Aurora smashed both of the metallic chests, and Cynder took out the wall of wooden planks to get at another oddly placed fireworks crate, one that she allowed Bianca to take care of with a wave of her hand and a small bit of flames, before they were able to get the gems that had been inside it and then moved forward once more.
That was when they found one of the Rock Monsters, as the Hyena from the other realm called this sort of monster, that was standing in front of a number of stone platforms that seemed to be rising out of the lava and lowering back towards it, or rather towards the small pool of lava that was beyond the rocky creature, though since the group knew most of these Rock Monsters were like the Earthshapers, unless they were creatures of fear that Aurora had laughed at, Spyro charged at the creature that was in front of them and leapt into the air so he could avoid the incoming club that was coming his way, only to knock his foe into the lava that was behind it. Once the Rock Monster was taken care of Spike determined that none of the rock platforms were actually moving, not that such a thing mattered in the end since Flame and Aurora were the first ones to jump onto the first one and headed for the highest one of them all, where they used their Water Breaths to take down three Fire Imps that happened to be guarding the way forward, opening the way for the others to follow as they came to a stop at the highest stone pillar and knocked out one final Fire Imp that was resting off to the left of the platform, even though it looked like there might be another split in the path. As it turned out both paths seemed to have small bridged that used to connect to the top of the highest pillar Flame and aurora had stopped on, though the openings were only wide enough for one of them to jump through at a time and Spyro picked out the right path after a few seconds, where they found another of Moneybags' shop pads resting inside the area in question, though that was when they found another set of wooden planks that were blocking a side chamber and both Hunter and Amelia pulled them off to reveal what was inside the area. What they discovered was that there was an Armored Brute guarding two metallic chests and a golden chest, so Bianca quickly used a small bit of her magic and froze their foe with a small amount of her Ice magic, to which Elora smashed the ice block to pieces so Ember could step forward and break the pair of chests that were resting near the main chest that they were interested in opening, though once that was done Spike stepped forward and used a bit of his magic to unlock it, revealing a dragon egg with a purple top, a red bottom, and a yellow zigzag in the center, one that he sent off to the Nursery as soon as it was freed from the chest.
With that done the group headed over to the other opening that was in this area and Spyro used his Water Breath to take down a pair of Fire Imps that happened to be guarding the way forward, even though that brought them right to an area that had a couple of Fire Imps dancing around the upper reaches of the chamber, to which Spike nodded and Bianca took a moment to loose a few Water Bolts into the air and knocked out all of the enemies that were in the air, opening the way for Flame to collect the gems that were just resting on the ground while everyone else noticed that there were two close sets of walls for them to use the Wall Jump technique on, to get up to where the Fire Imps had been resting. The first thing that Ember did was smash through another wooden plank wall and found a metallic chest resting behind the planks, but once that was smashed Cynder quickly climbed up the close set of walls that was near where Ember was standing and was able to get up to where the Fire Imps had been dancing, though as she reached that area she spotted two Fire Birds that happened to be guarding a Light Gem, so what she did was ignore the straw baskets that were up there and used her Ice Breath to strike down the fiery birds, before landing on the small wooden platform and collected the Light Gem. Once she was done with that Spyro climbed up the other set of close walls and found that there was another Fire Bird guarding this side of the chamber's ceiling, though he was more interested in the firework he spotted at the end of his path and lit it not a few seconds later, only for the firework to smash a metallic container that was just behind the Fire Bird that was flying near him, so he sighed and froze the bird with his Ice Breath before having Sparx fly over to all of the now freed gems and pick them up from where they were resting. With that done, however, the group took a moment or two to look around the rest of the chamber, just to be sure there weren't any other side paths in this area for them to worry about, though once they determined that there was nothing else in this chamber for them to explore the group headed back to the shop pad and jumped over to the highest stone pillar so they could jump through the next opening, but as most of them did that Spike noticed a golden chest resting on some planks above the stone pillar and jumped up to it so he could unlock it, only to be disappointed when he found a pair of Fire Bombs inside it, so he smashed a pair of straw baskets after collecting the bombs and then glided down to where the others were waiting so they could move forward.
That was when the group found a pair of Armored Brutes that were not only guarding a new metallic chests, three or four of them based on what little they could see at the moment, but the pair also happened to be guarding a Ball Gadget that rested near the backside of the chamber, to which Spike enchanted Hunter and Amelia's arrows so they could freeze both of their enemies and that opened the way for Ember and Cynder to smash through the ice blocks, but as soon as both of the Armored Brutes were taken care of Aurora smashed the metallic chests that were resting near them, of which there were three of them. With all of the gems collected, and all of them were sure of that fact, Spyro stepped into the center of the Ball Gadget and allowed it to surround him with the ball that he would use to navigate the next area of this realm, and he knew that once he descended down the pipe Cynder and the others would do the same thing not a few moments later, so they could keep up with him, even though the area the pipe brought him to was certainly an area full of metallic rails and had a few mine carts moving around, based on what he could see. From what he and the others found out there were two paths for them to take, other mine carts for them to jump over, holes that needed to be bypassed, and a few items that needed to be collected before they reached the end of the tracks they were riding down, since they had little control over the balls this time around, though from what they saw there were two Light Gems scattered throughout the area and the mines also contained two dragon eggs that seemed to be collected by Zoe's magic, as the Fairy happened to be in this area and was ready to assist them, where Spike waited for them to reach the end of the line before determining which of the remaining sets the eggs belonged to, one of them being a yellow egg with white dots while the other was a purple egg with a star on it, and once he made sure neither of the eggs had been damaged he sent them off to the Nursery, before turning his attention to the area the others were staring at after they emerged from the second Ball Gadget. The area in question appeared to be full of lava and had chains everywhere, along with stone platforms that seemed to be leading the way forward, though right now it sure looked like they weren't in a mine and they were somewhere else, meaning Spike's thoughts on the realm's name was actually wrong since he thought they would find a mine below the area they had rested in earlier, though he didn't think about it too much as they ignored the nearby shop pad and moved towards the pool of lava that was in front of them.
What they did was carefully jump over the pair of stone platforms and headed over to where an Armored Warrior was standing, though along the way Elora punched a pair of Fire Imps into the walls that were nearby and opened the way for Spike to use his Ice Breath to freeze the foe that was standing in their way, who was smashed to pieces by Ember not even a few seconds later, though once that was done Flame smashed the pair of dark crystals that were resting nearby so Spyro could start using the Wall Jump on the close set of walls that their foe had been guarding, only for him to find a Dark Gem and smashed it to pieces with the Horn Dive. Once he did that a portion of the wall that was just beyond the area the foul gem had been resting in lowered before his very eyes, revealing that it was a wide platform that bad been raised to block the way forward, though as that happened the group shattered three dark crystals that were resting nearby, along with a metallic chest and a pair of straw baskets, and then, after making sure they weren't leaving anything else behind, Spyro stepped onto the platform and moved into the next section of this realm. It was then that they found that what they had seen a few moments ago was being repeated in this area, as there were a number of stone platforms for them to use to progress deeper into the realm they were in and one of them happened to have a Fire Bird guarding the way, where it was taken down by Hunter loosing an Ice enchanted arrow at it and knocked it into the lava that was below it, but after taking that foe out the group quickly found another one guarding an area that seemed to be the way forward, where Elora made sure to punch the second Fire Bird in the face and opened the way for her and the others to reach a wider area that had a few dark crystals inside it, not to mention a wide crack that was full of lava, one all of them could just jump over to reach an area that an Armored Warrior was currently patrolling. As such the first thing the group did was smash the pair of dark crystals that were in this area and then jumped over the crack that was filled with lava, where they found that there was actually two enemies in this area, as the second foe was another Armored Warrior, and both enemies happened to be in two different areas, one guarding a golden chest while the second seemed to be protecting the path that would allow the group to get deeper into this realm, though the first one fell thanks to Spyro freezing it with his Ice Breath and Cynder just charged through it to smash it to pieces.
Once that was done Spike approached the golden chest, while the second Armored Warrior remained inside the tunnel as it stared at them from afar, and used his magic to unlock it like he had done to all of the other golden chests, something that was followed by him finding a Light Gem inside the chest and he quickly added it to the bag that contained all of the others they had found over the course of their adventure in the lands of Capora, even though Amelia pointed out a straw basket and smashed it for the gems that were inside it. The moment they were done with the golden chest Ember walked over to a few wooden planks and tore the wall down not even a few seconds later, all so she could get at the metallic chest that happened to be behind all of the planks in question, though once that was done the group walked over to where the tunnel was located and found that two more Armored Warriors had appeared between them and the first one they had seen earlier, not that such a thing really mattered since Spike enchanted Hunter and Amelia's arrows so they could freeze the newcomers while Bianca used an Ice Bolt to freeze the other foe that was behind them, opening the way for Ember and Cynder to smash the pair of frozen foes while allowing Flame and Aurora to smash the third one apart together, and they made sure to pick up the scattered gems as well. The tunnel in question brought them right to an area that one of the Armored Brutes happened to be guarding, even though it fell due to Spike freezing it with his Ice Breath and let Elora smash it with a well placed kick, before they came to an area that appeared to be a bunch of wooden platforms that were resting above the lava that was in front of them, at various heights based on what they could see, which was odd since all of them assumed the heat of this area would have set them on fire, especially since Spike didn't feel any enchantments on the wood in question, before they spotted eight Fire Imps guarding the fractured path that the wood formed, though none of them were remotely worried about the new enemies that were in front of them. The reason behind them not being at all worried was due to the fact that a quick burst of one of their Water Breaths, or Water Bolts in Bianca's case, was more than enough to take them all down and that was what they did, where Bianca focused on those that were further away from where the group was standing while Spyro and Flame took the other four down, opening the way for them to head even deeper into the mountain that they were currently exploring.
While there was an Armored Brute guarding the tunnel that the wooden platforms lead them to, who seemed ready for all of them, Spike spotted a Light Gem that was at the end of a side path, one that Bianca had cleared the enemies out of just a few moments ago, to which he flew over to where it was resting and added it the bag that contained the rest of the Light Gems they had collected, before he returned to where the Armored Brute was standing and watched as Aurora used her Ice Breath on it so Ember could smash it to pieces a few seconds later, though once that was done they headed over to a pair of straw baskets, smashed them, and headed down the tunnel their foe had been guarding. Of course they found one of the Armored Warriors guarding the tunnel, not even a few steps away from where their last foe had been standing, but that only prompted Spyro to freeze the Gnorc in question and then shatter the ice block himself, eliminating another foe in a matter of seconds, before he resumed walking down the tunnel so he could see what else was going to be thrown at him and the others, since he was assuming there would be more to this realm than what they had seen so far. It didn't take them all that long to reach the end of the tunnel, which brought them to another chamber that seemed to have multiple paths for them to take, but the first thing they did was have Spike use his Ice Breath on an Armored Warrior that was in the middle of patrolling the area so Elora could smash it to pieces, which was followed by them heading over to a tunnel or opening that was covered in wooden planks, which fell not a few seconds later as Ember smashed them all apart, even though that revealed an area that had a big gap between the side of the cavern that they were standing on and the other side that an Armored Warrior was guarding, where the only way to cross over to where their foe was standing was to cross over a floating fragment of a wooden bridge that Spike was sure wasn't being supported by magic and that the rest of the bridge didn't exist at all, causing him to tilt his head since this didn't make sense at all. As it turned out Spike poked at it for a moment, using a bit of his magic to be exact, and the odd instance fell out of the air and dropped into the lava, which the group wasn't expecting to see if they were being perfectly honest, to which he simply sighed and used his magic to make a temporary bridge for them to cross over, an ice bridge anyway, which was mostly for Hunter, Amelia, and Bianca to use for a few moments since he and the others could fly over there, and that was followed by Spyro freezing the Armored Warrior so Cynder could smash it to pieces with a charge.
With that foe taken care of they followed the path that it had been guarding and came to a section of the cave that looked like a dead end and happened to have an infinity sign formed out of a wooden walkway and a stone walkway, though this was where Ember rushed forward and started to charge all over the place, as there happened to be a Thief in this area and they knew that it was better to let her deal with these creatures, to which they waited near the entrance of this section of the cave and watched as Ember chased the Thief down, before she barreled into its backside and she brought the dragon egg over to where Spike was standing, who noticed it was a white egg with green spots as he sent it back to the Nursery, before they headed back to the last split in the path and found a sign that caused the dragonflies to head out.
"Its been a while since we found one of these signs," Amelia commented, because the last one had been before they found the way into Vicky's castle, even though she had been thinking that they might not find one while they were closing in on where the Dark Master was hiding until the final battle between them, though even as she said that the rest of the group took a few moments to stand off on the side and simply waited for the dragonflies to return with the dragon egg and the Light Gem they would find in the side area they were currently exploring.
"Yeah, but Sparx and the others can handle whatever is thrown at them," Flame replied, though as he thought about that he turned his attention back to what they had seen and what they had witnessed since the start of this adventure, despite the fact that his focus was on all of the destruction that had been caused to Icy Wilderness and the realms that Vicky ruled over, who was going to be in trouble for the foreseeable future since repairing certain sections of her domain was going to break whatever fortune, before he glanced over to Spike for a moment, "Say, Spike, how many gems have we recovered from the Dark Master's forces?"
"Based on what I can tell, we've got between seventy thousand to eighty thousand gems," Spike answered, which none of the group was expecting to hear, as most of their adventures didn't even come close to this amount of gems, because his count revealed that they had tripled, if not quadrupled, the highest count they had recovered in the past, while Flame and Aurora were caught off guard by just how much treasure they had recovered since the start of this adventure, "and, based on what's happened in the past, Sparx and the others will likely come back with a few thousand more, depending on what sort of obstacles might be standing, or flying, in their way."
"And, before you ask, we haven't determined what to do with the gems, even though we usually return the stolen treasure back to its previous owners," Spyro added, referring to the fact that during some of their adventures he and his siblings had collected all of the stolen treasure and had made sure all of it was returned to those who previous held it, which was likely what they were going to do this time, whenever they reached the end of this adventure, which had to be soon since they were getting closer to where the Dark Master had to be waiting for them.
"Might I suggest giving about seventy-five percent of that to Vicky?" Flame inquired, as while he was sure that he, Aurora, or one of the Elders had given the main heroes of the group the right to do whatever they wanted with the gems that were recovered from their enemies, even if Spyro was saying that all of it might be given back to the residents of the four lands that the Dark Master had tried to take over, he felt that he might as well speak his mind before they did anything else and left this part of the realm, "I mean, her domain was damaged more than any other realm or homeworld that we explored so far, which means she'll need all the resources she had muster to repair and overcome all of the damage that the Dark Master caused to her island and castle, so I figured that we could give her a large chunk of the recovered treasure and help her get her domain back in order."
"I like the way you think." Cynder commented, as while some people could think that Flame was being too generous with the recovered gems, and she was sure that there were those that might have that sort of thought, she knew that it was the right thing to do given all of the damage Vicky's homeworld had suffered during their fight with the Dark Master, which did make her wonder just how much of the mountain they were exploring was going to be destroyed when they finally found their foe and fought him, something they would find out in due time.
Spyro and the others nodded their heads, as most of them had been thinking about Vicky and what they could do to help the Ice Princess out, though before anyone could say anything else Sparx and the other dragonflies returned to the area that they were resting in and magically delivered the items they had recovered from the small tunnel they had tackled, as one was a sack that contained about three thousand gems, another was a yellow dragon egg with white dots, and the final item was a Light Gem, to which Spike made sure to put the gems away, stored the Light Gem inside the bag the others had been placed in, and sent the egg back to the Nursery before they resumed moving through the rest of the realm. With the side section of the realm taken care of, and the dragonflies were sure they had left nothing behind, the group headed over to the final opening of this chamber-like cavern and found that an Armored Brute was guarding the way forward, though that was when Aurora froze it with her Ice Breath so Flame could smash it with a charge, which allowed them to walk down the tunnel it happened to be guarding, though they did have to jump over a few holes in the ground that had lava resting at the bottom of them. The tunnel quickly brought them to an outside area, one that seemed different from the areas they had explored earlier, as in when they entered the first area of Molten Mount and noticed what they would be facing, only to stop as they found that there were a few moving rock platforms that were suspended in the air, which seemed to be the path that would allow the ten of them to move deeper into the realm, not to mention make their way towards whatever the next realm was, and they were wide enough for the entire group to stand on them, meaning all of them could jump onto the first platform and let it move them in the direction of the next platform. Not a few moments later they found out something interesting, there were actually six floating stone platforms, not the three that they originally believed there had been when they first entered this area, and the path the set of stone platforms formed was bringing them right up to what appeared to be a metallic entrance of some kind, one that had a metallic cover protecting the area in question, and there were yellow and black stripes on the upper part of the front of the structure, like a warning sign of some kind, before they noticed that there were a few metallic pistons that seemed to be moving and that there was an opening that lead into what appeared to be the true mine.
"Are... are we already at the end of Magma Falls?" Aurora asked, as she couldn't believe that they had reached the end of the realm that the mine shaft's elevator had brought them to, in record time no less, though when she glanced at Spike he nodded his head, informing her and the others that they had definitely reached the end of the current realm and were just outside the next realm that stood between them and the Dark Master, "I would have thought that it would have taken us a lot longer to reach the next realm, especially after everything we went through to reach the end of the previous realm, not to mention all the enemies we had to fight to reach the mine shaft in the first place."
"Well, we'll take another short break, just to get back whatever energy we've used so far, and then we'll head into the next realm and get closer to where the Dark Master is hiding," Spyro replied, as while he and the others were surprised by what they were seeing, as most of them were surprised by how short this realm had felt, especially since it reminded him and his siblings of some of the realms they had assisted in the past, the ones that they had completed in what appeared to be record time in comparison to some of the others, he still felt that this was a good place for them to rest, as it looked like any enemies that might be guarding the entrance of the next realm were leaving them alone, which he was perfectly fine with since it gave them a chance to rest before they faced whatever the next realm had to throw at them.
Spike and the others nodded their heads as they scattered around the area that was in front of the next realm's entrance, even though Ember made sure to smash the three dark crystals that were near them before sitting on the ground, though each of them were eager to see what in the world was waiting for them in Dark Mine, which was either one of the last few realms between them and the Dark Master or it had to be the last one before they found their foe, though everyone was hoping that Malefor would appear soon, otherwise they might have to face their foe on their own and they were sure that if such a thing happened they might not be able to win at all, but time would tell and they were willing to wait to figure out what was going on before facing the Dark Master for the fate of this land.
Spyro gave the group another five minutes of rest, as while he would have loved to give himself and the others more time to recover from what happened during the battle with the Dark Master, to better prepare for whatever might be coming their way next, he knew that they couldn't afford to waste time and he suspected that they were getting close to where the place their foe was hiding in, meaning that once they found where their foe was resting it was either going to be them engaging him immediately or waiting for Malefor to arrive to give them a fighting chance. While they did that, however, he noticed that there were a couple of the Critter enemies waiting on the other side of the entrance to Dark Mine, as it appeared that they were waiting for the group to pass through the opening to attack them, which was fine with him since such a thing gave them a chance to catch their breath and for Spike to make sure that the Frost Aura runes were still being powered, as they had no way of knowing what was waiting for them on the other side of the entrance and he wanted to make sure that all of them were ready in case the next realm brought everyone even closer to the lava and magma. As Spike did that Spyro also noticed that Cynder was looking off into the distance, choosing to stare at something that wasn't the entrance to the next realm they would be exploring, though he knew that she was waiting for her father to show up since a letter had been sent to him earlier, thanks to Spike making sure to do such a thing, because having him on their side would mean that the next battle might be smoother on their end, which all depended on how much power Malefor and the Dark Master threw at each other when the final battle started. Everyone else seemed to be thinking about a number of different things, where it was hard for him to actually tell what they were thinking by just a glance, though it wasn't his place to pry and figured that he could leave them to their own devices until it was time for them to move forward, as once they reached the Dark Master's hiding place it would be a full blown battle once more, and if this next fight was anything like the last one they needed all of the power they could muster, regardless if Malefor showed up to join them or not.
Once Spyro was sure they were ready, and the rest of the group either nodded their heads or verbally confirmed that they were ready to go, the group picked themselves up from where they were resting and walked over to the entrance of the next realm, though as that happened they discovered that there were three of the blue furred Critter enemies wandering around the first pipe filled room that needed to be explored, though in addition to those enemies the group spotted what appeared to be a pair of bipedal mechanical beings that had a drill attached to their right hands, while they were covered in a yellow paint based on what they were seeing. Spike determined that these new enemies had to be Drill Robots, given the fact that they were now in Dark Mine and that this could be where the Dark Master had dug out all of the Dark Gems he had used on the other realms of Capora, though what happened first was that the three Critters rushed over to where the group was standing and both Hunter and Amelia used their blades not a few moments later, reducing their foes to a pile of gems for the dragonflies to collect, as they were happy to have unarmored enemies to fight at long last, though as that happened Flame and Aurora separated from each other to use their Ice Breath, which they were becoming more skilled in using, to freeze both of the Drill Robots so Ember and Cynder could smash them to pieces. Once that was done they made sure to smash the pair of straw baskets, a metallic chest, and a bullseye chest that happened to be in this area, though while that happened Spike noticed two interesting things, the first was that there was also a golden chest resting near the entrance of the realm, while the second was that one of the golden doors was resting nearby, so while he took a moment to walk over to the golden chest Ember quickly smashed a wall of wooden planks and opened the way for Spyro to take care of three more straw baskets and a metallic chest, all so they could collect the gems that were freed, which was caused by them focusing on Spike once more. It took him a few moments to use his magic and unlock the golden chest, just like what happened when they found the other golden chests over the course of this adventure, only for him to sigh as he found a number of gems resting inside it, which Talon collected as soon as he was done unlocking the chest, but as soon as that was done he walked over to the golden door and found that it unlocked the moment he approached it, which informed him that they had the necessary amount of Light Gems already.
What they found on the other side of the golden door was quite a surprise, there was a large robot that was painted red and seemed to be modeled in the shape of a Gnorc, meaning it was a Robot Gnorc based on Spike's naming scheme, but instead of it being remotely intimidating Spyro froze their new foe with his Ice Breath, which was oddly effective despite all the metal that went into making it, before Cynder smashed it and left a pile of gems behind, which meant that they had found a new type of gem creation that the Dark Master was using against them, just like the Drill Robots who had poorly guarded the area the golden chest and golden door had been resting in. Once they were done with the Robot Gnorc the group moved through the tunnel opening that was in front of them and entered a room that had a pair of dark crystals that had three Critters guarding them, where Hunter and Amelia simply shifted their grip on their melee weapons and cut down their foes, allowing the others to smash the dark crystals before they moved forward, though that was when they found another Robot Gnorc guarding the next opening and had two Critters standing in front of it, to which Bianca raised her hand and quickly loosed a small amount of the Icy Wind spell, which froze all three of their foes so the others could break them down with a simple charge. As those foes fell Aurora smashed a pair of straw baskets and a metallic chest for the gems that were inside them, while at the same time Spyro did the same thing to a nearby bullseye chest, but as they did that Spike stepped through the next opening their foes had been guarding and found a Robot Gnorc that was being guarded by two bear traps, though as it lowered whatever its weapon was, as it looked like a thin cannon or a gun, like all the weapons the dinosaurs of Dino Mines used against them, all Spike did was loose an Ice Bolt into the air and froze his target with ease, allowing Ember to smash the bear traps and the ice block as soon as she joined him. With that foe taken care of the group made sure to break the nearby bullseye chest, which happened to have a pair of straw baskets near it and another resting in the next section of this tunnel, so what the group did was smash them to pieces and collect all of the gems that had been inside them before they headed down the next part of the tunnel, one that brought them right to an Invincibility Gadget that was resting near a large pool that was filled with acid.
Not a few seconds later Flame smashed the pair of metallic chests that rested nearby before the group stepped onto the pad that was in front of them and empowered themselves with the Invincibility Powerup, to which they dived into the pool of acid and found that it was a set of branching paths that, upon closer inspection, connected with each other later on and had a number of things for them to break, some dark crystals and a number of metallic chests, so they split up not a few seconds later and headed down the tunnels that were in front of them, even though the path that Spike followed brought him to a Light Gem that he grabbed so he could add it to the bag once he was resting near the pad that allowed them to do this in the first place. In addition to all of that Elora found one of the missing dragon eggs, a yellow colored egg that had white spots on it, where she was thankful for the fact that these eggs had a protective magic surrounding them, otherwise some of the eggs would have been ruined or destroyed by the areas they had been found in, such as the pool of acid that this one had been resting in, and once Spike was done checking it out he sent it back to the Nursery and then put the Light Gem he had found inside the bag that contained the rest of them. Once they were done with the acid pool, and they were sure of that, the group turned around and retraced their steps as they headed back over to where the golden door rested, where they followed the main path that the Drill Robots had been guarding earlier and found that some of the pipes that lined the other path, as in two or three from what they could see, were a little damaged and were spewing purple gas of some kind into the area in question, to which Spike used a bit of his magic to manipulate the metal and moved it over the holes in question, showing his skill in Transmogrification magic, and as soon as the pipes were fixed he nodded his head and the rest of the group moved forward. As they followed the tunnel that would lead them deeper into the mountain the group found a few straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and some dark crystals to smash, which they did so without delay, only to come to a stop as the tunnel brought them to another golden chest that had some bear traps behind it, not to mention some thicker robots that had spike balls for hands, where Spike decided to call them Crusher Robots, due to the fact that he assumed these ones were designed to smash the rocks that were lining the walls and break some of the thicker rocks that had been in the way of whoever built this place.
What Spike found inside the golden chest, while Flame and Aurora smashed the nearby straw baskets and bullseye chest that happened to be resting to the right of where he was standing, was another Light Gem, which he quickly stored inside the bag all of the others had been stored in so far, though at the same time Spyro loosed a burst of his Ice Breath to freeze all of the bear traps and the pair of Crusher Robots that were beyond them, something that allowed Ember and Cynder to charge forward and smash through all of the frozen obstacles, dropping a number of gems for the group to collect as they approached three more metallic chests that were near the next part of the tunnel. As they followed the tunnel Spike and Bianca took turns modifying the pipes, as in all of the damaged ones that were spewing a small amount of gas into the area in question, allowing Spyro and the others to keep an eye out for enemies and containers that they could break, just like they had done in the past, even though it brought them to a small chamber that had one of Moneybags' shop pads and a pair of straw baskets for them to break, to which Elora smashed the baskets for the gems that were inside them as the others headed through the other opening that was to the right of the previous opening. In that moment they found a Drill Robot digging into a rock wall that looked like part of the tunnel had collapsed recently, or maybe it was put up that was in an attempt to slow them down, though that didn't stop Aurora from quickly freezing her target with her Ice Breath so Ember could smash through it and the wall before it, revealing a larger area that caused them to pause for a moment as they noticed that there was a large gap between them and the next area they would be exploring, though from what they could tell there were a few platforms that would allow all of them to jump to the next part of this realm, which also included a firework that raced off when Spyro lit it and smashed into some metallic containers that were being guarded by a Robot Gnorc, who they could access after jumping over to the section it was guarding. The only other things that were in the area that the lone firework had been resting in were a dark crystal, some straw baskets, and a Lightning Bomb, so the group quickly smashed the couple of breakables that happened to be near them while Spike collected the small weapon that was resting in the small indent below the walkway they had jumped off of, adding it to all of the other bombs he and the others had collected so far, before they turned their attention towards the path that was in front of them and started to move across the gap.
Instead of simply jumping across the couple of platforms like they usually did, Spyro and the other flyers took to the air as Bianca, Hunter, and Amelia followed after them, jumping over the platforms in the process, and the first foe that fell was the first Robot Gnorc they had smashed the metallic containers near, with Spike freezing it with a small Ice Bolt so Cynder could smash it to pieces and collect everything that was found in the side area it had been guarding, including smashing a bullseye chest, before they found that there was one platform and that there were some close sets of walls that allowed them to move to the highest point of the area they were currently exploring. The first set of walls, which was what the first Robot Gnorc had been guarding, lead Spyro up to an area that a Robot Archer, as Spike decided to call it, happened to be standing, as it was basically the Gnorc Archer but turned into a robot, or a gem that had been transformed into the form of such a thing based on the fact that all of the enemies they had faced were made out of gems, though instead of giving it a chance to hit him he lashed out with both his Ice Breath and then smashed it by bashing his head right into the ice, which broke his foe in a matter of seconds. After that was done he spotted a golden chest above where the last Robot Gnorc had been standing and pointed it out to Spike, who flew over to where it was resting and used his magic to unlock it, revealing a blue dragon egg for him to look over and eventually send back to the Nursery so it could join the others they had found over the course of this adventure, before he spotted a platform resting near the ceiling and pointed it out to Spike, who flew over to it and jumped over a railing to reach another Light Gem, though as he collected that, and smashed a few straw baskets as well, the group made their way through the rest of the area, which involved bypassing another close set of walls and smashing a dark crystal before heading over to the next passage that would lead them deeper into the mine, even if Flame used his Ice Breath on a Robot Archer so Aurora could smash it into the wall. A few moments later Spike joined the group and watched as they smashed a few straw baskets apart and broke a metallic chest as well, before they walked over to the next opening and discovered that the ground was cracked, meaning it was over a chasm or something and that this was a trap for invaders, so Bianca formed some square platforms with her Ice Magic and formed a path for them to get over to the next tunnel.
Thanks to that they were able to get over the cracked floor and walked into the tunnel that had some fallen rocks like the one the Drill Robot had been guarding, where Spyro charged through it with his own Earth Magic and revealed a chamber that had three dark crystals and a few straw baskets, not to mention another opening that lead to yet another section of the mine, so Spyro let the others smash the breakables accordingly as he entered the other area, where he found some of Drill Robots poorly operating some cannons for some odd reason. From what he could see, since it appeared that none of the three cannon using Drill Robots had noticed him yet, there were a number of straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a few metallic chests, but the true prize of this area was the caged Dark Gem that was above everything else, even though it looked like this might be a dead end, which meant that breaking the sinister gem would reveal the way forward, just like what happened when they smashed some of the previous ones in the other realms. After taking a few moments to see all there was to see in this area the group separated from each other and dealt with the cannons that were nearby, where it was easy for Ember, Bianca, and Aurora to freeze their foes with their Ice Breaths so Spyro, Cynder, and Flame could take down their frozen foes with ease, opening the way for Hunter, Amelia, and Elora to smash the breakable containers that were around the area as Spike used a bit of his magic to open the cage that the Dark Gem was resting in and smashed it with the Horn Dive, something he usually didn't do since he was more of the magical type, though once it was done they braced themselves for what came next. What happened in the next couple of moments was that the nearby metal pipe cracked before their eyes and shattered with ease, where they found that there was nothing coming out of the top of it and that the part that was attached to the nearby wall formed a tunnel of sorts for them to follow, to which Spyro took a moment to make sure everyone was ready, as there had been two more platforms hanging out in the air near the ceiling and Ember smashed them with ease, before they headed down the new path and kept their eyes open while making sure to keep their guards up as well, only to discover that there was a break in the tunnel not even a minute later and that it let them enter an area that Blink happened to be standing in, complete with another entry point for one of the underground areas he loved to explore.
"Hey guys, its been a while since we've seen each other... and, despite the look of this place, I'm actually at home in a place like this," Blink said, which made sense due to the fact that they were technically below ground, given the path that had brought them down here from where they had started, though the group could tell that he had either come to the same decision that they had just reached, which was possible, or he simply didn't care about the technicalities all that much and just wanted them to know that he was at home in a place like this, "Shall I dig a little deeper and see what I can find in the underground area I discovered earlier?"
It didn't take the group all that long to agree to what Blink was saying and let him head into the hole he had created in the nearby wall, to which Elora smashed a few straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a dark crystal so they had enough space for everyone to sit down and be comfortable, even though most of them could tell that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were looking at the path that seemed to be the way forward and were already envisioning what might be in their way, without Spike even using his special ability to see what the future held for them. It took Blink roughly ten minutes, a record for him since he usually didn't take too long in his underground exploration, before he returned to the surface, where he presented two bags that were full of gems, the first having two thousand inside it while the second had four thousand, before he got to the main items he managed to recover from the underground area, the first being a dragon egg with the blue design, just like the one Spike found in the golden chest earlier, and the second being a Light Gem, to which Spike sent the egg back to the Nursery and placed the Light Gem inside the bag the others were stored in. Once Blink was done handing everything over to them, and was sure that he had found everyone of value inside the the underground area, he wished them luck and headed back into the tunnel that rested nearby, to which Spyro waited for Spike to make sure everything was ready before they walked into a metallic looking chamber that had an elevator for a floor, as the moment they stepped onto it, and came to a stop, the door sealed behind them and the platform lowered, taking them down to the next part of Dark Mine so they could tackle whatever was between them and where the Dark Master was resting. Everyone was expecting some of the robotic warriors to ambush them while the elevator was moving, as that would have made sense given how close they were getting to their final destination, but over the course of a few moments, where they stood there in silence, the group discovered that there were no enemies trying to ambush them and that meant it was a peaceful ride all the way down to the tunnel it was taking them to, and when the new door opened they found a robot version of the Gnorc Warrior standing on the other side, meaning it was a Robot Warrior and it was armed with both a sword and a shield, just like the foe it was based on.
Sadly the Robot Warrior was no match for Bianca's Ice Bolt, which totally froze it where it was standing, only for Ember to smash it to pieces with a charge, before they found a path to the left of where they were standing, or rather an edge that they could jump over to and jump down a platform to reach an area that was below them, so while Elora took a moment to smash the bullseye chest that was over there apart while Spike flew down to the lowest part, where he found a dragon egg that had a purple top, a red bottom, and a zigzag center, the tenth of that type of egg, which he quickly sent back to the Nursery before he and Elora rejoined the others, who finished breaking a pair of straw baskets. In the next chamber the group found a lone Robot Warrior that had a number of straw baskets, metallic chests, bear traps, and a pair of the bullseye chests in the area it seemed to be guarding, while the room beyond it held a dark crystal at the very least, though this time around, instead of waiting for someone to freeze their foe, Elora rushed forward and smashed their robotic foe into the wall to the left of where they were standing, where she found that her new form's strength was definitely too much for such a foe, as she ended up breaking the chest of her target apart, meaning it was either made of inferior metal or her power was stronger than she believed, where she believed it was the latter this time around. With that foe taken care of the group took a few moments to smash all of the containers that were inside this room and made sure to gather every gem that ended up being freed in the process, before progressing into the smaller chamber that was ahead of them and found a Robot Gnorc standing guard over the area in question, where Spike froze it with an Ice Bolt to the chest and he let Ember smash it to pieces as Flame and Aurora dealt with the couple of metallic chests and the dark crystal that was in this room, and once that was done they moved to the right so they could continue progressing towards their destination and face their foe. Not a few moments later the group found that there was a drop in the path and that they had to jump down, hence why most of them glided down to the lowest part of this passage, with Bianca forming a way for Hunter and Amelia to follow her, and they found a few straw baskets and a bullseye chest that were smashed a few seconds later, only to find an opening that brought them to an small walkway that had a few metallic containers resting nearby, though the more important part of what they were seeing were the number of metal platforms that seemed to form a path for them to follow, to head deeper into the mine.
What they discovered was that the metal platforms would shake and collapse for a moment, like a trap one as Spike soon discovered since he wanted to be sure they weren't walking into a trap, so instead of worrying about the platforms, and all the time they would have wasted on following the path normally, the flyers took to the air and headed for the other side of this area, while at the same time Bianca formed a walkway for her, Hunter, and Amelia to use, where Spike found an area that a Light Gem was resting in and claimed it instantly, while at the same time Ember ignited the nearby firework, which flew back to the start of this chamber and blew the metallic containers wide open. Aurora doubled back to collect the pile of gems that had been freed from the containers, allowing the others to deal with the couple of straw baskets that were in this area as Spike put the Light Gem away, before they found a Drill Robot and a Robot Archer guarding the way forward, not that such a thing stopped the group as Spyro and Flame used their Ice Breaths to freeze their targets so Ember and Cynder could smash them to pieces, allowing them a few seconds to find that one path was definitely blocked by a cave in and that there was only one true path, so they waited for Aurora to return to them before they headed through the next opening and continued to make their way through the realm they were in. There was a thin walkway that was resting in front of them and lead them right to the next room that made up the mines, so Spike moved forward first due to the few broken pipes that were in their way and sealed them so the gas didn't harm any of them, before Bianca froze a Drill Robot that was further along the path and then shattered it with a Lightning Bolt, allowing the ten of them to reach the room that the path had been leading them to, even though the room was more like a chamber with a number of moving platforms that were larger than the ones they had passed by earlier, so they ignored walking and simply flew around the upper part of the chamber, where Bianca found a Robot Archer and a Robot Gnorc guarding part of this area and froze them so both Flame and Aurora could smash them to pieces, allowing Spyro and the others to make their way to where a shop pad just so happened to be resting, which had a purple dragon egg with yellow stars on it, one that Spike quickly sent back to the Nursery as well, just to make sure it was out of the way like the rest of the dragon eggs they had found so far, which also just so happened to be the last egg of that set as well.
There was a button in the chamber that opened a door that they had ignored, to which the group quickly reached it and found that there were three Critters on the other side of the opening, where Hunter and Amelia dealt with them before any of them could do anything, allowing Spyro and the others to take to the head of the pack as they moved through yet another opening that had a pair of enemies, a Robot Archer and a Drill Robot, guarding the area, who were frozen thanks to Bianca's Ice Bolts so Ember could just charge through them and break both of them down. From there they found a few more enemies waiting for them, a Robot Gnorc, three more Critters, and a Robot Warrior, where both of the robots were frozen by Spyro and Spike's Ice Breaths and were smashed by Cynder and Elora, though the Critters were, of course, taken down quickly thanks to Hunter and Amelia's skills, before they found another room that had a Robot Gnorc guarding what appeared to be a button, one that seemed to be connected to the wall behind their foe, even though the robot collapsed after Flame used his Ice Breath on it and Aurora smashed it. As it turned out the button activated the wall that was just behind the area the Robot Gnorc had been standing in and created a close set of walls that allowed all of them to jump up into the next area, which was just a bunch of metal poles that would require the Pole Spin technique to get through, but it didn't stop them from just skipping it like they had done and flew through it, even though Elora pointed out a Light Gem that was behind them and Spike collected it without delay, adding another one to their collection, even if there might not be a point for such a thing at this point in time, before they landed in an area that had a Robot Gnorc and a Drill Robot that seemed to be guarding the area, even though a wave of Bianca's Ice Magic was enough to freeze them so the group could smash them to pieces. Once that was done they stared at the Dark Gem that the pair of foes had been guarding and that was when Aurora smashed it to pieces with the Horn Dive, which caused some sections of the nearby roof to collapse and take a few pipes with it, even though it did lower a few metal platforms as well, forming a path that allowed them to reach an area that a Robot Gnorc was guarding and happened to have three bears traps resting between them and it, not that such a thing mattered as Spike froze all his targets and let the others smash the ice to pieces.
The path that their foe had been guarding, however, looked like someone had come through recently and had could have smashed up the area, as the doors were smashed down, some laying on the ground, the various containers were broken and the gems were resting on the ground, several buttons were either pressed or broken, with the path forward being set into place so they could move forward, and it looked like there were a number of gashes in the walls, even though they did notice that the walls changed from being a simple mine to being more like what a lab contained, gashes that had a hint of the Dark Master's magic emitting from them.
"We seem to have moved out of the Dark Mine and entered the final realm between us and the Dark Master," Spike said, though at the same time he studied all of the markings that were on the walls they walked by, as it was clear that a fight or something had broken out in this area, especially since it meant that all of their enemies seem to have been beaten, as if they had mistaken the spirit of the Dark Master for a foe or something, before he focused on the magic that was in the air and recognized the familiar sinister feeling that came from their foe, "and he's definitely waiting at the end of this path, so we should reach his hiding place soon enough."
"Either he's pissed off about being driven from Red's body, or something attacked him," Cynder commented, but even as she said that she knew not to jump to conclusions, as it was easy for some of them to believe that her father had beaten them to the punch and that he was in the middle of fighting the Dark Master, but that wasn't the case, because if the Dark Master was fighting her father the entire mountain would have likely shook at some point before this point in time, and that included when he used that Spirit of Valor, something he would have used if he felt the need was great, which means he would have used it if he was actually fighting the Dark Master.
"Just to be on the safe side, keep your guards up as we explore this laboratory," Spyro stated, because none of them had any idea what this place might throw at them and what might be lurking around the ruined corners that had been left behind, to which the group nodded their heads in agreement as they jumped up a close set of walls and followed the next tunnel as it lead them deeper into the mountain, as so far there was nothing in this realm for them to worry about and it was that fact that worried him, that they might be walking into a trap, but hopefully Spike would be able to stop them in time, before such a thing happened to them.
As they walked deeper into the laboratory the group discovered that something had definitely torn things apart, as there were ruined machines everywhere, which would give the Professor nightmares based on all the destruction that this place had suffered recently, and new paths had been formed in the process, as one of them brought them to where a golden chest happened to be resting, which was surprisingly unharmed and Spike determined it had to be a protection charm of some kind, even though all that was inside the chest was a pile of gems. The nearby broken door provided the path they needed to follow, even though they found a number of gashes and sparks inside the tunnel that was on the other side of the fallen metal doors, which allowed the group to reach an area that used to have pipes with green liquid inside it, as they could see the spilled liquid on the floor and Bianca formed a walkway out of ice so they wouldn't have to walk on the now wet floor, due to the fact that they had no idea what sort of substance had been spilled recently, though even as they did that Spike noticed that some of the machines had images of a bipedal creature, as if the Dark Master had been planning on building a robotic body. That confused him for a moment, as there was no way that such a body would hold out in the long run, as the weight and power of the Dark Master's soul would likely cause it to deteriorate over time, even if he were to upgrade it over time and replace parts to ensure it was still usable, hence why the whole body snatching plan made the most sense to him, their foe needed a living vessel to restore himself and the best way to do that was to force Red's fate upon them, something they would be able to counter now that they knew about it, which made him wonder what in the world the Dark Master was planning, despite the fact that he knew he and the others would find out soon enough, as this path would bring them to their foe in no time. As he thought about that Elora pointed out another golden chest, which just had another pile of gems inside it when Spike unlocked it, though it didn't take them long to find the shattered door that lead the way forward, which contained a shattered path, something they were getting used to seeing, that lead them to a large chamber that had something Spike wasn't expecting to see, an Orrery, a device that functioned much like the magical globe back in the Arcanaeum, only this one had been designed to act as a lock and key... or at least that was what its purpose had been, up until the destruction of this place.
It saddened Spike to see this place in the state it was in, as he was sure that this place had been impressive before it had been ruined by whatever had attacked this laboratory, but he couldn't think about it too much as he and the others took a moment to head into the ruined tunnel that was to the right of the tunnel that had brought them to this chamber, which brought them to another chamber that was totally ruined and, eventually, it allowed the group to reach an area that they assumed had been a room designed to made large parts for a machine, even though it was damaged beyond repair and all the cutting lasers seemed to be offline as well, but the only thing the machine shop had for them was a Light Gem that Spike stored away not even a few seconds later. From there they used a doorway that was nearby and found that there was more parts of the laboratory that had been ruined, as in a room or two that looked like they had been guarded by a few lasers or something, before they came to an area that a Dark Gem was resting in and Aurora smashed it, allowing the group to watch as a large inactive machine, which was on the other side of the chasm from where they were standing, was blown to pieces by the destruction of the sinister gem, even though Spike was sure the machine had been responsible for turning gems into robotic warriors, and once that was done part of the ceiling cracked, showing them that there had been a time limit before lava filled this place. After that was done the group turned around so they could head back to the area that the Orrery rested in, so they could pick one of the other paths that were in the massive chamber and make sure the remaining stolen eggs were recovered, not to mention any of the remaining Light Gems that had to be resting in this area, as it was only a matter of time until the ceiling cracked to the point where it allowed lava to start pouring into this lab and totally ruined everything that was left inside this area. When they returned to the Orrery they found a Thief lingering near one of the doors, to which Ember growled and smashed it into the nearby wall without giving it a chance to flee with the white dragon egg with green spots that it happened to be carrying, allowing Spike to check it for any damage, even though he found that it was just fine and that it was the last of that set, before sending it back to the Nursery without delay, but once that was done they picked the door that was near a busted shop pad, as even it had been carved up by whatever had attacked this place, something that was making them worry since there were no enemies for them to fight and the only person they had found so far was a Thief, though they kept their guards up as they headed deeper into the ruined realm, just in case there were any enemies lurking in the shadows.
The next ruined chamber brought them to another Light Gem that had a path leading right up to where it rested, even if it was a path formed from the wreckage, before it brought them to another chamber that had a machine that was like the last one they had found, though they were able to fly over all of the ruined lasers and reached an area the next Dark Gem was resting in, surrounded by shattered glass, and when Flame smashed it with the Horn Dive it blew the machine up as well, causing more damage to the already cracked ceiling as it cracked some more, where Spike was sure that breaking each of the Dark Gems weakened the defenses of this place, though the sinister gems were protecting the Dark Master and needed to be broken away, so there wasn't much they could do at this point in time. With the sinister gem shattered the group headed through the nearby broken doorway and found that it let them enter a decent sized chamber that had a Light Gem resting above the ground, near the ceiling to be exact, and a yellow dragon egg with white spots, to which Spike took a moment to make sure the egg was just fine before sending it off to the Nursery, even though he noted that it was the tenth of its set as well, though while he did that Elora collected the Light Gem and returned it to the bag that contained all of the other Light Gems they had found so far, but once that was done they headed through the nearby ruined tunnel and followed it even deeper into the devastated laboratory. That path actually brought them back to where the latest Dark Gem had been resting in, so what they did was head back out to where the Orrery rested and headed through the second busted door that was on the right side of the large chamber, which had a wrecked tunnel that brought them to another ruined chamber, though Spike found a blue dragon egg in this area, the tenth of that set, and it was unharmed as well, just like all of the others they had recovered so far, so he quickly sent it off to the Nursery as the others headed for the broken door that rested in this area, allowing them to enter another chamber that was, as they expected, totally broken and that a path to a Light Gem had been formed, to which Aurora collected it so it could be added to Spike's bag. From there the path brought them to yet another ruined chamber that had one of the Dark Gems resting inside it, the last one of them all if the pattern for ten in each homeworld worked in Volcanic Isle as well, and since all of the glass was shattered the group was able to fly over to where it was resting and allowed Ember to smash it with the Horn Dive, breaking yet another large machine that rested nearby and did some additional damage to the ceiling, which seemed to be getting close to the point where lava might break through in the very near future.
From there they retraced their steps, even though Flame found a Light Gem in the upper part of the chamber that the last Dark Gem had been resting in, before they reached the final busted door and followed the ruined tunnel that was on the other side of it, where they found that the damage extended to this area as well, not that they were expecting anything less based on everything else they had seen, before they came to a stop near the dark barrier that the Dark Master had to be resting behind... and standing in front of the magical barrier, after stepping out of a temporary portal that had been opened not even a few moments ago, was Malefor.
"Malefor, its good to see you again," Spyro stated, because that was the truth of the matter, as they had a greater chance of winning this fight with the first purple dragon fighting beside them, especially after he and the others had witnessed the power of the Dark Master for themselves, though the arrival of their ally and the presence of the barrier meant that they had reached the end of this adventure, as their foe was on the other side of the barrier, which should collapse soon since all of the Dark Gems that had been scattered throughout this homeworld had been broken.
"Indeed, even if all of us would wish that it was under better circumstances," Malefor replied, though as he said that the group could see that he was focused on the barrier and what was on the other side of it, as even with the barrier up all of them, even those who weren't well versed in magic, could feel the sinister dark energy of the Dark Master, who was in the middle of preparing for the battle that would be coming his way, before he sighed for a moment as he glanced towards them for a few seconds, "I'm sorry you had to face the Dark Master on your own, and had to face his power... had I known that you would have faced him when you did, well, I would have rushed to your aid a lot sooner, but I'm here now and I'm ready to face him once more. The more important question is this: are you ready?"
"I don't think we'll ever be ready to fight the Dark Master, but we don't have a choice," Cynder remarked, to which she and the rest of the group stepped forward and stood beside Malefor as they faced the barrier that was resting in front of them at the moment, the only thing that stood between them and their foe, which fizzled out and opened the way for them to enter the area that the Dark Master was waiting in, though all of them made sure to keep their hands and claws near their weapons, as the moment the battle broke out they would need to lash out with everything they had in their arsenal, and even as she thought about it Spike summoned Akilesh from where it was resting and cast an Invisibility spell to make sure their foe didn't see it until he used it for the first time.
Malefor nodded and stepped forward as the group followed after him, as it was time for them to battle the Dark Master once more and stop him from completing his terrible plan to take control of the entire world, though they knew that they were in for the fight of their lives, especially after what happened the last time they fought this foe, though that was why all of them were happy to have Malefor on their side this time around, as he was definitely as strong as the Dark Master was, but instead of thinking about what might happen the group focused their attention on what was on the other side of the door and readied themselves for the greatest fight of their lives.
What the group found on the other side of the door, which had been covered by a dark barrier, was that there was an area that looked like a console area, which controlled all of the machines that had been scattered throughout the laboratory, but, just like everything else the group had seen during their visit to this realm, the console area was wrecked and every piece of machinery was either cut apart or blown apart, before they even noticed that there was a bunch of glass on the ground that seemed to have come from a glass window that had been resting behind part of the main console. From what they could tell there was no other entrance to this area, meaning that the Dark Master, as that was who must have come through this area not long ago, had slipped through the barrier and did whatever it was that he had done while the group was fighting their way through the previous realms, though for the most part it was hard for them to determine what had happened in this chamber, other than the fact that someone had smashed the machines to pieces and carved up the area in its entirety, giving them nothing to work with. Malefor, on the other claw, took a moment to study the area they were in before, just like Spike and the others were going, before he glanced at the shattered glass window and found that there was an area just beyond where it had been resting earlier, a large chamber that looked like it had a ringed floor that some glass was resting on, before he zeroed in on an area that was more important than anything else they could be looking at, as he spotted a mass of darkness resting in the middle of the arena floor and silently beckoned with his hand for a few moments. Spyro, Cynder, and the others noticed his movement and followed his gaze, where they discovered the same mass of darkness and took a few seconds to nod their heads, as they recognized the foul darkness that was emitting from where the mass was located, meaning it had to be the Dark Master's soul, which was when they noticed something that was interesting, part of the wall had been blown open and would allow them to jump over to where the platform rested, which was odd since the Dark Master could pass through solid objects, but they focused on what was going to happen next and not on why their foe had done such a thing.
Not even a few moments later the group followed Malefor as he headed through the opening and jumped over to the metallic arena, where all of them landed on the arena floor and focused on the mass of darkness that was in the middle of the entire massive chamber, where the energy that they were feeling shifted for a moment as a shadowy form appeared in the middle of the mass of darkness, a twisted adult dragon that resembled what the Dark Master had used during their previous battle, when he was possessing Red's body, before he stood up and faced the group.
"I knew that it was only a matter of time until you showed up to face me," the Dark Master said, his tone being the exact same as when the group had faced him, where he was cold and calculating as he focused on them for a time, though that was when he shifted his gaze towards Malefor and just stared at him, but instead of looking like this was a surprise, as one or two of the group's members thought, he seemed pleased with what was going on right now, "and I knew that it was only a matter of time until you and I saw each other again, Malefor."
"Dark Master, I've come to finish what we started the last time we fought," Malefor replied, where the group figured that he must have fought the incredibly powerful dark dragon at some point in the past, especially after hearing what he had said when they discovered that Capora was under attack and that part of the threat contained Dark Magic, which was one of the dark dragon's calling cards, though even as he said that he stepped forward and put himself between the group and their foe, even though all of them were focusing on the Dark Master, "plus I heard that your entire plan was to bring down Spyro, Cynder, and the others, so you could have a number of bodies to freeze in time and use to enforce your rule over our world, all by forcing their souls out of their bodies and taking control of them whenever you felt like it... I'm going to put a stop to your foul plans and end this madness."
"And the first body I will start with will be yours... even though your annoying shining soul needs to be ejected from your body at some point," the Dark Master stated, revealing that part of his plan, his true plan, had been to find Malefor, fight him once more, and then take over the body of the first purple dragon, which would be terrible for the group due to the fact that Malefor had a sheer amount of power inside his body, before the spirit chuckled for a moment as they noticed that part of the ceiling was opening before their eyes, where it looked like a mass of black metal was resting above them and was being deployed to the area they were standing in.
The mass of metal, as it turned out, was a massive robotic dragon, like the Dark Master had intended on making a robotic suit for himself so he could battle those that came to do battle with him, as it did look like a metallic version of the form he had used during their previous battle, though before he said anything else, and gave the group time to even consider what he was trying to do, the Dark Master grinned as his magic flared for a moment and the darkness in this area flared to life as it wrapped around the suit and totally covered it, to which he pulled himself into the vortex and vanished rather quickly, causing them to remain on their guard... but not a few moments later the mass of energy died down and they noticed that the Dark Master, in the form he had used in the previous battle, was standing before them.
"Of course he would know one of the forbidden Transmogrification spells, the art of transforming metal and wire into a realistic body," Spike commented, not that he was even surprised at this point in time, given the fact that the Dark Master had told Red how to make a phylactery so he could force the soul of the dragon in question into the necklace, which was soul based magic, one of the forbidden arts that existed in their world and something not even he was foolish enough to work with, meaning there was no telling just how many of the forbidden arts he could wield against them, even though he did have to admit that it was fascinating to see one of these spells in actions.
"Wait, if he can make a body for his soul to possess, then why does he need our soulless bodies?" Aurora asked, because this seemed to be a massive hole in the Dark Master's plan to take them down and rip their souls from their bodies, so he could store them in whatever containers he had prepared ahead of time and use them whenever one of his vessels had expired, but she was hoping that someone could clarify what was going on at the moment, since this made her wonder if the Dark Master had done a little mad over the years and they were only just now seeing his madness, which had arisen after his partial defeat in Icy Wilderness.
"Because, even with his vast power, a body made with this particular spell can only last for a limited amount of time, so its more to wear us down and push our souls out of our bodies so he can move into one," Spike answered, because while he had no desire to try some of the forbidden spells that were inside the Arcanaeum, which spoke of the danger that some of them possessed if they were misused, he did consider the information to be useful and that's why he had read the tomes in question, as it was coming in handy this time around, even if he couldn't actually counter the magic the Dark Master had used to create this body of his, "I would have say that this body will only last maybe thirty minutes, possibly an hour based on all the power that the Dark Master has access to, so we either need to fight him until the time limit and cause the body to fall apart on its own, or we need to deal enough damage to the body to force it to fall apart sooner."
"And a fourteen year old dragon knows even more than what he showed during our previous fight... I think I know whose body I'll take over after your body expires," the Dark Master stated, though in that moment he focused on Malefor as the darkness covered him for a moment and the attire he had been wearing during their last battle reappeared, though not his blade this time, which he could summon at will based on what they had seen so far, something that was followed by the outer ring of the metallic platform glowing as Spike noticed that there were a number of runes lining the area they just so happened to be standing in, "but, before I can do that, you need to be taken down first, where your body and my soul will become one once more and I can use my full power against the heroes of this world... and, to make sure you don't hold back, we need a better arena to fight in."
In that moment the group watched as the runes glowed and they disappeared from the massive chamber that they had been standing in, though it wasn't long before they reappeared in what appeared to be a wide open area of some kind, like a wasteland or something, but from what each of them could see the area that they had appeared in was rather large and it seemed to be more like a continent than an island, complete with mountains, lakes, and who knew what else, as it was easy to see a forest at the very least, before the group focused on Malefor and the Dark Master, who had appeared in the middle of the nearby field, even though the Dark Master had shifted his glance towards Spike.
"Your name was Spike, correct?" the Dark Master inquired, where the group wasn't sure how he had learned that name, other than through the various shop pads that had been scattered throughout the lands of Capora, though they nodded to show that he had gotten the name correct, even though they were curious as to why he would even ask such a thing, due to the fact that the battle for the fate of the world would be starting soon, "Tell me, what sort of spell do you think I prepared before all of you arrived inside that ruined laboratory, to bring us all the way to his place?"
"That was a runic circle, one created to cast the Greater Teleportation spell, which covers vast distances and is superior to the more basic Teleportation spells," Spike replied, as he understood what the Dark Master had done and was willing to share his knowledge with the rest of the group, showing them that their foe had definitely prepared for their arrival and had made sure to make a magical circle that would allow him to transport all of them to an area that would allow them to go all out, or at least that was what he assumed based on what he was seeing at the moment, "and, based on the area you brought us to, this is the Nameless Continent, a landmass that is located far away from all of the other continents and the islands that the dragons, not to mention the other races of the world, call home, meaning its the perfect place for a battle that involves us unleashing our full power in a battle to bring you down."
"Correct on all accounts," the Dark Master said, though that was when he turned towards Malefor once more, showing the group that he considered the first purple dragon to be a greater threat to his plans, which made sense due to the power that Malefor possessed and could use at any moment, before he spread his arms out and gestured to the landmass he had brought them to, as there was nothing here that would prevent him from using his full power, especially since he was under the impression that Spike could shield himself and the others with one of his spells, "I picked this to be the area for our final battle, where we shall fight for the fate of this world, due to the fact that no one lives here, as it will allow the both of us to use our full power against each other, without having to worry about anyone being hurt or anything important being damaged by our attacks and spells."
"Dark Master, I will not attempt to talk you down, as I know such a thing will not work on the likes of you," Malefor said, as he knew that his foe was basically darkness incarnate, the master of all things evil, and that there was no way he could convince the dark dragon to admit that he was wrong and give up on his plans for world domination, and he was sure that Spyro, Cynder, and the others would fail in the same way, to which he sighed for a moment as he tapped into his power and focused on the being he would be fighting, "so if its a fight you want, then its a fight you shall have... even though I am planning on taking you down, here and now."
In that moment the Dark Master grinned as he and Malefor jumped back a bit to put some distance between them, which also gave Spike a chance to see that they weren't being invited to the battle and gave him an opportunity to throw up one of his barriers around all of them, though as soon as that happened both of the ancient dragons summoned their powers and the ground beneath both of them cracked as their auras flared to life, indicating that they were powering up for what was going to be coming next, and once they were ready the pair started to march towards each other. For a moment it seemed like nothing was happening as Malefor and the Dark Master walked towards the center of the area they had been teleported to, though before the group could say anything they watched as the air shuddered as such a thing happened, but what was really happening was much more impressive than what the group might have been thinking about, as Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember, at the very least, could see that both of the older dragons seemed to be throwing their fists at each other, without their arms appearing to move at all, and the air shuddered as such a thing happened, where it looked like there were a few white circles in the air that vanished not a few seconds after they appeared, no doubt signaling the areas their fists came into contact with each other. Of course that wasn't the only thing that happened as the two clashed like this, even if it was odd for them to use their fists after what the Dark Master did earlier, as there were fast moving red bolts of energy that burst out of the area that the collisions were happening in and smashed into the rocks and hills that rested around the area they were fighting in, allowing the group to watch as holes were blasted into the valley they were standing in, not to mention craters every now and then, which was understandable given the fact that these two dragons were quite powerful. This surprised the group, as the entire plains they had been teleported to was breaking before their eyes as it experienced the sheer power that the pair of dragons were using against each other, where it looked like both of them were wielding most of their power right now, like they were sizing up their foes before they used their full power, and the closer they got to each other the heavier the damage got to the entire area they were fighting in, as larger areas started to fall apart as that happened, before it looked like a flurry of blows was coming from each of the combatants as they got even closer to each other.
Not a few moments later the area Malefor and the Dark Master were standing in exploded, containing the power of the Elementium Bomb that Spike had created during their training session with Malefor in the past, which was why they were thankful for the barrier as the explosion tore into the surrounding landscape, leaving a massive crater behind, while the wind whipped around the continent, as if a hurricane had struck this area, though that was when the group noticed that both Malefor and the Dark Master took to the air and continued their battle. As it turned out the Dark Master went on the offensive first, lashing out with his fists as he tried to punch Malefor in the chest and knock him into the ground, but what happened was that his attacks missed as Malefor ducked and weaved around the punches and kicks that came his way, either due to the fact that he was a better fighting and his experience was aiding him or he was using his Sage's Vision to see the attacks that were incoming, before his foe tried to grab him from behind and he spun around while waving his left arm for a moment. That motion allowed him to knock his foe's arm backwards and stall him for a moment, where he took advantage of what was going on and charged his magic into a sphere of pure energy that rest above his left hand, which was where he loosed the power in a burst like motion that sent his foe flying backwards through the air and crashed him into one of the rock walls that was nearby, smashing the entire thing to pieces and left a pile of rubble behind, where he followed it up with a burst of purple energy bolts that rushed into the air and slammed into the area that the Dark Master was resting in, blowing the entire area his foe was standing in apart in the process. Not even a few moments later his foe did the same thing, as in he loosed a sphere of dark energy that flew through the air and signified that he was going to add his magical powers to the battle they were in, though Malefor saw it coming and smashed the attack by flaring his aura for a moment, causing smoke to fill the area that he was floating in as the Dark Master rushed through the air and swung his fist towards the right side of Malefor's face, who dodged the attack before it could hit him and as he moved he kicked the Dark Master in the side of chest, sending him flying through the air once more, and he loosed a beam of energy that struck his foe in the chest and sent him right into the pile of rocks he had created earlier, blowing the entire area around the pile apart in what appeared to be an instant.
In the next few seconds a pillar of dark purple energy burst out of the area the pile was resting in and the group watched as the Dark Master emerged from the hole the attack had created, where he had his arms out like he was welcoming the next incoming attack and he huffed for a moment with a smile on his face, as if he was enjoying himself more than when he fought the group in Icy Wilderness, though for the most part Malefor stayed where he was floating for a moment, no doubt planning out what his next move would be as he waited for the pillar to die down.
"I... I don't believe it... he was hold back against us!" Cynder remarked, as she had been studying the fight that was going on right now and came to a startling conclusion as she stared at the Dark Master, who dismissed his pillar as he reached an area that was level with where her father was floating, though her statement was referring to the dark dragon she and the others had fought back in the previous homeworld, one that had been severely damaged thanks to the power that the Dark Master wielded, where she growled for a moment as she said that, "He wasn't even taking us seriously..."
"Then its a good thing Malefor showed up when he did, because I'm not sure we'd survive against this," Flame said, as he knew everyone had bad memories of their fight with the Dark Master and that all of them would agree that this was good for all of them, as it sure seemed like the first purple dragon had the power to stand up to their foe and, if they didn't step in to do anything, he was likely going to beat the dark and vile dragon in due time, though at the rate things were going he was sure that this uninhabited continent was going to be sundered at some point, given the powers that both combatants happened to be wielding at the moment.
"Still, the Dark Master wasn't taking us seriously and he nearly beat us earlier... I'm not sure how to feel about that, given that we threw everything we had at him," Spyro stated, as he agreed with Cynder, it was clear that the Dark Master hadn't been taking their fight seriously and had been toying around with them, despite the fact that his attacks had carved up the homeworld they had been fighting above, and the only reason he was even using his full power this time around was due to the fact that he was in the middle of facing Malefor, who was still the strongest dragon in the entire world, even though the heroes intended on overcoming him one day, despite the fact that this battle was ruining their ideas of ever beating Malefor, as his power was more than what they were expecting.
In the following moment the Dark Master rushed through the air and swung his fist at Malefor, who raised his own hand in response and countered his foe's attack with the same attack, where the air shuddered for a moment as the two fits came into contact with each other, followed by a burst of wind emitting from where they were floating, before Malefor pulled back like he was falling and then, as his foe moved over where he had been positioned earlier and allowed him to kick his foe hard in the chest, sending him right up into the air and get him further away from where Spyro and the others were resting under the barrier Spike had created. For a moment the Dark Master allowed that to happen, since it gave him a bit of time to comprehend what was going on right now, before Malefor rushed into the air and followed his foe, who flipped backwards and used his momentum to stop himself as he glared down at his opponent once more, which was followed by him enlarging his aura as it caused the air to shudder once more and he calmed himself down as he stared down at his foe, where Malefor kept his distance for a moment as he locked eyes with the Dark Master. The two remained like that as they fell back down to the ground and, once they reached the shattered earth they had started fighting in, they flipped for a moment and landed on some of the stones with ease, but as soon as that happened the pair rushed forward and lashed out with their fists once more, though the first move came from the Dark Master, who tried to flash into the air above his foe and swing his legs downward, where Malefor lashed out with his fist and struck his foe in the chest with a burst of the wind that was around them, a Wind Punch from what Spike had read from the tomes, though the attack knocked his foe backwards and caused the Dark Master to crash into one of the large stone shards that rested nearby, smashing it apart in a matter of seconds, but he didn't stay down as he rushed straight at Malefor again. Not a few seconds later the pair of combatants lashed out at each other in rapid succession, their fists colliding as bolts of lightning rushed out from where they were fighting, bolts that struck the ground and the rocks that were all over the area, causing explosions to occur all over the place as the pair fought each other, surprising everyone as they witnessed what was going on, as this was beyond what happened when they fought the Dark Master earlier.
Of course it wasn't long before the pair stepped away from just throwing punches and kicks, even though doing that had done a decent amount of damage to the surrounding area that they were fighting in, because the pair started to channel their magical spells and hurled them at each other, where the group watched as Fire, Ice, Earth, Lightning, Shadow, Wind, Fear, and Poison type spells, where Spike noticed a vast number of different spells and could barely keep up with naming the ones that he recognized right off the bat, making it look like they were in the middle of a nightmare or something, due to all the elements that were flying around, before Malefor punched the Dark Master in the side of his face and sent him flying into the side of the nearby mountain, creating a circular crater in the process.
"You're quite strong, Malefor, more than I was expecting after our last battle," the Dark Master stated, where he took a few seconds to pull himself out of the rubble he had been buried under and dusted off his attire as he did that, though once that was done he glanced up to where his foe was floating at the moment, even though Malefor was staring down at him while he planned out what sort of tactics he wanted to use next, as he knew something that not many others might know and he wanted to get it out in the open, "but I know you are still holding back. What's wrong? Scared that you'll wreck the rest of the continent with your power, or are you scared that you'll frighten the heroes that are watching us?"
"No, I was giving you a chance to admit defeat, but it seems that such a thing won't happen," Malefor replied, to which he focused his magic once more and a sphere of energy formed around his body, this one containing a very familiar brilliant purple coloration to it that most of the group recognized, though that was when the energy started to expand before the Dark Master's eyes, taking on the shape of a massive bipedal dragon, where the lower part of the sphere morphed into the legs, the middle becoming the chest and tail, leaving the upper portion to become the wings, arms, and the head, before a familiar suit of samurai armor, styled in the art of the Moles of Warfang, appeared all over the construct's body, wings, and its tail, before a pair of sheaths appeared at the end of the transformation sequence as Malefor stared down at the Dark Master once more, "Allow me to introduce one of my greatest techniques, the Spirit of Valor, a power originally designed to destroy the Destroyer, if it was ever freed from the prison I locked it inside, but then, after some time, I determined that it was far too dangerous and created another technique to deal with the Destroyer... however, from this point forward, I will be using all one hundred percent of my power, so prepare yourself."
The Dark Master barely had a chance to ready himself as Malefor flew through the air, with the Spirit of Valor following his movements, much to the dark dragon's surprise, and reached the area that his foe was now floating in, where he raised both of the Spirit's hands into a combined fist and brought them down right on top of the Dark Master's head, something that sent him flying right into the ground and caused a massive crater, easily the size of the metal platform they had found the dark dragon's spirit above earlier, to form at the base of the mountain, even though that attack also shattered a small section of the mountain as well. In the next few moments the Dark Master burst out of the crater he had been forced to make, as he now understood the sheer power of the Spirit of Valor, even though Malefor knew he only understood part of his technique's power, and rushed up to where his foe was positioned, clearly intending on punching Malefor out of the magical construct so he could bring it all down in a matter of seconds and deal with his foe, but that was the moment that the Spirit's right hand moved into position and caught the attack before the Dark Master could reach his target, something that caused the air to shudder for a second, before Malefor quickly pulled the right arm back and punched his foe with his left fist, sending him right into the side of the mountain and blew the upper peak to pieces. Once that happened it looked like the Dark Master was tired of what was going on and drew his long katana from the shadows as he carved up the small amount of stones that were around him, before he burst out of the area he was standing in and rushed over to where his foe was standing, where Malefor quickly drew the pair of katanas from the sheathes his technique was wearing and used one to parry the incoming attack, though the collision of the two weapons carved a massive gash into the ground, one that almost looked like it might be a river of some kind, if it was full of water anyway, but that didn't stop the impressive display that came next. What happened not a few seconds later was that both Malefor and the Dark Master lashed out at each other in rapid succession, their blades dancing between them as the collisions of their blades tore into the landscape they were fighting in, as chunks of earth were removed as the two of them dueled each other and a number of gashes were carved into the area as well, though at this point the group was thankful that they weren't involved in this battle, as they would have been a liability that could have done in Malefor, or opened his defenses at the wrong moment.
What was important about this was that, despite the power that the Dark Master possessed, it was clear that he might be having a hard time keeping up with Malefor's attacks, even though he did dodge one attack and watched as it cleaved part of the mountain into pieces, though when he swung at the Spirit of Valor, in a flurry of attacks that were designed to cut it apart so he could get at his foe, he found that the armor of the magical construct was stronger than he thought it might be and that his attacks bounced off of it without doing any damage at all, something that seemed to be annoying his foe while they fought each other. While that happened, and the ground shattered under the power of their attacks, Spike took a few seconds to feel the magic in the air, to see how things were going for the combatants, and felt something odd, there was a surge of magical power that was definitely Malefor's, though it wasn't coming from the Spirit of Valor, like one would think based on what they were seeing as the pair engaged each other, to which he carefully looked around the area Malefor and the Dark Master were fighting in, just to make sure that their foe didn't see what he was doing, before glancing up at the area that was far above the combatants, where he found something interesting, Malefor was floating above the battle that was raging and seemed to be gathering his power as silently as he could. At first he wondered what in the world was going on, before he figured out that Malefor had, at some point in time, cast an illusion spell of some kind and placed the illusion inside the Spirit of Valor so he could remain at a distance and observe what was going on with the Dark Master, but while he did that he was also preparing another attack so he could trap his foe and either smash him to pieces or just blow him up and end the fight before too much damage could be done to the continent they were fighting on, but as he watched what was going on, while the others focused on the main battle that the Dark Master was in, he noticed that Malefor was in the middle of gathering a significant amount of power from the nine elements that made up their world, the eight both he and his foe had used against each other and the ninth element that he and a few of them could use, the Aether. It only took Spike a few seconds to realize what Malefor was doing, he was combining the scattered spheres of the nine elements into a single attack, a massive sphere that rested above his hands, which were pointed towards the sky and his palms were facing the core of the attack, meaning he was forming the Elementium Bomb, the same attack he had used in desperation when he and the others first fought against the first purple dragon after they stopped Gaul's plans, where he prayed that the Dark Master didn't notice what was going on until it was too late for him to do anything about it.
Malefor wasted no time in making sure that the elements were combined in the correct manner and that the attack was perfectly ready for what he had planned, though when the Spirit of Valor smashed the Dark Master right into the ground by overpowering his foe's attack with a downwards attack of its own, he used a bit of his magic to move the Spirit out of the way and then, before the Dark Master even had a chance to understand what was going on as he shifted in the crater that had been formed around him, he hurled the Elementium Bomb down to the area that his foe was resting in and the massive sphere headed down towards his target. The Dark Master barely had a chance to understand what was going on as he glanced up at the sky and found the attack coming down at him, where the group watched as he channeled his own power and quickly summoned the power of the Aether, the darker side since the element was split between the power of creation and and the power of destruction, as that was Spike knew from his research, and the dark dragon seemed to use both his magic and the Dark Aether, as it was called, to guard himself against the massive incoming attack. As it turned out that was a bad decision on the Dark Master's part, as trying to stop the Elementium Bomb from touching him required all of his attention and magical energy, meaning there was no way he could teleport out of the area that he was standing in, so the group watched as he was pushed deeper and deeper into the crater that he had been sent into thanks to Malefor's earlier attacks, where the ground around him cracked and shattered under the intensity of the power that had been used to form this massive attack, one that had Spike a little worried as he reinforced his barrier, mostly due to the fact that he felt there was a chance that the elemental energies could be infused into the continent once the attack was done and they knew the outcome of the struggle. Malefor, on the other claw, was focusing on the attack and pushing it deeper into the ground, as he knew that the Dark Master was trapped under the Elementium Bomb and he wasn't going to stop until he was sure his foe was taken out, not to mention his evil was wiped out entirely, though what he found to be interesting was that the edge of his attack pushed beyond where the Dark Master's hands were resting and actually trapped his foe inside the massive sphere, to which he flexed his fingers for a moment and the power of his attack expanded, detonating within seconds as Spyro and the others covered their eyes.
The resulting explosion shook the entire continent and caused the air around them to shudder, where the group was sure that large fragments of the landmass might be torn out of the ground or something like that, and when they opened their eyes a few moments later they found a massive crater, easily twice the size of what the Dark Master had been resting in before the Elementium Bomb was thrown at him, and the continent seemed to be intact for the most part, save for all the damage that had been done so far, though that was followed by another pillar of dark energy bursting out of the crater as the Dark Master rose out of the hole and huffed as he stared at his foe, where his damaged armor, which happened to be missing several pieces, revealed he had taken some serious damage from the Elementium Bomb.
"You would think that such an attack would blow one of his arms off or something," Ember remarked, because while that attack was strong and had done a lot of damage to this continent, all it seemed to do was blow away a great deal of his armor and partly wrecked his body, if the scratches and scuff marks were any indication, meaning the Dark Master was still capable of fighting and that was what he was going to do as he and Malefor lashed out at each other, before she took a moment to glance at the rest of the group, "come on, there has to be something we can do help Malefor, instead of just sitting on the sidelines and observe everything that's going on... Spike, there has to be something we can do, some sort of unknown magic that we can throw at the Dark Master while his attention is focused solely on Malefor."
"...Harmony..." Spike said, where he sounded like he was focused on something other than the fight, before he shook his head for a moment and refocused on what was in front of them, which was when the Dark Master took to the air as he rushed up to where Malefor was floating and the two engaged each other once more, where the former used his long katana once more as the latter reformed the Spirit of Valor and let their blades clash as the air shuddered, "I'm not sure if this will even work... I'm not even sure how I know this, if I'm being perfectly honest... but this magic might work, even if it is comprised of six elements, or maybe they're components of some kind: Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter... or at least that's what I'm feeling at the moment."
At first the rest of the group had no idea what Spike was talking about, not that such a thing was a surprise given all of his magical knowledge, though that was when a brilliant blue aura formed around Aurora, a purple aura formed over Flame's body, Spyro had a brilliant orange aura, Ember raised an eyebrow as a red aura wrapped around her, Cynder found a pink aura around her and said nothing about it, and a magenta aura formed around Spike, though once that had happened he lowered the barrier enough so the six of them could move out due to whatever magic he was channeling. The six of them floated in the air for a few seconds, where the auras that had wrapped around them seemed to have a little break off and form a gemstone that contained the coloration of their auras, before they formed a circle as they floated in the air, even though each of them were focused on their target, the Dark Master, who was busy fighting Malefor, but even as they did that Spike waved Akilesh as he readied whatever was going on, since at this point he was going with the flow as well, just so he could understand what was happening. Once they were ready, as Spike was sure that the magic was waiting on all of them and he could see that the others were ready to launch whatever they were doing, six beams of magical energy, each possessing the same coloration of the auras that had formed around the six of them and the same coloration of the gems that had been created, burst out of where they were floating and spiraled around each other as they rushed up to where the Dark Master was floating at the moment, where Malefor noticed that something was happening and punched his foe so hard that the dark dragon went flying right into the magic that was coming his way. The moment the rainbow colored attack collided with their target the sky lit up as an explosion rocked the upper reaches of the continent, causing Malefor to push himself back to the ground so he could withstand the pressure that was coming from what the group had done, but even as that happened everyone was hoping that the Dark master had been blown up and that he wouldn't emerge from the smoke at all, because if he survived the attack they would need to go on the offensive to take their foe down and save the world from his sinister plans. As that happened Spike and the others landed on the ground for a moment as the rest of their group rushed over to where they were standing, just to make sure that whatever magic they had channeled didn't have any negative side effects for them, though before anyone could actually say anything something burst out of the sky and crashed into the ground nearby, cracking the stone as everyone turned towards it, where each of them took a moment to raise their defenses in case the Dark Master was still active.
"I have no idea what you just did, but it sure stung a lot," the Dark Master said, where he emerged from the smoke as he brushed off any new dust that had appeared on his attire thanks to the rainbow colored attack, though the only damage they did was, from the looks of things, shatter more of his armor, break his long katana, and maybe lighten his dark aura, even though the sheer amount of darkness he had access to was pretty much the same as it was earlier, before he took a moment to glance at the group and Malefor as the darkness surrounded his body once more, "though ultimately it was a useless gesture, as you did next to nothing to my body or my soul, and now its time for all of you to be punished for what you did during our previous battle."
In that moment the group separated from each other and launched an all out offensive against the Dark Master, where Bianca wasted no time in bothering to pick an element to wield, not after what she had seen during their previous fight and what had happened during this one, rather she channeled her magical power on its down and just loosed blast after blast at their foe, while at the same time Spike did the same thing as the rest of the dragons and Elora flew around where the dark dragon was located, where the flyers loosed their elemental breaths down at their foe, and Malefor, seeing that all of them were too close to his target, temporarily dismissed the Spirit of Valor as he blasted the area as well, hoping to do some damage to the Dark Master, even though now he realized that they might be stalling for time. The reason for that thought was the time limit that their foe's body was subject to, because once thirty minutes to an hour had passed, since the body's creation to be exact, it should start to unravel and expose the Dark Master's soul, something that would ensure their victory if they were fast enough to capitalize on the opening, so he also channeled his own attacks into the area that everyone was targeting as he made sure not to hit anyone else, despite the fact that he was hoping that doing this would force their foe to admit defeat and surrender to their power. In the following moments the Dark Master released a burst of magical energy that caused all of the incoming attacks to stop in their tracks and knocked them backwards, though after doing that he burst into the air and rushed towards his first target, this time heading right for Bianca, who reached into her robe for a moment and pulled out her wand as she released all of the power that was stored inside it's crystalline form, as she had kept it on hand after starting to learn from Spike and figured that she could use it when she really needed all of the power that she stored inside it, where she intended on loosing a burst of potent energy right into the Dark Master's face and knock him backwards, or at least that was her hopes on the matter. What actually happened was that her foe just smashed into the pointed tip of her attack and pushed through it without even stopping, showing her that she was totally outmatched and worthless in a fight against the Dark Master's full power, though before she could pull herself away from where she was standing the dark dragon stopped in front of her and swung his left arm for a moment, where he struck the wand and knocked it out of her hand, even though the force of the attack shattered her wand instantly and caused all of the fragments to fall to the ground, before he punched her in the chest and she was sure several of her bones might have cracked, even though a rib likely cracked as a kick struck her and sent her flying through the air.
Elora appeared to the side of the Dark Master and punched him in the side of his face with all the power she could muster, where it looked like her attack might have done something as she actually moved his head for a moment, but that was the moment that he gripped her wrist with his right hand and pulled her fist away from his body, where he quickly raised his spare hand to wipe off the area she had struck, before he twisted her arm, hard enough to where Elora screamed as she felt her bone, which had been empowered by the changes to her body, snap like a twig, even though that didn't stop their foe from switching his hands to grab onto her horns and smash his knee right into her chin, and then grab onto her tail as she was knocked into the air so he could throw her off into the distance and smash her into some rocks. While his guard was down, and he was still in the middle of lowering his arms and legs, Hunter and Amelia rushed at where their foe was standing and swung their blades down at him, because arrows were useless in the grand scheme of things thanks to what happened the first time they fought the Dark Master, though that was when their foe dropped down to the ground and let the blades pass over his head, or at least that was what the group assumed he would have done since what he actually did was lash out with his feet and let the bottom of his limbs smash into the sides of the incoming blades, breaking all four of their normal blades into pieces within seconds. The Cheetah siblings barely had a chance to register what was going on as the Dark Master brought his legs back, stood up, and then rushed forward, making sure that both of them were struck by his arms as he passed between them and pulled them with him for a few seconds, where if he had struck some boulders as he did this it would have caused some serious damage to his foes, before he stopped so they could stagger for a few seconds, something that was followed by him spinning around so he could kick the side of Hunter's left arm, breaking the bone in the process, and then gripped Amelia's tail so he could spin her around a few times before using her as a bat to hit Hunter in his chest and send them flying through the air, even though he was grinning as the air struck a boulder and just crumbled to the ground in defeat. Spyro and Cynder nodded to each other as they jumped backwards for a moment and got away from the Dark Master, which was when Ember rushed in with her entire body hardened by the Warrior's Armor skill once more, though as she lashed out at the dark dragon her foe caught her incoming attack, picked her up by her tail, and then used her to bat away Flame and Aurora, who rushed in to use their Fire Breaths on his backside, before tossing her into a boulder like he did with the rest of the group.
Spike flashed into the area after that happened and lashed out with his magic, though this time around he forced his body to take on a pseudo bipedal stance, just like what happened when he had his Archmage ceremony, and used Akilesh at the same time, where he lashed out with every Aether spell he knew, save for the more forbidden ones that he read about in the past, though as the Dark Master lashed out at him he also used the edge of Akilesh to parry incoming attacks and use his foe's momentum to open holes in his defenses so his spells had somewhere to strike. Of course the Dark Master, who seemed to be a fan of breaking the weapons that the group was bringing to bare against him, tried to smash the shaft of Spike's staff, though the ancient staff resisted the power of his attacks and that opened the way for Spike to loose a burst of Aether energy right into the dark dragon's chest, sending the Dark Master backwards, which was fine since he jumped backwards as well as everyone else did their best to move out of the surrounding area as Malefor sent a volley of small Elementium spheres at their foe, blasting the area that their foe was standing in apart, and when the smoke cleared they found that the Dark Master was getting annoyed since it looked like his attire was falling apart and the scratches on his body indicated that he was losing ground. Truthfully that was just a distraction as Spyro and Cynder flew down from where they had been lurking and stayed near each other, as they were combining their elemental powers, all eight of them and both the light and the darkness that formed the Aether's powers, into a sphere of energy that rested between the two of them as they flew through the air, though as they rushed towards the Dark Master their foe turned around and loosed a beam of energy right at them, only to miss as his targets flew towards the attack and used a coil motion so they could get down below him, causing a look of shock to appear on his face as he noticed what was going on at the moment. It was in that moment that the pair released their attack and loosed an Elementium Burst, as Spike would call it, up in a diagonal motion and let the power of the energy knock the Dark Master up into the air, even though this close range attack would do a lot of damage to him, to which the group watched as the beam soared into the air and seemed to disappear after a certain amount of time, allowing them to focus on what might emerge from the smoke, as there was no telling what might happen next since this was the Dark Master they were fighting.
When the smoke died down the heroes could see that the Dark Master had been knocked into the air and that he was in the middle of charging up his own next attack, even though his armor was broken and shattered at this point and part of his body seemed to be in the middle of unraveling, his right shoulder based on what they were seeing, meaning they might have reached the point where either the time limit had been reached or they had done enough damage to force this upon their foe, but that didn't stop him from hurling the surge of elemental power, all nine mixed into a single bundle like the group had done to him in the past, down at the ground, something that didn't cause an explosion, like they expected, as his attack caused the continent to shake... where they watched as the ground cracked and the continent shattered before their eyes, forming a number of scattered islands that were now floating in the air.
"Either he's going mental, or he doesn't care that his body is falling apart," Cynder commented, though at this time most of the group were hanging back, as those like Hunter and Amelia would only get in the way and hurt their chances of bringing down their foe and saving the world from his evil, allowing those that were willing to stand up to the Dark Master to stand at the edge of the island that they were now standing on, even though from what they could see there were eight islands that were infused with the eight main elements of their world, based on the flames that danced around one of them and another that seemed to be in the middle of freezing over, though she paused as her father landed near her, Spyro, Spike, and Ember, since they were the only ones of their group even willing to stand against the Dark Master at this point, given how he was wrecking the others, "What do we do next?"
"This has gone on long enough, so I'm going to break my own rule and use one of the stronger forbidden spells to take the Dark Master," Malefor stated, because he had been planning on figuring out another way to defeat their foe, given what Spike and the others had done to several of their earlier foes, but this time around, after seeing all the destruction that the dark dragon had caused, so much so where he shattered the Nameless Continent and created a vast number of floating islands, and possibly changed each of them into something new, he was willing to stop trying to fight the Dark Master and just eliminate him with one of the strongest spells he knew, hence why his hand was held out towards Spike as he focused on their foe, "Spike, do you mind if I borrow Akilesh for a few minutes?"
Spike wasted no time in magically tossing the staff over to Malefor, who caught it instantly and spun it around until he was pointing the tip right at the Dark Master, where it was resting in his right hand, though Spyro added another item to what he had access to by tossing Almos into the air, allowing the first purple dragon to use both of his Aether weapons as he caught the sheath, attached it to his armor, and quickly drew the runeblade as he charged through the air, where it took him only a few seconds to reach the dark dragon they had been fighting and swung the Aether runeblade at his foe, which was when a wave of destructive energy rushed out and smashed right into his target before he could react. The resulting explosion caused the air to shudder as smoke filled the sky, though he rushed towards the smoke cloud and thrust Akilesh at it, where a burst of Aether blasts rushed out of the staff and the entire sky above their island lit up as the Dark Master was blasted several times in a row, knocking him around like he was a doll or something, and when the dark dragon was able to regain himself the two charged at each other once more, though as the Dark Master swung his foul darkness, all to cut through his foe, Malefor raised Almos and parried the incoming attack like it was nothing, before shifting his grip and swung his blade again, cutting into his foe's chest with ease. The Dark Master staggered backwards for a moment and took a few seconds to gather his magic so he could loose a number of dark spheres into the air, where they rushed at the area that Malefor was standing in, who shifted his stance for a moment and spun around Akilesh as the attacks came his way, where he caught them and channeled his own power to transform them into Aether blasts, ones that were sent flying right back to where the Dark Master was floating, something that surprised his foe as they barrelled into his chest, blasting him even further away from the island that the others were resting on, watching the fight as he quickly turned the tide against their foe. He was also sure that his foe was surprised by the power that he had been holding back, as with both Akilesh and Almos in his possession he was at his full legendary power, but he used that confusion to his advantage as he gave the Dark Master no time to focus on what he was doing, or give him the chance to defend himself, as he rushed through the air and switched his grip on the runeblade, so that this time the base of the handle was pointing at the dark dragon, which he slammed right into the Dark Master's chest and quickly activated the spell he wanted to use.
What happened was that there was a flash and a pile of ruined machinery, the parts that went into making the form their foe had possessed, crashed into the ground, leaving the soul of the Dark Master behind, who seemed stunned by what had just happened to him, but instead of allowing his foe to leave this time, as he had escaped the last time they fought each other, Malefor used his magic and Aether chains wrapped around his target's transparent arms and legs, locking into place and preventing him from leaving, before he sheathed his runeblade and raised his empty left hand towards the now immobilized Dark Master, who seemed to be totally caught off guard by what was going on.
"Destruction!" Malefor called out, this time channeling an aura that contained the destructive nature of the Aether, as the forbidden spell he had been thinking about came from the element in question, so he was surrounded by a dark purple aura as he focused on the Dark Master and nothing else, because if this failed he knew that the dark dragon would only escape from them and flee to another part of the world again, forcing them to hunt him down and repeat this again, so he was ending this now, before his foe could escape.
It was in that moment that the Dark Master screamed as his transparent soul-like body started to break up before his eyes and the eyes of those who were observing the battle, though it was more of a painful scream, as the forbidden spell that Malefor was using at the moment was designed to erase the existence of anything or anyone it was used on, hence why he deemed it forbidden since it could be disastrous if it was used by someone like the Dark Master, and it wasn't long before he reduced the soul of the dark dragon to mere particles, finally destroying his ancient enemy at long last, before he took a moment to float down to where the others were resting and returned the Aether weapons to those that had been using them before this battle had started.
"So... is it over?" Hunter asked, because at this point he was hoping that the Dark Master was taken care of and that there was no chance of him coming back for another round, otherwise he would withdraw from such a fight since he had next to no weapons left, his body was sore, and it would be some time before he and the rest of the team, those that had been wounded, would be able to heal and return to their full strength again, though he could tell that everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing as Malefor huffed due to the amount of power he poured into his attack.
"Yes, that spell destroyed the Dark Master's soul, so we shouldn't be seeing him ever again," Malefor replied, though even as he said that he coughed for a moment, as the Destruction spell really took a lot out of him, since he had poured nearly everything he had into it so he could wipe out their foe, before he leaned against a nearby tree, which had survived the entire fight somehow, and stared out at the floating islands that were scattered all over the place, resting far above where the continent had been resting earlier, "Let's rest here for a few minutes, where we can bandage each of you up as best as we can, before we head back to Capora... though we're going to have to rename this place... maybe the Floating Isles, or possibly something like Sky Islands."
"Skylands sounds about right for this place," Spike said, where the group took a moment to stare at everyone else as they considered the name that Spike had said, before deciding that there was no reason for them to even question it, as he was right in his suggestion, even if he had combined the parts of the second name Malefor had suggested, before each of them carefully sat down and stared at the rays of sun that were reaching this area, even though some were also staring at the newly created islands, as they wondered what might happen to this area in the far future, once they got over the magic that had gone into creating each of them.
In the end the group breathed a sigh of relief, because with the Dark Master's defeat, and the destruction of his soul, an action that should mean he was never coming back from what happened to him, their adventure in Capora was basically over and they could head to the beach or something once this was over, but Spyro, Spike, and Ember knew that there was once more dragon egg to recover before they could officially call this adventure over, so they would get some rest, make sure those that were wounded had some casts or something to deal with the bones their foe had broken or cracked, and then bring this adventure to a close.
Spyro had no idea how long he and the others spent resting on the floating island that they had ended up on, though in the end he really didn't care all that much since they had spent a great deal of energy trying to bring down the Dark Master and had been able to take down the dark dragon, bringing his plans of world domination to an end, but he knew that Malefor was the one who deserved most of the credit due to the fact that he had dealt the final blow to their foe and had blown away his soul, meaning that there was no way for the Dark Master to return to threaten them again. This reminded him of the time he and Cynder had to destroy Gaul during his assault on Warfang, as he had been one of the most evil villains and trying to redeem him would have been a waste of time, so unleashing the power of the Aether on him had been the right call, and as he thought about that he knew that the Dark Master deserved his fate and having his soul utterly destroyed meant his evil would never again threaten their world, which would allow him and Cynder, at the very least, to rest easy at long last, because their long fight was finally over. The rest of the group, on the other claw, were still coming to terms with what they had witnessed, as Malefor was far stronger than what they had originally assumed back during their training session, after their adventure in Doxantha to be exact, and the power he had thrown around confirmed the fact that he was one of the strongest dragons in the entire world, something that made some of the group wonder if there was any hope for them to surpass him, even though that would be a thought for later, once this adventure was over and they were able to go back home, so they could rest and return to their normal lives. While he thought about that he noticed that Spike got up from where he had been rested and walked over to those that had been injured during the final fight with the Dark Master and used some of his magic to ease the pain that some of them were in as he did his best to cast up the limbs that had been cracked during the battle, which made it a good thing that this adventure was basically over, save for the last dragon egg.
"Hey, Spike, what sort of magic did you use against the Dark Master?" Bianca asked, mostly because the type of magic he had called upon, which had been channeled through himself and the other dragons of their group, or maybe it was the six gemstones that had been created before the spell had been cast, had been rather interesting and she was sure that she had never seen anything like it before, despite the fact that her own Teleportation spell was rainbow colored, though as she said that the rest of the group focused on him for a moment, showing that they were interested in what he might say to her question, even though he was making sure her ribs were fine before moving to the others that had been injured during the later stages of the battle, "I've never seen anything like it, nor have I read about that sort of magic, and it seems that you managed to surprise our foe in the process as well... not to mention everyone who was fighting the dark dragon, before Malefor wiped him out with that spell he used."
"Honestly, I have no idea what that was... all I know is that it was called 'Harmony'," Spike admitted, making him wonder if, in the heat of the battle with the Dark Master, he had unlocked a brand new type of magic, one that, ultimately, didn't do anything against the dark dragon that had sought to bring them all down and rip their souls from their bodies, but that would be something he would have to check in the future, once they recovered from this adventure and returned to a sort of normal life again, before he used his magic to lift up the six fallen gemstones and studied them for a time, even though he stored them inside a bag since there was no time to study them right now, "but it doesn't matter right now, as we need to make sure all of you are fine and that your bones are braced so they don't heal wrong..."
As the injured members of their group nodded Malefor walked over and used a bit of his own power to wrap some bits of earth around the injured limbs in question, where he smoothed the fragments out and pulled his magic back as he took a moment to appreciate his handiwork, as he had formed earthen casts over the arms that had been cracked or injured during the battle that had just ended and this would ensure that, in a week to a month, the bones would be healed back to their original state, and he even made sure to position the casts in such a way that ensured those that had them would be able to pull off their attire in the future.
"So, Skylands... that's what we're calling this place?" Hunter asked, not because he was questioning the decision that had been made earlier, rather he just wanted to make sure that they were happy with what they wanted to call this place, even though he had to admit that staring at the various floating islands was rather interesting, based on all the elements that had been infused into each of the new islands, a permanent reminder of the power that the Dark Master possessed, even though he was sure it would be some time before anyone did anything with these islands, which were either the size of a homeworld or even one of the realms that were back in Avalar.
"Indeed. Spike was right, it is a fitting name for a place like this," Malefor replied, where he raised his head and stared at all of the islands that were scattered throughout the sky, something that the others did as well, though it looked like the Dark Master's power had pushed the former continent apart and made sure to position all of the islands like they were more like the islands of Capora or even the homeworlds that made up the Dragon Realms, as he was positive that it would take about an hour to go from one of the islands and reach another one, but he did know that it would be a chore to make a map of this area, which Spike might do in the near future, once all of the energy died down and it was safe to traverse the new lands that had just been created, "It will be interesting to see what happens to these islands, even though it will take a few decades before we see anything new happen, especially after all the power that the Dark Master channeled into the former continent... I guess breaking the continent in this way was his way of assuring himself that he was still dangerous and had the power to do whatever he wanted."
"Either way, he's gone and we won't have to worry about having to fight him for a third time," Cynder remarked, as part of her statement was a reference to the fact that she and Spyro had fought the Dark Master twice now, as in two different lives, and that they wouldn't have to worry about such a thing repeating again, not after what her father did to their foe's soul, while at the same time it referred to the fact that they had fought him twice in Capora, meaning they wouldn't have to worry about fighting the dark dragon in Capora again, before she glanced at Flame and Aurora, who seemed to be lost in thought at the moment, "You know, you guys did rather well for your first adventure... with how well you fought some of our enemies, and how you adapted to the new skills the Elders shared with us, one would almost think that this wasn't your first time doing something like this."
"Sadly, they would be wrong, as this was our first adventure," Aurora said, though in that moment she chuckled for a few seconds as she thought about that, as she and Flame had learned what an adventure was before they returned to Capora with the heroes, but even everything they had been told hadn't prepared them for what actually happened since the two of them were sent to the beach that Spyro and the others had been hanging at, mostly because she wasn't expecting what happened during their battles with the Dark Master to happen in the first place, as this battle and the last one seemed totally different from everything else that this adventure had thrown at them, especially after witnessing the sheer power that both the Dark Master and Malefor had unleashed.
"Still, that doesn't change the fact that you guys learned fast while watching us fight and did a great job helping us liberate the homeworlds of Capora from the Dark Master's grip," Spyro stated, as that needed to be said, the two dragons that had joined their group had done a wonderful job taking down the enemies they had encountered over the course of this entire adventure and had learned a lot while they followed the group, so much so that he would definitely call them heroes after this adventure came to an end, though as he said that the rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement, showing that they agreed with him.
"Thanks, that means a lot coming from you guys," Flame said, because while he and Aurora weren't expecting all of this to even happen when the Professor sent them to Dragon Shores earlier, which almost felt like a lifetime ago given everything they did since this adventure started, he had to admit that their new friends were right, they had learned a lot during their travels across the lands of Capora and, against all odds, had helped liberate the four homeworlds from the dark dragon that had been trying to take everything over, before he sighed for a moment, "though given everything that happened to us, and by that I mean our battles with the Dark Master, I think Aurora and I are tapped out for the foreseeable future... as in I don't think we'll be seeking any additional adventures after this one is over."
"You say that now, but in about a year's time you'll be aching for a new adventure," Hunter remarked, as that was what he and Elora, and later Bianca and Cynder, not to mention the rest of their friends, had gone through after their first official adventure with the group had ended and none of them had looked back yet, even though part of him did wish he knew magic or something, just because it would give him another weapon to use in case his swords or his bow were taken out of the equation, where he sighed as he realized he would be replacing his weapons and Amelia's blades when they got back home, given that their blades were broken thanks to what the Dark Master did to them, "or maybe you won't... I mean, at this point in time I think we've saved nearly every set of homeworlds and islands that is scattered across the planet, so we might not have another adventure to look forward to."
Spyro and the others glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew Hunter was right, thanks to this recent adventure they knew that most of the islands and continents of their world had been saved from the various villains that sought to take them over, to which Spyro took a moment to look up at the sky and focus on what was far beyond the clouds, as in the two moons that orbited their planet and, according to the Orrery that was back in the laboratory, at least four larger orbs that had to be planets, as there was always the chance that something off planet might be the next adventure for all of them, before he shook his head and decided that he'd wait and see what the future held before trying to reach one of the moons or one of the other worlds. A few moments later Spike announced that, thanks to Malefor's help, everyone was ready to go and that all of the cracked or broken bones had casts around them, so they could heal with ease and no heal in the wrong position or something, to which he combined his magic with Malefor's, since the first purple dragon was still tired from pouring his magic into his final attack, and together they cast the same Teleportation spell the Dark Master had used to bring all of them to this place, where they teleported back to Icy Wilderness, where they found Moneybags and everyone else that had been left here just resting in the ruined village, where it was clear that they were done trying to fix everything that the Dark Master had damaged during their first fight with him. Based on what everyone could see it did look like the only building that might have been spared during that battle was the one Moneybags had set his shop up in, or at least that was the excuse he had given the supposed villain back before this adventure had started, back when all of them thought Red was in control of his actions and that he wasn't a pawn that was dancing to the Dark Master's tune, but as they considered the now freed dragon for a moment they noticed that someone was missing, which just so happened to be when Moneybags informed him that Red was resting upstairs, not to mention the fact that this building was large enough for everyone in Icy Wilderness to rest in while they rebuilt everything that had been damaged. Vicky, on the other claw, seemed relieved when they told her that the one that damaged her homeworld, who she now knew was the Dark Master, had been dealt with and that he had been punished for his crimes against her land and the rest of Capora, which allowed her to breath a sigh of relief as she tended to the fire that warmed up the rest of the building, as while Spike had done away with the foul enchantment on her necklace she still liked to get rid of the cold with a fire, which the rest of the displaced individuals of her lands, of which there were a few, were happy to have.
Before they headed out, to collect the last stolen egg and the last of the Light Gems, Spyro checked on Red and found that he was basically the same as when he and the others helped him free his body from the Dark Master's hold, reuniting his soul with his body, meaning it would be some time before he was able to wake up and walk around again, to which the group bid the others farewell for a few moments, where Malefor stayed inside the building since they didn't need his help in this regard, before they retraced their steps towards the area that the last of the golden doors rested in, where it was easy for them to see that all of the spinning traps had been deactivated. Thanks to that they were able to reach the area that the pair of close set of walls rested, the two smaller sets that formed a path up to where the door in question rested in, to which those that could perform the Wall Jump technique used it to get up to their destination and those that didn't were aided by Bianca forming a set of icy steps for them to jump up, though as they did that they could have sworn that Sgt. Byrd was flying towards the camp Malefor and the others were resting in, to which they decided to leave him alone as they came to a stop in front of the last of the golden doors and Spike unlocked it like he had done to the others, revealing a short tunnel that lead to what was likely the last area they would explore before ending this adventure. Normally they would have expected that a tunnel would be guarded by some sort of guards, like a Gnorc Brute or something, but all the group could see were piles of gems and containers that needed to be broken for the gems that were inside them, so while Ember smashed the pair of metallic chests and a bullseye chest Spike considered what they were seeing and informed the rest of the group that any enemies that might have been in their way might have perished with the downfall of the Dark Master, as in his magic must have been connected to them and totally erasing their foe might have caused the guardians of this area to return to their original states, leaving the piles of gems that they were seeing right now. Once the tunnel was cleared of containers the group walked through the opening that was in front of them and discovered that it brought them to an area that looked like it was a river that, somehow, hadn't frozen over due to how cold it normally was in this realm, but there were a few crates for them to jump on so they could explore the other sections of this area as they looked for the last couple of items that they were searching for.
The pair of crates that were in front of them, slightly to the right of the edge of the walkway that rested at the end of the short tunnel that had brought them here, lead them right to a small structure that was likely a small hut, surprising free of damage, which was just odd given everything that the Dark Master trashed during their fight above the island, but at least the path leading to a golden chest was just fine and they were able to pick up a number of gems to add to what they had in the normal gem bag, where Spike found that a light green dragon egg with blue swirls had been locked inside the chest, the last of its set and, more importantly, making it the last of the eighty eggs that had been stolen, which would make the dragon in charge of them overjoyed, to which he sent it off instantly. With that done Spyro lead them back to where the crates rested and headed down the other path, where they jumped over a few crates and used a few platforms to reach an area that had some poles that allowed them to reach an even higher area, one that contained a tunnel that had a pair of large snowballs rolling around some wooden paths, though Spike simply used a bit of his magic to stall the snowballs and opened the way for them to keep moving, even though that brought them to an area that had one of the water wheels and had a whirlwind that could bring them back up to where they were currently standing, once they were done exploring the lower area. From where they were standing it didn't seem like the water wheel was all that important in the grand scheme of things, as all they had to do was glide down to the area that an inactive gadget pad was resting in, something that allowed them to use a nearby set of floating platforms to reach the part of this area that the final Light Gem rested in, where Spyro jumped over the few platforms in question and collected the Light Gem, allowing Spike and the others to smash any straw baskets, metallic chests, and bullseye chests that were scattered throughout this area, collecting all of the gems that were inside them, and once that was done, and the final Light Gem was stored inside the bag the others rested in, the group turned around and headed back through the path that had brought them to this area, allowing them to head back to the opened golden door so they could walk back to where Malefor and the others were waiting, as it was time for them to bring an end to this adventure and get some well earned rest at last.
As such the group lowered their guards, since there were no enemies left for them to worry about, and walked back to the first part of Icy Wilderness that they had appeared in when they first started exploring this homeworld, before the Dark Master had wrecked everything with his power, even if they later discovered he had been holding back during their fight, and quickly returned to where the somehow intact village rested, where they found the Penguins were out and about right now while Vicky and the Elder that had been imprisoned inside her castle, Alain, sat close to where the fire rested, where Malefor and Moneybags rested as well, and they could easily see that Sgt. Byrd and Blink were here as well.
"Hey guys, how did things go with the Dark Master?" Blink asked, as he was interested in how things were going for all of his new friends, due to the fact that this was his first time being a hero and he knew that they had been making their way towards the destination that the main villain of this adventure had been lurking in, while at the same time Sgt. Byrd stood at attention, mostly to learn whether or not they were done liberating the lands of Capora from their foe, even though the fact that his friends had returned to Icy Wilderness again told him that they might be done with their quest.
"Well, we helped Malefor take him down and save the world from his foul plans, not to mention recovered the last of the dragon eggs and the last of the Light Gems," Spyro replied, though he could see that their friends breathed a sigh of relief as they heard him say that, as this meant that the Dark Master had been defeated and there was no need for them to even worry about the dark dragon they had come here to fight, while at the same time it was clear that they were interested in hearing the tale, especially given the damage that had been done to this homeworld, before something came to mind as he faced Vicky for a moment, who was still staring at the flames in the fireplace, "Princess Vicky, to help you put the lands of your homeworld back together, after all the damage that has been done to them by the Dark Master, we'd like to give you seventy-five percent of the gems that we recovered from the Dark Master, which is roughly about sixty thousand gems in total, maybe a little more given that we found some more fallen gems earlier."
"I appreciate the gesture, I really do, but I think you might be a little too generous with the treasure you recovered while taking down your foe's minions," Vicky said, her tone showing that she really did appreciate the gesture and that she could do wonders with the gems that were being offered to her, but at the same time she wasn't just going to take nearly all of the gems from Spyro and the rest of the group, hence the reason that she thought about what was going on right now as everyone waited for her to speak up again, before she smiled for a moment, "How about this, we split the gems evenly, that way you get some sort of reward for your actions."
"If that is what you wish," Spyro answered, mostly because he knew from experience that trying to argue with those that watched over the lands of Capora was a bad idea, or at least it seemed to be from what he had seen when talking with all of the Dragon Elders, though his answer seemed to please Vicky and that was when Spike took a seat nearby, which was the moment that he pulled out the bag that contained the normal gems they had collected over the course of exploring all of the realms and homeworlds of Capora.
"What do we do now?" Flame asked, because he had been expecting it to take them a bit longer to find the last two items they had been looking for, the last dragon egg and the last Light Gem, so now that they were done collecting everything he was curious as to what was going to happen next, even though he and Aurora were standing by their decision that this would be their only adventure, despite the fact that Hunter believed that they would be back in action when they found another villain to take down and another set of islands to save.
"Now we rest and heal, before we even think about doing anything else, which includes going to the beach," Cynder said, as she knew what Spyro and his siblings would do in this situation, especially since several of their friends had sustained a few injuries during their battle with the Dark Master, so returning to Dragon Shores would have to wait for a week or so, which all depended on how quickly Elora and the others healed, before she chuckled for a moment as she thought about part of what she just thought about, "you know, we never did get a chance to rest after our first great battle with the Dark Master, not after everything that happened... its going to be hard coming to terms with the fact that he's no longer going to be a part of our world."
Spyro nodded his head for a moment, as he was the only one of the group that truly understood what Cynder was talking about right now, due to the fact that they had fought the Dark Master at the end of the previous world and had perished after sacrificing themselves to put their world back together, creating the world they, the rest of the group, and Malefor had just saved from the dark dragon, before he joined Cynder near one of the walls as everyone scattered so they could take a seat and do whatever it was that they wanted to do before they even started to worry about finding a portal back to the Dragon Realms. It didn't take Spike long to count out all the gems that they had recovered and separated them into two piles, where about forty-five thousand was kept inside the bag he and the others had stored them inside, which would be their cut of the treasure, while the other forty-five thousand was stored inside a second bag and he handed it over to Vicky, who would be able to do wonders with the amount of gems that they had collected, as it appeared that he and the others had found a bit more gems than he originally thought, but at least this gave Vicky something to work with once this adventure was over and she could get back to working on restoring her realm. Once that was done Spike walked over to part of the building and pulled out his writing materials once more, where he opened the journal and reread what he had written so far, which wasn't a great deal given the last break they had been given was right after the first battle with the Dark Master, before he picked up his quill and resumed writing what had happened since they started exploring the last of Capora's homeworlds and faced the last of the dark dragon's minions, even though he would need a great deal of time to digest and write down everything that happened during their last battle with the Dark Master. While he did that Bianca took a moment to look down at the fragments of her wand, as she had collected every piece of it after the battle with the dark dragon had ended, before she sighed as she realized that finding a suitable replacement was in order, even though part of her had mixed feelings about losing her weapon, as it had been her first wand and she cherished it like it was her greatest possession in the world, which it no longer was since her relationship with Hunter had taken that role, which also included her friendship with Spyro and the others, while a small part of her was slightly overjoyed to lose the wand since it had been a 'gift' from her previous mentor, Morrigan.
The rest of the group, on the other hand, took up positions around the rest of the building, staying on the first floor since none of them felt the need to go upstairs and rest in one of the beds that were up there, though it wasn't long before the Professor appeared outside the building, no doubt having used the Teleportation Device to get here, before they found that he was joined by the rest of the Dragon Elders, who sat down around the main table and asked what in the world had happened to Icy Wilderness, since this was the first time they had witnessed everything that Vicky was going to have to fix in the near future. Malefor explained the situation to Elder Harnell and the others, telling them about the fact that Spyro and the others had entered the nearby cave and had found Red inside it, the supposedly banished Dragon Elder who all of the assembled Elders had banished long ago, back when they discovered his dark nature, before revealing that they had been wrong in assuming that it was Red who was committing the crimes they had charged him with, as his soul had been torn from his body and stuffed inside a phylactery, a container meant to keep a soul inside it, while the soul of the Dark Master possessed his soulless body and took control of it. That was when the Elders realized why their friend had such a sudden and drastic change of heart, turning away from being one of their greatest champions and took on the role of the evilest dragon to ever grace the homeworlds of Capora, because the dragon they thought was doing the crimes wasn't actually Red, it was the Dark Master, where the group could see that they were relieved to hear this piece of news, as one or two of them had always held the belief that Red was innocent, despite the evidence that proved otherwise, and this was all the evidence they needed to justify what they had been saying the entire time, something that caused the other Elders to nod their heads and admit that they had been wrong, as they had an expert telling them what was going on and that he had explained why things had happened the way they did. While Malefor talked, and told the Elders what had happened, Spyro glanced over to Spike for a moment, who nodded his head and went back to his writing, as at this point they knew Malefor had faced the Dark Master once in the past and that was where he gained all his knowledge of the soul based magic that the dark dragon had used, no doubt either having stolen another dragon's body or had created a body of his own to do battle with, before they decided not to worry about it and focused on resting.
"Its a relief to hear that Red wasn't the cause of all those crimes and that the true criminal has been punished for all of the crimes he has committed," Elder Titus commented, where a smile graced his face for a moment as he thought about that, just like what happened to the rest of the assembled Elders, showing that they were happy that Red had been freed from the darkness that had been in control of his body and that, at some point, he and the others would be able to welcome their old friend home at long last, who would be overjoyed to be in control of his life once more, to which the Elder took a moment to turn their heads towards the group and bowed their heads in a respectful manner, and even Alain, the one Elder who insulted them earlier, did the same thing, "Spyro, you and your friends, as well as Flame and Aurora, have our thanks for not only saving the lands of Capora from the Dark Master, but also liberating and returning Red to us, which we shall forever be thankful for, just as we are sure Red will feel the same way when he wakes up... speaking of which, when we be able to see him?"
"That's a question that I can't answer, as his soul has been separated from his body for so long and it seems that he might have slipped into a coma, but at least he's breathing," Malefor replied, as while he knew that the Elders would want to see Red, after all the years that they spent apart and assumed that their friend had started walking down the path of evil and had been consumed by the darkness he had uncovered, even though he and the group knew that the Dark Master was the one that had discovered Red first, before he sighed as he considered something, "it could be a few days, a week, a month, or even a year before he wakes up from his slumber... I honestly can't say, given we have no idea when his soul was torn from his body and was replaced by the Dark Master's soul, so we'll just have to wait and see."
The Dragon Elders glanced at each other for a moment, where it was clear that they really wanted their friend back, likely so they could apologize for not rushing to his aid when they noticed that something was off about him and just banished him to whatever land they had sent him to, before doing whatever else they wanted to do with Red, as the group had no idea what the older dragons wanted to do with the freed dragon who was resting upstairs and would have to wait and see what the future held for them, if they were nearby when they talked with Red. Regardless of what the Elders did, the group was glad to have reunited Red's soul with his body, pushing the Dark Master out in the process, and thanks to Spike calling in Malefor they were able to bring down their foe, even if it had taken them a lot of effort to actually push him to the point where his soul could be wiped out at long last, hence why they were going to take a well deserved break before they did anything else, given everything that happened not too long ago. While they did that Spyro and his siblings knew that the Leaders of their homeworlds would be impressed by what they had just done, even if they would be more surprised by the fact that the Dark master actually existed and that Malefor had to destroy his soul to stop him from coming back, but now the world was safe and they were sure that a new celebration would be held as soon as they got back home, something all of them were looking forward to at this point, since a taste of their normal lives would be welcome at this point in time, before they resumed what they did between their adventures and hoped that there wasn't a third one around the corner, as none of them were remotely ready for another villain to interrupt them and their friends. All they knew was that they would have to wait and see what the future held for them, though for right now rest was necessary and then they would see what else they could do to help the residents of Capora out, given what happened at the end of some of their previous adventures, as Flame and Aurora were going to do that and the others would assist them to the best of their ability, before facing whatever else the future had in store for them.
Spyro and the others spent another week in Capora, doing what they did to all of the other lands they had saved from the other villains that sought to take over the lands and rule them with an iron fist, which was pretty much just helping Flame and Aurora return things to how they had been before the Dark Master launched his assault on the four islands, though it was clear that the pair were definitely considering this being their first, and only, adventure, which was understandable given everything they had experienced since the start of the adventure they had been on, even though the more experienced members of the group knew there might be another one in the future, given what the past had thrown at them after the very first adventure the siblings had been on. The Dragon Elders and Princess Vicky were happy to have some additional assistance in restoring order to some of the realms that they watched and ruled over, though it was rather easy for them to do so since there weren't any of the gem enemies to worry about, as with the Dark Master's defeat all of his creations had fallen apart and returned to their original form, though some of the creatures whose forms had been stolen were actually rather passive, meaning the ones they had faced had been modified by their foe, though they did have to knock around a few creatures in the process, just to get them to agree to the peace the others enjoyed. By the end of the week in question the group was sure that Capora would be like the Dragon Realms, Avalar, Avalion, and all of the other lands they had saved and assisted in the past, the races coexisting in peace and harmony with each other, though one of the more interesting things was that the Mermaids that had been inside the ruins actually left their home and swam up to the surface so they could see dragons with their own eyes and stop calling all of them fish, like the first one had done when they explored Sunken Ruins earlier. Another reason for their stay in Capora, other than to help the Dragon Elders and their new friends, was so their wounds could heal up nicely, as Malefor had mixed some of his magic into their casts to ensure that their bones healed correctly, and once the seventh day arrived they were able to take off the casts and flexed their previously cracked or broken bones, finding that the damage the Dark Master had done had been reversed and they were totally fine, which was another reason they were thankful for the first purple dragon's help at the end of this recent adventure.
While they did that Spike spent his spare time completing his work on the journal that would become the book detailing their efforts in Capora, complete with illustrations of some of the enemies they had seen, the types of people they had met, and even a set of near perfect drawings on what the Dark Master looked like, something that really impressed those that came over to see what he was doing, though that wasn't the only thing he ended up working on, as he and Malefor spoke for a time on something that he had been thinking about, since the end of one of their previous adventures, and hadn't told anyone about.
"Spike, what are you and Malefor talking about?" Elora asked, speaking up once everyone had gotten their casts taken off and were able to make sure that their previously injured bodies had been fully healed, where she found that her wounds had healed nicely and, more importantly, that there was no damage to her body, something that the others found when they checked their bodies as well, before she focused on what the pair of dragons were doing at the moment, where she and the others could see that there was a drawing of a building of some kind resting between them.
"We have been discussing the possibility of creating an academy of some kind, to teach the next generation of heroes how to fight and to pass on how we help people," Spike replied, referring to all the skills that he and the others had picked up over the course of their adventures, and they had picked up quite a number of powerful techniques and skills, despite the fact that a good number of their skills would have to be held back, given how powerful they were, before he considered something else for a moment as Malefor refilled the juice glasses they had been drinking from, "plus we were trying to come up with a list of individuals that could become professors, or at least that's the idea that we've been talking about, and this academy would be built in the newly dubbed Skylands."
"I can understand where you're coming from, and I'm sure that there are many who would jump at the chance to join such an academy, especially after everything you guys have done," Hunter remarked, as he was referring to all of the various races that Spyro, his siblings, and their friends, which he was part of, had assisted over the years, because if he, Elora, Bianca, and Cynder, at the very least, were anything to go by he suspected that many of the other races would feel the same way, that they would jump at the chance to learn from the heroes that had saved their lands and their homeworlds from those who were trying to take over the lands in question, to which he smiled for a moment, "I'm sure that if you guys built such an academy, and fulfilled everything that you are planning on putting inside it, you would have a good number of heroes lining up to learn from you and whoever you selected as the instructors... if it wasn't for the fact that we learned from the Peace Keepers, and quickly learned how to match some of your skills, I know that I would have definitely signed up to be a student and, eventually, become a hero through whatever trials the students will be going through."
"Trust me, we're not planning on forcing students to do anything like what you just went through, but we are considering sending them to help realms out," Malefor said, his tone revealing that he was happy with what he and Spike had planned out so far, even if they were technically in the early stages of planning the academy and that it would be some time before they could move onto the next stage, as they needed to tell the Dragon Leaders, Elders, and all of the other leaders of the other lands what their plans were to see if everyone was interested in such a thing, before he took a sip from his glass and glanced over to the rest of the group, who were sitting around the building that Moneybags had set his shop in, though he had closed up the shop since it was of no value at all since it had been an attempt to get information from their foe, which he had failed to do, "other than that we haven't done much, other than help out the Elders and check on Red, whose still sleeping last time I checked with Elder Harnell, whose staying near him at all times while the others continue to restore the peace that the Dark Master shattered. How's the Professor doing?"
The reason he asked that was because no one had seen the mole in question since the Dark Master had been bested and he had been told of the news, to pass it on to the rest of the leaders of the other lands, but once that was done he left all of them to their devices, which had been helping everyone in Capora, so he was interested in whether or not Cynder or her friends knew what he might be up to, even though he was also sure that they would hear from the Professor once he was ready to tell them whatever he had been doing since the last adventure had ended.
"He told us that he was heading to the wrecked laboratory," Cynder replied, where the reason she knew that was due to the fact that Spyro had asked their friend that question when he last came to the house that they were resting in, so this was just her telling her father what she knew on the matter, before she considered what she had heard for a few seconds and came to a decision on exactly what the Professor might have been interested in, "actually, he might have gone there for the Orrery, since that was still in one piece, despite the ruined nature of the rest of the lab that the Dark Master had built so long ago, so he's likely dismantling the area so he can reassemble it somewhere safer."
"Good, it would be a shame to lose a machine like that," Spike commented, mostly because he was interested in the fact that the machine showed their world, the two moons, the sun, and what looked like three or four more planets, which he was interested in since there was nothing on the other worlds or what the distance between their world and the others happened to be, due to the fact that space was a total mystery to him and all of the other scholars, before he grinned for a moment as he considered what the Professor might be doing at the moment, "there's no telling what sort of information we could gleam from the Orrery, so it would be nice if he was able to secure it and transport it to a brand new area for us to study it in, like one of his labs or something."
"I see. Well, its good to hear what he's doing," Malefor said, as he had to admit that idea of learning what the Orrery had to offer them and the rest of the world, and that was counting just the basics based on what they had seen inside the lab that it had been resting in, though as he opened his mouth to say more, however, they heard something on the second floor shift for a moment, which made sense due to the fact that one of the Elders was up there, which caused everyone else to glance up at the ceiling of the first floor for a moment as they wondered what was going on, but when they heard the brief sound of Elder Harnell's staff hitting the wooden floor.
In that moment the group burst into action, wondering if Red had finally woken up or if some new threat was invading Icy Wilderness to draw all of the heroes to another set of islands, where they headed up the stairs, as safely as they could due to the fact that they could only head up the stairs in a single file line, though what they discovered a few moments later, as they came to a stop in the open second floor, was that nothing terrible was happening, rather it seemed that something good had happened as they found that Red had woken up and that the reason Elder Harnell's staff was on the floor was due to the fact that he had been surprised by what his eyes were showing him, though it was clear that Red was shocked and confused by what was going on, given that the Elder that had been watching him happened to be in the middle of a hug, showing the group that he was overjoyed by what he was seeing.
"H... Harnell? What's... going on?" Red weakly asked, showing that he was still exhausted by what he had gone through and that there was a chance that he might not even be aware of everything the Dark Master had put him through, or if he did he could be repressing all the stolen years to prevent him from having a mental breakdown, which would make sense due to the fact that his soul had been forcefully ripped from his body and stored inside the phylactery that the dark dragon had told him to create, with the intention of using it on him, before he noticed who was standing nearby and grunted for a moment as he tried to leave the bed he had been resting in since he had been freed, even though Harnell stopped him since he was ready to do anything major at the moment, but that didn't stop him from bowing his head towards the group for a few seconds, "Wa... Wait, I know you. Th... Thank you for saving me..."
"You're welcome. We couldn't just leave you in the, um, situation we found you in, so we had to step in and save you from the darkness we found you in," Spyro replied, though he didn't want to trigger any bad memories on accident, since that would only harm Red in the long run and prevent him from even getting over what had happened to him, though he could tell that the rest of the group seemed to agree with what he was doing, but as he did that Malefor pulled out a quill and a piece of paper, which he quickly wrote on and then briefly nodded his head for a second as he held the paper towards Harnell for a moment, "Um, is something going on?"
"Its just a recipe for a potion that will help Red out," Malefor explained, revealing that, given his extensive knowledge of the forbidden soul based spells he had learned over the years, thanks to what the Dark Master had done before disappearing for a long time, until he showed up in Capora, that he had created something to help those that were effected by what the dark dragon had done to them, something none of them really felt like asking since it would likely give some a nightmare or two in the process, "there's not much else we can do, given everything that's happened, so this is the best I can offer at the moment, along with some time to talk if you want to discuss whatever happens next."
Elder Harnell nodded as Red laid back down, because while the formerly banished Dragon Elder might want to get up and see what had happened to the lands he was supposed to be watching over and protecting, just like his friends had done to the best of their ability, he knew that he didn't have the energy to really get out of bed and that it would be a some time, as in anywhere from a few days to a week at the very least, before Malefor beckoned for the others to follow him as he made his way back down to the first floor. Once everyone was back down on the first floor, but before they resumed doing what they had been doing when they heard the Elder drop his staff in surprise, that was when Malefor told them that they had to take a break, as in go to the beach like they did whenever they finished an adventure, and that he would likely return to Warfang for a time, just to be sure everything was going well without him being there since he had left Ignitus and the rest of the Guardians in charge of the city, but he would make sure to send word if anything happened, in either his home or in the newly freed lands of Capora, or any of the other lands for that matter. It didn't take Spyro or the others all that long to even agree to that, since it would be nice to take a small break before they did anything else, to which they told Malefor that his idea was a good one and that they would be excusing themselves for a time, where they departed from the house and headed for the area that the Teleportation Device was resting in, as while the Professor hadn't linked the device that were in the homeworlds of Flame and Aurora's lands to one of the other lands, like they expected, Spyro was planning on using it for a few seconds as solid ground for one of Spike's portals, hopefully with nothing bad happening since he had no idea if this was a good idea or not. Fortunately that didn't seem to be much of a problem for Spike, as he weaved a basic spell on the pad of the Teleportation Device to prevent it from interacting with the magic he was going to be casting next, though once that was done he activated his magic again and opened the way back to the Dragon Realms, the homeworld of the Artisans to be exact, and it wasn't long before it was stabilized, allowing them to pass through the portal and return to their own home, where Flame and Aurora joined them since they weren't needed in their own lands, and even if one of the Elders needed them they could ask Malefor or the Professor to get in touch with them.
Of course Nestor was there to greet them, as he had been in the middle of something and had paused his discussion to see what the group might be up to next, but after figuring out that they were heading to Dragon Shores at long last, since they usually went there after an adventure was over and they were a little late this time around, he nodded his head and let them head through the portal that would take them to their destination, where Flame and Aurora smiled for a moment as they stared out at the area in question, as this time around they would actually be enjoying their time here and not be uninvited guests like what happened the last time they had been here.
"Its going to be nice experiencing this place as actual visitors and not uninvited guests," Flame commented, though at the same time the members of the group that were wearing clothing headed off to the side for a time and quickly came back with the same swim suits that he and Aurora had seen the first time they met the group, while all of their weapons, pieces of jewelry, and everything else they might be carrying, like Spike's bag and what they were tied to, were set in the sand and were kept safe for the time being, "not to mention that we need to relax after everything we went through to take down the Dark Master and restore order to the homeworlds of Capora... even if the adventure was far more than what we were originally expecting it would be."
"Trust me, some of these adventures can be more than what you might expect at first," Elora replied, as she and Hunter, at the very least, had a similar experience to what Flame and Aurora had just gone through with their first adventure, but as she said that she glanced down at her changed body, due to the fact that she was actually referring to how her body had been changed by Ripto's wild magic, before focusing on the waves as Spyro and Cynder dived into the water, which just so happened to be when she grinned as the pair splashed each other without wasting a single second, "but, even though we have faced some difficulties in the past, thanks to the enemies we faced or the villains we had to bring down, I wouldn't trade my adventures with my friends for anything in the world, as they are some of the best years of my life, and I'm sure Hunter and everyone else that has joined Spyro, Spike, and Ember will agree with me. Still, I can understand your desire for this to be your first, and only, adventure, so you won't have to worry about anyone trying to force you to return to the hero business, not unless you decide to join us whenever the next adventure finds us and we find a villain that needs to be brought to justice."
"We'll see about that," Aurora said, though at the same time Flame nodded his head and dived into the water that was in front of them, something that seemed to put a smile on her friend's face as she watched him do that, though even as that happened she noticed that Spike was in the middle of pulling out the six odd gems that had been formed during the final battle with the Dark Master, which caused her to tilt her head for a moment as she saw that, "Really Spike? I would have thought that with a week off you would have researched those gems and already discovered everything there was to find about them, before storing them away in whatever area you were planning on keeping them in, or whatever you might have been planning on doing to them once your research was concluded."
"Just trying to figure out what that Harmony magic was and why these gems seem so lifeless now," Spike replied, though that didn't stop him from placing the six odd gemstones in front of him and stared at them for a few seconds as he pulled out the rest of his research materials, as his statement was due to the fact that the gems contained the same coloration that they had possessed when they were formed, but, at the same time, whatever magic had been inside the gems had vanished entirely, meaning each of the six gems were basically pieces of treasure once more, something that would cause him to hand them over to one of the Leaders of their homeworlds, Malefor, or even the Elders of Capora, but he wanted to be sure there was nothing dangerous about the gems before he did anything like that, despite the fact that none of his studies were yielding any results at the moment, "Also, I'd like to learn more about the odd magic we hurled at the Dark Master, even if it didn't do much against him, purely because its something entirely new and we know absolutely nothing about it, but, based on the way things are going, I don't think I'm going to learn anything new... not unless the life returns to the gems and they become capable of channeling that magic again, which would be rather disappointing if we couldn't learn anything from these gemstones."
Aurora seemed like she wanted to say something, anything that might convince Spike to stop worrying about the gems he happened to be studying at the moment, before she sighed for a second and headed into the water that was nearby, due to the fact that she wanted to relax and was planning on leaving Spike to his own devices, though Hunter worked in the sand and started to work on a castle of some kind as the others did whatever they wanted to do with their time off, which was interrupted by the arrival of Bentley, Sgt. Byrd, and the rest of their friends, as while many of them had been busy at the time of Flame and Aurora's arrival in the Dragon Realms they were interested in meeting the newcomers and learning more about them. Sol was with the group as well, where he was eager to meet their new friends, and he made sure to put down a basket that came from Alvar, a large one that contained lunch for all of them, something that put a smile on the faces of everyone else, though as they did that Blink, who had joined Sgt. Byrd in leaving Capora, so he could explore all of the other lands of the world, walked over to where Hunter was working and dug into the sand for a few moments, where he seemed to mumble about how sand wasn't the same as the rest of the earth he loved to dig through, before he used all the displaced sand to create a small hut of some kind, one that gave him the feeling of being underground despite the fact that he was clearly above ground, to which the group decided not to bother him or correct him. Bentley and the rest of the group, on the other hand, scattered around another part of the beach and started throwing a disc around, as one would take up a throwing stance and send the blue disc flying through the air, where someone would would either jump up and catch it or allow it to lower down to where they were standing and catch it with ease, though it did cause some of the others to watch what they were doing, as Amelia joined them not a few seconds later as she snatched the disc right out of the air, landed nearby, and then sent the disc flying towards the area that Bentley was standing in, who grinned as he caught it not a few seconds later, showing that having another player only made things more interesting for him and those that had started playing the game with him. Spyro was happy to see that everyone, as in their friends from Avalar, Avilion, Doxantha, and Capora, was getting along just fine and that everyone was having fun, so they could rest and relax before they tackled whatever the future held for them, though as he thought about that he noticed that Bianca was in the middle of walking over to where Spike was sitting, which meant she was either interested in learning a new spell or she was interested in helping him understand the mystery of the odd gems.
What happened next was that Bianca gathered her magic for a moment and then cast a spell that caused a bright flash to cover the area she was standing in, though when the light faded the rest of the group noticed something different about her right away, because she had transformed the lower half of her body into that of the Mermaids, as she had been very interested in the race that they met in Sunken Ruins, where her new tail was purple colored, something that caused her to bring her hand to her face after she crashed into the sandy beach, no doubt due to the fact that she had forgotten that she needed to be sitting when she cast the spell, and her gesture might be due to the fact that the coloration of her brand new tail wasn't what she had been thinking it would be, but that didn't stop Spike from using his magic to help her get over to the water, due to the fact that he had been sitting a bit away from where the water hot the beach.
"Was she always able to do that?" Sol asked, as this was the first time he had seen someone in the group take on the form that Bianca had taken on, where he watched as Bianca remained still as Spike brought her over to the water and then, as they reached their destination, she slipped out of his hold and went into the water, where she started to swim and see just how well this spell worked, though his question was directed towards Spike, because he was the one that would be able to accurately answer his question and explain what in the world was going on right now, even though everyone else seemed interested in just enjoying themselves, and Elora was laying in the sand nearby and seemed to be enjoying the sunlight, if the smile that was on her face was any indication.
"No, its a spell that she was in the middle of designing after meeting the Mermaids of Sunken Ruins," Spike replied, as he knew Bianca had asked him about such a spell several times over the course of the last adventure, usually when they let Sparx and the other dragonflies head through the holes that allowed them to access some areas that he and the others couldn't access normally, though he smiled for a moment as he watched what Bianca was doing, as she was testing the waters, so to speak, before she truly dived under the water and pushed this spell to its limits, so while he might not gain any information from the six gemstones he could gain some information on the brand new spell that Bianca had created over the course of their last adventure, "basically, its a Transmogrification spell that allows one to take on the appearance and form of a Mermaid, though either there are a few more tweaks that need to be added to the spell or its ready to be added to all the tomes that contain all of the spells we know about, though its hard to tell if the spell uses one's favorite color for their tail or if its supposed to copy the coloration of the rest of their body."
"Well then, why don't you use it on someone else, like Amelia or Elora, to test out your theories?" Sol inquired, as he knew what Spike was like and suspected that he was already thinking about trying it on someone else at some point in the very near future, just so he and Bianca could understand the spell his apprentice had created before they put it inside all of the tomes that detailed the spells a dragon, or anyone else that could wield magic, could learn how to use, though as he side that the rest of the group, or the vast majority of them, went back to what they were doing before the flash of light drew their attention to what Bianca had done, "I'm sure that someone would be willing to help you out, given that you know how to safely go about testing such a thing and, more importantly, how to return your helpers to their original forms once all of the testing was done."
"Yeah, not happening... at least for me, anyway," Elora spoke up, though as she did that she raised one of her arms for a few seconds and stared at the scales that had replaced her normal fur, back when they finished the second adventure that Ripto had been a part of, before she sighed for a moment before staring out at the water as Bianca burst out of the water and did a flip, showing Spike and those that might be watching that she was experimenting with her transformed body so she would have a good idea as to what to tell Spike when they went to write about this spell, "Thanks to what Ripto did to my body, well, I'm more worried that pouring more magic into me, for a Transmogrification spell to be exact, might finish what was started when we saved the realms of Castle Hills and transform me into a full dragon... not that I have anything against that, since Spike and the others are great heroes, its just that I would be totally lost if such a thing happened to me, so no more magic like that for me."
"And we'll see about testing the spell out later, depending on what Bianca has to say," Spike added, though he knew that Elora didn't want to risk finishing what Ripto had done to her, hence why he never pitched such a question to her, but at least it looked like Bianca was having fun with the spell she had created, hence why she dived below the water and totally vanished a few moments later, to which he chuckled for a moment as he returned to where the gems were resting, as with Bianca under the water he couldn't see what she was doing and had to leave the spell research in her hands, so he would focus on the gemstones again, "for now, however, I'm going to continue to rest and do my research on these six odd gems, and, more importantly, give Bianca all the time in the world that she needs to experiment with her new form, especially since she seems to be enjoying herself right now."
Sol said nothing to that as he headed over to where everyone else was gathering, and that included Blink since the rest of the group that was on the beach convinced him to leave his makeshift hut and join them, where it took the mole a second to understand the concept of what the others were doing before he threw the disc, something that was followed by a faint smile appearing on his face as he joined the disc throwing group, where Spike was sure that he would truly smile in time and just enjoy himself, just like what the rest of their friends happened to be doing at the moment. One thing that Spike could make a positive note of was the fact that the part of Bianca's new spell that allowed the user to breath underwater worked just fine, as some time passed, about three to four minutes, and he didn't see her surface at all, meaning she was doing just fine and that she would be back up whenever she was done with whatever she was testing out right now, hence why he focused on his own studies, even if the gems had seemingly lost all the magical power that had been inside them, which was making what he was doing pretty much impossible. Spyro and Cynder, for the most part, just remained in the water and enjoyed themselves as they took turns splashing the other by using their wings to knock up the water, or doing stunts in the air before diving like a cannonball into the water, something that encouraged several of their friends to clap whenever they did an impressive stunt, as that allowed the both of them to show off their training and gave Flame and Aurora an idea of what else they could learn in the future, if they desired such a thing anyway, and after this adventure the siblings were sure that Titan and the other Leaders would be willing to teach the newcomers some new tricks to help them in whatever they want to do. While they did that Bianca finally resurfaced, after about ten whole minutes by Spike's count, and she revealed that she had found a few interesting things while she was under the water, some crystals that looked like they were unrefined gems, an old wooden chest that had a busted lock and had some gold and silver coins inside it, and a statement that she had found what appeared to be a pirate ship of some kind that was partly destroyed, something that interested Spike since he knew that none of the records inside the libraries of the Dragon Realms said anything about the existence of pirates, but, at the same time, that meant there was something for them to learn about and study, provided they readied a submarine and got permission from Nestor and the others to see what was below the water of Dragon Shores, and he was sure their Leaders would be interested in this as well.
Spyro grinned as he looked at the rest of the group for a moment, as there was a number of things that they could do in the very near future, as there was whatever the Professor was working on, they could try to figure out what was located in Bianca's newly discovered wreck, Malefor likely had some more training for them, and who knew what else, as the more they explored their world the more they learned about the various lands and those that called them home, and with all of the plans that Spike had created with the first purple dragon, but he knew that whatever the future held he and the others would meet it like they had done everything else in the past and tackle anything that tried to bring them down.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember spent the weeks following their break in Dragon Shores training with the Leaders and the more experienced dragons that had all sorts of skills and techniques to impart to them, though the reality was that Titan and the rest of the Peace Keepers were running out of things to teach the group, though that was more in the sense of what they could learn in their quadrupedal forms, as once all of them matured into adults he and the others would be able to truly start their real training, even though that didn't stop Titan from allowing Elora, Hunter, and Amelia, at the very least, to see the techniques a bipedal adult dragon could learn after they matured. Of course Spike only joined his siblings whenever he wanted to study the skills that they were learning, as while there were tomes and scrolls on the subject it was another thing to actually witness it with his own eyes, so he was mostly an observer who watched everything that happened, though at the same time his own training had come to a near complete stop, as Cosmos had nothing left to teach him, the archives had no more to impart to him, and none of the other Masters in the other types of magic had anything left to teach him, so for him to learn more about magic he either had to read the items in the Archives of the Arcanaeum, see what Warfang's library had to reveal, or train with Malefor himself. While he did that he noticed that the majority of the group focused on training with Titan and the other Peace Keepers, learning whatever the powerful warrior dragons had to share with them, while at the same time he and Bianca went over the lessons that he had to share with his apprentice, who was learning how to truly tap into her magical power and not need a wand, even though having a new one would be good for whatever the future had in store for all of them, despite the fact that Bianca told him that at one point she'd like to move up to using a staff or some other magical artifact to better focus her powers, like how all of the Magic Crafters had something that allowed them to do the same thing. Spike was sure that either she would find some sort of item to be her magical focus or she would make one in due time, just like the rest of the Magic Crafters and magic users that came before them, but even then he did his best to make sure she was capable of understanding and casting the various spells that he had to offer her, picking up from where they left off since they had been interrupted by both Ripto's attempt to take over Castle Hills and the Dark Master's return.
Of course, while they were doing that, Bianca gave her friends, the Leaders, the Elders of Capora, and Malefor an idea of what she found inside the wrecked pirate ship that was resting near Dragon Shores, something that came as a surprise to the majority of those she gave that information to, especially since Nestor and the rest of the Leaders knew that there were no records of pirates ever being in the area in question, something Spike confirmed, which meant that whoever had been aboard the ship had run aground somewhere and sunk near the island in question. At the same time, however, the items that Bianca had been able to find in the wreckage had interested everyone that came to see what she had found, as it was uncommon to even find some unrefined gems in this day and age, not unless one went to the various mines that all of the dragon clans had set up over the various lands they lived on, as the dragons of Doxantha and Capora were just like those that lived in the Dragon Realms, though it was interesting to see the gold and silver coins that were inside the small chest, mostly due to the fact that the usage of coins had been phased out a long time ago, allowing the metals to be used in other ways, like in creating staffs, inlay on weapons, and whatever else came to mind. Bianca revealed that the pirate ship was about the size of one of the metal ships that had been created by Gnasty Gnorc, one of the smaller ships that the siblings had walked through during their first adventure, and that the only way they were going to get down to it was if she and Spike cast the Mermaid spell on everyone that wanted to head down there to investigate it, or get a submarine and carefully head down to the depth she had found the ship in, which would be something they could do in the future, if the group and the older dragons wanted to do such a thing. The Professor, on the other hand, seemed to be thinking about what they were seeing at the moment and knew that exploring what was under the water might be a worthwhile venture, since it would expand their knowledge on what might be below the water, but at the same time they knew he was in the middle of working on something else, though they had no idea what that something was since he was keeping it a secret from the group and would tell them the moment he was ready to reveal his plans to them, and several of the Machinists shared his opinions, which meant that they had to be working on something big at the moment.
The conversation concerning what Bianca had found under the water happened the day after the group had gone to the beach, to finally rest and relax after everything that had happened in Capora, something that everyone enjoyed since that meant none of them had to worry about anything happening, and in the following days they discovered that both Flame and Aurora would be sticking around for some time, just so they could see what the group did between each adventure, even if they weren't planning on tackling whatever adventure came next. Of course that didn't stop Titan from pulling the two of them into the training sessions that he had for the group, mostly so he could see just how much they had learned while traveling with Spyro and the others, as he had heard how skilled they were and wanted to see their skills with his own eyes, something that eventually became them joining those that trained with the Peace Keepers, as they figured that this would allow them to better defend their homes in the future, just in case someone tried to attack their homeworlds at some point in the near future, even if Spyro and the others assumed that something like that would never happen, based on what happened after all of their previous adventures. While all of this happened Spike made sure to put the finishing touches on the journal that contained all of the information regarding what occurred during their adventure in Capora, an adventure that would excite whoever read it and would leave them wondering what might happen during the next one he, his siblings, and their friends would face, as everyone seemed to be thinking that another one would be coming and that they needed to be ready for it, to which he chuckled as he made sure Alban, Oswin, and the rest of the librarians, scholars, and dragons that called Dark Hollow home were ready for the latest addition to his adventure series. One thing that most of the group knew was that the Gnorcs who worked in the amusement park of Dragon Shores were going to have a rather hard time putting the latest story into a play, like they had done in the past for the adventures they had done before this point in time, something that prompted Flame and Aurora to question what they were talking about and was followed by Bianca arranging for everyone to take a day off so they could see one of the plays inside the theater in the amusement park, which would detail the very first adventure that Spyro, Spike, and Ember had gone on, since it would give the pair a good idea what they were talking about.
As it turned out Flame and Aurora were surprised by what they saw, as a day or two after Spike finished his latest book all of them returned to the island and headed over to the amusement park, allowing them to enter the theater and take some a seat in one of the rows that had been prepared when this place had been made, before they witnessed the start of the very first adventure, where the siblings had watched as all the adult dragons had been blasted by Gnasty Gnorc's spell and had been trapped inside crystalline statues, causing them to go on an adventure to release the adults from their prisons, to collect all of the gems that had been stolen or turned into enemies, recover the stolen eggs, and take down the beings that were Gnasty Gnorc's lieutenants, before facing their foe in battle at long last.
By the time the play was over it was clear that Flame and Aurora were totally surprised by what they had seen, as due to all of the spells and disguises that went into making these plays, to make it seem like Spyro, Spike, and Ember were on the stage and not in the seats, while at the same time modeling the scenery to match each of the realms they had been, it was almost as if they had been watching their first adventure when it happened and hadn't been watching a play put on by a race who turned over a new leaf and wanted to do right by the dragons. While they did that Elora informed the pair that the Gnorcs had done a good job replicating everything that was in the tomes that were given to them, as to make sure the plays were accurate they were given their own copies of Spike's adventures, and they did a good job replicating her old form, not to mention Hunter, Bianca, Ripto and his dinosaurs, and pretty much everyone else that the siblings had met as they explored the various lands of the world, which only made Flame and Aurora wonder how well both of them would be replicated once all of the Gnorcs got to this adventure, not to mention the Dark Master, which might terrify some watchers if they were being honest. Despite their thoughts about the dark dragon they had fought, and what may or may not occur when the Gnorcs got to the adventure that had just ended, their friends from Capora were totally interested in what they might see if they watched any of the other plays and the group promised them that they would come back at some point to show them some of the other adventures, which also made the Gnorc Actors happy since that meant they were doing a good job at exciting newcomers with the tales of what Spyro, Spike, and Ember accomplished in the past, which also now included Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Cynder, and the rest of their friends. It was also a nice change of pace, in addition to going to the beach and enjoying themselves for a time, and the group suspected that they would be back several times in the very near future, so Flame and Aurora could see the rest of the tales that Spike had chronicled so far and determine just how stilled the Gnorc Actors actually were, something that everyone was fine with since they hadn't seen all of their tales brought to life and figured that it would be a good way to spend some time as they waited to see what in the world they might be doing next, because since they two adventures so close to each other it made them wonder about things, even if many of them were hoping a third wasn't around the corner.
As for Spyro, Spike, and Ember, the most experienced members of their group, they knew that time would tell and that all they could do was wait and see what might happen next, to which each of them returned to enjoying their day in Dragon Shores' amusement park as they showed Flame and Aurora around what the Gnorcs had created back between their first and second adventures, because while the three of them were waiting for something new to be built, and they knew that Nestor and the others had signed off on new attractions being added while the existing ones were modified to be safer for guests, they could at least show their new friends the existing ones as they waited to see what the future held for them this time around.
What the group discovered was that three months went by, since the end of their last adventure to be exact, before they were called back to the Machinists homeworld, which meant that something must have happened or the Leaders wanted to speak with them about something in that particular land, or maybe it was something different from what they could think about and it just so happened to be on a day that Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Amelia, Flame, and Aurora were visiting the siblings and Cynder, leaving the rest of the group being busy in the rest of the lands of their world, to which the flyers took to the air as Bianca teleported those who couldn't fly on their own. It didn't take them all that long to reach the island that was their destination, mostly since there was nothing in the air to stop them and there were no obstacles to worry about, like what they would find inside some of the Flight Realms that they had tackled in the past, but one thing they could see from the part of the air that they were flying in was that the AS Harmony was resting in the dock that was just outside the starting area for the island that the sixth dragon clan called home, where it happened to be resting in the water and was in its normal ship form, instead of the airship form they were used to seeing. There wasn't much else for them to see from where they were flying, meaning that if there was something different about this land it would be through one of the few portals that rested near the dock or it was under the water, though instead of overthinking things the group descended to the metallic dock and landed on it, where Bianca followed after them and dropped the others not a few seconds later as she landed at the back of the group, something that was followed by them walking over to where the airship rested, which still focused Flame and Aurora when the others told them what it was. Of course the pair would be surprised by that piece of information, as they hadn't witnessed this ship transforming into its true form since they joined the group, though while they did that it was easy to see that Nestor and the other Leaders were standing on the deck of the airship, along with Fury for that matter, though Malefor wasn't present and that meant he was back in Warfang, working to secure his city or taking some time to create a new training program for the group, something they would learn the next time they saw him, hence why they focused on those that were on the deck of the airship.
"Ah, good, you guys have arrived," Nestor commented, to which he and the others smiled for a moment as they waited for the group to join them, which didn't take them long as everyone jumped onto the deck of the airship and landed nearby, to which they walked over to where he and the other Leaders were standing, something that was followed by Fury taking a moment to nod in the direction of the control center for a few seconds, where it wasn't long before they felt the ship move for a moment and started to leave where the Machinists homeworld was located, even though Spike was sure that they might be heading towards Dragon Shores, even though it was too early to tell right now, "I'm sure that you guys are eager to hear what we'll be doing today, given everything that we've done in the past, and, even with giving nothing away, I'm sure that one of you already has an idea as to what we might be doing, so I'll get straight to the point: we went over what Bianca sent us, on what she found beneath the water of Dragon Shores, and we've decided to investigate the area and see what else we might discover."
"Okay, but how are we going to get there in a timely manner?" Aurora asked, because based on what she and Flame were seeing at the moment this was a rather impressive ship, one that was beyond anything that she had seen in Capora, but even then she knew that it would take them an hour or two to reach the area that Dragon Shores was located in, possibly three if they were unlucky, since it seemed that the Leaders wanted to use this vessel, so she figured that she could ask the question before they got too far from the Machinists homeworld, "Don't get me wrong, this is an impressive ship, but it doesn't seem like its going to get us to our destination with time to spare, as it seems like we'll be spending the majority of the morning heading to the island in question."
That was when the rest of the group grinned for a moment as the ship came to a sudden stop for a few seconds, but just as Flame and Aurora started to open their mouths the ship made a noise and the four hidden propellers emerged from under the water, something that caused the pair to stop for the moment as their jaws dropped not a few seconds later, as this was a surprise to them, before they braced themselves for a few seconds as the ship forced itself into the air and only leveled off a few moments later as it headed towards Dragon Shores.
"That, Aurora, is how we're going to get to our destination in record time, with an airship!" Eldrid replied, where he and the others were pleased to see just how shocked the pair was, as this was their first time seeing the AS Harmony in action and its hidden capabilities, though even as he said that Fury walked into the command center and took control of the airship once more, as he had been training one of the Balloonists to take his place at some point in the future and he knew that it would be a few more years before such a thing happened.
Since they had some time before they arrived at their destination Spike explained that this was an airship, a vessel that had been designed to allow them to get to the area that Doxantha rested in some time ago, before they met the pair and explored the lands of Capora, and that it had the power to switch between the ship they were seeing and an airship that allowed them to get to certain locations faster, plus the fact that this was a research vessel, something that caused Flame and Aurora to pause for a time as they watched what happened before their eyes, even though it wasn't long before the rest of the group noticed that one of them had something else that needed to be asked.
"You guys have an airship... okay, that solves that problem, but it leaves another one you haven't thought about, based on what we've heard so far," Flame said, almost as if he and Aurora were trying to find some faults with what the group might be doing, more in the sense that they hadn't prepared for what was going on right now, but even as he thought about that he realized that Spike was nearby and that, even if the Machinists didn't have something planned for the next step, it was likely that he had something in mind to get them below the water, "How are we going to get below the water and see what else might be near the pirate ship?"
"Don't worry, we have something in mind for that as well," a voice said, to which the group glanced over to where the voice was coming from and found that the Professor was standing nearby, though he had a smile on his face and that meant he must have done something impressive, especially since he had been one of the ones to build the AS Harmony in the first place, with the help of the Machinists and the Breezebuilders, which had to mean there was another vessel either on this ship or it was waiting for them in Dragon Shores.
Flame and Aurora said nothing to that as they traveled through the air, as they weren't sure what to say to what they were seeing at the moment, though it was easy to see that both of them were interested in everything that was going to happen when they reached their destination, which Spyro and the others shared an opinion on since they had no idea what they might find when they went under the water and explored Bianca's pirate ship, and thanks to the speed of the airship, in its flying state, it only took them ten or fifteen minutes to reach Dragon Shores, something that meant that Fury wanted them to get here as quickly as possible so they could investigate what had caught their eyes, and it was followed by them hitting the water not even a few seconds later as the propellers powered down and hid themselves. Once that happened, and the group was sure that the airship had come to a stop near the beach of the island that they had been heading towards, that was when the Professor beckoned for them to follow him as he headed into the inside of the ship and began to make his way down to the lower levels, even though that was when Spyro and the others noticed something that they hadn't seen the last time they had been inside the airship, which just so happened to be when they went to Doxantha, before reaching a door that seemed to lead into what many would assume was the heart of the ship, though it didn't have a label that said it was an engine room. It was in that moment that the Professor raised a hand and pulled out a key that unlocked the door that they had discovered, where they stared at the massive interior of the AS Harmony, as by Spike's estimates the airship was roughly about one hundred meters in length, or about three hundred and twenty-eight feet, which meant that the room they were staring at was in the range of sixty-five to seventy-five meters, though that was followed by them focusing on the main attraction of the large chamber in question. That was when Spike found an oval shaped vehicle resting in the direct center of the chamber, one that was about sixty meters in length and that meant the chamber itself had to be more in the seventy-five meters range, though it was a rather deep vehicle of some kind that looked like some of the various submarines the group had seen during their adventures, only this one was longer than the personal subs and they had the feeling that this was meant to be an underwater research vehicle of some kind, a companion to the airship that this sub was currently connected to based on the metallic devices that were holding it in place.
"Behold, our latest invention, the Cyclops Submarine!" the Professor exclaimed, where it was clear that he was excited by what they were seeing and that he was eager to show everyone the underwater ship that had been created, either after Bianca discovered the wrecked pirate ship, created after the last adventure had ended, or it had always been inside this chamber and he never bothered to reveal it to them, possibly due to it being incomplete or it wasn't ready, but now it was time for him to reveal it to them and let them pilot it at long last, "With this vessel, being piloted by Fury and two his most trusted crew members, you will be able to descend into the depths and see what else might rest in the wreckage that you discovered shortly after what happened in Capora... who knows, maybe you'll find more than the pirate ship during this venture, which would really be something."
The group discovered that there was a ramp that walked over to where the entrance of the submarine was located, where each of them dropped down into the inside of the Cyclops and made room for the others to drop down after them so they could see what was inside the vessel, though it wasn't long before they discovered that this particular level had a mess hall that was styled in the same manner as the Harmony's mess hall, there was an area at the back for them to rest in, and the front of the vehicle contained what appeared to be the area that the Captain and his crew would work in, complete with a half circular glass dome to allow them to see what was around them. It was in that moment that the group met the other two Breezebuilders that were going to be part of this expedition, both of whom had lighter colored feathers than what Fury had, likely pale colored based on what the group was seeing right now, and their attire was pretty much the same as what their commander was wearing, only scaled down to show that they were either a lower level than Fury was or, as the case might be, they were of equal ranking but didn't like to show off their status, though when the pair glanced in their direction the group discovered that one was male and one was female, something that was confirmed by Fury when he told them that the male was called Coulson and the female was Maria. After that Fury revealed that there were two more levels to the Cyclops Submarine, one that was entirely dedicated to the engine and making sure everything ran smoothly, plus the fact that it had security doors which required an access card to get through, one of which Fury was carrying and the other was a spare that he wouldn't tell them where it was, while the third and final level of the vehicle had an area that was designed to be a safe observation area, complete with a few glass panels that allowed them to stare out at whatever might be around the submarine, a number of chairs and tables for the group to rest at while not scratching up any of the glass that was around them, and a secondary entrance that was more for people to disembark from the submarine, as it had been designed for Bianca in mind, given her new Mermaid spell. Once the group had an understanding of what was inside the submarine, even though Spike would be spending his time studying the entire vehicle at some point, Fury took a moment to nod to his fellow Breezebuilders as he took control of the Cyclops, to which the group braced themselves as the submarine shuddered for a moment, which was just the clamps released and the vessel hit the water, though that was when they discovered that the floor of the chamber had split open and allowed them to do that, meaning the chamber had been made to carry and deploy the Cyclops.
Not a few moments later the Cyclops descended below the water and the group watched as they left the surface behind, though as they did that Bianca took off her robe and left most of her gear in the observation area, almost like when they relaxed on the beach of Dragon Shores, but instead of saying anything she slipped into the chamber that would allow her to disembark and head outside, where Spike felt a brief surge of magic and it wasn't long before Bianca appeared right outside the observation deck, in her Mermaid form, to which she waved towards the group before swimming up to where the first deck was located and beckoned for them to follow. It was in that instant that Spike understood what was going on right now, as while Fury and his crew had a good idea as to where the pirate ship might be located, due to the report that Bianca had written on the matter, it would take them a while to follow what she had written and having her use her new Mermaid form like this allowed them to follow after her, while at the same time being able to save time, so he quickly told the rest of the group what he knew before glancing out of the observation area to write down everything that was resting around the Cyclops. Bianca, of course, looked like she was enjoying herself, so that allowed the group to focus on where they were heading right now, as it didn't take them all that long to spot a rather large pirate ship, which was roughly the same size as the wrecked ships they had seen in Lost Fleet, during their third adventure, though it was in bad condition, as if it had been fighting another vessel before sinking, or maybe it had hit some rocks and sunk, even if those rocks were no longer in this area, and it sure looked like it had been snapped in half due to the damage it had taken, though it was deep enough to where light still shined down on where it was resting. As such it was easy for them to see what rested around the broken ship and found that the immediate area, interestingly enough, happened to be rather smooth and had next to no sharp rocks anywhere, even though there was seaweed, coral, and some barnacles here and there, but from what the group could see it appeared that everything of value hadn't been touched since the ship went down, save for what Bianca did the last time she was here, despite the fact that she only moved a little of what they were seeing so she could show all of them what was resting below the waves.
It didn't take Spyro long to call for Fury to stop so they could disembark and see what was resting around the wreck, which was followed by the Cyclops stalling not a few seconds later and was the calling card for Spike to make sure each of them, or at least those that wanted to head out and investigate the wreck up close and personal, had the enchantments that he had used in the past, to make sure they were safe wile they were underwater, that they could breath without having to return to the submarine for air every now and then, and anything else that might help all of them out, such as enhanced sight for example, before nodding his head. Once that was done the group carefully put the items that they didn't want to take outside in some of the nearby seats, where they would be safe and sound until everyone returned to the submarine, and then headed for the part of the ship that would allow them to disembark, where they went two at a time with Spike being the last one to leave, giving him a chance to see that this chamber had a mechanism to purge the water that entered it when someone either boarded the ship or disembarked, that way the water didn't flood the insides, even though all of his stuff was enchanted to resist being ruined by water, but it was an interesting mechanic to see. The moment everyone else disembarked from the Cyclops, and were swimming around the area that was around the sunken pirate ship, Spike did the same thing and joined them without wasting any more time, where he headed down to where the break in the two halves rested, as that seemed to be where Bianca was focusing her efforts on, while Elora investigated the front half with Spyro and Cynder as the rest of the group focused on the surrounding area to see what else they could find, as there was a storage area aboard their submarine and they were sure that they would find some interesting things to add to the small pile of items Bianca had found so far. While they did that it was also easy for Spike to notice that Fury and the others could see what they were doing from the pilot area of the Cyclops, which made sense in case they found something that they wanted to investigate that was in another section of the area that they were currently in, but as he took a moment to think about that he focused his attention on what was in front of him and found that there was a set of stairs leading down to the second deck of the pirate ship, where the cannons and cannonballs would normally rest, which were present and did look like they were either rusting or being covered in sand, which was when Elora swam over and placed a stone in front of him, which appeared to be a piece of marble that was the size of his head.
When they investigated the part of the ship she had found the stone in Spike was surprised to find that the entire treasure hull of the ship was packed full of marble, where it was easy for them to assume that this had been part of the reason the ship had gone down, due to excessive weight by the looks of things, and it didn't take Spike long to notice the runes that had been etched into each piece that was in front of them, as even the stone Elora had brought over had several magical runes on its surface as well, but what these would have been used for was the mystery they might never solve, given that there was nothing to tell when the ship had crashed into this area. That was when Bianca swam over to them and placed a nearly identical chest to the one she had found previously in front of those that were investigating the marble area, where they found that it contained a number of coins and gems, the latter actually being cut in a similar manner to the treasure all of the lands placed inside their individual treasuries, where Spike estimated that these gems counted as a hundred in terms of how everyone counted gems these days, possibly two if they were pushing it, before Bianca gestured with both of her hands for a moment and indicated that there were ten to twenty additional chests resting in the part of the ship that she had found this one and the last one in. The group didn't need Spike to give them any estimates as to what was going on at the moment, because while it was easy to tell that this chest and the last one were identical in contents, meaning Bianca had found anywhere from one hundred to four hundred gems between the two, there was no telling if the rest of the chests were the same way, as it was possible that some of them might contain more gems than what they had seen so far, which would drastically increase what they were finding, or there might be a larger chest somewhere that no one had seen yet that could contain a vast amount of treasure inside it, something that caused them to continue their search of the wrecked pirate ship. What happened next was that Spyro, Spike, and Cynder followed after Bianca as she headed back to where the chest treasure room was located in, while the rest of the group carefully moved the marble out to see if there was anything else in the lowest deck of the ruined ship, even if that meant they would have to do the same to the half that Spyro's group was heading into, though what Spyro and the others found that Bianca was correct, there were twenty more chests inside the room she had discovered, all roughly about the same size as the ones she had shown them, with two or even three of them being larger than the rest, to which they swam forward and investigated the chests.
As they moved the chests around, however, Spike found something interesting as he moved one out of the way, as it was a smaller chest that was designed to hold a single item inside it, where he carefully moved the other chests out of the way so he could pull it over to him and see what might be contained within the more ornate wooden chest with metal inlay, which just so happened to have a gleaming crystalline gemstone that almost looked like the head of a trident, like the ones that all of the warrior Mermaids carried. It took him only a few seconds to understand what he was staring at as he carefully pulled it from the chest, as there was a magical aura to it that seemed to be pointing in another direction, meaning it was a Wayfinder Stone, something he knew that was magically tied to a certain location and could be used to direct them to the area in question so they could see whatever it might lead to them, as it had to be linked to something based on the magic he was feeling, where he took a few seconds to carry it outside and found that it was pointing in the direction of one of the other islands of the Dragon Realms, maybe the Artisans homeworld. He glanced at the others for a moment and each of them nodded their heads as they finished what they were doing, which happened to be moving several of the chests back to the Cyclops so they could study the contents at a later time, but once that was done they returned to where Spike was swimming and Spyro beckoned for Fury to follow after them as they carefully left the area that the wreck was in, as they would come back to it at a later time, and headed into the depths as Spike followed the Wayfinder Stone, tracing the magic to the area that it was leading him towards, though thanks to the Mermaid spell Bianca was able to check the surrounding area and make sure nothing came at them while they were doing this. While they did that Fury and his crew followed after them at a significantly slower pace than what they used to get down to the wreck, mostly due to the fact that they had no idea what the group was looking for, which everyone else shared since this was totally new to them, so this would let them stop a few seconds after Spyro and the others did, even though they descended a little as Spike followed the magic that he felt inside the stone, as it seemed that whatever it was leading them to was deeper under the water than where the ship had been resting, or at least it sure seemed that way.
It took them a few minutes of descending, which was a real test of the runes Spike had put on them and he was happy to see that everyone was just fine as they delved deeper beneath the water, before they stopped at the edge of what looked like a massive crater, a caldera to be exact, that had a large city built in the center of the area, to which Spyro gestured for Fury to stop the Cyclops and waited for him to do so before he and the others swam down into the area they were staring at, heading straight for the city that seemed in the oddest of places. The first thing they noticed was that it was arranged to be someplace that a species would have called home at some point in time, as there were houses made out of white stone that was rather smooth, marble pillars that were slightly taller than Bentley and seemed to be markers that lined the roads for the city, even if the cities were made out of smooth grey stones that were locked into place, an area they assumed was a marketplace, and a few temples, three to be exact, where one was near the edge of the city they were entering from, the second was close to the middle of the city, and a third one that was slightly larger than the others and rested on the other side of the caldera. That was when each of them noticed the large structure that was close to the center of the city that all of them assumed was a castle of some kind, due to the fact that it seemed far more regal than anything else in the city, but even as that happened the group descended down to the street that was below them and they followed it as they stared at the city, where they found something else that was interesting, there was a magical barrier around the city that allowed Spike determined allowed individuals to breath normally and walk like normal, even though that allowed him to see that there was another aspect of this barrier, Bianca was moving around in her Mermaid form like she was still in the water, which confused the group as they noticed it. Everything became clear when Spike noticed something they had missed, as there were a number of Mermaid statues, both of the male warriors they had seen and the females that they had met in Capora, meaning that this had to be an ancient city of the Mermaids and that they had erected a magical barrier to make sure their guests were at ease, meaning this had either been above water at one point or it had always been underwater and other races had called the islands that made the Dragon Realms home.
"Spike, this can't be what I think it is... can it?" Bianca asked, showing that she understood what they were seeing right now and that she couldn't believe what was around them, while at the same time, despite everything that rested inside the city, she and Spike were staring at the final temple, as they could feel something strong in this area and they wanted to know what it was, something that only confused the rest of the group and caused them to follow along as each of them stared at the rest of the city that they were surprised to have found under the water.
"Atlantis... ruled by the first of the Mermaid rulers, King Atlan, and those that followed before they supposedly split into seven clans and scattered across the seas," Spike replied, where it was clear he was also excited by what they were seeing right now, since this was one of the lost wonders of their world and he found it hard to believe that it rested so close to the lands that he and his siblings called home, even if Malefor might have known given what was said to be hidden inside this city, before he started to move as he and Bianca headed for the final temple, causing the rest of the group to follow them since they were also interested in what they might find next.
What they found inside the temple was that there was next to nothing for them to see, rather there was a statue resting in the direct center of the structure, one that was a regal and noble figure that had to be a Mermaid, or Merman since it was definitely male, whose chest armor and crown revealed that this had to be King Atlan, who looked like he had been one of the greatest rulers the city had seen, and he held a stone trident with both of his hands and made sure it was resting right in front of his face, or at least they assumed the weapon since the head was missing, to which Spike pulled the head out with his magic and slipped it into place, something that caused part of the chamber to shift as the statue was pushed back and another statue of King Atlan, only it had a full metallic trident that radiated power.
"And there it is, the legendary Trident of Atlantis, forged from Tungsten and infused with a fragment of the Ocean Master, the Elemental Lord of Water," Spike finished, coming to an end of the statement that he had started when they found out what the city was, though this was exciting and he knew that the others had to be sharing his excitement as well, to which he held a claw up for a moment and stopped everyone else from saying anything in response to what he was saying, as he did know that there was something odd about what he said, "Yes, I know what all of you are thinking, 'but there are only nine Elemental Lords, Spike', and while that might be the truth it is also incorrect, as the tenth Elemental Lord is even more elusive than the other nine, save for the Elemental Lord of the Aether, who only Malefor has seen, as the Ocean Master is the last of the Elemental Lords... and, based on the fact that Malefor helped forge the nine runeblades we've seen, I would hazard a guess that he helped King Atlan forge this weapon, and its said that only a Mermaid could wield this, but after all we've seen with the other runeblades I would have to wager that such a thing was a lie to keep it safe."
"Only one way to find out," Bianca stated, where she reached out with her right hand and grasped the metal handle of the trident for a moment, something that was followed by the hands of the statue releasing the weapon from its resting place, causing her to pull back for a moment with the trident in her hand, where she spun it around for a moment and the water seemed to follow its movements as she did that, even though green scales formed over her wrists and seemed to take the shape of a bracer that stopped halfway between her wrist and her elbow, in a pointed manner, "Ugh, Spike, should I be at all worried about this?"
"Probably not, as this is likely how someone knows they can use the runeblade," Spike replied, though this was exciting, as they had found a lost city and a lost weapon after partly exploring a wrecked pirate ship, meaning something must have been protecting Atlantis from evil and assumed that they were friendly, or maybe whoever owned the ship just hit a bunch of rocks like he originally thought, before he smiled for a moment as he imagined what else they might find down here, or what Bianca could do with a magical trident like this, which they would figure out in the future.
For now, however, Spyro called for them to return to the Cyclops and head back to the surface so they could tell those that hadn't come down here what they had discovered, especially so close to the Dragon Realms when one thought about it for a few moments, as they were sure that most of the dragons and their friends would be shocked by this information and their amazing discovery, which was having no effect on the city or the surrounding area, meaning it was okay for them to remove the trident from its resting place like this, and it only made them excited for whatever the future held in store for them, especially after this discovery.
Upon returning to the Cyclops, after checking out the city a little and finding such an important artifact, Spyro and the others boarded the submarine as Fury directed the vehicle back up to the surface, where they stopped by the pirate ship on their way back to where the airship was resting, giving them a chance to collect the last couple of chests that had been inside the room Bianca had found the rest of the treasure in, not to mention the Wayfinder Stone Spike had discovered, though once that was done the group returned to the vehicle and boarded it, all so they could return to the surface and show the Leaders what they had discovered. Bianca, of course, made sure to cancel her spell once she was back inside the Cyclops and found that the trident didn't seem to mind what happened to her body, meaning the legend about it only being used by a Mermaid or Merman was definitely a lie or something that was incorrectly written down, but as soon as she had her robes on she and Spike studied the weapon that was in front of them and took in the fact that they had just recovered the last of the weapons that had been forged from fragments of the Elemental Lords, even if eight of them had been hidden inside Malefor's Arcanaeum and the ninth was purposely hidden for safekeeping. When they returned to the airship, and the Cyclops docked in the large room it had been held in before they came to investigate the pirate ship, the group returned to the surface of the ship and informed the Leaders of everything that had been found so far, something that interested all of them when they heard of the existence of Atlantis, possibly a vast amount of knowledge that was resting inside the city, and the recovery of the lost trident of the first Mermaid King, which was really a surprise for the Leaders when they saw that Bianca was holding it and that it existed in the first place. The existence of the trident made Nestor and the others wonder what else they might find inside the former lost city, especially when one considered the legends and tales regarding Atlantis, something that told the group that they would be coming back here at some point in the future and would be investigating the rest of the city, just to understand what else might be down there and just how many of the tales were true, though Bianca did take a moment to spin the trident and showed off its power as she tapped into the water that was around them.
Of course she made sure to do that once they were standing outside on the deck of the airship, mostly since it gave them a better view of what she was doing, and the water responded as she channeled the power of the trident, just like how she had seen Spyro and the others use the powers of the runeblades, before cancelling out what she was doing before Fury raised the airship and returned them to the dock that rested on the edge of the Machinists homeworld, allowing them to return to what they had been doing before they left, even though the Leaders were planning on making arrangements for several more ventures to the area that Atlantis was resting in, something that caused Spike to chuckle as his group left the island and headed back to what they had been doing before being called here.
As the next couple of months went by the group experienced the same routine that they were used to, where some days they trained under Titan and the Peace Keepers, other days most of them rested while watching Spike train, be it learning a new spell or teaching Bianca and several Magic Crafters how to wield the magics that they spent their lives perfecting, as he had a few tips and tricks for them, and some days the group was allowed to rest and just relax without having about any training, as having a rest period allowed them to come back fully prepared and ready for whatever the Leaders had in store for them. Of course, with the discovery of the ancient city, Nestor and the other Leaders also made sure to put a few days aside so the group could return to Dragon Shores and head under the water once more, to investigate Atlantis and see what else was down there, even though the barrier that rested around the city certainly surprised those that came with them and made them wonder what else they might find, where the group smiled for a moment as they watched all of the other dragons that had joined them in these ventures. The interesting thing was that there were no guardians for the underwater city, as Flame and Aurora, after everything they experienced during their first adventure, were expecting to find something protecting the city and that they would have had to convince it that they weren't here to bring ruin to the city, but at the same time neither of them were willing to argue with the results as Spyro and the others explored the area of the ancient city they were exploring, though Spike offered the idea that if there was a guardian for the city it had taken a moment to judge all of them before leaving them alone. Of course Spike wasn't convinced that there was a guardian in the first place, as he certainly didn't detect anything that could serve that purpose, to which he focused on studying all of the statues and the architecture of the city itself, as this showed that the Mermaids had been rather skilled at making a city and it made him wonder if the other clans they had encountered over the course of their adventures were the same way, even though they hadn't seen a city or anything made by the ones in Avalar and the ones in Capora didn't seem interested in fixing their ruined area, or at least they weren't since enemies had taken over the place, and everything they found just interested them and the other dragons that were nearby.
The Professor also informed the group of something interesting, as not even a few days after their first venture to Atlantis he came to them and revealed that he was working on another vehicle, though he wasn't able to actually tell them exactly what he was working on this time, just like how he couldn't tell them about his visits to the land of Capora, the fact that he had a nephew, or that he had been working on preparing the Cyclops for them to head underwater for the first time, but, even when they thought about that, the group simply nodded their heads and said that they would wait for him to reveal when whatever he was working on was ready to be revealed. It was easy for them to assume that he was working on yet another machine of some kind, due to the fact that he loved to work on individual gadgets and the various vehicles that Hunter had used back during their adventures in Avalar and Avilion, meaning he had to be putting his effort into another one and didn't want to reveal what that something was until he was sure it was ready, hence the reason they focused on something else as they waited for the Professor to come and reveal what his latest invention might be and what they could use it for, given what the previous two major vehicles could be used for. Nestor and the other Leaders, if they knew what was being worked on this time around, were keeping their mouths shut like always, meaning it was designed to be a bit of a surprise for the group, though at this point they weren't terribly surprised by that fact and just focused on learning from the Leaders or doing whatever they wanted to do with their spare time, even though there were a few times where Spike took an hour or two off so he could speak with Malefor, mostly about the potential academy that they were planning on building in the Skylands, even if it would take some time for such a thing to be made reality. One thing that they both knew that needed to be made in the main island, the largest one by their estimates, as there were days were Spike disappeared and only returned near dinnertime, which was due to the fact that he and Malefor were measuring the size of each island and were studying the magic to see what sort of island it would become, like a fiery island or an island of lightning, would need a portal network placed somewhere, to allow residents of the other continents to travel from their home and visit the new islands, something that could be made in the future, once they had everything else planned out and ready to be made, which would take some time.
Spyro and Cynder, however, occasionally asked how Red was doing, as they were worried for him since he had spent years being trapped outside his body as the Dark Master used it to try and take over the lands of Capora, something they were able to stop and, with the help of Malefor, finally bring an end to the dark dragon's evil, though it left Red scarred and they just wanted to do everything in their power to help him out, since it would take some time for him to get used to being in control of his body again and that he needed to get over the damage the Dark Master had done, both to his mind and the rest of the world he had access to.
"Red has been improving, but it will be some time before he's back to normal," Malefor answered, informing the group as to how the framed dragon was doing now that he was back in control of his body and could control his actions once more, though at the same time he sighed for a moment as he considered everything that he knew about the Dark Master and his foul powers, especially the consequences of having one's soul ripped out of their body and being stuck in a phylactery for a long time, just like how Red had been stuck in one for who knew how long, even though the dragon had a hard time even talking about those events, hence why he didn't press Red whenever they talked to each other, "he's no longer bedridden and stuck in the house that Princess Vicky was letting him stay in, and the last time we talked I learned that he's trying to get back into learning magic, to pick up his studies from where he left off, but he admitted that he needs to stay away from the darker aspects, like he should have when he found the gemstone the Dark Master had been hiding in, as in he's going to leave those sorts of things to all of us, given our experience in those fields."
"That's good to hear, but isn't there anything else you can do for him?" Hunter asked, because this time around they were on the island that Malefor preferred to train them on, so the damage their attacks dealt to the land didn't damage one of the other homeworlds, and when he thought about all the years that Malefor has been guarding the world, protecting it from nearly all the dangers that could have possibly harmed any race that was near him, he found it hard to believe that the first purple dragon didn't have anything else that could help Red get over the years that he spent separated from his own body, trapped inside a phylactery while the evilest dragon in existence tried to take over the world.
"Hunter, the damage was done by the Dark Master, so its not something that can be erased in a few weeks," Cynder said, though she wasn't going to call her friend an idiot or anything for even considering the fact that there might be something else that could help Red get over his ordeals, despite the fact that she knew her father was keeping most of Red's ordeals from everyone he talked to, meaning the dragon in question had to be waking up screaming or something terrible, but she wasn't about to ask her father to elaborate on what was going on with Red, "it could be a few months before he recovers, maybe even a few years to a decade... or possibly never, in the worse case scenario... but the main thing is that it will take some time for Red to recover, and if there was more my father could do to help Red out I'm sure he would have done so at this point in time."
Hunter said nothing to that as he thought about it and determined that Cynder was right, as she, Spyro, and Malefor knew more about the Dark Master than he and the others did, given that they had a past life that the dark dragon was part of while he and the others didn't have something like that to work with, before returning to making sure his equipment was fine and ready for whatever came next, be it another training session or something else, something that everyone did as well, just so they could be ready for the future.
As it turned out nothing major or important happened after the discovery of Atlantis, where Malefor wasn't even remotely surprised that they had found the lost city and the trident that was resting within one of its temples, and it wasn't until the tenth month after the end of their adventure in Capora, and the downfall of the Dark Master, that the Professor arrived in the area that the group happened to be located in, as they had been relaxing in part of the Magic Crafters' homeworld for a time, mostly since Spike had been thinking of showing Cosmos and Bianca something, only for the Leader of this land to stop him so the Professor could approach, which meant they had something planned for today.
"I know you have explored the lands of our world, part of the sea, and even parts of the air, but now we're going to explore someplace different," the Professor said, though at the same time he nodded his head and that was when the group found that Nora was standing nearby, who channeled her magic into the area that was near them and opened a portal to where he wanted to take the group, while at the same time Cosmos raised an eyebrow, either meaning he wasn't expecting this to happen right now or he was like them and had been caught off guard by what was going on, "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the area that my latest invention is resting in and we'll get you heading towards the new area that we can explore, as I'm sure that all of you will be surprised by what it will give you access to this time around."
The group wasted no time in following the Professor through the portal that was near them and waited to see what sort of area it would lead them to, especially since their friend was giving them nothing to go on this time around, though as soon as they appeared on the other side of the portal it was easy to tell that the Professor must have brought them to an island that he had created a lab on, since there was one in Avilion and it served as Agent 9's domain, even if it was a lab, though it didn't take them long to find out that this island or realm was sort of like the realm that they had fought Ripto in when he tried to assault Castle Hills, a massive fiery area that was full of magma, lava, and had an active volcano off in the distance, which make Spyro wonder if the Professor had taken Ripto's realm for his own purposes. The area the portal brought all of them to looked like it was floating on some of the magma, which meant that Malefor must have helped the Professor with creating the metal that went into making the platform that they were currently standing on, or their friend had figured out how to make a material that actually replicated Spike and Ember's natural resistance to lava, though that wasn't all that was in the area they were now standing in, as nearby rested what appeared to be a command center for a rocket, like they had seen back in Avilion, or maybe for one of those saucers that some of the sheep had been using, given that the group believed that a few of them had been captured, instead of totally destroyed. Of course that was when they noticed what appeared to be a much larger platform resting in the direction that the command center just so happened to be pointed in, which just so happened to have what appeared to be a spaceship of some kind resting on top of it, a disc shaped one that had a pointed area in one part of it that must have been a pilot seat or something, though it appeared to be about three times the size of an adult dragon, which meant it was pretty big when they considered how tall all the adult dragons were, though this also had to mean it was packed full of energy sources to make sure it did what the Professor wanted it to do. Another thing they discovered as they stared at the massive white colored disc shaped ship was that there were a few tubes of some kind that were attached to the underside of the ship, which actually looked more like pipes, just like the vast amount of the metallic items they had seen inside the last realms of Volcanic Isle, something that made them pause for a moment or two as they realized that the Professor was using the energy of the nearby volcano to power everything that was in this area, and based on the readings that Spike found it looked like everything was ready.
"Allow me to introduce my latest pride and joy, the Jupiter 2 spaceship... the first Jupiter spaceship, well, exploded and was totally ruined a month after we revealed the Cyclops to you," the Professor said, his tone revealing that he and his friends, the ones who had helped him design the AS Harmony and the more recent Cyclops Submarine, had been devastated by what happened to the first spaceship, as he was calling it, though at the same time that was when a few individuals, which were a mixture of mechanical, vehicle, and energy experts that were from all the islands of the world, meaning that this event had to be massive for the entire world, before he beckoned for the group to follow him as he walked over to what looked like the main section of this area, "we spent our time learning from our mistakes, as it wasn't until that fateful event that we even realized that there were errors to begin with, and some of those errors lead to more errors, which required us to rethink and rethink everything that we were doing... truth be told, some of those mistakes almost made us stop and come back to this when we had better energy sources, and other things, but we're certain that everything has been fixed and that a launch will occur without anything happening."
"Okay, but how are we going to pilot this ship?" Ember asked, because this time around she knew that there was no way that she, her siblings, or any of their friends could take control of such a ship and get it off the ground, and the same had to apply to Fury and the rest of the Breezebuilders, as while Fury and his crew were skilled this seemed to be out of their experience, though that didn't stop her and the others from staring at the spaceship that was in front of them as they wondered why the Professor would build something like this.
"We built this in the same style of the vehicles that Hunter used in the past, making him the most qualified among you to take command of the spaceship," the Professor replied, something that caused Hunter's jaw to drop as he focused on the ship once more, where they were able to see that there were two large legs that had to be landing devices and a ramp that would allow them, and others for that matter, to board the ship, though even as he said that some of the Machinists came out of the area they had been working in and carefully removed the pipes that were attached to the ship, right after some of their friends told them it was okay to do so, "anyway, we built these ships with a single purpose in mind, reach one of our two moons and investigate what's up there, sort of how you used the Cyclops to find the wreck and Atlantis, and that also extends to what's beyond the moons, if we figure out how to reach one of the other planets that's on the Orrery you found in the ruined laboratory."
"Wow, you want us to go to the moons?" Flame inquired, though his tone revealed that he was caught off guard by what the Professor was asking them to do, while at the same time Spike, for example, was excited by the idea of leaving their planet behind for a time to see if one of the moons, or both if they were lucky, had anything of interest for them, not that any of the tales and legends said anything about Zella and Adrano, save for the Night of Eternal Darkness, so it was hard to say whether or not there might be something up there or nothing, before he sighed for a moment as he remembered who he was talking to at the moment, "Okay, which moon are we heading towards?"
"As of right now, Adrano is the closest of the two, with Zella being further away right now," the Professor said, where they glanced at the sky for a moment and found that he was correct, the larger red colored moon was close to the area that he had built this entire workplace in, though at the same time he focused on what was going on with the consoles that were in front of him, which seemed to be his terminal since everyone seemed to be in charge of something right now, where he pressed a few buttons for a few seconds and then glanced back at them with a smile on his face, "So, what do you say? Shall we get started with the launch?"
In that moment the group didn't even bother to say anything, as they rushed over to where the Jupiter 2 rested, made sure not to trip over any of the pipes that lined the platform it rested on, and walked up the ramp so they could enter the ship, where they found that it brought them to a circular chamber that had a circular walkway around it, like it was designed to allow them to reach some of the other compartments, where a table was in the central area of the ship, before they found the command center for the ship, which housed one main chair, a terminal in front of it, two seats near a window that let whoever sat here look out at what was around them, and two more near the central seat, one to the left and one to the right. Of course, while some of them were worried about the idea of not being able to see whatever it was that those who joined Hunter would see, since this was a massive undertaking, Hunter found a switch that accessed some screens in the round table chamber, allowing those that sat in that room to see exactly what he and the others saw, before they found a number of orange suits that were designed to fit over their bodies, with silver colored gloves and boots, a number of silver tanks that contained oxygen so they could breath in space, and orb shaped helmets that would fit over their heads and all of them were specially designed to fit over their horns, spines, and ears. Hunter grinned for a moment as he found his suit and walked into one of the rooms that were around the floor they were on, just like the others did a few moments later, so when they regrouped outside the control deck, or whatever the technical name of it was since the Professor hadn't given them that information, everyone was wearing their suit and their helmets were off to the side, as that could wait until they were up in space, if they made it that far, before Spyro stepped to the side and gave Hunter the chance to be the leader for this venture, since he did agree with the Professor's assessment that he was the best one for being captain of the Jupiter 2 for its maiden voyage. Hunter was, as Spyro and the others expected, overjoyed to have a chance to show them what he was capable of, to which he quickly had both Spike and Bianca sit at the front of the room he would be sitting in, because with their magic they should be able to prevent any major damage from happening to the ship, from the outside anyway, and could quickly weave their magic around all ten of them if something were to strike them down, before figuring that he could have Spyro and Cynder at the front as well, since there wasn't much else he could do to increase their safety since they were heading into space itself.
The group didn't argue at all, something that surprised Hunter as that happened, to which they separated from each other and headed to the areas that he wanted them in, where he sighed for a moment and sat in the captain's chair as everyone else did the same thing, though once that was done he raised his hand towards the terminal that was in front of him and realized that the Professor had been telling the truth, this was nearly identical to what he had used in the past, to which he flipped a switch that raised the platform and sealed the Jupiter 2 entirely, making it air tight in a matter of seconds, before doing the same to three more switches, which caused two sections of the ship to shift a little. What he found was that the compartments in question were the engine chambers, apparently fitting inside the 'wings' of the ship, as while they were labeled with that name he could see, thanks to a hologram of the ship he could see, that both of the sections that moved were just parts of the exterior, where neither of them compromised the ship, and both of them revealed the engines that would allow them to take off and leave the ground, hence why he noticed the energy buildup as the spaceship started to power up for take off, which everyone knew the Professor and his fellow scientists had to be studying while Hunter got the spaceship ready. Once he was sure everything was ready to go, and that everyone was in their seats and were strapped in, Hunter placed his hand on the main lever for a second, mostly to brace himself for the fact that he was actually doing this and that this wasn't a dream, before pushing it forward as he activated the spaceship's engines, which caused the Jupiter 2 to shudder for a moment, causing everyone to brace for what was coming next, before it pushed itself off the ground and hovered in the air for a few seconds, giving Hunter a few seconds to raise the landing gear into the base of the ship before taking control of the ship itself as he directed it into the air. Spyro and the rest of the group watched as they flew towards the clouds that were far above the volcano and were able to reach their destination rather quickly, something that Hunter noticed before focusing his sights on the moon that the Professor wanted them to head to, where he was able to tell that the controls were rather easy for him to use and that just confirmed what they had been told earlier, though after passing by the area the clouds had been resting in everyone focused on Adrano as Hunter directed them towards it, even though he made sure none of the emergency lights went off.
It took them a few moments to reach the height of the highest island that the group had been to in the past, which was an interesting fact that Spike took a note of for later, before the ship shuddered for a brief moment as Hunter pushed right through what they learned was the atmosphere of their world, as the Professor had a communication line opened with the ship and shared what he knew about what they were doing right now, before they breached the atmosphere not even a few moments later and headed out into space, where Spike was surprised that the Professor and the others would have come up with a way for them to fly through the emptiness of space, even though Hunter directed them to the moon they were heading towards. While they did that Spike and Bianca braced themselves as they readied their magic, just in case they found anything that might require their efforts, but as the seconds ticked by Hunter discovered that there were next to no dangers in the space between their world and the moons, to which the pair lowered their hands and claws as they watched what was going on, which was mostly Adrano quickly approaching them, or rather them rapidly approaching the moon that was their destination, something that was much more massive than what anyone originally thought, which just interested Spike even more as Hunter moved the spaceship. While he did that Hunter also flipped another button and that brought up a map for him to look at, one that came from the readings the Professor and the other scientists had taken of Adrano's surface, where it didn't look like there was anything for them to really focus on or land near, which made sense due to the fact that they had no knowledge of anything happening in space, but it wasn't long before Hunter settled on an area to land the Jupiter 2 in, a sunken area that looked like a crater that had been made by a meteor, but was smooth at the base, sort of like the caldera they found Atlantis in earlier, which was just an odd coincidence. It took a few minutes for Hunter to get the spaceship to their destination, mostly since he wanted to make sure that the systems worked and that nothing was wrong with the Jupiter 2, where the Professor and his fellow scientists kept telling him that everything was just fine, even though one or two of them were surprised that no new problems had been revealed during this voyage and they were grateful that nothing was stopping this from happening, before Hunter landed in the smooth caldera and made sure to deploy the landing gear.
Once they were on the red colored surface of Adrano, and Hunter was sure that everything was in order, he made sure to power down the engines and nodded to the others for a moment, where each of them raised their helmets and put them on, even if Spyro and the other dragons needed some help doing that, though once everyone was ready to go he flipped a few buttons and deployed the ramp once more, allowing them to walk down the ramp and touch down on the surface of the moon, though even as that happened they found that gravity was totally different as they walked off the ramp and had to brace themselves as they nearly bounced away from where the ship rested.
"Okay, I wasn't expecting that," Spike commented, though at the same time he smiled for a moment as he noticed what was going on right now, even though that didn't stop Flame and Aurora from getting used to the movements of their new suits and the gravity as one of them bounced through the air and landed nearby, allowing the rest of the group to observe for a few moments, but that just told him something interesting, that due to the fact that Adrano was much smaller than their planet, as it was probably a fourth of their world's total mass, maybe even less, meaning the gravity was weaker here as well, something that only made him wonder how Zella's gravity would differ, "Fascinating. Hey, Professor, as you guys seeing what's going on right now?"
"Yes, and its as you said: its fascinating!" the Professor replied, though as he said that there were a few more voices in the background, which had to be the rest of the scientists either agreeing with what had been said or they were debating what they were seeing at the moment, where Spike was sure that both options were likely since some of them had to have their own opinions on what they were seeing and the readings they were getting, though for the most part the rest of the group ignored what they were hearing as they stared out at the moon's surface as they wondered what to do next, "Maybe you could bring us a few samples of the rocks and sand, so we can study Adrano in greater detail than every before... or just have some fun and explore the moon however you want, either way is fine with me."
Spike did just that, as in he returned to the ship for a few seconds and found a container that he could put some rocks in, so while Amelia and the others tried out what was going on, and repeating what Flame and Aurora had done, where it only took him a few moments to find some decent sized rocks that looked like they would be perfect for the Professor and the rest of the scientists, though as soon as that was done he returned the container to the spaceship and quickly returned it to where it had been stored earlier. As soon as that task was done he returned to where the rest of the group was located and found that they were just jumping around and were experimenting with the gravity, even though it was like swimming underwater, or it was in a sense due to the fact that none of them had any experience in this sort of thing, but it was nice to see something entirely new for once and experience it without having to worry about being attacked, given the fact that there were no civilizations up on the moon, or at least that was what the group assumed for the most part. The reason for the change in their opinions was due to the fact that Spyro launched himself into the air, mostly to experiment with the gravity of the moon, before he spotted something off in the distance and pointed it out to the rest of the group, as he had no idea what he had seen and, at the same time, he knew that Spike would be eager to see what was over there and that he wouldn't leave until they figured out what he had seen, something that was followed by them leaving the area they had landed in and headed to the north, as that was the direction he had seen something in. Every couple of minutes the group would stop for a moment and someone would jump into the air once more, to see if they were on the right track or not, as the area around them seemed to be the same no matter where they looked and it was hard to see what Spyro had seen, even though everyone was sure that Spyro was telling the truth and that they were a great distance away from the area he had spotted, so much so that Hunter decided to do something different, as he had Spike use his magic to return them to where the Jupiter 2 was resting and they boarded it once more, where they took their seats as he sealed the ramp, before taking off and heading in the direction that they had been traveling in. The main reason he was doing this was because it would be quicker than just walking, due to the fact that none of them had any idea how long it would take them to reach the area in question, especially since the oxygen tanks might not last forever, since they likely only contained an hour each and they had no idea if there were any replacements on the ship, so this allowed them to save those tanks for later, once they discovered whatever it was that they had seen.
It took them a number of minutes, about five to ten based on Spike's estimates, to reach anything of importance or out of place, which ended up being something that seemed totally out of place when the group as they stared at it, because on what appeared to be the dark side of the moon, a side that no one could normally see, save for specific circumstances at the very least, and there was another caldera for them to land near, but that was when they found a deep green colored structure that was cube shaped in nature and was resting on the surface of the moon, to which Hunter landed nearby and made sure everyone had their helmets on before lowering the ramp once more.
"What in the world is this?" Ember asked, though as she said that she and the others walked down the ramp and headed over to what appeared to be an entrance of some kind, as there was a shimmering barrier in a rectangular opening that was in front of them, or at least a few steps away from where Hunter set down the Jupiter 2, though they were able to pass right through the barrier with ease and stepped inside whatever it was that they had discovered, which only confused her and the majority of the group even more as they walked inside the structure.
"It... looks like some sort of outpost, to monitor our world, only it seems broken," Spike replied, as that was his best guess at the moment as they walked into the chamber that was in front of them, because the reason he even said something like that was due to some rectangular shaped devices which seemed to be screens, only each of them had been broken into bits by something, given that one's frame was totally broken and glass was scattered everywhere, before they found that there was definitely damage to the structure, given that some pieces of the ceiling had collapsed and they could see some of the stars, though he did spot a walkway that would allow them to delve deeper into the structure, which he knew would be interesting to explore, not to mention a smaller opening that seemed to be a doorway, which lead to a small room that had an odd green item resting in the center of it, one that seemed to be made from three cubes that seemed to be stuck to each other, like they were a whole gemstone or something, "Hey, Professor, you're getting all of this, right?"
"I am, and we have no idea what we've even looking at." the Professor remarked, though his tone and the quite nature of the other scientists meant everyone shared the same opinion, they were stumped by what they were seeing, even though Spyro and the others weren't even phased by the fact that there were cameras observing everything that they found over the course of their exploration of the moon, while at the same time it also appeared that he was lost in thought about the structure they had found, "Spike, I think that might be a power source of some kind, and the pedestal it is resting on might power the rest of the odd facility that you have discovered, so, well... we're not sure what to do next, so we have agreed to allow you to do whatever you want while you're up there and study the results as they happen."
Spike nodded his head for a moment, just to show the Professor that he understood what he had said, before he called up his magic and beckoned for someone to take the deep green cube shaped energy source from where it was resting, which was when Elora stepped up and gripped the item that was in front of them, as she knew that Spike and Bianca would be at the ready with their magic to protect them in case something happened, though when she pulled the item off the pedestal and jumped backwards they found that nothing happened for a few seconds, which was followed by Spike stared at the odd item, maybe a crystal of some kind, before sealing it inside his magic for a moment so he could transport it back to their ship and carefully store it away.
"Okay, so this is an ancient observation facility, as odd as that sounds, meaning something or something was watching our world at some point," Bianca said, though this was hard to wrap her head around as she and the others walked around the rest of the facility, as it didn't take Spike all that long to return to where they were standing, before she considered what such a thing might mean when she recalled who had been defending their world for the last thousand years and who the individual in question had been hunting down, "Spike, do you think its possible that Malefor knew someone was watching our world and dealt with them, before they became a threat to our world?"
"That's highly unlikely, and even if he did he'd never tell anyone, regardless if the facility was found or not," Spike said, as he knew that Malefor would have hidden this knowledge from everyone in his world, making it even more hidden than all of the other stuff that he had been protecting over the thousand years he had been tracking down the Dark Master, but at the same time he didn't blame Bianca for thinking such a thing, given Malefor's involvement with pretty much the majority of their world's history, before he paused for a moment as part of his body locked up and stretched to get rid of it, which Spyro and the other dragons did a few seconds later, "however, we are definitely the first ones to set foot, or claw in our case, in this facility for a very long time, possibly even a thousand years based on most of the events that we dealt with during each of our adventures, so we should focus on exploring the rest of the structure and seeing what else there is for us to see, before we return to the Jupiter 2 and head home."
"Guys, is something wrong with your bodies?" Amelia asked, mostly because she caught the fact that each of the dragons had to take a moment to stretch, despite the fact that they had done next to nothing since leaving their world, and she was a little worried about them, because if that item had done something to her friends she was sure it would do something to their ship and leave everyone stranded on the moon, which would be terrible for them, so she was hoping that she was just overreacting to something normal, even though them stretching seemed to be out of character since they only did it before any of their training sessions.
"No, nothing is wrong with us... though we are getting close to our fifteenth birthday, the day we mature into adults, and it is usually preceded by aching bodies and sore limbs," Spike replied, because he had read about the event and recognized some of the signs, though he wasn't expecting one of them to hit so suddenly and at the same time, to all of them, but it did confirm what the books had said and that meant he had an idea of what would happen when they finally reached the big day, when he and the others became adult dragons, before he glanced at Amelia once more, "don't worry about it, its just something that dragons go through in their lives, so its totally natural and it will be happening to us in about two more months, allowing us to become adults and take on a form that's closer to Nestor and the other adult dragons. As for right now, we should focus on exploring the rest of this facility and focus less on what Spyro, Ember, Cynder, Flame, Aurora, and I will be going through in the near future."
Amelia said nothing to that and nodded her head as they explored the rest of the facility, where they carefully headed up the diagonal walkway and walked up to what appeared to be the second floor, or at least that was what they assumed due to the shape of the facility, and found that there was a single doorway that lead to a terminal, a dark green colored object like nearly everything else that was in this area, but it seemed to be broken as well and that meant they wouldn't be able to get any information from it, though the Professor was an expert in stuff like this and might have something else to say if he was up here. Other than that it didn't appear that there was much else for them to explore, save for the secondary walkway that lead down to a lower floor, a basement they guessed, which had three more of the deep green crystals they had found inside the one room just a few minutes ago, crystals that Elora, Bianca, and Amelia picked up before the group headed back up to where the entrance was and headed outside, mostly because there didn't seem to be anything else in this facility for them to discover, to which they returned to the Jupiter 2, stored the crystals away, and then Hunter sealed the ramp so they could take off their helmets. As soon as the crystals were secured, and Spike was sure of that, that was when the group returned to their seats and Hunter powered up the ship so they could take off and head back to where the Professor and the others were waiting for them to return, where fortunately their friend had installed a tracking device that allowed them to pinpoint the area that he and the other scientists were resting in, so they would be able to land in the area they had launched from and return the Jupiter 2 to where it had been when they first discovered it, even though they had the feeling that they would be back in this ship at some point in the near future, to see what Zella had to offer them, especially after discovering the hidden facility that rested in the dark side of Adrano, because that had to mean there could be another one, hopefully in better condition, on the second moon. Of course that all depended on how long it took the Professor and the other scientists to study the odd crystals and determine what in the world they were, meaning it could be a few weeks to a few months before such a thing happened, so the group focused on returning to the area that Hunter was heading to, landing the ship on the platform it had been resting in earlier, and then returning to what they had been doing before this day even happened, all while keeping an ear open for anything the Professor might tell them about what they had just discovered, especially since he might need Hunter to get him back up to Adrano.
Other than that the group determined that, as odd as the day had been for them, it was a good day and that they were all eager to see what was next for them, be it using the spaceship once more or doing something else, even though Spike was more interested in everything they had found on the moon, and they were sure that Malefor, regardless of wether or not he knew about the facility, would be interested in hearing about what they had just learned during their venture, leaving them waiting to see what would be coming their way next.
After their expedition to Adrano, and investigating what might be on the moon, Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of the group discovered that the Professor and the rest of the scientists spent the next week going over not only the couple of materials that Spike had brought them, as in the ones from the surface of the closest moon, but also the odd deep green cube shaped items that they had found inside the observation facility they had discovered, which meant they were going to be busy for a time and that the group wouldn't be able to talk to them for some time, or at least that applied to the majority of them since the Professor had Spike join them from time to time. The reason behind that was due to the fact that they wanted his input on what they had found inside the facility and what they might be, as the four cube shaped crystals were resting on the table that the scientists were gathered at, in the lab that had been built near the launch site that the Jupiter 2 happened to be located in, where it was refueling and was waiting for something to happen, especially since there was a second moon for them to explore and now that they knew about the facility Hunter had informed them that he would take a different approach to Zella, if they went up to explore it. Spike, the Professor, and the rest of the scientists agreed on one thing as they stared at the cube shaped crystals, that they were some sort of power sources and that, if they could reverse engineer what was in front of them, their world would become significantly more advanced, which all depended on if such a thing was possible given that this was entirely new technology they were dealing with, something that excited them to no end as they spent their time studying the couple of crystals, even though they also spent some time studying the pictures of the facility that had been found on the moon. The Professor and the rest of the scientists agreed with Spike's thoughts on what the oddly shaped and out of place facility had to be, it was an observation facility that seemed like whoever owned it had either been unable to finish setting it up or installing the facility on the moon had been a bad idea and had been forced to abandon it, but due to the nature of the terminals inside the structure it would be hard, if not impossible, for anyone to figure out what had happened to it and why it was in the state the group had found it in.
Of course Spike reminded the others that there was the possibility of another facility being located on Zella, because he felt that it was odd for there to only be one facility between two moons, especially since there was a good distance resting between Adrano and Zella, something that caused the scientists to agree with Spike and was followed by them setting a date for the second launch of the Jupiter 2, which would be two weeks after the first launch, where he gave the news to Spyro and the others, who were interested in what they might find when they visited the second moon. During their time between the first expedition and the upcoming second expedition the group mostly did what they had been doing before the Professor revealed the Jupiter 2 to them, where some of them read books and worked on the spells that Spike had to show them, some spent their time training in the art of fighting, and some just rested so they could watch what the rest of the group was doing, basically repeating everything that they did in the past, whenever an adventure had been completed to be exact, while they waited for the date of the second launch to arrive. While they did that the Professor showed off the new power source to Malefor, Red, and the rest of the more important individuals, who seemed surprised by what they had found on Adrano, which was understandable given that everyone else had been caught off guard as well, and that the knowledge of the observation facility really surprised them, even Malefor for that matter, confirming Spike's thoughts on the matter, that the first purple dragon had no idea that the facility existed in the first place, and before everyone left the Professor revealed that he, the scientists, and Spike had come up with a name for this new power source, as they agreed to call them Ion Crystals, despite their cube shaped appearance, before the Professor revealed that they would be taking their time to reverse engineer the four crystals in an effort to learn how to make them and how to channel the power of the crystals into their own technology. Malefor was impressed by what they just learned, from just studying the crystals, and knew that it would be hard to stop any of the scientists, be they Spike, the ones from the other continents, or even the Professor, from learning how to harness the power of the Ion Crystals and using that power in combination with the level of technology that their planet was currently using, so he nodded his head and waited to see what might happen next, as it did look like they were being careful in their studies of the new type of crystal.
When the date of the second expedition arrived Hunter was more than ready to go as he and the rest of the group, those that had gone to Adrano to be exact, boarded the Jupiter 2 once more, put on their spacesuits once they were aboard the ship, and then took their places according to how he wanted them situated, which was the same as how he had them sit during their previous venture, though once that was done he waited for the scientists to unhook the power pipes from the ship and clear the platform they would be launching from, something that was followed by him checking out the ship on his terminal as the Professor determined that he was okay to launch. Once the Professor was done Hunter flipped a few switches and powered up the engines, where it only took him a few seconds to pull the ship into the air and he flew away from where the ship had been resting a few moments ago, to which the group watched as they flew towards Adrano and the atmosphere that rested between them, even though he was focused on Zella, the smaller moon that had a ghoulish green coloration to it, hence the reason why he moved around Adrano and headed for the second moon. Instead of even landing on the surface and walking, like he had done during their visit to the previous moon, Hunter made sure the group had their helmets on before briefly landing on the surface so Spike could collect some rock samples for the scientists that were observing them at the moment, and once he was back on the ship Hunter sealed the ramp and took off, as this time he figured that slowly flying around the moon would be faster than what they had done during the last expedition, so this was to save time. It took them some time to reach the dark side of Zella, the side that almost never faced the planet that it happened to be orbiting with Adrano, where he smiled for a moment as everyone else, both on the Jupiter 2 and down in the lab that was observing what they were seeing, found a second facility, identical to the first one and in slightly better condition, based on the look of the exterior, resting in the one spot of the moon that no one would be able to see from the planet, even if they gave their all to see the dark sides of the moons, to which he landed near the rectangular opening, just like he had done for the first one, and lowered the ramp as Spike and the others patiently waited for him to do that, and once the ramp was lowered they started to disembark from the ship.
What they discovered was that this facility was basically a copy of the first one, as there was an identical doorway that had to lead to a small storeroom, even though in this structure the first small room had five Ion Crystals inside it, before they found two diagonal walkways that were identical to what they had found inside the first facility, where the one leading to the second floor brought them to a terminal that actually seemed usable, even though the very first terminal in this place had been broken as well, so it would be hard to determine why the makers of these places were observing their planet in the first place, something Spike knew they might never figure out, before finding about ten more Ion Crystals inside the basement of this facility, which would excite the Professor and the other scientists. When Spike tapped the intact terminal, to see if it had any power to it or if they would have to find some way to use an Ion Crystal with it, though somehow it was able to power up, meaning it must have a power source inside it that had been dormant until this point in time, and the screen turned on to reveal whatever it was that the terminal might have to show them, where it didn't take Spike long to smile as he made sure the Professor and the scientists were seeing what he was seeing right now. According to what was on the screen whoever made these facilities had a way of transferring thermal energy into the Ion Crystals they had found inside both facilities, a method that was, interestingly enough, well detailed and even went into how to make a thermal plant that would allow more Ion Crystals to be made, not to mention the fact that there was a 'generator' or something in this structure that wasn't being used, meaning that they could figure out how to reverse engineer the technology of those that built these odd facilities and use them back in their lands. The Ion Generator, a device that could supposedly turn the thermal energy into the more usable Ion Crystals, was located down in the basement of this facility, which was split into two halves, an odd triangular shaped upper half and a more cube shaped bottom half, to which Spike used his magic to carefully remove the fragments and transport them to where the Jupiter 2's storage deck was located, so they could take them down to where the Professor and the rest of the scientists were resting, waiting for them to return with the new Ion Crystals and the brand new piece of technology.
With the fragments of the Ion Generator carefully set inside the ship, and the Ion Crystals were loaded into it as well, the group returned to their seats and Hunter pulled them away from Zella's surface as the ramp sealed the rest of the ship, to which they headed back down to the platform that everyone else was waiting at, something that was swiftly followed by the Professor and the others moving into the ship to claim the Ion Generator, so they could study it and the images of the terminal that Spike had stared at, allowing Spyro and the others to take off their suits, stretch a little, or at least the six dragons did, and then they headed out to rest for a time, mostly to give the Professor and the others some time to go over what they had found, to determine what they could do with the pieces in time.
Once the group returned from Zella they returned to what they normally did, training with their elders and practicing their skills for a time, or just resting and watching depending on what some of them wanted to do, though since they had gone to space the rest of that day was mostly just them relaxing in the Artisans homeworld, since Spyro and the other dragons were bracing themselves for when they reached their fifteenth birthday, which was going to be a major event given what they knew from reading about the event or listening to Spike's explanations on the matter, the latter being for Hunter and those who had no idea what happened when dragons finally reached their fifteenth birthdays. Of course the real pain was that when they reached a month till the big day the dragons would have more creaks in their bones and take some more time to stretch, just to make sure their bodies didn't lock up or anything, but that would be the sign that they would have to slow down what they were doing and prepare themselves for when they reached the day they matured, because it was going to be one of the biggest days of their lives, despite all of the events and adventures that they had experienced since the day they started saving the lands of their world, or at least that was the case for Spyro, Spike, and Ember. Amelia was still worried about them and their bodies, even though that was quickly disappearing as the days went by, which showed that she understood what Spike had told her about this event, which he made sure to tell Hunter and the others as well so they didn't feel left out, though he also didn't blame her for thinking that way, given that sometimes he and the rest of the dragons did seem a little pained whenever they stretched, a common symptom of the maturing process, which would only get worse in the week leading up to their fifteenth birthday. Even Ember, who was used to Titan's training and what all of the Peace Keepers went through to learn the skills they used to defend the Dragon Realms, was like her siblings, showing everyone else that whatever lifestyle they chose to pursue meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, so all dragons pretty much had the same experience at this point in their lives, which interested their friends to a degree and made them a little interested in what might happen when the big day happened, even if the dragons already had an idea of what they would be expecting this time around.
As the days went by, however, Elora and the others discovered that Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Flame, and Aurora were restricted in what they were able to do, as at the start of the symptoms appearing for each of them, which was when they were exploring Adrano, they were able to pretty much go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted, though as they drew closer to their fifteenth birthday they found that the dragons slowed down and could only go a certain distance before everyone needed a break to stretch and rest, and of course there were some signs of pain on their faces, to which Spike reminded them that this was normal, so they didn't need to worry about them too much. During the first week of the last month, leaving three weeks before the big day, the Professor actually came to the house that had been built for Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember, which was where the group was pretty much staying at during this time period, to help the six of them out since Flame and Aurora were there as well, and he revealed that he and the scientists had figured out how to get the Ion Generator working at long last, where they had, with Malefor and Red's help, restored order to the laboratory that was in Volcanic Isle, with Malefor using his Earth Magic to reinforce everything so the area didn't collapse again, or get close to that, and Red used his powers to help move things or just break things so they could be shifted, before they set up the device where the Orrery had once been resting. The reason behind that decision was because Volcanic Isle happened to be one of the greatest locations in their world to harness thermal energy, others being the Isle of Bozibig, the volcano in the middle of Doxantha, and a few other realms that the group had been to in the past, where they learned that the device seemed to need no assistance in being used, as it drew in the vast amounts of thermal energy that was around it and then fired a beam of deep green energy down to the lower half of the device, which seemed to put the energy together in the shape of the Ion Crystals, between three to five at a time, though he admitted that they still had no idea how it did such a thing and that it would be some time before they understood the mechanics, even with the information that had been on the intact terminal Spike had found. By the Professor's estimates, and the estimates of the other scientists, each of the Ion Crystals contained enough power inside them to match the sheer power of the Elementium Bomb spell, or at least they all agreed on that fact based on what their readings were, which surprised the group and that meant the crystals should be able to power all sorts of things and it was only a matter of time until they figured out exactly how to do such a thing, and he knew that Spike would be eager to help them out, once he was no longer going through the maturing process and was able to leave the Artisans homeworld again.
Other than that the group heard nothing about the Ion Crystals, mostly because the Professor had nothing to report while he and the scientists worked to figure out everything there was to learn about the gems in question, though the group was fine with that since it allowed the dragons to rest in the realms of the Artisans homeworld, despite the fact that the areas they were allowed to go to diminished as they drew closer and closer to the big day, so much so that it wasn't long before all six of them were essentially bedridden and were stuck inside the house that was made for the siblings and Cynder, and some beds had been added for Flame and Aurora as well, leaving Elora and the others to visit them and make sure they had everything they needed before this process was over.
Eventually the day before Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Flame, and Aurora's fifteenth birthday arrived and the dragons in question sat around the living room of the house, or rather some tried to sit while the majority of them rested with their heads near the ground since the pain of even trying to sit like that wasn't worth dealing with right now, though the rest of the group were sitting nearby and did everything in their power to make the dragons more comfortable before the big day finally arrived, but as they did that Nestor and Malefor appeared at the house's entrance, which caused the group to stop what they were doing and greet the pair.
"Spyro, how are you and the others doing?" Nestor asked, as while he had a good idea of what the teenage dragons were going through at the moment, due to experiencing this himself in the past when he became an adult and when he and the other dragons of his age watched over the generation that came after him, though at the same time he shifted his stance for a moment and focused on a satchel that he was carrying, while at the same time Malefor walked over to where Cynder was resting to make sure she was fine.
"All things considered, we're doing fine." Spyro replied, though at the same time he groaned for a moment, as at this point the most simple of movements were painful and all of them were going through it, and he found that he just wanted this to be over, as he was tired of being in a state of pain nearly all the time and he was glad that the year leading up to their fifteenth birthday hadn't been like this, meaning he was grateful that it was stuck to the last month before they matured, otherwise he would have asked Spike or someone else to do something to bypass all of the pain, "We're just waiting for this to be over, that's all."
"That's good to hear, and we can take care of the pain as well," Nestor said, where he reached into his satchel for a second and pulled out a few vials that contained a light blue liquid inside them, something that was followed by Malefor pulling a few out as well, even though Spike quickly counted that there were eight of them in total and suspected that he knew what they were supposed to be, given his knowledge of this event and what he had read in the past, "about five to six hundred years ago one of the Beast Makers came up with a tonic that would allow a maturing dragon to sleep through the pain of this process, basically meaning that once someone drinks this they'll fall asleep and won't wake up until after their body, or bodies in your case since there are six of you, has fully matured."
"Um, why are you only bringing this up now, instead of earlier, before they felt all this pain?" Bianca asked, as she realized that there was a reason behind the decision and she was curious as to what it might be, given that neither of the Leaders would do anything to harm Spyro and the others, though at the same time the group raised their eyebrows as they stared at the vials for a few seconds, showing that they were interested in what Nestor was saying and what would happen when someone drank the liquid that was inside the containers.
"Because taking it early can potentially case damage to a dragon's body, so waiting until near the end of the last day is the best course of action," Malefor replied, though it became clear that he and Nestor had split up the vials between them, as he had three and Nestor had the other three, but even as he told them that piece of information the group suspected that those who lead Warfang must have discovered a similar tonic to help the following generations of dragons that called the city home, where he paused for a moment as he glanced at the group, "Don't worry, the dragon who took it early was able to recover without any glaring problems or deformities, so as far as we know there's no serious consequences of doing that, but given that he was stuck in a constant state of pain for half a year, meaning he was stuck feeling the pain that the maturing process inflicts on one's body, we determined that administering the tonic at this point in time was the best thing we could do, and it seems that the Beast Makers of the past did the same thing as well."
"That they did," Nestor said, where he suspected that Spike was following what they had said and already knew what they had told Hunter and the rest of the group, as he could see that some of them were interested in what he was saying and it was easy to see that he didn't have to repeat himself this time around, something that he also suspected was due to Spike and his study habits, which probably rubbed off on his friends, though that was when both he and Malefor focused on why they had come here as they uncorked the first of the vials that they were carrying, "Once you ingest this tonic you'll be knocked out and won't wake up until sometime into tomorrow, as in you'll wake up after the maturing process is done, so none of you will be in pain when you wake up."
Normally this would be when someone would pause and think about what Nestor was saying, though Spyro decided not to do that and drank the tonic that was offered to him, something that Cynder and the others followed suit and drank the tonic as well, where it wasn't long before Spyro shut his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, as it took about ten to fifteen total seconds for that to happen, where Spike, Ember, Cynder, Flame, and Aurora swiftly followed him as they collapsed and fell asleep as well, causing the rest of the group to just sit there since there wasn't much they could do at this point, which was when Nestor and Malefor moved the sleeping dragons into their rooms and placed each of them in their beds, as sleeping in the living area wasn't a good idea and a bed would be best for now. Once that was done, and the pair of adult dragons left the house so they head back to the area they were staying in before the big day hit, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia remained sitting in the areas of the living room that both they and their friends had been resting in before Nestor and Malefor arrived with the tonics, leaving the four of them with not much to do since they had been here for their friends and now none of them were really needed for anything since Spyro and the others were fast asleep. Since both Flame and Aurora were resting in the guest room of the house, and it would be a little miserable sleeping in the living room, Bianca headed outside and summoned some camping gear for them to use, a few tents that they could put outside the house and a few other camp related items, like wooden seats or a stone circle for a fire, but for the most part all they did was just head inside the tents she had called to this area and turned in for the night, especially since it would allow them to get to the big day and greet their dragon friends when they emerged from the house, and possibly assist them if such a thing was even necessary. Of course there were three tents, one for Elora, one for Amelia, and the last was for her and Hunter, and the tents came with sleeping bags inside them, even though they weren't as good as beds were and this was the best that she could offer them at this point in time, but that didn't stop the four of them from glancing back at the house for a few moments, to silently wish their friends well as their bodies shifted while they were asleep, before heading into their temporary tents and drifting off to sleep not even a few moments later.
When morning hit Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia rose to meet it as they left their tents and sat around the campfire, or at least the area that a fire would have been contained in if they decided to light one, though it wasn't long before Nestor and Malefor returned to where the house was located, meaning both of the adult dragons had the same thought as the rest of the group and that they were here to assist the now matured dragons when they emerged from the house, since it was likely that some of them might be disoriented by the sudden changes to their bodies, but that was swiftly followed by something moving near the entrance of the house and caused the group to focus on that area.
The first dragon to emerge from the house was Spyro, and how they knew that was due to his purple scales being joined by his yellow chest scales, instead of seeing Spike's green scaled chest, though it appeared that he was done with the rest of the maturing process and was no longer in any pain, as he was now standing on two feet and stood like the rest of the adult dragons, his wings were now fully grown and matched what an adult dragon had, and he seemed older than he had before taking the tonic last night, though Elora noticed that his body was a mix of Peacekeeper and Artisans, as he was a tad bit buff, displaying his warrior training, while being more lean like Nestor was, possibly detailing his nature as one who was good at flying since that seemed to be his favorite activity, creating new techniques whenever he wanted to. The next one to emerge from the house, and followed after Spyro, who had walked out and was staring down at his body, just so happened to be Cynder, where it was clear that her body was much like Spyro's, save for the fact that she was slimmer, by a tad bit to be exact, meaning that in dragon terms she had to be stunning as she glanced at her adult body and smiled as she did that, showing the group that she was pleased by how things had turned out and that she could get used to this, where Malefor smiled as well, as he was happy that she was fine and that nothing had had happened to her, even though both Cynder and Spyro were getting used to having hands and not the claws they were used to having. What interested the group was that Flame was the next one to emerge from the house, with Aurora standing not to far behind him, where it was easy for everyone to see that Flame's adult body was a tad bit bulkier than Spyro's was, as while Flame didn't want to go on another adventure he had taken to Titan's training and it appeared that his adult body reflected that, though the real odd part was that he seemed to be totally okay with his adult form and didn't seem upset by it, despite the fact that he knew that changing things would be near impossible at this point in time, something that they would have to ask him once he was used to his new body. Aurora, on the other hand, seemed to be slim as well, meaning the dragons of Capora might swarm her at some point when they gazed upon her new body, though she wasn't near Cynder's form, as Aurora had a bit more muscle to her, making her similar to Spyro in that regard when Nestor thought about it, meaning she could pass as a Peacekeeper who used ranged weapons or possibly a Magic Crafter, something that depended on her and what she might want to pursue if she and Flame continued to stay in the Dragon Realms and learned what the Leaders had to offer them about the six clans.
That was when the last two dragons emerged from the house, where they found that Ember was a lot like Cynder, though her muscles seemed to be more defined while not giving her a bulky appearance, which practically screamed that she was a warrior and that she wasn't to be underestimated at all, though the way she walked out of the house made it appear that she was more like a warrior princess, something that Titan and the other Peace Keepers would agree with the moment any of them laid eyes on her, given all the training they had given Ember over the years and how proud they were of her, and Nestor was sure they would be proud of whatever she did next. Spike, on the other hand, had a slim body, more along the lines that he was skinny in comparison to some of the others, though in Nestor's eyes it made sense, as Spike stayed near the back of the group whenever they entered battle and he loosed magical blasts at whoever they were fighting, yet he did have the air of a Magic Crafter around him, confirming his thoughts about what the young dragon would be when he came of age, something that pretty much every dragon in the Dragon Realms knew at this point and would be happy to see once the group started to test our their new forms. Malefor, on the other hand, could tell that each of the dragons were now stronger than they had been yesterday, as the maturing process, once called the Awakening Process by those that came before he and the current generation of dragons, not only allowed a teenage dragon to take on an adult form, but it also awakened the slumbering powers or skills that were inside the dragons in question, hence why it was usually followed by an Artisans dragon fully embracing whatever form of art they had been working towards, like how Nestor was a carpenter, one of the best he had seen in a long time, or how Alvar was one of the greatest chefs in the Dragon Realms. He could only imagine just how much stronger the new adult dragons had become, especially since this would mean that Spyro would be able to tap into the true power of a purple dragon, Cynder would match Spyro since that was what happened in the last version of this world, Flame and Aurora would have rose to new heights in a matter of hours, Ember would have become far stronger than she had been earlier, and Spike, well, he wasn't sure what sort of effect this natural process would have on the young Archmage, as Spike had been incredibly powerful before this point, so there was no telling how much more powerful he would become after this day, especially since he was a purple dragon as well.
One interesting thing that Malefor noticed was that both Spike and Ember did seem like they might have been focused on something else, or maybe they were staring off into space for some reason, but decided that it wasn't important since they had gone through the most painful process a dragon could go through, and if it was important they would say something to him and the others, though before he or Nestor could say anything Titan and the other Leaders, not to mention every Elder from Capora and the Guardians of Warfang, arrived to see how the dragons were doing, not to mention figure out what sort of clothing or armor needed to be made for them, and it was only a matter of time before their friends came to see them, based on what he had seen in the past.
"So, this is what its like being an adult dragon," Spyro commented, though at the same time he and the others moved and had to brace themselves for a moment, as it would take them some time to get used to their new center of gravity, but as that happened he glanced at the rest of the group for a moment and took in what he was seeing, where it looked like they were doing the same thing, even though it might be possible that Spike and Ember had noticed something before coming outside, mostly because Spike seemed more attuned to being able to walk with two legs, "this will take some getting used to, that much I can say right now."
"How are all of you feeling? No pain at all?" Elora asked, because while she and the others could see that the Leaders were in the middle of making measurements of the now adult dragons forms, so they knew what to abide by when they went to make the attire that Spyro and the others would be wearing before getting used to their new professions, she wanted to take a few moments to make sure that none of her friends were still hurting and that they were truly fine, before worrying about what the future held in store for them, due to the fact that if one of them was still in pain she intended on asking the Leaders why such a thing was still happening to whoever it was happening to.
"No, it seems like our bodies are done being in pain," Aurora remarked, where she shifted her stance a few times to see if she could remember what Titan and the other Peace Keepers had shown them after the adventure in the lands of Capora had ended, to make sure they were ready in case another foe tried to attack their home, like the Dark Master had done, before she found that her body was able to use the movements with ease, making her wonder what else she and Flame might learn, especially now that they were adults and that was what Titan was waiting for before he and the others even showed Ember any of the more advanced techniques, to which she returned to standing straight up once more, "I'm glad that we're no longer in pain, as that had gotten old rather quickly."
"Good to hear, which means we can focus on what sort of attire you want," Cosmos stated, though he already had an idea of what Spike was after, given that they had discussed such a thing at one point, but that left five dragons that he and the rest of the older adults had no information on what sort of attire they wanted, something that he and the others would be able to correct in a matter of minutes, and in a day or two they would return with everything they wanted, hence why he had a quill and some paper to write on, "also, we can figure out what sort of professions some of you will be going into in the near future, even if two of you are obvious in what you'll be doing."
"Yeah, Spike will be the greatest Archmage the world has ever seen and I'll be one of the best warriors that Titan will have trained in a long time," Ember said, revealing that she knew who Cosmos was talking about, as she and Spike were set in stone at this point in time, given everything they had been through in the past, though in addition to that the Leaders were in the middle of training Spyro to be a replacement at some point in the future, given his innate power, Conqueror's Spirit, which was one of the rarest powers in their world, with the Aether being right below it, since there were more users of the Aether than there were of those who could use the powerful technique.
"Well, I'd say that I'd like to start with some aviator clothing, sort of like what the Balloonists have," Spyro commented, as he was focusing on what Nestor and the other Leaders had asked him and his fellow newly mature dragons, though that was when Flame and Aurora raised their eyebrows towards him for a few seconds as they tried to imagine him in such a set of clothing, and failing by the looks of things, something that he noticed as he shifted his head to glance at them, even though Spike and everyone else knew what he was going to say next, "What? Back during the break between our first ever adventure and our second adventure, which was in Avalar to be exact, I came up with a new flight technique that I would later teach Spike and Ember, and later show off to Cynder, which was essentially a Hover that allowed us to maneuver with greater accuracy during whatever adventures the world threw at us, a technique that we used quite a lot before we found out we could fly thanks to all the time we spent in the Flight Realms... plus Spike studied the technique and wrote it down for the future generations, crediting me as the creator of the brand new technique. Basically, I love to fly and create tricks and moves in my spare time, when we're not training or saving the world, so I figured that my first set of true attire should be that of an aviator... which, now that I think about it, would actually go well with my scarf."
"If that's how we're doing things, I think a set of armor, for my upper and lower body, would be best," Ember said, where it only took Titan a few seconds to understand exactly what she was talking about, as she had mentioned what sort of attire she'd like to have in the past, though she wasn't covering her arms and legs since the bracers still existed and didn't need to cover them at all, plus her armor was going to be enchanted in a similar manner to the rest of her current attire, but at the same time she was forgoing the helmet, mostly because she felt that such a thing wasn't necessary, "provided its like what the rest of the Peace Keepers have and doesn't get in my way... though now that I think about it, I'll need to practice with this new body before a new adventure finds us."
"Cosmos and I already have a design in mind for me, since I'm an Archmage and all," Spike added, not that the rest of the Leaders were even surprised by that, as they understood that the pair of dragons had been near each other for periods of time in the past, one teaching the other how to wield magic, even if that reversed when they acknowledged Spike as the youngest Archmage in the world, so it made sense for them to have come up with a design ahead of time, given the sheer amount of time Spike sent reading all the books he could get his claws on, before he chuckled for a moment, "at least now you have the exact measurements to make the robes to, so we won't have to worry about wasting material on something that wouldn't have fit in the first place."
"I also won't have to worry about attire too much, given that my father and I were going to make my own set of Guardian attire once I matured," Cynder commented, referring to the attire that Ignitus and the other Guardians of Warfang wore in public, something that had interested Spyro and the others when they met the powerful dragons for the first time, during their adventure to see why there was an Aether icon above the continent she used to call home, which turned into a quest to save the entire world, though she was eager to see what would happen once she had the attire that mimicked what all of the Guardians of Warfang wore all the time, before she glanced over to Flame and Aurora, who seemed lost as to what they wanted to pick for their attire, "What about you guys? What sort of attire have you been thinking about wearing, or have neither of you thought about that yet?"
"Well, um, despite the fact that Aurora and I aren't planning on more adventures, I was thinking maybe a chest piece, some coverings for my arms and legs, and maybe a pair of shoulder pieces," Flame admitted, showing that, while he was trying to stay true to his desire to not go on any more adventures, which he seemed to be failing since he and Aurora were now hanging out with Spyro and the others, something that meant they would be dragged into whatever the next adventure might be, since no one had any idea what the future would throw at them next, before he rubbed the back of his head for a moment, "You know, to have some armor to defend myself in case the islands of Capora find themselves under attack by someone, or if I need to clear out one of the realms of troublemakers."
"And I'm torn between a functional dress and some apprentice mage robes," Aurora stated, as she had been watching all of Spike's lessons and had, in her own time, tried a few of the incredibly minor spells out, where the majority of them had failed in the grand scheme of things and only a select number of them had remotely succeeded, but now, after maturing into an adult at long last, she had to wonder if she might be able to do something with her innate magic and use it to help Flame guard the homeworlds of Capora, before she noticed that a few of the assembled dragons were surprised by what she had just said, "What? I'm willing to see what I'm capable of and figured that, if I do have some magical potential that has just been awakened, that I might as well look the part, especially if Spike's going to be wearing his new Archmage set the next time he goes to teach Bianca a new spell or something... and if that doesn't work, I'll have something to fall back on for when I'm just hanging out with everyone."
Everyone thought about that for a moment before deciding that what Aurora had said made sense, to which the dragons took a moment to make sure the notes on what sort of attire they would be working with were complete before excusing themselves so they could start work on the attire in question, basically leaving the group to do whatever they wanted for a time, even though Spyro and the rest of the now matured dragons were thinking of trying out their bodies, especially with some of them wanting to try out their new powers and skills, something that Malefor noticed and turned towards them for a moment, causing them to focus on him once more.
"How about this, in a week we can have another training session, to give you time to get used to your bodies and the new skills you have access to," Malefor said, revealing that he knew that the group would be far stronger this time around, due to the maturing process that six of them just finished going through, and that he was more than willing to engage them in battle, sort of like a final crash course for Spyro and the others to get used to their new bodies and skills, though since the group had seen him face the Dark Master he expected a few of them to be worried, but instead they seemed eager to face him once more, even Flame and Aurora for that matter, which had to be due to them fighting beside Spyro and the rest of the group, to which he beckoned for them to follow him once more, "but for now, I think its time for breakfast, so let's eat before you start your usual training, with some alterations this time around."
While the majority of the group nodded and headed for the portal that would take them back to the Artisans homeworld, so they could leave Stone Hills and get ready for what the day had for them, Spike and Ember brought up the rear as they kept some distance from everyone else, as there was a little something that they needed to talk about before they spoke up to the rest of the group, since what they had to say would be shocking and rather weird for their brother, which also included their friends for that matter.
"Spike, should we tell them?" Ember inquired, keeping her voice low so no one caught what she was saying, though at the same time she was referring to the fact that she and Spike had gotten far more out of the maturing process than what all of the adult dragons were expecting, which both of them had privately discussed before following the others out of their house so they could show their friends their new form, and she wanted to have his opinion on what to do next, in regards to what both of them had just discovered when they woke up.
"I know we should, but it might be better to wait until after we train with Malefor," Spike replied, as he replicated what his sister was doing, even though he was thinking about what they had discovered and even they needed time to think about what they had found out, given everything that came with the maturing process and everything that surprised them a few minutes ago, when they woke up this morning, but what he thought about was rather interesting, given everything that he recalled, even if it would take some time to understand everything.
Ember said nothing to that for a moment before nodding her head as they silently followed the rest of the group, as there were things that they needed to come to terms with before telling Spyro, Cynder, and everyone else, and Malefor's week would provide them with the time to do just that, even though they were both looking forward to the training session and what might happen when everyone faced Malefor again, before even worrying about what the future held for them and the rest of the group.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Flame, and Aurora spent the next week getting used to their new bodies, where Elora and the rest of the group stayed near them, in the off chance that one of them stumbled or fell to the ground so they could help whoever did that out, but for the most part the others simply stayed nearby and watched as the newly matured dragons tackled the challenges that came with their new bodies, which was mostly walking around during the first day and taking a few moments every now and then to stretch so they got used to muscles that were either in new positions or ones that had been added during the maturing process. Elora found that it was sort of like what happened to her, when she left behind her faun form and became a hybrid of a faun and a dragon, as she had taken some time to get used to her new body after the end of that particular adventure, which included both her new legs and her wings, though instead of it being intense for her friends she found that the dragons were quick to adapt to their new bodies, especially since Ember, Cynder, and Flame took a moment to spar with each other, to make sure their arms and legs worked as they were supposed to, while Spyro took to the air and made sure his wings were working as intended, leaving Spike and Aurora to shift their bodies as they used the various forms a mage assumed, or at least the ones Spike had read about in the past. As they did that Spike discovered that none of them seemed to be dealing with any serious side effects from the maturing process, which made sense given the fact that Nestor and Malefor had given them a tonic to put them asleep and would allow them to wake up after all the pain was done, something that put a smile on the faces of the other newly matured dragons and the rest of the group, which persisted as they joined the Leaders and all of the other older dragons for breakfast, something that showed everyone that they were pleased with their new forms and that they were eager to see what the future held for them, once they got used to how their new bodies worked. In fact Titan determined that he would make some time in the next day or two for them to go through the motions that an adult dragon would go through, or at least what the Peace Keepers went through, motions that Ember was excited to learn even though she likely knew many of them from watching him and the others train in the past, something that caused the other Leaders and elder dragons to nod their heads in agreement to what he was saying.
One thing that happened over that week was that Hunter asked what the dragonflies were going to do now, as he knew, just like the others knew, that Sparx, Sting, Talon, Cinder, Flare, and Daisy were supposed to guard the dragons from the dangers of their world and take the damage that the group would have taken, even though that didn't work during their battle with the Dark Master, which proved the power of the dark dragon in question, and it made him ask the question that was now bugging him as he focused on all of the heroic dragonflies, as they were resting on the shoulders of their partners as they ate what was offered to them. He was curious as to what would happen to the dragonflies now that they no longer needed to protect Spyro and the others, because now that the dragons had matured that meant the main task that Sparx and the others had been tasked with was now over and that meant they no longer needed to fly around their partners, to defend them from the dangers of the world, though as he expected it was Spike who opened his mouth to tell him exactly what would happen next, given that he had read nearly everything in Dark Hollow's library and the rest of the archives that existed in the Dragon Realms. While the dragonflies no longer needed to protect them from danger, given that their bodies now possessed the natural defenses of an adult dragon and that meant they could deal with the dangers of their world on their own, though at the same time the answer to Hunter's question was that it was up to Sparx and the others as to what they did next, as some dragonflies were known to return to the swamps of the Beast Makers homeworld and live out the rest of their days in peace as they taught the next generation how to protect those they would eventually be partnered with, while other dragonflies preferred to stand beside their partners and continue tackling the dangers that they faced, more in the sense that they mostly collected gems and whatnot while their dragon partners fought their foes or completed puzzles. Once he was done explaining what the books said on the matter, and the Leaders confirmed that what he had said was correct, Sparx and the other dragonflies buzzed at each other for a few seconds before revealing to the group that they would stick with them until they were forced to retire from being heroes, which was generally ten to fifteen more years, when referring to old age anyway, and there were a few cases where a dragonfly perished in battle as they sacrificed themselves to shield their partner from a fatal blow, thus allowing their partner to win a fight, but that was something none of their dragonflies were intending on doing, given everything they had seen so far.
Hunter tilted his head for a moment, as that really wasn't the answer he was expecting, because he was expecting it to be that the dragonflies retired after their dragon partners matured into adults and no longer needed their protection, but at the same time he decided not to argue with what they were saying and nodded his head to show that he understood what he had just learned, though Sparx and the others were pleased that he cared enough to ask about them and they took a moment to float around his head, like a dance of some kind, before returning to the shoulders of their partners, but that caused everyone to chuckle for a time before they returned to what they had been doing before the question about the dragonflies had been asked.
It was on the third day after the group matured that they received the attire that they had told the Leaders and the others about earlier, which made sense to Elora and the others given that some of the group already had ideas as to what they could wear designed ahead of time and the elders knew about those designs ahead of time, hence why they were able to prepare the various sets of attire so quickly, to which she, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia patiently waited to see what each set of attire looked like, especially given the fact that their friends would be putting their attire on and showing them off to everyone that was waiting outside their house. Spyro, as it turned out, was definitely wearing the attire of a Balloonist, as when he walked out of the structure everyone found that he was wearing a light grey shirt that had sleeves that stopped at his elbows, a brown pair of pants that stopped at his knees, had a brown belt wrapped around the upper part of it, and it had a hole for his tail, just like his new shirt had slots for his wings to fit through, and he had a pair of goggles on top of his head, where they found his scarf was present as well, which definitely went with his new attire and he seemed to like how he looked, something that everyone agreed with. Cynder was the next one to emerge from the building, where they could see that she had remained true to her word and was wearing her version of the Guardian armor that Ignitus and the rest of them wore, though her set was modified from the original set, as her legs were covered more than what the original set gave the Guardians, she had a chest piece that was crafted to fit over her chest, and the group found that her armor was actually made out of platinum, to match her bracers, before the group noticed that her sash, which showed which element the one who wore the armor was the Guardian of, was split into four sections, the first being a light grey, a second being a shadowy black, the third happened to be a sickly green, and the fourth was a sinister red, representing the Wind, Shadow, Poison, and Fear elements, with a circle in the center of the four having an Aether icon inside it, something that completed her attire with ease. Ember walked out wearing a set of steel armor that matched her own bracers, where Cosmos could see that the chest piece and the leggings were enchanted in a similar fashion to what the bracers had been given when all of them had been made so long ago, though following her was Flame, where he was also wearing a suit of armor that did look similar to what some of the Peace Keepers wore, even though his seemed to be made out of silver and had an orange flame design on the chest, which the group found to be rather interesting and he seemed proud to wear it, which had to make the dragons that made the armor proud as well.
That was around the time that Elora and the others noticed that Spike and Aurora walked out of the house, where Spike was wearing a light blue robe over his chest and lower body, where the cloth that was the closest to the ground was near the middle of the lower half of his legs, so they wouldn't get dirty from touching the ground, though the design of his new robe seemed to have what looked like light grey feathers around the collar area, something that was rather odd but they decided not to question it, before they found that Aurora's robe was pretty much made in the same style of Spike's, but it was more pink colored, a different shade than her scales anyway, and there were three golden pieces, two resting on her shoulders and one around her collar, making her look a little more intimidating in the process.
The only other thing that happened over the week, in addition to everyone showing off their new attire, which were liked by their friends, was where Spike made sure that he could still wield his magic and, upon finding that he was able to do so, continued training Bianca from where they left off, something that included showing Aurora how to channel her magical power, to do more than just breath flames, turn waterwheels with the Water Breath, or freeze enemies with the ice power they had picked up during their previous adventure, even though she ended up blasting a rock to pieces when she tried the Lightning Bolt spell. Spike chuckled at that, as it reminded him of when Bianca was able to use magic without her wand for the first time, and it actually left Aurora amazed since it took her a few days to get that far and made her interested in seeing what she might be able to do once she had the proper training to do so, though during one of their sessions, which was after her first day of training, she revealed that her normal set of attire was just a light blue shirt and some shorts to go with it, meaning it was nothing special and, more importantly, it showed that she was happy to find that she could use magic, otherwise finding another profession would have been taxing for her. Nestor and the other Leaders were happy to see the group adapting to their new forms and learning how to integrate what they had learned in the past with their new bodies, even though they weren't at all surprised by Spike or Ember, as the latter had adapted in no time and it wasn't long before the former did the same, something that caused Spyro and the others to pick up the pace as well, to catch up with the pair and not be left in the dust, though at the same time it was clear that all of them, including Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia, were in the middle of preparing for another round of battle with Malefor, something that promised to be one of the greatest training sessions for the group as a whole. Sure, the Leaders were surprised by the fact that something like that was even happening, especially after all of the battles that Spyro and the others had witnessed since visiting Capora and observing the strength of both the Dark Master and Malefor in battle, but, despite their thoughts on the matter, they weren't about to argue with the first purple dragon's methods, not that they expected him to go overboard with Spyro and the others, especially after everything they had been through so far.
Despite that fact, and all of the skills that had been thrown around during the battle with the Dark Master, the group felt like their chances had improved thanks to the fact that they had matured and such a thing had unlocked several of their inner powers, especially when they considered what some of them were capable of doing before this point in time, before focusing on their training for the foreseeable future, as they were going to need to be in tip-top shape for the next battle they would be having with Malefor, a match that all of them knew was going to be different from the last time they fought the first purple dragon.
When the seventh and final day had passed, giving the dragons a week to understand their new bodies and get used to all of the new stuff that they weren't used to experiencing, Spyro, his siblings, and the rest of the group, not to mention all of their friends, the Leaders, Guardians, and Elders, gathered on the island that Malefor had brought them to the first time he engaged them in combat, so he could experience their powers for himself, where the main group of heroes gathered on the island while everyone else waited on one of the airships so they could witness what happened next, and even Red was with the watchers, as he had been reinstated as a Dragon Elder and was standing proud at this point, though no one said anything as Malefor landed near the group.
"Feel free to come at me whenever you wish," Malefor stated, though as he said that he shifted his left hand for a moment and drew a blade from the magic that was around them, informing the group that he was ready while also showing that he wasn't about to take the Aether runeblade from whoever was carrying it at the moment, which was Spike this time, before he raised his other hand and beckoned for them to come at him and show him what they were capable of now that they had matured into adults, even though he also kept his eyes on the rest of the group, as it would be unwise to ignore Elora and the others, because they were capable of standing their ground, especially against the likes of the Dark Master, even if the dark dragon had been toying with them.
"Remember, don't take Malefor lightly," Spyro said, where he drew his weapon from its sheath, which was Windshear, and turned to stare at the first purple dragon as he said that, something that was followed by the rest of the group readying themselves for what was coming next, though once he was sure that they were all ready for battle he sighed for a moment and burst into the air, using his new speed to quickly get away from the rest of the group as he rushed towards Malefor, and while he did that Cynder did the same thing from the other direction, showing her father that they had definitely gotten some new skills and power, to which they swung their blades at their target when they got near him.
Malefor stepped back for a moment and raised the blade to parry both of the runeblades that were coming at him, where the air around them shuddered as it happened, though instead of following through with any other attacks the pair took a moment to jump backwards as Elora rushed into the space that they left behind and kicked upward with her left leg, all to knock her foe right into the air, even though she knew that he was simply playing along to get an understanding of what each of them were capable of dishing right now, despite the fact that everyone knew he was focused on the dragons for the most part. As she knocked Malefor into the air, where he flipped backwards to balance himself, that was when Ember rushed forward and punched him in the chest with her bare fist, showing that whatever weapons she had access to, as she did have the Fangs of Felinia with her and carried Tremor on her belt, she didn't feel like using at the moment and wanted to show off her base power for a time, or at least until he turned up the heat and took them seriously, like when he fought the Dark Master, and as she knocked her foe backwards through the air she had to smile for a moment as she knew what was coming next while the rest of the group moved into position. Not even a few seconds later Aurora flashed over to an area that was near where Malefor was heading and spun Frostbite for a moment, as some of them had changed who was carrying which runeblade before coming to this training session, before swinging the tip towards Malefor as she called on the power that was inside the blade and hurled a cluster of Ice Spikes into the air, allowing them to race towards the first purple dragon as he swung his weapon at the first one and found that his own blade wasn't all that great for this, due to the fact that she pushed him backwards. In the following moment Malefor's aura flared to life once more and he let flames dance around his body as he blasted all of the Ice Spikes apart, basically turning them back into moisture as they passed by where he was floating and he dismissed his weapon so he could focus on his foes, but Aurora smiled for a second, as this had been what they were planning on as Bianca, who used magical platforms that Spike had hidden from everyone else's view, while allowing her to see them, leapt into the air and spun Atlan's Trident as she did that, where the moisture from Aurora's attack coiled around the tip of the weapon and she sent it back down at Malefor, breaking them into smaller bits of water, which were Water Bolts, as they raced towards her target.
Malefor, noticing the attack coming his way, weaved his magic through the air and blasted the Water Bolts before any of them could reach him, making sure to leave nothing behind for one either Bianca or Spike to use, before he raised both of his hands to catch a pair of arrows that Hunter and Amelia had loosed at him, causing him to raise an eyebrow as he took a moment to stare at the projectiles, since he was expecting them to do something different since they carried two of the other runeblades, though that was around the time that the arrows detonated in a magical surge that knocked him back a tiny bit. He stood there for a moment, smoke coming from his hands as he stared at them for a moment, before realizing that either Spyro or Spike had fooled him into making that move, which was well planned when he thought about it since it was a tactic he wouldn't have been able to see coming without his Sage's Vision, something that would have ruined what he had seen, which was followed by Spyro landing nearby and stared at him for a moment, where Malefor focused on him and noticed that the air was starting to vibrate a little, like he was starting to use a power that the others didn't have, one that he knew well enough. The pair stared at each other for a few seconds, giving Ember and everyone else time to brace themselves for what was coming next, before both Spyro and Malefor unleashed their power on each other, allowing their Conqueror's Spirits to clash against each other in the middle of the space that rested between them, which was followed by blackened lightning with a red aura around the bolts bursting out of where their attacks met, while also releasing an aura of power that washed over the island and stopped before the airship that everyone else was standing on, though it was in that moment that Malefor noticed that none of the group had fallen to the ground, either due to their empowered spirits being able to withstand the power of his Conqueror's Spirit colliding with Spyro's, which would be possible due to all of their experiences since the last time this happened, or due to the runeblades they carried. Of course the ground had to crack due to the pressure of their abilities hitting each other, which was understandable given that he happened to be the one who first discovered this technique and mastered it, meaning he knew everything there was to know about this rare skill and its effect on the world or people that were around the user at the time, even if engaging with Spyro allowed him to expand his knowledge on this skill and he knew that Spike had to be studying anything new that happened so it could be recorded for the future generations, just in case he failed to do so.
As he thought about that Spyro smirked for a moment and vanished not a second later, which was when a spiral of flames rushed through the area he had been standing in and quickly made its way towards where Malefor was standing, which looked like it was coming from Flame, even though he was carrying Flamestrike, to which the first purple dragon raised his hand and summoned a wall of magic to stop the attack from hitting him, though he made a quick note after that to make sure he knew which of his opponents was carrying which runeblade, even if it might not do anything to boost his chances of beating his foes. Spyro and Cynder were obvious, as the former was carrying Windshear and the latter was holding onto Penumbra still, Spike had Almos resting on his belt, Ember carried Tremor and didn't seem to be doing anything with it at the moment, Aurora carried Frostbite and seemed to have a good understanding of how to wield it, Flame was definitely wielding Flamestrike, and Bianca carried Atlan's Trident, leaving three runeblades and their users unaccounted for, as he could see that all three of them were nearby, so based on the power he was feeling he had to determine that Hunter had Storm's Fury, Amelia was in possession of Scorpion's Sting, and Elora had to be carrying Dread. He wasn't expecting them to combine all of the powers of the runeblades into a single attack, not like how they did against the Dark Master, but just thinking about that made him keep his guard up since with Spike being part of this battle there was no telling just what the group would do next, as Spike's Sage's Vision had likely improved with the rest of his skills and magic, due to maturing into an adult, something that made him consider something else that he was seeing, none of the dragons were showing signs of wanting to go back to running around on all fours, meaning they had adapted to their bodies in seemingly record time and that meant part of this training session was already complete. Even with that in mind Malefor noticed that those of the group who weren't as strong as Spyro and the other dragons, meaning Hunter and Amelia, were still holding their own and it looked like they had pushed themselves to be stronger than when they faced the Dark Master, possibly playing catch up to their friends, as even Elora and Bianca had joined them, Flame, and Aurora in catching up to Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember's level of power, though it was in that moment that he noticed someone had slipped away from the fight and took a moment to shift his head as he raced to locate Elora again, as she was the only one who hadn't done much since this fight had started and there was no telling what she, or Spike for that matter, might be planning.
It was in that moment that he raised his left arm in a defensive manner, while the flames from Flame's attack died down, and blocked the incoming punch that came from Elora, though what was impressive was that she, once more, was able to knock him in the direction of her attack, as he was pushed away from where he had been standing a few seconds ago, but it made him wonder about her for a moment, because she was a hybrid of a dragon and a faun he had to wonder if she had unknowingly gone through the maturing process as well, without any signs of it happening in the first place, before he came to the decision that it didn't matter and that she had learned everything that her teachers could offer her, which had to include Spike given her recent ability to tap into her new magic. Not a few seconds later he braced himself and stopped moving, allowing him to take a moment and stand straight again as he brushed off the area Elora had struck him in, which was just a light marking in the grand scheme of things, before he raised his hands for a moment and loosed a few magical bolts into the air, sending them after everyone that he was fighting at the moment so he could see how they did against this sort of attack and if he needed to up his game or not, because if Spyro and the other dragons were stronger than he originally thought, even though he was sure that Spike was already stronger than normal, he might have to channel some of his stronger powers into testing them. What he found to be interesting was that some of the group stood their ground and lashed out at the incoming bolts of magic with the powers that were stored inside their runeblades, blowing up the bolts before they could hit the area his targets were standing in, while some, like Spyro, took to the air for a moment and just flew around the sky for a few moments, even though Spyro outmaneuvered his attack and struck it from behind with a burst of wind that came from Windshear, allowing him to take the attack down as the others did the same, even though Spike was the only one that tried something else as he opened a small portal near him and used it to send the attack back at Malefor, who smiled as he moved out of the way and took to the air, as everyone seemed to be using their strengths in this fight and were showing him that they had learned from their battle with the Dark Master. As that happened he found that him heading into the air seemed to be what Spike was planning as he manipulated the moisture to form an Ice Cage in the air around him, which was just a massive ice cube designed to keep someone contained in a single spot, and he was able to break that rather easily with his magic, though following that he noticed eight different energy swings rushed from the area they were loosed from and he swung his arm to loose bursts of energy to counter the incoming attacks, filling the air with smoke for a couple of seconds.
Not a few moments later he heard the sound of something roaring and raised a magical barrier around him for a second as a serpent made entirely out of water burst through the smoke, where it slammed into his defensive spell and covered it as quickly as it could, something that allowed Malefor to see that there were bits of lightning dancing around the water he was now surrounded by, causing him to glance down at the ground and found that Hunter and Bianca had combined the powers of Storm's Fury and Atlan's Trident into what he was seeing, before noticing a few small pebbles that were also inside this attack and realized that Ember had used Tremor to make them and that she was trying to trap him the instant he lowered his guard, as they would grow into an tomb made of stone... which was why he shattered everything around him by summoning his Spirit of Valor, which seemed to be when the group got near each other once more.
"So, we're already at this stage of the fight," Flame commented, as he had been impressed by this move the first time he had witnessed it in battle, and it was still amazing when he stared at it for a few seconds, and he could tell that Aurora was feeling the same way that he was, while the rest of the group wasn't all that phased by seeing this move again, which he knew made sense given that they were more experienced than the two of them were, to which he readied himself as he faced Malefor, which Aurora replicated not a few seconds later, showing the rest of the group that they were ready for the next stage of this battle.
"Don't forget the plan," Bianca replied, because they had been following something that Spike had thought up before this training session had started, even if it was more like a battle at this point in time, and so far it looked like their plan was working like a charm, despite the fact that they would have failed if Malefor bothered to look into the future with his own Sage's Vision, though not a few seconds later she and the others moved away from where Spyro and Cynder, positioning themselves in the way Spike wanted them to be in for what was coming next, before facing Malefor as he drew one of the Spirit's blades and readied himself for what was coming next.
In the following moment Malefor brought the blade down on the area that they were standing in, which could split part of the island off from the rest of the landmass, but before it could reach its destination Spike weaved his magic through the air and summoned a partial barrier in the air between them, allowing the blade to strike his gleaming purple shield that he had created, though as soon as that happened, and Malefor's attack was stopped in its tracks, Bianca used her magic to teleport Aurora up into the air near the spot that their foe was positioned in, when they thought about the Spirit of Valor to be exact, and as she did that she raised her hands as she called up her magic for a moment.
"Solar Flare!" Aurora called out, a warning that allowed the rest of her group, who were already in the process of averting their eyes so they didn't get caught in what was coming next, to fully hide their eyes for a few moments as she loosed the spell that she had been preparing, something that caused a bright flash of light to emit from where she was positioned and caused anyone who was watching to be blinded for a moment, even though it likely wouldn't effect everyone that was located on the airship, given the distance between her location and where the ship was located, though even as she did all of that she had the feeling her attack did next to nothing against Malefor.
Malefor, of course, had been caught off guard by the spell, as he wasn't expecting something like that to be used against him in this training session, hence why he staggered for a moment and that caused the Spirit's blade to pull back as well, though at the same time Aurora, who froze for a second due to being surprised by what she was seeing, moved out of the way and readied herself for what was coming next, which was when both Spyro and Cynder started to make their move at last, where they stood next to each other and channeled their magical energies through their bodies as they stared at the area that Malefor was currently resting in.
"Dark Aether." Cynder stated, where she was surrounded by the dark purple aura that her father had used when he called upon this power so he could eliminate the Dark Master's soul, to prevent the dark dragon from returning again, while at the same time she and Spyro raised their legs into the air, her using her right leg and Spyro using the left, before rapidly stomping at the ground that they were standing on, causing the earth that was in their immediate area to crack under the weight of their powers, something that had to surprise the watchers as the pair readied themselves for what they were about to do, as this could either work in their favor or fail entirely.
"Light Aether." Spyro said, speaking just a few seconds after Cynder did, while at the same time allowing a lighter purple aura to wrap around him as he revealed what he was doing, meaning he was tapping into the other half of the Aether's power, before both he and Cynder launched themselves into the air and flew towards the section of the Spirit of Valor that Malefor was positioned in, where he raised his left palm not a few seconds later and Cynder did the same with her right palm, something that was followed by trails of their respective energies following their movements as they formed what many in their world called a 'yin-yang' symbol.
"Fist of Roaring Magic, Rending Air!" the pair said in perfect unison, which was when they lashed out at the section of the Spirit of Valor that was in front of them and struck the magical armor that Malefor was using as a weapon and as a shield, their palms shifting into fists as they hit their target, something that caused ripples of twin colored purple energy, as in the ripples had a light coloration and a dark coloration to match the powers that the pair were using, to emit from the section of the Spirit that they had struck and caused the air around them to shake at the same time, only for some of the group to stop for a moment and let their jaws drop for a moment as they watched as golden cracks formed in front of the area that Malefor was resting in.
They weren't the only ones that were caught off guard by what they were seeing right now, as Malefor, who had spent so many years creating and perfecting the Spirit of Valor, so it could be one of the greatest moves in the entire world, mostly so it could bring down the Dark Master's defenses and it succeeded in that regard, was frozen for a time as he focused on all of the cracks that were in front of him, as Spyro and Cynder, who he knew were some of the strongest dragons in the entire world, and that wasn't ignoring Spike and Ember, had managed to figure out a way to actually bypass the defenses of the Spirit of Valor and damaged it, which was why he was so stunned. A few moments later the power the pair brought to bare against their foe knocked the Spirit backwards and it started to stumble for a second or two, but they didn't get it or Malefor the chance to recover as they continued to lash out at the cracked area of the Spirit, something that caused all of the cracks to expand at an alarming rate, revealing to Spike that using the twin powers of the Aether, the Light and the Dark as the pair named them, against something or someone was a great way to bring down a foe or weaken them, and even the first purple dragon was coming to terms with the fact that had been revealed to them. Eventually Malefor took a moment to gather his power and summoned a barrier between him and his current foes, mostly to stall them as he called for a burst of his own power to knock both of them backwards, where they flipped backwards and landed on the ground near the rest of the group, though it was in that moment that he discovered that the Spirit refused to move, that the sheer power of Spyro and Cynder's attack had to still be causing havoc on his creation, something that was easy to see due to all of the cracks spreading even further than they had been earlier, before the unthinkable happened and the Spirit of Valor shattered into a thousand pieces that rained down on the area that they had been fighting in. Malefor, while shocked by what just happened, burst out of the wreckage of the Spirit and watched as it collapsed into nothingness, though he didn't have that much time to come to terms with what had happened as Hunter and Bianca moved in to attack him while some of his defenses were lowered by this event, the former sending out bolts of lightning from his runeblade and rained them down on the area he was standing in, while at the same time the latter called upon the moisture in the air to send out a few more Water Bolts as well, causing Malefor to duck and weave as he moved backwards.
It was only in that moment that he realized that Spike, even if the destruction of the Spirit of Valor wasn't part of his plan, wasn't missing a beat as the others moved in to pin him to a single area, as Flame and Aurora sent out a pair of waves that rushed through the air and headed towards him, one being made of flames and another being icy, attacks that he dodged and ignored as he flew over to where his foes were standing, though that was when Elora landed between them and threw a punch at her, one that he blocked with one of his arms before backing off to adjust himself for what was coming next, as he knew that something had to be coming his way. What he wasn't expecting was for the group to freeze the lower half of his body, where it appeared that Bianca had used Atlan's Trident to either redirect Aurora's attack or had transformed the wave into water and used a spell to freeze him to the ground, though before he even had a chance to really do something in return Ember, this time holding Tremor out like she was going to use it, slammed one of her hands against the ground for a moment and the section he was standing on rose into the air, like a pillar of earth had been summoned and it was in the middle of moving him up to a brand new area for some odd reason. That, of course, was when he found that Spike had moved up into the air while he was distracted and had summoned all of the elements into a single attack, basically an Elementium Bomb by the looks of things, before he noticed that he even added Water to the attack, something that only strengthened the spell in the process and turned it into a True Elementium Bomb, as with all ten elements combined into a single attack the damage would be even greater than it had been earlier, and with the fact that Spike carried both of the Aether weapons he knew that the spell might even surpass his wildest expectations, something that caused Malefor to reply in kind. What he did was gather the same elements that Spike had gathered into the area between his hands, like he was charging a beam attack, but instead of making the core of it out of the Light Aether, like he suspected Spike had since he only knew how to wield the Light variation, due to the fact that he never taught the dragon in question how to wield the darker variation, Malefor channeled the Dark Aether into the core of his attack and, once he was sure it was ready, it only took him a few moments to fire the beam up into the air and let it race towards the area that Spike was in, even though his plan was to strike the spherical attack with his own beam and cancel them both out.
It seemed simple in his eyes, use an equally powerful attack to take out Spike's attack, one that might have been powered by the rest of the group given that they were wielding the other runeblades, but what actually happened was that both of their attacks, when they reached the space that was between where he was standing and where Spike was floating, flared with magical power for a moment, causing the two attacks to spiral around before heading off towards the mountain that Malefor had cut the first time he showed off his Spirit of Valor... though as the smoke cleared he found an odd noodle like creature, who had an odd horse-like head of some kind, even though that was the closest he could come up with, a white deer antler, a blue goat horn, one long fang, different sized eyes, a goatee, and white eyebrows, while possessing the arm of a lion, the claw of an eagle, a lizard's leg, the leg of a goat, a small bat wing and a small bird-like wing that was also odd, a horse's mane, and a dragon-like snake's tail that ended with a white tuff.
"I cannot believe my luck sometimes... first I get roped into helping Her out, following energy signatures across the rest of our universe, and then I get attacked as soon as I arrive at one of my destinations," the creature said, where it sounded like he, and it was definitely a he based on the voice that came from it's mouth, wasn't too happy about something and that he was only doing this for a very good reason, even though the group was shocked as they stared at him for a moment, due to the fact that he had knocked both Malefor and Spike's True Elementium attacks out of the way like they were nothing to him, before they recovered from what they were seeing and decided that they might as well figure out what was going on right now, since this was also entirely new to them as well.
"Well, you opened a portal into that one, Discord," Spike stated, though at the same time he already knew what was going to happen as soon as he revealed the fact that he knew who this was, as he and Ember had a plan on when to reveal what they knew to Spyro and the others, once they were done training with Malefor, and the arrival of Discord just ruined their entire plan, but even as that happened he flew down to where the familiar creature was floating, who was dusting off his body for a moment, despite the fact that nothing had happened to him.
"Though it seems my luck has... turned around..." the creature, Discord as Spike called it, continued, though that was when he turned and looked at Spike for a few seconds, something that caused him to raise one of his eyebrows for a moment as they stared at each other, before he glanced around the area they were in and noticed that Ember was staring up at them as well, with her arms crossed since she was looking forward to a long battle with Malefor before this happened, to which he shifted his stance again and faced Spike once more, "Spike, you seem... different... and you certainly didn't have all of this magical power the last time I saw you."
"Um, what in the world is going on?" Flame asked, but even as he said that Spike flew down to the ground and that was the moment that everyone gathered around him for a moment, despite the fact that their eyes were on the creature that had interrupted the training session, something that he was fine with since it seemed like he and the others didn't need any help getting used to their new bodies or their new powers, before he focused on the more important thing as he glanced at Spike for a moment, "How do you know this guy?"
"Because he's from our home planet... and by our, I mean Ember and I," Spike replied, to which he turned and focused on the rest of the group for a moment, where it was easy to see that all of them were confused by what was going on and that each of them wanted an explanation, even though Discord's arrival had caused the elder dragons on the airship to realize that the fight was over and were in the middle of landing nearby so everyone could figure out what in the world was going on, hence the reason that he wanted for Nestor, the rest of the elders, and the rest of their friends to stop by where they were standing, before he sighed for a moment as he prepared himself for what he was about to say, "Ember and I were planning on telling you guys this later, once we were done training with Malefor since we were still coming to terms with it ourselves, but during the maturing process both of us also awakened memories of our previous lives, on another world to be exact, and we instantly realized that the other had the same thing happen, so we decided to take a week to figure out what in the world had happened before we confused everyone with the fact that both of us were like Spyro and Cynder, in the sense that we had memories of another life resting inside us."
"Okay, did you guys do something to him?" Discord asked, because the more Spike talked the more confused he got as he observed the former baby dragon that he was used to seeing in their world, while at the same time Ember seemed to be the same as he remembered, or at least he assumed so based on what he had seen of her so far, before he focused on the dragon that was surprising him and would be doing the same thing to those that were back on their planet, "Because he wasn't this smart back on our planet, nor did he have this much magical power... no offense meant, Spike."
"We didn't 'do' anything to him, he had this power slumbering inside him and he trained hard to unlock it," Spyro said, but while he was a little annoyed by what the creature had said, or Discord as he reminded himself since that was what Spike had called him, he was more interested by the fact that Spike and Ember actually came from another world, as he knew his siblings too well at this point, and he was going to keep calling them that, regardless of what they really were, and neither of them were lying to him, their friends, or their elders, hence the reason he had a smile on his face, "I can understand why you decided to keep this a secret, to give yourselves time to understand your shared past on your own time, and that you had a plan to reveal everything to us at some point... though I'm also interested in opening a portal to your home planet and seeing the place you and Ember came from."
"Its time for us to embark on a new adventure, to a brand new world no less." Flame stated, showing that he knew what Spyro was talking about and, despite his and Aurora's feelings on adventures, that he was actually excited to see the place that Spike and Ember had come from, as they had assumed the pair had come from the Dragon Realms, given that they were Spyro's siblings, and learning that the pair had come from another world made them eager to see what they might discover by heading to the planet in question.
Spike and Ember smiled for a moment, as they were happy to see that, despite the fact that they hadn't told anyone about the memories they had unlocked, Spyro and the others didn't see them in a new light and were interested in visiting the world they came from, to see what their home looked like and how different it was from the world they called home, and it wasn't long before Spyro and the Professor started talking about the idea in question, leaving a rather confused Discord just standing there, even though he eventually sighed and followed the group, just to see what they were up to before he used his magic to open the way back home, despite the fact that Spike and Ember would surprise him once the Professor was done with his work.
It took Spyro, the rest of his group, and everyone that had been observing their latest training session with Malefor a couple of moments to climb onto the airship that was resting nearby and Discord joined them without delay, though it was easy to see that he was surprised by the fact that they had a functioning airship that was able to raise and lower itself while it was in the air, something that caused Spike and Ember to chuckle for a moment as the Professor had Spike channel his magic for a few seconds, his Teleportation Magic to be exact, with the express purpose of heading to one of his labs so he could show all of them what he had been working on with some of the other scientists. Discord stood there with shock on his face as Spike focused his magic for a few seconds and opened a large portal in front of the airship, one that Fury directed the ship into as Spyro informed him of what was going on, though the area of their planet that they were heading to was, as everyone found out, the brand new laboratory that the Professor had created to house the Orrery he had salvaged from the ruined lab in Capora, even though he had also recreated many of his terminals to this structure so he could study whatever it was that he was interested in with some peace. The area in question happened to be an island that was in the middle of the sea, a lone island that happened to be nowhere near any of the other islands that the dragons and their friends called home and the only way to access this place seemed to be by either Teleportation Magic or portals, the latter being the one that the Professor had went with a long time ago, though there was also a beach that had been outfitted with a docking area, just in case he brought the group to this area and they had their airship with them, which also provided Fury with an area to set the airship down in and that was where he headed without delay. Everyone else discovered that the island was rather big, just a tad bit smaller than the Artisans homeworld based on what Spike was seeing at the moment, and that it seemed to have a decent sized mountain in the middle of it, though there were also trees and the Professor informed them that he had found a lake on the island as well, but also promised that he was being careful since this was a dormant volcano and not actually a mountain, something that also made him mention something else, that he and the other scientists had figured out how to replicate the generator that produced Ion Crystals and he had one inside this lab.
Once the airship was back in the water, and the propellers had been hidden as the ship docked at the island, the group found a tunnel that had to connect to the area of the hidden lab that the Professor had created, to which he lead the way forward as he headed for the lab in question and unlocked the door he had installed near the dock, just in case he found a villain that wanted his information for themselves, so he could lock them out and call the group in to deal with the foe in question, and once they were on the other side of the large metallic door he closed it and made sure it was locked before heading deeper into the mountain, even though the Leaders and other elder dragons, save for Malefor, stayed outside on the ship, to not overcrowd the tunnel. The tunnel in question sure looked a lot like the laboratory that had been created in Volcanic Isle, even though it had been ruined to some degree, and when they reached the end of it a few moments later it was easy for the group to see that the Professor had built a large lab inside this mountain, where a variety of machines were resting all over the walls and were being tended to the other scientists that the group had seen when they launched the Jupiter 2, with an Ion Generator resting in the center of the chamber like the Professor told them, which was turning all of the thermal energy of the somewhat dormant volcano into a collection of Ion Crystals. It turned out that this part of the lab was designed for additional creation of Ion Crystals and sent them out to the rest of the lab so they could either be tested or be readied for shipping to the rest of the islands of the world, even though they were informed that they were still in the testing phases with the powerful crystals and they wanted to be sure there were no negative side effects to what they were doing, before sending the deep green colored crystals out to the rest of the world, to which the group took a moment to nod their heads as their friend headed for the section of the lab that the machines he was interested in were located in. At the same time Discord looked around the area that they were in and was shocked by everything that he was seeing at the moment, since this was all new to him and he suspected that if he opened his mouth to say something one of the others would give him a lecture of some kind as they explained everything that they were seeing and he preferred not to waste time, meaning he was just going to listen to everything that was said and say nothing in return, even if part of him suspected that he would be using his magic to get Spike and Ember back home.
Spike, on the other hand, stopped for a moment when they reached the area that the Professor was leading them to, as it was easy to see that their friend had brought them to a computer that reminded him of the one that they had seen back during their adventure in Avilion, when they were freeing its homeworlds from Morrigan's control, and he could see that it contained a visual image of what the Orrery was showing them, only where he recalled one odd rainbow colored dot, one that had been above the Dragon Realms, this time around there were two of them on the map, the second resting above the island they had been training on, which gave him an idea as to what they were seeing at the moment.
"As some of you know, I have been studying the various types of energies that surround our world for a long time, long enough to recognize an irregularity or two when I saw them," the Professor commented, where he quickly pressed some of the buttons that were in front of him and the screen changed to show the image of the Dragon Realms, even though it was easy for the group to determine that he was focused on the Artisans homeworld right now, while the second screen showed of the island they had been training on a few minutes ago, before he glanced back at them, "I found the first one a little over fifteen years ago, on the day that all six of you were born on to be exact, and I've been wondering what it might be since the day I discovered its existence above the Dragon Realms, as the signature inspired me to create many theories as to what it could be, but thanks to the timely arrival of our new friend we know exactly what the pair of signatures are and, more importantly, what they were used for: they're magical signatures from someone whose been hopping from one planet to another, something we've only begun to dream about with the successful launches of the Jupiter 2 and the Ion Crystals that we just recently discovered. From what I can tell something caused Spike and Ember to suddenly leave their home planet and brought them to our world, if what happened fifteen years ago was any indication, and with the arrival of Discord, whose signature is different from the first one, its easy to determine that someone or something intentionally sent them to our planet, just like how Discord intentionally teleported himself to where you were training, and if I retrace his uniquely powerful energy signature I should be able to pinpoint the exact location of your home planet in about five minutes, ten tops."
"He's joking, right? It took me a week of solid searching, while making sure to rest each night, before I was able to figure out which planet you two were sent to," Discord inquired, something that interested both Spike and Ember, given what the two of them knew and hadn't said anything about yet, though at the same time everyone glanced at each other for a few seconds as they considered the question that had been asked, especially since he was asking about the Professor's skills at the moment, before everyone that was standing by the screens nodded their heads towards him, where he raised one of his eyebrows for a moment and decided to say nothing until he witnessed it with his own eyes.
The Professor, however, was in his element as he tapped the buttons that were in front of him and adjusted his glasses a few times while he worked, where they could see that he called up a third screen that seemed to be responding to what he was doing right now, though what surprised Discord was that images rapidly moved by on the screen as the Professor was able to move beyond the part of space that this planet happened to be resting in and was able to follow his chaotic energy through space, passing planets that he had paused at for a few seconds to check for Spike and Ember before moving on to the next part of space, before he spotted a familiar planet that caused the reading machines to spike with a familiar surge of energy, where the Professor stopped once he locked onto a field that rested near the other end of Discord's magical signature, which caused his jaw to drop, literally, as he looked at the screen.
"Four minutes, forty-seven seconds, a new record." the Professor stated, though he couldn't help but smile, as he was fond of showing those that doubted his skills and his mind the truth of the situation, sort of like how Spike liked to show off his knowledge every time there was something to discuss and he happened to be the one that knew everything about what they were talking about, before he tapped a few more buttons and the coordinates he discovered were sent to another part of the lab, something that was followed by him turning towards everyone else for a moment, "Come along, its time that I showed you the Super Portal Mark II that my fellow scientists and I developed after the discovery of the Ion Crystals, as we've determined that with the power of a crystal or two we should be able to open a portal to new worlds and explore them whenever we want, possibly even creating a portal nexus somewhere so we can freely go from one planet to another without delay, but that's something for another time, as I have sent the coordinates to your home planet to the new Super Portal... all we have to do is turn it on and head through it."
Of course Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember were the first ones to follow after the Professor, with Elora, Hunter, and the rest of the group following after them as Discord picked up his jaw, fixed himself up, and silently floated after them, where he made his way through the rest of the lab, something that allowed them to see the various over scientists that they had seen during the Jupiter 2 launch, before they headed outside the hidden laboratory and walked into what appeared to be a hidden portal area that was either protected by magic or was hidden with some invisibility devices, so it couldn't be seen from the air, and resting right in the middle of the clearing happened to be a large marble white archway that was nearly identical to the Super Portal that was back in Avalar, save for the fact that there was an Ion Crystal where the power source should be, which confirmed the Professor's statement.
"Once this is activated we'll be able to travel to a brand new world," Spyro commented, as he felt like reminding the rest of the group of what would be happening in the next couple of minutes, though at the same time it almost felt unreal, that all of them would be able to do something like this in the first place, even if Spike and Ember were the first ones among them to visit two worlds, before he stepped forward and faced the Super Portal as the Professor moved off to the side to access the control panel for the portal, "if anyone is having second thoughts, and doesn't want to go through with this, feel free to do so, as we will respect your decision as well..."
"No one's staying behind, not when we're stepping into the unknown," Cynder remarked, because while she understood what Spyro meant by his words, since she knew him the longest and understood him more than anyone else, she, Spike, and Ember knew that no one was going to stay behind, save for the Leaders and the other elders since someone needed to maintain the balance of their world and keep an eye out for enemies that might need to be taken care of, hence why all of them were ready for what was coming next and so where their friends, "Professor, activate the portal whenever you are ready to do so."
Not even a few seconds later a small amount of green energy danced between the sections of the archway as the group readied themselves for what was about to happen next, though it didn't take long for a shimmering image to appear right in front of them, the indication that the connection had been established, for how long they had no idea since this had to be the furthest reaching portal anyone on the planet had ever created, to which Spyro lead the way through the portal as he headed for the world that Spike and Ember had called home before arriving in the Artisans homeworld, as he was eager to see what was on the other side.
It took them a few moments for the magic of the new Super Portal to take them from the Professor's hidden lab and drop them off in the area that the other side of the portal happened to be connected to, where Spyro and the others walked out of the magical portal and touched down on a grassy plain that they had been brought to, even though there were a couple of small hills off to their right that rested between their location and a rather tall mountain, one that happened to have a city that was built into the side of the mountain, sort of like some of the realms he and the others had been to over the course of their adventures. From what they could see it seemed like the city was rather large and that it would take a fair bit of time for them to explore it, even though it was possible that someone like Malefor, a leader of the land, might call it home and that whoever that individual was had to be watching over their citizens, but the only way to determine what was true or not would be to head to the city itself and see what was going on, though Spyro found that Spike and Ember didn't focus on the city for long, rather they were staring off to the left of the area that they were standing in right now, where he found a rather interesting sight. Off in the distance rested what appeared to be a rather large town or village of some kind, one that had different styled buildings than what the city possessed, as the city seemed to have ivory towers, golden spires, and other such items while the town to their left seemed to be more like a medieval village with straw and wooden roofs on top of the various structures, though the couple of odd things they could see in the town happened to be a large crystalline castle of some kind, like a mix between a tree and a castle, not to mention the dark forest that was beyond the border of the town, as it seemed that the residents stopped after a certain distance and didn't build towards the forest for some reason, rather they built in the opposite direction. There was also a number of other interesting structures that were inside the town that everyone was focused on, or at least it seemed that way from where they were standing, and it didn't take Spyro and the others long to turn towards Spike and Ember, as they knew more about this world than the rest of the group did and it was clear that Spyro was letting them take the lead this time around, something that was evident by both of the dragons in question walking towards the town and caused the others to follow after them without wasting any time, with Discord bringing up the rear of their group.
"Based on Twilight's lectures, which I don't remember a lot of to be honest... I'm going to have to apologize to her as soon as I see her... we're on the continent of Equestria, heading towards Ponyville, and our planet is called... Equus, if what I'm remembering is correct," Spike commented, giving Spyro and the others a chance to make a note of the name of the land they had appeared in, the name of the whole planet, and, more importantly, the name of the town they were currently walking towards, though at the same time he was thinking about the individual that had to be worried about him, due to the fact that Discord said that he and Ember had been done for a week, or at least he had been looking for them for an entire week and that he might have started sometime after Twilight started, with the latter option meaning there was no telling how long they had been gone.
"I'm not going to call you guys liars, but being on your world definitely did something to him," Discord stated, because he hadn't gotten over what he had heard from Spike earlier and his previous statement still stood as far as he was concerned, as Spike was totally different from what he remembered and he knew that he wouldn't be the only one that felt the same way when they met him and Ember, even though there was something only he knew and he wasn't ready to tell them, or at least he wasn't ready to tell both Spike and Ember what he knew, given what Spike had just said, hence why he focused on the town and less on the group that was in front of him.
"Really? This town is called Ponyville?" Flame inquired, as he found it hard to believe that someone could name the place they and the other residents would be living in with such a weird name, not that all the dragon clans were all that better due to naming some of the homeworlds after the lifestyles of the clans themselves, the seasons, the times of day, and so on, though even as he said that he found that Spike and Ember were serious about the name, especially when they found a signpost that had the name written on it, to which he sighed for a moment, "Okay, the town is called Ponyville... not what I was expecting, but I won't argue with its official name, given what we called our homeworlds and realms back home, but its not like we'll be running into..."
Before Flame could complete that comment, however, that was when the group stopped at the edge of Ponyville for a few seconds and stared at what was in front of them, as Spyro and the others found a number of colorful quadrupedal horse-like creatures, ponies the group had to assume based on the name of the town, who stood roughly half as tall as an adult dragon did and came in every color under the rainbow, as some had a pink coat, others had a cerulean coat, and others had other colors, while their manes and tails were usually either one color or two while sharing the same colors and had the same design, and they found that some ponies had a pointed horn in the middle of their heads, others had a pair of wings on their back, and some had neither.
"Ponies, that's what we'll run into." Aurora said, finishing the statement that Flame had made, even though he sighed as he joined the others in looking at the area that was in front of them, where it didn't look like any of the ponies had noticed all of them standing at the edge of Ponyville, but she did notice that Spike and Ember seemed to be waiting for something to happen and weren't saying at the moment as they stared at the town that they had grown up in, or at least that was what she was assuming since neither of them had said much about their old memories since revealing that they even had such a thing to begin with, "Um, guys, what are we waiting for exactly?"
"Pinkie Pie, she usually finds her way to newcomers in Ponyville and greets them, mentioning that she'll be throwing them a party before running off," Spike replied, which was rather strange when he thought about it, as this had to be the first time that such a thing had happened since the mare in question lived in Ponyville, to the best of his limited knowledge of the town anyway, and he still recalled the first time he and Twilight met the mare that threw them their first party inside what became home for a time, until it was destroyed anyway, before he sighed and stepped forward, "I guess she's doing something else right now and hasn't noticed our arrival, so we'll either find her at some point later, when she realizes that we're here, or we'll be surprised when we reach the castle, since that's where we'll find Twilight Sparkle and we can tell her what we've been doing since the last time we saw her."
Ember took it upon herself to inform the group that, to the best of her knowledge of what happened before she and Spike ended up in Spyro's world, Spike and Twilight had been friends to some degree, even though she heard rumors that they were more like adopted siblings given that Spike had been seen in Twilight's company almost all the time in both Ponyville and Canterlot, the mountain city everyone had looked at earlier, even though it was clear that Spike was thinking on how he might categorize his relationship with the mare in question and that he would tell them about it later, as he was more focused on heading towards the castle, which had no guards outside it and it was easy for him to push open the doors as they reached it, revealing an entry chamber that lead to the rest of the rooms in the castle.
"Twilight! We're back!" Spike called out, as while he wasn't attuned to his home world's magic yet, since he couldn't feel the energy signatures of the unicorns they had seen earlier, he figured that the castle was the best place to look for Twilight and let her know that he and Ember had returned, not to mention the fact that they had returned with a new bond having been forged between them, a new siblings, and a bunch of friends who were well respected heroes in the world they had been sent to, but what he found was that there was no surge of magic, no sound of something falling and hitting the floor, and no sounds of hooves running along the halls, leaving the castle quieter than normal, "Odd, I figured that she would be here and that she would come running or teleporting as soon as she heard my voice... I guess we can explore the castle for a time and see if we find her, otherwise we might have to head to Canterlot and see if Princess Celestia or Princess Luna know where she might have gone."
When Flame asked what they were looking for, since no one had said anything about Twilight's looks yet, Spike sighed and realized that he had been too eager to find Twilight, as he had neglected to tell the others what her mane and coat looked like since he figured they would find her inside the castle, before revealing that she had a lavender coat and violet eyes, while her mane and tail were a mix of dark sapphire blue, moderate purple, and brilliant raspberry stripes, though the big thing that would set her apart from the other ponies was the fact that Twilight had a horn and a pair of wings, which gave the others a good idea as to who they were looking for. From there the group separated from each other and explored the rest of the castle, even though it was gone in groups of two for the most part and Elora followed after Spike, while Ember and Amelia walked together as the others grouped up and headed out to see what they could find, with a surge of magic being the agreed upon indicator if they found anything, even though Spike made sure that if no one found anyone, which he refused to believe was possible, everyone would either regroup here, at the entryway, or find their way to a chamber that had a special table inside it, one all of them would recognize as soon as they saw it. Once that was done Spike made his way towards the sections of the castle that he figured would be the best areas that they would find Twilight in, as the very first one was the library, since she was studying the types of magic in this world and was trying to understand everything that she could get her hooves on, but what he found was that there was nothing inside the library, save for all of the books she had been gathering and he couldn't wait to get his own hands on them, to see what in the world she had been studying while he was doing whatever he did with the time that wasn't spent near her, because now he could keep up with her and they would spend nights studying the deepest reaches of magic or whatever interested them, but first he had to find her and tell her about the world he had been sent to. Elora, on the other hand, found the castle to be rather impressive and she couldn't believe that Spike must have spent some time in this place before being sent to their world, a feat that she was still wrapping her head around since it seemed like Equus, as Spike called this world, seemed to be far behind her world, in terms of technology, something they would have to fix at some point in the future, once both Spike and Ember settled back into things, but as she followed Spike she noticed that, save for the sounds the others made while they walked through the castle, there was nothing else making noise.
It made her wonder if this Twilight was somewhere else in the world and hadn't noticed the opening of the portal that had brought them to this world, something she felt was hard to miss given that the plains was in full view of Canterlot and that someone must have noticed their arrival, though her thoughts were interrupted as they reached what appeared to be a throne room of some kind, one that had six large chairs, one with a purple star, one with a trio of apples, one that was in the shape of a bolt of lightning coming from a cloud, one that had a trio of gems, another that had a trio of butterflies, and a sixth that had a trio of balloons, before noticing that there was a seventh smaller chair and, interestingly enough, all of the chairs were made out of crystal and there was a circular crystalline table in front of them.
"Spike, this place is wonderful, but it doesn't look like someone's been here in a week," Bianca commented, as she and the rest of the group arrived not a few moments after Spike and Elora had found their way to this room, because while it was easy to see that the castle was big, and had more than enough rooms for everything a castle should have, it was also easy for her and the others to tell that it had been empty for some time, at least the time that Discord had said that Spike and Ember had been gone anyway, "is there anywhere else we can look for her in, besides around Ponyville or scouring all of the rooms of this castle?"
"Canterlot was home for a time, and her parents and mentor are still living there, so she could always go there, or there's to the north, to the Crystal Empire, where her brother and foal-sitter live," Spike replied, though even as he said that, and gave the others an idea of the locations that they could visit to search for Twilight, something about this was bothering him and he could see that Ember was staring at Discord while he spoke up, where it seemed like he might be guilty of some sort of crime or something, to which the pair barely moved their heads for a moment as he focused on Discord, who just stood near the doorway of this room and tried to make himself seem smaller than he actually was, only he wasn't using his power to do anything at the moment, which was just odd, "Discord, what's going on? Where's Twilight?"
"Twilight, she's... well, she's gone. Missing, like you and Ember were." Discord said, where he could see that the group that had accompanied Spike and Ember were surprised that he had said nothing since they returned to Equus, especially since the mare in question was so important to one of their own, or at least it sure seemed so since Twilight was the first pony that Spike had sought out as soon as he and Ember returned to their home planet, and it was easy to see that Spike was disappointed in Discord's actions while trying not to be devastated by the fact that Twilight wasn't here, "All I know is that you and Ember agreed to help Twilight with one of her studies, or something along those lines, and that you went to the cave that the Tree of Harmony is resting in, though she frantically rushed out of the cave and told me both of you were gone, starting me on the search that just ended when I found you... even though now I have to focus on Twilight, not to mention the rest of what I call 'the displaced'."
"Wait, the Tree... maybe we can find a clue there!" Ember stated, because at this point in time she was willing to check out anything and everything to make Spike feel better, as everyone could see that he was saddened by the fact that Twilight was missing and that Discord hadn't said anything to either of them, and Elora, of course, was gripping his shoulder while they talked to the Spirit that was in front of them, to which she headed for an opening and noticed that it happened to be pointing in the direction of the forest, something that spurred everyone else into action as they moved out of the chamber they had been standing in and followed after her, something that surprised Discord before he did the same thing, even though he remained silent once more as he did that.
Ember and the rest of the dragons took to the air as soon as they were outside, while Elora did the same thing as Bianca used a bit of her magic to form walkways for her and the others to follow behind their friends, with Hunter carrying the Professor as that happened, and it wasn't long before everyone reached the forest, where Spike revealed that it was called the Everfree Forest, and Ember followed her memories of this place as she headed for the area that the cave in question rested in, which just so happened to be near an ancient castle, but thanks to their wings and Bianca's platforms none of the creatures that called the forest home bothered them and it allowed them to reach the cave in question... where it took only a few moments for them to find a large crystalline tree that had six unique gemstones in its branches, each baring the colors of the gems Spike had formed during the battle with the Dark Master.
"So this is the Tree of Harmony... amazing," Bianca commented, though at the same time she and the others stood inside the cave and stared at the odd tree, as none of them had seen something like that in their world, save for the gems that Spike had formed, but once she got over that she and the others looked around the rest of the cave that was in front of them and found that there were no clues for them to go on, save for the fact that there were two symbols etched into the trunk of the tree, one a sun and the other a moon, while the center of the tree resembled the star that had been on one of the thrones they had seen earlier, "however, there's nothing here for us to go on..."
"Okay Harmony, I brought some of the displaced like you wanted," Discord stated, speaking not to the group that was all around him, like some of them might have assumed since they weren't expecting him to even say anything until someone happened to ask him something, though as he said that he stepped up to the Tree and tapped it, like he was trying to do something or rouse someone from their slumber, or, as Spike wondered, possibly the spirit of something that not many ponies even knew about, even though he felt that the soul of their world, the highest point of that train of thought, was too far for something like what they were seeing, "and I kept quiet like you wanted me to. Now, what's so important that you had to go through all of this in the first place?"
The light in the cave shifted for a moment before a shimmering circular object appeared in the space between the Tree and everyone else, something that looked like a mirror that wasn't reflecting what happened to be resting in front of it at the moment, rather it seemed to be revealing something to all of them, events that were occurring at that very moment, or maybe in the recent past as Spike thought about it, since there was no telling exactly when the events had happened from their side, to which the group remained silent as they watched what was going on and he readied himself for the notes he would be taking, since this had to be the only time this would be shown to them. The first image that the mirror revealed was of a frail and weak bipedal creature that had a robe covering most of its body right now, though it had scarlet colored arms with metallic bracers, seemed to have two hooves instead of the four Spike recalled, and had small black horns on its head, though standing beside it was a feminine bipedal creature that was wearing stealth-like armor as she and the being faced a massive creature that wore steel armor with a frost aura around it, held a massive mace in one of its hands, and seemed to be rushing around on all fours as it tried to crush its foes into the ground. After that it shifted and showed them another scene, one that involved three girls, one having very dark gray colored skin and dark cerulean colored hair and tail, the second having light goldish gray skin with moderate tangelo, or orange, colored hair and tail, even though she had something between her eyes that looked grayish apple green and a diamond on her forehead that happened to be a moderate crimson color, while the third girl had light magentaish gray colored skin with her hair and tail having a grayish violet and arctic blue coloration, who seemed to be standing near two bipedal creatures who had black hair and seemed to be mighty warriors, one with blue armor and the other with orange clothing. The third image that they saw was of a girl who had dark orchid colored skin, basically a deep red in a sense, who had moderate rose coloration with lighter tips to her hair and tail, though she was standing near three young individuals, a young boy with an orange suit and yellow-blond hair, a young girl with a red dress of sorts and had pink hair, and a second more depressed looking boy who had a blue set of clothing on and had black hair, while an older person, who had spiky silver hair, wore a set of attire that made him look like the leader of the group, and had a band of some kind over his left eye.
Once that image had been shown the mirror shifted again, revealing a dark blue coated bipedal lady, who happened to have both a pair of wings and a horn on her head, while having moderate sapphire blue colored hair and tail that also had a grayish persian blue outline to them, that was in the middle of fighting what appeared to be a vast army of demons on a fortress of some kind, though she was accompanied by a heavily armed warrior, a mage of some kind, a leather wearing man who seemed to be looking for something, and another warrior who seemed to be wearing plate armor while carrying a massive mace into battle. Another image followed that and it happened to be of a dark gray colored individual, who had black hair and a matching tail, that was wearing an interesting set of armor that looked like a spacesuit of some kind and was in the middle of firing a weapon of some kind, a gun the group guessed based on what they had seen in the past, at some undead looking creatures as someone in a matching set of gear did the same thing, though it looked like they were on a spaceship or something, because it was hard to tell due to the lighting of the area they were in. After that it shifted to a brilliant amber colored girl, who had brilliant amaranth colored hair and tail that had light apple green stripes, that was wearing what appeared to be some sort of pirate attire, or at least it sure looked like it, while she was standing next to a young man who had a slim build, shaggy black hair, and had a straw hat on his head, though they were accompanied by a tall figure who was easily twice, maybe even three times, as tall as they were, had numerous scars on his chest, which was bare save for a captain's jacket that hung off his shoulders somehow, and had a large white crescent mustache, and it did look like they were in the middle of a battle or something given the number of figures off in the distance. The magic took a moment to shift after that and showed two dark gray skinned individuals, both female in appearance while obscuring their hair with their hoods, one looking like an assassin while the other looked like a mage, who happened to be standing near a bipedal cat-like creature who seemed to be gathering a group of followers for something, in an area that looked like the meeting area of a city or something, like they were going to war or were preparing for battle, as it was hard to tell without any additional pieces of information.
After that Spike froze for a moment when the next image showed up, as it revealed three girls standing near a young adult male who had a blue tunic and had spiky yellow-green colored hair, with an odd otter or weasel shaped creature riding on his shoulder, though the reason Spike froze was because one of the girls had Twilight's skin, hair, and tail colors, while the second had a pale, almost light, grayish heilotrope coat, while her hair and tail had moderate and light purple sections with a grayish aquamarine stripe, leaving the third girl having a pinkish gray coat with her long hair being a pale grayish arctic blue with a lighter version of the same color serving as stripes... but it gave Spike an idea of where Twilight had gone, and it was better than believing that she had been lost.
Once Spike got over seeing what had happened to Twilight the image shifted once more, revealing a young adult girl who had a light fuchsiaish gray coloration to her coat, or white in a sense, while her sort of long hair had four colors to it, a light cerulean, a light turquoise, a light cobalt blue, and a pale pink, though standing near her were two young adult boys who were wearing the same school uniform that she was wearing, despite the fact that one had messy dark green colored hair and seemed confident about something, while the other had spiky ash-blond colored hair and seemed to be annoyed by whatever was going on, or maybe it was just someone he was with when the image happened. After that the image took a moment to shift to what appeared to be an island of some kind, one that looked like it had been corrupted by some sort of sinister deep green substance and had what could only be described as demons gathering on the island, but the ones it was focusing on were two girls that looked similar to the others they had seen, save for the fact that one had a brilliant gold coat and vivid orange colored hair and tail that had amber stripes, while the other had a light grayish cerulean coat, or cyan in a sense, even though both her hair and her tail were rainbow colored, but both of them had what appeared to be a set of horns on their heads and interesting tattoos on their foes as they faced the demons in front of them. Not too long after that the image shifted to a lone girl, who was wearing an odd white set of cloth attire, though she had a light grayish raspberry coat, basically pink, and had a brilliant raspberry color to her hair and tail, where it looked like she was standing on top of a building and seemed to be staring out at a massive circular city of some kind, even though it looked like there was an orange haired young adult male standing near her with a large cleaver-like blade on his back and wore a nearly identical set of attire to the one the image had focused on, as his was black instead of white. After that they found that the next image consisted of an odd village of some kind that was built near a large forest, with what appeared to be a ship resting far above it on some rocks, but the one it focused on a young adult male who had a moderate cornflower blue coloration to his coat, while his mane and tail were a light cobalt bluish gray color, and he had a set of curved horns that looked like a ram's, though near him rested a small cat-like creature, roughly as tall as the dragons had been in their teenage bodies, who seemed ready for an adventure based on the explorer attire it was wearing, and there was a young adult girl sitting near him as well, who wore a yellow set of attire, had an open book nearby, and seemed to be in the middle of stuffing her face with food that had been prepared by someone near them. The next image was of a futuristic city that looked like it was busy, due to all of the flying vehicles that were in the air, before it focused on the ones it was trying to show them, which happened to be three girls, one having a pale apple green colored coat with luminous vivid orange colored hair and tail with yellow streaks, the second had a light grayish fuchsia coat with a moderate purple color to her hair and tail that also had aquamarine stripes, and the third had an arctic bluish white coloration to her coat while her hair and tail were a light arctic blue with moderate persian blue streaks, though while they were wearing metallic armor they were standing next to a bipedal feline-like creature who had yellow fur with brown stripes and happened to be carrying a wrench into battle, with an odd metallic backpack.
After that image was shown the group watched as the mirror shifted once more and briefly showed them a city that had a more gothic look to it, though it seemed that the civilians were in the middle of a hunt or something, which was had to tell based on the image that was shown to them, but the odd thing was that the mirror didn't focus on anyone, making them wonder why it had shown them this world in the first place, since no one had been sent to it, before the magic shuddered for a moment before shifting once more... something that was followed by it stopping and revealed something interesting, a vast, seemingly endless army of demonic creatures who were in the middle of swarming a planet and taking it over, an army that wasn't like the one they had seen in one of the previous images, before the magic disappeared entirely and the group stood there in silence for a moment.
"Okay, so some of the other displaced are a cross between ponies and humans, based on the fact that they have hooves for feet, they still have their tails, and most still have their horns from what we've seen," Bianca commented, as this was a lot for all of them to take in, because while they knew what had happened to Twilight Sparkle, which made Spike happy as it gave him an idea of where to find her, it also revealed that there were more of the displaced out there, as Discord called them earlier, before she focused on the last two images they had been shown before the magic disappeared, images that left them with more questions than answers, "but the last world we saw, before the demons, seems out of place, like the Tree is warning us that someone else might disappear from this world in the near future... and speaking of warnings, that last image seemed like something was trying to inform us of a danger that is approaching this planet."
"It is a warning, of a demonic army that is invading worlds and devouring them, eventually bringing about the death of its inhabitants and the overall destruction of the planets in question," a mysterious voice said, to which everyone paused for a moment, as the voice was coming from behind them and they knew that no one had been there when they entered the cave, though when everyone turned around they found a lone figure, who seemed to have the build of a young adult male, based on what they had seen so far, and was wearing a black coat of some kind that covered most of his body, one that had a zipper that went all the way from the head around and reached the bottom of the feet area, where the lower half of it was unzipped and showed off the figure's dark gray, nearly black, pants, which went with his ebony black gloves and boots, both of which had blood red runes etched onto them, and it appeared that the coat had a pair of diamond shaped silver drawstrings, "a demonic army that will, in the very near future, set its sights on this world and invade it, and with next to no army to defend yourselves this planet will be overrun in no time."
"Equus... she felt the demons coming..." Spike said, as while he was wary of the stranger, in case he was part of the army and this was their way of declaring war on a planet that was next in line, he understood what was going on, their planet, or maybe the spirit of the planet to be more precise, had sensed the terrifying power of the demonic army and did whatever she had done to displace him, Ember, and all of the others that had been shown to them just now, meaning that they had to ready themselves for what the future had for them, while at the same time it was Discord's job to figure out where all of the displaced had gone and bring them back, to build an army that could withstand the demons that would be coming at some point in time, "I get it. The only way to survive is to build our own army, a large one at that... no wonder there are so many displaced that we have to find and return to our world."
"And She was right to displace you two, as you are the beginnings of that army," the figure stated, though Spike wondered if he was pleased by what he was seeing or if there was something else about all of this that he and the others hadn't seen yet, but before he could say anything else a dark portal opened up behind the stranger, an oval shaped portal that just so happened to be only three-fourths of what an oval looked like, before the figure took a step back and seemed to fade into the darkness that was behind him, something that caused him to vanish as quickly as he had appeared, even though Spike was of the opinion that the stranger would be watching them and the rest of the displaced.
No one said anything as they stared at the area that the figure had been in for a few moments, as it would take them some time to wrap their heads around the fact that their universe seemed far larger than what everyone initially assumed when they watched the Professor track down this planet earlier, not to mention get used to the fact that not only were there a fair number of displaced that needed to be found and returned to their home planet, but they also had to prepare for an eventual demonic invasion from a force that was different from the demonic armies that had been in the images the Tree had shown them over the last couple of minutes.
"I'm heading back to the castle, to rest after expanding the energy that brought me to the planet you had been sent to not too long ago, and to get used to the idea that my job isn't over yet," Discord stated, where he walked outside and floated into the air that was around him, showing the others that he was being true to his word and that he was leaving this area for a time, even though Spike and Ember suspected he wasn't too pleased about being an underling for the Tree, or the spirit of their planet based on what they discovered, before he paused and glanced back at them, "I would suggest you do the same, before some of the other ponies come running to see what happened to you, or ask questions about those that are still missing at the moment."
Spike and Ember nodded as the group left the cave as well, because they both knew that there were certain ponies in the town, or some of the neighboring settlements, who would come running as soon as they heard that one or two of those that had been missing had just returned, so this would give them a chance to go over everything they had seen over the last few minutes and come up with a plan to deal with the images that they had seen, even though a true plan would be made once everyone came home, something that they shelved for now and focused on what was coming next.
The walk back to Ponyville gave the group some time to think about what they had just seen, as the images gave them an idea as to what happened to certain members of this world, who only Spike and Ember would be able to identify since it was likely that Discord wouldn't tell them much, but at the same time some of the images really didn't help them figure out the locations of the areas that the other displaced had been sent to, which meant they would have to stick to what Discord had done to find them and refine his methods so they worked better for them, if he had any methods anyway, since they had no idea what he had done to locate the planet Spyro and the others were from. Spyro, Cynder, and their friends were still taking some time coming to terms with what they had discovered when they passed through the Professor's portal and appeared on the world that Spike and Ember had come from, mostly since it was still a shock that both of them came from a world of ponies and had been displaced in some manner, as that was the one thing that they still really didn't understand all that well, though even as they thought about that, and walked through the forest which seemed to be silent, Spyro knew both of his siblings and suspected that both of them would talk when they were ready, which would likely be when they reached the castle and locked themselves inside it. Spike, for the most part, was focused on a single image they had seen over the course of a few minutes, the one that revealed where Twilight had been sent to be exact, because it was hard to imagine that she would have ignored him and Ember's return to their world, so having her being one of the displaced made sense when he thought about it, even though it did look like the place she had been sent to might be a dangerous one, even though it only took him a few moments to push that statement aside, as all of the worlds the displaced had been sent to were dangerous in their own ways, so he guessed he should be happy that Twilight was safe, as it did look like she was in capable hands, if the warrior and the other displaced were anything to go by. Ember, on the other hand, was more focused on what would happen to this world now that they had returned, as she knew that the ponies wouldn't be able to do that much if the demons invaded, say, in the next day or two, or a week for that matter, so what they needed to do was find a way to train the guards so they could actually do their job and that meant bringing a few of the Peace Keepers with her to train them, even though there was another place she needed to go and check out in the near future, one Spike had likely thought about as well.
In the end they were able to get back to where Twilight's castle was located, which many of the group assumed would be Spike's for the foreseeable future since he had been seen with the mare in question for a long period of time, without any of the other ponies noticing them at all, which was still rather weird when they thought about it since everyone felt that someone would have stopped what they were doing and spotted them out of the corner of their eyes, but for the most part they were thankful for that and headed inside the castle, where Spike made his way to what appeared to be a large chamber that served as a dining room, or a banquet hall of sorts, even though it was nothing like what they had seen back in Spyro's world and the various lands they had visited.
"You know, something occurred to me while we were walking back to this castle," Hunter said, even though that was when everyone seemed to scatter and take up different seats around the room that Spike had brought them to, but he was sure he had some sort of idea that might help them out and he wanted to tell everyone before he forgot what it was, hence the reason why he was speaking now and not while they were walking through the eerie forest, a place that neither Spike or Ember seemed worried about, "can't we, I don't know, retrace the magic of the Tree of Harmony, or Equus or whatever it was that 'talked' to us, to the worlds that the displaced were sent to and recall them with your magic?"
"Unfortunately, that would do more harm than good," Malefor stated, but he didn't fault Hunter for asking such a thing as the rest of the group thought about what had been said and what he was going to share with them, even though he did suspect that Spike already had the same answer that he was about to say and that he was keeping his mouth shut to see just how much he revealed in response to Hunter's question, even though he knew that there was a chance that Spike was focused on Twilight still and hadn't even considered the suggestion that Hunter had given, "based on the magic that was in that cave, when we were being shown the other worlds that the displaced had been sent to, I could tell that each of the displaced have been, well, linked to the timelines of their new homes, effectively changing what might have happened to those planets had the displaced not been sent there, meaning, if my theory is right, trying to remove them from their new homes might break the new version of history that they're weaving right now. Given that some of them look like siblings to the heroes of the worlds they've been sent to, sort of like how Spike and Ember became Spyro's siblings, taking them away from their new families and new lives might end up breaking the heroes in question and actually give way for the forces of darkness to take over, which could have disastrous consequences for the planets they were sent to."
"What he means is that they're locked to the worlds they were sent to," Discord commented, something that surprised the group for a moment since he had been quiet since everything that happened inside the cave the Tree was located in, as he now knew that there was more at stake than what he originally believed and some of them wondered if the spirit might have been played by whatever it was he had been talking to before the images started to show them what was going on in their universe, before he sighed for a moment, as he knew that this was going to be an ordeal, "which means we can't just lock onto the planets they've been sent to and just use our magic to teleport them back to Equus, as we'd end up breaking something or ruining whatever adventure the displaced might be on, just like Malefor just explained."
"Its odd for you to agree with someone's logic, Discord, yet it also explains something," Spike added, as while both he and Ember were surprised by the fact that the Spirit of Disharmony actually agreed with what someone had said, and the logic that went into the statement he was agreeing with, he did figure out a piece of the puzzle and felt like sharing it with the rest of the group, especially since it involved both him and Ember, given the fact that they were part of the displaced as well, sent out to gather allies for the coming invasion, "this might be a shot in the dark, but I think that part of the magic that went into displacing those that we saw in the images, not counting the final two images of course, might have made it so that the displaced can't be taken from the planets they were sent to unless certain conditions are met, maybe like how Discord was unable to lock onto Ember and I until we matured and regained the memories of our old lives... what I'm trying to say is that either the displaced need to reach a certain point before Discord can discover them, or maybe he just needs to pour more of his effort into finding the planets they were sent to."
"I might have to do that, given that the displaced have been sent to other worlds and have been sent to the past, based on what happened to you two," Discord said, something that caused Spike to raise his eyebrow for a moment, as he had been expecting the Spirit to be annoyed by him basically proclaiming to everyone that he had been lazy in finding the planet he and Ember had been sent to, but since that didn't happen he guessed Discord was mostly focused on making sure that all of the displaced were brought back home so he could stop being bothered by the spirit of their planet, which he guessed was far older and much more powerful than Discord was.
"So, do we know who else has been displaced?" Bianca asked, because while she had no idea who was who in the images, due to this being the first time she and the others had been to this planet and was the first time they were seeing the various creatures that called Equus home, she and the others knew that Spike, Ember, and Discord likely had the answer as to who else they would be looking for, due to the fact that she was positive that some of them would no doubt help the chimera creature out in his quest to find the others, even if they would most likely be helping Spike and Ember in whatever they did from this point forward, "Besides Twilight Sparkle, of course."
"Well, it seems that Rainbow Dash, who had cyan colored skin, was displaced along with Spitfire, who seem to have taken on some demonic features and are killing demons," Spike commented, as he had been thinking about what they had seen back in the cave and suspected that he knew the majority of the displaced, save for a few to be exact, though even as he said that, however, he pulled out some writing materials so he could write down everything that they had been shown and not lose track of who they knew to be displaced, before he thought about something, "Princess Luna seems to have been sent to a world that's either under assault from the demonic army we saw or, and this is the most likely option, she just so happened to land in a world that has a different army of demons and found some allies to assist her in taking them down, while her sister, Princess Celestia, appears to have landed in an entirely different world and is attending school, if what we saw was any indication, though it really doesn't tell us much in the grand scheme of things. I think one of the others might be Tirek, the one that was facing the creature that was fighting on four legs anyway, though I could be wrong, since it was hard to tell due to the fact that he was aged into a more frail form than what I remember, and unless I'm mistaken I think the one with the three young kids might be Tempest Shadow, who assaulted Canterlot with the Storm King and was either beaten or betrayed before her leader was beaten, or at least that's what I recall. Twilight and Starlight Glimmer were the ones with the young male who had that odd otter-weasel creature, though I have no idea who the third girl was, so that's something we'll need to figure out at some point, and it looks like Pinkie is in the afterlife or something, given the fact that her friend was carrying a large blade that no one could normally wield on their own, not to mention the massive city she seemed to be staring at."
"From what I can tell Grogar is also missing, and that's the one who has the ram horns," Discord stated, informing the rest of the group as to what he knew about those who hadn't been talked about yet, or at least the ones that he was interested in, because what he did was while they were talking he weaved his magic through the air and summoned images of the worlds that they had seen, where he shifted them so that whoever Spike talked about was shown for a few moments, even if they were still images and not moving like what the Tree had shown them, before another one took center stage as he resumed talking, "not only that, but so are the Dazzlings, who are the three girls who were hanging out in the futuristic city with the bipedal cat creature and his odd backpack, Sombra seems to be trapped in some sort of space ship with a bunch of undead, which will just make it hard to find out where in the universe he was sent, and it seems that Chrysalis was sent to a world with both Princess Cadence's daughter, Flurry Heart, and what seems to be a kirin... oh, and Spike, you're right about Tirek, who was facing that large metallic creature."
"Which just leaves the world that no one was sent to, the girl in the middle of a battlefield, and those two black creatures with the more cat-like creature," Elora said, though she found that Ember wasn't saying anything, meaning that she must not have Spike's knowledge on the ponies and creatures they had seen in the images and that she didn't want to bother interrupting everyone that was talking at the moment, though at the very least they had a good idea as to who had been displaced, which was only possible thanks to what Spike knew.
"I think one of them is Sunset Shimmer, but one planet seems to be unimportant and the two creatures, I think, might be Changelings, shapeshifters to be exact," Spike finished, bringing an end to the discussion as a whole, because it seemed like there weren't any other individuals for them to worry about, though in that moment he sighed as he thought about all of the images and the planets they had seen, especially since it seemed like it was going to be a long time before everyone was brought back home, to which he turned back towards the rest of the group, "Okay, let's take our minds off of this for a time and just, I don't know, explore Ponyville, since I'm sure you guys are interested in seeing more of the town and those that call it home, especially since we can check with the rest of our friends and see how everyone is doing, since I'm sure some of them might be worried and having someone to talk to might help them out."
"Makes sense to me, especially since I'm eager to see more of the town," Spyro replied, showing everyone that he was fine with what Spike had said and that he was going to be trusting him and Ember to show them around this place, though as soon as he made that statement everyone got up from where they were sitting and headed for the entrance of this room, because all of them were interested in seeing what else the town had to offer them, before they figured out what else his brother and sister needed to do before they did anything else, or at least that was what he was thinking right now, given his limited knowledge of this world and the rules.
Spike and Ember stood at the head of the pack as they headed over to the entrance of the castle, since they knew Spyro trusted them and that he also trusted everything that both of them knew about this town, even though Spike resolved to make some modifications to one of the castle's rooms and see if he could make something to help them locate the worlds the rest of the displaced had been sent to, though what happened a few moments later, as he opened the castle's front door so they could head outside, the group nearly ran into a pony that had been coming to the castle, a pony that had a light gray coat while her mane and tail had a moderate indigo coloration, and she had a moderate azure color to her eyes, which widened in surprise when she realized that someone was inside the castle.
"Oh, pardon me, I had no idea that anyone was even inside the castle, since Twilight's been gone for a while, and Discord probably forgot to tell us someone was... coming..." the mare said, almost like she missed the fact that part of the group was made up of adult dragons, they had a pair of cheetahs, a rabbit, a mole, and someone who was half dragon half faun, and had Discord standing nearby, though that was when she stopped for a moment as she noticed that Discord was with them and focused on those that were right in front of her, or rather she focused on Spike for a few seconds as she took in his new form, "Spike? Is that you?"
"Yeah, its me, Rarity." Spike replied, as while he had been expecting that he and the others would have run into the rest of his friends from this world, as in Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy, at the very least, though running into one of his friends before they even left the castle was something he wasn't expecting, but it was a good start to what was coming next, since he suspected that Applejack would be happy to see them again, even though Fluttershy would be a different tale since she, as memory served, might still be scared of dragons, or at least the ones like Garble, before he waved a hand towards the rest of the group for a moment, "I'm sure you remember Ember, but allow me to introduce the rest of our group, starting with our brother Spyro, Cynder, who if Spyro's girlfriend, Hunter and his sister Amelia, Bianca, who is Hunter's girlfriend, Elora, who is my girlfriend, Flame and Aurora, along with the Professor and Malefor, who is Cynder's father... oh, and don't mind our weapons, we're not planning anything nefarious or anything, as most of them are symbols of our professions, like my staff is because I'm an Archmage and Ember is a grand warrior, and so on."
"You guys have been missing for a week... how did all of this happen in a week?!" Rarity asked, appearing to focus on that aspect of what she knew about the situation, something that was rather odd when Spike thought about it and he was sure Ember and the rest of the group was doing the same thing that he had done, as they had picked up on his thoughts and what he did when he talked or listened to someone, which just so happened to be something that the others had learned over the years, but it was clear that she was now taking in everyone that was standing around him and Ember, even if she might be interrupted when they answered the question.
"Because, based on what we can tell, they were sent fifteen years into the past," Malefor answered, as that was the truth of the matter that they had discovered since coming to Equus, that both Spike and Ember had been missing from their world for a week, but, at the same time, they had been magically sent backwards in time and even regressed to hatchlings, which was rather odd when he considered everything, though all of that had been good for their world, as he suspected that with them aiding Spyro they had done more for their world than what Spyro could have done on his own, or not since Spyro was one of the purple dragons and they were incredibly powerful in their own right, "that is how they could have a brand new family and a bunch of friends, not to mention save the various homeworlds and realms of our world, which usually meant bringing down villains threatening to take over everything."
"I... I see." Rarity said, though it was clear that she really had no idea what to make of everything she had discovered, due to the surprised look on her face, though it was hard for them to tell if she was surprised by them being heroes, the fact that both of them had their own friends and family now, their new bodies, or whatever else she might be thinking about at the moment, before she sighed for a few seconds as she refocused on what was in front of her right now, "I'm not sure what to make of all of this, to be perfectly honest, but from what I can tell, from looking at all of you, all I can say is that the last fifteen years have been quite kind to the both of you."
"In more ways than one, from what I've heard from the pair," Elora commented, though she was mostly talking about the fact that she and Spike were one of the romantic pairs of the group that went around saving the lands from the villains of their world, but even as she said that she realized that none of them would be doing that in this world, as it sure seemed like all of the villains of Spike and Ember's world had been displaced to other worlds and would be stuck in their own little adventures, hopefully returning with an army to help them against the incoming army of demons that would be seeking to burn this world to the ground.
"Right... girlfriend... of course." Rarity replied, showing that she actually caught what had been said earlier and she might have been thinking about it since Spike had introduced everyone to her, though that was followed by her looking at Elora for a moment as she took in her half dragon body for a moment, though Spike suspected that it was due to the fact that this was the first time that she had seen someone like Elora, despite the fact that he knew she would have been even more confused by everyone who lived in the various realms of their world, "So, um, did Discord do that to you before you guys came home, or is there something I'm missing?"
"Please, as if I would do such a thing... though if Elora wants, I can finish the job," Discord stated, where he raised his right hand for a moment and pretended to snap his fingers, even though they didn't actually connect at all and that meant no magic was being cast at the moment, where Spike realized that he had to be the one moving the sun and moon since both Celestia and Luna were missing, which either had to tick him off or he was cool with it since he was making sure both of the heavenly objects moved like they were supposed to, before the Spirit focused on Rarity, "From what I know someone she and the rest of the heroes fought did that to her, but its a story that you'll have to ask Spike and Ember for, because I have no idea what might have happened back in the world they had been sent to... though speaking of which, where did Applejack go? I thought she was coming over today as well, just to make sure everything was fine with the castle as well, and to help you with whatever it was that you wanted to do."
"Family business, I'm afraid, and Fluttershy's busy with her animals, last I heard anyway," Rarity answered, though at the same time she thought about something as she turned and focused on the rest of the group for a few seconds, which told the group that there was something else they needed to know before they continued to explore the rest of the town, took in all of the sights, and showed off Ponyville to Spyro and the rest of the group, before returning to Twilight's castle so they could plan out their next move, "oh, and last I heard, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor were planning on coming over today to get an update from Discord, face to face to be exact, since one of the missing is their own daughter... so, expect them to show up at the train station soon, even though I'll be there to escort them to the castle. Also, I'd love to take some of your measurements at some point in the future, as I simply must make something to go with the new bodies that you and Ember were given, so feel free to stop by Carousel Boutique when you get the chance."
The group said nothing to that as they wished Rarity well and she headed out to do whatever it was that had lead her to leave her workplace, even though Spike informed the others that Carousel Boutique served both as her place of work and as her home, and, when he thought about it for a few more seconds, the same could be said for pretty much every store in Ponyville, as the first floors of the shops were the actually store and sold whatever it was that the shop was selling, like how Rarity made dresses and suits for her clients, especially since Spike recalled that there were some clients that were from the other towns and cities on this world, or at least in Equestria anyway, while the second floor of a shop building held the living area for the ponies that owned the place. As they walked Spike thought about it and added that some of the places also had a basement, which was mostly used for storage if his memory was right, but even as he gave the others that piece of information he also made sure to tell them that he had no idea if his information was right or wrong, as he hadn't gone into the shops and seen what was in their basements, before he and Ember were displaced, and it was highly unlikely that Mayor Mare or the Town Hall would have that information, so all he could do was make a guess on what he was talking about, even if it did annoy him a tad bit, which was something that only Spyro and the others noticed thanks to all the time they spent with him. Ember remained quiet as they walked through the town and Spike pointed out the shops and landmarks that he knew from memory, something he was planning on correcting once he got back to the castle and accessed the vast library Twilight had collected over the years, though this was both to give the others an idea as to what was around them and to test his memory of what was in this town, at the very least, and another thing he pointed out was a few bridges that connected the various parts of Ponyville, each with a small river flowing through the area they had been placed in, before he focused on some of the more important structures that were in the town. There was the Schoolhouse, which was positioned near one of the edges of the town and happened to have a wide area for the foals to run around and play in when they had recess, where it appeared that they might be in the middle of a lesson at the moment, not to mention the fact that there was a large rectangular shaped building that had three floors to it, a hospital that ponies were brought to whenever someone was injured or broke one of their bones, as he recalled Rainbow had gone there after she broke one of her wings, which lead to her gaining a desire to read the Daring Do books.
In addition to all of that there was also a retirement center near one of the other edges of the town, away from the rest of the town based on what Spyro and the others discovered, a large clock tower that seemed to be keeping an accurate track of what time it was, even if the group hadn't seen what Spike and Ember's world was actually like, a theater that would be interesting to visit at some point in the future, just to see how they differed from the Gnorc Actors in Dragon Shores, and there was a marketplace where many ponies came and sold stuff to those who walked through the area, where both Spike and Ember knew they would have seen Applejack had Rarity not said she was busy with family. After that Spike pointed out a few of Ponyville's more important landmarks, such as Sweet Apple Acres, which had some of the best apples in all of Equestria and happened to be the home of the Apple Family, of which Applejack was part of, there was the Everfree Forest that they had passed through earlier, which was usually more dangerous than what they had seen and it might have been due to the size of their group that they weren't attacked, and he also pointed out Sugercube Corner, which was where Pinkie worked whenever she wasn't busy helping her friends save the day in some manner, which Spike said they got used to pretty fast given that Ponyville was a hotspot for danger. In addition to all of that there was the train station, a day spa, a scorched spot where something used to stand, which was a place that Spike stared at for a few seconds before sighing as he turned away from it, a costume shop, a book store, a bowling alley, a joke shop, a cafe that was sort of popular to all of the ponies that called the town home, a shop that only sold quills and sofas, a place that Spike had been sent to many times before he and Ember were displaced, a hardware store, a place that only sold fans, a jewelry shop, something that caught Cynder's attention since she wanted to see how the jewelry of this world was made and compare it to what she made in the past, and a bunch of other shops that the ponies of Ponyville frequented. The group could see why Spike just stopped pointing things out to them, as there were all sorts of remaining shops, like a shop that had a few devices that he said were arcade machines, basically game machines that foals loved to try their hooves at, a number of restaurants, a toy shop, a cafe, a party store, and a whole list of other things, making some of them wonder if this was actually a small city and not a town like Spike thought it was, but they were willing to listen to what Spike said and continued to call Ponyville a town, even though that didn't stop Amelia from asking what the scorched area was about.
Spike, despite the fact that he really didn't want to talk about it, revealed that the scorched area in question used to be the area that the Golden Oak Library rested in, before it was attacked and destroyed by Tirek when he assaulted Equestria to absorb all of the magic that the pony clans contained, though it was then that Spyro and the others found out that the old library had been Spike and Twilight's home when they moved from Canterlot to Ponyville, meaning his home had been wiped out and everything that had been inside it had been blow apart, before the pair had moved into the castle and took to calling it home, where this lead to Spike sighing as he recalled what he knew about that event and Elora wrapped one of her arms around him, just to comfort him, before they heard a train whistle go off.
"Interesting, I thought the train would be arriving later this afternoon," Discord said, where he pulled a pocket watch out of thin air for a moment and looked at it, something that caused Spike to wonder if it was tied to the sun and moon, so the Spirit had an idea of when to make day turn to night and make it seem like Celestia and Luna were still present, instead of being sent to the worlds they had been sent to, before he shrugged and put the object away for a moment, which was the instant that he turned to look at the group once more, "that means Princess Cadance and Shining Armor will be getting off the train in the next few minutes, not to mention Rarity will escort them to the castle, so I guess we'll have to cut this tour short for the time being."
The group determined that it was a good idea and started to make their way back towards the castle, though that was also around the time that some of the other ponies in the area noticed them and waved towards Spike, showing the rest of the group that he must have been well known among the residents of Ponyville, but they were also surprised to find that all of the ponies were just surprised to find some random strangers in their town and were following him and Ember around as both of them showed the group around, though none of them seemed worried about anything and went about their own business, leaving Flame to ask what in the world was going on, as he suspected that the ponies would have been a little cautious or interested in the sudden arrival of so many individuals. It was in that moment that Ember informed them that Ponyville was a special place, in the sense that they had a habit of welcoming newcomers to their town and even extended the hoof of friendship to every race that existed in their world, meaning they were used to other races being in their town and, based on what she remembered, dragons were sort of good terms with the town, even though that reminded her of something they needed to do, as in they had to head to the Dragon Lands and figure out what had happened to those that called that land home. The group made a mental note of what Ember said as they made their way over to the train station, where they found a number of ponies that were getting off the train that had come to a stop at the station, though it was easy for everyone to locate the pair Discord had mentioned, as there was a pony that had a horn and a pair of wings, who had a small crown, a small golden collar, and four shoes that fit over her hooves, that got off the train, where they found that she had a pale light grayish cerise color to her coat, a vivid pink color basically, whose mane and tail were a moderate violet and rose coloration with pale gold streaks, where they could tell that she had to be Princess Cadance. Standing to her right was a light gray coated stallion, which was easy to tell that he was male due to the fact that his body was a bit bulkier than what Cadance's was, though his mane and tail were a mix of moderate sapphire blue and cerulean colors, all while having dark blue streaks at the same time, though he wasn't wearing any jewelry that indicated that he was a prince or something, since they figured that being married to Cadance meant he was a prince of the area they lived in, but that was the moment that the pair noticed something, or someone, among the crowd and moved from away from the train so the other passengers could get off as well.
"You know, if you were going to show up and escort them to the castle, you should have told me earlier," Rarity stated, as she was off to the side and walked over to where the group was now standing, though her words were directed towards Discord and it was clear she was only a little annoyed, meaning she might have been in the middle of working on some of her dresses or something, but she put a smile on her face as Cadance and Shining Armor walked over to where they were standing at the moment, to which she bowed her head towards the royal pair, "Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, its nice to see the both of you again."
"Its nice to see you as well... Rarity..." Cadance started to say, though that was when she noticed the rest of the group that was standing nearby, mostly because she was focusing on Spike and Ember, due to the fact that both of them were totally different from what she remembered, given that it had been some time since she had last seen them and she knew that they had been missing for some time, while at the same time Shining was surprised by what he and Cadance were seeing, more in the sense that the pair had returned with a bunch of newcomers that seemed out of place, yet were accepted by the residents of the town without a party being thrown, "Spike?! Ember?! What happened to you two? Spike, you weren't as tall as an adult dragon later time I saw you, and you certainly didn't look like this for that matter, and Ember, um, you were less warrior-like the last time we had a chance to see each other... and who are your new friends?"
Spike and Ember beckoned for the group to follow them as they headed back towards the castle, though while they did so both of them explained everything to them, starting with introductions so Cadance and Shining knew who everyone else in the group was, but when they reached the castle, someplace that Spyro figured they might be spending the rest of the day in, everyone gathered inside the dining room once more and sat down around the tables, which was when Spike went into what had happened to them, basically giving Cadance and Shining the short version of what he and Ember had done with Spyro and the others, which also gave Rarity a chance to hear what had happened, since they didn't tell her much during the last instant they had been together. Of course it came as a surprise to Rarity, Cadance, and Shining when they heard that the majority of the group were heroes in the world that Spike and Ember had been sent to, with the Professor being one of the greatest minds of their world and Malefor being the first of the purple dragons, not to mention Cynder's father, though it was easy to see that the three of them were taken aback when they learned just what the group was capable of, or at least a small amount of what they were capable of since there wasn't enough time to reveal everything that they had done over the last fifteen years, and that fact, alone, really caused them to pause for a few moments. Spike knew that just hearing that two individuals they knew had been sent back in time by fifteen years, even though they had been gone for a week their time, was quite a shocker and it sure seemed to be effecting all three of them to some degree, but there was nothing that Rarity, Cadance, or Shining could do about the situation and just sat there with shock on their faces, though all of them did seem happy to hear that they were heroes, despite being confused and shocked by it at the start of the tale that they were told. Even as everyone had a chance to tell the trio what they had done before coming to Equus, as Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and everyone else had something they wanted to share, mostly what they had been doing when they first met the trio and what they did after meeting them, such as like how Elora and Hunter hadn't been great assistants back during Spyro, Spike, and Ember's second adventure, in the realms of Avalar, before after that adventure they joined their friends and went on to become great heroes in their own right, where the same applied to Bianca and the others, before the pair regained their memories a week ago and it wasn't long before Discord found them.
"It sure seems like you guys had quite a wild ride..." Shining said, though he wasn't sure what else to say to that, as it would take some time for him to wrap his head around the fact that Spike and Ember had been displaced and, more importantly, that there were a number of displaced that were out there, missing and in need of being brought back home, especially due to the fact that their daughter happened to be one of them, hence the reason that he and Cadance were in Ponyville at the moment, to get a progress report from Discord.
"Indeed, though that brings me to the reason why we came here in the first place, since getting Discord to send a letter or something seems to be impossible," Cadance added, showing that she agreed with what her husband had said, and it was good to hear that Spike and Ember were heroes and that they had a number of friends that would do the same thing that they would do, even though she suspected that none of them would need to fight anyone since she was sure that all of the ancient villains had been taken care of by Twilight and the rest of her friends, "Discord, do you have any idea where Flurry went, or who she might be with?"
"Well, I have no idea where she went, and I was trying to figure that out before I found Spike and Ember," Discord said, as that was the truth of the matter, he had been trying to find the rest of the displaced and the first ones he found where both of the dragons that were resting nearby, but even as he said that, which neither Cadance or Shining were happy with, it was clear that he was worried about the piece of information he did have to share with them, especially since he knew who one of the two individuals who was near their daughter, "however, I have been able to identify one of the two other missing individuals that went to the same place that she was sent to... now don't be mad at me, but Chrysalis was sent to the same world that Flurry was sent to."
"Her?! She's with my DAUGHTER?!" Cadance exclaimed, as she couldn't believe that out of everyone that could have been one of the displaced, where she felt that the displacement seemed random due to the fact that the other Princesses were missing, some of their heroes were missing, a few civilians were missing, and now some of their villains were missing, that whatever had taken her daughter and sent her to another world would have paired her up with Chrysalis, not to mention an unknown figure that Discord hadn't mentioned yet, meaning it was either someone they didn't know or it was only an individual that he knew and felt that other one wasn't dangerous towards her daughter, "You have to find where Flurry was sent, because after nearly ruining my wedding and trying to take over the world in revenge against everyone that beat her in the past, and whatever else she's done to the ponies of the world, I wouldn't trust her to not try anything funny, like hold her hostage against whoever else is in their group!"
"Well, that's a problem, because we can't just remove her from whatever planet she had been sent to, because Discord has no idea where Flurry was sent... and it would break the timeline of the world in question," Spike said, though he knew that, for the most part, his statement was likely to do nothing to convince Cadance that Flurry was safe, but not a few seconds later, after thinking about it for a few seconds, he realized that there was something he could use to make it seem like her daughter was safe and that she wasn't in danger of Chrysalis doing anything to her, hence why he focused on her for a few seconds and braced himself for any potential backlash, "however, I will say this, it sure looked like Chrysalis and whoever else was with her and Flurry have been aged backwards, to the point of them being foals, and the only reason I'm even saying that is because Ember and I ended up as hatchlings when we arrived in Spyro's world, where we had no memories of our previous lives... bare with me, but I think Chrysalis, the mysterious individual, and Flurry might have lost all of their memories as well, so your daughter is in no danger at the moment."
"I... wow, I didn't even consider that... Twilight would be so proud of you, Spike," Cadance replied, where it was easy to see that she was surprised by what Spike had said and it seemed to effect Shining as well, as he had been thinking of speaking up and saying something to stop Cadance from exploding, but that had stopped him from saying anything and he silently watched what was going on as his wife cooled off now that things had been explained to her, because with Chrysalis and the others having no memories he was just fine with what was going on right now, as Discord now had the time to search for the planet their daughter had been sent to, "I hope your logic is right, as I'd rather not have anything happen to my daughter with Chrysalis being near her... Discord, you can find the planet that Flurry was sent to, right?"
"Yes... provided that she wasn't sent to the furthest reaches of our universe, as it will take me a while to find her if that has happened," Discord admitted, which made sense when the group thought about it, as while it might have taken them, or rather the Professor, five minutes to locate Equus and obtain the coordinates, based on all of Discord's energy signatures, there was no telling what sort of energy signatures were attached to the rest of the displaced, meaning it could take days, weeks, or even months to track down everyone and return them to this world, though before he could say anything the Professor raised his pencil for a moment.
"Don't forget the multiverse theory, as some believe there are other universes, in addition to ours, so its possible that the three we're talking about were sent to another universe," the Professor said, something he knew would complicate things, not to mention the rest of the situation, more than what he and the others had discovered so far, but even as he thought about that he considered something when he recalled the power of all of their new Ion Crystals and what they had been able to do with them so far, before he faced Discord and caused the others to do the same, "however, if we combine your magic with our Ion Crystals, in some manner, we might be able to expand your range and, possibly, lead to you finding the planets of the displaced sooner... we might not be able to reclaim them when we locate the planets, but we can pinpoint the coordinates of the planets for later on."
The group nodded their heads for a moment, to show that it sounded like a good idea, before they delved deeper into the tale of what Spike and Ember did during their time in Spyro's world, to amaze them with their feats and everything each of them had done, since it seemed like the tales amazed Cadance, Shining, and Rarity, something that would take a while and everyone was fine with that, as they wanted to relax after everything that had happened over the course of the day, which the trio would tell everyone in due time, even though all of them were eager to see what else the future held for them.
The group found that the tale about what Spike and Ember did in Spyro's world, and all the villains that they faced along the way, went well into the evening and possibly into the night as well, which was mostly due to Discord heading outside and using his magic for a moment, where they watched as the sun was lowered at long last and the moon was raised to fill its spot in the sky, something that surprised the rest of Spike and Ember's group for a few minutes and caused the pair to tell them that this was the way their world worked, that instead of a planet orbiting both the sun and moon, like how Spyro's world orbited the sun and the Celestial Moons orbited his home, Equus was the opposite. The Professor was amazed that such a thing even existed, that a world would be so different from what he, Spyro, and the rest of their group were used to seeing, especially since there were beings in their world that had the power to raise and lower the celestial spheres, and it caused both Spike and Ember to reveal that Celestia and Luna were known by other titles, the former being called the 'Day Princess' and the 'Alicorn of the Sun', to symbolize her connection to the sun, while the latter went by similar titles, as in being called the 'Night Princess' and the 'Alicorn of the Moon'. Spike also revealed that Discord was a Draconequus, which was a chimera creature based on what he knew and he suspected he would have to read up on that in the near future to see what Twilight had on the matter, before informing the others that he was known as the Spirit of Disharmony and that, once upon a time, he had been one of the villains that Twilight and her friends had beaten, before reforming him into a friend who had learned the values of friendship, all thanks to Fluttershy and her efforts to reach out to him, while his power was that of Chaos, an unpredictable magic that allowed him to do a number of odd things, like summon glasses of liquid and drink the glass or rain chocolate milk. Such a thing surprised the group, though at this point they were used to feeling that way when they faced the strangeness of the world that Spike and Ember used to call home, as both of them were sort of used to things like this, both from living in Equestria and from everything that they had seen in Spyro's world, though with Discord turning the day into night, so the ponies and other creatures would know it was now time to head for bed, both Cadance and Shining excused themselves, as they intended on catching a train that would take them back to the Crystal Empire, though even as that happened they said that it was nice to see the pair again and that it was nice to meet their new family and friends, before heading out for the train station.
Once the pair were gone, and they were left alone, the group had Spike teleport them over to where the portal to their world rested, as it was still open and the Professor believed that it was due to the Ion Crystal that had been inserted into the new Super Portal, given that this portal had no structure to support it, and they used the portal to head back home, leaving Discord behind to do whatever he did when it was nighttime, allowing everyone to return to Spyro's world a few moments later and reunite with the rest of their group, who seemed surprised that it took them that long to return from the other side of the portal, though the other scientists had called Alvar in and a meal was readied a few moments later, with the Professor revealing that everyone could remain here for the night, even though the Leaders and other elders had to return to their own duties, save for Malefor anyway.
While they did that Hunter made a comment on the couple of markings he had noticed on the flanks of the ponies they had walked by earlier, mostly because he felt that it was so odd to have so many individuals have tattoos on their bodies in such a way, before Spike informed him of the truth of the matter, that they weren't tattoos, even if he understood his thoughts on the matter, rather they were called Cutie Marks and every pony, at some point in their lives, had their mark appear after discovering a unique characteristic that set them apart from the other ponies, sort of like how Celestia's was a sun, to symbolize her connection to the sun, or how Luna's was of the moon. Every mark was different, from what Spike recalled Twilight telling him at one point in time, and the image shouldn't be taken literally, like how one of the teachers in the school was called Cheerilee and her Cutie Mark was three smiling flowers, which would naturally make one assume that she would be connected to gardening or something, but the truth of the matter was that it represented her wish to help her students 'bloom' and be happy, while Shining's mark was a shield with three stars above it and a star with six points on the center of the shield, which represented his proficiency with shield spells. That, in turn, brought them to one of the reasons that Cadance was so worried about Chrysalis, as the latter had attacked Canterlot during her wedding, by stealing her place so she could drain Shining of his love and force him to drop the barrier so the rest of the Changelings could flood the city and feast on the love that ponies had inside them, and the Changeling Queen even beat Celestia with her power boost from Shining, even if Spike suspected that Celestia had held back her true power since she was the one who wielded the power of the sun and didn't want to hurt those that were near her, even though Chrysalis was beaten in due time thanks to Cadance and Shining combining their love and released it as a wall of love energy that knocked all of the Changelings out of Canterlot. Of course, as Spike suspected, he had to answer a few more questions due to the tale he had just shared with the group, like how Cadance was the Princess of Love, given the crystalline heart shaped Cutie Mark she had, while explaining what an Alicorn was, since Bianca had been interested in the fact that Cadance had both a pair of wings and a horn, and what he knew, due to his limited knowledge thanks to not really listening to Twilight all that much in the past, was that there were five of them in total and that each of them supposedly held the strengths of the three pony clans inside them, where the clans were the Earth Ponies who tended to the earth, the Pegasi who took to the skies and tended to the clouds and weather, and the Unicorns who had a horn and wielded all sorts of magic, with most being restricted to the weaker levels of magic and a few were born with incredible magical power.
From what Spike knew Alicorns were either born with a pair of wings and a horn, sort of like how Flurry Heart was some time ago, not to mention that many in Equestria assumed Celestia and Luna were natural born Alicorns, as such a thing was hard to prove since neither liked to talk about their past, or a pony from one of the clans could ascend to the level of an Alicorn, like how Twilight was a Unicorn when she finished one of Star Swirl the Bearded's spells and it allowed her to ascend to the level of an Alicorn, something that took her some time to get used to since she wasn't used to having wings or being able to wield the power of a Pegasus, though Spike knew Cadance had been a normal pony before becoming an Alicorn as well, though he couldn't remember most of the tale since he hadn't been paying that much attention the last time it had been told, but he would correct that later.
Spyro and the others were, of course, shocked by the information that Spike shared with them, as it was mostly Spike who was talking for the most part, given that Ember was unusually quiet and she even admitted that she didn't have the vast amount of knowledge that Spike had on the subjects they were talking about, though she also revealed that she was a tad bit impressed that he could recall all of that, despite how he had been acting in the past, though that only prompted one of the others, Aurora to be exact, to ask her why she didn't know as much as Spike did, as most of their group assumed that she and Spike would have the same level of information and she was only remaining silent so she didn't interrupt her brother while he was talking. Ember then revealed that it was due to the fact that she was from the Dragon Lands, which was a volcanic island to the southeast of where Ponyville was located, and it was on that island that she spent most of her time, so her information on ponies and their culture was next to nothing, hence why she was allowing Spike to take the lead on this discussion, and that, in turn, brought them to the reason that they had been displaced to Spyro's world, as the event that caused such a thing was Twilight asking her and Spike for their help in some sort of experiment or something, though they had done it inside the cave that the Tree of Harmony was resting in. From what she recalled nothing special had happened when Twilight cast her spell, something that caused the Alicorn in question to huff off to the side, mostly so she could take a look at her notes and whatnot, but, as everyone could tell, that was around the point that the spirit of their world had grabbed onto them and sent them flying through time and space, possibly leading to Twilight assuming that her spell had done something and might have been the reason that she and Starlight, and whoever their friend was, being displaced to the world the image had shown them in. One thing this conversation confirmed, at least to both Spike and Ember, was that a trip back to the Dragon Lands was necessary, something that excited Spyro and the others and caused them to agree with the pair, though due to the fact that it was an island they would need to either fly or teleport over to its location, since the level of technology in Equus, regardless if one was talking about Equestria or the couple of other continents that were nearby, was vastly lower than what the Professor and the other scientists were working on at the moment, even though the Professor did admit that they had been working on cloaking technology, to hide something or someone by replicating the Invisibility spell, allowing it to be used without magic.
Spyro and the others chuckled at that, because it was like the Professor to have a bunch of gadgets and be in the middle of working on some new technology, something that would change how Equus operated if they were able to catch up to what the scientists of Spyro's world were able to do, but he also figured that now was the best time to see if he could open a much wider and taller portal, one that the Jupiter 2 could fit through, because if he could do that it would provide them with a way to get to the Dragon Lands without being exhausted, to which the group spent a few more minutes talking about things before heading to bed, as the following day was going to be full of action.
When morning arrived, and the group knew it was the normal sunrise that wasn't Discord raising the sun and lowering the moon, everyone got up from where they had been resting during the night and found that, despite how early they had gotten up, Alvar was already for them and a meal was resting nearby for them to enjoy, causing many of them to smile as they dug into the food he had prepared, though, as many of them expected, it wasn't long before the Professor and the rest of the scientists excused themselves to get to work on their new preparations, something they were interest in seeing since everything he had created or shown off never disappointed them and those that the items had been made for, like how Elora loved her suits of armor and Hunter enjoyed all the gadgets that had been made for him. As it turned out it was a tad bit easy for the Professor to modify the size of the Super Portal, all that needed to be done was switch it off for a few moments, cutting off the connection to Equus for a time, and flip a few switches, where the group watched as the station the portal was on formed a rectangle, instead of the square it had been the last time they had seen it, and it actually took a moment to enlarge the actual frame of the portal itself, something that Spyro and the others hadn't been expecting, even though the Professor had told them about it, but when the frame was both tall enough and wide enough Spike took a few seconds to make sure there was nothing wrong with the magic of the portal before nodding his head. Once that was done another smaller portal was opened so Hunter could quickly head over to where the Jupiter 2 rested, since it wasn't at this lab, and he disappeared a few seconds later, allowing the rest of the group to ready themselves for what was coming next, though despite all of that the Professor also came equipped with a device that was designed to close the portal when they were on the other side, mostly because he didn't want someone to accidentally walk through the large magical gateway that was rest on Equus' side of the gateway, plus it was designed to allow him to open the one he closed, or at least it was supposed to do that, as this would be the first time he tested such a thing. Spyro, his siblings, and the rest of the group were interested in what the Professor was saying, since everything he had been talking about seemed to be helpful, but for the most part they remained silent as they waited for Hunter to return with the spaceship, because there was no way they would be able to fit the AS Harmony into the portal, not without breaking all of the frame apart anyway, so using the Jupiter 2 or their wings seemed to be the best course of action for them.
It didn't take Hunter all that long to return to where the lab was located and land near the enlarged portal, where the rest of the group waited for a few minutes as the Professor gathered all of the components that he needed and the scientists followed him onto the ship after Hunter landed, where they worked on adding the new component to the ship and tested it a few times, where everyone watched as the ship seemed to fade in and out of reality as they observed it, which seemed to be the cloaking technology that they had been told about earlier, and as far as the Professor could tell everything was working as intended, to which everyone that was going to be heading through the portal boarded the ship and Hunter, as soon as everyone was ready, activated the ship and flew into the portal.
Once they were on the other side of the portal Hunter made sure to turn around and land near the other side of the portal so the Professor could close it, where he raised the device he was carrying and clicked it, allowing everyone to watch as the larger portal closed before their eyes, which was around the time that Hunter activated the cloaking device and the ship disappeared from view, something that Spike confirmed by walking down the ramp and noticed that it was gone, though instead of returning to the ship immediately he paused for a moment to make sure no one was coming over to see what in the world had happened, before teleporting back to the castle to grab something from one of the rooms, something that, when he returned to the ship, happened to be a map. The reason he grabbed a map of Equus, one that had everything all of the cartographers had found and mapped out so far, as it was entirely reasonable that they might have missed a bit of land or something, was because it would allow Hunter to figure out where the Dragon Lands were located and head there without delay, something that he and the others were pleased to have and Hunter nodded his head in agreement for a few seconds as he looked at it and raised the ramp, though as soon as he had a general idea as to where they needed to go he let Spike pull the map back and engaged all of the controls once more. Not a few moments later the ship raised into the air, giving Hunter and the others a better look at Canterlot, even if it wasn't that much better than what they had seen when they walked out of the portal the previous day, before he headed to the southeast and the Jupiter 2 responded, to which everyone split up and took their seats, with those Hunter wanted at the front remaining there in case he needed a bit of magic for anything, and Spike could be the navigator for this venture, and those who remained in the central seating area did so, watching an image of the rest of the landscape and Equestria go by. Doing that allowed them to pass over the Everfree Forest, where Spyro and the others spotted a ruined castle in the middle of the forest, which just so happened to be in the area that the cave the Tree of Harmony was in, where Spike revealed that it was actually Celestia and Luna's old castle, or at least it had been a little over a thousand years ago, because it was around that time that Nightmare Moon was a thing and was when a bunch of other villains were active, though those were tales for another time, especially since the tale of Nightmare Moon was linked to Luna and it was better heard from either Luna or her sister.
There were a number of other things that they got a chance to see while they were flying through the air, where Hunter was actually going somewhat slower than when he had flown through space, mostly due to wanting to make sure that the Pegasi didn't notice anything different about the air they flew around in, though Spike was fine with it since it gave them some time to gaze out at the locations that he was flying over, even though it wasn't long before Discord appeared aboard the ship, to which Spike and Ember made sure the others were fine with his sudden arrival, since he was interested in this venture, before they went back to what they were doing. One thing that Spike pointed out was the fact that there was a decent network of trail rails that connected Ponyville to Canterlot, Appleloosa, Los Pegasus, Manehatten, Dodge City, the Crystal Empire, and a small station in the land that the Griffons called home, not to mention a few other towns and cities that were scattered across the continent, which allowed all sorts of things to be transported between the various locations of the continent, such as supplies, merchandise, and the various residents of the land, locations that everyone was eager to see at some point in the next couple of days, if they weren't busy with what Spike and Ember wanted to do. Far off to their right, probably a few days away from Ponyville by walking, were the Badlands, which had been the supposed resting place of the Changeling Hive, or Changeling Kingdom as it was called, but in reality the true resting place of that species was in the southwestern part of Equestria, though for right now they were more focused on the Dragon Lands, which was across the Celestial Sea, something that seemed to be named after Princess Celestia, and before someone asked Spike did note that there were two oceans named in Luna's honor, the North and South Luna Oceans to be exact. Another place that Hunter eventually passed by was an interesting bay that was in the shape of a horseshoe, which was called Horseshoe Bay and Baltimare was resting near it, since it sent ships out to a number of cities along the coast, though it wasn't long before they reached the edge of Equestria and started to fly over the Celestial Sea, something that caused them to remain silent as the Jupiter 2 started to make its way towards the Dragon Lands, because they were nearing the island that was their destination and it was only a matter of time until they found what they were looking for, or what Spike and Ember seemed to be looking for, as they were the reason this was even happening right now.
Thanks to the spaceship they were able to reach the island that was their destination in no time, where they found that it was just like what Spike and Ember had said when both of them had described it earlier, it was a volcanic island which had a fair number of seemingly active areas, ones that weren't tearing apart all of the trees that were around it, something that reminded them of the island that Sol and the other Phoenixes lived on, before Hunter discovered a path that lead right up to one of the highest points of the island, something that he landed near and was lucky to find an area to place the ship, even though the cloaking technology hid it and the Professor had a little radar so he could find it when they returned to it later, basically allowing them to leave the ship and start following the path that was in front of them. What they discovered not a few moments later was that the Dragon Lands reminded Spyro and the others of the more volcanic realms that they had visited in the past, with the molten areas, blackened rocks, charred trees when they reached the upper part of the dirt path that they had been following, and column shaped pillars that were made out of rock, though there didn't appear to be any dragons in the area they were in, which Spike and Ember seemed perfectly fine with since they weren't expecting to see someone this soon into their visit to this island. Of course there should be dragons watching for intruders, though at the same time Ember figured that they would run into someone at some point, given that her memories informed her that a few dragons should still be somewhere on the island and that they would notice such a large group moving through this place, meaning it was only a matter of time until they were approached and questioned by someone, though based on all of the memories that both Spike and Ember had, and one of them had more memories of this place than the other did, it would be interesting to see if they were right in what they were thinking would happen next or not, something that neither of them were sharing with the rest of the group just yet. The reason behind that was because it would ruin the surprise, as they both knew that there were a few things that would interest the rest of the group and speaking about any of those would ruin them entirely, so that was why the pair was so silent as they followed the path that was in front of them and headed for the area that was at the end of it, though they were keeping their eyes open at the same time, just in case they spotted any of the dragons who called this place home.
As they suspected there was a dragon heading their way, a dragon who had brilliant gamboge scales, or brilliant orange to be exact, a golden yellow underbelly, and purple spines resting between the pair of curved horns that were on either side of its head, but as the group looked at the incoming dragon there was only one of them that knew who it was, since Spike didn't spent that much time in the Dragon Lands before he and Ember were displaced to Spyro's world, to which Ember raised her hand a little and beckoned for the group to come to a stop, something that they did not a few moments later and they waited for the dragon to land in front of them.
"Stop, intruders, you shall go no..." the dragon stated, where she landed in front of them, and they knew it was female due to the voice that came from her mouth, though as that happened, and she took a moment to stare at the group and they discovered the fact that she was somewhat smaller than Ember, as both Spike and Ember were taller than the newcomer was, the dragon paused as she stared at the group and focused on one of them, as if she was surprised by something and happened to have a hard time believing what she was seeing, "Dragon Lord Ember? Is that you? You've been missing for a little over a week, and some of the dragons have been getting restless, though none of them have made a move to try and take the throne, mostly because your father has been holding them back with his experience and the fact that he's one of the largest and most imposing dragons in the Dragon Lands."
"Yes Smolder, its me... though I'm not surprised to hear that someone's thinking of trying to take the position of Dragon Lord during my, um, absence," Ember remarked, as thanks to her memories she had a good idea as to what was going on right now and she had an idea as to who could be the one that wanted to claim her former position for their own, and the look on the new dragon's face informed her that she was familiar with the dragon in question, and she could tell, with just a quick glance towards Spike, that even he had an idea as to who might be causing trouble for them, before she sighed for a moment and started to walk forward once more, "I suppose its time that I announced my return and see if Garble is still eager to try and take the position now that I'm back, and see how everyone else reacts... I'd like to settle back into my new position without a fight, but something tells me that I won't be that lucky."
Smolder raised an eyebrow for a moment, as she could tell that there was something different about Ember and glanced at Spike for a few seconds, like she was trying to figure out what was going on right now, without asking questions to the group, before nodding her head and started to head back to the area that all of the dragons gathered in, though during that time she took some time to stare at the rest of the group, mostly focusing on the likes of Hunter and Bianca, since all of the non dragons were interesting to her, though she said nothing when she looked at the rest of the dragons that were with Ember and Spike, even if the pair knew that Smolder only knew Ember, as she hadn't met Spike before today, which was totally fine. Hunter, of course, was curious about the position that Smolder had mentioned and Ember filled them all in while they walked, as being the Dragon Lord meant that the dragon in question was a leader that was fit to lead pretty much all of the dragons of the island they were visiting, not to mention the rest of the world since Spike had been called to this island when the last Gauntlet of Fire had been held by her father, since he had been living in Equestria before being called back to the Dragon Lands, which was where she was from, and before anyone asked that was when both her and Spike answered a second question that happened to be coming, that being 'if they were siblings, why was one of them in Equestria and not with their sibling in the Dragon Lands'. That was when Ember revealed that she and Spike hadn't been siblings before being displaced to Spyro's world, in fact she barely knew he existed before her father called the Gauntlet of Fire, which was a competition set up by her father to determine who the next Dragon Lord would be and the interesting part about that event was that Ember had originally expressed a desire to take part in the treacherous race, as she had a burning desire to take her father's place as the Dragon Lord, but her father forbid it while allowing Spike, who at the time didn't even care in the slightest, to take part, though in the end, after hearing that many of the dragons wanted to burn all of Equestria to the ground and take everything of value for themselves, Spike decided to take part to save his friends and those he considered his family. In the end, after several events and encounters that both Spike and Ember went through, it was Spike who claimed the Bloodstone Scepter, the symbol of the Dragon Lord and brought the competition to a close by doing that, but all he did was force the mean dragon at the time, Garble, to hug every dragon he passed on his way to his home, before handing both the Scepter and the title to Ember, who succeeded her father at long last and found that he might have been happy for her, even if he underestimated her skills in the beginning.
While they walked Smolder remained silent, as while it was interesting to hear about the Gauntlet of Fire she was caught off guard by the whole displacement part of the tale, not that the group was surprised by that since everyone else they mentioned it to seemed to share the same opinion on the matter, before they came to a stop and the group found a large gathering of dragons, of all shapes, sizes, and colors, standing or sitting around a massive crater that had a bunch of the column shaped stones scattered everywhere, and there was even one of the columns resting in the middle of the area, a massive one based on what they were seeing right now, and resting on top of it... where they found a massive dragon, one that was the size of the coulmn it was resting on, who had grayish arctic blue scales for the majority of his body, grayish gold to moderate vermilion horns on either side of his head, and had a moderate vermilion coloration to his wings, but he was also wearing a massive black chestpiece and had a large crystal crown on his head.
"Lord Torch! Everyone!" Smolder stated, where she flew into the air and drew attention to herself, even though it quickly passed to the group that happened to be in the middle of walking down the path that lead to part of the ring of column rocks that circled the massive center one, which not even Ember knew the significance of and suspected that Spike might find a way to discover why it was crafted in this image, though everyone remained silent as they walked down to an empty spot so they could come to a stop and focus on whatever meeting Ember's father had called, though Spike did note that neither he or Ember felt the call of the Dragon Lord, meaning it was either incredibly weak since Torch wasn't the leader of the dragons anymore or it was nonexistent and the dragons only came because it was Torch calling them, "Dragon Lord Ember has returned at long last!"
"You sure about that, sis?" a voice asked, where Ember and Spike weren't at all surprised to see a dragon with moderate red chest scales and a light grayish gold underbelly, with vivid gamboge spikes and spines and light amber wings, that was walking over to where they and the rest of their group were standing, a dragon that they knew was Garble and found out that he seemed annoyed about something, either due to the fact that he recognized both of them and was still ticked off about what happened in the past, or he had been planning on taking the vacant position for himself so he could raise an army of dragons to burn Equestria to the ground, before he came to a stop near them, "This could be any old blue dragon, wearing a less shiny steel version of the armor that Ember wore during the Gauntlet of Fire... though, to be honest, just staring at her is making me want to punch her in the face, just to blow off some steam."
"It seems that you haven't changed at all, Garble," Ember replied, though she and Spike weren't expecting him to have had a change of heart since the last time they had seen him, which was now about eight or so days ago, at least for her since she knew Spike was back with Twilight in Ponyville, but even as she said that statement she walked away from the rest of the group and approached Garble, as she had an idea what he might do once they were close to each other and noticed that all of the watchers seemed to be silent, waiting for them to do whatever it was that they were going to do, and even her father seemed interested in what they might do to each other, "but, if you want to fight me to blow off some steam or anger, then feel free to do so... just be warned that if you do so, and try to beat me into the ground, I'm going to fight back and show you a few of the new skills I've learned in my time away from this island."
Garble stood there for a moment, like he was debating whether or not Ember was being arrogant or something, meaning he had to believe that she had returned from whatever he and the others believed she had been doing and that she had come with a bunch of dragons that none of the Equestrian dragons recognized, before his body shifted for a moment and he threw his right first right at Ember's face, intending on punching her in the face and knocking her backwards, but what happened was that she moved to her left and let the fist go by where she was standing, something that surprised most of the dragons who were watching the fight, while Torch raised an eyebrow for a moment as he wondered what was going to happen next, especially since his daughter hadn't fought back yet. Garble, on the other hand, seemed surprised by what just happened and growled for a few seconds, where a look of annoyance appeared on his face, as if he was pissed that Ember had dodged his attack and that she hadn't swung at him yet, before he launched himself into a flurry of attacks, as in punches and kicks, that were all aimed at Ember, meaning he wasn't holding back and just wanted to beat her into the ground that was around them, though even as that happened he found some resistance this time around, as Ember was ready for what he happened to be sending her way. This time around Ember didn't dodge the incoming attacks, rather she raised her arms as Garble came at her and parried the incoming punch with her own punch, which kicked the wind up due to the base power of her own swings, something that seemed to surprise her foe in the process, before she used the sides of her arms and legs to parry the other attacks, mostly so she could observe what sort of technique Garble had, which she found was no style and that he was like she had been once upon a time, unrefined to be exact, even though she had the vast training of the Peace Keepers to back her up and Garble, to the best of her knowledge, was self-taught and likely had no real skills when facing someone who had superior fighting skills. Every punch that was thrown at her was countered as they came at her and were deflected before they could hit her, while his kicks were turned away instantly and she made sure none of them hit their mark, showing the dragons that were around them who was the better fighter in a matter of seconds, even though some of them were surprised by just how skilled Ember was now, informing Spyro and the others that her skills had been known and that the sudden boost had caught the Equestrian dragons off guard, though he had to smile as he watched the fight, as he knew what was coming next.
In the end Garble managed to punch Ember right in the chest, where back in Spyro's world such an attack would have an effect or something, based on the various enemies everyone had fought over the years, but right now Garble's fist did no damage to the enchanted steel that went into making the suit of armor that Ember was wearing, where she felt that her foe would have been better served to punch her in the face and not go for the chest, but not a few seconds later, as Garble rubbed his hand for a moment since it likely stung from hitting something that was harder than what he was expecting it to be, Ember went on the offensive and swung her first attack of the fight, where she punched Garble in the chest and he crumbled to his knees not even a few seconds later.
"Your form is decent, though you need a lot of training before you can be called a warrior," Ember remarked, referring to the fact that Garble had some promise and could be a good warrior, but his current skill level would place him at the end of all of the Peace Keepers' rankings, a novice to be exact, though one thing she knew was that he needed to curb some of his emotions and his arrogance, otherwise he would only bring ruin upon himself in the process, and as she glanced at the rest of the Equestrian dragons she knew that a lot of them would need a bunch of training before they were at the level of a Peace Keeper, before she thought of something else to say, "in fact, at your current level Spike would be able to beat you in no time, and he's not even a warrior... that's if you get passed his magic, anyway."
"Me, weaker than that pitiful loser?! ME?!" Garble declared, though he coughed for a few seconds as he pushed himself up into a standing position, showing everyone that Ember had done a bit of damage to him, even though she had made sure to pull most of her power back and use the lowest amount of her base power against her foe, before he glanced over to Spike for a moment and growled once more, as if he couldn't believe that Spike was stronger than him and that made him wonder what sort of power the rest of the dragons that were with her had, even though it was obvious that he assumed that he was stronger than all of them, "Backdraft, Fume, get over here and help me take these losers down!"
Backdraft was a sort of chubby dragon that had grayish indigo scales, with light sapphire bluish gray horns on the sides of his head, not to mention violet spines and spikes that went with the coloration of his wings, while Fume, however, was a thinner dragon that was practically skinny, who had dark orchid colored scales with an apple green underbelly, a bunch of light grayish gold colored hair that seemed to be covering the majority of his head, so it was impossible to see his eyes for that matter, and it didn't look like he had any spikes or spines, though they weren't the only dragons that moved out to see what sort of skills the rest of the group had, as some seemed to be moving based on a few glances they sent Torch's way, to which the rest of the group sighed and stepped forward as the Professor stepped backwards. Ember noticed who else was coming into this area, as there was Charcoal, a dark gray scaled dragon with an apple green underbelly, Clump, one of the chubby dragons who had dark brown scales and light blue horns, and Fizzle, a dragon whose scales were almost white colored and he had light amaranth, nearly pink, colored spines and spikes, though there were a few others that she didn't recall the names of immediately and she suspected that she would learn them in due time as she and the others engaged their temporary enemies. Garble continued to charge after her, apparently not understanding that such a thing was bad for him, though Fume chased after Spike, apparently thinking that he was an easy target, while Backdraft charged over to where Spyro and Cynder were standing at the moment, even though Charcoal seemed to be going after Hunter and his sister, Fizzle seemed perfectly fine with Flame and Amelia, leaving Clump to deal with Elora and Bianca, which had to be a terrible match up in Ember's opinion, based on what she had seen in the past, before she focused on her right as Malefor and those that weren't involved in this stood near the Professor. Spike, on the other hand, found a punch coming his way and dodged it by jumping backwards a little, where Fume continued to lash out at him and he did the same thing he just did a few moments ago, before he shifted his stance for a second and spun his staff for a moment, using the wood of its shaft to push the incoming fist to the side and redirected the attack off to the side, something that surprised Fume when he saw what was going on, before calling his magic to the surface for a few seconds and loosed the weakest Lightning spell that he had access to, Static Surge, that basically shocked Fume a little and knocked him out for a time, a short period of time based on what Spike knew from the page that contained the spell's information.
As that happened Spyro and Cynder showed off their own skills as they both dodged the incoming swipes that were sent their way, even though it was easy to see that Backdraft's weight might be slowing him down a tad bit, something both of them knew would be worked on in no time if Ember had her way with the Dragon Lands, before Cynder nodded and did something that some of the Equestrian dragons laughed at, she allowed Backdraft to leap into the air and crush the area she was standing in, though that was followed by her revealing that she had raised a hand and stopped him without even using too much effort in the process, where she then kicked him up into the air and Spyro lightly punched the side of his head, knocking him into the ground and submit in seconds. Charcoal decided to change things up and loose bursts of fire at Hunter and Amelia, as if expecting the pair to panic from what he was doing at the moment, though what he and the rest of the dragons discovered was that both of them separated from each other and moved off to the sides, one coming from the right and one coming from the left, though instead of attacking immediately, and showing off their skills, the pair dodged a few more attacks that came their way for a few moments, giving the dragons a sense of what they could do in the defense department, before closing in and knocked their foe to the ground with a combined pair of attacks, Amelia kicking Charcoal's lower body with the side of her leg while Hunter punched him right in the chest. Clump, despite his size, did seem to be somewhat fast as he engaged both Elora and Bianca, something that many of the Equestrian dragon felt would have resulted in the pair running away or something, but in the end it was the opposite, Bianca spun her trident around for a few seconds, not even bothering with the elemental powers that it contained, and redirected one of Clumps' punches to the side, before she used the bottom end and part of the shaft to tug her foe into the air, by positioning the area in question along the backside of Clump's arm and then pulled back instantly, though before he could regain himself Elora appeared in the air and punched him right in the chest, knocking him into the ground and caused some of the stones to shake for a moment, even though their foe seemed to surrender after that happened. Fizzle, despite seeing that he was the last of the dragons that were joining Garble, swung his fists and tail at Flame and Aurora, mostly to push them back for a moment as he considered what he was going to do to bring them down, before his situation changed as Flame parried an incoming attack and grabbed onto the arm that was near him, allowing him to pull Fizzle into the air and slammed him into the ground, even though Aurora performed a significantly weakened version of the Horn Dive on his chest to knock the fighting spirit of their foe, which was when they and the other groups turned towards Ember and Garble, who had put some distance between them and the rest of the fights.
This time around, as Garble prepared another punch as he thought of a way to knock Ember into the ground, Ember tried something else as she raised her left hand and channeled some of her inner magic for a moment, which caused all of the dragons to witness the Bloodstone Scepter bursting into the air and rushed over to where she was standing, which meant it had to be responding to the call of the Dragon Lord, and as soon as it was in her left hand Ember spun it around and just stopped Garble's attack before knocking him to the ground, though as she pointed the bottom edge at him, and got ready to tell him to submit, the dragon actually swallowed his own pride and admitted defeat, causing the rest of the dragons that had joined him to do the same thing, bringing an end to the fights.
"Well done, my daughter. I am proud of you, and of your friends." Torch said, which was rather odd when Ember thought about it, though she did know that her father had started to change his tune about friendship after she was crowned as the next Dragon Lord, given that Spike never assumed the role in question, and it seemed like he understood that she was similar to how she had been the last time they saw each other, only now she was a formidable warrior that actually caused him to be incredibly proud of, meaning that while Torch had been proud of her before the displacement he was even prouder after what he had just seen.
Ember nodded and started to walk over to where her father was positioned, though as she did so she and the others did made sure that Garble and the others were fine, even though her mind was on the fact that she intended on pushing all of the dragons to do better in battle, to be more like Peace Keepers, so they could protect both their lands and the rest of the lands that they called home, because she knew of the threat that was coming to their world and felt that she might as well do what the mysterious stranger had said, work on the beginnings of the army that would protect Equus from the threat, but it only made her wonder what else they would do after their visit to the Dragon Lands.
Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and the others spent the better part of the day observing Ember as she went about making changes to how the Equestrian dragons lived and their views on ponies, because she felt that the desire to just burn Equestria to the ground was bad and that it needed to be tempered by something else, which just so happened to be the training that she had in mind, as her father respected strength, even if he knew that she had been different from most dragons before her sudden disappearance and spoke with her about that in private, which was around the time that she called them over to join her so the full rundown could be given to Torch, or as much as they were willing to tell him at the moment, given that they didn't want anyone to freak out about what was coming their way. One thing they discovered was that Garble and the rest of the dragons that had challenged them nodded their heads a little as they passed, which meant they either also respected strength or they were just annoyed about losing and were doing this because Ember was the Dragon Lord, but the latter mostly applied to Garble, meaning he hated to lose to anyone, but, even as they walked by him, everyone knew that Ember and the Peace Keepers would do wonders for the dragons that were old enough to fight, or at least the teenagers and the young adults, since those that were Torch's age and size certainly didn't need too much help. Ember knew that training all of the dragons that called the Dragon Lands home would take some time and effort, but given what was coming their way, not to mention the fact that the spirit of their planet sent them out to bring back an army before the demons arrived, she felt that it was worth the effort, and if she could curb the anger that the dragons had for the ponies of Equestria, which would be no easy feat in the grand scheme of things, things would be much smoother for all of them, hence why she pitched her idea to her father and her group. Of course Torch was both shocked and surprised that she wanted to integrate the dragons into Equestria's defenses, as in see if she could get them to join the Royal Guard or something and teach both ponies and the dragons how to fight like she and the others had, and even Ember admitted that it was likely going to be hard to convince anyone to agree with her idea, as she wasn't about to forcefully command them to agree with her just because she was the Dragon Lord and had claimed the Bloodstone Scepter once more, but as she said that they were surprised by who spoke up next.
"I'll volunteer to be one of the first dragons to mingle with the ponies," Smolder stated, showing that, while she might not think the ponies had the strength to defend themselves and might have a hard time making friends with them, if that was also part of what Ember had in mind for everyone in the Dragon Lands, she was also willing to volunteer herself to be one of the first dragons to learn the skills that her Dragon Lord and the rest of her group had used on her brother and the rest of his friends, because she had never seen someone move like that before and wanted to learn those skills herself, as she knew there were others that were thinking the same thing, "training with the Royal Guards, to learn everything that you used against my brother and his friends, sounds like it will be fun, even though I know it will be some time before any of us reach your level of skill."
While Ember was pleased to have a volunteer, as that would speed things along and might convince some of the others to do the same thing, especially after the small display of skill she and the others had put on, Spike thought about what they were planning at the moment and knew that, as the last remaining Princess in all of Equestria, Cadance likely had control over all of the guards in the land, both those who lived in the Crystal Empire and those who lived in Canterlot, but at the same time she might have passed that duty to Shining, since he had been the Captain of the Guard before moving with Cadance to the Crystal Empire, when it had returned from being banished for a thousand years, so they would have to talk with the pair and see if they could form a program for the guards and the dragons. Of course he also knew that this new program wasn't going to be restricted to just the groups that they were thinking about right now, as both he and the rest of the group knew Ember too well and she was likely thinking about any ponies that wanted to join the training program, after hearing that it started anyway, though none of them were forgetting about the other races that called Equus home, like the Griffins for instance, so there was always the off chance that other races could be added to what they were just thinking about right now. As he thought about that, however, he did know that there were some individuals in Canterlot, and probably the rest of Equestria, that likely didn't like the rest of the races who shared their lands, so there was a small chance that he and Malefor might need to focus their efforts on building the Skylanders Academy, as they were calling it these days, a place that would be removed from the prejudice and possible restrictions that might come from those that called Canterlot home, but that was something that all of them would discuss in the future, once they had an idea of what to expect from the residents of his and Ember's home world. For now, however, he and the others were focusing on taking some time to inform the dragons of the Dragon Lands of their intentions and then head back to Ponyville, or at least they were talking to Torch, who actually seemed to agree with Ember's plan and already had a few dragons in mind, who could join Smolder in learning how to fight like a true warrior, and that they would be sent to the town in question to join them in the near future, though despite that fact Smolder followed after the group when they started to leave, as she wanted to see what else they were up to, even if they were just planning on heading back to Ponyville.
Smolder, of course, mentioned that it would take some time for them to reach the part of Equestria and that it would be best for them to remain in the Dragon Lands, though as they left the area the dragons had been gathered in Spike and the rest of the group smiled for a moment as the Professor pressed a button and the cloaking technology protecting their ship dropped, revealing the Jupiter 2 to Smolder, who was surprised by the sudden arrival of the vessel, which made sense due to the fact that such technology hadn't been seen in this world, though her jaw dropped when she saw the interior of the ship and was stunned when Hunter took the captain's seat and they moved into the air, as this was far beyond anything she was expecting to discover when she volunteered for this. Since she was with them Spike told her why they had such a ship, as they had been displaced to a brand new world and that they had spent fifteen years there, despite it being a little over a week for the dragons of the Dragon Lands and the ponies of Ponyville, and that during their adventures they had befriend the Professor, one of the smartest minds who called Spyro's world home, though it was thanks to his efforts and the efforts of the other scientists that the Jupiter 2 was born, a ship capable of traversing large distances in record time and exploring space itself, with the latter allowing them to head to the two moons that orbited Spyro's home, instead of how the sun and moon of this world were raised and lowered by the Princesses. Despite everything that he shared with her, so Smolder had an idea of what was going on at the moment, Spike made sure to keep the information of the threat a secret from her for now, since he didn't want to freak Smolder out with the demonic invasion that they would be facing in the near future, given that it would be one of the greatest events in their world's history and probably be terrifying for all of them, especially given that the demons either instantly destroyed the planets they attacked or destroyed them over a period of time, but he was sure that Ember would drop that bomb when the invasion started. Smolder, for the most part, just stared at everything that was inside the ship and pretty much zoned out when the Professor revealed what everything was to her, as she was having a hard time coming to terms with what she was seeing right now, but she understood what Ember had to say about fighting, even though it would take her some time to come to terms with all of the methods that Titan and the other Peace Keepers had to share, as she was sure the Leader of the clan would be happy to have a new student to teach, and more if Ember's plan worked as intended.
It took the group some time to return to Ponyville, where Hunter made sure to land near the point that the portal would be opened in and engaged the cloaking device to make sure none of the ponies noticed what was going on, allowing them to get off the Jupiter 2 and head over to the castle, even though the Professor opened a smaller portal back to his world so he could grab some of Alvar's food for them, since it was roughly dinner time back home and they had skipped lunch while they were in the Dragon Lands, something that caused Smolder to raise an eyebrow in surprise when she noticed what he had brought back to the castle, a bunch of meats, vegetables, fruits, and pastries, at the very least, that smelled delicious and actually tasted good, but there was one thing that really surprised her.
"You guys don't eat gems?" Smolder asked, because that seemed to be the only thing missing at the moment, as she saw no gems among the vast amount of food that had been prepared by someone she hadn't met yet, which was rather odd since she was used to dragons eating gems, but even as she thought about that she did tear into one of the pastries that was in front of her, a cupcake as Spyro called it, and found that she liked it, making her eye the rest of the food that was nearby as she wondered what would happen when she tasted them, especially since she had no idea if pony food even held a candle to what she was tasting right now.
"No, we collect gems and put them in treasuries, or take the gems back from those that stole them," Spyro replied, though he was interested in what Smolder had said and it reminded him of something he and Ember had heard of in the past, as in when they were really young, before they matured into the heroes that had tackled Gnasty Gnorc, Ripto, Morrigan, and all of the other villains that they had faced over the years, before he glanced over to Spike for a moment as he prepared to say what was on his mind, as it appeared that Spike was thinking about something right now, no doubt the same thing that he was going to say, "however, back when we were younger, Spike was in the middle of one of his first sessions with the scholars of Dark Hollow, which is where the Artisans keep their libraries and more important tomes, where he grabbed a gem that had been resting nearby and accidentally bit into it, instead of one of the pastries he and the other scholars were enjoying, and it broke one of his teeth in the process... that's the only time something like that happened, now that I take a moment to think about it, so we focused on collecting them and nothing else."
"However, now that I consider what happened, I think I know why my tooth broke," Spike stated, confirming Spyro's brief thoughts on the matter, that he had been thinking about the gems and why Smolder would ask something like that in the first place, though at the same time he knew that there weren't any other gems inside the castle, save for the ones that were based on the power of the Tree of Harmony, so he couldn't test his theory on the matter and that meant he had to figure out a way to get some to do so, something that didn't take too long since he had an idea as to how he could acquire a few gems to test his theory, "Ember and I are from this world, Equus, and while our bodies adapted to the dragons that call Spyro's world home, for the most part, we retained our lava immunity and used it to our advantage several times over the course of our adventures, but from what I can tell the gems of Spyro's world are different from the gems of this world, as in they lack a molecular or magical property, and I'm guessing its the latter, that the gems of Equus possess, meaning that while we can eat the gems of this world we can't eat the gems of the world we were sent to, which is why my tooth broke when it did."
"And you want to find some gems to prove your theory, right?" Cynder said, because she and the others knew Spike too well at this point and now that he knew of the differences between the gems of his home world and their world he had to be eager to see what sort of differences there were between the two, though at the same time she was also interested in getting her hands on some of them as well, mostly to see what happened when she carefully cut them down and turned them into jewels to be inserted into pieces of jewelry, just like she did before Spyro and the others came to Doxantha to see what the Aether icon represented, and save the world for that matter.
Spike nodded his head to that, as it would be a good way to relax for a time and not have to worry about anything, a small venture to a nearby mountain or cave and find some gems to either prove or disprove his theory, though it was something they would worry about in the morning, since he figured that resting was important for now and it seemed that Spyro also agreed with his proposal for something to do, before they focused on trying to train the races that Ember could get her hands on and whoever Spike managed to teach magic to, since the rest of the group knew it was only a matter of time until he did that, before they finished off their meal, cleaned up all of the dishes so they could be taken back to Alvar and the rest of the Artisans, and then headed to bed for the night.
When morning arrived the group rose to meet it, this time remaining in Equus to wake up like the rest of the world did as the sun and moon were shifted, and as they did so Smolder found that they had someone make a run back to the world that Spyro lived in and quickly returned with a number of breakfast items for them to enjoy, though as they did that Spike figured out where the best place to look for gems might be in, as there was a rocky area to the west of Ponyville, between the town and the mountains and was about thirty to forty minutes away by walking, which would serve as the ideal place for them to acquire a few gems and conduct the test that he had in mind. The only problem was that they might have to deal with some Diamond Dogs, which were bipedal dog creatures who lived underground and dug for gems, as that was literally everything that they knew about the creatures in question, since the dogs preferred to remain out of sight and not have any interactions, and the last time he recalled interacting with them he and Rarity had encountered a group of them while searching that area for gems, something that was a tale for another day, though he did know that Rarity had a spell for detecting gems and that the one they had from Spyro's world wouldn't cut it, but he wasn't worried about that at all, as he was sure they could find some easily enough. Even as he said that Spyro and the others knew that if they needed such a spell, given that it was likely that someone might have mined the gems out since the last time Spike had been in the area in question, Spike would find a way to make sure he had the spell and use it when he needed it, as that was the way he did things and there was no changing it, hence the reason the group remained silent as Spike revealed what his plans were to all of them, even though Smolder would be staying behind so she got used to how things in Ponyville operated, before she got into whatever training Ember had for her and the others she intended on teaching. As such it was just the usual group once more and that was just fine with them, as they knew what to do if they encountered any problems, not that any of them were expecting to run into trouble during this little venture, even though they were going as is and with all of their gear, and once everyone was ready to move they headed for the door of the castle and opened it, because it was time for them to get moving and see what the rocky plains had in store for them this time around, only to stop when they found Rarity standing on the other side of the doorway.
"Oh, hello again... we really have to stop meeting like this." Rarity said, showing that she wasn't expecting everyone to be at the door, just like the last time she had approached the castle, which was only two days ago now and it was easy for them to see that she was hoping that this didn't turn into a habit or routine that they would be getting into, as her friends each had their own way of greeting her and the others, or at least it sure seemed that way to her, before she focused on Spike and the rest of the group for a few moments as she started to say why she was here, as it was totally different from the last time she had walked up to the castle, "Anyway, I noticed that I was running low on gems, as some of my clients have requested certain gems to be attached to the dresses and suits they recently ordered, so I figured that I'd come ask one or two of you for some assistance in making sure those ruffians, the Diamond Dogs, don't try to kidnap me again, and since I'm going to be looking for a large amount of gems I figured that I could split the haul with whoever came with me, even though I don't think we'll run into any of the Diamond Dogs while we're out there."
"What a coincidence, we were going to go look for some gems, probably in the same place you were considering heading to, and were leaving to visit the area in question," Cynder remarked, as it was rather odd that the moment they decided to go out and find some gems, just to test Spike's theory on the difference between the gems of their world and the gems of Equus, that Rarity just showed up outside the castle and revealed that she was in need of more gems for her designs, even though she felt that there were some changes that could be made to how she spent her stockpile, so she didn't have to do this however often she went looking for gems, before she beckoned for Rarity to join them, "now you won't have to make a trip on your own at some point in the future and we can keep an eye out for any Diamond Dogs who might be lurking in the area, just in case a few happen to be around the rocky area in question."
Rarity wasted no time in thinking about that and agreed to join them within seconds, though when they started to move out of the area that was in front of the castle, and Spike closed the door as Discord remained within so he could continue his search for the rest of the displaced, and maybe give them an idea as to when the demons might arrived, which may or may not involve searching for the mysterious figure that revealed itself to them, Rarity inquired how they were going to carry all of the gems back to Ponyville, since she usually had a cart or something to carry whatever she found back to her boutique so they could be stored inside the chest she kept them inside. It was in that moment that Spike revealed one of his signature items that he carried whenever he and the others went on a new adventure or something, as most of them caught him and the others off guard and the bags in question were never near them when they found a new place to take on and explore, where he revealed a bag that looked like all of the other ones that he carried in the past, causing Rarity to raise her eyebrow for a moment as she stared at it, before he weaved his magic over it and enchanted it within seconds, much to her surprise. Once he was done with his spell, a rather simple one at this point in time, he revealed that a Bag of Holding was designed to carry a vast amount of whatever he wanted to store inside them, such as the various amounts of gemstones that had been stolen from the various lands during their adventures, so he, Spyro, and Ember, along with all of the others later on, wouldn't have to carry the gems while they were tackling the enemies that were endangering the lands and tackled the villains that needed to be brought down, before revealing that whatever gems they found could be stored inside the bag and that the outside of the bag wouldn't change at all, meaning that he could, for example, store a few hundred gems inside it and its appearance would remain the same. The reason he refrained from mentioning the amount of gems that he and the others had acquired over the course of their adventures was because the sheer number would freak Rarity out, along with possibly questioning why they were even doing this in the first place, even though Spike felt that she would figure out the true reason within seconds and it did seem like she understood part of the reason that they were heading out to the rocky area that the gems rested in, where Spike attached the now enchanted bag to his attire for a moment before focusing on the journey to the area that they were heading towards.
As it turned out it took them about thirty minutes to reach the area that both Spike and Rarity had been thinking about, an area that gave everyone a good view of both Ponyville and Canterlot, not to mention the rest of the area that was around the mountain in question, though once they arrived the group discovered that the area definitely had a number of light gray stones that were sticking out of the ground and that the group was a light brown color, but it didn't seem like there was a tunnel or cave for them to access, which told Spike that the Diamond Dogs had sealed or covered the entrance after letting Rarity go, but once they came to a stop Rarity's horn lit up as she started to channel her magic and focused on the spell that would allow them to find the gems they were after.
"Now, this will take some time, as I'm not as powerful as Twilight or Starlight are... I can't even begin to image having the power they have... and I mined the surface out the last time Spike and I were here," Rarity commented, because that was the truth of the matter, in her eyes at the very least, as it took her some time and effort to even sense the various small pocket of gems that she sought from time to time, not to mention pinpoint where the pockets were located, and given the fact that she and Spike had dug out all of the surface gems, before the Diamond Dogs kidnapped her and forced her hoof to free herself from their grasp, so finding a leftover pocket was going to be hard and it would take some time, which was why she was warning them of the problem now and prevented one from asking the question later, though she paused for a moment as Spike walked over to her and stared at her for a moment, "Um... what's wrong, Spike?"
"Just studying the spell you are using right now, that's all." Spike replied, because if Rarity was right about the amount of gems that were in this area, and that most of them had been cleared out at some point in the past, he was going to have to step up and use some of his magic to figure out where some gems were located, before he nodded his head and took a moment to step away from where Rarity was standing, where he walked over to a more open area that was off to the side and let the rest of the group remain there for a time, even though Spyro and the others made sure to have Rarity stop her spell so she could see what Spike was capable of doing after just studying a spell.
Spike paused for a moment as he focused his magic for a few seconds and then tapped the edge of his staff against the ground, where a thin magical aura appeared around his body as he took a deep breath and then the aura pulsed out from the area he was standing in, like a sonar from the Cyclops sub they used to locate Atlantis or the radar on their spaceship that was designed to pick up obstacles for Hunter to either navigate around or for someone like him or Bianca to use their magic against to keep them safe, and it wasn't long before the spell returned to him and his eyes snapped open, allowing him to see a number of small pockets that contained gems, all in the caves below the ground, along with something else that seemed out of place, or at least he felt that it was out of place.
"Rarity is right, the pockets that were above ground have been mined out, for now anyway," Spike stated, though even as he said that he raised his staff and swung it at the area in front of them, where Spyro and the others watched as his magic affected the area they were in and the earth shifted before their eyes, even though that was when Rarity's jaw came close to dropping as she witnessed the ground shifting and forming a tunnel of some kind, one that happened to head down into the caves that were below them and seemed to be magically lit as well, so there was no need for torches, though this was unlike anything she expected Spike to do with his magic, "this tunnel will allow us to access the closest cave that has the gems we're looking for, a few pockets that seem to be untouched based on what my magic told me, and from what I can tell there are no Diamond Dogs in the immediate area, so we should be able to get what we came for... though there is something I want to check out before we leave, as the spell picked up something interesting and I'd like to check it out before we head back to Ponyville."
Most of the group chuckled at that, mostly because it was well within Spike's abilities to see a spell be used and then just refine it to a brand new level, something which surprised Rarity when she saw the spell she had been channeling be used in such a superior fashion, not to mention detecting something that piqued his interest, which meant they would have to stay here until he figured out what it was that his spell had picked up and what it meant for the rest of Ponyville, but as soon as he was done informing them as to what he had detected they headed into the tunnel he had created, allowing all of them to nod their heads as Rarity just stared at it in shock. Bianca revealed that this was Transmogrification magic, a type of magic which allowed one to transform something into another form, depending on what the caster wanted, and while some magic users of Spyro's world preferred to change the size of objects they were standing on, or change an item into a walkway so they didn't have to jump over certain obstacles that were in their way, and it was even possible to change gems into soldiers, a spell that many of their enemies used in the past, but Spike's abilities continued to impress Bianca, which was part of the reason she had agreed to be his apprentice, among other reasons that were a tale for another time. Rarity found that all of this was rather surprising, as while she expected that the tunnel would have been purely diagonal, heading down to the cave Spike was heading towards, what all of them found was that part of the tunnel was that way and that it leveled off for a few moments so they wouldn't get tired quickly, not to mention that they turned around a corner and continued their descent, though she found that she was the only one that was caught off guard by this and that the rest of Spike's group was used to his magical feats, which would take some getting used to. Eventually the group walked out of the tunnel that Spike had created and Rarity found that they were in one of the tunnels that the Diamond Dogs had created, which were mostly just stone, save for the softer ground that could be dug into, though as everyone entered the area Rarity made a comment about when she was last here, that the gems could be anywhere, as she had found deposits in the ground, in a few stones above the ground, and even in some of the support rocks that the dogs left behind, though even as she said that, and let the others know that this might be trial and error since she had no idea what Spike's spell was capable of, it was in that moment that several spots around them glowed with a faint light, indicating the areas that the gems just so happened to be resting in.
Bianca stepped forward and used her magic to carefully shift the stone and earth out of the way, using her own magic to pull the material out of the way and shift it into reinforcements for the various support rocks that were nearby, as while she suspected that the Diamond Dogs were experts at digging underground, to search for gems and whatever else they were looking for, their support rocks left much to be desired and this would make sure that the ceiling didn't collapse on top of them, even if she and Spike would protect them in case something like that happened, before she smiled as they found some of the first gems that they were looking for. What she found was a small pile that consisted of a few rubies, a pair of sapphires, several emeralds, possibly a few topazes, a number of amethysts, and even a diamond, each of which had a gleam to them and once they were uncovered Cynder stepped forward and pulled the gems out of where they were resting, allowing her to nod as she noticed how pure they were, before she stored them inside Spike's bag, which he set off to the side as he stared at the walls, even though most of the group knew what he was searching for without him even having to say a word. He had spotted something on his radar, something that had piqued his interest and made him want to find it so he could figure out what he had located and record his findings for later, so while the others were collecting all of the gems that they needed, a few for them and the vast majority going to Rarity so she could have a good stockpile for her future customers, he was silently searching for what his magic had bounced off of, while at the same time keeping his senses open in case some of the Diamond Dogs interrupted them, even though it didn't appear that such a thing would be happening in the near future. Once the first cluster of gems was exhausted, and they were sure since there were no more glowing objects inside the wall Bianca had been working on, the hole was covered once more and Bianca moved onto the next area that happened to be glowing, where she repeated what she had done to the last one and the group focused on all of the gems that were being pulled out of the ground, as it reminded many of them of the mines that they had seen back in Spyro's world, which were full of gems and the races were constantly pulling a vast amount of them out of either the ground or the walls in question, making them wonder if the Gemcutters would feel at home in a place like this, which was something to think about in the future, once they were back in Ponyville.
Over the next couple of minutes Rarity found that Spike's new friends were able to find a vast amount of gems, nearly the same level that she had been forced to find when then Diamond Dogs kidnapped her and put her to work, even if she had turned it around on them and made them let her leave, with the gems no less, but she had to admit that this was much more pleasant than what she went through, though for the most part Spike was focused on looking for whatever it was his magic had picked up and none of his friends tried to bother him, knowing that it was bad to break his concentration, but it was only a matter of time until the area around them was mined out and Rarity found that the Bag of Holding was just as she was told, before the group gathered around Spike.
"I'm sure that we have more than enough gems for what you have in mind, Spike, so it might be time for us to return to Ponyville and test your theory," Spyro commented, but even as he said that he knew what the rest of the group, save for Rarity, knew, and that was the fact that if Spike was interested in something, or was this focused on finding whatever it was that he had felt, there was a high chance that they wouldn't leave until he found his target and wrote down his findings, so that meant that if they stayed inside the cave the Diamond Dogs would find them at some point, which was when Spike shifted his stance for a moment and seemed to follow whatever magic he had been feeling earlier, "Spike, what is it? What have you found?"
"Magic, but not ours or what one of the pony clans can wield," Spike replied, as while there was a chance that what he was feeling was just an artifact or something, instead of an actual magic user, it didn't feel like anything he had encountered so far, which only piqued his interest even more and made him want to discover the source of the magic that he was feeling at the moment, if only to write down what he discovered for later, when Twilight, Celestia, or Luna returned since he was sure that one of the sisters who controlled the sun or moon might have some information to share with him about what he and the others might find, before he beckoned for the others to follow, "I think it might be a barrier of some kind, but I want to be sure before we head back to Ponyville, just so I can ask more accurate questions when either Celestia or Luna come back from their own adventures."
The group glanced at each other for a moment before nodding their heads as they followed Spike, who picked up the bag all of their gems were resting in and reattached it to where it had been earlier, all while following the path that was right in front of him as he tracked down the magical energy that his spell had found earlier, something that meant he had to walk down the tunnel that his tunnel had brought them to, pause at an intersection that had five more tunnels that went off in a number of different directions, where he headed down the one that was to his right and the rest of the group followed after him, and then stopped halfway down the tunnel in question, as there was another intersection further down the line and what Spike had felt was nearby, so they wouldn't be heading to the intersection. In that moment he turned towards the wall that was to his left and rested his hand against it for a few seconds, as it sure seemed like the magic was coming from the direction that he was now staring in, before his own power flared for a second and a large rectangular opening, with both the vertical and horizontal sides of the rectangle being the same size, meaning it was both wide and tall enough for a Diamond Dog to walk through it, or however many happened to walk through it, and he informed the others that he didn't use his magic to do this, meaning this was either natural or was tied to what he was feeling right now. Instead of just leaving the area, and coming back to this at a later date, Spike stepped into the hidden tunnel and started to walk down it, as it was leading somewhere and he wanted to see whatever was at the end of it, since they were heading towards the odd magic that he had felt, a magic that definitely seemed older than everything that was in Ponyville, and he was sure that Twilight would do the same thing if she was here, hence the reason that he followed the path that was in front of him and the rest of the group followed him. Rarity, of course, didn't have the best experience with the Diamond Dogs and was a tad bit worried that they might run into the dogs that were supposed to be underground, inside the tunnels they had walked through to get here, before she sighed and followed after the rest of the group, as she didn't want to be left behind in case one of the dogs came up behind her and tried to grab her, so she was pretty much walking beside Flame and Aurora, as she did like Aurora's robe and was interested in it, something that she would ask once they got back to Ponyville, but for the most part she remained silent as she and the others walked down the tunnel, heading to whatever Spike had felt so he could write down everything that he ended up discovering.
For a few minutes it didn't seem like anything was happening, that the tunnel might be a dead end and that they were just wasting their time in these caves, before Spike spotted what appeared to be an opening in front of them and stopped the moment he reached it, where they found that it wasn't a new tunnel and that it was actually a rectangular opening, which was longer in the horizontal sense this time around, before they stared out of it, like it was a window, and paused as they focused on what was on the other side of it, as this was far beyond anything that they were expecting to find when Spike wanted to go out and find some gems. What they found was that there was a massive underground cavern, one that could fix a city the size of Canterlot inside it, that stretched out before them, though the reason that everyone thought of a city was due to the fact that there was an actual city, made out of smooth stone and seemed to be modeled in the style of the city that Spike and Twilight used to call home, resting in the center of the cavern, which was around the time that everyone found out that there were a few small holes in the ceiling that let light into this place, though that wasn't all they found as they stared out of the opening, where Spike was already writing everything that they were seeing down. It appeared that there were two rivers running through the city that they were staring at, one apparently coming from the west and turning to the south, a normal river based on what the group was seeing and that told Spike it had to be coming from one of the oceans named after Luna, but it was the one coming from the north and heading towards the east, from the direction that they came from, that their attention happened to be on since it was actually a river of lava, or maybe it was magma, like in the Dragon Lands, which seemed to have a smithy or something resting near it, like whoever had lived here had used the river to heat whatever they were melting down and forge it into weapons and armor. The thing that really caught Spike's attention was two objects, the first being the magical dome that rested around the entire city, almost like what the Crystal Empire had to protect them against the frigid wings and freezing snow, which had to be what his magic had bounced off of when he channeled the radar spell for a time, though the second thing was that there were a number of statues that were on the outskirts of the city, on the city's side of the barrier, that were of bipedal dog-like creatures, standing upright and not like the hunched Diamond Dogs that Spike and Rarity had encountered the last time they had seen the dogs, and each of them were wearing some sort of armor over their bodies.
Spike was amazed by what they were seeing at the moment, as this was an ancient Diamond Dog city, an undocumented discovery based on all of the limited information he had on what was inside Equestria's libraries, since he hadn't read any of the tomes and scrolls yet, and he couldn't wait to see what else might be inside this area, as there was no way he was going to just leave without discovering something else, though as he thought about that, and they discovered a tunnel to their right that headed down towards the bottom area of this cavern, everyone heard what appeared to be drums or one of the other musical instruments. The group glanced at each other for a few moments, because they weren't expecting to hear the start of what appeared to be a song of some kind, to which they headed down the tunnel that was near them and followed it to the area that it was leading them towards, even though the tunnel soon turned into what appeared to be a railed area that allowed one to feel as if they were underground while not having too much earth around them, as there was a spiraling walkway of sorts that it brought them to and Spike was sure that there was an exit on every level, between here and the bottom, and the first one seemed promising. The reason for that opinion happened to be because the sound was coming from that area, so they walked through the doorway shaped opening and quickly found their way to what had to be a massive mine, one that was a massive circular area that had to be far below where Spike and Rarity had found the first group of Diamond Dogs in the past, and that they were surprised to find that there were conveyor belts that let those that worked in this area transport valuables and raw material to another part of the city, after being hauled up from the mine by large metallic baskets that were made out of iron, or at least that was what all of them assumed as they watched all of the components move. This meant that the Diamond Dogs had to be living inside the city still, keeping themselves hidden from the rest of Equestria and the world as a whole, all while continuing their own traditions and whatnot, which just interested Spike as he thought about everything that they could learn today, before they paused for a moment as they approached the edge of the mine and found that it was occupied by a vast number of Diamond Dogs, twenty to be exact and that each of them had their own colors to their fur, as some had different shades of brown and different shades of gray, though where two of them were expecting to find them wearing just vests, like they had seen in the past, the dogs in the mine happened to be wearing dirty white shirts and dirty brown pants, though each of them were swinging pickaxes down at the stone, meaning the stone had to be too hard for their paws.
"Brothers of the mine rejoice!" a voice called out, where Spike and Rarity paused for a moment as they noticed a Diamond Dog, who seemed to have light gray fur while wearing a light brown set of attire that made it look more like a leader of a dig team or something, and he seemed to be the only one that was without a pickaxe right now, meaning he had to be an overseer, and the reason that they knew he was male was due to the voice that came from his mouth, though they were surprised by the voice since it didn't match what they remembered from their last encounter with the Diamond Dogs, but it seemed like he was in the middle of starting a song.
"Swing, swing, swing with me!" the Diamond Dogs that were mining replied in kind, their voices revealing that either they were used to singing random songs while they worked, possibly taken from Ponyville and the rest of the ponies that just randomly broke out into song and dance, something that Spyro, Ember, and the rest of the dragons from Spyro's world were getting used to when Cadance mentioned such a thing when they walked to her during their first day on Equus, but they remained silent as they watched, because this was interesting and had to be the last thing that they saw before they headed back to Ponyville to conduct Spike's test on the gems, allowing them to hear the song as it continued, with all of the Diamond Dogs mentioning swinging their picks and raising their voices, along with being born underground as well, which made sense when they thought about it, and what they would find while they mined.
The Diamond Dogs continued to sing, not knowing that there were watchers observing them, where they sang about the fact that they were raised in the dark and in the safety of their mountain home, that they believed that their fur was made out of iron and that they had steel in their bones, which implied their history of digging underground, before all of them proclaimed that 'they were dogs and they're digging a hole', where they seemed to be having fun as they struck the stones that were resting around their work place and actually seemed to find a number of gems that were collected and hauled up to the upper area, to be separated from the stone and metal that they found, before the group were interrupted by the sudden arrival of a group of bipedal Diamond Dogs who were wearing full suits of iron armor and had spears pointing at them, even though Spike and Rarity spotted a hunched dog among them.
"Intruders have found Diamondia," one of the dogs said, which was the one that Spike and Rarity could have sworn that they recognized, even if it was based on size, and the gruff voice seemed to match what they remembered, though it was possible that it was just a random occurrence and that they might be wrong, before the dog beckoned to the others for a moment, who circled back to make sure they surrounded the group so none of them escaped, but what was interesting was that none of them tried to take their weapons from them and that was a mistake, not that it mattered since they had Spike with them and he would be able to find the weapons if they were taken, before the dog growled, "The Council of Three Paws will decide your fate!"
Spike's eyes widened for a moment, as this was more information than what he was expecting to learn and that he would have all sorts of knowledge to share with the rest of Equestria, including Twilight when she returned, while the rest of the group simply remained silent at this point, because they were willing to let Spike get everything he wanted out of the way before they bothered to make their escape with either his magic or Bianca's powers, and that wasn't counting Malefor's powers either, to which the group silently followed the guards and wondered what the next few minutes had in store for all of them.
Spike and the others followed after the Diamond Dog guards that had found them staring at the mines, in amazement as they watched some of the dogs burst into song and start singing about digging holes, something that they seemed proud of based on what they were hearing as they left the area that the mine was in, though for the most part everyone kept silent as they followed Spike, who was a few steps right behind the couple of dogs that had found them, as he was eager to see what was on the other side of the barrier and get a closer look at the city, because of the fact that this wasn't even in all of the history books, to his knowledge, and he knew there were others who would share his opinions once he and the rest of the group returned to the surface. Of course he was amazed by the fact that none of the guards had taken their weapons or tried to confiscate their armor, given that they were intruders and everything, so he could only assume that the five dogs that were around them were either new to their jobs and had no idea what they were actually supposed to do, which did seem odd when he thought about it, or they were just as dumb as the couple of Diamond Dogs that he and Rarity found the last time they were in the cave system that the dogs brought the fashionista to, which he kept to himself for the time being, just to see what the guards did next. As they left the area that the mine was located in the guards escorted them down the rest of the spiral shaped walkway, passing by a number of floors that none of them were really given a chance to see since the dogs wanted them to keep moving, though it didn't take them all that long to reach the bottom of the spiral walkway and stepped out into the area that was at the base of the magical barrier Spike had found when he was searching for gems with his magic, though that was when they discovered that there were more to this place than what they assumed, because on both sides of the barrier rested Diamond Dogs who were in the middle of tending to fields, something that couldn't grow down here without sunlight. That told Spike that either there was a way for sunlight to get down here, even if the ceiling didn't seem to support that thought at the moment, or the Diamond Dogs had figured out a way to grow and cultivate all sorts of plants underground, something that was going to freak Twilight out when she got back from her adventure, but he kept all of this in mind as they walked forward, as he figured that writing everything down might be a bad idea given that there were guards around them, so he'd write it down in his notes later, once he had a chance to do so.
While the other Diamond Dogs had been miners, and had been wearing the attire of miners from what they could see, all of the dogs that were around the fields were dressed in red shirts, blue pants, and a few even had straw hats on, though as everyone saw what they were wearing it became clear that Rarity was wondering how in the world the Diamond Dogs had the fabric and materials to make all of their attire, though Spike had the feeling that the dogs had a method to make their own types of fabric, which could then be turned into clothing for those who called this city home, though it wasn't long before the dogs noticed them. Sure enough the farmers seemed interested in who were standing near the guards, because this had to be the first time many of them had seen a pony or even a bunch of dragons, though at the same time a few of the farmers were worried about it and stayed where they were working, not wanting to get close to them in case they were dangerous criminals or something, which was understandable given that they had next to no interactions with the outside world, save for when he and Rarity found the couple of Diamond Dogs some time ago, though it was nice to see that there was more to the Diamond Dogs than what both of them had seen earlier. Everyone stared out at the fields the dogs were tending to, which seemed large enough to sustain the city, even though there had to be more to the diet of these Diamond Dogs than just fruits and vegetables, or at least Spike assumed such a thing, since they had no information on this race, and his attention was drawn away from the fields as they approached the barrier that the guards had been escorting them to, where they passed through the barrier and actually entered the outskirts of the city itself, which Spike was surprised by since he figured it would do something to him and the others, only it seemed to do nothing to intruders and might just be a protective barrier to protect the city from a collapsing ceiling, even though the ceiling looked like it was just fine and that it wouldn't break in the near future. Once they were on the other side of the barrier the group followed their escorts as they headed for the city itself, where it gave everyone a chance to study one of the large statues that they had seen earlier, something that Spike was very interested in based on what they had seen so far, especially since all of the statues seemed to be of warriors of some kind, before they pulled away from the statues and headed towards the stone city that they had discovered, which had a good number of Diamond Dogs walking around and happened to be enjoying themselves, in what appeared to be a marketplace.
What surprised the group was that all of the Diamond Dogs were wearing attire that was far different from what Spike and Rarity knew the first three had worn, the ones that kidnapped Rarity to be exact, as these ones were wearing casual attire, some had clothing that matched the profession they worked on, sort of like how the Artisans wore some clothing that let others know their professions with a glance, and, much to Rarity's shock, there were even a few dogs that were dressed in somewhat fancier clothing, as one of them happened to be wearing a rather nice black suit with a white undershirt, sort of like what Fancy Pants wore, complete with black pants, a cane that was made out of strong oak and had a golden head at the top, and had both a glass monocle and a black top hat. It was rather interesting to see that there were Diamond Dogs that had some class, in Rarity's eyes at least, and that they were more civilized than what she and Spike remembered, even if most of them stopped what they were doing as everyone noticed that the guards were escorting the group towards what seemed to be one of the important parts of the city, where Spike realized that if this city was similar to Canterlot then they were heading to a castle of some kind, maybe a keep when he considered the rest of Diamondia, as the dogs called it just a few minutes ago. One thing they could see was that some of the dogs gathered near each other and seemed to be in the middle of whispering to each other, no doubt worried about the fact that non Diamond Dogs had found their city and had breached the barrier, even though that was due to the fact that the guards had brought them through the barrier, which made Spike take a moment to think about the situation and came to the conclusion that whoever ruled this city might not be happy with the guards bringing intruders through the barrier, but he said nothing as he considered that and kept his eyes on the layout of the city, since it was fascinating to take all of this in. From what he could see there were shops, a few stores that seemed to sell everything else, houses, and, interestingly enough, even a library that really surprised him and Rarity, where he could only imagine the amount of knowledge that was contained inside the tomes and scrolls that had to be inside the structure, something he would have to ask the ruler of the city about, if it was determined that they were fine and not in trouble, though he eventually turned his gaze away from it and focused on the path that was in front of them, as he was building a mental map of the city for later, even if it would be incomplete since they were taking the direct path to the center of the city.
What they discovered was that there was a keep of some kind resting in the center of the city, one that was as tall as the castle in Ponyville, minus the tree bits, and seemed to be made out of smooth stone, though resting in front of it, right in the direct center of the city, was a stone statue of a Diamond Dog who seemed to be a warrior king or something, based on the armor that was on his chest, lower body, his arms and hands, and even on his tail, though he had his right hand out and it appeared he might be holding a treasure of some kind, one that appeared to be a gleaming red colored gemstone that had been carved into a triangular pyramid shape, as it had three sides and the bottom, but Spike could feel the magic inside it and suspected that it was providing the power to the barrier. Based on that piece of information Spike suspected that this gemstone, as it was an actual gem and was floating above the statue's hand, was similar to the Crystal Heart, the artifact that was located in the center of the Crystal Empire and powered its magical barrier, and that removing it or even messing with its magic would disable the barrier that was protecting this massive city, but he was more interested in what he could learn about it and knew that a trip to the library would solve that mystery, which meant convincing the Council of Three Paws that they weren't enemies and that this was pretty much an honest mistake. From there they walked forward and entered the keep that was beyond the statue, where they passed through the steel doors that happened to be resting between them and the inside, not to mention a pair of armored dogs that were much like the guards that were escorting them whatever their final destination happened to be, even if they knew it had to be the part of the keep the Council was resting in, though on the other side of the door they found that there was a path on their left, one on the right, and one right in front of them, with the last one having stairs for them to use, where they waited for a few moments before their escorts headed up the stairs and approached another set of steel doors. On the other side of the door they found what had to be a throne room of some kind, with a golden throne, one fit for the ruler of the Diamond Dogs, resting in the back of the room, at the highest point since it was raised from the rest of the room, before they found three more thrones right in front of the ramp that lead to the kingly throne, one that appeared to be made out of bronze, another made out of what appeared to be darkened iron, and the third being made of silver.
Standing in front of each throne had to be the one who sat on it, the head of the clans, based on what Spike figured from the name of the Council, though due to the fact that two of them were more like the statue outside the keep and one was slimmer and more ladylike the group came to the conclusion that the Council was made up of two males and one female, where they found that the one on the bronze throne was a warrior, based on the metallic armor he was wearing right now, he had an imposing helm that would fit over his head resting near his throne, and there was a broadsword attached to his belt, while the female Diamond Dog on the iron throne had lighter looking armor, mail armor based on what Ember knew, that looked like it might be able to stop any weapons while wearing a black shirt with no sleeves and black pants, and had a circlet around her forehead, leaving the second male Diamond Dog on the silver throne, who wore no chest piece and no shirt, save for brown pants and brown bracers, though he also appeared to be a warrior, based on the hammer that was resting on his belt.
"What is the meaning of this... interruption?" the female Diamond Dog asked, where her tone revealed that she was more like the nobles of Canterlot, meaning she was used to certain things happening and maybe that certain rules were obeyed, while at the same time revealing that part of her was annoyed by the guards opening the door without having someone announce their presence, which informed the group that a meeting must have been going on before their arrival and that it was either important or it could be put off till Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the others were dealt with, though that was when the dog and her fellow rulers glanced over their bodies and stared at them for a few moments, before the female sighed as she glanced at the three guards that were at the front of the pack, with the other two stood behind everyone, just to make sure they didn't do anything funny, "Rover, how many times have we told you not to interrupt our meetings? Also, have you been trained to secure any weapons that any possible intruders might have?"
"Um, I honestly have no idea... and no?" the leader of the three novice guards, as that had to be what they were based on what the female Diamond Dog had just asked him, replied, though Spike and Rarity recognized the voice instantly, which meant that this was the leader of the three dogs that had interrupted them long ago when Rarity was looking for gems for her dresses and kidnapped her to for her to look for gems for them, even though she turned the tables on him and both of his friends, allowing her to leave with her freedom and the gems that she had pointed out to her captors, while at the same time his words seemed to make all three of the council members sigh in disappointment.
"Twelve times, that's how many times we've told you to not interrupt our meetings and make sure to announce yourself when we're in here," the warrior dog stated, showing that Rover and his friends might be some of the greatest failures in their city, or at least that was what his tone told the group that was just listening to them talk, even though he took a few seconds to raise his right hand to his face and held it there for a few moments, which showed that he and the rest of the council members had to be disappointed in what the three younger dogs had done, since Rover and his friends were at least ten years younger than the council members, before he lowered his hand and stared at them, "Guards, please escort Rover and his friends out of this room and give them some lessons on what they should do in these situations, to make sure their training sticks this time, because if this happens again we might have to find a new profession for them... but, while you do that, we will deal with the individuals that have been brought to our keep."
The more experienced guards nodded their heads and beckoned for the three novice guards to follow them, which was what they did in the next few seconds, to which the three council members stared at the group and glanced at each other a few times, where it was clear that they were thinking about what had just happened and the fact that they actually had intruders standing before them, something that confirmed Spike's thoughts on the matter, especially since the explorers who explored the entirety of Equestria mentioned a place like this, so it was possible that they were the first outsiders to stand before the Council of Three Paws.
"This is the first time, in a little over a thousand years, that we've had guests in Diamondia, as none have had the skills to find us... save for one thief, anyway," the wild dog said, mostly talking to the other council members, something that made the group a little happy since 'guests' sounded a lot better than 'intruders', even though all of them were both worried and a tad bit interested about about he had said, about there being a thief that had apparently found this place and kept quiet about what they had seen, for whatever reasons that they might have had, before he pounded his chest with his right fist for a few seconds, like he was getting ready to introduce himself to them, "I am Butch Wildpaw, Leader of the Wildpaw clan and their representative for the Council of Three Paws, along with Alice Ironpaw, Leader of the Ironpaw clan, and Gruff Bronzepaw, Leader of the Bronzepaw clan, and we rule over both Diamondia and our clans. Who are you guys, and how did you find your way to our hidden city?"
"I am Spyro, along with my siblings Spike and Ember, along with my girlfriend Cynder," Spyro answered, taking a moment to beckon to those he named with one of his hands for a few seconds, just so the council members knew who was who, as this was going to be a decent number of names for the trio to take in and having some hints as to which name belonged to which individual might be helpful to them, even though he could see that Butch, Alice, and Gruff were actually paying close attention to what he was saying, meaning that Spike was going to have a field day with this, since it appeared that all of the Diamond Dogs they had met so far, save for the three guards they recognized, were smarter than what they assumed and it would change history books, before he continued with the introductions, "along with our friends Flame, Aurora, Elora, Hunter, Amelia, Bianca, Rarity, and the Professor, and our mentor Malefor. As for the second question, Spike used some of his magic to copy and improve a spell that Rarity used earlier and it allowed him to find a number of gem deposits that were in the cave system that they originally spotted those three Diamond Dogs in some time ago, but when he channeled the spell he felt it bounce off of something that was deep underground, deeper than what he and Rarity had been the last time they were in those caves, and he wanted to see what he was detecting before we headed back to Ponyville, only for him to discover what I'm assuming is a hidden passage between the caves and this city, which brought us to an opening that revealed both the magical barrier we saw earlier and the city it was protecting."
"So you were in our outermost training grounds, looking for gems, and felt something you were unfamiliar with, so you decided to investigate it?" Alice inquired, where it appeared that she was interested in what they were saying, while also revealing that the cave might actually be in Diamond Dog territory and that ponies who raided that area might be thieves to the dogs, though at the same time she also appeared to be worried about something, which had to be the fact that a group was able to detect the barrier that surrounded their city, while at the same time Butch and Gruff were silent as they listened to what she was saying and what the group had to say for themselves.
"That's pretty much it. We had no idea that we would find the hidden passage, much less an entire city, when we decided to follow the magical signature I felt earlier," Spike replied, as that was the truth of the matter, he wasn't expecting to find everything that they had found so far and he knew that the rest of his group had to be feeling the same way, though even as he answered the question he filed away the information they had been given, that the cave system might be part of the underground empire that they had discovered and that all of the gems actually belonged to the Diamond Dogs, which he determined could be a reason the dogs didn't like the ponies all that much, or at least that was what he suspected based on the lack of information they had, especially since none of the dogs lashed out at Rarity when they saw her, before he returned to the topic at hand, "it was simple curiosity that caused us to follow the magical signature down to this place, as we know next to nothing about the Diamond Dogs and this proved to be one of our best chances to learn something about another species of this world, but we did not come here to do harm to you or your empire."
"We can tell, as while you have weapons and armor you didn't use them to force your way through the city, like one would have expected intruders to do," Gruff commented, revealing that the council members, at the very least, were smarter than the three younger Diamond Dogs that had bothered Rarity when she went looking for gems a long time ago, which Spike made a note of for later, since this was interesting and he was sure that the rest of the scholars and historians of Equestria would feel the same way once all of this information he and the others were getting was released, "you are also different than the thief that broke into one of our storerooms, on the outskirts of our empire, and made off with a throne that we were supposed to keep safe and sound, as the thief in question knocked out every guard that was guarding the storeroom and only took the one item from us... supposedly it was designed to nullify magic, but we've never seen it work since we've been hiding it, which is good since we feared it might interfere with the barrier."
"Was it a dark stone-like throne with protrusions that were shaped like thorns and full of holes?" Spike asked, because he knew of only one throne that matched the description that Gruff was giving them, as that happened to be the throne that Chrysalis, back when she was the Queen of the Changelings, used against her enemies in an attempt to fulfill her plans for Equestria and those that bested her in the past, though he waited for the council members to take a moment to glance at each other and nod their heads in agreement, showing that they understood what he was talking about, "Well, then you won't have to worry about it, as it was eventually destroyed and the pieces were either scattered and forgotten by those who broke the throne, or the fragments were destroyed as a precaution, and the one who stole the throne was beaten by some of our heroes, even though she's been missing since that event occurred, either hiding somewhere else or she has decided to stop being evil and just fade into the background, never to be seen again."
Part of that was technically false, as they had a good idea where Chrysalis was located, or at least a general idea based on the image they had been shown when the spirit of their planet talked to them, where the hard part was telling if she was going to stop being a villain or if she was going to pick up from where she left off when her memories returned, as right now she seemed to be a kid that had no idea who she had been or what crimes she had committed, but he wasn't about to tell the Diamond Dogs about the other worlds or the fact that demons were coming towards their planet to take it over and do whatever they did to planets they conquered.
"So, what are you going to do with us now?" Ember asked, because while she knew that Spike or Rarity could accurately answer whatever questions the council members had for them, just like Spike had done so far and Spyro had done the same after introducing them to the Diamond Dogs, she was interested in figuring out if they were going to be welcomed as guests of the city and be allowed to leave, even though Spike would insist on coming back for the library they passed on the way to this keep, or if they were going to see them as intruders and try to take them all down, to imprison them for the foreseeable future, where the latter would involve her and the others beating up the Diamond Dogs.
"Before we answer that, there is another question I would like to ask you," Butch said, though this time around his tone revealed that this had to be more important than what Ember was asking, something that made the group pay attention since there was no telling what he might ask them or if they even had an answer to whatever he might ask, and he took a few moments to either collect his thoughts or to wait and make sure they were all ready before revealing what he wanted to ask them, "Have any of you had contact with the Earth Mother recently? A little over a week ago my shamans and I felt several disturbances in the Earth Mother's power, like she might have been fighting something or casting a spell, and we found that nothing was wrong when we went to investigate the disturbance, but a few days ago we experienced a rather massive surge in her power, like she was communicating with someone else for a time, someone that wasn't us, and just before we could figure out what was going on the surge disappeared... the Council of Three Paws, including my shamans, are worried that something is happening and that we might not be ready for whatever the Earth Mother knows about, and you seem to be more knowledgeable than most ponies."
The group stood there for a few moments, as it was interesting to see that there was a clan of Diamond Dogs that actually talked with the spirit of this planet and were worried about her, while at the same time being able to feel when something happened, meaning that they had some earth magic to aid them in their efforts, since Spike figured that they wouldn't be able to channel the power to summon the barrier in the first place, before they glanced at each other, clearly debating if they should reveal what was going to be happening at some point in the near future to the Council of Three Paws or if this was something that should be kept to themselves, only to sigh as they silently came to a decision.
"The Earth Mother, as you call her, has to be the spirit of Equus, of our planet," Spike replied, as he was the one that could accurately explain what was going on to the three Diamond Dogs that were sitting in front of them, not to mention explain anything that they didn't understand, while at the same time the rest of the group remained silent as they listened to him, even though some of them had to be wondering if this would allow them to convince the Diamond Dogs to join the forces that Ember was planning on training for the incoming invasion, before Spike opened his mouth and continued going over what he knew about the situation, "we're not sure how she did it, but she discovered that our planet is in danger, as there is a force of demonic creatures making its way to our planet, so they can assault it and take it over, and the disturbances you felt, the ones that were bunched together, was Equus sending a number of displaced, as Discord calls them, to other worlds so that they'll gather allies and come back with the power to repel the attackers, and the last surge you felt was her showing us both the locations that the other displaced were sent to and the threat we face. We haven't told anyone else because we don't want to incite panic, as most of the ponies aren't fighters and they'll cause chaos if they hear that our world is going to be under siege at some point in the near future, so Ember and I have decided to start training all sorts of creatures from this world to be great warriors, starting with the guards of Canterlot and the dragons of the Dragon Lands, but we were planning on trying to recruit other races into a united force and train them away from everyone else, so we don't have someone interfere with what we're doing... maybe you would consider joining forces with us, to push back the incoming threat and save our world?"
The council members said nothing to that for a time, clearly thinking about what he had said and what leaving their hidden city meant for the rest of the world, especially since the ponies would be surprised by the sudden arrival of so many dogs and their previously unknown civilizations, and they glanced at each other a few times, as if they were debating what to do in this situation, while at the same time Rarity seemed stunned by what she had just learned and Spike reflected to tell her what was going on once they were away from the council members, since she was the only one among their number who had no idea that the demonic army was even coming and he would need to correct that at some point, before the three dogs that were in front of them shifted their gazes back towards the group.
"We require some time to talk about this, as committing some of our forces to this combined army, and revealing our city to the outside world, is no easy thing to ask of us," Alice stated, which was pretty much what Spike and the others were expecting, especially after seeing the lengths the Diamond Dogs went through to keep themselves hidden from the rest of the world and the other races, though at the same time she pulled something out of a container that was behind her iron throne and stood up, where she walked over to where the group was standing, revealing that she and the others had to be as tall as a young adult dragon, and held out a slip of paper for them to take, "for now you will be treated as our guests and this will allow you to visit several stores, shops, and the library, though we will have a pair of guards follow you and call you back once we have reached a decision on the matter."
Spyro and the others nodded their heads, to show that they understood what Alice and the council members had decided so far, before Spike claimed the piece of paper which allowed them to access several of the buildings, which he was happy to have with them, and then everyone headed for the entrance of the keep, even though it was clear that two guards were following some steps behind them and made sure that they were in their view at all times, something they were fine with as they headed out into the city and started to explore it, since there wasn't much else they could do while they waited for the council members to call them back to the keep.
"Spike, darling, you were planning on telling me about this... event... weren't you?" Rarity asked, because while she wanted to directly ask about the demonic invasion that he and the others apparently knew about, something that seemed like she and the rest of their friends needed to know about so they could prepare for what was coming, she respected his efforts to make sure the rest of the civilians didn't know about the demons and the threat that their planet faced, even if she was a little pissed that this was the first time she was hearing about all of this and that it was only due to them finding a hidden city of Diamond Dogs and telling its leaders about the threat.
"Not really. We didn't want you to worry about what's coming our way, and given Sweetie's habit of eavesdropping on you, well, I decided not to say anything for fear of it spreading like crazy," Spike replied, as while he understood that Rarity had to feel betrayed by them not telling her anything about what was coming their way in the near future, whenever it might happen, he knew that if Sweetie learned about the impending invasion and the threat their world would be facing, from either them talking near her or her listening in on what Rarity told her friends, that she would cause panic by spilling it to all of Ponyville and possibly the rest of the important settlements of Equestria, "but that's the summary of what's going on and part of the reason that we're so set on making sure the rest of the races are on friendly terms with us, even though we have other, more realistic, reasons for heading to the other provinces of this world... though we're going to have to ask both Cadance, Shining, Thorax, and whoever is leading the remaining races, since we're planning on training a number of warriors to defend our cities and lands."
Rarity said nothing to that as they came to a stop at the one building that most of them weren't terribly interested in, save for Spike, Bianca, and Malefor, and that was the library, where they found a female Diamond Dog sitting behind a table off to the left of the opening and the attire that she was wearing, a purple shirt and blue skirt while having a pair of glasses on her face, indicated that she had to be the librarian, though she raised an eyebrow as she noticed them and Spike held out the paper they had been given, causing her to look at it for a time before nodding her head and allowing the group to take some time to look at their tomes and scrolls. Of course the librarian was interested in who they were and what they were doing here, something that Bianca did her best to explain while not mentioning the impending invasion that Spike and the rest of the dragons didn't want to tell anyone, though as she did that Spike headed into the depths of the library and did what he did best, he separated himself from the rest of the group and explored the two story library, which surprised the rest of his group since they weren't expecting to see all of this in the first place, before they gathered at one of the tables and simply waited for him to return, leaving the guards to stand near the door as both of them wondered what they were doing right now. Spike was on a hunt for information, anything he could get his hands on for that matter, and it wasn't all that long before he found several tomes that caught his immediate attention, one being about an artifact that the author called the Diamond Prism, which had to be the glimmering gemstone they had seen above the statue's hand before they were escorted into the keep to meet the Council of Three Paws, a tome that revealed that it was definitely a magical item that acted similar to the Crystal Heart in the Crystal Empire, which protected the empire from dangers and that meant this new artifact did the same thing, along with providing a magical barrier that made it hard for anyone to detect the city in the first place, unless what Spike did happened. Another tome he found revealed that the city might have been an ancient smithy that the Diamond Dogs used to make the various weapons, armor, and items that were eventually stored inside all of their storerooms, and if the throne that Chrysalis stole was any indication they might have found a way to actually arm all of the warriors that would be defending Equus when the time came, and the tone even contained a detailed list of every item, regardless of what it happened to be, that had been made inside the city, something that interested him and would be something that he would go over, just to see if the Diamond Dogs made any of the other artifacts that the ponies knew about and had either forgotten about or just believed to be legends.
One of the tomes that he was really interested in reading was the one that detailed how the city, or empire as the author called it, came to be, where it appeared that it was built over a thousand years ago, which confirmed what the members of the Council had said earlier, and had been built around the main forge that had been hidden in this cavern, though it did look like it had been constructed as a safe haven so they could hide from the dangers of their world, like Discord since the Spirit of Disharmony had been a problem for everyone in Equestria at one point in time, and once they spent a few years underground, after fleeing from Discord, they adapted to living down here and leaving the surface behind, with limited exposure to the surface and sunlight. It wasn't totally clear who actually activated the barrier that surrounded the empire, as the tome contained several different accounts on what happened and they ranged from there being a being called a Sorcerer King, a magical Diamond Dog who wielded an impressive amount of magic, who raised the barrier, to it being the aid of an outside force, such as Star Swirl the Bearded, a legendary figure in pony history, and there was even one account where the author believed that it was Discord himself who put the barrier in place to keep them trapped underground, as a joke or something, and it only recently, like within the last year or two, grew weak enough to allow everyone to venture outside the city, even though that was the most outlandish of them all. Out of all of them Spike believed that the tale of the Sorcerer King might be the right one, that the powerful Diamond Dog channeled his power and the Diamond Prism into a barrier that protected everything that was inside Diamondia, something that remained active as it pulsed above the hand of the statue of a previous ruler, before he turned towards the last tome he was interested in right now, because he found that there were too many tomes inside the library and that he wouldn't be able to read all of them in the time allotted to him and the others, so for right now he was focused on the ones that he shared with the rest of the group. This final tome was of the shamans that Butch had mentioned earlier, who happened to be spiritual guides that communed with the very elements of their world, or at least earth, air, fire, and water, and kept them in balance with each other, something that was much easier for them to do since Equus was a peaceful world, and there was no telling what sort of powers Butch and his shamans had, even when he was armed with the information that was inside the tome, but this did confirm that they had Diamond Dogs that could speak to the spirit of their world, or to the earth elementals to be exact.
In the end Spike determined that all of the tomes contained their own trove of information, especially when he considered all he had learned so far, which made him all the more eager to get his hands on the rest of them and read everything that was inside the library, something that caused the librarian to raise an eyebrow in surprise since she had never seen this before and it was refreshing to see someone interested in knowledge, which the rest of the dogs either lacked or didn't care about, before they found a new Diamond Dog, a skinny female one that appeared to be wearing black armor that just so happened to cover nearly all of her body, save for a slot for her eyes, who handed something to the guards and quickly vanished before their eyes, meaning she was skilled at using stealth skills. From there the guards beckoned and the group nodded their heads, where Spike sighed and magically returned the rest of the tomes to where he had pulled them from, before wishing the librarian well as he and the others headed outside so they could follow the guards back to the keep, as it appeared that Butch, Alice, and Gruff had come to a decision on what to do with them and whether or not they wanted to join the forces that Ember was trying to create between the races of Equestria, even though there were others that they needed to talk to before such a thing could happen and Thorax and Shining were next on their list. As they headed back to the keep Spike made a note about the statue and determined that it wasn't the Sorcerer King, rather it had to be a more important figure in the history of the Diamond Dogs, one he hadn't learned about yet and might not learn about for some time, though he kept it at the back of his mind for now as everyone followed the guards back to the throne room, where it was easy for them to see that all three of the council members were patiently waiting for them to return, to which they came to a stop once they were back inside the room in question. Another thing the group discovered was that the three dogs from before, Rover and his friends, were standing off to the side and seemed to be waiting for the council members to speak to them about something, making them wonder if they would be the first members of the Diamond Dogs to join Ember's combined forces for the training program that she wanted to make, though instead of saying anything they kept quiet as they came to a stop inside the throne room and they wondered why the Council of Three Paws had been made, instead of focusing on a single ruler, but that would be something to learn about at a later date.
"As you can see, we have come to a decision in regards to whether or not we should join the forces that you are readying, among other things," Alice said, confirming what Spike and the others were thinking about, even though the Council had told them that they would be brought back once a decision had been reached, hence the reason that the group remained silent as they waited to hear what the Council of Three Paws had decided, even though each of them were wondering if it was a positive outcome due to the fact that Rover and his pals were standing nearby, as a negative outcome and a fight would end up in the dogs being beaten up, "We have determined that we will be joining your forces for what is coming in the future, to fight the threat that the Earth Mother warned you about, and as a sign of good faith we'll be sending Rover and his friends as the first recruits to come from Diamondia, despite the fact that Gruff will want to challenge whoever is your strongest warrior at some point in the future, just to test your skills out, though Butch is also offering to take our assistance to another level and train some of your forces in the art of communicating to the elements. In addition to all of that, we have agreed to give you access to our city, so that any patrols that see you in the future won't act like what you went through to get to this point in time... what I'm trying to say is that the empire of Diamondia will be fully joining the fight to defend our world and that we'll do everything in our power to bring ruin to our enemies."
"You have our thanks, members of the Council of Three Paws." Spyro said, as that was the truth of the matter, though they were more impressed by the fact that this time around they were able to talk to the rulers of the Diamond Dogs and not have to fight them, like what happened when they visited the Dragon Lands and had to engage Garble's group, but he also knew that things were changing for the provinces of Equestria, as the peaceful lands were being drawn into battle and it looked like there was no changing that fact, so all they could do was ready themselves before the rest of the displaced were able to return to their home world, along with their forces for that matter, but he and the others also took a moment to bow to the rulers of the city, just to show some respect towards them.
While Rover and his pals didn't seem all that happy about the fact that they were being put in this position, mostly due to the fact that they had bothered Spike and Rarity the last time they encountered each other, they were smart enough not to argue with their leaders and bowed their heads as well, while the rest of the group knew exactly what would be coming once they got back to Ponyville, and that was that Spike would make plans to come back here and raid the library for more information regarding the empire and the rest of the history that went into this place, because he wasn't about to leave all of this behind and giving him access to the city meant that he would be focused solely on the library. Ember, on the other hand, seemed eager to see if she would whip the three Diamond Dogs into shape and turn them into true warriors, since it appeared that they were unable to learn from whatever lessons their mentor or teachers were giving all three of them at the moment, an interesting challenge for her and Titan, not to mention the rest of the Peace Keepers, while Spyro and the rest of the group would be focusing on seeing if they could get in touch with some of the other leaders to get the rest of races in on a joint task force to be trained in preparations for the demonic invasion, despite the fact that they knew that all of them would likely ask a price and that the Council had kept quiet about it since there was no point discussing such a thing if they were taken out. Once they knew what was going on, and the Council was fine with them leaving for a time, the group stepped out of the throne room and headed for the surface once more, because they needed to put the final touch or two on what they were planning before trying to get in touch with the rest of the races, even though Spike smiled for a moment, as once everyone got back to the surface he was sure that once Daring Do found out about this place she was going to have a field day, after getting over that she didn't discover this first, and learning more about the empire and the history it held was going to keep him busy for some time, even though they were eager to see what else the future held for them once they got back to Ponyville.
It took some time for Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of the group, who were now heavy three Diamond Dogs and knew that they had some allies that were living a good distance away from where Ponyville rested, to emerge from the cave system which contained the tunnel they had been walking through, where they stared at the sunlight and found that it was still day out, though due to the fact that the sun and moon didn't move without magic it was hard to tell the time, but Spike was sure that they had only been underground for about two to three hours, maybe four, though Rarity was happy to be out of the caves at long last. The three Diamond Dogs, who they had learned were called Rover, Fido, and Spot, were fine with the sunlight, which made sense when the group considered the fact that the dogs had been the ones who kidnapped Rarity at one point in time and pulled her underground, even though that backfired on them in due time, though the dogs did seem worried about what was going on and the fact that they were heading towards Ponyville, no doubt due to the fact that ponies and dogs didn't know much about each other and what both sides knew was from their brief interactions, which Spike and the others knew they might have to address at some point. As the group considered everything that had happened since they headed into the cave, and found the hidden passage that brought them down to where Diamondia rested, one thing all of them agreed with was the fact that the Council of Three Paws were far more understanding than what they had been prepared for, as they knew of what Equus told the group earlier and, as soon as they learned of the threat the world faced, they were quick to promise allies to the cause and were likely preparing several guards, those that they could spare, for a future force to join Rover's group and learn the skills that Ember had picked up in the past. The entire adventure underground had raised numerous questions, answered several of them as well, and left Spike with a desire to head back to the hidden city, as there was a treasure trove of tomes and knowledge for them down there, knowledge that he was going to get his hands on at some point in the near future, as he was sure that the moment Daring Do learned of several Diamond Dogs emerging from their underground home she would be quick to jump at the chance to ask them whatever questions she had in mind, even though it would end up in her learning about the city as well, something that would excite her to no end, if Spike's thoughts were right about her.
Their thoughts were stopped in their tracks as they noticed that there were two ponies coming their way, both mares from what they could see at the moment, though Spike quickly recognized them as they approached him and the others, due to the fact that one of them had a brilliant gamboge coat, while her mane and tail were a light grayish olive color and she had a light brown stetson hat on her head, while the other mare had a light grayish gold coat, with her mane and tail being a light grayish rose color, though while the former was an Earth Pony, like some the group had seen when they explored Ponyville earlier, the latter was a Pegasus.
"Rarity, there you are! You had us worried when we reached the castle and didn't see you anywhere," the Earth Pony said, where Spyro and the others discovered that she had an accent that reminded them on the country folks they had helped in the past, even though they found that Spike and Ember seemed to know both of the ponies that were in front of them, which was understandable given what they had discovered so far, and Rarity nodded her head to show that she was just fine, even though the pair did pause for a moment as they noticed who was with the group, meaning the Diamond Dogs, and that caused the Pegasus to hide behind her friend for a moment, "Ugh, sugarcube, you are aware that there are three Diamond Dogs, in armor and carrying weapons, walking behind you, right?"
"Yes, Applejack, I am aware. They are our allies, picked by the Council of Three Paws to be the start of the dogs that will be joining Ember's training," Rarity replied, revealing the name of the pony that was standing in front of them right now, or at least the Earth Pony that had spoken to be exact, though even as she said all of that both she and the others noticed that the pair seemed confused about what they were hearing right now, to which Rarity sighed for a moment and considered what they needed to do next, before an idea came to her, "Applejack, why don't you and Fluttershy follow us back to the castle, so we can explain everything to you in the safety of Twilight's castle, just in case Sweetie and her friends are near us, as this isn't suitable for their ears... and it might cause a bit of panic if they eavesdrop on our conversation and tell the rest of the town about what we talk about."
The pair seemed to take a moment to think about what was going on, even though Applejack and Fluttershy glanced over to Spyro and the rest of the group for a moment and realized who was standing nearby, before eventually nodding for a few seconds as they turned around and started to head back to the castle, where Smolder had to be waiting, bored out of her mind since everyone had been gone for a longer period of time than what they had said earlier, though now they had at least four confirmed trainees for Titan and the other Peace Keepers to train, with both Torch and the Council of Three Paws determining how many more to send to the group. One thing that the group found was that some of the ponies that they passed by, as they headed for the castle, were surprised by the arrival of three Diamond Dogs, but instead of being a little bit worried and causing some panic, like everyone was expecting, they seemed to be just fine with what was going on at the moment and went about their business like nothing was out of place, which like of surprised Spyro and the rest of his group, the ones from his world to be exact, while Spike and Ember weren't even a tad bit surprised, as it seemed that all of the ponies of Ponyville assumed that since the dogs were with the group that they had to be friendly, or something like that at the very least. As such no one stepped out to stop them as they made their way through the town and headed for the castle, where they found Smolder standing outside the front door of the structure, possibly due to not wanting to be near Discord for an extended length of time, since he should be somewhere inside the castle, and when she noticed the group she started to move towards them, only to pause when she noticed the Diamond Dogs and raised an eyebrow, just in surprise based on the look on her face right now, but she said nothing as Spyro and the others entered the castle, even though the first thing he did was make sure the dogs had a room near Smolder's, for the time being anyway. Rover and his friends decided that they would be contained inside the couple of rooms in question and closed the doors as they waited for whatever Ember had in mind for them, like they were brooding or something, though the group guessed it made a bit of sense due to the fact that the trio of dogs might be thinking this was a punishment for what they had done in the past, both to Rarity and any other ponies they had encountered or due to messing up so many times before this point, but even if that was their thoughts on the matter Ember was going to drill the lessons of the Peace Keepers into them, and she was sure that Titan and the others would share her thoughts on the matter.
Once Rover and his friends were taken care of, for now anyway, the group gathered inside the larger room that they had used earlier when they discussed everything that they knew about Twilight and the rest of the displaced, not to mention the other things that had been talked about, where they found that Rarity was sitting near Applejack and Fluttershy, who were curious as to what was going on and why the group had returned with a couple of Diamond Dogs, even though that didn't count the fact that this was the first time that Applejack and Fluttershy had met Spike and Ember since they came back from Spyro's world, so they had even more questions than before.
"So, ugh, you guys seem different," Fluttershy said, where she seemed nervous about talking to the group, because while she might recognize Spike and Ember, given that she spent a decent amount of time near Twilight and was used to Spike while having a few instances where she and Ember had seen each other, but she was referring to the fact that they were both different from the last time everyone had seen the pair, as Spike was older, taller, and seemed more magical than she remembered and Ember seemed to be more of a warrior this time around, and that wasn't counting the rest of the group that they had returned with.
In that moment Spyro warned the pair that this was going to be a somewhat long story and dove into the tale of what he, Spike, and Ember had done since their first adventure, taking down Gnasty Gnorc and restoring order to the five lands of the Dragon Realms, which eventually brought about the rise of the Machinists, but he delved into the second adventure, where they were brought to Avalar and met Elora, Hunter, and the Professor, not to mention a number of other friends while they tackled Ripto and dealt with the threats that the realms faced, including a greedy gem hoarding bear who did a number of incredibly terrible things for gems. Applejack seemed surprised by that and said that Moneybags reminded her of a pair of ponies she and her friends had encountered in the past, a pair of Unicorn saleponies who were called Flim and Flam, or the Flim Flam Brothers to some, and were better known as tricksters or scam artists, though in that sense the pair were basically an incredibly watered down version of the greedy bear, who the group eventually exposed to Elora and the rest of Avalar, to the point where they seized his assets, distributed those items back to those that they originally belonged to, and imprisoned the bear in a jail cell so he wouldn't be able to do anything like that again. Of course Ember then told the newcomers that such a thing wasn't the case, as when the dragon eggs were stolen they found that Moneybags, in an odd twist of fate, had been freed by the third villain they took down, who had been looking for the Dragon Realms and had accidentally sprung the bear from his cell, who put him to work for her and he tried the same tactics the last time the trio and their friends had seen him, where the third adventure ended in them bringing down Morrigan, who they knew as the Sorceress, and imprisoned both her and Moneybags in crystalline statues. After that they had to deal with tracking down an odd icon on a globe of the world and it brought them to where Cynder and her father, Malefor, the first purple dragon of Spyro's world and the greatest hero before the group came around, had been living in with the rest of the dragons who called the city of Warfang and the continent of Doxantha home, even though that adventure involved calling forth a bunch of soldiers and allies to deal with Gaul's forces, as he intended on destroying the entire world because he hated dragons for some odd reason, and they stopped him from doing that. Some time after such an event the group found Ripto had returned and tried to take over the Dragon Realms, in a different part of it that the group had only just discovered, and it was during that adventure that the group discovered that Moneybags had been broken out of his magical prison and that his mind had been, well, shattered, creating a new personality that actually helped them to the best of his ability, though the adventure ended with Elora transforming into her current form, something she was totally fine with.
The last adventure they went on involved saving the lands that Flame and Aurora called home, where they found Gnasty Gnorc had been freed as well and sealed him away once more, before eventually finding and dealing with a terrifying and evil being called the Dark Master, the strongest foe they had faced and he even withstood a blast from the faux Elements of Harmony that Spike eventually created, gemstones that were near perfect replicas of what Applejack, Fluttershy, and the rest of their friends used a few times in the past, before Malefor took him down forever... and then, once they made sure their foe was taken down, the group rested, went about their lives, discovered some new things, and then matured into adults, or at least they were adults in Spyro's world, before Discord found them and the Professor opened a portal for them to come home, only to discover there were more displaced out there.
"It sounds like you've been busy, and yet you aren't slowing down at all," Applejack commented, though that was a lot for someone to take in, as it was hard to imagine spending fifteen years in an entirely different world and have no memories of the life that the individual had lived before being displaced, meaning that they lost all of their experiences and created new ones until a certain point in time so the two lives became one, where she felt sorry for the rest of the displaced that had gone missing, especially Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow, but there was something about this that bugged her, and she was sure that there was a reason behind why the group had remained silent about it, "but why did you and Ember just suddenly vanish like that, as Twilight was worried about you? And why did Twilight and the others disappear as well, as I don't understand why it happened to her, not to mention the others that no one has seen in the last week or so, because I'm sure that most of them weren't in the same area that you guys were in, which seems to be that cave we returned the Elements of Harmony to some time ago."
"Well, Twilight was trying to understand if dragons could tap into the power of Harmony, or something along those lines... which reminds me, I need to ask her what experiment she was doing," Spike replied, as he now sort of understood what all three of them had been doing in the cave with the Tree, as in he, Twilight, and Ember to be exact, though to truly figure it out he was going to have to ask Twilight what she had been trying to accomplish the next time he saw her, before he took a moment to think about what Applejack wanted to know and sighed, because if he and the others didn't tell her now he had the feeling that Rarity would go out of her way to make sure Applejack, at the very least, knew what was going on and why they hadn't said anything, before he focused on who they were talking to right now, "as for why we were displaced, and I'm referring to the others in this statement, its because our planet figured out that there is a force of demons out in another part of the universe, ravaging another world, and that we'll soon be under attack, so she started channeling what power she had and displaced a number of heroes, villains, and bystanders to other parts of our universe, to gather power and allies for what's coming our way... and the reason that Ember is recruiting allies for our cause is so that we can have a line of defense in case the demons arrive sooner than what we're thinking."
"We're training to fight demons? That sounds awesome." Smolder said, as she had been patiently waiting to figure out if Ember was going to be teaching her anything during her first day in Ponyville, to get a head start on whoever else would join her and the Diamond Dogs, but hearing that they were training to fight creatures from Tartarus, or at least that was her thoughts on the matter since she hadn't seen what the group had seen earlier, made her excited and now she wanted to get started with her training, which might be another day or two away, causing her to think of something else while the group was in front of her, "So, who else are you guys recruiting into our forces?"
"Tomorrow we're planning on heading to the Crystal Empire to talk with Cadance and Shining, to tell them the news that we just shared with all of you, and hopefully find Thorax along the way," Spyro replied, as that was what he and the others had agreed on before they returned to Ponyville, as Shining would be able to convince some of Canterlot's guards to come and help them, Cadance could do the same with the guards of her empire, and Thorax should be able to convince some of the Changelings to come to their aid, even though they were going to have Discord send letters to the other races of their world, like the Griffons of Griffonstone, the Yaks of Yakyakistan, the Zebras of Farasi, or at least that was according to what Spike had found out, and every other race that was capable of helping them out, "oh, and before you ask, Spike took a few moments to feel the power that was used to displace the others and determined that we can't override it and return those that have gone missing, so we'll just have to wait for Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, and the others to return on their own time, hopefully with allies for when the demons come to attack us."
"Also, we need you guys to keep quiet about what you just learned," Cynder added, as she had been rather quiet lately, all so Spyro and the others could focus on making sure Rarity and the others understood what was going on and that none of them could say anything about what they had been told, given that two of them were sisters of the three fillies that Spike was worried about, because if one of those three happened to learn about the demons and the upcoming threat it was totally possible that they would say something and cause panic to Ponyville, "just for now, anyway, because I'm sure that once a significant number of the displaced return someone will figure out that something's coming our way, with all of the forces that we'll be gathering during our adventures, and the beans will be spilled once that happens, so just wait until that point and then we can warn everyone about what's coming to attack Equus... hopefully, when that time comes, we won't have ponies and other creatures panicking when they're given the news."
Rarity and Applejack said nothing to that, while Fluttershy seemed to be doing her best to ignore what they had heard, but in that moment Spike remembered why they had gone to the outskirts of the Diamond Dog empire, even if none of them had known the city was close to where the caves were located, and pulled out the Bag of Holding that contained all of the gems they had collected, where he poured it out and revealed the trove to their friends, even though most of it was going to be given to Rarity since the rest of the group didn't need it at all, though Cynder took a few, just four to be exact, while at the same time Spike and Ember took a few for themselves. Cynder found that the gems of Equus were similar to what they had back home, because they appeared to be just as hard as the gems she, Spyro, and the others had collected over the course of the adventures she shared with them, but they also appeared to be soft in some cases, as Spike picked up a small sapphire, which was perfectly cut and was twice as thick as one of his fingers, and bit into the gem like he was eating a snack, leaving a crescent indent that showed where his teeth had been, and he noted that it tasted like blueberries, an odd flavor to be sure, while the green one Ember tried seemed to be more like watermelon, as if the gems were more like candy and less like stones. What surprised Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy was that Spike and Ember didn't seem to care all that much about eating gems at this point, showing them just how much they had changed by being sent to another world and growing up in a different manner than what a dragon from Equus was supposed to, though both of them noted that if this was the only thing they could eat, in a significant distance, than the gems would be eaten without delay, though at the same time Spike noted that there had to be a few nutrients inside what he and Ember bit into, no doubt necessary for an Equestrian dragon to grow, but for the most part they were both fine with Rarity taking the gems she needed, as neither of them needed any of the gems right now. The only thing that Cynder didn't like about what they were seeing was the fact that the gems from Equus came out already cut, either by the process that formed them or by some magic that was part of this world, meaning that she couldn't take them and practice her trade on any of the couple of gems that were in front of her, to which she added them to what Rarity had after Spike and Ember finished sampling the ones they had taken for Spike's experiments, which included writing down what he assumed the flavors were, even if he might be wrong if he asked another dragon about the flavors.
Once they were done talking and going over what Spike wanted to do with the gems, which wasn't all that much when he thought about it, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy excused themselves and revealed that Discord was in the middle of what he had done earlier, changing day to night, to which they made sure to get some food from the dragons on the other side of the Professor's portal, ate dinner in peace without having to worry about freaking out their friends, and then, after the dishes had been taken away, Spike and the others found the rooms that they would be sleeping in, Spike finding his old room and his small bed, something that caused him to chuckle as he manipulated it into an actual bed this time, and just turned in for the night, so they could get some rest for what the morning held for them.
When morning arrived the group did what they had done the last time they woke up in Equus, they got some food from the other side of the portal and made sure to have a good breakfast before doing what Spike and Ember felt like doing, as it was something that everyone else agreed with and were interested in doing, due to the fact that they were interested in seeing the Crystal Empire with their own eyes, even though the pair would be keeping an eye out for the area that Thorax and the rest of the Changelings resided in, the Changeling Kingdom to be exact, as both of them were sure they could find a few allies in that area. Spyro and the others nodded their heads, since the pair were more familiar with this world and if they said that Thorax and his race could be allies for the incoming invasion, like what they happened to be doing with the other races they were currently gathering, then it was worth finding the Changelings and convince some of them to join the task force that Ember was currently building, of which Smolder would be the first among them all, before they made sure to finish off the food that they had been eating and cleaned off the plates so they could be taken back to the dragons on the other side of the Professor's portal, which was when they discovered that he had shrunk it so it was its original size once more. Once the food was taken care of, and the plates had been cleaned off, the dishes were taken away and it only took the Professor a few moments to return to Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the others, which was when they headed outside and made their way over to where Hunter had parked the Jupiter 2 upon their return from the Dragon Lands, though that was when the cloaking device shimmered for a moment as the ramp descended and opened the way for the group to climb aboard the vehicle once more, something that allowed most of the group to take their seats in the center of the ship while Hunter and those he wanted in the cockpit did the same thing. As soon as everyone was sitting down in their seats, and Smolder had joined them mostly because she didn't want to deal with the Diamond Dogs, who were still resting inside the rooms and didn't seem all that interested in leaving just yet, so they were leaving Discord to deal with all three of the dogs in case they acted up, Hunter flipped the switches and powered up the ship like he had done in the past, before he pulled the vessel into the air and headed to the north, as that was the direction that the Crystal Empire was in, according to Spike anyway, and he was going to follow the directions he had been given.
This time around the trip was going to be much shorter than the trip from Ponyville to the Dragon Lands, meaning they wouldn't have to spend so much time in the spaceship as they traveled to where Shining and Cadance called home, but one thing the group found while they were traveling was a large city that happened to be sitting on some clouds and was resting in the air, where Spike revealed that it was Cloudsdale, a place many Pegasi called home, since they were the race that could walk on clouds and preferred to live in the sky, which was why there were a few cloud houses near Ponyville, or one large one and a few small ones, with the largest being Rainbow's house and the others belonged to some of the other Pegasi who called the town home. Spike also revealed that Earth Ponies and Unicorns didn't have the power to walk on all of the clouds, which made sense due to the fact that they didn't have wings of their own, so they usually didn't visit both Cloudsdale or the cloud homes of the Pegasi, though Twilight had discovered a few spells in the past that granted a pony temporary wings, something that had been tested on Rarity and consumed a decent amount of power to cast, or gave the user the ability to walk on clouds, which was what she used on herself and the others after using the wing spell on Rarity, to give her and the others a chance to see the flying competition that Rainbow had been taking part in. Of course Alicorns, who were a mix of the three races of Equestria, also had the power to walk on clouds thanks to their Pegasi traits, which gave the group an idea of what the races of the land were capable of, without being displaced to be exact, since Spike was sure that the process had awakened some slumbering powers within him and Ember and was sure it would apply to the rest of the displaced, though they were impressed by how much Spike had remembered from the last time he had been in this world, before he and Ember went missing, especially when they learned that he was different from what they were used to, which was around the point that they focused on the area that Hunter was heading to, which appeared to be a snowy area from what they could see right now, and wondered if they needed Spike to add one of the runes to them like he did in the past. This time around, however, Spike told the others that such a thing wasn't necessary, which was due to the barrier that rested around the Crystal Empire and kept the cold out, which was just him reminding the others of what he had said before this point, especially after discovering the underground city that the Diamond Dogs called home, which Rarity had been coming to terms with and both Applejack and Fluttershy had been caught off guard by when they heard of the news, before they focused on what was in front of them as Hunter headed for their destination, knowing that he would get them to the Crystal Empire without much delay.
After all of Spike's explanations the group finally found the city that they were heading towards, a large place that just so happened to be made out of crystal, as the houses and structures were literally made out of the material, not to mention the massive palace that had an arched bottom, an area that rested in the direct center of the empire, and sure enough the barrier that resting around the empire, just like the one they had found around Diamondia, came into view, where Hunter took a moment to slow down and tried something as he edged the Juipter 2 through the edge of the barrier and found out that he was able to bypass it, allowing him to get them through the barrier and set it down on the outskirts of the empire, to which he made sure to power up the cloaking device once more before opening the ramp.
"So this is the Crystal Empire," Bianca said, where she and the others walked down the ramp and stared out at the large city that rested in front of them, even though it was easy to see that the Crystal Ponies, as Spike called the residents of this place, had the same idea as the Diamond Dogs and had what appeared to be several farms growing on the outskirts, all of them separated by what they were growing, and Hunter had made sure to put the ship down away from the farms, so he didn't damage what the residents of the city had been growing, and all of this came from what they were seeing right now, even if they might find more in due time, "it looks like such a wonderful place, so I can sort of see why Princess Cadance and Shining Armor would call this place home, instead of resting in Ponyville or Canterlot."
"Indeed it is, though don't mention King Sombra to the Crystal Ponies, as many of them are still traumatized by what he did to them in the past, not to mention banishing the empire for a thousand years," Spike replied, figuring that he might as well give the group a short explanation on what happened to this place and why it was a good thing to say nothing about the dark stallion who had controlled the Crystal Empire at one point in the distant past, roughly a little over a thousand years ago, something that made him wonder what else had happened during that point in time to cause everything that he and the others were discovering, before he shook his head and focused on what was in front of them right now, as he was eager to see Cadance and Shining once more, so they could get to the reason they were here and then go find Thorax so they could recruit some Changelings into Ember's new task force.
The group glanced at each other, as that wasn't something they were expecting to hear, that one of the displaced had the power to banish an entire empire for a thousand years, before deciding to follow Spike's suggestion and not mention King Sombra to the Crystal Ponies, to which they walked away from where the Jupiter 2 was resting and started to make their way to the edge of the city, where Bianca and the others quickly found that the name of the residents of the Crystal Empire was more accurate than what they were assuming, as every pony that was in front of them had a crystalline shine to their bodies. It was rather interesting to see, since Spike and Ember had said nothing to Spyro and the others about what they were going to find inside the Crystal Empire, especially with the translucent colors that the ponies had, where every Crystal Pony had gradient manes and tails that shined, while their eyes had a polygonal look to part of them, which told the group that they were somewhat different from the ponies they had encountered in Ponyville, though they weren't the only ones who noticed what was around them, as several of the Crystal Ponies waved at them and said it was good to see Spike once more, which caused Flame and Aurora to raise their eyebrows for a moment. Spike explained the situation to the rest of the group, as the Crystal Ponies considered him a hero for his role in bringing down the one he asked them not to name, which was a way for them to mention Sombra without actually saying his name, and the group understood him, before he went into the fact that, after the empire had been saved from darkness, the Crystal Ponies had built a statue of him while he was holding the Crystal Heart, the magical gemstone that powered this city's barrier, like the Diamond Prism that they found inside Diamondia, hence why he was being waved at as they headed towards the palace. After he finished telling his friends about what happened in the past, something he was happy about since they had saved the day and stopped a dark being from taking over the empire, he and the others paused for a moment and focused on what they were seeing at the moment, as there was a Crystal Pony talking to a pony-like creature that was the same size as he was, where they found that it had a cyan blue colored body and legs, while the underbelly was a turquoise blue coloration, its back was light blue, and its neck, eyes, and ears were orange colored, with the neck being faded, before they noticed that it had a Unicorn horn that was curved and it had transparent insect wings.
Spike explained that what they were seeing was a Changeling, though this was the newer form that they had unlocked due to Thorax doing something different than their Queen did, which caused him to transform into a brand new Changeling in the process and took away their hunger for love, the emotion that they fed on, but he was surprised to see one of them hanging out in the Crystal Empire, since he had been sure the race of shapeshifters would have been putting the pieces of their home together after the defeat of Queen Chrysalis, before they found a tall Changeling nearby whose chitin was dark cyan with a moderate amaranth colored chest, not to mention a pair of small horns, which were as tall as the curved horn the other Changeling had, while his tail and wings were also a moderate amaranth coloration.
"Pharynx? Is that you?" Spike asked, as he felt that he knew the Changeling in question, due to the fact that he and many of the others had witnessed the Changelings take on their new form, save for their former Queen anyway, though the group remained silent as they approached the area that the creature in question was standing, who turned to look at them, even though that allowed them to notice that his eyes had a moderate blue violet to them, before Spike smiled for a moment as he came to a stop in front of the being he had named, while the rest of the group remained silent as they stopped behind him and focused on the Changeling, "It is you! How are you doing?"
"Fine, all things considered," Pharynx replied, though he was surprised to see that Spike was here, as he had been under the impression that he was either one of the missing, due to the fact that his brother had learned about the 'displaced' and told him about those that had vanished, or had gone into hiding for some odd reason, though based on what he was seeing at the moment he realized that it was the former and that Spike, not to mention Ember, had returned with a bunch of new individuals and were possibly stronger than they had been earlier, before he gestured to the palace with his head for a few seconds, "though I'm mostly here to make sure my brother is safe, despite the fact that he, Princess Cadance, and Shining Armor are currently discussing things and he wanted me to go enjoy myself... but, now that you and Ember have returned, he'll likely want to talk to you before you do anything else."
"Good, because we were hoping to talk with him as well," Ember stated, where she had to admit that it was rather odd that they were running into a few Changelings as they were visiting the Crystal Empire to talk with Cadance and Shining Armor, especially since Thorax and Pharynx were here as well, but she wasn't about to argue with what was going on right now, as this allowed them to knock out two birds with one stone and figure out how many additional forces would be added to Smolder and the three Diamond Dogs they had gathered so far, which wasn't counting everyone else from the other races they had talked to so far, as she was sure that her father would bring more dragons in the future and that the Council of Three Paws would do the same, "its about the displaced and something we learned after we returned from our adventure with Spyro and the others, which is a grand adventure when you hear about what we did and what we had to overcome to get to this point."
Pharynx seemed interested in what Ember might be talking about, since he had only been informed about a few things in regards to what had happened to the displaced, before nodding his head as he turned towards the palace and joined the group as they continued walking towards their destination, because with him joining them there was a good chance that Cadance, Shining, and Thorax would see them instantly, instead of forcing them to wait for sometime before being able to see them, and as they approached the palace the guards simply nodded their heads and allowed the group to move into the structure, before eventually making their way to where the throne room rested, as that was where they would find the group that Ember wanted to talk with, and Pharynx quickly opened the door with his magic.
"Brother, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, please excuse the interruption," Pharynx said, where the group could see that both Cadance and Shining were sitting at a table near the area the throne rested in, while there was another large creature near them, a Changeling that was slightly taller than Pharynx was, even though he had light lime green colored chitin with an orange chest, with an emerald green underbelly, a moderate blue violet tail, a pair of dark fuchsia colored wings, or a dark red to be exact, and a pair of orange horns that looked like beetle-like mandibles, though he had three small white oval shaped gems on his neck area, similar to Pharynx, before the trio glanced at the doorway for a moment, "but I found Spike, Ember, and their new friends outside the palace, or rather they found me while I was waiting, and they informed me that they were hoping to talk to you during their visit to the Crystal Empire."
"Its fine, we were wrapping up our discussion anyway," Cadance commented, because Thorax had come to talk to her and Shining about the relations between the Changeling Kingdom and the Crystal Empire, something that they had wrapped up before Pharynx had opened the door, which she really needed to post guards at in the future if Chrysalis' kidnapping her and her husband, including Flurry, was anything to go by, though she had to smile as she spotted the group that had just been announced by the Changeling that was Thorax's brother, "So, Spike, what can we do for you, Ember, and all of your new friends?"
"We came to apologize for not telling you and Shining everything when you were in Ponyville, as there is more to Flurry and the rest of the displaced than what we said," Spike said, because in order for them to convince the two kingdoms to do what the Diamond Dogs and the other races had done so far, in pledging individuals as a starting point for the training that Ember would be offering in the near future, they needed to tell Cadance and Shining what they were facing, and with Thorax and Pharynx here they wouldn't have to repeat themselves again when they figured out where the Changelings had their home, as that part was kind of sketchy in his memories, "while we haven't determined which worlds they have been sent to, and when they'll come back with their new friends, family, and allies, the Tree of Harmony that is in the cave below the old castle that Celestia and Luna used to live in showed us another image, in addition to who the displaced are and where they might have been sent... we discovered that there is a force of demonic creatures making their way to our planet, a force that we don't have the power to fight right now, and that we would have been wiped out when they arrived, so Equus, the spirit of our world, displaced us to gather power and allies for what's coming our way, and Ember is in the middle of putting together a task force and training them to fight like true warriors."
"So we're facing a force that's like what might be inside Tartarus?" Shining inquired, though this was definitely bad news for all of them, especially if the planet couldn't survive without the forces that would eventually be brought back by their daughter and the rest of the displaced, but even as he thought about that he realized why Spike and the others had said nothing about this the last time they talked to each other, given that panic could have happened if he and Cadance had talked about it on the train ride home, by ponies eavesdropping on them to be exact, before he understood what Ember was asking of them, even if she hadn't been the one to say anything about potential recruits, "Twilight would be proud of you, I'll say that right now... and, upon thinking about it, I'm sure that I can convince some of the guards in Canterlot, as in some of my old buddies, not to mention some of the older guards, to join your training program and ready themselves for whatever is coming our way."
"And maybe we can do the same with the Crystal Ponies, find some guards that are willing to learn a thing or two from a total stranger and help defend their home," Cadance added, but she had a hard time imagining just how bad things had to be for their very planet to send so many individuals out into the depths of space, including paring their daughter with the former Queen that tried to wreck their wedding and take over the world, though she still understood the reason that she and Shining had been given when she asked Discord to find Flurry and bring her home, "it might be hard to convince a few of them, given everything that they faced in the past, but this might be a good way to help them cope with the past and make a brand new future, and friendships with their fellow trainees."
"I'm sure that Pharynx and I can find a few other Changelings to join the cause," Thorax said, because while his kind were no longer fighters and spies, who lurked in the darkness to gather information and love for the Hive, his brother was still the head of the patrol, basically the captain of the guard if he thought about it, and that meant that he had to know who had been either the royal guards or the normal guards during the reign of Chrysalis, before he thought of something that he should tell Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group, "also, we were able to identify the other two Changelings that you say in the images earlier: one of them is an infiltrator, who stayed loyal to the old ways and didn't reform like the rest of our kind, whose name is Amaryllis, while the other one, who Shining said was a 'Changeling version of Twilight' when I told him and Cadance about her, is called Crudelis and, more importantly, she's Chrysalis' daughter... and no, she's not my daughter, since I know someone would have asked since I'm the King and the Queen used to be Chrysalis... trust me, she was married to no one when she was dethroned."
"Crudelis... that's an interesting name for a daughter," Bianca commented, as the name implied that the Changeling that had been mentioned had been like her mother before being displaced, or at least that was her assumption on the matter since they didn't have a lot of information on the Changeling in question and it would take too long to figure out what she had been like before the magic had knocked her to whatever world she had been sent to, though as she said that both of the reformed Changelings chuckled for a moment, as if they found something about her comment to be funny, to which she hoped that they explained things to her.
"Oh, Chrysalis planned for Crudelis to be a warmonger, to be a worthy heir to her throne, and what she got was possibly one of the most kindhearted Changelings in the entirety of Equestria," Pharynx stated, as the former Queen's daughter was nothing like her mother, so much so that it ticked Chrysalis off to no end whenever she tried to convince her to do all of the simple tasks that a royal heir was supposed to do, and he recalled the days where he was assigned to watch over her, either from afar or from around the corner of a library, before he glanced at the group for a moment, "in fact, one of the most interesting things about her was that she absolutely hated her name, so much so that she had the rest of the Hive refer to her by the name of her favorite disguise, a Unicorn she called 'Wind Rose', if my memory is right... we always said that it sounded more like a Pegasus name, but she liked it and we decided not to argue with her."
The group glanced at each other for a moment as they heard that, as it was odd to hear about something like that, before they closed the door behind them and approached Cadance, Shining, and Thorax, as there were things that they needed to go over, about how many each of them were going to try and recruit for the task force Ember was building, which also included sending letters to the leaders of the other provinces and races, to see if they could convince the Griffins, Yaks, and the other races to join Ember's forces and train up to defend themselves, all while preparing themselves for what the future held for them and their allies.
After discussing things with Cadance, Shining, Thorax, and Pharynx, going over what their plans were for the guards that they were planning on gathering for the force that Ember and the Peace Keepers would be training, Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group spent some time exploring parts of the Crystal Empire, mostly to give the others a good chance to see the realm that Twilight's brother called home these days, since he originally grew up in Canterlot and moved to this place shortly after he and Cadance got married, since Spike was sure she was important to the Crystal Ponies, due to a prophecy or something, which required a visit to the library at some point in the future. For now, however, he and Ember did the same thing that they had done earlier, meaning Spike was the one revealing what everything was while the others looked around and stared at the other structures that were scattered throughout the Crystal Empire, even though Ember was silent since she didn't have all of Spike's former knowledge on the matter, but this allowed everyone to have a better understanding of this place and part of what it went through, before it was saved from the darkness and the one who tried to take it over was, of course, blasted out of the empire itself. Spike also noted that no one really knew what happened to the stallion that tried to take over the Crystal Empire, once more not referring to Sombra by name and only spoke about it when none of the Crystal Ponies were near them, but while some of the inhabitants were hoping he had been blasted to pieces, and his life ended, it was hard to know if he had retained a physical form or if that form had been destroyed after the Crystal Heart had been returned to its resting place, though in the end he decided it was best if they didn't think about it and focused on what he was doing right now, as they could ask him that question when he returned. Amelia did note how odd it was that most, if not all, of the villains of Equus, and that was the major ones since she wasn't counting the Flim Flam Brothers in that thought, had been displaced in some manner and Spike had to correct her a little, as the only villain who hadn't been displaced, based on what they had seen in the Tree's images, was actually Discord, but Fluttershy and the rest of her friends had reformed him some time ago, as per Princess Celestia's wishes, and since that point he renounced his villainous status and joined his new friends in learning about friendship, which impressed the rest of the group as they walked through the streets.
While that happened Spike was pleased about how the meeting went, as Pharynx had several Changelings that would be happy to leave the peaceful life they were enjoying right now, Cadance had a number of guards who could be spared from her own forces, and Shining also knew a few soldiers from Canterlot who would be interested in helping out, at least in the training sense since they were keeping the incoming invasion a secret for now, and the royals had helped them send out a few letters to the other kingdoms that rested throughout Equestria, to see just how many forces they could gather from those who hadn't been displaced by the spirit of their planet. Spyro, on the other hand, was pleased that the rulers of the lands that they had met so far were more understanding and very reasonable when they came to ask them for assistance in preparing for what the future held for them, even if that meant preparing for a demonic invasion that could supposedly wipe them all out if they didn't have a defense force, but even he knew that the forces of Equestria wouldn't be enough to stand against the coming darkness, even if they had the forces of his world helping the forces of Spike and Ember's home planet, and that was including the Deepcore Army that Spike could wake up. None of them knew if any of the other races or their leaders would agree with the idea of joining forces with Equestria and the dragons of the Dragon Lands, not to mention the Diamond Dogs of an ancient empire that no one knew about, something that was going to freak Daring Do out when she heard the news, something that Spike was sure was going to spread like wildfire, once some of the guards and other ponies discovered the truth for themselves, but they were sure that the Council of Three Paws were expecting such a thing and would be prepared for when the rest of their forces came to join Rover's group. All they could do was hope that the other leaders understood the dire situation that they would be facing in the near future, whenever their enemies arrived to attack their planet, and that they needed to be as prepared as they could be for that fateful day, even if that meant that the races of their world would be putting aside their differences and coming together to face a common goal, to save their world from the danger that threatened all of them, hence why Ember wanted to train them since the lessons of the Peace Keepers seemed to be far better than anything the other dragons had learned.
When their visit to the Crystal Empire was done, and the tour was finished as well, everyone returned to the Jupiter 2 and powered up the ship, where Hunter flew back to Ponyville and the Professor opened the portal back to Spyro's world, all so they could make sure that their plans for an off world training ground was ready for when the other races arrived in the near future, since all of them were sure that it would take some time for the various rulers to come up with the first group of soldiers that would be receiving Ember's training, and the training of Titan and the rest of the Peace Keepers, though it did give Ember a good idea how what to show the new recruits when the lessons actually started, given that there was a certain Peace Keeper she wanted to have a match with and never did get the chance to do that.
After returning to Spyro's world, even if it was for a short period of time, it didn't take them long to make their way back to the Skylands and return to where the academy would be built, where they found that Nestor and the others had made a good bit of progress since they had been gone, as it appeared that the walls were made out of smooth white stone, ones that were enchanted to resist crumpling over time and to resist all nine of the elements, not counting the Aether since that was the hardest element to create a resistance against, even though Malefor was the only one that knew the ins and outs of the Aether and Spike was catching up with him in that regard, which he wasn't even surprised by at this point, just like the rest of the group was no longer surprised by what Spike did. In addition to the walls there were hallways and rooms that had already been added to the main building that would become the center of the academy, where instructors would teach their classes about whatever subject they worked on, like how Cosmos would instruct his students on how to wield the various types of magic, with specific instructors being picked for the classifications, such as Teleportation or maybe Transmogrification, or how Titan would be one of the fighting instructors and the other Peace Keepers would focus on a specific set of techniques, or at least that was what they knew at the moment and that could change once they started the lessons. There was going to be a main atrium that would have a circular shape to it, combined with a domed roof and a pair of curved walkways that would lead up to the upper floors, which would be where they either kept the permanent instructors who retired from their own clans, as Spyro was sure that some dragons and some of the other races would want to change professions when the academy was completed, though the plan was for this place to be just as big and as wide as some of the arenas they had faced some of the villains in over the years, like when they faced Ripto for the first time or when they first engaged the Sorceress, just without the lava and the hazards. Outside the building Nestor and the rest of the Artisans were in the middle of setting up four statues in the courtyard of the academy, which happened to be of Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember, while resting nearby, on the other side of where a grand fountain rested, happened to be the statues of Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and the rest of their heroic friends, as if they had been set there to motivate the next generation of heroes that would be following them, but it would be interesting to show Cadance, Shining, and the others all of this, and that wasn't counting the other islands that went into the Skylands, with the main one being the largest of all of the elemental islands.
One of the things that they planned on building at some point on this island, away from the rest of the buildings and under an intense amount of safeguards, was a structure that would maintain balance in the Skylands, something Spike had taken to calling the 'Core of Light' in the plans for everything that would be built in this place, even though he and Malefor had an idea of what needed to be gathered to make it work the way he was thinking about, though for now it sure seemed like all of the things that they had talked about had been built to their standards, including a training arena off to the left of the main structure, as to the left of it rested the Portal Nexus they were planning on building, though after discovering the rest of the displaced, and all of the worlds they had been sent to, the Professor was planning on moving the Portal Nexus over to a slightly smaller island that was near the main one.
"So, this is were we'll be training?" Smolder asked, because while she could have stayed in Ponyville, and let this be a bit of a surprise when the rest of the trainees and recruits joined them from the other provinces and cities of Equestria, the fact that they would be preparing to face demons, dangerous creatures that would wipe out their world if they weren't ready for their arrival, excited her and made her ready to do anything and everything that would give her a fighting chance when their enemies came to fight them, to which she turned and glanced at Ember for a moment, "Its a nice place, even if it has some work that needs to be done to complete it. So, are we going to start training now, or are we going to wait for the rest of the volunteers to join us?"
"Eager to start, are we?" Ember inquired, though that was good to see, as Smolder had seen her power and the skills of the rest of the group when they faced Garble and the rest of his group back in the Dragon Lands, to which she chuckled for a few moments as she headed for the arena, because if Smolder wanted to start her training she was more than willing to see if she was at the same level as her brother or if she was actually a level or two higher than Garble, as it would let her figure out what sort of training she needed for the future, even though she would be testing the guards and the rest of the recruits with Titan and some of the other Peace Keepers who would be helping them out, before she found that everyone else was following after her while she did that, "Well, then we'll take a few moments to see what sort of skills you have and where I'll have you start when the others arrive to start their training, though I'm sure that you have a few ideas on what to do after seeing all of us fight Garble and his friends earlier, so I'm interested in seeing what sort of tactics you decide to use against me during our little session."
Spyro and the others knew that Smolder was eager to start learning all of the skills that Ember had learned and this was a good start to her lessons, even though starting early was the more interesting part about this, but instead of taking a few seconds to think about everything they just followed Ember towards the circular structure she was heading towards, as it had a few rows of seats, for students who needed a visual lesson and could watch someone practice a technique or a set of attacks they were stuck on, an armory full of practice gear, Nestor insisted that they change that part of what Titan and the other Peace Keepers had planned so any recruits weren't harmed in the process, and even a washroom so the future students could clean themselves off after a hard day of training, though in the center of the arena rested a large ring that was where the lessons would be held, which was where Ember and Smolder stood as Spyro and the others remained in the ringed stands for now.
"Come whenever you're ready, Smolder," Ember said, where she raised one of her hands and beckoned for the dragon to be the one to start this fight, given that she was the eager one out of the two of them, before shifting her stance to show that she was ready for what was coming her way, even though she reached for none of her weapons since this was just a test and not a true battle, especially since the Bloodstone Scepter was back in the Jupiter 2 for now, as she knew that its power wouldn't work in this world and could rely on her weapons if she needed them, though for now her focus was on Smolder as the rest of the group waited to see what happened next.
After she did that Smolder shifted her own stance a few times, mostly because she recalled what Ember had done to her foes back in the Dragon Lands and knew that anything she did was going to result in defeat, if Garble's beating was a sign of what was to come, before she sighed and rushed through the space that was between her and her foe, even though it was more flying than anything else, and spun forward so the back side of her left leg could come down on her opponent, to smash her into the arena floor and possibly crack it, possibly even put a dent in the armor that Ember was wearing at the moment. What actually happened was that Ember raised her right arm for a moment and used the side of it to block Smolder's attack, kicking up a bit of dust in the process as the two dragons stared at each other for a few seconds, as one wasn't surprised by what they were seeing right now, because Smolder had been anticipating this, while the other was just standing there as she waited for the next attack to come her way, which was obviously Ember given what was going on at the moment, before Smolder continued with her assault and brought her right leg down on her foe was well, intending on knocking her opponent into the ground for real, only for Ember to shift her stance and hurl Smolder into the air, stopping her attack from hitting its target. It didn't take Smolder long to spread her wings and correct herself, though she wasn't at all surprised by what was going on at the moment and suspected that Ember had many more tricks up her sleeves, even if she took her armor off and found her without that on, before she rushed back down to where her opponent was standing and threw a few punches at Ember, to knock her in the side of her head or in her chest to stun her for a few seconds, but what she found was that her opponent just dodged her attacks like they were nothing, as if she would see them coming ahead of time and knew when to move her body to avoid her blows, though what she suspected was that this was all of her combat experience coming to the surface and she was reading her body language to determine everything that was coming her way. After a few seconds Ember switched things up and alternated between using her fists to block the couple of punches that were coming her way, just dodging them outright and with little effort in the grand scheme of things, or she used the palms of her hands to parry the punches that were coming at her, though Smolder found that this was more like fighting an immovable object, as her power was insufficient when she considered everything she had seen back in the Dragon Lands and when her brother fought Ember, and it made her wonder what would happen when she learned all of the techniques and tricks of the Peace Keepers that had taught the Dragon Lord how to fight.
Her thoughts, however, allowed Ember to bypass her defenses for a moment and lightly grip her head, to force her back towards the edge of the ring and and rolled a few times before coming to a stop at the very end of the area they had been righting in, to which Ember raised her hand and beckoned for her to come at her again, to which Smolder sighed and did something that would surprise the watchers, she jumped out of the ring and walked over to the room that was labeled as the Armory, as she wanted to see what was inside it before trying her hand against Ember again, though it only took her a few seconds to find something she liked and rushed out with a pair of wooden daggers in her hands, which she brought down on her opponent's location, only for Ember to stop her with what appeared to be a pair of metallic daggers that just appeared out of nowhere.
"What in the... where did those come from?" Smolder inquired, because while she knew that hand to hand combat was the wrong way to go about things, against Ember anyway, she thought that using a pair of weapons might be better and that using the daggers might give her an upper hand against the one she was training with, though she was surprised by the rather sudden appearance of the weapons that were currently in Ember's hands, which were rather elegant for a pair of daggers and she had to wonder where in the world they had come from, as the only weapons that Ember had, to the best of her knowledge, were the odd blade that she hadn't seen removed from its sheath and the Bloodstone Scepter, where the latter was missing and the former was still sheathed, so this was quite the surprise.
"My bracers, to be exact," Ember remarked, though at the same time she shifted her stance and knocked Smolder back for a moment, where her opponent landed on the ground not a few seconds later, but that was when she spun her blades as she focused on the young dragon and channeled a bit of her power as the weapons changed form, where they changed from the pair of daggers and became a pair of broadswords, a pair of tonfa, a pair of metallic claws, a set of axes, and a few other weapons that could come in pairs if a warrior wanted to do such a thing, before returning to their dagger form as she stared at Smolder, who seemed confused about something, "These are the Fangs of Felinia, a powerful creature that Malefor fought and defeated a long time ago, who proceeded to fashion a pair of fang-like daggers from a pair of the large creature's teeth, though they were empowered by his power and the power that had resided inside Felinia, though that gave these blades the power that I just demonstrated, the ability to change form according to what the wielder wants, but they also contained another power, one that allows them to disappear into whatever armor the user happens to be wearing at the time, such as my bracers... truthfully, I wasn't expecting you to go for some weapons, but since you have I figured that I'd do the same, as using my runeblade would be rather unfair for you."
Smolder thought about that for a few moments, as while she knew that Ember and the others carried special blades that, according to Spike, contained the power to wield the elements of this world, like Fire, Water, Earth, and so on, she hadn't seen one of them in battle yet, though she suspected that all of them had been made by Malefor as well, as he seemed to be the strongest dragon in this world and also seemed to be a weaponsmith who created all of the greatest blades that all of the heroes used against their enemies, meaning that even if the Fangs of Felinia only had the powers that Ember just told her about, and there weren't any secrets, her chances of winning were still zero, based on all of the skills that her foe had shown off since her return to the Dragon Lands. In the next few seconds, however, she decided to get it over with and rushed back over to where Ember was standing, where she swung the daggers at her opponent and watched as her attack was parried instantly, even though the air moved a bit in the process, and then unleashed a small flurry of attacks on her opponent in an attempt to tip the scales in her favor once more, though, as she suspected, Ember just stood there as they clashed and made sure that her daggers met Smolder's in the process, without moving backwards at all, which was just a display of her skill and power at this point. It was easy for her to see that Ember was definitely stronger than what she had thought at first, now that she was experiencing the Dragon Lord's power for herself, even though she hadn't questioned what she had seen when her brother and his friends fought the group, and it wasn't long before her foe broke through her guard and kicked her right in the chest, something that caused Smolder to stagger for a moment as she realized that she was at a severe disadvantage and that she really needed the training of the Peace Keepers if she wanted to catch up to her Dragon Lord, even if it would take some time and effort to do that. What was interesting was that Ember only lashed out at her to knock the daggers from her grasp, making sure not to cut into her hands while she did it, and it only took a couple of seconds for both of the weapons to fall to the ground that was around them, which was around the time that she took a moment to banish her own daggers and then punched her in the chest, causing her to stagger once more, before Ember took out her legs from under her and knocked her to the ground, lightly since this was only a practice session, and then held a hand towards her, sort of like what she had done against Garble, meaning she was looking for Smolder to tell her that she was surrendering, which she did not a few seconds later.
Ember smiled as she helped Smolder back up onto her feet for a moment, as while her skills left much to be desired, even though her skills seemed to be better than her brother's skills, she could see a decent Peace Keeper inside Smolder and knew that she would excel when the training started, and she made sure to tell Smolder that she was pleased with what they had done and that her skills were good, which only made the young dragon excited for what they would be doing as soon as the rest of the recruits were gathered and they started the training program that Ember and the Peace Keepers had created for everyone that would be coming to the academy.
The next day and a half was spent making sure the building structure of the academy was fully ready for the forces that would be training and getting ready for the upcoming invasion, whenever it happened, but once they were sure the work was done, and that none of the Artisans dragons needed any help taking stuff back to their homeworld so they could rest before the next big project Nestor wanted to work on, Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of their group made their way over to the island that was going to be the Portal Nexus, where several portal structures had been prepared ahead of time and several of them were connected to all of the lands on this world, with one being linked to Ponyville. At one point they were going to have to figure out a better place for the portal that was near Ponyville, since it was still in the plains between it and Canterlot's mountain, but the Professor was sure they would be able to come up with a new position for it at some point in the future, or better yet share technology with the ponies and races of Equus and create a portal network for them at some point, their own Nexus that was linked up with this world, something that they would have to talk to the other leaders about in the future. With the group coming to that decision in a matter of seconds, and there was nothing else in this area for them to do for the time being, Spyro and the others headed through the portal that would take them back to Equus and allowed it to teleport them back to Spike and Ember's world, where it only took them a few seconds to appear in the plains near Ponyville, which was where Cadance, Shining, Thorax, and everyone else would be gathering in the near future, as they planned on regrouping here and meeting the recruits that would be learning from Titan and the rest of the Peace Keepers, where they knew that the dragons in question happened to be back at the academy, readying themselves for when their new students arrived. Based on everything that the group knew the leaders and their recruits would be arriving at some point in the early morning, technically before Discord was supposed to raise the sun and lower the moon for the rest of the world, as Spike determined that letting the rest of Ponyville see a force of soldiers, ones that were from Canterlot and the rest of Equestria, would probably freak everyone out and cause unnecessary panic in the grand scheme of things, hence why they were doing this in the early morning and not during the day, though they headed over to the train station, where their allies would be arriving in due time.
Of course, as they did that, Spyro noticed a force of Diamond Dogs, off to the south of the town, who were walking over to where the group happened to appear, with Gruff Bronzepaw leading the pack by the looks of things, which made sense due to the fact that he seemed to be the leader of the warriors who called Diamondia home, before they noticed a group of twenty to thirty teenage dragons, who had Garble as a temporary leader, since the group assumed that Torch wanted Smolder to be the leader of the pack that was being sent to Ponyville, and it wasn't long before the dragons landed near the Diamond Dogs, where Gruff nodded to the group as Garble merely crossed his arms. Before anyone said anything the train rolled into the station, which was perfect timing on the group's part since they had only just arrived and had been expecting that they would have to wait for some time before their allies arrived to join them, but this meant that no one would have to wait all that long to do anything and the group was eager to see who would be arriving first, even though Spike noted that the train was longer than it had been when they first returned to Ponyville, meaning that there might be more ponies coming than what they were originally thinking. It wasn't long before the first group emerged from the train and walked over to where Spyro's group and the first two forces were standing, where they found Shining Armor, who was wearing a purple set of armor that had a golden trim around the body and a helmet that turned his mane into a short cut mohawk, which Spike knew had to be an enchantment of some kind, leading a force of guards off the train, guards that were wearing a golden version of Shining's armor, though there appeared to be a fair number of Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi mixed into the Royal Guard of Canterlot, where some had a white coat and others had a light gray coat, where once more Spike had to assume there was a spell or an enchantment on the armor since it seemed odd to have so many individuals with the same colorations, to preserve their identity he guessed, in case someone wanted revenge on one of them for some reason. Joining the guards in golden armor were another sect of guards who were wearing a set of armor that was dark blue and seemed to have an eye in the center of the body piece, as opposed to the star that the golden sets had, though these ponies had dark gray colored coats, darker than the ones who were in the golden armor, and they had bat-like wings and their ears ended in tuffs, or at least that what was it looked like from where they were standing, but as Shining walked over to them Spike noted that he was bringing with him the Solar and Lunar Guards, so named since the former protected Princess Celestia during the day and the latter did the same with Princess Luna during the night, but at the moment they were left without much to do since both Princesses were missing.
What surprised Spike was the fact that it looked like nearly every guard in Canterlot, or at least the vast majority of them, were following Shining towards the area they were standing in, meaning they were either volunteering due to wanting to get brownie points with their leaders, when Celestia or luna returned from their own adventures, or they knew about the danger their world faced, kept a straight face when they were told that piece of information, and offered their aid as soon as Shining was done telling them what was coming their way, more in the sense to save their world from the danger that was coming and less in the sense that they wanted to get some praise from their leaders then they returned, and by his count there were a hundred ponies, at least, between the two sets of guards that followed Shining. In addition to that they found the Crystal Guards, who had purple coats, that had to be enchanted due to the armor they were wearing, walking behind Princess Cadance as she walked off the train as well, though her guards had what looked like silver armor that had a crystalline shine to each of the pieces, be it the body armor, the helmet with the mohawk enchantment, or the shoes that were over the pony's hooves, and, interestingly enough, the Crystal Guards also had the crystalline shine they had when the group visited the Crystal Empire a few days ago, something Spike would have to look into at some point since he was sure the shine had been tied to the Crystal Heart and that being away from it would have taken the shine away, so some research would allow him to correct his thoughts at some point. In addition to all of the ponies there were other groups who walked off of the train, some stretching due to the fact that they must have been asleep and only just now woke up as the train came to a stop at the station, as there were a number of Griffons walking behind Shining and Cadance, who were quadrupedal creatures, like the ponies and the young dragons of Spyro's world, whose front half was that of an eagle with the claws, wings, and beak for example, while the back half of their bodies were that of a lion due to the tail and paws, but the group found that the colors of their fur and feathers differed from Griffon to Griffon, as one had white feathers while also having moderate gamboge fur, though another had two versions of arctic bluish gray for their colors. Out of the entire group of Griffons that were in front of them, which were between twenty to thirty based on what Spyro could see, two of them were familiar to Spike, the first being the white feathered Griffon he had spotted, who was Gilda, one of Rainbow's old friends, while the other was the arctic bluish gray Griffon, who happened to be Gabby, though there was one with a brilliant blue color to his feathers, as he was built slightly differently from the two girls Spike had thought about, whose talons were a brilliant amber color, though he assumed this was Gallus, someone who wanted to join the Canterlot Guard, Solar Guard to be exact, and he must have jumped at the chance to join their task force.
After the Griffons stood a slightly smaller force of individuals, mostly in number since these creatures were a bit taller than the rest of the races, who were quadrupedal, just like the rest of the races that they had called upon to train for the future and prepare for the incoming invasion, and had a bunch of fur or hair covering their bodies, though it looked like most of them were wearing what appeared to be blankets on their backs, or in the cases of some armored blankets that went with their helmets and whatever other pieces of armor they happened to be wearing, though Spike realized that these were the Yaks of Yakyakistan, and one of them had a grayish amber undercoat, a grayish vermilion overcoat, and had a pair of pink bows that were attached to her hair, meaning she had to be Yona according to the letter he read earlier. In addition to the Yaks there was another group coming after them, a race that looked an awful lot like ponies at first glance, but the light heliotropeish gray coat with dark bluish gray stripes and black colored hooves, with Cutie Marks that seemed more like the tribal markings than actual marks that most ponies had, revealed that they were Zebras, from Farasi, and many of them had golden rings around their necks and golden hoops in their ears, in whatever number they desired, not to mention a few rings around one leg, sometimes two, though they had mohawks that had white and dark gray sections, though one of them carried a staff on her back and nodded to Spike, who had to be Zecora, the Zebra who lived in the Everfree Forest and was an excellent herbalist. Behind the Zebras marched the Hippogriffs, who were quadrupedal creatures who had the head, claws, and wings of an eagle while possessing the hind legs and tail of a pony, where the colors of their manes, tails, and their coats were similar to what Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies had, though according to one of the legends that Spike had read over the day and a half break that lead to this point some of the Hippogriffs could actually transform into Seaponies, who were half pony and half fish based on everything he had discovered before this point in time, and there were two areas that they called home, one being Mount Aris and the other being Seaquestria, the latter being an area he had to read about at some point as well, and one of the Hippogriffs had a light magentaish gray with a light grayish orchid beak, and her mane and tail was a light cornflower blue with bits of light bluish gray, meaning she had to be the one that was called Silverstream, based on the information they had.
Once those races were off the train the group watched as a group of Changelings, lead by Thorax and Pharynx, walked off the train as well and it appeared, based on what they were seeing right now, that they were the last race that was leaving it and that there was no one else on the train, save for the ones that operated it in general, and there was one among them who had a light grayish arctic blue color to their chitin and a light amaranth color to their neck fins, with a brilliant version of the latter color to their wings, where Spike determined that it was Ocellus, another one that they had been told about in the letter... though before anyone said anything an Earth Pony, stallion by the build, with a light grayish spring bud coat and whose mane and tail were a light cyan with moderate opal fusion, rushed over and joined them, who Spike also knew was Sandbar, a resident of Ponyville, and he must have been told about this and came rushing as soon as he heard the train roll into the station.
"So, um, how many recruits did we end up getting?" Amelia asked, because this was far more than what she was honestly expecting when she heard what Ember and the others were planning on doing once they learned of the incoming demonic invasion, as she was expecting a handful from each race, maybe five or six to start with, but from the looks of things most of the races had either learned of the threat they faced in the same manner as the Council of Three Paws did, by the spirit of Equus talking to them in some manner, or each of them were told that information by Cadance, Shining, and Thorax, which could have prompted more guards to join the cause, but her question was directed towards Spike, since he had to be counting all of the individuals that were in front of them.
"Three hundred recruits, at the very least, with four to five hundred being the upper limits," Spike replied, as he had been counting the individuals that were in front of them and had an accurate idea of just how many guards and volunteers the leaders were bringing together for the upcoming invasion, which gave them roughly a thousand total when combined with everyone that was back in Spyro's world, or at the very least that was the number since he hadn't counted everyone that had been assembled for the war with Gaul and his dark forces, before he chuckled for a moment as they stared out at the force that was in front of them, "its a good thing Equestria and the other lands don't have that many natural enemies, or have none based on what I remember... I'll need to read up on that again... otherwise I'm sure someone would notice the disappearance of so many guards and come at us, but we won't have to worry about that happening at all."
Spyro, instead of saying anything to that, made sure that Cadance, Shining, Thorax, Pharynx, and the other leaders that were present were ready for things to get started, which was around the time that the Professor informed everyone of the fact that they would be passing through a portal between worlds and that their training would take place in an entirely different place, in case anyone was thinking about Ponyville being where they would be spending their time, which wasn't a bad thought since it was a hot spot of monster attacks and misfortunes, though while it would have been a good idea, even if a bit low based on the rate of events, training with the Peace Keepers was still the better idea. Instead of wasting any time the Professor opened the portal and beckoned for everyone to head through it, where it was easy to see that all of the recruits were unsure of what to do, before Gallus, Silverstream, Sandbar, Yona, Ocellus, and Smolder stepped away from the rest of the group and marched through the portal, which was a happy coincidence given the fact that it looked like Smolder had done that mostly to help everyone understand that the portal was stable and that nothing bad would happen, but the other five stepping forward at the same time just made things interesting, as it caused the races to nod to each other and start marching through the widened portal the Professor had opened. When they stepped through the portal Spyro and the others found that everyone was surprised by what they were seeing at the moment, in terms of the academy structure, the statues that were scattered around the area, the portal structures, and then, when they glanced out at the area that was around them, they found that they were floating in the air and discovered that the portal wasn't connected to a landmass like Equestria, rather it was connected to a floating island that surprised Cadance and Shining, as this was their first time seeing something like this, and it didn't take them long to spot the other floating islands off in the distance, which was where Spike welcomed them to Skylands and, more importantly, the Skylanders Academy, which was where they would be receiving their training. It was also around that time that they found Titan and the rest of the Peace Keepers standing near the entrance of the academy structure, even though all of the adult dragons were a little surprised by the amount of recruits that had appeared and were walking out of the Portal Nexus, though he wasted no time as soon as they got close to the statues and welcomed them to the Skylanders Academy, so named after the fact that this place was built in the Skylands and that it was a place to train the next generation of heroes, or train all of them in the various Peace Keeper techniques that Ember used.
"Before we begin, I have to ask all of you a question: how many of you know why we're here?" Titan asked, because while everyone in this world knew of the danger that Equus would be facing in the future, and were already making their own preparations for the demons in question, he and the others had no idea if any of the leaders had told their guards and the volunteers why this was happening in the first place, even if they knew that Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the others had tried to make sure none of the civilians knew about the demonic invasion, least they panic due to the fact that every powerful being, excluding Discord, was gone and they had no defenses against such a powerful force, which was when he took a moment to consider something as he focused on the group, "Go ahead and raise a hoof, claw, hand, or wing if you know what's going on."
"Should we have said nothing to them?" Cadance inquired, though her words followed the rising tide of everyone raising their hooves, wings, claws, and hands in response to what Titan had asked, even though the question worried her since, in preparation for this, she and Shining made sure to tell everyone from the Crystal Empire and Canterlot what they would be getting themselves into if they took on Ember's training, just like she was sure many of the other leaders had done for their own forces, and based on the fact that everyone acknowledged that they had been told what was coming their way, and that they were still standing here, this told her that all of them were willing to stand against the coming darkness and do everything in their power to bring the demons down.
"Well, we were planning on telling them anyway, but this saves us some time, given that we have no idea when the peace of your world will be broken," Titan replied, as while he would have preferred to tell everyone the news here, and not have it be revealed back in Equus since there was a chance someone could spread the news about the invasion, he was going to accept this since it appeared that no panic had happened on the other side of the portal, otherwise Spike, Ember, and the rest of the group would be cleaning it up while he and the others focused on training, though that was when everyone that was in front of him, excluding Spyro's group, dropped whatever they had brought with them and braced themselves for what was coming next, "Oh, am I correct in assuming that all of you are ready for our training?"
"We are well aware of the threat our world faces, and we are willing to do anything and everything to gain the power to protect our homes," Smolder stated, where Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and the rest of the group found that five others nodded their heads as soon as she said what was on her mind, those five being Sandbar, Silverstream, Yona, Ocellus, and Gallus, before the rest of the force nodded their heads and waited for Titan, Ember, or one of the other Peace Keepers to start the first of many training sessions, and she was even more determined after the training session that she had with Ember before everyone gathered for this day, "We might not be the displaced, who will turn the tide against the demons, but we will do everything in our power to make sure no innocents suffer and make the demons pay for targeting Equus in the first place!"
Titan smiled for a moment as he heard that statement, because it reminded him and the other Peace Keepers of the days when they started to teach a young Spyro, Spike, and Ember the ways of fighting, when everyone had witnessed Ember's drive and desire to be the strongest warrior in the entire world, even if that meant having to surpass Malefor, before he called for everyone to pick up their stuff and start picking their rooms inside the academy, as there was a dorm area for those who wanted to stay here, even if they weren't going to force them to stay in this world and they could leave at any time, even if the main six individuals seemed to be picking rooms near each other, before they gathered in a large open area as he, Trondo, and several of the Peace Keepers started to display the skills that the recruits would be learning, just like they were teaching young dragons all over again, before having them replicate what they were seeing.
"All we can do now is train and ready ourselves for when the demons come, all while keeping an eye out for when the rest of the displaced arrive," Spyro stated, as while he'd rather do more to find the rest of the displaced, to get them and all of their allies to Equus faster, there was nothing more they could do right now and that meant all they could do was continue honing their skills and making sure they were ready for whatever came their way in the near future, even though he knew that it wouldn't be long before Ember and the others, including him, joined Titan and started to train their recruits for the incoming invasion and the greatest battle of their lives.
Spike, Cynder, Ember, and the others nodded their heads, as they understood what Spyro was talking about and they were ready to do everything in their power to make sure their forces were ready for the demons, in case they arrived before the displaced returned, before they glanced towards the sky for a moment and knew that it was only a matter of time before they were in the middle of a war again, this time for the safety of multiple worlds based on what the images showed, one that they intended on winning, before heading out to join the training session, leaving any thoughts about the invasion for later as each of them focused on the here and now, even though they knew that they would make the demons regret even attacking Equus in due time.