Hello, fandom! Mayflower here, back and better than ever with an almost-on-time update! Hooray! :D Anyway, I'm back to working on the story now - I'm up to Chapter 16 right now and hope to be past Chapter 20 before I head back to school in a few weeks to make sure I can keep updating. So, y'know, pretend there's sincerity in my promising updates. :D

No mentions of mistakes in the last chapter, so I think I'm getting better at catching those. (Poor pacing? What poor pacing? [shifty eyes]) I DID, however, get a lot of mentions as to how awesome the suicidal death-traps from the last chapter are, so I'm awarding them the "Most Popular Gnorc" award. :D [adds fake applause and cheap trophy] And, along those lines, thanks to all of the reviewers for all of your reviews!

But enough silliness - ON WITH THE SHOW!

LAWYERBOT SAYS: WHOO-HOO-HOO! [plummets off cliff]
Spyro the Dragon, both the game and the character (c) Insomniac. ...And what's their face, I guess.

CHAPTER 4 - SPELLBOUND

"Marco's told me plenty of stories about you, Spyro - you ever been to the Magic Crafters world?"

"Nope."

"Oh, you're in for a treat - the Magic Crafters are INCREDIBLE, much better than that hot, dusty Peacekeepers World."

Spyro had only heard stories about the Magic Crafters...though granted, from two COMPLETELY different sources. The Artisans said that the Crafters were a playful bunch, who studied extremely hard to master their crafts and bring the beauty of dragon magic to the world. The Peacekeepers said that the Crafters were weaklings, too busy wasting life with their noses in the books, and that their lofty world of clouds and magic was no place to raise a strong, fit dragon.

So needless to say, the purple Artisan didn't have the slightest clue what to expect. But there was only one way to find out.

oo00oo00oo

"Nyeh-nyeh-ne-nyeh-nyeh! Heehehehee!"

"Augh, another one?" Spyro groaned as he heard the tell-tale snicker of the egg-thieves. He had already rescued six eggs so far - how many of them got stolen? Well, this wasn't the time to fuss with numbers, obviously - the purple Artisan simply dug in his claws and gave chase to the speedy trickster, rushing through the marble pathways and corridors, and when he finally re-seized the missing dragon egg...

"Yep, this is DEFINITELY not anything like the Peacekeepers."

"Man, you could say that again."

The dragon duo were completely speechless as they stepped out of the marble palace and got their first glimpse of the world of the Magic Crafters. There was a certain lushness that echoed the Artisan Lands, but where the Artisans had a quiet, earthy sense of...well, being on the ground, the Magic Crafters seemed to be completely supported by the sky, as the entire homeworld seemed to be wrapped in a blanket of cloud cover and snow-topped mountains. Bright, sparkling water ("Great, just what I needed," Spyro groaned) ran rampant, with ponds and waterfalls around every corner, and graceful hills and valleys added a sense of flow to the topography. Magic seemed to pour out of everywhere you looked - like the world really needed to EARN its name.

"Well, this adventure's going to be...interesting," Spyro said, unable to find any other words to describe the new and magical place.

"I don't know if 'interesting' is the word I'd go with," Sparx buzzed uncertainly as the duo rushed off into this brand-new realm of exploration.

"Oh, quit being such a downer, Sparx," Spyro laughed. "Come on, it's an adventure! Let's just-OOF!"

The Artisan dragon was interrupted as he found himself smacking face-first into a wall of...ground? "Okay, where did the wall come from?"

Sparx nudged Spyro's attention upwards. A wizard in green stood atop the massive wall, waving a staff, almost like he was taunting the foolish young dragon who had just stumbled into his...trap?

"Aw, come on, really?" Spyro tsked. The wizard answered with an echo-y yeow! "Alright, whatever, ya little magic freak, have it your way."

As Spyro turned to go the other way, though, he heard the quiet rustling of the...ground. "Hmm?" Indeed, upon turning around, the wizard had returned to ground-level, as if his magical wall of physics-altering magic was never there. "...Alright, maybe I was imagining things." Shrugging it off to a trick of the light, Spyro charged forward yet again.

The Artisan dragon was interrupted as he found himself smacking face-first into a wall of...ground? "Oh, come on!" He began to storm away from the battle frustrated, then realized something as he looked at the path he was on.

He could always go around.

oo00oo00oo

"Okay, what the heck is this thing?"

Spyro and Sparx found themselves looking up at quite the conundrum - the High Caves were INFESTED with bugs. And not just normal bugs, mind you, but GIANT bugs. With pincers bigger than Spyro's whole body. That were completely made of metal. What happened to the Magic Crafters worlds being peaceful and magical?

"I don't know, but I'm thinking we shouldn't go that way," Sparx suggested, dragging Spyro back towards the entrance of the caves.

As much as the purple Artisan hated admitting defeat (or admitting Sparx was right), he sighed - the giant beetle would just have to wait until they found a way through its defenses. "Alright, we'll try to find a way around, but I'm taking this bug down."

So they successfully found their way around - the dragon duo found another path through the mountains, flaming up Ice Wizards, mini-shamans (which made the most hilarious sound ever when rammed with a pair of dragon horns, at least in Sparx's opinion), and trick wizards ("Seriously, enough with the moving platforms already!") left and right as they carved their way through the village.

After releasing one of the Magic Crafter full-growns, though, they came across yet another odd quirk that they hadn't seen back home.

"So run this super-charge thing by me again?" Spyro asked.

"The arrows are magically-enchanted to activate when a dragon runs across them - particularly the dragonlets," explained Ajax, a light-green full-grown who had been trapped right next to the flashing ramp. "Rush down this hill, and your charging will be faster than ever."

"So this means I can charge down anything?" Spyro smirked.

"I haven't seen much that can stand up to a supercharge," Ajax answered as he flew off, leaving the young Artisan to his own devices. (Spyro had to admit, it was nice being in a world where his mischevious reputation didn't precede him - it was like the Magic Crafters either had total confidence in him or really could have cared less if he lived or died. Luckily, though, he was leaning towards the former.)

"Then let's put this bad-boy to the test," Spyro said, scratching his paws against the dirt to prepare them for the biggest charge of his life.

"Why do I get the terrible feeling this isn't going to end well?" Sparx groaned, readying himself to have to chase and keep up with his rambuctious dragon.

Once again ignoring the voice of reason, Spyro took off running towards the ramp of arrows, taking a hard left before the jump-zone and driving into the caves where the metal beetles were lurking. The rush of the supercharge was intense - Spyro could practically feel fire coming off of his paws as he thundered through the caves. He thought he was fast before, but during the supercharge, the world was whizzing by him with incredible speed. He bashed head-first into one of the crawling catastrophes, and BOOM!, the metal creature exploded on contact.

"Wow, that was intense!" Spyro laughed as he skidded to a stop, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"I wonder why we don't have those in the Artisans?" Sparx pondered.

"I don't know, but man, do I wish we did!"

"...Uh, Spyro?"

"Aw, did you see it, Sparx? That was amazing!"

"Spyro, behind you."

"Man, that bug didn't stand a CHANCE!"

"Really, Spyro, turn around."

"Man, if I can get my hands on one of those at Gnorc Gnexus, Gnasty doesn't stand a chance!"

"SPYRO, LOOK BEHIND YOU!"

The Artisan finally turned, finding another of the dragon-sized beetles charging towards them. Spyro just barely tumbled out of the way, then ran as fast as his uncharged legs would carry him towards the exit. Back to the super-charge!

oo00oo00oo

As fun as it was to thunder through the High Caves and Wizard Peak on the ramps upon ramps of supercharges, the dragon duo DID still have a job to do - rescue the Magic Crafter dragons, reclaim the stolen Dragon Treasure, and as became painfully obvious in this world, rescue the stolen dragon eggs. It seemed like every time they turned a corner, that grating "nyeh-nyeh-ne-nyeh-nyeh!" was waiting for them, and there was another thief in blue waiting to be chased down.

"If you don't mind my asking, Spyro, how many of the dragon eggs have you recovered so far?" a golden elder named Lucas asked, having just watched Spyro take out yet another of the tricky speedsters.

"Way too many," Spyro groaned. "I think that was my sixth one in the Magic Crafters."

"Did you find others in the Peacekeepers and the Artisans?"

"Yeah, that's probably another six right there."

"Well, Spyro, only twelve dragon eggs were reported missing, so if your numbers are right, it sounds like you've found them all - thank you."

"Augh, finally!" Spyro exclaimed with a sigh of relief. "No more chasing down those stupid thieves."

"We're lucky to have a dragon with your talent for speed to help us with the thief problem," Lucas nodded. "Delbin's put you through your paces in the speedway, hasn't he?"

"Speedway?" Spyro was confused - he had gotten his speed training by chasing after sheep and the baby dragonlets. Delbin had never mentioned a speedway.

"You've never been?" Lucas looked thoroughly surprised. "Oh, I'm sure you'd do fabulous! It's just through that portal in Waterfall Pond - you know, the one you open up by using the stone jumping pads?"

"There's a portal in Waterfall Pond?"

Lucas tsked with a bit of a low chuckle. "My, Delbin hasn't told you much at all, has he?" Spyro frowned - it was definitely looking that way at this point. "Well, go check it out when you return to the Artisans - I know I should be partial to our speedway, but I've always had a soft spot for Sunny Flight. You'll enjoy it, I can just tell - you were born to race the speedways."

"Yeah, I'll check it out, thanks," Spyro answered hesitantly as Lucas took off into the skies.

"Oh, come on, Spyro, I know what that look means," Sparx buzzed, sitting on Spyro's nose (the way he usually did when he had to get into his dragon-brother's face). "Look, you can't get all sour-faced about all of this - so Delbin has some stuff to tell you, you know he has a good reason for it. Don't get all mad thinking that he's keeping secrets from you on purpose."

"Yeah, I know, I know," Spyro defended, blowing a puff of hot air to knock Sparx back into the air. He didn't know if his dragonfly was necessarily RIGHT, but he did have a point - whether he had the right to be mad at Delbin or not, this wasn't the time for it. With his guardian still trapped only-the-ancestors-know-where, he wasn't going to get his answers until he finished saving the Dragon Realms and torching Gnasty Gnorc to pieces. "Forget it, let's get going."

So they did - right back to the Magic Crafter's homeworld, right into Tuco's balloon, right onto the home of the Beast Makers.

Apologies this chapter came out so short - as much as I love the Magic Crafters, it didn't have much to play with in terms of things that would make good story. The enemies are repetitive, the dragons don't say much, Blowhard was a pushover, and a lot of Crafter tricks show up again, not only in the Dream Weavers, but also in the fairy levels of Year of the Dragon. I tried to pad it out, especially since the last chapter was a bit weighty and rushed, especially by comparison, but this is all I got. Next one'll be back up to normal speed - enjoy the short chapters while they last. XD

§ Tucker's Mayflower, signing off! §