Chapter 10
Upon us entering the Beast Makers Homeworld, we saw that it had turned into nighttime and the air was incredibly humid in the swamp. That and there was a unique smell to the area that made it smell like it was musty and watery. "Hmm... pleasant smells, quiet wildlife, cute houses... this place is much better than I thought it'd be," I admitted as we proceeded forward a bit and we saw a large bit of ground that was different than the others as it was covered in metal. And there was a gnorc in the center of it wearing rubber boots and he had an electrical gun on his person. "I'll handle this guy," I smiled at Spyro as I flew above the gnorc and flamed him, the gun disappearing as well and me touching the ground to test if it was electrified. Nothing. "Okay, the ground is safe, Spyro," I smiled from afar as I then did the same with a second gnorc on another electric panel.
"Is that one safe?" Spyro asked. "I dunno," I said with a smirk, Spyro cautiously stepping on it and getting a small shock, causing his body to jump the whole way onto the thing, which he kept jumping from consecutive shocks until he reached the other side. "Jumpy, isn't it?" I smirked with a giggle. "Payback for that thing in Magic Crafters, I take it?" he asked with a frown. "You betcha. He zapped it before I killed him," I smiled back at him. "Well, I did deserve that," Spyro admitted as we saved the first dragon, him looking at us with a frown. "Gnasty Gnorc's turning the Beast Makers' swamps into electrified junk heaps! And they used to be so beeyootiful," he said. "I'm sure they were," I said to him as I looked at the portal behind him. "Mind telling me what this portal leads to?" I asked him. "This portal leads to the Terrace Village. The portal to Tree Tops is by that giant tree, the Misty Bog is on that island with the giant pig, and the speedway is inside that well by the other trapped dragon," he said. "Okay, I think I can do both the speedway and the Misty Bog area. Spyro, you go ahead and take on one of these levels first. I promise I'll be done first," I smiled at him.
"Got it, you just be careful of those giant pigs. They look like they could do a lot of damage," Spyro warned me. "Of course," I smiled at him as I then flew my way to the area with Misty Bog, making sure to collect the gems along the way and defeating the pig before going into the level itself, me smiling as I saw that the area was filled with mist, but you could still see most of it clearly. And the very first enemy? An armored gnorc trying to catch a chicken without feathers... or a head... in a cage. I simply knocked him into the water and collected his gem afterwards. I then proceeded forward and saw some large plants... and when I approached them, I literally gasped in shock as one of them rushed me and tried to swallow me whole! But before he could do that, I spat fire at him, the plant dying afterwards.
"Whoa! That plant almost made me into his lunch!" I exclaimed as I decided to fly above the plants instead, them looking to be confused when I did this as I lowered myself just out of their reach and proceeded to flame them all, only landing once all of them were dust. "Whew... I think that, for once, my size may be at a disadvantage here. Those plants can be dangerous," I said with worry before Sizz looked terrified at the next island over. "Uh-oh... um.. I think that I'll stay behind on this island until you handle the creatures on the next one over..." Sizzle said with fear in her voice. "What's wrong about... oh..." I asked as I saw what she was talking about. It was her worst fear in the entire world. Frogs. And these ones were quite huge.
"Okay, I understand, Sizz. You stay here and I'll handle the frogs. I'll whistle for you when they're all gone," I said to her. "Thanks..." she whimpered as I flew forward and started my attack on the island, attacking the frogs first before attacking the plants, me going airborne for the whole of it and finding out that the frogs' tongues may have been long, but they certainly lacked any kind of punch. They just tried to whip me with them and it honestly felt like I was being whipped by a slimy stick. Once all of them were dispatched, I whistled, Sizzle coming to my area with a sigh of relief.
"You know Sizz, you could always stay temporarily inside my body until these frogs are all defeated, right?" I asked her. "Sorry... okay, you're right... I'll hide inside your throat for now... just promise not to swallow me like last time?" she frowned. "I promise," I smirked at her as I opened my mouth and she flew very quickly inside of it, lodging herself in my esophagus and me not minding at all. After all, she was extremely tiny and I could control my throat muscles pretty well enough to not swallow her down. But that did mean that I wouldn't be able to talk for the remainder of this level, since it would be the same as trying to speak with a throat full of water. You just couldn't do it unless you were incredibly talented.
I then proceeded through the area and freed the first dragon, him looking to be a bit jumpy when I freed him. "Be on the lookout for attack frogs! They're cold-blooded killers!" he said as I felt Sizzle shivering in my neck with fear, which made me throat get tickled a bit. "Rgmmm..." I groaned. "You have something in your throat?" the dragon asked. I simply pointed to him and used my claws to say tiny dragonfly basically. "Oh, your dragonfly is scared of them too, huh?... Sorry... yeah, they're a real menace to the different wildlife in this bog. But if you're an Artisan or a Peacemaker dragon, their tongues don't hurt at all," he said. I nodded at this and smiled as I put up 1 claw. "Artisan dragon?" he asked. I nodded. "I see. Good luck clearing out the rest of 'em," he said as he then disappeared to the elder temple of Beast Makers.
I then saw a set of islands that had gnorcs, pigs, and the frogs on them and proceeded to take care of them on my way to a much larger island. And inside the larger island was a cave filled to the brim with attack frogs! I took care of them quickly and efficiently, collecting all of their dropped loot as I then freed another dragon at the top of the place, this one being a female. "Huh? What's that? How long was I in there?... Why, I think I've been trapped her for ages... but... ah, my old memory is working against me," she groaned. I frowned and put up one claw again. "One year?" she asked. I shook no. "A week?... Oh, 1 day? Ah, okay... anyways, thanks for helping an old lady like me out... farewell," she smiled as she then warped away and I sighed at that. I wasn't very good at talking to the older dragons, but this one seemed to be quite off her rockers from her age.
I shook that thought aside and went along the path to the next area, having to go into a hollow stump to reach an area that had more giant dragon-eating plants, more pigs, more gnorcs, and more frogs. This place was definitely not going to be on my list to visit anytime after this adventure, that was for sure. I then released two more dragons and got every last bit of treasure before I coughed Sizzle out of my throat, her being a bit wet, but otherwise unhurt. "Whew... thanks, Blaze... I owe you huge for this," she smiled at me as she shook herself off and batted her little wings a ton of times before flying along with me again. "You would've done the same for me if our roles were reversed, Sizz," I smiled at her. "Yeah... but I don't think I'd be able to fit you in my-" she was about to say before I shushed her. "I meant it in a metaphorical sense. Like if you were the dragon and me the dragonfly," I said to her. "Oh, now I got it..." she smiled as we proceeded through the portal and we noticed that Spyro was nowhere around.
"Time to tackle that speedway," I smiled as I flew directly down the well and saw the portal for the Flight Level... WAS HUGE! It was the biggest portal I'd seen in any world! "This speedway must be pretty damn tough if the portal is this frigging big!" I gawked at the challenge that awaited me. "It's called Wild Flight. I think it's safe to say that this is in fact the most difficult speedway of the bunch. But let's go into it and see what awaits us," Sizz smirked, me and her rushing into it and immediately appearing in the speedway proper, me seeing the timer set at 90 seconds and that the area looked a bit more complex than the other speedways. I immediately focused my attention on the gnorc boaters and the arcs around the vicinity first, seeing that they were in one area while the second area probably had the remaining items to fry or go through. I managed to complete getting through all the arcs and annihilating all the boaters in less than 20 seconds with my superior speed.
"Woohoo! Time to wrap things up!" I smirked as I flew into a cave and started to flame some chests as I appeared in an area that had gnorc planes and the remainder of the chests in the area. I blew up the chests first as they were closer to the water and then I moved onto the planes. I finished the entire speedway in only 39 seconds, me cheering wildly as I heard the fan fair trumpets get blasted by some nearby fairies! "I got the record! Woo!" I exclaimed happily as a female fairy with blue wings gave me the title. "Congratulations! You beat the previous record set by Bubba of Misty Bog by 20 seconds! You're a master at these speedways, young dragoness," she smiled at me. "This is actually the fourth speedway record I own now! Now all that remains is the speedway in Dream Weavers, Icy Flight," I smirked widely. "If this was a pushover for you to handle, than Icy Flight will be an absolute cakewalk," the fairy smiled at me as I left the world soon after and reappeared in the swamp. I then flew out of the well and smirked when I saw that Spyro awaited me on the outside of it. "I knew you wouldn't be able to do both by the time I finished Terrace Village," he smiled at me. "Well, that's only because Misty Bog was not only chock full of dangerous enemies in the form of dragon-eating plants, armored gnorcs, and giant pigs, but I had to keep Sizzle safe from attack frogs, which she's petrified of," I said, Sizzle sighing and nodding at that. "Hey, we all have our weaknesses, right? For instance, I can't swim underwater in any kind of water. Not even the water from the Artisans' waterfall," Spyro said.
"Thanks... that makes me feel a bit better," Sizzle smiled as I then looked at Spyro and saw the giant tree in the distance. "Want to go see what Tree Tops has to offer?" I smiled at him. "From what I heard from the Terrace Village residents, it's in the canopy of the swamps' forests and the place has killer ape monsters as well as tons of Supercharge ramps. It's sure to be a wild ride for me, but then again, you're probably just going to cheat with your enormous wings," Spyro smiled. "Hey, if they were yours, you'd do it too," I smirked at him as I batted him with one of them just for fun. "You better believe it!" he smirked with his usual fire as we then proceeded to the portal and we both entered it at the same time. And what did we hear even before we landed? "Na-nana-na-na!"