Author Notes:

Beware of the corniness! I have to warn you; this chapter gets pretty sappy. Please excuse it and read with open minds.

A Trip Through Avalar

Spyro and his group appeared through their portal into Summer Forest and began their journey. They traveled with Spyro and Hunter in the lead. Stella followed a few feet behind. The first sight of Summer Forest caused Stella to stare in wonder. In a sort of trance, she wandered over to the stream in the forest area and peered over the stream's edge at the crystal blue water. Spyro noticed her out of the corner of his eye as he was headed into a building. Stopping, he watched her and smiled, then walked over to her. Hunter waited by the entrance to the building.

"It's ok, you can get in if you want," Spyro said to Stella.

The sound of his voice startled her and she looked up, somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh, I was just looking."

"Don't worry. In Avalar, most of the water is safe to swim in. In fact, if you didn't swim, you'd get stuck. You probably haven't swum much before, huh?" Spyro asked.

"Not really. There aren't many places to swim in Magic Crafters," she replied.

"Well, we're going to have to swim sooner or later, so you might as well practice now. Come on, I'll teach you the basics."

Turning his head, he spotted Hunter.

"Hunter? Wait right here. We'll be back in a sec."

Hunter raised an eyebrow suspiciously, then nodded and went over to sit in the shade of a tree.

"Ok, come on then," Spyro said, walking over to the end of the stream where it widened into a small pool.

Stella followed him and they stopped on the edge. Stella peered in a bit uncertain. She seemed to be hesitating, and Spyro got an idea. As she stared down into the pool, he inched over beside her. Then suddenly he shoved her with a shoulder. With a squeak and a splash, she fell in. When she surfaced, she tossed her head back to get her crest out of her eyes. Spyro laughed at her and just as she looked up at him, he leaped in with another splash. When he surfaced, they both looked at each other and then broke out laughing.

"Well, you don't seem to have any trouble treading water, so let's move on to the next step, swimming underwater. Just dive down and swim. There're several ways you can do it, but I prefer this way. Watch."

Stella watched as Spyro dove and swam around underneath her. He moved all four of his legs in unison, somewhat like the paddles of a boat. After circling the pool twice, Spyro surfaced in front of her.

"You don't have to do it that way, I just like it because I feel it's faster. Go ahead, you try. Test out a few different ways and pick one you like best."

"Ok," Stella muttered.

Again, she hesitated, then deciding to just wing it she dove and swam around the way Spyro had. She could feel Spyro's gaze watching her, but she focused on swimming and tried not to think too much about it. Next, she tried a sort of frog style swimming but didn't like it because she felt awkward and slow. Last of all, she tried a dolphin-like style, with her front legs pinned against her sides. Figuring she had tested long enough, she rose to the surface.

"Great! You're a natural," Spyro complimented her.

She blushed slightly and smiled.

"Do you have a preferred style?" He asked.

Stella nodded.

"Good. Now we'll try charging. Yep, you can charge underwater too. That last style of swimming you just tried it very similar to what you do when you're charging. The only difference is that you didn't lower your head. I'll show you."

Again, he dove underwater, but this time he lowered his head and pointed his horns in front of him. Then he swam in the dolphin-like way she had, only he went a lot faster. After two laps he appeared before her, leaping out of the water in a majestic arc and landing back in with a splash.

"See? Now you try," he said.

Nodding, Stella dove and did as he had, lowering her head and swimming dolphin-style. She started out somewhat slow but sped up. Finally, she surfaced again but chose not to attempt breaching as he had.

"Good. You've learned all the basics, so now we'll test how well you learned. See the dark spot below us?"

She looked down and nodded.

"That's a tunnel. To get a taste of what it's like having to swim to get to other places, we're going to swim through it. Follow me."

He dove and she followed his example, swimming right behind him. He led her down through the hole and into a wide tunnel. As they made their way through, she was surprised to see blue and yellow fish darting out of their way. Soon the tunnel ended and she noticed Spyro swimming upward. She decided to follow him and they surfaced into a large pool. Looking around, Stella realized they were inside a building.

"Wow," she muttered in amazement.

"If you think this is neat, just wait. Come on."

He swam over to the edge of the pool, jumped out, and started climbing a set of stone steps. Curious, Stella followed. They walked only a short way before they stopped. Wondering what was up, Stella peered around Spyro and gasped. They were exiting onto a balcony that overlooked a part of Summer Forest Stella hadn't seen yet. There was a huge castle with a large crystal-blue lake at its base. It was a beautiful sight. Spyro let her stare in awe for several minutes, just smiling. Then he decided they'd better return to Hunter.

"Well, we'd probably better go back. Ready?" he asked.

Stella turned to look at him.

"Alright," she replied with a meek smile. Her eyes expressed a bit of reluctance.

It wasn't long before the two dragons were back in the forest with the cheetah.

"Gosh, take long enough?" Hunter said it a mock-aggravated tone.

Spyro just rolled his eyes.

"Well, let's go then," Hunter said, and started through the building followed by the dragons.

Inside, they crossed a stone bridge overlooking a grassy area with a small stream running through it. Several frogs hopped around happily. The bridge had obviously been fixed since the last time Spyro had been there. Then, Ripto and his henchmen had smashed it in an attempt to prevent his progress.

Once across the bridge, they exited the building out into the place Stella had seen from the balcony. Spyro was leading them towards the lake when Hunter halted.

"Hey Spyro, remember when I had you try out that obstacle course?" he said, pointing at the four very large pillars all around the area.

Spyro looked back at him, then at the pillars.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Do you want to try it again, just to refresh your memory? We could try racing."

"Not now Hunter. We've got more important things to be doing. Besides, I already know all that stuff."

"Oh, ok then," Hunter muttered, sounding somewhat disappointed.

He liked challenging Spyro. It was a sort of hobby of his, as he was determined to find something he could do that Spyro couldn't.

"Hey. You may already know all those things, but Stella doesn't have the experience you do. She should try the obstacle course," Hunter suddenly suggested. "Whacha say, buddy?"

"Well, ok. But try to hurry, I want to get to Idol Springs," Spyro stated.

"Great! Follow me, Stella," said Hunter, and he walked off towards the first pillar.

Stella looked back at Spyro with hesitation.

"Go ahead, Stella. I'll wait here. And don't worry, it's all really easy," he reassured her.

Convinced but still reluctant, she followed Hunter. After she climbed the steps to the first pillar, Hunter asked her to jump up to a moderately high platform. She did so with little effort. Next, she had to glide to the second platform, which she also had no trouble with. Finally, after gliding and hovering to the third platform, Hunter asked her to test out what she learned to get to the fourth one.

By now, Spyro was watching from the ground. Taking a deep breath, Stella ran towards the fourth pillar. At the very edge of her platform, she spread her wings and leaped into the air with all her might, gliding to the fourth pillar. Right before she reached it, she beat her wings in a hover and landed smoothly right next to Hunter.

"You did really good," Hunter said.

"Thanks," Stella replied in a near whisper, turning slightly pink.

"Ok then, let's go back down so we can get going."

Running to the edge of the platform, Hunter jumped off, causing Stella to gasp. Then she remembered that Hunter was an expert at jumping. Unlike the cheetah, she just walked to the edge, stepped off it, and glided down to the ground.

"She's more graceful than you, Spyro," Hunter was saying as she landed.

This caused Stella to blush again.

"Most females are more graceful when it comes to everything. Anyway, let's go," Spyro returned, then pranced off and jumped through the portal to Idol Springs, the rest of them not far behind.

Several visited portals later...

Spyro landed on the ground with a muffled thump. Two other thumps echoed behind him. The group had already explored the worlds in Summer Forest and was now making their way through the ones in Autumn Plains. So far, they'd visited all the portals on the lower level.

"Breeze Harbor was an interesting place, wasn't it?" Stella said. She was quite a bit more talkative now that she'd gotten to know her companions better.

"I'm not so sure I like their flying boats. You can't even see what's making them run," Hunter mentioned with a shiver.

"I thought they were amazing," Stella responded.

Hunter just snorted and didn't reply.

"I wonder why Zephyr and Breeze Harbor are always fighting though," she continued.

"I never really figured that out either. I think it's got something to do with Juliet and Private Romeo," replied Spyro.

As soon as he finished his sentence, he headed off down the hill past the Breeze Harbor portal, expecting everyone to follow him. He didn't stop until he came to the climbing wall in the little stone courtyard. Then he turned and found the others standing right behind him. He looked at each of them in turn. Stella would have no trouble climbing, as soon as he showed her how.

"Go on ahead Hunter. I don't think Stella knows how to climb yet, so I'll teach her. We'll catch up to you in a bit." Spyro said suddenly.

Hunter nodded and in one leap, he was up to the first ledge, and in another, he was inside the castle and out of sight. With that, Spyro led Stella up to the wall.

"Ok. Climbing is even easier than swimming, but it can be a lot more tiring. All you have to do is jump onto the wall whenever you see surfaces like this," he indicated to the part of the wall that was climbable, "and grab onto it with your claws. To get down, you just jump off. Got that? Ok, jump onto the wall and grab it."

Stella did as she was instructed.

"Now just climb it. I'll be right behind you. If you fall I'll catch you."

Reassured and slightly embarrassed at the thought of Spyro catching her, Stella began to climb. Spyro was right, it really was easy. When she reached the ledge she jumped off onto it and moved over to make room for Spyro. He jumped up beside her seconds later. Smiling to let her know she'd done well, Spyro motioned for her to start climbing the second wall. Turning, she followed the ledge and leaped onto the next wall. At the top, she entered the castle and the first thing she saw was another portal, only unlike the others, it didn't appear to be working. Spyro appeared next to her and looked to see what she was staring at.

"Huh. That's funny. I wonder why the portal to Scorch isn't working," he muttered to no one in particular. "Guess we'll have to skip that one."

He then headed off down a set of steps and Stella followed. At the bottom, she collided with Spyro, who'd stopped suddenly.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite, err, customer! I knew when I saw your spotted friend run by that you wouldn't be far behind. It's wonderful to see you again, Spyro!" said a familiar voice.

Peering around Spyro, Stella saw a rather large bear dressed in a suit at the other end of the hallway. He was standing in front of another broken portal.

"Moneybags," Spyro muttered through clenched teeth. Throughout his adventures, he'd grown a passionate dislike for the fat bear who was always charging him ridiculous fees. At first, he hadn't really minded, but over time Moneybags became quite annoying. It had been sweet revenge when he'd gotten to chase him down after he defeated The Sorceress.

Stella had stepped to the side of Spyro and looked from him to Moneybags and back again. Spyro had an intense expression on his face and she didn't blame him. She'd seen what Moneybags was like in Spyro's movies. Now, she watched as Spyro strode by her and she quickly caught up to him, falling close behind him as they neared Moneybags.

"What do you want?" Spyro asked with a note of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh me? Well, you see…" Moneybags broke off as he noticed Stella. "Oh Spyro, you must introduce me to your lovely friend," he said.

Stella couldn't help herself and blushed slightly. Spyro didn't even glance back at her and continued to stare at Moneybags with a stony expression.

"Her name is Stella."

"What a nice name. It suits you well, Stella. I'm Moneybags," he said, holding out his paw to her.

It shook slightly, which made Spyro grin slightly to himself. Moneybags was still scared of him. Good. Come to think of it, even his voice sounds a bit shaky.

Stella stared at Moneybags' paw, unsure of how to react. She knew Moneybags was not a nice creature, but he was being particularly friendly to her for some reason. She glanced at Spyro for an answer of what to do.

Spyro had also noted Moneybags' overly nice behavior and wasn't fooled in the slightest. He was obviously trying to gain Stella's trust so he could take advantage of her. That was how Moneybags worked. He loved cheating people out of their money. When Stella looked at him, he gave her a look that hopefully translated as 'don't shake his paw'. Amazingly, she seemed to understand and backed away a step. Moneybags was silent for a second, then took his paw back and pretended not to notice her behavior.

"Well, to answer your question Spyro, you see, I wasn't doing too well as a Haiku poet. But luckily I found that the portals to Scorch and Fracture Hills have stopped working," he was saying, but he noticed the look on Spyro's face and his speech became faster and shakier. "B-but I can fix it for you for just a small fee. Maintenance costs you know."

Spyro just stared at him stony-faced for a minute.

"How much is it going to cost?" he asked. It was obvious he was straining to control his temper.

"W-well, it'll c-cost a bit extra…t-than normal, as there are two of you…"

"How much is it going to cost?" Spyro repeated.

Moneybags realized that he probably shouldn't test Spyro's temper any longer and quickly answered.

"500 gems."

Right away the bear winced and closed his eyes as if expecting Spyro to blow up. When he didn't, Moneybags slowly opened his eyes. Spyro's expression hadn't changed.

He stood there like a statue for what seemed like an hour. Then he suddenly said,

"No," and walked away.

Stella was almost as surprised as Moneybags but quickly disappeared after Spyro. Moneybags was so shocked he didn't even think to protest before the two dragons had gone around the corner and out of sight. When they were out of earshot, Spyro laughed.

"That was great. I've never seen him so scared in my life. Any longer and he probably would have wet himself."

Stella was silent, recovering from her shock, and then she giggled.

"He was terrified of you," she said with admiration. "But, Spyro, didn't we just miss a portal back there? Magma Cone I think was the name of it."

"Yeah, but we'll visit it in a sec. I want to show you something."

He continued down the hall a way and then Stella suddenly halted in her tracks as she had walked right past him. Pivoting around, she retraced her steps and entered a dark hole in the wall where Spyro had disappeared. At the end of the little passage was a whirlwind, and she watched as Spyro walked into it and spiraled upward out of sight.

Curious about where he was taking her, she copied him and entered the whirlwind. Immediately she felt a rush of air as she was lifted and twirled upward. The next thing she knew, she was standing on a large brightly lit grassy area. She was amazed at first, but then she noticed Spyro sitting in the distance and she walked over to him and sat down.

"Whacha think?" he asked.

It took a moment for her to answer. In front of them was the most beautiful sunset she'd ever seen. The descending sun glowed deep yellow and spread colors of orange, pink, and purple across the sky.

"I-It's gorgeous,"

"I thought you'd like it."

Stella turned her head to glance over at him and was startled to find him looking at her. Quickly she looked at the ground and felt her face burning. This was so weird. Her stomach felt tight and nervous, and her heart seemed to be trying to escape her ribcage. It beat loud enough that it pounded in her ears and she was sure Spyro could hear it. It didn't help that she could still feel Spyro's gaze.

"Stella? I…I really like you."

Instantly Stella felt as if her heart and whole body were suspended in space. She couldn't move or breathe. Had he just said what she thought he said?

"Y-You do?" Her voice seemed to crack and was almost a whisper, or so it seemed to her.

"Yeah. It's sort of funny. I never really thought I would like someone, not the way Hunter and…" He broke off. "In fact, I didn't like the idea of it. It seemed so…stupid, I guess."

Stella couldn't believe her ears. In fact, at first she thought she must be dreaming, and slowly she managed to bite down on her tongue. A sharp pain resulted and she stopped biting it. She wasn't dreaming. What should she do now? She felt stupid just sitting there, not responding.

"I…" she started to say.

"No, it's ok. I already know how you feel."

At that, a wave of terror washed over her like someone had just poured a bucket of ice water on her.

"Cinder was the one who made the assumption, back when we first met you and you fainted. I didn't think anything of it at first, because lots of girls like me. It sort of comes along with being famous and all. But after traveling with you, I started to like you... Gosh, this is weird. I can't believe I'm saying all this," he said.

To Stella's surprise, he actually laughed, though halfheartedly. She was speechless. Part of her was still terrified at the fact that Spyro had known her feelings all this time. The rest of her was confused. What was happening to her right then was what she'd dreamed of most of her life, and here it was, coming true.

She wasn't sure whether she wanted to be happy or find a dark hole and hide. Nervous and confused, she couldn't take her eyes off her feet. Spyro was silent too. It was almost as if her dream hadn't just come true. Then suddenly, he did something that made her breath stop in her throat again.

At first, he seemed to be just shifting, but she felt his presence closer to her and knew he'd scooted towards her. Her eyes rolled to the side and she found that he was only a few inches from her and her heartbeat pounded loud in her ears once more. Then she jumped slightly as she felt Spyro's paw on her shoulder.

"Hey, are you ok?" Spyro broke the silence, somewhat concerned.

"Uhh…"

She still couldn't bring herself to speak. At least not anything that made sense.

"It's alright, don't be so nervous…If you're ok with it, I think this could work out, " he said in a voice he hoped would convince her to relax. "Whacha say?"

If someone had been listening to their conversation, they probably wouldn't have understood what Spyro meant, but Stella understood as soon as the words left his mouth. He indented for them to be like Hunter and Bianca, a couple.

"I…o-ok," she managed to say.

"I have an idea. Why don't you take a deep breath?" Spyro suggested.

Stella actually turned her head and looked at him when he said this, her expression was a bit confused.

"Go on, it'll help. I'll do it too. Ok, on the count of three, inhale, hold it for a second, and then exhale. One…two…tree"

Stella had inhaled a bit too soon and was taken by surprise when Spyro said 'tree'. Glancing up at him, she saw that he was looking at her with a huge grin on his face. At this, she couldn't help it and smiled.

"Ok, for real this time. One…two…"

As soon as Spyro said three, both dragons inhaled deeply. A second later, they exhaled. Stella noticed that Spyro had closed the remaining gap between them, leaving only a hair's distance, but she was becoming calmer and pretended not to notice.

"There. Feel better?" Spyro asked, nudging her. He'd long since removed his paw from her shoulder and returned it to the ground.

Stella nodded and then muttered, "Tree."

They both started laughing. As her laughter died away, Stella sighed and closed her eyes, very slowly leaning against Spyro. She hadn't ever thought Spyro could be so compassionate. Sure, he was considerate and helped those in need all the time, but he had actually tried to calm her nerves when she was so nervous, and he'd been so patient and kind while teaching her to swim and climb. Of course, she had never known that he would like her the way she did him either.

Spyro felt her weight against his side and glanced down at her, smiling. They sat that way for several minutes, watching the lovely Autumn Plains sunset. Stella felt so relaxed and happy she could have fallen asleep.

"We'd probably better start visiting portals. Don't want to keep Hunter waiting, He's probably wondering where we are by now." Spyro said gently.

Stella leaned away with a sigh, nodding. She was a bit disappointed, as she would have liked to sit there with him forever, but they had a mystery to solve. They both stood up in unison, looked at each other, and then Spyro led the way back the way they'd come. As Stella followed after Spyro, she wondered if he would show his affection ever again. If he did, would he do so around the others, or would he pretend nothing had happened between them? Hoping the latter wouldn't be true, she watched Spyro disappear down the dark hole and quickly followed.

Several more portals later...

Spyro and Stella jumped through the portal and appeared in Fracture Hills. Hunter was right behind them. They'd all visited the other portals and saved this one for last. The one they'd just visited had been Scorch (Moneybags must have been so scared of Spyro that he'd fixed the portals and left). Stella looked around in wonder. Although she'd seen so many new worlds already, she never stopped being amazed by them. As she peered around Spyro, the three noticed a fawn coming towards them.

The fawn reached them and stopped. Unlike Elora, this one's body was gray and her hair was blackish and done in two braids that hung at the sides of her head. She didn't seem to notice Stella or Hunter.

"Spyro! It's been so long since you visited! I missed you so much," she said, staring at Spyro with a little more admiration than was natural. "It was so nice to have a cute quadruped around to help out."

"Oh, hi Lila," Spyro replied, backing up a step from the fawn and bumping into Stella.

Realizing what he'd done, he sidestepped and shifted to stand right next to her. He didn't like getting too close to the fawns in Fracture Hills, especially Lila, because she seemed to like him a little too much for his comfort. Stella looked from Spyro to Lila, feeling a tiny pit of jealousy in her stomach.

"Lila, I'd like to introduce you to Stella," he said, indicating to Stella with a paw. "And you already know Hunter."

Lila turned her head to regard the new dragon she hadn't bothered to notice before. Her expression changed from a bright smile to a look of mild shock, then to a smile that looked like it was forced, all in a matter of a few seconds.

"Oh. It's nice to meet you…Stella," she said, giving only a nod of acknowledgment to Hunter.

Sensing a somewhat uncomfortable environment, Spyro quickly got to the point of business.

"So, Lila. What's up?"

Tearing her eyes off Stella, Lila smiled warmly at Spyro, then looked slightly sad.

"Spyro it's horrible. The Earthshapers have come back and they're smarter than before. They've turned everything into stone again. I'm so afraid Spyro. I don't know where any of the other fauns are. I think the Earthshapers got them…Can you save our home again Spyro? Please?" Lila pleaded.

Stella got the feeling that Lila was over-exaggerating a bit to seem like a damsel in distress.

"Sure. Don't worry Lila. We'll make those Earthshapers wish they hadn't come back," Spyro said in his well-known way.

Pulling his bow off his back, Hunter said, "I'm going to go shoot some now," and ran off.

Spyro nodded and briefly watched his friend leave.

"Oh, thank you so much, Spyro! You're my hero!"

With that, Lila lunged at Spyro and threw her arms around him in a hug. Out of his range of vision, she gave Stella a dirty look and let go of Spyro.

"I'll be waiting at the temple for you Spyro," she said and then she waved and galloped away.

Stella was unsettled by Lila's behavior but decided to keep it to herself.

"What was that all about?" she asked Spyro as they started off through Fracture Hills after Hunter.

"Oh, that? Well, Lila, along with pretty much all the other fauns, like me for some reason. A 'cute quadruped' is the first thing Lila called me when I met her," he replied.

"Oh," said Stella, somewhat depressed.

"Don't worry though. I didn't like them then, and I don't like them now, at least not like that. To tell you the truth, they kind of creep me out."

At this reassurance, Stella smiled, and he returned it and continued on. They walked for quite a while with few obstacles in their path. Then Spyro saw something in the distance and ran towards it, skidding to a halt in front of it. When Stella caught up, she saw what looked like a statue of a fawn, only it appeared to be male. Sniffing around the base of the statue was a small pink pig.

"What is it Spyro?" Stella asked.

"It's a Satyr. The Earthshapers trap them in stone so they can't play their music."

"Why don't the Earthshapers want them to play music?"

"Because it has magical powers that can break stone. They're creatures of stone, so they don't like it."

"Oh."

"We should free all the Satyrs we find so that they can return the world to normal," said Spyro, and he charged at the statue, expecting it to break open.

All that happened was Spyro bouncing back. The statue didn't even budge.

"Great, more stubborn statues," Spyro muttered under his breath. Then he stood up and flamed the statue. Nothing happened. "This could be a problem. The Earthshapers must have gotten better at encasing things."

"Spyro? If it's magic that encases the Satyrs in stone, maybe I could try a spell to free them?" suggested Stella.

"Great idea Stella. Go ahead and try."

Taking a deep breath, Stella stood on her hind legs, leaning back on her tail. Her turquoise wings opened and closed like that of a butterfly as she started saying strange words. Her eyes turned a solid color and glowed slightly and she waved her forepaws in a fluid motion. Then a trail of magic circled the stone Satyr and the shell shattered, leaving a live Satyr in its place.

"Thanks for freeing me," the Satyr said, "Those nasty Earthshapers have gotten stronger, so it'll take magic to free us Satyrs. But once we're free, leave the rest to us."

The Satyr lifted a set of bagpipes to his mouth and inhaled. Spyro walked over and stood next to Stella.

"Watch. You'll like this," he said.

Just as the words left his mouth, the Satyr began to play. His tune was different from the one Spyro remembered, but it had the same, if not a stronger effect anyway. A trail of magical golden notes flew around and circled the stone-encased main temple of Fracture Hills and then shattered a bit of the stone. Then the Satyr's song died away.

Stella was amazed. Looking down, she noticed the pig dance a few steps and then drop back to the ground on all fours. She laughed.

"You're music was lovely, Mr. Satyr…The pig was dancing too."

"Why thank you, good lady. Yes, the pigs love our music. Good luck on rescuing the other Satyrs."

"You're very welcome, and thank you," Stella replied, bowing to the Satyr.

Spyro just smiled and then turned to lead them onward. They walked across a lava area after they freed the last Satyr, as a shortcut to the temple. So far, they hadn't gained any info about the new villain and were headed to the temple to meet back up with Hunter and discuss their next plans. They also hadn't run into many Earthshapers, and those that they had, they'd avoided. Hunter must have taken out most of them. So, Spyro figured it was safe to take the shortcut.

Soon they came up to a lava stream, and they both glided over it. Stella landed right after Spyro and was just about to follow him when WHACK! Something hit her and she rolled into Spyro. Surprised, he turned around. Stella looked up at him, equally surprised, and then she glanced at her dragonfly. Flare had changed to purple.

"What happened?" asked Spyro.

"I don't know. Something hit me."

Spyro looked around and spotted the perpetrator. It was an Earthshaper. Angered because it'd hurt Stella, Spyro charged at it.

"Spyro no!" Stella cried, but he was already gone.

He ran at the Earthshaper with his head lowered. Before it had time to raise its fist in order to hit Spyro, Spyro knocked it backward. The Earthshaper grunted in surprise and regained its balance. Then, just as Spyro was about to charge it again, it made a quick motion with its hand and Spyro froze in his tracks, encased in stone,

"Oh no!" Stella exclaimed, and she ran over to him.

Looking up, she saw the Earthshaper's fist coming down on her. Without even a second thought she opened her mouth to breath fire at it. To her amazement, a blast of ice shot forth and struck the creature. Dazed, it stumbled back. At first, the creature was just frosty around the edges. Then a pitiful look appeared on its face as the ice spread over its entire body, freezing it solid. Due to it being in an off-balanced position, the frozen Earthshaper then tipped over backward, hitting the ground hard and smashing into sparkling stone pieces.

Not wasting another second, Stella sat near Spyro and waved her paws, reciting the same words she'd used before on the Satyr. The stone casing around Spyro shattered, and he shook himself and turned to her.

"Thanks, I needed that. Now I know how the dragon elders feel being crystallized. Hey, where'd the Earthshaper go?" he asked.

"I-I'm not sure. I panicked because you were a statue, and just opened my mouth and ice came out and it fell and shattered," replied Stella, falling into her apparent habit of long-winded explanations when under stress.

"Wow, really!? Looks like you have a special power like Dawn's. I wonder…"

Spyro was cut short as they both saw something approaching them in the distance. It was Hunter and a small glowing light. As they got closer, they saw that the light was Zoe and by the looks of it, they were urgent. Soon they all met up with each other.

"Spyro! Stella! You must return to the Professor's…lab right away. Group One …found something. You don't have time…to go back to Autumn Plains…and go through the portal… so I'll make a temporary portal for you," she explained.

Her speech was fast and broken by intakes of breath. Without giving them a chance to respond, she waved her wand and a small and rather untidy-looking portal appeared.

Taking the hint, Spyro motioned for Stella to jump through the portal first and followed right after her. Hunter came next and the portal then shrank into nothing. Zoe then disappeared with another wave of her wand.