Chapter 21
I managed to handle Skelos Badlands with ease despite the issue of needing to go after the magic vase on my own without Zoe's help. And I also had to help defeat some giant lizards before they could eat the cavemen, that earning me 2 orbs. The Talisman was the Ancient Bone and I got another orb by helping a guy's skeleton friend recover all of his bones. And after I left the portal, I saw Spyro exiting his portal at nearly the same time. "We ready to go to the next part of the castle? You'll need to climb up a ladder to go there, Spyro," I said to him. "Yeah, I think I know the gist of how to climb up ladders. Just use my claws and I can get a good grip," Spyro smiled as we proceeded to that part of the castle and started to climb up the place until we saw a portal that looked quite cool and desert-like. "I think I can go to this level. You can go to the next level," Spyro smirked at me. "Fine, fair enough," I smiled at him as I then proceeded down the stairs after collecting the gems and smiled at how the next portal led to a nighttime area with green hills. "Fracture Hills. That place has bagpipe playing Satyrs and Earthshapers, which are a bit of a trouble-making group of rock people," Zoe said, her having woke up halfway through our adventures in Skelos Badlands, but only after I opened the magic vase.
"Did you have a good sleep, Zoe? I've been meaning to ask," I smiled at her. "Yeah.. your head is like a soft pillow," Zoe smiled. "Well, just a fair warning, I broke your record in Metro Speedway. Is that okay?" I smiled. "Heh, I don't mind at all. Besides, it just means I can try to compete with you in trying to best your score," Zoe smiled at me with her usual spunk as I proceeded through the portal. Once I got into the world of Fracture Hills, I saw something that didn't look good. A female faun looked a bit perturbed at something that felt a bit too familiar. A male goat-like person (fairly sure it was a goat this time) was trapped in stone and looked like he had a bagpipe on him. "Well, hello there, short stuff. Shame ya had to come at this time of night. Like, the Earthshapers totally encased our castle in stone as well as the satyrs. Not only that, but, um, my friend is trapped in the castle itself," the faun said with an attitude in her voice. "I'm guessing you don't know Elora at all?" I asked her as I freed the satyr, him immediately playing on his bagpipe as the faun responded to my question. "Humph! Elora happens to be my sister, just so you know! But she decided to, like, leave Fracture Hills and be the ruler of Avalar. Good for her, but I totally wish she could visit home more often, you know?" the faun said with sass. "I wonder if Elora used to have a sassy attitude..." Sizzle said to my ear with a smirk as the satyr looked at me after a part of the castle became freed from the stone.
"Thank you for releasing me, young dragoness. You will need to rescue all 6 satyrs in Fracture Hills before you can access the castle," the satyr said with a foreign accent, which made me smile. "Okay, now time to rescue the rest of the satyrs while also grabbing the gems and seeing if anyone else could use some help," I smiled as I proceeded down towards the hills and immediately got jumped by something that made me gasp. A bush came to life and tried to eat me! Luckily, he was a bush, so after he closed his mouth on me, I flamed him from the inside-out and didn't get hurt save for a few bramble scratches. "Damn, this is Misty Bog all over again!" I groaned as I noticed a tree with a beehive on it and carefully approached, wondering if it was alive too. And sure enough, when I got close enough to it, the tree opened up some eyes it had and tried to anger the bees in the hive, me dodging them as I flamed the tree, the beehive also getting burnt to a crisp with the bees within. "Remind me why I chose this world again? Even the plants are trying to kill me!" I complained as I rescued the 4th satyr in a row, the castle now only having a small bit of rock remaining on it. "Only 2 more to rescue," I smiled as we proceeded down the hills some more and handled even more angry plants until we freed the final satyr and I noticed another faun next to a door that looked unable to be opened.
"Excuse me, but is something wrong?" I asked her. "Yeah, something is wrong... My best friend is locked in this room and lost the key... if you can Supercharge your way through the door using that Supercharge gate down there, you may be able to save her!... Just be careful of the area past the first locked gate down there. It's riddled with Earthshapers," the faun said with no sass at all. "Okay, I'll be sure to be careful of them," I smiled as I rushed into the Supercharge gate and jumped through the door, gasping as I immediately rammed right into an Earthshaper and the force of my speed was so powerful, I smashed his entire body to bits, but also lost my Supercharge ability... but it did make me noticed something nearby that made me gasp. It was a female faun that was trapped in some kind of stone by her feet only! And she had a bow and arrow on her. I then went up to her and questioned her. "What the heck happened here?" I asked her.
"Just stand still, he says. I'll turn your hooves into gold, he says... Ugh! How I hate that stupid alchemist! Get him out of that place and tell him to give me a potion to free my dainty hooves from this imprisonment!" the faun said in annoyance and me frowning at that as did Zoe. "The alchemist? You do know that his gold potion is still in development, right? He tried it on Hunter a few weeks ago and the same thing happened to him," Zoe frowned. "Dammit... note to self. Don't believe everything you hear, especially from an old, nutty shut-in," the faun said as I moved around the different Earthshapers until I reached the house of the Alchemist, who looked quite old and was definitely a goat person. 95 percent sure.
"Are you here to help deliver the potion to young Shiri?" the Alchemist asked. "Yes, we are. Just give me the potion and I'll give it to her," Zoe said. "Be careful with it, young fairy. And make sure it gets on the rocks and not her body," the Alchemist said. "I already know this, because I had to help Hunter in the same way," Zoe frowned as she grabbed the potion and we flew back over to the cave and the girl named Shiri smiled at the potion. "Will that free my feet?" she asked with a smile. "Yes, it will... hold still," Zoe said as she then poured the concoction on the rocks and I smiled at how they melted off and the hooves remained intact... and I smiled at something about them that the others didn't notice. "Uh, Shiri, was it? Look at your hooves," I smiled, her looking there and gasping. "MY HOOVES ARE GOLDEN! YES! Oh thank you so much, friends! Here, take these as payment," Shiri smiled in joy as she gave us a duo of orbs and I smiled at her enthusiasm. "Eh? Your boobs are olden? I can make them younger and larger if you want," I heard the alchemist say from his house. "Oh no he don't! Let's get outta here!" Shiri smirked as we then rushed out of the cave and towards the areas with the castle and the satyrs, her stopping at the door that was locked. "Is this door locked? I can unlock it if you want," Shiri smiled. "How?" I asked. "I have a key? Duh?" she smirked at me as she then demonstrated and opened the door, me seeing there was a faun inside that had brownish-orange fur like Elora in there. "Thanks, I thought I'd be stuck in there forever! Here, take this. It was in that room," the faun said, her handing it to Shiri before she handed it to me.
"Why'd you give it away?" the brown faun asked. "Because if she hadn't freed me from stony imprisonment via stupid alchemist, I wouldn't have been able to unlock this door," Shiri explained. "Oh, like, okay, I totally got it!" the brown furred faun smiled. "I'm still going to go and use the Supercharge though... I saw a reinforced chest in a hard-to-reach area by the Earthshapers in the lava area," I said. "Ah, a treasure hoarder, are you? Maybe you can get all the loot here?" the faun smiled at that. "Yes, I am. I am a dragon after all," I smiled at that as I went to the Supercharge and ran on the course a bit until I got to an elevated area, me jumping to the far left and into the open room with the chest within. I smashed into it and it poured out its loot all over, which I smirked at as I picked all of it up. "Now time to get the loot by the Earthshapers and then go to the castle," Zoe smiled as we then proceeded to do that and it only took a full minute. Once all the loot was gathered up, I went to the castle and saw Elora's sister speaking with the trapped faun in there, her having light brown fur on her body. "Hello there, short stuff. My friend told me that you removed the rock that covered the castle. Thanks for that. I originally came in here for peace and quiet and I had no clue that the castle got coated in stone by those rotten Earthshapers... anyways, I want you to have this talisman as way of thanks," the faun smiled as she handed me a talisman and I smiled at it. It looked like a pan flute with horns on it, and the flute had some kind of latent power within it that made me shiver a bit.
I then collected some gems nearby in some chests and I heard the trumpets blast soon after. "Yeah! You got everything! Time to go back to Autumn Plains. I wonder if you can go to the speedway before going to the next world?" Zoe asked. "Metro Speedway?" I asked her. "No, Icy Speedway. It's another place I hold a record in, but the participants need to pay a 400 gold entry fee from Moneybags," Zoe frowned. "I can handle that," I smiled as I noticed that the Professor was nearby and that there was a door that looked sealed shut with magic. "Hey, Professor mole. What's the deal with this door?" I asked. "Ah, Blaze, if I'm not mistaken? Well, this door was sealed by Ripto to prevent you from going further into the Autumn Plains castle. It can be broken if you have at least 20 orbs," he smiled. I then smirked and touched the door, since I knew I had at least 20 orbs on my person alone. And once I did so, the door opened up for me in a jiffy. "Nice work! Remember that orbs are the key to unlocking the Super Portal so you can go back to the Dragon Realms and Dragon Shores... by the way, I see Spyro coming around from behind you," he smiled as I saw the purple dragon show his face. "Hey, Spyro," I smiled at him. "Nice to see you too. How was that nighttime level?" Spyro asked. "Bagpipes, satyrs, fauns, giant rock people, and an old alchemist that fails at his job," I smiled. Sounds like a lot of stuff happened there. So, which world are you going to next?" Spyro asked. "Well, first portal you see, you can go into. I'm going to try to find the Icy Speedway before I head off for the next level. Need to get more loot and orbs after all. And I want to best my girlfriend's time on the track," I smiled as I nudged Zoe with my cheek. "So I can just beat it again," Zoe smiled back at me. "You two were made for each other," Sparx joked at me as we then proceeded forward to our different areas.