Ready for another chapter everybody; make sure those seats are not on fire, before this chapter is finished. And as for the timer, yes it does seem a little silly as it is quite separate from the others, but just be creative and imaginative.

Chapter 25: Advance

Time to fortress departure: 00:02:12.

The group of 5 have left their base camp and are proceeding to the entrance to the highlands; According to the plan they are going to meet the scouts at the entrance. Spyro was at the front of the group as he usually is. Infernus was next to him "So how do you think this will work when we reach them" Spyro then responded to him "Well I am hoping they will have some good Intel on how we are going to get through the outer highlands and reach the inner region, And if we are lucky we will have a lead on where the fortress is located. But in the event there are a lot of patrols we will have to split up."

Infernus nodded "But you do know that if we do split up, me, Jolt and Diamond will need to stay together as we never fight without each other" Spyro nodded to him "Of course I can't remember when not one of you haven't fought without the other two, and I already have worked the teams out if we do need to split up." Infernus nodded as Cynder approached as they were nearing the entrance to the highlands. "You ready Spyro"

Spyro smiled at Cynder "Without a doubt yes, how about you" Cynder smiled back at him "Yes, I am ready to finally finish this with Tyrone" Spyro nodded as the entrance was in sight, Flame and Shadow were waiting at the entrance for them. The group then ran over to them to meet them "Glad you finally made it". Spyro smiled at Shadow "Good to see you two are still in one piece, what have you got for us".

Shadow and Flame quickly changed to what they gathered and then shared it with the group "Well from what we gathered, the left path is the quickest for reaching the second part of the outskirts. However it is quite open and it doesn't have too much cover for us to hide while passing by patrols but when there isn't a patrol, it is the quickest route; both the middle routes are pretty much the same a good amount of cover and routes to get through. And the patrols are quite easy to get past as long as you time it right."

Shadow then continued "The right path is the longest but it has a lot of cover for us to sneak through avoiding the patrols." Spyro then spoke "So is that everything you have". Shadow spoke again "Now as for Patrol's, there is too many patrols for us to sneak through as a massive group so I recommend splitting up into 2 teams."

Spyro nodded as Shadow continued "We got to the clearing to enter the second half of the Outskirts; however there are two paths from there we can split up and go from there. At the Clearing we saw a lot of mountains and we believe in the mountains the fortress is stationed. One more thing when we were on patrol a purple light erupted into the sky from the mountains, when it reached a bit of a height it exploded and smaller lights impacted all over the region. We checked one out and it was revealed to be the same dark crystals we encountered in Warfang against the army."

Spyro looked worried "Those crystals can drain our Mana if we get too close so we better stay clear of them, they must be using the crystals to spread darkness into the region." Everyone nodded at him "Okay we are going to split into two teams so we have a better chance of getting through." Spyro recapped the teams he formed before he spoke again "Okay Shadow and Flame you are with me we will take the quick way." He turned to the others "Cynder I want you to lead the others up the safer path as there are more of you". Cynder nodded although she wished she went with Spyro.

Spyro then spoke "Okay everyone this is it now, we came here to end this with Tyrone and restore Peace. That is what we are going to do and we are not leaving until we have accomplished. This is the moment where we win destroying that fortress or we die trying." Everyone smiled as Shadow spoke "Lets do this for everyone we lost, and for everyone in Dragonfang."

Everyone spoke "Yeah or you bet". Before they all went off on the direction specified to them while Spyro and Cynder quickly spoke to each other "Be careful Cynder, remember the promise we made to each other" Cynder nodded "Don't worry we will do this, and make sure you are okay for when we met up at the fortress". Spyro nodded as the pair quickly shared a passionate kiss with each other before they separated "See you on the other side my love".

They then disappeared into their separate paths hoping they will see eachother. Spyro then caught up with Shadow and Flame as they were waiting for the first patrol to pass by however they weren't moving, just staying still. Shadow then turned to the others "How are we going to get past, there are too many of them and they aren't moving". Spyro however had an idea.

Spyro moved next to flame behind the rocks "This is a chance to test out one of my new Space element moves the Warp chasm". Both of the dragons looked at him confused "What does it do". Spyro smiled "Just watch". Spyro then held his paw up facing the patrol, suddenly crimson coloured energy flared up on Spyros' paw. Suddenly a sort of Barrier erupted around the Patrol. They all looked confused at the barrier as a few attempted to smash their way out of it.

Spyro then walked up in front of them and one of them yelled "The Purple Dragon, get him" They all attempted to break through the barrier but it was too strong for them "Hello boys" They continued to attack until they realised it was no use "So what you are going to take us prisoner, fat chance, eventually you will be tired and be forced to drop the barrier." Spyro just smirked at them "You know that would work if it was a barrier but it isn't it is a teleportation barrier, go have a break, no one will notice." As soon as he finished he activated the teleportation and all of the Orc's and Grublins disappeared into the energy and Spyro powered it down." Once it was over Spyro moved forward to the next set of Cover as Flame and Shadow followed "That was awesome, but I thought this is a stealth mission". Spyro nodded "It is but I had to make an exception for that one, we couldn't sneak past as Flame doesn't have a cloaking ability like me and you do Shadow" Flame then said sarcastically "Oh Yeah, poor me".

Shadow smirked as they continued forward deeper into the outskirts. Spyro then saw the two paths Shadow and Flame mentioned and the mountains "You think the Fortress is somewhere in that mountain region here". Shadow then spoke "Positive, the dark crystals came from there so it must be there." Spyro nodded as he turned to the left pat which would take them to the left side of the mountain range which would lead into the inlands of the highlands. Spyro spoke "Okay let's go, let's hope this path gets us there." Spyro then took the lead entering the path as Flame spoke "And hope we have less patrols to deal with." They all nodded in agreement as the first phase for entering the Grendull highlands was complete but the second but harder phase was about to start.

Another chapter through, hopefully someone wasn't set on fire for the wait LOL. Anyway not too long until the grand finale. Stay tuned for more.