Shortly into the start of their journey, Alex and Shina are faring quite well with their limited supplies. Shina survives off the fruits and nuts Alex gives her, while Alex has self-sustaining energy thanks to absorbing some elemental energy back on Plit.
They soon approach an interesting looking planet full of floating continents, which Shina decides should be their first point of investigation.
Alex guides them there, but upon hitting the atmosphere they feel...funny. Alex brushes it off and keeps them moving forward, where they eventually wind up close to a battle between a purple dragon, dragonfly, penguin, and a ferocious looking beast.
Shina immediately recognizes the dragon as Spyro the Dragon and leaps out the sphere to aid him, annoying Alex.
Alex does join in the fight and saves Shina from one of the monster, Spike's, attacks, but winds up getting smacked aside in the process.
The monster has a menacing purple aura and red eyes, and its strength is clearly greater than normal. But even so, Alex FELT that attack.
He draws his sword and gets the old muscles working again on the monster, while Shina uses her aura to heal up the others.
Spyro and his allies, Sparx and Sgt. Byrd, then join in the fight. Soon enough they're able to topple the beast into the acid lava and reclaim a dragon egg, which Spyro's after.
Alex and Shina then properly introduce themselves. Shina's eager to help them out while looking for information on the Cosmos Drive, but Alex just wants to focus on the Cosmos Drive.
Shina's will wins out overall and they follow Spyro on his whirlygig to Evening Lake.
On the way there Shina nearly drops the fact that Spyro's a fictional character multiple times casually, leading to Alex getting upset at her.
But she thinks its not big deal, and even says how Alex did it to Mario back then. Alex berates his past self as foolish and just tells her not to bring this up again. They need to be focused on their mission.
Shina counters with the strange aura around Spike, saying that they can't in good conscious just leave Spyro alone now. Alex only relents when Shina swears they'll only be here a couple days and then, if they can't find any Cosmos Drive info, leave.
Upon arriving at Evening Lake Biance, apprentice to the Sorceress, appears to warn Spyro of the dangers ahead. Spyro's cavalier about the whole thing, as per usual.
Alex and Shina, despite diving out of the way to avoid being seen, are called out as well.
Once Bianca's gone Spyro prepares to have them split up to collect gems and eggs, but tells them not to go into any other portals alone for now.
Shina immediately dives into the water, much to Alex's flabbergasted attitude. But surprise surprise, turns out its magic water, so they can talk, get wet, and swim around without having to worry about breathing.
With this in mind they split up and collect all the stuff in the area. Shina gets REALLY excited about Fireworks Factory, but Alex pulls her away.
They then meet up inside one of the underwater tower and run across Moneybags, who is selling another animal buddy for Spyro, Bentley the Yeti.
Alex tries to threaten Moneybag's money but Shina gently pulls him aside, telling him to just let events play out. Spyro hands over the money, and Bentley hands Moneybags his arse. The yeti then joins the cause, but first has to settle affairs at his home.
Shina decides to follow along, while Alex and Spyro go over to the "Lost Fleet" to find more gems and eggs.
In Bentley's Outpost, Shina introduces herself to the yeti and offers her aid, to which he humbly obliges. They then meet up with the yeti's brother, Bartholomew, who Shina immediately hassles like a teddy bear.
They then move their way through the outpost, bashing Rhynocs and clubbing some seals (Comedically, don't worry. Clash of the Elements does not endorse seal abuse).
Shina is introduced to snow for the first time and really, REALLY wants to throw snowballs at the enemies, but is a little...bad at it.
Eventually they make it back to the yetis' home and Bentley thanks her and Spyro for the help. Shina takes the gems she collects and goes to meet back up with Alex and Spyro, hoping Alex in particular is having a good time.
He's not. He's moping around about not being able to feel joy around Spyro while Shina's just so excited all the darn time.
Him and Spyro arrive in Lost Fleet, where a strange man directs them towards a treasure in the sunken ship.
Alex has to restrain himself SO MUCH from just solving all the problems immediately. Truly, he cares so much about Shina's view of him this early on.
After claiming the treasure in the ship the strange man leaves to Evening Lake. Then they run into Shina, who is just casually using her powers to snag the eggs Alex passed up.
When Alex confronts her about this, she EGGS him on about being so serious, saying that its fine to mess around a bit with their powers as long as they complete their mission.
Alex is dumbstruck that she of all people was saying that. Shina urges him to try and experiment with his powers some going forward, and just TRY and have a liiiittle fun.
After a brief detour involving submarines and an acid pool, where they somehow run into that strange man again, they end up at a skateboard racetrack.
There they run into Hunter the cheetah, another of Spyro's allies. He sets up Spyro in a race against some gnarly Rhynocs with an Egg as the first place prize.
Shina then winds up entering the race and forcing Alex into it too. She just wants to skateboard for the first time. Alex, however, reluctantly admits that he hasn't skated either.
He goes along for a little bit to experience joys he couldn't as a child, but one mean Rhynoc shoves him off his board so he decides to get serious.
He basically cheats with his powers to speed up his ride and make the Rhynocs, and consequently his allies, eat dust. He snags first place but it definitely rings hollow, as Shina points out.
Spyro finishes up a race against Hunter alone for another egg, and then they leave the area.
Their next stop is the Honey Speedway, run by some giant bees. There's three tasks and thus three eggs to collect, so this seems like the perfect time to split up.
After Alex proved to be a big cheating cheater, Shina forbids him from joining the race. Alex takes offense to that, and Shina calls him ultra competitive.
Alex takes the flight course, Spyro tackles the race, and Shina joins Hunter to steal an egg off a sheep in a UFO.
Hunter and Shina are forced onto the honey river in an aura boat, and events between all three of them begin to intertwine.
Spyro winds up accidentally knocking Alex out of the sky, where he gets smacked in the face by the bow of Shina's boat.
They ultimately wind up getting all the eggs back safely, but Alex is a little miffed at everyone and covered in honey...
Hunter winds up falling into one of the Sorceress' traps and getting captured.
Next up are the Frozen Altars, where they meet a fairy who gives Spyro ice breath for this world. They then check one of the inhabitants, a penguin who happens to also be named Alex, to find what's going on.
Shina starts imagining her Alex as a penguin, but Alex is not amused.
Once they got a grip on the situation, they decide to split up, leaving Spyro to handle the outside while the two of them go meet up with Bentley again.
Bentley has to do a boxing match against another yeti to get back his brother's favorite ball. Though the first match goes by quick, the second match leads to the yeti gaining that same aura Spike had.
Shina decides to step in, somewhat, and enhance Bentley's fists with her aura while giving advice to help him bob and weave the other yeti's ferocious attacks.
They win and manage to claim a couple more eggs. Turns out Bartholomew left his ball at home. Alex and Bently AREN'T amused.
Alex then finds out that what Shina did is called "Aura Boxing", which is the art of reading opponent's movements by concentrating on their aura. Its not easy to do it through another person, so she is a LITTLE tired.
Spyro joins up with them, having cleared everything else out. Next up on the list is Charmed Ridge.
The trouble this time is a forbidden love between a cat wizard named Azrael and a fairy named Ami. Spyro reluctantly goes to break up the lovers.
Along the way they run into Moneybags again. Alex WANTS to kick him in the groin, but Shina stops him, saying he'll get his later.
He does disarm the jinx on the stairs though, just to keep them moving onward. While Spyro briefly splits up for an egg or two, Alex brings up how strange he's felt since coming here. Being weaker, forced to adhere to this world's rules...Something happened when they got to the atmosphere.
But Shina brushes it off, saying how they've managed fine so far, and Alex is certainly the strongest here by a country mile.
They keep a move on after Spyro returns and eventually run into the runaway couple. But it turns out to be genuine love instead of a kidnapping, and Ami hands off an egg to buy them time to escape.
Alex then splits off to a Sgt. Byrd portal to face a bunch of cat witches while Shina and Spyro solve a puzzle involving beans and a golden goose.
When they get back together again Shina's got some irritation on her skin that Alex heals with aloe vera. Turns out she's allergic to pollen, who knew!
But finally, the moment Shina's been waiting for with bated breath...The Fireworks Factory!
The moment she steps off she's off and running, whacking up Rhynocs while Spyro and Alex are forced to follow and clean up the gems and eggs she carelessly leaves behind.
They do eventually catch up with her and another of Spyro's old allies, a strange girl named Greta. Greta uses some high-speed kung-fu to disable some Rhynocs and stop the Sorceress from blowing up a rocket with an egg on it.
She then heads off to Evening Lake, asking them to keep an eye out for her brother, Hansel.
Shina then splits off to tackle an egg mission on her own, that has her facing the paper mache chinese dragons. But instead of two, she finds herself faced with four, each covered by that strange aura.
She decides to whip out her secret weapon, a stone on her bracelet that causes her to change clothes and gains access to a bunch of firepower.
She glides around the arena and eventually tricks all the dragons into an explosive trap, finishing them in one blow.
She then catches back up with Alex and Spyro with an egg in tow, but in doing so accidentally reveals her new clothes to Alex.
Alex immediately pulls her aside to have a talk about her "magical girl" appearance. Shina's more surprised he'd call her that, which leaves Alex flustered.
Alex demands answers but she forces an exchange. What she knows for him admitting his true feelings about this world.
Alex DOES have some nostalgia for this place, but he doesn't care to admit it.
Shina tells him about her "Drive", in this case her "Gunslinger Drive". Its basically something all Aurians can do to give themselves unique powers tailor made for their auras. As for the change of clothes though? Who knows, but she finds the midriff baring a little embarrassing.
Alex then demands to know why she loves the Fireworks Factory so much. There's a lot of fond reasons, from the music to the environment to just the plain comfiness of the level...But the most important thing for her is that it was the first video game related thing she shared with her little sister.
Alex just shuts up at that point, feeling like a jerk internally for questioning her.
This talk did give Shina an idea though. She believes that they might be able to find info on the Cosmos Drive from the Sorceress' library. So once they defeat her, they should try exploring it.
For now though they've cleaned up everything in the Evening Lake biome, so now its time to ride the Professor's rocket to Midnight Mountain.
But as they head off, Bentley and co are intercepted by Bianca and the freed Hunter. There's no time to question loyalties right now, as Bianca has to pass on a warning to Spyro, and teleports Bentley ahead of them to deliver said warning.
The rocket detours into a beast's carcass against its will, depositing them in front of Bentley and another wicked creature named Scorch.
The Sorceress is planning to make this her last line of defense against the rebels, and its the most wicked and foul creature of them all.
Bentley stands aside and provides rockets for Spyro while Alex and Shina take a more direct approach fighting the creature. In time they manage to dunk it into the acid, much like Spike, but the end results winds up being much different than before.
Scorch's skeleton claws itself out of the acid pool, now surrounded by that strange aura, and begins to attack.
Utilizing some clever explosives, they manage to bury his bones and earn the right to move on.
But now Shina, and subsequently Alex, are piecing together who might be responsible for this strange aura...
Towa and Mira, two demons from the Dragon Ball universe who are known for troubling history. But Alex has his doubts, mostly how he hasn't sensed them yet. Its just something to keep in mind for later though.
At Midnight Mountain they meet Hunter and Bianca, putting Spyro immediately on edge. Hunter tries to assure him that she's legit now, but Spyro doesn't believe it. Bianca mentions the Sorceress' plans to gain immortality by clipping the wings off the baby dragons.
This annoys Alex and rares Spyro up to fight. Bianca awaits them before the door to the Sorceress' lair. But for now, its time to collect more gems and eggs.
Shina and Spyro walk around together while Alex goes solo. Shina tries to convince Spyro that Hunter will still be reliable despite his crush on Bianca.
After collecting a couple eggs, Shina wanders off and runs into Alex in front of the door to the lair, as he tries his hardest to break through.
Alex hates the time they're wasting, even if its only been a few hours, but it seems the universe is wanting to screw him over.
Shina tells him he needs to try some "S&M", which freaks Alex out until she clarifies that no, it means "Smiles and Memories", her personal motto.
Simply put, when you smile it means a happy memory, and if you need to smile then you have a happy memory to think about.
Alex thinks its nonsense but Shina insists he give it a try at least once. After picking up a few more eggs they meet back up with Spyro, who has found Moneybags with another animal, a monkey with a laser gun.
Spyro pays the fee and the monkey, Agent 9, goes blaster crazy on Moneybag's feet to get him to dance. Alex smiles very, very tiny, but hides the moment Shina calls him out.
They then follow Agent 9 to his lab, just to make sure he'll be ok.
Spyro takes a breather while Alex and Shina follow the money onto the island lab. There they meet the Professor, one of Spyro's allies from his last adventure.
The Professor tasks Agent 9 with clearing out Rhynocs that are infesting the place, but Shina decides to join in with her Gunslinger Drive to make it a contest.
While those two have fun, the Professor quickly pieces together that Alex and Shina are from another world cause of how their appearances clash with the world.
Alex doesn't deny it but doesn't give him any answers either. He's more concerned with seeing how Shina handles fun.
There's a bit of fun had between her and Agent 9, but ultimately the monkey winds up winning by ten points. Though at the very least, they got all the gems and eggs from the area.
But before they return to Spyro, Shina throws Agent 9 under the bus for trying to claim this island as his own, much to the Professor's annoyance.
After cleaning up Evening Lake quickly they head off to Crystal Islands. There the local bears are messing with the Sorceress' magic but have accidentally angered the crystallic wildlife.
Spyro considers finding the leader of the magicians so they can use his power to open the door sooner.
Along the way Alex finally starts questioning Shina's referential sense of humor when she calls the wildlife "Crystal Beasts". Turns out someone in Sancturia recreates stuff found on Earth to be sold in the city mall. And good deeds are an alternative form of currency there.
The group keep on until they run into Moneybags again. When Moneybags threatens to turn Spyro into a blue hedgehog with a bad franchise, Alex just casually extends the bridge across and then throws Shina's earlier logic about "relying on foreknowledge" in her face.
They then come across the leader magician, but it turns out he just got some fake wands for a prank. Though the fact his friends can do magic is weird, probably has to do with the eggs coming back to the Forgotten Realms.
The group then splits up to grab the remaining things they need, including having another run in with Bentley for some whack-a-mole.
Alex starts feeling lethargic, wondering when he stopped enjoying life at all...
The Desert Ruins come up next. The problem here is that the Gus the rat is worried about his girlfriend Tara being lost raiding a tomb.
The trip here is a lot more casual than the last two, as Alex and Spyro take a walk together while Shina actually splits for a bit to take care of her own business.
Alex and Spyro talk about Shina and Bianca and how neither of them really understand girls that well. Their talk is interrupted when they run into Moneybags.
For once, Alex decides to show restraint. Great, GREAT restraint. Spyro pays the fee to get into the tomb, and they move around until they find a passage to an underwater section where Hunter and his trained manta ray are prepared to fight robot sharks.
Spyro gets on the manta ray and swims around, while Alex floats by until Shina returns, having been on an adventure with Sheila the Kangaroo.
Once that's done they find Tara outside the tomb. She hands them the last egg and then tells them that she doesn't care about Gus anymore.
And somehow, Shina made it through this whole area without making the obvious reference.
Then they go to the Haunted Tombs. Alex tries to bypass the whole area with brute force, only to get blocked by ancient Egyptian dog magic.
Before they're sent on a one-way trip to the Shadow Realm, Alex grits his teeth and decides to bear the trials.
He then calls Shina out for not somehow finding this repetitive by now. She does confide that she doesn't like this area in particular, which surprises Alex.
Shina says she's not ALL sunshine and rainbows...She doesn't like brussel sprouts, for example. Alex then decides to show a little humanity by saying he doesn't care much for mountain goats.
They keep moving on, collecting all they can along the way, until making it basically back to where they were, just higher up. There the dog asks them one last riddle, and upon giving up the dragon egg, happily leaves to retire in the Spooky Swamp.
Shina then splits off to help Agent 9 stop a curse inflicted upon his tail, but even after clearing the trial, all they find is another egg.
Shina then relaxes back for a moment with a sigh, reflecting upon her mother's letter, and hoping they'll find the answers they'll seek soon.
Next up is the Dino Mines. Alex ONCE AGAIN tries to get things done quickly by breaking the Sheriff free from the jail cell, but the sheriff still locks the egg they need behind a mission of stopping the rogue cowboy dinosaurs.
Alex throws his hands in the air and gives up, stubbornly choosing to go along with this nonsense so they can get it done faster.
Shina pulls Alex away from Spyro for a moment and tries to settle him down. Alex doesn't know where she gets off being this way, only for Shina to say she's just concerned for him as a friend.
Alex doesn't think of her as a friend, they're just working for a common cause. Even hearing this, Shina doesn't let it get her down.
After clearing the mines of rogue dinosaurs, including Shina teaming up with Agent 9 again, all that's really left is to do is face the Sorceress directly.
Bianca opens the way, as promised, and the group drops down to confront the Sorceress. After her and Spyro exchange some banter, she gains a purple aura and starts wielding her magic against her enemies.
Alex goes full in on his attempt to beat her, showing some anger that is a little concerning for Shina.
Agent 9 eventually shows up to provide vehicles for Spyro to pilot against the witch.
Ultimately Alex traps the Sorceress in ice and throws her into the path of a combined attack from Spyro and Agent 9, shattering her to pieces.
Shina thinks that was a little much but Alex says she shouldn't complain, since the world is now saved and they can freely look for info on the Cosmos Drive.
Spyro heads back off on his lonesome to collect the remaining eggs, while Bianca takes Alex and Shina to the archives, as promised.
There the two spend the next few hours coming the surprisingly vast place with a fine-toothed comb. It does seem like they aren't going to get any results though...
Alex then carelessly opens one out of place book and comes across a note that appears to be calling him out for trying to change the timeline. He burns the note but feels a terrible sense of unease.
He flies over to Shina and says he's worried about Spyro. So they head to the Sorceress' secret vault to try and find him...Only to see him nearly dead against a revived Sorceress, whose appearance has turned wickedly demonic, and a black aura covering her body.
Shina briefly pulls Spyro aside to heal him up so he's not under threat of dying. He tries to rejoin the fight, but the escalation of the Sorceress' powers means Alex refuses to let him help.
Shina and Alex combine forces alone against the corrupted Sorceress, who speaks only in pained roars.
Shina notices a strange object lodged into her corpse body, and Alex remarks that this is definitely not Towa and Mira's MO.
They engage the Sorceress in a harrowing freefall battle after she destroys the arena. Eventually the two work out a plan on the fly that allows Shina to tug the object free from the corpse, which then quickly disintegrates into nothing.
They get back up to solid land and Shina scans the object, a slightly curved stone. She recognizes the names etched on it as figures in Aurian history, and possibly, making this the first lead they've got for the Cosmos Drive.
Alex is baffled that they actually found a hint from wasting all this time, but is at least relieved they can move on off this dumb world.
Shina resonates with the stone and it creates a trail out into space, seemingly leading to other stones they need for the Cosmos Drive's location.
After checking on Spyro's condition and confirming he finished his job otherwise, Shina says her farewells and Alex flies them off into space.
Shina's excited to see where they'll go next, while Alex worries a bit about what or who was responsible for that strange aura.
Said figure watches over them, curious to see what happens next...
Part 4.5 Story 1 END.