Happy Easter, everyone! (Is it weird that the Idol Springs chapter is going up on Easter weekend? Hmm.) Anyway, let's get on with the show! :)
You found a disclaimer!
Spyro the Dragon, both the game and all related characters (c) Insomniac. They own the Spyro that's in this story, so nyeh.
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage / Gateway to Glimmer, as well as all related characters (c) blah-blah, same copyright.
WARNING: This chapter contains game-spoilers! If you still haven't 100%-ed Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, read on with caution!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Idol Worship
Mikhail couldn't help but pause in his woodworking to admire the beauty of his sculpture. The idols weren't particularly attractive beings, but he had truly outdone himself today. Every line, every cut, everything about the idol screamed 'perfection'. The sculpture lived, it breathed, it could spring to life at any moment.
And right as it stretched above him and gave a low, rumbling growl, he realized that it did. "AAAAAAAAAH!"
Dmitri watched as his co-sculptor was chased about the Springs by the idol he had just finished carving. Instead of showing immediate concern, his brain hatched an idea. Turning to the stack of wood he had yet to touch, Dmitri went to work. Within minutes, the hammer and chisel in his masterful hands turned the pile of wood into a sultry hula-girl. Shaking with excitement, the builder leaned in and gave his wooden idol a kiss.
It immediately fell over. So much for that plan.
oo00oo00oo
The second Spyro touched down in the world of the Idol Springs, it was obvious to see what the problem was: the world's inhabitants were being chased by giant wooden statues brandishing steel spikes with flaming marshmallows.
"Why can't we be put in charge of saving a world that's normal for once?" Sparx groaned.
"'Cause that'd be easy," Spyro laughed, approaching one of the locals NOT being chased by giant idols with flaming desserts. "Are you guys having problems, or is this just a party at the springs?"
"Very funny, dragon," the head boss, Mr. Foreman Bob, spat. "But we've got a major problem on our hands! Our famous idols have come to life, and now they're attacking us! They've locked us all out of our homes AND stolen all our food!"
Spyro bit back the urge to laugh at how completely silly the scenario was. "Look, you're tryin' ta stop Ripto 'n save Avalar, right?" Foreman Bob sighed. "Help us get rid of these idols, and we'll make it worth yer while!"
oo00oo00oo
As Spyro would find, though, saving Idol Springs wouldn't be as simple as bashing statues and torching idols.
"What do you MEAN, they have your tools?!"
Yes, the young Artisan was now put in a sticky situation. To move through the Idol Springs, the workers needed their tools. However, the tools were locked in a box at the bottom of the Springs. "And it'll only open if you complete three puzzles set up by the idols!" Typical.
So here the young dragon was, perched on top of the locked toolbox and watching the puzzle before him. The first was a light-box challenge. Eight boxes sat on the floor - four of them lit, four of them not. If all eight were lit, the first of the three locks would spring open.
Spyro sighed. Thinking hurt; he tried to avoid it at all costs. His go-to strategy of just hitting everything until it worked failed him here, as he just ended up in a winding circle of block after block after block, never getting any closer to the goal. There was a pattern, and Spyro couldn't crack it. If you lit one block, two would go out. If you put one out, two would light up.
It brought the young dragon back to his earliest days of dragon training with Delbin, right after the first time he had snuck away to the Peacekeepers in search of adventure. Most dragonlets didn't begin basic training until after their first dragon-age, which was roughly the age Spyro was at now. (Though in hindsight, it was a good thing he started early.) Delbin had hoped to curve Spyro's appetite for adventure by balancing fun training with not-so-fun training - the Peacekeeper spirit with the Artisan mind.
One of the exercises Nestor had concocted was a light puzzle similar to this. The fence held in the fodder he desperately needed to chase, but the lights and patterns were the same. "Clear your mind, Spyro. Stay focused. Analyze the situation. Be thoughtful, be patient. Take challenges one step at a time."
When he was younger, Nestor's wise words went unnoticed. Spyro eventually found a way to shatter the light-boxes and free the sheep. Here, this wasn't an option, so the advice would finally be put to work. He hopped off his perch and began pressing buttons again - this time slowly, methodically, watching how the lights interacted.
DING! Finally, the lights all went on. The dragon shook his head; every time he attempted to reject the Artisans, they came right back in.
Puzzle two moved them out of the light-box chamber and up to the lake, where the overshadowing idol head demanded fish. Luckily, there was an entire pond of them, all taking their turns to jump into the air. With the right angle, Spyro could shoot enough hot air at the offerings, knocking them out of their path and into the idol's gaping mouth. In they went, one after another after another. Orange fish, orange fish, blue fish, orange fish.
Red fish. BLEH!
Spyro gave a growl as he watched all of those fish spill back into the ocean. On top of all of this, the idol had to be picky.
When the insatiable idol finally had his fill of every non-red fish in the Springs, they moved onto puzzle three. "I tried REALLY hard to help you out with this one, Spyro!" Foreman Bud exclaimed. "But I've only figured out the first step. Maybe that helps?"
Spyro hopped up on the nearby steps to get a good glimpse at the colorful tiles in front of him. Foreman Bud pressed down on the first of them, the star on the blue square. So the Artisan carefully glanced over the remaining tiles, putting his scholarly training (or the little of it he paid attention to) to work.
The reasonable approach would be to find another star piece on a blue square, right? But none of those existed. Maybe another star? He moved towards the only other star, a green one sitting on a heptagon. Cling! Now he was out of stars...perhaps he could move to another heptagon? The only other one was an orange tile, housing a rhombus. Cling! Okay, out of heptagons and out of ideas. It couldn't just be the shapes, right? They were colored for a reason. So Spyro moved to the remaining orange tile, an orange moon on a star tile. Cling! Well, that naturally pointed to the other moon piece, the white triangle tile.
Spyro couldn't hold back a smile as he jumped on the final tile, the blue triangle with the raised circle. The mighty Peacekeeper was better at puzzles than he thought - who knew?
Foreman Bud couldn't wait to dig back into the tool box, which had sprung open when they returned to the light-box chamber. "Wow, thanks, Spyro! You're pretty smart for a dragon!" (Spyro made a note to burn all of Avalar's dragon books; something wasn't quite right about the Avalari myths of dragons.)
The foreman paused in his digging, though, when he pulled out a green globe instead of a woodcarving tool. "Hey, Spyro! I dunno what this shiny thing is - you want it?"
Spyro bit back a frustrated sigh as he turned to exit the chamber, newly-earned orb in hand (...or guidebook, as it were.) However, Foreman Bud couldn't let him go just yet: "Hey, Spyro! If you got time...you mind helping us get something else back from the idols?"
oo00oo00oo
"AND they have your women?!"
The young Artisan was beyond frustrated with the incompetence of the Idol Springs builders. Not only had the barely-armed idols stolen their tools, they had also taken all of the builder girls hostage, forcing them to dance upon giant platforms for one of their leaders, a tubby purple idol that couldn't be bothered to do much else but watch his pretty damsels.
So it was hero-time once again. Spyro snuck down into the valley where the girls were being held as quietly as he could, making his way into the center, where one hula girl was chained to a rock. "Hey, what's going on over here?" he asked the captive as quietly as he could manage, trying not to attract the attention of the head idol.
"Oh, dragon, thank goodness you're here!" the hula girl (who later introduced herself as Stella) fawned. "The idols have trapped all of the girls on those pedestals!"
"How do I get them down?"
Stella strained to move from her chains, making a weak gesture towards the outcropping stairs. "There...should be a supercharge over there somewhere. If you can use that and smash all of the pedestals-"
Spyro didn't need to hear the rest. "Wait...did you say...supercharge?"
It wasn't necessarily the elaborate tracks of the High Caves, but Spyro did find...what he assumed to be the hula girl supercharge by the outcroppings. It more resembled a portal than a supercharge, but Spyro could recognize the magic from the burst of wind funneling through the two posts.
In his drive to master the speedways, Spyro had long-since abandoned the supercharges of the Magic Crafters. However, once he dove through the posts, the feeling was undeniable; it was a supercharge. The rush of untouchable speed coursed through his legs, just as it did so long ago in the High Caves and the Tree Tops, and with his head down, Spyro smashed through the pedestals like they were gem baskets. He cleared out all 6 statues, then ended his charge by bashing into the rock that held Stella prisoner.
Once the girls were free, they all rushed for the center. The tubby idol finally recognized the danger, but was helpless to do anything. The girls formed a tight circle around their captor, then began to sing and dance, swaying their hips and spinning in perfect harmony.
For a moment, the idol let down his guard, going back to watching the girls with dreamy eyes. It was the perfect distraction to keep him from seeing the stormcloud forming overhead. With a violent CRACK!, lightning struck from the girls' rain dance, smashing the idol into pieces.
"Wow, that was awesome!" Spyro laughed, helping Stella out of the rubble of her ex-prison. "You girls busted that idol like a roman candle!"
"Of course we did," Stella said with a scoff. "We're a little bit more capable than those boys out there."
Well, she had a point.
oo00oo00oo
"Wow, Spyro! That was amazin'!"
Spyro tried to brush off Foreman Max's flattery. It wasn't exactly difficult to fight off wooden statues with flaming hot dogs for weapons. Even ignoring the fact that he was, well, a fire-breath. "It was no big deal. Just another day in the life of a hero."
"Well, if you ever need a job, we'll make room for ya here in the Springs!" For some reason, Spyro didn't feel he'd need to come back for that offer.
Foreman Max reached into the pocket of his apron, pulling out a jade idol. "'Til then, me and the guys decided that we want you to have this. You c'n probably use it a lot better than we can."
"Your talisman?"
"Yeah, we usually just let the thing sit 'n collect dust anyway. It's the least we could do fer all your hard work."
"Well, I'll take it off your hands, then! Thanks!"
oo00oo00oo
With their food and tools returned, the foremen decided to celebrate with a hot dog and marshmallow roast by the waterfall.
"Man, am I glad that mess is over with!" Foreman Bob laughed.
"Jeez, you could say that again!" Foreman Max scoffed, taking a bite of his hot dog.
Suddenly, the foremen froze as the water near then began to ripple and splash. Out from the depths, another idol rose up. This one bigger, darker, and scarier than all of the rest. The foremen froze in fear as the new attacker approached them, slow and creaky step by step. It gave a low, throaty growl as it approached...
Then pulled out its own hot dog and began to roast it over the fire.
The foremen looked at each other, then shrugged. Hey, at least they were bringing their own food this time!
Oh, Idol Springs builders, you're so completely useless. XD Two talismans down, twelve to go! Join us next time, right here on Legacy!
§ Tucker's Mayflower, signing off! §