Spyro's blood was boiling again, and not from a fairy kiss this time. "W-What do you mean, they took him?"

Tomas hid his face behind his wings. "In all the confusion, none of us kept an eye on the children. I didn't even realize one was missing until now."

"But- But why?" The only answer Spyro received was a shake of Tomas's head. But he didn't need one. Scum like the Punks were always trying to steal hatchlings. Word from the Thieves Den was that baby dragons could fetch unfathomably high prices if you knew the right people. In the uncharted lands outside the Dragon Realms, hatchlings were popular as pets, potion ingredients, and delicacies.

Or, judging by that anti-dragon rhetoric Steampunk had been spewing, Yin's kidnapping could've been motivated by pure, petty revenge.

Tomas's voice began to tremble. "How could I let this happen? It's all my fault..."

"No, it's-" Mid-sentence, Spyro found his eyes traveling towards Yang. She looked back at him with an optimism that only a child could have. "It's- It's-"

His legs moved all on their own. Spyro couldn't stop them. He couldn't help but run.

"Spyro-" Sparx followed suit, darting behind his partner until the other dragons had vanished over the Artisans horizon. "Spyro, listen-"

"It's not Tomas's fault!" Once he was far enough away, Spyro threw himself into the grass, letting his head plop down into the dirt. "If I'd watched the hatchlings like they'd asked-"

"-then the Punks might have nabbed you instead." Sparx landed on the crick of Spyro's neck, gently brushing the dragon's snout with his wings.

"So what?" Spyro squeezed his eyes, pressing his face against the dirt. "It was still my responsibility to protect him, and instead I had to be the hotshot hero."

"You made a mistake," Sparx said softly. "Nobody was expecting this invasion. It's not fair to be so hard on yourself. You're just a kid."

A growl escaped Spyro's throat. "Yeah, well, I can tell you one thing – I'm sure as heck not sitting back any longer and letting the Peace Keepers save Yin. We have to get to Chronolia, and we have to do it fast! We have to do it before… before..." The growl was soon followed by a yawn.

"You're not saving anyone tonight." Sparx gave a strained smile. "You're exhausted. Get some rest, buddy."

Spyro sighed, sending a faint outline of smoke into the night air. "Okay, pal, okay. But it's not gonna be easy."

"Try to relax."

Spyro's eyelids grew heavier and heavier until all he could see was the golden glow resting in front of them. Spyro would never admit it, but ever since he'd been a hatchling, the darkness had terrified him (Of course, Dark Passage hadn't exactly helped in that regard). Sparx had served as a living nightlight for as long as Spyro could remember, even when he'd been a larva crawling on Spyro's egg. No matter how troubled Spyro felt, that little glow always managed to comfort him.

Soon enough, Spyro was adrift among a soothing sea of dreams. The Dream Weavers had made sure to whip up an extra pleasant batch tonight.

The Balloonists were a tough breed, all wrapped up in thick jackets, scarves, and goggles to protect from the biting winds of the Dragon Realms' upper atmosphere. Any fragile, wingless humans who ventured into the sky had to be tough. And they had to be really tough to say no to a dragon.

"No."

"Aww, c'mon, Marco!"

The Balloonist gave Spyro a stern glare. His eyes had to do all the emoting, what with that scarf covering the bottom half of his face. "The Elders gave me direct orders. Hatchlings are forbidden from leaving their homeworlds until the Punk crisis is dealt with."

"Ugh! That is so lame!" Spyro stormed away from the pier in a huff, and Sparx gave Marco an apologetic look before following.

The duo made their way through the cave back to the central Artisans area, Spyro muttering to himself all the while. "There's gotta be some way to get to Chronolia ourselves… Hmm, whatever happened to that spaceship from Evening Lake?"

Spyro was so lost in thought that, despite a buzz of warning from Sparx, he nearly rammed headfirst into the couple standing at the cave's exit.

"Whoops, sorry, guys-!" At the last second, Spyro jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding a collision with Hunter's golden tummy.

"No problem, dude." Hunter gave a nonchalant shrug. The cheetah rarely lost his cool, especially when his hand was intertwined with Bianca's like it was now. Spyro fought the urge to throw up in his mouth.

"Actually, we're glad we ran into you two," said Bianca. "We've got something we need to show you."

"Really?" Sparx's face lit up. "What is it?"

"I've been doing some research, trying to uncover as much information as I can about the punks." As she spoke, Bianca fidgeted with one of her long, floppy ears. "It's been pretty scarce, actually, but I managed to come up with a theory about them..."

"So let me get this straight." By now, the sun was dipping beneath the Artisan world's horizon. The light through the window painted Hunter's confused face a vivid orange. "You're saying those Punks who attacked our party, the big, scary metal-covered guys who whooped all the dragons... are actually a buncha hairless monkeys?"

"Not monkeys, dear," said Bianca. "Humans."

On Bianca's insistence, Spyro, Sparx, and Hunter had gathered in the Grand Central Dragon Realms Library. Spyro and Hunter were currently seated at the opposite end of a reading table from her (with Spyro curled up in his chair like a cat), while Sparx hovered over the pages of the book, examining them curiously. With the Unity Day party over, Bianca was back in her usual dress-and-cape combo while Hunter was back to his usual nudity.

"Yeah, no offense, Bianca, but I've met some humans before," said Spyro. "Not to sound speciesist, but they weren't exactly the shiniest gems in the chest, y'know what I'm saying?" Agent Zero came to mind...

Bianca shook her head. "The humans I'm talking about aren't from around here." With an audible thump, she planted a book the size of a small boulder on the table. "I got this thing from the Sorceress's old library. It's where she kept all her records. See, even after she banished them, the Sorceress kept tabs on the dragons." Bianca pointed to a faded illustration of what appeared to be a map, though the labels were written in a language about a thousand years out of date. "A millennium ago, the world we know as the Dragon Realms was called the Human Realms, but then the dragons arrived, desperate to find a new home, and the humans didn't take kindly to their presence. A war broke out, and, naturally, the winners were the ones who could fly and breathe fire."

"So the dragons just barged in and took over?" Spyro sprang to his feet, eyes widening.

Bianca shrugged. "Well, that's according to the Sorceress, so I'd take it with a grain of salt."

"Oh. Right." That seemed to calm Spyro down.

"The important part is, after the war, not all the humans stayed behind." Bianca flipped the page to another map. "A faction of them fled to a realm called Chronolia. The same Chronolia where Lord Steampunk told the dragons to go today."

"Great sleuthing, honey bunny!" Hunter gave her a congratulatory kiss on the forehead. "I knew I was dating you for a reason."

"What, for my brains?" Bianca raised a sly eyebrow. "That's funny, I was dating you for your looks."

"Guys, can you please focus on the mission before that mutton I had for lunch comes back for revenge?" Spyro's cheeks had gone from purple to green. "Learning the Punks' backstory is great and all, but that doesn't get us any closer to rescuing Yin. We're still stranded here in the Dragon Realms."

At this, Bianca sighed, then leaned over the table to meet Spyro's eyes. "I know you feel guilty about what happened to Yin, Spyro, but it's not your burden to bear. I'm not trying to be patronizing, but you're a little kid, and it's the grown-up dragons' job to-"

"Not you, too, Bianca!" Spyro let out a groan as he hopped down from his seat. "Yeah, I'm a little kid… A little kid who beat Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto and-"

"-the Sorceress, I know." Bianca didn't hesitate to meet his glare (while Hunter and Sparx cowered off to the side). "If it wasn't for you, I'd still be her stooge, and I can't thank you enough for that, Spyro. But the only reason you had to do all that yourself was because the other dragons were frozen in crystal or because you were the only dragon in Avalar and you couldn't go back home or- or because you were the only dragon who could fit down my rabbit holes-"

"Wait, that's it!" The others all jumped at Spyro's sudden enthusiasm. "Your rabbit holes! How come I didn't think of those before? If they can get us from here to the other side of the world, then taking us to Chronolia should be a snap!"

Bianca winced, bringing a hand to her mouth. She had, apparently, said more than she'd meant to. "That… is true."

"And you said so yourself, the bigger dragons can't fit down those."

"Well, making them any larger causes them to collapse..."

"And we want to do anything we can to rescue Yin, right?" Spyro gave her a little nudge with his snout. "So then it is up to us!"

After a prolonged sigh, Bianca said, "I take your point, Spyro. If it's our best chance of saving Yin, then… one rabbit hole coming right up."

"A hole from here to Chronolia?" Hunter gave her an incredulous look. "Well, uh, in that case, you'd better start digging pronto."

Bianca rolled her eyes. "They're magic rabbit holes, you furry numbskull. I can't burrow clean through the globe."

"Oh. Right. I knew that."

"Sounds like a plan, then." Spyro quivered with anticipation. Lord Steampunk was already as good as toasted.

"Wait a minute," spoke up Sparx, giving Spyro an anxious look. "You couldn't beat Steampunk before. Are you sure we can do this by ourselves?"

"Hey, it's me you're talking about." Spyro laughed to himself. "Besides, I betcha all our friends would fit down the holes, too."

"Sorry, Spyro." Sheila gave a sad smile. "I'd love to help out, but my mates need me." She gestured to the nearby pair of goats desperately trying to yank Billy out of the castle wall.

"That's alright, Sheila."

Next Spyro tried Agent 9, who was chilling with the Professor by the rubble where the Superportal had once stood.

Of course, Agent 9 immediately perked up at Spyro's suggestion. "An adventure? Count me in! Ooh, I wonder if Punks make the same funny noise as Rhynoc when you shoot 'em in the-"

"Agent 9," the Professor said sharply. "I need you here so I can keep an eye on- I mean, so you can bodyguard me."

"But Professor-!" Agent 9 let out a petulant groan.

"No buts." Behind his spectacles, the Professor gave a stern glare. "The last time you went off on an adventure, it took me two weeks to figure out how to turn that snake back into your tail-"

"You promised you'd never talk about that again!"

"Uh... I'd better go." Spyro politely excused himself before the scene had the chance to escalate.

Well, that was the last friend he could invite along. Sgt. Byrd was needed by his military, and Bentley was out of the question for the same reason he didn't ride many elevators. Spyro supposed he could ask Elora, but Steampunk had already taken a swipe at her once. The thought of him hurting her… made Spyro's scales crawl.

"Hey, Spyro!"

Spyro was shaken from his thoughts by a certain cheetah approaching from behind. Hunter ran up the steps of the castle balcony to meet him. "I got a sitter for my manta ray, so I'm good to go. Ready to kick some Punk butt?"

"You bet!"

By sunset, the group of Spyro, Sparx, Hunter, and Bianca had gathered back in the Artisans homeworld, right beside the pond with the twin waterfalls.

"Alright, let's do this!" Hunter fist-pumped and Spyro claw-pumped, but the others two failed to share their enthusiasm.

Bianca scrunched up her nose as she pulled out the Sorceress's spellbook. "Eww, it still smells like Rhynoc from when Grendor got his grubby paws on it..."

"Fee flar fee fah fah FOO!" The chanting caused Bianca's palms to glow like twin suns. There was a burst of light, and when the display died down, there was a fresh rabbit hole sitting in the grass, the perfect size for Spyro.

"That is way cool." Spyro gave the rabbit hole a curious sniff. "Man, it's a shame I won't be able to travel like this when I'm older."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Hunter prepared to do a swan dive, but he was cut off by a voice crying out:

"Guys, hold up!"

"Elora?" Spyro looked up to see the faun approaching. She, too, had changed out of her party outfit, meaning she was buck naked save for some strategically woven leaves. Spyro could never get over how weird mammals were.

"Spyro, are you sure this is a good idea?" Elora shot him a pleading look. "Steampunk could've really hurt you last time!"

"Wha- How did you find out where we're going?" asked Spyro. Behind him, Hunter began whistling.

"Please, Spyro, don't you think something seems off about this?" Elora's voice was shaking. "It's too easy. You could be playing right into Lord Steampunk's hands. Why would he even kidnap a hatchling in the first place if he wasn't luring you out?"

"Elora, I- I-" Spyro had been brushing off people's worries nonstop all day, but somehow those big, sea green eyes were a lot more persuasive. He took a breath. "I'm sorry, Elora, but that doesn't matter – I've gotta save Yin."

"But don't you see what's happened to you?" Elora snapped with enough force to make Spyro flinch. "You've won so many battles that your head's swollen! Do you really want to save Yin, or are you only looking for another excuse to show off for the cameras and make out with more fairies-?"

"Hey, it wasn't like that!" Spyro yelped, cheeks reddening. "I just needed a Superflame powerup!"

"Yeah, I've heard that one before."

"Oh! Oh, I see what this is about." A growl was building in Spyro's throat, sending steam pouring out his nostrils. "You're jealous."

"What?" Now Elora and Spyro had a matching set of cheeks. "That- That's completely ridiculous! Why would I be jealous of some ditzy fairy that you kiss-?"

"You're jealous that people give me all the credit for saving Avalar!"

"Oh." Weird, Elora had looked a whole lot more flustered a second ago. "No, I don't care about that. I'm not jealous, Spyro – I'm scared you're going to get yourself killed on some reckless adventure!"

"I am so sick of everyone treating me like a fragile little flower just because I'm small for my age!" Spyro's words had enough force to singe the grass at his feet. "I thought you of all people would be different, Elora. You always had so much faith that I could beat Ripto-"

"And I felt horrible the entire time for making you fight him!" Elora's voice had gone higher, like she was recalling a bad dream.

"Phht. C'mon, I eat bad guys for breakfast." As he spoke, Spyro puffed out his chest. "There's not a villain in the world I can't handle."

Elora bowed her head, resigned. As she stormed off, she muttered, "Except hubris..."

"Oh yeah?" Spyro called after her. "Well, if I run into any hubris, I'll kick its butt, too!"

Sparx gave him a look. "Uh... You do know what hubris is, right?"

"Ugh. Girls are impossible!" Spyro turned back to the others, ignoring him.

"Ooh, someone's in the doghouse!" called out Hunter. The intensity of Spyro's glare shut him right up.

"We've wasted enough time," Spyro said. "The longer we fart around, the worse things could get for Yin."

"Okay, Spyro." Bianca nodded her head slowly. "If you're absolutely certain this is what you want to-"

Spyro had dived down the rabbit hole before she'd even finished.