The first homeworld of Chronolia was an expansive grassland filled with the kind of sunlight that even smelled good. One breath should've put Spyro at ease, but right now, no amount of chilly morning air could possibly cool his jets. His thoughts were too consumed – consumed by Elora, by Yin, by Steampunk…
How many times would Spyro have to prove himself before people stopped treating him like a baby? Well, if that's how it was gonna be, then Spyro would just keep proving himself over and over and over again until even the dimmest Gnorc in the realms couldn't deny his greatness.
Out of the corner of his eye, Spyro spotted a red gem half-hidden in the grass. Its distinct draconic scent proved it was one of the stolen goods, and so Spyro lurched towards the ruby… which caused nothing to happen.
"Huh? Sparx?" Spyro's head darted around, but his companion was nowhere to be seen. Great, now Spyro had to pick it up himself like a primitive. He touched his snout to the gem, which made a pleasant chiming noise as it vanished, replaced by a bouncing gold "1" symbol.
Spyro trotted back to the rabbit hole. Apparently, he was the only one who'd exited. "Sparx? Guys?" Spyro stuck his face back inside.
"Heads up!"
Naturally, the others immediately shot out, causing a tangled ball of limbs to go soaring across the landscape. The ensuing chaos lasted several minutes.
"Ugh..." Bianca groaned as she finally freed herself. "At least I didn't have to bring any Rhynoc along this time..."
The instant he was out, Spyro took in the sight before him. The slapstick antics had landed them in a new section of the grassy homeworld. The plains had been replaced with rolling hills, all of them littered with some sort of stone structures… plus enough gems to make a dragon drool.
"Sparx?" Spyro didn't have to say anything. His trusty dragonfly was already zooming around, grabbing every gem even the tiniest bit near Spyro's radius.
"Well, guys, here we are." Bianca made a sweeping gesture with her arms. "Welcome to Past Grounds, the first homeworld of Chronolia."
The place kinda looked like the Artisans world, if the Artisans world was stuck in the Stone Age. Whereas Artisans was full of elaborate towns and jaw-dropping castles, this dump's landmarks were little more than a buncha rocks stacked on top of each other. Guess that was the most the silly humans could manage without stone-melting fire breath.
Though, come to think of it… "Where are the humans?" Spyro asked aloud.
"Hmm, good question." Bianca took Hunter's hand as they wandered towards the central hill.
"Maybe they're all hiding?" said Hunter.
"Could be." Bianca nodded. "The Punks have definitely been here." She gestured to all the gems scattered about.
"Geez, bad guys are always dropping their stolen treasure," muttered Sparx. "It's almost formulaic."
"And chances are they've hidden some Power Crystals around here, too," Bianca continued. "That's what I did with the eggs back when I lead the Rhynocs, anyways. We'll have to comb the landscape thoroughly. If Steampunk's armies are anywhere near as expertly-trained as the Sorceress's, those Power Crystals could be anywhere. They could be in places we'd never find in a thousand years- no, a million years!"
"Hey, there's one!" Hunter pointed out a red crystal perched on ledge behind Bianca.
"I- What?" After spinning around in disbelief, Bianca folded her arms. "W-Well, my armies wouldn't have hidden an egg somewhere so obvious."
"Uh huh." Spyro trotted over to collect the Power Crystal. Like the gems, it made a pleasant chime as it vanished into hammerspace. "Alright, one down, ninety-nine to go."
"Awesomesauce! Let's go find us some more!" Hunter started to run off, but Bianca grabbed his arm.
"Hold up, dear. We've got to be careful." She glanced around, as if Steampunk's minions might spring out any minute. "Remember, we're in an uncharted realm. We don't know how friendly the Chronolians are. This far from the Dragon Realms, everyone we meet will be a stranger. The odds of running into a familiar face are slim to-"
"Spyro, my favorite customer!" The voice that hit Spyro's ears... made him want to shower. "What a random coincidence running into you here."
"No way!"
Part of Spyro couldn't believe his eyes, but the other, more cynical part of him wasn't too surprised. Standing before the group was the only face Spyro had ever hated more than Gnasty Gnorc's. He had that same stupid monocle, that same ugly suit, that same oversized sack of gems clutched firmly in his sweaty little paw...
"Moneybags?" All four heroes let out simultaneous cries of shock and horror. Even Bianca seemed familiar with the fat old bear. Really, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in all the realms who hadn't surrendered their gems to him some time or other.
"Small world, isn't it?" The way Moneybags was smiling, you'd think they'd greeted him with a warm hello.
"What are you doing here?" A low growl escaped Spyro's throat. "Are you following me... again?"
"Why, I've no idea what you're talking about," said Moneybags. "I've simply come here for a little sightseeing. I've been thinking of getting back into the haiku business, and I needed some inspiration-"
"Yeah, sure." Spyro pushed past him. "Just stay out of our way, Moneybutt. And if I catch you making 'deals' with the enemy again, so help me I will-" He froze, then slowly turned his head downward.
Between the rabbit hole and the hill with all the stone structures, there was a chasm. To cross this chasm, one simply needed to walk across the bridge... that was currently rolled up and resting at Moneybag's feet.
All eyes fell on the bear.
"How much?" Spyro asked flatly.
"Now, now, Spyro." Moneybags made a show of examining his perfectly manicured claws. "That bridge could've been like that when I got here. You know what you make when you assume-"
"So you're not charging us a toll to cross?" spoke up Sparx.
Moneybags gave a start. "I never said that!"
"Ugh..." Spyro buried his face in his wing. "We don't have time for this." He looked towards Bianca. "Bust out some magic and teleport us across."
"Thought you'd never ask." Bianca cracked her fingers.
"Wait, you can do that?" Moneybags gaped at Bianca with a horror he hadn't displayed even in Ripto's presence.
With a snap, Bianca summoned a twin pair of glowing, magical energy portals on each side of the bridge. "Everybody in."
Sweat trickled down Moneybags's face as he watched the heroes move towards the portal. But a mere second before Spyro could enter, Moneybags cried out, "Alright, alright, I admit it! You've outsmarted me, Spyro!" Suddenly, his voice grew solemn. Moneybags turned away from the group, hiding his face. "You and your friends are far too shrewd to be swindled by an old scam artist like me anymore. Go ahead and cross the bridge. It doesn't matter." He slouched his shoulders and gave the bridge a feeble kick, unrolling it across the chasm.
"Um..." The group traded glances.
"I'll just go back to writing my haikus," continued Moneybags. "I'm sure my wife will understand when- when I tell her we can't afford any bread and water for the little ones this week." He brought a hand to his eyes. "And my grandmother's outstanding hospital bills can surely be put off another month."
If Spyro's eyes rolled any harder, they'd pop out of his head. "Oh, you have got to be-"
"Your grandmother's sick?" Hunter promptly unloaded a fistful of purple and yellow gems into Moneybags's outstretched paws. "I had no idea! Tell her we wish her the best!"
"Oh, bless you, you credit to all cheetahs! Bless you!" Moneybags held the gems to his chest like they were his lifeblood. "Thanks to your generous donation, we'll almost have enough to cover the car repairs and gas so we can visit dear old Grannybags in her final moments."
"Nah, don't worry, man, I can cover that, too." Hunter added another wad of gems to the pile.
Moneybags wiped a tear from his eye. "You're a saint, my good sir. Thanks to you, today will be my daughter's best birthday ever… if I could only afford to buy her a present."
"Here, get her a doll."
"And the cake?"
"Order a fancy one, on me."
"I do hope this will cheer her up after her puppy got run over yesterday..."
"Here, hire a necromancer."
"Ah, but the local necromancer has accrued outstanding debt from the necromafia."
"Well, I was saving this money for retirement, but-"
"Sweetie, we really need to be collecting those crystals." Bianca had to drag Hunter across the bridge by the arm.
"But Bianca, his daughter!"
Now that he could see the stone structures up close, Spyro realized what they truly were – primitive portals. Between each arch was an image of an alien sky, and in front of each were floating golden letters revealing their destinations. No doubt each world of Past Grounds held its own set of Power Crystals to nab. The portals were arranged in a convenient circle around the hilltop, but not all of them seemed to be active.
Camped outside one such inactive portal was a pink, minuscule creature. At first Spyro thought he was a human, except he was way too tiny – not that Spyro was one to be throwing stones – and he possessed a pair of freakishly large, hairy bare feet. Spyro had heard of a species like this. He was pretty sure they were called halflings ("hobbit" was copyrighted).
"Hey, there, fella." Spyro trotted up to him. Sparx, as always, hovered above Spyro's shoulder, but Hunter and Bianca had wandered off elsewhere. "What's with the busted portal?"
"Oh, it's horrible." The halfling bowed his head. "My party was journeying through Phantasmal Forest on an important mission, but then one of my teammates betrayed me to steal this evil artifact I have, and the rest of my party got attacked by Punks, and then-"
"You need five crystals to power your portal," cut in Spyro. "We got it. We don't need your life story."
"I- Hey, how did you know I was going to say that?"
Spyro pointed a claw at the busted portal. The halfling turned around to discover a floating icon of a Power Crystal next to a golden "×5" symbol. "Huh." He scratched his chin. "How long has that been there?"
"Yeehaw, pardner! Ya done saved e'ry last seacowlek in Coral Corral from those dang-blasted robo-sharks!"
Some time later, Spyro and Sparx found themselves in a world known as Shallow Reef. As the name suggested, it was massive reef a couple meters out from a Chronolian beach, and it was home to a race of starfish people who made their living farming seacowleks. The livestock was considered a delicacy by everyone in Chronolia's ocean – including, evidently, the mechanical sharks.
"Here, lemme getcha that crystal thingamajig I promised ya." The ranch's owner, a rootin'-tootin' cowlekboy, dug through his pockets. "One o' the cowleks has been chewin' on it, but it should still be good." Spyro and Sparx happily accepted the Power Crystal.
"Sweet! How many is that now, Sparx?" Spyro turned to his glowing companion, who was hovering a safe distance above the shallow water.
"By my count, we've got five Power Crystals and three hundred gems."
"That ought to be enough crystals to get that portal to the forest working." With that, Spyro trotted towards this world's exit portal. "Man, though, Chronolia's portals must need way more juice than Avalar's, since Power Crystals are supposed to be stronger than Orbs and all."
On their way to the exit, Spyro and Sparx reached a small stream running through the reef. The water here was deeper and the current faster.
"Excuse me, young man?" A withered old starfish lady caught Spyro's attention. "Could you help me cross this stream? My five appendages aren't what they used to be."
"You got any Power Crystals?" asked Spyro.
"I don't believe so, no." The lady searched her purse. "But I do have this lollipop if you-"
"Sorry, lady, we got places to be." Spyro pushed past her without another word.
"Spyro!" Sparx darted after him. "You could've been a little more polite-"
"What?" Spyro gave him a look. "Helping old people cross the stream isn't gonna help save Yin. We don't have time for this."
Sparx frowned. "I guess you're right..."
The frown had not vanished by the time the duo exited through the portal.
The dragon and dragonfly emerged back in Past Grounds, where the sun was beginning to set (It wasn't stuck in permanent daylight like the Forgotten Worlds' first homeworld).
"Speaking of Yin, do you really think searching every portal here is the best way to find him?" asked Sparx.
At this, Spyro sighed. "I don't know, but my gut tells me if we find Steampunk, we'll find Yin."
"But what if Steampunk's hideout isn't in this homeworld?"
"I'm glad you asked," said a voice. The duo was approached by Bianca, and she'd brought a friend. "I've been speaking with the elder of Shallow Reef here." Said elder was a wrinkled starfish-person with a beard that fell to the floor. He'd given them a Power Crystal after Spyro had cleaned up all the pollution the Punks had left in the reef. "If we can gatherer the elders from every world in Past Grounds, they should be able to pool their magic with mine to open a portal to the next homeworld. Then all we have to do is repeat that process until we reach the fourth homeworld – which the elder says has the highest reported Punk activity."
"That's gotta be Lord Steampunk's hideout!" Spyro jolted with excitement. "Great job, Bianca, I can already smell Steampunk's butt roasting! C'mon, Sparx, let's go find the other elders!" With that, he bolted off.
Sparx took a moment to catch his breath before fluttering after his pal. Sometimes, Sparx was amazed he managed to keep pace with him.
"Hmm, maybe there's another portal up on that ledge?" Spyro bounded into the air. Then, at the very top of his jump, he broke into a glide. With this stubby wings, though, he didn't quite reach the top of the ledge, and so he hovered his wings like a pro, giving him the extra height and distance needed to just barely make it. "Nice! I did it!"
There were some shiny gems up here for Sparx to grab, but unfortunately no portal. "Ah, well, at least I looked cool." Spyro was about to glide back down, but then he spotted Hunter on a lower ledge, so instead he glided over there. "What's up, dude?"
"Hey, Spyro! I saw something shiny up on that ledge." Hunter pointed it out to him.
"Uh, yeah, there were some gems up there. I already-"
"To get there, you'll need to glide," continued Hunter. "To glide, press the X button at the very top of your-"
"I know how to glide, Hunter," cut in Spyro. "I've kinda been doing it for years."
Hunter looked genuinely surprised. "Really? You have?"
"Yep. In fact, this isn't even the first time you've given me a tutorial on-"
"But I bet you don't know how to hover! To hover, press the triangle button at the end of your glide."
Spyro groaned, then mustered up a patient, "Thank you."
Some things, there was no avoiding.
Lord Steampunk sat in pitch darkness, punctuated only by the spewing of steam, the clanking of machinery, and the deafening bleats that echoed down the factory's assembly lines.
But the darkness was broken when a door whirred open, allowing both a Punk messenger and a barrage of artificial light to enter Steampunk's chamber.
"My lord, our spies have spotted our hated enemy venturing through the worlds of Past Grounds. The dragon has been stealing back the Power Crystals and gems and disrupting our soldiers' operations, although he did clean up that oil spill in Shallow Reef, which showed an admirable level of environmental conscientiousness-"
The minion cut himself off mid-sentence. For a brief moment, he'd caught a glimpse of the back of Steampunk's head – sans helmet. In the darkness, the most he could make out was some blackened flesh. And scorch marks.
"Ah, Spyro, you're too predictable." In one swift movement, Steampunk returned his helmet to his head and pointed to the messenger. "Make sure most of the Past Grounds elders are on my payroll. When Spyro rounds them all up, I want them to send him somewhere a little different than he's expecting..."