Seven years. It has been seven years since the destruction of the Core of Light. From Chaotic Elements, Ancient Arkeyans to Doom Raiders and the Darkness itself, the Skylanders have conquered them all with success. Kaos, who has proven himself to be the biggest threat in Skylands, has been captured and unable to escape ever since. They defeated villains and even redeemed some of them to join the Skylanders. Every hero has a different story, but in the end they all stand united, looking forward to a bright future. After all those decades of war and misery, the Skylands deserve peace and now that's finally possible, thanks to you.
The crowd cheered after the final words of Eon's speech. The deceased leader looked upon the courageous army through his ghostly appearance. He was proud seeing all of his former students grown up and fulfilling their duties as the protectors of Skylands. He then directed his sight to Kaos, who was shrunk and being held inside a jar, rolling his eyes and letting out an annoyed groan while the crowd remained on celebrating. The spirit chuckled and looked back at his loyal followers. Eon fonded the group of heroes many decades ago, with the birth of Spyro and reception of more gifted youngsters. He never expected a small assembly to turn into a heroic union, but he was happy and so were the Skylanders.
This was the first gathering to include every single Skylander currently serving as protectors. It ranged from common species to the most unique and rare creatures. It was a colorful variation of heroes who all cherished astonishing achievements. Even the former villains were clapping and cheering joyfully, as they also helped by having a change of heart and decreasing the dangers Skylands offered. The ceremony honoring an entire year of peace dissolved and the Skylanders separated to return to their business. Most expressed their disbelief and fascination for a whole year without villainy, while some appeared slightly disappointed due to the fact that there hasn't been a great adventure recently.
"Can you guys believe we actually brought peace to Skylands?" Spyro exclaimed eagerly after swirling his way to his oldest friends Stealth Elf and Eruptor. "It feels like we became Skylanders yesterday!"
"It sure does." Stealth Elf responded to the overjoyed dragon. "I'm glad there's no more bald maniac to waste our time."
"I kinda miss our adventures." Eruptor said as a regard to the topic.
Spyro and Stealth Elf both gave him a confused stare. "Are you serious?" The ninja elf couldn't believe what she heard.
"I mean… restoring the Core of Light, fighting Arkeyans, racing against the Darkness, those were all great experiences!" The lava creature explained. "Even if some of them had the risk of dying." He looked straight forward with a blank expression.
"You're right man." Spyro looked up to the sky remembering their journeys. "But all good things come to an end, right?"
"Well the good things are just getting started for me." Stealth Elf proclaimed while walking up straight. "I enjoyed surprising all those foes with my invisibility powers, but now I'm going to enjoy the time of peace and relaxing."
The trio was walking along without speaking for a moment before Spyro excitedly jumped in front of the other two. "We can still go hunt sheep!"
"Oh please Spyro, that's a dragon thing." Stealth Elf wasn't too fond of the idea. "All I ever do is to shear their wool."
"All I ever do is burn it." Eruptor added.
"C'mon! Don't be such wet blankets! It'll be like in old times!" Spyro tried convincing his skeptical friends.
"Ugh, fine!" Stealth Elf finally surrendered. "But don't expect me to shear some sheep you burned again!"
Meanwhile, some Trap Masters headed to Cloudcracker Prison to make sure none of the captive villains are causing any trouble.
Snap Shot was strolling next to the Magic sorcerer Enigma and the Tech robot Gearshift. "Pretty impressive speech Eon held back there." The reptile started a conversation.
"He successfully covered our past adventures and acknowledged our victories." Gearshift responded in her monotone robotic voice.
The group continued to walk in silence before Enigma finally commented. "The victories that include us chasing down villains just for them to be set free again."
They thought about that statement for a moment. "Ye' know Eon. Always seeing the best in everyone." Snap Shot seemed as unpleased with the situation as his teammate. "I'm just waiting for that to come back at him someday."
"Negativity will not help Eon nor prevent possible disasters." Gearshift was talking in a calculative demeanor as usual. "All it will do is affect your state of mind and lead to paranoia."
Enigma rolled his eyes underneath his hood which made it impossible to see it. "Please Gearshift, we don't need your calculations right now." The mage clenched his Traptanium staff in his hand. "There's no way those wicked creatures have been redeemed that easily after decades of tyranny!"
The discriminating Skylanders arrived at the prison and went over their regular routine of controlling the inmates. Knight Light arrived some time before the trio and already checked most of the prisoners without suspecting any problems.
"Don't bother guys, I already checked every cell! They're all safe and locked up." Knight Light gently landed next to the Trap Masters, who were about to enter the next chamber of cells.
"You soar through the facility so quickly that I'm certain you missed more than one." Enigma looked at the Light Skylander without any amusement.
The angel knight flaunted his crystal scimitar over his shoulder and slowly walked towards the other Skylanders. "My sight equals that of an eagle and even if I missed some the first time around, I checked more than once."
Enigma let out an annoyed groan while Knight Light put on a cocky grin after praising himself for his excellent work.
"There is no sign of villainous behavior or malfunctions which means the prison is safe and we have nothing to worry about." Gearshift tried assuring the others of their safety which didn't quite work due to her emotionless expressions.
Snap Shot attached his weapon onto his back and made his way to the exit. "Even if some foe does escape, that ain't nothing we weren't able to handle before!"
The others watched the crocodile leave with his mind at ease and decided to follow him, since he is their leader after all.
Five random Skylanders have found themselves in a small group after the ceremony, discussing the recent topics and sharing their thoughts.
"Ugh! That was so lame!" Roller Brawl complained immediately after the group sat down to rest.
"Don't be so disrespectful RB!" Smolderdash looked at the vampire sternly. "Eon worked hard and I think the speech was wonderful!" The hot-blooded humanoid had a habit of always staying positive.
The leader of the Superchargers Spitfire casually leaned his arms onto the shoulders of Roller Brawl and Chill. "Yeah! About time someone acknowledged our heroism!" The fire spirit tends to be quite narcissistic and everyone knew that he mostly talks about himself rather than including everyone.
Chill suddenly looked at the the Supercharger's claw with shock. "Spitfire, watch out!" The Water warrior quickly pulled her icy shield away from the speed demon. "Your hand was melting my shield!"
Spitfire put his hands up defensively. "Sorry, it's not like you replace those every month anyway." The Skylander taunted the humanoid sarcastically.
The final member of the group was Nightfall, she remained silent throughout the entire conversation until Chill and Spitfire eventually cooled down. "What do we do now?"
The company turned silent and everyone looked at the dreadwalker like they saw a ghost.
"We can always race." Spitfire used his answer to most questions.
"And there are always minions left out there." Smolderdash tried staying optimistic towards the Dark Supercharger.
"Or we can actually focus on the reasons we're here in the first place!" Roller Brawl was referring to the Skylanders' pasts, which turned them into the heroes they are today.
Chill suddenly became completely silent and seemed to be somewhere else. "We could." The Skylander responded, still lost in thoughts.
Smolderdash also thought about her problematic past and didn't say a word. She observed the Academy and soon noticed the dragoness Cynder, sitting in front of a golden fence and gazing into the endless sky below them. The Undead Skylander never talked a lot, but she seemed awfully quiet this time.
Cynder looked at the clouds passing by and blandly stared into the abyss which got darker the deeper she looked. The purple dragon suddenly noticed the sky underneath darken and squinched her eyes to sharpen her vision. Suddenly they opened up wide in panic as she could make out a pair of glowing, menacing eyes glaring at her. Cynder jumped backwards and started to breathe furiously. The group of five noticed her panic attack and quickly approached her.
"Cynder, what's wrong?" Roller Brawl asked her friend with worry.
Cynder was unable to respond, but continued to gasp for air and think about what she saw. Smolderdash was observing her earlier and figured that something beneath the island must have frightened her. She slowly walked towards the fence and risked a look into the depths of the horizon. However, all the Skylander could see was an ordinary blue sky specked with clouds. She returned her eyes to Cynder, who started to calm down. Smolderdash was confused as to what caused her to get into such a state.
"What happened? What did you see?" Chill questioned the appalled dragon who was surrounded by worried faces.
"I- It was… horrifying." Cynder stuttered while remaining to stare at the sky.
"What was horrifying?" Smolderdash was curious and took another look into the sky, but still no sign of anything alarming.
The Undead Skylander took a moment before answering again. "Eyes… I saw those eyes…" She seemed like she wanted to keep on talking but was unable to.
"Eyes?" Spitfire became interested as well and leaned over the fence to look for said eyes.
"We should take her inside. Give her something to calm down." Nightfall suggested before peeking over to the observing Fire Skylanders and wondering what happened.
"I think that's the best we can do right now." Roller Brawl kept her eyes on Cynder and helped her to get up with caution.
Smolderdash and Spitfire dragged themselves along after the others, until they stopped staring at the clouds. The worried group brought the dragoness inside and got her to lay down and drink something. She then specifically explained what she saw which worried the others to the point where they all started to look out the windows.
"Let's hope that was only a hallucination." Nightfall tried easing Cynder's mind, but all the dragon could think of was the pair of striking eyes which stared right into her soul.
The day has come to an end and the Skylanders all retreated to their private places. Golden Queen was the last one left at the Academy besides the assigned night guards. The former villainess casually made her way to the nearest portal and stepped onto it. She began glowing and was transported in a beam of light. The queen reappeared on a lonely island which was the nearest located portal to Cloudcracker Prison. The sorceress took a few steps before standing still and whistling a certain melody. Out of nowhere, the rest of the reformed villains appeared and gathered in front of the queen.
"Did anyone see you?" Golden Queen asked with great suspicion in her voice.
Everyone responded by shaking their heads which brought a sinister smile to the queen's face. "Perfect."
She turned around to face their former prison. She admired the sight for a few moments before turning back to the squad. "We have invested enough time in gaining those fools' trust." The Earth Sorceress began. "Now that they finally believe we're one of them, we can use that to our advantage and begin our grand plan!" Golden Queen pointed her staff at the building made out of Traptanium. "We will free the trapped villains and together finish what we have started eons ago…" The queen paused dramatically which created tension between the involved villains. "Taking over Skylands!" The greedy queen finally finished with her loyal follwers reacting through cheering and clapping.