Skylanders Academy: New Horizon
by andresponceb2002
Chapter 1) Unexpected Comeback
The sky was dyed a beautiful sunset orange. Clouds passed lazily nearby as the wind pushed gently against Spyro´s face and Wings as he flew high above the Skylands beside Master Eon's ethereal form. The dragon had recently departed from Skylander Academy and said his goodbyes to his friends after a long life of fighting evil together under Master Eon. But now, Spyro was on his way to find his long lost purple dragon ancestors, his family, the which he had long thought dead. But now, with the help of Master Eon, he would be able to find them.
"Soooo" The young dragon began. "where to Master Eon?"
"Oh don't get ahead of yourself young Skylander!" Master Eon replied as his glowing form followed Spyro closely. "Before we depart to find your dragon kind we must be properly equipped, for the journey is long, and all essentials must be accounted for!"
"Oh c'mon! You´re a ghost! You don't have any essentials!" Spyro complined.
"Preposterous!" Eon exclaimed undignified. "Ethereal or not, my beard still needs proper grooming! Aaand besides, since I,m the one who knows where we are going, I'm afraid you won't be having any say in the matter!" the Portal Master boasted triumphantly.
"Urgh, fine!" Spyro groaned. "But let's make it quick! This is my family we´re talking about." He said.
The young dragon had never seen his family in all his life. The mere thought of finding them, of knowing they were out there somewhere; it only made him more anxious to go and find them.
"Alright, alright" Eon conceded. "We only need to make one quick stop to get a Beard Spray for Men, Beard Maintenance Kit. It has all we need, and they are on sale!" Eon said gleefully, putting his arms in the air as Spyro rolled his eyes and chuckled at the old Portal Master´s antics.
Suddenly a strong wind blew and the sound of thunder roared in the distance. A storm had suddenly appeared in the horizon.
"Whoa, what's going on?" Spyro asked Eon as he was getting used to flying in the new, harsher wind. Storm clouds had seemed to brew spontaneously.
"Spyro." Master Eon called. "Be cautious, I sense an evil presence nearby." He warned
Spyro was now on guard, as dark grey clouds had blocked out the previously gorgeous sunrise, leaving the young dragon and his tutor in a grim, grey setting. Spyro looked around, wary of the evil Eon had warned about. The dragon looked to his sides; only grey clouds. He looked above him; and empty grey sky, and beneath him…
"Whoa, wait a minute." Spyro said. He squinted his eyes and peeked down to see a distant figure. Spyro couldn't make out any details from that distance, but the figure seemed to have wings. and was heading toward Spyro.
"It kind of looks like… a dragon?" The Skylander said confused as he looked to Master Eon, but the look on his face unnerved Spyro, for it was a grave expression, of fear and disbelief .
"No, that's not possible…" Eon mumbled.
"Master Eon, what's wrong?" Spyro asked nervous at Eon´s discomfort, oblivious to the mysterious dragon´s exponential increase in speed.
Master Eon faced Spyro, with a frightened expression on his face "Spyro, get out of here, now!" he yelled. But it was too late
The mysterious dragon rammed head-first into Spyro´s chest, sending him sprawling back and knocking the air out of his lungs.
"Spyro!" Eon shouted helplessly as the assailant phased through his ghostly body and chased Spyro.
As Spyro regained focus he tried to get a look at his attacker, trying to get details. The problem was, to Spyro´s dismay, that there weren't any. His attacker was a dragon, a bit smaller than himself and had a stout and skinny build and a curved, fin-like horn on the middle of it's head, but It´s scales were all a deep, pitch black, so much so, that no details could be made out apart from the dragon´s figure. However it did have eyes. Expressionless, empty, perfectly round, orange eyes, that seemed to glow against the perfect darkness of the dragon's scales.
As Spyro finished absorbing the sight of his enemy, he regained composure, steadied his flight and was ready for a fight. "So," He said, "Mind running me through why you did that pal?" Spyro asked. "Cuz I gotta say, I wasnt a fan of it." he said sarcastically.
The pitch black, orange-eyed dragon gave no response, or any indication of being talked to, it just stared at Spyro, as both dragons flew stationary in the gray sky.
"Not much of a talker are you?" Spyro asked mockingly. "Alright, are we still gonna do this?" he said, ready for his opponent to make a move.
And almost as if incited, the dark dragon bent his head back and forward again, firing two orange laser beams out of his eyes, the which Spyro blocked with his wings, and once the attack was finished the retaliated with a fireball aimed at his opponent´s chest. However the dark dragon dove down quickly, dodging Spyro's attack and firing it's own once again.
"Okey," Spyro said as he dodged the orange lazers "let's get serious."
Spyro rose high above his enemy and then dove down with great speed, and as he closed in on the the orange-eyed dragon, Spyro dipped his head down, as small flames errupted on his horns and headbutted his opponent, causing a small shcokwave from the impact. The dark dragon shook it's head, despite its glowing, orange eyes not showing any sign of pain or shock. Then it backed away from Spyro and stretched its wings. And from the joint that connects the membranes of its wings, several small gears flew out, homing in on Spyro and moving at great speeds.
Spyro then readied his breath, and released a large burst of orange flames, so intense they destroyed the enemy's projectiles before they reached Spyro. But once he was finished he was struck square in the face by a blinding impact. The dark dragon had fired it's lasers again, and this time they had struck true, the impact made Spyro back up slightly, rubbing his eyes in pain.
"Well thank goodness for impenetrable scales!" Spyro said still rubbing his eyes. "That kind of hurt Orange Eyes!" he said musingly at his enemy, still as unresponsive as always.
"Ok, I think this has gone on for long enough," The Spyro declared. "What do you say we finish this Orange Eyes?" he asked determinedly as he regained balance and got into battle stance once again.
And almost as if on cue, Orange Eyes charged Spyro, firing his laser once again . Spyro barrel rolled out of the way and lauched a quick fireball, the which hit Orange Eyes right in the face, causing it to stop it's charge and open up an opportunity for another attack, which Spyro took, as he head butted his enemy again, hit it with his claws and released a point-blank fireblast.
Under the relentless assault, Orange Eyes was left without a moment to react and at the final attack, was sent flying off to a small, flat island nearby, on which he crashed with a large thud and remained motionless on the ground, defeated.
"Whew!" Spyro exclaimed. "Can't have too many fights like that one." He said, wiping sweat of his forehead as he flew over his fallen foe.
"Spyro!" Eon's voice sounded suddenly
"Ahhh!" The young dragon screamed from the tension as he quickly turned around to the source of the call.
"Ohhh thank goodness! are you alright?" Eon asked anxiously
"Well apart from the epic fight and close call heart attack" spyro said sarcastically, putting, extra spite on the last remark. "I'm pretty dandy"
"Oh that's wonderful!" Eon said joyously, putting his hands together and sighting in relief.
Spyro looked behind his back, at Orange Eyes fallen body, laid down on the island. "Master Eon?" he asked. "Do you know anything about that guy? Why he looks… like that?"
Eon looked grave. "This should not be possible" he thought. "And seeing it now can only be a bad sign." But having learned his lesson about keeping secrets from others, he spoke up after a short breath. "Spyro what you see before you is magic most dark" He said, as his ethereal form approached the fallen dragon, inciting Spyro to do the same. "You have actually had a close encounter with it before. When my brother Strykore turned you evil, he employed similar dark powers."
Hearing that surprised Spyro, and called back several bad memories. "So this guy is going through the same thing i did back then?" He thought as he looked at Orange Eyes' still body.
"This however," Master Eon continued. "Seems to be a much more advanced version of the spell my brother used on you."
The dark dragon stirred, startling both Spyro and Eon causing them to step back. After a few seconds Orange Eyes was on its feet and in combat pose, it's glowing, empty eyes fixated on Spyro.
"Well, i guess this means it's time for round two." Spyro said as he got into combat position, ready to face his pitch-black adversary again.
But suddenly a crushing weight fell down on Spyro's back, causing the dragon to fall to the ground, nearly flattened by the surprise attack. Spyro groaned, pain shooting through his body and felt completely crushed, unable to move as the weight seemed to walk off him.
"I haven't felt so flattened out since I fought Malefor." Spyro mumbled with his eyes closed, conjuring unpleasant memories of being under an oversized claw.
"Skylander, get up, quickly!" Spyro could hear Master Eon shout. "I can't help you in this form, you must flee!"
Through the pain, Spyro opened his eyes to see his new enemy. It was another dragon, and just like Orange Eyes, it was completely pitch-black and detailless. Except that the new dark dragon was built very differently from the first. It was almost twice Orange Eyes' size, was much more sturdily built, had a short tail that ended in a spiked ball and it's eyes glowed an earthy brown instead of orange. but what struck Spyro the most, was that brown eyed dragon, had no wings.
Then Spyro could feel Brown Eyes pick him up by the neck using his jaws, which were biting down firmly against his scales as Orange Eyes seemed to be setting something down on one of the far corners of the island.
Then Spyro looked around for Master Eon. But to the Skylander's dismay, the Portal Master was nowhere to be found. "Did he seriously bail out?" Spyro thought incredulous. "Now of all times? Really?" His train of thought was interrupted by a loud sound. Apparently what Orange Eyes had set down was a portal gate that had just revved up, and as Brown Eyes started to move Spyro toward it, the picture came to his mind. They were going to kidnap Spyro.
"Ohhh no,no,no,no!" Spyro stammered as he used the last bits of his strength to try and wiggle out of Brown Eyes jaws, but the new dark dragon was surprisingly strong, and didn't budge an inch.
And so, Spyro realized with dread what was to come. He was going to be taken away to some evil lair and be turned evil again by a bunch of crazy evil dragons. And so, battered and traped he closed his eyes, defeated.
But then Spyro heard a loud sound and felt as Brown Eyes stumbled to it's side, as if struck by a powerful blast.
"You leave our friend alone you creeps!" Someone yelled.
And so, Spyro opened his eyes and turned his head to see his rescuers, his beloved friends, Eruptor, Stealth Elf, Cynder, Jet-Vac and Pop Fizz, had all arrived and were unleashing a massive whooping on the pitch-black dragons.
Orange Eyes tried to fire it's lazers at Cynder, but the dragoness turned into a dark mist and the lazers passed harmlessly through her figure, only for her to re-solidify and release a powerful lightning blast that sent Orange Eyes sprawling back.
Brown Eyes on the other hand tried to rush for the portal gate, with Spyro still in it's jaws. But just as it got close it suddenly stopped, as Eruptor stood in it's way, holding it in place.
"Oh you can leave," Eruptor growled. "As soon as you give our friend back."
To this, Brown Eyes simply began to forge ahead, pushing Eruptor back as if he was a mild inconvenience more than a real obstacle, startling him and Spyro.
"Woah." Eruptor said nervously. "How strong is this guy? Ummm guys? A little help?" he asked distressed as Brown Eyes pushed Erupto back to the nearing portal.
At this, Jet-Vac fired his weapon, Pop Fizz launched an explosive potion and Stealth Elf threw one of her dargers at Brown Eyes, and under the furious assault, it dropped Spyro, who fell on the ground, still drained from his wounds.
After this both dark dragons retreated to the far corner of the island on which they had set their portal, as they stood surrounded by angry Skylanders.
"Well gentlemen, are we going to finish this or not?" Jet-Vac asked as he raised his vac-gun and the rest of the skylanders assumed combat positions, standing in front of their fallen friend.
The dark dragons simply stood there, unresponsive, not moving or making any sound, their empty eyes still fixated on Spyro. When suddenly the dark dragons' heads and previously expressionless eyes started twitching strangely, unnerving the Skylanders. And then they stopped abruptly, turned around and crossed the portal gate, which disappeared after both dragons crossed it.
This surprised the Skylanders, as their enemy, previously hellbent on taking their friend, had simply turned coat and vanished, with hands empty, no less.
"Well, I guess that means we'll be seeing them later." Jet-vac said, holstering his weapon.
"I hope its not at night time," Pop Fizz said. "Those guys looked spooooky."
"Buy why were they after Spyro?" Cynder asked, concerned. "What would they want to do with him?"
"You know I'm still here, right?" Spyro groaned as he began to stand up behind his friends.
"Spyro!" They all said, as they trapped their friend in a large group hug.
"Geez guys I was gone for like twenty minutes," The dragon said, trying to not be overwhelmed by his friends caring embrace. "And besides," he continued. "I had everything under control." He said smugly.
"Oh, shut up." Stealth Elf said in a friendly tone.
"But wait, how did you know how to find me?" Spyro asked curious.
"It was kind of weird," Pop Fizz said as the group hud dissolved. "We were going to meet Kaossandra in the Academy common room, and then suddenly, Master Eon's ghost popped up out of nowhere us and told us to go find you in some coordinates he gave us"
"Indeed!" A loud voice suddenly said
"Ahhhhh!" The Skylanders screamed in startled unison at Master Eon's sudden drop-in.
"Master Eon, we really have to talk about the whole "popping in" thing." Spyro complained. "Maybe giving out a warning or something?"
"Yes, sorry about that." Master Eon apologised, putting one of his hands behind his head. "But right now, I need all of you to return to the academy at once Skylanders" Master Eon declared. "A matter of utmost urgency must be discussed, and all of you must be there." His eyes moved to Spyro, a tinge of sadness in them. "And I'm afraid that means you as well, young dragon."
Spyro hung his head down. He couldn't help but feel disappointed at the distressing delay from finding his family, but he felt even more concerned about these new evil-doing dragons. If a new threat was rising in the Skylanders, Spyro would just have to stay a little longer.
And then the Skylanders began to take off, readly to return to the Academy, and maybe get some answers about their strage fight.
But as the Skylanders began to leave, they failed to notice something.
From a small island nearby, above the one the Skylanders has fought on, a strange figure had watched the whole thing. Spyro's fight, the dark dragons' performance and the Skylanders intervention.
"Oh, this one will be interesting." The ominous figure mused, in a quiet, slightly raspy voice voice, as it taped its fingers on a nearby rock. "Very interesting indeed."
The Skylanders were all standing in the Academy common room, waiting patiently for Master Eon and Kaossandra to finish talking over the evil dragon problem. Some of them paced, some of them sat down, but all of them wanted to know more.
After a couple of minutes, the elder portal masters faced the Skylanders from the balcony, to which they responded to by raising their heads and giving their full attention.
"What you have faced today" Kaossandra began. "Is something Eon and I thought was impossible to achieve."
"The enemies you encountered," Eon continued. "Were under the influence of an extremely advanced and extremely dangerous dark spell. So advanced, in fact, we thought no mortal spellcaster could perform it successfully, and Strykore only solidified that belief." He finished.
"Wait, a second." Stealth Elf stepped in. "What does that mean? Someone as powerful as Strykore, the guy who was going to destroy the Core ofLiight, couldn't get this spell right?"
"Exactly." Kaossandra picked up. "He tried to master it when he found it in one of his dark spell books, but never could. The spell was more complicated than anything he, or anyone of us had seen, so he made up his own watered down version, the one he used on Spyro" The sorceress finished.
"This however" Eon continued. "Is a much more complete version, if not the exact description of the spell itself. While Strykore's version caused similar effects, such as evil tendencies and a darkened look, some sherds of personality and bits of one's former self could still be seen. But from what you faced today, we can say that this is not the case." Eon said gravely. "This is a full conversion, and I'm afraid those dragons are not themselves anymore,and I fear we cannot help them come back." The portal master finished sadly.
Spyro felt awful. Not just because these dragons could have been innocent, or because of a feeling of fraternity as a dragon himself, but because he had been through the same thing. Having your body taken over by some other monster, having it used to do things you couldn't stop, was the single worst feeling Spyro could think of, and the thought of anyone else going through something similar, and him being unable to help them, made his stomach drop.
"But how does this link back to Spyro?" Eruptor asked. "Cuz if someone is after my friend with some crazy dark magic and evil dragons, they have to go through me." He stated protectively.
"We don't know why they are after Spyro." Kaossandra said flatly. "We just know that whoever or whatever it is, they have the most powerful dark magic we have ever seen." The sorceress said gravely. "And from this showing alone, we can say… that they are even more powerful and dangerous than Strykore."
The Skylanders looked at each other nervously, small drops of sweat running down their faces. An enemy more powerful and malevolent than Strykore? The guy who beat all of them up, turned their friend evil and almost destroyed the Core of Light? It was hard to picture and terrifying to think about.
But Spyro wasn't afraid, or well he was, this was pretty huge, but he also felt determination. He felt determined to stop this new evil, determined to save these dragons and he was determined to save the Skylands once again. He yearned to see his family, his desire to finally find them had not diminished, it had simply been overshadowed by his instinct, his innate desire to do the right thing and put others before himself.
And so, Spyro raised his head high, stretched his wings and puffed his chest, causing his friends to focus on him as he said…
"Bring it."
Author's Notes
Hello guys. Just FYI im planing on making 13 chapters of this, ya'know like an actual season of the show. The following chapters might be longer too, so we have a lot to look foward to. Also I want to be as faithfull to the original show as posible, so I'm afraid there won't be Too Much shipping here. Don´t worry I wont be able to stop my self from writing fluffy moments, just know that they will be a little far apart.
- Any characters from the Skylanders franchise shown in this story are not my property.
- OC's will apear... eventually.
- Violence will be non-grafic but very present.
- No swears, adult themes or drug references here.
- If all goes well, I Might adapt this into a webcomic.