The sun was shining, spreading glorious rays of light across the islands. Something Hex used to consider a blessing. Now the light felt unpleasantly hot, almost burning to her pale blue skin. The undead has risen from the underworld once again, only this time alongside Malefor. The two most powerful undead beings in all of Skylands have put their differences aside and decided to use their powers against the living world.
Next to the witch were her once trusted allies Raven and Zion, or at least what was left of them. Their eyes had a deep black color, looking like empty holes on their faces, and they had no will of their own anymore. They were nothing more than Hex' servants.
The frightening group headed towards a village on a single large island, very much like Hex' temporary home that wronged her all those years ago. Without speaking a word, the sorceress and her companions entered the town, much to the dismay of the mabu citizens, who stopped whatever they were doing and stared at them with terrified faces.
"Greetings, mortals!" Hex exclaimed with her strong yet somber voice. "Don't be scared, I will do you no harm."
That didn't ease the inhabitants' concerns, instead they kept on shivering and moving away from the visitor.
Hex didn't expect anything less. No matter what she did, they would always be afraid of her. She's deemed to be a villain. "However, I cannot say the same for yourselves."
Malefor wore a pleased smile as he kept his eyes on the small creatures in front of him. He viewed them as pitiful worms that weren't even worth to be burned to ashes.
"Your kind has brought more harm upon this world than any dark force could. Prejudice, arrogance, fear. You will stop at nothing to achieve your selfish desires and destroy what you do not understand. Your cruel tongues and small minds deem anyone different as bad." Hex has aided many people in her long life, and all of them fit that description. Even though she couldn't possibly know if everyone in Skylands was that way, the amount that she has seen so far was enough for her. "I congratulate you. Now your fears, your hate has become reality. I am the villain you so desperately wished to see."
Some of the mabu have heard of and even seen Hex before, and like many others they didn't trust her. They found it insane to believe that someone with such grotesque and dark powers could be a true Skylander.
Meanwhile the witch summoned forth her newfound minions. The sight of the zombies triggered a collective gasp, but the people were too afraid to flee.
"Allow me to show you what it is like, when someone you trust becomes something evil. Something that is only out for death." Hex gazed through the crowd. All the worried faces were supposed to make her feel sympathy, but she has lost that feeling long ago. "Something that could be considered… a monster."
The witch stretched her arms out and began reciting an ancient spell. Her eyes shifted to the same black color as those of her victims and she created purple streams of magic that shot right at the people in front of her. She made sure to only hit half of the town's population, not all of them. Couples, friends, families, her spell always only hit one of a pair and corrupted them just like Raven and Zion. The spared ones stared in blank horror as their partners choked and twisted until they went completely still and were under Hex' full control.
"I will give you a choice. You can either let yourself get killed by the person you once knew, or you free them from their fate by killing them instead." It was an irreversible curse, one that could only be broken if the mission of the victim is fulfilled or by their own demise. Hex has learned it a long time ago, even though she never intended to use it.
The citizens and the corrupted slaves all got into fights. Some fled, others defended themselves, but none of them could decide who would have to die. It was a choice impossible for anyone to make, and that's exactly what Hex wanted. The pain she felt by her friends' betrayal and the countless rejections have turned her heart cold and bitter. The witch didn't enjoy the sight, but it did give her a sense of satisfaction and justice. She used to want good for all those people, but all she wants now is vengeance.
Spyro entered his room at the Academy. Yet another exhausting day of scheduling missions and organizing files. Even though their only major threat now was the Golden Queen and some minor villains, it all piled up into a ton of work for the dragon. He enjoyed being the leader, it always gave him a sense of purpose and being apart of something bigger than himself, but it sure was more tiring than he had anticipated.
The Magic Skylander let himself drop onto his bed, face first into a pillow, and let out a tired groan.
"What does today's schedule look like?" A mysterious yet familiar voice echoed through Spyro's room, but the dragon was too worn out to move a muscle.
Stealth Elf exited her invisible state and jumped down from one of the wooden bars below the ceiling of the room. She stood in front of her friend's bed and crossed her arms as she listened to Spyro's groans of responses. "Is this really what the rest of your day will look like?"
Another set of muffled noises, dimmed by the pillow, that only the elf could make out. "Isn't there anymore work to do?"
Spyro finally turned around and looked his friend in the eyes. "Of course, there's always more work."
"Well, you don't have to worry about that." Even though she wore her mask, Spyro could tell that Stealth Elf's mouth formed a smile.
"I'm the leader." Spyro turned his head around once more to glare at the alluring soft pillow. "It's what I have to do."
"Not today!" Stealth Elf exclaimed before the door behind her was slammed open and a bunch of fellow Skylanders waltzed in.
"Wha- what's going on?" Spyro lifted himself up from the bed as he saw the group of heroes in front of him. "Did something happen? Did you find anything-"
"Nope!" Spitfire kept a smile on his face while answering the question. "But today is going to be all about you!"
Spyro looked perplexed as he tried to remember what day it was. "Is it my birthday?"
"No, silly!" Stealth Elf chuckled and looked over to Spitfire. "You've been working so hard these last few days we've decided that it's time for you to take a day off!"
"A day off!?" Spyro sounded alarmed. "You know we can't have that, who's going to-"
"I will." Spitfire, always quick to answer, volunteered to take on Spyro's role as the leader of the Skylanders. "I know the Superchargers ain't the entire team of Skylanders, but I'm sure I can handle it for one day."
Spyro blinked before looking over to Déjà Vu, who entered alongside the speed demon. "I will make sure that everything outside of the Academy goes as planned. You'd be surprised how effective some time tricks can be!"
High Volt was the final member to come to word. "I will keep an eye on all the defensive systems. Any villain that tries to come close will wish they stayed in the pit they crawled out of!"
Spyro, completely beside himself, needed a moment to process everything and understand what was going on. He was about to call the entire plan off, when his eyes suddenly fell onto his pillow again. Any good leader needs to rest from time to time, that was one of the first things Eon told him when he was promoted. The dragon hasn't taken that advice very seriously, since he wanted to prove to everyone, but mostly to himself, that he is a capable leader.
After giving it some more thought, Spyro got onto his legs and stood up. "I've known you all for many years now. I know that all of you have what it takes to be a Skylander and I have no doubts in your abilities, but are you completely sure about this?"
The three volunteers all nodded confidently. Stealth Elf looked at Spyro with an impatient demeanor. "Don't worry, I'll look after them."
Spyro finally exhaled what felt like years' worth of stress and tension before smiling. "Then you're all being promoted for a day!"
The Skylanders celebrated their leader's decision by clapping and giving each other high fives. They truly cared about Spyro and noticed how hard everything has been for the dragon lately. It was necessary for him to relax for once as well. The team was certain that everything would go just as planned.
As soon as the rising sun announced the beginning of a new day, Spyro glided over the Academy with a newfound sense of calmness. For once he didn't have to hurry to the next report and figure out another problem, today was all about taking a break and settling down. He entered the spa nearby the showers of the Academy. It was built shortly after Kaos' imprisonment, when they were certain that all evil was gone.
The purple dragon opened the doors leading inside the building. He was hit by a refreshing smell of all kinds of shampoos and oils. He walked over to the reception where Echo was listening to electro music through her shellphones while skimming through a magazine. When the aquatic dragon wasn't on a stage performing one of her several songs, she worked at the spa, enjoying the calming scents and small soaps she would take with her occasionally.
Spyro stared at the unresponsive dragoness for a few moments before ringing the bell on top of the counter. When Echo continued to read her magazine, Spyro repeatedly tapped on the bell to make a ringing sound.
Echo finally looked up and hastily tossed her magazine away upon seeing her leader. She turned the music on her shellphones off and put a smile on. "Spyro! What brings you here today? Is there another mission?"
"No, don't worry, there's nothing for you… I think." Spyro realized that he didn't even know if Echo would be sent on a mission or not, he didn't know about today's schedule at all. "I'm here to spend the day at the spa. Spitfire is taking over in the meantime."
"Oh, well that's nice." Echo has never seen Spyro willing to take a break, but she was glad that he decided to do something for himself. "So, should I check you in for an all-inclusive program?"
"Yes please." Spyro was gleaming and his grin went from one horn to the other. He was glad to see the new spa and have a day all for himself. "What do I owe you?"
"Oh no, please. It's on the house." Echo denied any payment from the Magic Skylander. "You do so much for us and all of Skylands, you deserve this."
"Oh, okay. Thanks!" Spyro never uses his role and duty to excuse himself from anything, but Echo sounded perfectly clear and the dragon knew that it was near impossible to change her mind.
"There we go. You can enter the door right there to the left in a minute." Echo pointed down the hall with her black nails to show him the entrance. "Enjoy your stay!"
Spyro nodded in gratitude and walked over to the chairs where visitors would spend their time waiting. "I sure hope the others are managing things without me." The dragon thought to himself, but decided to follow his friends' advice and not worry about anything today.
Meanwhile at the headquarters of the Academy, nothing was going as planned. Even though Spitfire could get from point A to B in the blink of an eye, he struggled to focus on each of the assignments and missions before dashing off to the next one. And besides that, he didn't know what most of his allies were talking about since Spyro made all the missions. The Superchargers never put his leadership to the test like this. They're a small group and if there's one thing Spitfire knew of, it was racing.
"Spitfire! Help!" A distressed Roller Brawl skated in a hurry.
"What's going on? Is there any danger?" The Fire Skylander has heard the word ,help' every minute of the day, he's grown tired of it. But this time it sounded like something urgent.
"Well, you could say that." Roller Brawl wasn't sure how to describe the situation, so she wanted to let it speak for itself. "Just follow me!"
The two speedy Skylanders arrived at one of the defense cannons of the Academy, which was aiming at an aircraft. The problem was that it was an aircraft of the Skylanders. Spitfire saw High Volt, doing everything he could to stop the cannon, but even his light spear couldn't get through the solid metal coat.
"High Volt, what's going on!?" The fire spirit appeared next to his fellow Supercharger who gave up on trying to disable the cannon.
"I just reprogrammed the defense mechanism when suddenly that airship arrived, and the cannon started shooting at it!" High Volt was utterly embarrassed to be responsible for such a grave mistake when he was considered one of the most experienced Skylanders. "I didn't expect any Skylanders to arrive at this time!"
"Why is it shooting at them in the first place?" Spitfire didn't quite understand what the robot was trying to say. "It never shoots automatically, we always have to activate them ourselves."
"That's what I tried to change." High Volt couldn't look Spitfire in the eyes and hesitated to tell him the truth. "I programmed it, so that it shoots at any sign of movement outside."
"You what!?" High Volt was usually the one snapping at Spitfire for some dumb stunt, but this time it was the other way around. The speed demon was so outraged, his blue fire began to shift colors and turned purple. The surrounding Skylanders observed cautiously as the current leader used his heated transformation to slash the cannon with his claws. It shot a few more projectiles at a slower pace until it finally came to a halt and the airship could land safely.
"Screw the cannons! Redirect the energy used for them to build up a shield around the Academy!" Spitfire knew that was an overreaction considering there hasn't been ambush on the Academy since Malefor appeared, but it was all that he could think of in the heat of the moment.
High Volt nodded before the Skylanders parted their ways and Spitfire remembered Déjà Vu, who was keeping an eye out in the surrounding areas of the Academy. After seeing a blue explosion in the distance, he already expected the worst.
Back at the spa, Spyro was in the middle of enjoying a relaxing massage. With his belly on the table, the dragon enjoyed every second of the treatment. Until now, he never knew how much he needed it.
After the finishing touches, the dragon moved on to the pedicure area where the workers would treat his nails. It was quite a task since the dragon never bothered too much with keeping them in good shape. All the battles he's fought and hits he took, it certainly took a toll on him. The only time his nails were as blistering as pearls and sharp as daggers was when he awakened. That's when his mind began to drift off once more. He still hasn't figured out how or why that transformation occurred. Will it ever happen again? Did he truly have to be in mortal danger for it? Spyro caught and forced himself to think of something else, concentrating on the here and now.
As soon as his nails were taken care of, the dragon proceeded to his favorite part, the pool. Without hesitation, the Skylander jumped into the warm water and inhaled the steamy air. As he exhaled, he couldn't hold back a small flame from exiting his mouth and landing on a towel. Swiftly, the dragon used his tail to splash some water onto it before it could spread. The towel still ended up with a burned coal black color, parted in the middle - just like Cynder's wing.
There it was again, the unsettling thoughts. Cynder's injury was healed and there was nothing to worry about, or was there? Golden Queen was out there, but it wouldn't be the first time that they'd defeat her. And then Spyro remembered. Malefor. The dragon abruptly lifted himself out of the water before he could fully sink in. This isn't how his day was supposed to go. With a more anxious feeling in his gut, he decided to leave the tub and move on to the next room, doing his best to get his mind off of another problem. Off of Malefor.
Spitfire, in the form of a blue blur, arrived at one of the nearby islands of the Academy. He looked around himself in shock as he saw countless translucent clones of Déjà Vu running around, one of them pushing him in the process. He floated through the crowd of pigtails and staffs until the real Déjà Vu found him.
After taking a short breath and shooting one of her past selves out of existence, she started talking. "I might have overdone it."
"I might have overdone it." A newly created clone appeared behind the sorceress and repeated her words before she shot it with her staff as well.
"I wanted to make some past selves so I could be at multiple places at once, but I somehow got more than I bargained for." Whilst talking, she kept aiming at her clones and made them disappear one after the other, but for everyone she shot down, two new ones appeared.
"Was this even necessary?" Spitfire was once again confused by his teammate's decision as there was no sign of any threat.
"Well, we didn't see Malefor coming so I thought I'd be prepared this time." Looking back at it, the Magic Skylanders found it quite ridiculous as well. "I'm really sorry, I promise that I'll fix it!"
"I promise that I'll fix it!" Another clone appeared to repeat her words. And then another. And another.
Spitfire listened to the sentence over and over again and was pushed from left to right by the remaining past selves. He got into another state of such rage that his flames turned purple. Déjà Vu looked over to him in surprise before the fire spirit unleashed a giant flamenado all across the island, causing all the clones to vanish and send Déjà Vu flying.
After Spitfire calmed down, his angered expression became worried when he saw his ally lying on the ground because of his outburst. "Déjà! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!"
"Don't worry about it." The Skylander got up, clearly hurt by the blast, but without any visible damage. "That's what my mask is for! To protect my face from another explosion."
Spitfire didn't realize that she was referring to her past where she was caught up in the explosion of her self-built time machine, but he didn't even think about that. All he could think of was his outburst and how little control he's had over himself the today. "I can't do this. I'm not a leader, I never was."
Ignoring Déjà Vu's call, the Supercharger dashed away from the island. Away from all the problems that have overwhelmed him the entire day. He knew it would be hard, but he didn't think it would be this hard. Now he realizes how easy his job to lead the Superchargers truly is. And how much Spyro needed a break. It made him feel bad that they would have to call him back because he couldn't get the job done.
Spitfire found himself on a small lonely island far away from the Academy. He didn't even notice Stealth Elf following him there and appearing behind him. "Tough day?" The elf said casually as she sat down next to the disappointed spirit.
"That's an understatement." Spitfire sighed and stared down into the depts of the sky which were turning dark blue as the day came to an end. "How can Spyro keep up with all of this?"
"That's what I've been asking myself for the past seven years as well." Stealth Elf chuckled as she recalled all the times where the work Spyro had was close to suffocating him, yet he always managed to make the best of it. "One day I finally decided to ask him, it just seemed so odd that he went from being a cocky egomaniac to a responsible leader."
"I guess I could learn a lesson from him then." Spitfire smirked before his face turned serious again.
A gentle wind blew through the area and lifted Stealth Elf's braid up as she continued to talk. "He told me that whenever he felt like there was too much, like he was about give up, he always reminded himself what he was doing it all for."
Spitfire curiously looked at the elf. "For what?"
"For us." Stealth Elf smiled underneath her mask. "For you, me, all of us. He always wanted the Skylands and its people to be safe, but what he wanted more than anything else was for us to be a family. No matter what came our way." The two Skylanders looked at the night sky in silence and thought about that for a moment. Even though they were all different and didn't always get along, they were a family. Spyro made sure that it would stay that way.
The peaceful moment was interrupted by a strange noise behind the Skylanders. They turned their heads to see a mabu standing in the shadow of a tree. It was too dark for them to see it's face.
"Hello?" Stealth Elf lifted herself up and moved towards the creature. "We're Skylanders, no one is supposed to be here. Are you lost?"
The mabu took a few steps forward to greet the elf with a terrifying sight. The Skylanders gasped when they saw that the mabu had pitch black eyes and was completely unresponsive, moving towards them like a zombie. When it realized that it was in the presence of another creature, it became furious, dashing at them with a morbid scream.
