For the past few days, Spyro has been optimistic. He still wasn't in full control of himself, but he's gradually been able to soften his darker side and slowly getting closer to his true self. He was happy to be around his Skylanders friends again, even though he still wasn't physically.

But as soon as he entered his bedroom alone, his joy stopped as Strykore, once again, interrupted him. "Strykore! You came to talk without warning! Which, I guess is your thing, so I should've gotten used to it..."

His master looked angrier than usual. "Spyro! I am starting to lose my patience! It'd be better if you spent less time with your so-called friends and focus more on your mission!"

The dragon answered, as the puzzle box annoyed him a lot "Do you have any idea what I had to do because of this box? I've been trapped in a forcefield! I've traveled through time! I even got inside Eon's head, and it wasn't a pleasent time!"

"Yet, you still haven't managed to open it!"

The dragon shared the last information he got. "I've made progress! I've learned how to open it! You need to have a honest heart!"

"Then what are you even waiting for?" Spyro was shocked by this answer, and being in the situation he was, he thought that was impossible.

"But Master, how could I potentially open it with a honest heart if I'm, you know, fueled by darkness thanks to you?"

Strykore had enough and left with one last advice and warning to his henchman. "I didn't take all of your light, you still have some within you!" This proved to be true, as a good Spyro was still inside the evil Spyro mind. "You better use that side to open it! Otherwise, I'll show you what it really means to be fueled by darkness!"

Spyro got scared "No! I'm close to being myself, and..." His dark side answered. "Okay, Master... I'll get to it, I promise!" After he left, he stared at the puzzle box and talked in a rather naive manner. "So... Could you be a nice box and open for me? Pretty please...?" While this attempt was useless, he didn't have time to try more as he heard a familiar yell. "Skylanders, unite!"

Spyro tried to keep his cool, but he was stuck in a very tense situation. "What could I do? I'm close to get back to my friends, yet I'm close to help evil succeed..."

Spyro went to Eon's office and Eon at the entrance. "Welcome, Spyro! Sorry if this call is a disturbance, but Kaossandra has something important to say."

Kaossandra then shared her plan with the team. "So, I've been following news, and Kaos' attempts at being a pirate leader have been a disaster, so much that his Doom Raiders crew is close to get rid of him. But he has one last chance: if he wins a sky race he entered, he'll get a reward and be able to pay his crew. That's why you should enter it and prevent him from winning, so he'd be forced to stop his pirate run."

Stealth Elf had to point something. "But... If you're his mother, why would you want to have him be so miserable? Well, more than he usually ends up as..."

Kaossandra explained her full intentions. "I know this sounds weird, but if that happens, this would be the final act for him to find out that he's not made for evil and should help us instead! It's painful for me to do this, but I believe it's for the best. So... can I count on you?"

Jet-Vac was quick to take direction. "Your arguments make sense, Kaossandra, and I'm proud to tell you that I'll be leading the team for this goal!" Eon, however, had a different new to give. "Actually... I've called Captain Flynn to drive you!"

Flynn made his entrance. "Somebody called me?" This caused Jet-Vac to groan. "Seriously? This guy doesn't know anything about leading a team!" Flynn argued in answer. "You'll need my ship and there's no way I'm letting you make rules on it! I'm the captain!"

Before things escalated too much, Spyro reacted. "Come on, gentlemen. You're two mature people, I'm sure it won't be that hard to cooperate! By using both of your respective skills, that victory will be assured!"

Both thought about it and agreed, causing them to forget about this little argumented. However, Spyro looked alone at the box, whispering "That's not enough for you?" Flynn then guided the group! "Come on, everyone aboard!"

Using Flynn's ship, the group joined the location of the race. They all felt nervous, but they knew that Eon and Kaossandra were counting on them, and even though it would be weird, succeeding could cause them to get Kaos as a new ally and getting rid of him. Doing their best to stay on a positive mindset, Flynn parked the ship at the starting line.

Once the race starts, Flynn ordered the Skylanders in a rather rude manner for the sake of the race, which bothered Jet-Vac a lot. "Aren't you being a little excessive with your commands?". The captain answered "You don't know how it is to make a ship like this go fast, so you'd better trust me!" However, he still couldn't stand seeing Spyro, Stealth Elf, Eruptor and Pop Fizz being stressed and added. "Do your best, guys! But keep in mind that you should enjoy the experience!"

While the Skylanders didn't mind the process, it wasn't long until they all ended up exhausted, which caused the bird Skylander to react. "See? You're doing it wrong, Flynn!" He went to see his partners himself and talked to them. "Guys, don't overdo it! The race is important, but you also need to have fun! I even got cookies to give you strenghts!"

The group happily accepted Jet-Vac small rewards and resumed working, as Kaos' ship was still in the lead before them. Eruptor does a comment on the situation. "I really think Jet-Vac has a better leadership! He has much more experience.

Stealth Elf, as much as she likes her bird friend, couldn't completely agree. "I don't know... Captain Flynn does have a point about knowing how to manage a ship crew."

Pop-Fizz had to argue as well. "But both have their faults, you know... I don't know if having the two together will be a good thing..."

Before they could argue more, their dragon friend talked to them: "Guys! This is no time for arguments or to doubt someone! We have a mission to do, and we'll succeed it by being a great team! Isn't that right?" The whole group agreed and went back to work. Spyro once again looked at the box and turned annoyed as it didn't react. "Come on... You're really asking a lot, you know?"

Inside Kaos's ship, however, it turned out that the Doom Raiders had enough of Kaos and decided to manage the race themselves, but at the same time, each of them wanted to be a leader, causing endless arguments between them. Unwitting to them, Kaos has had enough and managed to escape from the room he was locked in thanks to his powers and guides the team in a tyrannic manner to have them win.

"I'm done being pushed around! I'll prove Strykore that I'm a trusty son! And I am not going to be slowed down by Skylanders ever again!" He decided to prove this by shooting a blast of energy at Flynn's ship to damage it and slow it down.

Flynn quickly took notice of the situation and advised what to do. "Okay, guys! We have a damaged propeller, but I can fix it if someone brings me a lemon-head screwdriver!" Dark Spyro was quick to volunteer. "I'll be on it, Captain!"

As he entered Flynn's office, though, he talked to himself. "I say that, but I don't know anything about screwdrivers..." Looking at the tool shelf, he found a screwdriver with a lemon at the top. He decided to grab it and started to leave. "Well, if I tell him this is it, maybe he'll believe me..."

But he once again got scared by Strykore interrupting. "What are you even doing? Am I seeing things, or are you helping them?"

Inside Dark Spyro's mind, Spyro started to have enough. "That dumb dark sorcerer... I'm so close to being a true Skylander again, I won't let your mission change that!"

Dark Spyro was scared, but explained with a logical excuse. "Master, I have to! Otherwise, they'll be suspicious!" Strykore couldn't take it more and reasoned him. "Spyro, you need to stop losing time with them and manage to open that box! Then, we'll destroy the Core of Light and the Skylanders! Because that's what we both want, right?"

Spyro, while he couldn't be heard, yelled. "No! I do NOT want that! I'm a hero, a Skylander!"

The question had an impact on Dark Spyro's mind, as the fact that he still had a kind side within him allowed him to see good friends in the Skylanders. He couldn't help but comment. "Well... Maybe we don't HAVE to destroy them..."

Strykore was shocked "What are you saying?" Dark Spyro continued, hoping to still appear as a loyal servant. "I want us to succeed, but maybe getting rid of the Skylanders isn't something we're forced to do! I mean, the Skylands are huge! Even with the dark side reigning, they could still live without being a nuisance to our ruling of the lands."

Strykore couldn't believe what he heard. "Spyro, listen to yourself! You lost your ferocity and your mean behavior! You're not a trustful member of darkness anymore!"

Spyro yelled: "And I will NEVER be one!", but Dark Spyro talked and said. "No, Master! I'm still trustful, but please hear me out..." But he couldn't continue his sentence, a familiar voice interrupted them.

"Master...?" Stealth Elf entered to check what took Spyro so long and heard the last part of their conversation. Her presence caused both Spyro to feel fear all over their body.

"Elfy! I..." Fortunately for him, his dark side had the same intention as him. "Elfy! I can explain! This is really not what you think!"

Stealth Elf grew angry as she talked. "What I think is that you became an evil dragon as I thought you were, and that you've been a spy for Strykore the whole time!" Dark Spyro tried to sound nice. "Well, okay, you're not completely wrong..."

Stealth Elf was torn between the anger of the betrayal and the sadness of seeing what her friend has become. "My best friend... became an evil agent!"

Spyro was heartbroken. He expected and feared that moment to happen, but still couldn't stand to see his friend like that. He saw her getting annoyed at his narcissistic behavior in the past. He saw her getting mad after him when he didn't take his graduation seriously. He also saw her mad against him when he got the two of them locked in the Relic Room when all she wanted was enjoying the calm of a deserted academy. But she never saw her like that. He teared up seeing what his actions led his best friend to feel.

Dark Spyro tried to explain what happened to his feels and thought. "Elf, it was true before... But I've changed!" But he forget that Strykore was there and heard that he could have a change of heart. "Really? Tell me more about that, would you? I'm interested..."

The black dragon got scared, and was torn between the two sides, while Spyro wished he could spout fire at Strykore's floating head for causing him to end up in this situation.

But Stealth Elf didn't want to spend any more time talking to them and quickly warned the two of them before vanishing. "Wait until I tell the others! We'll see what they'll think!" Strykore then ordered the dragon. "Stop her, now!"

Spyro yelled as an answer. "No! I will not hurt her, and I'm done following your orders! I'd rather get arrested, or even get killed, that continue to serve you!"

Dark Spyro answered: "No, I refuse to do that! She's a friend!" He discussed an order for the first time, which proved a point to Strykore. "... I knew it was a mistake to leave you with light! I'll fix this mistake right away!"

Spyro wondered what it meant. "Wait, what?" He quickly got an answer as Strykore used a power that surrounded Spyro's body and giving him small pain. Inside Spyro, said power had the effect to trap him in a small bubble, causing his influence to gradually diminish. The pain caused him to pant as he couldn't fight back! "No... Leave me..." Quickly, he was close to being immobilized.

Dark Spyro opened his eyes with an enraged expression and blood red sclera for a second. Strykore then repeated his order. "Stop her, now!" The powers had the effect to make Dark Spyro meaner, more violent and sound even deeper. "With great pleasure, Master!" He flew away from the room.

Stealth Elf got outside the hallways and tried to call the others! "Everyone, listen! Spyr..." Dark Spyro grabbed her from behind before she could be heard, and he dragged her at the opposite side of the ship. Even then, they were too busy trying to figure out how to fix the ship to notice anything. As much as she would hate hurting her best friend, she didn't have a choice but to take matter in her own hands.

As the predicament Spyro is in didn't allowed him to bring the screwdriver to Flynn, this caused his ship to stay still and Kaos' team to win the race and prize money. Unaware of what happened, Jet-Vac was dumbfounded. "We... lost?" Eruptor got sad. "I'm afraid we did. We failed Eon and Kaossandra..."

Kaos rejoiced aboard his ship. "I won! I finally succeeded at something! I told you I'm the most competent captain around!" However, the Doom Raiders had something in mind.

"Yes, you are. We got a full money prize as a proof.", commented Chompy Mage. Wolfgang then walked to Kaos. "Which also means we don't need a captain, anymore."

He grabbed him and threw him off the ship, falling at high speed. Dreamcatcher commented. "Aww... He yells like a weasel! I should have guessed!"

Dark Spyro was fighting by grabbing Stealth Elf against the floor, but she was able to quick him back. "Okay! I'm done playing!" He then shot a blast of dark energy, which she dodged. "What the...? Since when do you have electric powers?" Dark Spyro answered smugly. "Being on the dark side is full of advantages like that, sweetie! But enough blabbering! You've been a pain for me ever since I've started my mission, and you will regret it!"

He successfully used his electric power against her and trapped her in a cage he formed with it. That cage was giving her small amounts of pain, and she could neither destroy or teleport out of it.

Spyro, on the inside, kept trying to fight back. "Elfy! No!" Seeing this caused him to enter a state of rage and he punched and quicked the bubble at full strength. "LEAVE... HER... ALONE!" The last punch managed to break his magical prison, which had the effect of changing Dark Spyro's enraged expression to a remorseful one. "Elfy... I can't do that..."

With a saddened expression, he softly dropped her on the ship, seeing that his own attacks caused her to lose conciousness. He was close to crying. "What have I done...?" He then remembered about the Wumpa Puzzle Box and decided his mission was done there. But as he tried to get rid of it by throwing it, it started shaking.

"You're unbelievable! That's when you decide to open?" He grabbed its content and saw the map to Arkus, which he started to read until he got scared by Kaos' scream, who was going to crash against the ship until he got stopped, commenting "Oh, right... I have the power of flight..." He then noticed what Dark Spyro left behind as he moved. "The map to Arkus! Father will be so proud of me!"

Spyro heard that. "Kaos? No, don't give it to Strykore!" As Kaos started to escape with it, Dark Spyro called for him. "No! That's mine!" Unfortunately, Stealth Elf had woken up and only saw Dark Spyro trying to go away. She surprised him by kicking him in the air twice, the second kick being so violent that it caused him to fall unconscious against the ship. She then looked at him with a sad expression.

What she didn't know was that Spyro was indeed good despite what happened to him initially and during their fight. And kicking him like that had the effect to make her good friend faint as well, which, as a result, made him unable to fight back as he was starting to be completely evil as the darkness took hold of his whole body.

Having a tear in his eye, the last thing the purple dragon could hear were his friends in utter shock.

He heard Jet-Vac saying "What? For real?", Pop Fizz saying "You can't be serious, Elfy!", and Eruptor being in complete stupor. "So you're telling us that Spyro, our good childhood dragon friend..."

The last words the good Spyro heard from Elf were the most crushing ones for him. "... is an evil traitor!"