Malefor did not feel even a faint mana force as he gazed down the pit into which all of his enemies had fallen. Believing them defeated, he soared into the sky and began to discharge dark energy from him into the sky to cover the entire realm in utter darkness.
However, while he was at that task, one of the moles, Magnus, had approached the spot where the hole was. When he arrived, looking into the depth, he shouted:
"General Spyro!" he got no answer, "General Jhonny! General Edel! General Cynder! Someone?!"
No one answered. When he feared the worst, the edge came undone and the mole fell to the bottom for a few minutes. However, when he was about to die from the fall, some friendly paws helped him.
"Are you alright, Magnus?" a voice asked.
"General Spyro!"
A small light appeared: Jhonny had lit some torches that happened to be there. Around him, Cynder, the guardians and young dragons were also alive, but badly injured. As Spyro lowered Magnus, the purple dragon felt excruciating pain in his right leg.
"Where we are?" Nina asked.
Everyone turned their gaze around them: the place where they were was deep, there were ancient buildings, runes and strange sculptures, stalagmites that threatened to fall at any moment. Most didn't know the place, but Spyro and Cynder did: it was the catacombs below the remains of the mountain. Near them, was a hole where the huge gem where Malefor slept had been moments before.
Returning to the group, Spyro had found some runes that represented Malefor when he was in his youth. That made the purple hero think: was there any chance of beating Malefor? Why does he have so much darkness? He remembered Prowlus's words in Avalar:
"…I have not forgotten how Malefor used to be when he was young…"
He was right: Malefor had completely forgotten the education he had given her. He believed that with the power he could create and destroy whatever he wanted. But he was wrong: Power without heart only leads to darkness. Having it clear, Spyro thought that it was he himself who should stop him and not expose his friends and family. However, when he tried to move, his broken leg made him stop.
"Spyro!" Cynder stopped him, "Are you…?"
But her right wing began to hurt. Spyro tried to help her and realized that he didn't want anything worse to happen to her.
"It's useless" Thorr said trying to overcome the pain, "We can't beat him, he's very powerful"
"I have to admit it guys" Cynder mentioned a little better, "he's ten times stronger than last time…"
The Skylanders approached the group.
"Sorry, my light wasn't as strong as I thought…" Sam started to say.
"Even the smallest and tiniest spark of light can be hope" Jhonny stopped him, "Don't worry, as long as we are still alive, there will be hope, young dragon"
"Don't give up Sam" Aurora supported him and the rest of her friends too.
"It's true" Cynder supported him, "Besides, I don't think that Sam's light, combined with all of you, has been weak: it's that his darkness is more powerful than ever"
Remember that light and dark dragons can detect changes in both elements, just as fire and ice dragons can detect changes in temperature.
"If that's the case, how will we beat him?" Ray asked.
"Guys," Spyro interrupted to everyone's surprise, "I think you'd better let me do this: Malefor is a purple dragon too and he's already hurt you all badly. Besides, it's up to me to stop him."
"You can't go out like this!" Cynder stopped him, "If we all couldn't together, being alone will kill you"
Spyro was trying to move towards the hole despite the pain, "I can still fight, this can't end like this…"
"Dad, calm down..." Nina stopped him.
There was a struggle in which everyone was trying to stop him from going out to fight, but Spyro was quite willing.
"Spyro, I can't let you fight in those conditions" Jhonny told him, "I'm telling you as a friend"
"I know, but if we can't…"
He stopped when he felt a strange sensation in his paw: Sam was trying to heal the bone.
"It's one of the skills I have," she mentioned, "I can heal wounds, and I can try to mend bones."
For a moment, Sam emanated his mana towards Spyro's leg until he felt a terrible pain, and then… everything was as before: the bone was fixed.
"Thank you very much, Sam," Spyro said.
"It was nothing" he replied.
"See, Spyro?" Cynder told him, "You always want to do everything just because you think it's your responsibility as the purple dragon, but this time you have all of us to help you."
"But I don't want anything to happen to you like…"
"Ignitus?" Johnny asked, "Ignitus' soul is still alive, and even if he had died, he knew the risks he would take. We know them too, but we are willing to give our lives for the peace of the world or die for a just cause. And if we get separated, we will be defeated one by one, the best option is to keep fighting all together."
"We are the guardians of the dragon's realms" supported Edel, "Your fight is ours too"
"Tha'ts right," Cynder continued, "We are willing to defeat Malefor or at least seal him with the dragon ancestors."
Spyro was moved by the unconditional support of his friends, but Cynder's words also refreshed his memory to a point that…
"Cynder, you are a genius!" he said.
"Well, you know I have my moments," she replied, "do you have a plan?"
Spyro did not answer immediately, but turned to Jhonny:
"How long would it take us to return to the dragon temple? We need a little energy"
"It's impossible considering that Malefor would take us down as soon as we spread our wings" he replied, "Besides, we will delay if we wait for Sam to heal us all"
"Oh!" Magnus chimed in, "I almost forgot: I brought some gems here to heal you"
Then, the mole took out two bags well filled with red and green spirit gems.
"Magnus," Johnny told him as everyone healed and reloaded, "Remind me to promote you to Commander."
Once everyone was spared, Spyro explained the next phase of the plan:
"If the ancestors can lock up Malefor, perhaps we can hold him…"
"Is that possible?" Ray asked.
"I think so," Thorr replied, "The ancestors are spirits of guardian dragons and other powerful ones that once lived. It could be that if we reflect its power, we could create some kind of semi-seal…"
"Yeah, I thought so," Spyro said, "One not so powerful, but strong enough to immobilize him for a while."
"It is possible that, if we take our power far form our sensed, we can achieve it" Jhonny supported him, "But we will need an exact synchronization, which is difficult even for a guardian"
"And when we retain it, what shall we do?" Edel asked, "He's still very powerful."
"Not so much, remember?" Spyro asked, "The young dragons did hurt him. Even if it is, a little"
With this, they turned to the young dragons.
"Us?" asked Nina, "But how?"
"You destroyed it once" Spyro reminded them, "That time they had no conscience or didn't notice your real power. Now, everyone owns him and the last member, the dragon of light, is on your team. You can do it if you max out his mana and attack him at the same time."
"Not so much, Spyro" Jhonny stopped him, "You must take charge of leading them. They need your Ether power combined with the other elements to win. Cynder, Edel, Ray, Thorr and I will stop him."
Spyro knew that he had to do it. So, having the bones and muscles restored from him, he spread his wings. They all also did the same.