|| And here we have chapter 5 of The Birth of Dark Spyro, AKA "the part where both Spyros are crawling in their scales".

Chapter 5

It was around noon in Woodburrow, probably a little earlier than that. The sun was a fair height in the sky. It spread a warm light across the village. Spyro had found a sunny spot in one of the courtyards to lay down in. He was having a rather peaceful nap, away from the ruckus of the SWAP Force's classes. It was nice to just relax and not think about all the trouble that he and his team were in.

"Spyro! Spyro, sir!"

Never mind.

Hot Dog's voice pierced the silence, causing the Magic dragon to grumpily awaken. "Sir," Hot Dog prodded Spyro with his paw. "Sir, I have an important report..."

"Ugh, what is it, Hot Dog?" Spyro grumbled. "Whirlwind told me to rest my injury."

"It's from Terrafin's border patrol." Spyro didn't like the tone in his messenger's voice. "They found a Greeble airship a few miles off."

Spyro's eyes narrowed. "Kaos." He stood up and stretched, careful not to hurt him stomach, then instructed, "Find Sunburn and Trigger Happy. Tell them to guard the gates."

"What about you?"

"I'll catch up," the leader assured him, feeling his bloodstained bandages. "Just go."

"Yes, sir."

Before he could do anything, Spyro had to visit Whirlwind again. The bandages had to be removed, then the wound had to be washed (pain, lots of pain) and bandaged again. He thanked his nurse and left to join Sunburn and Trigg. When he reached the gate, however, he was met with a surprise...

"What the hell?!" Spyro exclaimed.

"Spyro!" Trigg cried. "Hey, look who decided to show up!"

It was Kaos and Glumshanks- tied up. Glumshanks looked terrified, but it didn't seem to be because he was surrounded by Skylanders. And then there was Kaos, who- as usual -looked angry. But wait... was there some fear mixed into that expression. "Hello, Skyloser leader..." Kaos growled.

Spyro's reaction wasn't talking; it was shooting fire at Kaos' feet. "What do you think you're doing here?!" he roared.

"Ah!" Kaos scooted away from the flames as Sunburn put them out with his tail. "Simmer down. I'm not here to fight you, I'm here to... eh..."

"What?" Spyro stated firmly. He was clearly not in the mood for funny buissness.

Kaos was hesitating. Whatever he was attempting to say, he clearly didn't want to say it.

"Master, please," Glumshanks pleaded. "We can't afford to waste time."

Kaos sighed. "Fine. Whatever. I need your... h-he-hu... assistance, Skylanders."

Surprise! The most evil and independent villain in all of Skylands was asking for help from his archenemies. The shock was certainly apparent on the Skylanders' faces. Wide eyes and dropped jaws (Trigger Happy's tongue was lolling out). "W-Wait, seriously?" Sunburn questioned. "You need our help?" Kaos nodded grimly. "Why?"

There was a short pause before Kaos responded. "It's Dark Spyro," he eventually said, a harsh tone coming to his voice. "It drove me away and burned my awesome castle to the ground. Won't listen do a thing I say.

Trigg gave you (yes, you) a sarcastic look. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

"Can't you make him self-destruct?" Spyro asked.

"Yeah, go boom!" Trigg added, turning his attention away from the reader (adios, fourth wall).

"Of course I could!" Kaos snapped. "But it destroyed my controller. There's nothing I can do..."

Spyro shook his head. "Untie them." he ordered.

"You trust them?" Sunburn challenged.

Spyro thought about this. He didn't think very long. "Yes," he replied. "Now untie them."

So they did.

Kaos stood up and dusted himself off. "Ugh, gave me a rope burn..." he muttered.

Glumshanks bowed to them rather formally. "We can't thank you enough, Spyro," he said.

Spyro smiled just a little. "Well, it is our job to protect Skylands from evil. And right now, Dark is the biggest threat."

Kaos snorted. "I'm a plenty big threat. I'm an AWESOME threat! And if you ask me, one 'thank you' is more than enough."

"Stealth Elf bows like that," Trigg pointed out.

"It's a Japanese thing," Sunburn replied.

"Glumshanks is Japanese?"

"He probably just studies the culture."

After asking Kaos and his butler a few questions about exactly what happened, Spyro turned back to his Skylanders. "Gather a few of the stronger Cores and bring them here. Pull them out of their classes if you have to. We need a battle plan."

Trigger Happy raised his hand.

"Seriously, don't do that. Just speak."

"What do you mean 'stronger cores?'" Trigg asked.

Spyro sighed. "The not-Swappers that kick ass."

"Oh. So elf girl and Whirlie?"

"Sure."

Sunburn and Trigger Happy stormed away in opposite directions. Kaos blinked, then slowly began inching backwards. "Yeah. So, uh... I'll be over here..."

Spyro quickly shot a menacing glare at him. "Oh no you don't. You got us into this, and you're going to help us get out."

Kaos cringed at the angered shine in Spyro's red eyes. Then he recalled that this was a Skylander, and he hissed, "You're not the boss of me, dragon!"

Glumshanks, knowing that it wasn't his place to get involved in this, took several paces back. Spyro unfolded his wings and stood as tall as he possibly could. Despite being taller than the dragon, Kaos still felt kind of small and helpless here. "As long as you're here," Spyro growled. "I am the boss of you."

Kaos gaped for a moment, then looked away nervously. "Fine. Whatever," he grumbled. "But only because I want my castle back."

With this response, Spyro lightened up. "Good. Now, where are Sunburn and Trigger Happy?"

Glumshanks raised an eyebrow. "They only left a couple minutes ago..."

A long ways away, a few Trolls wearing Firemen Hats and holding hoses were putting out the last of the flames around Kastle Kaos, which Dark had promptly renamed "Dark Palace."

"Good job, Trolls!" Noodles shouted. "Put your equipment back where it belongs while I give a progress report to Lord Dark." The Trolls saluted as he marched away.

He pushed open the charred doors and entered the throne room. Bunches of Greebles were removing the burnt portraits of Kaos and painting murals of Dark in their place. "Lord Dark!" Noodles called as he approached his new master.

The throne turned, slowly and ominously, to reveal Dark Spyro sitting and looking rather bored. He was wearing a distinctly vampire-like cape. It had a bold collar, was black on the outside and red on the inside. "What is it servant?"

Noodles swallowed. There were rumors going around, saying that looking directly into Dark's eyes could kill you. Yes, this sounds like total baloney, but they did seem to be missing a few staff members. "I-I-I just wanted to g-give you a s-status report..." He was looking at Dark's mouth. "The T-Trolls have extinguished the last of your f-f-fire..."

Dark Spyro smirked. "Good, good..." he chuckled. "Now I can continue with my to-do list. PIPSQUEAK!"

The little cyclops ran into the throne room, carrying a piece of paper. He bowed, then handed the paper to his master. "The list, uh... your majesty."

Dark snatched the list. "Leave us."

"Of course, my lord."

Noodles watched intently as Dark produced a large pen from inside his cape and began reading from the list. "Let's see here... kick out Kaos, check. Put out the fire, check. Have a hot cup of coffee..." Noodles noticed a shattered mug on the ground next to the throne. "...check." The paper incinerated. "Now all I have to do is destroy the Skylanders."

"You'll, uh... need a plan, sir..." said Noodles.

Dark snarled at him. "You think I don't know that?"

Noodles choked. "N-N-No sir! I-I mean, yes sir! I-I-I mean... whatever the right answer is, s-sir!"

Dark's smirk became apparent again. "That's what I like to hear. Now, we'll have to get their attention... hm..." He snapped his fingers. ...claws. "Servant!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Scatter troops all over Cloudbreak," Dark commanded.

Noodles raised an eyebrow. "Er, I beg your forgiveness for asking this, sire, but... why?"

"Because," Dark responded. "It's a distraction. Now when you're done with that, organize more powerful troops to confront-"

"The dragon?" Noodles guessed.

Dark frowned. "Spyro. Yes. Now go!"

Noodles saluted. "Yes, master!" And then he left.

It took almost an hour for Trigger Happy and Sunburn to return, which was a good thing in one way. It gave Spyro time to think. They had brought back some good choices- Terrafin, Jet-Vac, Gill Grunt, and Whirlwind (Stealth Elf was nowhere to be found). But they also brought a few questionable ones- Pop Fizz, Hot Dog, CountDown, Roller Brawl, the last of whom had been recruited only a few months prior. Spyro decided to wait a moment before addressing them. Glumshanks was conversing with Sunburn about tea and Kaos was making googly eyes at Roller Brawl. She obviously didn't like that.

Eventually Spyro silenced them. He explained Kaos' presence and what Dark had done. "Any ideas?" he asked asfter stating that they needed a batle plan.

"I say we just go there!" CountDown exclaimed. "Let's show 'em who's boss!"

Hot Dog shook his head. "Isn't that a bit straightforward? He could be expecting that. What if we wait for him to strike first?"

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Terrafin growled. "Hot Dog, when was the last time you were even on a mission? I'm with CountDown. Let's just find him and punch him in the gut."

Kaos scowled as everybody (minus Whirlwind) started arguing loudly. "These fools seem pretty hopeless..." he muttered.

"They're not the best problem solvers," Spyro admitted.

Trigger Happy's ear twitched in response to the noise. He gritted his teeth and yelled, "SHUT UP!" That really did shut them up. "You people are so obnoxious! Can't you see that this is a matter of life and death?! Get along for five freaking minutes and come up with an actual plan! Is that so much to ask?!"

Everybody blinked. Even Kaos knew that was an extremely out of character thing for Trigger Happy to do.

"Okay..." Spyro said. "Er, thanks, Trigg..."

Trigg flashed a toothy smile. "You're welcome!"

"Well, now that we've calmed down," Spyro continued. "who can come up with a plan that won't start a flam war?"

"Does he even know what a flame war is?" Pop Fizz whispered to Roller Brawl, who shrugged.

Everybody seemed to be drawing a blank, either that or they were afraid that Trigg would scream at them again. It didn't really matter though, because moments later the meeting was inturrupted.

"Skylanders!" Tessa called, pushing her way through the crowd. She had volunteered to be messenger while Hot Dog was busy.

"Tessa?" Spyro questioned as the fox girl approached. "What's the matter?"

"Reports!" Tessa replied, frantically shoving papers into Spyro's hands. "Lots and lots of reports! Just look!"

Spyro sifted through the papers. "Iron Jaw Gulch? Mudwater Hollow? Oh come on, Fantasm Forest is on fire again?!" He handed the reports back to Tessa. "Gill Grunt."

"Yessir?"

"Clean up, aisle Fantasm."

Gill Grunt nodded, understanding exactly what this meant. Kaos had set Fantasm Forest on fire on several occasions, and he was always the one to put it out. "Sure thing, Spyro!" The gillman casually hummed a tune to himself as he walked out the gate, like is ain't no thing.

"Tessa, have Sharpfin take Fryno to Iron Jaw Gulch to check out what's going on there."

Tessa bowed. "Of course."

"Does everybody study Japanese culture?" Trigg questioned.

"Seems like," Sunburn replied.

Spyro turned back to Kaos. "Do you have another way to work the cloning machine besides that remote?"

"Ha! Of course not!" Kaos laughed. Then he froze. "Wait, I totally do." At least half of the people there fell over anime-style. "There's a dashboard that can control it as well, but even if it's still standing, there's no way Dark Spyro will let me anywhere near it."

Spyro nodded. "It's our only shot. Trigger Happy, I need you to go grab a jar."

"A jar?"

"A jar."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

"Okay then!"

"Alright team, listen up," Spyro called. "A few of you are going to be fixing up Cloudbreak, but the rest of us are going to Kastle Kaos. Or, whatever's left of it. I'll fill you in on the plan on the Dreadyacht. Any questions?"

Roller Brawl raised her hand.

Spyro sighed. "Yes, Roller Brawl?"

She pointed at Kaos. "Does he have to be here?"

It wasn't long before the Dreadyacht was making it's way through the stormy clouds surrounding the dark side of Skylands. They had dropped off a few of the others on different islands, most notably CountDown, who had a thing or two to say about not being included on the real mission. Now there were only a few of them left. Despite this, there was still more than enough of them to follow through with Spyro's plan.

While Flynn rambled on with false tales of his heroics, Spyro kept his word and informed his party of the plan. However, he didn't give many details. At all. Terrafin got angry over this, but soon decided that it wasn't worth it. "It should only take me, Trigger Happy and Kaos to carry out Phase B," Spyro continued. "so Sunburn," The phoenix looked up. It appeared that he had been daydreaming. "I need you to lead Phase A, understood?"

Sunburn processed this, then started nodding furiously. "Of course! That's exactly what I'll do!"

Wow, Spyro is a pretty good leader," Glumshanks said. "Everybody respects him and follows his instruction without question."

"Oh please," Kaos rolled his eyes. "don't make me laugh. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ahem. Too late. The only real way to make your minions respect you is to demand respect! Strike fear into their wimpy little hearts!" He snorted. "I can not believe that there is any evil in this loser dragon at all."

Glumshanks shook his head. "The way he looked at you earlier, I can."

"Hey, Skylanders! ...and Kaos," Flynn called. "We're just about there. Time to get your game faces on! BOOM!"

Kaos rushed to the edge of the airship to get a better view. "Yes, my castle is still here! Charcoaled, but still here!"

Spyro smiled. "Good! That means we have a chance. Trigger Happy, you got that jar?"

Trigg nodded and pulled off the yellow backpack he was wearing. There was a glass container with a brass lid inside. "Ready to go, Spyro!"

"Alright! Bring us down, Flynn!"

The pilot slowed down his ship. "We are now approaching Kastle Kaos, a seriously depressing place that has recently gotten new management!" He parked loudly a few yards away from the door. "Last stop, everybody off."

Pop Fizz peered over the railing. "Yep, those are guards if I've ever seen 'em." There were several different kinds of Trolls standing beside the double-doors, grumbling and pointing at the ship.

Sunburn flew onto the ground below. "Right. Pop Fizz! Terrafin! Roller Brawl! You're up."

"Woo-hoo! My first real mission!" Roller Brawl exclaimed when she leaped off of the Dreadyacht.

"I'd say that this is my five-hundredth." Terrafin cracked his knuckles. "Let's show her how it's done, Pop Fizz!"

Sunburn shook his head. "Not until I say." One of the Trolls shouted and charged at them, soon followed by the rest. "Okay. Go!"

Trigger Happy was gleefully mimicking Terrafin's punches as the three Skylanders took the Trolls head-on. "Ooh, sucker punch! Get em! Get em!"

Although Terrafin was seriously attempting to be the center of attention, Spyro was more intently watching Roller Brawl fight. "She's fast," he uttered. "and strong. Good, good. I knew we made the right choice recruiting her." He shook himself. "Trigg, Kaos. It's our turn."

"About time," Kaos grumbled.

"Already?" Trigg questioned. "Okay! Let's go!"

"W-Wait!" Glumshanks exclaimed, stopping Spyro when he started to leave. "What should I do?"

Spyro exchanged glances with Kaos, who obviously didn't care and followed Trigg off of the ship. "Um..." the dragon said. "You can be the lookout."

Glumshanks appeared to be somewhat disappointed, but more relieved that he wasn't doing anything dangerous. "Oh, okay Spyro." Then he pointed forward and shouted, "LOOK OUT!"

Spyro ducked as a missile hurdled over his head and crashed into one of the castle walls. "Huh," he gasped. "Missile Maulers. Thanks, Glumshanks."

He flashed a smile.

Spyro flapped his wings and glided over the chaos that was the fighting. Trigg and Kaos were waiting for him at the door. "This is completely ridiculous!" Kaos was growling. "These are my minions! They should be obeying me!"

"Oh, relax!" Trigg said. "We'll get your stuff back! Just follow Spyro's plan!"

Kaos scowled. "It's annoying how cheerful you are."

Spyro landed next to them. "Alright, you two know the signal, right?" They nodded. He turned back to Sunburn, who was scorching a Trollverine. "You got this?" Spyro asked.

Sunburn nodded. "We'll be waiting for you out here."

Spyro smiled. "Then let's do this!" They pushed the doors open and stormed into the throne room. They were ambushed by a cyclops, which Trigger Happy shot in the face. Besides that, the room seemed to be completely empty. The Portal seemed to be totally calm, like it hadn't been used recently. Spyro glanced around, trying to find something, anything that could give some clue as to where Dark could be. Where are you? "Trigg," he said. "Can you smell him?"

"He smells the same as you," Trigg replied grimly.

"If he isn't here..." Kaos began.

But before he could continue, he was cut off by a loud voice echoing through the room. "Oh, I'm here," it boomed. "and quite frankly, I'm surprised that you are." It was Dark, alright, but the echo made it impossible to tell where he was. "I see that you didn't fall for my trap, Spyro. You must have become less gullible since my creation. If you want to know, I was planning on you leaving to confront my troops so I could burn down Woodburrow. Maybe kill a few of your friends in the process. Oh well." Spyro's lips curled back, but Dark continued before he could retort. "Please, you know the only useful ones are Sunburn and elf girl."

Spyro snapped. "Only useful ones?! Sunburn and Stealth Elf are two of the most powerful, sure, but not the only useful ones! What about Whirlwind?"

"She's a decent healer," Dark admitted. "but powerful? Heh. She can save as many winter villages from eternal darkness as she wants, but that won't make her strong."

"What about Gill Grunt?" Spyro challenged.

"What does he do, put out wildfires? You could replace him with a fire extinguisher! Call me when his cannon can pierce steel."

"And Terrafin?"

"Rash. His anger controls his actions. Elf girl seriously needs to teach him meditation."

Spyro scowled. "What about Trigger Happy?"

There was a short pause. "Hmph. He's useless without those guns. All unarmed gremlins are useless."

A shadow swooped across the ceiling as Dark Spyro finally decided to reveal himself. He landed a few feet away from them directly in front of the Portal. He was still wearing the stupid cape. Trigg waved to him. "Hi, scary Spyro!"

Dark narrowed his eyes. "I just insulted you."

"So?"

Dark shook his head.

"You! You!" Kaos roared. Dark turned to him. "Not only did you kick me out of my own home, but you also ruined the walls with your ridiculous paintings and raided my wardrobe! How dare you! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Dark still looked to be bored. "You have a lot of nerve coming back here." He smirked. "Though I should thank you. Now I can finish off you and Spyro. Kill two birds with one stone. In fact, I think I'll also get your team outside. Guards!"

At his beckoning call, four Goliath Drow emerged from the hallways. "Yes, Lord Dark," one of them growled.

"Oh, c'mon!" Kaos exclaimed.

"Take Kaos and Trigger Happy," Dark demanded, removing his cape. "I want Spyro all to myself."

"Funny," Spyro said. "I was just about to say the same thing."

They charged at each other, causing Trigger Happy to laugh. "He he! They're just like bulls."

"Ahem."

He looked up to see the Drow staring down at him. "Oh, hi!" he said. "Go do your part, Kaos. I'll take care of there guys." But Kaos had already fled to his station. "Oh. Well, I guess you're a step or two ahead of me." He pointed one of his guns at the Drow. "Okay! Ready! Fight now!"

Dark shot a raging blue fireball at Spyro, which he leaped right over. Spyro rammed into him and they locked horns with one another. "Huh," he choked, realizing that his stomach was bleeding again. "I never knew that my evil side was this... evil!"

His clone chuckled and slammed Spyro onto his side. "Heh. I got all of the power and none of the remorse."

Spyro got back onto his feet and shook himself off. "I don't doubt it," he grumbled. "Hey, would you hate me if I quoted Terrafin?"

"I already hate you." Dark looked at him suspiciously.

"No harm done, then!" Spyro grinned. He bounded over to Dark and took a position like a dog that wants to play. "Okay, here I go..." Dark was confused. "'Hey, are you hungry?'" He had lowered his voice to sound more like Terrafin. "'Here, have a knuckle sandwich!'" When he least expected it, Spyro punched Dark in the jaw.

It was hilarious.

Dark roared. "What the %$ &?!" Spyro was still laughing. "Since when do you fight dirty?!"

Spyro snickered. "I saw Terrafin pull a similar stunt on one of your guards. I figured that it would, well, catch you off guard!"

Dark rubbed his jawbone. "It worked. But don't think I'll fall for something stupid again!"

Spyro tackled him. They tumbled across the floor until he managed to pin Dark. "I don't know about that," Spyro said. "I think you just might."

With a glare, Dark thrashed his tail and hit Spyro's injury. He slithered out from under him when he reeled back. "Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that there's a gaping flesh wound in your belly. All I've got it a bite mark from that annoying Trigger Happy."

Spyro looked up. It was true, there was red, still bleeding wound on one of Dark's front legs. "Heh heh... speaking of 'that annoying Trigger Happy,' looks like your guards aren't doing so good over there."

"Eh?"

Trigg had already knocked out one of the Goliath Drow and was making quick work of the other three. He was too quick for them to catch him, and could blast them from afar.

"Ugh..." Dark grumbled. "HEY! There's a weak point on his left ear!"

Spyro cringed. Dang it, I forgot! He knows everything that I know.

A Drow swung at Trigger Happy, but the little gremlin did a back flip to skillfully avoid it. "He he! Can't catch me!" Then another Drow grabbed him from behind. "Oof. Okay, maybe you can."

"Little brat..."

"What's in his backpack?"

"Tug his ear! Tug it!"

The Drow that caught him squeezed his ear and pulled on it. Trigg wailed. "Ooh! Ow! Owie! H-Hey Kaos, could you hurry up over there?"

"Silence, fool!" Kaos snapped. "You're distracting me!" He was standing in front of a dashboard built into the wall. "Ugh, why did I not label these?!" There were a lot of buttons and levers, and nothing that even hinted at what they did. "Hm... maybe this one?" He pressed a shiny green button that caused a large ray gun to emerge from the ceiling. "No, it definitely was not that one. Maybe it will go away if I press it again...?" Nope! Pressing it again caused the ray to fire out of control in all directions. "Oh for crying out loud..."

"Hey, grab that guy too!" one of the Drow said. Before he could say "Skylosers," Kaos was being held in the air by his cape.

"Let me go! Put me down this instant!" the Portal Master cried.

"Sorry, Old Master," the Drow appologized. "We only listen to New Master now."

Kaos grumbled, only then for the ray gun to shoot the Drow in the back of the head. After it dropped him, Kaos scrambled back over to the dashboard. He pressed buttons frantically until the firing seized and the ray was back in the ceiling. He gave a sigh of relief. "Alright, forty-third time's the charm..." He pressed a red button, which he believed to be the only one he hadn't tried. Eureka! The Portal lowered into the floor and the cloning machine rose up in his place. "Yes! Finally!" he exclaimed. "Skyloser lea- I mean, Spyro! I got it!"

Spyro stood back up and nodded to him. "Hey, Dark Me!" Dark grumpily turned back to his original. Spyro spread his wings and took flight, soaring in circles above Dark. "I bet I'm faster than you!"

Dark clenched his teeth and followed him into the air. "That's impossible."

"Is it?" Things were going just as planned. Toying with the enemy isn't something that Spyro would normally do, but there wasn't much of a choice here. Spyro swooped down and Dark nearly crashed into a wall. "I bet I'm smarter than you!"

Dark growled. "That's also impossible."

"Oh yeah? What's the square root of 62549736?"

Dark blinked and started counting on his fingers. "Er, carry the four... Hey, wait a second! There's no way you know that!"

Spyro shrugged.

"You're really starting to get on my nerves." Dark threw himself into Spyro and set fire to his bandages. The hero was only narrowly able to escape, but he crashed into the ground next to the cloning device in the process. Dark landed on the other side and Spyro tore off his bandages, leaving his wound exposed. "After I kill you," Dark said. "there'll be nobody left to stand in my way. I'll be free to rule Skylands with an iron claw! Maybe I'll change it's name to 'Darklands.' Sounds better, doesn't it?"

Spyro didn't react with wails and begs for mercy like Dark had expected. No, he was laughing. "You really think you can just take over Skylands?"

Dark raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah! I mean, you're pretty much at my mercy here. What could you possibly do to stop me?"

"Well, I'm not sure if I can stop you," Spyro admitted. "but there are plenty of other people out there who could. I mean, you're unbalanced!"

Dark scowled. "What do you mean, 'unbalanced?'"

Spyro rolled his eyes. "I mean you're unbalanced! There's literally no good inside of you. You're pure evil. Even Kaos has a good side, I've seen it personally!" He smiled. "Trust me, that unbalance will be your downfall."

"Downfall?!" Dark roared. "Let me tell you something, I'm not going to have a downfall. I'm going to rule this world until the end of time, and nobody can stop me!" He leaped onto the cloning device's platform in order to seem more dramatic. "Not even you."

Spyro smirked. He flicked his tail- the signal. Seeing this, Kaos pulled one of the levers on the dashboard. In mere moments, Dark's feet were strapped to the platform. He cringed. "$&%#, I can't believe I didn't see that coming."

Spyro pushed himself back to his feet and brushed himself off. He was only pretending to be defeated. "Yeah, even though I had that experience, you didn't. It was easy to lure you here. Hm... learn from your mistakes, I guess."

Trigger Happy struggled out of the Drow's grip and jumped to the top of one of the spikes on the machine.

"All set, Trigg?" Spyro called.

Trigg pulled the jar out of his bag and unscrewed the lid. He gave a thumbs-up. "Yep! All set!"

Dark tried to escape, but his efforts proved to be fruitless. He shouted and shot fire into the air, which Spyro was able to put out by countering with his own flames before it could hit anything. "Argh! You think you can get rid of me just like this?! What do you plan on doing, torturing me? Ha! You could never!"

Spyro shook his head. "You're right, I couldn't."

"Then what is it?!"

"You'll see. Let a rip, Kaos!"

Kaos pulled down another lever and that same violet electricity from before was let loose on Dark. But, it seemed to have a different effect on him. He cried out at a black mist started to emerge from his body- it was vaporizing him. "Y-You..." he managed to say through the agony. "You think that this is over. Heh heh heh... this is only the beginning. I'll return... I'll return!" More and more of the black mist rose up into the air, and Trigg carefully collected it into his jar. Soon, the screams faded.

Dark Spyro was no more.

With a smile, Trigger Happy popped the lid back on the jar and slid it back into his pack. He jumped down and gave Spyro a high five. "Now that's what I call a Wakka-POW!" he cheered. "Y'know, even if we didn't actually hit him."

"Yeah, I get it, Trigg," Spyro assured him. "Nice job, buddy."

Kaos grumbled as he scooped Dark's cape off of the floor. "Yes, yes, everything's just fine and dandy..." He put the cape on and turned back to them. "Now, get out of my castle or meet a doom even more horrifyingly terrible than anything Dark Spyro could have dished out!"

The remaining Drow stomped over to Spyro and Trigg and looked down upon them menacingly. Spyro sighed. "Alright, c'mon Trigg," he started towards the doors, his gremlin friend sticking right behind him. "I have to go see Whirlwind again."

In the vault below Woodburrow, in an extremely secret containment unit, Trigger Happy was setting Dark's remains on a pedestal. He grinned and hopped out of the unit to join Spyro and Sunburn. Spyro inputted a four digit code and the unit closed up. "That was a pretty good plan, Spyro!" Sunburn praised. "But... how did you know that blasting him with the cloning machine would vaporize him?"

Spyro flashed a smile. "I didn't!" he replied.

Sunburn fell over. "W-W-Wait, r-really? You risked to safety of all Skylands over some unproven theory?!"

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Spyro chuckled. "I wasn't sure if it would vaporize or incinerate him, but I figured it would be one of the two."

"So what do we do now, Spyro?" Trigg asked.

Spyro cocked his head. "Hm... Dark might have sent troops to more islands than just the ones that sent reports. Let's hold a meeting. Sunburn, I want you to make sure that Stealth Elf is there. It's been a while since she did something besides participate in a border patrol."

"Or get captured," Trigg pointed out.

Sunburn stared at his feet. "Stealth Elf. Right. Okay, I'll go look for her."

"What if she's invisible?" Trigg asked.

"I'll listen for her."

Spyro and Trigger Happy locked the vault and returned back to Woodburrow. "Let's get everybody together, Trigg," Spyro said. "I don't want a single Skylander missing."

Before Trigg could respond, their talk was cut off by Roller Brawl and Pop Fizz. "Spyro! Spyro!" Fizz called.

Spyro sighed. "Can't I just carry out a conversation without getting interrupted...?"

"This is important, Spyro," Roller Brawl assured him. "It's Fryno, he came back from Iron Jaw Gulch."

"So?" Trigg raised an eyebrow.

"So," Pop Fizz said. "He brought back a kid with him!"

Spyro and Trigg's eyes widened. "A kid?"

"A kid!"

"What kind of kid?" Spyro asked.

Pop Fizz and Roller Brawl exchanged glances. "Uh, it's a boy," Roller Brawl said.

"Yeah, and a gremlin!" Fizz added.

Trigg's eyes lit up. "A gremlin kid? Ooh! Spyro, let's go see him!"

"Uh, T-Trigg..." He was already gone. Spyro facepalmed. "Okay, I guess we're going to go see him."

As they left the underhollow, what they didn't notice was a black mist blowing in the wind above them...

To be continued...

|| Hey, this chapter isn't actually that bad. The pacing is decent, and Spyro comes up with a decent plan to defeat Dark. Not bad at all.

Eh, I think I'll let you guys form your own opinions on this one. This story is really walking the fine line between good and bad, so I think that it's subjective. Personally, I think that this story is just as garbage as the three before it, but that's probably mostly because I'm the one who wrote it, and I know that I could do a lot better now.

Next time: Sunburn and Stealth Elf! ||