Welcome back to Elemental Crisis Book 1. Last time, Spyro and Cynder met the League, learned off handedly through Superman that they're video game characters in this world, and before long, it was time for them to tell the story of how they ended up here. So let's not waste another second. Here we go!

(Our scene picks up not at League headquarters, but in the Dragon Realms, where for once, everything appears at peace. No monsters running about, no towering volcanoes with floating fortresses dominating the landscape, no giant golems stomping about, everything appears to be as calm as it probably would be in peacetime.)

Spyro: As your speedy friend stated, Cynder and I aren't originally from this world. We come from a place called the Dragon Realms.

Cynder: For as long as we'd been alive, our world was menaced by a villain known as Malefor. But fifteen years ago, Spyro and I managed to defeat him once and for all. Or so we thought.

(As that ominous statement is made, we finally see Spyro and Cynder before their massive injuries, standing over the land on a Pride Rock like outcropping, standing as the champions they are, surveying the peace they helped usher in)

Cynder: Hard to believe it's been fifteen years.

Spyro: (With a hint of playful sarcasm) And neither of us thought we'd get used to this.

(That line garners a slight chuckle from Cynder, and she's about to make a comment, but then the dark clouds roll in on the horizon)

Cynder: That... can't be good.

Spyro: (Flaring his wings, ready to rush into battle) No, no it can't.

(Not wasting a second, the two rush into the heart of the storm just as lightning strikes, revealing the mastermind behind it, with neither Spyro nor Cynder being able to believe it)

Cynder: No...

Spyro: It can't be!

(And soon enough, the source of the ominous storm is revealed, Malefor, now bearing an armor derived from the Anti-Monitor, bearing a fusion of the Anti-Monitor's symbol and the Dark Aether symbol. Dark Gems start springing up all around him as he speaks)

Malefor: And yet it is.

Spyro: We destroyed you over a decade ago!

Malefor: You thought you did. In reality, my energy was banished to the bounds between universes, where I came upon an eternal Prometheus. The Anti-Monitor. A being of immense power, trapped in a realm of worlds that shouldn't exist.

Cynder: You've gone insane! Er, well, more insane than the last time we saw you.

Malefor: (Chuckles evilly) You won't be calling me mad for long!

(With that remark made, the battle is on. Spyro and Cynder think they know what they're up against, having faced Malefor fifteen years ago. But alas, they have no idea what a fight they're in for. Malefor throws one blast at them, and they're down. But the blast does something unusual, it draws four strands of different colored energy each out of them. Spyro tries to breathe a stream of Fire at Malefor's face, but nothing comes out, and all Malefor can do is laugh as the energies derived from the two of them consolidate into eight orbs)

Malefor: (Referencing the orbs) Looking for these?

Spyro: By the Ancestors...

Cynder: Did he just... take our Elements?!

Malefor: I can't exactly have Aether meddling in my plans again. And now without your power, my warriors will be easily able to finish you off.

(With that, Malefor snaps his claws, summoning eight humanoid figures shrouded in darkness, but the leader of them seems to resemble the Flash, but more armored)

?: This is the end for you.

(And sure enough, the eight warriors start ganging up on Spyro and Cynder, kicking the tar out of them until Malefor hits them with his own massive paws, resulting in all the massive scars we see across them now and cracking a couple of Dark Gem fragments )

Malefor: And now, the piece de resistance...

(Malefor conjures his own Dark Aether and is about to atomize Spyro and Cynder with it, but before the beam can hit, a purple Breach opens up, dropping the two into Central City along with fragments of the land and Dark Gems through it as the flashback ends, and we resume our spot in League headquarters)

Spyro: And if it weren't for Ignitus opening that portal to this world, we would've died for sure.

Flash: So this Malefor has merged with the Anti-Monitor?

White Canary: Impossible, Ray said he'd be shrinking forever. How did he get chained up in a place of worlds that shouldn't exist, whatever the hell that means.

Cynder: Something tells me this "Spectre" character Ignitus told us to find will give us some answers.

Supergirl: One problem with that, we don't know the first thing about finding the Spectre.

Superman: But if this Malefor guy is as bad you say he is, we need to get working on it.

Black Lightning: Does anybody know where John Constantine is these days? He'd probably be able to tell us.

White Canary: If anyone can, it's him.

(But before anyone can make a further point in that idea's favor, dark clouds appear on the horizon, and soon lightning strikes, revealing a dragon's shadow standing just outside the League's headquarters)

Batwoman: I don't think we're going to have time to track him down.

Flash: That's Malefor, isn't it?

Spyro: Dead on...

(And as the enemy appears to have found his targets again, our tale ends for today)

And that looks like a good spot to leave off for today. So, now we know what Malefor took from Spyro and Cynder. He used the Anti-Monitor's power to rip the elements right out of them somehow, but couldn't quite kill them. But the new question, who are these warriors he called on? And now it looks like he's come to this Earth to finish the job he started. But will the additional power of the League be able to turn the tables? Tune in next time to start figuring out! Same time... same channel!