Skylanders: The Darkest Hour

Chapter I

Kaos Returns

Spyro and Cynder were by the Core of Light, Spyro watching as the clouds rolled by.

Cynder was sleeping by the Magic part of the Core, warming herself with the heat radiating out of it.

Spyro, meanwhile, stood on a pedastal, watching Cynder, the Core, and the rest of the Skylanders that played on and around the parts of the Ruins.

The reason why he was watching all three: the Core, because of what the villain, Kaos, had done to it the year before, the Skylanders because he was their leader and he cared about them all, and Cynder, only because he cared about her the most of all of the Skylanders. Another thing was that Cynder had once been one of Spyro's greatest enemies.

Three years ago, Cynder had been controlled by the most evil dragon of all: Malefor.

Spyro had confronted Cynder and Malefor in a place called Convexity and was able to return Cynder to her regular form, but accidentally letting Malefor escape during the same battle.

In the Skylands realm known as the Underworld, this was still a topic for discussion, and a very popular topic at that for discussion when others were scarce in the realm of the Underworld.

Cynder began to stir. When she was awake, she got up and stretched and yawned.

Spyro whirled around and saw that she was now awake.

"Hey, Cynder," he said. "Have a nice nap?" It was a few minutes before she could answer.

"Good," she answered, still yawning. "Though I wish it could've been longer. And I had a very strange dream."

"Yeah, and what was it?" Spyro asked.

"In the dream, I was back in Convexity, and Malefor was there, and so was Kaos, and I saw you too, but I wasn't helping you defeat them, I was on their side, and I was actually in the evil-version of myself," Cynder explained to Spyro wearily.

Before Spyro could speak again, he heard an explosion and turned around to see a plume of smoke rising from down on the beach.

"What the heck happened?" Spyro roared to Sunburn, a phoenix-dragon hybrid, who was closest to the spot on the beach.

"I don't know!" Sunburn roared back.

Suddenly, a ball of light hit Sunburn, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Kaos stood over Sunburn's limp body.

"I have returned, Skylanders!" Kaos declared in his loud, high-pitched voice.

Spyro was about to retort when he saw a terrible sight: an army coming to the shore below on a large battleship.

"Oh no!" whispered Cynder, fear in her eyes.

"Come on!" Spyro said to Cynder, He took off from the ground and went to the beach below.

The rest of the Skylanders were already there.

"Captains, get ready!" Spyro commanded.

There were eight elements: Magic, Undead, Fire, Earth, Tech, Water, Air, and Life. The captains of those elements were Spyro (Magic, and all Skylanders), Cynder (Undead), Sunburn (Fire), Bash (Earth), Trigger Happy (Tech), Gill Grunt (Water), Sonic Boom (Air) and Stealth Elf (Life).

As the captains took their places, Cynder found herself next to Spyro.

Kaos ran to the beach and took his place in front of the minions starting to arrive onto the sandy beach.

"Skylanders, I will hereby defeat you once and for all!" Kaos declared again. "Army," he continued, "ATTACK!"

The Skylanders and Kaos' army attacked each other at the same time.

Spyro shot three fireballs at a troll, and he watched as the troll fell to the ground and disappear into thin air.

Cynder used her shadow form to slip underneath an Earth Sentinel, a creature with a body made only of rock.

Then she used her dark electric breath (purple was this electricity's color) and eliminated it.

Kaos did nothing and just stood on the edge of the sandy beach, smiling.

"ARRGH!" Cynder roared as a troll's fist connected with her head, sending her flying into a rock, and she crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Spyro dashed over to her, fighting enemies along the way. He checked to see if she was still breathing. She was, but just barely. He defended her unconscious body from the remaining members of Kaos' army.

Spyro heard a grunt from above and looked up to see the trainer of the Skylanders, Cali, and the now-storyteller for the Skylanders, Hugo, fighting a couple of Shadow Knights, Cali with a staff and Hugo with a large book.

Stealth Elf yelled, "We're surrounded! Where are you, Spyro?"

"I'm over here with Cynder!" Spyro said back. "She's unconscious and just barely breathing!"

There was a flash of green light and the Life element captain appeared next to Spyro.

"Go," she told him. "I'll watch Cynder."

Spyro nodded reluctantly and flew off. He landed next to Trigger Happy, who was shooting at point blank at Shadow Knights and Chompies.

"How's it going?" Spyro asked Trigger Happy.

"Good," Trigger Happy cackled, still shooting. "What about you, Spyro? And where the heck is Cynder?"

"She's hurt pretty badly," Spyro explained. "A troll punched her and she landed on a rock. She's unconscious and she's just barely breathing!"

Kaos, who must have been listening, laughed in his high-pitched, screechy voice. "Your girlfriend finally defeated, Skylander?" he said. "Good. She was a pain while we were fighting in my lair!"

"You're lucky, you know," said Spyro. "She could've killed you, you know."

Fear was full in Kaos' eyes.

"What do you mean by this, Skylander?" he asked fearfully. "What do you mean by saying that she could've killed me during that battle?"

"Well, she was corrupted, you know," Spyro told Kaos. "Corrupted by the King of the Undead, Malefor himself."

"Ah, yes, I've heard this story before, Skylander," Kaos acknowledged. "Didn't you know that they still speak of the story in the Underworld?"

Before Spyro could answer, he saw a shadow fall over the water, moving toward the beach.

Meanwhile, Cynder, who's injuries were being nursed by Stealth Elf, saw the shadow long before Spyro did and closed her eyes as a blinding white flash of light entered her vision, a tear upon her cheek.