"Ugh," Sonic Boom groaned as she got back to her paws and shook her head, which still throbbed from the aftermath of that battle.

Though the memories of it only came back to her in vague flashes, the way her body ached told her enough. She grunted as she lifted up her wing, gently nudged her eggs, and made a weak smile as they rattled in response. Good, at least her kids were safe. Now that she got a look at herself, her amulet now glowed with a faint, milky white glow; was it starting to run out of power?

Sonic Boom lifted her head to find Sunburn and Lightning Rod on the ground beside her, both fast asleep and near-unconscious like she herself was, while their own amulets glowed with a similar faint light. Wait, just those two? That couldn't be right. She definitely knew that Dark Spyro was with them, so where'd he go? For that matter, those minions were gone as well.

"Alright, you creeps," Sunburn murmured as he twitched and lifted his head in sleep, "where'd you go, you're not gonna get away from—"

"Er, Sunburn?" Sonic Boom flew over to Sunburn and gently nudged his shoulder. "I'm afraid they already did."

Sunburn popped his eyes open and frowned as he craned his head around. "Huh? What was I—"

Sunburn and Sonic Boom both winced as a monstrous snore rang around the islands, but sighed as they turned to a still-sleeping Lightning Rod. Sonic Boom flew over and tried to urge him awake as well, but he just twitched his nose and rolled over.

"Come on, Lightning Rod, wake up!" Sonic Boom whispered as he tossed and turned in his sleep yet again. "This isn't time for a nap!"

"Why, yes, I'll happily accept the golden cup, Your Majesty," Lightning Rod mumbled with the most giddy grin on his sleeping face.

Sonic Boom just sighed and drooped her ears. "Seems as though we'll have to do things the hard way."

So, she breathed in, breathed out, and interrupted the relatively tranquil surroundings with the loudest screech she could muster!

"LIGHTNING ROD, WAKE UP!" Sonic Boom screamed as a flock of skeletal birds flew off in the distance.

Lightning Rod scrunched his face and frowned, and with a slow grumble, his green eyes popped open and he jumped back to his cloudy feet!

"Say, when did I get here?" Lightning Rod remarked as he scratched his beard. "Last I recall, I was accepting the champion cup at the two hundredth Storm Olympics!"

"In your dreams, Lightning Rod." Sonic Boom frowned as she swooshed her tail. "But here in the real world, we've got a problem! Those undead minions escaped, and I'm pretty sure they took Dark with them!"

"They did?" Sunburn gasped as he jumped to all fours. "Where?"

"I don't know!" Sonic Boom spat as she looked around, "They must have taken him while we were knocked out, but where?"

All three of them twisted their heads around, but winced as they caught no sight of Dark's trademark onyx-black scales, purple fire, or even a more dragon-like shadow among the ones that stretched across the ground. With no sort of clues as to where he went, he could possibly be anywhere! And the suspicious way their amulets glowed told them that they didn't have all day to find him.

Wait, unless… Now that Sonic Boom thought about it, those minions worked for Vathek, right? Maybe, just maybe, they brought Dark to him?

"Hey, you're one short!" announced a kind of goofy-sounding voice as the sight of crimson scales surrounded them.

"That voice," Sunburn whispered as he looked down.

A mighty gust blustered towards Lightning Rod, Sunburn and Sonic Boom and forced them to practically dig into the ground just to keep from getting blown away! Once the winds receded, they all lifted themselves up and beamed. Flavius landed right beside them, and aside from some noticeable bumps on his head, he was in perfect shape!

"Flavius!" Sunburn exclaimed as he looked up at Flavius. "What happened? Weren't you fighting those guards?"

"Well, I was," Flavius replied as he rubbed his aching head, "but then, they all just got up and flew off for some reason! I tried to follow them—" Flavius winced and held his head "—but I ended up hitting a few rocks on the way and lost their tail."

"You couldn't have come at a better time!" Sonic Boom exclaimed as she flew up to Vathek. "Dark Spyro's been kidnapped!"

"What?!" Flavius stumbled back as absolute horror flashed through his eyes. "That's awful!" Flavius blinked and shook his head. "Quick question, which one was Dark Spyro again?"

"Y'know, little black and silver dragon, one of our buddies?" Sunburn replied as he frowned and raised an eyebrow at Flavius.

Flavius just hummed and pondered for a moment as his eyes lit up. "Oh, that one!"

"Exactly!" Sonic Boom replied as she looked aside. "We think Vathek's forces kidnapped him, but we don't know where he is or what to do next."

Flavius paused and tapped his foot while his tail gently swept against the earth, and finally he made a firm snort.

"If he was taken by Vathek's goons, they probably put him in the dungeons!" Flavius's eyes lit up as he beamed. "Which, lucky for us, is right by the throne room! Hop on, I'll fly you there!"

Flavius turned around and sat down while Sunburn, Sonic Boom and Lightning Rod all shot each other wary glances. Nonetheless, they hopped onto Flavius's back and held on tight as he took off. Surprisingly for it being Flavius, it was a pretty smooth ride! There were no bumps, no sudden dips, or turns; just the sounds of flapping wings as a gentle harmony that complemented the, well, lack of a breeze.

"Isn't flying the only way to, er, fly?" Flavius asked as he turned around and grinned at Sunburn, Sonic Boom and Lightning Rod mid-flight, but cried out in pain as he slammed face-first into a rock.

Sunburn, Sonic Boom and Lightning Rod screamed with him as they grabbed onto Flavius's back spines in some desperate attempt to not fall into the abyss, and quickly crawled back up Flavius's back.

"Ugh," Flavius groaned as he shook his head and went back to flying, "I was sure this path didn't have this many rocks…"

Flavius grimaced as he just narrowly avoided slamming into another gigantic rock! He winced and stopped mid-flight as the rock passed them all by, and gulped as he looked towards the path ahead.

"Flavius, what's the holdup?" Sunburn asked as he crawled up Flavius's shoulder and pursed his beak. "Oh."

Well, Sunburn found the holdup alright, as did Sonic Boom when she crawled up to see what the commotion was about. Just ahead, the entire path was littered with tons of gigantic rocks, some of which were just as big or even bigger than Flavius himself! They all peacefully drifted like stars in the night sky, and with so many clustered together, it would be pretty hard to maneuver, especially for someone as big as Flavius…

"Welp, looks like we're in for a bumpy ride!" Flavius shouted as he leaned in. "You might wanna hold on, Skylanders!"

Flavius swooped down, and with a few flaps of his wings, he dashed and swerved through the rocks, all while Sunburn, Sonic Boom and Lightning Rod screamed and clung on for dear life! Even with all this flying, Flavius's flight was going to be far from easy, for the rocks became more tightly-packed as he passed forward.

Soon, he flew right towards a gigantic rock at such a fast speed that he couldn't brake at all! Flavius grimaced, spun around and barrel-rolled through the rocks as flames shot out from his mouth! These flames completely engulfed Flavius and transformed him from a dragon to a gigantic fireball that crashed straight through the rocks! With all these flames surrounding them and heating things up, it was like he was a comet that dashed through the rock fields and smashed them to bits! On the bright side, they burst past the rock field and into clear skies once more!

Better yet, there was another island close by with an elaborate structure placed on the top that was just barely visible past Flavius's flames—this had to be the throne room they sought!

"Incoming island!" Flavius cried as he flared out his wings.

In one last burst of fire, Flavius crashed onto the island grounds with such force that it dug a trench in the rotted earth! Sunburn, Sonic Boom and Lightning Rod all jumped off Flavius's back as the flames petered out and Flavius returned back to normal with a groan.

"Thanks for the ride, Flavius!" Sonic Boom chirped with a grin.

Flavius looked back, shook his head and grinned back at Sonic Boom.

"You're welcome, Skylander!" Flavius said, but his happy look turned much more solemn as he directed his gaze towards the building above them with all its bright white pillars covered in dead vines. "That should be where the throne room is." Flavius turned to the Sunburn, Lightning Rod and Sonic Boom and flared his wings. "You ready to kick Vathek's butt?"

"You bet!" they all shouted back!

So, they all took to the skies and flew up to the building. The cold, chilling undead wind brushed against Sonic Boom's feathers and chilled her down to the bone, even moreso than the usual cold winds. On impulse Sonic Boom peered down at her amulet, which still glowed with a milky white, strong glow. Something about it egged at the back of her mind, as if it was an indicator of something bad to come, but hopefully she could find Dark and get the Eternal Undead Source back before it gave out on her.

So, she steeled her gaze and nodded as they all swooped down towards the throne room!

"Alright, Vathek! The game's time is cooked and its goose is over, or however the saying goes!" Flavius demanded as he crashed into the throne room and snorted bright orange flames out his nostrils. "Give the throne back to Ramses!"

"And give back the Eternal Undead Source, too!" Sunburn and Sonic Boom ordered as they flew in with Lightning Rod by their side.

The throne room was much unlike the dead, withered undead world around them, with its polished floors that depicted intricate murals of powerful dragons and the massive pillars that surrounded them, but that wasn't the most shocking thing! Rather, what sent chills through all their hearts was what rested on the massive, jewel-encrusted throne on a ledge above!

There, seated atop the throne, was a black wyvern whose body was so withered it was almost a corpse, with tattered wings and gigantic slashes through their chest that glowed with a bright cyan energy. Their eyes glowed the same cyan as their body, and a ghastly aura radiated around their body. They matched up perfectly with Flavius's description, so there was no mistaking it—this had to be Vathek!

"Don't you insolents know how to knock?" Vathek snarled, though his teeth had all rotted out and made his snarl less intimidating. "After all, you have no business crashing into my throne room when you're far too weak to defeat me!"

Vathek's snarl turned into a smirk as he gestured to the opening behind him. "In fact, your ally was wise enough to understand this!"

Ally? What in Skylands was Vathek talking about? All four of them fixed their eyes on the opening, and gasped as none other than Dark Spyro stepped out! Dark himself said no words, but merely sat at Vathek's side and stared down at them all with an uncharacteristically cold look. No, this couldn't be him; this couldn't possibly be his doing, right? Dark Spyro, for as impulsive and as much of a troublemaker as he was, would never turn to the side of evil so quickly, right? What could have happened to him?

Sonic Boom had a couple ideas, and none of them were entirely good. In fact, they were so bad that she could only stand there, eyes wide and beak dropped as Vathek's cackles resounded in her ears.