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This was certainly one of the stranger dreams. Crash found himself on a blue platform in a dark black void. The platform was composed of blue polygonal pillars. Some high, some low. He looked to the sky to see blue xmb waves in the back ground. There were also little specks floating around. Looking closer, he recognized them.
Triangle, square, circle, x.
They were the same shapes that would appear on his and Coco's faces when tapping into aether. "What is this place?" he said to himself.
"The dream scape."
His head turned at the unfamiliar voice. There was someone else here. It was a human man. He looked to be in his fifties. He had a long white beard, white hair, and was wearing a suit and tie. This got Crash intrigued. He never saw a human like this. Sure there were Eon and Kaossandra but this one looked realistic. Like the people he saw in the history books he read about.
The man gestured him to come close. "Hello. Won't you come closer? I won't bite."
He slowly did so. "Who are you? Are you a part of the dream?"
"No. This conversation's real and is happening right now" the man explained. "You can call me Zach. And you must be Crash. I heard so much about you."
"You have? How?"
Zach pulled up a holographic screen to show a store where games were on a shelf. Crash's eyes widened when he saw himself on the covers. "Your stories have been recorded and distributed throughout the world. There are some differences between them and the adventures you went on but the core is still present. I take the recordings of your adventures, plant them in the minds of developers for inspiration, and they make it into a game. You have become quite popular, especially in Japan."
This really got Crash interested and excited. People on the mainland were aware of his adventures and they loved him and his family. "This is great! Maybe meeting them in person can happen!"
"Hold on" the man grasped his arm. "They don't know this really happened. They still view these games as make-believe stories. If they see you and realize it's not some guy in a suit, they could still panic. You can't trust them." As the child eased up, he spoke again. "The reason I am telling you this is because I need help."
"With what? More inspiration?"
"No, I am not from Earth. I am from Dimension 64 and I am unable to leave."
Crash listened to his dilemma. "Four years ago, I was sealed in this realm by two people making it impossible for me to travel to other dimensions. I can only communicate through astral projection. I searched for anything to break these chains when I found something. Are you aware of the Aether Stones?"
The marsupial was lost at first but then he remembered that book Brio had and how it detailed the six rainbow rocks. "I think so. I found six colored gems that were stronger than the rest."
"They are the Rainbow Rocks and are indeed the stones I'm talking about" Zach said. "There are thirty in total and together, they can achieve impossible feats. They can provide the strength necessary to free me from the curse. You must find the other twenty-four stones. When you do, use their power to open a rift to my dimension. I will know when it happens."
"But I don't know what they look like. Do you have a picture of them?" Crash asked.
"Sadly, I do not. But you will know when you find one. Other people I contacted for help have managed to locate the five Elemental Gems on an island in your world" the man told him. "We do not know which island it is so I need you to keep an eye out. And...let's keep this between us. It would be dangerous if more people know. Considering what happened when you exposed your powers to your archenemy."
The area surrounding them began to turn white. Crash felt himself start to wake up. "Wait! Do you have answers on why my sister and I have these powers?"
"All in good time star child" Zach finished.
***
"Wake up!"
Crash bolted awake as he saw Coco shaking him. "Huh! I'm up!" he jumped off the couch and looked around. "Are they here yet?"
"I can see them coming" she pointed to the sky as a large dot was getting closer. Now focused, Crash could feel the fathomless rhythmic energies making the island sway to music.
"I'm so excited to have you experience this" he heard Aku-Aku arrive. "This only happens once very one thousand years on the last year of a millennium!" He had explained what this was when the bandicoots questioned why they could hear classical music even though a radio wasn't on. Today was the Great Synchronization. A once in a lifetime event where the three Wumpa Islands were in perfect harmony. So much so that music would play throughout the lands in different genres. The music and rhythms were so catchy, every living creature became peaceful and friendly from the fly traps to the Budakans.
The Skylanders had heard of the event too and a group of cadets and official heroes were coming to experience it with the Synchronization Celebration. Plans were to have it at Cortex's old castle that had been claimed by the wildlife. The structure still stood but Outback Island's beauty had reclaimed it's glory.
"So once they arrive, I'll lead you through the islands to see the impact music has had" Aku went on. "Each part of the islands have a different genre of music playing. Some blending together. You already heard classical but there's also country, Celtic, tropical island beats, hard rock, hip hop, acapella, Latino, and much more. All ending with a dance party at the castle's landing dock repurposed as a dance hall."
"Already excited" Coco felt herself swaying to the beat. "But I'm concerned about our enemies taking advantage of this and possibly using the energies for their own purposes. I read the frequencies and they're off the charts."
"Do not worry" Aku reassured her. "I have not sensed my brother nor Cortex for months. It would be good to stay on guard. No telling what could happen during a time of peace."
While Crash was excited to see his friends again and dance all the way through the islands, he couldn't stop thinking about his dream. There were more stones like the first colored gems he found? And why would someone be locked in a dimension unable to leave? A part of him was getting Master Crystal Incident flashbacks that there was more going on but Zach didn't seem malicious. And he could have answers on these powers and why he had them.
"Big brother? You okay? You don't look excited" Coco brought him back.
"Oh, I am" he replied. "Just had a strange dream." While he was told not to tell, he should at least tell her since she also had these powers. Before he could do though, a loud explosion cut him off. The distance sounded like it came from the castle and a shockwave surged through the islands.
"Whoa! What was that?!" Crash felt himself get thrown back as he saw giant green spheres surround parts of the island. He then noticed the wildlife acting off as they attempted to follow the beat. Even the music became distorted and sounded flat.
A giant green ship then touched down as the Skylanders touched down on solid land. Some kissing the sand due to the swervy ride. Crash and Coco were quick to pick out their friends as they noticed Spyro looking tired and a little shaken. They wanted to see if he was okay when Sprocket spoke up.
"We saw the explosion when we arrived. I did some tests on the shockwaves and it looks like a Matrix Chamber malfunctioned making bad vibes appear, messing up parts of the islands. If we don't do something, the off beat rhythms will shake the islands apart!"
The cadets became concerned about this as did Team Bandicoot. "So what do we do?" Flashwing questioned.
Aku-Aku floated up. "Calm down. I have witnessed this before and it can be fixed. We must find the bad vibes and fix their rhythm through song and dance. It'll be faster if we split into groups and cover more ground."
With that, everyone pairs up into groups of four or five. As this was going on, Crash noticed that Spyro didn't seem keen on going with his friends.
"It'll be okay" Stealth Elf told him. "He's not going to hurt you." She brought her hand close but he flinched away.
"Hey, he can come with us" Crash stepped in. "Aku-Aku can lead you guys through the islands."
They seemed unsure but time is of the essence. "Alright, we can meet up the further we get in" Jet stated as he lead his group through Turtle Woods. Everyone else was also heading out. Some were led by Flynn, some by another Mabu named Cali, and the rest by heroes who were well versed in the islands.
"Looks like it's the three of us" Crash pointed out.
"Make that four" Coco corrected as she and Cynder joined them. "Her friends accidentally left her behind when they went to The Pits."
Spyro had slowly perked up. "It's fine. We should get going."
They started off through the jungle alongside a stream. The music was fine here as an eighties song played in the air.
(Men at Work: Down Under)
The melody did keep everyone upbeat but Crash could sense something was going on with the core Skylander team. Specifically with Spyro being nervous, not wanting contact with his friends, and being quiet. He had a theory but he had to see more.
"It's nice to see your home again" Cynder broke the silence.
"Thanks. A shame it's like this. Wouldn't be surprised if Cortex is behind it" Coco commented.
A green bad vibe bubble was spotted up ahead as the song ended. Inside it were four platforms facing a set of retracting stairs that weren't moving. A Budakan was present with three back up dancers. "Hey! You've come to fix the beats?"
"Yeah, so how do we do that?" Crash kept his distance considering his previous encounters with the tribe. Strange they were working together this time.
"We have a catchy song and dance that can remove these bad vibes" a female tribe member said. "We do the dance and you follow along. Our combines energies will restore the rhythm and activate the stairs." She put a tape in a boom box before getting into position. The heroes each chose a platform themselves.
Coco noticed Cynder looking concerned. "What's wrong?"
"I'm...not the best at following dance moves on the fly."
(Los Del Río: Macarena)
The music started as the tribe members got ready to start. "Don't worry. I heard this song before and it's a crowd dance easy to follow" she told the dragon. Looking at their coaches, they stepped to the left with their left arm up, brought it to their other arm, and spread them apart as the lyrics began. It was the opposite when then went to the right. Simple enough to follow as all four did so right away.
The refrain then started and with it was the dance almost everyone was aware of. Moving the arms and hands around from the shoulders, to the head, then to the hips. Crash got the hang of it, seeing how similar it was to his made up dance. He looked to the side to see Spyro having some trouble due to standing on two feet constantly and trying not to hit his wings.
"Doing okay?"
"Yeah, I'm getting the hang of it" he answered. He kept his eyes on the tribe folk as they did the lyric dance again.
"It's not just the dancing. You're a fast learner" Crash added. "You seemed upset and shaken when you got here. Is everything okay with you and your friends?"
The dragon was quiet at that. "I need to focus right now."
The dance during the verse changed a bit with needing to group together as one dancer had to act like he/she was telling the group something. The refrain dance was done before there was a minute and a half of instrumental and tribal chanting. The more they danced, the brighter the area got as the bad vibes faded away.
"Look" Cynder pointed out.
"We see" Crash told her. "Not the first time we saw how powerful music is."
After the last verse, it was the same Macarena dance to the end. The last time had them end with a different pose for each dancer. Some with their arms up, others folding them. When the pose was hit, there was a noise and when it faded, the bad vibes were gone and the area was fully lit.
"Hey, nice job!" a Budakan complimented. "Did you take lessons?"
"We did" the dragoness told her. "Helps with agility." She flew up the stairs as the others followed.
Crash was the last one when he heard something odd. "By the way, did we see you before? We saw you dancing badly in a mech suit earlier making bad vibes."
He faced the quartet. "Uh, no?"
They shrugged as he ran to catch up. He found the others facing off against a Metrognome and some Chompies. Seemed the bad vibes affected them by making them hostile while dancing to the music.
(David Bowie: Let's Dance)
It didn't take long to fight them off, their attacks to the beat of the melody. The song continued through the rest of the jungle as a village was in sight. During the walk, Crash spoke with Cynder.
"Is Spyro still working to overcome his trauma with Strykore? That's my best guess since trauma takes years to overcome."
She sighed, "Yes. He was doing fine months after the Conquertron fight. Some nightmares and panic attacks but he calmed down quickly. But two weeks ago, during a fight with Dreamcatcher, she brought out more painful memories making him partially transform into his dark form. He curb stomped her but then he lost control as his trauma kicked in. He was hurting himself to try and get it to stop. We brought him out of it but he was shell-shocked. Too scared to talk with his friends."
(Astrud Gilberto: The Girl From Ipanema)
The eighties music faded as jazz music took over in the village. Good thing as the topic needed a more appropriate atmosphere. There weren't bad vibes around here though some dark areas were seen past giant rocks with faces.
"Hey! You guys!"
The four looked to see a Budakan run towards them. "Another group has an idea on what's causing these vibes. Follow me!"
They went inside a hut to see Elphaba, Eruptor, Jet-Vac, and Pop Fizz talking with Papu-Papu. They seemed to understand him fine as they didn't look lost from his language.
"Guys?" Spyro spoke up.
"Oh, you look better" Eruptor smiled. "We just fixed the major bad vibes here when the chief told us he saw someone like Crash dancing badly in a robot suit."
Crash stepped forward, "Someone like me?"
"Yeah" Pop added. "His dancing's so bad, it's making more bad vibes. He was last seen going across to Outback Island to the Synchronization Dance Hall."
Coco did some numbers on her tablet. "Oh boy. If he gets there, the bad vibes could become so strong it'll spread to the mainland. How can we get there as fast as possible?"
Papu slowly got up, "Go past security. Take boats to Wumpa Island. Travel through Upper Valley and Funky Climb. My people assist."
"Wow, thanks" she accepted a handshake. Hard to believe he tried to play whack-a-mole with her and Crash almost three years ago.
Outside the hut was the last dark area. A Budakan named Cantata was on her hands and knees looking for something. "Can we help you?" Stealth Elf asked.
"Yes" she stood up. "I'm looking for my mixtape. It can fix the rhythm here and activate our rock-based security. I think I dropped it somewhere."
Spyro flew to a lower ledge and destroyed some crates. "Found it!" He flew back up and put it in a boom box, brightening up the path.
(Frank Sinatra: The Way You Look Tonight)
With the music playing, the stones moved to the beat singing along. "What do you think?" Cantata displayed it. "Ten thousand pounds of crushing power! Pretty impressive huh?"
"It is. Now if you can turn them off, we can be on our way" Jet-Vac told her.
"Oh, uh...I forgot how to turn them off.
"It's fine" Crash readied himself. "This is more fun."
It wasn't hard to get past them anyway. As long as they danced to the beat, they made it through unscathed. The heroes made it to the boats as Duke Ellington's Take the "A" Train played them out.
Coco sighed, "I'm gonna miss their friendly nature."
"It's still possible to be friends with them" Crash put a hand on her shoulder. "They just need to not eat us."
***
The second island went rather harmoniously. First there was dancing a conga line over a gap as Jump in the Line played removing those bad vibes. Then there was another dance fight with Chompies, Metrognomes, and bongo crabs to Bamboléo. Finally, the Upper Valley ended with getting past more Smashin' Rockers to Samba de Janeiro and Smooth. Through all of it, everyone was enjoying dancing to the beat. At least until Jet-Vac pulled something.
"Take it easy" Eruptor used his heat to ease the pain.
While waiting for them, Crash decided to talk with his best friend. "I'm glad you're doing better. Cynder explained what happened so..."
"She did huh?" he smiled. "She's tended to be able to empathize with others. I'm just...tired of dealing with these relapses! I try hard to move on but my trauma keeps coming back! It's made me distant from my friends. Why can't it just go away?"
"It never really does" Coco joined the two. "I read how trauma sticks for years. What we do with it is what matters. Either run from it or learn from it. My brother and I have nightmares about our time at the castle and being chased even though it's been years. But we learn to accept what happened and work to move on."
"Besides, you have great friends to help you out" Crash eyed his teammates. "They fought to bring you back and still care about you."
(Vanilla Ice: Ice Ice Baby)
More enemies sprung out from the ground. This time they had brown wombats joining their entourage. Big buff wombats. Aside from punches, they used breakdancing in their move set.
"We got this" the bandicoots and Elphaba used their own break dance techniques and some tribal moves. They were based off the secret handshake taught to them so that and the spinning were very useful. It didn't take long for their opponents to collapse.
The final island was just ahead. The Funky Climb had more Smashin' Rockers blocking the way to the castle. Their rhythm was off in a different way, occasionally speeding up or slowing down.
"Best if we went one by one" Jet-Vac stretched out. "A Metrognome must be messing with the beat."
It started fine enough. Counting the beats to avoid getting smushed or shoved off. While strange that an eighties song was mixed with nineties music, no one complained. After all, a nineties song was mixed with the eighties at the start.
When it was almost his turn to go, Spyro spotted what looked like the mech suit dance running. He tried to see the Crash imposter inside but it moved jaggedly making it hard to see. It did the splits which caused more bad vibes in the form of more obstacles and security measures going haywire.
"Uh..." he did his best to keep the rhythm but the obstacles kept distracting him. Along with the traumatic memories fighting to enter his mind. A Rocker then landed on his tail making him scream and clench his head. The pain reminding him when Strykore slashed his tail after talking back to him. Even as a projection, he was able to physically touch him.
"Spyro!" Crash turned to see him about to fall into the abyss. He ran back to grab his arm and spin him back. He pulled him to the side to see tears. "It's okay. It will be okay."
He took deep breaths to try and calm down. Crash hugged him close hoping it would help. This trauma was really messing with him. He had to do something.
(Depeche Mode: Enjoy the Silence)
A new song started at that time. Crash had heard it before during one of the dance lessons. It was quite a bop with haunting lyrics. An idea then came to him.
"You wanna dance with me?"
The dragon had regained control, wiping his eyes. "Me? With you? But it's usually better one by one."
Crash held out a hand, "Doesn't mean it's the only way."
Feeling confident, Spyro accepted it and the two used one of the cha cha dances to get through the Smashin' Rockers. The rhythm had been fixed so the Metrognome must have been stopped.
Vows are spoken
To be broken
Feelings are intense
Words are trivial.
Pleasures remain
So does the pain
Words are meaningless
And forgettable.
"You hear that?" Spyro raised his head.
"I do" Crash side stepped away from a Rocker. "Aku-Aku did say the songs could be heard through the island. That includes lyrics." The two then spun together to quickly pass the rising spikes. The end was in sight, as was everyone else.
As they kept dancing, both their faces had their markings appear. Neither noticed though as they couldn't lose focus. They jumped from platform to platform as the refrain started.
All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms.
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm.
The song wrapped up as the two made it to the end. Crash lost his footing when landing and almost fell backwards making Spyro grab his arm and pull him up. The force making him dip him. The closeness of their faces made them both silent.
"You guys okay?" Coco broke the spell over them.
The surprise made Sypro let go, Crash falling to the ground. "Uh, yeah! We're good!" they both got out. "And the dance hall's just ahead" they ran past the others to get ahead.
The sky was getting dark as more bad vibes were spotted. These ones much bigger than the others. "Looks like we found the strongest bad vibes" Coco studied the frequencies. "It'll take some powerful rhythm and beats to restore the dance hall."
"But we still don't know who's using the Matrix Chamber to make these vibes happen!" Cynder reminded her.
"I did see it head this way" Spyro told the group. "Must be trying to get here. We can catch it off guard."
Entering the first bad vibe, there was a Budakan named Fifer trying to move giant stone cubes. They were gold at first but turned black and fell asleep. "What am I gonna do?" he moaned. "These growing stones keep falling asleep on me!" He noticed the group of heroes. "Hey! Can you help me?"
"Sure, what is this?" Crash gazed at the sleeping stones.
"These are grooving stones" Fifer explained. "They have enough power to repel these bad vibes. Problem is, they need to be in certain spots to play their song and they're so heavy! Too many bad beats and they fall asleep. There's a button that plays what they're supposed to sing so you can use that."
The bandicoot pressed the button and could hear the words dancin' in September. With four stones, he and his friends worked to move them in the correct spots. Incorrect ones flashed red when the beat hit them and correct ones were green. "I got one!" Cynder called out. The rest were put in place when seeing that each spot was a note. With that figured out, making the stones sing was effortless.
(Earth, Wind, Fire: September)
"Wow!" Fifer danced to the beat. "They sound great! There's another set up ahead. Fixing them will grant you access to the dance hall. But be careful, there's a dancing king who's taken over."
Dancing king? Coco thought. Had to be whoever was in the suit. Based on what was told, it had to be another bandicoot. She then remembered hearing about ones that were made after Tawna. Who managed to escape before her and Crash. Did one of them find a way back? Why would one of them even do this?
"Are you alright? You've been quiet" Cynder noted.
"Just thinking" she replied. "If there is another bandicoot controlling that mech, we have to see. Cortex could still be trying to get the five who escaped back. Once he hears about this, he could try and take over this Matrix Chamber."
While working on the next set of grooving stones, the girls kept talking. "You seem to have a complicated relationship with your creator."
"You have no idea" Coco spun a stone into place. "Crash has hopes that he can change but I'm more unsure. He does show flashes of concern. In the end, it will take a lot to see he's changed."
"I can understand" Cynder listened to the developing disco beat. "It hurts that I have to fight my father but it helps keep Skylands safe. I don't know much of my mother aside from getting my psychic powers from her. When it comes to changing sides, everyone deserves another chance. Earning it is the hard part."
Coco wanted to say more but chose not to. Knowing what content she could divulge. She then remembered what she and Crash saw in between the dimensions. How they saw her and Spyro looking different and at the center of the world. That would have to be brought up soon.
(Bees Gees: You Should Be Dancing)
The last grooving stone was in place as a catchy disco beat played mixed with tropical tribal sounds. The gate to the dance hall also opened. The eight heroes ran inside to see the rest of the cadets managed to beat them here. And they were fighting the Matrix Chamber.
"Children! You made it!" Aku-Aku flew to them. "Just in time."
"We could use the help" Sprocket joined him. "Fake Crash is really putting up a fight in this dance off."
"Fake Crash?" Crash raised an eyebrow.
The Matrix Chamber had stopped spinning allowing everyone to finally get a good look inside. It was indeed a bandicoot and he looked like Crash. Except he had bushy black eyebrows, buck teeth, and his voice sounded goofier. He pounded the device's dome and banged on the control panel making it send out shockwaves.
"Now I recognize him!" Crash got closer. "He went by C4 in the castle. I saw him a few times and overheard how Cortex had to keep using the Revive-O-Tron on him."
Seeing the panicked look, something clicked in Coco. "I think he's trying to get out! He's stuck!"
"In that case" Jet-Vac readied his air gun. "Let's dance."
Everyone got on the dance floor as the laser light show turned on. Despite the size, it wasn't hard to land hits. It looked like Fake Crash didn't even want to hurt them but his random pounding made the suit activate hovering, spinning, fireballs, and electrifying the dance floor. The constant dance was starting to make everyone tired. Daft Punk's Da Funk came and went and the Matrix Chamber was only halfway done.
"So tired" Pop Fizz limboed under another laser.
"Shouldn't be much more!" Coco fired the fruit bazooka.
Spyro was flying around to see if there was a weakness. When he couldn't find one, he resorted to try and break the dome. "Stay calm!" he shouted over the music.
Fake Crash only jumped in surprise and landed on a break dance button. Making the robot spin faster and faster as the dragon felt his grip slipping. He was flung off forcing Crash to jump and catch him before he went over the castle.
"Ugh. You spin like that all the time?" Spyro swallowed his vomit. "How do you not get dizzy?"
"Lots of practice and training" he smiled.
The two stepped to the side to get a better grasp. "He seems to be slowing down. The rhythm must be weakening the bad vibes. More of it should stop it for good."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Crash eyed him.
(Ricky Martin: Livin La Vida Loca)
With a smirk, Spyro joined him in a dance fight against the mech. Moving to the music, the two dodged the attacks and fought back. As it went on, the two began to really let the music move them.
Crash spun clockwise while Spyro flew around him counter-clockwise and up in the air. He ran across the bandicoot's arms as he held them out sideways. All while the two were laughing happily and having fun. Their facial markings glowed bright as they got closer. Along with their bodies.
Coco was quick to notice, "Uh guys?" she pointed to the sight.
Everyone turned to where she was pointing to see the two suddenly phase together in a bright light. When it cleared, there was a magenta bandicoot with dragon horns, wings, spiked hair that ran down his back, and a tail. His eyes were ruby red and his voice sounded different.
"You're toast bot!"
The being cartwheeled over dodging the attacks through dancing. When fireballs were fired, he spat out his own, his being a greenish-purple mix. The Matrix Chamber was on its last legs as it was picked up and taken in the air. With his strength, the being broke the dome and pulled Fake Crash out. He flew to the ground doing two handstand back flips as the song ended and the suit crashed to the ground. He looked around to see the sight of a crowd of people slack jawed in stunned silence.
"What?"
Sprocket could only pull out her phone in selfie mode to show him. His eyes widened at the sight. "Wha...What happened to me?! Us?!" He was so shocked he tripped over his feet as another red and gold light appeared. When that was gone, a bandicoot and dragon remained. Both shocked.
"What...was...that?!" Crash got out.
"I don't know!" Spyro felt his face. "It was like we were bigger! Stronger! I could feel aether flow in my veins, maybe it could be that?"
"Well whatever that was...it was awesome!" Roller Brawl shouted as everyone cheered loudly.
Getting to their feet, both heroes caught their breath. A new ability? Seemed for every answer there were more mysteries. For now, they just smiled and waved. And then got caught in a group hug by their friends.
"Looks like you unlocked a new superpower" Eruptor told him.
"Guess...I did" Spyro could only say.
The fact he wasn't panicking from contact this time made Elf smile. His trauma could be fought back. It may take more time but it was getting there.
Gazing at the Matrix Chamber, Coco, Cynder, and Sprocket got their tools. Having a good idea on what to do with it.
***
(A-Ha!: Take On Me)
Once the mess was cleaned up, the Synchronization Celebration was finally underway. Everyone danced along to the island rhythm completely restored. Fake Crash, who decided to go by Trash, had recovered and Aku-Aku translated his gibberish. Apparently he never left the island and was just wandering around aimlessly. He then found the Matrix Chamber and thought it was a ride. He climbed in the back hatch and turned it on. The suddenness made him try to get out but he couldn't figure out which button did what, leading to the bad vibes. He seemed content to just do his own thing so the Budakans decided to look after him. Promising not to eat him when the day was over.
Speaking of the Matrix Chamber, it was repurposed as a light show device to add to the party. Setting off fireworks as well. It was a sight to behold. The view was better from the top of the tower where two bandicoots and two dragons were.
"So that's the Great Synchronization...gonna be hard to top this one" Coco leaned back.
"I agree" Cynder took a sip of punch. "Saving the island and what we just saw. Truly one of a kind."
Crash was going through the photos and stopped at the most recent one. It was a group shot to celebrate saving the day. He smiled at it, making a mental note to make it a thing. He snapped out of his thoughts when Spyro spoke.
"Oh, there's something we've been wanting to show you. Elf wanted me to give you this." He pulled out what looked to be a key with an hourglass on it.
"What is that?" Coco asked.
"We don't know" Spyro held it in his claws. "It just showed up one day in my room with a note that said 'Meet me on June 30. Bring the core Skylander team and your marsupial friends. Put this key in any door and it will open the gateway. I look forward to seeing you again young dragon.'"
He passed the key to his friends so they could get a look. Thoughts went in Crash's head as he held it. Was the person this Zach he saw in his dream? He could actually get answers. Especially with that fusing thing he and his friend did. "What's today's date?"
"The twenty-ninth" Coco checked. "So that's tomorrow."
Looking at the sight below, all four became silent and leaned on each other. There would be time to prepare later. Right now, it was time to rest and experience something others could only see through pictures and recordings.