After Krypt King returned to the Academy, Cali took Flynn's Ship off to the Rainfish Riviera because Flynn was injured in that last battle. Krypt King went with Buzz who would be substituting for Mags in investigating the tomb. While the EQG Skylanders' Arkeyan Gyro-Copter was transported into Skylands so that Knight Mare, Blackout, Spotlight, Twilight and Rainbow Dash can investigate Knight Light's mansion with EQG Drobot piloting the copter since he built it. He and Mags also built an air defense hanger for storing single-seat fighters and Gyro-Copters for air defense in case the Doom Raiders ever try a direct assault on the Academy. That's where the Gyro-Copter is now attached to a launch system that Mags came up with.
As the passengers were seated, the canopy closed as EQG Drobot initiated the start-up sequence as he went over the checklist,
"Start-up sequence initiated. Manuel checklist. Rotors?" The rotors started spinning,
"Flaps?" The flaps moved,
"Jet Mode?" The copter switched to Jet Mode, "All right. Initiating Fighter Launch Sequence, Catapult raising pressure. In the Green Zone, Academy Hanger raising Launch Barriers."
The Launch Barriers raised which are used to reflect the exhaust from the copter's jet engines.
Flynn soon came on over the comm, "Okay guys, you are cleared for take-off."
EQG Drobot had his helmet on and linked it to the copter as a full Heads-Up-Display of the craft appeared in his view. He placed his left hand on the throttle lever and gently pushed it forward. The craft began to rumble as the engines started and soon enough, the catapult shot the copter to the open hanger door as EQG Drobot increased the throttle and some of his passengers started screaming in fear. The copter detached from the catapult as EQG Drobot pulled back on the stick as the copter went over the edge of the hanger and into the open airs of Skylands. As the copter cleared the hanger, Flynn soon spoke,
"Nice work, Dro. You have cleared the hanger, so restrictions have been canceled. Good Luck."
EQG Drobot raised the landing gear, set the copter on autopilot and set a course for Knight Light's mansion. He turned towards his passengers and asked,
"Everyone okay?" Knight Mare, Spotlight and Blackout were fine, but Twilight had a barf bag as she was empting her stomach contents while Rainbow Dash was in a dizzy trance after that launch despite being a Pegasus. He chuckled,
"Well, I should've warned you guys that this type of launch is kind of extreme."
Twilight, after she finished said, "You should've used Hover Mode to take off and navigate us out of the hanger!"
EQG Drobot replied, "But that would defeat the purpose of our catapult system in the hanger. Gyro-Copters can launch via catapult but also use it's hover mode to take off. But this is the pilot's decision for a catapult launch."
Soon they discussed the next course of action as Knight Mare spoke, "We need to investigate the mansion and find Knight Light. If he isn't home, we'll have to investigate directly."
Spotlight asked, "So we are going to break into his mansion?"
Blackout replied, "That would be a little extreme." Knight Mare stated, "If he isn't home, if he is, we need to patrol from a distance without getting spotted."
EQG Drobot spoke, "The copter has a stealth feature that masks our craft completely from visually being spotted. It also masks the engines so we wouldn't be heard."
Meanwhile in the tomb of the First Trap Master, Buzz and Krypt King journeyed through the many Traptanium shards that were in the tomb. Each shard that was used was marked by a red flag to signify that it was already touched by a Trap Master. Buzz relayed what happened,
"According to the other Trap Masters, the Crafter as they called him, returned to the Traptanium deposit to figure out what has happened to him. The suit he was wearing actually faded at his own will and returned him to his normal clothing. When he investigated further into the Crystal shard, he was ambushed by a group of pirates called 'Skavengers' salty sea dogs that plunder treasure and certain people to use as contestants in their battle arena. Although he fought off a majority of the pirates, he didn't stand a chance against the Captain of these pirates only known as Skaab, who was actually defeated by Spyro several years later.
The Crafter was overwhelmed and brought onto Skaab's ship where he woke up in a cell and was soon called to the arena for a fight against a set of familiar fighters. These fighters were actually like him, prisoners taken against their will and forced to fight for their resolve. The crazy thing was the first fighter that was in this battle...it was a younger version of Wallop. He was young, reckless and pretty much new to fighting and the Crafter somehow sensed this since he was armed with just a tomahawk while Wallop had hammers. The Crafter evaded Wallop's attacks and defeated him by parrying him to a nearby pillar and knocking him out. After which they were sent back to their cells.
Before the memory ended, the Crafter got a letter from another prisoner saying that he doesn't know who he is and why he was on the ship, but the prisoner was warning him that the Skavengers are going to everything they can to see him fall in their battles. The prisoner has already been through five fights for his life against a group of scorpion riders called the 'Blundertails.' He was warning the Crafter that these fights were just executions and if they was something of value for one of their fighters, they would bring in a warrior called, 'The Executioner' to execute the fighter in battle. The prisoner had a name and surprisingly it was Snap Shot who was basically fighting for his life."
Krypt King looked at an unmarked Traptanium Shard and spoke, "This shard should reveal more of this story that was lost to us. If many more of us exist in this story, their must be something." He touched the shard as he was flashed into a memory that showed the Crafter in the arena as the Crafter's voice narrated,
"I've been in this arena for several days and so on so forth, I have faced other Prisoners like Wallop to the Skavengers' own fighters. But my next fight was against another prisoner who was in a league with this Snap Shot character who contacted me. As I prepared to fight, the red bird announced the name of my opponent and surprisingly it was an undead warrior called Krypt King. His armor was black while some of its outlines were gold and the eyes were sort of red. His weapon was a stainless steel broadsword as he held it in both hands since it was a two-handed sword. He was wearing a headdress like one of those pyramid kings I have seen before. These Skavengers wanted the arena to be filled with an immensely large amount of pain.
So we started the duel and it lasted for about an hour and a half. I saw the style that Krypt King performed, he used his swarms as a distraction while he strikes from above. I countered this attack by pulling out a piece of crafting cloth as the swarms reached me and blocked Krypt King's Air Slash. I knew that I had the upper hand at things when I used my crystal tomahawk and clashed against his broadsword. I knew that I had to end this fight quickly, so I performed a spinning tomahawk attack which technically broke the broadsword completely as the Red Bird ordered the fight to come to a close much to the Purple Bird's annoyance. As we left back to our cells, Krypt King whispered in my ear that 'the time to freedom will be soon.'
As I returned to my cell, I came across another note from Snap Shot saying that the Skavengers know about me and how a Cheetah from Avalar who is only a crafter could defeat their fighters. It soon told me that the Dark Armies have placed a Bounty on my head and the Crystal bracelet because it gave me an incredible power. I was shocked until a Skavenger pulled me out of my cell and placed back in the arena where the Red Bird spoke about exciting news involving one of their combatants and I was introduced in front of the crowd. I basically wanted them to release me, but they refused and the Purple Bird wanted me to release a whole amount of pain. The Red Bird soon ordered to 'bring in The Executioner.' At that moment, the gate in front of me opened up and a giant undead knight walked in as it held a sword and shield as I brought my tomahawk to defend myself as the creature laughed in amusement.
All of a sudden, I heard a voice in my head saying to use what I have created. I looked at the bracelet and pressed the crystal as it soon sparked around me. It wasn't painful like last time it was welcoming like I wanted this to happen. As soon as I was in this strange new form, I felt I power within my heart come to life as my tomahawk shined bright as the Executioner shielded its eyes as I placed my left hand on the ground, the Executioner was soon consumed by a crystal shard that came out of the floor and soon released as the creature was ko'd instantly.
All of a sudden, an explosion from the gate behind him occurred as the audience of pirates looked in shock as the ex-prisoners, Snap-Shot, Wallop, Krypt King, a robot named Jawbreaker, a Wood Elf named Bushwhacka, a Golden Lion named Wildfire, an illusion expert named Enigma, and an Air warrior named Gusto burst through the gates and started to get serious as the Skavengers decided to quell this prison break. But with my new powers and a single strike from my tomahawk, I trapped a few of those pirates in those strange crystal shards. Soon enough, Skaab decided to join the fight as the birds' puppet attacked the escaping prisoners until I managed to nearly subdue him. But the Purple Bird had a cannon in that chest on the pirate's back. So I evaded and decided that it would be time to leave this ship before we are recaptured.
Luckily, Snap Shot managed to supply us with a lifeboat since the it's a flying lifeboat like the other ships in Skaab's fleet. As the others boarded the lifeboat, several Skavengers were pursuing us as Snap Shot and I held them off. But somehow I bent the hilt of my tomahawk as the tip near the blade powered up and fired at the pirates. Like one of those old Arkeyan blasters, that I always searched for when hunting for supplies. But we got into the lifeboat and made a break for it before Skaab's ship or his fleet could fire on us. Another voice in my head soon told me the name of these crystals that had so much power. It is called, 'Traptanium' a very fitting name."
The memory ended as Krypt King soon registered what happened. This was a long lost history that he and the others had forgotten about. Crafter's memories of himself, his friends and the prison break was all history that was long forgotten.
At Knight Light's Mansion, Knight Light himself awoken from a peaceful sleep as he took a look at the surroundings of his mansion. He got up, stretched his wings that were on his back and did a few practice flaps until he noticed his signature two-handed sword that he carries in one hand in a weapon rack next to the bed. He picked it up, slid it in his sheath attached to his back and went downstairs to investigate his new house. If there was one thing he learned when being a Trap Master is to investigate new areas to see if there are any new surprises even if it is his house. As he passed by his front door, he noticed the mail slot open and a letter addressed to him. He was going to open it, but he left it on the kitchen table and saved it for later.
He walked outside into his backyard and saw several statues of various Skylanders including his old friend, Knight Mare. He saw a swinging bench near the patio and decided to sit and clear his head. Until he heard a singing voice that came from the inside of his mansion and because this is the first time he heard this voice, he decided to investigate as he went back into the house unaware of the cloaked Gyro craft that flew over him.
As he followed the voice, it was obvious that he wasn't alone. He needed to find out if this person is friend or foe. As he reached what looked like a karaoke room, he saw a girl, light blue skin, blue and silver hair tied up in a ponytail, wore a short skirt and a necklace with a red jewel singing on a microphone. He didn't know what to think of her, but he knew that he had to know who she was. So he jumped and flew towards the karaoke stage as he landed in front of her. The girl stopped singing and noticed,
"Wait, you must be Knight Light. I see you've finally awakened." Knight Light asked, "How do you know my name?"
The girl replied, "The Skylanders sent me to keep an eye on you after they saw you sleepwalking last night."
Knight Light asked, "I was sleepwalking?" The girl nodded, "Your friends got worried about you and sleepwalking. So they sent me to look after you."
The Light Trap Master asked, "But who are you?" The girl realized that she hasn't spoke her name and introduced herself, "My name is Sonata Dusk, I'm a friend of the Skylanders."
Knight Light nodded, "Nice to make your acquaintance." Sonata nodded, "Thank you."
Meanwhile, a spy drone spotted them in the kitchen talking to each other as the Siren silently snatched the letter to Knight Light without him noticing. The spy drone's video feed relayed back to the Gyro-copter as the occupants looked at the video feed as the Trap Master and the Siren soon became emotionally intimate as EQG Drobot spoke in shock,
"Oh no, a Dazzling!"
On the patio on the swinging bench, the Trap Master and the Siren were sitting, although Sonata was on her knees while Knight Light was on his back with his feet against the headrest facing the ceiling. Knight Mare technically thought, "You can take a Trap Master away from Sunscraper Spire, but you can't take Sunscraper Spire out of the Trap Master. This crystal mansion reminded him of the spire and he would think about us. But the problem is, with Sonata Dusk on the scene, he wasn't feeling so lonely anymore, like he's forgotten about us. This was exactly the way that the Golden Queen wanted it to be. And since Knight Light is the only one who can defeat Luminous, this was exactly what he wanted as well. But I noticed a single flaw in this plan, I know for a fact that Sonata Dusk was told to pretend to fall in love with Knight Light and judging by her smile and loving attitude, she was falling in love...for real. There is a phrase called, 'Love changes our perspective of things.' Love can certainly change a Siren's perspective of things...she could even make a good ally."
EQG Drobot spoke, "I think we lost him with that Siren around." Blackout spoke, "That girl is one of the Siren's that tried to kill you?"
EQG Drobot nodded, "The very same and judging that her sisters are not around, she was sent to distract him."
Twilight asked, "From what?"
Spotlight spoke, "The only place that he was needed, Sunscraper Spire."
Rainbow Dash looked at the feed, "Why would a Siren distract him from that place?"
In the video feed, Knight Light was explaining his story on the destruction of Cloud Cracker Prison and when he woke up in the manor, "When Cloud Cracker was destroyed, I found myself flung from the world into total darkness. I didn't know how long I was asleep for. But when I woke up, I was in awe about the manor."
Sonata answered, "I bet you were." Knight Light hugged the Siren, "But when I heard your singing, it felt as if I was in another world." The Siren blushed.
On the copter, Twilight asked a silent Knight Mare about the situation, "You've been quiet this whole time. Do you have anything that will help us get to Knight Light?"
Knight Mare realized, "I do, but it would require us to pick up an old friend of mine."
EQG Drobot asked, "Who?" Knight Mare used the copter's computer as an image of a cat thief emerged,
"Nightshade, Greatest Thief in Skylands, born to a rich family and goes into thieving just to show off his moves. He also acts like a gentlemen on some occasions."
All of a sudden, the communicator opened up and the video feed showed someone unexpected,
"Hello Skylanders, I, KAOS have joined your side to fight the Doom Raiders."
All of the occupants shouted in surprise, "KAOS!!!" Twilight asked, "Why are you on our side!?"
Kaos spoke, "Were you even listening? You're supposed to be an intelligent unicorn. So just listen."
Twilight replied, "I may be intelligent, but I still have common sense knowing that you tried to kill me."
Spotlight placed a wing at the unicorn, "Let him speak."
Kaos spoke, "Thank you, Spotlight. Now I know where the Dark Doom Raider, Nightshade is going. He's going to the Midnight Museum to steal an artifact called 'The Dark Eye of Tomorrow.' If he succeeds, he could use it to steal anything."
EQG Drobot replied, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Thank you, Kaos. We'll set a course for..." All of sudden, he looked at the fuel gauge and realized that he is on bingo fuel. "Drat, we're low on fuel."
Soon, Cali came on the line, "Don't worry, Dro. We're in position for you to dock with us and refuel."
Cali, who was flying Flynn's Ship showed up as the copter was pulling away from the mansion as a rod began protruding from the gun turret as Cali spoke,
"Check the copter and prepare for refueling."
EQG Drobot hit a switch which cause the external fuel slot to open on the top of the copter. He explained the mid-air refueling,
"Mags upgraded the copter with two external fuel slots, one on top and one on the bottom. I can only use the top slot in Jet-Mode when refueling in mid-air. The bottom slot is when the craft is on the ground."
He positioned the copter close to the rod as it connected with the top fuel spot as Cali spoke, "Commencing Refueling."
EQG Drobot checked his fuel tanks as it went from a 10% fuel to a 100% fuel as soon as he was finished. Cali came on the line and said,
"All set guys, Disconnect." The copter disconnected as it swerved away from Flynn's ship. EQG Drobot spoke, "Thanks Cali. Setting a course for the Midnight Museum."
The copter sped away towards the horizon.
At the Doom Raiders' Hideout, the Golden Queen was waiting patiently for anymore information on either her Ultimate Weapon or Sonata Dusk's distraction of Knight Light. With her was Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Wolfgang, Dr. Krankcase, and Glumshanks. Dreamcatcher went off to discover the secrets of Traptanium in a Mabu Laboratory by putting every Mabu Scientist to sleep while she ponders their dreams.
Dr. Krankcase actually was looking over the camera recordings from when they kicked Kaos out of his base until he spotted something in a few shots from when Kaos challenged the Golden Queen to when they took off, he ran to her and said,
"My Queen, I've looked over several footages from Kaos' base when we kicked him out. I noticed an unusual swarm of insects that passed by us without us noticing."
The Queen was curious, "Show me." He showed her the footage as her red eyes began to look angry because she recognizes those swarms. Dr. Krankcase soon switched the footage to when they took off as a familiar Trap Master emerged from the forest with his sword ready. That's when she was really ticked off,
"He was tracking us this whole time!? We missed our opportunity to apprehend KRYPT KING!?"
Wolfgang looked shocked, "Whoa, I guess your boyfriend was coming for you. Why not I go after him, I can take him down and bring him back here?"
The Queen looked at Wolfgang, "If we do that then our defeat would repeat itself and I do not want to be fooled by him again!"
Adagio Dazzle decided to enter the conversation, "If you are after him so much, why not just lay a trap for him?"
The Queen asked, "Trap the Trap Master? I'd say that strange things have happened." She soon spoke again, "But Krypt King is more cunning than he is foolish. He also cares for the safety of his friends. There's the Trap Team for one and several of his little friends that are not Skylanders."
They began to think on it until they got a transmission from Nightshade as the thief bowed, "My Queen."
The Queen asked, "How is your progress, Nightshade?" Nightshade replied, "It was all going according to plan until I spotted that grizzled up war veteran and that Cloudbreak Islands girl enter the Museum...before me. They somehow knew where to find me. Their smart, I can tell you that. I should step up my game if I truly am the Best Thief in Skylands." He spotted a gyro-copter approaching in the distance as he smiled, "Ah, yes. Whenever their friends arrive, the Skylanders come following behind. Ta, My Queen. Got to obtain the Dark Eye of Tomorrow before they do. Oh and keep your dog on a leash, he seems more aggressive than a rabid Chompy Worm." The transmission ended as Wolfgang said,
"What a show-off."
As the copter reached the Midnight Museum, EQG Drobot switched to Hover-Mode and decided to scope about the Museum from the air. Knight Mare kept a keen eye out for Nightshade or a good spot to land until Buzz came on the comm,
"Skylanders, I see that you guys arrived to our little game of catch the thief. Tessa and I have already infiltrated all the way to some pinball room. The only problem is, the balls seem to move in a random direction. Ya mind coming down here and helping out?"
EQG Drobot replied, "Copy that, Buzz. I'll set up your coordinates for the pinball room."
Tessa spoke, "It would be a good time to test the transporter ability for your copter. Lock on to our location and beam your passengers to us."
Rainbow Dash asked, "Beaming?" EQG Drobot replied, "You'll see soon enough. Locking onto coordinates, warming up transporter and...ENERGIZE!" He pressed a button which caused his five passengers to emit sparks of yellow light as they disappeared from the craft. He checked his video communicator and asked,
"Buzz, Tessa, did they make it?" Buzz smiled, "See for yourself." The five Skylanders came into view as they shook off the teleportation effect as Twilight spoke, "You should've told us that your copter had a teleporter built in."
EQG Drobot replied, "I always like to test out new stuff to the unsuspected."
They managed to solve the Pinball room as the group progressed on with EQG Drobot on over watch for any sign of Nightshade. As the group reached the Dark Vault, Knight Mare looked around to see if that thief was around because she always knows that Nightshade is always big on making an entrance to show off his skills. As she looked around, Buzz looked at their prime objective and said,
"This is it! The Dark Eye of Tomorrow."
All of a sudden, right on queue, Nightshade dropped down and said, "Indeed it is, my good man. And I will be stealing it."
Knight Mare drew out her lance, "Nightshade!" The thief recognized her, "Ah, Knight Mare. Long time no see, my dear centaur. But if you don't mind, I'll be stealing this artifact - ta!"
He grabbed the Dark Eye and jumped out the window with Knight Mare in pursuit as she made it through before a battle gate came up. Tessa realized,
"We can't let Nightshade get away with that Eye. We need to contact Dro to provide air support for Knight Mare while we catch up."
Buzz opened his communicator, "Dro, this is Buzz. Nightshade has the Eye and Knight Mare is in pursuit. Provide air support for her until we arrive."
EQG Drobot came on the line, "I'm on it, Buzz!"
Meanwhile as Knight Mare pursued Nightshade, the thief actually threw confetti bombs at the dark centaur to confuse her. She pursued him passed several laser traps and Spyclopters that were patrolling the area. Until she finally caught him at a dead end as she jumped from a ledge and followed him to what looks like a battlefield. With nowhere to go, Nightshade turned towards Knight Mare as he stated,
"You are persistent. I'll give you that." Knight Mare smiled, "Glad you've noticed, Nightshade."
Nightshade soon finished, "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a bit of a drubbing as well." He put his fist up, "Engage!"
Nightshade leapt from the platform and on top of one of three pillars that appeared. The pillars were soon covered in shadows as a giant Spyclopter rotated around the moving shadows as Nightshade spoke,
"Normally, one such as yourself would be offering the shadow but this is the place where you might want to make an exception."
All of a sudden, several lasers blasted one of the pillars as the Gyro-copter swooped in and fired at the second one destroying it. The cockpit opened up and EQG Drobot dropped out of the craft as the canopy closed again as it swooped away. EQG Drobot landed with his boots and Wing thrusters powered up as he fired a wrist laser at Nightshade's pillar destroying it.
But upon destroying the third pillar, Nightshade sent out several shadow doppelgangers as he taunted, "Over here, Skylanders...or is it over here?"
Knight Mare swung her lance at the doppelgangers striking the real Nightshade in the process. EQG Drobot formed his Bo Staff and struck the thief several times until he spawn five new shadow pillars. Nightshade jumped onto one of the pillars and was safe from those shadows as EQG Drobot soon brought out three gears in his left hand and targeted three of the five pillars. As each gear embedded itself into the pillars, a beeping sound occurred followed by an explosion, destroying the three pillars.
Afterwards, a magical blast destroyed the fourth pillar while a Rainbow Twister destroyed the fifth, sending out several Nightshade doppelgangers. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Spotlight and Blackout jumped into the fight as the fought the doppelgangers and getting some hits on the real Nightshade in the process. Nightshade tried to confuse them by saying,
"Hi Skylanders. Hi Skylanders." But it was too much as he spawned six more pillars to spray deadly shadows while spawning his doppelgangers. But EQG Drobot fired his helmet-mounted lasers at two pillars while Spotlight and Blackout destroyed the next two. Twilight and Knight Mare finished off the last pillars with a combined Dark and Magic strike. It left Nightshade in an exhausted state as EQG Drobot grabbed the thief and punched him to the ground encasing him in a dome of light as the Princesses appeared in a hologram.
Knight Mare spoke, "Use a Dark Trap for Nightshade."
Nightshade spoke from the dome, "Well, your highnesses. I suppose it is in your hooves now."
Princess Luna smiled,"Indeed it is."
A familiar thump of energy occurred as Nightshade looked at the black vortex that opened up and he surprisingly said,
"Well, I guess a really couldn't elude capture forever. Well it appears I'll be going away for a bit." He bowed as he was sucked in, "I shall enjoy this capture sequence with dignityyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!"
Celestia was actually shocked, "He took that pretty well, did he sister."
Luna replied, "That is...rare to see that happen." Luna soon held up the trap holding Nightshade as he said,
"Ha, No jail can hold the Great Nightshade!" He tried to escape until he said, "Well except this one, apparently."
Luna spoke to the thief, "You have been trapped in Traptanium, Nightshade. If you want to show your skills again, you fight with us."
Nightshade replied, "Well, I suppose I could be persuaded to switch sides. Despite the fact that you and your elder sister represent Night and Day."
On the flight back to the Academy, Knight Mare decided to have a talk with Nightshade face to face. The thief was actually sitting in the seat as he asked,
"So, Knight Mare now that we're friends now and I returned that Crown of Woodburrow that Tessa told me about. What do you wish to know?"
Knight Mare replied, "I need to know about Knight Light. Chef Pepperjack told me that you were the one that found him frozen, not in statue form. Tell me everything you know leading up to the mansion and Sonata Dusk."
Nightshade complied, "Well, my dear, I'll tell what I know about Knight Light unless you know something that I don't."
Knight Mare replied, "I know that Knight Light is the only one to defeat Luminous, Sonata Dusk was told to pretend to fall in love with Knight Light."
Nightshade nodded, "That was their plan." Knight Mare revealed, "From what I saw, Sonata was falling in love for real."
Nightshade chuckled, "And she would begin to question her allegiance to the Doom Raiders."
Knight Mare stated, "But we need to find out what's going on in the mansion. And you are just the thief to do it."
Nightshade thought about and said, "Agreed, We break into that mansion."
The Gyrocopter soon flew back to the Academy to plan their break-in plan.