Sky Hard

Sky Hard is the third episode of Skylanders Academy Season 3.
==Synopsis==
The Skylanders get a little too confident in their abilities after winning a big award for being the greatest heroes in the Skylands.
==Plot==
The Skylanders are awarded the Protector of the Year award for the 10th time at the Annual Skylands Awards. During their speech a huge explosion abruptly erupts on an nearby distant island. After an investigation, the Skylanders believe Bomb Shell is responsible, but are contradicted by Ka-Boom's findings that contents of the explosion do not match that of Bomb Shell's. Nonetheless, the Skylanders remain adamant and decide to head for Cloudcracker Prison to see if Bomb Shell escaped his cell. Dark Spyro convinces the team to have Ka-Boom as his substitute while he “rests” at the Academy.
With the team gone, Dark Spyro proceeds to sneak into the Relics Room to search for the Map to Arkus. Dark Spyro easily makes his way inside, seeing the door left opened, but realizes that Master Eon and Kaossandra are inside arguing with each other. Eon spots him, assuming he entered under the aim of resuming his search for his ancestors, though due to Dark Spyro's evil nature, no longer pursues it. Master Eon pleads for him to stay and help him and Kaossandra over their sill arguments, by acting as their mediator all day, despite Dark Spyro's refusal.
At Cloudcracker Prison, Ka-Boom's theory that Bomb Shell isn't the perpetrator proves true as the turtle villain still remains in his cell. Suddenly, the prison's television turns on with footage revealing a shadowed figure with a disguised voice, claiming to be responsible. The unknown culprit provides Team Spyro with a riddle, that if solved quickly, they will reveal the Skylanders the location of his next target. The Skylanders struggle to come up with an exact answer but Ka-Boom has already an answer but is ignored until the Skylanders get irritated. Thanks to Ka-Boom's answer, the Skylanders realize that the next target is a restaurant called, Le Circle. When they arrived, Ka-Boom volunteers to initiate proper evacuation of the restaurant, but is sidelined again as Stealth Elf proceeds to do it. Once completed, the shadowed figure communicates to them again for their second puzzle, they have to create a favorable dish out of shoelaces, baby powder, ketchup, and Meunster cheese under two minutes otherwise a bomb will detonate the establishment. Ka-Boom advises that he defuse the bomb to resolve it quickly but is rejected once again. Fortunately, their dish passes but the shadowed figure proceeds to put them up for more challenges. Ka-Boom becomes suspicious, but Team Spyro dismiss it.
Dark Spyro is stuck with Master Eon and Kaossandra as he is unable to definitively resolve their dispute, which are all tied over their opposing views on Kaos. Dark Spyro is then struck with an idea, and suggests Eon and Kaossandra to undergro hypnosis to settle their arguments. Dark Spyro sets the trigger word "release", and is able to put Eon and Kaossandra under hypnosis. In reality, Dark Spyro plots to use their hypnotic state by commanding them to reveal the map to Arkus. However, both are unable to bring him the exact item, frustrating Dark Spyro.
Meanwhile, the Skylanders are put under the task of solving puzzles and riddles again and again all over distant locations in the Skylands in order to prevent explosives from detonating, oblivious to Ka-Boom's warnings that they seem to be being lured far away from the Academy. At their latest challenge, they are unable to solve a riddle and with only moments away until the bomb detonates, they asks for Ka-Boom to defuse it. Ka-Boom refuses, angered as he makes the team realize that due to their arrogance and boastfulness since being awarded they've ignore Ka-Boom's help, such as the fact that he knew the bomb is a fake when the countdown reveals to have fooled them. The monitor suddenly reveals the shadowed figure to be Kaos, celebrating as his plan to divert the Skylanders away worked and proceeds to raid Cloudcracker prison. Snap Shot urgently requests for their assistance, but after ignoring Ka-Boom's warnings, they're too far away to help.
After dozens of inaccurate items, Dark Spyro relents and dismisses Kaossandra to sleep with her hypnosis wearing off when she awakens. Dark Spyro prods Master Eon one last time for the map, and finally, Eon understands his request. Despite King Pen's ancestry of other Senseis did not bestow Eon the information of the location of the map, Master Eon strongly believes that the map would likely be hidden by the Academy's secret vault, where passage is only granted if his favorite nursery rhyme, Little Miss Muffet, is recited. When Eon proceeds, Dark Spyro accidentally says the word “sheep", another trigger word, and hypnotizes Eon into acting like a sheep.
The Skylanders arrive at an already battered Cloudcracker Prison. Snap Shot informs them that all the guards are pursuing Kaos, who has taken most of the Doom Raiders with him. However, Kaos appears on the monitors again, pressing a button that releases all the prisoners. Outnumbered, Snap Shot and the Skylanders prepare to fight until Ka-Boom appears from behind holding the fake bomb from earlier, claiming to set it off and detonate all of them unless the prisoners return to their cells. They don't believe him at first, but when Ka-Boom appears to make such a move with the bomb, they panic and quickly return to their cells. Afterwards, the Skylanders express their gratitude and their apologies to Ka-Boom, after being lured easily by Kaos. Ka-Boom returns the gesture, and proceeds to carelessly discard the fake bomb when it suddenly explodes, making Ka-Boom realize he was mistaken.
Kaossandra and Master Eon revert to normal as their hypnosis wears off, but have no memory of what happened, with Dark Spyro keeping silent. Nonetheless, Kaossandra and Eon apologize to each other, with Eon considering Kaossandra's belief that Kaos can change. With their fight resolved, Dark Spyro asks that they celebrate with a tour of the vault. Eon accepts and was about to proceed to the Relics Room when Team Spyro returned, delivering news about Kaos being a pirate captain leading the Doom Raiders after breaking them out of prison. This puts Eon to pull back on his consideration on Kaos, resulting him and Kaossandra to resume arguing and delaying Dark Spyro's mission yet again to find the Map to Arkus.
==Featured characters==
*Master Eon
*Hugo
*Stealth Elf
*Eruptor
*Jet-Vac
*Pop Fizz
*Dark Spyro
*Snap Shot
*Ka-Boom
*Kaossandra
*Strykore
*Kaos
*Kaossandra
*Bomb Shell
*Broccoli Guy
==Continuity==
*Snap Shot comes out of retirement to help guard Cloudcracker Prison after the Doom Raiders were recaptured.
*Berserker was incarcerated at Cloudcracker Prison but escaped without Snap Shot's notice.
*Dark Spyro learns of the vault in the Relics Room.
*Kaos frees the Doom Raiders, except Broccoli Guy, to have them as his pirate crew.
==Trivia==
*When Dark Spyro requested the hypnotized Master Eon to bring the Map to Arkus, he instead brings in a magic carpet. The carpet bears a striking resemblance to the Magic Carpet from Disney's Aladdin.
*The title of the episode may have been a play on the phrase "Die hard".
*This marks Broccoli Guy's only appearance in Season 3.
Category:Skylanders Academy Season 3 episodes
Category:Article stubs