Authors Note: Before you begin this story, keep in mind that Flame plays a different type of role here. He and Spyro are like brothers and Flame is younger. You'll see in the story. This is also the longest oneshot I have ever done if it isn't obvious. I gave Spyro a bit more of a serious personality in this one. Hope you don't mind because I couldn't imagine the old Spyro going through something like he does in this story with that head on cocky personality he was so famous for. You'll see why. Anyways, I'll let Chad, the narrator, take over from here.

Some dragons may say that Halloween is an evil day, filled with many teenagers that are out to do some stupid things. But that isn't what I came to tell all of you about.

Many, if not, all of us has had some frightening times in our lives. Some of them were on Halloween, some may have been in the safety in our homes, others may have at work. But have you ever actually been scared for your life?

Have you ever had a dream where you being chased by your own self? If you had, it was frightening was it not? However the story I will be telling is no mere dream. No, this is the story about Spyro, thinking Halloween is just a day for cheap thrills, thinking he is much too old for trick or treating. But how can you be too old for a bucket of chocolate bars?

Have you ever heard of . . . the doppelganger? If you haven't then brace yourselves for the doppelganger is real, even in our world. Some of you may know what the doppelganger is, others may not. Instead of listening to me explaining, why don't you read this story? It should answer that question. Alright enough the suspense is killing me. Let's start when Spyro is on the beach in Stone Hill shall we?

Spyro and the Doppelganger

The sound of the ocean waves could lull anyone to sleep who listened to it's sweet lullaby. The beach was quite small, a large cliff wall formed behind Spyro as well as beside him. The beach traveled down only a few yards until it turned into a cave formation in the cliff wall. However the cave was like a small room and there was nothing inside of it other than shade from the sun. Beside the cave entrance was the whirlwind to take Spyro back up on the cliff where the portal was to go back to the Artisan World.

Spyro layed back on a red striped towel on the sands, shaded by a blue striped umbrella that hung over him. The purple dragon's eyes were shut and covered by snazzy sunshades and an open coconut half full of juice with a straw layed on the sand on his right. The wind was blowing just right, not too hard and not soft to the point of not feeling it. It was also cool and nearly blew constantly.

Sparx was with his dragon companion with a set up of his own. He had a towel just his size with a smaller umbrella than Spyro's made just for Sparx. He did without the drink and sunshades but he was just as content as Spyro was.

Spyro looked over at Sparx, "Isn't this great Sparx? After torching Gnasty Gnorc's butt again we get to take today off on the beach."

Sparx buzzed a few words toward Spyro.

Spyro smiled, "You said it. It couldn't get better than this."

The day seemed to drag on by but that was quite fine with Spyro and Sparx. They began soaking up some rays as the sun lowered and the umbrellas no longer shielded them, but they stayed put, too lazy to position the umbrellas in the right place. They were going to have to leave soon anyways.

As Spyro forced himself to stand to his feet. He saw something at the corner of his eye toward his right. He squinted through the darkness, then realized that he still had his shades on. After all the sun was beginning to set. The dragon pulled the shades off his eyes and looked down the beach. The only thing down there was that cave.

Sparx looked up and buzzed a few words, obviously wondering what he was looking at.

"I thought I saw something," Spyro replied to the dragonfly. "I'm going to check it out. Be back in a flash."

Sparx began fluttering his wings then made his way to Spyro's side, buzzing a few words in the process.

"Yeah I know that we should always stick together, but I was coming right back."

Seeing that Sparx wasn't going to change his mind, the two of them made their way down the beach and to the small cave. They peeked into the cave before entering it, but saw nothing that was interesting.

Sparx buzzed a couple of words as he entered the cave.

"I know there's nobody in here. My eyes must be playing tricks on me."

Spyro rubbed his eyes and the two companions made their way back onto the beach. Then Spyro heard a conversation stirring up above them on the cliff.

"Spyro, stop being so stubborn."

However this conversation wasn't being directed toward the purple dragon himself. Spyro could barely hear what was being said in the first place. Secondly, Spyro couldn't spot who the speaker was. But it sounded like Flame.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

Spyro was definitely confused at this point. He wasn't even doing anything other than just standing there and trying to figure out what was going on.

"Spyro stop!"

The mild shout worried the dragon on the beach just a tad. What was going on up there? Spyro looked behind him, saw the whirlwind, and walked into it. Sparx followed him up. The dragon spun as he was raised up, then when he reach the top of the whirlwind he glided onto a structure made by Artisan dragons. It was kind of like a castle but had that building fashion in it. It was also too small to be a castle for it only contained the tunnel that lead to the Stone Hill plains.

Spyro landed beside the whirlwind portal that took anyone who entered it to the Artisan World. In front of him was the entrance to that tunnel that led to the plains and around Spyro was a small stone wall to keep anyone from falling off the ledges. But they could be easily jumped over.

"Spyro! Wait!"

The commotion came from over the wall to his left. Spyro ran and jumped over it, landing on top of the grass that was on the cliff. The cliff went all around the plains giving good views of Stone Hill. Spyro looked to his right to see a red dragon down a little ways, standing beside the castle/building structure.

The red dragon was about to turn the corner until Spyro called out to him. "Hey bro!"

Flame wasn't really Spyro's brother. They just got along so well that they began called each other that. Flame is also a lot younger than Spyro. He's only eight years old while Spyro was fourteen.

Flame looked behind him to see Spyro. He looked back behind him then looked at the purple dragon that was coming toward him again.

"What's up Flame?" Spyro casually greeted as he approached him. "Who are you yelling at?"

"Wait. You can't be here because you were just over there." Flame scratched his head. "Your fast."

"What are you talking about? I was on the beach."

Sparx hovered beside Spyro and said a few words which Flame didn't understand. Spyro translated for him. "Sparx says that I was on the beach too."

"But you was just up here, I mean it."

"Just explain to me what you were doing."

Flame took a deep breath and began, "Well, I wanted to go to the beach with you so I went through the portal to get here."

"Did you tell anyone where you were going?" Spyro interrupted.

"Well I err," Flame slighting twisted his foot left and right on the grass while looking down. "No, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Spyro assured. "Your with me so it's cool."

"Really?" Flame looked back up with the same confidence he had before.

"You can bet on it. Now continue."

Flame nodded, "Okay. Well I climbed up on the cliff and you were standing right over there," Flame pointed toward the cliff edge, overlooking the beach, "looking down at the beach."

Spyro unnoticeably fidgeted a short second there. Was someone watching him? "Are you sure it was me?"

"How many other purple dragons are there?"

"Good point," Spyro sighed.

Flame continued. "Well, I told you hey and you just looked at me with this scary look. I told you to stop but you didn't so I said to stop being so stubborn. Then you starting walking away until you turned this corner. I said to stop and wait but you didn't listen to me."

Spyro noticed Flame wasn't to enthralled about telling the story. "Hey little bro, that wasn't me. That must have been someone else because I was on the beach."

"But he looked just like you," Flame said.

"Are you sure?"

Flame nodded, "Uh-huh."

Spyro deeply pondered on this. Flame wouldn't tell a lie, especially to him. Flame always looked up to Spyro, why would he lie?

"Then we'll ask my uncle," Spyro said. "We'll ask Uncle Nestor."

Spyro began walking back toward the stone wall and jumped on top of it. Flame followed but being nearly twice as small as Spyro had it's disadvantages. He couldn't make it over the wall. Spyro lowered a paw down and Flame took a hold of it with his. Spyro easily pulled him up and over the wall and Flame landed right beside the whirlwind portal. Spyro leaped down, still accompanied by Sparx, and landed right beside his basic little brother.

"Can we go through it together?" Flame asked, regarding the portal they were standing in front of.

"Nope," Spyro simply said. Flame frowned and looked down in disappointment. "I'm just kiddin with you. Come on!"

Spyro took a hold to Flame's paw and they leaped into the portal. Sparx however was froze stiff. He seen something that made his tiny little heart skip a beat. A purple dragon was standing in the tunnel doorway. It looked exactly like Spyro in every way possible. Sparx yelped when he realized when he was by himself, then flew as fast as he could into the portal.

Artisan Home World

Spyro and Flame were in front of the waterfall that had a small pond where the water fell in to. The pond had five circular stones in it. By stepping on all the stones, a secret passageway would open up behind the waterfall which led to the Sunny Flight portal, which taught dragon's how to fly. Even Spyro was still going to these things. Flame would get to go occasionally to see how well Spyro would perform and cheer him on as he completed the course, but at the moment, the two of them were telling Nestor of what Flame saw back at Stone Hill.

"Wait what?" Nestor the tall green dragon said in disbelief. He stood on his two back paws with his arms crossed. "Are you sure Flame?"

"I'm sure," Flame replied. "I saw someone who looked exactly like Spyro. It was like I was talking to his mean twin brother."

Nestor paced back on forth on what he was just told. Someone who looked like Spyro, but there wasn't anyone who liked like Spyro. It couldn't be possible. "He didn't speak to you?"

Flame shook his head, "No sir."

Then the three of them heard a rapid series of buzzing noises coming from behind them. They all turned to see what it was at once, seeing Sparx flying as fast as a dragon. He frantically stopped in front of Spyro and panted.

"Hey buddy! Where have you been?"

Sparx caught his breath and began his illiterate speech. Spyro nodded, then froze. Sparx stopped his speech and Spyro turned around as stiff as a board.

"What did he say?" Flame asked.

"Yeah I really believe you now Flame. Sparx says that he saw the same dragon right before he left Stone Hill. He said that he was watching us the whole time as we jumped into the portal."

"Spyro," Nestor began. "Have you seen this dragon for yourself?"

"No," Spyro simply answered, sounding a bit freaked out.

Nestor ran a paw across the top of his head, "It's just as I thought. This could be bad."

"What's just as you thought? What could be bad?" Flame looked up at the tall dragon.

Nestor turned to Spyro with worry in his eye, "Spyro, I'm not sure at the moment, but this dragon may be your doppelganger."

"My what?"

"Your doppelganger," Nestor repeated. "You don't know what that is do you?"

Spyro shook his head, "Does it look like it?"

Nestor sighed then continued, "Alright, brace yourself for this Spyro. A doppelganger is a double of someone. This twin that Sparx and Flame has seen may be your doppelganger."

"So what?" Spyro sneered.

"So if you see your doppelganger then run Spyro. If you come into contact with your doppelganger . . . then death will follow."

Sparx squeaked and Spyro acted as if he swallowed his tongue, "Just like that? I'll die just like that?"

"Well not immediately. If someone comes into contact with his doppelganger then that someone may get the worst case of illness and die from it. Or there could be a horrible accident."

"Can we stop talking about this?" Flame yelled. A tear was beginning to form in his eye. "Me and Spyro have been through a lot and no twin of his is going to make him die!"

Spyro snapped over to Flame and made his way over to him. He put a paw on his shoulder, "Hey little bro, it's going to be okay. I promise."

"You promise?" Flame muffled.

"I promise."

One Month Later

"So are you ready for Halloween Spyro?" Flame excitedly asked as the sun overhead was beginning to set.

"Sure am," Spyro smiled. "Dark Hollow right?"

"Right!" Flame went.

The two of them stood in front of the entrance to the little hedge maze that led to Dark Hollow. It wasn't even that much of a maze. It was more like a large circle with a path through the circle. Spyro thought back to the days where this place was overrun with gnorcs. He smiled as he remembered some of them running at the sight of him. He always caught them though and happily flamed them out of existence.

Flame entered first, followed by Spyro. They went left and headed around until they reached the other side of the circle. They turned left and the portal to Dark Hollow was only a few feet away.

Flame looked over at Spyro, "You ready?"

Spyro shook his head, "Sparx isn't here yet."

"Oh yeah."

The two of them waited for a few minutes for Sparx to arrive. Dark Hollow was where the Halloween party for the Artisans was going to be held for it was always dark and spooky there. The first time Spyro went through Dark Hollow wasn't even scary at all. The creepiest thing he seen was a fat gnorc who wore silver armor.

The party was going to have games with candy as the prizes and at the end of the day, everyone would enjoy eating dinner together.

"I can't wait to go trick and treating after this," Flame urged on.

"You mean trick or treating," Spyro dully corrected.

Flame nodded then asked, "Are you coming trick or treating with me?"

"I'm too old to go," Spyro began but stopped himself. He looked at Flame, seeing the want in his eyes. "We'll see."

"So can we go now?" Flame asked.

"Not until Sparx get's here."

"But," Flame pointed over Spyro's shoulder. "He's already here."

Spyro looked over his shoulder and almost jumped when a gold dragonfly was up in front of his face. "Gah, you surprised me. When did you get here?"

Sparx buzzed a few words making Flame ask afterwards, "What did he say?"

"He said he just got here. So shall we get going then? Everyone is probably waiting for us."

"Let go together," Flame said. Spyro nodded, knowing he was going to say that. The two of them jumped into the portal at the same time with Sparx right behind them.

Dark Hollow

"Whoa!" Flame yelped as the ground came up fast. He spread his little wings to slow him down but it didn't do much good.

Spyro grabbed a hold of Flame and spread his wings as well, but the ground came up too fast. The two hit the ground and came tumbling out of that large open log they landed in. The two dragons struggled to their feet, laughing as they did, while the dragonfly looked down on them. Spyro didn't get hurt so he still retained his golden color.

"That was fun!" Flame exclaimed. "Let's do it again!"

Spyro stood to his feet followed by Flame, "Maybe next time."

The two dragons and dragonfly looked ahead and saw the party was already under way. The area they were in was cleared out and replaced with stalls filled with games. The Artisan dragons ran the stalls and the toddlers were playing them to their heart's content. The party wasn't as busy as Spyro thought it would be. Maybe they were Flame was about to head out until they heard a familiar voice.

"Spyro! Your here!"

Spyro looked ahead to see a faun making her way toward him through the small crowd of dragons. Spyro grinned in surprise. The faun stopped in front of Spyro, Flame and Sparx and continued, "I knew you three would be here."

"Of course we would Elora. So where's everyone else?"

Elora shrugged, "They were too busy. Bianca and Hunter had some stuff to do and the professor was too busy inventing some new teleportation device."

"Spyro!"

Spyro and Flame looked past Elora to see a monkey dressed in what looked like space clothing coming toward them.

Elora faked a short giggle, "Oh yeah, I brought Agent Nine along."

The monkey still had his ray gun he always carried with him on his side. "Hey hey Spyro! How are ya doing?"

"Same old same old," Spyro replied. "You?"

"Ah you know just blastin some alien scum if you know what I'm talkin about." Agent Nine looked over at Flame, "Hey Flame! What's up man?"

"Hi Agent Nine," Flame snickered.

"What's with the snicker?"

"Your in space clothing," Elora rolled her eyes. "Look at yourself. Your wearing all white."

"You just don't know style when you see it baby," the monkey replied.

Elora crossed her arms, "I say your just a few snowflakes short of a blizzard."

"Say what?" Agent Nine scratched his head.

Meanwhile Spyro, Flame and Sparx were chuckling along with each other.

"What's so funny?" Agent Nine asked.

"Nothing," Everyone said simultaneously.

Later

Flame carefully took his last dart and aimed at the circular target in front of him. He held his breath then threw the dart. The dart gracefully flew across the desk and hit the target just a little higher than the dead center.

"Winner!" The stall owner exclaimed. Flame jumped up in victory as the tall yellow dragon behind the counter leaned over to pick up a few pieces of candy from a silver bucket. "Hold out your bucket." Flame did what he was told and the yellow dragon dropped a few pieces of candy inside. Flame smiled at how well he was doing. The bucket was half full. "You did well Flame, come again."

Flame nodded, "I will." He hung the bucket over his neck and kept on going down the path. But he didn't see any more stalls. "Aw bummer. Doesn't look like there's any more games to play."

Flame looked down the darkened path and noticed a large house in the distance. It was two stories tall, the windows were boarded up and the roof was flat with a chimney coming out of it. The house looked like it was in the woods around Dark Hollow and the path he was on would lead him straight there.

"How much do you got?"

Flame looked behind him in surprise to see his basic older brother Spyro. "My bucket is half full."

Spyro smiled, "That should last you a long time. And not to mention the trick or treating we're gonna do later."

Flame looked up at Spyro, "So that means your coming with me?"

Spyro nodded, "Yeah I'll go with you." Spyro looked past Flame and down the path to see the same two story house Flame set his eyes on earlier. "Wonder what's in that house?"

Spyro was interrupted by buzzing. He turned to see Sparx saying a few words.

"What's he saying?" Elora asked as she and Agent Nine approached them.

"He said that he was going to go check it out. I'm with him because I don't remember seeing a house in Dark Hollow before."

"Me either," Flame added.

"So let's go!" Agent Nine began walking but stopped as he fell disappointed from not being able to see in the darkness that loomed up ahead. "Anyone got a flashlight?"

"We got Sparx," Spyro said. "He glows like a lantern in that dark."

Agent Nine perked up, "Perfect, lead the way Sparx!"

Sparx mumbled a few words which Spyro didn't catch but went on ahead. The group walked down the dark path with Sparx as their guide and trees all around them. Everyone paid attention to their surroundings, hoping nothing would just pop up and scare them.

"Sure is creepy down here," Agent Nine stated.

"What? Your the one who wanted to come down here," Elora said.

"I just said it was creepy," the monkey replied.

An owl hoot was heard as well as crows squawking. It frightened little Flame but Spyro nudged him as a sign that he wasn't alone. As the group approached the house, they noticed the front door was open.

"Is someone expecting us?" Spyro playfully but rhetorically asked. "Are we going inside?"

"You first," Agent Nine gestured, looking the other way.

Spyro looked around to see everyone agreeing, even Flame.

"What? Your serious?" Spyro went and sighed. "You know what, whatever. C'mon Sparx, let's show these scaredy cats how to get things done."

Sparx hesitated but went with it. He flew on toward the front porch. It was about 12 by 10 feet and was pretty ragged and old looking. An awning hung over the porch which was attached to the side of the house but it looked like it had seen its better days.

Spyro took the first step on the porch and it creaked in response. Spyro didn't expect much less from the porch. It wouldn't have surprised him if the porch actually caved in on him. But it didn't, Spyro made it to the front door with Sparx right beside him. He peered inside. It was dark so he couldn't see much but Sparx was giving off just enough light to see a large room that was basically empty. He slowly walked inside with Sparx right beside him.

"See Sparx? It isn't so bad now is it? Could use a heater in here though because it's kind of cold don't you think?"

But Spyro spoke too soon. The door he just went through suddenly slammed shut and locked itself tight. Spyro snapped his attention to the door and ran over to it, frantically turning the handle but to no avail.

"Very funny guys! Now let me out of here!"

Sparx buzzed a few words which didn't make Spyro feel any better.

"Yeah your telling me, they are being stubborn aren't they?" Spyro slammed himself against the door but had no luck in breaking it down. "Elora! Flame! Agent Nine! Get me out of here now!"

Spyro waited but there was no answer.

"Fine, come on Sparx. There's got to be a back door in this place somewhere."

Sparx closely followed beside Spyro, a little frightened by all the darkness that surrounded them. Spyro spotted a doorway which led into the next room and decided to go on in. He entered the room and looked around. The room was smaller the room he was just in and there was an old dusty counter in the middle of the room. Other than that and that ceiling, in which the paint was coming off, there was nothing else in the room, not even a door.

Spyro turned around and began to walk back into the room from where he came from, until he heard something crack from under him.

"Hey Sparx did you hear something?"

Sparx was about to say something until the flooring underneath Spyro caved in. Spyro yelled on his way down and Sparx panicked. He flew around in circles then decided to go on down. He flew down the large gaping hole in the ground to see Spyro in a basement of some sort. The basement was quite small and didn't have much in it other than a few strode out paper on the floor and a stone column in the middle to support the ceiling/flooring. There seemed to be stairs around the corner too.

Sparx began saying a few words as Spyro stood to his feet unharmed.

"Yeah I'm alright Sparx. Now where am I now?"

Sparx answered with a few series of buzzing.

"Basement? That makes sense. Well let's head on up then shall we?"

Suddenly Spyro heard something to his right. Spyro looked into the darkness but couldn't see much.

"Sparx?"

Sparx read his mind and flew towards that direction, slowly and cautiously. The Sparx froze. He didn't want this to be true. Spyro was also speechless, he thought this whole matter was gone and over.

It was his double. The doppelganger. The one of whom if he touched, Spyro would die. Spyro couldn't breath, death was right in front of him, staring into his eyes. Sparx was buzzing so fast that Spyro couldn't understand him. But he understood one word he said. Run.

Spyro turned and ran up the stairs, panting as he did. Sparx flew on ahead so Spyro could see where he was going, but he was too busy looking behind him. Spyro stumbled on a step and tripped as he reach the top. He struggled to regain his balance but couldn't help of looking behind him. The doppelganger was coming. Spyro could hear the footsteps coming toward him and Sparx frantically said a few words as Spyro began running again.

He was in another room, larger than all the others he's been in so far. It was empty as well. Spyro ran down the room and turned into a doorway on his right. But Spyro stopped and his heart almost stopped. There was something in the room he was about to enter. He didn't know what it was but it wasn't something you would want to see. It was stained with blood all over and it looked like a white four legged spider. But it didn't have fur and it only had two eyes. It's head snapped back at Spyro and it screeched at his presence.

Spyro turned around and ran as it's screech continued on in his mind. Spyro ran through the room and found stairs that led up. It was better than nothing so he ran up them. When he reached the top, Spyro nearly fell back down the stairs in reaction of what he saw. There was a dead dragon, covered in blood leaning up against the wall. It also stunk something awful.

Sparx buzzed a few words.

"I don't know what that thing was nor do I want to. We've got to get out of here before my doppelganger finds me."

Spyro stayed as far away as he could from the dead dragon as he could as he walked around him. He was in a long hall, doorways on both sides along the way. Spyro passed the deceased and went down the hall until he heard Sparx saying something else. Spyro turned around and looked at the dead dragon carefully.

"Oh no," Spyro went as he fell to his knees. "This is . . . Flame. What happened?" Spyro soon noticed a tear rolling down his cheek. His little brother was dead, but how? Why? "I promise you Flame that I will find who did this and toast him."

Spyro shut his eyes for a moment of silence, then opened them back up. The red dragon was moving.

"Flame?"

The dragon's eyes snapped onto Spyro and the dragon deeply moaned. Sparx buzzed a sentence and Spyro agreed while backing away.

"That isn't Flame! We've got to get out of here!"

The dragon grabbed Spyro by leg before he could escape, tripping Spyro back down to the ground. Spyro struggled to get free but the dragon wouldn't let up on his grip.

"Let me go! Let me go you fake!"

The dragon jumped on Spyro's a screamed at his face. The scream was horrible. It was a scream of someone being murdered a hundred times over. Spyro threw his paws to the sides of his head and managed to get his feet free. He pushed the dragon off himself and began running before he was even up. Sparx was right with him, lighting the way. Spyro looked back to see the dragon horribly running with a limp. No, it wasn't a limp. The dragon was horribly disfigured. It was something Spyro didn't want to see. He forced his eyes back forward and followed Sparx into another room at the end of the hall.

This room was smaller than the basement and the only thing inside was a large mirror on the wall. There was a window, but it was boarded up.

"Now what? I'm definitely not going back that way. Not with that . . . thing in there."

Spyro turned and looked at the large mirror on the wall. Then he noticed something. There was a bloody spot on his forehead.

"Strange," Spyro said as he tried to rub it off. But Spyro kept watching the mirror. The blood on his forehead was slowly spreading across his head. Spyro began to panic. "Sparx! Help!"

Sparx looked at his companion but what was he supposed to do? There wasn't anything he could do for him. Spyro's heart raced as his eyes were stuck on the mirror as he tried to wipe the blood off. But it wasn't working. The rotting blood was spreading all over his body. Spyro slapped two paws on his head, closed his eyes, and violently shook his head left and right.

Spyro screamed in horror, there was nothing he could do. He opened his eyes back up and looked at the mirror, expecting to see a horrible looking Spyro but instead he saw his purple old self again. Spyro laughed at himself.

"There was nothing wrong with me. Am I going crazy?"

Spyro looked in the mirror again to see if it was actually true. It was, there was no stinking blood on him. He looked over at Sparx to his right, but Sparx froze in his place. If he had pants he would have peed in them. Instead he managed to hold it in but stared at the mirror. The image of Spyro in the mirror was still staring straight at Spyro. But, it couldn't be. The reflection wasn't right. It was like someone else was inside the mirror.

"What?" Spyro asked, noticing how stiff Sparx looked.

Spyro turned and looked at the mirror. He noticed his reflection wasn't as it should be. Spyro raised his right paw, but his reflection stared straight back at him. Then the dragon in the reflection began turning his head to the left. He turned it, and turned it, then Spyro heard a snap. The dragon in the reflection fell to the floor dead.

"Holy jeez! We've got to get out of here Sparx!" Spyro yelled as he ran out the room. Sparx was right beside him as always.

But Spyro forgot about that disfigured dragon that was after him earlier. It was still there and screamed when it saw Spyro. Spyro clenched his teeth then heard footsteps. That thing was coming toward him. It was hard to tell in the darkness but it was coming indeed.

Spyro looked around and spotted a door ahead on the left. He had to be quick. He and Sparx ran for it as the disfigured dragon came for him. Spyro made it to the door, turned the squeaky handle, and opened it. Right after he ran inside, he closed the door and locked it shut. The thing on the outside banged against the door but it would hold for now.

Spyro turned around then fell backwards on his back from shock. The room he was in was some type of torture room. There was blood nearly everywhere, walls, floors, even the ceiling. Tables were around that were decorated with blood and torture tools. Saws, needles, knives, anything that could be used for torture was here. That wasn't the only thing that was here, on one of the tables was a figure. He didn't want to but Spyro and Sparx made their way over to it in the far corner of the room. On that table was a dissected monkey. It was Agent Nine.

"Sparx."

Sparx stayed silent.

"I know I said it before but I'll say it again and again until we are out of this madhouse. We have got to get out of here."

Was this really Agent Nine or was this some sort of trick? Spyro couldn't trust anything around here. But something moved near the door. Spyro looked and Sparx headed a bit closer to see what it was. Then Spyro backed up to the wall behind him in fear.

"It's the doppelganger!" Spyro bellowed.

Spyro's double stood in front of Spyro's only way out. Now what?

Spyro was in the corner as the doppelganger slowly made his way toward Spyro. Spyro shook in fear as he approached. Sparx buzzed around the doppelganger to try and distract him so Spyro could make a run for it, but didn't work. It was like Sparx didn't even exist. Then the doppelganger reached out to Spyro. If the two of them touched, it was all over.

Spyro panicked but used his brain and let out a flame. The flames whooshed out of his nostrils and covered the doppelganger all over. The doppelganger only stopped in response, giving Spyro the chance to run around him and make his way toward the door. As Spyro touched the door handle, the doppelganger disappeared. However Spyro was too frightened to notice and he opened the door to hear a scream. The disfigured dragon was still after him. Spyro looked at him to see his head horribly hanging behind him as if his neck was broke. Was he like that before?

The two companions backed up quickly and jolted the other way. Spyro and Sparx made their way back in the mirror room and Spyro slammed the door shut tight. The door was banged on a number of times as Spyro and Sparx backed up to the wall behind them, hoping it would hold.

Then the banging stopped. Spyro sighed in relief, "Phew, let's hope he stays away."

Sparx said a few short words.

Spyro replied, "No, I don't hear anything. Wait . . . I hear it too."

What he was hearing started out faint, but it became as clear as day. It sounded like dragon toddlers, laughing all around them. But Spyro nor Sparx could see anyone in the room with them. But this laughing was different from your 'having a fun day' mood. This sounded as if the toddlers were scheming to do something evil.

Then Spyro saw something in the mirror toward his right. He didn't want to but he forced himself to look. He saw everything there was to see. In the mirror were four black scaled toddlers and there was a crib in the corner with a baby in it. It looked like the toddlers were holding something in their paws. Spyro looked closer and realized they were cleavers. Large kitchen knives used for cutting tough meat. All four of them had one and was walking toward the crib.

"Oh no," Spyro muttered and forced himself to look the other way.

Right after he did, he heard the sound of knives cutting meat, a baby screaming, and the toddlers still uttering the evil chuckles they were before. Spyro's heart pounded in his chest when the baby's screaming had stopped. Spyro looked back in the mirror to see one of the toddlers holding something bloody in his paws. It was the baby's severed head and it looked just like Spyro's. The toddlers threw the blood stained knives away into a corner of the room and left with their trophy. Then everything went back to being dark and gloomy.

Spyro shook his head as he felt like he was about to throw up. This wasn't madness, this was completely insane. Sparx's buzzing made Spyro look to the other side of the room.

"Hey good job," Spyro said, still feeling uneasy. Sparx found another door which would help them evade the disfigured monster in the hall that was waiting for them. How much further was there?

Spyro turned the handle on the door and the door squeaked open. Sparx carefully made his way inside first followed by Spyro. They left the door open just in case they had to make a quick escape from whatever was in this room. As usual, this room was large and mostly empty except for a few metal shelves in the corner of the room.

Spyro started walking to the other side of the room when something brushed across his feet.

"Oh crap."

The dragon looked down to see a normal looking rat. Relieved, Spyro knelt down at the rat to take a closer look. It had gray fur and a dark pink tail, just what your average rat would look like.

"I thought it was something to worry about," Spyro said as he stood back to his feet.

But then he heard the rat below him doing something making him look back down. Then Spyro nearly freaked out. The gray fur on the rat was just rotting off of his body, showing his insides all around. Spyro didn't want to stick around and watch so he made a run to the other side of the room along with Sparx, who was also a bit freaked out. Spyro and Sparx managed to find another closed door and Spyro was about to open it until he heard something else behind him. Sparx squealed and the thing behind Spyro only wanted him out of the crazy house even more.

It was a purple dragon just like him, but it wasn't his doppelganger. The dragon's head was missing and Spyro could see everything there was to see. But this dragon was still alive and walking toward Spyro, somehow emitting a moan in the process.

Spyro opened the door and he and Sparx quickly entered and closed the door behind them. Spyro locked the door and turned around to see where he was now. It looked like a small hallway with three windows on the right side. There was another door on the other side of the hall as well as a headless stuffed teddy bear on the floor in front of the dragon. Spyro leaned over and picked it up. It was just stuffed with cotton so it was evidently someone's past toy. Didn't seem to much matter now.

Spyro was about to throw it away but the headless teddy bear suddenly grabbed Spyro by the horns.

"Holy crap this thing is alive!" Spyro exclaimed, shaking his head in the process. The stuffed bear wasn't able to hold on and was flung off into the corner toward Spyro's left. Spyro immediately began running down the hall, getting away from the toy.

But when Spyro went past the first window, the third window shattered and something flew inside the hall, blocking Spyro's exit. Spyro could barely see what it was.

It was a dragon, or half of a dragon. The dragon's bottom half was missing and Spyro could see intestines falling out of it. The very stench nearly made Spyro gag. It also wasn't moving. Was it dead?

Spyro heard Sparx buzzing from behind him making him look back.

"What is it buddy?" Spyro managed.

But his question answered itself. Spyro's doppelganger returned and was making it's way down the hall. He stood on his two hind legs as he walked with his right paw stretched out toward Spyro.

Spyro panicked and ran. He leaped over the half stinking dragon and opened the bloodied up door. He and Sparx entered and Spyro slammed the door shut. He went to lock it, but there wasn't a lock on this one.

The two companions turned around to see a small tunnel that lead downwards at a thirty degree angle into the planet. However Spyro couldn't see how deep the tunnel actually went or if it even went anywhere. Suddenly the door behind Spyro violently opened up making the two companions make a run for it. They ran down the tunnel, hoping for some good luck for a change as the doppelganger followed with a casual walk. Then Spyro heard something else behind him other than the doppelganger. He turned and barely saw something crawling on the ceiling, something that crawled impossibly fast and it was all messed up looking. If that thing was a dragon, it definitely didn't look like one for it was so distorted and disfigured that it was impossible to find out. Good thing Spyro didn't want to. Whatever it was was bad news.

The tunnel kept on for one hundred meters until the tunnel evened out and they weren't heading downwards any more. Then the tunnel stopped and the only thing that Spyro could see was a water hole in front of him. An underwater tunnel.

Spyro looked behind him to still see that horrible crawling thing still giving chase as well as the doppelganger. So Spyro took a deep breath and jumped inside followed by Sparx.

Spyro let out a few bubbles of air, one of which Sparx was enclosed in, and made his way down the dark tunnel. Then Spyro saw something up ahead. Whatever it was was swimming toward him and wasn't slowing down one bit. And it was also unfriendly. It was some tan looking insect type thing with six long legs which the monster used to push off the walls to boost himself in the tunnel. It's four green glowing eyes stared straight into Spyro's and it's massive mouth opened up to reveal a long line of sharp but rotting teeth. Spyro never seen an insect as hideous as this, that's if it was even one.

The insect roared at Spyro as the dragon charged through a gap in the monsters legs and kept his uneasy pace. Sparx was still ahead, lighting the way and not wanting to look back. Spyro didn't either, they continued to swim as fast as their bodies would let them. The dragon knew that thing was coming back, he could feel it. Spyro turned and looked to see how close it was, only to find out it wasn't the insect. It was his doppelganger again, swimming after him with an outstretched paw.

Spyro tried to swim faster but he was already going as fast as he could and the doppelganger was catching up. Then Spyro spotted light ahead. Spyro and Sparx swam upwards, more than ready to emerge from the tunnel. The doppelganger began closing in even closer and Spyro swam even harder. The doppelganger swung his paw and barely missed touching Spyro's tail. The doppelganger was about to try again, but Spyro had already made his escape and was out of the water.

Spyro and Sparx went as fast as they could as Spyro's double emerged from the water. They were still in the tunnel but Spyro could see light ahead. It was a faint light, was it moonlight? Spyro and Sparx only hoped and made their way down the tunnel with the doppelganger behind them a few meters.

When Spyro and Sparx made it through the doorway, Spyro closed the large metal door and locked it shut by sliding a stiff board in place on the front door latches. Spyro then heard constant banging on the metal door as he and Sparx slowly backed off and the banging eventually went to a halt. Spyro and Sparx sighed in relief, but then Spyro realized where they were. All around them were wooden coffins. Some were on the floor and some were in coffin holes in the slag walls.

"Umm Sparx. I think I led us into a crypt."

Then Spyro heard a banging noise coming from a coffin beside him. Whoever was inside was coming back out to haunt Spyro.

"Yeah we're definitely in a crypt."

Sparx quickly uttered a few words making Spyro look up. He saw a ladder on the other side of the room with light coming down from it. So he and Sparx made a break for it as the coffin beside him busted open. A skeleton of a small dragon emerged from the coffin and began chasing Spyro. But that wasn't the worst of it, all the coffins were being busted open and the skeletons of dragons that were inside were alive again. They attempted to grab Spyro as he ran by but were too slow, but one skeleton wasn't. Spyro was had by the scruff of his neck by a skeleton larger than him. Sparx slowed to a halt and squeaked in horror. Spyro struggled to free himself but nothing was working. Then the purple dragon managed to get a paw behind him and hit the skeletons arm that held him. The skeleton's arm broke off and let go and Spyro as he sprinted to the metal ladder and began scaling it.

The ladder led up through a hole in the ceiling and Spyro could see moonlight up ahead. This was it, the last bit of nightmare was about to come to an end. Sparx flew up past Spyro and quickly found his way up to the top then began cheering on for Spyro. Spyro climbed as fast as he could, a little tired as he did. But then something snagged his tail. Spyro looked down to see a skeleton hanging on to it, making Spyro slide down the ladder, bit by bit. Sparx flew back down to the rescue, flying past Spyro and buzzed about the skeleton's bony face. It frightened Sparx but he couldn't let his dragon companion end up as one of these skeletons.

The skeleton wasn't affected at first, by Sparx's buzzing began ticking the skeleton off. Soon the skeleton started swatting at the dragonfly, missing each time as he did. Taking advantage of the situation, Spyro began swinging his tail the best he could and slammed the skeleton into the side of the wall. The skeleton fell into pieces on the impact and Spyro immediately began climbing up. Sparx stayed right with him this time. Spyro climbed and climbed until he finally reached the top. He stumbled off the ladder, panting, and noticed the skeletons were coming up after him. Then Spyro found a metal hatch on top of the hole's hinges. Spyro grabbed it and slammed the hole shut. The skeletons began banging against the hatch and Spyro guessed that it must have locked itself. Now where was he?

Spyro looked around his surroundings. He was back in the forest, somewhere amongst the trees in the darkness of Dark Hollow. Spyro then began listening and heard some commotion off in a direction and he and Sparx began running after it. Eventually the commotion grew louder and Spyro and Sparx found themselves on the same path they were before they entered the haunted house. Spyro looked back and saw it. The house that nearly killed him. He shivered and ran away from it, toward the still going party up ahead.

He made it. He was back at the party but it looked like it was about to end. There wasn't half as many dragons as there was before. Then Spyro saw Elora, standing over near one of the closest stalls.

"Elora!" Spyro exclaimed as he ran over to her.

Elora looked over at Spyro, about to say something, but was cut off by a dragon hug. Elora returned the hug, looking confused but went with it. When Spyro pushed away, he noticed the look on her face.

"What's up? Didn't you miss me?" Spyro asked. He looked over at Sparx to see that he was still by his side, wondering the same thing he was.

"Miss you? Are you okay Spyro?"

Spyro looked at his friend with concern. "Err Elora. Are you alright? Remember? I went in that house and I was locked in?"

Elora thought back then shook her head, "No you wasn't. You walked in then walked back out all quiet. We figured there was nothing exciting in there if you were so quiet the whole time."

"What?" Spyro jumped. "I did?"

"Yes Spyro you did. I think you should see a doctor about your memory. You just left a while ago and now you came back here to help clean up right?"

Spyro then realized what was actually going on, "No Elora! That wasn't me! That was the doppelganger!"

"The what?" Elora asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"It was my doppelganger! He was here! I was being chased by him this whole time!"

Elora shook her head, "What are you talking about?"

Spyro sighed and slowly breathed in and out to calm himself. "A doppelganger is your double and if you touch your double you will die."

"Who told you that?" Elora asked, crossing her arms.

"Nestor told me! Please Elora, you've got to believe me!"

Elora put her left hand on her chin as she thought through what she was told. A half a minute later she finally answered, "Alright, I believe you. So are we going to Artisans or what?"

Spyro quickly nodded, "Yes, I don't think I'm going to be coming back here for a very long time. Just please, stay away from that house."

"Will do," Elora simply replied.

Artisan Home World

Spyro retold his story to Flame and Agent Nine in front of the waterfall. It was dark out and the many stars in the sky was twinkling. Flame wanted to go trick or treating soon but hearing a spooky story would pass the time. At first, they didn't believe him. They thought it was just a scary story for Halloween that Spyro made up. But they saw the seriousness in his face as Spyro assured that this really happened to him. It frightened Flame the most. Frightened him to the point of where Spyro seen a tear come up in his eye.

"Flame," Spyro began but hugged his basic little brother. "It's alright Flame. He didn't touch me and I'm safe and sound. I just won't go be going back there again. I don't want you going back there either too, you hear me?"

Flame replied, still in the embrace of his bigger basic brother, "Okay Spyro. I promise."

Then Flame pushed away to wipe a tear from his eye.

Spyro looked over at everyone else that surrounded him, "This regards to all of you as well."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Spyro looked down at Flame, "Okay Flame, are you ready to go trick or treating?"

Flame looked back up at Spyro with a grin Spyro hadn't seen in a while. "Sure am!"

Later

Flame was happy. His bucket was nearly full and it was getting a little too heavy for him so Spyro decided to carry it. It was just him and Flame. Elora and Agent Nine said that they had to head on back to Avalar and Sparx said that he had too much fun for one day and began taking a nap. Flame seemed a little sad at first at seeing Elora and Agent Nine leave but Spyro perked him up by saying that this could be the cool dragon's night out. Now he had a bucket filled with candy.

The last cave or home that they hadn't visited yet was Nestor's. It was located where Toasty's portal used to be, but all Toasty was was a sheep dressed up in a costume. Spyro remembered it like it was yesterday. That sheep was so surprised when Spyro found him out.

"Trick or Treat!" Flame yelled into the cave. The sudden outburst made Spyro come out of his daydreaming.

Both of them heard someone coming, then Nestor emerged from the cave entrance.

"How about a trick?" Nestor smiled.

Flame tilted his head to the side in interest. "Trick?"

"See the candy bar?" Nestor held out his paw to reveal a chocolate bar wrapped up in plastic.

"Yeah," Flame replied.

Nestor quickly flipped his paw over and back again and brought it out for Flame to see. The candy bar was gone. Flame looked disappointed and Nestor nearly chuckled when he noticed it.

"So where did it go?" Flame lowly asked while looking around in his spot.

"I think Spyro has it," Nestor smiled.

Spyro looked over at Flame, "No Spyro doesn't."

Nestor extended his paw over to Spyro's side and acted as if he picked up the candy bar off his shoulder. "Yes . . . you do." Then he dropped it in Flame's bucket.

"Spyro why did you steal my candy bar?" Flame asked, peering into his bucket full of sweets.

Then Nestor heard a noise behind him. It sounded like someone humming in a low tune. He turned and looked but saw nothing of interest. "That was strange."

Spyro and Flame heard it too but Spyro spoke first, "What was that?"

"I don't know, maybe my cave is haunted." Nestor replied.

"Oh please don't get me started Nestor, I've had a long day as it is."

Flame added in, "Yeah, Spyro saw his dopplerganel again."

"That's doppelganger," Spyro corrected.

Nestor grew surprised, "You saw him?" Nestor noticed how loud his tone was then lowered it down a little before continuing, "Did he touch you?"

Spyro shook his head, "No, we're cool, I'm cool, and he didn't touch me. But I saw him in that haunted house in Dark Hollow."

"Haunted House?" Nestor began but was cut off by that humming noise again. "What is that?"

"It's making me feel a little nauseous," Spyro replied.

"What?" Flame asked not understanding the word.

Then the humming noise was at it again. It was coming from inside Nestor's cave whatever it was. Nestor looked back in his cave, "Stay here you two. I'm going to check it out."

Nestor walked back into his cave and Spyro and Flame silently waited while exchanging worried glances among one another. All was quiet, a little too quiet.

Spyro was about to say something until he heard a sudden scream coming from Nestor in the cave.

"Nestor!" Spyro called out. "Stay here Flame," Spyro commanded as he ran inside the cave to save Nestor.

It was pitch black and Spyro couldn't see a thing. He wasn't liking this one bit at all. Spyro tripped over something on the floor and fell to the stony ground knocking the breath out of him. He couldn't tell what it was but when Spyro looked up, he swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. Two blood red eyes were staring straight back down at Spyro.

"RAARRHHHH"

"AHHH!" Spyro screamed and ran the other way. He sprinted for the exit yelling, "Run for it Flame!" But Flame only watched Spyro run as fast as the speed of lightening past him and back into the plains.

Flame looked back toward Nestor's cave in confusion, then suddenly a light came on in Nestor's cave. Flame also heard someone laughing. That someone was Nestor. Nestor managed to walk back out of the cave, still laughing as he noticed Flame.

"That was good wasn't it?" Nestor managed then continued laughing. He stopped long enough to explain. "I scared Spyro good this time!"

A smile rose on Flame's face and soon, the two of them were laughing along with each other.

"Very funny Nestor!" Spyro yelled out from around the corner of the cave.

Nestor looked over but couldn't hide the laughter that was still evidently clear in his face. "It was wasn't it?" Nestor managed to calm down after a while then looked at Flame. "So how much candy did you round up this year?"

Flame outstretched his arms with the bucket in his paws for Nestor to see for himself. "I got a lot!"

"I can see that," Nestor replied. "Don't eat it all in one night. For the ancestors sake please don't eat it all in one night or you'll be bouncing off the walls."

Flame cheesily grinned at the remark.

"I'll make sure he won't Nestor," Spyro assured, snagging a chocolate bar from Flame's bucket.

"Hey! That's mine!" Flame nearly exclaimed.

"I don't see your name on it," replied Spyro while unwrapping the bar. He took a large bite out of it as Flame turned his bucket around to show Spyro the name 'Flame' clearly written on the side of it.

Spyro shrugged in response as he swallowed, "So what? I owe you a candy bar now."

Nestor shook his head, sighing, with a paw on his forehead, "Children, can't live with them, can't live without them. What am I to do?"

A few words from the narrator, Chad

So that is the story of Spyro and the Doppelganger. Do all of you now realize what the doppelganger is and what it can do?

It seemed Spyro had to go through a lot just to escape the clutches of his double. As life progressed for Spyro it seemed as if the doppelganger had disappeared. No one ever reported that they saw any unusual activity and Spyro soon dismissed the whole haunted house ordeal and went back to his previous lifestyle of roasting sheep. The doppelganger seemed to have given up but gave Spyro the scariest ride of his life in the process. He and Sparx never wanted to go through something like that ever again. Who would?

And so this comes to the conclusion of this spooky tale. The doppelganger truly exists for there have been reports in our world of people seeing doubles of someone in a haunted house.

Remember to take the time to review then if I come across your very own doppelganger I'll be sure to tell him to leave you alone.

Have a happy Halloween, if you can.

The End?

End Notes: You can thank the television show, Ghost Adventures, for this story. If it wasn't for them then I wouldn't even know what the doppelganger was. That show comes on the travel channel, usually past 9 p.m. Special thanks to . . . Chad for narrating the beginning and end even though he did went over the edge on asking you to review. More thanks to all the reviewers from all my other oneshots. Why? Because if I didn't get all those good reviews I probably would have written this in the legend of spyro series. Did you know that my story, Spyro's Coffee, originally started out in the legend of spyro series?

The story itself (without the author notes and junk) is past ten thousand words in case you were wondering. Anyways, your welcome to review, yada yada yada, and have a good halloween. And don't forget to save me a chocolate bar. =D

Oh yeah, I found something on you tube that all of you will most defintely like. Its amazing, spectacular, and I literally just stumbled across it. According the the video, a new Spyro game should be coming out. They said it would come out some time in 2011 and it's based on the LOS series. The game is called Spyro's Kingdom. If you want to see the vid, go to you tube and search up The Tale of Activion's New Spyro Game "Spyro's Kingdom", it is by a guy named "yearofthe." It shows evidence and leaked information. I know that if this game comes out, Elijah Wood won't be voicing Spyro. Well just watch the vid if your interested.