Battle of the Dragons

"Free at last! Now get out of my way, this dimension is mine!"

- Season intro

 was the third season in Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!. It began on the 10th of June, 2021, and ended on the 12th of July, 2021.

Theme
This season was themed around the Spyro the Dragon series. Dark Spyro and Gnasty Gnorc have invaded the Wumpa Islands, and Spyro the Dragon followed them to stop them.

As the female N. Tropy was banished at the end of the previous season, she left open a portal to the Dragon Realms. The portal appeared at the beginning of the season, on top of a stone pillar next to the Season Event Area. It emitted an ominous purple light field and a trophy is floating in front of it, rotating on itself. During the season, the portal's frame appeared broken, with dark purple crystals sprouting from its base. The gold-encased gem that was on top of the arch replaced the floating trophy, which then floated on the sea next to the pillar. The gem rotated on itself while emitting energy sparks.

At the season's start, Dark Spyro and Gnasty Gnorc used the portal to invade Crash and Coco's world, taking over parts of their islands. Spyro chased them to this world, but the portal broke in the process. Crash and Coco now have to fight back Dark Spyro and Gnasty Gnorc, and help Spyro repair the portal to send them back to their own world.

The invaded levels have a dark purple sky. Dark purple crystals have sprouted everywhere along with banners sporting Dark Spyro's face and the symbol of Dark Aether. Any fire present in those levels turned purple. Floating chunks of lands and magic towers appeared, including inactive portals in Road to Ruin.

Throughout the season, Crash and Coco are collecting ingredients to refuel the portal and parts to fix it. Near the end of the season, Cortex approached them to ask for a truce and their help to gather items for him. He claimed to be able to craft a "reverse ray" to de-age Dark Spyro back into a harmless dragon egg. This tactic proved successful enough to keep Dark Spyro at bay while Spyro finishes fixing the portal to the Dragon Realms.

At the end of the season, Spyro managed to send Dark Spyro back to the Dragon Realms, but Gnasty Gnorc is still lurking around the Wumpa Islands. Regardless, he bids farewell to both Crash and Coco and thanked them for their assistance.

Survival Runs
This season featured the Dino might! and revamped Bear It Survival Runs.

Mission Board

 * Main article: Mission Board

Trivia

 * While the developers planned to have a Spyro season from the start, they didn't want to have Crash and Coco fight Spyro, and so added Dark Spyro instead as Battle Run boss. They also managed to add Gnasty Gnorc as an additonal boss battle for the season and to give more variety to boss attacks.
 * The developers adopted the idea that Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! also takes place in the center of a multiverse where all Spyro games happened. This season sticks to character designs from Spyro Reignited Trilogy. The conflict between Spyro and Dark Spyro is directly inspired from their battle in Skylanders Academy. Furthermore, Dark Spyro's emblem is the symbol of Dark Aether from The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, where the character was first introduced to the series.