The story begins shortly after Year of the Dragon. The dragons are in celebration of a rite of passage for the young dragons and for the Grand Dragon Parade, with the arrival of new young dragonfly guardians for the baby dragons. However, during the party, Ripto teleports in via a portal along with his henchmen Crush and Gulp, disrupting the celebration, intent on capturing the new young dragonflies to weaken the baby dragons. However, his spell misfires and the dragonflies become scattered throughout the Dragon Realms. Spyro is tasked with recovering the realms' new crop of dragonflies.