Chihiro Hatsuki's Skylanders

by Tilde-Heart

Chihiro Hatsuki is an ordinary Earth kid whose life is turned upside down when the Skylanders, the magical guardians of another world, land in her backyard and promptly tell her that she's a magical portal master! Now, Chihiro must help the Skylanders defeat their archenemy Kaos and restore the Core of Light that protects their world. (Canon-divergent retelling of SSA)

20. Chapter 20

Chapter twenty of CHS is here! This was another chapter that gave me a run for my money, but thankfully I was able to get it out just in time! (Also, there's gonna be another important announcement regarding CHS at the end of the chapter!)

Greenswitch: I'm glad you liked Boomington—writing him and his little rivalry with Boomer was one of my favorite parts of that chapter, right next to Snuckles and Boomer's whole dynamic! (Also Bloomington made me chuckle—Boomington if he was a Life Elemental instead of a Tech Elemental...) And as for the callback, that was something I just couldn't resist~

Watch Seeker: While I can't really say much on what will happen here, hopefully things will work out~

---

/LOG DATE 42.26.20011, TIME 17.36.55/

With a whoosh and a flash of quickly-faded light, Drobot and Drill Sergeant had found themselves whisked away from the homey walls of the portal building and into the fray of what seemed to be a warzone!

The ground underneath their feet was solid dirt and mud, and the skies above them churned with thick, suffocating gray smoke. From above the trenches one could see campsites littered about like garbage where soldiers discussed something in an unheard language… But the one thing that stuck out was what loomed above them. Hidden behind a barbed wire and barricaded fence was a pristine white building identical in shape to the one General Robot had shown on his projection—same skyscraping towers, same faint glow, same gigantic pipes that pumped glowing green substance to and fro within the building itself…

The gears in Drobot's brain whirred, but not necessarily from the sights itself. Normally portals would transport them in an instant, but now it was nearly sunset back at the home island! He would have to ask Chihiro about that later… But then again, maybe that was not something he should concern himself with. Magic was not his area of expertise, after all. Magical affairs weren't nearly as logical as technical ones, and for all he knew the portals just felt like taking it slower than usual.

"Drobot," Drill Sergeant whirred as he wheeled through the mud, "Do you think this is our destination?"

Drobot lifted his head and turned to Drill Sergeant, then made a tiny nod.

"Affirmative, Drill Sergeant," Drobot replied as he hovered over the mud.

"But, where are the Mabu Defense Force?" Drill Sergeant swirled back and forth, "I see no sight of mabu anywhere here. Just camps and trolls…"
"Then, according to my calculations, we should go find them."

Drobot said not a word more, and merely continued to hover forwards instead. No use making small talk when you had more pressing matters at hand, he would say.

"Yes, sir!" Drill Sergeant replied as he saluted Drobot with his drill hands, then charged his way through the mud.

One might think that this might not be such a good idea, but thankfully Drill Sergeant's machinery was durable enough to plow through the mud as if it was no more than thin grass or powder snow. Arkeyan technology was built to be resilient first and foremost, and Drill Sergeant was an epitome of this. Drobot had asked to study his machinery in the past, but Drill Sergeant had always gotten particularly queasy at the idea.

With the muddied trenches passed by, the two of them wheeled and hovered their way down rocky, dirty hills carved into trenches and pathways. Despite Drobot's scans, he couldn't find a single sign of mabu life… Had they been too late?

"Wait, is that a Skylander?" asked a voice from ahead.

Drobot's scanners perked up, then made a few simple beeps to inform him of a new lifeform's presence—a mabu, dressed in ragtag military clothing! It was a good thing he had tuned his scanners before he left. Drobot followed the scanner's built-in radar, and in turn it directed him to a small, makeshift campsite constructed from boxes and worn cloth tents.

"You must be the Skylanders!" The mabu man exclaimed as he made a curt nod, "My name's Nort, tactical sturgeon of the Mabu Defense Force! It's truly an honor to work by your side."

"You mean strategian. A sturgeon is a kind of fish," Drobot said as he hovered down and placed himself in front of Nort, "What seems to be the situation here, Nort?"

"Oh, right! Getting down to business right off the bat, that's how Skylanders do it." Nort made a few awkward chuckles as he adjusted his helmet, "Well, it all started when we came here to retrieve the Glowing Green Goo of Primordia from the trolls! It was going well, really well!"

"Then what had occurred?" The gears in Drobot's helmet whirred with the ones in his mind.

"That's the thing, I don't know!" Nort made an exasperated gesture of some kind with his hands, "One by one, the rest of my team went AWOL!"

Nort proceeded to grab a crude walkie-talkie from the earth and toy with it, as if to exemplify his point. However, no words or conversation from his attempts at making contact, and all that could be heard was just ear-grating static.

"I think I'm all that's left…" Nort shuddered so hard he could rival a quaking leaf while the walkie-talkie slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground with a clunk, "They could all be captured, to experimented on, or made into mabu soup, or…"

"Fear not, Nort," Drobot replied as he tapped a few buttons on his helmet and began scanning, "With my superior life detection technology, we should be able to find them immediately."

Drobot paused for a moment as the helmet ran its scans… Then frowned as it gave him a long, slow beep. Nothing. Drobot hummed and frowned as he stroked his mechanical chin. It worked just fine before, so what could possibly be the issue?

"Is something wrong, Skylander?" Nort asked with a frown.

"… It seems as though I have encountered a few complications." Drobot's words were somewhat softened so as to not worry the already clearly anxious Nort, "Do you happen to have any records of their last whereabouts?"

"Well, normally I'd point you to this." Nort picked up some kind of radar device, "But look! Nothing!"

Drobot examine the device and found that Nort's words were true. There was not a single dot or blip on the radar machine's screen!

"They've completely fallen off the radar!"

Nort's heart rate accelerated greatly according to the readings Drobot had received from his scanner, but it slowed a bit as he examined Drill Sergeant.

"He wouldn't happen to have a radar, would he?" Nort asked as he tapped Drill Sergeant's laser blaster.

"That is not a radar, sir," Drill Sergeant beeped as he withdrew his blaster, "That is a highly lethal Arkeyan laser blaster!"

Nort squealed as he jumped away from Drill Sergeant, his heart rate accelerated once more.

"Very well then. It seems we will have to do things as they did in old times," Drobot proclaimed as he watched Nort make rapid breaths and hold a paw over his heart, "Follow me. We shall search for your missing teammates immediately."

Drobot hovered above the ground once more, then paused for a moment and watched Drill Sergeant roll behind him. Nort took one last, wary glance at Drill Sergeant, then trailed after him and Drobot in turn as they marched through the rough, muddy trenches…

§

However, unknown to those Skylanders and that squeamish-looking mabu, they were being spectated! From within the confines of a dark, laser-filled laboratory lit only by said lasers and the blue light of a wide screen, a troll draped in stained labcoats and other science-y gear cackled.

"My, what fine-looking specimens!" The troll scientist cackled as he fiddled with a few buttons and pulled a lever or two, "I have to bring there here for testing immediately!"

"Nort, look out!" Called one of those annoying specimens inside the cage behind him—oh, did they ever shut up?

"SILENCE!" The scientist threw his trusty wrench at the cage's bags and watched the specimens inside back into a corner.

"Specimens aren't supposed to talk." The troll scientist straightened his labcoat and excused himself out of the room, "They sit quietly and wait for their turn to be tested!"

As the door behind him closed, the scientist clasped his hands and made the widest grin.

"And these specimens will make for some absolutely amazing tests!"

§

Soft chatter arose from the mess hall, but not the kind of amicable banter that came with mealtime, no. It was far more concerned as everybody huddled around each other, hands clammy and brows clenched tights as they discussed the events that raged about outside.

"Where did those monsters come from?"

"I tried to punch them, but it didn't do a thing! What are those things made of?"

"I don't know! Chihiro just ran up to me and said that we were taking shelter here until she figured something out!"

"Do you think everyone's alright?…"

"I hope so…"

And of course, it did little to ease Hugo or Master Eon as they stood steadfast at the doors and tried their best to take a headcount. The island's other residents and the Skylanders who hadn't raced off to do missions had all been gathered alongside them in the mess hall, which now seemed a lot more cramped despite its spacious inside. With all the tension that coursed through this one area, even the most wide-open space would feel like a cramped box!

Hugo ground his teeth together while he flipped through the pages of a book on magic monsters. He had been hard at work trying to decipher the origins behind this mess since Chihiro brought him and Cali to the Mess Hall… But no matter how much he poured through them or what books he did, nothing could be found!

Speaking of Chihiro, Master Eon could only pray that she was alright. He had been quite taken aback when she had yanked him out of the open and teleported him away to the mess hall. It had been so sudden, in fact, all he saw were the monsters in the distance, all her heard was their growls intermingled with her strained voice and all he felt… Was the touch of her hand and the surge of magic. A part of him wished he could figure things out himself, in all honesty. But, with those things running around and them supposedly being extremely strong and immune to most magic, he'd be far from the ideal person to deal with them.

So, all he could do was sit and wait in anticipation. The sounds of everyone's worried talk made him want to step up and say something to ease their nerves, but unfortunately he was just as worried as they were. How could he ease others' fears when he himself couldn't ease his own?

So instead, he begrudgingly hovered above Hugo in utter silence within the one quiet corner of the mess hall…

POUND! POUND, POUND! POUND, POUND, POUND!

"Who could that be?" Master Eon asked as he hovered away from Hugo and towards the barricaded doors of the mess hall.

"THEY FOUND US!" Hugo exclaimed as he tossed his books to the skies and ran around in frantic circles, "IT'S ALL OVER, THEY'RE—"

"Hello?" Cried a familiar young voice from outside the hall, "It's Chihiro! Let me in!"

"Young Chihiro!" Master Eon gasped as he levitated the barricades out the way and flung open the doors!

Sure enough, outside the mess hall's bounds was none other than Chihiro! Her breath was heavy as she slouched over, but she was still energetic enough to dash inside and collapse on the floor.

"I… I looked as far as I could…" Chihiro panted as she pressed herself upright with her arms, though the paleness of her face made her look deathly ill, "I… Think that's everyone…"

Everybody around breathed a sigh of relief. At least one of their fears could be put aside for the moment.

"Now, now, young Chihiro, steady yourself." Master Eon flitted towards Chihiro and magicked a towel for her to wipe her cold sweat with, "You look like you're ready to meet the grave!"

Chihiro whimpered as she took the towel from Master Eon and wiped off her face. Her lips quivered with something that seemed not quite like fear, but… Sorrow, regret even? And it seemed as if tears dropped from her cheeks, though they were so small they could barely be noticed.

"I might as well be!" Chihiro sniffled as she rubbed her nose, "It's my fault this happened in the first place!"

"Your fault?"

Master Eon hovered under Chihiro's chin, barely any mind paid to the tears that dripped off her face and onto his ghostly body. "What are you talking about?"

"That's what I said!" Chihiro sobbed as she buried her face in her hands, "IranoffandgotlostandIguesstheartifactsgotallbumpedupandstuffandthen mymapflewoffand, and, and, when I, when I…"

Chihiro wiped away her tears with her arm, then curled up and sobbed once more. As Chihiro curled up and sobbed, Master Eon popped out of her lap and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

"Young Chihiro, I do not entirely understand what you just said…" Master Eon said as he nuzzled her chin up, "But regardless of whatever mistake you may have made, it's never too late to remedy it!"

"It…" Chihiro sniffed and lifted up a face full of tears, "It isn't?"

Master Eon bobbed up and down. "So, young Chihiro, what exactly happened?"

Though Chihiro was still very troubled, she shuddered and forced out a weak smile… But with how her lips trembled, it hardly looked like one.

"Well, when I was doing that hunt… The breeze blew away my map!" Chihiro sniffled a bit, then breathed and wiped away the last of her tears, "I went to get the map, then the artifacts thingies, they fell out of my bag so I tried to make something out of magic for them to land on…"

Chihiro started to shudder once more.

"And then one of them absorbed the magic and got all messed up and now all this happened!" Chihiro lowered her head, her eyes masked by her frazzled bangs, "I'm so sorry, Master Eon. I wanna fix this, but I don't know how! I tried to stop them, but they're way too strong for me!"

"Absorbed the magic, you say?…" Master Eon echoed as he fluttered away from Chihiro.

"Er, yeah." Chihiro's voice wavered a little, though she tried to steady it some, "That battery-looking one, it absorbed the magic from the platform, then it exploded and zapped the Guardifound and it turned into a weird monster, then it turned the rest of 'em into monsters too!"

As he heard Chihiro's testimony, a flash of realization came into Master Eon's mind! It had to have been…

"Chihiro, can you recreate the shape of the artifact in question?" Master Eon asked as he flew back to her side.

"I can try."

Chihiro nodded, then held out her hands and created a cyan-colored, magical projection from her palms. It took on the appearance of what was vaguely an old-looking battery, though covered in cracks and magical markings, with twin lightning bolts poked out from its sides.

"Oh, dear. It's just as I thought!" Master Eon examined the projection as his own light dimmed from concern, "That has to be the conductor!"

"Conductor?" Chihiro asked as she whisked away the projection.

"Conductors are powerful magic devices that can charge other devices around them with magic energy." Master Eon shook a tiny bit, "If it had gotten corrupted, then spread that corrupted magic to the Guardifound who spread that corrupt magic to the rest…"

"Wait, there's more than one?" Chihiro tilted her head.

"I had stocked several replicas of all the artifacts used in the exam, just in case they were somehow damaged prior to it." Master Eon winced as his glow faded, "And conductor magic gets stronger with everything it powers—combined with a Guardifound's natural abilities, this makes an incredibly deadly combination. If we don't do something soon, we might never be able to stop them!"

"So then, we've gotta stop those Guardifounds from making more monsters!"

Chihiro jumped to her feet and stood tall, the sad aura that once radiated around her now replaced by an air of determination.

"If those things are their power source, and making more monsters makes them more powerful…" Chihiro nodded her head in firm thought and looked up at Master Eon, "Then we just need to get rid of the Guardifounds as quickly as possible and then all those monsters will be gone, right?"

"You catch on quickly, young Chihiro." Master Eon chuckled then swirled around her, "But first, we'll need something that can track them down."

"Like a radar, right?" Chihiro's hands glowed a soft, light cyan, "Got it!"

With a snap of her fingers, a magical, if not somewhat old-fashioned in appearance, radar detector manifested in her hands!… Only to poof out of existence seconds later.

"Dangit." Chihiro sighed as she watched her hands' glow fade, "Guess that's still too complicated for me,"—Chihiro looked up at Master Eon—"Now where in this place could we find a radar?"

"Did someone say radar?" Asked a mechanical voice from the back of the room.

Mechanical whirring, rolling and other robotic noises echoed through the mess hall as that strange robotic army general—General Robot, Eon believed he identified himself as—rolled up to Master Eon, Hugo and Chihiro's corner of the mess hall.

"If you're looking for a radar detector, sir…" General Robot popped open his chest plate, "Then I have one right here!"

Sure enough, out from a conveyor belt came a miniature, box-shaped radar detector! It was simple and a bit rudimentary… But for the current situation at hand, it would probably do just fine!

"Now, young Chihiro," Master Eon said as he floated over the radar, "Follow my lead."

Chihiro nodded, then placed her had on top of the radar detector. Her hand and Master Eon's body glowed in unison for a few minutes, then that glow transferred to the radar before it faded entirely! All was silent for a few minutes, then everybody broke into a chorus of amazed whispers as the radar began to beep!

"It's already got a few readings!" Chihiro exclaimed as she withdrew the radar and showed it to Master Eon, "See?"

Sure enough, Chihiro was right! Several purple dots had already appeared on the radar's surface!

"Now that we got that taken care of…" Chihiro stomped her foot on one of the benches and raised the radar to the roof, "LET'S KICK SOME MONSTER BUTT!"

"Er, young Chihiro?"

"Yes, Master Eon?" Chihiro asked as she turned back to Master Eon.

"… We should probably plan out how we will stop them, first."

"Oh, right." Chihiro chuckled and jumped off the bench, "Forgot about that."

And so, they all gathered together and whispered out inklings and ideas under the cover of the mess hall's sturdy roof…

/LOG DATE 42.26.20011, TIME 17.46.55/

The sounds of war and banter rang through Drobot's ears as he, Drill Sergeant and Nort trekked through the muddy trenches that made up the factory's front yard. While normally it would've made anyone's skin crawl, in particular it kept all three of them on edge as they search.

"Okay, so, if I recall correctly," Nort explained as he walked next to Drobot, "This path should take us to where Captain Rizzo was last heard from…"

"Understood," Drobot replied while he toyed with something on his helmet, "Could you inform me as to which members are missing at the current time?"

"Just the captain and Blobbers." Nort rubbed his hands and awkwardly smiled, "We're… A little short staffed at the moment."

"Last actions before vanishing?" Drobot tapped a few buttons on the side of his helmet.

"The captain disappeared first while he was going to re-route the goo pipes, and Blobbers went to look for him!" Nort winced and looked around, "I really hope they're alright… Only the Ancients know what could have happened to them!"—Nort began to whimper as he looked aside—"Maybe they got incinerated in a fire, or made into friend mabu, or fell down a hole, or—"

"Actually, the probability of the first two insofar is extremely low." Drobot tapped the side of his helmet and projected out a holographic chart, "According to my calculations. Now—"

Drobot lifted his head up, then whisked away the holographic chart with a blink. A beep from his helmet alerted him to the fact that there was something amiss here!

"Incoming projectile from…"

Drobot turned his head around and shot a laser at an oncoming grenade still high in the skies! As it exploded in a bright flare, he lowered his head slightly and narrowed his eyes.

"There."

With another blink, Drobot shot a round of lasers at the horizon which caused another explosion in the distance! The red and orange light of the explosion glazed over the mechanical eyes of Drobot's helmet in a way akin to sunsets, which was pretty, he supposed… But not the most impressive thing he had seen.

And yet, a quick glance to the right showed that Nort was seemingly enthralled by the sights! His eyes were fixed on the explosion's radiant warmth and his mouth drew into a smile, while scans showed that his heart rate had accelerated to a slightly faster speed. Drobot was not sure why, but…

"That was amazing!" Nort exclaimed as he turned back to Drobot at last, "You saw that grenade coming way before I did and blew it up like it was nothing!"

"But it was nothing," Drobot corrected, "My suit is specially attuned to detect any sudden changes in the environment around me. Quite helpful for intense missions such as these"

"REALLY?" Nort's heart rate grew even faster as he scurried up to Drobt and looked all over his suit, "What else can it do?"

Drobot gently folded the wing Nort was examining closer to the suit's body. "It has offensive and defensive qualities with its laser blasts, bladegears and shields, it can automatically generate charts, maps and other things necessary for statistical analysis, and it can even precisely calculate the time necessary for the perfect piece of toast."

Drobot clicked a dial on his helmet and showed off brief holographic previews of each function he listed, then stretched his robot wings as Nort stepped away.

"These are only a small selection of the things it can do, however. If anything, what I listed off were among the more simple features of my suit. Without it and all its features, I do not know what I would do."

Nort just gazed over Drobot with what seemed to be a level of shock. "It can do even more? How is that possible?"

"Er, well, all I did was code the programs and program them into the suit's internal computer. It's not very complicated, you just have to type a few lines…" Drobot tilted his head slightly and frowned. He wasn't planning an explanation, for he only stated an objective truth—after all, the features did range from fairly simple operations to much more complex maneuvers that only the most carefully-crafted of machines could pull off.

"I would happily explain, but we have more pressing matters at hand right—"

Drobot had wanted to say more, but before he could his helmet resounded with a couple more beeps—new anomalies! Heat signatures had apparently been located just a few paces behind him, but what were they of?

"SKYLANDERS! WHAT ARE THEY DOING HERE?" Cried a gruff voice from that same direction.

Drobot turned around and… He should have guessed that they had spotted by the local forces. Several trolls had popped out of their campsite's safety, their armor shiny and their weapons even shinier. His database analysis showed that the guns they carried seemed to be of the newest, more efficient model. He should stay on guard.

Nort immediately screamed at incredibly shrill volumes and hid behind Drobot, but Drobot quelled his own shock. Instead, he flared out his wings and tapped a few controls on the side of his helmet, just as a means of prepping his weaponry… To be safe.

"Why should I indulge you with an answer?" Drobot asked, his voice filter altered to be slightly more booming and intimidating in some kind of hope that this would scare the trolls away without a fight.

"It's our factory, isn't it?" The head of the trolls shot back as he gripped his laser gun, a slick and minimalist Pocket Flare 101611 with a cannon-like shape, slightly tighter than before, "You're technically trespassers!"

"YEAH!" Cried a second troll dressed in simple, less decorated military clothing as they waved their Pocket Flare in the air—probably a newer officer judging by their excitability, "So enough talking, let's get shooting!"

"My thoughts exactly!" The first troll hissed as he lowered his gun and charged it up!

From the Pocket Flare came an incredibly large laser flare, one that rocketed towards Drobot at what seemed like thirty steps a second. But, when it drew into Drobot's general vicinity, he merely lifted his wings and cast out a holographic shield that completely neutralized the blast!

"WHAT?!" The head troll shouted as he tossed his Pocket Flare to the ground, "That stupid scientist said these things were immune to shields!"

"Then I suppose they were wrong, sir!" Drill Sergeant beeped as he flew out from where Drobot sat and charged towards the trolls, "ROLLING ON THROUGH, SIR!"

The trolls all looked up, then screamed and ran as Drill Sergeant charged towards them with his drill hands fully activated and ready to shoot—but unfortunately, their speeds of approximately thirty miles an hour on foot were no match for the speeds Drill Sergeant could generate on his wheels! Before they could even escape, Drill Sergeant slammed into them and tossed them into the air.

While the trolls screamed and flew, Drill Sergeant whipped around and rattled. "Drobot, sir!"

"Understood!" Drobot shouted back, then with a few clicks of his buttons his wings folded out further and unleashed large cannons, "Initiate bladegear protocol!"

Out from those cannons shot several large gears with chainsaw-like teeth, so sharp and quick to tear and pull through anything that got in their way! Several of them immediately went to work and knocked the trolls into the horizons, but the others were just a little too slow to the punch—Drobot made a mental note to examine those when he returned from the mission.

As the trolls who were not grazed down by the bladegears dropped to the floor, they wiped sweat off their brows and breathed sighs of relief… But not for long! The bladegears dropped back down in response and immediately chased the troll down and out of sight! A third bladegear soared towards the head troll, but he only snarled and shot it away.

"You like shooting things, do you?" The head troll asked as he cocked his Pocket Flare, "Well, two can play at that game!"

The head troll spun around his Pocket Flare, then held it tight and stuck his finger to the trigger! As he held it close, several incredibly large and hot flares rocketed straight towards them, but Drobot was hardly intimidated as he flared his wings and tapped the side of his helmet.

"Initiate shield protocol!" Drobot proclaimed as a large, sturdy holographic shield jumped out from the ports in his wings and immediately neutralized the rocketing flares!
Unfortunately, however, those weren't the only flares that troll had sent out!

He still fired at incredibly rapid speeds, so rapid that Drobot could not allot a moment to fight back—he had to stand still and keep these shields up, lest he risk getting hit by the flares. And on top of that, an instantaneous report from his helmet told him the trolls he had chased away with his bladegears earlier had made a return at last!

"Thought you could get rid of us easy, didn't you?" Asked the seemingly lower-ranking troll as they cocked their Pocket Flare, "Too bad!"

One by one the others all started shooting off their Pocket Flares as well, which greatly increased the volume of flares Drobot had to fight! He winced as several of them narrowly whizzed past his head, then he ducked and went back to inputting data on his helmet's control panel.

"Won't somebody stop that thing?!" Nort cried as he rolled out the way of one flare and watched it explode about ten miles behind him.

"I am afraid I cannot!" Drobot shouted back as he clenched his tense jaw and expanded the shields' range till they were a fence that completely blocked off him and Nort, "I already have my protocol slots taken by these flares!"

"It is a good thing that I do not, then, sir!" Drill Sergeant whirred from halfway across the battlefield.

The sound of revving machinery caught everyone's attention, then dust clouds kicked up over the horizon as Drill Sergeant charged directly into the trolls and tossed them—and their Pocket Flares—everywhere! While they crashed into the ground and grappled for their weapons, Drill Sergeant made a few short chirps… Then zapped the Pocket Flares into fried, broken metal with a humble laser blast.

The trolls gasped as they lifted their Pocket Flares and tried to fire them in some desperate, irrational attempt to get them working… Then finally their leader screamed at the top of his lungs as he stomped on his broken Pocket Flare!

"YOU STUPID HUNK OF METAL!" The lead troll exclaimed as he finished his temper tantrum and glared down Drill Sergeant, his breath so heavy with rage it made his entire body shudder, "THAT WAS THE VERY FIRST OF ITS KIND! THERE'S NO WAY I'LL GET ANOTHER ONE!"

The troll let out another raging yell, then jumped onto the ground and charged right at Drill Sergeant! Drill Sergeant, in response, charged back towards him and locked them both in a standstill. They pushed and pressed against each other, but despite their efforts they were both strong enough that neither could overwhelm the other… Until finally, the troll's footing slipped slightly! With the troll's grip loosened, Drill Sergeant found the perfect opportunity to power forward and charge right over the troll! The other trolls immediately ran to attack Drill Sergeant as well, but Drill Sergeant shot them back with his drill hands before they could even get within range.

And more importantly, with those trolls' weapons destroyed and their attention fixed on Drill Sergeant, there was plenty of time to attack!

"Seems it is time to have some fun," Drobot remarked as he let down his shield, "As the civilians would say."

Drobot twirled a couple of dials, pressed a button or two, then jumped into the air and zoomed over the battlefield! He careened his head down, and with a red flash from his eyes, bright hot lasers rained down on the battlefield!

The trolls screamed and hopped around as their feet were singed, with some blowing on their feet in some ill-fated attempt to cool them off.

A glint of harsh light shone on Drill Sergeant's face as his drill hands flew back and attached themselves back to their proper slots, then he charged forward and smashed directly into the trolls! While the trolls flew into the distance and their screams became little more than faint echoes, Drill Sergeant make a mechanical sound that vaguely sounded like a huff.

"What a nuisance, sir," Drill Sergeant remarked as he rolled up to Drobot.

"Indeed, Drill Sergeant," Drobot replied as he landed back on the ground and turned back to Nort, "You are not injured, are you?"

"No, no, I'm fine!" Nort replied while his legs continued to shake, oddly enough.

"But, the scans show that you are shaking at an abnormal rate." Drobot tapped the side of his helmet to show a holographic scan of Nort's body, complete with health diagrams to prove his point, "And your heart rate has gone up considerably…"

Nort just frantically jumped in front of the hologram and began waving his arms, all while sweat dripped down his head despite the odd lack of warmth on this battlefield they chose. "NOPE! I'M TOTALLY FINE, LET'S MOVE ON!"

Once the hologram had disappeared from view, Nort made as large a grin as his mouth could make and walked on, those his movements were oddly stiff and mechanical for a living being…

"That mabu is a strange one, but he does have a point." Drobot made a soft, robotic hum then shrugged, "We should be on our way."

So, Drobot padded after Nort, though he was guided more by the AI-generated map his suit had created based on his scans of the area. Good thing, too—these battlefield were nearly completely identical with their charred and blood-splattered ground, barbed wire fences and miniature campsites all made with the same tents and crates. There was a good chance any of them would've easily gotten lost without it!

In fact, it seemed as though Nort had already gotten lost! He stood frozen as he examined the path before him, and neural scans showcased brain activity that indicated confusion…

"According to my map," Drobot said as he hovered over to Nort and landed, "The path ahead is completely linear."

Nort just tilted his head and frowned.

"In layman's terms, it's a straight way ahead."

"Oh!" Nort nodded and beamed, but only for a moment as he gave Drobot another confused look, "Where'd you get a map?"

"I had an artificial intelligence program automatically generate one for me based on detailed scans of the area around. It has an accuracy of ninety nine point nine, nine, nine, nine…" Drobot shook his head and hovered forward, "Well, you understand—"

SCCCCCCCCRRRRRRHHH!

That was the sound of Drobot's suit's feedback as his suit alerted him to an unexpected update! Ugh, he thought he tuned the feedback noise to be less ear-grating… Drobot clenched his teeth, then looked ahead to find a solid barrier of a wall made entirely of stone!

"Guess that was the one percent that did go wrong, wasn't it?" Nort asked as he made an awkward chuckle.

Drobot frowned as he heard Nort's words, but quickly shook it off as his tone analyzer told him that Nort meant it in a playful way. So, instead he directed his attention towards the obstruction before him. Strange, what was a stone barrier doing here? His map had told him the path ahead was clear of any obstructions or debris! Just then, his helmet beeped a few times as his map was overwritten by a new one that pointed out the obstruction.

"You couldn't have done this earlier?" Drobot hissed to his suit at a low enough volume that nobody else could hear. He did not wish for anyone to misconstrue his words, after all.

"A barrier?" Drill Sergeant beeped as he finally caught up to where Nort and Drobot were, then spun his wheels even faster than before, "Just leave it to me, sirs!"

Drill Sergeant short off at an approximation of seventy miles per hour—approximately given that the distance between them and the barrier was too short for such distance to be realistic.

"I'LL CHARGE DOWN THAT BARRIER IN—"

Drill Sergeant's vocal processor sputtered out some kind of static nonsense as he bounced off of the stone barrier and landed on his back.

"Oh dear…" Drill Sergeant buzzed as his wheels spun haphazardly, "I apologize for the disruption, sirs, but can one of you please help me back up?"

Drobot walked over to Drill Sergeant, then Drobot gently pushed a button on the back of his armor. As the button popped back up, twin pairs of strong, mechanical arms unfolded from his suit and lifted Drill Sergeant back to his feet… Or rather, wheels, since Drill Sergeant didn't have feet.

"I'll run a scan to analyze the material of this barrier," Drobot proclaimed as he tapped away at his control panel, "Once the analysis completes, it should give us a host of viable ways to rid ourselves of this—"

"Or, we could just use this!" Nort suggested as he popped out of a nearby trash pile with a sleek, round bomb in hand.

Drobot stopped mid-input, then canceled the analysis and examined the bomb Nort held. "Let me analyze it first."

Despite where it came from, the bomb was in complete working order and had a ninety-five percent chance of properly lighting and exploding with no complications—but would it be strong enough to destroy the barrier was the next question?

"My scans show that it is viable for the purpose in question… In other words, we can try." Drobot nodded then looked over the bomb's fuse and prepared his lasers to burn, but stopped as Nort pulled out a crude lighter and lit the fuse himself.

The fuse crackled and popped with warm embers, though Nort seemed hardly concerned as he spun his arms and vaulted the bomb over the barrier!

"BOMBS AWAY!" Nort shouted as the bomb flew in the air!

Drobot promptly lifted up his shields, just to be safe, then clenched his teeth and powered the shields up further as a loud explosion sent gigantic rock chunks flying in every conceivable direction! The thick smoke filtered into his helmet, but was purified and converted into clean air right in time for rest of the smoke to fade away. While Drobot cleared the shields and looked ahead once more, the barrier was a barrier no more—just an easily-passed pile of rubble! He made a simple nod of approval, then blasted away a midsection in the rubble for Drill Sergeant and Nort to proceed through before moving on ahead.

Once again, everything blended into the same sights and sounds as Drobot hovered ahead… Wait a second, his map had just updated and showed him a trail of small potential obstructions… What exactly were they? Mines, miniature bombs, bear traps?

"Full view," Drobot said as a holographic, three-dimensional projection of the map popped out from his helmet's eye sockets.

Wait a second, those could hardly be called obstructions! It was all junk, from torn hats and rusty badges to much more viable walkie talkies and devices. If anything, this seemed to be some campsite's scattered trash! It looked to have been abandoned in some kind of haste, as if whoever owned it was swept away in an instant. How suspicious…

"Follow me," Drobot ordered as he sensed the presence of Nort and Drill Sergeant then stopped displaying the map, "I believe my scans may have found a clue to your missing teammates whereabouts, Nort."

"You have?" Nort exclaimed as he clasped his paws together, though the look on his face was more nervous than hopeful.

Drobot hovered up, then took a left turn and flew straight down. His eyes were trained thoroughly for any sights of the trail he had seen earlier, and yet it seemed as if he had completely escapes its view! Strange, the path was not too far according to his calculations…

"There it is!" Nort cried as he dashed under Drobot.

Drobot fell down to the ground, and found that sure enough the junk trail he had seen on the projection was only a few paces ahead. It seemed as though in his analysis, he failed to look down—he'd remember that for next time.

Nort, meanwhile, winced as he lifted up the hat and dusted it off.

"This is Captain Rizzo's hat!" Nort exclaimed as he looked back to Drobot, "And he really likes it, too! It isn't like him to abandon it for no reason…"

Nort winced as he held the hat tight, then looked back down at the trail and gasped!

"There's the captain and Blobbers' badges, their walkie talkies…" Nort collected the garbage from the ground like some kind of somber treasure hunt, "Why would they drop all this stuff?"

Nort gasped and dropped his collection into a heap on the ground.

"Unless they didn't!" Nort whimpered and began biting his nails, all while his neural readings showed increased levels of panic, "Maybe they were killed, and the killer took their stuff and lead a trail so that they could finish me off, too!"

"That is quite unlikely, Nort," Drobot remarked as he scanned the ground and looked up, "A murder of any kind would have left behind some kind of carnage—blood, fur, spit, ashes in case of an evaporation…"—Drobot tapped a claw against the mostly-pristine stone floors—"But these grounds are completely clean! If anything, a kidnapping is a more likely prospect."

"KIDNAPPING?!" Nort practically jumped out of his fur and started pacing around in a circle, "Oh no, no, not the captain, not Blobbers! Who knows what's gonna happen to them? Not me, that's for sure! They could be halfway across Skylands and I wouldn't even know where to look! What am I gonna do?"

While Nort continued gnawing on his nails, Drill Sergeant drove up to Nort and gently patted him on the legs.

"There, there, sir," Drill Sergeant beeped, "At ease, sir."

But, Drill Sergeant seemingly didn't know his own strength in comparison to Nort, and instead accidentally knocked Nort on his back!

"Owch!"

"Oh, goodness, sir!" Drill Sergeant's eyebrow panels (Or whatever they were truly called, for that was just what Drobot had always referred to them as) rapidly fluctuated as Drill Sergeant turned around and looked at Nort, "I am extremely sorry, sir!"

"Ugh… It's alright," Nort panted as he rubbed his head, "Geez, that was super hard! It was like landing on a metal—"—Nort opened his eyes as the ground began to rumble—"Block?"

Out of complete nowhere, the ground underneath Nort opened up, and not in the sense of an earthquake, but rather in the sense of a trapdoor!

Drobot and Drill Sergeant rushed towards him, but before they could Nort dropped down the open gap in the ground!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

By the time they had reached the panel, Nort had disappeared into the dark underneath them while the ground itself closed back up with a satisfied click!

"Just what was that, sir?" Drill Sergeant asked as he peered back up at Drobot.

"A trapdoor, obviously!" Drobot exclaimed, "More importantly, we need to get it open and get back Nort!"

Drobot clawed against the earth and grunted. Seems as though it wouldn't open by manual means… So, he lasered the ground beneath, but that was just an ineffective in opening it!

Drill Sergeant clicked, then raised a drill to the heavens and ran it at an incredibly rapid pace.

"Let me attempt, sir!" Drill Sergeant shouted as he plunged his drill into the ground, "After all, I have a license to drill!"

Drill Sergeant burrowed and rushed and bored all he could… But nothing happened other than him making an incredibly awful shrieking sound! Drobot had to turn down his helmet's listening mechanism before it made him short-circuit!

As he turned it back up, Drill Sergeant removed his drill hand from the earth.

"Seems as though drilling does nothing as well," Drill Sergeant sighed.

Drobot frowned, then started his hover mechanism and flew ahead. "Then it seems as though we will have to find other ways of entering."

Drobot burst ahead thanks to a boost of speed from his thrusters, then paused in midair and examined the troll camps below. Surely, some of them could have some valuable information on how to enter whatever place Nort was brought to… So, he flew behind a large rock and poked his head out, then enhanced his listening mechanisms and fixed them on the different camps.

"So, what did you say was the best way to cook sheepstew pie again?"

Nope, not that one.

"You know, this green goo stuff seems pretty cool! I wouldn't mind taking some of it for Trollver to mess with back home!"

Nor that. Drobot flicked to another one, but the things they were discussing were so vulgar he flinched and jumped to the next camp before he was subjected to any more of their crude discussions.

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't trust that weird scientist dude," Said one of the troll in a camp fifty paces northwest of where Drobot currently sat, "He may have made these cool weapons and all, but he's still a total quack!"

Scientist, huh? Drobot thought as he enhanced the hearing mechanisms further.

"No kidding! All he ever does is babble about his weird experiments and hole himself up in his lab," said the second troll, "He's even worse than the guys back home, and that's saying something!"

"I don't know, though…" Said a third voice, "I mean, he did make us these cool weapons! I think I can take a little weirdness."

"Weirdness? Like, 'placing trapdoors everywhere you turn in search of new test subjects' weirdness?" The second troll scoffed, "I think I've fallen down five of those today!"

That's it! Drobot realized as he looked up and signaled to Drill Sergeant, I've found my culprit!

Drill Sergeant charged down the steep ramp that lead down to the troll camps, then turned to Drobot and made a few soft clicks. Drobot nodded in return and lead Drill Sergeant through the camps as they sneaked the many troll camps and finally stormed towards a northwest one. Based on the directions Drobot received from his suit, this had to be where he heard that conversation!

"Tell me…" Drobot boomed as he stood tall against the trolls that seemingly had yet to notice him, "Where exactly is this scientist?"

"Beats me, buddy," Said one troll as they polished their rocket launcher, "That guy refuses to tell us where his lab is! I just found it by accident…"

The troll took a look around, then their jaw and rocket launcher fell! "WAIT, YOU'RE NOT THE REINFORCEMENTS!"

"Indeed, we are not, sir!" Drill Sergeant proclaimed as he wheeled around and unveiled his laser blaster, "Now, we demand to know where this scientist is located, beep-boop! Or else…"

"Like we'd tell you!" The troll grabbed their rocket launcher off the ground and turned to the other trolls in their camp, "Trollcoys, to arms!"

The trolls all shouted off cries of war as they launched their blasts and missiles at Drobot and Drill Sergeant, but the two of them were just as quick to retaliate!

Drill Sergeant immediately shot off several drill rockets that slammed into the missiles, which in turn created mid-air explosions!

The smoke from these explosions was enough to mask Drobot, who used the cover to shoot off a round of lasers which neutralized the other blasts! By the time the smoke had cleared, the only remainder of their first assault was the ashy remains of those missiles.

The trolls growled and got ready to fire again, but before they could, a robotic-sounding scream threw them all off! Wait, that sounded like… Drobot gasped and looked to where Drill Sergeant stood, but Drill Sergeant was there no more! Just an open space in the ground!

Drobot went to make chase, but before he could the ground was swept out from under his paws! He looked down, and all he could see was blinding darkness before he was swept into the depths…

§

Chihiro inhaled, exhaled then clutched her radar tight as her eyes glazed over the ragtag team she had assembled.

Right now, it was just her, Master Eon, a handful of the Skylanders, and General Robot who had insisted on tagging along, all cramped in the one tiny corner of the mess hall near the front doors. Despite how small the one corner was in comparison to their numbers, it hardly seemed tense!

As everybody chatted among themselves, Chihiro smiled and felt the tension lift from her heart.

With a team like this… Chihiro thought as she rubbed her fingers against the radar, There's no way we could lose!

"Alright everyone, here's the stitch," Chihiro proclaimed, then gulped as all eyes turned to her. Something about the way everybody looked at her made her feel a little tense, as if they were judging her for every little thing she did that lead up to this occasion! But, nonetheless she cleared her throat and proceeded.

"This radar has the locations of each Guardifound currently active." Chihiro held up the radar for all to see then placed it back to her side, "Really, all we have to do to them is simple."

Chihiro made a gesture towards Sonic Boom and Zook.

"The monsters are sensitive to loud noises, so Sonic Boom and Zook will make as much noise as they can to keep them down. While they're reeling, the rest of you will keep the other monsters occupied!"

Chihiro turned to Master Eon. "As for Master Eon and I, we'll look for the Guardifound so he can cast a no-sell spell on it and turn it back to normal."

Chihiro cast a glance and breath aside.

"Hopefully this'll work…" Chihiro whispered as she fiddled with the radar's antenna, "I mean, it sounds simple enough, right?"

Chihiro shook her head. No, there was no time for doubts right now! They had to take back their home from those things, and more importantly, Chihiro needed to fix this whole mess she caused! So, she turned back to face the bulky, imposing doors of the mess hall.

They had been blocked off with wooden boards, heavy crates and whatever other hefty kitchenware that they could scrounge up. Despite the impromptu nature of the barrier, it stood tall and strong against any opposition, or perhaps maybe the monsters simply didn't think to check the mess hall. Hopefully it was the former. But nonetheless, they had to leave the mess hall's safety if they wanted to stop these monsters.

So, Chihiro made a signal towards the Skylanders and watched them dismantle the barrier within seconds of her order!

"One, two…" Chihiro walked up to the doors and planted her hands on them, then took one last deep breath.

"NOW!"

Chihiro flung open the doors, and in moments everyone on their team burst through the doors!

The area outside had become much more ominous than before—the skies had been dyed purple while lightning-charged clouds brewed in place of the sun and stray wreckage littered the ground. And worse yet, monsters had completely overtaken the area surrounding as they trudged around like zombies.

But, this didn't scare any of them as they drew their weapons and bore scowls of war! Because this time, they weren't just serious—they were prepared, too!

The monsters that roamed around the island's heart all turned around as they heard the doors slam open, then growled and lunged straight towards them!

As the monsters lunged forward and growled, Sonic Boom and Zook looked towards each other and nodded.

"Hello, everyone!" Zook proclaimed with an odd level of confidence and a wide smile on his face as he whipped out his bazooka and emptied its ammunition, "You've arrived just in time for the concert!"

The monsters just grunted and watched in confusion as Zook flipped his bazooka around and breathed in. In fact, they were so surprised that they didn't even bother to attack, they just turned to each other and made soft, confused whispers or stared in anticipation.

"Now, before I get started…" Zook turned to Sonic Boom and raised an eyebrow, "Sonic Boom, why don't you start us off?"

"Oh, me? I don't know, I've never sung in front of a crowd before…" Sonic Boom chuckled a genuine chuckle as she stepped forward, then her gentle look turned much more intimidating as she smirked, "But I'll try!"

Sonic Boom breathed in, then out… And out from her mouth came perhaps the loudest scream Chihiro had ever heard!

Chihiro and the rest of the team all covered their ears just in the nick of time, but the monsters weren't quite as quick to prepare! The monsters could only screech and make choked sobs as they fell to their knees and tried so hard to shield their ears from that awful, awful noise… And leave themselves wide open to attacks in the process!

Chihiro said no words, but merely ushered everyone else forward. Thankfully, however, her message was perfectly conveyed as they all jumped into the fray!

Terrafin and Bash were the first to jump forward, and Terrafin the first to attack as he socked a monster straight in the chest! While it flew back, Bash rolled forward and charged straight into it before it could even recover!

All it could do was scream as it crashed headfirst into the ground. The monster grunted as it tried to pull itself back up, but before it could the sound of screechy didgeridoo playing forced it back on the earth!

Terrafin and Bash turned around and smiled, because sure enough Zook was behind them and diligently played his hollowed-out bazooka with all the breath he could muster.

Stealth Elf was not one to be outdone, however! While Terrafin and Bash were brawling, she had cornered a trio of monsters who was still reeling from Sonic Boom's earlier performance. They tried to reach out and grab her, but they were so disoriented that they could barely keep their feet on the ground! And Stealth Elf's constant teleporting probably didn't help, either!

"Am I here?" Stealth Elf asked as she vanished and reappeared a few paces west, "Or am I here?"—Stealth Elf vanished again and popped up behind a stack of crates—"Maybe I'm over here!"

The monsters finally got fed up enough that they pushed themselves towards Stealth Elf, but she hardly seemed intimidated as she waltzed out of her crate hideout… Then disappeared right before they could catch her or stop themselves in time! All they could do was conk their heads against each other, then stagger around and fall into a groaning pile.

"That's what you get for not watching where you're going!" Stealth Elf chided as she reappeared and crossed her arms, only to twitch her ears and duck as a stream of scalding water soared ahead of her!

This stream immediately smacked into a few of the other monsters who were still standing somehow, much to their disdain as they wiped their eyes and looked back at the water stream's source—which was none other than Gill Grunt!

Gill Grunt just smiled as he hoisted up his harpoon gun, the barrel of which now dripped with hot water that quickly evaporated as he held his finger tight on the trigger. As he held it tight, something metallic and silver in color poked its way out from the barrel.

"ANCHORS AWAY!" Gill Grunt exclaimed as he released the trigger and ricocheted back as a gigantic anchor flew from his gun! He grunted as he dug his heels into the dirt, then looked up and smiled as he watched the anchor blow several of the monsters into the trees with a loud crunch.

As she saw the Skylanders fight, Chihiro felt a spark of excitement burn in her heart and knew one thing… She had to get a piece of this action! So, she stowed away the radar in her pocket, then looked aside and grabbed a particularly large tree branch. She grunted as she lifted up the branch, fixed her eyes on a particular large monster that loitered around the forest outskirts, bolted towards it and…

"TAKE THIS, YOU OVERGROWN STOMPING BLOCK!" Chihiro screamed to the heavens as she slammed the branch on the monster… But it was so strong that the branch just snapped in half!

Chihiro winced as she looked down at the broken half of the branch that still laid in her hands, then broke into a cold sweat as she looked up and saw the now very angry monster loom down over her.

"Actually I take it back," Chihiro giggled as she tossed the broken branch away, "You're the perfect size for a stomping block—"

Chihiro gasped, then bolted off as the monster punched into bulky hand into the area she used to stand on.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Chihiro made heavy strides down the leaf-covered grass while pounding footsteps resounded behind her, a sure sign that the monster she had aggravated was in hot pursuit! Chihiro fell to her knees and panted, only to shoot her head up as she heard a familiar voice shout out, following by the sound of crackling flames, skidding and shaken ground! Chihiro just made a small chuckle as the a loud crash sounded off, then stood back up.

"Thanks for the save, Golden Boy!" Chihiro shouted as she turned around and gave Spyro a thumbs up.

"No problem, Chi!" Spyro shouted as he nodded towards Chihiro and landed on the ground.

They all kept their breath bated as they looked over the fallen monsters, with Zook even taking a moment to breath from his intense performance. While it looked like they were down for the count, they had learned by now not to hold their breath…

ZAP! Down from the skies came bright purple bolts of lightning that zapped the monsters below!

Chihiro yelped as she jumped just inches away from one, then looked up and frown. Right at the top of the portal building, something bright and sparkly shone like a Christmas tree's star… But what was it? Chihiro, unfortunately, didn't get much time to ponder that!

Why? Well, one by one, the monsters started to groan and shudder while static crackled across their bodies… Then one pushed itself off the ground, follow by two, three, five… Soon enough, all of them jumped back to the feet and into the fray! The Skylanders rushed in to attack, but this time the monsters were more than prepared—every magical attack deflected, every physical one block, every blow from the monsters themselves barely dodged.

"EAT MISSILE, YOU RATTY LITTLE PUNKS!" General Robot exclaimed as he shot a series of missiles from his shoulder cannons at the monsters!

The missiles swarmed towards the monsters, who all turned and looked around right as the missiles crashed into them then fell straight down as the missiles exploded!

"That should take care of that…" General Robot remarked as he turned around, only to stop as groaned echoed about.

The monsters twitched their toes, growled and jumped back to their feet! Much to the shock of General Robot, who dropped his metallic jaw as he turned around and saw them rush towards him!

Before they could attack, however, Terrafin rushed forward then punched down one of the monsters and smirked as the monster hit its head on a nearby rock… However, the monster just swung its hand back and smashed the rock like a hammer would! Terrafin raised and eyebrow and stepped back, but the monster took his moment of surprise to punch him in the gut and send him flying into a circle of monsters! Terrafin snarled, then dove underground and swam underneath the dirt—and the monsters' feet!

"Hey, Chi!" Terrafin called as he jumped up, then punched a monster down and looked back at Chihiro, "Hate to rush things, but did you find that head monster thing yet?"—Terrafin clenched his teeth as he bobbed out the way of another monster and punched it in the back— "These guys don't wanna give up!"

Terrafin was right! It seemed as if every time they knocked one back down, it immediately jumped back up twice as strong as it was before! And worse yet, a quick look behind showed that Zook was now completely exhausted, and while Sonic Boom was screeching the best she could to keep them down her screams didn't have nearly the same range as Zook's music!

Seems as if Chihiro would have to hurry this up… With a wince, shesnatched the radar out from her pocket and glazed over its screen.

"It should be…" Chihiro said as she looked up, only to gasp and stow the radar away, "There it is!"

Sure enough, a Guardifound monster the color of blue skies wandered around the forest mouth in a confused haze, as if it had no idea where it was! And better yet, it was completely open!

Chihiro smirked and ran off, then magically levitated a medium-sized rock and tossed it right at the Guardifound! Oddly enough it didn't seem to notice her… But the moment the rock shattered against its head, well, then she certainly got its attention! The Guardifound roared and chased after Chihiro, but she only turned tail and raced back to where the Skylanders were fighting the other monsters!

"Got it here, guys, I—EEK!"

Chihiro screamed and ducked as the Guardifound swiped at her, then rolled underneath the legs of another monster, staggered back up and panted. "Think you might wanna take care of it!"

And that's just what the Skylanders did!

A roar from Sonic Boom made the Guardifound shudder and fall to its knees, which gave Bash the perfect opportunity to crash into it and shoot it down!

As the Guardifound groaned and tried to get back up, Spyro teleported behind it and charged it straight into Gill Grunt, who then beaned it in the head with a harpoon! The Guardifound groaned and collapsed at last, which in turn revealed that it had a decently-sized crack on its head. And while it groaned and whined, the other monsters fell to their knees and cried in pain as well.

"Master Eon, now!" Chihiro shouted as she turned back to Master Eon, who bobbed up and down in response.

"Understood, young Chihiro!"

Master Eon levitated in the skies, then shot a laser beam of magic straight into the heart of the Guardifound!

The Guardifound screamed and struggled as it was levitated into the air and enveloped in a cocoon of rainbow-streaked while light, then slowly its cries faded with the light… And when the light finally faded, it dropped back to the ground an ordinary artifact once more!

All around them, the other monsters froze and squealed before the magic jumped out of their bodies, which forced them back to their original forms with a loud POP!

"Whew, that's one down!" Chihiro sighed as she magicked up a sack and collected the artifacts from the ground, "Say, I wonder where the next one is?"

"HELPPPPPPPPPPPP!" Cried a robotic-sounding voice from the beach.

Spyro winced then took the skies immediately.

"I think I might have an idea!" Spyro shouted as he pointed to the beach's stairs.

Chihiro grunted as she and Master Eon teleported down, then turned around and found the beach was in utter chaos, and not the kind Kaos caused! (Thankfully for her—she wasn't sure she could handle Kaos on top of all this)

There, tons of smaller monsters were kicking up sand, chasing the local wildlife and tossing all sorts of garbage everywhere! Worse yet, several of them had ganged up on poor Clam-Tron! They were kicking sand into his joints, banging on his chest and jumping all over him like some kind of playground attraction!

"Shoo, shoo, you awful imps!" Clam-Tron demanded as he futilely tried to shoo away the monsters, "Didn't your mother ever tell you how to…"

Just then, Clam-Tron froze as several of the monsters gathered up garbage from the beach and looked at him with a devious smirk!

"No, not the garbage!" Clam-Tron begged as one of the monster pulled open the door on his chest, "I'll smell for weeks!"

They all laughed as they wound back their arms and got ready to throw the garbage inside… But before they could, Chihiro teleported in front of Clam-Tron and magically shot the garbage back at them!

"Sorry for the wait, Clam-Tron!" Chihiro said as she turned around and waved, "We had some—"—Chihiro looked aside and scratched the top of her head—"complications."

Clam-Tron just breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the oil from his head, then frowned as he looked towards the monsters.

The monsters, however, didn't really notice him, for they were more concerned with trying to wipe the garbage from their eyes!

While they struggled and pulled assorted trash from their faces, Chihiro scanned through the crowds and smiled as she caught sight of what seemed to be an incredibly small yellow Guardifound!

"Found you!" Chihiro hissed as she narrowed her eyes. She crackled her knuckles a few times, then in one fell swoop she leaped forward, grabbed the Guardifound by the head and slammed it against the cliffside!

While the Guardifound slunk down from the wall and all the other monsters fell down with it, Master Eon zipped across the beach at a speed fast enough to kick up sand clouds! He skidded to a stop, then shot another no-sell laser right at the Guardifound's heart.

The Guardifound was enveloped in light and returned to normal in a flash, as did the other monsters it had created… Much to Chihiro's relief as she went to collect them.

"Let's see…" Chihiro lurched up and took a pause from artifact collecting as she retrieved her radar. With a simple button press on her end, a much more complex holographic map littered with one whole dot popped out from the radar!

"Seems like the next Guardifound's in the forest!"

Chihiro and Master Eon nodded towards each other, then teleported back up to the top of the stairs. Chihiro urged everyone else to come closer with a wave of her hand, then once they were all together they placed their hands on top of each other. As Master Eon dropped on top of the hand pile, they all glowed with a halo of pale light that soon wrapped them up and shipped them away to the forest entrance.

Chihiro bit her lip as she pocketed the radar, then looked back to the Skylanders and nodded. Despite this being the last Guardifound they had to face, something in her gut told her that this was gonna go really bad, but, maybe that was just her residual anxiety over this whole situation talking.

Plus, there was still that strange light from the portal building that shone bright despite the lack of a potential source. Something about it egged at Chihiro's heart with its suspicious brightness… Just what was it? She wanted to figure out now, but right now the first thing she needed to do was find this Guardifound and stop it!

So, she nonetheless forced herself to storm into the forest with the rest of her team close behind…

§

"Oh, my head…" Nort groaned as he pulled himself off the cold, metallic floors and swerved his head around.

The entire area was super dark, and only vaguely lit by the passing light of bright lasers and dim computer screens, though the light as least gave some clues as to the current location. Bars like the ones used in dungeons or jail cells enveloped Nort, while the lighting shone over endless stretch of machinery and computer panels. It all held some kind of ominous aura, like just being in here put one in danger…

Nort winced as he looked around, though even with the faint light it was still too dark to properly make out the surroundings, then screamed as a bright light flashed out of nowhere!

"Nort!" Cried a grizzled voice as the new light vaguely illuminated another mabu man who held a flashlight in his grizzled paws, "They got you too, huh?"

"Wait a second…" Nort whispered as he crawled forward, "Is that you, Captain Rizzo?"

"You bet it is!" The mabu man held the flashlight to his face and beamed, then nudged it over to another, slightly shorter mabu man to the left, "That creep had me and Blobbers locked up here for what seemed like forever!"

"Wait, creep? Locked up? But what for?" Nort wrung his hands and winced, "What's going on here?"

"Experiments, that's what!" Rizzo shuddered as he dropped his flashlight to the ground.

"The captain's right!" Whispered Blobbers, his voice higher and hoarse, "While we were trying to get the goo, that scientist captured us and trapped us in this cage! If he hadn't found those Skylanders and went to mess with them, we'd be buttered toast!"

"Oh geez," Nort whimpered as his eyes widened, "Wait… How did you know there were Skylanders here?"

"Look no further, Nort," Rizzo said as he pointed towards a screen adjacent to their cage.

Nort took one look at the screen, then gasped and held his paws over his mouth.

"Oh no! Not the Skylanders, too!" Nort winced and looked down at his hands, which were now clammy and held tight.

There, displayed on its dimly lit monitor was a green-lit screen of Drobot and Drill Sergeant, both of whom looked horribly lost as they navigated through the otherwise expansive darkness with only Drobot's eyebeams for a light source…

"Do you see a light switch anywhere, Drill Sergeant?" Drobot asked as he moved his head left and right.

"I am afraid not, sir," Drill Sergeant chirped as he looked around, "But then again, even with my enhanced eyesight, I cannot see a thing in this darkness!"

"ALLOW ME TO HELP YOU, THEN!" Proclaimed a booming voice as the lights flickered on!

Drobot and Drill Sergeant stepped back as their prison was revealed to be a red-walled room with oddly-placed circle panels that vaguely resembled a training arena. The floors were marked like they were in the training arena back home, the walls seemed incredibly firm given their shiny metal, and the whole area was even constructed in a dome shape! On top of that, a pale reddish-orange light lit the room in an oddly concerning color…

While Drobot and Drill Sergeant examined the surroundings, a screen popped out from the ceiling and flickered on to show the image of a troll dressed in broken goggles and a stained lab coat with a concerning grin on his face.

"Are you the one who possesses this strange place?" Drobot asked as he stepped forward and withdrew his laser cannons, "If so, I demand you free us at once!"

"Free us?" The troll echoed, then broke into hapless laughter so intense he fell on his back! All that could be seen was his legs as he kicked them in the air!

"THE SPECIMENS WANT ME TO FREE THEM BEFORE THE EXAMINATION, THAT'S A GOOD ONE!" The troll cackled as he pulled himself back to full height and slammed his fist against an unseen desk, "Scanners, begin the examination!"

Right as the troll said this, the entire area began flashing red as steam and hissing sounds emerged from the walls!

"EXAMINATION IN PROGRESS… EXAMINATION IN PROGRESS…" Droned several round, vaguely humanoid robots as they popped out of the walls and circled around Drill Sergeant and Drobot!

The two of them winced and readied their arms, but oddly enough the machines didn't attack! They just scanned down Drobot and Drill Sergeant, then fled back into the holes from which they came!

"… Er, just what was that?" Drobot asked as he watched the last robot scurry into its hiding place, then lifted his head as he heard the troll scientist ooh.

"My, my, what impressive specimens!" The troll remarked as he examined something on a screen that lit his face a slight tinge of blue, "A homebrewed cyborg that could make it with the best, and a bona fide Arkeyan war machine! Those aren't things you see everyday…"

The troll scientist turned off the screen and made a terrifyingly large grin as he placed his goggles over his eyes. "Let me tell you, I can't wait to take you apart and find out just what makes you tick!"

"Wait, did he say… Take apart?" Drill Sergeant asked as his laser blaster began spinning, as did the rest of him! He had flung into a complete panic as he circled around the room, complete with eyebrow panels flipped every which way and drills spinning so fast they nearly flew off his hands.

"ABORT, ABORT, BEEP BOOP BEEP! I REPEAT, ABORT MISSION—"

"Drill Sergeant, calm down!" Drobot exclaimed as he flew up to Drill Sergeant and used his suit's mechanical arms to stop Drill Sergeant short, "We cannot get out if we are panicking!"

While Drill Sergeant shuddered to a stop, Drobot looked aside and gasped.

"A door!" Drobot turned back to Drill Sergeant and pushed him in the door's direction, "Drill Sergeant quickly! See if you can drill a way out!"

"Understood, sir!" Drill Sergeant whirred as he made a beeline towards the door, "After all, I do not wish to become scrap metalllllllLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

Before Drill Sergeant was even a hair's breadth away from the door, a bounce pad tossed him across the room and knocked him on his back!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, silly specimen!" The troll scolded as he wagged a finger, "You can't leave yet?"

"Why not?" Drobot hissed as he helped Drill Sergeant back up.

"Because I haven't seen you in action yet, that's why!"

The click of a button resounded all across the room, and before anybody knew it the panels in the walls opened and tons of bulky, crude-looking robots flooded into the room! Their eyes glowed red as they raised their weapons, and one phrase came from them all.

"ATTACK PROTOCOL, INITIATED!" All the robots cried in unison as they pointed their weapons in a circle around Drobot and Drill Sergeant.

"So that is how you wish to play, do you?" Drobot asked as he flicked open his laser cannons, "Very well then!"

The eye slots on Drobot's helmet blinked for just a second, and in moments gigantic red lasers shot through the room and seared holes through an entire row of robots well before they could ever lay their first blow! As they all fell down and sparked, Drobot stood tall over the chest of one.

"That is how I BLINK AND DESTROY!"

Drobot hovered up as a red and gold blur barreled through several still-active robots and tossed them in the air! While the robots hung in the air for those few meager seconds, he flicked a switch and sent a gigantic bladegear slicing right through them!

"Thank you for the assistance, Drill Sergeant!" Drobot shouted as he looked down to see Drill Sergeant bore lasers through more robots.

"You are more than welcome, sir!" Drill Sergeant proclaimed as he revved his drills and tore through the next round of robotic solders, "It is what I was built for after all, sir!"

Just then, a sharp rip was heard as the gigantic bladegear Drobot had shot out earlier slammed itself into the wall!

"Hey, watch it! That room took me years to perfect!" The troll barked as he shook a fist.

"Well sir, if you did not wish for this room to be harmed," Drill Sergeant said as he looked up at the troll scientist while his blaster shot a few robots down, "Then perhaps you should not host combat within it!"

"DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR OPINION, SPECIMEN!"

The troll snarled, then slammed a button and dyed everything in the room a bright shade of crimson the color of fresh blood!

All at once, the robot soldiers grew taller… Very taller! They loomed over Drill Sergeant with narrowed eye slots and laser cannons at the ready, all while their armor bulked up and filled with extra spikes and padding. Looks like they meant business now! Drill Sergeant immediately shot his drill hands towards them, butthose drill hands only harmlessly bounced off their shoulders and well away from Drill Sergeant's reach!

Drill Sergeant looked down at his notably drill-less hands, then made a series of frantic beeps and boops as the robots all dogpiled on him!

"DROBOT, SIR! REQUESTING AID, SIR!"

"Drill Sergeant!" Drobot called as he soared over to Drill Sergeant's aid, but before he could reach him several of the heightened robots formed a makeshift barricade between him and Drill Sergeant!

Drobot growled, then his eyes flashed a shade of crimson as bright as the light that currently filtered the room.

"I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH YOU RIGHT NOW!"

Right as Drobot cried these words out, a thick laser beam that spread through the entire area in front of Drobot shot out and fried the robots into crumbled, ashy parts! And not just those ones, either, but the ones that had piled on Drill Sergeant crumbled into nothing as well!

Drill Sergeant got up and spun around, all while his mechanical eyes "blinked" rapidly. Then, once he finally settled himself, he strolled over to where his drill hands resided and clicked them back onto his body.

"Drill Sergeant, are you alright?" Drobot asked as he hovered down next to Drobot.

"Indeed, sir!" Drill Sergeant chirped as he turned to Drobot.

Drill Sergeant rolled up to Drobot and went to say more, but before he could, something shocked him so badly that he immediately froze!

"SAKASDLLSAKDJSJKLADJLKSADLJKSADLSJKADSADJKLALKASDLJASDASDJLDS!" was the best translation of the garbled nonsense that poured out of Drill Sergeant's mouth while static crackled around him, "ALPHA BETA DELTA OMEGA GAMMA EPSILON—"

"Drill Sergeant, what is going on?" Drobot shouted as he reached out for Drill Sergeant, only for the static to sear his paw and cause him to jump back and cry in pain! Drobot quickly blew off his toes, then bit his lip as Drill Sergeant's nonsense babble slowed.

"All systems…" Drill Sergeant groaned in a slower, more emotionless version of his usual voice as the static faded, "Offflineeeeeeeeee."

And just like that, Drill Sergeant fell face-forward with a loud thud, while all around the robots they destroyed were swept back into the floors… And yet, Drobot paid no mind to them and just stood there, completely frozen next to Drill Sergeant in shock.

"Drill Sergeant, Drill Sergeant!" Drobot shouted as he tried to shake Drill Sergeant awake with little success, "Now is no time to enter sleep mode!"

Drobot winced as he turned Drill Sergeant around and tried to locate some kind of power switch, only to scream in pain as something tased him and forced him on the floor! Drobot shuddered as he held his helmeted head, which still sparked with residual electricity, then looked up to see one a gigantic robot with a taser for a hand stand over him!

"Seems I missed one," Drobot hissed as he stood his ground, "I will remedy that now!"

Drobot tried to fire off something from his armor… But nothing came from his suit, just a series of whirrs and clicks and beeps.

"What, what's going on?" Drobot's voice became more shrill, withdrawn and strung with panic, and only grew worse as his eyes widened, "The voice synthesizers… Wait, my suit, it isn't working!"

"That's odd," the scientist remarked as he stroked his chin, "That taser should have completely shut down all machinery! Why are you still up and running?"—The scientist's eyes widened in shock—"Unless…"

The robot yanked the still-panicked Drobot off the floor, then slammed him into a wall and released him as he slid down and fell completely unconscious. It twisted off the head of Drobot's suit… To reveal the head of an ordinary dragon, olive and reptilian with spotted brown markings around his eyes and a brown underbelly!

"What?! Don't tell me… That cyborg was just an ordinary dragon all along?" The scientist scoffed in disgust as he held his head in his hands, "And here I thought I had stumbled upon the ultimate cyborg!"

The scientist slammed a fist against an unseen table, then pointed a finger at the screen. "Robot, scan that dragon!"

"SCANNING NOW!" The robot buzzed as it scanned down Drobot's unconscious body.

The scientist frowned as he examined an offscreen list, then groaned and held his head again.

"SO IT WAS AN ORDINARY DRAGON! WHY, WHY ME?!" The scientist made another sigh as he lifted his head up. "But, I suppose I'll just have to make the best of it. Robot, rid the dragon of its armor and haul them away!"

And that's what the robot did as it stripped Drobot of his mechanical wings, then hauled both Drobot and Drill Sergeant over its shoulders as it left the room…

§

Chihiro frowned as she looked down at her radar, which still depicted that same purple dot. By all accounts, this forest should have been the place where that next Guardifound was, so where was it? Everything was oddly noiseless as they trekked through the forest. Heck, even the birds and bugs had gone quiet! It was like something had scared them all silent…

Until a branch cracked!

"WHO'S THERE?!" Chihiro demanded as she whipped her head back and forth… Yet nothing showed. No monsters from the bushes, out of the trees, or even gallivanting about in plain sight! Just chilling silence and absence of any life save for themselves.

Chihiro's hands turned clammy as she held the radar a little tighter. The Skylanders had already braced themselves for any sort of attacker, as did General Robot who had a choice selection of missiles loaded into his shoulders. That is, until Master Eon shot him a look and he withdrew them.

RUSTLE RUSTLE! RUSTLE RUSTLE!

The sound of shaking leaves swirled through the forest, this time at an even greater intensity than before! There was no mistaking it, that had to be one of their targets!

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Chihiro shoved the radar in her pocket and held out her hands like those kung-fu movies stars did, "OR I'LL DRAG YOU OUT HERE BY THE SCRUFF OF YOUR NECK!"

Okay, that sounded a lot cooler in Chihiro's head. But, regardless of how bad it sounded, it definitely seemed to get her mystery target's attention!

The rustling grew more intense as it infected every other bush around, but this time it wasn't the only sound. Now, low growling reverberated from the bushes, paired with the sounds of stomping feet and glowing dots that poked out from the few free spaces in the bushes. That had to be…

"GRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was! The monsters had jumped out from the bushes, and they weren't here to play!

Luckily, neither was Spyro as he shot a burning white fireball right towards a particularly large red monster… Only for it to chomp down on the fireball like it was a white-hot gumball! The monster made a number of munching sounds, then swallowed the fire and glowed with an intense light!

"CRAP!" Spyro exclaimed as he jumped back, then lowered his horns and growled.

As smoke billowed from his nostrils, Spyro fired forwards and tackled the red-hot monster straight in the chest! It wailed in pain as Spyro's blow sent into right into the trunk of a bulky oak tree, but it wasn't enough to break the monster's stride. While it burned an imprint in the wood, the monster got back out and held out its hands! Those hands soon morphed into round hand-cannons, complete with brightly-burning fireballs as their ammo!

Spyro didn't run away as the fireballs closed in on him. Instead, he breathed in, closed his eyes… And all around him, the fireballs froze into midair before they completely dissipated into tiny embers that barely left a scorch!

"You're not the only ones who can play with fire!" Spyro proclaimed as he opened his cherry red eyes and lowered his horns. Streaking flames swirled around his horns like smoke clouds, in a kind of magical way that was almost hypnotic to watch, then finally they engulfed him completely in fire!

The monster stood in total shock, but not for long as Spyro charged right into its chest and set it off balance! The force sent it straight into the bushes with a chorus of cries, not just from the impact but because it had been set on fire as while!

The burning monster sped off into the distance in some frantic attempt to put the fires out, and soon its cries were replaced by growls as its friends limped out of the bushes and leaned against the trees.

"Zook, Sonic Boom!" Spyro cried as he turned back to them, "Start the concert!"

Zook and Sonic Boom nodded and readied their noisemaking, but before they could even start the monsters uprooted the trees from the ground and swung them around like baseball bats!

The wind from their attacks was so intense, it caused everyone to start skidding! They dug their heels and tried to stay put, but with how intense the wind was it was like trying to stay put in the middle of an intense storm.

And worse yet, they had focused so hard on staying grounded that they couldn't even sling a single attack! They were sitting ducks ripe for the monsters' hunt!

One took full advantage of this and immediately swiped Bash off his feet, which sent him crashing towards Stealth Elf! Stealth Elf seemingly got lucky as she teleported out of the way just before they made contact, but when she reappeared another quickly gut-punched her before she could react!

Stealth Elf cried out as she slammed into one of the few standing trees, then tumbled down onto her belly and grunted.

"Guess I wasn't fast enough that time…" Stealth Elf groaned as she lifted her head up, then was immediately smacked back into the tree by a flying Terrafin, "Hey, watch where you're landing!"

Stealth Elf glared up at Terrafin as she crawled out from under him, but he just winced and rubbed his head, which now had a noticeable bruise on it.

Spyro growled as he watched Stealth Elf and Terrafin try to regain their senses, then turned around, lowered his head and scraped the ground as if he was going to charge… But before he could even take a step forwards, a powerful gust shot him backwards! Spyro could only scream and try desperately to fight against the winds, then stopped as something grabbed onto him and put him down on the ground.

"At ease, soldier!" General Robot proclaimed as he gave Spyro a robotic salute, "With my heavy machinery…"

General Robot's eyes flared with a bright light as he glared down the monsters.

"I'm more than equipped to take care of these vermin!"

In a flash of literal light, gigantic lasers burst out from General Robot's eyes at such an intense velocity that it even knocked General Robot himself back! These lasers slammed into the monsters who were making all this awful wind and sliced the trees they used clean in half, not that they would notice as they were too busy wailing and covering their eyes.

The Skylanders immediately gathered their bearings and fought, all while Zook and Sonic Boom played their music so loud it kept any of those monsters from recovering!

Fireballs, water streams, anchors, missiles and magic blasts alike tore through the forest as the monsters tried to fight back against the onslaught. But, with the Skylanders' combined power and the ongoing noise, the monsters were completely helpless! It was a one-sided battle, and the Skylanders were on the winning side!

And with the monsters preoccupied, Chihiro had the perfect chance! She immediately rushed off into the deeper parts of the woods, her eyes fixed on any sign of the Guardifound. She took one last glimpse at her radar, then pushed through the bushes and crept down the trees… To find a bright green Guardifound monster lollygagging around as it slept under a tree!

"Wow, this is too easy!" Chihiro whispered as she watched the Guardifound meander.

With a snap of her fingers, Chihiro created a gigantic magical hand, then nudged it over to the resting place of a particularly large boulder.

The hand yanked the boulder off the ground in an instant, then tossed it right at the Guardifound in one mighty swing! The Guardifound made an unholy screech as the boulder shattered against it and disturbed its nap, then it shook its head and groaned as it reached its bulky hands towards the storming skies.

"MASTER EON, NOW!" Chihiro exclaimed as she waved towards Master Eon.

Master Eon teleported over to Chihiro's side, then without a word hit the Guardifound with that same no-sell spell he had used several times before! The Guardifound was trapped in a prison of light much like the rest, then as the light faded the Guardifound's decidedly normal artifact form dropped back on the grass!

"Nice!" Chihiro chirped as she reached down and went to collect the now-inactive Guardifound, "Another one's in the…"

"Young Chihiro, look out!" Master Eon exclaimed.

Chihiro yelped as something yanked her away from the Guardifound, then screamed as a gigantic magical lightning bolt crashed down onto the Guardifound! The Guardifound levitated in the air with an ominous green glow, then was enveloped back in bright light and slowly formed a solid body once more… Except it had to have been twice as large as before!

"Crap!" Chihiro hissed through gritted teeth as the solid, now-larger Guardifound glowered over her, "I'm gonna need a bigger rock!"

Chihiro grabbed Master Eon, then ducked and covered as the newly revived Guardifound sent out a magical shockwave! While the Guardifound recovered from such a hefty attack, Chihiro gazed over at a boulder the size of a tree and lifted it off the ground with all her might!

However, even that wasn't enough! She strained as she just barely lifted it off the ground… Then opened her eyes to see Master Eon supply his own magic to toss it straight towards the Guardifound!

The Guardifound grunted and looked up as the boulder came crashing towards it, then it snarled and shattered the boulder like a pebble!

"Oh geez, looks like it's time to get out of here!"

Chihiro bit her nails, then turned back to Master Eon and let him rest on her open palm. In a flash they both teleported back to the main group… Only to find that the rest of the group was held up by larger, revived versions of the other monsters!

"Chi, Master Eon!" Terrafin shouted as he frantically punched away monsters, though his hits did little to dissuade them, "What's going on here?!"

"I don't know!" Chihiro exclaimed as she haphazardly ruffled her hair, "One minute I was getting ready to put that Guardifound away, then next thing I know it got struck by weird lightning and all this happened!"—Chihiro ruffled her head even more furiously than before—"What could have possibly…"

Chihiro stopped and looked up as the rumble of thunder echoed throughout the skies. Above them, the purple clouds that blocked the sun practically oozed magic energy as they grew thicker and thicker, while their thunder and lightning struck down on the ground below and created all sorts of odd, magical occurrences!

Flowers jumped up and danced away, the grass weaved itself into tiny grass warriors, even piles of leaves swept themselves off the ground and made humanoid forms from their leaves before being swept away…

"Well, that answers one thing. But what on Earth caused this…" Chihiro stopped short and bit her lip.

"Wait a second! I did abandon that one, and if Master Eon is right they do get stronger with every one they power. Could it have possibly?…" Chihiro paused and shook her head, "Well, if it did, why didn't it show up on the radar?"

Just then, a low growl alerted Chihiro to the fact that she was still in the midst of battle! She frantically rolled out of the way as one monster shot a series of rockets in her direction, jumped back as a lightning bolt struck her prior resting place… Then her eyes widened as the radar fell out of her pocket and got zapped by the lightning!

"Oh no…" Chihiro held her hands over her mouth as she whimpered, then warily picked up the radar and breathed a sigh of relief, "Wait, oh yes! It still works, thank goodness!"

Chihiro looked over the radar's screen and frowned. There on the radar's map, approximately around the place where the portal building would be sat a purple dot larger than all the other blipped and beeped. Wait a second, that light she saw earlier!…

"That's gotta be the original one! Now we just have to get out of here and find it!" Chihiro tapped the radar's screen and frowned.

"Stealth!" Chihiro shouted as she dodged another monster's blow and turned to Stealth Elf, "Can you distract these guys?"

"On it!" Stealth Elf shouted back with a nod.

Stealth Elf pressed her hands together, then disappeared and reappeared close to Chihiro's side. In the place where she once stood, a scarecrow with a striking resemblance to Stealth Elf now laid! And thankfully, it was either convincing enough or the monsters were stupid enough that it completely befuddled them! As the monsters huddled around the scarecrow and rumbled, everybody gathered together and teleported away…

/LOG DATE ?.?.?, TIME ?.?.?/

Drobot shuddered as he opened his eyes and got around. For some reason, he felt… Strange, like he was missing something very, very important that he couldn't possibly be without. He groaned as he rubbed a paw against his scaly, dizzy head… Wait, scaly? Why did he feel scales and not the cold, metallic touch of his armor?

Yes, something was definitely wrong.

Drobot patted his back next, but he didn't feel his perfectly-tuned mechanical wings—just scaly, non-mechanical wings where any normal dragon's wings would have been positioned! What was going on?! Had his armor been taken from him?

"Skylander!" Called Nort's voice from somewhere a little further down, "You're alright, thank goodness! But… What happened to your armor?"

Oh no. Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no. His armor was gone, his armor really was gone! What was he going to do? Drobot felt his heart beat fast without ever realizing, but the cold, clammy sweat he had broken into made it barely notable in his mind. What could he do? How could get anything done without his armor?! What even happened to his armor? Had it been broken in the fight? No, he surely would've noticed if that was the case—what could have possibly…

"Er, Skylander?" Called a slightly grizzled voice from across.

Drobot breathed slow and heavy as he looked across from where he stood now. The whole room was cold and dark and metallic, only lit by the faint light of the screens and lasers abound, but he could just barely make out the sight of three mabu men, dressed in mock military clothes. Could that be?… No, that was definitely the Mabu Defense Force!

"Are you alright?" Asked the mabu man with the grizzled voice.

"I'm, I'm fine!" Drobot denied as he looked down at his paws. Just being so vulnerable around those he swore to protect filled his heart with an awful kind of shame… But he couldn't dare confess his weakness.

"Good!" The grizzled-voiced mabu clapped his hands, "Then you can help us get out before that weird scientist dude comes back!"

"Yeah!" Cried another with a slightly higher voice, "That'll show him, break out before he even gets a chance to do those weird experiments he was talking about!"

Experiments.

That was it! Now the memories began to load back into Drobot's mind. The battles, that strange troll scientist with an odd fixations on machinery and experiments… Oh no. Just then, it finally hit Drobot where his armor went.

That scientist! He must have taken it! Drobot reasoned as he held his head, And if he took my armor, then surely he must have taken Drill Sergeant too!

Oh, what was he going to do? Drobot's heart raced faster than before as the blood pumped hard and loud in his ears. This was truly hopeless! His armor and comrade were both taken away because of his own inadequacy, he was locked away, powerless and unable to do anything…

"Skylander? Skylander?" The grizzled voice mabu called, "What's the plan?"

"I'm, I'm, I'm sorry," Drobot sputtered and held his head, his voice trilled with fear and his words so full of shame he nearly choked on them, "But I can't help you!"

Drobot fell to the floor as the mabu men gasped. The cold of his metallic prison seeped into his body and sent chills down his spine, but he couldn't possibly care about that!

"Without my armor, I'm useless! I'm just another ordinary, powerless dragon without it!" Drobot shuddered as the cold chilled his bones, and perhaps his heart was next, "And an ordinary dragon can't do anything about this…"

All was quiet as Drobot shivered and choked on his own fears, completely frozen in shame as he awaited the decrying calls of those around. As far as he was concerned, he deserved it! He lost his precious suit, effectively failed his mission, and now he'd lead several innocents to what would surely be their grave? How could he call himself a Skylander? How could they stand to be in the same room with him?

"That's not true!" Nort retorted from the other side of the room, "You're not useless!"

... What? Drobot gently lifted his head from the ground and blinked back tears. They were... Encouraging him, not scorning him or denouncing his very existence? At least, he thought they were—without his tone analyzer he was not entirely certain.

"You made that suit yourself, right?"

"Yes, every last feature." Drobot made a faint nod before he looked back down.

"I can't imagine making a suit of armor with lasers and shields and fancy map-making and all those features, but you did all that and made it sound like it was kid's stuff!" Nort's eyes sparkled against the faint light.

"Yeah!" Cried the grizzled-voiced mabu in affirmation as his eyes faintly lit up from the screens' faint light, "You're Drobot, right? The Skylander with an IQ of two hundred and fifty?"

"Er, yes…" Drobot made a strangled gasp and looked away, "How did you know?"

"We're all big fans of you Skylanders and your work!" The grizzled-voiced mabu nodded, as did Nort and the other mabu beside him, then he shook his head, "But that's beside the point here."

"Only someone who's super smart could do all that, and a suit of armor doesn't give you smarts! That's something you gotta work for!" The grizzled-voiced mabu beamed and pounded a fist against his paw. "You don't need that suit to be strong, 'cause your real strength is how smart you are! With your brain, I'm sure you get through anything—even this!"

"You're more than just a suit of armor!" The higher-voiced mabu spoke up, "You're a Skylander, and Skylanders never give up, right? So don't give up on yourself now!"

As he heard this, Drobot simply pursed his mouth and basked in silent contemplation. That was right… Everything he did to make that armor and all its different features, everything he had done to succeed as a Skylander, all those things he considered his greatest victories… There was no way he would have achieved that without his own intelligence and hard work. Perhaps he did stock too much of his value in that suit…

Drobot made a soft chuckle at last, then lifted his head and smiled.

"Thank you," Drobot whispered, his voice still a bit strained from his flash of panic earlier, "And, I apologize for making you see all that."

Drobot then shook his head and tapped his claws against the floor. "Nonetheless, we need to figure out how we can get out of this room. But how…"

Drobot peered passed the gaps in the bars as he tries to make some sense of where he was now. There were lasers everywhere, paired with dim computer screens that brought to light rows of computer panels and metallic floors and walls, and he was sure he saw a mirror or two that reflected faint light from the ceiling… That was it!

"Do any of you have something reflective?"

The mabu with the higher voice raised a paw.

"Yes, er…" Drobot gently nudged his tailfin towards the mabu.

"Blobbers," Blobbers replied as he pulled a flashlight from his pocket, "And I've got this!"

In one quick moment, Blobbers popped the glass out from his flashlight and tossed it over to Drobot, who caught it and looked back up at the Mabu Defense Force.

"Now, I'll need something to hold this out on. Do any of you…" Drobot winced and drew his head back as a fishing pole at least ten feet in length stuck out in front of him.

"I wouldn't be called Captain Rizzo if I didn't come prepared for anything!" The gruff-voiced mabu said as he rubbed a fist against his chest, "Ten-foot long fishing pole, the multi-task tool for all your lengthy needs!"

Drobot nodded, then drew a small hole in the flashlight glass with his claw and popped the hole out.

"While this is somewhat crude in quality," Drobot remarked as he hooked the flashlight glass onto the fishing pole's hook and grabbed the pole itself with both front paws, "It should get the job done."

Drobot winced as he pushed the pole through the gaps in the cage's bars, then edged the mirror closer and closer to a nearby laser. If his calculations were correct, if he inched it a bit further and held this mirror steady it should hit the right angle…

Finally, one of the lasers made contact with the mirror and created a chain reaction! The laser bounced off a mirror on the ceiling, then another mirror down below, onto a computer screen to the right… Soon enough, it had transformed into a complex laser puzzle that ended as it latched on the lock! And as the laser stayed steady on the lock, the familiar hiss of melting metal echoed through the room, followed by a clunk as the lock's few intact remains clattered against the floor!

Drobot smiled as he removed the mirror and allotted the lasers to return to their original position, then nudged the cage door enough for it to fling open.

"Brilliant, Skylander!" Rizzo praised as he clapped his paws, only to frown as Drobot shook his head.

"Now is no time for praise! We need to save Drill Sergeant!" Drobot corrected as he beckoned with his paw, "Follow me!"

So, all four of them fell to their bellies as they crawled under the lasers above, then slipped out and tried to push the door at the very end of the lasers open… But it was completely locked! Drobot winced as he searched for some kind of way to open it—lock and key, keypad for passwords, anything! So, he patted down the walls around…

"There's no time for this!" Rizzo shouted as he grabbed something from his pocket and pressed its button, "Looks like we'll just have to do things how we do on Shattered Island!"

Drobot jolted as a loud clunk sounded off behind him, then he turned around to see Nort, Rizzo and Blobbers all heave a gigantic battering ram off the ground.

"You might wanna step back, Skylander!"

Drobot nodded and ran aside, then cringed as they slammed the battering ram against the door and created an obnoxiously loud creaking noise in the process!

But, at the very least, it did knock the door down, so once Rizzo folded the battering ram up they all bolted down the halls.

Do not worry, Drill Sergeant, Drobot thought, as if his mind could somehow convey his words to wherever Drill Sergeant was kept now, We are on our way!

§

The pound of footsteps mingled with the ongoing storms and the ongoing radar beeps as everyone dashed back into the island's heart. That dot grew closer and closer… Surely, they weren't far from finding the one behind all of this nonsense!

"Up there!" Stealth Elf exclaimed as she pointed towards the skies.

While everybody came to a screeching halt, Chihiro looked up and squinted.

There, atop the highest peak of the portal building and barely discernible from the churning clouds, was that same shining, sparkling orb of purple magic! But, it had grown much larger till it was a sun's size, crackled out electricity and roared like thunder. Yeah, that had to be the monster they were looking for!

"Looks like we've found 'em!" Chihiro proclaimed as she stowed the radar away, "That's one thing taken care of!"—Chihiro held a fist to the storms—"NOW CHARGE!"

And charge is what they did! They all screamed as they stampeded straight at the portal building's door, more than ready to crash through if they needed to… Then promptly bounced back off of something unseen! As they all groaned and pulled themselves up, low growls resonated throughout the area. What had just stopped them, could it be? They looked up and unfortunately for them, it indeed was what they thought it was—tough-looking monsters stationed outside the door as bouncers!

"Let us in!" Chihiro exclaimed as she balled her hand in a fist, "This is our building, not yours!"

Chihiro slugged a punch at one monster's chest, but instead of hurting it, well…

"YEOWCH!" Chihiro exclaimed as she stumbled back and rubbed her sore, red hand, "These guys are rock solid!"

"But thankfully for you," Bash remarked as he and Terrafin stepped away from the crowds, "So are we! We're as tough as rocks, right Fin?"

"Save the puns for when we actually win, Bash," Terrafin replied as he cracked his knuckles and made a smirk towards Bash.

Terrafin and Bash both jumped forward, then Terrafin bodyslammed into one of the monsters and sent it reeling! This definitely got the attention of the other one, who growled and shot itself towards Terrafin while he stood up… Only to get shot into the side of the portal building as Bash tackled into it!

"Hugo isn't gonna like that…" Chihiro winced as she examined the monster-sized dent left in the building's side.

Bash tossed the first monster aside with a slap of his tail, then watched as the second monster joined it thanks to a bodyslam from Terrafin! But, those monsters didn't wanna give up, judging by the way they jumped to their feet, and Bash seemingly knew this.

The monsters charged forward and slammed into Terrafin… Or at least tried. But before they could land a hit, they bumped into each other and tottered around the portal building's front lawn instead!

"We'll finish off these guys!" Bash exclaimed as he glared down the monsters and pounded his tail against the ground.

"You just go ahead!" Terrafin said as he jumped out of the ground, "We'll meet you later!"

The others paused for a bit, seemingly hesitant, but nonetheless they bolted into the building's vacant door, locked it tight and barricaded it off with some hefty planks and barrels… Just in case. Even though it was so heavily blocked off, though, the sounds of Terrafin and Bash struggling to fight against them!

"Bash, behind you!" Terrafin shouted, his voice a bit muffled from the door's blockage, "Wait, hey, get back!"

Bash's rough, gravelly screams sounded off in full volume as he seemingly smacked into Terrafin, followed by a loud CRASH and THUNK and BANG!

Chihiro winced and reached out her hand, about ready to just tear everything down and run back out to help them, but before she could linger on it longer someone grabbed her hand and dragged her away as they all bolted up the stairs! Thankfully the stairs were completely vacant of monsters, so it was just them as they flew and ran up the spiraling staircases…

"If the rest of this place is as clean as this is, stopping this thing'll be a snap!" Chihiro proclaimed as she ran upstairs, only to look aside and wince as she caught sight of the barricaded front door once more, "Hopefully…"

Just then, Chihiro lost her balance and fell on her face as everyone around her stopped and froze! What had stopped everyone so suddenly?

Chihiro frowned and looked around in time with everyone else. All around them, hissing sounds echoed about at dangerously close proximity—had the monsters busted up some pipes? A peek above them all showed that bright, red eyes like flaming comets peered down from the ceiling, almost like…

"Bats? Since when did the portal building have bats?" Chihiro asked, then she took a peek above and cringed, "Wait a second…"—Chihiro froze as those eyes grew narrow and glowering—"I don't think those are bats!"

Those "bats" that hung from the ceiling let out a collective screech, then swooped down and revealed that they weren't bats, but monsters! They all swarmed down at such intense speeds, everybody else lost their footing from the shock and went tumbling down the stairs!

Their collective shouts echoed through the room as they rolled down the massive stone stairs, then took a particularly nasty leap off of one and got ready to crash into the ground…

Chihiro cried out in shock as the stone floors grew closer in closer, then she shot out her hand and crafted a magical net between the staircase! And she was just in time, too—the net caught them all right before they were supposed to hit the ground!

"Phew, close one! I almost thought I wouldn't make it," Chihiro sighed with relief as the net drew back like a slingshot, "Now, everyone, hold on to your hats! We're in for a wild ride!"

And just like that, the net shot forward and tossed everyone back on the staircase! They all groaned as they slammed face-first into the stone stairs, then looked up and scrambled to their feet as the bat monsters swarmed towards them!

Well, all of them but General Robot, who just turned around and narrowed his eye… Slots? Well, being a robot he didn't really have eyes, but…

"I'll take care'a these pests!" General Robot whirred as gigantic missiles loaded into his shoulders.

Slowly, his conveyor belt feet transformed into fully-functional rockets that flew him back down to where the bat monsters were flying up! His missiles slammed into a few and successfully blew them to bits… But before he could restock, the bats charged right for him!

"UH, ABORT, ABORT! MISSION ABORT, TIME TO RETREAT!" General Robot screamed over the sound of screeching bats as he haphazardly flew above the stairs… Then smacked his head right into the ceiling, lost balance and tumbled down with the bats still hot on his trail.

Everybody else looked down and winced as General Robot hit his head against each and every stair in rapid succession, then cringed as he slammed against the floor with a loud CRASH!

"I'm okay, sir!" General Robot cried from the base of the stairs, only to scream again as the bats flocked around him!

The sounds of screeching bats, screaming robots and firing missiles echoed throughout the stairway at such an intense volume it made the entire tower shake and rattle! But, the Skylanders and Master Eon were hardly bothered by the noise as they ran upstairs!

Chihiro frowned as she looked back at General Robot, almost about to join him, but before she could Stealth Elf grabbed her by the arm and pulled her upstairs.

"Come on, Chihiro!" Stealth Elf whispered as she dragged Chihiro up the stairs, "We're lucky General Robot bought us some time! We can't let it go to waste!"

Chihiro just bit her lip as she looked back down, but finally she freed herself from Stealth Elf's grasp and dashed upstairs… Then lost her footing on the final step and fell face-first into the floor. Chihiro grunted as she crawled across the floor and finally sat up.

"I'm alright, I swear…" Chihiro moaned as she rubbed her sore face.

While the remainder of their team began barricading the door and took a breather, Chihiro paused and looked down at the stairs just before they were completely blocked off. A kind of melancholy came over her as she thought of who they had left—herself, Spyro, Gill Grunt, Master Eon, Stealth Elf, Zook and Sonic Boom. Not a huge loss, but still… Fin, Bash and General Robot were all out there with those monsters…

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Chihiro asked as she clasped her hands together.

"I wouldn't worry too much," Stealth Elf replied as she brushed the dirt from her arms, "The more we worry, the most time it takes to stop this whole mess. We should—"

DING!

Chihiro froze and rapidly blinked as she looked around.

"Wait, was that an elevator?" Chihiro breathed a sigh of relief and slunk down, "Man, talk about good timing. I wasn't sure my legs could walk anymore…"

"But, that elevator never worked when we used it!" Master Eon proclaimed as he flew above Chihiro's head, "We had to abandon it because nothing we did could get it to budge!"

"You sure?" Chihiro winced as she looked back at the elevator that had just slammed down, "Because that elevator looks pretty functional to me!"

The elevator doors hissed open, followed by the familiar sounds of growling and scraping nails as bulky monsters emerged from the elevator, their eyes beady and their breath gravely. They seemed to hesitate for a few moments as they examined Master Eon, Chihiro and the Skylanders…

Which gave the latter team just enough time to attack the former!

Zook immediately went to play his music, his volumes so loud it make the stones that comprised the walls quiver, and Sonic Boom joined in too as she screeched along! This time, though, the monsters weren't frozen in place! Rather, then only growled and launched themselves towards Zook! Zook gasped and went to load his bazooka, but before he could start Sonic Boom made an even louder screech that blew the monsters away!

"What's going on?" Sonic Boom asked as she watched the monsters crash into the walls, "I thought they couldn't handle loud noises!"

"Guess these guys can take the boom!" Zook shouted as he loaded his bazooka and lifted it over his shoulder, "GOOD THING I CAN BRING IT!"

With a click of the trigger, several missiles launched out of Zook's bazooka and exploded into smaller ones that crashed into the ground! The moment they hit the ground, they exploded and splintered into thousands of thorny shrapnel bits that stuck into the monsters' bodies!

While they squealed and tried to pull the shrapnel out, Spyro crashed into the back of one and sent both it and the rest of the monsters tumbling down like dominoes! Spyro smiled as he watched them all crash and groan, then jumped aside as a large anchor smashed into the chest of a monster that stood right behind him… About two minutes ago.

As the monster's artifact heart shattered and took the rest of the body with it, Spyro grinned and gave a toes up to Gill Grunt!

"Thanks Gill!" Spyro shouted, "I owe you one!"

Gill Grunt waved, but as he waved he was completely obliviously to the monster that loomed over him and looked poised to rip his head off…

It was a good thing Spyro wasn't! Before the monster could attack, Spyro spat out a flame as big as the sun and engulfed the monster in a firey death before it could lift a finger higher!

"Guess I don't, now," Spyro chuckled before he ducked out the way of Stealth Elf as she tore through several smaller monster with her daggers. Once he was safely out of the danger zone, he poked his head up and moved his attention towards Chihiro and Master Eon.

The two of them fought just as hard as the Skylanders did, magic blasts and magical weapons ablaze as they knocked down the waves of monsters that closed the two of them tight within a monstrous circle.

"Master Eon, just how many of those replicas did you have anyways?!" Chihiro asked as she dodged a blow from one monster, then magicked up a boxing glove and punched it aside.

"Unfortunately, a lot!" Master Eon shouted back as he dodged the grasp of the monster swarm that was currently grappling for him.

And worse yet, those monsters they were able to knock down were quickly replaced by even more as the elevator continued to run! It was like the upper levels held a near-infinite, unseen supply!

"There's too many of them! We'll never make it at this rate!" Spyro shouted as he flew up to Master Eon and Chihiro and examined them, "Unless…"

Spyro blocked off a monster as it tried to flame Master Eon, then turned to Master Eon. With the two of them safe for the time being they whispered something inaudible to all but themselves, their conversation only inferred by the gestures and nods they made.

Chihiro dodged out of a gorilla monster's way, then turned back to Spyro and Master Eon and frowned.

"What are they talking about?…" Chihiro whispered. She tilted her head as she watched Spyro take to the air, then yelped as he flew over to her and grabbed her hand!

"Chi, we need to get out of here!" Spyro proclaimed as he dragged her out of the fray.

"But why?" Chihiro asked as she ducked underneath a fireball's flight path.

"There's been a change of plans! We're gonna have to take the main one ourselves, while everybody else keeps the rest busy!"

Chihiro made a sharp gasp, then looked away and clenched her teeth.

"But why me? I couldn't even stop the first one with my own power!" Chihiro winced as she tried to tug away from Spyro's grasp, "How can I do it now?"

"Cause this time." Spyro placed a paw over Chihiro's hand and gave her a gentle smile, "I'll be right here."

Chihiro pursed her lips, then finally made a reluctant smile of her own. Just being around him, with how confident he looked did ease her worries a bit… Maybe they could do this! Chihiro stood speechless, then squeezed Spyro's hand tighter while her own flared with bright blue magic. That blue glow became a halo around the two of them as they bolted towards the elevator as such fast speeds that the entire world seemed to slow!

The elevator door opened with another friendly ding and sent out another swarm of monsters, but thankfully Spyro and Chihiro escaped the monsters' attention as the two of them dove away from the crowds and rolled into the elevator!

As they stood up and shook their heads, the elevator door drew to a close and the elevator flew back upstairs…

/LOG DATE ?.?.?, TIME ?.?.?/

"Everyone!" Drobot exclaimed as he ran through the hallways with Rizzo, Nort and Blobbers close behind, "Check every door you can! Drill Sergeant has to be here somewhere!"

Drobot winced and clenched his teeth. "We just have to find out where…"

Drobot's eyes glazed over a nearby door, then with a grunt he flung it open… Only to frantically close it as some kind of horribly mutated monster leaped out from its crevices!

"He's definitely not in there…"

"He's not in here, either!" Nort proclaimed as he opened a door, completely oblivious to the mop that was poised to fall on his head, "Only a bunch of cleaning—"—Nort winced as the mop handle did, indeed, fall on his head—"Owch!"

"Not in this one!" Blobbers shouted as he heaved up an elaborate-looking gun, "But I did find this cool gun!"

"ENOUGH OF THAT, ALL OF YOU!" Rizzo exclaimed as he slammed a door open and rushed out, "I FOUND SOMETHING!"

Rizzo ushered everyone into the room, then slammed the door shut as they made their entry.

The inside was some kind of control room, complete with screens that gave one a peek into every conceivable room this strange laboratory held. But, most of them were of no interest to Drobot save for the one in the center! The center screen depicted some kind of workshop with messily-strewn tools and half-complete mechanical contraptions. Its lighting was a faint orangish-red color that added a sort of ominous, blood-chilling feeling to the sight in the middle section, which was none other than…

"Er, somebody, please bring me your aid!" Drill Sergeant whirred as he failed to struggle out of the operating table-esque workbench he had been strapped to, "How would I say this in simple terms?…"

Drill Sergeant whirred faster as a thick, red laser shot down from the ceiling and began burning through the workbench! Though his struggling was greater, it did little to free him from the thick belts that kept him strapped to the table.

"SIMPLE TERM FOUND! HELPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"

Drobot let out a gasp, then launched himself towards the massive control panel that all the screens were attached to. It had so many buttons and bells and whistles, but the keyboard that was attached to it was simple enough to operate. His front paws fixed on the keyboard, Drobot typed away at the keys with all the precision his frantic mind would give him.

All around, the area was dipped in a bright red glare while the wail of sirens echoed throughout the room!

"WARNING, WARNING, UNEXPECTED ERROR!" Blared a mechanical voice from far above, "AN UNEXPECTED INTRUSION HAS CAUSED A TOTAL SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN OPERATING ROOM 101611. I REPEAT, ALL SYSTEMS IN OPERATING ROOM 101611 ARE SHUTTING DOWN!"

"Well, thank you for the help?" Drill Sergeant beeped before all the monitor's screens completely shut off.

However, those screens were on the back of everyone's minds as they piled out of the control room!

"That should give us enough time to find him," Drobot said as he turned back to the Mabu Defense Force, "I corrupted a good percentage of the important files for the central room's operation processes! It will take approximately five minutes, fifty-five seconds and three hundred fourteen milliseconds before—"

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

"The systems come back online." Drobot winced and looked aside. "But unfortunately, it seems this room's systems are still perfectly operational."

As the sirens blared the loudest alarms they could, the hallway panels opened and robots piled in by the tens! And if that wasn't bad enough, these robots were all armed with guns and cannons and all other sorts of weaponry—they'd be a pain to get through normally, but… It was a good thing Drobot had his armor!

"I'll take care of these hunks of junk!" Drobot proclaimed as he stood tall… Then stopped and froze as nothing happened.

"Wait, why is nothing working?" Drobot ducked under a laser blast, then looked down at his noticeably armorless back and winced, "That's right, that quack took my armor! And without it, I'm completely helpless!"

Drobot clenched his jaw tight as he got back to his paws, now fully prepared to run from the monster that had him cornered…

But before he could, a gigantic fire blast blew the robot to bits! And from the smoke and wreckage came Rizzo, who was stocked to the brims with troll weaponry!

"MABU DEFENSE FORCE!" Rizzo called as he tossed weapons to Blobbers and Nort, "TO ARMS!"

Now armed and dangerous, Blobbers and Nort immediately raised the rocket launchers Rizzo had given them and fired a whole round of rockets straight through the endless lines of guard robots! The robots exploded in a row, while their metal bits shot in every direction and dug into the walls!

But, they were hardly done! Blobbers clicked the trigger a few times more and sent a trio of missiles that immediately cut through a series of lasers shot off by one of the enemy robots! The robot could only whirr in shock and try to run the missiles away... But the missiles were much faster than it was, and before it could even look back it had been blown to bits!

Nort, meanwhile, teetered around as he tried to balance the weight of his own rocket launcher, but finally managed to take full control as he sat it on his shoulder... And right in time, too, because several of the robots had trapped him in a circle!

"TAKE THIS, YOU GIANT SCRAP HEAP!" Nort screamed as he fired the gun and sent missiles tearing through the robots, then he ran through the open path and yelled all sorts of war cries as he fired off more and more missiles by the second!

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! The sound of explosions lined the room and made it rattle as Rizzo, Nort and Blobbers tore through the robots, but unfortunately their work was far from done! Even more robots piled in from the open panels of the walls around in an never-ending stream, and each one was just as strong as the last! Even with their weaponry, the three of them could barely hold those robots down!

If only Drobot still had his armor—surely with its calculative ability, he could have mapped out a plan to quell the flow of robot soldiers. But without it, he did not have nearly enough strength or analytical power to pull it off, so he only stayed hidden behind the fried corpse of a robot soldier. Drobot's eyes widened as the bright colors and explosions warmed the room around into an active, burning volcano of anticipation, then he stumbled back as Rizzo shoved an elaborate laser blaster in his front legs!

"What're you standing around for?" Rizzo asked as he turned around and looked at Drobot for moments, then whipped his head back around and went back to shooting, "We've got robots to blow up!"

Drobot made a hasty nod, then held the gun to the best of his ability—these guns were clearly made with bipedal beings in mind as opposed to quadrupedal ones, and the weight was great enough that holding it made his entire body try to tip over… But it was the best he had to work with, so he had to make do. Drobot lifted the gun over his shoulders and glared down the robots, then pulled the trigger and watched as his lasers ripped through the guard robots! Their hole-filled torsos ricocheted backwards as their bottom halves exploded…

And immediately clogged up the panels the robots were coming from! The sound of panicked whirrs and grinding metal rattled and shook the panels in an oddly conspicuous manner, but at the very least it had prevented the hall from producing more guards!

So, with the panels clogged and the remaining guards destroyed or seemingly missing, Rizzo, Blobbers, Nort and Drobot all raced down the hallways! Their footsteps reverberated around the metal halls while sweat poured down their bodies not from the explosion-generated heat that warmed the entire hall, but rather from the tension ahead.

After all, not only was Drill Sergeant in danger, but they were running through the halls of a mad scientist's laboratory that surely had all sorts of tricks and traps awaiting them! The red lighting poured through the halls and the sirens blared to try and instill fear in them all… Except now, something that sounded vaguely like hissing steam mingled with the sirens? What was that noise, and where was it coming from?

Drobot stopped in his tracks and looked around, then…

"Captain, look!" Blobbers exclaimed as he pointed to the halls ahead, "The walls, they're closing in!"

They all looked ahead and sure enough, Blobbers was right! The hallway were getting shut off as gigantic metal doors crept out from the wall panels at a snail's pace, one by one by one…

"We're gonna be trapped!" Nort exclaimed as he bit his nails.

Though the three of them seemed worried, Drobot only glared and gazed around the room. From just across where they stood now, a confused-seeming robot that somehow managed to avoid their slaughter swerved every which way as if it had completely lost its sense of direction…

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Drobot exclaimed as he made a running start, then jumped and latched onto the confused robot!

With a quick slash from his claws, Drobot formed a hole in its control panel, then yanked out the wires and tied them together in a haphazard knot, all while the robot made shrill, ear-bleeding beeps and whirrs. While his usual work would've been cleaner, right now they did not need aesthetics—they needed speed!

"Hop on, quick!" Drobot ordered as he turned back to Rizzo, Blobbers and Nort.

The three of them were quick to obey as they jumped onto the robot and held on tight… Then they all screamed as Drobot sent the robot zooming down the halls at light-like speeds with a simple nudge!

And not only had the robot obtained impressive momentum despite its shortcomings, but it completely stormed over any obstacles in its path! Saws that emerged from the ground, laser blasters from the walls, even the closed walls panels were simply smashed to bits from the sheer speed at which the robot crashed through the halls!

Unfortunately, that sheer speed also meant that Drobot, Rizzo, Blobbers and Nort had to hang on for their dear lives! Gums flapped in the wind and terrified screams shattered glass as all four of them dug their claws and fingers into whatever parts of the robot they could.

And all the while, that robot zipped through the halls… Then slowed down for a moment as it examined an oncoming intersection, only to speed up as it aimed right for the solid wall in the middle, at such a speed that it would turn anyone riding it into paste if they made crash contact!

"Skylander, turn this thing around!" Rizzo ordered with wide eyes as the wall came in faster and faster.

"I am trying!" Drobot shouted back as he pulled the wires around every which way, "It is going at such a high velocity that it is making it hard to steer!"

"Give me that, then!" Rizzo shouted as he pushed past Drobot and grabbed the wire knot, then snapped it like the reins of a primitive buggy, "GIDDY UP!"

Rizzo pulled the robot's reins left, and the robot made a shrill set of beeps as it turned that way!

Everybody breathed a sigh of relief as they dashed down the leftmost hallway, but that relief was short-lived—for they had drove themselves straight into another intersection!

"CAPTAIN RIZZO!" Nort and Blobbers shouted as the intersection's midway came in rapidly, "QUICK, TURN THIS THING AROUND!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME TWICE!" Rizzo shouted back as he pulled the robot's reins right, then left again and moved them center as they headed down a three-way intersection... Despite the intense speed, his driving and control made the entire trip almost somewhat relaxing!

"You're a natural at this, captain!" Nort exclaimed as he poked his head above one of the robot's shoulders, "Have you done this before?"

"Well..." Rizzo chuckled and looked aside, "I really wanted to be a cowboy, but there were no ranches around here so I had to settle for being a florist—"

Rizzo gasped and leaned back as the robot's wired reins started sparking, and nearly fell off the robot itself if not for the fact that his legs had latched around its side tight!

The robot made another set of shrill beeps as it turned left, then right, then left again, straight up, straight down… It was moving so fast, none of them could even process the many halls they had passed!

And with no way to give command now that the reins were broken, all Drobot, Nort, Rizzo and Blobbers could do was scream and hang on tight!

Before they knew it, they had arrived at a dead end with a gigantic glass panel—wait, that wasn't a dead end!

On the other side of the glass reflected a room filled with all sorts of mechanical oddities, and at the center of all that was Drill Sergeant, still strapped to the operating table as a laser came just inches away from searing him in half! This was the room Drobot had found, this was what they were looking for!

"Drill Sergeant, we're coming!" Drobot shouted as he took back the reins and just barely resisted the sparking electricity, then turned to Blobbers, Nort and Rizzo, "Hold tight, everyone! We are going to have to jump!"

"WHAT?!" Rizzo, Blobbers and Nort all screamed in unison, but they received no answer to their question!

Right after they had asked, Drobot smashed the robot through the glass paneling! Glass shards went everywhere as Drobot crashed the robot right into the laser machine and completely decimated the laser machine in the process! With their ride gone, all four of them crashed right onto Drill Sergeant's table with a loud crunch! Despite their crash landing, they quickly bounced back as they jumped off the table and removed the straps that kept Drill Sergeant bound tight.

"Drill Sergeant, are you alright?" Drobot asked as he helped Drill Sergeant off of the robotic operating table.

"Affirmative!" Drill Sergeant beeped as he rolled down, "Not a single scratch!"

"Thank goodness!" Drobot breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around and…

Wait, hold on a second! Wasn't that… Yes, indeed, none other than his own set of armor, hung from a rudimentary glass case!

Drobot smiled and dashed over to the cash, then smashed it open and put his armor back on. After a few clicks he started up his suit, flicked a switch and watched with bated breath as his suit ran through its boot-up operations…

"All system operational." Drobot exhaled in relief as he held a paw over his heart, "Thank goodness."

While Drobot ran a few more scans, just to make sure everything really was perfectly intact, Drill Sergeant happily chatted it up with Nort, Blobbers and Rizzo. Despite the ominous red lighting that still lingered over the area, everyone around seemed so happy and at peace…

Until the door beside them opened out of nowhere!

"Stupid faulty alarm system!" The troll scientist muttered as he stormed through the open door, his eyes trained on the floors, "I really need to repair it one of these…"—The scientist looked up and gulped as he caught sight of Drobot, Drill Sergeant and the Mabu Defense Force—"Days."

All five of them were quick to bear their weapons, but Drobot was fastest of them all! With no time wasted he flew in front of the scientist and shoved his face in the scientist's own, his mouth drawn into a ferocious scowl that bore all of his incredibly sharp teeth.

The scientist made a few awkward chuckles as he watched everybody turn their weapons on him. "This is probably the part where I start begging for mercy."

"Affirmative," Drobot replied as his helmet's eye slots glowed a dangerously bright red.

So, as everybody pressed their weapons dangerously close to the scientist, the scientist himself fell to his knees and sobbed.

"Please spare me, Skylander!" The scientist begged as he shook his clasped hands, "I only acted in the pursuits of science!"

"YOU NEARLY TURNED ME INTO SCRAP METAL, BEEP BOOP!" Drill Sergeant shrieked as his drill hands spun even further with rage, "I WOULD HARDLY CALL THAT A PURSUIT OF SCIENCE, BEEP BOOP BEEP!"

"Drill Sergeant is right—that is no excuse!" Drobot hissed, "Scientific research should not come at the expense of others' lives!"—Drobot then made a small smirk and stepped back just a bit—"However, there is one thing you can do to make up for it."

"And that is?" The scientist looked up and frowned.

"Hand over the Glowing Green Goo of Primordia, immediately."

The scientist just looked aside and whimpered. "But, I still had so many experiments I wanted to…"

Everybody charged their weapons and shoved them in the scientist's space once more!

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I'LL GIVE YOU THE GOO!"

The scientist shuddered as he ran over to the control panel and played with a couple of switches. With a few button presses more, the red light that colored the area surrounding slowly shaded itself into a much more calming shade of bluish-green.

"Releasing the goo… Releasing the goo…" Droned a mechanical voice over a loudspeaker.

The scientist grumbled something under his breath, then pressed a button and watched as a gigantic vacuum popped out of the ceiling!

"Now, good riddance!" The scientist exclaimed as the vacuum whirred to life!

Before anyone could say anything else, the vacuum vacuumed up Drobot, Drill Sergeant and the Mabu Defense Force, then sent them tumbling through a labyrinth of tubes before it finally spat them back on the surface!

They all fell face first and grunted, but as they sat up and gathered their bearings they could not help but smile—because they had been dropped right in front of the goo factory's gate!

"Alright, everyone!" Rizzo exclaimed as he jumped back to his feet, "Time to get to work!

"Understood, captain!" Nort and Blobbers shouted back as they saluted Rizzo.

Rizzo smirked and dusted himself off, then turned back to the factory that loomed over them all.

"Now, we need a mega bomb to blow up the defense wall guarding the way to the goo factories!" Rizzo pointed towards the impressive wall that blocked the factory off from its wartorn front yard, "If you could find one, we could blast the hellfire out of this thing!"

"Huh, actually I could've sworn I found one when I was looking for you, Captain!" Blobbers said before he ushered everyone along, "Come on, I'll show you!"

So, everybody else followed Blobbers a few hops up a platform, then a quick walk down before they halted in time with Blobbers.

"This should be the place," Blobbers said as he rubbed his chin and looked down at his feet while walking. As a shadow cast over them all, he looked up and gulped. "Yeah, this is definitely the place."

Blobbers had lead them to the mega bomb, alright—and true to its name, it was huge!

The bomb itself was a sleek black like any other bomb, though it had a large, white spiky star design outlined in crimson painted on its front, and yet it could hardly be compared given that it was about the size of a house! And surely, its firepower was just as impressive. After all, an analysis on Drobot's end showed that it was filled with about fifty times the gunpowder a regular bomb held!

The entire bomb was strong enough to blow them all to bits, and was only held back by some flimsy barbed wire fencing, yet it was too heavy to roll down and crush them all on its own… A simultaneously reassuring and frightening sight.

"Looks like we'll need a lot of horsepower to move that thing," Rizzo winced as he stepped out of the mega bomb's path.

"Horsepower is my specialty, sir," Drill Sergeant whirred as he revved up his engines, "If you'll allow me…"

Drill Sergeant tore through the wire fencing with a simple fire of his rocket hands, then once the hands returned and clicked back into their proper place Drill Sergeant drove behind the bomb.

"You may want to step away, sirs!"

Everybody else scattered well out of the mega bomb's path as Drill Sergeant slammed into it with a THUNK that echoed across the battlefield. The ground around sifted and shuddered as the bomb creaked a few inches downward, just enough for the fuse to be visible!

Drobot lifted his head, then flew up and blasted the fuse with an incredibly hot (About one hundred degrees, to be precise) laser that immediately lit the fuse! The fuse crackled with fire as the bomb lurched a few inches down a tall incline… Then rolled all the way down the incline's slope at incredible speeds!

"Wait, I demand you return here!" Drill Sergeant ordered as he charged after the bomb, his voice altered to be loud enough to alert everyone else.

Everybody else jumped from their spots and joined Drill Sergeant in the chase, but even with their combined forces they could not compete with the bomb! It was going far too fast for them to chase on foot! Wait, if going on foot was the issue…

Drobot leaped into the skies, then started his thrusters and became a streaking comet that hovered just inches away from the bomb. But, it was not an easy task, especially while the meteor-sized embers it sent from its fused rained down and tried to knock him out of the skies! Drobot swerved left as one tried to mow him down, then barrel-rolled out of another pair's path, and finally he caught up with the bomb in time to see the bomb leap off of a cliff!

From that jump it gained altitude so high it blocked out what little sun could be mustered from the smoke that covered the skies… Then finally, it slammed straight into the factory's front gate!

A gigantic explosion blocked the entire area off with thick, choking black smoke, then when the smoke lifted moments later the barrier and the rest of the area surrounding was gone! All that was left was a gigantic crater where it once stood and wrecked bits that rained down from the skies. Thankfully, however the goo factory had been saved by a conveniently-timed shield that soon vanished!

Drobot landed back down on the ledge as he analyzed the factory, only to get nearly pushed off by Rizzo as Rizzo shoved himself forward!

"MABU DEFENSE FORCE!" Rizzo shouted to the heavens as he pointed a finger towards the factory, "INITIATE OPERATION GET THAT GOO!"

"On it, captain!" Nort and Blobbers shouted in unison as they rushed forward and slid down the ridge with Rizzo close behind.

Once all three of them had landed at the bottom, they all ran forward and disappeared into the horizon. For about an hour and a half, nothing seemed to have happened—Drobot even checked the time to be sure. Just what was it they were doing?

Drobot frowned and went to start up a game of virtual chess with himself, but before he could begin a bright green glow shone across the way! Drobot filtered his visual sensors just so that the light was less blinding and directed himself towards the light's source—the goo factory! All of its many pipes were filled to the brims with bright green goo that surely caused this glow, then the goo drained down the pipes with a sound akin to that of draining a sink at maximum echo.

Drobot and Drill Sergeant flew and drove to the factory, but when they arrived the work had already been done! Rizzo, Nort and Blobbers had their paws full as they drained the goo into vats and had piled it onto some kind of crude rocket.

"Hey, Skylander, you finally made it!" Rizzo chirped as he turned around and waved at Drobot, but only for a moment before he became serious again.

"Now we have the goo, but the trolls are sure to retaliate." Rizzo pressed a flask of glowing green goo in Drobot's front paws, "We'd better get this back to your home base ASAP!"

With a whistle from Rizzo, another gigantic rocket ship cascaded down and opened the way for all to enter! But as Rizzo, Nort and Blobbers piled in, Drobot only held the goo flask tighter and smiled towards Drill Sergeant.

"If I had to make an assumption here…" Drobot remarked with a twitch of his wings, "I would say this was another job well done!"

"Affirmative, sir!" Drill Sergeant replied with a whir of his laser blaster.

§

As the elevator lurched up, Chihiro bit her lip and sat down on its cold, cold, hard floors. The dust around it had been upset by the constant monsters trip and made her want to sneeze, or maybe that was just her nerves as it made her whole body tingle and tremble with fear.

"What do you think's waiting for us, Gold?" Chihiro asked as she inched her hand forward and nudged Spyro's paw.

Spyro kept his eyes trained on the elevator doors, but the moment he felt Chihiro's touch he frowned and looked back down at her. There was a hint of worry in his golden eyes, but yet he still found it in him to smile back down at her—that was just like him, staying so cool and confident in a situation like this.

"Lots of those monsters, probably," Spyro replied as the elevator slowed down, "If we wanna get through there, we'll probably need an invisibility spell."

"On it!" Chihiro squeezed Spyro's paw tighter and nodded, then let go as their bodies vanished from view just in time for the elevator doors to open.

One quick glance outside showed that Spyro's guess was right—tons of monsters loitered around the halls and toyed with the various decorations that had been set up! One yelped in surpirse as it knocked over a flower vase and shattered it, others made conversation grunts only to fall through monster-sized holes in the walls, and some just paced back and forth like guards… Just the sight made Chihiro's skin crawl!

But, that was exactly why they had to get going—they couldn't risk getting sighted once their spell let up! So, Chihiro and Spyro panted as quietly as they could as they dashed and flew down the halls, their bodies aching but not ready to give up quite yet. After all, everybody else was fighting so hard so they could make it here—they couldn't give in now!

However, Spyro seemed far less concerned about this than Chihiro was. Despite all the monsters that prowled around, his body never left the center of the halls, unlike Chihiro's which turned around and tugged him from sight to sight, monster to monster, door to door. And for that matter, his paw was still warm and strong and completely unlike how cold and clammy her hand had gotten.

After all, they were surrounded by all these monsters that would rip them to shreds if one thing went wrong! Thankfully the invisibility spell shielded them from view, but how long would it last? Would it stay strong enough for them to escape?

Everything became a blur in Chihiro's mind as she raced down the open hallways, but thankfully with every hall they passed the monsters became more and more sparse. Soon enough, they had finally arrived in one that only had about three—enough that they could feasibly take on if a fight happened! With their safety practically guaranteed for the time being, they both stopped and caught their breath.

Chihiro took another look at Spyro's face, but she saw nothing under the cover of their invisibility spell—she didn't know why, given that she knew she cast a spell. Maybe she just wanted to see that look in his eyes, the only that promised her that everything would be alright despite how awful things were right now… Wait, now she could!

But, it wasn't a look of confidence. It seemed more like… Concern, going off the way his brows were clenched tight as his eyes turned to her and those brows grew tighter.

Wait, if she could see him… Oh no, surely the spell was starting to wear off! She could already see the few monsters around grunt in confusion and turn to them! Before she even knew it she went to scream…

Then Spyro pulled her aside into the monsterless, cold, and safe confines of one of the corner storage room. Chihiro finally let out a scream of shock, but the moment her eyes locked on Spyro's her lips pursed and she drew him into a loose hug, all while she heaved heavy breaths.

"Chihiro," Spyro whispered as he lifted his head, "Are you alright?"

Chihiro, however, just hugged him tighter then let go and made a weak smile.

"I am now," Chihiro whispered back.

"You ready?"

As Spyro squeezed her hand tight, Chihiro made a tiny shrug and looked aside.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

Spyro bit his lip and nodded, then Chihiro squeezed his paw tighter and yanked them both out of the storage room… Only for her to scream and jump back inside! Spyro winced as he hit the walls, then watched as Chihiro slammed the door shut in panic. While she pressed her back against the door in some meager attempt to keep it shut, he only shook his head and jumped back to his paws.

"Chihiro, what was that for?!" Spyro asked.

Chihiro winced, then shushed him and opened the door just wide enough for them to get a peek outside without being spotted. She ushered Spyro close to her side, then pointed to the cracked door…

To show that outside, a guard monster was sweeping the halls! It seemed gargantuan and the many spikes that ripped out from its body only served to amplify its intimidating aura. Perfect for a guard monster, to be honest. The monster growled and sniffled the air for a few moments, then made a hulking sigh as it paced back the other way…

With a nod, Spyro and Chihiro locked hand and paw once more, then caught one last glimpse of each other before they both turned invisible again and crept out of the storage room. Their eyes glazed over the monster that still had its back turned to them, right before Spyro charged forward and knocked it straight down!

The monster growled in alarm as it pulled itself back up and looked around, then its growls of alarm turned to cries of pain as Chihiro slammed a door right in its face!

The monster fell unconscious on the way back down to the floor, just in time for Spyro and Chihiro to become visible once again. Spyro immediately summoned a thick rope made of magic, then wrapped it around the monster and tied it up tight.

"Okay, that's taken care of," Spyro proclaimed as he wiped his paws and looked towards the door down the way.

This door, it glowed a bright lavender color and radiated a magic energy so intense it made Chihiro shudder. That had to be…

"That should be the door to the outer balcony, and our target," Spyro said as if he read Chihiro's mind in that instance, "We'd bet get there before…"

Right as Spyro was talking, the monster's eyes shot open! With a growl, then lurched up and immediately split the ropes Spyro had tied it with in one mighty flex!

"It breaks out!"

The monster lurched towards Chihiro and got ready to swing, but before it could Spyro tackled into its hand! While the monster held its hand in pain, Spyro hissed through clenched teeth and rebounded from the attack, then flew towards the monster and shot a fireball straight at its chest!

"I'll distract it, you go ahead!" Spyro shouted as he turned back to Chihiro.

Chihiro, however, just stuck frozen and winced. That monster did look awfully strong, and even with Spyro's impressive abilities he might not be able to hold it on his lonesome…

But then, the monster slammed its fist into the floor and sent a shockwave hurtling towards Chihiro! The force was so intense it knocked her on her back, only able to watch in frozen horror as the monster loomed over her, ready to strike…

FWOOSH!

Before it could get the chance to attack her, another fireball slammed straight into the monster's head! As the monster turned back to face Spyro, Chihiro dodged under its legs and made a fast break for the open balcony door!

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" Spyro shouted, though his jeers and insults towards the monster grew faint and barely comprehensive by the time Chihiro had bolted through the open door.

Before Chihiro had known it, she was faced with harsh wind and crackling lightning while she stood on the highest balcony the portal building had to offer, all while the storms above raged worse than before.

Really, it was less of a balcony and more like a long, gated patio that circled around the entire tower and had enough space to host at least twenty people, maybe more. And yet… She was the only one there, it seemed, for no monsters or other lifeforms were anywhere to be found!

"Hello? Any monsters here?" Chihiro asked as she perused the balcony to find nobody other than herself still, "Olly olly oxen free?"

"GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!"

Chihiro jumped back from the balcony's railing as a large shadow cast over the balcony itself, one that drew closer and closer by the moment… And before she knew it, the original Guardifound had crashed down before her!

It had grown maybe three or four times its size since she last saw it, with more decorated markings on its shiny purple body to match. And yet, despite all this, that crack on its body was still firm as ever while the bright light of magic leaked from its opening in a waterfall of shimmering lights…

"If I hit that crack, it'll probably be done for!" Chihiro reasoned as her hand flared with magic despite the fact that her body shook with an intense fear still, "Just gotta stay focused!"

Chihiro winced, then thrust her hand forward and shot off a series of magic blasts as she zipped down the balcony, but no matter how far she ran she kept her eyes fixed on that monster. Not just out of necessity for battle, but it was like no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to look away from the monster she had created, a physical representation of all her failures.

With a shake of her head, Chihiro lifted up her hand and shuddered. No, she couldn't let herself get distracted right now—she had to put an end to all this! Out from her palm came a large magic sphere that crashed right into the monster's chest! Chihiro bolted down the balcony as the Guardifound shook off her attack, while more magic spheres shot from her palms like bullets…

And yet, she wasn't doing a thing! No matter how many spheres she shot off, they were little more than annoying flies the Guardifound just shook off. They all smashed against its chest and disappeared into piles of quickly-disappearing cyan sparkles, but the Guardifound seemed no more worse for wear than before. Finally, it growled as it took heavy, labored forward steps that shook the platform beneath them, then it raised one of its meaty claws and shot a magic sphere ten times the size and speed of Chihiro's own right at her!

Chihiro cast up a shield before the sphere could make contact and winced as the sphere bored into her shield. Her hands were pressed tight against the shield's surface, and her entire body flowed with magic as she tried to keep it strong enough to knock the sphere… But even her best wasn't enough! The sphere shattered her shield and slammed into her body!

Her whole body burned with the heat of a thousand suns as she flew right off the balcony from the impact! She was so hot and in so much pain, she could barely bring herself to open her eyes… Until the cool, rushing wind chilled her enough to finally look down and see that—oh no, oh god, the ground was coming in super fast!

So, Chihiro teleported away in a flash and dropped onto a rooftop of a building well across the portal building. She sat against the cold wood of the rooftop and placed a hand over her furiously-beating heart as she caught her breath, but even that didn't last long! The sound of pounding and gigantic shadow over her showed that the Guardifound was coming back! So, she dashed across the rooftop, then jumped to another building's rooftop and ran further.

And while she ran, the Guardifound had leaped on the rooftop she first stood on and growled. It turned around to face her while she turned back around to face it, almost like those showdowns in cowboy movies—if it weren't for how tense she was now, she's say it felt kind of cool.

Chihiro was the first to draw her weapon as she lifted her hands to the skies, then summoned a magical tennis racket and about ten of those shuttlecock minions with the weird googly-eyes. They were still no bigger than the average turtle, but for the situation at hand they'd have to do! So, she grabbed the tennis racket, then served the minions at the Guardifound one by one!

The minions all screeched as they soared in the air, their goofy, googly eyes fixed on the Guardifound… Then they made shrill squeals of pain as the Guardifound slapped them all onto the ground before they could even make contact!

Well, all but one who managed to crashed straight into the cracked part of the Guardifound's chest and made it cry out in pain! The Guardifound growled as it saw the shuttlecock minion fall to the ground, then groaned as it itself fell to its knees and held a hand over its crack… Which was now glowing bright!

Chihiro wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she was pretty sure it was a sign to attack! So, she magicked up a sphere and narrowed her eyes, her cheeks flushed blue from her sphere's light.

"Alright, buddy!" Chihiro shouted over the roaring thunder and raging lightning from above, "You've been a thorn in our side for too long now!"

Chihiro charged the sphere with an extra blast of magic and thrust it forward.

"IT'S TIME YOU GOT PLUCKED!"

Chihiro punched the sphere with a strained yell and in a moment's time it sped straight towards the Guardifound! As it gathered momentum the magic around it turned into a magical flame, transforming it from a magic sphere to a magic comet that screeched as it got ready to blow the Guardifound to bits! Chihiro should've felt confident, but her stomach churned with anxiety so bad that she could only cover her mouth with her hands as her eyes completely fixed on the monster. Would it work?

SMACK!

Unfortunately not! Out of nowhere, a purple and blue-striped blast smashed through her measly comet and nearly grazed her over! She had ducked and covered right in the nick of time, then when she looked over her shoulder she saw a sad-looking version of her one shuttlecock monster, who made a pathetic cough as it disappeared in a puff of magic smoke!

Chihiro felt her whole body try to lock itself up, but before she could freeze entirely the sound of screeching pricked her eyes. She looked up, then gasped and ducked again as the Guardifound sent magic fireballs shooting right above her! The heat pressed against her body and made her shake with sweat, but she had to get up and fight! Actually, no, a look up showed that the magical fire storm was still going strong! Chihiro winced as she kept herself pressed down low—with all these fire blasts, there was no way she could get a good shot in! And worse yet, the Guardifound didn't seem like it was getting tired anytime soon! Is this the end?…

CRASH!

The fire storm halted for a moment as both Chihiro and the Guardifound directed their attention towards the portal building. From above, some kind of brightly-colored smoke poured out from the open door on the portal building's balcony—wait, wasn't Spyro in there dealing with that guard monster?

As the smoke cleared, Chihiro magicked up a pair of binoculars and took a quick peek.

There on the balcony, Spyro had crashed into the railing and practically hacked out a lung as he slid down its metal surface. He clenched his teeth as he peered back up at the guard monster, which towered over him with a flaming hot fireball at the ready!

"SPYRO!" Chihiro called as she dropped her binoculars without even realizing it. She shuddered, then leaped and bounded across the rooftops with a new purpose—she had to get over there and help out Spyro!

Chihiro started heaving rapid, shallow pants as she focused her magic and got ready to teleport. The magic raced through her blood and made her whole body shudder and tingle with power, the same kind of sensation she always felt before teleporting… But before she could take off, something hard and warm slammed right into her back and tossed her across the rooftops! A sharp pain stung Chihiro's head as she slammed headfirst into the hard rooftops, then she turned around and fixed her dizzy eyes on the path behind her.

There, the Guardifound fell to all fours and dashed towards her like a rabid ape, its mouth wide as it charged a magic blast! Oh great, in her surge of worry she had completely forgotten about it!

Chihiro went to ready an attack, but the surprise shock from the attack she took combined with the searing pain completely stopped her—all she could do was summon a few sparkles before she winced and lurched over. Though her vision was growing blurrier and less focused, she could still fix herself on the Guardifound as it raged closer than ever, now fully ready to attack…

But before it could, something purple and gold swooped down in front of her and sent it flying back with a blast of light as bright as the sun itself!

"Sorry for the holdup, Chi! That guard monster was stubborn, but it's toast now," Spyro shouted as he took a scorning look at the Guardifound, "Ready to end this?"

Chihiro made a soft gasp, then her shaky face grew into a glowing smile as she grabbed Spyro's paw and squeezed it tight. Just being around Spyro made her vision clear itself a little, and the light left behind from his attack made him seem more… Radiant, than usual, like a legendary hero or a knight in shining armor!

"Yeah!" Chihiro proclaimed with a nod. The energy flowed back into her body as she forced herself to stand, and her vision cleared enough for her to face the Guardifound once more.

The Guardifound roared as it shot off more magical fireballs, but this time Chihiro was prepared! She immediately tossed up a long-distance shield, then held out her hands focused enough that the blasts couldn't shatter it to bits—all they could do was drill against it! Chihiro smirked for a moment despite her weakened state as the fireballs pounded and sent pulsating waves across the shield, yet still couldn't break it.

That's it, Chihiro thought as she reinforced the shield, Shoot all the fireballs you want, it doesn't matter! Your little temper tantrum's no match for my—

The fireballs hissed like metal hissed when something hot seared through it, then they burned holes through the shield and shattered it!

SHIELD!

Chihiro winced, screwed her eyes shut and ducked down as the fireballs flew over her and burnt out! Or at least, she thought they burnt out based on the crackling sounds she heard behind her. Chihiro popped her eyes open and turned around to check… Only to see another magic fireball headed right towards her! Chihiro jumped up and teleported out right in time to watch it pass her by… Then turn around and barrel right towards her again!

Chihiro winced and teleported left, right, left, but it was no use! No matter where she ran, it immediately turned around and made chase once more! She could only watch as it grew closer and closer…

Then a bright red fireball shot it across and engulfed it completely!

Spyro nodded at Chihiro and flew over the Guardifound's range, then shot off a volley of his own red-hot fireballs with his eyes trained on the Guardifound's crack! The Guardifound looked up, raised its hand and created a magical shield as the fireballs rained down!

The fireballs dove into the shield's magic and bounced back towards Spyro, who was quick to block them with a shield of his own. But, something was wrong still… He was straining and wincing, as if keeping up that shield was practically sapping his life force. Finally, he dropped the shield and crashed back down onto the rooftops!

"Spyro, are you alright?" Chihiro asked as she ran to Spyro's side and helped him back up.

"Don't worry, Chi," Spyro winced as he forced a smile and tried to pull himself back to full height, "I, I'm fine."

But, that was hardly reassuring given that immediately afterwards Spyro limped downwards and shuddered! So, Chihiro immediately threw herself in front of him.

"No you aren't, Spyro!" Chihiro knelt down to Spyro's height and wrapped him in her arms, "You're hurt, you need to get back to safety!"

"We won't be safe until these things are gone for good!" Spyro pushed against Chihiro's grasp, though he was too weak to fully break out of it, "Besides, I promised Master Eon…"—Spyro paused and shook his head—"No, I promised you I'd help you take this thing down!"

Chihiro wanted to argue more, but an instant shock of pain caused her to limp down and wince. Both of them were in a pretty bad shape, but that Guardifound surely was no worse for wear than before! Hopefully it wouldn't notice this…

Darkness shaded over the two of them as a familiar, imposing figure appeared in a flash of light and fell before them with a thump. Oh no, looks like she had jinxed it!

The Guardifound raised a claw and shot a brightly-colored laser right at Chihiro before she had even had time to react! Chihiro just gasped, completely frozen to the spot and only able to anticipate the pain that would come… But it never did!

Right at the last moment, Spyro scrambled to his feet and jumped right in front of her! The collision caused a blast so intense it sent them both soaring through the air before they both slammed against the side of the portal building and landed on another, slightly smaller balcony attached to it, but at least they were alright… Maybe.

Chihiro herself screamed in pain while her head throbbed, but she quickly shook her head as she heard a series of intense hacks from her side. She turned around… Oh god, this couldn't have happened!

But no, it did—Spyro laid across from her with a nasty pinkish-red burn on his side while he coughed so hard it rattled his entire body. He was in so much pain he couldn't even open his eyes, this had to be a bad dream, please!

"Spyro!" Chihiro called as she scrambled over to his side and cradled him in her arms. For a moment, the entire world had vanished right around her—the Guardifound, the buildings they stood on, the monsters raging fights outside… All she saw was Spyro, so weak and pained.

Spyro, however, just coughed and forced a weak smile nonetheless as he just barely opened his eyes. He lifted his mouth as if he was going to speak, but before he get out a single word he curled up and shuddered.

"Spyro, why did you do that?" Chihiro croaked, her face stung with pain and terror alike, "You could've died!"

"Well, I had to protect you of course!" Spyro blurted out, his voice strained and shrill with pain, "I can take a hit, but if that thing got you, you would've been done for!"—Spyro nudged his head closer to Chihiro's heart—"And I'm not gonna lose you that easily…"

Spyro rolled out of Chihiro's arms, then forced himself to stand and look back at her with that same, weak smile.

"You're my friend, after all!"

Chihiro winced as a flood of so many emotions she couldn't comprehend washed over her. Spyro had just taken what would've possibly been a killing blow for her, he was already so weak himself—it was a miracle he even survived!

And, it was all because… All because… He considered her a friend...

Chihiro's eyes went wide as she reached towards Spyro, then gasped as he grunted and collapsed into a shuddering pile once more. She held him just tight enough that it wouldn't hurt him further and tried her best to keep from crying… This had to be a bad dream, please let it be a bad dream!

All the way across from her, the Guardifound let out a ghastly cackle and teleported! This time it put itself en route to her and Spyro as it teleported closer and trudged over towards them, its hand raised and charged with sparkling magic

Chihiro could only view it in horror, completely helpless and terrified as it got ready to finish Spyro off… And surely it wouldn't stop at just Spyro, either!

Out of nowhere Chihiro's mind flashed back to the rest of the team as they fought, from Terrafin and Bash who were probably still preoccupied with the bouncers, General Robot as he fought off those bats, the other Skylanders and Master Eon who had their hands full with the endless swarms of guard monsters… Even the rest of the island's inhabitants as they waited with anticipation from the safety of the mess hall. They'd all fall to the Guardifound's power while she'd be helpless to stop it, unable to protect them and only able to watch as they went down one by one...

Just like that time.

That's right, Chihiro realized as a pang of fear dug into her heart, This is just like before! When Fin and Stealth fought that Windbag!

All of a sudden, those memories flooded back into her head and clenched her tight, almost like she was reliving that time. The one where she was frozen stiff and helpless, unable to do anything other than watch as that monster tore through her friends and she could do nothing to help them! Now it was going to happen again, and once again she'd be powerless to stop the friend she loved from getting hurt or even killed!

Wait a second, but this time… She wasn't! She had plenty of magic spells down her belt, plenty of powers to fight it with! She couldn't just sit and watch this time, no! She was a portal master, after all! And more importantly, she was their friend, too! She could hardly call herself either of those things if she just gave in now to her own despair and let them all die!

Before she even realized it, Chihiro let go of Spyro, pushed herself up with her hand and dashed in front of the Guardifound, her eyes flared with fury and hot tears!

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Without even thinking, Chihiro pressed her open palms together while every drop of magic in her body poured into her hands! Her head stung with some kind of strange, tingling feeling not quite like dizziness, for her mind was perfectly clear—all she cared about now was destroying that Guardifound! Before she even knew it, she shot a gigantic magic beam at the Guardifound and tossed it all the way down the rows of rooftops! This beam was so great, so intense that its light practically blanketed the entire area, and when it unveiled the surroundings Chihiro had to take a moment and collect herself.

Not just from the epic power, but also because for a moment, it was like she wasn't real… Her whole body was fuzzy and strange, like it wasn't even her own, and her mind was a black void that was completely blank and unfocused. Had such a powerful attack really come from her own body? She wasn't entirely sure, but hopefully it had done the trick.

Chihiro fell to her knees and panted as her senses came back to her, then she looked up… And grinned.

Across from her, the Guardifound had fallen to its knees and wheezed, all while the crack in its chest was a bright morning star that shone with magical energy!

"Now's my chance!" Chihiro shouted as she jumped back to her feet, "One more hit and it's gonna go down!"

The Guardifound looked up and raised its hand to shoot off one last attack… But before it could even fire, Chihiro summoned a magical orb that crackled with equally-magical lightning and smacked it right towards the Guardifound!

The magic orb screeched through the air at lightning fast speeds and finally struck the Guardifound's crack! The blow was so mighty it made the Guardifound completely collapse, all while the crack spread across its entire body. Then finally, not seconds later it shattered completely and exploded in a big blast of shining light!

Chihiro threw a shield in front of her and Spyro just to be safe, then as the light receded she lifted her shield and looked around with a beam.

All around her, the clouds had parted and warm sunshine from the setting sunset bathed the area surrounding in a gentle orangish-yellow tint, while puffy pink clouds flitted through the skies.

"Huh, what…" Spyro groaned as he pulled his head up and looked around, then looked down with wide eyes, "Chihiro, look!"

Chihiro perked her head up and looked down, then her smile widened into a cheek to cheek grin!

Though the area below was still covered in rubbish and damage from the prior battles, the monsters were now gone! All that could be seen was the faint glisten of their artifact hearts! Though the damage had been done, just the sight this simple light was still comforting nonetheless, for it told her the one thing she had so desperately wanted to hear.

"You can finally rest now, the battle has been won."

"Finally!" Chihiro turned back, then hoisted Spyro onto her back and teleported them both back to the balcony.

"Come on, let's go tell the others!"

And so, they rushed back into the portal building while a gentle wave of relief washed over them both…

§About an hour later...§

"I'm really sorry for all this, Master Eon," Chihiro said as she picked up a red artifact shaped vaguely like a dog's head from the charred ground.

"Young Chihiro, you've apologized fourteen times now," Master Eon replied as he levitated a few more artifacts and dropped them in a pile, "And I've told you, there's no need! You've managed to take care of things, and that's what matters."

"But, still!" Chihiro frowned as she dropped the artifact into the sack, "I messed up those artifacts, got you guys banged up, made a huge mess… And I'm pretty sure I scared Hugo into getting another bald spot!"

"Bald spot?" Hugo exclaimed as he skittered back and forth, the artifacts once held tight in his hands now dropped to the floor, "Where?!"

"Oh wait…" Chihiro made a soft, hapless giggle, "I think that was just the lighting."

Hugo sighed in relief, then noticed the artifacts at his feet and gathered them back up as everybody laughed.

That is, until the sound of an incoming rocket drowned out everybody's voices and caused those around to look up! There high in the fading skies were two rockets that slowly, slowly drifted down onto the ground! Could it be?… The rockets landed, then their doors opened to emit light smoke all around the area…

"Guess who's back?" Shouted a familiar high-pitched voice as something hopped out the rockets, pistols bared and tongue lolled, "IT'S THE KING OF EAGLEWORLD!"

The smoke cleared as the voice's owner giggled.

"Just kidding!" Chirped Trigger Happy as the smoke finally vanished, "It's us!"

While everybody else poured out from the rockets, Trigger Happy frowned and examined the wreckage surrounding.

"… Did you guys have a party while we were gone?"

"It's a funny story," Chihiro chuckled as she ruffled her raven hair.

"And it can wait for later!" Hugo interrupted as he pushed himself towards Trigger Happy, "Do you have the gear? And the goo?"

"You bet we do!" Cried a mabu in tattered military clothes as he hobbled towards the rocket's side and patted it. In moments, the rocket folded in until it had vanished completely and dropped the Golden Gear back onto the ground!

Drobot, meanwhile, said no words as he, Drill Sergeant and several mabu in military clothes left the second rocket. He only unveiled a flask of green goo that faintly glowed against its container!

"Thank goodness!" Hugo proclaimed as he clapped his hands, "Alright everybody, break time!"

Murmurs and relieved chatter was heard as everybody dropped off the stray artifacts and crowded around the Core! Their exhaustion from the clean-up earlier had completely vanished as all eyes fixed on the Core of Light in sheer anticipation of what was to come.

Hugo dove his hand into his lapel, pulled out the same worn book he had used so many times before, then strode towards the Core of Light.

In response, Boomer and Drill Sergeant heaved up the Golden Gear and hobbled towards the Core of Light, then dropped it on the nearby ground with sighs of relief.

With the Gear placed, Drobot flew over and poured the green goo into a thin slot within the Core of Light's platform. As it glowed bright, Drobot whirred over to Hugo and gave him a toes up.

So, Hugo added the icing on the magical cake! With a chant of an ancient spiel, the Golden Gear flew off the ground and straight into the Core! All was silent for moments… Then a great quake was heard!

Everybody around gasped and mumbled as they tried to locate the source, then their eyes trailed back to the Core and the murmurs ceased.

Sure enough, that rumble had come from the Core of Light! Its platform had slowly grown a foot or two, and gigantic golden gears poked out and contently turned to the tune of a soft grind.

Chihiro smiled as she and the others basked in the Core's beauty, only to make a soft gasp as something nudged against her foot. She bent down… And sure enough, there at her feet was an artifact, shiny and bright against the sun!

"That should be the last one, Master Eon!" Chihiro proclaimed as she dropped the artifact in her sack and handed it off to Master Eon.

"Thank you, young Chihiro," Master Eon said as he levitated the sack from her hands and floated off, "I'll put these back where they belong."

Chihiro smiled as she watched Master Eon float off, but her smile quickly faded into shaky frowns and lowered eyes.

"And… Master Eon?" Chihiro looked up at Master Eon and tugged on her vest.

"Yes, young Chihiro?"

"… I, er, well…" Chihiro gulped and teased her hair, then finally fell to her knees, "I completely understand if you're going to exile me from the island or something for all this! I know I should've been more careful and—"

"Exile?" Master Eon turned back to Chihiro, "Young Chihiro, I never said anything about exiling you!"

However, this didn't seem to ease Chihiro any. She just turned away from Master Eon and gulped, that same frown still on her face.

"But, what about the 'landers and that General Robot dude? They got super banged up, after all!" Chihiro stepped forward and gestured around the scenery, "And all the places that got messed up?"

"Thankfully, Whirlwind's healing rainbows were more than enough to remedy their injuries—they'll be completely fine after a night of bed rest. And as for the buildings, they only need some minor cleanup. You see, we've had our fair share of mishaps here at this point to prepare for occasions."

Master Eon flitted over to Chihiro and bobbed his head. "It's why our buildings are made of cyclops stone, you know."

Master Eon's light brightened with a firm light.

"That being said, you'll have to help me recreate the artifacts that were destroyed and repair any damages to the island itself, and given the circumstances you will have to retake the exam as well…"

Chihiro still seemed a bit discontent as she looked down and bit her lip, then finally she bowed to Master Eon and nodded.

"I understand, Master Eon. After all, I was still super unprepared for the whole thing, and I caused so much damage in the process." Chihiro made one last gulp, then looked back at Master Eon with a sort of fire in her eyes, "So… This time, I'm gonna do way better! I'll study harder and be more careful and make sure I pass this!"—Chihiro looked aside and made a faint giggle—"And also, I'll try not to accidentally awaken any monsters in the process."

Master Eon made a soft chuckle as he heard Chihiro's resolve.

"Very well then, the retest will be in three days' time. For now, we should take these back."

"Okay, Master Eon!"

Chihiro waved to Master Eon as he and Hugo walked off (or floated off, in Eon's case) with the sack of artifacts in tow, then gazed over the Core of Light with a kind of hope.

"This time… I'll make sure I give my best effort!" Chihiro whispered as she watched the Core of Light shine against the brilliant sun, "And y'know… Actually study instead of worrying about other stuff!"

But as Chihiro's eyes turned to the Skylanders, her smile slowly faded into something not quite a frown, but not quite a smile either. After all that had happened today, she finally started to realize just why she cared so much about the gap in ability between her and Kaos… As memories of the blow Spyro took flashed into her mind, Chihiro balled her hand into a fist and gritted her teeth.

"That way, I'll definitely be strong enough to protect them."

---

First off, an Easter egg - 101611 is a nod to October 16th, 2011, which is the day Spyro's Adventure came out in the USA and Canada!

Second of all, my announcement. I've thought about it for a bit, and I've decided to put CHS on another break for the rest of May up until... I'd say about the end of August at the latest? Put simply, the chapters after this one are going to require a lot more work, and I've been dealing with a lot of on and off burnout that's made it a lot harder for me to write. Plus, sometime this summer I'm going to start the last class I need to finish my degree, and because of that I want to be able to focus on school more as well!

So, I think it would be better for me to take a quick break to work on the remaining eleven chapters and focus on some others things! See you all soon, hopefully!