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)

13. Chapter 13

And here we are, with what is possibly the longest chapter of CHS to date! With over thirty thousands words, editing this one was a beast, let me tell you guys!

Watch Seeker: Honestly we're in the same boat regarding revisiting Spyro's adventure! Writing CHS has really made me go back and appreciate SSA a lot more! I haven't really played through the game in years since the console we had it for broke, so watching through vids for writing reference has made me rediscover my love for it! Also this is probably a bit belated, but I hope your cold's gotten better! Colds have been passing through in my area to and they've been quite a hassle...

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Somewhere in the more rural parts of Skylands, far from the watchful eyes of Kaos or the Skylanders or most anybody, really, there resided a humble village known as Stonetown. Stonetown's home island was not that different from the average island, really. It had an average layout, all grassy plains and rocky, firm cliffs painted against a backdrop of Skylands' trademark blue skies, all of which housed the normal villages. These villages weren't all that much different from the average village, either.

The buildings, from the many houses to the general store to even the trademark town hall, were your average wood-and-brick houses occupied by average mabu families that went about their average lives, completely oblivious to the world around them. Children went to school and played in the streets like normal children, adults went to work and rested by the fire after long days… Governors governed, shoppers shopped the day away…

And of course, the miners would mine in the Stonetown mines, perhaps the only particularly remarkable trait of Stonetown itself. Despite the chills of autumn finally setting in, Stonetown's miners were hard at work! Some swung their pickaxes into the colorful stone to retrieve gold and jewels and other kinds of minerals, other loaded spoils into rusty metal mine carts, and some just talked among themselves.

"Y'know, Dave," said one mabu man as he swung a pickax into a firm rocky pillar, "I think we're pretty lucky, living the way we do!"

"You really think so, Paul?" Said the mabu man that was presumably Dave as he loaded several crates of jewels into a mine cart, "I think it's kinda boring, to be honest,"—Dave heaved a worn sigh as he placed the empty crates to his side—"Every day, it's the same old routine! Ya wake up, eat, work, eat some more, watch the fire, go back to sleep, then ya do it all again! I'd kill for something new…"

"Well, it could be worse." Paul shrugged his shoulders for a spell then went back to swinging, "We could be one of those unlucky villages that got ransacked by Kaos's goons!"—Paul shuddered—"My cousin told me one of the ones near him was torn to bits!"

"Kaos? Come here?" Dave made a hearty laugh, "What would he want with boring old Stonetown? Rocks?"

Dave retrieved a stray pickax off the ground, then walked towards a nearby wall and began mining.

"'Cause that's all we've got around here!" With a mighty swing Dave slammed the pickaxe into the rocky walls of the mines…

Then dropped it and stumbled back as a bright, brown light shot out from the cracks he made in the wall.

"What's going on, Dave?" Paul asked as he walked up to Dave, "You look like you saw a ghost!"

Dave made no words in response, only a few sputtering noises as he pointed towards the cracked wall.

With a shrug, Paul turned his gaze back to the cracked wall, then gasped and stumbled back as part of the wall shattered like glass.

As the brown light grew more intense, Dave and Paul only stood in watched in sheer, frozen awe then turned tail and ran outside the mine.

"Somebody, contact the Skylanders!" Dave and Paul shouted in unison, "We've found something for them!"

§

All eyes were frozen on the Core of Light as the Crystal Eye sat firm at its top and emitted a striking laser beam that shone like the sun did as it hung in the slightly-cloudy autumn skies. Soft chatter and faint oohs and aahs were the soundtrack of the afternoon as everybody on the island all gazed in its glory.

"So, what happened, Spy?" Gill Grunt asked as he slammed a fin down on Spyro's shoulder, "I heard from Prism Break that the kingdom got taken over…"

"By Kaos's cronies, yeah," Spyro replied as he smiled and looked up at Gill Grunt, a moment of pause taken to remove Gill Grunt's fin from his shoulder, "But, it was no problem! We all took care of them like we did any other force of his!"

Spyro and Gill Grunt paused to bask in the Core of Light's unfinished glory once more, but soon enough Gill Grunt's eyes trailed to Spyro once more.

"Hey, Spyro, I've been meaning to ask…" Gill Grunt made a slight frown as he looked down at Spyro, "Have you been doin' alright lately, little buddy?"

"Uh, er, of course!" Spyro's pupils shrank just a bit as he cast an aside glance, an awkward smile plastered on his face, "Never better, why do you ask?"

"You seem like you've been working yourself a lot lately, that's all." Gill Grunt gently rubbed Spyro's head, "I hardly ever see you, what with all the missions you've been going on! It's like you never take a day's vacation!"

"… I'm fine, Gill, I swear." Spyro's smile soured into a frown, "Kaos doesn't rest, so I can't, either."

Gill Grunt opened his mouth to speak once more, but before he could Trigger Happy bolted forward and leaped onto Spyro's back.

"SPYRO, SPYRO, SPYRO!" Trigger Happy exclaimed as he bounced up and down on Spyro's back, "WHAT HAPPENED, WHAT HAPPENED?! DID YOU FIGHT A BUNCH OF EVIL DUDES?! WERE THERE PUZZLES? BATTLE GATES?! EVIL SPACE ALIENS FROM BEYOND THE FOURTH STAR?!"

Spyro only chuckled as he retrieved Trigger Happy from his back and placed Trigger Happy on the ground.

"Well, I'll start from the beginning," Spyro said as he cleared his throat, "Well, it all started when we made our way to the gates of the kingdom…"

As Spyro recounted the story with the energy of a grizzled storyteller, the other Skylanders carefully crowded around Spyro with a kind of wonder. With every word, every breath Spyro spoke, their engagement grew more intense as if they themselves had been pulled into the mission alongside him!

"And I'll admit, if it weren't for Chihiro's help we might not've gotten past that riddlemaster!" Spyro looked over at the portal building and tilted his head, "Say, shouldn't her next exam be ending soon?…"

As if on cue, the door swung open and a familiar childlike figure draped in monochrome clothes twirled out the building. They then pointed a finger to the heavens with one finger while they held a paper in the other.

"GUESS WHO PASSED HER NEXT PORTAL MASTER EXAM?" Chihiro exclaimed as she skipped over and brandished the paper, which had a 100% marked on it in red marker, for all eyes to see, "If you guessed me, you're right~"

"That's great, Chihiro!" Spyro praised as he held up his paw, "Up top!"

"Up top!" Chihiro smiled as she gave Spyro a high five, then dropped the paper and hugged him tight, "Thanks a bunch, Golden Boy—I don't think I would've passed if you hadn't helped me study!"

"It's no problem, Chihiro." Spyro made a soft chuckle as he returned Chihiro's hug, a level of tension removed from his presence.

The other Skylanders cheered and called out words of congratulations as Spyro and Chihiro withdrew from their hug, then all eyes peered towards the Core of Light once more.

"It's so pretty!" Chihiro clasped her hands tight, "I think it looks perfect up there, don't you?"

CLUNK!

While everybody gazed over the Core of Light, something had crashed—literally—right into the designated landing area! Everybody else jumped, then turned around to see a familiar technologically enhanced balloon had seated itself on the landing area's stone platform…

"WHAT WAS THAT?! I HEARD A CRASH!" Hugo exclaimed as he bolted out of the portal building then turned to the landing area, "Oh, nevermind. It's Flynn."

Hugo sighed as the balloon's platform drew out. Once said platform was fully down, Flynn and passengers alike piled out in a dizzy haze.

"Flynn, next time," Cali panted as she shot a glare towards Flynn, "Please try not to crash into the landing area."

"Oh, Cali, that was no mere crash," Flynn replied as he strode forward and crossed his arms, a smug smile on his lips, "That was an elaborate landing technique for the ages, one that only a master pilot such as myself could pull off without a hitch!"

Cali only sighed and rolled her eyes, as did Chihiro, though Chihiro's eye roll was more playful than exasperated.

"Say, that reminds me," Chihiro remarked as she turned to Hugo, "So Huges, what's the next part we need for the Core?"

"Well…" Hugo said as he withdrew a book from his hood and skimmed through it, "According to the books…"

"SKYLANDERS!" Exclaimed an elderly-sounding voice as something pushed past Hugo and practically knocked him off of his feet, "I have great news!"

Hugo spun around in a circle, stumbled back to full balance, then adjusted his glasses and looked over his surprise assailant.

"… Diggs?" Hugo said with a tired squint.

Sure enough, right in front of them was Diggs, all wrinkly and frantic as ever. Or maybe he was ecstatic? It was kind of hard to tell.

"Diggs, what's the stitch?" Chihiro asked as she placed her hands on her hips, "I thought Flynn and Cali were taking you back to that village…"—Chihiro rubbed a hand against her chin—"What was it called? Rumbletown? Masonville?"

"STONETOWN!" Diggs corrected with an eager smile, "But I had to come back, because the people there have good news for you all! They made a great discovery in their mines!"—Diggs took a deep breath and cleared his throat—"The miners of Stonetown…"

"Have found the Eternal Earth Source!" Cali exclaimed as she ran to the crowd and pushed past Diggs, "And they're waiting for us to come collect it!"

"Finally, an easy one!" Chihiro exclaimed as she pumped a fist, her eyes alight with joy. After all the trouble they had gone through to collect the Core of Light's components, finally they'd get some well-deserved smooth sailing!

"I know, right?" Flynn added as he glanced towards Chihiro with one of his trademark goofy grins on his face, "This'll be a piece of CAKE! Mmm, cake…"

"I'd better get going before Kaos or those weird Skylander clones or other rando wannabe supervillain finds out!" Chihiro raced towards the balloon, "Hasta la vista, guys! I'm gonna—"

"You're going to hold it, is what you're going to do!" Hugo ordered as he grabbed the back of Chihiro's vest and pulled her back to the group, "Need I remind you that all those people you just listed are very much so active?"

"Eh, it'll be fine!" Chihiro waved her hand as a grin overtook her face, "I'm sure I could take them on if something goes wrong! Besides, how likely would it be that they found out?"

"You'd be surprised." Hugo let go of Chihiro and toyed with his hood, "Kaos has eyes everywhere, Chihiro. There's a good chance that in the moments we've spent talking, he's already dispatched his forces!"

"Hate to say it, Chi, but I'm with Hugo on this one," said another, tougher voice as somebody else pushed through the crowds—a muscular, black and gray anthropomorphic shark with white eyes and clusters of bright orange barnacles on their back, "Kaos and his buddies have been getting a lot busier lately! He's been putting us through the ringer all week!"

"Ah, I guess you have a point, Terrafin…" Chihiro admitted as she bounced her foot and looked up at Terrafin, "Alright then, who wants to come with?"

"You can count me in!" Terrafin smiled a sharp, fanged smile as he ruffled Chihiro's hair, "It's been a while since we've wiped the floor with Kaos's goons together!"

"Yeah!" Chihiro bounced up and punched the air, then looked over the rest of the crowd and hummed.

"Bash, Dino-Rang." Chihiro pointed to two other figures from within the crowd of Skylanders, "You guys wanna come too?"

"Eh, why not?" Asked a voice with a notable Australian accent as its owner passed through the crowd, "I've been meaning to find something to test those boomerang techniques I've been practicin' on!"

This figure was a stout, stocky, and very green anthropomorphic dinosaur with bright, orange eyes and large rows of bright red plates that ran from the top of their head down to their tail. They were dressed in brown stone armor, and in their rough, scaled hands they clutched a pair of well-loved stone boomerangs.

"Alright, Dino-Rang's good to go!" Chihiro proclaimed as she cast her gaze towards a bulky, brown dragon with red eyes whose body seemed to be made entirely of stone, "How about you, Bash?"

The dragon who was presumably Bash looked aside, then shrugged and walked forward.

"Well, looks like it's time for me to roll out the pain!" Bash proclaimed, his voice rough and rocky like gravel.

Terrafin and Dino-Rang, however, only gave Bash tired glances.

"Come on, guys!" Bash looked down as he twiddled his front paws together, "That was a good one, I swear!"

They all just playfully rolled their eyes, then Terrafin walked up to Bash and patted Bash on the back as he sulked.

"Now that we've got our lineup together," Flynn broke in as he walked forward and cracked his knuckles, "I'll go start 'er up!"

As Flynn said this, Terrafin froze up like a deer in the headlights.

"Actually, man, I think we can pass on the balloon ride," Terrafin said as he held up his hands, "I'm pretty sure a portal will get us there just fine!"

"Why not?" Flynn only grinned, completely oblivious to Terrafin's discomfort, "There's nothing to fear! I'm Skylands' greatest pilot, after all!"

"Afraid? I never said anything about being afraid!" Terrafin scoffed and crossed his arms, "But that balloon's not gonna fit all of us!"

"Yeah, Fin does have a point," Chihiro added, "It'll be a tight squeeze with all five of us going…"

"Six!" Diggs corrected as he waddled up to the others, "I've gotta lead you whippersnappers there!"

"Correction, six." Chihiro rolled her eyes, "With all six of us in there at once, it might get pretty crowded…"—Chihiro's eyes widened—"Unless I just portal you guys there and meet up with you later!"

Chihiro smiled and snapped her fingers.

"That sounds like a plan to me!"

Terrafin breathed a sigh of relief, then he, Bash and Dino-Rang hightailed it into the portal building with Chihiro in close pursuit. As they disappeared into the portal building's confines, Flynn frowned and shrugged.

"Wonder what his problem was…" Flynn remarked before he shook it off and headed towards his balloon, "Eh, probably just a bit intimidated! Can't blame the dude there, being with Skylands' best pilot can get pre-tty intense…"

§

Chihiro banged her head against the side of the basket as Flynn flew them through peaceful, serene, and utterly boring blue skies. She had a feeling that the trip to Stonetown would probably take a while, going off of how far away Diggs had said it was… But she didn't think it'd take this long! A part of her half-wished she could have convinced the 'Landers to come with her, given that they'd probably be good company right about now… But, what's done is done at this point, and all she could do was rest against the basket. She tried thumb wrestling with herself, but thumb wrestling wasn't quite as fun when you were the only challenger so she bobbed her head down. Maybe she could catch a few winks of sleep while she waited for their arrival.

Chihiro furled herself into a ball, then closed her eyes as her mind drifted away to places far away from the humble hot air balloon she was inside right now. All was peaceful until…

Diggs let out a vocal scream and latched onto the side of the basket!

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Chihiro shouted as she jumped out of her sleepy trance, "DID KAOS SHOW UP AFTER ALL SO I COULD KICK HIS SORRY BUTT?!"

"We're here!" Diggs exclaimed as he pointed a claw down below and shuddered, "But, the ground is shaking something terrible. I sense some baaad vibrations here."

Chihiro walked over to Diggs' side and leaned herself over the basket to find that sure enough, he was right!

The infinite void of blue sky had parted to reveal a grassy terrain! It was accented with equally-grassy cliffs topped with walls and elaborate towers made entirely of tough-looking gray stone. But, that wasn't the most eye-catching part of the island! All around the island there were clusters of dots that vaguely resembled a crowd—guards sent to protect the Source?

"That's strange," Diggs said as he adjusted his glasses, "Last time I was here, there weren't half as many guards! Heck, there weren't any guards at all!"

"Maybe they wanted some extra protection, just in case?" Chihiro tilted her head, then squeaked and ducked as some vaguely gremlin-looking thing zipped over her head!

Once the air was clear and they had drawn closer, Chihiro had found that she was completely wrong.

There, soldiers of all species—trolls, drow, the spare gremlin or some odd monkey-gremlin-looking hybrid thingie—decked out in shiny armor duked it out with Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang down below! There was no mistaking it, these had to have been Kaos's soldiers!

"Looks like Hugo was right," Flynn said as he gripped the balloon's steering wheel tighter, "Big Head must've found out about the Eternal Earth Source!"

"Me and my big mouth," Chihiro lamented as she hung her head, then shook it and looked further over the battlefield.

Now that they had gotten closer, it kind of looked like the soldiers had… Cannons? Hopefully they only shot like, water or confetti or something and not—CRAP! CANNONBALLS!

Chihiro screamed and ducked as Flynn swerved out the way of a cannonball parade, then slunk down and held a hand over her rapidly-beating heart. Her breath was heavy as she collected herself… Only to scream again as Flynn continued to spin around and dodge the cannonballs!

"There's too many of these guys!" Flynn shouted as he spun his steering wheel, sweat poured down his forehead like rain, "Even with my piloting expertise, this is gonna be a closE CALLLLLLLLLLLL!"

With a loud crash, one of the cannonballs pushed past the basket and sent them spinning like a toy top! The basket they all sat in was a rapid storm as it violently flung itself to and fro in the midst of all the chaos without any single drop of care taken for those inside!

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" Diggs screamed as he rolled out the basket and grasped its side as tightly as possible!

"Diggs!" Chihiro exclaimed as she rushed to Diggs' side and pulled him back in.

The two of them caught their collective breath while Flynn gritted his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows in a way that for once, was kind of intimidating.

"Alrighty, I didn't wanna do this…" Flynn proclaimed as he clutched the steering wheel tight, "But you guys have left me no choice! It's time for the ATTACK PROTOCOL!"

Flynn flicked a switch on the balloon control panel, and in that very moment the outer panels of the basket opened up to reveal tons and tons of weapons! Missile launchers, cannons, laser blasters, sheep shooters… If you could name it, it was probably in that very array and waiting to fire!

As Chihiro and Diggs watched the show with wide, sparkly eyes, Flynn made a smirk.

"While you guys were off savin' Skylands…" Flynn brushed a hand against the basket's rim, "I've been workin' on some pretty impressive upgrades for old Balloony here! She's ready and rarin' to go!"

As Flynn said this, a gigantic, flashing red button emerged from the center of the steering wheel!

"BOOM!"

With that said, Flynn slammed the button and all the weaponry shot out at once! Clouds of smoke cast out from the browning battlefield as fleets of soldiers were blasted away and cannons were reduced to mere bits!

But, Kaos's forces were far from intimidated! They merely wheeled in larger, shinier cannons!

"You wanna play that game, huh?!" Flynn slammed another button and watched as his artillery refilled, then slammed the giant button once more, "DOUBLE BOOM!"

Chihiro watched in awe as the newly-refilled artillery ensemble blew the newer cannons to bits, but it was no use! The enemy soldiers just pulled out more!

"TRIPLE BOOM!"

And so, a tug-of-artillery-war ensued. The enemies would bring out their cannons, Flynn would refill his, and in response they'd only bring out bigger, more impressive cannons that would get blasted to bits in an endless cycle.

"QUADRUPLE BOOM!"
"QUINTUPLE BOOM!"
"ONE HUNDRED BOOMS!"

As the frantic power struggle caused the battle to grow from impressive to tiring, Chihiro yawned and leaned against the side of the basket, ready to fall asleep once more… Only to awaken and scramble back as a gigantic shadow was cast all over the island! Chihiro gulped as a ginormous cannon, one so big that it probably added a ton to the island's weight, loomed over them with a fairly intimidating aura!

"Alright, nothing to worry about!" Flynn said with a gulp and a button press, "My artillery's ready for…"—Flynn winced as the artillery only made a sad clicking noise—"… Anything?"

Chihiro, Diggs and Flynn all looked up at the cannon with completely wide eyes, everything around silent save for the fizzle of a burning fuse… Then the cannon shot a gigantic cannonball straight at the balloon's, well, balloon and exploded!

Not that Chihiro or anybody else noticed. They were too busy screaming and hanging on for their dear lives as the balloon crash-landed right into the ground! With a resonant sound of splintering wood, Chihiro coughed and crawled out of the wreckage. She looked up to see Terrafin, Dino-Rang and Bash as they looked down on her with slight concern and winced.

"Hey guys!" Chihiro said as she smiled and waved at them, "We made it!"

Before anybody could say anything else, however, a shing was heard as the soldiers whipped out their weapons in one direction—theirs!

"And it looks like we've got company!"

Chihiro cracked her knuckles, then dashed into the fray with Terrafin, Dino-Rang and Bash in close pursuit! The artillery may have stopped firing, but the real battle had just begun!

Terrafin was the first to strike out of the quartet. He dove underground before anybody on either side could even blink, his whole body completely masked by the churned, rich brown earth! The soldiers trailed to ground in some attempt to find him… But he found them first! Terrafin backflipped out of the ground, bodyslammed right into the small platoon of drow soldiers and sent them flying in all angles! While they got up and stumbled about, Terrafin slid forward and punched them straight into a nearby wall.

"Not bad for a warmup," Terrafin remarked as he dusted off his bulky hands and perked up as he heard terrified screams, as did those around him.

All eyes were fixed on the source of the screams, which was none other a trio of gremlin soldiers who ran down a hill with Bash in hot pursuit! As the soldiers ran down the hill, Bash curled himself into a ball and rolled down, the slope of the hill an amplifier for his natural speed. Bash was a bowling ball, the gremlins his pins as he rammed right into them and tossed them into the skies!

"STRIKE!" Bash proclaimed right as the soldiers dropped back down on their feet, "… Or not."

Bash turned around and watched the gremlin soldiers glare him down, but he didn't seem intimidated in the slightest. He only gently bopped his tail against the earth.

"You guys are tougher than you look." Bash made a toothy grin as he raised his tail, "Good thing I am, too!"

Bash slammed his tail right onto the ground and created an earthquake of awesomely seismic proportions! While everybody else shuddered and froze from the vibrations, Bash stood tall and firm as he slammed his tail once more and caused gigantic stone pillars to explode from the cracks!

These stone pillars manifested right under the gremlin soldiers, and before they could even blink they were sent flying out of everyone's view.

While the quakes receded, Bash and Terrafin took in their victories. But, while they did this, another gigantic battle unfolded.

Chihiro let out cries of war as she slashed through waves of soldiers with a magic-powered sword, her breath heavy and her legs shaken with exhaustion. But she wasn't going to give up, not at all! She raised her sword… And a decently-timed spear shot through the crowds and shattered it!

"Dang it," Chihiro panted as the shards rained down on her, now reduced to little more than faint magical dust, "I should really practice my swordfighting more…"

As Chihiro teleported out of her enemy circle and caught her breath, her brown eyes glazed over to Dino-Rang, who was still hard at work!

With a few flicks of his wrists, he shot out his boomerangs through clusters of enemy soldiers and whacked them straight in their guts. Those boomerangs must be a lot harder than they look! But, he still looked like he was in a pinch. The erratic, labored steps he took back and forth and his heavy breathing indicated he had done a lot already! But unfortunately, the massive swarm of enemies that surrounded him seemed raring to go…

"Guess that's my cue!" Chihiro shouted as she held out her hand, which now flared with cyan magic.

A bright cyan sphere of magic shot out of Chihiro's hands right as Dino-Rang's boomerangs flew off as well! The magic sphere dashed forward and phased straight through boomerangs, which in turn contaminated them with its cyan light.

The boomerangs shone even brighter as they spun in place, then in moments they enlarged themselves to maybe ten times their size and razed through the crowd of soldiers! Once the enemies fell to their backs, the boomerangs stopped in their tracks and flopped right onto the soldiers, just to be certain.

"Alright!" Chihiro raced up to everybody and gave them high-fives, then turned her attention to the broken pile that was once Flynn's balloon.

Flynn coughed as he pulled Diggs out of the wreckage, then stopped and stood up himself. With a wince he looked back at his balloon, bowed his head and put his hand over his heart.

"You had a good run, Balloony," Flynn said with an uncharacteristically somber tone, "Papa's proud of you."

Diggs frowned as well, then turned his attention back to Chihiro.

"This is as far as I can take you, I'm afraid. I haven't been here in months, ya see, everythig else's new as spring to me!" Diggs informed as he clasped his clawed hands tight, "The rest of the place is yours to explore."

"'Kay!" Chihiro shouted as she hopped off, then turned her attention back to the others, "C'mon guys, we've gotta find the Eternal Source!"

"One problem with that, Chi…" Dino-Rang said as he pointed a claw aside, "I kinda need my boomerangs back."

Chihiro cast a glance in that direction, and made a tomato red blush as she saw that Dino-Rang's boomerangs were indeed, still oversized and far too big to carry.

"I'll take care of that."

Chihiro snapped her fingers, and in response the boomerangs radiated with a cyan glow then shrunk back right to their normal size!

As Dino-Rang reclaimed his boomerangs, Chihiro frowned and hopped off to the gate.

A cursory glance showed that it had no visible locks or keys. Rather, it only had gigantic twin towers with bounce pads at their feet rather than a door or stairs.

So, Chihiro skipped over to the bounce pad and jumped right onto its squishy surface! With a resounding cheer she shot up into the skies, then fell down on its surface to find a statue with a floating eyeball hovered above it and an identical one on the tower across.

"Wait, I recognize these things!" Chihiro exclaimed before she turned around and looked down, "Hey guys, I have an idea!"

As Chihiro waved down at the Skylanders, they all looked back up at her.

"Get on top of that other tower!"

The trio looked at each other and shrugged, then walked over to the other tower. As they bounced onto its very top, their eyes fixed onto the second floating eye statue before them.

"On the count of three, blow these things up!" Chihiro turned back to the statue near her and readied her magic, "One… Two… Three!"

The sound of intense crashing was heard as both statues were shattered to bits, then the gate rumbled before it swiftly receded int the earth!

"Quick, before it rises!" Chihiro shouted as she teleported down to the open gate and ran through.

But as she ran, she couldn't help but get the feeling that she was being watched! Chihiro turned around and frowned, but all she saw was Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang as they ran behind her. Huh, must have been imagining things. So, she ran forwards through the path, the wind akin to faint cackling as she ran…

§

Terrafin hummed some kind of song that nobody was really sure actually was a song as they passed through the stony gates and over the hills. The slightly more modern walls and towers and strongholds had left them behind long ago, and the area from here on out seemed a bit more untamed. There were little signs of civilization, only vast plains, grassy cliffs and…

"Swamps?" Chihiro said as she tilted her head.

Sure enough, right in front of them were swamps! Well, oddly clean swamps, if they were swamps. The water that made up the area was a pristine aqua color and sparkled against the early afternoon light, lacked most signs of contamination and even had a few cute fish that swam in its depths! Islands dotted the swamp waters like flecks of ink from a leaky pen, all connected with simple wood and rope bridges that seemed kind of unstable. Hopefully they were stronger than they looked. Nevertheless, they all formed a pretty straightforward path towards a larger peninsula filled with grass and flowers.

And unless they liked swimming, those islands were their only option of travel.

Chihiro smiled as she bolted down and jumped onto the bridge that lead to the first island. She swung against the bridge and watched as it swung in tandem with her rhythm… But thankfully, didn't snap!

"The bridge should be safe, guys!" Chihiro proclaimed as she beckoned for the others to join her, "Come on!"

Terrafin and Dino-Rang joined her without hesitation, but Bash cringed and glanced from side to side before he warily tip-toed over to the bridge.

"Bash, is something wrong?" Chihiro tilted her head and frowned as Bash quickly passed her by, as if he REALLY did not want to be on that bridge right now.

Chihiro shrugged then followed him onto the first island, then hopped onto the next bridge and the island that followed. It was oddly peaceful as they walked, not a villain or bird or even an annoying chompy or two in sight. It was just them and the vast, vast swamps! Chihiro paused and breathed in the fresh air, only for something to bump into her and cause her to fall over!

"Oh, whoops!" Bash exclaimed as he made a chuckle and nudged Chihiro's head, "Didn't see you there, Chi!"

As Bash helped Chihiro up, Chihiro frowned and looked ahead. For some reason, the bridge ahead was blocked off by a barricades of rattling wooden barrels. Wait, hold on a second… Rattling wooden barrels? Chihiro's hands flared with magic as she trailed over to the barrels and tapped them. If there was one thing she had learned from her time in Skylands insofar, it was that rattling wooden barrels were never to be trusted, for nine times out of ten they usually contained…

"CHOMPIES!" Chihiro exclaimed as the barrels exploded and she jumped back!

Sure enough, seated within the wreckage that was once the barrels was none other than a collection of bright green chompies! There had to have been a little under a hundred of them!

"Geez, where does Kaos keep getting all these chompies, anyways?!" Chihiro made a scoff and rested her brightly-glowing hands on her hips, "Do they just grow like weeds or something?!"—Chihiro tapped a finger against her chin—"Actually, I wouldn't be too surprised if that was the case…"

Chihiro screamed as a Chompy rocketed forward and narrowly grazed her shoulder!

"Less talking, more fighting!" Terrafin exclaimed as he dove into the earth!

His fin the only thing visible, Terrafin sliced through the earth, then leaped from its loamy blanket with a punch! Terrafin smirked as he watched the chompies soar off of the island and helplessly plop into the swamp waters, then landed back on his feet and punched through the rest of the crowd.

But as he punched away, a gigantic leak sprung in the center of the island and spewed swamp water everywhere!

"Whoops." Terrafin grunted as he was splashed with water, then wiped off his head and grimaced.

As the leak slowly grew bigger and bigger, the sound of cracking was heard! A look down showed that the island itself had slowly started to split at the seams, complete with small bits drifting off of the whole!

"Crap!" Chihiro exclaimed as she rubbed her hands together, then thrust them forward to summon a gigantic cork made entirely of magic! Chihiro jumped up, slammed the cork into the leak then watched as the damage came to a trickle.

"Close one." Chihiro wiped sweat from her brow and shot a look at the others, "Alright, that should take care of things… Just nobody makes any more holes in the island or we'll go sinking like the Titanic!"

"What's a titanic?" Bash asked as he tilted his head.

"Earth thing, I'll explain later!" Chihiro teleported out the way of a flight of chompies, then blasted the chompies in the back with a magic sphere.

Bash shrugged, then yowled out as a chompy latched onto his tail. Bash growled and slammed his tail against the earth, which sent the chompy flying into the lake! He smiled as he watched it sink, only to duck his head as several more chompies soared over it.

Aside from him, Terrafin punched away chompies like they were no more than leafy punching bags—and yet, these chompies were a little more stubborn than their predecessors. These ones seemed to get up no matter how many times you punched them down!

Just then, a familiar pair of wooden boomerangs grazed through the crowds of chompies and tried to blow them away. But, it was no use! The chompies just bit onto the boomerangs! The boomerangs returned to Dino-Rang soon after, who only screamed and stumbled about as the chompies latched onto his muzzle.

"Let go, ya little—AUGH!" Dino-Rang yowled in pain as he yanked one stubborn chompy off of his face and tossed it into the lake… Only for about five more to jump onto him!

"Looks like they could use some help!" Bash remarked as he lifted up his front legs, "And I've got just the thing!"

Bash stomped onto the ground and sent an earth-shattering quake moving through the entire island they fought on! And if that wasn't enough to concern, gigantic stone statues shot up from the ground and tossed all the particularly stubborn chompies right into the deep! While the stone statues receded back into the unknown, Bash smiled quite contently... Then his eyes shot wide open as everyone heard a hiss. Followed by a second, a third, a fifth…

And soon enough, that sound of rushing water became the only noise heard as gigantic holes eclipsed the island! Water coated the grassy isle in a slimy, muddy coat while the island itself slowly creaked as if it was ready to keel over!

"Well, so much for not sinking like the Titanic," Chihiro remarked before she shook her head.

Chihiro bolted onto the bridge and raced towards the next island, then fell to her knees and caught her breath. As she held her heart, thundering footsteps pounded across the bridge! Chihiro looked up to see Terrafin, Dino-Rang and Bash race in pursuit… But a closer look showed that Bash was quite frantic!

His breath was heavier than the others as his eyes kept going back to the sinking island and he practically bowled over the others as he ran! It was like he was too scared to even think straight! As Terrafin and Dino-Rang caught up and leaped onto the island, Bash got ready to jump over and join them!

But as he got ready to leap, the bridge's rope started to furrow, then it snapped completely!

"Whoa, whoa!" Bash exclaimed as he scrambled up the broken bridge. Though he tried his best, but his best wasn't enough. Before he could even finish, the bridge dropped into the deep blue with Bash still on it!

"Bash!" Terrafin, Chihiro and Dino-Rang exclaimed at once.

Ever quick to react, Chihiro and Terrafin both dove into the swamps and started swimming. Though the water clouded their vision, Bash was still clearly visible as he sunk into the depths, bubbles flown from his muzzle. He flailed his legs and tail as he clearly tried to swim, but he was far too heavy—all he could do was sink like a stone!

Chihiro gritted her teeth as she and Terrafin darted forward, but Bash was sinking far too fast for them to catch up! Even at full speed, they were still too far to get him! So, Chihiro paused and narrowed her eyebrows, then clapped her hands. As they flared with cyan light that shone quite brilliantly against the deep blues, she clasped Terrafin's hand and watched as the blue light spread to their entire bodies! Terrafin dashed back down as Chihiro let go of his hand, his speed now five times faster than before! As the waters grew darker he disappeared under their cover… Then he swam back up with Bash over his shoulder! Chihiro winced as she saw Bash shudder, then supported Bash with her own grasp as they swam back up.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Dino-Rang frowned and clutched the edge of the island, his eyes trained on the swamp waters. Then, he leaned back as water erupted from the swamp!

While the water cascaded down, Bash shot out of the fountain and rolled onto the dry-ish land! As Bash hacked and coughed out clear swamp water, Chihiro and Terrafin climbed up onto the island and shook themselves off, frowns of concern on their faces.

"You alright, Bash?" Terrafin asked as he slammed a hand against Bash's back and watched Bash hack out a strand of seaweed.

"Yeah, I'm, I'm," Bash wheezed as he cleared his throat, "I'm fine. Being made of rock is good for a lot of things…"—Bash made a kinda sheepish grin—"But swimming isn't one of them. I just end up sinking like a rock."

"Thank goodness!" Chihiro exclaimed as she slammed forward and hugged Bash tight, "You really had me worried there!"

Bash chuckled as he coughed out the last of the water, then gently nuzzled Chihiro's head. For all his faults, Bash was a surprisingly resilient type. Not many people would come out of nearly drowning and still feel willing to make awful puns about their near-death experience. Chihiro smiled as she let go of Bash, then shook off her soaked head and scattered water droplets everywhere.

"If that's been taken care of, let's get going!"

The four of them passed through the next couple bridges with odd peace, not a single surprise in sight—just islands and bridges and more islands and bridges… Well, and the faint rumbling that resonated from the horizon ever so often.

"Do you guys hear that?" Bash asked as he nudged Terrafin's broad shoulder.

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Terrafin remarked, "Think it's a quake?"

"An earthquake? In a swamp?" Chihiro added as she turned around, "Is that even possible?"

"Aye, mates!" Dino-Rang exclaimed as he pointed ahead, "Look over there!"

They all followed Dino-Rang gazed and frowned.

There over the horizon, something black and round rolled further and further… Then finally, it leaped off of a cliff and slammed straight into the ground, which left a notable crater in the earth and kicked dust up everywhere! Rocky laughter resounded as everyone coughed.

When the dust cleared, everyone looked up and gasped! That object was no object—it was actually a person! Well, a dragon, actually, but that was a living being nonetheless. This dragon looked completely identical to Bash, save for the fact that its eyes were a blank, milky white and its scales were a deep purple and pulsated with the occasional vein of brown magic.

"I don't understand why the others couldn't just distract you oafs themselves…" The dragon said with a smirk, "But we'll let bygones be bygones."

"Great, more of Kaos's cronies," Chihiro scoffed as she set her fists alight, "Hope you're ready to lose!"

While the others put up their arms and got ready to fight, the Bash clone said no words. Instead, it smirked and raised its tail to the skies

"Lose? The Evil Rock Dragon?" The Evil Rock Dragon echoed with a scoff, "I don't think so!"

With that said, the Evil Rock Dragon slamming its tail against the island's surface!

"Hope you brought your pillows," The Evil Rock Dragon shouted as it continued to slam its tail against the island, "Because you're sleeping with the fishes!"

With another slam of its tail, the Evil Rock Dragon sent a fissure through the entire island that shook Chihiro and the Skylanders to their very cores! It was so great, so intense, that they could barely stand as the fissures continued to rip through the island! Chihiro lifted up her head, then grunted and grabbed hold of the ground. With a quick closing of her eyes, she disappeared and reappeared just inches away from where the Evil Rock Dragon stood!

"That's enough of that, you walking cinder block!" Chihiro exclaimed as she wrapped herself tight around its tail, only for it to fling her right off!

Chihiro screamed as she was sent hurtling through the air, then grunted as Terrafin leaped up and caught her!

"Nice catch!" Chihiro chirped as she gave Terrafin a thumbs up.

Terrafin smirked as he dropped back onto the island, then both of them fell flat on their faces as the fissures grew more intense. Despite the intensity, Chihiro held out her hand and shot out a bubble made of magic, only for the bubble to immediately pop due to the intense vibrations!

"Aww, c'mon!" Chihiro groaned before she fell to her knees once more.

Terrafin growled between his fangs as he tried to pull himself to the feet, but it seems like the quakes were too great ever for him—he could barely stand for a second before he fell to his knees once more!

Dino-Rang, meanwhile, grabbed his boomerangs and threw them right at the Evil Rock Dragon!

Despite all the quakes and chaos, the boomerangs soared right at the Rock Dragon. But, they still couldn't make contact, for a conveniently-timed boulder to deflect them back at Dino-Rang and conk him in the head! Dino-Rang groaned and shook his head, then reclaimed his boomerangs and shot them again.

Ever diligent, Chihiro followed as she shot off sphere after magic sphere at the Evil Rock Dragon, but even their combined battalion of attacks did little in the way of damage! Everything they threw was either deflected away by island debris or stopped mid-transit by the intense quakes!

Terrafin grunted as he dug his claws into the ground, then looked behind as a lurching sound croaked out.

"Uh, guys," Terrafin shouted as water splashed his feet, "You might wanna hurry this up, or we'll be sharkbait!"

Chihiro and Dino-Rang both looked down to the island and grimaced, because sure enough Terrafin was right!

Slowly but surely, the cracks in the island had begun leaking swamp water onto its surface! And worse yet, it was accumulating quite fast. If something wasn't done soon, it would probably completely sink any time now!

"Crap!" Chihiro exclaimed as she scrambled to avoid the pooling water underneath her.

Bash grunted as he took a step further. Then another one, then a third, his movements surprisingly fast in light of all the intense vibrations! He must have noticed this as well, judging by the look of awe in his eyes as he looked down at his feet.

"Guys, go on ahead!" Bash exclaimed as he looked back at the others, "I'll take care of this rockhead!"

"You sure, Bash?" Chihiro asked as she looked up at Bash, a slight frown and knitted eyebrows on her face.

Bash only nodded, then curled up into a ball, rolled forward and slammed straight into the Evil Rock Dragon! It was so sudden, the Evil Rock Dragon didn't see Bash coming and flew right onto the bridge!

"Ughhhh…" The Evil Rock Dragon mumbled as it stumbled to its feet, "Did someone get the number on that balloon?"

Bash rammed right into the Evil Rock Dragon once more, which sent it flying back onto the island! This time, however, it was faster to recover! it merely shook its head, curled up and smacked Bash sideways!

Chihiro, Terrafin and Dino-Rang all watched this for mere moments, then nodded to each other and ran across the bridge. Once they were safely stationed on the other, decidedly not waterlogged side, the peered across to Bash and the Evil Rock Dragon's brawl.

The sinking island tipped left and right as they swerved all around, chased each other and smacked each other silly! It… Kind of looked like a rocky game of pinball, to be honest.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The Evil Rock Dragon exclaimed as it ground against Bash.

"Stopping you, that's what!" Bash shouted back as he dug further against the Evil Rock Dragon.

"Stop me? Hah!" The Evil Rock Dragon spun even further into Bash, "You'll only end up sinking into the deep!"

As the Evil Rock Dragon spun faster, the cracking sound underneath grew more intense, while the cracks themselves grew larger and wetter!

Bash grimaced as he cast a glance down at the ground below, then spun out the way and unfurled himself.

"I gotta… Finish this up…" Bash panted as he looked towards the Evil Rock Dragon, "But how?"

Bash contemplated for a few seconds, then looked up as a loud rumbling echoed around the isle—the sound of the Evil Rock Dragon barreling towards him! Bash jumped out of the way as the Evil Rock Dragon bowled forward.

The Evil Rock Dragon screeched to a stop as it hit the island's watery edge, then unfurled itself and panted for a few moments. Its breath recovered, it glared down Bash and rolled towards him once more!

But this time, Bash was more than prepared! As it grew close enough to him, he merely smacked it full-force with his tail and sent it soaring!

"I'll be backkkkkkkkkkkkk!" The Evil Rock Dragon exclaimed as it flew into the distance.

Bash smiled for a few moments as he watched the Evil Rock Dragon disappear over the horizon, only to stumble backwards as the island started to tip over! With a sharp gasp, he scrambled his way up to the island's tip, his eyes small and his teeth clenched. If it was possible for him, surely he would've been sweating buckets by now.

While he finally gripped onto the top of the island, the others raced across the bridge and leaned other in order to grab him… Only for the island to lurch backwards! They all screamed as they dung their fingers into the island and latched on as tight as they could!

Bash did the same as well, but his grip slipped and sent him tumbling backwards! Just as Bash closed his eyes and likely braced for the end, he completely stopped falling! Bash made a confused noise as he looked up, then smiled wide!

"Dino-Rang!" Bash called as his eyes glittered.

"C'mon, just a little further!" Dino-Rang grunted as he pulled Bash up the island.

However, Bash was quite heavy, so heavy that even Dino-Rang had started to lose his grip! Dino-Rang grunted as he kept trying to pull Bash up, then toppled over and sent them both falling!

Luckily for them, Terrafin was quick to react! He slid down and grabbed Dino-Rang's hand tight, then smiled as Chihiro grabbed onto his own.

"Hang on guys," Chihiro panted as she looked over her shoulder, "This is gonna be one heck of a riiiIIIIDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEE—"

Right as Chihiro spoke, the island lurched over, then flopped down onto the lake with a gigantic SPLASH that coated the surroundings in swamp water!

As the island sunk further and further into the depths of the swamp, a small glimmer of light manifested on the peninsula. That glimmer of light grew brighter and brighter by the second, until it was about the size of a small boulder and had slowly shaped itself into some kind of vague shape… Then finally, the light faded to reveal that Chihiro, Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang had teleported onto the peninsula's grounds!

"Heh… Hah…" Chihiro panted as she wiped sweat from her brow and made a weak smile, "Is… Is everybody alright? Say 'aye' if you're alive!"

The other three stumbled in a dizzy haze and collapsed into a pile, but nevertheless, they still all gave Chihiro thumbs up.

"Aye," responded their three tired voices in between caught breaths.

Everybody regained their balance and jumped to their feet, then slowly broke in smiles and laughter.

Chihiro gave them a slightly confused glance at first, tiny frown and raised eyebrows and all. But finally, she herself broke into laughter and wrapped the other three in a tight hug.

"Man, I really cut that one close!" Chihiro laughed as she let go and pointed towards the lake, "Whatever, something tells me rocky boy over there's gonna be out of our hair for a while."

They all smiled, then nodded and made their way to the peninsula's open pathway…

§

The peninsula's surroundings and rocky plains all slowly, but surely blended into one as Chihiro and the Skylanders traveled forth. Everywhere they looked, there was nothing but grass, cliffsides, rocks… And some very strange rock statues. They were all stationed in neat rows, their appearance completely identical—heads with legs and odd-looking faces, all carefully constructed from bleached white stone. They looked so crude and dull, it was almost unnerving.

"There sure are a lot of statues here…" Dino-Rang remarked as he examined one of the strange rock statues with a chin on his hand.

"No kidding!" Chihiro said as she giggled and patted one, "They sure are funny-looking, though!"

Chihiro jumped towards another statue and rattled its head, then moved to another as she picked up its legs and made it dance. Her giggles echoed across the valley as she toyed and teased the statues in all sorts of ways… But while she did this, she was completely oblivious to how the statues trembled and shook.

However, Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang were quick to notice!

"Chihiro!" Dino-Rang called with a frown, "You might wanna stop messin' with those things!"

"Why?" Chihiro looked up from knocking on the head of one trembling statue.

Just then, the statue Chihiro had toyed with rumbled and spewed out lava from its gaping mouth! Chihiro screamed and jumped back as the lava trailed down the hills, then slunk down and caught her breath. As she panted, however, even more statues start pouring out lava out of nowhere!

"What the heck?!" Chihiro jumped to her feet and looked all around, "Where's Eruptor when you need him?!"

Chihiro yelped as the lava drew a few inches too close, then teleported back to the Skylanders' side. Not that it did her any good, anyways, because all the lava from the statues had converged into one, gigantic river of magma! Soon enough, their tiny circle was one of the few places safe from it, but with how fast the magma was coming it wouldn't be for long!

As they squeezed in closer, Chihiro flung her hands in front of her person and crafted a bubble shield around the four of them! But, the heat was so intense, it caused the shield to crack immediately! Chihiro winced, pressed her hands against the shield, then watched as the cracks sealed back up. Chihiro breathed a sigh of relief as she fell down and panted.

"Is it just me," Chihiro remarked as she tugged on her collar, "Or are you guys getting hot too?"

"Yeah, it's not just you, Chi," Terrafin winced as he watched the shield, "That shield's getting pretty hot under the collar!"

Chihiro winced as a flash of red light cast itself over her, complete with much more intense heat than before. As the heat beat down, she turned back to her shield—which was now completely red and cracked!

"Yikes! Better fix that!" Chihiro ran towards the shield and placed her hands on it, only to yowl and leap back, "Dang, that's hot!"

Chihiro grimaced, then held her red hot hands out. As she exerted every bit of magic within her to cast beams of energy out at the shield, sweat rained down her face and she panted heavily. Clearly, this heat affected her just as much as it did the shield!

And the same was true of Terrafin, Dino-Rang and Bash, who all panted and held their heads. As they tried to collect themselves, however, they heard a thunk and turned their attention back to a shuddering Chihiro!

It was hard to tell if it was the shield's lighting or the heat, but Chihiro's face was red as a cherry! And worse yet, she was shaking something fierce, her legs practically jelly as she forced herself to keep the shield up, then finally fainted.

"Chihiro!" Terrafin called as he ran over and caught her before she hit the ground.

Terrafin knelt down as Dino-Rang walked over and examined Chihiro. But as they did, intense cracking noises popped out and caused them to look up at the shield.

Though Chihiro had done well to repair it, the cracks were still there—and they'd only get more intense if they stayed among all this magma!

"Time to get this ball rolling!" Bash exclaimed as he clenched his teeth and bent down. He then curled up and rolled straight into the side of the shield!

The impact from his attack completely dislodged the bubble shield from the ground and sent it rolling all the way down the magma river! Everybody screamed as Bash rolled the shield all the way down the magma river, which intermingled with the heat-induced screeches the shield made to perform a symphony of terror! The screaming only continued as the shield rolled right off a cliff, leaped into the air…

Then finally shattered as it slammed straight on the top of a watchtower! It was a good thing it had a nice, flat platform, or otherwise they might've been done for! The cool autumn air was for once a welcome change as the heat subsided and everybody faceplanted.

"Everyone alive?…" Chihiro groaned as she sat up and rubbed her head.

Everybody else just groaned.

"Geez, that was one rough landing…" Chihiro bit her lip, "Did I hit something?"

Chihiro stood up, looked down and found that she was right! There below her was a simple, golden key! Chihiro hummed as she lifted it from the ground and watched it sparkle in the afternoon light.

"Why would somebody just leave a key lying around?" Chihiro shrugged as she put it away in her pocket, "Whatever, finders keepers."

Once everybody had collected themselves, the four of them walked down the watchtower's spiraling staircase, which lead to a humble, largely untouched dirt road. With nowhere else to go, they followed the road down. The autumn breeze cooled them down as they walked in silence, then stopped short as they caught sight of a gate not that far ahead!

"Oh, that's why!" Chihiro exclaimed as her eyes widened. She then retrieved the key from her pocket and beamed!

Chihiro rushed up to the gate, then plunged the key into the lock and turned it open.

"Kinda wonder why someone would just conveniently drop that nearby." Chihiro pushed the door open, "But whatever!"

As the gate swung open, the path beneath them changed from dusty dirt to carefully crafted stone floors! Those floors revealed a stone fortress of some kind, filled with wooden barrels, tall stone walls and pathways that changed from stone to dirt once more. But at the front of the furthest wall was the most interesting sight—a gate with three locks, all of which already had their keys inserted and a sign that read "To Stonetown!"

"Lucky!" Chihiro rushed forward, grasped her hand around the first key, then turned it in a slow, almost dramatic manner.

"Something about this doesn't feel right, guys…" Bash remarked with a frown as he watched Chihiro open the gate.

"What doesn't feel right, Bash?" Terrafin asked as he looked down at Bash.

"It feels a little too easy…" Bash zeroed his gaze in on the gate, "Why would those keys just be conveniently in the locks already?"—Bash then turned his gaze towards the many barrels that surrounded them—"And what's with all these barrels? Why would there be so many in one place?"

Chihiro turned the second key in a similar slow manner and reached for the third, only for something to push her back! Chihiro screamed as she fell to the ground, then gasped as she sound of laughter echoed through the realm. As a shadow cast over her, she shook her head and looked up to find…

An evil clone of Terrafin, all purple and brown and mean all over, with the keys spun around its finger!

"You!" Chihiro exclaimed as she jumped to her feet and pointed at the Evil Terrafin clone.

"Me!" The Evil Terrafin clone replied as it smiled and pointed to itself.

Chihiro shoved herself in its face, but it quickly pushed her back before she could even move further. However, Chihiro only grunted and stood her ground.

"Give us back those keys!" Chihiro shook her fist at the evil Terrafin clone, her eyes narrowed.

"Why should I?" The evil Terrafin clone raised an eyebrow, "Cause you'll cry if I don't?"

"Nah…" Terrafin interrupted as he shook his head and cracked his knuckles, "We'll just fight you for them!"

"Yeah!" Bash and Dino-Rang added as they followed Terrafin forwards.

"Four against one? That's hardly fair…" The Terrafin clone remarked as it looked up above, "Seems like I should level the playing field!"

The evil Terrafin whistled, then trained its gaze towards the clear skies! As a shadow dropped down from nowhere, it stepped back right as the shadow's owner crashed to the ground.

"Evil Dirt Shark!" The first person, which was a purple and brown doppelganger of Prism Break, called as it knelt down before the Evil Dirt Shark, "You called?"

While the Prism Break clone knelt, another shadow barreled into the ground, then shook its head and stood up.

"You better have a good reason for this, Evil Dirt Shark!" The Evil Rock Dragon snarled.

"You?!" Bash exclaimed as he caught sight of the Evil Rock Dragon, "How'd you get back here?!"

"You really think one little flight was gonna stop me?" The Evil Rock Dragon glared down Bash in response.

"Evil Rock Dragon, Evil Crystal Golem!" The Evil Dirt Shark called as it tossed a key to the other two.

The two of them turned around, caught their keys immediately then turned their attention back to the Evil Dirt Shark.

"Take those keys somewhere where the Skylanders can't find them, right now!"

As the two of them nodded and ran off, the Evil Dirt Shark dove underground and swam away!

"You! You!" Chihiro exclaimed as she chased after the Evil Dirt Shark, her cheeks puffed like a squirrel's as she shook her fist, "Get back here and face me like a shark!"

Terrafin lunged forward and got ready to chase after Chihiro, but the moment he took a step forward the whole area began to rumble. As he stopped, Terrafin looked behind to see that all those barrels were… Shaking?

"That can't be good," Terrafin remarked.

And Terrafin was right! The barrels all exploded in unison and forced the others to take cover! As they narrowly dodged a showed of splintered wood, a chorus of gnashing teeth and incoherent gremlin noises shouted out around the area.

The four of them all looked up as the shower cleared, only to find an army of blue chompy-looking things before them

"I had a feeling those barrels were a bad thing," Bash remarked as he held his head, "Crunchers, of all the things…"

"Crunchers?" Chihiro asked as she tilted her head.

"They're like chompies…" Bash winced as he looked up at the cruncher army, which looked about ready to pounce, "But way worse!"

The crunchers growled and barked as they jumped after Chihiro and the Skylanders, who were just as quick to launch themselves into the fray!

Dino-Rang was the first to jump into battle as he tossed his boomerangs at the crunchers… But the crunchers only latched onto the boomerangs as they returned to Dino-Rang's side! Dino-Rang grimaced as they flew over to him and bit onto his snout!

"Not again!" Dino-Rang exclaimed as he tried to pull the crunchers off of his snout, "Get off'a me, ya little weeds!"

Just then, right as Dino-Rang fruitlessly tried to pull the crunchers off of him, a gigantic rock crashed nearby and created such a blast it blew the crunchers straight off! Dino-Rang blinked, then looked behind to see Bash frantically smash through rock pillar after pillar!

In Bash's defense, his rock assault DID knock the crunchers away… But in the heavy rain of rocks and boulders, there was no discernment between friend and foe!

"Watch where you're swinging that thing, Bash!" Terrafin exclaimed as he narrowly dodged a giant boulder.

As Terrafin jumped away from the crash site of another large boulder, Bash looked over and cringed.

"Heh, sorry guys," Bash remarked as he looked towards Terrafin, only for his eyes to widen as he leaped a foot in the air, "OWCH!"

As Bash landed, he turned around to see that several crunchers had latched onto his tail! He frantically stomped about and shook his tail as fast as he could, but those crunchers had latched on tight. There was no shaking them!

"Get them off me!" Bash shouted as he continued to jump around, "Get them off me!"

Chihiro caught sight of this, then teleported over and latched onto Bash's tail. She tried to yank the crunchers off herself, but their grip was far too strong for her own! Instead of shaking them, she ended up getting shaken as well!

"Whoa, oah!" Chihiro exclaimed as she was flailed up and down, "Bash! Stop, You're making me dizzy!"

As Terrafin punched away a few crunchers, he looked over to see Bash and Chihiro still screaming and unsuccessfully trying to drive away crunchers.

"Looks like they could use a hand," Terrafin remarked as he cracked his knuckles, "Or a fist!"

So, he dove underground and tunnel over to Bash and Chihiro's side.

Chihiro, meanwhile, grunted as she reached out her hand and tried to pull a nearby cruncher off… Only to pop right off of Bash's tail as something slammed right into the ground! Chihiro winced as she fell on her back, then pulled herself up and beamed!

There before her was none other than Terrafin, who had pulled himself up from what appeared to be a bodyslam. At least, judging by the Terrafin-sized imprint in the ground, anyways.

And for that matter, Chihiro wasn't the only thing that had been shaken! The various crunchers that had latched onto Bash's tail had all fallen off and stumbled around, barely able to keep their footing. Now was her chance! Chihiro held out her hand and shot out a pulsating wave of magic! That wave of magic enveloped the crunchers as they looked about in confusion, only to shock them so badly that they were left completely fried! Smoke emitted from their bodies as they whimpered and passed out.

"Thanks for that, Fin," Bash said as he rubbed his tail, which was now red and sore.

"No prob, Bash!" Terrafin replied as he walked over and playfully smacked Bash on the back.

The crunchers all looked around at the chaos the battle had brought, then huddled together into one big, blue blob. From up close, it kind of looked like they were… Whispering to each other?

"Wha'dya think they're doing?" Chihiro asked as she examined the crunchers, "Are they planning something?"

"Nah, there's not smart enough for that, Chi!" Terrafin said as he patted Chihiro's shoulder.

"You got that right!" Chihiro giggled and held a hand to her mouth, "I bet they have weeds for brains!"

"As if they have any brains at all!"

Terrafin and Chihiro both laughed, but it seems the crunchers didn't find their smart remarks so funny. Instead of laughing, they all twitched and turned to the quartet with bared teeth and low growls! Terrafin and Chihiro both cut short their laughter as they all stared down each other in one big stalemate. It was a moment of tense peace, with both parties in anticipation of the others' next move…

Then finally, the crunches huddled together and stacked on top of each other until they had created one gigantic wave! It was as tall as the fortress they fought in, and worse yet, it was coming in fast!

"Crap!" Chihiro exclaimed as she jumped into action and crafted a shield around her group.

But as the crunchers rained down, her shield started to crack under the pressure, literally!

Chihiro squeaked as white cracks formed in its surface, then held out her hands and watched them vanish.

Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin watched Chihiro hold up the shield for moments, then shuffled together.

"We gotta do something about those crunchers…" Terrafin whispered as he cast the cruncher wave a glance, "But what?"

"Those pillars worked pretty well the last time…" Bash whispered back as he followed Terrafin's gaze, "Maybe we should use those!"

"Yeah, and with my stone traps it'll be a piece of cake!" Dino-Rang added as he slammed a scaly fist against his palm.

"That does sound pretty good…" Terrafin remarked with a nod, "But I have a better idea!"

The three of them discussed their ideas in hushed whispers far too low to be heard, then finally broke away and nodded.

"Chi," Terrafin called as he walked up and tapped Chihiro's shoulder, "Drop the shield!"

"But, why?" Chihiro asked as she turned to Terrafin and back up at the shield, "There's no way we can tackle all these things at once!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Terrafin winked and smile, "Cause we've got a plan!"

Chihiro took one look at Terrafin, then at Bash and Dino-Rang in the background. With an understanding nod, Chihiro let go of the shield and watched her hands' light flicker out.

As the shield began to flicker in unison, Terrafin dove underground and tunneled at a massive speed! His speed was so great, in fact, the ground around began to shake and crack so badly that the cruncher wave completely dissipated!

Chihiro shuddered as the quake struck, then teleported to the safety of a nearby rooftop and watched the battle unfold.

While the crunchers stumbled about, dazed and confused from the shock of Terrafin's little swim, Terrafin popped out of the ground! He looked over the cracks that had now formed in the ground, then signaled towards Bash.

Bash, in response, slammed his tail into the ground and watched the cracks enlarge.

"Dino-Rang, now!" Bash exclaimed as he turned back to Dino-Rang.

Dino-Rang nodded, then slammed his fists onto the ground and sent dozens of stone traps shooting out from the fissures! And with every one that was sent out, dozens of crunchers were sent flying away!

Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin were more than content to watch as the mostly-unconscious crunchers rained from above… But when the earth started to rumble and the cracks grew wider, well, they were definitely singing a different tune as they scurried to safety!

"Guess it's my turn!" Chihiro exclaimed as she pressed her hand against the rooftop and teleported away.

Chihiro popped back down, then held out her glowing hands. As she held them, magic sprung from her palms and flew into the fissures, which caused them to glow a bright blue, but only for a few seconds before the magic faded out entirely.

"Guess I'll need a little backup!" Chihiro clenched her teeth and clapped her hands.
As she clapped them, a bunch of magical glue bottles manifested out of thin air! Once there was enough to nearly blot out the sky, Chihiro clapped once more and watched as they grew to a giant's size!

"Glue bottles…" Chihiro pointed towards the growing fissures, "Seal up these cracks!"

The glue bottles bowed as if they were nodding, then immediately went to work as they glued the fissures back together with magic! Soon enough, the magic glue had sealed the area back in place, and in the process completely coated the crunchers in a sticky prison!

The crunchers struggled and struggled, but it was no use! They were completely trapped!

Chihiro smirked as she rested her hands on her hips and watched the glue bottles disappeared, then turned her attention back to Bash, Terrafin and Dino-Rang.

"That was awesome, guys!" Chihiro exclaimed as her smirk turned to a genuine smile, "Up top!"

Cheers erupted all around as Chihiro high-fived the others, then died as soon as they looked at the gate. Even though that was taken care of, there was still the issue of finding that keys and getting past that gate.

"Looks like we've still gotta find those keys, don't we?" Chihiro sighed and hung her head, then shook it as she turned back to the others.

Their gaze trailed to the gate's sides, where two paths resided. Both went from stone to dirt, but while the leftmost was wide open and covered in grass and flowers, the other was more cavern-like with its cobweb decorations and black depths. Two paths, four people… Guess the decision to make here was obvious.

"Bash, DR, you guys take that grassy path. Fin and I will check out the crypt!" Chihiro let go of the huddle and stood tall, "Got it?"

"Got it!" The other three proclaimed as they split into their respective groups and began to part ways.

"Good luck, guys!" Chihiro exclaimed as she waved back at Bash and Dino-Rang.

§

Birds flew en masse out of the nearby trees as screams echoed from the valley, only amplified by the vast nothingness that its plains provided. The birds weren't the only thing that flew, however. If one were to look closely in the distance, the silhouettes of what seemed to be two people in bulky armor soared against the vast blue…

Bash smiled as he rolled back and unfurled himself, his eyes trained on the objective—the stone gates of what appeared to be a gigantic fortress, all flanked by two remaining guards. The guards narrowed their eyes as they held their shiny spears tight, but that was of no matter to Bash. His skin was far too hard for them to even dent it to begin with! So, he got ready to curl up…

"Incoming!" Dino-Rang exclaimed from beside Bash.

Right before Bash could make his move, a familiar pair of boomerangs soared over his head and slammed the guards right into the walls of the very fortress they were trying to protect!

As the guards groaned and slunk down, the boomerangs flew back into the scaly green hands of Dino-Rang, who blew them off like they were smoking guns.

The two of them watched the guards with a wary kind of intentness, then finally Bash walked up to them and gently prodded their heads to gain no response in return. Yep, these guards were definitely out for the count!

"Nice one, Dino-Rang!" Bash cheered as he gently batted Dino-Rang's shoulder with the mace of his tail.

"Ah, it's nothin', mate!" Dino-Rang brushed away Bash's tail, a slight smile on his face, "These kinda techniques are stuff they'd teach ya as soon as yer old enough to hold a 'rang where I'm from!"

"Still cool, though." Bash smiled and furled himself into a ball, then rolled into the open gates of the fortress.

Even though it paled in comparison to flying, Bash loved the freedom that came with rolling through the plains as the breeze dusted your scales with its gentle kisses… Then he slammed into a wall. Ouch. Bash groaned as he rolled back and popped open, then shook his head and looked up.

There before him was a gigantic beaten pathway made out of a large cliff face, except a good chunk of its sections had been hollowed out. Beside these broken segments were none other than massive stone blocks. These stone blocks were big enough to easily fit into the various gaps in the pathway, but they did look quite heavy. Good thing Bash was as tough as a rock!

Bash only walked forward, then pressed his head against the first block in front of him. Then pressed the entire side of his body when that didn't work. And then slammed it with his tail. But even so, the block itself only pressed forward a few inches! Bash stopped and heaved his breath, but he wasn't going to give up just yet! He backed up and charged forward, then slammed his head straight into the block and watched it slide right into the spot it was meant for. Bash stepped forwards, a moment taken to rub the dust off of his snout, then walked through the path…

Only to find yet another massive stone block. With a sigh, he stepped back and got ready to charge it…

"Hey, Bash!" Dino-Rang called as he stepped to Bash's side, "Blimey, that's one big rock…"—Dino-Rang paused and looked down at Bash—"What're ya doin'?"

"Trying to charge into it to push it in?" Bash looked up at Dino-Rang and paused.

"Or we could just push it together?"

Dino-Rang walked up to the stone block, then pushed against it with all his might!

Bash shrugged, then walked up to the block and pushed against it as well. With a loud groan the stone laboriously slid against the earth, then finally slid straight into the hole! And with half the pain of slamming his face full-force into it, too! Bash smiled, then he and Dino-Rang looked at each other and nodded before proceeding.

"You know, Rang, I've always wondered…" Bash remarked as they climbed up the way, "What was your old homeland like?"

"My old home?" Dino-Rang repeated with maybe a bit of surprise, before he made a small chuckle and looked out at the vast plains, "Well… It was a lot like this old place, to be honest!"

"Really?" Bash pressed himself against another cinder block that masked the way ahead.

"You bet'cha!" Dino-Rang pushed as well, then watched as the block slid into the slot ahead, "Lots of dunes and grassy plains whereva ya looked, tons of wild animals as far as the eye could see, clear skies all day…"—Dino-Rang smiled as he watched Bash hop onto the cinder block—"Why, I'd go so far to say it was a regular paradise!"

"It sounds really nice!" Bash smiled and wagged his tail, "Like the perfect place to roll around…"

"Ya certainly could've!" Dino-Rang and Bash walked ahead, their footsteps brisk and almost kind of relaxed, "Never did much rollin', though. I always spent my time huntin' or practicin' with my 'rangs!"

Dino-Rang flicked one of his boomerangs ahead, then watched it fly back and caught it without even flinching.

"As you ken see, it really paid off!" Dino-Rang smiled as he rubbed his thumb against his boomerang, a sense of loneliness in his orange eyes.

Bash couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Dino-Rang as he heard him talk. Something about the way Dino-Rang spoke of his homelands felt almost… Yearning, like a desire for something so long gone that you'd never see it again, but you still can't help but want for it to come.

"Do you miss your home?"

Dino-Rang's smile fell for a bit, but it returned nonetheless as he made a small nod.

"Can't help but miss it sometimes. You'll always find yourself missing the place ya grew up in eventually." Dino-Rang clutched his boomerangs tight, "Or the folks ya grew up with…"—Dino-Rang looked to the skies and watched as a flock of birds flew overhead—"But 'cha know, Skylands has a lot of charms of its own, so I don't get too upset now!"

As Dino-Rang smiled, Bash couldn't help but smile as well. Dino-Rang's optimism was contagious, to be honest. When he smiled and cracked his jokes that didn't really make any sense, everybody else burst into smiles, too!

"Ah, I got carried away again, didn't I?" Dino-Rang shook his head and stomped forward, "C'mon, Bash, we've gotta find that key!"

"Oh, right!" Bash exclaimed as he ran forwards, "I completely forgot!"

The two of them ran up to the next stone block, then pushed it in its path to find that ahead, the pathway had ended! Instead, they were greeted by another row of stone walls and gigantic tower fortresses.

Geez, just how big is this fortress, anyways? Bash thought as he made a toothy frown, It feels like we've been walking through this place forever…

As Bash reflected, his eyes trailed over to the top of the tallest pillar in the fortress, which had a shimmer of gold reflected and just barely visible to the naked eye!

"Dino-Rang, did you see that?!" Bash asked as he nudged Dino-Rang's arm and pointed to the top of the fortress, "We've found our key!"

Dino-Rang frowned, then held a hand over his eyes and watched the fortress.

"Looks like we 'ave!" Dino-Rang smiled and nudged Bash's shoulder, "Come on!"

The two of them ran towards the pathway with a spring in their step, but soon than ran turned to a walk then stopped altogether. Something seemed almost strange about this. They were alone in a fortress, no traps or guards or enemies in sight. It was quiet in a way that felt almost wrong. But, either way they carried on to the large pillar, which much like the path before had several gigantic cinder blocks strewn about a pathway full of deep holes. They walked up to the first block in the way, pushed it into the hole…Then they heard a click followed by what was possibly the loudest siren blare they had ever heard!

As they stumbled back in confusion, trolls, drow soldiers and only the Ancients know what else dropped in from nowhere, weapons brandished and ready to fire! Bash gritted his teeth, ready to roll out and attack…

Then one of the trolls jumped back in fear.

"Evil Rock Dragon, sir, it's you!" The troll proclaimed in a sheer level of panic, "Our apologies, sir!"—the troll frantically bowed and shook their head—"What brings you to the fortress, sir?"

"… Huh?" Bash uttered as he crooked an eyebrow, then yelped as Dino-Rang gently nudged his elbow.

"Mate, listen, now's our chance!" Dino-Rang whispered as he nudged himself just close enough to Bash for nobody to notice, "We just gotta convince these blokes that yer on their side!"

"But how do I do that?!" Bash looked towards Dino-Rang and cringed, "I'm not really good at lying… Or making things up on the spot."

"Just follow my lead." Dino-Rang whispered something into Bash's ear, then drew back with a scowl.

Bash nodded, then turned back to address the waves of Kaos's cronies.

"Well," Bash said after a quick clear of his throat, "I managed to take one of the Skylanders captive in a fit of luck! I was going to take him in to Lord Kaos…"—Bash nudged his head above—"But, I need the key up there to reach Lord Kaos's prisoner ship!"

"Yes, sir!" The nervous-looking troll froze into a salute, then ran over towards the pillar, "I'll just go take care of that pesky alarm system for you…"

"Hold up a second," said a lanky drow from the crowd as they pulled back the troll, "We don't have a ship for prisoners, just a warship! And even then, we have teleporter wristbands for that! Why would you need a key?"

"W-well," Bash sputtered as he broke into a slight sweat, "My teleporter wristband broke in the fight with the Skylander!"

"Oh, is that so?" The drow shook their head and walked closer to Bash, "Let me see it, then. I'm sure I could fix it up a little—"

"NO, NO! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" Bash jumped back while sweat dripped even faster down his brow, "I, I mean, it's well beyond repair, I doubt you could do anything about it."

"Then why not have Lord Kaos portal you back to the warship?" The drow crossed their arms as their ears twitched, "You have a communicator device, don't you?"

"THAT GOT BROKEN IN THE FIGHT TOO!" Bash spat out as his legs shook, "A-and, besides, Lord Kaos does get pretty testy when people interrupt his evil plotting!"

"Don't you mean glorious evil plotting?" The drow finally pushed their face in front of Bash's, "And for that matter, you look kind of dirty… Have you not been bathing lately?"

"I DIRT-BATHE DAILY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Bash shot back as he pushed his face in the drow's.

"What's going on here?"

All eyes turned to the back of the crowd as a voice much like Bash's own echoed throughout the field.

And in that moment, Bash knew that the jig was up—because right behind the crowd was none other than the Evil Rock Dragon, the Evil Crystal Golem by its side!

"EVIL ROCK DRAGON!?" The drow exclaimed as it looked back at Bash and then at the Evil Rock Dragon, "WHY ARE THERE TWO OF YOU?!"

The Evil Rock Dragon's jaw dropped as it stared down Bash, then it growled and pointed a claw.

"YOU'VE HAD WOOL PULLED OVER YOUR EYES, YOU BUFFOONS!" The Evil Rock Dragon exclaimed as it bore its teeth, "That's a filthy Skyander!"

"He's the real imposter!" Bash exclaimed as he pointed a claw back at the Evil Rock Dragon, "Get him! Please!"

"PLEASE?!" The minions exclaimed in unison as they brandished their weapons at Bash and Dino-Rang.

"The Evil Rock Dragon never says please or thank you!" The drow exclaimed as they withdrew a mechanical stick that soon expanded into a long scythe, then cast a glance aside, "Sure wish it would though…"—The drow shook their head and pumped their scythe to the skies—"HE'S THE REAL FAKE! ATTACK THEM!"

The minions all readied their weapons and pointed them towards a shaking Bash and a sighing Dino-Rang.

"Well, it was a nice plan in theory…" Dino-Rang sighed as he withdrew his boomerangs, his brows tightened, "Guess we're gonna have to do things the old-fashioned way!"

Dino-Rang flung the boomerangs straight towards the troll and drow that had harassed him and Bash just moments earlier, then watched with pride as they beaned the minions in the head! With a smirk he reclaimed his boomerangs and basked in a momentary victory… Only to jump back as the other minions cried out and charged!

"Guess that's my cue!" Bash exclaimed as he curled into a ball and charged!

With a cheetah's speed Bash razed down the crowd, a clean path created as he knocked the petty soldiers to the skies! It was all so exhilarating as he dashed through the crowds and poured down the grassy green hills, so much that he was fully ready to turn around and do it again… But before he could, something blindsided him and slammed him down!

"Though you could get away with impersonating me, did you?!" The Evil Rock Dragon exclaimed as it pushed against Bash, "You're not good enough to be my fake!"

"Fake?!" Bash shouted back as he pushed further against the Evil Rock Dragon, "You're the real faker around here!"

"I'LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS!" The Evil Rock Dragon pushed forwards with a renewed strength just strong enough to slam Bash against a nearly tree!

Bash flew into the tree and snapped its trunk in half, but he wasn't deterred! He merely jumped back to his feet and started rolling again! Bash and the Evil Rock Dragon slammed and slammed against each other like combating pinballs in a tilting pinball machine, neither party willing to fall into the deep…

But while Bash and the Evil Rock Dragon were going at it, Dino-Rang was holding a battle of his own! With ever spin and twist and flick of his wrist he shot out boomerangs through the massive crowds of enemies, all of which were knocked down like flies in seconds!

"Y'know, you lot are a lot easier than you look!" Dino-Rang proclaimed as he sent a wave of gremlins down for the count with a shot of his boomerangs, "I've faced kittens tougher than you! Where's the challenge, mates?"

Dino-Rang reclaimed his boomerangs from the skies and held them high, then yelped as something seared his hands! Dino-Rang dropped his boomerangs, then looked down and gasped as he saw that they were fried and charred! He knelt down and went to pick them back up, but they were so hot that he couldn't even touch them!

"What're you gonna do now, dragon?" The Evil Crystal Golem sneered as it stepped past the crowds of fallen soldiers, "Your novelty act's been burned!"

Dino-Rang scowled, then clasped his fists together and slammed then straight into the ground! With the force of an earthquake, rows of stone traps exploded from the ground and sent the unconscious soldiers flying into the distant skies.

"I AIN'T A DRAGON, YA BLOKE!" Dino-Rang exclaimed as he snarled, his fists still clenched tight.

The traps resided, and soon revealed that the battlefield was now completely cleared out save for Bash, Dino-Rang, and the evil clones. It was an even field at last, two versus two in the vast nothingness of the open plains. But, which side would come out victorious?

Bash grunted as he rolled back to Dino-Rang, who only recollected the now-cooled down boomerangs from the grass. The two of them glared down the evil clones... Then they both pounded the ground once more and gated off the fortress with a wall of stone pillars!

All that came from the other side was pounding and annoyed screams as the clones tried to break the walls, but to no avail. These walls were s tough, they simple wouldn't crack or budge.

"Now!" Dino-Rang shouted as he and Bash bolted up the pillar's pathway!

The two of them ran like their lives, or perhaps the fate of Skylands itself depended on them obtaining this simple key! As they ran up the path and faced another cinder block, however, Bash paused and frowned as he looked down on Dino-Rang's precious boomerangs.

They were completely covered in char and soot… There was no way they'd still be usable after all that!

"Sorry about your boomerangs," Bash whispered as his crimson eyes fixed on them.

"Oh, these old things?" Dino-Rang only smiled and brushed them off, "They're a lot more durable than ya think, mate!"—As the soot fell into a pile at their feet, Dino-Rang held the boomerangs out towards Bash—"See? Good as new!"

Bash smiled as he looked down at the boomerangs, which sure enough, were now free of any contamination! Dino-Rang's homeland must have had some pretty impressive woodsmiths, or boomerang-smiths, or whatever one calls people who make boomerangs…

Then Bash heard something that sounded like splitting stone and looked back at his gate… That was soon to be no more! A gigantic, circular crack had formed in the center of the gate, and it spread with every passing minute. At this rate, it probably wouldn't last much longer!

Dino-Rang seemed to understand this as well, as he stowed away his boomerangs and began pushing the cinder block ahead! He only grunted and carried on as Bash joined him in pushing the block, then ran ahead as it finally slid into place!

The cracking stone was a backdrop to their adventures as Bash and Dino-Rang ran up paths and pushed blocks into place. Though they ran fast, the cracks spread even faster than they could run, and soon enough…

SMASH!

A loud, crumbling sound froze Bash and Dino-Rang in place, then finally they pushed themselves to turn back and see that their barrier had completely cracked and crumbled into itty-bitty pieces! And who else would be in the center of the fray but the Evil Rock Dragon and the Evil Crystal Golem?

Both evil clones looked up at Bash and Dino-Rang (Or at least seemed to, it was hard to tell from the distance). The Evil Crystal Golem raised its crystalline that glowed harsh and bright against the afternoon sun, and from there a cavalry of lasers sprung in all directions!

Dino-Rang ducked as a laser shot just inches away from his head, but Bash only curled himself into a ball.

"I'll take care of these creeps!" Bash exclaimed as he rolled straight off of the pathway, "You just get the key!"

Dino-Rang nodded, then watched as Bash rolled onto the grass and began chasing down the evil clones. Then, he stood back up and bolted up the free pathway!
While Dino-Rang climbed the pathway, Bash mowed down grass and kicked up dust everywhere he rolled—a perfect masquerade as he chased down the Evil Crystal Golem! While the Crystal Golem panted and fell to its knees, Bash smirked. Now was the perfect opportunity to raze it down…

"Oh no you don't!" The Evil Rock Dragon shouted as it slammed straight into Bash from behind!

This unexpected assault tossed Bash straight into the air, then with a labored grunt Bash landed right onto his back. He groaned as he tried to stagger back up. But then, the Evil Rock Dragon crashed right into him again and slammed him straight into the pillar! Bash stumbled up and winced. As he looked up, he saw Dino-Rang run further and smiled before he glared down the Evil Rock Dragon.

Bash roared as he coiled into a ball, then bolted straight for the Evil Rock Dragon as it did the same! The more they traded blows, the more they were blown across the battlefield that was once the plains. Neither party was quite willing to relent… But, Bash was starting to get a bit more worn down from all this fighting. As he was blown away yet again, Bash uncurled himself and panted.

His head was hung low as he regained his breath and strength, then he looked up and was flung back as a laser hit him square in the chestplate! Bash groaned as he slammed into the cliff.

"Ooh, birdies, everywhere…" Bash groaned as he popped out of the cliff and stumbled about.

With Bash out of the way, the Evil Crystal Golem smirked and blew off its hands. Its attention turned towards the pillars as it held up its shining crystalline hands, which whistled like a machine building power.

Dino-Rang gritted his teeth as he ran further up the path, only to be faced with a gigantic cinder block right in front of the final stop! As he walked closer towards it, however, a gigantic laser shot right in between him and the block and forced him to jump back! Dino-Rang fell down as even more lasers shot out from all angles. After he took shelter, he looked down the pathway to see the Evil Rock Dragon rolling up the way!

"Crap, I gotta make this quick!" Dino-Rang whispered as he tried to crawl further towards the block again, only to crawl back as another laser shot through.

With a grunt, he narrowed his eyes then withdrew his boomerangs. Dino-Rang gritted his teeth… And with a flick of his wrist, he sent the boomerangs swirling around the cinder block! Dino-Rang ducked as another laser passed over him, only to pop his head up and watch a golden key slide onto his snout!

"Alright!" Dino-Rang grabbed the key off of his snout and stood while the laser light show came to a close.

He took another quick look down, then smiled as he saw both evil clones completely unconscious and his boomerangs on their way back! He recollected them in a swift movement, then jumped down the paths.

"Bash!" Dino-Rang called as he finally reached the beginning of the path, "Look what I got!"

Bash shook his head and smiled as Dino-Rang came into view with the key in hand!

"Nice going!" Bash exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.

"Couldn't have done it without'cha, mate." Dino-Rang patted Bash's head, then turned around and walked off, "Now c'mon, we've gotta get back to the others!"

And with a smile, the two of them walked down the silent, notably less grassy plains with a new sense of accomplishment in their hearts.

§

Chihiro shuddered as she traversed through the crypt, a sphere of magic her sole source of light in the dark depths of the crypt itself.

Despite the lack of life, the crypts bustled with sounds! From the pitter-patter from water as it dropped from an unknown source, to the skittering of unseen insects, to Chihiro and Terrafin's own footsteps, the whole place seemed to bustle with life! Which, unfortunately, was probably more nerve-wracking than reassuring.

"Geez," Chihiro sputtered as she shuddered once more, "This place sure it's creepy. It's like something out of a horror movie!"—Chihiro bounced her sphere a bit higher up and watched it grow brighter—"I'm just waiting for a movie monster to jump out from the shadows!"

"Like a guy in a cheap monster suit?" Terrafin said as he nudged Chihiro in the shoulder.

Chihiro only giggled, then gently nudged Terrafin back.

"Heh, yeah, like that!" Chihiro breathed a relieved sigh, "To be honest, I'd be glad if it was something like that!"

"What, don't tell me you're scared now!" Terrafin made a look of mock-shock, gaping jaw and all, "You're the one who wanted to come here in the first place!"

"I'm not scared!" Chihiro's shaking disappeared as she raised an eyebrow at Terrafin, "… Unless you are~"

"Me, scared? Who do you think you're talking to?" Terrafin smirked and puffed out his chest, "I've tussled with way worse stuff than this!"

The two of them burst into hapless laughter as Chihiro's sphere shone even brighter than before. For a moment, it seemed as if the creepy atmosphere of the entire crypt vanished, completely swept away by the joy of their laughter. As the sphere floated back down and rested itself in Chihiro's palms, Chihiro made a genuinely happy smile towards Terrafin.

"… Thanks, Fin," Chihiro whispered as she looked down at her feet.

"No problem, kiddo." Terrafin gently patted Chihiro's shoulder.

The two of them smiled and laughed together once more, only for a third laugh to break the surface! It was a mischievous, high-pitched cackle, a voice very unlike their own!

"Who's there?!" Chihiro cast her sphere of light further ahead to find…

An imp! It had a round head and an almost childlike body build, yellow skin and red eyes that glinted with a hint of malevolence. It wore worn, brown leathers gloves, pants and boots, and in its large hand it held none other than a shiny golden key!

"That's the key we need!" Chihiro ran forward and pounced on the imp "Hand it over!"

But the imp had other ideas! It just cackled and dashed on in a flash! It didn't even look behind as Chihiro crashed face-first into the crypt's dusty, dirty stone floors!

Chihiro groaned, then shook her head and jumped to her feet.

"Hey, come back here!" Chihiro shook her fist as she raced after the imp, their rapid footsteps echoed throughout the crypt

Terrafin bolted forward and dove into the earth, but the stone was so thick, he wasn't able to swim at all! All he could do was crash face-first and moan as he rubbed his aching face. However, he quickly shook off the pain and tagged behind Chihiro.

As she saw Terrafin run behind her, Chihiro nodded then grabbed hold of his bulky hand as her own glowed with cyan magic. The two of them were enveloped with that same cyan glow for a few moments, then when it faded they ran at twice the speed they did before!

"WOO-HOO!" Chihiro exclaimed as she let go of Terrafin's hand, dashed forward and pumped her fists high in the air, "I LOVE SPEED SPELLS! THAT IMP WON'T KNOW WHAT HIT—"—Chihiro promptly crashed into a corner's wall—"It."

While Chihiro groaned and slid down the wall, Terrafin rounded the corner and fixed his milky white eyes on the imp! Thanks to the speed boost, he had managed to gain traction on it to the point where he was close enough that he could hear its breath. All he had to do was reach out and grab it… But before he could, something else emerged from the shadows and took the key from the imp!

The key-stealer cackled as the imp hid in the shadows behind it, then finally stepped into a slightly less darker portion for all to view.

"You?!" Terrafin exclaimed as he stopped in his tracks.

"It's me alright," proclaimed the Evil Dirt Shark as it grasped the key tight, then held it up for Terrafin, "Looking for this?"

"Give us the key, buddy." Terrafin simply cracked his knuckles, his eyes narrowed and full of tranquil rage, "And maybe I won't have to rearrange that face of yours!"

"Oh, I'm so scared!" The Evil Dirt Shark's voice was laced with pure sarcasm as it made a smirk, "I might give it to you, but…"

"Fin!" Chihiro called as she finally caught up with Terrafin, "And… That weird clone thing?! What's going on here?!"

"I'll tell you what's going on!" The Evil Dirt Shark slammed its hand against the stone walls of the crypt hallways, "Your friend and I are going to decide whose the real champion of the ring!"

"… The ring?" Chihiro tilted her head and frowned.

"Well," Terrafin said as he crossed his arms, a sneer played on his thin lips, "I can never say no to a good challenge. Fine, I'll take you up."

"So you're not as weak as you look." The Dirt Shark smirked, then punched the side of the wall!

In response, a loud noise akin to shrieking stone was heard as the wall parted to reveal… A secret hallway? There behind that stone slab was a hallway filled with dirt and spiderwebs that might've been even darker than the crypt's prior passages—which was saying a lot.

The Evil Dirt Shark and its imp companion walked down the halls without hesitation, so Chihiro and Terrafin followed after them as well. All was quiet as the Evil Dirt Shark lead them down the way for what seemed like forever. Then finally, it punched another wall and opened up another stone door!

The four of them passed through the passage to find a large, square room. It was as dusty and old as the rest of the crypt, but unlike it, this room lacked the traditional trademarks of the crypt itself. There were no cobwebs, no tombs, no coffins... Rather, it had an elevated, square stone platform in the center decorated with spiderweb fences that almost kinda resembled a boxing ring.

"I see what you're going for, now," Terrafin smirked as he pulled himself onto the platform and smirked.

"Exactly," The Evil Dirt Shark said as it joined Terrafin in the ring.

"Oh, it meant like a boxing match," Chihiro realized as she watched them glare each other down, then cleared her throat, "You can do it, Fin! Show this sucker who's boss!"

As Chihiro cheered, however, the Evil Dirt Shark growled and narrowed its blank white eyes.

"Rule number one! No outside interference!" The Evil Dirt Shark proclaimed as it slammed down on a stone pole.

Chihiro paid no mind to it or anything else as she cheered… That is, until the whole room started to rumble!

"Hey, what's going on?!" Chihiro demanded as the rumbling grew more intense.

Then before she could even say anything else, gigantic, thick stone walls shot up from the ground and blocked off the audience from the match!

"Can't have any cheaters and all." The Evil Dirt Shark made a toothy sneer.

"Fine by me," Terrafin replied as he finished cracking his knuckles and glared down the Evil Dirt Shark, "I don't play dirty, anyways."

Both Terrafin and the Dirt Shark fixed each other in a silent staredown, no motion made as they glared at each other. Then finally, the Evil Dirt Shark withdrew the key from out of nowhere, looked up towards a rusted, open bell and tossed the key up! The prize bell swallowed the key up and closed itself shut with a ring—a ring that signaled to everyone that the battle had begun!

"IT'S FEEDIN' TIME!" Terrafin exclaimed as he thrust forward with a punch.

"You think something like that'll stop me?" The Evil Dirt Shark questioned as it dodged Terrafin's blow, "Ha!"

The Evil Dirt Shark spun around its arm and thrust a punch forward, but Terrafin stepped out of the way and threw a punch of his own! The Evil Dirt Shark, in response, side-stepped out of the blow's path and went to throw another. Terrafin, however, was still ever-vigilant! Once again he side-stepped the punch, then jabbed the Evil Dirt Shark right in its jaw! The Evil Dirt Shark growled and shook its head, then hooked Terrafin in the chest!

It was a completely even match! Every blow the Evil Dirt Shark threw, Terrafin dodged with ease, and likewise every blow that Terrafin threw the Evil Dirt Shark quickly shook off or dodged. Would there ever be any end to the fight?

Terrafin jumped out the way of another round of punches, then stepped back and caught his breath. His eyes glazed over to the Evil Dirt Shark as it lumbered towards him… But as it came into range, he slid forward and hit the Evil Dirt Shark right in its gut with an uppercut! The Evil Dirt Shark howled in pain as it fell on its back, then growled as it staggered up and held its chest. It tried to throw a punch with its free hand, but it was so feeble, so weak, that Terrafin blocked it right off the bat!

"Winning this'll be a snap!" Terrafin smirked as he balled his hands into fists.

"I'd think before you speak!" The still-worn Evil Dirt Shark sneered in between heavy pants, then it stuck its fingers in its mouth and whistled loud and clear!

The entire area was silent for a few moments, then slowly the bricks began to shift open! Sand poured down from the ceiling while rocks shot out from invisible cannons. And all of a sudden, what was once just a simple boxing match had become a lot more deadly.

"So much for no cheaters, huh?" Terrafin said as he watched the arena turn into a near-death trap, but only for moments. With a loud shout he ran forward… But the excess of sand on the ring's floor had caused it to grow much more slippery than before! Terrafin only slid right past the Evil Dirt Shark!

Terrafin recollected himself, but before he could ready his punch he was pelted with gigantic rocks! Terrafin slid out their way, but his mind was so fixed on staying out of the rocks' path that he hadn't noticed any other distractions—like the Evil Dirt Shark! Hidden by the veil of pouring sand, the Evil Dirt Shark slid forward and sucker-punched Terrafin right in the jaw!

"Augh!" Terrafin exclaimed as he was thrown to the ropes then crashed on the floor.

He grunted as he fell back to the stone floors, then tried to stagger back up… Only for the entire ground to shake and cause him to fall back down with a grunt!

"Look at this, you're floundering!" The Evil Dirt Shark laughed as it glared down Terrafin, "And you have the gall to call yourself a champion!"

Terrafin paid no mind to the Evil Dirt Shark's jeering taunts. He only stood back up and wiped the blood from his snout without even flinching. He stepped away as the Evil Dirt Shark tried to jab him, rushed forward and shot a cross right into its side! The Evil Dirt Shark cried out in agony as it got flung into the spiderweb ropes, then growled and slid back into the action!

But while they warred inside, everything else was quite quiet outside. Chihiro and that odd imp were completely silent as they pressed their ears to the stone slab barrier in some attempt to make sense of what was going on inside.

Chihiro bit her lip as she pressed her hand against the stone. A glint of fear shone in her brown eyes from what minimal light could be gleaned within the tunnel, though the shaking of her legs could tell anyone she was worried. Finally, she clasped her hand, narrowed her eyes and took in a deep breath, her fear shaken.

"YOU CAN DO THIS, TERRAFIN!" Chihiro cried at the top of her lungs as she pounded her fist against the wall, "YOU CAN BEAT 'EM!"

Back inside, the battle raged ever on as before…

"GET 'EM, FIN! YOU CAN DO IT!"

Terrafin paused for only a second as Chihiro's words passed the walls and echoed throughout the room, then with a smile he swung past the Evil Dirt Shark's latest punch!

While the Evil Dirt Shark stood in shock, the ground began to rumble like never before! Both parties only stood in silence as even more sand flooded into the room, to the point where they were up to their knees in sand!

But Terrafin wasn't the least bit intimidated! He dove into the sand like it was crystal-clear water and swam through its gritty seas. Then, he popped his head up to see a gigantic tidal wave of sand lurch over the boxing ring and position itself just inches below the prize bell! Terrafin sneered, dove back into the sands and swam with the speed of an entire frenzy of sharks!

The Evil Dirt Shark grunted as it dove head-first into the sands, then raced up to Terrafin and charged straight into him! Terrafin spun around in the sands for mere moment, but quickly shook off the pain and went back to tunneling up the wave! However, the Evil Dirt Shark wasn't one to give up either. It chased after Terrafin in a frenzy, right as the tidal wave crashed and sent both of them flying just inches away from the prize bell!

"You'll get that key over my dead body!" The Evil Dirt Shark exclaimed as it went to punch Terrafin.

"Over your dead body, huh?" Terrafin repeated as he intercepted the Evil Dirt Shark's punch with his palm!

While the Evil Dirt Shark's eyes widened, Terrafin took the opportunity to grab its arm, then swung around and flung the Evil Dirt Shark straight into the rusted prize bell! The Evil Dirt Shark could only scream and flail as it slammed straight into the bell and completely shattered it!

"I.. I… I demand a rematch!" The Evil Dirt Shark exclaimed as it fell unconscious onto the stone platform.

The sifting sands and rolling rocks all disappeared into the walls' various components, with only mild debris left behind on the boxing ring—and the key, of course!

Terrafin smiled as he walked to the center of the ring then collected the key from its worn stone surface.

"Terrafin!" Chihiro called as a grinding stone sound was heard from not far away.

Terrafin turned back to the stone walls, only to find that they were no more! They had completely rescinded into the ground, and all that was left was a very excited Chihiro and a very dizzy imp.

Chihiro's eyes sparkled as Terrafin showed her the key, then with an eager giggle she leaped onto the stone platform!

"I knew you could do it!" Chihiro exclaimed as she hugged Terrafin tight, "I was cheering you on the whole time!"

"Heard you loud and clear, kiddo!" Terrafin smiled as he ruffled Chihiro's hair, then lifted her onto his shoulder.

They smiled and basked in the victory for a few moments more, then finally Chihiro jumped off of Terrafin's shoulder. The two of them hopped off of the ring, then both pairs of eyes trailed back to the imp as it stumbled about and finally fell unconscious.

"What's with that dude, anyways?" Terrafin asked as he looked at Chihiro.

"Well…" Chihiro made a hapless shrug, "It's a long story involving a brick, a baseball bat and some rope. I'll tell you on the way."

And that is exactly what Chihiro did as she and Terrafin trekked back up the tunnel…

§

Chihiro rested her hands on her knees and panted as she finally broke through the crypt's entrance. Thank goodness, she was finally back in the open again! It was so nice to feel the sunlight on her skin and the breeze in her hair! That crypt was seriously starting to creep her out… But, that was no matter now. She and Terrafin had finally arrived back at that gate, and for a moment could finally sit down and breathe.

"Chihiro, Terrafin!" Called a gravely voice from across the way.

Alerted by the voice, Chihiro pulled herself up and looked back across the grassy fields. She could've sworn she saw two blobby figures dash across the spring green fields, two blobby figures that came into view rather quickly… Actually, no, a little too quickly!

Chihiro yelped and jumped out the way as a brown blur flew past her, then slammed into a nearby cinder block and yelped itself! The cinder block shattered to bits as soon as this blur made impact, but oddly enough the blur—or rather, the dragon who created it—was perfectly fine!

"I'm okay," Bash groaned as he shook his head and staggered back to his feet, "I think."

Chihiro chuckled and shook her head, then placed her eyes to her side.

"How'd it go, Chi?" Dino-Rang asked as he walked up to Chihiro and gazed her up.

"Fin, show them the fruits of our work!" Chihiro ordered as she turned her eyes to Terrafin, who was currently chatting it up with Bash.

Terrafin turned around to face Chihiro, then smiled and withdrew the golden key they have retrieved from the crypt! It looked a lot more brilliant now that they could bring it out into the open, its body a first-place trophy whose solid gold shone well against the sunlight.

Dino-Rang smiled as he caught sight of the key, then chuckled and grabbed something from the pockets of his armor… A matching gold key!

"Nice!" Chihiro high-fived Dino-Rang's free hand, then took the key from him and hopped over to the gate.

She shoved the keys into the gate's first two locks, gulped and turned them in unison… But nothing happened. The locks didn't drop, heck, not even a click was heard as she turned them! Were they faulty? Chihiro looked them over and frowned, then went back to frantically turning them. However, once again her work yielded no results. The locks still sat firm and strong on the gate like soldiers.

"Guess we'll need the third key for this to work." Chihiro sighed and shoved the keys back into her pockets as she turned back to the others, "So… Where do you guys think it is?"

"Those plains didn't have anything other than the fortress, as far as I saw…" Bash said as he brushed his tail against the grass.

"Yup," Dino-Rang affirmed as he crossed his arms and nodded his head, "Just grass and dirt as far as the eye could see."

Chihiro frowned, then hummed and rubbed her chin as her eyes trailed back to the crypt's open pathway. Now that she thought about it, she was sure she had seen a second pathway when she and Terrafin had first trailed down there… Could the final key be located there?

"Actually, I might have an idea!" Chihiro spun around and marched back into the crypt, "Follow me!"

Chihiro heard the sound of footsteps behind her as she ventured deeper into the crypt, but she paid little mind to it. Rather, she summoned a magic sphere and used it as a makeshift lantern while the light grew more and more minimal. If she remembered correctly, that split in the paths should have been somewhere around…

"Here!" Chihiro stopped short, then jolted up as she heard the sounds of what sounded like… Skittering? Like, spiders? SPIDERS?!

Chihiro shuddered, then turned around and yipped as she found herself face-to-face with Dino-Rang!

"Oh, Dino-Rang, it's, it's just you." Chihiro panted and brushed the cold sweat off of her face, then turned around and urged her magic sphere to float a little further onward.

In keeping with her silent command the magic sphere floated past her and deeper into the stone halls. Its cyan light illuminated the otherwise dank and dark spaces before them, and revealed twin, open doors. One was flanked by rotted crates and barrels, while the other was decorated at its top with thin spiderwebs that shimmered against the sphere's luminescence!

"We went down that one, right Fin?" Chihiro asked as she pointed down towards the pathway flanked by the barrels.

"I'm pretty sure the footsteps over there have your answer," Terrafin said as he pointed towards the floor.

Sure enough, familiar dusty footprints decorated the old stone floors.

"Path number two it is, then!" Chihiro hummed a jaunt tune as she marched down the second door's path, her sphere a guide to the otherwise darkened halls. Despite the slight feeling of unease she had gotten just from being here, Chihiro felt as unstoppable as she usually did. Nothing could possibly keep her from getting that next key!

Well, nothing but the gigantic cinder block she had marched straight into in a lack of foresight, that is. As the others joined her, Chihiro giggled and rubbed her face.

"There's a block there, apparently." Chihiro turned back around, then snapped her fingers and watched her magic sphere expand!

Its light now covered every corner of the room, and in the process revealed a number of cinder blocks much like the one Chihiro had rammed her face into! They were carefully positioned around the room, much like a puzzle… What could it possibly unlock? A secret entryway much like the one that lead to the secret boxing room? A treasure room? Or maybe just a plain old room filled with coffins?

As Chihiro pondered and the others pushed the blocks out the way, a chill ran down her spine. She could've sworn that she felt something was watching her… But when she turned around, there was nothing there.

"Eh, might've just been a spider or somethin'," Chihiro remarked as she made a hapless shrug, "I hope not, though. Spiders creep me out…"

Just then, Chihiro heard a hiss and could've sworn she felt some soft, glowing light above her… But when she looked up at the ceiling, all she saw were cobwebs and worn stone. Was she imagining things?

"Hey, guys…" Chihiro turned her attention to Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang as they finished clearing out the cinder blocks, "Did you hear something strange?"

"What kind of strange, Chi?" Bash asked as he pushed a cinder block to the right.

"Like…" Chihiro twiddled her fingers and leaned forward, "Spiders skittering and weird creature noises strange?"

"Haven't heard anything like that, nope." Bash shook his head, then looked towards Terrafin and Dino-Rang who both nodded in agreement.

"Ah…" Chihiro sighed and looked aside before she looked back at the path before. She must have just been imagining things again, she did tend to hear noises that weren't actually there and all… But was she, really? Chihiro just shook her head as she followed the others into the next room.

That room much like the one prior was pitch black save of the soft glow of cyan that came from the prior room, so Chihiro summoned another sphere to bring the room to light.

"Another block puzzle?" Chihiro held her head and sighed as she examined the room before her.

True to her words, this room carried yet another collection of awkwardly-arranged and very heavy-looking cinder blocks on its floors. Guess it was her turn to take care of them!

With a snap of Chihiro's fingers, the cinder blocks were enveloped in a cyan glow and pushed themselves out of the way. Slowly, but surely, a semblance of a path formed in the midst… Then the spellcasting came to a stop as loud skittering echoed through the room!

"THE HECK'S THAT SOUND?!" Chihiro exclaimed before her whole body locked up, "Could it be…"—Chihiro gulped and her voice turned to a pained shrill—"SPIDERS?!"

"Spiders?" Terrafin demanded as he gave Chihiro a confused stare, "That's what you were freaking out about this whole time?!"

Chihiro whimpered, then looked at Terrafin and made a slight nod.

"I can't help it, Fin!" Chihiro's arms and legs shook without her even realizing, "They're got those beady little eyes and those creepy legs and they show up out of complete nowhere and—"

"Chihiro, spiders are nothing to be afraid of," Bash said as he patted Chihiro on the back, "Most of the time, they're more scared of you than you are of them!"

"I dunno, mates," Dino-Rang added as he turned to look ahead, "Those spiders don't seem very afraid to me!"

"SPIDERS?!" Chihiro exclaimed as she looked ahead… And promptly froze.

The skittering noise she had heard had grown louder and louder as a mass of shadows emerged from the halls above! As they stepped into their light, they… Oh god. Those massive, hairy bodies, those spindly legs like needles, those beady red eyes, the pinchers for mouths… No… Those couldn't possibly be…

"SPIDERS!" Chihiro exclaimed at the top of her lungs as she leaped into Terrafin's arms and squeezed him tight, "GIANT SPIDERS GIANT SPIDERS GIANT SPIDERS—"

"SO YOU'VE DECIDED TO SHOW YOUR SORRY FACES AGAIN!" The spiders hissed as they circled around Chihiro and the Skylanders.

Chihiro, meanwhile, completely froze as she squeezed Terrafin even tighter than before.

"Chihiro, stop, you're kinda, choking—" Terrafin spat as he tried to pry Chihiro off of his person.

"YOU WHO HAVE INVOKED THE WRATH OF THE STONE SPIDERS…" The lead spider exclaimed as it stepped forward and hissed, "FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR DIRE MISTAKES!"

All at once the spiders leaped onto the quartet, then buried them under a massive pile of spider! The only sounds that could be heard from within were hissing, shuffling, and the ear-piercing cry of Chihiro's terrified screams… Then finally, they stormed off with Terrafin and Bash in tow!

"Hey, what's the deal?!" Terrafin said as he bounced on the crowd of spiders.

"Let us go!" Bash demanded as he tried to break free of the spiders' grasp… But it was far too tightly held for him to do anything more than struggle.

"Terrafin, Bash!" Dino-Rang called as he watched them get carried into the dark depths of the halls ahead then turned to Chihiro, "C'mon, Chi, we have to get them!"

However, Chihiro had paid little attention to what had just occurred. She was more preoccupied with burying her face in her hands and babbling incoherently about spiders.

"Chihiro!" Dino-Rang snapped his fingers in front of Chihiro, "Skylands to Chihiro!"

"Oh, hey Dino-Rang!" Chihiro chirped as she looked back at Dino-Rang, "Hey, those spiders are gone!"

"Yeah, cause they ran off with Terrafin and Bash!"

"They did?! Crap, they're gonna be goners if we don't get to them!" Chihiro's fear was seemingly forgotten as she grabbed Dino-Rang hand and bolted off, "Come on!"

Chihiro snapped her fingers to illuminate the halls as she ran down them. For a moment, everything seemed to blend into identical stone pathways with no spiders in sight… Then the sound of skittering became vocal once more!

"That way!" Chihiro darted down a left turn and snapped her fingers once more! As she spread light into the room once more, her eyes fixed on the sight of large spiders that stood vigilant near a door.

With a grunt she let go of Dino-Rang's hand and jumped right past the guards!

"Alright!" Chihiro exclaimed as she landed into the next room, "Who are you guys and what do you want with my—"—Chihiro winced as all eyes fixed on her—"Friends?!"

There in the room was none other than the rest of the spiders, who crowded around and hissed. To the side wall were none other than Terrafin and Bash, who had been stuck to the stone walls with sticky webbing that refused to budge no matter how much they struggled.

"Oh, hey Chi!" Bash remarked as his eyes drifted over to her.

"SILENCE! PRISONERS DON'T GET TO TALK!" Hissed one spider as it glared at Bash, then trailed over to Chihiro, "And intruders don't get to either!"

The spiders all crowded around Chihiro, then pushed forward and heaved her out of the room! Chihiro landed on the stone ground with a scream and a crunch, then groaned and pulled herself to sit up.

"So much for the diplomatic approach…" Chihiro remarked as she rubbed her aching arm.

"Then I guess it's time for the offensive one!" Dino-Rang exclaimed as he leaped forward and shot his boomerangs!

The boomerangs soared in the air for a few seconds… But before they could even make contact with the spider people, they got completely stuck in the air!

"What the?!"

Dino-Rang ran forward and jumped up towards his boomerangs, only to get stuck himself.

"Heh, guess I didn't think this through." Dino-Rang chuckled as he looked down from where he was suspended in midair.

The hissing and chanting from the spiders grew louder and more chaotic as they crowded around the Skylanders… Then the whole crowd fell to a hush.

"What's going on?" Chihiro asked as she warily stood up and crept back into the room, then she completely froze. Why, one may ask?

Because something crawled down from the ceiling and it looked like something out of Chihiro's worst nightmares, that's why!

It was a spider about five times the size of the spiders that surrounded Chihiro currently, though it was more like a spider-taur, really. Its bottom half was a traditional spider body complete with twin, intersecting hourglass symbols on its abdomen, but the top half was more humanoid in appearance. Granted, it still had those weird spider legs instead of arms, those weird pincher mouths and those eight blood-red eyes that stared straight into Chihiro's soul… But the short tuft of red hair it had was kinda humanoid, right?

The spider giant inhaled and screeched out nonsense in such a loud volume it almost made Chihiro's ears pop! As it kept rambling on its eyes trailed on to the captured Skylanders, then it stopped and cleared its throat.

"Excuse me," The giant spider said in perfect English before it regained its angry disposition, "AS THE QUEEN OF THE STONE SPIDER COLONY, I DEMAND YOUR APOLOGIES FOR TRANSGRESSING UPON OUR HOME AND DESTROYING IT!"

"Transgressing?! DESTROYING?! What kind of bollocks are you talking, lady?" Dino-Rang demanded as he struggled against the invisible web he was stuck to, "If it's about moving those blocks then we're sorry, lady! We'll put them back when—"

"I wasn't talking to you, lizard." The spider queen flicked Dino-Rang's snout, then fixed her gaze on Terrafin and Bash, "I was talking to THEM!"

The queen pointed a leg towards Terrafin and Bash and bore fangs dripped with… Blood? Poison? Chihiro couldn't tell what it was, but that mottled reddish-green liquid that came from her mouth was definitely bad news.

"You lightsiders think you own everything under your feet, don't you?" The queen hissed as she thrust her face in Terrafin and Bash's, "You really think you have the right to encroach upon our homelands, destroy our webs and trample upon everything in your wake, do you not?!"

As the queen spoke, a couple of the smaller spiders cowered and embraced each other in sorrow.

Chihiro's eyes trailed over to the sad-looking spiders, and for a moment her heart sank. She had completely forgotten that these spiders had captured her friends and were something out of her worst nightmares. For that moment, she had felt every drop of sadness and rage in their hearts…

"What are you talking about?!" Terrafin insisted as he bore his teeth at the spider queen, "We didn't do any of that!"

"Yeah!" Bash added as he squirmed against the web he was trapped in, "Now let us go!"

"INSOLENCE!" The spider queen bellowed as she stepped back and growled, "Children, feast upon those who terrorize our land!"

The spiders all muttered in agreement as they slowly crept towards Terrafin and Bash…

All while Chihiro completely frozen. She wanted to do something, say something, anything that could help them, but it was like the moment she saw those spiders, her feet just glued themselves to the spot!

But, I can't let them get eaten! I can't let my friends get killed! Chihiro gulped as her eyes stung with panicked tears, I, I, have to do something…

Right as the spiders got ready to lunge, Chihiro gulped and balled her sweaty hands into fists.

"WAIT A SECONDDDDDDDDDD!" Chihiro exclaimed as she skidded in between the spiders and Skylanders.

Shocked by her sudden intrusion, the spiders all stepped back.

"I don't really know what's entirely going on here…" Chihiro gulped and tugged on her collar, "But I know my friends, and I know they'd never do something like that!"

"Then who else could've, child?!" The spider queen demanded as that weird cocktail dripped from her fangs some more, "They fit the exact description of the intruders my subjects have given! Do you mean to imply we are liars?!"

Chihiro gulped and fell silent. That would be a hard thing to prove, especially to a very angry spider lady who could literally bite her head off at any second… Wait a second, exact descriptions?

"Would those intruders happened to have looked like this, by any chance?" Chihiro waved her hands, then magicked up a hologram of the Evil Dirt Shark and Evil Rock Dragon.

One of the background spiders examined Chihiro's hologram, then gasped.

"That's exactly what they looked like!" The spider proclaimed.

"Well, that solves that then!" Chihiro whisked away the hologram as she placed her sweaty hands on her hips, "Those are actually just evil clones of my buddies here! It's a funny story, tell you later,"—Chihiro's teeth chattered as she turned around to grab Terrafin and Bash—"Now, if you'll just let my friends go free, then we'll be—"

"You're shaking, child." The spider queen glared down Chihiro and gently brushed Chihiro's shoulder with her leg, which only made Chihiro shudder further, "How can I know for certain you aren't lying through your teeth?"

Stupid arachnophobia! Chihiro cursed as she clenched her teeth, I was so close, too! What do I do now?!

"Give me an answer, child!"

Chihiro gulped as the entire colony of spiders fixed their hundreds of thousands of eyes on her. She was never super good under pressure, but this was the worst! How on Earth was she supposed to get her way out of this one? What could she say to make them believe her?!

"Wait a second!" Chihiro exclaimed as she brought up the hologram once more, "Aside from the body shape, these guys look nothing like my friends!"—Chihiro scoffed and looked aside—"I'm not sure how anyone could make that mistake, really…"

"And how do I know they haven't disguised themselves?" The queen tilted her head towards Chihiro in an almost threatening manner.

Chihiro frowned, then swirled her hand around and watched it flare with a bright cyan mist.

"This spell will unveil any potential disguises that they might have, magical or otherwise." Chihiro turned her attention towards Terrafin and Bash then winced, "Sorry about this, guys!"

With a flick of her wrist, the mist sprung out from Chihiro's hands and slammed itself right into Terrafin and Bash! It coated the entire area in smoke for a few minutes, nothing to be seen… Then finally the smoke lifted, and revealed a notably unchanged Terrafin and Bash as they coughed and hacked away.

"Now do you believe us?" Chihiro turned to the spider queen and crossed her arms.

"I suppose." The spider queen made an offhanded gesture towards her spiders, "Guards, free the prisoners. They've proven their innocence."

The spiders grumbled, then skittered up to Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang.

As Chihiro watched them untie the trio with slight reluctance, she made a soft frown and peered up towards the spider queen.

"Actually, Your Highness…" Chihiro clasped her hands against her heart, "If it's alright, could I possibly see those webs that were messed up? I may not know much about what happened, but I'd still like to try and fix them if I can."

"Fix them?" The spider queen's jaw dropped, then she clasped it back up and nodded slightly, "Very well then. Follow me."

Chihiro heeded the queen's command as she followed the queen through the halls of the still quite dark crypts. The halls were as black as late night at first, but this time they had… Light? Yes, some kind of light source in the form of gigantic, incredibly trampled and torn spiderwebs. Their glow was faint, but against this darkness they were as bright as shooting stars.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said they got messed up." Chihiro placed her hands on her hips, then wiped them off and waked towards the webs, "Let's see if I can work my magic."

Chihiro gazed over the webs, the knelt down and pressed a hand to the cold stone. She closed her eyes, inhaled then exhaled… And in moments, she felt surrounded in a bright cyan glow that exploded all over the halls!

The spider queen let out a shout of surprise that jolted Chihiro back into reality… And then, Chihiro smiled.

Because the webs had been completely repaired! They stood stronger than ever, with the broken and torn parts replaced with bright cyan silk strings that shone bright!

Chihiro plucked one of the strings, then turned back to the queen.

"Alrighty! Not only are these webs fixed, but they should be ever stronger than before!" Chihiro proclaimed with a smile and a snap of her fingers, "That's portal master magic for ya~"

"Why, they're beautiful!" The spider queen exclaimed as she skittered forward, then made a kind beam down at Chihiro, though her massive pinchers and fangs still made her look quite intimidating, "Thank you, kind child… Er, you can stop shaking now."

"Me, shaking?" Chihiro giggled as she stomped her trembling legs against the floor—though they only trembled more—and scratched her neck, "Anyways, I should get back to my friends."

The two of them nodded, then rejoined the rest of the congregation.

"Sorry for the misunderstanding," said one spider as they watched Terrafin and Bash brush excess cobwebs off of their bodies, "Could you ever forgive us?"

"Eh, it's water under the bridge," Dino-Rang replied as he pulled a cobweb from his crest, "Say, you guys wouldn't have happened to have seen a golden key anywhere, would you?"

Everybody paused and whispered among themselves, then finally some tiny spiders crawled up the queen's body and whispered something in her ear.

"Is that so?" The queen asked as the spiders nodded and crawled down. The queen then paused and cleared her throat once more.

"My consorts have informed me that they have spotted a key in the corridors of our territory." The queen nodded towards the tiny spiders, "And they'd be more than willing to take you to its location."

"Alright then!" Bash said as he strutted forward, "We'll just—"

The consort spiders glared at Bash, then circled around Chihiro like a puppy claiming ownership over a toy.

"We were only referring to the child."

"Ahahaha, that's alright then!" Chihiro exclaimed as she made a trembling smile and nodded towards the spider consorts, "Lead the way!"

While the spiders skittered off into the dark, Chihiro compliantly if not somewhat robotically followed their trail. But as she did…

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Chihiro screamed internally as she walked forwards, That was a nightmare! For a minute I thought somebody was gonna bite my head off, literally! I—

Chihiro's train of thought stopped short as she felt herself covered by a blanket of darkness. She instinctively reached to make a magic sphere, but then stopped as the spiders all chirped and began… Weaving? Yes, they all banded together to weave a lantern, made entirely out of luminescent spider silk! As their work finished, they chirruped then lifted the lantern and brought it to Chihiro.

"Heh, that's kinda cool!" Chihiro remarked as she picked up the string lantern and clasped it tight. Despite being made of spider silk, it wasn't sticky at all! It felt more like holding solid, silk cloth.

Her path illuminated by the silk lantern, Chihiro followed the spiders down the path with a bit more ease, then finally they all came to a stop as a dead end! Chihiro frowned and held up her lantern, only to smile as she saw a shimmer of gold up in the corner of the ceiling!

"That's gotta be it!" Chihiro's smile quickly fell as she saw its height, "But it's too high for me to reach…"

The spiders whispered among themselves, the chirped once more and scaled the walls en masse! Once they reached the top, they yanked the key from the corridor, crawled back down to Chihiro's feet and dropped the key.

Chihiro made a soft gasp as she retrieved the key from the floor, then withdrew the other two keys from her pocket. Finally, she had them all!

As the spiders scaled the walls and raced ahead, Chihiro followed back to the central room, then turned around and beamed.

"WE'VE GOT OUR KEYS, GUYS!" Chihiro proclaimed as she held up the keys for all to see.

Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang all cheered and hollered, then all of them banded together and nodded. Their next destination decided, the four of them made their way back down the halls…

"Bye, spider people!" Chihiro exclaimed as she turned around and waved towards the spiders, "Thank for the key!"

"You're quite welcome, child!" The spider queen shouted back as she and the spiders all waved goodbye, "Feel welcome to visit at any time!"

"I will!" Chihiro turned around and giggled as she skipped ahead.

I dunno what I was so scared of, Chihiro thought as she passed by familiar rooms full of cinder blocks, Spiders are actually super cool!

§

"Alright guys, now's the big moment!" Chihiro proclaimed as she stuck one key into the middle lock of the gate, then watched as Dino-Rang and Terrafin flanked both her sides, "On three!"

"One…"

Dino-Rang and Terrafin both placed the other keys into their respective locks.

"Two…"

They all grasped the keys tight…

"Three!"

Then turned them with a firm click! As the trio of locks fell down to the grass, the gigantic wooden gate swung open to reveal a lengthy stretch of cliffs and grass beyond its boundaries.

"Looks like the key collecting the worst we'll have to deal with today, thank goodness." Chihiro brushed sweat from her forehead, "Those evil clones sure are a pain in the butt!"

"No kidding," Terrafin scoffed as he firmly crossed his arms, "But I wouldn't let my guard down if I was you. Those guys may be stupid, but they're persistent—one little punch isn't gonna get them out of the ringer!"

"We haven't seen them at all since they challenged us, though!" Chihiro held up a finger, "I wouldn't be surprised if they went crying back to Kaos!"—Chihiro turned around and ran ahead—"Now come on, guys! Last one to the Eternal Earth Source is a wilting chompy!"

Terrafin and Bash snickered as they raced after Chihiro, but Dino-Rang only frowned and turned his head back and forth.

"I could've sworn I felt somethin' rotten around here…" Dino-Rang remarked with a shrug, "Must've just been my imagination playing tricks on me."

Dino-Rang then smiled as he gripped his boomerangs tight and raced ahead.

"Wait up, guys!"

As they passed into the gate, however, what the four of them didn't notice is that there was indeed, a rotten presence that lingered throughout the area! Huddled behind a carefully-positioned collection of rocks… Were none other than the evil clones, who watched with frantic eyes as the Skylanders and Chihiro ran ahead!

"The heck?!" The Evil Dirt Shark exclaimed as it watched them happily pass through the path, "I thought we had made those traps unbeatable! How could they have possibly gotten past them?!"

"Clearly, it's because they weren't as unbeatable as you thought!" The Evil Crystal Golem hissed as it glared down the Evil Dirt Shark, "That's what we get for letting you come up with all the plans! If we had just gone with my idea, we would have—"

"YOUR IDEA MADE NO SENSE!" The Evil Dirt Shark pointed a claw in the Evil Crystal Golem's face, "Where were we supposed to find a crowd of three hundred and fourteen hogs, a gigantic tub of butter and eighty pounds of crystal anyways?!"

"I'M SURE WE COULD FIND IT SOMEWHERE! IT WAS FOOLPROOF I TELL YOU, FOOLPROOF!" The Evil Crystal Golem growled and pushed its face into the Evil Dirt Shark's.

"FOOLPROOF? MORE LIKE FOOLHARDY!" The Evil Dirt Shark scoffed and crossed its arms, "But what would I expect with someone that has rocks for brains?"

"WELL, WELL, YOU…" The Evil Crystal Golem bared its thousands of sharp stalactite fangs and waved its crystal arms, "YOU HAVE MUSCLES FOR BRAINS!"

"AT LEAST MUSCLES CAN ACTUALLY BE USED FOR SOMETHING!"

The Evil Dirt Shark and Evil Crystal Golem shoved their faces tight as they broke into snarls, a tense aura all around their bodies. Then, they reeled back as something conked them in the heads!

"OWCH!" The Evil Dirt Shark and Evil Crystal Golem exclaimed in unison as they rubbed their aching craniums. The two of them then growled and glared at a very impatient-looking Evil Rock Dragon.

"What was that for?!"

"With every second you imbeciles argue, they're getting away!" The Evil Rock Dragon scolded as it pointed a paw back at the gate, "Forget about those past plans, let's just stop them now!"

The Evil Dirt Shark scoffed at the Evil Rock Dragon, then cast a blank gaze back towards the open pathway and smirked.

"Actually, I have a new, better idea!" The Evil Dirt Shark proclaimed as it leaped forwards, "How do you guys feel about a little race with our old buddies, the Skylosers?"

As the Evil Dirt Shark dove into the earth and swam away, the Evil Rock Dragon and Evil Crystal Golem cast each other agreeing smiles.

"Why, that sounds absolutely wonderful!" The Evil Rock Dragon proclaimed as it curled into a ball and rolled away.

"Agreed!" The Evil Crystal Golem said as it crafted a platform of crystal and slid down.

While the three evil minions made their way through the gates, a different, more peaceful scene unfolded in the path itself.

Chihiro, Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang were awfully slow-paced as they trailed through the endless green and brown of the pathway ahead. Their footsteps were a minimal addition to the chorus of singing birds and rustling autumn wind that blew away stray tree leaves.

"Man, it sure is quiet here," Chihiro remarked as she rested her head against her hands, "Not that that's a bad thing, 'cause getting the Eternal Earth Source should be a snap! Heck, it's so peaceful here I doubt anything bad'll actually—"—Chihiro spun around as something dashed past her in a frantic hurry—"HAPPPENNNNNNNNNNNN!"

Chihiro groaned and spun about in a dizzy haze as a cloud of dust kicked up all around them and sent everyone around into a frantic coughing fit!

"SEE YOU AT THE ETERNAL EARTH SOURCE, SKYLOSERS!" Shouted a voice that bore a very uncanny similarity to Terrafin's in the distance…

As Terrafin and Bash fanned away the dust, Dino-Rang stood with wide, concerned eyes and a slightly gaping mouth.

"Wait a second, didn't someone just blow us by?" Dino-Rang asked.

"Er, yeah, wasn't that obvious?" Terrafin replied as he finished blowing away the intense dust clouds.

"And, did you all hear a voice that sounded a lot like Fin's, or is it just me?"

"What are you getting at?" Terrafin gave Dino-Rang a confused look, then cast his gaze towards the ground that was now contaminated with gigantic tunnels of unsettled earth, "Wait a second!"

Everybody remained silent for a few moments… Then the realization dawned on them like the beginning of the day dawns on every tired, tired person.

"THOSE GUYS!" Chihiro cried as she finally regained her balance and shook her head, "C'mon! We can't let them leave us in the dust!"

Terrafin dove into the earth and swam ahead, while Bash rolled into a ball and joined Terrafin. As the two of them swam, Dino-Rang and Chihiro got a running start, then jumped onto the backs of Bash and Terrafin respectively and clung to them tight. There was no way some cheap clones would leave them in the dust!

Chihiro grabbed tighter onto Terrafin's fin, then closed her eyes and hummed with magic. When her eyes finally shot open, everybody was enveloped by a momentary aqua glow and zoomed off with leopard speed! Soon, thick dust clouds came into their view, dust clouds that soon cleared to reveal…

"It's them!" Dino-Rang exclaimed as he kept as tight a grip onto Bash as he could, "Those evil blokes!"

Sure enough, past the clouds was none other than the evil clones as they swam, rolled and sped ahead of them!

"It's time to throw in the towel, you creeps!" Chihiro exclaimed as she waved a fist at the evil clones.

The Evil Crystal Golem jolted up, then turned its head around only to panic and slip on its ramp of solid, sleek green crystal!

"Guys, they're catching up!" The Evil Crystal Golem exclaimed, only to be left in the literal dust as Terrafin and Chihiro blew past it.

The Evil Crystal Golem coughed out specks of dust, growled and stood. It jumped into the air and curled itself into a ball, then slammed straight into its crystal ramp! The force from its landing created a fissure so intense, tons of crystals popped out from what was once the ramp it had slid down on!

"Hah! So much for getting the Eternal Earth Source, right guys?" Chihiro remarked as she leaned against Terrafin's fin.

As they raced further, however, an ear-piercing hiss emerged from the skies!

Chihiro gulped and looked up as a number of identical shadows fell over the race strip, then her eyes became dinner plates in width!

"FIN, LEFT!" Chihiro exclaimed as she latched onto Terrafin's fin and tried to steer him left. However, he didn't budge a bit!

"Chihiro, what're you doing?!" Terrafin exclaimed, only to be tossed aside as a gigantic crystal slammed straight into the area next to him!

Terrafin shouted out in surprise as he was spun halfway across the earth, then slammed straight into Bash and Dino-Rang and sent them on their bellies.

"Did, did somebody get the number on that balloon?…" Terrafin groaned as he popped out of the earth and held his head.

"I tried to warn you…" Chihiro moaned as she plunked her face onto the ground, "Urgh…"

While they all swirled about in their dizziness, the evil minions cackled and blew right past them!

As they were passed by without a second thought, Chihiro and the Skylanders shook their heads and pulled themselves back to their feet. With no hesitation, they got back into position and continued the chase!

"That didn't stop them?!" The Evil Crystal Golem growled as it watched them chase in pursuit, "Then how about this?!"

Wth another slam of its entire body, the Evil Crystal Golem shot another rain of crystals down on Chihiro and Terrafin.

But this time, Chihiro was more than prepared! As the crystals came into rage, she created shields around the four of them and watched as the crystals just bounced off!

"Fool me once, shame on you," Chihiro remarked as both the rain and shields relented, "But fool me twice, shame on me!"

"Evil Crystal Golem, speed it up!" The Evil Rock Dragon exclaimed, "They're gaining on us!"

"Quiet, you!" The Evil Crystal Golem hissed as it glared back at the Evil Rock Dragon, "I'm already doing all I can!"

"Then I guess it's my turn to jump into the fray!" The Evil Rock Dragon curved around, then like a bullet it shot itself straight at Bash and Dino-Rang… Only for Bash to jump out of its path!

"What?!" Exclaimed the Evil Rock Dragon as it blew through open space, then got tossed backwards as Bash slammed down into the ground!

The Evil Rock Dragon growled as it tried to slam into Bash once more, but Bash only swerved out of its way! And worse yet, the Evil Rock Dragon was going so fast, it was completely unable to stop itself from crashing into the Evil Crystal Golem!

While the two of them groaned, Chihiro and the Skylanders all sped past them!

"Next time, ya better watch where you're goin', mate!" Dino-Rang warned as he waved back at the Evil Rock Dragon, "Maybe you won't get into such a nasty crash!"

As the four of them disappeared into the instance, the Evil Dirt Shark snarled and glared down the Evil Rock Dragon and Evil Crystal Golem.

"Get up, you two!" The Evil Dirt Shark demanded as it watched the other laze about, "The Skylosers are getting away!"

But, getting up was the exact opposite of what the Evil Rock Dragon and Evil Crystal Golem did! All they did was lay down and moan.

"But my stones hurt…" Whined the Evil Crystal Golem.

"My everything hurts…" Whimpered the Evil Rock Dragon.

"Ugh, you two…" The Evil Dirt Shark groaned as it turned around and dove into the dirt, "Looks like if you want something right, you have to do it yourself!"

Meanwhile, Chihiro, Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin all sped ahead, their eyes bright with confidence.

"Great job, Dino-Rang! You really left those guys—" Chihiro reeled back as the Evil Dirt Shark sped past her, "ACK!"

Terrafin spun in place as something kicked up dust ahead of them and made a very familiar cackle.

"Dangit, forgot about that dude!" Chihiro gritted her teeth and looked down at Terrafin, "Come on, Fin! We've gotta catch up with him!"

"Way ahead of you, Chi!" Terrafin replied as he steadied himself and dashed ahead!

Thankfully, Terrafin was still as sturdy as ever! It hadn't taken long before they had caught sight of the Evil Dirt Shark's trail, and with a dash ahead from Terrafin they were soon neck-in-neck!

"Looks like it's time for a speed boost!" Chihiro exclaimed as she rubbed her hands, "Magic hands, do your—"

"Oh no you don't!" The Evil Dirt Shark exclaimed as it leaped out of the air!

The Evil Dirt Shark became little more than a shadow as it leaped in front of the sun, then it slammed straight into the earth! From that bodyslam came a shockwave that ran all through the path!

Chihiro screamed as she and Terrafin were tossed onto their backs, then conked their heads together and groaned!

As the two of them struggled to regain their balance, the Evil Dirt Shark cackled and looked aside. Alongside a very disheveled Bash and Dino-Rang were two fast-approaching, very familiar evil figures—the Evil Rock Dragon and the Evil Crystal Golem!

"Eat our dust, Skylanders!" The three of them shouted as they passed Chihiro and Terrafin by.

Chihiro groaned, then staggered back to her feet.

"Come on, guys," Chihiro panted as she pulled Terrafin back to his feet, "We can't let them get there!"

Terrafin grunted and held his head, his mouth drawn into a snarl. But, nonetheless, he looked towards Chihiro and nodded as he let go of her hands.

Bash and Dino-Rang jumped to their feet as well, and with everyone intact they raced ahead once more! Though that informal race had taken quite a bit out of them, an obvious sight from the slightly slower way they ran, they were still kicking! In fact, they could already see the vague silhouettes of the evil minions in the distance. And more importantly, just ahead was…

"The way to Stonetown!" Chihiro exclaimed as she pointed towards the path ahead.

There, just a few feet ahead was a gate made of logs and stones! Atop its, well, top, laid a sign that read "Welcome to Stonetown" in Skylandian writing—a perfect marker for the end of their trip!

"We've gotta get there before—"

Before they could even get towards it, however, the evil minions jumped through and caused a huge stone wall to close up the entrance!

"They do."

Chihiro stopped in her tracks just inches before she made collision with the thick stone wall, then walked a bit closer and examined it.

"Now how are we gonna get through?…" Chhiro frowned, then her eyes widen as she cast a gaze towards Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang, "Wait a second…"—Chihiro cleared her throat—"You guys are really tough, right?"

"Wouldn't be Skylanders if we weren't, Chi!" Terrafin replied.

"What if we all just…" Chihiro turned her attention back to the gate, "Crash right through it?"

Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin whispered among each other, then shrugged and turned back to Chihiro.

"Well, it's worth a shot!" Dino-Rang said as the others nodded.

So, everybody split up and faced towards the gate, their minds steady and powers at the ready. They stayed in place and breathed steady for a few seconds… Then all at once, they cried out and rammed themselves towards the gate! With their combined power, that gate barely lasted a minute—all the attacks had smashed a hole right in the center!

Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin fell out of the hole, then stood up and looked around.

This Stonetown place seemed like your typical mabu village, with lots of grass and rocks and humble wooden buildings abound. However, something had to have been very wrong, because everybody was in complete and utter panic!

"Help!" Cried a mabu man as they ran for their life, "Kaos's minions have invaded our humble town!"

"Alright buddy, spill it!" The Evil Dirt Shark demanded as it grabbed the mabu man by the collar of his shirt, "Where are you keeping the Eternal Earth Source?"

"I, I have no idea, I swear!"

"You don't, do you?" The Evil Dirt Shark bore its teeth, "I'm sure you'll change your mind when I make you my dinner!"

The mabu man screamed as the Evil Dirt Shark lunged towards it… But before it could even take a tiny nibble, a gigantic rock smashed into it and tossed it aside!

"You better knock it off, you creeps!" Bash exclaimed as he waved his tail, a broken stone pillar at his side, "Or else we'll rock it off for you!"

Terrafin pinched the bridge of his snout while Dino-Rang groaned. But, their irritation lasted only a moment, for they lifted up their heads and smiled as the townspeople all began cheering!

"You guys just don't give up, do you?" The Evil Dirt Shark asked as it got up and snarled.

"Only in your dreams, buddy!" Terrafin smirked as he crossed his arms.

-"Evil Dirt Shark, what's wrong?" The Evil Crystal Golem asked as it and the Evil Rock Dragon ran to the Evil Dirt Shark's side, only to see the Skylanders and frown, "Oh, I see."

As the Skylanders and the evil minions got ready to face off, the villagers all fled for their lives! The Skylanders cried out as they shot towards the evil trio, as did the Evil Crystal Golem and Evil Rock Dragon… But the Evil Dirt Shark wasn't as quick to attack. Rather, it smiled a cunning smile as it watch the townspeople flock away from the scene of the fight, then dove into the earth and tunneled after them!

"Alright guys, where's the party at?" Chihiro exclaimed as she hopped through the hole.

However she got no answer, for Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin were too into the heat of the moment! But as she looked away, she saw… The Evil Dirt Shark, tunneling away?

"What's that dude up too?" Chihiro asked as she knelt down and sneaked after it.

As Chihiro crept behind the buildings and trees, her eyes trained on the Evil Dirt Shark's trail, she was lead to what seemed to be an entrance to some kind of tunnel… But it was completely blocked off by all the townspeople, it seemed like!

"Hey, you guys wouldn't have happened to see a weird-looking shark dude that's all purple and brown anywhere, would you?" Chihiro asked as she hopped into the crowds.

"Nope, can't say I have," replied a woman dressed in a fancy salmon suit and tie, "But, I'll keep my eyes peeled."

"After all," chimed in another townsperson, "We can't have villains wandering around where we're keeping the eternal earth source!"

Unbeknownst to them, someone was lurking in the shadows—the Evil Dirt Shark! It only chuckled as it eavesdropped on their conversation, then it slowly tunneled out and crept behind the crowds…

"There it is!" Chihiro exclaimed as she caught sight of the Evil Dirt Shark's fin!

The townspeople all broke into panic and chatter, but Chihiro had no time for that. So, she only teleported ahead of them and ran through the tunnel…

Meanwhile, Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin were still hard at work as they fought the Evil Rock Dragon and Evil Crystal Golem! Every blow they traded, every shot they dodged, everything was handled with a fiery intensity! But, something felt a bit wrong, like someone was missing…

"Hey, Fin!" Bash called as he smacked away a rock shot off by the Evil Rock Dragon, "Where'd that evil clone of you go?"

"Wait, it's gone?" Terrafin asked as it dodged a blow from the Evil Crystal Golem and punched it away, then looked around, "Yeah, it is!"

"And so is Chihiro!" Dino-Rang chimed in as he tossed away a boomerang.

"Alright, something smells fishy here!" Bash watched the stone pillars he had crafted recede, "We'd better—"

Bash yelped as he narrowly dodged a giant laser!

"Think you're getting away, Skylanders?" The Evil Crystal Golem asked as its raised his crystalline hands, which were charged with shining light, "THINK AGAIN!"

The Evil Crystal Golem shot off a round of lasers at Terrafin, but Terrafin was quick to dodge each one! Terrafin smirked as he pulled out a pair of brass knuckles, placed them on his fists, them held them in front of the lasers! The knuckles were quick to shoot the lasers back at the Evil Crystal Golem, who could only watch as its own lasers were used against it!

While the Evil Crystal Golem cried out in pain, the Evil Rock Dragon rolled in and slammed against the ground! With every slam, gigantic stone pillars shot from the ground and tossed themselves at the Skylanders!

Terrafin grunted as he dodged a pillar, then dove underground and swam 'till he was just inches away from the Evil Rock Dragon! Once he was in position, he leaped out and threw a punch… But it did absolutely nothing!

"The heck?!" Terrafin exclaimed.

"Forgot to tell you," The Evil Rock Dragon sneered as it tossed Terrafin aside, "I've got some pretty thick skin!"

Dino-Rang shot his boomerangs off at the Evil Rock Dragon, but that wasn't much use, either. The boomerangs just bounced off and returned to Dino-Rang!

"Don't you listen?!" The Evil Rock Dragon bore its teeth, "I'm far too tough for you puny attacks to ever—"

Before the Evil Rock Dragon could finish, however, something blurry and brown smashed into it and sent it reeling!

"Now, what were you saying?" Bash asked as he lorded over the Evil Rock Dragon.

The Evil Rock Dragon groaned as it tried to get off the ground, but only fell back on its side.

With their battle concluded, Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang ran into the depths of the village—and in a bit of an oversight, their enemies had been completely forgotten!

"After them, you rockhead!" The Evil Rock Dragon demanded as it finally got up and shook its head.

"Look who's talking, rockhead!" The Evil Crystal Golem shot back as it pulled itself back up.

"Whatever, just follow the Skylanders!" The Evil Rock Dragon scowled as it ran after Bash, Terrafin and Dino-Rang.

With a groan, the Evil Crystal Golem pulled itself back to its full height and chased after the Evil Rock Dragon…

§

The Evil Dirt Shark smirked as it popped out of the ground and looked up. It had found itself in a rich valley filled with grass and encompassed by large cliffs that loomed over the rest of the area and formed something that vaguely resembled an arena. But, none of that was important. The important thing was that hovered in the center of the area was none other than the Eternal Earth Source!

It was a smallish oval colored in a brown glow that had a number of rocky chunks trapped within its surface, an appearance that seemed more novelty than anything… But, the power that radiated from it was sheer and unrivaled! It was like it had the entirety of the Earth Element trapped within its light, and from it beamed a power so great that even the mighty cliffs bent before its will.

The Evil Dirt Shark licked its licks, then drew closer and closer to the Eternal Earth Source.

"Come to papa!" It proclaimed as it held out its arms, fully prepared to receive the Source until…

"HEY! GET AWAY FROM THE SOURCE THIS INSTANT!"

The Evil Dirt Shark jolted up and pulled itself away from the Eternal Earth Source, then whipped around and looked back at the tunnel.

With the light provided, one could just barely make out a childlike figure that raced out of the tunnel and into the open… And it was none other than Chihiro! Chihiro panted heavily, but stood tall and kept her fists barreled. Sheer determination flashed in her deep brown eyes as she glared down the Evil Dirt Shark, who only snarled as it looked back at her.

"Who's gonna stop me? You?" The Evil Dirt Shark insinuated with such a mocking tone, it was almost like it was about ready to laugh at Chihiro for even suggesting such a thing.

"You bet I am!" Chihiro raised her fist in front of her person and watched it flare with a cyan flame.

The Evil Dirt Shark only smiled as held its arms wide.

"You? Defeat me? Don't make me laugh!" The Evil Dirt Shark snickered, then glared Chihiro back down, "Oh wait… I JUST DID! After all, there's no way some snot-nosed brat like you could possibly defeat me, the strongest of Lord Kaos's—"—The Evil Dirt Shark's eyes widened as it jumped out the way of a gigantic aqua flame—"ACK!"

As the flame crashed into a nearly cliff face and disintegrated into embers, the Evil Dirt Shark turned back around and glared down Chihiro.

"Huh, actually, I've changed my mind." The Evil Dirt Shark cracked its knuckles and growled, "You wanna go, punk?"

"GLADLY!"

The Evil Dirt Shark lunged forward and opened its jaws as wide as it body, but Chihiro dodged out of the way as soon as it snapped its mouth shut! With it momentarily distracted, Chihiro placed her palm on its back and shot out an energy blast so strong it tossed the Evil Dirt Shark right into a cliff! The Evil Dirt Shark groaned as it pulled itself out of the cliff, which now had a shark-sized indent in its surface, and windmilled its arms! Chihiro heightened her fists and got ready to pull another punch, but before she could the Evil Dirt Shark jumped into the air!

With a groan it lunged down like a rocket, then let out of a series of punches towards the earth! With every punch it threw, the whole earth rumbled with intense quakes that caused the entire battlefield—and perhaps maybe even the entire island, too—to shake with terror!

Chihiro yelped as the shaking made her fall on her side, then grunted and pushed herself up. But as she did, the Evil Dirt Shark sprung right in front of her!

"Lights out, brat!" The Evil Dirt Shark exclaimed as it punched Chihiro in the gut!

Chihiro wailed in pain as she crashed into the stone walls of the cliffs and slid down, but nevertheless she pulled herself back to her feet. However, it was clear that she had taken a lot of damage from that single blow. Her legs trembled as she stood, and she heaved heavy breaths as she held her arm. Despite all this, she tried her best to look steely and intimidating, but the soft whimpers she made showed otherwise.

The Evil Dirt Shark only scoffed, then dove into the earth and zoomed towards Chihiro! It smiled as it popped out of the ground, but…

"Huh?!" The Evil Dirt Shark's mouth gaped open as it found that Chihiro was nowhere to be seen!

"Looking for me, chum bait?" Demanded Chihiro's voice from halfway across the arena, "Well, come and get me!"

The Evil Dirt Shark turned around as it fell back to the earth, but it only saw a cyan flare of magic! Just then, another cyan flare bloomed a few feet ahead of it, and it turned around just in time to see Chihiro manifest back into existence! Chihiro heaved a few sighs, then teleported to a further stretch of the makeshift arena… Then teleported against as the Evil Dirt Shark lunged once more… And yet again it tried to body slam her… However, something was wrong.

The moments between her teleports had gotten longer, and the range much, much shorter! Eventually, she fell to her knees and fizzled with cyan-colored sparks. She no longer had the energy to run away or fight, and this made her the perfect target.

The Evil Dirt Shark smirked as it rushed towards her and got ready to slam her with a punch. But before it could, it got beaned in the head with something and fell on its side!

"I'd watch yourself there, mate," called a familiar voice with an also familiar Australian accent as a wooden boomerang flew out of view, "Messin' with our portal master isn't gonna get'cha on our good side!"

"Dino-Rang!" Chihiro called as her eyes sparkled with hope!

Sure enough, out from the shadows stepped Dino-Rang with Terrafin and Bash close by! As Dino-Rang held his boomerangs high in the air, Terrafin and Bash both rushed to Chihiro's side and helped her back to her feet.

"You alright, kiddo?" Terrafin asked as he watched Chihiro jump up with a new vigor.

"Thanks to you guys!" Chihiro beamed and dusted herself off, "You arrived just in time!"

"There you are, Evil Dirt Shark!" Called two other voices that echoed from within the tunnel.

Everybody turned their eyes towards the tunnel, where a loud rumble reverberated through its walls! As this reverberation grew louder and louder, closer and closer, the Evil Rock Dragon and Evil Prism Golem popped out from the tunnel and surrounded the Evil Dirt Shark.

"What were you thinking, running off by yourself?!" The Evil Rock Dragon exclaimed as it pushed its face in the Evil Dirt Shark's, "Just because you're one of Lord Kaos's favorites doesn't mean you can leave all the dirty work to us!"

"Yeah!" The Evil Prism Golem affirmed as it crossed its arms, "Stop making us deal with your chores!"

"Hard work?!" The Evil Dirt Shark pushed the other two minions out of its face, "More like hardly working! While you two were busy playing with the Skylanders, I was going to get the Eternal Earth Source!"—the Evil Dirt Shark shot Chihiro a glare—"Or at last, I would've if that kid hasn't showed up!"

"Hah, stopped by a kid, huh?" The Evil Rock Dragon chuckled, "So much for being Lord Kaos's strongest minion, right!"

"You be quiet!" The Evil Dirt Shark growled a slung a punch straight at the Evil Rock Dragon and sent it on its back!

The Evil Rock Dragon growled, then pulled itself back up.

"ALRIGHT, YOU'RE ASKING FOR IT!"

As the two of them dissolved into one big ball of violence, the Skylanders and Chihiro shook their heads and sighed.

"Do those two ever stop fighting?" Chihiro asked as she cast an aside glance at the Skylanders.

"Somehow, I doubt it," Terrafin responded before he peered over at the Eternal Earth Source, "But hey, now's the perfect chance!"

He then dove into the earth and tunneled around the evil minions, his path and mind set on the Eternal Earth Source… But in all his intense tunneling, Terrafin had forgotten about one thing… And that thing was none other than the Evil Crystal Golem!

"Guys!" The Evil Crystal Golem exclaimed as it shook the other two evil clones, "Have you forgotten about something?!"

"WHAT?!" The Evil Dirt Shark and Evil Rock Dragon exclaimed as they pulled out of their petty fight.

The Evil Crystal Golem only grunted and gestured towards Terrafin, who was inches away from the Eternal Earth Source!

Both the Evil Dirt Shark and the Evil Rock Dragon's eyes widened with shock, then the Evil Rock Dragon growled and raised its tail.

"If those Skylosers think they can sneak out the Eternal Earth Source from under our noses…" The Evil Rock Dragon exclaimed as it slammed its tail against the ground, "Then they have another thing coming!"

The ground rumbled as the Evil Rock Dragon's tail slammed against its surface, and in turned it spat out an intense earthquake that made everybody else fall to their knees.

That is, with the exception of Terrafin. Rather, he was pushed out of the earth with a shout! As Terrafin fell on his back, he snarled and pulled himself off the ground. When he finally came to, he watched as the Evil Dirt Shark walked towards him with a smirk and a crack of its knuckles.

"Think you could pull a fast one on us, didn't ya?" The Evil Dirt Shark asked as it stopped just inches away from Terrafin.

"Not any more than you did!" Terrafin replied as he pounded a fist into his hand.

Chihiro winced as she watched Terrafin and the Dirt Shark's staredown, but before she could even take a step forwards she heard a duet of malevolent cackles! With a turn of her head, she watched the Evil Rock Dragon and Evil Crystal Golem approach her with what was surely all intent of starting of a fight!

Chihiro whimpered, but then steadied herself as she looked towards Bash and Dino-Rang and nodded.

It was a trio of square offs. Terrafin against the Evil Dirt Shark, Bash against the Evil Rock Dragon, and Chihiro and Dino-Rang teamed up against the Evil Crystal Golem. There was a steady silence as they all stared down…

Then finally, Terrafin slung a punch at the Evil Dirt Shark and all heck broke loose!

The Evil Dirt Shark grunted as it dodged Terrafin's punch, then shot a jab back at Terrafin, but Terrafin only backed away and shot forwards! The Evil Dirt Shark swung past Terrafin, then slid forward and got ready to trip him. But unfortunately for it, Terrafin was a little too vigilant! He only backflipped out of the way as the Evil Dirt Shark slid against the grass.

"Sorry buddy…" Terrafin shot forwards as the Evil Dirt Shark stood up, "But this isn't kickboxing!"

As he said this, Terrafin slung a cross right at the Evil Dirt Shark's chest and flung it back several feet! The Evil Dirt Shark coughed out something that looked like murky purple clouds of magic as it staggered back up, then growled and shot out a rapid round of punches! While Terrafin dodged each and every one, however, another similar battle of duplicates occurred not that far away from where they stood!

Both Bash and the Evil Rock Dragon were furled into balls as the Evil Rock Dragon chased Bash around the arena, all at such intense speeds that dusty clouds and bits of earth flew everywhere they raced! With a growl, Bash sped up a nearby wall, but the Evil Rock Dragon only tailed him up the wall as well! As the Evil Rock Dragon rolled up the cliff face, Bash stopped short and dug his claws into the thick stone of the cliff side. He then slammed his tail straight into the cliff, which created a vibration so intense it tossed the Evil Rock Dragon back onto the ground!

As the Rock Dragon stumbled backwards, Bash curled back into a ball and stormed down the cliff! Before it could even blink, Bash had slammed right into it and tossed it right into the adjacent cliff! The Evil Rock Dragon slammed into the cliff with such force that it left behind a decently-sized crater, then it growled and furled itself into a ball. Once it had fully curled, it started jumping into the air and smashing itself into the ground! With every slam, it created intense vibrations that shook Bash right off of his feet!

As Bash fell onto the ground, the Evil Rock Dragon chuckled and rolled right towards him. But before it could even get an inch closer to Bash, a gigantic magical fist punched it out of its path!

While the Evil Rock Dragon groaned and stumbled, Chihiro smirked and blew off her hands like one would a smoking gun. She made a smile as she gave Bash a thumbs up, but that smile was short-lived as she dodged out the way of a gigantic green laser! With a grunt Chihiro fell to her knees, then looked over to see the Evil Crystal Golem!

It spun around at speeds so high it was little more than a blur to the untrained eye! And worse yet, it was firing off lasers in every given direction with each spin.

"Sorry buddy," Chihiro panted as she held up hands still bright with magic, "But your little light show is gonna have to—WHOA, WHOA!"

Chihiro's attack came to a quick stop as several lasers shot right towards her! With panicked movements she bounced out the way of one, pirouetted from the next then spun away from the rest… Right into the arms of Dino-Rang!

"Careful, Chi!" Dino-Rang warned as he let Chihiro go, "This isn't a dance floor!"

"Don't have much of a choice!" Chihiro gestured towards the Evil Crystal Golem, then yelped as another laser shot off just inches away from her back, "That thing's shooting its lasers everywhere!"

"Everywhere, huh?" Dino-Rang fixed his eyes on the Evil Crystal Golem and clapped his hands, "I'll take care'a that!"

As the sound of his clap echoed through the arena, gigantic stone walls formed around the Evil Crystal Golem and completely blocked it and its lasers from the rest of the battle!

Dino-Rang and Chihiro cheered and high-fived, but as they did a loud rumble pulled them away from their celebrations. They stood and watched for moments, then ducked and ran for cover as gigantic green crystals sprung from the earth and shattered the stone traps to bits!

The large chunks of stone flew everywhere, from the heights of the skies to the nearby cliffs, even to the other battles that were going on!

"Huh?!" Terrafin exclaimed as he ducked under a large chunk of stone, only to be punched across the fields by the Evil Dirt Shark.

"Where'd that come from?!" Bash exclaimed as a stone chunk whizzed past his head, which gave the Evil Rock Dragon just enough time to slam into him and send him flying as well!

"Terrafin, Bash!" Chihiro called as she watched the two of them crash into a nearby wall. Just then, a large crystal popped out below Chihiro's feet and sent her rolling backwards!

With a shout she crashed right into Terrafin and Bash, then shook her head and caught Dino-Rang as he was flung into their pile as well! The four of them staggered back up... But as soon as they did, the evil clones crowded around them with the full intent to attack! However, the quartet was far from ready to give up. Rather, they laid the first blows as they jumped forward and pushed them to the ground!

Terrafin grunted, then punched the Evil Dirt Shark in the face! As it recoiled, Terrafin grabbed it by its legs, swung it around and slammed it back into the wall!

While the Evil Dirt Shark slid down, its whole body slowly melted into a large collection of dimly-lit brown spheres. However, it showed no signs of sorrow or rage or frustration… Rather, it just smirked.

"You think you've gotten rid of me, huh?" The Evil Dirt Shark remarked as it looked back up at Terrafin, its body now half-gone, "Don't make me laugh!"

As its head sank into the rest of its body, then Evil Dirt Shark only cackled.

"YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME!"

Terrafin only grimaced as the Evil Dirt Shark finally disappeared into a pile of dull brown spheres.

"That was kinda creepy," Terrafin remarked as he watched over the spheres.

Meanwhile, Bash had rolled straight into the Evil Rock Dragon and sandwiched it between himself and a wall! As Bash pushed it against the wall then released, then Evil Rock Dragon fell on its side while a large, gaping cut leaked out identical dull brown spheres.

"You really think you've won, haven't you?" The Evil Rock Dragon croaked as it glared up at Bash, "You're so, so, wrong…"

Bash only winced as he watched the Evil Rock Dragon explode into spheres. Bash then turned around and watched as the Evil Crystal Golem was tossed into the sky from one of Dino-Rang's stone traps!

The Evil Crystal Golem crashed back into the ground with a crunch, then as those same spheres popped out of its body it snickered.

"I'll come to haunt you!" It proclaimed as it exploded into spheres as well!

But with that, all became quiet on the battlefield. No words were heard as Chihiro and the Skylanders gazed over the brown spheres that were all that remained of their former foes. It felt almost, kind of wrong…

"Huh," Chihiro remarked at last with a shrug, "That was… Oddly easy,"—Chihiro shook her head and beamed up at the Eternal Earth Source—"But, whatever. Time to get the Earth Source!"

Chihiro hummed an unknown song as she skipped up to the Eternal Earth Source and reached her arms out towards it… Then got pushed back by a sudden wind! Chihiro yelped as she dug her heels into the ground, then gasped as the piles of brown spheres got sucked into the Eternal Earth Source!

As soon as they entered the Source, a purple fog clouded around it. It was awfully ominous as it absorbed the Earth Source whole and pulsated like a heart in one's chest. Then, as it pulsed, the winds that whipped around the Eternal Earth Source evolved into an intense dust storm!

The storm was so powerful, so intense it had no problem blowing Chihiro off her feet and spinning her around the arena!

"HEY!" Chihiro exclaimed as the winds tossed her as if she was no more than a ragdoll, "LEMME GO! YOU'RE MAKING ME DIZZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY—OOF!"

Chihiro grunted as something snatched her out of the storm and pulled her into its arms, then smiled as she looked up and saw Terrafin! The two of them landed back onto the ground without hassle, then looked up and winced.

The storm had grown so violent it had started pulling off parts of the arena itself! Huge chunks of earth, gigantic stones, shiny crystals and much more were all drawn from their places and into the eye of the storm. Then slowly, they slammed together, shaped by some unseen force with the precision of a toddler smashing toy clay together.

While the earthen bits slapped together, a large shadow cast itself over Chihiro and the Skylanders, who all stepped back… Then gasped as a loud, angry roar bellowed through their humble, wartorn arena!

§

Everybody winced as they gazed up at the strange monster that was once the Eternal Earth Source.

It had to have been as tall as the valley's highest cliffs, with its body made of massive gray stones occasionally decorated by veins of brown magic, thick moss and sparkly treasure that stuck out from the many crevices in its rocky body like eyes in a cavern. Its eyes were blank, white and reflected no light, and its stone jaw was slanted into a frown. Rounded, smooth horns that vaguely resembled shark fins poked out from its head and shoulders, while its fingers were shiny and almost crystalline in appearance. It stood in silence as it loomed over the quartet, its eyes glinted with maybe the weensiest bit of malevolence… Then its frown grew deeper… And then all hell broke loose!

The monster was really no more than a toddler throwing a temper tantrum as it screamed out in anger, stomped its feet and flailed its massive arms everywhere! With every stomp the ground shook in fury, and with every flail the cliffs shook and released fragments of hard stone.

"Jeez, what did we ever do to him?" Chihiro asked as she rolled out the way of a small boulder.

"Beats me," Terrafin said as he cracked his knuckles and wound up his arm, "But he's still going down!"

With a fierce punch from his arm, Terrafin sent a round of boulders from above shooting towards the rock monster! He smiled as the rocks slammed into the monster's chest and tossed it into the nearby cliff… But his smile faded as the monster wailed out in anger and stomped its feet with an even greater fury than before!

Chihiro burst into screams as the massive force from the monster's stomps sent her and the others flying, then she cast her gaze aside and gasped!

There above them all, a gigantic landslide poured down from the cliffs above!

Chihiro pressed a glowing hand against her chest, cast it out and shot three blasts of cyan magic towards Terrafin, Bash, and Dino-Rang. The moment the magic made contact, it hardened into magical blue bubbles! The three of them paused for a moment and examined the bubbles, while Chihiro smiled and waved back at them. This peace was far too fleeting, however, as the landslide made contact and tossed them all across the arena like they were living pinballs! They all screamed as they were thrown to and fro… However, because the bubbles were completely soundproof, nothing could be heard.

When the landslide settled, its dust and wreckage left all across the battlegrounds, Chihiro and the Skylanders crashed into the ground! Their bubbles popped immediately, and the four of them were left to fall to the floor.

"Heh, sorry about that, guys," Chihiro said as she scratched the back of her head, a luminescent red blush on her face.

Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang just moaned and pulled themselves to their feet, then looked up as a large, round shadow cast itself over the battleground!

"Rock shower!" Bash exclaimed as a series of large boulders rained down from the heavens.

Bash growled, then wagged his tail and slammed it straight into the first boulder to come within his distance!

The boulder, in response, flew back into the heavens and slammed straight into the next! That boulder flung into the next one, and in turn that one hit the one before it! Soon enough, all of the boulders had flown back to the monster that had sent them Bash's way in the first place and crashed!

However, the monster was far from deterred. It only punched the boulders to bits, then looked towards Chihiro and the Skylanders with a bone-chilling glare as its crystal fingers swirled with magic. With a growl, it summoned gigantic boulders to its hands and tossed them into the fray!

As rocks fell from above once more, Chihiro ran towards the others and cast a shield above them.

"Once again," Chihiro exclaimed as she pushed the shield up, "What did WE ever do to you?!"

"Exist, apparently," Terrafin scoffed as he examined the monster from the safety of Chihiro's shield.

Chihiro followed Terrafin's gaze and frowned just as bit as she examined the monster.

"How are we supposed to beat that thing, anyways?!" Chihiro heaved heavy pants while her hands glowed even brighter, "Those boulders are way too strong and fast for us to break!"

Terrafin was silent, seemingly ignorant to the muffled sounds of crashing boulders and Chihiro's surprised squeaks. His eyes were fixed on the boulders as they rolled down the grassy plains one by one, as if he was analyzing it almost.

"I think I've found your answer." Terrafin looked back at Chihiro and ushered her over to his side.

Chihiro frowned, then warily lowered her hands and walked next to Terrafin, her eyes fixed on the boulders. She was so firm on watching the rock monster, she didn't even notice Bash and Dino-Rang walk up towards her and do the very same thing, even!

"Look at the way Rocky here is throwing those boulders," Terrafin said as he looked towards Chihiro and smirked, "There's a pattern!"

Chihiro hummed and narrowed her eyes.

The boulders all rolled down the way, but a further inspection showed there was, indeed, a pattern to how the monster had thrown them! A boulder thrown to the left first, right second, then left again but never in the center…

"That's it!" Chihiro exclaimed as she looked back at Terrafin with sparkling eyes, "If we just avoid them, we can still reach it!"

"Exactly!" Terrafin smiled and readied a fist, then punched it straight through Chihiro's shield!

As the shield shattered to magical dusty bits, the four of them jumped out and stared down the rock monster.

The rock monster growled, then summoned another boulder and cast it down…

"LEFT!" Chihiro exclaimed as they all ran down the battlefield in a right-facing line!

The boulder rolled straight into the lefthand cliffs and bounced to the right, an intense tailwind blown from the force of its journey!

Chihiro, Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang all immediately froze in their tracks, then jumped away and watched as the boulder passed them by! The only thing it did was hit them with an intense breeze!

The monster scowled, summoned yet another large boulder and tossed it…

"Left!" Chihiro shouted, then stumbled back as the boulder slammed into the rightmost cliff face and swerved left, "I mean, right!"

With a hup from all parties, they jumped out the way of the boulder, then dashed back up the path!

The monster stomped and howled once more, then summoned a trio of boulders and tossed them all down the way!

"Left!" Chihiro grabbed Dino-Rang's hand and pulled him out the way as they all dodged the first, then hopped forward as the second passed them by, "Right!"

As they all swerved out of the final boulder's path of devastation, the monster's mouth gaped wide open and its arms fell to its sides.

"Guys, now's your chance!" Chihiro exclaimed as she propelled an energy beam at the monster.

The energy beam slammed straight into the monster's chest and caused it to reel back. It hung its head low as it wailed in pain, then finally it looked up and staggered back Because right in front of it were none other than Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang! Bash and Dino-Rang both summoned rows of stone pillars that lead straight to the monster itself, then Terrafin corkscrewed through the air and punched each pillar!

The broken fragments of the pillar slammed straight into the monster, who fell on its bottom from the sheer force.

They all sneered, but their sneers quickly faded as the monster screamed and lunged forward! For a monster made of stone, it was surprisingly swift to grab Bash and Dino-Rang and toss them both to the ground!

Bash and Dino-Rang both screamed as they flew down, only to harmlessly bounce onto the ground from a large bounce pad!

As Terrafin joined, their gaze fell to a smiling Chihiro, who only gave them a thumbs up as she giggled.

While they stood, the monster growled and stomped its feet once more! It stomped and jumped and whined in some kind of perfect fury as the vibrations from its stomps shot Chihiro and the Skylanders back… But oddly enough, nothing else happened.

"What's the matter, mate?" Dino-Rang shouted as he made a smug smile, "Ran out of rocks?"

Just then, a screeching sound resounded from the heavens while shadows fell all across the ground!

Dino-Rang looked up and jumped back as a large rock slammed into the ground below!

"Ack!" Dino-Rang flung his arms in front of his face as rocky fragments flew everywhere.

More rocks rained down from above and prompted everyone to jump back and forth! Screams were heard all around as this stone shower continued, until finally, Chihiro jumped in and created a shield for them all. As she held the shield up, Chihiro heaved heavy pants. With all the magic tricks she had pulled today, she was clearly worn—even just carrying up this shield was taking all her power!

So, Bash and Dino-Rang flanked both sides of Chihiro, then carefully pressed up the shield themselves! Chihiro breathed as she sat down and collected her energy right, then made a weak smile as she looked back up at them.

"Thanks, guys…" Chihiro's smile faded to a look of confusion as the shadows vanished from the grounds.

Everybody all looked around, and sure enough the rock shower had ended at last! At least, they thought it had ended. After all, the monster was oddly silent, and the rain had stopped...

"Is it over?…" Chihiro looked up, only to see a giant shadow encompass them and wince, "Nope!"

They all leaped out the way as a gigantic boulder crashed into their former spot, then shielded themselves as it shattered into rocky fragments. But unfortunately, they didn't have time to dust themselves off—for the rain was unrelenting!

As they jumped about once more, Chihiro magicked up a helmet for herself and got ready to put it on. But before she could, the helmet cracked and shattered as a small rock hit it!

"Dangit!" Chihiro exclaimed as she teleported away.

Chihiro reappeared under a cliff, then she hid behind a stone and watched the others dodge. Her attention then turned itself to the monster, who was still all the more glad to make it rain.

"How're we gonna stop that thing now?" Chihiro frowned and bit her lip, "There's no way we can reach it with all this…"—Chihiro's eyes fixed on the boulders—"Rain?"

Chihiro gripped the rock she hid behind a little tighter.

"I wonder… Could I use that rain against it?" Chihiro breathed in, then let go and framed her hands, "I can try!"

Chihiro glowed a bright cyan, then thrust out her hands.

It started with one, then three, then maybe five… But slowly, the rocks stopped raining and shot themselves at the monster! As the monster got slammed with a taste of its own medicine, it reeled back in pain—and the rain ground to a firm halt!

"Guys, now!" Chihiro advised as she popped out from behind her stone, "Before it starts again!"

Bash, Terrafin and Dino-Rang nodded towards Chihiro, then rushed into the fray!

Terrafin was the first as he dove underground, then swam up and uppercut the monster in the jaw!

As the monster stumbled back, Bash swung forward and slams his tail into its chest! The monster shuddered as it fells to its stone knees, several of its rocks loose and rattled… Then those rocks finally fell off as Dino-Rang shot his boomerangs at them!

Everybody caught their breath as the monster moaned and fell down, its arms the only thing that kept it from completely crashing. All around them, the fallen rocks crashed into the battlefield, now physical markers of the damage done.

"Is it done for?" Bash asked, an optimistic smile on his face.

Unfortunately Bash guessed wrong, because the fallen rocks rattled and drew in more rocks from their surroundings! As the rocks gathered together, they slowly but surely made forms of their own—miniature clones of the main monster!

"Guess not!" Bash exclaimed as he stepped back.

"Great," Terrafin scoffed as he pounded his fists together, "It has kids!"

Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang went to clean out the smaller monsters, but in the heat of the fight, they didn't notice the main one pull itself back to its feet!

Now completely recovered, the main monster pounded its gigantic fists against the cliffs! The whole arena rumbled as gigantic parts of the cliffs dislodged and birthed rockslides of a shatteringly large degree!

Terrafin tried to punch one of the smaller monsters, but before he did he caught sight of the rockslide! Terrafin dove underground, then breathed a sigh of relief as he swam out of the way… Only to get sucker punched by another smaller monster instead!

Bash, meanwhile, winced and stepped back as the smaller monsters backed him into a literal corner. With a grunt, he slammed his tail onto the ground and popped them away with his stone pillars! He smiled as they flew away, only to freeze and gulp as a loud rumble was heard.

"That can't be good," Bash remarked as he looked up, only for a gigantic landslide to collapse over him!

"Bash!" Dino-Rang exclaimed as he watched Bash get swallowed whole by the landslide.

When the rockslide finally settled, Bash popped his dizzy head out of its wreckage and moaned. His head swiveled from here to there as if he wasn't fully conscious—which, given the circumstances, wasn't too unlike to be the case.

"I'm… Okay…" Bash groaned as he passed out on the stones, "Ugh."

Dino-Rang winced as he got ready to collect Dino-Rang, but before he could several of the smaller monsters dogpiled him to the ground!

Chihiro, meanwhile, was far from the monsters' conflict—because she was dealing with a conflict of her own as she dodged the falling rocks.

"Geez, this is dragging on way too long!" Chihiro shouted in between the sound of rampages and rockslides.

"No kidding!" Dino-Rang agreed as he popped out of the mini-monster pile and looked towards the main monster, "This bloke's too resilient for its own good… After all, we took out most of its body! What else is there?!"—Dino-Rang glazed over the large monster—"But not its head…"

As Dino-Rang watched the monster, the gap between its head and neck glowed a bright brown! A brown so striking, so magical in color, it just had to be the light of...

"That's it!" Dino-Rang boomeranged away the mini monsters, then rushed towards where the others were still fighting.

"Mates, I got an idea!" Dino-Rang pulled Terrafin, Chihiro and Bash into a huddle, then directed their attention to the largest monster, "See that glow?"

Chihiro, Terrafin and Bash pay their attention to the glow.

"Wait a second," Chihiro realized, her brown eyes wide and bright, "That's gotta be…"

"The Eternal Earth Source!" Terrafin finished.

"My thoughts exactly," Dino-Rang said as he crossed his arms, "So listen."

As everybody drew closer, Dino-Rang whispered a plan to them then smiled as they withdrew. However, his smile quickly vanished when he notes the others' wary looks.

"Don't get me wrong, Dino-Rang. It's a rock solid idea, but…" Bash said as he gulped and looked behind only to scramble forwards, "WE'VE STILL GOT THE LITTLE GUYS HERE!"

Sure enough, Bash was right—the mini-monsters had banded together, and they were still raring to fight!

"Just leave it to me!" Chihiro chirped with a smile!

Chihiro cracked her knuckles, then teleported in front of the mini monsters and lifted them with her magic! When they were firmly in her grasp, she tossed them right at the monster! Chihiro smiled back at the Skylanders and gave them a thumbs up, only to yelp as the monster started chasing her!

"NOW!" Dino-Rang yelled.

Bash rolled in front of Chihiro and shot into the monster, which crashed it back against the wall! As it staggered up, Bash repeatedly jumped up slammed down into it till it finally fell unconscious.

"Dino-Rang!" Bash called as he looked back at Dino-Rang.

"On it!" Dino-Rang shouted back as he gripped his boomerangs tight. With it stopped, Dino-Rang shot his boomerangs at the monster!

The boomerangs struck the monster with such might, such force, that it cried out in agony as a gigantic crack formed in its head!

While the monster wailed and sobbed, Dino-Rang walked up to Terrafin and slapped his hand! Terrafin ran further, then as he drew closer Dino-Rang summoned a stone that launched Terrafin to the skies! Terrafin soared up for moments, the dive-bombed onto the monster's shoulders. As he got situated, he latched onto the cracked part of the monster's head and began heaving. But even with his strength, it was still a struggle!

"Fin, what's up?" Bash exclaimed as popped up from one of his own stone pillars and landed beside Terrafin.

"It's this head!" Terrafin strained as he continued to pull the head up, "It's pretty darn heavy…"

So, Bash and Dino-Rang joined in lifting the head… But even with their help, it was still unwilling to budge!

And Chihiro noted this quite well from her position on the ground, so she magicked up a bounce pad, then leaped onto the shoulder!

"Times like these call for some superstrength!" Chihiro chirped as she snapped her fingers!

As her snap resounded through the valley, Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin all glowed with a brilliant aqua light! With one last grunt, they flung the head off with ease!

Inside the body was a hollow stone chamber just big enough to house all of them... And the Eternal Earth Source, which hovered in the center of the body!

All four of them slid inside the chamber and basked in the Eternal Earth Source's glow. Well, they would've, but its light was choked out by an ominous purple fog!

Terrafin reached out to grab the Source, but before he could grab it his hand was shot with several purple sparks!

"Yeowch!" Terrafin exclaimed as he reeled back, "What's your problem?"

"It's probably still affected by that bad magic," Chihiro reasoned as she rubbed her hands, "Let me try!"

Chihiro's hands glowed as she gently embraced the Eternal Earth Source. The Earth Source, in turn, glowed with a bright, all-encompassing light that forced everyone to shield their eyes.

When they finally opened their eyes, they were greeted to the best sight they could've seen! The damage was cleaned and the monster was gone—All that was left was a gigantic pile of treasure!

They all basked in the beauty of the cleansed area… Then it hit them that they were hovering in midair and dropped down! Thankfully, the treasure pile was more than enough to cushion their fall—they only popped their heads out of it and laughed.

"That's another Eternal Source out of Kaos's hands, guys!" Chihiro proclaimed as she held up the Eternal Earth Source, then looked over all the treasure they had landed in, "Say, what're we gonna do with all this treasure, anyways?"

"I have an idea…" Terrafin said as he smiled and picked up some coins.

§

While the Skylanders warred away inside, the townsfolk of Stonetown crowded around the entrance, their breath bated as they looked into its depths. The tunnel itself was far too dark to catch any glimpse of the other side, so all they had to go on for the Skylanders' progress in the fight against Kaos's cronies were the sounds of battle that reverberated around the tunnel's walls.

All was silent as heartbeats became the only sound heard for moment… Then the vague sound of digging or tunneling echoed through the halls! The crowd stepped backwards as if they were one, fully ready to attack any possible ne'er-do-wells that popped out of its dark depths.

But, much to their relief, Terrafin popped out instead!

"Skylander!" Cried a mabu man dressed in mining clothes and a thick helmet, "Were you able to retrieve the Eternal Earth Source?"

"See for yourself, buddy," Terrafin replied as he pointed a clawed hand back at the tunnel.

There, Bash and Dino-Rang heaved out large piles of gold, jewels and other treasures, while Chihiro stepped out after them and presented the Eternal Earth Source for all to see!

As the crowds cheered, Terrafin walked up to a finely-dressed woman who appeared to be the town's mayor and gestured towards the slowly-growing pile of treasure.

"That treasure was what was left behind after we beat up that monster," Terrafin explained as he looked back at the pile.

"Monster?" The mayor repeated as she tilted her head slightly and frowned.

"Eh, don't worry about it! We've got it all taken care of!" Terrafin brushed a fist against his chest then cleared his throat, "Anyways, we've talked abut it, and we want you guys to keep the prize money!"

"Really?" The mayor stepped past Terrafin to look at the treasure, then turned and looked at him as if she still wasn't entirely certain he was honest, "All of it?"

"Yep!" Chihiro interrupted as she hopped into the conversation—literally, "We don't really need all that money…"

"And besides," Terrafin added as he gently pushed Chihiro back, "Think of it as us saying thanks for gettin' back the Earth Source for us!"

"Oh, thank you, thank you kind Skylander!" The mayor said as she grabbed Terrafin's hand and rapidly shook it, "With all this treasure, Stonetown should be well off for a very long time! We can't possibly thank you enough!"

"I think you already have." Terrafin clenched his fangs and withdrew his hand from the mayor's grasp.

"Ey, there you all are!" Flynn exclaimed as he strode through the crowds and laid an arm around Terrafin's shoulders, "I was wondering if you'd show up! Of course, I wasn't too worried. You guys are pretty awesome!"—Flynn then winked—"Almost as awesome as I am!"

Terrafin only rolled his eyes.

"Anyways." Flynn straightened his lapel as he let go of Terrafin, "That isn't why I came to find you guys!"—Flynn walked back out of the crowd and ushered for the others to follow—"Come on, I've got something to show you!"

Chihiro and Terrafin looked at each other, shrugged, then followed Flynn back out of the crowds.

Flynn's short parade had lead them to none other than his balloon, except it had been completely polished up and repaired! It was so impressive, it was almost like it had never been blown to smithereens in the first place!

"Those townspeople fixed up ol' Balloony for me while you guys were kicking evil butt!" Flynn explained as he leaned against the basket and rapped his fist on its rim, "I'd have to give them credit, I almost couldn't do a better job!"

Chihiro only chuckled.

"As cool as it is, we do need to get back home," Chihiro reminded as she hopped up to Flynn, "We have an Eternal Source to return to the Core of Light and all!"

As they overheard this, a few stray townsfolk let out disappointed sighs and crowded around Flynn.

"Does that mean we won't get the hear the end of your boomtastic tales of adventure?" Asked one man.

"I'm afraid we'll have to cut the stories short for now, buddy," Flynn replied with a gentle glint in his eyes, "But don't be too sad! If I ever come back, I'll be sure to fill you in on what happens next!"

The townspeople cheered and dispersed, but unlike the joyous civilians Terrafin and Chihiro were more confused as they looked at Flynn.

"Boomtastic tales of adventure?" Chihiro repeated in a tone that implied she almost didn't believe what she heard.

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Terrafin questioned as he crossed his arms.

"Well, while you guys were fighting, I was regaling the citizens here of my tales of epic heroism and escapades!" Flynn dusted his chest off with his fist, "Oh, but don't worry, I made sure to tell them all about how you guys helped me along the way!"

"Your tales of epic heroism?…" Terrafin and Chihiro whispered in unison as they cast Flynn tired glares.

"Either way, we should probably be going!" Flynn hopped into the basket of his newly-repaired balloon and waved, "Come on!"

Chihiro whistled towards Dino-Rang and Bash, then hopped into the balloon and slunk against its side. Her eyes were fixed on the Eternal Earth Source and nothing else as she sat in the balloon, to the point where it seemed like she didn't even notice the Skylanders' boarding and the balloon's takeoff. As they flew through the vast skies on their merry way home, however, Chihiro paused and dug through her pocket.

Chihiro made a soft smile, then pulled out a shiny red jewel about the size of her thumb. As it shone against the warm colors of eventide, Chihiro admired its bright shine before she stowed it away once more…

§

"You know, we really rocked those guys' world!" Chihiro quipped as she held the Eternal Earth Source tight in her arms.

"You bet we did!" Bash replied with a toothy grin, "They looked so shocked, it was like we hit them with an earthquake!"

"But, it wasn't as impressive as when you beat up that monster thingie! It was a landslide victory!"

Terrafin pinched his brow as Chihiro and Bash continued to sling absolutely atrocious earth-related puns, quips and all other sorts of jokes at each other. Who knew so many bad puns could come out of just two people?

In fact, it almost—almost—distracted him from the also quite nerve-wracking experience that was flying in Flynn's balloon. It's not that he was scared of flying or anything, no, that was ridiculous! He just wouldn't exactly rank flights in his top ten methods or travel, especially flights with the "best pilot in all Skylands."

(Somedays, Terrafin wondered if Flynn got that title out of a cereal box)

Nevertheless, the balloon trip had thankfully come to a speedy end! Flynn bumped his balloon's basket against the massive stone pillars that signaled the specially-made parking spot for his balloon… and sending every other passenger rolling down the way.

"Dude, watch where you're flying!" Terrafin exclaimed as he clung to the side of the basket.

"But, I was!" Flynn proclaimed as he adjusted the lapel of his jacket, "You see, Terrafin, that was an advanced flying technique for the ages, one that only—"

Flynn stopped short as Terrafin shot him a glare.

"Anyways." Flynn made a gulp, "We're home!"

Chihiro giggled as she held the Eternal Earth Source, a moment of pause taken to stroke its surface.

As Terrafin glanced over the Source, he made a slightly alarmed smile. Something about being so close to the thing that makes up the very essence of your element has a way of humbling you. Not that he cared much. Quite frankly, he was just glad that another Eternal Source was out of that punk Kaos's hands and back into theirs!

"I gotta show Spyro this!" Chihiro exclaimed as she leaped out of the basket, "He'll be so happy!"

Chihiro had raced forwards, likely to find Spyro… But instead, she crash-collided into Hugo as he hauled a lengthy stack of books across the island. Paper and paperbacks alike leaped into the air as a dizzy Chihiro and Hugo stood under their rain.

"Chihiro!" Hugo exclaimed as he jumped up and collected his books, "Did you…"

Hugo looked down, then jumped back as he saw the Eternal Earth Source lay on the ground.

"Goodness, I'm quite sorry, Eternal Earth Source!" Hugo's eyes widened as it hit him what he just said, "The Eternal Earth Source! You got it!"

"It's not a person, Hugo," Terrafin remarked as he jumped out of the basket with Bash and Dino-Rang close behind him, "You don't need to apologize to it."

Hugo just shook his head and dropped his books to the ground so he himself could pick up the Earth Source. He must've been really excited to see it if he did that! Hugo cared about his books more than he did life itself, Terrafin was almost certain.

"How did the mission go?" Hugo asked as he stroked the Eternal Earth Source, "Did you have any trouble?"

"Eh, nothing we couldn't handle." Terrafin placed a hand on Chihiro's shoulder, "Right, Chi?"

"You bet!" Chihiro shouted as she jumped into the air and pumped her fist, "We sent those guys running back to Kaos with their tails between their legs!"

"Nevertheless, we should make haste in adding it to the Core," Hugo said as he thrust the Earth Source back in Chihiro's arms and ran off, "I'll go get the book!"

Hugo ran off in such a haste that it immediately drew everyone's attention to the Skylanders and Chihiro! As the others crowded around them, Chihiro hid the Eternal Earth Source behind her back in a kind of teasing manner, like a kid hiding a present from their friend… Or a frog from their parent. Terrafin had to admit, he couldn't help but smile seeing her so eager and excited. It reminded him a little bit of when he was a kid, almost.

"Chihiro!" Spyro called as he flew up to Chihiro, an outlier in the massive crowds, "How'd it go?"

"Well…" Chihiro whispered as she leaned in forwards and looked around, then retrieved the Eternal Earth Source from behind her back, "See for yourself, Golden Boy!"

Spyro's eyes widened in awe the moment he saw the Eternal Earth Source, as did everyone else's. The excitement had kinda worn off for Terrafin after the first hour, personally, but seeing them talk about and get all excited over the next Eternal Source did have a renewing feeling to it.

"Alright!" Hugo shouted as he stumbled out of the portal building with a worn book in hand, "Let's get started!"

The crowd of Skylanders parted to make way for Hugo, and then Hugo and Chihiro as the two of them stepped towards the Core of Light. Terrafin pushed past the crowds to the front, then crossed his arms and watched in silence.

The process was really, no different than the few other times he had seen—Chihiro had placed the Eternal Earth Source at the stone platform base of the incomplete Core, then Hugo coughed his throat and recited some weird, ancient chant in a language that was probably deader than dinosaurs.

Well, most dinosaurs, anyways, Terrafin thought as he cast an amused glance towards Dino-Rang, who held an intense conversation with Bash.

Terrafin watched them for a few seconds, then an intense whir like the sound of a machine coming to life pulled him away from his thoughts!

When he looked back at the Core of Light, the Crystal Eye that rested at its very top shone with an intense light for a few seconds… Then a gigantic, colorful laser unlike any Terrafin had ever seen shot out its spout, almost like it marked the Core as a beacon for hope for all those around! Or something poetic like that.

"Well, we're nearly halfway done, guys!" Chihiro shouted as she bounded over and hugged Spyro tight, "Man, that's exciting!"

"Sure is, Chi," Terrafin chuckled as he stepped over and patted Chihiro on the back, then stopped to bask in the Core of Light's wonder.

"Sure is."