Gamelover41592: Thanks

Tech-Star: Oh well, to each their own

Alright, time to get back into this as we take another step towards getting into Kaos' castle! Let's go!

"Did you have fun?" Eon asked his daughter. Upon everyone's return to the ship, they had discovered that one of the ways the Wilikin had improved upon the ship was adding a turret. Sky had eagerly jumped at the chance to go mess around with it.

"It was awesome!" Sky cheered. Blasting the targets out of the sky was so much fun!

"Well, glad you're done because we're ready to go!" Spyro declared before pointing to Seraphina. "She told us how to get into the Troll's base!" Sky then turned to the sole troll Skylander.

"You gonna be okay, Boomer?" She asked. Being a leader meant making sure everyone you were in charge of was okay, right?

"Aw, don't worry!" Boomer assured the young Portal Master with a few pats on the head. "I'll be okay! Most of those other trolls were big bullies anyways!" This made Sky smile as they set off.

"That's gotta be it!" Tree-Rex called out, pointing to a large castle-like outpost.

"Hey, now this doesn't look so bad," Flynn noted as he circled around, looking for a place to land. "No one's even defending this place." As if on cue, cannons began blasting away, causing Flynn to scream and hurriedly look for a place to land. "Wowsers! You think these people have enough cannons!?"

"You did kinda jinx that," Flashwing pointed out as she stepped off the platform.

"Still, we should be on our guard," Ninjini warned, having already assumed a guarded stance. "There is no doubt these trolls are taking their work seriously."

"Getting to this shield generator isn't going to be easy," Cali agreed. "If you can distract the guards-I'll go around back."

"Sounds like you could use a big, strong, and yes, extremely attractive bodyguard," Flynn spoke up, causing Cali to instantly facepalm. "How could I say no? BOOM!"

"Fine, but I move quickly, so stay close," Cali warned her "bodyguard", who responded with a nod and a smile. Cali then turned to the Skylanders and their Portal Masters. "I'll meet you up ahead, okay?" With that, she rushed off, leaving Flynn trailing behind.

"So…the male. He's not too bright, is he?" Crusher asked as the group followed the two Mabu.

"Oh you have no idea," Fright Rider replied, with Ozzy making what sounded like a laughing noise.

"He's good at flying the ships though!" Hot Dog chimed in before pouncing at a nearby bird. Flynn was standing near a wall, which he was clearly incapable of getting through.

"Oh that Cali," Flynn said wistfully. "Guess he's playing hard to get here. Or at least hard to find. Anyways, see if you can grab something to take down that wall."

"Allow me," Tree-Rex declared as he stepped forward. He then charged into the wall, causing it to break apart with ease, which also had the added effect of dealing with the trolls and chompies that were waiting behind said wall.

"Nice!" Spyro cheered as everyone continued on. Stump Smash in particular was eager to begin smashing the trolls, much to the concern of the Giants.

"So, I love crushing bad guys as much as the next guy, but what's up with him?" Crusher had to ask, seeing how much he was relishing in the carnage he was causing.

"Well…" Everyone nervously looked at each other. This was a story they knew would hit people like Tree Rex a little too close to home. Finally, Sky stepped forward.

"The trolls cut down all his branches and leaves back when he was a normal tree," Sky explained as best she could. "He hates all trolls now." No one was shocked to see Tree Rex's fists clench. That hit a little too close to home. The only difference was that for him, it was the Arkyens.

"Let's keep moving," He said. "Before Stump Smash gets too far ahead of us." No one disagreed with him. Thankfully, Cali wasn't much further ahead, meaning that some of the tension was ease. The stack of dynamite she had placed in front of a wall certainly helped as well.

"Don't worry Cali," Flynn greeted her. "We're here. You're safe now."

"Yeah…what a relief," Cali deadpanned. No one really blamed her. She then turned to the Skylanders. "Just hit the switch to trigger my explosives when you're ready. I'll try to keep brain trust over here out of trouble."

"Sky, wanna do the honors?" Boomer offered. This earned him a hug before Sky rushed over to the explosives. One push on the switch later and the wall was no more.

"I coulda done that," Crusher bragged as he hoisted his massive hammer up as the group continued.

"Be careful," Eon warned the group as he pointed to some explosives lodged in the ground. "There's a high chance that they will go off if attacked too much." Needless to say, no one had to be told twice. That being said, a few of the long ranged attackers had no problems setting ones off that were closer to trolls than them.

"A chompy diving a mech…that's something you don't see everyday," Ninjini noted after defeating said creature.

"Well, we made short work of those Trolls, didn't we?" Flynn boasted, getting several eye rolls. Cali was about to say that they needed to get the gates open, only to see Sky had already finished the lock puzzle and opened the other gate.

"What? You guys were all busy!" Sky protested when she noticed all the weird looks she was getting.

"You did great," Eon assured his daughter. "You just surprised us." This caused Sky to perk up as the group continued on. For the most part, it was smooth sailing as the group scaled the tower. Granted, there were a lot of enemies, but it didn't slow the Skylanders down whatsoever.

"Hey there!" Flynn greeted them once they made it to the top of the castle. "Looks like we found those cannons, huh? But don't worry! I've activated the supply somethingorather to dispense these artillery thingamajigs." The Skylanders all looked very confused.

"Er. Translation-We'll need those big explosives to take out the big cannons," Cali quickly explained, smiling when the Skylanders all clearly understood. "Let's go!" This time, everyone opted to let Boomer take point, since he knew his way around bombs. Needless to say, the cannons were very quickly dealt with.

"Not bad, Boomer," Stump Smash begrudgingly admitted as the group continued on. Tree Rex smiled and nodded in approval. Still, there wasn't a lot of time to rest considering that many cannons were still blasting away.

"Woo, woo! That was a close one!" Flynn exclaimed as he attempted to catch his breath. "Yet, somehow, I was able to lead us through."

"That's amazing Flynn," Cali said in the most sarcastic voice she could muster. "But if you don't mind, I'll be the one to set up the explosives here." Cali then did exactly that, setting up another cluster of bombs. Sky once again set up off, blowing up yet another wall. Thus, the Skylanders set up, taking down a lot more enemies.

"Hey buddy!" Flynn greeted once Crusher broke down another wall. He then pointed at a strange contraption that was behind it. "Looks like you found the shield thingie. Well done!"

"Indeed," Eon agreed. "However, you should all remain on guard."

"Guess those guards aren't going to let us destroy it without a fight," Cali noted. The Skylanders weren't scared, however, and easily dealt with all the trolls. As an added bonus, backlash from the fight led to the shield generator getting destroyed.

"I think a 'boom' is in order here," Flynn declared.

"Now that the force field is down, we can finally pay Kaos a little visit," Cali eagerly stated.

"Yeah, but we should probably try to capture him or something too, right?" Flynn questioned, causing pretty much everyone to facepalm. "Right?"

Meanwhile

Glumshanks, currently strapped to a table and with a large contraption stuck on his head, took notice of all the lights flickering and looked at his master in concern. "Uh…did you hear something?"

"Just relax, Glumshanks," Kaos assured his servant. "This is a memory machine! It will help you remember."

"Will the straps help me remember too?" Glumshanks had to ask, not that Kaos paid him any mind.

"See, Glumshanks," Kaos began as he finished preparing the machine. "Somewhere inside your feeble mind is the secret location to the City of Arkus! And I'm going to help you find it. Let's begin, shall we?"

"Uh, uh, you know what?" Glumshanks began in an attempt to avoid the pain he knew was coming. "It's all coming back to me now. I really don't think we need-" Whatever protests he had were cut off when Kaos turned on the machine, which caused static to project onto the wall. Smiling, Kaos grabbed a remote and began to adjust the feed.

"Just relax, Glumshanks," The first memory stated, showing that it was extremely recent.

"Nope, that's not it! Further back!" Kaos noted as he began to rewind further.

"You fool!"

"Idiot!"

"Moron!"

"Stupid!"

"Well done, Glumshanks!"

"Eh?" Kaos questioned, feeling like if he ever gave Glumshanks a compliment it would be a nightmare of some kind. From what he could see, Glumshanks was just as confused. "I don't remember that!" The next rewind then showed the map. "That's it! There's the island!" Kaos then turned to take another look in order to make a plan. "Hmmmm! According to this, to reach the city, we'll need to build an enormous ladder into the sky and-"

"Sir, I think we're looking at it upside down," Glumshanks pointed out. Taking another look, Kaos realized that was actually true. Thus, he flipped Glumshanks upside down so that the map was rightside up.

"As I was saying," Kaos began again now that he could actually see what to do. "All we'll need is a giant drilling machine to tunnel our way down to the buried city. I'll have my minions steal the largest one they can find! C'mon Glumshanks!" With that, Kaos happily skipped off to go do some evil plotting, completely forgetting he had strapped Glumshanks down.

"Um, Lord Kaos….Master!?"

Not gonna lie, that final cutscene might be one of my favorite moments in the series.