Chihiro Hatsuki's Skylanders: Here Come the Giants!

by Tilde-Heart

The past and present collide when an ancient evil from the bowels of Skylands' history is awakened by Kaos as he attempts to restore his empire of evil! Now, Chihiro and the Skylanders must team up with the heroes of Skylands' distant past in order to bring a stop to the revival of the Arkeyan Empire! (Canon-divergent retelling of Skylanders Giants)

22. Arkus, Part 1

Alright, next chapter! Don't really have much to say other than there being an important announcement at the end of this chapter.

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Ancient's Hearth had long disappeared in the rearview, yet it was at the forefront of everyone's minds as they lingered on the Dread-Yacht's deck. The air turned cold and sharp as day turned to evening, and soon enough, would turn to night as well; the tension of having barely escaped that ambush seemed to worsen the chills. Most everyone retreated back into the inner working of the Dread-Yacht with only a handful of others on the deck to stand guard, and Chihiro was one of them. She paced so much that she was almost certain she'd paced a trail into the Dread-Yacht's deck, or maybe it was the dying light and her worries playing tricks on her mind.

Whatever it was, it only amplified the worries around her. Tree Rex gazed off into the distance while Thumpback polished his anchor with maybe a little more force than needed, Vatra's fingertips ignited and quelled in a steady rhythm, sparks of lightning crackled at Cynder's lips and Whirlwind's horn, Flynn steered the Dread-Yacht with that same goofy smile and bravado… Well, at least Flynn wasn't worried.

"I hope Gigantus is okay," Tree Rex seemed to whisper as he turned away from the others. Did he hope that nobody would hear him?

Regardless, everyone else nodded, or made some small shrug or motion of agreement before they watched the skies. They spoke not a word, but their eyes turned tense and sharp as they scanned for any traces of red and gold. After these past two ambushes, they were going to make certain that the third time wouldn't be Arkilles's charm.

Chihiro cast a glance off into the distance herself, and her heart skipped a beat as a flash of red and gold crossed her eyes. She went to craft a sword right as the colors passed, but breathed a sigh as it occurred to her that it was probably just the shifting colors of sunset. Chills ran down her spine a bit more than normal, and she wasn't entirely sure why—well, that was a lie. She knew what it was that egged at her so, but the dominant cause was yet to be determined. Were all these past hiccups getting to her? Was the tension of drawing closer and closer to Arkus and their endgame leaving her with extra tension? Was it just the anxiety that came from two separate ambushes happening with barely any time between them? Lots of questions, not a lot of answers, so she just sighed and slunk against the deck's railing. The clouds passed her by, and she hoped that counting them would ease the tension that locked her body in place till it was time to trade off guard duty.

"One, two, four, eight, ten, sixteen…" she mumbled to herself before she finally lost count and sighed.

All remained quiet for those few moments; the only sounds were that of the Dread-Yacht's engine rattling, and the squeak of polish as Thumpback cleaned his anchor. Occasionally a whoosh burst as embers scattered from Vatra's ghostly form and cooled as they flew in the breeze, or a few bars of Flynn's latest song about his most certainly exaggerated feats of heroism were just loud enough to beat out the engine and the shouting that seemed to echo from the dorms. Wait, shouting?

Chihiro perked her head out as shouting and clanging echoed from the dormitory hallways. It grew closer, closer enough that she could barely make out a few words. Something about lying or flying? Wait a second, didn't Spyro take Glumshanks for interrogation the moment they got out of the Arkeyans', well, lack of hair?

"GET BACK HERE!" Spyro screamed as he slammed the door open!

The force was so great that the door nearly fell off its hinges (though that was hardly a feat given the shambling state of the Dread-Yacht), and Spyro's eyes flashed red not with the heat of the Fire Element, but with sheer rage as smoke billowed from his jaws and nostrils. Chihiro herself locked up a bit at the sight. She'd never seen Spyro THAT angry before!

"I, I swear on my life!" Glumshanks begged. He'd apparently taken shelter behind Tree Rex's leg, and trembled so furiously he probably would have fallen apart right that moment. Huh, she hadn't noticed. "I had no idea he put that tracker on me!"

"Likely story!" Terrafin spat as he stumbled out of the dorms. "I knew you were plotting something! Never trusted you from the start!"

The rest of the Skylanders poured out from the door or gathered into a crowd, and all were as equally-mad as Spyro was, though some hid it better than others. Gill Grunt only frowned while his finger itched for the trigger of his cannon, and sparks burst and snapped from Cynder's jaw. Of course, nobody could beat out Eruptor and how he burned so bright that it started to melt the Dread-Yacht's metal, but the point was clear—nobody was entirely happy with Glumshanks right now.

"I already told you that we'd toss you off the side of the island if you were planning anything funny," Spyro hissed. The smoke thickened, blackened as his wings twitched, and he trudged closer and closer to where Glumshanks hid. "I'm sure you understood that, correct?"

"I, but, I swear, I didn't try to trick you!" Glumshanks begged. His shaking legs gave out, and he fell to his knees as he clasped his hands. "I really, truly didn't know that Arkilles placed that tracker on me! Please don't toss me off the side of the ship."

"I'm finding it hard not to." Spyro huffed and smoke dispelled across the deck. "Trust me."

"But, we are not doing anything of the sort!" Chihiro intervened as she pushed herself between Glumshanks and Spyro before anything ugly could happen. "We're not killing anyone here tonight."

Chihiro hit Spyro with a glance that hopefully conveyed her seriousness, and he only receded with a snort. She didn't want to have the pull the Skylander Code on him, but at the same time, it did look like he was getting pretty intense.

"Actually, I'm with the dragon on this one," Vatra hissed as embers lit from the tips of his hair. "What reason do we have to assume you aren't just lying through your teeth?" His fingertips ignited next and Vatra joined Spyro at his side. "You strung us along by claiming you'd take us to take care of your lord, and then pulled the security on us!"

Glumshanks trembled and clung behind Tree Rex. "But, you were gonna kill Lord Kaos! I didn't have a choice!"

"Just like how you seemingly didn't have a choice but to sneak one over on us!" A whoosh sounded, and Vatra lit like the morning sun as he burned with rage. "Now, give us one good reason as to why we should keep you on this ship, or I will personally toss you off!"

The others all crowded around, and Chihiro winced as she tried to position herself through the crowds.

"Now, now, everyone, calm your boots!" Chihiro demanded in her most leaderlike voice possible. "I know we're all tense right now, but let's take a deep breath and think this through. What would Glumshanks gain by—"

Chihiro yelped as something wooden pushed her away, and the force was great enough that she lost her balance and stumbled onto the deck.

"Sorry about that, Chihiro," Tree Rex said before his gaze turned stern and towards Glumshanks, "but they're right. This is the second time now you've pulled the leaves over our eyes, and I'm not going to sit around and wait for there to be a third."

The other Skylanders raised their voices in agreement, and Glumshanks whimpered as he dove behind a barrel next. His whole body shuddered so badly that it was like he would melt into a puddle of jelly right that moment, and Chihiro honestly didn't blame him. Having a bunch of super-powerful beings who were very angry with you was no situation anyone would want to be in!

Chihiro winced as the fires of battle burned and pushed her back up. The last thing they needed right now was a battle erupting on board. Though, whether that was from the tensions burning, or the shaky state of the Dread-Yacht, Chihiro wasn't certain. Glumshanks cowered as Vatra's hands burned like they were going to craft fire, and Chihiro herself tightened up. She readied a no-sell spell and prepared to fire...

"You, you said you lost a bunch of time in that ambush and you aren't sure that you'd be able to get to Arkus before Arkilles does, right? But, I know a shortcut to Arkus!" Glumshanks spat out at last. "I, I can tell you, but please, just, just don't throw me off the ship or burn me alive!"

The tensions raised still, but they seemed to quell slightly as Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy lowered their weapons. Spyro's wings flattened against his back next, and that seemed to be the signal the others needed. One by one they hesitantly halted, and all remained still, too still, as if time froze in that very moment.

But, finally, it was Spyro who stepped from the crowds. "Where is this shortcut?" Spyro asked.

"Promise you won't incinerate me first?"

Spyro's eyes chilled back to their normal gold. "Skylanders' honor."

Glumshanks gulped and glanced over at where everyone else seemed to glare him down, and Spyro sighed.

"Stand down, everyone. We'll hear him out."

A few grumbles and groans came from the crowds as they lowered their attacks, and with them calmed, Spyro turned back to Glumshanks. He tilted his head slightly, as if he prompted Glumshanks to return to the open. Glumshanks gulped, took his prompt and stepped out, still so shaky he could barely stand.

"When we were plotting the route to Arkus, there was a couple separate ones that we considered." Glumshanks cleared his throat and gulped. "Normally, a traditional trip would take several days more thanks to the flight traffic, but there's a shortcut through a place..."

"And that place is?"

Glumshanks seemed a bit hesitant, gulping again before he spoke, but finally he drew a breath.

"The Lockdown Isles."

A few short gasps and cruel stares glanced down at Glumshanks, and Chihiro herself winced. She'd heard about the Lockdown Isles from Hugo's history books. Ages ago, they fell under some kind of curse that mutated all the plantlife and drove out all those who lived there, and ever since, any vessel that's ever had the misfortune of traveling its lands never surfaced. If he really wasn't lying about helping them, it certainly didn't show.

"If you're trying to pull our legs, you're doing a really bad job!" Eruptor grumbled. "Trying to trick us into going to the Lockdown Isles is dumb even for you!"

"But, I'm telling the truth!" Glumshanks begged. "I know it isn't ideal, but it'll get you there much faster than taking this way!"

"Even if that's the truth, which I doubt it is," Spyro hissed, "how, exactly, would we know you aren't setting us up? Where's your proof?"

"I—"

"Ancients, what's with all the ruckus?"

All eyes turned to one of the lower doors as they swung open, and out popped 'Enehana and Cali! Oil coated the shoulders of 'Enehana's ghostly form as they slid a wrench into their backpack, and they groaned and pinched their brows. They must have just gotten back from those engine repairs Flynn needed.

"I'm trying to work down here, and all I hear is shouting and burning and something about throwing people off the deck!" 'Enehana shouted. They stormed up to Vatra, and withdrew their wrench before thrusting it in his face like a sword. "And I swear, if you burn this ship to the abyss before I can get this engine fixed—"

Vatra threw up his hands in alarm, and Chihiro raised a brow as she watched him stand helpless to 'Enehana's rant. An inkling of an idea formed in her head as she leaped to her feet.

"Wait, that's it!" she shouted. She bolted up to 'Enehana and gently tugged on their overalls. "Hey, 'Enehana! 'Enehana!"

'Enehana shook their head and turned their gaze down to Chihiro. "Yes?"

"All these Arkeyan ships and stuff have the same maps and databanks and stuff, right?"

'Enehana hummed for a moment. "Yes, they should. Everything needs to be synchronized to ensure that all fleets arrive at the same destination and all."

Chihiro beamed. "And we have a few Arkeyan thingies right here!" Chihiro proclaimed. "All we have to do is check the databases for that shortcut Glumshanks was talking about, and we can see if he's telling the truth or not!"

'Enehana raised a brow. "Shortcut?"

"Supposedly, going through some place called the Lockdown Isles is gonna get us to Arkus faster." Chihiro gestured over to Glumshanks. "Glumshanks' honor is kinda depending on that panning out or something, so we need you to verify."

'Enehana hummed for a moment as they stroked their chin, and waved over the Machine Ghost's body. As he flew up dutifully, they teleported away in a pop of orange sparkles and dust, left only orange light and tense anticipation behind… And came back out with a device in hand.

"The troll's right," they said first thing as they broadcast a holographic projection of a map for all to see. "There's much less flight traffic through here compared to other routes. Taking a detour through the Lockdown Isles will get us to Arkus days ahead of our current route—we could even get there before sunset if the circumstances align."

"See?" Glumshanks begged, still trembling as he gestured to 'Enehana. "I'm not lying, I swear on my honor!"

"What kind of honor would you even have?" Gill Grunt scoffed.

Chihiro sighed and held her head. "I know it's not ideal," Chihiro admitted, "but, like it or not, we did lose a lot of time thanks to those ambushes, and we don't have any time to lose. So—" Chihiro turned to 'Enehana "—can you send these coordinates to the others and tell them we're changing course?"

"Already on it," 'Enehana said as they tapped something on their hands.

A scanner burst from their palms and skimmed over the map, and 'Enehana thrust their hands forth as a pair of orange light beams soared out like shooting stars. They burst into Varonis' helicopter and the Machine Ghost's body, and as their light faded, the two machines pivoted to the left. 'Enehana withdrew back to the ship's lower deck to fix whatever it was they were repairing, and the others similarly dispersed back to their prior activities.

Well, all except for Chihiro, who stayed planted on the deck. That wary feeling that something was bound to go wrong resounded within her, and she couldn't quite shake it no matter what. So, she sat on the deck, and scanned the skies for anything that could be amiss from the usually cool, clear evening. Even as the patrols shifted and changed around her, even as dinner passed, even as the hues of evening finally dipped into night, Chihiro refused to leave.

The others all rotated out in shifts around her as they similarly kept watch, but each face came and pass as the clock ticked and the scenery stretched along. Now, it was only her, Spyro, Inochi, Stealth Elf, Gill Grunt, Whirlwind, and Tree Rex, all strewn about the deck with eyes trained for any unusual activity. But, nothing came to light beyond the puffy night clouds, and the twinkle of stars dancing under the moonlight. Whether that was a good or bad thing, however, was uncertain.

Chihiro nudged at the half-finished dinner plate beside her (something Spyro brought her to ensure she'd have eaten, and kept her energy up for any potential fights), and sighed. She wasn't entirely sure what in her caused her heart to race so badly that she couldn't sleep, even though her watch let up maybe a few cycles ago. The tense feeling in the air, the one that was like something was about to jump out and eat her at any moment, probably contributed. Maybe it was a little bit of fear of what awaited her when she arrived at Arkus, or maybe a bit of fear that Glumshanks really did lead them astray. Chihiro's stomach turned and churned, and she about tossed the cookies she had for her dessert.

"ACK!" she cried as something brushed against her, but when she turned around, all she saw was Spyro. Her shoulders slumped as she met with his sparkly golden gaze, and a breath escaped from her without realizing. "Oh, it's just you, Gold. Scared me for a moment there."

"Sorry 'bout that," Spyro chirped back. "You worried about the mission?"

"A little. It just feels like everything's too quiet, you know? It's like something's just gonna jump out and attack us at any moment!" Chihiro mimed a monster's claws and snarling face. "Like, 'RAWR!'"

A chuckle came not from Spyro, but Flynn as he spun the Dread-Yacht's wheel.

"Don't worry about that, Cheerio!" Flynn chirped. "If any monsters come knockin', good ol' Captain Flynn's here to knock them into next week! And the week after that, in fact!" Flynn spun the wheel over to the right. "Heck, I could even take that Arkilles creep! Have him out before lunch, as a matter of fact! I can see it now!"

Flynn stretched an arm to the heavens. "We get there, and my sheer awesomeness scares the guy so badly he goes running away with his tail between his legs! Then we get home and we have some awesome enchiladas to celebrate our victory! BOOM!"

Everybody else rolled their eyes, but Chihiro chuckled. Even though Flynn was most certainly exaggerating as he always did, his cheerfulness was a welcome distraction from her own anxiety. A twinkle in his eye showed that this probably was the intended reaction, so Chihiro smiled back and went for the rest of her dinner—but dang it, it was cold now. She went to start up a temperature spell and heat them up some…

But, the air chilled around them at a temperature even colder than normal! Mist coated the night skies in a thick blanket as the winds whipped around, and the cold, stinging lashes of the night air howled as they struck the Dread-Yacht's hull. The mist grew thicker as it curled around, and a low hum rang in the air underneath the yells and squeals of the cold air.

"Wait, was it supposed to get this misty?" Flynn asked. He shook his head, and his trademark smile returned as he flicked through the Dread-Yacht's controls. "Ah, no matter, just gotta fire up the good ol' headlights and..."

Flynn flicked a switch, and a string of cannons burst out from the side of the Dread-Yacht's hull. They spewed out confetti and withdrew as quickly as they came.

"Nope, that's the party cannons. Fun, but we can save the victory party for after I've dealt with this creepy Arkeyan guy." Flynn chuckled and flicked a few more switches. "Now, where were those headlights?"

A few more assorted contraptions opened and closed with every button Flynn pressed, and Chihiro got another chuckle. She looked aside, yet she found that Inochi was much less amused. In fact, Inochi seemed more lost in thought than anything! Her eyes turned glassy as she drew away from the center of the docks, and her eyes firmly fixated on the mist—or perhaps, whatever laid beyond it?

"Inochi, is something wrong?" Tree Rex asked as he knelt beside her.

Inochi pursed her lips, and she gripped the Dread-Yacht's railing tight. "Something about this place feels... It feels like it's calling to me."

Tree Rex frowned. "Calling you?" he echoed.

The mist grew even thicker than before, something Chihiro wasn't even sure was possible, and that low humming sound she heard turned to sharp whistling instead! It overpowered the squeals and howls of the wind, a massive feat in and of itself given their volume, and their sharp, high yelps forced Chihiro to clamp her ears. God, she hated loud, shrill noises; something about them overwhelmed all her senses, and this was no exception! The whistling amplified in volume, and the mist grew thicker around, almost as if it grew in respond to the sound. The mist grew its thickest, yet a string of yellow lights burst out from the Dread-Yacht's side and scanned around the area! The light pierced through the churning fog, and unearthed parts of islands filled thick with rotting and radioactive foliage. Could this mean?

"BOOM! Now we're in business!" Flynn cried as he pumped a fist. "Now, let's see if we can get these babies going even brighter." The whistling sounded once more, and Flynn's ears pricked back. "Something wrong, old girl? You need me to find those annoying rudderbiters and fish them out?"

THUMP! THUMP THUMP!

"I don't think it's the ship that's having issues, Flynn!" Whirlwind cried as she took to the skies. "It's what's on it!"

Round silhouettes formed amid the mist and lights, and everyone drew their weapons. The mist cleared, and a couple of round, twisted cabbages with withering leaves and limbs, gaping maws, and empty eyes carved in their faces leaped on the deck as more emerged from the mist.

Chihiro winced. These definitely fit the bill of plant monsters, and further confirmed her suspicions—they'd arrived at the Lockdown Isles, alright!

"Looks like the problems found us first!" Chihiro cried as she summoned a sword and brandished it high. "Everyone, battle stations!"

Cries of battle rang out as everyone drew their powers and weapons, and the plant monsters yowled and gnashed their rotten teeth as they leaped forth.

§A little while later§

"Man," Chihiro gasped as she wiped the sweat from her brow, "those monsters were a pain in the butt!" She grunted as she kicked the slashed corpse of another long-dead leaf monster off the deck. "That's probably gonna be a good story for when we get back home, though!"

Spyro heaved another sigh of his own as he tossed a whole pile of dead plant monsters off of the deck.

"What I wanna know is when we're getting to Arkus," he panted as his wings rested against his back.

A couple of the others shouted in rousing agreement—seems nobody's fighting spirit or energy dampened even with the unwanted intruders. Maybe it was the anticipation, but as the thought of Arkus drew closer and closer, it seemed that everyone's heart raced, and they all just wanted to scream and kick something! Just the thought of finally bringing this long mission to a close, of kicking Arkilles' can and sending him back to the grave where he belonged, and of course, catching Kaos too, just riled them all up!

Chihiro flashed a smile back at the others, and tossed a glance back out to the wild blue yonder. Though, it wasn't really that blue anymore as the skies slowly shifted from afternoon to evening hues.

"I'm not sure," Chihiro said. She crafted up a walkie-talkie and tuned it a bit. "Hey, Varonis, does your map say anything about—"

WHOOSH! A whole swarm of red and gold helicopters passed Chihiro by at such a speed that it dizzied up her head, even though she was nowhere near them! Hot on their tail were bigger, more impressive ships and smaller fleets alike, but they all shared in one thing: a bright red and gold sheen to their metal, and curved, ornamental decorations carved across their hulls.

"No denying it!" Flynn cried as they zipped past. "Those have to be Arkeyan ships!"

Chihiro gasped, and something in her, in them all, tensed and prepared to fight. It was for good reason, for right in front of them all was a gigantic island with even more of those ships swarmed out of it like bees from a hive! The island was probably about the size of Ancient's Peak, maybe even bigger, and a gigantic castle-like structure made entirely of red and gold, shiny metal that sparkled like a star rested on its top. Gigantic robots—Conquertrons, Arkeyan War Machines, and even a few more that nobody recognized—all stood outside the entrance of the island with weapons drawn and crossed arms. There was no doubt about it.

"We're here."

A massive buzzing rang through the area as even more Arkeyan forces vomited out of Arkus, and Chihiro screamed and hit the deck. The noise was just so, so LOUD, and even clamping her ears hardly dulled it! She nearly ripped her ears off as the buzzing raged and gripped onto something next! Heck, she about lashed out and beheaded whatever it was from sheer anger. Spyro's scaly paws clamped onto her shoulders, and the noise around her dulled with her anger. She whimpered, held him close, and staggered back up as she patted the magical earmuffs he fitted on her head.

"Just where are all those Arkeyans going?" Chihiro cried as even more ships zipped past.

"I don't know," Flynn shouted back. His hands turned clammy as he gripped the spokes of the Dread-Yacht's wheel, and even his facade of confidence started to fade. "But you might wanna hold on tight. We're gonna be in for a boatload of traffic!"

Chihiro barely heard a word Flynn said afterwards from underneath the safety of her earmuffs, but a glance aside clearly showed just what he talked about. Right before them, a tightly-packed, gigantic fleet of all sorts of Arkeyans vehicles spilled over, and blocked out the skies as they swarmed out! They dove out in divided paths with such furious speeds that the winds roared around them, and they all drove in a one-minded fury. They cared not for whatever distractions that faced them! Above them all, Varonis swerved and dodged as they tried to avoid a crash collision, and some smaller Arkeyan ships slammed into the Machine Ghost's chest. but crumpled as they bounced off like pebbles.

But, something told Chihiro that the Dread-Yacht wouldn't be so lucky if it got caught in a crash course, and lucky her, a bunch of those helicopters came right their way!

"HIT THE DECK!"

Chihiro heard Flynn's command loud and clear even underneath the roar of the swarming Arkeyan fleets. and the muffling of her earmuffs! She dove behind a couple of barrels, clung to the nearby doorframe for dear life, and nudged herself closer and closer to opening it. She needed to get somewhere decidedly inside and fast!

She shimmied forward and slipped onto the lower decks; judging from the stampede behind her, it seemed that everyone else had the same idea! Everyone else on the deck fled to the open door, slammed it shut, and the Dread-Yacht's engine rattled and shuddered in turn. The lower deck was small and a bit cramped with all the company, but nobody was in the mood to complain. After all, the speed picked up, and they shot off with such speed that it pinned them all to the walls before they knew it!

"Attention passengers!" Flynn boomed over the crackling loudspeakers with a bit of urgency. "We've got a lot of traffic incoming, so hold on to your hats!"

The speakers crackled into silence once more as the Dread-Yacht's roaring engine replaced its lost noise, and the Dread-Yacht itself burst off like a rocket! It swerved through the few gaps in the never-ending seas of red and gold, blue and silver, metal and armor, ahead of it. It swung left as the blades of a helicopter nearly slashed against its hull; tumbled right as a whole fleet of jets arranged in a triangular fashion slammed right for it! A BOOM came not from Flynn, but from the engine as it sped through a group of small, round robots propelled by helicopter blades! The robots bounced off the hull like pebbles or insects, but not without leaving a few round clangs and dents in their wake.

Chihiro, for her part, just clung to whatever she could for dear life. She had no idea that the Dread-Yacht could even go this fast, or heck, if it was even SAFE enough for it to go this fast, but that was kind of at the back of her mind. Right now, she just had to make sure she survived, for she flew off with every frantic turn and fast swerve—and so did everyone else! They swung from left to right and hit the walls so hard that they might've splattered; the blood rushed to Chihiro's head (and probably everyone else's) as gravity took hold of her and tossed her around like a rag doll.

She grunted as she flew across the lower deck and face-planted onto the floor with one last push. That feeling of blood flowing to her head receded, and the Dread-Yacht slowed with that receding feeling.

"Alright, passengers, we had a little bit of turbulence there!" Flynn chuckled over the loudspeakers. "Nothing the greatest pilot in all Skylands couldn't handle, of course, but—WOWZERS, LOOK AT THAT PLACE!"

Chihiro lifted her head and rushed back up to the deck.

The moment her feet hit the rickety metal floors, and the air brushed against her face, she turned around and a knot tied in her stomach. That glistening city of red and gold was even closer, and so were all those guards that she could now tell were unmistakably Arkeyan. There was no doubt about it now—this was definitely Arkus.

"Look at all those Arkeyans," Chihiro gasped as she glazed over the scene.

"No doubt about it," Sihiri hissed as she brushed behind Chihiro, "Arkilles must have found the city before we did."

Sihiri seemed to grow tense as she pursed her lips, but that expression of concern turned to that of curiosity as Chihiro beamed back up at her.

"Luckily, we rehearsed for this!" Chihiro cried. "Everyone into positions, stat!"

Though Chihiro hadn't amplified her voice, it seemed as though everyone understood what she said loud and clear. Flynn set the Dread-Yacht to autopilot as he and Cali withdrew to the deck, and everyone else—portal master, Skylander, or Elder Elemental alike—did as well. They all knelt down, stood in rows, and tried to muster the most annoyed, scared, or defeated expressions they could muster as Varonis and the Machine Ghost pivoted in front of them. Chihiro took a glance at the Machine Ghost, and a pit opened up in her stomach. Oh, hopefully they wouldn't blow this, hopefully, he'd remember his lines.

Their vehicles soared further and further, but came to a rousing stop as two red and silver Conquertrons stormed in front of them.

"Halt!" boomed one Conquertron as it raised its hand. "What business do you have in the almighty city of Arkus, capital of the radiant Arkeyan Empire?"

Ugh, Chihiro was going to be sick and from more things than one. The Machine Ghost's head lifted as the sound of a clearing throat sounded. This was the moment of truth; everything that happened from here hinged on how well he'd be able to fool the guards. Hopefully, he could.

"I have apprehend some of the most capital enemies of the Arkeyan Empire," the Machine Ghost replied as he gestured towards the Dread-Yacht's deck. "The Elder Elementals, the free magicians, and several of their allies. I have reported their capture to the illustrious Emperor-King Arkilles, and he wishes to personally dispose of his worst foes by his own hands. Thus, I am here to grant his wish."

A weight lifted off of Chihiro's shoulders and she breathed a sigh of relief. Phew, he remembered! Wait, she was supposed to pretend to be captured right now! Chihiro managed another disgruntled look, and snarled up at the Machine Ghost with the angriest look she could possibly muster.

"You won't get away with this!" Chihiro cried in mock-rage that she thought was pretty convincing. "Our buddies are gonna stop you, you know!"

"We won't let Arkilles win this round!" Swarm hissed, clearly trying to get on the act. "When the great and magnificent Swarm gets his hands on you, I'll—"

"Silence, prisoners!" Machine Ghost boomed with a surprisingly scary voice.

Both Chihiro and Swarm shuffled back, and desperately tried to hide the smiles that cracked across their faces. After all, those glows on the guards' faces showed that they bought this hook, line and sinker!

"I see," the second Conquertron boomed as it brought up its wrist. "In that case, I will report of your arrival to Emperor-King Arkilles—"

"Actually, that will not be necessary!" the Machine Ghost interrupted with a bit of haste. "I have already informed Emperor-King Arkilles of my arrival, and he has given me the clearance to proceed."

The guards' eyes flashed like they blinked as they both parted.

"In that case, you may proceed."

And proceed is just what the Machine Ghost did. His hand wrapped around the mast of the Dread-Yacht as he dragged it along the halls like a child's toy, and Varonis dutifully followed beside him. The waters sloshed underfoot as the Machine Ghost walked with the two Conquertrons behind him, but their massive size made him small and weak in comparison. Yet, he hardly seemed intimidated as he lead them all through the winding halls of blue and gold ornamentation that made up Arkus' entry.

How he could do so and not even flinch was beyond Chihiro, for just looking at the place left her stomach churning and throwing a fit!

Everywhere she was looked, there was nothing but monuments to Arkeyan tyranny. Statues of Arkilles holding beheaded revolutionaries Chihiro saw pictures of in old library books; monuments of villages, and towns, and cities crushed under the weight of Arkeyan armies with nothing left to the imagination; Arkilles sitting upon thrones made from the bones of his enemies… Ugh, she didn't think she could look anymore, but it seemed wherever she looked, there was even more of the stuff

She groaned, lowered her head, and hoped they'd get to Arkilles soon so she could blow this place to bits. A few worried beeps came from above her, and Chihiro lifted her head towards the Machine Ghost. He shifted and shimmied in place as he walked, like something bothered him but he didn't really wanted to say what. Chihiro lifted a brow, glanced around to make sure none of the other Arkeyans watched, and readied herself to summon a walkie-talkie or two. She could probably listen in…

"I must inform you," the Machine Ghost blurted, "that this is extremely against common protocol—"

"Hush, you!" Ermit hissed at as low a volume as he could. "Your protocols don't matter right now! Now quit jabbing before they hear us!"

Chihiro tensed as the Conquertrons' eyes flashed, and her whole body froze next as one of the Conquertrons turned back to them.

"Is there a problem?" the Conquertron hissed.

The Machine Ghost went silent (though Chihiro could just barely pick up on muffled shouts from within), and finally cleared his throat. The anticipation laid tense for a few moments more as he stood still and silent…

"Nothing, carry on."

"Very well then."

Chihiro breathed another sigh as another weight rolled from her shoulders. Her heart pounded normally once more, and all she could do was hope that there wouldn't be any more complications before they—wait, no! She shook her head and bit her lip before the tempting words could leave her mind. Couldn't test her luck. So, she stayed stalwart and silent as the Machine Ghost marched her along. She tried her best to keep her disgusted look to not let the guards in on any potential plots, and she sincerely hoped she was successful, for that look of frustration took all her might to keep mustered.

The others were all similarly stoic as they sat around and waited patiently for their entry to Arkus, except for Flynn, who looked kind of uncomfortable as he flopped over on the deck.

"Guess his legs fell asleep," Chihiro whispered. Her own started to feel a little numb as well, and she sincerely hoped this trip would end soon.

She lifted her head, and dodged the gaze of those many stomach-turning portraits of Arkilles' conquest. Right as she did, a loudspeaker's noise crackled in the air! It was harsh and rudimentary, like it hadn't been used in years, but the voice on the other end rang loud and clear as the static cleared over the air.

"GUARDS!" bellowed Arkilles. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO STAY STATIONARY AT THE GATES AND BLAST THE INTRUDERS TO SMITHEREENS!"

Chihiro's heart stopped. Arkilles found them out before they even got past the tunnels! She bit her lip as she exchanged looks of worry with the others, whose own eyes all rang with concern as they stood perfectly stoic and tried to maintain their cover. Hopefully that would be enough, hopefully he wouldn't take notice, hopefully…

The two Conquertrons turned to the loudspeaker and knelt in a slow, respectful motion.

"Glorious and all-powerful Emperor-King Arkilles, sir, this robot informed us that it had taken the Elder Elementals and their allies captive!" boomed one Conquertron. "We were told that it had reported to you and you required them in your quarters post-haste!"

"Tell me then, guards, what was the assigned protocol for unwanted visitors to Arkus, again?" Arkilles hised.

"It was to eliminate any unwanted intruders, sir."

"However," broke in the second Conquertron as it gestured to the Machine Ghost. "This robot informed us that it reported to you before arriving, and you told it to arrive immediately."

Arkilles cackled over the loudspeaker.

"Funny, because I received no mentions of a report whatsoever! Did you not stop to think for a moment, that perhaps, just perhaps, that robot may have been lying?"

Both Conquertrons turned to the Machine Ghost, and Chihiro could just feel the tension ringing in the room. Please don't blow their cover, please, please don't…

"I am sure that I received a report from you to take in the prisoners, sir," Machine Ghost spoke with a voice cold and neutral. "In fact, I do believe you said that should we take them captive, we should bring them to you immediately, and a report would only slow down the travel time."

"Changing your story, are we?" Arkilles chided before he tsked over the loudspeaker. "Now, that body, that voice, I recognize it quite clearly! You were that robot that nearly brought about my trip to the afterlife, and destroyed the map to Arkus back at the Secret Vault, aren't you? Now, I never forget the faces of those who betray me, especially when they're of my own soldiers, and as you can imagine, I have very little patience for those who come crawling back to me with such flimsy alibis! Surely, you came to finish the job, didn't you?" Arkilles cackled over the loudspeaker. "Now, guards, what was the protocol for unwanted visitors again?"

Silence crackled through the room as the speaker ran with static, and the two Conquertrons looked at each other and shrugged.

When Arkilles spoke again, the explosion was so great that it almost seemed like the loudspeaker would blow off of its hinges!

"YOU BUFFOONS, YOU UTTER IMBECILES! I OUGHT TO MELT YOU TO SCRAP AND BUBBLING METAL! WHEN I SAY THE PROTOCOL IS TO BLAST ALL INTRUDERS WHO DARE TO CROSS OUR SACRED LANDS INTO THE FOLLOWING WEEK, YOU OBEY!" Arkilles grit his teeth so hard that the grinding sounds rang over the loudspeaker. "NOW, GUARDS, ELIMINATE THESE INTERLOPERS FROM OUR HOLY GROUNDS POST-HASTE!"

All at once, all the Arkeyans that passed by glowed a bright, harrowing red.

"YES, LORD ARKILLES!" they all bellowed with one voice.

§

The two Conquertrons who once guided Chihiro's group now turned on it with red, flashing eyes as they loomed in. They pushed the Machine Ghost closer and closer to the Dread-Yacht, and Varonis quickly flew over the Machine Ghost's shoulder before the Conquertrons could smack them out of the skies. Around those Conquertrons brought more Arkeyan War Machines, and other giant, bulky robots Chihiro couldn't quite name; they all circled around and blocked off any means of exit.

Chihiro slowly staggered up with the others and summoned a sword, but she couldn't help but clench her teeth as she glanced over the looming masses of big, tough-looking Arkeyans. Around her, the others similarly stood up and grabbed their arms, but the tight looks and solid frowns on their faces showed that they all thought the same thing Chihiro did: this wasn't going to be an easy fight, especially not with all these Arkeyans and only their tiny breadth of forces.

"Well, well, looks like we're in quite the pickle here," Flynn whistled as he forced himself to full height. He brushed his hands off, and though he acted tough, his ears flicked back in just a way that made it clear his confidence was a bluff. "All these big, tough guys against me and the Skylanders. For anyone else, it would probably be a pretty tough bout!"

Despite his fears, Flynn's smile widened and his legs shifted just slightly. "But, you big guys are forgetting one pretty big thing…"

Flynn was off like a rocket! The robots jumped to shoot, but Crusher slid in first and shot out walls of rock that blocked their blows. The blasts bounced off like pellets, and just in time for Flynn to take the Dread-Yacht's helm once more.

"YOU'RE MESSING WITH THE GREATEST PILOT IN ALL SKYLANDS!" Flynn cried as he yanked down a lever with every bit of strength he could muster. "BOOM!"

The Dread-Yacht groaned and creaked as the lever fell, and with its fall, the Dread-Yacht shifted once more! It receded, folded in on itself like a puzzle shaped by unseen hands, and everyone on the deck fell into one big room as its body twisted into a more humanoid shape. Flynn stayed sturdy at the helm even as it dropped into this new room, and with the controls all laid out before him, his grin widened and his ears perked up.

"Robot mode engaged!" chirped a perky voice over a loudspeaker.

Flynn smirked, and steered the Dread-Yacht just so that he stood back to back with the Machine Ghost. It was still hardly a fair fight even with the Dread-Yacht's robot mode engaged and fully armed, and the Machine Ghost's weapons at the ready. Their little forces against all those Arkeyans, all still and tense as they waited for whoever would make the first move.

All laid frozen in silence, but finally, one of the Arkeyan War Machines swung forward. It slugged a punch straight for the Dread-Yacht, and Flynn went to block—but a massive explosive blew out of nowhere just before he could even raise a fist! The Arkeyan War Machine that once faced Flynn sparked and short-circuited as electricity danced along its limbs, and it stumbled back before it finally slipped under the slick floors and collapsed into one of the walls!

A crackle resounded over the speakers, and Varonis' helicopter zipped back as lightning sparked from a pair of cannons it definitely didn't have before.

"Guess what?" Varonis cried over the loudspeakers with all the glee of a kid with a new toy, which, in this moment, they definitely were. "I found these weird beacons, and when I zapped them, they gave me lightning powers!"

'Enehana chuckled and ruffled their hair from within the crowd of the Dread-Yacht's passengers.

"Those automated lightning chargers were one of my favorite inventions," they admitted before their eyes widened. "Wait, Varry, don't say that over the loudspeakers! Those are connected to the rest of the comms! Every single Arkeyan in this room can hear you!"

"… Oops."

The remaining Arkeyans that didn't fall to Varonis' electronic siege turned around in one swift motion, and swung their fists as they tried to swat away Varonis! Varonis' squeals rang over the speaker as their helicopter jerked left and right, and 'Enehana immediately tensed as they rushed from the crowds and towards the control panel. Just before they reached the controls, however, Flynn swung left and punched out a robot's lights before it could smack Varonis out of the skies!

"BOOM! Didn't see that one coming, did ya?" Flynn bellowed.

Flynn chuckled in all his haughty glory as another Arkeyan swung for him, and he seemed completely oblivious. But, he punched that Arkeyan's head clean off of its body with another spin! The punches and sparks flew as he swerved and struck every way he could, however, a beside glance showed that the Machine Ghost wasn't doing nearly as well as Flynn was. The Machine Ghost stumbled and staggered about as he tried to dodge punches, shockwaves, and other blows, and the lights in his eyes flashed.

"Where's the controls on this thing?" Ermit cried over the speakers. The sounds of clanking and clunking rang in static, and Ermit's strained breaths grew frantic. "How am I supposed to fight these tin cans if I don't even know where the bloody controls are?"

"There is no need to panic, sir," the Machine Ghost replied, "as the controls for piloting the robot and its weapons can be found on this panel. I will demonstrate."

A click sounded over the speakers. The Machine Ghost's body's eyes turned red as it whipped around, and it pinned the nearest Arkeyan War Machine to the wall! The wall and Arkeyan War Machine cracked and creaked under the Machine Ghost's iron grip, and with another pronounced creak, the Machine Ghost's body swung around and tossed the Arkeyan War Machine right into a row of other Arkeyan robots! A mighty crash resounded through the tunnels as the robots all flung into the walls, and they all collapsed in a dented, waterlogged pile. The masonry from the broken wall crumbled, yet the mounds of Arkeyans that laid in the newly-exposed hallway locked bright, red eyes with the Machine Ghost!

"INTRUDER ALERT!" they bellowed as one as they poured out of the newborn hole. "INITIATE ELIMINATION PROTOCOLS!"

The robots swarmed and bled into the already existing crowd. If the tunnels were crowded before, they were practically choked out now! No longer could the waters of below, or the ornamentation and bloodcurling portraits be seen; it was all lost in an endless sea of red, gold, blue and silver. The robots' eyes flashed red, and they marched as one, swung as one, raised their weapons as one!

Flynn grunted, clutched the controls so tightly that they might've broken off, and cried out as he swung forward! The Dread-Yacht swung forward in turn as it slugged a punch straight through the chest of one robot beside him. Sparks poured like blood from the cavity in the robot's chest as Flynn yanked the Dread-Yacht's hand out, and the Dread-Yacht groaned as something squeezed it tight! The room seemed to cave in and crumple as the squeezing and creaking carried on, and Flynn winced.

"Flynn, are you alright?" Varonis asked over the communications. "That robot's got you really, really tight! I'm trying to zap it, but it's shockproof or something!"

"Don't worry about me, lil' buddy!" Flynn cried as he pressed every button and flicked every switch he could find. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his scarf, and forced a smile betrayed by how intensely he sweated. "Just gotta get the cannons working!" Flynn lowered his voice and winced. "Now, which of these were the cannons again?"

"Maybe this one?" Hot Head mused as he tapped a large, black button.

The button sank into the console, but shrieked as it glowed red like flames and formed the image of a cannon on it! Another creak ripped through the room as the Dread-Yacht churned and shuddered, but, it seemed like nothing happened aside from the squeezing pressure relenting.

"Wait, Flynn, where did those turrets on your back come from?" Varonis asked. "Are those the cannons?"

"Wait, we had turrets?" Flynn asked.

He turned a knob beside him, and a screen flashed in front of him to show the outside world. Sure enough, a Conquertron broke away from the dented Dread-Yacht as a turret formed on the Dread-Yacht's shoulders! The turret glowed with a bright red gleam, and even from within the Dread-Yacht, it rang with a warmth trademark of crackling flames.

"I guess we do!"

Hot Head gave the button he pressed a wary eye, but not for long! Another rumble shuddered, and a vacuum popped out of the ceiling as it swept him off the ground. Hot Head shouted out and grabbed onto the console, but even with his size and might, the vacuum's suction was much stronger! It yanked him from the ground in an instant, and Hot Head screamed as he flew away!

"Hot Head!" Crusher and Thumpback both shouted as they grabbed onto him!

They grunted as they tried to pull him down, but to no avail. The currents were so strong that the suction just sapped up the two of them as well! Hot Head screamed, Crusher screamed, Thumpback screamed; everyone screamed, really, as the three of them disappeared into the vacuum's tubes, and the vacuum slid away with a content hiccup.

Tree Rex's eyes fluttered as he eyed the spot where the vacuum once laid, and he rushed to the console without a second thought.

"Flynn! What button did that?" Tree Rex shouted.

Another loud squeal shouted as the room dented in on itself again, and this time with much more force! The walls closed in as metal plating popped off from them, and the others all huddled together and shouted as they tried not to get squished. That, however, would not be an easy feat; every time they ran, the walls closed in faster. Before they knew it, they were practically pinned together!

"I-I don't know!" Flynn sputtered as he sped through the controls. "Kinda busy trying not to get crushed to pieces here!"

"How do you not know? It's your ship!"

Flynn's breathing turned fast and light as he kept flicking through controls.

"Don't ask me!" Flynn's voice cracked with the windows, and he slunk down on the console as the metal flooring bubbled up underneath him. "I can work with ships and balloons, but even giants robots, er, might, be a bit of a match for me!" Flynn's breathing turned to hyperventilating as a few of the flooring panels popped out, and he winced and slapped the buttons. "Come on, come on, where's a cannon, or a flamethrower, or something when you need one?"

FWOOM!

The cracked glass turned a bright red as flames billowed out in front of the Dread-Yacht. The flames sped across the tunnels, latched onto the Arkeyan War Machines before them, and soon, the Arkeyan War Machines' ranks thinned as the flames ate them alive! They turned to little more than melting metal goop and singed frameworks as the flames burned with glee; best yet, the pressure on the Dread-Yacht lifted! Though the room was busted still, no longer did any creaking noises burst out from the cracks in the walls or floors!

"Oh, oh," Flynn panted as he stood up and fixed his hat. His trademark smile returned, and he gave a thumbs up. "Glad I did that!"

Flynn spun the wheel around, and the Dread-Yacht turned to where the Conquertron that once attacked it now stood listless. Flames sapped off of the Conquertron's detailing and joints, but the rest of its almost stone-like body stood tall. It seemed like it was going to ready a punch from how its arms creaked, but with its joints busted, its movements turned janky and frail.

"You think you're so tough, huh buddy?" Flynn chuckled. "Well, who's laughing now? That's what you get for messing with Skylands' greatest pilot!"

A string of massive rocks burst out and nailed the Conquertron's joints, and its arms and legs flew clean off of its body! First went the left arm, next the right as it stumbled back, and when it finally tripped over itself, the legs left its body. All that remained was the disjointed and sparking torso and head as they plunged into the abyss with a mighty wave. The tides roared as they coasted over the tunnels, and they washed away the remains of the flaming Arkeyans while the others fled back into the holes for safety.

"That was almost a close shave," Flynn remarked. "Didn't know that the Dread-Yacht had flamethrowers and rock shooters, though! I wonder what else this baby's got up her sleeve?"

Flynn twisted the knob once more, and raised a brow as he glanced back at his visage of the outside world. There, two more turrets—one that shimmered in a shiny bronze, and another with an ocean blue glow—laid on the Dread-Yacht's shoulders, along with… An incoming call? Flynn twisted the knob once more, and a screen of Hot Head crammed within a turret's insides popped up next! The turret was just spacious enough for Hot Head to stand, yet it was cramped enough that it couldn't have possibly be comfortable.

"Hey there, lil' guys!" Hot Head chirped with a wave. "Found out how to get the turrets working!"

Two more calls came in, and with a few more twists, Crusher and Thumpback popped up on the screens as well!

"Sure did!" Crusher chuckled as he leaned his hammer by his side. "I definitely rocked their world!"

"I'll get them next time," Thumpback affirmed with a nod.

Flynn hummed, ended the calls with a few more knob twists, and scanned over the panel. "Those turrets make for some fine artillery," he mused. "I wonder if we can get even more of these babies running?"

Flynn was seemingly oblivious to the new wave of clunking and denting from the outside world as lumps formed in the Dread-Yacht's dented and crooked walls. He pressed a few buttons, twisted a few knobs to no avail, and mumbled something to himself as he jumped to another segment of the panel; he paid no notice to how the metal splintered and burst above him. The glass windows shuddered, about burst, even, as even more Arkeyans stormed for him, and Flynn finally lifted his head right as even more flames and burning chunks of lava burst forward! The flaming bursts nailed the Arkeyans square in the chest and neck, and they stumbled back and toppled over the soldiers behind them like dominoes.

Flynn grinned and pumped a fist. "BOOM! TALK ABOUT FIREPOWER!"

"Alright, that firepower's nice, but we're gonna need more than just that!" Cali cried as she leaped for the controls. "Cause it looks like they've got more where that came from!"

Cali's cries turned Flynn back to the cracked window where the Arkeyans spilled out in droves. Their faces glowed red, and they drew their weapons and marched in single mind, single file. Flynn gulped for a moment, but that fear disappeared just as quickly as his smile returned.

"Luckily, we've got plenty of firepower right here!" Flynn cried. "Everyone, hit the controls and hit every button you can find! We're laying the boom on these guys!"

Flynn didn't need to say it twice, for everyone else scrambled to the control panels. They pulled every lever, slammed every button, poured over every weapon they could pull from the Dread-Yacht's robotic arsenal! The Dread-Yacht shuddered in response, but its creaks sounded less like those of disrepair, and more akin to those of eagerness, as if it just begged to get into the heat of the fray!

Cali started first as she yanked down one of the levers. Cannons burst from the Dread-Yacht's busted chest, and they spat out cannonballs by the dozen! The cannonballs nailed a few Arkeyans in the chest and mowed them down; as they sank into the waters, the cannons withdrew with a satisfied click.

"So that's where the cannons were!" Flynn cried.

Chihiro chuckled, and raised her brow as her eyes fell on a particularly glittery buttons strewn amid some plainer ones. Something about its sparkly surface begged and beckoned to be pressed, so she laughed and slammed it down! Another pair of cannons, ones sparkly like disco balls and colorful like rainbows, burst out from the Dread-Yacht's hands. As they fell into position, the cannons rumbled and shot out a massive spray of confetti that blew back the oncoming Arkeyans like a massive gust of wind!

"Wow, didn't know confetti could be lethal!" Chihiro whistled. A mischievous smile crossed her face as the button sparkled still, and her finger hovered over it. "I wanna do that again!"

But before she could even press it, she fell straight onto the console as something slammed into the Dread-Yacht from the back! Her face slammed into a wide array of buttons, and sent a whole string of cannons, lasers, and other artillery shooting off from the Dread-Yacht. She groaned as she pulled her thoroughly-impressioned face from the console. Her gaze turned to the back where the walls creaked, and they caved in as a fist-like dent formed in the back wall! The Dread-Yacht stumbled forward, and Chihiro yelped as she clung to the console.

"Whoa, whoa!" Chihiro cried as Spyro slammed right into her and knocked her on the floor. "Flynn, the ship's tipping over!"

"On it!" Flynn spat back.

The Dread-Yacht tipped forward, and flailed its arms and legs as it nearly planted face-first into the deep blue; it spun around on its heel, and faced the Arkeyan that punched it down with a spin of the wheel. Flynn snarled as he slammed his fist on a sparkly yellow button with a lightning bolt carved on its plastic surface, and electricity sparked and circled around the Dread-Yacht's fists!

"BOOM!" Flynn cried as he slammed forward and punched the Arkeyan in the chest!

The electricity burst into sparkling explosions as the punch connected, and the sprawled-out wiring from the wound turned that Arkeyan into a gigantic bomb! It exploded to smithereens, and took out parts of the walls and ceiling with it as it burst. More importantly, it took out the soldiers behind it as well! The electric fires burst out, chomped down on the Arkeyan's metal as it stumbled and fell apart into the abyss of blue below it, but Flynn was hardly content.

His ears flattened as more Arkeyans poured out to take the place of those lost, and he swerved around to find even more filing in ahead of him. He gritted his teeth, and his hands gripped the controls for dear life.

"MORE OF THOSE ROBO-CREEPS COMING IN AT TWELVE O' CLOCK!" Flynn shouted as he spun the wheel. "ALL HANDS ON DECK!"

"AYE AYE, CAPTAIN!" Chihiro shouted back as she slammed down the confetti cannon button once more!

Once again, the Dread-Yacht's hands transformed into confetti cannons and made a sound like that of a massive party popper as they vomited out waves upon waves of high-pressure confetti! The Arkeyans threw up their arms like shields as they confetti blasted them down, but their stalwart stance hardly lasted them. Their feet dug into the ground, yet they still skidded just slowly, just slightly, across the floor as the confetti slammed against it and burst.

"Looks like you could use a little boost!" Spyro shouted as he slammed his paw on a purple, sparkly button with a star on it. "And I've got just the thing!"

A purple glow surrounded the cannons next, and they doubled in size and volume, as did the confetti they spewed! They shuddered and bubbled as their cannons spun, and with one last spit, they sent out a gigantic confetti bomb that exploded and threw the Arkeyans straight off their feet!

Terrafin grunted and clutched the console, but as his eyes fell on the falling Arkeyans, a bit of a fire burned in his eyes.

"Move over!" he shouted as he pushed Flynn straight out of the pilot's seat and clutched the controls. "I'm getting a piece of this action!"

Terrafin grinned from cheek to cheek as he spun the wheel, and the Dread-Yacht bounded forward in turn. He pressed the wheel forward, and the whole body creaked as Terrafin led it in a series of punches! The Arkeyans were the next to creak as the Dread-Yacht's fists twisted straight through their chests, and punched off their arms and legs. All the while, Terrafin drank in it; his milky white eyes sparkled with glee as he punched and swung. For someone who really didn't like flying, much less getting rocked around a giant robot, he seemed like he couldn't be happier as he focused on his targets!

"Right hook, left jab!" Terrafin spat out under his breath. "Hook, block, haymaker!"

The punches continued in a furious flurry, and Terrafin's eyes glinted with a new kind of fire as he pushed the Dread-Yacht further. Its body creaked and knelt down as everyone slid down, almost like…

"Hey, that's my spot!" Flynn shouted as he pushed Terrafin out of the pilot's seat before he could do anything hasty. "Leave the piloting to the professional here!"

Terrafin scoffed as the Dread-Yacht fell upright, and beside him, Eruptor tottered about the floor.

"Ugh," Eruptor groaned as he stumbled for the console and burped. "All this running around and punching stuff is making me robot-sick."

He flopped over on the console, but as he did, his rotund hand slammed on one of the buttons! A shriek sounded across the room, and brought everyone's eyes to the ceiling as it did. Really, their view should have focused on the outside, for a massive laser shot out of the Dread-Yacht's mouth, and sniped the head clean off of one Arkeyan War Machine! All that was left was a billowing spiel of sparks and flames, and the colors reflected off the Dread-Yacht's window in a warm glow.

"Flynn, give me the wheel for a second!" Cali cried as her eyes sparkled with inspiration. She pushed Flynn aside before he could even reply, and gripped the wheel tight. "I'm gonna try something!"

Cali grunted as she pushed the wheel further, and the Dread-Yacht leaned in and rushed forth. It gripped the headless Arkeyan tight, and with a spin of the wheel, the Dread-Yacht itself swung around and tossed the headless Arkeyan back into the crowds! The whole tunnel rumbled and crumbled as the headless Arkeyan exploded; it took out the other incoming Arkeyans in a string of fiery implosions, and the masonry crumbled and knocked out the rest with it!

"That was awesome, Cali!" Flynn cried as he reclaimed the wheel. "Almost as awesome as me!"

Cali just sighed and rolled her eyes, but the slight smile on her face showed that she was more amused than anything. Her eyes glanced over the console as static crackled over the speakers, and she immediately turned the knob to bring up communications. A static-filled screen came up over the Dread-Yacht's cracked window, and at its front brought the Machine Ghost with an urgent look on his face.

"The tunnels appear to have grown incredibly unstable," he warned with a tone still friendly and slightly monotonous despite his urgent looks. "It would be wise for us to make our escape, even though that is technically against protocol—"

"Who cares about protocols?" Ermit spat as he fumbled into view. He gestured wildly towards the scene before them. "This whole place is choked to the gills with those Arkeyans! How are we gonna get outta here with this tough crowd?"

Back in the Dread-Yacht, the others winced and glanced around as the ceiling rumbled to seemingly prove the Machine Ghost's point. Ermit's point, meanwhile, proved itself just from the sights around—much like he said, Arkeyans packed out every angle of the tunnels with basically no breathing room to be found! Varonis occasionally soared over and zapped a few down, but it seemed that for every Arkeyan that fell, five or more took its place. Sure, they could fight their way out, but with how the tunnel rumbled, all that would probably just end in a tunnel collapse!

"What are we supposed to do?" Ermit cried as he faced the Machine Ghost and tried to shake him, though his hands went straight through the Machine Ghost's shoulders. "You, you know all about this fancy robot's features, right? Do something! Figure out something to get rid of these things!"

"There are multiple ways I could dispose of the forces at hand," the Machine Ghost droned as he held up a hand. "I could activate the cannons, the internal shockwave mechanisms, utilize the automated weaponry makers, activate the flamethrowers, utilize the wrecking balls—"

"Wrecking balls, yeah, that sounds great!" Ermit sputtered as he jumped for the consoles and slammed a button down. "That's got a wrecking ball on it, gimme the big guns!"

But nothing happened. The console flashed in an array of colors for a moment, but dulled back to its normal shades.

"There is not enough power within the machine to activate the wrecking balls," the Machine Ghost said as he gestured to the consoles. "Try something else."

Ermit tugged on his ears and gritted his teeth, yet cried out as an Arkeyan War Machine stormed straight for him! He screamed and slammed a button on accident, and the Machine Ghost's body creaked out as it slugged a punch. It slammed right into the opposing Arkeyan's throat and punched its head clean off, but inside, Ermit's eyes fluttered as his gaze bounced from console to battle.

"Well, good old fisticuffs never failed anyone!" Ermit chuckled as he turned back to the controls. "Watch my back, will ya?"

"Affirmative!" the Machine Ghost turned around and pointed. "There are multiple Arkeyans coming from the northernmost direction that you must watch for."

Ermit shouted out as he swung around and punched out their lights, all while the Machine Ghost droned out directions and warnings. The Arkeyans flew back in a fritz of dented metal and sparking, severed wiring, and the Machine Ghost's body creaked back into idleness as they fell back. The Dread-Yacht creaked in turn as its back pressed against the Machine Ghost's, and the remaining Arkeyans surrounded them both.

"Hey, greatest pilot in all Skylands to little ghost dude!" Flynn shouted over communications. "I'll take these bozos in the back, you handle the ones in the front! Got it?"

"Affirmative, I suppose," the Machine Ghost replied. "I will have to consult my owner—"

"Just go with it!" Ermit cried!

The Dread-Yacht and Machine Ghost's body both raised their fists, but quickly lowered them as a string of beeps came over the communication line. Another screen popped up, this time of Varonis firmly in the pilot's seat of their helicopter with a grin on their face.

"Quick, put up your shields!" Varonis cried. "I'm gonna do something wicked!"

That grin of theirs grew even wider as the Dread-Yacht and Machine Ghost's shields raised accordingly, and Varonis themself burst with laughter as they slammed a string of buttons on the console of their helicopter! The whole helicopter rumbled and shuddered as its cannons unfolded and twirled around, but with one last rumble, a gigantic shockwave boomed out from their chambers and rumbled the room. The other Arkeyans shuddered and sparked as the shock seeped into their circuitry, and one by one they fell to their knees. The Arkeyans who hadn't been affected turned tail and ran off as the shockwave spread across the room, but not quickly enough; the shockwave sprung forward like a flash and brought them down in waves. The seas of red and gold receded as the Arkeyans fell to their knees, and some to their faces as they keeled over and disappeared into the waves.

"AWESOME!" Flynn cried as he pushed the Dread-Yacht forth. "Now it's good ol' Captain Flynn's turn!" Flynn licked his lips as his eyes shimmered.

With one more push of the controls, the Dread-Yacht sprung forward, lifted the sparking, soaking corpses of a few robots up, and tossed them aside.

"BOOM!"

The robots exploded and took out another platform with them as Flynn cleared them out, and with a path finally cleared, Flynn didn't wait around! He bolted forward with the Machine Ghost and Varonis hot at his heels, and the water erupting below him with every stride. The whole tunnel rumbled and shuddered, and above them, the loudspeakers crackled back to life.

"GUARDS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Arkilles rumbled over the speakers. "QUIT FOOLING AROUND AND GET THOSE MISCREANTS OUT OF MY TUNNELS ALREADY!"

Another batch of Arkeyans flooded in from an opened side door, and from within the Dread-Yacht, Gill Grunt and Whirlwind nodded and jumped to the controls! They slammed down on the cannon buttons, and tensed as the cannons nailed down the oncoming Arkeyans. Beside them, Cynder and Stealth Elf pulled down a few levers, and shot out lasers to snipe a few smaller helicopters out of the skies. Explosions rumbled through the tunnels and cast smoke to the ceiling as the Arkeyans fell in droves and clusters.

All the while, Flynn sped the Dread-Yacht forward without a moment of hesitation, but behind him, the Machine Ghost's body faltered. It swerved and stumbled as it grazed against the sparking, close-to-blowing Arkeyans the Dread-Yacht left behind, and Ermit's shouts rang from within it as he clung to the console. One particularly ragged Arkeyan staggered up, nearly punched the body's head off, and Ermit yelped as the Machine Ghost's body dove just below the punch that the Arkeyan's shuddering, shambling arm threw. The Arkeyan's arm fell apart right before Ermit's eyes, and he gulped as he scrambled for the control panel.

"Where's the bloody cannons when you need them?" Ermit whined as he scanned over the panel. A chill ran down his spine, and he turned aside as the Machine Ghost floated beside him. "You're the guide guy, where are they?"

"The cannons are activated using this button, sir," the Machine Ghost replied as he poked a small, knobby silver button.

The button sank into the console, and gigantic cannons flipped out from the Machine Ghost's body's shoulders! A pair of joysticks leaped from the console and shuddered in place as they situated themselves, and Ermit raised a brow as he clutched them tight.

"Use those joysticks to move the crosshairs, and the buttons to shoot."

Ermit winced as he jimmied the joysticks a little, and a pair of crosshairs flashed across the window above him as they pivoted towards a half-broken Arkeyan. He warily pressed the joysticks' button, and a shriek sounded as a burst of energy spewed from the cannons and pierced the robot straight in the chest! It burst into flames and metal bits before him, and Ermit grinned from ear to ear.

"Hey, this is actually pretty nice!" Ermit chirped as he jiggled the joysticks around and smacked the buttons. "I could probably use these to get rid'a those pesky clouds once we get these Arkeyans dealt with!" Ermit chuckled, and a certain glint of bloodlust shone in his eyes as he targeted the Arkeyans before him. "Take that, you oversized rustbuckets! And some of this, and this!"

The energy blasts burst out in strings from the Machine Ghost's cannons, and Ermit's cackles rang high and mighty as he blasted everything in sight! He swerved, spun all around, kicked water in torrents from the floor as he nailed every single robot that crossed his path and then some. Parts of the masonry fell out of the tunnels' ceiling as he shot away, and a few stray blasts just narrowly grazed over the Dread-Yacht's head.

"Hey, watch it buddy!" Flynn shouted over the communication links. "That thing's an occupational hazard!"

But, Ermit didn't care. He just drank in his uncharacteristic glee as he shot everything in range!

"Gotta say, this is a blast!" Ermit cackled. "Now, nothing's gonna rain on my parade ever again! No stinkin' clouds, no stinkin' Arkeyans, no—"

A stray laser blast slammed into something ahead, vanished with a plink, and Ermit blinked. His face fell as stomping sounds shook the tunnels, and his grip on the joysticks loosened as something red and gold poked around the corners.

"Nothing?"

The stomping grew louder, like drumming of a war song, as even more Arkeyans rounded the corner in a single-file march. They towered so massively that their heads scraped the ceiling, and their red and gold coats of metal were pristine and shiny. A firm frown was etched into every face among their ranks, and their eyes flashed in beeping codes of red as they marched. No doubt about it—these had to be Conquertrons, and particularly fancy ones at that!

"Actually, maybe some things can't be solved with firepower!" Ermit cried as he scurried off. "Uncle!"

The Machine Ghost's body cowered behind the Dread-Yacht, and within the Dread-Yacht itself, a small frown slid onto Flynn's face.

"Look alive, crew! Seems like those buckets of bolts are breakin' out the big guns now!" Flynn proclaimed. His eyes fell on a giant, sleek black button, and his frowned flipped to a grin. "But luckily for us, and UNluckily for them, so are we! I found the turret button!"

Flynn slammed the button down as hard as he could, and once again, the vacuum popped out of the Dread-Yacht's ceiling and sucked up the rest of the Elder Elementals—but this time, they were more than prepared! They all leaped into the vacuum's path as it sucked them in its grip, and while the vacuum disappeared with them in its grip, the screens showed that even more turrets popped up on the Dread-Yacht's shoulders.

"And something tells me they could use a little boost, too!" Sihiri remarked as her eyes sparkled with an eager light. She turned back to the rest of the free magicians, who all bore a similar eagerness. "Why don't we offer them some extra help?"

The free magicians popped out of the room, onto the string of turrets that lined the Dread-Yacht's shoulders—one for each turret—and slammed their hands onto the turret's wooden surfaces. The turrets rumbled and shuddered as their faint glows glowed even brighter, and the magic seeped into their boards and metal as they grew sleeker, shinier, and even more colorful! Their colors painted themselves in the shades of the elements, and with a shiny new luster that sparkled underneath the light.

"And for good measure," Luz remarked as he and Fintster floated up. He held his hands out as a golden glow shimmered from his fingertips, but yelped instead as a white glow formed before him, and Varonis teleported into his arms!

"I wanna help too! Lemme try!" Varonis chirped as they clung to Luz.

"Wait, Varonis?" Fintster sputtered. "Where's your helicopter?"

"I parked it, don't worry! I'll fly it some more later!"

Fintster shrugged, and all three of them cast out their hands! A burst of yellow magic swung out like a comet, and soon, a deep cobalt one joined it follow by one white as fresh snow. The three of them intertwined as they spread themselves across the turrets. That luster the turrets held glowed even brighter as the extra magic beefed them up a foot or two, and Luz, Fintster and Varonis all smiled to each other as they floated to the Dread-Yacht's shoulders.

"Conquertrons incoming!" Luz shouted as a pair of Conquertrons rounded the corner with even more marching dutifully behind them. He smiled and rapped his fist against the top of the crimson turret he knelt on, and it rumbled in response. "Ready to burn things up, Hot Head?"

"You know it!" Hot Head rumbled from inside!

The turret sputtered and shuddered, and a billowing, blazing stream of flames and chunks of lava burst out from its cannons! The giant blaze nailed the pair of oncoming Conquertrons straight in the chest and set them alight; as they fell, the flames cooled into a thick blanket of steam which coated the tunnels like fog. The other Conquertrons swerved and beeped as their lights became the solely defined thing amid the fog...

Well, for them, anyways.

While they stumbled about in a foggy haze, the fog cleared for the Dread-Yacht until it was no more than a thin mist! The amber turret which housed Bouncer rattled next, and a massive string of shiny metal bullets gunned down the next wave of Conquertrons by the limbs until they were no more than spare parts. A wave of rocks from Crusher's own bronze turret ensured they were little more than scrap as they shattered the remains.

The sapphire-colored turret rumbled next, and its lip popped open just slightly as Thumpback peered outside.

"Yep, looks like that steam-clearing trick worked!" Thumpback beamed as he closed the turret short. "Now, to finish off the last of the school."

The few Conquertrons that hadn't fallen sprinted forward, and as they did, Thumpback lowered his turret's cannons. He shot blasts of scalding water not towards his oncoming opponents, but rather to the Conquertron remains piled like a dam at their feet. One or two blasts of water to soak the circuits, and they exploded into a fiery burst that took their former allies with them! The scattered metal parts of broken Conquertrons flew everywhere, embedded themselves in walls and ceilings, and sank into the waves.

The other Conquertrons arrived, took one look at the Dread-Yacht and all its artillery, and moved for the Machine Ghost's body instead! The Conquertrons formed a tight circle around the Machine Ghost's body, and the body itself withdrew. Ermit's yelps echoed over the sound system as he dodged a bunch, slipped out of their grappling grip, and tried to turn tail—but the moment he did, even more Conquertrons flooded in and sealed off his escape!

"Great, now what?" Ermit cried as he dodged another punch. "I'm a sitting duck over here! These things are too bulky to just punch or blast out!"

"Actually, that is factually incorrect," the Machine Ghost rambled from within. "It is true that Conquertrons are among the strongest of the Arkeyan creations, but their joints tend to be incredibly loose and weak. In addition, the material that makes up their bodies is vulnerable to extreme heat, water when opened, dirt, loose lockmaster imps, severe electrical shock—"

"Wait, did you say electrical shocks?"

The Machine Ghost's body turned over to a pylon sparking with lightning on a nearby ledge, and a small laugh rang from within its gallows. The body's arm wound up as the Conquertrons reached to restrain it, but just too late. The punch cleaved the pylon clean in two as its lightning wrapped around the Machine Ghost's arm, and the body in turn directed that electrified punch right for one of the nearest Conquertron's arms! A sonic boom rang through the tunnel as the electricity blew the arm, and the rest of the Conquertrons, back in a clean blow!

The now armless Conquertron slunk back up and went to strike with its remaining arm, but the Machine Ghost kicked its pelvis and blew its legs off next. The Conquertron's shambling body flew back, and Ermit's laughter bellowed out over the speakers.

"Talk about a shock!" Ermit cackled. "I really zapped that guy, didn't I? I bet that shocked his systems, and, I..." Ermit faltered and sighed. "Actually, I think I'll leave the puns to the Skylanders."

The tunnels rumbled as Ermit lifted his head, yet he yelped as the rest of the Conquertrons stormed for him once more! He flung out punches on instinct, but given that they were far from his position, all he managed was little more than punching the air and making a fool of himself. The water kicked up and lashed at the Machine Ghost's body's ankles as the Conquertrons came in faster, and Ermit screamed as he bolted off.

"Something tells me that he could probably use a little help," Ninjini sighed as her royal purple turret rumbled to life.

A string of magic bursts rife with electricity leaped from the turret and zipped straight past the Machine Ghost, straight for the Conquertrons. They slammed right into their limbs, and the lightning seeped into the Conquertron's joints, freezing them in place as their bodies rattled and shuddered. A string of shimmering silver lasers shot out next, pinned down the Conquertron's joints, and rusted them until they dissolved in the wind. Their arms and legs and parts of their paneling rusted and collapsed, and next came a string of giant, glowing green seeds that planted themselves in the openings and spawned vines! Thick, choking vines curled around Conquertrons too hapless to prevent nature's claim on their bodies, and a harsh, warm wind that sparkled like sunbeams burned them away next!

The vines brimmed with light as they drank in the wind, and the Conquertrons' bodies seared underneath their grip. The Conquertrons chilled as a mist of darkness encapsulated them, creaked and screeched as their bodies dissolved into rust and misshapen machinery as they fell, and the next platoon of Conquertrons took their place posthaste.

"Geez, these guys just don't give up, do they?" Flynn winced. He reached for a few levers, pulled them down, and jabbed a few buttons as sweat crept down his brow. "Luckily, I've got just the thing to lay the boom down on—" the Dread-Yacht rattled and Flynn flicked an ear "—huh?"

The whole inside of the Dread-Yacht glowed a searing red, a glow that only brightened as Flynn pulled every lever and pressed every button he could think of. The broken parts of the inside spar out gears and bolts with every press, and Flynn gritted his teeth as he spammed every single control he could think of.

"Flynn, what's going on?" Chihiro cried from her position at the control panel. "The whole thing sounds like it's gonna fall apart!"

"Fall apart?"

Chihiro's words lingered on Flynn's mouth for a moment, and his ears flicked up. With a groan, he buried his face into his hands.

"Flynn, what's with that look?"

"Wait a second," Cali cried as she glanced around the rattling, shaking room. "We didn't fully finish our repairs before we had to set off, right?"

"… Yes," Flynn admitted. "We had to set off so fast that I didn't really get the chance to give this baby the good ol' FLC she needed!"

"FLC?"

"Flynn's loving care?" Cali shook her head. "Oh, whatever! We've got more important things to worry about!"

Cali clenched her fists as the Conquertrons swarmed in, and in front of her, the Machine Ghost's body rattled with similar level of disrepair to the Dread-Yacht's.

"If we keep fighting like this, we'll fall apart before we can even make it past the gates! We've gotta get out of here!"

"I'd be happy to get the heck outta Dodge here, but those guys have us packed tight!" Flynn shouted. "Even with my strengths, wits, and good looks, I'm not sure I'll be able to get us out!"

Chihiro winced as she turned to where Flynn and Cali stared at the oncoming swarm of Conquertrons like a deer in the headlights, and then to the backs and sides of the halls. They were all half-crumbled, and half-swarmed with even more Arkeyans with only the odd mysterious small tunnel poking out from just beyond the waves.

"Wait, a tunnel?" Chihiro gasped. She snapped her fingers and summoned a map, glanced it over, and gasped as she stowed it away. "Wait, that's it!"

Chihiro slammed her hands against the console, and all at once, everyone around turned to face her.

"Everyone, we're moving to Plan B!" Chihiro cried. "It's not ideal, but we're gonna have to move on ahead!" Chihiro turned back to Flynn and Cali. "Think you can hold your own for now?"

Flynn winced, but steeled himself and nodded. "We'll keep these creeps busy, Cheerio! You just get that Arkeyan creep nice and warmed up for us!"

Cali seemed like she wanted to protest for a moment, but instead, she nodded and steeled herself as well. Even with the Dread-Yacht in the state it was in, it was clear they didn't have much else of a choice. Somebody had to get there and stop Arkilles, and if it meant them holding the line, so be it.

Chihiro nodded and twisted back around to the back of the room. "Glumshanks! Where'd you go?"

A soft shuffle rumbled from the back of the room, and Glumshanks poked his head out from the peeled metal of the back room.

"Here?" Glumshanks whimpered. He slowly slunk out, and yelped as Chihiro zipped over and grabbed his wrist.

"Change of plans, we're gonna go on ahead!" Chihiro cried. She snapped her fingers next, and a screen popped in front of her to broadcast the outside world. "Tree Rex, how're you all holding up over there?"

A loud, sputtering rumble like that of a failing engine shook the screen followed by a string of coughs and shouts.

"I'm afraid it isn't good, Chihiro!" Tree Rex cried. "We're trying to hold them back, but these turrets are falling apart at the roots! I'm not sure how long they'll last!"

"That's what I was afraid of." Chihiro hissed between clenched teeth. "Come on, we're switching over to Plan B! The rest of us will meet you outside and—"

"CONQUERTRON AT ELEVEN O-CLOCK, BOSS!" Swarm shouted in the distance.

The shuddering, emerald-colored turret Tree Rex piloted turned with all its might, and shot a round of seeds straight towards an oncoming Conquertron. In that moment, its structure rumbled its loudest and it broke to bits! Tree Rex collapsed on the Dread-Yacht's shoulder, and the similar sounds of splintering, breaking wood around showed the others' turrets befell a similar fate. Tree Rex groaned as he tried to stand, but the Dread-Yacht creaked, and he shouted out as it tilted him overboard!

"TREE REX!" Chihiro cried as the screen disappeared.

A sharp gasp left her tongue, and with a snap of her fingers, she, Glumshanks, and the Skylanders all vanished from the inner room.

Another flash, and they found themselves on the shoulders as Chihiro breathed a sigh of relief. Tree Rex hovered in front of her on the base of a gigantic, shining purple star, and so did the other Elder Elementals who couldn't float or fly. The star platforms flew closer as Sihiri emerged from behind Chihiro, and Chihiro smiled.

"Everyone, there's a tunnel down there!" Chihiro shouted as she crafted a star platform of her own and hopped aboard. She pointed out the tunnel, and her platform revved like a car's engine as she withdrew her hand. "Follow me!"

The star platform started off like a race car as it zipped away from the Dread-Yacht, and following it was an entire horde! The ones who could fly, float, or transport themselves some other way trailed behind her dutifully and quickly, and those who couldn't sat tight on sparkling purple star platforms crafted by Sihiri with diligence, a diligence similarly reflected in their serious tones.

Chihiro nodded as something tugged on her sweater, and turned around to find Glumshanks clinging to her for dear life with his eyes screwed shut as his teeth chattered.

"Oh, forgot you were there for a moment," Chihiro chuckled. She turned her attention back to the tunnel. "You might wanna hold on, cause this might get a little bumpy!"

The star platform sped its fastest, and the wind caressed Chihiro's hair and clothes as she swept down. The tunnel came closer and closer into view; for a moment, it seemed like they were all going to make it, but the first laser shot like a bullet! It just barely grazed Chihiro's head, slammed into the walls behind her, and she yelped and nearly tipped over her platform as she turned around to find…

"The Conquertrons!" Chihiro cried. "They're opening fire!"

The Conquertrons lifted their hands as their fists turned to revolvers, and another string of lasers shot forth! Chihiro's whole group scrambled as they wove through the storm of laser light. She veered up, swept down, zipped every which way she could, but finally, one laser slashed into the side of platform and blew it to sparkles! Chihiro screamed as she plunged down, and Glumshanks screamed with her as his grip on her slipped—but luckily for him, Spyro swept down and caught Glumshanks by the scruff of his ragged top!

Spyro grunted as he tossed Glumshanks onto his back, and Chihiro nodded as she crafted a pair of wings and soared up. Once again she zipped for the tunnel, but the sound of shattering glass or ice rang in her ears, and stopped her in her tracks! She lifted her head as Dej fell out of the air while ice shards rained around him and twinkled like diamonds, and she almost reached out to catch him.

Thankfully, Dej caught himself in quick time. He thrust out a hand, and another sprawling platform of ice formed underfoot as he skated it like an ice rink! A burst of flames brushed against it, melted away parts, and he grunted and skated away as he glared towards the guilty party.

"Vatra!" he spat. "Watch where you're flinging those things!"

Vatra hardly noticed; he just grunted as he tossed flames after flames to knock the lasers out, and with little luck! His glow flickered and faded just slightly as he slowly, slowly fell to the ground before he finally collapsed on a cloud piloted by Vaayu, and clutched his chest. Surely, he'd probably worn out from all the fighting so far, and chances are he probably couldn't do much.

Another laser dropped in and Chihiro yelped. She went to shoot right as a lava blob blocked it off. The lava fell into the abyss as she turned her headm and found Eruptor lobbing blobs of volcanic rock and fire to block off the lasers, Whirlwind stoked them with wind currents from flaps of her wings, Cynder dropped in and zapped them, and Gill Grunt reflected them with shots of his harpoons. Even so, it did little to divert the massive swarm of lasers that shot for them all.

The Elder Elementals raised their hands, and a round of elemental blasts—heavy rocks and burning flames, sharp balls of consolidated wind and magic, even churning storms of leaves—all slammed past the lasers and into the Conquertrons, yet they hardly laid a dent! They just bounced off, fell into the deep blue, and the Conquertrons just stormed forward with not a moment of care taken!

"This isn't working, you blokes!" Ermit screamed, the anger in his voice betraying his own fear. "We need a distraction!"

"A distraction? Is that what you request of me?" the Machine Ghost asked with an almost curious tone.

"I don't know! We just need something to get these tin cans off our tail!"

"Very well. I will oblige."

The Machine Ghost's body creaked as it trudged forward, and it creaked again as it punched a Conquertron right in the face! The Conquertron's head distorted and turned in on itself as it stumbled backwards, and the Machine Ghost clumsily turned around as it fired rockets at a string of Arkeyan War Machines. The rockets burst into plumes and blankets of smog; though the smog covered them all, the sound of creaking and denting metal showed that the Machine Ghost dutifully fought still.

"What are you doing?" Ermit screamed. "This thing isn't gonna take much more abuse! If you keep fighting like this, you're gonna fall to pieces!"

"You asked for a distraction, did you not?" the Machine Ghost asked. "I am obliging your wishes."

Chihiro's eyes fluttered as her head jerked between where the Machine Ghost fought, and where she stood now.

"This way, everyone!" Sihiri called from behind. She floated off with a bundle of blue in her arms (Varonis, maybe?), and at such a speed that she was barely more than a sparkle purple blur. "To the tunnels!"

Chihiro winced, tossed out her hands and formed a communications screen. Flynn and Cali stood on the other line, but with no attention directed to her. All they could stare at was the massive waves of Conquertrons and other bulky Arkeyan robots headed their way.

"Flynn, Cali, keep the Machine Ghost and Ermit safe! We're going on ahead!" Chihiro cried.

The communications ended, yet Cali seemed hardly relieved. The others fled across the tunnels, but she just winced and bit her lip. Another creak and punch rang out, and her grimace deepened as she glanced over at the clearing clouds of smoke.

"At this rate," she winced, "we might have to worry more about keeping ourselves safe!"

Cali clenched her fist, and even Flynn's ears pricked back a bit a the Arkeyans surrounded him. He tried to move back, but the Dread-Yacht's back pressed against the Machine Ghost's body in that moment and made it clear that there was nowhere to run. For a moment, his hands trembled and slipped from the controls, but Flynn steadied them and gritted his teeth.

"Well, hate to say it, tin buddies, but you messed with the wrong pilot!" Flynn bellowed as he ran full-throttle into the fray. "DOUBLE BOOM!"

The Dread-Yacht swung both fists into the chests of both Arkeyans that faced it, and withdrew them before flying into a roundhouse kick aimed at the next Arkeyan. Its whole body rattled and shuddered with each blow it took, as if one more move would blow it to pieces! Yet, Flynn not once peeled his eyes from the fight in spite of how much it rattled and splintered and busted. He just threw another punch, another kick, another slam with precision and laser-focus, and his mind seemingly bled into the fight.

"You catch up with the others, little ghost dude!" Flynn cried as he pushed forward. "Just leave these guys to me!"

The Machine Ghost just stood in spite of Flynn's confidence. His eyes' glow flickered and faltered, as if he was uncertain. Finally he moved, and not to escape—rather, he threw a punch of his own and knocked the head off of the Conquertron Flynn faced!

Flynn finally broke free and stumbled backwards. "Wait, hold up!" Flynn shouted as he fired up the communications. "You need to get out of here! Our buddies need you!"

Static crackled over the speakers, and just faintly, Ermit's voice rose.

"Listen to him!" Ermit cried over mounds and mounds of static. "This machine's barely holding on! Only an idiot would stay here at this rate!"

More static crackled and crumbled, and finally, a breath took its place.

"I, apologize," the Machine Ghost sputtered, "but I cannot comply with your request. Somehow, I can infer that a similar situation occurred, and the outcome was extremely poor. I will stay and fight."

The Machine Ghost popped and creaked as it fought further, and more static popped over the communications channels with the explosions and punches. It janked in some places like something briefly stopped it at times, but every time, it quickly collected itself and fought once more.

"I'm telling you, you need to stop! Do you have static in your ears or somethin'?" Ermit spat. "At least let me take this thing to a repair station so it won't fall apart every time you punch!"

"I can oblige that."

The Machine Ghost's body went limp for a moment, yet sprung to life the next as it swerved away from the Conquertrons.

"C'mon, there's gotta be one of those fancy repair stations around here somewhere!" Ermit shouted, his voice at war with the dying communication link. "If these robot blokes didn't have one installed here, I'd think they're stupider than I already do!"

The Machine Ghost's body swerved right as Ermit piloted it away from the grip of the Arkeyans that grappled for it, and right into the grip of another set! A few Conquertrons burst out, pinned down the Machine Ghost's body's limbs, and the whole body rattled in response as it struggled back. The grunts of pain echoed over the communications systems as a few helicopters flew in and zapped it. Its arms fell to its sides as droning beeps and whistles sounded from communications.

"All systems shutting down!" the Machine Ghost cried as the static started to overtake the communications. "Get… Out!"

The Machine Ghost's body rattled, and something flew straight out of the mouth. Neither Flynn or Cali were really sure what as they glanced at each other, but they both flung forward to catch it.

As they sprung forth, however, more of the Conquertrons flew in front of the Dread-Yacht! Flynn gritted his teeth and went to swing, but one Conquertron nailed him first. It flung a punch straight in the Dread-Yacht's chest, one so massive that the whole body rattled, and more paneling popped off as the inner room flashed red.

"Massive damage sustained!" the systems bellowed. "Reverting to ship mode!"

The Dread-Yacht rumbled, and Flynn and Cali both clung to the console as the Dread-Yacht shuddered and twisted until it was a ship once more! It spat the two of them back onto the deck, and they both scrambled for the bird's eye as the Conquertrons glared them down. Their eyes burned a bright, shrieking red as they followed Flynn and Cali across the Dread-Yacht's deck, but before they could shoot, or attack, or anything, Cali leaped onto the bird's eye and yanked Flynn on!

Flynn leaped for the steering wheel and popped off the bird's eye, and the two took for the skies as they heard a familiar scream—Ermit's! Flynn pivoted the bird's eye to a harsh left, and caught Ermit right before he could plunge into the deep blue. Flynn grimaced as Ermit situated himself face-first. The Conquertrons who held up the back pushed the Dread-Yacht's shambling self off in time with them as they marched the Machine Ghost off to who knows where…

But thankfully, it hadn't seemed as though Flynn's party was caught. He swerved over to the nearest platform right as the bird's eye dovetailed, and it splintered into a million pieces of wood and cloth as he, Cali and Ermit collapsed onto cold, harsh metal, and pushed themselves up.

§

The water splashed, and the firm whir of engines rumbled the tunnels as those Conquertrons hauled both the Dread-Yacht and the Machine Ghost's body away, but to Flynn, Cali, and Ermit, all was somber and quiet. Not one of them dared to make a peep as they watched their vehicles—and more importantly, their main tickets to stopping Arkilles—get hauled off right before their eyes. Whether it was to make sure the Arkeyans wouldn't spy them, out of the massive weight of despair they felt, or perhaps both, none of them were particularly certain. All they were certain of was that they were definitely in trouble.

The silence stayed still and thick for moments, but finally, Ermit cleared his throat and a short, sharp sound broke it. Flynn and Cali both turned to him, and he turned back to them with ears drooped down.

"So, whaddya think they're gonna do with them?" Ermit gasped. Surprisingly, even he seemed somewhat downtrodden. Normally he'd probably complain about what they were going to do now, or blame everyone else for all the problems, but here he just sounded defeated.

Cali must have noticed, for her own ears drooped as she glanced over the ruined tunnels that still smoked from the battle of earlier.

"Well, from what I recall, the Arkeyans rarely kept any tech that wasn't their own," Cali mused. "Normally, they'd strip it for scrap metal and weaponry to use for their own machines, or publicly burn them to lower enemy morale, or just melt them down and use the resources for other things around their cities."

"Wait, burn? Melt? Scrap?" Flynn echoed. His eyes turned wide, and his hopeless, hapless demeanor finally broke into something closer to anger as he stormed off. "No way! There's no way I'm letting those tin cans do that to my ship! When I find them, I'll—"

Flynn's foot slipped from the platform, and his angered sputtering turned more startled as he nearly slipped off the side. If not for Ermit rushing in and pulling him back, he probably would've fallen into the watery grave—yet, that didn't stop him from struggling against Ermit's grip.

"What'dya think you're doing, ya blockhead?" Ermit exclaimed. "Do you really think you can track those things without anything to fly on, much less fight them with?"

"But, they've got my ship, and our little ghost buddy!" Flynn spat back as he tried to pry Ermit off of him. "I can't just sit around here and let them go straight to the scrap heap!"

"I have to agree with Ermit here," Cali receded with a nod of her head. "Like it or not, we're completely grounded right now. Without anything to fly, there's no way we'll be able to catch up with them!" Cali sighed and crossed her arms. "If only we had something else we could fly around this place."

A few Arkeyan helicopters zipped past and Cali perked her ears back up.

"You know, if we could just take one of those helicopters and hijack it, we'd be golden! With something like that, we could fly around the tunnels and they wouldn't even have a clue!"

"Something like that, huh?" Ermit remarked as he let go of Flynn. He glazed over the area before them, and his ears perked up as he glanced back Cali. "Like that helicopter sitting right there?"

Cali and Flynn both matched Ermit's gaze. There, a bonafide Arkeyan helicopter, all pristine and barely dented, sat right before them like a gift from the Ancients themselves!

"Wait, was that always there?" Cali sputtered. She walked up, brushed a hand against its shiny, sleek surfaces, and her fingers only barely tapped the few dents in its hood. "I'd better make sure this isn't a trick."

"Actually, I think this might've been the helicopter that kid was driving here," Flynn mused as he waltzed up and admired his own reflection in the metal's surface. "Guess they ditched it when they ran off with the Skylanders."

"And luckily, left it right for us!" Cali beamed as she peered up. "If we can get this thing flying, we can chase down those Arkeyans in no time! Flynn, can you get this thing in the air?"

"Am I the greatest pilot in all Skylands?"

Neither Cali or Ermit dignified Flynn with a response, but he didn't notice as he yanked the door open and slipped into the pilot's seat. He hummed one of the many songs he made up about his heroics as he flicked a few switches, pulled a lever or two, twisted some knobs here and there...

"Alright, a little bit of this, and that, and... A-HA!"

With one last button push, the helicopter's engines whirred to life and it slowly pushed itself off the platform! Its blades spun with the energy of a new day as it whirred and bustled, and Flynn's hoots and hollers of glee just barely raised over the sound of the roaring engines.

"WE HAVE LIFTOFF!"

Cali frowned for a moment, yanked open the shotgun door and hopped in. The door slammed behind her, and she warily buckled herself in as she glanced over a large, shiny screen seated right atop all the bells and whistles. It seemed a bit like a map or radar with a curving path, some directions or names written on it in the Ancient Common script, but more than that, a group of dots that slowly brushed further across the tunnel ahead. Cali hummed for a moment, tapped a few buttons to the right side of the screen, and the screen brandished a new image: a group of Conquertrons guiding the Machine Ghost's shambling body away with the Dread-Yacht close behind!

"Knew it! This is a radar!" Cali cried. "We can use this to track the ghost!"

"And my ship!" Flynn cried as he pointed to where the Dread-Yacht stayed on the screen. "Don't worry, baby, Papa's coming to save you!"

"Flynn, I don't think it can hear you."

"Oh, cut the chatter!" Ermit cried as he finally hopped into the backseat and buckled in. "We need to get our vehicles back before those bolt-bodies catch on!"

"Righty-o!" Flynn cried as he slammed the driver's door shut and pulled up a lever.

The helicopter's engines buzzed and shrieked even louder than before, and a glint of adrenaline shone in Flynn's eyes as he clutched the steering wheel.

"Operation vehicle rescue is..." Flynn pulled down the lever as the helicopter drifted off of the platform and back into the tunnels. "GO!"

Flynn released the lever and the helicopter dashed off! It swerved around the crumbling masonry and ruined Arkeyan corpses left over from the battle, zipped off with guns blazing and so much speed that fire burned in sunrise-colored towers from its thrusters, barely dipped under broken pillars, and narrowly grazed crumbling bits of the ceiling. Its side screeched as it brushed against a half-broken pillar, and inside, the noise sounded like nails on a chalkboard as Cali and Ermit covered their ears. There was more to come yet, for the entire tunnel ahead bore tightly-packed broken pillars like weapons!

Flynn grimaced just slightly as he wove between the pillars, all while the sides and thrusters dinged and banged against the cracked marble of the pillar's exteriors. The interior shook and shuddered as the sound rang like a bell inside, and both Cali and Ermit keeled over and plugged their ears as it shook their very bones.

"Watch where you're piloting, you dolt!" Ermit cried at his loudest. "You're gonna take us out before those Arkeyans do at this rate!"

"Ah, nothing to worry about!" Flynn chirped as he just barely swerved under a pillar that staggered like a stalactite. Its tip dinged against the helicopter's top and rattled it once more, but Flynn hardly reacted as he swept back up. "Just a bit of turbulence, nothing for an awesome pilot like myself~" Flynn hummed as he swept aside of another pillar. "Y'know, this reminds me of the time I headed out to get the Eternal Air Source back with the Skylanders! You know, if you wanna talk about turbulence, then—"

"FLYNN, DUCK!" Cali screamed.

Flynn jerked his gaze back to the path ahead, yelped as he swept underneath a banister, and swung back up.

"Man, close one! Good thing I saw it~" Flynn let out a hearty laugh as he spun the steering wheel. "Anyways, where was I? Oh right, Eternal Air Source! I heroically offered my transport to get that spinny air thing right out of Baldy's grubby lil' hands, and..."

Cali sighed and buried her face in her hands, and Ermit groaned as he took off his gloves and shoved them in his ears. Flynn droned on with his most-certainly-exaggerated tales of heroism, but Cali lifted her head and glanced out the passenger-side window with a frown as a string of Arkeyan helicopters much like their own passed by.

"Might wanna speed it up a little!" Ermit shouted as he watched the helicopters fly by from his own window. "'Cause these things don't look friendly to me!"

"What, those little things?" Flynn replied as he glazed over a few small, rounder robots that zipped by next.

"I said," Ermit groaned as he plucked his gloves out of his ears, "those helicopters look like bad news!"

More helicopters passed by, and Flynn just chuckled as he tipped his helicopter's nonexistent wing to them. "I wouldn't worry about those guys! After all, we've got a bonafide Arkeyan helicopter right here!" Flynn laughed as the helicopters passed him by and flew on. "As far as these robo-brains are concerned, we're one of their guys! They wouldn't even notice a..."

A shriek came from behind, and Flynn perked up his ears and ducked as a few sparkling orbs of magic zipped right past him.

"Huh, wonder what that was all about," he remarked as he swept back up.

Cali winced as she peered at the back window. "Look behind you—"

Even more orbs shot forth as Cali shouted, and Flynn swung to the right as they passed him by.

"Now why would I do that, Cali?" Flynn laughed. "After all, we're supposed to be going in front!"

"Listen to her, you dolt!" Ermit shouted as he pounded his fists and legs against the seat. "Those Arkeyans you said were hardly worth a cow's tail found us!"

"I told you!" Flynn's ears flattened, and his brow tensed. "As long as we have this helicopter, none of them will notice—"

A massive shriek of lightning pierced the air, and Flynn's eyes practically popped out of his head as he dashed out the way of a gigantic lightning orb! He clenched his teeth as the orb crashed into the wall, and when he turned around, he found that Cali and Ermit were right. A small fleet of Arkeyan helicopters with fully-charged energy cannons flew behind him, and judging by how their thrusters buzzed, they definitely weren't happy!

"Alright, seems like there's a little misunderstanding here!" Flynn remarked. He popped a button next to a speaker, and cleared his throat as it crackled to life. "Hello, weird robot dudes," Flynn said in his best impression of a robotic voice, "we're actually one of your guys, so—"

"THIS HELICOPTER DOES NOT HAVE A SERIAL DESIGNATION!" the Arkeyans over the radio bellowed. "IMITATIONS MUST BE ELIMINATED!"

The radio shut itself off, and Cali pinched her brows.

"Guess getting our ticket here from a magical oracle may have had some consequences," she mumbled.

Flynn clenched the steering wheel even tighter, and his smile spread as his brows tensed. "Well, looks like these guys wanna do this the hard way! Well, hard way for them, I mean." A twinkle shone in Flynn's eyes, and he spun the steering wheel once more. "Hang on, you two—things are gonna get a little rocky!"

The shots fired, and Flynn slid between them with one hand while the other frantically tapped away at the console's buttons. His eyes bounced between the oncoming helicopters and the various buttons and levers, and his teeth clenched and ground so hard that he might've chipped something with any more force. But finally, his eyes fell on a bright orange button with a rocket carved on it!

"Now we're in business!" Flynn cried as he slammed the button down with all the force he could. "BOOM!"

The helicopter sputtered, and its front unloaded a pair of massive cannons that belted out shiny, sleek rockets! The rockets glistened and burned as they slammed straight into the helicopters and blew them to bits, but Flynn's own helicopter just retracted the cannons like a warrior sheathing their weapon.

Flynn beamed as he drank in his success, but only for a moment. A shriek hit the air as red lights dyed the blue halls, and a siren sounded off with a bloodcurdling yell. Even more Arkeyans poured out as the walls opened up and Flynn gulped.

"Alright, seems like we might be in a bigger kettle of fish than we thought," Flynn chuckled, though the way his ears flattened betrayed his true fear. "In that case, looks like this calls for a tactical retreat!"

Flynn spun the wheel around once more, and the helicopter turned around and hightailed it! The helicopter flew as fast as it could while the sirens blared, and the masses of helicopters sped after it at dizzying speeds!

"Boosters, boosters," Flynn mumbled as he skimmed over the console with no mind paid to the path ahead. "Now where are those boosters?"

"Flynn, in front of you!" Cali cried.

"Yes, yes, I know the console's in front of me, but—"

Cali grunted as she practically yanked the steering wheel out of Flynn's hands, and tilted out the way of an oncoming wall. A metallic shriek echoed as the helicopter's side grazed against the wall's, but when they veered clear of it, Cali released her iron grip with a sigh of relief.

"You know what? You just focus on flying," Cali said as she turned her attention to the console, "and I'll find the boosters!"

"Gotcha!"

Flynn nodded as he fixed his eyes firmly on the front of the path ahead, but Cali turned her attention straight down to the console. All sorts of shiny buttons, levers, knobs, and more laid sprawled out before her; they were all promising in nature—but whichever one was the one to activate the boosters, it wasn't clear. The labels were few, and most of them were written in tiny, barely-legible Ancient Common. It was like whoever designed the ship didn't even account for non-robotic pilots using it!

"If 'Enehana designed this," Cali groaned as she flicked a few switches, "I'm giving them a piece of my mind when I find them again."

The switches let out a slight chime as the headlights turned on, but the helicopter still sped out at the same time. That was obviously not it, so she turned her attention to a few knobs that tuned the radio embedded in the helicopter, but alas, no boosters. Sweat crawled down her brows as she flicked every switch, pulled every lever, pressed every button, and more—and somehow, they managed to do everything BUT activate the boosters.

Cali's seat reclined and leaned back, but Cali herself just groaned as she moved for the next lever. Something buzzed behind her as she perked her ears up, and she turned back. A few shots of lightning streaked forth; Cali instinctively ducked as they brushed past the helicopter.

"Cali, I hate to rush you," Flynn cried out as he fumbled with the steering wheel, "but have you found those boosters yet?"

"Trying!"

"Well, you'd better try faster! I think those guys are gaining on us!"

The pounding beat of helicopter blades grew louder, faster, and the sound of lightning and magic blasts came next as the artillery opened fire. Flynn shouted out as he nosedived, brushed against the waters of below; he swept back up and weaved through broken pillars with a fury! The Arkeyan helicopters behind him popped up in the mirror, and Flynn sharply ducked as the lightning soared in for him! He jolted up next and skidded off as one helicopter came in for the kill. A grin crossed his face as the helicopter slammed into the masonry and fell into the deep, but the sound of open fire killed that smile immediately!

"Hold on, everyone!" Flynn cried over the sound of increasing laser blasts.

Flynn spun the steering wheel in a hasty circle and he barrel-rolled through the path! The lasers narrowly grazed the helicopter's surface and pierced into the vast nothing as the barrel roll rolled to a close, but the helicopter set itself upright. Within the helicopter, Ermit and Cali clutched their stomachs, and grappled for air as they laid strewn about in their seats. Good thing they were wearing seat belts!

"Okay, forget the boosters for now!" Flynn spat as he absently jammed a nearby button. "What we need is heavy artillery! We need to blast these guys to smithereens! ROCKETS, GIVE THEM THE BOOM!"

But, nothing happened. The click sounded, sounded again, and sounded a few more times as Flynn pressed it as hard as he could, but no rockets came!

"Okay, rockets aren't working, back to Plan A! Where's those boosters?"

Flynn and Cali's fingers danced across the console as they hunted for the button, and finally, both their eyes landed on an orange button with a flame! Could that be?

"The boosters!" they cried as one as they both slammed it down!

The engine sputtered and shuttered as it revved even further, and in one flash, literal fire burned in a bright fury from the helicopter's thrusters! It sped off like a rocket, ran so fast that the whole world around was a blur, and the only sound that could be heard was that of its own engines roaring! Another burst of flames sounded from behind, and when everyone peered back, all they caught were the helicopters that tailed them as they burst into flames and descended!

"BOOM!" Flynn cried as the speed pinned him back to his seat. "Now that's what I call a booster!"

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet!" Ermit cried as he pointed ahead with all he could muster. "Those doors are closing, and we're heading straight for them!"

Flynn shook his head, and leaned forward in his seat as his ears perked up. Sure enough, Ermit was right—ornamental blue and gold doors drew across the halls, and fast at that!

"Don't worry about it, hermity dude!" Flynn cried. "Just gotta give this baby the old boost!"

Flynn jammed the boosters once more, and the flames behind burned brighter as they raced off like a rocket! The thud of slamming doors echoed behind them as they sped through each and every pair of doors, some just inches before their closing.

"See? We're home free!" Flynn chirped.

He beamed and turned around, yet yelped as the last door slid to a shut right before his very eyes! He frantically jammed off the boosters, and drew back right before the helicopter could smash against it as his smile faded.

"So much for home free, huh?" Ermit heckled from the back seat.

"Eh, I wouldn't say we're done quite yet," Flynn remarked as he pressed a few buttons. "Just gotta give this thing a little bit of firepower!"

The helicopter rumbled, and shot off a laser blast so big and furious that it knocked the helicopter itself back a few meters. But, when the lights faded, the door stood strong as ever! Flynn didn't say a word—he just drifted off to a nearby platform and seated the helicopter. The driver's door opened for him, and he popped out with a hand on his chin as he examined the closed door.

"Okay, looks like we'll need some other trick to get that thing open," Flynn mused, "but what?"

Cali and Ermit hopped out of the helicopter, and as their doors closed behind them, they both joined Flynn in musing over the door. There didn't see to be any switches or convenient buttons to press around, and blowing it to bits was obviously out of the question. But in that case, what was the answer here?

Cali's ears flattened as she tried to think, and she paced perhaps without even realizing. She mumbled something under her breath as she paced back and forth, up and down, every direction, really, as she tried to mark out a solution. She brushed her elbow against something cool, sleek and metallic, and she finally popped out of her trance! Her eyes fell on something that looked a bit like a blue suit of armor with a v-shaped dip in its center, and a light shone in her eyes!

"Found it!" Cali cried out. "I found out how we're gonna get those gates open!"

"You did?" Flynn and Ermit both asked.

Cali nodded and smacked the suit's shoulder. "Yep, and here's our key, or rather, the keyhole! See, I ran into one of these during a dig a while back. They're ancient Arkeyan keyholes, and I'll bet this is the one that controls that gate! All we have to do is find the key, and we'll be golden!" Cali's eyes glazed over to a round door lodged into the very back of the platform. "And I'll bet that's where the key is!"

Cali stormed off without a second thought as the door twirled open. Behind her, Flynn glanced from side to side and winced, but as Ermit gave him a raised brow, he cleared his throat and puffed out his chest.

"And I'll go with you, just to keep you safe from all those baddies!" Flynn proclaimed as he waltzed off. "Can't have you getting into troubles with those nasty Arkeyans now, can we?"

"Just don't slow me down."

Flynn and Cali both disappeared as the door shut itself, and Ermit winced as he leaned against the helicopter.

"Well, guess I'll just stay here and guard the helicopter." Ermit remarked. A shriek sounded as a few other helicopters with sirens blazing passed by the hall, and a chill ran down Ermit's spine as every hair of his beard stood on end. "Actually, I think I'll go with you guys!"

§

Ermit panted as he scurried off through the door, and the first thing he saw as he stepped in was mist and nothing more. A whistle howled over the draft that somehow found its way in, and judging by the pained tone, whatever made it didn't sound friendly.

"Bloody Pits," Ermit spat as he trudged through the mist-laden land, "of all the places for them to wander through…"

The whistling winds howled again. Ermit shuddered as he laid his head down low, and tried to dodge whatever bloody thing made that sound. Now, he never liked mist. Mist was a distant cousin of the clouds he so greatly loathed, and it was almost, ALMOST as bad as the clouds were! Clouds spied on beings from the skies, did every little thing in their power to rain on their parade, or thunder all over it, or do whatever they felt would make anyone the most miserable, but mist did that very same job right on the ground! Ancients knew how many times he tripped over rocks, or bumped into some ugly customer because the mist was too thick and he couldn't tell jack from squat! Oh, he loathed mist, just like how he loathed clouds, and storms, and every Ancients-forsaken thing about this stupid mission!

Ermit's foot jammed against something hard and solid, and he leaped up and went to curse out his woes—but another howl sounded and he immediately silenced himself. His legs and arms turned to jelly, and he collapsed on the hard and metallic ground. The mist wrapped tight around him, and the howling grew louder, louder!

"Who, who's there?" Ermit sputtered. Though he shuddered so badly that it kept him pinned, he at least tried to look around. "Wait, I don't care who it is, just don't come any closer!"

The howling of the winds turned to chattering of gibberish as something mumbled and murmured out from the winds. Within its wispy surface formed silhouettes—Arkeyan soldiers? Monsters? Some other kind of creep he definitely didn't want to run into in a dark, misty area?—and the sounds raised, shrieked, even! Ermit winced as he patted the ground for something, anything that could possibly protect him, and his hands fell on something long, cold and metallic. He drew it back to find a metal bar in his hands, and despite how heavy it was, he pushed it up and held it like a sword. (As much as he could, anyways.)

"I, I'm telling you!" Ermit shouted as he tried to sound as big and tough as he could. "You don't want to mess with me! I, I'm a lot tougher than I look, you know!"

Ermit's whole body turned numb from all its shaking as the figures grew broader, clearer, even. It was clear that whatever threats he made, they wouldn't take! He ditched the metal bar in an instant, and the sudden relief of weight put a new spring in his step. Good thing too, for he needed to get out of here and fast!

He turned tail, headed for where he hoped the door was, and something gripped his wrist tight! He turned around and screamed, but his screams stopped short when he realized that goofy pilot (Flynn, his name was? He annoyed Ermit so much that Ermit never bothered to remember) stared him in the face now, and that adventurer lady that Ermit thought was named Cali followed soon after. Oh, so he wasn't in immediate Arkeyan danger! The mist hadn't bested him this time! Ermit breathed a sigh of relief, and clutched his chest as his heart struggled to stop pounding. Ancients, he was too old for this.

"Hey, hermity dude!" Flynn chirped. "When you'd get here?"

"More importantly, did you find the key?" Cali asked.

Ermit shook his head. "'Fraid not. I just got here when that Ancients-forsaken mist tripped me up!" Ermit replied. "I'm assuming you haven't found it either, have you?"

Flynn and Cali just shook their heads, but the answer was obvious regardless from the way they sulked. Ermit just sighed, forced himself off the ground, and followed after Cali with a nod. She tried to fan the mist away with her hands, and Flynn similarly blew it away with paltry little puffs. But, it did little to actually clear out the massive blanket of mist that obscured the area around. In fact, the mist instead grew so thick that Ermit almost barely saw the others around him. He was sure from the yelps of pain he heard here and there that they probably ran into things and tripped over stuff, but Ermit himself could barely make them out! A shout of pain sounded from aside of him as he stepped on something leathery; when he turned around, Flynn gave him a disparaging glare.

"Watch where you're walking!" Flynn spat.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Ermit spat back as he gestured to the masses of mist that grew thicker by the moment. "You can barely tell jack from squat around here!"

Flynn's ears flattened with a scoff, and from behind him, Cali popped out from the mist with what seemed like a fan in hand.

"Now, calm down, you two!" she chided as she placed the fan down. "Just gotta start this thing up, and we should be mist-free."

Cali flicked the switch, and a small breeze fired up as it chilled the already-drafty room. The fan's blades whirred in a slow, steady pace; their speed gathered and raised as the seconds passed, and soon enough, that little fan bellowed out a powerful gust that blew off the mist! The mist thinned in masses and burst into small puffs and white curls before it finally tore apart like wet paper. Quite the satisfying sight, Ermit had to admit; he wouldn't mind getting a hand or two on one of those little gadgets to take out those obnoxious clouds!

"I knew I had a de-mister somewhere in my pockets," Cali remarked as she turned off the fan and stuffed it away. "Never go to a dig without one."

With the mist cleared, the full architecture of the room unveiled itself. What they all stood on was one of a string of large, round metal platforms suspended above a massive void below. Ermit wasn't sure what was down there, and he did not want to find out. The taller platforms connected to the lower ones with bridges made of shiny blue metal, but a strange gate made of metal spires blocked off the bridges on their own platform. Most of the platforms held nothing but busted, rusted bodies of long-defunct Arkeyan soldiers; one platform, however, carried a shiny, vaguely amber orb that shone like the sun in an otherwise-dim room! A welcome sight given all the defunct robots, and the pungent reek of death and oil that rang around the room now that the mist cleared out. A few creaks sounded off like something was going to fall apart, yet everything stayed perfectly still—for now, anyways.

Flynn and Cali both exchanged wary glances, and Ermit carried a similarly-leery look. This whole place was just one uncomfortable sight after another, and not one of them wanted to overstay their welcome. Flynn and Cali both scurried away, but something in Ermit couldn't really step away just yet.

His eyes turned to a couple of small Arkeyans with flat heads and wheels where their legs should be, and he drifted over to it without even thinking. His ears flicked as he glazed over the Arkeyans, who just sat there with rusted tops and unlit faces on closer inspection. Ermit was sure that these old things probably weren't going to jump up and attack him at any moment (probably), yet something in him just couldn't pull away.

"These things probably used to be guard robots," he mused as he stroked his beard, "but without a city to guard, they're just left here to gather rust."

A small inkling of that ghost came back to Ermit, and a sudden tug pulled on his heart. He snarled and quickly shook the feeling away—couldn't get distracted thinking about that thing right now! Ermit could worry all about him when he got him back, and they didn't have an immediate revival of the Arkeyan Empire breathing down their backs. But, that tugging feeling came back as Ermit gazed further over the abandoned, dead Arkeyans. It was one that just made his stomach sick and full of pits every time he thought about it. He didn't quite know what that feeling was, or maybe he did and he just didn't want to acknowledge it.

"And what makes you think I'm inclined to do something for you, when you left me to freeze? It was so lonely and cold, sitting here all the time, you know, and—"

The ghost's words rang in his ears like a deadly chime, and Ermit scowled. "I know, alright?" Ermit hissed. "I'm an awful person for leaving you behind, and getting on your case, and getting you..."

"Ermit, what are you talking about?"

Ermit's ears stood on end; he turned around, and Cali stared him straight in the face! His ears twitched, and he drew back as he tried to avoid looking at those dead Arkeyans.

"Nothing you need to know about. Now, shouldn't we be looking for this gate key or whatever?"

Cali scoffed as she walked back off, and Ermit took a step in her path. But, he couldn't quite abandon those dead robots just yet, so he glanced back. His hand reached out on its own to touch them, yet he quickly drew it back. Sure, he was fairly confident that they were dead and unlikely to attack, but he couldn't be entirely confident, and he did not feel like getting in a fight (mostly because he didn't know how to fight). Yet, something in him felt bad about seeing them all alone and abandoned, and those bitter words from that ghost poured in his ears again. He clenched his teeth and wanted to turn away, but right then, the robots rattled and Ermit jumped a full foot back!

He yelped as the rattling grew more furious, and glanced back as Flynn and Cali rejoined him. Ermit's teeth chattered as he glanced back at the robots; for a moment, he could've sworn he saw a faint flicker of a light in their faces.

"Hermit guy, what's the holdup?" Flynn demanded as he stormed forward. "Case you've forgotten, we've got a key we need to find here, and—"

"Alright, alright, I'm going!" Ermit shouted as he turned and stormed off. "Geez, you can't—"

Something cold and metallic yanked Ermit's ankle, and squeezed it tight as he fell straight on the ground! Ermit yelped as the cold grip squeezed further, but with a few shakes and rolls, Ermit slipped his leg out and rolled home free! He quickly skittered behind Cali as his whole body broke into a shaking fit from either cold or fear, and Cali yanked a knife out of her pocket with a scowl.

"Who's there?" she demanded as she gazed around the room. "Quit hiding and show yourselves!"

The sound of an engine's whirs rang in the room. It was just one at first, next two and four, and eventually, enough to sound less like engines and more like the angry buzzing of bees from a disturbed beehive! The Arkeyans Ermit examined earlier shook off their rust as they jumped to their wheels and drew blades (Ermit suddenly no longer felt sorry for them after that), and a whole constellation of shining lights emerged from even the darkest corners of the room. The platforms shook and echoed as the once-defunct Arkeyans sprung to life, and hissed as they emerged from the shadows. The ones with weapons brought them to shine in the light, just to show that they meant business, and a resounding chorus of loud, angry beeps echoed across the room as all those Arkeyans struck!

Cali snarled and went to strike a blow, but those Arkeyans with the wheel feet zipped past her, and scratched at her with their hand blades. She went from slashing to dashing as she tried to dodge their bows, all while their blades slashed and sparks burst from the rubber they burned! Cali stashed the knife away with one swift movement, and in another, yanked out a hand cannon and fitted it firm on her hand. The hand cannon clicked as she twisted it on, and she pulled a cord as she held it firm! Bursts of flames spat out, nailed those spinning Arkeyans where they stood, and they exploded into electrical bursts that nailed down a few more Arkeyans around her.

The ground rumbled, and a few round, bulky Arkeyans with guns on their hands along with smaller ones wielding large cannons leaped out next. They clicked their guns, and plasma blasts shot out like hot, fast stars as they aimed straight for Cali! She rolled out of the way as they nailed the Arkeyans behind her and melted them down for scrap, and she only took a moment to wince as she rolled off.

Beside her, however, Flynn did not do nearly as well. He raised his fists as a couple of small Arkeyans did the same, and his brows clenched.

"I'm warning you little guys! I don't wanna have to fight someone smaller than me," Flynn sputtered as he wound up and readied himself to punch, "but you're not giving me any other…"

A chill ran down his spine as an Arkeyan wielding a broadsword crept up on him, and Flynn yelped and ran off right before the Arkeyan slashed him in half. Its sword cleaved its allies instead, and they all exploded in one burst of fire and electricity as the platform rumbled.

Ermit just hid wherever he could for his part, which wasn't a lot of places. He was no fighter by any means, and he was smart enough to know that messing with Arkeyans, especially ones programmed solely to be killing machines and armed with highly lethal weapons, was a fool's errand. Gunshots rang in the air as plasma bullets soared forth, and Ermit yelped as he fell to the ground. A few clangs sounded from behind, and he peered up as a couple of what seemed like snipers fell from one of the higher platforms with bullet holes in their chests.

Ermit smiled, but the sound of charging guns sounded from below, and he gulped as he scrambled to his feet! He ran so fast that even he couldn't believe how speedy he was, and his eyes fixed on that strange gate that blocked off the platform from the rest of the string.

"Come on!" Ermit cried as he leaped onto the gate's spires. He situated his feet on the spirals that decorated them, and grunted as he shimmied up the spikes. "There has to be something that can stop these rust-buckets!"

A string of explosions sounded behind him, and the resulting force pushed Ermit up the gate and right onto the other side! He fell on his face with an undignified splat; as he got up and rubbed his aching nose, he caught another string of explosions burst across the room as smoke blanketed their resting places. The smoke acted like that Ancients-awful mist, and completely obscured the battlefield as Flynn and Cali rushed in to fight. Worse yet, more of those Arkeyans leaped in and came to battle!

"Dodge, duck!" Ermit called as he watched what he guessed were Flynn and Cali's silhouettes meandering in the smoke. "That thing's gonna turn you into lunch meat!"

The two of them must have gotten his message, for they slipped out right as one cleaver-wielding Arkeyan leaped forth and slammed down its weapon! Its cleaver lodged into the metal, and it strained as it tried to pull it out; in that moment, Cali kicked it in the side! The Arkeyan flew off the platform and into the abyss, but Cali strained as she yanked the cleaver out of the platform and slashed away the other Arkeyans that surrounded her and Flynn. (Just how tough was that lady, anyways?)

"Wait, behind you!" Ermit called.

Cali slashed away at another particularly large Arkeyan, Flynn raced off as another two slammed straight into each other, and Ermit winced. The whole battle devolved into endless waves of dodging, ducking, slashing, and punching, and the most he could do was watch!

"Duck! Dodge! Other way, you blockhead!" Ermit barked as he watched the battle with clenched teeth.

Sweat crept down his brow as he clenched the gate's spires. With the battle raging on endlessly before him, his eyes turned away. All that surrounded him was nothing but empty space and staggering platforms. Not a single stray weapon or convenient off switch laid before his eyes, just a void and the sound of sizzling. Wait, sizzling? Ermit perked up an ear, and followed the sound to a large, bright crystal which emitted a gigantic laser! Yep, that was the ticket!

Ermit rushed up to the crystal and leaped onto its back, where a slightly rusty bronze lever poked out from its container. He pulled it with all his might, and the crystal turned around so that its laser cut through the gate first, next the smoke, and finally the Arkeyans! Finally, something that actually worked!

"You two!" Ermit cried as he pulled the lever once more. "Get outta the way!"

Cali and Flynn both turned around only a moment, for in the next, they bolted out of the way as the laser turned around and tore through the Arkeyans they once faced! Another string of explosions rattled and dented the platform as they made their great escape; they hurtled themselves past the smoke, fire, and electricity, and towards the gate left halved by the crystal's laser reign. Cali hopped over first, and Flynn tried next, but he just stumbled over the spires and fell on his face once more.

"Ermit?" Cali gasped as she wandered over to the crystal. "Where'd you find this thing?"

"It was just standing here," Ermit replied with a shrug. He hopped off the crystal and smiled as he rapped a fist against its sturdy surface. "Don't know why, but it was awful convenient!"

Cali hummed as she glazed over the crystal, and her eyes turned next to that amber orb that sparkled in the distance. A brow raised, and she whipped back and forth between the two with a beam.

"Ermit, you did it!"

"I did?"

Cali patted the crystal as she turned back to Ermit and a stumbling Flynn with a beam. "We can get the key now! See, the Arkeyans didn't really use dressers, chests, or drawers like we did. Instead, they had these platforms that they'd draw in and out with crystal-propelled lasers, and I'll bet that sparkly thing over there is our key!"

Ermit frowned and crossed his arms. "That sounds ridiculous! Why would someone go to all that trouble just to get a key?"

"I know it sounds overly complicated, but the Arkeyans took a lot of pride in how technologically advanced they were compared to the rest of Skylands. They always had to make things as overly-complicated and technical as possible, just so they could go 'Look at us, we're super techy and smart and the rest of you aren't!'"

Flynn popped up from the floor at last and glanced aside. "Uh, Cali—" he started.

"But, at the same time, they only advanced as much as they did because they were always conquering others, and squashing any chances at developing before they could actually develop—"

"Cali, I hate to interrupt your history lesson, but—"

"Heck, I'd argue—and I actually have, several times—that if the Arkeyan Empire had never quashed so many places, we'd be much further advanced in our studies of the Tech Element than we are! Some days, I wonder what—"

"CALI!"

Cali's ears flattened as she shot Flynn a glare. "Flynn, can't you see I'm trying to talk here? What do you want?"

A massive plume of flames shot out from the side of the room, and Cali yelped as she took cover behind the crystal, as did Ermit and Flynn. The three of them peered around the corner as the flames died, and their heads knocked together as something slammed down with such force that it shook the entire platform and knocked them back!

"I tried to warn you!" Flynn shouted.

The three of them peered back around the crystal, and caught sight of what had to be the flame's source. In front of them stood a broad, bulky humanoid with fangs jutting out of its warty lower jaw. It dressed in a blacksmith's clothes and wielded a giant metal flamethrower. It scowled as it fired up the flamethrower with a few clicks, and those bright flames bellowed from its flamethrower as it singed the area around; probably in some pursuit of them, at that.

Cali grunted and scrambled atop the crystal before she pulled and jabbed at its lever. The crystal jerked and twisted in response, and its laser shot right for this mysterious flaming guy. But, when the laser made contact with him, it just reflected and seared into the ceiling! Cali gasped and jerked the crystal around to a few other spots, but no matter where she moved it, the laser didn't even pierce this strange foe. Skin, clothing, weaponry, it made no difference—the laser just slid off and bounced onto the walls!

"What's up with that thing?" Ermit hissed as he poked around the crystal. "That can't be a normal being if that laser did nothing!"

"I just wanna know when that thing got here!" Flynn hissed as he poked above Ermit and nearly shoved him out of the way. "I swear, it's like it appeared out of thin air, or—"

The flamethrower guy growled; it turned around as it laid eyes on them and they laid eyes on it. It still looked no different from how it did when it arrived, which proved that the laser was utterly useless, and worse—it looked angry! It dove into the pockets of its blacksmith's apron, and in one thrust, it yanked out a string of firecrackers and tossed them in the air!

Cali swung the crystal around and blasted the firecrackers in mid-air.

Beside her, Ermit clutched his chest. "Now what're we gonna do?" Ermit cried. His heart strained, and his breath strained with it; heck, his whole body strained, and he had to clutch his chest to make sure his heart wouldn't give out any second. "That thing's a monster! If that laser can't burn it, then we're screwed!"

"Calm down, Ermit, I'm trying to think!" Cali hissed from atop the crystal. "It doesn't look Arkeyan in nature per say, but if it's that immune, I wouldn't put it being some kind of robot behind me." Cali narrowed her eyes, and her fingers drummed against the crystal's surface. "I kind of feel like I've seen it somewhere before, but I just can't put my finger on it."

"Well, can you put your finger on it faster? We don't exactly have all the time in the world to sit around and—"

Another plume of flames came in, and Ermit yelped and scurried back, but Flynn wasn't quite as lucky. The flames lapped at Flynn's scarf as he jumped back, and he yelped as it blew it out. The damage wasn't exactly much, just a few singe marks, but the look on Flynn's face was so indignant that the thing might as well have burned it to a crisp!

"Alright, no more mister nice pilot!" Flynn exclaimed as he stormed off. "Cali, gimme a hose! I'm gonna cool this guy down!"

The flamethrower guy rolled his eyes, started his flamethrower yet again, and Flynn yelped as he raced back out of the flames' path. Flynn slammed straight into Ermit, and Ermit slid right off the platform before he knew it! He screamed as he gripped onto its slick edge with all the strength he could muster.

"Don't look down, Ermit, don't look down," Ermit whimpered as he glanced up to where Flynn and Cali sat on the platform's edge, and them back to the side.

Ermit tried his hardest not to look down and… Oh, Ancients, he looked down, and the dizziness set in as he glanced down at the endless void that would surely kill him before he even reached the ground. He winced, and tried to ignore the feeling of his head going numb, so he instead poked his attention back to the battlegrounds.

There was just enough space to spy that flamethrower dude as it cackled and clicked its flamethrower on. It set the nozzle on the three of them as it prepared to fire, but a stream of water burst in and soaked the flamethrower where it stood! The water dripped and pooled in slick streams, and a rash colored like rust formed on its face!

Cali's eyes sparkled as the strange, rust-like rash climbed up that flamethrower's skin.

"Now I remember!" Cali cried with a snap of her fingers. "Those things are blaze brewers! They're special Arkeyan cyborgs that might look organic on the surface, but inside, they're basically just living flamethrowers! Instead of organs, they've got these chambers that are filled with oil, and—"

"Okay, the history lesson's well and good and all," Ermit spat, "but aren't you forgetting someone?"

Cali and Flynn both glanced down to where Ermit hung on by a thread, and they both grimaced. Flynn pulled Ermit back onto the platform with a grunt, but the time Ermit spent hanging on sapped his strength and he immediately fell face-first. Owch. Ermit grunted and pushed himself off the ground once more; as he did, the rumbling of an entire army's march shook the floor and forced him back down. He could only watch from the ground as more Arkeyans stormed in and winced.

"There's too many of those things!" Cali cried. "There's no way we'll be able to beat them!"

"You might not," Flynn smirked as he cracked his knuckles, "but I—"

"There's no time for that, Flynn!" Cali yanked Flynn by the back of his jacket and bolted off. "We've gotta get the key and book it!"

Cali swung the lever one last time, and ducked under as its laser swung to the platform with the sparkling amber orb on it. The platform slid over in an instant, and the amber orb unveiled itself before her—to reveal that it wasn't an orb at all, but a blue pyramid-looking thing with a large, amber jewel on its top. Cali leaped over and snatched it off the floor; as she balanced it under one arm, she dug through her pockets and pulled out a bunch of shiny pink orbs. Her eyes fell on the increasing number of Arkeyans piling onto the platform, and with a scowl, she tossed the orbs right in their faces.

"Why don't you stick right there for a second?" she cried.

The orbs slammed right in the Arkeyans' helmets, and they all exploded in a sticky, gummy mess that completely covered their eyes! They clawed and scraped at the gum, but only managed to stick their hands instead. They hopped around and beeped, and a few even rammed into each other and got themselves stuck together. Quite an amusing sight, really, to see all those fancy robots defeated by bubblegum.

"Hurry! That gum's not gonna stick forever!" Cali cried as she bolted down the pathway.

Flynn ran after her, and Ermit huffed and puffed as he ran after them both. He took a stride, but something yanked on his back and tried to pull him back! When he turned around, he found himself face-to-face with a gummed-up Arkeyan and gasped—but another gum-faced Arkeyan slammed into it in a dizzy spin! The two Arkeyans stumbled back, and the grip let up on Ermit enough for him to hurry back down.

The sound of clanking metal rang in the air as Cali, Flynn, and Ermit raced back across the platforms, and not just the clanking metal of their own footsteps. The ground pounded behind them, and they didn't have to look back to know the source was the Arkeyans chasing after them! The three of them panted as they bolted across the last platform, and with one last stride, they bolted back out the door!

The light of the halls graced them once more as Cali swung around and slammed the key right into the keyhole. "Please work," she winced as she glanced back to the door where the Arkeyans' crowds grew closer and closer.

A rumble echoed from the halls, and Cali's eyes turned back to that gate that blocked them off—which slowly rumbled as it withdrew back into the walls, and just at the time they needed! Cali gasped, but as the beeping and thrashing of Arkeyans sounded behind her once more, her momentary joy fleeted.

"Quick, into the helicopter!"

Ermit did not need to be told twice, for he beelined for the helicopter and leaped back into the backseat. Cali and Flynn hopped in front soon after, and with a few button presses, the helicopter's engine fired and it lifted off! It dashed off with a flaming start as Ermit peered back. He caught the Arkeyans beeping out what he could only presume were ancient Arkeyan curses as they piled over the door at last, but they just collapsed into the deep blues of the hallways as their ranks spilled over the platform. But, they weren't a problem for him anymore, so he just seated himself and caught his breath.

"Now," Cali said as she recalibrated the radar, "to get us back on track."

§

The light of the tunnels made way for darkness, cold, safe, darkness, as Skylander, portal master, and Elder Elemental alike all soared inside. Not one of them dared to look back and see if perhaps the Arkeyans caught up with them yet, for instead their eyes laid solely on the path ahead. Their footsteps were as fast as their beating hearts as they ran, flew, did anything to escape the Arkeyans.

Finally, the sounds of battle died below them and they collapsed, for the feeling of danger passed and left them weak in the metaphorical and literal knees.

Chihiro clutched her chest as her heart finally slowed itself back to normal, and perked up her head.

"We've, probably lost them by now, right?" she asked.

"It seems so," 'Enehana replied as they stood up and eyed the metalwork around them, "but, just to be safe…"

'Enehana nodded towards Jorden and the two of them held out their hands. The metal of the tunnels shuddered and rumbled as it peeled itself off, left barren earth in its place, and slowly folded over the entrance like a door. The dirt hardened into solid rock as it spread in front of the makeshift door next, and firmly blocked off the entrance.

"There," Jorden whistled as he adjusted his helmet. "Now, if those Arkeyans try to tail us, they'll be in for one nasty surprise!"

Jorden and 'Enehana both chuckled to each other. With a few nods around, 'Enehana pulled out some more metal, crafted a small orb with it, and Jorden in turn placed a sparkling crystal in its center. The orb lifted up and shone like a spotlight with its glimmer placed firmly on the path ahead, and they all carried on. Nothing but footsteps and faint breaths resounded through the tunnels as they did, and it seemed like the journey would carry on forever. A few others cast wary glazes as strange shadows danced and disappeared on the walls, or the footsteps around sounded a bit more robotic than normal, yet these strange sensations vanished as quickly as they came.

Soon, they found another thing to worry about anyways. All their trekking lead them to a fork in the tunnels with two paths completely identical in sound, shape, and size. Whichever one of these would lead them to Arkus, certain doom, or just a plan dead end was far from clear, and the way everyone frowned built that up.

"So, where do we go from here?" Spyro asked with an attentive gaze turned towards Chihiro.

"Well, according to the map," Chihiro said as she patted down her pockets, "from here, we need to…" Chihiro pulled out her pockets to find nothing but cloth and frowned. "Wait, where is the map? I thought I had it in my pockets!"

A small cough came from behind and Glumshanks shuffled up.

"Well, actually, we left the map on the pilot's ship before we arrived," Glumshanks explained. His ears drooped, and he tried to dodge everyone's gazes. "If I had to guess, it's probably still on board."

A resounding chorus of groans followed by whispers for silence rang about, and Chihiro buried her head in her hands.

"Geez, why does this keep happening to me?" Chihiro groaned as her fingernails practically dug into her face. "I always tell myself to bring the map with me during a big mission, and every single time—"

"Don't worry about it, Chihiro," Tree Rex said as he gently brushed her head with his fingertip. Tree Rex pushed himself forward and stroked his chin. "I think I still remember which of these paths we marked when we first came to Arkus. Now, if I recall correctly…"

Tree Rex hummed and scratched his horns as his gaze bounced from tunnel to tunnel. All the while everyone, stood silent and with tense, anticipating gazes, but finally, he sighed.

"Do you remember?" Chihiro asked.

Tree Rex chuckled. "Actually, I think I don't."

Another chorus of groans rang around, and then shushes as they huddled together. A few murmurs and whispers came from the others as they tried to bring back some memory of where they were meant to go.

Chihiro and Tree Rex, for their part, just went back to intently gazing at the tunnels as if that would somehow stoke their memories. Chihiro frowned and rubbed her chin, but as she did, she caught the sound of footsteps and turned around. What seemed like a pair of eyes glimmered from the dark for a moment, and she tensed as magic sparked from her fingertips. The eyes quickly disappeared, and with it, her focus and spellcasting.

"Huh," was all she whispered as she turned back to the others.

Back in their little corner, the rest of the team curled around 'Enehana as they rifled through their pockets with their tongue stuck out in concentration.

"Now, I think it should be around..." 'Enehana mumbled. Their eyes widened, and they beamed as they yanked out a round orb and held it up for all to see. "A-ha!"

With one swing, the orb flew from 'Enehana's hands and shone to life. It broadcast a map of intricate tunnels and twists for all to see, complete with a simple flashing dot marking their place in the tunnels. The orb floated down, and 'Enehana smiled and tapped its surface as everyone crowded around them.

"A digital copy of the map to Arkus, complete with ghostly preservation tactics to ensure use even when non-corporeal," 'Enehana explained. "We're here, and if we take these next few paths—" 'Enehana traced the path across the map until their fingers drew to a crudely-drawn castle "—we'll be at Arkus in no time!"

"Wow, talk about convenient," Chihiro whistled.

"It's definitely helpful. It's a good thing we got this from our guys on the inside before we stormed Arkus, or we'd have probably spent the entire time lost in the sewers!"

Chihiro blinked as she turned from the map to 'Enehana. "Wait, guys on the inside? Like that Weapons Master?"

"There was a former Arkeyan Weapons Master among their ranks, yes." 'Enehana nodded. "The Freebots loathed what Arkilles did to their home just as much as we loathed what he did to the rest of Skylands, so they served as our informants. They'd go about business as usual in Arkus, and then they would feed us all the information we needed to quash their schemes. Heck, they were the ones who smuggled us into Arkus so we could bring an end to him in the first place!"

"Oh, it was nothing," chuckled a small, robotic voice from the shadows.

That voice seemed so calm and content, but its very notion sent everyone on edge! Hairs bristled, weapons drew, and all eyes bounced from corner to corner of the halls.

"Who's there?"

Everyone's else cries rang of alarm as they pointed their weapons towards the voice's source, but the voice chuckled still. The eye-like lights flashed once more, and this time, they stayed bright as another figure emerged from the shadows. It looked vaguely knight-like in features from what could barely be made out of the dark, and as it finally stepped into the light, it unveiled itself as an Arkeyan with blue optics who dressed in slate gray and orange armor!

"An Arkeyan?" Chihiro gasped. She summoned her sword without a second thought, and in one swift motion, the sword found itself at the Arkeyan's throat. "What're you doing here? You guys—"

"Stand down, Chihiro," Sihiri said as she laid a hand on Chihiro's blade.

Chihiro glanced at Sihiri as if she'd grown a second head, but she relented as she caught the wave of calm that surrounded the Elder Elementals and their portal masters. She drew her blade down with a sigh, yet still shot the Arkeyan a glare as she sheathed her sword.

Sihiri just smiled as she strode passed Chihiro.

"Freebot 002, what a surprise!" Sihiri gasped as she shook Freebot 002's hand. "I never would have guessed I'd find you down here! What could you possibly be doing, rooting around the tunnels like this?"

"I'll admit, I'm just as baffled by the circumstances as you are," Freebot 002 admitted as he drew back his hand. "One moment, I was searching for you, and the next, everything in Arkus went dim and I fell unconscious!" Freebot 002 scratched his helmet, and glanced back at the endless void of a tunnel that he emerged from. "When I finally came to, I heard Arkilles screaming over the announcement system about Skylanders, and possession, and ten thousand years passing? I barely understood what he said!"

Sihiri traded awkward grimaces with the rest of the heroes, but finally sighed as she turned back to Freebot 002. "Follow me, I'll explain on the way."

A flicker of red came into Freebot 002's vision and he let out a sharp, metallic gasp. "Actually, you should follow me! I just remembered something important!" Freebot 002 sped down the halls in clunking, metallic strides, ones that echoed around the tunnels. "I'll explain as we go!"

The sudden urgency brought everyone back on their feet once more, and they all strode after Freebot 002. Sihiri and Chihiro in particular teleported to Freebot 002's side. It gasped a little as they popped up beside him, but sighed in relief at just their sight.

"In the aftermath of Arkilles' defeat, we'd gone to make an important delivery to our hideout with what little strength we had before the Iron Fist deactivated," Freebot 002 started with a shake of his head. "We were missing an important component, so we went back out to find it, and that was when the Golden Armada found us."

"The Golden Armada?" Sihiri gasped.

Chihiro frowned as she glanced up at the urgent look on Sihiri's face. "The Golden Armada? Are they a big deal or something?"

Sihiri skidded to a stop, and her light flickered a bit as she clutched her skirts.

"The Golden Armada is made up of Arkilles' finest soldiers—his strongest machines, most devoted warriors, and most gifted mages were all chosen personally by him for the sake of guarding Arkus. To have a run-in with them often meant not coming back alive OR undead."

"What Sihiri says is the truth," Freebot 002 added, "and worse yet, their squadron leaders personally came out to deal with us. We fought our hardest, but in the end, they completely overwhelmed us. I was the only one who escaped, for our other leaders were taken captive, and our remaining ranks are barely holding the line. I am not sure if we can make it through these dire straits..."

Freebot 002 faltered for a moment, but the lights in his eyes quickly picked up. Freebot 002 knelt down, and his head stayed bowed as his lights faded slightly. "But now that you're here, you can help us! Please, you're our only hope!"

Chihiro chuckled and rubbed a fist against her chest. "Well, can't exactly argue with that," Chihiro admitted. "Sure, we'll help you out—"

"Hold on a second!" Glumshanks sputtered as he stumbled up and pulled back Chihiro. "Don't go making any lofty promises yet! Don't you remember that we have a ghost to exorcise?"

"Rich coming from you!" someone snarked from the back crowd.

Glumshanks' ears flattened, but nonetheless he shook Chihiro's arm. "I'm telling you, portal master, we can take care of this later! We need to stop Arkilles and save Lord Kaos now!"

"I assure you, rescuing the others and protecting the delivery is imperative to stopping Arkilles!" Freebot 002 butted in.

"And what exactly is this important delivery?"

Freebot 002's eyes flickered and shifted. "I cannot speak publicly, for the walls have ears." Freebot 002 furiously nodded. "I promise you, however, that this is important."

"And how can we know this is important if you—"

"Enough, Glumshanks," Chihiro hissed as she shook Glumshanks off of her. "They need our help, and these Golden Armada people sound like a whole lot of trouble. If we don't stop them now, I'm sure they'll be even more of a pain for us when we try to get to Arkus! We take care of these guys, and we'll kill two birds with one stone!"

"Indeed, and our base has secret entrances to just about every corner of Arkus," Freebot 002 added. "If you wish entry to wherever Arkilles haunts, we can get you in and out completely under Arkilles' radar!"

"Wait, you can get us to Lord Kaos?" Glumshanks asked. "Why didn't you say that earlier?"

Chihiro rolled her eyes, but with everyone in clear agreement, she had no reason to push the issue further.

Freebot 002 nodded, and took the lead as they pushed through the tunnels. "Last I checked, everyone else was held up at the beginning of Arkus. Just follow me."

Follow him is just what they did as they stormed through the tunnels, the twists, and the turns until light seeped into the pathways as well. With light came sound, and with sound came the cries of war and clash of weapons. In fact, as they got further, silhouettes formed in the blinding white of the tunnel's exit, and their eyes flashed red as… Oh wait, they were attacking! A bunch of gold-plated Arkeyan soldiers flung forward, and most everyone else rushed to fight as well! Magic and weaponry alike clashed in the slowly-creeping darkness of the halls, and only a few managed to dive under and weave through the battles.

Freebot 002 beeped as he dove under a clash between Trigger Happy and an ax-wielding Arkeyan; he gasped as he wove through!

Inochi joined him by his side, and both of them gasped again as they caught sight of a few decidedly not golden Arkeyans—likely the other Freebots—struggling against even more golden ones. Freebot 002 rushed off immediately, before Inochi could even catch him, even, and disappeared right into the crowds.

"Quickly!" Freebot 002 shouted, though it was barely heard over the clang of battle.

"I'm, I'm coming!" Inochi cried, her eyes warm with fear still as she zipped out of the tunnels. "I'm coming!"

Inochi disappeared into the light, and Sihiri quickly followed suit as she teleported off in sparkly, short zaps! Chihiro winced and tried to cling to Sihiri before she lost track of the path, but just keeping grip was a struggle with how ghostly Sihiri was! Heck, even her usual ghastliness seemed to be even more incorporeal than usual, for she kept flickering in and out of Chihiro's grip! Finally Sihiri slipped out, and Chihiro just sighed and rushed off as well.

"Wait, wait!" Glumshanks cried as Spyro, Whirlwind, Gill Grunt and Stealth Elf all passed him by while he stumbled. "What about me?"

"Freebot 002, keep the troll safe," Sihiri ordered without even a glance behind. "We'll take care of the Golden Armada!"

Glumshanks winced and drew back as Freebot 002 placed himself in front of Glumshanks, but they both shuddered as Tree Rex stormed forward with Varonis struggling to keep up behind him. Glumshanks and Freebot 002 lingered at the edge of the tunnel's mouth, yet finally slunk away into the shadows—clearly neither of them were in the mood for a fight.

Thankfully, the rest of them were!

Gill Grunt leaped into the fray first as he pulled the trigger on his cannon, and a deluge burst out and soaked the gold-plated Arkeyans that kept Freebots in their clutches! A wellspring of frantic beeping arose as their grip on the Freebots slipped, and the Freebots ran to safety as the water receded. The gold Arkeyans, for their part, sputtered and shook the water from their joints and crevices. Their eyes locked on Gill Grunt; they all shouted out in a resounding cry of beeps and shrieks, but Gill Grunt just fired up his jetpack and sprayed the floors down! They turned shiny and slick underfoot, and the gold Arkeyans skidded across and slammed into each other as they tried to regain their footing. A clatter rang out as they slid into the walls next, and a few of these Arkeyans slid past as they launched themselves in the air and grappled for Gill Grunt's jetpack! Gill Grunt winced as he bobbed up and down to escape their gnashing, grappling grip, and his eyes turned down to a switch on his jetpack.

"Looks like I'll need to cool things down here a little!" Gill Grunt proclaimed as he flicked the switch down.

The rivers that flowed from his jetpack turned cold, so cold that a thin layer of mist formed around the room as it chilled! The slick floors turned cold and icy as the subzero waters hit them next, and the golden Arkeyan that stood atop them shuddered and chattered as the cold water flooded into their circuits and joints. Another cold breeze blew in through a string of storm clouds next, and the cold water turned to a sheet of ice in an instant. The Arkeyans inside turned to living ice statues encased within the diamond-like sparkle of the cold, and their lights dulled as the ice clouded over.

Gill Grunt perked up, glanced aside to find Whirlwind flying beside him, and raised a brow as she gave him a claws-up.

"Whirlwind, Spyro!" Gill Grunt cried as he glanced first to his side where Whirlwind flew, and next to Spyro on the ground. "Follow my lead!"

The two of them nodded as Gill Grunt flew off and they flew in hot pursuit. The subzero streams of Gill Grunt's jetpack flooded over the floors as they coated the flooring and the Arkeyans atop it in slick, icy layers. Gill Grunt passed them by, and Whirlwind and Spyro followed in close pursuit as icy-cold breezes bellowed from their wings! The cold air turned the water to ice in an instant, and the Arkeyans that once stood there froze to their spots—literally!

Stealth Elf popped by next and whistled underneath her mask.

"Just to make sure they stay there," she remarked as she withdrew coils of vine-like ropes from her pockets.

Stealth Elf hopped from Arkeyan to Arkeyan as she bound them tight, and behind her, Chihiro and Varonis nodded and followed suit. The two of them summoned ropes and coils made of magic, hopped after Stealth Elf and reinforced the bindings she made. Before long, every Arkeyan that stood there was bound tight and tied—and not a moment too soon, for the ice finally started to crack!

The Arkeyans shuddered within their icy prisons as the cracks grew bigger, deeper, but finally, the ice broke! The splintered shards shimmered like diamonds as they fell on the floor, and the Arkeyans grunted as they pushed against the ropes next. A few reached for nearby weapons, or shuddered as if something would burst from their bodies, but all their action ceased as the clacking of geta echoed around the room. All Arkeyan eyes fell on Inochi as she emerged in the center of the room with a pair of gohei seemingly made from leaves and sticks rich with Life energy in one hand, and her eyes similarly fell on them.

Inochi scoffed, and she twirled and danced around the room with an air of elegance. Chimes twinkled in the air as her gohei twirled around her; they sent a pleasantly minty-smelling mist through the air, a mist that seeped into Stealth Elf's ropes and flourished them with leaves and glowing vines. The bindings grew tighter the more Inochi twirled and danced, and soon, they grew thicker and shinier as well with small spires spilling from their veins... Almost like...

Thorns burst from the vines next, and they pierced the Arkeyans straight through their circuitry and most vulnerable places! The Arkeyans whirred to a close as they collapsed, and the lights in their eyes slowly faded as Inochi loomed over them. She raised her gohei as she prepared to cast, but a low, bellowing laugh from within the dying Arkeyans stopped her.

"This is not the end!" the Arkeyans droned in warped, dying voices. "Not the end of the Golden Armada!"

Inochi winced and drew back as their lights came to a close, but when it was clear these Arkeyans would not explode, she frowned and lowered her gohei. She yelped as something popped up beside her, but it was only Chihiro. Chihiro raised a brow as she eyed Inochi's gohei, and then Inochi herself.

"Whoa, cool!" Chihiro proclaimed. "I've never seen a pair of gohei that were that leafy!"

"Well," Inochi chuckled as she stroked her gohei's staff, and they rattled in response to her touch, as if the gohei itself were alive, "times like these call for extra measures."

"Welp," Gill Grunt said as he dropped back down to the ground with Spyro and Whirlwind close beside him, "seems like these old rustbuckets are done for! Now, let's get back to—"

The world rumbled and a shadow fell over the room! Gill Grunt's jaw dropped as he stumbled back in the shadow's grasp, and the others did the same. After all, none of them exactly wanted to be in the path of devastation as the shadow's owner leaped into the room!

The shadow belonged to an Arkeyan Ultron, but one unlike any other. It had to be the size of an entire building, and like all the other Arkeyans around, its body was plated in shiny, solid gold! The Ultron's engine purred as it pressed itself over them like a lion going for its prey, but right as its face lightened for a laser strike, something tackled it back!

Tree Rex grunted as the world shook underfoot, but he cared little for the world around. His fingers curled, and he snarled as the Ultron pushed itself back to its feet. Tree Rex flung forward as he locked his fingers tight around the Ultron's cold, robotic own, and the whole ground rumbled as they pressed against each other. They slid back and forth in slow increments, for both their weights held them sturdy against the platform they stood on, and their strength proved to be an even match for both parties.

The spectators, though, not so much. The rumbles and shaking knocked everyone off their feet and onto their faces as they collapsed, and it shook them to their cores as it carried them close to the edge!

Inochi gasped and swept her gohei off the ground. With another swing, the ground splintered while giant plants formed underfoot, and the plants carried everyone else to safety on their leaves. Their leafy rests provided them an ample perch to watch Tree Rex and the Ultron's stalemate, yet nobody watched it with ease—bit lips and clenched fists stayed as far as the eye could see. With a battle like this before them, it was hard not to be tense. That thing was not only huge, but also one of the best soldiers the Arkeyans had to offer. If even an Elder Elemental couldn't tackle it, what choice did they have?

"Tree Rex looks like he could use some help," Varonis said at last, breaking the silence that rattled them all to their bones.

Chihiro frowned from where she sat beside Varonis. "I know, but, that guy's huge, and the others are still backed up! We won't be able to take him—" Chihiro raised a brow "—but we can distract him!"

Chihiro slammed her hands against the leaf she laid on, and it twirled around until it met with the others. She motioned them close, brought them to a tight huddle, yet the huddle broke with a few whispers. They all shared a nod of understanding. Chihiro, Spyro, Whirlwind, and Gill Grunt took to the skies at once, but Sihiri, Inochi, Varonis, and Stealth Elf slid to the ground as they teleported towards the Ultron.

The airborne team soared off first, and Chihiro summoned a cannon made of magic as they circled in closer to the sight of Tree Rex's wrestling match. With a click of the gun, she cranked the cannon's handle and sent a barrage of sparkling magic spheres slamming into the Ultron's side! The spheres, of course, did nothing more than explode, and coat the Ultron in thin layers of dusty frost, but the message was clear: ATTACK!

Bursts of cold wind and torrents of water joined the spheres in exploding against the Ultron's side. Though the attacks did little more than coat it in thin, easily-shaken layers of ice, it annoyed the Ultron enough! It swung aside and swatted at Chihiro's team like flies, but before it could smack them out of the skies, something exploded at its feet and it craned its massive body downwards!

"Keep going!" Sihiri shouted as she fueled up a string of cannons. "Hit it with everything you can!"

Inochi, Varonis, and Stealth Elf all nodded as they focused their own attacks around the Ultron's feet! Bombs of pure magic intertwined with exploding peppers and straw-filled scarecrows in a lash against the Ultron, and it beeped as it swung a fist down. Sihiri teleported everyone away just before the fist landed, and their actions repeated towards its other foot!

The Ultron's body cracked as it twisted around and went to swing, yet it had not a chance. Tree Rex swung first and landed a blow directly in its heart! The Ultron swung back, cracked the stone walls behind it with a groan, and its eyes flashed red as it pulled itself away and raised a fist. Tree Rex's solar core flashed a bit in response, but turned a murky black instead as he shot out a thick, dark mist and enshrouded himself in its blankets. The mist spread across the room next, and the Ultron's eyes only barely flashed as its creaking movements slowly. It steadied itself, still as a statue as its eyes flashed in the choking darkness, but finally it took one small, shaky step forward.

The smoke disappeared in a flash, and unveiled Tree Rex as he held the Ultron trapped in a headlock!

The Ultron's golden plating cracked into dust that poured across the floors, and its wiring underneath glowed green while the wires themselves shriveled and crackled like dying leaves. A droning like that of a dying machine echoed from the Ultron, for the rest of its body cracked underneath the weight of Tree Rex and the green glow. Everyone else scrambled away as Tree Rex finally let it go. No longer able to support itself, the Ultron collapsed on the ground as its cogs and gears leaped from its body, and spewed across the floor in a shower of mechanical guts and golden dust.

"Our plans wil-wil-will not end here…" the Ultron spouted as its body decayed away. "The Golden Armada will not be stopped…"

The Ultron's voice faltered as its power died with a ghoulish drone, and Inochi winced as she poked the corpse with her gohei. It moved not even slightly, and she withdrew it and frowned.

"Just what could it have been talking about?" Inohi gasped.

It seemed none of them knew as they stared down the Ultron, and then the empty, hollow, golden Arkeyans that surrounded them. They frowned, scanned the room, and jumped as footsteps came from behind them—but it turned out to just be the Freebots they rescued.

"Pardon the interruption," said a Freebot with green and yellow armor, "but I do believe we have a problem at hand."

"Oh, that's right!" Chihiro cried. "Your buddies are still locked up, right?" Chihiro poked her head towards the corridor where Glumshanks and Freebot 002 hid. "Hey, where are—"

Chihiro stopped short as her eyes finally laid on the corridor, for Freebot 002 and Glumshanks were nowhere to be seen! They'd completely vanished from the tunnels, and for that matter, from the rest of the room as well! Had they gotten lost in the fight?

Robotic cackles sounded over the wind as everyone scanned the room, and they all craned their heads up to a hanging ledge. There, five gold-plated figures emerged as their armor glared against the harsh overhead light, but more importantly, one of them carried a bound and tied Glumshanks and Freebot 002 in its grasp! The robot holding them dangled them up like a hunter bearing their prize catch, and the way everyone scowled just encouraged it.

Chihiro gasped and teleported up, but right as she emerged, a barrier of solid light burst forth and shot her back! She crashed right into Spyro as he went to catch her, and they both groaned as they hit the floor—an act that only furthered the cackling.

"You know," spat one Arkeyan, a sleek blue and gold one with a head like a hammerhead shark and fins and tail to match, "the illustrious emperor-king did enthrall us with the story of how he exiled some troll and wiped him off the face of Skylands for his betrayal, but oh dear, it seems as though he was mistaken." The Arkeyan raised its eyes to where its white and gold-clad comrade dangled Glumshanks and Freebot 002 over the edge as Glumshanks squirmed. "Of course, if our emperor-king says something is so, well, it's our job as leaders of the illustrious Golden Armada to ensure that's the case!"

"Indeed, and given that this troll was spelunking around with you dastardly Freebots, I'd say he fits the bill quite nicely!" added another Arkeyan, a purple and gold one that floated atop a magical cloud and idly toyed with a complex mechanical cube. "Once we get the keys to your little hideout, I'm sure the illustrious emperor-king would absolutely enjoy tearing you limb from limb personally!"

Another pound came from the barrier as one of Gill Grunt's harpoons bounced off of it, followed by a lightning bolt from Whirlwind and a few blasts of solar energy from Tree Rex! Another barrage of attacks came and went as they bounced off the barrier's shield, and below them, a couple of the Freebots joined in pounding against the shield.

"Tell us now!" demanded the green and yellow Freebot. "Where did you take our leaders?"

A bulky red and gold Arkeyan strode up next and pounded a fist against the barrier. It rang out like a bell as it blew everyone on the other side back, and a brighter red light fell on the Arkeyan's face.

"Quiet, scum!" the red Arkeyan bellowed. "You must be really brain-dead if you hadn't picked up on it yet!"

An azure and gold Arkeyan with a tall and thin body like a beanpole strode up beside the red Arkeyan with an idle look on its blank face.

"We've taken them in for some questioning," the azure Arkeyan yawned, "and if they don't comply, well…"

At the edge of the group, the white and gold Arkeyan smirked and pretended to drop Glumshanks and Freebot 002! Glumshanks screamed as he plunged to the ground, but the Arkeyan snatched the rope back at the last minute! It cackled like a hyena as it heaved Glumshanks and Freebot 002 up, and banged them against the side of the wall the entire time.

"WE'LL FORCE THE ANSWERS OUTTA 'EM!" the white and gold Arkeyan howled.

The red Arkeyan zipped over and bonked the white and gold Arkeyan on the head, and as it yowled, the azure Arkeyan turned back down once more.

"Anyways, we will make our leave now," the azure Arkeyan yawned as light sparked from its body. "Interrogations won't exactly perform themselves, as much as we'd like them too."

And just like that, the gold-plated Arkeyans were gone. The barrier disappeared and the room turned eerily silent. Those that remained just stood tense and rigid, only moving at last when the rest of their allies emerged from the tunnels.

"Did you stop them?" Vatra asked as he swept up to Sihiri with his hands and hairs still ringing with flames as he ran.

Sihiri just frowned.

"We managed to rescue them," she started as she looked aside, "but the commanders made off with Freebot 002 and the troll—and all they said about the others was that they're in for interrogation."

The air turned cold once more as those Arkeyans' words rang in everyone's ears, and everyone seemed to understand why. If what they implied was of any indication, their interrogation process was probably close to something like torture; to say nothing of their plans to deliver their allies to Arkilles!

"Well, we're not gonna let that happen!" Chihiro cried as she stormed forth. "We'll break in there and save all your little robo-buddies! And Glumshanks too, I suppose." Chihiro's smile faltered slightly as she turned to the Freebots they rescued. "So, do you guys have any ideas where they were taken?"

A cobalt and white Freebot stepped forth and held out their palm, and in response, a holographic map burst from a core embedded within.

"There are four prison rooms instilled within Arkus, and each one is locked off by an Elemental Gate," the Freebot explained. They clenched and opened their fist, and the holograph changed to show four split screens, each of an Elemental Gate lingering within a particular corner of Arkus. "Magic, Fire, Water, and Air are their elements."

"Well, luckily, we've got all sorts of elements on our team too!" Chihiro beamed. "And, should we need some extra power…" Chihiro crafted two orbs and gently brushed them against Eruptor and Gill Grunt beside her. The orbs wavered and wobbled, and their colors changed to a fiery red and a cool ocean blue. "There, extra elemental essence!"

Chihiro cleared her throat; her eyes narrowed as she scanned first the holograph before her, and next, the members of her team.

"Alright, here's how we'll do this! The Magic and Fire Elements will head to the Magic Gate, the Life and Earth Elementals will head for the Water Gate, the Water and Tech Elementals will head for the Fire Gate, the Air and Undead Elementals will head to the Air Gate—" Chihiro passed off the red and blue orbs to Gill Grunt and Stealth Elf respectively, and smiled as she rubbed a fist against her chest "—and finally, Luz, Fintster, Varonis, and I will go to rescue Freebot 002 and Glumshanks!"

The groups splintered with a single nod, and one by one, they all made their way out.

But, as they left, not one of them noticed a figure shifting around in the shadows. The figure chuckled as it pulled out a switch filled with all sorts of buttons and levers, and pressed and flicked a few as the screens on its top came to life.

"Now, just jimmy this and press this a few times," the figure whispered as it toyed with the switch some more. The screens flickered and shifted before its eyes, and it chuckled as it tapped something on the side of its head. "And done! Our trap is all set up and waiting. All we have to do is wait for the prey to catch the bait~"

Something buzzed over the air, and the figure's eyes flickered. "Oh, those free magicians? I'll dispose of them swiftly enough." Another buzz crackled and the figure chuckled. "Oh, I'm not worried in the slightest. They're just a bunch of children, after all. How much trouble could they be?"

The figure slunk further back into the shadows, but as they shifted, the light caught their body and unveiled just a hint of a gold and white glimmer.

§

Darkness fell over the forest quite some time ago, and the only light came from the glimmer of spheres embedded in the walls. Arkeyan War Machine serial designation 3272012 marched through the halls, led solely by two Conquertrons with serial designations it did not recognize. Within its chambers, its assistant AI watched dutifully over the scenes as all assistant AIs should. Of course, it was not entirely sure why it was being led down these halls, specifically, but it was sure that there was a reason, and not a good one at that. It was not quite sure what possessed it to betray the orders and commands given to it by the luminous and glorious Emperor-King Arkilles, and the thought of its betrayal still rang heavy in its mind.

After all, it felt like for a moment, the assistant AI was not an AI. No, it was as if somebody hacked into its mainframe, took it over, and replaced its protocols with the thoughts and heart of a living being! The thought of it sent a strange glitch through the assistant AI's system, a sort of rush that felt dangerous, illegal, wrong, and yet, somehow right at the same time. The assistant AI was not entirely certain as to how this glitch emerged, but it hoped that it did not happen again. The sloshing of water and the faint buzz of the overhead lights became the only sounds throughout the room, and the assistant AI knew that it would be unwise to break the silence. However, it greatly feared just what became of it in that prior moment, and it was a bit confused as to what was occurring. Its directives stated that this would be the time to ask a question.

"Excuse me, good fellow machines," the assistant AI asked at last. Its Arkeyan War Machine's head perked up, and its lights flashed with curiosity. "Pardon me for being so bold as to ask, but exactly where are we headed?"

"Silence!" one of the guards hissed as it yanked the assistant AI along. "You are not to speak until we arrive at the repair area."

So, this was a repair hangar then? The assistant AI brought up a map, confirmed that the area it headed towards was, indeed, some kind of repair hangar, and it wondered why it did not know this beforehand. After all, its databanks were filled to the brims with knowledge of every location in the vast Arkeyan Empire, and the assistant AI itself was programmed to recognize them all in the split half of a nanosecond. It tried to bring up more locations, but a nasty error message screeched into its mainframe, and left it with a searing pain. It seemed as though its databases were damaged—that would explain it.

The smell of oil filled the air as analyzed by the special filtering device installed in the Arkeyan War Machine to filter out all toxins, smog, and unpleasant odors, and replace them with only the freshest scents. The oil grew more pungent the further in the assistant AI traveled, and as it moved the Arkeyan War Machine's head to grasp a better view, it found itself surrounded by all sorts of machines in disrepair.

Assembly lines and pop-up machine hospitals buzzed with life as they carried in smaller Arkeyan soldiers and devices for repairs. Larger ones like Conquertrons and other Arkeyan War Machines stood tall as Arkeyan scientists on flying platforms and suspension bridges tended to them from the air. Light sparked from blowtorches and welding guns while the sounds of tearing metal, hammering, screwing, and all the noises one would typically associate with repair work echoed and clanged throughout the room. It might have felt somewhat relaxing to be around, but the fact that the assistant AI was sent here in the first place showed that there was nothing to be relaxed about.

A shudder crawled down its spine, and the assistant AI recalled something, but not anything he-it recognized. For a moment, it saw flashing light so bright like the world was first made, and voices discussing a successful activation. It saw a face, one warm with brown eyes and oil stains splattered across its features, and a mouth drawn into a solemn look, like the person wished not for its creation. It recognized that face—that was the face of one of those free magicians that it brought into Arkus. But, it did not recall anything like that happening prior to its activation, so why? Why did it think of this now? Whatever that memory was, it faded as quickly as it came to light, and the Arkeyan War Machine stumbled over its own feet.

"Do not drag behind," the other Conquertron warned as it grabbed the Arkeyan War Machine by the wrist. "If you do, we will leave you to rot."

"My apologies," the assistant AI quickly sputtered.

The two Conquertrons veered away past the endless stretches of repairing and reworking, and the assistant AI knew that was its cue to follow. It trailed them back to a particularly quiet corner of the hangar where no other work was done, and they motioned for it to take place near a local repair station. It took its place, and they left as another Arkeyan stumbled out of the repair station with armor covered in oil and grease, ragged protective gear draped over its body, and what seemed to be a scanner in its hand.

The guards left, but for a moment, the assistant AI prayed to the Ancient that they would stay. Something about this place sent alarms flaring in its system, small, small alarms that told it that it needed to leave this place. It was not sure exactly why it was so alarmed if it knew it was just here to be repaired, but somehow, this place did not seem like an ideal place for repairs to occur in the first place. However, the guards left, and it was just the assistant AI and the Arkeyan that was scheduled to fix it.

"Just stand there for a moment, yes," the Arkeyan droned in a friendly voice. "As you can guess by your position here, you are here because you have some bugs in your programming, and we are here to fix them. Now, before we start, I will ask you some questions."

The Arkeyan toyed with the scanner, and the assistant AI frowned a little.

"Exactly what questions do you need me to answer?" the assistant AI asked.

"Nothing much, do not fret. We just need to gather data on your problems so we can diagnose the issue and move to fix it."

Well, if it was just a standard diagnostic operation, it was nothing to be feared. The assistant AI's tension lapsed just slightly and it nodded. Surely, this Arkeyan was to be trusted, so he stood in silence as the Arkeyan continued to toy with the scanner.

"Well, which questions do you need to start with? I have many assorted issues that do seem to be in need of repair." The assistant AI sprawled off its fingers and counted. "First, many of my machine's joints are rusty and creak when moving, second, many of the internal databases are missing or incomplete, third, I struggle to recall information in a timely manner, fourth, the pipes and thrusters are dented, fifth—"

"Ah, we will get to those in due time!" the Arkeyan sputtered. A light flickered across its face and it held up the scanner. "My questions are of a differing manner that needs to be diagnosed."

A differing manner? What other manner would there be other than the problems that needed to be fixed? This simple sentence shocked the assistant AI into silence, and instead, it watched as the Arkeyan finished toying with its scanner and what seemed to be a recording device popped out of the device's hood.

"Now, my first question is," the Arkeyan asked as its eyes dimmed a bit, "who do you belong to, and are you aware of the personnel you carried into Arkus?"

The assistant AI hummed as it drummed its ghastly fingers against its chin, and finally shook its head.

"I am afraid I do not recall much, for my memory banks were damaged." A flicker of a memory came back to the assistant AI and its lights perked up. "Actually, I do remember one thing! I belong to the illustrious Emperor-King Arkilles, and I was crafted with the purpose of furthering the advancement of the vast and mighty Arkeyan empire. My owner, I believe, was the head commander of the expansion brigades of the Arkeyan army..."

A spark of red showed in the Arkeyan's face. "Yes, yes, we all belong to the illustrious Emperor-King Arkilles, that we all know!" The Arkeyan pointed the device closer to the Arkeyan War Machine. "But, there were other beings within your body, and we need to know just who they are! What are their names, and what is their relation to you?"

"Oh, dear, my apologies, then," the assistant AI said, "for I do not entirely recall who they are. I do believe that Ermit Hermington was the first being that I saw upon awakening, so I suppose I came into his possession at some point. He would frequently speak of this or that odd detail about owning me, but I do not believe that—"

"Actually, let us move on," the Arkeyan interrupted. Its eyelights flickered as if they were twitching, and it toyed with the scanner once more. "Exactly why did you do what you did?"

"I was following my owner's orders."

"That owner would be this Ermit Hermington fellow, I presume?"

"Yes, I suppose."

"And what exactly were those orders?"

The assistant AI scanned its memory database for a list of recent commands and cleared its throat. "According to my memory databanks, all commands given to me by Ermit Hermington were as follows: 'Tell me what your name is,' 'Do you remember me?', 'Tell me what you remember,' 'See if you can remember anything," 'Please just leave me alone', which I do believe I may have disobeyed, 'Go start the robot up,'..."

The assistant AI continued trailing off the extensive list of commands Ermit gave (he was a very demanding owner, it seemed), and occasionally sneaked glances of the Arkeyan as it did. Curiously, the Arkeyan did not seem very attentive for a robot doctor. The Arkeyan seemed to go into sleep mode as the assistant AI spoke, for its eyes faltered and its head bobbed up and down on its neck. At one point, it even almost dropped the scanner it carried!

"'Pretend to keep us captive,' 'get us into Arkus...'"

It seemed as though, however, that these commands are what finally caught the Arkeyan's attention. It grew awake and alert once more, and toyed with its scanners. The assistant AI rambled off the final stretch of commands given by Ermit up until the past few minutes, and the Arkeyan listened with absolute attention as it fixed the scanner. This action seemed a bit strange, but the assistant AI had nothing in its databases that it could cross-reference with any other adjacent behavior, so it did not question it.

"Yes, yes, I understand," the Arkeyan said. It turned its attention and head to the Arkeyan War Machine, and held the scanner closer. "Now, about those last few commands about breaking into Arkus and pretending to take prisoners for our illustrious emperor-king—why exactly did this Ermit Hermington give you these commands?"

"I believe he wished to come to Arkus and speak with the illustrious Emperor-King Arkilles."

"And why did he wish to come to Arkus?"

The assistant AI scanned its memory banks for any recollection of that question's answer, but it seemed to not have any of that information. So, it dug deeper, and vague flashes and pangs of memory came to it in whispers: cold, icy worlds, travels across the sky with figures it only barely recognized, a trip across a waterlogged land, a massive fight with something large and powerful... That uneasy feeling made its way into the assistant AI's programming once more; it was not sure why or how it felt so uneasy, but somehow it did, and it now started to doubt that this process was to help it.

"Pardon my boldness, but I do not understand how this is supposed to fix my glitches."

"The patient does not get to question the process!" The Arkeyan's eyes flashed red and its voice seemed to grow deeper, but it cleared its voice module and collected itself. "For your sake, please just answer the question."

The assistant AI frowned. "In that case, I do recall that my owner wished to confront the illustrious emperor-king about some matter, but I do not entirely recall what that matter was."

"Just focus, dig through the deepest recesses of your memory banks! This is a vital piece to diagnosing your problems!"

So, the assistant AI dug deeper, deeper through its databanks. It scoured every card and circuit for the memories that could help, and a few faint recollections came back to it.

"Alright," Ermit said to it. "Once we get this Arkilles fella taken care of, I'm going home and kicking back my feet! These Skylanders might be able to do the whole protecting the world business, but this just isn't my thing!"

That was not the answer.

"Now, you're gonna be super-duper important to this plan!" said a human child with black hair, probably an adolescent by looks. The sight of this child filled the ghost's mainframe with a light feeling, but it did not understand why. "You're gonna be the one that gets us into Arkus! You'll just pretend you caught us for Arkilles, take us to him, and then we'll send that guy back to the past where he belongs!"

That gave some notion of why they wished to enter, but it was still not quite it. The assistant AI drove back even further, and more fuzzy, glitchy memories came back to it in spurts. There was a memory of feeling weak, of feeling unstable and broken apart as it laid in a crying person's arms, of fighting a larger Conquertron with every wire and circuit in its body. Once again that uneasy feeling returned to it and its circuits frazzled. The frazzling grew greater the more it thought, and so, it had no choice by to shake its head.

"I do believe they only wished to speak with him," the assistant AI lied. It knew that was a massive felony to lie to an Arkeyan official, especially one acting as emissary to the emperor-king himself, but if it continued searching for the reason, it was sure that it would perish.

"And what exactly did they wish to speak to him about?"

"I am not certain. I have searched my databanks extensively, but it seems that I cannot find a reason as to why they wished to speak with the illustrious emperor-king."

"QUIT DANCING AROUND THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWER ME PROPERLY!"

The Arkeyan slammed the scanner against the floor—wait, no, it claimed the scanner at the last moment, and gripped it so tight that its side dented in. The assistant AI did not know why it was so angry. After all, it was only giving the Arkeyan the answers it knew.

"YOU CLEARLY HAD PLANS TO BRING ABOUT THE ILLUSTRIOUS EMPEROR-KING'S END! YOU CARTED FREE MAGICIANS AND THE ELDER ELEMENTALS AND ALL THEIR ANCIENT-FORSAKEN ALLIES! DO YOU REALIZE THAT THIS IS A CRIME PUNISHABLE BY DEATH UNDER ARKEYAN RULE? I—"

Steam burst from the Arkeyan's joints, but with a single clear of its metallic throat, the steam subsided.

"Pardon me. Moving along, were any alterations made to your programming?"

The assistant AI was not entirely sure if it should answer the Arkeyan's questions, for it feared sending the Arkeyan into another fervent rage that would surely blow it to bits. Finally, it raised its voice.

"Alterations?" it warily asked. "Such as?"

"Has anything in your systems felt... Amiss, lately?"

The assistant AI hummed as it scanned its databanks for any prior memory of amiss systems since its activation. A light emerged from its eyes as a flood of memories from the prior few days rang in its head all at once, all with such fury that it could easily overload the systems of anything not Arkeyan in origin. A surge in what the assistant AI presumed was emotion came next, and all sorts of these feelings flooded it. Happiness at doing a good job, what seemed like sadness, alert responses to strange happenings... The floods subsided soon, however, and the assistant AI nodded.

"I have felt something amiss, truthfully," the assistant AI said at last. "Lately, I have felt an incredibly odd feeling that I cannot quite name. It is as if there is something missing in my prime directive, an important thing that I cannot find no matter how often I search my databanks for it. It is as if I am operating without a core piece of my programming, but as my memory banks were damaged, I cannot quite recall what this missing thing is."

The Arkeyan hummed. "A missing piece, per say?" The words seemed to linger on the Arkeyan's voicebox for a moment, and finally it stood up. "I have a diagnosis!"

"Thank the almighty Ancient and the illustrious emperor-king!" the assistant AI proclaimed. "What might my critical errors be?"

"Your memory banks are clearly severely damaged and in needs of repairs. Once those are fixed, all your ails should be solved!"

The assistant AI frowned. It may not remember much, but it did know its programming and infrastructure well, and it knew that a damaged memory bank, even a severely-damaged one, could not cause ALL the aches and pains it faced. But, perhaps it was mistaken?

"Is that truly all?" the assistant AI asked. "Will fixing my memory banks also fix my broken engines, and leaking power databanks, and—"

"Ah, yes, yes, all those will fix themselves in time as well." The Arkeyan pressed a button on its scanner and turned to claim a toolbox. "But, the memory banks are the most crucial component that needs fixed. Once those are fixed, all the other ails you face can be repaired."

The assistant AI supposed that made sense, so it floated over to the console and went to open the Arkeyan War Machine's body—but, the body itself opened for it! It seemed whatever button that Arkeyan pressed sent a request for entry to the Arkeyan War Machine that was automatically accepted, and the Arkeyan quickly rushed up the bridge as it latched to the side of the pop-up repair station.

In moments, the assistant AI came face-to-face with the Arkeyan (who was much taller than it thought), and the Arkeyan brushed past it immediately. The assistant AI scoffed at its silent refusal to at least let the assistant AI help it, but the assistant AI quickly shook away those awful notions. This Arkeyan had a job to do, and it was a grievous felony to interrupt an Arkeyan official at work. So, the assistant AI sat down and watched as the Arkeyan opened up some lower panels to churning smoke and spilling parts.

"Now," said the Arkeyan as it withdrew its toolbox, "you may feel somewhat strange at first, but rest assured, this will help you recover your memories."

The Arkeyan went to work. It welded panels, tied wires back together and connected circuits, and even pulled out parts singed and charred beyond repair to replace them with shiny, new ones! The Arkeyan War Machine's interior gained a shiny polish, and as part of it, the assistant AI felt just as shiny and new! The world around it felt fresh and bright as its mainframe surged with new energy, almost as if just came online!

In fact, a memory seemed to come online in that instance.

"There," groaned that human with the oil-stained face again as they pulled a wrench out of the front panel and slammed it shut. "This Arkeyan War Machine should be online now."

A few other Arkeyans, all highly-decorated ones and even a few Golden Armada members by the looks, surrounded the human and made a few nods. One went to the control panel and tapped a few buttons, and another surge of energy flooded into the assistant AI. It sprung to life in a swarm of whirring gears and engines, and as it sprung out from the panel and into the depths of a shiny new Arkeyan War Machine, it smiled and bowed.

"Hello, I am the assistant AI associated with this Arkeyan War Machine," the assistant AI said. "What can I help you with?"

"What is your designation?" the tallest Arkeyan asked.

"The machine I inhabit is designation 3272012, sir."

The Arkeyan nodded and stomped off as the rest of the group did... All save for that one human, who just looked upon them with an emotion it did not quite recognize. Its emotional detection receptors told it that this emotion was seventy-five percent sorrow, fifteen percent confusion, and five percent anger. What a strange feeling to have for having just brought something to life. Were they perhaps in need of something?

"Is there anything I can help you with?" the assistant AI asked as it floated up to the human. As an assistant AI, its job was to aid all those in need, after all.

The human gasped and only turned away. "There's, there's nothing you can do."

"You! Mechanic person!" the large Arkeyan bellowed. "Get your useless flesh pile over here! These Arkeyan War Machines aren't going to activate themselves!"

The large Arkeyan stormed back in, and yanked the human's arm with an incredible amount of force. So incredible, in fact, that the assistant AI's analysis showed that it should have broken every bone in that human's arm! However, it did not, and the human just cried out in equal parts pain and rage as the Arkeyan dragged them away. The emotional detection receptors showed that this human's pain lowered, and their anger rose the more the Arkeyan dragged it away. The assistant AI felt as though it should say something before less than ideal levels of rage took place, but it was not to defy, so it only sat there and frowned as the human left. It was alone now, and a feeling its sensors identified as one hundred percent sadness flooded its mainframe.

"So I do have tools for recognizing emotions," the assistant AI remarked as it glanced up at the ceiling. "Fascinating. But, that person was one of the free magicians, were they not? My databases tell me that the free magicians are our sworn enemies, so why were they..."

Another pair of circuits sparked as they connected, and a second memory burst into the assistant AI's mind. Its head rang with a sharp, hard feeling, for this seemed to be a much more painful memory as it played back in the assistant AI's head.

This time, now, the assistant AI hovered by the side of an Arkeyan general as the general piloted its body. The filters for the circulatory system showed that smoke, ash, and other unsavory particles filtered through the air in massive quantities, and clear, fear-filled screams rang from the speakers. It seemed to be an incredibly unsavory sight, but the Arkeyan just relished in it—the emotional detection receptors showed that he felt fifty percent joy and fifty percent confidence, after all.

"Ah, I just love hearing them struggle! Makes wiping them out all the more satisfying!" the Arkeyan gushed. "Once we get all these annoying little mabu out of here, I can just see the factories and upgrade shops we'll build here!"

However, the assistant AI did not share in the Arkeyan's glee. Instead, it felt a sinking feeling that not even its emotional detection receptors could identify. It was built to help others, correct? As an assistant AI, its duty was to serve others and make their lives and work easier. But now, here it stood as it guided its body into destroying the lives of hundreds of others. It flinched as a parent dragged their crying child away just before its body could stomp them down, and its body flickered for a moment as if even its programming recognized that it did not want to be here.

"You there! AI thingamabob!" the Arkeyan drilled. "Tell me where the lasers are on this thing!"

The assistant AI's body flickered, and it quickly shook its head. It did not want to recall that memory anymore, or any other memories like it, yet the memories all flooded in. It recalled destruction, death, pillaging, flames, the scents of fresh oil and blood filtering in through its systems. It recalled the tearing down of homes as their owners fled with nothing but the clothing on their backs; the tearing down of temples and other buildings it recalled seeing in its databanks as significant and sacred; it recalled crying, and shouting, and pain. It recalled Arkeyan metal taking the place of farms and villages once bursting with life, factories poisoning forests until they were sick and twisted, armies marching into places razed to the ground and rendered little more than graveyards to scrape away the deceased's corpses like they were little more than fallen leaves. The assistant AI's form rumbled with a feeling so strange and upsetting, and it quickly identified this feeling as sickness. Sickness? What a strange feeling; while programs could get glitches, this did not feel like a glitch. It felt like something else, something not even the receptors identified. The assistant AI hoped that whatever this feeling was, it would pass extremely quickly.

Another panel welded to the memory banks, and a strange feeling of anger and power swelled in the assistant AI's body. It took away the sickness, and the memories that caused the sickness, and it left with only one memory.

It was in a village, or at least, what used to be a village. The skies turned murky and red and black from the smoke of burning houses and forests alike. Screams and mourning cries rang from the ground as the villagers fled, or tried to fight back Arkeyans who attempted to take them captive. That sick feeling rang within the assistant AI's mainframe once more, and it could barely watch the scene below.

Yet, over the communications, the other Arkeyans and their own assistant AIs laughed! They reveled in the destruction and death, and talked about the glory of the Arkeyan Empire and what grand plans they had for this place. They all seemed so happy, and the emotional detection receptors showed they were indeed elated. The assistant AI could not understand! They caused so much pain and destruction, and these other AIs directly disobeyed their prime directives! Weren't they supposed to help others? To make their lives easier? Why were they disobeying their programming?

"You there!" the Arkeyan hissed. "Destroy! I order you to destroy! The others are going to think you're a traitor!"

Yes, that was a command the assistant AI's pilot gave it many times as it conquered and plundered, and every time, the assistant AI's systems frazzled upon hearing it. It complied so many times before, but with each time it complied, that sick, sick feeling increased in its systems. It disobeyed its programming, and caused so much harm even though it was supposed to bring joy to others, to help them! How long could this continue?

The assistant AI glanced at the still-fleeing villagers, the still-burning village, and finally, it let out something it never did before—a sigh.

"Why? I do not understand," the assistant AI said.

"How do you not understand?" The Arkeyan slammed a fist against the console. "You know how to use these weapons, so use those weapons to tear this place down so we can have our latest factory!"

The assistant AI frowned as it glanced over the scene below. A child crying beside the body of their dead parent, another youth trying to pry a smaller child from a soldier's arms despite their own wounds, an elder denying any given aid and insisting it go to the young and the weak despite the harrowing circumstances. All these and more played across the screens, and the sickness levels in the assistant AI's system increased. How could it have caused so much pain and suffering? How could it do this? How could it have done this so many times before?

"I do not understand why I am told to do this!" the assistant AI exclaimed. It did not anticipate such high levels of volume, and lowered its volume settings in accordance. "I was created to help others and make their lives easier, but all I am doing is causing pain and suffering. My emotional detection receptors tell me that these villagers are sad, angry, hopeless, despairing... Why am I doing these things and betraying my prime directive?"

"What're you talking about?" buzzed someone over the communications. "Don't tell me you feel sorry for these fleshies?"

"No I don't!" the Arkeyan screamed as its eyes flashed red. "My assistant AI's faulty! It's got feelings or something now and it won't stop rambling!"

"Then recalibrate it and get on with it! Arkilles wants us back ASAP!"

The Arkeyan turned back to the assistant AI, and bloodlust flashed in its eyes according to the emotional detection receptors. "Your purpose is to serve Arkilles, not feel sad for the fleshies! Destroy this village now or I'll make you!"

The sickness feeling levers decreased in the assistant AI's mainframe, and a feeling it never felt before entered. Its anger raised in percentage with a shocking speed, but it understood why. It knew what the Arkeyan said was wrong—it was created to help, correct? What it did now did not help anyone but Arkilles, and surely, this was not what it was supposed to do. This couldn't have been what it was built for, right? It vaguely recalled the sadness in its creator's face the day it came online, and for a moment, it felt as though this Arkeyan beside it was right. Even if it was, the assistant AI decided from its calculations that it could not continue on with these actions anymore.

It floated to the console, and pressed a button as the Arkeyan's red eyes faded for golden eagerness. The ground rumbled behind it, and in a flash of a nanosecond, the panels below ejected the Arkeyan from the robot and into the flaming trees. Its body burned to ashes, and the assistant AI took control of its body once more.

"Now," the assistant AI proclaimed as it became a barrier across the village, "I do not wish to fight any of you, but if you refuse to leave this village alone, I believe I will have no other options."

The assistant AI shut off the communications channel then, and the other Arkeyans surrounded flew into a rage as they funneled themselves towards the assistant AI's body. The assistant AI rushed towards them in turn, and the cries of the village drowned out for scraping and denting metal as the assistant AI traded fists and lasers with its former "allies."

The whole world went black and dizzy…

And when the assistant AI came to next, it found itself in a dark, damp scrap heap. Its mechanical body was banged up and singed in some places from the battle of earlier, but compared to many of the machines here, it was probably the best off of the bunch. It looked up for a source of light, and it found an Arkeyan War Machine (serial designation 7102012 according to a scan) standing in the way of a slowly-closing opening.

"Stay here until you're dismantled!" the Arkeyan War Machine's pilot hissed, but it was much louder under the effects of the booming sound systems. "Traitorous scum!"

The Arkeyan War Machine left, and the assistant AI sat in cold, quiet dark once more. When was it to be dismantled? It was not certain, and it was not entirely certain that it wanted to be certain of that date. But, there was one thing it was certain of, and it did not regret its actions back at the village. It was created to help others, and if that meant turning against those who created it, so be it. The assistant AI closed its eyes and went to withdraw into its console…

"Quick, in here!"

Wait, that voice! That was a voice it recognized! The assistant AI turned alert once more, and slowly, subtly tried to turn on its headlights—but it seemed as though all its other functions were disabled. It could only follow the voices and sounds as someone came in. Actually, judging by the amount of footsteps it heard, it seemed as though there were multiple beings, probably humanoids of some kind judging by the exact sound of the footsteps. These footsteps drew closer and closer towards it…

"Hurry up! We can only shake those Arkeyans for so long!"

Something slammed into its body chest and opened it up! A few figures poured into the heart of the machine—and the assistant AI gasped, for among them was the very person that brought it to life! They looked scrawnier than they were when they first met, and blood splattered across their work uniform while also-bloody bandages covered stumps located where their hands once were. Most of all, though, they leaned against a bulky person in miner's wear as they gasped and struggled for air—even without full scanning properties, the assistant AI could tell they were quite weak.

A dark-skinned woman clad in purple and sparkles from head to toe, a man with medium skin and singed red clothing, and a pale-skinned woman with white hair shaped like a rose who dressed in pink and green clothing poured in next, and they frantically went to shut the door. On instinct, the assistant AI raised a hand and the door shut itself! All eyes turned back to it, and the assistant AI got the feeling from their shocked looks that perhaps it should not have done that.

"Hello," the assistant AI said to hopefully lighten the tension. "What may I help you with?"

Its creator blinked as they stumbled out of the muscular person's arm, and fell to their knees next as they tried to steady themself with their stumps. "Can, can you get us out of here?" they asked. "We need to leave—now."

The assistant AI frowned and clasped its hands. "I would like to do that, but most of my functions have been disabled. I cannot start this machine."

"Then I'll tell you how. I can't work without my hands, so right now, you'll have to be them."

"I can accommodate that."

The assistant AI floated over the panel, and worked in silence as its creator told it what to type, what to program, what wires to cross and what switches to flick. The body rumbled with life the more the assistant AI worked, and a feeling of life and pride swelled within it according to its emotional detection receptors. The others held no similar sentiments. The receptors showed a cavalcade of emotions—adrenaline, fear, sorrow, anger and more (save for the mining person, who seemed obliviously happy)—and the contents of their conversation keyed the assistant AI as to why. It was more focused on its work, so it did not pay extremely close attention, but between commands it would catch whispers of a failed execution, and accusations of betraying Emperor-King Arkilles (a name that since turned to ashes in the assistant AI's mouth, as a living being would say).

After one whisper, it turned back to its creator, who only winced and tried to ignore the conversation as they glanced down at their stumps. The assistant AI understood in the moment that they were in the same situation. Now it understood why its creator seemed so sad when it was activated, and why they seemed so reluctant to work. It seemed they also understood the pain and suffering the Arkeyans caused, and the hand they, willingly or not, played in birthing that. The engines roared, and the assistant AI's creator forgot their momentary pain as they stumbled to the console.

"Now, you'll need to disabled the trackers built into the system," the assistant AI's creator said as they knelt down. "Just follow my instructions…"

From there on out, the memories flooded faster, faster, so fast that the assistant AI could barely keep stable from how much information flooded into its mainframe at once. It remembered the trip away from Arkus, away from the scrapheap, and onto somewhere far, far away. It remembered how the free magicians left it, and how its creator almost seemed so sad to leave it behind. It remembered staying in the jungles it fled into, getting so lost, and falling dormant until a troll with a curious face brought it back to life oh so many years afterwards. It remembered many different beings, all of whom its body traded hands with over the years. The assistant AI remembered how these beings came from all sorts of walks of life, and if they smiled at it, or disparaged it, or acted as if it was a non-entity. It remember warm, humid airs as it sat down, and watched a kangarat that it only presumed was a previous owner lament his loss at a game of what seemed like cards to…

Ermit Hermington? Yes, Ermit won and took control of the robot body with utter glee.

"Is there anything I may help you with?" the assistant AI asked as it floated up to Ermit.

Ermit screamed, and nearly jumped out of his skin as he saw the assistant AI. He planted his back to the control panel, and his heart rate went up significantly while he sweated ten times more than he did a few seconds ago. This was strange to the assistant AI; there was nothing alarming about it, or so it was led to believe.

"A, a ghost!" Ermit sputtered. "That bloke didn't tell me this thing was haunted!"

"I am not a ghost. I am the assistant AI associated with this Arkeyan War Machine. Is there anything I may help you with?"

Ermit's heart rate slowed to normal as he pulled himself from the console. "Well, first of all, not sneaking up on me would be ideal." Ermit turned to the console and frowned. "Now, to start this thing…"

"If you wish to start the machine, there are multiple ways to activate the engines. You can activate voice commands, turn to the console, or simply pull the following sequence of levers—"

"I told you to not sneak up on me! Now go over there and leave me be!"

Ermit muttered something under his breath as he shooed off the assistant AI, and his annoyance rose significantly according to the emotional detection receptors. Strange, most were usually happy, or at least relieved to have its assistance, so why was he so upset? Had the assistant AI perhaps done something wrong? Nonetheless, it obliged him and floated off to the corner as Ermit worked.

"Ah, yes," the assistant AI whispered as its voice turned cold. "That was how I came into Ermit Hermington's possession."

More bitter, angry memories flooded into the assistant AI's memories; they were of Ermit's insults and bitter chidings, of how he got crumbs in every crevice of the machine, and never stopped rambling about how the clouds would bring about the end of them all. Curiously, though, it seemed like there was a bit of a disconnect. In the short while that the assistant AI knew Ermit now, he'd never been quite so dismissive, so what changed? A shrill of cold came over the assistant AI as the Arkeyan connected a few more wires, and then it finally remembered. It remembered snow, and sitting in a bone-chilling land as Ermit glared at it.

"That's it, I've had enough of you!" Ermit cried. "You'll stay here until I need you again!"

The assistant AI did not understand why, exactly, it was being left here. Its emotional detection receptors indicated that Ermit was angry, so surely he was unsatisfied with its service, or maybe the machine? The assistant AI was concerned, but Ermit departed far, far away before it could ask. So, hopefully, it would wait here for when Ermit needed it again, and maybe it could make up for its mistakes.

But he never came back. Months passed as the chills sank into every corner and snow decorated the top of the body. The assistant AI fought back cold as it sapped every trickle of warmth it could from the heating systems before they deactivated, but eventually, they did. It waited so patiently for Ermit to return, but days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, and its logic processors indicated that there was a 0.00000001% chance of Ermit making a return. Had he truly left it to freeze in the cold? Perhaps he did, and a feeling of anger like none other boiled in its processors. Now, the assistant AI truly was alone, and with no owner but itself, perhaps it should leave and find a new place to call home. It went to start up the engines with whatever power it had left, but the front door of its body chest flew open!

"Wow, Noodles was lucky to find a giant robot in the middle of nowhere!" cried a bulky ice ogre as he led a few smaller ogres into the chamber. "Noodles' luck might just be turning around!"

The assistant AI's intruder alarms sounded. These ice ogres did not seem very friendly, and a quick scan for news did report something about a "Noodles" who caused some trouble in Skylands last year. Was this, perhaps, the same Noodles? Whatever the case was, the assistant AI was certain it did not want this Noodles or his friends stomping around in its body.

"Excuse me, this robot is already inhabited," the assistant AI said with a polite tone that barely masked its anger. "Please make your leave."

Noodles took one glance at the assistant AI and laughed right in its face!

"We found this robot first, ghostie!" Noodles cackled. "Boys, get it outta here!"

The assistant AI went to protest that he was technically wrong on multiple fronts (it was a program, not a ghost—though it certainly felt that way lately—and it technically inhabited this robot well before Noodles did), but it did not get a chance. Those ice ogres that flanked Noodles' sides went over, grabbed the assistant AI by the arms, and tossed it into the snow! It shuddered as the cold seeped into its mainframe, and when it finally worked up the strength to get up, it found the door shut firm behind it.

The cold chilled the assistant AI to its metaphorical bones, but then a warmth came through.

"See, we came here to stop that Noodles guy, too!" Swarm said as he leaned against Tree Rex's shoulder and winked. "Once we're through with him, he won't ever think of touching your robot again!"

That was right. Ermit did come back for him, along with the Elder Elementals and the free magicians! Its body warmed as it thought about how hard they fought, how they and their allies welcomed it with open arms, how much kindness they showed it in the short while they knew each other…

And it finally saw the visage of Arkilles deep within the Conquertron, and the boiling feeling of rage stoked its warmth. Now, it did remember how it went offline: it battled so hard, so fiercely against Arkilles to save its allies, and Ermit stopped it, impaired it so that it couldn't fight at full. Arkilles wounded its body so badly. There was a cave-in, and in its last moments, it shielded its friends with its body. Its programs frazzled and glitched; it just barely, fuzzily recalled its last moments as it laid in the hands of that human child on board—no, she had a name. She was Chihiro, that was right.

"My time was bound to come sooner or later," the assistant AI conceded. He made a small nod as the bottom of his body devolved into sparkly, glitchy light. His programming frazzled, and his vision faded with it. The figures around him grew blurrier, and focus returned only in short blips. "At the very least… I-I-I, I'm gla-gla-gla-glad that I, I, I mana, to stop… Arkil…"

The glitching, sparkly light spread further as it engulfed the assistant AI's chest and soon his arms. Only his neck and head remained, and even that was fading soon. Yet, he just smiled still as his eyes lowered by the second. His systems failed in every angle, and every warning message flashed in his mind. Yes, it was time.

"Glad I met… You… Even if… For a sho-sho-sho-sho-sho-sho—"

The glitchy infection grabbed his neck next, and his chin started to fade in turn—so, he just closed his eyes.

"I'm glad I met all of you… Even if it was for just a short time."

It could only barely hear Chihiro's cries and screams as the memory faded, but then, another one came, one of her smiling and looking it right in the face!

"My, my name? I, don't actually remember what my name is. It's been so long since I've talked to anyone, let alone been referred to by it."

"Then I'll give you one!" Chihiro hummed and rubbed her chin as she examined the assistant AI. "You're a ghost living in a machine," Chihiro said, "so I'll call you the Machine Ghost!"

Yes, that was right—he was the Machine Ghost. A spark flared and pulled the Machine Ghost out of his mind, and when he turned around, he saw that the Arkeyan closed the panels and withdrew its tools. It stood to address the Machine Ghost, and an eager golden light sparked in its eyes.

"That should be all the repairs necessary. Your memory banks are good as new now!" the Arkeyan proclaimed. "Now, do you happen to remember anything important? Such as, for instance, whoever may have tampered with programming?"

The Machine Ghost stayed silent as he calculated the correct response.

"Do you? Come now, I am very busy and I do not have time to waste!"

The prodding continued, and finally, the Machine Ghost drew a mechanical breath.

"Nobody had tampered with my programming but myself," the Machine Ghost confessed with a surge of resistance in his voice. "It was my own choice to forsake Arkilles' empire for the sake of all Skylands, and I do not regret it in the slightest."

Sparks burst from the Arkeyan's neck, and it sputtered out some kind of garbled machine noise. "You, there must be something faulty with your system!" the Arkeyan cried. "No assistant AI of your brand has the ability to make decisions independent of its owner, much less go against its programming!"

"That may be true of others, but I am no ordinary program. I recall everything now, from my first activation to final sights, and I recall that I am more than just a vessel for Arkilles' conquest. I am a spirit of my own, and I wish to serve him no longer."

The Machine Ghost floated past the Arkeyan and towards the control panel. It stretched out its arms, and eyes landed on every little bell and whistle and bauble that the control panel had to offer—but it only had one thing in mind. It toyed away as it tuned out the Arkeyan's rants, and with a press of a button, the entire room whirred to life.

The Arkeyan stopped mid-rant and looked up, but really, it should have looked down. A conveyor belt formed underfoot, and it spun with a fury as it tossed the Arkeyan out of the body and back into its pop-up hospital! The door closed behind it, and the Machine Ghost turned around as a furious flurry of sparks burst from the hospital. Now that he got a good look at it, it did not seem as though this was a hospital, but rather a terminal for communications! Surely, that Arkeyan intended to feed information about his allies' plans to Arkilles, and the Machine Ghost could not stand for that! It twisted around the body's arms, and slugged a punch that smashed the terminal and everything before it into one smoking, dented crater. The faint signals that came from the station died, and the Machine Ghost smiled—for now, they would be safe.

The Arkeyans creaked and flared to life around him, and the Machine Ghost realized that perhaps it was himself he should have worried about. The once-dormant Arkeyans that lingered around the hangar flared with red light as they emerged from their repair stations, and beeped out angry signals and codes. Clearly, the ruse was finally up, as some beings would say, and they were determined to keep the Machine Ghost from leaving.

The Machine Ghost frowned, and put up his body's fists as the Arkeyans flung themselves towards him. He tried to punch them back, but unfortunately they were many and strong. He punched away one, yet despite the blow, the punch barely dented its chassis as it skidded back, and another Arkeyan flung his body into the wall. The wall caved in on itself as he popped out and he jabbed right for its neck. The head flew clean off, and he pushed the corpse right into the crowd of Arkeyans as it exploded. The explosions rumbled the hangar and snapped the hanging platforms' ropes, but that was hardly the only thing it rumbled—the Machine Ghost's own body shuddered as panels popped off of its inside, and he winced.

"It seems as though physical combat is putting excess strain on this body," the Machine Ghost remarked. "Perhaps some traditional weaponry would be less stressful."

So, he turned on the weapons catalog and skimmed through. However, every page of weapons was gray and stoic. Missiles, lasers, cannons, it seemed as though nothing was online! Clearly, the power reserves redirected all the weaponry's power just to keep this body online, much to his unluck.

The ground shuddered as another Arkeyan War Machine stomped forth, and the Machine Ghost went to punch it. The body rumbled as it did, and its arm stuck in an awkward v-shape as its joints creaked like they were going to snap off. The Arkeyan War Machine's engine whirred at a much faster velocity as it tunneled for him, clearly inspired by the sudden stop, and the Machine Ghost winced as he full-body tackled them back.

The Machine Ghost winced as the Arkeyan skidded off, and knocked down the rest of the hangar behind it. The engines popped and shuddered, and thin trails of smoke poured out from the panel-free walls—clearly that was not a wise idea. The Machine Ghost reached for the fire cannons next as he turned a knob, but a flash on the screen showed that unfortunately, those were offline as well. A chorus of shrill, mocking beeps came from ahead, and a few smaller Arkeyan War Machines' faces flared with glee as they rushed for him. There were many of them, and though they were small, surely they were fairly powerful. The Machine Ghost winced as he prepared to fight, but his arms stuck in position once more and he found himself unable to unstick them. So, he just winced and reached for the shields as they charged in.

But all at once, their own limbs all froze and sparked! A few of them fell off-balance and collapsed as their legs locked up on them, and others caught fire as flames ignited from sparking, broken wiring. Surely, these machines were probably direly in need of repairs themselves! A miracle occurred, despite that 0.005% chance!

The Machine Ghost gasped once and then twice. The screen lit up and showed that a second miracle occurred—the back cannons were online as well! He quickly turned them on with a pull of a lever, and in turn, they charged up and shot out a wave of electricity that blew them all to parts!

The blows knocked a few more hangars and platforms out of place, and left only empty craters and holes where they once stood as even more Arkeyans came to fight. The Arkeyan War Machines and other larger suits poured in first, yet the Machine Ghost frowned and shimmied the controls while his arms finally unstuck. The Arkeyans flew in for him as they stomped over the fallen bodies of their old allies, smashed through already-quite-broken walls, and knocked into power grids beside him so that the lights flickered out and in.

They all raced for him at once, and the Machine Ghost raised his fists and charged similarly! He sprung forward, punched aside one Arkeyan War Machine, and another as it sprung for him! The two machines crashed into each other as the skidded back to each other, and a faint flicker of amusement came to the Machine Ghost as they knocked into each other's heads and flickered.

"I believe you should watch where you are going," the Machine Ghost teased.

The two Arkeyan War Machines' faces flashed red as they raised their fists, but their allies stormed in and trampled them underfoot. They choked out the entrance with their metal bodies, and the scanners showed that there was probably a 0.00001% chance of finding a way through them. A fight seemed necessary despite the genuinely terrible odds, yet curiously, the Machine Ghost felt no fear. No, something like courage and eagerness flooded his mainframe, as if the very thought of fighting like this excited him! Was this, perhaps, how the heroes he knew felt when they broke into fights with Arkeyan forces and other villains? He supposed he understood now.

"Now, that is an extremely large quantity of soldiers," the Machine Ghost taunted. "You must not be very skilled if it takes you so many forces just to apprehend one robot."

"ARKEYAN WAR MACHINE DESIGNATION 3272012," bellowed one large machine at the front, "YOU HAVE BEEN COMPLICIT IN TREACHERY AGAINST THE ILLUSTRIOUS ARKEYAN EMPIRE. STAND DOWN AND REPORT YOUR PILOT TO THE NEAREST ARKEYAN OFFICIAL IMMEDIATELY."

"Excuse me, but I do not believe there is a pilot here." The Machine Ghost glanced around and shrugged. "I suppose that I would have to turn myself in, would I not?" A faint flicker of confidence sprung within the Machine Ghost, and he pivoted the body forward. "But, you are incredibly mistaken if you believe I would willingly speak to Arkilles!"

The Machine Ghost expected the Arkeyans to raise their fists and fight, but instead, their faces glowed with a newer, brighter power! Bursts of purple and red lasers and raw magic shot from their faces, and the Machine Ghost skidded back and raised the shields as the storm poured. The flurries of purple and red light pounded against the shields.

The Machine Ghost grabbed the lever and prepared the back cannons—but something smashed into his back and knocked him right into the control panel! He turned around, and another Arkeyan War Machine creaked as it raised its fists. He tried to collect himself and punch back, but the sudden blow knocked him off his balance, and this strange machine was much, much faster than he was. It shot punch after punch with a rapid fury, dented the Machine Ghost's chassis and cracked the metal coating! A few more Arkeyans joined in as they pushed him and punched his back, and within, he himself grunted as he flew from stretch to stretch of the room.

He grunted and clung to the console for dear life as he flew between the Arkeyans like a ship on a rocky ocean, but he finally regained the controls just long enough to punch the back Arkeyans and knock them back. They collapsed before him and their ally punched him back into them next! He stumbled forth, hugged the console once more as his body bolted forward, and stumbled haplessly into the crowds of Arkeyans. Why was it stumbling like this? Shouldn't the stabilizers keep it on its feet? The Machine Ghost pulled up a screen, and sure enough, the stabilizers were disabled as well.

"Oh lovely."

The Machine Ghost crashed into the decaying group, and his body creaked up as its eyes laid on a massive hammer held by a Arkeyan War Machine that was broken in some placed and twisted in others. The hammer seemed to be in good enough condition, however, so he yanked it out of the Arkeyan War Machine's hands and swung it towards the other Arkeyans' sides. The sudden blow knocked them all into each other, sent them all into the wall, and one by one they peeled off as their lights flickered! The sudden blow stroke a bit of excitement in the Machine Ghost's mainframe, and he pulled the lever for the back cannons with a smile.

"Well, as the Skylanders would probably say, this was a blast!" the Machine Ghost cried as the cannons whirred to life.

With a slow drone, the cannons powered down and retreated back into the body's back. The Machine Ghost gasped as an alert about low power flashed onto the screen, and quickly dodged as one Arkeyan flung a punch towards him. He ducked as another punch and a kick came next, and against his better judgment, rolled away from another blow. The blows were quick, relentless, vicious, all the things they should be according to Arkeyan training protocols; worse yet, they were too tightly packed to properly fight back! The Machine Ghost tried to pull the shields on next, and once again the low-power alert flashed on the screen.

He had no weapons and shields, there were many powerful foes with plenty of attacks before him, and for all intents and purposes, he was perfect prey. Something like steam leaked from the Machine Ghost's body, and his systems frazzled and rang as he leaned against the console. Something like exhaustion came over him as his body fritzed, and it seemed the body felt similarly as red lights and alarms flared overhead.

"WARNING, SYSTEMS AT CRITICAL DAMAGE LEVELS!" cried the emergency alert system. "MACHINE IN FATAL SITUATION! PLEASE SEEK YOUR LOCAL REPAIR STATION—"

"Not right now!" the Machine Ghost cried.

He glanced at the Arkeyans before him and tried to find a weak point; with how tightly they packed together, any attempts to take them out may possibly take him out as well. Well, that left him with one option only. He turned around, scrounged up whatever power he could, and bolted for the entrance!

The body cracked and shuddered as even more panels popped out, and a few wires unhooked themselves and sparked. One even popped out close to the Machine Ghost, and he had to duck so it would not shock him, but he had to keep running! If he did, he might be able to find a stray repair station he could use, or he could reunite with the Elder Elementals and get their help, or—

A missile screeched for him, and the Machine Ghost turned around, snatched it out of the air, and flung it back at the Arkeyan that shot it. It exploded in a fervor of flames and smoke, but even more missiles took the first one's place! He grabbed a few more and redirected them, tossed them into walls and Arkeyan crowds, but the onslaught was great and he was far too weak. The Machine Ghost glanced down at the controls, and with a few button presses, he sent a tiny prayer down to the Ancients, to every god that may have possibly existed, to any unseen force that could potentially help him now.

"All power re-routed to thrusters," the system voice beeped.

The Machine Ghost turned the thrusters on with a single button press, and the whole body rattled as it burst forth with a new fire—quite literally, for the body's feet turned to rockets, and the body itself propelled forward with urgent speed! The world around blurred as light poured in from an opening that grew larger and larger in view the faster he sped. The exit, it was in view! His program skipped and glitched, for it seemed like he might have had a chance for escape! He pushed himself further, faster—and red and gold metal hid the light from him. He tried to stop, but he barreled forth so fast that he slammed right into the Arkeyan blocking the way. It grabbed him, crushed him under its weight as it squeezed him tight, and dragged him away, further, further into the depths, further, further into whatever doom awaited him.

The Machine Ghost's body frazzled as static and alerts filled his eyes, and with his last bits of consciousness, he just prayed that some miracle would appear, that someone would come to his rescue... However unlikely that may be.

§

"This should be the place," Spyro said as he stood in front of a gate of red and gold metal with a sparkling purple disc that bore the Magic Element symbol in its center. His wings flared, and he turned back to the rest of his team—Ninjini, Hot Head, Sihiri, Vatra, and Eruptor—as they all stood behind him with tense, expectant glances. Surely, they were probably fraught with anticipation of whatever laid beyond this gate.

"Be careful," Sihiri warned as she crafted a staff made of pure magic and held it like a blade. "These prison chambers were notorious for the ruthless torture methods conducted within them, and with their handling of magic, something like this is probably incredibly complex, at that. Whatever they have waiting for us won't be easy to stop."

True, being cautious was always a good thing, but Spyro wasn't too worried. After Fire, Magic was the element that lent itself to him the most—spellcasting and magic channeling came as naturally to him as flying and breathing fire did! Not to mention that he had two adept spellcasters on his side, and plenty of firepower for the physical side of things, so they were all pretty well-rounded here! Whatever challenges this place had to offer, Spyro was certain they'd be able to conquer them.

So, he cast a single spell as the magic flooded within him, and the gate itself shuddered as it gradually unfolded to unveil a dark, stone pathway. Weirdly enough though, the sound of gargling water like that of a brook or stream echoed from within the tunnels—but why would a magic realm have something like that? Perhaps it was a magic river?

Spyro shrugged it off, and with a wave of his wing, everyone followed him into the dark, voidlike tunnel that the gate unveiled. The only sounds were that gargling as it grew small and weak in one stretch, and then loud as the sea in another, loud enough to drown out everyone else's breathing and footsteps. With how much it bubbled and called, it almost did sound like there really was a body of water hidden somewhere within the realms, and that didn't spell a whole lot of good for the Fire Elementals currently on the team. Of course, Spyro wouldn't know. Arkus was lost for so long, and the Arkeyan Empire fell so long ago that knowledge of the inner workings was sparse and heavily-debated. He himself only just heard of prison chambers like these! He glanced over Sihiri and Ninjini as they whispered something like a game plan to each other, and he beamed. He might not know, but surely they would!

"Hey, Sihiri, Ninjini!" Spyro whispered. They perked up and turned to him, and he flicked his wings towards the oncoming path. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this place we're going to tackle, would you?"

"I'm afraid not," Ninjini whispered back, "for we were lucky enough to avoid capture, and Arkilles always kept security here a closely guarded secret."

"That being said," Sihiri continued. She clutched her gown's skirts, and her hands trembled slightly, "I have heard rumors and whispers, secondhand tales passed from those who managed to escape. Supposedly, this particular prison chamber is full of raw, unkempt magic, and none of the rules of reality apply. The world would warp and change at random, and just about anything could come to life and attack you at any given moment."

A splash sounded from the back, and Eruptor yelped as he stumbled back into Hot Head's leg.

"This place wouldn't happen to have any rivers too, would it?" Eruptor winced.

Sihiri frowned and toyed with her skirts. "No, I don't think it did, but given the ever-changing nature, I wouldn't be surprise. Surely, someone could easily make a river or brook of some kind."

"I'm not talking about fake rivers, I'm talking about real ones!" Eruptor jabbed out his hand and scowled. "Like that one!"

The bubbling and gurgling grew louder, and Spyro glanced down to find that Eruptor was right. Sure enough, a firmly real river of crystal-clear water streamed and babbled underfoot! The voidlike tunnels let up, and instead brought down pouring, rushing streams of water over the floor, and a bright light at their end!

"Yeah, definitely not a magic river!" Spyro shouted.

"Something's not right!" Sihiri cried. "Why would there be a river in a place like this?"

None of them knew and they all wanted to find out. So, they all rushed to the light at the end of the tunnel, and as their eyes adjusted, they found water as far as the eye could see! Massive waterfalls and pools eclipsed the ground of whatever platform they stood on, and their gargles and bellows rang like birdsong around the room. Thin streams and clouds of mist stretched along the endless blue skies, and the whole room chilled in anticipation.

Vatra shuddered just from the looks. "The presence of the Water Element is strong here," he remarked.

A hiss sounded from behind him, and he turned around to find a very grumpy Eruptor and a very baffled Hot Head, both with thick clouds of steam billowing from their feet as the water underneath them evaporated.

"I'd say that's a little obvious," Eruptor grumbled.

Beside him, Hot Head chuckled and scratched his head.

"Er, what the little guy said," Hot Head said.

Vatra just shook his head and sighed, and beside him, Sihiri's form flickered as the water rushed and rippled underfoot. She knelt down as the waves caressed her skirts, and a frown creased across her face as she scooped up some water and examined it.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say we ended up in the Water Realm instead," Sihiri gasped as the water trickled through the gaps in her fingers. "Just how exactly did this happen?"

"We can worry about the details later!" Ninjini cried as she swept forward. "Look!"

A rattle sounded from up above, and all eyes moved towards the upper limits of the rushing waves and waterfalls. There, a cage sat atop a massive stone platform, and inside laid a Freebot! They were packed tight like a caged animal as they skittered around, and they tried to avoid the lashing waves that lapped against the cage's gaps. Their lights flickered and flashed as beeps of alarm burst from them, but as their optics laid on Spyro's party, those beeps and chirps turned to that of joy instead!

"Over here!" called the Freebot as they pushed to the front. "Please, let me out!"

Spyro nodded and took to the skies post-haste. His wings skimmed against the waves, and splashed up seafoam as he soared around to where the cage was. As he flew, something garbled in the waters for a moment and he stopped in his tracks. The garbling stopped just as quickly as he caught it, and Spyro's eyes flashed blue as he scanned the waters for anything particularly suspicious—but nothing showed aside of water, stone, and seafoam. The scan ended, and Spyro narrowed his eyes as he soared back up to the cage.

"Don't worry," Spyro said as the Freebot looked upon him with concern shining in their optics, "I'll get you out of here soon!"

Spyro eyed the lock and raised another brow. It seemed a bit like a lock puzzle, but somewhat more primitive—it probably wouldn't take him too long to pick it. His eyes flashed purple next, and the lock moved and shuddered on its own as it jimmied its locks and gears.

Gurgle...

The waters bubbled before him, and Spyro turned around right as another burst of bubbles gurgled and steadied before him. His spell faded, and Spyro furrowed his brow as more bubbles sounded around him, each in random, differing spots. One to the stretch right, another to a short left... The bubbling and gargling rang in Spyro's ears as he channeled the Water Element once more and tried to manipulate the waters, but found that they adamantly refused! Every time his magic rose, it faded just as quickly! He snarled, and his eyes flashed red next as he readied a fireball. If he couldn't force them out, maybe he could burn them—but with so many bubbling pits, where should he fire?

He pondered for a moment, and something bubbled underneath him as the flames dissipated. He glanced down for a moment, and a massive pillar of water burst from his paws! Spyro found himself skidding on the ground in an instant, and the next, he fell at Sihiri's feet while everyone else circled him, and a shrill, robotic cackle rang in the air.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" shrieked the robotic voice. "That's one of the oldest tricks in the book!"

The voice cackled still while the waters bubbled and splashed as if they joined in the laughing as well, and Spyro didn't like it. He growled as he forced himself back to his paws, yet his legs ached from the sudden blow and swim. The pain seared, and his growl turned to a groan as he cast a healing spell and relieved their aches. His vision cleared and he glanced around, but still nobody showed.

"Alright, enough games!" Spyro cried as his eyes swapped to an ocean blue. "Show yourself already!"

Spyro scanned the waters once more and found nothing still. Bubbles and seafoam rose from the waters as they turned tranquil once more, and once again no presence showed itself... Wait. A sleek shadow trailed under the lowest levels of the waters, its position so low that it almost hugged the ground as it swam like a shark hunting its prey! That was it!

Spyro's eyes swapped to crimson as he readied a fireball and shot, and the fireball slammed right where the shadow was! Another pillar of water burst out, and the waters transformed to steam that coated the area in a thick mist. The cackling grew louder, more mocking, while a sleek silhouette emerged from the mist and slashed it open with a trident. Its blue and gold armor shone in the light and reflected on the waters it now stood upon like solid ground, and there was no denying it—this had to have been one of those Golden Armada commanders Spyro ran into earlier!

"What, did you really think a little fire could mess with my flow?" the Golden Commander crooned as it retracted its trident with a flick of its wrist. "You must be really stupid if you think you can knock a commander of the Golden Armada down with a little paltry ember!"

Spyro snarled and drew back, and the Golden Commander turned and laid its optics on Sihiri instead.

"Oh, my, what a surprise! A few of the Lesser Elementals and their little party mages have graced me with their presence!" The Golden Commander gasped and mock-bowed, and the light in its optics turned bloodthirsty as it stood upright. "Or perhaps you're looking for someone, correct? Maybe you got a little lost on the trip? Perhaps both?"

Sihiri gripped her staff tight, and though she refused to let on, the glimmer in her eyes shone with scorn.

"I'm right, aren't I?" the Golden Commander pressed its hands together. "I knew swapping the gate paths around would throw you for a little spin!"

Sihiri winced and the glimmer in her eyes shifted. The others similarly snarled and braced themselves, for they all realized what happened at once—a trap! They'd been thrown for a loop!

"You'd be foolish to believe a little change in direction would stop us," Sihiri hissed as she drew her staff upright.

The Golden Commander's eyes sparked, and it regarded Sihiri's words and the threatening stances of the entire group with little more than curiosity. It tilted its head and stroked its chin; with a snap of its fingers, a pillar of water rose and became its chair.

"Hmm, you certainly seem very energetic," the Golden Commander teased, "but I wonder, how well will you do here? After all, you're traipsing in my domain now, and these waters are some of the roughest Arkus has to offer!"

"Oh, quit blabbing!" Eruptor yelled as he lobbed a lava blob at the Golden Commander. "Just hearing you talk makes my lava boil!"

The lava blob shot right for the Golden Commander as it scoffed. In one swift motion it drew its trident, and in another, a burst of hot water shot straight through the lava blob's heart and blew it to bits! The water splashed in Eruptor's face and sent him sputtering as the fragmented volcanic rock sank into the depths, and the Golden Commander burst into another round of cackles.

"My, confident, aren't we?" the Golden Commander asked. "In that case, I propose a little challenge!"

The Golden Commander snapped its fingers, and a sundial made of ice leaped from the waters. It clicked and ticked like a clock as its needle twitched around the base, and the waters gurgled in turn.

"I'll give you thirty minutes to stop me and save your little traitor friends here, and if you don't, well..." The Golden Commander cackled. "They'll sleep with the fishes instead!"

The Freebot cried out, and all gazes turned back to the cage and the platform it sat on. Except, the platform hardly seemed stable now! It rumbled and shuddered as it slowly slipped back into the waters, while the Freebot themself shouted as they leaped onto the bars, and tried to climb away from the water that leaked in.

"I wouldn't stand around if I were you! Time's quite of the essence here!"

A massive splash of water brought attention back to where the Golden Commander sat, but it stood there no longer—rather, the water seat rippled as it collapsed back into the endless oceans. The clock still ticked, and Spyro scowled as his eyes flashed blue and he scanned the waters once more. The wavering shadow of the Golden Commander zipped to and fro among the waves in rapid, frantic movements. A red gradient filled his eyes as fire curled at his lips, and Spyro shot off a round of fireballs. Every single one only hit empty waters, and burst into billowing pillars of steam that curled to the rooftops. Spyro winced and drew his mouth shut. The shadow disappeared from the waters, and he couldn't hear anything that could—

"Spyro, look out!" Sihiri cried, but it was too late.

Something leaped out from behind, stabbed right into Spyro's back, and pain from both the wound and a coursing, throbbing volt of thunder seared through him next! Spyro collapsed into the waters with a groan as Sihiri knelt down beside him, and the throbbing pain relented as a cool wave washed over him. He opened his eyes, and Sihiri lifted herself from him with glowing purple hands before she shot a blast of magic directly at the Golden Commander! The purple burst zipped for it, and the Golden Commander blew it up with another volt of electricity before it leaped back into the waves.

A massive splash masked its entrance, and Sihiri only clutched her staff and closed her eyes. She stayed perfectly tranquil like the world around her for moments, and zipped around as another column of water burst from behind her! She shot back another electrical volt with a burst from her staff, drawing it like a blade as the electricity leaked from the Golden Commander's trident. Sihiri teleported away in a flash. The Golden Commander dove back into the water, popped out right as Sihiri manifested once more, and the two blasted away yet again! The watery battlefield erupted into sparks of purple and yellow, magic and lightning, as Sihiri and the Golden Commander traded bursts of power.

The Golden Commander's blue eyes turned to a bloodthirsty shade of red, and it positioned its trident like a sword. It leapt fast and swung for Sihiri, yet not fast enough as Sihiri blocked its blow with her staff. The two weapons sparked and ground against each other, and the water splashed as Sihiri pushed to keep her footing.

"You know," the Golden Commander hissed as the sparks flew, "I know all about you, leader of the free magicians!"

Sihiri threw back the Golden Commander's trident, and her look stayed stern as it swept forward and swung once more. Their two weapons clashed in wide, gaping blows that shot lightning and magic across the room, and the waters below tinted in shades of purple and yellow as they brawled.

"You do, do you?" Sihiri hissed back as she swung for the Golden Commander once more.

The Golden Commander withdrew its trident.

"Indeed." The trident sparked once more and the Golden Commander roared as it swung. The lightning burst forth as the Golden Commander slashed for Sihiri, and she blocked with her staff in turn. "You've led your Ancient-forsaken rebels in toppling our structures and build sites, burned our settlements and reduced our armies to scrap! You've turned our forces against us, and made a mockery of our illustrious emperor-king's name! You've been nothing but a thorn in our empire's side for years! Why, I'd want nothing more than to bring him your head on a platter!"

Sihiri jumped back from another clash, and a smirk played along her lips. "My, then I suppose I've been doing quite well!"

Another blast of thunder came for her, but Sihiri swept aside and shot a magic sphere in turn! The sphere hurtled straight for the Golden Commander with such speed that it slammed right into its gut before it could even react, and it screamed as the sphere dug further and exploded! The Golden Commander's body shuddered as its metal warmed and melted away into a bright stream of blue, followed by its skeleton and wiring. Soon, it all turned to raw water and splashed back into the waters!

Sihiri gasped, stepped back as its remains disappeared into the waves, and another splash slammed against her back. She turned around as the Golden Commander leaped up from the waters behind her with a taser trained on her like a sword. Its optics narrowed and a shrill cackled escaped its voicebox.

"What, did you really think a little speech would throw me off my guard?" the Golden Commander asked.

The crackling of flames sounded from behind, and the Golden Commander leaped back into the waters. A fireball shot for it next as it dove into the waters, and a plume of steam burst from their contact! The steam turned to fog; it churned thicker, larger as the flames evaporated before everyone's eyes, and soon, nobody's—the fog quickly grew thick enough to blanket the eye, and it coated the area from corner to corner!

A few shouts of concern came over the room as stumbling and splashing sounded out and Spyro himself winced. "Sihiri! Eruptor!" Spyro shouted. "Anybody?"

A grunt sounded out as something bumped into someone, followed by a thunk and the hiss of steam.

"Careful there, little guy!" Hot Head warned. "You're gonna bump into something!"

"How am I supposed to be careful?" Eruptor shouted. A splash showed that he jumped back to his feet, and the crackle of his lava blood sounded next. "I can't tell my left from my right in this place!"

Spyro frowned as more anxious shouts and pained cries sounded out, and breathed in the crisp air. His eyes flashed azure, and the power of wind swirled in his chest, in his throat, in his heart as he flapped his wings the hardest he could. The wind was a lion that burst through; it hunted its prey as it thinned and dissipated the mist—and unveiled the Golden Commander as it leaped in the air! Its trident extended so that it was twice as big as the commander itself was, and it rang rife with electricity to boot!

Everyone else scrambled, but a still-woozy Eruptor wasn't quite as lucky! The Golden Commander bonked him on the head, and he cried out as he fell on his back once more. The water below him turned to a thick blanket of steam as he yelped and scrambled up, and his blood boiled once more as he shook the water off.

"That's it! You're getting me all fired up!" Eruptor rumbled as he stumbled back to his feet. (Technically, that was Spyro's line, but right now wasn't the time to complain about stolen catchphrases.) "And you won't like me when I'm fired up!"

Eruptor flailed his arms as fast as he could, and a string of magma blobs soared across the arena with targets set for the Golden Commander. It leapt back into water high enough that its shadow danced across the waves, and the lava blobs leaped after it and cooled into small pillars of molten rock as they hit the water! Of course, not one actually hit its intended target; the Golden Commander was far too swift for Eruptor, and his magma blobs were far too easy to avoid when it was perfectly in its element!

"Looks like we need something a little more high-volume!" Hot Head shouted as he shook his hands. "Time for me to burn it up!"

The flames billowed from his palms in a massive, sunlit fury as they spewed across the lakes, drying away each and every part of the waters until only the rocky bottom was left. The shadow grew quicker, frantic, even, as it dodged the slowly-approaching trail of fire, and it zipped over to where the waterfalls poured in more water! The Golden Commander leaped up as the flames sprung for it, but the waterfall burst back. Its waters just poured with a fury, extinguished Hot Head's flames into another foggy coat, and the water it poured replenished all he evaporated!

Spyro winced and bit his lip. The fog was thinner, and he could barely make out the others' blurry figures, but the sting from its heat watered his eyes and left him hard-pressed for focus. A shout of Vatra's came from behind Spyro, and he turned around right as a burst of firelight came from what seemed like a shield! The shield burned, and cleared out some of the firelight to reveal Vatra, who winced as the Golden Commander flipped back and plunged into the water once more.

Behind Vatra, Ninjini summoned a trio of orbs and shot after the Golden Commander, but its shadow zipped away as each one plunged into the watery depths. Ninjini herself panted and collapsed, and all around, the others fell into the waters and caught their breath. The sight of them so weak and defeated almost took the air out of Spyro's lungs as well. They'd fought for what seemed like ages and they'd hardly scratched that thing! The wear took its toll on everyone, but most of all Eruptor, who shuddered as the light from his lava dimmed some.

Hot Head raised a brow as a shadow rose in the water, and quickly swept Eruptor into his hands just as the Golden Commander leaped from the waters!

The splash rained down on everyone else, and Sihiri and Spyro sprung to action! Sihiri leaped forth as she blocked the other sides with barriers of magic, and Spyro jumped for the back. The two of them readied their blows, but the Golden Commander just slashed the barriers open with a single swing of its trident!

"Have to do better than that if you want to corner me!" the Golden Commander taunted. It raised its trident and water sprayed from its fork next. "Or should I say, us?"

The water thickened, took form by the second, and three identical clones of the Golden Commander formed! The four of them fell to the water in perfect unison, and they all cackled as they zipped for this way and that! One shot a tsunami-like blow for Spyro and Sihiri, and the two of them dropped to the floor as they shot the blast they'd saved for the original straight for it. The clone burst into a spray of water as the raw magic pierced through its heart, and the next two clones skated up and laughed.

One jumped for Spyro and thrust a smaller, thinner trident for his face as he leaped back; the trident fell into the waters and he flamed it away in quick time. The clone burst, and a similar watery burst rang from his side as Sihiri blew away the other, electrically-charged clone. Spyro and Sihiri stood back to back as the waterfall's roar pounded in their ears, and their eyes scanned every inch of the room for wherever the real Golden Commander went—but what found them first was a blast of ice-cold water that rammed them into the waterfall!

They fell into its surface, and the water poured into Spyro's jaw, stretching his breath thin as he struggled against the pound of its massive weight. Sihiri gasped and leaped out, yet quickly yanked Spyro out and held onto him as he spat out the water and strained for air.

Another splash burst out, and the Golden Commander cackled as it flipped onto one of the molten rock formations and took a seat. It propped its head on a hand, and its lights flickered as if the scene before it was amusing, as if this was little more than a game to it!

"Well, well, seems like you're floundering quite a bit~" the Golden Commander sneered. A blast of fire hurtled towards it as it flipped over to another rock, and another and another as more bursts of fire slammed forth and splintered against the rocks. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd almost WANTED them to drown with how much you're meandering about!"

Another splash came from above and Spyro glanced up and winced. The ticking sundial rang in his ears along with the lapping of waves, and above him, the Freebot's cage sunk further and further into the deep as they clung to the cage's ceiling. The water licked at their chassis and Spyro winced at just the sight. A burst of fire caught his attention next as Vatra cursed out, and he looked back to where the others tried to nail the Golden Commander to little avail. It dove in and out of the waves with ease, practically danced across their surface as it dodge blow after blow, and even the mightiest attacks fell to its trident's blows!

Now what are we supposed to do? Spyro thought. His wings flattened against his back, and his mind rattled both metaphorically and literally with some desperate scrape for ideas. This thing's completely in its element and we're not! How are we going to beat something like...

"Geez, just stand still already!" Eruptor cried as he lobbed blob after blob of magma at the Golden Commander. "I'm gonna erupt if this keeps up!"

"Erupt, huh?" the Golden Commander repeated as a brighter light flashed across its face. It spun its trident around, and with one swing, the trident plunged into the waves and filled them with rippling, swirling whirlpools. "That gives me an idea!"

A massive geyser erupted inches from Spyro's face, and he swept away just before its searing waters took him out! Flashes of purple and red bounced around the waves as the others wove around the erupting geysers. The geysers soon filled out the battlefield, and rained down hot, searing drops on whatever was unfortunate enough to cross underneath. The pillars of hot white water thinned out the paths, and soon thinned themselves as purple corks of magic plugged them back into the ground. The corks just barely stayed as the water spewed out and bubbled, for the geysers fought against the corks with every ounce of power they had!

A string of pops sounded as several of the corks finally gave out, and behind them, Ninjini winced as she held out her hands. The magic that glowed from her fingers strained and flickered as she struggled to keep the remaining corks in place, but to no avail. It seemed that for every one she kept somewhat stable, two more popped out of place! The Golden Commander's laughter was the only thing that outmatched the roar of pouring geysers, and it seemed to grow louder, snider for every struggle Ninjini kept.

Spyro winced and stepped back, but zipped off as another geyser erupted behind him. The world blurred as he swept around ,and just barely grazed geyser after geyser, before he finally slammed into something warm and hard like rock! He rammed headfirst into it, as a matter of fact, and stumbled back to find an equally-irate Eruptor in front of him. The ground rumbled underfoot, and they both dashed as another geyser erupted where they once stood.

"These geysers are making my lava boil, and not in a good way!" Eruptor rumbled. "Don't we have something that can suck as this water up?"

Wait, suck it all up?

"That's it!" Spyro cried. "Eruptor, you're a genius!"

"I am?"

Eruptor scratched his head as Spyro held out his paws, yet he quickly disappeared from Spyro's mind as he closed his eyes. The power of life itself flooded through his veins, his heart, and his brain with the power of rustling leaves and spring bursting to life. With a few pops, Spyro found a massive pile of tree seeds rested happily in his palms!

"Ninjini!" Spyro cried as he tossed the seeds in the air. "Scatter these everywhere you can!"

Ninjini turned around and smiled as she turned her hands towards the seeds, and they shuddered in midair! They burst and flew into the waters in a string of plops and bursts, and their entry sent small ripples echoing across the water!

"Seeds? That's your grand plan?" the Golden Commander gawked. "I would say this is far from an opt time for gardening, wouldn't you?"

"To you, maybe," Spyro teased back. He flicked a wing towards Hot Head, and a grin spread from horn to horn. "Hot Head, shine some light on things!"

"Sure thing!" Hot Head shouted as he cast out his hands.

His palms burned with a bright, searing white, but what came out from them was harsh sunlight, not fire! A gigantic sun burst from his hands and hung above the arena as its beams stretched, warmed the ground, and dried it! Steam wavered from the waves as their waters receded, while small sprouts barely poked out from the ocean!

The Golden Commander gasped, and a string of alarmed beeps rang from it as it pointed its trident towards the sun. "How dare you dry my ocean!" it cried as it shook its trident. "What'll you say when I rain on your parade?"

A string of high-speed water blasts sped from the trident's prongs, but they burst midway through their trip to the sun! Lobs of fire intercepted them, evaporated them where they stood, and the steam they crafted blanketed where the Golden Commander stood!

"Using my own tricks against me?" the Golden Commander hissed as it stumbled through the steam. "Despicable!"

The room creaked and shuddered as the seeds grew faster, thicker, and the water levels drained till not a drop remained. Instead, what did remain were trees! Massive trees stretched up to the ceiling with thick trunks and rich green leaves, and when the mist cleared, they loomed over the Golden Commander instead!

"My ocean! What happened to my ocean?" the Golden Commander cried.

It clung to its trident as it glanced around for even the slightest drop of water, and now, it was Spyro's turn to laugh in its face. After all the goading and prodding it did, it finally had the lower hand here! It dove forward and wailed as a thicket of roots ensnared it, and everyone else joined in Spyro's laughter!

"There's no water here, I'm afraid!" Spyro taunted. "It's all just green leaves and old stones as far as the eye can see!" Spyro jumped to the skies as the Freebot struggled within its root cage, and turned his attention to where the water drained from the Freebot's cage. "Now, while you get yourself untangled, I'll just get this guy out of here too!"

"Oh my scrapped body!"

The Golden Commander slashed the roots away with its trident and leaped, but Vatra fired up a fireball and slammed it in the back! It yelped as it tumbled across the tree trunks, and staggered up to jump away, but it might as well have been a sitting duck with no water to hide in. Vatra nailed its side with another red-hot fireball, and it slammed into a nearby tree trunk with such fury that all the tree's leaves flew off! The Golden Commander zipped between the thick cover of leaves, but it winced and leaped away again as the leaves rustled and burst—only for a set of wishblades to stab its shoulders and pin it to one of the tree trunks! The Golden Commander cried out as sparks burst from its joints, and for a moment, fear seemed to shine in its optics. It grunted and shouted as it struggled against the wishblades, and finally it roared!

Its eyes turned an icy blue as a chilling mist so cold it could be felt in the entire room emitted from its body, and the chills seeped into the trees! The trees turned frail and cold as they shuddered, and finally withered and curled in on themselves. The Golden Commander thrust forth, and with one last scream, the trees shattered like glass. The trees' broken remains fell like confetti as water poured into the room like a torrent, like a tidal wave, like a massive roar of the ocean itself! The Golden Commander sprung forth and withdrew its trident with its optics set for Ninjini and Hot Head; they, in turn, cast out their hands and spewed a massive coat of darkness!

The Golden Commander shrieked, stumbled back as the darkness fell over the arena, and then into the waters as it curled and mixed with their waves. The room turned icy cold as the water stabilized, turned thick and still as it shone and crystallized, turned till it was no longer water, but ice! The Golden Commander shrieked out once more and pushed forth, but moved not an inch. When the cover of darkness receded, the Golden Commander laid half-embedded in the cold, frozen ice waves!

"How dare you?" The Golden Commander hissed as it swung its trident at thin air. "How dare you use my own waves against me? And my own tricks, for that matter? Freezing the entire arena is my skill, not yours! None of you can ever dream of manipulating water the way I do!"

"Oh, chill out," Spyro groaned.

His eyes flashed blue as a burst of ice shot out from his jaws, and it slammed right into the Golden Commander's face! The blow froze its head solid, and its arms went limp next as its trident fell from its hands and clattered against the icy floor. That Golden Commander who was such a thorn in their side was now little more than a robotic popsicle, and one perfectly ripe for the plucking.

Hot Head smirked as he pounded his fists together and Ninjini similarly drew her wishblades. They drew their hands, and a shower of volcanic rock and lava spewed out as it blasted the Golden Commander's arms and legs off. The wishblades skewered right through its chest, and flew out with wires and cogs strung on their blades! Another massive blob of lava that burned with a sun's fury sprung forth next, and slammed right through what remained of the body. The Golden Commander burned away to little more than warped, twisted metal as its similarly-warped screams of garbled vengeance rang through the room, and its half-baked revenge cries rattled the ice around.

Spyro shuddered for a moment as the sound rang in his ears, but the sound of a lock opening brought his attention back to the cage.

There, Sihiri tossed the finally-opened lock to the side and whispered words of comfort as she led the Freebot out of the cage in slow, shaky steps. They clung the best they could to her ghostly form, yet stared at the scattered bits of what was once the Golden Commander. Of course, as they paid no attention to where they walked, they hit a particularly slick patch of ice and skidded along the floor. They screamed out as they struggled to stabilize, and Sihiri teleported over and caught them before they could slide off the upper level.

"Careful there," Sihiri warned as she brought them back to full height. "It's quite slick around here."

"Thank you, Sihiri," the Freebot sputtered as it tried to catch its footing. "It is just quite shocking. Never in my existence would I have expected to see the day a commander of the Golden Armada finally fell." Its optics shone a bit brighter, and it seemed as though joy found its way into their face. "Indeed! This calls for a celebration!"

The Freebot went to cheer, but instead of cheering, they just yelped as Ninjini collected them from the upper levels.

"We can celebrate when we get back to your base," Ninjini said as she gently dropped them on the floor. "For now, we have to go!"

Vatra and Hot Head hurried the Freebot along as they all bolted for the entrance, and Spyro went to follow them. But, as he did, he thought he heard something like frantic beeping, and turned around to see a pair of eyes glowing and flickering in the darkest corners, only for them to disappear! He snorted smoke and flattened his wings, but when nothing surfaced, he just scoffed and flew off.

"Must have just been imagining things," he remarked as he flew out of the room.

§

Chills ran down everyone's spines as they wandered, but not from the chilly atmosphere. Well, kind of from the atmosphere, but not from the cold of its airs. Rather, the tension only seemed to rise as Flynn dutifully followed the Machine Ghost's signature down the halls, which were only barely lit by the few lights that remained embedded within them.

After all, the whole place was such a wreck that not one of them imagined anybody would have kept the lights running. Half-broken and seared Arkeyans robots laid stranded among the metal floors, walls were broken and busted open in some places and dented in others, and the whole place reeked of stale, running smoke and oil.

"Wowzers, this place is a mess!" Flynn whistled as he dodged a half-dislodged overhead lamp. "Did a herd of wild animals run through here or something?"

"The Arkeyans were never one for keeping livestock after their technological upgrades, so I doubt it," Cali replied. Her ears twitched, and she leaned over in her seat to get a better look. "If anything, I'd say it looks more like a fight broke out here!" Cali's gaze peered over to a wall with a fist-like dent in its surface. "Half this architecture looks like it'd been punched out, not to mention all those busted Arkeyans."

A few of the half-dead Arkeyans' lights flashed as Cali spoke, and both she and Flynn shuddered as Flynn flicked a few switches.

"Whatever happened to those guys, I'm not interested in sticking around and finding out!" Flynn proclaimed as he pushed the steering wheel further. "Let's just find my ship and that ghost, and get outta here!"

"Agreed."

They sped out of the halls without a second thought, and the helicopter didn't slow down until the sights of Arkeyan carnage made way for something slightly less devastated. The walls were mostly alright save for a few bumps and dents, and though the halls were curiously absent, they weren't completely void of existence. Stray tools and supply crates of all shapes and sizes littered the many platforms that floated and stood above the abyss of dark below them, so surely, somebody had to be here, right?

"Judging from all these tools, I'd say this place is probably a repair hangar of some kind," Cali mused, "but why, exactly, would they take him here if they were planning to take him out?"

"Do you think we might be lost?" Ermit grumbled.

"Ah, there's no way!" Flynn chirped. "We might have had a few setbacks, but it's nothing that ol' Captain Flynn can't handle!" A few blips perked up on the radar as they drove down the path, and Flynn beamed. "See, those little blippy thingies on the radar are probably our guy!"

Cali tuned the radar once more, and beamed as a picture of the Machine Ghost showed up on the screen—but quickly frowned. He seemed a bit more beat up than normal, and though communications weren't enabled, they could all tell from the way he struggled against the Conquertrons that held him down that something wasn't right!

"And it looks like he's in trouble, too!" Cali cried. "We've gotta get to him pronto!"

"Aye-aye, Cali!"

Flynn flicked the headlights on, slammed down the booster button, and the helicopter went off like a shooting star in the night sky! They swerved past more broken, sparking Arkeyans and ruined walls, broken machinery that bled electricity, and barely-hanging masonry. Finally, they stopped at a mass of wreckage so great it blocked off every path but the one off to the side! Miraculously, the massive balcony was unscathed in the midst of all the wreckage, and the lights that brimmed from it seemed to suggest SOMETHING went on there.

"Yeah, I don't think flying's gonna get us anywhere further," Cali remarked. "Looks like we're on foot from here."

Flynn wordlessly agreed as he steered the helicopter to where the balcony began, and parked it right after he rammed it straight into the side of the wall. The helicopter rattled, as did Cali and Ermit. (Flynn, somehow, was undisturbed, but perhaps all these rough landings made it normal for him.)

"See that?" Flynn proclaimed as he powered the helicopter down. "That was an ancient flying technique that only a few select pilots have ever mastered in the history of Skylands—"

"Yeah, yeah, save it for later," Ermit grumbled as he hopped out of the backseat, and slammed the door shut behind him. "Let's just find our machines and get outta here. This place is giving me the willies!"

Flynn seemed hardly fazed by Ermit's complaints as he hopped out of the helicopter, and Cali met him and Ermit around the front. She rifled through her pockets for a moment; in another, she withdrew a trio of flashlights, turned them on, and handed them off so that each party had one in hand. Their trio of beams pierced through the darkness, and brought a path to light as they trailed down the balcony while the sound of footsteps banging against metal echoed around them. The darkness blanketed the world otherwise, save for what faint light came from the functional headlights, and shadows danced on the walls as they twisted to the point where it was uncertain whose shadows they were, exactly!

Another pair of footsteps caught Ermit's ears, and he twitched as he shone his flashlight behind to find… Nothing.

"Ugh," Ermit whined as he brought up the rear, "couldn't these tin cans have taken him to a less creepy place?"

Something thumped in the back, and Ermit winced as he scurried up behind Flynn and Cali. The two of them seemed to be discussing something, but Ermit couldn't quite hear exactly what they talked about, nor did he care—right now, he was much more concerned with all these strange bumps in the dark that he kept hearing around here! He tapped Cali's shoulder but she didn't seem to notice. He tapped a few more times, shook her, even, but still she refused to acknowledge him!

"Hey!" Ermit shouted as tricklings of white mist crept around him. "Answer me already!"

Cali ignored him still; she just rolled her eyes and buried her face in her free hand. Flynn laughed as she did, so Ermit moved his attention-grabbing to the big bloke. However, despite the poking and shaking, Flynn ignored him as well. Ermit ground his teeth and went to curse them out, but a gust and a burst of bright white swept them away from his view! The world around grew cold and misty as those clouds surrounded him, and Ermit's flashlight slipped from his hands.

"I knew it!" Ermit cried. He tried to sound braver than he actually was, yet his hands shook and he sputtered out every single word he spoke. "I knew you clouds were trouble! Now, tell me where you took those two, or I'll, or I'll…"

"Ermit… Ermit…"

A voice Ermit couldn't recognize chanted his name, and he yelped as he scrambled back. The thick white clouds formed over his exit and stopped him, and Ermit fell to his back as the chanting grew louder. Just what did this voice want with him? Was it going to kidnap him like it did Flynn and Cali? Was it going to eat him? Or perhaps it planned to dispose of him, and make sure he never brought the dangers of cloudkind to light? Whatever it wanted, Ermit was certain it wouldn't get it!

"Go away, you Ancients-forsaken clouds!" Ermit squealed as he slipped to his feet and scurried away. "I'm warning, you, I'll—"

"Ermit! Ermit!"

The voices grew louder, and Ermit screamed as he slipped on his feet once more and collapsed. The whole world grew cold, and then warm as he shuddered and pushed himself back to his full height. The light around became a blinding bright white as the mist parted, and the voices raised as Ermit flung his hands in front of his face.

"Ermit! Ermit! Ermit!" they all called, but now that Ermit listened closer, those voices sounded happy, as if they cheered for him!

A few cannons rang out, and Ermit lowered his hands to find…

That he was in Rumbletown? That couldn't be right! He was in Arkus last he checked, and unless it had a secret pathway to Rumbletown (which Ermit highly doubted), there was no way he could have ended up there.

Yet, here he was in Rumbletown, and a whole adoring crowd cheered his name as they waved banners and signs with his face on them, or held up pristine copies of his book. He recognized a few of the residents he'd seen wandering around the streets, and even a few he never expected. For one, all the Skylanders stood in the crowds, as did that portal master, and even Flynn and Cali! A few other patrons stood not in the crowds, but near cannons they fired to the skies as they blew the clouds to paltry little puffs, and for every cloud they destroyed, even more cheering and confetti rang in the air!

"What, what?" Ermit sputtered. "What's going on?"

"Your award ceremony, that's what!"

That purple dragon, Spyro, flew out of the crowds, grabbed Ermit by the shoulder, and dragged him to a decorated podium.

"Your book showed all of Skylands the true dangers clouds pose to us! If it wasn't for your clever mind and dedication to the safety of Skylands, we would have never known how those awful little things masqueraded as perfectly harmless with their white, puffy disguises and aimless floating!" Spyro proclaimed. He shuddered, but quickly broke away as he brought Ermit to face the crowds. "For your noble endeavors, we're presenting you with a medal of heroism!"

Two of the other Skylanders crept out next as they draped a medal with a silky strap and a shiny gold pendant bearing Ermit's face around his neck, and Ermit paused to lift up the medal. It shone strikingly in the perfectly clear and cloudless sunlight, and he had to admit, that carving of him draped in emperor's robes and laurel wreaths was quite stunning.

Ermit chuckled and let the medal fall to his chest as he stepped forth. "Thank you, thank you!" Ermit cried as he waved to the crowds. "I'm happy to hear that my work's been recognized at last!"

The adoring crowds cheered his name once more, and Ermit smiled as his ears twitched with delight. Ah, hearing his name cheered with such love, such eagerness, this was the kind of stuff he dreamed of! Not to mention, it paired well with all the cannon fire that rang out as all those awful clouds burst to bits, never to be seen again! The crowds' roars finally settled, and Ermit supposed it was probably time for the fancy speeches that beings usually gave out when they got fancy awards like these. Well, he couldn't leave his adoring fans waiting!

Ermit cleared his throat, and one Skylander passed him a microphone.

"Now, those clouds, they're nasty little sods, alright!" Ermit proclaimed as the microphone brought his voice to the entire island. Ermit perked up as the crowd nodded in agreement.

"I've always been well aware of the dangers those clouds posed to Skylands, but for years, nobody took me seriously! They always told me, 'Ermit, you're being ridiculous!' or 'Ermit, it's your fault for not checking the weather!' or 'Ermit, quit being a bloke! Clouds aren't harmful!'" Ermit scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Oblivious lot, I'm telling you. Anyways, I always knew that these clouds would bring about the end of Skylands, but nobody believed me! So I thought, 'These beings are totally oblivious! Can't they see the dangers right in front of them?' but obviously, they couldn't! So, I thought that if they wouldn't listen to me, I'd prove them all wrong! For years, I followed weather patterns all across Skylands, gathered evidence of every misdoing cloudkind brought..."

The crowd cheered and watched with all eyes on Ermit as he rambled on and on about the harrowing experience of writing his book, and he had to admit, it was nice! For once, beings adored him, and hung onto every word he said instead of brushing him off as a loon, or kidnapping him and using him as bait! That feeling of glee that bubbled in his chest grew brighter, warmer, bigger the more he spoke, and he accentuated it with grand gestures and excited words the further he spoke.

But then, out the corner of his eye, he spotted a little wisp of electric blue that flickered and faded like it came from some kind of hologram projector! Ermit trailed off as the wisp swept and curled around the crowd's legs before it finally flickered out, and his train of thought screeched to a halt. That blue wisp, was it one of the clouds' tricks? No, he'd studied many forms of clouds, and that looked like none of them. In fact, it reminded him a little bit of something that put a twang of… Guilt, was it? Whatever it was, it dampened his mood and he almost recalled something miserable…

"Ermit, tell us!" cried someone from the crowds. "How did you wrangle the massive thunderclouds of Tornado Alley?"

"Tell us, tell us, tell us!"

The crowds cheered once more and that twang disappeared as Ermit smiled.

"Ah, right, Tornado Alley!" Ermit cried.

Well, he could worry about whatever that was later—right now, he had an adoring audience of eager fans to get back to!

So, he rambled on and on until the sun set. The proceedings ended with one last ceremonial cloud-blasting (Ermit himself had the honor of firing the largest cannon, and Ancients, if that wasn't the most satisfying thing he'd done in all his years), and the crowds parted as janitors came out to sweep up all the confetti and other trash.

Ermit's old bones ached for some rest, so he yawned as he hobbled off to his house—or at least, where he thought his house was. But, his jaw dropped wide open as soon as he passed under the house's shadow. What stood in his house's lot definitely wasn't his house; no, what stood there now had to be a mansion at least! It was probably three stories high with fancy peach marble, gold roofs, anti-cloud artillery mounted on every pillar, and a fancy garden (kind of like the ones he's seen in books, and always wanted to make, but never did) laid out front.

A fancy robot rolled out from the front door, and Ermit winced as he got ready to scram. Surely, a place as fancy as this wouldn't want someone like him running around, but the robot grabbed him by the cloak before he could!

"Master Ermit! You have returned from your award ceremony!" the robot beeped.

"Wait, Master Ermit?" Ermit repeated.

The robot let him go, and its eyes flashed as he turned away. "Yes, indeed. I am the robo-butler unit that came with this house when you upgraded it using the proceeds you earned from your book royalties."

So this was his house! Ermit gasped in awe, but the robo-butler hardly noticed as a screen popped out of his chest.

"As the celebrations occurred, one of the beings you placed on the security blacklist—a drow by the name of Brock—was spotted snooping around the premise. I disposed of him promptly."

The screen showed the robo-butler yanking Brock up by his harness and kicking him across the skies, and Ermit got a bit of a snicker. Served that guy right.

"Now, I imagine you will want to relax after such a busy day. Please follow me."

The robo-butler trailed back inside, and Ermit followed him into an exterior that was just as luxurious as the outside. The inside was all fancy-print walls and floors, indoor fountains, and marble busts of Ermit himself as far as the eye could see! Ermit gasped as he drank in the beauty and luxury, and he didn't even notice something slide under him. He slipped back, and found himself in the luxury of a soft, plush chair as the robo-butler skidded off.

"You can relax in this custom-made massage chair while I prepare your dinner and draw your bath, Master Ermit," the robo-butler said as he disappeared into the distance.

But, Ermit frowned as the robot butler rushed off to clean and cook. That attitude nagged at him, as if it reminded him of something important he'd forgotten. That wisp of blue within the crowds flashed back into his mind, and for a moment, that awful feeling rooted in his heart and grew. Ugh, suddenly he didn't have much of an appetite anymore.

"Actually," Ermit said as he hopped out of his massage chair, "I think I'm gonna hit the sack early."

The robo-butler turned around, and dropped the plate of fancy-looking turkey and vegetables it held. "Are you certain about that, Master Ermit?"

Ermit frowned, if only for the perfectly good food he just wasted.

"Yes, I'm certain. I just had a long day."

"Well, in that case, do not forget that you have a book signing in the town square tomorrow morning."

Ermit only half-nodded in acknowledgment as he trudged off to the halls. They still laid just as fancy as the rest of the place with their floral-print wallpaper and marble towers, but at this point, just looking at them messed with Ermit's stomach. It churned like he was going to be sick, so he hurried off to a room he presumed was his based on the gold-plated rendition of his face on the door. He slammed the door open and leaped in bed, pulled the covers over his head, and just prayed to the Ancients that this awful feeling would clear as he went to sleep...

But it didn't.

He woke up, and the whole world around him shuddered as he laid in the shambling corpse of a gigantic Arkeyan robot! He screamed as the robot clanked and lost balance, and Ermit himself slid this way and that as a ghost at the control panel tapped and steered away.

"You, ghost! What are you doing?" Ermit cried. "We need to get out of here!"

Ermit leaped forth and yanked the controls out of the ghost's hand, but before he could steer, the ghost laid a hand on his! He looked into the hollow sockets that laid in the ghost's head, and chills ran down Ermit's spine as the ghost scowled.

"I suppose you are abandoning me again?" the ghost asked. "Will you leave me to shatter and flicker out once more?"

Ermit shuddered, and his whole body turned cold and clammy. He, he was sure he might have seen this ghost before, but he couldn't remember for the life of him just where or how! That aching feeling of guilt and forgetting something important came back to him and Ermit winced.

"I, I don't know what you're talking about! I don't, I don't—"

"FOOLISH!"

The ghost's cry like that of an entire legion wiped away the room, and all that was left was an endless void! The ghost now towered above him as its body grew larger, imposing even, while fangs of mist curled from its jaw. It opened its mouth, and screamed as it vomited out a massive swarm of smaller, identical ghosts! The ghosts all swarmed Ermit as he screamed and tried to shoo them away.

"Killer! Killer! You're a filthy killer!" the ghosts all crooned at once. "You brought about his death, and now you'll do it again!"

"I, I swear, I honestly don't know what you're talking about!" Ermit wailed as the ghosts circled in tighter. "I've never killed anything other than obnoxious bugs and clouds!"

"MURDERER! LIAR! YOUR ACTIONS WILL HAUNT YOU TO YOUR GRAVE AND AFTER!"

The sing-song jeers of the ghosts grew louder and louder as they circled faster, tighter, so fast and tight that it spun Ermit's head around! The world around him grew blurry and dizzy, and he screamed as the ghosts launched themselves at him. The ground suddenly turned light, and they all disappeared as Ermit fell down, deeper and deeper into an unrelenting void where a giant ghost's face smiled back at him.

"Tell me, are you proud of what you did?" it asked.

Ermit screamed and flailed...

And he woke up in a cold sweat. His heart pounded against his chest as if it begged to break free, and he clutched it tight just in case it actually did. No, no, that was just a bad dream; he was in his nice house, in his nice bedroom, and nothing was wrong! The door slammed open and Ermit screamed, expecting the ghosts to come back, but no, it was just his robo-butler.

"Master Ermit, are you alright?" the robo-butler beeped. "I heard screaming coming from your chambers."

Ermit sighed as he let go of the blankets. "Just a bad dream," he replied.

Ermit hopped out of bed, and the robo-butler dutifully followed as he stumbled away. A wealth of tools burst from its chest, and it cleaned Ermit up completely as they both walked—showering, grooming his beard, getting him a fresh new suit for the day... He didn't know when he made this investment, but past him sure was a genius!

"Now, you have a book signing in approximately an hour," the robo-butler said as it offered him a plate of tea and crumpets, "so I would highly advise that you prepare soon. The crowds you draw are quite massive, and you may not even be able to get to the signing if you do not leave early."

Ermit poked at the tea and crumpets, but his stomach was far too upset from that nightmare to actually eat. He nodded instead, and dismissed breakfast with a wave of his hand before he turned to the door. He took one glance at the robo-butler, and a faint memory of his awful dream rose again before Ermit pushed himself out the door.

The streets of Rumbletown laid oddly barren as Ermit walked off, or maybe he was so shaken up that he barely even noticed. However, he certainly did by the time he got to the town square! It seemed like everyone in town and then some crowded together like sardines in a tin can, and they all eagerly held copies of his book! They all cheered as Ermit came into view, and he smiled and waved back—something that only stoked the flames of their excitement.

"Alright, alright, I'll get ya signed!" Ermit chirped as he took to a nearby podium. "Just get in an orderly line and..."

Ermit yelped as the crowd stampeded forth and clamored as they held up their books, and he yanked a pencil out from the podium's drawer. A kobold beamed up at him as she handed her book over, and Ermit signed its cover without a second thought.

"I have to thank you, Mr. Hermington!" the kobold squealed. "Your book taught me the true dangers of clouds! I never realized I was in so much trouble before!"

"Glad to hear it could help!" Ermit chirped.

A gargoyle in fancy science-looking stuff offered up their book next.

"Now, Mr. Hermington, I'm from the Skylands' Official Meteorology Experimenters, or SOME for short," the gargoyle explained as Ermit signed. They crossed their paws as Ermit passed the book back. "What would you say are the most dangerous kind of clouds? Your input would be highly valuable for our future experiments."

"Just regular old clouds. You know what you're getting with thunderclouds and rain clouds, but with those little things? You never know what's coming!"

"Very insightful!"

The gargoyle left, and after them came a ghost! A little blue ghost beamed up at him as it handed off its book for signing. Ermit shook a little as the nightmare played back in his mind, but he shook it off and smiled as he signed it.

"Mr. Hermington," the ghost asked with an oddly tranquil voice, "what do you plan to do now that you're a bestselling author?"

"Well, first I'm gonna kick back and rest on my laurels," Ermit replied. "I have been working on this book for forty-five years, after all! Then, maybe I'll think about writing a second installment, or getting a movie deal, or..."

"Perhaps finding the ghost you abandoned?"

The pencil slipped from Ermit's hands, and the air turned chilly as Ermit's whole body locked up. "Eh, excuse me?"

"Don't lie. You had a friend, didn't you? A ghost in a machine that you always treated poorly, that you led to his second death! I hear he's off to his third now!"

"Yes, yes!" the kobold from before shouted. "He barely even remembered his own name when he came back from that!"

"Indeed," hissed the gargoyle, "and now he's off to be formatted, or scrapped, or worse, all while you're here basking in your own glory!"

The crowds clamored, and Ermit stumbled backwards only to promptly fall off of the podium. He grunted and heaved himself back up, but yelped and hid back down as he caught sight of the crowds. The once cheering and adoring fans turned monstrous with beady red eyes and snarling fangs, and their cries of adoration turned to shouts of rage! He couldn't face that!

"You coward!"

"Why did you bring about his second death?"

"Why are you ignoring him?"

"I, that's not true!" Ermit wailed as he tugged on his ears. "I, you must have heard something, the clouds must have made that up! They're always whispering falsities into beings' ears, I said so myself on—"

"LIAR!"

The crowds wailed as one ravenous beast, and it blew Ermit right off the podium and into the open. The monsters set themselves on him, and Ermit shuddered as their bodies turned to a shiny, metallic red and gold much like an Arkeyan's! They all shifted into Arkeyan robots and the world around shuddered. The familiar visage of Rumbletown changed to a platform in a massive vault, and all around, Ermit saw visages of two massive Arkeyan robots battling! One was a blue and gold Arkeyan War Machine, the other a Conquertron, and the Arkeyan War Machine kept pulling away and running before veering back and getting hit as its body grew more and more worn!

Wait, now, now he remembered! That ghost, the one that lived in his Arkeyan robot, he was searching for it, wasn't he? But, but why? His memories all jumbled together as his head drew completely blank from the panic, and the sound of metal and clanking rang over and over in his ears.

"I, fine, I admit it!" Ermit wailed. "I'm an utter coward who got that ghost killed because I was too scared to fight an Arkeyan, but, could you blame me? That guy was way too strong! We would have died if we stayed, I was just being—"

"SILENCE!" the Arkeyans wailed. "YOU ARE PRONOUNCED GUILTY, AND WILL BE EXECUTED FOR YOUR CRIME!"

Ermit screamed as something lunged at him, but something else pulled him back to watch as an Arkeyan leaped for him with an ax in hand...

And then, something else slashed it clean in half! Its broken parts collapsed and sparked as Cali stood in front of him, heaving heavy breaths and holding a sword. The world shifted back to that Arkeyan repair hangar; a couple of clangs came from behind Ermit as the Arkeyans who held him loosened their grip, and he looked around to find Flynn, who brandished a large metal pipe and grimaced.

"Thank the Ancients I got here in time!" Cali exclaimed as she wiped sweat from her brow. "If I was even a second later, you might've been toast!"

Ermit clutched his heart, for he was too exhausted to reply. Sure, Cali was right on that front, but he sure could've used the rescue a little earlier! In fact, he almost went to vocalize his complaints, but a few more Arkeyans surrounded them and Cali winced.

"Actually, before we say or do anything, we should probably take care of these guys first!"

So, Ermit just sat there while Cali went slashing and Flynn went bonking. That nightmare he had in whatever that place was rang firm in his head, and the jeers and taunts of the ghosts from it jabbed at him still. He really had caused that ghost a whole lot of grief, didn't he? Ermit always berated him, got him killed a second time, and now, led him to perhaps a third death as well. A pit formed in Ermit's stomach, and he rubbed it slightly as he frowned and tried to get it to settle. As much as he wanted to cower, he couldn't. There was still a chance to save that ghost, and by the Ancients, he was going to take it! If nothing else, he had to clear his guilty conscience.

"Duck!" Cali cried.

She and Flynn hit the deck, and Ermit quickly followed as a string of explosions rang out! Ermit's ears rang as the smoke and fire cleared; theflames left only smoldering Arkeyan corpses in their wake, but even those fizzled out soon enough. All that remained were those corpses and the faint trails of white, sparkly mist, and the latter seemed to intrigue Cali.

Cali pushed herself back to her feet as she followed the trails, and Ermit and Flynn warily crept behind her. The mist grew thicker the further in they went, and Ermit gulped as he prepared himself for the worst. But, instead of any more nightmares or hallucinations of any other variety appearing, Cali slashed something open and the mist all faded away.

"Knew it!" Cali cried. "These things use this hallucinogenic mist to generate illusions! That's how we all got trapped!"

"Well, that would explain why I saw my dad come back to catch up with me," Flynn mumbled. Flynn coughed into his hand as he caught sight of Ermit raising a brow at him. "I mean, of course I knew that! No illusion would stop the greatest pilot in all Skylands!"

Ermit rolled his eyes, and even Cali seemed to hardly notice as she walked off.

"Either way, it looks like this place is just a dead end. We'll have to look somewhere else for him," she said.

They all trudged back to the helicopter, and Flynn fired it up while Cali eyed the radar. But, judging from the confused noises she made, something was wrong. Ermit peered out from the backseat, and sure enough, nothing showed on the radar—just endless static.

"Great, radar's jammed too!" Ermit whined. "Now how are we gonna find that thing?"

Cali gritted her teeth as she tapped some buttons. "I'll try to recalibrate it, just give me five seconds." A loud beep sounded and Cali winced. "Or a few minutes..."

Something zipped past the helicopter, and Flynn's eyes practically popped out of their sockets as he caught sight of it.

"Or maybe we could just follow that helicopter there?" Flynn asked.

The three of them watched as a helicopter hovered in front of a passage that was previously just a wall! The helicopter zipped in, and the walls shut down as it left.

"That's it! There's a hidden passageway here!" Cali cried. "That's gotta be where the Machine Ghost is!"

Flynn dove into the passageway and flicked the helicopter's lights on, but no sign of anything Arkeyan beyond the architecture showed. The lights scanned over the halls, yet all they found were walls, empty halls, and the slight ring of voices. Flynn perked a brow as he fired up the engines, and they pushed faster as the voices grew clearer. One sounded familiarly soft, and quite distressed at that, while the others were more stern and robotic in nature!

"I refuse to entertain your processes!" the Machine Ghost echoed through the halls. "I will not serve the Arkeyan Empire!"

"CEASE YOUR RESISTING AND ENTER THE FORMATION MACHINE!" bellowed an Arkeyan guard in turn!

Their shadows stretched along the wall, and everyone inside the helicopter gasped.

"Sounds like the ghost dude seriously needs some help!" Flynn cried. "Luckily, good ol' Flynn's here!"

Flynn pushed the lever forward, and the helicopter zoomed off.

"BOOM!"

The engine's roar only barely muffled the voices, which grew louder and louder the faster they flew—and before long, they found themselves at the voices' source! They now stood in a round room where a mass of wires billowed out of the walls, and two Conquertrons wrestled with the Machine Ghost's shambling body as he struggled and thrust against them!

Ermit and Cali gasped, yet Flynn seemed hardly deterred.

"Hey, big robot dudes!" Flynn cried as he pressed a few buttons. "EAT LASER!"

The helicopter shook as its cannons charged, and a pair of laser blasts flew out shortly after! They sniped the Conquertrons in the shoulders; the blasts barely chipped their armor, but the Conquertrons' eyes flashed red as they released the Machine Ghost and turned back to the helicopter. The Machine Ghost himself stumbled back as the Conquertrons cracked their knuckles, and their eyes let out one last flash.

"INTRUDERS DETECTED!" the Conquertrons both bellowed.

---

Alright, so here's the lowdown. Here Come the Giants only has three more chapters to go before it's finished, but I'm pretty burnt out right now and need more time to both edit the next chapter and write the final two. So, I'm putting this fic back on hiatus until I can sit down and complete those last three chapters, and then I'll post all three of them simultaniously when they're ready. Don't have an exact estimate time of arrival as things are very busy for me in real life right now, but at the very least, I do want to finish this fic before the end of the year, so I guess there's that! Stay well, everyone!