Darkness. Darkness and strange feelings blanketed the otherwise void of life area that Chihiro entered as the doors shut behind her. Goosebumps ran up her arms as she reached for what she presumed was Spyro's paw next to her, and gave the warm, scaly paw a tight squeeze. Something about this place felt… Wrong.

"Why's it all dark in here?" Chihiro asked.

She raised her hand and got ready to snap a light source into existence, but before she could do so, a light flickered to life! Chihiro let out a tiny squeal as she jumped back, before she realized she yanked Spyro back in the process and gave off a sheepish giggle as she let go of his paw.

"There it is!" called several others from within their party as hands pointed towards the heavens. "The Crystal Eye!"

Chihiro gasped and followed their gaze to find that they were right! The sole spotlight that came to life was fixed on one particular spot, and revealed that seated in that spot, on a large, stone pedestal was a gigantic eye-shaped jewel plated with a bazillion glass plates and a golden disc in the center that almost resembled a pupil. Heh, it kinda looked like a disco ball, now that Chihiro thought of it. She softly chuckled as the mental image of using the relic for dance parties popped into mind. Her eyes glazed over Wrecking Ball, and found that he bounced up and down.

"I'll get it, I'll get it!" Wrecking Ball proclaimed with a childlike eagerness as he jumped forward and got ready to grab the Crystal Eye, only for Spyro to pull him back. "Spyro!" Wrecking Ball pouted and cross his front legs, "What gives?"

"You can't just storm in like that, Wrecking Ball!" Spyro scolded as he flew Wrecking Ball back to the group and dropped him into Prism Break's arms. "Something's not right about them just leaving the Crystal Eye unguarded like this. It's probably a trick!"

"The salamander's right, m'boy!" crowed a familiarly shrill and mocking voice as all the lights finally snapped on!

There, on a balcony ahead of everything else was that awful cyclops king from before! And right in front of the Crystal Eye? A gigantic army of cyclops warriors, all dressed in fancy stone armor that glowed with bright blue lights! Bulky, decorated soldiers that wielded tough swords and axes, tinier peons with equally-small spears, mages with elaborate-looking crystal staffs, even mammoths tamers that rode gigantic cyclops mammoths! They had to have put everything in their arsenal on this one Crystal Eye!

"Oh, I do love a good fight to the death!" the cyclops king crooned as he clapped his hands together and narrowed his eye with a gaze fixed tight on the heroes. "Especially when I know who's going to lose~"

"Yeah?" Chihiro exclaimed as she pushed forward and shook a fist at the cyclops king. "Don't put all your money in one basket! We're not gonna go down without a fight, right guys?"

"YEAH!" cried the rest of the crowd behind her as Chihiro turned to face them.

"Rebels!" Chihiro summoned a sword made out of magic and pointed it towards the army before them. "Time to fight for your freedom!"

With shouts so loud they probably rattled the tower, everyone launched themselves into the heat of battle! Several of the cyclopes ran in to fight the swarming crowds of soldiers almost immediately. One hacked and slashed away at a fairly large soldier with their worn-looking ax, but the soldier swiftly blocked every move they could throw out! As their ax lodged into the soldier's stone chestplate, the cyclops gulped and stepped back—only for a familiar, long, red tongue to shoot past and yank the ax right out of the soldier's armor!

Wrecking Ball winked as he nudged the ax back to the cyclops rebel, who proudly reclaimed it from Wrecking Ball's clutches and swung it at the soldier once more. This time, the soldier was caught completely off-guard and didn't even have time to parry! They only watched as the ax flew towards them, and made a bloodcurdling scream that echoed around the tower as they fell!

But, nobody around paid much mind to that, for they were too busy fighting!

"Prism Break!" shouted a cyclops mage as she waved her staff towards Prism Break. "Give me one of those lasers of yours!"

"Why?" Prism Break demanded.

"Because!" The mage pointed towards the ring of soldiers that surrounded them both. "That's why!"

"I see your point."

Prism Break shook his wrist and shot off an iridescent laser beam straight at the mage! The mage, however, was fully prepared. She merely shot a laser beam of her own from the staff she wielded so firmly! Her laser beam melded with Prism Break's own, and transformed into a gigantic laser that shot down the entire row of soldiers before them! The two of them let out a cheer as the mage high-fived Prism Break, or at least tried to with him being fingerless and all, but jumped back as a shadow was cast over the battlefield.

"Look out below!" Spyro proclaimed as Eyeair and Eyedelle tossed down bombs from the heavens!

While those who heard promptly jumped out of the way, the soldiers only watched as the bombs exploded at their feet and trapped them in crystalline prisons! The whole battle dissolved into chaos, but it was the good kind of chaos, the kind of sheer, spine-tingling feel of victory's rush. By god, Chihiro loved it! With a battle cry of her own, she pushed herself forward and slashed at the smaller soldiers that stood in her way with her energy sword! As they fell, she paused and looked up at the Crystal Eye.

Everybody's freaking out cause of this whole battle! Now's my chance! Chihiro thought as she sucked her lip, knelt down, and closed her eyes.

As she focused her heart, magic flew out her bones and her sword vanished from her grasp. Chihiro opened her eyes, and giant springy shoes made out of magic manifested on her feet! Chihiro giggled as she bent her knees a few times, sprung up, and found herself face-to-face with the Crystal Eye! In that moment of sheer perfection, all lined up from her to just yank it off its pedestal and finish the job at last…

But alas, it was not to be. The moment she reached out to grab it, a barrier shocked her and sent her flying! Chihiro yelled out in pain as she flew across the battlefield, but her pain felt only momentary as she watched her allies with worried eyes.

Their once eager fighting started to relent, for their attacks grew slower and their defenses vulnerable. They dragged their feet as the battle raged on, as if the life had been completely sucked out of them!

A concerned, slightly fearful look crossed Chihiro's face, but then she remember she couldn't fly and gravity was still in full effect. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Chihiro screamed as she plummeted down from above only to land on Spyro's back, "Oof!"

"Had a rough landing there, Chihiro?" Spyro asked as he, Eyeair and Eyedelle looked up at her.

"That's one way of putting it."

Chihiro giggled and scratched her head, yet looked back down at the battlefield with a frown. More and more of the cyclops army members poured in as the fight dragged on. Sheesh, these guys don't give up, do they?

"It's no use fighting, you know," the king prattled as he rested his hands on his lap. "I've got my entire trained army here, and all you have is a bunch of ragtag, part-time warriors! It's hopeless!"

"You may be right," Chihiro retorted as she swiveled around and glared down the cyclops king, "but that doesn't mean we're gonna give up! It's right in Skylander Code number seven: Skylanders fight for the hope of everyone in the universe, and that means these guys right here, too!" Chihiro balled her hand into a fist and punched the air. “We're not gonna give up until we liberate this kingdom from Kaos's grubby hands!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, child." The cyclops king grabbed a chicken leg from a servant's plate and took a large bite out of it. "What you can do pales in comparison to the sheer power that Lord Kaos holds. You'd be no match against him in the person!" As the cyclops king finished his chicken leg, he gripped the bone tight and wiped his mouth with his kerchief, "That's why, once I deliver the Crystal Eye to him, I'll wipe out this whole town and make it the perfect outpost for his armies!"

The cyclops king sneered as gasps rang all around from rebel, soldier and Skylander alike.

"Judge me all you want! As far as I'm concerned, it'll be my greatest decision!" The cyclops king leaned back in his throne. "After all, why beat them when you can join them?"

"You're no victor! You're a monster, that's what you are!" cried Eyeantha as she pointed a finger towards the king with tears of rage in her eye.

"Yeah!" All the rebels and soldiers alike chimed in as they fixed their eyes on the king, all while their weapons laid at the ready and spells charged to cast.

"What are you going to do about it? Kill me?" The king gawked as he placed a hand on his heart in mock-shock. "It's not like you'll outlast the spell I had cast over this area!"

"Spell?" Chihiro cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "What spell?"

"My personal sorcerer cast a spell over this area." The cyclops king made what was perhaps the most sadistic look he could as he tilted his head. "An instadeath spell, as a matter of fact! Everyone outside the safety of this barrier is going to die in an hour!"

Gasps of shock and fear were heard all around as low chattering erupted from the crowd below.

"An instadeath spell? That's forbidden magic!" Chihiro exclaimed as her eyes shrunk, "I'm pretty sure that's against the code!" Chihiro shot a look down at Spyro. "That is against the code, right?"

"Code our," Spyro replied with a solemn nod as he shot daggers at the cyclops king.

"Oh, what do you care? You've only got a half-hour more to live, anyways!" The cyclops king exclaimed as he broke into an awful spell of cackling. "Unless you can break this barrier… Oh, who am I kidding? You lot couldn't even do that if you tried!"

While the cyclops king broke into his celebratory cackling, Spyro flew down to the floor and offloaded his passengers.

"Alright guys, we need a plan!" Chihiro exclaimed as she walked up to the crowd with a stern as stone look on her face. "How are we gonna break this barrier?"

"Well, first we need to find its source, obviously," Spyro replied as he walked up to Chihiro and placed a claw on his chin, "but where?"

"Actually!" Insider exclaimed as they popped up and shifted their way through the crowd, with a fancy stone helmet in their arms, "I've been analyzing this armor with help from the mages—" Insider brushed a finger over a series of the glowing blue marks "—see these marks?"

Chihiro and Spyro both nodded as they examined the helmet.

"Raw magic energy, and it's all going straight to the barrier!" Insider firmly nodded as they spoke. "If we can destroy all this armor, then the barrier won't have anything to power it!"

"Well, that's one problem taken care of," Chihiro frowned and looked down at her feet. "But there's so much! How are we gonna destroy it all without anyone noticing?"

Chihiro heard a humming sound, and looked to her side to see Spyro knees-deep in contemplation. "Spyro, something up?"

"Actually, I do have an inkling of an idea," Spyro said as he finally broke out of his trance and looked up at Chihiro, "but, I'll need everyone's help to pull it off—so who's with me?"

The crowd all cheered and pumped their fists to the skies.

"That's what I like to hear!" Spyro pounded his fist against his other front paw, then leaned forward to the heads of the crowd. "Okay, here's the plan…"

Chihiro leaned in as Spyro whispered away, and her eyes sparkled. This plan had to work! After all, it was Spyro's idea, and he seemed like he knew what he was talking about! But as she turned around and looked back up at the cyclops king, her heart wavered slightly.

"Ready to give up yet, worms?" The cyclops king sneered as he looked down at the crowds. "If you give in, I promise your deaths will be quick and painless… NOT!"

"Who said anything about dying?" Spyro demanded as he turned to face the king.

Chihiro's heart pulled itself up just a bit as she looked back at Spyro, who turned back to the crowd and nod. Spyro nudged Chihiro with his wing, as if he prompted her to jump on—which she did immediately. The two of them flew back up to face the king, who still had that ugly smug look on his face, but Chihiro couldn't let it get to her right now; she couldn't foil the plan.

"In case you haven't noticed, Skylanders never give up, buddy!" Spyro spat as he flew in place.

"Yeah!" Chihiro chimed in as she pointed a finger at the king. "Skylander Code number nine says that Skylanders must be willing to protect and defend the universe at all costs, even if its their own life! If we let something like this stop us, then what kind of universe protectors would we be!?"

"Universe protectors, how pretentious," the cyclops king scoffed as he picked up his chicken bone and waved it around. "You sure love throwing that term around, don't you?"

"It's true!" Chihiro eyes narrowed as they burned with raw fire. "Code seven says we're supposed to protect the entire universe!" Chihiro looked down at the crowds, and cast her gaze back at the king. "Seeing everyone here, I think I understand why that's so important now."

Chihiro breathed deep and exhaled. "Everyone here…" Chihiro shook her head. "No, everyone who's suffering under Kaos's reign is looking to us for hope! They're counting on us to save them from your ugly little boss!"

Spyro smiled up at Chihiro, who only gasped with joy as she saw the light in his eyes.

"Chihiro's right!" Spyro shouted back as fire shot out from his mouth. "As long as there are people counting on us to protect them, We'll always keep on fighting!"

"But can you really do it by yourselves?" The cyclops king he rested his head against his hand. "Just a couple of Elder Elemental imitators against an entire army?"

"That's where you wrong, buddy!" Chihiro shot back as she and Spyro looked down at each other and grinned.

"SKYLANDER CODE NUMBER TEN!" Chihiro and Spyro proclaimed in unison. "Skylanders work as a team!"

Just then, a giant barrage of all sorts of fancy stone armor—helmets, breastplates, boots, knee and shin guards… Everything one could have thought of flew into the air!

"NOW!" shouted Spyro as he turned around and smirked.

Right on cue, the crowd of cyclopes, rebel and soldier alike, joined in unity as they tossed their weaponry, magic spells, and whatever other attacks they could have thrown right at the gathered armor! It was a beautiful sight, to see everyone turned against the tyrant that had cost them all so much. Even Prism Break and Wrecking Ball joined in on the fun as they shot out white-hot laser beams and solid burps straight at the gallery.

Spyro and Chihiro both smiled and nodded at each other, shot their own magic attacks at the armor as it hung in midair, and a colorful explosion blew out across the tower as everything collided into one! Everybody shielded their eyes as the light flared all over the room, and as it faded, they all looked up and watched with glee as the armor was reduced to nothing more than ash!

"WHAT?" The king exclaimed as he fell out of his throne and watched the barrier flicker out of existence, and cast a glare at the sorcerer beside him. "Sorcerer, cast a new instadeath spell right this instant, or it's off with your head!"

Before the sorcerer could respond, however, a giant aqua ball of magic energy hit them square in the chest and sent them hurtling into a stone wall!

"Sorry, bug-eye," Chihiro smirked as her hands flared with magic, "we can't let you do that, I'm afraid!"

The king hyperventilated as his pupil shrunk so much that it was little more than a dot, and in a hurry he jumped to his feet. "You may have turned my army against me and broke my instadeath spell," The king shouted as he jumped down to the Crystal Eye's pedestal and yanked it off, "but can you smart your way out of this?"

As the king held the Crystal Eye in his grasp, sirens and red lights flared all around the treasury room.

"SELF-DESTRUCT MEASURES ACTIVATED!" proclaimed a mechanical voice from above, "SELF-DESTRUCTING IN TWENTY…"

"Have fun being blown to bits!" The king panted as he opened a wooden door behind the pedestal.

"NINETEEN… EIGHTEEN… SEVENTEEN…"

"After him!" Insider proclaimed as they pointed to the door!

Spyro and Chihiro flew back down into the crowds, and with everyone together, they all cried out as they charged forward and broke down the door! The king's footsteps echoed around the cobblestone hallways as they all stampeded forwards, and the self-destruct sirens were now little more than background noise. As they charged forward, the sirens faded out entirely while the king grew closer and closer in their sights. Though, it seemed as if in his panic, he hadn't noticed them at all.

"I may have failed to stop them, but at least I can still hand over the Crystal Eye to Lord Kaos," the king sputtered as he ran upstairs and dove through a large door. "He'll surely promote me to one of his top-ranking officials then!"

"Not so fast!" Insider proclaimed as they jumped into the room, everybody else close behind.

The king looked up and jumped back with a scream! His odds were absolutely hopeless, just like he had told the Skylanders about theirs before! He was trapped in a room so tiny it barely housed the entire cyclops armada that turned against him, and there didn't appear to be any forms of escape thanks to all they had blocked off. All that could be seen was a worn guillotine behind him.

"Wait! Don't!" The king begged as he stumbled backwards. "It doesn't have to be like this! You could join me! We could rule together!"

"Nice try, buddy," Chihiro remarked as she stepped forwards and rubbed a fist against her vest, "but you've killed people, harmed civilians, cast forbidden magic, exploited your position for status and wealth, and did a whole lotta other things that violate the Skylander Code!" Chihiro's face turned cold and accusing. "To align ourselves with the likes of you would be a direct violation of our morals!"

The king gulped as he stepped backwards. With every step back he took, everybody else stepped forward until his back was hard-pressed against the guillotine.

"This isn't the end of me!" The king growled as he backed up further and dug his hands into his pockets. "I still have one last trick up my sleeve, and you'll—"

Before the king could finish, he bumped the back of his foot against something, stumbled backwards, and fell straight into the guillotine! His eye went wider than ever before as the top of the wooden casing fell onto his head and left him trapped inside,.

"NO! STOP! PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU!" The king pleaded as he struggled and flailed against his bonds. "I'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING! MONEY, POWER, MAMMOTH PUPPIES! WHATEVER YOU COULD WANT, I'LL GIVE YOU, JUST PLEASE LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"My apologies, your highness," Insider hissed as they stepped forward and gripped the guillotine's rope, "but there's only one thing we want out of you, and it's your death!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Chihiro asked as she tilted her head, only for her vision to go black as Spyro's wing flung over her eyes. "Hey, Spyro!"

"All hail the king!" Insider hissed as a tug of a rope was heard.

"Spyro, seriously!" Chihiro sputtered as she pushed against Spyro's wing, though it still did little to remove it from its position. "Lemme see what's going—"

Chihiro stopped short as the shing of metal paired with screaming rang, followed by utter silence aside from a loud THUNK.

§

Y'know, one would think that the dawn of a new era would feel more ceremonious, more epic, even. But, Chihiro felt nothing of the sort. She only felt a dizzy rush as she looked around the room while cyclopes hauled away something in a gigantic black sack and cleaned what appeared to be blood off of a guillotine. They seemed so peaceful, even though the king they fought against was finally dead and peace was instilled at last, or maybe her expectations were a little high. Who knows? Everything she knew about this kind of stuff came from books and TV anyhow.

"Thank you, Skylanders!" Insider proclaimed as they ran up and shook Spyro's paw. "Thank to your help, peace is restored to Crystal Eye Castletown once more!"

"Oh, it's nothing!" Spyro dismissed as he returned Insider’s shake. "This is just all in a day's work for us!"

"Nevertheless." Insider withdrew their hand and made a kind smile. "Now, we have a lot of work to do. The old king may be dead, but he left quite a legacy." Insider gave Spyro a wink. "Between the two of us, I think the monarchy's run its course—we've been talking about instilling a democratic election system!" Insider's eye widened as they spoke, "Oh, goodness, I almost forgot! Just stay right there for a moment, alright?"

As Insider left, Chihiro frowned and tilted her head.

"What were they in such a rush for?" Prism Break asked as he and Wrecking Ball rejoined Spyro and Chihiro.

"Beats me," Chihiro replied as she looked up at Prism Break and shrugged.

The sound of panting echoed around the tower as Insider came into view once more with none other than the Crystal Eye held firm in their grasp!

"This is for you," Insider said as they handed the Crystal Eye off to Spyro. "Consider it a token of our thanks."

Spyro and Chihiro gasped as they looked down at the Crystal Eye and then back up at each other.

"Thank you very much!" Spyro exclaimed as he looked back at Insider. "I can assure you, it'll be in good hands!"

Insider fixed their collar. "I'm sure it will! Now, the next time you fight Kaos's cronies, give him an extra kick in the rump for us!"

"You bet we will!" Chihiro exclaimed as she bounced up and down and punched the air, then spun around and headed towards a nearby door. "Bye now!"

"Goodbye!" Insider shouted as they waved at the group. "Be sure to tell Master Eon we said hello!"

"Can do!"

Chihiro smiled as Spyro, Wrecking Ball and Prism Break joined her outside, and watched as the wooden door slowly slid to a close. All was peaceful as the evening sun painted the world in striking shades of bold orange and cheerful yellow, a majestic sunset to end a day of pure, untamed revolution. Chihiro felt the best kind of feeling bubble up in her chest as she darted down a stone path and jumped about a foot in the air.

"WOO-HOO!" Chihiro exclaimed as she pumped her fist to the sun. "LIBERATING THE MASSES FEELS AWESOME!"

"It really does, Chihiro," Spyro remarked as he flew up to Chihiro's side as she come back down.

Chihiro giggled and looked up at Spyro. "And you know what?" Chihiro tilted her head. "I think I'm ready for my next exam now!"

"What are we waiting for, then?" Spyro flew ahead with the Crystal Eye still held tight. "Let's get back home!"

"Agreed!" everybody else chimed in as they followed Spyro's lead.

As everybody else made their way back to Ancient's Peak, the sun finally set on a new day in the age of the Crystal Eye Castletown. A day of excitement, of courage, of revolution and rebellion, but most importantly, a day that led to Kaos's forces shrinking once more.