Everybody winced as they gazed up at the strange monster that was once the Eternal Earth Source. It had to have been as tall as the valley's highest cliffs, with its body made of massive gray stones occasionally decorated by veins of brown magic, thick moss and sparkly treasure that stuck out from the many crevices in its rocky body like eyes in a cavern. Its eyes were blank, white, and reflected no light, and its stone jaw was slanted into a frown. Rounded, smooth horns that vaguely resembled shark fins poked out from its head and shoulders, while its fingers were shiny and almost crystalline in appearance. It stood in silence as it loomed over the quartet, its eyes glinted with maybe the weensiest bit of malevolence. Its frown grew deeper, and then all hell broke loose!

The monster was really no more than a toddler throwing a temper tantrum as it screamed out in anger, stomped its feet and flailed its massive arms everywhere! With every stomp, the ground shook in fury, and with every flail, the cliffs shook and released fragments of hard stone.

"Jeez, what did we ever do to him?" Chihiro asked as she rolled out the way of a small boulder.

"Beats me," Terrafin said as he cracked his knuckles and wound up his arm, "but he's still going down!"

Terrafin sent a round of boulders from above shooting towards the rock monster with a fierce punch from his arm! He smiled as the rocks slammed into the monster's chest and tossed it into the nearby cliff, but his smile faded as the monster wailed out in anger and stomped its feet with an even greater fury than before!

Chihiro burst into screams as the massive force from the monster's stomps sent her and the others flying, cast her gaze aside and gasped! There above them all, a gigantic landslide poured down from the cliffs above!

Chihiro pressed a glowing hand against her chest, cast it out, and shot three blasts of cyan magic towards Terrafin, Bash, and Dino-Rang. The moment the magic made contact, it hardened into magical blue bubbles! The three of them paused for a moment and examined the bubbles, but Chihiro smiled and waved back at them. This peace was far too fleeting, however, as the landslide made contact and tossed them all across the arena like they were living pinballs! They all screamed as they rolled to and fro; however, because the bubbles were completely soundproof, nothing could be heard.

When the landslide settled, and its dust and wreckage left all across the battlegrounds, Chihiro Terrafin, Bash, and Dino-Rang crashed into the ground! Their bubbles popped immediately, and the four of them were left to fall to the floor.

"Heh, sorry about that, guys," Chihiro said as she scratched the back of her head with a luminescent red blush on her face.

Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang just moaned and pulled themselves to their feet, and looked up as a large, round shadow cast itself over the battleground!

"Rock shower!" Bash exclaimed as a series of large boulders rained down from the heavens.

Bash growled, wagged his tail and slammed it straight into the first boulder to come within his distance! The boulder flew back into the heavens and slammed straight into the next! That boulder flung into the next one, and in turn, that one hit the one before it! Soon enough, all of the boulders flew back to the monster that sent them Bash's way in the first place and crashed!

However, the monster was far from deterred. It only punched the boulders to bits, and looked towards Bash with a bone-chilling glare as its crystal fingers swirled with magic. With a growl, it summoned gigantic boulders to its hands and tossed them into the fray!

Chihiro ran towards the others and cast a shield above them as rocks fell from above once more. "Once again," Chihiro exclaimed as she pushed the shield up. "What did WE ever do to you?!"

"Exist, apparently," Terrafin scoffed as he examined the monster from the safety of Chihiro's shield.

Chihiro followed Terrafin's gaze and frowned just as bit as she examined the monster. "How are we supposed to beat that thing, anyways?" Chihiro heaved heavy pants while her hands glowed even brighter. "Those boulders are way too strong and fast for us to break!"

Terrafin was silent, seemingly ignorant to the muffled sounds of crashing boulders and Chihiro's surprised squeaks. His eyes fixed on the boulders as they rolled down the grassy plains one by one, as if he was analyzing it almost.

"I think I've found your answer."

Terrafin looked back at Chihiro and ushered her over to his side. Chihiro frowned, warily lowered her hands and walked next to Terrafin, though her eyes fixed on the boulders still. She was so firm on watching the rock monster that she didn't even notice Bash and Dino-Rang walk up towards her and do the very same thing, even!

"Look at the way Rocky here is throwing those boulders," Terrafin said as he looked towards Chihiro and smirked. "There's a pattern!"

Chihiro hummed and narrowed her eyes. The boulders all rolled down the way, but a further inspection showed there was, indeed, a pattern to how the monster threw them! A boulder thrown to the left first, right second, then left again but never in the center…

"That's it!" Chihiro exclaimed as she looked back at Terrafin with sparkling eyes. "If we just avoid them, we can still reach it!"

"Exactly!"

Terrafin smiled and readied a fist before he punched it straight through Chihiro's shield! As the shield shattered to magical dusty bits, the four of them jumped out and stared down the rock monster.

The rock monster growled, summoned another boulder and cast it down…

"LEFT!" Chihiro exclaimed as they all ran down the battlefield in a right-facing line!

The boulder rolled straight into the lefthand cliffs and bounced to the right with an intense tailwind blown from the force of its journey! Chihiro, Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang all immediately froze in their tracks, but jumped away and watched as the boulder passed them by! The only thing it did was hit them with an intense breeze!

The monster scowled, summoned yet another large boulder and tossed it…

"Left!" Chihiro shouted, and stumbled back as the boulder slammed into the rightmost cliff face and swerved left, "I mean, right!"

With a hup from all parties, they jumped out the way of the boulder, then dashed back up the path! The monster stomped and howled once more before summoned a trio of boulders and tossed them all down the way!

"Left!" Chihiro grabbed Dino-Rang's hand, pulled him out the way as they all dodged the first, and hopped forward as the second passed them by. "Right!"

As they all swerved out of the final boulder's path of devastation, the monster's mouth gaped wide open and its arms fell to its sides.

"Guys, now's your chance!" Chihiro exclaimed as she propelled an energy beam at the monster.

The energy beam slammed straight into the monster's chest and reeled it back. It hung its head low as it wailed, and finally, it looked up and staggered back. Right in front of it were none other than Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang! Bash and Dino-Rang both summoned rows of stone pillars that lead straight to the monster itself, and Terrafin corkscrewed through the air as he punched each pillar! The broken fragments of the pillar slammed straight into the monster, who fell on its bottom from the sheer force.

The three all sneered, but their sneers quickly faded as the monster screamed and lunged forward! For a monster made of stone, it was surprisingly swift to grab Bash and Dino-Rang and toss them both to the ground! Bash and Dino-Rang both screamed as they flew down, but harmlessly bounced onto the ground from a large bounce pad!

Their gaze fell to a smiling Chihiro, who only gave them a thumbs up as she giggled. While they stood, the monster growled and stomped its feet once more! It stomped and jumped and whined in some kind of perfect fury as the vibrations from its stomps shot Chihiro, Bash, Dino-Rang, and Terrafin back, but oddly enough, nothing else happened.

"What's the matter, mate?" Dino-Rang shouted as he made a smug smile. "Ran out of rocks?"

Just then, a screeching sound resounded from the heavens while shadows fell all across the ground!

Dino-Rang looked up and jumped back as a large rock slammed into the ground below. "Ack!" Dino-Rang flung his arms in front of his face as rocky fragments flew everywhere.

More rocks rained down from above as everyone jumped back and forth! Screams echoed all around as this stone shower continued, until finally, Chihiro jumped in and created a shield for them all. As she held the shield up, Chihiro heaved heavy pants. With all the magic tricks she pulled today, she was clearly worn—even just carrying up this shield was taking all her power!

So, Bash and Dino-Rang flanked both sides of Chihiro, and carefully pressed up the shield themselves! Chihiro breathed as she sat down and collected her energy, but made a weak smile as she looked back up at them.

"Thanks, guys."

Chihiro's smile faded to a look of confusion as the shadows vanished from the grounds. Everybody all looked around, and sure enough, the rock shower ended at last! At least, they thought it ended. After all, the monster was oddly silent, and the rain had stopped...

"Is it over?" Chihiro looked up right as a giant shadow encompassed them and winced. "Nope!"

They all leaped out the way as a gigantic boulder crashed into their former spot, and shielded themselves as it shattered into rocky fragments. But unfortunately, they didn't have time to dust themselves off, for the rain was unrelenting! As they jumped about once more, Chihiro magicked up a helmet for herself and got ready to put it on. Before she could, the helmet cracked and shattered as a small rock hit it!

"Dangit!"

Chihiro teleported away, reappeared under a cliff, and hid behind a stone as the others dodged. Her attention turned itself to the monster, who was still all the more glad to make it rain.

"How're we gonna stop that thing now?" Chihiro frowned and bit her lip. "There's no way we can reach it with all this—" Chihiro's eyes fixed on the boulders "—rain?"

Chihiro gripped the rock she hid behind a little tighter. "I wonder, could I use that rain against it?" Chihiro breathed in, then let go and framed her hands, "I can try!"

Chihiro glowed a bright cyan, then thrust out her hands. It started with one, three, maybe five, but slowly, the rocks stopped raining and shot themselves at the monster! As the monster got slammed with a taste of its own medicine, it reeled back in pain—and the rain ground to a firm halt!

"Guys, now!" Chihiro advised as she popped out from behind her stone. "Before it starts again!"

Bash, Terrafin and Dino-Rang nodded towards Chihiro and rushed into the fray! Terrafin was the first as he dove underground, swam up and uppercut the monster in the jaw! As the monster stumbled back, Bash swung forward and slams his tail into its chest! The monster shuddered as it fell to its stone knees, several of its rocks loosened and rattled, and those rocks finally fell off as Dino-Rang shot his boomerangs at them!

Everybody caught their breath as the monster moaned and fell down, with its arms the only thing that kept it from completely crashing. All around them, the fallen rocks crashed into the battlefield, now physical markers of the damage done.

"Is it done for?" Bash asked, an optimistic smile on his face.

Unfortunately, Bash guessed wrong, for the fallen rocks rattled and drew in more rocks from their surroundings! As the rocks gathered together, they slowly but surely made forms of their own—miniature clones of the main monster!

"Guess not!" Bash exclaimed as he stepped back.

"Great," Terrafin scoffed as he pounded his fists together, "it has kids!"

Terrafin, Bash and Dino-Rang went to clean out the smaller monsters, but in the heat of the fight, they didn't notice the main one pull itself back to its feet!

Now completely recovered, the main monster pounded its gigantic fists against the cliffs! The whole arena rumbled as gigantic parts of the cliffs dislodged and birthed rockslides of a shatteringly large degree!

Terrafin tried to punch one of the smaller monsters, but before he did he, caught sight of the rockslide! Terrafin dove underground, and breathed a sigh of relief as he swam out of the way, but he wasn’t out of the fire—for he was sucker punched by another smaller monster instead!

Bash, winced and stepped back as the smaller monsters backed him into a literal corner. With a grunt, he slammed his tail onto the ground and popped them away with his stone pillars! He smiled as they flew away, but froze and gulped as a loud rumble rumbled in his ears.

"That can't be good," Bash remarked as he looked up while the gigantic landslide collapsed over him!

"Bash!" Dino-Rang exclaimed as the landslide swallowed Bash whole.

When the rockslide finally settled, Bash popped his dizzy head out of its wreckage and moaned. His head swiveled from here to there as if he wasn't fully conscious—which, given the circumstances, wasn't too unlike to be the case.

"I'm… Okay…" Bash groaned as he passed out on the stones. "Ugh."

Dino-Rang winced as he got ready to collect Bash, but before he could several of the smaller monsters dogpiled him to the ground!

Chihiro, meanwhile, was far from the monsters' conflict—because she was dealing with a conflict of her own as she dodged the falling rocks.

"Geez, this is dragging on way too long!" Chihiro shouted in between the sound of rampages and rockslides.

"No kidding!" Dino-Rang agreed as he popped out of the mini-monster pile and looked towards the main monster. "This bloke's too resilient for its own good! After all, we took out most of its body! What else is there?" Dino-Rang glazed over the large monster. "We didn’t get its head…"

As Dino-Rang watched the monster, the gap between its head and neck glowed a bright brown! A brown so striking, so magical in color, it just had to be the light of...

"That's it!" Dino-Rang boomeranged away the mini monsters, then rushed towards where the others were still fighting. "Mates, I got an idea!" Dino-Rang pulled Terrafin, Chihiro and Bash into a huddle and directed their attention to the largest monster, "See that glow?"

Chihiro, Terrafin and Bash paid their attention to the glow. "Wait a second," Chihiro realized, her brown eyes wide and bright, "That's gotta be…"

"The Eternal Earth Source!" Terrafin finished.

Dino-Rang crossed his arms. "My thoughts exactly! So listen."

As everybody drew closer, Dino-Rang whispered a plan to them and smiled as they withdrew. However, his smile quickly vanished when he notes the others' wary looks.

"Don't get me wrong, Dino-Rang. It's a rock solid idea, but," Bash said as he gulped and looked behind, but scrambled forwards, "WE'VE STILL GOT THE LITTLE GUYS HERE!"

Sure enough, Bash was right—the mini-monsters banded together and they were still raring to fight!

"Just leave it to me!" Chihiro chirped with a smile!

Chihiro cracked her knuckles, teleported in front of the mini monsters and lifted them with her magic! When they were firmly in her grasp, she tossed them right at the monster! Chihiro smiled back at Bash, Dino-Rang, and Terrafin as she gave them a thumbs up, but yelped as the monster started chasing her!

"NOW!" Dino-Rang yelled.

Bash rolled in front of Chihiro and shot into the monster, which crashed it back against the wall! As it staggered up, Bash repeatedly jumped up slammed down into it till it finally fell unconscious.

"Dino-Rang!" Bash called as he looked back at Dino-Rang.

"On it!"

Dino-Rang gripped his boomerangs tight. With it stopped, Dino-Rang shot his boomerangs at the monster! The boomerangs struck the monster with such might, such force, that it cried out in agony as a gigantic crack formed in its head!

While the monster wailed and sobbed, Dino-Rang walked up to Terrafin and slapped his hand! Terrafin ran further, and as he drew closer, Dino-Rang summoned a stone that launched Terrafin to the skies! Terrafin soared up for moments and dive-bombed onto the monster's shoulders. As he got situated, he latched onto the cracked part of the monster's head and heaved. Even with his strength, though, it was still a struggle!

"Terrafin, what's up?" Bash exclaimed as popped up from one of his own stone pillars and landed beside Terrafin.

"It's this head!" Terrafin strained as he continued to pull the head up. "It's pretty darn heavy…"

So, Bash and Dino-Rang joined in lifting the head, but even with their help, it was still unwilling to budge!

Chihiro noted this quite well from her position on the ground, so she magicked up a bounce pad and leaped onto the shoulder!

"Times like these call for some superstrength!" Chihiro chirped as she snapped her fingers!

As her snap resounded through the valley, Bash, Dino-Rang and Terrafin all glowed with a brilliant aqua light! With one last grunt, they flung the head off with ease! Inside the body was a hollow stone chamber just big enough to house all of them, and the Eternal Earth Source, which hovered in the center of the body!

All four of them slid inside the chamber and basked in the Eternal Earth Source's glow. Well, they would've, but its light was choked out by an ominous purple fog!

Terrafin reached out to grab the Eternal Earth Source, but before he could grab it, several purple sparks shot at his hand. "Yeowch!" Terrafin exclaimed as he reeled back. "What's your problem?"

"It's probably still affected by that bad magic," Chihiro reasoned as she rubbed her hands. "Let me try!"

Chihiro's hands glowed as she gently embraced the Eternal Earth Source. The Eternal Earth Source, in turn, glowed with a bright, all-encompassing light that forced everyone to shield their eyes.

When they finally opened their eyes, they were greeted to the best sight they could've seen! The damage was cleaned, the monster was gone, and all that was left was a gigantic pile of treasure! They all basked in the beauty of the cleansed area, but it hit them that they hovered in midair and dropped down! Thankfully, the treasure pile was more than enough to cushion their fall; they only popped their heads out of it and laughed.

"That's another Eternal Source out of Kaos's hands, guys!" Chihiro proclaimed as she held up the Eternal Earth Source, and looked over all the treasure they landed in, "Say, what're we gonna do with all this treasure, anyways?"

"I have an idea," Terrafin said as he smiled and picked up some coins.

§

While the heroes of Skylands warred away inside, the townsfolk of Stonetown crowded around the entrance with their breath bated as they looked into its depths. The tunnel itself was far too dark to catch any glimpse of the other side, so all they had to go on for the heroes' progress in the fight against Kaos's cronies were the sounds of battle that reverberated around the tunnel's walls.

All was silent as heartbeats became the only sound heard for moment, but soon the vague sound of digging or tunneling echoed through the halls! The crowd stepped backwards as if they were one, fully ready to attack any possible ne'er-do-wells that popped out of its dark depths.

But, much to their relief, Terrafin popped out instead!

"Skylander!" cried a mabu man dressed in mining clothes and a thick helmet. "Were you able to retrieve the Eternal Earth Source?"

"See for yourself, buddy," Terrafin replied as he pointed a clawed hand back at the tunnel.

There, Bash and Dino-Rang heaved out large piles of gold, jewels and other treasures, while Chihiro stepped out after them and presented the Eternal Earth Source for all to see!

As the crowds cheered, Terrafin walked up to a finely-dressed woman who appeared to be the town's mayor and gestured towards the slowly-growing pile of treasure. "That treasure was what was left behind after we beat up that monster," Terrafin explained as he looked back at the pile.

"Monster?" The mayor repeated as she tilted her head slightly and frowned.

"Eh, don't worry about it! We've got it all taken care of!" Terrafin brushed a fist against his chest then cleared his throat. "Anyways, we've talked abut it, and we want you guys to keep the prize money!"

The mayor stepped past Terrafin to look at the treasure, and turned and looked at him as if she still wasn't entirely certain he was honest. "Really? All of it?"

"Yep!" Chihiro interrupted as she hopped into the conversation—literally. "We don't really need all that money…"

"And besides," Terrafin added as he gently pushed Chihiro back. "Think of it as us saying thanks for gettin' back the Eternal Earth Source for us!"

"Oh, thank you, thank you kind Skylander!" The mayor grabbed Terrafin's hand and rapidly shook it. "With all this treasure, Stonetown should be well off for a very long time! We can't possibly thank you enough!"

Terrafin clenched his fangs and withdrew his hand from the mayor's grasp. "I think you already have."

"Ey, there you all are!" Flynn exclaimed as he strode through the crowds and laid an arm around Terrafin's shoulders. "I was wondering if you'd show up! Of course, I wasn't too worried. You guys are pretty awesome!" Flynn winked. "Almost as awesome as I am!"

Terrafin only rolled his eyes.

"Anyways." Flynn straightened his lapel as he let go of Terrafin. "That isn't why I came to find you guys!" Flynn walked back out of the crowd and ushered for the others to follow. "Come on, I've got something to show you!"

Chihiro and Terrafin looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Flynn back out of the crowds. Flynn's short parade led them to none other than his balloon, except it was completely polished up and repaired! It was so impressive that it was almost like it had never been blown to smithereens in the first place!

"Those townspeople fixed up ol' Balloony for me while you guys were kicking evil butt!" Flynn explained as he leaned against the basket and rapped his fist on its rim. "I'd have to give them credit, I almost couldn't do a better job!"

Chihiro only chuckled. "As cool as it is, we do need to get back home," Chihiro reminded as she hopped up to Flynn. "We have an Eternal Source to return to the Core of Light and all!"

A few stray townsfolk let out disappointed sighs and crowded around Flynn as they overheard this,.

"Does that mean we won't get the hear the end of your boomtastic tales of adventure?" asked one man.

"I'm afraid we'll have to cut the stories short for now, buddy," Flynn replied with a gentle glint in his eyes, "but don't be too sad! If I ever come back, I'll be sure to fill you in on what happens next!"

The townspeople cheered and dispersed, but unlike the joyous civilians, Terrafin and Chihiro were more confused as they looked at Flynn.

"Boomtastic tales of adventure?" Chihiro repeated in a tone that implied she almost didn't believe what she heard.

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Terrafin questioned as he crossed his arms.

"Well, while you guys were fighting, I was regaling the citizens here of my tales of epic heroism and escapades!" Flynn dusted his chest off with his fist. "Oh, but don't worry, I made sure to tell them all about how you guys helped me along the way!"

"Your tales of epic heroism?" Terrafin and Chihiro whispered in unison as they cast Flynn tired glares.

Flynn hopped into the basket of his newly-repaired balloon and waved. "Either way, we should probably be going! Come on!"

Chihiro whistled towards Dino-Rang and Bash, hopped into the balloon, and slunk against its side. Her eyes fixed on the Eternal Earth Source and nothing else as she sat in the balloon, to the point where it seemed like she didn't even notice the others' boarding and the balloon's takeoff. As they flew through the vast skies on their merry way home, however, Chihiro dug through her pocket. She made a soft smile, and pulled out a shiny red jewel about the size of her thumb. As it shone against the warm colors of eventide, Chihiro admired its bright shine before she stowed it away once more…