The temperature was surprisingly warm for the Skylanders' corner of Skylands being in autumn today, not that anyone complained. The cheery warmth of the sun brought everybody energy as they patrolled the island for danger, jumped to missions and back again, sought out the missing parts of the Core of Light, or just did some autumnal cleaning.

That was especially true for Chihiro, who hummed along to some kind of song as she heaved a stack of thick books across the heart of Ancient's Peak! She tossed the books down on the dewy grass with a smile and flopped down alongside them. As she skimmed over their covers, she pulled out a book with a red leather cover that had various runes engraved on it in gold and laid it on her lap.

"Now let's see," Chihiro mumbled as she tapped her finger on her cheek, "if that one's b, and that's e, then—" Chihiro smiled as her eyes lit up "—The Beginner's Guide to Advanced Magic Spells, this should be a good book to start off with!" Chihiro turned the page and glazed over its worn illustrations and writing, partly proud that her attempts at learning Common were paying off at last. "Now let's see… Invisibility! That should be a good place to start!"

Chihiro let out a determined cry as she focused her heart and mind on one thing—becoming invisible, of course. The magic flooded her veins and the rest of her body too, which brought the kind of sensation that made her numb with joy and anticipation alike.

"Alright, now…" Chihiro took in a deep breath and exhaled. "Turn me invisible!"

Chihiro waited for a few seconds, and a few seconds more, and a minute, yet when she looked down at herself—nope, still visible. "Dangit." Chihiro huffed and looked up at the heavens once more as the magic made her heart pound. "Alright, turn me invisible!"

Nope.

"Turn me invisible!"

Chihiro's tone grew slightly more irate as she thrust her arm to the sky, but nothing. Chihiro only sat down and fell on her back with a groan so loud even the birds in the heavens could hear it.

"This is taking too long!" Chihiro hung her head and sighed. "I've been practicing these for the past few days! I dunno why I keep trying if I'm just gonna keep failing like this?"

Chihiro bit her lip. But, if I'm gonna be the protector of Skylands and all, I've gotta have a bunch of tricks up my sleeve, and that means learning lots of spells. Chihiro sighed and sat up. Plus, that Fourth Portal Master Exam could be any day now. I've gotta be prepared.

"Fine. Better stop wasting my time and get on it. Let's see, fusing objects together…"

While Chihiro read over the spellbook, Spyro did his daily laps around the island like he always did during this particular hour of the day. As he flew by Chihiro at a speed so fast that he looked like nothing more than a big purple blur, the book flipped to another page!

"SPYRO!" Chihiro shouted as her expression soured into a pout. "WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?"

Spyro flew back while the gust of wind from his flight returned her to her proper page.

"Thank you."

And with that said, Chihiro continued her studying—for the next five minutes at least. Right as she nearly finished, Spyro zipped back and made Chihiro lose her page again!

"SERIOUSLY?"

Chihiro grumbled to herself as she gathered up her books, walked over to a shady tree and continued her reading. As she laid the book she was reading down, Chihiro looked down at the page she was on, before she realized that she completely forgot where she had left off at!

"DANGIT!" Chihiro groaned as she faceplanted into the dusty pages of the spell book. "This book is gonna be the death of me."

"What are you talking about?" Spyro asked as he flew down from his morning laps to sit beside Chihiro.

"I'm talking about how I'm trying to get these spells down!" Chihiro jumped back up and frustratedly gestured towards the open spellbook in front of her. "I wanna try and get these spells mastered before the Fourth Portal Master Exam—"

Spyro snapped his toes and looked over at Chihiro. "Wait, that reminds me! Master Eon and Hugo wanted me to get you for that, actually! They said they're ready to start!"

"Really?" With an awkward smile, Chihiro closed the book up and shoved it in Spyro's arms. "Well then, could you take these back to the library for me, Golden Boy?"

"I guess—HEY, WAIT!" Spyro hastily flew after Chihiro as she shoved the rest of the books in his arms and strode off, "Chihiro, do you even know where—"

Spyro paused for a moment as he looked over the books, and Chihiro perked up as her eyes widened.

"Spyro, do you hear that?" Chihiro asked as she grabbed Spyro by his shoulder and literally shook him out of his thoughts. Quite violently, if it should be added.

Spyro groaned and shook his head as he gave Chihiro a tired stare. "You didn't have to shake me, you know. Just saying."

"Whatever, just listen!"

The two of then went silent while a strange noise entered their ears. It almost sounded like some people were talking, and one of those people sounded very frantic at that. Judging from the location, it sounded as if it came from the beach!

"Exam's on pause, I'm gonna go check this out!"

Chihiro jumped from where they stood and stumbled down the stairs to the beach. With a sigh, Spyro took to the skies and flew down to the beach where Chihiro already investigated the scene.

There on the beach stood a feline mabu somewhat similar to Cali in appearance, for they both held the same body and face shape. The main different was that this mabu had droopy ears, pale brown fur with darker brown stripes, and bright blue eyes. They wore a bright pink corset, a dark blue vest, tan trousers, and brown boots. At the moment, they spoke with Gill Grunt and Zap, and seemed quite upset at that. What could possibly be their problem, and how'd they even get here, anyways?

"Miss, please calm down, I can barely understand a word you're saying!" Gill Grunt said as he scratched the back of his neck while Zap skated to his side.

"Yeah dudette, chill out!" Zap exclaimed as he made a confused frown. He jumped back as Gill Grunt elbowed him in the shoulder, and glared down him. "Dude, what was that for?"

"Hey, what's going on here?" Chihiro asked as she skipped forward and joined them where they were.

The mabu took a few breaths and went silent Before Gill Grunt could answer Chihiro. "Forgive me for my earlier outburst," the mabu said as they curtsied before the rest of the group. "My name is Jess LeGrand of Plunder Island, and I've come to ask for your help."