"So Spyro," Chihiro asked as she brushed her hand against the never-changing brick walls of the portal building's hallways. "What is this mission simulator thing, anyways?"

As the two of them walked, it felt somewhat somber. The lights didn't shine as bright as they usually did, and the chills of autumn wormed their way into the halls and caused a nasty draft. Plus, having only two people inside it added a somewhat lonely atmosphere. In a sense, it added on to the anxiety that alright came with the exam!

"The mission simulator?" Spyro repeated as he placed a claw against his chin and tapped it for a few moments, "The mission simulator's just a machine that make hypothetical missions for you to do. Stopping villains, collecting ancient artifacts… That kind of stuff!"

"Ohhhhh." Chihiro eagerly nodded. "Is it tough?"

Spyro shrugged the best he possibly could. "I don't really know. I only got to test it a few times before Kaos…"

As Spyro bit his lip and stared down at the stone floors, Chihiro frowned and gently placed a hand on his back. Spyro jolted up for a moment, then heaved a sigh of relief as he looked back.

"I'm fine, Chihiro." Spyro flew in place and shook his head as he clearly took notice of Chihiro's concern. "Don't worry about me."

Spyro stared away in contemplation, but Chihiro continued to frown. He's acting like that again, Chihiro thought as she teased a strand of inky black hair. He always looks so sad and worried about stuff… I wish I could make him feel better. Maybe I could try and get and his mind off of things.

Chihiro looked to her side and frowned, but beamed back at Spyro. "So, what'cha gonna do after this?" Chihiro pressed her hands against her back and walked forwards.

"Well, let's see…" Spyro flew ahead of Chihiro and looked down at his paw. "Gotta help Sunburn and Eruptor find out why the Chocolate Seas have frozen over, after that I'm working with a couple relief teams that are rebuilding some villages we recently liberated from Kaos, and then after that, Gill, Trig and I are investigating rumors of troll camps in the Turtle Archipelago—"

Chihiro softly whistled as she stopped in front of a spiraling stone staircase. "Man, you sound pretty busy! I don't know how you can do it, Golden Boy."

"It's nothing. It's all in a day's work for me. I'm a Skylander, after all—"

"I know, I know." Chihiro grabbed onto the staircase's banister and walked up. "But still! You're always working so hard, no matter what. It's like you never take a break!"

"I have to, Chihiro." Spyro cast a downwards, solemn look as he flew up the stairs, and his voice turned cold. "It's my responsibility to undo what Kaos did. If anything, I'm not doing enough."

Chihiro raced up to Spyro's side and tilted her head as she looked over at him.

"Don't you mean it's our responsibility? We're all working to beat him, after aLLLL—"

As soon as Chihiro hit the top of the stairs, she was greeted by an eye-searing light and stumbled back! She would have tumbled down the entire stone staircase in all its hard rockiness if not for Spyro, who swooped in and caught her as she regained her balance.

"Thanks for the save, Gold," Chihiro whimpered as she took back her footing and stepped forwards. "Geez, who turned on all the lights?"

"We did," said Hugo as he walked forward and took Chihiro's hand. "Come on, we've got something to show you!"

Chihiro followed Hugo's path as Spyro flew into the room, beamed and gasped. "So this is the mission simulator, right?" Chihiro asked as she gazed over the machine set before her.

Before her was a metal platform under an orange machine! The machine vaguely looked like a giant lampshade, save for the conspicuous-looking metal blaster-thingie that hung where a bulb typically would be and the two giant slots about the height of an average door. In front of the machine was a giant mechanical device covered in all sorts of bright-colored buttons, switches and levers that rested firm.

"Indeed it is, young Chihiro," Master Eon answered as he floated to Chihiro's side, "and it is also what we will use to conduct your fourth exam."

"Wait, so soon? Why?" Chihiro's face flashed with utter terror. "But, my fourth one was just a few days ago!"

"Well, thanks to Drobot and Hugo's collaborative efforts, we have managed to get the mission simulator functioning again, but we still need to properly test it." Master Eon floated away from Chihiro and towards the giant metal panel. "Given the criteria for the fourth exam, we figured this would be the perfect opportunity!"

"That makes sense, I guess." Chihiro skipped forwards and examined the panel, but a bit of unrest still ran wild in her heart. "So, what's the fourth exam about, anyways?"

"It's quite simple, really." Master Eon floated over to the platform and bobbed up and down. "Within the confines of the Mission Simulator, you will face a manifestation of one of your worst fears. In order to succeed, you must come out victorious!

"Worst fears, huh?" Chihiro joined Master Eon and gazed over the platform. "I guess I can take it!"

"Very well then. Hugo and I will start up the machine." Master Eon floated back to the panel and glowed slightly brighter, though it was hard to tell under all the fluorescent light. "Do not fret, Hugo and I will supervise your exam. Should anything go wrong with the simulation, we will pull you back immediately!"

Chihiro gave Master Eon a thumbs up as she looked up at the blaster. "Alrighty! Fire it up!"

Chihiro frowned a curious frown as she just barely heard the sound of buttons being pressed and levers being pulled in the background. What could her worst fear possibly be? Bugs? Needles? Oni? That one monster from that movie she watched when she was seven?

"I don't know, I'm not sure if those would be considered worst fears," Chihiro whispered to only herself as she paced in a circle around the platform and gained a serious expression. " Unless it's a mix of all of those!"

"Ready to launch in five…" Hugo exclaimed, his nasally voice a bit calmer than usual. "Four…"

Chihiro stood tall and beamed up at the blaster, which now glowed… Red? "Hey, Hugo?" Chihiro asked as she cast Hugo a glance. "Is this thing supposed to be red?"

"Three…"

The blaster pulsed a brighter red as the sound of sizzling circuits was heard above. Hopefully that was a normal sound.

"Two… One…"

Hugo pulled a lever, and a siren blared, a siren so loud it could've probably been heard in all of Skylands!

"WARNING, WARNING," blared a mechanical feminine voice over the wail of the siren, "MACHINE IN CRITICAL STATE!"

The machine continued to wail as the sirens grew louder and the lights slowly turned pink.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound good!" Chihiro exclaimed.

She tried to race out of the machine, but her way out was blocked off by a solid glass door that slid all around her! Chihiro's breath turned panicked as she pounded on the glass, but it was no use as the material was far to strong for her fists to crack. Sweat dripped down her head as the sirens grew louder, and the fluorescent lights turned so red it dyed everything a blood-like shade of crimson. Everything was so loud and bright and overwhelming that she couldn't take it! Chihiro kept screaming and screeching as loud as she could, and she pounded her fists and kicked her legs against the glass, but she still couldn't do a thing.

"HUGO! MASTER EON! LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!" Chihiro begged, her voice shrill and strained from all her screaming, and her eyes so wide that her pupils were more or less dots.

While her heart pounded so fast it practically jumped out of her chest, Chihiro looked over at the panel and caight a frantic Hugo as he messed around with the panel and talked to both Master Eon and an equally-panicked Spyro. Judging by the way they reacted, this definitely wasn't planned.

"Guys, please!" Chihiro sobbed as she pounded on the glass while tears of panic stung her eyes. "Let me out!"

Though she couldn't hear what they were saying, Spyro definitely noticed her! He took once glance at the glass, and hastily tugged on Hugo's jacket as he pointed towards her. Hugo shot something back as he toyed with a knob, but Chihiro paid no mind.

Instead, she was far more concerned by the mechanical whirring she heard above her. Her mind was so overwhelmed and overstimulated by the sirens and the lights and the panic that she barely noticed it, but something was going on. Had they gotten her out? Chihiro looked up and gulped. No, that was most certainly not the sound of them getting her out.

Rather, it was the sound of the giant blaster above her, which was completely absorbed by threatening red light! Chihiro was shocked speechless. All she could do was pant and stare wide-eyed as the light grew larger, and the whirring grew wilder, and the blaster looked more and more like it was going to shoot and—

CRASH!

Something smashed through the walls and tackled Chihiro, but it was too late! The blaster shot both her and the other thing with a giant beam of light, and the last thing Chihiro saw was bright, eye-searing, blood red.