CRASH!

BANG!

BLAM!

WHOOSH!

These sounds and more were all heard as the battle between Spyro and Kaos raged further and further on! With every charge, every punch, every blast of raw elemental magic that shot out, it seemed like the stakes raised higher and higher!

And with every second that passed, Chihiro only grew more anxious. "C'mon, Spyro, you can do it!" Chihiro whispered as she clasped her hands around the smooth rock she hid behind and poked her head over it. "Beat him down already!"

Back in the skies, Kaos and Spyro crashed against each other with the force of all the elements, literally. Spyro continually charged against Kaos in an attempt to get Kaos off his guard, but Kaos was diligent for a change. For every charge, Kaos merely deflected with a shield made of hard light!

"Do you really think you can beat me, the ALMIGHTY KAOS?" Kaos demanded as he blocked another ram from Spyro.

"Well, you know what I say, Kaos," Spyro remarked as he opened his jaw, which crackled with a red-hot light, "DON'T DARE THE DRAGON!"

As he said this, Spyro shot out a volley of white, burning fireballs! They all charged towards Kaos, who smirked and dodged out the way as if they were nothing more than flies! Instead, these fireballs all crashed in a row on the battlefield, and some of them landed dangerously close to where Chihiro spectated the battle.

"ACK!" Chihiro exclaimed as she jumped out the way of a gigantic fireball before she looked up at the battle and shook a fist. "YOU GET HIM, SPYRO! ROAST HIM LIKE A CHICKEN! YOU'VE GOT THIS IN THE BAG!"

Despite the sheer distance in their positions, Spyro could clearly hear her words as he broke into a smile. However, a cocky laugh from Kaos soon turned that smile into a frown.

"You? Win? HA!" Kaos scoffed as he glared down Spyro. "What could you possibly do? You've already LOST! You lost your friends, you lost the Core of Light… You've already lost so much, why don't you just give up like a good little dragonfly?!"

Spyro jumped back a bit, clearly taken aback by Kaos's words, but not for long. "That's where you're wrong, Kaos!" Spyro regained his composure and glared down Kaos once more, "You may have gotten the upper hand, but you haven't won yet!"

Kaos's tendrils stroked his chin as he smirked. "Really? I don't know about that~"

"You can keep saying that all you like, but I won't give up!" Spyro bore his now opalescent white fangs into a snarl. "No matter how many times you try to conquer Skylands, I'll always stop you!"

"But what can you do?! You're all ALONE! ALONE!"

"THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE WRONG!"

Spyro smirked as he watched Kaos stumble back in surprise—looks like Kaos clearly wasn't expecting that. With Kaos temporarily unarmed, Spyro shot out a blast of magic and grinned as Kaos screamed in agony!

"Even if I'm on my own, they'll always be with me! The other Skylanders, Master Eon, Hugo, Flynn, Chihiro…" Spyro smiled down at Chihiro, and looked back at Kaos with sheer confidence. "Even when we're not together, they're always cheering me on! They've always been there for me, even when I lost sight of them!"

While Kaos regained his stature, Spyro clasped his front paws into fists. "And as long as I have them to support me, as long as I have their hopes and encouragement in my heart—" Spyro's body glowed twice as bright as before "—I'll never give up!"

"That's a whole lot of talk, dragonfly!" Kaos's tendrils glowed in a rainbow of colors. "Let's just CUT TO THE CHASE!"

With a whoosh and a snap, the tendrils all shot off elemental attacks of all kinds! Gigantic blasts of magic, crackling hot fireballs, skulls as hard as rocks, everything one could think of was caught in the mix! Yet, Spyro was not concerned in the slightest! He merely closed his eyes, and opened them to reveal they had changed in color to a striking violet! Just then, the attacks that once barreled towards him all stopped in place before they whipped around and shot straight at Kaos! Kaos's eyes widened as every single attack he flew off came back to bite him, all in such a sudden manner that he couldn't do a thing! All he could do was stand there and scream as all the attacks crashed into him in a bright rainbow explosion!

Spyro shielded himself from the blow with a shield of magic, and watched as the explosion faded to reveal that Kaos was completely gone! His body was little more than a mold of rainbow energy that slowly slipped out of its shape and flowed back into the ground. Spyro smiled as the last of Kaos fade away, closed his eyes, and glowed in a bright rainbow. With a flash, he returned to his normal form as all the energy he stole from Kaos released back into the world.

As he landed back onto the ground, Chihiro came out of her hiding place and smiled, then looked around as the area slowly glowed in a rainbow-colored miracle! The broken ground and dead grass slowly sprung back to life, literally! The red-painted skies turned to a crystalline blue as puffy clouds popped up like rabbits, the wreckage and disarray slowly repaired itself, and most importantly…

"Ugh," Gill Grunt groaned as he sat up and rubbed his aching head. "What happened?"

"I don't know, man," Terrafin remarked as he got up and stretched. "Last I remember, we were fighting…"

"KAOS!" Eruptor exclaimed as he jolted back up and whipped his head around, "WHAT HAPPENED?"

Sure enough, all the Skylanders were revived! One by one, their consciousness returned as the battlefield returned to its former, beautiful state. Though unfortunately, the sudden revival did nothing to cure their confusion.

"Everyone, everyone, don't worry!" Spyro shouted out in his most leaderly voice. "Kaos is gone now, we took care of him!"

"Really?" The other Skylanders exclaimed at one as they crowded around Spyro and Chihiro.

Chihiro nodded with the beam to match. "You bet!" Chihiro chirped as she bounced up and down. "It was so awesome, too! You should've been there to see it!"

"Why, this calls for a celebration!" Gill Grunt exclaimed as he and the others Skylanders lifted Spyro and Chihiro up in the air.

"HIP HIP!" the Skylanders shouted as they tossed Spyro and Chihiro in the air!

"HOORAY!" they exclaimed as they caught Spyro and Chihiro when they landed.

"HIP HIP!"

"HOORAY!"

"HIP HIP!"

"HOORAY!"

"Chihiro, I think something's wrong!" Spyro shouted over the crowd while he looked back at Chihiro. "Why haven't we left the simulator yet?"

"I don't know!" Chihiro shouted back with a shrug. "Maybe it's because I haven't faced my worst fear yet?"

"You haven't?"

"Nope!" Chihiro shrugged and shook her head, "I kinda ran off in a panic!"

As the Skylanders dropped Chihiro and Spyro back down on the grass, Chihiro winced and looked away, but turned around as something grabbed her hand. She expected it to be one of the others, but instead, it was Spyro who beamed up at Chihiro and squeezed her hand with his warm, soft paw.

"Then, we'll just have to face it together!"

"Guess so!" Chihiro only smiled and giggled as she looked down at Spyro.

"Wait, you aren't staying for the party?" Gill Grunt asked with a frown.

Spyro flew up to Gill Grunt and placed a paw on Gill Grunt's shoulder. "Sorry, guys." Spyro shook his head. "The real world still needs us. We need to get out of here!"

The Skylanders all nodded in understanding as they glowed with a faint, white light and left Spyro and Chihiro's side. Though they weren't the real versions of Spyro and Chihiro's friends, it still felt a little sad to see them go so soon after they were reunited...

"Be sure to beat up the real Kaos real good for us, Spyro!"

"Yeah!"

"Tell the real me that I said hi!"

Soon enough, the simulated battlefield and all its unreal inhabitants faded away in a soft glow of white, one that made everything look a bit ethereal and angelic. All that was left of it was a door. Spyro and Chihiro nodded, walked up to the door and placed their hands on its knob.

"On three," Spyro said as he tightened his grip on the knob. "One…"

"Two…" Chihiro said as her own grip grew firm.

"THREE!" the two of them shouted in union as they yanked open the door.

As they looked inside the door's contents only for loud, voracious growling sounds to echo, Spyro and Chihiro yelped and jumped back!

"Yeah, it definitely didn't look like that when I left it!" Chihiro shouted with a panic-striken tone.

§

"Is this the place?" Slam Bam asked as he looked down at the shipmaster, who only nodded as they both gazed over the area before them.

This area was a large hill, probably taller than any other space on the island. A winding cobblestone pathway hid away under the shelter of an elegant metal gate—at least, it would have been if the gate wasn't already opened. On top that grassy hill rested a gigantic mansion that probably cost as much as every other building Slam Bam saw on the island combined. The whole place rang with a sense of ominous nature, though maybe that foreboding came from Slam Bam's worries. Either way, it was no use standing around here and worrying.

"Come on," was all Slam Bam said as he motioned towards the shipmaster and warily walked up the hill.

All around them, splintered wood, upturned earth, trampled grass and more covered the hill like snow in winter. Had there been a big battle here? There had to have been, because when Slam Bam arrived at the top, the whole place was in shambles! The earth around the front yard was completely disheveled and tossed around, paths of grass were singed and pulled out, blood stains dropped onto the stone pavement… Despite all this, the empty wooden stall that rested in front of the mansion's doorway seemed perfectly intact. Just what on Skylands could have caused this?

"So you came," said a soft voice from the shadows, "I feared you wouldn't have arrived in time."

"WHO'S THERE?" Slam Bam demanded as he curled his hands into fists and bore his teeth. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Calm down, I mean you no harm."

Slam Bam growled, and looked over to a shadowy corner behind the mansion. A pair of eyes fixed its gaze on him and the shipmaster, but before Slam Bam could launch an attack, the figure brought up a playing card with a queen of hearts printed onto its surface! Slam Bam's arms dropped to his side as his rage subsided just a little. This had to have been the person who sent him the message, but who were they? Their voice did sound kind of familiar.

"What happened here?" Slam Bam asked at last as he surveyed the wreckage. "It looks like a pack of reindeer crashed through this place!"

"Your friends came here to rescue the mayor." The shadowy figure looked down with a frown. "But unfortunately, they befell a worse fate."

"Don't tell me…"

Slam Bam's heart stopped as he stepped back. It couldn't possibly…

"It's not that, don't worry." The figure seemingly shook their head. Granted, it was hard to tell since they were hidden in the shadows, but nonetheless. "The pirates captured them, and they're getting ready to leave for their hideout!"

"THEY ARE?" Slam Bam jumped forward, now raring to go. "Where are they now?"

"A-HEM!" interrupted a high, almost nasally voice from the sidelines. "Are you forgetting about someone? I'm still trapped here, you know!"

Slam Bam's eyes trailed to the right, and there he saw an ursine mabu man dressed in fancy blue and gold clothes trapped in a silver cage. His arms were crossed as he tapped his foot, an impatient frown stretched across his face. Slam Bam, the shipmaster and the shadowy figure all awkwardly coughed into their hands, and Slam Bam and the shipmaster walked up to the cage. With a latch onto the door and a firm yank, the door was ripped off in an instant!

"Thank you," the mabu man sighed as he brushed himself off, "I may be the mayor, but the next time those pirates show their faces, I'll, I'll—"

"There's no time to chit-chat!" The shadowy figure exclaimed from the shadows. "Those pirates are getting ready to leave with their spoils and your friends!" The shadowy figure dashed ahead of the others. "They've headed to the back docks, come on!"

"Right!" Slam Bam exclaimed as he looked towards the mayor and shipmaster "I'll be right—" Slam Bam stopped short as he found that the shadowy figure completely disappeared from view "—behind you."

Slam Bam warily followed as the mayor and shipmaster ran down the other side of the hill. Just who was that person? Slam Bam could only ask himself that as he gazed over the cloudy skies, his mouth twisted into the frown.