The outside world bustled with energy and life, but this was hardly a concern for Chihiro as she trekked up one of the many spiraling stone staircases within the portal building with a simple, but heavy-looking bag slung across her shoulder.

"Y'know, for something that's called the portal building," Chihiro panted as she sat down on a thick stair and caught her breath, "they really do have a lot of stuff that isn't portals. I should ask Hugo about that sometime."

Chihiro took a few breaths more, slid her bag off her shoulders and flipped its flap open. As she examined its contents, she rubbed her hands against its burlap surface and smiled. "Better make sure I have everything before I get there." Chihiro chuckled and gazed at the few sunbeams that filtered in through dusty windows before she looked back at her bag once more. "The instruction manuals, tools, snacks if things run late…"

Chihiro flipped the flap back over and heaved the bag onto her shoulders once more.

"Yep, that should be everything!" Chihiro stretched to the skies and bent her knees. "Better not wait any longer!" Chihiro smiled and jumped onto the next step. "Hup!"

A newfound energy birthed itself in Chihiro as she jumped from stair to stair, her balance steady and careful so as to not fall all the way back down those stairs. After all, one slip up and it would be a long, painful trip back down. Chihiro shuddered, and as she finally reached the top of the stairs, she took a few steps towards a wooden door cracked just a smidgen open.

"And here we are!" Chihiro smiled and pushed the door open. "My workshop!"

The workshop itself was quite barebones, save for the many stray papers and blueprints scattered across the floor. Its dully-colored stone walls and floors were only decorated by a clean workbench, a simple wooden chair cushioned with black pillows and something hidden under a white tarp tinted cream by the sunlight that poured in from the overhead window.

Chihiro slid her bag off of her shoulders as she skipped towards the table. A twinge of excitement made shudders run down her body as Chihiro haphazardly flipped the bag open and dumped its contents onto the table.

"Now!" Chihiro spun around, jumped on the chair and clapped her hands, "time to get to work!"

As the last of her handclaps echoed through her tiny workspace, the books and tools she dumped all over the table glowed with her trademark cyan light and sprung to their metaphorical feet!

"You know the drill by now, guys," Chihiro chuckled as she gestured towards the tools, who all nodded in turn to a worn drill, "and I'm sure you know what we're gonna do today! We've gotta make sure this thing—" Chihiro jumped from her chair and walked over to the tarp-covered device. "—is ready for presentation!"

Chihiro grabbed the tarp then yanked it straight off! As the tarp warbled in the wind, Chihiro beamed and gazed over the device rested under the tarp, which was a strange machine beyond any sort of description.

"So yeah!" Chihiro walked back to her chair and leaped right in. "Book, guide them along!"

The book bowed to Chihiro, turned towards the tools and pointed its pages towards the strange machine. As the tools stood straight, the book leaped off the table and waddled towards the machine, the tools soldiers to a commander as they trailed behind the book.

"Hmmm," Chihiro hummed as she leaned back in her chair, her eyes fixated on the strange machine while her tools did their thing. "Hmm…"

As she hummed and rubbed her chin, the book stood firm with its cover crossed behind its back. Its stance was diligent as it watched several mechanical tools, all of which were also animated with magic, carefully tweak the machine's inner workings.

"Okay, just a little more to the right!"

As Chihiro said this, the book stuck out a corner of its page towards the tools, who made some clanking sounds that vaguely sounded like words and twisted a bolt tighter.

"Screw that screw in a few turns left!"

A screwdriver jumped from the cold, stone floors of the room and screwed a screw in tighter.

"Now just pair those two cables together!"

A pair of thickly-padded gloves leaped from the floor and did just that.

"That should be all!"

Chihiro grinned as she leaped out of her seat, spun around and giggled. As her eyes trailed over the machine, she paused in her celebration, walked over and rubbed her hand against its hodgepodge metallic surface with a kind of fondness.

"Man, I hope this thing helps everyone out some," Chihiro remarked as she wiped her hands off. "After all, I've been working on it for like half a week straight!"

Chihiro's gaze didn't fix on the machine long, however, for her eyes soon followed the warm beams of sunlight that poured in from the window above and brought a level of comforting warmth to the otherwise quite chilly stone room. From outside, one could hear merrymaking and cheerful chatter delivered from the outside world in a muffled symphony.

"Alright guys, take five!" Chihiro said as the once lively tools became stiff and inanimate once more. "I think we deserve a break after all that work!"

And with that, Chihiro opened the room's sole door and hopped down the stairs without a thought even taken to close it. As she left, she paid no mind to the fact that her machine's panel was still wide open and accessible to any possible tampering and tainting. However, the fly that flew into the room just did! It buzzed a curious buzz as it flew over to the machine, and buzzed some more as it flew closer and closer to the panel's insides…

§

"Ah, this is the life," Chihiro spoke to the world as she plopped down onto the grass, "just sitting down and relaxing on the grass. Man, I'm glad I picked now to take my break."

Truthfully, now was the best time to relax! Most everybody preoccupied themselves with missions or indoor tasks, and that left them precious little time to go outdoors. In fact, it was like Chihiro had almost all the space in the island! Her only companion was Stealth Elf, who peacefully meditated under the safety of a sturdy tree.

Chihiro smiled as she breathed in the crisp autumn air and closed her eyes, but opened them once more as she heard muttering from above and saw Camo pacing about. "Camo, what are you doing?" Chihiro asked, still half-asleep.

Camo, however, completely ignored Chihiro and went back to pacing and muttering. Strange, Camo was never really the contemplative type; what had him so worked up? Was there another beetle infestation in Master Eon's garden or something?

"Camo?" Chihiro leaned up and waved a hand in front of his face. "Camo! Hellooooo? Skylands to Camo?"

Camo dug his heels into the ground just in time to avoid slamming face-first into Chihiro's hand.

"Oh, Chihiro!" Camo chirped as he brushed his leafy tail against her back, his voice hinted with a slight trill of his Rs, "What's up?"

"That's what I should be asking you!" Chihiro tilted her head as she tapped Camo's muzzle. "What're you muttering about?"

Camo looked down and scratched his head. "Well, light night, I had this really weird dream!" Camo paced back and forth across the heart of Ancient's Peak with little mind paid to the crunchy, colorful fall leaves that littered the grass.

"Mm-hmm," Stealth Elf mumbled as she crossed her legs and closed her eyes.

"See, I don't remember anything about it. I don't think anything happened in it, really." Camo paused his pacing and sat down, a paw on his chin. "I do remember that I heard this strange voice, though!"

"Mm-hmm." Stealth Elf's ear twitched, but other than that, she was still like a tall, sturdy tree.

"This voice, it was crying out for me to help it! That's not even the weirdest part!" Camo rubbed his head as he went back to pacing. "I'm sure I've heard this voice before, but I can't remember where for the life of me!"

"Eh," Chihiro uttered as she shrugged her shoulders, her gaze peaceful as she laid in the grassy fields. "It's probably not that big of a deal. I have weird dreams all the time!"

Camo walked over to Chihiro and looked down at her. "I'm not so sure, Chihiro. I don't know why, but I feel like there's something super important about this dream! Like, I can feel it in my gut!"

Camo frowned and shook his head. With another round of ramblings, he continued pacing all around the area and crunching old autumn leaves underfoot. Beside him, Stealth Elf scrunched her eyebrows and twitched her ears, but took another deep breath and composed herself.

"Whatever." Chihiro shrugged her shoulders again and rolled on her side. "I think I'm gonna take a quick nap, Yeah, that sounds nice."

Chihiro smiled a quiet, peaceful smile as she closed her eyes. She seemed perfectly still and serene as she curled up into a snug, cozy ball, until she snored as loudly as a human could snore!

Stealth Elf gritted her teeth and shuddered. Her brows furrowed even more than before, she took a deep breath in, exhaled, went back to her prior treelike stillness. However, she fell face-first as Hugo barged in while completely absorbed in the papers he held as he muttered at the top of his lungs!

"Oh, sorry about that, Stealth Elf," Hugo apologized as he looked down at a very irate-looking Stealth Elf.

"It's fine," Stealth Elf hissed as she sat back up and returned to her prior position, "just watch where you're going."

Chihiro stirred a bit in her sleep, grunted and sat back up. "Somethin' wrong, Huges?" Chihiro mumbled as she rubbed her tired eyes with their warm gaze trained on Hugo. "You seem more anxious than usual."

"Actually, now that you mention it," Hugo said as he walked over to Chihiro, "I've run into quite the predicament!"

"And that is?" Chihiro brushed a couple leaves out of her inky hair.

"Well, I've found the Eternal Life Source—"

"And that's a problem?" Chihiro jumped to her feet as a new energy coursed in her veins. "Why aren't we going after it already?"

Hugo steepled his fingers and pressed them against his forehead. "That's where the problem comes in. You see, it's located in the Great Forest, which we all thought was just a legend! So as you can imagine…"

"You've got no idea how to get there?"

"Exactly." Hugo sat down on the grass and sighed. "I've looked through every textbook, every book of legends, every single resource I can think of!" Hugo flopped down onto his back. "Unfortunately, it's gotten me no closer than before."

Chihiro just sat down next to Hugo and patted his head. "I wouldn't worry so much about that kinda stuff, Huges!" Chihiro said as she ruffled his furry head. "Whenever stuff like this happens, something always conveniently pops up and helps us along!" Chihiro laid down on the grass and made a content smile. "You just gotta lay back and let the universe do its work~"

"I hope you're right, Chihiro."

Hugo sat up and brushed the fur on his head back to normal. He seemed as if he wanted to say something more, but before he could speak his mind, a low rumble resounded throughout the island!

"Did you just hear that?" Hugo asked with a slight trill.

"If by 'that,' you mean that weird rumbling noise, yeah!" Chihiro chirped as she shook her head. "Thought it was just me, to be honest."

"It sounds like it's coming from that hole!" Camo prodded as he pushed into their conversation, his tomato red eyes fixed on an earthy hole not that far across from them.

Hugo, Chihiro and Camo all stepped towards the hole, and as they did the rumbling grew louder and intenser!

Much to the disdain of Stealth Elf, who gritted her teeth underneath her mask. "Will I ever get to meditate in peace?" Stealth Elf grumbled as she joined them over at the hole.

The four of them leaned forward as the rumbling grew the worst it had been, now so intense that the earth around the hole shuddered and crumbled in fear, and something popped out from the hole! Everybody screamed as they stumbled back, but caught their collective breaths as they examined the strange creature that had popped out from the hole.

It had the basic appearance of what seemed to be a leafy totem pole with limbs. Its skin was wooden and rough with a grassy plain on top of its head, and a pale yellow face covered in squarelike orange markings. It eyes were small, white and round, and a red tongue lolled out from its enormous mouth. Moss covered its shoulders and legs like clothing, and bare, pale yellow claws poked out from its hands and toes. Just what was it? None of them had ever seen a creature quite like it before.

"Ah, the water is fresh, the air is cool, and the earth is just right!" proclaimed the strange creature with an incredibly goofy voice. "It's the perfect time to pop out!"

Everybody stood silent and blinked for a few moments, but finally...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! IT TALKS, IT TALKS!" Hugo screamed as he stumbled behind Chihiro and trembled.

"Geez, Hugo, don't be rude," Chihiro scolded as she nudged Hugo out from behind her back.

"Ah, my apologies." Hugo collected himself and tugged on his jacket with a trembling smile on his face. "Er, excuse me, but, who exactly are you?"

"Who am I?" The totem pole creature stretched its wooden arms towards the heavens. "I AM ARBO! SON OF BARBO! CHILD OF LARBO! SPAWN OF CARBO! JUNIOR OF DARBO! SUCCESSOR OF HARBO!"

As Arbo continued on his spiel, everybody around stared him down with blank, confused stares, save for Hugo, whose eyes sparkled with a light only intensified by his shiny glasses.

"Wait a second!" Hugo yanked a book out of his hood, "I recognize those names!" Hugo poured through the book's well-loved parchment, stopped on one section and gasped. "I knew it! Larbo, Barbo, Darbo, those names are all documented here!"

"So you know what I am?" Arbo asked with a tilt of his head.

"Of course I do!" Hugo laid the book out for all to see. "You're one of the Tree of Life's emissary ents, aren't you?"

"I am?" Arbo scratched his chin and made a wide smile. "I suppose I am!"

"Wait a second," Stealth Elf said as she stepped forward with hands on hips. "You know all these names, but you don't even know what you are? What's going on here?"

Arbo scratched his grassy top. "I'm not sure myself! I've only just popped out of the ground, yet I have all these memories of things that aren't mine. For example, I can do something like this!"

Arbo gestured to a patch of weeds behind their group, and in moments it glowed with a powerful green aura! As its glow shone bright, the weeds twisted together and grew into a magnificent green tree! Everybody oohed and aahed save for a still-unimpressed Stealth Elf, who crossed her arms.

"So, if you're one of these emissary ents—" Stealth Elf crooked an eyebrow "—you wouldn't happen to know what those are, would you?"

"I…" Arbo rubbed his chin, eyes closed in contemplation before he opened them once more. "Don't know!"

So blown away by his answer, the strength in everybody's legs gave out at once as they faulted onto the leafy grass.

"Well, thankfully," Hugo said as he sat up and brushed himself off, "I can answer that question!" Hugo retrieved his book from the ground and cleaned it off. "Emissary ents are special ents born from the Tree of Life's powerful magic. They're created specifically for delivering messages from it to the people below its mighty resting place, the Treetop Terrace."

"That IS what I came here for!" Arbo exclaimed, his white eyes wide with realization.

"So what's your message?"

All eyes turned to Arbo with high levels of anticipation, but Arbo only cleared his throat and rubbed his fist against his chest.

"The Tree of Life has come to request help! The pointy ears have captured it and want to steal away its children, the Life Seeds!" Arbo explained, his voice matter-of-fact even though its goofy tone made it seem less so. "This is against nature's wish, for the Life Seeds are the only way to gain access to the Eternal Life Source's resting place!"

"WHAT?" Hugo exclaimed.

"What did I tell you, Hugo?" Chihiro asked as she rested her arms behind her head.

"Pointy-ears?" Stealth Elf repeated as she stepped closer to Arbo. "Do you mean the drow?"

"Now that you mention it, that name does sound familiar!" Arbo tilted his head and sent flower petals cascading down onto the grass.

"That can only mean one thing!" Stealth Elf turned to an equally-concerned Camo.

"KAOS!"

"Arbo, right?" Camo asked as he barged forwards. "Can you take me to the Tree of Life?"

"Me too," Stealth Elf added as she walked next to Camo. "My mentor told me the Tree of Life is the roots from where all Life Elementals came from. If something happened to it, it could hurt us all!" Stealth Elf shot the area behind her a glare and her voice lowered to a whisper. "Besides, it doesn't seem like I'll get my meditating done anytime soon."

Arbo spoke not a word. He only nodded, turned around and crafted up a gigantic beanstalk! This beanstalk had to be the length of the entire island stacked maybe twice over; its leaves were as big as cars, and it stretched well past the stratosphere.

"After you," Arbo said as he gestured towards the lowest leaf on the stalk.

Camo and Stealth Elf warily stepped onto the leaf, then when they found it was quite stable they sat down and watched Arbo join them. With a clap of Arbo's hands, the beanstalk twisted up like a spinning staircase and they all slowly disappeared into the heavens.

Chihiro frowned as she watched them disappear, and with a sparkle in her eyes, she turned over towards Hugo. "Hugo, I just remembered!" Chihiro exclaimed as she clasped her fists, an excited grin on her face, "That thing's finally done! Y'know, for the exam!"

"It is?" Hugo made a wide grin as he cleaned his glasses, "I'll go get Master Eon!"

And with that, they both raced back to the island's collection of buildings.