"Are you sure this is going to work, Camo?" Stump Smash asked as he crossed his thick, wooden arms.

"Of course it will, Stump Smash!" Camo replied as he dropped the Life Seeds into an open plot dug within an offside cliff. "Who are you to doubt the Tree of Life?"

"Oh, I'm not doubting it any—" Stump Smash nudged his shoulder to the side "—but I think Hugo's got his fair share of concerns."

Camo looked to where Stump Smash was indicating and frowned. As Zook and Arbo planted the other half of the Life Seeds in holes sized equal to the ones Camo himself dug, Hugo paced around in a circle and muttered something under shrill breath—but what? Was he worried this wouldn't work?

"Oh, don't worry about him, Stumps." Camo nonchalantly wagged his tail. "You know Hugo, he's always worried about something!" Camo turned his attention back to the Life Seeds. "Besides, I've got to take care of my sibs."

Stump Smash raised an eyebrow. "You mean the Life Seeds?"

"Oh, uh, yeah."

Camo scratched the back of his head, and smiled as he gently teased the seeds with his claw. He faintly heard soft, innocent giggles as he rolled them around in the dirt, and he smiled wider without even realizing it. Though he was still processing all that stuff about the Tree of Life being his parent and all, it was nice to have a family at last.

"Alright, little seeds!" Camo chirped as he spread dirt over the Life Seed-filled plots. "Time for you to grow big and tall!"

Camo smiled and stepped back as the covered plot glowed with thin, yet bright beams of light that poked through the few holes in the earth, but soon jumped back as the earth below his feet rumbled! While he stumbled back further, the light grew even brighter, yet faded entirely as a gigantic bush sprung from the earth! The bush's leaves shimmered like jewels in the afternoon sun, and as they absorbed the light, gigantic buds popped out from under their branches. These buds grew larger within seconds, bloomed into bright flowers, and folded back as they blossomed into shiny, red apples!

They all gazed in awe for moments, all silent until Arbo clapped his hands.

"Bravo, bravo! The miracles of life know no bounds!" Arbo proclaimed. "Now that they've matured, they should be able to tell us the way to the Eternal Life Source!"

"Alright then," Camo said as he walked towards the bushes and gently nuzzled one's branches, "how're you feeling, lil' guys?"

We're feeling great! We're so full of life! the bush chimed, its voice like that of several youths in perfect sync.

Camo ruffled the bush's top. "That's great! Since you're feeling so good, do you think you can tell me where the Eternal Life Source is?"

A soft hum whistled through the chilly autumn winds as the bush's leaves jostled with life, but they all shuddered in unison. We shan't, not right now! the bush replied, and its voice trilled as if in a panic. There is a terrible presence rummaging throughout this area!

"A terrible presence?" Camo whipped his head around. "Where?"

What was going on? Had Kaos secretly planted forces here without notice? Now that Camo paid more attention to the surroundings, he could hear something that sounded vaguely like a stampede!

"Did everybody get off patrols or something?" Stump Smash asked as he turned around. "What's with all that racket?"

Zook, Arbo, and Hugo turned around as well, but they all froze as a gigantic, fluffy, white wave crashed over the island with a symphony of baaing! Sure enough, Camo was right! A gigantic herd of sheep stormed through the area with a bull's force! But, as he looked closer, Camo could've sworn he saw some light presence of auburn hidden within the fluffy clouds of white wool.

"Somebody!" cried a shrill, muffled voice from within the herd. "Help me!"

"TRIGGER HAPPY?" Hugo exclaimed as a furry auburn hand shot out from the crowds. "What's with all these—" Hugo practically jumped out of his fur as the sheep stormed past him "—SHEEP!"

Hugo made no proper words from then on. All he did was scream and run about in a panic as he desperately tried to avoid the oncoming sheep storm! Not that many noticed him, either. The others were just as concerned about not getting trampled as Hugo was!

Stump Smash jumped out the way as several ewes nearly plowed him other, but got tossed out of the fray by a particularly large ram. He grunted as he soared through the crowds, and fell onto the back of several more sheep with not a single mind paid from the sheep themselves!

"Oof! Owch! Hey, watch it!" Stump Smash cried out as the sheep tossed him around in their stampede, all while his arms flailed the entire time, "I'm not here to crowdsurf!"

As Stump Smash barked at the sheep, one of his mallets for hands slammed onto the head of a particularly nasty-looking ram, who in turn bleated in shock! Stump Smash drew back his hand, then gulped as the ram he had hit glared him down.

"Nice sheepy?"

The ram snorted, charged forwards, and tossed Stump Smash out of the fray! Stump Smash screamed in horror as he went soaring, but thankfully, a gigantic vine caught him right where he flew!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—" Stump Smash stopped short as he looked down at the vine. "Wait, where'd this vine come from?"

"Me!" Camo trilled as he stomped his paws and sent several more vines into the fray. "Who else?"

With a final stomp, the vines stormed through the herd of frantic sheep and tossed them aside in rows! Not one sheep was spared—ewe or ram, lamb or grown, it made no difference to the vines! While wool flew through the skies as clouds did, the vines wrapped themselves around Zook, Arbo and Hugo! With their targets secured, the vines lunged out of the herd as they laid the trio next to Camo, and more importantly, far away from the sheep's woolly wrath.

"Thanks for that, man!" Zook exclaimed as he patted Camo's back. "I've seen some nasty crowds before, but nothing like that!" Zook pulled out his bazooka, shook out the ammunition, and turned it around so that its open hole faced his mouth. "Maybe a nice tune will get these guys to chill out!"

Zook took a deep breath in, breathed out, and jumped out of the way as a dazed Trigger Happy landed face-first just inches away from him.

"Oof!" Trigger Happy exclaimed as he got up and rubbed his head. "That's the last time I try wrangling sheep! Maybe being a cowboy isn't in my blood after all."

"Trigger Happy!" Hugo exclaimed as he stormed past the others and glared down Trigger Happy. "So you know where all these sheep came from?"

"Yeah, I'd like some answers too!" Camo exclaimed as he poked his head over Zook's shoulder.

Trigger Happy only made a very strained chuckle and looked away. "Well, you see." Trigger Happy scratched the top of his furry head. "It was all for the perfect prank! While you guys took care of those, I'd hide all these sheep I got from some elf farmer at the Perilous Pastures in Hugo's room!"

"EXCUSE ME?" Hugo shot Trigger Happy the most angered glare he could muster.

Trigger Happy gulped and carefully backed away. "But, when I was getting all the sheep together," Trigger Happy continued, "they all smelled something that made them go buck-wild! Next thing I knew, they were all stampeding off like a crowd of angry hippos! Guess I know why that farmer was so eager to get rid of them—" Trigger Happy looked to his side and gasped "—and that must be why!"

"THEY'RE EATING THE APPLES!" Camo exclaimed as he pointed towards the sheep.

Sure enough, Camo was right! The sheep all crowded around the bushes and dug into the harvest of fresh, juicy apples! The bushes were barely visible among the massive crowds of white fluff and shiny horns!

"Hey, stop that!" Camo scolded as he hopped over to one and tried to push a sheep away, though it was far too stubborn to even slightly lift a hoof. "Those aren't for you to eat!"

Camo futilely tried to push the sheep for just a bit more, but gasped and fell to his knees as ear-shattering screams echoed throughout his brain! Those had to be the Life Seeds' cries of fear; he had to save them! Well, once this throbbing headache went away, anyways. Camo only laid down and groaned as he massaged his scalp. He wanted to get back into the fray and get those sheep out of there, but all this screaming sent in a migraine so bad that he could barely get off the ground!

"Guh, guys," Camo whimpered as he held his paws over his aching, throbbing head. "Calm down, they're just, sheep…"

"What's going on?" Stump Smash demanded as he looked over at Camo.

"Ugh, it's those awful fluff-creatures!" Arbo whimpered as he held his own head. "They're interfering with the process!"

Stump Smash crossed his arms and frowned. "Oh really? I couldn't tell!"

"See! See?" Hugo exclaimed as he pushed himself between Stump Smash and Arbo and pointed towards the sheep. "I told you sheep were evil! I told you so, I told you so! But does anybody believe poor old Hugo?"

"Save it for another time, Hugo." Stump Smash pushed Hugo away and looked towards Zook, "Zook! Give me a hand here!"

"On it, Stumps!" Zook exclaimed as he locked and loaded his bazooka.

Stump Smash stormed towards the sheep that still feasted to the hearts' content on the apples, grunted, and raised the mallets that were his hands. He let out a breath, and pounded down the mallets with the ground as his drum! As he pounded and slammed away, firm shockwaves shot through the earth with such force that they flipped the sheep on the backs! The sheep themselves were so taken aback that they could only flail their legs and bleat in surprise.

"Now it's my turn!" Zook laughed as he clicked the trigger on his bazooka.

As soon as he did, the thorny missile that once resided in the barrel retreated into the bazooka itself, and shot out! Once it made contact with the ground, the thorn exploded and sent the sheep around it flying far away from the bushes! The remaining sheep watched as the others flew away, frantically bleated, and rolled back on their feet. With shouts of fear, they stampeded far, far, away from the apple bushes, until they were no more than a fuzzy white cloud in the distance.

As the sheep finally disappeared over the horizon, Zook blew off his bazooka and rested it at his side.

Camo groaned as he pulled himself back to standing height, but smiled as the bushes slowly grew back their apples. "Thanks for that, guys!" Camo chirped as he swished his tail. "Talk about a pest problem."

"A pest problem? More like no problem at all!" Zook beamed as he nudged Stump Smash's shoulder, "Right, Stumpy?"

"Don't call me that," Stump Smash replied as he pushed Zook away, a steely frown on his face.

Camo rolled his eyes as the two of them bantered among each other, and walked back to the apple bushes. His smile vanished into neutrality while he rubbed a paw against the one he previously conversed with, who was thankfully undamaged by the sudden sheep ambush save for a few missing apples that were quickly regrown.

"Feeling any better, now?"

Yes, dear sibling! The bush replied as its rustled with a new energy, In fact, we can now see the Eternal Life Source! It's hidden within a forest… Yes, a magnificent forest!

"That's the Great Forest, right?" Camo stroked his paw against the wood in a gentle, almost reassuring manner.

Indeed, it is! It's a great ways away, but…

The bushes all glowed in unison, shot up to the heavens and entwined themselves into one. By the time the light faded, they were bushes no longer—rather, they were now the trunk to a gigantic tree with evenly-spaced branches for makeshift stairs!

We are more than capable of pointing the way!

"Thanks, lil' guys!" Camo smiled and nuzzled the base of the intertwined trunks. "I knew you could do it!"

"Well then, I suppose that's our cue!" Zook proclaimed as he walked towards the trunk, "Come on, guys!" Zook hopped onto one branch. "We've gotta get that Eternal Life Source!" Zook looked down and frowned as he sat down on the branch and kicked his legs against its side. "Hey, Camo, something buggin' you?"

"Actually, yes!" Camo replied as he looked left and right, "Where's Chihiro, anyways? She'd usually never miss out on something like this."

"Oh, I know, I know!" Trigger Happy butted in as he hopped up in down and waved his hands in the air. "She had a super top-secret mission today, so she had to leave extra early!"

"A super top-secret mission, huh?" Camo repeated as he looked back at Trigger Happy.

"No worries, we can just tell her about it when she gets back!" Zook said as he hopped onto the next branch.

"Hey, don't leave me behind!"

Camo leaped onto the first branch and hopped after Zook. The two of them started towards the third branch, but paused and glanced down at a very irate Stump Smash—actually, no, that was just how Stump Smash always looked.

"Stumps, aren't'cha coming?" Zook asked as he leaned against the trunk.

"How do you expect me to do that with hands like these?" Stump Smash asked as he held up his mallets for hands for emphasis.

Camo rolled his eyes, snapped his claws, and looked back down at Stump Smash. As soon as Camo's snap resounded, a bright green light manifested beneath the ground Stump Smash stood upon! This light was followed by a gigantic vine that burst from the ground, wrapped around Stump Smash's waist, and slowly elevated him off the ground.

Camo and Zook smiled and went back to climbing, but Stump Smash was still less than pleased.

"Don't you think there's a better way to do this?" Stump Smash grumbled as he shook a mallet at Camo.

"Aw, don't worry about it!" Zook said as he turned back to Stump Smash and waved a hand. "Just relax and enjoy the trip!"

"Easy for you to say!" Stump Smash's frown grew deeper than normal, and the veins in his bark creased like wrinkles. "You're not the one getting dragged by a giant vine!"

Zook gently chuckled. "It can't be that bad! Actually, it looks kinda fun!"

"FUN?"

As Zook and Stump Smash bickered and bantered along, Camo groaned and held his head as he hopped onto the next branch up. Something in his gut told him that this would be a very, very long mission…

§

"So you're saying the stupid Skyloser took those sheep?" Kaos asked his wrist communicator from within the confines of his utterly brilliant evil fortress. "Very well then, this better work, or you'll pay for it!"

Kaos smirked an evil, absolutely nefarious smirk as his eyes fell to the picture that emitted from his portal. True, he may have lost one chance to obtain the Life Seeds, but he wasn't going to give up! He waved his hands over the portal with the mental picture of those sheep clear in his mind, and sure enough, a vision of the Skylanders' home island flashed across before it zeroed in on the flock of sheep that hid themselves away in some kind of forest! Kaos snapped his finger, and in a bright flash of light, the entire flock was brought back to his evil plotting and scheming room. Those stupid beasts all baaed and looked about in confusion, but they radiated with such great Life Element energy! Surely, they must have consumed some of the Life Seeds' essence, if not the seeds themselves!

"Alright!" Kaos cracked his knuckles. "Time for my next act of evil brilliance!"

Kaos clapped his hands, and a bright glow emitted from the sheep's bellies for mere moments, but vanished right as a bunch of shaking seeds manifested on the surface of his portal! Kaos's smile widened as he stepped over to the portal, placed his hands on its stone rim, and encased the seeds in a dark red glow.

"Now, you stupid seeds," Kaos snarled and gripped his portal a little tighter, "show me where the Eternal Life Source is right this instant!"

Strained, loud cries echoed throughout Kaos's brain at such an intense volume that he lost his grip on his portal and stumble back! But, as he held his pained evil head, a green glow emitted from his portal, almost as if… No, could it be? As the headache faded, Kaos drew closer towards his portal and peered at its surface. It flashed across images of an island tucked away in a hemisphere above Skylands itself, but soon moved closer into the island...

"WHAAAAT?" exclaimed a shout loud as thunder while flocks of menacing-looking birds flew off into the dark, cloudy distance.

Kaos himself stood steadfast in disbelief with his gaze trained on his portal. He couldn't believe it, perhaps he didn't want to believe it, but there, laid right before his eyes by his trusty portal, was none other than the Eternal Life Source's location! It was housed within the depths of a particularly gloomy-looking forest that sparkled with magic, inside a humble-looking acorn that any normal person probably wouldn't have even batted an eyelash at. BUT, Kaos was no normal person—he was an evil genius of the highest degree! And he knew that the simple green shine of the acorn indicated one and only one thing.

That acorn was the resting place of the Eternal Life Source, and it was being kept from him by, ugh, trees. Those stupid, deceitful trees that looked so innocent as they soaked up sunlight and made their stupid green leaves. But, Kaos never trusted them to begin with, and now, he had ample evidence!

"CURSE YOU, YOU INSOLENT TREES!" Kaos exclaimed as he shook a fist at his portal.

"What did the trees do this time, Lord Kaos?" Glumshanks asked as he poked his head through the door that lead to Kaos's evil plotting room.

"It's awful, Glumshanks! Absolutely horrendous!" Kaos hopped off of his portal and stormed up to Glumshanks. He pulled Glumshanks through the door, and gestured towards the still-shining portal as Glumshanks sputtered behind him. "They stole the Eternal Life Source from me!"

Glumshanks took a cursory gaze at the portal's shining platform, frowned and furrowed his brows. "I don't see anything, Lord Kaos." Glumshanks looked back at Kaos and shrugged. "Just some acorns!"

"Of course a foolish fool like you would believe that!" Kaos hopped back onto his portal and pointed towards an acorn at the top of the stack. "But take a closer look at this little acorn—it's positively green! It's the Eternal Life Source!"

Glumshanks massaged his forehead. "Oh portals."

"And those foolish trees thought they could pull the wool over my eyes and hide it from me!" Kaos wagged a finger and smirked. "They may have everybody else fooled, but I, KAOS, EVIL LORD OF ALL SKYLANDS, AM NOT SO EASILY DECEIVED! IN FACT, I'LL SHOW THOSE FOOLISH FOOLS WHO THE REAL FOOLS ARE!"

"I think that's the tenth time you've used that word today, Lord Kaos." Glumshanks raised a clawed finger.

"NO MATTER!" Kaos went to step down from his portal, but lost his footing and fell face-first onto the stone floor with a hard grunt. Kaos groaned and shook his head as he pulled himself into a stance of full height.

With a snap of his fingers, he summoned a crude communications device and tuned it a bit before he gave it a quick tap. "ATTENTION, DROW! I HAVE AN EXTRA-SPECIAL MISSION FOR YOU!" Kaos cleared his throat, "I, THE ALMIGHTY KAOS, HAVE LOCATED THE ETERNAL LIFE SOURCE!"

Excited, staticy chatter rose from the communications device, but quickly silenced as Kaos gave it a few more taps.

"It has been found in some stupid Great Forest or whatever its called, hidden away from me by those insolent trees!" Kaos's voice grew louder with some kind of excitement. "Now, it's your job to raze down that forest and bring me the Eternal Life Source!"

All of a sudden, the cacophony of excited voices became hesitant, next rapid and enraged! What was going on down there?

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DESTROY THE SACRED GREAT FOREST?" Kaos growled and shook his communications device. "YOU WORK FOR ME, NOT YOUR STUPID LEGENDS, AND I ORDER YOU TO—"

Kaos's eyebrow reached their highest height as the angry chatter persisted, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"YOU QUIT? NO, YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO QUIT!" Kaos leaned so hard into the depth of his device that his spit flew all over it. "I, THE ALMIGHTY EMPEROR KAOS, FIRE YOU! THAT'S RIGHT! YOU'RE FIRED!"

As the resonant chatter grew angrier, Kaos yanked off his communications device, tossed it to the ground and stomped over it! Who do those drow think they are, resisting orders from their now-former ultimate evil overlord? It made his blood boil! In fact, they made him so mad that not even completely destroying the communications device was enough to quell his rage!

"Glumshanks!" Kaos exclaimed as he pushed a finger in Glumshanks' face. "Call for every lumberjack troll in our army!"

"What, to cut down a few trees?" Glumshanks asked as he tilted his head, his jaw slack.

"No, Glumshanks—" Kaos turned around and smirked as he drummed his fingers together, turned back around and stood as menacingly as he could "—TO CUT DOWN ALL THE TREES!"

Kaos cackled so loud that it reverberated around the area, but soon glanced back his portal and jabbed his hand towards it in the way only evil geniuses could. "WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, TREES?"

As Kaos went back to cackling and bragging about his absolutely genius ploy, a pop brought his attention back to the other side of the room! He turned his attention away from the portal as a puff of green smoke emerged out of nowhere, and from that green smoke emerged… Ah, yes, just who he wanted to see! There before him was a minion that, in terms of build and sculpt, near-perfectly resembled that stupid Skylander Stealth Elf, but far superior. Its body was made of pulsating dark purple energy striped with veins of brilliant green, and its whole body—from the slightest hairs on its head to the soles of its feet—radiated pure, unhampered evil!

"Lord Kaos!" the minion called as it bowed in the presence of Kaos's sheer evil genius. "I had a feeling you needed me, so I came as soon as I could!"

"Indeed I did!" Kaos replied as he clasped his hands together. "Good on you for being attentive, Evil Elf Ninja!"

Kaos then cleared his throat and gestured for the Evil Elf Ninja to come view his portal. "Thanks to my latest brilliant evil plan, I not only stole those Life Seeds from under the noses of Skylameos and their poser master." Kaos paused for a moment to shudder. "Oh how I loathe her, but anyways—" Kaos shook his head as the Evil Elf Ninja gazed into the portal "—I have found it!"

The Evil Elf Ninja looked at Kaos and cocked an eyebrow. "An acorn?" it guessed.

"WRONG ANSWER!" Kaos shook his head, and made a grandiose gesture of presentation with his arms. "I have located the Eternal Life Source, and that's where you come in!"

"Yes, Lord Kaos?"

"Gather the Evil Tree Ent and the Evil Bambozooker. The three of you will accompany my forces to the Eternal Life Source’s location, and keep those Skylosers from taking it from me at any cost!"

"Understood." The Evil Elf Ninja dropped to its knees and vanished in another cloud of green smoke.

"Now that that's taken care of—" Kaos brushed off his hands and turned to Glumshanks "—Glumshanks! Arrange a ship to take me to the Fairy Kingdom!"

As Kaos walked out of the room, Glumshanks trailed behind him and frowned. "Lord Kaos, you won't be overseeing the Eternal Life Source retrieval operations yourself?" Glumshanks asked as he twiddled his fingers.

"Oh, I can always do that later." Kaos waved his hand. "For now, I want to see how progress on the fairy magic extraction project is going personally for a change!"

Glumshanks sighed, pulled up a stone tablet, and chiseled something down on its solid surface.

"Yes, Lord Kaos. Right away."