Two guards dozed off at the front of the magic extraction facility. Their heads hung low as their eyelids drifted up and down over their eyes and their jaws went slack. With the sheer amount of boredom, who could blame them? It wasn't like anybody was going to break into their impenetrable facility in the first place!

"Hey!" called a gruff voice from nearby.

The two guards jumped to their feet, and watched as two other identical guards walked up to them—then again, there were so many people around that every face started to look the same.

"Your shift here's up, buddy," said one as they pointed a finger to the path behind, "you're needed at the loading docks!"

The other guard nodded in agreement with the first.

The guards posted at the facility breathed sighs of relief, and ran over before one could even bat an eyelash! But, their ears were oblivious to the sound of soft giggles as they kicked up intense dust clouds in their wake.

"Yep!" Chihiro proclaimed as the dust cleared, "told you they wouldn't even think twice!"

Stealth Elf nodded as she dusted off her hair and turned back to the dead bushes.

"Come on, everyone!" Stealth Elf whispered as she ushered for them. "The coast's clear!"

The sound of crunching dirt drew closer as invisible presences made their way towards Chihiro and Stealth Elf, and finally a warble resounded as the invisibility spell lifted to reveal the rest of their team! Stealth Elf held a finger to her mask and shushed the others as she crept inside, yet turned her attention to Double Trouble. She made a few hand signals, nodded in unison with Double Trouble, and stepped back.

Double Trouble, meanwhile, waved his staff around, chanted something under his breath, and sent a bolt of magic into the skies! Before the bolt even made slight contact, it expanded into a cocoon of light that encased the entire team, and faded away to reveal goblin workers dressed in lab coats where everyone once stood!

Everybody nodded in approval as they checked out their new disguises, and Stealth Elf slowly pushed open the doors and crept inside with everyone else behind her. For an old castle that looked like it had stood for decades, the inside was surprisingly modernized—all shiny machines and fancy computers and that kind of stuff. Rows of soldiers and scientists alike sat diligent at these gigantic computer panels and watched screens that depicted scenes from what was presumably the rest of the kingdom… Well, save for one, who was fast asleep with their head on their desk.

Chihiro giggled as she examined the sleeping worker, and quirked an eyebrow as she noticed the slip of paper they held in their hand. She tiptoed over to the worker, slid the paper out of their hands, and skipped back to the rest of the group as she unfurled it.

"Looks like we've got our map," Chihiro whispered as she traced her finger over its crisp surface, "and it seems like the power switch for this whole thing is on the this floor!"

"And everybody's being held captive on the fourth!" Calliope exclaimed as she leaned over Chihiro's shoulder and examined the map. "We have to go there, now!"

"Actually, we need to go to the power switch first!" A slight frown of confusion formed on Chihiro's face. "We’ll deactivate the switch, and then we can go and free everyone!"

Calliope gulped and bit her lip. "But there isn't enough time! The longer we wait, the more and more they lose their magic!" Calliope tried to pull the map away from Chihiro. "If we don't hurry, they could die!"

"'They?'" Chihiro pulled the map back from Calliope. "Who are they? The trapped fairies?"

"Whoever they are," Spyro butted in as he snagged the map away from the two of them, "we'll get them and everyone else when we shut this plant down!"

"But—"

"Uh, huh?" groaned the sleeping goblin scientist as they lazily pulled their head up and swerved it around in a tired haze, drool still trickled from their mouth. "Wha's goin' on? I wasn't sleeping, sir, I promise…"

The goblin scientist clasped and opened their now-empty hand a couple times, looked at it and frowned. "Wait a second, where'd my map go?" The goblin looked up to the group and frowned. "Who are you? Were you guys newbies Lord Kaos sent?"

Chihiro went to reply, but before she could, she sneezed and created a gigantic cloud of colorful mist! She hacked and fanned the mist away, as did the others surrounding, and she looked down at her hand and gasped when it finally cleared.

"The disguises!" Chihiro exclaimed as winced and looked up. "They're gone!"

"SKYLANDERS?" The scientists all exclaimed at once as they scrambled out of their seats. "SOUND THE ALARMS!"

Calliope dashed straight towards a large elevator in the center of the area as the scientists tripped and stumbled over towards each other! Before anybody could move further, she already went in and left.

"Calliope, wait!" Persephone exclaimed as she flew towards the returning elevator.

"Lady Persephone!" Aura cried as she followed after Persephone!

"Hey, wait!" Cali exclaimed while she pushed her way out the back of the ground and chased after Persephone and Aura. "You don't know what's waiting for you up there!"

Chihiro raced over to the elevator as the three of them dashed straight in, but she wasn't quick enough, unfortunately. By the time she was halfway there, the doors shut completely and the alarms sounded! Chihiro gritted her teeth and got ready to dart forwards, but before she could even take a step, a bunch of guards fell from the ceilings and got into formation! As the guards readied their spears, Chihiro grunted and cast her own—spheres, that is!

"Take this!" Chihiro exclaimed as she crafted a basketball-sized magic sphere and tossed it straight at a guard, then raised her hands to the sky. The cyan-colored glow completely enveloped her hands, jumped out, and formed a gigantic sphere about four times as large as the one before! Chihiro spun the giant sphere around, and from it, a barrage of regular-sized spheres shot out and grazed down the waves of guards!

Double Trouble was just as quick as he dodged blow by blow from the quartet of guards that had him surrounded! Finally fed up with running, he chanted and waved his staff in the air! All around him, magic crackled like static while colorful silhouettes popped off from his body and formed into miniature clones of Double Trouble himself!

"What kind of attack is this?" laughed one guard as they picked up a clone and tickled it. "Coochie-coo, coochie-coo—"

KABOOM!

The tiny Double Trouble clones all exploded in unison, and sent the guards reeling back and crashing into walls and panels! Double Trouble smiled as the guards all groaned and tried to pull themselves back to their feet, but his smile was quick to fade as he caught sight of a few that stood tall nonetheless. With a chant on his end, bright rainbow light crackled from his staff's head and morphed into beams of eldritch magic that rammed right into the last ones standing!

As the soldiers slammed into keyboards and shattered computer screens, Stealth Elf somersaulted out of Double Trouble's path of destruction and turned invisible.

"Someone's coming," Stealth Elf whispered as she poked her head around the corner.

Sure enough, out from the corner came Hex! Her hands flared with magic as she raised a wall of firm, strong bones between herself and a pack of guards. They all cursed and hacked away at the bones with their spears and weapons, but Hex didn't seem concerned; rather, she immediately went to chanting, all while her hands continued to glow and seemingly crackled with deadly fire! As Hex's chanting grew so loud it rumbled around the rest of the floor, the guards that chased her looked up and screamed! After all, the sight of giant, flaming skulls on your ceiling that were perfectly ready to drop on and incinerate you at any given moment would probably scare any rational person.

The guards immediately turned tail and ran, but before they could escape, Stealth Elf popped in front of them! As they skidded to a half, Stealth Elf thrust her hands forward and knocked them out with a cloud of poison powder!

"Now that's what I call silent but deadly," Stealth Elf remarked as she adjusted her gloves.

Hex floated towards Stealth Elf as her bone barrier receded and made a nod of presumed approval. All was silent for a few moments, but both of them jumped out the way as a tornado with a bunch of guards in its center stormed through the halls!

"STORM INCOMING!" shouted a very frantic Spyro, his eyes flashed a crystalline sky blue as he chased after the tornado.

As Spyro drew the closest he could to the tornado itself without getting sucked in, the tornado slammed into a nearby wall and knocked out all the guards at once! Spyro beamed in approval, but shuddered as a cold shadow loomed over him. On instinct, his eyes flashed gray while he summoned an orb of undead energy and shot it back at the area behind him! The orb slammed straight into the gut of a bulky troll, who grunted as the force tossed them into a nearby console and fell unconscious.

Blasts of magic and clangs of metal became the sights and sounds of today as the battle raged on, and the fighting so intense that one could barely tell left from right! Faces melded together as soldiers clashed with Skylanders…

But under the cover of battle, one tiny goblin soldier took cover. As this goblin solder ducked under a rain of metal spears, he crawled towards one of the consoles and poked back up. After a few quick glimpses proved that he was alone, he toyed with the consoles' knobs and looked up at the massive screen above him.

"Lord Kaos, Lord Kaos!" cried the goblin soldier as the transmission screen came to light. "Come in, Lord Kaos!"

Nothing was heard but the faint crackle of static for a few minutes, but soon…

"WHAT IS IT, MINION?" Kaos demanded from the other end.

The goblin clutched his hands together, eyes aglow like stars in the night. "Lord Kaos, I have the greatest news! We have the portal master and several Skylanders in our clutches, right here at the magic extraction facility!"

"WHAAAATTT? THERE'S NO WAY! ONLY MY EVIL GENIUS SELF AND A HANDFUL OF MY TROOPS KNOW OF—"

While the transmission carried on, Chihiro rolled her way out of a brawl, staggered up and gritted her teeth. "Trying to call for backup, are you?" Chihiro snarled as she sped forward and rammed the goblin into the control panel. "Not today, mister!"

The goblin grunted as he made a face-sized indent in the control panel's, well, panel, turned around and pushed against Chihiro's firm grip. "Get off of me, you little gremlin!" the goblin demanded as he kept pushing against Chihiro.

"You get off of me, you creep!" Chihiro pushed him back into the panel and examined it. "How do you end this transmission thingie?"

"So you incompetents DID manage to get the portal master! I'll be there immediately!" Kaos exclaimed with a sickening kind of joy in his voice that quickly turned to impatient rage. "YOU THERE! PILOT! PILOT THIS RUSTBUCKET FASTER!"

The transmission came to a close soon enough as the screen darkened from blue to black, yet Chihiro didn't pull herself away—she just stared at the screen with wide eyes.

"HAH, HEAR THAT, SKYLANDERS?" The goblin proclaimed as he rolled out of Chihiro's grip and turned to the crowds. "LORD KAOS IS ON HIS WAY! AND WHEN HE GETS HERE, IT'S OVER FOR ALL OF YOU! HE'LL—OOF!"

Chihiro slugged the guard straight in the jaw, and as they whimpered and held their very sore face, she made a wince of pain herself. Chihiro clasped her hands and teleported back to the castle's front doors, breathed in and slammed them open without a second thought!

"Chihiro, what are you doing?" Spyro asked as he turned around from sending giant fireballs towards troll forces, his eyes still red with fire magic.

"You heard him!" Chihiro grunted as she pushed the doors open further. "If Kaos gets here, it'll be over for all of us!" Chihiro turned to Spyro with utmost seriousness in her eyes. "You guys try and take this place down, I'll buy us some time!"

"Don't tell me…" Spyro's eyes grew wide with realization. "You're gonna fight Kaos by yourself?"

"Chihiro, Kaos is stronger than you can imagine!" Stealth Elf exclaimed as she popped up next to Chihiro.

"But we have to keep him from getting here!" Chihiro shouted out between heavy breaths. "If someone doesn't stop him, then everything we did to get this far will be for nothing!"

Spyro frowned, flew up to Chihiro and placed a paw on her shoulder. "I understand." Spyro whispered first, but raised his voice as he turned to the crowds. "Hex, Double Trouble! Can you handle these guys?

However, they didn't respond, for they were too busy moving down waves of guards!

"I'll take that as a yes," Stealth Elf remarked as she placed her hands on her hips and casually dodged a flying skull. She turned around and helped Chihiro fling the doors open. "Now come on, we don't have much time!"

Stealth Elf bolted out the doors the moment they were fully open with Spyro and Chihiro close behind…

§

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

All around the forest, all that could be heard was Stump Smash and Zook's screams as the two of them fell to their deaths! It seemed like all they could watch was the ground as it drew closer and closer, but finally, they turned to each other. For a minute, their terrified gazes softened into a mixture of sorrow and regret as they looked towards each other, yet they cast those sad looks aside.

"We really messed up, didn't we?" Stump Smash admitted at last.

"Yeah, man, we really did," Zook agreed as he clutched his bazooka tight. "We got so caught up in our fighting that we lost sight of what was really important!"

They both looked downwards and cringed. "And now…"

Stump Smash trailed off and gulped, as did Zook. All was silent as they fell further and further, but finally Stump Smash sighed.

"Zook, I'm sorry." Stump Smash looked towards Zook with a solemn kind of earnestness in his eyes. "I was picking fights with you the whole time we were supposed to work together!" Stump Smash shook his head, or at least tried to. "I shouldn't have been so ornery."

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing!" Zook retorted as he toyed with the bamboo stalks atop his head. "I was the one who kept egging it on!"

Both Stump Smash and Zook smiled and reached out their hands—or, mallets, in Stump Smash's case—and held them tight. "Apology accepted!" they both proclaimed at once as a soft glow enveloped them.

That soft glow shot lights everywhere as they burst into laughter, but they looked down and realized they were still falling! Their laughter turned to screams as they held on tight, only for a gigantic vine to shoot up and catch them!

"So, are you two done fighting?" Camo asked with a click of his tongue.

"Camo!" Stump Smash and Zook called as they both let go. "You're alright!"

"You bet I am!" Camo smiled and patted the top of the gigantic plant he had summoned. "Let me tell you, I've never appreciated the local flora more than I have now."

Camo turned his attention upwards as the vine drew closer and closer to the top of the tree stump platform. Surely once they got to the top, the Evil Elf Ninja and its cronies would be awaiting them…

"Rrready for the actually important fight?" Camo asked as he looked back at Stump Smash and Zook then smiled as they both nodded.

"You bet we are!" Stump Smash and Zook replied in unison as Stump Smash slammed his hammers together while Zook loaded his bazooka.

"THEN LET'S GET SMASHING!"

The three of them leaned down, leaped off the vine and rolled onto the stump platform!

"Minions, have you found the—" the Evil Elf Ninja questioned into a walkie-talkie as it turned around and stumbled back in shock as it saw Camo, Stump Smash, and Zook.

"YOU!" The Evil Elf Ninja pointed a finger at the Skylanders. "HOW IN SKYLANDS DID YOU SURVIVE THAT FALL?" The Evil Elf Ninja shook its head. "You know what? Nevermind! We still have forces that can take you on!"

The Evil Elf Ninja dove its hand into its pocket and grabbed something small and mechanical—a pager, maybe? But, before it could even press it, Camo shot out a vine and knocked the pager straight from its hand! The Evil Elf Ninja scowled as the pager flew off the tree stump, and turned its attention back to Camo.

"So that's how you want to play, huh?" The Evil Elf Ninja grabbed its blades and bent down. "Fine by me!"

The Evil Elf Ninja was off like a bullet as it flung itself towards Zook, but for the first time, Stump Smash matched its speed! He raced in front of Zook, whacked the Evil Elf Ninja with his hammer-hands and smirked as it skidded back across the platform!

When it was a ways away, Stump Smash smiled towards Zook. "Your turn now, Zook!" Stump Smash said as he stepped aside while Zook smiled back.

Zook held out a hand, and in front of him bamboo shoots shot out in a wave towards the Evil Elf Ninja! The Evil Elf Ninja jumped to its feet and dashed out the way, but before it could make an escape, a bunch of vines blocked its way! The Evil Elf Ninja growled as it looked back towards a very smug Camo.

"You can't corner me, you walking leaf!" the Evil Elf Ninja shot back as it held up its hands. "I, for one, know ninjutsu!"

The Evil Elf Ninja disappeared in a puff of green smoke, and reappeared right where the vines' barrier had ceased! It smirked as it landed on the ground, but screamed and raced off as a team of gigantic chestnuts barreled towards it!

"Dodge that, you, you, you," Stump Smash exclaimed as he shook a hammer at the Evil Elf Ninja only to hang his head, "I need to get better at coming up with insults."

As the chestnuts chased it down the maze, the Evil Elf Ninja tried its best to escape—but no matter how much it teleported or ran, it found itself at dead ends in every angle! Worse yet, those chestnuts were persistent! So, finally, it disappeared once more and reappeared right atop the platform!

"Hope you know a good doctor!" The Evil Elf Ninja shouted as it held out its hands and shot out gigantic clouds of poison from its hands!

The poison blanketed the arena like sickly fog, and everything it brushed upon, from small leaves to the formidable bamboo and vine maze, shriveled and melted away like it was nothing at all! Stump Smash and Zook both backed up as the fog drew closer to them, but Camo stood firm.

"ORDER UP!" Camo shouted.

He stomped his paws, and a number of vines sprouted up before him! The vines weaved themselves into some kind of cannon-looking thing and sucked in the fog! Once the fog cleared, the cannon turned upwards, fixed itself on the Evil Elf Ninja, and shot the fog right back at it before it withered away! The Evil Elf Ninja only gasped as its own fog turned against it, but it disappeared entirely in the purple mist! Intense coughing and hacking rang from within the violet storm, and finally the Evil Elf Ninja crashed back down onto the platform.

"I'll… Be back…" The Evil Elf Ninja hacked as it teleported away with the fog. "I'm warning you!"

"Good riddance," Stump Smash remarked as he rolled his eyes. However, his tired face grew a little less weary as he gazed over to Camo and Zook's smiling ones.

"It's good to have you back, guys!" Camo chirped as he laid his paws on Stump Smash and Zook's shoulders.

"We're glad to be back, Camo!" Zook replied as he ruffled Camo's head, then hugged him tight.

Zook smirked towards Stump Smash, who only smiled wider and rolled his eyes once more. "Alright, alright, I'm coming," Stump Smash chuckled as he joined in the group hug.

The three of them were at complete peace for those few sweet moments, but they all froze as the sound of falling trees echoed throughout the area.

"Oh, right!" Camo exclaimed as he burst out of the group hug. "We've got logging to stop!" Camo winced as he looked towards the spot where the rockets once resided. "But without those rockets, how are we gonna take down that chainsaw?"

Zook took a cursory look at his bazooka while all three of them tried to mumble out ideas. Nothing seemed to strike right at first, but then, Zook's eyes glimmered with what had to have been inspiration!

"Actually, I think I've got something!" Zook shouted as he nudged Camo's shoulder. "Camo, can you give my bazooka a boost?"

"Why?" Camo looked up at Zook with a frown on his face.

Zook whispered the plan into a wary Camo's earhole and drew away. Though Camo still seemed a bit concerned at first, his unease loosened as he saw the confident smile on Zook's face.

"Alright, then!" Camo placed a paw on Zook's bazooka. "One blast of growth magic, coming right up!"

As Camo clasped the bazooka tight, it glowed with a bright green flare that enveloped its whole body! While the light shone brighter and brighter, the bazooka grew thrice its size and rested on the ground as several more bazookas sprouted from the original's base. It couldn't even be called a regular bazooka anymore; it was more like a giga-bazooka!

Zook drew back the trigger, and a number of large, thorny missiles popped out of every single hole in the giga-bazooka! His hand held tight on the trigger, Zook turned the bazooka towards the chainsaws, but unfortunately, with its new size came a gigantic weight boost as well! It was quite a lot for one person to turn. So, Stump Smash walked up to Zook and helped him push the giga-bazooka in the chainsaws' direction!

"Ready, aim," Zook whispered as he let go of the trigger, "FIRE!"

Right as Zook said this, the thorn missiles zoomed out of the giga-bazooka and slammed straight into the chainsaw. From this collision came a gigantic explosion paired with an equally-large puff of smoke! As the smoke cleared, it revealed that the chainsaw was no more—just a battered hunk of junk with a bent blade rested on top of a nearby stump. Well, it probably wasn't totally useless, for it could be used as a good bridge!

"Thanks for that, Stumps!" Zook chirped as his bazooka returned to its normal size, and Zook himself picked it back up.

"No problem, Zook," Stump Smash replied as he patted Zook's shoulder.

Camo smiled, walked forward and latched his paws against the edge of the stump platform. As he held on tight, vines sprouted out from the ground below and formed a natural elevator from the platform they resided on! The three of them boarded the elevator's platform, drew towards the chainsaw and hopped off. With no hesitation, they climbed up the platform and continued on their merry way.