The guards loomed over them, overpowered and fully ready to attack, but Cali wasn't going to sit here and wait for her death! Instead, Cali let go of Calliope, grabbed another pocket knife from her slacks and got ready to lunge—but before she could, a bunch of skulls rained down out of nowhere and knocked the guards down in one strike!

"WHAT?" the commander exclaimed as he looked around the halls. "Who's there? Show yourself immediately!"

With the guards unconscious and the commander distracted, Cali saw the perfect escape route! She immediately stowed the knife back away so she could grab Calliope's hand, ducked and rolled right underneath the commander while barely attentive to his shout of surprise, and pulled herself up to find…

None other than Hex, who held out a glowing hand as the elevator behind her receded downwards!

"I'd suggest you leave them alone, if I were you," Hex said, her voice colder than usual as she trained her eyes on the commander.

"Or what?" the commander sneered as he cranked the dial on his gloves. "You'll throw me a bone or two?"

The fairies' screams grew louder as the halls were painted a deadly blue, but Hex paid little mind to this as she tossed more skulls at the commander. She was as steely and unbreakable as ever—surely her attacks would do something! But alas, he just knocked the skulls away like they were rubber balls!

"Oh, don't even try!" The commander made an absolutely sickening smile. "With all the fairy magic I have on my side, your attacks are mere child's play!"

"Don't act so cocky, buddy!" Cali exclaimed as she boosted up Calliope. "We've got a fairy on our side, too!" Cali gave Calliope's shoulder a gentle nudge. "Come on, Calliope!"

Calliope, however, only winced and pulled away. "Cali, I don't think you'd want me to do this…" Calliope whimpered as she held her arm.

"Why not?" Cali tilted her head. "You're a fairy, you should have fairy magic, right?"

Cali, however, wasn't the only one taking a peek at Calliope. The commander froze and trained his eyes on Calliope as well, his gaze an unwelcome presence for Calliope as she tried to hide herself away further.

"Wait a second, I remember you!" The commander cackled. "You're that useless fairy that we tossed out because you don't have a bit of magic in your body!"

Cali and Hex both froze on the spot. Calliope, magicless? Cali herself had wanted to ask further, but before she could, the commander finally bored of sitting around!

Rather, he immediately lunged forward and slammed Calliope into a nearby wall!

"I'll give you credit, you have a lot of guts coming back despite your sorry state." The commander twisted Calliope's arm as she screamed in pain, her attempts to escape his grasp completely futile. "But I'm afraid it was all for nothing, dear!"

With another twist, the commander sent out volts of bright blue lightning that shocked Calliope to the bone!

"You, you better let me go!" Calliope hissed through gritted teeth despite the pain that surely surged through her body while she gave the commander a dark glare. "You don't know what I'm capable of!"

"Oh, what ever would you do to me?" The commander raised an eyebrow. "Scream? Glare? Beg for mercy?" A hint of ecstasy shone in the commander's eyes as he shocked Calliope further and cackled, as if he almost reveled in her screams. "You're nothing but an absolute failure of a fairy!"

"I WARNED YOU!"

Calliope's scream was so great it reverberated around the halls and shocked everyone speechless, including the commander for a few moments! As the lightning let up for a tiny bit, Calliope gritted her teeth, and stiffly and slowly raised her arms. With how much electricity that coursed through her body, it showed another side to her, one more tough and intimidating that demanded the attention of everyone around! She snapped her fingers...

Yet, all it did was surround the commander in a red glow.

"What, making me glow is the worst you could do? I can do that any…"

The commander's jaw went slack as he trembled and held his head, and soon he fell to his knees, next his hands. His eyes were wide and his face pale, as if he came down with a sudden illness.

"What, what's going on?" The commander croaked between cold shudders. "Why do I feel so weak?"

"Who's the failure now, hm?" Calliope asked as the red glow that surrounded the commander leaped from his body and transformed into a glowing red orb that rested in her hands.

Calliope flitted over to Cali and Hex, and made a slow, cold nod.

"Get him."

Cali nodded, jumped forward and elbowed the commander straight in the back, which sent him stumbling to the floor with a pained wheeze. He tried to stagger up and swing at Cali, but he was so slow that Cali herself jumped out of the way in time as Hex hit him with a magical orb blast! The blast slammed the commander into a window and cracked it, and surely, without his armor it probably would've cracked him as well! But it didn't, so he just slunk against the floor.

"Bah, it doesn't matter what you do to me!" the commander exclaimed as he turned the knob on his glove, though his continued trembling said otherwise. "I still have plenty of fairy magic to power my—"

The commander's blue glow of power lasted for mere moments before a red bolt of lightning shot out from Calliope's orb and sapped the energy right from him!

"Suit?"

The commander shuddered as he fell to his knees once more, his whole body shaken as he grasped for his suit's power dial. Before he could, Cali bolted forward and kicked him straight in the chest! He grunted as he slammed into the window and made an uncomfortable cracking sound, yet still reached for the dials on his gloves. But this time, instead of trying to power himself up, he created a magical shield instead!

Cali wasn't able to catch on to this, however, and only bounced off the shield right as it manifested from nowhere! Cali flew in the air for moments as a skeletal hand caught her midway through her flight. As she opened her eyes and examined her skeletal seat, Cali smiled and slid right off the hand's hard palm.

Hex examined Cali with an eerie level of silence, and turned her attention back to the commander. The shield around him had faded, but the momentary distraction it provided gave him just enough time to power himself up again! His whole body glowed blue with a few turns of the dials' notches,.

"Let's end this right here, shall we?" The commander asked as he held up a hand and created a crackling sphere of blue energy.

"Gladly," Hex replied as she crafted a large, spiky phantom orb.

Their twin attacks marinated in their casters' power for mere moments, but finally shot off! The commander seemed perfectly confident in himself as his beam of energy rocketed towards Hex's orb, but his jaw dropped as a red lightning bolt intercepted the beam and withered it into nothingness. The commander let out a cry of shock, a cry that devolved into terrified screaming as the orb shot right towards him and smashed him straight into the window! By a sheer stroke of luck, he managed to grab onto the side, but it wouldn't hold him up forever, and it was a long drop below.

Calliope said no words, but merely floated over to him and examined him as he hung on for dear life.

"Um, miss… Tralliope, was it?" the commander trilled as he made a weak chuckle, his eyes wide and his smile wavering. "Forget everything I said, why don't you help me up and I'll—"

"Commander Ebonyomen, was it?" Calliope echoed as she knelt down and scowled. "Hardly an earned title. You made your entire throne here using others for your own gain and tossing them out when they're of no use to you!" Calliope made a bloodchilling smirk. "Looks like that's certainly come back to bite."

"Please, please, forgive me! I'll, I'll change!" the commander begged as tears of panic filled his eyes. "I'll take back every awful thing I said! I'll let go of—" the commander looked aside and winced "—one whole fairy! No, two! Please, just don't let me fall!"

"Sorry—" Calliope's face darkened as she grabbed the commander's hand and yanked it off the platform "—but forgiveness is something you're far from worthy of!"

The commander's screams were akin to that of the fairies he had tormented, terrified and bloodcurdling as he fell to what was certainly his grave. Yet, Calliope seemed hardly discontented. She only watched him crash into the ground with a sickening crunch, wiped her hands and turned back to a shocked Hex and Cali.

"Calliope," Cali whispered, her eyes wide as her hands trembled from the aftershocks, "what was all that?"

Calliope seemed hesitant to reply at first, but finally she gulped and looked down at her hands.

"My magic," Calliope said before she took a quick breath, "I was born with a strange kind of fairy magic. While most fairies can give others power—" Calliope paused to toy with the glowing red orb that now resided on the floor "—mine takes it away."

All was silent for a few moments, but then finally Hex floated closer to Calliope. "Was that how you were able to escape?" Hex asked.

Calliope only nodded.

"They were only looking for fairies with the normal kind of magic, so when they didn't read mine, they thought I was powerless and tossed me aside. I was lucky enough to steal an old warship and get away before things got too ugly." Calliope looked aside at the broken window and scoffed. "Clearly, letting me go was their biggest mistake."

As the blue glow and screams rose again, Calliope froze, but soon thrust the orb of stolen power right into Cali's arms. "Take this, and get Her Majesty and Aura out of there!"

Cali froze for a moment as well, all of this so quick she couldn't react at first, but nonetheless she accepted the orb as it flooded her body with its power. The moment she did, however, it was amazing! It was like Cali had the strength of ten warriors, no, an entire army of Skylands' best! This newfound power well-homed within her, Cali immediately raced over to the pods where Aura and Persephone were being held.

Cali grunted as she latched her hands around the first pod, yanked off its warm surface and pulled Persephone out! Persephone heaved heavy breathes as she fell to her hands, her face pale and her strained breaths akin to the ones people make before vomiting—though she did seem to lighten up a little when she saw Aura next to her.

"Au… ra…" Persephone croaked as she crawled over to Aura and laid a pale hand on Aura's own.

Cali winced as she saw them, so weak and helpless, and turned to Calliope with pleading eyes. Calliope in turn moved closer to Cali, as if she knew what Cali was going to ask, and laid a hand on Cali's shoulder. Cali winced a little as the red glow of Calliope's magic enveloped her, and as her body adjusted to her return to normal strength, Cali watched that red glow flow into Aura and Persephone.

The two of them twitched their wings as they glowed red as well, but slowly they pushed themselves back to full height.

"Feeling better?" Calliope asked as she helped prop Aura back up.

Aura and Persephone nodded as all five of them made their way back to the elevator.

§

Stump Smash frowned as he pushed through a couple of leafy bushes to the best of his ability, closed them up and sighed.

"No Eternal Life Source here, either," Stump Smash said as he turned back to Camo and Zook.

"That's gotta be the tenth place we've looked!" Zook said as he scratched his head. "Where could the Eternal Life Source be? I bet we've checked the entire forest at this—"

Before Zook could finish, all three of them jolted up and shuddered with such intensity that it froze them in their places.

"Life Element energy!" Camo exclaimed as he finally pulled himself off his spot, "We've gotta be close!" Camo rushed down a tree branch and well past Zook and Stump Smash. "Come on, guys, I think it came from over here!"

Zook and Stump Smash chased after Camo, but Camo was far from attentive to their chase. Instead, he pushed past thick branches coated in leaves. As Camo dug past another branch, he frowned and tilted his head. From within the area, it almost sounded like Zook and Stump Smash were talking?

"Guys, shush!" Camo scolded as he turned back to Zook and Stump Smash. "Those rotten clones could be anywhere!"

"But, Camo," Zook whispered, a confused frown on his face as he teased one of his leafy bamboo shoots. "That wasn't us!"

"Haven't said a word since I got here," Stump Smash affirmed as he crossed his arms.

Camo raised an eyebrow, turned back to the branches and continued digging through their barriers. The more he did, the louder the conversation got, until a hole opened up and revealed the conversation's source!

"Evil Bambazooker," said a purple and green clone of Stump Smash with blank eyes as it cracked acorns with its mallet hands. "Find anything yet?"

"Not yet, Evil Tree Ent," replied the Evil Bambazooker, a sinister-looking purple and green clone of Zook. It twisted off the cap of a particularly large acorn, peered inside and tossed it away. "All these acorns look the same if you ask me!"

"Bad news, guys. Seems like those clones beat us to the punch!" Camo growled as he ducked his head and turned around. "We've gotta stop them!"

Stump Smash and Zook peeked through the hole Camo had crafted and grimaced themselves.

"Of course they did," Stump Smash groaned as he leaned forwards, "but, if we can catch them off guard, it'll give us plenty of time to find the Source!" Stump Smash narrowed his eyes as he fixed himself on the Evil Tree Ent and Bambazooker. "And I have just the idea."

Stump Smash cleared his throat and widened the hole Camo made as he opened his mouth, but then, he lost his balance and rolled straight through the hole! Stump Smash grunted as he fell forwards and got a faceful of acorn, sat up and hacked out the stray acorns.

"Ugh!" Stump Smash grunted as he wiped his mouth. "If I knew acorns tasted so awful, I never would've made them!"

"I thought you made chestnuts, not acorns?" Zook asked as he hopped out of the hole and helped Stump Smash to his feet.

"I didn’t, until I got some fancy upgrades from Persephone." Stump Smash coughed out more acorn meat and grimaced. "And now, I'm mad I did."

Stump Smash rubbed the side of his head and looked up, but he and Zook scurried back as they found themselves face to face with the Evil Tree Ent and Evil Bambazooker!

"THE SKYLANDERS!" The Evil Tree Ent and Bambazooker as they dropped their acorns. "HOW DID YOU GET HERE?"

"Well, so much for distracting them," Camo remarked as he hopped out of the hole and glared down the Evil Tree Ent and Bambazooker, before he looked towards Zook and Stump Smash. "Zook, Stump Smash! Keep these guys busy, I'll look for the Eternal Life Source!"

"Well," Stump Smash said as he slammed his hands together and charged towards the Evil Tree Ent, "I've been wanting to DROP THE HAMMER!"

"And I'm LOCKED AND LOADED!" Zook exclaimed as he pulled his bazooka's trigger and shot a round of thorny missiles towards the Evil Bambazooker!

While Stump Smash and Zook traded blows with the Evil Tree Ent and Bambazooker, Camo dove under the fray and made a beeline for the pile of acorns the Evil Tree Ent and Bambazooker had amassed! He grabbed one and popped it open, but all that came out was whitish-yellow acorn meat.

"Nope, not that one!" Camo tossed the broken acorn aside and popped the next one open, but to the same effect.

"Or that one!"

Camo tossed that acorn aside as well, grabbed several more acorns and smashed them open! However, all that he got was once again, acorn meat.

"Or those!"

Camo winced as he tossed aside the broken acorns, dug back into the pile and cracked open more acorns! Unbeknownst to Camo, however, was that every piece of acorn meat he touched glowed with a bright green light as soon as it hit the floor, and immediately sprouted into a large tree!

Stump Smash snarled as he dodged some rockets from the Evil Bambazooker and went to launch an attack of his own. Meanwhile, the Evil Bambazooker was more than prepared to fight itself, for it had its bazooka locked and ready to fire. But before they could fight further, a glowing piece of acorn meat fell between them and sprouted into a gigantic oak tree! The growth was so fast and sudden that it tossed both of them aside!

As the Evil Bambazooker regained its footing, it spotted Camo and immediately reached for its bazooka. "You think you can get away with our acorn, do you?" the Evil Bambazooker growled as it positioned the bazooka. "Let me tell you, you have—OWCH!"

Before the Bambazooker could even fire, Stump Smash slammed into the Bambazooker and tossed it straight into the trunk of another Camo-created tree!

"Camo!" Stump Smash called as he turned around to face Camo. "Watch where you're throwing those acorns!"

"Why?" Camo asked as he turned back to Stump Smash, saw the giant trees that littered the battlefield and giggled. "Oh, whoops! My bad!"

Camo scratched the back of his head, and his eyes shrank as his whole body trembled!

"That energy!" Camo turned back to the acorn pile and shuddered some more. "It's gotta be!"

Camo sifted through the pile of acorns once more, beamed and fished out an acorn surrounded by a mysterious, magical green glow. There was no mistaking it, this had to be…

"The Eternal Life Source!"

Camo cracked the acorn open, and grinned as the green glow that once surrounded it leaped above him and solidified into a slightly more tangible form! It took the form of a barely medium-sized, green, glowing oval with crisp green leaves that bounced around in its center. All around it radiated such great Life Element energy that the trees and plants around glowed with life, as if they were at the peak of their prime!

"It's beautiful." Camo's eyes sparkled as he reached out to grab the Life Source, only for a blur to jump forward and snag it right before his very eyes!

"WHAT THE HECK?"

Camo shifted his head left and right as a shrill cackle echoed through the battlefield.

"Thought you could shake me, huh?" chided a familiarly shrill voice. "Sorry to disappoint, but a little smoke cloud doesn't take me down so easily!"

Out from the shadows of the battlefield, the Evil Elf Ninja strode out with a proud step and the Eternal Life Source hovered right next to it!

"Evil Elf Ninja!" the Evil Tree Ent called as it pulled away from its ongoing battle with Zook. "You arrived just in time!"

Camo growled and leaped towards the Evil Elf Ninja, but it simply stepped out of the way and watched him crash into the floor!

"Sorry, Skyloser," the Evil Elf Ninja sneered as it bounced the Eternal Life Source up and down. "You're just too slow!"

Camo shook his head, then glanced back at the Evil Elf Ninja and pulled himself to his feet. Once again he tried to leap after it, but it teleported away once more! So he turned tail and leaped again in a never-ending game of cat and mouse—or rather, elf and dragon!

"Is that the best you can do?" the Evil Elf Ninja scoffed as it reappeared just inches away from Stump Smash while Camo slammed face-first into the floor. "I expected better!"

"How about you better watch where you're going!" Stump Smash rumbled as he opened his mouth and shot a round of chestnuts towards the Evil Elf Ninja!

But, even this surprise attack wasn't surprising enough for it! It saw the chestnuts coming out the corner of its eye, teleported away, and reappeared just in time to watch the chestnuts roll off the side of the arena platform!

"Trying to out-sneak a ninja?" The Evil Elf Ninja would've surely rolled its eyes if they weren't completely blank. "Pathetic."

The Evil Elf Ninja walked towards the Evil Tree Ent and Evil Bambazooker, and held out the Eternal Life Source for them all to bask in.

"It's all ours, boys!" The Evil Elf Ninja rolled up its sleeve and tapped out something on some strange device, pulled its sleeve back up, and placed a hand on the Eternal Life Source. "Let's make good use of it!"

"YEAH!" cried the Evil Tree Ent and Evil Bambazooker as they placed their own hands on the Eternal Life Source.

As they placed their hands on the Eternal Life Source, its brilliant green glow faded—but only for a moment. After that moment passed, not only did the Eternal Life Source glow, but the evil minions glowed bright and green as well! They cackled as the trees Camo created shriveled and shrank back into the ground while their own glow brightened. They were all sickeningly proud of their accomplishment, and worse yet, they seemed stronger as well.

Much, much stronger.

"Who knew having the entire Life Element's power flow through you would feel so good?" the Evil Elf Ninja asked as it twirled around and flexed.

The powered up evil minions smirked as they imposed themselves over the Skylanders, now more than ready to finish them off! The Skylanders, however, refused to go down without a fight!

Stump Smash was the first to trade blows as he shot a round of chestnuts off against the Evil Tree Ent, who was quick to do the same. The chestnuts all smashed to bits as evil chestnuts collided with good, their meat and fragmented shells littered across the battlefield.

"Alright, maybe these nuts need a little boost!" the Evil Tree Ent remarked as it rubbed its hammers hands together and slammed those hands against the ground!

From its hands, a wave of life energy rippled across the battlefield and the broken chestnuts shuddered with power! One by one their fragments were lifted off the ground, fixed themselves piece by broken piece, the grew to the size of giants!

"Uh oh," Stump Smash said as the gigantic chestnuts fell down to the ground with a loud crash.

Stump Smash screamed as he tried to outrun the chestnuts, but they picked up momentum far too fast! He could only trip and watch as they slammed into him and tossed him aside!

"Stump Smash!" Zook and Camo cried.

The two of them immediately went to Stump Smash's side, but before they could reach him, the Evil Bambazooker skidded in front of them, sprouted a ring of gigantic bamboo around Zook, and trapped him inside!

"Hey, what's the big idea, man?" Zook demanded as he pounded his fists against the bamboo and tried to pry it open, but stopped as cackling from a voice identical to his resounded from within the bamboo!

"Who's there?" Zook immediately grabbed his bazooka and lifted it high. "Don't make me…"

Zook flinched as the sound of a gun loading clicked behind him. He turned around, and out from the stalks shot a bamboo rocket aimed straight at him!

"SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!" Zook exclaimed as the following explosion tossed him out of the ring and dropped him off with a now-unconscious Stump Smash.

And where was Camo in all this? Well…

"Get back here!" Camo demanded as he lunged after the Evil Elf Ninja, but it popped away from him the moment he jumped! Instead, he just smashed his face into wood!

Camo winced as he got up and pulled a few splinters out of his scales, and turned back around as the Evil Elf Ninja reappeared out of thin air. With a growl, he stomped his paws and vaulted full-grown and very explosive watermelons at it, but it just disappeared again right as they exploded! As it reappeared, Camo stomped his paws and sent several vines ripping through their stumpy battlefield. The vines inched closer and closer to the Evil Elf Ninja, who stood still as stone. Did Camo finally have a chance?

Nope, it just blasted the vines with clouds of purple spores and reveled as the vines withered and snapped! Finally, he knelt down and charged after it, but once again, it disappeared right as he charged! And yet, he still bounced off of something, but what? Camo looked up and unfortunately found his answer, for he crashed right into a literal monster of a scarecrow!

"Uh…" Camo chuckled as he backed away. "Nice scarecrow?"

The scarecrow only roared and smashed the ground between them, which blew Camo right into Stump Smash and Zook! The three of them all crashed into each other at once and groaned as they tried to pull themselves back to their feet, but before they could, the evil minions completely cornered them! All three minions smirked and cackled as the power of life radiated off of their bodies. They had a complete advantage over the Skylanders and they knew it; surely, they were more than ready to put an end to all this!

"Alright, let's finish this," the Evil Elf Ninja proclaimed as it wiped off its hands, "after all, Lord Kaos wants those Skylanders deader than dirt!"

The Evil Elf Ninja raised a curved blade with grew longer and sharper by the moment, but then another hand grabbed onto the blade before it could strike a single blow!

"Wait, hold on a second," the Evil Bambazooker interrupted as it scratched its head. "Didn't Lord Kaos say he wanted them alive, so he could torture them himself?"

"No, you oaf!" The Evil Elf Ninja snapped as it bonked the Evil Bambazooker on the head. "Lord Kaos would be much happier if they were finished off!"

"Hey, watch the stalks!" The Evil Bambazooker growled as it rubbed its head, which now had a sizable welt on it. "I still say he'd rather do it himself!"

"Kill them!"

"Capture them!"

"Kill them!"

"Capture them!"

"Kill them!"

"Capture them!"

The Evil Tree Ent winced and backed away as the Evil Bambazooker and Elf Ninja pushed against each others faces with their mouths drawn into scowls. "Uh, guys," The Evil Tree Ent winced, "shouldn't we hurry up and decide before the Skylanders—"

"QUIET YOU!" the Evil Bambazooker and Elf Ninja screamed as they glared at the Evil Tree Ent, their yells so loud they nearly blew the Evil Tree Ent off its feet. "YOU'RE NOT A PART OF THIS CONVERSATI—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The Evil Bambazooker and Elf Ninja screamed as a gigantic chestnut bowled them over and stuck them to its spiky shell! Their screaming session was joined by the Evil Tree Ent, who screamed as well while the chestnut chased it all across their arena.

"Talk about skewed priorities," Stump Smash scoffed as he brushed himself off and turned back to Zook and Camo. "Anyways, let's go get the Eternal Life Source!"

"Right!"

The other two fixed their eyes on the Eternal Life Source, which still glowed bright as it hovered in the center of the arena. The three of them raced forwards, their earlier pain completely forgotten as they drew closer and closer to the Eternal Life Source. Whether it was the Life Source's power seeping into them, or the relief of finally being able to claim it and end this journey, they weren't sure, but nonetheless they ran!

However, their pain wasn't the only thing they forgot! While they ran, the Evil Elf Ninja caught sight of them and popped off of its chestnut prison!

"Stop running around like headless chickens!" the Evil Elf Ninja ordered as it summoned its blades once more and sliced the chestnut clean in half. "The Skylanders are getting away with the Life Source!"

The evil Bambazooker grunted as it fell face-first on the floor, shook its head and pulled itself back to full stance!

"Not on our watch!" all three evil minions proclaimed as they all slid in front of the Eternal Life Source and threw Camo off!

Camo cried out as he flew straight into the evil minions' living barricade and landed straight into Zook's arms, but it hardly threw him off. Rather, his eyes sparkled with inspiration instead!

"Zook, use these!" Camo ordered as he jumped out of Zook's arms, created some seeds and handed them over to Zook.

Zook nodded and dumped the seeds into his bazooka. "Let's Zook it up!" Zook yelled as he clicked the trigger and sent the seeds soaring right towards the evil minions!

Right as the minions reached for the Eternal Life Source once more, the seeds landed on the ground, and burst into a gigantic vine barrier that flung all three minions across the arena.

"Stump Smash!" Camo called as he raced forward, his eyes focused on the still-growing vines. "Give me a boost!"

Stump Smash charged after Camo, rolled forward and slammed the ground beneath him and Camo! The sheer force of this attack not only tossed Camo in the air, but shot him right above the vines! His eyes firm on the ground, Camo smiled as he caught sight of the Eternal Life Source, but then gasped as he saw that the evil minions started to get back up!

"Can't have that, can we?" Camo smirked, clapped his paws and summoned a bunch of bright red chili peppers that just burst with life. "BOMBS AWAY!"

Camo released the peppers, spun around and smacked them with his tail! The moment his tail hit the bombs, they all slammed into the evil minions and exploded in a cloud of red, seed-filled, eye-stinging smoke intermingled with strained screams! Camo grimaced as he fell down while the smoke clear, but smiled right as he disappeared under the cover of the vine barrier.

Why? When the smoke cleared, the evil minions were no more! All that remained of them a bunch of dark green spheres that faintly glowed against the light.