/LOG DATE 42.26.20011, TIME 17.46.55/

The sounds of war and banter rang through Drobot's ears as he, Drill Sergeant, and Nort trekked through the muddy trenches that made up the factory's front yard. While normally it would've made anyone's skin crawl, in particular, it kept all three of them on edge as they searched.

"Okay, so, if I recall correctly," Nort explained as he walked next to Drobot, "this path should take us to where Captain Rizzo was last heard from…"

"Understood," Drobot replied while he toyed with something on his helmet. "Could you inform me as to which members are missing at the current time?"

"Just the captain and Blobbers." Nort rubbed his hands and awkwardly smiled. "We're a little short staffed at the moment."

"Last actions before vanishing?" Drobot tapped a few buttons on the side of his helmet.

"The captain disappeared first while he was going to re-route the goo pipes, and Blobbers went to look for him!" Nort winced and looked around. "I really hope they're alright. Only the Ancients know what could have happened to them!" Nort whimpered as he looked aside. "Maybe they got incinerated in a fire, or made into friend mabu, or fell down a hole, or—"

"Actually, the probability of the first two insofar is extremely low." Drobot tapped the side of his helmet and projected out a holographic chart. "According to my calculations. Now—"

Drobot lifted his head up and whisked away the holographic chart with a blink. A beep from his helmet alerted him to the fact that there was something amiss here!

"Incoming projectile from…"

Drobot turned his head around and shot a laser at an oncoming grenade still high in the skies! As it exploded in a bright flare, he lowered his head slightly and narrowed his eyes.

"There."

With another blink, Drobot shot a round of lasers at the horizon and caused another explosion in the distance! The red and orange light of the explosion glazed over the mechanical eyes of Drobot's helmet in a way akin to sunsets, which was pretty, he supposed. But, it was not the most impressive thing he had seen. A quick glance to the right showed that Nort, however, was seemingly enthralled by the sights! His eyes fixed on the explosion's radiant warmth and his mouth drew into a smile, while scans showed that his heart rate accelerated to a slightly faster speed. Drobot was not sure why, but…

"That was amazing!" Nort exclaimed as he turned back to Drobot at last. "You saw that grenade coming way before I did and blew it up like it was nothing!"

"But it was nothing," Drobot corrected, "for my suit is specially attuned to detect any sudden changes in the environment around me. Quite helpful for intense missions such as these."

"REALLY?" Nort's heart rate grew even faster as he scurried up to Drobot and looked all over his suit, "What else can it do?"

Drobot gently folded the wing Nort examined closer to the suit's body. "It has offensive and defensive qualities with its laser blasts, bladegears and shields, it can automatically generate charts, maps, and other things necessary for statistical analysis, and it can even precisely calculate the time necessary for the perfect piece of toast."

Drobot clicked a dial on his helmet, showed off brief holographic previews of each function he listed, and stretched his robot wings as Nort stepped away.

"These are only a small selection of the things it can do, however. If anything, what I listed off were among the more simple features of my suit. Without it and all its features, I do not know what I would do."

Nort just gazed over Drobot with what seemed to be a level of shock. "It can do even more? How is that possible?"

"Er, well, all I did was code the programs and program them into the suit's internal computer. It's not very complicated, you just have to type a few lines." Drobot tilted his head slightly and frowned. He wasn't planning an explanation, for he only stated an objective truth—after all, the features did range from fairly simple operations to much more complex maneuvers that only the most carefully-crafted of machines could pull off. "I would happily explain, but we have more pressing matters at hand right—"

Drobot wanted to say more, but before he could, his helmet resounded with a couple more beeps—new anomalies! Heat signatures apparently emerged just a few paces behind him, but what were they of?

"SKYLANDERS! WHAT ARE THEY DOING HERE?" cried a gruff voice from that same direction.

Drobot turned around and, he should have guessed that they were spotted by the local forces. Several trolls popped out of their campsite's safety, their armor shiny and their weapons even shinier. His database analysis showed that the guns they carried seemed to be of the newest, more efficient model. He should stay on guard. Nort immediately screamed at incredibly shrill volumes and hid behind Drobot, but Drobot quelled his own shock. Instead, he flared out his wings and tapped a few controls on the side of his helmet, just as a means of prepping his weaponry… To be safe.

"Why should I indulge you with an answer?" Drobot asked. He alerted his voice filter to be slightly more booming and intimidating in some kind of hope that this would scare the trolls away without a fight.

"It's our factory, isn't it?" the head of the trolls shot back as he gripped his laser gun, a slick and minimalist Pocket Flare 101611 with a cannon-like shape, slightly tighter than before. "You're technically trespassers!"

"YEAH!" cried a second troll dressed in simple, less decorated military clothing as they waved their Pocket Flare in the air—probably a newer officer judging by their excitability. "So enough talking, let's get shooting!"

"My thoughts exactly!" the first troll hissed as he lowered his gun and charged it up!

From the Pocket Flare came an incredibly large laser flare, one that rocketed towards Drobot at what seemed like thirty steps a second. But, when it drew into Drobot's general vicinity, he merely lifted his wings and cast out a holographic shield that completely neutralized the blast!

"WHAT?" the head troll shouted as he tossed his Pocket Flare to the ground. "That stupid scientist said these things were immune to shields!"

"Then I suppose they were wrong, sir!" Drill Sergeant beeped as he flew out from where Drobot sat and charged towards the trolls. "ROLLING ON THROUGH, SIR!"

The trolls all looked up, screamed and ran as Drill Sergeant charged towards them with his drill hands fully activated and ready to shoot—but unfortunately, their speeds of approximately thirty miles an hour on foot were no match for the speeds Drill Sergeant generated on his wheels! Drill Sergeant slammed into them and tossed them into the air before they could even escape.

While the trolls screamed and flew, Drill Sergeant whipped around and rattled. "Drobot, sir!"

"Understood!" Drobot shouted back, and with a few clicks of his buttons, his wings folded out further and unleashed large cannons. "Initiate bladegear protocol!"

Out from those cannons shot several large gears with chainsaw-like teeth that were so sharp and so quick to tear and pull through anything that got in their way! Several of them immediately went to work and knocked the trolls into the horizons, but the others were just a little too slow to the punch—Drobot made a mental note to examine those when he returned from the mission. As the trolls not grazed down by the bladegears dropped to the floor, they wiped sweat off their brows and breathed sighs of relief, but not for long! The bladegears dropped back down in response and immediately chased the troll down and out of sight!

A third bladegear soared towards the head troll, but he only snarled and shot it away. "You like shooting things, do you?" the head troll asked as he cocked his Pocket Flare. "Well, two can play at that game!"

The head troll spun around his Pocket Flare, held it tight and stuck his finger to the trigger! As he held it close, several incredibly large and hot flares rocketed straight towards them, but Drobot was hardly intimidated as he flared his wings and tapped the side of his helmet.

"Initiate shield protocol!" Drobot proclaimed as a large, sturdy holographic shield jumped out from the ports in his wings and immediately neutralized the rocketing flares!

Unfortunately, however, those weren't the only flares that troll sent out! He still fired at incredibly rapid speeds, so rapid that Drobot could not allot a moment to fight back; he had to stand still and keep these shields up, lest he risk getting hit by the flares. On top of that, an instantaneous report from his helmet told him the trolls he chased away with his bladegears earlier made a return at last!

"Thought you could get rid of us easy, didn't you?" asked the seemingly lower-ranking troll as they cocked their Pocket Flare. "Too bad!"

One by one, the others all shot off their Pocket Flares as well, which greatly increased the volume of flares Drobot had to fight! He winced as several of them narrowly whizzed past his head, and he ducked as he went back to inputting data on his helmet's control panel.

"Won't somebody stop that thing?" Nort cried as he rolled out the way of one flare and watched it explode about ten miles behind him.

"I am afraid I cannot!" Drobot shouted back as he clenched his tense jaw and expanded the shields' range till they were a fence that completely blocked off him and Nort. "I already have my protocol slots taken by these flares!"

"It is a good thing that I do not, then, sir!" Drill Sergeant whirred from halfway across the battlefield.

The sound of revving machinery caught everyone's attention, and dust clouds kicked up over the horizon as Drill Sergeant charged directly into the trolls and tossed them—and their Pocket Flares—everywhere! While they crashed into the ground and grappled for their weapons, Drill Sergeant made a few short chirps, and zapped the Pocket Flares into fried, broken metal with a humble laser blast. The trolls gasped as they lifted their Pocket Flares and tried to fire them in some desperate, irrational attempt to get them working, but finally, their leader screamed at the top of his lungs as he stomped on his broken Pocket Flare!

"YOU STUPID HUNK OF METAL!" the lead troll exclaimed as he finished his temper tantrum and glared down Drill Sergeant, his breath so heavy with rage that his entire body shuddered. "THAT WAS THE VERY FIRST OF ITS KIND! THERE'S NO WAY I'LL GET ANOTHER ONE!"

The troll let out another raging yell, then jumped onto the ground and charged right at Drill Sergeant! Drill Sergeant charged back towards him and locked them both in a standstill. They pushed and pressed against each other, but despite their efforts, they were both strong enough that neither could overwhelm the other… Until finally, the troll's footing slipped slightly! With the troll's grip loosened, Drill Sergeant found the perfect opportunity to power forward and charge right over him!

The other trolls immediately ran to attack Drill Sergeant as well, but Drill Sergeant shot them back with his drill hands before they could even get within range. More importantly, with those trolls' weapons destroyed and their attention fixed on Drill Sergeant, there was plenty of time to attack!

"Seems it is time to have some fun," Drobot remarked as he let down his shield, "as the civilians would say."

Drobot twirled a couple of dials, pressed a button or two, and zoomed over the battlefield! He careened his head down, and with a red flash from his eyes, bright hot lasers rained down on the battlefield! The trolls screamed and hopped around as their feet were singed, and some blew on their flaming feet in some ill-fated attempt to cool them off.

A glint of harsh light shone on Drill Sergeant's face as his drill hands flew back and attached themselves back to their proper slots, and he charged forward and smashed directly into the trolls! While the trolls flew into the distance and their screams became little more than faint echoes, Drill Sergeant make a mechanical sound that vaguely sounded like a huff.

"What a nuisance, sir," Drill Sergeant remarked as he rolled up to Drobot.

"Indeed, Drill Sergeant," Drobot replied as he landed back on the ground and turned back to Nort. "You are not injured, are you?"

"No, no, I'm fine!" Nort replied while his legs continued to shake, oddly enough.

"But, the scans show that you are shaking at an abnormal rate." Drobot tapped the side of his helmet to show a holographic scan of Nort's body, complete with health diagrams to prove his point. "And your heart rate has gone up considerably…"

Nort just frantically jumped in front of the hologram and began waving his arms, all while sweat dripped down his head despite the odd lack of warmth on this battlefield they chose. "NOPE! I'M TOTALLY FINE, LET'S MOVE ON!"

Once the hologram disappeared from view, Nort made as large a grin as his mouth could make and walked on, those his movements were oddly stiff and mechanical for a living being.

"That mabu is a strange one, but he does have a point." Drobot made a soft, robotic hum and shrugged. "We should be on our way."

So, Drobot padded after Nort, though he was guided more by the AI-generated map his suit created based on his scans of the area. Good thing, too—these battlefield were nearly completely identical with their charred and blood-splattered ground, barbed wire fences, and miniature campsites all made with the same tents and crates. There was a good chance any of them would've easily gotten lost without it!

In fact, it seemed as though Nort had already gotten lost! He stood frozen as he examined the path before him, and neural scans showcased brain activity that indicated confusion…

"According to my map," Drobot said as he hovered over to Nort and landed, "the path ahead is completely linear."

Nort just tilted his head and frowned.

"In layman's terms, it's a straight way ahead."

"Oh!" Nort nodded and beamed, but only for a moment as he gave Drobot another confused look. "Where'd you get a map?"

"I had an artificial intelligence program automatically generate one for me based on detailed scans of the area around. It has an accuracy of ninety nine point nine, nine, nine, nine…" Drobot shook his head and hovered forward. "Well, you understand—"

SCCCCCCCCRRRRRRHHH!

That was the sound of Drobot's suit's feedback as his suit alerted him to an unexpected update! Ugh, he thought he tuned the feedback noise to be less ear-grating. Drobot clenched his teeth, and looked ahead to find a solid barrier of a wall made entirely of stone!

"Guess that was the one percent that did go wrong, wasn't it?" Nort asked as he made an awkward chuckle.

Drobot frowned as he heard Nort's words, but quickly shook it off as his tone analyzer told him that Nort meant it in a playful way. So, instead he directed his attention towards the obstruction before him. Strange, what was a stone barrier doing here? His map told him the path ahead was clear of any obstructions or debris! Just then, his helmet beeped a few times as his map was overwritten by a new one that pointed out the obstruction.

"You couldn't have done this earlier?" Drobot hissed to his suit at a low enough volume that nobody else could hear. He did not wish for anyone to misconstrue his words, after all.

"A barrier?" Drill Sergeant beeped as he finally caught up to where Nort and Drobot were, and spun his wheels even faster than before. "Just leave it to me, sirs!"

Drill Sergeant short off at an approximation of seventy miles per hour—approximately given that the distance between them and the barrier was too short for such distance to be realistic.

"I'LL CHARGE DOWN THAT BARRIER IN—"

Drill Sergeant's vocal processor sputtered out some kind of static nonsense as he bounced off of the stone barrier and landed on his back.

"Oh dear." Drill Sergeant buzzed as his wheels spun haphazardly. "I apologize for the disruption, sirs, but can one of you please help me back up?"

Drobot walked over to Drill Sergeant and gently pushed a button on the back of his armor. As the button popped back up, twin pairs of strong, mechanical arms unfolded from his suit and lifted Drill Sergeant back to his feet, or rather, wheels, since Drill Sergeant did not have feet.

"I will run a scan to analyze the material of this barrier," Drobot proclaimed as he tapped away at his control panel. "Once the analysis completes, it should give us a host of viable ways to rid ourselves of this—"

"Or, we could just use this!" Nort suggested as he popped out of a nearby trash pile with a sleek, round bomb in hand.

Drobot stopped mid-input, canceled the analysis, and examined the bomb Nort held. "Let me analyze it first."

Despite where it came from, the bomb was in complete working order and had a ninety-five percent chance of properly lighting and exploding with no complications—but would it be strong enough to destroy the barrier was the next question?

"My scans show that it is viable for the purpose in question. In other words, we can try."

Drobot nodded, looked over the bomb's fuse, and prepared his lasers to burn, but stopped as Nort pulled out a crude lighter and lit the fuse himself. The fuse crackled and popped with warm embers, though Nort seemed hardly concerned as he spun his arms and vaulted the bomb over the barrier!

"BOMBS AWAY!" Nort shouted as the bomb flew in the air!

Drobot promptly lifted up his shields, just to be safe, and clenched his teeth and powered the shields up further as a loud explosion sent gigantic rock chunks flying in every conceivable direction! The thick smoke filtered into his helmet, but was purified and converted into clean air right in time for rest of the smoke to fade away. When Drobot cleared the shields and looked ahead once more, the barrier was a barrier no more—just an easily-passed pile of rubble! He made a simple nod of approval, and blasted away a midsection in the rubble for Drill Sergeant and Nort to proceed through before he moved on ahead.

Once again, everything blended into the same sights and sounds as Drobot hovered ahead. Wait a second, his map had just updated and showed him a trail of small potential obstructions. What exactly were they? Mines, miniature bombs, bear traps?

"Full view," Drobot said as a holographic, three-dimensional projection of the map popped out from his helmet's eye sockets.

Wait a second, those could hardly be called obstructions! It was all junk, from torn hats and rusty badges to much more viable walkie talkies and devices. If anything, this seemed to be some campsite's scattered trash! It looked to have been abandoned in some kind of haste, as if whoever owned it was swept away in an instant. How suspicious…

"Follow me," Drobot ordered as he sensed the presence of Nort and Drill Sergeant, and stopped the map, "I believe my scans may have found a clue to your missing teammates’ whereabouts, Nort."

"You have?" Nort exclaimed as he clasped his paws together, though the look on his face was more nervous than hopeful.

Drobot hovered up, took a left turn and flew straight down. His eyes trained thoroughly for any sights of the trail he had seen earlier, and yet, it seemed as if he had completely escapes its view! Strange, the path was not too far according to his calculations…

"There it is!" Nort cried as he dashed under Drobot.

Drobot fell down to the ground, and found that sure enough, the junk trail he saw on the projection was only a few paces ahead. It seemed as though in his analysis, he failed to look down—he would remember that for next time.

Nort, meanwhile, winced as he lifted up the hat and dusted it off. "This is Captain Rizzo's hat!" Nort exclaimed as he looked back to Drobot. "He really likes it, too! It isn't like him to abandon it for no reason…"

Nort winced as he held the hat tight, looked back down at the trail, and gasped!

"There's the captain and Blobbers' badges, their walkie talkies…" Nort collected the garbage from the ground like some kind of somber treasure hunt. "Why would they drop all this stuff?"

Nort gasped and dropped his collection into a heap on the ground.

"Unless they didn't!" Nort whimpered and bit his nails, all while his neural readings showed increased levels of panic. "Maybe they were killed, and the killer took their stuff and lead a trail so that they could finish me off, too!"

"That is quite unlikely, Nort," Drobot remarked as he scanned the ground and looked up. "A murder of any kind would have left behind some kind of carnage—blood, fur, spit, ashes in case of an evaporation,—" Drobot tapped a claw against the mostly-pristine stone floors "—but these grounds are completely clean! If anything, a kidnapping is a more likely prospect."

"KIDNAPPING?" Nort practically jumped out of his fur and started pacing around in a circle. "Oh no, no, not the captain, not Blobbers! Who knows what's gonna happen to them? Not me, that's for sure! They could be halfway across Skylands and I wouldn't even know where to look! What am I gonna do?"

While Nort continued gnawing on his nails, Drill Sergeant drove up to Nort and gently patted him on the legs.

"There, there, sir," Drill Sergeant beeped, "at ease, sir."

But, Drill Sergeant seemingly didn't know his own strength in comparison to Nort, and instead accidentally knocked Nort on his back!

"Owch!"

"Oh, goodness, sir!" Drill Sergeant's eyebrow panels (or whatever they were truly called, for that was just what Drobot had always referred to them as) rapidly fluctuated as Drill Sergeant turned around and looked at Nort. "I am extremely sorry, sir!"

"Ugh, it's alright," Nort panted as he rubbed his head. "Geez, that was super hard! It was like landing on a metal—" Nort opened his eyes as the ground began to rumble "—block?"

Out of complete nowhere, the ground underneath Nort opened up, and not in the sense of an earthquake, but rather in the sense of a trapdoor! Drobot and Drill Sergeant rushed towards him, but before they could, Nort dropped down the open gap in the ground!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

By the time they reached the panel, Nort disappeared into the dark underneath them while the ground itself closed back up with a satisfied click!

"Just what was that, sir?" Drill Sergeant asked as he peered back up at Drobot.

"A trapdoor, obviously!" Drobot exclaimed. "More importantly, we need to get it open and get back Nort!"

Drobot clawed against the earth and grunted. Seems as though it wouldn't open by manual means, so, he lasered the ground beneath, but that was just an ineffective in opening it!

Drill Sergeant clicked, raised a drill to the heavens and ran it at an incredibly rapid pace. "Let me attempt, sir!" Drill Sergeant shouted as he plunged his drill into the ground. "After all, I have a license to drill!"

Drill Sergeant burrowed and rushed and bored all he could, but nothing happened other than him making an incredibly awful shrieking sound! Drobot had to turn down his helmet's listening mechanism before it made him short-circuit!

As he turned it back up, Drill Sergeant removed his drill hand from the earth. "Seems as though drilling does nothing as well," Drill Sergeant sighed.

Drobot frowned, started his hover mechanism and flew ahead. "Then it seems as though we will have to find other ways of entering."

Drobot burst ahead thanks to a boost of speed from his thrusters, paused in midair and examined the troll camps below. Surely, some of them could have some valuable information on how to enter whatever place Nort was brought to. So, he flew behind a large rock, poked his head out, and enhanced his listening mechanisms as he fixed them on the different camps.

"So, what did you say was the best way to cook sheepstew pie again?"

Nope, not that one.

"You know, this green goo stuff seems pretty cool! I wouldn't mind taking some of it for Trollver to mess with back home!"

Nor that. Drobot flicked to another one, but the things they discussed were so vulgar that he flinched and jumped to the next camp before he was subjected to any more of their crude discussions.

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't trust that weird scientist dude," said one of the troll in a camp fifty paces northwest of where Drobot currently sat. "He may have made these cool weapons and all, but he's still a total quack!"

Scientist? Drobot thought as he enhanced the hearing mechanisms further.

"No kidding! All he ever does is babble about his weird experiments and hole himself up in his lab," said the second troll. "He's even worse than the guys back home, and that's saying something!"

"I don't know, though," said a third voice, "I mean, he did make us these cool weapons! I think I can take a little weirdness."

"Weirdness? Like, 'placing trapdoors everywhere you turn in search of new test subjects' weirdness?" The second troll scoffed. "I think I've fallen down five of those today!"

That's it! Drobot realized as he looked up and signaled to Drill Sergeant. I've found my culprit!

Drill Sergeant charged down the steep ramp that lead down to the troll camps, turned to Drobot and made a few soft clicks. Drobot nodded in return, sneaked Drill Sergeant through the many troll camps, and finally stormed towards a northwest one. Based on the directions Drobot received from his suit, this had to be where he heard that conversation!

"Tell me," Drobot boomed as he stood tall against the trolls that seemingly had yet to notice him, "where exactly is this scientist?"

"Beats me, buddy," said one troll as they polished their rocket launcher. "That guy refuses to tell us where his lab is! I just found it by accident…" The troll took a look around, and their jaw and rocket launcher fell. "WAIT, YOU'RE NOT THE REINFORCEMENTS!"

"Indeed, we are not, sir!" Drill Sergeant proclaimed as he wheeled around and unveiled his laser blaster. "Now, we demand to know where this scientist is located, beep-boop! Or else…"

"Like we'd tell you!" The troll grabbed their rocket launcher off the ground and turned to the other trolls in their camp. "Trollcoys, to arms!"

The trolls all shouted off cries of war as they launched their blasts and missiles at Drobot and Drill Sergeant, but the two of them were just as quick to retaliate! Drill Sergeant immediately shot off several drill rockets that slammed into the missiles, which in turn created mid-air explosions! The smoke from these explosions was enough to mask Drobot, who used the cover to shoot off a round of lasers which neutralized the other blasts! By the time the smoke cleared, the only remainder of their first assault was the ashy remains of those missiles.

The trolls growled and got ready to fire again, but before they could, a robotic-sounding scream threw them all off! Wait, that sounded like… Drobot gasped and looked to where Drill Sergeant stood, but Drill Sergeant was there no more! Just an open space in the ground! Drobot went to make chase, but before he could, the ground was swept out from under his paws! He looked down, and all he could see was blinding darkness as he swept into the depths.

§

Chihiro inhaled, exhaled then clutched her radar tight as her eyes glazed over the ragtag team she assembled. Right now, it was just her, Master Eon, a handful of the Skylanders, and General Robot—who had insisted on tagging along—all cramped in the one tiny corner of the mess hall near the front doors. Despite how small the one corner was in comparison to their numbers, it hardly seemed tense!

As everybody chatted among themselves, Chihiro smiled and the tension lifted from her heart.

With a team like this, Chihiro thought as she rubbed her fingers against the radar, there's no way we could lose!

"Alright everyone, here's the stitch," Chihiro proclaimed, and gulped as all eyes turned to her. Something about the way everybody looked at her made her a little tense, as if they judged her for every little thing she did that lead up to this occasion! But, nonetheless she cleared her throat and proceeded.

"This radar has the locations of each Guardifound currently active." Chihiro held up the radar for all to see then placed it back to her side. "Really, all we have to do to them is simple."

Chihiro gestured towards Sonic Boom and Zook. "The monsters are sensitive to loud noises, so Sonic Boom and Zook will make as much noise as they can to keep them down. While they're reeling, the rest of you will keep the other monsters occupied!" Chihiro turned to Master Eon. "As for Master Eon and I, we'll look for the Guardifound so he can cast a no-sell spell on it and turn it back to normal."

Chihiro cast a glance and breath aside.

"Hopefully this'll work," Chihiro whispered as she fiddled with the radar's antenna, "I mean, it sounds simple enough, right?"

Chihiro shook her head. No, there was no time for doubts right now! They had to take back their home from those things, and more importantly, Chihiro needed to fix this whole mess she caused! So, she turned back to face the bulky, imposing doors of the mess hall.

They were blocked off with wooden boards, heavy crates, and whatever other hefty kitchenware that they could scrounge up. Despite the impromptu nature of the barrier, it stood tall and strong against any opposition, or perhaps maybe the monsters simply didn't think to check the mess hall. Hopefully it was the former. But nonetheless, they had to leave the mess hall's safety if they wanted to stop these monsters.

So, Chihiro signaled towards the Skylanders and watched them dismantle the barrier within seconds of her order!

"One, two…" Chihiro walked up to the doors, planted her hands on them, and took one last deep breath.

"NOW!"

Chihiro flung open the doors, and in moments, everyone on their team burst through the doors! The area outside was much more ominous than before—the skies were dyed purple while lightning-charged clouds brewed in place of the sun and stray wreckage littered the ground. Worse yet, monsters completely overtook the area surrounding as they trudged around like zombies.

But, this didn't scare any of them as they drew their weapons and bore scowls of war! Because this time, they weren't just serious—they were prepared, too! The monsters that roamed around the island's heart all turned around as they heard the doors slam open, growled and lunged straight towards them!

As the monsters lunged forward and growled, Sonic Boom and Zook looked towards each other and nodded.

"Hello, everyone!" Zook proclaimed with an odd level of confidence and a wide smile on his face as he whipped out his bazooka and emptied its ammunition. "You've arrived just in time for the concert!"

The monsters just grunted and watched in confusion as Zook flipped his bazooka around and breathed in. In fact, they were so surprised that they didn't even bother to attack; they just turned to each other and made soft, confused whispers or stared in anticipation.

"Now, before I get started—" Zook turned to Sonic Boom and raised an eyebrow "—Sonic Boom, why don't you start us off?"

"Oh, me? I don't know, I've never sung in front of a crowd before," Sonic Boom chuckled a genuine chuckle as she stepped forward, yet her gentle look turned much more intimidating as she smirked, "but I'll try!"

Sonic Boom breathed in then out, and out from her mouth came perhaps the loudest scream Chihiro had ever heard! Chihiro and the rest of the team all covered their ears just in the nick of time, but the monsters weren't quite as quick to prepare! The monsters only screeched and made choked sobs as they fell to their knees and tried so hard to shield their ears from that awful, awful noise…

And it left them wide open to attacks in the process!

Chihiro said no words, but merely ushered everyone else forward. Thankfully, however, her message was perfectly conveyed as they all jumped into the fray!

Terrafin and Bash were the first to jump forward, and Terrafin the first to attack as he socked a monster straight in the chest! While it flew back, Bash rolled forward and charged straight into it before it could even recover! All it could do was scream as it crashed headfirst into the ground. The monster grunted as it tried to pull itself back up, but before it could, the sound of screechy didgeridoo playing forced it back on the earth! Terrafin and Bash turned around and smiled, for sure enough, Zook was behind them and diligently played his hollowed-out bazooka with all the breath he could muster.

Stealth Elf was not one to be outdone, however! While Terrafin and Bash brawled, she cornered a trio of monsters who still reeled from Sonic Boom's earlier performance. They tried to reach out and grab her, but they were so disoriented that they could barely keep their feet on the ground! Stealth Elf's constant teleporting probably didn't help, either!

"Am I here?" Stealth Elf asked as she vanished and reappeared a few paces west. "Or am I here?" Stealth Elf vanished again and popped up behind a stack of crates. "Maybe I'm over here!"

The monsters finally got fed up enough that they pushed themselves towards Stealth Elf, but she hardly seemed intimidated as she waltzed out of her crate hideout, and disappeared right before they could catch her or stop themselves in time! All they did was conk their heads against each other, stagger around and fall into a groaning pile.

"That's what you get for not watching where you're going!" Stealth Elf chided as she reappeared and crossed her arms, but twitched her ears and duck as a stream of scalding water soared ahead of her!

This stream immediately smacked into a few of the other monsters who still stood somehow, much to their disdain as they wiped their eyes and looked back at the water stream's source—which was none other than Gill Grunt! Gill Grunt just smiled as he hoisted up his harpoon gun, the barrel of which now dripped with hot water that quickly evaporated as he held his finger tight on the trigger. As he held it tight, something metallic and silver in color poked its way out from the barrel.

"ANCHORS AWAY!" Gill Grunt exclaimed as he released the trigger and ricocheted back as a gigantic anchor flew from his gun! He grunted as he dug his heels into the dirt, and smiled as the anchor blew several of the monsters into the trees with a loud crunch.

As she saw the Skylanders fight, Chihiro felt a spark of excitement burn in her heart and knew one thing—she had to get a piece of this action! So, she stowed away the radar in her pocket, looked aside and grabbed a particularly large tree branch. She grunted as she lifted up the branch, fixed her eyes on a particular large monster that loitered around the forest outskirts, bolted towards it and…

"TAKE THIS, YOU OVERGROWN STOMPING BLOCK!" Chihiro screamed to the heavens.

She slammed the branch on the monster, but it was so strong that the branch just snapped in half! Chihiro winced as she looked down at the broken half of the branch that still laid in her hands, but soon broke into a cold sweat as she saw the now very angry monster that loomed down over her.

"Actually I take it back," Chihiro giggled as she tossed the broken branch away. "You're the perfect size for a stomping block—" Chihiro gasped and bolted off as the monster punched its bulky hand into the area she once stood on.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Chihiro strode heavy strides down the leaf-covered grass while pounding footsteps resounded behind her, a sure sign that the monster she aggravated was in hot pursuit! Chihiro fell to her knees and panted, but shot her head up as a familiar voice shouted out. That voice followed up with the sound of crackling flames, skidding and shaken ground!

Chihiro just chuckled as a loud crash sounded off and stood back up. "Thanks for the save, Golden Boy!" Chihiro shouted as she turned around and gave Spyro a thumbs up.

"No problem, Chi!" Spyro shouted as he nodded towards Chihiro and landed on the ground.

They all kept their breath bated as they looked over the fallen monsters, and Zook even took a moment to breath from his intense performance. While it looked like they were down for the count, they learned by now not to hold their breath…

ZAP! Down from the skies came bright purple bolts of lightning that zapped the monsters below!

Chihiro yelped as she jumped just inches away from one, looked up and frowned. Right at the top of the portal building, something bright and sparkly shone like a Christmas tree's star—but what was it? Chihiro, unfortunately, didn't get much time to ponder that!

Why? Well, one by one, the monsters groaned and shuddered while static crackled across their bodies. One pushed itself off the ground, followed by two, three, five, and soon enough, all of them jumped back to the feet and into the fray! The Skylanders rushed in to attack, but this time, the monsters were more than prepared; every magical attack deflected, every physical one blocked, every blow from the monsters themselves barely dodged.

"EAT MISSILE, YOU RATTY LITTLE PUNKS!" General Robot exclaimed as he shot a series of missiles from his shoulder cannons at the monsters!

The missiles swarmed towards the monsters, who all turned and looked around right as the missiles crashed into them then fell straight down as the missiles exploded!

"That should take care of that…" General Robot remarked as he turned around, but stopped as groans echoed about.

The monsters twitched their toes, growled and jumped back to their feet—much to the shock of General Robot, who dropped his metallic jaw as he turned around and caught them rush towards him!

Before they could attack, Terrafin rushed forward, punched down one of the monsters, and smirked as the monster hit its head on a nearby rock. However, the monster just swung its hand back and smashed the rock like a hammer would! Terrafin raised an eyebrow and stepped back, but the monster took his moment of surprise to punch him in the gut and send him flying into a circle of monsters! Terrafin snarled, dove underground and swam underneath the dirt—and the monsters' feet!

"Hey, Chi!" Terrafin called as he jumped up, punched a monster down and looked back at Chihiro, "Hate to rush things, but did you find that head monster thing yet?" Terrafin clenched his teeth as he bobbed out the way of another monster and punched it in the back. "These guys don't wanna give up!"

Terrafin was right! It seemed as if every time they knocked one back down, it immediately jumped back up twice as strong as it was before! A quick look behind also showed that Zook was now completely exhausted, and while Sonic Boom screeched the best she could to keep them down, her screams didn't have nearly the same range as Zook's music!

Seems as if Chihiro would have to hurry this up! With a wince, she snatched the radar out from her pocket and glazed over its screen. "It should be…" Chihiro looked up, gasped and stowed the radar away. "There it is!"

Sure enough, a Guardifound monster the color of blue skies wandered around the forest mouth in a confused haze, as if it had no idea where it was! Better yet, it was completely open!

Chihiro smirked and ran off as she magically levitated a medium-sized rock and tossed it right at the Guardifound! Oddly enough it didn't seem to notice her, but the moment the rock shattered against its head, well, she certainly got its attention! The Guardifound roared and chased after Chihiro, but she only turned tail and raced back to where the Skylanders fought the other monsters!

"Got it here, guys, I—EEK!" Chihiro screamed and ducked as the Guardifound swiped at her, rolled underneath the legs of another monster, staggered back up and panted. "Think you might wanna take care of it!"

And that's just what the Skylanders did! A roar from Sonic Boom shuddered the Guardifound as it fell to its knees, which gave Bash the perfect opportunity to crash into it and shoot it down! As the Guardifound groaned and tried to get back up, Spyro teleported behind it and charged it straight into Gill Grunt, who beaned it in the head with a harpoon! The Guardifound groaned and collapsed at last, and revealed that it held a decently-sized crack on its head. While it groaned and whined, the other monsters fell to their knees and cried in pain as well.

"Master Eon, now!" Chihiro shouted as she turned back to Master Eon, who bobbed up and down in response.

"Understood, young Chihiro!"

Master Eon levitated in the skies, and shot a laser beam of magic straight into the heart of the Guardifound!

The Guardifound screamed and struggled as it levitated into the air and while a cocoon of rainbow-streaked while light enveloped it, and slowly its cries faded with the light. When the light finally faded, it dropped back to the ground an ordinary artifact once more! All around them, the other monsters froze and squealed before the magic jumped out of their bodies, and forced them back to their original forms with a loud POP!

"Whew, that's one down!" Chihiro sighed as she manifested a sack and collected the artifacts from the ground. "Say, I wonder where the next one is?"

"HELPPPPPPPPPPPP!" cried a robotic-sounding voice from the beach.

Spyro winced and took the skies immediately. "I think I might have an idea!" Spyro shouted as he pointed to the beach's stairs.

Chihiro grunted as she and Master Eon teleported down, turned around and found the beach was in utter chaos, and not the kind Kaos caused! (Thankfully for her—she wasn't sure she could handle Kaos on top of all this.)

There, tons of smaller monsters kicked up sand, chased the local wildlife and tossed all sorts of garbage everywhere! Worse yet, several of them ganged up on poor Clam-Tron! They kicked sand into his joints, banged on his chest and jumped all over him like some kind of playground attraction!

"Shoo, shoo, you awful imps!" Clam-Tron demanded as he futilely tried to shoo away the monsters. "Didn't your mother ever tell you how to…"

Clam-Tron froze as several of the monsters gathered up garbage from the beach and looked at him with a devious smirk!

"No, not the garbage!" Clam-Tron begged as one of the monster pulled open the door on his chest. "I'll smell for weeks!"

They all laughed as they wound back their arms and got ready to throw the garbage inside, but before they could, Chihiro teleported in front of Clam-Tron and magically shot the garbage back at them!

"Sorry for the wait, Clam-Tron!" Chihiro said as she turned around and waved. "We had some—" Chihiro looked aside and scratched the top of her head "—complications."

Clam-Tron just breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the oil from his head, yet frowned as he looked towards the monsters. The monsters, however, didn't really notice him, for they were more concerned with trying to wipe the garbage from their eyes!

While they struggled and pulled assorted trash from their faces, Chihiro scanned through the crowds and smiled as she caught sight of what seemed to be an incredibly small yellow Guardifound. "Found you!" Chihiro hissed as she narrowed her eyes.

She crackled her knuckles a few times, and in one fell swoop, she leaped forward, grabbed the Guardifound by the head, and slammed it against the cliffside! While the Guardifound slunk down from the wall and all the other monsters fell down with it, Master Eon zipped across the beach at a speed fast enough to kick up sand clouds! He skidded to a stop, and shot another no-sell laser right at the Guardifound's heart.

The Guardifound was enveloped in light and returned to normal in a flash, as did the other monsters it created—much to Chihiro's relief as she went to collect them.

"Let's see." Chihiro lurched up and took a pause from artifact collecting as she retrieved her radar. With a simple button press on her end, a much more complex holographic map littered with one whole dot popped out from the radar. "Seems like the next Guardifound's in the forest!"

Chihiro and Master Eon nodded towards each other, and teleported back up to the top of the stairs. Chihiro urged everyone else to come closer with a wave of her hand, and once they were all together, they placed their hands on top of each other. As Master Eon dropped on top of the hand pile, they all glowed with a halo of pale light that soon wrapped them up and shipped them away to the forest entrance.

Chihiro bit her lip as she pocketed the radar, looked back to the Skylanders and nodded. Despite this being the last Guardifound they had to face, something in her gut told her that this was gonna go really bad, but, maybe that was just her residual anxiety over this whole situation talking. Plus, there was still that strange light from the portal building that shone bright despite the lack of a potential source. Something about it egged at Chihiro's heart with its suspicious brightness; just what was it? She wanted to figure out now, but right now, the first thing she needed to do was find this Guardifound and stop it!

So, she nonetheless forced herself to storm into the forest with the rest of her team close behind…