"Oh, my head," Nort groaned as he pulled himself off the cold, metallic floors and swerved his head around.

The entire area was super dark, and only vaguely lit by the passing light of bright lasers and dim computer screens, though the light as least gave some clues as to the current location. Bars like the ones used in dungeons or jail cells enveloped Nort, while the lighting shone over endless stretch of machinery and computer panels. It all held some kind of ominous aura, like just being in here put one in danger.

Nort winced as he looked around, though even with the faint light, it was still too dark to properly make out the surroundings. A bright light flashed out of nowhere, and Nort screamed!

"Nort!" cried a grizzled voice as the new light vaguely illuminated another mabu man who held a flashlight in his paws. "They got you too, huh?"

"Wait a second," Nort whispered as he crawled forward, "is that you, Captain Rizzo?"

"You bet it is!" The mabu man held the flashlight to his face and beamed, and nudged it over to another, slightly shorter mabu man to the left. "That creep had me and Blobbers locked up here for what seemed like forever!"

"Wait, creep? Locked up? But what for?" Nort wrung his hands and winced. "What's going on here?"

"Experiments, that's what!" Rizzo shuddered as he dropped his flashlight to the ground.

"The captain's right!" whispered Blobbers, his voice higher and hoarse. "While we were trying to get the goo, that scientist captured us and trapped us in this cage! If he hadn't found those Skylanders and went to mess with them, we'd be buttered toast!"

"Oh geez," Nort whimpered as his eyes widened. "Wait, how did you know there were Skylanders here?"

"Look no further, Nort," Rizzo said as he pointed towards a screen adjacent to their cage.

Nort took one look at the screen, gasped and held his paws over his mouth. "Oh no! Not the Skylanders, too!" Nort winced and looked down at his hands, which were now clammy and held tight.

There, displayed on its dimly lit monitor was a green-lit screen of Drobot and Drill Sergeant, both of whom looked horribly lost as they navigated through the otherwise expansive darkness with only Drobot's eyebeams for a light source…

"Do you see a light switch anywhere, Drill Sergeant?" Drobot asked as he moved his head left and right.

"I am afraid not, sir," Drill Sergeant chirped as he looked around, "but then again, even with my enhanced eyesight, I cannot see a thing in this darkness!"

"ALLOW ME TO HELP YOU, THEN!" proclaimed a booming voice as the lights flickered on!

Drobot and Drill Sergeant stepped back as their prison was revealed to be a red-walled room with oddly-placed circle panels that vaguely resembled a training arena. The floors were marked like they were in the training arena back home, the walls seemed incredibly firm given their shiny metal, and the whole area was even constructed in a dome shape! On top of that, a pale reddish-orange light lit the room in an oddly concerning color…

While Drobot and Drill Sergeant examined the surroundings, a screen popped out from the ceiling and flickered on to show the image of a troll dressed in broken goggles and a stained lab coat with a concerning grin on his face.

"Are you the one who possesses this strange place?" Drobot asked as he stepped forward and withdrew his laser cannons. "If so, I demand you free us at once!"

"Free us?" the troll echoed, and broke into hapless laughter so intense he fell on his back! All that could be seen was his legs as he kicked them in the air. "THE SPECIMENS WANT ME TO FREE THEM BEFORE THE EXAMINATION, THAT'S A GOOD ONE!" The troll cackled as he pulled himself back to full height and slammed his fist against an unseen desk. "Scanners, begin the examination!"

Right as the troll said this, the entire area flashed red as steam and hissing sounds emerged from the walls!

"EXAMINATION IN PROGRESS… EXAMINATION IN PROGRESS…" droned several round, vaguely humanoid robots as they popped out of the walls and circled around Drill Sergeant and Drobot!

The two of them winced and readied their arms, but oddly enough, the machines didn't attack! They just scanned down Drobot and Drill Sergeant, and fled back into the holes from which they came!

"Er, just what was that?" Drobot asked as the last robot scurried into its hiding place, and lifted his head as he heard the troll scientist ooh.

"My, my, what impressive specimens!" the troll remarked as he examined something on a screen that lit his face a slight tinge of blue. "A homebrewed cyborg that could make it with the best, and a bona fide Arkeyan drilling machine! Those aren't things you see everyday!" The troll scientist turned off the screen and made a terrifyingly large grin as he placed his goggles over his eyes. "Let me tell you, I can't wait to take you apart and find out just what makes you tick!"

"Wait, did he say… Take apart?" Drill Sergeant asked as his laser blaster spun, as did the rest of him! He flung into a complete panic as he circled around the room, complete with eyebrow panels flipped every which way and drills that spun so fast they nearly flew off his hands. "ABORT, ABORT, BEEP BOOP BEEP! I REPEAT, ABORT MISSION—"

"Drill Sergeant, calm down!" Drobot exclaimed as he flew up to Drill Sergeant and used his suit's mechanical arms to stop Drill Sergeant short. "We cannot get out if we are panicking!"

While Drill Sergeant shuddered to a stop, Drobot looked aside and gasped.

"A door!" Drobot turned back to Drill Sergeant and pushed him in the door's direction. "Drill Sergeant quickly! See if you can drill a way out!"

"Understood, sir!" Drill Sergeant whirred as he made a beeline towards the door. "After all, I do not wish to become scrap metalllllllLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

Before Drill Sergeant was even a hair's breadth away from the door, a bounce pad tossed him across the room and knocked him on his back!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, silly specimen!" The troll scolded as he wagged a finger. "You can't leave yet!"

"Why not?" Drobot hissed as he helped Drill Sergeant back up.

"Because I haven't seen you in action yet, that's why!"

The click of a button resounded all across the room, and before anybody knew it, the panels in the walls opened and tons of bulky, crude-looking robots flooded into the room! Their eyes glowed red as they raised their weapons, and one phrase came from them all.

"ATTACK PROTOCOL, INITIATED!" all the robots cried in unison as they pointed their weapons in a circle around Drobot and Drill Sergeant.

"So that is how you wish to play, do you?" Drobot asked as he flicked open his laser cannons. "Very well then!"

The eye slots on Drobot's helmet blinked for just a second, and in moments, gigantic red lasers shot through the room and seared holes through an entire row of robots well before they could even lay their first blow! As they all fell down and sparked, Drobot stood tall over the chest of one.

"That is how I BLINK AND DESTROY!"

Drobot hovered up as a red and gold blur barreled through several still-active robots and tossed them in the air! While the robots hung in the air for those few meager seconds, he flicked a switch and sent a gigantic bladegear slicing right through them!

"Thank you for the assistance, Drill Sergeant!" Drobot shouted as he looked down to see Drill Sergeant bore lasers through more robots.

"You are more than welcome, sir!" Drill Sergeant proclaimed as he revved his drills and tore through the next round of robotic solders. "It is what I was built for after all, sir!"

Just then, a sharp rip screeched as the gigantic bladegear Drobot shot out earlier slammed itself into the wall!

"Hey, watch it! That room took me years to perfect!" the troll barked as he shook a fist.

"Well sir, if you did not wish for this room to be harmed," Drill Sergeant said as he looked up at the troll scientist while his blaster shot a few robots down, "perhaps you should not host combat within it?"

"DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR OPINION, SPECIMEN!"

The troll snarled, slammed a button, and dyed everything in the room a bright shade of crimson the color of fresh blood!

All at once, the robot soldiers grew taller—very taller! They loomed over Drill Sergeant with narrowed eye slots and laser cannons at the ready, all while their armor bulked up and filled with extra spikes and padding. Looks like they meant business now! Drill Sergeant immediately shot his drill hands towards them, but those drill hands only harmlessly bounced off their shoulders and well away from Drill Sergeant's reach!

Drill Sergeant looked down at his notably drill-less hands, and made a series of frantic beeps and boops as the robots all dogpiled on him!

"DROBOT, SIR! REQUESTING AID, SIR!"

"Drill Sergeant!" Drobot called as he soared over to Drill Sergeant's aid, but before he could reach him, several of the heightened robots formed a makeshift barricade between him and Drill Sergeant!

Drobot growled, and his eyes flashed a shade of crimson as bright as the light that currently filtered the room. "I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH YOU RIGHT NOW!"

Right as Drobot cried these words out, a thick laser beam spread through the entire area in front of Drobot, shot out and fried the robots into crumbled, ashy parts! Not just those ones, either, but the ones that piled on Drill Sergeant crumbled into nothing as well! Drill Sergeant got up and spun around, all while his mechanical eyes "blinked" rapidly. Once he finally settled himself, he strolled over to where his drill hands resided and clicked them back onto his body.

"Drill Sergeant, are you alright?" Drobot asked as he hovered down next to Drobot.

"Indeed, sir!" Drill Sergeant chirped as he turned to Drobot.

Drill Sergeant rolled up to Drobot and went to say more, but before he could, something shocked him so badly that he immediately froze!

"SAKASDLLSAKDJSJKLADJLKSADLJKSADLSJKADSADJKLALKASDLJASDASDJLDS!" was the best translation of the garbled nonsense that poured out of Drill Sergeant's mouth while static crackled around him. "ALPHA BETA DELTA OMEGA GAMMA EPSILON—"

"Drill Sergeant, what is going on?" Drobot shouted as he reached out for Drill Sergeant, but static seared his paw and he jumped back as he cried in pain! Drobot quickly blew off his toes, and bit his lip as Drill Sergeant's nonsense babble slowed.

"All systems…" Drill Sergeant groaned in a slower, more emotionless version of his usual voice as the static faded. "Offflineeeeeeeeee."

And just like that, Drill Sergeant fell face-forward with a loud thud, while all around the robots they destroyed were swept back into the floors.

Drobot paid no mind to them and just stood there, completely frozen in shock next to Drill Sergeant. "Drill Sergeant, Drill Sergeant!" Drobot shouted as he tried to shake Drill Sergeant awake with little success. "Now is no time to enter sleep mode!"

Drobot winced as he turned Drill Sergeant around and tried to locate some kind of power switch, but screamed as something tased him and forced him on the floor! Drobot shuddered as he held his helmeted head, which still sparked with residual electricity, and looked up to see one a gigantic robot with a taser for a hand stand over him!

"Seems I missed one," Drobot hissed as he stood his ground, "I will remedy that now!"

Drobot tried to fire off something from his armor, but nothing came from his suit, just a series of whirrs and clicks and beeps. "What, what's going on?" Drobot's voice became more shrill, withdrawn and strung with panic, and only grew worse as his eyes widened. "The voice synthesizers! Wait, my suit, it isn't working!"

"That's odd," the scientist remarked as he stroked his chin, "that taser should have completely shut down all machinery! Why are you still up and running?" The scientist's eyes widened in shock. "Unless…"

The robot yanked the still-panicked Drobot off the floor, slammed him into a wall and released him as he slid down and fell completely unconscious. It twisted off the head of Drobot's suit, and revealed the head of an ordinary dragon that was olive and reptilian with spotted brown markings around his eyes and a brown underbelly!

"What?! Don't tell me that cyborg was just an ordinary dragon all along?" The scientist scoffed in disgust as he held his head in his hands. "Here I thought I stumbled upon the ultimate cyborg!" The scientist slammed a fist against an unseen table, and pointed a finger at the screen. "Robot, scan that dragon!"

"SCANNING NOW!" The robot buzzed as it scanned down Drobot's unconscious body.

The scientist frowned as he examined an offscreen list, groaned and held his head again.

"SO IT WAS AN ORDINARY DRAGON! WHY, WHY ME?" The scientist sighed again as he lifted his head up. "But, I suppose I'll just have to make the best of it. Robot, rid the dragon of its armor and haul them both away!"

That's what the robot did as it stripped Drobot of his mechanical wings, and hauled both Drobot and Drill Sergeant over its shoulders as it left the room.

§

Chihiro frowned as she looked down at her radar, which still depicted that same purple dot. By all accounts, this forest should have been the place where that next Guardifound was, so where was it? Everything was oddly noiseless as they trekked through the forest. Heck, even the birds and bugs went quiet! It was like something scared them all silent…

Until a branch cracked!

"WHO'S THERE?" Chihiro demanded as she whipped her head back and forth, yet nothing showed.

No monsters from the bushes, out of the trees, or even gallivanting about in plain sight! Just chilling silence and absence of any life save for themselves. Chihiro's hands turned clammy as she held the radar a little tighter. The Skylanders already braced themselves for any sort of attacker, as did General Robot, who had a choice selection of missiles loaded into his shoulders. That is, until Master Eon shot him a look and he withdrew them.

RUSTLE RUSTLE! RUSTLE RUSTLE! The sound of shaking leaves swirled through the forest, this time at an even greater intensity than before! There was no mistaking it, that had to be one of their targets!

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Chihiro shoved the radar in her pocket and held out her hands like those kung-fu movies stars did. "OR I'LL DRAG YOU OUT HERE BY THE SCRUFF OF YOUR NECK!"

Okay, that sounded a lot cooler in Chihiro's head. But, regardless of how bad it sounded, it definitely seemed to get her mystery target's attention! The rustling grew more intense as it infected every other bush around, but this time, it wasn't the only sound. Now, low growling reverberated from the bushes, paired with the sounds of stomping feet and glowing dots that poked out from the few free spaces in the bushes. That had to be…

"GRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was! The monsters jumped out from the bushes, and they weren't here to play! Luckily, neither was Spyro as he shot a burning white fireball right towards a particularly large red monster, only for it to chomp down on the fireball like it was a white-hot gumball! The monster made a number of munching sounds, swallowed the fire and glowed with an intense light!

"CRAP!" Spyro exclaimed as he jumped back, lowered his horns and growled.

As smoke billowed from his nostrils, Spyro fired forwards and tackled the red-hot monster straight in the chest! It wailed as Spyro's blow sent into right into the trunk of a bulky oak tree, but it wasn't enough to break the monster's stride. While it burned an imprint in the wood, the monster got back out and held out its hands! Those hands soon morphed into round hand-cannons complete with brightly-burning fireballs as their ammo! Spyro didn't run away as the fireballs closed in on him; instead, he breathed in, closed his eyes, and all around him, the fireballs froze into midair before they completely dissipated into tiny embers that barely left a scorch!

"You're not the only ones who can play with fire!" Spyro proclaimed as he opened his cherry red eyes and lowered his horns.

Streaking flames swirled around his horns like smoke clouds, in a kind of magical way that was almost hypnotic to watch, and finally they engulfed him completely in fire! The monster stood in total shock, but not for long, as Spyro charged right into its chest and set it off balance! The force sent it straight into the bushes with a chorus of cries, not just from the impact, but because it was set on fire as well!

The burning monster sped off into the distance in some frantic attempt to put the fires out, and soon, its cries were replaced by growls as its friends limped out of the bushes and leaned against the trees.

"Zook, Sonic Boom!" Spyro cried as he turned back to them. "Start the concert!"

Zook and Sonic Boom nodded and readied their noisemaking, but before they could even start, the monsters uprooted the trees from the ground and swung them around like baseball bats!

The wind from their attacks was so intense that everyone started skidding! They dug their heels and tried to stay put, but with how intense the wind was, it was like trying to stay put in the middle of an intense storm. They focused so hard on staying grounded that they couldn't even sling a single attack! They were sitting ducks ripe for the monsters' hunt!

One monster took full advantage of this as it immediately swiped Bash off his feet and sent him crashing towards Stealth Elf! Stealth Elf seemingly got lucky as she teleported out of the way just before they made contact, but when she reappeared, another quickly gut-punched her before she could react! Stealth Elf cried out as she slammed into one of the few standing trees, tumbled down onto her belly and grunted.

"Guess I wasn't fast enough that time," Stealth Elf groaned as she lifted her head up, and was immediately smacked back into the tree by a flying Terrafin. "Hey, watch where you're landing!"

Stealth Elf glared up at Terrafin as she crawled out from under him, but he just winced and rubbed his head, which now had a noticeable bruise on it.

Spyro growled as Stealth Elf and Terrafin tried to regain their senses. He turned around, lowered his head and scraped the ground as if he was going to charge, but before he could even take a step forward, a powerful gust shot him backwards! Spyro screamed and tried desperately to fight against the winds, but stopped as something grabbed onto him and put him down on the ground.

"At ease, soldier!" General Robot proclaimed as he gave Spyro a robotic salute. "With my heavy machinery…" General Robot's eyes flared with a bright light as he glared down the monsters. "I'm more than equipped to take care of these vermin!"

In a flash of literal light, gigantic lasers burst out from General Robot's eyes at such an intense velocity that it even knocked General Robot himself back! These lasers slammed into the monsters who made all this awful wind and sliced the trees they used clean in half, not that they would notice as they were too busy wailing and covering their eyes.

The Skylanders immediately gathered their bearings and fought, all while Zook and Sonic Boom played their music so loud it kept any of those monsters from recovering! Fireballs, water streams, anchors, missiles, and magic blasts alike tore through the forest as the monsters tried to fight back against the onslaught. But, with the Skylanders' combined power and the ongoing noise, the monsters were completely helpless! It was a one-sided battle, and the Skylanders were on the winning side!

With the monsters preoccupied, Chihiro had the perfect chance! She immediately rushed off into the deeper parts of the woods, and her eyes fixed on any sign of the Guardifound. She took one last glimpse at her radar, pushed through the bushes and crept down the trees to find a bright green Guardifound monster lollygagging around as it slept under a tree!

"Wow, this is too easy!" Chihiro whispered as the Guardifound meandered.

With a snap of her fingers, Chihiro created a gigantic magical hand, and nudged it over to the resting place of a particularly large boulder. The hand yanked the boulder off the ground in an instant, and tossed it right at the Guardifound in one mighty swing! The Guardifound made an unholy screech as the boulder shattered against it and disturbed its nap, but it shook its head and groaned as it reached its bulky hands towards the storming skies.

"MASTER EON, NOW!" Chihiro exclaimed as she waved towards Master Eon.

Master Eon teleported over to Chihiro's side, and without a word, hit the Guardifound with that same no-sell spell he used several times before! The Guardifound was trapped in a prison of light much like the rest, and as the light faded, the Guardifound's decidedly normal artifact form dropped back on the grass!

"Nice!" Chihiro chirped as she reached down and went to collect the now-inactive Guardifound. "Another one's in the…"

"Young Chihiro, look out!" Master Eon exclaimed.

Chihiro yelped as something yanked her away from the Guardifound, and screamed as a gigantic magical lightning bolt crashed down onto the Guardifound! The Guardifound levitated in the air with an ominous green glow, and dissolved back in bright light as it slowly formed a solid body once more… Except it had to have been twice as large as before!

"Crap!" Chihiro hissed through gritted teeth as the solid, now-larger Guardifound glowered over her. "I'm gonna need a bigger rock!"

Chihiro grabbed Master Eon, and ducked and covered as the newly revived Guardifound sent out a magical shockwave! While the Guardifound recovered from such a hefty attack, Chihiro gazed over at a boulder the size of a tree and lifted it off the ground with all her might! However, even that wasn't enough! She strained as she just barely lifted it off the ground, and opened her eyes to see Master Eon supply his own magic to toss it straight towards the Guardifound!

The Guardifound grunted and looked up as the boulder came crashing towards it, but it snarled and shattered the boulder like a pebble!

"Oh geez, looks like it's time to get out of here!"

Chihiro bit her nails, turned back to Master Eon and let him rest on her open palm. They both teleported back to the main group, but found that the rest of the group was held up by larger, revived versions of the other monsters!

"Chi, Master Eon!" Terrafin shouted as he frantically punched away monsters, though his hits did little to dissuade them. "What's going on here?"

"I don't know!" Chihiro exclaimed as she haphazardly ruffled her hair. "One minute I was getting ready to put that Guardifound away, and next thing I knew, it got struck by weird lightning and all this happened!" Chihiro ruffled her head even more furiously than before. "What could have possibly…"

Chihiro stopped and looked up as the rumble of thunder echoed throughout the skies. Above them, the purple clouds that blocked the sun practically oozed magic energy as they grew thicker and thicker, while their thunder and lightning struck down on the ground below and created all sorts of odd, magical occurrences! Flowers jumped up and danced away, the grass weaved itself into tiny grass warriors, even piles of leaves swept themselves off the ground and made humanoid forms from their leaves before being swept away.

"Well, that answers one thing. But what on Earth caused this?" Chihiro stopped short and bit her lip. "Wait a second! I did abandon that one, and if Master Eon is right they do get stronger with every one they power. Could it have possibly?" Chihiro shook her head. "Well, if it did, why didn't it show up on the radar?"

Just then, a low growl alerted Chihiro to the fact that she was still in the midst of battle! She frantically rolled out of the way as one monster shot a series of rockets in her direction, jumped back as a lightning bolt struck her prior resting place. and her eyes widened as the radar fell out of her pocket and got zapped by the lightning!

"Oh no!" Chihiro held her hands over her mouth as she whimpered, warily picked up the radar and breathed a sigh of relief. "Wait, oh yes! It still works, thank goodness!"

Chihiro looked over the radar's screen and frowned. There on the radar's map, approximately around the place where the portal building would be, sat a purple dot larger than all the other which blipped and beeped. Wait a second, that light she saw earlier!

"That's gotta be the original one! Now we just have to get out of here and find it!" Chihiro tapped the radar's screen and frowned. "Stealth!" Chihiro shouted as she dodged another monster's blow and turned to Stealth Elf. "Can you distract these guys?"

"On it!" Stealth Elf shouted back with a nod.

Stealth Elf pressed her hands together, disappeared and reappeared close to Chihiro's side. In the place where she once stood, a scarecrow with a striking resemblance to Stealth Elf now laid! Thankfully, it was either convincing enough, or the monsters were stupid enough, that it completely befuddled them! As the monsters huddled around the scarecrow and rumbled, everybody else gathered together and teleported away.