/LOG DATE ?.?.?, TIME ?.?.?/

Drobot shuddered as he opened his eyes and got around. For some reason, he felt, strange, like he was missing something very, very important that he couldn't possibly be without. He groaned as he rubbed a paw against his scaly, dizzy head—wait, scaly? Why did he feel scales, and not the cold, metallic touch of his armor?

Yes, something was definitely wrong.

Drobot patted his back next, but he didn't feel his perfectly-tuned mechanical wings—just scaly, non-mechanical wings where any normal dragon's wings would have been positioned! What was going on? Had his armor been taken from him?

"Skylander!" called Nort's voice from somewhere a little further down. "You're alright, thank goodness! But, what happened to your armor?"

Oh no. Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no. His armor was gone, his armor really was gone! What was he going to do? Drobot’s heart beat fast without ever realizing, but the cold, clammy sweat he broke into made it barely notable in his mind. What could he do? How could get anything done without his armor? What even happened to his armor? Had it been broken in the fight? No, he surely would've noticed if that was the case—what could have possibly…

"Er, Skylander?" called a slightly grizzled voice from across.

Drobot breathed slow and heavy as he looked across from where he stood now. The whole room was cold and dark and metallic, only lit by the faint light of the screens and lasers abound, but he could just barely make out the sight of three mabu men dressed in mock military clothes. Could that be? No, that was definitely the Mabu Defense Force!

"Are you alright?" asked the mabu man with the grizzled voice.

"I'm, I'm fine!" Drobot denied as he looked down at his paws. Just being so vulnerable around those he swore to protect filled his heart with an awful kind of shame, but he couldn't dare confess his weakness.

"Good!" The grizzled-voiced mabu clapped his hands. "Then you can help us get out before that weird scientist dude comes back!"

"Yeah!" cried another with a slightly higher voice. "That'll show him! Break out before he even gets a chance to do those weird experiments he was talking about!"

Experiments.

That was it! Now the memories loaded back into Drobot's mind. The battles, that strange troll scientist with an odd fixations on machinery and experiments… Oh no. Just then, it finally hit Drobot where his armor went.

That scientist! He must have taken it! Drobot reasoned as he held his head. And if he took my armor, then surely he must have taken Drill Sergeant too!

Oh, what was he going to do? Drobot's heart raced faster than before as the blood pumped hard and loud in his ears. This was truly hopeless! His armor and comrade were both taken away because of his own inadequacy, he was locked away, powerless and unable to do anything…

"Skylander? Skylander?" the grizzled voice mabu called. "What's the plan?"

"I'm, I'm, I'm sorry," Drobot sputtered and held his head, his voice trilled with fear, and his words grew so full of shame that he nearly choked on them, "but I can't help you!"

Drobot fell to the floor as the mabu men gasped. The cold of his metallic prison seeped into his body and sent chills down his spine, but he couldn't possibly care about that!

"Without my armor, I'm useless! I'm just another ordinary, powerless dragon without it!" Drobot shuddered as the cold chilled his bones, and perhaps his heart was next. "And an ordinary dragon can't do anything about this."

All was quiet as Drobot shivered and choked on his own fears, completely frozen in shame as he awaited the decrying calls of those around. As far as he was concerned, he deserved it! He lost his precious suit, effectively failed his mission, and now he'd lead several innocents to what would surely be their grave! How could he call himself a Skylander? How could they stand to be in the same room with him?

"That's not true!" Nort retorted from the other side of the room. "You're not useless!"

What? Drobot gently lifted his head from the ground and blinked back tears. They were, encouraging him, not scorning him or denouncing his very existence? At least, he thought they were—without his tone analyzer he was not entirely certain.

"You made that suit yourself, right?"

Drobot made a faint nod before he looked back down. "Yes, every last feature."

"I can't imagine making a suit of armor with lasers and shields and fancy map-making and all those features, but you did all that and made it sound like it was kid's stuff!" Nort's eyes sparkled against the faint light.

"Yeah!" cried the grizzled-voiced mabu in affirmation as his eyes faintly lit up from the screens' faint light. "You're Drobot, right? The Skylander with an IQ of two hundred and fifty?"

"Er, yes—" Drobot made a strangled gasp and looked away "—how did you know?"

"We're all big fans of you Skylanders and your work!" The grizzled-voiced mabu nodded, as did Nort and the other mabu beside him, but he shook his head. "But that's beside the point here."

"Only someone who's super smart could do all that, and a suit of armor doesn't give you smarts! That's something you gotta work for!" The grizzled-voiced mabu beamed and pounded a fist against his paw. "You don't need that suit to be strong, 'cause your real strength is how smart you are! With your brain, I'm sure you get through anything—even this!"

"You're more than just a suit of armor!" the higher-voiced mabu spoke up. "You're a Skylander, and Skylanders never give up, right? So don't give up on yourself now!"

Drobot simply pursed his mouth and basked in silent contemplation as he heard this. That was right; everything he did to make that armor and all its different features, everything he did to succeed as a Skylander, all those things he considered his greatest victories… There was no way he would have achieved that without his own intelligence and hard work. Perhaps he did stock too much of his value in that suit. Drobot chuckled at last, lifted his head and smiled.

"Thank you," Drobot whispered, his voice still a bit strained from his flash of panic earlier, "and, I apologize for making you see all that." Drobot shook his head and tapped his claws against the floor. "Nonetheless, we need to figure out how we can get out of this room, but how?"

Drobot peered past the gaps in the bars as he tries to make some sense of where he was now. There were lasers everywhere paired with dim computer screens that brought to light rows of computer panels and metallic floors and walls, and he was sure he saw a mirror or two that reflected faint light from the ceiling… That was it!

"Do any of you have something reflective?"

The mabu with the higher voice raised a paw.

"Yes, er…" Drobot gently nudged his tailfin towards the mabu.

"Blobbers," Blobbers replied as he pulled a flashlight from his pocket, "and I've got this!"

In one quick moment, Blobbers popped the glass out from his flashlight and tossed it over to Drobot, who caught it and looked back up at the Mabu Defense Force.

"Now, I'll need something to hold this out on. Do any of you…" Drobot winced and drew his head back as a fishing pole at least ten feet in length stuck out in front of him.

"I wouldn't be called Captain Rizzo if I didn't come prepared for anything!" the gruff-voiced mabu said as he rubbed a fist against his chest. "Ten-foot long fishing pole, the multi-task tool for all your lengthy needs!"

Drobot nodded, drew a small hole in the flashlight glass with his claw and popped the hole out.

"While this is somewhat crude in quality," Drobot remarked as he hooked the flashlight glass onto the fishing pole's hook and grabbed the pole itself with both front paws. "It should get the job done."

Drobot winced as he pushed the pole through the gaps in the cage's bars, and edged the mirror closer and closer to a nearby laser. If his calculations were correct, if he inched it a bit further and held this mirror steady, it should hit the right angle? Finally, one of the lasers made contact with the mirror and created a chain reaction! The laser bounced off a mirror on the ceiling, another mirror down below, onto a computer screen to the right… Soon enough, it transformed into a complex laser puzzle that ended as it latched on the lock! And as the laser stayed steady on the lock, the familiar hiss of melting metal echoed through the room, followed by a clunk as the lock's few intact remains clattered against the floor!

Drobot smiled as he removed the mirror, allotted the lasers to return to their original position, and nudged the cage door enough for it to fling open.

"Brilliant, Skylander!" Rizzo praised as he clapped his paws, but frowned as Drobot shook his head.

"Now is no time for praise! We need to save Drill Sergeant!" Drobot corrected as he beckoned with his paw. "Follow me!"

So, all four of them fell to their bellies as they crawled under the lasers above, slipped out and tried to push the door at the very end of the lasers open, but it was completely locked! Drobot winced as he searched for some kind of way to open it—lock and key, keypad for passwords, anything! So, he patted down the walls around…

"There's no time for this!" Rizzo shouted as he grabbed something from his pocket and pressed its button. "Looks like we'll just have to do things how we do on Shattered Island!"

Drobot jolted as a loud clunk sounded off behind him, and he turned around to see Nort, Rizzo and Blobbers all heave a gigantic battering ram off the ground.

"You might wanna step back, Skylander!"

Drobot nodded, ran aside, and cringed as they slammed the battering ram against the door and created an obnoxiously loud creaking noise in the process! But, at the very least, it did knock the door down, so they all bolted down the halls once Rizzo folded the battering ram up.

Do not worry, Drill Sergeant, Drobot thought, as if his mind could somehow convey his words to wherever Drill Sergeant was kept now, We are on our way!

§

The pound of footsteps mingled with the ongoing storms and the ongoing radar beeps as everyone dashed back into the island's heart. That dot grew closer and closer; surely, they weren't far from finding the one behind all of this nonsense!

"Up there!" Stealth Elf exclaimed as she pointed towards the skies.

While everybody came to a screeching halt, Chihiro looked up and squinted. There, atop the highest peak of the portal building and barely discernible from the churning clouds, was that same shining, sparkling orb of purple magic! But, it had grown much larger till it was a sun's size, crackled out electricity and roared like thunder. Yeah, that had to be the monster they were looking for!

"Looks like we've found 'em!" Chihiro proclaimed as she stowed the radar away. "That's one thing taken care of!" Chihiro held a fist to the storms. "NOW CHARGE!"

Charge is what they did! They all screamed as they stampeded straight at the portal building's door, more than ready to crash through if they needed to, but promptly bounced back off of something unseen! As they all groaned and pulled themselves up, low growls resonated throughout the area. What just stopped them, could it be? They looked up, and unfortunately for them, it indeed was what they thought it was—tough-looking monsters stationed outside the door as bouncers!

"Let us in!" Chihiro exclaimed as she balled her hand in a fist. "This is our building, not yours!"

Chihiro slugged a punch at one monster's chest, but instead of hurting it, well…

"YEOWCH!" Chihiro exclaimed as she stumbled back and rubbed her sore, red hand. "These guys are rock solid!"

"But thankfully for you," Bash remarked as he and Terrafin stepped away from the crowds. "So are we! We're as tough as rocks, right Fin?"

"Save the puns for when we actually win, Bash," Terrafin replied as he cracked his knuckles and made a smirk towards Bash.

Terrafin and Bash both jumped forward as Terrafin bodyslammed into one of the monsters and sent it reeling! This definitely got the attention of the other one, who growled and shot itself towards Terrafin while he stood up, but instead got shot into the side of the portal building as Bash tackled into it!

"Hugo isn't gonna like that," Chihiro winced as she examined the monster-sized dent left in the building's side.

Bash tossed the first monster aside with a slap of his tail, and watched as the second monster joined it thanks to a bodyslam from Terrafin! But, those monsters didn't wanna give up, gong by the way they jumped to their feet, and Bash seemingly knew this. The monsters charged forward and slammed into Terrafin, or at least tried. Before they could land a hit, they bumped into each other and tottered around the portal building's front lawn instead!

"We'll finish off these guys!" Bash exclaimed as he glared down the monsters and pounded his tail against the ground.

"You just go ahead!" Terrafin said as he jumped out of the ground. "We'll meet you later!"

The others paused for a bit, seemingly hesitant, but nonetheless they bolted into the building's vacant door, locked it tight, and barricaded it off with some hefty planks and barrels… Just in case. Even though it was so heavily blocked off, though, the sounds of Terrafin and Bash struggling to fight against them!

"Bash, behind you!" Terrafin shouted, his voice a bit muffled from the door's blockage. "Wait, hey, get back!"

Bash's rough, gravelly screams sounded off in full volume as he seemingly smacked into Terrafin, followed by a loud CRASH and THUNK and BANG!

Chihiro winced and reached out her hand, about ready to just tear everything down and run back out to help them, but someone grabbed her hand and dragged her away before she could linger on it longer. They all bolted up the stairs; thankfully the stairs were completely vacant of monsters, so it was just them as they flew and ran up the spiraling staircases…

"If the rest of this place is as clean as this is, stopping this thing'll be a snap!" Chihiro proclaimed as she ran upstairs, but looked aside and winced as she caught sight of the barricaded front door once more, "Hopefully."

Just then, Chihiro lost her balance and fell on her face as everyone around her stopped and froze! What stopped everyone so suddenly? Chihiro frowned and looked around in time with everyone else. All around them, hissing sounds echoed about at dangerously close proximity—had the monsters busted up some pipes? A peek above them all showed that bright, red eyes like flaming comets peered down from the ceiling, almost like…

"Bats? Since when did the portal building have bats?" Chihiro asked as she took a peek above and cringed. "Wait a second—" Chihiro froze as those eyes grew narrow and glowering "—I don't think those are bats!"

Those "bats" that hung from the ceiling let out a collective screech, swooped down and revealed that they weren't bats, but monsters! They all swarmed down at such intense speeds that everybody else lost their footing from the shock and went tumbling down the stairs! The party’s collective shouts echoed through the room as they rolled down the massive stone stairs, took a particularly nasty leap off of one and got ready to crash into the ground.

Chihiro cried out in shock as the stone floors grew closer in closer, but she shot out her hand and crafted a magical net between the staircase! She was just in time, too—the net caught them all right before they were supposed to hit the ground!

"Phew, close one! I almost thought I wouldn't make it," Chihiro sighed with relief as the net drew back like a slingshot. "Now, everyone, hold on to your hats! We're in for a wild ride!"

Just like that, the net shot forward and tossed everyone back on the staircase! They all groaned as they slammed face-first into the stone stairs, looked up and scrambled to their feet as the bat monsters swarmed towards them!

Well, all of them but General Robot, who just turned around and narrowed his eye… Slots? Well, being a robot he didn't really have eyes, but…

"I'll take care'a these pests!" General Robot whirred as gigantic missiles loaded into his shoulders.

Slowly, his conveyor belt feet transformed into fully-functional rockets that flew him back down to where the bat monsters flew up! His missiles slammed into a few and successfully blew them to bits, but before he could restock, the bats charged right for him!

"UH, ABORT, ABORT! MISSION ABORT, TIME TO RETREAT!" General Robot screamed over the sound of screeching bats.

He haphazardly flew above the stairs, smacked his head right into the ceiling, lost balance and tumbled down with the bats still hot on his trail. Everybody else looked down and winced as General Robot hit his head against each and every stair in rapid succession, and cringed as he slammed against the floor with a loud CRASH!

"I'm okay, sir!" General Robot cried from the base of the stairs, but screamed again as the bats flocked around him!

The sounds of screeching bats, screaming robots and firing missiles echoed throughout the stairway at such an intense volume it made the entire tower shake and rattle! But, the Skylanders and Master Eon were hardly bothered by the noise as they ran upstairs!

Chihiro frowned as she looked back at General Robot, almost about to join him, but before she could Stealth Elf grabbed her by the arm and pulled her upstairs.

"Come on, Chihiro!" Stealth Elf whispered as she dragged Chihiro up the stairs. "We're lucky General Robot bought us some time! We can't let it go to waste!"

Chihiro just bit her lip as she looked back down, but finally she freed herself from Stealth Elf's grasp, dashed upstairs, but lost her footing on the final step and fell face-first into the floor. Chihiro grunted as she crawled across the floor and finally sat up.

"I'm alright, I swear," Chihiro moaned as she rubbed her sore face.

While the remainder of their team barricaded the door and took a breather, Chihiro looked down at the stairs just before they were completely blocked off. A kind of melancholy came over her as she thought of who they had left—herself, Spyro, Gill Grunt, Master Eon, Stealth Elf, Zook and Sonic Boom. Not a huge loss, but still. Fin, Bash and General Robot were all out there with those monsters!

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Chihiro asked as she clasped her hands together.

"I wouldn't worry too much," Stealth Elf replied as she brushed the dirt from her arms. "The more we worry, the most time it takes to stop this whole mess. We should—"

DING!

Chihiro froze and rapidly blinked as she looked around. "Wait, was that an elevator?" Chihiro breathed a sigh of relief and slunk down. "Man, talk about good timing. I wasn't sure my legs could walk anymore."

"But, that elevator never worked when we used it!" Master Eon proclaimed as he flew above Chihiro's head. "We had to abandon it because nothing we did could get it to budge!"

"You sure?" Chihiro winced as the elevator slammed down. "Because that elevator looks pretty functional to me!"

The elevator doors hissed open, followed by the familiar sounds of growling and scraping nails as bulky monsters emerged from the elevator with their eyes beady and their breath gravely. They seemed to hesitate for a few moments as they examined Master Eon, Chihiro, and the Skylanders, and gave the latter team just enough time to attack the former!

Zook immediately went to play his music, his volumes so loud it make the stones that comprised the walls quiver, and Sonic Boom joined in too as she screeched along! This time, though, the monsters weren't frozen in place! Rather, they only growled and launched themselves towards Zook! Zook gasped and went to load his bazooka, but before he could start, Sonic Boom made an even louder screech that blew the monsters away!

"What's going on?" Sonic Boom asked as she watched the monsters crash into the walls. "I thought they couldn't handle loud noises!"

"Guess these guys can take the boom!" Zook shouted as he loaded his bazooka and lifted it over his shoulder. "GOOD THING I CAN BRING IT!"

With a click of the trigger, several missiles launched out of Zook's bazooka and exploded into smaller ones that crashed into the ground! The moment they hit the ground, they exploded and splintered into thousands of thorny shrapnel bits that stuck into the monsters' bodies! While they squealed and tried to pull the shrapnel out, Spyro crashed into the back of one, and sent both it and the rest of the monsters tumbling down like dominoes!

Spyro smiled as they all crashed and groaned, but jumped aside as a large anchor smashed into the chest of a monster that stood right behind him… About two minutes ago. As the monster's artifact heart shattered and took the rest of the body with it, Spyro grinned and gave a toes up to Gill Grunt!

"Thanks Gill!" Spyro shouted, "I owe you one!"

Gill Grunt waved, but as he waved, he was completely obliviously to the monster that loomed over him and looked poised to rip his head off. It was a good thing Spyro wasn't! Before the monster could attack, Spyro spat out a flame as big as the sun and engulfed the monster in a fiery death before it could lift a finger higher!

"Guess I don't, now," Spyro chuckled.

He ducked out the way of Stealth Elf as she tore through several smaller monster with her daggers. Once he was safely out of the danger zone, he poked his head up and moved his attention towards Chihiro and Master Eon. The two of them fought just as hard as the Skylanders did, with magic blasts and magical weapons ablaze as they knocked down the waves of monsters that closed the two of them tight within a monstrous circle.

"Master Eon, just how many of those replicas did you have anyways?" Chihiro asked as she dodged a blow from one monster, summoned up a boxing glove and punched it aside.

"Unfortunately, a lot!" Master Eon shouted back as he dodged the grasp of the monster swarm that currently grappled for him.

The monsters they were able to knock down were quickly replaced by even more as the elevator continued to run! It was like the upper levels held a near-infinite, unseen supply!

"There's too many of them! We'll never make it at this rate!" Spyro shouted as he flew up to Master Eon and Chihiro and examined them. "Unless…"

Spyro blocked off a monster as it tried to flame Master Eon and turned to him. With the two of them safe for the time being, they whispered something inaudible to all but themselves, and their conversation was only inferred by the gestures and nods they made.

Chihiro dodged out of a gorilla monster's way, turned back to Spyro and Master Eon and frowned. "What are they talking about?"

She tilted her head as Spyro took to the air, but yelped as he flew over to her and grabbed her hand!

"Chi, we need to get out of here!" Spyro proclaimed as he dragged her out of the fray.

"But why?" Chihiro asked as she ducked underneath a fireball's flight path.

"There's been a change of plans! We're gonna have to take the main one ourselves while everybody else keeps the rest busy!"

Chihiro sharply gasped, looked away and clenched her teeth. "But why me? I couldn't even stop the first one with my own power!" Chihiro winced as she tried to tug away from Spyro's grasp. "How can I do it now?"

"Cause this time—" Spyro placed a paw over Chihiro's hand and gave her a gentle smile "—I'll be right here."

Chihiro pursed her lips, but finally made a reluctant smile of her own. Just being around him, with how confident he looked did ease her worries a bit; maybe they could do this! Chihiro stood speechless, and squeezed Spyro's paw tighter while her own flared with bright blue magic. That blue glow became a halo around the two of them as they bolted towards the elevator at such fast speeds that the entire world seemed to slow!

The elevator door opened with another friendly ding and sent out another swarm of monsters, but thankfully Spyro and Chihiro escaped the monsters' attention as the two of them dove away from the crowds and rolled into the elevator! As they stood up and shook their heads, the elevator door drew to a close and the elevator flew back upstairs.