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

"Everyone!" Drobot exclaimed as he ran through the hallways with Rizzo, Nort and Blobbers close behind. "Check every door you can! Drill Sergeant has to be here somewhere!" Drobot winced and clenched his teeth. "We just have to find out where."

Drobot's eyes glazed over a nearby door, then with a grunt he flung it open, but he frantically closed it as some kind of horribly mutated monster leaped out from its crevices!

"He's definitely not in there!"

"He's not in here, either!" Nort proclaimed as he opened a door, completely oblivious to the mop that was poised to fall on his head. "Only a bunch of cleaning—" Nort winced as the mop handle did, indeed, fall on his head "—Owch!"

"Not in this one!" Blobbers shouted as he heaved up an elaborate-looking gun. "But I did find this cool gun!"

"ENOUGH OF THAT, ALL OF YOU!" Rizzo exclaimed as he slammed a door open and rushed out. "I FOUND SOMETHING!"

Rizzo ushered everyone into the room, and slammed the door shut as they made their entry.

The inside was some kind of control room, complete with screens that gave one a peek into every conceivable room this strange laboratory held. None of them were of any interest to Drobot, save for the one in the center! The center screen depicted some kind of workshop with messily-strewn tools and half-complete mechanical contraptions. Its lighting was a faint orangish-red color that added a sort of ominous, blood-chilling feeling to the sight in the middle section, which was none other than…

"Er, somebody, please bring me your aid!" Drill Sergeant whirred as he failed to struggle out of the operating table-esque workbench he was strapped to. "How would I say this in simple terms?"

Drill Sergeant whirred faster as a thick, red laser shot down from the ceiling and burned through the workbench! Though his struggling was greater, it did little to free him from the thick belts that kept him strapped to the table.

"SIMPLE TERM FOUND! HELPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"

Drobot let out a gasp, and launched himself towards the massive control panel that all the screens were attached to. It had so many buttons and bells and whistles, but the keyboard attached to it was simple enough to operate. His front paws fixed on the keyboard, Drobot typed away at the keys with all the precision his frantic mind would give him. All around him, the area dipped in a bright red glare while the wail of sirens echoed throughout the room!

"WARNING, WARNING, UNEXPECTED ERROR!" blared a mechanical voice from far above. "AN UNEXPECTED INTRUSION HAS CAUSED A TOTAL SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN OPERATING ROOM 101611. I REPEAT, ALL SYSTEMS IN OPERATING ROOM 101611 ARE SHUTTING DOWN!"

"Well, thank you for the help?" Drill Sergeant beeped before all the monitor's screens completely shut off.

However, those screens were on the back of everyone's minds as they piled out of the control room!

"That should give us enough time to find him," Drobot said as he turned back to the Mabu Defense Force. "I corrupted a good percentage of the important files for the central room's operation processes! It will take approximately five minutes, fifty-five seconds and three hundred fourteen milliseconds before—"

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

"The systems come back online." Drobot winced and looked aside. "Unfortunately, it seems this room's systems are still perfectly operational."

As the sirens blared the loudest alarms they could, the hallway panels opened and robots piled in by the tens! If that wasn't bad enough, these robots were all armed with guns and cannons and all other sorts of weaponry—they'd be a pain to get through normally, but it was a good thing Drobot had his armor!

"I'll take care of these hunks of junk!" Drobot proclaimed as he stood tall, but stopped and froze as nothing happened. "Wait, why is nothing working?" Drobot ducked under a laser blast, looked down at his noticeably armorless back and winced. "That's right, that quack took my armor! Without it, I'm completely helpless!"

Drobot clenched his jaw tight as he got back to his paws, now fully prepared to run from the monster that had him cornered, but before he could, a gigantic fire blast blew the robot to bits! From the smoke and wreckage came Rizzo, who was stocked to the brims with troll weaponry!

"MABU DEFENSE FORCE!" Rizzo called as he tossed weapons to Blobbers and Nort. "TO ARMS!"

Now armed and dangerous, Blobbers and Nort immediately raised the rocket launchers Rizzo gave them and fired a whole round of rockets straight through the endless lines of guard robots! The robots exploded in a row, while their metal bits shot in every direction and dug into the walls!

But, they were hardly done! Blobbers clicked the trigger a few times more and sent a trio of missiles that immediately cut through a series of lasers shot off by one of the enemy robots! The robot could only whir in shock as it ran away from the missiles, but the missiles were much faster than it was, and it was blown to bits before it could even look back!

Nort, meanwhile, teetered around as he tried to balance the weight of his own rocket launcher, but finally managed to take full control as he sat it on his shoulder—and right in time, too, because several of the robots trapped him in a circle!

"TAKE THIS, YOU GIANT SCRAP HEAP!" Nort screamed as he fired the gun and sent missiles tearing through the robots.

Nort ran through the open path and yelled all sorts of war cries as he fired off more and more missiles by the second! BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! The sound of explosions lined the room and rattled it as Rizzo, Nort and Blobbers tore through the robots, but unfortunately, their work was far from done! Even more robots piled in from the open panels of the walls around in a never-ending stream, and each one was just as strong as the last! Even with their weaponry, the three of them could barely hold those robots down!

If only Drobot still had his armor; surely, with its calculative ability, he could have mapped out a plan to quell the flow of robot soldiers. Without it, he did not have nearly enough strength or analytical power to pull it off, so he only stayed hidden behind the fried corpse of a robot soldier. Drobot's eyes widened as the bright colors and explosions warmed the room around into an active, burning volcano of anticipation, but he stumbled back as Rizzo shoved an elaborate laser blaster in his front legs!

"What're you standing around for?" Rizzo asked as he turned around and looked at Drobot for moments. He whipped his head back around and went back to shooting. "We've got robots to blow up!"

Drobot hastily nodded, and held the gun to the best of his ability—these guns were clearly made with bipedal beings in mind as opposed to quadrupedal ones, and the weight was great enough that holding it tried to tip over his entire body. But it was the best he had to work with, so he had to make do. Drobot lifted the gun over his shoulders as he glared down the robots, and then he pulled the trigger as his lasers ripped through the guard robots!

Their hole-filled torsos ricocheted backwards as their bottom halves exploded, and immediately clogged up the panels the robots came from! The sound of panicked whirs and grinding metal rattled and shook the panels in an oddly conspicuous manner, but at the very least, it prevented the hall from producing more guards!

So, with the panels clogged and the remaining guards destroyed or seemingly missing, Rizzo, Blobbers, Nort, and Drobot all raced down the hallways! Their footsteps reverberated around the metal halls while sweat poured down their bodies—not from the explosion-generated heat that warmed the entire hall, but rather from the tension ahead. After all, not only was Drill Sergeant in danger, but they ran through the halls of a mad scientist's laboratory that surely had all sorts of tricks and traps awaiting them!

The red lighting poured through the halls and the sirens blared to try and instill fear in them all. Except now, something that sounded vaguely like hissing steam mingled with the sirens? What was that noise, and where was it coming from?

Drobot stopped in his tracks and looked around, and…

"Captain, look!" Blobbers exclaimed as he pointed to the halls ahead. "The walls, they're closing in!"

They all looked ahead, and sure enough, Blobbers was right! The hallway shut off as gigantic metal doors crept out from the wall panels at a snail's pace, one by one by one…

"We're gonna be trapped!" Nort exclaimed as he bit his nails.

Though the three of them seemed worried, Drobot only glared and gazed around the room. From just across where they stood now, a confused-seeming robot that somehow managed to avoid their slaughter swerved every which way as if it completely lost its sense of direction.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Drobot exclaimed.

He made a running start, jumped and latched onto the confused robot! With a quick slash from his claws, Drobot formed a hole in its control panel, yanked out the wires and tied them together in a haphazard knot, all while the robot made shrill, ear-bleeding beeps and whirrs. While his usual work would've been cleaner, right now they did not need aesthetics—they needed speed!

"Hop on, quick!" Drobot ordered as he turned back to Rizzo, Blobbers and Nort.

The three of them were quick to obey as they jumped onto the robot and held on tight, and they all screamed as Drobot sent the robot zooming down the halls at light-like speeds with a simple nudge! Not only had the robot obtained impressive momentum despite its shortcomings, but it completely stormed over any obstacles in its path! Saws that emerged from the ground, laser blasters from the walls, even the closed walls panels were simply smashed to bits from the sheer speed at which the robot crashed through the halls!

Unfortunately, that sheer speed also meant that Drobot, Rizzo, Blobbers and Nort had to hang on for their dear lives! Gums flapped in the wind and terrified screams shattered glass as all four of them dug their claws and fingers into whatever parts of the robot they could.

All the while, that robot zipped through the halls. It slowed down for a moment as it examined an oncoming intersection, but sped up as it aimed right for the solid wall in the middle at such a speed that it would turn anyone riding it into paste if they made crash contact!

"Skylander, turn this thing around!" Rizzo ordered with wide eyes as the wall came in faster and faster.

"I am trying!" Drobot shouted back as he pulled the wires around every which way. "It is going at such a high velocity that it is making it hard to steer!"

"Give me that, then!" Rizzo pushed past Drobot, grabbed the wire knot, and snapped it like the reins of a primitive buggy. "GIDDY UP!"

Rizzo pulled the robot's reins left, and the robot made a shrill set of beeps as it turned that way! Everybody breathed a sigh of relief as they dashed down the leftmost hallway, but that relief was short-lived—for they drove themselves straight into another intersection!

"CAPTAIN RIZZO!" Nort and Blobbers shouted as the intersection's midway came in rapidly. "QUICK, TURN THIS THING AROUND!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME TWICE!"

Rizzo pulled the robot's reins right and then left again, and moved them center as they headed down a three-way intersection. Despite the intense speed, his driving and control made the entire trip almost somewhat relaxing!

"You're a natural at this, captain!" Nort exclaimed as he poked his head above one of the robot's shoulders. "Have you done this before?"

"Well," Rizzo chuckled and looked aside, "I really wanted to be a cowboy, but there were no ranches around here so I had to settle for being a florist—"

Rizzo gasped and leaned back as the robot's wired reins started sparking, and nearly fell off the robot itself if not for the fact that his legs latched around its side tight! The robot made another set of shrill beeps as it turned left, right, left again, straight up, straight down… It moved so fast that none of them could even process the many halls they had passed!

With no way to give command now that the reins were broken, all Drobot, Nort, Rizzo and Blobbers could do was scream and hang on tight!

Before they knew it, they arrived at a dead end with a gigantic glass panel—wait, that wasn't a dead end! On the other side of the glass reflected a room filled with all sorts of mechanical oddities, and at the center of all that was Drill Sergeant, still strapped to the operating table as a laser came just inches away from searing him in half! This was the room Drobot found, this was what they looked for!

"Drill Sergeant, we're coming!" Drobot shouted. He took back the reins, just barely resisted the sparking electricity, and turned to Blobbers, Nort and Rizzo. "Hold tight, everyone! We are going to have to jump!"

"WHAT?" Rizzo, Blobbers and Nort all screamed in unison, but they received no answer to their question!

Drobot smashed the robot through the glass paneling right after they asked! Glass shards went everywhere as Drobot crashed the robot right into the laser machine and completely decimated it in the process! With their ride gone, all four of them crashed right onto Drill Sergeant's table with a loud crunch! Despite their crash landing, they quickly bounced back as they jumped off the table and removed the straps that kept Drill Sergeant bound tight.

"Drill Sergeant, are you alright?" Drobot asked as he helped Drill Sergeant off of the robotic operating table.

"Affirmative!" Drill Sergeant beeped as he rolled down. "Not a single scratch!"

"Thank goodness!"

Drobot breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and, wait, hold on a second! Wasn't that… Yes, indeed, none other than his own set of armor, hung from a rudimentary glass case! Drobot smiled as he dashed over to the case, smashed it open and put his armor back on. After a few clicks, he started up his suit, flicked a switch and watched with bated breath as his suit ran through its boot-up operations.

"All system operational." Drobot exhaled in relief as he held a paw over his heart. "Thank goodness."

While Drobot ran a few more scans, just to make sure everything really was perfectly intact, Drill Sergeant happily chatted it up with Nort, Blobbers and Rizzo. Despite the ominous red lighting that still lingered over the area, everyone around seemed so happy and at peace.

Well, until the door beside them opened out of nowhere!

"Stupid faulty alarm system!" the troll scientist muttered as he stormed through the open door, his eyes trained on the floors, "I really need to repair it one of these—" the troll scientist looked up and gulped as he caught sight of Drobot, Drill Sergeant and the Mabu Defense Force "—days."

All five of them were quick to bear their weapons, but Drobot was fastest of them all! With no time wasted, he flew in front of the scientist and shoved his face in the scientist's own, and his mouth drew into a ferocious scowl that bore all of his incredibly sharp teeth.

The troll scientist let out a few awkward chuckles as everybody turned their weapons on him. "This is probably the part where I start begging for mercy."

"Affirmative," Drobot replied as his helmet's eye slots glowed a dangerously bright red.

So, as everybody pressed their weapons dangerously close to the scientist, the troll scientist himself fell to his knees and sobbed. "Please spare me, Skylander!" The troll scientist begged as he shook his clasped hands. "I only acted in the pursuits of science!"

"YOU NEARLY TURNED ME INTO SCRAP METAL, BEEP BOOP!" Drill Sergeant shrieked as his drill hands spun even further with rage. "I WOULD HARDLY CALL THAT A PURSUIT OF SCIENCE, BEEP BOOP BEEP!"

"Drill Sergeant is right—that is no excuse!" Drobot hissed. "Scientific research should not come at the expense of others' lives!" Drobot made a small smirk and stepped back just a bit. "However, there is one thing you can do to make up for it."

"And that is?" The troll scientist looked up and frowned.

"Hand over the Glowing Green Goo of Primordia, immediately."

The troll scientist just looked aside and whimpered. "But, I still had so many experiments I wanted to…"

Everybody charged their weapons and shoved them in the troll scientist's space once more!

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I'LL GIVE YOU THE GOO!"

The troll scientist shuddered as he ran over to the control panel and played with a couple of switches. With a few button presses more, the red light that colored the area surrounding slowly shaded itself into a much more calming shade of bluish-green.

"Releasing the goo… Releasing the goo…" droned a mechanical voice over a loudspeaker.

The troll scientist grumbled something under his breath, and pressed a button as a gigantic vacuum popped out of the ceiling!

"Now, good riddance!" the troll scientist exclaimed as the vacuum whirred to life!

Before anyone could say anything else, the vacuum vacuumed up Drobot, Drill Sergeant, and the Mabu Defense Force, and sent them tumbling through a labyrinth of tubes before it finally spat them back on the surface! They all fell face first and grunted, but as they sat up and gathered their bearings, they could not help but smile—for they were dropped right in front of the goo factory's gate!

"Alright, everyone!" Rizzo exclaimed as he jumped back to his feet. "Time to get to work!

"Understood, captain!" Nort and Blobbers shouted back as they saluted Rizzo.

Rizzo smirked and dusted himself off, then turned back to the factory that loomed over them all. "Now, we need a mega bomb to blow up the defense wall guarding the way to the goo factories!" Rizzo pointed towards the impressive wall that blocked the factory off from its wartorn front yard. "If you could find one, we could blast the hellfire out of this thing!"

"Huh, actually I could've sworn I found one when I was looking for you, Captain!" Blobbers said before he ushered everyone along. "Come on, I'll show you!"

So, everybody else followed Blobbers a few hops up a platform, and a quick walk down before they halted in time with Blobbers.

"This should be the place," Blobbers said as he rubbed his chin and looked down at his feet while walking. As a shadow cast over them all, he looked up and gulped. "Yeah, this is definitely the place."

Blobbers led them to the mega bomb, alright—and true to its name, it was huge! The bomb itself was a sleek black like any other bomb, though it had a large, white spiky star design outlined in crimson painted on its front, and yet it could hardly be compared given that it was about the size of a house! Surely, its firepower was just as impressive. After all, an analysis on Drobot's end showed that it was filled with about fifty times the gunpowder a regular bomb held! The entire bomb was strong enough to blow them all to bits, and was only held back by some flimsy barbed wire fencing, yet it was too heavy to roll down and crush them all on its own. It was a simultaneously reassuring and frightening sight.

"Looks like we'll need a lot of horsepower to move that thing," Rizzo winced as he stepped out of the mega bomb's path.

"Horsepower is my specialty, sir," Drill Sergeant whirred as he revved up his engines, "if you'll allow me…"

Drill Sergeant tore through the wire fencing with a simple fire of his rocket hands, and once the hands returned and clicked back into their proper place, Drill Sergeant drove behind the bomb.

"You may want to step away, sirs!"

Everybody else scattered well out of the mega bomb's path as Drill Sergeant slammed into it with a THUNK that echoed across the battlefield. The ground around sifted and shuddered as the bomb creaked a few inches downward, just enough for the fuse to be visible! Drobot lifted his head, flew up and blasted the fuse with an incredibly hot (about one hundred degrees, to be precise) laser that immediately lit the fuse! The fuse crackled with fire as the bomb lurched a few inches down a tall incline, and rolled all the way down the incline's slope at incredible speeds!

"Wait, I demand you return here!" Drill Sergeant ordered as he charged after the bomb, his voice altered to be loud enough to alert everyone else.

Everybody else jumped from their spots and joined Drill Sergeant in the chase, but even with their combined forces, they could not compete with the bomb! It went far too fast for them to chase on foot! Wait, if going on foot was the issue…

Drobot leaped into the skies, started his thrusters, and became a streaking comet that hovered just inches away from the bomb. But, it was not an easy task, especially while the meteor-sized embers it sent from its fuse rained down and tried to knock him out of the skies! Drobot swerved left as one tried to mow him down, barrel-rolled out of another pair's path, and he caught up with the bomb in time to see the bomb leap off of a cliff!

From that jump, it gained altitude so high that it blocked out what little sun could be mustered from the smoke that covered the skies. Finally, it slammed straight into the factory's front gate! A gigantic explosion blocked the entire area off with thick, choking black smoke, and when the smoke lifted moments later, the barrier and the rest of the area surrounding was gone! All that was left was a gigantic crater where it once stood, and wrecked bits that rained down from the skies. Thankfully, however the goo factory was saved by a conveniently-timed shield that soon vanished!

Drobot landed back down on the ledge as he analyzed the factory, but was nearly pushed off by Rizzo as Rizzo shoved himself forward!

"MABU DEFENSE FORCE!" Rizzo shouted to the heavens as he pointed a finger towards the factory. "INITIATE OPERATION GET THAT GOO!"

"On it, captain!" Nort and Blobbers shouted in unison as they rushed forward and slid down the ridge with Rizzo close behind.

Once all three of them had landed at the bottom, they all ran forward and disappeared into the horizon. For about an hour and a half, nothing seemed to have happened—Drobot even checked the time to be sure. Just what was it they were doing? Drobot frowned and went to start up a game of virtual chess with himself, but before he could begin, a bright green glow shone across the way! Drobot filtered his visual sensors just so that the light was less blinding and directed himself towards the light's source—the goo factory!

All of its many pipes filled to the brims with bright green goo that surely caused this glow, but the goo drained down the pipes with a sound akin to that of draining a sink at maximum echo.

Drobot and Drill Sergeant flew and drove to the factory, but when they arrived, the work was done! Rizzo, Nort and Blobbers had their paws full as they drained the goo into vats and piled it onto some kind of crude rocket.

"Hey, Skylander, you finally made it!" Rizzo chirped as he turned around and waved at Drobot, but only for a moment before he became serious again. "Now we have the goo, but the trolls are sure to retaliate." Rizzo pressed a flask of glowing green goo in Drobot's front paws. "We'd better get this back to your home base ASAP!"

With a whistle from Rizzo, another gigantic rocket ship cascaded down and opened the way for all to enter! But as Rizzo, Nort and Blobbers piled in, Drobot only held the goo flask tighter and smiled towards Drill Sergeant.

"If I had to make an assumption here," Drobot remarked with a twitch of his wings, "I would say this was another job well done!"

"Affirmative, sir!" Drill Sergeant replied with a whir of his laser blaster.

§

As the elevator lurched up, Chihiro bit her lip and sat down on its cold, cold, hard floors. The dust around it was upset by the constant monsters trip and made her want to sneeze, or maybe that was just her nerves as her whole body tingled and trembled with fear.

"What do you think's waiting for us, Gold?" Chihiro asked as she inched her hand forward and nudged Spyro's paw.

Spyro kept his eyes trained on the elevator doors, but the moment he felt Chihiro's touch, he frowned and looked back down at her. There was a hint of worry in his golden eyes, yet he still found it in him to smile back down at her—that was just like him, staying so cool and confident in a situation like this.

"Lots of those monsters, probably," Spyro replied as the elevator slowed down. "If we wanna get through there, we'll probably need an invisibility spell."

"On it!" Chihiro squeezed Spyro's paw tighter and nodded, and let go as their bodies vanished from view just in time for the elevator doors to open.

One quick glance outside showed that Spyro's guess was right; tons of monsters loitered around the halls and toyed with the various decorations set up! One yelped in surprise as it knocked over a flower vase and shattered it, others made conversation grunts only to fall through monster-sized holes in the walls, and some just paced back and forth like guards. Just the sight made Chihiro's skin crawl! But, that was exactly why they had to get going—they couldn't risk getting sighted once their spell let up!

So, Chihiro and Spyro panted as quietly as they could as they dashed and flew down the halls, their bodies aching but not ready to give up quite yet. After all, everybody else fought so hard so they could make it here—they couldn't give in now!

However, Spyro seemed far less concerned about this than Chihiro was. Despite all the monsters that prowled around, his body never left the center of the halls, unlike Chihiro's which turned around and tugged him from sight to sight, monster to monster, door to door. For that matter, his paw was still warm and strong and completely unlike how cold and clammy her hand had gotten.

Chihiro couldn’t help her nerves. After all, they were surrounded by all these monsters that would rip them to shreds if one thing went wrong! Thankfully the invisibility spell shielded them from view, but how long would it last? Would it stay strong enough for them to escape?

Everything became a blur in Chihiro's mind as she raced down the open hallways, but thankfully, the monsters became more and more sparse with every hall they passed. Soon enough, they finally arrived in one that only had about three—enough that they could feasibly take on if a fight happened! With their safety practically guaranteed for the time being, they both stopped and caught their breath.

Chihiro took another look at Spyro's face, but she saw nothing under the cover of their invisibility spell. She didn't know why she looked, given that she knew she cast a spell. Maybe she just wanted to see that look in his eyes, the only that promised her that everything would be alright despite how awful things were right now. Wait, now she could! But, it wasn't a look of confidence. It seemed more like concern, going off the way his brows clenched tight as his eyes turned to her and those brows grew tighter.

Wait, if she could see him… Oh no, surely the spell started to wear off! She could already see the few monsters around grunt in confusion and turn to them!

Before she even knew it, she went to scream—and Spyro pulled her aside into the monsterless, cold, and safe confines of one of the corner storage rooms. Chihiro finally let out a scream of shock, but the moment her eyes locked on Spyro's, her lips pursed and she drew him into a loose hug, all while she heaved heavy breaths.

"Chihiro," Spyro whispered as he lifted his head, "are you alright?"

Chihiro, however, just hugged him tighter then let go and made a weak smile. "I am now," Chihiro whispered back.

"You ready?"

As Spyro squeezed her hand tight, Chihiro made a tiny shrug and looked aside.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

Spyro bit his lip and nodded as Chihiro squeezed his paw tighter, and she yanked them both out of the storage room, but just screamed and jumped back inside! Spyro winced as he hit the walls, and watched as Chihiro slammed the door shut in panic. While she pressed her back against the door in some meager attempt to keep it shut, he only shook his head and jumped back to his paws.

"Chihiro, what was that for?" Spyro asked.

Chihiro winced, shushed him and opened the door just wide enough for them to get a peek outside without being spotted. She ushered Spyro close to her side, and pointed to the cracked door to show that outside, a guard monster swept the halls! It seemed gargantuan, and the many spikes that ripped out from its body only served to amplify its intimidating aura. Perfect for a guard monster, to be honest. The monster growled and sniffled the air for a few moments, but made a hulking sigh as it paced back the other way.

With a nod, Spyro and Chihiro locked hand and paw once more, and caught one last glimpse of each other before they both turned invisible again and crept out of the storage room. Their eyes glazed over the monster that still had its back turned to them right before Spyro charged forward and knocked it straight down! The monster growled in alarm as it pulled itself back up and looked around, but its growls of alarm turned to cries of pain as Chihiro slammed a door right in its face!

The monster fell unconscious on the way back down to the floor, just in time for Spyro and Chihiro to become visible once again. Spyro immediately summoned a thick rope made of magic, wrapped it around the monster and tied it up tight.

"Okay, that's taken care of," Spyro proclaimed as he wiped his paws and looked towards the door down the way.

This door, it glowed a bright lavender color and radiated a magic energy so intense that Chihiro shuddered just from its presence. That had to be…

"That should be the door to the outer balcony, and our target," Spyro said as if he read Chihiro's mind in that instance. "We'd bet get there before—"

Right as Spyro talked, the monster's eyes shot open! With a growl, it lurched up and immediately split the ropes Spyro tied it with in one mighty flex!

"It breaks out!"

The monster lurched towards Chihiro and got ready to swing, but before it could, Spyro tackled into its hand! While the monster held its hand in pain, Spyro hissed through clenched teeth and rebounded from the attack before he flew towards the monster and shot a fireball straight at its chest!

"I'll distract it, you go ahead!" Spyro shouted as he turned back to Chihiro.

Chihiro, however, just stuck frozen and winced. That monster did look awfully strong, and even with Spyro's impressive abilities he might not be able to hold it on his lonesome. But then, the monster slammed its fist into the floor and sent a shockwave hurtling towards Chihiro! The force was so intense it knocked her on her back, and she was only able to watch in frozen horror as the monster loomed over her, ready to strike…

FWOOSH!

Before it could get the chance to attack her, another fireball slammed straight into the monster's head! As the monster turned back to face Spyro, Chihiro dodged under its legs and made a fast break for the open balcony door!

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" Spyro shouted, though his jeers and insults towards the monster grew faint and barely comprehensive by the time Chihiro bolted through the open door.

Before Chihiro knew it, she was faced with harsh wind and crackling lightning while she stood on the highest balcony the portal building had to offer, all while the storms above raged worse than before.

Really, it was less of a balcony and more like a long, gated patio that circled around the entire tower, and it had enough space to host at least twenty people, maybe more. Yet, she was the only one there, it seemed, for no monsters or other lifeforms were anywhere to be found!

"Hello? Any monsters here?" Chihiro asked as she perused the balcony to find nobody other than herself still. "Olly olly oxen free?"

"GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!"

Chihiro jumped back from the balcony's railing as a large shadow cast over the balcony itself, one that drew closer and closer by the moment, and before she knew it, the original Guardifound crashed down before her! It had grown maybe three or four times its size since she last saw it, and more decorated markings formed on its shiny purple body to match. Despite all this, that crack on its body was still firm as ever while the bright light of magic leaked from its opening in a waterfall of shimmering lights.

"If I hit that crack, it'll probably be done for!" Chihiro reasoned as her hand flared with magic despite the fact that her body shook with an intense fear still. "Just gotta stay focused!"

Chihiro winced and thrust her hand forward and shot off a series of magic blasts as she zipped down the balcony, but no matter how far she ran, she kept her eyes fixed on that monster. Not just out of necessity for battle, no. It was like no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to look away from the monster she had created—a physical representation of all her failures.

With a shake of her head, Chihiro lifted up her hand and shuddered. No, she couldn't let herself get distracted right now; she had to put an end to all this! Out from her palm came a large magic sphere that crashed right into the monster's chest! Chihiro bolted down the balcony as the Guardifound shook off her attack, while more magic spheres shot from her palms like bullets.

Yet, she wasn't doing a thing! No matter how many spheres she shot off, they were little more than annoying flies the Guardifound just shook off. They all smashed against its chest and disappeared into piles of quickly-disappearing cyan sparkles, but the Guardifound seemed no more worse for wear than before. Finally, it growled as it took heavy, labored forward steps that shook the platform beneath them, raised one of its meaty claws, and shot a magic sphere ten times the size and speed of Chihiro's own right at her!

Chihiro cast up a shield before the sphere could make contact, and winced as the sphere bored into her shield. Her hands pressed tight against the shield's surface, and her entire body flowed with magic as she tried to keep it strong enough to knock the sphere. Even her best wasn't enough! The sphere shattered her shield and slammed into her! Her whole body burned with the heat of a thousand suns as she flew right off the balcony from the impact! She was so hot, and in so much pain that she could barely bring herself to open her eyes.

The cool, rushing wind chilled her enough to finally look down and see that—oh no, oh god, the ground was coming in super fast! So, Chihiro teleported away in a flash and dropped onto a rooftop of a building well across the portal building. She sat against the cold wood of the rooftop, and placed a hand over her furiously-beating heart as she caught her breath, but even that didn't last long! The sound of pounding and a gigantic shadow over her showed that the Guardifound came back! So, she dashed across the rooftop, jumped to another building's rooftop and ran further.

While she ran, the Guardifound leaped on the rooftop she first stood on and growled. It turned around to face her while she turned back around to face it, almost like those showdowns in cowboy movies; if it weren't for how tense she was now, she's say it felt kind of cool.

Chihiro was the first to draw her weapon as she lifted her hands to the skies, and summoned a magical tennis racket and about ten of those shuttlecock minions with the weird googly-eyes. They were still no bigger than the average turtle, but for the situation at hand, they'd have to do! So, she grabbed the tennis racket, and served the minions at the Guardifound one by one! The minions all screeched as they soared in the air, their goofy, googly eyes fixed on the Guardifound, but they made shrill squeals of pain as the Guardifound slapped them all onto the ground before they even made contact!

Well, all but one who managed to crash straight into the cracked part of the Guardifound's chest! The Guardifound cried out in pain, next growled as the shuttlecock minion fell to the ground, last groaned as it itself fell to its knees and held a hand over its crack—which now glowed bright!

Chihiro wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she was pretty sure it was a sign to attack! So, she summoned up a sphere and narrowed her eyes, her cheeks flushed blue from her sphere's light.

"Alright, buddy!" Chihiro shouted over the roaring thunder and raging lightning from above. "You've been a thorn in our side for too long now!"

Chihiro charged the sphere with an extra blast of magic and thrust it forward. "IT'S TIME YOU GOT PLUCKED!"

Chihiro punched the sphere with a strained yell and in a moment's time it sped straight towards the Guardifound! As it gathered momentum, the magic around it turned into a magical flame, and transformed it from a magic sphere to a magic comet that screeched as it got ready to blow the Guardifound to bits! Chihiro should've felt confident, but her stomach churned with anxiety so bad that she could only cover her mouth with her hands as her eyes completely fixed on the monster. Would it work?

SMACK!

Unfortunately not! Out of nowhere, a purple and blue-striped blast smashed through her measly comet and nearly grazed her over! She ducked and covered right in the nick of time, and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw a sad-looking version of her one shuttlecock monster, who pathetically coughed as it disappeared in a puff of magic smoke!

Chihiro’s whole body tried to lock itself up, but before she could freeze entirely, the sound of screeching pricked her eyes. She looked up, gasped and ducked again as the Guardifound sent magic fireballs shooting right above her! The heat pressed against her body and she shook with sweat, but she had to get up and fight! Actually, no, a look up showed that the magical fire storm still went strong! Chihiro winced as she kept herself pressed down low—with all these fire blasts, there was no way she could get a good shot in! Worse yet, the Guardifound didn't seem like it was getting tired anytime soon! Is this the end?

CRASH!

The fire storm halted for a moment as both Chihiro and the Guardifound directed their attention towards the portal building. From above, some kind of brightly-colored smoke poured out from the open door on the portal building's balcony—wait, wasn't Spyro in there dealing with that guard monster?

As the smoke cleared, Chihiro magicked up a pair of binoculars and took a quick peek. There on the balcony, Spyro crashed into the railing and practically hacked out a lung as he slid down its metal surface. He clenched his teeth as he peered back up at the guard monster, which towered over him with a flaming hot fireball at the ready!

"SPYRO!" Chihiro called as she dropped her binoculars without even realizing it.

She shuddered, leaped and bounded across the rooftops with a new purpose—she had to get over there and help out Spyro! Chihiro heaved rapid, shallow pants as she focused her magic and got ready to teleport. The magic raced through her blood and her whole body shuddered and tingled with power, the same kind of sensation she always felt before teleporting.

Before she could take off, something hard and warm slammed right into her back and tossed her across the rooftops! A sharp pain stung Chihiro's head as she slammed headfirst into the hard rooftops, and she turned around and fixed her dizzy eyes on the path behind her.

There, the Guardifound fell to all fours and dashed towards her like a rabid ape, its mouth wide as it charged a magic blast! Oh great, in her surge of worry, she completely forgot about it!

Chihiro went to ready an attack, but the surprise shock from the attack she took combined with the searing pain completely stopped her; all she could do was summon a few sparkles before she winced and lurched over. Though her vision grew blurrier and less focused, she could still fix herself on the Guardifound as it raged closer than ever, now fully ready to attack…

But before it could, something purple and gold swooped down in front of her and sent it flying back with a blast of light as bright as the sun itself!

"Sorry for the holdup, Chi! That guard monster was stubborn, but it's toast now," Spyro shouted as he took a scorning look at the Guardifound, "ready to end this?"

Chihiro gasped, yet her shaky face grew into a glowing smile as she grabbed Spyro's paw and squeezed it tight. Just being around Spyro made her vision clear itself a little, and the light left behind from his attack made him seem more… Radiant than usual, like a legendary hero or a knight in shining armor!

"Yeah!" Chihiro proclaimed with a nod. The energy flowed back into her body as she forced herself to stand, and her vision cleared enough for her to face the Guardifound once more.

The Guardifound roared as it shot off more magical fireballs, but this time Chihiro was prepared! She immediately tossed up a long-distance shield, held out her hands, and focused enough that the blasts couldn't shatter it to bits—all they could do was drill against it! Chihiro smirked for a moment despite her weakened state as the fireballs pounded and sent pulsating waves across the shield, yet still couldn't break it.

That's it, Chihiro thought as she reinforced the shield. Shoot all the fireballs you want, it doesn't matter! Your little temper tantrum's no match for my—

The fireballs hissed like metal hissed when something hot seared through it, and they burned holes through the shield and shattered it!

SHIELD!

Chihiro winced, screwed her eyes shut, and ducked down as the fireballs flew over her and burnt out! At least, she thought they burnt out based on the crackling sounds she heard behind her. Chihiro popped her eyes open and turned around to check, but instead saw another magic fireball headed right towards her!

Chihiro jumped up and teleported out right in time to watch it pass her by, but it just turned around and barreled right towards her again! Chihiro winced and teleported left, right, left, but it was no use! No matter where she ran, it immediately turned around and made chase once more! She could only watch as it grew closer and closer…

And a bright red fireball shot it across and engulfed it completely! Spyro nodded at Chihiro and flew over the Guardifound's range, and shot off a volley of his own red-hot fireballs with his eyes trained on the Guardifound's crack! The Guardifound looked up, raised its hand, and created a magical shield as the fireballs rained down!

The fireballs dove into the shield's magic and bounced back towards Spyro, who was quick to block them with a shield of his own. But, something was wrong still; he strained and winced, as if keeping up that shield practically sapped his life force. Finally, he dropped the shield and crashed back down onto the rooftops!

"Spyro, are you alright?" Chihiro asked as she ran to Spyro's side and helped him back up.

"Don't worry, Chi," Spyro winced as he forced a smile and tried to pull himself back to full height, "I, I'm fine."

But, that was hardly reassuring. given that immediately afterwards Spyro limped downwards and shuddered!

So, Chihiro immediately threw herself in front of him. "No you aren't, Spyro!" Chihiro knelt down to Spyro's height and wrapped him in her arms. "You're hurt, you need to get back to safety!"

"We won't be safe until these things are gone for good!" Spyro pushed against Chihiro's grasp, though he was too weak to fully break out of it. "Besides, I promised Master Eon—" Spyro paused and shook his head "—no, I promised you I'd help you take this thing down!"

Chihiro wanted to argue more, but an instant shock of pain hit her, and she limped down and winced. Both of them were in a pretty bad shape, but that Guardifound surely was no worse for wear than before! Hopefully it wouldn't notice this… Darkness shaded over the two of them as a familiar, imposing figure appeared in a flash of light and fell before them with a thump. Oh no, looks like she jinxed it!

The Guardifound raised a claw and shot a brightly-colored laser right at Chihiro before she even had time to react! Chihiro just gasped, completely frozen to the spot and only able to anticipate the pain that would come…

But it never did!

Right at the last moment, Spyro scrambled to his feet and jumped right in front of her! The collision caused a blast so intense that it sent them both soaring through the air before they both slammed against the side of the portal building and landed on another, slightly smaller balcony attached to it. At least they were alright… Maybe.

Chihiro herself screamed while her head throbbed, but she quickly shook her head as a series of intense hacks rang from her side.

She turned around, and—oh god, this can’t be happening! But no, it was. Spyro laid across from her with a nasty pinkish-red burn on his side while he coughed so hard it rattled his entire body. He was in so much pain he couldn't even open his eyes! This had to be a bad dream, please!

"Spyro!" Chihiro called as she scrambled over to his side and cradled him in her arms. For a moment, the entire world vanished right around her—the Guardifound, the buildings they stood on, the monsters raging fights outside… All she saw was Spyro, so weak and pained.

Spyro, however, just coughed and forced a weak smile nonetheless as he just barely opened his eyes. He lifted his mouth as if he went to speak, but before he get out a single word he curled up and shuddered.

"Spyro, why did you do that?" Chihiro croaked, her face stung with pain and terror alike. "You could've died!"

"Well, I had to protect you of course!" Spyro blurted out, his own voice strained and shrill with pain. "I can take a hit, but if that thing got you, you would've been done for!" Spyro nudged his head closer to Chihiro's heart. "And I'm not gonna lose you that easily…"

Spyro rolled out of Chihiro's arms, and forced himself to stand and look back at her with that same, weak smile.

"You're my friend, after all!"

Chihiro winced as a flood of so many emotions she couldn't comprehend washed over her. Spyro just took what would've possibly been a killing blow for her; he was already so weak himself—it was a miracle he even survived!

And, it was all because, all because, he considered her a friend...

Chihiro's eyes went wide as she reached towards Spyro, and gasped as he grunted and collapsed into a shuddering pile once more. She held him just tight enough that it wouldn't hurt him further, and tried her best to keep from crying. This had to be a bad dream, please let it be a bad dream!

All the way across from her, the Guardifound let out a ghastly cackle and teleported! This time it put itself en route to her and Spyro as it teleported closer and trudged over towards them, its hand raised and charged with sparkling magic

Chihiro only viewed it in horror, completely helpless and terrified as it got ready to finish Spyro off. Surely it wouldn't stop at just Spyro, either! Chihiro's mind flashed back to the rest of the team as they fought, from Terrafin and Bash who were probably still preoccupied with the bouncers, General Robot as he fought off those bats, the other Skylanders and Master Eon who had their hands full with the endless swarms of guard monsters, and even the rest of the island's inhabitants as they waited with anticipation from the safety of the mess hall. They'd all fall to the Guardifound's power while she'd be helpless to stop it, unable to protect them and only able to watch as they went down one by one...

Just like that time.

That's right, Chihiro realized as a pang of fear dug into her heart. This is just like before! When Fin and Stealth fought that Windbag!

All of a sudden, those memories flooded back into her head and clenched her tight, almost like she relived that time. The one where she was frozen stiff and helpless, unable to do anything other than watch as that monster tore through her friends, and she could do nothing to help them! Now it was going to happen again, and once again, she'd be powerless to stop the friend she loved from getting hurt or even killed!

Wait a second, but this time, she wasn't! She had plenty of magic spells down her belt, plenty of powers to fight it with! She couldn't just sit and watch this time, no! She was a portal master, after all! More importantly, she was their friend, too, and she could hardly call herself either of those things if she just gave in now to her own despair and let them all die!

Before she even realized it, Chihiro let go of Spyro, pushed herself up with her hand, and dashed in front of the Guardifound, her eyes flared with fury and hot tears!

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Without even thinking, Chihiro pressed her open palms together while every drop of magic in her body poured into her hands! Her head stung with some kind of strange, tingling feeling not quite like dizziness, for her mind was perfectly clear—all she cared about now was destroying that Guardifound! Before she even knew it, she shot a gigantic magic beam at the Guardifound and tossed it all the way down the rows of rooftops!

This beam was so great, so intense, that its light practically blanketed the entire area, and when it unveiled the surroundings, Chihiro had to take a moment and collect herself. It wasn’t just from the epic power, but also because for a moment, it was like she wasn't real. Her whole body was fuzzy and strange, like it wasn't even her own, and her mind was a black void, completely blank and unfocused. Had such a powerful attack really come from her own self? She wasn't entirely sure, but hopefully it did the trick.

Chihiro fell to her knees and panted as her senses came back to her, yet she looked up, and grinned.

Across from her, the Guardifound fell to its knees and wheezed, all while the crack in its chest was a bright morning star that shone with magical energy!

"Now's my chance!" Chihiro shouted as she jumped back to her feet. "One more hit and it's gonna go down!"

The Guardifound looked up and raised its hand to shoot off one last attack, but before it could even fire, Chihiro summoned a magical orb that crackled with equally-magical lightning and smacked it right towards the Guardifound! The magic orb screeched through the air at lightning-fast speeds, and finally struck the Guardifound's crack! The blow was so mighty that the Guardifound completely collapsed, all while the crack spread across its entire body. Then finally, not seconds later, it shattered completely and exploded in a big blast of shining light!

Chihiro threw a shield in front of her and Spyro just to be safe, and as the light receded, she lifted her shield and looked around with a beam. All around her, the clouds parted and warm sunshine from the setting sunset bathed the area surrounding in a gentle orangish-yellow tint, while puffy pink clouds flitted through the skies.

"Huh, what," Spyro groaned as he pulled his head up and looked around, and looked down with wide eyes, "Chihiro, look!"

Chihiro perked her head up and looked down, and her smile widened into a cheek-to-cheek grin! Though the area below was still covered in rubbish and damage from the prior battles, the monsters were now gone! All that could be seen was the faint glisten of their artifact hearts! Though the damage was done, just the sight of this simple light was still comforting nonetheless, for it told her the one thing she had so desperately wanted to hear.

"You can finally rest now, the battle has been won."

"Finally!" Chihiro turned back, hoisted Spyro onto her back and teleported them both back to the balcony. "Come on, let's go tell the others!"

And so, they rushed back into the portal building while a gentle wave of relief washed over them both.