"SIX MONTHS?!" Spyro exclaimed as his pupils turned small.

There was no way six months could've passed in the hours he was gone! Anyone probably could have guessed that the passage of time would be different here but… Six months?!

Hugo only nodded his head. The somber look in his eyes tried to act sympathetic, but it only intensified Spyro's shock and worries.

"What happened to the others?! Flynn?! Persephone?! Cali?!" Spyro looked at Hugo with frantically-moving eyes before his voice grew desolate and weak. "… Master Eon?"

Hugo heaved an empty sigh and clasped his hands together. Whatever he had it say, it wasn't good. Then again, he did say Master Eon had died earlier, but, that couldn't be true… Right?

"Master Eon's dead, Spyro."

Spyro's expression went from panic to complete shock. His jaw hung agape as the words escaped him, his mind surely filled with all sorts of potential conclusions, potential strings of hope that Master Eon hadn't perished in some form…

"No, he can't be dead!" Spyro finally exclaimed at last, his heroic facade cracked with desperation. "Maybe he's just—"

"Whatever you're about to say, I'm afraid it isn't true," Hugo croaked, barely able to speak himself as he hung his head while tiny tears dropped onto his glasses.

Hugo dug back into his lapel and shuffled around the massive books, then carefully, gingerly pulled out something—a helmet cracked and stained with dried red spots. More than that, however, the helmet was blue and pointed with a Viking’s horns, and the fragmented remains of a round gem sat in it’s front… No, Spyro didn’t want to believe it, but that was definitely Master Eon’s helmet that Hugo held, and Master Eon never with anywhere without his helmet atop his head!

"I found his corpse in the aftermath of the battle. We've lost him."

Spyro went completely silent. His eyes dodged Hugo's line of sight and his whole body drooped down as he stared at the ground. The solemnity of Hugo's expression and voice only proved that Hugo wasn't lying…

Master Eon was really dead.

"I'm so sorry you had to find out this way, Spyro." Hugo gently laid a paw on Spyro's shoulder.

Spyro shook his head and stood tall. As he flared his wings, he looked back up at Hugo with determination in his eyes and gently moved Hugo's paw away.

"There's no time for me to mourn when there's a universe that needs to be saved. What about the others?" Spyro asked, a noticeable crack in his voice.

Hugo brushed his paw against his chin before his expression fell once more. "Cali went to investigate some kind of disturbance a week ago, and we haven't heard from her since," Hugo wrung his hand against his chin and frowned, "Persephone was called back to the Fairy Kingdom after the Core's destruction, and we haven't heard a word from her since then either."

"So it's just us?" Spyro's tone turned grave as he dug his claws into the earth.

"That's where you're wrong." Hugo's tone went from grim to frustrated as he grimaced. "Unfortunately, Flynn is still with us."

Flynn awkwardly waved his hand as he bent down to meet Spyro's line of sight.

"Good. Without Master Eon around, we're gonna need him to get us from place to place," Spyro breathed a sigh of relief. "So, what's the situation here?"

Hugo breathed in, gathered his thoughts, and spoke up once more. "We're not entirely sure ourselves. It looks like a tornado struck the island and now everything's in complete disarray!"

Spyro took to the skies and looked out to the rest of the island, where a tornado brewed with winds that whipped wildly about. As he flapped in place, fires of determination burned in his now-red eyes.

"That's good enough for me." Spyro's gaze turned steely while his voice grew more determined. "We're launching a full-scale evacuation—get as many people out of here as you can! I'll go up ahead and see who I can find, you guys investigate the rest of the area!"

"Got it, Buddy-O!" Flynn exclaimed as he saluted Spyro.

In moments, the unspoken plan engaged—Flynn ran off to the western half of the island, Spyro himself flew off north to investigate more and Hugo stayed in his place while his frown deepened as he watched Spyro.

"SPYRO, WAIT—" Hugo shouted, but he didn't get to finish what he planned to say.

The winds' howls grew much stronger, and the winds themselves grew much more violent than before. They pushed against Spyro, who was unable to resist and flew right into a nearby tree before he slid down.

"Ugh, my head," Spyro moaned as he flopped over on his back with a paw rested on his forehead, "Okay, I flew right into that one,"—Spyro then shook his head and took back to all four paws—"this time, I'm staying on the ground. It's too dangerous to fly."

"That's what I was going to say," Hugo grumbled as he crossed his arms.

However, Spyro paid no mind to Hugo and instead flew off, while Hugo heaved a sigh and ran off to meet up with Flynn.

Chihiro watched the whole thing unfold with shining eyes, her hands clasped onto the controller loosely and her heartbeat slowed as a warm, excited feeling fell over her.

"What is this feeling?" She whispered as she let the controller fall to the floor. "Is this what being home feels like?"

Meanwhile, Spyro ran around the island as he looked around for any stray citizens that needed to be evacuated. Just then, the winds grew wilder and orbs of whipping winds shot out from nearby tornadoes! Spyro just nearly dodged one as it grazed his wing, but the other hit him straight in the chest and threw him into a nearby tree. As he shook his head, Spyro groaned and closed his eyes, focused on the tornado with all his might. With a deep breath inwards, Spyro's eyes shot open wide and he channeled the winds of the tornado. As he did this, he unraveled the tornado with all his might!

Chihiro watched all this from the safety and comfort of her couch with sparkling eyes, and felt this warm fuzzy feeling as it grew even stronger.

"Spyro's so cool!" She barely whispered, her smile having grown wider as she bounded off of the couch, "Go get 'em Spyro! You can do it!"

Just as Spyro deconstructed the tornado, the winds wrapped around him and trapped him in midair! Another tornado spat out three more of these wind orbs, though unlike the others they landed flat on the ground and stayed static. Well, for a few moments anyway.

Spyro fell to the ground as his eyes returned to gold, before he tilted his head in confusion. "So, is something gonna happen or…" Spyro asked with a tilt of his head.

The orbs exploded before they reformed into monsters of wind with blank eyes, square jaws that had too many teeth and bulky, spike-covered bodies. One of them immediately raced towards Spyro and slammed into his scaly body, and he tumbled backwards and fell on his back.

"Yeah, I shouldn't have said anything." Spyro staggered up before he regained his strength and turned to face Chihiro, "Chihiro, I don't know if you can hear me, but I could really use some backup right about now! Just saying!"

He narrowly dodged the other two monsters as they ganged up on him while the winds around them whipped even more violently than before!

"Roger that, Spyro!" Chihiro shouted with an eager salute.

In moments, Chihiro was on the case as her fingers danced between the other Skylanders, grabbed the first character she could lay hands upon and slammed their figurine onto the portal. She was admittedly in a bit of a rush—hopefully the character selected could be of use…

In mere moments, the image of Gill Grunt flashed upon the screen along with a splash of clean ocean water.

"Fear the fish!" Gill Grunt proclaimed as he cocked his harpoon cannon.

Then, with a flash of radiant blue light, he disappeared from the screen before he reappeared next to Spyro.

"Man, am I glad to see you, Gill," Spyro said with a toothy, relieved smile.

"Likewise," Gill Grunt agreed as he beamed back at Spyro.

They then focused their attention on the monsters before them. As they watched their foes, Gill Grunt cocked his harpoon gun once more and Spyro flared out his wings. For those five minutes or so, there was a peaceful standstill between them and their foes...

Then, all manner of chaos broke loose!

As the monsters blew gusts and threw punches, Gill Grunt doused them with heavy streams of scorching water from his cannon. Their weight increased from this new burden and the monsters couldn't help but collapse to the ground. They struggled as much as they could to get up, but they grew so heavy that their bodies were more like hundred ton weights against the forces of gravity.

"Your turn now, Spy!" Gill Grunt shouted as he drew back with a nod.

Spyro only nodded back in response, then his eyes flashed a deep cobalt in color as he stepped forward. Spyro took a breath in, screwed his eyes shut and became utterly focus on these monsters—and the water that weighed them down. The water took to the skies in several powerful, unyielding streams with the monsters they once carried freed of their heavy burden! As the monsters got up and tried to figure out what exactly was going on, Spyro combined the streams into one big orb of water and dropped it back down on the monsters into one big waterfall!

The monsters screamed in garbled horror as the water assaulted their bodies, before the pain and tension grew too heavy for them to bear—so they merely vanished in midair!

With a smile, Spyro and Gill Grunt high-fived each other only to hear what sounded like cheers of delight! They turned around to find that hidden behind what looked like a ruined village were several furry, bear-like mabu who wore all sorts of plain-looking clothing.

"The Skylanders have returned to save us!" cheered an adult mabu who wore a simple tan shirt and trousers as they withdrew from the wreckage. "Three cheers for our heroes!"

"HIP HIP—"

"There's no time for celebration! We're arranging a full-scale evacuation of the island, you have to go before it's too late!" Spyro shouted as he glided over and pointed a paw towards Gill Grunt, "Gill Grunt here will take you guys back to the docks. There should be emergency balloons waiting to take passengers."

The mabu opened his mouth to speak once more, but Spyro gently nudged him with his horns.

"Go, go, go!"

The small crowd of mabu were ushered along in a quickly-moving line as Gill looked towards Spyro and opened his mouth.

"The docks should be at the beginning of the island, just keep following the path." As Spyro spoke, he pointed a clawed toe at a stone path that was mostly intact the fact that the winds pulled out several stones as noted by the indents they left behind. "Keep an eye on them and make sure nobody gets hurt to the best of your ability. I'm gonna go up ahead and see if I can find the source of all this wind."

Gill Grunt nodded with silent understanding before he ran back and led the very back of the line, while Spyro, meanwhile, continued his journey up head. As the two of them explored, the speed of their runs conveyed a sense of urgency. Understandable, given that they were standing in the heart of a natural disaster.

The other Skylanders watched all this unfold with Chihiro with antsy whispers, but Chihiro watched with excitement and a pounding heart.

"Chihiro?" said someone from the crowd of Skylanders, "Chihiro? Chihiro? Earth to Chihiro!"

Chihiro shook her head as she looked down and tried to figure out who was calling her.

"Chihiro, are you alright?" asked the voice, who Chihiro immediately recognized as Whirlwind.

"You bet'cha!" Chihiro chirped as she picked up Whirlwind until they were both face to face. Chihiro then flopped back on the couch, her back slouched as she rotated Whirlwind in her hand. "SOOOOO, you guys wanna hear a funny thing that happened to me at school today?" Chihiro asked, a sparkle in her eyes.

"I guess so…" Whirlwind said.

Murmurs of agreement rose throughout the crowd, while Chihiro then bounced back up with glee in her expression.

"Okay, get this!" Chihiro cleared her throat and spoke so rapidly it was almost impossible to hear her, "So, I'm walking down the hall, and this girl drops a banana peel on the floor…."

§

"Weird, right? You should've sent the look on the janitor's face when he went to put his broom back! It was like he saw a ghost or something!" Chihiro exclaimed between helpless bouts of laughter.

"Did you get a word she said?" whispered one member of the crowd to another.

"Not at all," said that other member.

Chihiro fell back and continued to laugh her head off, while the others cautiously laughed along with her. As she wiped a tear of joy from her face, Chihiro stood straight once more and smiled a genuine smile of happiness, one so infectious it made genuine joy break out among the others too.

"Guys, have I told you yet that you're the best friends a kid could have?"

The awkward mumbles dissipated as Chihiro's tone turned wistful and she continued to ramble.

"I seriously mean it guys." Chihiro hung her head a little bit, almost as if she was reflecting on something not quite as happy as her disposition, but giggled and clutched the fabric of her pants soon after. "I know we've really only known each other for like, a day, but something in me kinda feels like we were just fated to be friends! Like a written in the stars kinda deal, y'know?"

Chihiro then felt her cheeks flush and made an awkward cough.

"That probably sounds weird, I know, but thanks for being my friends, even if we've only really known each other for like. A day."

"Of course, Chihiro! You're our portal master, after all!" Whirlwind smiled to herself.

Chihiro's eyes sparkled for moments, before she gained a sappy expression as tears of happiness welled and fell down her face, like she was so overwhelmed with liquid joy that her whole body couldn't contain it anymore! Then with a wide smile, Chihiro wiped the tears from her eyes and focused back on the TV.

There, Spyro looked over the face of a grassy cliff with his focus on a large twister about five times the size of the ones they had faced before. Flanked all around it was much smaller twisters, each of which seemed to act as something of a guard to the largest one.

"This looks like it's gonna be good!" Chihiro's eyes sparkled. "I'd better get snacks!"

Then without a word, she dashed off to the kitchen in a frantic yet joyful haste.

Meanwhile, the other Skylanders watched the scene as it unfolded before them, all hearts stopped and breaths bated in anticipation. It was all so slow, like the climatic scene of an intense action movie—Spyro flexed out his wings and watched the tornado with cold eyes, his movement slowed to a few footsteps. Then, he raced forward, jumped down and dashed straight into the heart of the tornado!

"WHAT!?" shouted a chorus of Skylanders.

Chihiro dashed back into the living room immediately, a half-eaten stick of taffy in her mouth and a bowl of popcorn in her arms.

"What'd I miss?" Chihiro asked over the sound of the Skylanders' confused jabbering.

"He—just—I—HE RAN STRAIGHT INTO THE TORNADO!" shouted one voice.

Chihiro looked up and saw Spyro, who was struggling to fight against the howling winds in a blue stone room. She dropped the bowl of popcorn she held in awe, before she realized her mistake and looked down at her feet with a scrunched expression and a frown.

"Well, that was a waste of perfectly good popcorn." Chihiro cleared her throat. "Anyway,"—Chihiro's eyes widened as she grabbed her hair and pointed at the TV—"WHAT THE HECK'S HE DOING?! HE'LL GET HIMSELF KILLED!"

"Now I doubt that," said another voice from the back, a raspy, feminine one Chihiro identified as Cynder's. "In all the time I've known Spyro, if there's one thing I've learned…"

Spyro's eyes turned completely aqua blue as he charged forward and crashed through an invisible barrier in the very center of the room.

"… Is that he always has a plan."

Cheers and hollers were heard all around as Spyro investigated the center of the room, where a shimmering sky blue orb hovered about.

"Gotcha!" Spyro exclaimed.

He then clasped the orb in his front paws and dug his claws into its soft exterior. With a sharp crack, the sphere split open and its color faded while the winds around him dissipated into nothingness. Then, with a bright blue glow, the room disappeared! Spyro found himself back at the island, but the large tornado had disappeared along with the smaller ones around it and left behind crystal clear, peaceful skies.

"Is it safe to come out now?" asked a young-sounding voice.

Spyro swerved his head around to see where it was coming from. His eyes focused on a reddish-orange stone platform with a large stone wall, where a tiny, colorful propeller hat peeked just above said wall.

"The tornado's gone now, you can stop hiding!" Spyro shouted with a paw cupped around his mouth.

A tiny mabu boy who wore faded blue overalls timidly walked out and examined the area, before his eyes widened with glee. "He's right! Mom, Dad, you can come out now!"

Then, a mabu man dressed in fancy frilled shirts and pants and a royal purple cape stepped out alongside a mabu woman wearing a purple and white frilly gown. Chuckles of joy and relief escaped them as they noticed that the skies were clear once more and the sun happily beat down on their heads again.

The mabu man raced towards Spyro and vigorously shook his paw, a relieved grin on his face. "Oh thank you, thank you, kind dragon! We thought we'd be goners!" exclaimed the mabu man.

"No problem, your highness, it's all in a day's work for me," Spyro said as he awkwardly smiled and took his paw back, then watched the king withdraw his own hand. "Do you have any idea how these tornadoes showed up? Because they definitely aren't natural ones."

"Kaos came and approached us about aligning with his empire, and when we refused to ally ourselves with him, he brought out this strange, glowing object and created a bunch of tornadoes, ones much bigger than what we've ever see!"

Spyro's eyes widened before he furrowed his brow. "Can you describe the object in question?"

"It was shaped like either a very round oval or a very tall circle, was about yey big." The mabu king made as many hand gestures as he could. "It was a bright blue in color, and it had a bunch of winds circling around it! And it had to be a very powerful object as well—I could feel the power of the Air Element resonating from it!"

Spyro's facial expression turned grim. "That's gotta be it! And if Kaos has it…" Spyro whispered at a volume so low only he could hear.

"Anyway, aside from that," said the mabu king as he watched Spyro jolt back up to face him. "Is there anything I can do to reward you? I feel bad leaving you empty-handed after all you've done for us."

"Tell you what." A confident smile crossed Spyro's face for the first time since he arrived. "If you want to do anything for us," Spyro then turned around and noticed three awfully familiar figures out the corner of his eye before his vision returned to the king. "Spread the word—the Skylanders are back in business!"

Those three figures then came into view as Flynn, Hugo, and Gill Grunt joined Spyro.

"Please excuse me, I have other business to attend to." Spyro faced Gill Grunt. "So, what are the details?"

"The evacuation has been successful," Hugo said before Gill Grunt could. "Everyone has been evacuated and is being taken to shelter right as we speak."

"Good," Spyro said as he took to the skies. "Now, we need to get back home. I have a few things that need to be discussed… Privately, if you get what I mean."

"Understood, Spyro!" Flynn shouted. "Thanks to some of those rescue guys, my balloon's in tip-top shape, so it'll just be clear skies and smooth flying from now on!"

"Now I highly doubt that," Hugo whispered under his breath.

"Anywho, back to Ancient's Peak we go!" Flynn shouted, "Or what's left of it anyway."

"What was that?" Spyro asked.

However, Spyro never got his reply, as everybody just went back to Flynn's balloon and set course for home…