With a boom so loud it could probably be heard across the entire island, a bright burst of light erupted all around the ragged battlefield it had manifested on! That burst of light faded as quickly as it came and unveiled a round bubble-like shield, which in turn contained…

"Man, talk about a packed day," Chihiro remarked as she watched the bubble shield fade away, "first, I pass my portal master exam, and then we get a message from the Mabu Defense Force telling us they found the Eternal Tech Source!" Chihiro tossed a flat, round device to the skies and caught it in a flash. "Good thing they have that instant teleporter device thingie!"

"Too bad those trolls stopped them before they could get it," Trigger Happy sighed as he twitched his ears. "Man, it seems like they get themselves into a lot of pickles—" Trigger Happy's frown turned into a smile as he licked his lips. "—mmm, pickles…"

"I dunno Trig," Boomer replied as he crossed his arms, "I'd say this is more of a jam than a pickle!"

"They mean the same thing, you two," Drobot intruded as he pushed himself between Trigger Happy and Boomer.

Chihiro chuckled and rolled her eyes with a confident smile on her face, a confident smile that only grew wider as she pounded her fist against her hand.

"Whatever kind of food problem thingie it is, I'm sure we'll finish it off in no time!" Chihiro vowed to the heavens, only for her confident look to space out and away as her stomach growled. "Dangit, now I'm kinda hungry."

"Your confidence rate has increased greatly, Chihiro," Drobot remarked as he examined Chihiro, who was now rubbing her growling stomach.

As she heard Drobot's words, Chihiro beamed and pumped her fists to the skies, her hunger seemingly forgotten. "You bet, Drobot! I passed my exam with flying colors!" Chihiro crossed her arms and smirked. "If I passed that, I can take anything that comes my way!"

Drobot made a few mechanical tsks as he began scanning the area. "Still, be alert. The trolls could have anything up their sleeves! One wrong move and…"

"YOU'RE HERE! THANK THE ANCIENTS!" cried a strained voice from afar!

Before anyone knew it, something tackled them down to the ground in a sobbing hug and refused to let go! At least them being pinned down revealed the attacker's identity—a sobbing mabu man dressed in military clothes!

"Wait, what am I doing?" the mabu man asked, his voice still a bit strained from crying as he let go of Chihiro and the Skylanders. "I've gotta get you up to speed! But first…"

The mabu man quickly wiped his eyes and nose before jumped from Boomer to Trigger Happy to Drobot and shook their hands one-by-one! It was so impromptu and sudden, yet Boomer and Trigger Happy didn't seemed shocked at all—they just gave each other knowing smiles and glances.

"Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes, Skylanders!" The mabu man's eyes drifted towards Chihiro before he jumped over and shook her hand as well. "Oh, and you must be the portal master! It's an honor getting to meet you!"

"It's nothing," Chihiro winces as she reluctantly shook his hand and looked every which way, "Er…"

"Snuckles, private investigator of the Mabu Defense Force!"

"Alrighty, so—" Chihiro released her hand from Snuckles' shake and placed both hands on her hips "—what's the deets, Snuckles?"

Out of nowhere, the eagerness Snuckles once held faded just as fast as the color on his face! His teeth chattered as he winced and clasped his hands, but finally he made a small gulp and turned back to Chihiro and the Skylanders.

"Well, things started out alright enough!" Snuckles whimpered and gulped again. "We found the Eternal Tech Source in this stronghold, but when we arrived the whole place had turned into a warzone! All the trolls were fighting each other, and I haven't the foggiest idea why!"

All the while he spoke, Snuckles made the wildest hand gestures to accompany the story, from crawling fingers to grand arm gestures to shaking hands—wait, maybe the last one was just his nerves.

"The rest of the team and I tried to sneak out the Eternal Tech Source from under their noses, but then we got caught in one of those trolls' fights! I just barely got out of there with my life." Snuckles winced as he looked down towards the path ahead. "But, I haven't been able to get in touch with the rest of the Defense Force since! I even tried messaging them on my communicator, but they won't pick up at all!"

"So, you called us because your buddies weren't answering your messages?" Chihiro asked as she shot a tiny glare towards Snuckles and leaned back.

"It is more than that, Chihiro," Drobot corrected as he shook his head, "for all we know, those trolls could have taken Snuckles' teammates as prisoners of war, or worse!" Drobot looked down as beeping and whirring noises echoed from his helmet, and strings of processed data were barely seen from the eye slots on his helmet. "With both them and the Eternal Tech Source at stake, we can't take any kind of risks."

"I guess you're right, Dro." Chihiro sighed, then heaved herself up and marched along, "Then, why are we standing around here and talking? We've got stuff to find!"

And before anybody could retort or follow, Chihiro dashed off like a rocket down the wartorn, rocky paths!

"Chihiro, look out!" everybody else shouted, though their voices were but a faint notion in the wind. "Ahead of you!"

"Wait, did they tell me to look out? Why?" Chihiro asked as she poked her head back and turned around. "EEK!"

Chihiro skidded to a stop right before she could slam into the sharp, thorny entanglements of a barbed wire fence! As she leaned back just before the barbs could cut her and caught her breath, Chihiro wiped the sweat from her brow. "Phew, close one." Chihiro smiled as she set her hand alight with magic fire. "I'll take care of this—"

Chihiro froze as the sound of sizzling wicker hissed across the way, yelped, and leaped back as a bomb landed behind the barbed wire fence and blew it to bits! She took cover under the safety of a magical shield as smoke flew to the heavens and barbed wire bits rained down, yet lifted her head and looked back to see Boomer wave and give her a thumbs up.

"Or Boomer could!" Chihiro made a few strained chuckles as cold sweat dripped down her brow.

Once the others joined her, they all passed by the broken-down wire fence and onto… A battlefield? Well, what looked like the remains of a battlefield, anyways. The cold, hard brown stone that made up the entire area was stained with black singe marks, dirt-filled trenches and large craters, or occasionally painted red with dried blood stains. Scraps of clothing hung from sharp peaks or littered the floors, and the faint smell of gunpowder and smoke rang in the air. But, oddly enough, there was nobody here!

"This should be the place where we got separated," Snuckles explained as he took a step forward and reluctantly grabbed a cloth scrap from a smaller crater beside him. "We hadn't gotten far before we were caught up in that troll warzone."

And yet, even with the carnage and signature markings of a battle, it was so solemn and quiet, more like a historical site than the setting of a recent battle. It was unnerving, almost, and everyone seemed to notice this as they scanned the premise before them. With how quiet it was, it was like something was going to jump out and ambush them! But aside from the low, unsettling rumble of the ground beneath them, and the occasional leap of a few clumps of dirt and stone from the ground, nothing happened! Everything seemed surprisingly peaceful and stagnant given the warlike sights…

"Y'know, for a warzone this place sure doesn't have a lot of warring!" Trigger Happy remarked as he hopped to and fro around the area. "I think we're the only ones here!"

Drobot frowned as he scanned the dirt beneath them, next the rocks and walls. Though he was as stoic as ever, the slight twitch of a frown on his face could tell anyone that something bothered him. He tapped a few buttons on his helmet, tuned a dial or two, and cranked his head to the skies.

"Something is coming!" Drobot proclaimed as loud as he could.

Everybody froze in their tracks as they looked to the horizons, all while the rumbling beneath their feet grew more prominent and earthquake-esque! Over those horizons, a gigantic cloud of dust blocked the skies and drowned out any other sounds with the sounds of clashing weapons and bitter insults… Almost like…

"I'd take that back if I were you, Trig!" Chihiro exclaimed as she ducked behind the cover of a large rock covered in red stains, widened her eyes and dove further behind her hiding rock. "DUCK!"

Drobot, Boomer, Trigger Happy, and Snuckles all joined Chihiro behind her hiding rock as a gigantic torpedo smashed into the area they once stood and created a huge explosion! Drobot and Chihiro lifted up shields to protect them from the aftermath just in the nick of time, but unfortunately, something told them both that it wouldn't be enough to protect them from who had just arrived!

The once peaceful battlefield flooded with trolls all decked to the nines in military armor and run-down weaponry, all of whom fired their arms and shouted obscenities! With all the dust they kicked up, blood they spilled, and explosions they caused, the once-peaceful battlefield had dissolved into chaos!

"TAKE THAT, OIL LIPS!" shouted one troll from within the trenches as they shot off a round of silver bullets straight at a green-skinned troll!

However, the bullets simply bounced off the green-skinned troll's armored back! At most, all it did was annoy the green-skinned troll, who snarled and cocked their sniper rifle before they shot back at the trench troll!

"HOW ABOUT THAT, POWDER BRAIN?"

The trench troll gulped, ducked into the trenches and dodged the bullets that the green-skinned troll shot at them. Instead, those bullets slammed straight into the rock Chihiro, Snuckles, Drobot, Boomer and Trigger Happy hid behind! All five of them screamed as the resulting explosion tossed them all into the walls below and slunk down, but they had little time to come to their senses.

Right after they shook their heads and started to recover, a swarm of trolls caught up in one big tornado of violence and dynamite stormed past them and kicked up smoke and gunpowder clouds so intense that it completely veiled everybody and everything else from view! The only indicator that they were still together were their frantic screams and coughs, and even those were choked out by the sounds of explosions and obscenities.

"Stick together, guys!" Chihiro shouted as she grappled and stumbled about in some attempt to grab hold of the others. "This place is even worse than a packed stadium! And I've been in my fair share of…"

Chihiro screamed and jumped away as a missile exploded not that far from where she formerly stood, and coated the arena in dust clouds in the process! With all this thick dust everywhere, she could barely make out her left from her right! All she could do was cast up a light sphere and try to navigate her way out, but she screamed as someone yanked her arm and pulled her into the depths of the smoke!

"Hey, lemme go! Let me go, you—"

Chihiro screamed as she tried to pull her way out of the stranger's grasp! However, that stranger's grasp was so tight, she just couldn't shake them! Finally, she yanked the surprisingly light stranger off the ground and froze.

"Trigger Happy?"

Sure enough, it was actually a wide-eyed and shaky Trigger Happy who hung from Chihiro's arm!

"Phew, it's only you!" Chihiro and Trigger Happy said in unison as they both breathed sighs of relief. They sighed and sat down as they let go of each other, and…

"RETREAT!" shouted a shrill voice from outside the fading smoke.

The ground rattled as even more dust clouds kicked up from the ground and melted in with the smoke!

Chihiro and Trigger Happy both shuddered and turned to each other. "Wait, what's that?"

Chihiro and Trigger Happy turned around, and screamed as something—or rather, someTHINGS—crashed into them and lifted them high above the ground! Before they even knew it, a stampede of orange-skinned trolls captured them seemingly without even noticing and started to carry them off to who knows where!

"Hey, let us go!" Chihiro demanded as she tried to push and squirm her way out of the rabid troll crowd, but it was no use; they were too tightly packed in to escape!

"Yeah, put us down!" Trigger Happy demanded as he pounded his furry fists against the bald scalp of another troll, though it did little to actually free him.

Meanwhile, within another section of the smoke cloud, Boomer and Drobot hacked and coughed as they trudged their way through the enigma of a maze the smoke had created around them. Boomer's eyes grew red and teary from the smoke's exposure, and the constant tickle of smoke made him sneeze with every step.

"Drobot, don't you have—AH-CHOO—something in your fancy suit—CHOO—that can clear away all this smoke?" Boomer hacked as he shot a look towards Drobot, who in turn messed with the dials on his suit.

"I am attempting to search for it, Boomer!" Drobot shot back as he flicked through holographic projections of the various features his suit had to offer. "If you could just wait a second—"

"TROLLVER! THERE YOU ARE!"

Before either of them noticed, a hand reached out from the smoke and yanked Boomer away from Drobot's side! Even as Boomer was taken further away, Drobot was still ignorant to Boomer's kidnapping as he continued to toy with the dials on his suit.

"Let us see, I think this is the smoke filtration system," Drobot muttered under his breath as he cranked the dial. "Now, if I raise the system's strength, it should—" Drobot winced and fell to his belly, groaned and grappled for his dials. "—no, that was the listening mechanism…"

"Quick, we've gotta get going!" the mystery voice ordered as they dragged Boomer further away. "Gramps issued a retreat!"

"Hey, my name's not Trollver!" Boomer retorted as he futilely tried to struggle against the mystery person's tight grip. "It's—"

"Boomer!" Drobot gasped as he jumped to his paws, and pressed a few buttons on the side of his helmet. "Engage rapid hover mode!"

Drobot folded in his legs, and in moments, the thrusters on his side activated and sent him charging after Boomer's voice at full throttle!

As they all vacated the premises, the smoke cleared to reveal that the battlefield was once again vacated, but with even more wreckage the before! The trenches became holes to the underground, gigantic chunks of stone fell from the walls around, and fresh blood stains intermingled with the older gunpowder and blood stains from before. It would have been a tragic site to see, the remains of a recent battle completely vacated by all…

Except not all vacated the premises!

"Phew, that was a close one!" Snuckles sighed as he crept out from the trench he hid in and wiped the sweat from his head. "I thought I wouldn't make it out of there!" Snuckles froze and looked around the now-vacant battlefield. "Skylanders? Portal Master? Where'd you go?"

Snuckles winced, crawled out of the trench and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hello? Hello?" Snuckles shouted as he trailed across the battlefield. "Where is everyone?"

Snuckles continued to call and call and call some more, but it was no use. Everybody once again abandoned the battlefield, and all that was left were him and his thoughts. So, he just winced as he looked over the now even-more wrecked battlefield.

"Of all the rotten luck." Snuckles groaned as he hung his head, blinked and turned around as a troll-shaped shadow cast over him.

"Who are you?"

§

Boomer groaned as he held his dizzy, dizzy, oh so dizzy head. He hadn't been this dazed and confused since the time he accidentally used gunpowder as toothpaste! What could have happened before to make him like this? Boomer shook his head (and for a moment felt his brains rattle in his ears), and looked up to find that he was in some kind of underground cavern with rocky tunnels barely lit by warm torchlight. Okay, he may not have remembered what he did last, but he definitely remembered that he wasn't in this place before! He had a gut feeling that his last location was more… Open than this cramped little space.

"Trollver, you finally came to!" called a scratchy voice from up ahead. "Just in time too, the meeting's about to start!"

Meeting? What meeting? He didn't agree to a meeting! And for that matter, why were they calling him Trollver when his name was Boomer?

"What's going on here? Why'd you bring me to this place, anyways? And why do you keep calling me that?"

Boomer looked around at his surroundings, and found himself completely surrounding by trolls whose skin was colored in varying shades of green and coated in fancy blue facepaint. They all ranged from spry young adults to elderly folks and even a few older teenagers, he thought, but he recognized not a soul in this cavern! Judging by the way they looked at him, it seemed as if they were just as confused as he was!

"What are you talking about? Did you hit your head on a rock or something?" asked another troll as they walked up and knocked on Boomer's head. "You're Trollver Trollfield, one of the renowned Trollfields!"

Wait, now Boomer remembered what happened! He was on that battlefield, and then, those trolls and that explosion and all that smoke… It finally came back to him! So they really did think he was someone else! Boomer frowned, but his ears twitched as they always did when brilliant ideas formed in his head. If they really did believe he was someone else, and if he played along, he could grab whatever information they were holding in those heads of theirs! This could be a good opportunity to find out where the Mabu Defense Force were, assuming these trolls had taken them. Thinking even bigger, maybe he could even find out where the Eternal Tech Source was! Yes, that was brilliant! It was even better when he decided to make a homemade mega bomb out of four stacks of dynamite taped together!

"Oh yeah, you're right!" Boomer chuckled and gently rapped his fist against his head. "I must've hit myself on the old noggin without even noticing!"

Boomer chuckled a few more times, frowned and twitched his ears once more. Yet, this wasn't from having another great epiphany. Actually, it kind of sounded like someone was coming in closer!

"Boomer!" cried a mechanical voice from down the hall. "I have located you at last!"

Boomer practically jumped out of his skin and turned around, only to jump again as a bright flare burned straight past him!

"I cannot infer as to what you are doing with Boomer." Drobot flared out his wings and charged up his bladegears. "However, it will cease this instant!"

The trolls blinked for a few moments, screamed and held each other as the bladegears rocketed above them and disappeared into the distance!

Before Drobot could fire off another round, however, Boomer slapped a big metal hand over Drobot's mouth and pulled him aside. "Oh, looks like you still need some tweaking, Drobot!" Boomer yelled in his most blatant not-up-to-anything-suspicious-I-swear voice, spun around and pulled Drobot aside.

"Wait, this in one of your inventions, Trollver?" asked a troll within the council of Trollfields that stood on an elevated stone platform.

"You bet'cha!" Boomer rapidly nodded.

"Boomer," Drobot said as he pulled his muzzle out of Boomer's hand, "what exactly are you—"

Boomer promptly slammed his hand back over Drobot's mouth and pulled Drobot to a corner where they couldn't be heard.

"Listen Drobot, we've got a big chance here! These trolls think I'm one of their guys!" Boomer whispered at a volume that was hopefully low enough to keep him from being heard. "If we play along with them, we might be able to find out where Snuckles' teammates went!" Boomer flicked his ears. "Heck, we could even find out where the Eternal Tech Source is!"

As Drobot stopped struggling, Boomer withdrew his hand and forced an awkward grin. "So just keep up the act, alright? I don't think this'll take very long!"

Drobot stood and hummed in contemplation, yet reluctantly whirred his gears.

"I will perform this role," Drobot said with a hint of exhaustion in his robotic voice, "but…"

"Good!" Boomer clapped his hands together and cast a glance back at the trolls. "Cause the others sure seem excited to see you!"

A bunch of trolls flooded out from the assembly almost like it was on cue, and piled all over Drobot! They stroked his wings, toyed with the dials on his helmet, and fawned over the details in his armor like he was the most impressive thing they had even seen in their lives!

"Did you really make this, Trollver?" asked one troll as he pressed the buttons on Drobot's helmet. "If so, it's the best thing you've ever made! Look at all these buttons!"

"Er, please do not touch those…"

Drobot winced as his eyes glowed in a kaleidoscope of colors, turned into gigantic disco balls, and projected images of fancy machines and other things. He had all the discomfort of a guy in a cheap amusement park mascot suit that was dogpiled by a bunch of sugar-high kids, and it honestly made Boomer feel a little bad about doing this to him. Hopefully getting the Eternal Tech Source back would make it worth it.

"You all can play with Trollver's new toy later!" exclaimed a gray-bearded troll with a grizzled voice as he tapped a mechanical cane on a nearby rock. "Now that everyone's here, we need to start the meeting!"

The other trolls in the area immediately unglued themselves from Drobot so they could crowd around the gray-bearded troll that was probably their leader. With so many of them around, it looked a bit like a barrel filled with peas, or green beans, or other green veggies of a similar manner, which gave Boomer a good chuckle. However, he didn't get to sit and laugh long, as the looks from the other trolls indicated that he needed to join as well! So, Boomer coughed into his hand and made his way into the crowds.

"'Scuse me, pardon, coming through," Boomer whispered as he shuffled through trolls.

He sat down between a man with scarred ears and graying hairs and a skinny troll whose shaking hands fiddled with some weird watch-looking contraption, and looked back up at the head troll. The once cheery and active air around had turned grim and kinda solemn, but Boomer didn't notice all that much as he shook his feet left and right.

"As you all know," The head troll began as he paced back and forth, "our ongoing situation with the Trollcoys has been getting worse and worse."

Soft, somber chatter bubbled up from the room as some trolls broke into tears and talked about their losses. A few erupted into wails as they flung themselves into the arms of those around, others more subdued as they pulled out worm rags stained with both oil and tears to wipe away their sorrows.

"It's no understatement to say we've lost many of our brethren to those dastardly Trollcoys' hands." The head troll smiled and smacked his cane on the ground, which turned all eyes to him once more. "But I assure you, their sacrifices will not be in vain! Why, you ask?"

"Why?" piped up a tiny voice from the back row.

"Well—" A twinkle shimmered in the troll's eye as a large cloth rolled down from the ceiling "—I have conceived a master plan to take back our Eternal Tech Source! This war will be over soon!"

With the way these trolls celebrated, you'd have thought they won the lottery or something! They all bounced around, threw their hands in the air, and spun each other around like today was the greatest day in their lives, and for once, the somber air had cleared completely!

"But, the Eternal Tech Source is not yours," Drobot corrected as he flew up behind Boomer and pointed a claw. "It belongs in the Core of Light, correct?"

"Core of Light?" The head troll tilted his head, his mouth gaped wide open. "Trollver, what's the new toy of yours talking 'bout?"

"OH, UH…" Boomer jumped to his feet and chuckled. "Well, it must still be a little broken! These things always need their fine-tuning and all…"

Boomer gently smacked Drobot on the head to illustrate, but judging by the shout of pain Drobot made and the irritated look Boomer got as Drobot rubbed his helmet, it seemed that Boomer had underestimated his own strength. Whoops!

"Stick to the plan!" Boomer hissed as he cast an aside glance at Drobot and held up a metal hand to mask their conversation. "We can't have these guys figuring out we're Skylanders!"

Drobot groaned as he continued to rub his head. "I really do not like this plan…"

The head troll shot Boomer and Drobot another weird look, yet shrugged and cleared his throat.

"Ahem, so, here's our plan," the head troll explained as he tapped his staff against the cloth, which in turn lit up with a series of crude illustrations. "Our past battles have shown that directly going for the Eternal Tech Source hasn't done us any good…" With another tap of the head troll's staff, the illustration changed to a map! "So instead, we'll take a shortcut through No Man's Land!"

"NO MAN'S LAND?" exclaimed the rest of the Trollfields stuffed into the crowd.

Panicked whispers and hushed concerns rippled through the crowds as the trolls who once so eagerly listened to their leader now turned away with eyes full of doubt.

"No Man's Land? What's Gramps thinking?"

"We'll never make it out alive!"

"I think I'd take fighting those stupid Trollcoys over that!"

Boomer tilted his head, and elbowed the also-shocked troll man beside him. "Say, what's the big deal with this No Man's Land place, anyways?" Boomer asked as the troll man turned towards him.

"You have to be kidding me! You don't know?" the troll man exclaimed before he shook his head. "No Man's Land was a key battle site during the Troll War of the Ages! The whole land's rigged with lots of old traps that never got activated during the battle! One wrong move and you're toast!"

Boomer gulped. Yeah, that definitely sounded a bit concerning…

"Everyone, everyone!" Gramps called as he clapped his hands. "Settle down! I understand your concerns, but you've got it all wrong! No Man's Land isn't as dangerous as we thought!"

"HUH?"

All the voices fell silent at last as the head troll paced once more.

"As it turned out…" Gramps stroked the top of his staff and smiled back at the crowds. "The equipment there is so old, only the most intense pressure would activate it!" Gramps cleared his throat. "As long as we're careful, we'll be completely fine!"

A collective sigh of relief swept over the trolls as Gramps tapped his staff against the ground once more.

"Any questions?"

"Yeah, I've got one!" proclaimed the anxious-looking troll to Boomer's right before they cleared their throat, "Pardon my doubts, but, wouldn't the Trollcoys get suspicious if they saw us all headed there? I mean, so many trolls headed towards one place…"

"Of course I thought of that, Sonny, my boy!"

Gramps tapped the cloth behind him, and a number of crudely-drawn yet somewhat unique troll faces appeared on the cloth. "We're only sending a small team out to retrieve the Source. Everybody else will keep an eye on the Trollcoys to keep them off their trail!" Gramps tapped the cloth and it rollws back into the ceiling. "Now that that's been taken care of, let's get our team in order!"

Gramps pointed his staff into the crowds, "Trollcey, Trollance, Boomette, Boomont, Dyna… Make us proud!"

The named-off trolls shuffled their way out of the crowd and joined Gramps at his side.

"Our spy teams will be stationed at several different points in the battlefield, starting at the Bird's Nest! Now…"

As further names got rattled off and more trolls left the crowds, Boomer winced. He needed to act fast!

"Hey, hey, hey!" Boomer exclaimed as he jumped up and down and flailed his arms. "I want to look for the Eternal Tech Source, too! Pick me!"

A spring-green skinned troll from the front scoffed and crossed their arms.

"Trollver, we asked you before the conference and you said you didn't want to go!" the troll exclaimed, their voice as scratchy as the scratches on their face. "There's no time for last-minute changes!"

Boomer clenched his teeth and froze. Trying to impersonate other trolls definitely had a lot more downsides that he initially thought.

"Well, er—" Boomer grabbed Drobot by one of his front legs and pushed Drobot towards the crowds "—that's because my new invention wasn't complete yet! I was stalling because I wanted to have it finished in time! After all, with all its bells and whistles, I'm sure it could help with something…"

Boomer made a couple more giggles, and his bald scalp drenched in sweat. In fact, he was so anxious he only partly noticed the very angry glare Drobot continued to shoot him!

"Boomer, with all due respect, I am not your invention!" Drobot hissed. "I am a dragon of my own—"

Drobot cut off as Boomer wrapped an arm around his back.

"See, it even has a sense of humor!" Boomer grinned and waved back at the trolls, but all he got in return was a couple of coughs.

"Well, if you insist, Trollver," the head troll said with a grimace, "you can go."

Everybody around him winced, but Boomer was oblivious to their concerned look as he dragged Drobot through the tightly-packed crowds and joined the spy team at their side. Gramps went back to rattling off who would do what while the crowds became noticeably less crowded, but Boomer didn't pay much mind to that or this; he just turned back to Drobot and leaned closer to Drobot's ear… Hole… Thingie…

"Hang in there, Drobot, this'll only last a little longer!" Boomer whispered with a wink and a thumbs up. "Once we find the MDF and get the Eternal Tech Source, we're outta here!"

"And clear!" Gramps shouted as he slammed the base of his cane against the stone platform and created a resonant echo. "Everybody, to your positions!"

"AYE-AYE, GRAMPS!" shouted all the trolls in unison.

One by one the assembled teams started to dispel through the stone passageways, with Boomer's spy team being the first to go! Boomer marched and hummed a jaunty tune as he and Drobot lead the charge, but Drobot seemed hardly as optimistic as he groaned and hung his head.

"I cannot believe I am saying this," Drobot hissed at a volume that he thought seemingly nobody could hear (which was wrong, because Boomer could—trolls had surprisingly keen ears), "but please let Boomer be right about this!"