Chihiro groaned as she leaned against the wall of the stone cavern she took sanctuary within. Thankfully their abduction ended swiftly, as the troll stampede that captured them accidentally bumped them off a few turns ago, so all that was left was to wander through their new location and hopefully find a way out.

"Man, Trig," Chihiro panted as she held a hand against her heart, "for a minute, I thought we weren't gonna make it out of there alive!"

"Me neither!" Trigger Happy whined as he patted down stray flyaway furs. "That was even worse than the time I got caught up in a stampeding herd of rhino clowns! Funny story, I should tell you sometime…"

As Trigger Happy trailed off and frowned, Chihiro stared and frowned with him.

"What's wrong, Trig?" Chihiro tilted her head.

"Say—" Trigger Happy looked up and down and all around "—I probably should have asked this first, but where are we?"

Chihiro frowned and looked around as well. Now that he mentioned it, she wasn't entirely sure where they landed, either! Everything around was identical stone walls and torches for what seemed like eternity, something a bit more primitive than the battlefields they were on prior. Just where were they?

Trigger Happy seemed equally confused as he analyzed the surroundings, but his ears twitched and he bounced up and down! Had he found something?

"Hey, hey, listen!" Trigger Happy whispered as he pointed down the path ahead. "I hear voices!"

Now that Trigger Happy mentioned it, Chihiro did too! As she crept down the halls, she could've sworn she heard a couple different people ranting into oblivion about a troll… Something or other. They were too far away for her to easily discern what they were talking about. So, she tip-toed down the halls, her side pressed against the stone as she practically slid down. All those years sneaking out of her bedroom at night to eat all the snacks when everybody slept were finally starting to prove useful!

"Those darn Trollfields! They sure are a crick in the neck!"

Chihiro's eyes widened. Finally, she could make out what they were saying, but at the same time, she was still completely clueless. Trollfields? What are those?

"They're even worse than that! I'm still shaking gunpowder out of my trousers because of them!"

"If it weren't for those stubborn pests, we'd have the Eternal Tech Source already!"

"I'll show those Trollfields one day, I'm telling you!"

"What the heck's a Trollfield, anyways?" Chihiro whispered as she gaze up to the ceiling… At least, she thought she whispered it. However, in reality she was so loud that her voice completely echoed around the halls! With a squeak, she slapped a hand over her mouth and ducked down. So much for keeping a low profile!

"Did you hear that?"

"Who was that?"

"Don't tell me they found us! Quick, to arms!"

Chihiro yelped as tall shadows imposed over the cavern walls and stampeding flooded her ears—crap, she was found out! She grabbed Trigger Happy close and squeezed his furry hand, fully ready to cast an invisibility spell, but before she could, something rocketed over her head and forced her to duck!

"There they are! Intruders!"

Chihiro winced as she looked up, and found herself surrounded by trolls with skin colored in varying shades of orange and decked in red facepaint. Their faces twitched into scowls and concerned whispers as the armed ones pointed their weapons towards Chihiro and Trigger Happy, but their expressions turned to confusion as they rescinded.

"You aren't Trollfields!" exclaimed the head troll, one with tangerine colored skin and a hammer in hand. "Who are you?"

"Don't tell me it's Kaos's goons," groaned another troll, the way they spoke Kaos's name akin to ashes in their mouth. "Just when we finally got away from them…"

"KAOS?" Chihiro spat as she shook her head. "We're, we're not with that dude!"

"No way!" Trigger Happy chimed in as he stuck out his tongue. "He stinks! In both senses of the word!"

"Then who are you people?" asked one troll as they tilted their head.

Chihiro froze up and looked around. Now she really was out of the toaster and into the oven, or however that one saying went. Her mind was too fried to attack, and what little brainpower she had was completely poured into thinking of something, anything these guys would believe!

"Well, er, my name's Hitomi, and my buddy here is Golden Cheat!" Chihiro spat out as she gently nudged Trigger Happy's arm. "See, we were taking a walk around the place, like people do, but I wasn't paying attention any—"

"Oh, nevermind your story!" proclaimed the tangerine-skinned troll as they pulled Chihiro to her feet. "Time's a'ticking and we need some new forces anyways since Trollamor decided to go AWOL!"

As Trigger Happy jumped to his feet in tandem with Chihiro, the tangerine troll ushered to a few of the other trolls, and watched as they disappeared down the halls.

"For now, consider yourselves honorary new members of the Trollcoy family!"

And just like that, those trolls the tangerine troll shooed away returned with boxes full of… Something; Chihiro couldn't tell even with the light the torches provided. Wait, now that they drew closer it looked like, weapons? Yeah, weapons and all sorts of military gear, like those weird helmets that reminded her of beetle shells, and chest plates, and all that fancy stuff!

"Wait, hold on!" Chihiro cried as a couple of trolls shoved a laser rifle into her hands and slapped an army helmet onto her head, only for her to toss both aside. "What's all this about? What are you guys even doing anyways?"

"We're finally taking the Eternal Tech Source, back!" The tangerine troll pumped a fist to the skies. "And with me, the great Tangerine at the helm, it'll be as easy as wiring a bomb!"

Huh, so their name was Tangerine after all. Not really the kind of name you'd expect a troll to have, but Chihiro wasn't in the mood to judge. After all, she was more concerned about why they needed the Eternal Tech Source, or more importantly, how to keep it out of their hands!

"And we've gotta move out fast! Those Trollfields—" Tangerine paused to shudder and cleared their throat "—are getting more and more proactive. If we keep lollygagging around, they'll steal the Eternal Tech Source from right under our noses!"

Tangerine grunted, dug through their pockets and yanked out a worn paper map. With the map held tight, they wandered over to the nearby torch and spread out the map underneath the torch's light for all to see.

"This map has the quickest route to the Eternal Tech Source!" Tangerine proclaimed as everyone huddled around them to examine the map. "With our team of highly-trained specialists on the case, it'll be ours in no time!"

"Wait, team?" Chihiro repeated as she ducked under the torch and leaned further in. "Are we not going?"

"Of course not, you're new recruits!" Tangerine rolled the map back up and turned to Chihiro. "You're going to keep an eye out for the Trollfields and make sure they don't try anything!"

Crap! They can't keep those weird troll guys from getting the Eternal Tech Source when they're on guard duty, of all things! She had to think of something to let them in—disguises, random sentimental babble, a secret weapon? Chihiro gritted her teeth and winced as Tangerine glared into her soul, and her own eyes widened! That's right, she was a portal master with fancy magic powers, and Trigger Happy was a Skylander! She had the perfect response! Chihiro fell to her knees, bowed the best she could, and slammed her palms against the stone with little mind paid to how the hard stone stung against her hands.

"Please, let us go get the Eternal Tech Source with you guys!"

"We can be useful, I swear!" Trigger Happy added as he mimicked Chihiro's bow.

"And how, exactly?" Tangerine asked as they nudged a foot against Chihiro's hands, as if they prompted a response from Chihiro.

"Well…" Chihiro jumped to her feet and snapped her fingers. "It'll be better if I just show you!"

In a moment's time, a series of magic spheres circled around her, leaped into the torches beside them and dyed their flames a shade of bright blue! The flames flew back to Chihiro and nestled themselves in her hands, but it hardly burned or hurt in any form. Rather, it just tingled, like when she used up a ton of magic energy! Chihiro snapped her fingers again, and the collective fireball soared across the halls and disappeared.

"That's it?" Tangerine asked as they turned to Chihiro and twitched their ears.

Chihiro, however, just shook her head. "You might wanna stand back for this one!" Chihiro proclaimed as she signaled towards Trigger Happy!

A mighty bear's cry bellowed through the halls with such intense strength that the floor quaked and dirt fell from the ceilings! The trolls gasped and flattened themselves against the walls, but Chihiro and Trigger Happy were hardly concerned! Instead, Chihiro crafted a longsword out of magic, while Trigger Happy whipped out his pistols and squeezed his eyes short.

All around, the sounds of rumbling and the crackle of falling dirt only added to the tension created by the lack of light, yet soon, a soft, blue glow and low growling poked out from around the corner—but not for long! Before anyone knew it, a gigantic horned owl made of blue magical fire whipped around the corner and stormed down with its jaw wide and ready to attack!

Trigger Happy's eyes and golden coin bullets both shot out with a pull of his guns' trigger, and he smiled as the bullets hit the magic horned owl right between the eyes and sent it off course!

The horned owl wailed and stumbled back, which gave Chihiro just enough time to bolt forward, teleport midway through and soar over the reeling horned owl’s head! She tightened her grip around her sword's handle as its weight grew much more cumbersome and heavy, and finally, she swung the sword forward and split the bear clean in half!

The horned owl made one last, distorted screech as it burst into embers, and with a nod from Chihiro, those embers formed back into flames and jumped back into their respective torches! Cyan light filled the room as the trolls around oohed and aahed, and finally, one broke into a round of applause! One was followed by two, eight, ten, and soon, all the trolls applauded Chihiro and Trigger Happy's little show! Even Tangerine seemed amazed as they made a wide-eyed nod of approval!

"Alright, then!" Tangerine smiled as they made a carefree shrug. "I guess you can tag along."

Yes, she got 'em! Chihiro and Trigger Happy turned to each other with equally-pleased grins, and hooted and high-fived each other as the trolls dispersed around them.

"This'll be perfect!" Chihiro whispered as she knelt down to Trigger Happy's height. "Now we can find those Mabu Defense guys and get the Eternal tech Source without those trolls bugging us!"

"Yeah yeah!" Trigger Happy whispered back with a rapid nod. "It'll be easy as pie!"

"Hurry up, rookies! We're leaving now!" Tangerine shouted from so far down the hall that their voice was barely an echo.

"Coming!" Trigger Happy and Chihiro shouted back.

They hustled up to the rear end of the ground, where a couple of grizzled old trolls were, singing? Yeah, they all sung some kind of strange song in what she guessed was the Trollish language with boisterous, bellowing voices! Their cheer shook the halls in a good way as the other trolls carried their tune, including one with an oddly squeaky voice beside her? Wait, no, that was just Trigger Happy. Chihiro just frowned and raised an eyebrow down at him while he continued to sing along.

"What?" Trigger Happy asked with a shrug. "It's catchy!"

§

The once tense atmosphere that surrounded the Trollfields' humble team vanished the moment they left the Trollfield certified secret hideout. The guide troll, a troll with dullish green skin who dressed in a hefty backpack, slightly cracked soda-bottle glasses, and blue camouflage—Boomont, Boomer thought his name was?—whipped out the map, and everything dissolved into jolly banter and joke-cracking.

"Say, did you hear the one about the bomb with the loose fuse?" asked a fern green-skinned troll with short, black hair who dressed in darker blue, more torn camouflage, the one Boomer believed was named Trollance, as he looked towards Boomer.

"Er, I don't think I have," Boomer replied as he scratched his sweat-covered scalp. Okay, that was a lie, he had heard this one before—but that would ruin the punchline!

"I wouldn't blame you." The troll shrugged as their face bore the cheesiest grin they could muster. "It didn't really have a big enough BOOM to it!"

Before he knew it, everybody else around dissolved into snorting laughter and knee-slapping! The joke wasn't the funniest, but seeing everyone laugh and cheer made Boomer burst into infectious laughter as well. For a moment, he completely forgot he was on a mission! It felt just like a family reunion!

"Alright, alright, I've got a good one for you guys," Boomer chuckled as he wiped tears of glee from his eyes, "what did the dynamite stick say to the other dynamite stick?"

"I don't know," the other troll cackled as they tried and failed to mask their laughter with their hand, "what did they—"

"Trollance, shush!" hissed the troll who held the map as they elbowed Trollance, while their face buried in their map still, "I'm trying to read the map!"

Trollance just scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Come on, Boomont, quit being a dynamite stick in the mud. Can't we have a little fun?"

"Not when all that noise could attract the Trollcoys' attention!" Boomont pressed his nose into the face's paper as he tried to get some kind of better look. "Now let me read in peace!"

"I'm just trying to keep the mood light! We can't get the Eternal Tech Source if everybody's all doom and gloom!" Trollance grabbed Boomer by the arm and pushed him forward. "Trollver certainly thinks so! Right, Trollver?"

"Just because Trollver and I did everything together when we were knee-high to a matchstick doesn't mean I agree with him on everything! You'd know that well, Trollver!"

Boomer clenched his teeth as he eyes darted between Trollance and Boomont. Crap, he was never good when it came to family infighting; that was the entire reason he never went to his family reunions anymore! He was better at defusing machines than defusing family fueds, especially when he technically wasn't even a part of the family in question!

"Hey, Trollver!" Dyna, a troll with medium green skin and black hair tied into a short ponytail, called from the back. "Your new dragon robot machine's acting really funky, it keeps twitching and making weird noises!"

"Oh, I'd better check that out!" Boomer exclaimed as he wrangled himself out of Trollance's grasp and pushed through the crowds. "Excuse me, pardon, comin' through…" As Boomer pushed himself towards Drobot, he took a couple peeks over Drobot's suit, turned back to the other trolls and made the widest, most convincing grin he could. "Ah, nothing to see here, folks! Just some technical glitchy stuff, I'll take care of this right now!"

Trollance groaned again, but withdrew with a sigh and crossed his arms nonetheless. Seems their petty bickering was over for now—and more importantly, their cover was safe!

"Drobot, what's the issue, buddy?" Boomer whispered as he pushed Drobot away to a corner where nobody could hear them.

"I was trying to get your attention, if you had not noticed," Drobot whispered back, though his gaze was focused less on Boomer and more towards the trolls that now got ahead of them, "for I have calculated that now is the perfect time!"

"Perfect time for what?" Boomer flicked his ears as he tapped a dynamite stick against his bearded chin.

Drobot made a vaguely angry-sounding hissing noise, or maybe it was more a noise of frustration than anger; either way, he did not seem happy! "Finding out where the Mabu Defense Force is? Obtaining a way to retrieve the Eternal Tech Source from under these trolls' noses? Have you forgotten already?"

Boomer stuck his tongue out as he gently knocked on his head. "Oh, right, that! I just remembered!"

Drobot just sighed a sigh that, despite his impressive voice filter, sounded incredibly tired nonetheless. Was he getting worn out from their mission already? That wasn't really like him.

"Don't worry your shiny little head, Drobot!" Boomer turned tailed and ran back to the trolls. "I'll find those Mabu Defense guys in a jiffy! Just watch!"

Boomer cleared his throat, crept up to Trollance and tapped him on his shoulder. "Hey, hey, Trollance!" Boomer called, then smiled as Trollance turned around to face him. "I've been meanin' to ask, you wouldn't have seen any mabu around here, would ya?"

"Mabu?" Trollance repeated as he flicked his ears. "What kinda mabu are we talking?"

"Hmmm… Some ursidan-looking fellas, all dressed in military stuff and fancy hats and things?" Boomer tapped his foot and looked aside. "They, uh, I lost a bet against them! Yeah, that's why!"

"Can't say I have." Trollance shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the rest of the crew. "Hey, have you guys seen any mabu running around here?" Trollance pointed towards Boomer. "Trollver says he needs to follow up on a bet."

All the other trolls just huddled towards and whispered among each other, then shrugged as they turned back to Boomer and Trollance.

"Don't think so," Boomont said as he shook his head.

"All I've seen are trolls and rocks," said a troll with shamrock green skin and bright yellow eyes as they tapped their chin. "Hey, actually, I saw a rock that looked like a mabu on the way here, but I don't think—"

"Of course that's not what he's talking about, Trollcey!" Dyna shouted as they flicked the shamrock green troll's head.

"OWCH! Dyna, was that really necessary?"

"Trollver, don't tell me you were betting on cat races again!" said Boomette, a troll with spring green skin and blonde hair kept in ringlets that were surprisingly well-maintained given the conditions surrounding.

Boomer just heaved a sigh—darn, so much for that. Nonetheless, though, he had to keep up the act, so he smiled and lifted his head… And also made a mental note to ask the real Trollver, if he found that dude, anyways, what exactly were cat races anyways.

"Welp, thanks for trying!" Boomer chirped.

"Not that any of us would have noticed, anyways," Boomont interrupted with a wave of his free hand. "Ever since the day began, we've all been working our hardest to get the Eternal Tech Source!"

"Yeah!" chimed in Trollcey as they rubbed their head, which now bore a small sore spot, while Dyna glared them down. "I've been thinking so much about getting the Eternal Tech Source, I can't pay attention to anything else!"

"You better!" Dyna chided as she wagged a finger. "I didn't spend the whole day drawing up plans for this mission for nothing!"

Soon enough, they all devolved into chatter about the Eternal tech Source and what they were going to do with it. Wow, they really were dead set on getting the Eternal Tech Source! Boomer admired their dedication, but at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder why. After all, working for Kaos meant that they'd be pretty happy just guarding it, right? And yet, they were so desperate to have it only for themselves…

Boomer went to ask as they moved along, but before they could, everybody came to an abrupt stop.

"Watch out!" Boomont cried as everybody peered over his arms. "If my map is correct, this should be the minefield that leads into No Man's Land!"

"I thought Gramps said the stuff in No Man's Land wasn't working or somethin'?" Trollcey asked.

"That's just No Man's Land, unfortunately." Boomont winced as he looked down at the map, pocketed it and withdrew a mine detector in its place. "Everything around here is still alive and kicking! I may have a detector, but its range only goes so far, so we're gonna have to be careful—"

"Or perhaps, I may examine it for you?" Drobot suggested as he sifted through the crowds and popped out alongside Boomont.

Boomont just shrugged and warily handed the mine detector over to Drobot. "I guess."

Drobot hummed in a way that vaguely sounded like a machine's whir, turned the mine detector around in his front paws and popped the back off.

"Now, according to my calculations, if I tie this wire to that one," Drobot mumbled as he fiddled with the mine detector's inner machinery, "now couple these two, move the chip slightly to the right and…" Drobot hummed again as the machine made a few cheerful beeps, clipped the back onto the detector and handed it back to Boomont. "Your detector's range should encompass this entire field now!"

Boomont raised an eyebrow as he examined the mine detector, yanked his head back and beamed towards Boomer.

"The robot's right!" he proclaimed as he held the mine detector for all to see, almost like it was a trophy of some kind. "We've got the whole minefield layout at our fingertips!"

The trolls all cheered as they crowded around Boomont, and oohed and aahed as they examined the mine detector! Even Boomer himself shoved his way into the crowds just to get a peek! Sure enough, Boomont was right! Tons of flashing dots that Boomer presumed were mines showed up in an impressive replica of a minefield map, and with a few button presses on Boomont's end, the screen jumped across the entire map in moments! To think Drobot got that out of such an old mine detector.

"You know," Boomont remarked to Boomer with a wink and a nudge, "for a bucket of bolts, that robot of yours is pretty darn smart, Trollver!"

Even though Boomer couldn't see Drobot's face, the chill that went down his back was enough to tell him that Drobot was not pleased with this at all. Boomer just winced and nodded as Boomont gave him a thumbs up, turned back around to Drobot, and made the "Just a little longer, hang in there!" signal. Or maybe that was the signal for something else entirely, judging by how Drobot still gave Boomer that very tired glare, but… Nonetheless!

As the chatter came to a close, they all lined up behind Boomont and trailed through the minefields like ants through a picnic blanket! Except with less screaming and bug spray, that is.

"You know, running around the minefields like this reminds me of when I was a kid!" Boomer chirped as he frolicked among the fields and promptly spun away from a mine he was about to step on. "All those days I spent playing BOOM under the hot sun…"

"But Trollver," piped up Dyna from the back, "you never liked playing BOOM! You always lost!"

"Uh!" Boomer froze with wide eyes and beating sweat, but finally, he choked out a laugh or two and turned around to Dyna. "Well, it's the spirit of the game that counts, you know! I guess you never realize these things until you get older."

Dyna raised an eyebrow at Boomer, but shrugged as she followed the trail of trolls (and Drobot) down the minefield. Phew, looks like she bought it! Man, for someone he hadn't even seen face-to-face, Boomer sure knew a lot about this Trollver guy's background now! Speaking of, Boomer almost forgot that he was going to ask them about why they wanted the Eternal Tech Source so badly! Well, now was as good a time as any.

"Hey, hey!" Boomer whispered as he gently poked Dyna's shoulder, "I've got a question!"

"What is it, Trollver?" Dyna whispered as she turned around.

"Uh, er—" Boomer scratched his head and looked aside, "—my head's kinda fuzzy from that big fight earlier, and I kinda forgot something important!" Boomer made a big, fake smile as Dyna scowled, and shook his hands. "No, nothing for the mission! I just wondered, why are we looking for the Tech Source again?"

"How could you forget?" Dyna exclaimed, before she coughed into her hand and lowered her voice. "It's all we've been plotting to do ever since we got word that Kaos's goons got it! We—"

"We're here, everyone!" Boomont shouted as the line screeched to the halt. "Here's the gate to No Man's Land, in all its glory!"

Dyna winced and shrugged as the other trolls all cheered and dispersed from their straight line to more of a clustered crowd around the gate. "Sorry Trollver, I'll tell you later!"

Dyna rushed up to the gate, dove her hand into her backpack's pocket and yanked out an impressive looking grappling gun! She angled the grappling gun to the skies, clicked the trigger and watched with steadfast eyes as the grappling gun's hook flew over the gate! With a faint clink, Dyna zoomed off the ground and flew like a bird! She cheered as she disappeared behind the other side of the gate, as did several other trolls, and for a moment all went silent with anticipation… But soon, the gate's doors creaked open and revealed the rest of the team!

"You know, this reminds me," Boomont remarked as he shot a glance at Trollance, "remember how Gramps used to tell us stories about how so many people wanted their wares, they had to install gates at the old country so people wouldn't flood the whole town?"

"Yeah!" Trollance snicked. "And how he got stuck outside one night 'cause he got locked on the other side of the gate and they thought he was a traveling salesman?"

"Wait, we sold wares?" Boomer repeated as he tilted his head. "What wares?"

"Technology, of course! Wow, getting knocked out after that fight must have really messed up your memory if you can't remember that," Trollance remarked as he shook his head. "After all, you're one of the biggest techsmiths in our families! Don't you remember how you always said your inventions would get us and all the other trolls here out of Kaos's rut?"

"Er, uh, well." Boomer winced and pushed himself ahead of Trollance. "Anyways, we should probably get going soon! Can't waste any time!"

Boomer strutted along with no mind paid to the scenery around him—if anything, he was more concerned with keeping his cover under wraps! Had they gotten onto him by now? Was the jig up? Well, before he could think it over further, Boomer slammed face-first into something dead-cold and hard! Ugh, he really needed to pay attention to where he was going!

Boomer rubbed his face and poked his head up to find that there before him was yet another gate! Except, this one wasn't anything like the large, imposing wooden gate they entered from. It was smaller and sleeker with no sort of visible entryway; just a round frame made of bones that held a round, silver disk with the Undead Element's emblem, a skull with several teeth and two peering eyes, printed on its surface!

"What is this thing?" Boomer asked as he scratched his chin.

"Whatever it is," Boomont said as he walked up to Boomer and pounded a fist against the gate. "It's blocking the way to No Man's Land!" Boomont whipped out the map and waved it in Boomer's face for emphasis. "See?"

The map was right. If Boomer read Boomont's scratchy handwriting and simple doodles correctly, this was the entrance to No Man's Land! So how were they supposed to get in? Soon enough, the rest of the team walked up and examined the gate with concerned looks and equally-concerned chatter as well.

"A gate?" Dyna remarked as she walked up to Boomont and tapped his shoulder. "The map didn't say anything about a gate, did it?"

"Don't worry, don't worry," Boomont grunted as he rummaged through his backpack. "I'm sure I've got something in here that can deal with this!" Boomont grinned from ear to ear as he pulled out a handful of mines. "A-ha!"

With a flick of his hand, Boomont tossed the mines onto the strange gate, grabbed a remote with his free hand and hovered his finger over the large, glowing red button on its surface.

"You might wanna stand back."

Boomont shot a quick glance behind as everyone else jolted up in accordance, and stepped back in tandem with them. Boomont hit the button, and the mines he stuck to the gate exploded in an instant! A stuffy dust cloud encased their team members for mere moments and made them break into coughing fits, but that was hardly a concern of everyone around.

"Did it work?" Boomont asked, his ears perked and his eyes wide as he examined the gate, only for them to droop.

Why? Well, aside from the few scratches it had obtained, the gate itself was still in perfectly stable condition!

"WHAT?" The trolls all exclaimed in unison, before they shushed themselves and huddled together. Their voices were lowered to what they thought were faint whispers, but they clearly weren't faint enough as Boomer heard them clear enough.

"Those mines can blow up anything! Why didn't they do anything to that gate?"

"Maybe it's made of a really strong metal or something?"

"I don't think that's metal, but whatever it is, it's creeping me out! Just looking at that gate feels like it's sucking the life out of me."

"According to my analysis," Drobot said as the beams from his helmet withdrew themselves, "this is an elemental gate. In other words, a gate established so that it can only be unlocked by those of a certain elemental alignment for one reason or another, such as blocking off certain people from entry to..."

"Well whatever it is, it certainly wasn't here when I was drawing up the maps!" Boomont huffed. "How are we supposed to get past this thing, anyways?"

Drobot scoffed in response, and glazed around the area before his eyes fixed on another box-shaped device that Trollance held in his hands. "That is a masking device, correct?"

Trollance nodded firmly, and yelped as Drobot yanked the masking device out of his hands.

"Now, if I just do this…" Drobot mumbled. Soon, his words devolved into unintelligible jabber as he toyed with the dials and buttons on the machine, scurried over to Boomer and leaned into Boomer's ear. "Boomer, find me something that has prominent Undead energy," Drobot whispered with his voice synthesizers turned down low enough that the trolls wouldn't hear.

Boomer nodded and turned his attention to the ground below. It seemed to be mostly stray rocks and soot and remnants of war at first, but finally, Boomer spied and grabbed a stray troll skull from the ground. He hoped that it didn't belong to anybody these trolls knew, and handed it off to Drobot.

Drobot in turn yanked the skull from Boomer's possession, and held it up to the modified masking device's antenna. The masking device beeped for a few minutes, but soon its antenna shifted towards the skies and let out a net of lasers which cascaded over the gate—and the gate itself released its bony framing and sunk into the ground!

The trolls oohed and aahed, but Drobot was hardly affected by the praise as he passed the masking device back to Trollance.

"Thanks to some modifications, I have successfully fooled the gate into believing it is in the presence of an Undead elemental," Drobot explained as he turned back to the open gate. "It will not last forever, however. We should go quickly!"

And go quickly is just what they did as they all charged through the open path!