All was tense as the evil minions stared down Boomer, Drobot, Trigger Happy and Chihiro. It was four versus three, so normally they'd have the upper hand; but after the display of strength and prowess the evil minions showcased, the odds seemed a little more uneven. Chihiro clasped and released her sweaty palms as she glared down the Evil Gremlin, Drill Robot and Robot Dragon.

The three minions, in turn, stepped back a bit as if they were going to retreat, but instead, they charged forward and readied their weapons!

So, Chihiro summoned a hand cannon made out of magic and charged towards the Evil Drill Robot! With a spin of the cannon, round energy spheres full of magic and light rocketed out and made a beeline towards the Evil Drill Robot, only to get intercepted by the Evil Drill Robot's lasers! As the spheres vanished in tiny explosions of light, the Evil Drill Robot charged straight towards Chihiro! Chihiro screamed and bolted off as the Evil Drill Robot charged after her, scrambled back and changed directions as a bright yellow laser blast cut off her path!

What did that laser blast come from, one might ask? Why, none other than the Evil Gremlin and Trigger Happy! Screaming and smoking guns was the background noise as the two of them stood each other down, eyes narrowed and mouths twisted into snarls. Finally, Trigger Happy got bored of sitting around and shot off a round of coins! The Evil Gremlin jumped out of Trigger Happy's initial blast, and was quick to retaliate with a flurry of its own coins that Trigger Happy dodged as well!

The two of them kept shooting off coin rounds towards each other, but soon enough, those coins traded out for larger coins, safes, golden lasers blasts; yet, despite the growing intensity of their attacks, not a single hit was landed! Finally, the Evil Gremlin snarled, whipped out a gigantic machine gun, and wrapped its fingers around the trigger! Though its eyes were blank, there was no denying it fixed itself on Trigger Happy with the intention to kill! Trigger Happy, in response, pulled out a machine gun of his own and charged it up…

Before either of them could finish, the Evil Drill Robot charged right into the fray at such an intense speed and knocked them both off of their feet! Their partially-charged guns, meanwhile, just fired laser beams into the air before they both fell back with a THUNK!

"YOU HUNK OF BOLTS!" the Evil Gremlin cursed as it shook a fist at the Evil Drill Robot, but the Evil Drill Robot heard none of its shouts!

After all, the Evil Drill Robot was only inches away from charging straight into an unsuspecting Chihiro. Just as it got ready to slam into her, she teleported away! The Evil Drill Robot stopped in its tracks just before it could slam straight into solid rock, swiveled around and beeped.

"RETURN AT ONCE, PORTAL MASTER APPRENTICE!" The Evil Drill Robot demanded as it shook its drill hands to the skies. "OR I WILL FORCE YOU TOO!"

"Alright, alright, no need to shout!" Chihiro's voice exclaimed from nowhere.

"Eh?" The Evil Drill Robot swerved left and right. "Where did that voice come from?"

"RIGHT HERE!"

A bright light shone right above the Evil Drill Robot as Chihiro teleported right above it, landed right on its back and wrapped her legs around tight! Her position reassured, she summoned two gigantic magical gloves, put them on her hands and grabbed onto the Drill Robot's drills! With utterly gleeful laughter, she took the drill hands and banged on the Drill Robot's head!

"Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?" Chihiro asked with an almost mischievous kind of glee.

"OWCH! OWCH! OWCH!" the Evil Drill Robot exclaimed as it spun around in some desperate attempt to shake off Chihiro. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! LET GO OF ME RIGHT NOW! AND STOP HITTING ME WITH MY OWN DRILLS!"

But its pleas were unheard! Chihiro just kept pounding away!

"Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you—"

"FINE THEN! IF YOU WILL NOT GET OFF, I WILL MAKE YOU!"

CLICK! Chihiro stopped short as the Evil Drill Robot's laser blaster flipped right in front of her and got ready to shoot her right between the eyes!

"CRAP!"

Chihiro let go of one hand, snapped her fingers and stuck something blue and shiny over the laser blaster—a wad of sticky, chewy magical gum! She did so just in the nick of time, too; the gum completely blocked off the laser, and instead a loud series of clunks and whirs emerged from the Evil Drill Robot's body! Smoke flew out from every crevice, and it only grunted as its metallic eyebrows slunk over its eyes.

"Urgh, what has happened to my body? This feels like I just underwent a faulty repair…"

The Evil Drill Robot tried to withdraw its laser blaster, but the gum on the blaster completely stuck it halfway through! It just made a couple pathetic clicks and squishing noises as the blaster repeatedly tried and failed to withdraw.

"Wait, don't tell me—you put GUM on my BLASTER?" The Evil Drill Robot growled as it fired up its motor. "THAT WILL TAKES WEEKS TO GET OUT! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

With a mighty charge, the Evil Drill Robot tore across the ground at the highest speed possible! Chihiro screamed as she grabbed on the gum, which was thankfully sticky enough to keep her stuck to its surface, but riding the Evil Drill Robot was like trying to ride a raging bull! She was a leaf tossed amuck by the most intense of wind storms as she remained stuck to the Evil Drill Robot!

"SOMEBODY GET ME OFF THIS THING!" Chihiro cried as the Evil Drill Robot continued charging left and right at maximum velocity.

Her pleas went untouched, for the only other ones there were Boomer and Drobot, and both of them were fixated on their showdown with the Evil Robot Dragon! All three parties glared each other down, the atmosphere so tense that even the slightest wrong move would set the whole confrontation alight with war—and they all knew this.

"Two again one?" the Evil Robot Dragon scoffed as it drew into an attacking position. "That's hardly a fair fight, if you ask me."

"Well, you know," Boomer shot back, his eyes narrowed as he reached for his bombs, "killing off a bunch of helpless trolls with a gigantic war machine isn't exactly fair, either!"

"I suppose I can't argue my way out there." The Evil Robot Dragon whipped out its wings and scoffed. "How about I fight my way out instead?"

Twin gigantic bladegears shot from the cannons on the Evil Robot Dragon's wings and headed straight towards Boomer! Boomer immediately jumped out of their way and wiped the sweat from his brow, but twitched his ears and looked behind to find that no, he wasn't in the clear just yet! Those bladegears swerved around and headed right back towards him!

Boomer screamed and got ready to bolt away, but right before he turned tail and ran, two gigantic red lasers shot out from beside him and fried the bladegears to burned piles of soot! Boomer turned his gaze aside, looked at Drobot and gave Drobot a thumbs up! Drobot nodded in approval as white smoke danced around his eye sockets, whipped his head around and shot a round of thick red lasers back at the Evil Robot Dragon! The Evil Robot Dragon, in response, just threw up a shield and completely neutralized the lasers, much to Drobot's shock as he stumbled back.

"You do not think you are the only one who can do fancy tricks, do you?" the Evil Robot Dragon smirked at a growling Drobot as the shield faded.

Drobot snarled as he got ready to shoot more lasers, but the Evil Robot Dragon beat him to the punch! The Evil Robot Dragon shot off its own lasers in the moment of time he was caught off guard! Before he knew it, those lasers slammed right into him and Boomer and shot them both aside! They coughed and hacked as they tried to push themselves off the ground, but before they could get up, a black and white blur slammed into them and smacked them into a stack of wooden crates!

"TAKE THAT, YOU OBNOXIOUS BRAT!" the Evil Drill Robot exclaimed as it rolled up to the Evil Robot Dragon's side.

"Now I know how bull riders feel," Chihiro groaned as she got up from the stack of crates that she, Boomer and Drobot staggered up from the broken, splintered wooden crates, "ugh, I'm okay, I think…"

Well, three of them were down, but surely Trigger Happy was doing better, right? Actually…

"Look over there!" The Evil Gremlin proclaimed as it pointed a finger aside. "A flying gorilla!"

"WHAT, WHERE?" Trigger Happy exclaimed as he bounced up and down and looked all around. "I wanna see a—"

"GOT YOU!"

The Evil Gremlin shot a large coin at Trigger Happy, and gunned Trigger Happy right into the same broken crate pile that Chihiro, Boomer and Drobot were tossed into!

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I FELL FOR THAT!" Trigger Happy cried as he soared through the skies. He crashed right into Chihiro's arms and groaned. "I think, I can see, the light… Is that you, Grandpa?"

Trigger Happy sprawled out in Chihiro's arms in some over-dramatic fashion, eyes rolled back into his head and tongue lolled with a hand over his forehead! But, this dramatic act was quickly dropped as the Evil Gremlin, Drill Robot and Robot Dragon cornered them all!

Chihiro, Drobot, Boomer, and Trigger Happy all snarled as the evil minions basked in their seeming defeat. They were bruised and battered, yet something in them wouldn't give up! As the minions laughed, Chihiro just cast a glance at Drobot, and the two of them made a small, subtle nod as the evil minions finished their laughing.

"Your time's up, Skylosers!" the Evil Gremlin cackled as it whipped out a pistol and pointed the barrel directly at Chihiro. "Give up yet?"

"Never!" Chihiro spat back as she staggered up and gently laid down Trigger Happy.

The Evil Gremlin winced as it dodged Chihiro's spit, snarled and waved its gun back in Chihiro's face. "Are you sure about that? You do look pretty hopeless right now to me."

"It may seem hopeless, true." Chihiro grabbed her arm and bit her lip. "But I can't give in now! Those trolls are counting on us to protect them, after all!" Chihiro shuddered with some kind of rage in her heart and a fire in her eyes. "They worked so hard so they could make a better life for themselves! I can't let that all be in vain!"

Chihiro yelled to the heavens as she slugged the Evil Gremlin right in the kisser! The Evil Gremlin grunted and lurched back as it rubbed its face, but it didn't seem pained, no; it just smiled and cackled!

"Was that supposed to hurt?" The Evil Gremlin smirked.

"Nah." Chihiro smiled and shook her head. "I just had to buy some time!"

A shadow loomed over the battlefield as Drobot jumped off the ground and flicked his laser cannons on, then shot massive lasers down below! The evil minions screamed and scattered as the lasers carved into the ground below—they were completely distracted! Now the tables were turned!

Trigger Happy was the first to notice as he whipped out twin machine guns, charged them up and sent gigantic blasts of golden energy flying everywhere! The Evil Gremlin and Robot Dragon screamed and jumped away from the blasts, but the Evil Drill Robot wasn't as fortunate, unfortunately! While it tried its hardest to escape the blasts, Chihiro leaped in front of it and smirked!

"CATCH ME IF YOU CA~AN!" Chihiro shouted as she stuck her tongue out and pulled her eyelid down at the Evil Drill Robot. "NYEH!"

The Evil Drill Robot growled, spun around and charged off as Chihiro bolted away!

"Get back here, you insolent pest!" the Evil Drill Robot demanded as it stormed after Chihiro, who just kept running and laughing ahead of the Evil Drill Robot!

Chihiro yelped as she ducked a laser from Drobot, and as she looked ahead, she smirked and teleported away in a flash of cyan sparkles!

"WAIT, WHERE DID YOU GO?" The Evil Drill Robot screamed as it spun around in place. "FACE ME LIKE A—"

The Evil Drill Robot turned around and froze, and in that moment, it surely realized just what she did—because right in front of it, a golden blast of energy from Trigger Happy hurtled straight towards it!

"Oh bolts."

And just like that, the Evil Drill Robot was enveloped in that blast of golden light with a pained, mechanical scream that faded into the distance with the light; for when that blast ended, it was no more than a pile of dull, purple and orange spheres!

"Phew, that was a lot of shooting," Trigger Happy sighed as he withdrew his machine guns and wiped his forehead. "Time for a breather!"

What Trigger Happy didn't notice as he rested was that the Evil Gremlin had caught sight of him! With a smirk, it jumped away from the battle it currently was in with Boomer and dashed as far as its stubby little legs could take it!

"Talk about a golden opportunity!" the Evil Gremlin exclaimed as it pulled out a machine gun of its own and smirked, only for its smile to fade into shock. "Wait, did I just make a pun?" The Evil Gremlin shook its head and smiled again as it went to charge its gun. "Oh, nevermind! Finally, I'll be rid of that—"

"HEY-OH!"

"WAIT, WHAT WAS THAT?"

The Evil Gremlin looked around, then flinched as a loud SMASH sounded behind it!

"Mind if I crash the party?" Boomer chirped from behind the Evil Gremlin!

The Evil Gremlin turned around and snarled, because there behind it was none other than Boomer! He just had the goofiest grin on his face as he sat on top of the machine gun and patted its barrel!

"GET OFF OF MY GUN, OLD MAN!" The Evil Gremlin demanded as it whipped out its pistols. "Or I'll make you!"

"Hey, I'm no boomer!" Boomer scoffed, a state of mock offense taken as he stood up, scoffed and placed his hands on his hips, before he chuckled and gently smacked himself on the head. "Wait, that's my name!" Boomer looked down at the Evil Gremlin's brandished shotguns and gulped. "You don't have to tell me twice!"

Boomer leaped off the gun and ran far, far away, sat down and plugged his ears. It was almost like he witnessed an explosion?

"That stupid troll, never could stand him," the Evil Gremlin scoffed before it turned to its machine gun, "now, ready, aim…" The Evil Gremlin clicked the trigger, but nothing came out other than a few strained clicks! "Fire? What's going on?"

The Evil Gremlin hopped around, examined the barrel of its machine gun, and gulped. Right inside it was a lit bomb that was seconds away from exploding—and it was a few seconds too late to escape!

"CURSE YOU, TROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL—" was the last thing heard from the Evil Gremlin before it was caught in the explosion and came out a pile of spheres!

Boomer cackled so hard that it forced him to hold his sides, but it seemed that the Evil Robot Dragon was less than pleased! While Boomer laughed away, it hovered up, whipped out its bladegear cannons and got ready to shoot…

But before it could, a laser shot straight forward and slammed into one of its wings! The Evil Robot Dragon cried in pain as it held its smoking, broken wing, and then it screamed as it barrel-rolled forward and crashed right into a nearby wall with a loud BONK! It fell down the wall a jagged accordion of its former self, and with a groan, it burst into a pile of spheres.

"That was not very intelligent of you," Drobot remarked with a self-serving smirk as he flew down beside Boomer.

With the three evil minions gone, the battlefield found peace at last. The only sounds were that of wind rushing across the skies and timid footsteps as the Trollcoys and Trollfields poked their way out of hiding, yet smiled as Chihiro turned back and gave them a thumbs up!

"Thank goodness that's over," Chihiro remarked as she wiped sweat off their brow, "now, for our prize—the Eternal Tech Source!"

Chihiro gulped as she looked ahead, where a large fortress with sturdy stone walls and a massive wooden gate blocked the way to what was surely the Eternal Tech Source… Maybe?

"Do you think this is really the place?" Chihiro asked as she and the Skylanders walked up to the wooden doors.

Boomer opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, he, Trigger Happy and Drobot all froze and shuddered in unison!

"Guys!" Chihiro exclaimed as she grabbed Boomer and leaned him on her side. "You alright?"

"You bet!" Boomer exclaimed as he pushed himself away from Chihiro with a wide beam. "That was the biggest surge of Tech Element energy I'd ever felt in my life! The Eternal Tech Source has to be here!"

So, Chihiro beamed and turned back to the doors. She pressed her hands against their rough, wooden surface as Trigger Happy, Boomer and Drobot all did the same, and with a creak, the doors flung open under their collective pressure and unveiled a round, dusty arena with the Eternal Tech Source straight in its center!

The Eternal Tech Source by itself might not have seen very impressive; it was just a simple, floating oval with an orange glow no bigger than a dinner plate with a couple gears that turned for all eternity in its center. But, the energy that came from it was astounding! Just being around it made the few stray gears and wheels and dead machines around the arena whir and turn and rumble at an amazing speed, like they were brand new!

"Yeah, that's gotta be the Eternal Tech Source!" Chihiro exclaimed. She turned and beamed as Trigger Happy hopped on her shoulder.

"It's even more beautiful than I imagined!" Trigger Happy shouted with glistening eyes, only to gasp as a purple and orange cloud flew past him and Chihiro like a swarm of insects!

"I don't know about that weird purple and orange thing, though!"

"Whatever it is, it's headed towards the Eternal tech Source!" Chihiro shook off Trigger Happy and froze. "Wait, purple and orange? Like those spheres those creepy minions dropped?" Chihiro completely froze in place as she watched the cloud. "Oh no…"

Chihiro bit her lip, bolted forward and teleported away the moment her feet hit the ground!

"IF THAT THINGS HITS THE ETERNAL TECH SOURCE, WE'RE TOAST!" Chihiro cried as she reappeared right in front of the Eternal Tech Source, fully ready to cast a shield or some kind of thing to stop it. "I'VE GOTTA STOP THAT THING BEFORE IT HURTS ANYONE HERE, NOT AFTER THEY ALL—"

Chihiro tried, she really did. but ultimately, she was too slow for the cloud; the energy slammed right into her chest right before she could finish her sentence! As the energy seeped into her chest and caused a purple glow to pulse around her, Chihiro screamed and fell to the ground! Though she hit the ground pretty hard, Chihiro shook her head and smiled as she forced herself to stand. Her smile was wide and her eyes forced themselves to shine with a bit of healthy light, but the way her hands and legs trembled with a faint, lavender glow suggested something else entirely...

"Geez, that was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it?" Chihiro panted as she turned around and fixed her eyes on the Eternal Tech Source. She raised her shuddering hand to the skies, and against the murky skies, that simple, lavender glow grew brighter and much more prominent. "Now, lemme just, just let me get a container around this thing."

Chihiro's hands glowed even brighter while even the Eternal Tech Source shuddered against her light, but something was off. Her hands glowed not with the bright, cyan color they usually shone with, but rather a murky purple that spread from her hand, to her arm, and then the rest of her body as she channeled her magic! As that strange glow spread, she shuddered even more furiously than before while pained breaths escaped her mouth. It was like just the thought of casting a spell sucked the life out of her...

Chihiro winced as she shot out a flare of magic, but what came wasn't a container, no! Rather, a bright flash of light popped out and exploded dangerously close to Chihiro! Not only that, it exploded with such force and speed that it slammed her back onto the ground before she could even properly react. All she could do was scream as she hit the rocky floors!

"Chihiro!" Trigger Happy, Drobot and Boomer shouted at once as they ran to Chihiro!

Boomer was quick to prop Chihiro up but, oh no, she wasn't looking good! Her breath became heavy and labored as she shuddered. With each shudder, she pulsated with that same murky purple glow, which grew far brighter and more imposing with a sort of orange halo.

"You okay, Chihiro?" Trigger Happy asked as he hopped up and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm, I'm, I'm, fine, Trig," Chihiro croaked, her voice horse and eyes glazed from weakness as she made a kind gaze at Trigger Happy. "Why, why don't you take, take this one?"

Chihiro whimpered, and before she could say more, she collapsed into a shivering ball in Boomer's arms! Boomer gasped, but quickly lifted up Chihiro high enough for all to see. Those energy pulses spread further across the arena, and with each one, Chihiro shuddered and whined in pain. Her face was incredibly pained, with eyes screwed shut so hard and brows clenched so tight, and her mouth twisted into a frown as she whimpered and sniffled in sheer agony!

Gasps of shock sounded from Trigger Happy, Drobot and Boomer as they huddled closer around Chihiro. What could have possibly happened to her? It was like she got sick out of completely nowhere! Or rather… Cursed.

"Drobot, start up one of your scan thingies!" Boomer demanded, a surprising level of seriousness in his eyes.

Drobot reached for the dials on his helmet, and froze as the sound of stampeding footsteps rushed into the arena.

"What's going on?" Rizzo shouted as he and the rest of the Mabu Defense Force lead Trollfield and Trollcoy alike into the arena!

"We don't know!" Boomer exclaimed, a strained tone in his voice as he held out Chihiro for all to see. "She got hit with this weird cloud thingie and now she's all sick!"

"Not sick," Drobot corrected as he drew a shaking paw away from his helmet, "cursed! My scanners indicate that a massive amount of cursed magic is circulating through her right now, and it is corrupting the magic within her own body, thus weakening her physical condition!"

"We may not know much about magic," Trollver shouted as he and Trollamor pushed through and took Chihiro from Boomer's arms, "but we can at least keep her physical condition in check!"

"There's a med bay near here, we'll take her to our specialists!" Trollamor added as he and Trollver turned around and raced back out the arena. "Just worry about getting the Eternal Tech Source!"

And with that, Trollver and Trollamor raced out of view with Chihiro still tight in their grasp. Hopefully she would be alright…

Trigger Happy, Boomer and Drobot all reluctantly turned back to where the Eternal Tech Source was, and reached out to grab it—only for it to zoom off before they could even touch it!

"Hey, wait up!" Trigger Happy shouted as he hopped after the Eternal Tech Source with Boomer and Drobot in close pursuit!

Trigger Happy leaped as far he could while he grappled after the Eternal Tech Source, but it was no use! It got way too far ahead! He only floundered after it before it seemingly decided it got fed up with this little game of chase! Before anybody else could reach it, the Eternal Tech Source phased through the wooden section that blocked off an area beside them, and disappeared with a bright orange glow!

Trigger Happy, Drobot and Boomer all froze in their tracks and stepped back as a low, mechanical growl sounded off from that shadowy, boarded-off area.

Finally, they scrambled back as a gigantic tank crashed through the area! The tank whipped around and whirred as a massive pair of mechanical spider legs emerged from under it, and the tank itself grew twice, thrice, five times its size; all the while, even more guns popped out from its sides, and eight glassy panels that vaguely resembled eyes joined it. Before anyone known it, what seemed like a humble tank had transformed into a massive spider tank!

Everybody else cleared out while the spider tank made massive, angry whirs and beeps, and shot missiles into the skies that sent rains of fire down below! Everyone screamed as the burning fireballs slammed into ground like divine retribution, but they didn't stop to admire the show by any means!

"Come on, everyone!" Rizzo exclaimed as he yanked open the door to a nearby tower. "In here unless you wanna be tomorrow's barbecue!"

All at once, everybody flooded into the towers, and for once, in what could only be described as a miracle in itself… Trollcoy and Trollfield alike put aside their differences as they helped each other rush to safety! Dyna quickly yanked Atom out of a fireball's path and directed him to safety, Trollance and Boomont hoisted an injured Tangerine onto their shoulders as they raced inside, and Syracuse even tended to an injured Trollcey before Boomette pushed them both towards the towers!

It would have been an amazing sight if not for the pressing circumstances, but Boomer, Drobot and Trigger Happy had no time to gaze in wonder! As the last of the Trollfields and Trollcoys piled in, the three of them joined the Mabu Defense Force in rushing inside and locking the doors shut!

Luckily, the tower itself was bigger on the inside than it was outside. It had enough room for everyone to hide among the machinery with plenty of space to spare. Somehow, it still wasn't reliving. Tension brewed as the trolls leaned against what seemed like machines and weapons hidden under dusty, stained tarps, or pressed their backs against the cold, stone walls, but all flinched as the tank's footsteps pounded outside and shook the whole tower.

"It's hopeless," Tangerine mumbled, the light from their eyes vanquished as Trollance bandaged their blood-covered arm. "That thing's completely souped up on the Eternal Tech Source's energy! How are we supposed to stop it?"

"And you worked so hard to stop them from starting up their Ultimate Weapon," Trollance said as he bit his lip and gazed at Boomer with pained eyes, "I'm sorry."

"Wait, that was the Ultimate Weapon?" Boomer exclaimed.

"You bet! A transforming spider tank with more weapons than an entire cavalry, powered by the Tech Element energy generated by the Eternal Tech Source—" Trollance sighed and looked aside "—how can we compete?"

"A-HEM!" Rizzo exclaimed as he cleared his throat and looked towards their hopeless, sad selves. "Forgetting someone?"

Trollance just scoffed as he looked back to Rizzo. "You're just a few mabu, what can you do?"

"Oh, we can't do much by ourselves," Nort remarked as he poked out from behind Rizzo, "but, the mega bombs we found while trying to find our way through this place probably can!"

"MEGA BOMBS?" Boomer exclaimed as he ran up to Rizzo. "You aren't pulling my leg are you? 'Cause that's just what we need!"

"Exactly!" Rizzo beamed, yet still looked aside and grimaced. "But, it'll take a while to push it in by ourselves, especially if that tank catches us."

"Then we'll just hafta distract it!" Trigger Happy exclaimed. "We'll just make it really mad at us and get its attention, and you guys can roll the mega bomb in and blow it up! Like this!"

Trigger Happy hopped back and make all sorts of booming noises and shouts as he danced around the room, which earned a chuckle from Drobot.

"That sounds like a fairly strong strategy on the surface, but our own powers alone would not be enough to suffice," Drobot's smile faded as the gears in his brain whirred. "We would need something of intense firepower, and a good majority of it firing at once…"

"Like these?" Tangerine and Dyna asked in unison.

From behind them, the sound of a tarp being yanked off and warbling in the distance sounded as several of the Trollcoys and Trollfields unveiled an entire collection of gigantic cannons and guns!

Tangerine and Dyna looked towards the Skylanders and Mabu Defense Force with a wink, grabbed onto a gigantic machine gun, and raced towards a nearby platform attached to some rusted, but still sturdy chains. As they heaved the machine gun onto the platform, one particularly buff Trollcoy rushed over and cranked the handle of a nearby crank, which sent them on the upper level of the tower!

They weren't the only ones either! All of the Trollfields and Trollcoys worked together in perfect harmony as they grabbed cannons, gigantic blasters, machine guns and more, piled them on the platform and moved them up!

"We can't let them do all the work, can we?" Trigger Happy asked as he whipped out his pistols and hopped up to Boomer and Drobot, a glint of excitement in his eyes. "Let's kick some machine butt!"

Boomer grinned from ear to ear as he looked towards Drobot, who held a similar grin on his face, and all three of them bolted onto the platform with the buff Trollcoy. The lever spun thanks to a coin shot from Trigger Happy's pistols, and they all shot up to the second floor in an instant! Over on the second floor, everybody else rushed outside through the opened doorways; the low chatter and sound of machines being set up already started to flood in!

"We'll take care of the mega bomb now!" Rizzo shouted as he slammed open the door. "Godspeed, Skylanders!" Rizzo whipped his head around and jabbed a finger out the door. "GO! GO! GO!"

As the Mabu Defense Force rushed out the tower doors and slammed them shut, Boomer bolted outside with Trigger Happy and Drobot quick to follow! The outside world shone with a harsh light thanks to the clouds parted by the tank's missiles, and everything smelled of smoke and gunpowder and ruin—but nobody seemed discourage as they stood by their arms and fixed their gaze on the spider tank. The spider tank hadn't seem to notice them, however, as it twitched and spun around with its cannons fixed on the entrance—surely it was trying to locate the Mabu Defense Force.

"EVERYONE, NOW!" Tangerine shouted as they lit a cannon's fuse!

The stone balconies became a sea of orange and green as the Trollfields and Trollcoys swarmed together and shot off their weapons! From them, an array of lasers blasts, cannons, missiles, gigantic bullets, and more whipped out from their weapons and shot straight into the heart of the spider tank!

The spider tank whirred its massive body around, but it caught sight of the assault far too late—it could only watch as it got blasted in the chest and crashed back into the other side of the arena! Smoke emerged from every orifice of its body as it made a low, distorted beeping noise, and as the smoke started to clear, its beeping grew more rapid and angry! The sound of grinding metal hit everyone's ears as the spider tank shifted its weight, and its guns folded back into its body as it jumped up and retracted its legs into the center of its body! Soon it looked not much like a tank, but rather, a UFO!

Everyone gasped as the spider tank spun with such a rapid pace that it whipped intense winds down on everyone! These winds were so strong, so fast, that they had to latch themselves onto whatever they could if they didn't want to get blown away!

Well, all except for Syracuse, who screamed as the winds swept her off the balcony! She would have fallen into the spider tank's arena and gotten splatted in an instant if not for Dyna grabbing her hand and yanking her back in!

"You alright?" Dyna yelled as she pulled Syracuse to solid ground, and smiled as Syracuse nodded. "You know, you seem pretty cute. I have a sister who's single, if you're—"

"GEEZ, Dyna!" Boomette yelled over the heat of battle. "Quit trying to set me up with people! We're in the middle of a battle to the death here!" Boomette looked up and gasped as she ducked for cover. "INCOMING!"

Everybody else lifted their heads to the skies, and took cover as the spider tank flew over and lasered down the back of the towers! As the inside half of the towers sank into ruins, the spider tank flew back into the arena and returned back to its original form with a few pleased beeps.

"It's distracted!" Boomer shouted as he leaned over the balcony and pointed towards the tank. "Get it!"

And so, the firearms assault continued! The Trollfields heaved a row of massive cannons up as the Trollcoys loaded cannonballs inside, and Drobot flew over and lit the cannons in a row with a blast of lasers! The cannons fired as one and sent cannonballs soaring into the skies, all while the spider tank crept its head around and beeped. Before it could fire, the cannonballs slammed into its window eyes and completely shattered them!

The spider tank swerved and stumbled about as it made a series of warped, distorted noises, and as it skittered forwards, a massive missiles rocketed from the balcony and exploded right underneath the tank's legs! It screeched as it jumped into the air and fell flat on its face, but groaned as it turned back around and glared at the balcony.

There, Atom and Boomer high-fived each other as Atom lugged a massive rocket launcher over his shoulder. The two of them froze and turned around the sound of a machine whirring to life resounded behind them.; they blinked for a moment as they looked behind, screamed and ducked underneath the stone walls as the spider tank shot a laser right above them! While the laser shot into the skies, Boomer looked back then poked his head over the bridge as he breathed a sigh of relief…

But he took his breath too soon, for a swarm of missiles homed in for the kill! Boomer leaped up and shot a bunch of dynamite bundles right at the missiles, but those bundles just bounced off the missiles' shiny, metal exteriors and exploded in midair! As the missiles zoomed out from the smoke with not a scratch on them, Boomer flinched and dropped back onto the stone wall.

His lips twitched as the missiles drew closer, but before they could come in for the kill, a bright golden blast melted them away! Boomer looked aside and grinned as Trigger Happy gave him a thumbs up, yet Boomer's grin faded as Trigger Happy turned the gigantic golden machine gun he held back to the spider tank.

Boomer hopped off the wall and turned back to the rest of their forces. The trolls and tank continued to trade blow after blow, each one slowly growing less equally matched than the last. Judging from the panicked shouts and frantic looks on the trolls' faces, it seemed like they were running low on ammunition, too. Where were those mabu defense guys?

Boomer raced down to the end of the balcony, peered towards the entrance, and made a gasp of glee! Just across from their fortress, a mega bomb could be seen rolling in the distance—the Mabu Defense Force came through! It was just a matter of time now!

"Hey, tankie! Over here!" Boomer shouted as he leaped up and down and waved his arms at the tank!

The tank, in response, chirped with confusion as it looked at Boomer, who… Leaped off the balcony and pounded down into the ground?

"Catch me if you can!"

Boomer dashed across the arena like his life depended on it, all while he shouted and waved at the spider tank! The spider tank made a few angry beeps, and sent out a giant laser that dug into the earth and sent chunks of ground everywhere—but only for a few moments! While Boomer caught the tank's attention, the tank itself got cheap-shot by a perfectly-timed missile from the trolls above!

The tank whirred in shock as it stumbled back, whirled around and got ready to transform, but before it could, the mega bomb slammed right into it and captured it within a fiery explosion!

Boomer ran under the surprisingly stable lower half of the ruined balcony as flaming, ruined machine parts rained down from the skies, while everybody else was quick to join him.

"Did we do it?" Dyna asked as she ran up to Boomer.

"I sure hope so," Rizzo panted as he sat beside Boomer and caught his breath, "Spending all those years planting flowers really bit me in the butt…"

Boomer, however, just narrowed his eyes as he examined the smoking, ruined tank. Between all the flames and smoke, he could just barely make out a small, orange glow that flitted out from the wreckage. Could it be? That glow grew closer and closer, slipped under the sanctuary of the ruined tower, and showed that sure enough, it was the Eternal Tech Source! Boomer snatched the Eternal Tech Source from the air, but he didn't seem any more relieved or happy; he just turned back to the others with brows furrowed and an urgent look in his eyes.

"Where's the med bay?" Boomer asked as he looked at Dyna.

"Follow me!"

Dyna grabbed Boomer's hand and lead him out of the ruined arena, while Trigger Happy and Drobot followed in pursuit. Once they were all out of the arena, Dyna pulled them towards that same path they took to find the Mabu Defense Force's coliseum hideout not moments earlier, let go of Boomer and pushed a large stone aside to unveil a secret staircase down below.

"The med bay is straight down this way," Dyna explained, "go—"

"IT HURTS, IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE!"

Dyna winced and held her ears as a bloodcurdling screech reverberated from down the passageway, but Boomer wasn't scared off at all!

"Chihiro!" Boomer shouted as he shoved the Eternal Tech Source under his arm. "Don't worry, Ol' Boomer's on his way!"

Boomer, Drobot and Trigger Happy all bolted down the stairs and across the hallway to find themselves in a rudimentary medical bay with a couple crude medicinal tools. However, that was hardly the main thing that caught their attention! Rather, what did catch their eye was Trollver and Trollamor, who tended to Chihiro as she sat on a hard-looking bed!

"What's wrong with her?" Boomer demanded as he shoved himself between Trollver and Trollamor. They winced as they looked towards Boomer, but Boomer just looked back down at Chihiro. "Why's she getting worse?"

"We don't know!" Trollver blurted out. "We've used everything we could, but nothing's giving us any answers!"

"We think it's the curse spreading," Trollamor replied as sweat dripped down his face. "Everything here's only attuned for physical health issues, so we can't exactly stop it…"

Boomer just bit his lip as he looked down at Chihiro, who only seemed to have gotten worse in the time they had spent fighting that spider tank. Her face was some deathly mixture of white and purple, all while her whole body rattled with every breath she took. Her body radiated with that same corrupted energy that seemed to instill fear with every pulse; just the sight at her made everyone sick to their stomachs.

"Mom, Dad," Chihiro whimpered as she curled into a shuddering ball, her voice so faint and strained it was barely an echo.

"It's okay, Chi, it's okay!" Boomer exclaimed as he handed off the Eternal Tech Source to a shocked Trollver and lifted her in his arms. "We're all here, everything's gonna be okay!" Boomer turned back to Trollver and Trollamor. "Our infirmary back at Ancient's Peak has plenty of stuff for dealing with this magicy stuff! Where's the nearest ship?"

"There should be one close by here," Trollver rushed back out the infirmary's open doorway and down the halls. "Follow my lead!"

With no time wasted, everybody else bolted out the doors and down the halls, the sound of Chihiro's pained whimpers and ear-shattering screams the only other sound beside their footsteps.

"It's gonna be okay, Chi," Boomer whimpered as he hugged Chihiro close to his heart and cradled her like she was his own child. "Just hang in there…"

§One very tense airship trip later…§

When the troll's ship finally docked at Ancient's Peak, Boomer, Drobot and Trigger Happy all bolted off the ship's deck with the still quite cursed Chihiro now wrapped around Drobot's back.

"NO TIME TO TALK!" Trigger Happy exclaimed as they parted a sea through the other residents of Ancient's Peak. "WE NEED TO GET TO THE INFIRMARY, SUPER DUPER PRONTO!"

As they ran, the sound of not blood, but Chihiro's pained whimpers and pants rang throughout their ears. With the way they bit their lips and cast worried glances back at her, it was as if every bit pain and agony she felt was theirs as well!

"Her temperature is increasing rapidly," Drobot spat out as he haphazardly fiddled with the knobs on his helmet. "Increasing external cooling mechanisms immediately!"

Drobot's suit whirred with an icy aqua light while a chilling feeling set around the area—though nobody was quite certain if it was from his suit or the imposing issue of Chihiro's own well-being. Though her panting cooled some, her face was still sheet-white and sweat continued to roll down her shuddering body to the point where it had just barely dampened the back of her vest, all while she continued to pulsate with raw, corrupt energy. It was heart-wrenching, just seeing her so sickly and desperate. Hopefully, she could hang in there a little longer, please, let her hang in there long enough…

"Go, go, go!" Trigger Happy shouted as he slammed the infirmary's door open and ushered the others inside!

They were in such a hurry, they didn't even notice Hugo as they stormed past him!

"ARE THE FANCY MAGIC PEOPLE IN?" Boomer demanded with a yell so loud it could probably be heard through the entire island. "WE'VE GOT A SITUATION!"

"Boomer, what are you yelling about?" Whirlwind questioned as she rounded the corner. "Don't tell me you got—"

Whirlwind's sour expression completely dropped the moment she saw Chihiro writhing and whimpering in pain. Her face now as pale as Chihiro's own, she rushed over and pulled Chihiro from Drobot's back. Whirlwind lifted Chihiro onto her own back, and dashed back down the halls

"HEX, DOUBLE TROUBLE! WE NEED YOU ON THE DOUBLE!"

Boomer, Drobot and Trigger Happy followed Whirlwind down the halls, but by the time they caught up with her, they were a tad bit too late. They could only catch a glimpse of Chihiro as Hex and Double Trouble rushed her into one of the sick rooms and slammed the door shut with Whirlwind close behind them. Their expressions all bore equal parts concern and solemn fear as they watched the closed door, and saw their friends' silhouettes from its glass pane window. Though the ones inside talked loud enough, that conversation was only the background to their concern.

"You think she'll be alright?" Trigger Happy asked as he tugged on Boomer's hand.

"I really hope so, Trig," Boomer whimpered, his eyes tiny and his mouth deep-set into a frown, "I really do."

Drobot said no words. He only hovered around the halls in a circle and muttered something unintelligible to himself—calculating the probability of her survival? That was probably it, judging by the way he scraped his chin.

"Boomer, Trigger Happy, Drobot!" Hugo called as he balled down the hallways as fast as his short little legs could take him. "What was all that hurrying about? And what's—"

Hugo winced and stopped in his place, as did everyone else when Chihiro let out a bloodcurdling scream from the other side of the door.

"Double Trouble! Bring me the lumination elixir, she's getting worse!" Hex ordered from the other side of the door. "Whirlwind, keep applying your healing rainbows!"

Hugo's face fell as Hex, Double Trouble and Whirlwind's silhouettes scrambled about from the limited view of the door's glass pane. He whimpered, and turned his gaze to Boomer.

"What happened to her?" Hugo asked at last, his eyes tiny and his whole body quivered as if he wasn't prepared for the answer.

"She was hit by cursed magic during our mission to retrieve the Eternal Tech Source," Drobot explained as his mechanical voice filter lowered just enough to reveal his natural voice. "She is in critical condition."

Hugo spoke no response, but the way he turned his attention back to the door and clasped a hand over his heart spoke all the words they needed to know. Surely, he prayed for her safety as much as they did.

"In more optimistic news, I performed the calculations." Drobot cleared his throat and returned his voice filter to its normal levels. "She should have a fifty percent chance of survival, should the treatments go as planned."

"FIFTY PERCENT?" Hugo jumped back, then clasped his hands over his mouth and shuddered as Chihiro made another scream.

"STOP, STOP!" Chihiro screeched at the top of her lungs. "MAKE IT STOP!"

"Chihiro, please, calm down!" Whirlwind shouted. "We're here, I promise, we're doing everything we can!"

"Chi!" Trigger Happy called as he ran up to the door and bounced up to its window. As he fell back down, he bounced up and went to push the door open, but before he could, Drobot yanked him out of the air and flew back to Boomer and Hugo!

"Dro, lemme go!" Trigger Happy whined and whimpered as he struggled against Drobot's tight grip. "I wanna see! I wanna know what's happening!"

"Do not be so foolhardy, Trigger Happy!" Drobot scolded as he dropped Trigger Happy to the ground. "You cannot interrupt them while they are treating her! It could make her condition worse! Is that what you want?"

Trigger Happy made a sharp gasp, but whimpered as he curled up into a ball and looked away. "I didn't wanna do that." Trigger Happy sniffled and rubbed tears away from his eyes. "I just wanna see if she's okay!"

Drobot drew back a paw, clenched his jaw and swooped down. When his paws were finally on the ground, he curled up next to Trigger Happy and patted Trigger Happy on the head.

"I understand, I am greatly concerned as well." Drobot wiped away the last of Trigger Happy's tears with his tailfin as he watched the door once more. "But, we have to have faith in their abilities and her own. Fifty percent of those afflicted by cursed magic survive…"

Drobot made a clunky, mechanical-sounding gulp, and looked over to an equally-anxious Hugo and Boomer.

"We just have to hope she is one of the fifty percent."

"Excuse us, is this is a bad time?" asked a soft, yet somewhat snotty voice from across the hall.

All eyes turned to the few lit areas of the hallway, where two troll men—a green-skinned one and an orange-skinned one—stood under the light!

"TROLLS?" Hugo shrieked as he jumped back and held out a paw. "HOW DID YOU GET HERE?!"

"Trollver, Trollamor!" Boomer called as he jumped to his feet and ran up to them. "What're you doing here?"

"Well, first off," Trollver said as he scratched his ear, "we wanted to check on the kid. How's she doing?"

Everybody shuddered as Chihiro let out another ear-shattering scream.

"We don't know yet." Boomer made a cursory look back at the door then turned back to Trollver. "But our folks are doin' everything they can!"

Trollver nodded, gently nudged Trollamor and winked.

"Second of all, we talked about it with our folks," Trollamor said as he drew his arms out from behind his back, "and they decided…"

Trollamor gently smiled as he held out a container that in turn held the Eternal Tech Source.

"That the rest of Skylands needs this far more than any of us do."

"The Eternal Tech Source!" Hugo exclaimed as he scurried over and collected it from Trollamor. "Thank goodness, it's arrived safe and sound!" Hugo's eyes glistened as he put the container aside and clumsily shook Trollver and Trollamor's hands. "I can't possibly thank you enough! We couldn't possibly need better news right now!"

Boomer, however, seemed a little less celebratory as he looked back at Trollver and Trollamor.

"Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate this, but…" Boomer flicked an ear. "What're you guys gonna do?"

"Well, like we said, we had a long talk about it with our families," Trollamor said as he stroked his ear, "like, really long."

"And, our families realized that we have a lot more in common than they thought! Same issues and everything, and, turns out we had just the solutions we need for our problems!" Trollver proclaimed.

"Yeah!" Trollamor grinned as he flicked his ears. "We Trollcoys have some really great tech, and the Trollfields' old place has all the resources we could ever dream of!"

"So, we've decided that from now on, the Trollcoys and the Trollfields will no longer be at odds!" Trollver proclaimed with a clap of his hands. "We're going back to our old homes and banding together to bring them back to their former glory! Heck, we'll even invite a bunch of the other trolls who got roped into working for Kaos to come work for us, too! That'll really put a dent in his armor!"

Boomer smiled and made a starry-eyed gasp. "That's great news, you two!"

"And we wouldn't have gotten through to them if not for you and the kid's help! After all, that big fight seriously got everyone thinking and all," Trollamor proclaimed, "so thank you!"

Trollver and Trollamor both turned around, but not before they cast a look back at Boomer, Drobot, Trigger Happy and Hugo.

"We'd better get going." Trollamor winked as he waved back at the others. "We've got a lot of work to do!"

Before anyone could take a step more, however, the door behind them slammed open! All was quiet as every eye fixed on Whirlwind and Hex, but finally Hugo cleared his throat and broke the silence.

Hugo clasped his hands as he addressed Hex. "Is she…"

"She still has a long way to go," Hex replied with a firm nod, "but, the worst has passed. We were able to purge her of the corrupt magic, so she merely needs to recover from its physical effects."

Sighs of relief sounded off from everyone in the room, for no words could properly describe their solace any other way. True, she still had the long way to recovery, but at least the worst was over.

"Can we see her now?" Trigger Happy asked as he walked up to Hex and gave her the biggest puppy-dog eyes he could. "Can we? Can we?"

"I'm afraid not." Hex shook her head. "She's resting at the moment, and she needs every last bit of it if she wants to make a full recovery."

"Aww…" Trigger Happy pouted as he fell to the ground, but yelped as Hugo pulled him back to his feet.

"Well, now that we know she's okay, we should probably move on to the next matter," Hugo said as he held up the Eternal Tech Source's container, "adding this to the Core of Light!"

Gasps and approving nods were the backdrop as they all crowded together and walked down and out of the infirmary. The cool night air hit their faces, and provided them with a well-needed breather from the earlier tension as they all crowded around the Core's base.

"ATTENTION, EVERYONE!" Hugo proclaimed through a magically summoned loudspeaker that he quickly released once all eyes were on him. "It is time to return the Core of Light's next component!"

Everybody cheered as they swarmed around the Core, but Hugo paid no attention to the growing crowd as he lifted that same, worn book he used many times before and fingered through its pages. Once he reached his desired spot, Hugo cleared his throat and laid the Eternal Tech Source's container on the ground. With an announcer's volume and confidence, Hugo chanted out the Ancient Skylandian words written on the page, and as he did, the Eternal Tech Source glowed with a stronger orange light than before and leaped out of its container!

Now free of its bounds, the Eternal Tech Source rocketed straight towards the Core of Light and dove deep into the Core's depths. As it disappeared into the ground below, the Core was enveloped in an orange glow! The glow seeped into the Core's lower platform as the gears that spun within it grew shinier and brighter, like they were polished! While the gears got a cleaning, golden pipes shot out from the Core's sides and twisted around the twin flowers that flanked it as an armor of sorts.

"Something tells me we definitely made the right choice," Trollver whispered as he basked in the Core's upgraded beauty and held Trollamor close like lovers tended to do.

"Indeed," Trollamor whispered back as he planted a gentle kiss on Trollver's cheek.

The two of them nuzzled each other one last time as they relinquished their tender embrace, and walked hand-in-hand back to where their airship parked. As they boarded and the ship took liftoff, Boomer, Trigger Happy and Drobot all raced up to the side of the island and waved up to Trollver and Trollamor!

"Goodbye, Skylanders!" Trollver and Trollamor shouted in unison. "Thanks for everything!"

"Good luck restoring your homes!" Boomer shouted back.

"Yeah!" Trigger Happy exclaimed as he bounced up and down. "So much luck that not even a bunch of four-leaf clovers could compete!"

"If you need any help, do not hesitate to ask for aid!" Drobot added with a smile on his face.

And with that, they all smiled as Trollver and Trollamor's ship took flight and disappeared into the night sky.