The autumn breeze grew colder and more bitter as Flavius and the Skylanders drew closer to Dragon's Peak. Well, maybe—with how long they traveled, it felt like it would be an eternity until they got there, what with the scenery having blended together in everyone's minds. Even Flavius, with his impressive strength, started panting and heaving before he sat down on a small island and sighed. The island itself was comprised of hard earth and lacked any sort of grass, but it was a rest stop nonetheless.

"Let's rest here for a while, I'm exhausted," Flavius said as the others followed him onto the island’s surface.

As everybody paused to catch their breaths, Sonic Boom frowned and looked up at Flavius.

"Say, Flavius," she said as she scraped her paw against the island's surface. "What exactly happened at Dragon's Peak, anyways?"

Flavius winced and looked away in shame, and after a few minutes spent wallowing in reluctance, he heaved a sigh. His lips twitched and quivered like he really didn't want to talk, but seemed to steady as he bit them down.

"Guess I have to tell you that before we get here, huh?" Flavius frowned and scratched his chin. "Let's see, it all happened, Twinsday, I think? No, Twinsday was when we had sheep meat tacos. Mmm, sheep meat…"

Flavius drooled at the thought, but winced as Sunburn and Lightning Rod jumped out of his drool's path.

"Actually no, it happened last Skiesday!" Flavius cleared his throat and made the most serious look he could muster. "See, it all started when King Ramses' no-good brother Vathek got locked in the dungeons for trying to steal the throne again!"

Flavius whimpered and looked further away from Sonic Boom, Sunburn, Dark Spyro and Lightning Rod. "You see, King Ramses was watching over him for so long, and he seemed so weary, so I…" Flavius whimpered again and hung his head. "I, I, I did something awful, so horrendous, I can't possibly make up for it!"

All four of them gasped as Flavius sniffled, but winced as they looked among each other. Their eyes all held a might of shock, save for Sonic Boom who just gazed at Flavius with sympathy in her eyes instead.

"What is it, Flavius?" Sonic Boom asked as she flew up and gently stroked his back. "It's alright, you can tell us! We won't judge!"

"Are you sure?" Flavius sniffled and wiped his tears.

"Of course I wouldn't!" Sonic Boom soared up and wiped a few of Flavius's tears herself. "Everybody makes mistakes, and the sooner we find out, the sooner we'll be able to fix them!"

"Alright then… I, I, I…"

Tears formed in Flavius's eyes as his mouth trembled, and he buried his face in his paws.

"I TOOK KING RAMSES FOR A FLIGHT!"

Sunburn, Dark Spyro and Lightning Rod just dropped their jaws, and fell on their backs from the shock.

"That was the awful thing?" Dark Spyro sputtered as he pulled himself back to his paws.

"Ye, yeah," Flavius croaked as he made a shaky nod, "I just thought it would be nice to get some fresh air, stretch our wings and all, but when we got back, Vathek was completely gone!"

Flavius broke down in sobs for a few moments, but finally gulped back his tears and pulled himself to full height. "We sent our finest soldiers to search for him, but no matter where we looked, we couldn't find him at all!" Flavius's sorrow turned to rage as he bore a scowl. "That is, until he showed up again to take the throne back!"

Flavius turned around and stared at the skies, and shuddered like sudden cold had come down on him. "But, there was something different about him." Flavius shuddered yet again as he hung his head. "He had all these holes in his body, and this weird, ghostly feeling about him, and worse, he was stronger, too! It was like just being around him made us all feel sick!"

"Ghostly feeling?" Sunburn echoed to Dark Spyro. "Made everyone sick?"

"That's what I said." Flavius turned back around to the Skylanders and nodded. "Worse yet, he brought these strange guards with him! There was an elf, and a skeleton and some weird, living skull thing, and they were all purple and gray and evil all over too!"

"Those have to be Kaos's minions!" Sonic Boom whispered, her eyes wide.

"They were so powerful," Flavius said with completely obliviousness to the others' shock. "We didn't stand a chance! Before we knew it, Vathek seized the throne and turned everyone who tried to fight back into stone! I barely escaped by the skin of my scales—" Flavius grimaced as he rolled a rock off the island "—or however that saying goes."

Flavius sighed and mumbled something to himself as he laid down on the island, but while he went to brood, the Skylanders all huddled together with looks of determination on their faces.

"There's no denying it now. This has to be where the Eternal Undead Source is!" Sonic Boom whispered.

"And this Vathek guy has to be the one keeping it!" Dark Spyro reasoned.

"Guess we know what that means!" Sunburn smirked as he turned back to Flavius. "Come on, let's go have a talk with this Vathek creep!"

The Skylanders all resonated Sunburn's sentiment with cries of agreement, cries that seemed to lift Flavius's spirits as they pricked his ears.

"YEAH! We'll show Vathek who's the real boss here!" Flavius proclaimed as he jumped back into the skies and flew away. "Follow me!"

So, Sunburn, Dark, Sonic Boom and Lightning Rod all trailed after Flavius, and this time the flight was thankfully less tedious. It had only taken them a little bit before the floating rocks and clouds made way for a large island filled with carved dragon heads and massive stone sculptures. Surely, this had to be the place! And if that wasn't what tipped them off, then maybe the blank-eyed dragon guards dressed in spiky, bony armor that circled around the entrance in such massive numbers they practically crowded the entrance itself out were a dead giveaway.

"Ugh, great," Dark Spyro groaned as he overlooked the guards, "looks like we've got company!"

However, Flavius didn't seem nearly as worried as Dark did! In fact, he had a big grin on his face as he leaned in and got ready to fly off.

"Don't worry, these guys are friendly!" Flavius proclaimed as he zoomed off. "They're my fellow guards, so I'm sure they'll let us in!"

Dark Spyro, however, just winced as he looked over the guards. "I don't know about that, they look kind of…"

"HEY GUYS! IT'S ME, FLAVIUS!"

Dark Spyro just sighed and shook his head. There was no way this was going to end well…

"Wait, what do you mean you don't know who I am, Qeolber? I'm Flavius, you know? Fellow knight, brother in arms, eggs from a different nest? Is this because I accidentally ate your sheep meat taco on Taco Twinsday?"

Dark grimaced as Flavius rambled on about something to both of the guards. The guards just looked at each other, promptly slammed their tails into Flavius, and sent him soaring away so fast that Dark barely dodged him!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA," Flavius wailed as he flew back into the open skies, "WAIT A SECOND, I CAN FLY!" Flavius promptly stopped himself and shook his head as he sighed. "Guess talking to them didn't work."

"Now what?" Sunburn asked as he and the others all flew up to Flavius and took a glance back at the guards, "There's no way we can fight our way past them, and they're stationed at practically every angle!" Sunburn raised his eyebrows and looked back at Dark Spyro. "Unless…"

"Hey, why're you looking at me funny?" Dark asked as he tilted his head and ran his claws between his fangs. "Do I have something in my teeth?"

"Dark, you're good… Ish, with magic, right?" Sunburn flitted up to Dark Spyro and lifted one of Dark's paws. "Can you disguise us as those guards?"

"'Fraid not." Dark Spyro firmly shook his head. "I'm no good at fancy magic spells and disguises—" Dark grinned as he whipped out a pair of goofy novelty glasses, with the big nose and bushy mustaches and all "—unless you like these!"

Dark grinned as everyone else sighed and shook their heads, save for a perfectly confused Flavius who just frowned instead.

"Well, it's worth a shot!" Flavius said as he plucked the glasses out of Dark's paws, placed them on his muzzle and giggled as the eyes popped out on dangling silver springs. "Plus, these glasses are really funny!"

While Flavius chuckled and toyed with the springy eyes, Sunburn just sighed and nudged Dark's shoulder. "Well, I guess we don't have any better ideas," Sunburn said as he turned to Dark. "Lay it on us, Dark Spyro!"

"And watch the beard!" Lightning Rod shouted from the back, oblivious to how everyone else rolled their eyes beside him.

Dark whipped out several more pairs of prank glasses, stuck them on everyone's faces in one swift movement, and grinned as he popped a pair on his own face. With everyone firmly disguised, they all swooped back up to the entrance, the tension thick as the guards laid their eyes on Dark Spyro while Dark himself cleared his throat.

"Hello, I'm from 'Totally Not the Skylanders in Disguise' Inc," Dark started as the guards' eyes started to widen, "and we're here to give you the opportunity—"

"INTRUDERS!" wailed the guards. "SECURE THE PERIMETER!"

Dark’s group froze and got ready to attack, but they didn't even need to—the guards just flew right by them without even a moment's hesitation! Well, that was one way to get rid of unwanted guards.

Dark chuckled as he took off his glasses and beamed towards the others. "I can't believe that actually worked!"

"Neither do I," Lightning Rod remarked as he shook his head, lifted himself tall and beamed, "but nonetheless, the perfect chance has presented itself! We must make haste!"

They all flew into the open doorway that the guards abandoned with no hesitation, fully expectant of maybe some decay or something—but what they were greeted with was even worse than expected! Dragon's Peak was always depicted as a lush, beautiful land with crystals clear streams and impeccable architecture in books and scrolls, but now it just looked like a wasteland! The dull, brown earth was cold, hard, and only decorated by a few withered flowers and some large bones that stuck out from the earth; the waterfalls turned from clear water to sickly green and purple sludge, and no sort of life could be found. Well, unless one counted the skeletal dragonets and zombie-like gremlins that occasionally lurked across the earth.

"This is Dragon's Peak?" Sunburn exclaimed as his jaw completely dropped. "This can't be right!"

"I'm afraid it is," Flavius whimpered with a nod of his head. "This is what that awful Vathek did to our home!"

Solemn silence as cold as the earth beneath their feet took over their conversation, for with such awful sights, nobody could make the words. Not even Lightning Rod, haughty and confident as he usually was, could bring himself to smile! So, they all just watched the world around in a bit of solemn mourning…

But finally, Sonic Boom shook her head and puffed out her chest.

"There's no use sitting around and sulking," Sonic Boom reasoned. "Once we stop this Vathek and retrieve the Eternal Undead Source, we'll turn this whole place back to normal!" Sonic Boom winced and looked aside. "Wherever it is, anyways…"

Sonic Boom froze as buzzing pricked her ears, and pressed herself against the ground as a barrage of bony stingers flew right over her and tore through a dead tree!

"But first," Sonic Boom said as she pulled herself up as a pack of Dragonet skeletons guided by zombie gremlin riders pour in, "we should probably take care of the guards!"

Dark Spyro grinned and leaped to the front of the pack, all while purple flames crackled at his lips. "I'll take care of these guys!" Dark proclaimed as he opened his jaws wide and shot off a round of flaming purple fireballs. "LIGHTS OUT!"

Dark's fireballs crashed into the dragonet swarm and enveloped them in a bright purple bonfire, all while both the dragonets and their zombie gremlin riders cried out in agony. They flared up in the midst of a gigantic explosion, and forced everyone to shield themselves! Dark grinned as he turned back to the swarm, but when the smokes cleared, his face quickly faltered. While the gremlins were nowhere to be seen, their dragonets, while a little crispy, were still raring to go!

"Oh come on!"

Dark frowned a very tired frown, knelt down and charged after them, but they just shot their stingers right towards him as he drew closer! Dark gasped and veered off course as the first few stingers narrowly grazed him, and stumbled back as several more slammed into the ground where he once stood, while even more shot right towards him!

The stingers came in quick, but before Dark could get stung, Sunburn teleported in front of Dark and burned up the stingers with a flamethrower! That flamethrower powered through the ashes of what was once the dragonet's stingers and slammed right into the dragonets themselves. The dragonets cried out for moments, and zoomed out of the fire, now flaming hot with fury—literally!

As the dragonets flew forward, Sonic Boom flew up and met them halfway with a scream that blew them out like birthday candles! As the dragonets tumbled backwards in mid-air, a gigantic thunderclap sounded off while a large bolt of thunder shocked them down! The dragonets squealed out a few pained noises as they crash-landed and wriggled about on their backs, but Lightning Rod only scoffed as he floated up to them and crossed his arms.

"Dragonets, what a pain," Lightning Rod muttered as he shocked them once more just to be safe. "They're only good for pulling chariots!"

As the dragonets finally fell silent, Lightning Rod wiped his hands clean and floated off, but he didn't seem nearly as cheery and full of himself as he usually did. Rather, he just hung his head low as he groaned and placed a hand on his forehead. For that matter, a look around showed that everybody else hung their heads and winced, their faces a little pale like they had gotten sick. But, they all pulled themselves up and tried to shake it off.

Lightning Rod frowned, ruffled his wavy hair, and pulled himself up as something tapped his shoulder.

"I'm fine, there's no need to be concerned," Lightning Rod denied as he turned around his head, "in fact, I'm the pinnacle of health and fitness! You—" Lightning Rod frowned and turned around as he saw that nobody was behind him "—who's there?"

Lightning Rod turned around as a buzzing sound echoed, and found himself face-to-face with one of the dragonets he shocked earlier! Though it was still charred and rife with static, it was amazingly still kicking, and it wasn't happy at all judging by the way it narrowed its eyes!

"You again!" Lightning Rod exclaimed with a snarl. "You pests just don't know when to quit!" Lightning Rod wound up his arm as he heaved heavy pants. "Luckily, all it takes is one strike from me, and you're—"

However, just as Lightning Rod went to throw his punch, the dragonet flew out of the way and slapped Lightning Rod in the back with its tail! It giggled as Lightning Rod fell to the floor, but Lightning Rod did not seem as amused as he got up and snarled back at it.

"You insolent little worm!" Lightning Rod exclaimed as he brushed off his beard. "How dare you attempt to scrape my perfect face? You'll pay for that!"

Lightning Rod jumped up and threw out a round of lightning bolts, but the moment they left his palmsm they just fizzled out in a flash of light! Normally he'd probably have been more concerned, but he looked so ill that it seemed like keeping himself upright was enough of a challenge!

The dragonet giggled as it readied its stinger, but before it could fire, a soft screech pricked its ears and turned it around. There, an equally-dizzy Sonic Boom staggered and stumbled on all four paws as she cracked her beak open.

"You, you'll stop right there," Sonic Boom warned as she lowered her head and shuddered, "once I, I get this headache taken care of…"

"Sonic, you alright?" Dark Spyro asked as he prodded over to Sonic Boom and nudged her head, but stopped as something just barely pulled him away.

"Let her rest, Dark, she's not," Sunburn sputtered as he hiccuped out a few wisps of fire, "feeling good…"

Sunburn forced a tiny snarl as he turned back to the dragonet (which now looked incredibly confused and bored), opened his beak and got ready to fire. Before he could, a gigantic fireball rained down from above and burnt the dragonet to a crisp!

Sunburn raised an eyebrow, and made a weak smile as Flavius beamed down at them.

"Guess that's taken care of." Sunburn stumbled over to Flavius, sat down and held his forehead. "Alright, Flavius," Sunburn panted, his voice a bit more hoarse than before. "Where do we find, this Vathek dude?"

Flavius, however, just gave Sunburn a concerned look.

"Are you sure you're ready to go?" Flavius asked. "You like kind of, how do I say this nicely?" Flavius hummed and tapped his chin. "Super duper bad?"

"Er, no, we're fine!" Dark said with a bit more energy compared to the others, though he still seemed kind of tired as his eyelids drooped up and down. "We could take on that Vathek dude—"

"THERE THEY ARE!" shouted a ghastly voice from a good ways across. "THE INTRUDERS! GET THEM!"

Flavius gasped as he whipped his head around, and frantically swept Sunburn, Dark, Lightning Rod and Sonic Boom off the ground and onto his back.

"Hold that thought, actually! We've got company!" Flavius exclaimed as he jumped off the ground. "Looks like it's time it go!"

With a mighty flap of his wings, Flavius soared off the ground with no sort of attention paid to the others' screams, and rocketed straight into the skies above! Once he was safely out of sight, Flavius swooped back down and flew across the endless dead fields. Not that anybody other than Flavius paid any mind to this; they were far too busy trying their hardest to cling to Flavius's back while also managing their weird bout of weakness.

"None of you would happen to be undead, would you?" Flavius asked as he looked back at Dark.

Dark Spyro shook his head and hopped up.

"Sunburn's fire, Sonic and Rod are air," Dark Spyro explained before he frowned and looked down at his paws, "I'm not sure about myself, I mean, I was cloned from a purple dragon, but he just kinda hangs around the magic dudes and I, well…"

"D'oh, why didn't I think of that earlier?" Flavius shook his head. "You probably can't handle all this weird undead magic!"

"Heh, yeah," Sunburn piped up from the back, "guess we forgot about all that." Sunburn tilted his head and frowned. "Hey, you don't look very dead either. How are you doing fine?"

"I'm not," Flavius beamed as he leaned down, "and I'll show you why! Hold on to your hats!"

They all gulped and prepared to scream as Flavius swept down and rushed forward, but thankfully this trip quickly dropped them off at a nearby island, and hey, for a moment things actually felt less dead! In fact, these things weren't! The entire area around them was full of fancy, well-polished marble statues, lush, green grass, crystal-clear pools and waterfalls and most importantly, villages!

"This is one of the few parts of the island that Vathek hasn't taken yet," Flavius explained as he stepped forward, "and where I got my undead stopper thingamabobber!"

"Undead what now?" Dark Spyro asked as he hopped off Flavius's back and looked up.

"Just follow me!"

As Flavius walked off, Lightning Rod, Sunburn and Sonic Boom all jumped off his back and stretched. Seems as though being away from all that undead energy was quick to revitalize them! So, they all followed Flavius down the village way and to a simple, kind of unassuming magenta cloth tent decorated with stitched stars and moons. Flavius smiled as he draped open the tent's cloth door with his own wings and ushered them inside. The Skylanders all shrugged and stumbled inside, but paused and gasped at the sights!

For such a small-looking tent, it was a lot bigger on the inside! The walls were the same pinkish-purple colored velvet that the outside was, and homed fancy wooden shelves full of crystals and potions and all sorts of other magic artifacts while glowing star and moon stickers stuck tight to the cloth ceiling. In the center, an aged-looking green and yellow dragon with a long white beard and faded scales rested on a soft-looking straw nest, while a gangly, younger-looking dragon with magenta and silver scales who dressed in dark purple wizard robes drew a blanket over the elderly dragon.

"Oh, Sir Flavius! You've returned with the Skylanders!" the dragon wizard exclaimed as they rushed over and examined Dark, Sunburn, Sonic Boom and Lightning Rod. "They don't seem particularly undead, however."

"Yeah, yeah, Merlinus, they're not undead!" Flavius shook his head and gazed over at the aging dragon beside them, "How's His Majesty doing?"

"Better. He's accepted my vitalization potions quickly, and all that's left to do is let him rest." Merlinus turned back to their shelves of potions and other magical knick-knacks. "He's honestly lucky you found him at the time you did! At his age, had he been trapped in that statue spell any longer—" Merlinus shuddered "—I can't imagine what would have become of him."

Flavius didn't seem very relieved, however. He just whimpered and sucked on his lip as he looked aside.

"Now, don't give me that face," Merlinus scolded despite the fact that they hadn't peeled themself away from their potion shelf. "You had no idea that Vathek was going to break out, none of us did. All we can do now is try to stop him." Merlinus snorted out a puff of magical smoke as they rummaged through an old box. "Now, where did I put those…" Merlinus grinned as they fished something out of the box. "A-ha!"

Merlinus turned to Sunburn, Dark, Sonic Boom, and Lightning Rod, tossed the objects right at them. The four of them caught the strange objects without even flinching and gave them a quick look-over. They were all simple, silver amulets with round, polished onyxes in their center, but what were they for?

"If you Skylanders want to make it anywhere past the front gates, you'll need these pendants," Merlinus explained as they looked down at the four of them. "They absorb the undead energy around you and keep it from affecting your own body. A sort of barrier, if you will."

"Nice!" Dark Spyro chirped as he propped his own pendant on his shoulder. "Now we won't have to worry about finding our way around!"

"I wouldn't say that for certain." Merlinus frowned and twitched their snout. "These amulets aren't the most powerful, so there's only so much they can take. If they absorb too much energy, they'll shatter completely and leave you defenseless. You'll have to be careful."

"Fear not, humble dragon! With my skills, something as meager as a time limit is hardly an issue!" Lightning Rod proclaimed as he proceeded to flex his arms. "After all, my speed is unmatched, my abilities are top-notch, and not to mention my muscles are absolutely impeccable!"

Dark Spyro gagged and looked towards Sunburn as Lightning Rod kissed his biceps.

"He's doing that thing again," Dark Spyro whined as Sunburn patted him on the back.

"Just let him get it over with," Sunburn replied with a solemn nod.

"Now, these muscles aren't just for show!" Lightning Rod rambled to a very confused Merlinus, who only gave him a blank stare. "It's because of them that I've become Olympic champion fifty times in a row, winning gold in every sport that dares to challenge me—"

"You can brag about your gold medals after the mission is over, Lightning Rod," Sonic Boom scolded as she grabbed Lightning Rod by the arm and pulled him away, with only a moment of pause taken to give Merlinus a polite nod. "Thank you for your time, I promise, we'll—"

"THEY'RE HERE!" cried a dragon from far outside the tent as the sounds of crashing and stomping feet shook the ground outside!

The Skylanders and Flavius dashed out of the tent in an instant, but quickly hissed and stepped back. There ahead of them, those undead dragon guards flooded into the village, and with them came the same ruin and desecration that befell the rest of Dragon's Peak! The village dragons screamed and ran away as the guard dragons flew in, but Sunburn and Dark Spyro just shared knowing looks with each other.

"I'd say this is the perfect time to test these babies out!" Sunburn remarked as he tapped a claw against his amulet.

"I couldn't agree more!" Dark Spyro replied as he flew up and away towards the town square with Sunburn close behind!

The two of them were immediately intercepted by two large dragon guards who hit them with a combined, greenish-purple pillar of flame breath, but Sunburn and Dark Spyro were quick to fight the guards' flames with their own! The two flame bursts struggled against each other, neither one willing to relent, but finally Sunburn and Dark Spyro's prevailed and got ready to singe the guards!

All save for one, who rolled away from the flames and snarled as it eyed Dark Spyro and Sunburn. Before the flames could singe the other guards, however, the one guard that got away slammed into Sunburn and Dark Spyro both and knocked them aside, right as the guards' combined flames rocketed into the ground below and set it alight! Dark and Sunburn both groaned, pulled themselves off the ground, and glared down the guards as those guards got ready to charge again. Two can play at that game! While the guards flew closer, Sunburn teleported away in a burst of flame while Dark jumped into the shadows and vanished!

"Over here, scales for brains!" Sunburn proclaimed as he jumped out of the flame pillar and extinguished it within an instant. "Or not!"

Right before the guards could fly again, Sunburn teleported on top of a now-withered tree, dashed away and teleported in midair as one of the dragon guards rammed into it! Sunburn paused for a moment and caught a breather, but grinned as he saw a faintly draconic figure give him a thumbs up from the shadows! Down below, the guards already recovered and chased after him, but this time, Sunburn wasn't going to run! Instead, he jumped off the roof, coated himself in flames and became a flaming comet that slammed right into them!

The guards all bumped back into each other one by one, and while they reeled in midair, their shadows down below shuddered and grew spikes! Those shadows spiked up and stabbed the guards in the back, literally! The guards all cried and fell into one big, tired pile, while Sunburn just flew down and smiled as Dark Spyro crept out from the shadows and shook.

But, Dark and Sunburn unfortunately didn't have a lot of time to bask in their hard work, for a scream from one of the nearby dragons showed that even more guards were pouring in! These guards looked just as strong as the few before them, and if taking care of those three was bad enough, surely they couldn't imagine taking all of them on at once!

The village dragons all stampeded off in a big, hasty crowd, all while a few tried to bring some order to the chaos, though they weren't able to garner much attention. At least, not until Flavius flew between the guard dragons and civilians and caught everyone's eyes!

"I'll take care of getting everyone out of here!" Flavius proclaimed as he flared his wings and looked back at the Skylanders. "Head for the hills and go to Crystal Falls! I'll meet you later!"

Lightning Rod scowled as he looked back at the guards like he was still ready to fight, but Sonic Boom grabbed him by the hand and dragged him over to Dark Spyro and Sunburn.

"Don't even try it, Lightning Rod!" Sonic Boom shouted back. "There's too many of them for us to take on! Like it or not, we have to go!"

Lightning Rod muttered something under his breath, but nonetheless receded as all four of them made their way up the hills that surely lead to these Crystal Falls Flavius spoke of. Before they could pass, two more dragon guards swooped down right in front of their path and snarled!

"We'll take care of these guys!" Sonic Boom proclaimed as she and Lightning Rod leaned forward.

Sonic Boom flicked her wings, and out from them came a trio of griffin eggs that splattered across the ground and released tiny griffin triplets! The triplets giggled as they flew around the guards, nipped at the guards' snouts, and screamed in the guards' ears, all while the guards themselves tried to bat them away like flies. The griffin chicks all stuck their tongues out at the guards and flew off!

The guards tried to make haste, but before they could even take more than one step forward, a gigantic thunderbolt struck them where they stood! That electric shock was only amplified by the metal of their armor, which conducted the shock through their whole bodies until they both fell unconscious! Well, that was one problem solved, but, another one formed in its midst!

"They're blocking the way," Sonic Boom sighed as she looked over the guards, who unintentionally created a barrier so tall that it was well past flying over. "Give us a minute."

Sonic Boom took a few breaths in and out, and let out a mighty screech amplified by a thunderclap courtesy of Lightning Rod! The impact was so great that it blew the guards right up the hill and well past the path ahead!

"Wow, even I didn't know I could scream like that," Sonic Boom remarked, her voice a bit hoarse as she collected her eggs and tucked them under her wing, but not before she gave the eggs a gentle nudge and a kind gaze. "I'm so proud of you!"

With everything taken care of, the four of them all looked at each other and stormed up the hill.

§

Chihiro frowned as she looked over the cards she had amassed from her prior rolls. It was all typical fantasy objects and stuff: boots with wings on their soles, wizard hats in a menagerie of colors and patterns, tough-looking steel armor… But how could she play them to nab a win? Chihiro thumped her foot like a rabbit as she tried to think, and yet, nothing seemed to come to her!

"Child, are you going to roll or not?" the holographic Eon asked as it crossed its arms.

Chihiro turned around and huffed at the holographic Eon, looked down at her open hand and frowned the die manifest within her palm. She winced, shook her hand and rolled to find that she got a six! Nice! Chihiro skipped to the six spaces, and jumped up as the board flashed with golden light.

"TREASURE HUNT SCENARIO," cried that mechanical announcer voice again, "ACTIVATED!"

Once again, the board shifted in appearances from the whimsical children's board game aesthetic to an old western town like she saw in those old-timey movies. Worn wooden buildings and tumbleweeds littered the streets, and in the distance, she could hear what sounded like…

"HELP!" cried a voice that was unmistakably Hugo's!

"Hugo!" Chihiro exclaimed as she raced down the dust-covered streets. "I'm coming!"

Hugo's voice grew closer and closer as Chihiro ran and kicked up dust clouds along the way, and it sounded even more frantic as well! When the dust finally cleared, she found not just Hugo, but Flynn and Cali as well. They all dressed in old western clothes like cowboy hats and fringed vests, all while some bandits on strong-looking horses who were armed and ready to rob held them up!

Chihiro instinctively jumped in front of Flynn, Hugo and Cali, her arms wide as she got ready for any potential blows, but she lowered her arms in shock as she examined the bandits.

"Trigger Happy?" Chihiro sputtered as the bandits lowered guns loaded with something white and soft-looking. "Zap? Wrecking Ball? What are you three doing?"

"Chihiro! It's you!" Trigger Happy exclaimed as he bounced in his seat and waved at Chihiro. "Hi hi! Do you see me? I'm a cowboy now, just like I always wanted to be!" Trigger Happy frantically shook his whole body and pouted. "Wait a second, what am I doing? I can't break character right now!"

Trigger Happy cleared his throat and held up his gun. "Alright, everyone! Give me all the treasure you've got, or I'll MARSHMALLOW YOU!"

"Yeah!" Zap and Wrecking Ball chimed in as they held up their marshmallow guns the best they could.

Well, seemed as though Trigger Happy at least remembered who he was—perhaps there was some reasoning to be had with him.

"C'mon Trig, this is ridiculous!" Chihiro scoffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Now, drop the marshmallow guns and get off those horses! I don't think you even know how to ride—"

"DING DING! MARSHMALLOW TIME!"

Chihiro gasped and ducked as a marshmallow flew over her head. It slammed into the tin walls of the buildings behind, and followed up with a storm of even more high-velocity marshmallows! Flynn, Cali and Hugo seemed just as concerned as she was, given that they immediately tried to storm off, only for Zap and Wrecking Ball to corner them!

"TRIGGER HAPPY!" Chihiro exclaimed as she ducked under another waves of marshmallows. "COOL IT WITH THE MARSHMALLOWS!"

"Can't stop, won't stop! I'm living the cowboy dream!"

Chihiro winced, rummaged through the card deck she had stashed away and pulled out that armor suit card! That's just what she needed right about now! Chihiro grinned as she hastily rubbed the card, and lurched up as it evaporated into magic and swirled around her! That magic soon solidified into a full-fledged suit of armor that completely covered her from head to toe! Though the metal burned a bit against the scorching desert sun and was a tad bit heavy, it did well to protect her from Trigger Happy's reign of marshmallow terror, as every marshmallow he shot just bounced off of her like a, well, marshmallow!

"Uh oh," Trigger Happy said as he drew back his marshmallow gun with wide eyes.

Chihiro smirked, pulled out her card deck and fingered through what else she had; surely there had to be something that could finish this quick! The cards all had a variety of objects on them—potions, wands, hats…

"Wait, what would I use a hat for in a time like this?" Chihiro asked aloud as she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at the cards! She continued to shuffled through the cards as the sound of running horses became a faint noise in the distance…

"GET AWAY FROM US, YOU FIENDS!" Flynn cried in the distance.

Crap! In her haste to find the perfect card, Chihiro completely forgot about the issue at hand! She turned back around, and once again, the bandits had Flynn, Cali and Hugo backed into a corner! She went to run, but turned around as the sounds of tunneling reached her ears. Tunneling, who would be tunneling here?

The holographic Eon, apparently! It stormed forwards on rocket-powered boots, ready to swoop in and steal the win!

Chihiro winced as her gaze bounced between the holographic Eon and the bandits, but finally settled on her cards. What was she supposed to do? If she stopped it, she might not be able to save Hugo, Flynn and Cali in time, but if she went after them, surely that stupid holograph would beat her to the punch! Chihiro winced as she glazed over her cards once more. There were hat cards, bubble cards, brick wall spell cards… Wait, a brick wall spell? Chihiro plucked that card out from the deck, raised an eyebrow, and turned her attention to a wand card a few cards away from where the wall once sat in her deck.

She gingerly plucked the wand card out as well, paused and held it up to eye level. "'When used in tandem with another card,'" Chihiro read. "'This card expands the first card's effect to an entire five-mile radius.'"

Chihiro dashed up to the bandits and held the cards tight. This was just what she needed!

"Hey, you guys! Over here!" Chihiro shouted as she waved her armored hands in the air. "Bet'cha can't get me!"

The bandits all turned around from harassing Flynn, Cali and Hugo, looked back to Chihiro and glared. They whipped out their marshmallow guns and stormed right towards her, but as they ran, they were completely oblivious to Chihiro's subtle rub of the cards in her hand! Right as they were within range, a gigantic brick wall formed around them and completely walled them off from everyone outside! On top of that, a soft thunk could be heard from outside followed by some grumbles. Seems as though that holograph would be no problem here!

The bandits all looked around in shock, and shot a glare towards Chihiro as they whipped out their marshmallow guns, but Chihiro just grinned and puffed out her chest! They shot out all the marshmallows their guns had to offer, but before they could hit her, Chihiro whipped out a shield from the back of her armor suit and threw it in front of her person! The marshmallows bounced off the shield and ricocheted right back at the bandits with such force that it flung them right into the brick wall! They grunted as they slid down, but they didn't seem any worse for wear given that they jumped back up immediately and whipped out their guns once more!

"That trick, again?" Chihiro asked as she flung the marshmallows back at them with her shield. "You guys really are one-trick ponies, huh?"

Chihiro scoffed as they rammed back into their spots in the walls, but they were oddly persistent! Every time she slammed them back, they just jumped back into the fray and got back to shooting! Now that she looked back, those dents they had formed into the wall were getting oddly big…

"Bandit McBanditson," Zap groaned as he held a webbed paw over his head. "Are you sure this is a good plan? My head's hurting…"

"You're supposed to address me as your fearless leader!" Trigger Happy shot back. "And it's a perfect escape plan! Bandit number two thinks so!" Trigger Happy turned back to Wrecking Ball and grinned. "Right, bandit number two?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Wrecking Ball replied as he bounced up and down. "Destroying things is fun!"

"Wait, plan?" Chihiro shouted as she looked back to Trigger Happy, who looked just as shocked as she did.

"Wait, did I say that out loud?" Trigger Happy exclaimed as he slapped his furry hands over his mouth, "Morget I maid manything, mhere's no plan mhere!"

Chihiro winced as her eyes trailed over the large cracks that formed in her brick wall; some of which already crumbled and beamed out soft sunlight. That's it, she needed a change of plans, but what? Her cards don't really have many good effects. Chihiro winced and dodged a marshmallow as she skimmed over her current selection. Wizard hat, no, speed boots, nada, bubble potion… The bubble potion, yes!

Chihiro grinned as she sneaked that card out, held it tight within her grasp, and turned her attention back to the bandits, who whipped out their marshmallow guns and scowled. As they fired another round of marshmallows at her, Chihiro whipped out her shield and swatted the marshmallows away like baseballs! Not only that, but the wind she created was so intense that it didn't just blow away those marshmallows—it blew the bandits right into the wall once again!

As they slunk down and groaned, Chihiro ran up to them and withdrew the bubble potion card. With a few quick finger rubs on her end, that card vanished into a puff of light and replaced itself with a simple glass potion bottle that held an ocean blue liquid which bubbled and popped with every swish. Oh yes, she had a very good idea on what to use this for! Chihiro gingerly uncorked the bottle, leaned forward and poured it right on top of the bandits' heads! Of course, this sudden splash of water was enough to immediately bring them back to their senses, but that wouldn't really matter right now!

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" Trigger Happy exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. "I'm not gonna be late for bandit school, I swear!" Trigger Happy blinked for a few moments, paused and pulled his hat off. He took a sniff, and frowned as he spun his hat around in his hands. "Why does my hat smell like soap?"

POP!

Right before Trigger Happy could get an answer, a gigantic bubble appeared out of nowhere and snapped him right up! Not just him, either—Zap and Wrecking Ball were completely caught too! Trigger Happy gasped and pounded his fists against the bubble, but it was no use! It was too strong for him to break! He could only shout in inaudible confusion and pout as he, Zap and Wrecking Ball flew across the horizon…

"Sorry for this, guys!" Chihiro shouted as she waved to them. "It's just to get you out of this game!"

Chihiro frowned as they flew out of her sight, perked up and turned around as the sound of something receding into the ground hit her ears. While she was busy apologizing, her wall spell completely dropped, and Flynn, Cali and Hugo all ran up to her!

"Thank you kindly for saving us," Cali said as she grabbed Chihiro's hand and went to shake it, yelped and let go from its hot touch. "Yeowch, that's one scorching suit!"

"Yeah, armor suits aren't really made for places like these," Chihiro chuckled as she scratched her head, shook it and beamed back at Cali, "but, it's no problem! It's just what I do!"

"Nevertheless, we can't let you just go empty-handed when you saved us like you did," Hugo said as he pulled out something shiny and gold from his pocket. "Here, take this! Consider it a token of our thanks!"

Chihiro gasped as Hugo urged for her to kneel, so she did, and then perked her head up as a small weight drooped around her neck! She looked down, and shiny, gold medallion with a beautiful teardrop-shaped sapphire in its center hung from her neck! Chihiro beamed as she stood up and gently toyed with the medallion as a faint dinging noise echoed across the desert sands!

"SIMULATION… COMPLETE!" beeped the mechanical announcer as a bright, golden light poured through the old desert town.

As the light lifted, the western world around relented in favor of the board game world before!

Chihiro grinned as she fiddled with her amulet, turned around to the holographic Eon and beamed. "See? I'm catching up!" Chihiro proclaimed as she placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

But, the holographic Eon didn't seem particularly impressed. It just rolled the dice and passed Chihiro by.

"Don't get too cocky, child," the holographic Eon warned as he stepped on a treasure space, received a card from Dino-Rang, and shot Chihiro a glare. "The real fight has just begun, after all."

Chihiro made a wary frown as the dice manifested back in her hand, but nonetheless she rolled them and moved on forward.