Sonic Boom panted as she bolted forwards, and finally flopped down the grass and breathed a sigh of relief as the sounds of screaming and combat became nothing more than a faint echo in the distance.

"Those guards are long gone," she said as she took a few more breathes and stood up. "We should be safe now."

Sonic Boom gave the path behind them a bit of a concerned stare, and for a moment, she began to walk back, but stopped as Sunburn laid a wing on her shoulder.

"He'll be fine, Sonic. He seems like a tough guy," Sunburn reassured as Sonic Boom looked up at him. "Besides, if we're gonna do anything for him right now, we need to get the Eternal Undead Source and fix this place."

Sonic Boom seemed a little hesitant still, but the oddly kind look in Sunburn's eyes reassured her enough to go forwards. So, she flew ahead and lead them all through the Crystal Falls…

Or at least, what they thought were the Crystal Falls, because in all honesty, it really did not live up to the name. The water was a gungy purplish-green in color and sputtered out like sewage while bones and waste floated in the depths, the grass was completely dead with only gray stone underfoot, and worse of all, parts of skeletons poked out from the ground andpaired with dead tumbleweeds and rotted flowers! The whole place looked like a nightmare brought to life! At the same time, its appearance brought more sorrow than fear. Surely, it used to be so beautiful…

Sonic Boom frowned as she examined the fields, but looked away as something shook against her heart with such intensity that it ruffled her feathers.

"It's alright, dears," Sonic Boom cooed as she stroked her shaking eggs, "don't worry. Mom's right here, there's nothing to be scared of."

However, Sonic Boom's kind smile faded fairly quickly, as if the words she just spoke didn't reassure her any more than they did her still-shaking chicks. She sighed as she continued to stroke them, but soon she flicked her ears and looked aside.

"I can hear sizzling," Sonic Boom whispered as she narrowed her eyes, "someone's here!"

Right as Sonic Boom said that, a gigantic bomb soared over the horizon with a fuse just inches away from blowing and taking them all with it! Sonic Boom leaned forward and got ready to fly, but before she did, Lightning Rod soared up and sent the bomb flying across the horizon with one strong punch!

"Who threw that? Show yourself this instant!" Lightning Rod demanded as his whole body crackled with static, while his hair flew it just enough to make him seem more intimidating…

At least, to anyone who wasn't the bomb's owner! The Skylanders heard no cries for mercy, or begs or pleas—instead, all they heard was giggling from the cliff's shadows, which they all fixed their eyes on. The giggling grew louder and louder, and out from those shadows came a gremlin ghost flanked by an entire colony of skeletal dragonets!

"Looks like we've got company!" Dark Spyro shouted as he grinned and lowered his horns. "Guess that means it's time for me to lead the charge!"

The dragons turned their eyes to Dark Spyro, who in turn eyed Sonic Boom. The two of them shared a nod, and Sonic Boon let out an intense screech loud enough to shake the dragonets in place in mere seconds!

When the dragonets opened their eyes, Dark Spyro was completely gone! The dragonets looked at each other as they buzzed in confusion, turned around and shrieked as Dark Spyro leaped out from one dragonet's shadow and blew them all down with dark fire! The dragonets smacked into the ground as they twitched and burned with bright purple fire for moments. With a hiss, they pulled themselves back up and sent flaming stingers towards the Skylanders!

Sonic Boom and Dark Spyro both flew out the way, while Lightning Rod was quick to duck as well. However, Sunburn didn't seem nearly as concerned as the stingers missed and crashed into the ground below.

"Maybe we should fight fire with fire!" Sunburn remarked as he flared his wings and shot a fireball directly at one of the dragonets!

All at once, the dragonets locked eyes on Sunburn and flew towards him while hissing like mad, but right before they could get him, Sunburn teleported behind them and tackled them while coated in flames! The extra fire not only looked pretty as it spread to the dragonets and burned bright, but it completely incinerated their bony bodies! With all those burns, all they could do was fall back down and twitch in pain!

Sunburn settled back down and casually rolled the dragonets aside with a grin and a push of his wing, but jolted up and teleported away as a bomb shot down and exploded where he once stood!

That ghostly gremlin was still around in the shadows, and cackled ever-so-contently as it juggled its spectral bombs. Worse yet, right behind it was another stream of dragonets!

"Whoops, forgot about that thing," Sunburn hissed.

Sunburn reappeared beside Sonic Boom and Dark Spyro, but pursed his beak as Lightning Rod flew ahead and grinned. The gremlin immediately launched its bombs at Lightning Rod, but Lightning Rod just crafted a gigantic lightning bolt and gripped it like a baseball bat!

"Time to play ball!" Lightning Rod proclaimed as the bombs soared towards him!

With his grip held tight around his lightning baseball bat, Lightning Rod swung away at the bombs and sent them flying back at the ghostly gremlin—or so it seemed. The gremlin immediately ducked in full anticipation of an explosion, perked up and looked around as it realized that the bombs hadn't hit it! It jeered and stuck its tongue out at Lightning Rod, but tossed forward as something exploded behind it! The gremlin grunted as it looked back to find the charred, twitching remains of the dragonet swarm behind it, gasped and let out panicked gibberish as it reached for its bombs. However, it received nothing but thin air!

As Lightning Rod bellowed out proud laughter, the gremlin grimaced and ran off, but every which way it ran, it was completely cornered by Sonic Boom's hatchlings!

"Alright, kids!" Sonic Boom smirked. "Just like we rehearsed!"

"Alright, mom!" the griffin chicks chirped back with the most mischievous grins on their faces!

The gremlin fell down and scurried away, but by then, it was too late! Sonic Boom unleashed a mighty screech which only amplified from the shrill shrieks of her children, and it was so intense that it blew all their foes away! The gremlin took a nosedive into the gungy waterfall beside them, while the dragonets left scattered from Lightning Rod's earlier spat crashed into walls, fell off cliffs, soared through the skies. Before they knew it, the entire area was completely cleansed of foes!

"Seems like our work here is done," Sonic Boom remarked as she wiped off her paws. "Let's get—"

Before Sonic Boom could finish speaking, the entire island rumbled and shook with such intensity that it completely drowned out her words! The cold ground shuddered and crackled, and the rivers splashed with a new kind of anger. Whatever was coming, it was going to be a doozy!

"Mom, look over there!" the griffin chicks cried as they looked across the horizon, shuddered and popped back into their eggs.

Sonic Boom rushed over and swept the eggs under her wing, looked to the skies above and gasped! Right over the horizon, a swarm of skeletal dragonets so large that it practically painted out the sky came their way! With how many dragonets there were, there was no way they could fight them off in time; they were all completely outmatched!

"We need to get out of here, fast!" Sonic Boom shouted towards Sunburn, Dark Spyro and Lightning Rod.

"But how?" Sunburn shot back as his eyebrows tensed.

They both looked up to the skies and grimaced, but Lightning Rod rushed past them and forced their attention back to the ground.

"Over here, my comrades!" Lightning Rod shouted.

He slammed both his palms against the surface of an Air Element Gate while it unfolded! Lightning Rod dashed through the open gateway, while Sonic Boom, Sunburn and Dark Spyro tailed behind him right before the gate itself reformed! They paused and looked behind as the sound of something smacking against the gate sounded off a hundred times at least, but breathed a sigh of relief as those sounds became that of confused buzzing and flying away. Good, at least that was one less thing to worry about.

After taking a few more breaths, they all sat up and got a quick scan of their surroundings. It seemed they'd landed themselves in an obstacle course? The grass underneath them was lush and green unlike the world outside, wooden poles stuck out from crystal clear lakes, and there were ledges with suspicious holes and pillars everywhere you looked!

They all walked up to a grassy ledge in front of them, and stumbled back as spikes shoot up from the ground! Spikes aren't really much of an issue when you can fly, so they all just took to the skies and floated onto the beginning of a large pillar row. They all hopped across the pillars one-by-one, paused and stretched as they reached the grassy ledge on the other side. A quick turn aside showed a gigantic row of blocks walled off the rest of the path…

"But how do we take it down?" Sonic Boom asked as she flew up and examined the block wall. She ran her paw against it, and flew back with a jolt as her chicks popped out of their eggs without a single prompt!

"Over there! I see something!" shouted one of the chicks as they all flew across to a pillar with a suspicious bump on its top. They all sat on that bump, and with a swoosh, both the bump and the gate receded!

Sunburn, Dark Spyro, Sonic Boom and Lightning Rod all dashed up the gate, and as they all made it across, Sonic Boom grinned as her kids flew up to her.

"Good thinking, kids!" Sonic Boom chirped as her chicks tucked themselves back under her wing and transformed back into eggs. A bit of sorrow fell over her face as she gently stroked the eggs with her wing, but she shook it off as they all walked down the ledge.

As they drew further away from the obstacle course and down the slope it lead to, the grass slowly withered and died away until finally, there was no more. All that remained was same cold, rocky ground that plagued the rest of the area. Seems like they finally gotten back to the rest of the Peak…

"Hey, what do you think you're—"

Wait, were those voices? Sonic Boom lunged down and flicked her ears while Sunburn, Lightning Rod and Dark Spyro all stopped in their tracks.

"In case you can't tell, I—"

Yes, no mistaking it, they definitely heard voices! Familiar voices too—in fact, they kind of sounded like, Ghost Roaster and Hex? With a frown, all four Skylanders dashed up the side of the slope, and as they reached the top, they skidded to a stop and gasped!

There, right on the top of the slope were none other than the Evil Elf Witch, Skeleton Knight and Skull Imp! Judging by the way they turned around and gasped, it seemed as though those evil three noticed them as well!

"SKYLANDERS?" cried the Evil Elf Witch, Skeleton Knight and Skull Imp in perfect harmony.

§

"Yes, twenty-four more spaces!" Chihiro hooted as she looked down at the quadruple dice she rolled and smiled as their card vanished into thin air. She hummed a tune as she skipped halfway through, but paused and spun around to look at the holographic Eon. "Hey, if you don't wanna lose, you'd better catch up!" Chihiro teased before she shook her head and turned around. "Actually, don't catch up, cause then you'll win and we'll all be stuck in this creepy place forever and—" Chihiro hung her head "—yeah."

Chihiro chuckled as she set her sights on the rest of the path before her. She had to admit, she didn't think she'd have this much fun playing for the rescue of all her friends. Heck, it was like all her worries and troubles blew away, and all that was left was the light, joyful feeling that rested there now.

"Eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three…" With a small twirl, Chihiro giggled and hopped onto the very last square allotted to her. "Twenty-four!"

"TREASURE HUNT SCENARIO, ACTIVATED!"

Chihiro screamed and stumbled back as the announcer's voice boomed across the entire field, and as golden light poured out behind her, she looked down and smiled. Seemed as thought she stepped on a treasure tile! Chihiro closed her eyes, and stretched out her arms as the golden light enveloped the battlefield around.

What kind of scenario would she get now, she wondered? Would she have to rescue a charming prince from forces of evil, with Spyro cast in the prince's role? She chuckled to herself as she imagined Spyro as a helpless gentledragon in distress, held tight to her as she pulled him from the grip of evil—the role didn't exactly suit him, to be honest. Maybe she'd be spelunking in a cave for buried treasure, or rescuing townspeople from the clutches of an evil monster?

As the light's glow faded around her and a bone-chilling draft rustled her eyes open, Chihiro frowned and bit her lip. Yeah, this definitely wasn't what she had in mind. Rather than the daring, heroic adventure Chihiro cooked up, she found herself within the confines of a cold, stone room with a strange machine that vaguely resembled a plasma ball tower locked into its center, except it had an iridescent crystalline dragon head instead of anything plasma. Surely, that had to be the treasure she was seeking!

"Fear me, foolish mortals!" proclaimed a booming voice from above as a bolt of magical lightning struck down right in front of the machine and morphed into a body's shape. "With this machine, I'll siphon all the magic in Skylands and become THE MOST POWERFUL WIZARD OVERLORD IN ALL SKYLANDS!"

Chihiro shrieked and flung her arms in front of her face as the lightning sparked, and as its light faded, she relented her barrier to find… Voodood? It looked like him at least. Well, except for the fact that his normally-green skin was tinted purple, he was decked to the nines in tacky, red and purple evil sorcerer garbs, and his eyes were bloodshot like he hadn't slept for days. Either way, it seemed as though he was her opponent for now!

"With this machine, I'll convert the undying strength of the undead into raw power to absorb all Skylands' magic!" Voodood summoned an ax-like staff and gestured towards a wall nearby. "And I've already found quite a few good candidates~"

Chihiro winced as she looked back to the wall and gasped! There, held up with magical, glowing chains were none other than Cynder, Hex and Ghost Roaster! Their clothes were tattered and worn, and they grimaced and cried in pain with every bright glow of the chains. They might not last long if she didn’t do something soon, and just the very sight of them clenched Chihiro's heart again.

"These past couple days really haven't been my day, have they?" Cynder groaned as she hung her head. "First I lose my sandwich, next I trip over a rock, now I'm plucked from my ghost town and captured by an evil sorcerer."

"Sorry about that, Cyn!" Chihiro shouted back. "I'll figure something out, don't worry!"

Chihiro frowned, yanked out her card deck and skimmed through. All she'd need to do was use that bubblegum spell she got earlier with her wand spell, and Voodood would be stuck, literally! She grinned as she continued shuffling through her deck, and her frown deepened as she reached the end! There was no wand card in sight, where did it—oh.

That's right, I used it a few spaces ago to beef up that wall! Chihiro thought as she shook off her worries, though the sweat that beaded down her head said otherwise. Well, that's only one card, I've got plenty more!

Chihiro winced as she shuffled through her cards once more, but none of them seemed particularly apt to the situation at hand. Bubble potion? Guy's got lightning powers. Speed shoes? Unless she was running away, those would do nothing. Gigantic strawberries? Not like anybody was particularly hungry. Chihiro grimaced as she poked her eyes off of her card deck, and screamed and jumped out of the way as a trio of magic orbs shot right towards her! While the magic orbs slammed and harmlessly exploded against the stone walls, Chihiro shot Voodood a glare.

"Voodood, watch where you're shooting those things!" Chihiro scolded, "I'm trying to get us out of here, you know!"

"Voodood? Who are you talking about, child?" the sorcerer exclaimed as it shot back Chihiro's glare and held up its hand. "I am none other than the great ORCNIFEROUS!"

The lightning outside crashed in tandem with "Orcniferous" proclaiming his name, but the sights did little to concern Chihiro, who only sighed and shook her head. That's right, she forgot this game completely made them forget who they were. Chihiro yelped as a bolt of magical, multi-color lightning shot towards her feet and jumped in the air, yet gasped as her cards all fell on the ground! Chihiro knelt down, swept them back up, and paused to count them over—wait a second! As her eyes glazed over a shield card and a pair of diamond claw gloves, Chihiro grinned.

She had an idea at last!

Well, that was the good news, but the bad news was there was only one card each of both! So, if she pulled it out, she'd only be able to get the artifact or save Cynder, Hex and Ghost Roaster. What was more important? Chihiro frowned and racked her brain; she looked between Cynder, Hex and Ghost Roaster as they stayed shackled on the walls, or the machine Voodoo—excuse her, Orcniferous, set up. As she dodged another magic orb from Orcniferous, Chihiro winced and sucked on her lip. Just what was she supposed to do?

While she contemplated, however, something blasted a hole in the wall! Chihiro winced as the cold breeze fluttered in from the blow, and as the dust cleared, she could've sworn she could make out the vague silhouette of…

"Cease your evildoing now, foul wizard!" the holographic Eon proclaimed as it held out a hand cannon!

Crap! That holograph was here, and it had its eyes on the prize! Now she really had to hurry up and decide! She needed that artifact to get out, true, but, she couldn't possibly leave Cynder and Hex and Ghost Roaster like this even if it was just a game! She couldn't stand to see them suffering like this! Chihiro took one last glance at the machine, looked back at Cynder, Hex and Ghost Roaster as they writhed in pain, and nodded. Looks like she knew what she had to do.

So, Chihiro rubbed the shield card, and tossed it aside as a trio of shields levitated around her! That should protect her from Orcniferous's blows; not that it mattered, given that the holographic Eon clone had his full attention at the moment.

So, she dashed across the stone floors and towards where Cynder, Hex and Ghost Roaster laid prisoner, rubbed the card with the diamond claws and smiled as its magic manifested on her hands! Now equipped with bona-fide gigantic diamond claws, Chihiro slashed the chains that bound them as they all fell to the floor.

"Come on, everyone!" Chihiro said as she grabbed Cynder's paw and tried to yank her away. "We've gotta get out of here!"

But, Cynder would barely budge! It seemed like whenever Chihiro pulled her, she just stayed stuck and still sick-looking! Chihiro winced and looked across to find wires! A bunch of wires at that, all plugged into weird round thingies on Cynder, Hex and Ghost Roaster's backs; seems her work wasn't done yet. Chihiro formed a claw shape with her hands, and immediately slashed through the wires plugged into Cynder, but, it wasn't easy! These things were tough as nails and there were a lot of them. Chihiro paused and took a quick breather as she got halfway through Cynder, sighed and wiped her forehead.

"YOU! HOW DARE YOU RELEASE MY PRISONERS?" Orcniferous demanded as he turned towards Chihiro!

Chihiro jolted up and screamed as a bolt of magical lightning raced towards her, but before it could make contact, a shield flew in front of her and shouldered the blow! Heh, looks like she forgot about that shield card. But, that was hardly the only blow Orcniferous threw her way!

As magic orbs, lightning and blasts rocketed towards her, Chihiro rushed back to Cynder and slashed away at the wires with a little more frantic energy than before. She wasn't sure how long those shields were going to hold out, but either way, she'd better make this quick! Chihiro slashed Cynder out of the wires' grasp, and turned around right in time to see the shields' shattered remains fall to the ground and vanish. So much for that…

Thankfully, it seemed as if for the moment, the holographic Eon had Orcniferous's full attention. Every time Orniferous tried to shoot, the holographic Eon would hit him with cannon blasts! Orcniferous snarled as he shot back with magic lightning, but the lightning bolts were quickly nullified with the holographic Eon's blasts!

That bought her some time, at least, but she probably would need to speed things up a little. So, Chihiro whipped out the speed shoes card, rubbed it a bit, and grinned as her boots transformed into lightning bolt-print sneakers! They looked a little tacky, but if it got the job done, so be it! Chihiro slashed through the wires plugged into Hex with twice the speed of before, and grinned as the last wire slashed in half!

Chihiro yanked Hex away and rushed towards Ghost Roaster, but before she could begin slashing the wires that bound him, a bright light shone beside her! She winced and covered her face with her hands, but that probably wasn't the best idea since she was wearing diamond claws the only amplified the light. Chihiro screeched as her eyes burned from the light, panted and looked aside.

There, the holographic Eon smirked as Orcniferous writhed in pain from being wrapped in the wires of his own machine, grabbed a card and rubbed its surface. Though, its eyes fixed on the dragon head in the center of the machine.

Wait, what was she doing just looking around? Chihiro turned back to Ghost Roaster, and slashed through the cables that had him bound in one mighty fell swoop! With one last yank, Chihiro pulled Ghost Roaster away from the wall and smiled as he trailed towards Cynder and Hex. Thankfully, the glimmer in their eyes and the way they stood tall spoke enough; Chihiro managed to get them out just in time!

"You all okay?" Chihiro asked. She grinned and breathed a sigh of relief as they all nodded. "Thank goodness!"

The world around Chihiro faded away into light, but she hardly noticed that or the announcer's voice. She just closed her eyes and smiled as the world faded away, and she returned back to the sight of the board game battlefield. When Chihiro's eyes fluttered open, the first thing that greeted her was the holographic Eon, but it didn't look at her with the scorn it usually had. Rather, it just seemed, confused, with its pursed lips and tilted head.

"Child, why did you do that?" the holographic Eon asked.

"Do what?" Chihiro asked back as she tilted her own head.

"Why did you save them, instead of grabbing the artifact?" The holographic Eon's lips soured a bit, "Don't you know you'll lose if you don't get them?"

"There'll always be other opportunities!" Chihiro shrugged and turned around. "I couldn't just let them die! My friends are way more important than some hunk of crystal!"

The dice formed in Chihiro's hand, but she wasn't ready to roll just yet. "I already failed to protect them once." Chihiro squeezed the dice a little tighter as her eyes started to ache. "I couldn't let them down a second time."

Chihiro looked back at the holographic Eon, but it didn't necessarily seemed scornful as it looked back at her. Instead, it just gave her an understanding nod as its eyes glittered with awe.

"I, I see," was all it said as it watched her roll.