"UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ghost Roaster groaned as he repeatedly bonked her face into his pillow. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PLACE!"

Ghost Roaster groaned some more as he pulled his now slightly dizzy head out of the pillow, and turned towards the stack of books he amassed next to his nightstand. He frowned as he reached for the book laid at the top of the stack, flipped through its pages, and promptly decided he had read through it so many times that he completely lost interest and put it aside. Ugh, will he ever be well enough to get out of this stuffy, lonely room? He was tired of staring at these walls and sulking, especially when Cynder was released not a day ago. He was just as well as she was, damn it! Why did he need solitary confinement?

Ghost Roaster groaned another time more as he stared at the ceiling, his whole body numb with boredom, but his eyes widened just a bit as a series of dull knocks sounded off at the door.

"Hey Roaster!" Chihiro chirped from the other side of the door. "Delivery's here!"

A faint finger snap was heard, and without even the slightest prompting, the door slammed open at such a velocity that the entire room shuddered!

"You could be a little less noisy about your entrances, you know," Ghost Roaster remarked as he raised a skeletal eyebrow.

Chihiro just chuckled and haplessly grinned as she stood in the doorway and clutched a steel tray filled with what was surely food. Crap, that reminded Ghost Roaster; surely it was lunchtime by now? He was kind of hungry, but at the same time, he had a very hard time trusting cooking that wasn't his own. Hopefully she at least remembered his cooking lessons.

"Doing any better, Roaster?" Chihiro asked as she hopped over and laid the lunch tray on a nearby medical cart thing. Ghost Roaster could never remember what those things were called.

"Better enough that I'm sure I can leave this place," Ghost Roaster grumbled as he peered down at the tray, eyed the bowl of soup, and finally, warily, dipped his spoon into it. "If Cynder can get out early—"

"I told you, Roaster, she got off the easiest of you three!" Chihiro peered up at Ghost Roaster and pouted. "You had that huge crack in your skull and you were bleeding super badly! That's way worse than a few nasty cuts." Chihiro looked aside with a weak smile and the shrug to match. "If it makes you feel any better, Hex still needs to stay a little while longer to finish up her burn treatment and all."

"Eh, whatever."

Ghost Roaster examined the soup and sniffed, finally scarfed it down and paused for a moment. It was clearly the sheep's meat soup recipe he craved ever since he got laid up, but it was peppered with not just pepper, but salt and a tiny bit of something else he couldn't quite pin down.

"You like it?" Chihiro twiddled her fingers and looked aside. "It's that sheep stew recipe you taught me, but I found a little bit of pukusa in the pantry so I threw that in too! Never know what you can kind in the depths of the shelves." Chihiro giggled and scratched the back of her head. "It's kinda like the stuff my mom made for me when I was feeling sick, so…"

Ghost Roaster frowned, took another sip of the soup and chuckled softly. It was a bit hearty and maybe a little too garlicky for his taste, true, but it filled his stomach nonetheless. He had to admit, he wouldn't have thought of doing that with a sheep stew soup. It really brought out the flavor.

"It's alright," Ghost Roaster said at last with a firm nod of his head. "You did good."

Chihiro gasped with glee, grinned and spun around. "Yes! I'm a culinary master at last!"

"Now I wouldn't go that far, but it beats sneaking out and raiding the snack cabinet. All they've got there is junk!"

"Sneaking out of your room when nobody's looking, huh?" Chihiro tsked a bit and wagged her finger as Ghost Roaster ate. "For shame~"

"Hey, you!" Ghost Roaster slurped up the last of his soup and shot Chihiro a glare. "I'm telling you, I've been feeling much better than before! I'll be out of this place any day, I can feel it!"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that~" remarked a voice like whistling wind from across the way.

Ghost Roaster grunted and turned around to see Whirlwind in the doorway! He hiccupped as he jolted up, but in the process, he flipped over his tray and tossed his sandwich right in his face! Chihiro giggled, but Ghost Roaster just sighed and licked the sandwich remains off his face. Peanut butter and bone, his favorite; though, its salty, crunchy taste wasn't enough to salvage him from his embarrassment.

"Ah, Whirlwind!" Ghost Roaster chuckled as his face grew warm in the embarrassed kind of way, not the sickly one, mind you. "If you heard anything about me sneaking out when nobody was looking, I promise it wasn't true!"

Whirlwind only chuckled and rolled her eyes as she flew into the room. "Don't worry, Ghost Roaster, your secret's safe with me~" Whirlwind flew over, carefully unwrapped the bandages around Ghost Roaster's head and grinned. "Good, it seems like your skull's nearly healed!"

"What are you doing here, anyways?" Chihiro tilted her head as Whirlwind reapplied Ghost Roaster's dressing.

"I just wanted to check in on you before we all went to Darklight Crypt!"

"Darklight Crypt? You mean that crypt that's got so little undead energy that anyone can just run around whenever they want?" Ghost Roaster asked as he raised an eyebrow. "What's so important there that everyone has to go? Last I heard, only thing there's a couple old houses..."

"I don't know," Whirlwind smirked as she wagged her tail back and forth, "but I think a pie buffet is a good enough reason~"

"PIE BUFFET?" Chihiro and Ghost Roaster exclaimed at once, though their tones differed by far. Though Chihiro's eyes sparkled with glee surely from the prospect of a buffet where one could just eat tons of delicious pies for hours on end, the wary look on Ghost Roaster's face showed that he was of a different mind.

"Wait, they're holding a pie buffet?" Ghost Roaster asked, and frowned as Whirlwind handed him a simple paper flier.

"These arrived at the island this morning," Whirlwind explained as Ghost Roaster looked the flier over. "Apparently, the people of Darklight Crypt are holding a pie buffet to celebrate us freeing so much of Skylands from Kaos, and we're the guests of honor!"

"Wait, isn't this a bit sudden?" Ghost Roaster looked up at Whirlwind and flicked the flier.

"A little, but I don't mind that much!" Whirlwind beamed as she took the flier back from Ghost Roaster, "I'm just glad we can finally get a breather after all we've been doing lately!" Whirlwind turned to Chihiro. "You should come too, Chi! Even portal masters deserve a break here and there, after all~"

"I'd love to!" Chihiro exclaimed as she bounced up and down in her seat, but promptly turned solemn and serious as she shook her head. "I mean, but, I do have a lot of work I need to take care of, so I can't really stop for anything right now."

Okay, now that was definitely odd. Chihiro loved her food almost as much as she loved being around them. Only the Ancients would know how many times Ghost Roaster caught her sneaking into the mess hall to steal snacks! Her sweet tooth only rivaled Hugo's in terms of how bad it was, too, so why would she turn down something like this?

Whirlwind, however, only frowned and shook her head. "Are you sure, Chi?" Whirlwind replied as she swished her tail. "I know how much you love your sweets."

"Well, work comes first and all!" Chihiro said as she forced a smile. "If we're gonna beat Kaos, I need to be on top of everything, no matter what!"

Whirlwind made a slightly concerned frown, yet smiled and patted Chihiro's shoulder. "I'll bring you back some pie, alright?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice!" Chihiro chirped with a nod. "Can you bring back strawberry if they have any? Oh, with lots of ice cream on top too!"

"Duly noted!"

Whirlwind flew out of the room quick as a breeze, but oddly enough, Chihiro didn't follow and instead just stuck by Ghost Roaster's side as she eyed the floor. She seemed a little, out of it, for lack of a better term, as she scuffed her boots against the tile floor. What got her in such a mood?

"Are you sure you're not sick or something, Chihiro?" Ghost Roaster asked as he put his lunch tray aside.

"I hope not!" Chihiro exclaimed as she jolted up and shook her head. "I mean, I just, I've really gotta get going! I still need to check on Hex!"

Chihiro turned around and bolted out of the room before Ghost Roaster could ask anything more. So instead, he just sighed and went back to staring at the ceiling, which he was sure now had a few more cracks than when he last counted it in his fits of boredom. Wait, no, he was pretty sure that one crack just moved.

"Whirlwind? Hey, Whirlwind?" Ghost Roaster shouted. "I think there's a spider on the ceiling!"

Oh right, she was probably gone now. Ghost Roaster grunted and lifted up his ball and chain with a snarl; it seemed as though he'd have to deal with this little pest himself. So, he spun the chain around like a cowboy's lasso, and tossed it to the ceiling right as the spider scurried away!

"Oh, sh—"

CRASH!

Ghost Roaster grunted as his ball and chain slammed right into the ceiling, and he got lodged right in its surface. Ghost Roaster winced as he swayed back and forth, and sighed as he crossed his arms.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Whirlwind cried as she flew back in, and dropped her jaw as Ghost Roaster hung from the ceiling with a deep frown on his face.

"There was a spider," was all Ghost Roaster said as that spider spun down to Ghost Roaster's eye level from a strand of silk and cackled in his face.

Whirlwind just sighed and shook her head. "I'd better get you out before we have to leave."

§

It took quite a few portals on Master Eon and Chihiro's parts, but at last, they all arrived to Darklight Crypt! It was times like these that made Whirlwind seriously appreciate the convenience of portals. She couldn't possibly imagine how long it would've taken them to travel by ship or balloon, though she shuddered at the thought of sharing such little space with all the others. Nevertheless, they were here now and that's what mattered!

A few glances to the left showed the other Skylanders as they portaled in, all paired with flares of magic and the quickly-disappearing ring of magic energy that signified a portal's appearance, but something was odd. After all, they were the only ones here! Strange, where were all the other beings? After all, you can't exactly have a banquet with only the guests of honor!

Well, Whirlwind supposed you could, but that would be a pretty lonely banquet nonetheless. Had they maybe arrived a little early? Whirlwind peeped down at the flier still grasped tight in her paw to find that no, they were right on time! Just where was everybody else? Whirlwind frowned and twitched her ear without even realizing, her eyes still trained on the party grounds as the other Skylanders conversed among themselves. They were all just as confused as Whirlwind was, at least from what little she could garner from their conversations.

Whirlwind turned around, maybe to see if anybody else would arrive, but stopped as she heard a familiar crash! Normally she'd be alarmed by the noise, but…

"Flynn," Whirlwind whispered as she shook her head and turned back around.

Sure enough, she was right. Flynn's balloon crashed down into the area, and split an empty picnic table in two splintered, messy halves! Hopefully they could fix that later.

"EY-OH!" Flynn shouted as he hopped out of his surprisingly unscathed balloon basket. "The greatest pilot in all Skylands is here for the—" Flynn frowned and rubbed his chin as he glazed over the attendees "—wait, just where is everyone else?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Whirlwind flew up to Flynn and sat down on the adjacent picnic bench. "It seems like we're the only ones here!"

"Not quite, miss Skylander!" cried a voice with a notable Vitalian accent.

Whirlwind chirruped and turned around to find the voice's source. Over at the pie stand, a portly, peach-skinned molekin dressed in surprisingly clean chef's clothes and a perfectly-trimmed black mustache wheeled out numerous pies on a steel cart. Whirlwind had to wonder what flavor: blueberry? Cherry? Cloudling? She hoped there were cloudling ones. She hadn't had cloudlings in quite a while, and she was dying to try some again. Their soft exterior and the sweet taste that just melted in her mouth always remained a remnant in her mind, an itch so bad it couldn't be fulfilled till she had one again!

"Let me tell you, it's an honor that you stopped by my little pie banquet!" the chef said as he wheeled the cart over to Whirlwind's bench and stopped. "My apologies for the invitation being so'a last minute."

"Oh, think nothing of it!" Whirlwind replied as she shook her head. "We're thankful for the little break!"

"Thank goodness!" The chef clapped his hands. "I know you've been working'a so hard to free Skylands from that nasty Kaos, so I just wanted to thank you for all you done for us!"

"It's no problem! We're Skylanders, after all, it's what we—"

"Oh, all in the day's work for heroes like us! But, nevertheless, you're very welcome," Flynn interrupted as he pushed past Whirlwind and shook the chef's hand, "Er, uh…"

"Batterson," Batterson replied as he drew away from Flynn, a slightly uncomfortable grin on his face, and pulled a pie from the cart, "but enough talking, let's get to eating!"

However, Whirlwind only frowned and looked around. "Are you sure?" Whirlwind asked as she gently flapped her wings. "It doesn't seem like the rest of the guests are here yet."

"Oh, don't'a worry about them!" Batterson pushed the pie towards Whirlwind with maybe a little more force than before, a sickeningly large smile on his face. "The other guests will arrive in time! You know, fashionably late and all~"

Batterson's grin somehow stretched even wider, almost as if he wore a rubber mask instead of his actual face; Whirlwind knew precious little about molekin anatomy, so she probably couldn't say for sure. Nonetheless, that weird smile started to creep her out a little, so she reluctantly took the pie from Batterson.

"Enjoy your meal!"

With his hands grasped tight on the cart, Batterson hummed a song Whirlwind couldn't pin down the name of as he carted pies to the rest of the Skylanders. However, she didn't pay any more mind to him. Rather, she only took a cursory glance down at the perfectly-sliced pie she held in her paws. It looked like any other pie you'd see, but something about it seemed off. She couldn't tell what exactly, but part of her hesitated to dive in. However, he did go to all this trouble for them, and this was supposed to be her break. So, why hesitate?

Finally, Whirlwind grabbed a slice and crammed it in her mouth, but gagged and spat it right back out as the flavor hit her tongue!

"Yuck!" Whirlwind exclaimed, before she coughed into her wing and tempered herself.

Just what was in that pie? It tasted like rotten sewage mixed with old eggs; she couldn't have possibly tasted anything worse! All around her, it seemed as if everyone else had the same feelings! All of them spat out half-chewed pie, covered their mouths, or practically begged to find something to cleanse the taste out!

Whirlwind groaned, shook her head and pulled herself up. She felt kind of dizzy, buthopefully that pie didn't make her sick; only the Ancients knew how awful food poisoning could be. As she lifted her head up, she caught a couple of other Skylanders as they stormed up to Batterson, probably ready to complain, but they moaned and fell face-first onto the grass instead!

Whirlwind gasped and stumbled back as everybody else followed suit. Just what was going on here? Whirlwind whipped her head around as everybody fell comatose in droves, and winced as she heard a familiar cackle.

Batterson's.

Whirlwind snarled as she stormed over to Batterson, or at least, tried to. But, her vision had grown so, so blurry, and she practically stumbled over her own paws!

"Batterson!" Whirlwind croaked as she tripped and shook her head. "Whad, whad's goin, on…"

Whirlwind groaned as he entire body ached with a kind of exhaustion that barely let her keep her head up. Her stomach and mind churned with a grueling kind of weakness, her heart grew slower and slower, and her vision grew so blurry that everything was little more than vague blobs of fading color. Despite this, she could still make out Batterson as he stomped towards her.

"Now!" Batterson yelled as he seemingly smirked down at Whirlwind, though her ears pumped with so much ringing that she could only barely make out his words. "You're coming with me, Skylanders!"

With another cackle Batterson, vanished into thin air? Whirlwind couldn't believe it, yet her head hurt so much that she could barely comprehend what went on. Her vision was spotted with black, like the whole world grew dark.

"Get, get back here, you…"

With one last breath, Whirlwind's entire mind and body completely gave up and shut down…