"Just how long is this bridge, anyways?" Ghost Roasted whined as he held his skull. "My feet hurt."

"Ghost Roaster, you don't have feet," Hex reminded as she gestured towards Ghost Roaster's chain.

"Oh, same difference!" Ghost Roaster yanked up his chain and glared down Hex. "How can you stand all this walking and running and walking some more, Hex?" Ghost Roaster cast one look down at Hex's feet and sighed. "Oh right, you can float. That's hardly fair."

While Ghost Roaster sulked over his lack of floating ability, Hex sighed again as she ran her fingers over the rails of the bridge they trailed on.

Its bone white stone floors were full of small cracks and stains, while its fencing was black and arrow-shaped, and it might have looked ominous if not for all the rust stains. Its aged looks might have been a concerning sign of weakness, but for such a worn bridge, it was quite sturdy. Good thing, too, for while the path below was shielded by thick fog, it looked like an awfully long drop down.

Hex drew a hand back as she peered over the bridge, but frowned as an intense darkness unlike anything they experienced prior cast itself over their path.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Ghost Roaster asked as he looked up and completely froze.

Above them, a gigantic cinder block precariously hung from a worn, rusted pair of chains, but those chains quickly snapped and sent the block shooting down on them! Ghost Roaster screamed, but only for a few minutes; Hex grabbed him and pulled both of them out of the block's path! As it crashed down behind him, Hex and Ghost Roaster both breathed sighs of relief, yet winced as another shadow fell across the area.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

The two of them dashed down the path, while the blocks all crashed down one by one behind them and left behind significant dents in the path. Thankfully, their run didn't last for long. Right ahead was a midway section in the bridge completely free of blocks! Hex and Ghost Roaster gained an extra spring in their step as they sprinted ahead towards this free space, but before they could reach it, another block crashed down and blocked it off!

Thankfully they stepped themselves before they were smashed underneath, but that relief was short lived. One by one, the other blocks behind them wound up and crashed down again, and that included the one that loomed over them now; at the rate they fell, it wouldn't be long before Hex and Ghost Roaster were squashed underneath!

Hex snarled, and held out her hands as magic so powerful that it chilled the entire area flared around her. As her hands glowed, a gigantic skull manifested in front of her and blew holes through the blocks that blocked off her and Ghost Roaster!

"Hurry!" Hex shouted as she floated off the ground and dashed through the holes!

Ghost Roaster was quick to heed her warning, for he immediately turned into his giant skull form and raced behind her! The two of them sped faster as the blocks behind them lifted once more, and they both leaped out of the final hole. They fell onto a square of the bridge that was thankfully completely clear of falling blocks—all that laid there was another one of those odd switches!

Hex and Ghost Roaster paused for a moment and leaned against the bridge's railing, but shuddered still. Ahead of them, another set of blocks with dead trees trapped inside their concrete crashed down and reeled themselves back up. Unlike the others, these blocks were a lot quicker than before! In one blink they'd slam down, in another they'd wind themselves back up again and repeat.

"These ones seem much faster than the last," Hex observed as she floated forward and placed a hand on her chin, while her gaze turned itself towards the switch. "I wonder…"

Hex floated over to the switch, and flicked it as the world around them went from still and dead to bright and lively. The pathways, the bridges, the skies and more all became colorful and full of life. All except the blocks, which, while now flushed with green moss, stood still on the path!

Hex breathed a sigh of relief as she floated forward, but dashed back as growling and the sound of bark splitting like gnashing teeth sounded off above them! She peered up ahead, snarled and summoned an orb. While the blocks grew still, the trees that once rested within them became quite lively, indeed—for they transformed into stump demons with beady yellow eyes and thick bodies made of strong bark! The stump demons all snarled as they pulled their roots out from the blocks, and one by one, they leaped off their blocks and circled around Ghost Roaster and Hex!

"I had a feeling those trees looked suspicious," Hex hissed as she summoned another orb and flung them both at one stump demon!

However, the orbs barely did a number on the stump demon! The most they did was blow it back into the blocks behind. The stump demon roared as it lunged forward and slashed at Hex, who just leaped back and shot more orbs back at it!

Ghost Roaster snarled as he slammed his chain at the stump demons and smashed them straight into each other, but like Hex, he had very little luck! Every time he tossed them aside, they just jumped back up and got even angrier than they did before! While the stump demons ganged up on him, he just snarled and vanished from view before he skidded behind them and slammed their backs with his chain once more. The stump demons screamed as they crashed into the blocks and collapsed, grumbled and groaned as they staggered back up.

"Geez, these stump demons sure are stubborn," Ghost Roaster muttered under the safety of his invisible shield. "I think I understand why Kaos hates trees now!"

However, Ghost Roaster said that maybe a little too loudly, for the stump demons immediately jumped to their roots and snarled! They seemingly didn't take kindly to his little comment, for with another loud growl, they slammed their fists into the ground and send a torrent of roots tearing through the bridge's surface! Ghost Roaster cried out as the roots tore through his cloak and poked through his ribs, lowered his head and grimaced, but not out of pain. Rather, it was because he became completely visible once more in his shock!

"Stupid trees," Ghost Roaster grumbled as he looked down and clenched his jaw.

Ghost Roaster grunted as he tried to swing around his chain and break the roots, but unfortunately, that was of little success. The roots were so massive and plentiful that he could barely move it an inch! Ghost Roaster snarled and yanked against the roots, but even that barely did anything other than jostle them a little. He groaned and panted as he finally gave up on freeing himself, yet his eyes went wide as a large shadow cast over him.

"Don't tell me…"

Ghost Roaster gasped and leaned back the best he could as several stump demons raised their claws and prepared to slash his head off! He struggled as furiously as he could from within the roots' confines, yet once again, he laid trapped within the roots and couldn't break his way free! Green flames crackled around him as he snarled back at the stump demons, but the moment their wooden hands sharpened into knives, the flames extinguished in panic! Ghost Roaster could only sit there and screw his eyes shut as the stump demons swung down their sharp, sharp arms—but the blow he anticipated never came!

Before the stump demons could strike, Hex shot them in the back with a rain of skulls and a wall of giant bones, and threw the stump demons on the faces with their arms high in the air! As the stump demons whined in pain, Hex teleported to Ghost Roaster's side, and summoned a team of skulls that chomped away at the roots. Her gaze remained fixed on Ghost Roaster as the skulls chomped away, yet the sound of the stump demons as they smashed away at her bone wall didn't escape her either. She waved her hand without even a slight turn around, and cursed orbs shot down from the skies and forced the stump demons to take cover!

"Can you hurry this up?" Ghost Roaster demanded. "I've got a really bad itch!"

"Don't rush me, Ghost Roaster," Hex scolded as she narrowed her eyes. "Managing two spells of this volume is hard enough as it is!"

Ghost Roaster snarled, and nudged his back against the roots as he tried to wiggle his arms out of their trap. But, he was with no luck still! No matter how much he jiggled around and squirmed, he couldn't break free! While he struggled and squirmed, his ball and chain kept slamming into the skulls and batting them away from the roots!

"Ghost Roaster, stop that this instant!" Hex scolded yet again as her eyes glazed down to the dazed skulls. "You're making this harder by moving around so much!"

"Well then go faster!" Ghost Roaster shot back as he glared back at Hex.

"I told you—"

CRASH!

Hex perked up and turned back to her bone wall, but now it was a bone wall no longer! While she argued with Ghost Roaster, her cursed rain relented, and without the cursed rain to bog them down, the stump demons got back up and shattered the bone barrier with one collective blow! And judging by the way those stump demons looked at Hex, she and Ghost Roaster were next.

But, Hex wasn't going to give in that easily! So, she summoned a trio of gigantic skulls, and blasted them straight into the stump demons! Two of the stump demons smacked into the blocks behind them and splintered immediately, but the third wasn't as quick to go down. It skittered out of the way right before the skull could hit, flung forward and slashed at Hex! Hex herself jumped out of the way, but the stump demon wasn't as quick to change its track.

Instead of hitting her, it slashed right into the roots that bound Ghost Roaster! Ghost Roaster's head nearly leaped out of his body as he narrowly avoided being slashed, but the moment he realized he was free, he only grinned.

"Finally!" Ghost Roaster proclaimed as he scratched his head. "That itch was gonna drive me up a wall!"

The stump demon blinked for a few moments, yet snarled as it glared at Ghost Roaster and charged at him. But, as it charged, Ghost Roaster turned into his giant skull form and slammed right into it! The two of them pushed against each other for a while, and finally Ghost Roaster broke into a smirk.

"Hey, ugly!" Ghost Roaster shouted as his gaze trailed away. "Over there!"

The stump demon turned around and yelped, but Ghost Roaster just cackled.

"Made you look!"

Ghost Roaster opened up his jaws and bit the stump demon right in half! With a grunt, he spat the broken half of the demon over the bridge's side, transformed back to normal and groaned while he pulled sprinters from his jaws.

As Ghost Roaster fished the last of the bark from his chompers, Hex floated up the blocks and drifted across, while Ghost Roaster scaled them in giant skull form and pursued after her. The two of them hopped off the blocks and passed across the blocks' makeshift path, but stopped short as they nearly crashed into a block as tall as a tower!

"Yeah, something tells me that we're not flying over that one," Ghost Roaster remarked as his eyes turned to a switch seated beside him, "but maybe…"

Ghost Roaster hummed, rushed forward and bonked the switch! As he recoiled and shook his head, the world around him went back to the cold, deathly atmosphere of the underworlds. But, ironically enough, the blocks were plenty alive as they lifted themselves up and dangled in midair!

Ghost Roaster grinned as he dashed down the open path, while Hex saw fit to just teleport again and again and again until she finally reached the very end of the bridge. She popped back into existence and floated back down to the ground as Ghost Roaster reached the bridge's conclusion, and the two of them left the bridge behind as they turned their attention towards a broken wooden arrow.

"'Haunted Villa,'" Hex read from what could be made out of the broken sign's surface. "Seems we're close."

In fact, they were very close indeed! A trail of signs that warned ghost eaters to leave and had crude depictions of monsters eating hapless ghosts with bright red no signs painted onto them guided Hex and Ghost Roaster to a worn gate with a lock puzzle hung in its center. Hex immediately wandered off to unlock the puzzle, but while she toyed with it, Ghost Roaster just frowned and nudged a sign that depicted a bright red no painted over a skull that looked suspiciously like his own head.

"Huh," Ghost Roaster wondered as he stood back up. "Wonder who that's for?"

Whoever it was for, Ghost Roaster didn't have much time to contemplate their identity. Hex already solved the puzzle and unlocked the gates! So, they both passed through the gates and peered over the hill to find a worn little village that was hauntingly quiet and abandoned. Just what happened there? Whatever it was, they had to find out. So, they crept down the hill and into the village limits.

§

Chihiro hummed and hid her hands behind her back as she leaned against the gentle, warm surface of the oven's walls. The insides of the oven, surprisingly, weren't all that hot! Though it still had that warm glower of heat to it, it was more pleasant than unbearable, like a warm summer day. Chihiro unzipped her vest to keep from overheating, and hummed a tune to herself as she followed the path below her, the sound of Spyro's flight being her guide. Thankfully this path seemed straightforward enough with its few turns; it shouldn't be long before they reached whatever destination they had!

"A dead end?" Spyro exclaimed from down the hall.

Wait, did she hear that right? Chihiro poked her head around the corner and unfortunately enough, she did. Spyro found himself at a dead end.

"Just our luck, right Gold?" Chihiro chuckled as she walked up to Spyro with her hands dug deep into her pockets, and nudged her head to the left. "Follow me, I think I saw another way a few steps back!"

Spyro flew behind Chihiro as she traced her steps back to a few corridors prior, where sure enough, a split in the path formed! She walked down that way, completely cool and collected despite the heat that beamed down from above, but slammed face-first into a hot wall!

"OWCH!" Chihiro shrieked and rubbed her flaming hot face. "HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!"

When the heat and pain subsided, Chihiro looked to her side and groaned as she saw another dead end. That is, until she turned around and found that the dead end was actually just a corner!

"Hopefully this one is it…"

Chihiro let out an uncertain trill as she and Spyro walked down the path, but alas, it wasn't the end. Well, unless said end they were looking for was yet another dead end, which that path certainly was. For that matter, the rightward path they took lead them to another stop, as did the one they got when they went down a few steps, and turned around right, and slid to the left…

"Just how many dead ends are in this place, anyways?" Chihiro lamented as she finally fell to her knees and slunk against the wall.

"I'm just as lost as you are, Chi," Spyro replied as he sat down on the warm floors and sighed. "Everything starting to look the same."

"So you wouldn't happen to remember the way out?"

Chihiro sighed as she leaned further back against the wall, but the wall faded out completely! With her support gone, Chihiro fell backwards on the floor with a shout.

"Hey, what's the deal here?" Chihiro pulled herself back up and turned around, a moment of pause taken to rub her aching head. "I could've sworn there was a—" Chihiro frowned and looked up "—wall here?"

Chihiro blinked once, and twice as she gazed down this strange new path before her. Its halls were a bit colder than the prior ones, almost more befitting of the chilling autumn world outside, and its surfaces slowly gradiated from red to purple the further down it stretched. It was nothing like the passages she trailed down endlessly before!

"A secret path!" Chihiro exclaimed as she jumped to her feet and snapped her fingers. "Why didn't I think of that earlier?"

Spyro smiled and rolled his eyes, though the way he beamed showed it was more playful than sardonic.

"Come on!" Chihiro beamed and grabbed Spyro's paw. "Maybe this'll give us our way out!"

With no hesitation and a renewed spirit to boot, Chihiro blazed down the trail planted for her, Spyro close in hand. As she ran, the pathways shifted from red to purple to a chilling deep blue, almost in accordance with the cold temperatures. It even got so cold thatChihiro had to summon a torch just to keep warm!

But, that wasn't the only odd thing in this strange room. From down across the halls, faint voices like whispers echoed down the path at such a low volume that Chihiro could only barely pick up on them. That was odd. Chihiro hadn't heard anything prior, or seen any signs of life. Either she was starting to hear things, or something strange was going on here.

"Voices?" Chihiro whispered as she stopped a little further ahead and perked up ahead.

Having gone a little further ahead, Chihiro finally managed to glean some insight into what they talked about—they all groaned in pain as they rambled on about "Conquering," and "Armies," and "Masters." Just what was that all about? Chihiro raced down the path to find herself at another seeming dead end, pressed her palm against its icy surface, and it vanished under her touch.

The seeming dead end unveiled not another hall, but a room! A wide, open room that was so chilly it had crystallized in certain places and sent a few nasty drafts down the halls, but that wasn't as concerning as what was inside. Rather, some gigantic eyeball… Tendril… Thing, went on a long, rambling speech to some party that couldn't be seen from the halls' confines.

Chihiro frowned and stepped forward just a bit as her eyes trailed over the gigantic eyeball dude, but she completely froze as she saw the ones he addressed. No, no, no, it couldn't be! It wasn't! She didn't want to believe it…

But there, with blank, mindless eyes all trained on the eyeball, were the rest of the Skylanders! They looked just like Flynn did when they found him, all bloodshot eyes and sickly green skin that had patches fallen off to reveal graying cold flesh. They were no more than mindless zombies, unable to do anything other than address their "master."

"Guys?" Chihiro croaked as her whole body shook without her realizing, "No, no, no…"

"This plan is absolutely perfect!" the eyeball proclaimed as it clapped its tendrils. "First, I starve the local ghouls of any substantial food until they're so desperate that they'll even feed on the living to cease their hunger…"

The eyeball floated back and forth as it spoke.

"Next, I trick the Skylanders into coming here and curse them into helming my undead army! And once the final step comes into fruition…"

Its tendrils balled into fists as the eyeball puffed its chest and stared at the ceiling.

"I, OCCULOUS, WILL RULE ALL OF SKYLANDS WITH AN IRON FIST!" Occulous chuckled and looked aside. "Well, I don't have hands, but the point still stands."

"We can't let him do this!" Spyro whispered as he pushed his head over Chihiro's shoulder. "Come on, Chi, let's roast this—" Spyro stopped short as he gazed over Chihiro "—Chihiro?"

Chihiro's breath turned fast and panicked as the blood rushed through her ears, pumped by a rapidly-beating heart. Her whole head was so sick and dizzy that she could barely look ahead, yet her bleary eyes couldn't tear themselves away from the sight of the zombies that were once the Skylanders…

That were once her friends.

"No, no, I can't do it! I can't do this!" Chihiro sobbed as she fell to her knees while her body shook worse than before. "I can't fight them! I can't, I can't do that! There's no way…"

Chihiro hung her shaking head, barely able to keep from passing out, while tears dripped from her face and froze on the cold blocks before them. They, this was what happened to them? All because they went to that buffet, too! If she went with them, she might've ended up the same way herself. No, if she went with them, surely there was something she could've done to stop this, but she didn't! She didn't go with them and now they were cursed into zombie servitude and it was all her fault!

"Chihiro, it's okay, it's okay," Spyro whispered as he fell down to Chihiro's crumpled height and tried to pull her back up. "I know things look kinda bad right now, but I know there's some way—"

"IT'S HOPELESS!" Chihiro grabbed Spyro by the shoulders and stared him straight in the eye, in his very concerned golden eyes. "THERE'S NO WAY I CAN DO THIS! I CAN'T FIGHT MY OWN FRIENDS! NOT LIKE THIS!"

Tears poured down Chihiro's face at such mass and speed that it was like waterfalls came down from her eyes and burned her face.

"THEY'RE ALL MINDLESS ZOMBIES NOW, AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!"

"What?" Occulous exclaimed from above, "Who's there?" Occulous snarled as his voice raised to a yell. "MINIONS! FIND THOSE INTRUDERS IMMEDIATELY!"

Those groaning, pained noises morphed to growls and snarls and gnashing teeth as the zombie Skylanders piled out from the room with surprising speed for zombies!

Chihiro only barely felt Spyro grab her hand and pull her away from the armies ahead, though her head was so dizzy that it hardly mattered. Everything became one and the same to her! The walls and floors blended into one, and her gaze transfixed on the hordes of hulking, groaning, rabid zombies behind her. No wait, what was she doing? Those zombies were her friends, and if they got turned into zombies because of her, then she needed to bring them back to their senses!

Chihiro yanked her hand out of Spyro's paw, thrust a shield in front of herself and held her hands out high. Surely, a purification spell would be enough to cleanse them of whatever curse had caused this. Chihiro grimaced as bright, sparkling rainbow light flared from her hands, and its light flickered as she lifted her head and caught another glance of her mindless, brainwashed friends scratching and pounding away at her barrier. Something in her mind completely went blank as she locked eyes with them, her thoughts replaced by the sound of her blood rushing to her brain…

Chihiro's whole body locked up and froze in horror as the purification spell's light faded, and she screamed and fell back as the barrier finally shattered! Chihiro sat frozen in utter, stoic horror as the hordes of zombie Skylanders pounced on her.

But before they could attack, Spyro rushed in front of her and scared them away with a warning fireball! As the fireball hit the ceiling and exploded into faint embers, Spyro's eyes flashed from red to purple as he summoned magical chains and bolted them around each zombie's legs and arms! They all groaned as they strained against the bonds, but their struggling was futile; no amount of thrashing and kicking and biting would free them! They struggled just as much as Spyro, who clenched his entire face and strained as he struggled to keep the chains from shattering.

"Chihiro!" Spyro grunted without even the slightest turn away from the zombies. "The spell, now!"

Chihiro gasped, and jumped to her face as cold, terrified sweat dripped down her face. "The purification spell, right!"

Chihiro whimpered, held out her hands and watched as her hands flared with rainbow light once more. While the light burned bright and swirled like an active kaleidoscope, Chihiro directed it like a cannon towards Gill Grunt, who strained and groaned as patches of sickly green scales peeled off his body from the excessive movement.

Chihiro trembled as she got ready to fire, but… Something flashed into her mind, something that caused her to completely freeze. In her mind, she saw Gill, still fully alive with a wide smile on his face as he ruffled Chihiro's hair and congratulated her on her latest mission done well. By all accounts, this should've powered her further, but instead it turned her stomach! Chihiro shook her head as she turned her gaze to the other Skylanders, but every single time, her concentration broke the moment she locked eyes with them!

She saw Whirlwind, who screeched like a rabid vulture while monochrome rainbows shot from her horn, and Chihiro could only envision the same Whirlwind who tended to her when she was hurt and even played board games with her through the long, lonely nights! Chihiro saw Terrafin as he gnashed and leaned forward in some attempt to bite down on something, and she saw the Terrafin who gave her fighting tips and joked along with her during tiresome patrols. She'd see Stealth Elf, who would spar with Chihiro and give encouragement in her own honest, to-the-punch way, Trigger Happy who was always a source of joy and cheesy jokes, Eruptor, who had always been a huge softie despite his grumpy attitude…

She looked among the swarms of zombies, and all she could see were the friends she failed. She vowed to protect them, to help the, when they needed her, but she couldn't even stop something as awful as this from happening! And worse, it was something entirely preventable too! Had she just gone with them instead of holing herself up to sulk and obsess over her failures, maybe she could have stopped this from happening! But she didn't!

Now, they suffered the consequences of her actions, even though they had nothing to do with this. She was so caught up in sulking, and fretting about her fate, and whether or not she was good enough for her friends, but that obsession ended up being those friends' undoing in the end! She lost sight of everyone but herself again, and this time, surely there was no way her mistake could be undone!

"No," Chihiro barely whispered as she stepped back, all while the rainbow glow of the purification spell flickered on and off like a dying light. "No, this can't…"

"Chihiro, hurry!" Spyro cried as he screwed his eyes shut. "I can't hold this much longer!"

Chihiro gasped and shook herself back into reality as Spyro spoke, cried out as she grabbed hold of the light, and tossed it into the crowds of zombies! The rainbow light of the purification spell exploded and encompassed the area with a light so bright that Spyro stumbled back and completely lost his grip on the chains that kept the zombies from fully lashing out. This spell better work, or otherwise they'd be toast!

Chihiro clenched her teeth and hissed as the light faded, and as it completely disappeared, Chihiro's eyes fluttered open. Had the purification spell worked? Her gaze refocused while Chihiro's heart beat faster than it probably should've, and nearly completely stopped as she fell to her knees.

No, her spell hadn't worked.

There before her were the still-zombified Skylanders, who at most just seemed a little dazed and disoriented as they stumbled around and blinked. They shook their heads and snarled before they scrambled towards Spyro and Chihiro!

Spyro gasped and scrambled back as Gill Grunt launched himself towards Spyro like a wild animal, but as Gill Grunt hit the floor headfirst, Spyro grimaced and stepped back.

"Gill, come back to your senses!" Spyro pleaded as he bit his lip. "You're not a zombie warrior, you're a Skylander! You're our friend, don't you recognize us?"

Gill Grunt grunted and tilted his head, yet snarled as he stormed forwards on all fours and bit at Spyro once again!

"Alright, if you won't listen to words—" Spyro lowered his horns and charged forward "—maybe this'll knock some sense into you!"

With a snarl and a grunt, Spyro slammed right into Gill Grunt's gut, heaved Gill Grunt up and tossed him back into the zombie crowds! Spyro took a moment to breathe as Gill Grunt crashed into Zook and Trigger Happy, but only a moment, as he jumped out of a sickly green flame shot by Sunburn!

Chihiro, meanwhile, wasn't doing much better than Spyro was! In fact, it was arguably even worse; while Spyro could at least bring himself to attack, Chihiro couldn't even raise her palms! She just dodged attack after attack as the zombies that were once her friends threw themselves right at her!

"Guys, please! This isn't you!" Chihiro begged as she avoided a punch from Slam Bam, and skidded away from a monochrome rainbow blast fired by Whirlwind. "You're our friends, try to remember!"

Chihiro shuddered as she tried to teleport out of Slam Bam's way before he could sock her, but it didn't work! She was so panicked and unfocused that all she could muster was a couple sparks of magic! Chihiro gasped as she looked down at her hands, and screamed as something headbutted into her chest and tossed her on the ground! Her whole head swelled with pain as she slammed against the cold, hard floor, and she lifted that same sore head to find none other than a zombie Wrecking Ball! His jaw near-completely unhinged as he got ready to take a bite out of her! Chihiro screamed and kicked him off, but gasped as he hit the floor and cried out in pain!

"I'm sorry!" Chihiro wailed as Wrecking Ball cried like a hurt child. "I didn't mean it!"

Chihiro's head further swelled, but not from the usual kind of pain this time. Rather, her guilt bubbled in her heart as hot tears dripped from her cheeks, while her whole body shuddered so badly that she couldn't even peel herself from the floor. She just fell to her hands and knees while the sobs grew more intense and choked!

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I couldn't stop this!" Chihiro scratched her fingers against her face while the choked, strained, incredibly loud sobs poured out in waterfalls. "I tried, I really did! I know I should've gone with you and made sure this didn't happen, I know, I'm sorry! I tried to purify this curse away—"

"Purify?" Occulous echoed as he rounded the corner and glared down Chihiro. "Hah, what a joke!"

Chihiro gasped, and crawled back as she caught sight of Occulous, who stood behind the zombie Skylander army like a monster ready to pounce.

"The zombification spell on them is so powerful that no measly purification spell you can throw can break it!" Occulous broke out in gleeful cackles that sounded so proud it made Chihiro sick to her stomach. "There's nothing you can do to bring them back! They belong to me now!"

There's nothing you can do.

Chihiro froze up and hung her head while those words echoed in her mind. That's right, she had no chance whatsoever of breaking this curse. She really lost them for good, it was really hopeless. Chihiro sobbed into her legs as Occulous ordered an attack, but she didn't try to fight back this time. She just sat there and waited for the blow to strike. After all, it was what she had deserved. Maybe, even if she got turned into a zombie too, they could at least be together in zombification…

"Come on, Chi!" Spyro cried as he grabbed Chihiro by the arm, "We have to get out of here!"

Chihiro gasped as the purple light of a magical shield filtered over her. Sure enough, Spyro rescued her in the nick of time! But, she didn't feel relieved. All she could do was watch the zombie Skylanders pound and snarl and growl away as they tried to break down the walls.

"MINIONS, HURRY UP AND DELIVER THOSE INTRUDERS TO ME!" Occulous cried. "IF YOU DON'T, I'LL BURN YOU OVER THE STOVETOP!"

As Occulous's words rang around the halls, Spyro flew even faster thanks to a spell's burst, but cringed as the sound of shattering glass sounded off behind them! It followed up with gusto, with the crashing footsteps of a stampede! The other Skylanders, they were—

"Alright, Chi," Spyro said as he dropped Chihiro off and dashed from wall to wall. "Which one of these was the one that brought us here?"

Chihiro winced as her eyes, which were bleary and sore from crying so much, bounced from wall to wall, but she couldn't remember! Everything looked identical, and her mind was so fuzzy that the memories before bled together into one. Chihiro shuddered as she tried to pull herself off the ground, and gasped as the sound of gnashing teeth and guttural cries grew louder!

"They're gaining on us!" Chihiro cried as she looked back at Spyro. Spyro, in turn, winced and pressed away even faster!

Chihiro whimpered as she turned back around and held out a trembling hand; maybe, if she created a shield to block them off, that could buy her and Spyro a little more time. She shuddered as a bright blue glow leaped out from her hands and formed a faint shield that crackled like static as it stood in the gateway, but it flickered out immediately! And worse yet, the other Skylanders already rounded the corner—it was too late!

Chihiro's whole head went numb as the world around her spun, though her body was too numb to really take it in. Her sights were blurry and morphed into one while her stomach churned with worry, and she barely made out Spyro pressing against a wall. The wall shuddered, and completely disappeared! Chihiro gasped and grunted as her body lurched towards the floor. Before she could hit the ground, Spyro grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into the open darkness!

Chihiro shuddered and panted as her hands and knees hit the cold floor, and as the wall formed behind her, she completely froze. Wait, had the other Skylanders seen them? Did they know where she and Spyro were? Just outside, something that sounded vaguely like sniffing and grunting hit her ears and her whole body locked up, as did Spyro's as he looked back at the wall. The sounds of footsteps grew fainter in the distance, and both of them sighed and collapsed to the floor.

They were safe, but only for now.