Chihiro, Hex, Ghost Roaster, Cynder, and Spyro all peered over the hole while Occulous's eyeless corpse fell to its doom. It was a long, tough battle, but finally, the evil was vanquished, hopefully.

"Serves that asshole right," Ghost Roaster remarked as the corpse vanished into the distance.

The four of them stared into abyss, just to be entirely certain that he was gone, and looked up as the sound of tired groans churned all around them. They peered around their former battlefield, and found that all the zombified Skylanders fell asleep!

"Think it worked?" Chihiro asked as she turned to Hex.

"There's only one way to find out," Hex replied as she floated off and knelt down to a comatose Gill Grunt.

She waved her hands over him as she chanted some kind of incantation, and from her spell came a puff of silver, glittery smoke. She frowned for a moment as Gill Grunt turned in his sleep, turned away from him and performed the spell on a few others—Whirlwind, Terrafin, Wrecking Ball. But, it seemingly did nothing to disturb any of them. So, she simply nodded to herself and returned to Chihiro's side.

"Thankfully, the curse is no longer progressing, and it had greatly weakened as well," Hex confirmed as everyone else breathed sighs of relief, and took a glance at the sleeping zombie Skylanders. "We should be able to break it now."

"Did somebody say break a curse?" cried Batterson's voice.

Everyone looked towards the entrance, and gasped as Batterson wheeled in a giant, pie-filled wheelbarrow, followed by a near-army of ghosts with arms full of those same pies!

"How's pie going to help with a curse?" Chihiro asked as she tilted her head.

"Oh, this isn't any old pie!" Batterson exclaimed as he wheel up to Chihiro. "This is an old family recipe! It can cure anything from headaches to hives!" Batterson parked his wheelbarrow and tapped his claws against his chin. "Admittedly, I'm not'a sure if it'll help, but I still wanna do something to make up for'a what my pies did to your friends."

Hex frowned as she joined Chihiro and Batterson, took a whiff of the pies and raised an eyebrow.

"Is that ambrosia I spell?" Hex asked before a faint blush dusted her face as she shook her head. "Er, smell?"

"Indeed! We make these pies with ambrosia jam, raw lemons, cloudling syrup…"

"Why, that's perfect!" Hex's eyes grew wide as she snatched a pie from the wagon and stroked its crispy crust. "Any purification potion worth its salt has those as key ingredients!"

Hex snapped her fingers, and out from her pocket came the antidotes that Cynder amassed earlier! They all hovered in midair for moments, popped open and poured their contents over the pies.

"With these antidotes, we should be able to cure them using these pies!"

Chihiro made a wide, yanked some more pies from the wagon and bounded towards the zombified Skylanders. "You heard her!" Chihiro exclaimed as she crammed a pie into Gill Grunt's mouth. "Get those pies to them!"

So, Spyro, Ghost Roaster and Hex all grabbed pies from Batterson's little pie stock and flew over to the zombiefied Skylanders, then one-by-one crammed the pies down their throats!

Spyro frowned as he sliced the pie and shoved it in Trigger Happy’s mouth, winced as he pulled out a paw coated in sticky drool and shook it off. As the drool splattered everywhere, Spyro's eyes trailed towards Ghost Roaster, but Ghost Roaster himself was completely oblivious to Spyro's glances as he sniffed the pie.

"Is this really as good as my cooking?" Ghost Roaster asked as he held a finger over the pie and got ready to carve into it. Just before he could make the first slice, however, he caught sight of the glare Spyro shot him and chuckled as he shoved the pie into Wrecking Ball's face.

Behind them, Chihiro skipped ahead with entire towers of pies held in her hands, tripped on a stray arm and screamed as her leaning towers of pies became falling towers of pie! Chihiro winced and closed her eyes as the pies splatted on the floor, but as she opened them, she found that the pies landed perfectly on the zombie Skylanders' faces! So, she just giggled and stood up as she scratched the back of her head.

In the back of it all, Cynder winced as she pushed a pie next to an unconscious Dark Spyro. "Here you go, Dark," Cynder whispered as she drew back and frowned. "Eat up."

Dark Spyro stayed still and quiet for a few moments, and Cynder frowned with worry in those few moments. But then, his muzzle twitched, he licked his lips, and he rolled over as he licked the pie's crust in his sleep! Cynder's jaw dropped for a moment, but chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"Typical Dark." Cynder shook her head, turned around and waved to Hex. "How're things on your end, Hex?"

But Hex didn't respond, for she was far too focused on Chop Chop as she held a pie in hand, her eyes wide as she scanned him over.

"Now how in Skylands am I supposed to give you this?" Hex asked as she balanced the pie above Chop Chop, but it slipped off her hand and slammed right into his face!

Hex winced and floated back, but Chop Chop only groaned and twisted in his sleep as the pie's filling seeped over his body. "Well, I suppose that's one way to do it."

Chihiro, Spyro, Hex, Ghost Roaster, and Cynder drew back to where Batterson stood as the last of the Skylanders were fed, and winced. Would this really work? Their breath bated as the zombie Skylanders sat up and groaned, some with their heads in their hands and others shaken to the bone… And the five of them all made gasps of glee as the color returned to the now former zombie Skylanders' bodies while the light shone back in their eyes!

"Ugh, my head," Gill Grunt groaned as he sat up and looked around. "What happened? Where am I?"

"That pie tasted yucky…" Wrecking Ball whined as he rolled on his head, froze and blinked. "Wait, when did I get here? Was I sleep-eating again?"

"Something like that!" Chihiro chuckled, "I'll explain later!" Chihiro wandered over to a nearby teleported and hopped on. "But first, we should get back to enjoying that actually good pie!"

§

The moon shone its brightest as it hung in the vast skies, and now, the real celebration was finally underway! The tables and cloths were since repaired and reorganized, and now, they were lined with ghosts and Skylanders alike! Batterson and several ghosts manned booths filled with pies and tons of toppings, from sweet ice cream, syrups in fifty different flavors, fresh fruit dipped in jam, and even a few plucked herbs and flowers, and everybody else chatted around and ate to their heart's content!

Flynn and Wrecking Ball had a self-imposed content on who could eat the most pies with an eager Trigger Happy as the judge, and an equally-excited Dark Spyro took bets from those around, Whirlwind savored her cloudling pie with sweet cherry syrup, Sonic Boom wrangled her chicks as they spat over who got what pie, Chop Chop entertained several younger ghosts with tales of grand adventure as they enjoyed their sweets… Everybody around ate, drank and made merry to their hearts' content; for once, it really did like the weight of their responsibilities lifted from their shoulders!

Spyro, meanwhile, hid away in the corner of the celebration with his cinnamon apple pie, more than happy to finally enjoy a proper celebration after all the nonsense of today. Though normally he'd be happy to join in, he'd had enough excitement for one night. So, for now, he was more than happy to sit in his little corner and watch as Chihiro chatted it up with Batterson.

"Gotta hand it to ya, Batterson!" Chihiro chirped between large bites of a strawberry pie slice with far too much ice cream on it. "These pies are delicious!"

"For once, I've almost found something that can rival my cooking!" Ghost Roaster agreed with a nod and a wink. "Almost."

"Why, thank you, portal master!" Batterson beamed. "It's an honor to have my pies praised by you!" Batterson winked towards Chihiro and Ghost Roaster. "And since ya like it so much, let me let you in a little secret!"

Batterson cleared his throat. A couple of the older ghosts in the crowd jumped from their seats, left their stations behind, and grinned as they swirled around Batterson's pie station.

"You'll get to try these pies a lot more in the future," Batterson proclaimed as he stretched his arms to the skies, "because the ghosts and I are starting up a delivery service!"

"Really?" Chihiro gasped as she let her fork clatter against her plate.

"Indeed!" chimed in one ghost.

"From now on, we'll deliver our baked goods all across Skylands!" said another ghost. "All of Skylands will get to enjoy these tasty pies, and we can finally get out of that drafty crypt and experience all Skylands!"

That was certainly good news for everyone, for the whole crowd erupted into cheers and pumped fists. A few people even threw their pies in the air, but frantically jumped up and tried to collect them as they fell back down! Though the excitement was intense, it was also just as brief. The night skies only grew darker by the second, and the lanterns already lit themselves as the conversation died. A few people even fell asleep with their faces planted into their plates!

While the excitement stilled, Chihiro didn't seem any less energetic as she scanned the crowds and fixed her eyes on Spyro, wide eyes and big smile and all that. He had to admit, he hadn't seen Chihiro this happy in quite a while! It, it was really nice, though he wasn't sure he'd say that with all these people around.

"Hey, Gold!" Chihiro shouted as she bounded forward and sat down next to Spyro.

Spyro jolted up in response, smiled and relaxed his shoulder the moment he turned around and saw Chihiro by his side.

"Oh, hey Chi!" Spyro chirped as he tilted his head. "Finally got your strawberry pie?"

"How'd you guess?" Chihiro's eyes widened as she gently smacked her head. "Wait, don't tell me I've got jam all over my face!"

"You said it, not me~"

The two of them broke into hapless laughter as Chihiro licked the jam off of her face, and with a gulp, Chihiro slid herself a little closer to Spyro than before. Her arm was warm and cozy against his own cool scales, and a bit of the heat made its way to his face before he even realized it!

"Hey, Spyro," Chihiro whispered as a slight crimson blush formed in her cheeks. "Thanks for helping me pull myself together—" Chihiro shrugged as she made a small smile "—y'know, back when we got stuck in that maze and all."

"It's no problem, Chi!" Spyro looked up at Chihiro and made a wide grin. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah." Chihiro looked aside and twiddled her fingers, but not in a shy or nervous way. Rather, it seemed more coy than anything as she smiled and blushed. "Oh, and one more thing…"

Spyro made a soft chirp and looked back at Chihiro, but yelped as Chihiro tackled him into a tight hug!

"Spyro, I love you!"

Chihiro giggled, released her hug and ran back to get what was probably her fifth slice of strawberry pie. Spyro just sat there and watched her in a bit of a daze, like he was completely lost in the moment. Had, had, he wasn't hearing things, right? Had Chihiro just told him she loved him? After all, Chihiro was always quick to talk about how much she loved everything and all, but, never so bluntly had she said it before, and especially not to him, of all dragons! Of all beings, even!

Spyro's eyes were wide and transfixed, but finally, he closed them and melted into a soft smile. Maybe it was just the easygoing atmosphere of the party, but Spyro was in no mood to question it. Besides, something about hearing those words come from Chihiro's voice… It made his heart warm and fuzzy on the inside, if the saying wasn't too cliché, and everything around just felt more warm and welcoming than before.

"… I love you too, Chi," Spyro replied, his voice whisperlike and soft.