The train hissed to a stop as the tracks themselves came to a conclusion, and in the blink of an eye all the doors in the passenger's cab unfolded at once!

"Passengers, we have arrived at our destination!" Diggs proclaimed over the intercom. "Please be careful exiting the train and make sure to take all personal belongings with you when you leave…"

Chihiro tuned out Diggs' droned-out speech and rolled her eyes.

"It's kind of pointless to make speeches when we're the only ones on the train," Chihiro remarked as she skipped down the stairs and landed back onto warm, red rocky ground with a hup, "but I can't fault him for wanting to make it feel authentic."

Eruptor groaned and trudged down the stairs with Flameslinger and Sunburn close by, but all three of them jolted up and shuddered. All three of them grinned like they were filled with a new life!

"You sensed something, didn't you?" Chihiro guessed as she turned around.

"You bet!" Flameslinger beamed back. "There was a huge surge of Fire Element energy close by! The Eternal Fire Source can't be far now!"

Chihiro grinned, rounded the tracks and peered over the path ahead of them. The warm, burgundy molten rock they stood on now lead to a series of islands made of solid lava rock that stood well against the temperature—but more importantly, all of them were guarded! Albeit quite sparsely; a spell punk twiddled their fingers here, a few greebles there, maybe a lava imp that skittered from platform to platform before it jumped back into the lava that pooled around the islands. If Kaos wanted to keep them away from the Eternal Fire Source, they might not have even noticed it!

Chihiro frowned and placed her hands on her hands on her hips, then shook her head and grinned. With how little staff there were, she’d have no problems getting the Eternal Fire Source and getting out in a flash! So, she bolted towards the volcanic rock slant that lead down to the first island and got ready to slide down, but something hit her in the back and send her rolling down!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Chihiro screamed as she tumbled down the slant, and came to a stop as she slammed headfirst into a particularly large rock!

"Hold it right there, portal master!"

Chihiro grunted as she sat up, turned around and found a spell punk clad in red and yellow robes as it emerged from a burst of flames with a sour look on its face!

"This is as far as you'll go!" the spell punk demanded as it swooped down in front of Chihiro and readied a ball of fire. "Lord Kaos didn't want you or any of your buddies anywhere near the Eternal Fire Source!"

"Really?" Chihiro replied as she looked back at the barely-guarded islands ahead. "Cause this place is barely guarded for somewhere he didn't want us touching."

The spell punk cringed as the flames in its hands vanished instantly, and it sighed and scratched the back of its head. "Well, you see, we're kind of short-staffed at the moment."

"That's good enough for us!" Eruptor boomed from above!

The spell punk gasped, whipped its head around, and screamed and ran into the distance as a volley of flaming magma blobs rained down from above! Well, that was fast.

Eruptor grinned as he bounded down the slant with Flameslinger close behind, while Sunburn teleported beside Chihiro and grinned as he fixed his eyes on a pair of greebles that absentmindedly paced around the island ahead.

"Time to do what I do best," Sunburn whispered as flames enveloped him until he was no more than a vaguely avian flaming shape, "ROAST AND TOAST!"

Sunburn dashed across the bridge that lead to the second island, slammed into one of the greebles and teleported away as the greeble screeched and patted down its flaming back! The greeble snarled and hollered out something in its gibberish greeble language as it pointed an accusatory finger towards the other, before both greebles launched at each other and fought so hard that their little circle dissolved into a big ball of dust and violence!

Chihiro chuckled as Sunburn reappeared back at her side, and waved over Eruptor and Flameslinger once they hit the bottom of the slant. The four of them tip-toed across the bridge, slid past the fighting greebles and bolted across the chain of stone islands!

"Man, this is easy!" Flameslinger remarked as he dashed across, frowned and came to a slow stop. "Almost too easy."

Chihiro flinched and froze just before she wandered up the ramp that lead to the cavern, while Eruptor and Sunburn stopped and hesitated as well. Flameslinger did have a point; something about this went a little too faster than it normally did, and that was never a good thing. After all, even with his big old ego, Kaos wasn't stupid by any means. Surely if he was as short-staffed as he was, he'd at least consolidate his forces around the places he didn't want them reaching the most, right?

"Oh, don't worry about it, Flameslinger!" Sunburn said as he teleported to the top of the ramp and strode towards the cave. "Let's just get in there, get the Eternal Fire Source, and get out so you can get me lunch!"

"OH, YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" boomed a deep, threatening voice from above!

Eruptor, Flameslinger, and Chihiro all gasped as they bolted up the ramp. They joined Sunburn just in time to catch a burgundy-colored cloud of smoke that churned in front of the cavern's entrance, before it transformed into a swirling vortex!

"After all, Skylosers!" crooned another voice that echoed from the vortex's heart, one shrill and completely unlike the menacing voice heard earlier. "Even if my no-good minions may have failed to stop you, I, KAOSSSSSSSSS, certainly won't!"

The vortex of smoke spat out a cloudy staircase, and out the vortex and down the stairs bounded Kaos! It wasn’t just the holographic head he favored for confrontations such as these, either, but the actual, flesh and blood Kaos! Kaos grinned as the stairs vanished before him, and stretched his hands as they flared with magic.

"You may have bested me all those other times, but you only got lucky!" Kaos proclaimed as he stepped forward and grinned as he took in Eruptor, Flameslinger, Sunburn and Chihiro's scowls and threatening looks. "Today, your luck runs out!"

Chihiro gasped and stepped back as Kaos pierced a glare directly back at her, but shook her head and forced a steely look.

"You can say that all you like, Kaos, but we're not going to quit!" Chihiro vowed!

"Yeah!" Eruptor cried in affirmation as he leaned forward. "We're not going back home until we get the Eternal Fire Source!"

Kaos, however, just grinned as bright, flaming red magic orbs formed in his palms. "We'll see about that!" Kaos cried as he stepped forward.

Chihiro, Sunburn, Flameslinger and Eruptor all stepped forward as well and readied their weapons, then all parties leaped forward and got ready to strike…

"HEY, WAIT FOR US!"

But froze and stumbled back as a burst of red and purple fire sprung out of nowhere in the middle of the battlefield! That burst of fire extinguished itself as quickly as it ignited, and out from it came none other than the Evil Lava Monster, Elf Archer and Phoenix Dragon!

"Hah, hah," the Evil Phoenix Dragon panted as it shook its head, turned to Kaos and bowed in his presence, "ee've arrived, Lord Kaos."

The Evil Lava Monster and Elf Archer both bowed to Kaos as well, but all three of them cried out and reeled back as Kaos bonked them on the head with the magic orbs he summoned!

"YOU'RE LATE, YOU STUPID MINIONS!" Kaos cried as he shook a fist at the Evil Phoenix Dragon, Elf Archer and Lava Monster. "BECAUSE OF YOUR INCOMPETENCE, I HAD TO CONFRONT THE SKYLANDERS MYSELF INSTEAD OF GETTING THE ETERNAL FIRE SOURCE! YOU ALMOST RUINED MY GENIUS EVIL PLAN!"

The Evil Phoenix Dragon, Elf Archer and Lava Monster winced as they held their heads lower. "We're very sorry, Lord Kaos," they droned as one.

Kaos scoffed, bonked them all on the head once more, and turned them around to face Chihiro, Eruptor, Sunburn and Flameslinger.

"Now, if you don't want to be blasted to your very essence, you'll stop those Skylosers so I can get the Eternal Fire Source!"

The tired, pained looks that were once on the Evil Phoenix Dragon, Elf Archer and Lava Monster' faces completely vanished, now transformed into grins and eyes glinted with pure anticipation as they licked their lips.

"YES, LORD KAOS!" they all cried as they readied their weapons and rushed forward.

Kaos grinned as he floated around and dashed towards the cave, while Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn gasped and bolted after him.

"FORGET THE CLONES!" Eruptor cried as he bolted forward. "Get Kaos!"

"Not on my watch you won't!" the Evil Lava Monster cried as it swung a lava blob at Eruptor and tossed him off-balance!

Eruptor sputtered as he stumbled about and windmilled his arms in some attempt to regain his balance, slammed both feet on the ground, and snarled as he flung a glob of steaming hot lava right towards the Evil Lava Monster!

While Eruptor and the Evil Lava Monster traded blows, Flameslinger dashed forward with his sights set towards Kaos. He flicked his ears, and changed course as a row of flaming arrows struck the path where he once ran! Flameslinger dropped, rolled out the path of another wave, and held out his own bow and arrow with his sights set on the Evil Elf Archer!

While they shot at each other, Sunburn had his own little problem to deal with! He kept trying to teleport towards Kaos, but every way he went, the Evil Phoenix Dragon tailed him! He teleported to the left, the right, everywhere! No matter where he went, the Evil Phoenix Dragon was quick to pop in front of him and block him off!

"You just don't give up, do you?" Sunburn asked as he glared down the Evil Phoenix Dragon.

"I could say the same for you!" the Evil Phoenix Dragon crowed as it vanished into a burst of purplish-red fire in the vague shape of a phoenix!

Sunburn teleported away as it tried to charge into him, and with the flames still warm and eager at his feathers' tips, Sunburn himself enveloped in fire and dashed right into it! The two of them smashed into each other as they tailed each other around the battlefield, but finally Sunburn swept left and disappeared in a burst of fire! He grunted as he appeared behind the Evil Elf Archer, but the Evil Elf Archer hardly noticed his appearance as it drew its bow towards Flameslinger!

"Flameslinger, look out!" Sunburn cried as he teleported away once more!

Flameslinger and the Evil Elf Archer both jolted up and looked around in confusion, but while they searched for Sunburn, Flameslinger's grip on his bowstring slipped! Without even realizing, he shot an arrow directly towards Eruptor! Eruptor whipped around and dodged in the nick of time, but he still didn't seem particularly happy as he turned to Flameslinger and snarled,

"Watch where you're shooting!" Eruptor shouted as he waved a fist at Flameslinger. "You could've—"

Before Eruptor could even finish chewing out Flameslinger, the Evil Lava Monster smacked him in the gut with a lava blob! Eruptor stumbled back and snarled, but that snarl turned to a queasy look as he hacked up magma that spilled all cross the battlefield!

Sunburn winced as he teleported away from the spilling lava and landed closer to where the Evil Phoenix Dragon was dashing away from it, He flapped his wings and got ready to teleport as well, but before he could, lava seared his claws and forced him into the air! He hissed as he blew off his claws, but while he tried to cool them down, he didn't see the Evil Phoenix Dragon teleport right behind him. By the time he heard its caw, it was too late! It already charged into him and tossed him back onto the stone floor!

Chihiro, meanwhile, just stood and bit her lip as the battlefield around her unfolded into a mess of fiery fights and flaming wreckage! The Evil Phoenix Dragon, Elf Archer and Lava Monster weren't going to relent anytime soon, but Kaos was already so close to the cavern's entrance!

"I can't just let him just waltz right in there and take the Eternal Fire Source!" Chihiro proclaimed as she tapped her feet and steeled her gaze. "I've gotta do something!"

Chihiro dashed ahead, weaved through the intermingle of lava, flaming arrows and fiery bursts that surrounded the battlefield, and ducked her head as she rolled across the warm stone floors! As she skidded away from Sunburn, who flew back thanks to another blow from the Evil Phoenix Dragon, Chihiro bounded towards the cavern entrance and summoned a magic sphere.

"Stop right there, Kaos!" Chihiro ordered as she smacked the sphere right towards Kaos!

Kaos grunted and didn't even bother to turn around as the sphere ran towards him. He just snapped his fingers and it disappeared in an instant!

"Well, well, seems I forgot a link in the chain!" Kaos remarked as he turned around and snarled. "Eh, I can just take care of it RIGHT NOW!"

Kaos's hands turned bright red as he summoned and shot off waves of spheres, but Chihiro teleported out of each one's path and shot off spheres of her own! Not that hers were any more effective than the ones Kaos threw out; each and every one was parried by a sphere of Kaos's own. Chihiro winced and glanced aside for just a moment—but in that moment she turned away, Kaos blasted her at her feet and tossed her off the cliff! Kaos grinned as Chihiro soared down the cliff, but that grin quickly soured as she grabbed on the cliff's side and backflipped her way back onto the top.

"Sorry Kaos, but you're not shaking me that easily!" Chihiro proclaimed as she leaned over and heaved heavy breaths. "I'm your opponent right now, whether you like it or not!"

"Oh, so you can do a backflip now, how impressive." Kaos scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Are there any other tricks up your sleeve?"

Chihiro made a scoff of her own as she summoned a handful of magic orbs. "Oh I'll give you some tricks, alright!"

Chihiro tossed her orbs to the sky, and they transformed into magical shuttlecocks and expanded until they were the size of dragons! While they hovered in midair, Chihiro leaped up, summoned a gigantic tennis racket and shot them down at Kaos in one mighty blow! Kaos gasped, summoned some large magic spheres of his own and fired them at the shuttlecocks—but they just flew out of the spheres' way and stormed straight towards Kaos! Kaos turned wide-eyed as the shuttlecocks' collective shadow cast upon him and his jaw dropped wide open.

"Uh oh."

All at once, the shuttlecocks crashed into Kaos and left a nasty, smoky crater in the rocky ground below!

"Yes, finally! It finally landed!" Chihiro cheered as she bounced up and down. Just as she hovered in midair, however, she shrieked and darted away as the sound of a screeching energy blast made its way into the air!

"I wouldn't be so cocky, if I were you!" Kaos sneered as he stepped out of the dusty crater. "Something like that wouldn't keep me down forever!"

"Yeah, I figured!" Chihiro spat back as she summoned another sphere. "But trust me, I'm not letting you get off that easily!"

Kaos just shrugged his shoulders and stepped away from the sphere Chihiro threw at him. "I don't know~! If I were you, I'd be more concerned about those Skyblunderers of yours! After all, they're losing pretty badly!"

Chihiro gritted her teeth, and her gaze turned back to the battlefield where Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn fought against those Evil Phoenix Dragon, Elf Archer and Lava Monster. The three of them tried their best, but each blow they cast was evenly matched! Conversely, every blow the minions threw at them took just as much out of them as if it was of their own strength! They tried their hardest to hold out…

But just then, the Evil Lava Monster lava-blasted Eruptor down to the ground by, Flameslinger got trapped by firewalls created by the Evil Elf Archer at every turn he tried to take, and a nasty tackle from the Evil Phoenix Dragon cast Sunburn aside! They all screamed as they crashed onto the ground, and Chihiro herself let out a gasp of her own as the screams hit her ears!

"Rupty, Flames, Sun!" Chihiro cried as they reeled from the heat of battle, and shuddered as Kaos cackled behind her.

"It seems those incompetent minions can handle those Skylosers well enough!" Kaos crooned as he turned around. "In fact, I'll ahead and get the Eternal Fire Source!"

Chihiro gasped and turned around, but just as quickly as she looked ahead, her gaze trailed back to Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn as they struggled down below. It was almost like she was hesitant, perhaps even indecisive on whether she should stop Kaos or help them!

"But first!" Kaos snapped his fingers and grinned as he ran in. "I'll leave you with a little present! A nice, hot shower of BRIMSTONE RAIN!"

The sound of burning flames ignited above, and before she even knew it, gigantic chunks of flaming brimstone poured down like a rainstorm's torrents!

Down on the lower half of the battlefield, the Evil Phoenix Dragon, Elf Archer and Lava Monster were quick to dash away and take shelter as the rain started, but Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn were left so weakened by their battle that they could only wince as the brimstone rained down! It drew closer and closer to them, but they jolted up from shock as a cyan shield came over them! They gazed in wonder as the brimstone bounced off the shield and extinguished itself as it rolled off, yet that gaze of wonder turned to shock fast enough.

"Wait, where's Chihiro?" Eruptor asked as he looked behind the shield. "She was just there a second ago!"

They all gasped as they looked around, and Sunburn turned his head up to the caves and dropped his jaw!

"There!" he cried as he pointed a claw to the caverns.

Eruptor and Flameslinger both followed Sunburn's gaze, and just barely caught a trace of Chihiro's back as she tailed a familiar black cloak into the cavern!

"Oh sweet Ancients!" Eruptor cried as the shield vanished. "Don't tell me she's going after Kaos herself?"

"She's gonna be toast!" Flameslinger cried as he slung his bow around his back and started to run. "Come on, we've gotta catch up with her!"

The three of them bolted towards the ramp that lead up to the caverns, but before they could, the Evil Phoenix Dragon, Elf Archer and Lava Monster leaped out of their hiding places and raced in front of the way!

"Forgetting someone?" the Evil Lava Monster asked as it held out his glowing hands.

Eruptor snarled as his own mouth glowed with bright hot rage, leaned forward and slugged the Evil Lava Monster right in the face! "We don't have time to deal with you!" Eruptor exclaimed with such intensity that drops of lava spat out of his mouth!

The Evil Lava Monster groaned and wiped the lava from its own mouth as it heaved heavy, body-shaking breaths.

"AND WE CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE TO YOU!"

The Evil Lava Monster flung Eruptor back with a series of magma blasts, while the Evil Elf Archer and Phoenix Dragon took this as a cue to attack once more! The two of them shot off twin bursts of flames at Flameslinger and Sunburn, but snarled as Flameslinger and Sunburn quickly jumped out of the way!

Once again, the battlefield lit with the burning flames of war as Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn battled away—but this time, they were much less focused. Their attacks were slow to fire and quick to be dodged, and they themselves seemed almost preoccupied with something as they tried to dash and dodge the minions in favor of speeding up the way just to get blasted away or blocked!

As the three of them flew off their path yet again, they all grunted and lunged down. their breaths pained as they held their chests and lurched over. Even so, a light of worry shone in their faces as they turned their attention to the path ahead. Who could blame them? After all, Chihiro was in there alone with Kaos, and it was unlikely that she'd be able to hold her own against him by her lonesome! These minions just wouldn't relent, though, and they were evenly matched for power so overpowering them was unlikely. There still had to be some way to stop them!

Flameslinger grunted as he shot a barrage of flaming arrows at the Evil Elf Archer, who just dashed off and grinned the flaming wall it left behind absorbed Flameslinger's arrows! Flameslinger hissed as his stiff posture loosened a bit, gritted his teeth and darted away from an arrow rain above him.

"How in Skylands are we gonna stop these guys? Everything we throw at them, they throw right back at us!" Flameslinger hissed under his breath as he swerved out the way of an arrow-born bonfire. "They've completely matched all our attacks—" Flameslinger stopped in his tracks and dropped his jaw "—unless…"

Flameslinger grinned, zipped between where Eruptor and Sunburn faced their evil counterparts, and ignited a wall of fire that stretched towards the ceiling in the process. More importantly, he completely blocked off the Evil Phoenix Dragon, Elf Archer and Lava Monster!

"Flameslinger!" Sunburn shouted as he shook his head and turned back to Flameslinger. "What're you doing? I just about had that guy!"

"Listen, I've got an idea!" Flameslinger said as he grinned and stashed his bow.

"Huh?" Eruptor and Sunburn uttered.

They raised their brows and frowned as Flameslinger whispered into their ears. Eruptor and Sunburn nodded as their eyes dawned with realization, and all three of them turned around as a harsh screech sounded off outside their flaming barrier! The flame walls evaporated in puff of embers and crackling sparks as the screech disappeared, and unveiled a sparkling pile of purple and red spheres that resided down on the floor!

Above that pile, the Evil Lava Monster and Evil Phoenix Dragon both sighed and shook their heads.

"We told it that was a bad idea, but does it listen to us?" the Evil Lava Monster groaned as it pinched its brows, or at least tried to given its lack of fingers. "Not at all!"

"What was a bad idea?" Sunburn asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Running into the fire walls, of course!" The Evil Phoenix Dragon scoffed. "We try to warn it, we both said 'Just because you're a Fire Elemental doesn't mean—'"

The Evil Lava Monster and Phoenix Dragon blinked, looked back towards Sunburn and leaped back! "Actually, what are we doing blabbing around?" the Evil Phoenix Dragon cried as it leaped towards Sunburn. "We've got a fight to finish!"

Sunburn grinned as he teleported away right before the Evil Phoenix Dragon could dash into him, and popped over across the battlefield! The Evil Phoenix Dragon snarled as it teleported forward and dashed towards Sunburn once more, but once again, Sunburn just teleported away! As he reappeared a couple feet away, the Evil Phoenix Dragon dashed forward and teleported away, but as it reappeared, it squawked in shock as it found that Sunburn was no longer there!

"Sorry buddy, I'm right here!" Sunburn cried as he teleported behind the Evil Phoenix Dragon, then teleported away as it charged after him. "Whoops, actually I'm over here!" Sunburn grinned as he reappeared and disappeared once more. "Sorry, too slow!"

The Evil Phoenix Dragon's beak twisted into a snarl as Sunburn teleported around it, and it completely stopped in its tracks! Its head whipped around as it tried to figure out where Sunburn would come from next, but it was near impossible! Sunburn moved faster with every single teleport he performed, until he moved by the split-seconds!

"Over here!"

"Over there!"

"Up high!"

"Down low!"

Sunburn's cries rang in the Evil Phoenix Dragon's ears, but it paid little mind to him. By that point, Sunburn teleported so much that the Evil Phoenix Dragon struggled to figure out just where he'd go next! It growled and opened its beak as it got ready to shoot off a barrage of flames, but what it released instead was a shrill squawk as Flameslinger's arrows shot towards it and pierced right through its back! The Evil Phoenix Dragon froze with wide eyes as it forced out a few more hoarse, pained squawks, and it exploded in a collection of purple and red spheres!

Flameslinger smiled as he blew off the smoke that lingered around his bowstring, flicked his ears and jumped away as the Evil Lava Monster lobbed smoking hot magma blobs at him! Flameslinger turned around and went to fire his arrows once more, but the lava blob storm was so intense that he didn't get the chance! He loaded his arrows and prepared to fire, but before he could get into position, another lava blob forced him out of the way! So instead, he waved a hand at Sunburn, waved another to Eruptor, and dashed back and forth in front of the Evil Lava Monster, who snarled as it spewed out a whole shower of flaming hot magma!

What the Evil Lava Monster didn't realize was that while it melted down the arena, Sunburn teleported behind it and dashed right into its back! The blow tossed it off balance and face-first into the lava puddles. While it sat up and brushed the lava from its face, Flameslinger released his bowstring and shot a round of arrows straight at its face! With the Evil Lava Monster being made of hard volcanic rock, those arrows did little aside of bouncing off of its body and making it very annoyed.

"What, did you really think a few arrows would stop me?" the Evil Lava Monster asked as it got up and laughed.

"Nope!" Flameslinger chirped as he proudly shook his head. "But I'm pretty sure a few rocks could!"

The Evil Lava Monster gasped and turned around to find itself face to face with Eruptor, who spat a burning, hot flaming rock in its face! The impact was great enough that its whole back popped open before its whole body exploded into a shower of purple and red glowing spheres.

But, this was hardly of notice to Eruptor, Flameslinger and Sunburn, who immediately made a beeline for the caverns above.