It was a chilly fallish day in the Skylanders' corner of Skylands; the cold, bitter breezes far more befitting of winter than fall carried away withered, crumbling leaves that haplessly floated in the abyss. The normally-blue skies of Skylands were more of a dull, sleepy gray instead, with masses of thin clouds scattered like dust bunnies around the open world…

And Ancient's Peak was a mess.

Books, scrolls, anthologies, scrap paper and all other sorts of written medium piled up among the heart of the island, until they formed a sort of mock fortress. All of them were half-read, and hastily thrown aside to stack into stacks so high and precariously that even the gentlest breeze threatened to completely bowl them over onto the nearest unsuspecting passerby.

In the center of it all, Chihiro, Hugo, and a handful of the Skylanders poured through those stacks of books and scrolls and tomes, all with keen eyes and the most disgruntled looks they've ever had. Chihiro's eyebrows twitched as she thumbed through a thick, intricate book of fairy tales, legends, and myths from all corners of Skylands, but finally she groaned and leaned back. With one loose motion, she tossed her book into a stack of books behind her, and sighed as the stack promptly teetered over.

"That's it, I'm finished," Chihiro whined as she laid down and groaned. "If I have to look at another page, I think my eyes might melt."

"Wait, not the books!" Hugo cried as he dashed towards the collapsing books in spite of the fact that he was far too late to stop them. "Those are some of the library's most—" Hugo squealed as the books promptly toppled over him in a pile of paperbacks and nasty papercuts, rummaged his way out and popped out of the book pile with a groan "—heavy books."

Hugo groaned as he wiggled his way out of the pile, and winced as he examined the nasty papercuts on his hand. With a sigh, he rummaged through his jacket's pockets and yanked out a box of bandages.

"Have you found anything over there?" Spyro asked from the other side of the pile, where he, Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy poured through small stacks of scrolls. "Cause we don't have anything over here!"

"'Fraid not," Chihiro groaned as she poked her head up. "I swear, that book has to be pulling our legs or something, cause I haven't found a thing about the Eternal Magic Source!" Chihiro sighed as patrols of Skylanders popped out from the portal building and conversed among themselves. "It's a good thing Master Eon took over portal duty for today, cause this is practically a full time job!"

"Not that we've found anything." Spyro sighed as he rolled up a scroll and tossed it aside, yanked away a scroll that Trigger Happy had folded into a hat and straightened it out. "I swear, we've tried every history book, myth, legend, fable, old wives' tale, everything!" Spyro skimmed over the scroll, completely oblivious to Trigger Happy's pouting, sighed and tossed it aside as well. "But there's nothing in here about the Eternal Magic Source!"

"I hate to say it, but I can't help but wonder if you're right," Hugo groaned as he finished applying bandages to his paw and wiggled his fingers. "I've pulled out everything from Master Eon's study and the portal building's library, and the most I've found are vague allusions! I'm starting to run out of places to look."

Hugo turned to his side, where Double Trouble conversed with a green-skinned orc clad in chartreuse warrior's clothing accented by the massive, ivory dragon skull atop their helmet.

"Double Trouble, are you sure you don't know anything about it?"

Double Trouble turned to Hugo and sighed as went on a long, lengthy speech in his own language and scratched his head with his staff.

"He said that unfortunately, he's just as confused as you are," the orc explained as they straightened out the creases that lined the pages of a worn, dusty scroll. "His travels to study magic may have taken him far and wide across Skylands, but even there, the Eternal Magic Source isn't spoken of in anything more than faint whispers."

"Ohhhh," Hugo said as he made a sagely nod and turned his eyes back to the orc. "You wouldn't happen to know anything, would you, Voodood?"

Voodood's neutral gaze turned a bit solemn as he shook his head. "It's a mystery even to me. For as masterful of magic as my people was, the Eternal Magic Source far predated us—"

"Excuse me," said a hollow voice as cold as the breezes that whipped around them, "did you say something about the Eternal Magic Source?"

Hugo shuddered for a moment, then peeked over the hardback fortress walls and grinned as Chop Chop leaned over them with what seemed like a piqued curiosity.

"Yes, we did!" Hugo exclaimed as he grabbed a book without even realizing. "We've spent the entire day looking for its location—" Hugo looked aside and grimaced "—but unfortunately, not even the Far-Viewer can find it, so we've had to take the more traditional route. All we know is that it was taken out of the Core of Light and given to the Arkeyans, and that they hid it away for their own use."

"Well, it's only natural that the Far-Viewer couldn't locate it." Chop Chop sheathed his sword and placed it aside. "We Arkeyans hid it in a place so carefully enchanted that not even the most prying of eyes or finest of instruments could retrieve it."

Hugo froze as he completely dropped the books he was holding, stumbled around and nearly toppled over the walls behind him as he looked up at Chop Chop.

"Say that again?" Hugo asked with sparkling eyes.

Chop Chop frowned as he toyed with his sword's hilt. "Well, we Arkeyans hid the Eternal Magic Source away in our empire—"

"CHOP CHOP, THAT'S JUST IT!"

Hugo wailed for joy as he jumped out of the paper fortress and practically pinned down Chop Chop with a tight hug, all while he sobbed waterfalls of joy!

"WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS EARLIER? WE HAVE ACTUAL ARKEYANS ON OUR TEAMS, WE CAN JUST ASK THEM!"

Chop Chop, however, didn't exactly seem as pleased as Hugo was as he tried to push Hugo out of his grip. "Er, Hugo, please—"

"Sir, what is going on here?" Drill Sergeant whirred as he rolled over and lifted Hugo off of Chop Chop with a simple pull of Hugo's jacket. "It is true that the Eternal Magic Source was possessed by the Arkeyan Empire, but—"

"FINALLY, WE'VE GOT OUR ANSWER!" Hugo wailed as he spun around with a smile like he had just won a million dollars. "AND I THOUGHT WE'D NEVER FIND ANYTHING!"

Hugo slammed his feet down and came to a stop, and his grin stretched concerningly wide as he looked back to Chop Chop and Drill Sergeant.

"So, where's the Eternal Magic Source?"

"Er, well, about that," Chop Chop said as he finally heaved a sigh. "Unfortunately, I cannot be of service here. As a footsoldier, I was not privy to any information more than its existence."

"And my memory banks were damaged when I was unearthed, I am afraid," Drill Sergeant beeped. "I remember precious little about our old empire."

And once again, everyone heaved a collective sigh as they turned back to the endless stacks of books and scrolls that practically laughed at their struggle at this point.

"You, you don't know?" Hugo asked as he froze, smile stuck on face and all, while his eyes completely shrank.

"In layman's terms, yes, that is correct," Chop Chop replied.

Chihiro frowned as she poked up from the hall that had been formed in the fortress's walls. "Why would you think they'd know this, Hugo?" Chihiro asked as she slammed a book shut.

"Well, we were both Arkeyan creations," Chop Chop replied as he pulled out his shield and pointed to a fancy crest carved in the center of its body. "It's only natural to assume that we'd know the many secrets of its vast empire. Unfortunately, the Eternal Magic Source's location was not one of them."

"Vast empires?" Hugo said as he froze in the midst of his celebration and blinked. He wobbled for a moment, completely toppled over and fell face-first onto the grass with a grunt. "In all my joy, I completely forgot how big the Arkeyan Empire was." Hugo sighed as he sat up and brushed dead leaves from his chest. "I guess that means it's time to hit the books."

"I mean, it's just one empire, right?" Chihiro said as she hopped out of the fortress and peered over Hugo. "It can't be that hard to find, right?"

"Chihiro, the Arkeyan Empire wasn't just any empire!" Hugo jumped back to his feet and shook a finger at her. "It was probably the biggest empire of all time! By the time it fell, it had conquered over seventy-five percent of all Skylands!"

Hugo turned aside and rubbed his chin. "And for that matter, that leads to a different problem." Hugo kicked up dead leaves as he paced back and forth. "The Arkeyan Empire was disassembled by the Elder Elementals thousands of years ago, and most Arkeyan civilizations are in ruins! The majority of their texts are gone now, so where else do we have to look?"

Hugo started to pant and heave a bit like he was going to flip his lid, but rather than doing that, he just sighed as he glazed over the massive fortress of books.

"Well, I suppose I can put some of these away," Hugo said as he plucked a few books from the top of a stack and shoved them in his hood. "I'll see if we have any more books in the libraries about the Arkeyan Empire that I missed. Failing that, I suppose I could drop a letter to the Warrior Librarians—"

"WE'VE GOT BIG TROUBLE!"

Everyone poked their heads over the book fortress as Flynn practically balled over everyone in his path with his eyes wide and his head in a cold sweat, almost like he saw a ghost! Flynn wasn't normally to type to get panicked over nothing; heck, he almost never panicked! What was going on here? Flynn's eyes nearly popped out his head as he dug his heels into the earth and skidded just inches away from crashing into the book fortress. He stopped for a moment to breath a sigh of relief, but as he wiped the sweat off his brow, he lost his balance and fell straight into the walls of the book fortress!

"FLYNN! Watch where you're going, you buffoon!" Hugo scolded as he stormed over to Flynn. "Some of those books have been out of print for centuries!"

Flynn sat up and hastily brushed off his jacket, leaped to his feet and grabbed Hugo's paws. "Oh, who cares about some dusty old books? We've got bigger things to worry about!"

"Buh, bigger things?" Hugo shook his head and sputtered as Flynn dragged him over to the beachside cliffs. "What could possibly be more important that locating the Eternal Magic Source?"

"I don't know, but I think a weird moving statue in the ocean is a pretty big problem!"

Everybody else peeled themselves away from the books, and crowded around Flynn and Hugo as Flynn pointed towards the oceans with a shaky hand he barely steadied.

Sure enough, there, among the crystalline blue seas that made up the edges of Ancient's Peak, and rested on a stone platform that remained firm and steady despite the cold chilly waters surrounding, was a statue! It was as big as a giant and made of rusted tan and gold metal, and bore six arms and an intricate face. It seemed kind of disoriented as it looked around, like it was dropped off in the wrong place, or perhaps the wrong time, given the aged look of its appearance. After all, parts of its body turned dull and calcified, almost like a relic of a time long past brought to life in the modern day.

"I was just taking a nice stroll on the beach to celebrate my latest accomplishments as Skylands' best pilot, you know, like you do, when I saw that thing right out the corner of my eye!" Flynn clenched his teeth and forced a smile. "I didn't think anything of it at first, but then it just jumped and started moving around like a person!" Flynn chuckled and adjusted his lapel as sweat dripped down his brow. "Of course, something like this isn't enough to terrify someone like me, one of the best pilots in all Skylands…"

Chihiro frowned as she pushed past Double Trouble and Gill Grunt, and peered over Hugo's shoulder.

"Has that statue always been there?" Chihiro asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"I certainty never noticed it before," Hugo remarked as he pulled away from Flynn's grip and adjusted his jacket, "but whatever it is, it is worth checking out! Just in case and all."

Chihiro and Hugo both dashed away from the crowds, but before they left for the steps, Double Trouble grinned and turned to Voodood. He waved his staff as he let out an excited shout, while Voodood just smiled and nodded.

"A strong magic signature?" Voodood remarked as he readied his ax. "I suppose something like this would catch your attention, wouldn't it?"

The two of them tailed Chihiro and Hugo down the stairs, though not very closely given the headway the former two had on the latter. By the time Voodood and Double Trouble reached the foot of the stairs, Hugo and Chihiro already jumped on the docks and prepped to leave!

Chihiro held her hands over the water as a cyan light filtered over the deep blue of the cold ocean, and that light manifested into a magical wooden raft complete with a fully-functional paddle! Chihiro stepped onto the raft and sat down on her knees, while a wary Hugo followed after her and cringed as the ocean water splashed against his feet.

"Hey, DT, Vood!" Chihiro shouted as she turned around and waved to Double Trouble and Voodood. "You wanna check out the weird statue too?"

Double Trouble nodded and waved his staff above him and Voodood! The staff sparkled as it let out rays of purple and pink magic, and in a flash, both of them teleported right onto the raft! Hugo cried out and latched onto Voodood's back as the raft dunked down a bit from the added weight, sighed and scooted a little closer to the center as the raft settled.

"All aboard the S.R. Hatsuki!" Chihiro cried as she pointed to the statue. "Next stop, weird statue rock!"

Chihiro hummed a jaunty sailing tune as she paddled the raft closer and closer to the strange statue's hideout, all while chilling breezes wafted through her hair and cold water brushed against the side of her raft.

The statue, meanwhile, still seemed quite disoriented as it turned its gaze to Chihiro's makeshift ship, yet screamed and withdrew a mass of swords out of nowhere!

"What, what's going on here?" the statue screamed as it sharpened its blades together. "Be on guard! Though my camouflage mechanisms may have failed me, as an Arkeyan Weapon Master of the bladekind, I have a fearsome array of weaponry in my display!"

"Arkeyan?" Hugo sputtered as he and Voodood shared wide-eyed looks.

"What are you talking about?" Chihiro uttered as she tilted her head. Chihiro let out a soft chuckle, then parked the raft next to the statue's resting place and hopped off. "If you’re looking for Arkeyans, you’re in the wrong place, silly! I’m a portal master apprentice—" Chihiro gestured back to Voodood as he helped Hugo and Double Trouble off the raft "—Voodood and Double Trouble are Skylanders, and Hugo…" Chihiro looked back as Hugo shot her a glare, chuckled and looked away. "He's Hugo!"

The Weapon Master blinked, withdrew his weapons in a flash and leaned back.

"Skylanders, Hugo? What are you beings doing here?" The Weapon Master looked back up to the cliffs. "After all, this is Ancient's Peak, the Elder Elementals' base of operations, is it not?"

Hugo clenched his teeth as he tapped his claws, all with the kind of awkward energy that came with having to tell someone something that they definitely didn't want to hear.

"Er, excuse me, Mister Statue," Hugo interrupted as he padded up to Chihiro, "but if you wanted to meet the Elder Elementals, I'm afraid you're too late! They've been gone for the past ten thousand years!"

"TEN THOUSAND?" The Weapon Master's mouth gaped open as he looked down at Hugo. "IT CANNOT POSSIBLY BE THAT LONG!"

The Weapon Master whipped his head around as he took in the sights surely so new and foreign to his eyes, sneaked a peek back down at his own body and gasped once more.

"My armor, how did it get so calcified and rusted? I had only taken a short nap before…"

The Weapon Master winced as he scratched away at his hard, rocky body, and the glow in his eyes flickered on and off in a few rapid blinks.

"My mission!" the Weapon Master whimpered as he looked down at his hands. "I came here to inform the Elder Elementals of the Eternal Magic Source's location, but even that I was not able to do!" The Weapon Master buried his face in his many hands. "Surely, they're all long dead by now."

But while the Weapon Master broke into soft, mechanical whimpers, Double Trouble, Voodood, Chihiro and Hugo all gasped and looked towards each other! Their eyes sparkled as bright as their grins as they shared in the same thoughts—they found their answer at last!

"Well, look on the bright side." Hugo walked up to the Weapon Master and patted the Weapon Master's base. "At least you didn't get wiped out when the Arkeyan Empire fell!"

The Weapon Master let out a shallow, breathy gasp as he stared off into the silver skies. "The Arkeyan Empire… Has fallen?"

The Weapon Master's eyes flickered on and off, but quickly solidified as Chihiro snapped her fingers in his massive, carved face.

"Hello, buddy? Skylands to weird robot dude!" Chihiro shouted as she placed a hand on her hip, "Yeah, yeah, empire's fallen and all. More importantly, where are you guys keeping the Eternal Magic Source? After all, you Arkeyan guys guarded it, right?"

The Weapon Master's eyes flickered red as he looked straight in Chihiro's face with such intensity that she gulped and jumped back!

"And why should I tell you?" The Weapon Master exclaimed as he summoned his swords once more. "The Eternal Magic Source has powers beyond anyone's comprehension, even my own! How do I know that you won't just hand it right back to the Arkeyan Empire or use it for evil?"

"Didn't you hear Hugo?" Chihiro scoffed as she pointed back to Hugo. "Your mighty empire isn't around anymore, buddy!"

Chihiro scrunched her brows, groaned as she tapped her foot, and shot probably the nastiest glare she could make back at the Weapon Master. "Now, the Core of Light's in pieces and we need to restore it before it's too late, we've been searching for this Eternal Magic Source all day and I'm getting tired of looking through old books, so spill the deets!"

The Weapon Master flinched and backed away as Chihiro pointed a finger that radiated with pure magic towards his face, but finally he sighed and clasped his hands.

"Well, if all that you say is true, then I suppose I can tell you," the Weapon Master admitted as he hung his head. "Perhaps I should use this as an opportunity to finish what I started."

The Weapon Master cleared his throat and scattered so much dust across the stones that everyone else broke into intense coughing fits.

"Now, before I can divulge the location of the Eternal Magic Source itself, I must ensure that it will be in safe hands."

Chihiro gasped with relief as the words hit her ears, but Hugo, Double Trouble and Voodood just shot each other very worried glances.

"Therefore!" The Weapon Master raised a finger. "It cannot be just anyone who takes it! It has to be someone that I can ensure will protect it with all their might, someone who not only desires to stray away from evil, but someone who has the strength and sharp mind necessary to protect it from forces of evil…"

Hugo, Voodood and Double Trouble's worried glances grew a little less stiff as the Weapon Master spoke further.

"And I know just the test."

Chihiro grinned and gave the Weapon Master a thumbs up. "Fire away then, buddy! I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle!"

"I wouldn't be so quick to say that, if I were you," the Weapon Master scoffed as he crossed his arms.

He paused for a moment to clear his throat, held his head high and beamed a holograph of an intricately-decorated palace from its eyes! Or at least, it seemed fairly intricate, given that the holograph had the quality of a grainy VHS tape that obscured most details with its noise.

"When Arkus studied the Eternal Magic Source under the one of the Ancient Elementals, one of the things he learned was that its powers could only be honed within technology via help from the Quicksilver, a special kind of magic oil."

As the Weapon Master spoke, the holographic image changed to that of human figures accompanied by massive machines entering a cavern, all of whom were helmed by a pale-skinned, elderly man in red and gold robes and a floating wisp of light. With a point of the elderly man's finger, the robots and other humans tore through the cavern and siphoned massive amounts of a shiny, blue and silver liquid that sparkled like a river of jewels.

"After he and his forces arrived at the last supply of Quicksilver in all Skylands, he took it all for his machines and locked it in one of his strongest vaults!"

As the holograph flickered out, the Weapon Master turned his gaze back down to Chihiro, Hugo, Double Trouble and Voodood.

"If you believe that there is someone among your ranks who is truly worthy of Eternal Magic Source, I will use the Chain of Eternity to take them back to the Vault." The Weapon Master stood tall and crossed his massive arms. "It has been armed with the most advanced security measures the empire has to offer, and if they can conquer each one, I can know for sure that the Eternal Magic Source will be in safe hands."

"What luck!" Hugo cried. "We actually needed some Quicksilver for the Core of Light as well!"

Chihiro grinned and clapped her hands as she peered back at Double Trouble and Voodood.

"Well then, I know just the people for this little mission!" Chihiro chirped as she teleported behind Double Trouble and Voodood and pushed them forward, "Double Trouble and Voodood!" Chihiro grinned as she gently nudged Voodood's arm. "Vood, you were a bigshot warrior in your home, right? And Double Trouble, you know a whole lot about magic! Who better for a task like this than you two?"

Double Trouble's tension loosened up as he chattered and scratched his head with his staff. Though nobody could quite decipher what he was saying, the way he glanced back to the Weapon Master with that burning curiosity spoke enough.

"Well, you do have a point," Voodood said as he cast a smile and a glance back at Double Trouble, "and we do need the Eternal Magic Source, like it or not."

Voodood cleared his throat and stood tall as he held his head back up at the Weapon Master.

"Well, I suppose if you put it that way, I have to agree." Voodood withdrew his ax and banged it against the stone. "Arkeyan! Bring my companion and I to this Quicksilver Vault which you speak of."

"Very well then," the Weapon Master said as he cast out a glowing hand, "We shall leave immediately."

The palm of the Weapon Master's hand glowed even brighter, and out from it spat a magical, silver chain that was a sparkling diamond at it stretched into infinity against the cold, gray skies! The chain hovered in midair for moments, and finally it slammed against the ocean with a loud splash!

"Now follow me."

The Weapon Master swiveled in place, uprooted himself from the stone slab he sat on, and floated across the chain. As the Weapon Master made his leave, Double Trouble and Voodood both shrugged as they looked back at each other, hopped onto the chain and trailed down behind it.

Chihiro crept forward and tried to trail forward, but before she could, a brown, furry paw snatched the back of her vest!

"And where do you think you're going, Chihiro?" Hugo asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"To help them finish that test and get the Eternal Magic Source, of course!" Chihiro exclaimed as she yanked around and pulled herself out of Hugo's grip.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Chihiro frowned and tilted her head as she pressed her fingers against her lips, shook her head and grinned. "Nope!" Chihiro frowned as Hugo shook his own head. "Was I supposed to remember something?"

"You have a test of your own!" Hugo gestured back to the heart of Ancient's Peak. "Now that we have the Eternal Magic Source worked out, you need to take your final portal master exam!"

Chihiro gasped and jumped up. "That's right!" Chihiro giggled and ruffled her hair, "I was so worried about the Magic Source that I completely forgot—" Chihiro shook her head and beamed as she hopped on the raft once more "—but no worries, I'm sure I'll pass it!"

Chihiro knelt down as she grabbed her oar, waved Hugo over and grinned as he boarded their boat back home. Things were oddly peaceful as Chihiro sailed them back to the beaches, yet something still seemed to bother her as she glanced down at her knees.

"Hey, Hugo," Chihiro said as she turned her glance back at Hugo, "just what was up with those Arkeyan dudes anyways?" Chihiro leaned her head aside as the raft parked against the beach's sands. "That Weapon Master guy didn't seem all that fond of them for being one of their guys…"

Hugo winced and tapped his claws together as he and Chihiro stepped off the raft. After a few moments of forced grins and awkward finger twiddling, Hugo took in a deep breath and adjusted his glasses.

"Chihiro, back on Earth, did you happen to study any ancient empires, by chance?" Hugo asked as he gazed back to Chihiro.

"Well, of course I did!" Chihiro grinned as she balled her hands into fists. "We learned about a ton of them in history class!"

"Did you ever learn what exactly caused these empires to fall?"

"Well, I don't know, I never paid that much attention in history class." Chihiro frowned as she turned her eyes to the skies and placed a hand on her face. "I think my teacher said something about how their leaders got so bad that they all just got tossed out like yesterday's garbage, or they got torn down by people from other countries and empires and stuff while they were down…" Chihiro's eyes went wide as she slowly pulled her head back down and blinked. "Oh."

Hugo winced and made a wary nod, but both of them coughed into their hands and trailed up the beach's stairs.

"Anyways, onto my final portal master exam!" Chihiro cried as she pointed to the path ahead.

§

The mission simulator room was thick with tension as Chihiro holed herself up in the corners of its cool, stone walls. The walls only grew colder thanks to the chilly air outside, and she bounced her legs not just to warm herself, but in anticipation. She'd occasionally peek over to where Hugo, Master Eon and Drobot toyed with the mission simulator, but every time she did, her whole stomach got ready to burst, so she'd just go back to hiding in her little corner. After all, this was her very last exam! Who knew how hard it would be, what trials she had to face, or whether or not she'd even pass? For as confident she was earlier, it felt like all her confidence swirled down the drain the moment she stepped in this room and the preparations began!

"Calm down, Chihiro, freaking out isn't gonna help you any," Chihiro whispered as she knocked her knees together and scratched her head, "I mean, you literally beat up Kaos himself not a few days ago! Something like this should be nothing, right?"

A thin smile stretched across Chihiro's face as she reveled in those sweet, sweet memories of Kaos's defeat at her, Eruptor, Sunburn. and Flameslinger's hands. Yes, she beat Kaos and came out unscathed! Heck, she'd been on tons of perilous, life-threatening missions at this point! Whatever challenges that this final exam had to offer her surely would be nothing at this point, right? Chihiro took one last peek back at the mission simulator, and once again a jar of butterflies opened up in her stomach.

She hoped she could infer something about the mission's contents from those soft, sneaky whispers Master Eon spoke into Hugo's ears, but his voice was too soft even for her sensitive hearing! Even Drobot seemed to have seriously lowered his usually booming vocal synthesizers. Guess they were really serious about this being a secret.

"Maybe if I practice a few spells, I'll calm down," Chihiro reasoned as she flicked out her hand. "Yeah, that sounds good!"

So, Chihiro summoned a magic sphere, giggled and bounced it up and down. She summoned one, two, three, and before she even realized, she summoned enough magic spheres that she had to juggle them to keep them from exploding! Chihiro's giggles turned to hearty laughter as she juggled around her sphere collection, but in her moment of simple joy, her hand slipped!

The spheres flew out of her grip and bonked her on the head before they exploded into masses of blue sparkles, save for one that leaped across the way! Chihiro coughed and shook the sparkles out of her hair, gasped and scrambled to full height!

"Wait!" Chihiro cried as the sphere soared over to the room's door right as the door creaked open. "Look out, there's a runaway sphere!"

Hugo, Master Eon and Drobot all pulled their faces away from the simulator's screens as Chihiro dashed over to retrieve the sphere. Before Chihiro could, a vortex popped out of the doorway and sucked in the sphere, and the vortex itself disappeared in a flash!

"You have to be more careful where you're throwing those things, Chi," warned a windlike voice. "Somebody could seriously get hurt!"

As the door swung towards the wall, Chihiro grinned and tackled the voice's owner in a tight hug!

"Whirlybird!" Chihiro cried as she squeezed Whirlwind tight and giggled. "What're you doing here?"

Whirlwind shared a laugh of her own as she gently pried herself out of Chihiro's hug. "Drobot asked me to help with some of the special effects, so to speak."

"Affirmative," Drobot interjected as he turned back to Whirlwind and made what seemed like a grin. "Though I may be the one championing the technological aspects here, Whirlwind is what really brings these simulations to life. She understands color theory quite well."

"I work with rainbows and weather, Dro~" Whirlwind said as she winked and flew over to Drobot's side. "How could I not?"

Drobot made what sounded like a mechanical chuckle, pushed aside and tapped a claw on the screen. He seemed pretty distracted right now; looks like Chihiro had the perfect chance to catch a glimpse of what was going on!

So, Chihiro grinned as she tip-toed across to their crowds as quietly and non-attention-grabbingly as she could. Her footsteps barely sounded across the closed quarters of the mission simulator's room as she stepped. Heck, she was so quiet that none of them noticed her at the back of the group! Too bad they were crowded so tightly that she could barely see what was going on.

"Now, for this part of the test, which colors would you believe would best to depict—" Drobot clenched his jaw as Chihiro attempted to lean over and sneak a peek at the screen "—intruder detected!"

Chihiro giggled and stepped back as everyone turned around and shot her very tired glances, but yelped as Hugo pushed her aside.

"Chihiro, I've already told you!" Hugo scolded as he sent Chihiro back to her corner. "You're not getting any previews of your final exam, no exceptions!"

Chihiro crossed her arms and pouted. "Awww, why not, Huges?"

"Because that would defeat the point of the exam, young Chihiro," Master Eon said as he floated away from the mission simulator and joined Hugo.

"This final exam's exact contents are supposed to be unknown because it is meant to see how well you can apply everything you've learned until now when faced with unexpected challenges. Thus, if you knew beforehand, it would be pointless!" Master Eon gently nuzzled Chihiro's head before he floated away. "You won't have to wait for much longer. We're almost done with the final tweaks, so just wait there for a moment."

So, Chihiro reluctantly nodded, sat down and sighed as she crossed her arms over her curled-up legs. So much for planning out what to do beforehand. Chihiro frowned as she blew strands of hair out of her face, and before she knew it, her knees started knocking yet again.

Chihiro's hands clammed up as Whirlwind whispered something to Drobot, nodded, and flew back to Chihiro's side? Guess Whirlwind was done with those special effects Drobot wanted help with.

"You worried about your last exam, Chi?" Whirlwind asked as she sat down next to Chihiro and wrapped a wing around Chihiro's shoulder.

Chihiro smiled a soft, weak smile, looked aside and nodded slightly. For as nervous as she was, being around Whirlwind always seemed to calm her nerves. Maybe that was some secret power of Whirlwind's, how she always knew just what to say or do to ease your worries.

"Well, I'm sure that you'll come out on top no matter what!" Whirlwind nuzzled Chihiro's head and grinned. "Sunburn told me what happened back when you got the Eternal Fire Source, you know. If you could hold off Kaos, I'm sure you could handle anything at this point!"

"I hope you're right, Whirls." Chihiro bit her lip and sighed, "I mean, for as much as I wanna believe that, this is my last exam! This is the last thing that stands between me and the title of a true portal master!"

Chihiro jumped to her feet and paced around in a circle as she gestured with her hands.

"After all, what if I'm super unprepared for something like this? Surely there has to be some kind of hidden twist, some kind of super-powerful, completely unbeatable problem or monster that I can't handle, or some secret trick I don't know about, or an inconveniently-placed quicksand pit that I'll fall into…"

"You know, rather than just guessing," Hugo said as he turned around from the mission simulator's panel, "you could come over here and find out for yourself, because we're finally done!"

Chihiro tore her head from the wall and looked back to the mission simulator, which, sure enough, beeped and glowed at full power! Surely it was finally time, time for the moment of truth she waited for ever since she started her studies underneath Master Eon. At the same time, it seemed like her feet glued themselves to the ground! Chihiro winced and tugged on her vest as she looked back at Master Eon and Hugo.

Master Eon, in response, glowed a gentle green as he flew over to Chihiro. "Now, do not fret, young Chihiro," Master Eon whispered as he laid on Chihiro's shoulder. "Should anything go wrong, we'll pull you out of the simulation immediately."

"Not that it should," Drobot pointed out as he clacked a few keys. "I have taken extra precautionary measures to make sure that no glitches and bugs occur within the simulation." Drobot turned back to Chihiro while his eyes flashed with a gentle light. "We cannot risk anything going awry during your final exam, after all."

Chihiro let go of her vest and made a smile of her own. Just the sight of their smiles encouraged her enough that the butterflies in her stomach had flown off—yeah, she had this! So, Chihiro bolted into the machine and grinned as the door sealed itself off.

"YOUR MISSION WILL START IN FIVE… FOUR… THREE… TWO…"

All around her, the mission simulator's rainbow lights whirred and danced in the chamber while the mission simulator booted up her final mission! What would await her, she wondered? A massive treasure hunt? A great war that she had to bring an end to? A trip through an ancient temple full of traps and treasure?

Chihiro peered back at the glass that separated her from her spectators, and made a small, excited gasp! There, Hugo, Master Eon, Drobot and Whirlwind waved and cheered for her! Even though the glass was soundproof and kept her from hearing anything they heard, Chihiro knew just what they were saying.

"Good luck, Chihiro! You can do it!"

The rainbow lights washed away the spectator's window from sight soon enough, but Chihiro couldn't help but wave back and shout. "I will! I'll make you all proud!"

Those words that she hoped would will her success in existence hung in the air for a few moments more, but finally vanished along with the bring, rainbow light as the mission simulator began to boot up the world around her…