Double Trouble grinned as he and Voodood slid down the chain, but grunted as he bumped into the Weapon Master! He made a low groan as he shook his head and collected himself, floated around the Weapon Master's massive body and gasped!

For such an ancient place, everything was so clean and polished, and better yet, completely rife with magic! From the cold, dark teal stones that glowed with magic power, to the vast blue space these stones hovered above, to even the various strange devices, contraptions and thingamabobs that were scattered across the room, even the pottery with its silvery and blue carvings lived and sparkled with a kind of mysterious wonder!

"This is the vault?" Voodood asked as he joined Double Trouble's side and held his ax tight. "I was expecting something more, primitive?"

"Now why would you assume something like that?" the Weapon Master asked as he crossed his arms. "I know ten thousand years is a long time, but it can't be that long."

"Structures made entirely of hover blocks? I've never seen the oldest ones outside of pictures!" Double Trouble cried as he floated over the edge and pointed towards it with his staff. "A magic liminal space, too?" Double Trouble turned his head up, hovered above and grinned. "A skyscape! It's off by a couple hours, but I suppose it's alright!" Double Trouble floated down and held his staff over his eyes like some kind of shield from a sun that wasn't present. "And self-moving blocks, too! I knew they were old, but I didn't think they were that old!"

"You really seem to pleasure these things, don't you?" Voodood asked as he walked over to Double Trouble and looked over the edge.

"Pleasure?" Double Trouble chuckled as he gently nudged Voodood's cheek with his staff. "I think you meant 'enjoy,' Voodood. We have two different words for that, you know!"

Voodood made a small laugh of his own. "Oh, I had forgotten! I always seem to get them mixed up."

"What exactly are you two talking about?" the Weapon Master interrupted as he crossed his second set of arms.

Voodood and Double Trouble both turned back to the Weapon Master and shrugged.

"Well, I suppose we're just taking in the scenery!" Voodood explained. "It's a bit surprising to see the olden versions of such commonplace spells and magic objects."

The Weapon Master raised an eyebrow. "So these things were common in your time? But these inventions were made solely for the use and construction of Arkeyans!"

"Not anymore!" Double Trouble chirped as he spun around his staff. "Nowadays, we have them all over the place! They're a lot nicer than the stuff here, too."

The Weapon Master just frowned and raised an eyebrow at Double Trouble, and Voodood stepped up.

"What my companion said is," Voodood said as he cleared his throat, "in our time, the things here have been discovered and used by all for years!"

The Weapon Master raised his eyebrows a little higher, smiled and shook his head.

"How intriguing," the Weapon Master said before he frowned and floated up to Double Trouble and Voodood, "but anyways, onto the important matters."

The Weapon Master came to a slow stop, lifted his head and showed those same, grainy holograms. This time, they depicted three rooms, one of which was the room they stood in now! The second was some kind of open ballroom, the third a blank, black abyss; just what were these places?

"If you wish to prove yourselves worthy of the Eternal Magical Source, you must brave two trials."

The Weapon Master whirred and frowned for a moment as his eyes turned to spinning circles, and all the while, the other two holograms faded away while the first took center stage and flickered through a series of room pictures.

"The first trial is a test of intelligence!" The Weapon Master bellowed. "Within these vaults are several incredibly challenging puzzles that only the brightest of our scholars could solve! In order to pass through, you must solve these puzzles and unlock the gates!" The Weapon Master coughed into his hand. "The gate beside you holds your first puzzle. Good luck, for you will surely need it."

And with those faint wishes in the air, the Weapon Master disappeared in a slow flash of light!

Double Trouble and Voodood looked towards each other and shrugged before they turned their attention to the space across from where they stood now. There, a dark blue and silver gate held some kind of shiny, bronze box with a keyhole carved into its surface, but just what kind of puzzle was is? Double Trouble floated up to the box, peered into its keyhole, and found a round, shiny marble magnetically stuck to a floor with a few shining spaces!

"Wait a second, I think I know what this is!" Double Trouble proclaimed as he grabbed onto the box's sides. "This is just a really old lock puzzle! That's a cinch!"

Double Trouble shook up the box just a little bit, and grinned as the marble slid across each and every glowing space in accordance with his movements! Those spaces all glowed with a bright shine, and the sound of unlocking echoed around the vault as the box unlatched itself from the gate and crashed to the floor! The gate slid down in response, and unveiled a simple, stone platform with an old teleporter that faintly sparkled with light, though that light seemed much more prominent against the dull stones that made up its resting place.

Double Trouble grinned as he floated onto the teleporter and sat down, but nothing happened. He just stayed put where he was! Double Trouble frowned and scratched his mask as he tapped his staff against the teleporter.

"Is this thing broken or something?" Double Trouble asked as he tapped his staff a bit more. Was this a part of the puzzle?

Well, he supposed not, for the teleporter's light flared before it whisked him off the floor and into a dimension full of liminal white light! Double Trouble hovered in place for a few seconds, and with a few blinks, he dropped off back in the vault.

Admittedly, his new spot was a lot nicer compared to the older one. While that one was made of stone, this was made of sleek silver and blue metal that seemed immune to rust and decay, given that it shone bright in spite of being here for thousands of years. That wasn't all! It had so many ancient, magical artifacts, like it was a veritable treasure trove of ancient magic history!

Double Trouble grinned and clapped his hands as he soared over to a stack of magic cubes that drew him in like metal to a magnet. The magic cubes he knew would give off fireworks shows of magic spells, and ancient knowledge, and so much more when use. Surely these would do the same, right? Double Trouble grabbed one and twisted it around, but all it did was let out a few pitiful puffs of magic smoke! Talk about underwhelming.

So, he tossed it aside and flitted over to a massive crystal that shot a beam which pulled a magic platform back and forth, surely a predecessor to the crystal puzzles they used for security today! He hopped onto the platform and hummed as it carried him to a second one, where something interesting was bound to be found—or not.

That platform took him not to an ancient treasure or a collection of spells and magic crafts, but just a place with a few stockpiles of gold coins. Boring! Double Trouble huffed and frowned as the platform brought him back, hopped off and dug through a box of crude magic artifacts.

"I see someone's found a treasure all his own," Voodood remarked as he walked up behind Double Trouble.

Double Trouble just grinned and turned around with a stale potion bottle in hand. For as much as Double Trouble didn't really enjoy perfect strangers sneaking up on him in the midst of his work, Voodood was the one exception. After all, he cherished the magic arts just as much as Double Trouble himself, given the Ooga Warrior clan was revered for both their warriors and wizards alike! It would be only natural that they were kindred spirits in the magic realm.

"Ah, I wish," Double Trouble admitted as he uncorked the potion, poured it across the floor, and frowned as it steamed for a bit and crafted a pitiful sprout before it evaporated. "Unfortunately, for such an ancient empire rife with lost magic history, these findings have been pretty underwhelming."

Double Trouble paused, and sniffed what remained of the potion bottle's contents before he held it up to Voodood. "This is supposed to be a floral insta-grow potion, and it's still fresh by the scent! That's one of the basic potions they teach every child old enough to hold a bunch of herbs, but look!" Double Trouble gestured to the ground. "I don't know about you, but I don't see any flowers."

Double Trouble sighed as he picked up his staff and swung it around. "Talk about a disappointment."

CLICK!

Wait, what did he just hit? Double Trouble blinked and turned back at the button he had just pressed with his staff, then frowned as it pulsed red.

"I have a feeling that wasn't a good button," Voodood remarked as he examined the button and tapped its smooth surface.

Just beside them, the ground below shifted and turned as holes formed in its surface, and out from those holes in the metal ground popped red and gold blasters and an entire squadron of Arkeyan knights! The knights bore an uncanny resemblance to Chop Chop, though their armor was bulkier and drowned in shades of red and gold, while their "bones" were made entirely of shiny metal! Within their hands, they held giant, spiky magic maces, and with the way their helmets' eyes glowed red, they seemed intent on using those maces!

The knights all charged towards Double Trouble and Voodood, who brandished their weapons and charged back in turn, but Voodood and Double Trouble gasped and scattered back as the blasters shot at them! While Voodood ducked and covered, Double Trouble just flew back and stood his ground. Double Trouble pressed his staff's jewel against his palm, and it glowed a bright, rainbow glow as it raised a shield between them and the onset of Arkeyan robots!

While the knight was quick to stop, the blasters shot away—but their blows just ricocheted back at them and blew them to bits!

Double Trouble smirked and blew off his staff as the shield rescinded, but gasped and flew away as something tried to chop his head off! He snarled and whipped back around just as one of the knights dragged its mace across the metal and created obnoxious shrieking noises with every step! Double Trouble wanted to shoot back at it, but those noises were so grating that it made him completely lose his focus!

"Perhaps you should fight someone of your skillset!" Voodood exclaimed as he got up and dashed forward, ax in hand. "Have a slice!"

The knight turned around, and completely forgot about Double Trouble as it flung its mace in front of its body and created a shield! The shield absorbed Voodood's attack and blew him back, but even though Voodood went rolling, he didn't give in! He just jumped back into the fray and slashed at the Arkeyan knight once more, yet it threw its shield out and absorbed the blow! Voodood pulled his ax back, swung out of the way as the knight swung at him with its mace, and sliced forward with the ax. This time, it was the mace that took its blow! They slashed and sliced and swung at each other, sword versus ax, knight versus warrior, old versus new; yet, Voodood couldn't get a single blow in!

"For old tech," Voodood panted as he slid back from another failed attack, "this thing holds up really well!"

Voodood snarled, gripped his ax tight, and spun it above his head before he slammed it back into the ground once more.

"Perhaps I should find another way to trip you up!"

Voodood jerked his ax out of the metal ground, and from it came a purple tripwire that crackled with magical electricity! He stepped backwards, beckoned for the knight to come after him with his hand, and grinned as it bolted straight for the tripwire!

The knight charged after him with all its knightly might, but it was so focused on Voodood that it didn't even notice the tripwire underneath it! Before it could get a single blow in, the tripwire wrapped around its legs and sent it crashing down onto the floor! Now that it was vulnerable, Voodood finally had the opening he desired! Voodood swung down his ax, slashed the knight's chest wide open, and pulled his ax out with a grin—but not for long! The knight's opened chest sparked and crackled with cyan smoke and electricity before it completely exploded right as Double Trouble and Voodood dashed off!

The smoke coated the room so thickly that it was hardly possible to breath for a few moments, but eventually the thick, cyan mist let up right as angry chatter filled the room. As the mist finally let up, it unveiled a massive crowd of nasty, glowing blue-green imps that bounced and gnashed their teeth as they fixed their eyes on Double Trouble and Voodood!

Double Trouble and Voodood readied their weapons, but those nasty little imps completely swarmed them up to the knees before they could even strike! Instead of fighting back, they danced along the platform as they tried to shake the imps!

"Get off of me, you awful creatures!" Voodood cried as he yanked several of the imps off his pants and tossed them aside, while more imps immediately took the fallen ones' places. "Just what are these things, anyways?"

Double Trouble grimaced as the imps Voodood tossed aside slammed into the floor and exploded in puffs of teal smoke, and his eyes went wide! That was it! He knew exactly what these obnoxious things were!

"Seems you've got a lot of buddies here!" Double Trouble exclaimed as he raised his staff well over the sea of imps and waved it around. "Good thing I've got some of my own too!"

With one last spin of his staff, a bunch of tiny Double Troubles manifested out of thin air, soared back into the crowds of imps and exploded! When one explosion wiped out a few, the feedback from that wiped out more and more, until it sent out a chain reaction that made all the imps explode at once!

"gnashers, nasty little things," Double Trouble remarked as he straightened his skirt, "but, if you can blow them up close to each other, the resulting explosion completely disrupts their chemistry and blows up all the ones near them!" Double Trouble winked at Voodood. "I know that from personal experience."

Voodood chuckled and rolled his eyes, but his playful looks quickly solidified into wonder as he turned ahead. "That has to be the next puzzle!" Voodood cried as he ran ahead.

Double Trouble followed Voodood's gaze and grinned. He didn't know how he missed it, but right at the end of the platform lied another one of those gates with those crude lock puzzles! So, Double Trouble teleported beside it and tapped the box with his staff. In moments, the box shifted and slighted around before it completely unlocked and collapsed at Double Trouble's feet!

The gate collapsed in tandem with it, and unveiled that instead of a teleporter, the way ahead was brought by a massive, shining silver chain that laid over the magical abyss below them!

Voodood peered around the gates, gulped and turned back around as he caught sight of the long way down below. "I'm not sure if this is particularly safe, Double Trouble," Voodood whimpered as his whole body shook.

Double Trouble, however, frowned and tapped one foot against the chain. He tried to pull it up a few times, but no matter how many times he lifted that foot, it was immediately pulled back down to the chain! It was almost as if something glued it to the first link, in fact! He placed a second foot on it, then swung and wobbled around a bit just to be safe.

"Double Trouble, what are you doing?" Voodood demanded with wide open eyes.

Double Trouble turned back and grinned at Voodood. "This is one of those magic chains! It keeps you feet stuck to the chain until you reach your destination!" Double Trouble explained as he held a hand out to Voodood. "There's no way you can fall off!"

Voodood whimpered and seemed, almost a bit hesitant, even if he didn't want to admit it. Surely, a proud warrior such as himself would never want to admit that he had a fear of heights. Yet, he nodded and receded as he took Double Trouble's hand. Voodood took one gingerly step onto the chain, and another, and finally, the both of them cheered as they slid down the chain's surface, magic sparkles and all.

§

Chihiro frowned and rubbed her very bleary eyes as the world around her finally solidified into some kind of coherent landscape. Though everything around her was blurry and blobbish, she could make out rich green vegetation against yellow pathways and blue skies. Was she in some kind of forest or jungle? Her vision cleared further, and greeted her with masses of tall, tropical trees and crops of tall, leafy plants occasionally entwined with thick vines and brightly-colored flowers. Yep, definitely a jungle.

Most importantly, stationed outside the jungle path was a panicked, ursine mabu dressed in simple yet colorful clothing! The mabu muttered to themself as they paced around in circles, their eyes wide as dinner plates as they held on to a shaking hand. Though Chihiro wasn't quite sure just what it was, she could see a bit of red poking out from the hand they held, but why?

"Hey, what's going on?" Chihiro asked as she walked up to the mabu. "Is something wrong?"

The mabu didn't even notice her! They just went back to muttering and pacing with no attention paid to her, not even when she waved her hands in front of their face! Clearly they were pretty darn panicked.

"Hello? Hello? 'Scuse me?" Chihiro frowned as she hopped and waved in front of the mabu in some desperate attempt to catch their attention. She snapped her fingers in front of the mabu's face, and that seemed to catch their attention at last, judging by how they jolted up!

"Wait, who are you?" the mabu whimpered as they stepped back and sweat. "When did you get here?"

"Hey there!" Chihiro chirped as she placed a hand on her chest. "I'm with the Skylanders, and I came here to see if—"

"SKYLANDERS?" the mabu cried as they turned around. "NOT THEM, ANYONE BUT THEM! STAY AWAY!"

Wait, what? Normally, hearing that the Skylanders were around was enough to ease most civilians' nerves, but this one seemed terrified! Before they could run further into the jungle, Chihiro teleported in front of them and stopped them in their tracks!

"Hey, buddy, calm down!" Chihiro said as she placed her hands on her hips. "I'm not gonna hurt you!"

"That's what those Skylanders said, too!" The mabu wailed as they flung out a wounded paw rife with crimson blood. "And look what they did to me!"

Chihiro gasped, and frowned as she examined the hand while she tried to stifle her shock. Skylanders wounding civilians willy-nilly? Now that was definitely a problem she had to investigate, but before she could, she had to take care of this injury.

"Now that isn't right!" Chihiro summoned a roll of magical bandages and wrapped them around the mabu's hand as she spoke. "Code number two of the Skylander code says that Skylanders can't harm or kill civilians without good reason!"

The mabu only scoffed. "Tell that to those so-called Skylanders that went rouge in our village!"

"Yeah, I'd like too!" Chihiro cut the bandage as it finally finished wrapping, and put her hands on her hips. "I'm a portal master, and if Skylanders are acting out of line, it's my job to set them straight!"

"Really?"

The mabu looked up at Chihiro with wide eyes, twiddled their fingers and looked aside as Chihiro nodded.

"Well, you see, some people claiming to be Skylanders came in to help protect a special treasure at our village's temple, but they stole it under our noses!" The mabu looked back up at Chihiro while their eyes shimmered with worried. "Now the whole place's in chaos! Without the treasure to keep the temple's magic in check, it's turned this whole jungle upside-down! There's monsters all over the place, and the flora's grown out of control, and our whole village is terrified!"

Chihiro frowned, summoned a magical notepad and pencil and tapped her pencil's tip against the shimmering paper. "Can you give me some descriptions of these Skylanders?"

The mabu frowned and rubbed their chin.

"Well, there was a bunny in a strange suit with a weird gun, and a guy with orange skin in these weird clothes who was riding a big wolf, and a big skeleton dressed up like a hockey player—"

"GOT IT!" Chihiro cried as she scribbled down her artistic interpretation of the mabu's descriptions. Before the mabu could even finish or be heard any more, Chihiro stashed her notepad away and dashed into the jungle, but not before she turned around and gave the mabu a thumbs up. "Thanks for the info, buddy! I'll give those guys a good talking-to!"

Just like that, Chihiro delved deeper into the thick of the jungle, where any sort of civilization was long displaced by endless forest and greenery. The calls of birds and songs of insects mingled with the leaves as they brushed against the leaves, much like the one leaf that smacked into Chihiro's face right at the moment!

Chihiro grunted as she pushed aside the leaves of a particularly large flower, and as it pushed in front of her once more, she summoned a sword and chopped it off with a battle cry! She grunted as she pressed ahead, slashed through the endless thickets of vines, leaves and weeds that practically ran this jungle town, and froze. For a moment, she was sure she could've heard footsteps, and not just hers! They were large, heavy footsteps, like that of some kind of beast! It could've been one of the jungle wildlife, but didn't that mabu say something about one of those rogue Skylanders having a monster buddy?

Chihiro whipped out her notepad and flipped through its pages as the greenery around her rustled and shuddered. The footsteps grew more prominent as she gasped and landed on a page with an illustration of just that person! Yes, that had to be the one the mabu described, the weird dude who rode on a wolf.

Low growling rumbled from the forest as the leaves shuddered and shook with such an unnatural ferocity, and something leaped out of the shadows while it lunged right towards her! Chihiro tossed the notepad aside and flung up a large shield, grunted and stepped back as her would-be attacker flew off the shield and rolled back onto the ground!

That would-be attacker was indeed, a ferocious wolf with fur that was coal black. Wait, it wasn't just coal black; its entire body was made of literal coal and rocks smashed together over a flaming hot fire base! It donned a metallic armor suit carved with fancy bronze markings, and its amber eyes glared with an intense flame! With how angry it looked, it would strike at any time now!

Chihiro whipped around and bolted off as the shield faded away, but the wolf was big and fast and determined—which was not a good combination! No matter how fast she ran, it bolted after her with an army's speed! Chihiro tapped her shoes and dashed off as a speed augmentation spell burst within her, but even that wasn't enough to discourage the beast. For every step she ran, it pounded behind her with such an intense fury it made the entire jungle quake!

"You're a pretty stubborn one, aren't you?" Chihiro asked as her hand glowed with a furious aqua light. "Guess I'll have to put you in the doghouse!"

Chihiro skidded around to a stop as her little energy flare glowed with the size and heat of the sun, leaped up and spiked it down at the wolf! She hovered down with a grin as the wolf tumbled onto its back and whimpered, but that momentary confidence vanished the moment the wolf rolled around and flipped back onto its back!

"Seriously?"

Chihiro stepped back while the wolf leaned down and growled at her. She snarled and balled her hand into a fist as she got ready to fight once more, yet completely froze as a cackle shuffled through the leaves! Somebody else was here, and she was certain in her heart of hearts that it was this little puppy's owner! Chihiro whipped around and tried to get some sense of where the voice came from, but she couldn't seem to find anything! All she saw were rustling leaves and embers that crackled in midair!

"Who's over there?" Chihiro cried as she lifted her glowing hand, and jumped out of the wolf's way as it lunged over at her. "Get out here and face me!"

"Well, you asked for it!"

Right out of the bushes behind her, a bright flame rocketed forward and tried to crash into Chihiro, but she was already on top of it! Before it could catch her, she whipped around, cast out her hand and trapped that flame in a firm bubble! The flame rolled and pushed against the bubble, but that bubble was far too strong for it! In fact, the bubble won over it, as it completely extinguished its flames and unveiled the person underneath!

They were a human with bright orange skin covered in curvy red markings, while atop their head was a cream-colored mohawk. They dressed in brown, gray and red clothes that reminded Chihiro of some odd hybrid between knights and Vikings, and their bright, orange eyes rang with an even brighter fire as they pushed and struggled against the bubble. Too bad for them; they weren't leaving until Chihiro got some answers!

"Alright buddy, spill the beans!" Chihiro shouted as she pointed an accusing finger at the person. "Who are you, where are your little friends and what do you want with this place's treasure?"

The person just scoffed as they glared back down at Chihiro. "Like I'd tell you that!" the person said as they whipped out an ax and slashed the bubble open!

As they fell back down to the ground, the person pulled down their eyelid and stuck their tongue out at Chihiro (how rude!), and bolted down the path once more!

"HEY, GET BACK HERE!" Chihiro cried as she knelt down and bolted after the flame person!

Thankfully, her speed augmentation spell hadn't worn off quite yet, so before long, she was neck in neck with that mystery fireball! The person gasped and dashed further ahead the moment they caught sight of Chihiro, all as flames crackled and burned around them; before they could make another grand escape, she snapped her fingers and trapped them in a magic net! The trick was so sudden that they dropped their ax just out of reach, and their mouth and eyes gaped wide as it fell to the floor with a harmless clang. They pressed and burned against the ropes as they tried to reach for their ax, but it was no use! Those ropes weren't budging no matter what!

"Sorry, buddy!" Chihiro shouted as she snagged his ax off the ground and smirked. "You're not getting out there until I get some answers!"

The person groaned, turned away from Chihiro and crossed their arms with a huff. Well, seems as though she wouldn't get answers from them anytime soon. Chihiro frowned as the sound of pounding footsteps echoed in the distance, squealed, and jumped away yet again as that person's wolf tried to launch at her.

"Wait, that's it!" Chihiro proclaimed as she banged her fist against her hand. "If I can't get that guy to talk—" Chihiro turned back around to the wolf and held out a hand "—maybe I should ask someone else!" Chihiro grinned as her hand sparked and flared with magic. "Alright boy, speak!"

A magic bullet jumped out of Chihiro's hand and shot towards the wolf, but the wolf just launched a flaming fireball that completely nullified the bullet and hurtled straight towards her! Chihiro jumped out of the way and slung back some magic spheres, but once again they harmlessly crashed against the wolf's pelt and vanished! The wolf lurched open its jaw and shot out another round of red hot fireballs, but this time, Chihiro backflipped away and cast a bouncy shied that reflected the fireballs back at the wolf!

The wolf barked in surprise as it tried to turn tail and run, but before it could, its own fireballs slammed into it and knocked it aside! Seemed as though a taste of its own medicine was all it needed, for finally it laid down and stopped attacking.

"Alright, boy," Chihiro said as she teleported in front of the monster and held a glowing hand in front of it, "if you tell me what your owner's friends are doing here, I'll give you a nice, juicy bone!"

The wolf yanked up its head as its eyes went wide, all while her blue glow burned around its body, and it jumped to its paws and wagged its tail.

"Owner and his friends came here because they wanted the treasure in the big building! They said they wanted to sell it for pretty gold!" the wolf panted as it looked down at Chihiro. "Can I have my bone now?"

"YOU STUPID MUTT!" the person cried as they swung against the magical net. "DON'T JUST TELL THEM THAT!"

Chihiro chuckled and rolled her eyes, then turned back to the wolf. She pieced together about that much from what she heard, but it was good getting some confirmation.

"Almost!" Chihiro chirped as she held up her hand. "Just how many friends are there, and where are they now?"

"There's two more, and they're at the big gold building!"

Chihiro chuckled, held out her hand and summoned a magical bone that she tossed to the wolf! She couldn't help but smile as the wolf caught it and chewed away, but she couldn't exactly linger here for long. That temple was her next destination, and she had to get there fast! She dashed down the jungle path with a new spring in her step, but not before she turned her eyes back to the net and reinforced its ropes with a firm snap!

"Don't go anywhere!" Chihiro shouted as she raced off, all while the flaming person snarled and cursed her out in the distance.