Double Trouble and Voodood both stretched their arms to the ceilings as they hopped off the other side of the chain. Man, Double Trouble hadn't ridden one of those chains in so long; he forgot just how much fun they were! He made a little snicker to himself, turned back and shook his head in a playful, teasing sort of way as Voodood stumbled about.

"All that sliding makes you dizzy at first, doesn't it?" Double Trouble chuckled as he floated behind Voodood and grabbed Voodood's shoulders. "You get used to it after a while~"

Voodood chuckled as he finally steadied himself, and nodded as a slight, dark green blush dusted his face. Wait, was Voodood blushing? But, why? It wasn't particularly hot in this place!

"Greetings, challengers," echoed the Weapon Master's voice, albeit with a somewhat distorted quality, as a blue light fell across Double Trouble and Voodood's faces, "and do not fear, for I am speaking to you through a holographic message, or 'hologram.'"

The two of them turned around, and there out of a golden spout came a hologram of the Weapon Master! It wasn't anything like the holograms Double Trouble was used to seeing, given how grainy and glitchy its appearance was. Heck, it practically shorted out every five seconds!

"Oh, it's you again!" Double Trouble chirped as he held his staff upright.

The Weapon Master, however, frowned and blinked. "The hologram isn't a shock to you?"

"Oh, holograms are super common nowadays!" Double Trouble grinned as he spun his staff like a baton. "They're convenient, but not exactly groundbreaking. Heck, I could make one half-asleep with my eyes closed!"

"Holograms are very common in our time," Voodood explained as he turned to the holographic Weapon Master.

The Weapon Master just pursed his lips as his eyes went wide with a tranquil sort of shock, almost. "Oh," was all he said before he shook his head. "Nonetheless, I must warn you that the puzzles here are even harder than the last. Do not take them lightly."

And just like that, the Weapon Master's hologram vanished into a puff of smoke and magic sparkles! Voodood seemed awfully concerned as he squeezed the handle of his ax, but Double Trouble wasn't worried in the slightest as he grinned and toyed with his staff!

"You aren't concerned?" Voodood asked at last as he looked up at Double Trouble.

"Nope!" Double Trouble beamed back at Voodood. "After all, those last few puzzles were child's play, so what's one more?"

Double Trouble hummed to himself as he juggled his staff in midair, but his playtime came to a sharp close as something zapped in the back!

"Hey!" Double Trouble snatched his staff out of the air and whipped around. "Who did that?"

Cackles sounded off from nearby, yet the entire area was completely blank save for Double Trouble and Voodood! With a wave of his wand, Double Trouble cast a no-sell spell that blanketed over everywhere but the tiny circle where he and Voodood stood, and unveiled a mechanical spell punk clad in purple and yellow star-print robes that held a rainbow-colored orb tight!

The spell punk gasped as it realized that it was visible once more, and held out its hands like it was going to cast a spell. Unfortunately for it, nothing came out! With the no-sell spell, it couldn't do a thing! No magic or spells came from its spindly arms…

"Hah, what're you going to do now?" Double Trouble sneered.

So, it went with the next best thing. The spell punk snarled back at Double Trouble, took its orb and slammed it against a big red button that sat just across from it. The orb rolled to the floor, and the spell punk dashed off!

Alarms screeched across the area as holes formed in the platform as in came Arkeyan knights and a massive Arkeyan Ultron, and they were more than ready to fight, especially given that they had their shields up and ready!

Double Trouble winced and floated back. "I really shouldn't have said that."

Double Trouble and Voodood both frowned as the robots stared them down, but finally they jumped forward weapons-first! The Ultrons, however, were the first to attack as they held out their arms and shot out massive rockets! Voodood and Double Trouble gasped and jumped out the rockets' path, but one blow from a knight's mace smacked both of them and tossed them aside!

Double Trouble winced as he skidded across the floor, jumped to his feet and shot an eldritch magic beam towards another swarm of rockets that shot their way! The beam blew up the rockets before they could hit, but the Ultron was hardly discouraged as its shields lowered while its arms raised. Wait, now was his chance!

"Voodood!" Double Trouble shouted as Voodood staggered off the ground beside him. "Get that thing's attention!"

Voodood pulled himself tall, nodded and held out his ax. With one swing, its blade dug into the Ultron and pulled Voodood forward like a zipline! The Ultron stepped around and raised its arms to fire—

—but before it could, Double Trouble jumped in and fried it with a magic beam!

As the Ultron burst into magical flames and fell down, Double Trouble and Voodood turned around and fixed their eyes on the Arkeyan knights, who already had their weapons raised! Their shields started to flicker out right as they went to swing, but unfortunately, they were fast and numerous!

Neither Double Trouble or Voodood could get a blow in before they had to dodge a mace swing or two; seems they'd have to get a bit creative! So, the two of them pressed back-to-back against each other, each of their eyes fixed on one half of the whole fleet. Double Trouble waved his wand, and in a flash, his clones soared down from above and rained on the knights! While they swatted the clones away like annoying bugs, Double Trouble swung over and blasted them with a massive laser beam of magic!

Meanwhile, Voodood and the other knights traded blows, and they all raised their maces at once. Voodood just swung his ax and slashed them all down in one fell swoop!

The knights all twitched and stumbled back as magical sparks flew from their injured bodies, and finally they exploded into gnashers that in turn created a massive string of explosions around! By the time the dust cleared, nothing was left on the platform aside from Double Trouble, Voodood, and a simple golden key that rested among shattered, rainbow glass!

Double Trouble grinned as he lifted the key off the floor, and turned back to the end of the platform, where a gate stood firm with… Two locks. Dang, so much for an easy out.

"But where would we look for a second?" Double Trouble whispered as he spun the key around with his finger.

"Perhaps wherever that teleporter leads?" Voodood suggested.

Double Trouble perked up and turned around to Voodood, who pointed towards a teleporter that rested amid the stretching metal plains of the platform. Well, that was a good a place to start as any!

The two of them leaped on, then were whisked away from the confines of this room to, a seemingly empty room with nothing but blank, magical space? After all, everything beyond the silver platform that Double Trouble and Voodood stood on now was a lavender and cyan-dyed, sparkling space with what seemed like no bottom. He'd hate to fall down there, but at the same time, something in his gut told him that there was more to this room that met the eye.

Double Trouble frowned as he examined the space, summoned a clone and pushed it forward. The clone frowned as it looked down, hopped ahead and whistled as it walked across a perfectly solid walkway! It was just as Double Trouble suspected, a test of faith! Or so he thought. Rather, while he celebrated, the clone screamed as it fell into the nothing!

Double Trouble hummed, stepped forward and waved his wand. A rainbow of magic cascaded onto the abyss, and in moments of warbling shudders, a string of silver platforms not unlike the one he stood on now unveiled themselves! Better yet, at the very end of that platform string was the second key they sought!

Double Trouble grinned as he jumped on the first platform, and skidded across the next few. As he screeched to a stop, Double Trouble narrowed his eyes and waved his staff around. Perhaps, maybe, he could levitate the key right towards him—but in that moment, the visibility spell faded away and everything became invisible once more!

Double Trouble gasped as he turned his eyes back down, and just his luck, he completely lost his balance! Double Trouble stumbled backwards and windmilled his arms as he teetered between the platform's edge and the abyss below!

"Double Trouble!" Voodood cried from across the path, but Double Trouble didn't get to respond!

Before he knew it, Double Trouble tumbled off of the platform and down to the abyss! All he could do was scream as he flew down into the empty space!

Or not!

Rather, before he could fall down, his hand gripped onto the side of the platform! Double Trouble winced, placed his staff on top of the platform itself, and winced again as he tried to pull himself back up onto the platform. However, he didn't have nearly the amount of upper-body strength required! He just grunted and groaned as he pulled himself up to his chin before he slunk down again, and with every attempted pull, his arms grew more and more exhausted. As his arms shuddered and twitched, Double Trouble himself panted from sheer exhaustion, and it became clear to him that any more pulling and he might go tumbling down below.

Double Trouble panted as he kept his grip tight on the platform, but even that started to slip as his palms grew sweatier. He needed to think of something, fast! Double Trouble screwed his eyes shut and tried to manifest some kind of teleportation spell, yet popped them back open as the sound of footsteps clacking against marble echoed behind him!

He lifted his head as a shadow cast over him, and grinned as Voodood leaped overhead and looked down at him with a confident smile! Voodood slammed down onto the platform that Double Trouble hung from, grabbed Double Trouble by the hands and yanked him back onto solid, invisible ground.

"Careful there," Voodood warned as Double Trouble got situated back on the block. "It's a long way down."

Double Trouble chuckled and grabbed his staff off the ground. With another simple wave on his end, rainbow light pulsated from the jewel at the staff's tip, cascaded back over the space and unveiled not only the platforms, but the key as well!

Voodood turned back around, narrowed his eyes and whipped out his ax as he fixed his attention on the key. With a simple swing, the ax's head sprung forward via a lengthy silver chain, wrapped around the key and yanked it back to Voodood!

Double Trouble grinned and teleported them both back to the beginning with a wave of his wand. Once they settled back on the first silver platform, the two of them leaped onto the teleporter and were whisked away in a flash!

They returned back to where they started just as quickly as they hit the teleporter, and grinned back at each other as they sped over to the door.

Double Trouble fished the first key out of his skirt, and in perfect sync, he and Voodood pressed the keys into their locks and turned. What would await them beyond the gate's limits? Another chain, more puzzles, perhaps even more of those obnoxious robots? Double Trouble's gaze tensed as the gate swung open and unveiled…

Yet another teleporter. Well, at least it wasn't obnoxious robots. So, Double Trouble and Voodood both hopped on as the magic fired up.

§

Chihiro frowned as she pushed aside a few leaves, and crept out of the foliage right as they slapped back into place behind her. That strange wolf-tamer dude was left in the back of her mind for a while at this point, yet she still couldn't find any sights of the golden building their wolf mentioned! Assuming she hadn't gotten lost among the massive, untamed flora of the jungle's wilderness, that is.

Chihiro winced as she trailed down the beaten dirt paths and balled her fist tight. Her heart leaped with every tiny sound she heard, from the rustle of leaves, to what she could've sworn were sticks breaking around her, but she couldn't entirely help it. All around her, the jungle imposed over her with its overgrown and dangerous-looking flora and creepy sparkles in the distance; in that moment, Chihiro started to realize just how small she was compared to it. She bit her lip and winced as another stick broke, yet balled her other hand into a fist as a third broken stick sent chills down her spine.

After all, breaking sticks were never a good sign! Chihiro turned around and backed away as eyes poked out from the dark—bright, topaz eyes that shone like cats who hid in the shadows, ready to strike their prey! More and more of those eyes that shook Chihiro to the core popped out of the leaves, all while growling echoed around.

"Please don't let that be what I think it is," Chihiro gulped as she took a few more shaky steps back.

Unfortunately, it was just what she thought it was! One by one, gigantic jungle monsters all came piling out from the grass! From massive tigers, to razor-beaked toucans, and even mammoth-sized mosquitoes, they all growled and slobbered as they piled onto the path, all ready to get their next piece of meat!

Chihiro winced, and held her hands up as she walked further back across the path. She tried to force a smile and quell her nervous sweat—monsters like these could smell fear, after all—but after a while it became clear that she couldn't temper her fears. So, she had to try the next best thing instead.

"Heh, hey, there, guys!" Chihiro sputtered between the frantic chatter of her teeth. "You seem like really nice jungle monsters and I'd really hate to be someone's next meal, so why don't you just let me go and I'll be on my merry way?"

The monsters, however, just growled and buzzed even louder as they launched themselves towards Chihiro!

"I should've guessed that wouldn't work!" Chihiro cried as she dashed underneath a mosquito and winced. "Guess this is the part where I run for it!"

With a tap of her feet, Chihiro bolted down the jungle path in an incredible burst of speed! Not incredible enough, given that the monsters were hot on her tail! Their breath was hot against her neck as their footsteps shook the ground below, and the beat of flapping wings was so mighty that it nearly blew her off her feet! Seems shaking these guys wasn't going to be easy!

Chihiro squealed and leaped ahead as one of the monsters snapped at her back, but as she flew through their air, her eyes locked on a staircase of gigantic, awfully rubbery-looking mushrooms! With a few kicks of her legs, Chihiro dashed in midair, landed on the first mushroom, and leaped off of its soft, bouncy surface to the next!

"Man, if this is what that stolen treasure's doing to this place, I really need to finish this up!" Chihiro cried as she bounced from mushroom to mushroom, and screamed as the toucan monster snapped at her feet. "But before I do that, I should probably shake these monsters!"

As she leaped off the third and final mushroom and flew just inches above the jungle canopy, a pair of magical angel wings manifested on Chihiro's back! She flapped the wings a few times just to test, and Chihiro dashed through the skies once she was certain they worked! The bounce gave her enough of a speed boost that it propelled her far away from those monsters. In fact, their cries were nothing more than distance echoes at this point!

That was music to Chihiro's ears as she lowered back down to the jungle path and twirled in midair! Flying was so fun that she could just do it forever! In fact, it almost felt like she could as she barrel-rolled and corkscrewed her way through the path with such force it shook the leaves off the trees. But unfortunately, she didn't get her wish; she forgot to look where she was going in her moment of elation, and crashed straight through a nearby particularly tall tree. Chihiro screamed as she darted through its massive thicket of branches and leaves, and once she popped out of the mass, her wings vanished!

"Huh?" Chihiro exclaimed as the sparkles flew into the skies. She peered down at the massive drop below and gulped.

"Oh boy."

Without anything to fly with, gravity took hold and sent Chihiro crashing down! She screamed all the way as she vaulted down below, and crashed down with such velocity that she dug a trench into the dirt paths behind her. As her rough landing finally came to a stop, Chihiro groaned and shook herself down.

"Okay, I shook the monsters, but at what cost?" Chihiro moaned as she brushed dirt out of her hair, then jumped to her feet and dusted off her vest.

As she brushed herself down, she couldn't help but get the nagging feeling she forgot something, but what? It completely slipped her mind in her haste to escape! Chihiro bit her lip and groaned as she tried to remember, though nothing but blank space filtered through her mind.

She screamed and reeled back as a bright, golden light completely blinded her! Was it evening already? It couldn't be, evening light wasn't nearly this bright! The light relented just a bit, and Chihiro shook her head as she peered up to the source of the light.

It came from a massive, golden temple that towered over the entire jungle, like a monument within the confines of a small village. Wait a second, she vaguely remembered something about a wolf and a golden building now. Was this what she was looking for?

"Yes, that's it!" Chihiro cried as she pounded a fist against her hand. "This must be the temple those dudes were raiding! I guess I know where I'm going next!"

Chihiro's earlier exhaustion completely vanished as she bolted down the jungle path, all while the massive golden temple's stairs came closer and closer into view. Magic sparkled around her as she took one last step, and her grin only grew wider. With her next step, she teleported halfway up the stairs, and all the way to their top before she paused and looked inside.

The temple's doors were wide open, yet there was nothing but darkness inside. Who knew what kind of trials and tribulations would await her? Well, guess that was for her to find out.

Chihiro walked through the doorway, and the moment she stepped foot in its golden halls, a row of torches lit up beside her and illuminated the world around! Not that there was anything more to see other than massive stretches of gold walls and flooring that sparkled just as brightly as the temple's outsides did, though. Chihiro frowned and tapped her foot for a moment, but shoved her hands into her pockets as she whistled and walked down. Everything was oddly quiet save for her song and the crackle of torchlight; while that should have been a good thing, with an exam like this, that was only an omen of things to come.

Chihiro stopped as something rumbled beside her, turned around and screamed as a gigantic golden block leaped out of the walls beside her and screeched towards her! She jumped out of the way right before it could slam her against the wall, but it did make a nice little dent in the wall beside her before it retreated back to its hiding place. Well, guess Chihiro got her answer now.

She winced as the block crept out and slammed against the wall once more, skipped past it as it retreated, and heaved a deep sigh. Right ahead of her, tons of blocks crashed and banged against each other as they popped in and out of the temple walls! Though she couldn't easily count them, there were a lot, at least enough that they closed off a good bit of the hallway ahead.

But, that wasn't enough to intimidate Chihiro!

So, Chihiro ran forward and dove right through a pair of blocks as they smashed together behind her, stepped back as another pair of blocks crashed into each other, and dove to the floor as more blocks banged together just ahead of her! She wiped the sweat from her brow as everything seemed peaceful, but the rumble of the ground underneath her showed it was anything except that!

Chihiro screamed and rolled away as the block she laid under jutted out and soared away into the ceiling. Yeah, there were way more flying blocks here than she thought! Chihiro gritted her teeth as she examined the area around. Every which way she looked, it seemed as though there were more and more blocks to be found. Every opening had a block inconveniently jump out and soar away, every tiny spot had a hazard to be held—and it made mapping out an exit a chore, that was for sure!

"ALRIGHT!" Chihiro cried as she slammed her hands against the floor. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"

Bright, blue ripples of magic shuddered and echoed out from Chihiro's slams, and everything shifted from colorful yellow to a still monochrome as the blocks around slowed down. Finally, everything ground to a halt as time completely stopped!

Chihiro crawled out from the block that soared above her, and grinned as she stood to full height. For what was maybe her second time performing a time-stopping spell, it sure turned out great! She let out a soft, satisfied laugh as she basked in her work, but only for a moment, for she scrambled over a few blocks and ran towards the exit!

Though the block storm was thick at first, it quickly let up as she climbed over a trio of blocks stacked a bit like a staircase. Finally, she reached a dead end! No paths beside her, no doors or anything, just a thick, golden wall.

Of course, by now, she knew that dead ends were never truly dead ends. There was always some kind of hidden passageway or secret code to be inputted, sometimes even illusions to be released! What, exactly, was it? Chihiro frowned as she turned back to the block storm, while her gaze drifted up from a functional, lengthy staircase of oddly-positioned blocks to a large platform up above!

"Huh! That was easy!" Chihiro remarked as she placed her hands on her hips. "Should've guessed it was the classic secret staircase!"

Chihiro dashed up to the first of the golden block stairs, hupped as she leaped above that one, and the one after that… But before she could get on the next, something below her started to rumble! Chihiro frowned and peered back at the block, which inched away so slowly that it could barely be noticed while the color slowly returned.

Wait, returned? Crap, her spell must have started to wear off! Chihiro gasped, and teleported two blocks up at a time while time itself raced her to the finish line! The world around her flickered between yellow and grayscale as she teleported further and further up, and with such speed that it was dangerously close to beating her out.

But in the end, Chihiro was the winner! She managed to teleport back on top right as time resumed!

"That was close."

Chihiro peered back down as the blocks went back to smashing and crashing, screeched, and rolled aside as one zoomed up beside her and smashed into the ceiling! Chihiro winced as it sunk back down, jumped up and turned her attention to the rest of the platform.

While there didn't seem to be anything of note on the platform itself, save for an odd statue shaped like a head, the walls were a different manner! There on the wall itself was a gigantic wheel with eight wheels carved into its golden surface, each with a symbol carved into slices marked with bright coats of sparkly paint. From this distance, it was hard to tell just what those symbols were.

Chihiro skipped up to the first wheel, which had a streak of orange painted just above it, and grinned as she examined the symbols. Gears, stars, raindrops, flames… These were all the symbols of Skylands' elements!

"But, what do wheels and symbols and stuff have to do with all this?" Chihiro asked as she frowned and tapped her chin, and turned her attention back to the statue head. "Well, guess I'll just ask!"

Chihiro snapped her fingers, and a ring of shiny blue magic surrounded the head and seeped into its stone! The statue seemed still as rock for a few moments, but then its eyes flickered open as it hopped around until it faced Chihiro.

"You who wishes to enter the sacred altars," the statue bellowed in a deep, gravely voice, "to unlock the way, you must arrange these wheels with their proper markers. Match them all, and you will proceed…" The statue's eyes flared red as it hopped back in its proper place and became still once more. "But fail, and you will be locked away."

Chihiro gritted her teeth and hissed as she looked back to the wall of wheels. Well, that wasn't ominous at all! She could already feel herself clamming up as she turned her attention back to the wall, but Chihiro tapped her foot and tried to center herself as she examined the wheels.

They all had the eight elements' symbols and all, but something was off. The Tech Element's color was orange, but its symbol, a round gear with three little circles in its center, was carved into the wheel's purple slot! The Magic Element's shining star was engraved onto a sparkly silver slot instead! So matching the elements with their associated colors was out of the question, but that wasn't the case, what was?

Chihiro frowned as she brushed her fingers against the wheel while rainbow sparkles brushed onto her fingertips, and fixed her eyes onto the purple slot of the wheel. The Tech Element symbol, matched with the Magic Element's striking purple, and for that matter, the Magic Element's star paired with the Undead Element's silver; what was the connection there? What connection did Tech have with Magic, or Magic with Undead?

"Wait a second. Didn't I read something about this in those books Master Eon lent me?" Chihiro whispered as she looked down and shook a finger. "Each element has an element it's strong against, and another that it's weak against…"

Chihiro snapped her fingers and grinned. That was it! These wheels were arranged based on elemental strengths and weaknesses!

"Now, Tech is strong against Magic, and Magic is strong against Undead," Chihiro said as she turned back to the wheel, "so these slices must be based on strengths."

And that just left one last piece of the puzzle—those weird stripes at the top of the wheel! Orange was Tech's signature color, but if the wheels' slices were based on strength, maybe those were based on weaknesses? Just what was Tech weak against?

Chihiro frowned, and her eyes trailed down to a bright, orange slice of the wheel that had a stylized mountain range carved into it and grinned!

"Tech is weak against Earth, so maybe," Chihiro whispered as she spun the wheel so that the orange slice faced the stripe, "If I put it like that—" Chihiro jumped from each wheel and spun the wheels one by one "—and this in this order…"

Chihiro stepped back and clasped her hands, all while she glazed over the wheels that were arranged so that each matching-colored slice faced the top. The wall rumbled and drew back, and Chihiro grinned; she was right! So, she relaxed her arms and walked ahead.

The walls around her shifted from a bright gold to a flaming ruby, from the tops of the ceilings to the floor beneath her feet. Unfortunately, that ruby wasn't fiery enough to light the way, so Chihiro summoned a light sphere and nudged it forward. The light sphere bounced up and down like it was nodding, and zipped down the pathway with intense speed!

Chihiro grinned and laughed as she followed the sphere down the halls and straight into a bright light at the end of the hall! All around her, the light parted ways and unveiled a room made entirely of ruby like the halls before, but its floors and walls all had intricate carvings drawn into their surface that depicted ancient battles and breathtaking historical events. Crisp green vines crept down from the ceiling and over the walls, and in the center of it all, faint red light poured down on a bright red pedestal with a shiny red jewel suspended above it!

"Seems like those thieves must not have hit this room yet," Chihiro reasoned as she beamed over the surroundings. "Good thing, too! This place is beautiful, I'd hate to see it torn up!"

"SORRY, BUT YOU'RE WRONG THERE!" bellowed a massive, ghastly voice that echoed around the room!

Chihiro gasped, whipped around, and leaned out of the way as a puck flew out from nowhere and slammed against the walls! As the puck fell down and clattered against the floor, a soft, warbling sound paired with deep laughter resonated as someone manifested out of nowhere, like a ghost unveiled by a spell!

This person was some kind of skeletal undead being, with maybe only their torso and arm covered in sickly, bluish-green flesh so pale it was practically white; the other half of it was all stark, white bone. Their face was masked by a white hockey mask that covered everything but their glowing yellow eyes and wispy white hair, and black and red sports gear decorated the rest of their body, from a torn jersey and pants to gloves and skating boots. In one hand they held a massive, hockey stick-like scythe with a blade at its end, and in the other they held a worn, but full, sack!

"I don't know who you are," Chihiro snarled as she balled her hand into a fist, "but you better not take that jewel!"

"Did those mabu really think a kid could stop me, the Penalty Killer?" Penalty Killer sneered as he leaned against his scythe. "Man, they really are dumb!"

Penalty Killer whipped his scythe forward as he drew closer to the pedestal. "Now, go run along and do your homework, kid." Penalty Killer slashed the air with his scythe. "Or I'll have to slice you down!"

Chihiro hissed as Penalty Killer reached out towards the pedestal, but before he could grab the jewel, she leaped forward and kicked his arm! He yowled as he pulled away, and grabbed his scythe with both hands as his eyes flared red.

"ALRIGHT, YOU ASKED FOR IT!"

Penalty Killer slammed his scythe down on Chihiro, but she just flung up her arms and created a shield that caught it mid-swing! As she tossed the scythe back, Chihiro balled her hands into flaming fists and punched, but Penalty Killer blocked every single punch with his scythe!

"What is that thing, anyways?" Chihiro asked as she flung another punch. "A scythe?"

"It's not a scythe!" Penalty Killer yelled as it blocked Chihiro's punch!

Chihiro, however, just drew back her arm and shot another punch. "A hockey stick, then?"

"IT'S NOT A HOCKEY STICK, EITHER!"

Penalty Killer snarled as he flung Chihiro back, but she only skidded a bit against the floors and stood her ground.

"THEN WHAT IS IT?" Chihiro shouted back.

"IT'S THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPENED IN THE HISTORY OF SPOOKEY! WITH THIS, YOU…"

As Penalty Killer rambled away, however, Chihiro caught something jump towards the pedestal and leaped right in front of it! Once they both crashed and stumbled back, Chihiro smirked as the strange blur knocked down from her blow.

It now unveiled itself as a rabbit in some kind of fancy suit with a blaster at their side, and it was a dizzy rabbit at it! The moment it came to, it stumbled backwards and rammed into Penalty Killer!

The two of them were ripe for the picking, so Chihiro held out her hands and got ready to shoot a nice, magical cage in their direction—but gasped and cast a shield instead as a flurry of carrot-shaped bullets dashed right towards her! The bullets fell to the floor as Chihiro's shield disappeared, and with a snarl, she turned her eye on the rabbit.

"Hah!" The rabbit smirked as it looked back at Chihiro and loaded its blaster with a simple pull of the lever, its voice a bit like that one gray cartoon bunny Chihiro saw on old-timey TV cartoons. "You think one little smack is gonna take down Gust Bunny? Well, here's what I have to say to that!"

Gust Bunny pulled his blaster's lever once more, and out from it came a flurry of sharp, missile-like carrots!

"EAT CARROT, YOU LITTLE SNOT!"

Chihiro gasped, and narrowed her eyes shot her own flurry of energy blasts with such intensity that it blew her back!

She screwed her eyes shut as a burst of light formed from the resulting crash, but popped them open right as Penalty Killer reached towards the jewel once more! He wouldn't be stealing anything on her watch! Chihiro snapped her fingers, created a magical effigy of a sword, and pointed towards Penalty Killer! Chihiro nodded as the sword soared towards Penalty Killer, but her cool composure broke as he whipped around and sliced the sword clean in half!

Penalty Killer narrowed his eyes and hunched down as he shot a puck of raw energy right at Chihiro! Chihiro jumped out of its path, but lost her balance and fell flat on her face! With a wince, she pulled herself up and cast a shield that reflected the next puck he shot at her. The energy puck bounced off the shield like a rubber ball, and…

Oh no, the jewel! The energy puck slammed straight into the jewel and knocked it off the pedestal!

Everyone gasped and dropped their weapons as they fixed their eyes on the jewel, which glowed with bright, crimson light as it hovered above the ground. That couldn't be good.