As she strode forth, Chihiro embraced the wind in her hair as the feeling of adventure bubbled in her chest. Her heart filled with so much joy that she couldn't contain it—every moment that passed made her feel like running around at the speech of a race car!

Finally, my first real adventure! Chihiro thought as her heart pounded with excitement and pure elation…

That is, until she ran into something and tumbled back in pain. After she landed on her rear and looked up, her heart stopped. There, straight in front of her, was a pale green-skinned humanoid with pointy ears and blank white eyes who dressed in red and silver armor and brandished a shiny silver spear. Next to them, another elf of identical appearance who held a sword in their hand stood with a sharp glare. Both seemed to be completely stoic with their blank eyes fixed on Chihiro's figure and their mouths invisible under the cover of their metal masks. That is, until…

"K-2, how'd a kid get in here?! I thought you said that gate was impossible to open!" The first guard exclaimed as they glared at their companion.

"It was, C-4!" said the other guard. "At least, the guy who sold it to me said it was."

"Well, he certainly wasn't a reliable salesman, BECAUSE NOW WE HAVE A KID INTRUDING IN OUR IMPENETRABLE FORTRESS!" C-4 frantically gestured towards a grimacing Chihiro as if to make his point.

As the two guards bickered, Chihiro skittered backwards and bit her lip. Maybe if she ran while they were caught in their argument she could get to safety! While she frantically scrambled away, something grabbed her by the back of her shirt and Chihiro gulped. Her whole body locked itself up in fear, completely unable to move a single joint or muscle, and yet her morbid curiosity forced her to look up and see a glaring K-2 was her captor.

"Oh no you don't, kiddo!" K-2 hissed.

Well, so much for escaping.

"Lord Kaos would skin us alive if he found out that we let a KID, of all things, sneak into our fortress—so we're just gonna hafta destroy the evidence."

Chihiro gasped as fear rushed through her. She forced herself with all her might to struggle against his grasp and flailed with all her might, but it was no use—K-2's grasp was simply too strong.

"Now, C-4, what should we do with this kid?" K-2 turned to C-4, ears twitched with anticipation of an answer.

But C-4 didn't respond. Instead, C-4 stared out in the open, fear in his eyes.

"Hey, buddy, I think we should get outta here!" C-4 spat out as he trembled all over and shook K-2's shoulder.

"Why would you say that?! We're supposed to be guarding this place!"

"Because!" C-4 turned around and pointed towards the bridge.

K-2 rolled his eyes and looked over. As he looked, K-2's own expression turned panicked when he saw what was coming—a giant fireball that burned with the light of a hundred suns! As he panicked and screamed, K-2 let go of Chihiro and ran in circles while he tried to find an escape, but it was too late. The fireball hit him and C-4 straight in the chest!

Chihiro herself had narrowly dodged the fireball and fell to the floor just in time for it to whiz past her back. When the flame passed, she looked up to find K-2 and C-4, both collapsed to the floor in burning red armor while they screamed in pain, bloody, burnt cuts on the visible parts of their bodies.

"Chihiro Hatsuki, what in Eon's name were you thinking?!" Spyro exclaimed as he rushed to where Chihiro laid and gave her the most infuriated look he could muster. His brow furrowed so hard you could barely see his eyes, and his teeth bared and glinted in the sunlight. "Do you have any idea what could've happened to you?!"

Chihiro winced and drew back from Spyro's gaze before she looked back at the burning guards.

"So, what are we gonna do with those guys?" Chihiro asked with a tilt of her head and a surprising level of calmness.

Spyro looked at the guards for mere moments, then walked to their backs and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, w-w-w-what are you gonna do with us, Skylander?" they both asked, an obvious trill in their voices as they trembled furiously.

"This."

Spyro opened his eyes, which now flashed a sky blue.

He then blew a mighty gust of wind from his mouth, and the gust rolled the two guards off the island and into the infinite skies! All that could be heard for mere moment was their screams, and then a thunk as they landed on what was presumed to be another, smaller island.

"We're okay!" shouted C-4.

"Yeah, if you count having a bunch of burns and broken bones as okay!" retorted K-2 as he moaned in between words.

Chihiro peered over the edge of the island and found that sure enough, the guards laid on a small grassy island in a pile on top of each other, their red-hot armor like an evening star or a flaming meteorite against the lush green grass of the island. She then turned around to face Spyro and gave him a smug grin.

"Ruthless."

"There's no time for remarks," Spyro said as he begun to fly. "We have to get going before they get away with the propeller,"—Spyro shot Chihiro a frustrated look—"and this time, actually stay with us and don't start a ruckus."

"Oh, you're no fun." Chihiro huffed as she crossed her arms, shook her head and whizzed past Spyro And then stopped short as something grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

"Stay where I can see you." Spyro dragged Chihiro back to his side.

"'Stay where I can see you.'" Chihiro scoffed and pouted as she fell to the ground before a smile crept onto her face. "Then again, I am a portal master, and they can't tell the portal master what to do!"

And with that said, Chihiro dashed in front of Spyro and Gill. She looked like a blur to the untrained eye as she ran so fast that she spun them both around as if this was one of those old cartoons she watched on TV.

As the two of them staggered dizzily and tried to regain their balance, Spyro caught a faint glimpse of the multi-color blur in front of him and heard a shout of "Last one to the propeller's a rotten egg!"

And then, the realization hit Spyro. "CHIHIRO HATSUKI!" Spyro shouted, frustrated beyond belief, "IF YOU DON'T GET BACK HERE, SO HELP ME I'LL—"

"What? You'll hang me by my toes?" Chihiro stopped, turned around and giggled snidely.

Spyro's wings twitched as his cheeks puffed with an undignified rage. "Chihiro, I'm not kidding!"

However, Chihiro had grown too far away to hear him, and for him to hear her… That is, until she ran into yet another gate and shouted with screams of pain so loud you could hear them practically all the way across the island.

"STUPID GATE!" Chihiro's voice echoed across the skies and caused birds to fly off from their roosts.

Spyro only muttered something under his breath before he flew off to find Chihiro, all while his head shook with frustration.

As Chihiro staggered back up and turned around, she found Spyro staring her down with an unamused look. As his gaze pierced her soul, her head slunk so far down that it was almost level with her shoulders.

"Did not see that gate there," Chihiro chuckled as she pressed a fist to her lips and looked to her side.

Spyro just continued to glare her down before his gaze fell over at the gate and transformed from frustration to a hint of intrigue. After he scanned it over, he bit his lip and went deep into thought.

"Doesn't look like there's a key," Spyro mumbled at a volume so low it could barely be heard. "And it looks too tough for the two of us to knock down by ourselves. Unless…"—Spyro motioned with his paw for Gill Grunt to come forward—"Gill! I could use your help here!"

As Gill Grunt went over and discussed a possible solution with Spyro, Chihiro's eyes trailed over to a nearby cannon. With a curious hum, she climbed over the top of the cannon, rapped on its steel top and tilted her head. She pressed her fingers against her chin, and Chihiro narrowed her eyes and focused hardly on the cannon. An idea formed in her head and Chihiro slid down the side of the cannon and looked at Spyro.

"Okay, that's it. This gate's not budging," Spyro said as he sat down and panted, a tired gaze directed towards the wooden gate and then towards Chihiro, "and what are you doing?"

Chihiro looked over to the skies, where several zeppelins flew in a group overhead in a triangular formation. Their rich green and cream-striped balloons marked them well against the slowly-changing evening skies of bold oranges, yellows, red and purples.

"Spyro, hear me out," Chihiro said, a small smile across her face. "You see those zeppelins flying in the sky?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"What if?" Chihiro gestured as much as she could while she looked Spyro straight in the face. "We took that cannon over there, knocked one of those zeppelins straight outta the sky, and crashed it into the gate? That'll knock it down for sure!"

"Chihiro, how on Skylands would that even work?" Spyro gave Chihiro a flat stare. "What would we even put in the cannon? There's no ammo anywhere!"

Spyro looked right and left as he spoke—and he was right, there was not a single piece of reasonable ammo anywhere to be found.

"Well do you have any better ideas?"

Spyro drew silent as they both stared each other down. Chihiro had to admit, he did have a point—they couldn't exactly fire off a cannon without any ammo. Unless… Chihiro just gave Spyro a mischievous stare and a suspicious grin on her face as she eyed him.

"Chihiro, what's with that look?" Spyro asked, a hint of concern in his voice before it finally hit him exactly what she was thinking. "Oh no no no no no NO. You are not suggesting that I—"

"INTO THE CANNON YOU GO!" Chihiro shouted with an eager beam.

Then, without a moment's hesitation, she grabbed Spyro by his front leg with one hand, opened the cannon's hatch with another, and shoved him into the cannon without a second thought.

"CHIHIRO—" Spyro wasn't able to get out another word.

Chihiro shut the hatch behind him and grasped the cannon's handles, her eyes focused on the skies. As she grasped them, the metal orbs on the cannon flashed a shade of purple as magical energy radiated around the cannon, almost as Spyro itself was its battery. Muffled shouts of disapproval came from the inside of the cannon as Chihiro flipped up the handles to find bright red buttons.

"Now what does this button do?" Chihiro asked, a sly grin on her face as she slammed the button down with her thumb as hard as she could!

The press rang through the cannon, and a bright red and orange fireball barreled out of the cannon and smacked right into the side of a small zeppelin! Chihiro's eyes lit up as it fell, and she laughed even louder as she spun the cannon around and shot fireballs at everything she could see—zeppelins, clouds, the occasional bird… Fire rained down from the skies and set everything within its path alight as zeppelins crashed into each other and fell down below the skies like drops of rain.

"Chihiro, calm down!" Gill Grunt shouted as he ran to her side, grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her off the cannon. "You're gonna burn the whole place down if you keep this up!"

"Oh, I'm sure it's not THAT ba—" Chihiro said before she turned around and noticed her rain of destruction, "Whoops."

Just then, a fireball rained down next to them and slammed straight into the gate! Chihiro squealed and clung to Gill Grunt's side while Gill Grunt readied his water cannon and immediately hosed down the gate. Thanks to this sudden drink, the gate reduced to nothing but burnt wood and ash. As it crumbled to bits, an incoming breeze swept away the remains as if they hadn't even existed in the first place.

"Well, we got rid of the gate, at least!" Chihiro exclaimed, a nervous grin on her face as she wiped the sweat off her brow.

As she stood and basked, the cannon's hatch flipped open and Spyro crawled out! Chihiro jumped and squealed as the pound of the cannon's metal roof hit the air, then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was just Spyro.

"Chihiro," Spyro groaned as he faced her and tried his best to keep his balance simultaneously. "Never, again, are you—"

Spyro never finished his sentence—he just stumbled, fell to the ground and moaned while he held his head.

"Guess I took you for a little spin, huh Golden Boy?" Chihiro asked, her eyes darted from side to side as a blush of crimson dusted her cheeks.

She got so caught up in getting the gate taken care of that she didn't stop to think it would actually hurt him! A pang of guilt twanged in Chihiro's chest as she clutched her shirt, and she gently lifted Spyro off the ground.

Chihiro carefully positioned him on her back and wrapped his front legs around her shoulders. "Just hold on tight, alright?" Chihiro smiled and nuzzled Spyro's head with her own.

Spyro didn't reply, he just dropped his head onto the top of Chihiro's and closed his eyes.

"And away we go!" Chihiro shouted as the three of them marched onto the next path.