Within the loneliest, most isolated corners of the Outlands, Kaos's flying fortress stood strong as ever despite the recent revelations that shook every one of his remaining forces down to their very souls. His guards marched along the floor as usual; his spell punks toiled away at spells and potions and every other malevolent magic artifact under the lack of sun; and Kaos himself was surely away somewhere plotting his next move. It was almost like nothing there had changed at all!

But, none of them were of particular importance at this very moment. Rather, within the confines of a tiny corridor with no light, something strange brewed.

FWOOM!

A massive blade made of crackling purple and red flames lit a candelabra seated atop a worn table with a ragged tablecloth, and a red and purple clone of Ignitor drew the blade from the table. Though its face bore no sort of traditional facial features, the low crackle of its flames was enough to show its quiet, dour mood. Beside it, a purple and silver Cynder clone pulled a busted metal can from the table, carved open the can's top with one of its claws, and dumped the can's canned spaghetti and meatballs into its mouth.

"Can you believe what Lord Kaos said to me?" exclaimed an orange and purple Boomer clone. It sat right of the Ignitor clone, and spoke between slurps of barely-heated spaghetti and meatballs. " I'm not allowed to go out and fight anymore just because I blew up a few spell punks during my last task to take back one of those stupid mabu villages!"

The Boomer clone waved a fork in the air as it spoke, stabbed the fork back into the spaghetti and grumbled as it stirred the spaghetti around. "He says I'm too 'reckless' and too 'undisciplined' for such important missions… What does he know? If it weren't for my explosives, his armies would be seriously lacking in the blowing stuff up department!"

"Tell me about it," the Cynder clone whined as it licked tomato sauce off its snout. "So I got a few ghosts angry that one time and got him chased out of the Underworld? I don't speak ghost! It was his fault he asked me and not one of his other undead minions!" The Cynder clone sighed as it tossed the empty can towards the Ignitor clone's open flames, and shook its head as the can burned to ashes. "But no, now all I get to do is stick around here and do the chores while everyone else gets to do all the fun stuff! What I wouldn't give to zap a few elves in the butt again."

As lightning crackled at the Cynder clone's beak, a blue and purple Wham-Shell clone patted the Cynder clone's back and made a series of sympathetic nods. It spoke no words, yet the look of exhaustion in its blank eyes spoke enough for everyone in the room.

"Besides, he's missing out, if you ask me!" The Cynder clone leaned back against the stone walls and sighed. "I mean, look at us! We're all way stronger than those Skylanders… Heck, if I had to say anything, I'd say they were the cheap copies of us, not the other way around!"

Everyone around cheered in agreement as they tossed their cheap spaghetti cans to the rocky ceiling, a toast with no glasses or drinks.

"My flames burn brighter than the sun!" the Ignitor clone proclaimed as it slashed its sword around. "And my swordfighting's on par with any trained knight's!" The Ignitor clone slashed just inches above the Cynder clone's horns, squeaked, and jumped back as the Cynder clone shot it a glare. "Apologies."

"And my boomerangs never miss! I could bean an apple off a dragon's head from an entire archipelago away!"

"I could suck the life from anything, plant or person!"

"My tornadoes can eat up entire islands!"

"I have a mace!"

The Cynder clone just nodded and slunk back down against the cool walls of stone behind it as the other minions cheered and tittered in agreement. It slightly smiled as it rested its front paws on its belly, but that slight, content smile faded into a bitter snarl as it opened its eyes. It slammed its front paws against their aged dining table with such force that it spun around the candelabra.

"Yeah, we might've screwed up a lot, maybe missed a few commands, blew a few missions and all that, but that doesn't mean we should be stuck here just doing the chores! That's what those spell punks are for!" The Cynder clone's muzzle twitched as it slunk back down. "We're just as good as the rest of them! We deserve a chance to beat down the Skylanders like the rest of them!"

"YEAH!" everybody else cried as they pumped their fists to the ceiling.

"Why, if I could find that awful 'good' version of me, I'd melt his armor to a puddle!" the Ignitor clone proclaimed as it smacked its sword against the wall. "Then, I'd burn the rest of them to ashes!"

"And I'd take those ashes, and blow them off the face of Skylands in a giant tornado!" exclaimed an azure and purple Warnado clone as it patted a paw against its chest. It slammed its front legs out in an instant. "Like, whoosh! Just like that, they'd be gone in an instant!"

"I don't know, I wouldn't be so hasty to get rid of them," remarked a green and purple Camo clone as it slurped up a noodle. "It would be far more satisfying to slowly, slowly, sap the life from them all while they begged and pleaded for mercy!"

The Boomer clone winced and scooted a little further away from the Camo clone as it chuckled with devious eyes. "I don't know about that, I think blowing them up would suffice," the Boomer clone remarked as it scratched its beard. "After all, regardless of what we do, they're still getting out of the picture!"

"I'm with the Evil Plant Dragon on this one," said a brown and purple Dino-Rang clone as it whipped out one of its boomerangs and toyed with its top. "After all, wouldn't it be nice to finally have them begging at our feet and completely helpless to anything we do, after all the pain and misery they caused us?"

"If I met a Skylander…" the Wham-Shell clone said as it whipped out its mace and brandished it like a trophy. "I'D HIT 'EM WITH MY MACE!"

Just to demonstrate, the Wham-Shell clone whipped around, slammed its mace right on the floor in one swift, mighty blow, but recoiled as a burst of blue started glowing from the cracks in the floor!

"You'd hit them with your mace, would you?" crooned a deep, booming voice as the light erupted from the cracks!

The evil minions all gasped and jumped back as the light collected and morphed into a sphere before it slowly molded itself until it took the shape of a face… Kaos's holographic face!

"LORD KAOS!" the Cynder clone cried as it forced a smile and lowered its head. "What, I mean, how you'd know we were here?"

"Don't act coy, Evil Shadow Dragon. I know this is where you and your other little reject buddies come to sulk after your chores," Kaos hissed back as he hovered forward and narrowed his eyes. "I know this entire castle like the back of my hand!" Kaos shot the stink eye at the Evil Shadow Dragon as he leaned a little further. "And don't think I don't hear any of your moaning and bellyaching, either!"

The evil minions all winced as they shot quick, panicked looks at each other, but as Kaos cleared his throat once more, they fell to the floor in head-hung bows. Their eyes screwed shut as they made themselves lower and lower in Kaos's presence, and their mouths almost stitched shut, as if they knew well that one wrong word would make them toast for his next breakfast.

"Then, what brings you here, Lord Kaos?" the Evil Shadow Dragon sputtered as cold sweat poured down from its head.

"Glad you asked!" Kaos replied.

His holographic head swirled around their dingy little hideout for a few moments, and he swept around the entryway as his eyes glowed a bit brighter than normal.

"You see, we all know those awful Skylanders have rebuilt their little Core of Light, and surely they won't stop at just that—no, they won't stop until we're all wiped off the face of Skylands! So, I have a very special mission in mind for you incompetents, something even you couldn't utterly and incompetently screw up." Kaos grinned and raised an eyebrow as the Evil Shadow Dragon's head perked up. "And it goes a little something like this…"

As Kaos leaned down and whispered into the Evil Shadow Dragon's ear, its head jolted up while its eyes went as round as the meatballs it ate just moments earlier! A devilish smile formed across the Evil Shadow Dragon's beak as it whispered these plans down to the Ignitor clone, who passed them along to the Boomer clone, who then shared them with the next…

And all the minions hooted and hollered with glee as these words came around full circle! For once, their dreary little space seemed a little less dreary as they cheered and ran around like they just won the lottery! While everyone else clasped hands or paws and cheered with each other, the Evil Shadow Dragon just sneered as it walked up to a smiling Kaos.

"So, I'll take that as a yes?" Kaos asked as he raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Indeed, Lord Kaos," the Evil Shadow Dragon said as it bowed its head.

"Well, not that you have much of a choice, anyways." Kaos chuckled as he floated towards the entryway. "Now, this is your last chance, so you better give your best effort!"

"WE WILL, LORD KAOS!" the evil minions all vowed as his holographic head disappeared in a puff of blue smoke!

The evil minions all grinned and cackled as they turned to each other, and their blank eyes filled with malevolence and fires that burned brighter than the sun.

"YOU'D BETTER BE PREPARED, SKYLANDERS!" they all proclaimed as one!

The evil minions all stampeded out of their hideaway with such speed and force that it completely knocked over their dinner table and the candelabra that sat on it! As the candelabra's flames licked at the table and set it alight, however, none of them even noticed! In fact, the smoke added a bit to the ominous atmosphere as their normally blank eyes turned a bright red that shone well against the smoke that funneled through their room.

"BECAUSE THIS WILL BE YOUR LAST DAY ON SKYLANDS!"