Though the air around was cool and crisp as if the world was on the cusp of winter, the atmosphere around Ancient's Peak was as warm as summer days while everyone cheered and crowded around the newly-completed Core of Light! It was almost hard to believe, almost dreamlike, even, to see it in its full splendor as it toiled away against the light of day; it took them so long to finally bring it back to life, but it was there, and it stood proud as a token of all their hard work! With just the sight of it a source of so much joy in everybody's hearts, it was no wonder that they all broke in relieved smiles and hoots and hollers!

"I almost can't believe it," Spyro whispered as tears of joy formed in his eyes. "We did it! We finally got the Core of Light back!"

Gill Grunt smiled as he walked up to Spyro and gently patted Spyro on the back, while Spyro himself just wiped away his tears and grinned. But, that lasted only a moment before Trigger Happy completely tackled him down!

"The Core of Light's back! The Core of Light's back!" Trigger Happy exclaimed as he bounced up and down on Spyro's chest. "This calls for a celebration!"

Trigger Happy giggled as he whipped out his guns, and with a pull of the trigger, fireworks shot out from his guns and exploded in the skies! They could barely be made out in the evening light, but not many cared. In fact, they all just giggled and laughed along with him!

Chihiro chuckled as Spyro pushed Trigger Happy off his belly, and turned her attention back to the Core of Light. To think, all their hard work finally paid off! The Core of Light, the same Core that they worked so hard and shed so much blood, sweat, and tears to finish, now basked before them all in its completed glory! In fact, just seeing how far it’d come, how everyone’d come, almost made her want to cry with joy like everyone else!

Those tears of joy poured down her face without her even realizing, and Chihiro walked up to the Core as she gently pressed a hand against its warm, welcoming base. It felt pleasantly hot, like the heat of a warm spring day after so many cold winter storms, yet just this single press bubbled and shuddered the magic within it against Chihiro's palm. It felt kind of numbing, but in a good, peaceful way; it was the kind of way that melted away the entire world around her.

"So this is what the Core of Light looks like," Chihiro gasped as she ran her hand against the base and wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "It's beautiful…"

Chihiro grinned as she pulled her hand back, and turned back to the Skylanders and other residents of Ancient's Peak as they all celebrated, and cried, and danced in the glory of the Core. Well, all except for Hugo. Hugo just seemed more anxious than anything as he flipped through his books with shaky paws, a stark contrast to the cheer and celebration of the ones around. Just what was on his mind?

Chihiro walked over and got ready to ask, but before she could, Flynn cut through and laid an arm around Hugo's shoulders!

"Hugo, what's the matter, old buddy, old pal?" Flynn asked as he gestured around with his other hand. "Everybody's out here laughing and celebrating, and you're looking around like the world's gonna explode! Shouldn't you be happy that we've finally got the Core back?"

Hugo's brow tensed as he nearly ripped the page of the book he was fiddling away, and he scowled as he stashed the book away and glared up at Flynn! His eyes carried such a bright, surprisingly intense fury that Flynn squeaked and backed off, but it did little to quell Hugo's rage.

"Hey, hey, what's the big deal?" Flynn flicked his ears as he held up both arms. "I just said you should chill out for once and have some fun!"

"Now's not the time for fun, Flynn!" Hugo lashed out as he balled his paws into fists. Hugo gritted his teeth and huffed out strained, angered breaths so heavy that they puffed out in the evening chills and fogged up his glasses. "We can't celebrate right now, not when Kaos is still at large! For all we know, he could be plotting away in his castle, ready to destroy the Core again! We've gotta stop him!"

Flynn just blinked as he lowered his arms and chuckled. "Old big head? Is that what you were worried about?" Flynn held a hand to his mouth as he burst into guffaws. "What's he gonna do? We've got the Core back, we've taken down his creepy evil empire, and we've sent him running home with his tail between his legs more times than I can count!" Flynn coughed and looked aside. "Not that I can count that high, but…"

"That's no matter!" Hugo gestured out to the world around him as he paced back and forth. The fog in his glasses finally faded away away enough to see his eyes, and unveiled that they grew strained and bloodshot as Hugo hung his head.

"Kaos is just as stubborn as he is powerful! We can't rest on our laurels when he's probably out there plotting his next big scheme! For all we know, he could have something even worse than what he used to destroy the Core up his sleeves and ready to strike!"

Hugo turned back to the crowd of Skylanders that still circled around the Core, oblivious to the wide-eyed and tense looks they gave him. "You all agree with me, right? We need to get out there and find Kaos before he can do anything worse!"

The Skylanders pursed their lips and looked away, and the joy they held earlier now diminished just a bit. Though some tried to force smiles as they whispered among each other, a new sort of unrest grew among them, and the soft whispers that could hardly be made out from the autumn breeze were a testament to this. All froze in anxious time as their whispers crept across, and they all went silent as Spyro cleared his throat and stepped out from the crowds.

"Hugo does have a point, though," Spyro said as the air around him turned from cheerful and warm to cold and serious. "For all we know, Kaos could be plotting against us as we speak! As much as I'd like to celebrate, we should try to figure out what he's up to…"

"Geez, don't worry so much, Spyro!" Boomer shouted as he shrugged his shoulders. "It's like Flynn said—that guy's got no more tricks up his sleeve! He's lost everything he could've thrown at us, so why spend all this time fretting?"

"I am on Spyro's side here," Drobot added as he rubbed his metal chin. "You can say that all you want, but Kaos has proven time and time again that he will find something to use against us."

"But where would we even start, though?" Sonic Boom asked as she poked around Drobot's shoulder. "We don't know where Kaos is right now…"

"Exactly!" Boomer cried as he wagged a finger in midair. "Besides, for all we know, he could be crying into his pillow about how he's lost! Now let's get back to partying!"

"Kaos isn't that quick to give up and you know it, Boomer," Terrafin shot back as he cast a glare at Boomer. "We've punched that guy down hundreds of times and he keeps getting back up! He's too stubborn to call it quits!"

"Don't worry so much, everyone!" Zook exclaimed as he held up his hands and forced a smile. "We can worry about that later, for now, let's just party!" Zook grinned as he whipped out his bazooka. "After all, we worked so hard to get to where we are now! Plus, I've got some new firewoOWCH!"

As Stump Smash reeled back from bonking Zook on the head, Zook winced and stepped back. His yellow eyes stung with tears of pain as he tried to avoid meeting Stump Smash's scornful gaze.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Zook!" Stump Smash cried as he shook a hammer hand back at Zook. "You're an idiot if you think Kaos wouldn't use this time to catch us off-guard!"

Zook scoffed as he clung to his bazooka like a child clung to their favorite toy. "Hey, man, I was just trying to lighten the mood!"

"Well the mood doesn't need lightened! There's no reason to sit around and play party games when he's running around causing trouble!"

Stump Smash and Zook both frowned as they glared each other down, but yelped as Cali pushed her way between them!

"Now, now," Cali cried as she held up her hands and forced a smile, "arguing and freaking out about this isn't going to help anything! Let's all just calm down and…"

Cali's eyes trekked across the crowds of squabbling Skylanders and civilians alike, and her smile faded as she hung her head with a sigh. Before she or anyone else even knew it, the entire cheerful atmosphere swept away under a sea of anxiousness, squabbles, and questioning as everyone bickered among themselves. It was as if Hugo's question opened the floodgates, and now the seas of doubt rose.

"Would Kaos really try to make his return after losing so badly?"

"Do you think he'll try to destroy of Core of Light again?"

"What if he does something even worse?"

"What could he even do right now? Could he really have some kind of trick up his sleeve?"

"What in all of Skylands are we supposed to do?"

"Everyone, please, quiet yourselves!" Master Eon proclaimed as he swept back and forth between the arguing groups. "All this panic will get us nowhere! We need to calm down and think everything through…"

As Chihiro bore eye-witness to Master Eon's fruitless attempts to quell everyone's worries, she bit her lip and stepped back without thinking. The tension weighed on her as she stepped back again and got ready to scramble, for she herself wasn't entirely sure what the answer to any of those questions was. After all, she was so caught up in her glee over the Core of Light being fixed that she forgot all about Kaos, and now, everyone was so wound up and there were so many concerns…

What was she supposed to do here? Maybe if she got out of here and cleared her head, she'd know for sure. Right as she turned around and ran for the forest, however, Chihiro slammed right into someone and they both fell to the ground!

"Owch!" cried a somewhat shrill voice.

Hey, wait a second—Chihiro knew that somewhat shrill voice! Chihiro blinked once, twice, and as her vision finally came back to her, she found herself face-to-face with a camouflage-clad, wide-eyed Snuckles! Wait, Snuckles?

"When'd you get here?" Chihiro asked as she shook her head. "More importantly, how'd you get here? I don't recall ever seeing a rocket fly past…"

"That's because I got here with my super-secret spy skills!" Snuckles proclaimed as he puffed out his chest and chuckled. "When you all were celebrating, I—" Snuckles shook his head as his jaw dropped into a frantic frown "—actually, no, I have no time to brag about my super-secret spy skills! We've got a problem!"

Chihiro whipped around and tailed after Snuckles as he raced in front of the Core of Light. "You do?"

Everyone's questions and arguments turned to hushed whispers of confusion the moment Snuckles rounded the corner and came into the open, and their eyes locked on him.

"Snuckles, when did you get here?" Boomer asked as he pulled away from Terrafin and flicked his ears. "You never dropped us a line!"

However, Snuckles paid no mind to Boomer's or anyone else's concerns as he gulped and dug his paws into the satchel on his side.

"Everyone, we've got bad news!" Snuckles proclaimed as he yanked his paw out of his satchel. "Our spy flies have been gathering intel from Kaos's fortress—" Snuckles opened his paw and bit his lip as a mechanical, flylike device flew out and projected out a beam of green light "—and look what one found!"

With a few flickers, the spy fly's little beam became a green, holographic recording of a room filled with pipes and metal wiring. It flickered here and there, but otherwise, it was perfectly high-quality as a hologram should be while it played its footage.

"IN FACT, I'LL INITIATE THIS PLOT RIGHT NOW!" Kaos's voice faintly echoed from somewhere in the room. The door flung out, and out from it came none other than Kaos, arms behind his back and a small smile on his face as Glumshanks followed behind!

"GLUMSHANKS!"

Glumshanks' voice faintly came from within the holograph, but it was so muffled that no words could be made out.

"READY OUR ARMIES! START THE CANNONS! PUT UP EVERY SECURITY MEASURE YOU CAN THINK OF! ARM OUR MACHINERY, PRIME THE SUPER-SECRET WEAPONS, MAKE ME SOME PREEMPTIVE VICTORY COCOA! AND TELL ALL OUR FORCES TO STANDBY FOR AN ALL-OUT ATTACK ON THE SKYLANDERS' BASE!"

"Lord Kaos, are you sure you're alright?" Glumshanks asked. "You kind of sound like you're bargaining with yourself right now—"

Before Glumshanks could finish, however, the door slammed right in his face!

"MARK MY WORDS, SKYLOSERS! YOUR VICTORY IS ONLY MOMENTARY!" Kaos proclaimed as his ugly mug stormed up with a wide grin. His grin radiated with such malevolence that it stopped everyone's hearts stop. "WHEN I COME TO YOUR STUPID LITTLE ROCK AND DESTROY YOUR PRECIOUS CORE OF LIGHT AGAIN, YOU'LL KNOW TRUE FEAR!"

The spy fly's holograph stopped in that moment, and as it flew back into Snuckles' satchel, Snuckles himself forced a shaky smile and rubbed his clasped hands. While he clearly tried to remain calm as panicked whispers ruminated around, he was also very clearly doing a bad job as it, for his whole body quivered and knocked together.

"See, I told you so!" Hugo sniffed as he glared with Flynn.

"Ah, anyways, as, as, as you can see," Snuckles stammered as his eyes glanced all around while sweat clung to his fur. "We've, we've really got a big problem on our hands! Kaos could strike any minute now and, well, we may be improving our weaponry, but we don't exactly have the forces for something of this volume!"

Snuckles gulped, and finally, he completely broke into panic mode as he paced back and forth!

"What I'm saying is, we're doomed! He's got all his armies, and all his weapons, and all that fancy stuff on its way, and, and, and, we're not exactly, well, we're at a complete loss!" Snuckles fell to knees as he pulled his own fur out. "What're we gonna do?"

That was certainly the question of the hour, wasn't it? Everyone else glanced at each other and traded whispers as their eyes fell to the Core, all while wavering frowns and clenched fists could be seen all around. There was no way they were gonna let Kaos destroy the Core and erase all their hard work, but, he sounded so serious, too! He was definitely pulling out all the stops for this, so would they really be able to fight all his forces off if they came here?

Chihiro couldn't help but wonder this as well while she hid behind one of the Core's massive flowers; its bright petals became a shield from all the chaos and calamity of the conversations in front of her. She winced as she turned around and leaned against the flower's stem, but her eyes and head lifted with realization.

"Wait, came here…" Chihiro whispered as she gripped the flower's stem tight, and her face turned serious as she let go. "That's it!"

Chihiro held her head high as she strode out from behind the Core, and the whispers turned to complete silence as her cold, serious aura radiated around. It softened just a little as she knelt down and patted a sobbing, panicking Snuckles. Snuckles gasped and lifted his teary-eyed face to look at Chihiro, but Chihiro just beamed back at him and chuckled.

"Alright, I'll tell you what we're gonna do!" Chihiro proclaimed as she stood tall and fixed her eyes to the skies. "Instead of letting Kaos come here and undo everything we've done…"

Chihiro leaped up and pumped her fist to the sun.

"WE'LL JUST TAKE THE FIGHT TO HIM!"

Chihiro felt an excitement of her own bubble in her chest as she fell back on her feet, for everyone's eyes glimmered with hope now. Out of nowhere, her worries completely vanished in favor of an itch to fight, to run around in circles, a newfound energy that couldn't possibly be replaced!

"We'll go to Kaos's fortress and stop him in his tracks!" Chihiro proclaimed as she placed her hands on her hips and beamed. "We'll knock out his armies, smash his weapons… We'll completely wipe him out before he gets a chance to do it to us!"

All voices paused themselves while those hope-filled and awe-inspired eyes gleamed, but everyone seemed to hold a bit of hesitation in their hearts as they stepped back and clenched their fists. True, something like that sounded good on paper, but could it really be pulled off? Though they said no words, the hesitant glances they shot each other all showed they were doubtful and wavered, unsure as to whether they should endorse Chihiro's hot-blooded proclamation or not.

The sound of flapping wings drew everyone's attention back to Chihiro—or rather, the one who left the crowds to join her!

"Chihiro's right!" Spyro proclaimed as he flew up and stood beside Chihiro. "We can't just sit around here and worry! We're Skylanders, after all! The entire universe is counting on us to keep it safe from big-head!" Spyro's grin turned a little cockier as he winked to the crowds. "Besides, we've been able to take everything he's thrown at us so far. Storming his fortress is gonna be nothing!"

Everybody cheered and hollered in agreement as they looked to each other, and even Snuckles' fear faded as he wiped his teary eyes and stood to full height.

"Good thinking, portal master!" Snuckles proclaimed as he looked to Chihiro. "We've got a ton of intel from spying on Kaos's fortress at the MDF home base. I'll ping them and ask for a transfer right now!"

Snuckles whipped around, pulled out a walkie talkie, and whispered into it as he turned a dial on its box. But while he was quiet, everybody else was loud with excitement and eagerness!

"When we get there, I'll give Kaos the what for!"

"He won't even see us coming, I bet!"

"That's what he gets for trying to destroy the Core of Light again!"

"Now, hold your horses, everyone," Hugo huffed as he held up his hands and tried to calm the excited crowds. "We haven't decided who's going yet! Not everyone can go, after all!" Hugo turned back to Chihiro and grinned. "Right, Chihiro?"

Chihiro just chuckled as she placed her hands in her pockets, and Hugo's own faced seemed to fall just a little.

"Actually, we're gonna need all hands on deck for something like this," Chihiro explained as she looked back at Hugo, "so everyone's coming along!"

All the Skylanders gasped and cheered from the absolute joy and ruminating anticipation that laced the island, but Hugo only became even more anxious as he stormed up to Chihiro!

"All of them? What are you thinking?" Hugo exclaimed over the roar of the crowds behind. "Who'll protect the island and the core while you're gone?"

"Don't worry about that, mister mole!" Snuckles cried as he shuffled himself between Hugo and Chihiro. "We'll called in the Trollfield-Trollcoy Kingdom for some of their finest security tech! It'll be delivered to the island in an instant, and with it here, the Core of Light will be safe from anything Kaos could possibly throw!"

"… My name's Hugo."

While Hugo just sighed and shook his head, however, Snuckles handed off the walkie talkie he was carrying to Chihiro.

"This walkie talkie has all the information you'll need, portal master! Just press this button here…"

Chihiro's eyes fell down to a silver button that Snuckles' paw hovered above, and she gently tapped it with a grin. "Like this?" Chihiro asked.

She gasped as a holographic diagram of a massive, daunting fortress manifested from its speakers! As the images shifted to more detailed glimpses and diagrams, Chihiro grinned and stashed the walkie talkie away in her pocket. The holograms disappeared in an instant as the walkie talkie took sanctuary in Chihiro's pocket, but their graphs left a firm imprint on Chihiro's mind as she beamed back at Snuckles.

"Yeah, this'll definitely be what we need!" Chihiro proclaimed as her eyes went wide. "Oh, speaking of things we need, we're gonna need an extra power boost, too!"

Chihiro snapped her fingers, and in a flash, a small warp opened up above her and dropped three sapphire pendants with wings attached to their sides into her hands! Chihiro pulled up one and frowned as she gently rubbed its sleek surface.

"Well this really work?" Chihiro asked as she finished rubbing and watched her reflection in the jewel's shining surface. "I know she said that we could use these to call her, but—"

Chihiro stepped back and gasped as the amulet's reflection slowly wavered and shifted, for no longer was it a reflection of Chihiro herself. Rather, it was a reflection of Persephone instead as she sat in an elaborate throne room with Aura close by her side!

"Why, if it isn't young honorable Chihiro!" Persephone gasped as she grinned and tapped on the jewel's surface. "I haven't danced with you in such a long while! Have you and the Skylanders been happy?"

"You bet'cha!" Chihiro grinned, but shook her head and steeled her gaze once more. "But, that's not why I called." Chihiro bit her lip for a moment, but lifted her head. "You see, I need your help for something…"

"Oh?"

Chihiro leaned closer to the jewel and whispered into its surface, and Persephone pulled back and nodded with a serious look of her own.

"I understand, Young Honorable Chihiro," Persephone said as she turned to Aura. "We'll gather up some of our finest mages and be at Ancient's Peak in two steps of a dance!"

"Understood! Thanks a lot, Persephone! This'll be a huge help!"

Persephone's reflection faded away while the pendant's shine dulled and the pendant itself turned from its rich blue to a dull, kind of sad-looking gray. Just the sight of it seemed a little empty as it sat next to its bright siblings, but Chihiro just shook that feeling away as she magically whisked the pendants back away to her bedroom.

"Alright, guys, follow me!" Chihiro proclaimed as she waved to the Skylanders. "We've got a plan to discuss!"

The Skylanders all cheered as they chased after Chihiro, who in turn dashed over to the portal building. Even with the crowd of Skylanders behind her, she could still catch a glimpse of Hugo, who smiled as he lifted his head towards her!

Chihiro grinned back as she waved over to Hugo just before he went out of sight, flung the portal building's doors open and dashed inside! While the Skylanders flooded in, Chihiro raced over to the portal room, paused and grinned as she basked in the gentle light of the portals around. In the excitement of everything, being in such a still and tranquil room felt a bit wrong. The calm before the storm, she thought people called it?

"So, Chihiro," Drobot said as he pushed open the doors to the portal room, "what is this plan of yours, anyways?"

"Oh, Drobot! Just the dragon I wanted to see!" Chihiro chirped as she whipped around and grinned. "See, I wanted your help with this plan I want to put together…"

Drobot perked up and made an intrigued hum, a hum that only increased as she handed him the walkie talkie.

"Think you can give me some advice once you look over this?"

Drobot scanned the walkie talkie over with bright yellow eye beams, and stopped them as he looked back up at Chihiro. "I already have!"

"Great!" Chihiro clasped her hands together then held those hands behind her back. "See, here's what I was thinking..."