Soft, excited whispered filled the walls of the portal room, where the portals were cleared away to provide extra space for the Skylanders to sit in that moment. It was all so tense as they whispered among each other, clearly more excited for the ongoing mission that the plan itself…

But all voices went quiet as Chihiro walked in front of them with a magical pointer stick in one hand! She carried herself with a more serious aura than she usually did as she stood in front of the crowds, yet grinned and held a hand behind her. She gestured towards the magical cork board that held their plan's steps and instructions with her stick.

"So that's our plan!" Chihiro proclaimed as she held her stick between her hands and clapped them together. As she released her hands, the stick vanished in a burst of blue sparkles, but she was hardly fazed as she narrowed her brows. "Now remember, we'll need to make this as quick and efficient as possible since we have no idea when Kaos is going to strike! So, stick to your groups and don't lose sight of your objectives!"

With another snap of her fingers, the magical cork board completely vanished into another flare of blue sparkles. "Any questions?" Chihiro made a small smile, but perked up as the sound of warbling resonated through the room. "Actually, hold that thought!"

Chihiro beamed as a small, blue rift formed between her and the Skylanders, and that rift turned into a holographic projection of Hugo! The projection warbled a little bit, but solidified quick enough as Hugo cleared his throat while a few fairies flitted behind him in the background.

"Testing, testing, one, two, three, is this thing on?" Hugo said as he seemingly looked at something off-screen, turned to Chihiro and lifted his head. "Oh, Chihiro, there you are! Can you hear me?"

"You bet'cha!" Chihiro beamed and nodded her head.

"Good! Anyways, you might want to hurry out here if you're done going over your plan! The fairies have arrived from the Fairy Kingdom!"

Hugo tried to say something else, but as he spoke his words, the sound of helicopter blades beating down on the surface drowned him out completely! Not that Hugo noticed, for he was busy screaming and getting blown away from the holograph.

"Oh, don't worry, mister mole, I'll get you!" Snuckles cried as he dashed across the holograph's projection. The moment he laid eyes on the holograph, however, he beamed and turned back around to Chihiro. "Oh, portal master! The Trollfield-Trollcoys are here!"

Everyone cheered as the holograph disappeared, and they all beamed as they took looks at each other. In spite of their differing reactions, from quiet nods, to wide beams, and excited, frantic bouncing, their hearts and minds were all as one while they talked among themselves and smiled so hard that their cheeks hurt.

"And remember, everyone!" Chihiro said as she dashed for the doors. "We're doing this for Skylands!"

"FOR SKYLANDS!" everyone cheered with one heart, one mind, one soul as they dashed out of the portal room, through the halls, and back outside!

The warm light of sunset glazed over the island, and only added onto the bustle of excitement as trolls, fairies, and others alike dashed across the island! Though among the crowds, the first to catch everyone's eyes was Persephone as she stood there outside alongside Aura and several other fairies dressed in fancy clothes and shiny armor. The fairies all frowned as they flitted around, but their eyes soon lit up as the Skylanders piled out of the portal building!

"There you are, o' happy heroes!" Persephone cried as she flew towards Spyro. "Now, stand still as we bestow our blessings on you."

Everybody took their commands to heart and stopped in their tracks. The fairies flew to them one by one as they laid their hands on the Skylanders, and the Skylanders all glowed with a bright, cyan light!

The light seeped into their bodies just as quick as it came, completely obscured them for moments, finally lifted and revealed that the Skylanders completely powered up! They all grinned as they flexed and bounced with a new energy, but others stopped to admire how their weapons or armor grew shinier and sleeker, or bulkier and more powerful. Heck, some of them even gained some new kicks, like Bash who basked in the sunlight as he showed off his horn-covered golden armor, or Spyro who chuckled as he stroked his lengthened horns. Even a couple of their gloomier members’ spirits seemed to have lifted as they looked over their new powerups; it was nice to see, honestly!

Chihiro grinned as the Skylanders basked in their new power, but jolted up as a wave of energy washed over her and tinted her vision a bit bluer! Once the blue glow faded, she turned around, and Persephone chuckled and winked beside her.

"Give that Kaos a nice punch of a dance for me, will you?" Persephone asked as she released her hand from Chihiro's.

Chihiro, however, just grinned and beamed as she made a firm nod. "You bet'cha!" Chihiro chirped as her eyes fell on the cliffside.

There, Rizzo, Nort, and General Robot swarmed out of an open helicopter alongside masses of trolls armed with equipment. There were a few familiar faces among the trolls, from Syracuse and Boomette sharing a peck on the cheek as Dyna called them over to set up some kind of projector, to Tangerine who showed two smaller, blue-skinned trolls how to wire a field, but they were quickly drowned out by masses of new faces. Trolls in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and skin colors flooded across the island as they set up pillars and fences, and their forces so massive it almost crowded out everything else!

Though, right as Rizzo, Nort and General Robot carried a crate through a swarm of trolls, one could easily spy…

"Trollver, Trollamor!" Chihiro cried as she pushed past the crowds and rushed to a surprisingly vacant corner of the island. "Good to see you!"

Trollver and Trollamor stood right in front of the mess hall as they discussed something that went unheard among the chatter of the island! The two of them seemed a little more grizzled than the last time they were on the island, but their smiles were as gentle and loving as ever as they held hands with mechanical rings on the ring fingers. Perhaps most shockingly, on Trollver's chest was none other than a baby carrier with a tiny, orange-skinned baby troll rested inside!

Trollver flicked his ears, turned around and grinned as his eyes fell on Chihiro.

"Well, look what we have here!" Trollver cried as he turned around and puffed his chest. "If it isn't the portal master herself! You definitely seem more lively—" Trollver cringed as the baby in his baby carrier bonked him in the face with the rattle they held in their chubby baby hand "—owch!"

Trollver whimpered as he rubbed his face, but his baby just giggled as it flailed its pudgy arms and legs.

"Now, now, Clementroll," Trollamor chuckled as he gently patted the baby's head. "What have we said about picking on Papa?"

Clementroll blinked as they cooed back at Trollamor, who just chuckled as he turned back to a giggling Chihiro.

"You definitely seem like you're doing well!" Chihiro remarked as she stuffed her hands into her pockets.

"You bet we are, kiddo!" Trollamor exclaimed as he patted Chihiro's shoulder. " We've been doing a lot better ever since we banded together! We got our old place fixed up, turned it into a safe place for other trolls trying to get out of Kaos's grip, and next thing we know, we're making fancy new tech and stuff just like the older days." Trollamor chuckled, and his gaze softened as he watched a couple of orange and green-skinned trolls help each other push up a pillar. "If you told me and Trollver that something like this would have happened, we never would have believed it…"

Trollamor chuckled as he wiped a tear from his eyes, but Trollver just smiled back at him and patted his shoulder.

"Anyways, speaking of fancy new tech," Trollver said as he gestured towards the bustling workers beside him and Chihiro. "We're setting up our forcefield projectors now! Once you've all headed off to stop Kaos, we'll activate it and cover the entire island in a forcefield so strong, nothing can break through!"

Chihiro beamed and furiously nodded her head. "Sounds good to me!" Chihiro replied as she gave Trollver and Trollamor a thumbs up.

"Oh, and that's not all!" Trollamor said as he nodded towards the Core, where several trolls heaved some kind of equipment towards it as Hugo gave them directions. "Kaos's fortress has one of those fancy spells on it that keeps portals from coming in according to those Mabu Defense beings, so we're connecting one of our transporters to your Core!"

Trollamor grinned as the trolls behind him set down a control panel beside the Core itself.

"Just pop the coordinates in, and it'll send you flying right to where you want! Normally it's only for short-distance travel, but with all that magic juice from the Core, it should send you right to Kaos's fortress!" Trollamar dug through his pocket, yanked out what seemed like a watch and handed it to Chihiro. "We've also got these portable communication devices! You might want these!"

Chihiro grinned as she took the watch and wrapped it snug around her wrist, and a turn aside showed she wasn't the only one! At the heart of the island, Snuckles, Nort, and Rizzo pulled out some crates and tore off their tops to reveal the crates were full of those same watches!

So, the crates passed around and the communication devices placed. The Core of Light glowed with a strange, bright orange glow as the last of the devices were equipped, like the sun in the middle of the day!

"Alright, we've got the Core's new teleporter set for Kaos's fortress!" Hugo proclaimed as he turned around from the panel set next to the Core. "Whoever's going first came come up now!"

Hex, Boomer, Voodood, and Double Trouble made their way out from the crowds of Skylanders and hovered next to the Core as Hugo took a deep breath in.

"Just stand next to the Core while I press these buttons, and it'll take all of you directly to Kaos's fortress in the blink of an eye," Hugo turned to Hex as he spoke, but went back to the panel and winced. "But after that, it's all up to you!"

"Oh, we understand well," Hex replied as she looked back to the Core, her somber air unrelenting even in a moment such as this, "but, we aren't going to be stopped."

Hugo pressed the button; shiny, orange bubbles encased the four of them and shot into the skies within a moment's notice! As they flew away, everyone else waved and wished them good lucks and best wishes and all that fancy stuff…

But Chihiro didn't feel nearly as easy about this as they did, so she just clutched her shirt and frowned. "Godspeed," she whispered as they disappeared past the clouds.