Just past a string of thick, puffy, gray clouds, four shining orange bubbles streaked away like comets in the night sky. Their sights set on the deck of a large, run-down warship manned by greebles in ragged clothing. The bubbles stopped and floated in midair as a couple clouds passed them by, and unveiled the ones inside to be none other than Boomer, Hex, Double Trouble, and Voodood! Their gazes were stern as they eyed the ship, yet despite that, their minds were elsewhere as they ran their fingers against their bubbles…

§

"Alright, everyone, the moment you've all been waiting for is finally here!" Chihiro cried within their confines of their memories as she snapped her fingers. "We're gonna take down Kaos for good!"

Cheers echoed through the portal room as Chihiro grinned and crossed her arms, and a magical cork board coated in a fine layer of papers, diagrams, and maps manifested behind her! Chihiro turned around as a blue glow brushed against her back. She crafted a magical stick and slapped it against the cork board… But the stick just snapped in half!

Chihiro gasped, jolted up, and made an awkward chuckled as she magically repaired her stick. "Whoops."

Chihiro turned back to the cork board as the cheers and laughter went silent, and gently tapped her stick against its corner.

"Alright, here's the stitch! Drobot and I took the stuff the MDF gave us, and came up with what is hopefully a foolproof plan to take down Kaos!" Chihiro leaned back and giggled as she fiddled with the tip of her stick. "Keyword being hopefully."

With one big swing of her arm, Chihiro flipped over the cork board, and unveiled that plastered on its other side was a gigantic map of the inner workings of Kaos's fortress!

"Now, to start." Chihiro tapped the map, and a blue glow surrounded the internal diagram. "According to our intel, the fortress has a threefold layer of security on it. The first layer, as you can see, is an outer barrier that only Kaos's army can get through—" Chihiro grinned and pointed her stick towards the crowds "—which is where our first team comes in!"

As Chihiro said this, stickers that resembled Boomer, Hex, Voodood and Double Trouble's faces manifested on the map and hovered just outside the glowing area!

"Boomer will head the team and pretend to be a repairman coming in to repair Kaos's tech!" Chihiro said as she turned back to the map while the four markers slid across it. "This should work, as all the staff is, not very bright, according to the info."

Right as the four stickers slipped in, they slid into the lower sections of the map and towards a room while the blue glow disappeared!

"Once he gets in there, you guys will go to the control room and disable the force field!" Chihiro beamed as she tapped the map again while the fortress's lineart glowed blue next. "With that gone, we move on to the inner layers of security…"

§

The four of them drew away from the edges of their bubbles as they pulled themselves out of their memories, and steeled their gazes further. Hex nodded, as did Boomer, Double Trouble, and Voodood. Their four bubbles stormed onto the deck, and popped the moment they hit the floor!

The greebles on the ship froze, huddled together, and whispered something among themselves with shifty eyes; their conversation ended, and they whipped out some rusted, worn swords as they trailed down the deck. The cold, bitter winds of the Outlands whipped against them as they paced up and down the deck while the boards creaked under their feet, yet nobody appeared from the sights surrounding. The greebles frowned, shrugged, and stowed their swords away as they headed for the door that led to the lower decks.

As they huddled in front of the door, one greeble reached out a hand and went to open it. Before it could, a gigantic skull raced forward and tackled all the greebles off the ships' deck! The greebles screamed as they fell into the abyss, but finally grunted as they came to a landing somewhere in the depths of those gray, cloudy skies that comprised the Outlands.

Not that it was all that concerning to Hex as she floated out from a huddle of barrels nearby.

"Seems as though the coast is clear," Hex said as she turned back to the barrels. "You can leave now."

Boomer, Double Trouble and Voodood all grinned as they crept out from behind the barrels and joined Hex. Boomer cracked his mechanical knuckles and kicked open the door; the sound of squawking echoed down the halls as Boomer gleefully jumped down the steps two by two, and whipped out some massive dynamite sticks right as he disappeared around the corner!

"BOMBS AWAY!" Boomer cried right before the sound of crackling fire overtook his words!

The squawks turned to angry screeches, followed by a massive explosion that sent thick, gray smoke funneling out of the open door!

Hex, Double Trouble, and Voodood all leaned out of the way as the smoke tunneled out of the halls and soared into the skies. They all cringed as another explosion sounded off! The three of them turned their attention down to the door as flaming greebles flew out the halls with a scream, and winced as the greebles crash-landed on the floor. The greebles' flames extinguished the moment they hit the cold metal, and left behind pink skin charred with nasty burns. In spite of this, they forced themselves to stand, and shuddered as they turned back to Hex, Double Trouble and Voodood.

One drew a sword completely blackened in ashes, and spat out some angry gibberish—but its sword merely crumbled into a pile of ashes before it! The greeble screeched like a terrified monkey as what used to be its sword got swept away in the wind, and lifted its head right as one of Double Trouble's magic beams shot it off the ground!

The other two greebles gasped and ran after their leader, but by the time they reached the ship's edge, it was too late. The greeble leader already fell overboard and disappeared into the cloudy depths! The greebles winced and tugged on their collars as they peered at each other, but they didn't need to worry much; a kick from Voodood allowed them to join their leader's fate! They went over the edge and into the clouds before they even realized Voodood was behind them.

With the greebles taken care of, Hex, Double Trouble and Voodood swept down the stairs, past the metal hallways with metal panels coated in a fine layer of rust. Around the corner, they found none other than Boomer, who stood steady as he drove the ship into a lonely, dark, metal garage.

Hex and Double Trouble frowned as they floated up to the glass windshield of the pilot's quarters. There, beyond the occasional darkness of a dead light panel, laid cracked billboards full of papers and fliers and worn-down, rusted docks. It wasn't all that much unlike what Hex and Double Trouble saw back in the Fairy Kingdom oh so long ago, but this one was much bigger, and in spite of this large size, it seemed more lonely than anything given the lack of ships.

Right as they sat in what seemed like silent concern, however, Boomer waved his arm in front of their faces and pointed ahead right as the ship ground to a halt! Hex and Double Trouble nodded and hid behind the shade and safety of a couple empty crates, while Voodood crouched down behind them and winced as he peered back at Boomer.

There, Boomer turned to someone and flicked his ears as he rolled down part of the windshield.

"Hey there, buddy! How's life been treatin' ya?" Boomer beamed as he leaned over and laid his arm on the side of the windshield.

"State your business here," spat out some squeaky voice that seemed very tired despite its cutesy tone.

Boomer leaned back as his ears started to twitch. "What'm I doing here?" Sweat dripped down Boomer's brow as he dug through his backpack for something and handed it over to whoever was on the other side of the window. "Why, we're the repair team that came here to fix your boss's forcefield in time for his big attack on the Skylanders! Surely you remember?"

"Big attack on the Skylanders, what big attack? I've never heard anything about that!" A soft hum came from that cutesy voice on the other side. "But then again, the boss doesn't tell me all that much... Whatever."

The chatter from the other side of the window became low as the sound of pittering feet echoed into the distance. For a moment, all was silent with anticipation, but finally, that pitter returned as a pair of furry blue arms stuck through the window and dumped something in Boomer's lap!

"Oh, thanks for the shiny things, buddy!" Boomer said as he lifted one up and stuck his tongue out as he examined it. "What are they?"

"They're special badges for our faculty," the furry blue thing on the other side of the window moaned. "We've got a no-sell spell or whatever it was called over the fortress, so you have to wear these if you wanna do any fancy magic things."

Boomer nodded as he pulled a lever near his seat. "Thanks for this! And don't worry, we'll have that forcefield fixed in no time!"

Boomer hopped out of his seat, and his goofy smile turned to more of a smirk as he walked up to the crates and held out an open hand. Those things the furry blue thing gave him were what seemed to be simple, metallic badges, and they were all shaped in the image of Kaos's face; that was not much of a surprise given who they were talking about.

"We're in!" Boomer whispered as his smirk stretched from ear to ear. "Just put these badges on, and you won't have to worry about that spell at all!"

Hex nodded, magically levitated a badge from Boomer's palm, and fastened it against her dress; Double Trouble and Voodood were quick to claim their own. As they all finished pinning their badges, they nodded and drifted back up the stairs with a bit of tension among their ranks. Though none of them said a thing, their twitching fingers and not-quite smiles, not-quite frowns showed plenty how they felt. After all, this was the instrumental first step in their infiltration of Kaos's base; they couldn't afford a single misstep!

As they hit the final step, they all pushed open the door and met with more stark, white light and cold walls. Double Trouble snapped his fingers, and grinned as a bridge unfolded from the side of the ship!

The bridge slammed into the side of one of those metal loading docks, right beside a furry blue gremlin dressed in patchy robes not unlike what the greebles wore. The gremlin gasped and turned away as the bridge dug into the side of the dock, but its shock disappeared as all four of them came down the bridge.

"Alright, follow me," the gremlin moaned as it gestured and turned around…

But right before it could take a step, a greeble covered in burn ointment and bandages walked out of one of the rooms. That couldn't have been one of the greebles on the ship just moments earlier, was it? Apparently, it was!

The moment it laid eyes on Hex, Boomer, Double Trouble and Voodood, it screamed and pointed to them! Hex, Double Trouble, Voodood and Boomer all gasped, and stepped back as the greeble ran up to the gremlin and started screeching and hollering; all the while, the greeble jumped up and flailed its arms as fast as it could.

"What, what are you talking about?" The gremlin pinched the bridge of its nonexistent nose. "Listen, I don't speak greeble. I can't understand a word you're saying!"

The greeble frowned and made a wide variety of gestures and charades, from an angry pouncing face, to someone casting out some kind of spell, to something soaring through thin air… Wait, it was re-enacting how it got tossed overboard!

The gremlin paused for a moment as it gasped, and turned to Hex, Double Trouble, Boomer and Voodood with wide eyes. It was almost as if it expected some kind of response from them.

"Oh, we're no Skylanders!" Boomer lied through clenched teeth as he scratched the insides of his ear. "We're just a perfectly normal forcefield repair crew! Nope, nothing suspicious about us!"

Double Trouble and Voodood both forced grins as they nodded in response, but Hex remained steely as ever while she glared down the greeble. By all accounts, it would be obvious to anyone that they were lying, what with the tense, forced looks of glee on their faces…

But thankfully, the gremlin seemed to buy it! Its fearful look faded as it shrugged, and it scoffed as it turned back to the greeble.

"See? They're not Skylanders, they're a normal forcefield repair crew. They said so themselves!" the gremlin groaned as it pointed back to the four of them. Huh, guess the staff here really were as dumb as the reports suggested.

The greeble snarled as it scratched its head, and it let out a screech as it scrambled towards a red lever on the side of the wall! The gremlin squealed and dashed after the greeble as it waved its own furry arms, but something teleported between them before either of them could reach the lever! That thing magically lifted them both up and conked them on the heads! The gremlin and greeble groaned as they both fell face-first to the floor, while behind them, Hex sighed and wiped her hands as she turned back to Boomer, Double Trouble, and Voodood.

"My apologies," Hex said as she floated back to the group. "I panicked."

Double Trouble just shrugged and floated up to the dizzy gremlin and greeble. He grinned as he waved his staff around, and the staff's jewel glowed as it dispensed a rain of shiny powder onto the gremlin and greeble!

The two of them groaned and sneezed as the powder seeped into their skin, yet they still let out loud yawns, and their eyelids drooped up and down in slow-motion. The gremlin yawned and clicked its tongue as it laid back down on the floor, and the greeble crawled over and snuggled it like a plushie as they both fell asleep.

Double Trouble floated around and gave them a thumbs up as he spoke, and Voodood just grinned as he returned that thumbs up.

"That sleeping powder's going to keep them out for a while," Hex whispered to Boomer. "We'll be fine."

"Oh," Boomer replied. He nodded, walked up to the sleeping greeble and gremlin, and cooed. "Well, aren't they just the cutest?"

"Cute?" Hex and Voodood whispered to each other as they raised their eyebrows.

The two of them shook their heads, and Hex held out her hands as he cast out a bright, cyan-colored scroll that landed right in her palms. She unrolled it out as Double Trouble, Boomer, and Voodood crowded around her, levitated it out, and pointed towards a red dot marked on the lower levels.

"This should be where the forcefield's control room is located," Hex whispered as she rolled the map back up, and floated it into Boomer's backpack. "We'll just have to take the door that leads to the underground control rooms."

"And whaddya know, it's right there!" Boomer chirped as he lifted his head and grinned.

Right across from them, a simple, rusted metal door with a metal plate labeled "To Basement Level One" in worn, red paint stood. Its handle was rusted, but not extremely frail-looking.

Boomer frowned as he examined the door, hand on chin and all, but finally he yanked on the handle, and pulled the door open with such force that the door completely snapped off of its hinges! Everyone blinked and shook their heads in absolutely shocked, but Boomer just chuckled and scratched his scalp.

"Whoops!" Boomer chuckled as he chucked the broken door over the docks, and into the deep abyss of sky below. "Guess I don't know my own strength!"

The door was open either way, so they all crept inside and found themselves inside a dimly-lit hall comprised of wet, worn stone. It seemed a bit daunting, but a snap of Hex's fingers completely illuminated the halls and brought to light a lengthy staircase below!

Hex floated down without a care, and Double Trouble hummed a tune as he followed her down. Behind them, Boomer frowned and trailed down the steps, but snagged his foot on one of the stairs and tumbled on down!

"Owch!" Boomer cried as he flew down, hit his head on one of the stairs, and bounced off only to hit another. "Double owch!"

Hex and Double Trouble both flew out of his way as Boomer bounced down the stairs, cast out their hands and magically froze Boomer in midair! As they levitated Boomer onto the bottom level of the floor and teleported down beside him, Boomer giggled and rubbed the massive bump on his head.

"Talk about a long way down!" Boomer chuckled, but his grin quickly faded as Hex flew behind him and yanked the map out of his backpack.

"Good, the map's unharmed," Hex said as she unrolled it and traced its path with her finger. "Now, the control room should be straightforward from here. We just have to keep going ahead until we reach the doors."

"Thank goodness," Voodood said as he hopped off the last step and brandished his ax. "Why are we standing here?"

"Because we were waiting for you." Hex rolled up the map and tapped it back into Boomer's backpack. "Now, we shall go."

They went silent as they trekked down halls with masses of dull, pinkish-colored metal walls, and odd hums and noises blended with their footsteps. The walls beside them occasionally diverged into lightless hallway entrances, or stood decorated with faded graffiti in all sorts of shapes and insults—but, they were hardly remarkable otherwise. With this being the fortress of Kaos, who perhaps had one of the biggest egos in all Skylands, one would think he'd make the place a bit fancier.

Yet, tension still rang through the room as Hex, Boomer, Double Trouble and Voodood kept their weapons close, just in case. After all, the halls were quiet… Too quiet. Surely there had to be something lurking just out of view as it waited for the right opportunity to strike!

Double Trouble's lips twitched as he wrung his staff's stick tighter, all while his eyes drifted from side to side. Then, he gasped as he peeked over one of the halls! His eyes narrowed as he drifted closer to it, and he warily shrugged and hovered beside Voodood. As Double Trouble whispered something in Voodood's ear, Voodood frowned and stopped in his tracks.

"I didn't feel like I was being watched," Voodood whispered. "Is something wrong?"

Small pattering sounds echoed around the halls, and Double Trouble gasped as he turned his staff on the hallway once more; he was just in time to catch a pair of white eyes glance at him for a moment before they disappeared! Double Trouble shouted out as he turned back to Voodood and waved his staff back at the halls, and Voodood frantically nodded and yanked his ax up.

"I did! But, what was it?" Voodood asked as he turned back to the halls. "Maybe it was just a trick of the light?"

Double Trouble frowned, and with a wave of his staff, he summoned a tiny clone and nudged it closer to the halls. The clone shuddered as it hopped closer to the black blankets of the hallways, so Double Trouble cooed and gently rubbed its head as he knelt down by its side. Though his word were ineligible, whatever he said must have been enough to encourage the clone to hop back down!

So, it hummed to itself as it hopped into the halls, and right before it vanished into the shadows, a purple chain wrapped around it and yanked it in! The clone screamed as it vanished into the halls, and Double Trouble and Voodood both jolted back and shuddered as crashing noises echoed through the halls.

"Ugh, talk about weak!" groaned a voice that sounded suspiciously like Voodood's as that pair of white eyes popped out of nowhere again. "I was hoping for more of a challenge!"

The white pair of eyes clenched shut as it shook for moment, and when it popped them open, it gasped and leaped over like a massive magical comet! As it rolled back onto the ground, its eyes narrowed and fixed on Double Trouble, who snarled as he pointed his glowing staff into the darkness and cried out!

"Well, so much for staying low!" the eyes' owner cried as the sound of pattering surrounded it. "Guess I have no choice but to fight now!"

A black and purple blur leaped from the halls with its sights set on Double Trouble, but Double Trouble jumped out of the way just in time! Instead of hitting him, the blur slammed into the floor, bounced off of its cold metal, and hit Boomer on the head with that same purple chain instead! Boomer yelped as he crashed onto the floor, pushed himself up and rubbed his nose. As he groaned from the pain, a smack on the floor pulled his attention to the center of the halls, where none other than the Evil Orc Warrior landed!

"I should have guessed things were too quiet around here!" Hex proclaimed as her hands flared with eldritch blue flames!

Boomer immediately jumped to his feet and snarled, and Double Trouble and Voodood pointed their weapons at the Evil Orc Warrior. It just chuckled as it watched them aim; it almost seemed to revel in their anger as it licked its lips and narrowed its eyes.

"I never thought I'd find Skylanders wandering the halls while I was doing my rounds, but boy, am I glad to see you!" the Evil Orc Warrior proclaimed as it bent its knees. "Once I turn you in to Lord Kaos, he'll surely make me his right-hand orc!"

"Like we'd let you do that, buddy!" Boomer proclaimed. He whipped out two stacks of dynamite from his sack and got ready to light them…

But he just got beaned on the head once more by a tripwire from the Evil Orc Warrior's ax! This time, the force slammed Boomer into the nearby wall with such power that it completely threw him off! Boomer groaned and stumbled about as the Evil Orc Warrior's tripwire wrapped tight to his scalp, and he grunted and fell unconscious on the floor as it shocked him and vanished.

"Mmm, sheepstew pie," Boomer mumbled as his face planted against the metal.

The Evil Orc Warrior grinned as it flew towards Hex and shot its axe towards her, but before it could catch her, Hex teleported away! Instead of catching her, the Evil Orc Warrior's ax stuck to the walls instead! Despite all the flailing and screaming the Evil Orc Warrior did as it tried to pull the ax out, it wasn't able to stop before it yanked forward and crashed into the walls.

The Evil Orc Warrior grunted and pulled itself off with a pop, turned back around, and huffed as it fixed its eyes on Double Trouble. Double Trouble grinned and mocked it in some kind of high-pitched voice, and as he stuck his tongue out at it, he teleported away! The Evil Orc Warrior's cheeks puffed as its eyes turned red from sheer anger, and it snarled as it dashed after him!

"I'm no bonehead, you dip!" The Evil Orc Warrior cried.

It leaped ahead and whipped a chain from its ax out at Double Trouble, but Double Trouble just teleported away right before its eyes! The Evil Orc Warrior turned on its side as it crashed into the floor, bounced up and spun around mid-flight. As it landed back on the floor, it narrowed its eyes and licked its lips, perfectly primed to strike, yet its jaw dropped to the floor.

Hex and Double Trouble both teleported away with such speed that it couldn't even keep a single target! Its eyes continually trailed between them as they popped left, right, center, back again, forwards, and more, all within the blink of an eye. They went so fast that just looking at them would make anyone dizzy!

The Evil Orc Warrior whimpered as its eyes spun, but finally, it shook its head and shot out its ax's chain right as Double Trouble popped in front of it…

And right as Voodood leaped in front of it and grabbed its ax by the head! The Evil Orc Warrior squealed as Voodood spun its ax around like a cowboy's rope, and took the Evil Orc Warrior for a spin with it. Voodood swung it down the hall and released! The Evil Orc Warrior screamed as it flew across the halls, and slammed against the wall while its own ax's chain wrapped around it tight.

Voodood grinned as he rushed forward, ax in hand and fully ready to strike, but the Evil Orc Warrior narrowed its eyes and leaped off the ground! Its sudden strike was such a surprise that it caught Voodood completely off guard; it kicked him into a wall, but the Evil Orc Warrior wasn't going to stop at just him.

It soared in midair with its eyes fixed on Hex and Double Trouble, but instead of crashing into them, it just slammed into entire body into the ground and tossed everyone into the air!

While Hex and Double Trouble floated above, the Evil Orc Warrior rocketed off the ground and slammed right into Hex! As she shot into the cold, hard floors, it ricocheted off of her and slammed Double Trouble into the wall. Hex and Double Trouble both groaned as they lunged off of the craters they left in the halls, yet gasped as the Evil Orc Warrior hopped away.

It smirked and slammed its head right into the side of the wall; the wall shook for a moment as one of the panels popped out, and unveiled a bright, glowing red button which shone bright against the stark, mild light. The Evil Orc Warrior made some kind of chuckle, and as it fell to the floor, it bounced off once more and slammed into the button!

Red light and ear-splitting sirens poured into the room as the entire halls shook, while one by one, the panels all slid down and unveiled rusted, metal bars like that of a cage, almost. Within those metal bars were what seemed to be massive, mutated monsters; hulking mounds of flesh in the vague image of greebles and chompies, to lava kings with more lava than body, and strange, energy creatures that shrieked and wailed in pain as they clawed at the bars all laid within their grips!

The Evil Orc Warrior grinned, shimmied out of its ax's trappings as the cages' bars all slid down at once and unleashed the monsters, and licked its lips as the monsters hulked onto the floors.

"What're you gonna do now, Skylanders?" the Evil Orc Warrior crooned. "These experiments are some of our scientists' best inventions! They're way stronger than you'll ever dream of being! You might as well start writing your wills, because this is the day of your—"

But while the Evil Orc Warrior rambled on, it hadn't noticed that several of the chompy monsters trailed behind it… That is, until one snapped at its heels! The Evil Orc Warrior shrieked and ran away right before it could become chompy food, but the chompies seemed pretty determined to get their meal! So, it screamed and dashed into the halls with the chompies hot on its tail!

Well, not that Hex, Double Trouble, or Voodood noticed as the monsters closed in on them. They all clenched their teeth as they readied their weapons, and the monsters lunged forward with their slobbering jaws and heavy breaths.

"Hey, what's going on?" Boomer groaned as he leaned up and rubbed his head. "One minute that orc dude was here, one…" Boomer blinked for a few minutes, and the moment he locked eyes with the monsters crowd, he screamed and leaped to his feet. "Actually, forget about that!"

Boomer dug his hands into his backpack, whipped out entire stacks of dynamite, and held them over his body like swords.

"We've got bigger problems right now!"

Boomer tossed his dynamite stacks into the crowds, and leaped back as they exploded and sent a cascade of smoke across the room! It seemed as though this was the signal everyone needed, for the monsters all rushed forward and went to attack!

A few hulking greebles that looked more like haphazard, clay mish-mashes of flesh and eyes charged towards Boomer, but he just whipped around, grabbed one by its wrist, and spun it around with such force that it tossed the other ones back! Boomer dashed forward as he finally tossed it back into a mutated lava king, leaped up, and punched another hulking greeble in the face. As it reeled back, he hit the floor and slid forward as he socked another greeble in the gut!

That greeble slid backwards towards Hex, but before it could hit her, a gigantic skull blew it onto the floor! All around Hex, rounds of skulls so giant that they practically blocked her from view shielded her from enemies, blew forward and nailed down monsters in waves. While they managed to hit the more physically-formed monsters with ease, the energy monsters slid in underneath and leaped over her at once! Hex's eyes popped open, but she stayed stoic as ever as she raised her hands. In that moment, the monsters froze as their entire bodies sparked and shuddered! They let out warped, shrill wails like harsh static as they completely exploded, and their essence fueled into the skulls while they raced forward and nailed down another round of mutants!

Double Trouble and Voodood leaped out the way of one skull as it knocked down a mountain-sized chompy mutant, and the two of them turned to each other and nodded! They crossed their ax and staff together; as the staff and ax glowed with a bright, shuddering purple light, they turned their eyes onto a lava king that spewed bright, white lava all over the floor.

The lava king wailed as it top bubbled and popped like it got ready to explode, but a massive, magical rope swung forward and wrapped around its body before it could! The rope squeezed the lava king tight despite its flails, and wrapped further around until the lava king was trapped inside a massive rope ball. A muffled boom echoed from within the rope ball, and as the rope ball unraveled itself, white lava and burnt rock poured onto the floor and seared a hole into its metal surface!

While the rope fed itself back into Double Trouble's staff, Double Trouble and Voodood both steeled their gaze as they turned back to the crowd and got ready to attack. They shuddered and shielded themselves as a massive quake ripped through the entire hall with such force that it ripped metal panels off the floor and blew them across the floor!

The monsters all slammed face-first into the ruined floors, and with their obstructions gone, they unveiled the source of the quake. It was none other than Boomer, who leaped up from a massive ground pound!

"Man, this fairy magic really is something!" Boomer cried as he fell down to the ground and wound his arms up. "I haven't felt stronger than this in my entire life!"

"Quick, while they're reeling!" Hex proclaimed as she swept up to Boomer's side and held out hands that glowed bright with magic. "We need to get out of here!"

A gigantic cloud of magic burst from Hex's hands as the monsters finally started to get up. While the monsters coughed and hacked, Boomer and Hex dashed down the halls! Double Trouble and Voodood burst out of the smoke as they tailed after Hex and Boomer, but unfortunately, they didn't notice that three of the monsters tailed after them while they ran.

It wasn't until the monsters leaped over them in succession, and their shadows cast across the ground below, that the monsters caught anyone’s notice! As the monsters leaped in front of them and blocked the halls off, Boomer, Hex, Double Trouble and Voodood froze in place and stepped back. Just when they were so close to getting out, too!

The first monster, a massive chompy whose skin bubbled like lava, bolted over to Hex and got ready to bite, but she just jumped away. While the monster stumbled forward, Hex summoned her skulls and blasted them towards the monster, yet its flesh was so rubbery and loose that the skulls sank into its head, ricocheted back and crashed into the walls! Hex winced as the monster snarled and lunged for her once more, but she summoned a trio of gigantic cursed orbs and shot them right towards the monster.

The orbs crashed into the monster's stomach, exploded upon contact, and blew it back down the halls and straight into Boomer! Boomer whipped around and grabbed its back with both palms, tossed it aside, and jumped into the air as his hands formed into a tightly-clenched fist. He spun in midair as he crashed to the ground, but before he could pound into it, a bright pink, feline monster with arms poking out of its back tackled him aside!

Boomer grunted as he slammed right into Double Trouble and Voodood, and as they all rolled down the halls, a bright, blue monster with arms for tusks rushed forward and gulped them down! The monster grinned and licked its lips as it sat down, but its eyes went wide as smoke filtered out its nostrils! The monster shuddered and spat Boomer, Double Trouble and Voodood back onto the ground, and Boomer grinned as he held up a dynamite bundle with a sparkling flame at the tip of its fuse!

"Not the first time a gigantic monster tried to eat me!" Boomer grinned as he tossed the dynamite bundle right between all three monsters. "Now take this!"

The monsters all frowned and sniffed the bundle right as the flame finally burned away the last of the fuse, yet they all shrieked and ran off right as the dynamite exploded!

While the smoke filtered through the halls, Hex, Double Trouble, Voodood and Boomer turned tail and bolted back down!

As they ran, Hex yanked the map out of Boomer's backpack, looked it over, and nodded. "The control room shouldn't be far from here!" Hex proclaimed as she lifted her head up from the map, and narrowed her brows as she rolled the map back up. "In fact, there it is!"

The other three followed her gaze up, and found that Hex was right! Not that far from them stood a shiny, metal door that looked surprisingly clean and polished in spite of the surroundings, right down to the almost crystalline silver plate that bore the words "Forcefield control room!"

They all grinned as they dashed forward, but their grins faded as the sound of growling and massive footsteps that practically shook the world around drew closer and closer. Those monsters, they were catching up!

Double Trouble and Voodood stopped right in their tracks and whipped around as Hex and Boomer drew closer to the door! Their eyes narrowed as they held out their staff and ax, and though the monsters' quakes were massive, the two of them still stood firm in their place!

"We'll hold them off!" Voodood exclaimed as he turned to Hex and Boomer. "Just take the forcefield down!"

Hex and Boomer nodded in response, and Boomer kicked the door down as he rushed inside!

There, within the confines of a sleek, white control room, several greebles turned around and shrieked as they leaped from their seats! The greebles immediately leaped towards Hex and Boomer, but before they landed, Hex floated out of the way and they all piled on Boomer instead!

"Hey, get off of me, you pink monkeys!" Boomer cried as he raced around the room while the greebles swung from his head. "Do I look like a jungle gym to you?"

While Boomer screamed and flailed in the background, however, Hex turned her attention down to a massive control panel with more buttons and switches and levers that could be counted.

"Now, if what I got from that report was correct, I just have to flip these…" Hex whispered as she flicked a few switches upward while she pressed a few buttons. "Tap these…"

As the last of the buttons pressed down, a bright, shiny gold button popped out of the control panel! Hex slammed the button down, peered back up at the massive screen, and frowned as a glow faded from a digital diagram of Kaos's fortress. Her gaze was steeled as a bar beside it slowly dropped down and down, but finally, it hit zero in time with the glow's disappearance!

"Everyone!" Hex proclaimed as she turned around. "The shield's down!"

Boomer tossed the greebles aside, dashed back up the control panel, and beamed as he watched the screen. "Hex, ya did it!" Boomer exclaimed, "We've gotta let the others know!"

With one massive thunk, the control room's door slammed open as Double Trouble and Voodood dashed inside! Though an unconscious monster fell through the doorway behind them, both of them were perfectly oblivious to that. Instead, their focus was on the screen, and then on Hex and Boomer as they grinned! The four of them turned down to the communicators on their wrist, and squeezed the buttons on their communicators' sides in perfect sync! The communicators let off a single, cheery beep, and the four of them nodded.

"This should give Chihiro the signal she needs," Hex said as she joined hands with Double Trouble. "Now, let's make our leave!"

Voodood and Boomer both nodded as they joined hands with Hex and Double Trouble as well. As they all closed their eyes, they teleported back to the beginning of the halls. They released their hands, and Double Trouble grinned and waved his staff as he said something.

"An invisibility spell?" Hex repeated. "Good idea. That should keep us from being noticed…"

Hex froze as the sound of growls echoed behind them, and so did Double Trouble as he lowered his staff and looked back. There, among the fading lights, an entire group of eyes peeped out from the darkness!

"Actually, hold that thought, Double Trouble," Hex said as she narrowed her eyes and summoned a group of eldritch orbs. "Something tells me getting out of here will take a while."