As beams of sunlight filtered into the room Chihiro slept in, she moaned and turned around. Her body ached with exhaustion from the escapades of the previous day, and surely five more minutes of sleep could be excused…

Ugh, getting the golden propeller with the guys was fun 'n all, but I'm TIRREEEEEEDDDDDDDD! Chihiro thought as she turned over again with her pillow clutched tightly in a half-asleep daze. Wait a second, what if it was all a dream?

"Wake up, Chihiro," said a soft voice that faintly echoed around the room.

Chihiro groaned and screwed her eyes further shut. With a sigh, she turned until she laid on her back and rubbed her eyes.

Chihiro moaned as she sat up and finally urged herself to wake. "Ugh, Mamoru, I had this weird dream that I got sent to the Skylands, and—"

But when she opened her eyes, however, she found that it wasn't her brother staring her in the eyes—it was Spyro.

"Chihiro, what are you talking about?" Spyro asked as he tilted his head.

Chihiro blinked for mere moments and then tackle-hugged Spyro to the ground with a grip so tight that not even a snake could squeeze out. "Yes! I knew I wasn't dreaming!" Chihiro shouted, her voice filled with pure, unadulterated glee as a wild grin stretched across her face.

"Chihiro, let, go, kinda, choking, ME!"

Chihiro looked Spyro in the face to find his normally-purple scales turned a sickly blue and let go, though her legs still pinned him down. She hadn't pinned him down very hard, however, as he wormed his way out from underneath her and sprung up… Which promptly sent Chihiro tumbling backwards before she rammed her head into the bedpost.

"I'm okay, I swear." Chihiro moaned as she held her head and stood up. "So, Spyro, there's gonna be another mission, right? Can I come?"

"No," Spyro gave her a scorning stare. "One, you're still not that experienced, two, we can't have you getting killed off when we still need a portal master around, and three, this isn't just some ordinary mission."

Spyro flew down the hallway while Chihiro pathetically trailed behind him.

"Isn't some ordinary mission?" Chihiro echoed with a tilt of her head.

"Now that we have the propeller, we have to get the Eternal Air Source back from Kaos. It's far too important to take any chances."

"Fine."

The two of them left the building and made their way through the forest pathway. Admittedly, it was nice to feel the cool breeze against their face and hear the soft sounds of the birds chirping and flapping in the fresh wind, but it only did a little to diminish the sense of urgency that resonated around Spyro. All was quite for a few moments, before Chihiro gulped and piped up.

"Spyro, what was Master Eon like?"

Spyro stopped in his tracks and winced. In response, Chihiro bit her lip—something told her she asked him a question she really shouldn't have.

"I mean, you don't have to say anything if you don't want—" Chihiro frantically shook her hands before she watched Spyro shake his head.

"Oh no, it's okay!" Spyro gathered himself back together, then rose to the skies and flew down the pathway. He heaved a sigh as his bit his lip slightly and tried to find the words to say, then breathed in again and rose his voice.

"Eon was, well, he was just a really admirable person." Spyro's voice cracked just slightly. "He was really wise and really good at judging situations, and he always seemed to know just what to do. He was kind and he cared a lot about Skylands, but he wasn't afraid to put his foot down when he needed to, and he, well, he… " Spyro grabbed one front leg with the other as he looked down. "He was the kind of person that anyone would look up to."

Wow, this Eon guy sounds really cool, Chihiro thought as a slight blush dusted her face.

Chihiro looked ahead and noticed Spyro, who just solemnly stared at the ground. A frown twitched across her face as she felt the aura of sheer sorrow that came from his body—he was clearly hiding his feelings.

"Hey, Golden Boy," Chihiro whispered as she hopped up to Spyro, "were you and Eon really close?"

Spyro's eyes widened for a mere moment before his expression faltered and he looked more upset than before. "I… guess you could say that," Spyro sighed as he stopped in his place, "as Skylanders, we have something of a special bond with our portal masters—Master Eon, well…" Spyro weakly chuckled and tried to force a smile. "It's a little embarrassing to say, but Master Eon was kind of like a father to me."

Chihiro's expression fully turned to a frown as Spyro pawed at the dirt while his wings drooped.

Wow, no wonder he was upset when he found out that Eon dude died, Chihiro pondered. If my dad died, I'd be really upset too. I wish I could help him, but…

"Anyways." Spyro flew on ahead the pain in his voice diminished, "we need to get moving. Now that we've got a portal master on our side again, we need to get the portal network back in working order."

Chihiro bounced up to Spyro's side and leaned in front of him, eyes wide with wonder. "The portal network?"

"The portal network. The name speaks for itself—it's a network of portals that we use to send our troops out on missions. And as you can guess…"

"Only a portal master can use it." Chihiro playfully shot a finger-gun at Spyro.

"Ten points." A small smile crept across Spyro's face, and the aura of sorrow and urgency diminished for just a second.

Guess he's okay for now, Chihiro thought as relief flooded into her heart. I just hope it stays that way.

The two of them looked over and found themselves in the heart of the island. Large stone buildings surrounded them as the heart bustled with activity, and people of all shapes, sizes and species hurried around while they did this and that. It seemed like nobody had a moment to rest!

"Hugo should be waiting for you in there.” Spyro pointed to a large, stone tower that loomed over the rest of the area. “He'll tell you what to do next."

"Got it, Golden Boy!"

Chihiro gave Spyro a thumbs up, and ran off to where the tower's door was with a spring in her step and an occasional spin in midair as she darted across the grassy green fields. She was so cheerful, so carefree!

Spyro just intently stared for all of five minutes as Chihiro ran before he flew off with his eyes fixed on the ground. With no attention paid at all, Spyro continued down on his path when he bumped straight into the unsuspecting chest of another person and both parties stumbled down onto the ground.

"Ack!" Spyro exclaimed as he dusted himself off and pushed himself up. He found himself staring in the orange eyes of Gill Grunt, who dusted himself off as well.

"Sorry for running into you, Gill," Spyro helped Gill Grunt back up with a hup, "you okay?"

"I'm fine, Spyro," Gill Grunt replied, a warm smile across his face, "buy are you doing alright?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Gill," Spyro denied, even though his sudden look away betrayed his surprise.

"Are you sure? You look like a crab without a claw!"

"I gotta go."

With a turn of his back, Spyro flew off as quickly as he could with not one more word spoken.

§

Hugo's footsteps greeted Chihiro the minute she opened the door of the tower, and soon enough, Hugo himself greeted her next as he drew closer and closer.

"Good morning, Chihiro! Did you sleep well?" Hugo asked as he pulled his jacket further over his body.

"Like a panda after a four-course meal!" Chihiro chirped as she gave him a wide smile, closed her eyes and stretched her arms out wide. "Anyway, where's this portal network I need to fix?"

"Oh, yes, right this way please."

Hugo walked down the halls and urged Chihiro to follow him with his hand. Chihiro obediently trailed after Hugo as he guided her throughout the hallway as they walked through its almost maze-like corridors. It was so long, so repetitive that it seemed like they were walking in circles, and Hugo's ramblings certainly didn't help that effect.

"Master Eon had a whole network of portals that he used to send anyone or anything to wherever necessary. Each portal is enchanted to send its passenger to whatever location in Skylands the portal master could think of, and they could all be activated at Master Eon's beck and call. As you could guess, it was quite useful for sending the Skylanders on missions!"

As Hugo rambled on, Chihiro spaced out and stared at the stone walls. The pathways that followed all started to blend in her mind the further they walked. It almost made het wanna go back to bed and sleep for the rest of the day.

"But unfortunately," Hugo tugged on his lapel, "when Master Eon died, the portal network basically shut down. But, now that we've got you, we can hopefully get it working again!"

"Yeah, that's nice and all." Chihiro placed a finger to her cheek in contemplation. "Question is, how do I work this thing?"

"I'll tell you when we get there." Hugo turned around and broke into a smile, "And we're there!"

Chihiro followed Hugo inside the room he was now in and gazed around. The room itself was a large dome-like room made out of dark blue stone walls and gray stone floors, and inside it were tons of stone portals much like the one that landed in her backyard that fateful day. However, they were much larger, and at the moment were currently dull, gray and clearly inactive. In front of all these portals was an even larger portal that was seemingly twice the size of the others and glowed with a faint pink light that resounded with magic.

"Oooh, what's with that big one?" Chihiro pointed to the large portal that faced off against her and Hugo.

Hugo cleared his throat and looked onward.

"This was Master Eon's portal, which also happened to be connected to all the portals you see here. All you have to do is activate it, and all the other portals will reactivate!"

"Sounds simple enough!" Chihiro jumped over to where Master Eon's portal was and gazed it over with an inquisitive look, then smirked and slammed her hands onto the portal's side. "Abracadabra!"

Chihiro looked excited for all of five minutes, as did Hugo until they both realized that the portal hadn't activated at all. It still remained faint and quiet, as if it was far too tired to wake… Or perhaps in mourning?

"Shouldn't it be working by now?" Chihiro tilted her head and made a confused frown.

"Are you sure you actually activated it?" Hugo asked with a dry tone.

Chihiro gave him a frustrated shrug. "I did everything I did when I did it the last time!" Chihiro's voice turned quiet and she awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. "I think."

"Chihiro, casting portals is more than just slamming things and shouting magic words!" Hugo chopped one furry paw against the other as he spoke. "You have to have utmost focus and—"

"Spare me the lecture Huges." Chihiro moaned before she gave the portal an angry look. "If I did it once I can do it again. Now work you stupid thing!"

Chihiro pounded her fist onto the portal, which wasn't the wisest idea given it was made of stone and all that fun stuff. With a yowl of pain, Chihiro whimpered and rubbed her throbbing hand, before she moaned and face-planted onto the portal's top.

"Bad idea. REALLY bad idea."

"I'll go get an ice pack from the infirmary." Hugo only sighed and rubbed his temples. "Try and see if you can get it working while I'm gone."

Hugo quietly made his leave as Chihiro sat upright and watched her reflection in the portal.

It was so easy when I did it the first couple times! Why can't I do it now? Chihiro ran her finger across the portal's surface before she frowned and narrowed her eyes. Think back, Chihiro. What did you do the last couple times you activated a portal that's missing here?—Chihiro sucked on her lip as she rubbed her fingers against her chin, now in the deepest amount of thought she could be—slammed it? Nah, tried that. Shouting? That too. Magic words? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Just then, while she lost herself in her thoughts to the point where it exhausted every last drop of her energy, a thought struck Chihiro and her eyes went wide.

"Now I remember!"

Chihiro hopped off the portal and grasped its rim with her hands. Once she had a firm grasp, she closed her eyes gently and breathed in deep.

Now, Chihiro, focus. Remember what you want it to do.

Her mind meditated on one singular thought—an open portal that shone with the colors of the rainbow in bold, brilliant light. A portal that brimmed with so much magic, it could probably power an entire city twenty times over and then some! This thought stuck to her head like fresh gum and a powerful magic coursed through her veins as cherry red blood did with just the notion.

NOW!

"Portal, open!"

As her hands flew off the rim, Chihiro watched as the portal stagnated and remain a dull, defeated gray in color with a sigh.

"Did it not work?"

Just then, a pale blue flash emitted from the portal! Chihiro squeaked and jumped back as the light grew intenser before a bright flash of light emerged and engulfed the entire room.

"Chihiro, I got the ice pack—HOLY ANCIENTS ALMIGHTY!" Hugo screamed as he dropped the fabric ice pack in his furry hands while the show evolved before him.

The portals that hid behind Master Eon's portal shone brightly in a brilliant blue and lit up one-by-one in each row. It felt like the opening to a concert with all the shining lights, almost as if the entire stage anticipated its star's arrival. In that same moment, as if the show's star had made their arrival, bright blue beams of light shot from the portals alongside loud screeches!

With an eager smile, Chihiro turned back to Hugo and gave him a thumbs up. Hugo's worried look turned into a wide smile as he came to realize what Chihiro had done before he rushed off.

"I'll get the Skylanders!"

And as Hugo ran off, Chihiro glanced back to the network of portals. The lights had dulled and shone gently across the room, which lit it a pale shade of blue so serene and comforting it made her heart melt into the day.

Yeah, I'd say that was pretty impressive.

§

Several minutes later, Hugo stumbled back into the portal room while a small crowd of creatures in all shapes, sizes and species followed behind him. All sorts of chatter came from the crowd as Hugo turned around and looked them in the eye, then caught his breath for a few moments. After his bearings gathered, Hugo tried his best to look at serious as possible and cleared his throat.

"Alright! Now that our portal network is back in working order thanks to Chihiro…" Hugo proclaimed as he gestured towards Chihiro.

Chihiro turned around and waved at the Skylanders with a big, goofy grin plastered onto her face.

"It's time to start up our daily patrols!"

Cheers, whoops, hollers and all kinds of happy noises erupted from the crowd, and Hugo grimaced and covered his ears.

"QUIET, PLEASE!"

Hugo clapped his hands and in response the crowd quickly silenced themselves. When they went completely quiet, and all that was left was the white noise of the portals' whirrs, Hugo pulled a paper list from an inner pocket in his jacket and cleared his throat once more.

"For the first patrol, we have eggs, butter, milk, sugar, apples…"

As Hugo dragged on, everybody else in the room mumbled and glanced around at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Huges, you might wanna double-check that list you've got," Chihiro remarked as she nudged his shoulder and caught his attention.

Hugo gave her a stern stare, then looked down at the list and read it over for a few moments.

"Wait a second…" Hugo slapped his forehead with his paw. "This is my shopping list from last week! Why do I still have this?" Hugo put the list away, pulled out another, identical list from his other pocket and cleared his throat for the third time that morning. "Now, this is the list I was looking for! First off—Whirlwind, Warnado, and Jet-Vac—"

"Actually," piped up a deep, gruff voice from the crowd, "Jet-Vac isn't here."

"He isn't?"

Mumbling was heard among the crowd before they all nodded simultaneously in agreement.

"For that matter, we're missing a lot of people—Pop Fizz, Chill, Star Strike—"

"Okay, I understand, we're a little short-staffed." Hugo bore an awfully forced smile. "But that shouldn't stop us from getting these mission done. We'll just have to work extra-hard!"

Hugo wrung his paws and crumpled the list before he realized what he was doing and squeaked. While he giggled, Hugo tried his hardest to regain his composure as he straightened out the list and read from it once more.

"Anyway, Whirlwind and Warnado will be headed to the Stormy Stronghold to regain the Eternal Air Source," Hugo said with a barely-repressed trill, "we won't be able to send a portal out due to the nature of the storms there, so Flynn will have to take them."

And out of the crowd stepped Whirlwind, a dull blue-colored air dragoness with feathery wings, ears, and tail, blue eyes and a cream-colored horn, and Warnado, a cyan colored turtle with a mint green spiky shell, a mint green spike on his nose and crimson-colored eyes. The two of them emerged with an air of cool silence before they stood next to Chihiro.

"Good luck!" Chihiro whispered as she gave them a wide, genuinely excited smile. Whirlwind turned to Chihiro with a smile before she gently nudged Chihiro in the shoulder with her head. Whirlwind’s soft coat brushed against her arm, and Chihiro giggled and turned around.

"Now, Gill Grunt, Terrafin, and Stump Smash." Hugo motioned for them to come forward. "You are to return to Shattered Island to help with the relief effort—mostly rebuilding structures that the tornadoes destroyed."

As the three of them pushed their way to the front, Hugo lead them over to a portal that shimmered with a pale white light while Chihiro tailed behind them with curiosity in her chestnut eyes.

"Chihiro," Hugo prompted as he turned around and looked her straight in the eye, "will you please?"

Chihiro awkwardly turned away from Hugo's line of sight and bit her lip as she approached the portal. "Remember, Chihiro," she whispered as she placed her hands on the portal and grasped its stone rim. "Just focus. You can do this."

As she breathed in, Chihiro gently closed her eyes and focused, then her heart pounded as she flung her arms up and a bright flash of light emitted from the portal! This flash of light died after mere moments, and the portal now reflected an image of an island covered in rubble and debris. This island was covered with various mabu in white and red robes and construction worker outfits that moved piles of the debris out of sight with the utmost of care and strength.

"Gill, Fin, Stumps, there's a portal to Shattered Island with your names on it." Chihiro bowed in a gentlemanly manner and winked.

Gill Grunt chuckled, gently ruffled Chihiro's hair then jumped onto the portal and was whisked off. Terrafin and Stump Smash followed him and quickly whisked away, and Chihiro stood up straight and clasped her hands into fists as they vanished before her eyes.

"That wasn't too tough! Who's next on the list, Huges?" Chihiro turned next to Hugo.

Hugo smiled and managed a slight chuckled.

"Well, let's see…"