Whirlwind and Warnado stormed the stronghold in their search for the other pylons, and so far, they didn't have any luck. No matter how hard they looked, the area seemed to be lacking in pylons—just stone walls and wooden barrels for miles upon miles.

"Figures. They disappear right when we need them," Whirlwind muttered, her eyes fixed on her paws as she moved forwards. She gave the space around her a confused look and turned back to Warnado. "Hey, Warnado, haven't we gone here before?"

Warnado only shrugged. "I dunno. Everything here looks the same if you ask me," Warnado replied before he turned around and gazed at the pathway they passed.

Whirlwind heaved another sigh and gave the tornado a frustrated look.

"So in other words, we've been walking in circles this whole time, and haven't found a single…"

Whirlwind stopped short of her rant the minute she turned around and saw something in front of her before her expression turned to absolute joy. "Warnado, look!" Whirlwind bolted to Warnado's side, grabbed him and turned him around.

"Whirlwind, what's the big—" Warnado turned around and stopped short with a beam.

There, in front of them, was another golden pylon that stood tall and proud in the storm! Its golden surface glistened in the little light provided, like a beacon of hope for those who had lost their way. However, positioned in front of it was a small platoon of drow guards in identical gray-and-red uniforms, each of whom brandished shiny silver spears. And when she said small, she meant small—Whirlwind could probably count on both paws how many there were. In fact, the many wooden barrels that flanked the island outnumbered them by far!

"Let me handle these guys." Whirlwind narrowed her eyes. Her mind focused on the storms that raged in her heart, mind and world as she looked over her foes. She hadn't tried something like this many times before, but she hoped it would work…

Her eyes didn't move from the pylon as she summoned a trio of storm clouds. All of the clouds surrounded the drow and sparked for moments, then captured them in a grid of electricity! The clouds shocked the soldiers with such power, such rage, such intensity that all they could do when the clouds dissipated was lie on the ground.

"That was a lot easier than I thought it would be," Whirlwind giggled as she flew forwards and focused her eyes on the pylon.

Warnado, however, turned around and frowned as he tilted his head. He seemed to have said something, but Whirlwind had him and this strange rumbling she heard in the back of her mind as she looked for the pylon's button. Whirlwind ran her paw against its smooth golden surface before she felt something nudge out form its surface. She raised a claw, got ready to press it, and then…

Something scratched her.

Well, not really a scratch, she wasn't sure. It all happened so suddenly—she got ready to press the button, then something leaped out of nowhere and gashed her ear! Whirlwind screamed and reeled back in pain as she held her paw over her ear. Thankfully the cut was shallow enough that there no blood drew, but it still hurt like hell. As she heaved heavy breaths, Whirlwind heard a growling, gnashing sound and turned around to find her attacker—a small, leafy creature with too many sharp teeth than it probably should have and beady eyestalks.

"CHOMPIES!" Whirlwind exclaimed as she growled.

In response to her screams and shouts, the other barrels all burst and more of these awful Chompies spurted out. She should've been more suspicious with it being so unarmed! But well, it was too late for now.

Warnado grimaced as the Chompies growled and slowly circled them both. With a snarl of his mouth, he withdrew into his shell and spun through the crowds, but it was no use—they only jumped onto his shell and chewed on its spikes!

"H-h-hey, stop!" Warnado laughed from within his shell's protection. "That, heh, that tickles!"

Warnado burst into helpless laughter as his spinning drew to a stop and he popped out of his shell. He fell onto his back and rolled around in sheer joy, and popped his eyes open to find the Chompies all surrounded him!

Whirlwind winced as they launched towards Warnado with fangs drawn and ready to bite—but they never got the chance to feed. In a fit of impulse, Whirlwind shot a lightning bolt from her horn and tossed the Chompies aside, but it did little to deter the rest of the pod. After all, the ones she took out were only four of what? Fifty? As the Chompies enclosed on her, she carefully backed into Warnado's back, only for something to tap her on the shoulder.

"Whirlybird, I've got an idea!" Warnado whispered. "Can you summon one of your stormclouds?"

Whirlwind frantically nodded and breathed in. With her eyes shut tight, she thrust her head to the stormy skies and breathed in as a rumbling thundercloud about the size of a large pillow appeared before her!

Warnado smirked as he spun around and cast out an equally-sized tornado, then popped out of his shell and watched the two forces collided!

In moments, the tornado absorbed the cloud into its winds and turned a churning gray the color of charcoal. Its speeds turned rapid as it circled around the horde of Chompies and spat them out the top of its funnel!

Whirlwind would normally smile as the tornado tossed them off the edge of the path, but she still shuddered a bit from the suddenness of the ambush. She just breathed sigh of relief as they all cleared out and the tornado vanished with them. Once she was in the clear, Whirlwind slowly walked back to the pylon and whipped her head around, just in case there were any more unwanted surprises.As she caught sight of nothing but empty space, she returned to the button and gently pressed it. The whirs of the receding pylon hit her ears, and Whirlwind heaved another relieved sigh.

Warnado, meanwhile, focused his eyes on the storm. It dropped in size from twenty to fifteen and now to merely ten feet, and in accordance with its new state of weakness another piece of the bridge fell from its winds and into place.

"Time to get back on the road," Whirlwind said as she turned around and faced Warnado. "Hopefully there won't be any more surprises…"

§

But while Whirlwind and Warnado were in good spirits, Chihiro most certainly was not. She held the lantern close to her heart as she trailed further and further along in the Citadel, while her legs shook the whole time. She was barely able to walk from all the nerves in her brain, for she had gone quite far in the path and was now way too lost for her own good. The earlier incident played over and over again in her mind as Chihiro ran further while her heart pounded with every step she took.

He hates me now, he's mad at me and he's gonna yell and me and then he'll abandon me and, Chihiro thought before she quickly shook her head and cleared her thoughts. One hand clutched her lantern tighter, and her other hand clutched her heart. Calm down, Chihiro, freaking out won't make things any better. Just find a place to hide until he calms down. Then he probably won't hate me! Maybe!

Chihiro stopped short to catch her breath, before she looked up and winced as she realized that she had absolutely no idea where she had gone. Well, she didn't really have an idea beforehand, but now she knew she was definitely too far gone.

If he's still alive…

As she held her lantern in front of her, Chihiro's hands shook so badly that she lost her grip and the lantern fell to her feet. And just her luck, it went out at soon as it hit the ground! Chihiro inhaled sharply as the light went out, and drew back for mere moments as her body shook so badly that she could barely move again.

"Great going, Hatsuki, you just lost your only light source!" Chihiro whimpered as she rubbed her hands, and her voice weakened to a ghost's whisper. "Now what am I gonna do?"

Chihiro sighed and looked down at her hands, or at least, what she could make out to be her hands in this darkness. Her whole body shook as noises that sounded almost like people talking echoed around the room.

"WHO'S THERE?!"

Chihiro whipped around to find that the sounds disappeared before she grasped her shirt anxiously. "Guess I was just hearing things."

Chihiro fell back down and sighed. She then heaved herself back up and looked around before she carefully moved forward, her arm stretched out as she used her hand to feel around.

"Okay, the wall's right there." Chihiro's hand now pressed against what she presumed was a stone wall. "And obviously, I'm walking on the floor. The whole room seems to be small…"

Chihiro stopped short as she heard something—the sound of flapping wings, a sound all too familiar to her. Her eyes went wide for a moment and her head whipped back and forth while her heart raced.

"You're just hearing things." Chihiro's breath turning steady as her hands shook once again. "Just hearing things, just hearing things. Just hear—ACK!"

A bright light shone throughout the hallway, and Chihiro lost her footing from the shock! She fell on her knees, shielded her eyes, then whimpered as light subsided and opened her eyes to find the whole hallway illuminated before her. Chihiro smiled and stood before she whipped her head around and found Spyro, who flew in place about a foot away from her!

"Chihiro, there you are!" Spyro shouted as he shot forwards.

Chihiro inhaled sharply and panicked, then darted back off as she panted heavily with Spyro still in hot pursuit.

"CHIHIRO!" Spyro shouted as he chased after her, the intensity in his voice only an amplifier to her tension.

Chihiro only panicked more and ran until she hit what seemed to be a dead end—there were no doors to be found, and all that was there was a large stone dome with a rickety wooden platform. Chihiro stumbled onto the platform and fell face-first, and her breathing intensified as she looked around.

At the same time, Spyro dropped onto the platform and looked Chihiro in the eyes. "Chihiro, I was looking all over for you—"

A creaking sound rang out, and both Spyro and Chihiro froze in their tracks.

"Did you hear that?" Chihiro trilled at last, her eyes teary with fear as she shook in her place.

She looked back and forth, and then down at her feet as she inhaled sharply. The floor underneath them seemed almost ready to buckle and the wooden boards bent under their weight.

"SPYRO, GET OUT!"

It all happened in the blink of a moment—Chihiro pushed Spyro out of the way as the floor cracked under their weight, and all she could do was scream as she fell into the hole's abyss. Spyro, meanwhile, rolled onto the more stable stone floor and shook his head as he took all of five seconds to realize what happened.

"CHIHIRO!"

Spyro dove after her without a second of hesitation, and with that, they both fell deeper and deeper down the hole…