"So, do you give up yet?"

Whirlwind winced as she looked up at the drow general with burning eyes and squeezed her bleeding shoulder. Her heart pounded hard, and her breath stayed heavy. She could barely stand, fatigued from all the fighting and traveling she had done—but she wasn't giving up yet.

Warnado, meanwhile, wasn't in any kind of better position. he was bound and tied with rope and now laid helplessly on the ground. His mouth twisted into a scowl as he struggled against his bonds, which refused to come loose regardless of how much he twisted and turned. And on top of that, the many drow foot soldiers in the area all surrounded him, and all of them took delight in poking him with their silver spears.

"Well?" The drow general hissed once more, a wicked smile still transfixed on her face. "Do you? I'm not giving you all day to decide."

Whirlwind bit her lip, her heart still throbbing as she thought. The drow soldiers gave her wicked grins while they pressed her down, their spears now pressed so far into her that they practically skewered her already-weakened body. Whirlwind screamed out as her whole body seared with pain, while her head throbbed and her vision blurred. She immediately went to cover her body with her wings and paws and shook all over as she just barely heard an angered shout from the drow commander.

"DON'T KILL THEM YET!" the commander shouted with a snarl. "We need them alive! That if, if they want to come in quietly—I'm sure Lord Kaos would want to torment them himself."

The drow soldiers quickly stopped assaulting Whirlwind and drew back into a stiff pose, their whole bodies stood straight around their prisoners like pickets in a wooden fence.

The drow commander looked down at Whirlwind and went back to her trademark smirk. "So, what'll it be, dragonling?" The commander sneered. "Hurry up, my soldiers are clearly getting impatient~"

I can't give up now, not after we've come so far, Whirlwind thought as her paw dug into her shoulder, but we're completely surrounded, and doing anything hasty could literally kill us… What should I do?

Whirlwind's eyes darted back and forth. They bounced back between the crowd of drow soldiers surrounding her, to the golden pylon right behind the drow general. Then, her eyes fixated on the general—more specifically, the shiny golden blades said general held in her hand…

Wait a second!

"Actually, I have a question…" Whirlwind announced as she looked up at the drow commander. "I want to know about your blades."

The drow general perked up for a few moments and watched as the soldiers crowded around Whirlwind and Warnado began chattering among themselves. Then, she looked at her reflection in her shiny golden blades and smiled as she moved her arms back to her side and stared Whirlwind straight in the face.

"I'll allow it." The general stroked her blades ever so tenderly. "After all, I do love talking about my babies so,"—the drow general clutched her blades close as she beamed with pride—"what do you want to know about them? Do you want to know how I painstakingly crafted them with my own bare hands, how they're magically enchanted to always return to me no matter how far I throw them—"

"Actually." Whirlwind's horn glowed a faint pink in color, "are they reflective by any chance?"

The drow general looked at Whirlwind with a furrowed brow before she shrugged. "I guess? They're made of gold, I don't see why they wouldn't be—"

"Good."

Then, without so much as a warning, Whirlwind's horn flared in a bright array of colors before a shining rainbow shot out of it and went flying straight at the general! The general sharply gasped and threw her blades in front of her face, the blades that proceeded to catch the rainbow and reflect it before they shot the rainbow back at Whirlwind! As the general lowered her arms, she watched with absolute terror as the rainbow hit Whirlwind and enveloped her in a bright rainbow light. The light shone so bright, in fact, that the general turned away from it mere moments after, as did those around her.

Whirlwind smiled as she lifted up into the air. Her strength rushed back into her body, and the blood on her shoulder slowly dried off and faded away! The wounds on her body healed themselves and disappeared in the blink of an eye as Whirlwind fell to the floor and flared her wings with a confident smile.

The drow general stumbled back in shock as she beheld the now much more battle-ready Whirlwind. "B-B-B-BUT HOW!?"

"Healing rainbows. Works every time," Whirlwind sneered as she shot back the smirk the general had given her before.

The drow general was struck with genuine fear as she swerved back and forth. In fact, Whirlwind felt an almost snide rush of energy rush into her heart as she watched this general that had gleefully tormented her and Warnado not moments earlier panic.

"W-W-W-WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" The drow general frantically pointed a finger at Whirlwind, "GET HER!"

The drow soldiers all scrambled around as they grabbed their spears and rushed to attack Whirlwind. However, they were unsuccessful—they could only watch as Whirlwind quickly caught up to their tricks and shot upwards while the wind embraced her. In a panicked frenzy, they all tossed their spears at her, but they couldn't reach high enough to even graze the soles of her back paws.

"I need to get going!" The drow commander gazed at the crowd of soldiers that tried and failed to apprehend Whirlwind and bit her lip. "If Lord Kaos hears about this…"

She breathed heavily as she zig-zagged back and forth in a desperate try to find some kind of sanctuary. But, it was of no victory—everything around her was wide, open space for miles. Then, she saw the pylon in front of her and ran to hide behind it, only to stumble forwards and trip right into the pylon! With a sickening slip, she fell completely unconscious to the stone floors.

Meanwhile, Whirlwind stayed completely calm despite all the chaos! Electricity crackled at the tips of her wings as she flapped them, and all around her, storm clouds enveloped her and seemingly tamed themselves under her paws. Her eyes flashed with pure lightning as she chanted something in an ancient, draconic tongue with such a booming voice that the world around her shook.

The soldiers that previously harassed Whirlwind came to a slow halt. They lowered their weapons, mumbled among themselves and gave Whirlwind a confused look as they listened to her chant. Just then, they finally realized what she was doing!

"SHE'S PREPARING A SPELL! GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!" Shouted one soldier.

The others saw the storm clouds grow twice their previous size and rushed off in a fearful attempt at escape. While many tried their best, a small few fixed in their places with a mixture of fear and amazement and could only watch as the storm clouds embraced Whirlwind with a fondness similar to family. Whirlwind smiled as she clapped her front paws together and scattered the storm clouds, and each cloud positioned somewhere across the battlefield. Then, she snapped her front claws and the clouds all thundered at once, which shocked all those around and sent the drow soldiers dropping like flies!

Warnado tried desperately to retreat into his shell when a bolt of thunder shocked the ropes restraining him and reduced them to harmless crisps of what they used to be! As he found himself free, Warnado fell down to the floor and shook for a few key moments before he smiled and looked up at Whirlwind. He gave her a thumbs up, cast a tornado of his own and sailed about on it, while the storm clouds wove their way into the tornado and provided him with extra speed!

All around them, the drow soldiers who hadn't fallen from literal shock tried desperately to escape. However, they weren't going to get their wish—Warnado had quickly decided on that. As he spun his tornado in the direction of the fleeing cavalry, Warnado gained a malicious grin. He locked eyes with the soldiers as they turned their heads around, and his tornado captured the drow and flung everywhere like liquid in an uncovered blender.

Whirlwind gently drifted back down to the ground. All around her, the clouds slowly dispersed and brought about a cloudy blue sky and a little sun that brought beams of light onto the battlefield. A kind of odd peace enveloped her as she walked up to the pylon and prepared to lower it with every step she took. However, as she neared the pylon, her paw stepped on something soft and squishy and she looked down to find the unconscious body of the drow general that had been taunting her earlier.

Whirlwind smirked as she rolled the body over to the side before she walked back to the pylon. As she pressed a paw against the smooth, cool side of the pylon, Whirlwind closed her eyes and tucked in her wings. She then pressed the button on the pylon's side and smiled with satisfaction as it receded. Whirlwind opened her eyes as the light grew stronger and turned around to find that the bridge was now mostly complete, and the tornado was now mostly harmless and about a fifteenth of the size it once was.

"Whirlwind! Get over here!" Warnado shouted as he waved one of his front paws. Warnado watched her turn around and pointed towards the pathway behind him.

With a nod, Warnado lead her all the way to a secluded corner at the near end of the pathway, where a fourth golden pylon stood. "You know what to do, Whirlybird."

Whirlwind winked back, then walked over to the pylon and pressed the button on it as well. When the pylon reached the bottom with a firm thud, both looked over to find a completed bridge, and the hurricane gone!

"We're almost there!" Whirlwind jumped in the air with sparkling eyes, then took Warnado's paw and ran across the bridge with the speed of a hurricane until she reached its very end.

There at the end was a large, stone pathway that lead higher and higher until it stopped at the top of the stone platform it decorated. On top of that platform was the stone castle they had seen earlier, which now glowed a sky blue as it radiated with magical energy.

"It's definitely here, I can feel it!" Whirlwind looked at Warnado and nodded before she stormed up the platform, her heart fluttering with joy the entire way. "Now let's go!"

§

Chihiro whimpered as she opened her eyes, everything around her fuzzy and distorted. Her head was throbbing and her body was still shaking from anxiety. Yeah, that was definitely not a smooth landing. When her vision finally cleared, she was in a mostly dark room with a weird, aqua filter covering the whole thing. Chihiro stood up straight and looked around her. Her hair bounced as her head swerved from side to side, while she found that it wasn't just a filter!

It was some kind of giant, blue bubble! Chihiro leaned over and pushed her finger against the bubble. In response, it stretched out with her, before it returned back to its normal, round shape when she let go.

Did I create this thing? Chihiro thought as she brushed a hand against the bubble's smooth surface, But how?

As she pondered the mystery of how this all happened, Chihiro heard what sounded like a muffled scream and looked up to see something coming into view from the light of the bubble!

It was a large purple blur that fell at a speed so fast that Chihiro couldn't even ponder what was going on. Without even a thought, she bounced back just slightly and held up her arms as a hole opened up in the bubble and Spyro fell right into her grasp! Spyro himself groaned as he opened his eyes and found himself staring right into Chihiro's face. With tired eyes, he watched as Chihiro shuddered and gently dropped him to the ground.

Chihiro quickly dashed away from Spyro and looked down at her feet. Then, the warmth of light around her faded as the bubble dissolve in an instant. Sure enough, she and Spyro now stood in complete darkness.

"… Frick," Chihiro whispered as her tired eyes glanced up at the darkness around her.

"Where in Skylands are we, anyway?" Spyro asked as he snapped his claws and darted his head back and forth.

A bright light shone throughout the room, and within moments, the light settled across the room and finally gave them an idea of where they were. They stood in an old, dusty library stuffed with wooden bookcases that were filled with all kinds of books. The books themselves were covered in dust and cobwebs from lack of use, and the bookshelves themselves were coated in a thin layer of grime. The floors were old, wooden and creaked with every step, and the wooden ceiling now had a gaping hole in it from where they fell.

Spyro and Chihiro both look up at the gaping hole in the ceiling before they looked back at each other. Spyro's expression turned sour very quickly, his eyes transfixed on Chihiro with disdain. Chihiro gulped, gained an awkward grimace on her face and promptly scurried over to the other side of the room without a single word.

"Chihiro, get back here!" Spyro shouted before he watched as Chihiro flinched and crawled back.

Chihiro curled into a ball and looked to the side in her hardest attempt not to meet Spyro's sour gaze.

"Why in Skylands did you run off?! You worried me sick when we got separated in that cave-in!" Spyro extended his leg towards the gaping hole in the ceiling, "and on top of that, you running off got us stuck here!"

Chihiro whimpered and trembled while she curled inward even more.

"C'mon, Chihiro, answer me already!"

Chihiro bit her lip as tears fell down her face. Should she admit it? She wasn't sure—her brain was so fired up with all kinds of emotions that she could barely get a grip of the world around her, much less her own thoughts.

"I, I," Chihiro sputtered, her voice weak, "I DON'T KNOW!"

"You don't know?" Spyro echoed as he tilted his head, his voice softened just a little.

Chihiro whimpered and sniffled for several moments.

"Cause, when we got trapped in that ceiling cave-in, I, I," Chihiro wiped her face with her arms and whispered, "this one stone, it, well, it was about to land on you, so I pushed you out of the way and ran off! I was so scared cause I thought you might've gotten hurt, or you'd get mad at me for leaving you behind, and I, I, I didn't know what to do!"

Now fresh with rife, released emotion, Chihiro buried her face into her knees and wailed so loudly it probably echoed around the entirely of the hallway—not that anybody else could hear. This place was completely abandoned save for her and Spyro, and that only served to intensify her heightened emotion. Spyro just stood and watched Chihiro sob for a few moments before he softened his brow, his mouth agape.

"Chihiro, you saved my life! Why would I be mad at you for that?"

Chihiro's whole body jolted up as she looked Spyro straight in the face with teary eyes.

"Cause, well, you said you wanted me to stay with you, and, when you saw me you were yelling and all—"

"Chihiro, I got all worked up cause I thought you got caught in the cave-in!" Spyro flew forward and gently laid a paw on Chihiro's knee. "I thought you were dead!"

With a sniffle, Chihiro wiped her teary eyes and weakly looked up at Spyro. His golden eyes shone with a kind of vulnerability she hadn't quite seen in him before except for… That night. That night she had found him, sullen and teary-eyed on the island's center. Guess now, it was her turn to pour her heart out—all she could do was wrap her arms around him and sob into his shoulder until she finally felt her tears drain away.

"I thought you were gonna hate me forever!" Chihiro croaked as she loosened her grip and looked Spyro in the face.

"Why would you think that?" Spyro asked at last, his voice returned to normal volume.

Chihiro only made a helpless shrug as she wiped her eyes.

"I don't know either, I just got so scared that I freaked out and look what I did!" Chihiro's lip quivered along with her trembling shoulders before she buried her face in her knees again. "I got us stuck here and we're gonna be trapped here forever!"

"That's where you're wrong." Spyro flared his wings and made a calm smile as he lifted Chihiro's head up. "Chihiro, if there's one thing Skylanders never do, it's give up! I know it seems bad right now, but if we put our heads together, I'm sure we can find a way out of here!"

Chihiro's mouth formed into a surprised shape as her tears dried away. Something about the way Spyro seemed so confident, yet so calm in a situation as bad as this eased her worries and allowed her to make a weak smile. After a few quick sniffs, she brought herself to her feet once more and wiped away the last of her tears.

"You're right, Spyro!" Chihiro's smile grew to a more natural, calm kind of joy as she let her arms rest at her side. "If we got ourselves into this mess, I'm sure there's a way to get out! Now, why don't we figure it out?"

Spyro and Chihiro nodded in unison, a new kind of synergy in their hearts, before Spyro flew off and examined the room.

"Well," Spyro whispered as he bit his lip just slightly, "there aren't any exits here aside from that hole, but I don't know if I could carry you up that high."

Spyro flew back down, situated himself back on the dusty floors and looked all over the bookshelves with a kind of intrigue. His eyes lit up and he looked back at Chihiro.

"Chihiro!"

Chihiro tilted her head as she skipped over and looked down at Spyro. "You got an idea, Spyro?"

Spyro nodded firmly before clearing his throat. "Well, what I was thinking is, since there's no visible passageways through here there has to be some kind of secret one," Spyro looked around the room, "and if I know my secret library passageways, one's bound to reveal itself if we mess with these books."

"Like in the TV shows!" Chihiro exclaimed as she held out an extended finger. "You know, with how there's a secret switch that's activated by removing a book, or moving it a certain way, stuff like that!"

"Exactly!" Spyro looked back at Chihiro with eager eyes. "I'll take this half, you take the other one. Just mess with the books until we find something!"

They both nodded and went straight to work! Without even hesitating, they poured through the bookshelves and did whatever they could to open them up. They pulled out books, moved them around, rearranged entire shelves, whatever could possibly trigger the appearance of an entrance. However, no matter what they did, nothing happen—the room noticeably lacked in exits and looked pretty much identical to how it did when they arrived, save for the mess of books.

"Nothing." Spyro and Chihiro both sat down and sighed.

Chihiro heaved another heavy sigh and fell on her back as she stared up at the ceiling. Her eyes fixated on the gaping hole in the ceiling, Chihiro sighed once more and turned on her side. As she laid her head on her arm, she gently brushed her hand against the dusty wooden floors.

"So, what're we gonna do?" Chihiro asked Spyro as she looked back up. "It doesn't look like there's any magical secret pathways."

Spyro heaved another sigh as he looked back at Chihiro and then looked down at his paws. "I don't know." Spyro mumbled as he pawed at the ground. "I'll have to keep thinking."

Spyro hummed to himself as he placed a paw on his chin in contemplation as Chihiro fixed her eyes back onto the ceiling hole. If only they had some kind of device that could let them just get back up there instantly, like a grappling hook or a trampoline or…

"I'VE GOT IT!" Chihiro sprung to her feet and spun around before she faced Spyro.

"Got what?" Spyro turned around and looked Chihiro in the eyes.

Chihiro cleared her throat and rubbed a fist against her chest. "Okay so, you know how I told you that in my world, there's a Skylanders game based on all your adventures, right?" Chihiro looked back at Spyro with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Yes, and I still find that very concerning."

"Well, I was thinking about footage I saw from the game itself, and I remembered—in some levels, they have these magical trampoline pad thingies that you jump on!"

"You mean bounce pads?" Spyro tilted his head as if he was prompting Chihiro for an answer.

"Yeah, that's the ticket!" Chihiro glazed over at the open space where they had first landed. "Maybe if you could create one of those with your magic-y powers, we can bounce right out of here!" Chihiro stopped herself short and tilted her head. "Wait, can you?"

Spyro clapped his front paws and exhaled. "I don't think I've ever really tried creating bounce pads before, but it's worth a shot!" Spyro breathed in and walked towards the open space he was talking about earlier.

Chihiro shrugged and ran off to look over the books as he worked his magic. The books were all coated in dust and cobwebs that could make anybody break into hapless sneezing, but there was something about them she found oddly enchanting. As she glazed over them, she collected up a small stack of books, all of which she tucked safely away under her arm, and peeled the shelves for more. As her finger brushed against the dusty spines of books she rearranged, Chihiro barely even glazed over them before her eyes fixated on a dull sky blue colored book with shimmering white bands as the spine's decoration.

"Oooh, this one looks interesting!"

Chihiro pulled out the book and tucking it safely under her arm when she heard a magical WHOOSH!

"Chihiro! Hurry up, the bounce pad's ready!" Spyro turned back and looked over the bounce pad with a frown. "I hope this works..."

"Ready steady Freddy!" Chihiro exclaimed, a wide grin on her face as she hopped over to Spyro's side.

"What's with all the books?" Spyro took one look at her before his eyes glanced over to the stack of books under her arm.

"Nothing gets past you, huh?" Chihiro smiled and patted her collection. "I just thought these were interesting and figured I'd bring them back to read later!"

Spyro shrugged for a moment, before he stepped back and nodded slightly.

Chihiro nodded eagerly, complete understanding between them as she hopped onto the bounce pad and went barreling upwards. With a squeal of glee, Chihiro soared and made a quick gaze around. Her eyes widened as she saw the now slightly-visible hallway, as the part of it that wasn't broken was now visible thanks to the light Spyro emitted throughout the library room. Then, with a wide smile, she mustered her strength and pushed herself forward! As she fell back down and dove onto the hallway floors, she shielded herself with the books she carried to soften the blow… Of course, this wasn't the wisest idea as the books were hardcover and ended up smacking her straight in the face, but oh well.

Chihiro rubbed her face and moaned with pain as she staggered back up before she heard a whooshing sound and whipped her whole body around. That whooshing sound was Spyro, who had just bounced up and landed on the stone floors perfectly right in front of Chihiro.

"Ten outta ten, Golden Boy," Chihiro chirped as she gave Spyro a thumbs up. "Now let's find our way outta here!"

Spyro nodded slightly as he walked up to Chihiro, and they both nodded again towards each other. With a snap of his claws, he conjured another glowering sphere of light as they walked down the pathway.