Whirlwind screamed as she slammed into the walls of the arena, and fell back on her feet as she shook it off. The battle was nothing but an uphill struggle thus far—she and Warnado threw everything they had at Kaos's minions, but the power of the Eternal Air Source made them far too strong!

Whirlwind looked to her side and caught Warnado as he faced off against the Evil Storm Titan, who charged up large lightning bolts and shot them at Warnado. Warnado, meanwhile, did everything he could to avoid the Titan's shots and spun around so fast that Whirlwind could barely keep up.

Just then, out the corner of her eye, Whirlwind spotted none other than the Evil Griffon, who flew fast and had a loud screech charged up with its eyes focused on Warnado!

"WARNADO!" Whirlwind shouted, her eyes focused on him.

Warnado turned around and immediately saw the Evil Griffon, then span out of its path in just the nick of time! The Evil Griffon went so fast that it couldn't fully stop, slammed straight into the Evil Storm Titan and sent them both flying into the stone walls surrounding them!

Whirlwind cheered, but only for a moment as she narrowly dodged another rainbow shot by the Evil Unicorn Dragon. As she breathed heavily, Whirlwind tried to charge up a rainbow of her own as her horn colored with multi-color sparks. In mere moments, she shot a beam of hard light at the Evil Unicorn Dragon and created a bright flash! Her eyes glistened for mere moments before the light faded and she saw the Evil Unicorn Dragon standing tall with not even a scratch on its body!

"WHAT!?"

However, Whirlwind didn't have enough time to register this, as a bolt of lightning shot her in the chest and she collapsed soon after.

"Whirlwind!" Warnado exclaimed as he looked back at her and then back at the minions.

Warnado summoned a large tornado and narrowed his eyes. As he flew around on it, smaller tornadoes emerged from the larger one he flew on and crafted a huge storm! Warnado sneered down, but found that the evil minions weren't affected at all! In fact, they stood firm through the storms before they flew up and met him at eye-level!

Warnado stood strong and got ready to attack, but he didn’t get the chance— an ear-piercing screech from the Evil Griffon blasted him and flung into the wall near Whirlwind. As he hit his head against the wall, Warnado moaned and fell down beside her. The two of them breathed heavily and tried their hardest to get back up, but their vision blurred and the whole world seemed like it was going out on them.

No, I can't go now… Whirlwind thought as pain stung her eyes, Not like this… With her vision still blurry, Whirlwind just barely nudged her head up and saw the storm clouds that brewed above her and Warnado. If I could only get control of those storm clouds—they have the power of the Air Source, I can feel it. And if we had that power, then I could surely level the playing field…

A small storm cloud floated down from the group and towards Whirlwind as her train of thought cut off, and gently nuzzled her as it slightly shocked her chin. Whirlwind's eyes widened and a weak smile crept across her face as she closed her eyes and focused as hard as she could on the storm clouds.

Come on, little storm clouds, I need your help for a little bit, Whirlwind thought as electricity crackled from her horn.

Energy rushed into her head at a dizzying rate, and a large bolt of lightning shot from her horn and struck the clouds! The clouds shuddered with electricity and flew down to her side with not a moment to spare! Whirlwind smiled and panted as the clouds enveloped her and Warnado, then she shot them with brightly-colored rainbows! In response, the clouds shifted in color from a dark gray to a pure white with a rainbow glow that grew brighter and brighter by the moment, a bright glow that served to confuse the surrounding minions.

Whirlwind smiled from within the safe barrier of clouds as her strength flooded back to her! Her aching muscles seared with a power like never before and her heart beat fast, faster than ever. The clouds faded away, and she stood up beside Warnado with a kind of energy that mirrored that of their enemies.

"Healing magic. Always comes in handy."

Whirlwind flapped her wings proudly as she and Warnado looked at each other.

"Ready to wipe the floor with these guys?" Warnado asked, a cocky sneer on her face.

"You bet."

Whirlwind furrowed her brow and smiled, then flared out her wings and barreled towards the Evil Minions as her body radiated with the energy of the Eternal Air Source.

The evil minions, meanwhile, all panicked at once! The Evil Storm Titan and Evil Griffon quickly split off in opposite directions, which left only the Evil Unicorn Dragon to stand and watch helplessly as Whirlwind shot a bright rainbow straight into its chest! The Evil Unicorn Dragon flew into the walls and slid down with a helpless moan. Whirlwind ran back up to where the Evil Unicorn Dragon sat and smirked as she lowered her head so that her horn pointed straight at the Evil Unicorn Dragon's chest.

"Watch out," Whirlwind hissed, "there's a storm rolling in!"

And with that, she shot a huge rainbow blast right at the Evil Unicorn Dragon, which cleared a clean hole in its chest! The Evil Unicorn Dragon croaked out a faint noise, and exploded into thousands of bright lights! Whirlwind beamed as the lights shone dimly on the stone floor before her.

"Warnado! How're you doing?" Whirlwind shouted as she turned around.

Warnado, meanwhile, chased the Evil Griffon around the room and shot out powerful tornadoes with each step he took. These tornadoes soared across the arena and gathered up bits of stone, dust and whatever else they could from the cold floors. With every object they collected, they turned into dangerous weapons within moments! Of course, Warnado didn't notice this—he was too focused on making sure he got that Evil Griffon.

"You can run," Warnado shouted, "but you can't hide!"

Of course, this only made the Evil Griffon quit running and fly away from the chaos! In a hot minute, it took to the skies with its aim set for the large, gaping hole in the ceiling.

"But you can fly," Warnado moaned as he looked up and saw the Evil Griffon in flight.

He shook his head as he created a large twister underneath his shell. With a keen focus, he took to the skies after the Evil Griffon, and his tornado grown taller and taller as he went higher and higher.

"It's a good thing I can, too."

Warnado chased after the Evil Griffon, and the Evil Storm Titan ran around as well—as four tornadoes filled with rocks and dirt and all sorts of other things currently chased it. The tornadoes drew closer and closer to the Evil Storm Titan, and it gulped and backed up… Until it hit the cold stone of the arena walls and whipped around to find that it was cornered. It could only gasp as it looked at the tornadoes, and as they encroached furthered, it let out a scream! It all four tornadoes tackled it at once, then its screams grew muffled while it returned to those same dark lights its fellow minions were made of.

In moments the tornadoes absorbed these lights—and something strange happened. They all grew darker and larger, before they combined with each other to become one huge tornado that now stormed in place.

Whirlwind glanced over at where Warnado was chasing the Evil Griffon and flared her wings. She prepared to fly to his aide, but stopped as the glowing lights next to her shot over to the other side of the room! As she whipped her head over, she caught the lights right as they absorbed into another set of tornadoes, which then absorbed one another and transformed into another large, powerful tornado whose winds shook the world around it!

"Huh?" Whirlwind uttered before she looked up at Warnado once again, "WARNADO!"

But, it was no use—he couldn't hear her over the howling winds of the tornadoes around. Instead, she herself slowly lifted from the ground, and her heart raced as she struggled to push past the winds. As she breathed in, Whirlwind scrambled back on the ground before she raced past the tornadoes and towards the back end of the arena, where there wasn't a single tornado in sight. After she ran as fast as she could, Whirlwind took a seat down and panted.

What in the Ancients' name happened there?… Whirlwind thought while the gears turned in her mind until her eyes shrank.

Oh no.

As she breathed in, Whirlwind took to the skies and chased after Warnado and the Evil Griffon.

"Warnado! Don't kill that thing!"

Once again, he couldn't hear her—instead, Warnado focused his attention on the Evil Griffon as he got just close enough to it to get a shot in. With a sneer on his face, Warnado retreated into his shell, spun forwards and cleanly cut the Evil Griffon in two! As he popped out of his shell and looked back to see the Evil Griffon dissolve, his sneer turned to a content smile.

"WARNADO!" Whirlwind shouted with a furrowed brow and angry stare as she flew to meet him.

"Whirlwind!" Warnado shouted back with a content look before he saw just how angry she was. "What's got you so angry?"

"Didn't you hear me?!" Whirlwind looked Warnado dead in the face. "I told you NOT to kill that minion!"

Warnado tilted his head, and his jaw fell agape. "What? Why?"

"Because!" Whirlwind pointed back at the island. "Your tornadoes are absorbing the Air Source energy from their remains! If they get any more—"

The dim lights raced back towards the tornadoes that formed back at the arena before she could say anything else! Within moments, a huge tornado smashed through what little was left of the platform and raged! It slowly moved through the island and absorbed all in its wake, and it grew larger and larger by the second, like something out of an action movie.

"WHAT THE—"

The winds ruptured around Warnado, and his tornado sucked into the larger one before he could even finish! He only screamed as he disappeared from Whirlwind’s view!

Whirlwind only had seconds to process everything as she dashed away from the tornado. She flew as fast as she could, like her life depended on this flight—which in all fairness, it kind of did. As she landed on a tall stone platform far away from the disaster, she panted and her heart raced from the shock.

"What am I going to do?!" Whirlwind exclaimed as she looked at the tornado with quivering eyes. "There's no way I can take down that thing, not when it's got all that power from the Eternal Air Source in it!"

Whirlwind fell down and stared helplessly at the Eternal Source-powered tornado. Her heart sank with every second that it raged through the archipelago. This was it, it was all over now. This is where she… where everyone, was all going to die.

As Whirlwind looked over it one last time, she hung her head. They failed. She failed. It was too late now. She hated to say it or even think it, but she was doomed.

Whirlwind basked in her self-defeat until the raging winds rang in her ears once more, and looked up to find that the tornado quickly approached her! In a panic, she took to the skies and sought refuge within a large, puffy cumulus cloud as she looked down at the wreckage.

If it keeps going, the whole place'll be in ruins! And not to mention it'll kill everybody still on it! Whirlwind grasped onto the cloud as her heart pounded. I've gotta stop it—no, I can't stop it, what am I thinking?! In fact, if I had actually gotten there in time—Whirlwind shook her head—No, stop thinking like that. I've gotta focus on what to do, but what can I do?! It's not like could throw some storm clouds at it, that would probably just make it stronger! And I don't think—

Whirlwind looked to her side and gasped as a bright, shimmering rainbow peered out from a puffy white cloud, then basked in its colors!

My healing rainbows! Whirlwind's heart slowed down as she took in the cloud. That's right! If I could use those to purify those storm clouds back at the tower, surely I could use them to heal the tornado… But how would I get them there? Or make them strong enough to even stand a chance?

Whirlwind looked down at the puffy clouds she laid on, squished them for a few moments and smiled. While her eyes sparkled with faint hope, Whirlwind got up from the cloud and zipped across the skies! She gathered up all the clouds she could into one group, and quickly zapped them all with rainbows fresh from her horn. As the clouds glowed in all sorts of iridescent colors, she smashed them together with utmost focus.

I hope this will work, Whirlwind thought as she watched the clouds she gathered grow bigger and bigger. No, I KNOW this will work, cause if it doesn't…

Whirlwind glanced back at the slowly-raging tornado and winced while her mind raced with thoughts of disaster like before. As she stood frozen where she was, she looked down at her paws and shook her head, then took back to the skies and examined her work. Thanks to her, the cloud she once sat on grew bigger and bigger, until it was roughly about the size of the tornado itself and shone brightly in all sorts of colors, like a large glowing cloud-shaped rainbow after the storm.

"Healing rainbows, you've gotten me this far. Don't fail me now." Whirlwind's voice turned commandeering while she pointed a claw at the tornado. "Go attack that tornado, now!"

The cloud immediately shot out of the skies and straight towards the large, raging tornado! As soon as it made contact, it was absorbed into the tornado! However, nothing seemed to happen, aside from the tornado coming to a complete stop.

Whirlwind bit her claw as her brow furrowed. Did it work?

All was quiet for those few seconds, until the tornado turned into a swirling rainbow vortex and exploded into a flash of light!

Whirlwind shielded her eyes as the light covered her and everything around. When the burning feeling subsided and she opened them again, Whirlwind shouted with glee and soared down to the islands—because the tornado was gone! As she glided around and dodfed the stones and assorted broken building parts that fell back into place, she saw a familiar chromatic green shell as it fell down at an alarmingly fast rate!

With a gasp, she dashed over and caught the shell on her back with a loud grunt! She then landed on the ground and let the shell roll off her back. As she sighed with relief, Whirlwind turned around and smiled as Warnado pop out of his shell!

Warnado turned around and groaned with sickness as he looked at Whirlwind with bleary eyes. "Whirlwind…" he moaned, "… Is that you?"

"You bet it is," Whirlwind replied as she stood tall and proud with a peaceful smile on her face.

Warnado shook his head, and as his vision returned to normal, he looked back at Whirlwind and smiled the widest grin he could!

"You're alright! And more importantly, you stopped that huge tornado!" Warnado rushed up to her. grabbed her front paw with his and fistbumped her. "THAT WAS AWESOME! YOU'RE AWESOME!"

"Yep, it was pretty impressive." Whirlwind chuckled and looked aside. "I'm just glad I was able to pull it off!"

"Well I'm glad that's over now." Warnado sighed. "Being in that tornado made me super dizzy, and this is coming from the guy who was hatched in one!"

"Well, it's not over quite yet. " Whirlwind looked over the island. "We still have to get the Eternal Air Source, after all."

Almost as if on cue, a bright shining blue light fell from the skies as the Eternal Air Source flew right in front of Whirlwind and Warnado!

"Well, that was convenient."

Whirlwind smiled as she claimed the Eternal Air Source in her arms and held it tight before she looked back at Warnado. "NOW it's over." Whirlwind flew a foot over Warnado's height. "Now let's get the Source back to the island. Well, once we find Flynn—"

"Whirlybird!" Shouted a booming voice from behind them.

Whirlwind and Warnado turned around and smiled, because there, hovering in his balloon behind them, was none other than Flynn!

"Did you guys see that huge tornado?" Flynn asked with eyes as wide as dinner plates. "I almost thought you weren't going to make it! Of course, I, being Skylands' greatest pilot, didn't worry at all about making it out of the storm and—"—Flynn then looked at the Eternal Air Source in Whirlwind's arms and did a double take—"wait, is that the Eternal Air Source?"

"You bet it is!" Whirlwind stroked the Source with one paw. "And we went through a lot of trouble to get it, too."

"No kidding," chimed in Warnado with a sagely node.

Flynn looked over the Source for a few moments and cocked an eyebrow. "Hmmm… It's a lot smaller than I thought it'd be."

"Well, that doesn't really matter." Whirlwind flew up to the balloon and gently dropped into its basket. "All that matters now is that we get it back to Ancient’s Peak."

Flynn pulled a lever and grinned as the front panel of the balloon's basket fell down and turned into a ramp.

"Hop in then! Being the great pilot that I am, I can guarantee a completely smooth ride back!"

"Trust me, that's definitely what we need," Warnado said as he walked up the ramp and took a seat in the basket.

Flynn pushed the level back up and the ramp folded back up. He pushed some buttons and pulled some more levels, and the balloon flew off…