§A few hours later…§

"Hugo, there you are!" Master Eon exclaimed as he saw Hugo walk through the doors of his citadels, "Please, take a seat. And where is young Chihiro?"

"Here I am!" Chihiro exclaimed as she raced through the door and practically bulldozed Hugo over.

Chihiro jumped onto a nearby chair and sat crossed-legged on it before she looked back behind her.

"My poor, aching head," Hugo whined as he shot a glare at Chihiro.

Chihiro only giggled as Hugo's glare pierced into her soul, and looked away from him and towards Master Eon. Hugo, meanwhile, took the seat next to Chihiro and flopped down while he rubbed his head the whole time.

"Since you've been struggling with normal spells," Master Eon said as he flipped through the pages, "I figured that maybe another category of spells would be more your speed."

Chihiro's grin immediately faded as she clutched her sweatpants and looked down at her feet. She just started to feel better, but then her failures had to come back and taunt her! Her eyes stung as memories of her past attempts flared into her mind…

"A-ha!" Master Eon exclaimed. "Here we are—'Combat Magic.'"

"Wait, you mean I get to learn how to fight with magic and stuff?!" Chihiro grinned and looked much more eager than she probably should've, "YES!"

Chihiro pumped a fist in the air and leaned back. Of course, her chair leaned back further than it should've as well. As Chihiro realized she was losing her balance, she panicked and flailed her arms with hopes of regaining her balance—but, it was to no avail as the chair fell on the floor and she rolled out of it. In one swift motion, she rolled backwards and hit her head on the doors! When she finally came to a stop, a sharp pain hit her in her head and a small welt grew on her scalp. She rubbed her head with a weak moan, trudged back to the sitting area and propped her seat back up.

"Now, follow me," Master Eon said as he floated away.

"Wait, we aren't practicing in here?" Chihiro asked as she gave Master Eon a confused look.

"No! Not at all!" Hugo insisted with an absolutely terrified look. "We don't need this place getting even more destroyed than it already is!"

Chihiro hung her head and followed Hugo and Master Eon out of the citadel. Her eyes occasionally bounced back and forth between the various areas of the island, but nothing kept her interest for too long. After all, she was far too preoccupied by her failure.

After a short walk, Hugo, Master Eon and Chihiro found themselves at a large, dome-like building colored in shades of blue, white and gold. As they walked up to the large, wooden doors, Chihiro tilted her head and frowned just slightly.

"Is this the place?" Chihiro asked.

"Indeed. Young Chihiro, could you open the door for me, please?" Master Eon asked.

Chihiro smiled and nodded before she skipped in front of Hugo, and pushed open the large wooden doors looming before her. As the doors opened, she peered inside, frowned and tilted her head.

"I dunno." Chihiro looked back at Hugo and Master Eon, "It doesn't seem like there's anything in there."

"That's because the lights are off," Hugo said as he walked in, "Allow me."

Hugo clapped his paws together and the room around them immediately lit up!

Chihiro peered inside once more, and her eyes sparkled as she took the area in. Inside was a large dome with a dirt floor, and open, marble walls where pictures of several of the Skylanders colored in striking dark blues and golds hung from them. The dome's ceiling was made of the same white marble that the walls were, and the whole place seemed to have something of a cold, empty feeling lingering around it.

"What is this place?" Chihiro whispered as her eyes darted back and forth.

"This is the training dome," Hugo explained as he snapped his fingers.

He, Chihiro and Master Eon watched as a bunch of lifeless wooden training dummies sprouted up from the ground, each one tied down to a wooden stake in the ground.

"As you can guess, it's a place for the Skylanders to train and hone their abilities," Hugo explained as he walked forwards while more dummies sprouted up from the ground like spring shoots, "and as of now, you as well."

Chihiro made some kind of excited noise she didn’t even recognize, and she bounced over to where Hugo was to examine the training dummies. "They don't seem very solid," Chihiro remarked as she gently brushed her finger against one's cloth body and frowned.

"Now, don't worry about durability." Hugo carried on with not even a peek back at Chihiro. "These dummies are enchanted to regenerate after taking a certain amount of damage. No matter how much you damage them, they'll go back to being as good as new!"

Chihiro nodded, and skipped back to Master Eon before she gazed at him with intent eyes.

"So, Master Eon, what're we gonna start first? Blowing stuff up? Setting things on fire?" Chihiro asked maybe a little too eagerly before she shook her head and grinning wide. "No, no, don't tell me—we're gonna make them fight each other?!"—Chihiro dashed back to the dummy, grabbed one of its limp arms and made said arm slap its face—"why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you—"

"Now don't get too ahead of yourself, young Chihiro," Master Eon interrupted as he floated to her side. "You will learn all that in due time, but for now, we will focus on the basics."

Chihiro sighed as she let go of the dummy and looked at Master Eon. "Okay, so, what would that be?"

"Let me see." Master Eon looked through the book. "How about we start with projectiles?"

"Projectiles? Sounds simple enough. How do I do it?"

"Well, you already understand how to channel energy, yes?" Master Eon asked before he watched as Chihiro nodded again. "It's essentially the same thing as that."

Master Eon gazed over one of the practice dummies. Then, within moments, he crafted a bright sphere of light and shot an even brighter beam from it, a beam that shot a hole into the practice dummy! After Master Eon stopped, he watched the dummy slowly fill itself up with the stuffing it lost and sew the hole back shut until it was good as new!

Chihiro watched all this in awe and applauded. "Bravo, bravo!" Chihiro exclaimed before she narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Now it's my turn."

And just like that, she leaped forward, closed her eyes and held her hands out! A small sphere of cyan-colored energy formed between her palms, and with a snap of her her fingers, the sphere shot forward and rammed into the dummy! The dummy creaked as the sphere disappeared with a small hole left behind as a mark of her handiwork.

"Well done, young Chihiro." Master Eon bobbed up and down, almost as if he was nodding, before he turned back to face Chihiro. "Now, try and see if you can make a larger one."

"Got it!"

Chihiro gave Master Eon a thumbs up, and licked her lips as she thrust her hands in front of her person once more. Her eyes narrowed as her whole body focused its power towards her hands, hands that now flashed with aqua light. In moments, another energy sphere popped out, but it was no larger than the last! Chihiro scoffed as it bobbed off and petered out, and she threw her arms out again. Another energy sphere popped out in response… But it was even smaller!

"C'mon, c'mon," Chihiro hissed through clenched teeth as beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. "Gimme a nice large one!"

This time, one the size of a dust speck fizzled out of her shaking palms.

"Uh… medium?"

No larger than a ladybug.

"C'mon, even baseball sized will do!"

This time, nothing shot out of her hands—just a simple aqua glow surrounded them before it faded into nothing. Chihiro shuddered and heaved a sigh as she rubbed her stinging eyes, her whole body shaken with frustration.

"But, but, it started out so good! I was so close!" Chihiro sniffed. "How could I mess that one up?"

"It's alright, young Chihiro," Master Eon soothed as he floated up to Chihiro and perched on her shoulder. "Sometimes, these things happen. You feel like you master a spell once, but then can't recall how you did."

Chihiro rubbed her eyes again and looked back at Master Eon. "R-really?"

"Indeed." Master Eon hovered back off and magically levitated the book to his side. "Perhaps we should try another kind of spell? How about…"—Master Eon magically flipped through the pages and made an intrigued noise—"how does summoning magical effigies sound?"

"Effigies?"

"They're simply versions of common objects made of magic energy. For instance, chairs, kitchen utensils, weapons—"

"WEAPONS?! LIKE SWORDS?!"

Chihiro's sorrow laid completely forgotten as her eyes sparkled and the widest grin found its way across her face.

A wary Master Eon carefully hovered a ways back from Chihiro's side. "Well, theoretically, yes—"

"COOL!" Chihiro stared down the training dummy.

With a smirk, she closed her eyes and held her hands together similar to how you'd hold a sword. Then, within moments, a longsword made of glowing aqua energy manifested in her hands… Only to flicker out immediately! Chihiro heaved a small groan as she positioned herself again—legs apart, hands clasped, eyes focused…

Nothing.

Chihiro clenched her teeth as she looked over the training dummy, whose pristine condition only seemed to mock her like the wreckage before. As she looked back down at her hands, she gritted her teeth and held them open.

"Okay, let's try something smaller." Chihiro closed her eyes, her mouth still turned into a frown. "How about some bombs?"

Chihiro stayed focused for moments until she heard what sounded like the sizzle of a burning fuse and eagerly popped them open. What she found, however, was a faint hologram of a cyan-colored bomb nestled into the palm of her hand that quickly faded away.

"Maybe some boxing gloves then!"

Chihiro closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists, the tone in her voice especially frantic. She stayed silent and placid for so long that it probably concerned Master Eon and Hugo, but finally, her eyes shot wide open and she let out a cry of war. With enraged shouts, she broke into a barrage of punches aimed at one of the training dummies, and onslaught of fists slung and curses shouted until she hit the pole and reeled back. As she examined her now slightly red hand, she saw that her hands were completely bare—no gloves or anything!

Chihiro's lips trembled as tiny, salty tears stung her eyes. How could she fail so much? Every single move she made, every spell she practiced… An utter failure! Just like she was! As Chihiro sniffled, she bit her lip and wiped away the tears. She couldn't cry, not in front of Master Eon and Hugo. It would be stupid for her to get so worked up over a couple failures! If she couldn't keep her calm here, how could she keep her calm in the heat of a serious battle?

"Let's try something else." Chihiro panted as she tried and failed to disguise her disappointment.

"… Well, then," Master Eon said, a bit of wariness in his voice as he reluctantly pulled up the book. "Let's see what we have…" Master Eon hummed as he poured through the book. "Magic barriers!"

Master Eon watched Chihiro summon a cyan-colored barrier about the size of her person… That promptly flickered out like a dead light bulb.

"Teleporting."

Master Eon looked to his side and saw Chihiro sneakily shuffle over to the other side of the room, only to sigh and halfheartedly trudge back to his side.

"Magical afflictions!"

Master Eon heard a shocked scream as a bright flash engulfed the area next to him, and looked over to see Chihiro stumble about in a dizzy haze.

As Chihiro fell on her bottom and shook her head, she sniffled and bit her lip. "That didn't work either, did it?" she croaked as her sniffles grew louder and more stuffy.

"I am afraid not, young Chihiro," Master Eon replied as he floated down to her side. "Perhaps we should stop here for now."

Chihiro gasped and shook her head. "But, we can't!" Chihiro balled her hands into fists, desperation reflected in her eyes. "I haven't even mastered a single spell yet! I need to keep working!"

"Pushing yourself to your limits won't make these spells come to you, young Chihiro." Master Eon's voice took a bit of sternness to it. "Besides, I am certain it is about time for us to check on the Skylanders, is it not?"

Chihiro sniffled again and just barely held herself back from crying. Master Eon was right. It was about time to move onto the evening patrols, at least, she thought it was. She was so wrapped up in her training—or rather, failure thereof—that she was barely keeping track of the time. With her head hung low, Chihiro stood and weakly nodded.

"Come now, young Chihiro." Master Eon floated off the ground and towards the door. "Let us make our leave for now. We can practice tomorrow."

"TOMORROW?!" Chihiro stopped and cleared her throat, then hung her head again as she trudged after Master Eon. "Coming, Master Eon."

Chihiro bit her lip and held back her tears as she left the arena. So many spells she had practiced, so much time taken out of the day… And she couldn't master a single one. What kind of a portal master could she call herself if she couldn't even get a simple spell that little kids could probably get right done? Not a good one, that's for sure.

"Well, it's just one day, right?" Chihiro whispered as she wiped her tears. "You know what they say, the first day's always the hardest one. Maybe tomorrow would be better."

With her heart just barely reassured, Chihiro quietly followed Master Eon and Hugo out of the arena. Maybe tomorrow would be better, yeah?