§Several Hours Later…§

"Come on Hugo, we don't have all day!" Chihiro exclaimed as she paraded into Master Eon's still-ruined library, a new fire in her steps as she walked.

Hugo only groaned and rubbed his eyes as he passed through the doorway.

"Chihiro, this better be good," Hugo snapped with a tone of surprising irritation in his voice. "I didn't even get to have my dinner yet!"

"Oh, bygones are bygones." Chihiro walked over to the staircase and happily hopped up two stairs at a time. "I've got something really cool to show you guys!"

Chihiro reached the top of the stairs, looked over the ruined library for a moment, and spun around with a beam as Master Eon and Hugo joined her at the top. She definitely had it this time, she could feel it in her bones!

"The library?" Hugo uttered as he made a small frown. "What about it?"

"Just watch!" Chihiro hummed and skipped over the various broken stones, then breathed in and closed her eyes.

Remember what Master Eon said, just focus, Chihiro thought as she clasped her hand against her heart. Her mind focused on a small pile of rocks in front of her, and Chihiro cast out her hand. "Rocks, float!"

Nothing happened for a few solid moments, but Chihiro didn't notice—her mind fixed on the image of those floating rocks too firmly. All was quiet for those few moments, from an eerily tranquil Chihiro to Master Eon and Hugo as they watched with bated breath… Then the rocks floated! As they lifted themselves off the ground, they flew off to an aside corner of the room and positioned themselves in a small pile.

Hugo made a sharp gasp and rubbed his eyes. "Chihiro, you did it!" Hugo exclaimed, this time with utter amazement in his voice. "You've performed a levitation spell!"

"But that's not all!"

Chihiro chirped with a wink and closed her eyes in focus. In mere moments, she disappeared and reappeared all over the place!

"Rocks, float!"

"Rocks, float up!"

"Rocks, do the floaty thing!"

As she spoke these words, her will sprung into existence! The rocks all floated in one big migration over to the pile Chihiro had crafted, until there was only dust and dirt left in the library. Now that all that was off her checklist, Chihiro walked over to the crater with her giant rock enemy and clapped her hands.

"Giant rock, shrink!"

Chihiro patiently watched the hole as a bright aqua glow emerged from it, beamed, and laughed as the giant rock shrank to the size of a baseball and gently landed on the bottom floor.

"Now, rock, float!"

Chihiro contently watched as the rock floated out from the crater and rested near the others. Her smile turned eager, she looked back and watched as Hugo broke out into a round of applause.

"And size manipulation as well!" Hugo proclaimed as he pulled a list and pencil out of his pocket and checked some things off of it.

"Now, young Chihiro," Master Eon said as he floated to Chihiro's side, a kind of gentle prompting in his voice. "Do you think you can rid us of these rocks?"

Chihiro nodded furiously and hopped on back to the small rock pile. As she pressed her hands together, she closed her eyes and felt… Something. All around her, magic energy crackled in the air while she felt an oddly fuzzy kind of feeling she couldn't quite pin down, and though her eyes were closed, she almost felt like she could see it fly around her!

Okay, got the easy part down—now for the moment of truth, Chihiro thought as she breathed in and screwed her eyes further shut, and her heart stood at a standstill for a few moments. Energy, see those rocks over there?

Chihiro's breathing turned slow and rhythmic as the energy swirled around her and fill her with a power so great that it was like her entire body would just implode!

Melt them.

Chihiro squeezed her hands tighter, and all the energy dispersed from her surroundings. Everything stood tranquil for a few key moments, yet she felt a harsh, aqua glow absorb her and her eyes snapped open! She found the glow's source was the corner where she pushed away all those rocks, and it was so intense that it lit everything around in a bright aqua before it faded. Chihiro's pupils grew wide with excitement as the glow died—because the rocks were gone! All that was left were a few tiny sparkles of aqua magic that faded out as soon as they came.

"Now, just one thing left to do," Chihiro said as she looked over to where the broom was still stationed and lifted it up. "Okay broom,"—Chihiro focused hard as she lifted it to the heavens—"TIME TO DO SOME CLEANING!"

The broom glowed a bright aqua before it bounded out of Chihiro's hands and bowed towards her. It then detached its own dustpan and laid it on the floor before it swept up everything in sight! Dust, gravel, the few stray rocks that escaped Chihiro's capture, none were a match for the broom as it swept up the floors and gathered its collection in a large pile that laid on the dustpan. It even dislodged rocks stuck in the walls with its handle and swept those into the pile too! After its job was done, the broom looked around the room one last time, bowed formally towards Chihiro and turned straight and fell lifeless on the floor.

Chihiro chuckled with glee as she took a look around herself—aside from a few holes in the floor and walls, the whole room was spotless and sparkling like it was brand new.

"Well done, young Chihiro!" Master Eon applauded.

Hugo smiled and clapped as well before he walked over to Chihiro and checked some things off of the list.

"Is there any chance you could do that for the portal building's library as well?" Hugo awkwardly laughed. "It's, ahem, in need of a good cleaning."

Chihiro laughed as well, and felt a soft kind of warmth beside her and turned around to see Master Eon!

"While I'm sure young Chihiro would be kind enough to help you, Hugo, there's one other important matter she stills needs to attend to."

"There is?" Chihiro asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yes, indeed." Master Eon spun around Chihiro a few times, like he was pacing circles around her without a body to do so. "You do recall the combat spells we practiced, correct?"

Chihiro's mouth gaped open as her eyes sparkled.

"You bet I do!" Chihiro jumped into the air as she pumped a fist. "Let's cast some spells!"

§

Chihiro took a few quiet steps towards the center of the arena as Master Eon and Hugo made their way into the training arena. The training dummies that once seemed to mock her with their ever-pristine conditions a reflection of her inability to master spells now just seemed like… Average dummies!

"Remember Chihiro, you've got this in the bag," Chihiro whispered as a smirk crossed her face, "just focus."

She closed her eyes and focused, and her whole body stood completely still for once in her life. Small spheres of cyan energy formed all around her body as she stood and shot themselves at the training dummies, which created a collection of holes in each one! As she felt the last of the spheres fade away, Chihiro poked an eye open to admire her work, and noted the small size of the holes and frowned as they sowed themselves shut. She needed something bigger.

"Okay, let's try that again." Chihiro closed her eyes and clasped her hands as she sensed the magic energy crackle around her. "Give me some nice, big energy projectiles… Please?"

Chihiro kept perfectly silent for what seemed like forever, and her whole body laid still like stone as she focused her mind towards the spheres' creation. In fact, she was so completely lost in her thoughts that she almost forgot the world around her existed until she felt a warm glow and opened her eyes…. To see that right in front of her was an aqua energy sphere about the size of a basketball!

Chihiro gasped, and watched with an open smile as it rocketed forward and slammed into a training dummy! Then, she turned back to Master Eon.

"So, what's next?"

Hugo stood in shock for mere moments, while Master Eon looked down at the book and poured through its pages.

"Let's see, there's—"

"Lemme see it!" Chihiro exclaimed as she snagged the book from Master Eon and then examining its pages.

However, as everything was written in Skylandian text, she did not understand it at all. With a deep frown, Chihiro watched as Master Eon levitated the book out of her hands and cleared his throat.

"As I was saying," Master Eon scanned the book once more, "next, we should practice summoning magical effigies."

"Those magical weapons and stuff, right?" Chihiro nodded and looked back at the dummies. "Got it!"

With a smirk, she closed her eyes and held her hands together similar to how one would hold a sword. Then, within moments, a longsword made of glowing aqua energy manifested in her hands! Chihiro opened her eyes, and let out a cry of war as she jumped forward and slashed the training dummy in half! The dummy's stuffing fell out immediately and left behind a limp sack for a corpse, yet it glowed and magically reassembled itself in moments.

"That is how you create magical effigies," Master Eon interjected as he scanned the book. "Now, let's move on." Master Eon hummed as he skimmed through the pages. "Magic barriers!"

"On it!"

Chihiro threw her hands in front of her body and summoned a barrier made of cyan-colored magic that was about as big as she was.

"Magical afflictions!"

Chihiro smirked, cast a bolt of energy towards another training dummy, and watched with pride as the dummy spun around in what seemed like a dizzy haze.

"Teleporting!"

Chihiro focused her energy and closed her eyes as she was engulfed in a puff of smoke and reappeared about a foot away from where she stood.

"Elemental channeling!"

Chihiro created several purple balls of lightning that crackled with eldritch Magic Element energy and shot them back at the dummies! Of course, the impact was so intense that it creates tons of purple smog that made the area impossible to see, but oh well. As Chihiro coughed and brushed away the smoke, she heard the sound of a door creak open as the fog dispelled! When it all disappeared, she looked across the arena to see that Hugo had opened up the doors with his hoodie used as a gas mask.

"Heh, sorry about that!" Chihiro chirped as she scratched her head. "Didn't think that would make such a mess."

"It is quite alright, Chihiro," Master Eon said as he swirled around Chihiro, "after all, you passed your first exam!"

Hugo applauded Chihiro, but she only frowned and tilted her head.

"Wait, I did?" Chihiro asked.

"Indeed." Master Eon flew away from Chihiro and towards Hugo's side. "Hugo, if you please?"

Hugo nodded in affirmation, then pulled a list from his pocket and cleared his throat.

"Portal Master Exam One," Hugo proclaimed as he straightened out the list, "successfully perform the ten basic spells at least once."

Hugo lifted up a page of the list and showed it to Chihiro. Its creased white pages all had names written in skylandian text with boxes next to them, and all of them had a blocky check mark within them!

"And you, young Chihiro, have done that just fine," Master Eon intruded as he flew up to Chihiro's eye-level. "Now that you have a basic grasp on spellcasting, I can trust you to accompany the Skylanders on simple missions without my aid if needed."

"REALLY?"

"I certainly meant what I said." Master Eon bobbed up and down. "Now, keep practicing these spells, and soon you will be able to perform them in your sleep!"

"I will, Master Eon!" Chihiro nodded her head up and down, rapidly stomped her feet, and bounced at least a foot into the air.

"I PASSED MY FIRST EXAM! WOOHOO!"