Bitterly cold breezes greeted all five parties as soon as they entered the castle's gates, and every one of them shuddered. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in the heat—or rather, lack thereof—of winter! Snow cascaded down from gray skies and dusted the cold, icy ground that crunched under their feet, giant hills and snow piles decorated land that was otherwise mainly shapeless thanks to the sheer amounts of snow, and there was no life for miles—just snow, ice, snow-covered ice...

"Here's the plan," Spyro said as he flew back and forth in front of them. "First, we need to find out the source of this—"

Spyro cut off as something hit him on the side of the head—a snowball! As the ball of snow fell off, he snorted and glared at where Chihiro giggled her head off.

"Sorry!" Chihiro chuckled as she covered her mouth—though that did little to muffle her laughter, "I couldn't help myself!"

"This is no time for joking around, Chihiro!" Spyro shouted with a frown on his face. "We have to find out what's causing this blizzard and stop it! Right, guys?"

Spyro looked towards the other Skylanders for some backup, but they just barely chuckled and giggled right along with her!

"Seriously?" Spyro heaved a sigh before he gained a smile, packed some snow together, and formed a round ball aimed at Chihiro. "Well, you know what they say, if you can't beat 'em, then join 'em!"

And with that, Spyro tossed the ball and hit Chihiro with it almost immediately! Chihiro remained speechless for mere moments, before she burst into laughter and tossed a snowball back at him—and soon enough, an all-out snowball war broke out between them.

The others just stared with confused glances, not knowing what to make of this sudden war with snow. All they could do was stand there until the snowballs died and the laughs reduced to chortles.

Chihiro brushed the snow off her clothes and walked forwards. "Okay, in all seriousness, we have to find out what's causing this snow storm. Let's go!"

However, as Chihiro stepped forward, she stepped into a snow pile and sank all the way down with a thud. With sharp gasps, the other four dashed to the snow pile and peered into the Chihiro-sized hole it gained.

"I'm okay!" Chihiro heaved a sigh. "Something tells me I'll have to start thinking these things through."

Grumbles echoed throughout the hole, and a magical whoosh sounded off as Chihiro levitated out of the hole and sat down on the snow! Once she was safely out of the hole, she closed her eyes, clapped her hands, and beamed as what appeared to be a pair of snowshoes made of magic energy appeared on her feet! Chihiro grumbled something to herself as she tied them to her boots, heaved herself back to her full height, and looked back at the Skylanders.

"Okay, NOW we can proceed."

Chihiro huffed before she trudged ahead, a close eye kept on the scenery for any other signs of deceptively deep snow piles…

"WA-HOO!"

… And jumped at least a foot into the air as the sound of that wild voice echoed across the frozen fields!

"That wouldn't have happened to come from you guys, right?" Chihiro asked as she turned to face the Skylanders. She grimaced as they all shook their heads, grit her teeth and looked to the skies. "I thought as much."

"YA-HOOEY!"

Chihiro screamed and jumped into the air again as something—or rather, someONE—materialized in front of her!

This person was a peach-skinned, wrinkly old wizard with sparkling pale blue eyes, and a long, thin, white beard who held a brown wooden staff with a bright blue orb placed in its center. They wore black and white wizard robes with a wizard hat of the same color, all of which appeared to be made with fabric that was surprisingly light for such cold weather. Were they asking for a cold?

"Uh, who exactly are you, and what are you doing here?" Chihiro asked as her eyes pointed at this complete stranger. Her free hand clutched into a fist and glowed faintly with magic—just in case.

"Name's Haldor," the wizard said as they floated towards Chihiro and examined her. "An' somethin' tells me you ain't from here!"

"Well, no, I'm a portal master. Well, portal master in training, and the Skylanders and I have come to check things out." Chihiro hovered her hand towards the Skylanders. "I'm Chihiro, and my friends back there are Spyro, Gill Grunt, Eruptor, and Slam Bam."

"Hey there!" Spyro shouted as he waved a scaly purple paw. "So, you have any idea what this place is?"

Haldor's eyes glistened as he jumped in the air with glee. "It worked!" Haldor proclaimed as he spun back and cleared his throat. "I really did get the Skylanders here!" As he hovered just inches above the ground, Haldor's eyes widened. "Oh right, I need to tell ya where ya are!"

As he landed on the snow, Haldor tapped his staff on the ground and stretched out his arms in pride.

"Why, this is the island of Vindlevale! The most beautiful island in all'a Skylands!"

"VINDLEVALE?" All four Skylanders exclaimed as they did double takes.

"No way! Vindlevale is all warm and sunny." Spyro looked around as he spoke. "This place, is, well, definitely not that. What in Skylands could have caused it? Do you know?"

"Oh I do alright!" Haldor narrowed his eyes and slammed his staff against the icy ground, his mouth broke into a scowl, "It's those dern ice ogres! They just showed up all of a sudden this mornin' and built this big wall that blocked up the sunshine! You know, this place used to be really nice, sun shinin' and flowers growin' all the time, but now that the sun's gone, it's just snow n' ice wherever you look! In fact, Vindlevale once had…"

Chihiro blinked once, twice, thrice as Haldor ranted in the most anger-filled daze that she had ever seen. Eruptor wasn’t even as bad as this, even when he happened to wake up on the wrong side of the bed!

"Can't you just break the wall down?" Chihiro asked with a shrug and an uneasy smile. "I mean, that sounds easy enough to me."

"No, not at all!" Haldor shook his head as if to exemplify his point. "'Cause whenever people try to come n' get close to the wall, they shoot 'em away with their snowball cannons! The only way we could stop them is if we had something of our own to retaliate with!" Haldor then paused as a sly smile played across his face, his anger now forgotten. "Like a catapult!"

"A CATAPULT?" Chihiro's hands balled into fists as she smiled, and her eyes lit up like fireworks at the very suggestion. "DOES THAT MEAN I GET TO BLOW STUFF UP?"

"Chihiro, no!" Spyro shouted as he shot her a glance.

"You bet'cha, kiddo!" Haldor exclaimed, completely oblivious to the dumbfounded look Spyro gave him, "Now that I think about it, there used to be a nice big one around here!"

Chihiro sharply gasped as she bounced up and down. "C'mon, where is it?" Chihiro asked, her smile wider and wider.

"… But, it got destroyed by those ice ogres when they arrived here! And then they scattered its parts all across the island!" Haldor shook his head. "Saw it myself, I did! They rocketed across the sky like shootin' stars!"

"So you need us to find those parts, right?" Chihiro smiled and nodded furiously. "Well, count us in!"

"I like your spirit!" Haldor cleared his throat and rubbed a fist against his chest. "Anyway, if I recall correctly from what I saw, the first part is right around here, so you won' have much trouble findin' it. I'd get it myself, but,—" Haldor chuckled and twirled a lock of his beard "—all this cold's no good for old folks like me, so I'll jus' leave it in you young'uns capabale hands! WA-HOOO!"

Haldor disappeared into thin air and left the entrances to two split paths in front of him! While his laughter rang in the distance, Chihiro stood in front of the Skylanders; her head tilted as she examined the pathways, and then the Skylanders themselves.

"I think we should split up. After all, if what Haldor said is true, it could make it easier to find the parts if we work in two groups instead of one." Chihiro pointed to the eastern pathway. "Spyro, Gill, you search the eastern path of the island with me."

"Right!" Spyro and Gill Grunt said before they ran through the snow and stopped at the pathway's mouth.

"And Eruptor, Slam Bam, you search the western path!" Chihiro said as she pointed towards the gaping entryway of the western path. "Good luck and stay warm!"

"You got it, Chihiro!" Slam Bam said. Not that his focus was on here any; rather, his eyes laid on a particularly well-crafted statue of an ice ogre with a bit of admiration.

He turned around and realized that Chihiro left with Spyro and Gill and sighed. With a firm grasp on Eruptor's round hand, Slam Bam dragged Eruptor towards the western path with their mission clear before them.

§

Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Chihiro ran through snowdrifts as they tried to stay warm in this bone-chilling weather. It was bitterly cold like no other bitterly cold winter any of them ever experienced, and with the snow that poured down on them like heavy rain in the spring, it only got worse.

"See anything yet?" Chihiro asked, a hand held over her eyes like a shield as she shivered.

"Nothing yet, Chihiro. Though then again, you can't see much of anything here," Spyro said as he kept his golden eyes on lookout for any forms of life. "All you can see is snow and ice!"

"You got that right." Chihiro sighed as she closed her eyes, snapped her fingers, and crafted up a fluffy parka made of aqua magic energy. "You guys needs coats too?"

"Yes, please," Gill Grunt sputtered as he shuddered in the bitter cold. All this cold was probably no good for a fish like him, after all.

With a snap of Chihiro's fingers, warm, fluffy coats made of magic energy manifested on Spyro and Gill Grunt' bodies! The two of them oohed and aahed as they examined the coats, smiled as they tightened them up, and basked in the warmth the two parkas provided. Chihiro basked in her work with a proud stance taken for a few moments, until her ears perked up as the faintest voices formed a conversation.

"So, as Lord Kaos said…"

Chihiro pushed Spyro and Gill down before anyone could see them and ducked beneath a small snow castle.

"What was that for, Chihiro?" Spyro hissed as he glared over towards Chihiro.

Chihiro quickly shushed Spyro before she looked over the castle and pointed. "I think I hear someone talking, listen!" Chihiro hissed, her voice kept down to the lowest volume possible.

Spyro promptly shut his mouth as he and Gill Grunt peered over the castle. The snowstorm let up only slightly, which allowed for slightly enhanced visibility of the surroundings! As their eyes gazed around for the voice's sources, they rested on a path a few feet straight ahead and froze—metaphorically, not literally. There, a giant, green-skinned ogre with a tall, black mohawk who wore icy blue camouflage and a sash of gems around their chest talked with what appeared to be a clone of Gill Grunt who was entirely black save for the specks of blue Water Element magic that floated around its body here and there.

"Noodles and his ice ogres will not let you down," said the ogre, whose voice was gruff and gravely, "Noodles and his ice ogres will do a great job. Noodles and his ice ogres—"

"Will be executed this minute if they ramble all day and don't actually do their job!" snapped the Gill Grunt clone as it bore a scowl.

Gill Grunt widened his eyes as he let go of the snow castle's walls.

"How come that guy looks like you, Gill?" Chihiro asked with her wide brown eyes trained on Gill Grunt.

"That's one of Kaos's minions," Gill Grunt whispered back as he looked over at Chihiro and then back at the Gill Grunt clone, "It’s an evil clone of me, but what's it doing here?"

"Now, just keep guarding the wall, and keep an eye out for the portal master apprentice and her Skylanders. Lord Kaos doesn't want any of them here," the Gill Grunt clone said as it held up a webbed finger.

"KAOS is behind all this?" Spyro, Gill Grunt and Chihiro all exclaimed at one at the highest volume they could muster without being heard, their gazes all wide and surprised.

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose," Gill Grunt remarked as he coughed into his webbed hand and collected himself. "But what would he have to gain from taking over this tiny little island?"

"That doesn't matter, Gill," Spyro whispered back, his voice full of venom. "We need to get out of here and get to stopping him!"

His mouth twisted into a snarl as Spyro dashed out from behind the castle of ice! It was as if impulse completely took him over while he stood in the frosty snow, his eyes flashed red and smoke clouded around his muzzle.

"Hey, Spyro, wait!" Chihiro exclaimed as she and Gill Grunt followed in pursuit.

As Spyro's mouth filled with crackling, red-hot flames, he opened his jaw and got ready to shoot out a sun-hot fireball… But, something tackled him into the snow and killed his fire. Spyro let out a shout of surprise as cold and weight enveloped his body, shook the snow off of his head, and looked up at a very stern-looking Chihiro.

"What was that for?" Spyro exclaimed as he bore his fangs. "I was about ready to burn them!"

"You just ran off out of nowhere! Those creeps coulda seen you!" Chihiro snapped back as she crossed her arms. "I was just trying to keep you safe!"

"Chihiro, I know what I'm doing—if you hadn't stopped me, we wouldn't have even had to worry about them!"

"Uh, Spyro, Chihiro?" Gill Grunt intervened as he tugged on the back of Chihiro's parka. "Maybe we should keep it down a little—they are right—"

"Do you hear that?" asked the Gill Grunt clone’s sinister, gargling voice.

It craned its head just a tad to the right and saw Spyro, Gill Grunt and Chihiro. "There they are, you incompetent!" the Gill Grunt clone shouted as it pointed at Chihiro, and watched as Noodles turned around and gasped.

"Hey," Gill Grunt finished as he gently shook Chihiro. "You two might wanna speed it up a little!"

"Why?" Spyro and Chihiro asked in unison.

"Because they found us!"

"They have?"

Spyro and Chihiro both looked back at Gill Grunt, who only pointed a webbed finger aside. The finger led to where the Gill Grunt cloned and Noodles stood and watched completely dumbfounded as they stared back at Gill Grunt.

"The portal master and her Skylanders!" Noodles exclaimed at last as he stumbled back.

"Well don't just stand there, you incompetent!" the Gill Grunt clone hissed. "Catch them! We can't have them interfering with Lord Kaos's plan!"

"Noodles will not let you down, sir!" Noodles jumped up and stood tall and rigid as he broke into a salute. "Noodles will capture the portal master and the Skylanders! Noodles will deliver them to Kaos!"

"Quick, now's our chance!" Spyro whispered as he wormed his way out from under Chihiro. "Run!"

With frantic nods of understanding, the three of them dashed off as fast as they could! As Spyro took to the skies and darted ahead, Chihiro snagged Gill Grunt's hand and bit her lip.

"Okay, come on, magic affliction thingie," Chihiro whispered as she clasped the collar of her parka tight, "make me super fast!"

As she spoke these words, Chihiro channeled all her magic and all her might into her feet, looked down, and saw them shimmer in a bright cyan against the snow! Now filled with energy, Chihiro beamed and ran off at the speed of light!

"Woohoo! Now I know how cheetahs feel!" Chihiro shouted as she raced past Spyro. Her voice echoed against the snowy valleys with cheer… Then…

"WAIT, WAIT, TOO FAST! TOO FAST! STOP, SLOW DOWN, PLEASE—" Chihiro's shouts muffled under the sound of someone falling into snow "—I meant to do that!"

"Noodles will make absolutely certain that—" Noodles promised—only for him to get a sharp, wet slap from the Gill Grunt clone.

"YOU IMBECILE!" the Gill Grunt clone screamed as it pointed to the space where Chihiro, Spyro, and Gill Grunt once rested, which was now completely devoid of life. "ALL THIS TIME, YOU JUST RAMBLED ON AND ON WHEN YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN THEM!"

"Wait, Noodles did?" Noodles paused and looked over to where the Gill Grunt clone pointed, only for his jaw to drop. "Oh no, Noodles did!" Now in a complete panic, Noodles flailed his arms like they had never flailed before. "What'll we do, what'll we do?! Lord Kaos will be very mad at us if we let them escape!"

Noodles ran in circles around the Gill Grunt clone, which was probably a feat in itself given the sheer amount of snow piled all over the place.

"Calm down, you incompetent!" the Gill Grunt clone slapped its fin against Noodles' face a second time, only for its fishy face to turn sly as Noodles paid attention to it once more. "Have we forgotten the blizzard machine?"

"Ooh, ooh, Noodles like the blizzard machine!" Noodles frowned as he placed a finger against his chin. "What's the blizzard machine?"

The Gill Grunt clone slapped its fin against his forehead. With a sigh, it grabbed a mechanical, box-shaped remote with a snowflake knob out of its pocket and turned the knob clockwise twice.

"This ought to slow them down for a while," it whispered. As it spoke, snow fell down from the heavens and a smirk fell across its dark, wet lips. "And give us just enough time to catch them."