Slam Bam grunted as he tossed out block after block of ice at the swarm of ice ogre soldiers, but it was of little use! It seemed that with every ogre soldier he froze, or punched, or knocked away, at least five more took its place! Just how many of them were there, anyways?

For that matter, his companions weren't doing so hot, either—the lava blobs that Eruptor lobbed grew less frequent as he panted and shivered, clearly worn down by the cold at last, and Haldor panted heavily as he shot beam after beam of magic.

"Give up yet, Skylanders?" Noodles jeered from the crowd, his arms crossed.

"Never!" Slam Bam growled back as he punched away four more ice ogre soldiers. "Skylanders never give up!"

"O ho ho!" Noodles cackled as he crossed his arms. "You say that now, but look at you! You all look so tired!"

Eruptor groaned and stumbled backwards before he fell over! Thankfully Slam Bam was quick to catch Eruptor and hold him tight—but something wasn't right! Eruptor's body was so dull, so hard, almost as if he was freezing up! With a bite of his lip, Slam Bam looked down at Eruptor and…

"Ruptor, your light, it's fading!" Slam Bam shouted as he held Eruptor even closer.

"It's so cold, Slam," Eruptor whimpered as he shuddered and slowly closed his eyes, yet opened them again as Slam Bam cuddled him close.

"Hang in there, Ruptor, Chihiro's gonna be here any minute now." Slam Bam gulped as he looked to the skies and saw something glow against the cold, gray skies, "Wait, could that be…"

Slam Bam's then widened in surprise as Chihiro popped out of thin air, while a giant wooden catapult arm floated behind her.

"Am I late?" Chihiro asked as she hovered in midair.

"CHIHIRO!" Slam Bam called with a twinkle in his eyes.

Haldor turned around in shock, and broke out into a wide smile as he saw Chihiro hover in midair.

"Oh, you ogres are in fer it now!" Haldor proclaimed as he zapped the arm with his wand, then watched as the arm attached itself to the catapult. With a maybe too eager grin, Haldor zoomed up to the catapult and watched as the army of ice ogres slowly backed away. "Ya should be scared, ya little snowmongerers!" Haldor exclaimed as he tapped the catapult arm's seat with his taste. "Now, why don'tcha have a taste of yer own medicine fer a chance?"

As Haldor removed his staff, a giant snowball magically appeared in the seat! With a sharp, screeching whistle, the giant snowball soared across the blizzarding skies at rapid speeds and landed straight in the middle of the ice ogre army! The army screamed in unified panic as it tried to escape, but Haldor wasn't going to stop—he continued to shoot off giant snowballs and squash their troops underneath!

"Uh, uh, well," Noodles sputtered as he frantically looked in fifty million directions, "NOODLES FORGOT TO TURN OFF NOODLES' OVEN, NOODLES SHOULD REALLY BE—"

Noodles never even got the chance to run—he was immediately trapped under the weight of an ice-cold giant snowball.

Chihiro beamed and laughed as she watched the ogres that once intimidated them flee, but her smile quickly faded as she looked at Eruptor. He looked so cold and sad as he shuddered in the blizzard—he could really use a blanket or two. With a bite of her lip, Chihiro took off her parka and gently wrapped it around him, patted his head, and watched as a fluffy hat made of magic appeared over it.

"Hey, Eruptor, feeling any better?" Chihiro asked as she tilted her head, with her voice surprisingly gentle and parental in tone.

Eruptor's shudders were the only answer Chihiro received, and it only served to worry her more. So, Chihiro hugged him as tight as she could.

"Hang in there, Rupty, it's almost over. We've got the catapult finished, and now we're gonna break this wall down. Then, it'll be as sunny as Ancient Peak's is during summer!" Chihiro barely saw Eruptor smile a slight, toothy grin and she smiled back at him before she turned back to Haldor.

"So, Haldor, what kind of ammunition does this thing need?"

"Well, this wall here's made'a magic ice…" Haldor said as he stroked his beard in contemplation before he turned to Chihiro with a twinkle in his eye, "And d'ya know what we use to melt magic ice?"

"What?" Chihiro's voice turned to an excited level of shrillness as her eyes sparkled.

"MAGIC FIREBALLS!"

With an excited cackle and another wave of his staff, Haldor watched in glee as a giant, crackling fireball that radiated with magic manifested inside the catapult, and clapped his hands! The catapult shot the fireball at the wall in an instant, and created a giant hole in the wall where blue skies shone through!

"My turn, my turn!" Chihrio shouted as she ran up to the catapult and placed her hands on its base.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, heard a whoosh, and looked up to see that another giant fireball sat in the arm! With a sharp gasp, Chihiro bounced up and down, snapped her fingers, and watched as it launched at the ice wall. What was just two fireballs soon became three, five, ten, well, after a while they all lost count, but it didn't matter—because the ice wall broke!

They all watched in glee as warmth crept into the cold winter snow, and they were all encapsulated by a light so bright it absorbed everything…

§

When everybody opened their eyes, the first thing they felt was warmth. The snow that once pounded down Vindlevale cleared magnificently, and all that could be seen was rich green grass that tickled the toes and colorful flowers of just about every species. Birds chirped and warm breezes blew throughout the crystal clear blue skies. The comforting warmth a nice, soft bed after a long, hard day of work that embraced everyone with the words Chihiro soon spoke.

"We did it," Chihiro whispered, completely awestruck for moments before she jumped in the air, "WE DID IT!"

"W-what did we do?" Eruptor mumbled as he sat up and rubbed his head, "I think I fell asleep!"

Chihiro turned around and beamed as she looked at Eruptor. His light burned bright as ever, and he looked so warm and cuddly—she couldn't help but run up to him and hug him.

"We saved Vindlevale, Rupty!" Chihiro proclaimed with all manner of glee in her voice. Chihiro made a soft chirp as something lifted her and Eruptor into a giant bear hug, and beamed up at a smiling Slam Bam.

"Say, I'm feelin' better already, seein' all this ice clear up!" Haldor proclaimed as he stretched his arms to the summery skies and beamed wide. "Oh, you guys know what? I bet the swimmin' hole's warmin' up too! I'm gonna get my swimmin' trunks!"

Everybody else cringed as Haldor disappeared presumably to wherever he laid his swimming trunks, and sighed.

Chihiro jumped out of Slam Bam's arms and looked up at him and Eruptor. "We've still got one thing we need to do, though," Chihiro said, "We need to save Spyro and Gill, come on!"

It took a look of running, though Chihiro didn't entirely mind—running in the warmth of spring was so nice! She needed to do it more often! Soon, she felt a chill rush through her, saw something glassy and stopped.

"Looks like I found them," Chihiro said as she glazed at a giant ice block in front of her.

There, trapped within its giant, icy casings was Spyro and Gill Grunt, flopped on top of each other and completely unconscious. Slam Bam was right—they were frozen solid, probably while they were looking for her!

Don't worry guys, I'm here now! Chihiro thought to herself as she shook her head and glazed down the ice block. She gently brushed her hand against it, and found it was cold to the touch, but she wasn't deterred.

"Found 'em?" Slam Bam asked as he and Eruptor walked next to Chihiro.

"Slam, do you have any idea how we can get them out of this ice?" Chihiro asked, her eyes not taken off the ice block and a determined frown on her face.

Slam Bam cracked his knuckles and glared down the ice block with an expression that made it look like he was about to punch something. "We crack it, of course!" Slam Bam exclaimed.

With punches faster than bullets, Slam Bam chipped away at the ice four punches at a time! Beside him, Chihiro closed her eyes, opened them, and watched as a chisel and heavy mallet made of magic energy manifested within her hands! Not one to waste time, Chihiro placed the chisel onto the ice and smashed down the mallet! Her determined frown turned to a smile as she watched cracks appear in the ice, but only for a moment as she bounced around the block and cracked it some more! Even Eruptor contributed as he rested his warm hands against the ice and slowly melted it down.

The cracks multiplied and spread across the ice as they worked until the ice block finally made a large cracking noise and shattered completely! As the ice block's fragments fell to the grass, Spyro and Gill Grunt's unconscious bodies fell into the arms of Chihiro and Slam Bam respectively. Chihiro bit her lip as she ran her hand over Spyro's body. It was so cold; had she gotten to him too late? Was he dead? With a small shudder she looked over at Slam Bam, who gave a similarly-concerned gaze to Gill Grunt, but heard a soft groan and looked down at Spyro.

"Ugh, Chihiro…" Spyro groaned as he lifted his head just slightly and slowly opened his eyes.

"SPYRO!" Chihiro croaked as she hugged him tight while tears of joy fell down her face, "I was so worried!" Chihiro sniffled for a few moments, and gently snuggled Spyro a little more. "Everything's okay now, don't worry."

Meanwhile, Slam Bam attended to a still-sleeping Gill Grunt, who refuse to wake no matter how many times Slam Bam nudged him.

"Is he gonna wake up?" Eruptor asked as he walked up to Slam Bam and gently nudged Gill Grunt's head.

"YOWCH!" Gill Grunt exclaimed as he jolted up, rubbed his head, and groaned. "Ugh, I had this dream that we were all at this place that was in a nasty blizzard, and—"

"Uh, Gill, you weren't dreaming," Spyro said as he jolted his head up, "Wait, is it—"

"Don't worry, we all managed to save the place!" Chihiro smiled and laid Spyro down on the grass. "Look!"

Slam Bam gently dropped Gill Grunt to the ground, and all of them paused to take in the beauty of the surroundings. It was so warm, so peaceful, so full of life, and they all worked so hard to save it and make it this way. Just watching it all felt so peaceful and rewarding and undisturbed until…

"AH-CHOO!"

Spyro sneezed out fire, sniffled, and rubbed his snout only to sneeze again.

"Looks like being in that ice block for so long gave you a cold!" Chihiro remarked as she rubbed a hand against Spyro's scaly forehead.

"I'm perfectly fine, Chihiro, I," Spyro said before he sneezed again, "ah-choo!"

"Ah-choo!" Gill Grunt sneezed from across the way, sniffled a couple more times, and rubbed his eyes.

Chihiro only giggled and gently grabbed Spyro's paw. "Come on guys, look like you two need to pay a visit to the infirmary!"

§Meanwhile, somewhere far, far away...§

Hidden deep within Kaos's flying fortress was a laboratory. It wasn't like most laboratories, no—it lacked the gadgets and gizmos most laboratories had, and only had extensive amounts of test tubes that all shone in dark colors. And within these tubes? Minions. Evil minions. Evil Skylander minions. Perfect equals to the Skylanders in their power, their abilities, their capabilities; by all accounts, they should have completely succeeded!

"And yet," Kaos proclaimed as he glared over two dark blue-colored tubes and a burgundy-colored one sandwiched between, each of which had a dully-colored shining core safely trapped within. "You foolish fools still completely bungled your assignment!"

Kaos pounded his fist on a dark blue tube and glared at his reflection in its plastic surface. His evil teeth bared, his evil eyebrows furrowed, and his whole face reflected an angered expression of absolute evil and doom!

"You incompetents probably meandered about and showed off, and look what good it did you!" Kaos snapped his fingers and showed a reflection of Vindlevale, which depicted the Skylanders laughing among each other. "The Skylanders completely beat you like the losers you are and saved that island I conquered!"

Kaos gritted his teeth and balled his fist. Sometimes he didn't even know why he created them, the utterly incompetent losers he didn't even pride enough to call his minions… Just then, a bright flash of red light emitted complete with the sound of whirring and many different beeps, all in a tone so shrill and high-pitched it made Kaos's evil genius ears ache!

"I'M COMING! SHUT UP!" Kaos shouted at the portal as he trudged away, but not before he shot one last glare at the test tube collection. "You'd best be more competent the next time you reform."

And with that, Kaos returned to his portal room to find that his portal glowed a magnificently malevolent red. With a couple claps of his hands, he watched as the portal shone with blood red lights while a figure emerged from its surface.

"Yes, Evil Water Dragon! Has the Eternal Water Source been secured?" Kaos gave the minion before him an expectant gaze.

This creature, in terms of body shape, was some cross between draconic and aquatic, with a slender body covered in fins and supported by almost amphibian legs. Its whole body filled with nothing but darkness, with the occasional speck of blue Water Element magic.

"Does this answer your question?" the Evil Water Dragon asked, its voice like someone gargling with water.

The Evil Water Dragon nudged something out from his back—a glowing, blue oval of light with water sloshing all around inside it. The power of the Water Element radiated heavily from it, and just looking at it made Kaos feel soaked to his toes.

And he loved it.

"Yes, it does!" Kaos clapped his hands and made a very evil grin if he said so himself. “Finally, one of my minions actually does something RIGHT for once!”

"All this praise is nice and all." The Evil Water Dragon's tone turned serious. "But shouldn't we work on relocating the source so the Skylanders and the portal master can't get it?"

"I'm working on that! I just wanted to bask in the evil moment." Kaos crossed his arms and huffed, then reached out towards the Eternal Water Source. "Now, come to papa!"

However, as soon as Kaos reached out to touch the source, a raincloud brewed over Kaos's head and caused a torrent of rain to completely drench him!

"On second thought, Evil Water Dragon, you get the honor of containing the source. I need to dry off."

And with a series of grumbles, the very soaked evil mastermind that was Kaos trudged out of the portal room.