Chihiro stared sympathetically at Spyro as she gazed at him from the wooden stool she sat on. After the events of yesterday, he and Gill Grunt were bedridden with nasty colds from being stuck in a block of solid ice for several hours—much to Spyro's disdain.

"Gotta, get, back," Spyro moaned as he tried to nudge himself out of bed before he broke out into a coughing fit.

"Spyro, chill! We'll worry about Kaos, you just focus on getting better," Chihiro said as she got off the stool and pushed Spyro back into bed.

Spyro grunted as he fell back into both his bed and the confines of a soft blanket. "But Skylands—"

"Has plenty of other people protecting it." Chihiro tucked Spyro back into bed and placed her hands on her hip, "And besides, you can't really do anything when you're as sick as you are! You can barely even get out of bed!"

"But I can't just sit around when Kaos isn't! Every second I sit here, he's out there, conquering Skylands!" Spyro's voice rang hoarse from the cold, but it still showed a great deal of concern. "Besides, are you sure—"

Spyro promptly stopped thanks to the tenth hacking fit he entered that week.

"We'll be fine, Spyro." Chihiro sighed and rubbed a hand over his forehead. "If you wanna do anything to help us, just focus on getting better."

Spyro didn't retort this time—he entered a sneezing fit instead. Chihiro silently grabbed a box of tissues and offered it to him. She frowned as he grabbed a tissue, sneezed fire into it and burnt the poor tissue to a crisp. After all was said and done, she wiped the ashes off of the bed and sighed.

"Just get some rest, okay? Portal master's orders." Chihiro's gaze narrowed but softened soon after. "I gotta leave in a little bit to change out patrols, but before that, do you need anything else?"

"A cold compress would be nice—“ Spyro moaned before he turned on his side “—because these sinus headaches are killing me."

"I could use one too," Gill Grunt moaned from the other bed as he rubbed his forehead.

"Duly noted."

Chihiro stood up and carefully stepped out of the room, though she was sure to leave the door open just a crack for when she returned. She slowly walked down the stark tile floor of the hallway while her eyes glazed over seemingly identical rows of wooden doors. She couldn't help but feel her heartstrings tug as she toyed with her zipper—after all, Spyro felt so awful that he had to rest and not attend to his duties because he was sick…

But he wouldn't have gotten sick in the first place if I had gotten to him earlier, Chihiro thought as she sucked on her lower lip. After all—

Before her brain could jump to its next wildest conclusion, Chihiro caught sight of one particular door and stopped right in her tracks. The door was wood, like just about everything there; unlike the door that preceded it, though, it lacked a doorknob and had a circular window installed in it so that one could peer into the room. Yes, this was the kitchen door she searched for!

Chihiro pushed the door open to find herself in a kitchen with tile floors and wooden walls. Lined against the leftmost wall were several stoves, each one identical in shape and inactive, while lined against the right were a large steel freezer and refrigerator that were undoubtedly filled to their brims with food and medicines which needed to be chilled. At the very back was a simple sink made of steel placed over a wooden cupboard.

With a smile on her face, Chihiro walked in front of the sink, knelt down and opened a wooden cabinet located at the bottom of the sink. Inside the cupboard were all sorts of minor medicinal supplies, from first aid kits and boxes of bandages to the compresses she looked for! Chihiro grabbed two empty compresses out of the cupboard and closed it shut before she made her way to the freezer. When she arrived, she opened the freezer door, scanned its inner contents, and magically lifted out a large bag of ice. Once the ice bag was safely on the floor, she placed the compresses to the side and opened it with both hands.

Of course, it was cold to the touch—which Chihiro quickly learned as she stopped in her tracks and jittered. With a sigh, she magically opened the bag up, grabbed both compresses one by one, unscrewed their caps, and filled them both with ice.

"Yep, nice and cold," Chihiro whispered as she felt the cool fabric of the compress and capped them back up. "Hopefully this'll help them out, even just a little."

With her job finished, Chihiro gently pushed the kitchen door back open and made her way back to where Spyro and Gill Grunt rested. Her walk was brisk as she trained her eyes on the tile floors, her mind so lost in thought…

If I had just been a little faster, they wouldn't have gotten sick, Chihiro thought as she squeezed the compresses' caps tight. It's all my fault they feel so awful! I've gotta make sure they get bet—

CRASH! Chihiro let out a shout of pain as she crashed into someone and fell on the floor!

"Hey, Chihiro, are you okay?"

Chihiro immediately recognized the voice, looked up, and found Whirlwind staring back at her.

"Sorry for running into you like that," Whirlwind apologized as she offered Chihiro her paw. "Here, let me help you up."

Chihiro accepted Whirlwind's apology with a nod, took Whirlwind's paw, and heaved herself up. She looked down at the cold compresses in her hand—yup, still intact, thankfully. It would've been a pain to fill them up again.

"Let me guess, for Spyro and Gill Grunt?" Whirlwind asked as her eyes glazed over the cold compresses in Chihiro's hand.

"You guessed it." Chihiro nodded before she looked at Whirlwind and added, "anyways, what are you doing here? Are you checking on them too?"

"Actually, I came here to find you," Whirlwind replied, "Hugo's orders. He needs you to send out the next batch of patrols."

"I know, I was getting to that." Chihiro cast an aside glance. "I just needed to get these for Spyro and Gill first."

Whirlwind frowned as Chihiro slumped her shoulders. "Chihiro, you've been worrying about them all the time! It seems like whenever you're not doing portals you're here with them."

"I know, I know, it's just, well—" Chihiro mumbled as she turned away from Whirlwind "—if I hadn't run off and gotten lost, they wouldn't have gotten sick like this, and—"

Whirlwind sighed and flew up to Chihiro until they were at eye level. "Chihiro, you can't keep blaming yourself." Whirlwind gently tapped Chihiro's nose with her claw. "You weren't the one who put them there, did you?"

"Well, no, but it still might not have happened if I was there!" Chihiro bit her lip and tried to push past Whirlwind. "I'm sorry, I really need to—"

"Chihiro, you've spent more than enough time taking care of them." Whirlwind flew back in front of Chihiro and placed a paw on Chihiro's shoulder."How about I handle things for a change?"

"But—"

"No buts." Whirlwind gave Chihiro a look that seemed like she was insisting for her to get some fresh air, "With my healing powers, I'm sure I can get them back on their feet in no time. And besides, you need a break—why don't you run back down to the beach after you're done with patrols? Some fresh air might do you some good."

"Sheesh, I'm going," Chihiro teased, though at this time it seemed almost weak, "Oh, and by the way, give these to Spyro and Gill—" Chihiro handed off the compresses to Whirlwind "—for sinus headaches."

And with that, Chihiro hung her head low and made her way out of the infirmary…

§

After a few minutes, Chihiro changed out patrols, wrote down reports and handed them over to Hugo—it was routine for her at this point, so it hardly took more than a half-hour. Even though Whirlwind had suggested that fresh air would help… It wasn't really doing her any good; she still felt awful. Now, she paced around the heart of the island withher head hung low the entire time.

I shouldn't be slacking off here, Chihiro thought as she sucked on her lip. I should be back there, helping them! It's the least I could do after everything that happened to them because of me…

"I guess I'll go down to the beach," Chihiro said as she tugged on her sleeve. "Maybe if I soak up some rays I can get my mind off of things."

And with that, Chihiro took her walk across the ruins, her eyes on her feet as she trailed across the center of the island until she reached the spiraling staircase that lead to the beach.

I'm such an idiot, Chihiro thought. I should have stuck with them, and now they're sick, and I nearly screwed up my first real big mission, and—oh, what's the use! I've gone over this in my head like, fifty times now.

Chihiro ran her hand against the wooden railway, then heaved a sigh and quietly walked down the runway. As she walked, the torches equipped to the staircase lit up with prismatic white fire that slowly reflected each color in the Skylandian rainbow—first a dusty, sunset orange, next a chromatic purple, after that a bright blue, then a fiery red, a rich brown, a pale silver, a lush green, and finally a pale, sky blue. Her eyes flickered over the torches for mere moments, before she slouched over and focused on the ground below her as she walked down the steps.

If Hugo was here, I bet he'd launch himself into this whole speech about how magical these torches are, Chihiro thought with a chuckle, the single laugh she had let out insofar that day. Good thing he isn't, I don't feel like listening to lectures. Why do I have to get so antsy about everything? I mean, it's not like the whole world's gonna cave in if I fail. Oh wait, it is! Cause I'm the super important portal master and—

When she looked up, Chihiro realized that she was at the beach at last. "I really need to stop getting lost in my thoughts." Chihiro said before she took in the sounds and sights of the beach.

Those sounds were really nothing except for the crashing of waves against the docks and crunch of sand beneath her feet. It looked and felt not at all that different from when she visited it a few days prior, aside from the resident chill from when Vindlevale popped by the ocean that day—or maybe that was just her imagination?

I still can't believe I got to go on my first real mission. Chihiro smiled as she toyed with her jacket's zipper, her mind simmered in memories of that fateful day. It almost feels like it was just yesterday. Stopping those ice ogres, saving Vindlevale, learning how to ice skate…

Chihiro walked forward and slowly imitated the form of a figure skater as she strode back and fro across the beach's sands. As she did, however, a slight sense of dread covered her mind and gently laid her arms back at her side. No longer in the mood to sake, Chihiro just bit her lip as she watched her reflection in the waves.

And Spyro and Gill getting sick.

Her mind turned numb as she mindlessly stared at her reflection in the water, little mind paid to the waters as they cascaded over her boots, the crunch of the sand underneath her feet and the faint sound of… Screaming? Wait, hold on—why was there screaming? Chihiro's curiosity piqued as she listened in, noted that it seemed to be coming from the beach's east end and hurried off to that direction almost immediately.

"Uh, just so you know, if you're going to eat me, I'm really salty and kinda high in cholesterol—"

"If you are going eat me, you should know I salty too!"

"Oh great, someone please, get me out of here!"

Chihiro tilted her head as she poked it around the corner. Those voices weren't like any she had recognize! She turned around and walked closer to their source, which was a gillperson trapped in a cell with rusted red bars!

They reminded Chihiro a bit of Gill Grunt in appearance, except they lacked fangs on their lower jaw, their scales were seafoam green in color, and they wore bright orange rubber overalls and a matching rubber shirt. Their fins clasped tight onto the bars of their cage, and the sheer amount of shaking they did betrayed their fear.

"Summon Getty underwear! He he!" squeaked something with a high-pitched voice as the gillperson banged their head against their cage's bars.

Chihiro walked over to the cage and looked up at the cell. Her vision focused in on the top of the cell, where, stationed in a giant, golden metal puzzle, was a curious little bright green ball of fluff with pink eyes that were varying in size and yellow duck flippers that lacked any form of webbing.

"Hello?" the gillperson gurgled, their voice like someone gargling saltwater, "Have you come to rescue me?" The gillperson frowned at Chihiro's lack of response. "Please say yes, this thing's driving me upstream!"

Chihiro hummed, grasped the puzzle in her hands, and shook it vigorously! It was quite easy—the puzzle was surprisingly light for something that looked so bulky. As she did this, the gremlin creature popped inside the puzzle's lock and hollered as she shook the puzzle around! Within a couple of minutes, Chihiro heard something that sounded akin to a click! Right then and there, the weird gremlin creature disappeared and the puzzle fell off the cage… And right onto Chihiro's foot. Chihiro yowled as the pain seared through her entire body, yet watched as the puzzle disappeared.

"Ugh, my foot…" Chihiro moaned and knelt down to massage her throbbing foot.

Meanwhile, the strange gillperson carefully nudged the rusted iron bars of the cage they were in and flung the door open! Of course, though, the door ended up in Chihiro's face and flung her back in the sand with another scream of pain.

"Heh, sorry 'bout that," the gillperson giggled as they rubbed the back of their slimy head—surely they would be blushing in embarrassment if gillpeople were capable of such an action.

"No need, I'm, fine, fine," Chihiro moaned as she stumbled up and tried to repress the giant red mark on her face that she gained in the collision. "Just who are you, anyways?"

Before either party could speak again, Chihiro heard the sound of panting, and turned around to find someone—or rather, some people—as they ran to her in the distance!

"Hugo!" Chihiro shouted as she blinked, "And…" Chihiro held her hand over her now-narrowed eyes. "Wham and Zap?"

Hugo ran as fast as his stubby legs could take him before he panted and plopped down on the warm sands, only for another figure—a red and gold crustacean with piercing blue eyes, a mouth full of sharp pearly whites that dipped to a frown and equally-sharp white claws that clasped a golden, spiky mace—to pull him up.

After he stood, he sat and caught his breath, only to be nudged by a blue water dragon with green fins that trailed all the way down their body, wide orange eyes and amphibian legs who wore a yellow vest, and broke into a coughing fit. Once he regained his breath, Hugo looked up at Chihiro with fear dilated in his brown eyes.

"Chihiro, I heard some strange sounds coming down from here, is something wrong?" Hugo asked, his speech so fast you'd be forgiven if you thought he was in serious danger.

"Just the fact that some strange fish guy is on the beach and locked in a cell that's guarded by some weird imp dude." Chihiro turned to her side and pointed to the gillperson she just rescued, who sheepishly waved at Hugo.

"Er, hi there," they said as they smiled weakly and clutched their fins.

"Oh, you must be talking about the beach confinement system!" Hugo exclaimed as he clasped his paws together, his body slightly calmed. "We haven't gotten any use out of that in years!"

The gillperson scoffed as they crossed their arms. "It could use some renovations,"

"So, Mr. Fish, do you happen to have any sheep on you?"

"Gurglefin."

"Gesundheit!"

"No, my name, it's Gurglefin," Gurglefin shot back with a look of frustration on his wet face, "I'm a Gillman, not a fish, and where would I keep a sheep? I'm not wearing pants, in case you couldn't tell."

Chihiro snickered for the first time in those past days, but returned to a cold, neutral look.

"In all seriousness, Gurglefin, how'd you end up here?" Chihiro asked with a tilt of her head.

"Well," said Gurglefin as he rubbed his hands, "my homeland was taken over by trolls, who locked us all up and started drilling for oil to give to Kaos!"

The crustacean's eyes widened as their expression soured, and with sudden determination, they pushed through the tiny crowd and shoved their face in Gurglefin's.

"What happened next?" the crustacean demanded, their voice deep and somewhat gravely in tone.

"Er, I came searching for the Skylanders." Gurglefin shrank back. "Because word on the stream was they returned, but I somehow ended up in here instead!"

Silence resounded through the beach for a few moments as Chihiro coughed. "Well, you're in luck, because I happen to have the Skylanders with me!" Chihiro chirped as she rubbed a fist against her chest.

Gurglefin gave Hugo one look and another, completely surprised. "You mean him?" Gurglefin asked with a bewildered tone in his voice. "Because he doesn't look like a Skylander to me."

"He's not, but we are!" the crustacean proclaimed as they brushed a fist against their chest. "Name's Wham-Shell, and Zap and I will take care of those trolls before you can even blink!"

"Clearly I am not needed here," Hugo grumbled as he let out a little scoff and scurried away.

Wham-Shell sighed as he watched Hugo leave. "Better apologize to him later. For now, looks like we've got an island to save!"

"I'll go get a portal set up!" Chihiro chirped as she dusted herself off and made her way to the stairs.

"That won't be needed," Gurglefin piped up as he raised up a webbed hand, "because, I brought my own ship!"

"You have a ship?" Chihiro, Zap, and Wham-Shell asked all at once.

"Well, how else did you think I got here?"

"Swimming?" Chihiro guessed.

"Parasailing?" Zap suggested.

"Seahorse riding?" Wham-Shell assumed.

Chihiro gave Wham-Shell and Zap a strange look, and they both only shrugged back in response.

"No, none of those!" Gurglefin exclaimed with a shake of his head. "I got here by sailing! I'll even show you my pride and joy! Here, Delilah!"

Gurglefin made a noise akin to a distorted whistle, and immediately a massive, wooden schooner with billowing, white sails and a very sturdy oakwood mast shaped like a mermaid sailed into the docks and parked itself next to the shore.

Chihiro, Zap, and Wham-Shell stared in wonder as they looked upon the ship, until Chihiro's awestruck look morphed into a look of pure excitement.

"Well, guys, looks like we're going by boat! Isn't this cool?" Chihiro shouted, her eyes bright as she ran across the docks, jumped onto the ship, and bounced up and down on its deck.

As Wham-Shell and Zap followed her, Zap grimaced towards Wham-Shell and gently nudged his shoulder.

"Wham, are you sure you're okay with this, buddy?" Zap asked. "Listen, dude, I know your history with tro—"

"It's fine, Zap," Wham-Shell insisted as his voice seethed. "That was all in the past."

"Dude, I've seen you when you think like that, it's not—"

"I said it's fine. I'm a Skylander now, I can't let some bad memories get in the way of my job." Wham-Shell looked down at his own hands and frowned deeply. "Besides, I can't let what happened to me happen to anybody else."

Zap frowned for a moment with a lingering gaze left on Wham-Shell, yet bit his lip and zoomed onto the ship. "You look pumped!" Zap remarked as he joined Chihiro at her side.

Now that he was safely on board, Zap used his slippery paw to hesitantly beacon Wham-Shell over, and watched as Wham-Shell joined them while he muttered something under his breath.

"Because I am, Zapster!" Chihiro exclaimed as she looked at Zap, "I mean, how many people my age get to ride on a cool ship like this? None that I know, that's for sure!"

Chihiro frowned Wham-Shell trekked up the ramp, all while he muttered something barely audible to everyone around.

"I can't think about it, I can't think about it…" Wham-Shell murmured at a volume that could only barely be heard.

"Hey Wham, what'cha talking 'bout?" Chihiro chirped as she tilted her head.

"Nothing."

Wham-Shell grunted and stormed off to the other side of the ship's deck while Chihiro frowned and shrugged. She glanced down the deck that seemed to stretch endlessly before her eyes, but trailed off to the steering wheel as an idea slowly formed in that strange head of hers. She grabbed hold of the wheel and her frown flipped itself to a smile. Chihiro span the wheel around a spell and looked over to see the board retract into the rest of the ship!

Gurglefin whistled to himself as he strode up the wooden plank… Only for the plank to pull out from under him! With a shout of alarmm he dashed up the platform and promptly tripped onto the deck, all while he panted heavily.

No mind paid to Gurglefin, Chihiro spun the wheel around and steered—very roughly, need it be said; it seemed that at every turn she seemed to have rammed the hull into another rock or port.

"Whoops! Sorry! Meant to do that!" Chihiro shouted with a grimace as she carefully steered the ship away from the port. "I think I've got this now!" Chihiro winced as she felt the ship ram against something. "Oh, nevermind that!"

Shouts and groans rang all around as the ships' passengers flew left and right from Chihiro's steering, but their clear distaste was completely ignored by Chihiro. In fact, her mind was more preoccupied with this new strange sound of crashing water that she heard! Chihiro looked across the wheel and saw that she reached the end of the island! It was marked by clear, rushing waterfalls, and the dive seemed pretty darn steep—the skies were endless no matter how far down she looked. Say, Skylands wouldn't happen to have a bottom, would it?

"Uh, you guys might wanna grab onto something!" Gurglefin exclaimed as he dashed forward and clung to the base of the steering wheel.

However, he was ignored by all as the ship bounded down the waterfall, as screams came from all aboard. Gurglefin himself screamed, Zap screamed, even Wham-Shell screamed!

But oddly enough, Chihiro just stared transfixed on the scene in front of her, absolutely entranced by the episode before her eyeballs. As she watched the scene, a bright red button found its way out of the wooden spokes on the side of the wheel, and with no hesitation, Chihiro smacked it down. In a flash, billowy, white, sail-like wings popped out of the ship's side, and with the capture of a friendly breeze, the ship soared off!

"Oh, did I mention that Delilah's an all-terrain ship?" Gurglefin recalled as he snagged the wheel back from Chihiro.

Everybody else just glared Gurglefin down while Gurglefin shrugged helplessly.