Roughly an hour of sailing later, Chihiro smiled widely as Gurglefin parked the ship next to a creaky, oil-covered wooden dock that looked like it hadn't been tended to in years.

"We're he~re!" Chihiro announced as she leaned over the side of the dock.

As soon as they heard Chihiro's voice, Wham-Shell, Gurglefin and Zap raced to her side and peered over the ship's deck. When Wham-Shell and Zap saw the scene, they gasped and reeled back. Gurglefin, for his part, just solemnly shook his head; surely, he was fully aware of the awful sights before them.

There in front of their eyes was a murky island that reeked of oil and despair. The oceans were an oily gungy black, worn-down mechanical devices coated the island like pests and billowed out thick black smoke everywhere one turned, and the earthy floors that hadn't been replaced by steel were a nasty shade of green. The whole place felt like despair personified.

"Dude, that is NASTY!" Zap exclaimed as he tumbled back.

Chihiro shuddered as she looked ahead, but her shock lasted only a moment as she regained her cheerful composure. "Yep, definitely here!" Chihiro chirped.

Gurglefin only heaved a mournful sigh as he glazed over the island.

"This place used to be beautiful, you know," Gurglefin said, his tone and posture so defeated and sorrowful as he gazed over the island. "The oceans were clear as crystals, the air was so fresh—" Gurglefin grimaced as he looked down at the oil-filled waters "—it was a regular paradise until Kaos's trolls came here to drill for oil!"

Everybody's expressions felt into a sympathetic level of sorrow, but most of all Wham-Shell's—there was a kind of understanding despair in his eyes as he pursed his lips, as if he felt Gurglefin's pain from the bottom of his heart. Zap seemed to have noticed as well as he placed a paw on Wham-Shell's shoulder.

"And not only did they turn the whole place upside-down looking for oil, they captured all my people!" Gurglefin shuddered as he gazed over the island one last time. "Only the Ancients know what they'll do to them! They'll probably turn them into Gillpeople Goulash, or soup, or…"

Gurglefin stopped short as Chihiro placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and looked up to her sunny beam—a rare source of light in such a harrowing scene.

"Don't worry a scale off your head, Gurglewin!" Chihiro chirped as she turned confident and pumped a fist. "We'll stop those nasty trolls and make this island just as beautiful as it was before! No, five times as beautiful, maybe even ten, or twenty, or—" Chihiro looked over the island only to find that Zap and Wham-Shell ran off without her "—hey guys, wait for me!"

With short pants, Chihiro dashed away from Gurglefin and ran down the plank.

"… It's Gurglefin." Gurglefin frowned and sighed as he slowly left the ship.

Chihiro dashed across the oily steel grounds with a beam. Of course, she happened to not notice the giant puddles of oil that surrounded the island, lost her footing on one, and skidded all over the island! While she screamed as loud as she could, Chihiro zipped past a confused Zap and Wham-Shell before she slammed right into a giant door!

Chihiro squeaked with pain as her eyes flickered away from the door, and back to Wham-Shell, Zap, and Gurglefin, who all stared at her with the most confused of looks.

"I'm okay, I meant to do that!" Chihiro reassured, though her pained look and the giant red mark between her eyes seemed to speak otherwise.

Wham-Shell frowned as he approached Chihiro and yanked her off of the floor.

"Heh, guess I set myself up for that one," Chihiro whimpered, only to shy away as Wham-Shell stared at her with a scolding gaze.

"You need to be more careful," Wham-Shell chastised before he gave her another scolding look and went over to examine the gate. "Now, stay back for a minute while we examine this gate."

Chihiro gave the gate a curious look and hummed. It lacked a visible lock or key; how was it supposed to be opened? He eyes focused on the various giant crystals held into places with rusty gold stands across the island's metal floors, each of which shone out iridescent beams of light despite the fact that the sun was heavily blocked by the smog.

"Wait, I've got an idea!"Chihiro chirped.

She approached one of the crystals and examined it thoroughly. She knelt down, dug her feet into the earth, and pushed the crystal forwards, but no dice—even after pushing for what seemed like hours, it didn't budge an inch. Chihiro stood back up, placed her hands on her hips, and huffed.

"Ugh, why won't you move?"

Chihiro's patience wore thin as she side-kicked the machine! The force from her kick skidded it forward—at last! The beam of light it emitted locked with a smaller crystal that was located next to the gate and caused the gate's doors to swing open with a thud.

Chihiro blinked for a few rapid moments, beamed, and rubbed a fist against her chest. "Well, looks like it's open!" Chihiro grabbed Wham-Shell's armored hand and Zap's scaly paw then took a small step forwards, "Come on guys, let's go!"

Without any sort of warning, Chihiro then zoomed forward and dragged them with her!

"Let's go save the gillpeople!" Chihiro exclaimed from a good distance as she flung her clenched fist in the air and Zap with it.

Gurglefin, meanwhile, just stared at them from the openness of the opened gate and chuckled. "Heh, guess I'll just stay here then?"

§

"Chihiro, for the love of the Ancient, slow down!" Wham shouted as he clung tight to her arm.

"What?" Chihiro shouted as she looked over at Wham-Shell. "I can't hear you over the sound of the wind!"

"Chi!" Zap shouted.

"What, Zapster?" Chihiro asked as she looked over at Zap.

"Stop! You're making me dizzy!"

Chihiro dug her heels into the ground and made a screeching sound as she slowed down and took a breath. "Well, why didn't you say so?" Chihiro asked as she finally came to a stop and let the other two go free.

Wham-Shell heaved a frustrated sigh, before he took a deep breath and returning to a neutral composure.

"Our first order of business is finding those gillpeople that were imprisoned," Wham-Shell proclaimed as he held tight to his mace while his eyes darted from place to place as he spoke. "But where are they?"

The three of them hummed and pondered for a few short minutes—though to them, it seemed more like eternity. Eventually, all they did was sigh.

"You got any ideas?" Wham-Shell asked as he fixed his eyes on Zap and Chihiro, but frowned as they shrugged.

"Not a clue, dude," Zap replied as he hung his head.

"Maybe we should split up," Chihiro suggested at last as she rested her hands at her side. "This island is pretty big, and there's a lot of places where someone could keep prisoners."

Wham-Shell and Zap contemplated this for a few minutes, and reluctantly nodded their heads.

"Alrighty then!" Chihiro chirped as she pointed towards the open passageway ahead. "Zap, Wham, you guys go on ahead! I'll stay here and check things out!"

Wham-Shell bit his lip as he watched Zap zoom off ahead, and took once glance back at Chihiro. "Just be careful, alright?" Wham-Shell said as Chihiro give him a thumbs up.

"Careful is my middle name!" Chihiro giggled and scratched the back of her head as she withdrew her thumbs up. "Well, actually, I don't have a middle name—but the point still stands!" Chihiro tapped her feet, watched as they glowed a faint blue, and zoomed off. "Later!"

The smoky breeze brushed through Chihiro's hair as she ran away, while time seemingly slowed to a crawl, but soon a cloud of smoke passed her by and sent her into a coughing fit! As she coughed her way into tomorrow, Chihiro dug her heels into the ground and came to a stop as the cloud passed her by. With a frown, she placed a hand on her chin and hummed.

"Now, if I were a troll, where would I keep my prisoners?" Chihiro asked herself as she walked off from the group. "Let's see, a dungeon? No, that would be too obvious, and I don't think that there's anyplace here that would work, unless it's an underwater dungeon!" Chihiro let that sit for a minute or so but then shook it off. "Except trolls can't swim."

Just then, something caught her eye—a green, warty troll with a black mohawk atop their head who was polishing a golden sniper.

"What are you doing here, kid?" the troll asked in a croaky voice, as he looked up at Chihiro.

A smirk played on Chihiro's lips—now was her chance!

"Oh, just wondering where you keep your prisoners, that's all," Chihiro asked as she walked up to the troll, a feigned innocence in her voice.

"Oh, we keep them in these locked, iron cages!" The troll chirped with a smile, "Go a few feet back and you'll find the first one!"

"Okay, thanks!"

Chihiro zoomed off once more, her seemingly endless amount of energy fueling her excitement.

The troll smiled and waved goodbye as he went back to polishing his gun. "What a nice kid."

The troll’s ears flicked as a rapid buzzing rang beside him, picked up something that resembled a com link, and pressed a green button on it.

"ATTENTION, SERVANTS!" Kaos shouted from the other side of the device, his voice screechy and obnoxious as ever.

These very words immediately froze the troll into a salute. "Yes, Lord Kaos?" he asked into the machine.

"I have received reports that the new poser master and the Skylosers have arrived on this island in order to rid it of my machines!"

"Wait, poser master?" the troll whispered to himself as a theory surely started to form in his miniature troll brain, for he quickly turned to address the com link. "Does this portal master happen to be a human kid?"

"Yes, fool! Why do you ask such obvious questions?"

The troll gulped as he turned off the com link in a flash. With a new level of panic set upon him, the troll raced off to the rest of the island.

"Sorry, Lord Kaos, gotta go!"