Deep within the Dread-Yacht's boarding areas, a small room converted into a makeshift medical bay as whatever medical supplies that could be scrounged up laid in small boxes on a stand. Soft candlelight flickered from a candlestick laid on the stand, giving a sort of warm atmosphere to the room despite the grim sights within. In the heart of the room, Spyro and Ninjini both stood between two beds laden with carefully-made sheets. Those strange, ghostly people laid tucked within those two beds; their cold sweats dried away, and their stature was much more peaceful than before as they snoozed. They seemed so tranquil, yet their very presence carried with it a sort of eerie ring—but maybe that kind of came with the territory of having ghosts in their faux infirmary.

Spyro frowned as he lifted his paw from the chest of the skinnier person bearing the orange pendant, and then hummed as he sat down and examined them. His tail swayed from side to side, and sent dust flying across the floor while he tapped his claw against his chin. His eyes glazed up and down over their patchwork overalls, and the backpack of theirs carefully laid to the side of the bed. As they did, his tail flicked faster.

"Is something on your mind, Spyro?" Ninjini asked as she floated over and knelt down beside Spyro.

Spyro gasped at Ninjini's sudden appearance, scratched his head and turned aside.

"Oh, it's nothing much," Spyro said as he laid a paw on the person's bed. "It's just, I don't know why, but something about these two seems kind of familiar to me. It's like I know them from somewhere, but it's on the tip of my tongue." Spyro's eyes trailed over to the sparkling pendant around the person's neck, and they fluttered. "Wait a second, now I do!"

Spyro leaned up towards Ninjini and grinned.

"I saw pictures of these two in that storybook Chihiro read to Wrecking Ball!" Spyro turned back to the person lying in bed and flapped his wings. "I'm guessing these two were your portal masters, right?"

"That's correct," Ninjini said with a nod, though her tone was a bit more somber compared to Spyro’s as she glazed down the two ghosts lying in bed. "They fought alongside us during the war against the Arkeyans, but…"

A soft grunt from the skinny ghost cut Ninjini off as they tossed and turned in their bed, wisps of sweat crawling down their face as they bit their lip. Their grunting only continued as Ninjini waved a hand over them, but their frantic turning came to a close as sparkles of purple magic cascaded down from her palm and seeped into their pendant. The tightness in their face loosened and lifted, and they released their teeth's death grip on their lips as they curled on their side in bed. Slow, shallow breaths escaped from them as their death-thin chest rose and fall.

Ninjini clasped her hand and frowned as they rested. "I had thought they'd be long dead at this point. Even with their enchantments, their pendants couldn't have possibly survived a blast like that."

Spyro frowned as well, folding his wings against his back as his tail dragged against the floor. He hummed as if he wanted to give an answer, but his tail only steadied and he sighed. "Beats me," Spyro only said.

Another groan—one lower, older, and deeper-sounding—came from the bed across from the person with the orange pendant. The broad ghost donning the silver pendant groaned, and pushed themself out of bed. They rubbed their head, slowly moaning as they pushed their crowd back to their head's top, and their eyes drew open to reveal a deep, almost black shade of brown within.

"Urgh, where am I?" the person gasped, their voice gruff, deep but with a sort of hollowness to it. Like a ghost that revitalized itself from beyond the grave, the person pulled themselves from the bed; their dark purple shoes draped with the cloth from their many robes as they gained their footing. "What, what happened?" Rubbing their head, the person trailed down the way as their eyes glazed over the rows of identical metal planks on the floor. "There was, there was an explosion, and a bright light, and everything around was rumbling… I, I—"

"Nemir!" Ninjini called, her eyes wide as she pulled herself away from the other person's bedside. "You finally came to!"

"Is that?" The person gasped, turned around and took a step aback as they came face to face with Ninjini. Their shocked eyes and low-gaping mouth quickly drew themselves together, grinning and beaming with joy as they ran right up to her. "Ninjini, you're here! Thank goodness, I—"

Nemir phased right through the other person's bed, and their whole body jittered in turn before quickly stabilizing. A soft moan left his lips as his body stabilized as well, and he took a seat on the bedside as he rubbed his head.

"Oh, Ancients, I need to lay down. It seems my body disagreeing with me again." Nemir paused, lifted up his hand, and gasped as it phased in and out like a flashing, flickering light. "My hand!" Jumping from the bed, Nemir's eyes fell back to his hands as they continued to flicker back and forth, and he bit his lip. "Did I perish in battle again? Well, that would explain the out of body sensation."

Another soft, kind of hoarse groan came, and all eyes turned to the other person as they finally pulled themselves up and rubbed their head. They sat upright at last, and their eyes drifted open to reveal a warm brown color.

"Where, where am I?" the other person asked before their eyes drifted down to their hands. "Did, did I die? All I remember was—" the person's eyes snapped open wide. "Wait, Arkus! We, we were fighting Arkilles, and then the fist, and the explosion, and—"

"That's right, 'Enehana!" Nemir cried as his eyes turned to Ninjini. "What happened, Ninjini? Did, did we defeat him?"

'Enehana janked their head left and right. "And for that matter, where are we, and where are our bodies? How long were we unconscious?" 'Enehana's eyes drifted towards Spyro, who forced a grin and waved. "Who's that dragon? Are they from one of the other strongholds?" 'Enehana rubbed their chin. "I don't believe I've ever seen them before."

"You haven't," Spyro chimed in as he raised a claw, "and as for your other questions, the answers to those would be, er, well…"

Spyro turned his gaze to Ninjini as he scratched behind his horns. Ninjini just hissed between clenched teeth, and forced a smile as she planted her hands together.

"It's a very, very long story," Ninjini said, "but Arkilles is indeed dead, you did indeed die as well, the Arkeyan Empire is no more, and er, about your bodies, well, we don't know…" Ninjini hissed again and brought her hands to her lips. "Because it's been ten thousand years."

"Ten thousand years!" Nemir and 'Enehana cried as they glanced back at each other, and then at Spyro and Ninjini.

"You, you have to be joking, right?" Nemir asked, his voice straining some. "There, there can't possibly have been such a passage of time!"

'Enehana nodded furiously and went to add, but a sudden grunt came from both them and Nemir. They collapsed on the bed and shuddered. Both their bodies flickered as sweat crawled down their skin, and their pendants' lights faded in and out as it forced itself to sparkle!

"Their magic, it must be fading!" Ninjini cried as she shot bursts of magic with a swipe of her hand. "Quick, into the pendants, now!"

The purple bursts leaped into the pendants without a moment of hesitation, and both Nemir and 'Enehana's light stabilized as they panted shallow breaths. Glows of purple enveloped their bodies as they released the death grip they both held on the covers, and 'Enehana drifted back to their bed while Nemir slunk back into his. Two pairs of groans came as 'Enehana rolled around in bed, but Nemir propped himself up and moaned as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"You also lost an extraordinary amount of magic while dormant, too," Ninjini said. Her voice turned concerned as she uncorked a nearby bottle, and sent more swirls of magic floating towards them. "So just take it easy for now, alright? When you've rested up, we'll tell you everything you want to know."

Nemir winced, but gave a little nod nonetheless as he dove further into his covers. He took off his crown, rested it on the bedside stand momentarily, and buried himself in the blanket's thick cloth. Beside him, 'Enehana's tossing and turning finally settled. They themself laid in bed, almost dwarfed by their own covers and blankets as soft snoring echoed around.

The chaos settled, now replaced by only quiet snoring and breaths, yet Spyro and Ninjini couldn't rest. The two of them glanced over at Nemir and 'Enehana one last time, and stuck still as if they were preparing for another sudden loss of magic or spasm. When they met with nothing but sleeping souls, the two of them nodded and trailed over to the makeshift infirmary's door. The door stretched and expanded as Ninjini left, and Spyro turned to blow out the candle before trailing out behind her.

The door shut right behind him as it fell back to its normal height and size, and Spyro sighed as he wiped his forehead with his wing.

"So, how're those weird ghost dudes?"

Spyro perked a brow, and lifted his head to find Flynn standing before him with crossed arms. Flynn's own trademark smirk wiped away for what almost seemed like a look of concern.

"Shouldn't you be piloting the ship?" Spyro asked.

Flynn smirked a little and waved his hand. "Relax, little buddy, I put it on autopilot before I came down," Flynn replied, and his smirk disappeared once more as his arms fell down. "Anyways, what was all the racket about? Kinda sounded like how the bad guys scream in fear when I show up!"

"They're fine now," Ninjini cut in, leaning down to meet Flynn right as Spyro opened his mouth. "They're still a bit shaky from having lost so much magic, but they're been settling in with help from those supplements Spyro and I made. They just need some rest now."

"Righty-o, glad to hear it!" Flynn gave a thumbs up and lowered it. "So, who are they, anyways?"

"Our old portal masters, from all the way back then…" Ninjini bit her lip as she gazed back at the door. "It's a miracle in itself that they're still alive." Ninjini clasped her hands, and winced as she pushed herself towards Flynn. "Anyways, we'd better move this conversation upstairs. Don't want to disturb them and all."

Flynn, Spyro, and Ninjini all trailed down the empty halls. They seemed even bigger and lonelier than usual with only the three of them, or maybe that was just the impression they gave from having expanded to accommodate Ninjini's size. Spyro's claws clacking against the floor, and the faint sounds of creaking metal that whooshed and called like wandering ghosts echoed from the halls as the beginning drew closer. They reached the hallway door at last, and with one push of the door from Ninjini, amber sunlight and the sound of idle chatter and laughter poured in from the open passage like a beacon beckoning for entrance.

"So, Flynn, how long until we reach Troll Home Security?" Spyro asked as he hopped through the door and onto the deck.

"Ah, shouldn't be long now, I think," Flynn remarked as he hopped up beside Spyro. His brows jumped up a bit as he rushed up to the pilot's chambers. "Actually, speaking of that, better check the autopilot and make sure it didn't get messed up again!"

Spyro sighed and shook his head as sparkly purple smoke filtered around him. It almost sent him into a sneezing fit before it quickly passed right in tandem with Ninjini floating off.

Ninjini moved over to where Bouncer, Crusher, and Hot Head sat at the end of the docks. Their three faces stood somber, and their hands clenched in tense anticipation of the news. Conversely, Gill Grunt, Trigger Happy and Stealth Elf all seemed surprisingly cheery as they chatted with Cali over lunch picked up on the way despite their unexpected guests.

Spyro entertained none of it, and instead dragged himself to the side of the deck. He peered over the railing towards the infinite mass of clouds and afternoon sky that passed the Dread-Yacht by. His eyes drifted over a cloud with a vague resemblance to a bee, and he chuckled as his wings drooped and folded against his back.

"Heh, that kinda looks like a bee," Spyro remarked. "I bet Chi would've picked that out."

That's right, she would have. If she were here, Spyro was sure she'd be idly leaning against the railing, picking out all the shapes in the clouds, or counting them until they finally grew too numerous to count or something like that. Cynder might tell her then to be quiet so she could get some peace, or Whirlwind would show off herself by making shapes in the clouds, and Terrafin and Eruptor would rib with each other behind the scenes. Spyro wasn't quite sure what the other Elder Elementals would've done, or what that strange hermit would've done either, but they would've probably joined in somehow.

But, she wasn't here—none of them were. Instead, they were off dragon gods know where with the rest of the team, perhaps not even alive at that point! Maybe they fell into the abyss of Skylands' infinite stratosphere, or got seriously injured from their fall and succumbed to their wounds, or got attacked by raging beasts when they couldn't even fight back…

Spyro's scales trembled; he gulped down his fears—or at least tried to, what with them still nagging at the back of his mind. It was already bad enough that they ran into such a massive complication on such a serious mission, but to carry on with his friends' fates completely unknown, his partner's fate completely lost to him, when it should have been him in that situation that she was in now! That shaking feeling rumbled in Spyro's scales, and he gulped again as he tried to clear his mind. No, he couldn't get worried. He had to hope that they'd be alright! They were all experienced, and he was sure they could handle themselves in a situation like this. He was sure they were alive somehow, and hopefully traveling to meet them all. At least, assuming his message reached them.

Spyro bit his lip, and a cold, wet chill shot down his spine. His eyes popped wide as a familiar chuckle came from behind him, but Spyro smiled and let his shoulders down the moment he turned around and found Gill Grunt smiling back at him. Gill Grunt took a seat beside him and leaned back as his eyes passed from cloud to cloud, and Spyro's wings started to relax as he did the same.

"Do you think they're going to meet us, Gill?" Spyro asked at last.

Gill Grunt chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure they will, Spy," he replied as the sun shone a bit brighter. "They always do."