The air outside was cold and dry as the Machine Ghost piloted his robot body through the thinning skies of the area, passing by the occasionally tuft of mountaintop snow or wispy clouds. Though Glacier Gully long since left them by, the area was still freezing cold. The thick layers of snow that surrounded the mountains and islands below, and the thin layers of frost that formed on the body's metal were evidence enough of this, and the cold, crisp scent of winter air lingered still to further it. The faint caw of vultures sounded as the robot dove down, but it turned to alarmed squawks and the flapping of frantic wings as his boosters fired up and zipped forward! The robot's eyes flashed yellow as he sped ahead, tore through clouds at a breakneck pace that heated the air around, and melted parts of the snow!

Inside, the Machine Ghost hummed a tune as he flipped a few switches. A map popped up before him, and it displayed a bright blue diagram of the path ahead with a small, flashing red dot that inched forward with every mile they crossed.

"Good news, everyone!" he shouted, almost straining as he raised his voice. "We hopefully shouldn't be far from our target destination. In fact, we should be there within the next half-hour!"

But from the center where everyone laid, Chihiro only gave him a quick thumbs up. Her eyes stayed glued to the deck of magical cards she held in hand! Around her, Luz, Swarm and Ermit all clutched decks of cards made with magic tight to their chests. Eyes glazed from opponent to opponent with lightning flashing so strong within them that it practically leaped out and zapped those around! Luz hummed beside Chihiro as he shifted through his cards, but finally he leaned in next to Chihiro.

"So, what am I supposed to do with these things, again?" Luz asked, wiggling his fingers over his playing cards.

"It's simple, really!" Chihiro beamed back at Luz, laid her cards face-down in her lap, and held out her now free hand. "See, all you have to do is ask someone if they have any cards that match yours, and if they don't, you pick up a card! Like this!"

Chihiro cleared her throat and turned her eyes towards Ermit. "Got any queens, Ermit?"

Ermit hummed as he glazed over his cards, and shook his head, his ears flopping in his face. "Gotta go fish, portal master."

Chihiro leaned up to Luz's ear. "That means I have to draw a card," she explained. Chihiro pulled a card from the stack and tucked it into her deck. "It's simple, really!"

"Modern games truly are a marvel," Luz nodded sagely as he glimpsed his own deck.

"Yeah, we never had anything like this back in our time," Swarm remarked as he fanned himself with his cards, "'cause if we did, hanging out at home base would've been a lot less boring! You guys are lucky!"

Ermit scoffed. "If anything, I'd say you're the lucky ones! Back in your day, you didn't have to deal with door-to-door salesmen and noisy neighbors and obnoxious clouds!"

"Oh no, we had those too! We had all these people trying to sell us fancy doors, but I'm pretty sure they were Arkeyan spies, looking back."

"Not door salesman, door to door! Like those obnoxious pests that go around pestering you to buy their latest potions, and spellbooks, and other dribble…"

Chihiro chuckled, shook her head as Ermit rambled to Swarm, who drooped his antennae in confusion, but the feeling of someone looming over her shoulder left her shuddering! Chihiro huffed, tossed out her free hand, and crafted a solid shield of magic that blocked off Luz's view from her as she clutched her deck close to her chest. Her brows clenched, and she stuck out her tongue even though Luz couldn't see her from behind the thick, bright light of the shield.

"And no peeking!" she scolded.

Luz chuckled from behind the screen. "Do you really think a little thing like that's gonna stop me?" Luz asked, snapping his fingers as he spoke. "In that case, I've got a little surprise for you!"

The shield flashed, growing in brightness before Chihiro's widening eyes. With one last flash, it turned completely clear, a perfect mirror that reflected Chihiro's face—but not just hers either! Luz stared her back down from the other side of the shield. Luz waved back, and Chihiro gasped. Her free hand reached out and brushed her fingers against the side of the shield, but she quickly drew it back.

"How did you do that?" Chihiro asked. "Did you study the Magic Element too?"

"Nope!" Luz leaned back and beamed wider as he crossed his legs and slapped his hands on them. "Light through and through!" Luz smiled and waved his own free hand. Before him, the shield turned to solid light, and then clear, and back again. "See, all I did was mess with the light particles inside the magic itself—smear 'em around a little, and it turns a glow completely clear! It's a simple trick, really."

"That's amazing! I never thought you could do that!" Chihiro grinned, and her cards now laid on her lap once more as she scratched her head. "Guess I still have a lot to learn!"

"Indeed you do! There's lots of fun things you can do with magic… And lots of little tricks you can do, too!" With another snap, the shield turned clear and Luz raised a brow. "Speaking of tricks, got any fives?"

A soft, shocked noise came from Chihiro. She peered down at her deck, where a five of hearts rested amid her other cards, back at Luz, back to her cards, and she grunted as she scooped up her deck. "Hey, that's cheating!" Chihiro shouted, though the smile on her face hardly faded.

"I call it taking advantage of an opportunity," Luz remarked as he yanked the card from Chihiro's deck and chuckled.

Chihiro chuckled back with him, and their shared laughter bubbled louder, happier, till they both laughed so hard their guts started to ache! Chihiro's cackling continued as she held her sigh, but the slight cough that came from aside of the room stilled her laughter. She hoisted herself up, and her eyes turned to the other side of the room. There, Vatra stood amid the rest of the ancient Portal Masters' ranks with his back to the wall and arms crossed.

"Something bothering you?" Chihiro asked as she raised a brow towards Vatra.

Though she hadn't given a name, Vatra immediately nodded. "Yes, actually," he said. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you about…"

Chihiro nodded, a silent prompt for him to continue.

"So, this Kaos person you were talking about, you said he's a free magician who uses his powers for evil, correct?" Vatra asked, belting out his question without hesitation. "What exactly is he like? Are we looking at a serious threat, or just some local menace with an inflated ego?"

"Oh, he's the worst! Not only is he dead-set on becoming the evil emperor of all Skylands, he's got an ego the size of the Jupiter and he's stubborn as a bull!" Chihiro scratched the back of her head. With a scoff, she added, "he was a real pain in the butt, too! Destroyed the Core of Light, scattered the Skylanders all the way to where I'm from, conquered most of Skylands in the blink of an eye… Sure was a pain stopping him."

"He destroyed the Core of Light? And you say he already has an Arkeyan robot and an army on the rise?" Vatra's eyes fluttered, and his scowl grew deeper as he pounded a fist against the wall—though being a ghost, his arm just phased right through instead. "Then what are we dawdling around for? We have to hurry up and get to his base of operations before he tries anything!"

Chihiro winced, drew back and sweated a bit as Vatra's eyes burned like fires. Beside her, Luz gulped as well.

"Well, there's not much we really can do right now," Chihiro explained. "There's a really intense security system protecting his place, and until we can take it down—"

"Excuses, excuses! If he's a free magician, him having the powers he does puts Skylands in an immense amount of danger, even more so with an Arkeyan! All those robots, they have entire databanks of every Arkeyan stronghold in their systems! He could locate all the Arkeyans he wanted with it, hell, he could even reach Arkus! Can't we just send another team to deal with this security system and take him ourselves?"

Chihiro gulped and tugged on her collar. "That's the thing, we're already short staffed! We need to regroup with the rest of our team, and even with their numbers those security systems will probably be a huge pain! It's better to get the security out of the way, or—"

"So you came understaffed?" Vatra gritted his teeth, crossed his arms once more, and squeezed his forearms so hard it wrinkled the cloth beneath his fingers. "What kind of foolhardiness is that? You see someone who's conquered Skylands before, would likely do so again, and even has Arkeyan forces at his disposal, and your first response is to go completely understaffed?"

Sweat crept further down Chihiro’s back, and grew more numerous as she gulped and backed further away from Vatra's view. Her back climbed against the wall as she sputtered. "But, well, when the reports came in they said he barely had an army, so we figured—"

"You figured? How could you have known that he didn't just make himself seem weaker to trick you into a false sense of security, make you think he's weak so he can wipe you out when you actually arrived? Only a child would think that was completely in earnest!"

Ermit's ears lowered. "Actually, I—" he started, raising his hand before lowering it as a few flames burst from Vatra.

Vatra pulled himself from the wall, and stormed over to where Chihiro sat while the flames burst from his feet. Chihiro's hands trembled underneath his looming height, and the cards in her hands completely vanished as Vatra stood over her. His arms crossed and brows scrunched as his eyes burned with those fires, fires that left her whimpering.

"Don't panic! You knew you were walking directly into a trap, didn't you?" Vatra shouted.

"Hey, Vats, calm down! You're literally burning up!" Luz cried as he pointed to where flames burst from Vatra's legs.

"Yeah, buddy, calm down!" Swarm added, leaning down to face Vatra. "Listen, I was there when all this happened, I can tell you—"

"Silence, both of you!" Vatra cried, tossing out flames with a flick of his arms that sent Luz and Swarm scurrying back. His eyes fixed on Chihiro, who still trembled and sweat before him, and his scowl twitched. "A child your age shouldn't be in charge of protecting Skylands! You should be in school, studying, worrying about other things while those with actual experience handle this! This mess wouldn't have happened if someone more experienced had taken control of things!"

"But, I—" Chihiro whimpered. She clasped her hands and wrung them as she trembled.

"Tell me this, then, before you interrupt—if you stopped him, how was it that he came back? Don't tell me you just locked him in a cage and called it a day!"

"No, we banished him as far as we could!"

"Then how did he come back?"

Chihiro gulped, and her face started to pale.

"Ah, that guilty look." Vatra frowned. The flames in his eyes turned harsher and with a stern look, the kind of stern, worried look a teacher or a parent would give to a guilty child. "I'd seen that in my students plenty of times—surely, it's all your fault that this happened, correct?"

"But, but, I tried to stop him, I really did, but—" Chihiro pleaded, and tears rolled down her face without her even realizing.

"But you didn't! Excuses won't make up for the fact that he's running rampant because of your failure!" Vatra thrust a finger just inches from Chihiro's face, and his scowl grew deeper once more despite her trembling and whimpering. "I can't imagine what must've been going through the mind of whoever mentored you, shouldering someone so young with so much responsibility—"

Vatra cried out in shock as a burst of black lightning exploded, and it sent sparks from the flames that grew beneath Vatra's feet! The flames extinguished as he sat down and rubbed away the sparks on his heels, and a chill ran down his spine. Vatra turned around, and Cynder rose from the shadows before him, positioning herself right between Chihiro and Vatra. A cold look sharp as icicles shone in her eyes, and even Vatra, with all his cold stubbornness, flinched as he backed away.

"Buddy, I don't care if you're some ancient guy from thousands of years ago with all the experience in the world. Nobody talks to our portal master like that," Cynder hissed.

Vatra gulped, sweat now dripping from his forehead as he backed away. "But—"

"Cynder's right," Whirlwind added as she flew down beside him and scowled. "If you'd had actually listened to Chihiro, she would've told you that Kaos is still largely rebuilding his armies and resources aside of this security system. Getting this out of the way will leave him largely vulnerable. It'd be stupid to tackle him head on and waste our energy!"

Vatra scowled, and the flames started to burst from his gritting teeth. "But, I'm telling you—"

"And need I remind you," Terrafin added, cracking his knuckles as he lifted his head and shot a glare at Vatra, "the only reason you're standing here is because of our kid finding your stupid wheel on this 'easily-avoided' mission!"

Eruptor firmly nodded with a frown of his own, and the very sight sent the tips of Vatra's fingers alight! He snarled, but quickly shook his head and turned to Tree Rex. His eyes burned further as Tree Rex peered down from where he sat with Eye-Brawl and Thumpback, and Tree Rex himself gulped a bit.

"Tree Rex, you agree with me, right?" Vatra spat. "Surely, you think this child's completely unprepared for this sort of responsibility, correct?"

Tree Rex frowned. He clasped his hands and opening them as he gulped—but Vatra just smirked and turned back to the group.

"See, Tree Rex agrees with me—"

"Actually, Vatra, I'm with the little guys," Tree Rex said.

Vatra's eyes popped open, and his arms fell as he turned to Tree Rex. "I'm sorry, what was that? Did you just say that you agree with them?"

"If not for Chihiro here, we wouldn't even be back in Skylands in the first place. She came to our rescue when we were stuck on her home planet!" Tree Rex held out a hand. "Not to mention—"

"Not to mention what?" Vatra seethed. Steam burst from his ears and poured from the spaces in his clenched fists. "Bringing you back to this time may be one thing, but she still—"

"Stand down, Vatra," Sihiri commanded, her normally calm and pleasant voice with a more serious tone to it than normal. "We don't exactly have the full story here, nor are we inhabitants of this time. Let's just leave this to the ones from this time."

Vatra grunted, almost about to say something, but he shut his mouth and shuffled over to a rare uninhabited corner of the small, cramped space they all shared. He leaned in the dark parts of the corner and groaned. He mumbled something to himself as sparks and embers burst from his hair, but finally he sighed and turned around as he patted them out.

Behind him, Sihiri frowned and held a hand to her face. She, Inochi and Dej just trailed back to where Tree Rex sat, and instead embarked on a conversation about the wonders of the modern Skylands as the lights shone above them.

Chihiro curled up into a ball and caught a glimpse of them, but as her eyes laid on Vatra, she quickly turned away before he could glance back at her. She pressed her legs to her chest as she strung her arms across them. One hand lifted her pendant by the finger as she twirled it around, and she occasionally caught glimpses of herself in its sparkly, druzy surface. She whimpered a bit as the reflections popped up and faded with single flashes, but as the latest one popped up, Cynder appeared beside it! Chihiro yelped at the sight. She pulled her finger from the string as she pressed against the warm metal walls of the robot's inside, but breathed a sigh of relief when she turned and found Cynder beside her.

"Don't let that guy get to you, alright?" Cynder said, curling her tail around her legs and snarling. "He didn't know what he was even talking about. Guy hasn't been here for more than a day, and he's already acting like he should run the show!" Cynder scoffed, and a puff of lightning escaped her as her wings flared and folded. "Can't stand those types."

Chihiro hummed, lifted up her pendant, and sighed as she turned it around, her reflection shining back at her once more.

"Well, he did kind of have a point," Chihiro admitted as she pulled her crystal closer to her face. "If I stopped Kaos back then, or even before that, we wouldn't be in this whole mess." Chihiro's lips began to tremble, but she quickly shook her head and squeezed her pendant. "But, what's done is done. I'm just gonna have to work twice, no, three times as hard to stop him, and that means blowing up that security system, finding the others, and storming his place!"

Cynder raised a brow, and Chihiro raised her own at the sight of it. "But don't worry, I'm not gonna let him get to me." Chihiro beamed. "I know you all believe in me, and that's all I need."

Cynder scoffed and smiled back as she stretched out her wings. "Just don't get carried away, alright? You don't need to prove yourself. We already know how hard you've been working."

A few dings came from an overhead intercom system, and turned the crowd's head up to the ceiling. Though really, their attention should have directed towards the Machine Ghost, who coughed as he held a speaker up to his lips.

"Attention all passengers," the Machine Ghost said, his normally quiet and whisper-like voice amplified to a normal volume by the intercom speakers. "We should be arriving at Troll Home Security soon. Please stand by while we look for a parking location."

Everyone leaped from their seats at the very notion of those words, and crowded around the pilot's seat. Their eyes set on the windows as they stormed by the masses of thick clouds and islands of varying sizes that dotted the sky to a small string of islands! The first half of the islands were entirely organic; a mass of rocks covered in grass, flowers, and cliffs with only a handful of stone walls and bridges dotting the area…

But once it stretched past that, the grass made way for sleek blue tiles and steel walls! They were all topped with castles, gizmos, and all sorts of other contraptions: guns shooting lasers into the skies, robotic arms tossing rocks into the great orange yonder, and even spiraling beacons that spun in place as electricity and magic bursts from the orbs on their tops! Thunder cracked and rumbled from the castles' tips, and the air marked with the pungent scent of oil and grease rather than the crystal-clear airs of before.

Oohs and aahs came from the crowd as they choked closer in to get a better look. They nearly crushed out the Machine Ghost as he scrambled for the panel and attempted to steer. Their gasps only grew louder as they drove by one beacon, and it nearly zapped them with a huge bolt of lightning! The Machine Ghost quickly swerved under before the electricity could strike, but the swerve came so quickly that the others all collapsed on each other!

Their noises of excitement turned to groans, but the Machine Ghost chuckled as he swerved in. He docked at a string of wooden docks, and smashed several of them in the process.

"Oops," was all the Machine Ghost said.

Steam poured from the back of the chamber as the door opened, and the gangplank spewed out. The light poured out, and everyone scrambled to their feet, all feeding out of the robot in one big crowd. Tree Rex led them out first, followed by the ancient portal masters and Swarm; Thumpback and Eye-Brawl went out with Terrafin, Eruptor, Cynder and Whirlwind. Chihiro sprung to her feet and trailed after them as they all left, gripping her sleeve slightly.

Had her message arrived? Would the others really meet them there? Had they even gotten there in the first place? Were they running late, or perhaps... No, she couldn't think of that right now. She was sure they were all safe, but the sight of the open door and all the possibilities that awaited tied her stomach in knots. She turned her glance back to the Machine Ghost and Ermit as they stayed in place.

"We'll keep watch here!" the Machine Ghost cried.

Chihiro grunted, wiped off her sleeves, and hummed as she left the robot with hands planted on her hips. Behind her, the robot hissed as its body drew back closed with a snail's pace, but the sound hardly registered as she stepped out and joined the rest of the group where they stood on the earth.

"Doesn't seem like anyone else's here," she remarked. A bit of disappointment seeped in her voice as she scanned over the rest of the docks, which were all void of any sort of vehicle. "Strange, wouldn't there be at least a few employees or somethin'?"

Luz frowned as he walked beside her. He summoned a telescope with a wave of his hands, and stretched it out.

"Lemme see," Luz remarked, sticking his tongue out as he craned his head. He hummed a little more as he swerved it from left to right, but finally pointed it out towards a lone corner of the docks. "Hey, I think I see a ship over there, and a pretty big one, too!"

"Wait, you do?" Chihiro cried.

Her eyes practically leaped out of her head; with a few taps of her heels, wings formed on her sneakers and she was off like a rocket! Rushing past dock after empty dock, the faint notion of a giant ship parked near the end of the ship grew closer and closer, and Chihiro skipped and leaped at the growing sight!

"That's gotta be—"

Chihiro skidded to a stop, turned around to the ship… And her face immediately fell.

"Them?"

Well, there was a ship there, but it was nothing like the Dread-Yacht. No, it was a polished ship colored in shades of green and orange with troll faces painted on the sides. Out from it came two green-skinned troll women in mechanic's clothing that helped a few Mabu down from the ship and onto the docks. Wait a second…

"Dyna, Boomette?" Chihiro cried as she skipped ahead. "The Mabu Defense Force, too! What are you doing here?"

The first of the troll women, the one with a more wrinkled face and slick black hair tied in a short ponytail, frowned and pulled away with a grunt. She locked eyes on Chihiro, and a grin spread across her warty face!

"If it isn't the portal master!" she shouted as she leaped from the side of the ship and onto the docks. "Never expected to see a friendly face in these parts!"

"I could say the same!" Chihiro remarked, forcing a smile as she shoved her hands in her pockets. "I never expected to see you out here!"

"Is it them, Chi?" Eruptor called from a distance as he ran up with the rest of the team in tow. "Is it" — Eruptor skidded to a stop, and the others stopped in turn — "oh!"

Dyna raised a brow. Behind her, a slightly younger troll with her hair in twintails skipped up and paused to brush the dirt from her overalls. That other troll had to be Boomette, though she seemed a bit heavier in her step than before, almost like something egged at her mind.

"So, what're you all doing out this far anyways?" Boomette asked. "This isn't exactly a tourist destination or anything." She raised a brow. "Wait, don't tell me you're on a mission!"

"You bet'cha." Chihiro nodded a bit solemnly. "See, there's been word that Kaos's back and rebuilding his armies, so we came out to find his base. But, apparently it's guarded by stuff from this place…"

"That's a surprise," Dyna remarked as she wiped her own hands. "This place went out of business ages ago after all their customers died in the East-Western Regal Wars, and Boomette suggested coming here and salvaging the stuff for reuse. After all, they had some of the finest security tech there was." Dyna smiled. "But, I'm sure we can lend you all a helping hand, too."

"You can? That's great!" Chihiro grinned and bowed slightly. "Thanks for the help!" Popping open an eye, Chihiro lifted herself up. "so, where do we start?"

Boomette smiled, and she turned back and waved with a twirl. "Syracuse, darling, it's your time to shine!"

Out from the ship's quarters popped a troll with orange skin and a short buzz cut dressed in more worn mechanic's clothes covered by a coat. She stumbled out, and mumbled something to herself as she hopped over the side of the boat. Her hands shoved in her pockets as she moved up to the rest of the group, and she pulled a device from those pockets before handing it off.

"What'cha need, dear?" Syracuse remarked. Her eyes not once peeled from Boomette as she typed before a red flash and a beep from the device turned them back anyways.

Boomette chuckled and skipped ahead. "Hypothetically speaking, if someone had a security system powered by something here, where would it—"

A loud beep came from above, one so shrill that it sent everyone doubling down and shielding their ears as it wailed. As the beep cried out, sirens burst from the area and flashed red! Patches of the grass and dirt unfolded to pull out weapons of all kinds: laser guns and cannons, mechanical arms and rocket launchers, and even a few chompy blasters poked out from the earth—and the whole group was their target!

"Wait, how did we start the security?" Dyna cried, turning to Syracuse. "Syracuse, I thought you were disabling it!"

Syracuse hissed. Her eyes trailed down to the device in her hands, and then to Boomette. "Well, I, er…" Syracuse's ears flopped down, and a warm blush crossed her face. "I got a little distracted."

Boomette squealed as she rushed and hid behind Syracuse, and the beeping only grew louder as joined with the sound of weapons charging! The two of them winced, and peered up as Dyna raced in front of them and readied a laser gun.

"We'll talk about this later!" Dyna cried as she held her laser gun up. She sweated as her own tiny weapon met with the vast array of weaponry before her. "For now—"

The sound of rockets and guns firing drowned out Dyna as the weapons shot as one collective! All of them rocketed straight for Dyna at the head of the group as her eyes grew wider…

But the sound of magic flashing hit the air as Chihiro slid in front of Dyna and crafted a shield! The weapons all exploded against the shield, shattered it and sent Chihiro rolling back. Chihiro jumped back up and raced forward, crafting another shield as the weapons fired their second round! Chihiro grunted, shut an eye as the weapons exploded and cracked her shield, but planted her hands on it and sealed the cracks right in time for the third assault to crack it again!

Veins of cyan flashed on Chihiro's face and hands as she resealed the cracks. The smoke, fire, and ear-shattering explosions seemingly became white noise as she held up the shield with all she could. Her hands and legs trembled furiously as she kept the shield tall, but with one last blast, it shattered so furiously that it blew Chihiro into the crowds! She grunted as Tree Rex swept in and snatched her up, turned around in his palm, and shuddered as the light from her veins faded. The weapons charged up faster than ever as everyone grimaced and knelt down, readying weapons and attacks of their own.

Just before they struck, a massive blow of fire hit the enemy weaponry, and it all exploded in a plume of flame and burnt bits of metal! The smaller members of the team grunted and dug their heels in as they slid backwards, and all eyes turned to the skies as the shadow of a large ship passed over them.

"Wait a second…" Tree Rex gasped.

Below him, Chihiro moaned, pulled herself up, and beamed as she sprung to her feet.

"It's them! It's the Dread-Yacht!"

Sure enough, there in the skies was the Dread-Yacht! Granted, it was much more polished compared to the last time they’d seen it, all shiny metal and fancy decor, but it was back!

With one last swoop, the Dread-Yacht began to dock…

And as it did, a burst of purple leaped from the deck and slammed right into the crowds! It nearly knocked a few beings off the ground as it sniped Chihiro right out of Tree Rex's hand, and into the grass! A pair of soft grunts came as Chihiro hit the ground, and the blur finally revealed itself to be Spyro with tears of joy in his eyes as he clutched Chihiro so tight.

"Chihiro!" Spyro cried, practically digging his claws into her clothes as he buried his head into her shoulder. "It's really you!"

"Spyro!" Chihiro cried. Tears of joy formed in her own eyes as she hugged him tight, and her own head nuzzled against his neck. "You're back!"

"You bet!" Spyro nodded, sniffed a bit as he wiped the tears from his eyes with his wings, and nuzzled her again. "It feels good to hold you again." Spyro wrapped his wings around Chihiro. "I'm so, so, glad you're alright."

Chihiro chuckled and hugged him back. "I knew you were gonna come back. You always do." Squeezing him tighter, a few small tears streaked down Chihiro's cheek and hit the earth. "Strange, I almost don't wanna let go," Chihiro sniffed, her voice starting to crack as she buried her face in his shoulder again.

Maybe the days she spent separated from him made her more sappy or something without even realizing, but she missed being able to hold him like this. She missed being able to have his warm, cozy scales close in her grip and his wings wrapped around her. Something about it made her wanna cry! In fact, something warm and wet dripped down her face; it landed on Spyro's paws, and prompted him to look right back up.

"Chi, what's wrong?" Spyro asked, wiping away her tears.

Chihiro let out a few strained giggles, and cuddled him tighter. "I, I'm fine, it's just…" Another sniffle slipped out, and Chihiro cuddled closer in. "I never realized how much I missed you until I saw you again."

Spyro stuck out his tongue, but quickly rescinded it as Chihiro thrust forward and squeezed him the tightest she could! Finally at a loss for words, Chihiro practically buried herself in Spyro's grip—head in his chest, arms wrapped tight around his back—and hugged him so tight, as if he'd disappear the moment she let go! Thick, blubbering sobs rattled from her as streams of tears poured down her face, diverted onto his scales and her clothes, and drenched them as inelegant sniffling and sobbing continued. Her face started to turn red, yet Spyro clutched her tighter as his own scales started to warm and tears of his own fell.

"It's okay, Chi, it's okay," Spyro whispered, his wings stroking against her back. "I'm back now, we're back together. It's gonna be okay."

With one last sniff, Chihiro pulled away from Spyro and smiled as she wiped her tears away. Though her other hand still clutched Spyro's paw tight, and her eyes were still a bit red and puffy, she still smiled and stood for the rest of the team.

"My, my," Boomette remarked with a shake her head, "you two are quite the item, aren't you?"

Hearing this, both Spyro and Chihiro's faces turned hot. They both turned to each other and sputtered as they scratched their heads.

"Well, er, I mean," Chihiro mumbled, her gaze turning aside.

"I, well, we, we're," Spyro mumbled before his eyes turned to the Dread-Yacht in quick shock and he forced a smile. "Oh look, there's everyone else!"

At this, all eyes turned to where the Dread-Yacht parked beside Dyna and Boomette's own ship. Its gangplank stretched out and unloaded the passengers, as well as two other ghosts who wore wheel pendants colored in orange and silver!

"Wait, could that be?" Vatra gasped as he turned around.

Sihiri blinked once, twice as she stepped back, and finally, she beamed as she rushed forward.

"'Enehana, Nemir!" she cried as she launched herself towards them. "You're here!"

'Enehana and Nemir both blinked, grunted as they turned around, and smiled.

"Sihiri!" 'Enehana called as they raced up, and peered over Sihiri's shoulder to find the rest of the ancient portal masters standing behind her. "And the others, too! You're all here!"

Nemir chuckled, the bags under his eyes seemingly growing a little lighter at the sight. "I never would have thought…"

The other ancient Portal Masters chattered and shouted with glee as they gathered together. Above them, the Elder Elementals cried with delight as the reunion. Bouncer wrapped Tree Rex in a tender kiss as they both embraced each other for the first time in days, and the others got caught up from the sidelines. Even down below, the Skylanders chatted it up with each other and Flynn and Cali.

Spyro and Chihiro watched with smiles on their faces from the sidelines, but Spyro's eyes popped and he rushed away from Chihiro's side!

"Actually, we should really save the happy reunions for later!" he cried. "I just remembered—while we were on our way here, we found out something important!"

"That's right!" Stealth Elf cried, her eyes also going wide as she pulled from the crowds. "Not only has Kaos unearthed a bunch of Arkeyans, but he's planning to go to Arkus too!" Stealth Elf shook her head. "Scratch that, he's already preparing to go there!"

A few gasps came from parts of the crowd, and Vatra scowled as he turned back to the rest of the ancient portal masters.

"See, what did I tell you?" he cried. "I knew he'd go right for Arkus!"

Pushing her way through the crowd, Chihiro ran up right to Dyna, Boomette and Syracuse. "You said you might have a clue where Kaos's security thingie would be, right?" Chihiro asked. "What is it?"

Syracuse hummed as she reached for the device in her hands, but Dyna yanked it away.

"I'll handle this, considering what happened when you tried to unlock security," Dyna scoffed before she turned back to Chihiro and held out the device. "Anyways, according to the device, most of the stuff powering the outgoing security" — with a few taps, a diagram of an island covered in guns popped on the screen — "is handled here, and guarded by a pretty thick defense system. However, underground there's a record database of exact locations, sales, all that fun stuff…"

"Hey, why do you get to do it? Syracuse and I are the ones who discovered all this!" Boomette cried as she yanked the console from Dyna and shoved it back into Syracuse's arms. "Isn't that right, darling?"

Syracuse chuckled, but this time, her smile felt more forced than anything as she peered down. "So, as Dyna said—" Syracuse started, before she yelped as Dyna snagged the console from her once more.

"— if you want to find wherever the gun powering Kaos's security is, going underground is your best bet!" Dyna finished, and she shot Boomette the stink eye as she pouted.

Chihiro nodded, cracked her knuckles and beamed. "Alright then!" she shouted, pointing towards the group.

But before she could speak, Vatra shoved past her and crossed his arms! Chihiro grunted and thrust her sleeve away from his grip—yet for a ghost, it was rock-solid!

"Hey!" Chihiro shouted as Vatra dragged her towards the rest of the ancient Portal Masters, though Vatra paid her no mind.

"Seeing as how we have no time to lose, the rest of the free magicians and I will head down and find the location for this shield gun. In the meanwhile, the rest of you, clear the path for us if you will." Vatra swept around, but not before he yanked Chihiro by the sleeve and dragged her back to the docks. "And you, child, will stay on the sidelines, where it's safe."

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Spyro hissed as he flew in front of Vatra with eyes burning.

Vatra quickly gulped and released his grip on Chihiro's sleeve as he backed away from Spyro, and Spyro only huffed.

"I thought so."

Floating down to Chihiro's side, Spyro leaned closer to Chihiro and held a paw up to his muzzle. "I dunno who this person is, but if they give you any trouble, just tell me, alright?" Spyro whispered.

Chihiro smiled and laid a hand on Spyro's shoulder. "Don't worry, I think I can handle him," Chihiro whispered back as she leaned closer to Spyro. "You just worry about getting the defenses taken down, alright? We'll find that shield generator thingie's location!"

Spyro pulled aside. His eyes lingered on Chihiro for a moment as Vatra shot her a glance and seemed to say something. But then, Vatra reluctantly nodded and left Chihiro's side to join with the others.

Well, it seemed they'd be fine, so Spyro nodded nonetheless and flew back to the other group. There, everyone else crowded around Dyna and Boomette as the two of them bickered with a whole row of explosives lined up around the tall gates behind them. Spyro himself lingered around the back, and poked his head out as he spectated with a grimace shared by the rest of the crowd.

"I'm telling you, I can handle it! It's only a few explosives! I couldn't call myself a troll if I couldn't handle that!" Boomette spat, gesturing towards the explosives.

"It'll be quicker if I just light this and go! Just let me handle this!" Dyna insisted.

"Girls, girls!" Rizzo cried as he stepped in with both paws held up. "There's no need to bicker! Just let Dyna light the darn things and we'll be on our way…"

"Actually, why does Dyna get to light them? Boomette was the one who set them up in the first place!" Blobbers cried from the back.

"Quiet, Blobbers!" Rizzo spat. With a sigh, he turned around and shook his head. "Why's it such a big deal who lights them? All we gotta do is blow this gate to chunks!"

Spyro groaned and buried his head in his paws as the bickering continued, and everyone not involved covered their ears or exchanged awkward glances.

"Something tells me this is not going to go smoothly…" Spyro groaned.

Lifting his head up, Spyro fell down to his paws as Syracuse and Cali pushed through the crowds before him. They lit the dynamite at the gate, and everyone else scrambled back and plugged their ears as the fires trailed along the fuses. A few eyes popped open to catch a glimpse at the display, but then immediately shut as a large explosion blanketed the area ahead!

Smoke and embers filtered through the air as the gates blew wide open, their stone and metal twisted by the fires and left to burn on the front lawn. Thick, black smoke and the scent of burning metal—all smoky, charred, and sickening—filtered through the air. The clouds spiraled towards the air, and choked out parts of the sky as faint, coughing silhouettes poked their way through the black fog. As the coughing fits cleared, the sounds of beeping took their place as Dyna stepped out of the smog!

"Alright, we may have busted through the gates," Dyna said, her eyes not moving from the shiny console sitting in her hands, "but that was the easy part."

Dyna tapped away at the console. A frown found its way on her face as the others crowded around her, and poked their heads over her shoulders and even her own head to snatch a glimpse. With a shine of cyan light, a holographic map of the island burst from the screen of Dyna's console. It earned some oohs and aahs from the Elder Elementals before a tiny red dot popped up with a blip.

"That's hardly anything!" Rizzo scoffed as he crossed his arms. "We could deal with that in our sleep."

"Just wait."

A few more beeps came from the console. Parts of it flashed red as even more red dots burst across the screen, and they chooked out the area ahead with a thick, almost complete layer of red!

Stumbling back, Rizzo winced and clenched his teeth. "Well, guess I stand corrected."

"They didn't exactly skimp out on their security, as you can see," Dyna remarked, earning her a few scoffs and a brief mentions of "No kidding" from those around. With a sigh, Dyna brought the map up to the rest of the group as a holograph, its bright red and blue light shining down on them all. "Anyways, we're gonna need a plan."

"I've got an idea!" Snuckles shouted, raising his hand. "How about we split up into two teams, draw their attention away and beat them separately?"

Dyna nodded and scratched her head. "That should work. It'd at least be better than taking them all head-on—"

"Are you sure you're not just suggesting that because you don't want to be around me, though?" Blobbers asked, and shot a glare at Snuckles as he crossed his arms.

Snuckles winced and held up both hands, backing away as Blobbers glared him down. "I, I didn't mean it like that! I just thought it would be easier than taking them all on at once!"

"Calm down, Blobbers, Snuckles is right," Dyna intervened, holding out a finger. "If we take all their forces on as one, they'd wipe us out in an instant! It'd be easier if we divided and conquered—"

"That's what you always say!" Blobbers cried out, Dyna completely ignored as he stormed forward towards a shuddering Snuckles. "But it's always 'Blobbers, do this!' and 'Blobbers do that!' and 'Blobbers, go away!'" Blobbers gritted his teeth, and his eyes turned to Rizzo and Nort behind him. "It's like you never want me around unless I'm doing stuff for you!"

"Yeah!" Boomette cried as she crossed her own arms. "Give him a break!"

Rizzo sighed and shook his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose before he stormed up to Blobbers. "Now's not the time, Blobbers! We've got work to do!" Rizzo cried.

Hearing this, Blobbers' brow twitched and he yanked his head towards Rizzo. "Oh, of course you say that! I never get any respect from you! You make me do all the dirty work, but you're always the first to run off whenever I need help! Some kind of captain you are! Remember when you abandoned me at that carnival?"

"Show him some respect!" Boomette chimed in.

"You're still not over that?" Nort cried. "Give the captain a break! We already told you, we were gonna come back for you!"

"And what's the point of even bringing that up, anyways? We've got work to do!" Dyna added in. "You can settle this after the salvage mission!"

A few gritted teeth and glares cast amid the group, and before everyone knew it, the whole planning session dissolved into arguments! Petty insults and sharp tongues flew across as Dyna, Boomette, and the members of the Mabu Defense Force all broke into verbal war!

Spyro winced and flew between Boomette and Rizzo as they shouted and spat, tossing insults left and right. "Hey, everyone, calm down! Deep breaths!" Spyro shouted as he pushed the two of them away from each other. "Whatever issues you have, we can sort them out in a bit, but you'll all need to calm down first!"

However, the two of them just pushed Spyro away! He grunted as he slammed against the ground, shook his head and flew back in as he dragged Rizzo away.

Beside him, Snuckles whimpered as he stood between Nort and Blobbers, and Syracuse winced as she pinched the bridge of her nose. A soft light’s shine turned Syracuse’s attention away from the conflict. As she lifted her head up to the higher cliffs above, Syracuse gasped and rushed up to Dyna and Boomette.

"Might wanna cut the bickering short!" Syracuse cried as she shook Dyna's shoulders. "We've got trouble!"

Dyna didn't even budge! The most she did was brush away Syracuse, who grunted as she dashed over to Boomette's side and shook her shoulder in tandem.

"Oh dearest dear, we've got a situation!" Syracuse hissed, her eyes not peeling off of the sight ahead.

Boomette gritted her teeth, and yanked her head back to Syracuse.

"Oh, we do, alright!" Boomette cried, earning a perk of the ears from Syracuse that quickly drooped as Boomette went back to glaring at Dyna. "If this idiot doesn't admit when she's wrong!"

"I'm telling you, you should leave all this to me and go back to the ship! You don't need to come here and push yourself!" Dyna insisted.

"But Syracuse and I were the ones who found this place in the first place! You wouldn't even know this place existed if not for us!"

While the two of them bickered, Syracuse gritted her own teeth, and finally shoved herself between them as she pushed them both aside. "Can you two knock it off for five seconds? We've got bigger things to worry about here!"

Dyna grunted as she hit the ground, dusted herself off and snarled. "Bigger things? Like what?"

Syracuse gestured to the back of the area, where several security cameras locked onto them as glints of red glistening in their lenses!

"I don't know, the security cameras, for one!"

That simple glint of red in the cameras' lenses glowed brighter as the Mabu Defense Force's members broke away from their own arguments. It flashed all around the area, and drowned it in a sea of crimson as sirens wailed! The bright blanket of red shielded the rest of the area from view, and everything laid trapped in a haze. The ground rumbled underneath, rocks and pieces of broken metal bouncing on its surface! A few beings shielded their eyes or bumped into each other, toppled over legs or tripped on their own feet as the rumbling grew unbearable. The sirens' wails joined with beeping, clunking, and churning sounds, and the faint smell of oil rose over the horizon.

"Intruder alert, intruder alert!" droned an entire crowd of robotic voices as white and yellow dots burst from the blanket of red. "Eliminate intruders!"

Tree Rex grunted as he pulled himself from the ground, gasped and plunged his fist into the earth! Cracks formed in the dirt as a shield of thick vines towered over the group, and only faint plinks resonated from its other side before the vines sank into the earth in time with the red lights fading away. The vines' tips disappeared back into the ground, and the cracks sealed themselves up.

All that was left now were none other than robots: large robots, small ones, medium-sized ones even, all made of sleek, shiny metal and armed to the nines with guns, hand cannons, blades, and more! The solid black spaces on their faces probably meant for eyes flashed red for moments, and they all raised their weapons.

"Eliminate intruders!" they all cried once more as they began charging!

Dyna and Boomette both growled as they glared at each other. Nonetheless, they both sprinted from the ground, yanked sleek metal sticks from their pockets, and turned them into full-scale laser pistols with a single toss and flip! They shot one last glare each other as they yanked the pistols from the air and loaded them. The gauges of light that resided on the pistol's sides filled up, going from red, to yellow, and then to a bright, verdant green as Dyna and Boomette both scoffed.

"We'll finish this later," Dyna hissed.

Dyna groaned as Boomette scoffed and turned her nose up, but both of them gasped and stumbled backwards. They nearly tripped over their own feet as they scrambled away from the tightly-packed masses of robots charging for them! The two of them were shoulder to shoulder, and then back to back as the robots crowded around them in a circle, a ring where they stood trapped with no escape!

They gulped, raised their laser pistols and wrapped their fingers around the triggers. Right as they did, a large silver laser shot down from the skies, and sent steam and smoke everywhere as it carved through the robots' frontlines! Bursts of electrical fire heated the area around them as the robots exploded into bits of flaming metal and rained down on the battlefield. Dyna and Boomette lifted their heads, and met with none other than Eye! They blinked in awe, but Eye chuckled and zipped back into the battle!

The remaining factions of robots robots split in half, forming crowds of their remaining ranks as they all charged right for Eye. As they charged, a shadow cast over them and they scurried back, but not before Brawl landed and crushed them underfoot! Brawl lifted his feet from the ground, grabbed Eye and wrapped his entire body around Eye’s form. Brawl became a shield, one that protected Eye him from the onset of fire, smoke, and heat that came as the robots exploded into a massive pyre. While the flames started to die, Eye wriggled his way out of Brawl's arms, popped on top of Brawl, and lifted a wing as sirens sounded.

"We aren't done yet, I'm afraid!" Eye cried as he jumped back off of Brawl's head and turned down to the rest of the group. "There's more coming over the horizon!"

Hearing this, Blobbers rummaged through his pockets, yanked out a pair of binoculars and turned his gaze up to the hills ahead. There, a massive blob of lumpy shadows emerged between massive clouds of dust.

"He's right!" Blobbers cried. "They're already bringing in reinforcements!"

"Hey, lemme see!" Rizzo shouted as he barged in and grappled for Blobbers' binoculars.

Blobbers grunted, and snarled as he yanked away the binoculars from Rizzo. "Hey, these are mine! Get your own!"

"I'm the captain here! Quit talking back and let me get a peek!"

"The captain should have his own set of binoculars, then!"

Rizzo and Blobbers both shoved their faces together, binoculars completely forgotten as they locked eyes and balled fists. Right before they could fight, Syracuse shoved them apart and tossed laser blasters into their arms.

"Cut the chatter!" Syracuse cried. She loaded her own laser gun, knelt down, and shot a robot charging for them right through the chest before she turned back to Rizzo and Blobbers.

Rizzo and Blobbers both opened their mouths to speak, but right as they did, a burst of fire shot up above them, and the embers and heat from underneath it forced them to duck! As they both took cover, the warmth of golden firelight caught their eyes and brought their attention to a further point of the battlefield. Spyro stood there as flames licked at his wings and horns, and a mangled, flaming robot corpse laid to his front. They both gulped as Spyro turned around to meet them, but Spyro only flared his wings and jumped back into the skies!

"She's right!" Spyro cried as he zipped overhead. "There's more reinforcements coming by the second! We've got no time to spare!"

Rizzo and Blobbers both muttered underneath their breath, yet nonetheless they heaved up their laser blasters and rushed into the fray. They took shelter behind lumps of cold, rock-hard metal that were probably robots at one point. Their crosshairs popped up on a fleet of robots that charged forward and they prepared to fire, but just before they did, entire torrents of water poured down and completely drenching the robots!

Above them, an ocean-eyed Spyro and Gill Grunt both grinned at each other.

"There's no way they could survive a torrent that strong!" Gill Grunt cried as he heaved up his harpoon cannon just a bit. "They're probably short-circuiting right now!"

The torrents finally relented. They pooled underneath the robots' feet and turned the earth around them to mud, yet the robots were perfectly fine! Their armor was sleek and shiny underneath the water's glaze, and the most they did was shake their heads and pop water out of their sockets before charging in!

Both Spyro and Gill Grunt's faces fell, and Spyro only groaned.

"Unless they're waterproof!"

The robots cried out hasty, mechanical beeps of anger as they rushed right for Blobbers and Rizzo, and held up swords sparking with lightning. Rizzo and Blobbers shot their pistols, yet the lasers they shot just bounced off the robots' chests and soared into the stratosphere, never to be seen again! So, Blobbers and Rizzo just dropped their blasters and ran off screaming!

The robots beeped and buzzed as they made chase, but skidded to a stop as Spyro planted in front of them. The blues in his eyes turned to more of an azure shade as lightning crackled around his wings. With a flick, bursts of electricity shot from those wings and hurtled straight into the robots' chest! The electricity from the bursts danced around the robots' limbs. The robots themselves dropped their weapons and jerked in fifty different directions as the lightning tunneled its way through their bodies!

Sparks jumped from them as their circuits sizzled and fried. Smoke leaked from their chests, and sent an awful scent through the air as a shrill assortment of beeps burst from their bodies. Their bodies burst in a flaming explosion next; it ate them alive as their armor melted and crumpled underneath the flames' weight, and left only smoldering humps of metal in their place.

A few other robots beeped as they ran over and witnessed the flames, and Spyro smirked. His eyes shifted to red with a blink. With a simple paw step, the flames leaped from the robots' corpses and jumped to their still-walking companions!

The robots squealed and rushed off as the flames burned around them, and Spyro chuckled. A chill rushed through the breeze while a burst of cold wind hit Spyro, and he turned around right as a vaguely dragonlike shadow leaped from the ground! The shadow dashed right through the way of a robot troll platoon, and sent them spinning in place as their weapons dropped to the ground. Out from that shadow burst Cynder, who flicked her wings and ducked right as Trigger Happy leaped above her!

"My turn now!" Trigger Happy cried as he spun his pistols. His eyes latched onto a tree branch attached to a miraculously still-standing tree, and he wrapped his tongue around it before he propelled himself in the air and turned his guns down on the spinning robots. "Bang bang bang!"

One slip of the trigger, and a whole barrage of golden coins and lasers burst from the barrels of Trigger Happy's guns. They nailed the robots right in the chest and tore holes in their bodies! The robots flew backwards from the sheer force and right over the island's edge, only their beeps heard as they plummeted down into the depths. As they flew, Trigger Happy dropped down onto the ground, prodded over, and held a hand above his eyes as he peered over the edge.

"Yep, they're goners!" Trigger Happy chirped as he bounced from side to side.

He giggled to himself as he spun his guns, but grunted as something rammed into him and nearly pushed him over the edge! Trigger Happy screamed as he slowly teetered over, yet quickly hopped away and regained his footing as his attention turned to his accidental assailant—Dyna!

Her brow was caked in sweat as she backed closer to the edge; her teeth gritted, and her laser pistol laid tight as it could be in her sweaty grip as she glared down the large robot that stomped after her and its electrically charged claymore. Dyna winced as she raised her laser pistol, but right before she fired, a gigantic, bright as the sun golden laser tore right through the robot's side! Its shadow cast over her, and Dyna rushed off right as the front half of the robot collapsed on the ground. She herself smiled as she turned to Trigger Happy, who winked back and chuckled before he rushed back into the fray.

Dyna gulped and lifted her eyes to the rest of the battlefield. The once grassy area became a trench of mud and fire. Flames from desolate robot corpses ate away the sparse grass and flowers that once covered the island, and the birdsong drowned underneath shouting and the clashing of metal and weaponry!

To her left, Terrafin churned the earth and leaped out before Eruptor poured lava into the trenches Terrafin dug, sending robots tripping into magmatic graves. Above them, Whirlwind tossed down storm clouds that trapped robots in grid of sharp electricity. Thumpback wrapped a couple of gigantic robots tight with his anchor's chains and tossed them into the air behind her, and Hot Head burned them down with his flames. To his back, Bouncer, Ninjini, and Tree Rex wiped out entire rows of robots with rounds of bullets and bursts of light and magic. Stealth Elf tore through robot after robot with her blades underneath their feet, and tossed them towards fleets of other robots right before they exploded and took the whole group with them!

Dyna frowned. Her eyes went wide and limbs limp as her grip on her laser pistol slipped just a bit from watching. The sound of footsteps caught her ears, and she gasped as a pair of robots charged right for her! Dyna barely ducked underneath the swipe of one robot's electrically-charged lance, the sliced-off bits of her hair fluttering in the wind behind her, and she ducked yet again as another robot swung a mace right for her! She skidded backwards. Her ears twitched as a faint yowl and the sound of lasers colliding with metal came from beside her.

Dyna jerked her head to the right and gasped as Boomette hit the floor, her laser pistol sliding out of her hand. Dyna dashed over in that instant, slid in front of Boomette, and brandished her pistol high as she nailed the robots right in the heads! The robots' bodies collapsed on the ground, wires exposed and sparking as their heads flew off in the distance, but Dyna disregarded them and faced Boomette instead.

"I had it under control!" Boomette hissed as she jumped to her feet and snatched her laser pistol from the ground. Boomette shot away another robot with a scoff, spun her pistol around and smirked as she blew the smoke from its tip. "See?"

Boomette raised a brow at Dyna, but Dyna scoffed and walked aside.

"Sure, that looks like under control to me," Dyna hissed. She charged her laser pistol with a rub, turned around and shot another robot.

"Hey, what does that mean?"

Dyna snarled, leaned down as a group of large, mechanical chompies with flames bursting from their back and cannons for arms marched towards her, and flipped a switch underneath the pistol's handle as she turned it to a full-on blaster! Shrieks and light burst from the blaster's barrel as Dyna heaved it over her shoulder. A gigantic laser burst from the blaster with a single swing and swerved over, cutting the robots right in half! Dyna scoffed as they all exploded into thick bursts of fire and smoke, switched the blaster back into a pistol and turned to Boomette.

"Just let me handle this, okay? I don't want you getting into any unnecessary danger."

Boomette snarled, gritting her teeth, but the sounds of yowling and screeching over the horizon drew her attention away from Dyna! She gasped as she turned her own laser pistol up to the skies, pulled the trigger and charged a blast.

"Boomette, what do you think you're doing?" Dyna cried, her eyes fixed on the pistol.

"Duck!" Boomette cried.

"Duck? Why would I—"

Dyna hit the ground as the laser soared above her head, and it nailed a chompy right about to pounce on her out of the air! Lifting her head, Dyna rolled over and winced as an entire rain of chompies soared down from the skies and hit the ground. Their eyes were beady and hungry as they leaped in! Dyna blew a few chompies away with her laser pistol and backed right into Boomette, but winced as she leaped away from one chompy that tried to sneak a bite of her.

"Just where did those things come from?" Dyna cried.

"If I had to guess," Boomette replied as she crossed her arms, "those robots you blew up were probably loaded with them!" Boomette scoffed as a smirk crossed her lips. "So much for having things under control, huh?"

Dyna growled underneath her breath, and turned around as a faint shriek hit the air! Several larger chompies flew out of the air thanks to a combined blast of light, water and lasers, and the rest of the group stormed in right before her eyes. Dyna gripped the handle of her laser pistol, flung it out as she rushed in and knelt down.

"Forget about that!" she shouted as she sniped several of the smaller chompies that hit the ground. "Just take care of these things!"

"Oh, so when you mess up it's not a problem, but when I do, it's proof that I should just leave things to the rest of you, huh?" Boomette shouted back as she transformed her pistol to a rifle and shot away. "How fair is that, again?"

Dyna clenched her teeth, lifted her pistol and held her crosshairs to an oncoming chompy. "Now's now the time—"

A laser blast sniped the chompy off the ground and Boomette huffed. "Of course it isn't! You always act like you're so perfect and can do no wrong, and I'm just the one who you have to drag along!" Boomette spun her rifle until it laid over her shoulder, and shot away a few more chompies with maybe a bit more powerful a blast than needed, judging from the crater left behind in the air. A frown crossed her face, and it turned to a snarl as she stormed up to Dyna. "If it were up to you, you'd have me stay home so you can take credit for all my work!"

"Boomette, that's not true and we both know it!" Dyna tossed her laser pistol to the side. "I'm just trying to look out for you!"

Boomette tossed her rifle away in turn, and glared it down for just a minute before she turned to Dyna. "I never asked you to!" Boomette cried. "You don't take me seriously at all! I might be the youngest here, but that doesn't mean I'm any less capable! If it weren't for me and Syracuse, we wouldn't be here—"

"Getting attacked by robots? Arguing like this?" Dyna crossed her arms.

"That's not the point!"

Boomette groaned, and flung her head back before she raised her hands and stormed off. "That's it, I give up with you! Trying to argue with you is like trying to argue with an unmade robot!"

"Boomette, get back here! I'm not done talking with you yet!"

"Well, I am!" Boomette shouted back, not even bothering to turn back to Dyna. "I don't need you, anyways! All you do is nag me about everything and drag me down!"

Dyna gasped, but before she could even reply, a hot burst of fire hit her back! She shuddered as a massive explosion blew her onto the ground face-first! Dyna grunted as she pushed herself up. Her eyes met with masses of fire that quickly diminished, sending smoke and ashes flying everywhere as a massive burst of wind extinguished the flames.

Out from that came 'Enehana, who wiped their hands of soot, with Cali close behind.

"Quit arguing, you two!" Cali shouted. "We've got bigger things to worry about, you know!"

The sirens droned once more as if to amplify Cali's statement, but before they could cry a second more, a whole wave of lasers wiped them out! Their broken speakers collapsed to the ground and burned away. Save for one, which Boomette kicked off the side of the island.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'll be happy if I never speak to you again!" Boomette shouted.

Dyna huffed, tears forming in her eyes before she wiped them away. Her frown turned cold and slight, and she just sighed as she hung her head and trailed off.

"That's fine by mine!" she shouted back as she dashed over the hill.

Cali winced as Dyna ran past her, but Dyna disappeared across the grass right before Cali could even lift a hand! A couple of worried whispers and glances came from the group behind them. A sigh turned her attention to Rizzo beside her as he scratched his head, and Cali raised a brow.

"I swear, those two have been going at it since we got here!" Rizzo shouted. "I don't know what's gotten into them!"

"Even earlier than that!" Blobbers remarked, crossing his arms. "They were bickering the whole flight here," Blobbers tsked and shook his head. "Talk about petty."

But while the others whispered and worried amid themselves, Eye popped off of Brawl's head and perked up as Brawl turned to him.

"You know, Eye, this reminds me of something," Brawl signed before he turned out to the hills.

"You read my mind," Eye remarked, "and that gives me an idea!" Eye turned back to Brawl and nodded. "You go find one of them, and I'll find the other, alright?"

Brawl nodded and dashed over the hill while Eye flitted off. The smaller members of their group jumped up or fell over from the massive winds and stomps Eye and Brawl produced. Rizzo frowned as they gathered their bearings. Adjusting his hat back into place, Rizzo pulled himself to his feet as his eyes fell over to where Brawl ran.

"Hey, where's he going?" Rizzo remarked as he ran off after Brawl.

"Captain, wait!" Nort and Snuckles both cried as they ran after Rizzo.

Blobbers frowned and trailed after Eye. "I wonder where he's going?" Blobbers whispered.

Cali frowned and walked off as they all left, but 'Enehana just smiled and grabbed her shoulder.

"Let's just leave them be," 'Enehana said. "I'm sure they know what they're doing." 'Enehana cracked their robotic knuckles, and turned back to the path ahead. "Besides, we've got a mission to take care of."

Cali drew back, and hesitated for a moment before she caught sight of Spyro nodding in response.

"They're right, we can't hesitate. Not with Kaos at large," Spyro said as he flew off. "Let's just do what we can!"

Cali nodded and trailed after the back of the group as they trekked through the remainders of the battlefield. A frown crossed Cali's face as she knelt down and lifted Dyna's laser pistol off the ground, but her eyes turned to where the rest of the group set up dynamite at a gate blocked off by shiny metal. Cali flicked the pistol and turned it back to its dormant state. As she shoved it in her pocket, Cali rushed over and frowned.

"Whatever it is they're doing," Cali said as her eyes glazed over the battlefield, "I sure hope it works out."