Arkilles chuckled, drumming his fingers against one another as he rested in his throne. His whole body shuddered from the prospects before him, so excited that it wanted to jump up and dance, sing praises to the almighty Ancient, do anything in celebration of his plan's success! However, he knew better than to count his robots before they were built, so he just sat in his specially-made red and gold throne. He found himself comforted by its soft, almost plush velvet as that troll man chiseled away on the tablet.

"Excuse me, Gladshanks?" Arkilles asked, turning from his throne.

That troll winced, his ears flicking for a moment. "Actually, sir, it's Glumshanks—"

Bah, who cares! Arkilles never bothered to remember any of his servants' names; it was too much of a hassle! They could be replaced just as easily as their predecessors! Rolling his eyes at the utter insolence, Arkilles hopped from his throne. The sight of how tall the throne was in comparison to him spun his head for a bit for a moment. Even after several days of inhabiting this body, he hadn't quite gotten used to how… Short, it was, but he supposed he could fix that when he revived his armies and reclaimed his empire.

"Sir, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Grumblespanks asked. "You've been quite out of sorts lately—"

"And I've told you every single time, I am perfectly fine! Keep badgering me about that, and I'll toss you into the piranha pits!"

"We don't have a piranha pit, Lord Kaos. I've told you five times now."

Gritting his teeth for a moment, Arkilles was almost tempted to blast away that obnoxious troll with this body's fancy portal master powers, as they were called in the modern day. His hands only faintly glowed then immediately faded, so he sighed. Even after several days, mastering this magic had proved futile. It was as if the body itself resisted his attempts to channel its innate power! What a pain. So, he turned back to Glitterspoff and huffed.

"Forget about that. How are our preparations for the Vault trip coming along?"

Ah, yes, the thing he really wanted to get to! Arkilles beamed from ear to ear as Grufflesnuffle eyed him for a moment, but frowned a little. Was it just him, or did that side-eye Gramblerank give him seem just a little too suspicious? Arkilles glared him down right back, and Gremblesnemble cringed as he turned his eyes right towards that stone tablet and chisel he held as tight as he could.

"Well, let me see," Glimmerspanks said, glazing over the tablet while he squeezed his chisel tighter. "Our preparations are going smoothly as ever, Lord Kaos. Though our drilling robot went missing, the armies it unearthed for us have bolstered our forces more than enough. They have been preparing the ships we stole from that town, and as long as everything continues going smoothly, we should have a fleet ready in—"

A sharp snapping sound burst through the air, and both Arkilles and Gradspatula looked up right as the lights flickered out for a moment before flickering back on. A brief power outage, perhaps, but something about it felt a bit too ominous for Arkilles' liking.

"All security systems downnnnnn," droned a mechanical, dying voice from the Ancient knows where!

Arkilles gasped and jerked his head to the side. "Gramblespark, check the defense right now!" Arkilles cried as he pointed a finger.

"Yes, Lord Kaos!" Grumblebumble cried back. He immediately raced out of the room, yanking the door shut behind him.

Arkilles sighed as he climbed back atop the throne, and leaned against its soft, plush velvet once more. The truth is, he didn't entirely trust that this bumbling troll would actually get anything of substance done; however, he was tired of that utter buffoon tailing him everywhere he went. The troll always eyed him with those odd looks and strange frowns as if he has suspected something of Arkilles. Mayhaps he already caught on to Arkilles's ploy? Oh Ancient, looking at it now, he absolutely must have! Why else would he act so suspicious? Had he already keyed the armies in? That was it! Arkilles needed to dispose of that no-good, blundering, absolute buffoon of a troll before—

"Hey, I'm the only one who's allowed to insult Glumshanks around here!"

Arkilles groaned and turned around within the realm of the mind. That pint-sized gremlin who this body apparently belonged to still laid in the prison Arkilles made for him, rattling and zapping the bars as if that would break him free. His scowl grew deeper as he glared down Arkilles, even though nothing he could do could plausibly bring Arkilles any harm. Well, that was false. Just looking at his face was enough to give Arkilles a splitting headache! The runt pounded on the bars one more time, and Arkilles snarled.

"Silence!" Arkilles cried, shooting a lightning bolt at the bars.

The lightning bolt split as it hit them, coursing through the bars and shocking the runt as they sparked. The runt cried out. He stumbled back as he fell to the floor, and nursed his shocked hands as static popped from them. Well, seemed that would shut him up for the time being.

A door creaked open in the outer world, and Arkilles shook his head as he went up to take control.

"I checked the security systems, Lord Kaos, but nothing seemed to be amiss," Grumslanks said as he walked into Arkilles's view. Oddly enough, his eyes darted from side to side, as if he were nervous, or perhaps hiding something.

"Are you certain about that?" Arkilles steepled his hands and raised a brow.

Grumplesparks gulped and quickly shook his head. "I, I'm certain, everything looked perfectly fine when I checked the security systems!"

Arkilles frowned, pulled his hands apart and dismissed Gruppleguts with a wave. "Go check our preparations, then. I want to make sure everything's perfect before we leave for the vault!"

"Yes, Lord Kaos."

Grumblemumble excused himself immediately, but Arkilles watched him the whole time as he left the room and carefully, gingerly closed the door behind him. Not that it somehow eased Arkilles' suspicions. Turning back to his throne, Arkilles frowned.

"Somehow, I doubt that this troll means what he says," Arkilles grumbled to himself.

"Of course he doesn't, you buffoon! Glumshanks might be an incompetent klutz, but he's not an idiot!" the runt cried from the back. Somehow, he’d recovered even though that blast would have incapacitated any ordinary person. "Surely, he's already figured out what you're up to, and then he's going to exorcise you and get my body back!"

"Didn't I tell you to be quiet?" Arkilles hissed, jolting right around as thunder crashed before him.

Despite the intimidating front Arkilles put up, the runt still scoffed. "A little thunder won't scare me! You may be possessing my body…" the runt snarled and wagged a finger. "But mark my evil words, once I'm free, I'll send you straight to the Pits! No, I'll incinerate your soul and evaporate the ashes! I don't care if ashes can't evaporate, I'll find a way to make them! I'll make sure no trace of your remains will—"

"LORD KAOS, LORD KAOS!"

This time, it was one of those minions who cried for Arkilles. Arkilles immediately jumped to take control. Judging by that tone of voice, whatever news they had couldn't have been good!

"Yes, what is it?" Arkilles demanded. He leaped from the throne and met the minion, a frantic-looking greeble, midway through.

"We've got bad news!" the greeble shouted back. Its teeth chattered as it spoke, and its eyes bounded from every side of the room. "The, the, Skylanders! They've arrived, and they've already cleaned out our front lines of defense! At the rate things are going, they'll reach us before we can take off!"

Arkilles gritted his teeth. He had no idea who these "Skylanders" were, but judging from the worry in the greeble's face, it didn't seem like they were particularly fond of the runt Arkilles possessed. More importantly, what were they doing here? That troll told him that the security systems were fine!

"Don't we have any other forces we can spare?" Arkilles asked.

"Fraid not—everyone else's been re-routed to the vault project, just like you said!"

"But I didn't say that!" Arkilles stomped his foot, and the greeble flinched as he balled his hands into fists. "I said to re-route our strongest forces to the vault, and leave the rest here as security!"

"That, that's not what the troll said, though!"

"Hah, good old Glumshanks!" the runt cried from the back. "Keeping you distracted!"

Arkilles gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing by the second.

"Scrounge up what you can and keep them occupied!" he hissed as he stormed out of the throne room. "I'll see if I can't do something with the security systems!"

Arkilles slammed the throne room's door right open, and scanned the halls for only moments before he rushed down. A few twists and turns brought him to the security room's door. Yet, even though the door creaked open, not even a smidgen of light came from it! Wouldn't it at least have something glowing from the security cameras?

Pushing the door open further, Arkilles crept into the room and met with blanketing darkness. It was so dark he nearly tripped several times on his way to the security console. He turned up to the screens, and all of them were completely blank! Something must have turned them off—but, that troll said they were just fine! Arkilles snarled and pressed a button. He turned the screens back on, and peered over at one showing the front yard, where…

Wait, no, it couldn't be…

But there, right on the screen, were, were the Elder Elementals! Four of them—that rockhead, the one with fire for brains, that robotic traitor, and the overgrown weed that led them all—plowed through his defenses like it was little more than child's play! But, how were they even still alive, even after all these years? How were they even here? Arkilles snarled, and a frown snaked its way across his face, for he already knew the answer to the second question.

"I never trusted that good-for-nothing butler!" Arkilles snarled as he drew away from the screens. "I should've guessed he was up to something!"

"Silence, fool! I already told you, I'm the only one who gets to mock Glumshanks!"

His fist twitched and Arkilles clasped it just as quickly. His attention turned away from the screens, and right to where that runt banged on the bars and shouted at him.

"Be quiet!" Arkilles hissed, storming over to where the runt laid in his cage and pointing to him. "If you want this plan to succeed, you'll tell me about this castle's defenses right this instant!"

"Why should I? You told me to be silent!" The runt stuck his tongue out and turned around. "Besides, even if I help you, I'll just end up sitting here while you get to rule! That hardly seems fair to me! I'm the ultimate evil overlord of Skylands, so I should be the one ruling!"

"I wasn't asking for your permission. You do realize that, right?"

The runt turned back around with the most stupid gaping mouth and wide eyes, right as Arkilles zapped him with a spell! The bright crimson magic that burst from Arkilles' hand froze the runt in place. It lifted him from the ground as magic burst from his eyes, mouth, ears, even the symbol on his head! The symbol pulsed as the magic clouded and stuffed itself together, forming a scene that slowly flickered into definition.

With one last spark and flick, a memory formed of the screen. It was of a runt even smaller than the one before him now and dressed in regal-looking clothing; he argued with some svelte-looking boys with long, flowing golden locks and similar attire. Oh, so he possessed a prince? Arkilles wouldn't have guessed it by how he looked.

"Older brothers, what a pain," Arkilles scoffed as he flipped the screen away. "I know mine was."

Another memory came up of the slightly older runt as he made wooden puppets, and cheered as they came to life and danced before his eyes; of him running away with Gramplesmacks; of him meeting a tall, very lovely-looking lady clad in a sleek black gown and battling with her, studying magic with her as his teacher, arguing with her… All amusing he supposed, but not quite what Arkilles was looking for. He flipped a few memories back, and focused on the tiny runt as he trailed behind a tall, regal-looking man that walked through the castle halls.

"As you can see, Kaos," the man said as he held up a hand; his voice was deep and gruff, like the voice of Arkilles' own father, "these halls are endowed with holographic traps. Anyone who activates them is trapped in a virtual world of the maker's choosing, forced to find an exit while their bodies stay suspended in reality. It's one of our castle mages' finer inventions. These realms are so elaborate by the time the crook escapes, our guards have them cornered in an instant!"

Hearing this, Arkilles raised a brow. Holographic traps, huh? He chuckled small, under-the-breath chuckles as he flipped back through the runt's memories, and then he licked his lips. Oh, he had an idea, alright! It was an absolutely delicious, juicy idea, the perfect way to trick those insolent Elder Elementals and their puny little allies! In fact, his whole body shuddered with delight just thinking about it!

Arkilles snapped his fingers. The spell over the runt released, allowing him to collapse back to the floor! The runt yowled as he hit the floor head-first, grumbled as he pushed himself up and rubbed his head.

"What do you think you're doing, scrounging around my memories like that?" the runt shouted. "There's no way you're privy to the mind of an evil overlord as great as myself!"

Arkilles scoffed as the runt continued to ramble. He took control of the body once more, and turned back to the security panels instead.

His eyes fell on one labeled "Holographic Traps" in the chicken scrawl that was Modern Common, and with a wave of his hand and a bolt of two of magic, they sprung to life! Whirring, clunking sounds banged from the console as the screens on its side popped to life one by one. They showed off different rooms in the castle, each with pulsing blue orbs sitting inside of them. Another wave of Arkilles' hand, and the orbs on the screen dyed a deep, bloody crimson instead!

"Ah, the perfect trap," Arkilles chuckled, drumming his fingers against the console. "They won't even know what they stumbled into!"