"And then, Tree Rex was like, 'BAM,' 'POW' 'WHAM!' and Ninjini slashed Arkilles up with her swords, and Arkilles was like 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'"

"Chihiro, I think you can stop now," chuckled a purple and gold dragon who laid on the floor with a grin.

The dragon turned to a pale-skinned child with short black hair, brown eyes, monochrome clothes and a sparkling crystal pendant around her neck. She, in turn, raised a brow as she pulled herself up from a dramatic bow, and her mouth twisted into a slight frown.

"But Spyro, I was just getting to the good part!" Chihiro turned her head around and beamed. "Right, Wrecking Ball?"

"I don't think he's gonna answer you."

Spyro pointed towards a small straw nest in the center of the simple purple stone room they sat in, for a large sky blue grub worm snored peacefully as he slept in a nest there.

"Wrecking Ball's been asleep for a half-hour now."

Chihiro blinked for a few moments and let out a soft giggle. She crept over to his nest with the slightest, quietest of footsteps, with only a tiny bit of pause taken to close the storybook she read from, smiled and knelt down next to Wrecking Ball. She rubbed his back as he twitched and snored, drew a lavender blanket over Wrecking Ball and pushed herself up.

"Sweet dreams, Wrecks," Chihiro whispered as she tip-toed back to Spyro.

The two of them shared a gentle smile with each other, and Chihiro just scuffed her boot against the floor.

"Y'know, I know it's technically s'posed to be night and all, but, I just don't feel like sleeping for some reason," Chihiro remarked. "How 'bout you, Golden Boy?"

Spyro clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Me neither, to be honest. Are you up for a midnight walk?"

"Sure thing!"

The two of them shared a chuckle, took hand in paw as they teleported out of Wrecking Ball's quarters in the Magic Sanctuary, and right to the teleporter that lead back to the portal building!

They both took a step on, whisked back to the room in the portal building where all the Sanctuaries' teleporters, strode out the door and down the halls. The portal building felt a lot lonelier and bigger than usual at this time of night, the one where everyone was sound asleep, save for the unlucky few shafted into the night shift. Even those beings were well away from here, however. As far as the world was concerned, it was just Spyro and Chihiro as they trailed through the halls and towards the door that would bring them to the heart of Ancient's Peak.

With a simple push of the door, moonlight poured into the dark halls of the portal building, but that was of no concern to Spyro and Chihiro as they rushed outside! The gentle light of the moon cascaded over the empty heart of Ancient's Peak, and the only source of light aside from the moon was the gentle glow of the rebuilt Core of Light. The other buildings were all just barely visible against the dark, their silhouette faint against the blue night sky and all its shining stars…

It was so peaceful, but such a strange sight compared to how busy and lively it was during the day.

Yet, it was a welcome sight for Spyro and Chihiro, who ran up to the cliffs that loomed over the beach, and took a seat. Though their eyes fixed on the stars, they still nudged closer and closer to each other, and Spyro laid his head on Chihiro's shoulder. It was just the two of them alone in the night, so peaceful and serene, and for a moment, it seemed time had come to a stop.

"You know," Chihiro remarked as she craned her head further up towards the sky, "I still have a hard time believing it's been a whole year since we first met!"

"Me too," Spyro remarked as he glanced back at the Core of Light. "It doesn't feel like it was all that long ago that we first met in your backyard and started fixing the Core, and fixing the Core feels like it happened yesterday!"

Spyro stood up and stretched. "But, I'm still so glad we managed to fix it, not to mention all the headway we've made restoring Skylands since!" Spyro opened a paw and counted off his toes. "Most parts of Skylands are back on their feet, we reclaimed Kaos's old fortress and took back all the evil artifacts he stored there…"

"I know, Spyro, I was there!" Chihiro chuckled as she nudged his shoulder with her own and shuddered. "I think that greeble machine still haunts my nightmares." Chihiro cleared her throat and twiddled her feet. "You know, I had thought things would slow down now that Kaos's gone, but I think we've been even busier than before!"

"No kidding, what with all those supply and repair jobs." Spyro's tail dragged back and forth across the grass as he sighed. "And with a good bit of our forces missing in action, we've been pretty understaffed! Heck, I think I heard Master Eon talk about reopening Skylanders Academy and training up some new recruits because of all this work the other day."

Spyro smiled and shook his head. "But enough about all this. How's the hunt for Kaos?"

Now, it was Chihiro's turn to sigh and shake her head, her black hair bouncing against her shoulders as she hummed.

"Haven't had much luck, I'm afraid. Since nothing we have can track him, I've had to do things the old-fashioned way." Chihiro admitted. "I've been searching as much as I can between school and stuff over here, but unfortunately, the Earth's a pretty big place and I'm only one person" — Chihiro's dour expression turned to a smile as she fished her phone out of her pocket — "but you know, I've had a lot of fun globetrotting!"

Chihiro's phone lit up the moment she flipped it open, and a few button presses brought to sight a photo gallery with her in all sorts of places that she quickly flicked through.

"Here I am at the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, the Iguazu Falls in Brazil, this really fancy castle in Spain, going dog sledding in Finland, visiting the Sydney Opera House…" Chihiro's mouth watered as she flipped through the next couple photos, all captures of her eating in restaurants with wide smiles on her face. "Eating stroopwaffels and krokets in the Netherlands, Canadian-style breakfast, rosol and mizeria in Poland…"

A soft laugh from Spyro broke Chihiro out of her food-induced trance, and she immediately shook her head as she stowed her phone away with a giggle of her own.

"But, no Kaos to be found."

"Well, sounds like you've been having fun, at least," Spyro remarked. He sighed, and folded his wings close to his back as he lifted his head up towards the night sky. "I'd help too, but, you know, can't exactly go there without ending up still as a statue… Literally."

"It's alright, Golden Boy, I know you're working as hard as you can here." Chihiro held her head and ruffled her hair. "But man, it sure would be nice to have a few extra portal masters around. I could definitely use a couple extra hands on deck!"

The soft twinkle of light pulled Chihiro's attention to the sky, and she gasped as she jumped to full height.

"A shooting star, and I know just what to wish for!" Chihiro clasped her hands tight and hung her head. "Please let me find Kaos, please let me find Kaos, please" — Chihiro popped an eye open, and sighed as the shooting star vanished from view — "darn, wasn't fast enough."

Chihiro plopped back down on the grass and kicked her feet together.

"But you know, speaking of Earth, they're coming out with a new Skylanders game soon, too!" Chihiro clasped her hands into fists, and bounced them up and down as her eyes sparkled in the moonlight. "And get this, it's all about the Elder Elementals and them coming back to Skylands! Can you believe it?"

"Huh, forgot those games were a thing. You know, it still weirds me out that all this is a game back there."

"Yeah, I can understand that. It feels a little strange now, seeing people talk about it all like it's just a game when I lived through the real thing."

Spyro giggled, but soon yelped as Chihiro sprung forward and tackled him into a tight hug! Though shocked at first, he embraced her hug; his wings wrapped around her back as she nuzzled into his shoulder. Though they stood still and frozen in time for what felt like forever, ultimately Chihiro broke the hug, and smiled back as she clasped her crystal pendant in her hands.

"I'd better get back home," Chihiro whispered, though the look in her eyes seemed as if she wanted to stay just a moment longer. "See you later, Golden Boy!"

"See you later, Chi."

Chihiro chuckled and gripped her crystal a bit tighter. The warmth of Spyro's words became a lingering thought in her mind that soon vanished for thoughts of the Earth.

"Crystal, take me back to Earth!" Chihiro proclaimed!

A flash of bright blue light enveloped her in its grip as she spoke. Its body swirled around her until it completely masked her from view, and it completely vanished and took Chihiro with it in a flash! All that was left were a couple of pastel cyan sparkles that trickled onto the ground where she once stood like stardust…