§Later at the Dread-Yacht...§

A single lightbulb flickered on and off inside the room everyone crowded into, and its light solidified and turned cyan with a single finger snap. The cyan light glowed like a star in the night sky amid the inky darkness of the room, and more importantly, it illuminated the sight of Ermit as he sat behind a wooden desk! A sort of tension fell across him as he pursed his lips and laid his clasped hands against the table's surface, but he screamed and reeled backwards in his chair as Chihiro shone a light in his eyes.

"Alright, where were you on the day Kaos made his insidious return to Skylands?" Chihiro demanded, a magical flashlight held tight in her grip.

"Knock that off!" Ermit cried back as he slapped the flashlight out of Chihiro's hands. "That thing burns!"

Chihiro blinked, chuckled and leaned back as she scratched her head. "Sorry, always wanted to do that." Chihiro cleared her throat as she leaned back and forth in her seat, and the back of her chair just barely brushed back to where everyone else sat behind her. "But in all seriousness, what happened?"

"Well, I guess it's time I told you what I saw." Ermit cleared his throat, and winced as everyone leaned in with eyes fixed on him. "You don't need to get so close, you know!"

A couple of faint chuckles and muttered apologies came out from the crowds around him, and Ermit cleared his throat once more.

"See, it all started when I was putting the finishing touches on my book about the dangers of clouds…"

§

Ermit chuckled to himself as he chiseled the last couple of words he needed on the stone tablets that made up his book, beamed and held it up to the skies. The world around him was warm and pleasant in a way that normally would have been extremely odd for the aestival season, but in a tropical area like this, it was perfectly befitting. The warm weather only further boosted his joy, too! Then again, it was hard not to feel happy in this little retreat he adopted as his personal writing nook.

With the thousands of trees rich with coconuts, mangoes, and other tropical fruits perfect for a snack; the gentle crash of ocean waves from behind; and the many butterflies that flew around, it was a slice of paradise! The only real oddity was that gigantic red and gold robot that laid knelt down and deactivated in the center of the canyon below. Its body was caked in vines, leaves, and dirt, but it was hardly a damper to the warm mood. The smells of fresh air carried with them the faint taste of the aestival season, and it gave Erimit the perfect energy boost he needed! He'd have to make sure to credit this island when he got his book published for real.

Ermit peered down at the complete book in all its smooth, stone cold glory, and a giddy smile stretched across his face. It took him ages of research, of daring exploration and hair-raising horrors, all to document the dangers of those insidious clouds, but he did it! Once he shuffled this off to the local bookstore and coaxed them into publishing it, he could finally expose them for their dastardly deeds! Oh, he could see it now! The books swept off the shelves in droves, the interviews, the handshake events, and the clouds swept from the skies! It would be glorious.

"Ha, take that, clouds!" Ermit cried as he pointed a finger to the skies. "Once I get the All-Encompassing Guide to the Dangers of Cloudkind in stores, you're finished!" A crackle of lightning befitting on an oncoming storm crashed down, but Ermit only scoffed. "What, you think you're gonna rain on my parade? Not anymore!"

The clouds cried out in defiance, yet Ermit stood tall! Those clouds could try and intimidate him all they wanted, but he knew he was going to win! With everything he did to bring this book to fruition, he had an entire omnibus of evidence against them! They could crackle, snap, and pop all they wanted, but it would be fruitless!

Ermit puffed out his chest and smirked as he stroke his beard; for a moment, he felt pretty darn good about himself. Though the clouds above him turned murky and purple while bright pink lightning cracked down from their puffy exteriors, they wouldn't break his stride! No, not even as the area fluctuated between chilling colds and sweltering heats, not even as the plantlife shuddered and shriveled into the ground, and not even as the awful, dreadful feeling of malevolent magic filtered through the air! Wait a second, malevolent magic?

Ermit lifted his head, and winced as he peered back at the thick, storming clouds that choked out the skies. He thought they were normal storm clouds, but now that he got a better look at them, they seemed far more abnormal than anything! Sprinkles of purple sparkles and dust filtered from their clouds alongside the strikes of lightning that left pink, glowing charred earth wherever they chose to strike, and that feeling of malevolence only grew as they churned. For that matter, he could almost hear… Screaming?

"I'd better get a closer look," Ermit remarked as he yanked out a spyglass from his pocket and stretched it out. "I could use this for my book!"

Ermit lifted the spyglass to his eye, and narrowed it as two specks—one that was black and one that was sort of a chartreuse color—fell out from between the clouds' fluff while the screaming only got louder! The whole area dyed in a thick hue of purple around him, and Ermit couldn't help but shudder as chills ran down his spine. He saw pretty nasty storms before, but this was a whole other level of awful! Yet, just what was it?

Whatever it was, Ermit didn't get the chance to figure it out. A lightning bolt shot right for him! He screamed, and jumped out of the way as the lightning bolt slammed into his abandoned spyglass and rendered it an amorphous blob of smoking wood and metal cracked with pink veins. That, however, was the last thing on his mind! The lightning bolts crashed further and further down around him, almost as if they aimed for him specifically!

Ermit screamed as one crashed down beside him and sent pink lava spewing out from the ground, dashed behind a large rock and shuddered. Surely, this would keep him safe from the lava, right? A crack of lightning struck a tree behind him down to its roots, and he was proven wrong! Ermit jumped to his feet as the tree behind him was rendered a shriveled smog of its former glory, and dashed underneath a rocky crevice in a cliff's crag! Luckily, the rocks here were strong enough that none of the lightning bolts could rock their stature regardless of how much they lashed and struck, so he just cozied up beside a couple of rocks and peered over its open depths.

Another pair of screams—one high and one low—pierced the air, and something crashed into the ground beyond the canyon. It scared off butterflies, bees and birds alike! Ermit picked up a second spyglass from his pocket (he always carried extras of all his tools, after all), opened it up, and peered down to find… No, it couldn't be…

But there, right on the ground beside that gigantic robot, were none other than that pint-sized portal master who conquered Skylands the past year and some troll! Ermit couldn't exactly remember his name—Discord? Anarchy? Richard? Whatever it was, the guy seemed hardly befitting of the title of conqueror of Skylands and being who gave even the Skylanders the biggest run for their money they ever had. Beyond his diminutive state and completely bald head, he was in absolute shambles! His clothes were dirty and tattered in most aspects, and bruises and cuts covered the bare skin that was exposed! Static covered him from head to toe, zapped the lanky troll also covered in similarly-tattered clothes and bruises beside the guy, and both of them yelped!

The guy wiped his sleeves off and shook the static from his body, oblivious to how it leaped over and shocked the troll instead. He huffed and crossed his arms.

"See, Glumshanks?" the guy exclaimed as he glared down the still-shuddering troll. "I told you taking the portal would be fine!"

"I wouldn't exactly call us crashing into some random island and nearly being shocked to death fine, Lord Kaos," the troll remarked as he scratched his ear, and yipped as another static bolt hit him.

Kaos, so that was his name! Ermit flicked his ear, and twisted the spyglass a little to zoom further in on the two.

Kaos glared back at Glumshanks and his hideous face wrinkled up in dismay. "What was that, Glumshanks?"

"Nothing, Lord Kaos."

Glumshanks sighed and crossed his arms as he sat down on a nearby rock. Poor guy, the bags under his eyes were so heavy that they looked like they were about ready to slide off of his face. He seemed awfully tired too, judging by how he curled up on an awfully hard rock and immediately fell asleep nonetheless. Not that he could, for Kaos cackled immediately afterwards and woke him right up!

"More importantly, now that I'm back in Skylands, I can finally kick things back into gear!" Kaos exclaimed at such volume that the birds around flew away. He grinned as he kicked a couple pebbles aside, and his eyes flared with bright red light.

"It'll be so simple! Once I fix up Castle Blackthorne, reassemble my armies, amass a new treasure hoard, rebuild my airship fleets and military vessels…" Kaos's voice started to falter and his smile fell. "Get my evil laboratories kickstarted, conquer a couple villages, replenish my stash of hot chocolate, find some more superweapons…" Kaos groaned, and his frown twisted even wider as he fell on his back. "And MAYBE destroy the Core of Light again, I can finally show the Skylanders and that portal-poster the what-for!"

Kaos whimpered, and for a moment, he seemed more pathetic than before as he buried his face in his hands. "Glumshanks, it's awful! I got so caught up in getting back to Skylands, I completely forgot about all the work I'll have to do to get back on my feet! It's horrendous!"

Glumshanks sighed and rolled on his sigh. "That sounds awful, Lord Kaos," Glumshanks replied with a much more monotonous tone than his words suggested.

"Why me? Why meeeeeeee? Why do I have to do all this work? This is going to take FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Kaos pounded his legs and arms against the ground. "BUT I WANNA CONQUER SKYLANDS AND GET MY REVENGE RIGHT NOW! NOW! THIS INSTANT!"

"I know, Lord Kaos, you were talking all about it on the way here."

"I DON'T WANT TO WASTE MY TIME REBUILDING ARMIES AND STOCKPILES WHEN I COULD BE CONQUERING! AND I ESPECIALLY CAN’T WASTE TIME WHILE THE SKYLANDERS AND THEIR STUPID PORTAL-POSTER ARE BUSY UNDOING ALL MY HARD WORK!"

Kaos's eyes shot wide open and a cold sweat broke over his face as he jumped to his feet. "Wait, that portal-poster! She said back on that stupid mudball that she was going to make sure I never returned to Skylands again! Surely, she already knows I've been making my way back!" Kaos paced back and forth. "I bet she and those Skylosers already know I'm here! Surely, they're going to jump out from the bushes and take me in right now!"

Glumshanks groaned as he yanked a large leaf from a nearby plant, and he wrapped it around himself like a blanket. "Somehow I doubt that, Lord Kaos."

Kaos snarled, amd leaped forward as his red eyes flared in tandem with the bright red light that came from his palms and crackled with lightning.

"They're never taking me alive, I'm telling you, and they won't take me dead either!" Kaos turned around and snarled as he faced the robot, all while the lightning that burst from his hands grew even more intense. "In fact, I bet that robot's one of their lackies! YOU'LL NEVER BEST ME, ROBOT! THERE'S NO BESTING KAOS, ULTIMATE EVIL OVERLORD OF ALL SKYLANDS!" Kaos flung his hands together, and flew backwards as a bright red lightning bolt burst from his hands. "TAKE THAT!"

The lightning bolt slammed right into the robot's chest, and the robot itself creaked as it swung back and forth! Below it, Kaos cackled and Glumshanks leaped from the rock he was napping on, but neither of them were as concerning as the teetering robot!

Ermit fixed his spyglass on the robot just as it stabilized, and its eyes started to flicker on and off with light. Wait, he also thought he say a person's shadow doing something within the robot itself for a moment and fleeing reflected in the robot's eye, but that couldn't have been right, right? He zoomed in further, yet no beings could be seen within the robot itself. Ermit just frowned and zoomed back out and onto Kaos and Glumshanks.

While Glumshanks shuddered beside Kaos, Kaos calmed himself from his earlier tantrum, and in fact, he seemed quite intrigued! He hummed and stroked his chin as he walked up to the robot. Kaos tilted his head just a bit as a glow formed around him.

"Wait a second, I feel like I've seen this kind of robot before," Kaos remarked. "I'd better get a closer look at it!"

With a stomp of his feet, Kaos zipped off the ground and right up to the robot's face. He glazed over it for moments, gasped and floated back as he clapped his hands.

"I knew it! This is an Arkeyan Conquertron!"

Giggles rife with malice bubbled out of Kaos's throat as he floated from eye to eye and wiped them off. His sparkling eyes only grew even wider as he gazed upon the masses of controls and buttons within the Conquertron's body. "These were some of the finest, most powerful Arkeyan warriors of all! A machine like this would be perfect for my army!"

"Are you it even works still, Lord Kaos?" Glumshanks asked. He clasped his hands tight as he stepped up and glanced from side to side. "Besides, I don't know about you, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"Don't worry so much, Glumshanks! Besides, if we're going to get anywhere in this evil conquest business, this'll be the just the thing!" Kaos cackled, and sparks of red magic burst from his palms as he rubbed them tight. "Just need to give this baby a little jumpstart!" Kaos flicked his palms out and bright red light burst from their veins. "CONQUERTRON, COME ALIVE AND FACE YOUR NEW LEADER!"

The Conquertron flung its head backwards as the red magic fed into its body, and the magic’ss sparkling, crackling red veins swirled around the Conquertron's body! Though its mouth yanked open, not a single word or scream came from the Conquertron as the magic all swerved and dove right into the Conquertron's mouth. The bright red glow around it grew brighter and shinier, and then, silence rang out. The Conquertron stood still as the leaves and vines collapsed from its body, now fried to a crisp, but soon it heaved itself up and stood tall.

Ermit winced, tapped a button on the side of his spyglass, and pulled it aside as a flash burst from its lens. A small picture fell by his feet, its foggy center clearing to show a picture of Kaos with that Conquertron! Ermit snatched it off the ground, and sneaked a little further from Kaos's potential view as he brought the spyglass back to his eye.

Kaos floated back, raised a brow, and grinned as the Conquertron knelt before him and bowed its head. Steam burst from its chest as its chestplate slid open and spewed out a massive mechanical belt, and Kaos immediately teleported to its base as he grabbed Glumshanks by the arm.

"See, Glummy? I told you it would work!" Kaos cried as he shook Glumshanks' arm. "Now, let's head on back to Castle Blackthorne!"

Kaos snapped his fingers and grinned as a radar appeared before him and scanned for a moment. But, his grin quickly faded as the radar turned a deep shade of red while a string of irritated beeps came from it!

"What? What do you mean you can't find my castle? I cast you out specifically for that purpose!" Kaos hit the radar atop its head and grunted. "WORK YOU STUPID THING!"

The radar flickered in and out. Its deep red color faded as it scanned again, but it returned just as quickly with no results to speak of! The radar was dismissed with a slash as Kaos ground his teeth, but Glumshanks just sighed and placed a hand on Kaos's shoulder.

"I hate to say it, Lord Kaos," Glumshanks said as he pulled Kaos away, "but with all the time that's passed, I wouldn't be surprised if the Skylanders have already taken down all our fortresses!"

"ALL of them?" Kaos winced as he glimpsed back at the Conquertron, coughed and turned back to Glumshanks. "Are you sure?"

Glumshanks sighed. "Well, there is one place, but unless you're willing to take a stroll down memory lane, I'm not sure if you'd wanna go there."

"You don't mean that place, do you?"

Glumshanks hesitantly nodded, and Kaos only groaned and buried his head.

"Fine! We don't exactly have any other options, so I'll make do for now!" Kaos yanked Glumshanks away by the hand and strode into the Conquertron's belly. "Conquertron, take me back home!"

The two of them disappeared into the Conquertron's body, and its eyes lit up brighter as it straightened up and flew off! The gust that came from it was so intense that it leveled the greenery around, and even Ermit himself went tumbling back! Ermit just stood and watched with wide eyes and a gaping mouth as the Conquertron disappeared into the stratosphere…

§

"And that's when I decided to call up you Skylanders, and all this nonsense happened!" Ermit proclaimed as he slammed a hand on the table. "I'd still love to give that nasty drow a piece of my mind…"

While Ermit muttered to himself, the expressions around him came in a variety of emotions! Shocked gasps and wide eyes, concerned frowns and furrowed brows, and even a few intrigued smiles rang around as beings rubbed their chins.

"So it's like Hugo said, then!" Chihiro exclaimed as she leaned forward and slammed her hands on the table. "Kaos's still rebuilding all his stuff, so if we can just find out where he's camping and stop him, his plans'll get stopped right then and there!" Chihiro beamed up at the others, and turned back to Ermit. "Ermit, do you possibly have any idea where he went?"

Ermit hummed and stroked his beard. "Now that I think about it, there's an old rumor that Kaos used to be a prince when he was little, and before he got all this evil portal master nonsense in his head. Said his folks lived in the East-Western Outlands in the heart of some big pompous kingdom!" Ermit scratched his beard and frowned. "'Course, it's only just a rumor, but—"

"Then that's where we're heading!" Chihiro proclaimed as she pointed to the door. "Everyone, set sail for the East-Western Outlands!"

"Hey, I'm the captain here, I'll be the one giving orders!" Flynn proclaimed. He cleared his throat, straightened his scarf, and jabbed a finger towards the door. "Come on crew, the East-Western Outlands awaits!" Flynn grinned as he rushed forward and yanked the door opened. "With your dashing and courageous pilot at the helm, we'll get there in no time!"

The room rumbled as everyone stampeded out the door and up the stairs, and Chihiro herself quickly followed after them. Just before she stepped foot on the first stair, a faint clunk sounded in the distance! Chihiro frowned and raised a brow as she glanced back at the room, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary: the light was still on, the furniture was still upright, and Ermit was still snug tight in his seat.

"What're you looking at?" Ermit asked as he raised a brow.

Chihiro frowned as another faint clunk sounded in the distance, turned back around and dashed up the stairs. "Oh, nothing!"