"Thank heavens you made it!!" Orville greeted, bowing to the King as he stepped down from Bowhead, which had been carefully docked near to the evacuation point. The King, who had looked somewhat shellshocked for most of the journey and had not uttered a word, looked upon his gathering subjects and smiled.

"Had it not been for the heroics of these here Skylanders, Shattered Island would have been shattered once more," he stated. He turned to Chill and Thumpback behind him and nodded gracefully, "I fear the events here in our fine city are but an echo of the terrible happenings elsewhere in Skylands, so it is my understanding that the Skylanders find themselves very busy. However, I cannot let either of you leave without a personal gift from me." He nodded to Orville, who quickly rushed off and grabbed something. Once returned, he handed it to the King. "The two of you hereby have indefinite access to Shattered Castle, as indicated by these special lifetime passes," he announced, giving two small slips of paper to the two water Skylanders. Chill's eyes darted around, trying not to show her distaste to this particular gesture, whereas Thumpback continued to smile and wave. "The Skylanders will continue to be the official defenders of Shattered Island, my noble citizens, or else my name isn't King Ringo." With his speech finished, he was guided by Orville to the emergency shelter.

Chill looked upon the castle, a peeved smile stretching across her face. It had been a grand thing, albeit a superficial mess, but what remained was just rubble. The top section of the castle had collided with the bottom and, while there was little cause to try, one would not be able to tell from which section different parts of the castle came from. It was little more than a shattered mound. "It suits the name," she commented to Thumpback, who heartily chuckled. In one hand was the SEAL, containing the impenetrable energy; she couldn't help but behold the impressive power that the piece of kit had. Both she and Stump Smash had been incapable of damaging the cloud of energy, so it must have been a marvel of genius. It wasn't often that Chill found herself being impressed, so Mags, had she not vanished as quickly as she arrived, would have been charmed by the compliment.

The Astronave caught Chill's gaze as it docked a little while ahead. She couldn't quite make out what sort of state it was in, but it certainly was still as intact as they required it to be. "I'd like to scour the area for any major damages, but you go on ahead to the Astronave," Thumpback remarked, beginning to ready Bowhead for a quick lap around Shattered Island. Chill nodded and began, at once, racing towards the Astronave. She and Thumpback had been so engaged in the survival of the King and the SEAL that they'd little to discuss notes about their individual adventures. Yet, she felt that Thumpback cared little for that sort of thing. Despite being as old as you get, Thumpback had a youthful energy to him and she didn't want to bore him. Stump Smash, on the other hand, would likely take well to the exchange. She presumed, at least, that he'd be aboard the Astronave because, well, where else could he be? "Ah, right on cue!" She noted as a figure came down from ship to greet her. Yet, to her surprise it was not Stump Smash. "Oh, it's you."

"Cold as always!" said a familiar mushroom figure. Whilst slighted by the sight of Shroom Boom slightly, Chill was at least pleased that Stump and Thumpback had been successful in their mission. "Have you had an ice day?" He sniggered as he jumped around energetically. Chill put her hand to her face.

"Where's Stump Smash?" She asked, already dreading the next stretch of the journey. She'd had few previous adventures with Shroom Boom in close proximity, but even those limited occasions had been excruciating.

"He's in his quarters," Shroom Boom answered, looking slightly upset that Chill wasn't reacting to his puns. Chill climbed up and found her way; he was exactly where Shroom Boom said he would be.

"Long time no see," Stump grinned. He was sitting cross-legged; hence, the first thing that Chill noticed was an abnormality on Stump's right leg, particularly the fact that the majority of it was missing. Noticing her shock, Stump Smash smiled a strained smile. "I can explain." And, so, he did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There he was, sat in the belly of the beast. Well, let's be clear: this was no ordinary beast. Stump Smash was, once more, faced with an intellectual challenge. Much as he'd tried, he hadn't managed to well-verse himself on insect biology. What he did know was that he was not yet being chemically or mechanically digested, which was a great positive. He seemed to be being . The darkness that surrounded him was thick and unending; he could not see any boundaries and it was as if he'd been transported to another direction.

"Thumpback?" He called out semi-quietly. He heart a noise of confirmation from nearby. He tried to follow the sound until, at last, he found something slimier than the slippery walls that separated him from the outside world. "What's the plan?" He whispered.

"From what I can tell, we're stuck for good," Thumpback whispered back, "I've tried piercing the lining, but it's no good." Stump frowned, although it was too dark for anyone to take that in.

"How long do you think we've got?"

"Hard to say... minutes at most." Stump thought quickly; again, knowledge of insects would have been quite an insightful piece of equipment he could have deployed in a situation just like this. He'd known vaguely of the insects which lived in the Mushroom River, but had it been his choice he'd have brought a specialist in the subject like Thrillipede to advise and kick buggy-behind with them. "That's not to say I've totally given up," Thumpback continued, "I reckon that this ol' creature has eaten it's fair share of mushrooms and that it's diet is pretty much dedicated to the stuff. A sharp contrast might be just what we need for an escape."

"I don't like where you're going with this," Stump Smash replied. Was Thumpback suggesting that one of them sacrifice themselves? No. That was not the Skylander way. Well, at least, he figured that there was surely another way. "I could see how it takes to something spiky?" Thumpback chuckled quietly, seemingly a suggestion for him to go ahead. Stump quietly produced a spiked acorn and pulled it out from within him. Now to find out where their buggy captor did their digestion. It took a little while of searching and slipping within the creature, but he found what seemed to be a small entranceway into another chamber. Stump launched his acorn into it and grabbed a glowing mushroom to help him see what happened to it. There wasn't a reaction, as far as he could tell. So, he took it up a notch, summoning a mega nut and throwing it into the next chamber. He, at first, assumed that this had had no effect, but when he heard a noise of reaction from Thumpback, he realised that the creature was moving frantically. At once, a river seemed to be forming at their feet and its flow was pushing them away.

With a hard thump, Stump Smash found himself crashing onto the muddied floor of the outside world. He took a deep breath in and realised that the mushroom river was about as fresh as the insides of the creature. He heard a bigger thud beside him, which was Thumpback of course. He found that the creature was coughing up shards of acorn and Stump realised it was time to best the beast for good. With a heavy pound upon the head, the creature fell silent, at least for the time being. It was a massive thing, measuring at twenty meters above ground, with most of it likely still being projected from the ground. Stump's next observation was a far lighter one: the rain had ceased at last. While Thumpback recuperated himself, Stump headed into what was once the hut they were sheltering within. There, he found a relieved Squalo.

"Ain't nothing like the Skylander determination to survive," was his simple comment before heading out and setting up a fishing line in the river. When he turned around, Thumpback had also set up a line and was chatting with his new comrade. Stump laughed silently to himself; the world was ending as they knew it and here they were fishing. He should've hurried them to return to Shattered Island, but he found the whole thing quite endearing. Squalo and Thumpback were exchanging notes about what they might find in the Mushroom River, continuously trying to one-up each other (Thumpback would ultimately win, was Stump's thought on the matter). The main thing was that nobody got hu-

Stump fell to the ground suddenly as a large chunk of his right leg collapsed on itself. He steadied himself on a single leg with bemusement. He realised his whole leg had been laced with a thick layer of bug goo; did that cause it to fall off? Whatever the case, he felt slightly sick to see his leg attached and passed out at once.