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Chapter Text

Not many would know the route through these mountainous canyons. The way they collided and constricted made navigating them a particular challenge. That might well be why Master Eon specifically sent his two best fliers on this mission. In the flash of a fiery stream, the phoenix dragon known only as Sunburn tore through the Constrictive Caverns of Countless Cataclysms, closely followed by the Jet Stream haring at equal speed.

“Constrictive Caverns almost cleared! Mount Weatherbane should be right ahead!”

“I’m glad to hear it, old chum! It’s not every day the Skylander Academy gets an SOS call from the Weather Wolves of Mount Weatherbane! If this is Kaos again, I swear…”

“Easy, there’s kids around!” Just as Jet-Vac was about to respond, their destination came into view. Mount Weatherbane is a mysterious island far out in the void of Skylands. The many metallic structures surrounding its volcano act as lightning rods, used to redirect the electrical currents of the famous storms into energy for the next eruption. It is these eruptions that dictate the weather in Skylands, with larger eruptions usually heralding a storm of some sort, as proven by the massive clouds of magic dust shot out in all directions when an eruption occurs. The Weather Wolves who live on the island are known for their dedication to their job of maintaining the structures. It is because of their dedication to their work that it is very rare for them to contact the outside world. Which makes this case all the more unsettling. And as the Skylanders flew ever closer, that factor was nailed down. For the islands were under attack. Even now, the vulture hordes could be seen attacking in their thousands, with thousands more undoubtedly on the way.

“Sit rep: we’ve got a problem! The Storm Rods that charge the storms seem to be locked on maximum shockiness.”

“I can see, Sunburn. The electric energy charge is terrifying. An eruption storm of this magnitude would be devastating for the citizens of the nearby islands. Worse, it would be cataclysmic for the Sky Baron islands nearby! The vultures must be stopped!” But just as Jet-Vac was about to scan for a landing zone… ZAP!!! A colossal bolt of lightning struck the Jet Stream’s left wing, setting it on fire and causing the storm-chaser to pitch horrifically and turn numerous somersaults as it rapidly lost altitude. In the end, Jet-Vac was barely able to leap out and activate his jetpack before the Jet Stream crashed at the foot of the volcano, miraculously away from the remnants of the village. He gave a solemn look, as if mourning the loss of a close friend, as if to say goodbye, before Sunburn gave a cough which snapped him back to business. Both Skylanders came down near the crash site.

“I don’t think Sharpfin’s going to be so happy with you when he hears about this…” Jet-Vac gave an uncomfortable shudder. Sharpfin might’ve left his old ways behind him, but he’s still no one to get on the bad side of. Especially given the amount of Superchargers who gotten a bit careless with their vehicles recently. Not many of the vehicles made it back to base in pristine condition, which frustrated the old geezer no end. The odd bit of damage was of course to be expected, but not so much a ride returning to base in pieces, so to speak. Gill’s Reef Ripper needed a complete rewiring after that Hydra incident a couple of days ago, Stealth Elf’s Stealth Stinger lost its tail when ambushed by a Cyclops ground defence team, and then there was the embarrassing incident regarding the Hot Streak after Pop Fizz’s accident involving the fuel tanks and an experimental potion… Needless to say, Sharpfin had not been in a very good mood these past few days, and after this latest write off, Jet-Vac couldn’t see his mood improving for a while.

“It’s our own fault, Sunburn. We Superchargers really need to take better care of our equipment. Urgh… how long do you think it’ll take him to fix?” Sunburn looked at the wreckage for a long few minutes, before finally concluding attempting to fix something that broken would be a waste of time and resources. It’d be way cheaper to build another one. Jet-Vac gave the look which said he thought as much. Another lightning bolt coming down just next to them brought them back to the mission. The vulture attack on Mount Weatherbane.

The sound of whimpering nearby caught their attention. Sunburn looked around. Who was here? Then, just behind them, he could see a Weather Wolf in the remains of what was once a house. And cradled in her arms was a picture of herself with two of her pups. It was becoming clear what was upsetting her. Sunburn walked up to her, and she confirmed his suspicions. The vultures had taken the village’s pups that morning under orders from Baron von Carrion himself. Jet-Vac gave a restrained grunt. Baron von Carrion. One of Hookbill the Eagle Emperor’s most noteworthy commanders. The Baron was the leader of the vulture faction of all those Feathered Fiends the Skylanders constantly had the misfortune to encounter. Although that being said, like all the so called leaders of the individual groups of birds, he actually had relatively little authority and was normally kept under the talons of Emperor Hookbill. It seemed very likely that Hookbill had personally ordered this invasion. But for what purpose? Why would he want to create a colossal storm to ravage the Sky Baron lands? Then Jet-Vac remembered. The Sky Barons and the Feathered Fiends are at war over territorial rights in the Skyhighlands. Perhaps Emperor Hookbill wanted to wipe out the Sky Barons in that area while making it look like a natural disaster? Possible. Very possible. But what about the pups? What would he want with them? Prisoners of war? No, that would defeat the purpose of trying to make it look like a natural disaster… Suddenly the ground shook violently with the landing of a thunderbolt just behind Sunburn. Jet-Vac was blown off his feet by the impact, activating his jetpack and sending him flying up the mountain at high speed. Sunburn got back to his feet, rubbed his head, reassured the gathering citizens that they would handle the invasion and flew off after him.

(scene break)

Elsewhere at the top of the volcano, matters were going much better for the villainous vulture occupation. The last two Storm Rods were being harpooned by the vulture mothership, similar in size and scale to Chef Pepper Jack’s zeppelin a couple of games ago. Overlooking the final offensive, the Baron stood proudly with two Squawk and Awe bodyguards either side of him. The Baron himself was a true marvel of a bird, being grotesquely overweight and tall, at least an entire upper body taller than his underlings, with deep yellow eyes, a golden beak and a weird hat resembling a turban. He scratched at what remained of his head feathers viciously as he screeched his next command, pointing at the Storm Rods as he did so. His underlings nodded and began reeling in the harpoons, causing the Storm Rods to crackle in a disturbing manner as the Rods themselves began to buckle and force their lightning back into the volcano. The Baron gave a horrific laugh reminiscent of a vulture’s squawk before the long-distance holo-communicator blurred into life. The Baron turned around frustrated. It better not be the Emperor, that meddling fool, he thought. The holograph confirmed his displeasure. It was indeed Emperor Hookbill: the white eagle wearing deep purple robes and a gold jewel encrusted crown, befitting his status as royalty. The Emperor demanded an update on their weather sabotage plan. The Baron grovelled reluctantly and declared everything was on schedule. Hookbill seemed satisfied and hung up. The Baron breathed a sigh of relief and began squawking vulgarly, presumably saying something rude about the Emperor as the latest batch of Weather Wolf pups were brought in. He smiled. This is too easy, he thought. If we control the pups, we control the parents. Once we have the full amount, we establish a camp for them back in home territory and make their parents work to manipulate the weather in Skylands to their advantage. The Sky Barons will be forced out of the skies, and their homes and lands will be ours!

How fortunate that the Baron was immediately cut off by the intruder alarm squawking at all volumes. Jet-Vac’s malfunction certainly had its uses. For example, allowing Sunburn to redirect him to the mothership, crash landing on the main deck. If it was possible for the Baron to be any angrier, no one knew. He ran over to the control panels and slammed the big red button. If the Skylanders sought to interfere with his objective once more, they will find he is not unprepared!

Outside, the Skylanders were starting to struggle slightly. The sheer amount of Buzzard Barons that sprung up out of nowhere were really starting to cramp their style. Sunburn managed to score them some breathing room with a Phoenix Dash, but the numbers weren’t affected too badly. Jet-Vac took to the skies in a bid to outpace them, but a group of Carrion Crushers got him with their ball and chains. This was not good. But they forgot about one thing – the Suction Gun! Screaming “Hawk and Awe!” Jet-Vac sucked all of the balls into his gun, and when the vultures screeched something that probably meant “give those back!”, the Sky Baron smirked and complied, knocking them all out in the process. Sunburn smiled and let out a blast of flamethrower breath, taking down the Buzzard Barons in the process.

“Alright, Sunburn, we have to stop this storm before it swells anymore! You take that harpoon, I’ll take this one!” But Sunburn didn’t get that chance before the sudden intrusion of a giant Warden Moneybone robot fist knocked him into the skies. Looking directly at the robot, Jet-Vac saw the hatch open, revealing the Baron piloting the mech. He screeched viciously at the Sky Baron, before firing all weapons at maximum power. A few shots from his Vac-Gun allowed Jet-Vac to withstand the assault, before the Baron screeched again and slammed his fist down on a big red button on his control panel. One of the mech’s robot fists detached and shot violently at the Sky Baron, narrowly missing and crashing into an island some miles away. But the fist quickly boomeranged back, just as Jet-Vac made an advance on the cockpit, hammering him into one of the Storm Rods. The Baron gave a sinister screech laugh as Jet-Vac struggled to get back up. The Baron pounded him again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again and again and again and again and again. For just under ten minutes. The relentless attack was only thwarted by a bout of flamethrower breath hitting the cockpit’s underside and damaging the control units. The Baron looked around in a panic. Sunburn was back. He screeched “Roast and Toast!” The Baron shoved two levers forward. Both robot fists jetted towards the phoenix dragon… but even they couldn’t stand up to the fury of a phoenix dash. At maximum speed, they were sent crashing into the vulture’s mech alongside Sunburn, ripping it apart and generating a shockwave which obliterated every vulture ship in that wave. Jet-Vac finally got back to his feet in time to see Baron von Carrion come crashing down at his feet. The evil vulture struggled to get back up, death glaring at the Skylander before falling unconscious. Jet-Vac looked up at his fiery friend. Sunburn gave a smile. The clouds were already beginning to dissipate. The storm was over. The Weather Wolves were safe. There’s still the prisoners to find, but that could be left to Mabu Defence. The vulture invasion, the immediate threat, had been thwarted.

(scene break)

“You sure you’re ok, Jet-Vac? I’ve never seen anyone take that many hits before.”

“Urgh… nothing but a scratch. Couple of weeks in the infirmary, I’ll be right as rain.” His partner gave a visible wince. “Oh! I’m sorry, Sunburn. I shouldn’t have mentioned that word…”

“Meh, nothing too bad. Least the Weather Wolves are safe. And the other Baron’s awaiting transportation to Cloudcracker Prison.” Sunburn gave a playful motion behind them, where the villainous vulture was being escorted to a prison transport. “You find out what happened to the other vultures?”

“They surrendered. With the Baron out of the picture, morale fell among his soldiers. Apparently we did such a number on them, the Emperor was forced to order the reinforcements to retreat! And they did. So fast, the Mabu tell me, that the Emperor was forced to abandon his own flagship in the rush! I don’t think we’ll be hearing from the vultures again anytime soon.”

“Excellent work, partner!” The Skylanders high fived. “Another victory for Skylands’ greatest heroes!”

Chapter Text

“…and so we are now arriving in the Underworld section known only as Dracula’s Domain. Please keep all limbs inside the vehicle until landing is completed. Boom!” Roller Brawl seemed to look nostalgic as Flynn brought the Dread-Yacht in to land. Dracula’s Domain. This is her old neighbourhood. She remembered everything. How she used to skate along the streets, racing her brothers in the dark mornings, feeding on shades of red in the darker evenings… Feels like she’s been gone a lifetime… A boat shaking stomp from behind her snapped her back to her senses.

“Come on, Skates, we’re nearly home sweet home!” It was her childhood friend Lupe, or as he was better known these days, Shadow Wolf. Back in the day, these two were inseparable. Every week or so back in the day, Roller would skate on over the haunted forests just outside Dracula’s Domain, to where Lupe’s small but homely den. Vampires and werewolves don’t tend to get on terribly well. There wasn’t any rule saying the two race couldn’t meet, but any meetings between the two races had to be private. Luckily both were fairly good at keeping a secret. Roller gave a dazed look as she remembered her childhood with Lupe. All those street races with him and his motorbike rider pack. They were normally one on ones, his bike vs her skates. He usually won. Not always legitimately, mind you… When Roller left for that derby, Lupe was left alone. She’d promised she’d come back for him. She didn’t. Nevertheless, Lupe never gave up hope that he’d see her again. In the meantime, he and his crew became full on bikers, defending their area against those who’d threaten it. Roller didn’t know what he did to become a fellow Skylander, but she was glad he did. Truth be told, she had missed him.

Back in the present, the werewolf biker gave a playful smile as he dragged his bone bike up from the hold by the chains, stroking his midnight hair with his free hand as he did so. Roller rolled her eyes. “Must you bring your bone bike everywhere you go, Lupe?”

“Eh, can’t leave the bike behind! Suppose Moneybone comes knocking again? I whipped him good back then. But he’s a stubborn one.” The sudden cackling of their comrade cut him off. Ghost Roaster.

“Heh, heh! Heeh ehee heeh! So many ghosts down here… so many flavours…!”

“Why did we agree to bring him along with us again, Roll?”

“Master Eon wanted me to get some experience with one of the original Cores. I’m still one of the newer ones, you know.”

“Yeah, Eon drafted you in during the Woodburrow crisis, whereas I had to wait until the Doom Raider breakout before I got my invitation. Though I would’ve been signed sooner, if I hadn’t been stuck helping Knight Mare chase Nightshade in the Dark Realm for three years…” Ghost Roaster interrupted with a devious grin, and implied he wanted to cook for the big family reunion they’d been invited to. Lupe and Roller looked at each other worriedly. If Olav’s cooking in the Underworld, that dinner would be considered cannibalism. They politely turned him down as Flynn began to park.

(scene break)

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our destination, you may remove your safety belts. BOOM!!!” Roller Brawl and Ghost Roaster climbed down as Lupe struggled to pull his bike over the side of the ship. It took five minutes more than Flynn would’ve liked, and the entire crew, to get the bike overboard, with it narrowly missing Roller in the process. “Ok, everyone enjoy yourselves! Olav, restrict yourself to the evil ghosts. I’ll be back on Monday to collect you. See you then! BOOM!!!” And so the Dread-Yacht took to the skies once more, leaving the Skylanders alone in the docks of the Spooklands.

“Home sweet home.”

“If you ain’t wrong, Skates. Feels like an eternity’s passed since we left. Coming home after so long…” Lupe gave a contented sigh. “I want to see the old folks again.”

“Meh. I’m going to skate around for a bit, see what’s changed. You go see the family. And him… well… err…”

“I’ll go look for some evil ghosts to gorge on! Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

“Yeah, you do that. I think there’s a group of them on the other side of the domain.”

“Of course! I will be right back! Don’t start the feast without me!” And off the crazed ghoul and the tomboyish skater girl went at top speed. Shadow gave a deep sigh. That creep may have his uses, but his ceaseless laughter can get really annoying really quickly. Not to mention the inherent danger he poses to any Undead Skylander… Granted, it is a little difficult to determine whether Shadow is of the Undead or Dark elements…

(scene break)

Elsewhere, Roller Brawl was coming up close to her old neighbourhood. Horror Hamlet, it’s called. Her mind began to drift back to her brothers. How she’d missed them when Kaos took them away. Now she can finally meet them again… Or so she thought. She wasn’t counting on a sudden magic bomb explosion knocking her off her skates. And soon she was surrounded.

“Bone Chompies… why do we get these little fellas?”

“If you knew, old bean, it wouldn’t be a surprise!” Roller Brawl looked around to see the speaker arrive. Four of them. Bomb Shells. And of course, they’re skelefied. That could make things very interesting…

“Bomb Shells! Urgh, I can never go anywhere without a full-blown attack! Let me guess, Kaos sent you to get back my brothers?”

“Perish the thought, my dear! Or maybe just perish!” The Bomb Shells immediately threw their bombs at Roller Brawl, she only just managed to escape via her skates. She quickly whipped out her glove claws and went for a slash attack, shattering two Bomb Shells at once into broken piles of bones. The Bone Chompies were quick to leap at her skates and bite down hard, but a quickly executed skateblade move put that strategy to rest. The remaining Bomb Shells gave a grunt, before one leapt onto the other’s shell. The bottom one retracted and started spinning rapidly, while the top one lobbed bombs furiously at the rollerblader. Not that it did much good when she went for a Deadly Clothesline, knocking them out cold.

“There’s one group of freaks down. But why were they hanging around these parts anyway?” Before Roller Brawl could finish her line of thought, a sudden ghostly wind shot down her neck. Immediately after, the sound of a magic teleport rang out. Roller Brawl looked behind her. There was the answer. A small purple ghost with an oversized mask.

“Surprised, Skylander?”

“Masker Mind! So it was you controlling these guys?”

“All a part of my brilliant plan! Now… prepare to get brain-drained!” Roller Brawl narrowly dodged his telekinetic blast. “I know you’re a fast one, little girl! But I am faster! What use is your speed against a ghost who can do THIS?!” Before Roll could react, Masker Mind did his famous possession trick, animating one of the Bomb Shells from earlier. He lobbed three bombs at the rollerblader, who expertly dodged all of them. She went in for a close quarter attack. It was enough to sent the evil ghost out of the body, but he quickly went into another one and so the pattern continues for several minutes, evolving from just Bomb Shells to Bone Chompies, several types of ghost, Rotting Robbies, a couple of wandering Rhu-Barbs and eventually a wandering Gargantula as well. One by one, Roller Brawl dashed and slashed them all to bits. Unfortunately, all this fighting came with the side effect of creating a large amount of noise, which attracted one of Roller Brawl’s brothers, by the looks of things, Raptor, to investigate. As Masker Mind evacuated the giant spider, Roll came screeching in front of him, blocking his escape.

“Go ahead and play musical freaks all you like. I can beat you guys over and over.” Masker Mind gave a grunt.

“You’re right… maybe I need a new partner…” He frantically looked around for someone to possess. “Someone more interesting for you to battle…” He initially found no one… but then his eyes caught sight of Raptor. “Huh! AHA! YOU!!! Just my luck! I can hardly boo-lieve it!” He shot out his possession blast… Raptor gave a girlish scream of terror…

“RAPTOR!!! My brother!!” Faster than she had ever skated before, Roll dashed towards her brother… “Don’t you dare hurt him! NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” …and leapt in front of him, using herself as a human (or inhuman) shield to protect him from the blast. He looked up. She looked down. Then her eyes opened wide in pain and horror as Masker Mind floated over her shoulder, cackling maniacally. She had taken one directly in between the shoulders. Within seconds, she dropped her brother and allowed Masker Mind to possess her completely. She gave a sinister laugh, her voice simultaneous with Masker Mind’s, echoed throughout the domain.

“WE… ARE… ONE…!!!” Immediately Roller Brawl fell to one knee and took out her portal communicator. Within seconds, a much smaller variant of a certain dark Portal Master’s giant floating head of doom appeared in a spiral of dark flame. Masker Mind briefly left Roller Brawl’s body to communicate.

“Aahahahahahaha! Your plan worked perfectly, Kaos! First we lure the Skylander with the least field experience into our ambush…”

“…and then take control of her body so we can infiltrate the Skylosers and destroy them from within, yes yes, I’m brilliant! JUST GET IT DONE, FOOL!!!”

“Not a problem, Big K!” Masker Mind retreated into Roller Brawl, chuckling evilly. “Those Sky-lamos will never know what hit them!”

(scene break)

“Ah, the old town square. Some things never change…”

“Heh heh! I’m back!”

“Oh, you again, Olav…”

“Those evil ghosts looked a lot like baby zombies and vampires!” Shadow slowly turned around to face Ghost Roaster.

“I hope you didn’t just do what I think you just did…” Luckily, Ghost Roaster was cut off before he could explain. By the sound of rollerblades zipping through the streets, followed by a squad of zombies. It was enough to make Shadow get on his bone bike. Only for him to be taken by surprise when he was knocked off by a skateblade to the face.

“Ow…”

“Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

“Well, I’m glad you think it’s funny!”

“Seeing you hurt is always funny, Skylander.”

“Roll? But… what…?”

“He’s right, you know. Right about everything. You must re-join him, Ghost Roaster.” Olav gave a disturbed gulp. Yes, he had betrayed the Skylanders before, but that was only due to him feeling underappreciated. He started thinking. Even now he knew what was going on. Roller Brawl has been turned to the dark side. Kaos! It has to be! “He only wants what’s best for Skylands.”

“Hey… what’s wrong with you?”

“Always with the criticism, Lupey… never really believing in me… trusting me! Well, I don’t need you or your friends anymore!”

“As if I couldn’t guess who you meant… that wretched B-list Portal Master, Kaos! Roll… Roll, listen to me! He’s clearly done something to you, snap out of it! This isn’t you, Roll!”

“ISN’T IT?! I feel more like myself than I ever have! You have been blind to our true mission since the beginning! I am going to showcase my full talents to all of Skylands! With our Undead armies, we will bring Eon and his stupid Skylosers to their knees!”

“Roll… what’s…?”

“He asked me to give you two a message. He said… if you don’t join him… if you don’t kill the wolf… he will kill me!” She gave an evil chuckle. Shadow quickly drew his bone blade for defence.

“I won’t let him!”

“Then you will be forced to kill me!” Roller Brawl leapt at Shadow, slashing at him with her claws as he parried with his bone blade, casting her aside with a push from his free hand. But Roll quickly recovered and skated towards him again. Shadow backflipped over her… right into a swarm of zombies. Good thing he’d asked Persephone for the Bone Brawler upgrade path, so he could transform his sword into a stave for close quarters combat situations. A few low-slung swipes were enough to bring down the zombies. A few stragglers were quickly cut down by his Sonic Howl attack before he was tackled from behind by Roller Brawl. Ghost Roaster offered to help, but Shadow ordered him to head to safety and contact Master Eon. While clearly reluctant to do so, Olav agreed and floated off. Shadow managed to wrestle Roller Brawl off him as she clawed at his eyes. She quickly recovered and struck out again.

“Getting ahead of yourself, aren’t you, Skates?”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!!! I HATE IT WHEN YOU CALL ME THAT!!!”

(scene break)

“Ok, relative safety of the… Darklight Crypt?! Ah man, I could’ve stopped ages ago! Ah well, needs must! Now… to call upon our master’s guidance in our time of need.” Olav muttered a lot of strange words. The spirit of his master back at Skylander Academy appeared.

“I know why you call upon me, Ghost Roaster. I’ve been dreading the day one of my Skylanders would turn to the side of evil for years. I had hoped it would never come.”

“But Roller Brawl wasn’t drawn to evil, I think Kaos did something to her. Like hit her with some kind of mind spell or something.”

“Whatever the reason, you must find Roller Brawl and bring her home at once! For once the darkness fully takes hold, there’s no telling what may happen.”

“Shadow and I will hold her off as long as we can, Master Eon. But err… if I may be so bold as to ask for some… reinforcements?”

“Very well. Roller Brawl must be captured, and as you are in the Underworld, any Skylander reinforcements must be of the Undead element. I know just the heroes for the job. I will have Hugo brief Krypt King and Short Cut at once. You must hold off Roller Brawl and her forces until they arrive.” And with that, Eon disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived.

(scene break)

In the Skylander Academy Games Room…

“Hmm… so I’m at four health points… you’re on eight…”

“And I’ve got three stones to block your two! Ha ha!”

“Hmm…” Krypt King looked through his remaining Skystones. Short Cut had two Cross Crow stones, one of which reduced to one wedge of health, and one Brawlrus stone. Whereas he had one Smoke Scream stone (reduced to 2 points) and one Pain-Yatta stone (reduced to 1 point). That Krankcase stone Short Cut had before turned his middle stone into a sheep, which one of the Cross Crows destroyed. So things weren’t looking good for Krypt King right now. He only had a Bruiser Cruiser stone and a Buzzer Beak stone left. But then he suddenly remembered something. Didn’t he have one of… YES!!! He quickly played his stone. Wolfgang. Short Cut’s face fell. Two Skystones destroyed, one reduced to one wedge of health. The path clear for the King! “YES!!! What a comeback!!!” Short Cut slammed his sheers into the table, breaking it in half. “OH, I HATE SKYSTONES SMASH SO MUCH!!!” he groaned. But the celebrations were cut short by Hugo barging in.

“Krypt King! Short Cut! Breaktime’s over! Emergency call from Ghost Roaster! Roller Brawl has betrayed the Skylanders! At her home in Dracula’s Domain!”

“Roller Brawl, a traitor?!”

“I’ve got the edge on this one! Notify Flynn, we’re on our way!”

(scene break)

“Urgh!” Shadow only just managed to parry Roller’s latest strikes.

“Pirouette!” Shadow was knocked off balance again, but this time he was closer to his bike. This means he’s got an advantage. He leapt onto the bone bike and shot Roller a glare. The type of glare that means ‘round the streets again – like old times!’ Didn’t work. She simply slashed out at him, forcing him to whizz off at high speed to escape another strike, setting a trail of blue fire behind him. In her rage induced state, Roller Brawl dashed after him. As fast as his bike is, she was still able to keep up with him.

“My skating speed was always a match for yours, and now I’m augmented by the powers of darkness! Beat this,” she jump kicked out at Shadow, nearly knocking him off his bike, “Shadow Wolf!”

“Urgh! Whoa! Bone bike! Switch to…” Autopilot or voice command was probably what he was about to say, before getting a skateblade in the mouth. Fortunately…

“Extending chain whip!” Roller Brawl was knocked back by a sudden ball and chain to the face. Ghost Roaster cackled at the sight of his work. “No chains, no gain! Ahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha!!!!!”

“I guess I was wrong. You do have your uses. Did you message Master Eon?”

“Krypt King and Short Cut are on the way! We just need to hold her off for a little longer…”

“Two Skylanders! Finally, a challenge!!!”

(scene break)

“Hahahaha! The Skylosers ripping each other apart thanks to my minions’ mind control! Do you see it, Glumshanks? Do you see my brilliance at work?!”

“Not so much brilliance, but it looks interesting regardless.”

(scene break)

“Lights out!”

“Ectoplasm mode!”

“YARGH!!!”

“Whoa!!! She’s stronger than ever! Even my ectoplasm form won’t hurt her! I’m hurting myself more than I’m making an impact!” Roller Brawl’s claws sharpened as she walked menacing towards them.

“We’re not going to make it, are we?”

“It was an honour serving with you, Shadow Wolf.”

“It ends now!! You’re dead meat, Skylosers!” But just as she leapt to strike… YARGH!!! She was set upon by an entire horde of phantom puppets! Much to the delight of Shadow and Olav, Short Cut quickly came into view, quickly followed by Krypt King slashing away zombies.

“Cut to the chase, Roller! You ain’t hurting no one else!”

“The Trap Masters? Here?!” Her voice became desynchronised with Masker Mind’s. Krypt King unleashed his swarm of undead insects at the vampire girl, causing her enough pain to force her to her knees. Shadow saw his chance and leapt at Roller Brawl, viciously beating her and slamming her against the ground repeatedly until her eyes flicked between their possessed colour and their normal colour.

“Bah!” It was Masker Mind’s voice which came out of her mouth now… “Urgh… weakened… too many… to combat… too many… to take… over… urgh! Must… leave this… inferior husk of a body!!!” The air was filled with a long scream of pain from Roller Brawl as Masker Mind fled her body. Finally everyone saw what had turned her to the dark side. The evil ghost looked around angrily, presumably looking for someone else to possess. His eyes settled on Shadow. He made the charge for him… only to be cut off by Ghost Roaster’s ball and chain.

“Masker Mind! Now that IS an evil ghost! I’ll make a soufflé out of you!”

“I wouldn’t say that, Olav! Eating him could let him bend your mind!”

“I agree with Short Cut! He is beaten, so we may do what we came to do! Master Eon, now!!!” Eon took Krypt King’s words to heart, slamming the Traptanium shard into his Portal of Power, and the Undead Trap Vortex opened up as Masker Mind regained consciousness.

“Huh?! Hey! You're not supposed to use magic against MEEEEE!"

(scene break)

“Masker Mind. Back where he belongs.”

"If I'm guilty of anything it's caring too much, and possessing a bunch of people, but is that really so wrong? Wait, don't tell me! I can read your mind!"

(scene break)

"Lord Kaos, I've received some news. Masker Mind was captured. Returned to Cloudcracker Prison. It was the Skylanders." The Dark Portal Master said nothing for a long time, only giving Glumshanks a menacing glare of intense fury, before finally standing up, looking over his portal.

"This day is yours, Sky-lamos! But tomorrow... will be all mine!" And insidious laughter echoed throughout Castle Blackthrone.

(scene break)

We now cut to three days later, back at the Academy. It’s clear Masker Mind’s possession took a number on Roller Brawl. In the infirmary, hooked up to numerous life support machines overseen by Mags and a Mabu doctor, there she was.

“What do you say, doc? How is Skates?”

“Hmm… we might have to double her salary.”

“But I’d say she ain’t half been lucky. Good thing ya got that ghost out of her when you did. Any longer and her mind would’ve gone kapoie without him in her.”

“ Exactly Mags. We’ll have to keep her in for a few weeks, but she’ll make a full recovery, I’m certain of that.” Shadow breathed a sigh of relief.

(scene break)

A crowd of Skylanders had amassed by the time Shadow left the infirmary.

“What did the doctor say, Shadow?”

“Skates is expected to make a full recovery, Spyro. But she will be out of commission for a few weeks.”

“Meh, good thing we were around to help when we were!”

“Suppose so, Olav. And thanks especially to Short Cut and Krypt King for the backup. I would not be here otherwise.”

“We’re Skylanders, Shadow Wolf. It’s what we do.”

Chapter Text

“…right matey… I’m up to 18,000,010 Chompies cleared from that section of the barracks… and you are…?”

“19,000,020. Heh. Cold comfort, bub?”

“Oh…! I tell you, Freeze Blade, next time Master Eon’s looking for volunteers for Chompy control, remind me to take a vacation!”

“Noted, Buckler.” The two Water Swap Forcers were not best pleased with their current assignment of the day. After the Chompy Mage’s recent visit to Skylanders Academy, the islands were absolutely caked in his little green friends. And take a wild guess who were the lucky Skylanders who Eon selected to get rid of them? These two were not happy about it. But then… something amazing happened. As Freeze bent down to bag another Chompy, and just as it was about to bite him, it and the entire bag suddenly drifted up to the ceiling. “Wha…?” Before the Skylanders could properly comprehend it, they too were suddenly effected. As was almost everything else in the room. Both Skylanders looked at each other. What was happening? A brief look through the window showed the scale of the problem. The rest of the Academy, and several nearby islands were affected by this freak gravity attack or whatever you’d call it.

“Urgh… Buckler, what’s happening?”

“Haven’t a clue. But whatever it is, it’s not stopping!” Then Buckler finally noticed one thing in particular. “Wait! Look!”

(scene break)

What he was referring to was the Evilikin warship that just passed their view. In the cabin, two familiar faces were watching the chaos, flocked by Evilikin soldiers.

“Hahahahahahaha! Oh, Krankcase! You are a genius! Heh, sometimes I even surprise myself!”

“I trust this plan of yours will be sufficient to invoke my revenge upon the Cloud Kingdom, Mr Krankcase?” The Storm Giant only got a lightning shock in response.

“DOCTOR Krankcase to you, Lord Stratosfear! I didn’t go to Skylands Inventor’s Academy for nothing! And anyway Mr Krankcase was my father, he retired years ago so I don’t know why you’d be expecting him. But anyway! Our plans are absolute punch! With the aid of my newly invented Sky Riser 21,000, I can pull Skylands up by the roots!” The mad genius pulled the control lever on his machine. He cackled manically as another group of Mabu houses were levitated upwards. “I’ll make these losers go all the way up to the Cloud Kingdom! Heh heh heh! And the Golden Queen said I’d never make it alone anymore! Once the Mabu taste the skies, I’ll set this thing to chaos mode! Unleash our arsenal of flying objects on the Cloud Kingdom, see if we can’t get them to welcome you back with open arms! Heh heh heh!”

“And with Queen Cumulus as our prisoner,” Stratosfear motioned behind them, to Queen Cumulus in a Traptanium cage guarded by countless Evilikin minions, “they will have little choice but to comply! While I detest the idea of the Cloud Kingdom being infested with grubby under-landers such as yourself, no offence intended of course, once I reclaim my position as ruler, the proper inquisition may be launched as necessary! I will once again hold what I have long been denied!”

“You will never get away with this, Lord Stratosfear! When my people find out about this, they’ll revolt! They’re extremely revolting people!” The Queen suddenly burst into screams of pain as Stratosfear shot a blast from the Thunderous Bolt at her.

“Some people are just gluttons for punishment. How much longer until we can make our demands, good doctor?”

“Hmm… that is a question… to give my professional opinion… probably another hour or so! I don’t want to waste this opportunity for chaos! And anyway, I also don’t want to take any chances!”

(scene break)

“What are you pointing at?”

“Look! A warship! Command centre – equals an old friend of ours!”

“Dreamcatcher?”

“Strastosfear.” Freeze Blade looked at Wash Buckler, somewhat confused. “The Storm Giant? The guy who tried to help Kaos when his Sky Eater was menacing Skylands, devouring any island that was unlucky enough to drift into its path?”

“Oh yeah, I remember now. Course, I don’t remember Strastosfear being so much of a techie. How could he be making everything levitate?”

“Its not just him. Doctor Krankcase is helping him. Looks like he’s built some sort of Sky Riser machine. Not sure what the Doom Raiders would get out of aiding Lord Stratosfear…” Freeze Blade started to ‘swim’ through the window out into the clouds.

“Whatever he’s planning, we’ve got to stop.”

(scene break)

“Whoa! There goes the neighbourhood!”

“Krankcase is working harder than I thought on this one! Everything’s going up! Look, even the ice cream man!”

“Oooh… tell him I want a…”

“Focus, Wash Buckler!”

(scene break)

“Hahahahahaha! Would you look at that, feeble peasant? I’m finally starting to get a rise out of these underlanders! Let’s give the Sky Riser more juice!” Krankcase was busy instructing his Evilikin soldiers when Stratosfear said that. He turned around and scuttled towards him.

“Wha…?! No, don’t… you’ll overload it and…!” Krankcase was unable to finish before the evil Storm Giant did indeed overload the Sky Riser. The entire ship was flung from side to side, unintentionally bouncing Queen Cumulus free through a window. “Argh, look what you’ve done! There goes our hostage! I shouldn’t doubt she’ll be on the way to tell the Skylanders about our evil plans!”

“Then we must accelerate our plans at once!” Krankcase facepalmed.

“Well maybe you should’ve thought of that before wrecking the Sky Riser!” A sudden thud confirmed Krankcase’s suspicions. Everything was starting to drop down again. “Guess I’d better fix it. And fast.”

“And be quick about it, underlander! I want the Cloud Kingdom conquered by dinner!”

“Take what you can get, Stratosfear…” Krankcase muttered angrily as he fetched his tools. He turned to Scrap Shooter behind him. “What are you waiting for, a chocolate covered Chompy?! Get out there and stop the Skylanders before they ruin everything!”

(scene break)

Elsewhere, Freeze Blade’s plan to get some backup for an assault on Krankcase’s ship was not going well. Most of the Air Skylanders had been fighting back a Cyclops invasion out west. Not many of them were willing to help after such an exhausting adventure. How the Cyclopes managed to invent the stone robot, many would never know. Jet-Vac was one of the few who believed Freeze. Although he was reluctant to help, if only because he wanted to get back to training. Of the remaining Skylanders, most only returned to the Academy after everything came back down. And most were preoccupied as well.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing, matey.”

“We’re on our own then. We have to find Krankcase and stop him before he levitates us all to our doom!” Freeze Blade was cut off by the sound of a hollow thump behind him. They both turned around. The Cumulus had landed.

“Aye, I remember ye, lassie. Queen Cumulus, be it?”

“I recognise you too, Skylander.”

“What’s happening here? Shouldn’t you be ruling the Cloud Kingdom right now?”

“Urgh… I’m afraid we’re in a bit of a kerfuffle again. Lord Stratosfear did not take his defeat well. He has returned to the Cloud Kingdom with a villainous underlander. They’re trying to levitate your world into mine.”

“I think we’ve established that by now. And that other guy? We know him. His name’s Dr Krankcase. He’s a Tech elemental mad scientist and a member of a criminal group called the Doom Raiders. I’ve no idea why he’d want to partner with Lord Stratosfear…” Wash Buckler gave his friend a mild elbow.

“I think the answer is obvious, matey. Krankcase cares about little other than creating chaos. I shouldn’t doubt he’s working with the Storm Giant just so he can cause trouble for us.”

“Yeah, well, regardless of his motives, he’s got to be stopped before he tears apart two societies at once! Which means we need to think about what to do with the Queen… and how we’re going to get up there…” Wash Buckler pointed to the main building. Master Eon would be happy to look after Queen Cumulus while they took down Krankcase and Stratosfear. That still presents the question of how they’re going to get up to Krankcase’s ship. There isn’t a bounce pad that would shoot them that far for miles. And neither can fly by themselves as they’re not Air elementals. So they need a ship. Which presents its own problems. All cadets remembered what happened to the last person who borrowed Flynn’s vehicles without asking, and they don’t have time to track him down in order to ask him to fly them. Although he would probably be happy to help if they did… Otherwise, Sharpfin’s much the same regarding vehicles, so it isn’t worth asking him. Tessa and Whiskers are still following up a lead on Baron von Shellshock in the Cloudbreak Islands. That potentially leaves only one option. And one neither cadet was too enthusiastic about. Wash would have to use his ink jets to get into the skies. This is something he struggles to control. As such, he doesn’t use it very often, much less with passengers. Freeze Blade even remembered the mess when he last had to piggyback with Wash when he tried it. Boy did the poor cleaners have their work cut out at the end of the day…

(scene break)

“Attention all my disgusting progressive brethren! The Cloud Kingdom is henceforth mine once more! Kneel before Lord Stratosfear!” The evil Storm Giant’s demands only met with repulsion from the commoners. As Stratosfear gave a growl, Krankcase burst out in sinister laughter.

“Ahahahahahaha! Took longer than I’d anticipated, but we are in business once again! I think they’ll be a little more susceptible in a mere couple of moments, my friend. Now… to set my Sky Riser to – CHAOS MODE!!!” He pressed the button. Before long, the beams broadcast throughout Skylands, levitating islands and objects and buildings into the skies of the Cloud Kingdom. Stratosfear began to manipulate various objects, dropping houses on the clouds as well as islands and other things. But what they failed to notice during this was a pitch-black jet of gruesome ink shooting through the skies and crashlanding on the main deck.

“Urgh… I think I’m going to be sick…”

“Stomach up, Freezy! Krankcase must be stopped!” But just as Freeze Blade was regaining his composure…

“Intruder alert! Makes me KRANKY!!!”

“Ha ha! Round one!”

“Eeh, it’s garbage day, see!”

“The best defence is a good offence!”

“Evilikin. Of course…”

“I don’t like these guys either, Washy. Guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way!”

“I think I like what you’re thinking!” And so the Skylanders quickly used their Swap Force powers, swapping into Wash Blade and Freeze Buckler respectively. Krankenstein and Fisticuffs were quick to strike with their extendable arms, only to be frozen into submission by Wash Blade’s awesome frosty skating. A dual kick sent them crashing into each other and over the side. Scrap Shooter smirked and unleashed his explosive barrels from his mouth, while Shield Shredder shredded through Wash’s tentacles with his blade shield. Didn’t do him much good though, as a rapid strike to the face was enough to splinter him and sending him crashing through the nearby cabin door. In response, Scrap Shooter fell back on his triple barrel shooters, managing to clock Freeze in the face and knock him to the ground. The Evilikin began a sinister laugh, moments before Wash Blade threw his cutlass into the middle barrel shooter. After a few seconds, the Evilikin exploded, covering the decks in splintered wood. And unfortunately for Wash Blade, it also attracted Krankcase’s attention. He came charging out immediately, and froze for a moment upon recognising Wash Blade.

“You! You again! Now you, you must be the Skylanders I remember from the workshop way back when, yes? No really, I’m asking! Just want to make sure I’m talking to the right guy here!” Wash Blade gave the nod. “Oh great, great, alright!” Krankcase quickly drew his goo guns. “Well, let’s do this then!” He quickly shot out his slime shots, which the Swap Forcer only just managed to dodge in time. He quickly retaliated with his own ink shot, but Krankcase blocked the attack with his spin attack, which he followed up with an electric shock. Wash Blade took one to the chest. He fell down stunned. Krankcase burst out in insidious laughter. “Stunned with a shock, Skylander! I really thought you’d put up more of a fight after last time…”

“Underlander, stop the small talk and get back to sky rising! I want the Cloud Kingdom…”

“Conquered by dinner, you said that already, bossy brainless boob! The Skylanders are the bane of everything we’ve planned! You remember how they stopped us before!” Being the upper class twit he was, Stratosfear was quick to dismiss Krankcase’s warning as unimportant, and the Skylanders as grubby underlanders who cower in fear of his might. Though this might have been a poor time to start an argument, as this did give Freeze Buckler enough time to recover, and sneak into the cabin while Krankcase and Stratosfear were distracted. Krankcase realised too late. A combined blast of bubble and frost wrecked the Sky Riser, scored the Skylanders the victory and sent the cabin up in flames. Both villains fired furiously at the Skylanders as they leapt through a pothole to safety.

(scene break)

“Well, that was an adventure and a half. Saving the Cloud Kingdom, destroying Krankcase’s machine…”

“Urgh… I’m still a little sky sick, Wash. Not to mention the question of who has to clean all that debris up…”

“Well, we’re certainly better off than old Stratosfear, eh matey?” Both Skylanders looked up to see Krankcase using his legs like helicopter blades, with Stratosfear desperately clutching onto him. Probably screaming that he’d get the Skylanders if it was the last thing he did, and Krankcase claiming it would be if he didn’t hold on tight. An amusing sight, the Skylanders thought. And then Freeze Blade said:

“Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted...?”

Chapter Text

“…and so we are now arriving in the Chocolate Oceans section of the broader Candy Islands. Please keep all limbs inside the vehicle until landing is completed. Some basic trivia about the place: it’s where nearly all the candy in Skylands comes from, you know. Boom! So all Skylanders are advised to keep an eye open for any piñatas. We’ve had several run ins with one of them recently…” Déjà Vu gazed longingly at the oceans of chocolate as Flynn brought the Dread-Yacht in to land. Pop Fizz staggered up to join her, dragging his ingredient sack behind him. He gave a crazy laugh.

“Oh, this is the life, won’t you say, Deja? Enough chocolate and candy to last me through so many potion packs! It’s for this reason that I’m glad Fizzland is so nearby!” He licked his lips ravenously. “I could drum up some new flavours for sodas as well!” The breeze of a stone boomerang just above his neck made him turn around. Dino-Rang was fiddling with his toys of the trade while Boomer was practising his bomb juggling.

“Chocolate flavoured soda, Poppy? I’ll never understand ya crazy tastes…”

“Ah, you know I’m completely crazy, Dino-Rang! The crazier the ingredients, the stronger it’ll make me! I think.” A boat shaking stomp snapped them back to their senses. They’d arrived.

(scene break)

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our destination, you may remove your safety belts. BOOM!!!” The Skylanders disembarked and started walking alongside the chocolate rivers, in the general direction of Sweetie Square.

“Well, this is nice. I love the smell of chocolate in the morning!”

“Too right, Boomer. And lookie what I’ve seen! Banners for the Candy Island Celebrations!”

“Hey hey hey, you’re right, Dino! And we were lucky enough to score invites!”

“Hey, Poppy, think we can score some free samples?”

“Oh I know we can, Boomer, there’s so much candy round these parts, they’ll never notice a few bits out of place! SO MUCH POTENTIAL FOR NEW MOTIONS OF THE POTIONS!”

“Ah ya two get a room already! And keep things careful! We’re also here to keep the famous Crystallized Caramel Candies out of evil’s reach.” If only Dino-Rang realise just how prophetic his words were about to become…

(scene break)

Unnoticed by the Skylanders, something was happening in the chocolate oceans. What appeared to be a small twisting tube of chocolate began to slowly rise from the milky depths. It bent at an angle and then the lens cleared. It was a periscope. Underneath the chocolatey surface, a submarine was lurking. Or more accurately, an aircraft/submarine hybrid that served as the mobile home away from home of a notorious Magic elemental super bad guy. In the control room, the Toxic Turtles serving as the crew were hard at work manning the sonar and intelligence stations. The anthropomorphic warthog in charge was peering through the periscope. He had brown fur, a tan head with a brown snout and yellow tusks, long pale green hair, purple eyes, and was dressed in purple dungarees with the Magic symbol on the stomach, black boots, purple gloves and a scarf. He gave a restrained grunt.

“Skylanders. Around these parts. What are they up to now? I have no idea…” He angrily muttered to himself. Two figures entered, causing him to turn around. One a Dark elemental skeletal monster with a spiked ball and chain over his shoulder. The other was a gelatinous blue blob with spikes and a crown.

“Gulper no understand why we no attack just yet.” The warthog gave an annoyed growl.

“Urgh, Gulper, why do I have to tell you everything twelve times before it sticks? Cinnamon Volcano. That’s our target. The eruptions shoot magical chocolate showers over the lands. A beautiful sight. And a delicious treat. But! What happens if my magic potions manage to find their way into the crater? The slightest taste would unleash the mutations. Every creature for miles would be turned into my monstrous slaves.”

“Vendral Fearcaster, the brilliantly devious alchemist, in all his brilliance.”

“Exactly, Black Bones! The eruption is tonight. Hence why the others insisted on Gulper tagging along. He will drink the chocolate streams away so I can reach the summit. Even if the Skylanders ruin my plan to pollute the volcano and enslave the Candy Islands, the Gulper will still get the last laugh.”

“And the intel we seem to be getting about Pain-Yatta mounting an attack to take the Crystallised Caramel Candies again?”

“Let him have his fun. He doesn’t realise it, of course, but he’s going to be very useful to my ultimate goal. He’ll keep the Skylanders distracted until the volcano effectively becomes a makeshift Monsteriser. By the time they realise what I have planned, they’ll all be in my power! First those four, then their friends, and then all of Skylands!” And insidious laughter echoed throughout the submarine.

(scene break)

The Skylanders were of course completely unaware of the soon to be developing situation. Nor was there much acknowledgement of the coming dangers. Pop Fizz and Déjà Vu were hanging around the wafer bridges, looking longingly at the chocolate rivers below, presumably intending to swipe some free samples. For Fizz’s soda or pleasure? No idea. At least Dino-Rang and Boomer weren’t as distracted. They were looking for the town hall. The Gingerbread mayor would be in need of their protection. And at least he’d know where the Crystallised Cameral Candies were. Hence the other reason why they’d come. And they weren’t too happy about the distraction.

“Poppy, Deja, what have I said so many times now? Don’t go looking for free samples when we’re on the job!”

“Oh, simmer down, Dino. What’s going to hurt us here?”

“Oh, I’ve got some ideas, Deja. Could get hit by one of those crystal candies for one! Or worse: that chocolate river might be home to Chocolate Chompies!” Pop Fizz quickly spat out the free sample he’d been drinking. “Or worse than that! This is a place with candy, so our old foe Pain-Yatta could attack and…”

“We get the picture, Boomer.” Pop Fizz’s words shut everyone up. Boomer and Deja decided to get on with the mission. Dino picked up Pop Fizz and carried him over his shoulder. They went to the town hall.

“Yeah, maybe we were being a bit unreasonable before…”

“Eh progress, Deja!”

“Pop Fizz thinks you’re all exaggerating! Tall tales!” Boomer did a face plam.

“I was serious about Pain-Yatta though.” Deja gave a slow nod.

“Yeah, it would not be good to be anywhere near candy around that psycho-piñata.” Boomer had good reason to be worried. It’s something of a certainty that you’ll be in danger from Pain-Yatta when you have anything to do with candy. Every year, if he’s not in Cloudcracker Prison, he launches an attack to steal the Crystallized Cameral Candies. When candy’s around, Pain-Yatta’s not far behind, and the power of those candies is always irresistible for him. And so the Skylanders are the ones who have to stop him before he gains their incredible power. Yet, this time the Magic elemental candy spewer seemed mysteriously absent. Or at least, he was nowhere in sight. But the Skylanders knew well that this did not mean Pain-Yatta was not going to attack. Dino and Boomer learnt that the hard way when, just as they were about to knock and hope the mayor was in, it happened. A shower of bombs came raining down across the town, splattering what appeared to be chocolate across the gingerbread houses. Pop Fizz quickly gulped down a potion and assumed his beast form, just as the culprit appeared.

“Always here when I don’t want you to be, Skylosers!”

“Gah! It really is Pain-Yatta!” Deja threw her hourglass in an attempt to get an early hit in, but the evil pinata fired a magic blast from his magic lollipop, instantly encasing her in hardened chocolate. Boomer readied his bombs.

“This will be my year!”

“Cut the clucking, pinata butt! We know why you’re here! It’s the Crystallised Cameral Candies, isn’t it?”

“You know me so well, Dino-Rang!” The three remaining Skylanders narrowly dodged the blast from Pain-Yatta’s evil lollipop. “The Crystalised Cameral Candies make those who eat them invincible! With that power, I’ll show those Doom Lamers my full potential! No longer will Pain-Yatta be the butt of everyone’s jokes!” He leapt suddenly at Boomer, readying his lollipop for a sudden smashdown. A sudden stone-rang to the hand cut that plan short. But before Dino-Rang was able to capitalise, a tremendous earthquake darted out across the lands. Chocolate spilled from the rivers onto the streets. The Skylanders and Pain-Yatta fell down, freeing Deja in the process. They all looked upwards. Black smoke was bulging into the skies. Shortly afterwards, they saw the cause. A massive aircraft/submersible hybrid flying overhead. And dripping chocolate. And then something else, something big and blue dropped down from it, right into the chocolate rivers, and then emerged, fifty times his usual size and drenched in chocolate, tearing through the wafer bridge they were fighting on. He gave a terrible roar.

“Oh man… just because I mentioned the Doom Raiders doesn’t mean they have to take it literally!”

“Is that really all you’re worried about, candy butt?” Before Dino-Rang’s question could be answered, another voice rang out from the airship.

“Skylanders! I was hoping Pain-Yatta would delay you longer.”

(scene break)

We cut to inside the airship as Vendral continues. “Then again, me launching so quickly certainly didn’t help. What idiot thought of that idea?” The Toxic Turtles behind him looked at each other, each incredibly reluctant to answer the boss’s question. Vendral turned out briefly and quietly barked “Actually, don’t answer that!” He turned around again. “I am aware of the length of the average attention span and shall keep my words consequently short. By sheer coincidence, your visit was scheduled to coincide with the upcoming eruption of the Cinnamon Volcano. Therefore, you shall have a front row seat to my latest experiment! I’m going to add a secret ingredient to the blend this month – my magic potions!” Everyone at ground level gasped with horror. “This city will become ground zero for my largest mutation drive ever! And the spores will spread to every other volcano in Skylands! There will be more. Many more. And they’ll be in increasing in magnitude until my very reasonable demands are met. If not, everyone in range of the blasts will be become my monstrous slaves! And there is nothing any of you can do to stop them! Including the pathetically good and magical Skylander heroes. And especially my eternal nemesis, the gremlin known as Pop Fizz! If you put your trust in them… you will regret it.”

(scene break)

Vendral’s voice cut off. The Skylanders looked at each other.

“Vendral Fearcaster. That explains a lot.”

“I’d say that much, Poppy. That earthquake must’ve been him taking off.”

“And he’s planning to pollute Cinnamon Volcano! If we don’t stop him in time…”

“KABOOM is the word you’re looking for, Deja! And not in a good way!”

“Seems we’ll have to split up. Poppy, you come with me. We’ll hit Vendral where it hurts.” The gremlin and the dinosaur ran after the airship. Leaving Deja and Boomer to hold off the Gulper as he swept a colossal hand across the ruined bridge, sending Pain-Yatta flying for miles in the process.

“SOOODAAAAA! I MUST HAVE SOOOOODAAAAAAAA!” Some things never change, Boomer thought. He began thinking of how to use his bombs most effectively.

“Guess I’d better BRING THE BOOM!!!” He started lobbing dynamite towards Gulper’s open mouth, but the Doom Raider closed it quickly, and the dynamite had no effect. Deja was quick to jump to defence mode, opening a Time Shift close to Gulper’s horn which she quickly shot, turning it into a black hole. Realising he needed more power, Gulper ducked down and swallowed a massive amount of chocolate, grew an extra 50 feet, and then he quickly spat out his mouthful of chocolate at Deja, sending her spiralling into the rivers. Boomer scratched his head, trying to work out his next move. Force feeding Gulper either disgusting soda or dynamite would probably take him out, but that’s going to depend on a decent drop. And with him steadily growing exponentially, that’s going to prove difficult… Then he came up with a plan. Not that he’d like it. He’ll have to use an explosion to get the height necessary to do a bombing raid down his throat. He did so. Though it did take several bombs to pull off.

“HA HA HA! PUNY TROLL SCUTTLE AROUND GULPER LIKE FLEA! GULPER NO LIKE IT!!!” Boomer was quicker than Gulper thought. He was quickly slapping himself all over, desperately trying to crush the troll under his palms. It didn’t work. Boomer blew himself into the skies with one bomb, hung still for a moment as Gulper looked up as if deciding what to do next, and then dived with full force into the open mouth of the Gulper, hurling as many bombs as he could down the blob monster’s throat as Gulper slammed his mouth shut. He didn’t even notice the explosions going on in his stomach. For about a minute. The bomb storm inside him quickly did a number on him. Gulper started gagging horribly as he lost his balance, spitting out Boomer as he shrank back to his normal size and sank beneath the chocolate waters. When Deja finally climbed out as the locals surrounded them., Boomer was just coming to.

“Whoa… that was an explosion. Remind not to try that again.”

“Meh, I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. Gulper’s at least incapacitated. What you did to him won’t kill him, mind you, but he will be out cold for a few weeks. By the time he wakes up, he’ll be in Cloudcracker’s maximum security wing.”

“That does beg the question though… how do you think Dino and Poppy are doing against Vendral Fearcaster?”

“Meh, if they don’t stop him, we’ll be forced to give into his demands. Not that that would stop him, Vendral would just set the volcano off anyway.” She gave a sigh. “I hope Poppy and Dino can stop him…”

(scene break)

“How many more of these…” Pop Fizz looked up upon hearing his friend’s question. They’d been trekking for a while now. Vendral’s airship was approaching the crater. That’s problematic. If they don’t get there soon… But Pop Fizz had an idea. Even if the way was blocked by rampaging chocolate rapids, there is another option.

“How about some ultra-high jump soda? Full disclosure – it doesn’t taste as nice as some of the others.”

“Huh, whatever works…” As reluctant as he might have been, Dino-Rang drank the offered sample. He shut his eyes as they both jumped. The soda worked. In seconds, they came crashing down, right through the airship’s hull… and right into it’s inbuilt battle arena. And Vendral was in his seat overlooking them.

“Well, well, well. Is this a Skylander which I see before me, their temper pointed to my heart? Don't answer that. I know who you are, obviously, and why you are here. You come to stop me turning the Cinnamon Volcano into my ultimate Monsteriser Machine. I know that's what you're here for, Skylanders. And I have no intention of standing down! For even now, my toxins are being pumped into the volcano’s crater! And when it erupts, all of Skylands will be my monstrous slaves! A pity I can’t allow YOU to see that day! To me, my glorious mutant brethren!” He pressed a button on his armrest and hordes of Toxic Turtles and Chompy Gunges leapt out.

“Toxic Turtles and venomous gunge trailing Chompies. It was an honour working with you, Pop Fizz.”

“Oh, don’t get so misty eyed on me just yet, Dino! It ain’t over yet! Or is it, I can’t remember…?”

“Allow me to help you, my nemesis. It is over – FOR YOU!!! ATTACK!!!” When a Chompy Gunge bites you, it injects its incredibly potent venom into you. Sure, they might not have the strongest venom in existence, but thanks to the fact they are the largest known Chompies in existence, they can inject a lot more into you. Crusher claimed the slightest bite can kill a fully grown Giant. As it may have done to the Dark and Light Giants. Hence why Dino was throwing boomerangs like crazy. You do not want to be bitten by a Chompy Gunge. Fortunately, despite their size, they are as vulnerable as a regular Chompy. So taking them out wasn’t too difficult. Even easier thanks to Pop’s potions. “This is confusing me. You have survived this long? Perhaps my skills have been deteriorating during my stay in prison…” But these Toxic Turtles were the Longshotter variant. And they were quick to grab the stranglers. Normally this variant throws Chompies at you like a Bomb Shell would throw bombs at you. That said, they can pick up anything lying around and use that as a weapon as well. They lobbed their quarry at the Skylanders… and only Pop Fizz avoided being bitten. Dino gave an excruciating scream of pain and fell to his knees, while Pop swallowed his beast potion, bottle and all, and tore through the turtle wave like they were nothing more than dominos. He then rushed back to Dino.

“Urgh… Chompy Gunge venom… ah man…”

“Well, you’re not swelling up or coughing yet. Nor have you exploded, so you’re good. For a while.”

“Well, what’s the cure?”

“Err… besides my cure all potion… which I seem to have left the recipe for back at the Academy… oh, darn it, I knew I forgot something! Urgh… besides that… err… I’m afraid there isn’t one really.”

“WHAT? You mean I’m done for?”

“Well, maybe not done for, I’ve heard burying yourself up to your neck in the half-digested contents of a Chompy Worm’s stomach is said to help a bit!” Dino-Rang did not respond to Pop Fizz’s ‘reassurance’. Pop Fizz is always a little crazy. And as there aren’t any Chompy Worms for miles, he couldn’t try the ‘cure’ even if he wanted to. Course, even now it was obvious Pop Fizz would have to fight alone. Good thing Vendral didn’t know about Chompy mail. That was the only way of getting word to Boomer and Deja quick enough. Only they could contact Flynn and get him to bring Pop Fizz’s recipe book. Or his emergency stash of cure all potion. Which might prove a challenge as only Pop Fizz knows where it’s located…

Chuckling with sadistic glee at the sight, Vendral stood up. “One round goes to you, Skylander. But the remaining two? Wrapped around my yellow tusks.” He clapped his hands and another wave of Toxic Turtles came out, this time the regular variant, each armed with their classic swords. “Oh, and one more thing, Pop Fizz. Since the turtles aren’t stopping you too well, I might have to spice things up a bit. Let’s see how you handle the spinning bone bashers!” These bone bashers resembled the scythes seen in Mesmerelda’s show so long ago. Pop Fizz looked around as they started spinning. He quickly drank another potion as the turtles and the blades homed in. He got in some good hits, but Vendral hit a button on his chair and the blades started speeding up. When Pop Fizz’s enhanced agility allowed him to dodge the spinning blades and defeat the turtles, Vendral snarled. “Ok, so you’ve still got some fight in you! What next? More toxic Chompies or turtles…? Hmm… How about… neither? How about a Toxic Titan? Go long!” An ordinary Toxic Turtle was hit by Vendral’s magic potion, causing his arms, then legs, then everything else, to grow to titanic proportions. He leapt at Pop Fizz as his beast form wore out. He slashed away Pop’s potion pack, leaving him at a fatal disadvantage. Vendral leaned in closer in anticipation of Pop Fizz’s demise… only to be disappointed. Dino-Rang mustered the strength to throw another boomerang to knock the Toxic Titan out of bounds, straight into a bone basher. Vendral snarled ferociously.

“So the bone bashes and one of my mutants wasn't enough to destroy you, Skylander. All this is merely research though. Every challenge you survive just brings me closer to working out how to get rid of you for good. One more round should do it.” Vendral sat back down and slammed both fists on his armrests. Several Toxic Titans and Chompy Gunges sprung up. Then Vendral looked annoyed for some reason… and leaned in closer. “Meh. This is getting tiresome, Pop Fizz. As much as I'd love to face you in person, I'm afraid I'm somewhat preoccupied. That volcano isn’t going to contaminate itself you know. Seems it's time to introduce to this equation the vital figure! Black Bones! You know what to do!” And so landed the Dark elemental skeletal monster with a spiked ball and chain over his shoulder. He whipped it out and whirled it like a ballerina does with her ribbons, before it slammed to the ground with a mighty CLANG!!

“I’m going to burry you!” He brought into a sinister laugh. Boss Fight: Black Bones!!!

Pop Fizz quickly went through his options mentally, narrowly dodging the Chompies and Titans along the way. Perhaps his strategy for this one was to let Black Bones take them out for him? But anyway, back to the basics. Black Bones is basically Vendral’s Dragon, as the term is for a villainous Lancer. That chain can slice through a man’s neck like butter. Pretty agile despite his rotting appearance. Though the real danger comes from the power wielding the chain… He didn’t have much longer to think before having to duck to avoid the ball and chain.

“You’ll never catch me, Skylander, but I will catch you!” Black Bones whirled the ball and chain above his head. That’s the build up to his strongest move. If the ball comes down, it’ll unleash a shockwave that’ll bring Pop Fizz down to half health! Black Bones laughed, and the ball slammed down… but Pop Fizz jumped in time. Black Bones managed to get him with the counterattack, but Pop Fizz was knocked towards his precious potion pack in the process.

“Come on, come on, where is it…? AH!” He’d found his beast potion! “Come on, don’t leave me now!” He drank it and transformed. Black Bones swung the chain at him once more, but this time Pop Fizz was able to wrap it around his wrist and tug it hard, leaving Black Bones open to a blow to the face, knocking him down. Black Bones: Defeated! What’s more, the sound of the potion pump suddenly fell silent. It must have been linked to Black Bones for some reason! And Eon must’ve been watching the affair from Skylanders Academy, because the Dark Trap Vortex opened up.

“Traptanium? Again? I’ve only just got that smell out of my HAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!”

(scene break)

“And another one for the collection, Master Eon!”

“Indeed, young Hugo. It seems we’re on a roll this week.”

“Gah! You think you’re safe? You couldn’t hold me before, you won’t keep me in here again!”

(scene break)

“And that’s the end of your lackies, Vendral! Come down here and fight like a man!”

“Now this… this I did not see coming. You have done well so far Pop Fizz, but I wouldn't hold your breath for our next encounter to go as easily. For he who who sneaks and runs away, lives to sneak another day!” Vendral leapt over the arena and threw one of his potions, laughing manically. The ring was blanketed in purply-green smoke. By the time it had cleared, the evil alchemist was gone.

“Oh, fuzz muzzle, he’s gone!”

“Urgh… we’ll get him one day, Poppy.”

(scene break)

Later, when the group had reconvened on the outskirts of town…

“Good work, comraderies. Another job well done.”

“Not good enough if you ask me, Buzz.”

“Yeah but no one asked you, did they Poppy? I still think we did good.”

“I agree with Deja! Gulper’s down, Pain-Yatta’s attack was foiled… job’s a good one!”

“No kidding Boomer… but Vendral Fearcaster escaped.”

“Oh yeah, I can see why that’s such a bummer. Guy’s ruthless and merciless. Nowhere is safe with him around.”

“Too right, Boomer… you think we’ll ever catch him one of these days, Buzz?”

“Oh I imagine so, comradery, his luck can’t last forever. But you’ll never get anywhere focusing on what you didn’t accomplish. Focus on what you did. You still saved Skyland’s de facto candy origins, and got three of Skylands’ most dangerous criminals locked away for public safety. That’s a big victory for you, Pop Fizz. And your team.”

“Ah, yeah well… not for nothing, Buzz, but three out of four feels like a failure when facing Vendral Fearcaster.”

“Being a leader isn’t about being perfect, friend. It’s about never giving up. About hitting the bad guys where it hurts.”

“Yeah… thanks Deja… guess there’s always another day, huh?”

“Always.” As Mags helped Dino-Rang onto the Dread-Yacht for medical treatment, and as his teammates left with Buzz, Pop Fizz’s mind briefly flickered back to his first encounter with the vile warthog.

“You’re a slippery one, Vendral! But I’ll never stop trying to save everyone from your ‘experiments!’”

And still in his mind stung Vendral’s retort, “Then you’ll never stop… FAILING!!!” followed by that terrible, terrible laughter. Pop Fizz flashed back to the present day.

“And I’ll never quit trying!”

Chapter Text

“And so we’re back here. Goodness knows how many Skystones games await us when we land. Cutthroat Carnival is nowhere to take kindly to intruders.” Thumpback’s words spoke true as the lander docked. Cutthroat Carnival was a dark, Pirate-run carnival whose main attractions were a number of painted wooden houses, moving platforms, and coloured lights. Midnight-blue clouds filled most of the sky, with a brilliant pink band of colour running through the middle. Light mist wafted over some of the island and enhanced its slightly ominous atmosphere. It was spooky enough when Thumpback and Gill Grunt were here before, trying to repair the Dread-Yacht. Neither had been terribly interested in returning. But the Pirate conference being held tonight changed their minds. For such had been mentioned in a letter Gill had received earlier that week…

Gillman

Ye lady-landlubber is still in ma grasp! If ye still be wanting to rescue the lassie, ah will be at Cutthroat Carnival this very week. Ah will be hosting a conference between all the Pirates in the Skylands, and ye mermaid girl be top prize at the auction! If ye want the lassie back, ye must face me for her! Ah will be waiting for ye, Gillman.

Yours Faithfully (And Modestly)
Captain Doombeard

“Captain Doombeard. He’s got a lot of nerve, old friend.” The Gillman growled as he and Thumpback entered the carnival.

“Yeah, Pirates can be a tricky business. I should know, I was once one myself. Ah, those days, when I’d just be fishing for that Leviathan Cloud Crab, and then I got hurled off across Skylands when I found it…”

“Did you ever see the crew again?”

“Well, there’s the thing, Grunt. Not long afterwards, my crew got into a minor dispute with the ancient Arkeyans. Got sealed away in a magic chest for years. Lucky escape, if you ask me…”

“Yeah, sounds like a great break of luck to me. Least you found your crew in the end. Even if you did have to battle Frightbeard with the other Giants. Me on the other fin, never found my beloved in all the time I’ve been searching. Doombeard’s been too illusive. How it boils my blood to think of everything he’s done! And he kidnapped my bride as well! Why, I oughta…!”

“Easy, easy, we don’t want him overhearing us! Either of us make too much noise, the alarm will raise, and we’ll never find Captain Doombeard and your bride!” As reluctant as he was, Gill quickly calmed down. Thumpback was right. While it’s almost certain Doombeard will be expecting them, it’s still imperative they minimise the chances of an ambush being sprung. Gill knew this whole Pirate Conference thing was almost certainly a ruse to lure him out. The plan was to use Doombeard’s own plan against him and take the opportunity to rescue Gill’s bride. And, while Gill had yet to mention this to his friend, he was also looking to turn the marauding mollusc into sushi for his crimes against his bride.

“Urgh… I want him right here, right now…”

“And what would you do then?”

“I… I wouldn’t trust myself around him.”

“Skylanders are not meant to serve as judge, jury and executioner.”

“Hence why I wouldn’t trust myself around him. In this case, I’m seriously contemplating making an exception to that rule.”

“You know full well a Skylander only kills if it’s a kill-or-be-killed situation. Although…” The whale behemoth gave a deep sigh. “I can completely understand why you’d want to end the guy. He rivals Dreadbeard as the scurviest scoundrel of the pirate buccaneers. And he lacks Dreadbeard’s weakness for card games. He’s plundered hundreds more towns than Dreadbeard as a result. I don’t know why Doombeard’s here, but it’s down to us to stop him and get your girl back.” Before Thumpback could continue…

“Blast ho!” A certain walrus pirate made his smashing debut.

“Oh, I know this guy…”

“Course you do! I’m a Brawlrus!” He quickly let out a burst of starfish from his cannon, which Gill was quick to dodge. Probably due to his larger size, Thumpback wasn’t so lucky.

“Gah! Urgh! These starfish have had an upgrade! I’m… I’m feeling ill…!” Thumpback fell to his knees.

“Hardy ha ah! Looking a little starry eyed, Skylander! You’ll never catch me again – I’m a Brawlrus!”

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up, toothy! Fear the Fish!” Within seconds, Gill whipped out his harpoon hose. A ferocious torrent of water shot out quickly and blasted Brawlrus in the face and sent him flying backwards for miles, his screams only quelled by the faint sound of a splash soon after. Gill gave a smirk as he washed the starfish off his friend.

“Urgh… Well done, Gill Grunt. Certainly gave that pirate an overdue bath.”

“Meh. We can’t afford to sit around. Doombeard must be onto us already.” In seconds, just as they were about to continue, the echoing laughter of that very scourge of the seas rang out through their ears.

“Hargh hargh hargh! Ah knew ye couldn’t resist me invitation, Gillman.”

“Doombeard! Where are you? I’m going to cut you into sushi if you’ve hurt her!”

“Shiver me timbers, Gillman. Ye threats no longer hold water! Since our last encounter, ah been plotting well and good! This time, nothing ye can do will be shivering me timbers any longer! Hargh hargh hargh! Oh, and ye precious… Meet me at the conference on the hill to face me for her…” Thumpback clearly saw how much Gill was being effected by those taunts. Quite badly, given he had to wrap his chain around the Gillman just to stop him doing something stupid and attracting any more unwanted attention. They both continued.

(scene break)

“Now maties, back to business.” The pirate captains were sat around a pentagon shaped table. One side had Dreadbeard and Brawl and Chain, on the other sat Captain Frightbeard, picking at his teeth with his claws, and Blubberbeard, nearly unconscious from drinking too much rum. And at the centre was the dark purple and red squidface pirate, resembling Davy Jones to an extent, with a black and purple coat, a black and white striped shirt, midnight black trousers and a deep purple boot on his left leg. His other leg is gone, replaced with a prosthetic that seems to have been carved from the tooth or bone of some large sea creature. In place of the hand on the same side, a giant crustacean claw that clamped shut as he violently slammed it down onto the table. He rose his head, breathing deeply, as his beard of long tenacles dripped over the table alongside his magic talisman. He removed his black hat with his regular hand. He gave a harsh grunt as he gestured behind him with his claw, showing the mermaid who Gill Grunt had fallen for in a dirty gold cage.

“Ah Doombeard. I been gone too long without a card game.”

“Yargh, shut your bilge, Dreadbeard! You’d give anyone ya crew if you get a good game of Skystones out of it!”

“You’re one to talk, Frightbeard!”

“Oh, will you just hug it out?!”

“Quiet! Ah be the one in charge now! Ye hear me? Ye are going to serve me in the end. Ah will unite ye all under me banner. I will have all ya crews under me banner, whether or not ye be with them is up ta ye! Now, do ah hear any objections to my takeover?” Frightbeard stood up and placed his sword to Doombeard’s neck.

“What if we don’t want to serve ya?” Doombeard stood up and snatched the sword away violently.

“Ah was hoping ye’d ask.” He suddenly grabbed Frightbeard’s neck with his claw and slammed against the floor repeatedly until Frightbeard was gasping for breath and bleeding all over his face. “What do ye have ta say now, sea slug?” Frightbeard rose a hand, clearly to surrender. Doombeard gave an evil chuckle. He turned back to the ensemble. “Any other mutineers?”

“Aye, tis a vile job you cast on him, Doombeard. I suppose it’s me crew you be wanting?” Doombeard gave the nod. “Well if so, then it’s Skystones Smash we first be playing!” Doombeard sat back down and grunted.

“Very well, matey.” Both players started at 10 health points. Dreadbeard went first. He placed down a Bomb Shell stone in the top space. Doombeard looked through his hand. Smoke Scream, Tae Kwon Crow or Grinnade? He thought for a moment, before blocking Dreadbeard’s stone with the Grinnade stone. Both stones broke. Dreadbeard growled and replaced his one with a Grave Clobber stone. Doombeard placed the Smoke Scream stone in the middle. That deals four damage to Dreadbeard and three to Doombeard. Dreadbeard quickly countered with a middle-placed Blaster-Tron stone. The stone was destroyed by Doombeard’s. Doombeard smiled. But so was his. No matter. He lost another three points. Four remain. Four points to six. Doombeard played his Tae Kwon Crow stone, placing it at the top to block the Grave Clobber stone. Both stones broke. Not wanting to lose, Dreadbeard decided to play his secret weapon. He played a Dreamcatcher stone, subtracting two health points from Doombeard’s total. He’s down to two. Doombeard simply smiled and played a Wolfgang stone, the fireballs destroying the Dreamcatcher stone and resulting in five more points being deducted from Dreadbeard. He growled. He wasn’t about to take this lying down! But even he quickly realised he’d been painted into a corner. If he blocked the Wolfgang stone, the Tae Kwon Crow stone would chip away the last point and he’d lose. Same if he blocked the Tae Kwon Crow stone. But he saw one option. He too had a Wolfgang stone. He played it. The opposing Wolfgang stone was destroyed and the Tae Kwon Crow one was reduced to one point. It was quickly destroyed alongside the Wolfgang stone. Furious, Doombeard played his Pain-Yatta stone and won easily. Dreadbeard slammed the table in anger and slashed out at the squidfaced pirate. “That were a mistake, matey!” He rose his magic talisman in his humanoid hand. It began to glow. Dreadbeard gave a scream as he was transformed into a sheep. Doombeard gave a sinister laugh, before signalling for one of his crew to take Dreadbeard away to be put with the others who angered him. He then slammed his hands down on the table and repeated “Any other mutineers?” Brawl and Chain and Blubberbeard each gave a nervous nod. Doombeard smiled.

He was about to continue when there was a sudden thumping sound at the door. Suddenly the door burst open and an anchor came flying through, narrowly missing Doombeard’s head. Thumpback and Gill Grunt were quick to appear.

“Show’s over, Doombeard!” The pirates stood up as Doombeard backed towards the cage.

“Gill!”

“Merminda, don’t worry, I’m here!” Doombeard drew his sword.

“Ah hargh hargh, Gillman! It’s been too long since we last crossed paths!”

“A pleasantly long time at that, you overgrown octopus!”

“Octopus?! Aye, ah’ll send ye to the depths of Davy Jones’ Locker for that remark, Gillman! Aye, but one thing is clear, ah cannot make ye reunion this easy! Anchor, take the lassie and prepare to launch! For now, with my new might to add to me fleet, I solemnly swear to plunder all of Skylands, right down to their blasted skivvies!” The insidious pirate captain rushed to his ship as his seadog underling picked up the cage, Merminda screaming as he did so. Brawl and Chain unleashed his powerful chains at the Skylanders to buy his new captain time for a getaway. Not much time, mind you. Given all he got for his trouble was an anchor to the head, knocking him into Blubberbeard and knocking them both out. Frightbeard let the Skylanders go, naturally he didn’t want Doombeard going free any more than they did. So the Skylanders caught up to Doombeard just as he was preparing to launch the Invincible Horror.

“I’m not leaving here without the girl, Doombeard!” Gill roared as he activated his water jetpack.

“Aye, if it be the lassie you want so badly, ah shall oblige ye. Anchor!” Anchor nodded and tossed the cage, screaming mermaid included, into the waters below the Invincible Horror. Thumpback was quick to throw his anchor up to the boat so Gill could get on, and then he leapt into the water to save the mermaid. Gill landed on the main deck. Doombeard rose his magic talisman. “Ye earnt me displeasure, Gillman! Ah think ye know what ah do to those who earn me displeasure!” He fired a magic blast which Gill narrowly missed, instead it hit one of Doombeard’s crew members, turning him into a sheep. The Gillman fired a harpoon which the pirate captain batted away with his crab claw. He laughed sadistically.

“Come on, Gill! You have to win this one! Doombeard cannot escape unpunished for his crimes any longer!”

“Ah would beg ta differ, Gillman! Or should I say…” Doombeard swung his sword, knocking Gill onto his back “...former Gillman?” He rose his sword, clearly intending to go for the killer blow, before being tackled by a certain Water behemoth carrying a caged mermaid. Doombeard slammed his claw onto the deck to stop him being lasted back, and then rose his talisman again. Thumpback and Merminda weren’t able to dodge in time thanks to the former’s large size and were turned into sheep. “Hargh, hargh, hargh! Looks like it’ll be lamb for dinner tonight, boys!” Infuriated by that remark, Gill quickly charged an Anchor Cannon before firing it at Doombeard while he was distracted with Thumpback, knocking him forwards a few feet, causing him to trip over the sheep and send his talisman flying over the deck. Gill quickly shot another harpoon at it, shattering the talisman into a flash of purple-red light. Doombeard screamed in anger as he got back up, only to be hosed down by his Gillman nemesis. Suddenly the sound of angry cries of rage filled the lower decks. Obviously the destruction of the talisman reversed all transformations it triggered. As Gill saw with his own eyes as Thumpback and Merminda returned to normal. The latter enveloped Gill in a tight hug.

“Oh Merminda, my love! I thought I’d never see you again!”

“I’m only annoyed it took you so long, my beloved Gill!” Thumpback looked away as they kissed for the first time in years. He was never one for such matters. Besides, they have a pirate captain to hurl off to prison. But they did not notice said captain regaining his composure and standing back up as they kissed. He furiously threw his sword at them, striking Merminda in the back and making Gill drop her as the deck soaked with her blood. In retribution, Thumpback furiously whipped his anchor at Doombeard so hard it completely took his good arm off. He fell to the ground, weakened but alive. For a couple of moments. Gill strode up to him, harpoon primed and ready for launching as he struggled to prop himself up…

“Go on matey. End this! Ye know ye want to…!” Thumpback looked at Gill. Was he really considering it? Was he going to kill Doombeard? Was he going to betray everything he stood for as a Skylander? Skylanders aren’t meant to serve as judge, jury and executioner! Gill Grunt knows this! Was he… was he…

“NO!!! No… I… I won’t… then I’d be just like you… a ruthless, mindless monster…” He lowered his gun and went back to Merminda. “What wretched luck we have…”

“You were brave, Gill… coming to save me… despite knowing this was a trap…” Gill shed a tear.

“Hold on, Gill. There is still a chance. Master Eon is a great healer. He could save her.” As soon as he finished his sentence, their master appeared in his spirit form, alongside a number of reinforcements. Thumpback must’ve called in the cavalry while he was underwater.

“Indeed… I can, Thumpback. I am proud of you, Gill Grunt, for resisting the urge to kill the one who separated you and your beloved. That shall be rewarded…” Eon rose a hand over the dying mermaid. Her injury began to heal rapidly. In seconds, she was on her feet again.

“Gill…”

“Merminda!” He enveloped his beloved in a tight hug. “Thank you, Master Eon, thank you!”

“Well done to you, my amphibious ally. I will await your decision about your future with us at the Academy. And if this is truly the end of your journey with the Skylanders, I offer my thanks.” And with that, the wise old Portal Master disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived. Doombeard watched the spectacle with disgust, before he was suddenly lifted off the deck by a whale’s hand.

“Captain Doombeard, you’re under arrest.” Doombeard gave no resistance as the Trap Masters took over. Not many were paying attention to Gill and Merminda. In fact, only Snap Shot said…

“What is up with those two? Long lost lovers or something?”

“It’s a long story, Snap Shot.”

“We’ve got all the time in the world, old friend. And I don’t doubt the jury hearing old Doombeard’s case have neither.”

“Meh, looks like the squidface has learnt once more to fear the fish.”

“Really, Lob-Star?”

“It works, Tuff Luck.”

“Eh, shouldn’t poke and prod. Some things are best left private, so I find.”

And so that is how this story ends. A Gillman and his mermaid girlfriend reunited and the notorious pirate captain who took her away himself being taken to be tried and either executed or imprisoned for life at Cloudcracker Prison. Merminda relocated to Persephone’s pond to be near Gill again, and Gill continued as a Skylander for years to come. In time, perhaps more tadpoles would join that pond, and Skylander Academy would have to open a nursey as a result. A new generation of heroes to be trained. Children of Gill Grunt and Merminda. And this was a day to be long remembered. The return of the captive of Cutthroat Carnival.