antaurilover685, who owns Kairi, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)
Isabel belongs to ianon2013; Bree belongs to imabludog; Jamie belongs to pokemonsora01; Skylanders and all its games belong to Activision; I only own Rachel.
The Portal Masters' Gates
Summer break had finally come and Rachel headed home and plugged in her Skylanders Portal, watching it glow before it became the bright blue light that could take her directly to Skylands and she reached for it with no hesitation, soon finding herself in front of the Skylanders Academy. She first spotted her cousin Jamie mock-wrestling with Enigma again and the mysterious Skylander began tickling the boy playfully. Smiling from afar, Rachel then spotted three more of her friends. Isabel was chasing after Funny Bone, who had her jacket in his mouth and wasn't giving it back, Whirlwind was flying around the Academy with Bree on her back, and Kairi was sitting on Thumpback's shoulder as they watched their friends having fun.
Rachel then nearly let out a startled shout as large arms scooped her up from behind. "Hey, Rach!" A familiar, cheerful voice greeted her.
"Hey, Bouncer!" She returned the greeting as she hugged him and he gave her a big hug in return before setting her up on his shoulder and rolling towards Thumpback to watch the others. "Hey, Kairi. Hey, Thumpback."
"Hey, Rach!" Kairi said happily and Thumpback returned the greeting.
"Summer break finally came, huh?" The giant whale asked.
"Oh, yeah," said Rachel as they watched Isabel finally get her jacket back from her mischievous partner and Whirlwind and Bree land near them. Jamie won the mock-wrestling match, although the onlookers knew Enigma had let the boy win on purpose, before they all came over to the two giants and the other two girls.
"What's up, guys?" Jamie asked in greeting.
"Nothing much," said Kairi. "Except that summer is finally here."
"Tell me about it," said Isabel. "I so needed a break from school."
"Same here," said Bree.
Rachel smiled. "And to top it off, it's a quiet day today," she said. "No villains breaking out of the Vault."
"Thank goodness," said Enigma. "We've dealt with more than enough of them lately."
"Let's hope they at least stay in those traps for like a few years," said Kairi. "Missions take away time we can spend with our great Skylanders."
Although everyone gave the girl knowing looks, they smiled as they nodded in agreement. They hadn't had a chance to just hang out without having to do a mission, but now, it looked like today they could.
Jamie, who was sitting on Enigma's shoulders, glanced towards the horizon and saw something glowing but then vanished. "Hey, did you guys see that?" He asked.
"See what?" Isabel asked curiously.
"Something was glowing in that direction," the boy answered, pointing southward.
"The Golden Queen's temple?" Kairi asked.
Jamie shook his head. "I don't think so," he answered. "After it glowed, it kinda disappeared."
Kairi gave a thoughtful hum. "That's odd," she agreed. "Can the golden temple do that?"
"It shouldn't, now that the Queen is trapped," said Thumpback. "Although that was a good guess, my love."
Rachel then spotted something glowing. "Hey, I think I see what you saw, Jamie," she said to her cousin. "Only, it's in that direction."
They saw she was indicating eastward. Isabel noticed another glow coming from the west and Bree saw one coming from the north and then Kairi spotted another one somewhere northwest of the Academy, but each time they called out the object, it disappeared before the others could see it.
"They seem to be reflectors," said Isabel.
"Like mirrors reflecting light?" Kairi asked.
"Yeah," Isabel answered.
"Warning signals?" Rachel asked.
"Or a call for help?" Jamie guessed.
Bree, who had been very quiet, noticed the same glow she had noticed before and that it faded when it disappeared. "Um, what if it's elemental gates?" She asked, making the others turn to her. "I noticed that when it disappears, it kinda fades away. Wouldn't mirrors just suddenly stop pointing in the sun's direction?"
"Yeah, it would," Jamie said in agreement with Bree.
"But since when do elemental gates glow without a Skylander of that element beside it?" Isabel asked.
"None that I know of," Kairi said honestly. "Thumpback? What do you think?"
The five Skylanders had been quiet as the five Portal Masters had held the discussion and the giant whale cleared his throat. "Well, I've never heard of the gates glowing as you all describe them," he said honestly. "Bouncer? Funny Bone? Whirlwind? Enigma?"
The other four shook their heads until Bouncer suddenly perked up. "Wait," he said. "Some time back, I heard Master Eon mention something about special gates, but he never elaborated."
"Special gates?" Rachel asked. "What kind of gates?"
"And why wouldn't Master Eon tell us?" Jamie asked.
"He must have a good reason for not telling us," Isabel said gently.
"Maybe he feels we're not ready to go seek out those gates yet," said Bree a bit sadly.
Enigma placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Or perhaps he's waiting until you all are ready," he said wisely. "You all have come a long way from when you first began your adventures as Portal Masters."
"True," Kairi agreed. "Maybe he also felt it was too dangerous for us. He is very protective of us."
"Yes, he is," Rachel agreed. "In a way, he acts very similar to a concerned, protective grandfather to us."
"Sometimes I think his protectiveness rivals that of our own partners," said Isabel as she smiled, thinking about Rattleshake, whom she loved just like Kairi loved Thumpback. "And Rattleshake is very protective of me."
That made them all chuckle in amusement. "Well, how about we think about something else?" Bree suggested. "Like what plans do we have for the summer?"
"The movies," Jamie said immediately. "There's some cool ones coming out that I can't wait to see."
"Me too," said Kairi.
"Same here," said Isabel.
Rachel nodded and then saw Master Eon come out of the Academy. "Guys, look," she said in surprise.
"Master Eon," Whirlwind said in surprise.
The five Portal Masters and their Skylander partners stood respectfully before the guardian of Skylands, who smiled at them.
"I overheard you point out those glowing lights," he said. "And Bouncer was closer to the truth than he realized."
Everyone looked shocked at that and Funny Bone perked up. "You mean…those lights that our Portal Masters spotted…are those special gates you mentioned?" He asked.
"Yes, they are," said Master Eon.
"Master Eon, what is so special about those special gates?" Bree asked curiously.
"Are they gateways to more game levels?" Jamie asked curiously.
"Please tell us," Isabel pleaded respectfully.
The gathered Skylanders chuckled in amusement, but were also curious. Master Eon smiled again.
"These special gates are elemental gates, but I'm afraid Skylanders cannot open them," he said. "Only Portal Masters can."
They all looked stunned and Rachel spoke up after a moment. "You mean, there's elemental gates for us too?" She asked. "But, how can we open those gates when we're not Skylanders?"
She had placed the question respectfully and Master Eon gently smiled. "While you're not Skylanders, you are Portal Masters of your chosen element, or elements," he said. "Rachel, what is your chosen element?"
"The Tech element, sir," Rachel answered. "While many of my partners are from the other elements, the Tech element fascinates me, probably due to my fascination of robots."
Bouncer smiled at that, as did the others. Isabel then stepped forward. "Like Rachel, I too have partners from many of the elements, but am fascinated with the Undead element," she said honestly.
"Me too," said Bree softly. "No offense, Whirlwind."
"None taken, Bree," said the air dragon kindly.
Kairi smiled at Thumpback. "I think it's no secret that the Water element is my favorite," she said.
"Never was a doubt," Rachel said with a smile, making them all chuckle.
Master Eon smiled. "Jamie? What about you?" He asked.
The boy smiled. "Well, my favorites are both the Magic and the Water elements," he admitted. "But I like the other elements too."
The Guardian of Skylands nodded. "And you all have achieved the highest rankings of Portal Masters," he said. "Now, the Portal Masters' gates were once a big part of Skylands, but disappeared and stayed hidden until you five came in. Now, they have reappeared, but in order to have them stop disappearing every time they are spotted, their riddles must be solved."
"Riddles?" Isabel asked.
"Yes," said Master Eon. "I have sent for Mags to retrieve the riddles and once you each have the riddles, I will send you all off on a mission to go find those gates. Your Skylanders with you now may go with you."
Mags then came out with five pieces of paper with her. "Here they are," she said. "Took me a bit to find them in my lab and then I remembered I put them in a book in the library, so I went to the library, only to find the book wasn't there and then I remembered I had taken the book to my lab and there is was on my desk."
Everyone smiled at that and the Portal Masters accepted a paper from Mags before looking up at Master Eon, who smiled at them. "The papers will not only list the riddle, but where the gate you are searching for can be found," he said. "Good luck to each of you."
They nodded and headed off to where they needed to go.
Bree sat on Whirlwind's back as they flew to Know-It-All Island where the gate was and they soon landed on a part of the island where a Knucklehead was and he smiled at them. "You seek the disappearing gate, and wonder if it is too late?" He asked them.
"I hope not," she said and then held up her paper that had an old Skylanders language on it, but she couldn't read it. "Could you translate this riddle for me, please? I'm not familiar with this language."
The Knucklehead smiled and cleared his throat. "The riddle reads, 'I love the sun on my face and follow it by day, knowing my children will do the same one day. What am I?'"
"Hmm, that's a tricky one," said Whirlwind. "What follows the sun by day?"
Bree began thinking and sat down, seeing some flowers nearby and absentmindedly knew that the flowers would die and their seeds would be planted in the soil to grow. Her head suddenly shot up. "It's a type of flower," she said. "One that would drop seeds to grow into new flowers. Their children."
"A flower that follows the sun," said Whirlwind thoughtfully. "Wait. Isn't there a flower that grows as tall as you and is mostly yellow?"
"A sunflower!" Bree exclaimed. "It follows the sun and produces seeds that will grow into more sunflowers."
An Undead elemental gate appeared beside the Knucklehead. "You have answered the riddle," he said with a smile. "You can now open the gate."
Eagerly, Bree stood by it and the gate gave a bright flash before the light faded and she and Whirlwind stepped in. A treasure chest was there, along with another smaller treasure chest. Whirlwind opened the bigger one and found there was a lot of gold in it. "There's enough in here for all your Skylanders, Bree," she said.
Smiling, Bree opened the smaller treasure chest and her jaw dropped. Inside was a necklace with a pendant that was in the shape of the top part of a skull and had gold gems for eyes. She put it around her neck and smiled. Whirlwind smiled too. "It's definitely you," she said.
"I love it," Bree said happily.
Meanwhile, Jamie and Enigma had gone to Telescope Towers where the elusive gate was and saw the scientists gathering near a certain spot. "The gate keeps appearing here, but we can't open it," said one scientist. "Maybe you can."
Jamie handed them a piece of paper that had mathematical equations on it. "I'm not sure what this means," he said honestly.
"Oh, we can solve that for you, if you'd like," said another.
"Please?" Jamie asked.
The scientist quickly solved the equation and showed how the riddle was hidden inside the equation. "I come in many shapes, but cannot keep each shape for very long. What am I?" Jamie read aloud from the paper.
"That is a tough one," Enigma said thoughtfully.
Jamie would have agreed except he noticed a nearby cloud had the shape of a car and pointed it out. "How neat is that?" He asked.
"I see it," said Enigma. "But the wind is making it fade a bit."
That was when it hit the boy. "A cloud," he said. "The answer is a cloud."
The elemental gate appeared and the scientists were shocked to see that it was a dual element gate, half water and half magic. Jamie stepped up to it and it opened to reveal a small cavern with two treasure chests, one smaller than the other. The big chest of full of treasure that Enigma accepted, promising to divide it evenly among Jamie's other Skylander partners. "There's too much here for just one Skylander," he said.
Jamie found a watch in the other chest. The background had a picture similar to the gate, one half had the water symbol and the other half had the magic symbol on it. "This is so cool!" Jamie said happily.
Enigma nodded as they exited the gate and thanked the scientists again before heading out for the Academy.
Isabel and Funny Bone had gone to Monster Marsh where Marsha met them and showed them where the special gate was, even translating the riddle which was in an old fairy language. "Nothing can bind me or hold me wherever you look, because I have no end. What am I?"
After Marsha translated, Isabel gave it some quick thought, remembering how she had learned in school that the sky was limitless and no matter where you looked, it didn't end. "The sky?" She asked hopefully.
Marsha smiled as the gate appeared. "Well done, Isabel," she said. She watched the girl and Funny Bone enter and come out a moment later with not only a lot of gold, but Isabel was wearing a necklace that for a pendant was half a skull with green gems for eyes.
"I think this is one of the best missions I've ever been on," Isabel said before looking at Funny Bone. "You sure you can carry all that treasure?"
"Yes," he said. "But I'm eager to share it with our friends too."
Isabel nodded with a smile as they said goodbye to Marsha, who kindly led them to a teleporter pad that took them back to the Academy.
Rachel and Bouncer made it to Rainfish Rivera where some of the locals told them that the special gate they were looking for had gotten swallowed by the giant fish.
"Ew," Rachel said. "We're going to have to go inside that fish's stomach to get to the gate?"
"Looks like it," said Bouncer, but he didn't look to eager about it either. "What is the riddle we need to solve?"
Rachel looked at it. "It's in some kind of…sea language?" She guessed.
"Sea language?" A voice asked, making them look up to see Bucko, a Skystones Smash player who was also a bit of a friendly pirate. "May I have a look, lassie? I might be able to translate for ye."
"Would you, please, Bucko?" Rachel asked.
"We'd greatly appreciate it," said Bouncer.
Thankfully, Bucko had no trouble translating the riddle. "A language that is beautiful to the ear and needs no words to be understood. What is it?" He read.
"Thank you, Bucko," Rachel thanked him. "Bouncer, why don't we rest here a bit and you can play Skystones Smash with Bucko while I see if I can solve this riddle?"
She knew the robot giant loved Skystones Smash and he readily agreed. While they were playing, Rachel began thinking about the languages of the world, but all of them had words, so she ruled out that it was a spoken language. She then saw some of the other pirates gathered around one of their ships and one of them was playing an accordion while the others danced around. "Yar, har! Listen to that tune, lads! Music is good fer your soul!" Said one of them.
Rachel realized that was the answer. "Music!" She cried out in excitement, jumping up and tripping on some nearby nets, but catching herself before she fell over. Bouncer and Bucko turned to her as she came up to them. "The answer is music. It doesn't need words for everyone to understand it."
"I think you're right," said Bouncer as he saw Bucko won the round of Skystones Smash. Thanking him, the robot giant jumped up. "Let's go find that fish and see if you're right."
Thanks to having caught the giant fish before, it took them only a minute to capture the fish, which opened its mouth to reveal that the gate was indeed there. Stepping inside and being careful, even though they didn't like that they were inside a fish, Rachel made it to the gate that had a Tech symbol on it and Bouncer smiled as the gate opened and they went in, finding the two treasure chests and hauled them outside of the fish's stomach.
Bouncer was shocked at the amount of gold in the chest. "This is more than I've seen in any of the chests prior," he said in shock. "There's enough for all of your partners, Rachel."
She smiled and held up a necklace she had pulled from the other chest. "Look at this," she said, holding it up. The pendant was a shiny gear and she immediately placed it around her neck. "I love it."
"It looks beautiful on you," said Bouncer as he stowed the treasure away and then picked her up. "Let's go show the others."
Rachel nodded. "I wonder how the others are doing?" She said.
"Let's find out."
They made it to the Academy and saw Isabel, Bree, and Jamie there with their partners dividing the treasure up evenly and they joined them, showing their special treasures they found.
Jamie noticed Kairi hadn't returned yet. "I wonder if Kairi and Thumpback are okay," he said.
Isabel smiled. "I'm sure they'll be back soon," she said.
Rachel and Bree nodded in agreement.
Kairi and Thumpback had just beaten Lob Goblin when Da Pinchy came up to them and greeted them. "You look-a for the special gate, hmm?" He asked.
"Yes," Kairi said. "Do you know where it is?"
"Yes, on the Nightmare Express-a," said Da Pinchy. "Train is about to leave."
"We need to solve this riddle before it takes off," said the girl. "But, I can't read it. I think it's in like Spanish, or maybe French."
"May I a-see?"
She handed him the paper and he read it. "It is-a French," he said with a smile. "Though tested I have been from time to time, I hold strong for you and never change. What am I?"
Kairi thought she recognized part of it and remembered something she had heard someone say that love was often tested by time and held strong if it was true between two people. "I think the answer is love," she said. "Time tests it, but it holds firm when it's true."
Thumpback smiled. "I agree," he said.
They then heard the train whistle loudly. "You better hurry!" Da Pinchy said urgently. "And be-a careful!"
"We will! Thanks, Da Pinchy!" Kairi called out to him as she and Thumpback hoped onto the train in time, heading quickly for the head of the train, but to their surprise, the gate was in the second boxcar they entered and it had a water symbol on it. Quickly moving towards it, Kairi saw it open up for her and she went inside. "Thumpback! Come look at this!"
He entered to find she was trying to haul a huge treasure chest out and hold a smaller chest in her arms. "Allow me," he said, gathering the treasure as she opened the smaller chest, finding a very pretty necklace that she put on, fingering the pendant that was in the shape of the water symbol. The train suddenly shrieked again and the two quickly headed up for the main engine, seeing the train was starting to go faster and they couldn't reach the controls.
"Thumpback! Kairi! Hold on!" A voice called out.
They looked up. "Thunderbolt!" Kairi called out, seeing the Air trapper flying fast. The train was coming dangerously close to derailing when Thunderbolt managed to grab them both and fly away quickly.
"Thank you, old friend," said Thumpback.
"Yes, thank you," said Kairi. "How did you know we were in trouble?"
"Your friends were concerned and Rachel sought me out, especially when they heard the Nightmare Express' whistling shriek. Rachel, Jamie, and Isabel recognized it all too well and Bree was afraid you were both hurt," said Thunderbolt as they made it to the Academy where Kairi was instantly pulled into hugs from her friends.
"Are you alright?" Isabel asked worriedly.
"We were so worried when the train whistled like that," said Bree.
"You're not hurt, are you?" Jamie asked in concern.
"Did you find the gate okay?" Rachel asked.
Kairi nodded. "It was on the train," she said, showing them her necklace and they showed her their treasures too.
Master Eon came out. "Well done, all of you," he said. "Hopefully with you finding these gates, the other Portal Master gates will come back and more Portal Masters will join us."
"That would be awesome!" Jamie said.
"You took the words right out of my mouth, cousin," said Rachel with a grin.
The others readily agreed as their Skylanders suddenly scooped them all up and carried to the Academy for a victory celebration that lasted long into the afternoon and evening.
Yes, I know Da Pinchy has an Italian accent, but I figured he could know French as well.
Please leave a review, but no flames!
GoldGuardian2418