(This is a story I've been working on for a while now, about three years, and I've finally gotten around to writing it. This won't be the full story, as its in the process of being re-written, but I was requested to re-upload it. So here it is, the first, and probably best chapter of my take on the skylanders universe :) )

I love it when nature shows it's true colours. But… not like this.

If any of us had anticipated this, we would never be as ill prepared as we were. None of us expected that our leaders would fall so soon, and that Kaos would be defeated so easily…

Now I wish we weren't so strong. After Kaos' banishment, our friends, the earth, boasted about how they were like our new portal masters. Most of us were angered by this, as it was very disrespectful to our fallen leaders. If only my element had been stronger, none of this would have happened.

The fire element was angered by the earth claiming the credit that we should have all shared equally. However, rather than a peaceful talk or maybe a little harmless arguing, the fire element went all out offensive.

We were shocked by the violence… We couldn't stop them and none of us wanted to join in. Some elements were excited by this, such as the undead. They saw this as a revolution, a chance to be in charge. Unfortunately it did seem like that, the rest of us wanting a chance to rule.

It felt stupid, our desire to finally be noticed as the greatest element was taking over any thought that we may have had against this stupendous idea.

So… Our world began to fall. All our trees were burnt by the fire element, our flowerbeds and farms uprooted by the earth element. Why? I don't really know.

Since our land was completely obliterated, we've been on the move, and all we can hope for is an end to the war that seems to have started…..

I looked at the large building in front of me. I was a little nervous, and a little distant from the other new attendants that seemed to know each other well, as they were chatting excitedly while waiting for the school's bell to ring. I didn't know any of these people, and I felt somewhat alienated by that.

The building itself was rather plain, just having a white coat of paint, a couple of windows and a blue roof. This building was no more spectacular than any of the surrounding that neighboured it. I guessed that what was so controversial about this place was it's contents.

All the crowd around me suddenly went quiet, and I looked over to see why. A rather professional looking man had emerged from the school, and seemed to cast an aura of importance.

'Hello!' He said in an equally important voice. 'And welcome to Skylanders academy. This is a place to hone your skills, and you have been chosen to, depending on your grades, be our next set of skylanders,'

The crowd was now completely silent, some of the others trying their hardest not even to breathe in case they missed something.

'In this school you will be taught most of the basics of responsibility, as well as a few of the hardest things that any Skylander has to learn. But none of us will have to worry about that yet. This is only your first day after all.' He turned towards the white school building.

'This will be your home. Or at least until you have been sufficiently trained.'

There was an excited murmur. Stay here? Stay with friends? It was like a long sleep-over, and most people here enjoyed those.

'Now, as for rooms, you will be able to pick who you are roommates with, if you so desire. We already have rooms picked out for you, if you chose not to pick them.'

Wow, this really was a long sleep-over.

'However, there are a few rules. I'm sure all of you will respect and follow them. I won't waste anymore time with them here, but please check out reception later on. You will find the rules in detail there.' He turned back to us.

'We shall be going in shortly, but there will be a short delay. Feel free to chat and get to know one another a little more.'

He walked back indoors again, leaving us to do whatever we wanted. The noise began to creep back, everyone excited. I didn't have any friends, so I wasn't as excited as them, but I wondered what kind of classes there would be. If there was nature, I'd immediately chose it.

I felt some kind of undead magic behind me. Part of being of the life element was that I hated undead. It just felt wrong. I looked behind me, wondering if some part of the underworld had escaped again. It turned out that I was half right.

An elf had sneaked out of the crowd, and was now further away from it than I was. That annoyed me a little.

This elf was wearing a black dress, as well as, for some reason a black hoodie. She had this dark goth-like atmosphere, and it was scary. Though most from the undead element felt like that.

'Who wears a hoodie over a dress?' I wondered out loud, completely forgetting that she was there for a moment.

'Why not?' She replied coldly, which I wasn't expecting.

'Oh…' I said slightly embarrassed. I always did this! Hadn't I learned by now?

'What's the problem with wearing them?' She asked with a bored tone in her voice.

'Nothing, I just haven't really met anyone else that ever wears them together…' I replied slightly panicky. 'Though I haven't met many of the undead, that's probably why….'

The elf rolled her eyes. 'We don't all wear the same thing you know,'

'Yeah… I don't think much,'

'I can tell,'

Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. I wondered what was taking the important dude so long.

'Uh, so what's your name?' I asked awkwardly. 'Because, I don't want to start calling everyone Bob and Steve just because I don't know anyone's name.'

'Just for future reference, my name is not Bob, it's Hex,' she replied. 'If anyone calls me Bob then I swear I'll destroy them.'

'Okay,' I replied eyeing her nervously.

'So… Let me guess, your name's probably something to do with Ninjas,' Hex continued. 'So… Stealth Elf?'

'Why have I such an obvious name?' I said, slightly distraught.

'I'll take that as a yes then,'

'Yes….'

'So… How do you feel about this place? I think it is way too noisy,' Hex asked, looking around.

'Too noisy is what I'd say too,' I replied, studying the area as well.

'That's why you were standing at the back the whole time then,'

'Yep, but I also know nobody here,'

'A lot of people start off here not knowing many others, I mean I myself only know my brother Chop Chop,'

'Chop Chop?'

'Yes, it's a strange name, but so is Stealth Elf,'

'True,' I glanced over to the crowd. It had scattered a little, some exploring a little, others climbing trees and the majority still chatting about every detail of their life since they last saw one another and the like. I felt somewhat left out, but I also knew that I was probably not the only one.

'What'cha thinking about?' Hex asked, a little more energy in her voice now.

'I don't really know,' I admitted. 'I guess I'm just not used to this kind of thing,'

'I'm not either, but somehow I think things will be alright,' Hex said, standing next to me and looking at the same things I was. 'If not… We can hope right?'

I was going to answer, but I was interrupted by the sudden silence. I glanced up to the school and saw that the important guy had come out again. He was with a unicorn and an elf that looked like teachers.

'Sorry for the wait,' He announced to us. 'I was caught up in some work, as well as a few other things. Now that I am here, we can go inside.'

He walked down the steps, stopping on the second step.

'Before we proceed… I hope everyone has a great time!'

The inside was a lot more impressive than the outside. The entrance hall was enough to prove this, as it was somehow screaming with magnificence. It looked like they had put no effort into the outside and spent years filling in little holes that made this place look far better from the inside. I heard some people gasp behind me, obviously as impressed as I was.

If someone stopped by and asked what I was seeing, I don't know how I would answer. Probably: Eh…?

'As many of you have noticed,' the instructor (I decided to call him this) said. 'It is much better built in here. We are currently, uh, "remastering" the outside. So, you'll probably see more of an improvement over your first year. Anyway, I'll stop talking, for my job is done. You will be escorted by the teachers from now forward,'

He gestured at the unicorn and the elf. The unicorn stepped forward as the "Instructor" left. She smiled.

'Hi! I'm a teacher here and my name's Betrice, I specialise in Magic! So, if you're is interested in magic you'll see me a lot,'

The elf stepped forward as well. 'Meh,'

Betrice gave him a look. He sighed. 'Hello… I'm also a teacher, I do tech stuff, blah, blah, let's just go already.'

Betrice frowned. 'Uh, for anyone who doesn't understand blahs, his name's Elcentric. Anyway, follow one of us, and we'll show you around. I'm sure,'

She looked at Elcentric, her look saying You better. The elf sighed. 'Whatever,'

We split in to two different groups, one going with Elcerntric, the other going with Betrice. I went with the unicorn, naturally.

Betrice, being a unicorn, was really nice, as well as way too talkative. She seemed to have an endless string of words, pulling random sentences out of nowhere. One second she was talking about the weather, the next second trains. Why trains, I'd never know, but she was quite random. When she tried talking to me, I just kept silent, never having a chance to answer any questions she asked, or state my opinion on anything she talked about. So I decided to stop even attempting to answer.

She went around chatting to everyone that had come with her, while we went from class to class, having a taste of what kind of things Skylanders had to know. There was the basic stuff like Maths, English, History and Sports and then there was Magic, Combat, Life, Computing and Tech, Flying, Time, Space, Undead, etc. It was crazy how much subjects there was here. I was already dreading exams.

'So, that's pretty much all we have here,' Betrice babbled cheerily.

'That's all?' I complained sarcastically.

'Yep,' she replied happily, not seeing the sarcasm. 'Anyway, please check the rules down at reception, and check out which rooms you're sleeping in. I told you where the rooms are, but if you lose your way, just ask reception, 'K?'

There was a grumbling response, most of us tired from our long day. I think that we were ready to just ready call it a day.

We scattered rather quickly, all of us heading over to the reception, one little group at a time. I was one of the last ones to leave, since I didn't really want to go with anyone else. Because of that I was one of the last to get to the reception. I didn't mind much, since I like being last in things like this.

Once I reached reception, hardly anyone was there. Only a couple of groups remained, but they were all chatting about things that were irrelevant to me. I didn't know what to do now, though. I didn't really want to talk to the griffon at reception.

Fighting against my urge to climb out a window, I walked up to the griffon receptionist.

'Uh…' I said quietly.

'Oh Hi!' The dragon said happily. I didn't reply. Why was everyone so friendly here?

'So… I guess you want to know where you're room is right?' The griffon chittered.

'I guess…' I replied. I wasn't used to talking to griffons. They usually tried to kill me.

'Ok, what's your name?' She asked sweetly.

'Uh… Stealth Elf,' I replied warily.

'Okay! You're in room 213, by request,' she replied glancing at a sheet on the desk.

'Request?' I asked, confused. Who would request me to be a roommate? Well maybe…

I reached the door upstairs that had the numbers "213" above it. I opened the door cautiously, not wanting to disturb anyone, or be attacked. Luckily, neither happened.

'Hey,' a voice said. I recognised it immediately. 'Thought you were lost,'

'I don't get lost,' I said with an offended edge to my voice.

'Of course you don't,' Hex replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

'I bet you get lost all the time,' I snapped angrily.

'So you did get lost,'

'No!'

'Whatever,' she glanced out of the window. 'Nice view we've got,'

I looked out the window too. The view was spectacular, made even better by the now setting sun. Large creatures flew around sleepily, and smaller one were darting around trying to avoid their clumsy flight. Flowers scattered the ground below, dancing in the warm evening breeze. The trees seemed to join in as well, waving their branches in a kind of trance. Past them was where the land stopped, and it seemed to just lead to a deadly abys of nothing, the water from the nearby river flowing down to the empty space below. Somehow, even that looked gorgeous in the evening light.

'Ooh,' I said in awe. 'How does a place like this look so nice?'

'I don't know,' Hex replied shrugging. 'I'm guessing that however built this place decided to spend more time by the scenery and not the architecture,'

'Yeah,' I replied, not really listening, as I was watching a couple of the creatures loop in circles.

'I have a feeling we have a long day ahead of us,' Hex sighed, moving away from the window.

'We will?' I asked confused. Hex looked at me like she was tired of my uncaring already.

'Well, we do need to try subjects out, unpack, get used to things, meet everyone, follow rules-'

'I get it,' I interrupted. 'Sounds tedious,'

'Yes, yes it does.' She answered. There was silence for a few minutes.

'So,' I said breaking it. 'I heard I was put in this room by request,'

'Yeah, I did request it.' Hex replied, talking things out of her bag. 'I didn't like the guys I was put with.'

'Huh, so you can request to go with other people rather than the ones you were placed with?'

'Yep. But you need to actually request someone, you can't go alone,'

'Oh, so you picked me? And not, like, Cynder or something?'

'Yep. Thought you might be better. Even though our elements clash.'

'I'd forgotten about that,'

'It's easy to forget,'

I looked around the room, unsure what to say next. The room was rather nice, I guess. It looked like a regular apartment room. I wasn't sure, because I was in an apartment only once.

'So who were you put with before?' I asked curiously.

'Meh, nobody special. Just my brother and this annoying shark thing,' she replied with a bored tone.

'I wonder who I was placed with.' I said thoughtfully. 'Probably with this random troll or something,'

'I heard you were put with some magic people, but I'm not sure,'

'Magic people?' I snorted. 'That sounds ridiculous out loud,'

'Yeah, sort of.' Hex sighed, taking a book out of her bag. I looked out the window again, lost in a few thoughts that had popped up.

'I hope everyone was right about this place,' I said, thinking out loud as I usually did.

'I hope so too,' Hex replied. I didn't expect her to so I jumped a little. 'Thinking out loud were you?'

I looked at the undead girl. She was reading the book she had taken out her bag, but she seemed to know that I'd jumped.

'Yeah… I always do that,' I admitted.

'Huh,' Hex seemed to be losing interest now, and I couldn't blame her. I had a short attention span myself.

I looked out the window one last time. The sun had fully set now, the stars starting to become visible. Bats and nocturnal creatures were now buzzing around in the new darkness. The river was glittering softly in the moonlight, and it looked even better shrouded in darkness than it did during the sunset. Everything looked so peaceful, which both calmed me and made me feel nervous. There was a feeling of danger in the air, but I decided to ignore it. It was too early to make impressions.

I sighed. As Hex had stated, the next day was going to be a long one

(Its definitely not the best, but I hope you liked it anyway. :) )