Lantern Power, who owns Isabel, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)

Skylanders belongs to Activision. I own nothing.

Guardians For A Friend

Isabel kissed Rattle Shake as he held her in his arms. "I have to go to work, Rattle," she said.

He sighed lightly. "I know, Izzy," he said understandingly, though he wanted to just hold her.

She giggled. "Oh, you," she said, knowing that he just wanted to hold her. "I'll be back tonight," she promised before they kissed once more and she teleported back to Earth.

The day dawned peaceful and quiet and everyone was enjoying themselves when Fright Rider and Grim Creeper noticed something shiny and purple in the living room. Curious, they moved towards it and saw it was a gem. "Wait, I recognize this," Grim said.

"Same here," Rider agreed. "It's Isabel's Chaos Emerald."

"She must not have realized it got left here," the ghost Skylander said.

Both knew that the Emerald was very important to Isabel. "Okay, we know it's not safe in the open like this," the Undead Elf said. "So, we'll keep it safe and give it to Isabel when she returns."

Grim nodded in agreement. "Okay," he said before looking curious. "I wonder how powerful it is. We only know that Isabel uses it to teleport, heal, and a couple other things."

Rider had to admit he was curious too and the two decided to fiddle with it a little bit. Nothing major, but just to satisfy their curiosity. Both held the Emerald in their hands like they had seen the Undead Portal Master do. "Um, what's the phrase she uses? Chaos...blast?" The Elf asked.

A blast of magic shot out from the Emerald and shot down the hall. Worried, they followed it, managing to just keep up with it and the blast headed for the kitchen where Chef Pepperjack and Ghost Roaster were giving up on a pot of soup that didn't come out the way they hoped. The magic hit the pot, making it spin before it exploded, the soup splattering everywhere, surprising the two chefs. "Well, we were thinking about cleaning the kitchen today," the chained ghost said with a shrug.

"Oh," Chef Pepperjack groaned. "Well, at least we hadn't started on that yet," he admitted. While the dishes were clean, the stove needed a good scrubbing about twice a month if not more. It looked like they might have to start on that sooner than they had thought.

Grim and Rider looked at each other and backed away. Though they had been messing with the Emerald, they hadn't meant for the kitchen mishap to happen. "Let's not play with it," the ghost Skylander suggested.

"Good idea," the Undead Elf said in agreement. "We'll just hold onto it until Isabel returns."

Grim looked thoughtful. "Maybe we ought to ask some of the others to help us?" He suggested. "Kaos might try to grab it if he knows it's here."

Rider nodded and they both headed out to find some of the others.

In the courtyard, Flameslinger and Chop Chop were sparring with the fiery elf using his arrows and the skeleton using his sword and shield. Stealth Elf was nearby and sparring with Hex, who called up some grinning skulls and sent them towards the ninja, who moved quickly, kicking away many of the skulls or using her daggers to knock them away. One skull clamped onto the blue braid behind her and she jerked her head around, grabbing the skull and forcing it to let go before she threw it at another skull and the two collided before exploding.

The explosion was actually enough to knock Flameslinger and Chop Chop off their feet while Hex and Stealth Elf were thrown back a little. "Oops," the black-haired elf said sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Stealth. I forgot to warn you that for some reason, if the grinning skulls collide hard enough with each other, they explode."

"That's okay, Hex," the green-skinned ninja said forgivingly. "Although, I think that would be good practice in case Kaos tries a trick like that."

"Not a bad idea," Flameslinger said, looking at his girlfriend adoringly. Though he had on a blindfold, the others knew when he was looking at them.

Chop Chop nodded. "Perhaps we can use the explosion as a cover for other attacks?" He suggested. "Like the explosion would catch an enemy off guard and leave them open for the attacks right behind the explosion."

"You mean like how the Portal Masters do?" Stealth Elf asked. The thirteen Portal Masters that worked for Master Eon to keep Skylands safe were known to use a strategy like that to surprise an enemy and they kept changing it up, so enemies didn't know which attacks were actually distractions.

"Yes," the skeletal warrior said.

Flameslinger looked up to see Grim Creeper and Fright Rider coming towards them. "Hey, it's Grim and Rider," he said.

They stopped to greet their friends. "What's up?" Stealth Elf asked.

Rider held out a purple gem that the others marveled at before Chop Chop blinked. "Wait, isn't that...Isabel's Emerald?"

"Yeah," Grim said. "We think she left it here by accident."

"We need to keep it safe for her until she returns," Rider said. "And...well, we're going to need some help."

"I'm in," Stealth Elf said instantly.

"Count me in too," Flameslinger said.

"Me too," Chop Chop agreed.

Hex, though having never met Isabel, knew of the Undead Portal Master and nodded. "I'll assist you as well," she said.

Funny Bone and Hot Dog suddenly came running up to them happily, just stopping short of running into the gathered skylanders. "Hi, what's up?" Funny Bone asked before seeing his Portal Master's Chaos Emerald in Rider's hands. "Hey, that's Isabel's Emerald."

"Yeah. It got left here by mistake," Grim Creeper told the mutts.

Hot Dog barked happily. "Let's bury it and hide it!" He suggested as he loved to bury things.

The others rolled their eyes, but smiled slightly. "While hiding it is a good idea, Hot Dog, we need to keep it with us at all times until Isabel returns," Flameslinger said. "Can we count on you and Funny Bone to alert us if Kaos or any of our other enemies attack?"

Funny Bone perked up at that. "You bet!" He said eagerly. He would do anything for Isabel as she was not only his Portal Master, but one of his best friends.

Just then, Hot Dog sniffed the air and growled, crouching low. "Bullies," he said.

A group of bully Portal Masters came up to them. "So, which one of you has the Emerald?" One asked.

Rider casually moved closer to Grim and nudged his arm with his shoulder. The ghost quickly caught on what the elf had in mind and moved to stand in front of Rider while the elf put the Emerald in one of Grim's pockets. Thankfully, the armor made it easy to hide stuff and it was impossible to tell if the ghost had anything hiding in the pockets of his armor. "What Emerald?" Chop Chop asked as he and Flameslinger stood in front of the others.

The bullies glared. "We know that goody-goody Portal Master Isabel left it here," a girl bully said. "We overheard you all talking about it."

Now the Skylanders knew that this would end in trouble. "And we're keeping it safe for her until she returns," Hex said, her voice hard.

A male bully grinned nastily. "Why don't we just take it off your hands?" He suggested as the four bullies activated their Portal Master powers.

Stealth knew this was serious. "Guys, let's do what we were doing earlier," she said.

Flameslinger, Hex, and Chop Chop caught on while Rider, Grim, Funny Bone, and Hot Dog looked confused. "Um, what?" Hot Dog asked.

As the bullies got ready to charge, Flameslinger looked at the dogs. "How fast can you two dig and throw dirt?" He asked.

That got them excited and they were ready to dig fast and furious. Chop Chop looked up at Rider and Grim. "Feel up to a bit of jousting and haunting?" He asked them.

Grim swung his scythe. "Your time is up!" He said, ready to battle.

"Fear the spear!" Rider said, whistling loudly. Fright, his ostrich steed, heard the whistle and came running to his owner, who jumped aboard his back.

The bullies charged, but stopped short as Funny Bone and Hot Dog, seeing they were near the stone bridge near the wishing well at the Academy, went over to the stream and began digging at the wet dirt there, which meant they were digging and throwing mud back at the bully Portal Masters, who cried out in disgust as they got hit with mud. Hex smiled and called up her grinning skulls, to which Stealth Elf began hitting them and gathering several of the skulls together before grabbing another one and getting ready to fling it. Grim and Rider also grabbed a skull each and all three threw the three skulls into the gathered skulls that were between them and the bully Portal Masters.

The resulting explosion not only shook the ground and forced the Skylanders to brace themselves, but it knocked the bullies down too and leaving them open to get hit with more mud as the two mutts kept up the digging, not stopping even for a moment.

Once the bullies regained their senses, they were suddenly pummeled by the Skylanders' attacks, forcing them to retreat with bruised prides. The Skylanders laughed and nodded to each other. "Whew! That wasn't easy," Chop Chop said before some mud hit his boot. "Hey!"

Rider chuckled and whistled to the dogs, who stopped digging and sat proudly with muddy paws, but huge smiles. "Good job, you two," the Undead Elf said.

Hex used her powers to restore the ground, smiling. "If only defeating Kaos was as easy as defeating those bullies," she said.

"I hear ya," Flameslinger said in agreement.

Just then, they heard a familiar, evil laugh and groaned. "I just had to jinx it, didn't I?" The dark-haired Undead female elf said ruefully.

"Nah, you didn't, Hex," Grim said to her, gently nudging her arm. "We know Kaos can't resist trying to get his grubby hands on something powerful."

"True," Stealth Elf said. "So, what do you say we make sure his grubby hands don't get the gem?"

The eight Skylanders gathered together, facing Kaos as he charged.

Isabel sighed happily as she returned home from her ten-hour shift. Her workplace had been very busy, which was good, but she was a bit tired as she sat down and ate some dinner. "Oh, I can't wait to head back to Skylands," she said as she checked her calendar and was happy to see she had the next two days off. "That'll be awesome."

Almost two hours later, the chores were done and she was ready to go to Skylands as she checked to make sure she had everything. It was only then she noticed she was missing something important. "My Emerald!" She exclaimed before realizing where it was. "I left it in Skylands!"

Now worried as she knew the Chaos Emerald would be too tempting for someone like Kaos to steal, the brown-haired girl activated her portal to Skylands, feeling it pull her in and she landed in a crouch by the racetrack, surprising Pandergast, who jumped at her sudden arrival. "Ah, the Undead Portal Master!" He said and was about to go into a speech when she fixed him with a glare that made him instantly shut up. "Ah, welcome back," he said sheepishly.

She gave a nod, though she wasn't fond of the keeper of the races. But at the moment, she didn't have time to deal with him as she raced for the Academy, worried that she might not find her Emerald.

Happy barks filled her ears and she looked to see Funny Bone and Hot Dog running towards her and she stopped herself short as they leapt up and playfully tackled her to the ground, licking her face happily and making her giggle despite her worries. "Okay! Okay!" She laughed as she gently pushed them off her, giving them ear scratches. "I'm glad to see you guys too."

"Hey, she's here!" Another voice called out and she looked up to see Hex, Flameslinger, Stealth Elf, Chop Chop, Grim Creeper, and Fright Rider coming up to her. Fright gave a friendly chirp and nuzzled Isabel's shoulder, making her smile as she pet him.

"He likes you," Rider said with a smile.

She smiled again. "What's up, guys?" She said. Though she wanted to find her Emerald, she didn't want to be rude to them.

"Oh, the usual," Flameslinger said, smiling.

"Bullies, Kaos, and keeping something safe for you," Chop Chop said with a smile.

The Undead Portal Master looked confused. "Keeping something safe for me?" She repeated.

Grim reached into a pocket of his armor and pulled out the purple Chaos Emerald, holding it out to her. She gasped. "My Emerald!" She exclaimed. "Oh, thank you!"

She took it and put in it the pocket of her hoodie. "Where did you guys find it?" She asked.

"In one of the living rooms," Rider said.

Grim nodded before looking at bit sheepish. "And...uh...we had a small accident with it," he admitted.

She looked curious before it dawned on her. "You guys tried to use its power?" She asked, her tone even.

"More like, we wanted to know what it could do," Rider admitted. "A blast of magic flew from it and hit a pot of soup in the kitchen, making it explode over everything, including Chef Pepperjack and Ghost Roaster."

Blinking, the brown-haired girl giggled as she pictured that. "Bet that surprised them," she said.

"Yeah," Grim said. "But we didn't play with it after that."

"They gathered us to help keep it safe for you, especially when the bullies and Kaos found out that your Emerald was here," Hex said, defending the two. "It was a good thing too. The bullies came after us not long after."

"As did Kaos," Stealth Elf said.

Funny Bone and Hot Dog barked. "But we got them muddy!" The fiery mutt said.

"Very muddy," Funny Bone said.

Isabel chuckled. "Well, since you both learned not to mess with my Emerald and helped keep it safe, then I forgive you two," she said to Grim and Rider. "And I owe you all a big thank you."

"We were happy to guard it for you, Izzy," Chop Chop said honestly.

"You're one of the best Portal Masters and the friend of our friends," said Hex. "And you accept us, no matter what."

"I wouldn't be a good Portal Master if I didn't," Isabel said with a smile.

Master Eon came out and he smiled. "By the way, that blast with those grinning skulls was certainly effective," he said to them. "Although it did startle Hugo and knock down some books in the library."

They looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry about that," Stealth Elf said.

Isabel smiled. "Why don't we go help Hugo?" She suggested gently.

That was met with agreement as they headed into the library, but not before the Undead Portal Master hugged them all, feeling lucky to have such good friends as them.

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GoldGuardian2418