Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Skylander Franchise save for the figures sold in stores. I am borrowing the Skylander characters for the purpose of telling a story.
To further clear up any misconceptions that people might have about my OC, Cadence; the prequel story 'An Exception to the Rules' was a fan inspired fan rewrite of TRikiD's story "The Mabu and the Skylander" which was inspired by the move 'Alpha and Omega'. I had seen "Alpha and Omega" but that was a long time ago. I recently watched it and noticed that my OC's shortened name, Cade, sounds a lot like the female star of 'Alpha and Omega', Kate. This was unintentional, I assure all readers. I did not remember that her name was Kate, nor did I bother to research what her name was. The fact that Cade sounds a lot like Kate was purely accidental.
Drifter
Out of the darkness of the location, walked two pairs of boot covered feet. They made their way down the dark hallway of the ancient structure they were in. Even though it was dark, it wasn't hard to tell that one was a female and the other was a male. The male fumbled around in the dark, while his female companion walked with confidence.
"I can't see a thing," the male remarked. His voice had a nasally tone to it.
"It was your job to get the torches," the female replied. Her voice was full of warmth and sweetness.
The male stumbled and tripped over an unseen object in the dark.
"Ouch…" the male said. "And I'm feeling the pain for it."
"Here," the female said as she grabbed the male by his arm and pulled him to his feet.
"Thanks Cali. How can you see in the dark so well?" the male asked.
"I can't," the female, Cali, replied.
"So then how are we going to find these artifacts that we are looking for. Mabu may be related to felines to a degree, but their ability to see in the dark is one thing we Mabu don't have," the male said.
"Hmm, Tanner, you just gave me an idea," Cali said.
The male, Tanner, heard Cali take her pack of her back and begin rummaging through it. Then there was a moment of silence, a strange tapping sound and a pure white light began to glow from a small clear stone in Cali's hand.
"Wow…what is that?" Tanner asked.
With the new light, Tanner's appearance was visible. He was a skinny male Mabu, wearing khaki colored cargo pants and shirt and a wore a pith helmet on his head and he had a green bandana around his neck.
Cali on the other hand wore her typical yellow t-shirt with the brown rounded rectangles on the front, her khaki pants and her red bandana. She also had a necklace around her neck; she set the glowing stone into the slot on the pendent.
"I don't really know. One of the Skylanders gave it to me, should I ever have a need to light up a dark place," Cali said.
With the bright light of the stone illuminating the way, Cali and Tanner pressed on. They were inside an ancient temple. Tanner was a fellow archaeologist that Cali was dating off and on. Most of their dates were spent on short expeditions like this one. The more time the pair spent together, the more Cali's interest in Tanner faded. He just wasn't her type. She had a bigger interest in Flynn, than Tanner and that was saying something. The only reason Cali even bothered going out with Tanner was so she could go on archaeology expeditions. Cali glanced over at tanner as he approached an artifact hanging on a pillar.
"Be very careful, Tanner. This place could be booby-trapped," Cali said.
"Pfft, naw, this place isn't booby-trapped. This place was still in use when the citizens were whipped out by a volcanic eruption. Booby traps may have been prepared, but they were never activated," Tanner said, looking back at Cali.
Cali didn't like the way Tanner spoke to her, but didn't say anything. Tanner resumed studying the artifact on the pillar.
…^…
"Thieves," remarked a rough gravelly voice.
Several figures hide in the shadows of the structure, watched Cali and Tanner.
"They are stealing our treasure," remarked a high pitched gravelly voice, when Tanner stowed an artifact away into his shoulder pack.
"This is great stuff," Cali said.
"We found that stuff first," remarked the rough voice.
"Let's run them out," stated the high pitched voice.
"Not so fast boys. These two are treasure hunters, explorers…archaeologists. Who better to take us to even greater treasures than these two," declared a heavy voice that was lacking roughness.
They watched as Cali searched through many different artifacts, selecting only specific items and leaving the others.
"Someone's being picky," Tanner commented.
"Only the most valuable artifacts are my interest," Cali said.
"She's the one we want, but take them both," ordered the heavy voice.
…^…
Tanner heard the sound of a rock falling behind him and he quickly turned around and scanned his surroundings. His heart began pounding in his chest.
"Uh, Cali…maybe we should get out of here," Tanner said.
Cali looked back at him with surprise and confusion.
"Something wrong?" Cali asked.
Tanner began looking around nervously.
"I think we're being watched," Tanner said.
"Don't be ridiculous, we're the only ones here," Cali said.
Cali turned back to her artifacts and came face to face with a black hairless anthropromorphic hunch backed dog-like creature wearing moldy who grinned a toothy grin at her. Cali stumbled back from the creature.
"Get away from me, you smelly mutt," Tanner yelled.
Cali looked over at Tanner and found him struggling to fight off another one of these hairless dogs. Cali quickly grabbed a thick wooden club from off the ground and rushed at the dog that was attacking her friend.
"Unhand him, you fiend," Cali yelled and thumps the dog with the pole.
The dog howled in pain, clasping his paws over his injured head. Cali grabbed hold of Tanner's arm and the pair rushed for the entrance to the temple. The hairless dogs chased after them, being joined by several more of their kind.
"Can you call the Skylanders?" Tanner asked Cali.
Cali pulled her two-way radio out of her pack.
"I don't know if we can get a signal. The jungle around this place is pretty thick, but I'll try," Cali said.
She turned the radio on. Only half of one bar of signal lit up. Cali sent out the distress call.
…^…
Sprocket, the yellow skinned, red haired, blue outfit and welding goggles wearing tech elf Skylander sat leaning back in her chair at the communications relay at the under construction Skylander Academy. Normally Cali was the one who handled the communications, but with the female Mabu Alliance Officer out on an expedition, Sprocket was put in charge. The air ways were relatively quiet for a Tuesday afternoon, so Sprocket was having a moment to relax. Her moment of relax however was shattered when a garbled call came over the radio.
"Help, …el… Sky…der Aca…my, …. Thi… i… Cali. My … and … being … by a pack of …. …. We're in the … … … … … in extreme distress," was the call.
Sprocket recognized Cali's voice.
"Cali, Cali. This is Sprocket. I didn't get that last call. Repeat yer last call," Sprocket said.
"HELP, they are trying to take us prisoner," Cali called.
"Where are you? Who's trying to take you prisoner?" Sprocket asked.
"We're … the … jungle …. Being chased … a … of …less …." Was the garbled response.
Sprocket began attempting to boost the signal.
"Repeat that again, Cali," Sprocket called.
The last thing that was heard was Cali's panicked scream.
"Cali, Cali," Sprocket called.
Sprocket quickly brought her hand down on the red panic alarm button and a siren sounded in the halls of the academy, startling Mags who fell off a ladder.
…^…
High atop a huge tall tree stood a big white dragon with ridiculously long arms with backward facing human-like hands and even more ridiculously long fingers, to which a thick membrane of webbing was stretched between each finger and from the pinkie finger all the way to the body to make up the dragon's massive and powerful wings. Its stomach and chest musculature were very similar to that of a man. Her head was almost like that of the wolves on earth with a long snout, powerful jaw muscles, the only difference was instead of ears it had a pair of long, thick, tusk like horns that protruded out the top of her head and straight over her back. Her long neck was thick muscled, evidence of a powerful flier and her tail was very long, perfect for balancing on two powerful hind-legs. From half way down and to the tip, its tail was covered in long sharp spines. It was a very impressive dragon.
The dragon had a white saddle on its back, set over the shoulders of its wings. Lounging on the saddle was an anthropromorphic cheetah-like creature with gold and silver fur marked with big bold black spots, brown eye rings surrounding its eyes and wearing a white tunic with black leggings. It was Cadence, the one of a kind Chameleon of the Elements, Wild Card Skylander. She was lying on her back, her legs propped up on the dragon's neck, with her right leg hanging over her left leg, air tapping with her right foot. Her long tail ran alongside her legs, the tip of it slowly twitched back and forth. She had a white cowboy hat on with three feathers: a red, light blue and black one, sewed onto the right side of it over the brim. The feathers had been shed by Sunburn, Whirlwind and Sonic Boom. Her hat was pulled down over her face as she catnapped.
The distinct chatter of a radio scanner sitting on top of one of the saddle bags attached to the saddle was the only sound she could hear. Since Cadence was deemed an extra special Skylander, she never given any missions by the mission deployment officer by order of Master Eon and Buzz. So she had to resort to listening to her scanner for any problems. The top of the tree she and her dragon in was the best place to receive radio waves. Her dragon, by the way, is named Starfire. Cadence had befriended the Light Element Dragon during her training in her mother's native world of Mistland. While Cadence dozed, Starfire kept an eye out for anything unpleasant that might stumble upon them.
"Help, help. Skylander Academy, help. This is Cali. My friend and I are being pursued by a pack of hairless dogs. We're in the Cloudbreak Jungle Basin. We are in extreme distress," came a call over the radio.
Cadence pushed her hat up, looked down at her scanner and listened. Starfire glanced back at her rider with interest. They heard the following dialogue:
"Cali, Cali. This is Sprocket. I didn't get that last call. Repeat yer last call," Sprocket said.
"HELP, they are trying to take us prisoner," Cali called.
"Where are you? Who's trying to take you prisoner?" Sprocket asked.
"We're in the Cloudbreak Jungle Basin. Being chased by a pack of hairless dogs." Was the garbled response.
"Repeat that again, Cali," Sprocket called.
The last thing that was heard was Cali's panicked scream.
"Cali, Cali," Sprocket called.
Cadence looked at her dragon.
"Sounds serious," Starfire commented.
"Hmm. Hairless dogs. Sounds like Cali and her friend, Tanner, may have crossed paths with Diamond Dogs. Stupid mangy mutts," Cadence said as she sat up in the saddle.
She stowed her scanner back in the saddle bag and patted Starfire on the neck gently. Starfire dropped out of the tree and took flight.
"Last I heard, Cali was going out on an expedition to some temple ruins. There's only one that I know of in the Cloudbreak Jungle Basin. We better head south by southwest," Cadence said.
Starfire banked to the right, angling herself towards south by southwest.
"Luckily, we're not too far away. It'll be easy to pick up their scent trail," Starfire commented.
"Diamond Dogs are notorious for their love of all things valuable. They're poachers that hide in the shadows. They are cowards and if there is something that they really want, they'll hunt it to the ground," Cadence said.
"Hmm…call for back up?" Starfire asked, looking back at Cadence by arching her head back.
"No way, we got this," Cadence said.
The pair flew for several more minutes before coming upon the very temple that Cali and Tanner had been in. Starfire slowed down as they passed over it and both of them scanned the entrance for any signs. Cadence spotted something red on the ground.
"Starfire, can you sweep the deck over those boulders," Cadence said.
Sweep the deck was a maneuver in which Starfire flew so low over something that she literally swept it with the gust of wind that followed her. Starfire flipped back around, dove low to the ground, her wings folded in tightly to her body and swept over the land. Cadence brandished a long hook tool. She leaned down over Starfire's shoulder, lowered the hook and used it to snatch up the red object. Cadence lifted the hook and examined the article of cloth at the end. It was Cali's bandana, ripped by claws.
"Starfire, can you track her?" Cadence asked and extended the hook out, hanging the torn bandana out beside Starfire's snout.
The dragon turned it head towards the bandana and took several sniffs of it before sniffing the air around her. She locked her senses onto the smell of Cali and began following it at a quick pace. Starfire tracked the smell to the entrance of a cave. She landed and Cadence slipped down off her back. Like the warrior that she was, Cadence strode into the cave with confidence and purpose.
Cadence's vision was only good for a few feet in before pitch black cave darkness made her completely blind. Conventional wisdom would tell her to use her Light Element ability to light the darkness, but that would give her position away. Instead, Cadence embraced the Dark Element and used it to feel her way through the dark, like a catfish finding its way through a murky lake at night.
"What do you want with us?" Cadence heard Cali's voice.
"You are archaeologists. You will help us in acquiring the most valuable artifacts in all of Skylands," replied an unfamiliar rough gravelly voice.
"Yeah, I'm an archaeologist, but I'm also an Alliance Officer with the Skylanders. Just before your mangy mutt goons captured me, I managed to get a call out to my friends. I don't know what they got, but I assure you, the did get my message and they know I'm in trouble. It's only a matter of time before they come here and rescue us," Cali said with confidence.
"PAH, you think your Skylanders can stop us?" replied the high pitched gravelly voice.
"The Trap Team has been hunting for me for years and have never been able to capture me. I doubt they will be able to now, even with one of their Alliance Officers in trouble," remarked a very bold heavy voice.
Cadence rounded a corner and her "shadow vision" depicted a large room, with three big Diamond Dogs, a dozen small Diamond Dogs and chained up Cali and Tanner.
"The Trap Team may not have been able to find you, but that didn't stop me from finding you," Cadence said out loud.
She switched from the Dark Element to the Light Element and illuminated the cavernous room. The Diamond Dogs whimpered in surprise and fear.
"But then again, I'm not yer average Skylander," Cadence said with a cocky grin.
"Cadence," Cali said with surprise.
"Seize her," shouted the heavy voiced Diamond Dogs.
Cadence charged towards the Diamond Dogs, moving at 'light'ning fast cheetah speed, dodged around the dogs and got herself over by Cali and Tanner.
"Shield yer eyes," Cadence instructed them.
"What for?" Cali asked.
"These dogs live 80% of their lives underground. Bright light is very blinding to them," Cadence answered.
Cali and Tanner covered their eyes. Cadence looked around at the advancing pack of Diamond Dogs and smiled. She scrunched down into a standing fetal position, then quickly stood up straight again, and stretched her arms out, causing a blinding flash of light to illuminate the entire room.
"WAA, IT'S TOO BRIGHT. TURN OFF THE LIGHT!" yelled one dog.
"I CAN'T SEE!" yelled another.
Cadence turned to Cali and using the Earth Element, she cut through the leather bindings on Cali and Tanner's wrists.
"Follow me," Cadence said.
She led Cali and Tanner through the cave and back towards the entrance. It wasn't long before the Diamond Dogs were hot on their trail. Cali looked back at them and yelped with nervousness.
"PLEASE tell me you have back up," Cali said to Cadence.
"Are you kidding me? I'm the only Skylander that even got your entire message," Cadence said.
"YOU DIDN'T EVEN PASS IT ON TO THE ACADEMY!" Cali yelled.
"Hey, I'm a Wild Card. I can totally take these guys," Cadence said with a confident smile.
Cali looked back and cried out when she saw that the number of diamond dogs had doubled.
"At least tell me you have a plan," Cali said.
Cadence rolled her eyes, but not in the annoyed sense and more in the 'uh, no, not exactly' sense.
"YOU DON'T HAVE A PLAN," Cali yelled.
"I am making this up as I go," Cadence replied.
They reached the entrance to the cave and came to a halt. Cali and Tanner looked around for a faster means of escape, but they couldn't spot any. Cali and Tanner exchanged nervous glances then looked back at Cadence, who was watching the entrance.
"Now what?" Cali and Tanner asked her in unison.
"Hold on," Cadence replied.
Cali let out an irritated huff and stomped up to Cadence.
"I don't care what Eon says about you. You are the WORST Skylander ever. Did you learn nothing from Buzz's training?" Cali said.
"I am the BEST Skylander there is. How many Skylanders do you know that can wield as many elements as I do?" Cadence said to her.
"That's not exactly helping us right now. OH, you're as bad as your fiancé," Cali said with a stamp of her foot.
Cali walked back over to Tanner.
"What now?" Tanner asked her.
"Now, you learn how to fly without wings," Cadence said suddenly as she ran towards the two, grabbed hold of them both and with a blast from the Air Element, she pulled them into a flying leap.
Cali and Tanner both yelled out. Behind them, the Diamond Dogs burst out of the entrance and to their astonishment, watched as a large white dragon swooped under the two Mabu and the cheetah-like Skylander and carry them out of danger.
…^…^…
"WHOA," Cali exclaimed as she looked down at the white scaly beast she was riding on.
She was positioned almost side saddle on the dragon's wing shoulder, with Tanner on the other wing shoulder and Cadence was standing up in the saddle.
"Cali, meet my noble steed, Starfire," Cadence said.
Cali was amazed by the white dragon and all the power it had in its muscles as it propelled itself into the sky with its wings. They climbed up into the cloud over the island and leveled off into a glide. Tanner was just as amazed, but he was speechless, still trying to catch his breath after the harrowing experience of being hurled off a cliff. However, when he did finally recover, it wasn't the dragon he was impressed by, but the Skylander riding it.
"You're a hybrid aren't you?" Tanner asked Cadence.
"Indeed I am," Cadence replied as she settled into the saddle, "I'm a Mabu Cheetah Hybrid, known as a Matah. My bold spots indicate that I am of the King Cheetah variety, so I'm known as a King Matah."
Cadence reached down to a cylindrical apparatus positioned under her leg, unlocked it from its holder and picked it up.
"Forgive me for my earlier comment. Your methods aren't conventional, but you did manage to rescue us," Cali said.
Cadence looked at her, shook her head and shrugged.
"Eh, don't mention it. It comes with the title," Cadence said.
She opened the cylindrical apparatus, it appeared to be a magical scroll that had a map on it.
"Incredible. Is that…The Global Island Positions of Skylands?" Cali asked.
"Acronym G.I.P.S., shows the positions of all the islands in Skylands in real time," Cadence said with a smile.
Cadence was using it to locate Skylander Academy island.
"How did you get it?" Cali asked.
"Master Eon entrusted it to me," Cadence answered.
Cali looked at Cadence with suspicion.
"You mean you stole it," Cali said.
Cadence gave Cali the worst innocent smile ever.
"Starfire, head due east," Cadence said.
"On our way," Starfire said.
…^…^…
"Cali sure does have a habit of getting herself caught," Flynn mused.
He was still waiting for instructions on where to go to search for his missing friend. While he was worried for Cali, he was also occupied with concerns about his fiancé, who had seemed to have gone AWOL. It had been a month since they had escaped from Kaos who had taken them captive with the intent of enslaving Cadence for his own evil deeds. Flynn had wondered if their pending marriage had been the reason for her disappearance. He had tried reaching out to her, but Cadence hadn't made a single peep. Flynn was so distracted by his thoughts about Cadence, he wasn't even aware that Hugo was talking to him.
"FLYNN!" Hugo shouted to get the Mabu Pilot's attention.
"Huh?" Flynn said with a shake of his head and looked down at the small Mole, "Oh, sorry Hugo. I was just thinking about Cadence. I'm getting worried. I haven't heard from her for a while now," Flynn said with a blank expression.
"Cadence is fine. She's off being a vigilante Skylander. Every now and then we get reports of a King Matah helping out people here and there. Right now we need you to focus on the person who is in trouble and that's Cali," Hugo said.
Flynn nodded his understanding.
"Flynn, you are to take Rattle Shake, Echo and Funny Bone out to the Jungles in…" Hugo started.
"Hey, you guys are still looking for Cali, you know who would be the best at tracking her down…me," came a call from a familiar female voice over the radio.
Master Eon shook his head in annoyed amusement.
"No Cadence. If you won't come back to headquarters, then I want you to at least lay low for now. The other Skylanders are more than capable of handling Cali's rescue," Master Eon replied to the call.
…^…
"See what I have to put up with. I'm this special Skylander, but only 1% of the time and usually only for publicity. Pfft, like the Skylanders need publicity. I'm so good at being a Skylander that I've already rescued you guys," Cadence said to her passengers.
They looked down at the Academy from the small island they were perched on nearby.
"Is that why you went AWOL?" Cali asked her.
Cadence nodded to her.
"Come on, Cali. Face it. I wasn't trained to be the face of the Skylanders. I was trained to fight bad guys and rescue citizens. I couldn't stand to be cooped up on Flynn's ship day after day, night after night. I needed to get out and flex my skills," Cadence said.
"Use it or lose it," Tanner mused as he watched the clouds float by.
"Exactly," Cadence said with a nod.
"They didn't even stop and think that I might have already rescued you guys," Cadence said.
Cali felt bad for Cadence. She knew what it was like to know that you could do something, but be restricted from being able to do that something. Most people would look at Cali and think that because she's a Mabu, she's completely helpless. True, she's been captured a number of times, but that didn't mean she was helpless. Cali was not the stereotypical Mabu.
"To be fair, you wouldn't have been able to rescue us so quickly if you hadn't already been in the area," Cali said.
Cadence let out a heavy sigh.
"Come on, Star. Let's get down there," Cadence said.
…^…
"You couldn't order her to come home," Flynn said to Master Eon.
The Portal Master looked at Flynn with an apologetic expression.
"I'm sorry, Flynn. Being part Cheetah, Cadence is never one to stay in one place for very long. I expected that she would turn into a drifter, though I hoped that her love for you would have helped fix that," Master Eon said.
Flynn understood what Master Eon was saying. He remembered how Cadence always had to be on the move and could never sit still. His mother thought Cadence was just being hyperactive. Flynn wondered what it was going to take to get Cadence to be less drifty.
"Now, where was I?" Hugo said.
Flynn looked down at the mole and let out a sigh.
"You were about to give me my assignment," Flynn said.
"Oh yes, that's right, now Flynn I'm going to need you…CADENCE!" Hugo said, getting distracted when he saw a large white dragon gliding towards the island with Cadence on its back, along with Cali and Tanner.
"Unbelievable," Master Eon said in an irritated tone.
Starfire glided in for a landing, needing a bit of a runway for it. Hugo, Flynn, Master Eon and the few Skylanders still at the island rushed over to them.
"Cadence, why didn't you just tell me you had Cali with you already," Master Eon asked.
Cadence hopped down from the saddle and barely had a moment to breathe before she was pulled into a crushing embrace by Flynn.
"You won't even give me a chance to help out. I'm the best Skylander there is," Cadence said.
"Wrong. You are the most powerful Skylander there is, but you are not the best Skylander. You still have a long way to go before you earn the title of being the best Skylander," Master Eon said.
Cadence huffed at this response, turned and walked away from them. Flynn looked bewildered at Master Eon before watching Cadence walk towards the sky docks.
"Where are you going?" Master Eon asked.
"Back to my cabin to rest," Cadence replied.
Master Eon let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. If he had been alive, Cadence would have surely driven him so crazy that she might have put him in his grave. Eon looked at Flynn who was now looking in Cadence's direction with concern.
"Talk to her, Flynn," Master Eon said and the Mabu Pilot looked up at him with surprise, "She'll listen to you," Master Eon said.
Flynn nodded and followed after Cadence.