Skylanders: Down to Earth

By Hootie Hoot

Disclaimer: The only piece of intellectual property under my ownership in this story is Claire. Matt belongs to my co-editor (who shall remain anonymous for now), and the Skylanders and all other affiliated characters, settings, etc. all belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 1: Up in the Air

It was the day after Christmas, and it could not have been more perfect. Claire had received everything she had asked for on Christmas morning, attended an extravagant feast that same evening, and to top it all off, she had awoken this morning to find her backyard buried beneath an entire foot of snow!

Only hesitating to catch her cat, Pouncer, in a death hug as thanks for waking her up to the fantastic sight (for snow was rare in the southern U.S.), she had completely garbed herself in stylish winter clothing and rushed outside to take full advantage of the situation.

Her flowing chocolate scarf dipped into the snow as she knelt down to start rolling a snowball into the base of a snowman. While she worked, she couldn't help but marvel at her good fortune.

I cannot believe how much I lucked out today! She thought excitedly. The boys are still hooked on that new Skylanders game inside, so I get all this fresh snow to myself! At least for now…

Claire had assisted her younger brothers in setting up the game on their Wii console the previous day, and had even played a few levels with them. She was seriously impressed with the game mechanics, particularly with how the little Skylander figurines kept track of their upgrades and collectibles outside of the game, and how they could seamlessly transfer over to an entirely different console! She made a mental note to keep an eye out for the toys whenever she went shopping.

Claire was about to start on the middle section of her snowman when something glistening caught her eye. The shiny thing appeared to be nestled into the snow several yards away. Curious, the girl abandoned her half-finished snowman (Snowman: *sniffle*) and trudged through the white slush over to it. She knelt down and tried to uncover it, but she soon realized that the light was not the reflective surface of a shiny object, but actually a shimmering glow coming from something in the underlying ground.

Claire brushed away more snow with her gloved hand, to the point where the muddy ground was almost completely uncovered. What she saw shocked and confused her. The ground itself seemed be the source of the glow! She could feel warmth emanating from it, and it seemed to be drawing her toward it. She decided to be adventurous and risk a touch. She carefully placed her spread palm on top of the swirling surface…

SHEEEEOOOOW!

"WH-WHAT THE-?!"

Showers of white light sparkling in bright colors burst upward and engulfed the now terrified girl, but before she could even register another response—

KA-FLASH!

—she was gone.

Had Claire's brain not entered TOTAL OVER 9000 PANIC MODE, she probably would have noticed that during her little warp trip, her feet didn't feel as if they left the ground. But at the same time, her body would've felt the urge to fly upwards, as if she had been thrown. Of course, all she could think about now was: "WHATTHEFLIPPINGMICKEYMOUSEBAZINGAHECKWASTHATCOFFE ESHINYFREAKINCRAP!"

…or something like that.

Anyway, Claire was suddenly jerked downward again, and she hit the snowy ground still standing, but toppled over as the colors and lights faded away. Random shapes and dots were flying across her vision as a side effect from the shock, but she forced her eyes to refocus and shakily rose to her feet.

The surrounding landscape was snow-covered, so for a second, Claire thought she was still in her backyard. Maybe that thing was some sort of light trap meant to scare people? She thought. Maybe Matt put it there to scare me? That's the best thing I can come up with...

That changed when she saw an island float by.

"Wait...WHAT?!"

Yeah...who here is surprised? Aside from Claire, of course.

Indeed, all around her, small islands hung suspended in the air, seemingly with nothing supporting them.

Claire quickly remembered where she had seen such a place, but she was only 100% positive of where she was when a white, cartoony-looking sheep with big eyes pranced along, bleating happily.

"I'm in...Skylands?" she questioned aloud as the sheep bounced away. "Oh. My. God. Skylands is real!" Then something else hit her. "That thing I stepped on must have been a portal!"

She paused. "…I really hope I'm not dreaming. Please don't let me be dreaming! This is too cool…" She held her breath, and then exhaled in a deflating sigh. "There's no way this is real, even if it feels real. I'm just gonna wake up disappointed. Oh, well. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts."

She was about to take her first step towards exploring Skylands when a flaming arrow embedded itself into the ground in front of her, dangerously close to her right foot. Claire jumped in surprise, but then froze like a deer in the headlights, her brain forgetting to blare the "BECOME A MOVING TARGET!" alarms (they had probably been nullified by the TOTAL OVER 9000 blah-biddy-blah). She searched her thankfully fresh memory of the enemies of Skylands, but couldn't recall any of the ones she'd seen wielding lit arrows.

She was, however, fairly certain that she had seen such an archer on the poster that came with the game. It had listed all of the obtainable figurines, and Claire remembered a Fire Skylander with a bow and arrow. Perhaps the shooter was a friend rather than foe?

"You're in the line of fire! ...Mine!" A voice with a French accent rang out. Claire risked a look around and saw someone jump down from a nearby hill and run towards her, nocking a smoldering arrow to his bow as he did. The stranger stopped a few feet in front of her, but then hesitated.

He was a green-skinned elf, about Claire's height with long ears and blue hair raked back into a short-cropped ponytail. He wore a tunic of orange-golden scales over a brown shirt and a brown pair of pants and boots. His most striking feature was a red blindfold wrapped over his eyes and around his head. In other words, a perfect description of the Skylander from the poster. Claire breathed a sigh of relief.

The elf seemed to hear her, for he leaned forward as if to peer at her more closely with his covered eyes and then cocked his head to the side like he was listening for any further noise.

"...Oh," the Skylander muttered. Now he seemed embarrassed. He lowered his bow and returned the now extinguished arrow to his quiver.

"…Sorry about that," the Skylander said sheepishly. (Sheep: "Baaah!") "I heard a loud explosion and thought it might be a Boom Fiend. Hope I didn't scare you too bad."

By this point, Claire's skepticism regarding the reality of the situation was greatly outweighed by her curiosity regarding this strange Skylander.

"Okay, seriously, how can you tell I'm not a Boom-whatever?" she asked him. "Is that blindfold transparent or something?"

The elf laughed, sounding genuinely amused. "I don't need to see you to know you're not a Boom Fiend. All I have to do is listen for them. They have the creepiest laugh in all of Skylands." He shuddered, obviously disturbed just by the thought of it.

So that's how he gets around, Claire thought. He listens with those huge elf ears of his. Wait…he said 'Skylands'. I guess that confirms where I am, given I'm not dreaming. That and the fact that I can't think of any other video game world where some dude runs around blindfolded.

…

*Cough* *Mortal Kombat* *Cough*

"You're obviously not from around here," the Skylander continued. Claire shook her head.

"Nope. Not even close..." She muttered as an afterthought, but then hesitated. As strange as Skylands was, would this Skylander really believe her if she told him that she came from another world? But then what would it matter if she was dreaming?

Claire quickly settled on an answer. "But I know about the Skylanders!" she said hurriedly. "I mean, you guys are kind of a big deal after all. You're…Flameshooter, right?"

The archer visibly deflated at hearing that. "Er…actually, it's Flameslinger," he mumbled, sounding disappointed rather than annoyed. Claire mentally berated herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologized, feeling horrible for getting his name wrong. She knew how it felt.

Flameslinger brightened back up immediately. "Oh, don't worry about it! It wouldn't be the first time someone's gotten my name wrong. I get it all the time," he reassured her.

Claire perked up at hearing this. "Really? Oh my gosh, me too!" she enthused. "My name is Claire, but I've gotten Clarisse, Clarissa, and even Claudia! It's really frickin' annoying, which is why I felt so bad about getting your name wrong…" she trailed off.

Flameslinger gave her a warm smile. "Well, Claire, I think I like your name better than any of the ones you listed off."

Claire returned the smile, even though she knew he probably couldn't see it. "Likewise," she said.

The elf held out a hand and Claire shook it firmly, maintaining eye contact (sort of).

This continued for a few seconds before Flameslinger suddenly jerked up. "That's right!" he exclaimed. "I almost forgot why I came over here! I definitely heard an explosion coming from this very spot! Do you know what that was? And now that I think about it, you never said where you were from. There aren't any houses around here after all," he said.

Claire felt a shockwave of guilt pass through her brain. She couldn't lie to him now, could she? Not after he had acted so nice…But how would he react to hearing that he was just a video game character back on her world?

Claire sighed. Maybe she wouldn't mention that part just yet. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but it's the truth," she started, and she could've sworn she saw Flameslinger's ears twitch, as if he was listening more intently now. "I'm not from Skylands. I'm from a world called 'Earth', and I touched a portal a few minutes ago, which is what caused that explosion you heard earlier."

To Claire's utter surprise, Flameslinger did not look at her like she was crazy. Rather, he appeared thoughtful, and brought a hand to his chin. "I thought that sounded more like a portal flash than a Boom Fiend's bomb," he mused, then hesitated. "…Wait a minute! You're from Earth? That means you're a human?!" he exclaimed.

Claire took a step back, unsure of how to gauge his reaction. "Um, yes, I am a human. Is that bad?" she asked, the quiver in her voice betraying her worry.

Flameslinger looked apologetic for making her uneasy, for he put up his hands in a calming gesture and said quickly, "No, not at all! It's just…alarming is all. Humans have never come to Skylands, and furthermore, I thought it was impossible for them to use portals…" he fell silent, and Claire was unsure of what to say.

Finally, the elf spoke again. "…If it's okay with you," he said carefully. "I think you should come back with me to consult Master Eon about this. He's my portal master…oh, but you already knew that, didn't you?" he asked, recalling her previous knowledge of the Skylanders. She nodded, wondering if he could sense the action. "I don't know what effect a human's presence would have on Skylands," he continued, clearly not expecting her to answer. "But I'm sure Eon does. So what do you say?"

Claire decided she had nothing to lose. "Sure. I don't know how this happened either, and I'd like to know how to get home," she said.

Flameslinger looked pleased at her answer. "Great! I'm just about finished up here, anyway. Come on, the balloon's this way!" With that, he started walking in the direction he came, and Claire moved alongside him, keeping pace.

"So, what were you doing here before you found me?" Claire asked him.

"Oh, just a standard troll removal. A few dozen moved in here and started terrorizing the local wildlife."

Claire was so surprised at hearing this, she almost stopped walking. "A few dozen? And you came here to take care of them all by yourself?" she asked, dumbstruck.

Flameslinger 'looked' back at her. "Sure. Any Skylander can take care of trolls with one arm tied behind their back," he said proudly.

She gave him a skeptical look, and again wondered if he could 'see' it. "Really? One arm, huh? What, can your arrows magically shoot themselves or something?"

Flameslinger gave her that hearty French laugh again. "Arrows are not my only weapons, Claire," he said mischievously.

Claire was caught by surprise yet again, but before she could ask about what other 'weapons' he might have hidden somewhere, the elf's ears pricked up and he threw himself in front of her protectively. "Stay behind me!" he hissed.

Claire immediately stopped dead in her tracks and looked around for anything dangerous. "…What is it?" she whispered to him uneasily.

Flameslinger slowly swept his head from side to side, dowsing the area with his keen hearing. "Sounds like I missed a few," he muttered.

Just then, six of the ugliest creatures Claire had ever seen jumped out from behind the surrounding snow covered hills and leveled their weapons (consisting of enormous wrenches and sturdy blasters) at them, shouting something incoherently in their own language.

The trolls were green-skinned with long ears, similar to Flameslinger but where the elf was trim and well-groomed, the trolls were squat and misshapen. Greedy little eyes and bulbous noses bulged out of their scowling faces, and all of them sported bronze armor.

Claire was pretty convinced that they wouldn't be open to peaceful negotiation, and that battle would be the only way out. But as those thoughts crossed her mind, her eyes drifted to Flameslinger's bow and arrows, which he, for some reason, hadn't yet reached for. They remained slung over his back, and the elf appeared not to have any inclination of grabbing them. What on Earth (er…Skylands?) was he thinking?

Almost as if he had read her thoughts, Flameslinger 'glanced' back at her and smirked, and although they were outnumbered, the gesture made Claire feel somewhat better about the situation. "I told you, Claire," he said, sticking his arm through the belt of the quiver and against his back. "One arm tied behind my back. Now, don't move!"

With that, Flameslinger suddenly sprinted forward at incredible speed, and to Claire's utter amazement, a wall of fire flared up behind him in the exact places he had stepped! Before the trolls could even blink, he had dashed in a circle around the first three, magically causing a pillar of bright orange flames to erupt from the ground within the area he had enclosed. The trolls cried out in dismay as the column of fire engulfed them, and then died back down to nothing to reveal that the ugly creatures were gone.

Claire scarcely had time to register this awesome display before the quick-footed elf performed the same trick on the remaining three trolls, assaulting them with rising flames once again. By the time Flameslinger had run back to rejoin Claire, the only things left of the trolls were scorched earth and melted snow, as well as two clusters of mysterious, multi-colored floating lights that bounced in place.

Claire was left speechless as the strange lights were absorbed into Flameslinger, and the now smug-looking elf smiled at her as he removed his arm from his quiver's strap. "Magical fire boots," he explained, holding out a foot to emphasize his point. "Great for keeping enemies off my tail if they get too close."

Finally able to speak again, Claire golf-clapped. "That was awesome!" she cheered, but became serious quickly. "But what happened to the trolls? There's no trace of them." She peered closer at the scorched ground. "And what were those lights?" she asked. None of it made any sense, and yet it seemed oddly familiar…

"Everything in Skylands consists of two parts," Flameslinger explained patiently. "Their physical form and their magical energy. Whenever someone is defeated in battle, they're drained of their magic, which is what those floating lights were. The victor can then claim that magic to make himself stronger."

"That…sounds really harsh, actually," Claire grimaced.

"Don't worry!" Flameslinger said quickly. "When someone is drained of their health that just means they need to rest. Their physical form is just transported back to wherever they came from. It happens with us Skylanders, too, only we use portals."

Claire wisely decided not to question that crazy logic anymore. "Well, now that that's established," she began. "Let's keep going. You said that there's a balloon this way, right?"

Flameslinger nodded. "Indeed I did. Let's go!" He took off down the (now-scorched) path again, and Claire followed alongside.

Before long, a brown and tan hot-air balloon peeked around one of the hills, and the duo walked up to meet a figure that Claire actually recognized.

Standing by the balloon was a tall, sturdily-built Mabu who appeared to be winking at an invisible target. He had a wide flat nose and an even wider flirtatious grin, and his pointed ears poked straight up through his aviator hat. Like Claire, he had a thing for brown clothing, consisting of a light brown jacket and boots and darker brown pants, shirt, belt and gloves that covered his large hands. A long red scarf was wrapped around his neck.

The pilot was so caught up in flirting with nothing that he didn't notice the two approach until they were standing in front of him, at which point he quickly regained some posture and greeted them. "Hey, there, Flameslinger," he drawled in his comically deep and, Claire thought, very familiar-sounding voice. "Wowsers, that was fast! So, who's your little friend here?"

Claire held out a hand. "I'm Claire. You must be Flynn the balloonist," she said, positive that she had gotten the name right this time. Flameslinger looked over at her in surprise.

"You know Flynn?" he inquired, quirking an eyebrow.

Before Claire could say anything, Flynn grinned, looking extremely pleased, and said, "Well, of course she does! Is there anyone who doesn't know about the greatest pilot in all of Skylands?" He brought his voice down low. "That'd be me, by the way," he winked at Claire, before suddenly jumping up and flexing his muscles. "BOOM!"

Flameslinger decided to let the matter go, and instead turned back to Flynn. "I'd like to take her to see Master Eon. You don't mind if she rides with us, do you?"

"Of course not!" Flynn said. "Any devoted fan of Flynn the balloonist deserves a ride with…Flynn the balloonist." He flashed a smile.

"Thanks!" Claire smiled. "I've never taken a balloon ride before."

Flynn's grin grew even wider. "Then you're in for an extra-special treat!" he said enthusiastically. "Let's weigh anchor! …Well, sandbags." He held open the door of the basket for the elf and the girl to step into before following himself.

After a few preparations were completed, the balloon slowly lifted into the air, and Claire marveled at the glittering landscape below. She had really been missing out!

Flameslinger, on the other hand, was regarding Claire suspiciously. He understood how she had known about the Skylanders: she had said herself that they were a big deal. But Flynn wasn't nearly as famous as he claimed to be. So how had she known about him? She'd even gotten his name right…

Flynn, of course, was focused on inwardly praising himself, which became evident when the balloon basket suddenly lurched back and forth, having hit a snowy hill crest. Claire was knocked around and Flameslinger steadied her, obviously used to Flynn's flying.

After Claire muttered a word of thanks to Flameslinger, the two glared over at Flynn, who seemed not to notice. "Wowsers!" he proclaimed. "You know, not just any pilot can hit a snow-covered hilltop with such precision."

"…"

"…"

"…Don't worry. You can thank me later."

Claire and Flameslinger groaned. This was going to be a long trip.

Hey, guys! I'm Hootie Hoot, and since you clicked the link to my first story, let me be the first (and probably only) to say thank you.

Since this is my first story, I know it's not going to be perfect (Hey, what story is? There's always room for improvement, I say.), so any feedback-except for flames, of course-would be greatly appreciated. If anything doesn't sit right with you readers, be it grammatical, canonical, lame humor, etc., I am perfectly open to suggestions as to how to fix it.

For information regarding this story, check out my profile: I recently posted a few quick facts about the story so that you can figure out whether or not it sounds like something you'll want to read.

I believe that's owl for now. Hootie Hoot out!

...

...Do I already have a catchphrase? Hoo, boy...