Skylanders Academy: Song of the Hunt
by andresponce2002
Chapter 1) Stoking the Fire
The sky was dyed a clear, beautiful blue hue. Clouds passed slowly through the sky as a new day dawned on the Skylands. The day was as peaceful as it was beautiful. Many Skylanders were already out and about on the Academy, walking and talking as they all got ready for a brand new adventure.
However, the peace was slowly disturbed, causing the Skylanders to raise their brows, confused by the intensifying sounds of breathless panting and rapid steps.
"Kaossandra!" A squeaky voice shouted between exhausted breaths. "There's an emergency!"
The voice belonged to Hugo. The small mabu sprinted toward the Academy as fast as his short legs allowed him to, leaving a crowd of confused Skylanders in his wake.
Hugo quickly found himself before the large blue gates to the Academy common room, however, the small mabu did not enter. Instead, he slumped against the blue wooden doors, breathing heavily.
"I need to get into cardio." Hugo told himself as he tried evening his breath, composing himself enough to push open the large gates before him.
As Hugo opened the Academy gates, he hurriedly moved inside, his eyes darting across the wide room, searching for someone.
"Kaossandra!?" Hugo called outloud, nearing the center of the room, still looking around in search for the sorceress. "Kaossandra, where are you!?" He asked.
Then, the sound of a heavy bookcase sliding to the side resonated through the room, making Hugo suddenly fall silent. "What is it Hugo?" Kaossandra's voice sounded as the sorceress, dressed in her usual black, gold and purple attire emerged from the Relics Room.
Kaossandra looked expectantly at Hugo, who swallowed quickly before answering. "We have a situation." He said nervously, giving Kaossandra a worried look.
Spyro was sitting down on the thinking spot. He was looking out at the horizon, his eyes looking at something a thousand miles away, his mind drifting deep in thought.
"Where are you?" Spyro asked the wind. "When are you coming back?"
Despite being alone, Spyro felt like he was speaking his words to someone in particular, someone he was waiting to see again.
Cyrus, a purple dragon Spyro had met almost a month ago. Despite both being descendants from the greatest lineage of heros in the realm, for a while, Spyro and Cyrus had been enemies. Mutual despise and several battles ensured a very rocky start to their relationship, but as time progressed and the truth of who they were was revealed to them, their relationship changed. They went from enemies, to brothers.
Afterwards, Cyrus played an instrumental part in helping the Skylanders defeat Omen, the Master of the Knights of Solitude and hence, in saving the Skylands. However, after that, Cyrus had decided to leave, torn with guilt for his misdeeds, in search of his and Spyro's parents. Despite the two brothers promising to meet again, more than a week had passed, and Spyro had not seen or heard a word from his brother, something that made Spyro's heart heavy.
"I guess…" Spyro began, letting out a long, deflated sigh. "You'll let me know, right?" He said slowly, speaking to the wind one last time, hoping to receive an answer.
After a moment passed, followed by another and silence endured, Spyro decided to take off. Using his wings to boost himself off the ground, Spyro headed back to the Academy realizing he wasn't going to get to hear his brother's voice, not today.
Pop Fizz was sitting on a small wooden stool in the Academy infirmary, looking eagerly at a set of small beds in front of him.
The blue gremlin was watching over six sleeping figures, all lined up neatly through the first floor of the infirmary, deep in sleep. These figures, were who Pop Fizz had known for a long time to be The Knights of Solitude, a gang of evil, brainwashed dragons that worked for Omen, the world's most dangerous living trash can in the Skylands.
However, ever since Omen was defeated over a week ago, the six villains had fallen into a harmless, comatose sleep, leaving out the fact that their appearance had changed dramatically. The previously featureless darkness that engulfed the six dragons had dissipated and revealed their true features, which were all quite impressive.
Each dragon looked completely different to the other or even from Spyro. One had bushy green scales and several yellow horns, the other rough, rock-like skin and was twice the size of most of the others. One had a weird beak and bird talons as well as red feathers, another, had cyan fur instead of scales, as well as a smooth white horn on their forehead. There was one that had strange blue metallic attachments to his coppery body and the last one had deep, blue scales and fish-like tail and gills.
Pop Fizz had been watching over these dragons ever since they were brought to the Academy, in hopes of giving them a hand when they woke up. However, even now, more than a week after, the six of them had stayed knocked out and Pop Fizz was starting to get worried.
"Hey…" Pop Fizz whispered to the sleeping dragons. "Are you awake in there?" He asked, still keeping his voice down.
The blue gremlin received no answer, the six dragons did not flinch or move at all.
"Alright." Pop Fizz whispered again. "Just… uhhh… sleep tight, I guess." He said, slowly getting off the wooden stool he was on and moving to leave the infirmary.
But, after Pop Fizz took a couple of steps headed toward the exit, a strange sound came from behind the blue Skylander. The sound was like a groan, short but distinct. It made Pop Fizz turn around faster than he ever had in his life.
The blue gremlin faced the six slumbering dragons. They were all just as they had been before Pop Fizz had moved to leave.
"I must be hearing things." Pop Fizz said to himself. "Probably tested one too many potions on myself, hehe." He added, scratching the back of his head as he moved to exit the Academy infirmary, leaving the six sleeping dragons alone.
Stealth Elf was meditating in her room, sitting cross-legged on her bed with her eyes closed. Her hands were laid out to her sides, the tips of her index fingers and thumbs connecting as she hummed steadily.
As silence hung over her room, and she cleared her mind, peace found its way into Stealth Elf's being. She had been practicing this form of meditation in private for quite a while, ever since…
Stealth Elf's ears suddenly twitched. Her expression suddenly changed from calm to strain. A painful memory crawled onto Stealth Elf's mind, searing itself in place and getting her out of her peaceful meditation.
With a short sigh, Stealth Elf slumped forward, her pointy ears drooping down. "Are you proud?" Stealth Elf asked, keeping her eyes close. "Are you proud of me?" She asked again in a small voice, slowly opening her eyes and turning her head to her side, toward the small wooden desk in her room.
On that desk, standing out from pictures of Stealth Elf and her friends, was a large genie lamp. It's shiny pink and purple surface reflected Stealth Elf's face. The lamp belonged to Ninjini the Great, one of the legendary Giants, as well as Stealth Elf's mentor and idol. The memory of Ninjini had stayed with Stealth Elf for a long time, and for the most part, it was a memory she cherished, but the fact that she was gone, that Stealth Elf could see her anymore, made Stealth Elf's heart ache from time to time.
The genie had entrusted Stealth Elf with her legacy, something Stealth Elf took very seriously in upholding, but it was something that weighted greatly on Stealth Elf. The task of living up to the legend of someone like Ninjini was no easy feat, a feat Stealth Elf was not quite sure she had accomplished so far.
So, with another sigh, Stealth Elf got off from her bed, slowly walking over to her room's door, set on doing something other than wallow.
As Stealth Elf passed by her small desk, she ran the tip of her fingers over the surface of Ninjini's lamp. The smooth surface was cold against her fingertips, yet, the cool feeling was comforting to Stealth Elf. Her lips curled slightly upward in a tiny smile, before walking out of her room, leaving the purple lamp glistening on her desk.
Spyro was soaring through the sky, heading toward the Academy to meet his friends. As he got closer and closer to the familiar structure, Spyro could see several of his friends heading to the Academy common room. Among them were, Stealth Elf, Pop Fizz and Eruptor, but Jet-Vac and Cynder were nowhere to be seen.
Spyro remembered why this was the case. It was friday, Taco Night. This meant that, in honor to the deal Cynder and Malefor had arranged to allow Cynder to become a Skylander in peace, the violet dragoness was spending the day with her father in the Underworld.
This arrangement sounded rather shifty, so, Jet-Vac volunteered to go and "oversee" the father-daughter meeting in secret and judge what the situation was. However, in the meantime, Spyro had other, more immediate concerns.
"Guys!" Spyro called from above his friends, who turned their heads toward him as an answer to his call.
As the purple dragon landed near his friends he picked up. "What's up? Why are you all heading to the common room?"
"Uhhhh..." Pop Fizz began, scratching his chin and looking up toward the sky. "Same as you?" He said unconvincingly.
"We were on our way to see if we have any Skylander duties." Eruptor interjected. "Ya know, since we're Skylanders and all."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Spyro agreed simply. "Umm, anyone wanna go first?" He asked as he gestured at the large blue doors that lead into the Academy.
"After you." Stealth Elf said, puting one of her hands on her hip and giving Spyro a small smile, a gesture he returned, alongside a friendly nod.
At that, Spyro began moving to the doors. He pressed his paws against the smooth wooden surface and pushed open the two gates, allowing him and his friends to enter the common room.
Once the Skylanders began to head toward the center of the room, they noticed that Hugo was speaking to Kaossandra, who was sitting on Eon's old desk, a grave look on her face.
"Oh, this will be good." Eruptor grumbled behind Spyro.
At that, Kaossandra's eyes wandered from Hugo over to the Skylanders. "Ah, Skylanders. You are all just in time." She announced.
"In time for what, Kaossandra?" Spyro wandered.
"Hugo, you may leave." Kaossandra said in a calm voice, dismissing the mabu assistant with a small wave of her hand.
At that, Hugo sprinted out of the room, waving at the Skylanders innocently before exiting through the main gates, closing them behind him.
After this, the Skylanders were left alone with Kaossandra, who remained sat down on her new desk. After a small pause, she spoke. "I trust you all remember the One-Eyed Legion?" She asked simply.
The question made the Skylanders react, memories of an army of evil cyclop army Omen had recruited, suddenly returning to their minds.
"Yeah, we remember." Spyro stated.
"Well." Kaossandra picked up. "After the battle of Maraino Castle, where you all stopped Omen, most of the One-Eyed Legion's forces were destroyed. With their leader, Enumat being defeated alongside Omen, they were all cast out to the wind." Kaossandra explained. "However, recently, there have been a multitude if reports stating that small bands of cyclops are forming all across the Skylands. That members of the remains of the One-Eyed Legion are grouping up with rouge, unaffiliated cyclops to form gangs. If this is true, it means that the embers of the One-Eyed Legion are rekindling."
At that, Spyro couldn't help but frown slightly in concern. The thought of having to deal with the One-Eyed Legion twice was not his idea of a good time.
"Some of the guys from the One-Eyed legion survived?" Eruptor asked, not as worried as Spyro by Kaossandra's announcement. "So what? It's not like they're a serious problem without a leader." He finished in a confident tone and smile
"That's the issue." Kaossandra continued, making Eruptor's smile disperse. "There are also rumors that these one-eyed monsters are getting a new leader." She said, making Spyro listen in very carefully. "According to some whispers, whispers Hugo caught wind of, his name is Unulus, and he is trying to resuscitate the One-Eyed Legion."
"So, let me guess." Spyro interjected. "We have to stop this Unulus guy from bringing together all these little cyclop gangs and making the One-Eyed Legion a bad sequel, right?" He asked, trying to understand their new assignment.
"Exactly." Kaossandra answered. "According to the information Hugo gave me, Unulus is planning on gathering a couple of these groups already at Le Circle."
"Ohhh, right!" Pop Fizz said suddenly. "It's that fancy restaurant from that other time! I guess that's a good place to for a big meeting."
"Well, we have to stop that meeting." Stealth Elf began, turning her head from Pop Fizz toward Kaossandra. "When do we leave?" She asked eagerly.
This made the sorcessed give her a confident smile. "Whenever you are ready, Skylanders."
"How do you think this Unulus guy looks like?" Spyro asked Eruptor as the two of them and their friends were heading toward the Academy's Portal Gates.
"I think." Eruptor began. "He's gonna be this, like, really small, scrawny dude, that's really weak physically, but is like, really smart instead. Oh! And he'll have a big forehead!" Eruptor added. "Yeah, something like that."
"That sounds reasonable." Spyro agreed.
"I think." Pop Fizz suddenly joined the conversation, jumping in between Spyro and Eruptor. "He's gonna have two eyes!" He declared.
This made Spyro give Eruptor an awkward sideways glance, a gesture the magma Skylander returned. "Uhh, Pop, I don't think cyclops can have two eyes."
"Hey, I can dream, alright!?" Pop Fizz said undignified, crossing his arms.
"It doesn't matter what he looks like." Stealth Elf interjected. "All that matters is that we stop him." She stated.
"You're right Elfy." Spyro agreed, making his friend give him a small smile. "What really matters-" Spyro paused. "Is what weapon he's gonna use." He added.
At that, Stealth Elf's smile vanished, replaced instead by an exasperated expression, which in turn, made Spyro and his other friends laugh together.
"Welp. We're here." Spyro said as he and his friends came to a stop when they arrived at the Portal Gates.
Standing behind a small monitor screen stood Sprocket, goggles down as she worked on the circuitry. The gold-skinned Skylander finished up working on the new interface for the Portal Gates just as the other Skylanders arrived.
"Heya, guys!" Sprocket called, waving at the Skylanders as they approached. "I heard you have a new mission."
"That's right, Sprocket." Eruptor answered. "We've got some cyclop butt to kick!" He said, slamming his fists together.
"Well, in that case." Sprocket started up, reaching for something behind the Portal Gates monitor. "You'll be needing these!" She said, standing up again with a small copper box.
Sprocket then opened the box to reveal a bunch of small, circular bronze badges, each with a dark blue rim. Spyro and his friends each picked up one of these badges and placed them over their chests. The badges adhered steadily before their blue rim began glowing bright.
"Now, remember guys." Sprocket began. "Please, do not activate more than three Relay Badges at once." She warned, giving the Skylanders a severe stare. "I still haven't figured out a way to stop the signal from overloading."
"Alright, we won't." Spyro said with a nervous chuckle, remembering the last time he and his friends had disobeyed Sprocket's warning.
"Well, alright." Sprocket said, puting the box of badges back from where she had gotten it from. "Whenever you're ready, guys." She added, gesturing at the Portal Gates' main platform.
At that, the Skylanders stepped on the large, circular platform. They stood still for a few moments as Sprocket revved up the Portal Gates and got ready to send them away.
Then, Spyro's field of vision was overtaken with a pure white light. He felt like was lifted upward, floating for a few seconds as he was sent across the Skylands. Afterwards, Spyro felt himself touch down on solid ground once again as the white light quickly dissipated.
Spyro was now standing, with his friends beside him, a few meters away from an elegant white restaurant. The restaurant had a large sign above its main gates. It was a thin golden ring, with the words Le Circle written in cursive. Spyro noticed that the gates of the restaurant were closed and had a small sign hanging behind the glass doors. Written in red cursive were three words. "Sorry, we're closed."
"Alright, we're here!" Eruptor stated, taking a couple of steps forward toward the restaurant. "Where are the bad guys?" He questioned, looking around, searching for enemies.
"Maybe we're here early?" Pop Fizz suggested, joining Eruptor in his search.
"Well, that's a good thing." Stealth Elf interjected. "Now we can set an ambush for them!" She said, drawing her ninja daggers and spinning them in her hands.
"That sounds like a good idea." Spyro said taking a look around himself, trying to find a good spot to set an ambush on.
After a little while, Spyro noticed a large tree, with thick leaves. It was to the left of the restaurant and was elevated enough to give the Skylanders a vantage point. It was also large enough to hide all four Skylanders within its leaves.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Spyro heard Stealth Elf's voice ask behind him.
At that, Spyro turned around and saw Stealth Elf looking at the same tree he had his eye on. Apparently, they were thinking the same thing. "I think I am." Spyro responded with a grin.
A few minutes had passed, Spyro and his friends had all climbed onto the tall tree's branches, looking down at the scene before them through the thick green leaves.
"How much longer till the bad guys show up?" Pop Fizz complained. The blue gremlin was situated above Spyro, slouching his back against the tree's trunk.
"Are we even sure these guys are coming here?" Eruptor, who was sitting on a branch to Spyro's right, asked impatiently.
"Kaossandra said they would." Stealth Elf told her friend. "We should trust her."
"Oh I trust Kaossandra." Eruptor picked up. "It's Hugo I'm having doubts about. After all, he is the one who said the bad guys were meeting here and he's not the most reliable fella I've met when it comes to this kind of stuff."
"Hey!" Pop Fizz suddenly intervened. "You get off Hugo's back!" He ordered, pointing at Eruptor accusingly.
"Or what!?" Eruptor growled back, about to start a fight.
"Guys!" Spyro suddenly shouted, making everyone abruptly stop their bickering. "Look over there." Spyro said in a whisper, pointing at something with one of his paws, causing his friends' gazes to follow.
Standing near the far corner of Le Circle, stood a single cyclop. The green-skinned creature was making a telescope with its hands and placing it over its large, bloodshot eye, as it was scouting the area. After scanning the area by panning its head to the sides twice, the small green cyclop turned its head around and waved one of its arms over its head, calling someone over.
At that, another cyclop, walked over to the green scout, appearing from around the far corner the first one had emerged from. Shortly after, another pair of cyclops walked over, followed in turn by another pair, then another and another until a good twenty five cyclops were standing on the clearing before Le Circle. The gang of one-eyed creatures all seemed to be rather similar. They all had green skin and were equipped with thick, brown fur coats that covered their backs. They all also had thin but long baskets, each filled with simple but jagged spears.
Among these cyclops, one stuck out to Spyro. He was smaller than the rest, and was wearing brown, spiky armor, decorated with brown fur to match his fellow cyclops. However, the armor looked two sizes too big for the small cyclop. This caused the armor to clatter loudly as the he made his way to the forefront of the crowd, where Spyro could see one last important detail about the cyclop. He was wearing an oversized, rusty gold crown on his head, which hung over part of the cyclop's bulging eye, making the runt look truly ridiculous.
"That, is Unulus?" Spyro asked in a whisper, resisting the urge to laugh at the tiny cyclop.
"I told you." Spyro heard Eruptor whisper. "Small dude with a big forehead." He said, snickering through his teeth.
"Shhh!" Stealth Elf suddenly hissed, making her companions instantly go silent. "We need to see what is going to happen!" She whispered. "Remember, if that is Unulus, he is supposed to meet another gang here."
Then, as if on cue, Spyro heard the steadily intensifying sound of marching, steady and militant. From their vantage point, the Skylanders could see that from the opposite direction the first crowd of cyclops had come from, a new group started approaching the meeting point.
The new group looked completely different from the first. These cyclops had icy blue skin and most were a little taller than the green ones. Their armor was dark black and had jagged spikes emerging from their shoulder pads and they were all wielding short iron hatchets on each hand. These cyclops also seemed to be slightly burlier than the green ones. However, there were significantly less blue cyclops than green ones, roughly thirteen of them.
In total there were thirty eight cyclops gathered at the restaurant. Both groups were staring at each other in silence, holding their weapons in their hands as an occasional cough from one of the one-eyed creatures interrupted the silence. Both groups were standing a couple of meters away from each other as they seemed to wait for something to happen.
"That's a lot of cyclops." Spyro heard Pop Fizz whisper.
"What happens now?" Eruptor asked silently. "Do we fight them?"
"Wait." Spyro said, raising one of his paws, silencing his friends. "Look." He whispered, noticing something was happening.
From the group of blue cyclops, one figure, began to make its way to the forefront of its crowd, similarly to how the small runt from the other group had done.
This figure was different to the other cyclops. It was taller that the blue ones by a considerable margin. It's build was slender and its arms were gangly and ended in skeletal hands, covered by sharp metal gauntlets that dragged behind it through the ground as it walked. The figure also had a helmet, a simple black helmet that had three spikes aligned side by side which curved back. These spikes were all made of the same crystalline material as the ones on the figure's shoulderpads.
The tall cyclop walked hunched forward, with his back curved. Despite his poor posture and gangly, skeletal build, beneath the black plates of armor covering the cyclop's body, he seemed to be quite muscular.
As the strange cyclop finished making its way through his gang, he just kept walking, not standing still like the little runt from the other group had done. Instead, the gangly cyclop began to approach the small runt, who was slowly starting to look quite frightened, looking to his sides rapidly and taking a couple of steps back.
The feeling of fear seemed to spread to the green cyclops as well, who also took several steps back from the tall approaching cyclop. However, their legs were much longer than their leader's, causing the runt to be singled out, just as the slender cyclop got dangerously close.
Then, with no warning, the tall cyclop moved one of his gangly arms forward, much faster than Spyro had expected. The tall cyclop grasped the little green cyclop's head with his sharp gauntlet, causing the small one-eyed creature to wail in pain. Then, the tall cyclop lifted the small cyclop off the ground and after tensing up his arm behind his head, the tall cyclop flung the small runt through the air, sending him flying through the air.
The small runt shrieked in terror as he flew through the air. But the scream steadily got fainter and fainter as the small cyclop began dropping down, falling off the island to the endless void beneath.
Spyro and his friends could only watch in horror. Eruptor and Pop Fizz had their mouths hanging open. Stealth Elf was covering her mouth with her hands, a look of horror on her face. Spyro could only swallow hard as cold sweat traveled down his temples.
"He killed him." Spyro thought to himself. "One of his own, so… casually." He added in shock.
Apparently the smaller cyclops were just as surprised as Spyro and his friends. They were all in complete silence, paralyzed before the gangly cyclop's disturbing aura.
Since he had his back turned toward the Skylanders, Spyro couldn't see the cyclops face as he spoke. "Hear me, my brothers." The cyclop began. His voice was strident and a lot of his words sounded hissed and breathy. "On this day, we are all here, because we've all been cast to the side." He said. "We have been tormented, demonized and belittled by the peoples of the Skylands." The cyclops preached, causing complete silence among his fellow cyclops. Then, the cyclops slowly began to move, shifting his body to the side, about to turn around.
When the cyclop turned his face back toward the Skylanders, Spyro felt the blood drain from his face. "Enumat?" He thought to himself as the cyclop's dark pink eye. But after a few seconds and after shaking his head and taking a more focused look at the tall cyclop, Spyro could spot a few differences.
Just like Enumat, this cyclop had a pasty purple skin tone, that looked unnatural in contrast to the blue and green skin hues on his fellow cyclops. the teeth on his lower lip seemed to be made of sharp, purple crystals, another feature he shared with Enumat. Their eyes were also similar. Both bulging, with ghostly white vertical slits for pupils and a dark pink sclera.
Another detail Spyro noticed was that, just like Enumat, this cyclop had a large, pulsating purple rock seemingly breaching out from his armor's chestplate.
But the similarities ended there. This cyclop's face was leaner and more skeletal than Enumat's. He had five jagged, crystalline teeth, three more than Spyro remembered Enumat had. Also, while Enumat almost always had a murderous, battlelusted grin and wide eye on his face, this cyclop was frowning and his strange eye was half open, as if he woke up a little too early today.
Not to mention that the two cyclops were built completely differently. Enumat was a mountain of muscle. Burly and barrel chested, with thick limbs and strong jaw. This cyclop was almost skeletal. His disproportionate arms, curved back and slender build made him difficult to compare to Enumat.
"And now-" The cyclop picked up his speech, snapping Spyro out of his little analisis. "I, am here to lead you. I am here-" The cyclop paused, raising his gangly arms. "To avenge us."
"Guys." Spyro heard Pop Fizz' voice whisper shakily from behind him. "I don't like that guy."
"You can say that again." Stealth Elf agreed in a whisper. "But we can't forget why we're here." She added, pulling up her brown bandana over her face. "We have to stop this freak."
"She's right." Spyro said, staying his fear at the slender cyclop's disturbing aura. ""We have to stop him." Spyro stated.
"Alright." Eruptor began. "Do we take the big one out first?"
"We need to make sure these little guys don't go join up with anyone else." Spyro explained. "We should try to take down as many of them as we can. We can focus on the leader after that." He said, tensing up, getting ready for the iminent fight.
"Everyone ready?" Spyro asked his friends, looking to his sides to see their faces. The initial fright caused by the slender cyclop had vanished from their features. They all had composed themselves and were ready to fight.
"We're ready." Stealth Elf said, giving Spyro a firm nod. "Let's do this."
At that, Spyro tensed up his hind legs and got ready to jump forth. He had one of the hatchet-wielding cyclops in his sights. Then, with a burst of speed, Spyro flung himself off the tree branch he was hiding on, his horns erupting in small flames as he dipped his head down.
Faster than the rest of the cyclops could react, Spyro headbutted one of the tall, blue cyclops, causing a loud impact and knocking the targeted cyclop to the ground. Afterwards, Spyro used his wings to quickly boost himself off the fallen cyclop's back and into the air, out of reach from the other enemies.
After this, Spyro heard his friends descend from their hiding spot behind him. Stealth Elf teleported quite a distance away, reappearing with a small cloud of green mist among the smaller green cyclops, making them jump back in surprise, futilely trying to avoid the ninja Skylander's quick bust of blows and kicks that knocked back three cyclops before the rest of them could react.
Eruptor and Pop Fizz, were meanwhile firing their projectiles at the tall, blue cyclops. The Skylanders' projectiles crashed against the black armor protecting their targets, allowing the armored cyclops to endure the assault, before composing themselves and raising their iron hatchets over their heads, about to strike down at the Skylanders.
Spyro wasn't about to let that happen. Spyro took a deep breath and called forth his flames, releasing a volley of three firebolts on the three cyclops that were about to attack his friends. The impacts connected with the backs of the targeted cyclops' heads, knocking them to the ground.
"Thanks Spyro!" Eruptor shouted from the ground, waving at his friend before getting ready to resume fighting.
Spyro followed his friend's example, turning around and searching for more one-eyed targets.
"Enough!" A loud voice roared, it's enraged tone booming through the air.
For some reason, Spyro found himself unable to disobey the furious command. He simply hovered in the air, beating his wings to keep himself airborne. Spyro noticed that everyone else had also heeded the command. Everyone, cyclops and Skylanders stayed still, causing a dreadful silence to hang over the air.
"Now." A strident voice began. Spyro could trace back the voice to the tall, gangly cyclop, who was standing right where he had been before the fight. He was looking right at Spyro, his previously half open eye now alight and focused on the purple dragon. "Why don't we all handle this in a more, professional way?" The cyclop proposed, making Spyro quite curious.
"What do you mean by that?" Spyro asked, not taking his eyes off the gangly cyclop.
"Spyrooo?" Pop Fizz' voice suddenly interrupted. "What's going on?" He asked in a nervous tone.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out, Pop." Spyro told his friend. "Now, Stickman." Spyro picked up, redirecting his words to the cyclop below him. "Who are you and what do you want?" Spyro asked demandingly.
At that, the cyclop properly introduced himself. "I am Unulus-"
"Should had figured that one out." Spyro thought to himself, realizing all the red flags this slender cyclop had been waving in front of him since Spyro had first seen him.
"And I, challenge you-" Unulus continued, lifting one of his long arms and pointing at Spyro with his sharp gauntlet. "Spyro the dragon, to a duel." He stated, hissing Spyro's name threateningly.
Spyro was a little surprised by Unulus' sudden request. "A duel?" He asked in a confused tone. "What are you playing at?"
"As you might be able to discern." Unulus began, lowering his arm to its original position. "I'm trying to bring my people together once again. In order to do that, I must show them, that I am worthy." He explained.
"And what does that have to do with me?" Spyro asked. "You didn't seem to have any problems just killing off any competition just now." Spyro spat, remembering how Unulus had killed that other tiny cyclop.
"In order to make sure that my brethren are loyal to me." Unulus picked up, not bothering to explain what he had done to the small cyclop. "I must make them follow me out of respect, not just fear. And what better way to claim respect as the new leader of the One Eyed Legion, than by avenging the death of the previous leader?" Unulus asked out loud, slightly raising his gangly arms to his sides and grinning. "By killing you, I can show everyone here-" He continued, gesturing at both the cyclops and the Skylanders present. "That I mean business."
"Why would he agree to fight you, then?" Spyro heard Stealth Elf demand. "This is clearly a trap you're laying out."
"If I win." Unulus began in his breathy voice, not shifting his sight to Stealth Elf. "My reputation among my kind will rise considerably. Few will question my lead in the face of my vengeful victory against one of the Skylanders that destroyed the One-Eyed Legion. But-" He paused. "Conversely, if I lose, my reputation will be ruined, no one will follow me and then, it will only be a matter of time before the embers of the One-Eyed Legion die out." He hissed.
Spyro thought about what Unulus was proposing. It was a chance to end this new threat before it even began, it almost sounded too good to be true. If Spyro managed to defeat Unulus in this duel, then he could ensure that the last remains of Omen's scourge on the Skylands.
"If I win." Spyro began. "Will you give yourself up and let us take you to Cloudcracker Prison?" He asked steadily.
"Spyro!" Eruptor shouted suddenly. "You can't trust this guy!" He warned.
"You have my word." Unulus stated, his hissing voice speaking over Eruptor, no indication of him lying expressed on the cyclop's body language. "And as a future chieftain of my people and leader of the One-Eyed Legion, I can promise you a fair fight."
At that, Spyro shifted his gaze to his friends. They were all looking at him with worried looks on their faces, surrounded by cyclops that were looking at Spyro expectantly. Then, Spyro returned his gaze to Unulus, the gangly cyclop looked up at him patiently, waiting for the purple dragon's answer.
After thinking it through, Spyro took a deep breath and spoke. "Alright." He began. "I accept your challenge." He said, lowering his flight and touching down on the ground.
"Spyro!" Stealth Elf suddenly exclaimed. "You can't do this! We won't let you!"
"He has already accepted the challenge." Unulus breathed simply, not letting Spyro out of his unblinking sight. "If you interrupt us, my brethren will spread the word that you have violated one of our people's most sacred traditions." He explained. "Then, hatred for you and your Skylander friends will be unrivaled in the history of our kind and it will bring my people together faster than I ever could." He explained, leaving it pretty clear what the situation was.
"Guys." Spyro called. "I got this, don't worry." He said, lowering his head and getting into battle stance.
Spyro noticed that his friends seems to want to speak to him further, but, they were interrupted suddenly by a loud shout from Unulus.
"Monomachia!" Unulus roared, raising his arms over his head, clasping his gauntlets together in the air, creating a vertical gap between his clasped hands and his head.
"Monomachia!" Every cyclop, blue and green repeated loudly, imitating Unulus' strange arm motion and taking several steps back form Spyro and Unulus, creating a wide, circular clearing for the two of them to fight.
Spyro was a little taken back by the situation. He had never been in a cyclop duel before.
"Now." Unulus began, lowering his arms and regarding Spyro. "I trust you know the rules?." He asked, pulling something out from behind his back.
The item Unulus had pulled out was a thick book. Its front cover was a plain dark grey, with the book's title written in elegant golden letters. "The Rules of fair Combat."
Just seeing that book again made Spyro frown out of annoyance. "Do all bad guys have a copy of that stupid book?" He asked sarcastically.
"It is a masterpiece." Unulus stated, returning the book back to where he had pulled it out from. "I would expect anyone who deems themselves to be honorable to have a copy."
Spyro was not in the mood to bicker about the rules, so, he tensed up and got ready to fight. "I gotta warn you buddy." Spyro started. "I've beaten up quite a few cyclops in my time. Why don't you just give up so no one gets hurt?" Spyro proposed jokingly.
"I have no intention of giving up." Unulus stated simply. "And to reciprocate your warning." He began, taking a small pause as he raised one of his arms. Then, Unulus drove his sharp gauntlet through the air, burying it deep in the strange glowing rock in the middle of his chest. The rock didn't break however, instead, it glowed brighter against Unulus' black armor.
After that, Unulus began pulling his arm out of the rock in his chest. As he did, the cyclop began extracting a thick, crystalline hilt, that was soon followed by a large, cleaver-like blade that stretched out, creating a large, crystalline falchion, a sword with one edge.
Once Unulus finished drawing his crystalline weapon out of his chest, the falchion the rock on his chest and the horns on his helmet all glowed a bright purple in creepy unison.
"Know that, whether my opponent be a fly, or a lion." Unulus picked up his warning to Spyro, slowly lifting his new sword at the purple dragon. "I will crush them with all my might."
But Spyro refused to be intimidated. He looked at Unulus head on as he spoke. "News flash buddy." He began. "I'm not a fly or a lion." He paused, taking a moment to call for his flames and tense up his legs. "I'm a dragon."
At that, Spyro released a firebolt, aimed directly at Unulus' bulging eyeball. The flaming projectile flew through the air at great speeds, but in swift motion, Unulus used the flat of his crystalline blade to block the projectile, creating a peculiar resonance as the impact connected.
But Spyro didn't stop there, just as his projectile was blocked, he used his wings to boost himself forward toward Unulus. Spyro had his head dipped down, small orange flames erupting from his horns as he aimed to headbutt his slender enemy.
Spyro felt his head slam against the rough texture of Unulus' armour and heard as the cyclop gave out a pained groan. He felt as the cyclop's body bent beneath the strength of Spyro's attack. However, Spyro then felt something take a steady grip of one of his horns. Then, Spyro felt himself be lifted off the ground.
From his awkward perspective, Spyro could see as Unulus tightly grasped his right horn with his free hand. The cyclop then slammed Spyro head first against the ground. The impact was disorienting, but thanks to his scales Spyro was able to keep conscious. However, that only meant Spyro was able to feel as Unulus lifted him off the ground again, only to slam him back into the ground. The cyclop then lifted Spyro one more time, and slammed the purple dragon on the ground again, cracking the paved rock beneath them.
"Spyro!" Stealth Elf cried, concerned for her friend.
Spyro reacted to this call. Through the pain of having his head slammed into the ground repeatedly, Spyro focused enough to move his tail. Using the sharp end of his tail, Spyro whipped one of Unulus' legs, getting the gangly cyclop off his balance and loosening his grip on Spyro enough for the dragon to get loose.
Using his wings, Spyro tried to boost himself away from Unulus, flying into the air. Once there Spyro got ready to release a volley of firebolts at Unulus as the cyclop was about to regain his stance.
But then, Spyro saw as Unulus stretched out his sword-wielding arm and swung at Spyro. The disproportionate length of the cyclops arms combined with the length of his weapon, allowed him to slash at Spyro even as he remained airborne.
The impact made Spyro lose his balance, knocking him out off the air and leaving him with a sharp pain on his side. As Spyro crashed on the ground, he tried composing himself and check where he had been struck. The pain on his side was slowly washing way and there was no wound Spyro could see. So, not wasting any time, Spyro got on his feet and began charging straight at Unulus.
The cyclop then raised his falchion over his head, about to slash downward as Spyro came within his range. But then, just as Unulus' strike began to quickly descend toward Spyro, the purple dragon took a sudden sidestep, moving at great speeds just beside Unulus' falling strike, which connected with the ground instead of Spyro, creating a small shockwave through the ground, but also leaving the cyclop wide open for Spyro to attack.
Not wasting his chance, Spyro fired a flaming projectile at Unulus' face. The attack landed successfully, causing the cyclop to give out a loud groan.
"C'mon Spyro!" Eruptor shouted. "You can do it!" He cheered.
Thankful for his friend cheering him on, but not losing focus, Spyro quickly used his wings to boost himself backward and up in the air, putting a little extra distance between himself and Unulus this time.
As Unulus slowly began getting up from the ground, Spyro could hear as the cyclop started speaking. "You are a better warrior than I thought." Unulus stated as he turned his head toward Spyro. the cyclop was smiling, a thin, creepy smile as he stared at Spyro. "Take comfort in knowing that your death will bring me great honor."
At that, Spyro saw that Unulus falchion started glowing an intense purple light. Then, with an explosively fast motion Unulus swung his falchion in a wide arch in front of himself. At first, this confused Spyro, for he was clearly out of reach from Unulus' sword strike. However, as Unulus' sword swing moved through the air, it created a thin slash of purple light, which fired off from Unulus' sword strike.
This projectile of purple energy moved through the air at great speeds and took Spyro completely by surprise. The purple energy slash crashed against Spyro's chest, creating an explosive blast of energy and knocking the air out off Spyro's lungs.
As Spyro bent over in pain from the unexpected blow, he had no time to react when Unulus fired another splash of energy at him. This impact overwhelmed Spyro, causing him to fall to the ground with a loud thud.
With the ground pressed against his chin and pain riddling his body, Spyro could only lift his gaze up and look as Unulus approached him slowly. The gangly cyclop loomed over Spyro looking down at him before lifting his falchion over his head.
"Goodbye, dragon." Unulus began. "I hope your ancestors smile upon you."
Then, Spyro saw as Unulus' crystalline blade came down.
"Spyro!" Eruptor shouted in horror as he saw Unulus swing down his falchion at his friend's head.
Eruptor tried to move toward his friend in a desperate attempt to help. But then, Eruptor saw something that made him freeze in his tracks. When Unulus' falchion connected with Spyro's head, a bright flash of purple light, followed by a loud sound like glass shattering overwhelmed his senses.
"Argh!" Eruptor exclaimed as he rubbed his eyes, disoriented by what had just happened.
When, Eruptor opened his eyes, he could notice that, all around him, the several cyclops as well as his fellow Skylanders seemed to be coming out of the same shock he had just recovered from.
But then, Eruptor suddenly remembered something. "Spyro!" He shouted out loud as he turned his head toward where he had last seen his purple friend.
The scene Eruptor was faced with made his jaw drop. Still standing over Spyro, stood Unulus, however, something was off. The cyclop's falchion was snapped in half, leaving Unulus only with its hilt and half of its blade.
"How is this posible?" Unulus asked, paralyzed as he stared at his ruined sword.
"Because." A strained but familiar voice began slowly. "I'm thirty flavours of awesome sauce buddy."
At that, Unulus could only growl, casting his shattered weapon to the side and slamming one of his iron boots over Spyro's head, causing the purple dragon to give out a pained groan.
At that, Eruptor almost lost it. He wanted to show that Punk Unulus what happened when someone messed with his friends. But then, Eruptor felt something take a hold of his arm. He looked behind him to see Stealth Elf, giving him a very serious look.
"We can't entervine yet." She said. "If we do this is all just going to get worse."
Eruptor wanted to argue, but, under Stealth Elf's stern gaze and after he thought about the situation, he managed to keep his cool, restraining himself to growl and glare at Unulus.
"Heed my words, dragon." Unulus began, looking down at Spyro. "Today, even if your scales can allow you to keep your life, I am the victor. If you cross paths with me again, your fate will not be this pleasant."
At that, Unulus lifted his boot off Spyro's head and turned around. Then, Unulus raise his arms over his head and clasped his sharp gauntlets together, doing the same motion he had done when he announced the beginning of the duel.
"Victory!" Unulus roared, inciting the crowd of cyclops to cheer and clap. "Now, Skylanders." Unulus picked up, speaking louder than the crowd of cyclops cheered, making Eruptor and his friends tense up. "I would kill you all where you stand, but, I can't spare my new underlings so shamelessly." He stated. "And besides, as the tradition of my people dictates, I have a celebration to attend to."
At that, Unulus began walking toward the far away corner of Le Circle, the one form which the first gang of cyclops had originally emerged from. The gangly cyclop led his gang of newly enlisted minions away from their meeting point, leaving the Skylanders by themselves after a few moments, the hammering of cyclop footsteps and festive cheering slowly fading into the distance.
Immediately afterwards, Eruptor and his fellow Skylanders all rushed over to Spyro, who remained flat on the floor.
"Spyro!" All three Skylanders shouted, concerned about their friend.
"Urgh, not so loud." Spyro groaned slowly, not moving to get up. "I have a really bad headache."
"You dummy!" Eruptor shouted, suddenly picking Spyro off the ground and crushing him in a tight hug that made the purple dragon give out a strangled yelp of pain. "You had me worried sick! I thought that one-eyed skeleton was gonna kill you!"
"You might not give him a second chance buddy." Spyro said in a strained voice as Eruptor continued adding pressure to his crushing hug.
"Oh, sorry." Eruptor apologized, hastily letting go of Spyro, who stumbled onto his feet, shakily trying to regain his balance.
"Spyro." Stealth Elf suddenly spoke. She had a concerned expression on her face. "Are you sure you're alright?" She asked. "You took quite the beating out there."
"Don't worry Elfy." Spyro said, giving her a steady grin, despite holding his left eye closed and Eruptor noticed it was a darker shade of purple than the rest of Spyro's body. "Impenetrable scales and all. I'm just a little hurt, nothing serious." Spyro stated.
"Well, in that case." Stealth Elf picked up. "We should get going to the Academy. Kaossandra will want a report on this." She said looking around the scene.
"Yeah, you're right." Spyro agreed. The purple dragon suddenly hissed sharply and rubbed the sides of head with his paws. "Man, that is a really mean headache." Spyro stated.
"We should get you to the infirmary, pal." Eruptor suggested. "You look pretty beaten up."
"Yeah, alright. I won't turn down a tag out." Spyro said with a small chuckle. "Let's get out of here."
At that, the Skylanders used their Relay Badges to return to the Academy. Heeding Sprocket's warning, they traveled back in pairs. Spyro and Eruptor fist and Stealth Elf and Pop Fizz second.
As wight light engulfed them and carried the Skylanders back home, a strange feeling hung over them, a feeling of anticipation, as if something big was just about to start.
"Ashes to ashes - Dust to dust
Rest now my weary prey
Your blood my iron will rust
For your petty life you better pray
Because your death is only just."
Authors notes
Hello once again everyone! It's been a while! This is the start of a new story and direct sequel to New Horizon! Plenty of adventures await our heros, just you wait for the next chapter!
-I don't own Skylanders Academy
-No, mature themes here, just good ol' fashoned fistfights