Skylanders: Cloudbreak Adventure

Disclaimer: I do not own Skylanders. I am not affiliated with Skylanders.

-Chapter One: A wish for adventure-

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock after a full night of sleep. Yesterday had been my last day of summer vacation, and today I was starting eleventh grade. I got up and left my room, going downstairs to eat breakfast. When I arrived, I saw my mom and dad in the dining room.

My dad was dressed for work in his long-sleeved white shirt and his tan slacks. He had his brown business shoes on and had already combed his short hair this morning. He had finished his breakfast and was just sipping his coffee.

My mom was still yet to get dressed for work-she left for work a little later than dad. She was in her white pajamas, though her somewhat long hair looked taken care of this morning. She was still eating her breakfast right now.

When they heard me, they turned to face me. "Good Morning, Gregory. Did you sleep well?" My mom asked. "Sure did." I said. "Good." Mom said back. "So today's the big day, Gregory-you excited to head back to school?" My dad asked. "Well sure! It'll be good to see my friends and learn more!" I said back. Dad smiled and said: "Good, that's my boy. You've always got a positive attitude." I smiled and said: "Thanks." Then I went on: "Well, as long as you're having breakfast, I think I'll get mine ready and join on in." Before I went into the kitchen and made my breakfast and then joined my parents in the dining room.

When I was done, we all sat there and talked for a little while before my dad took his last sip of coffee and said: "Well, it looks like I'm going to have to leave soon, so I'd better get ready." He and mom then said goodbye before he turned to me and said: "Good luck, Gregory." And he left.

I looked at the clock on the wall and said: "Looks like I'd better start getting ready, too…" And my mom said: "Alright. Good luck today, Gregory-we're so proud of you. I know today will go just fine." I smiled and said: "Thanks mom. Have a good day, too." Before I put my dishes in the dishwasher and left.

Both of my parents would be leaving soon enough. Even in spite of their busy schedules, though, they had always been nice to me like this all of my life and I was thankful. You can't pick your parents, but I was happy with what I had.

I got everything ready for my day, but I had some time left over, so I decided to play a video game quickly before I had to go. I always loved the magic and the imagination of the video games I played-I had always admired them since I was a child. In such a simple world where I always just went to school and did homework and chores, it was always nice to escape from the realities of a student's working world and have some fun. But while playing video games was a good way to satisfy my need for fun, I couldn't help but wish for the chance to have an adventure like in my games… of course, that could never happen, though.

Soon I stopped and turned my game console off before I got my materials packed up in my backpack and got dressed: Today I wore a white V-neck shirt and my blue jeans, along with my navy blue jacket and black boots. I also made sure to comb my hair and brush my teeth before leaving-my hair was brown and went down to about half way down the bottom of my neck, so it wasn't hard to take care of.

Then I left for school-it was within walking distance of my house. I left the house and locked the front door and set off, until soon I arrived at my high school.

I was taking a few classes this year, and my morning ones were the ones I was most excited about. I had an English class and a news class. I liked the English class because it was always important to me to speak and write well, so I could be persuasive.

And I liked the news class because part of it was a current news analysis that always ended up sparking discussions between the class members. I had always found it fun to prepare an argument for the topic I had ready and use reason in discussions with other students. Sometimes I educated them and sometimes they educated me, but either way having the chance to think critically and reason my way through problems was very fun to me.

At lunch, I sat with my friends, like always. Like me, they also liked video games and working hard at their classes. We all had different strengths, which was part of what made our discussions fun. We were often labeled as "geeks" by the school's bullies, but it didn't bother us. If being friendly to other students and using my abilities to reason and think made me a geek, then I'll take that title any day!

From there, my afternoon classes went by in a real flash! When they were over, I walked back home. When I arrived, I unlocked the door and then locked it again. Both of my parents were working late tonight, so I would be on my own for a while. I headed up to my room and put my backpack away by my desk, but when I go to it I saw something strange:

There was an odd, circular device that was colored black on the sides and had arches and weird symbols all around them… and the top of the device was just a white circle. There was also an inscription on the device that said: 'portal of power'…

I had never seen anything like this. Had my parents left it here? Looking it over, I decided to examine it more closely; I picked it up and looked at it, but as I did, something I never expected happened: The device rose up from my hand into the air! "HUH?" I said in disbelief. The next thing I knew, there was a blinding flash of light…

And when I could see again, I was standing on top of clouds… in the middle of a blue sky! "WHOA!" I yelled. Yet strangely, I was not falling… but even so, I still wasn't out of the woods yet-I still didn't know where I was or how I had gotten here!

I immediately set out to look around, but as I did, I felt weight on my left arm… I looked at it and saw an odd machine on it: the machine covered my forearm and lower bicep and had a triangular edge on my elbow… where had this come from? It was just one mystery after another…

All the same, I looked around the cloudy area, but it just seemed like an endless expanse… Soon I stopped and(out of frustration) yelled: "ARGH! What is going on?" But someone answered… I heard a voice say: "I see you have arrived! Welcome!"

I immediately looked up and saw the silhouette of an old man's head appear in front of me... He had a long white beard and mustache, and wore a gray helmet on his head with a few pairs of horns on it.

"W-who are you?" I asked. "My name is Eon. I have come to introduce you to our world. Welcome to Skylands!" The head said. "Skylands…? But why am I here?" I asked. "Because you wanted adventure." Eon replied. I looked confused as he went on: "You wanted something more than everyday life, didn't you? You wanted an adventure, a journey that could enrich your life… I felt that burning desire and that is what made me aware of your existence. And that is what led me to summon you here; you wanted an adventure and this world is in need of heroes, so I wanted to propose a mutual partnership."

While this all sounded interesting, I had to wonder what was going on back on Earth and how my absence was affecting things… "Well hold on, Eon… as much as I appreciate your offer, I can't stay here… I couldn't just abandon my family and friends in my world!" I said. "Do not fear; you are still in your world right now even as we-" Eon began, but then I said: "But how is that possible?" "The truth is you are only a projection of yourself. The real 'you' is still on Earth, and you are retaining consciousness in both your vessel and the projected 'you' here. Each one is responsible for their tasks in their own world-and you won't miss out on anything by being here. You will gain memory of what happens in your world, just as the other 'you' will gain memory of what happens here." Eon said.

"Wow… that's amazing…" I said. But then I just realized something: Eon had said 'Earth'… which must mean he knows about it! "But now that you mention it, I can't help but notice you mentioned Earth. Do you know about it?" I asked. "Yes I do. The truth is I too came from your world. Humans are not native to Skylands and must be brought here." Eon replied.

"So how did I get here then?" I asked. "You found a portal of power in your world that transported you here. It is a magic device that can connect Earth to Skylands which is used to bring portal masters into Skylands, as it has done since ancient times." Eon replied.

"That's amazing… well, I must admit that this sounds fascinating, but even then, how am I supposed to help you?" I asked. "First of all, you would not be alone; if you agree to join me, you would be a portal master-someone who partners with the Skylanders- and the Skylanders are the great defenders of Skylands. They are the ones who work together with their portal masters to defend the residents of our world." Eon said.

"So what are the Skylanders?" I asked. "Anything that wants to defend Skylands can be a Skylander. You'd be surprised at how many kinds there are; some are dragons, some plants and some machines. The variety of them is amazing!" He replied.

Then he went on: "The other important thing that you would be using is that device around your arm… your 'portal glove'." Eon said. "Portal glove?" I echoed. "Yes. You see, it is an ancient, very special device that can hold your Skylanders inside as data. With it, you can call them out one-by-one instead of having to have them all out, or keep them inside if you're going somewhere they can't cross." Eon replied.

This all seemed so amazing… the chance to be a hero like in a video game and travel all over a new world without any consequence on Earth… it seemed like a dream come true! "So… are you interested in being a portal master?" Eon asked. I thought it over carefully; in the end, I decided this was an opportunity that would be a waste to pass up.

"Well sure! You can count on me, Eon!" I said. "That is wonderful, portal master. Once again, welcome to Skylands- I am glad to have you on our side." Eon said. Then he went on: "So what is your name?" "My name is Gregory." I answered. "Alright then, Gregory. Get ready-a world of adventure is waiting for you!" Eon said.

"So what do I do first?" I asked. "Fortunately, Skylands already has many other people like you here-they all have formed special bases where they train portal masters to do their work and give them assignments. Recently, we made a base in a special part of Skylands called the Cloudbreak Islands when a demand for support from the Skylanders came up. You will be sent to that base to begin your journey. Good luck Gregory-I'll see you later." Eon said.

Then the silhouette of Eon's head vanished and there was another flash of light before I found myself on top of a disc-like platform that was connected to a walkway that led to a giant white door inside of a white room. There were unusual creatures standing around and similar platforms that were also connected to the walkway were scattered all over the room and they all had orange circles in the middle, too…

I stepped off the platform and walked up to the nearest creature I saw-it(like all the others) was shorter than me, about the size of a seven or eight year old human and was wearing a sky blue shirt and shorts of the same color. It had brown fur all over with brown stripes and triangular ears-it looked like an evolved raccoon…

"Hi there!" I said. The raccoon-like creature turned to face me and he said: "Oh, welcome! You must be a prospective portal master!" "That's right! How'd you know so fast?" I asked. "This is the facility on the Beach-Beta base that deals with new portal masters and registers them. I'm part of this facility's staff; my name's Barkin. So what's your name, portal master?" He asked.

"It's Gregory!" I answered back. "Alright then Gregory, I'll take you to one of the commanders of this base where you can meet him and get updated. Come this way!" Barkin said. And I followed him out of the room and into a large hallway with many creatures and even giant windows and when I looked through them, I could see why the base was called the 'Beach-Beta' base;

This building was actually built on a massive beach! There were palm trees nearby the edge of the building and it was overlooking a sandy beach and an impressive view of an ocean…

It was hard not to stop and get distracted by it as I followed Barkin, but I kept going and eventually said: "Say Barkin?" Yes?" He said. "I met a man named Eon on my way here who explained a lot to me, but before I was sent here, he disappeared… will Eon be involved in this whole process?" I asked. "Well, no… in truth, Master Eon is a ghost… he was a revered portal master a while back, but he was destroyed in a blast by a powerful beast that served a dictator named Kaos. While Eon's body was destroyed, his spirit lived on and has been cooperating with the portal masters who have come to Skylands over the years to recruit more portal masters and he's doing everything he can to save Skylands…" Barkin replied. "Wow…" I said back.

Soon Barkin took me over to a desk with a clerk who looked like a cat and he said: "Please wait for a moment."

I spent the time looking over the scenery and soon enough, Barkin said: "Alright, we're ready to continue!" And I followed him to an elevator. We went in and Barkin fiddled around with some buttons on it before I could feel it going upward. Soon it stopped and the doors opened.

Barkin and I left and we walked across another hall with windows that was much higher than where we were previously(the beach looked so distant on the ground) before he stopped at a door with an intercom in front of it. Barkin pressed a button on it and said: "Commander David, sir? It's Barkin. I have a new portal master here." And I heard a man with a slightly raspy voice say: "Alright, send 'em on in." And Barkin pressed a couple of buttons lower on the intercom before he said: "Go on, then."

I walked in and saw a tall, fairly muscular man working at a desk, but his back was turned to me… he had short red hair and was wearing what looked like a uniform… it was a yellow and green long sleeved shirt with pants of the same color and on the shirt it had the 'beta' symbol… on the back.

It seemed this man… Commander David… noticed I had entered though, because he turned around and when he saw me, he walked up to me and said: "Hey there. You're one of the newbies?" "Yes, my name is Gregory, um… Commander David." I said back. He smiled and said: "Looks like you respect the chain of authority here. That's good! It shows you are respectful of others and their customs!" Before he went on: "Anyways, welcome Gregory. You probably heard Barkin mention this already, but I'm David, a mission commander. I manage new portal masters and give them missions to complete from this base."

"Sounds cool… didn't Barkin say something about registering, though?" I asked. "You've already been registered; that's part of what Barkin did on the way up. As an official portal master, my next job is to educate you about your responsibilities." David said.

"Alright then. Please do." I said. "Alright. Now here's the situation: In a certain region of Skylands-the Cloudbreak Islands-things were largely peaceful, up until recently. There have been attacks in that region-and a lot of 'em. Things were beginning to get out of hand, so we have been looking for portal masters to go restore peace to the region. This is will be your role; you have been assigned as a member of a group that specifically deals with the Cloudbreak Islands and restoring order to the region. This will be the focus of your work. I will give you missions we deem necessary from time-to-time, but you will also be directed by local residents, too." David said.

"So how do I start?" I asked. "Well first, you'll need to learn how to use your portal glove. If you don't know how to use it, you won't get as far. Let me show you…" David said. And he taught me how to use the device. When we were done, he went on:

"And now that you know how to use it, I should introduce you to your first Skylanders! Through all of the times you have been transported from place to place, your personality has been magically analyzed and sent back to us as data, and in spite of what we have seen, we think we have identified some Skylanders you may like to work with, which we will introduce in twos."

"Alright! I can't wait to meet them!" I said. David chuckled and said: "That's the spirit. Now here's one…" And he pressed a few buttons on his terminal. Soon, a floating owl-like creature appeared before me!

He looked very interesting; he had white feathers and a face with a large beak and large eyes. Instead of wings, he had arms with feathers and talons on both of his arms and legs. His legs were also long legs for an owl, that looked stretched out… he had a spiky gold helmet on his head-the back looked completely covered, although the helmet only covered up his forehead and the tip of his beak on the front. He was wearing a maroon short-sleeved shirt and maroon pants, with a dark yellow sash around his waist. He was holding what looked like a small wand with a pink gem in the center. There was also a purple circle on the ground beneath him…

David then said: "Gregory, this is Hoot Loop." And the owl-Hoot Loop-said: "Hello there." And floated over to me(the purple circle beneath him also moved with him). "Pleasure to meet you, Hoot Loop!" I said as I held my hand out. "The pleasure is mine." Hoot Loop replied, as he took my hand with his talon and we shook hands.

Then David went on: "All Skylanders belong to a certain element of eight elements; Air, Fire, Undead, Earth, Magic, Life, Water and Tech. Hoot Loop happens to be a Skylander of the magic element." "That sounds cool. What kind of magic do you specialize in, Hoot Loop?" I asked. "Plenty; I've practiced for a long time. The two tricks that I use against enemies are one that looks like this…"

He said as he took his wand and waved it, causing a little wisp of purple magic to appear that turned around in a spiral before hoot pointed his wand at a nearby chair and the wisp moved over to it and bumped it three times, as though bouncing off each time before it spun and disappeared. "That trick can hit an enemy multiple times. The other one is like this…" He began, but then suddenly he vanished…

"Hoot Loop?" I asked. Then I heard his voice say: "Behind you." And I immediately turned around to see him floating right there! "Whoa! Neat!" I said. "Ha ha. Looks like I got you. Yup, enemies don't expect that one either, so I should be able to help you out!" Hoot Loop said. "Sounds good to me, Hoot Loop!" I said. "Alright; then I'll introduce you to the next candidate…" David said.

And he pressed a few buttons on his terminal and Hoot Loop disappeared before another Skylander appeared: This one had a humanoid shape, but otherwise looked like a bunch of red magma… He had a head with no neck that just barely had a mouth that was above his attached torso with two arms and two legs. There were some yellow spikes on his body and he had yellow circles around his hands and feet…

The Skylander then said: "Hey there!" Before David said: "Gregory, this is Eruptor. He's a Skylander of the fire element…" And Eruptor said: "I'm pretty sure there's no need to say that; there aren't many Skylanders out there who are as fiery as me!" And he started laughing, while little blobs of lava went flying off his body, yet remarkably didn't start a fire…

When Eruptor stopped laughing I said: "Nice to meet you, Eruptor. I'd shake your hand, but it looks a little bit too hot…" And Eruptor immediately started laughing again(causing more blobs of lava to fly…) as he said: "You're a funny one!" Soon he stopped and said: "Ahh, don't worry about it. I appreciate the thought all the same." "So how do you get rid of your enemies Eruptor?" I asked. "Well, just for the sake of not making any more of a mess, I'll just explain it; I can send blobs of lava flying out of my hands and I also can cause an eruption around me! Sound good?" Eruptor asked. "Sure does!" I said. "Alright, good. If you do accept me as your Skylander, I can show you more when we get out in the Cloudbreak Islands." Eruptor said.

Then David used his terminal again and made Eruptor disappear before he said: "That was the first set that we thought would be the best match. What do you think-do they look good? Because we can keep trying if they don't."

I thought on it for a while, but didn't see any reason fit to object-Hoot Loop was clever and seemed fine and Eruptor looked like a hearty fellow with a good personality. "They both look fine to me." I said back. "Alright then! In that case, I'll call them back…" David said and soon Hoot Loop and Eruptor appeared. David then said: "Hoot Loop, Eruptor, congrats! Gregory's said he wants you two to be his Skylanders!"

They both smiled and Hoot Loop said: "Excellent! I won't let you down!" And Eruptor said: "Alright! I'm sure we'll get along fine. You can count on me to stay 'stoked' for the adventure ahead!" And he then proceeded to start laughing. "Yeah, sounds good to me, guys!" I said.

And then I called Hoot Loop and Eruptor into my portal glove and then said: "Say Commander?" "Hm?" David said. "I was just wondering… how are there enough Skylanders to supply portal masters all over Skylands with them?" David grinned and said: "That's a good question. The truth is these Skylanders are clones. As the number of portal masters increased, we didn't have enough Skylanders to meet the demand, so we cloned the originals to supply the ever-growing number of portal masters with Skylanders. So the Hoot Loop and Eruptor traveling with you are clones of the originals as well."

"Wow…" I said. "Yeah, but they are all unique in their own right, too. Anyways, now that you have your Skylanders, that brings me to the next part of all this; In order to guarantee that you are as productive as possible, you won't be adventuring alone. You will be in a group of six, counting you-And I will now call in the people you will be travelling with. They've already finished their training." David said. He went to his terminal and input something before he turned back and said: "Now we just wait…"

And I sat there for what felt like a while until the door opened and five other people walked in;

It was a group composed of two male and three female members:

One of the boys was a teenage boy who was wearing a green T-shirt and black sweat pants and had a pair of white sneakers. He had short black hair as well. He was grinning right now, too…

The other boy looked much younger(he actually looked around 10 or 11) and was wearing a tan T-shirt and gray shorts, yet he had brown "business-casual" shoes… He had short light brown hair and looked rather focused.

And of the females, one was a teenage girl who was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans and was wearing sandals over her feet. She had a long blonde ponytail that went down to her lower back and was currently smiling at the moment…

There also was another teenage girl among them; this one was wearing a dark blue tank top and a dark blue skirt with white wisp-like streaks on it, as well as dark blue shoes. She had long brown hair that went down to her shoulder blades. Right now, this girl didn't look too sure of herself…

And the last one was either in her late teens or early twenties, but I doubted she could be any older. She was tall and wearing a black fur coat with black gloves on her hands and black pants with black boots that went up to almost the top of her calves. She had short hair that was a really bright blonde-almost white. She was looking forward with a cool gaze…

At that moment, David said: "Everyone, I'm Commander David. I'll be your leader, in charge of giving your group missions. However, before anything can start, I want you all to meet each other first. So go around and introduce yourselves."

At that point, I decided to go talk to the teenage boy first. I walked up to him and said: "Hello." And he said: "Hi there!" Back. Then he went on: "My name's Aaron. Who are you?" "I'm Gregory." I said back. "Gregory, huh? Good name. You excited to be here?" Aaron asked. "Of course!" I said.

And then we talked. Over the course of the discussion, I learned Aaron had come to Skylands just for the sake of adventure, much like me. After words, we ended the discussion and I moved on to the younger boy.

When I approached him, I said: "Hi." And he said: "Hi." Back. Then I asked: "What's your name?" "I'm Michael. How about you?" He asked back. "My name is Gregory." I said.

And we started a conversation. Over the course of it, I learned that Michael had come to Skylands not just for adventure, but also hoping to work with groups. He seemed like an optimistic kid. Soon enough I said goodbye and moved on.

Next I talked to the first of the women I bumped into… who happened to initiate the conversation with me(it was the girl in the white T-shirt with the blonde ponytail). She said: "Hi there!" And I responded by saying: "Hello." She then said: "My name's Darcy. What's yours?" "I'm Gregory." I said back.

And we began to talk. As I spoke with her, it became clear Darcy was a very high-energy person. She was very friendly and(like Aaron and I) she came to Skylands looking for an adventure.

After words, the conversation came to a close and I found the tall woman and said: "Hi." And she said: "Hello…" Back. "I'm Gregory. What's your name?" I asked. "Irene." She said back.

Talking to her was harder, because Irene wasn't much of a talker. We talked a bit, but I never really was able to determine why she had come to Skylands…

I then sought out the last person I hadn't talked to, which was the other teenage girl in blue. I approached her and said: "Hi." "Hi…" The girl said back. "My name's Gregory. What's yours?" I asked. "My name is Kathrynne. Nice to meet you, Gregory…" She said back. "Thanks. It's nice to meet you also, Kathrynne." I said.

Kathrynne slowly warmed up over the course of the discussion. I learned that(like most of us) she had come looking for adventure, but she also had come to try and boost her confidence…

When the conversations ended, David then said: "Now that you've all met each other, I'll give your group your first mission." David said. At last! Of course I had been happy all of these years, but I really was now, because this was my first experience of real… adventure!