Chapter 3: Cabin Fever
"Oh no, no way, you cannot make me spend time with her!" Jet-Vac protested, pointing at Cynder and placing extra vehemence on the word 'her'. "Oh, shut up, Sargent," Terrafin snorted. "She did bad stuff, she turned good, she made up for it, we all got over it. You should too!"
The two were standing in Spyro's room. Spyro himself was upstairs, trying to console Cynder.
"Can't blame a bird for having opinions," Jet-Vac snorted, turning away and folding his arms. "I don't have a problem with her. Hot Dog, do you have a problem with Cynder?" Terrafin shouted in the general direction of the pup's room. "Who's Cynder?" the reply came. "Pop Fizz, do you have a problem with Cynder?" Terrafin continued. "Naah, she's cool," the reply came from a few rooms down. "Spyro doesn't and neither does Chop Chop. And Cynder's hardly gonna have a problem with herself. That makes you the only one, beak-face," Terrafin growled.
Jet-Vac snorted in derision. "You missed someone,"
Terrafin quickly counted off all the Skylanders in the combined craft. "Oh. Right," he nervously grimaced. "Gill Grunt! Do you have a problem with Cynder?" he shouted at the doorway leading between Spyro's room and the fish soldier's. "Er, uh, how do I put this?" he responded, before conmecting door slid closed and the sound of thrusters kicking in could be heard through the walls as Gill Grunt made a hasty escape. "That rotten sharkbait," Terrafin growled. "Can't say I blame him. I also can't say I wouldn't join him if not for the safety restrictions," Jet-Vac distractedly nodded, inspecting his talons.
Due to a safety feature, a craft could only disconnect if it was only connected to one other craft and any other crafts were also connected in another way. Jet-Vac's vehicle was the only connection between Pop Fizz and Chop Chop's conjoined vehicles, and Cynder, Spyro, Terrafin and Hot Dog's vehicles. Therefore, the safety regulations prevented him from disconnecting unless either Pop Fizz or Cynder disconnected from him or someone put their craft in the gap between Chop Chop and Spyro.
X
"Just, why?" Cynder sniffed. She and Spyro were alone in her room. Cynder's room was rather average, in the same layout as Spyro's. Only two rooms, a bathroom and an everywhere else. A stove and fridge in the corner, near the door, and a draconic den opposite it. A wall-length window at the front that would normally overlook a balcony but the view was obscured by Jet-Vac's room forcibly connected to hers. Cynder's walls, though, were painted a light shade of violet. Other than that, it all looked quite ordinary - except there was a noticeable absence of any photographs, any mementos. Anything, other than the books on the shelf, that really said anything about the room's owner.
"It's okay," Spyro consoled the violet dragoness, lying perpendicular to her and wrapping his wing around Cynder's slim frame. The dragoness buried her angular head in Spyro's neck, and the dragon gently laid his head atop hers.
"Thanks," Cynder sniffed. "I don't get it. Why can't they just accept you've changed?" Spyro asked no one in particular. Cynder sniffed. "Have I?"
Spyro gently nuzzled the back of her neck. "Sure you have. You wouldn't have been picked as a Cloudbreak Skylander if you hadn't,"
"They only did that because you wouldn't have gone if I wasn't," Cynder mumbled. "So? You could have come, even if you weren't one. The eruption is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, odds are half the Skylanders will be taking time off to see it. You were still chosen,"
"Against what? Seriously, my competition was an undead ostrich racer who slacks off so much I'm surprised he hasn't been fired, a ghoul who goes crazy whenever he sees something he can eat, and a sorceress who acts so aloof nobody likes her. And then there's me, hated by everyone. Chop Chop's the only competent Undead Core,"
"I still think that's unfair. You're not undead, your powers aren't related to death -"
Cynder threw herself out from under Spyro and glared at him. "I summon the ghosts of the recently deceased to aid me in battle,"
"Because Eon gave you that charm to help you harness Undead elemental energy. Not because of you yourself," Spyro gently pointed out. Cynder snorted, "Whatever," and laid back down - but didn't complain when her boyfriend laid down against her again.
X
"What is your problem with Cynder, anyway?" Terrafin demanded. "Let's see, reason number one," Jet-Vac mimed counting off on his claws. "She's evil! Reason number two. She's evil. Oh, and we can hardly forget reason number three, eh? She's evil," Jet-Vac nodded with each syllable to emphasise his point. "You ain't got no proof of that," Terrafin snorted, jabbing Jet-Vac in the chest with a finger. "Did you see what she did to the Dragon Realms?"
"Under Malefor's control," Terrafin retorted. "Fine, have it your way," Jet-Vac snorted. "Just don't come running to me when she betrays us all," the anthropomorphic bird snorted, opening the door to Spyro's balcony and stepping through it.
Terrafin watched jn shock as the Air Skylander jumped off the edge and plummeted. "What the hell?" he asked, worried despite his anger at Jet-Vac.
His anger resurfaced as Jet-Vac returned to view, flying upwards, opening the back door to Chop Chop's section and placing a foot inside, before turning, flipping Terrafin the bird and slamming the door. "Oh, that rotten piece of poultry!" the shark cursed.
X
"Heyo, old chap," Jet-Vac nodded respectfully to Chop Chop. "I thought you disliked the Undead element?" Chop Chop questioned, not looking up from the controls. "Nope. I make opinions based on individuals. You've been alive and fighting for the Skylanders for longer than everyone else I know put together. Way I see it, that makes you alright in my book,"
"I see," Chop Chop responded, seeming to think for a second. "Would you assist me with something?" he asked a moment later. "Depends, old chap, what did ya have in mind?" Jet-Vac cocked a brow.
"Spyro has discovered something he should not have. It is for his own good that he be persuaded to drop the matter. Can I count on your assistance?"
"And what something would this be?" Jet-Vac asked.
Chop Chop was silent. "Hello? Anyone home?" the bird asked after a few moments.
"It is as you said. I have been alive and fighting for the Skylanders for longer than anyone else you know. When you live that long, you watch things happen. Things that perhaps I should not have allowed to happen. But even I cannot change the past. I can only do my best to prevent anyone else from sinking into that particular quagmire. And it is that quagmire I fear has entrapped Spyro," Chop Chop finally told his fellow Skylander.
Jet-Vac gulped at the description Chop Chop had laid out for him. Visibly unnerved, he nodded. "Alright then. But me and Spyro ain't on the best of terms. I can't promise that he'll listen to me,"
"I know," Chop Chop replied.
After a few seconds of silence, Jet-Vac shrugged. "Alright, I'll, uh, be going now," and climbed out of the room.
A few minutes later, Chop Chop spoke out loud, voicing his thoughts. "Something is starting. I can sense it. I only hope I can prevent this situation before it even begins,"
X
But despite his promises, Jet-Vac failed to bring up the matter to Spyro. Instead, he sat in his room for the first two days of the flight and sulked about the fact that no one on the craft agreed with him. Pop Fizz eventually got sick of walking through the angry avian's room, and moved his own to the spot Gill Grunt's had been in, to the right of Spyro's. He, of course, used Hot Dog's room to make sure the safety restrictions continued to prevent Jet-Vac from making his escape. The fire pup was the only one oblivious enough to stand passing through the brooding bird's room, and he barely went into his own anyway.
Terrafin and Pop Fizz amused themselves through feeding potions to Hot Dog. Cynder and Spyro stayed in Cynder's room for the most part, and the others wondered what they got up to in there. No one actually knew what, and things stayed that way.
Chop Chop resolutely piloted the ship, his attention never straying. Even when he adjusted his individual craft's position to take Pop Fizz's room's place.
And so the first two days of the three-day voyage to Cloudbreak passed in tedium.
X
"You ever wonder where those toilets go?" Terrafin asked Pop Fizz. "I'd bet they just dump our waste on whatever's beneath us," the gremlin shrugged.
"Hate to be under the exhaust when that happens," Terrafin snorted.
There was a brief pause.
"You know, they could have designed these places a little better. It's just all so cramped. The dragons have bigger spaces in their rooms," Pop Fizz frowned.
"That being why I smashed a few holes in the walls of mine," Terrafin chuckled.
The non-draconic Skylanders' crafts had a different interior design. The bathroom was at the front, in front of the door to the right. All the space between the right door (which was accessed through a corridor between the segmented rooms) and the main door was the bedroom, which only had one door. The upper and right areas of the room were the living space, with a partition in the upper right corner that was a partially fenced off kitchen with a closable window/counter between it and the living space. Yet another wall ran between the bathroom and the kitchen, dividing away a final room that had no real purpose. In Terrafin's room, this particular wall had been demolished, as had most of the walls around the bedroom.
"It makes sense, though, dragons get bigger," Pop Fizz shrugged. "I'll show them bigger! Gimme a potion to do that!" Terrafin shouted. Pop Fizz gulped, realising that his friend might have had a bit more of a reaction to the mild alcoholic spike he had put in their drinks than he had. "Er, Terrafin, my friend, I think you're drunk,"
"Don't be ridiculous, I've chugged harder brews with hot sauce," the dirt shark chuckled, then hiccuped as he took another swig of the beverage Pop Fizz had whipped up. "Though that was jusht about eleventy-ish yearsh ago - hiccupsh coming," Terrafin then proceeded to hiccup, just as he had foretold. "Is it possible being drunk gives Terrafin the psychic ability to see the future? He just predicted that he was about to hiccup!" Pop Fizz gasped. "Quick, drink more!" he commanded, giving Terrafin his drink.
Terrafin snatched the cup and gulped the rest down. "Who is the next person you're going to punch?" Pop Fizz experimentally asked. "It's gonna be the blue gremlin right in front of me," Terrafin swayed, doing his best to sound macho despite his drunken state.
"Brilliant!" Pop Fizz celebrated, before realising exactly what the Earth Skylander had said. "Wait a second -"
Terrafin's bare, yet still strong, fist smacked the gremlin in the nose. Even without much power behind it, sapped by Terrafin's drunken state, it was a strong punch. The alchemist swayed, before collapsing on the ground. "At least he can predict the future," he moaned.
X
"I wonder what's going on down there?" Cynder thought aloud. "There's some things you don't ask, and how Pop Fizz spends his days is one of them," Spyro advised.
"Attention all Skylanders travelling with me. I have received information about our exact destination from Sprocket. We will arrive in two hours," Chop Chop said in monotone over the intercom.
"Hey!" Hot Dog barked, entering Cynder's room and joining the two dragons. "I just saw a bunch of little planes! Isn't that cool?"
"Lemme guess, they were waving flags and painted all the colours of the rainbow," Cynder snorted. Hot Dog cocked his head in confusion. "Nope. They were black and purple and pointing guns at us,"
"What!" Spyro gasped.
X
"Attention all Skylanders! Me and my group are under attack! Everyone get back to your rooms! If we split up we'll have less chance of being shot down!" Spyro shouted into Cynder's mike. "I will forward the coordinates to our destination to all of you," Chop Chop reported.
"See you soon," Spyro quickly kissed Cynder on the cheek, before jumping down into his own room - to find Pop Fizz had disconnected from the right of his room and Terrafin was slumped, unconscious, on the floor.
Pop Fizz, who had apparently repositioned his room so that it was attached to Terrafin's, slunk in from the dirt shark's quarters and stopped dead at the sight of he purple dragon. "Spyro, hi," he nervously greeted, snatching up Terrafin's wrist and pathetically trying to pull Terrafin into his own room without the dragon noticing. "What did you do?" Spyro snorted.
"He, ah, got a little drunk," Pop Fizz nervously told his fellow Magic Element, shivering under Spyro's glare.
Spyro cocked his head, hearing Cynder's room disconnect from above his. "Get out of here. I'll take care of him," he commanded.
"Yes sir!" Pop Fizz dashed away. Spyro heard clamps disengaging and saw Pop Fizz's craft fly away through the window. Terrafin's was the only one still attached to him, and even as Spyro came to this realisation the craft rocked. The dragon sniffed and detected a suspicious whiff of fresh air. "Hey, dragon! Theresh a hole in the corner," Terrafin slurred, looking up for a second. Looking around, Terrafin was right. There was a chunk of brick and metal missing from just above his bed, and Spyro spotted a little craft fly past for a second. He couldn't make out much, but it looked malevolent enough to arouse his suspicions. "If we survive this, I'm gonna kill you," Spyro groaned at the dirt shark slumped on the floor, and seized the controls.
"Just because I have no weapons, doesn't mean I'm defenceless," Spyro gritted his teeth as the craft shot forwards. The GPS engaged itself, but Spyro barely looked at it as he frantically pulled at the joystick. The ship swerved in a tight turn to the left, from open air to skimming above a forested Skyland. "Whowp!" Spyro gasped in shock as a flock of birds soared towards him, frantically pulling up to avoid smashing into them.
The distant pulse of gunfire rapidly became not so distant, the craft jerking about as energy pulses peppered it's rear. In retaliation, Spyro pulled a half loop, swerving the craft into the opposite direction and spending a few nerve-wracking seconds up-side-down, before correcting - Terrafin's prone form falling into mid-air before crashing down to the ground with a thunk - and getting his first good look at his assailants.
They were a trio of small planes, mostly black and purple with highlights of pale, greying yellow. The surprising thing was their pilots, tiny, warty, knobbly runts with big heads and ears with holes in them and stubby little tails. They were dressed in ragged blue shirts and red bandanas, and wielding little swords, doing their best to look threatening. They were almost cute, in a really ugly way.
"Seriously? What, has Kaos run out of trolls?" Spyro derisively snorted at the sight of the 'new-and-deproved' minions. "Kaos! Where is that little punk, he owesh me five smackersh!" Terrafin exploded from the ground in rage at the mention of the name, before drunkenly swaying, "And I don't mean smackersh like kishes, if he tries to kish me I'll . . . ." He collapsed back to the ground in a semi-drunken state. "I will wring your non-existent neck, Pop Fizz," Spyro growled.
One of the minions' ships angled upwards, moving to intercept him. In response, Spyro arced downwards, aiming for the other two.
With a whoosh of air that the dragon could feel through the hole in the back of his craft, the two soared past each other in opposite directions with less than a metre to spare.
Spyro twisted his craft vertically - digging his claws inti the carpet for purchase and wincing as he heard Terrafin belly-slide across the crusted shag, thunking into the wall - as he moved towards the other two enemy ships, and, planning his move in seconds, in the instant that he whooshed between the two jets, he slammed Terrafin's half back downwards to horizontal, dealing a hammer blow to his opposition to the left. The dragon smirked in grim satisfaction as the craft spiralled downwards and crashed into the Skyland beneath them. "One down," he smirked.
The angle had caused Terrafin to slide back towards the left of the room's interior and out of the corner of his eye Spyro spotted him slide back across the crusted shag on his belly, back into his own side of the room.
The other two crafts were pointing in completely the wrong direction, and Spyro knew that by the time they turned around, he would have enough of a head start that they would be incapable of catching up. Unless they had reinforcements, he was home free.
The dragon finally took a look at the GPS. "Seems simple enough," he shrugged, setting a course to the coordinates Chop Chop had given him.
"Hey, wyvern thingy! There'sh a guy over there!" Terrafin slurred, pointing at the cliff face on an island nearby Spyro. "Don't be ridiculous, that's a cliff face," Spyro snorted. "There'sh a hole," Terrafin snorted, still pointing.
Spyro frowned. He was right, there was an oddly large cave. "What the?" he frowned, subconsciously adjusting the controls and coming closer.
In an instant, a missile shot out of the cave, directly towards Spyro. "Oh crud!" Spyro gasped, dashing out of it's path and into the relative safety of the bathroom. Terrafin, luckily, had managed to get himself into his own room.
A huge explosion came from the front of the room. Through the half-open door, Spyro spotted the blast disintegrating the cockpit, breathing a sigh of relief that he was no longer there, before ducking his head. He had decided the safest place to take cover was the steel bathtub.
The shockwave tore his room in half, the tiles cracking centimetres from his scaly face. Half of the bathroom, as well as the last part of his main room, was torn away from the rest. Terrafin's part of the craft, still attached to a piece of Spyro's, span away in the opposite direction.
Spyro was jolted back to reality as the back wall behind him smashed into the cliff face, brick, metal and piping disintegrating. He ducked back into the bathtub, even as it became weightless beneath him.
He was falling. And he didn't know if there was land beneath him.
A/N
A/N
Firstly, -
"Hey, everybody!"
Don't interrupt me, sis. XD
"Alright,"
Anyway. Firstly, apparently I didn't give enough information on the two unknown characters to get anyone to actually bother guessing. So here's the next hinter: one of them has only been in the original Skylanders game, Spyro's Adventure. To date, anyway, they might return in SuperChargers or any game after that. The other has only been seen in the currently most recent game, Trap Team. Again, they may or may not return in SuperChargers and other future, yet unannounced games. I will not say which was in which.
"Oh, and sorry for portraying Pop Fizz that way earlier, Seraph, whenever you read this. We're trying to do things realistically - and Pop Fizz strikes us as someone who's smart but knows nothing of logic and/or common sense,"
Anyway. For the record, Sparkbutt, what I'm doing with Cali is yet to be revealed. And I have a problem with her because way back in Spyro's Adventure I COULD NEVER BEAT ANY OF HER FRICKING HEROIC CHALLENGES! Also, I hate that people ship her with Flynn. Flessa all the way, baby!
"Flessa? Seriously?"
It was that or Telynn, take your pick. (TessaXFlynn)
"Impressive cliffhanger. I can't wait to -"
No spoilers!
"Right, sorry. Peace!"
This ag-