Skylanders Academy the Marked One

Chapter 7

As the Skylanders quickly made their way to the fifth Trial of Light, an unsettling feeling had grown in the air, like they were being followed by something.

"is it just me or am I the only one who feels like their being followed" said Stealth Elf.

"yeah I feel it too Elfy, like a tingle on the back of my neck" said Eruptor.

"I have no idea what's going on, but I know it can't be good" said Kaossandra.

"we should hurry up" said Stealth Elf.

"that's a good idea" said Eruptor.

The Skylanders quickened their pace, they took long strides to get to the next trial faster. Just a couple of hundred feet behind them were Kai and Damian.

"they're close" whispered Kai.

"I know I can smell them" whispered Damian.

"we cannot fail" whispered Kai readying himself for a fight.

"I know" whispered Damian, he did not need to be reminded.

Back with the Skylanders they had soon arrived at the next trial. They entered a small room that just about fit the whole group in.

"this is a tight squeeze" complained Eruptor. He barely had enough to move his arms.

"hello contestants, you have now reached the penultimate trial" said CAL.

"what's the test this time" said Eruptor.

"the penultimate trial, is the trial of fear" said CAL.

"fear" said Eruptor.

"soon all of you will tested by confronting your deepest fears, to pass this trial you must confront these fears" said CAL.

"why would we need to do that" said Eruptor.

"because only a person with a heart of light can wield the Horn, if you have a fear of something or darkness in your heart it won't work" said Kaossandra.

"make's sense" said Eruptor.

"you will all enter the soon to open chamber, one by one and you will be taken and tested" said CAL.

After a few seconds of silence, the rock wall slide up revealing a hallway.

"one of you may now enter" said CAL.

"who's going first" said Eruptor.

"I'll go first" said Kaossandra.

She stepped forward into the hallway, the door quickly closed behind her. A fog slowly filled the room and soon Kaossandra vanished into thin air. The door opened again.

"she's gone" said Jet-Vac.

"my turn" said Terrafin.

He entered and soon he was gone too. One by one they all vanished into the fog ready to face their darkest fears. Just as the last Skylander entered the chamber, Kai and Damian entered the room. They saw the door shut behind the last Skylander.

"well they've entered the next trial, let's go join them" said Kai.

"Right behind you" said Damian.

The door opened as they approached.

"one at a time please" said CAL.

"see you on the other side Damian" said Kai.

Soon the two of them were also facing the Trial of Fear.

Kaossandra awoke with a start. She was sat on a small island.

"where am I" said Kaossandra standing up.

She looked around the sky was pitch black. An evil laugh came from behind her. She quickly turned around to see Kaos standing with Strykore.

"hello mother" said Kaos.

"Kaos what are you doing?" asked Kaossandra.

"I decided what I really am, I realised I'm evil, I rescued Strykore and together we destroyed the Core of Light and have brought darkness to the Skylands" said Kaos.

"Kaos you can't believe that" said Kaossandra backing away from the pair.

"oh, I do mother, everyone's fallen but you, now join us or you will be destroyed" said Kaos.

"no" said Kaossandra.

She turned and jumped off the island, she felt the wind on her face as she fell through the sky, below her she could see another island coming up to meet her. She let out a blast of magic the force slowed down her falling speed enough for her to land safely.

"going somewhere" said a voice from behind her. She turned around to see Kaos and Strykore again.

"you can't escape us sweetheart" said Strykore.

"you have darkness in you, the magic wasn't the only reason you turned evil, there was always a darkness inside you" said Kaos.

"no, the magic made me evil, I loved Eon and we protected the innocent" said Kaossandra.

"you don't believe that Kaossandra" said Strykore.

"I'm not evil, not anymore" said Kaossandra.

"give in be with us" said Strykore.

He stretched out a hand for her to grab. She lifted her hand contemplating her response, she shook her head.

"nooo" shouted Kaossandra. She attacked him with a spell knocking him back. the world around her crumbled and she soon woke up, this time in a large room, the other Skylanders around her and then she saw Damian and Kai.

"who are you, I recognise the other one that's that stupid Goliath" said Kaossandra. A few minutes later Kaboom and Terrafin woke up.

"we passed" said Kaboom.

What were your fears?" asked Kaossandra.

"my fear was that I lost all my strength and couldn't fight" said Terrafin.

"my fear was that I failed to manage the defence and the Academy was destroyed by my incompetence" said Kaboom.

"it's great you conquered your fears" said Kaossandra.

"now we wait for the others" said Kaboom.

They all turned to look at the other's who were asleep.

In Stealth Elf's mind she woke up in a small room. There were baby toys littering the floor and a crib.

"what is this place" said Stealth Elf. It looked vaguely familiar.

"hello sweetie" said a voice from the corner of the room.

She saw two shadows but couldn't see who they were.

"who are you" asked Stealth Elf.

"it's Mummy and Daddy, remember sweetheart" said the female shadow.

"mum, dad" said Stealth Elf.

"that's right sweetie, we're your parents" said the female shadow.

"why did you leave me" said Stealth Elf.

"we didn't want you, you were just a burden on us, too weak to live with us, so we dumped you in a tree" said the male shadow.

"that's not true" said Stealth Elf.

"it's true sweetie, we left you because your pathetic" said the female shadow.

"I'm not pathetic" said Stealth Elf lightly.

"yes, you are, that's why your parents abandoned you" said the male shadow.

"you have no family, you're a no-body" said the female voice.

The words repeated in her head. Stealth Elf covered her ears trying to block them out.

"leave me alone" she screamed.

"so sad the little elf can't handle a few mean words" said the male shadow.

They stretched out hands of darkness towards her and grasped hold of her shoulders.

"now we'll abandon you again, and you'll have no family again" said the male shadow.

"leave me alone" screamed Stealth Elf again.

They pushed her down to the ground and pinned her down.

"now little Elfy, time for you to be alone again" said the female shadow.

Stealth Elf remembered the last time she saw her parents when they left her in the tree, then she remembered Eon and Eruptor, and Spyro, they were her family now not these figments.

"I have a family" said Stealth Elf.

"what did you say" said the male shadow.

"I have a family the Skylanders and Eon, they're my family" said Stealth Elf. The shadows relinquished their grip on her.

Her voice came back to her.

"you may have left me in a tree, but I found a new family and they won't abandon me" said Stealth Elf.

The shadows slowly vanished and Stealth Elf woke up. She passed the test. She climbed to her feet everyone else had woken up. They were still reeling from the test. They never had to reflect on this part of themselves before.

"they work for the enemy don't they" said Eruptor.

"yeah we should move on quickly before they wake up" said Kaossandra.

"too late" said Jet-Vac.

Suddenly Damian's eyes opened. He leapt to his feet and saw the Skylanders ahead of him. A few seconds later and Kai woke up as well. It only took him a few seconds to realise the Skylanders were right in front of him. Kai climbed to his feet.

"Skylanders our master had told us to stop you" said Kai.

"then try and stop us, but we're going for the Horn of Light" said Eruptor.

Damian sprang forward and was quickly tackled by Kaboom and Terrafin. Kai let out a powerful roar, lightning shot out of his chest like a laser. The blast hit Pop-fizz knocking him into the wall. Cynder and Jet-Vac took flight to attack from the air. Kai sent a couple of blasts their way. They quickly dodged the attacks. Stealth Elf teleported in front of him and kicked him in the teeth. A tooth flew out. Angering him. He grabbed Elfy and before she could teleport punched her into the wall.

Back with Damian, he kicked Terrafin backwards before punching Kaboom in the face. Kaboom retaliated with a punch of his own. Damian threw an uppercut knocking Kaboom back. Damian pushed him into the wall and tried to choke him out. From behind Terrafin leapt onto his back and wrapped his arms around Kaboom's neck applying pressure. Damian let go of Kai to deal with Terrafin. Kaboom quickly retaliated grabbing Damian and headbutting him. Damian's nose let out a crack. Now Kaboom was on the offensive.

Meanwhile Kai was trying to deal with the overwhelming numbers, Kaossandra and Eruptor attacked from a distance with Stealth Elf drawing his fire towards her. Cynder and Jet-vac attacked from the skies. Kai was getting angry. Little specks of lighting appeared around his body. Suddenly his body exploded in energy cracking the very earth beneath them and knocking all the Skylanders on the ground to the floor. The earth shook from the tremendous power.

"Jesus" said Kaossandra.

She scrambled back to her feet, but she struggled to stand with the ground shaking so violently. Another explosion happened knocking Eruptor, Jet-Vac and Cynder out of the fight. Pop-fizz let loose a vial hitting him in the face stopping the explosions of energy in their tracks. The remaining Skylanders quickly recovered and returned to fighting Kai.

Kaossandra froze his feet to the ground. Pop-Fizz threw another vial he raised his arms to protect himself and didn't see Stealth Elf Teleport underneath him and land a spinning kick to his chin. The force knocked him back breaking the ice around his feet.

"switch" shouted Kaossandra.

Kaboom and Kaossandra switched fights. Kaossandra started targeting Damian with ice spells freezing parts of his body. Kaboom jumped towards Kai and superman punched him in the face. They noticed a hole in the ground from when Kai used his energy attacks.

"try and throw him down the hole" said Stealth Elf. Kaboom grabbed Kai and tried to drag him towards the hole.

Kai responded by blasting Kaboom with his lightning attack knocking Kaboom back. Stealth Elf distracted Kai long enough for Kaboom to get back to his feet. He snuck back up behind Kai and locked him in a full nelson headlock. He dragged him closer to the hole, Pop-fizz threw another vial this time hitting him straight in the face. Finally, with one loud grunt Kaboom threw Kai into the hole. Kai scrambled at the sides as he fell into the darkness.

They turned to see Kaossandra throw a huge ball of magic into Damian's chest dropping him to his knees. Terrafin finished him off with a powerful right hook knocking him unconscious. Victory was theirs.

"We win Skylanders" said Kaossandra trying to catch her breath.

"that was a hard fight" said Eruptor coming to. The other hurt Skylanders regained their composure.

"we dealt with them and now only one trial left" said Stealth Elf.

"lets just hope it's easy" said Eruptor.

A door opened leading the way to the final trial of light.

"let's go" said Kaossandra. The group slowly trotted on.

Cadaverous Crypts

A scared skeleton ran up to the throne.

"master the two soldiers have fallen" said the Skeleton.

The masked figure clenched his fist.

"enough, I thought I could trust them to do the job" said the Figure.

"what is the plan master?" asked the Skeleton.

"open the vault" said the Figure.

The figure slowly rose from his throne, the skeletons all around quickly flopped to the floor and bowed to him. He stepped down from his throne and walked towards a vault. A skeleton twisted the handle and pulled the vault door open. The figure entered the vault, he clicked his fingers and a series of torches ignited illuminating the room. A box was sat on the pedestal in the centre of the room. It was the only item inside the vault. He opened the box and a black slithering object like a snake slithered out and around his wrist.

"so, you grunts can't handle a few Skylanders, fine I'll deal with them myself" said the figure. The object wrapped around his wrist and hardened into the shape of a long-curved claw.

"hahaha" laughed the figure.