On the Move Again

(Lauren's POV)

I strode down Main Street, heading towards the southern side of Haven for my practice session with John. I walked past little shops filled with armors, clothing, weapons like swords and knives, amongst other things. I'd finally managed to memorize the small underground city in the week we had been here, so I took a route that led me past the Crop center. Master Eon had, as he said, given seeds to the Elemental Crops to the members of the Swap Force. So with their freeing, we had managed to plant the Crops, using their energy to power things around the city, like lights, laundromats, heaters. For the time though, us Portal Masters and Skylanders were the only ones who were able to use the energy for spells. Nobody else was skilled enough to control the raw magic. I thought back to what Keegan had said about a vault. It apparently contained secret recipes involving the Crops, and how to use them to make powerful potions and things like that. But he had also said that the vault was locked away somewhere on Earth, either in a volcano, underwater, or just buried somewhere. I passed by the small Crop farm and ran my hand over the Floats, sending a little jolt of energy through my body, causing my Crystal to glow a little.

'So, are you going to actually use me this time?' Asked Avala Rivule, the Portal Master in my Crystal. The other Portal Masters and I had talked about them during our first night here. Apparently, the spirits were awakened when we Portaled the Skylanders down. But Julia had told her how her Portal Master, Taloc, had woke up when she was hurt out in the Outlands. I'm still not sure how I feel about having another mind in my head, and we still didn't know much about them.

'Maybe. We all saw what happened with Ryan and Julia. Lord knows we don't want an angry steam monster running around down here.' I thought back.

'I'm not saying raw magic, just do something. I need practice as much as you do. It's quite boring, sitting locked up in here with nothing to do but daydream.' I felt a little bad for her. 'And your Cryomancy still needs a lot of work.' She had a point, pretty much the only thing I can do with ice is make spikes and rudimentary walls. Which was all fine and dandy, but the thought of a thousand Arkeyans charging me headlong, and only being able to make an ice wall, didn't settle well. I thought back to what Maia had said back at the Ambrosia farm. Cryomancers freezing collapsing buildings so people could escape. I wonder if I'll ever be able to do that.

'What I'm about to teach you is so much more powerful, dear.' Avala thought to me. I asked what she meant. 'There's an ancient technique, lost to the centuries, used by many Water elementals. A fighting style called Fluid Weaponry. Masters would use water and ice as weaponry, melting and freezing to flow past the enemy defenses.'

I arrived at the training yard, a large flat area to the north of the city. We had told Taylor about our sparring session today, so he ordered his men to clear the yard of all the training dummies, and spectator stands had been set up along the far edges of the yard, occupied by the small crowd of people that came to see a couple of normal people fight (we still haven't made public the fact that we're Portal Masters). A couple of Geomancers visiting from the Earth Guild had been kind enough to pack down the dirt of the yard, turning it to flat, hard rock. On the other end of the field I saw John, illuminated by the streetlamps circling the yard. He was wearing a simple red T-shirt and jeans, his black hair combed out of the way of his eyes. I also spotted two cylinders that looked like thermoses hanging from his hips.

"Let's start hand to hand." He called. I nodded and took my jacket off, leaving me in my blue tank top. A couple of teenage guys catcalled, but I ignored them.

"No holds barred." I yelled back, raising my fists. He grinned at me and raised his own. We were only thirty paces apart, but he covered that space in no time, opening with a left hook. I ducked and shot my left foot out, trying to trip him up. But he only kicked my foot hard and rolled forward. I jumped as he rose to a crouch and tried to swoop kick my feet out, expecting the move. He rose fully and kicked my right side, but I managed to catch his foot. He grinned and jumped, kicking me in the temple with the heel of his other shoe. I went staggering back and fell onto my back, causing the Flood Flask to fall out of my pocket. I grabbed it as John started to pace towards me and blasted him in the chest with water, sending him flying back. He landed on his back and rolled through the dirt, all the breath leaving his lungs. He stood up again, angrier than before. Flames started licking up his arms, burning brighter as the water evaporated off of him. I gulped and unleashed the Flask on him again, but he just raised his arm and shot back a torrent of flame with his Fire Flower. Flame met water like two snakes in a hissing match,sending steam curling through the air. Neither of us had a clear advantage, so he cast out his other hand and sent even more fire at me. I grabbed onto the stream coming from my Flask and diverted part of it to block his newest assault. He blasted at me with flame from two directions, and I couldn't keep up. I was forced to step back as the flames grew closer and closer while my water shrunk. There was a thunderclap and he fell to the ground, and I heaved a sigh of relief. But my breath hitched as I caught a familiar black cloak out of the corner of my eye.

"Mind if I join?" Ryan asked, his hands glowing gray.

"No, not at all." I lied. I was really uncomfortable around him, and I'd feel better if he would just leave.

"Back off Zombie Boy," John hollered as he threw a fireball towards Ryan, who just rolled away nimbly, "This is our match, and besides, you couldn't even take me alone!"

"You might be right. How about I bring some friends?" He went down on one knee and pressed his palm to the earth. A gray glow started spiraling outwards from his hand, and the ground cracked opened. Skeletons started crawling up from the depths of the Underworld and marched towards John with weapons drawn. He only snickered and sent a fireball into the ranks of the undead, reducing them to ash.

"Are you going to stand there or are you going to cover me?" Ryan snapped, shaking me out of my fear induced reverie. I did not like skeletons. But I also wanted to win. I lashed out with a whip of water, but John waved his hand and it was consumed by fire. But his attention was now torn between us, and we pressed the advantage. I started running circles around John, lashing out with tendrils of water as Ryan's soldiers pressed in on him. Fireballs flew erratically as John tried to keep pace with Ryan and I.

'Now, press in.' Avala rang out in my mind. I summoned an icy trident and charged. I jabbed out with the trident and John was forced to try to bat it aside with his sword. Checkmate. As his sword made contact, my trident melted, then reshaped and re froze into a bident after his sword was clear, catching the cloth of his shirt, just inches from his neck. I drove the points into the ground, pinning his head as Ryan's skeletons pinned his arms. John thrashed helplessly as i stood above him, panting. Ryan paced up to us, black cloak swirling.

"Not too bad," he said, nodding at me, "but I would've closed in sooner." I scowled at the necromancer, who just raised an eyebrow in return. With a wave of his hand, the skeletons burst into ash and scattered on a wind that I didn't feel. John started struggling to remove the bident from above him.

"Get this thing off of me before I light your ponytail on fire." He growled.

"Chill out." I replied, then melted the weapon. Icy cold water splashed on his face as it did, and I giggled at my unintentional joke. John jumped up quick and stared Ryan dead in the eye.

"You, me, one on one. Right now." There was a murderous light in John's eyes, but Ryan just shrugged, intentionally patronizing the pyromancer.

"Swing." Was all Ryan said. John opened the thermoses on his hips and dipped his hands in. When he withdrew them, they were covered in a black oil. I jumped back as the oil caught fire and John threw a savage right hook. Ryan ducked it and took a step back, but only long enough to drop the cloak off his shoulders before he was back in the fight. There were no skeletons this time. There was no magic used by Ryan at all. But he was still winning, somehow. He kept dodging, ducking, weaving his way in close.

Too close.

John, hands still flaming, caught Ryan in a bear hug. Even though he made no sound, it was obvious Ryan could feel the flames eating his back. But then he smiled, and the tables turned. Black electricity streaked across John's features and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. John screamed as he was thrown backwards. Smoke still curled from the holes in Ryan's shirt, revealing nasty-looking burns on his back. But even still, the fight went on. John, his hands now extinguished, drew his sword, lighting the blade on fire. That guy really likes fire. Ryan merely shrugged again, dropping his hood. The light caught his sandy hair, and the scar from the spider attack stuck out prominently. His grey eyes locked with John's. He drew his dagger from his belt, letting the sound ring.

The two charged each other, but it was over before it started. Ryan had dropped into a slide kick, but John jumped it. Before he could attack himself, Ryan had his dagger pressed against John's throat.

"This has been fun, but it appears we have company." Ryan said.

Then I spotted Maia coming towards us at a furious pace, a tablet in her hand and the other Portal Masters hot on her heels.

"I have good news, bad news, and really bad news." She said as she stopped.

"Well, good news is always good, so let's start with that." Aaron said.

"I've located the Giants."

"Really? Where?"

"That's the bad news. They're being kept somewhere inside Area 51." I felt a rock form in my stomach. How were we supposed to get into a military base?

"Oh. What's the even worse news?" Aaron sounded crestfallen.

"It's been taken over by Draxx's forces. I'm not sure how many are in there, but the entire area is just blanketed in Dark energy, making it nearly impossible to pick up any other signatures through radar. The only reason I was able to figure out the Giants were there was because there were trace signatures of the core eight Elements, and the only things that would have a chance of making it through that fog would be them or the Eternal Sources."

A bubble of laughter broke free of my chest. "So you're saying that we're going to break into a government base, flooded with so much Darkness that we're probably outnumbered thirty to one? I know we've done some crazy stuff before, but exactly how are we supposed to do this?"

"Thirty to one is nothing to a Giant. We sneak in, we free them, and bust out. Besides, we'll take a few Skylanders to help distract… Whatever's in there." Maia replied coolly.

"We're all insane, aren't we?" I asked exasperated.

We gathered the few Skylanders we would take with us; Snap Shot, Kaboom, Enigma, and Tread Head. After gathering our supplies and checking our weapons, we were ready to head to the surface. Taylor came to say a few departing words.

"I wish you guys had told me where you were going." He said exasperatedly. We hadn't told him where we were off to, for safety reasons. Even though he was openly friendly and hospitable to us, Aaron cautioned that the Darkness, whether we liked it or not, now ruled Earth. The Arkeyans had moved in quickly and efficiently, and Taylor had told us they wiped out the White House within a day.

"We told you," Aaron said, "we've got important business in the west. We shouldn't be gone for long, hopefully we won't even be away for a week, but in a worst case scenario we could be gone for about a month. Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"I like to know where my allies are, so I can send help if need be." Taylor argued. He was usually a bright, cheery person, but now he seemed so much older. It was as if a huge weight bore down on his shoulders. Which, in a way, I suppose it did.

"We'll be in the west. We shouldn't need any help, but if we do I'll contact you." Aaron said firmly. Taylor finally relented.

"Fine, but if you have to go, at least take some things with you." Taylor said cryptically

"What are they?"

"Call it… Experimental weaponry. Designed by myself. Dick!" he called over his shoulder, "Bring the experiments!"

His advisor came towards us wheeling a metal cart. On it lay guns, some sort of metal spheres, and what looked like a miniature bow. Taylor picked up a large sniper rifle, handing it to Maia.

"Highest bullet velocity on Earth. And, specialized bullets containing the strongest acid known to man. When the round meets its target, the bullet collapses, shattering the glass tube with the acid. Very effective against Arkeyans and armor, but the acid is countered by human skin. But I doubt that'll be a problem with a rifle as strong as that." She nodded appreciatively and slung it over her shoulder.

Next he turned to John, passing him a pair of pistols. "Integrated welding torches, also my own design. Nothing too spectacular, but up close it can do some serious damage." John smiled and tucked them into his belt.

Leah was up next. "Hold out your wrist." She did, and he attached to her gauntlet a miniature bow with collapsible arms, then passed her some thin darts. "I'll admit, the bow wasn't my idea, but the poisons inside these darts are my own design. You've got three for killing and three for knocking unconscious. It only has a range of a hundred feet or so, arced with no wind." She tucked the projectiles in the cuff of her gauntlet.

"I couldn't really think of anything for you," he said to Bruce, "so I got you a pair of brass knuckles." Bruce laughed a little and tucked them into his pants pockets.

He took a small cloth pouch and handed it to Julia. "Small spores that, when inhaled, cause the victim to have an asthmatic reaction. Can't fight if you can't breathe. Just be careful you don't use it on yourself." He said with a chuckle.

He picked up the two little metal spheres and passed them to Aaron. "Grenades, sort of." He said. He pointed at a sun symbol on one "That one behaves as either a flare or flashbang. But, be sure you aren't in the same room when it flashes. As for flare, it's a much safer option with a run time of about an hour." He pointed to the other one, it had a cloud symbol. "Lethal or non-lethal smoke. It'll either emit black smoke, good for camouflage, or the other emission; a highly corrosive acid, the same design as Maia's rifle rounds, but with added elements to make it combustible. Again, I'd suggest you be in another room. The smoke is a one-time use on each, but the light is rechargeable via solar." Aaron accepted them with an unreadable expression.

Taylor turned to me and handed me a backpack. "It's one of those water bags. It'll hold a gallon and a half. One of our guys found it on a raid." I accepted it with a smile. It seemed kind of stupid because of the Flask, but I couldn't really think of anything better.

Lastly, he turned to Ryan, handing him a couple flat metal discs, no bigger than the palm of his hand. "These are cameras, but they double as shuriken." He pinched the middle and the metal twisted and retracted, revealing four shuriken blades. "Diamond edged and razor sharp. The cameras are synched to this." He said, handing Ryan a little tablet.

"Portal Masters," Aaron said. All eyes turned to him. "Let's move!"

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-DeadPortal