Ch. 52: Heads Or Tails?
The somewhat ridiculous giant flying stone temple, powered by the infinite charge of the yellow Chaos Emerald, docked above the docks on the Isle of Light. Loni, Spyro, Cynder, Zap, Riley, Dan, with Drago perched on his shoulder, Countdown, Bash, Camo, Jade, Whirlwind, Fryno, Chill, Roller Brawl and Shroomboom all carefully clambered down from the temple as Tails used the Chaos Emerald at the heart of the temple to levitate the surviving go-karts down to the floating island.
Roller Brawl looked around, slightly concerned. "Hey, where's Trigger Happy?"
Tails finished offloading the karts from the temple and, flying down to join the others, whom a large crowd were gathering around, asking what had happened. "This'll be great for Spyro's ego," Cynder sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Uh, guys?" Tails interjected. "I can't find Trigger Happy. Or the Mega Rocket,"
Everyone in the entire crowd paled visibly. "What? Is it that bad that we accidentally left him behind?"
"I hast known Trigger Happy for many a year, and whence he disappears upon nary an occasion such as this," Ignitor began.
A joyous, maniacal laugh sounded, and suddenly, the Mega Rocket, with supercharged fireworks, accelerated down a massive ramp that was built into the temple for some reason and ended by flicking upwards, slashed down and narrowly avoided decapitating the majority of the assembled Skylanders, before landing a few metres away, glancing off the side of the Core of Light, and smashing itself to pieces against one of the great stone monoliths that made up the lower part of the fountain. Trigger Happy emerges from the wreckage, grinning like mad. "THAT WAS AWESOME! YE-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"That happens," Ignitor finished.
X - (After uploading the last chapter, I realised that my method of separating sections wasn't working, so from now on I'm doing this - hopefully it works!)
"WHERE IN SKYLANDS IS EVERYONE?!" Linagarnix bellowed.
"With respect, Master's mother, Darkus and Windstorm are on a date, Rocky is keeping a very close eye on them, Shadeblazer is hunting down the other half of her, Cogshine is working on his robot, and the Ancients know where Burn is," a passing Wilikin manservant explained.
"You called?" Cogshine sleazily asked, sauntering into the throne room.
"Or I could be wrong," the Wilikin ascertained, before hurriedly scurrying from the room under the full force of Linagarnix's seethingly furious gaze.
"Cogshine. I would like you to explain something to me," Linagarnix icily asked, her anger masked by her frozen, almost robotic tone.
Cogshine absent-mindedly twirled a bolt he seemed to have produced from nowhere between his claws, before flicking it away absent-mindedly. It hit Linagarnix in the face, and bounced off it with a dull thud. That alone should have warned off anyone, but Cogshine was too wrapped up in himself to care. "I hope it's not something complicated like rocket science, or basic fashion for that matter, because I don't think you would understand it,"
That comment about basic fashion really annoyed the self-proclaimed 'mother of all evil'. "I have amazing fashion sense, for your information. And no, what I intended to ask was, WHY DID YOU AND ALL THE OTHERS DECIDE THAT JUST BECAUSE WE FAILED TO TAKE BACK MY LABORATORY MEAN THAT YOU COULD ALL TAKE A THREE-WEEK LONG VACATION?!" she shrieked at the Tech hybrid.
"Chill, chill. I dunno about the others, but I have actually been doing something of use," Cogshine reassured her.
"And what exactly is that?" Linagarnix asked, returning to her icy glare.
And in that instant, Cogshine's sleazy grin returned. "Did you know that there are more Portal Masters on that barren world everyone simply calls Earth than the two the Skylosers recruited?"
Linagarnix blinked. She hated to admit it, but she had never even considered that possibility. Stunned into failing to do anything to deny it, she simply responded, "No,"
Cogshine's smile turned into a smirk of superiority. "Well, there are. And I have been attempting to give my robot the ability to travel between here and Earth in attempts to locate them and persuade them to join us," he continued, mentally cursing his subconscious use of the word robot. "And I just came here to tell you that it took me this long, but I have succeeded,"
X
Tails landed - hard - back in his laboratory. "Ouuuch," he moaned, clasping a paw to his horns. "I guess that lunatic ramming into me must have dealt me enough damage for the 'your Skylander is tired and needs to rest'," he mocked the game in a high-pitched voice, "thing to kick in,"
The indigo dragon checked a timer he had set up before portalling into Skylands. "Eight hours and twenty-four minutes. Less time than I thought. Eh, back at it," a and he jumped back through the portal, remembering to tuck his wings in tight so that they didn't catch on the edges this time.
And, unbeknownst to him, someone was hiding behind some of the genius' equipment, filming the entire thing on an iPhone. As soon as the dragon had passed through the portal, they stepped out, stopped filming, and dialled a number on the phone.
A sleepy-sounding male voice with a Hawaiian accent responded. "Ajay here. Who is it?"
"Ajay?" the intruder asked in a breathy, panicked voice. "You need to get over here. Right now,"
"Hey, I can't just drop everything and rush over to your place. What's the big emergency?" Ajay responded.
"I'm sending you a video now. I think Tails is in trouble. Besides, it's not like you have anything better to do. If I know you, you're lying on your bed and making your Stealth Elf and Flameslinger plushies make out,"
"Hey! Stealthslinger is a very serious shipping! And, er, how did you know that's what I'm doing?"
"Good god, I was right? Er, uh, whatever. Sending you the video now," They hung up and, tapping on the phone, texted the video of the dragon to Ajay.
Ajay texted back after a minute. B rit thr. Brgng wpns.
X
Kaos dismounted the steps that had unfolded from the Conquertron's face. Glumshanks stumbled after him, and Duskwort regally dismounted, evidently without a care in the world.
Kaos was impressed as he gazed up at the Wyldwind fortress. It was very evil-looking. There was one great, main keep, surrounded by five towers in a pentagon. Thick stone walls encompassed it, with a gap between them and the main keep. Many would think that they were there to keep people out. Kaos knew better. They were to keep whatever was left of people after Jecovo was finished with them in.
A protrusion jutted out of the wall, with a thick metal door built into it.
Kaos confidently strutted up to the door, and pressed a small plastic doorbell at the side. Somewhat hilariously, it was above Kaos' line of eyesight and he had to reach up to press it.
A spycam's lens appeared just above the doorbell. "Who is it?" The harsh, guttural voice Kaos had heard on the phone first the previous day echoed from the speakers built into the lens. "I don't see anyone. ThIs had better not be a prank,"
"Down here," Kaos interjected.
Glumshanks sighed and stepped up to the lens. "It's me and Kaos,"
"Give me a boost, Glumshanks!" Kaos ordered, ranting again.
Glumshanks continued to sigh and, grasping Kaos' armpits, hoisted him up to where his face confronted the lens.
Jecovo's high, lilting, feminine voice echoed from the speakers now. "Kaos. Good to see you again, hmm? Miss me?"
"I missed the others. Not so much you, Jenny," Kaos said scathingly. "Now just open the danged door already!"
"Only if you -" the female voice was cut off by a new voice, one that sounded like it belonged to a disco pop star. "Man, sorry 'bout that, dude. She gets tough to control, y'now dawg?"
"I am fully aware of that, JJ. Now open the door already!" Kaos ranted.
"Sheesh, dudette, take a chill pill. Ah'm opening the doors now, so come and join the party, homeboy!"
"Thank you," Kaos accepted as the door began to open, then realised something. "Wait, did you just call me 'dudette'? I'M A GUY!"
"Then why do ya wear a dress?" 'JJ' asked again.
"IT'S A CLOAK!" Kaos raged at the speakers. "LOOK! IT HAS A COWL!" Kaos added, pulling on the hood of his black coat over his head.
"Nuh uh, brah, I was talking about your brown dress underneath that,"
"Uh, master, we should really be moving along into the castle, so," Glumshanks interjected.
"You're right, Glumshanks. We'll settle this inside. Ya dig, JJ?" Kaos sneered, before regally strutting through the now-open doorway. Glumshanks hastily followed behind him. Duskwort followed slightly more tentatively. He couldn't explain it, but there was something about this place that freaked him out, something in the back of his mind telling him that no matter what, he should not enter the building. Like the consequences of staying here would be dire. Nonetheless, he banished his doubts and followed his accomplices inside.
X
Eon shook his metaphysical head in regret, not too far above the trio of evildoers. Despite his best efforts, Duskwort had entered the accursed citadel. "That poor dragon. There's nothing that can save him now,"
X
Kaos smiled as he saw a misshapen, impossible figure that should never have been able to exist hunched over a table in a laboratory, wearing a large labcoat that revealed little about his figure. "Ah, Jecovo. It's good to see you again, old friend,"
"Old friend?" Duskwort questioned.
"Due to our common more questionable motives and dreams as children, we were both exorcised from regular society. As a result of that, Jecovo's one of the only people I've ever really been able to call a true friend of mine," Kaos shortly explained.
Then, an odd, disturbing sight was granted to them. A sleek, feminine, draconic head on a flexible, serpentine neck with green scales that were tinted black and three purple stripes running down her head twisted so that she was looking towards them. Duskwort was uncomfortable to realise that, due to the calculations his Tech-infused brain naturally performed before he could stop it, he realised that the base of this neck would be more-or-less in Jecovo's armpit. "Ah, Kaos, good to see you again. I missed you,"
"Stop flirting with me, Jenny, it's not my fault you're a girl in a dude's body," Kaos ordered.
Then a second head, which Duskwort was grotesqued to realise came from Jecovo's other armpit region, and had the same coloration as 'Jenny', but shiny, reflective silver stripes, instead of purple. And this one was wearing sunglasses. "Heyo, KK! Good to see ya, home dawg!"
Kaos looked severely put out at this addition. "I'll be honest, I don't know which of you two I hate more,"
At that point, surprisingly, the two heads thunked themselves together for no apparent reason, before simultaneously groaning and lifelessly flopping to the ground. "Thank you," Kaos sighed.
Of course, a third head appeared, this one thicker, with a vaster neck, a thicker jawline and brown stripes on it's back, and Duskwort was a bit more relieved to discover this one came from the shoulders of the body. "Sorry bout Jen and JJ," it grunted. "Don't worry about it, Jockstrap, but can I talk to Jonathan and Jecovo, please?" Kaos asked. "No," 'Jockstrap' replied immediately. He was instantly recognisable as the original voice from the phone. Duskwort was really confused by now, what was going on with this guy? "Big boss and little boss in big, big experiment. They using bad ba-" Jockstrap paused as he tried to think of the word. "Baaaaaaaaaccccccccceeeeeerrrrr,"
"Bacteria?" Kaos suggested. Jockstrap visibly brightened. "Yah, that. They using that on baby bird dragon thing. They want me make sure they not disturbed," Jockstrap explained, happy to be able to complete the sentence.
Then the sly, serpentine, snake-like voice from before interrupted him. "Shut up, you fool. This is Kaos we're talking about. Of course he can come and look. Though he had better hurry, it's almost over,"
Eager, Kaos rushed past Jecovo to the other side of the lab bench. Out of curiosity, Duskwort followed him, albeit at a slower pace. Glumshanks, who obviously either believed that his best interests would be in staying as far away as possible from the trio of demented villains, or just didn't care.
Kaos and Duskwort eagerly stared at the newborn griffin on the operating table. It was coloured primarily black and neon yellow, with some tinges of purple.
"A few minutes ago, this was that," Jecovo hissed, pointing a clawed, scaly finger at
a photograph of a baby griffin that was the same shape, but a little smaller and coloured blue and white, with yellow highlights. Duskwort gasped at the revelation, Kaos just looked smug. "Oh, it's just getting started," Jecovo added.
As they watched, the soft, downy feathers of the draconic bird's body suddenly took on a harsh metallic glint. Kaos reached out with a finger to test the edges, but was hastily cautioned by Jecovo, "No! We don't know what the effects could be. Those blades could emit deadly poison - or worse,"
The mutated griffin suddenly screeched in agony, revealing several rows of razor-sharp teeth that almost seemed to move of their own volition as its beak lengthened and changed to a neon yellow, ending in a sharp point. The tuft of feathers at the end of it's tail suddenly fused and sharpened into a teardrop-shaped blade. It's eyes changed to a heartless, soulless shade of crimson-red, and, as most of the changes seemed to have been finished by now, the poor baby lay quivering in a heap.
Jecovo pressed a button on the laboratory desk and a cage appeared around it, rising up from the surface of the desk. Aroused by the metallic clanging of the cage, the monster suddenly awakened, and started frantically bashing at the wiry walls of it's reinforced-steel prison.
Even Kaos was impressed. "Jecovo, old boy, you've outdone yourself. What was that stuff?" the tyrant questioned in awe.
"I believe it was bacteria generated by some kind of ultimate evil being. I did a little asking around, and apparently its name is Dark Gaia. It wasn't particularly difficult to collect a sample, distill the mutagenic bacteria from it, and produce a synthetic version of it. Then I injected a baby griffin with the bacteria, and you see the result in front of you," Jecovo explained. "And yes, I am perfectly capable of mass-producing it," he added, as a wide grin spread across both Kaos' face and Duskwort's muzzle.
A/N
A/N
Interesting developments here, I see. As well as one of my longer chapters in this fiction. So two of the three bad guys have new plans, and another party is getting involved. I love cliffhangers. Now, Julie, now as there something you wanted to say?
"Er, no?"
Really? Gaiphe, was it you?
'Nope. Oh, wait, there was something. Dracus, you need to stop being such a helicopter boyfriend! I need my space sometimes!'
Good then. Peace!
