All Campfire'd Up!
Chapter 1
Tap, tap, tap, tap…
"Careful now, George," Eugenie said as she observed her fellow Portal Master, who was currently knelt down on the grassy floor of the forest clearing, using a small wooden mallet to hammer a tent peg into the ground. "Don't slip up and hit your thumb by mistake."
The teenage boy, George, turned his head to look up at his human peer, narrowing his azure eyes. "Sheesh!" he exclaimed, his tone rich with annoyance. "Have a little faith in me, will you, Eugenie? I'm not that clumsy, you know," he went on, continuing to pound away at the wooden stake he was driving into the dirt without looking at it. "It'd take something seriously distracting to make me hit my— "OW!" he yelped suddenly, letting the mallet fall from his grasp and instinctively popping his left thumb into his mouth, trying to provide it with relief from the pain it now throbbed with.
"I warned you," Eugenie said simply, folding her arms over the glowing blue Portal amulet she wore over her leather-plated white tunic. "That's what you get for not paying attention to what you're doing."
"Yeah, well, it never would've happened if you hadn't distracted me!" George pointed out, getting to his feet as he spoke and proceeding to glare daggers at the girl. "I was doing perfectly fine, pitching this tent without you telling me how to do my job, but oh, no - you just had to come over and have the final say, didn't you? You just had to make sure that I did the task according to your ideals and nobody else's!"
Eugenie turned away, deliberately swishing her red cape as she did so, closing her eyes and pouting indignantly as she stood there. "If that's the way you act when you make a mistake, then maybe you shouldn't go around calling yourself a Portal Master," she stated coldly. "'A wise Portal Master accepts their limitations, takes responsibility for their mistakes—'"
"'And always strives to be their best; nothing more, nothing less'," George finished for her, rolling his eyes, his tone dismissive. "Yeah, yeah. You're not the only one who knows how to open a history book in the Skylander Academy's library."
"The Complete Notes of Master Wizbit is not just a history book, George - it's a tome of wisdom meant to guide Portal Masters of this and future generations," Eugenie stated matter-of-factly, opening her eyes and turning to gaze at him once more. "You'd do well to show such a valuable and applicable manuscript more respect."
"Well, excuse me, Hermione Granger, for not being a complete know-it-all!" George sneered viciously before turning back to the tent and bending down to pick up his mallet. "It's no wonder nobody would talk to you back on Earth," he muttered under his breath as he resumed his work.
A sudden cool breeze ruffled George's blonde hair, making his blue headscarf billow about. Said breeze was too sudden and too cold to be natural. He glanced back at Eugenie, still appearing annoyed at her, but there was also a certain wariness in his eyes now.
As a Portal Master, Eugenie had the power to tap into the Elements that fuelled all forms of magic in Skylands, and she specialised in the Air Element; the power of gales and cyclones were quite literally at her fingertips, not to mention lightning. George had no doubt in his mind that the girl had called upon the Air Element just now to throw a very mild scare into him, as a warning for him to keep his mouth shut. Eugenie, on her part, allowed a small smirk to play at the corners of her mouth as she watched George slowly turn back to his tent pegs, the boy no doubt grateful that his fellow Portal Master hadn't decided to direct a thunderbolt at the back of his head.
As George resumed his work in silence and Eugenie turned her attention to the wider scope of the campsite, the Skylanders, who had stopped in the middle of their tasks to watch the two Portal Masters bicker and criticise one another, quickly returned to hoisting tent poles, digging out the fire pit and setting up fold-out chairs, trying to act like they hadn't seen their appointed leaders giving each other a hard time… yet again.
Ever since George and Eugenie had been drawn into Skylands by a magical disturbance caused by the irresponsible - and idiotic - actions of Kaos, the Skylanders' sworn enemy, the two teenagers had been at each other's throats more often than not. Granted, they had never resorted to trading blows, but they had occasionally used their respective Elemental Powers to trip each other up in one way or another, usually in response to a disagreement they'd had.
While Eugenie had become attuned to the Air Element, George had become adept in using the Earth Element; he could manipulate rocks and tectonic plates with a wave of his hand. This had led to many… incidents as the two kids fought to get back at one another following their heated arguments, which, at this point, might as well have been regularly scheduled along with the weather.
There was the time when Eugenie had crept up on George while he was quietly reading a book in the Academy's library, minding his own business, believing that he had 'won' an earlier argument with Eugenie. He had been so engrossed in To Light The Dark (written by Pomfrey Le FuzzBottom) that he didn't notice the temperature dropping due to the icy wind that Eugenie had summoned. That is, he didn't notice it until he was literally frozen to the armchair he had been seated in, his entire being encased in a shell of ice.
It had taken Mags and Buzz two hours to gradually and carefully chip the boy out of his prison with hammers and ice picks.
Another notable incident was the time Eugenie had flopped down upon her assigned bed in the Academy's dormitory after a long night of studying Portal Mastery and had fallen asleep almost instantly. George had been hiding under the bed waiting for her, wanting revenge for being 'iced' a few days prior, and had placed his hands on the bed frame, channelled as much of his Earth magic into the wooden structure as he could and…
The resulting earthquake had all but shattered the west wing of the girls' dormitory. Mags had been absolutely furious with George about this, but that was nothing compared to how terrified Eugenie had been when the tremor had jerked her awake, her bed practically bouncing up and down. She had screamed like… well, a girl, clinging onto the bedposts for dear life. It had taken her quite a while to stop shaking with fear, even long after the dust had literally settled.
Needless to say, George and Eugenie didn't exactly get along. Apparently, from what the Skylanders and company could work out, the two hadn't exactly had the highest opinions of each other even back in their own world, but here in Skylands, where they both had magical powers and were tasked with working together every single day in the name of helping the Skylanders fight evil, they were, by and large, not compatible. No mater the situation, no matter the task at hand, the human boy and girl always seemed to find a way to get on each other's bad side.
And their ongoing feud hadn't escaped the Skylanders' notice.
"There they go again," Spyro murmured quietly to Gill Grunt, the Magic and Water Skylanders currently at work tying ropes around the pegs of their tent to secure the canvas in place. "The 'Shield of Protection' and the 'Treasurer of Knowledge', as Master Eon dubbed them. Oh, boy…"
"Yeah. I just wish they could learn to treasure one another and protect Skylands as a team rather than as bitter rivals," Gill mused. He then shook his head. "Ah, maybe we're not giving them enough credit. After all, Master Eon would never have appointed them as apprentice Portal Masters if he didn't believe they had potential. Maybe they just need a little more time, y'know? After all, the ocean wasn't filled with water in a day."
"Yeah, but…" Spyro bit his lower jaw, the purple dragon looking solemn. "I just hate to see allies with a common cause fighting each other. What do they call that? Disillusion amongst the ranks?"
"Dissension," Gill Grunt corrected him. The Gillman then rubbed his webbed hands together. "Well, now that the tent's done, how 'bout we go and have a talk with each of them, Skylander to apprentice Portal Master? Even an old seafarer like me still has a few words of wisdom floating around in his brine— Er, brain," he corrected himself.
"You just said that for the sake of a water pun," Spyro pointed out, grinning knowingly.
"Heh, heh. Yeah. You got me," Gill admitted, chuckling. "Speaking of puns, you should probably be prepared to get 'all campfire'd up' later; I don't think Roller Brawl really knows what she's doing over there."
Spyro turned to glance over at the centre of the clearing, where Stealth Elf and Roller Brawl had finished digging out a fire pit and the Undead Skylander was attempting to create a spark with two small stones while the Life Skylander, who was much more experienced in camping, kept lecturing the vampire about how she was doing it wrong.
"Hey, do I tell you how to disappear in a cloud of herbal smoke?" Roller Brawl snapped in response to the elven ninja's instructing. "That's a hint, by the way."
"One that I shall blissfully ignore," Stealth Elf replied nonchalantly in her soft voice, kneeling down next to her fellow Skylander. "Just… stop for a second, okay? Now relax. Deep breath in. Let it out slowly. Focus," she finished in a whisper that made Roller Brawl shiver slightly, the faint, pleasant tingle of ASMR crawling up her back. The derby vampire followed Stealth's advice, albeit somewhat reluctantly, and struck the stone in her left hand against the one in her right hand, creating a spark that, at long last, ignited the fire pit with a distinct fwoosh.
"Hey, I did it! I did it!" Roller Brawl cried excitedly, a joyous fanged grin on her face.
"See what happens when you stay calm and focused?" Stealth Elf said knowingly, putting a hand on Roller Brawl's shoulder. Though the elf's mouth was hidden by her leather mouth guard, it was clear that she was smiling. Roller Brawl just grinned back at her, pleased with both her success… and the fact that she had such a good friend.
Right then, Ignitor walked by, the Fire Skylander carrying a bucket of water harvested from the nearby creek in his armoured hands, his signature fire sword sheathed on his back, still glowing with the power of flame. Roller Brawl stared at the blade as Ignitor passed, a sour look forming on her face, and then—
"Wait a minute! You mean he could've gotten the fire going in an instant?! Then what am I doing, slaving over this thing with two oversized pebbles?!" the Undead Skylander cried in frustration. It was all Spyro, Gill Grunt, Stealth Elf and even George and Eugenie could do to refrain from bursting out laughing. Only Ignitor seemed oblivious to the humour of the situation, setting the bucket of water down nearby and carefully backing away, no doubt wary of what the liquid could potentially do to his fiery spirit form. He turned and gazed across the campsite, noticing Stealth Elf having pulled Roller Brawl into a playful headlock, Spyro and Gill Grunt watching with knowing smirks. Despite lacking a physical mouth of his own, Ignitor found himself smiling as well.
"Teamwork - where true honour and glory stems from," the ever-chivalrous Fire Skylander mused, placing a hand on his armoured hip. "Verily, this camping endeavour shall be most liberating."
"See, Eugenie? I pitched it just fine!" George's voice suddenly cut into Ignitor's musings, the boy getting up and gesturing proudly to the tent he had just finished working on.
"I never said you couldn't!" Eugenie insisted - if not protested - in response.
"But you were thinking it, weren't you? Admit it!"
Eugenie sighed heavily in utter exasperation. "The only thing I'm thinking about right now is just how obnoxious you are!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, pot, meet kettle!" George retorted without missing a beat.
"A rusted pot would make for better company than you!" Eugenie snapped, her voice rising.
"Funny; I was just thinking something along those lines about you!" George declared, raising his voice to match his fellow Portal Master's.
Ignitor sighed as the two young humans continued to squabble. "Liberating for most of us, that is," he quietly corrected himself. "Oh, most verily…"