Skylanders Academy: Song of the Hunt
by andresponceb2002
Chapter 3) Spring Fever
Spyro was walking down to the one of the many isles. The purple dragon was hauling a large pile of red and white bullseye targets on his back. The whole stack of target practice items was towering enough to cast a looming shadow over Spyro. They were quite heavy, but it wasn't anything Spyro couldn't handle. Besides, he needed as many of these as he could get. He had some training to oversee.
"So." Spyro began, turning his head back to the dragon following him. "What made you want to become a Skylander, Drobot?" He asked his brand new trainee. "You wake up from an over-a-month long coma and the first thing you wanna do is become hero?"
"Actually." Drobot began, hurrying his pace slightly to walk beside Spyro rather than behind him. "I've wanted to become a Skylander for a long time. A good while before I got captured and turned evil." He stated. "I was actually on my way to the Academy to get enrolled the same day I got captured." He added, his lightly synthesised voice suddenly becoming low, as if Drobot had accidentally recalled a bad memory.
Spyro gave his new friend a worried look. After thinking a little on the situation, he found it best to change subjects. "But, why did you want to come here?" Spyro asked again. "What drove you to wanting to become a Skylander?"
"Hmmm, that's a good question." Drobot responded, looking up to the white clouds above the two dragons. "I suppose I've always had a knack for helping others out. Not as a hero, mind you. But, when I was young, I used to be really good with Tech." Drobot recalled. "I was always helping someone out with their Tech problems. You know, fixing someone's broken toaster, replacing a cracked skyPhone screen, reminding people what their new Wifi passwords are." The coppery green dragon listed. "It always felt great helping other people out, having that feeling of knowing you did something nice for someone else. But I alway felt like i could have done more, you know what I mean?" Drobot asked, going into a small pause.
"However, one day." Drobot picked up, spiking Spyro's interest. "I was wandering around this weird scrapyard, looking for some some spare parts to fix someone's Holoprojector when I came across this really old, really powerful Tech." He continued. "I used it to build myself this mech suit-" He said, flexing his blue metallic wings and raising his head in pride. "So I could become powerful enough to be a Skylander, so I could help people for real!"
Spyro looked at Drobot in silence as the two of them kept walking. The purple dragons replayed all Drobot had said through his mind before he spoke. "You'll make a great Skylander." He said steadily, with a slowly growing smile.
This made Drobot's metallic jaw fall slightly agape as he gave Spyro an awestruck look. "Y-You really think so?" He asked merily. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Spyro responded with a firm nod. "As far as I'm concerned you were a hero before you came here." He stated, making Drobot smile broadly.
"But-" Spyro added quickly, coming to a stop once he reached a particular isle, cueing Drobot to do the same. "Now we have to whip you into shape." He said, standing on his hind legs and dumping the pile of bullseye targets on his back onto the floor.
"I'm gonna have to see what you're made of, buddy." Spyro stated giving Drobot a mischievous look.
At this, Drobot picked up one of the targets Spyro had dumped and looked at it for a few seconds. Then, he lifted his gaze to look at Spyro. "Let's do this." He said, with a bold smile and firm nod.
Drobot's training started off quite smoothly. Spyro managed to work out Drobot's skillset rather quickly.
The coppery green dragon had some real firepower. The lazers he could fire from his goggles were powerful enough to hurt Spyro through his scales and could blast through rock rather easily. Drobot could also fire a swarm of homing gears at multiple targets, an ability Spyro noted was quite useful for crowd control. Using the targets Spyro had brought with them, Drobot was able to show off his impressive mechanical powers. The coppery green dragon managed to destroy all the targets with relative ease, only missing some tricky shots and far away targets.
However, Drobot did have his weaknesses. Once Spyro brought him to the Academy obstacle course, he got a little bit worried. Drobot was a mess when in came to coursing through obstacles. The poor dragon got smacked across the face by pretty much every obstacle in the course… several times.
After a couple of tries, Drobot flopped on the floor, belly up and breathing heavily, out of breath. "I'm gonna die." He panted, his synthesised voice sounding slightly glitchy, probably from all the impacts he got to his head.
"Not on my watch, buddy." Spyro said with a low chuckle. "Well, at least we figured out your strengths and weaknesses. That's a steady start." He added as he stretched out one of his paws for his friend to take a hold of.
"I suppose." Drobot grunted as he took Spyro's paw, lifting himself up and onto his feet. "But we clearly have a long way to go."
"Yeah, for sure." Spyro agreed with a small shrug. "But don't you worry buddy." He continued, bumping Drobot with his left wing in a friendly gesture. "You're not bad, at all. You just have a couple of rough edges we need to smooth out." He said, giving Drobot a firm smile.
"Thank you, Spyro." Drobot said, smiling back. "So, in that case, what do you suppose we should do now? I'm clearly no good at the obstacle course." Drobot stated.
"Hmmmm." Spyro began, thinking about what to do next, scratching his chin and taking a long look at Drobot. "If we're gonna take you out to the field to fight real bad guys, we need to fix the chinks on your armor." He stated. "We need to improve your reflexes and your speed."
"How do we do that?" Drobot asked, tilting his head to a side and giving Spyro a curious look.
After thinking for a while, Spyro cracked a sudden smile, confusing Drobot even more. "The old fashioned way." Spyro said simply.
Spyro was standing at the edge of a big isle. It was relatively far away from the Academy,barely within its grounds.
As Spyro looked out to the horizon, with his paws tightly gripping the very edge of the isle, just before the endless drop. As his heartbeat quickened and the wind blew gently against his face, he felt an almost primordial urge to let go and fly. To fly through the blue sky to his heart's content.
But, Spyro held himself in place. He kept his hold on the ground, for he had something important to do, a duty to fulfil.
"Alright, Drobot." Spyro started up, tearing his gaze from the horizon and looking over to Drobot. "I'm gonna try a little something to see if we can straighten you out."
"Can't we wait for a little while?" Drobot asked in a whiny voice. "We've been training all day. Besides, I think we skipped lunch because, I'm famished." He complained as a low growl came from his stomach, indicating he was indeed quite hungry.
After this, Spyro's stomach also gave out a low growl, letting both dragons know he was hungry too. However, Spyro had an idea he wanted to test out.
"Here's the thing." Spyro began, catching Drobot's attention. "I have a little exercise in mind to get you to improve your speed. We're gonna do a little race." He stated with a grin
"A race?" Drobot questioned. "Excuse me for asking but, how will a race help my training? You are clearly the better flyer out of both of us."
"It'll help." Spyro started. "Because there's a catch." He said, grinning mischievously at Drobot, who suddenly looked more focused on what Spyro was saying than on his own rumbling stomach. "Whoever loses the race, loses his lunch."
"What!?" Drobot exclaimed. "How is that going to help?"
"It will make sure you give it your all." Spyro explained. "One thing I've learned with teaching is that, first, I need to convince you that you really can do whatever it is you're struggling with." He continued. "After you put your back into beating me in this race, you'll see that the obstacle course is really just a walk in the park."
Drobot looked hesitant, he fidgeted with his paws and gave worried glances to the horizon behind Spyro. Spyro understood Drobot's scepticism, but he knew this was a tried and true method. He remembered when he taught Cy the Imaginator how to fly by literally tossing him off a cliff and when he showed Cynder all she could do, if she just believed in herself enough to do it.
Either way, Spyro was just kidding about the whole, losing lunch part of the deal. He knew that an empty stomach wasn't going to help anyone. However, for the exercise's sake, Spyro kept that fact to himself.
So, Spyro was relieved to see when Drobot took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, composing himself before speaking up. "If you really think this will help." Drobot began, a small edge of doubt in his voice. "Then, I'll try my best."
"That's the spirit!" Spyro cheered. "Now, we're gonna go all the way to the Forest of Life. It's quite a distance away, so we'll be able to work on your stamina at the same time!" Spyro declared cheerfully causing Drobot on the other hand, to give out a small, nervous chuckle under his breath. "It's a straight flight from here, getting lost or side tracked is pretty much impossible and I mean, It's a huge forest, it's pretty hard to miss." Spyro stated.
"Well, whenever you're ready." Drobot said simply as he lined up beside Spyro at the edge of the isle.
After taking one last look to contemplate the beautiful sky ahead of him, Spyro took a deep breath before speaking. "Ready." He paused, lowering his head and body closer to the ground, a motion Drobot mirrored. "Get set." He continued, pausing once again, tension building up. "Go!" Spyro shouted loudly.
At that, the tension built up in Spyro's muscles was released in an instant, propelling the purple dragon forward through the air. Once Spyro was off the isle, he used his wings to give himself yet another mighty boost, causing him to shoot through the sky.
And just like that, Spyro found himself soaring through the air, letting out a delighted howl.
However, something nagged at Spyro's mind, something that prevented him from sinking into the moment. "Drobot." He thought, the image of his trainee suddenly popping into his mind.
At that, Spyro came to a sudden stop, hovering in midair before turning around to call for his friend. "Drobot!?" He called taking a look around.
But then, Spyro saw a coppery green figure dash right past him in a blurr. "Don't drag behind!" Drobot's voice sounded.
After that, Spyro turned around again to see Drobot, flying ahead if him, using his metallic blue wings to hold himself in the air. "I don't think you'll be in good shape to teach on an empty stomach!" Drobot teased.
This surprised Spyro, he didn't take Drobot for a competitive person. "Then you won't be in good shape to learn." Spyro began. "Cuz it's you, who's going to end up with an empty stomach!"
Then, in a powerful motion, Spyro used his wings to shoot himself forward again, dashing past Drobot at great speeds.
After this, Spyro heard Drobot restart his flight as well, following Spyro closely from behind as both dragons continued their path to the Forest fo Life. The two of them traveled a rather linear path as they approached the Forest.
Knowing himself to be more experienced in this area, Spyro constantly held himself back throughout the race, restraining himself from flying at full speed to give Drobot a better chance. However, even with this advantage, Drobot continued to trail behind Spyro throughout the first stretches of the race-
Then, on top of this, a multitude of impromptu obstacles appeared in the two dragons' path. Clusters of small floating rocks, medium sized isles with large trees and walls of clouds all floated between the two dragons and their destination.
Spyro, being the more experienced of the dragonic duo, managed to maneuver through these obstacles, diving and soaring over the isles, reacting to the small floating rocks and taking sharp quick turns to avoid crashing into them.
Drobot on the other hand, had a little bit more trouble getting around the obstacles. He came to a stop whenever a large, tree-covered isle got in his way in order to rethink his trajectory. And as he tired to navigate through the small rock clusters, he bumped into and grazed quite a few of them, slowing his flight even further.
"Come one Drobot!" Spyro shouted. "You can do it!" He cheered as the coppery green dragon neared yet another cluster of small floating rocks. "You're overthinking it! You are a dragon man, you've got thin in your veins, you just have to think on your feet!"
After hearing this, Drobot came to a sudden stop before the cluster of obstacles in front of him. He looked at Spyro, then at the rocks in his path. Then after a short pause, Drobot shook his head wildly before speaking. "Alright, I can do this!" He shouted.
At that, Spyro saw as Drobot flew straight into the cluster of obstacles. He expected a few more colitions from the coppery green dragon, but, as Drobot made his way through the small obstacles, Spyro noticed he flew with much greater grace than before. Drobot still grazed a couple of rocks with the tips of his wings and just as he was about to cross the cluster, he rammed into yet another floating rock.
However, there had been a clear-cut improvement this time, one Spyro was quick to point out. "Nice job, man!" He shouted as Drobot began to recover from his impact. "You're getting the hang of it! Slow but steady-"
"-Win's the race!" Drobot responded with a confident smile.
With that, Drobot soared into the air once again, quickly picking up speed, nearly catching up to Spyro. However, the purple dragon reacted quickly. He too, picked up speed reigniting the thrill of the race as both dragons got closer and closer ot their goal.
After a while, the view of the Forest of Life took up the horizon before the two dragons, indicating the quickly approaching end of their race. The thick green foliage of the many towering trees created a fitting finish line.
"The first one to land wins!" Spyro declared as he continued to soar through the air, closely followed by Drobot.
"Alright!" Drobot exclaimed. "Let's finish this!" He dared. At this, Drobot's flight was suddenly bolstered, inexplicably increasing the coppery green dragon's speed.
Spyro wasn't about to give Drobot an easy win, so he too decided to increase his speed, increasing the power behind his wingbeats.
This made it so that both dragons were practically side-by-side just a couple of meters before being able to reach the Forest of Life. Spyro saw Drobot right beside him, pushing himself through the air with his wings, giving it his all. And then, actually surprising Spyro, Drobot managed to get a lead. A small, almost unnoticeable lead on Spyro, that grew more evident with every meter the two dragons flew through. While this happened, the dark, rich soil of the Forest of Life continued to inch steadily closer to the two dragons.
After just a few seconds, Spyro saw Drobot's forelegs connect with the soil on the Forest, indicating he had indeed landed first. Or well, considering the fact that after Drobot contacted his forelegs with the ground, he tripped and ended up falling head first, chest down, on the ground, Spyro decided that crash landing was a more accurate description for what Drobot had done.
After representing the urge to laugh at his new friend, Spyro flew down and landed gently beside his fallen friend, who had remained face-down and motionless since his crash.
"Well, you won buddy!" Spyro tried cheering.
"Hooray!" Drobot's voice sounded, muffled by the dark dirt surrounding it.
"Alright, let's get you up." Spyro said, taking a hold of Drobot's limp paws with his own before tugging.
After putting some effort into it, demonstrated by a steady groan and a strained face, Spyro managed to pull Drobot's upper body out of the ground.
Drobot's face was covered in grassy stains, the previously shiny blue helmet's lenses were now decorated with dark brown clots of dirt. "That was… thrilling." Drobot said in an unenergetic voice.
"You could say that again." Spyro responded happily, flicking a little bit of dirt off Drobot's head. "But you did it buddy, you won fair and square, just like I told you you could." Spyro said, giving Drobot a small, friendly jab to a shoulder, which caused the dragon to let out a small chuckle. "Ohhhh well, I guess I'm gonna starve." Spyro said in an overly-dramatic way, shrugging in fake helplessness.
At that, Drobot gave Spyro an awkward smile. "It's alright, you can eat if you want."
"Ah good, I was afraid of you catching me eating when you weren't looking." Spyro joked.
Both dragons then shared an amused laugh before laying down against one of the huge trees nearby, resting the fatigue from their race away. However, after a short while, Spyro and Drobot heard the sounds of their bellies rumble, demanding food.
"Man, maybe skipping lunch wasn't such a good idea." Spyro admitted, putting a paw over his hungry stomach.
"I would have to agree with you on that." Drobot said as another angry rumble came from his stomach.
"Well, unless you want a rematch-" Spyro began, looking over to the horizon, in the direction of the Academy. "We might have to find some food nearby."
"I mean, this is a forest." Drobot followed up. "There should be something edible around here. Maybe some fruit." He suggested as he stood up and took a slow look around the area.
Spyro also stood up and looked around, heading toward a thick bush nearby. Once he was close enough, Spyro used his paws to move some of the leaves on the bush out of the way to see if there was something worth eating.
When Spyro did this, he was faced with a small clearing on which only short grass grew, creating a flat area, surrounded by towering trees and thick bushes. However, there was something that called Spyro's attention. At the center of the strange clearing, was a shining red apple.
Spyro usually prefered a more meaty meal, but, pushed by the hunger roiling in his stomach, the purple dragon began to walk toward the shiny red fruit, walking through the clearing and picking the apple up with one paw.
"Drobot!?" Spyro called as he inspected the apple in his paw, turning it around to check if there was anything unusual about it.
"Yeah?" Drobot's voice sounded behind Spyro, followed by slowly approaching steps. "Did you find anything?" Drobot asked.
"Just this." Spyro responded, Showing Drobot the red apple he had found.
"Where did you find it?" Drobot asked, giving the fruit a curious look. "There aren't any apple trees nearby."
"Some animal must have dragged it here and dropped it." Spyro guessed, still holding the apple in his paw. "I mean, it's food isn't it?"
"I don't know Spyro." Drobot said givin the fruit a nasty look. "I've heard a lot of nasty stories about people who just eat random stuff they find in forests."
"Don't worry buddy." Spyro said in a confident tone. "I have a belly of iron, I'll be fine." He stated before giving the red apple one last look.
Then, Spyro opened his mouth and took a bite out of the apple, his sharp teeth easily slicing through the fruit's flesh. When he did, Spyro felt his mouth water. The taste that was now stimulating his mouth was sweet and rich. The skin of the apple and the juicy meat crunched in his mouth, making Spyro take another bite out of the apple before swallowing the first.
"Oh man, this is good." Spyro exclaimed, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth.
"Really?" Drobot asked. "Can I have a bite?"
"No." Spyro snapped a little quickly, making Drobot flinch. "But-uh, I mean we could look for more. This is a big forest."
"Yeah, it is." Drobot responded, moving his head to scan the area. "Look! There's another one!" Drobot announced, pointing to Spyro's left.
After taking one last bite out of his apple, Spyro looked over to where Drobot was pointing at. He saw that the coppery green dragon had indeed spotted another shiny red apple, looking just as delicious as the one Spyro had eaten. However, Spyro noticed that there was a small opening behind the apple, creating a small trail through the woods.
Both dragons then walked over to the shiny fruit. After a few seconds of scepticism, Drobot picked up the red apple and took a bite. When he did, his eyes light up, and a long, pleased purring sound emerged from his throat.
"This is really good." Drobot declared. "I could eat three more." He said, taking another, much larger bite out of his apple.
"You and me both, buddy." Spyro agreed.
Then, Spyro began to look around once again, in search for more of the delicious apples. After taking a look forward, down the little forest trail in front of him, Spyro spotted the red shape of another apple, only a few meters away.
"There!" Spyro said out loud, pointing at his find with one of his paws and alerting Drobot of it.
After this, both dragons hurried over to the red fruit, traveling down the forest trail until they reached the shiny, red fruit. However, once Spyro traveled a few meters down the trail, just as he was about to get close enough to reach for the apple, his attention was drawn by something else.
Another clearing, very similar to the one Spyro and Drobot had just come from, stood at the end of the forest trail. And just like the first clearing, a delicious-looking fruit was laying in the middle. However, this fruit was different. It was several times larger than an apple. It also had an oval-like shape and a dark green color. It was a watermelon, and it looked just as delicious as the apples Spyro and Drobot had picked up so far.
"Hey, Drobot?" Spyro called, not taking his eyes off the watermelon.
"Yeah?" Drobot's voice responded, however, it sounded muffled and it sounded like the coppery green dragon was chewing on something. Spyro assumed it was the apple the two of them had just found.
"Look at that." Spyro said, pointing at the watermelon in front of them.
After this, Spyro and Drobot walked slowly over to the large fruit in the new clearing. As Spyro got closer to the watermelon, he could see that it was still tied to the ground by its fruit stem, which was decorated by several wide, green leaves.
"Should we split it fifty-fifty?" Spyro asked Drobot, keeping his eyes on the fruit in front of him.
"That sounds fair, let's do that." Drobot responded.
"Alright then." Spyro said with a short sight.
After this, Spyro placed his right paw over the surface of the watermelon, planning to hold it in place before using the sharp claws on his other paw to slice open the green fruit.
However, a split second after Spyro pressed his paw over the watermelon, the fruit exploded. In a burst of red juice and tiny black seeds, the fruit in front of Spyro suddenly exploded like a tasty bomb, completely soaking Spyro and Drobot.
"Urgh!" Spyro groaned in disgust, trying to wipe the sticky red splatter off his scales. He then tried to pick away the little black seeds that refused to fall off with the tips of his claws.
He saw that Drobot was reacting in a similar way, frantically trying to wipe the red mess, primarily off his blue, metallic appendages.
However, something caught Spyro's attention. It was a strange sound, faint and slightly distant. However, the sound grew louder and louder, making it possible for Spyro to identify it. It was laughter, childish and joyful. It sounded really close now, but Spyro couldn't seem to track down it's source.
"Oh, man!" A squeaky voice began suddenly. "You should have seen your face!" It said, before breaking into laughter once again.
Then, with a strange skittering noise, a small, green dragon materialised in front of Spyro, surprising him and Drobot enough for the both of them to jump a step back. The little green dragon was laughing himself to tears, rolling on the grassy floor in front of Spyro, all while gripping his sides, probably from laughing too hard.
After a few more seconds, the little green dragon began to slowly compose himself, getting up on his feet and reducing his roaring laughter to small giggles.
"You're Camo." Spyro said, giving the green dragon a wide eyed look.
"Yup, that's me!" Camo confirmed prideful. "And so was this-" He added, wiping off some of the sticky red juice covering Spyro's right shoulder. "Sorry about that, but it was too funny not to do."
Spyro was about to speak, wanting a word with the small dragon, but he was beaten to it by Drobot, who spoke up suddenly.
"How did you do it?" Drobot asked curiously. "Making the watermelon explode like that I mean." He clarified.
"Oh, you wanna know my trick?" Camo asked, his voice giving away a small hint of disbelief. "We'll, ahem, you see, I have a special power that lets me make fruits and vegetables grow really fast. Once they're ripe, I can make them blow up!" Camo explained.
"Fascinating." Drobot said in an awed voice, not taking his eyes off Camo. "Could you tell me more? I've never met a dragon with such a unique power before." He stated.
"You want me to tell you more?" Camo asked in a wondered voice. "Well of course! I haven't had anyone to talk about it in such a long time!" He admitted, his bushy tail wagging behind him.
Spyro also had an interest in learning more about Camo's strange power, for he took found it quite interesting. But, there was something he really had to discuss with the little green dragon first "Actually, Camo." Spyro interjected, drawing the little dragon's focus. "I wanted to talk with you about something, something important."
"Oh, sure!" Camo exclaimed, sitting on his hind legs in front of Spyro. "What do you want to talk about?" He asked, tilting his head to the side and giving Spyro an childish smile, patiently waiting for him to speak.
"I wanted to ask you." Spyro began, recalling something Camo had said a while ago. "What was your reason for leaving the Academy?" He questioned.
At that, Camo's smile disappeared, replaced instead by a nervous expression. "Uhhhhh." He got out, sweat suddenly appearing on the sides of his head as he glanced rapidly to his sides. "I… I had s-something to do." Camo responded vaguely, avoiding Spyro's eyes.
"What did you have to do exactly?" Spyro pressed, leaning in a little closer to Camo.
"I-Ah, had to... uhhhhh." Camo tried to speak, scratching the back of his head and sweating even harder. This went on for a couple of seconds before he closed his eyes and let out a defeated sight, hanging his head low. "Alright, alright. I didn't have anything to do... I lied." He admitted.
"Why would you do that?" Drobot asked suddenly drawing Camo's attention.
"It's just that, all of the other guys had these cool reasons, like duty or family or something like that.." Camo began. "I felt left out, you know? Like I had nothing to show for it. Besides, I'm really vulnerable to peer pressure."
Spyro gave Camo a confused look. "No one was pressuring you to do anything."
"Well, when you put it that way…" Camo responded, giggling nervously to himself. "I guess I just didn't know what to do. I mean, I was faced with two-" He entonated the last word, lifting two of the fingers on one of his paws as he did. "Skylander Academy headmasters, a bunch of cool dragons and I had just been told l evil-sleepwalked through a whole month of my life. What was I supposed to do?" He asked, shrugging and lowering his head again.
Spyro was a little taken back by Camo's words, and judging by his silence, so was Drobot. The two Skylanders looked at the little green dragon in silence for a couple of moments. But, soon enough, Spyro tried to speak.
"Camo." Spyro began, making the little green dragon lift his face to look up at him. "I think-"
Suddenly, a strange sound started to boom across the forest, interrupting sound seem to originate from a fair distance, however, it was getting closer, and at an alarming pace at that. The strange sound, could be described as hundreds of little chew toys bouncing through the forest, closing in on the three dragons.
"Uhhhh, that doesn't sound good." Camo said meekly, taking a couple of steps back from the direction the strange sound was coming from.
"Spyro? What's going on?" Drobot asked, a frightened edge in his voice as he also retreated just like Camo.
Spyro however, stood his ground. He faced the direction of the ever nearing sound before he was able to see what exactly was causing the strange sound. Through the thick tree trunks and dense foliage of the forest, Spyro saw as a huge wave of tiny green creatures, no bigger than a properly inflated basketball jumped through the forest, heading toward Spyro and the two other dragons with their disproportionate mouths, filled with needle-like teeth snapping wildy, while their beady black eyes stayed fixated on them.
"Chompies." Spyro growled, entering battle stance and keeping his eyes on the approaching horde of enemies.
"Uh, oh." Camo whispered behind Spyro.
"Drobot!" Spyro called. "Are you ready for a pop quiz!?" He asked.
"I think this hardly counts as a pop quiz!" Drobot argued frightfully.
"What are you talking about?" Spyro responded. "It'll be a good test of your abilities, and it's a surprise! So I think it fits the description of a pop quiz!" He joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh dear." Drobot sighed nervously, taking a defencive stance behind Spyro.
Then, the first wave of chompies crawled through the tree line and onto the clearing the three dragons were standing on, hopping toward them with their stubby arms flailing behind them.
Spyro was the first to react. He took a short breath and called forth his flames, releasing a volley of three firebolts at the charging chompies in front of him. The projectiles all collided with one of the many green monsters, however, there were over twenty of them still left on the clearing alone and many more were making their way there through the forest.
A couple of chompies, which had avoided Spyro's attacks, rushed at the purple dragon, jumping in the air and lunging at him, their mouths wide open.
"Spyro!" Drobot's voice warned behind Spyro, concerned about the creatures attacking his friend.
However, Spyro was quite calm. As the chompies were about to attack him, Spyro raised his arms in front of him. Then, he felt the two chompies bite down on his forearms, latching onto them with their mouths and biting down frenziedly.
However, Spyro didn't feel any pain, only a slight and irregular pressure around the area the chompies were biting. Spyro's scales prevented the chompies' ravenous bitting from hurting him.
However, after a couple of seconds of futile biting, the two chompies simply gave up and detached from Spyro, running towards Drobot instead.
"Hey!" Spyro shouted, trying to get the chompies to focus on him again.
But it was useless, the two creatures were now fixated on Drobot and to make matters worse, so were five more chompies. All seven creatures then leaped into the air, launching themselves at Drobot.
Spyro was about to yell a warning to his friend, but he saw something that convinced him of doing otherwise. Spyro remained in silence as he saw Drobot extend his metallic blue wings and then, from the shoulder joint of his wings, a swarm of gears shot out at great speeds. These gears then moved through the air, turning sharpy and aiming themselves to hit the chompies attacking Drobot.
Spyro saw as the gears Drobot had fired homed into the seven chompies attacking him, knocking each one out of the air in a series of targeted impacts, effectively leaving the coppey green dragon unscathed to stand, a little proudly, before Spyro.
"Nice!" Spyro congratulated his friend. "Now let's handle the rest!" He said, turning around to the chompies that remained on the clearing.
"Right!" Drobot answered, running over to stand side by side with Spyro.
After this, the two dragons got into battle pose, just as a new wave of chompies entered the clearing, increasing the previously dwindling numbers of the green creatures. Then, one chompie decided to make a move. The green monster jumped through the air, aiming to attack Spyro.
Spyro then inhaled through his nose, ready to release another firebolt at the green creature. But, he once again found himself interrupted. Spyro saw a bright, spiky yellow orb shot through the air and impact against the chompie, creating a small, bright explosion.
After this, Spyro turned around, curious to see where the strange attack had come from. When he did, he saw none other than Camo, who had a brave expression on his face. However, when Spyro turned around to look at him, that expresion vanished.
"Uhhh, you're welcome?" Camo asked innocently.
"That's some good aim." Spyro stated. "Want some more target practice?" He asked, gesturing at the chompies behind him.
Camo then shifted his eyes form Spyro to the chompies, who were growling and snapping at Drobot, barely contain them selves from attacking the three dragons. Camo kept his eyes on the green monsters for a couple of moments, bravery slowly returning to his features.
Then, Camo looked at Spyro once again and smiled confidently. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to get rusty."
At that, Spyro turned around once again, his confidence quickly building up. "Charge!" He shouted, signaling the other two dragons to ready their attacks. Then, Spyro released another firebolt, which crashed against one of the chompies. This attack was followed up by Drobot, who released two orange beams of energy from the circular lenses on his helmet. He was in turn followed up by Camo, who fired four spiky yellow orbs at some clustered chompies.
Then, Spyro used his wings and rose into the air. Once he was above the many green enemies, Spyro took a deep breath before releasing a stream of bright, orange flames. The purple dragon's fire showered over the many chompies that remained, incinerating the ravenous creatures.
"Wow! Well done!" Camo exclaimed below Spyro.
"But now the fire might hurt the forest!" Drobot warned, pointing at the area Spyro had scorched.
There were indeed some stray flames, burning up some of the green grass on the clearing and very slowly climbing up nearby tree trunks. In response to this, Spyro lowered his flight, closing in on the flames. Then, Spyro used his wings, increasing the power of their beat to create a small gale. The wind then blew over the stray flames, putting them out and preventing any damage to the forest.
Afterwards, Spyro touched down on the clearing, facing Camo and Drobot. "Well, that was easy." Spyro said with a cocky smile.
"Actually." Camo began, drawing Spyro's attention. "I think there's a little bit more trouble than that."
"What do you mean?" Drobot asked.
"Those were a lot of chompies." Camo picked up. "For that many to be in one place, it means there must be a Chompie Pod nearby." He explained.
"What are those?" Spyro asked, not being able to recall ever seeing or even hearing about one.
"They're these big plant things that spit out chompies." Camo explained. "It's because of Chompie Pods, which almost no one know about, that chompies are so common in the Skylands."
"Wow, I didn't know about that." Drobot admitted. "But then, how do you know about these pods if they are such a big secret?" He asked, giving Camo an inquisitive look.
"Oh, I know lots of stuff." Camo began, puffing out his chest in pride. "Lots of weird stuff no one else knows."
"Really? Like what?" Spyro asked, curious to see what the little green dragon knew. He noticed that Drobot leaned in too, as if he was also curious.
"The capital of Tanzania is called Dodoma." Camo stated simply.
At that, Spyro and Drobot remained silent, trying to process what the little green dragon had said. "W-What's Tanzania?" Drobot asked slowly, his voice marred with confusion.
"Exactly." Camo said, finger-gunning at Drobot as an answer.
As Spyro looked at Camo he guessed that when Camo said, "Weird stuff no one else knows about." he meant it.
But then, something came into focus in Spyro's mind. "Hey, Camo?" Spyro called, making Camo turn his head toward him. "If there is a Chompie Pod somewhere around here, spawning all these chompies, we should probably get rid of it, don't you think?"
"Hmmm, guess you're right." Camo agreed. "The trick will be finding it though. There's a reason these things are a secret."
"Well, I'm sure you can find it." Spyro stated, putting his right paw on Camo's shoulder. "I believe in you."
At this, Camo gave Spyro a wide eyed stare and remained motionless for a few moments. "You… believe in me?"
"You bet I do." Spyro responded. "If anyone knows the weird and super obscure knowledge to find this thing, it's you."
After this, Camo smiled widely and gave Spyro an energetic nod. "Alright then, let's do this thing! Follow me!" He said, suddenly taking flight and gesturing at Drobot and Spyro to follow him.
"Come on Drobot!" Spyro began, taking flight as well.
"On my way!" Drobot responded, following Spyro.
Then, all three dragons began to fly through the Forest, passing by large trees and thick bushes. Spyro and Drobot followed behind Camo, who coursed through the forest, supposedly guiding the Skylanders to the Chompie Pod nearby. The little green dragon, paused took a look around and then shouted. "It's this way!" pointing at a seemingly random direction.
Spyro for one, had no idea what Camo was using as reference to locate the Chompie Pod. To him, it seemed like the little green dragon was just taking them for an unconventional tour through the forest. But, for some reason, Spyro didn't question Camo. He felt like the small dragon knew what he was doing, even if no one else did.
And, after a few minutes, Spyro's faith was repaid when Camo came to a sudden stop, touching down on a large tree branch, sturdy enough for him to sit down and said. "It's here."
The green dragon spoke in a hushed voice, which made Spyro do the same. "The pod? You found it?" He asked.
"Yes." Camo answered simply keeping his back turned to the Skylanders, using one of his paws to gesture at Spyro and Drobot to come closer. "It's bigger than I thought it'd be." He added, making Spyro feel a little worried.
As Spyro and Drobot caught up with Camo, sitting down beside him on the large branch, they looked down and ahead. Then, they both had to resist an urge to gasp.
Standing meters tall and meters wide, in the middle of a thick web of thick green vines that crawled through the forest floor and up the nearby tree trunks, a massive bulbous thing, that looked like a monstrous unbloomed flower writhed and wiggled. It's green and purple petals seemed thick and slimy, jagged teeth-like spikes ran across their edges.
"I am inclined to guess." Drobot began. "That, that-" He pointed at the monstrous bulb in front of them. "Is the Chompie Pod."
"You guessed right buddy." Camo answered. "And it's a real big one at that. I bet it could spawn a hundred chompies in a day!"
At that, Spyro saw the Chompie Pod squirm strangely, alarming the dragons. Then, the bulb seemed to retract, before extending again, opening the tips of it's petals. Once it did this, a large mass of green goo shot out of the monstrous plant. After the slimy projectile began to curve down, it hit the ground, making a disgusting sound, like a massive booger spattering against the floor. It made Spyro gag out of disgust.
But then, Spyro saw as something began to move within the spattered goo. Emerging from the gelatinous substance, five, chompies emerged, followed soon by another five, all of them slowly getting on their subby feet before violently shaking off the gooey stuff that still covered them. After this, the many green creatures screeched in unison, opening their mouths wide, exposing their brand new, needle-like teeth.
"The chompie pods drain the life out of the nearby plants." Camo began suddenly, drawing Spyro and Drobot's attention. "Those vines-" Camo pointed at the intricate web of green vines that spread out from the Chompie pod. "Spread out and start to take all the nutrients from the other trees, making them starve to death." When Camo said this, Spyro noticed that all the vegetation nearby, all the trees and bushes, looked dark and malnourished, as if the live was being drained form them.
"And then, to make things worse." Camo continued. "All those nutrients they steal, they use to breed chompies, which then go and steal food from innocent people to feed their pod, making it bigger and even more dangerous."
"Wow, I never thought plants could be so evil." Spyro said, surprised by Camo's information. Spyro had mostly taken chompies for granted as little, weak monsters. He never thought they could be linked to something this dangerous.
"Oh, believe me." Camo picked up. "These are some really evil plants. I've tried to get rid of some of some of them for a while, but-" His voice trailed off, making Spyro turn his head to look at him. "I guess I'm not good enough." Camo said in a low voice, hanging his head.
"Hey." Spyro said softly. "Look man, you can't expect to be able to take on this sort of thing alone. Take it from me, because I speak from experience.." Spyro paused, thinking back to all the times, recent and long in the past, where he had screwed up just because he felt like he had to do everything himself. "You don't have to do this by yourself."
"Yeah." Drobot interjected, making Camo tur around to look at him. "We've got your back this time."
After the two dragons finished speaking, Camo began to shift his gaze between them, giving them wide-eyed glances all while staying silent, completely taken back.
"I… I don't know what to say." Camo admitted.
Then, Spyro saw as Camo stretched his arms above his head and hooked each one around Spyro's and Drobot's necks respectively, pulling both dragons into a hug. "New friends!" Camo shouted out joy.
Spyro was a little surprised by this sudden display, but he was also happy. He had indeed made a new friend and in Spyro's mind, that was always a good thing.
However, the moment was interrupted by a strange, gluterral roar that shook the forest. The three dragons turned their heads to where the strange roar had come from. The Chompie Pod.
The malevolent plant had apparently detected their presence. It then began to squirm and writhe. Then, from the opening at the tip of it's sealed flower, the Chompie Pod fired another ball of goo, followed by another, and then another.
As the gooey projectiles splattered against the forest floor, a new wave of chompies emerged, all screeching angrily at the three dragons.
"I count forty." Drobot stated, a slightly frightened expression on his armored face.
"There's gonna be more of them soon unless we take the pod out." Camo warned.
"Well then." Spyro began tensing up, getting ready for battle. "I think it's time we did a little weeding around here."
"You said it!" Camo agreed, imitating Spyro's battle pose exactly, something Spyro found a little odd.
"Just say the word, Spyro." Drobot said, getting ready as well.
Spyro looked at the enemies below him. He looked at the many chompies, ravenously snapping their jaws at him and his friends. He then looked at the Chompie Pod. The gargantuan, bulging plant writhed idely, as if it was waiting to see what happened.
In that case, Spyro wasn't going to keep it waiting. "Now!" He shouted, leaping off the tree branch, followed by his friends.
The three dragons flew toward their enemies, soaring above them and avoiding the chompies, who tried leaping up at them, snapping their jaws at the dragons whenever they flew over them.
Then, as Spyro got close to the Chompie Pod, he called forth his flames, taking a deep breath before releasing a jet of orange fire from his mouth, which then clashed against the Chompie Pod. However,the flames did not scorch the green petals on the monstrous bulb, instead, they bounced off harmlessly against the plant, which against Spyro's flames, looked like a rock splitting a river.
"What!?" Spyro asked, shocked by the futility of his attack.
"The pod has a membrane of slime to protect itself!" Camo yelled, his voice coming from behind Spyro. "It protects itself from fire and other stuff like that! You'll need either electricity or death magic to punch through it" He explained.
"I wish Cynder was here." Spyro grumbled, thinking about how easy her spectral lightning would have made this.
But, not about to give up, Spyro started looking for other options. He looked around, analyzing the location he was in, trying to look for something to use to his advantage. Then, Spyro turned to his friends. He saw as Camo and Drobot were firing their attacks at the chompies below them, releasing yellow orbs and orange lasers at the green creatures.
Then, an idea popped into Spyro's mind. "Drobot!" He called.
At that, Drobot shifted his attention from the chompies to Spyro. "Yes?"
"Drobot, I think I have a plan!" Spyro shouted at his friend.
"You do?" Camo asked suddenly.
"Yes, but it will take all three of us." Spyro stated, making his friends listen in carefully, all while chompies jumped up at them from below, barely out of reach. "I think we can destroy that thing, without attacking it directly." Spyro began. "Drobot, do you think those lazers of yours can cut through one of these trees?" He asked.
"I think so." Drobot answered. "But I'd need to get close to the trunk itself. Why?"
"You want to crush the pod." Camo interjected suddenly. "Have the forest get its revenge." He added with a mischievous smile.
"You got it" Spyro confirmed his friend's guess. "But then, one of us will have to look out for Drobot's back while he cuts one of these trees down, while the other makes sure none of the chompies run away."
"I can stop the chompies!" Camo volunteered energetically, lifting one of his arms over his head.
"That's the spirit, Camo!" Spyro exclaimed. "Well then, that means everyone knows what to do?" He asked, looking at Drobot and Camo.
"Yes!" The two dragons confirmed in unison.
"Alright then." Spyro picked up, a smile growing on his face. "Let's do this!" He declared.
At that, the three dragons moved through the scene, soaring above their enemies and getting in place to enact Spyro's plan. Drobot picked out a specific tree, one with a trunk big enough to crush the Chompie Pod. After He flew down near to the base of the trunk, he turned around, giving Spyro, who flew close behind him, a firm nod before starting to fire his orange lasers at the tree trunk. Once the energy connected to the brown wood, it started to burn through. Then, Drobot began to slowly move to his right, moving the cutting lasers along the tree trunk.
Spyro then landed on the forest floor, trusting his friend above him to get his job done. Spyro then turned around and when he did, he had seconds to react to the five chompies that were leaping through the air, aiming to bite his face off. Spyro then took a quick breath and released a volley of firebolts at his enemies. Each fiery projectile collided against one of the little green creatures, blowing each one out of the air in a chain of small, smoky blasts.
After this, Spyro saw another group of chompies beguin to charge at him. However, these ones moved differently. The big bunch of creatures all piled up into a tiny living mountain. The chompies on the bottom held the ones above them up, while those did the same thing to the ones above them, effectively creating a mildly intimidating pile of snapping jaws that slowly scuttled toward Spyro.
"Alright then." Spyro said slowly, lowering his body and tensing up his hind legs. "Bring it on."
At that, Spyro began rushing through the forest floor, straight at the pile of chompies. The purple dragon dipped his head down and small orange flames began bursting out of his horns. When Spyro headbutted the chompie pile, he tackled through them like a bowling ball punching through bowling pins. The pile of creatures all stumbled off their balance and fell to the floor.
After this, Spyro took a look around, getting a hang of the situation. The first thing that came into his field of vision was the monstrous Chompie Pod, writhing as usual, still protected by it's slimy shield. Then, Spyro saw Camo. The green dragon was fighting off a good number of Chompies, however, he was doing it in a rather strange manner.
Camo was flying, dangerously low to the forest floor, all while an ever growing mob of chompies followed him, snapping their jaws angrily at the green dragon. Some of the chompies tripped on the many thick vines that webbed through the floor, making the whole scene look quite ridiculous, especially since it looked like Camo wasn't actually attacking the chompies.
However, upon closer inspection, Spyro could see that Camo was releasing a trail of tiny, bright red seeds. Whenever he wagged his bushy tail in wide arches, a small amount of seeds fell out behind him. When these seeds connected to the ground, they suddenly began growing at an incredible rate, ripening into fully grown watermelons in seconds.
But that wasn't it. When the watermelons ripened, thew grew big enough to temporarily obstruct the chompies chasing Camo. However, when the chompies collided against the watermelons, the large green fruits exploded. Spyro remembered Camo doing the same thing to him and Drobot a little while ago. However this blast of red juice and seeds was different. The mellons the small horde of chompies triggered, exploded much more violently, actually sending the chompies flying back from the blast.
"Wow." Spyro got out, impressed by the fact Camo had taken out a good twelve chompies by himself.
In fact, because of Camo's efforts, Spyro could notice that there were now much fewer chompies and the ones that remained stayed at a doubtful distance from the three dragons.
"Drobot?" Spyro called. "How is the lumberjack work coming along?" He asked.
"I'm over halfway there!" Drobot declared. "Just wait a little longer!"
"I think we can wait a little longer." Spyro said cockily. "Don't you think, Camo!?" He asked his friend, giving him a confident smile.
"Heck yeah!" Camo exclaimed energetically.
But then, another gluterral roar thundered through the forest, once again coming from the Chompie Pod. Then, the large bulb began to squirm, more violently and writhe more disgustingly. After a few disgusting moments, the Chompie Pod opened the tips of its petals and another burst of goo came shooting out.
However, this goo was different. It was purple instead of green. When the strange substance crashed against the forest floor, Spyro saw as something began to move under its surface.
It was a single, purple chompie. However, Spyro noticed that this one was more than twice the size of a regular chompie. It's stubby, purple arms ended in three sharp, black claws, opposite to the little white ones on most chompies.
Then, the purple creature let out a shrill screech, very similar, just more powerful than that of ordinary chompies. Afterwards, the purple chompie bent down and looked like it was picking something up, something hidden by the disgusting purple gelatine beneath its feet. However, after a short struggle, the purple monster pulled out what it was seeking; one of the Chompie Pod's vines.
Then, holding the vine with both of it's clawed hands, the chompie bit down, driving it's needle-like teeth into the vine. When it did this, the purple chompie started glowing, an eerie purple glow that covered it's whole figure. As this glow persisted, Spyro noticed something that made him worry.
"Is that thing growing!?" Spyro asked, taking a couple of steps back from the purple chompie, that was indeed growing bigger.
"It sure looks like it." Camo said in a small voice, also backing away from the growing creature.
"What is growing?" Drobot's voice asked from behind Spyro.
"Nothing, man!" Spyro answered quickly. "You just keep doing your thing." He said, chuckling nervously.
"Well alright." Drobot sighed, resuming his job.
Afterwards, Spyro refocused on the chompie in front of him. The purple monster was now several times larger than any other chompie he had ever seen before, standing taller than even Spyro himself. Spyro noticed that the purple monster had dropped the Chompie Pod's vine, meaning it was no longer glowing and had also stopped growing.
But then, the purple chompie screeched again, bearing its teeth at Spyro. "Oh come on. Why me?" Spyro groaned as he saw the monstrous chompie charge at him, moving at much greater speeds than a regular chompie.
At this, Spyro took flight, shooting a quick fireball at one of the purple chompies eyes, disorienting the large monster and allowing Spyro to regroup with Drobot, getting on into a defencive stance. Spyro took a quick glance backward, and noticed that Drobot was almost done cutting the tree trunk, he simply needed Spyro to buy him more time.
"Camo!" Spyro called, keeping his eyes on the large purple chompie that was rubbing the eye Spyro had wounded. He also noticed that the smaller green chompies that had remained were flocking toward the big purple one as if they were waiting for it to do something.
"Yeah?" The green dragon responded, flying over to Spyro and landing beside him.
"Any idea what that is or how to stop it?" Spyro asked, pointing at the monstrous purple creature.
"I've never seen one of those before." Camo stated. "It must be some sort of guardian." He explained, a small edge of fear in his voice.
"Then we have to bring it down." Spyro declared. "We can't let it go around causing mayhem in the Skylands."
"You're right." Camo began. "But, how are we going to stop it?" He asked.
At that, Spyro tensed up, looking at the purple creature in front of him. "Together." Spyro said simply. "You ready?" He asked, turning his head toward Camo and giving him an expectant look.
At this, Camo gave Spyro a firm nod before turning his head toward the large purple chompie, somethin Spyro did as well.
Then, the two dragons took off, flying straight at the large monster and firing their attacks at it. Spyro released a volley of firebolts at the large purple chompie while camo rained down red seeds all over the smaller green chompies, creating explosive watermelons that blasted the small creatures away.
Afterwards, Spyro dove down, dipping his head and steadying his flight. Then, he rammed right at the large chompie's chest, effectively knocking the creature off it's ballance. After getting out of the way, Spyro saw as the purple chompie stumbled and triped, falling against nothing other than the Chompie Pod. After this, Camo fired two spiky yellow orbs at the purple chompies eyes, further disorienting the large creature.
"Drobot!" Spyro shouted. "Now would be a good time!"
"I got it!" Drobot shouted back. "Watch out!"
At that, Spyro turned around toward the tree Drobot had been cutting. He saw as the massive wooden pillar began to slowly tilt downward, creating a loud cracking sound as it did.
Seeing the falling tree loom over him, made Spyro react, quickly dashing to his side to avoid being crushed. Camo who also reacted in time, followed Spyro's lead, running in the same direction as Spyro.
However, the purple chompie hadn't moved in time. It had just stopped rubbing its wounded eyes when the massive tree trunk slammed down over it and the Chompie Pod, creating a thunderous sound that resonated through the forest. Spyro then looked over at where the Chompie Pod and the monstrous chompie once stood. The thick, wooden trunk had flattened both enemies, leaving only the intricate web of bright green vines spreading out from the Chompie Pod. However, after a few seconds, these vines began to quickly lose their color, becoming dark and shriveling up.
As this happens, Spyro noticed that the colors of all the treed nearby turned brighter and more vibrant. Then a gust of wind blew through the area, blowing gently against Spyro's face, almost as if this part of the forest had taken a fresh breath of air.
"Wow." The three dragons said simultaneously, wondered by the sight of the revilatized forest.
"That was awesome." Camo said merrily. "We should do it again some time!"
"Yeah, we should." Spyro agreed. "But, I'm afraid, there's a little condition you'll have to follow if you want to do this with us again." Spyro stated, giving Camo a small smile.
"Reall? What is it!?" Camo asked energetically. "I'll do anything!" He declared, wagging his tail behind him.
At that, Spyro smiled wider before speaking. "You'll have to become a Skylander."
At that, Camo froze and his jaw dropped. The little green dragon remained dumbfounded for a couple of moments, not moving or saying anything. This actually made Spyro and Drobot feel a little concerned.
"Umm, are you alright?" Drobot asked, a slightly worried tone in his voice.
But then, Camo shook his head wildly, snapping himself back into the moment. After this, the little green dragon looked at Spyro. "Yes! I wanna become a Skylander!" He announced.
"That's great!" Spyro said, letting out a joyful laugh. "Then we have to get you to Skylander Academy so you can join!"
"Alright!" Camo exclaimed. "Let's go!" At that, Camo turned around and began running.
"Camo, wait!" Spyro called, effectively stopping the green dragon in his tracks and making him turn around. "You don't know where Skylander Academy is." Spyro reminded his new friend.
"Oh, right." Camo said simply. "Where to?" He asked with a meek voice.
At that, the three dragons shared a laugh, amused by Camo's antics. Them with little delay, the three of them took off, on their way to Skylander Academy. As they traveled, wide smiles crossed all of their faces, for a strange feeling hung over them, a feeling that whispered to them from the backs of their heads. That they were going to have quite the adventure together.
Mike was a small mabu that lived alone in his village and worked as a bartender in Mr. Sloan's bar. He was walking down to the bar right now, because he had to talk to his boss, about money.
As Mike got to the bar, he noticed the large Bad Bouncer, Mr. Sloan had hired to guard the entrance of the bar. The large, stocky robot had it's red arms crossed over it's chest while an angry frown seemed to be stuck on it's face. The robot looked as intimidating as ever, meant to prevent passage to any "inappropriate clients".
As Mike moved to enter the bar, he was left alone by the Bad Bouncer, since it recognized him to be an employee. Then, Mike opened the doors to the bar and walked in.
Inside the bar, he saw three people. Ms. Jane, a little old woman who was reading the newspaper in one of the corners of the bar. Butch, a big mabu who wore a bandana over his head and had tattoo of a snake on his right arm, was sitting on one of the stools in front of the counter, talking to Mr. Sloan, a middle aged mabu, sporting a gray mustache and who was washing some glasses.
As Mike got closer to Butch and Mr Sloan, he started to hear what the two were talking about.
"I'm telling you." Butch said, taking a sip from his drink, a serving of milk held in a beer mug. "I saw a dragon today. It was rather small, and a little skinny, but one thing I remember, clear as day, is that it had purple scales."
"Come on Butch." Mr. Sloan began, setting the glass he was cleaning don on the counter. "The only purple dragon around these parts is that Skylander boy. What would he be doing by himself all the way out here near the Outlands?"
"I don't know, dragons are weird!" Butch responded. "But I know what I saw. Maybe there's just happen to be some other purple dragon."
"Well whatever." Mr. Sloan began. "Purple dragon or not, as long as he doesn't come stir trouble at my bar, I don't see why I should care."
After the two mabu finished talking, Mike decided it was a good time to speak up. "Mr. Sloan?" He called, drawing his boss' attention.
"Ah, Mike me boy!" Mr. Sloan said. "I didn't see you there, this muscle head was blocking the view." He said, pointing at Butch.
"Hey!" Butch complained, apparently offended.
"Anyway." Mr. Sloan picked up. "What brings you here boy? It's your day off."
"Mr. Sloan I was wondering." Mike started up, advering Mr. Sloans eyes. "If I could get some more money?"
"Why would you need more money?" Mr. Sloan asked.
"The heater at my house broke down." Mike explained. "I can't fix it on my own and there aren't any mechanics around, so I thought I could buy a new one with some extra cash, since winter is coming and all."
"Hmmm, how much money are we talking about here?" Mr. Sloan asked, narrowing his eyes at Mike.
"About thirty silver pieces?" Mike stated meekly.
"Thirty silver pieces!?" Mr. Sloan exclaimed.
"Shhh!" Ms. Jane suddenly shushed, aparantly anoyed out of her reading.
"Sorry Ms. Jane." All three male mabu apologised in unison befor resuming their conversation, in more silent tones.
"Boy, you're asking me to give you almost three months of payment in advance. I can't do that." Mr. Sloan declared.
"But, winter is coming in a week!" Mike argued. "I'm gonna freeze!"
"Boy if I give you that much money, my bar is gonna crash." Mr. Sloan began. "Then I'm gonna freeze."
"What am I supposed to do then?" Mike asked.
"Maybe I could get you a part time job kid." Butch stepped in. "You know we can always use an extra hand down at the mine."
"Really?" Mike asked, surprised by the offer.
"Sure!" Butch assured. "The work is pretty rough on newbies, but you get used to it. Besides it comes with it's perks. Firstly, the pays is much better than whatever this old crook is giving ya." He said, pointing at Mr. Sloan with his thumb.
"Hey!" Mr. Sloan complained, apparently offended.
"And the added bonus is." Butch continued, unfazed by Mr. Sloan's complains. "That after a while, you'll get to be as big and strong as me!" He said, flexing his tatoo-bearing arm in front of Mike.
"You sure you can do that Butch?" Mike asked, hope finding its way into his heart.
"Definitely." Butch answered. "You're a good kid, Mike. I'd be a shame to see you turned into a lame-tasting popsicle."
"That would be a shame." Mr. Sloan agreed.
Then, a disturbing sound boomed coming just from outside the bar. To Mike, it sounded like a violent struggle, like the sound of someone fighting.
"Must be some drunk jerk tryna get past my new bouncer." Mr. Sloan suggested. "Nothing to worry about. That thing is as mean as they come and as tough as they come too. So just rela-"
Then, with no warning, a large chunk of metal shot through the bar's wooden door. Mike had seconds to duck out of the way, just before the metal chunk crashed on the bar counter.
Mike then straightened out and turned around to see what had been launched at him. His face went pale when he saw the nothing other than the Bad Bouncer's head, detached from its body, electric sparks shooting out of it's decapitated neck.
At that, Mike slowly turned around to see the bar entrance, which had a brand-new hole blown across it, slowly be opened by someone. The large figure opened the bar door slowly, almost gently before stepping into the bar.
The figure had a huge ash-gray hooded cloak covering its body, preventing Mike from getting any sort of details about what it looked like. However, even under the cloak, Mike could tell it was tall, almost thrice his own height. That alone would have made the figure intimidating, but what added to the creep factor, was the fact that the figure was breathing, long, raspy breaths, almost as if it hadn't taken a drink in years.
Then, the figure began to walk, slowly and with heavy, sonorous steps toward the bar counter. Mike felt paralyzed, for some reason, he couldn't will himself to move even as the figure sat down right beside him on the counter. All Mike could do was keep his wide, frightened eyes on the hooded figure.
Mike noticed that Mr. Sloan and Butch had also remained completely silent during the figure's entrance. The silence was only broken by the sound of Mr. Sloan swallowing hard, before speaking.
"W-W-What can I do f-for you?" The middle aged mabu stuttered.
There was a short silence, dreadful and unnecessarily long before the figure answered. "Food." The figure said simply, in a voice so hushed and raspy it made Mike get cold chills just from hearing it. "Water." The figure added, worsening Mike's chills, but also giving him a little information about the figure.
It's voice was that of a woman, a very, very scary woman.
"Y-Yes of course." Mr. Sloan picked up. "Food and Water, c-coming right up!"
And at that, Mr. Sloan rushed to the bar kitchen, leaving Butch and Mike alone with the now silent figure.
Even if the figure now remained idle, Mike simply couldn't bring himself to move a muscle. He felt like if he tried to even shift his weight in his seat, something terrible would happen to him.
And so, after a few minutes, that to Mike seemed like hours, Mr. Sloan returned, carrying in one hand a large, round platter of food and in the other, a platter filled with several mugs of different kinds of drinks. He then set the two platters carefully down in front of the figure.
Apparently, Mr. Sloan, probably out of precaution, had brought the figure a little bit of everything, just in case it was a little picky. There were burgers, chips, steaks, chicken nuggets and more fast food items in the food platter. Then, in the drink plater, there were mugs of milk, water, and a couple of sodas.
"T-That's everything we have." Mr. Sloan said, trying to force his voice to express pride instead of fear. "P-Please! Enjoy!" he invited, gesturing at the food and beverage.
Then, the figure leaned in, apparently taking a look at it's meal. Then, the figure seemed to take a long siff, like a bloodhound inspecting its food before digging in. But then, the figure grasped the food platter and slammed it's head into it, devouring all the food like a ravenous dog. After only a few seconds, the figure lifted it´s head to reveal that nothing, not even a single morsel of food remained on the platter. Then, the figure began to grab the many mugs of drinks chugging down each one in just a couple of gulps before violently setting down the empty mugs back on the platter.
After the figure drank the last of the mugs, it let out a long, satisfied sigh. However, it spoke once again. "More." The figure's voice demanded, now sounding a little less like that of a corpse.
"Uhhh. I'm sorry." Mr. Sloan apologised nervously. "I'm afraid we don't have any mo-"
Before Mr. Sloan could finish his sentence, he was grabbed by the neck by the figure, who moved so fast, Mike couldn't even process it's movement until it had its right, gloved hand around Mr. Sloan's neck. "I… said… more." The figure hissed.
"Hey!" Butch's voice suddenly sounded. "You let him go you freak!" He shouted.
What followed was quite difficult for Mike to process. The first thing he saw was Butch leap at the figure from across his seat on the counter. The mabu had his right hand balled up into a fist and had his right arm tensed behind his head, apparently planning to punch the figure.
However, to Mike's horror, the figure moved it's left, free hand to reach for something in it's cloak. When it pulled out whatever it had reached for, the only thing Mike's eyes were keen enough to see was Butch be sent off flying in the opposite direction of the figure. When this happened, Mike hear a strange sound, like glass shattering before Butch got sent flying. He also noticed that glowing icy-blue shards spread across the floor now. He had no idea how those had gotten there.
Then, Mike hear something heavy thump against the floor. He noticed that the figure had let go of Mr. Sloan, letting the probably unconscious bartender collapse on the floor behind the counter.
Then, Mike saw the figure shift and move, pointing it's hooded head right at him. When it did this, Mike's heart stopped beating for a second, before jump starting and racing faster than a supercharger. He felt like the figure was looking right at him, like it's eyes were fixated right on his and that made Mike want to scream. But no sound came out of his throat.
Then, Mike saw the figure start moving its arms beneath it's cloak. Then, he saw as the figure raised it's right arm reaching out to grab him, which almost instinctively made Mike close his eyes and shrink.
He expected the worst, but when the figure's touche came, it was something unexpected. The figure laid its hand on Mike's head, rather gently. It's touch was cold, colder than death, but there was something else and it made Mike slowly open his eyes. The figure seemed to be ruffling Mike's hair, scratching his head softly, almost comfortingly. It would have been relaxing if it Mike hadn't seen the figure do what if had to his friends.
However, the figure didn't stop there. It drew its arm back into its gray cloak and moved it around before extending out to Mike again. In the palm of it's hand, the figure held a single shiny coin. A gold piece, worth more than what Mike earned in a year working for Mr. Sloan.
Apparently, the figure wanted Mike to take the coin because it held it out for him and waited patiently for him to do so. So, with a little hesitation, Mike reached out and using the very tips of his fingers, he picked up the gold piece and watched the figure return it's arm back into its cloak. Then, without saying a word, the figure began to move, heading to the exit of the bar. After a few moments, Mike saw as the figure left, leaving no indication of returning.
"Shhh!" Ms. Jane's voice suddenly sounded, making Mike almost jump out of his skin. He had completely forgotten about the little old lady.
But then, Mike looked at the gold piece he had received from the figure, then he looked at Butch's unconscious body, and at Mr. Sloan's trashed bar. And then, without a second thought, Mike rushed out of the bar, running faster than he ever had ran in his life desperate to shelter himself in his home and force himself to forget that dreadful encounter.
Author's notes
Welp, here it is, chapter three. Hope you enjoyed! More chapters on the way!
-I don't own Skylanders Academy
-A new friend? Camo joins the fray!