Chapter Thirty-Four: Reform (Part One)

When Chopscotch was younger, she was absolutely terrified of the idea of Cryptkeeper Asylum.

The habits she had were considered odd to her family and neighbors. She always talked in rhymes, and found herself incapable of speaking normally. When bored, she'd hop around, as if she was playing a game with herself. She would also pull one of her eyes out of her head when trying to study something, and this unnerved many of the other ghouls around her. These habits drove her parents batty, and they would always give her the same threat; "You'd better knock that off, or we'll ship you to Cryptkeeper Asylum."

Most of the Underworld was under the impression that Cryptkeeper did good work, helping its patients overcome mental illness and getting them back into society. There were even maps of the building's interior in most atlases, though these failed to get into the heart of what the asylum was really working on. Some of Chopscotch's neighbors had reported sending unwell relatives to the facility, noting that they had never come back home. Some even tried to visit them at the asylum, only to be turned away. "Their work is too important to have outsiders around," her parents insisted. "No need to worry."

But there were also other stories coming in when the threat circled around her home again. She'd heard of recently cursed beings getting kidnapped by the caravans, carted off to the asylum for "anger management", even though they'd really done nothing wrong. Certain ghouls and ghosts trying to live freely and wildly were also carted off, usually before things could really get started. There was something off about Cryptkeeper Asylum the more that Chopscotch looked into it.

Her parents' threat didn't make her want to change her ways. It made her want to hide away from the world, to make sure that whatever evil that the asylum held did not touch her.

One night, she decided to run away to try and live on the surface Skylands. Packing only a few essentials, Chopscotch fled her house and traveled in shadow, avoiding anyone that happened to be passing by. She'd made it to the main road when a sound caught her attention. It sounded like music- more specifically, a guitar. She followed the sound to an abandoned barn, finding a torn hospital gown on the door. There was a tag on it that said "Wolfgang" . Chopscotch stepped into the barn, coming upon an interesting sight.

A scraggly-looking werewolf sat in the middle of the ground, strumming on a strange-looking bone harp. His black jeans were just as scraggly, tears in several places on the legs. The werewolf had put mud around his eyes, coating it in a fancy shape- though real make-up would probably be better. The werewolf was shredding out a fancy number on that bone harp, stringing the notes along in a fast-paced motion that filled Chopscotch with awe.

"Bravo! Bravo, yo!" Chopscotch cheered, clapping with glee.

The werewolf stopped, swinging his head around to see her. He seemed terrified at first, as if he wasn't supposed to be there, though relaxed when he got a better look at her. Apparently she wasn't something he was worried about.

"Not so loud. I'm tryin' to hide," the werewolf hissed.

"You're playing with a lot of pride for someone trying to hide," Chopscotch scoffed, hands on her side.

The werewolf looked at the bone harp sheepishly. "Ah, but music's the only thing makin' me feel better," he noted. "I guess my mind's no longer in the right place."

"Let me guess; your name's Wolfgang, yes?"

"Saw the gown outside, huh?"

"You escaped from Cryptkeeper, right?"

Nod.

"What's it like, especially tonight?"

Wolfgang shuddered in a combination of fear and disgust. "...I'd rather not talk about it," he answered.

He seemed so battered and scarred. It made Chopscotch feel even more scared. What in Skylands did they do in that asylum?

"The pain must be awful to bear," Chopscotch added with a sigh. "I've heard that Cryptkeeper doesn't care."

"You've got that right," Wolfgang muttered. "I'm just...a beast. Maybe. That's what they kept tellin' me. I'm a beast that needs cagin'. Needs controllin'. That's...that's what they do. They try to control people, sayin' that it's their way of 'fixin' them. Oh geez, you got me to talk about it after all."

Perhaps Chopscotch was attracted to people with pain, because she had the sudden urge to be near Wolfgang, to listen to him talk, to try and help him, to do anything for him. She hopped next to him, setting herself down.

"I have nightmares about going there," Chopscotch told him. "Cryptkeeper's something I've learned to beware."

"You got any flaws that they want to purge?" Wolfgang asked.

"I'm a hopper- a rhymer, too. And my eye studies are nothing new."

Wolfgang started strumming the bone harp again. "Well, the rhyming's kind of cute," he decided. "Let's see if you're a singer, too. Know any songs?"

Oh, she knew several. But Chopscotch shrunk herself low to the ground, nervous about it. The rhyming thing had to be something that she needed to stop, right?

"Listen, I've learned a thing or two in that place," Wolfgang began. "Whatever flaw you have, you need to make it somethin' that people would be sad to see go. Cryptkeeper can't take you in if your flaw is useful. Turn the other cheek to those that make fun of you, and keep showin' em that they're wrong. And most importantly, dont let anyone treat you like garbage. No matter what happens. Let's see if your rhyming can be something useful to others through song."

The rest of that night was spent in song, with Wolfgang trying to help Chopscotch sing. She felt a bit awkward about it, having been put on the spot, but it slowly got easier to do. And when words fell away from her due to nervousness, Wolfgang took it from there. That night, they wrote their own song, simply titled "Outcast Song", which only the two of them could really know.


Their paths had diverged quite a bit after that. They both made their way to the surface, but their plans caused them to separate for a while after that. Chopscotch settled into a small village, where she decided to practice wielding an axe as well as working on her singing. The villagers had given her strange looks like in her old home, but they often just let her be.

Wolfgang, on the other hand...became a criminal. He vandalized several villages, hurting innocents and stealing their property. He joined up with the Doom Raiders to help them hurt even more people. Chopscotch's heart broke upon that news- her first friend...a criminal. She was even forced to fight him once, when the Doom Raiders asked him to try and curse her village. She noted the glee on his face when he was initially playing that night, enjoying the havoc he was creating. It made her feel sick.

Despite everything, though, she still cared deeply for him.

She knew he'd been hurt- she just hadn't been aware of how much pain had been inflicted on him. That must've been the reason for all of that.

Chopscotch thought of this one day when she was visiting the Skylander Academy, looking for the Smasher students so they could begin training that morning. Upon entering the main hall, a familiar tune caught her ear. She decided to follow it, leading her into a dark corridor that didn't look like many of the faculty had traveled down there that often. Down and down she went, until she found a carved out hole in the wall that led to the outside. Chopscotch squeezed her way through, entering a small little garden that gave a view to the sky beyond. In the center was a familiar werewolf, shredding on a modified bone harp.

Her heart leapt with excitement- it was Wolfgang! She'd heard King Pen say that they'd brought on a few inmates from Cloudcracker Prison to become Senseis, but she hadn't heard that Wolfgang was one of them.

"Wolfgang, hi!" Chopscotch greeted him. "I hope you're not just stopping by."

Wolfgang stopped playing, looking at her in alarm- this time, she really was something he was worried about. "No, I'm a Sensei now," he confirmed. "I mostly stick around the Academy, though. Lots for me to do here."

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you! Aren't you happy to see me, too?"

"Uh, y-yeah. Of course."

"What class are you training?"

"Bowslingers. Odd for me, huh?"

"We should be cooperating!"

"Hm?"

"Bowslingers and Smashers together, you and me. We give them a class together at three."

"Three o'clock? Um...sure, sure. Meet you in the trainin' yard."

Chopscotch squeezed back through the hole, skipping in glee. She was going to hang out with her friend again!


Except it didn't happen.

Chopscotch sat next to a training dummy, waiting until three o'clock for Wolfgang to arrive. When that time came, he didn't come. She still waited, thinking that he might be running late. Then the day dragged on, and he still didn't come. And as the sun set, she knew he definitely wasn't coming, and that he had no intention of coming to begin with.

She was on her way out of the Academy when she ran into Pit Boss. Quite literally, in fact. In the hopes of catching his attention before someone else did, she accidentally collided into him, knocking some papers out of his arms.

"I'm so sorry! Oh dear!" Chopscotch moaned, helping him collect the papers. "I guess my presence really is unwanted here."

"Oh no, I'm glad to see you, actually," Pit Boss insisted, accepting the fallen papers back from Chopscotch. "Where have you been hiding all day?"

"In the training yard, waiting for a friend. Though I guess our friendship did indeed end. I waiting all day, and he didn't come- he left me there, and then some."

Pit Boss's eyes widened in surprise. "You found Wolfgang here, didn't you?" he asked.

"Yes, why?"

"I really shouldn't...though...if it wasn't technically in the session, it might be fine..."

"Pit Boss, why is Wolfgang being shy?"

"This is a sensitive matter, Chopscotch. As I was earning the trust of our new Senseis, it was hard to get Wolfgang to cooperate. If I make one wrong move now, he might avoid me. I can't let that happen."

"Help me, please!"- she slid to the ground, hands clasped in a beg. "I'm here on my knees!"

Pit Boss sighed, twiddling his thumbs together nervously. "Don't let him know that I mentioned anything," he decided. "Wolfgang told me...well...he doesn't want to see you."

That statement sent a kind of blow to Chopscotch's soul. It slammed into her, shattering everything inside. Her old friend was avoiding her. She could hardly reply.

"He was worried about what might happen if you saw him," Pit Boss continued. "He told me to keep you away from him. I told him yes, but I never enforced this- I knew you wouldn't be mad at him."

"Wolfgang...he was hurt, but how, I didn't see. I'm mad at myself, and not he."

"He doesn't like letting anyone know how hurt he is. It's not your fault for what happened."

"I should've stayed by his side. I could've helped his anger subside."

Pit Boss knelt down to hug her. She buried his face in his shoulder, pouting silently. Yes, she should've stayed with him- why in Skylands she didn't, she wasn't sure. It could've been the two of them against the world, two outcasts showing everyone why they were wrong about them. They could've helped each other, and Chopscotch did nothing.

"Chopscotch, you've told us before how guilty you felt about his situation," Pit Boss argued. "But you're not responsible for what happened to Wolfgang. Sometimes when the world forces you to be alone, you develop a shell to try and keep from being hurt. And we're not sure of all of the things he faced when he was on his own, before meeting you or after. I'm not sure he would've let you know how he felt back then. But we have to do what we can to help him now. And we're off to a great start- he's promised not to do evil anymore."

"What if he does something worse? Something from sorrow's curse?"

"We're not going to let that happen. How about this? The three of us go on a scouting mission tomorrow in Mushroom River?"

Chopscotch released him, wiping her tears away. "You mean 'at'?" she giggled. "If we were in, we'd drown like a cat."

"Not unless we knew how to swim," Pit Boss scoffed. "With the three of us together, we can resolve the issues he has with being around you."

"And if not, it's the world's loss. You always know what to say, Pit Boss."


Pit Boss gathered Chopscotch and Wolfgang for the scouting mission the next morning. They traveled along the river, keeping an eye out for danger. Things were rather quiet, though. She noticed that Wolfgang was glaring at the two of them, seemingly bitter about the arrangement. He really didn't want to be near her.

"You know, Spyro and 'em did a good job of clearin' the area before," Wolfgang muttered. "I don't think anybody's comin' through here for a while."

"Ah you can never be sure until you've scoured the area," Pit Boss insisted. "Someone could've hidden beneath the rocks, determined to start wreaking havoc again. Or a new threat could've come here. Bandits, perhaps, or another bug infestation. You never know- that's why it's good to double check."

"Scouting missions are loads of fun," Chopscotch beamed. "I enjoy chatting with everyone."

Wolfgang furrowed his brow in confusion. "Do you just...talk durin' these things?" he asked.

"The...villagers might have rumors circulating about certain figures that we might need to keep an eye out for," Pit Boss fibbed. "Oftentimes, at least for the Skylander teams like the Trap Masters and Senseis, they enjoy..."

Wolfgang frowned. "...This is a bondin' trip, isn't it?"

"It's just that no one respects the Undead," Chopscotch quickly added. "If we stick together, we'll get ahead."

"I don't appreciate gettin' tricked, just so you know."

Pit Boss paused as they came amidst some pink flowers. He flicked his tongue out, sensing some kind of danger. His stance was tense, feeling something that Chopscotch and Wolfgang couldn't.

"Is this another part of the game, snake?" Wolfgang growled.

"No, no, there's something else out here," Pit Boss stammered fearfully. "It feels like a...a gust of wind."

"Doesn't feel windy today."

"I'm going to scout ahead. I'll holler if I find anything. If not, I'll come right back."

And Pit Boss slithered through the trees, out of sight. Chopscotch watched as Wolfgang set himself on a rock, huffing bitterly. She let out a sigh of her own- this didn't seem to be working at all. Perhaps it was being tricked that made him mad...no, it was too simple.

"I waited for you all day, and you never came," Chopscotch sighed. "It really was quite a shame."

Wolfgang grimaced, turning his head to look at the flowing river. "Well, I um...was called to do somethin' else," he lied. "Somethin' big."

"By who?"

"You know, erm, King Pen. He wanted me to help...to help...the short guy with glasses, what's-his-face."

"Heh. Hugo called for you?"

"Yeah...him."

"You're a bad liar. How often do your pants catch fire?"

Wolfgang let out a small chuckle. "You know, I'm glad you're still doin' the rhymin' thing," he admitted. "Forgot to say that yesterday. Didn't let anyone get to you, huh?"

"The Senseis like it, too. You and them are some of the only few."

"Don't let it bother you, do you?"

She shook her head.

"Glad."

"Yesterday, why did you lie? You...you made me cry."

Wolfgang lowered his shoulders, seeming to shudder. "...I made you cry, huh?" he muttered shamefully.

"Y-Yeah, and I'm not afraid to say it. I felt so much li-"

"I made you cry a lot when you heard 'bout me, didn't I?"

This caught her off-guard. "I-I don't know. Maybe...maybe so."

Wolfgang started strumming his bone harp, trying his hardest to stay calm.

"But what does it matter, anyway? It's in the past- tomorrow's another day."

Wolfgang stopped playing, slamming the bone harp into the dirt. "It matters cuz I forgot, okay?" he yelled. "I forgot not to make others feel like garbage, especially you. I was just so angry, and I had to make everyone else feel my wrath. It didn't matter what I did or who I hurt, because I decided that everyone had to share it. The first time in Cloudcracker, even, I was still determined. Even when I was workin' toward bein' a Sensei, I still felt it. And Pit Boss mentioned you and...well...now that feelin' has changed. I just-"

"You feel like garbage, right?" Chopscotch asked.

Nod.

"Getting to where you are today must've been quite the fight."

"You were my friend. I thought about how I hurt you, and I was just too disgusted with myself to face it. And I thought about helpin' you train the Bowslingers and Smashers as well- you seemed happy enough to see me when you found my hidin' spot. But I figured 'no, she hates you. She wants nothin' to do with you', so I decided not to come."

"You were my friend, too. I've missed you."

"I think the me you're thinkin' of is gone."

"No, he's just buried deep inside. The pain and shame has caused him to hide."

Wolfgang's shoulders heaved as he pouted.

"I want my friend back. Please come back."

Wolfgang turned around, rubbing at his eyes. "Think I can at least make yesterday up by helpin' you train tomorrow?" he sniffed.

"That will help make amends," Chopscotch agreed. "You're okay with me because we're friends."

A holler suddenly sounded from the trees- well, more like a scream. Pit Boss had found something, and it sounded like something big. Chopscotch and Wolfgang hurried over to assist him. They sped through the trees, making their way to a newly-made clearing. Pit Boss was nearest the tree line, hanging on to a vine as he tried vainly to fire magic projectiles at a large enemy. The enemy in question was a tube shark, a nasty fish with tube fins that sucked prey into them.

"A tube shark from Shellmont Shores?" Chopscotch gasped, suddenly feeling the creature's suction powers try to take her in. "What's it doing here, instead of the place with tube shark galores?"

Wolfgang disrupted the creature's attack, firing arrows at its head. "Sneak 'round the back. I've got you covered," Wolfgang insisted.

Chopscotch dove beneath the tube shark while it was distracted. She leapt up and smashed her giant axe on top of it, dealing a heavy blow to it. Pit Boss left from his cover, transforming into a giant snake to finish the tube shark off, throwing it into the river where it was carried away in the toxic current. There was no way it could escape.

"Helps to check, huh?" Wolfgang muttered.

Pit Boss regressed into his normal form, rubbing an arm. "Thanks for the back up," he meekly stated. "I didn't expect to find a tube shark here."

"So why was it here?" Chopscotch asked. "What had that thing gripped in fear?"

"Jet-Vac was surveying that area, last I spoke with him," Pit Boss explained. "He'll probably return to the Academy with answers. So should the three of us keep searching the river in case more of them show up, or do we just head back and wait for him?"

"Let's keep searchin'," Wolfgang decided. "Don't know if there's more of 'em blasted fish around."

Pit Boss flicked his tongue out, giving him a smirk. "Then let's keep going," he agreed.

The three of them continued onward. Chopscotch noticed that Wolfgang's stance became much more relaxed, showing that he felt comfortable being there. Her heart eased itself, happy to have her friend back. She ran up ahead of them, skipping along merrily.