Chapter Thirty-Nine: My Best Friend
Pain-Yatta wasn't the easiest to get along with. He was willing to admit that. He just felt rather...pathetic. He was short, filled with candy and made of papier-mache. He seemed to beg the bullies to come after him- not to mention the party-goers and snack monsters. Pain-Yatta had to be mean, or else no one would take him seriously.
Most people didn't want to stay around him long, and he understood that. But Unocorn was different. And he was lost out there, while Pain-Yatta was stuck in this stupid Traptanium cell, unable to help him!
All he could do was wallow in his loneliness, unable to make an escape.
One day, the walls of Cloudcracker Prison started shaking, cracks making their way along the cells. The prisoners started chanting and rioting, realizing that the day for escape had finally come. Pain-Yatta had joined along as well, feeling that same excitement. The bars on the cell broke off, and Pain-Yatta made his way out. The cracks in the walls connected with each other, and soon the facility started falling apart. The jovial behavior in the rest of the escaping inmates disappeared as they realized that this situation really was dangerous.
Pain-Yatta hobbled along as fast as his stubby little legs could take him, but part of the wall collapsed onto him. His body was in pain, his head and arms sticking out in plain view of the halls. He tried climbing out of the rubble, but his stub hands couldn't grip onto anything. His pulse turned to ice as he realized that he was trapped. He was going to get crushed with the rest of the building!
"Help! Someone help me!" Pain-Yatta screamed. "I'm trapped here! Please help me!"
Several people ran past him, but no one stopped to acknowledge him. The trolls ran past without skipping a beat, Troll 1 assisting an injured Troll 2. Bad Juju and Dreamcatcher floated by, chanting, "We're going back ho-ome! We're going back ho-ome!" Rage Mage shoved a slow Bomb Shell along, shouting at him to move his tuckus. Hawkmongous ran by, pausing a few times as he called out for Buzzer Beak, only for a newly-formed hole in the wall to tell him to hurry along. No matter how much Pain-Yatta shouted at them, no one came to help.
A few more pieces of the wall collapsed around him, and he screamed some more for help. A hooded person paused in his run, stopping to look at Pain-Yatta. The person, Hood Sickle, ran over to assist him. He tugged on the piñata's arms, but he wouldn't budge. He quickly started pulling rubble off of the pile to loosen him, but more filled in the gaps no matter how fast he worked. A strange light started shining off the Traptanium pieces, filling the place, creating a sense of dread in the two of them. Hood Sickle threw his arms around Pain-Yatta's head, a strange dark mist enveloping the two of them. They were suddenly teleported far outside the prison, landing on the gray dead rocks of the Outlands. Pain-Yatta watched as the prison blew up, Traptanium pieces being thrown across the sky in a great shower of light in the early sunrise.
"Whoa, would you look at that," Hood Sickle gasped. "You think any of the others made it out?"
"I can tell you that most of them did," Pain-Yatta spat, his body shaking in pain and terror. "Don't know about those Doom Raiders, though. They were at the center of the facility."
"Oh, who gives a Chompy's bottom about them?"
Hood Sickle staggered to his feet, wincing as he touched his arm. His sleeve had been cut, a bit of blood seeping up.
"Oh no, look at you," Pain-Yatta whimpered.
"It's fine. Something broke behind me, but I got myself out of there okay," Hood Sickle insisted. "How about you? Can you stand?"
Pain-Yatta pushed himself up, stumbling just a tiny bit. His lower body hurt, and his aching legs wobbled too much to keep him up. Hood Sickle came to his side before he fell down, and the piñata threw his arms around him in a tight hug, sobbing uncontrollably. Hood Sickle stiffened for a moment, but then relaxed and set his arms around him in understanding.
"I thought I was going to die!" Pain-Yatta wailed. "No one came to help me! They all just passed me without a second glance!"
"So much was happening just then. It was all very frantic," Hood Sickle explained. "They're not all complete monsters. Some of them are kind of decent, and had friends there that they needed to find. I have no one, and being on my own allowed me to assist you."
"Well I have no one, either. If I did, they would've rushed to my side to help me."
The two of them looked back at the remnants of the prison. A dark and light substance flew out, swirling around the floating pieces of Traptanium. Pain-Yatta's tears subsided, and he began calming down. He didn't think anyone remained in the ruins of the prison. They had probably made it out before the explosion, or else they were shot away along with the Trap Masters, who had mysteriously vanished when it began. He was even sure that the Doom Raiders had managed a way to safety, however trapped those vile villains were.
"We have each other, right?" Pain-Yatta asked.
Hood Sickle shifted the piñata onto his back. "That's right, we have each other," he promised him.
"So now what?"
"Now we make distance from any sign of the Skylanders and make sure they don't catch us, because that's what they're going to try to do once word gets out about this. Let's go farther into the Outlands- they never dare to travel to those places."
"How far until we're safe?"
"Past Shockspire Tower for sure. It's the barrier between the settlements and the wastes. We'll stay in the wastes, and once enough time passes, we can make our way back out."
Pain-Yatta nodded, and they set off on their way.
They traveled across the desert of the Outlands, the midday heat pounding on their backs. Pain-Yatta still rode on Hood Sickle's back, his stomach feeling ill as the candy inside started melting. He gently jabbed him in the side, begging to be let down. Hood Sickle obliged, and Pain-Yatta stumbled onto the ground, coughing up a bit of that candy.
"Oh man, it's so hot out here," Pain-Yatta groaned. "Are the wastes any better temperature-wise?"
"I'm not sure," Hood Sickle admitted. "I honestly didn't think about that earlier. Do you...produce it, or something?"
Pain-Yatta nodded.
"Oh man. Well, let's find some shade and rest for a moment. Do you think you can walk now?"
"It doesn't hurt as much. I think I can try."
They walked toward a cliffside that cast a large shadow on the ground. Pain-Yatta walked next to Hood Sickle, stumbling in pain a tiny bit and leaning on him. They set themselves on the cliff face and sat down, Pain-Yatta noting that it felt much better in there. A slender shape was seen in the sky several miles away from them, a beacon for travelers in the Outlands.
"Is that Shockspire Tower?" Pain-Yatta asked, pointing it out.
"Certainly is," Hood Sickle nodded. "That's the direction we're headed."
"It's still really far away, huh? Maybe we should wait until it gets a bit darker, that way we're not traveling in the heat."
"Sounds like a good idea. I can't stand the heat much myself."
They sat in silence for a moment, watching the clouds drift by. Pain-Yatta tried making shapes out of some of them, like ships or rabbits or things like that. It was something he did with Unocorn all the time when they were younger, though they usually lived in cooler places like the woods or the plains. (The tundras were too cold, and the deserts were too hot. Besides, the woods had plenty of items that helped in their survival, even with all of the sticks and twigs in it.) He didn't think Hood Sickle liked doing things like cloud watching- he seemed too stoic for that.
"You know, I was arrested by the Trap Masters for ransacking a department store," Pain-Yatta began. "That Dreamcatcher insisted that my friend might be there, but she was wrong. I never got to tell them my reason for doing that, nor ask where they had him hidden. How about you? What did you do?"
"I killed a guy," Hood Sickle replied.
Pain-Yatta let out a gasp.
"That was a joke."
"Oh. W-Well it sounded so serious."
"Well it is a serious thing, I guess. But that's basically what they saw it as. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, is all. There was a robber in the area. I should've waited for the authorities to get him. The Trap Masters didn't ask me about it, either."
"Do you still believe that people can be nice, then?"
"Things are more depressing when you believe otherwise."
There was a glint of light in the sky, falling steadily toward the ground. Pain-Yatta and Hood Sickle stood up cautiously, nervous as to what it could be. The glinting item grew bigger and bigger as it descended, eventually landing with a hard smack! on the ground. It appeared to be a person in white armor, crumpled up on the ground, wings folded on himself. Hood Sickle and Pain-Yatta let out screams of fear, not believing what had happened.
"Oh Wizbit's ghost! Oh Wizbit's ghost! What is that!?" Pain-Yatta cried, hands on his head in anguish.
Hood Sickle pulled out his scythe, trembling in nervousness. He stepped toward the figure, poking it with the butt of his weapon. A groan was heard from the figure, confusing the two of them. Hood Sickle pushed a wing back, revealing that the figure was wearing a bird-like helmet. His body moved as he breathed in ragged breaths.
"This is impossible," Hood Sickle stammered. "He should be dead from that kind of fall."
Pain-Yatta slowly lowered his arms. "Th-That means we can help him, right?" he asked.
"We can't. Once people see us around this guy, they're going to assume that we did this. They'll freak out, and then the Skylanders will find incentive to come out here."
"But we can't just leave him, can we?"
Hood Sickle looked at him, then back at the winged man. He put his weapon away, shaking his head. "If no one comes for him, he'll waste away in the heat. Or animals will hurt him," he decided. "Let's take him to the tower."
They carried him through the desert, making their way to Shockspire Tower. They began a chorus of shouts for help, in case people did believe that they hurt the man. As they got closer to the building, they found a crowd of people nearby, all scared and disoriented. A troop of bronze-blue robots was standing around them, trying their best to assist them. One came over to Pain-Yatta and Hood Sickle, and the two of them nervously set the man on the ground.
"We saw him fall," Pain-Yatta explained. "He's badly injured, and he needs medical-"
"What do you two know about this Light and Dark Realm?" the robot asked them.
"What?" Hood Sickle asked.
"These people are claiming that they have been trapped in these strange places for the past four years. Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"
The two of them shook their heads.
"Alright, then. You said this man was injured?"
"Yes," Pain-Yatta replied.
"Okay. We'll do what we can for him. You can go on now, if you want."
Pain-Yatta and Hood Sickle quickly took their leave. Pain-Yatta hobbled behind the hooded man, noting that he was going in the opposite direction of the tower. Hood Sickle's body language showed fear and worry, as if he couldn't wait to be gone from that place.
"What's going on?" Pain-Yatta asked.
"Too many people there," Hood Sickle stammered, hands shaking nervously. "And if what they're saying is true, the Skylanders will have incentive to come and investigate. We can't go that way."
"So you're changing the plan? Where are we going to go now?"
"The woods or...or something. I don't know."
He didn't like the idea of wandering around. If they didn't know where they were going, they were sure to get stuck somewhere, or in trouble, or in any number of bad situations.
"Are we going to be okay?" Pain-Yatta muttered.
"We'll make sure of that," Hood Sickle insisted, though he didn't sound all that confident. "Whatever it takes, we're not going back to that prison."
They were constantly running after that. Hood Sickle had been right, and the Skylanders were scouring every corner of Skylands to find the escaped prisoners. Sometimes they had close brushes with returned Trap Masters or new recruits, and could only stay one step ahead of them.
It wasn't anything Pain-Yatta wasn't used to. He had been constantly running from danger before with a friend. Unocorn had always been by his side, always supportive of his actions, and always worried that someone might kill him for his churro horn. Pain-Yatta was just as fearful of that, as well as being beaten up by people with sticks. That was how life had always been for them.
Pain-Yatta had a peculiar dream one night when out hiding with Hood Sickle. In the dream, he found himself running around distorted woods, branches formed like frightening arms and trunks with faces seeming to scream at him. The wind howled around them, sending fear through every fiber of his body. A scream shouted in the area, and it sounded very familiar.
The pinata monster hurried through into a clearing, watching a very disturbing sight. He found Unocorn tied to a stake, trolls shouting around him. Cinnamon sprinkled down from his churro horn, caught in a jar set up by the trolls. Unocorn seemed very frail and sick, using the majority of his energy to call for help.
"I'm coming! Don't worry!" Pain-Yatta screamed.
He hurried after the circle of trolls, running anxiously for Unocorn. But the distance seemed to stretch longer and longer, and he couldn't quite reach them. Pain-Yatta felt tears stream down his face, finding it hopeless that he could make it to his friend in time. He tripped and collapsed to the ground, feeling his heart break in two. His friend was going to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it!
The grass and the trees soon melted away, as well as the circle of trolls and Unocorn on the stake. Everything became white, and Pain-Yatta looked up at a new figure. This was the floating head Dreamcatcher. She grinned at him, smiling with her full set of braces.
"Wow, what a depressing dream," she smirked. "Rather melodramatic, though, right?"
"What do you want?" Pain-Yatta groaned. "It was your last tip that got me arrested at that department store, if you recall. Unocorn wasn't there."
"And it was also my last tip that informed you that the Skylanders were behind his disappearance. You're like, so distrusting right now. Don't you get it? I know he was there- they probably took him out and set up a trap for you before I could warn you to get out of there."
Pain-Yatta raised an eyebrow. "Are you here about him again?"
"Totally, except not completely," Dreamcatcher explained. "I'm looking for information about Traptanium. You've seen it on your little travels, haven't you? It's like, all over the place since the prison blew up. Really filthy, you know. Anyway, I've been asked to take control of Telescope Towers in order to get this information from those scientific nerds. I'll need some help in securing the place, and you were the perfect person to do it- oh, and that Hood Sickle guy can come along, if he wants."
"What's in it for us?"
"Protection- if you're not too stupid, that is. And I believe that those nerds have a way of locating anything we need them to. If you help me, I think I can help you find Unocorn and make sure the lead doesn't get you into another trap."
Pain-Yatta's heart skipped a beat. It wasn't too late, then. He could find his friend and make sure he was safe. Sure, everyone said that Dreamcatcher was known for lying, but...he just had to be sure, didn't he? He had to take this chance, right?
"I'll talk to Hood Sickle," Pain-Yatta agreed. "I'll help you."
"Oh goody goody gumdrops! That is so rocking!" Dreamcatcher cheered. "I'll bring transportation to your area ASAP. See you soon."
Pain-Yatta opened his eyes, finding himself in a cave in the middle of the woods. The fire they had made earlier was slowly dying out, and the interior was rather dark. He found himself panicking, looking around the cave and realizing that his companion couldn't be seen. Hood Sickle couldn't have just left him, could he? Like everyone else he's ever come across? He wouldn't do that, right?
"Hood Sickle?" Pain-Yatta called, rocking back and forth in worry.
He heard a grumble, and a dark mass against the wall shifted and turned on its side. The figure opened one eye lazily, and Pain-Yatta recognized it as Hood Sickle's. Pain-Yatta let out a sigh of relief.
"What do you need, Pain-Yatta?" Hood Sickle grumbled tiredly.
"I was worried that you'd left," Pain-Yatta explained.
"You don't have to worry about that. I wouldn't leave you."
Hood Sickle sat up a bit, noticing that the fire was starting to go out. He got up and walked a little ways out of the cave. Pain-Yatta watched as the hooded man walked back in with a bundle of sticks, and watched still as he set the sticks on the fire. He felt guilty about the question he was about to ask. He was determined to go to Telescope Towers and find answers to his friend's disappearance, but he didn't want to drag him into it. Hood Sickle had been determined to avoid them, and he knew that the hooded man wouldn't want to go in an area where they might be coming after them.
"Hey Hood Sickle...," Pain-Yatta stammered. "I need...I need to go to Telescope Towers."
Hood Sickle looked at him in confusion. "What for?" he asked.
"I think I might be able to find information on my missing friend there."
"This...this doesn't have anything to do with the Skylanders, does it?"
"I don't know. Which is why you...you don't have to come along with me. I know how much your freedom means to you, and if my mission is going to get me in trouble...I don't want you to get in trouble as well."
Pain-Yatta got up, starting on his way. Dreamcatcher had said she'd be providing him transportation, though where that would be, he wasn't sure. He didn't get far before a gentle hand halted him. Pain-Yatta looked at Hood Sickle, noticing that his face had become a bit more bashful.
"Listen, you're the only one who's stuck around me this long," Hood Sickle muttered.
"I was injured for most of that time," Pain-Yatta replied.
"Doesn't stop most people from trying to get away from me. I used to be proud of my menacing look, but that's what got me locked up in the first place, and after that...well, I felt too lonely to see any real good in it. And you've been really patient with me, even when I didn't know where I wanted to take us, so...I'll go with you."
"A-Are you sure?"
"If danger befalls us, I'll make sure that they don't get me."
Pain-Yatta gave him a curt nod.
Telescope Towers was all in sorts thank to Dreamcatcher's magic affecting the place. She insisted that she needed extra muscle to sort the scientists in place and ensuring that they didn't get away before she stole their dreams, to which Hood Sickle and Pain-Yatta were willing to do. Pain-Yatta thrashed his giant lollipop about, terrifying the Mabu into place, while all Hood Sickle had to do was stand sort of near them and be menacing. In no time at all, they had the place to themselves, just as it seemed like the Skylanders might be arriving.
"Good job, boys! We've totally got that info in our grasps!" Dreamcatcher cheered. "Pain-Yatta, I think the library has the information you need to find your friend. Hood Sickle, you'll be most safe by my side- and I think I'll be most safe by your side as well. Fair trade-off, right?"
Pain-Yatta was about to hurry down the corridor, quickly halting as he noticed Hood Sickle stand about. The hooded man was sitting just outside of the library tower, brow furrowed in contemplation as Dreamcatcher hovered around him.
"Is everything alright?" Pain-Yatta asked.
"Something just seems...off, you know," Hood Sickle muttered. "Are you sure we're safe here? We're just begging for the Skylanders to come after us."
"We're totes safe," Dreamcatcher insisted. "This place is practically in a different reality now. There's no way they can hope to harm us."
Pain-Yatta stood around for a moment, glancing at the two of them. "I'm going to go to the library," he told them.
"For your sake, I hope you find what you're looking for," Hood Sickle told him.
Pain-Yatta nodded and ran into the tower. It would be the last that he saw of Hood Sickle for a while.
He ran up a spiraled staircase, passing bookcase after bookcase. He reached the top of the steps, noting that books were spread out all over the place. (It should be noted that each tower had looked like this before their interference.) Tall bookcases lined the walls, and an owl glided around each of these, sorting out different kinds of books. The owl looked just as studious as the rest of the scientists did, despite not being sentient.
"Hi, Mr. Owl!" Pain-Yatta called up to it. "I could use your help."
The owl paused in its work, hooting at him.
"Could you please find me something on the recent sightings of Unocorn? You know, the unicorn with a churro horn? That guy?"
The owl flew away, gliding toward a stack of folders on the ground. It pulled one out, flying back to Pain-Yatta. The owl dropped the folder at his feet, and flew back to a different bookshelf, letting out a screech.
"Thank you!" Pain-Yatta shouted, picking up the folder. He opened it up and studied the papers inside, looking for specific locations as to where Unocorn had gone.
One said he'd been spotted in the Enchanted Elven Forest several months ago. No help there.
Another said he'd been found near the Chocolate Ocean four months ago. Still too much time from then to now.
One interesting one came from a group of wizards, who had encountered Unocorn but had been scared of by a red fire unicorn. That was at least three months ago.
And the most recent sighting was in Skywinder Canyon, making faces at some of the racers at least...two weeks ago, before mysteriously vanishing. Pain-Yatta could check for clues there once he was done at Telescope Towers.
But looking through the files created uncertainty in his mind. He'd been told that the Skylanders were behind Unocorn's disappearance, perhaps even captured him. They could've had him locked up in someplace like Cloudcracker, or someplace worse than Cloudcracker. Heck, Dreamcatcher even agreed...
She'd even said that he'd been seen at that department store. And the file mentioned nothing about Unocorn being seen in a department store. Had he been duped this whole time? Had he been duped into becoming an enemy by those Doom Raiders?
He'd been scammed, hadn't he!?
Pain-Yatta rushed down the stairs, determined to confront Dreamcatcher about her scheme. He felt anger boil in his stomach, rattling with the candy inside. He had his giant lollipop out, prepared to try and bash her if necessary. He halted at the door, noticing figures out there. The figures seemed to be trying to solve the puzzles in this weird state that Telescope Towers had been put in. There was no doubt that they were Skylanders.
In a better frame of mind, he would've asked them for help, trying to explain that he'd beek tricked. But he wanted nothing more than to attack something, even if it wasn't Dreamcatcher.
And he'd been captured again.
About a year had passed after all of that. He'd spent the better half of his time stuck in a Trap- which was probably for the best, considering that whole Rift Crisis. For some reason, the Skylanders wanted him on board to teach other Skylanders how to act. And they had agreed to help him find his missing friend as well. It was better than the prison, he decided.
Though if Pain-Yatta was really honest with himself, he felt like he belonged there. After everything he'd done, who would bother with him again?
He'd hidden away in the Academy's observatory one afternoon, fiddling with the telescope. It was awfully quiet in there, perhaps due to the fact that people rarely visited this part of the Academy, but it was nice. Pain-Yatta had no desire to seek anyone out. He was far too ashamed of himself for that.
The door opened, and Pain-Yatta turned his head around to find someone walking in- a hooded man, who looked surprised to see him there. A lump caught itself in his throat. That was Hood Sickle. It had been so long since he'd seen him.
"Are you joining the Skylanders, too?" Pain-Yatta asked.
Hood Sickle nodded meekly, eyes widened in surprise.
"Yeah. It's...it's nice to see you. I understand if...if you're mad. I do. But-"
He barely got to finish his sentence before Hood Sickle launched himself at the pinata monster, wrapping his arms around him. Pain-Yatta heard him pouting, though he found himself too shocked to do much. He didn't get it. After what had happened in Telescope Towers, everyone had to be mad at him.
"I've missed you," Hood Sickle told him.
"Me too," Pain-Yatta replied. He set his arms around Hood Sickle, finding himself crying as well.
Perhaps Hood Sickle saw him as his only friend. It didn't matter, Pain-Yatta guessed. Unocorn was still out there, and he was still determined to find him- but it was better to have company while doing so.
