AN: An unexpected privaledge came my way. I've been writing these things per hand in class as it goes a bit faster than typing at the moment and one of my friends offered to type this chapter for me over the weekend! I just got it and decided, what the hell, upload it now and surprise them.

So, here you go. Chapter 20 as ordered.

Chapter 20: Captive.

Queen Skyla stared at the imp.

There was a heavy silence in the Council hall as the people stared from the imp to their queen, not sure what she would do.

'He's bluffing." Her mind tried to tell her. 'They'll come back anytime now, they just went to the mines… They are…'

"How do I know you haven't harmed them already?" She asked coldly, using the full advantage of her height.

The red imp was quite aware of how much of an advantage that was. Giggling to hide his unease he floated up so that he could stare the Sky Queen in the eyes.

"Because then I would've brought some nice decorations for you walls as well." He said, and immediately realized he had made a mistake.

Skyla's eyes narrowed and for a second he thought that she was going to strike him. Whirl and Twirl, who were shaking with effort to keep themselves at bay, dropped their heads and growled. They, more than anyone there, could sense their mistress's mood.

"Before I make any deals with Skyclone I want to know that they're okay." There was an edge to her tone that made Snarl keep his mouth shut. "Everything about them." Skyla added coldly. "When I'm convinced I will take his proposal into consideration."

She trailed off as Snarl held up his hands.

"Geeze Queenie you're tight." He said. "Sure, just come on over and we'll show you. They're fine. A little bit cramped at the moment, but fine."

Skyla grinned mirthlessly. "I'm not that stupid." She glanced at the Tinker who had stepped forward. The attention of the room shifted to him.

"If I may your Highness," he said with a quick bow, "I may have something that can help us with this little dilemma…"

There were off course those blinding headaches that they couldn't ignore…
The five Skydancers sat very still and very silent as they stared at the barrier around them. They didn't need to say anything to each other, they all knew what would happen to them if they crossed it.

The five Skydancers sat back to back in a small circle with their feet just inches away from the barrier. The silence amongst them was awkward and heavy, the seriousness of their situation only emphasized by the droning sound of the generators.

Angelica was the first to speak as she soughed out Breeze's hand behind her back. "We're like…" She paused looked around her and sighed. "We're in trouble aren't we?" Her voice was soft, fear echoing around her. Her fingers found a welcoming familiar touch.

"We'll figure out how to get out of this one." Breeze said softly. "Don't worry Angelica…"

"Oh, you have all the reason to worry." The sniping tone came from somewhere below them.

A chill passed through the Skydancers as Skyclone was raised to their level by one of his large red hurricanes. The obese man was grinning at them with a wicked gleam in his eye. "You see." He carried on with his previous line. "Even if you do manage to get the barrier down without harming your precious wings you still have the negative pressure to worry about."

Camille snorted. "Negative pressure?" She chided sarcastically.

The man grinned at her and started swinging the cage. There were sounds of protests as they were thrown around. Jade experienced a terrifying moment where everyone pushed against her. She yelped in panic as she came dangerously close to being thrown against the barrier before Skyclone stopped the cage again.

"This whole chamber has a negative field around it." He sneered. "One which would prevent you or any other winged Skycreature from flying in it. One of my newest inventions. What do you think?"

Slam, who had seen the red imp – Snarl – float up behind Skyclone grinned.

"Well, now it just proves that your minions have nothing to brag about." He stated. "Yo, pimple face what's up?"

The imp sneered at him.

"Not you."

Skyclone turned to his minion. "What did she say?" He demanded.

Snarl turned up side down on this head to make a face at Slam. "That she will surrender the Skyswirlstone and give her five pets for us to play with." He gloated. One of the girls gasped softly.

Skyclone's face lit up. "Is that…"

Twin soft growls interrupted his sentence.

Skyclone's eyes narrowed as he turned around slowly to look at Whirl and Twirl hovering behind him.

The imp giggled. "Made you look." He said in the Skydancers' direction. "No actually she send the pups along to see whether her little babies are still okay. Then she'll negotiate."

Skyclone's eyes narrowed dangerously as he grabbed the imp around the neck.

"Never make a joke like that again." He said. "Being disappointed is not good for your health."

Snarl made a some sort of strangled gasp as he nodded vigorously.

Skyclone snorted as he dropped the imp and looked at the dogs.

"What are they doing?" He snapped as he watched Whirl and Twirl fly around the cage. The Skydancers were very quiet as they studied the dogs. Both had a strange crystal around their collars. Twirl flew down to them and barked excitedly.

"That Tinker man has some sort of 'recording crystal' as he called it." Snarl was explaining to his boss. "Those crystals lock everything they see into their molecules and when the dogs go back they'd be able to see the Skydancers and know that their okay. Pretty funky huh?"

Skyclone didn't look pleased. "I don't want her too see this layout." He said. "You…" He motioned to Jade. "Take off the crystals and give them to me."

Jade frowned at being signaled out. "Why should I?" She snapped defiantly.

The big man sneered. "Because if you don't I will seal off this chamber and make sure that those dogs never leave here breathing again. How is that?"

The group blinked startled. Jade bit her lip and hesitantly went closer to the side. "Whirl, Twirl come here babies." She said softly.

The dogs, after making one last circle of the chamber, obediently complied to her wishes. Slam held onto Jades shoulders to make sure that she didn't pass through the barrier as she reached out and took off the crystals. When the dogs licked her hands she almost started crying.

"Here." She told Skyclone and tossed him the crystals.

The man snatched them out of the air and studied their design for a moment or two. Snorting with disgust he dropped the crystals down to the vortex below.

"Now." He said. "You tell those dogs to…"