Academy Chronicles: Rise of the Skylanders

Chapter 16: Running Up

The Dreamcast continued to soar through the skies, scraping across the clouds and blazing past what I believe to be hundreds of islands by now.

"Are we there yet?" Pop Fizz asked.

"No," Tails groaned, annoyed for saying this repeatedly for the past 5 minutes now.

"…Now?"

"No."

"…How 'bout now?"

"No."

"…How 'bout-"

"Can you just zip it, Pop?! I can't concentrate!"

And there's the snap.

Like that, the gremlin goes quiet. This silence however would only last thirty seconds.

"…Are we there yet?" Neptune asked.

Tails yelled out in annoyance, but that was covered up by a sudden alert. Alarms blared throughout the Dreamcast as most of us snapped out of our travel-induced dazes.

"We're nearing our destination!" Tails exclaimed. "Worst of all, though, we've got opposition guarding the Cloudbreather! Get ready for a fight!"

Finally, something interesting.

I hopped out of my seat, spawning my Sentinel Sword.

"Tails, what do we have?" I asked.

Tails leaned forward, looking into a screen on the Master System to show a magnified image on what's ahead before turning to me.

"We got Drow on the tail. We're gonna need to wipe 'em out from the dragon."

I looked out the window to get a view of what I can see. I see a glimpse of a tail of the dragon, which is wrapped around a mountain, not too far from our destination. It looks stable enough to run on. As we flew closer, I noticed a large temple cradled atop the dragon's neck. All the while, small elf-like creatures patrol the entire body.

"Can do! Up and at 'em, Sayaka. We're running up a dragon." I tell my partner.

Immediately, Sayaka stood up and followed my lead.

"Alright, leave it to us!" She said, rubbing her hands.

"Eh, what do we do?" Makoto asked me as I passed by them, pointing to Kyoko.

"Stay onboard. We got this." I told him.

I then turned to the other people onboard.

"We're gonna need some people airborne to take these guys down. Tails, keep the flight going. Spyro, Nep, you're in the skies. Back us up."

Sayaka turned to her fellow Magical Girls.

"Madoka, Homura. You're good aims. Head on over to the cannons and light 'em up." She told them.

"Everything clear?!" Sonic called out.

I received nods, yells of "aye", exclamations of "yes" and even a playful salute from Pop Fizz. I noticed that Makoto looked distraught, however, nodding slightly.

I sighed before turning to the door.

"We're heading to the tail. Prepare for dispatch." Tails said to me.

I grinned before kicking the door open.

"Let's rock and roll!" I yelled, jumping off the Dreamcast with Sayaka not far behind me. I curled into a ball, spinning towards the scaled tail. I fell on the hard yellow surface, I turned to see walls of scales to my left and right, guarding the area from the smoother blue skin. It's as if the tail has become a racetrack.

Sayaka landed before me, her cape flowing in the wind. We both stand up. My sword pointed forward while Sayaka unleashed her swords in her hands.

Before us were an army of elves holding spears, emanating dark energy. The Drow: Worshippers of the Darkness and servants of Kaos.

And since Kaos is with LOSE, they're with LOSE.

Regardless, they're going down.

The Drow screeched, warning their troops as they charge ahead.

"They're looking mighty fierce today." Sayaka said, sharpening her blades.

"They've really been working on their game faces." I replied.

"Hm. Maybe we gotta work on ours!"

And like that, Sayaka rushed forward, letting out a battle cry as she slashed through a Drow as they dissipate into dark energy. All the while, my eyes flash white, activating my own game face.

Catching up, I homing attacked into a Drow soldier, knocking him into a scale before kicking him off, sending the Drow flying into the never-ending abyss that is Skylands.

As I turned back to where Sayaka ran off to, I noticed a ton of spears pointed towards me.

Staring into the vicious eyes of the Drow, I mentally commanded my sword to go into Fire Mode. With the green lining turning red, I swung the Sentinel Sword effortlessly, fire spewing from the sides as it burnt the Drow to ash and darkness.

With a wall of fire in front of me, I channeled my innate wind ability and called forth a gust of wind to wipe the fire away. With the road cleared, I sped up to go side-by-side with Sayaka.

"What's your score?" I asked, slashing through any incoming Drow charging at me.

Sayaka looked up to see a Drow lunge after her. Sayaka threw her sword into the air as it impales him as he crumbles into darkness airborne.

"Nine so far." She chuckled.

"Five." I replied. "Getting better."

"Maybe you should!" She smirked.

The two of us then jumped up as we hopped between Drow to Drow, knocking them out into the floor, destroying them.

As we jump and crush the Drow to bits, I looked up to see some Drow sporting jetpacks. Luckily, two purple streak flew through them. One sporting sparkles of magic, one leaving behind digital traces.

They inch closer to our destination as we near a wall of Drow before us. Eventually, our eyes register the two streaks, being Spyro and Neptune, now Purple Heart.

Spyro burned up the wall as the Drow squirm before perishing. Whoever was leftover is slashed up by Purple Heart who swung into the air and dived after each one.

"Keep going!" Purple Heart told us as she flew side by side by us.

"We've got your back!" Spyro exclaimed, giving a clawed thumbs up. The two then split up and flew off, leaving me and Sayaka to continue our thing.

Naturally, more and more Drow ran towards us, even more than before.

"Sonic. Let's play Piggyback." She commanded.

"Ah. Haven't done that in a while!" I said before jumping on Sayaka's shoulders. I put one hand on her head while I pointed my sword forward, glowing yellow now.

Sayaka dropped her swords as they vanish into thin air. She pushes her hands out, shooting out a torrent of water to push the Drow off the dragon. Meanwhile, my sword began to shoot electricity and shocked the remaining Drow into nothingness. We continued our overpowering onslaught through the Drow.

We screeched to a stop as Sayaka leans down. This gives me a clear view to focus my air powers. I push my sword-wielding hand forward, thrusting it and using wind to blow more and more Drow off before Sayaka leaps back into her running state. I shuffled between fire and lighting, decimating Drow while Sayaka washed the remainder off.

We continued speeding up the dragon without a problem, at this rate, we'd be at the temple before no time.

"Wow! This is almost too easy!" Sayaka laughed.

However, before we knew it, we were tackled to the ground. We tumbled onto the scaly surface, now completely defenseless. We turned around to notice an army of massive, buffed up Drow. Then pin us to the floor as my sword disappeared from being disarmed.

"You had to jinx it…!" I groaned.

Sayaka meanwhile managed to move her head towards her pinned down right arm to her DEUS watch.

"…Ugh! We need backup!"