The Doom Raiders made themselves comfortable in the bare location on the island surrounded by trees. They all chose their own spots as far away from each other as possible. Golden Queen had some smaller creatures build a tent for her, which she of course turned to gold as soon as it was done.
Everyone was busy and wallowed in their freedom, except for Snap Shot. He couldn't stop thinking about his action during the fight. The way he shot his arrow through one of his oldest companions, the regret was tormenting him. And now he was one of them, the very same group of malicious creatures he swore himself to stop once and for all. The traitor saw Sprocket all tied up at the other side of the camp. Her look was devastating, and it pierced through his soul. Snap Shot quickly turned his head away, he couldn't bear to see one of his allies like that.
"You okay, mate?" Wolfgang was using some wood to build himself a small shelter. He seemed far more relaxed and calm now that they were out in the open.
"What do you think?" Snap Shot practically spit the words at the wolf. He was the reason the reptile was with the Doom Raiders, and he started to question how he could betray his team for someone like him.
"Thanks, by the way, for saving my fur back there." Wolfgang played the situation down and started to behave more like his old self.
"I saved your life back there!" Snap Shot shouted angrily and finally stood up instead of sitting against one of the many trees. "I'm not even sure why, you clearly don't deserve it!"
Wolfgang's response was a simple shrug followed by a bold statement. "I never asked you to save me." The musician went on with his business and didn't bother to give Snap Shot another look.
Snap Shot was furious. First his supposed friend betrays everyone who trusted him, and now his personality is shifting back to when he was one of their biggest enemies. The Trap Master was disgusted, not only by Wolfgang, but also by himself. He couldn't believe that he could ever have feelings for his worst nemesis.
Back at the Academy, everyone was slowly processing the recent events and cooled down. Wallop was still unconscious and received constant medical supervision. Spyro gathered some of the most experienced Skylanders to discuss further plans and theories on the location of the Doom Raiders. Many of the exhausted heroes went to bed, while others couldn't even stand still for a second. Smolderdash looked upon the disaster from the top of one of the many towers.
"Why did this have to happen?" The Fire Skylander thought to herself. "I could've done more, I could've prevented this." The humanoid was drowning in self-doubt and felt completely useless as a Skylander. "And Sprocket is gone too. Did they really- no it can't be!"
The Skylander used her abilities to slowly float down to the ground and ask some Skylanders if they have seen the engineer. Everyone was as clueless as Smolderdash herself, some told her that she wanted to go inside of the prison during the ambush, but she already knew that.
The hot-blooded female became increasingly worried for her friend and decided to look around the Academy and nearby islands for her. After hours of searching, there was still no sign of her. The Fire Skylander was sad and frustrated. The only thing she could do was to announce Sprocket's absence so that everyone would start looking for her. Before Smolderdash reached the central room of the Academy, where most Skylanders stayed, she saw that a tower was slowly being covered in ice. Soon the others looked up and spotted it as well.
"What is that?" A confused and irritated voice asked from the crowd.
Everyone was paralyzed by the sight of the continuously freezing bricks. "I'll check it out!" Smolderdash exclaimed and quickly made her way to the tower.
The Skylander floated up the spiraling flight of stairs. Ice was covering each step and flowed down like water. Smolderdash became slightly scared and bursted through the door leading to the room of the tower.
"Chill?" Smolderdash saw the warrior sitting in front of the single window of the room.
Chill stared at nothing but the clouds in the sky. She realized that most of the window was frozen, but the Skylander was shocked after turning around to see her entire room coated in ice. "I'm so sorry!" Chill immediately jumped up and stopped the freezing process. She lifted her hands and tried to revert it, but it didn't work. "I can't control it." The Water Skylander whispered to herself so that Smolderdash couldn't hear her.
"It's okay, Chill!" Smolderdash slowly approached the distressed Skylander and performed careful hand gestures. "Just calm down and everything will be fine."
Chill looked at the Fire Skylander with a bewildered look. How was she supposed to calm down after hearing the voice of her long-lost queen, a person she promised to protect until the end of her days, calling her. Her breathing slowed down, and she tried to relax, but that vision she saw before the fight at the prison has been all she could think of ever since.
"I'm fine." Chill sounded like anything but fine. "I just need some time for myself." The Skylander grabbed the chair next to her and pulled it closer to sit on it. It seemed like she didn't even notice that the chair was frozen just like everything else in her room.
"Okay then." Smolderdash was weirded out by Chill's behavior but didn't want to upset her in any way. "I think I can fix this." Smolderdash sounded unsure, but nevertheless she was willing to try. The Skylander raised her hands above her head and emitted hot air from the holes that were located on her palms. The ice in the room started to melt and drip to the floor. Chill watched in awe as the ice she created slowly disappeared. Soon the entire tower was warmed up again and there wasn't a single frozen brick left.
"Thanks." Chill was very grateful and felt sorry for the trouble she caused.
"No problem!" Smolderdash smiled and responded cheerfully. "It's been pretty rough, so things like these can happen."
Chill nodded and walked past the Skylander to leave the tower. She didn't want to be near others while her powers weren't under control.
Smolderdash was happy that she could help someone. The feeling of uselessness which plagued her for some time now was weakened, and she felt the confidence to tell everyone about Sprocket's mysterious disappearance.
Back in the hidden forest, the Doom Raiders have settled down and started to discuss their own further plans.
"We should totally start terrorizing villages again!" Dreamcatcher exclaimed mischievously.
"What's the point of that?" Chef Pepper Jack didn't agree with the Air villain and suggested another idea. "We need improved weapons first! We can't take on Skylands by ourselves!"
Dr. Krankcase just dropped one of his several hat bots to the ground. It was damaged, and he attempted to fix it, but without success. "You know, I could create weapons that have the ability to pulverize anything they hit, but the resources in this forest are too… natural."
Wolfgang was sitting on the stump of a tree behind the group. He pulled the strings of his bone harp to create a small melody and wasn't interested in any of his fellow Doom Raider's plans. "Or we could just do whatever we want."
The villains all glared at the wolf with a strange look, before going back to their plans. "Enough already!" Golden Queen slammed her staff on the grass underneath her, leaving a few of the straws covered in solid gold. "You're all suggesting that we do the same things we did the last time?"
The Doom Raiders looked at each other blankly before nodding to confirm the queen's assumption.
"Am I the only one with a proper brain in this group?" Krankcase raised his finger and was about to speak, but immediately shut his mouth after Golden Queen struck him with a furious gaze. "Everything we did lead us to failure! We can't allow the Skylanders to ruin our plans this time!"
The queen's allies were all quiet and embarrassed about their ideas. They knew that she was right and that they had to change something.
"What we need to do, is get the Skylanders out of our way!" The goldling was taller than any other member of the Doom Raiders, she used that to assert her leadership and power. "Chef Pepper Jack!"
The yelling of the queen had the chef jump up in surprise and face his leader with respect. "Yes, your majesty?"
"Command your minions to launch their attack at the Academy." Golden Queen already knew the exact steps of her plan. "They shouldn't be prepared for an assault this early."
"Of course, your highness." The living vegetable quickly headed to his shelter to contact some of his minions, who were waiting on a sign for attack.
"We'll get rid of all of them." Golden Queen turned her head around to check on Sprocket, who was still tied up and deeply frustrated by the situation. "One by one."
At Skylanders Academy, Tidepool resided inside of Persephone's house. The Sensei wanted to make sure that her weapons and marine companions were all in-tact, so she visited the fairy to get some power-ups. While Tidepool was waiting for the small helper to catch some magical butterflies, Wild Storm entered the room. Tidepool turned around just to turn away again after seeing the Air Skylander.
They haven't talked ever since their duel in the arena and Tidepool had no intentions to change that.
"Upgrading your weapons, huh?" Wild Storm stood next to his friend and started a casual conversation.
"Why do you ask?" Tidepool kept her eyes at the window across of her. "Do you suddenly want to spend time with me?"
Wild Storm sighed and sensed an upcoming argument. "Tidepool, please don't take what I said so serious-"
"Why do you act like it never happened?" Tidepool interrupted the knight and asked him another question. "You said that as if we didn't know each other for years. Do you expect me to be happy about the fact that you don't want us to be as close anymore?"
Wild Storm didn't say anything and tried to understand the Skylander's point of view. "I know why you're mad, and I don't want us to drift apart." He stopped before continuing. "But it's for the best."
Tidepool's expression suddenly became extremely angry. "There it is again! First you tell me you want us to stay friends, and then you say it's better if we weren't!"
Wild Storm didn't expect to anger his friend so much, but he wanted to explain his reasoning. "Tidepool, I-"
Before the Air Sensei could continue, a loud explosion could be heard nearby. The two Skylanders rushed outside to see a bunch of panicking Skylanders at the Academy.
"We're under attack!" A Skylander yelled with fear while running to find a safe spot.
An airship was firing cannonballs at the island, and no one expected an attack to happen now. It was controlled by the minions which Chef Pepper Jack ordered to assault the Academy.
Spyro soon took notice of the disaster and quickly headed to the defense canons of the giant building. "They're not working! Someone sabotaged them!" The dragon exclaimed while trying everything to get the weapons to work.
Smolderdash fearlessly dashed past some helpless Skylanders. The Fire Skylander floated towards the aircraft and launched a burning orb at one of the cannons. The attack disabled the weaponry and it couldn't shoot anymore missiles.
While Smolderdash took care of the left side of the ship, Wild Storm transformed into his beast form and pounced on top of the ship. He easily smacked the small enemies off board and crashed through the wooden deck. Inside of the ship, the beast used his immense strength to demolish the row of cannons.
Smolderdash and Wild Storm finally destroyed all the weapons and let the airship slowly sink down in the sky. While Smolderdash returned to the Academy to be greeted with relief and praise, Wild Storm stood at the edge of a path and watched the broken aircraft descend into the clouds. Tidepool was a few feet behind him and wasn't sure what to say. That worry soon became unnecessary, after Wild Storm gave her one short look before running off.
Smolderdash was happy that she could help and smiled at every grateful face she saw. The fiery humanoid snapped out of that moment after overhearing Spyro talking about the sabotaged cannons and how they should call Sprocket to fix it. The Fire Skylander moved away from the crowd and positioned herself in the center of the Academy with a serious expression. Everyone turned silent and all eyes were on her.
"Fellow Skylanders!" Smolderdash spoke loudly to make sure that everyone could hear her. "I want to announce that I have noticed something which should concern all of us!"
The heroes in front of her started to mumble and wonder what she was talking about.
"Sprocket is missing!" Smolderdash finally revealed her worry. "And I believe that the Doom Raiders are behind her disappearance."
Gasps could be heard, and the others shared Smolderdash's concern. "We have to inform everyone about her absence and start looking for her. We can't leave any of our allies behind, especially not someone as resourceful as Sprocket!"
Everyone agreed with the Skylander and they were ready to spread the news and start to search. "Please, we have to work together to find Sprocket and stop the Doom Raiders once and for all!"