The sun has risen to start a new day in Skylands. The Doom Raiders were already wide awake, and Snap Shot was counting the seconds before someone would notice that Sprocket is gone. The peaceful morning was soon disturbed by a furious voice.
"She's WHAT!?" Everyone in the camp turned their sight to the glorious tent of Golden Queen. Chef Pepper Jack was launched through the entrance in the form of a golden statue before landing on the ground in front of it. The remaining Doom Raiders, especially Snap Shot, were paralyzed by fear and weren't keen to find out what upset their leader. The golden sorceress soon stepped out of her shelter, glowing in a radiant, almost blinding light and looked down on her subjects. "Which one of you pathetic creatures let the Skylander go?"
The villains were shocked to hear about that and they all looked at each other with suspicion. Snap Shot only kept his eyes on the royal goldling, sweat ran down his forehead and the Skylander tried to hide his fear. Golden Queen's eyes observed the group until they finally landed on the newest member. The queen approached the reptile, who could barely keep himself from shaking. She towered herself up in front of the Trap Master and tightened the grip around her staff.
"I did!" Wolfgang lied, causing everyone to turn their heads towards him. "I let the Skylander go."
Golden Queen completely ignored Snap Shot and instead walked over to the werewolf. "And why would you do that?" Her question was simple, but the tone in her voice was as sharp as a knife.
Wolfgang gulped but didn't back off when the goldling stood in front of him. "Because I don't want to be a Doom Raider anymore." The other villains gasped in shock while Golden Queen's rage only increased. "Once the Skylanders find the island to trap us, I can escape and start my solo career."
Golden Queen grabbed the musician's jaw and clenched it with her deadly fingers. "Do you really think I will let you escape when the Skylanders come to get us?" The queen pressed her nails further into the jaw, causing the wolf to howl in pain. "I will make sure that you rot in that miserable prison." The sorceress finally let go off Wolfgang, leaving bleeding wounds all over his mouth area. Her companions expected her to turn the Undead villain into a golden statue as well, but instead she turned around to face them. "Destroy his shelter! Make sure that he doesn't have any belongings when you're done." After that announcement, the leader shot a golden ray at the werewolf's bone harp and shattered it into pieces afterwards. The remaining Doom Raiders followed by demolishing Wolfgang's shelter and all of his supplies. Before Golden Queen entered her tent again, she gave Snap Shot one last angered look.
Snap Shot watched in horror while Wolfgang was consumed by frustration. The Skylander didn't understand why Wolfgang lied about Sprocket. Did he see Snap Shot releasing her and did this to protect him? The Trap Master had many questions, but it was too dangerous to ask them now.
Tidepool has been on multiple missions since her excursion to the Know-It-All-Islands, but none of them were successful. The quickshot took a day off and used it to regain her energy. As the day passed, she constantly thought of what the Stone Head told her about Wild Storm. Even though she didn't want to, all she could think of was him. Tidepool knew that things couldn't go on like that, so she decided to finally speak with him eye-to-eye.
She asked a few Skylanders where the Air Knight was, and they all directed her to the Air Realm. After entering the wide and open area, the Water Skylander soon noticed a strange storm cloud nearby. Many Air Skylanders had the ability to create those, but she was certain that this one came from Wild Storm. As she was getting near, lightning bolts appeared around it and made it difficult for the Sensei to pass them. She somehow managed to get through the dark substance and find her friend, but not how she expected. Wild Storm was in his beast form, normally he never transformed outside of battle, so this awoke curiosity in the Water Skylander.
Tidepool slowly approached the huge creature before he turned his head around and struck her with his glowing white eyes on top of his helmet. "You shouldn't be here!" Wild Storm's voice was loud and deep, and it created a strong gust of wind.
"We need to talk Wild Storm! You know that as well as I do!" Tidepool had to shout in order for her voice to be heard next to the raging storm surrounding them.
Wild Storm groaned and transformed back into his regular self. The thundercloud slowly vanished while the knight was collecting his strength on the ground. Tidepool was unsettled to see the warrior so exhausted after his transformation. There might be more to his behavior than she thought.
"Hey, are you alright?" Tidepool was cautious and tried not to sound harsh, even though their relationship was currently tense.
"I told you that you shouldn't be here." Wild Storm was breathing heavily and tried to get rid of Tidepool. "Don't worry about me. Just leave!"
Tidepool's expression became angry again after receiving another rejection from her love interest, but this time she suppressed that and instead focused on her friend's well-being. "You don't seem alright Wild. Please, don't let our argument prevent me from helping you."
Wild Storm finally got back on his feet and turned around to look at Tidepool. He could see the concern in her eyes and decided to finally tell her what's going on. "I know you're angry because I told you we should spend less time together."
"Don't point out the obvious." Tidepool sounded humorous and tried lightening the mood. "I just want to know why you went on that balloon ride with me if you feel that way."
"Because of this!" Wild Storm stretched his arms out, revealing that his gloves are damaged from his transformations. "What you just saw was something I tried to hide."
"Your beast form?" Tidepool tilted her head and wondered why he was so secretive about it. "Why would you hide that, everyone knows about it?"
"You don't know about its power." Wild Storm lowered his head and was hesitant to continue. "It's taking control over me, Tide."
"What?" Tidepool's eyes widened, she didn't expect to hear that. "W- what does that mean?"
"It means that I'm losing control over the beast." Wild Storm referred to his alternate form as a completely different entity. "I agreed on the balloon ride, so I could spend time with you as long as I'm in control, but I could always feel it trying to claw its way into my head."
Tidepool felt terrible after hearing that. She was so angry at Wild Storm the she didn't even realize what he was going through. "Wild Storm I-"
"I want to spend more time with you." Wild Storm finally admitted, leaving Tidepool silent. "But I don't want to put you in danger."
The Water Skylander didn't know what to say. She felt sorry for Wild Storm, but she also wanted to find a way to fix the situation. After a long moment of thought, the Skylander came to a conclusion. "You're right."
Wild Storm looked up and waited for his ally to continue speaking.
"We should spend less time together." It wasn't easy for the Sensei to say that, but she wanted to make the right choice. "I see now how hard it is for you to be around others, and I understand. The way I treated you was not fair and you don't deserve that." Tidepool had to gulp and wait a moment to continue. "It's just… I've known you for so long and you're the first Skylander I truly trusted. Your rejection made me feel foolish for feeling that way, so I expressed that through anger."
Wild Storm was silent and listened carefully. He had an idea as to why Tidepool felt that way. "Is it because of your old team? The ones that betrayed you?"
Tidepool looked up with a guilty look. "I guess so." She held one of her arms with her hand and looked down. "I didn't trust the Skylanders when I first became one, but you changed that." Tidepool smiled and looked at her friend. "The best for both of us is that we spend some time apart, handling our struggles on our own."
"I agree." There was a long moment of silence in which the two Skylanders just looked at each other. "Goodbye, Tidepool."
"Goodbye, Wild Storm." The Water Skylander took a deep breath, turned around and left the realm without looking back.
The night engulfed the Skylands in its dark veil and only the lonely howls of some wolves and the gentle sounds of the leaves could be heard. Wolfgang was sitting by the fire in the Doom Raiders' camp, he was forced to sit through the night shift more than anyone else in the future. He had no shelter and his weapon and instrument were destroyed. Snap Shot couldn't sleep as usual and kept looking over to the lone wolf. He couldn't figure out why he lied to protect him after everything that's happened between them. The reptile slowly stood up and approached the wolf who didn't even bother to look up when Snap Shot sat down next to him.
"It's pretty… cold tonight." Snap Shot wanted to start a conversation but didn't receive a response from Wolfgang. He sighed and decided to get straight to the point. "Why did you lie to the queen?"
"So that we're quit." Wolfgang kept staring at the crackling flames with a saddened gaze. "You saved me from your ally, I saved you from mine."
"I thought you didn't care about that?" Snap Shot was confused about Wolfgang's morals and wanted to find out what he was truly like.
"I would be dead if it wasn't for you." The werewolf picked a piece of wood from the trunk he was sitting on and tossed it into the fire. "You're the only one here who cares about that."
Snap Shot was silent and started to question his feelings for the wolf again. Maybe it wasn't as one-sided as he thought. "Well, we were friends… until you joined them again." The crocodile looked at the sleeping villains surrounding them and felt uncomfortable.
"Heh, yeah." Wolfgang remembered the good times he had with Snap Shot in between their rivalry and arguments. They may have been brief, but the musician never forgot them. "I guess I should apologize for betraying you and the Skylanders to follow the Doom Raiders again."
Snap Shot still wasn't quite sure why he couldn't decline the opportunity to flee from the Academy. He knew that Wolfgang doesn't want to follow anyone, but the Golden Queen seems to be more sinister than he thought. "I'm sorry too."
Wolfgang flinched his ear and tilted his head to look at the reptile with a surprised look. "You are?"
"I assumed that you would go back to terrorizing the Skylands when you followed Golden Queen. But you just wanted to be free." Snap Shot was aware of Wolfgang's true intentions and why he behaved the way he did. "The Skylanders have rules and under the queen's command there are rules too, you just wanted to find your own path."
Wolfgang was shocked about the accuracy of those words and even a bit flustered. He has known Snap Shot for many years, yet he didn't expect the Trap Master to understand him like that. "I want to show you something."
Snap Shot looked at the wolf with curious eyes. "What?"
Wolfgang quickly got on his feet and grabbed Snap Shot's hand. He pulled the crocodile up and started to run into the forest while always holding onto the reptile. Snap Shot was bewildered by the sudden dash through the woods, yet he didn't want to stop. The forest turned darker with each step, so dark that Snap Shot couldn't even recognize where they were going. Finally, Wolfgang stopped and stared into the vast darkness. Snap Shot was about to ask him where they were before Wolfgang shushed him to be quiet. The werewolf carefully leaned down and kneeled above the dark straws of grass. Snap Shot recognized a dim light in the green field and wondered what it was. Wolfgang slowly touched it with his pitch-black claw and caused it to ignite in a bright light. Suddenly, hundreds of fireflies started to glow and ascend into the air around them. Snap Shot's jaw dropped, and the reptile was speechless. The former enemies were surrounded by lights that gently floated through the area and made every tree, every blade of grass and every flower visible with a blue tone.
"Pretty impressive, right?" Wolfgang smiled upon seeing Snap Shot being so fascinated by the light show.
"Yeah, it is." Snap Shot didn't think of asking how Wolfgang knew about this and why he brought him here, he was hypnotized by the illuminated bugs around him.
Wolfgang snickered and let himself fall to the ground, with the grass softening his fall. He just laid there and enjoyed the gorgeous view of the moonlight shining upon the hundred lights of the fireflies.
Snap Shot noticed what Wolfgang did and decided to copy him by doing the same. Both of them smiled while the lights traveled across the ground. Snap Shot then looked over to Wolfgang who kept on smiling. He has never seen the wolf so happy before, and it made him happy as well. He remembered his talk with Dreamcatcher and Gearshift, even though he was at different places and in different states of mind, his feelings for Wolfgang remained unchanged. Even after his betrayal and rude behavior towards him, the crocodile couldn't help but feel something for him. Finally, Wolfgang turned his head to look at Snap Shot as well. The two stared into each other's eyes and completely forgot their surroundings. Snap Shot could feel his heart beating faster and he felt like Wolfgang did the same. Maybe it was true, maybe he did love him.
The private moment was interrupted by the sound of an approaching airship. The fireflies swiftly disappeared and only the moonlight was left to brighten the area up. Snap Shot and Wolfgang looked up to the sky and saw a huge aircraft flying above them. It quickly passed, and the sound disappeared in the night.
"What was that?" Wolfgang pushed his upper body up and figured that it was just the ship of one of their minions. However, when he looked over to Snap Shot he thought twice about that. "Uh, Snap-"
"They're here." Snap Shot's pupils shrunk, and the crocodile was sitting like a statue. He almost appeared pale and only stared into the distance in front of him, not moving an inch. "The Skylanders found us."