Skylanders Academy: New Horizon
by andresponceb2002
Chapter 8) The Battle for Winter Keep
The Skylanders were standing in a large circular room accompanied by Avril, the captain of the Frost Elf Guard. The walls were made of dark, beautifully carved wood and held in place with golden nails. The tusks of great beasts decorated the circular room, pointing inwards toward the center of the room, rather menacingly.
In the middle of the room, was a hole. It was round and covered by dark metal bars. Inside of the hole, which looked rather deep, was a body of water. It bubbled, loudly and incessantly, as if something was stirring in its depths. That, combined with the sinister pale blue glow that shone weakly through the water and the ghostly moans that emanated from it, accompanied by the louder bubbling sound coming from the water, made the Skylanders get goosebumps.
"So." Jet-Vac started, swallowing hard before continuing. "That's Vathek?"
"Yup." Avril confirmed. "We dumped him down there, our safest little cell. You'd think him being turned to stone would make things easier for us right?" Avril continued. "But no. This creeper's mere presence is dangerous. He rotted away the wood and rusted away the metal from our other cells. He even scared away a bunch of the guards keeping watch over him. And he's literally encased in stone!" Avril exclaimed.
"Man." Eruptor began, looking down at the bubbling pit that made up Vathek's cell. "I'm really grateful I didn't get to meet this guy when he wasen't petrified."
"That makes two of us friend." Avril said. "This is one baaaad seed." She said, peeking down at the malevolent dragon beneath the dark water.
"If this is who Cyrus is trying to catch now." Spyro started. "I'd say there could be a good chance for him to have joined up with the Knights of Solitude willingly."
"Heck, from what I've heard, he might have a shoot at taking over as their captain!" Pop Fizz said shakily.
"That's exactly why, we can't let Cyrus and his new one eyed friends get their claws on this creep." Spyro said, determined not to let his enemies, current and future from completing their malevolent goal. "So, Avril. What should we expect from Enumat and his goons?"
"Well the One-Eyed Legion is made up of, about a hundred and thirty soldiers." Avril stated. "They have icicle cannons, ice breakers and of course Enumat himself." She listed down. "That creepy-looking, one-eyed freak is a lot tougher than he let himself seem when you met him." Avril warned. "I saw him poke a rock to pieces once."
"Poke, a rock to pieces?" Cynder asked confused.
"Yup. He said he only needed one finger to show he could be, "Annoying and deadly at the same time". And to his credit, he succeeded." Avril finished.
"Alright, so what do we have going for us?" Stealth Elf asked, trying to get some information.
"Well, we have you six." Avril said cheerfully. "And that green ship of yours. We also have my Guard, but, counting me, we're fifty people." Avril finished, deflating a little bit. "But hey! You guys are Skylanders! You can handle a couple of cyclops, right?"
"If by a couple." Eruptor started. "You mean a hundred, you might be asking a little too much."
"Come now, Eruptor!" Jet-Vac began. "We've seen worse odds. I say, that with proper planning and some good teamwork, we can take these one-eyed troublemakers in a yiffy!"
"But remember." Spyro began, a somber tone in his voice. "We also might have to deal with Cyrus." He warned. "We can't let our guard down around him, and if he is here, chances are at least one of the Knights of Solitude is here as well."
The Skylanders al darkened up, a worried silence, interrupted only by the bubbling coming from Vathek's cell, loomed over them. The odds seemed to only keep getting worse.
"We can't give up though." Spyro picked up, making everyone focus on him. "We're Skylanders. Our job is to stop evil, however hard that might be." He said. "If Cyrus and his allies get this… thing-" He continued, pointing down at the petrified dragon beneath the bubbling waters. "Then they get one step closer to winning and who knows how many people will get hurt if that happens. Knowing that these are the kinds of steaks we're dealing with, I just can't let myself give up." The purple dragon finished, a determined look in his fiery red eyes.
Afterwards, the Skylanders stood silent, impressed with Spyro's speech.
"Well said, lad." Jet-Vac said slowly. "Eon would have been proud." He finished with a proud smile and a slow nod.
"You said it buddy." Eruptor agreed, an excited grin spreading through his face and little flames sprouting on his back. "Now I'm all hyped up for this! Who else is ready to kick some evil butt!?"
"Hold on pal." Spyro interjected, holding one of his paws up at his friend. "We need a plan for this. We can't just freestyle this sort of thing." He warned.
"I guess that means you have a plan?" Stealth Elf asked curiously.
Spyro grinned confidently. "I guess you could say that."
Cyrus was standing beside Enumat. The purple dragon and large cyclop were looking down from a snow covered hill upon the whole bulk of the One-Eyed Legion, getting ready for their attack on Winter Keep.
"Are you sure this little plan of yours will work?" Enumat asked Cyrus, a disdainful edge in his gravelly voice. "It sounds awfully complicated."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Cyrus began. "Is the second step one too many for you to handle?" The purple dragon asked in a sarcastic tone, making the large armor clad cyclop give an angry growl. "This is a little more complex than piling all of you troops in one place and brute forcing your way through. You need a strategy for this kind of thing." Cyrus explained, trying mildly to hide his frustration.
"What wrong with just, Kill them all?" Enumat asked, offended. "It's straight to the chase and easy to remember!"
"You know." Cyrus began, taking one of his paws to his chin, emulating deep though. "If only you hadn't done that same plan over and over, having it fail so spectacularly every time." He continued, putting his paw down. "I would be asking the same thing."
Enumat looked like he wanted to choke Cyrus. His large dark pink eye was furrowed with rage and his fists were clenched awfully tight. But he held himself in place. "You're just lucky you've got those creepy flames, kid." The cyclop said. "Else, I'd crush you."
Cyrus looked at Enumat, and unimpressed expression on his face. Then he bared his fangs and through his teeth, the purple dragon leaned forward quickly and released a small burst of green and black flames that rapidly dispersed, but were enough to make the hulking cyclop jump back, give a little yelp and put his arms up in defence.
"Remember your place, one-eye." Cyrus said cruelly, trying his best not to let the pain in his throat seep into his voice. "Or I'll remind you."
"Okay, okay boss." Enumat said submissively, backing away slowly. "I was just playing with ya. I'll go get the guys ready." With that, Enumat turned around and began running down the hill to his troops.
After the large cyclop was far away enough, Cyrus let out a rough breath, a small wisp of black smoke escaping from his mouth as he took one of his paws to rub his throat. "This idiot will be my making or my undoing." He told himself, still rubbing his throat. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see."
The Sky was dyed a clear, snowy blue. Clouds were thick and drifted slowly over Winter Keep. The sun was shining through the dense clouds, illuminating the future battlefield.
Stealth Elf was walking beside Avril. The two she-elves were walking down a snow covered stairway that led to a massive wall made of thick, blue ice which surrounded the center of Winter Keep; an imposing bastion in the center of which, Vathek was being held. There was a small snow-covered field between the bastion and the ice barrier, dotted with patrolling frost elves. There were also a coupe more elves patrolling the wall and keeping watch. Stealth Elf and Avril walked past some of them.
"So this is where this is going to happen." Stealth Elf said, contemplating the future battleground.
"We will try to hold them off out here." Avril stated, pointing at the large wall. "With your help, it should be no problem. Enumat is not a very good strategist. He'll just send everyone to attack a single front and hope for the best."
"I'm feeling he's an all brawn no brains kind of guy?" Stealth Elf asked jokingly.
"Definitely. That big eye of his takes up all the space!" Avril joked back.
The two eves had a short laugh, a calm before the coming storm. They soon composed themselves, however. And Avril continued explaining their battle plan.
"If for some miracle Enumat punches through our outer wall." Avril started up, continuing her walk through the icy structure and prompting Stealth Elf to follow her. "Vathek is locked up in the lowest dungeon in the bastion, which is guarded by my fellow elves and your Skylander friends. The first gate to enter the bastion in made of pearlstone, and I doubt those one-eyed baddies have anything to break something like that anyway."
"Alright!" Stealth Elf said, cheering up about the odds of this battle. "And with the Dread-Yacht giving us air superiority and with your help, we should be able to outmaneuver the One-Eye Legion and win this thing!"
"You said it sister!" Avril cheered, putting her hand up and cueing both elves to high-five. "I'll go do some security checks, you keep your eyes on that bridge!" Avril said, pointing at a massive snow-covered stone bridge which led to a large clearing before the bastion wall. It was connected to a large island before the one Winter Keep was located on.
"If they are going to attack us, it will be through there." Avril stated while she began to descend down some stairs on the wall to the field on her way to the bastion.
Stealth Elf then looked over to the stone bridge. She took a deep breath and focused. This was going to be tough, this was going to be her chance. As she looked down at her daggers, she promised herself she wouldn't fail today.
Eruptor was leaning into the wall on the hallway he was guarding. It was made of similar wood to the chamber Vathek was being held, which was laying behind them, sealed behind a large door of what Eruptor remembered Avril calling pearlstone.
The magma Skylander was a little cranky he got guard duty inside the bastion while Stealth Elf, Spyro and Cynder got to see all the action outside. He expressed this by grumbling to himself and crossing his arms.
"Come now Eruptor." Jet-Vac said from across the torch lit hallway. "Just because we might not get to see as much action as the rest of the gang doesn't mean the job Spyro gave us is any less important." The senior Skylander said, trying to cheer his friend up.
"I personally don't mind staying down here." Pop Fizz said. The blue skylander was sitting down, mixing potions and putting certain mixtures into a larger beaker. "At least this place has air conditioning."
"Beyond that." Jet-Vac picked up. " We are the safety net. If things get out of control outside, we are the last line of defence. And as such, we hold a huge responsibility."
"I get that." Eruptor growled. "But why does that take three of us? Wouldn't it be better if we all were up there fighting those punks off?" Eruptor said, pointing upwards.
"If things get out of control." Jet-Vac began. "If one of them gets through us up there and they get Vathek, manage to get around us unnoticed through all the chaos and they run away, then all that fighting would have been for nothing. They would have won, as simple as that."
Eruptor ran those words through his head. Everything Jet-Vac had said made sense to him. So he calmed down, but did not cheer up. He simply leaned back into the wall in silence.
"Alright." Jet-Vac began. "Let hope we don't need call this whole thing that close. In any case, I firmly believe Spyro's plan will work. So, let's just focus on the moment for now."
Spyro was looking over the edge of the Dread-Yacht's starboard side. He was looking down at the thick clouds beneath the large green ship. Everything looked and sounded so peaceful form all the way up here. It was hard for him to believe there was going to be a huge battle here soon.
"Heya kiddo!" Spyro heard a loud, merry voice shout, interrupting the serenity of the moment.
"Heya, Flynn." Spyro greeted back, trying to sound as welcoming as possible. "Any news?"
"Yup." Flynn stated as he descended to the deck of the Dread-Yacht to greet Spyro. Up close and personal. "My baby is fully functional and ready for whatever you can throw at it."
"Great." Spyro said energetically. "Then everything is in place. Let's just hope we can win this."
"Don't worry my little purple friend." Flynn began, bumping Spyro's shoulder with his fist. "I have complete faith in you and your friends. And besides you've got me to help you!"
Spyro gave a small chuckle. He was never really ready for Flynn's whimsical ego would make him say or do. "Sure thing captain." He said with a little smile.
Then, Spyro looked over his shoulder behind Flynn. He saw as a dragon approached the ship quickly, her violet scales allowed Spyro to recognize her. "Cynder!" He called his friend. He had sent Cynder off to do a little scouting to see when the One-Eye Legion would be coming. Her early return could only mean bad news.
"They're coming!" Cynder announced. "That's a lot of cyclops!" She followed up as she landed on the Dread-Yacht's deck beside Spyro and Flynn.
"Alright. Flynn?" Spyro turned to his mabu friend. "Put us into position." He ordered.
"Yeees, sir!" Flynn said with a salute as he went of to his cabin in order to pilot his ship.
"Let's hope this works." Spyro said to himself, looking down the side of the ship once again, anticipation tensing him up.
"Hey." Cynder began warmy, getting beside Spyro. "We can do this."
Spyro looked over to Cynder and smiled at his friend. He was still tense from all that was going through his mind about what was about to happen, but he managed to smile nonetheless. "Yeah, we can do this." He said. "Together."
Cynder smiled back and nodded. "Together."
Enumat marched at the front lines of his legion as the marched to Winter Keep. Their soldiers and siege weapons, organized loosely behind Enumat. Cyrus was walking beside him, his wings dragging behind his back, with his head hanging low and a tired look in his eyes.
"How is this guy bossing me around?" Enumat asked himself.
Then, almost as if he had heard what Enumat had just said. Cyrus lifted his head and glared at Enumat. Once the large cyclop met those horrible green things, he remembered, a small shiver running down his spine.
"Yeah, that's why." He told himself.
Cyrus then looked forward. "We're almost there." He said in his quiet voice, making Enumat look ahead as well.
Once he did, Enumat was staring at a sight he had seen so many times, it was no longer as breathtaking as it should. The great Ice Barrier of Winter Keep. All the dents and cracks his troops had made on it were still there, calling Enumat back to better days, where he could raize this place his own way, instead to having to listen to some snarky purple lizard.
"So." Enumat began. "Any last minute reminders of the plan?" He asked, trying to disimulate he had totally forgotten about it. "You know, in case you changed it and didn't tell me."
Cyrus let out an exasperated sigh as he began to explain his plan. "Your forces are going to attack the outside of the Wall as usual. That will make them focus on your troops while you-" He gestured at Enumat with his paw. "Sneak inside the bastion and get me the dragon locked up in their dungeons."
"Ok but how will I get in there?" Enumat asked confused. "I'm not the stealthy type."
"No kidding." Cyrus snapped. "As I was about to say, you will be using a little help from a friend of mine to get inside." The purple dragon explained.
"You have friends?" Enumat asked in shock. "You have friends?"
"My associate." Cyrus corrected, an irritated tone in his voice. "Will get you in, mostly unnoticed. I trust you can handle the few frost elves inside the bastion easily enough?"
"Are you kidding?" Enumat began proudly. "I could crush all of the Frost Elf Guard by myself!" He claimed boldy. "If only they all lined up neatly." He added for himself.
"Well. It's time to prove that." Cyrus said as he came to a sudden stop, cueing Enumat and by extension the rest of the One-Eye Legion to do the same. "We're here."
The cyclop army was standing on a large, snow-covered field before the imposing wall of ice that separated them from their objective.
"Go to the back of the ranks." Cyrus commanded. "You'll meet my associate there. You'll know who he is when you see him."
"What are you going to do?" Enumat asked as he lifted his head to see the top of the wall.
"My part." Cyrus stated. "I'm going to draw their attention to me."
"And how are you going to do that?" Enumat asked confused. "You're just one dude."
Cyrus looked over to Enumat with a sinister smile, which freaked him out a little bit. "You told me something about that wall. That it has stood for a hundred years, right?" The purple dragon asked.
"Y-Yeah?" Enumat answered shakily.
Then, turning his head to face the icy structure, Cyrus spoke. "In that case, let's just say, I'm going to make some history."
Stealth Elf was standing beside Avril on top of the ice barrier. She looked down to see the One-Eye Legion's forces. There were cyclops of all kinds. Green and blue, mages and brawlers, wielding pickaxes or maces. Large, blue mortar-looking warmachines amidst them.
"That's all of them." Avril began. "That's their entire army. They must really want that dragon."
"Yeah." Stealth Elf agreed, still a little taken back by the war party before her.
Then, Stealth Elf's eyes wandered downward, to the front of the mass of angry one-eyed baddies, and she spoted an unpleasantly familiar acquaintance. His dark purple scales and cruel gold horns made him stand out of the crowd with ease.
"There he is." Stealth Elf stated, pointing down at the purple dragon seemingly leading the cyclop forces. "That's Cyrus."
"The nasty looking dragon down there?" Avril asked as she peeked over the wall's railing to get a better view. "He looks like he needs a nap."
"Hello there!" Cyrus shouted from below the elves.
Even from all the way up from where she was standing, Stealth Elf could see that familiar fake smile on the purple dragon's face. She could feel herself frown. She hated that forced, plastic smile.
"I think you all have something I want in there!" Cyrus shouted. "Could you be so kind as to bring it to me? That way no one has to get hurt!" The purple dragon proposed.
Stealth Elf then heard as if the dragon added something, it was a lot quieter, so she guessed it was for himself, but her acute hearing let her decipher a vage guess of what he had said. "Especially not me."
"We ain't going to give you anything, creep!" Avril yelled. "So you can take your one-eyed crowd back to where they came from! They've already tried dozens of times to get here, so you might as well take a hint and give up!" Avril said confidently. This caused the rest of the frost elves guarding the wall to give a cheer and raise their blue weapons.
Cyrus did not look very impressed, however. The purple dragon's fake smile had vanished, which was something Stealth Elf guessed was a bad sign.
"Avril." Stealth Elf called her friend. "Don't underestimate that guy." She warned. A memory, dark and unpleasant, of Cyrus fighting both Spyro and Cynder with relative ease and defeating the Undead dragon king Malefor in a single blow crossed Stealth Elf's mind, making her worry.
"What's wrong?" Avril asked, her confidence unaffected. "What's he gonna do? Destroy the great ice wall?"
At that, Stealth Elf felt as if Avril had unintentionally jinxed them. She looked down at Cyrus, who had walked closer and closer to the wall, oddly, he had taken one cyclop from the crowd with him. A little green runt who had his pickaxe dragging behind him.
Then, Stealth Elf watched in horror as the evil purple dragon stood on his hind legs. Cyrus looked like he took a deep breath. As he did, the six symmetrical black gashes on his chest began glowing a poisonous green. Cyrus seamed hold hold the flames in, charging them up and causing the markings on his chest to glow even brighter. Then with a hideous roar, of agony and rage, Cyrus released a steam of green and black flames that crashed against the ice wall.
Stealth Elf, Avril and the rest of the elves on the wall exclaimed as the ground beneath them shook. "Woah! Those are some powerful flames!" Avril cried as she stumbled, trying to keep her balance.
After a few seconds the shaking stopped and the elves regained balance. Stealth Elf however, rushed to the edge of the wall and looked down at Cyrus again, a feeling of dread growing in her mind as an eerie silence now hung over the air.
"What happened?" Avril asked concerned as she joined Stealth Elf. "What did he do?"
Both elves looked down at where Cyrus last stood. The purple dragon was on all fours again, but he looked awful. He looked like he was tensed up and shaking. His eyes were round and glassy and his mouth was hanging open, wisps of dark smoke were streaming out it's sides. The evil dragons looked like he was breathing hard.
Then, small cyclop that stood beside Cyrus looked a little distressed. It walked over to Cyrus, who had remained in his place and poked his shoulder, as if to see if he was alright.
Then, faster than the poor runt could react, Cyrus turned around and lunged at him. Stealth Elf gasped and watched in horror as Cyrus took a ravenous bite out of his underling, the dragon's jaws surrounding the little cyclop's left shoulder as the purple dragon held him in place. The little creature gave out a pained scream, short and shrill before the color slowly drained from his skin and his large eye closed slowly.
Then, Cyrus seemed to release the little cyclop. The now limp creature dropped to the snow, laying down motionless.
"Ahhh. Much better." Cyrus sighed with relief, unfazed after taking his own henchman's life. He turned around and spoke, licking his chapped lips with his black forked tongue before speaking. "Well gentlemen, I think you all know what to do." He said, gesturing at the ice wall while smiling sinisterly.
That made Stealth Elf shiver, as if something really bad had just happened. But when Stealth Elf looked directly down the ice wall, her stomach really dropped. There was now a huge hole, wide enough for a fire viper to stick their head through.
And then, taking the message, with a thunderous war cry, the One-Eyed Legion began to charge through the snowy field at the giant hole in Winter Keep's defence. They rushed past Cyrus, who had remained in his place, with a smug smirk on his face as he looked up at Stealth Elf.
"Everyone! The wall has been breached!" Avril shouted, rushing down the stairs to the field between the bastion and the breached wall. "Take defensive positions! Don't let them get to the bastion!"
At Avril's command, the frost elves in the field assembled into defensive linings, drawing their weapons and taking up defensive postures. They held swords in one hand and shields in the other, both tools made of a well-carved metallic blue substance. That complemented their dark gray armor.
Meanwhile, the first cyclops had gotten through the hole in the wall. They roared and flung their weapons in the air as they charged at the frost elf formations between them and the Winter Keep bastion. Though most of the cyclops remained on the other side of the wall, tending to and defending their blue mortars while aiming them at the bastion.
Stealth Elf figured those were siege weapons that were going to shift the tide of battle in the enemy's favor. She couldn't have that. So, Stealth Elf pulled up her bandana and drew her daggers. She then closed her eyes, focusing. The Skylander then took a leap of faith off the ice wall, diving gracefully down it's side and just when she was about to land against the ground, she teleported, disappearing in a small green burst of smoke, before reappearing above a pickaxe wielding cyclop. She then landed on his head, knocking him out before jumping on another nearby cyclop's head, then repeating the process until she reached the central area of the One-Eyed Legion's bulk, where their siege weapons were at.
Stealth Elf noticed that there were four mage-looking cyclops standing on a circular platform around the blue mortar's barril. They seemed to be casting some sort of spell on large, jagged ice shards, which were being loaded into the mortars by larger, burly, armor clad cyclops.
Stealth Elf then teleported at one of the mage-looking cyclops and dropped kicked him of the circular platform, teleporting onto her feet after doing so and drawing her daggers, ready to keep on fighting.
However, Stealth Elf felt something tug at her leg. She gasped as she was dragged of her feet and off the circular platform, crashing roughly on the snowy floor. She tried to get up as quickly as she could, shaking her head and trying to get a grip on what just happened. She looked around her and saw herself surrounded by cyclops pointing their weapons menacingly at her.
"This might have been a mistake." Stealth Elf admitted, taking a step back and raising her daggers and taking up a defensive stance.
Then, one cyclop who was wielding a spear charged at Stealth Elf and tried to skewer her. However, she backflipped, managing to both kick the cyclop in the jaw and also to land on the circular platform. Once there, Stealth Elf noticed that the wizard-looking cyclops had resumed their spellcasting and that the burly cyclops had placed the barril of the siege weapon right into position to fire at Winter Keep.
Dread began to build up in Stealth Elf's heart, but she closed her eyes and focused. "Be the ninja." She said to herself. "Be the ninja!" She repeated loudly, her eyes flinging open to see the world mover in slow motion as rush of adrenaline and determination running through her. She then teleported to one of the wizard cyclops and swiped her daggers at him. Just as she felt the blow connect, she disappeared again, teleporting over to one of the two remaining enemies. She did a gut kick, and again, just as Stealth Elf felt the impact, she teleported over to the last enemy and backhanded him with one of her daggers.
The whole thing happened so quickly, that when Stealth Elf was finished, all three cyclops seemed to have been flung off the platform at the same time, knocked out by the ninja Skylander's lightning fast attacks, which made the cyclops beneath her all take a step back, shocked by the impressive display.
Now the icy mortar was left unattended, and Stealth Elf sighed with relief. However, she looked to her left and all sense of relief quickly left her. There were three other blue mortars, aimed and ready to fire, jagged ice shards loaded into the weapons' barrels.
"Oh no." Stealth Elf said hopelessly, slumping her shoulders.
But suddenly, from the sky above them, two mortars were showered with streams of orange fire and blue lightning. The siege weapons then exploded violently with icy shrapnel and snowy mist instead of flames, sending the cyclops around them flying back.
"Woohoo!" A cheerful voice cried.
The familiar sense of pride in that voice made Stealth Elf smile and roll her eyes. "Oh, Spyro." She sighed.
Eruptor was being held back by the arms by Jet-Vac and Pop Fizz. Both Skylanders were struggling with the magma elemental, trying to keep him from leaving to the battlefield.
"Eruptor! Stop this now!" Jet-Vac yelled. "You're being naturally brash!"
"They need our help put there!" Eruptor shouted back, trying to break free of his friends' grip. "I can't leave our friends alone!"
"They aren't alone!" Jet-Vac grunted, trying to keep his grip on his friend. "Do you think they can't do this by themselves?"
"That's not it, man!" Eruptor yelled. "I just can't let my friends get hurt by that monster!" Eruptor said, loosening up slightly, surprising Jet-Vac and Pop Fizz.
"What do you mean?" Jet-Vac asked, a concerned tone in his voice as he loosened his grip on his friend's arm.
Eruptor waited a little to answer. He closed his eyes and reluctantly recalled his memories of Cyrus, making himself frown. He remembered how the evil purple dragon had almost killed Spyro, how he had hurt Stealth Elf and how he was now probably out there with them right now. "I don't want him to take my friends away." Eruptor said softly.
"Lad…" Jet-Vac began, a comforting look in his eyes.
"That's why I gotta do this!" Eruptor shouted suddenly, yarring his arms forward rapidly, getting them loose from his friends' weakened grip, causing them to stumble to the ground before rushing up the stairs leading to the upper level at the end of the hallway.
"Eruptor wait!" Jet-Vac and Pop FIzz shouted in unison.
But Eruptor didn't listen. He kept going, traveling up through the bastion's stairway, reaching the first level, a large room, with a stairwell which lead up and down as well as several tables. The large pearlstone gate stood opposite to where Eruptor was in the room.. The door was being guarded by a couple of frost elves, that noticed Eruptor's sudden entrance.
"Umm, is everything okay?" One of the elves asked in a kind tone. He walked slowly up to Eruptor while his partner stood in his place guarding the door.
"Y-Yeah, sure." Eruptor said shakily. "Just wondering, could you open the gate for me really quick?" He asked with a nervous smile.
"You want the gate opened?" The elf asked back, a surprised tone in his voice. "Why? We need to keep watch in case someone comes for the prisoner." The elf said.
"Yeah. I get that." Eruptor said, a little irritation in his voice. "But look pal. I need to get out there to help my friends." He said, making the elf listen keenly, lifting his long blue ears. "There's a really dangerous dragon out there who wants to hurt them and I ca-"
Before Eruptor was able to finish, he felt as a powerful force pushed at his whole body. Heat and light made Eruptor close his eyes shut. He felt as he was swept of his feet and crash, back first into the wall behind him. Then, he felt to the floor, where he tried to get on his feet.
"What just happened?" Eruptor asked, rubbing his head with one of his hands. "Did that elf explode or something?" Eruptor wondered confused.
"Wow! You really got me in!" A rough and gravelly voice shouted, an edge of joyful disbelief in its voice.
Eruptor looked up to see what was going on. When he looked up he was faced with a shocking scene. In the center of the room, in the middle of a black smoldering crater, stood a hulking, black and purple armored cyclop. He had his hands on his hips and looked like he was taking a look around.
"I've never seen the inside of this place!" Enumat stated. "It's a little underwhelming to be honest, but still!" The cyclop continued, gesturing at someone in front of him, who was obstructed by the cyclop's massive body. "Cyrus has really useful associates!"
Then, a smaller figure shifted in front of Enumat, where Eruptor couldn't see clearly. However, the figure soon walked to the right of where the large cyclop was standing, and sat down, as if waiting orders. Its scales as pitch-black as Eruptor remembered, its round, empty eyes the same color as it's name.
"Red Eyes." Eruptor stated quietly, remembering his old, fire breathing foe.
"You…" A voice suddenly sounded through the room. It wasn't Enumat's voice, it sounded softer and less gravely, but griff was smeared across it. "You hurt him." The voice said. Eruptor looked over to where the voice came from. The second elf, who guarded the entrance gate, was looking over to his left, a look of pure shock in his face.
Eruptor then looked over to where the elf was looking at. Eruptor then saw the elf who had been talking to him, laying down on the floor, motionless, small streams of smoke emanating from his now dented and slightly charred armor.
"You hurt him!" The second elf yelled again, making Eruptor look over to him.
The Skylander watched as the frost elf, blue sword and shield out charged at Enumat. But then, Enumat, who was roughly five times larger than the small elf, stretched his arm out and held the frost elf in place, like how an older sibling does to his younger sibling when they get too energetic.
"Why did you hurt my friend!?" The frost elf cried as he flung his weapon and shield in the air at Enumat, who was too far and arm's reach away.
Then, Enumat tightened his grip around the frost elf's grey helmet, and with one hand managed to lift him off the ground.
The little elf continued to flail his weapons in the air, slower, speaking in a more brittle than angry voice. "Why did you hurt my friend?" He said.
Then, Eruptor watched in horror as Enumat began to draw his free arm back behind his head, and ball his hand up into a fist.
"No, wait!" Eruptor shouted, getting off the ground and trying to run at the large cyclop.
But it was too late. With a sonorous blow, Enumat punched the frost elf in the stomach so hard, he shot out of Enumat's hand and flew across the room, crashing loudly into the thick wooden wall with such force, it splintered and caved in, creating a little seat for the unconscious elf.
"Well, that felt good." Enumat said out loud with a pleased tone. Then, Enumat turned around, his pale purple face relaxed and bearing a pleasant smile as he laid eyes on Eruptor.
"Heya, magma barf." Enumat said mockingly. "How's your day?"
Eruptor took a couple of steps back. He was facing one of the Knights of Solitude and the leader of the One-Eyed Legion, by himself. "And I thought my friends needed help." Eruptor said to himself, nervously shifting his eyes between the two enemies in front of him.
"Eruptor!" Someone called from behind the Skylander. "What on earth is all that racket!?" Eruptor turned around to see Jet-Vac and Pop Fizz walking up the stairs.
Both Skylanders froze up when they saw what the racket was.
"How did they get in here!?" Pop Fizz asked in surprise.
"Must have been our old friend's doing." Jet-Vac said, aiming his vac gun at Red Eyes.
"Well, well, well." Enumat began. "Looks like you've got no back up to cheat me this time losers." The large cyclop began to walk forth, cracking his knuckles loudly and grinding sinisterly.
Red Eyes began to walk slowly Behind Enumat, making the Skylanders begin to sweat. They weren't going to get help and these baddies seemed to be a little much for them to face alone.
But then a thought flashed in Eruptors mind. It was a really cheap bait, but maybe it could work on Enumat. "Couldn't hurt to try." Eruptor concluded before speaking up. "Yeah, cuz this time, you are the cheater!" Eruptor said loudly.
"What did you say?" Enumat hissed, his cocky grin replaced with a sharp frown.
"Eruptor!" Jet-Vac called his friend. "He looks dangerous enough without him being angry!"
"Trust me." Eruptor said simply ash faced over to his friend. "I think I have a plan to help us with this fight." The magma Skylander then looked over to Enumat, who was still looking pretty upset. "Look buddy, I think it's pretty clear you can take us three on by yourself right?" Eruptor baited.
"You bet you bucket I can!" Enumat roared.
"Then what are you doing with him?" Eruptor pointed at Red Eyes. "He's not helping you is he?"
"What!?" Enumat turned around to Red Eyes. "Of course not! He's just here to witness me kicking all of your butts!" He said, grabbing the dark dragon by the back of the neck and then, to the Skylanders surprise, tossing the dragon over his head and making him land roughly on one of the wooden tables, breaking it with a loud crash.
"Well then." Eruptor began, getting into battle pose, inciting his fellow Skylanders to do the same. "Let's get to it then."
Cynder flew in the sky over the One-Eye Legion. She was heading toward one of the blue mortar-looking weapons on the left of the army's mass. She dived through the air and when she was just close enough, she opened her mouth and released a large current of spectral lighting. The attack connected with the weapon's barril, and after reaching the strange, jagged ice shard that was loaded inside, the whole thing blew up in a blast of icy sharpnel.
Cynder then began to rise higher up above the scene. She turned around to see how things were going. She was rather pleased with the results. Since her and Spyro had dropped in by surprise from the Dread-Yacht's deck, the two dragons had cleared out almost all the blue siege weapons their enemies had. All except the one Stealth Elf was fighting cyclops off from. Cynder was surprised by how well her fellow Skylander was doing. Stealth Elf was teleporting all around the circular platform around the blue weapon's barril, kicking and punching any cyclop that tried to get close.
Cynder then looked to the sky, looking for her other companion. She saw as Spyro dove down and released a fireball at last one of the siege weapons, causing it to blow up similarly to how the one Cynder had attacked. Her purple friend seemed to be having a good time.
"Hey, Elfy!" Spyro shouted as he began to approach his friend. "How's it going down there?"
"Oh you know." Stealth Elf began, taking a short breath. "Just peachy."
Cynder then flew down to the platform and landed beside her friend. The dragoness released a stream of lighting at nearing cyclops, causing them to shake and fall.
"Is it me or are these guys not very good at-" Cynder paused, looking for the right word. "Fighting back?" She got out, noticing how, despite all the mortars she and Spyro had destroyed were all loaded, no a single one fired, even when there was a window of opportunity for it.
"What do you mean?" Spyro asked landing on the platform and firing a stream of flames at a spear a cyclop had launched.
"Yes, friend." A sleepy voice, suddenly pierced through the turmoil of the battle. "What do you mean?"
The cyclops attacking and surrounding the Skylanders suddenly simmered down and took several steps back, clreating a circular clearing while the rest of them kept moving toward the breach in the ice wall. This odd situation surprised the heroes, who were now glancing at each other, user of what all of this meant.
Then, a group of cyclops stepped to their side, creating a little opening for someone to step through.
"How are all my least favorite people doing?" Cyrus asked with a sleepy smile as he walked slowly, wings dragging behind him, in front of the Skylanders.
"Never better." Spyro started, getting off the platform his friends were standing on to level with Cyrus. "Cuz now I finally get a chance to pay you back for last time."
"Spyro?" Cynder called concerned as she dropped down with Spyro to the clearing, followed by Stealth Elf.
"Don't worry." Spyro said reassuringly, not looking away from Cyrus. "This isn't going to go like last time."
"Are you sure?" Cyrus asked, a suspicious edge in his voice. "Because I think we are in the exact same situation as the last time."
"How so?" Cynder asked daringly, not letting Cyrus get to her.
"Well, for starters." Cyrus began, suddenly taking one of his paws to pick his teeth. "I have you all were I want you." He said, making the Skylanders flinch. "Second, you are all confident you can beat me. And we all know where that put you. So yeah, pretty much the same situation isn't it?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, I mean we are in a snow covered warzone but, well, the devil is in the details."
"Guys." Stealth Elf began. "I think it's pretty obvious he's stalling."
"Am I?" Cyrus said, tilting his head and focusing on Stealth Elf. "What makes you say that?"
"Yeah, there's something off here." Spyro said, looking at Cyrus suspiciously. "What's your game?" He demanded.
"Monopoly." Cyrus answered simply with a perfectly straight face. Which made Spyro growl with irritation.
"Look guys." Stealth Elf said. "I think we should regroup. He's clearly up to something." She stated, turning around and facing the ice wall.
Cynder began to do the same, not taking her eyes off Cyrus, who was looking at the floor, seemingly drawing something in the snow.
"Would you like to know how Ninjini died?" Cyrus asked simply, out loud.
Cynder felt the bad memories of Ninjini's unfortunate passing returning slowly, steadily to her mind. Then, a thought crossed through her mind. Despite Cyrus looking away and apparently saying what he had said to the wind, she felt he had a specific target in mind.
"What was that?" Stealth Elf asked slowly from behind Cynder, the small smile curling up Cyrus' lips confirming her fears.
"Oh, yes." Cyrus began, still tracing his claws over the snow in front of him. "My master loves to gossip about this kind of stuff. The Knights of Solitude are not exactly a good crowd so, he confides with little ol' me" He said, the smile on his face growing.
"Elfy?" Spyro called. "I know it hurts, but don't let him get to you." Spyro warned, taking a few steps closer to his elven friend.
Cynder then saw Stealth Elf walk slowly back to the clearing of cyclops, looking at Cyrus. The dragoness noticed her friend was clutching her daggers very tightly.
"He said she fought hard." Cyrus continued, still doodling on the snow. "He told me that was one of the hardest fights that he had been in. But the way she died… he told be she had died smiling, something about how her apprentice was going to become the new greatest ninja." The evil purple dragon said, quoting the last words. "Wouldn't know why though." He said, lifting his head looking at Stealth Elf, his malevolent green eyes filled with cruel mirth. "By the looks of you, she's probably cringing in her grave."
That had done it. Cynder looked in horror as Stealth Elf charged suddenly at Cyrus, who smiled widely, cruelly at the salt he had rubbed on the elf's wounds.
Pop Fizz jumped to side, trying to avoid the large wooden table Enumat had launched at him. The blue Skylander succeeded, narrowly.
"Man! This guy is really strong!" Eruptor cried out as he tried to get up slowly from the ground across the room. He grunted in pain and falled down, covering his left eye, the one Enumat had punched, causing Eruptor to end up where he was.
"You're telling me!?" Jet-Vac exclaimed from a corner of the room he had been flung to by Enumat, as he released a full power air current at large the cyclop, who merely put his arms up in front of him and walked slowly at Jet-Vac through the mighty wind.
"Hah! You guys are total wimps!" Enumat boasted as he got closer and closer to Jet-Vac. "I'm gonna have a good time beating you all up!"
"Oh yeah!?" Pop Fizz shouted, getting up from the floor and looking at Enumat. "Well' guess what? I'm not about to let you hurt my friends!"
"Oh really?" Enumat began, turning over to Pop Fizz, almost ignoring Jet-Vac's attack at this point. "And how are you going to do that? You're not going to give me some speech about friendship and use the same cheap attack you've used all your life to suddenly win, are you?" He asked daringly.
"No." Pop Fizz said simply, reaching for his backpack and grabbing the neck of a particular potion. "I'm going to do this!" He said, drawing out a large green potion from his backpack. The beaker was labeled with a black skull and crossbones and the green potion inside was bubbling slightly. "Bottoms up!" The blue Skylander shouted before uncorking the potion and pouring it down his throat.
A few moments passed and everyone in the room, Eruptor, Jet-Vac and Enumat were all looking at Pop Fizz intently, who had stayed put after drinking the strange potion.
"Is that it?" Enumat asked genuinly. "Are you okay? You've stayed perfectly still for twelve seconds."
Then, Pop Fizz suddenly began shaking, startling his friends and enemy as his clear blue fur began to darken considerably, and he started growing in size. Then, a purplish tint appeared around his face, his fingernails and teeth sharpened into claws and fangs. A deranged look now in his eyes as his transformation into Beast Mode completed.
"Oh." Enumat said simply. "That's more like it." He said as a pleased grin pulled at his eyelid-looking jaw. "Mind if I pull out a cool trick too?" The cyclop asked maliciously, making Pop Fizz worry a little bit.
Then, Enumat took his left hand and drove it into the large purple crystal in his chest, bright pink light emanating from the cracks around the place he had driven his hand into. Then, he pulled his hand out of his chest's rock and to Pop Fizz' surprise a thick hilt, made of a similar purple rock emerged from the cyclop's chest. Then, Enumat used his other hand to pull even more of the hilt out of his chest before, with a loud grunt and effort, he extracted a large hammer's head, connected to the previously extracted hilt.
Pop Fizz had watched as his enemy had drawn the large crystalline weapon from their first meeting out of the large rock in his chest. Now Enumat's hammer and the purple rocks in his chest and between the horns on his helmet glowed sinisterly in unison.
"Alright." Enumat began, putting his hammer's head into his left hand. "One on one. No strings attached. Sound good?" The cyclop asked, looking eager for a fight.
Pop Fizz looked over to his friends, who were both downed from Enumat's pummeling. He then looked over to Enumat. In his Beast Mode, speaking was a difficult, so Pop Fizz simply nodded, a little energetically but enough to get his intent across.
"Alright." Enumat said, now grinning widely. "Let's do this!" He bellowed as he charged at Pop Fizz, his hammer behind him, in position for the cyclop to do a mighty overhead swing.
Pop Fizz rolled to his right quicky, avoiding the cyclop's hammer crashing loudly and crushing the floorboards on which Pop Fizz stood. Enumat struggled to take his hammer out of the ground, which provided Pop Fizz an opportunity to swing his claws at the cyclop's head. The blow connected and caused Enumat to stumble back and let go of his weapon. Pop Fizz then tried to swing again, jumping in the air due to the cyclop's massive height difference and the blow connected once again, making Enumat take another step back.
But just as Pop Fizz jumped up once again and was about to land a third swing, he felt his arm get caught mid swing. He looked over to see his arm surrounded by Enumat's large pale hand. Then, Pop Fizz felt like his face had been struck by a truck. The next thing he was conscious enough to feel was the floor rising up to meet his face. Pop Fizz shook his head and looked up. He saw Enumat far away, going to get his hammer. Apparently, even in Beast Mode Pop Fizz wasn't strong enough to match Enumat.
"Well, I've gotta say." Enumat began. "I felt those hits buddy, It's a shame you can't take what you dish out." The cyclop said, pulling his hammer out of the floor and turning to Pop Fizz.
Pop Fizz then pumped up onto his feet. He couldn't give up so easily. And so, with a rabid howl, Pop Fizz charged at Enumat, who roared back and charged as well, his hammer at the ready. Pop Fizz however, was faster than his one-eyed enemy. He jumped up and crossed both his claws across Enumat's face before the cyclop could raise his hammer to swing at Pop Fizz.
"Argh!" Enumat cried out in pain, as he stumbled back and took one of his hands to cover his face.
Pop Fizz however, didn't stop there, he tried to tackle the hulking cyclop's right leg in order to get him off balance. And so, Pop Fizz lunged at his target while Enumat was still disoriented and tried to pull the cyclop's leg off the ground. With more effort than expected, Pop Fizz achieved his task, making Enumat stumble backward and crash onto the floor loudly.
Without wasting time, Pop Fizz jumped high into the air and slammed powerfully onto his enemy's chest, creating a small shockwave, cracking the purple rock at the center of Enumat's black chestplate and making the large cyclop give out a pained howl.
After this, Pop Fizz felt as Enumat's large hand gripped one of his ears tightly, causing Pop Fizz to wince in pain before the large cyclop flung him off his chest, crashing the Skylander onto one of the few remaining tables.
Pop Fizz then stood up quickly and looked over to Enumat. The cyclop was getting up, gripping his hammer with one hand while he had his other hand over the cracked crystal on his chest. The large cyclop looked rather wounded, and the crystals on his gear were now glowing a little weaker. This made a thought cross through Pop Fizz' head. Maybe he had found the cyclop's weakness. It couldn't hurt to try.
With a toothy grin, or more accurately, a fanged grin, Pop Fizz charged at Enumat once again, his hands balled up into fists as he readied to slam into his enemy's chest as he jumped up to reach his target.
Once again, speed proved Pop Fizz' greatest ally in his battle. Just as Enumat was about to move his hammer, Pop Fizz crashed violently against the crystal on the cyclop's chest. The impact knocked Enumat back and caused small crystal splinters to shoot off his chestplate. Afterwards, Pop Fizz landed on the ground and with a powerful uppercut, he jumped up and smacked Enumat's head so hard his black helmet was knocked off his head, revealing his pale pink scalp.
Then, Pop Fizz landed on the ground again, the rush and adrenaline of Beast Mode beginning to leave his body as he slowly began to transform back into his usual self, breathing hard from the exhaustion from the intense fight.
However, when Pop Fizz looked up to see if his enemy was defeated, he was greeted with a really unpleasant surprise. Enumat was standing. Helmet gone, hammer dropped and chestplate cracked, but standing nonetheless, his dark eye fixated on Pop Fizz.
"Well." Enumat began. "That was fun." The cyclop stated simply.
Pop Fizz then watched as Enumat's eye rolled back into his head and the hulking cyclop fell to the ground, flat on his back and unconscious.
However, a few moments after Enumat collapse in defeat, Pop Fizz saw as Red Eyes moved swiftly over to its fellow villian. Once close enough, the dark dragon covered as much of Enumat as it could with its wings, and after a few seconds and a loud bang, followed by a flash of fiery light and heat, the two villains disappeared, leaving behind a small flaming crater.
Pop Fizz then let out a sigh of relief as she slumped into the ground, exhaustion finally getting the better of him.
"Wow." Pop Fizz heard Eruptor's shocked voice beguin. "That was something else."
"You said it, lad." Jet-Vac agreed. "That was quite the impressive display, Pop." The senior Skylander congratulated his friend.
"Hehehe." Pop Fizz laughed weakly, his field of vision getting darker and darker. "I love you guys." He said, before drifting into an exhausted sleep.
Stealth Elf swung her blades through the air, trying with every fiber of her body to run them through Cyrus' purple scales.
"Oh, my. Did I strike a nerve?" Cyrus asked with a cruel smile, as honest as it was mocking.
The purple dragon dodged, narrowly but elegantly as Stealth Elf swung her weapons in rage, perfectly calm under his enemy's assault, still smiling broadly. When she swung her daggers, he stepped back, when she kicked high he ducked, when she kicked low, he gave a little jump, all the while staying just out of harm's way. All this made Stealth Elf even angrier to the point she let out a frustrated scream.
"Elf!" Stealth Elf heard Spyro call. "Calm down! This is what he wants!" The purple dragon yelled form behind her.
But Stealth Elf didn't listen, she wasn't going to let this sarcastic purple punk get away with what he had said. She teleported behind Cyrus and was about to swing one of her daggers at the back of his head.
"Elf, no!" Cynder shouted at Stealth Elf, seeing something Stealth Elf had not focused on.
But before Stealth Elf could react, Cyrus moved with blinding speed, turning around and stepping back, avoiding Stealth Elf's attack. Then, Cyrus lunged forward, mouth open, revealing it's dark insides.
Then, Stealth Elf's eyes went round from a horrible pain that was now erupting from her right hand. She let out a pained scream as she looked to see Cyrus´ jaws, clamped around her hand and over her dagger, an intense pressure crushing her hand as small needle-like teeth shredded her skin with stinging pain, even through her leather gauntlet.
But then, after a short breath and a flash of green from his black markings, Cyrus released a small burst of green and black flames that dispersed rapidly, reaching only a few inches out of the dragon's mouth. But as Stealth Elf's hand remained trapped in Cyrus' jaws, that was enough.
Stealth Elf felt as Cyrus' flames reached her skin, burning almost instantly though her leather gauntlet. The pain was like nothing she had felt before. The flames felt cold and cruel, unlike any fire she had known. As the flames spread through her skin, she felt like it was being devoured, ripped off, little by little with an almost exquisite detail. The scream Stealth Elf gave out made no justice to how bad the pain she felt was. She was overwhelmed, and slumped to her knees as Cyrus released her arm from his jaws.
Stealth Elf looked at her charred hand to see what the damage was. She began to shake from the sight. Her gauntlet was completely trashed and burned through, revealing her hand, which was now blackened and blistering with green embers. The pain on her hand had reduced by an insignificant margin since she had gotten it out of Cyrus' jaws.
"Like I said." Cyrus began, looking down at Stealth Elf. "Cringing in her grave." He said, raising one of his paws, which was now glowing red, over Stealth Elf's head. "To think someone so great died for someone like you."
She didn't say anything back. As she closed her eyes and lowered her head, she accepted both what Cyrus had said and what he was about to do. "I'm sorry." She said weakly, a small tear running down her cheek. "I failed you."
But then Stealth Elf heard something strange, through the noise the cyclop army was making she heard a struggle really close to her.
"That's my friend you monster!" A male voice yelled. They sounded really angry.
"No need to get sentimental." Another, raspier voice answered. "This is a war after all."
Stealth Elf opened her eyes to see Spyro and Cynder attacking Cyrus with their breath attacks, releasing lightning and fire, trying to get him away from Stealth Elf. The evil purple dragon then took flight, rising above the Skylanders and avoiding their attacks.
"Well, I think this has been more than enough time." Cyrus stated. "They better had come back with something. In any case." The purple dragon continued, smiling unconvincingly. "This has been a lovely little meeting. See you all later I guess." He finished, waving his right paw before flying away and leaving the Skylanders surrounded by cyclops.
"Elfy!" Spyro called out, running over to his Stealth Elf.
Stealth Elf saw Spyro look at her worriedly, or at least she thought he looked worried, her vision was getting a little blurry.
"Elf?" Stealth Elf could hear Spyro call, but for some reason it sounded muffled, far away.
"Elf!" The purple dragon called again sounding even further away, and Stealth Elf felt like she was being shaken, but she barely noticed. She was blacking out. The pain coming from her hand was simply too much to bare.
"I'm sorry." She managed to whisper. "I'm never going to live up to what you wanted." She got out weakly, another tear creeping out of her eye before the world around Stealth Elf faded to black.
"Elf!" Spyro shouted at his friend, shaking her to stop her from blacking out. But it was no use. The green Skylander was now knocked out in Spyro's arms. Not an ideal situation while being surrounded by cyclops.
"Cynder!" Spyro called, turning around to see his friend blasting cyclops with her lightning as they approached her friends. "She needs help!"
"Well don't worry!" A female voice with a thick scottish accent came through. "We've got you all covered!"
Spyro turned around to see Avril, leading a group of frost elves through the cyclop ranks, swinging their weapons at their enemies and opening a path to the Skylanders.
"We can take her back to the bastion." Avril said to Spyro. "We've pushed the One-Eyed Legion back and we've got medicine inside to help her." the frost elf captain said as she took Stealth Elf out of Spyro's arms.
Spyro looked at his fallen friend with a worried gaze. "Just look after her." Spyro said gently.
"Don't worry friend." Avril said reassuringly with a little smile. "I will." She said, turning around while carrying Stealth Elf and running back to Winter Keep bastion.
Spyro then took a deep breath as he saw his friend get taken away. Then, he turned around and saw Cynder still fighting against the cyclops. However, she now had a couple of frost elves helping her, swingin their weapons and using their shields to fend off and push back their one-eyed enemies. Spyro felt like he had to contribute to the cause. So, with a powerful wingbeat, he rose above his friends and enemies, took a deep breath and released a huge stream of flames, raining them down on the cyclops that were attacking Cynder and the frost elves below him causing the ones that weren't set ablaze to back up and start to run away
From up where he was, Spyro noticed that most of the One-Eyed Legion was actually starting to retreat, running past and bumping into each other as they retreated down the massive bridge they came from, dispersing and fleaing as they got away from the battlefield.
"Finally." Spyro sighed. "It's over." He said as he flew down slowly, touching down into the snowy ground beside Cynder, who was breathing hard and keeping her eyes on the retreating cyclops.
"They retreated!" A frost elf near Spyro shouted. "We win! Horray!" She cheered, inciting her fellow elves to do the same.
Spyro gave a little smile as he watched the frost elves cheer as they slowly returned to their bastion.
"We did it." Spyro heard Cynder say softly.
Spyro turned to see his friend sitting on her hind legs, smiling, looking sistantly at the horizon. He walked up beside Cynder, and sat down as well. He looked at where Cynder was looking, through the battlefield, snow was beginning to fall gently and the light of the sun was finally starting to breach the thick clouds above the two dragons. He took a deep breath, still a little exhausted from the huge battle, but he felt relieved it was over.
Then, Spyro tensed up. He felt as Cynder rested her head on his shoulder, edging closer to him, still looking at the horizon and smiling pleasantly.
Spyro then loosened and smiled once again, turning to the horizon, before resting his head gently over Cynder's. Both dragons then stood in silence, enjoying each others presence. Spyro then stretched his right wing and covered Cynder with it, closing his eyes, appreciating the quiet little moment fully.
Cyrus was pacing, waiting anxiously through the snow-covered hill in front of the Great Hall. He was waiting for his associates to arrive, hoping for any kind of good result. While he waited, he saw as the remainders of the One-Eyed Legion arrived at the clearing beneath the hill Cyrus paced on. They all looked quite tired, some of them looked even battered, wounded from their battle with the frost elves.
"Not very capable." Cyrus said to himself, while contemplation the returning cyclops. "But quite loyal." He added, noting that every single one that was capable of it, had returned.
Then, a loud bang sounded from behind Cyrus. A burst of light and heat that announced the arrival of his, associates.
"Took you long enough." Cyrus spat, upset at the delay. He turned around to see what his underlings had brought for him. When the purple dragon turned around however, he was faced with a distressing view. "What is this?" Cyrus hissed, take back by what he was looking at.
In front of Cyrus, was a small scorched crater, at the center of which stood Red Eyes, who had its wings spread over the fallen body of a large armored cyclop. The dark dragon removed it's wings to reveal Enumat, battered and unconscious. His helmet was missing, the crystal on his chest plate was cracked and had, to Cyrus' horror, hands empty. The purple dragon's prize was nowhere to be found.
"No, no, no, no." Cyrus mumbled, taking his paw over to the red mark over his head, scratching slowly, but increasing in speed as his heart began to race in panic. The purple dragon had schemed this whole thing for days. He shifted targets from the undead Skylander dragoness to Vathek because he thought it would be simpler, after all the dragon price had no friends to get between him and Cyrus and with the cyclops' help, Cyrus was sure he could have succeeded in, collecting him. He had made sure to call of the Skylanders' attention to himself during the siege so that Enumat and Red Eyes could infiltrate the bastion with greater ease. Apparently, all that pain had been for nothing.
But now, with his underlings coming back to him empty handed, Cyrus realised he would be empty handed himself. And he knew full well what that meant for him. He covered his face with his free paw and clenched his mark with the other. Panic was starting to set into Cyrus' body as he began to shake in his place.
Cyrus' mind started to race after his heart, desperately trying to come up with some way to avoid his master's wrath. Then, an idea crossed his mind, making his shaking suddenly stop. "Maybe…" He wandered. The groundwork of a thought began to appear in Cyrus' head, an idea taking shape. He always came up with his best thoughts when he was afraid.
Cyrus looked over to the cyclop lesion below him. They could make fitting pawns. They had already proven themselves complacent, and mildly capable in combat. He then looked over to Enumat. The hulking brute was a capable fighter, and was foolish enough to make him play fetch if need be. Cyrus began to calm down, slowly but steadily. Maybe he wouldn't return with the dragon he undead dragon he had promised, but at least he wouldn't return empty handed.
Then, Cyrus noticed as Enumat began to stir on the ground, a gravely groan emerging from the cyclop's throat. "Yes, I will have green sauce with that." The large cyclop mumbled incoherently, still half awake.
"Enumat." Cyrus called loudly as he composed himself, trying to wake the cyclop fully.
At the call of his name Enumat flung his eye open and suddenly sat up. "I said green sauce!" The brute blurted out. "Huh? Where am I?" Enumat asked confused, rubbing his head with his right hand. He then focused his dark pink eye on Cyrus, realising where he was.
"Tell me." Cyrus began, looking at Enumat intently. "How would you like a promotion?" He asked his lackey.
Enumat looked confused, he furrowed his single brow, as if trying to understand what Cyrus was talking about. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked in a suspicious tone.
Cyrus smiled. A small, rather wicked smile, but a smile nonetheless. "How would you like to meet the guy behind of all this?" He asked Enumat. "How would you like to meet my boss?"
Spyro was standing on the ice barrier beside his fellow Skylanders. The Dread-Yacht had towed against the edge of the icy wall, ready to pick the Skylanders up and take them back to the Academy. They were all waiting for Stealth Elf to meet them. She had been taken away by the frost elves to be healed inside the bastion.
"Man!" Flynn exclaimed as he peeked down the Dread-Yacht's side at the massive hole Cyrus had burned into the ice wall. "They are gonna need a whole heck of a lot of snow to patch that up!"
"Don't worry about that friend." Avril began, the cheerful frost elf said, as she climbed the stairway to the top of the wall in order to meet the Skylanders. "We have snow to spare around here."
"Hey Avril." Eruptor greeted the elf captain. "How is she?" He asked caringly, refernig of course to Stealth Elf.
"She's a fighter." Avril stated. "But those burns are some serious business and made by no dragon fire like I've heard of." She added, darkening up a little bit. "They'll take time to heal fully."
"Time is all she needs." Spyro said, remembering how strong his friend truly is. "Where is she anyway? We need to get back to the Academy."
"No need to rush me." A familiar voice joked.
Spyro and his friends looked behind Avril to see Stealth Elf rise up the stairway to meet her friends. They noticed that their friend's right forearm was covered in a white cast, covering her wounded hand. They also noticed that the cast had some strange green patterns on it, reminiscent to healing spell inscriptions.
"Elfy!" Pop Fizz called cheerfully. "You're okay!"
"Of course she's okay." Avril began. "We patched her up after all." She joked striking a prideful pose, puffing out her chest.
"Yeah, I'm alright." Stealth Elf said giving her friends a weak smile.
Spyro wanted to smile back, but he remembered what had happened on the battlefield. He remembered what Cyrus had said to Stealth Elf. Almost surgically wounding words that had really gotten to Stealth Elf. How she had taken those words made Spyro feel worried for his friend. "I failed you." Stealth Elf's words crossed the purple dragon's mind, realizing who she was talking to.
Spyro felt an urge to help his friend. So, he tried his best. "Elfy? You were awesome today!" He said, trying to give a convincing smile.
"Yeah! Definitely!" Avril agreed, making Spyro feel a little relief. "You really gave it to those one-eyed punks!"
"I wasn't there to see it." Jet-Vac interjected. "But I don't doubt it for a second!" The senior Skylander stated.
"Same!" Eruptor added. "And to think I was worried about you!"
Spyro was surprised by how his friends' praise had come out so honestly. He was relieved however, to see the surprised expression on Stealth Elf's face. She looked looked taken back, a small, embarrassed blush in her cheeks.
"Y-You really think so?" Stealth Elf asked, taking a step back and glancing away from her friends.
"Definitely." Spyro stated, simply but honestly, smiling warmly.
"Well, in that case." Flynn spoke suddenly. "We need to get to the Academy! I mean, what's a cool story without anyone to brag to, am I right?" The mabu captain joked.
Stealth Elf gave a little giggle. "I guess a little bragging couldn't hurt." She said.
"Well then." Jet-Vac started. "Let's get going, because, no offence Avril-" He turned to the frost elf. "But I've had enough of this cold."
"Oh, none taken friend." Avril said happily. "The snow gets really familiar really fast."
"Alright then." Flynn said suddenly, moving to the Dread-Yacht's cabin. "I think it's time for goodbyes everyone."
"Yeah." Spyro agreed. "It's time to get going, I don't think Cyrus will wait too long before making another move."
"But wait." Pop Fizz interrupted. "How do we know they won't come back here?" He asked.
"Oh don't worry about Vathek" Avril began merrily. "That undead monster is getting picked up and taken back to Dragon's Peak first thing in the morning." She said. "Ramses' little event has been resolved so he can take his mess of a little brother back to Dragon's Peak, where your evil purple friend can't reach him."
"Well, alright." Spyro sighed. "I think things are fixed up around here." He said, moving to board the Dread-Yacht alongside his friends. "Let's get going."
"Come visit some time?" Avril asked, waving at Spyro and his friends with a broad smile on her face.
"Of course!" They all yelled back as the Dread-Yacht began to take off, rising high above Winter Keep.
"Alright everybody." Flynn began. "Let's get going." He said before shouting his catchphrase and jarring the ship forward. "Boom!"
Author's notes
Wow, that's one long chapter and a difficult one to write, lots of action. But tiss been writen nonetheless! Huzza! More stuff on the way!
- I still don't own Skylanders Academy