A/N: well, here's chapter 11. enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Spyro, only my OCs.
Chapter 11: Escaping the Ship
Gneiss' POV
We dashed back into the ship's brig, just as one of the bombs being dropped by the Dreadwings caused to doorway to the arena to collapse. Having no other way to go, we continued down the hall. We managed to reach the end of the hall and slip under the gate just before we were sealed in.
We then fought our way past a small group of Skavengers to a storeroom at the end of this passage. Here, we had to use hold down a series of pressure plates to lower some barriers so that we could roll a keg of explosives down the hall, blowing up a weak section of wall.
Tempest, Jolt, and I each stood on one of the pressure plates while Spyro flipped the lever to release to keg. We then went through the hole we'd made, and found ourselves in the outer hull. Here, we watched a pair of Dreadwings fly by through the gaping hole in the ship's hull. The only path forwards from here was across the thick beams that made up the ship's framework, past a large number of pipes venting scalding hot gasses.
"I think things just got more complicated," said Spyro.
"Oh, good," retorted Sparx, "I was afraid that escaping the burning ship would be too easy…"
We carefully time our jumps across the gaps, making good use of Spyro's time-bending abilities, and soon reached the other side. Here, after busting our way through some burning debris, we entered a new hallway. We went down to then end of it, where we flipped a switch to open a gate, which also allowed a group of Skavengers in. We blasted our way through them and continued down the hall to where found Mole-Yair standing in front of the cell where the rest of his people were being kept.
"Mole-Yair, the ship's under attack! We have to get off this thing," said Spyro.
"Spyro! Please," said Mole-Yair sounding panicked, "my companions are still being held prisoner and the chamber gates are locked! We'll need to find a way to open them".
"Okay. Sit tight," I said, "we'll come back for you".
From here, we stepped out onto the small loading dock nearby and then carefully work our way across the flimsy boards sticking out of the side of the ship, avoiding cannon fire along the way. At the end was a small cage-like elevator that took us up one level to the steam pressure control system for this part of the ship.
After clearing the area of foes, we proceeded to block all the safety valves that were venting excess pressure from the system. This of course caused the main pressure valve for the system to explode taking out the elevator in the process, along with opening every last gate on the ship. We then hopped down a level and watched as Mole-Yair loaded the other Manweersmalls, along with other former prisoners onto a lifeboat. As the last one boarded, Mole-Yair turned to us.
"Okay Mole-Yair," said Spyro, "you're safe. You should get far away from here".
"Merci, mon frere," said Mole-Yair, "thank you very much. I hope we can meet again, perhaps under better circumstances, hmm?"
We all nodded in agreement.
"Good luck, Mole-Yair," said Tempest.
The lifeboat then departed, leaving us to figure out our next step.
"Hey, that guy gave me an idea!" said Sparx, "Why don't WE get off the burning boat?"
"We can't, not yet, we need to find a map to a pace called the White Isle," said Spyro with a mischievous glint in his eye, "and I think know where we can find one".
Sparx' eyes went even wider that normal when he worked out what Spyro meant.
"You know I hate you, right?" Said Sparx.
We then set off again, this time to locate the quarters of Capitan Skabb.
We re-entered the hallway within the ship, where we discovered that over-pressurizing the pipe system had also opened the gate leading to a room that lead up to the main deck. In this room, Spyro's time bending powers came in handy once again, as we used it to slip through a rapidly closing gate.
Up on deck, we fought our way through a small group of Skavengers, then used the conveniently placed cannon to open the path forwards. On the upper section of the deck, we fought off a much larger group of Skavengers, including a commander and two cannons. Next, we rode an elevator up to the crow's nest. Up here, we defeated a strangely large number of enemies, largely by giving them 'Impromptu Skydiving Lessons', and then crossed the rigging to the far end of the ship.
Here, we all climbed into another elevator, expecting a gentle decent, when the rope suddenly snapped, sending us dropping to the deck below. Luckily, none of us were injured, though I can't say the same for any Skavangers who might have been standing under the elevator.
In this area, the Skavengers seemed to be pulling out all the stops to prevent our escape: Three commanders, two cannons, and countless lesser enemies. As the battle raged on, things didn't improve as they unleashed a pair of Blundertails on us. Eventually, we got lucky and one of the Dreadwings flying overhead dropped a bomb that blasted an opening to Skabb's private chambers.
We hurried over and jumped into the hole.
"Whoa," said Spyro, "look at all this stuff".
Spyro wasn't kidding! The amount of treasure hoarded in this room alone was enough to make even the richest dragon jealous!
"Oh, sure. Take your time," said Sparx, "look around. It's not like we're about to plummet to our DEATHS in a heap of FLAMING…"
"Alright, alright," I said, "You've made your point. Let's find the map".
"One step ahead of you guys," said Sparx as he lead us over to the large table nearby.
We hopped up onto the table and began to examine the map, but before we could do so properly, we were interrupted by a familiar voice…
"Well… if it isn't the purple menace and its companions," said Scratch, "we hope you weren't… thinking of leaving".
"Yeah!" Said Sniff, "We've got a score to settle, CHUMPS!"
"Hey!" replied Sparx, "Who are you calling chumps?"
"You, fool! You!" said Sniff.
Looking annoyed at his counterpart, Scratch took back control of the conversation.
"It's astounding," said Scratch, "the amount of trouble you've managed to cause".
"You've only brought it on yourselves," said Tempest.
"Are you gonna let them talk to you that way, doodle-brain?" Asked Sniff to Skabb.
In response, Skabb grunted incoherently and then nodded! This caused me to snicker slightly. It also caused Sniff to get his feathers all ruffled.
"Shut up, fool," screamed Sniff, "Fire the cannon!"
With that, the battle began. Skabb started off the battle by swinging his cutlass at us. We quickly dodged out of his range. He followed up by launching his grappling hook-hand at us, which promptly got stuck in the wall. This gave us the opening we needed to rush in and hit him with everything we had.
We did a decent amount of damage to him before he managed to recover. The battle repeated like this until Tempest and I managed to hit the chain attached to his grapping hook-hand in just the right combination, making the chain brittle and causing it to break when he tried to retract it.
With this method of attack removed, he reached down and detached his peg leg, which was then revealed to be some form of multi-barreled rapid-fire cannon which never seemed to require reloading. He then stood there hopping on one leg attempting to blast us. First came a rapid barrage of cannon fire, followed by a few blasts of scattershot.
Soon thought, his weapon overheated and jammed, giving us the opportunity to rush in an attack him once again. Soon enough, he fell. However he wasn't finished quite yet. Skabb staggered back to his feet, and then blasted a huge hole in the window with his gun. At the same time Sniff grabbed the map and then retuned to Skabb's shoulder.
"This is where we part ways," said Scratch.
"So long, CHUMPS!" said Sniff.
Skabb then leapt out of the window, and his two birds grabbed onto his shoulders… and flew away with him!
"What the… how is that even possible?" said Spyro, clearly surprised.
"Those must be some strong birds," Jolt said.
"We can't just let them get away," said Sparx, "We're going after them, right?"
Every one of us stopped and stared at Sparx in response to that statement.
"Wait… did I just say that out loud?" said Sparx.
"Yes you did," I replied, "yes you did".
With that, we leapt out of the window and took flight after Skabb.
A/N: And there we go. Next time: Tailing Skabb.