Chapter 19: Broken In
"Hello?" Roller Brawl spoke into her walkie-talkie.
X
Somewhere else in Skylands, a receiver was anxiously turned on. "Oh boy, oh boy! This'll be perfect! Okay, okay, calm down. You're a Hunter, this is important. I'm so excited!"
"Be quiet, you li'l monster, and listen!" someone else demanded.
X
"This is Pinwheel. Thunderstorm, do you read? This is Pinwheel. Does anyone read me?" Roller Brawl asked. Static burst from the communicator, followed by a voice. "Sorry, Pinwheel. Thunderstorm's gone dark, said there was a Hunter nearby. Edge is off the grid as well, no word," The voice paused and laughed. "Off the grid, heh. You're practically the only one of us on the grid, Pinwheel. Enjoy civilisation,"
Roller Brawl snorted. "Shut up, Horseshoe. You know I'd be at HQ or on patrol with the rest of you if I could, but Hotshot and the others need me here, keeping an eye on things in the official system. Still," the vampire grinned, thinking of her friend. "Good to hear from you,"
"You too, Pinwheel. Man, I'm really starting to get sick of these codenames," Horseshoe snorted. "You know why they're necessary. I was always the smart one, huh?" Roller Brawl joked. "That's why it's you getting chummy with the big shot good guys, not me. So, what's it like, hanging with the famous heroes?" Horseshoe snorted. "Very funny, old friend. Look, we can talk next time we meet up. This isn't a social call," she glared. "Fine, spoilsport," her friend snorted. "Spyro's found something, I think it's part of Hotshot's Skylander logs. Either way, it looks like he's getting suspicious, or at least curious. You need to tell Hotshot or Thunderstorm, decide whether to perform an extraction," Roller Brawl advised. "Got it, I'll tell them. Anything else you want me to pass on?" Horseshoe questioned. "Not that I can think of. Hey, before I go, how's the new piece of equipment for me coming?" Roller Brawl asked. "Already finished. You've got the prototype key, just in case, right? Because as of two hours ago, they're as functional as the rest of ours," Horseshoe grinned.
"You've been wanting to say that for the last week, huh?" Roller Brawl grinned. "Hell yeah. You know me too well," Horseshoe smiled. "Well, I am so glad to hear that. It's about time too, Smasher sure took his sweet time,"
"Well, he isn't . . . Pinwheel? We might have a problem," Horseshoe suddenly gulped. "What is it?" Roller Brawl frowned. "I, uh, might have kind of forgotten to scramble the transmission," Horseshoe admitted.
There was a moment of stunned silence. "You WHAT?" Roller Brawl demanded. "Are you telling me that ANYONE in the bloody universe with the right frequency could have heard every word we just said?" she exploded. "Maaaaybe?" Horseshoe gulped. "Cut the connection and get out of there! I don't know where you are, but get out!" Roller Brawl shrieked at Horseshoe, before switching the communicator off and staring at it for a second. "Too dangerous to keep it with me. The Hunters will be tracking it for sure. Why does she talk so much?" the vampire fumed, pulling something from the boxy phone, before dropping it over the edge of the balcony she was leaning on and watching it plummet into the Abyss below. "That's one problem taken care of," Roller Brawl nodded. "Oh, why does this keep happening?" she groaned, skating back into the innards of Winter Keep.
"Hey, you!" Roller Brawl snapped her fingers at a Frost Elf. "Yes, ma'am?" the elf snapped to attention. "Find Cynder. Tell her I've gone to, er, check on the Frost Ancienty, uh," she snapped her fingers, trying to remember, "the big flying dog thing at the top of the mountain," she finally settled for. "Yes ma'am. Will you be needing a ship for that?" the elf politely offered. "Don't worry. I can take care of myself," Roller Brawl snapped. "Just get me a ship and fast!"
X
"Hello, captain?" A night watchman reported in at the start of his evening shift. "Yeah? What is it, newbie?"
"It's the antique. The one from the Great Greeble War," the watchman reported, gazing at the ancient fighter plane suspended within the massive museum room. "What about it?" the captain asked. "It only arrived last week, if there's something dangerous about it we need to know," he urgently commanded. "I don't think it's a threat, just," the watchman paused. "It's headlights have switched themselves on,"
"Copy that. Doesn't seem like a problem, just keep an eye on it. Hey. You only started last week too, just like that old insect plane, eh? Guess it's symbolic that you two stick together. But eh. Have a nice night. My shift's over. See you in the morning, golden boy!"
The watchman stood directly in front of the headlights of the twenty-seven-year-old plane, revealing a lion's face with no fur and golden, armor-like skin, with green eyes glowing in the gloom. "Alright then, sir. I'll see you tomorrow,"
And outside, looking in through a window, someone muttered with a manic grin, "And I'll see you a lot sooner, old friend,"
X - (Totally my fault, but when I wrote the scene last chapter with Spyro and Cynder and Roller Brawl, I forgot that that broke canon as the two Undead elements should be in the West, not the North with Spyro at Winter Keep. This should clear up the plot hole)
The sun set on the Woodburrow horizon, but Cali had other issues. "What? Cynder and Roller Brawl ditched their post at Iron Jaw Gulch so she could hang with her boyfriend? Chop Chop, who gave her permission to pull a stunt like that?" the feline Mabu demanded.
"I did," Chop Chop flatly told her. "Cynder was evidently suffering emotional stress in the absence of her major emotional support pillar. I.E. her boyfriend, Spyro. She would have been more of a detriment than an asset here, so I granted her permission to transfer to the north. Do not attempt to countermand my order. I do not wish to have to pull rank," Chop Chop frowned, and Cali rolled her eyes in irritation. She hated the fact that while the rank-and-file Skylander would take orders from her, the Skylanders who had a statue in the Hall of Legends technically outranked everybody but senior Portal Masters like Master Eon. Even junior Portal Masters like Scott and Loni could take orders from Legendary, or 'L-class' Skylanders. The only reason she was in charge most of the time was because the Skylanders generally trusted her judgment.
And there was nothing she hated more than one of the L-classes pulling rank on her.
Cali sighed. "Fine, whatever. Anything else?"
"No," Chop Chop told her, and hung up.
Cali sighed. "Should I bother calling this in? It's pretty minor, but he does like to know everything that's going on," She paused. "Actually, he can be a bit of a control freak, come to think of it. And just a little scary, a, er, lot scary, but he's a good person. He does what he does to keep Skylands safe," Cali stared into a mirror in her borrowed house, watching the sunset through the window opposite. "Right?"
X
"We got nowhere today," Wash Buckler sighed. "No closer to finding Boom Jet," Stink Bomb agreed. "We really are pathetic, helpless saps," Freeze Blade sighed, and Stink Bomb slapped him. "There are three things a ninja must never do, Freezy. Never reveal yourself, never argue with your sensei's orders and never, ever be pessimistic,"
The three Skylanders were standing by the tiller, Wash Buckler with a hand on the wheel. They were watching the sun set on the horizon.
"I'm not a ninja, you old fart," Freeze Blade snorted. Stink Bomb opened his mouth to retort, but his rear end mhad other ideas, letting out a toot of approval. Wash Buckler guffawed. "He's got you there!"
Stink Bomb groaned and walked away, climbing the stairs to the S.S. REAL MAN's rear roof. It was a flat section with a lifeboat stowed on it above the captain's quarters, and the highest place on the ship other than the crow's nest. Stink Bomb leant over the railing on the end and looked back at the skies they had sailed through. "Nice view." he nodded, gazing at the sunset, before looking down into the abyss.
And when he did, he spotted a rather unwelcome stowaway clinging to the back of the ship. "Oi, Cap'n!"
"What be the problem, matey?" Wash Buckler hollered back to him. "We be having a stowaway!" Stink Bomb called.
Wash Buckler rushed over to where Stink Bomb was. "Where? I don't take kindly to stowaways on board my ship!" he growled. Stink Bomb pointed down to the back of the ship, and Wash Buckler expectantly looked. "Stinky," he said patiently, "Yes, sir?" the ninja replied. "Paper bags are not stowaways," Wash Buckler calmly explained.
Stink Bomb looked down in incredulity. All that he saw was a Cap'n Cluck's King-Sized Chicken paper bag hanging from a nail halfway down the back of the ship. "What - but - there was - but - huh?" he spluttered in disbelief. Wash Buckler looked at him in concern. "Do you need to go lie down?"
X
"Time imps?" Loni frowned, just to check that she had heard right. "Yes. Your Portal of Power was stolen by time imps," Octavius Cloptimus confirmed.
"Pray tell, great wizard, what Is, per se, a time imp?" Igniter queried, gazing up at the Oracle like he was the most amazing thing the knight had ever seen. "Oh, so he calls the, pumped-up, interdimensional soothsayer," she vehemently spat out the word, "a great wizard, but he calls the Portal Master a fair damsel?" Loni growled under her breath. She felt fire building at the base of her throat and hastily swallowed, dousing the flames before they could erupt. "What's wrong with me?" she breathed, sensing the inside of her throat cool and sending a tendril of Life elemental energy through her body to make sure that the flames were gone.
"A time imp is not dissimilar to the greebles of your dimension. They're mostly harmless, but mischievous and extremely annoying. If you dangle a carrot from a stick in front of one of them, they'll eat the carrot, take the stick and beat you with it. I had one as a pet once," Octavius explained.
"Dare I ask what happened?" Warnado nervously gulped. "He tore my testing chambers into pieces, ate the Midochromanian dynasty out of history and bit off one of my eyes. I've only had one ever since," the Oracle nonchalantly explained.
"Dude, what's the Midochromanian dynasty?" Slam Bam frowned. Octavius fixed his unblinking gaze on him and said, "Exactly,"
"Those sound dangerous," Warnado gulped. "Well, they are little more than pests to me. They might, however, pose a significantly greater threat to you. Having your existence torn from the past, present and future is a problem to beings like you, correct?" Octavius asked.
"So, where is the Portal and how do we get it back?" Loni stepped forward, then hastily reared back in order to stay on the platform and decided to ignore the previous sentence. "I will send you there. All that is necessary is for you to make sure that there are no time imps within three feet of the portal. Even for just a second will be enough for me to retrieve the Portal and send it to your reality. Having done that, I will send you all and the Portal to Iron Jaw Gulch just in time to meet your robot friend. Good luck,"
"Wait, what was -" Slam Bam cut himself off as suddenly he, Warnado, Loni and Ignitor weren't with the Oracle anymore. Instead, they were in a cave of some kind made from glowing black energy. They stood in a dead end, and in front of them the cave opened into a huge chamber infested with - things, monsters of all shapes, sizes and descriptions. A thousand or more of these monsters swarmed around an object that was glowing blue and, even as they watched, slowly changing colour to a light purple. "That," the yeti finished. Loni gulped. "Get them all outside of a three-foot radius of the Portal. Easier said than done,"
X
Jet-Vac landed his SkyBike near the Winter Keep, in the docking bay. Electrical spotlights lit up the docks, painting everything in a harsh, clear white light. The frankenstinian craft took up a large portion of the dock.
"Hey! You can't park there!" an angry, yet petite Frost Elf stormed up to him and shouted in his face. Jet-Vac fixed a beady eye on him. "I don't see anywhere else that I can park," he pointed out.
The elf looked around, took a closer look at the SkyBike and realised that it would be incapable of sustaining a mid-air parking spot like all the balloons and airships in his care. "Well, uh, fine! Just don't leave it there for too long! It'll cause congestion!"
Jet-Vac looked up and down the dock and raised an eyebrow at the evident lack of ships on this particular dock. "Congestion. Right," he snorted, clambering off the craft and making to walk back towards the main Keep. "It will happen! Just you watch, Skylander!"
Jet-Vac gritted his teeth and stalked off in irritation. "Again with the Skylander thing! Why do they always just call us Skylander?! Is it so hard to remember our individual names?" he demanded to himself. "I wonder when that girl I met will show up here? Or call me," he paused. "I forgot to give her my number!
X
The night watchman frowned as he heard something creek from the next room over. "Hello?" he called, shining his torch towards the door. "Is there someone there?"
The muffled sounds of giggles were heard. The lion flicked his tail in annoyance. "Bloody kids, think they can mess with me? Well I'm not leaving my post! No matter how much you try to bait me!" he hollered, before glaring up at the plane behind him as if it was its fault.
The headlights flashed, switching off for a second and then straight back on. The watchman jumped, before clutching a paw to his head and shaking it. "Must be seeing things," he moaned. "No more coffee for you, Wildfire,"
Directly behind him, a silhouette leapt from the doorway and rolled behind an old Troll tank. "And my distraction happens in three," he whispered, "two," the figure bared his teeth in a savage grin, "one,"
A/N
A/N
The term 'L-class was drawn from Legendary Trigger Happy. Back in Spyro's Adventure, on Legendary Trigger Happy's character card and packaging, 'Legendary Trigger Happy' was too long, so it was abbreviated to 'L-Trigger Happy'. It seemed like some kind of Legendary slang, so I created the term 'L-class', loosely derived from Fairy Tail's 'S-class'. (I know, I know, again with the Fairy Tail, but it's similar things, okay?)
Anyway. Yes, Wildfire the night watchman is in for a treat next chapter. I can promise some good action to make a nice break from the complacency I've called into the last few chapters. Also, can anybody figure out who's breaking into the museum and for what purpose?
And I think I delivered a nice, fat chapter to make up for my three-week absence. Sorry, but I had tech trouble and writer's block and all kinds of stuff and nonsense. -.-
Phoenix, Guest, if you're going to post a review, please ACTUALLY REVIEW THE CHAPTER! Don't use my review section to spam each other! You're clogging up my email!
LiteFox, Maya was a character from the original DC. I had a lot of plans for her, but never really got around to doing any of them. Let's see if that mistake can't be fixed.
Aww, thanks. I like to think I'm good with character nailing. And yes, unfortunately as of right now we have seen the last of Octavius Cloptimus (like my little explanation as to why he only has one eye? XD) but oh well.
Magicanus, that's really none of your business.
Anyways. Peace!