Okay . . . I know it's been, like, AGES since I updated this thing. Life hit me in the ass, plus I heard a rumour that Skylanders was going to be shut down after the sixth game and . . . that just killed my inspiration for anything to do with Skylands, and it took ages to start it up again.
But I'm saying this right now. I'm not done. The announcement of Skylanders: Imaginators has gotten me revved up again, and I will be back on this site. You can all expect another chapter within a couple of weeks of this.
I just hope at least some of my dedicated followers, LiteFox, Samjax, Sparkbutt, etc, will still be here.
UPDATE: Left that up there for reference; I'm back! New A/N at the bottom!
Chapter 20: Tick Tock
The loud, audible sound of machinery whirring echoed throughout the museum. "Arkeyan Ultron Unit 641218B online! Assuming local command!" a voice blared. Similar activation noises echoed throughout the machinery, and Wildfire's eyes widened. "What's going on?"
The infiltrator grinned. "This is gonna be so awesome!"
The Arkeyan Copter dangling from a set of chains in mid-air in the corner of the room at an angle suddenly revved to life, it's cockpit lighting up with a blue light and it's engines whirring. It's propellers tried to spin, and immediately got caught, tangling itself and flipping up-side-down. Wildfire jumped in shock, before establishing that it was no threat and calming down. Futilely, the Copter tried to fire it's weapons. Nothing happened. The lion breathed a sigh of relief, the museum curators had thought to strip the Copter of all ammunition. Hopefully they had taken the same precaution for all the other exhibits.
A loud, deep voice suddenly blared through the museum in an emotionless baritone. "Arkeyan Conquertron 02-18 online. Activation sequence commenced,"
The intruder gulped, suddenly worried. "They have a Conquertron in this place? I didn't know that,"
"Oh no!" Wildfire gasped, dashing out of the room, presumably to find and deactivate the Conquertron. The intruder shrugged and grinned, coming out of cover. "Guess it did the job, though,"
He was a tall, four-armed insect, wearing aviator's goggles and jacket with khaki pants. "Alright! Nice to see you, you old beaut!" he grinned up at the old-fashioned plane, before carefully jumping up and climbing onto the wing.
At the other end of the museum, a disembodied Arkeyan Conquertron head, stripped of it's body and utterly powerless, blared on a loop, "Arkeyan Conquertron 02-18 online. Activation sequence commenced. Arkeyan Conquertron 02-18 online. Activation sequence commenced. Arkeyan Conquertron 02-18 online. Activation sequence commenced,"
And, unknown to the insectoid intruder, the only pieces of Arkeyan technology in the museum were the Conquertron head, the weaponless Copter and a single weaponless Ultron. Wildfire had merely dashed two rooms over and barrelled into the Ultron on it's display pedestal, crushing it against the wall and destroying it. "I can't believe it," the night watchman commented in quiet disbelief. "He anticipated every detail of their plan, right down to using the old Arkeyan junk as a distraction," But even as he said this, he was making his way silently back towards the aeronautics room.
The intruder happily climbed back into his old cockpit, looking over the controls and happily noting that everything was in place. "My Buzz Wing is a beaut. Sorry, old girl, but vacation's over. Let's see if you've still got some adventure left in you," he grinned, inserting the key into the ignition and revving up the engines.
But he frowned as the engines died and a voice rang out. "Halt! Thrillipede! You are ranked at number seven on the Blacklist, and in my legal capacity as a Trap Master I hereby place you under arrest!" Wildfire barked out, producing a massive octangular shield made out of some kind of red crystal, adorned with a snarling lion face. "Trap Master? Don't make me laugh!" Thrillipede retorted, frantically trying to restart the engines. "You're the Portal Lord's hunting dogs. At best!"
"I am a member of an elite black-ops team of law enforcement. You know that. And because of that, it is my duty to arrest you for crimes against the world of Skylands!" Wildfire barked.
The Buzz Wing's engines suddenly burst forth a flurry of sparks, and Thrillipede cursed. "You aren't going to escape again, renegade scum! I've already disabled the engines," the golden lion gloated. "Surrender and come quietly - what are you doing?"
The pilot had opened up a hatch on the engines and was furiously looking through everything to see what exactly had been done to his plane. "I'm fixing her!" he snapped. "Don't bother. We removed the engine. Our mechanics have much better use for it," Wildfire gloated.
The insect cursed, before something drew his attention. The Arkeyan Copter that was still furiously struggling to free itself on the corner of the room. "Escape," he grinned, leaping from the seat of his plane and pulling a small knife from his pocket -
Suddenly, pain coursed through his body and he collapsed to the ground in a heap. "I truly regret that I had to do that," Wildfire solemnly nodded, pocketing his taser, and binding Thrillipede in handcuffs. "Your move, renegades,"
X
Roller Brawl's phone beeped, she had a text. "What is that strange device?" Dune Bug asked, curious. "My phone," Roller Brawl sceptically told him. She found the scarab beetle a little annoying with his lack of knowledge of modern appliances, like phones and airships and wheels. He had grown up in isolation, so it wasn't really his fault, but she had to draw a line somewhere.
The vampire frowned at the text. "Come And Let Loose at Henrick's Saloon! Unbelievable Prices, Dynamite, Additives, Textiles, Easter Eggs! Urine Samples!" she read.
"That makes no sense," Dune Bug frowned. "Yeah, who would buy urine samples?" Roller Brawl frowned, the gears in her head (metaphorically) turning. 'Call H.S. Update Us,' she decided the message had to mean. "I'm gonna go do a patrol," she told Dune Bug. "Very well. I shall see you at another time," he nodded.
The problem with established routines and times for patrols of areas was that it made it far too easy for people to predict where the Skylanders would be. By doing patrols at absolute random and on impulse, it made villains drastically more cautious. Which was, for the most part, enough to dissuade the average thief from committing a crime in the first place, thereby cutting down a lot of Skylander work.
Roller Brawl reflected on this as she pulled out of the dock. "I guess the system works for a reason,"
The craft was small and unmanned, similar to an aerial rowboat, suspended under a miniature airship gasbagP painted sky blue. Perfect for her needs. As soon as the Skylanders were out of range of earshot, she produced her backup communicator and selected a number on the speed-dial. "Pinwheel calling Hotshot. Come in, Hotshot,"
It didn't take long for her correspondent to reply. "Pinwheel. I was starting to worry," Hotshot responded. "Why? Horseshoe told you we'd been in touch, right?"
"She did, but the world we live in, you never know until you hear someone's voice,for yourself," Hotshot responded, a guarded note creeping into his voice. "Fair enough," Roller Brawl nodded to herself, despite knowing he couldn't see her. "What's Thunderstorm's status?"
"Project TM-BY is complete. I know that's what you care about," Hotshot snorted. "That's not true. I care about Thunderstorm too," Roller Brawl protested. "We all care about each other. There aren't enough of us to not," the unknown voice patronisingly told her. "I know," she solemnly responded, absent-minded oh running her tongue over her fangs.
"Good. Now, what's this about someone in the Cores getting suspicious of us? I already heard from Miasma that we have a potential new recruit to the Renegades,"
"It's Spyro. The leader. He found something in the library that's making him start to get curious," Roller Brawl reported. "Keep an eye out for him. If we've noticed, then they've noticed, and they'll be considering options to keep him quiet," Hotshot intoned. "One way or another,"
Roller Brawl grimly nodded. "I'll keep an eye out,"
"Tell me if you think we need to perform an extraction," Hotshot commanded, and Roller Brawl nodded. "Got it. Anything else?"
"Nope. Quick Step sends his best," The line went dead, and Roller Brawl nodded. "See ya,"
X
The days passed as the eruption grew closer.
Jet-Vac, all thoughts of uncovering the mystery that he had decided was more then likely nothing more than his imagination, waited in hope that the rather attractive woman he had met in the sky would come by.
Roller Brawl stayed on standby, keeping a close eye on Spyro should he discover anything incriminating.
Cynder and Spyro, for their parts, busied themselves with the day-to-day matters or their areas while making regular checks on the Ancient Frosthound as he slowly woke for his duties.
The majority of the other Skylanders spread around Cloudbreak did likewise, their own duties and objectives keeping them busy for the most part.
Meanwhile, the SWAP Force continued their search for the missing Boom Jet, who was, unbeknownst to them, languishing in a cell in the depths of Linagarnix's secret lair. In said lair, Cogshine continued to perfect his device and the Dark Portal Mistress whiled away the waiting time, playing with her pets and wondering where her adoptive son Darkus was.
And in a mysterious otherdimensional plane of reality, Loni and her escort continued to try to work out the best course of action to reclaim the portal.
X
"Chaaaaarge!" Slam Bam commanded, rushing forwards and raising his four arms. He batted away a small gremlin, and continued.
Loni groaned. "Follow him!" she commanded Warnado and Ignitor, who nodded, the flaming knight hefting his axe and charging. "My honour is at stake! I shall defend malady's interests or die in the attempt!" he declared.
Warnado complied with a far less flashy "Got it!"
Ignitor made his debut in the battle by decapitating a rather ugly-looking, fat monster.
He was surprised to see it continue to attack him, unhindered by the loss of its head. "What manner of unholy beast art thou?" the knight demanded in shock, parrying a slash from its razor-sharp claws.
A whirling Warnado punched through its semi-corporeal gut and the knight looked decidedly queasy, seeing the monster's guts spill onto the floor as it collapsed. "Thank you, kind sir," he nodded.
Slam Bam was fending off a monster with each of his four arms and called out. "Guys? A little help here?"
"On it!" Loni shrieked, taking wing and raining down bolts of magical energy on their foes. She landed on the surface of the dormant portal and used her Air magic to blow a swarm of demonic critters from its top. "Over here!"
"A high ground advantage! Congratulations, you have taken the hill!" Ignitor praised, fighting his way to his lady. Warnado joined them, trying to create a tornado around them to prevent their enemies from gaining any ground.
"Cowabunga!" the yeti barked, manifesting a snowboard from ice and smashing it into a monster's head, knocking it backwards. He leapt into the vortex of safety as the portal slowly began to shine.
In an instant, they vanished.
X
"Congratulations," the Oracle praised them, smiling broadly. "You have done it. Now, I shall send you all to Cloudbreak, where MG is waiting for you,"
"Thank you," Loni nodded with a respectful bow.
"Noble mage, you have our deepest gratitude," Ignitor agreed.
"Yeah. You're great," Slam Bam huffed, folding all four of his arms. "Would have been better if you hadn't lost the damn thing in the first place, but still. Go you,"
Octavius frowned, and the four heroes vanished, along with the new Portal.
X
From Loni's perspective, it was instantaneous. She blinked, and suddenly they were no longer in the Oracle's chamber, but in the middle of a plain on Iron Jaw Gulch.
"Wargh!" Slam Bam shrieked as he collapsed to the ground. While Warnado, Loni and Ignitor had all appeared on the ground, the unfortunate yeti had appeared five feet in the air - and upside-down to boot.
As he picked himself up, Warnado chuckled. "That's why you don't make an interdimensional god grumpy," Loni admonished her bodyguard with a chuckle. Slam Bam huffed.
A Dirt Shark dressed in a cowboy suit with a silver star on his lapel strode up to them. "Well, howdy, Skylanders. Name's Wheelock, and I'm the Sheriff in these parts. Your robot friend told us we should be expecting you. But ain't y'all kinda late?"
Ignitor frowned, "Privy, kind sir. What do you mean, late?"
"It's just, your robot arrived last week," Wheelock frowned. "He said you'd arrive within a day or two, but that was several days ago,"
Loni stood up straight - as straight as a quadruped being could be, at least. "What? What day is it?"
"Why, it's the twenty-sixth of the ninth. Two days before the eruption," the sheriff told her.
Loni blinked, a growl rising in the base of her throat.
"BLAST THAT ORACLE!"
A/N
A/N
So, update in a couple of weeks, huh? . . . so much for that. {facepalms} God, I am so sorry that it took me so long to get off my ass and finish this chapter. School's been ramping up the difficulty now that I'm getting ready for VCE, plus I've been turning a lot of my energies to working on my original novel; Ghostwriter. I guess . . Dragon Chronicles just hit the back burner for a while. -.-
Still, I refuse to give up. I am bringing this fic and possibly other Skylanders works back as a major contender on this archive. I was before, and I will be again. I'm not giving up on this . . I just hope all my favourite reviewers are willing to do the same.
Let's see . . .
Fanboy, you single-handedly turned my review system into a guest flame war argument. That invalidates you.
LiteFox, I know it's been ages, but I really hope you're still reading this.
Sparkbutt, you are too smart for your own good and at least partially wrong.
Peace!