|| And here we have Chapter 2 of Pop Fizz... of DOOM! AKA "the part where logical pacing gets thrown out the window and I can't decide how to label chapters". ||

Chapter 2

"Kaos!" Pop Fizz exclaimed, leaping to his feet. "What are you doing here?!"

Kaos snickered. "What, can't Skylands' greatest evildoer just go for a nice, relaxing walk in the forest?"

Fizz raised an eyebrow. "It's... not... normal of him..." he said.

Kaos laughed. "Well, as long as we're here, why don't we have a little... chat?"

Pop Fizz grumbled and whipped out a potion. "No way am I going to 'chat' with you!" he growled. "You and I are all alone, and I have a chance to defeat you for good! If I take this chance, then all of the other Skylanders will stop thinking of me as a whining lil' wimp!" He shook the potion vigorously, seemingly wondering whether to throw or drink it.

"Oh, please," Kaos chuckled. "Why earn the trust of the other Skylanders..." His face darkened. "...when you can have them waiting on you hand and, er, paw?"

Fizz paused and tilted his head, his grip on the potion loosening. "W-What do you mean?" he questioned.

Kaos grinned. "What if I offered you the chance to be the most – er, second most – powerful conqueror in Skylands?"

Pop Fizz dropped the potion on the ground, then glanced down at his feet. He frowned and looked back up at the Dark Portal Master. Reluctantly, he said, "Tell me more."

"Has anyone seen Pop Fizz?" Spyro asked.

"Not since this morning," Sunburn replied. Other Skylanders began to gather in confusion. "Why?"

Spyro scratched his head. "I was looking for him earlier, I thought we could go on a Bonus Mission together. Y'know, he could use the experience. But he wasn't at his house."

Whirlwind and Tigger Happy exchanged glances, then stepped forward. "Do you think he ran away?" Whirlwind asked.

"I don't see why he would," Spyro said.

"Maybe we should send a search party?" Trigg suggested.

Spyro nodded. "You're right Trigg." He turned to the other Skylanders. "Gill Grunt, Trigger Happy and I will go out and look for Pop Fizz."

"We will?" Trigg questioned.

Spyro glared at him. "Yes, we will."

Trigg sighed. "Yes, we will..." (Me and my big mouth...)

Gill Grunt emerged from the crowd. "S'cuse me, pardon me- oops! Sorry!" He puffed out his chest. "Ready for action, Spyro!" he exclaimed.

"Great!" Spyro said with a smile. "Sunburn! You're in charge of the Cores while I'm gone."

"Awesome!" Sunburn cried. Whirlwind blushed slightly in the background.

"Gill! Trigg! Let's find Pop Fizz!" He turned backwards. "Oh, and Sunburn; If we're not back by sundown, send another search party."

"You can count on me!"

Slam Bam threw a Greeble into a tree, then tossed another one into the air. Jet-Vac blasted it out of the sky. "Nice shot!" Slam called.

"Nice teamwork!" Jet laughed.

Cynder materialized not that far away, then electrocuted the last Slamspin. "That takes care of that," she said. "That was disappointingly easy."

Slam stretched. "No kidding," he grumbled. Jet carefully landed next to them.

"Great job, Skylanders!" Sharpfin approached them, humming a little melody to himself. "You did a real fine job with those lugs. Ready to head back to Woodburrow?"

The Skylanders exchanged glances. Jet shrugged and Slam shook his head. "We'd rather hang around to see if there's anything to do on this stupid island," he said.

"Alrighty then," Sharpfin nodded. "I'll be on the ship with my enchiladas when you guys are ready."

"Ooh, could I get one of those?" Jet asked. Cynder hit him on the back of the head. "Ow..."

Cynder sighed. "You know, Slam Bam, I don't like the way you were talking to Pop Fizz earlier," she said. "You probably hurt his feelings."

"Oh, please," Slam rolled his eyes. "The little guy isn't fragile or anything."

Cynder scowled at him. "Right," she growled. "You're apologizing when we get back."

"Oh, come on!"

Jet glanced from Slam to Cynder and back, then sighed. "I'm going to go scout around," he said. "I'll be back." He took flight in the opposite direction of his bickering friends. He soared up into the sky and looked down at the islands below. "Ah, this reminds me of the good ol' days in Windham." He soared about the islands gleefully with his memories of being a flying ace.

"Hang on... what's that?" He looked down to see what appeared to be an army of Trolls. Jet raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to have to check this out..." He landed in the branches of a tree, careful not to make too much noise. On the other side of the field, he saw what he assumed to be Spyro, Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt, arguing about which direction to go. Jet turned his head in the other direction, seeing the army of Trolls. "Well, that's not good. I have to warn them... huh?"

The Trolls grew closer, and Jet noticed that they were being lead by something blue. "Okay, I seriously doubt that's Chill Bill, so who is it?" The blue leader waved it's hands and started shouting commands at the Trolls. "I should warn Spyro and the others..."

But before he could take such actions, however, the blue figure signaled and the Trolls charged. Gill pointed and Spyro and Trigg spun around to see the horde. Spyro smirked, then said something to his companions that Jet-Vac couldn't hear.

Jet watched from his hiding spot as the two groups charged at each other. They clashed almost directly in front of the tree, and the Sky Baron kept his distance. (If anything happens, I have to warn the others... I can't risk engaging.)

Spyro blasted one of the Trolls with a fireball, then headcharged the others. Trigg whipped out his machine gun and laughed hysterically as the enemies fell. Gill harpooned one and took to the skies with his water pack, blasting away the Trolls into Trigger Happy's firing range.

(Ah, the experts at work!) Jet thought to himself. (I wish I could have been a member of the original 32. And to think, Spyro, Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt were the first three! From the stories, Cynder had the invitation, but took a while to except...)

"Hey! Cut that out!" Jet snapped out of his daydream to see a Troll ripping the turret out of Trigg's hands. It knocked the gremlin gunslinger to the ground, and two others tossed chains around him.

A Missile Mauler blasted Gill Grunt's water pack, effectively shooting him down. A Trollverine dashed in and tackled the Gillman, then snatched his harpoon. More Trolls tied him up the same as Trigg.

"Gill! Trigg!" Spyro exclaimed.

Jet winced. (How could Trolls come up with such a sophisticated plan?!) Then it clicked. (The Blue Leader! But where-?!)

Like it was summoned by Jet's thoughts, a puff of green smoke burst up and the Blue Leader emerged in front of Spyro. "Well well well, look who it is! A Skylander trying to foil my ingenious plans!"

Jet sweatdropped. (W-What the hell?)

Spyro tilted his head. "Huh? What are you doing here?" he questioned. "...and what in the name of sheep is on your eyes?"

Jet-Vac was right. The Blue Leader wasn't Chill Bill, nor a Troll of any sort. It was instead, the familiar face of a certain gremlin, except wearing paint over his eyes to look like Kaos.

It was Pop Fizz! ...but why?

He grumbled. "You really don't get it, do you?" he asked.

Spyro shrugged. "What's to get?"

Fizz's eye twitched. "I'm capturing you!" he exclaimed. "I'm commanding an army of Trolls to capture you and take you to Lord Kaos!"

Spyro stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. "You're joking, right? Seriously, take off the make-up and help me free Trigg and Gill."

Fizz fumed and jumped up and down frustratedly. "It's not make-up if it's for dudes! And I'm not joking! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not!" He growled then pointed at the purple dragon. "Trolls! Tie him up like the others!"

"Wait, what?"

Jet stared on as the Trollverines pinned Spyro down and Pop Fizz tied him down himself, setting his foot on the dragon's back, claiming victory. "Pop Fizz, just... why?!Why are you doing this?!"

Fizz snorted, walking around to Spyro's front. "Because, fool, I've gotten sick of you and the others treating me like dirt!" Spyro was charging a fireball, but the Trolls muzzled him. Fizz clenched his fist, ready to deliver a knockout punch. "Light's out 'boss!' Oh yeah, and...

"I resign."

By the time Jet got back to where Sharpfin had docked the airship, Slam-Bam and Cynder were still talking. Er, arguing. "You're just grumpy because you can't get Spyro to go on a date with you," Slam taunted with a sly look on his face.

Cynder blushed. "Th-That's not true!" she exclaimed.

Slam chuckled. "Spyro and Cynder sitting in tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Cynder slapped him.

"Cynder! Slam-Bam!" Jet-Vac exclaimed, flying over. "You're not going to believe what I saw!"

Slam grabbed Jet's head and pushed him away. "Can't you see we're in the middle of a conversation here?" he grumbled.

"Let him talk, Slam-Bam," Cynder growled. "What did you see?"

Jet scratched his head. "I can barely believe it myself..." he admitted. "It was Pop Fizz! Pop Fizz with make-up over his eyes to look like Kaos in control of a Troll army capturing Spyro, Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt to take them to Kastle Kaos!"

Slam and Cynder exchanged glances. "What?" Slam asked.

"You're joking, right?" Cynder said.

Jet shook his head. "I wish I was," he said. "We have to rescue them! Please, you two have to believe me!"

Slam paused, wearing a confused look. Cynder stepped forward. "I believe you, Jet-Vac," she said. "Slam-Bam, tell Sharpfin to set course for Kastle Kaos."

Slam shook himself off. "I don't get it! Why would our little buddy Pop Fizz turn to the dark side?"

Cynder scowled. "Maybe because you're a jerk to him."

Slam rolled his eyes, then dashed onto the ship.

Jet sighed. "This is something I never thought I'd say..." He looked up. "Let's go stop Pop Fizz from taking over Skylands."

|| I did that chapter-label-screw-up on Swappable Stoppable too, what the heck? Did I just not try at all whatsoever?

Oh, okay, so Cynder has a crush on Spyro? That's gonna be relevant later, right? No? Okay... ||