|| And... here we have chapter 5 of Pop Fizz... of DOOM! AKA "the part where Slam and Fizz beat the crap out of each other and I was very tired of writing this story when I finished it". ||

Chapter 5

"You're toast!" Pop Fizz exclaimed as he dove at Slam Bam and came down on him hard. The blue potion he drank had greatly increased his physical strength, evening him out with the great yeti.

Slam Bam growled and snatched the gremlin's foot, throwing him to the ground. "C'mon, Pop Fizz," he called. "Give it a rest!"

Fizz stood up and shook himself off. "Never!" he exclaimed, diving at Slam again. "Y'know, all I wanted was to be appreciated by my teammates!"

Slam moved out of the way and Fizz barreled past him. The yeti crossed his eyes in an attempt to think, then he facepalmed. "Oh, is that what this is about? Dude, I was gonna apologize for that when we got back!"

Fizz laughed. "Ha! Yeah right!" he said. "Since when do you apologize for anything?" He rushed forward and delivered an uppercut to Slam's jaw. "Honestly I can't believe I was ever friends with you."

Slam sighed, rubbing his possibly injured jawbone. "Aw, c'mon buddy, don't say that!"

"I'll say whatever I want to say!"

Meanwhile, Cynder and Jet-Vac were dealing with the beast Skylanders. Cynder was squaring off with Trigger Happy. "I seriously can't believe I'm do this," the dragoness sighed. Trigg snarled at her, the saliva flowing out of his mouth like a waterfall. "Gross." She blasted him with shadowy electricity, and his fur was all spiky when she was done. "Well would you look at that."

Jet had to deal with both Bumble Blast and Zoo Lou at once. He fired air blasts at them, then stormed upwards when they lunged at him, causing them to crash into each other. "I'm not doing so well over he, Cynd!" he called.

"Kinda busy over here!" Trigg was gnawing on Cynder's tail. She wagged it and he went flying. "Sorry, Trigger Happy..." She shadow dashed beneath him and slammed him in the gut when she came up. He landed on his face, then stood up and roared. He leaped over and grabbed Cynder, then threw her into the wall. She stood up and rubbed her head, grumbling. "Now it's personal."

Jet, Bumble and Lou watched in slight confusion, then the Life monsters glared at Jet in a hungry fashion an he smiled nervously.

They were brawling again two seconds later.

Sunburn looked out over Woodburrow from the highest point of the mushroom stairway. He was counting the Skylanders below, letting out a long sigh when he was done.

"Sunburn?" The phoenix turned to see Whirlwind bounding up the stairs. "I've collected the information you sent for," she told him.

"Good," Sunburn replied.

Whirlwind frowned. "It's not too good..." she said sadly. "Spyro, Trigg and Gill still haven't returned and the search party you sent earlier hasn't come back either. Cynder, Slam Bam and Jet-Vac were escorted to a mission by Sharpfin earlier. Fryno, Warnado and Dino-Rang left a few hours ago. None of them have come back."

Sunburn shook his head. "This isn't good at all, Whirl." He stood up and flew off of the terrace, Whirlwind following close behind. They landed on the rooftop of a house. "Spyro left me in charge, and the team is falling apart..."

Whirl clenched her teeth. "It's not your fault," she assured him. She blinked, then sweatdropped. "Oh, and... Pop Fizz and Stealth Elf are missing too."

Sunburn's jaw dropped and he whipped around. "Stealth Elf?" he asked. Whirlwind nodded dolefully. Sunburn scowled, then leaped off the roof. "Alright, I'm taking this into my own hands."

"What?" Whirl questioned, hopping down next to him.

"I'm not gonna let the Skylanders get destroyed under my watch," Sunburn replied. "I'm going to Kastle Kaos to figure out what's going on."

"W-Well, I'm going with you!" Whirlwind exclaimed. You could practically see the question mark above Sunburn's head. "It's obviously not safe! You can't go alone."

"You heard what you just said, right?" Sunburn asked. "It's dangerous! I won't let you come."

Whirl giggled. "Aww, how cute! You think you can stop me." Sunburn smiled slightly and rolled his eyes. "Oh, but, who will be in charge while you're gone?"

Sunburn blinked. "Damn. Almost forgot about that..."

"I think you did forget about that."

Sunburn glanced around the village in search of a trustworthy Core. "Ah ha! Drobot!" he called. The genius dragon turned at the sound of his name.

"Hm? Oh, Sunburn," Drobot replied in his edited robotic voice. "What would you like, temporarily-in-charge-one?"

"For you to be temporarily-in-charge," Sunburn replied.

Drobot tilted his head. "What? Why?"

"Because Whirlwind and I are heading out," Sunburn explained. "We're going to investigate the missing Skylanders."

"It is brave of you to take such actions," Drobot acknowledged. "Very well."

"Thanks!" Sunburn said with a smile. "Yo, everybody!" Everybody's attention turned to him. "Drobot's in charge! I'll be back later!" Before anybody could protest, he and Whirlwind dashed out the Woodburrow gate.

"Charged up!" Cynder blasted Trigger Happy with her spectral lightning again. He fell onto his back and grumbled. "This is getting tedious," Cynder growled. She leaped onto Trigg's stomach and smacked him in the face with her tail. "Trigger Happy, snap the hell out of it before I snap your neck!" Trigg responded by kicking her off of him, hopping back onto his feet in the process. She landed on her feet and shook herself off. "Alright, no more Miss Nice Dragon." She flapped her wings and soared above him, bringing down a powerful rain of lightning. Trigg yelped in the static shock. He looked charred when the lightning died down, then he fell over again. "Uh... Trigg?" Cynder flew over to him only to find that the gunslinger had changed back to normal.

"Put me back in coach, I can still play..."

Cynder sweatdropped. "Well that happened..."

Trigg sat up and rubbed his head. "Hoo, whozie-whatsits...?" Cynder helped him to his feet. "What da fudge happened...?"

"Pop Fizz is working for Kaos," Cynder explained. "He turned you and several others into slaves."

Trigg looked confused. "Pop Fizz did what now?" He shook himself off. "Sounds a little weird... but I've never heard you lie before, so I guess it's true!"

Cynder nodded. "Okay, what can you do..." She thought about it, then facepalmed. "Ooh, I can't believe we forgot about that..."

Trigger tilted his head. "Forgot about what?"

"Listen, Trigger Happy," Cynder instructed. "If you want to help- In the prison downstairs, there's a cell with the door torn off. Stealth Elf is in there. Get her out, and the two of you meet up with Sharpfin outside; he'll know what to do."

"Stealth is in trouble?!" Trigg exclaimed. He stood up straight and saluted. "I'm on it!" He dashed out an opening in the arena past a monstrous Gill Grunt, who then glared at Cynder and growled deeply.

Cynder sighed. "Oh, joy." She turned around. "Jet-Vac!" she called. Jet looked up from being pinned by Zoo Lou. "If you hit them hard enough, they change back to normal!"

"Really?" Jet questioned. He kicked Lou off of him and whipped out his blaster. He flipped a switch and pressed a few buttons, then held down the trigger. "Tally ho!" Releasing the trigger unleashed a powerful tornado on Zoo Lou, engulfing the bear. When the cyclone died down, Lou was revealed to be back to his old self... passed out on the floor. "Aye! She was right!" He chuckled. "This just got a trillion times easier, and- BEES!" He then realized he was being swarmed by wasps. "Ow, ow, ow, Bumble Blast!" He shot upwards with his pack, then hit his buster until it shot out another twister.

"You've got it!" Cynder exclaimed. She kicked Gill Grunt in the groin when he attempted to attack her.

"Ugh..." Bumble Blast groaned, slowly standing up and rubbing his head. "What's going on?"

"Where are we?" Zoo Lou asked after shaking himself.

"I'll explain later," Jet replied, pulling the two closer. "But right now, we have more important things to worry about." Lou yelped when they discovered that Camo, Fryno and Warnado had surrounded them.

Trigger Happy was trotting down the hall in the jail room downstairs.

"Live your life like a KameHame-Ha! Give your all, don't ever give up!" he sang cheerfully for some reason. "When we're together I know we can win. I have you to believe in!" He skidded to a halt and turned to you (yes, you) with a shrug. "Y'know pal, my life would be a whole lot easier if I were a Saiyan." He peered down the hall and saw a jail door leaned against the wall "Ah! That's it!" He rushed into the cell. "Stealth Elf!"

As he skidded onto his knees and examined the chains, Stealth slowly opened her eyes. "Hm...? Wha... Trigger Happy...?"

"Cynder told me you were down here!" Trigg said. "Don't worry, I'm gonna get you outta here. What even happened, anyway?"

Stealth sighed. "Pop Fizz beat me down..." she replied. "I don't even understand how... how he did it..."

Trigg was gnawing on the chains. "Well he is kinda wacko now," he replied through the iron. He grumbled and spat on the ground. He then stood up and pulled out one of his guns. "Don't move." Stealth flinched when he shot through the lock on the chain restricting her right arm.

"Oh..." She flexed her hand. "Kinda hurts..."

"What part of 'don't move' don't you get?!" Trigger shot the lock on her left ankle, then the right. "Hey, why isn't there...? God, Stealth, stop breaking yer arm!"

Stealth growled. "Yeah, like it's my fault."

Trigg helped her up and dragged her out of the cell. "Cynder said Sharpfin is waiting outside. He'll fix yer arm... or something."

Stealth blinked. "Ugh... thanks, Trigg..."

"You never call me 'Trigg!'"

Pop Fizz slammed Slam Bam into the wall and leaped on after him. He started beating the yeti with little to no remorse, not noticing that he was pretty much only hitting armor. "You big ham! You think you're so great, huh?! Well, I'll show you who's great! I am!"

"Urk!" Slam choked. He grabbed Fizz and flung him away. "Dude, do you even here how freaking crazy you sound?!"

"RAAH!" Fizz knocked Slam off his feet and leaped on his back. "I'm tired of living in the shadow of all the 'greater' Skylanders! You twerps probably think I'm better off here than I ever was on the team!"

Slam rolled over and jumped onto his feet, and Pop Fizz landed a few meters away. "C'mon buddy, that's not true and you know it!"

"Yeah right!" Fizz roundhouse kicked him. "You're arrogant! And popular! And being popular makes you arrogant! And... and..." He roared and delivered a powerful ice punch to Slam Bam's face. "Wakka-POW!"

Slam fell to the ground and shook his head. His nose was bleeding. "Dude..." He stood up and pounded the ground in rage, causing Fizz to fall over. "I'm not popular! You're more freaking popular than I'll ever be!"

"You're just trying to stop me from kicking your ass!"

"What the hell?! No I'm not! And since when do you use words like that?!"

Fizz dashed over and snagged Slam's leg, using his new super strength to wave him in the air. "You and Spyro and Trigger Happy and Stealth Elf don't even have to try to be popular! The missions just come to you! Everybody looks up you jerks!" He tossed Slam down with a loud CRASH! "Meanwhile, I spend my time working hard! I create all kinds of experimental potions, but nobody even gives them a chance! I'm considered the worst in Trap Shadow's class, even though I work the hardest! Every time I volunteer for a mission, I get shot down!"

"Pop Fizz-"

"SHUT IT!" Fizz shouted. "That's why I'm here! I'm here to prove that I'm just as great- maybe even greater -than any magic dragon, goldslinger, frickin'... ninja... or four-armed jock! I'm not going to live in your shadows anymore!"

Slam grunted and charged at the gremlin, sending his across the room. "Alright, now it's time for you to listen to me," he growled. "You are popular! You have tons of friends! There's not a Skylander who doesn't want to be friends with you! Except maybe Hex. And Stealth Elf probably couldn't care less- but that's beside the point! Me? You and Jet-Vac are my only real pals, maybe Terrafin and Eruptor. Everybody else steers clear of me because they're afraid I'll insult them!"

Fizz snorted. "Like you insulted me?"

Slam clenched his teeth and shrugged. "Well... yes, but... oh c'mon, you can't take it personally! I do it to everybody, it's just my nature. And just because friends fight doesn't mean they're not friends anymore! Real friends forgive each other, they don't go coo-coo and turn to their worst enemy!"

Pop Fizz leaped onto his chest, holding onto his armor and held up a fist. "Who says we're friends?!" he exclaimed.

"I do!" Slam persisted. "C'mon little buddy, I'm sorry! I know you're upset, but..." He pointed backwards to the fighting going on behind them. "Turning to Kaos... Enslaving your friends... This isn't the solution!"

Fizz stared at the chaos he had caused and his face loosened up a little. He hopped off of Slam and pressed two fingers against his forehead. As the effects of his potion started to wear off and he fell to the ground. "I... I didn't do this..." He looked up at Slam Bam with his pathetic puppy dog face. "...did I?"

Slam shook his head. "It's all you, little buddy," he replied.

Fizz stood up and looked down at his hands. "What..." Tears began to well up in his eyes. "What have I done?" He stormed out into the battle field, Slam following, but it turned out that Cynder and Jet were wrapping things up. "G-Guys!"

"Pop Fizz!" Cynder growled.

Fryno, who was back to his old angry self thanks to Jet, roared and stomped on the ground. "That guy makes me burnin' mad!"

"Hold up!" Slam stood between them and Fizz. "I think our little buddy's seen the error of his ways."

"Since when do you know what that means?" Jet questioned.

Camo, who also was normal again, stalked over to the former traitor with a low growl. "What did you do with Stealth Elf?"

Fizz's ears folded back. "I... I locked her up downstairs..."

"...and I just sent Trigger Happy to unlock her," Cynder finished. "She's going to be fine, Camo." Camo nodded and retreated back to the others.

"There sure are a lot of us here," Warnado pointed out.

"Maybe it wasn't so smart of us to leave after Spyro and the others went missing," Dino-Rang recognized.

"Hey, where is Spyro?" Gill Grunt questioned.

Cynder counted the Skylanders that were currently gathered, then glared at Pop Fizz. "Where is he?"

Fizz clenched his teeth. "Well... I studied him to create my purple elixir..." He pulled off his backpack and pulled out a violet potion. "When I was done with him, I turned him over to Kaos."

"You did WHAT?!"

Fizz whimpered. "I-I-I'm sorry! And I was wrong for everything I did!" He stared at the ground in shame. "There must be some way to fix this..."

"We can fix this!" Jet assured him. "There's enough of us here to take on Kaos and rescue Spyro!"

"Right!" Slam said. "Although having Trigg and elf girl here would be pretty helpful..."

"Stealth Elf is injured, Slam Bam," Cynder reminded him. "Besides, we don't need their help right now."

"You guys shouldn't help me." Everybody turned to Pop Fizz, who had a fire in his eyes that blazed a combined shame, hope, and fury. "I'm the one who screwed up. I'm the one who needs to fix it. On my own."

Slam knelt over and placed a hand on Fizz's shoulder. "Haven't you learned anything?" he laughed. "You're not alone."

"You were being manipulated," Cynder said. "I can relate to that."

"And I'm not going to let my best friend confront Kaos on his own," Jet added.

"Hey, I thought I was your best friend!" Slam exclaimed. Jet shrugged.

Fizz blushed. "Thanks, guys..." He looked over at the other seven. "But... you guys probably hate me... I made quite possibly the worst mistake a Skylander has ever made."

Dino-Rang shook his head. "People make mistakes, Pop Fizz."

"Even if this was a really freaking bad one..." Zoo Lou muttered.

"We forgive you," Bumble blast assured.

"I don't..." Fryno growled. Warnado pushed him (it was really more of a punch, really).

"I'll help you!" Bumble Blast said.

"So will I!" Gill Grunt added.

Slam chuckled. "See?" he said. "Friends forgive each other."

Fizz nodded. "And I couldn't be more grateful. Together, there's enough of us take him on. He's way outnumbered!" He pointed in the direction of Kaos' Chamber. "Let's finish this... together!"

Sunburn and Whirlwind approached Kastle Kaos, cautiously landing on the island below. "Okay, what's the plan?" Whirl asked.

"We sneak in," Sunburn replied. "and try to find them."

"Isn't that kinda risky?" Whirl questioned. "I mean, what if we get caught? We don't even know if it's Kaos behind this."

Before Sunburn could anxiously respond, somebody called. "Hey! It's Sunburn and Whirlie!"

The dragon hybrids glanced up to see Sharpfin's ship, and Trigger Happy waving at them. "Trigger Happy?!" Sunburn exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay!" Whirl cheerfully cried.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Trigg called.

"What's going on?" Sunburn asked.

Trigg shrugged. "Eh, something about Pop Fizz goin' wackadoodle," he replied. "But don't worry! Cynder, Slam Bam and Jet-Vac are taking care of everything."

"Where's Stealth Elf?" Whirlwind inquired.

"Hm?" Trigg tilted his head, then he realized. "Ah! Elf girl is sleeping below deck. She's tired... or something."

Sunburn and Whirl exchanged glances and gave sighs of relief. "She's safe..." Whirlwind said.

"But the others aren't," Sunburn said. "Trigg! We're going inside to help!"

"We'll be here when you come out!" Trigg replied, and he waved goodbye as the two flew up around the building.

Kaos sat happily (and evilly) in his throne, shaking a beaker with a bluish concoction and listening to the sound of sloshing. "Ah, Glumshanks," he cackled to his butler, who was sweeping the floors. "Thanks to that blue furball, I'll soon be able to follow through with my master plan!"

"The last time you said that you ended up with my legs," Glumshanks grumbled.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing!"

Kaos stood up and approached the wall, and a control panel rose up. It bared eight capsules, six of which were filled; a charred bone, a sunfruit, a starfish, a jar of dirt, a large gold coin (with Trigger Happy on one side and the initials "TH" on the other), and a firecracker. Kaos pressed a button on the panel and the empty vessel to the far left opened up and the Dark Portal Master set the bottle inside. When he pulled out his hand, the capsule closed up and the panel returned into the ground.

"Seven out of eight," Glumshanks acknowledged.

"One element left..." Kaos mumbled. "...and once I have it, as long as I have that dragon, I can complete this project and conquer Skylands!"

"...or it will blow up in your face..."

"What was that?!"

"Nothing!"

Kaos smirked and sat back down in his throne. However, he was interrupted by Pop Fizz and his parade of Skylanders. "Hold it right there, Kaos!" Fizz exclaimed. Kaos screeched and Glumshanks held up his broom defensively.

"What are you doing here?!" Kaos cried. "What are they doing here?!"

"I've decided to resign," Pop Fizz declared. "And me and my friends want Spyro back."

"Told you this would happen," Glumshanks said.

"Quiet, fool," Kaos growled. "Why in the name of Malefore would I turn over my most hated enemy to a traitor like you?"

Fizz swallowed. "I'm not a traitor..." he said, glancing back at Slam, Jet and Cynder. "Not anymore."

Kaos mouthed the words mockingly. "Yeah, whatever." He snapped his fingers. "Guards!" Suddenly, several Drows appeared from the shadows and grabbed hold of the several Skylanders, and it took a Goliath to hold down Slam Bam. "You really think I didn't anticipate your betrayal?" Fizz clenched his teeth. "You gave him to me. No taksies-backsies!"

` "Spyro is a person, not property you slime," Cynder hissed.

"Yeah, ya big jerk!" Slam added.

Kaos shrugged. "Too bad! Nothing you can do about. Thanks for bringing this many of them here to be destroyed, furball." Fizz snarled.

"Ah, give it a rest baldy!"

"Eh?"

Sunburn and Whirlwind crashed through the windows and blasted their powerful attacks at the Drow, sending them running for the hills. "Ooh! Hot!" Sunburn's fire power had set Fizz's arm on fire. He patted it down and then gave a thumbs up. "Thanks for the rescue!"

"Any time!" Sunburn replied with a salute. "Good to see you're back on the bright side!"

Fizz's ears drooped. "Oh, you knew about that?"

"It's probably common knowledge by now," Slam said. Fizz sighed.

"No more funny business, Kaos," Jet said, aiming his cannon at him. "Hand over Spyro now."

"No need!" The team turned around to see Fryno, Dino-Rang, and Spyro! "The guys figured out where I was."

"Lame compartment, lame security," Fryno added, cracking his knuckles.

"SPYRO!" everybody cried.

"Thank goodness!" Jet sighed.

"Happy ending!" Slam laughed.

Cynder swooned.

"S-Spyro..." Pop Fizz stuttered. "I-I'm so sorry..."

Spyro ruffled the fur on Fizz's head. "Don't sweat it!" he chuckled. "Even I was on the dark side once."

"You were?"

"That was before you were recruited." Spyro bounded over and tackled Kaos. "Hey, leave us alone next time," he growled.

"I will I will!" Kaos choked. "I promise! Now get off my chest, fool!"

Spyro shrugged and hopped over to the others. "C'mon, the gang at Woodburrow is waiting!"

"There's ship waiting for us outside!" Sunburn added.

"HOORAY!"

Pop Fizz smiled as the others showed themselves to the exit. He shot a "loser" symbol at Kaos before cheerfully taking off after them, pleased that his horrible actions had been forgiven.

"Gack!"

"Would you hold still?!"

Cynder, Slam, Trigg and Stealth watched in amusement as Jet attempted to wipe the make-up off of Fizz's face with a moist towel. "Quit it!" Fizz exclaimed.

"Quit squirming!" Jet retorted. "There!"

He pushed the alchemist away and he shook the water off his face. "How do I look?"

"You tell us!" Slam leaned over so that his breastplate could act as a mirror.

"It's all off..." Fizz gave a sigh of relief. "I'm so sorry for everything..."

"Forgive and forget!" Trigg said.

"I've through worse..." Stealth muttered.

"How many times are you gonna apologize?" Slam groaned.

"Hey Stealth!" They turned to see Whirlwind wearing a stethoscope. "I'll look at your arm now, if ya want."

Stealth raised an eyebrow. "Why do you need a stethoscope to examine my arm?" she asked.

"Don't question me," Whirl replied. "Now c'mon!"

Stealth sighed. "Alright, I'm coming!"

"I'm coming too!" Trigg laughed.

Fizz approached the edge of the ship and looked out over the horizon. Slam, Cynder and Jet joined him. "All's well that ends well, eh?" Jet said.

"I was certainly an experience..." Cynder moaned.

"But it turned out okay!" Slam added. "Now don't pull another stunt like that again, okay little buddy?"

Fizz gave the yeti a sly look. "Only if you start treating me better." The four laughed together, even Cynder, who was rumored not to have laughed in ten years. "I'm glad it's all over..."

"We all are!" Jet assured him.

"And it'll never happen again, right?" Cynder cast a glance to Fizz.

He shook his head. "No ma'am. Never again." He climbed up onto the edge of the ship and balanced carefully on his feet.

"Don't fall!" Slam chuckled.

"Ah, you guys will catch me if I do!" he said. "That's what friends are for!"

"He's not wrong," Jet said. Cynder rolled her eyes.

Fizz pointed straight ahead with a grin across his face. "Woodburrow, ho!"

Kaos paced in his throne room with a serious look on his face. "Sir..." Glumshanks said. "What are you going to do now? I mean, without Spyro, you can't-"

"Quiet, Glumshanks!" Kaos cut him off. "I may have lost the dragon..." He rubbed his chin, then nodded. "...but I can still pull this off. I just need the last element."

"But, uh, how are you going to do that?"

"Oh, trust me Glumshanks cackled," Kaos cackled, rubbing his hands together. "I will."

|| And, we leave off on a cliffhanger leading up to the story arc that would carry through the following two installments.

All in all, while this one isn't anywhere near the sheer levels of suck that Swappable Stoppable accomplished, I still don't think this story is really anything special. Like I said, the pacing in this series is absolute garbage, and it's a lot more noticeable here than it ever was in SS. I feel the need to establish that this entire story takes place over the course of one day. What, does Pop Fizz have mood swings or something! "I'm a good guy! Wait, nevermind, I'm gonna go join the darkness. Meh, nevermind, I'm over it."

Basically what I'm saying is that this story is trash.

Indeed, I am my own worst critic.

Next time: Blank Out! ||