|| And here we have chapter 2 of Sunburn and Stealth Elf, AKA "the part where I forgot what I was gonna say". ||

Chapter 2

Glumshanks was surprised, to say the least. It wasn't very often that Kaos had a decent plan (decent meaning anything that wouldn't end in him exploding) but this seemed a little more like it could actually work than normal. "Really?" he asked. "Kidnap all of the Skylanders! How are you going to do that?"

Kaos chuckled. "Please, Glumshanks! I already have."

The troll's eyes widened as his master walked towards the set of stairs that lead to the dungeon. "W-Wait, seriously?" He followed Kaos down the stairs. "You've already caught all of the Skylanders?"

"Well, not all of them," Kaos responded. "A few of them! But the rest will come soon." He approached an electric gate and punched a code into a padlock. Inside the gate were thirty-two capsules built into the wall, color coded to represent that there were four per element. The names of each Skylander were written above the capsules. "I did some research, and built these capsules specifically to contain each individual Skylander."

Glumshanks examined the wall. Several of the Skylanders had already been miraculous caught- Prism Break, Wham-Shell, Ghost Roaster, and Sonic Boom. They were laying around and looking extremely bored, exceept for Ghost Roaster, who was etching his recipes into the wall with his finger. "Wow!" Glumshanks exclaimed. "I'm surprised you caught even one of them."

"So are we," Wham-Shell growled.

"Hey!" Kaos snapped. "No speaking unless spoken to!" Wham-Shell rolled his eyes and mimicked Kaos' mouth movements with his hand. Kaos stuck his tongue out.

"So they really can't escape?" Glumshanks asked.

Kaos shook his head. "Nope! Here, observe." He pulled a rock out of his cloak and chucked it at Ghost Roaster's capsules. "Hey, ugly!" Roaster growled and turned around to face them. "You wanna piece of me?! Come on!" Roaster shook his head and turned back to the wall.

Glumshanks stroked his chin. "Try insulting his cooking," he whispered.

Kaos nodded. "Hey! I've tried your casserole! It tastes like play-dough!"

Roaster's finger twitched. Fuming, he whirled around and transformed into his ectoplasm mode. But he couldn't pass through the glass. Wham-Shell facepalmed, Prism Break stared at the ground, and I think Sonic Boom was asleep. "Very impressive!" Glumshanks praised his master. "All of these are built specifically to be immune to their powers?"

"Exactly." Kaos nodded. "I think I built an extra capsule in the Life element, though."

"Actually, I believe they just recruited a new Life element a couple days ago."

"Eh?" Kaos questioned. "Is it dangerous? Does it have powers? Should I rebuild the capsule?"

Glumshanks shook his head. "I'm pretty sure it just carries weapons."

"You mean Stealth Elf," Prism Break said. "Yeah. Take away her daggers and she's harmless."

"Prism Break!" the Skylanders exclaimed.

He shrugged. "What? He would have figured it out anyway."

"Right you are, foolish prisoner," Kaos cackled. "Alright Glumshanks, if any of the Skylanders stray even two feet away from Eon's island, I want to know. It's too risky to send troops there to nab them all at once. Oh, and Glumshanks?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Get me a cappuccino!"

Glumshanks frowned. "But sir, we don't have any coffee-"

"I don't care! Get some!"

Wham-Shell watched the butler scurry out of the room. "Heh, glad we don't work for him."

"No speaking unless spoken to!"

Sunburn flashed a smile. "Hey, haven't seen you in a couple days," he said. "What have you been up to, Stealth Elf?"

Stealth glared at him. "Why do you care?" She hit herself on the forehead when the phoenix shrugged arrogantly. "Why is it him?" she asked Master Eon. "Can it be anybody else?" She sighed. "Why do I even need a partner for this mission."

"Well, like I said," Eon replied. "this is your first assignment, and it's very important."

Sunburn cocked his head. "Yeah, about that. Could you tell us what it is?"

Eon nodded. "Of course, Sunburn. Now you may have noticed, but a few of the Skylanders have gone missing on their most recent mission."

Stealth raised an eyebrow, but Sunburn immediately spat, "Kaos."

"That would be my assumption," Eon responded. "So, I want the two of you to investigate. Together." He beamed down at Stealth Elf. "Now I understand that you have trouble trusting the others, but you need to learn to make friends. You must know why I did this, child."

Stealth crossed her arms. "I guess..."

"C'mon, Stealth Elf!" Sunburn wrapped an arm around his new partner. "We're gonna have a grand ol' time! Just you and me!"

Stealth's eye twitched and she punched him in the face. "Do. Not. Touch me."

Eon smiled weakly. "Yes, you should keep an eye on her, Sunburn."

"Yeah, without dying..." he grumbled. He got back on his feet and shook the dirt out of his feathers. "This might have a rocky start, but I'm pretty sure it will end well. You can count on me, Master Eon."

"Very good. I expect to see both of you in one piece when you return."

Sunburn blinked. "Uh-huh. Not making any promises." Eon chuckled at this, even though it was very likely that Sunburn wasn't joking. "Come on, Stealth! Let's go grab a ship from Flynn."

Stealth followed him reluctantly. Then she realized something. "Um, who is Flynn?"

"Ha! Damn, you really haven't met Flynn yet?" Stealth shook her head. "Well, you're about to. He's our pilot. Takes us on most of our missions. Personality-wise, he's like me, but about a trillion times more cocky."

"Great." Stealth would have rolled her eyes if she was capable of doing so. "Do any of the boys here take their job seriously?"

Sunburn laughed. "I'll tell you what, Chop Chop takes things a little too seriously. Since you tried to assassinate Master Eon, the guy's convinced that you're a Drow." They both went silent. Sunburn noticed what he had said wrong and quickly stated. "Oh c'mon, you're not still upset about that, are you? You were forced to do it. That Splinter guy would have burned down the entirety of Treetop Terrace if you didn't. Besides, he's dead now!"

"Mm..."

"Hey, I get it. You're having a tough week! All Skylanders have their tough week. But... well, if we didn't have our tough weeks, we wouldn't all be friends!"

Stealth Elf was silent.

Sunburn chuckled. "Oh please, I know you at least like Whirlwind. Don't try to deny it."

"Hey, Sunburn!" That call came from Flynn, who had been reading a magazine called "All about you." "What brings you here? Come to see ol' Captain Flynn at his best?"

Sunburn looked at the ground and shook his head, trying not to laugh. "Uh, no," he replied. "Actually, we need a ship for our mission."

Flynn noticed Stealth Elf, standing impatiently behind Sunburn. "Oh, hey! You must be Stealth Elf!" He extended his hand. "Put 'er there!"

Stealth stared at his hand in confusion. This time Sunburn did laugh. "I don't think she knows what you want her to do."

The Mabu withdrew his hand. "Alrighty then. What's up with her?"

"Tough week," Sunburn replied.

"Ah, still that, huh?"

"Yeah, they usually last... a week! And it's only Friday."

"Mm-hm. Well, I wouldn't know what that's like." He flexed his arm. "Captain Flynn doesn't have tough weeks. Heh, I've never even had a bad hair day!" Stealth shook her head. "So, has she met any of the others yet?"

"Just me, Whirlwind, Trigger Happy..." Sunburn was straining his brain trying to remember. "I think Camo, and Master Eon... and Chop Chop."

"Ha! Wasn't he booing at her initiation?"

"Yep, that was him alright."

Flynn chuckled. "That guy needs to lighten up, seriously. I'll get you two a ship."

Sunburn watched him leave, then turned back to Stealth Elf. "You're quiet."

"There is no reason to speak," she said.

The hybrid shook his head. "Oh, you have some stuff to learn, don't you? If you don't talk to people they're gonna think you're a total bummer."

"I do not understand."

Sunburn crossed his eyes as he tried to wrap his head around this situation. "Okay. If you talk to people, they'll like you. If you don't talk to people, they'll act like Chop Chop. Got it?"

Stealth nodded. "I guess..."

"Okay, got yer ship, Sunburn!" Flynn called.

"We'll be right there! Come on, Stealth. I'm gonna teach you how to fly!"

"Great..."

|| No, really. The original author's note there was just me saying that I forgot what I was gonna say. Then in the bottom author's note I signal boosted a story called "These Daggers Against My Fingertips" by Paranoixa... which I just reread, and it's still as good as I remember it being. Give it a look.

Eh heh heh, Sunburn and Stealth Elf on a ship... Get it? Do you get it?!

Oh my god, I did the chapter-label thing again... ||