|| And here we have chapter 3 of Sunburn and Stealth Elf, AKA "the part where the ship sails". ||

Chapter Three

"So many Skylanders, so little time..." Kaos was observing a pair of cyclops forcing Boomer into one of the cells. It took a while, but eventually they got him in there. The other Skylanders groaned upon seeing another one of their friends caught. It had been only a few hours since Kaos had introduced his newest plot to Glumshanks, but his minions had captured several Skylanders since. "Oh, this is too good. I'm making progress so quickly!"

One of the cyclops handed the bag that they had confiscated from Boomer to the Dark Portal Master. "This is everything it was carrying," it told him.

Kaos peered into the bag. "That's a lot of dynamite." He shoved it back into the cyclops' hands. "Take it to the explosives vault."

"Yessir."

When the two cyclops had left, Kaos looked up at his wall of prisoners triumphantly. "Let's see here... thirty-two minus thirteen equals nineteen." He smirked. "It won't be long now."

"What do you plan on doing to us?" Bash growled.

"Leaving you in there to rot, what else?" Kaos replied. "Unless I can master mind control, it's not safe to have you Skylosers anywhere else."

Zap whimpered. "Are you at least going to feed us?"

Kaos cackled. "Ha! Of course not!"

"Lord Kaos!" Glumshanks called through the enraged complaints. "The radar picked up that more of the Skylanders have left Eon's Citadel."

Kaos nodded. "Tell me."

"Well, three of them left for Leviathan Lagoon..."

"Send the Pirate Greebles."

"...one of them is in the underworld..."

"Some Arkeyans will make quick work of them."

"...and two of them left in a small airship."

"Have the Troll fleet deal with them."

Glumshanks bowed. "Yes, Lord Kaos. I'll get right on it."

The troll went out to follow through with his master's demands. Kaos glanced back up at the wall. "You hear that? More of your little friends are coming to join you!" He started counting on his fingers when his captives broke into a riot. "Nineteen minus six equals thirteen. They make it too easy."

The airship that Flynn left to Sunburn was absolutely tiny, but considering that it was just him and Stealth Elf, it was just the right size. While Sunburn steered the ship, Stealth was sitting in the corner, fiddling with a piece of wood. It looked like she was trying to carve it into the shape of a Stump Dog, but she was so terrible at it that you could barely tell. They were flying approaching two large islands, heading in the direction of Kaos' fortress. Sunburn had tried making conversation several times, but Stealth only replied with muffled grunts, so he gave up.

For a while, the only sound was the airship's propellers. Then Sunburn decided to ask, "What was it like?"

Stealth paused and glanced up at him. "What?"

"In Treetop Terrace," Sunburn replied. "What was it like in Treetop Terrace?"

Stealth was surprised that Sunburn had said something that wasn't about himself, or how he thought that her hair looked nice. "Well," she said. "There are a lot of trees there. Most of them are really big, but some of them are smaller. But it is not just trees there. There are a lot of other plants, too." For some reason, it seemed like Sunburn was genuinely listening to her. "Most of the ground there is covered in grass, but some of it is bare dirt. I like the grass... more than the grass at your, um, what is it called?"

"The Citadel."

"Yes, that. The grass there is not as nice. I do not know why exactly... hm. Uh, there are also watering holes, mostly small, but there is one larger by the Tree of Life."

"Ah, the Tree of Life." Sunburn smiled. "Camo won't shut up about that. What's it like?"

"The Tree of Life is the center of all life in Treetop Terrace," Stealth replied.

"That's kind of obvious."

She shot a glare back at him. "Quiet," she snapped. "Without the Tree of Life, nothing could exist in the forest."

"Then it wouldn't be a forest anymore."

"Yes, you could put it that way. The entire ecosystem is part of the Tree of Life. It is all connected. The whole forest... it is really one big tree. And all of the animals live in the tree, and the watering holes were created by the tree. Of course, nobody in the aboveworld cares about any of that..."

"What is the 'aboveworld?'"

"That is above the trees, were Camo is from. I have only been there a few times. My... er, my Master did not want me there."

"Why?"

"Ah, he said that it is dangerous. H-He did not want me to be hurt..." She stopped after that. Like Whirlwind said, it was too soon. Her late Master was a very sensitive subject.

Sunburn understood. He had witnessed first hand when Stealth Elf poured all of her sorrows out to Eon just after it happened. But also, just like her, he had lost someone very close to him.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "So, how long did you live there?"

Stealth rubbed her eyes. "I... I think seven years."

"And you're eleven?"

"Yes, I think so."

Sunburn paused to do the math. "So you've been there since you were four?"

Stealth tilted her head. She didn't understand where he had gotten that number, but she said yes anyway.

Sunburn was going to respond, until he noticed that an entire fleet of Troll airships was flying towards them. "Uh-oh."

"'Uh-oh?'" Stealth sprung up and rushed to see what he was looking at. "What 'uh-oh?'"

"Looks like Kaos found us," Sunburn growled. "Luckily for us, I spotted them before they got too close. Do you know how to drive and/or fire a cannon?"

Stealth narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'll take that as a 'no.' Okay, what to do..." The fleets were getting closer every moment that he didn't take action. "If we try to retreat, they could catch us. If I have her steer while I fire, she could crash us... crash... the ship... crash the ship! Of course!" He nodded. "Okay, I'm going to crash the ship."

"Eeeeeeh?" Stealth blinked. "Uh, I do not know much about airships, but is it not bad to crash them?"

"No, I'm going to crash it into that left island so they'll follow it. We're going to escape to the right island. They won't suspect a thing."

Stealth twiddled her thumbs. "If you say so..." she said quietly. "B-But, how are we going to get to the island?" The ships were getting closer.

"I'm gonna carry you there," Sunburn replied.

"You can really fly?"

"Of course I can fly! Now I'm going to wait until they start firing at us." He turned their ship to the left. "They'll think they shot our propellers."

"When will they start firing?"

Suddenly they were being shot at.

Sunburn blinked. "I'd say right about now!" He sent the ship plummeting towards the left island. "Alright, let's go! And remember, we have to be discreet!"

"What is 'discreet?'"

(She's a ninja who doesn't know what discreet means. Great.) "I'll explain later!" Sunburn flapped his wings and grabbed Stealth, then soared off of the ship. Just as he had planned, the Trolls were too busy chasing the abandoned vessel to notice that they had fled. "Heh. Trolls are stupid."

Stealth looked down at the endless void of sky below them. She had been trying not to, but couldn't help it. Upon seeing that there was virtually nothing below them, she yelped and latched onto Sunburn's leg. "Oof! Okay, please don't do that." Sunburn looked down at her. She was petrified. "Um, are you okay?"

"I m-may be just a l-little afraid of h-heights..." Stealth stammered.

Sunburn sighed. "Well, that's just great. Don't worry, we're almost there. Hold on!"

He swooped down, making sure that Stealth wasn't going anywhere. He dodged a couple of trees- it seemed to be a forest -and came to a halt. He hovered above the ground, but Stealth didn't seem to have realized where they were. Her eyes were shut tight. "Hey." Sunburn poked her. "You can let go now."

"Huh?" Stealth opened her eyes to find that there was ground below her. "Oh." She hopped down and Sunburn landed next to her. He noticed that she was a bit red in her face.

He laughed. "Hey, it's okay to be afraid of heights," Sunburn told Stealth. "Lots of people are!"

Stealth's ears drooped. "Really?" she asked.

Sunburn nodded and set a talon on her shoulder. "Really." Much to his surprise, he was touching her, and she wasn't punching him. She didn't even snap at him. It seemed that he had either broken or fixed her, though he wasn't sure which one.

After Sunburn removed his hand, Stealth observed, "This island is a forest."

"Yeah, it is." Sunburn was still bewildered by his partner's sudden change of attitude. He glanced up to find that the sky was becoming a wondrous shade of orange. "It's getting late. Let's find a place to rest and keep moving in the morning."

Stealth nodded. "I am tired." She stretched her left arm. "I can find a place to stay."

"Alright! Lead the way, forest girl."

Stealth scowled. "Do not call me that."

Sunburn shrugged. "Okay, I'll call you 'elf girl.'"

"That one is worse..." Sunburn was extremely annoying. But- stealth couldn't believe she was thinking this- he was also rather charming. Well, he had his moments. He was certainly nicer than Stealth had expected. Maybe... Maybe she liked him after all.

Apparently Stealth Elf is an expert on finding hollowed trees, because it took only a few minutes for her to find one. Sunburn was pleased to find that there was no grass growing inside. Stealth watched with a puzzled expression as he gathered a bunch of rocks and twigs and arranged them in an orderly pile. Then he breathed fire on them.

Stealth jumped. "Y-Y-You can shoot f-fire out of your b-beak?"

"Well, yeah," Sunburn replied. "I'm half phoenix half dragon. Of course I can breath fire!"

Good thing, too. They could have been there for forever and a day trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Stealth Elf warmed her hands over the fire while Sunburn arranged two nests for them to sleep in. "The longest mission I've ever been on lasted for five days," Sunburn said when he joined Stealth. "It was me, Chop Chop, and Wham-Shell. We had to chase some bastard into the Underworld, but he trapped us in this huge maze that took four days for us to escape from. When we finally got out, we spent the entire fifth day tracking the guy down... But that's just the longest mission that I've been on. Spyro and Gill Grunt were gone for two weeks one time."

"Wow. How long do you think this mission will take?" Stealth inquired.

"If we're lucky, we'll be done tomorrow." Sunburn replied. "But we could be stuck here a while. It's better than being captured of dead, at least. I'll check to see if there's anybody else on this island tomorrow. If not, I'll fly out to get help. I'm sure you'll be fine here on your own."

Stealth nodded. "I will. Do not worry about me. I am very good at hiding."

"Whirlwind told me you can turn invisible."

"I can."

Sunburn smiled. "Okay, that's the coolest thing I've heard all day. Can you do it right now?"

"I can," Stealth replied. "but I am not going to."

Sunburn laughed. He was quite pleased with himself for developing Stealth's character this much in one day. He wasn't sure if she thought of him as a friend just yet, but he was determined that she would soon. After all, he liked her.

"Um..." Stealth muttered. "So, uh... where are you from?"

Sunburn cocked his head. "Really? You want to know?"

Stealth nodded. "I told you about me. And, I know you like to talk about yourself. So... go ahead! Tell me your life's story."

Sunburn smiled. "Well, I came from a place called 'Dragon's Peak...'"

Whirlwind was sitting on the beach just outside the Citadel, watching the sunset. Normally she loved the warm colors in the sky at the end of the day, but that day... that day, the sunset was unsettling to her.

Trigger Happy bounded away from the docks where he had been fishing (with his hands). When he noticed that Whirlwind was there, looking depressed, he dashed over to her. "Hey, Whirlie," he said. "What's the matter?"

Whirl sighed. "It's just... Stealth Elf and Sunburn have been gone all day! They haven't come back yet... I can't help worrying about them."

"Whirlwind, missions can go on for a really long time," Trigg reminded her. "Wait, Sunburn? He he! I wonder how many times elf girl has punched him by now."

Whirl scowled at him. "Her name is 'Stealth Elf.' And haven't you noticed that a bunch of the other Skylanders have disappeared? If anything happens to Sunburn and Stealth Elf..."

Trigg clenched his teeth. "I... I'm sure they're fine." He was lying. "Don't worry about it! I'm sure they'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Just wait! You'll see!" For a moment, he was silent. He listened to the waves crashing against the shore., which normally couldn't be heard over the chaos that the Skylanders caused. "It really has gotten quiet around here."

He had no idea how right he was. It was so quiet that Kaos had started sending his minions to the Citadel to capture the Skylanders in their own home. There could have been one directly behind them and they wouldn't have even noticed.

In fact, there was.

|| Ugh, this story suffers from telling instead of showing so hard. At least the telling is relevant here, unlike... in some stories...

I think that the awful pacing was, like, a running gag in this series. Literally every story takes place over the course of just one or two days. Actually I'm pretty sure that Sidekicks was three? But Sidekicks was just objectively the best story in this series, and it never got finished anyway.

Oh, and Whirlwind x Trigger Happy was totally gonna be a thing. I don't know if it still will be in the reboot, because Whirlwind's entire character is pretty much centered around Stealth Elf, but we'll see how things turn out. ||