Drakus stared at the new (admittedly cute) person in front of him, who looked to be a young man with his face covered by a purple hood, but his cloak, violet and clasped with a large ruby set in gold was magnificent and bellowed out at the ends as though bustled by a strange stagnant wind. His tunic was of an ancient, dashing cut, made of purple silk and slashed with a red sash all of which were embroidered with silver thread. His tailored pants were tucked into black boots lined with matching embroidery. The demon was dressed like a king.
"Finally, I am free once more," said the demon with a tenor and light voice. "Vaati is back."
With pale, slender hands, the man withdrew his dark hood showing a face that Drakus could only gasp at. The only word he could think to describe him was drop dead gorgeous. His hair was light like lilac and with a gust of wind, streamed down his back until it curled out at the ends. Most women did not have hair so fine, or more, a face so lovely, pale, and free of wrinkles and blemishes. The only thing that told her that this being might be a man was the firmness of his chin and the depth of his voice.
"You know, I'm not from this world either." Vaati said, his voice surprisingly melodious and smooth. "But beggars can't be choosers. I must thank you for freeing me, fair maiden."
"Hold on, me?" Drakus couldn't help but ask.
"Who else but you? You summoned me and ended my suffering. It is only fair that I return the favor then. So what is it that you want? Grand riches, Great power...or perhaps myself?"
The seductive tone behind the last option, followed by him winking at Drakus made his heart thump.
"Wait, what world? Hopefully not a Minish one, those SUCK!" Drakus said.
"No, not even from there. Even in that world there were no picori with pale skin and red eyes, that was a fact many of my peers loved to remind me about, coincidentally." Vaati said, as he chuckled that last part out.
Drakus tilted his head in thought, asking him about what world he did come from then.
"I don't know, and neither did the oh so Great Sage Ezlo." Vaati said the name with hatred, "Heh, it took me a while to realize that, despite his praised wisdom, he in truth was nothing but an old fool."
Drakus said nothing. Likewise, Vaati ended the conversation after admitting that despite his powers, the wishing cap refused to answer that question for him. How odd.
"I almost died." Drakus said. "So, so, so many times…"
"How many times?" Vaati asked, slightly unnerved because holy crap, this young man almost died multiple times how is he still chill about this.
Drakus shrugged. "Well, more than either of us can feasibly count." He snarked.
Vaati was silent for a little while after that. Not looking satisfied by the news or returning a cruel quip at that. Drakus didn't like the silence, it felt like the eternity of loneliness was coming back for him and he had grown to detest that as their conversations grew common.
Eventually, he broke the tension. "Do you wish to talk about it?"
"Yes, please." Drakus motioned.
"What was your first near death encounter?"
"On Earth, it was when this crazy girl called Annie Wilkes who kidnapped me thinking I was some dude named Paul Sheldon, and tried to make me write a story that she wants to her tastes. Stabbed her to death with a typewriter and ran as fast as I could on a broken knee to safety as the house burned down."
"Seems even literature is not safe from controlling fans."
"How did you live your life then?"
"By living in the villages, those places were well-defended, and besides that, all picori are taught at a young age how to fight and navigate their surroundings. Until then they can't leave the house."
"Great, I had none of those lessons. Just a lot of trauma that I'm not seeing a shrink for because fuck those greedy assholes."
"And here I thought they were a service." Vaati said, tone suddenly dark again.
"Honestly? I can't tell the difference."
That quip did its job and allowed the conversation to continue, though eventually it derailed into a rant about how much Vaati hated the old man alongside unasked for details about his own childhood, his own suffering and how he is now beyond all that, how he was supposed to win.
Even as Drakus was listening to the words he said, he kept his silence, he didn't want to offend Vaati if it meant he'd be stuck several hundreds of years without anyone to talk to again. So he just waited for the rant to end.
"Say, Drakus." Vaati finally says, at the end of it all.
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever regret killing?"
"Of course not. There's blood on my hands, and no guilt on my conscience"
There was another in the room, the purple robe was slightly let go as the girl gazed across the empty ring, curious what was going to happen.
"I didn't believe they would let anyone in here… but I was clearly wrong." Scar muttered as the young girl turned her gaze at the lion with a sharp glare of hatred.
"I AM GRIMA, THE FELL DRAGON! I AM NOT LIKE THE OTHER WORMS!" she yelled back with a rather warped voice as the lion just stared surprised with wide eyes before Kanade scooted closer to him to whisper into his ear.
"Yeah…while we were at Leviathan Lodge, Mags decided to find out who has the Toxic Element mark…"
"Did she need to leave this possible Chūnibyō alone then?" Drakus asked.
"Apparently, she's a dragon whose age has spanned for the last few thousand years or so…" Kanade noted as Scar simply looked confused but finally decided that this wasn't worth his time to keep reacting to.
Onboard the Masterblimp, Mignon remembered that battle and the fire in that Phoenix Dragon's rage. This time instead of gloating about thinking that it would be a piece of cake, Mignon was now scared...of Sunburn. Fearful, he decided to contact the other Night Hooligans, He activated the blimp's communication system and out popped a hologram of Vicky.
"Um...boss, I do believe we have a massive problem." Mignon said.
"What problem are we talking here?" Vicky asked.
"I managed to get one of the eggs...but those Skylanders have a fiery Phoenix Dragon on their team. And when I got away with that egg...he was mad, like flaming mad. More so than the other chefs here on my ship." Mignon explained.
"Oh great, that one. Out of all those Skylanders that we observed, he has to be the most powerful in his teleportation power." Aeron facepalmed.
"If I am correct, he would be on his way here, right about now." Mignon said, and right on cue, the ship rocked due to an explosion on the ship's dorsal structure and an intruder alarm went off.
"A confounding Phoenix Dragon, eh? And just one Phoenix Dragon is just going to break through your forces and fight you?" Edvard growled.
"Come to think of it, this sounds crazy. But IF they do get past my forces and reach me, I'd best defend the Eternal Source of Fire from falling into their hands, before we use it to roast Skylands alive." Mignon realized, as he whips out a huge pizza cutter.
"Well stop them then, Doc." Soon enough, the communication ended as the doctor hoped what he was doing.
The air ship and the flying skylanders from the past and the Trap Team flew to the Masterblimp.
"There it is. Mignon's personal fortress." Tessa said.
"It's huge! How are we supposed to take it down?" Tatsumi asked.
"Don't need to. We take the doc out, the whole Omelette operation will go sunny side up." Leone said.
"Now, when I give the signal, you get into the new turret modification and blast away at-" Jet-Vac began, as a missile moved past him, as he snapped his fingers. "In case you didn't know, that was the signal."
Tatsumi jumped into the turret and loaded up. "Take out the cannons first, right? I think I can do this."
Spyro assembled the flight team as Sabrina hopped on his back. "Alright Skylanders, engage in battle!" He said, as the flying skylanders engaged the airships approaching them.
"Guys, look, there's a robot with Traptanium fists on the deck already wreaking havoc!" Leone said. She was right. An orange robot with gleaming Traptanium infused fists was punching any troll scrambling to the stations. "Save some for me!"
Leone jumped off the ship and onto the robot's location as he cold clocked a mech.
"Down for the count!"
"That's Jawbreaker, a tech Trap Master." Gearshift said. "And that's Night Shift, an undead Swap Force member, right beside him. He's a vampire."
A vampire was staring down another mech.
"Roll with the Punches!" he said before punching it and shutting it down. "You're down for the count!"
"Finally, some Skylanders I can actually relate too." Leone said. "Those who use their fists to solve fighting problems."
The others landed, and saw Jet-Vac with Tessa.
"JV took a hit to the leg, so I'm taking him back to the Academy. Good luck!" Tessa said, as she and Jet-Vac left the group.
The squad traversed to the second area on the dorsal structure on the Masterblimp, as Ridley spotted both an AA Gun and a gorilla bomber wielding dynamite. The squad stared silently at how ridiculous this got.
"Well, what does this primate want?" Sabrina asked.
"I am Mr. Boom-Boom, here to see to it that you get blown to smithereens before ever reaching Sir Mignon." The gorilla said, in a French accent.
Mister Boom-Boom! (Magic Trap)
"A contractor sent to do work for villains. And an escapee from Cloudcracker Prison." Ridley realized.
"And you won't catch me, X-Squadron!" Boom-Boom yelled as a helicopter troll picked up the turtle and carried him to the front of the ship where the last AA Gun was placed.
"Follow that monkey!" Zap yelled as they ran after the monkey, fighting through many enemies and killing many people.
[AYO THE APE BE FAST!]
[monke]
[apes on ground weak, apes flying stronk]
"Chat, stop referencing monkeys, and give ideas!" Sabrina yelled.
[ok, now since Boom-Boom is a gorilla with dynamite, pull out the strap and start mowing shit down before he can yeet bombs]
"That might actually work, chat." Jay realized. "Well, Boom-Boom, we can't catch you, but bullets can!" The squad then pulled out a lot of guns and shot at the gorilla, causing some damage. The gorilla threw a stack of dynamite, which ignited in a purple fire that everyone leapt from, as Sunburn realized something. "Magic fire? Boom-Boom's a Magic type!"
Boom-Boom pulled out another stack of TNT, "Just a little trick I learned from a nasty gnorc back in Avalar. Says he wanted to be rid of a certain dragon that has caused him so much pain. I can only guess it's Spyro."
"Well, you shall not take Spyro so long as we still breathe!" Sabrina yelled as she bum rushed the gorilla with a flurry of slashes, as Boom-Boom was soon encased in a dome of energy.
"Portal Master, hit us with a Magic Trap."
"So what will it be, ol' chap? Would you like a soldier like me in your unit?"
There was no answer until a thump of energy caught Boom-Boom by surprise as he hid in his shell. A purple vortex appeared and sucked him in as he flailed sporadically.
"Ah! This has gone way too baaanaaanaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!" Boom-Boom wailed as he was dragged into the vortex.
"If I remember right, the Command Kitchen is in there." Sheep Mage said.
"You were on this ship before?"Akame asked.
"Of course. I am a Night Hooligan." Sheep Mage said as the group soon made it to the Command Kitchen, as Mignon stomped in front of them.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm! We meet again, X-Squad and Night Raid. Hope you brought an appetite, because tonight on the menu, we're serving YOU!!"
"Serve us? Is it dinner time already?" Akamei asked.
"Serve you, as in goin' cook you as a dinner. Not serve you, as in present the food to ya, I can see how that would be confusin'. ANYWAY, let's spice things up!" Mignon said.
Doctor Mignon! (Fire Trap)
Mignon jumped down and laid the pizza cutter in front of him, the Eternal Fire Source flowing through it.
BGM: Get Out Alive (Three Days Grace)
"You're gonna fight us, using that?" Tatsumi asked.
"Anything can be a weapon, even practical ones." Mignon said. "Like these!" he said tossing hot tamales from his pizza cutter, which turned into a cross bow, as the tamales exploded, creating a small lava pool. He then charged with his pizza cutter.
"Too slow!" Daruizen said, dodging the chef and sending him into a wall, clattering a rack of pots and pans on him.
"You may have the speed advantage…" Mignon said, jumping back up. "But this whole arena is one giant hibachi grill. I'll use my burner lasers and roast ya till you come out crispy."
The grill started up as small flame throwers turned on, moving across the battlefield as Mignon started flipping mutant shrimp onto the grill.
The company dodged as Mignon switched between using the flame throwers and leaping into the battle himself with his cutter and explosive tamales.
"This fight….I get it, he's battling as if he's cooking a regular meal. Heat the contents, add ingredients, mix them up. A perfect battle recipe." Akamei said.
The group followed Akamei's movements and countered Mignon.
"I haven't even gotten started yet. Time to heat up the grill and put on the chicken!"
Giant chunks of chicken then fell onto the grill as the fire streams started up once more. The bottom of the grill then heated up.
"He's gonna barbeque us! On the chicken, now!" Roman said, as the others got on them for protection. Tatsumi activated incursio as he was separated from the others. Mignon got on another steak, and both charged and clashed, pole arm clashing against pizza cutter.
"Damn! They're even!" Roman said.
"So, who's gonna…." Snap Shot started before seeing a yellow glint. "Get down!"
A shot fired from out of nowhere as it was aimed at the chef himself. Both dodged out of the way as a new shape appeared and fired more shots, scattering the parties. A girl of a young age, with pink hair and pigtails with a massive rifle for a hand landed next to Tatsumi.
"Dammit Mine, watch where you're aiming! You could've missed and killed me!" Tatsumi said.
"So what? Assassins are ready to die at any moment." Mine said, her gun arm becoming a cybernetic one.
"Ooh, we got us a spicy little lady in my kitchen. Now then, little lady, wow 'bout you get on in here and join the other main courses and the appetizer." Mignon said.
"Hey, I'm not…ah forget it. Mine, let's show him that Night Raid means business." Tatsumi said.
"No duh. Why do you think I'm here? I'm gonna blast him to kingdom come with Pumpkin." Mine said, aiming at the chef.
"The Roman Artillery: Pumpkin. Perfect weapon for a sniper, considering it powers up based on the danger factor." Snap Shot said.
"DId that croc just memorize the Imperial Arms info?" Mine asked.
"Wait, danger factor?" Mignon asked, only to look all around his kitchen. "Oh, darn."
The Night Raid members charged in and beat on the chef, him fighting back. The group cornered him as the grill suddenly went full blast, Mine aiming.
"Boom." Leslie said as Mine fired, taking down the chef and the grill, as Mine grabbed the Eternal Source.
Doctor Mignon defeated!
"Portal Master, light this up! Now!" Spyro said.
"So you want an appetizer, a side dish, or da main course?" Mignon muttered, only to see a vortex opening as he grabbed onto the railing, on for a spatula to bonk him on the head.
"OH! This is not good! Wait! Hold on! I haven't even served desseeeeerrrrrrrrrtttttssss!!!!" he cried out going into the vortex.
"Incredible." Wildfire said. "So this…. Is Night Raid."
"Yow! Does anyone smell mustard, or is it just me? Cause I'm pretty sure ketchup could suffice." the chef replied.
Doctor Mignon Trapped!
"I suppose YOU'RE the Master Chef now." he said.
Back at the academy…
"So, there's Akamei and Boss, and me, Leone and Tatsumi back from the dead." Mine said, as they saw the Eternal Fire Source release pulsating fire that travels through the lower half's circuits, increasing the beam's strength and igniting the Crucible of Ages on the outside. "Shame that no one else in the group was brought back."
"There's also me." Seryu stated. "I kinda came back too."
Mine recoiled in shock. "Why would anyone bring YOU back?"
"Honestly, no idea myself." Seryu said.
"Looks like an extra spicy ingredient was added at the last moment. It's like that Ember girl the others were talkin' bout?" The Chef asked. "Yeah. We got to her first. Venomquake tried to convince her, but she got out. We don't even know where she went."
"So, from what you heard, those Night Hooligans and Kraven were building a weapon. But the problem is, we don't even know what it is or what it does." Mine said.
"We need someone who's gossip central." Chelsea said.
"Well, I might have something that could help. My old information squid, back at my home in the Rainfish Rivera." Mags said.
"You sure it's not gonna be anyone in disguise?" Akamei asked.
"Abso-possilutely. But, Someone's gonna have to drive since Jet-Vac needs to recover." Mags said.
"No problem. I can handle it." Roman said, as everyone suddenly got nervous.
Meanwhile at the Night Hooligans base….
"Ugh! Now those Skylanders have captured Mignon and found the Eternal Fire Source!" Aeron said.
"Let me go next, boss. I'll get rid of those Skylanders and assassins." Edvard said.
"Wait! Let me face the Skylanders and Night Raid! I must-" Kraven began before a golden pacifier was put in his mouth.
"Ooooh, someone's not feeling the love." Carnage said.
"Venomquake, how goes work on my ultimate weapon?" Vicky asked.
"On schedule. With the Traptanium we already collected, we should be able to make it operate perfectly. And then…"
"All the gold in Skylands will be mine!" Vicky said.
"That's it?" Kraven asked.
"Ah, I get it." Carnage said. "Greed over Power. I don't really relate but I like it."
"Gold? That's all?" Kraven asked.
"Yep. What else is there?" Vicky asked.
"Seriously?" Kraven asked.
"You betcha, you get your hunt, I get my gold, fair?." Vicky said.
"Fair." Kraven said. "But, we might need some more firepower."
"Well, all that's left is to gather the pieces we need to operate the Ultimate Weapon." Vicky said as the mansion began to take off.