X-Squad: Skylanders Chapter 12: Legends of the Hidden Casino, a X-overs + Skylanders Crossover fanfic

"This place looks like a straight head on charge kind of thing." Tatsumi said.

"Uh, except for those things." Sheele said pointing to the zombies and Apexes walking about.

Drakus whirled to look at the new recruit Anubis had summoned up to aid them. Taller than him. Broader shoulders. Olive skin, high cheekbones, and a swath of raven hair marked by a single moon-white streak at the root, which momentarily gave Drakus the idea that this man was more attractive. The rest of his attire was burgundy as well, long jacket buttoned once over a black dress shirt. And his smirk was familiar in a way Drakus couldn't quite place.

"Oh, how cute," Drakus chuckled. "Boss man tricked a handsome suitor into this group."

The new recruit may have been taller. He may have been more muscular. He may even have been more attractive, though really, wasn't that subjective? But Drakus knew he definitely didn't have a weapon of mass destruction, and therefore felt more than confident hurling insults.

"Oh, there's no trickery about it," the man responded. "I think we're all in on the secret here. But I'm here to make sure it doesn't go any further."

"So you're the new guy," Drakus figured. "Besides, you're pretty hot."

"Oh, yes," the man replied. "I mean, that's the game, but I'm just gonna assume you're otherwise spoken for and in a polyamorous relationship, and I don't swing that way. I'm just playing arm candy with a little muscle for the night. Not that it's going to matter to you, scaley. Because you're exactly what I'm here for."

At the nicknaming, Drakus realized why the smile had seemed so familiar. Though this man seemed a lot less volatile, there was just something inherently weird about him that couldn't be denied. "Go ahead and try it," Drakus chuckled.

"DON'T," Mysterio warned, stepping in between the two. "We aren't here to fight, remember?"

"We are if I need to win," Drakus retorted.

Mysterio gave a long, drawn-out groan.

"Beck?" the man in burgundy realized, giving a light, lilting laugh. "Is that really you? You came here dressed as yourself. I have to say I admire the audacity. What, you wanted a piece of Xanatos' treasure trove?"

"If you know my name," Mysterio said, "then I know yours somehow. Talk, before I prove I don't come unarmed."

His smirk unwavering, the man gave a light bow. "Dracon. Anthony Dracon. 'Tony,' to my friends."

"Dracon, huh?" Mysterio mused on this. "That explains a few things. Assisted Dominic once or twice. Had a few run-ins with Emilio, too, though word on the street is some upstart did him in. Some loose tongues even say his own son pulled the trigger."

"Such accusations!" Tony laughed, unable to even pretend to be offended. "But you know what you're dealing with, then. You're armed, and so am I. Which one of us do you think is the faster draw?"

"Me," Roman realized. "But that doesn't matter when you have friends stationed on this ship with loaded guns waiting to go off before I can reach for them, does it?"

"Oh, you catch on fast," Tony complimented.

"It's why your type bothers me so much," Mysterio grunted. "I do my own dirty work, and sometimes other people's dirty work. But you just gotta go and cheat the game. How bad did you stack it? Three on one? Four?"

"You really think I'm going to tell you that?" Tony retorted.

"And I'm assuming you're also seeing that?" Drakus said, as they saw a girl in silver hair in what Carmin called 'Immortal Armor' with a golden spear sitting on the floor, tied up in a net made of Traptanium, growling like a feral dog and barking like IShowSpeed and swinging her spear as her eyes darted around, looking at the squad, as the silver dragon with her was clawing at the net, to no avail.

"Let us go!" The girl demanded, her voice husky and raw, as if she was spitting flames. "Release us, I demand it!"

"Well, try looking around and get back to me, okay?" Tony chuckled, as the girl glared at him.

The dragon stopped thrashing, and the girl lowered her spear, still glaring at the squad, as Shade slowly cut the rope, once done, the two fell as they got up, out of the net.

"If you must know, I am Kali, and I have no quarrel with you, or those odd assassins." Kali said, bluntly.

"I am Fayth of Favnir." The silver dragon said.

"So, wonder how you two became all buddy-buddy." Drakus said, as Kali and Fayth blushed deeply.

"N-None of your business." Kali muttered, as Fayth made a series of screeches that could only be described as 'gay dragon noises' as everyone chuckled at the realization that Kali's a monsterfucker.

"So, Kali's your girl, huh, Fayth?" Tony said, as Kali started stammering and trying to claim they're just really good friends. "It's cool with us. And gotta admit, Kali, you have some good taste in women."

"I'm just going to poke around," Ridley explained. And with that, several tendrils of light came out of his new staff and went toward where the dust had been. At about eight paces away, the tendrils hit a wall. They pushed against it, but couldn't go by. With a flick of his wrist, the tendrils came back and, wet-like, he snapped the light into the form that was there. But the thing kept coming closer.

"By Vulpes," Yuina said, "That blow would have knocked an elephant over."

"I'm assuming it didn't," Brax said.

"No, whatever is there is coming closer." Ridley snapped a tendril whistling past Carmin's ear until they heard it smack into something and bounce off. And there's another one there. A third tendril went behind them. And a third one in that direction, and suddenly, they saw three walking bombs grinning maniacally.

The Dyna Bros! (Fire Trap)

"Uh, what are those? It looks like bombs with teeth." Mine said, as the three bombs walked toward them, fuses lit.

"They're gonna blow!" Tony said.

"Kill it!" Kali said, slicing the fuses off and defeating the trio of bombs.

Dyna Bros Defeated!

The Dyna Bros were then sucked into the portal.

"What? We didn't need those little things! But they do pack a big boom." Wildfire said, as a wall was blasted down, as another bomb, shorter than the Dyna Bros, with a set of gear shurikens came through.

"Did somebody say boom?" he asked, in a raspy voice like the Tethered.

"Grinnade!" Wildfire said.

"Well, that's one way to make an entrance." Roman said.

"Wait, Grinnade? That's his name?!" Tatsumi asked.

"Yeah. I used to be a simple bomb minion created in massive amounts, but for some unknown reason, when I went boom, I could reassemble and survive! As such, I was given special orders from the Doom Raiders, doing things no other bomb minion could do, even if I couldn't speak. During one mission, he was sent to this very same secret troll weapons lab to stop the Skylanders. My attempts to blow up the Skylanders failed miserably, and I was captured. But, I was given a chance to redeem himself as a Sensei. However, no one could understand what I said, so Mags modified me to have this nice voice. She also gave me new powers, and now a Skylander, I'm a master at throwing spinning discs, but also blowing stuff up!" Grinnade said.

"His gears are pretty powerful. A perfect combination of explosions and fire power!" Flip Wreck said.

The rest of the crew landed and prepared.

"Alright, the Scourge has the base lined up. But we have the weirdest band of Skylanders and Portal Masters with us now, and the most powerful villains at our disposal." Jet-Vac said. "So, here's the plan. Grinnade and the X-Squad will attack from the front and use their madness so the rest of us can go in to steal their super secret rocket."

"You say you want our super secret rocket?" A voice called, as they saw an Apex riding a motorcycle. "I am the head scientist of this rocket, Professor Nostradamus. But I have chosen to fight you as a hero myself. From here on, you shall know me as…."

Bike-Kor! (Abstract Trap)

"Fellow Apexes, arm the cannons, close the gates! Prepare to attack!" Bike-Kor said.

"X-Squad, let's jam!" Drakus said, as the Skylanders engaged the trolls.

The forces collided as the Skylanders fought hard. But then, Tatsumi got an Idea. He called out Malice.

Summoning...Dark!

Spooky!

Devilish!

Outright Insane!

Welcome to the new side of life!

Dark!

"You rang?" Malice asked.

"I've got a job for you. Steal the rocket while we take care of Bike-Kor!" Tatsumi said as the leader of the Night Hooligans moved out.

Bike-Kor then fired multiple missiles from his motorcycle as the joined forces dodged.

"Let me handle this, guys." Venomquake said, being called out. "I have a trick I haven't shown you yet."

Venomquake grinned, as he used his new gloves to electrocute Bike-Kor.

Bike-Kor defeated!

"I may be beaten, but it was still worth it to RIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDEEEEEEE!" he called out, him and his bike going into the vortex.

The rocket then shut down as Malice stood atop it.

"Didn't even break a sweat!"

"Great. Now let's get in and go after this prism and find this Lich King." Brax said.

The rocket launched into the air and crashed right into a casino in the Sky High Lands, where another werewolf who was fancy dressed was on stage singing.

"A one, a two, a one two three four! Oh, I'm singin'~! Singin' in this casino!" he sang as he howled at a high note as the audience clapped. "Tip your waitress!" the elevator then crashed down as the gang got out.

"Alright, you guys…" Roman said, flipping a coin. "Who's ready to get…" Just then, his coin was shot out by an icicle. "Lucky?"

"Well, well, well, seems we ain't the only ones here." Kiko said, walking into the room as Zoey, Mimic, Doctor O, Lixdan, Megafin, Shreeky, Beastley, Birch, Kronos, Calamity, Ink Blotch, Circe, Thorkell, Zora, Yoomtah, Van Kleiss, Biowulf, Breach, Skalamander, Atar, Noxmar, Xone, Arya, Imshael, Glitz, Glam, Kanon, Shion, Silver Banshee, Mist, Rough House, Swallowtail, Chrysalis, Fluffle Puff, Tirek, Cozy Glow, Sombra, Shredder, Killian, Davy Jones, Barty, Gorgon, Scolopendra, Malevozard, Doll, Breeze, Codi, Simon, Satsuuki, Jack, Montana, Lucian, skekMal, Darla, Max, Weevil, Rex, Princess, Kingpin, Smythe, Vathek, Goji, Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and Dracula walked into the room.

"Sorry, dead meat….But I only see one winner." A strange man dressed like a 1920s gangster said, as he walked into the light, revealing his face to be that of a snake, the scales being black as night, smiling as he leaned against the wall.

"Oh great, it's Flicker Tongue." Gemina said.

"Flicker Tongue? I'll have you know my tongue is the same size as most...!" He then saw his tongue flicker out in rage, only to realize what she meant. "Oh, because I'm a snake mutant!" The snake said, beginning to laugh.

"You know this joker?" Konata asked.

"He goes by the name Shadow Snake, used to be a Shadow Style Color Fighter taken off the streets when he was young, before he left without a trace." Gemina said.

"If you wanna know why I chose the name, there's bedtime tales that featured the monster known as the Shadow Snake, used as something to instill good behaviors into kids, and it suits me well, used it to make people give me their valuables to see their kids again, and for those who don't pay up, well, let's just say they never see the kids again. As for what valuables I want, well, I want stuff like ruby pendulums, sapphire earrings, emerald necklaces, even the occasional fire opals, rare and extremely expensive stones that not only have irresistible beauty, but supply mages with a certain power." Shadow Snake said.

"Hey, don't you feel out of place? Well, gotta give props for the look, you look like you'd sell drugs to people only for them to come back for more." Drakus said.

"Y'know, this place ain't that bad. As for my real name, well it's Vinnie Blackstone!" Vinnie said, smirking. "Now, let's see who gets the prism."

"Whoa whoa, whoa!" the werewolf, Sal, said. "You two groups both wanna win the vault prize? Take it to the games. I'll even help these skylanders, since of course, they beat my twin brother who so kindly came along."

Everyone looked at Wolfgang.

"That werewolf's your brother?" Barty asked.

"Yeah." Wolfgang said, facepalming.

"And we're back to…" the other wolf said, before both were shot with needles.

"Blah blah blah. Let's just get to the good part." Vinnie said as he approached a game.

"Oh no." Gemina said. "We are screwed."

"Ow…" Sal said. "Yup, he certainly is a player. Maybe you guys could use your skills in the other games?"

"Like what?" Tony said.

"You good at hitting things with a gun?" Sal asked. "If you're immediately gonna say yes, have I got the right game for you…"

Multiple targets appeared at another game.

"Multi-Target Takedown! Fire away!" Sal said, as the squad started firing at random, Deadlight kept up at an equal rate, before long, all the targets were down, and the X-Squad got a high score.

"What the?" Kingpin said.

"Sorry. But I don't plan to let you get an edge ahead of us after that." Drakus said.

"The X-Squad wins. It's 1 to 1 now." Sal said.

"Well, you're good." Smythe said, shaking Bonehead's hand respectfully.

"And now, a tie breaker!" Sal said before a game dropped behind the X-Squad and the Shadow Hunters and sucked them in. "Let's see who gets the prism in the Hidden Temple!"

"Legends of the Hidden Temple, with your guide, Kirk Fogg!" A statue said, as Kirk Fogg comes in swinging on a rope and lands.

"Welcome to a very special episode. Today's theme is the lost city of Atlantis." Kirk said, as bubbles floated up, spelling Atlantis.

"Now, let's meet our first team, the Blue Barracudas: the X-Squad." Kirk said, as the X-Squad stumbled in, looking around, confused as fuck. "You guys look like you have seen things no man should ever see."

"We have actually, we never got that hydra chicken out of Section 8." Drakus said.

"And now let's meet their competition, the Purple Parrots: the Shadow Hunters!" The Shadow Hunters came in, looking like they were confused as well, with Cinder freezing up in fear.

"Who will the gods favor in today's battle? Find out when we return?" Kirk pulled on a rope and goes off. The logo appears, cuing a commercial break.

"So, what, we wait for him to come back or...?" Zoey said, confused.

"Might as well." Lune said.

The show comes back on and the contestants are suddenly standing in front of the moat.

Kirk emerged from a trap door. "Alright, teams, Atlantis is sinking, and the only way to safety is by crossing the Moat in these special water shoes." Kirk said, showing the contestants were now wearing such shoes. "The team that flees the city the quickest gets the most points."

"A fun fact…if this were a river, I couldn't cross." Dracula said, as he looked over the moat as the squad and hunters turned around curious about what had brought that comment from him.

"Memories… memories from another time." he explained as Codi returned a small smile to him.

"Sentiment is pretty good… it reminds us why we do what we do." Codi replied, as she kept her distance as he gave a nod.

"Indeed… I remember the ones that were loyal, the traitors that will break and bend... the ones crying for mercy but received none…" Dracula said, as the X-Squad and Shadow Hunters started walking across, fumbling and some even clinging to the bridge as they did so, Dracula in particular looking ridiculous as he puked off the side of the bridge, the blood spreading and changing the color of the moat, as Kiko and Drakus pressed the button at the same time, as they suddenly appeared on the Steps of Knowledge.

"And so, the city of Atlantis disappeared into the ocean, never to be seen again." Olmec said.

"Okay, teams, you've heard Olmec's story. He will now ask you some questions about it, and whoever can answer them will descend the Steps of Knowledge." Kirk said. "First question. Where is the lost city of Atlantis rumored to have sunk?"

Daki buzzed in. "Atlanta?"

"That is incorrect." Olmec said.

Dracula buzzed in. "Off the coast of Northern Africa."

"That is correct." Olmec said.

The crowd cheers and the Parrots take a step down.

Another question, Neo buzzed in. "The shifting of the tectonic plates."

"That is correct."

Kronos buzzed in. "Utopia!"

"That is correct."

The questions continued, until the Barracudas and Parrots get to the end of the steps.

"Wow! The Purple Parrots have flew their way back into this race." Kirk said, the scoreboard showing the Parrots catching up.

"Up next, Olmec's temple games." Kirk picked up two giant leaves and flew off, as the X-Squad and Shadow Hunters waited, as Kirk suddenly punched through a stone wall. "It's time for Olmec's Temple Games. First challenge: the walls around Atlantis are crumbling. You must rebuild them by stacking rings on these poles. And...go!"

The X-Squad and Shadow Hunters try to sabotage each other, somehow getting all their rings in at the same time, as Kirk came in on and leapt off a leopard.

"Next, each team will put together a 3D puzzle representing the Door to Atlantis. And...go!"

"Okay, now we probably should start with the middle." Drakus said.

"The middle? You're kidding, right?" Mystle said, already starting on the edges.

"No, look! I already found two that go together!" Roman said, holding up his pieces.

[You don't know that! Take 'em apart!]

[Really dude? We're trying our best here!]

While the X-Squad shoved their pieces in at random, the Parrots just threw their pieces in place at random, both teams somehow finishing at the same time, as Kirk came in, carried by temple guards. "In the last of Olmec's Temple Games, teams must work together to bail out the sinking city. And go!"

The X-Squad and Shadow Hunters instead pour buckets of water into pails at random, no one figuring out what's going on, as Kirk came out of Olmec's mouth. "The Blue Barracudas are ahead, but the Purple Parrots have one last chance to overtake them. For our last challenge, teams will run through Olmec's Temple and retrieve the Prism of Atlantis. First up, the Blue Barracudas. And go!"

"You could start by climbing through the ledges and sliding downward into the pit, then race into the laser light room. Unleash the power of the special white laser and you choose to go up into the Room of the Mandarin Hand, or into the Jesters Court and travel into the Heart Room where you can grab the Prism of Atlantis. Press yourself against the right wall painting and you might have a chance to enter the Dark Forest. Reach into the hole and find the key but be careful! One of the trees might be inhabited by the spirit of a Temple Guard. If it grabs you you will have to fight. Next plow through the wall and into the mine shaft. There ride the elevator up and into the Room of the Secret Password. Find the Tablet with the Right Password and shout it out to open the door to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. Assemble the statue and you may be headed for the kings store room. Smash the clay pots to find the key and you may be headed for the observatory. Put together the puzzle on the stone column and swing on the rope back across the pit. Pass through the crypt, race down the stairs and back through the temple gate. The choices are yours and yours alone." Olmec explained.

The X-Squad and Shadow Hunters were off, and they ran into the temple and went through the ledges and slid downward into the pit and into the laser room. Then a Temple Guard appeared, roaring in rage.

Shredder glared at the Temple Guards. "You guys do know who I am, right?" Shredder punched a guard and the Shadow Hunters pressed on.

"Way to sock it to them!" Kirk cheered.

The X-Squad made the White Laser and went into the Room of the Mandarin Hand and went into the Jester's Court, as Drakus made the painting and the door opened. The X-Squad went into the heart room and Drakus grabbed the map and the doors opened. Soon, the X-Squad went through the temple all the way and the Shadow Hunters and X-Squad crashed through at the same time, both holding the prism, as they flew out of the machine and into the casino, as the prism shined to the Icecrown Citadel, the Shadow Hunters wisely deciding to bail out.