by Onk Beakman
“This is all Kaos’s fault,” fumed Stump Smash, marching over to the fossilized fiend. “If he hadn’t gone after the Bone Dragon, none of this would have happened. The forest, Master Eon—they’d all be okay.” He raised his hammer, ready to smash Kaos into pebbles.
“Stump Smash!” Wrecking Ball cried out.
Stump Smash paused, his mallet ready to strike. He glared at Kaos’s frozen face, but remembered Spyro’s words back at the archive: “We’re Skylanders. We’d never do that. Master Eon taught us that lesson from day one.”
He glanced back at Master Eon, stone eyes staring at him, a hand outstretched. It was as if the old man was pleading with him not to do it.
“We’re Skylanders.”
Stump Smash let his hammer fall. “We need to get them to the Bone Dragon and persuade him to free them.”
Countdown rushed over with a length of coarse rope. “I found this. We could tie them together and tow them from Flynn’s balloon.”
“It’s worth a try,” Stump Smash rumbled, giving Kaos one last hard look.
“Where is he?” shouted Countdown as he cleared a path through the Trolls with his missiles. “Where’s Flynn?”
Stump Smash looked up at the hole in the bastion wall. All he could see was blue skies. There was no sign of the balloon. Surely he wouldn’t have left them here? Not Flynn.
Wrecking Ball belched out a cloud of noxious fumes, reducing the remaining Trolls to a coughing mess. “Perhaps he got shot down?”
Stump Smash continued heaving the frozen forms of Kaos, Squirmgrub, and Master Eon along, the rope they’d tied around the statues over his shoulder. “Then how are we going to get out of here?”
Behind them they could hear the sound of approaching Troll feet. Reinforcements. Soon the Skylanders would be surrounded. And even if they did get off the bastion, they had no idea where to find the Bone Dragon.
“Hey Stump Smash, look at this!” called out Countdown.
Stump Smash joined the living bomb, who was staring at the petrified Book of Power.
“Twist my trunk!” he gasped. “I don’t believe it.”
Even though the book had been turned to stone, lines were appearing on its pages as if carved by an invisible chisel. Pictures were forming!
“That’s the Bone Dragon,” Wrecking Ball said, bouncing up and down.
“And a map,” said Countdown.
“Not just any map,” realized Stump Smash. “That’s the Giggling Forest. The dragon’s returning to the crater!”
They could hear the shouts of the Trolls now. The Skylanders turned to see squat shadows moving toward them, light glinting off bazookas, bombs, and even the odd oversize wrench.
“Trouble is, we’re still trapped here,” grumbled Stump Smash, dropping the rope and putting himself between the statues and the oncoming Trolls.
Wrecking Ball and Countdown dropped into position behind him.
“There’s got to be a way,” said Countdown.
Behind them, the angry Trolls were still recovering from Wrecking Ball’s Power Belch, scrabbling for their weapons.
“There always is,” the grub said. “Although, when I get hold of Flynn, remind me to sit on his head.”
“That’s something I won’t forget,” said Countdown as the Trolls started firing.
“You’ll have to get in line,” yelled Stump Smash, whacking a missile back at the Trolls. “Flynn will find out my bark is worse than my bite.”
“Well, that’s just wonderful,” called a familiar voice from behind them. They spun around to see a balloon rising outside the bastion, the pilot grinning lopsidedly at the controls. “You risk your neck to pull off a last-minute rescue . . .”
“Flynn!” cried Wrecking Ball.
“The one and—I’m pleased to say—only,” Flynn shouted back. “Sorry about that, fellas. The old girl got a little shook up but, thanks to a little Flynn magic, we’re back in business.”
“A little shook up, huh?” repeated Stump, a mischievous look passing over his face. “Now, there’s an idea. Prepare to get Stump Smashed!”
He raised his hammers high over his head and brought them down hard on the metal floor, sending a shockwave rushing toward the Trolls. The villains were caught in the vibrations, their weapons immediately overloading. As the missile launchers and cannons blew themselves to smithereens, Countdown and Wrecking Ball rushed through the remaining Trolls and leaped into the basket. Stump Smash followed, pulling the stone figures behind him. He clambered aboard the ship, and Flynn fired up the burner. The balloon lifted away from the bastion, Master Eon and the others dangling below the basket next to the still-bound Glumshanks.
“Can’t you go any faster?” Stump asked, spitting spiked acorns at the Trolls that were gathering at the breach and desperately trying to rebuild their gun turrets. It wouldn’t be long before they were firing again.
The burner roared and the propellers turned, but the balloon barely moved. “It’s no good,” Flynn said. “We’re too heavy.”
Stump looked over the side of the basket. “It’s the statues. They’re weighing us down!”
“Could we lose tall, green, and gruesome down there?” asked Flynn, hopefully.
“No!” insisted the Skylanders in unison.
“Phew!” Glumshanks sighed down below.
The Trolls were cackling now, their guns almost ready for action. The balloon had stopped rising. In fact, it was going the other way—dropping back toward the breach.
“Any time you want to do something heroic, just go ahead,” prompted Flynn, sweat dripping through his fur. “Don’t mind me.”
The gun turrets started to crank toward them. Countdown fired off a couple missiles, but they just bounced off the armored plating.
“Seriously,” Flynn urged, desperately pumping a lever. “Something awesome would be a very good thing right about now.”
Wrecking Ball’s stomach rumbled ominously, drawing a look from Countdown.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve got indigestion,” he pleaded. “Not now. Not in an enclosed space.”
The grub’s belly gurgled again. “It must be nerves,” he said, before his eyes went wide. “Of course, better out than in!”
“Wrecking Ball,” Stump said as the Skylander hopped over to the burner. “What are you doing?”
“Having a gas!”
The Magic grub burped the biggest burp the Skylanders had ever heard. Sickly green vapor burst up into the balloon, inflating it to twice its normal size.
“Way to go!” yelled Flynn as they rocketed into the sky. “I mean, totally gross, but all kinds of awesome. Up, up, and away!”
Below them, the Trolls finally fired their guns, but the shells didn’t stand a chance. The balloon was ascending too quickly, the bastion shrinking to a dot in the distance. As Stump and Countdown cheered, Wrecking Ball looked over the edge of the basket and spat a gloop-drenched General Disaster out of his mouth. The Troll tumbled back to join his troops as Flynn steered the airship to safety.
“That’s the last time I eat a Troll,” Wrecking Ball grinned. “It gave me awful indigestion.”
“So where are we heading, amigos?” asked Flynn, giving the burner another blast. “Other than toward inevitable peril, of course.”
Stump Smash pushed himself to the front of the basket. “Back to the Giggling Forest,” he said grimly. “We’re going Bone Dragon hunting.”
“Sounds a bit dangerous to me,” Flynn said.
“It will be,” confirmed Stump.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Flynn grinned, cranking the propellers up to full speed.
Chapter Ten
The Battle in the Crater
“Almost there, guys,” said Flynn as he steered the ship around a cloud. “Any ideas on how you’re going to persuade the Bone Dragon to unfreez
e our stony friends down there?”
“Nope,” said Stump Smash.
“So, we’re just diving in without a plan?”
“Yup.”
“Making it up as we go along with no thought for our own personal safety?”
“Kinda.”
Flynn punched the air. “Yahoo! I love it! What could go wrong?”
Wrecking Ball peeked over the side of the basket. “Um . . . that?” he suggested, indicating the scene awaiting them below.
They were approaching the Giggling Forest, zeroing in on General Disaster’s giant crater. The place was even more of a mess than the last time. The ground was all churned up into heaps, and thick black smoke was rising from fires that burned unchecked.
“They’ve really let this place go,” said Flynn as he tried to bring them about. With a screech, the Bone Dragon emerged from the smoke, turned around, and dived back down to the battle that was raging in the middle of the crater. Waves of dark energy leaped from the beast’s snarling mouth.
Stump Smash spotted a speedy figure on the ground, dodging the dragon’s petrifying breath. “It’s Flameslinger,” he cried, leaping from the basket even though they were still high in the sky. “Look out below!”
The Life Skylander came crashing down in the middle of the crater just as the Bone Dragon roared overhead. Countdown and Wrecking Ball landed close beside him.
“We’ve told Flynn to stay up high, out of trouble,” panted Countdown.
“That’ll be a first,” said Wrecking Ball, turning his attention to the elf. “What’s happening, Sling?”
Flameslinger ran over to them. “It’s not going well,” the Fire elf admitted. “He’s just too strong.”
“Where’s Spyro?” Stump Smash barked. Flameslinger pointed over to a nearby clump of rock. It took Stump a moment to realize Spyro was the clump of rock.
“We’ve thrown everything we’ve got at it,” Flameslinger said. “But it hasn’t helped. Everyone’s been turned into statues.”
Stump Smash glanced over the battlefield, seeing Skylanders frozen where they stood, weapons aloft. Pop Fizz. Sunburn. Bumble Blast. Even Prism Break, who was already made of rock, was lying on his back, completely paralyzed.
“Look out,” came a voice from behind. It was Smolderdash, a Fire Skylander. She was rushing over to them, her flame whip cracking behind her. Stump Smash looked up to see the Bone Dragon swooping low toward him. Smolderdash skidded to a halt, an explosive Solar Orb forming in the palm of one hand. The dragon opened its mouth and energy crackled toward the fiery defender. There was a flash of dark light and the monster whooshed overhead. When they looked again, Smolderdash was just another statue, her Solar Orb nothing more than a ball of useless rock.
“Not another one,” Flameslinger moaned, shaking his stone bow. “If only I could fire this . . .”
“Uh-oh,” said Wrecking Ball, looking up. “The dragon’s spotted Flynn.” Sure enough, the monster was now heading toward the balloon.
“We need to finish this,” said Countdown, firing missiles toward the creature. One smashed into its neck but did little damage.
“That’s it,” said Stump Smash. “Get its attention. Fire everything you have at it.”
Countdown didn’t need to be told twice. “Time for an upgrade,” he yelled, as his entire body started shaking. The clock on his chest spun wildly as his hand-missiles grew, doubling their size and then tripling. Before long, they were so heavy it was all Countdown could do to aim them at the creature. “Mega Mortar,” he grunted, firing the first missile up into the air. It screamed toward the Bone Dragon, detonating as it met the monster’s tail. The bone fragmented, only to immediately start growing back, but the missile had done its work. The dragon’s head snapped around, and its glowing eyes focused on the four of them. The monster screamed in fury and changed course, away from Flynn. It was now diving straight for the Skylanders!
“Now, listen up,” Stump Smash said. “I’ve got a plan.” He explained it quickly, never taking his eyes off the dragon.
Moments later, the creature roared and rained laser breath down on them. Stump Smash leaped forward, the blast of energy smashing into the ground behind him.
“Now, Countdown!” he ordered.
The Tech Skylander fired his second Mega Mortar. It shot up to the Bone Dragon, exploding just in front of the creature’s face. The dragon shrieked, blinded by the flash, but continued diving toward them.
Countdown didn’t stop there. He let loose dozens of missiles that exploded around the dazed dragon, disorientating it even more. It flailed around with its front legs, trying to bat away the explosives, but still continued picking up speed.
“Ready?” Stump Smash asked Wrecking Ball on the ground.
“To wreck-n-roll?” the grub replied, leaping into the air. “Always!”
Stump Smash pirouetted on his feet, swinging his hammer and batting Wrecking Ball up toward the stunned dragon. The Magic Skylander smashed through the Bone Dragon’s right wing, taking it clear off the monster’s body. Then he whipped out his tongue, catching the back of the dragon’s bony neck and swinging around to demolish the other wing.
The beast was plummeting faster than the bones could reform. Wrecking Ball hung on to its neck, shrieking with laughter as if he was riding a rollercoaster.
Flameslinger peeked out from his blindfold, looking up at the stricken creature that was now tumbling toward them.
“Um, did any part of your plan involve us getting squashed?” he asked.
“Not so much,” yelled Stump. “RUN!”
The Skylanders scattered as the Bone Dragon plowed into the crater, sending up a huge cloud of dust.
Chapter Eleven
Tree-Mendous
Flameslinger didn’t wait for the dust to settle. He was off, running in a big circle around and around the crumpled dragon. Within seconds he was traveling so fast that he almost passed himself . . . until he remembered that such a thing was impossible. Behind him, a huge wall of flame rose up from his speeding feet, trapping the Bone Dragon in a circle of fire.
The creature raised its head, still too dazed to react. It tried to petrify the elf, but only managed to freeze parts of the wall of flame surrounding it.
“Stump,” Countdown called over to the Life Skylander, as bones started to fly back toward the monster’s massive shoulders. “Its wings are growing back. You need to do it now!”
Stump Smash took a deep breath and coughed out three giant acorns—but they didn’t smash into the dragon. Instead, they thudded into the ground beneath its body. The Bone Dragon glanced down at the huge nuts and grinned. Its head whipped around to face the tree and, for the first time, it spoke.
“You’ll have to do better than that if you want to beat me,” it wheezed in a voice that sounded like shards of rock grating against each other. “You’re pathetic.”
“Don’t worry,” Stump replied, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’ll grow on you.”
Without warning, the Life Skylander thumped his mallet-fists down on the ground. Green sparkling energy flowed across the floor toward the nuts. The acorns began to shake, roots poking through their hard shells.
WHOOMPH!
The nuts expanded into majestic oak trees that pushed themselves through the Bone Dragon’s ribcage and newly reformed wings, pinning it to the ground.
The creature bellowed as it tried to escape, but it was caught fast by the wooden branches that came bursting from the thick trunks.
Countdown fired a volley of missiles into the air in celebration as Flameslinger finally skidded to a halt, his flames dying down behind him.
“Whoa,” the elf said as he regarded the trapped dragon. “That’s impressive. I didn’t know you could do that, Stump Smash!”
“Thought it was time I branched out,” the tree panted. Exhausted, he plodded over to t
he dragon’s head and rested a hammer on its ivory snout.
“I could give you a splitting headache right now,” he growled, staring straight into the Bone Dragon’s fiery eyes. “Smash you to pieces. But that’s not how we work.”
“What do you want from me?” groaned the Bone Dragon, finally giving up its struggle.
Flameslinger approached the monster. “We want you to unfreeze our friends.”
“Is that all?” the dragon wheezed. “And then you’ll leave me alone?”
“Leave you alone?” Countdown asked, completely bewildered. “You were the one who attacked us! I think.”
“Well, of course I did,” moaned the dragon. “You’d be crabby, too, if you’d been woken up like that.”
“Hang on,” said Stump Smash. “Are you saying all this is because the Trolls woke you up?”
“I was having a wonderful dream,” the Bone Dragon said wistfully.
“What about?” Stump asked, intrigued.
“Having a snooze,” the dragon sighed. “It was fantastic.”
“You dream about sleeping?” Flameslinger asked in disbelief. “Isn’t that a little weird?”
“Not for me,” the dragon explained. “I’ve always been a lazybones. I love a good nap. In fact, I don’t mind a bad nap as long as napping is involved.”
“So you weren’t trapped underground at all,” Stump realized.
“This island is my bed,” the dragon yawned. “I must have overslept, because when I woke up an entire forest had grown on top of me.”
“What did you do?” asked Countdown.
The dragon tried to shrug but then realized it couldn’t, so gave up. “Had forty winks. What else?”
“More like forty thousand,” pointed out Stump Smash.
“And then there was an almighty bang, a flash of light and all of a sudden Trolls were firing missiles at me.”
“No wonder you were in a bad mood,” nodded Stump Smash, glancing at his hammers. “Before I was logged, I liked nothing better than a quick nap. Not for as long as you, of course. I’d only sleep for a few years at a time.”