by Unknown
Muttering about being “surrounded by amateurs,” Kaos snatched the book and started flicking through its dog-eared pages. He then cleared his throat and began to read out loud.
“‘Step one: kidnap Cali.’” He gave the explorer an evil smirk. “Done!”
“‘Step two: force Cali to help us navigate our way through the Sea of Storms.
“‘Step three: grab the Land Whale, aka, the Air segment.
“‘Step four: find all the other fragments of the Mask of Power and become LORD OF ALL!’”
Kaos snapped the book shut, looking more than a little pleased with himself. “Sooo, what do you think of that? Granted, step four needs a little more work, but I think you’ll agree that victory will be MIIINE!”
Cali cocked her head to one side, as if considering it for a minute. Then she shook her head. “Nah. Still don’t think you stand a chance.”
“And why is that?”
“Because we’re about to be boarded by a bunch of Skylanders,” said Glumshanks glumly, looking over the side of the ship.
“Exactly!” said Cali, with a knowing smile.
“NOOOOOOOO!” Kaos screamed, spinning around. His eyes widened as he saw Flynn’s balloon in hot pursuit.
“Battle stations!” yelled Flynn, getting into the spirit of the occasion. Beside him, Pop Fizz was already downing potion by the bottle-load, while Double Trouble summoned a host of explosive clones. The basket was getting more than a little crowded.
“Target in range,” reported Drobot, his wing lasers charged and ready to fire.
“Then what are we waiting for?” bellowed Lightning Rod. “Prepare to feel my wrath, evil ones.”
He drew his arm back and tossed a ball of crackling electricity at the zeppelin.
The bolt smashed into the deck by Kaos’s feet. The wicked Portal Master shrieked and jumped up on his barrel as if he’d just seen a mouse. Laser fire streaked through the air as Drobot swooped by.
“They’re attacking, sir!” shouted Brock from the ship’s wheel.
Another bolt blasted through the hull of the ship.
“Oh, really?” Kaos sneered sarcastically. “I hadn’t noticed! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, FOOL! BLOW THEM OUT OF THE SKY!!!”
On the balloon, Pop Fizz had drunk so much potion he was twice his normal size.
“Ooga,” said Double Trouble, conjuring up a mini clone of himself. “ Throw-ga booga.”
“Hey, I understood that!” shouted Flynn. “He wants you to chuck it at them. Maybe I’m getting the hang of this.”
Fizz picked up the tiny tiki-man and chucked it at the zeppelin. A second later, they heard it explode.
“Another, another,” Pop Fizz babbled as Drobot swooped back to join them.
“Cali is tied to the mainmast,” the dragon reported. “We need more speed.”
“We’re going as fast as we can,” Flynn insisted, pumping the controls furiously. “The engine won’t take much more.”
“Keep going!” Lightning Rod shouted, letting loose another barrage of crackling bolts. “We’re nearly on them!”
“They’re nearly on us!” screamed Kaos as a Double Trouble clone bounced off his head and detonated. “Where are those cannons?”
“It’s no good,” Glumshanks yelled. “The Skylanders are too fast. The cannons can’t lock on to them.”
“Who said we were aiming at the Skylanders?” Kaos called back.
All along the hull of the zeppelin, portholes clattered open.
“Observation,” said Drobot, dryly. “They’re preparing the cannons.”
Sure enough, hulking guns appeared in the gaps, facing straight toward them.
Remembering the cannonball back at the arena, Rod immediately put himself between the guns and Flynn’s balloon. The Drow had been lucky with their first shot. This time would be different.
BOOM! The first cannon fired, but the cannonball zoomed wide of the Storm Titan.
“Ha!” he bellowed. “Missed!”
BANG! Another cannon fired. Rod watched the cannonball shriek past Drobot and narrowly miss the balloon.
“No!” Lightning Rod cried out. “They are aiming at the balloon. They mean to burst it!”
Cali watched in horror while Flynn’s balloon bobbed left and right as the pilot tried to evade the cannonballs. “Stop it!” she yelled. “You’ll hit Flynn!”
“Ha!” snorted Kaos. “That’s the idea, FOOL! Pop that balloon! Send them to their DOOOOOOOM!”
“You’re evil,” Cali spat, straining at her bonds. “Absolutely evil.”
Kaos gasped and batted his eyelashes at her in mock surprise. “Oh, Cali, you say the nicest things. Bwa-ha-ha-haaaaaaaa!”
“We must protect the balloon!” Lightning Rod commanded as the guns fired again. If the balloon were hit, the basket containing the pilot, Double Trouble, and Pop Fizz would drop like a stone. Drobot flew ahead, managing to deflect a couple of cannonballs with some timely laser blasts, but he couldn’t destroy them all.
A cannonball came screaming through the air, straight toward Lightning Rod. The Storm Titan twisted around and punched it away with a grunt. He did the same with the next, and the one after that.
“Wow-wow-wow-wow!” cheered Pop Fizz, now chucking three potion bottles at a time. “This is better than the Storm Games, eh, Double Trouble? He’s amazing.”
But Double Trouble didn’t answer.
On the Drow ship, Kaos clapped his hands together with glee. His plan was working. The Skylanders were so busy trying to block the cannonballs that they’d stopped attacking the zeppelin altogether.
“That’s it, Brock. That’s it! While the Sky-losers are busy, FULL SPEED AHEAD!”
“Aye-aye,” Brock yelled back. “Engine room, give Brock all you’ve got.”
Lightning Rod was having the time of his life. The cannonballs were coming faster than ever, but he could do this all day.
Three more cannonballs shot toward the Storm Titan and he took them out. One. Two. Three.
“I am invincible!” he cried out in victory, just as he heard a cry from the balloon.
“Rod! Rod!” yelled Pop Fizz. “There’s something wrong with Double Trouble!”
Chapter Six
The Windbag Djinnis
“They’re getting away!” called out Drobot as Lightning Rod flew back to the balloon. The dragon was right, but Rod had other concerns. In the basket, Double Trouble was standing stock-still. His rigid arms was holding his staff aloft and his eyes were screwed tight. Even the paintwork of his mask had changed. The colors looked darker, as if the tiki-man were holding his breath.
“What in my name is he doing?” Rod asked, scratching his beard.
“One minute he’s blasting out doubles,” Flynn added, “and the next—KA-BLAMMO! He makes like a statue!”
With a roar of jet engines, Drobot circled the balloon and came to rest on the edge of the wicker basket. “My sensors indicate Double Trouble is in a trance,” the dragon reported.
“This is no time to take a nap,” insisted Flynn. “The bad guys have skedaddled with Cali.”
“Mooga . . . ,” hissed a low, controlled voice. “Ooga . . . sooga . . .”
“Double Trouble!” exclaimed Pop Fizz. “He can hear us!”
Lightning Rod peered in closer. “I think not. He is still entranced.”
“But did you hear what he said?” asked Pop Fizz. “Cali is safe.”
“How does he know?” asked a confused Flynn, as Double Trouble spat words through fiercely gritted teeth.
“Ooga . . . booga . . . zooga . . . mooga.”
“Incredible,” gasped Pop Fizz.
“Yes, I suppose I am,” said Flynn, misunderstanding completely. “But what did he say?”
“One of Double Trouble’s doubles is still on the zeppelin,
” Pop Fizz translated. “Somehow he’s still seeing through its eyes.”
“Usually Double Trouble’s clones explode within minutes,” Drobot said. “Keeping this one from detonating must be exhausting every ounce of his energy.”
“Can his double get to poor Cali?” Flynn asked.
“No, it’s hidden,” said Pop Fizz, “and can only observe. But she is safe . . . for now. The zeppelin has entered the Sea of Storms. Kaos is forcing her to guide them through the clouds. Double Trouble can guide us through.”
“Wow,” said Flynn. “You got all that from a couple of words. I’m impressed. That must be how you guys feel when you’re around me!”
The balloon bucked suddenly. Rod looked up, his bushy eyebrows creasing into a frown.
“Behold,” he boomed, pointing forward with a muscle-bound arm. “The Sea of Storms!”
The others all did as they were told, and then wished they hadn’t. They were racing toward the largest storm any of them had ever seen, a black swirling cloud stretching as far as the eye could see. Lightning flashed and crackled through the rain, illuminating thousands of smaller clouds swarming toward them.
Rod glared at the sight. They were Windbag Djinnis. In his youth he’d used them as target practice, blasting them out of the sky with lightning bolts. To Storm Titans, Windbags were normally considered to be little more than annoying bugs that were there to be swatted.
But these Windbags were different. They were double regular size, and looked twice as nasty. Already, Rod could see them preparing to batter the balloon with gale-force winds and fry the Skylanders with their electro-blasts.
“Master Eon wasn’t joking when he said it was bad, was he?” said Pop Fizz, his ears pricking up as he prepared himself for the worst.
Lightning Rod clapped his hands together in anticipation. “Victory shall rain down on us, mark my words.”
“Yeah.” Pop Fizz grinned, new bottles already in hand. “A little rain never hurt anyone, after all!”
“That’s the spirit,” declared Flynn, yanking back on a big red lever. “With Skylands’ greatest pilot at the helm, there’s nothing to fear. Although, I would fasten your seat belts. This is going to get bumpy . . .”
“Seat belts?” Pop Fizz asked, looking frantically around the basket. “What seat belts?”
“Oh yeah,” Flynn remembered. “Never bothered to get them fitted. Let’s go!”
The balloon flew headlong into the heart of the Sea of Storms.
Chapter Seven
The Sea of Storms
Gale-force winds hit them the moment they plowed into the stormy skies. Rain seemed to pummel them from every direction at once, plastering their hair against their skin and stinging their eyes.
“Observation,” called out Drobot. “Windbag Djinnis attacking.”
“No kidding!” Pop Fizz yelled back, preparing to launch a volley of potion bottles. “They’re everywhere!”
Indeed they were. They also outnumbered the Skylanders a thousand to one. No sooner had Rod taken out a Windbag with a lightning bolt, than three more appeared in its place.
Crackle. Electricity arched across the balloon.
Creak. The basket groaned in the wind.
Snap. A piece of the ship’s propeller broke off.
“Don’t worry!” shouted Flynn. “That’s supposed to happen!”
“Sure it is,” replied Pop Fizz, frantically shaking a bottle filled with explosive potion. “We’ll worry about the storm, you just listen to Double Trouble.”
“Listen to him?” Flynn complained. “I can’t understand a word that fella says.”
“It’s simple,” Pop Fizz yelled back. “If he says ‘ooga,’ swing the balloon right.”
“And what will he say if he wants me to swing the balloon left?”
“‘Ooga,’ probably!”
“Thanks,” said Flynn, throwing a control. “That’s a big help.”
In front of them Rod snapped his fingers, an idea occurring to him. “Of course,” he boomed. “That is how I shall defeat them!”
“Care to share the plan, Big Man?” Flynn squeaked, narrowly avoiding being tossed out of the basket. But Rod didn’t answer. He was already rising majestically from the balloon, his arms stretched wide.
“LIGHTNING,” he commanded at the top of his voice, “TO ME!!”
The bellow was so loud that it almost drowned out the storm. Electricity burst from the Djinnis, sizzling toward the balloon. The lightning slammed into Rod’s outstretched hands, flowing up his arms and over his chest. As he drained every Windbag in the sky, the Storm Titan’s hair stood on end, sparks flying from his beard.
“Ha-ha,” he laughed, his eyes flashing wildly. “That tickles!”
“You’re doing it!” shouted Pop Fizz.
“Of course I am. Look!”
All around them, the Djinnis were blinking out of existence, vanishing one by one as their energy was drained.
“Warning!” said Drobot, his mechanical voice full of concern. “You are absorbing too much power.”
“NEVER!” roared Rod. “I just need to release it.”
“Release it?” said Flynn, his usual smile faltering. “Won’t that be kind of bad for us?”
Drobot’s eyes grew wide as another idea popped into his head.
“Not necessarily.” The dragon stretched out his wings, revealing the power pack mounted on his back. “Rod, dump the excess energy into my armor.”
Rod scowled, every muscle in his neck looking ready to burst. “No. It will be too much for you, heroic dragon.”
Drobot shook his head. “I will be able to take it.” The dragon was already making adjustments to a control panel on the side of his helmet. “I will divert the extra power to my afterburners and—”
Rod didn’t wait for Drobot to finish his sentence. He spun around, slapping a massive palm onto the dragon’s power pack. There was a blinding flash of light and the power of over one thousand Windbags jumped across into Drobot’s armor.
For a minute it looked like Rod had been right. Drobot’s eyes flared as electricity crackled along his wings.
WHOOSH! The dragon’s afterburners blasted a column of fire out behind them. Even Lightning Rod screamed as the balloon shot forward at an unbelievable speed.
On the Drow zeppelin, Kaos was not a well Portal Master. If he’d been feeling sky-sick before they hit the Sea of Storms, he felt like death now that they were being tossed back and forth by the ferocious winds.
“Please tell me we’re nearly there,” he moaned, holding on to the side of the ship.
“I wish I could,” hissed Cali. She knew it would still be some while before they were clear of the storms. “Bear left at the next tornado.”
“Brock hears ya!” came a bellow from the steering wheel. Amazingly, the Goliath Drow seemed to be enjoying himself.
“I’m sure it’ll be over soon,” Glumshanks said, rubbing his master’s back to make him feel better.
“Get off me, fool!” Kaos barked, swatting the troll away before groaning as the deck lurched violently.
“At least we’re way ahead of those Sky-blunderers,” burped Kaos, clutching his churning belly. “They’ll never catch up with us now.”
Beside him, Glumshanks let out a little whimper.
“What is it now?” Kaos snapped. “The trouble with you is that you’re always moaning about something, Glumshanks.”
“Remember what you said about the Skylanders? About how they’ll never catch up with us?”
“Of course I remember. I’ve only just said it, fool.”
Glumshanks shook his head sadly. His master wasn’t going to like this.
“You’d better hold on tight . . .”
“Why? Stop talking in riddles you blundering . . . AAAAAAAARGH!”
Ka
os was thrown across the deck as Flynn’s balloon rocketed by, nearly knocking the zeppelin from the sky.
“I don’t believe it!” shrieked Kaos as the Skylanders’ craft disappeared from view. “BROCK, FLY FAAAAAASTER!”
Flynn’s balloon barreled out of the Sea of Storms, Drobot’s afterburners still blazing. In the basket, it was all they could do to hang on.
“You can stop now,” shouted Flynn.
“Negative,” Drobot replied. “Afterburners not responding. Controls have fused!”
“They’ll do more than fuse in a minute!” yelled Pop Fizz, pointing ahead. “I’m guessing that large and very solid-looking castle is Tempest Towers.”
“Affirmative,” said Drobot.
“Anyone know the chances of us stopping before we smash into its walls?” asked Flynn.
“Approximately zero-point-zero-zero-one percent,” said Drobot.
“And the odds of us surviving the crash?” the pilot queried.
“Considerably slimmer.”
“Thanks for clearing that up,” whimpered Flynn. “Now, if it’s all right with everyone, I might start screaming. WAAAAAAAH!!”
The walls of Tempest Towers raced toward them.
Chapter Eight
Tempest Towers
“Rerouting controls,” reported Drobot, his afterburners still going at full blast. “Shutting down propulsion systems. Extinguishing rockets in five, four, three—”
“Forget the countdown!” yelled Pop Fizz, never taking his eyes off the castle walls. “Do it now, do it now!”
The Skylanders cheered as the roaring afterburners finally cut out, although the celebrations soon dwindled when they realized they hadn’t slowed down in the slightest.
“Shouldn’t we have stopped?” Flynn asked.
“It’s the momentum,” Drobot said matter-of-factly. “It’s carrying us forward.”
“So we’re going to crash anyway?”
“Not if I can do anything about it!” Lightning Rod leaped from the basket and, grabbing the ropes, pulled back as hard as he could. The muscles on Rod’s shoulders bunched, and Pop Fizz closed his eyes, fearing the worst.