Tampered Gems

Down with the Captain

The next morning, Flameslinger woke due to an alarm sounding from his nightstand. He grumbled and groaned as the woman in his arms squirmed, he opened his fiery eyes to meet a pair of blank white ones. The smile of his wife and her warm hand on his cheek made him want to stay more. With a yawn, he sat up and moved out of bed, without a word he quickly got dressed and kissed his wife's forehead before running to the library. He was there in a split second, inside was the air element captain and the tech element captain.

"Wow, Flameslinger being late is unheard of." The gremlins
joked, causing the hybrid to glare at him.

"He was the one fighting the goliath drow yesterday, that battle lasted a long while so it's not his fault, Trigger Happy." She scolded, he shifted on his feet.

"Yes, and that I apologize for waking you early but you're needed for this mission." Master Eon said, Flameslinger only slipped his fingers under his blindfold to rub his eyes.

"That's fine." He mumbled, Master Eon sighed before beginning to explain their mission.

"A group of greebles had been sighted near this part of a forest attacking travelers, the job is to catch them and stop them. Understood skylanders?" Master Eon said, they each nodded before a flash of light sent them away. Once the light was gone, they stood in a rather foggy forest.

"You'd seriously think any traveler would enter a forest this foggy and rundown?" Whirlwind asked, Flameslinger furrowed his eyebrows as his mind's eye scanned the area.

"Who cares? Let's just find these greebles so I can go back to bed." Trigger Happy said, Whirlwind let out a sigh and followed. Flameslinger followed as well, but he wasn't about to admit that he agreed with the crazy gremlin.

"Do you think-" Whirlwind started, only to let out a scream as she flew back about three feet. Flameslinger was instantly kneeling next to her as Trigger Happy scoped the area.

"Whirlwind, are you okay?" He asked in a gentle tone, she groaned as she clutched her neck, he gasped as a small lift blue glow admitted from her neck, the glowing veins could be seen under her feathers. She onl screamed out, a rainbow coming from her horn and sent him flying back. He slammed into a tree, luckily he wasn't injured besides the short pain in his back. Though he was instantly back on his feet, barely dodging her next attack. She held a wicked smile, the same smile the goliath drow had, he felt his heart beat against his chest as her horn glowed, he had nowhere to go, he was surrounded by trees and the fog only clouded his mind's eye and confused him. He braced himself for impact, though her scream sounded instead, Trigger Happy has shot her. Nothing pierced her, he made sure of that. She groaned and scrambled to her feet, seeking the pain didn't bother her as her horn charged again.

"We need to run, like now!" Trigger Happy yelled, they each threw themselves to the side just as a rainbow came at them. Trigger Happy was weird, but he did take his missions seriously if needed, like at the moment. Flameslinger ran around in a circle, only for a tree to pop u and he ran right into it. He lifted his blindfold to his forehead, he wouldn't be able to use his mind's eye if the fog clouded it. He stopped, realizing how quiet it had become. He scrambled to his feet and looked around, an arrow loaded to his bow, his ears twitching every which way, until the sound of Trigger Happy's coin bullets hit something, he ran in that direction, easily dodging the trees and bushes. Whirlwind flew high above the air, shooting down at the gremlin who swiftly dodged each rainbow until he got away, Flameslinger slowly made his way to him in the fog.

"She was hit with something, whatever that goliath drow had, she has it." Flameslinger whispered, Trigger Happy stared at the air captain with a thinking glare.

"We knock her out, tie her up and go from there. I'm sure this greebles thing was a set up." Trigger Happy said, Flameslinger nodded to agree. He stared at the hybrid with confusion, he didn't want to hurt her at all, same for Trigger Happy, who only nicked her with the coin bullets. Flameslinger grit his teeth, and just as she landed, with lightning speed he came out her and hit her head with his bow, knocking her out instantly. He stood there for a good moment, guilt pained in his chest as he stared down at her. Trigger Happy held the same look, Flameslinger sighed and held his hand in the air, snapping his fingers, they were sent back. Upon their arrival, Flameslinger and Trigger Happy continued to pin her down and tied her as she slowly woke up again.

"What in the world are you two doing?" Master Eon asked, though one he noticed the faint glowing blue from her side under her wing, he didn't asked further.

"The signal was a set up, whoever it was shot her with that and she went berserk like the goliath drow Flameslinger fought." Trigger Happy said, even he wasn't his usual crazy self, not after that.

"Alright, I... I hate to say this but we'll have to send her to a temporary cell in Cloudcracker prison, at least until we figure all of this out." Master Eon said, a saddened look on his face. Flameslinger sears lowered as he looked towards the ground.

"Understood Master Eon, well get on it right away." Trigger Happy said, he tapped Flameslinger leg for assistance, eventually the two were able to take Whirlwind to Flynn's ship and off to Cloudcracker prison they went. They arrived and explained to Snapshot what happened, who seemed to hold the same look of sadness as the rest of them.

                                      ~•~

Stealth Elf has noticed Flameslinger's sadness once he returned home much later in the day. Though she wouldn't talk to him knowing that he wouldn't bother to speak until he felt just a little better. So she continued with her day, giving Flameslinger some time alone, she left the house they lived in and walked through the courtyard of the academy. With a sigh, she looked for Hex , since the two were supposed to hang out today. Once she found the elf in the black cloak and pointed headset, she quickly ran over to her.

"Hey Hex, sorry I'm late, Flameslinger was acting not like himself when he got home." She said, Hex gave her a look.

"You haven't heard?" Hex asked, Stealth Elf tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"I don't believe I have, did something happen?" She asked, Hex sighed as the two began to walk.

"Whirlwind was shot with the same thing that goliath drow had and all those other villains, she was sent to Cloudcracker prison." Hex explained, Stealth Elf instantly felt shock, her eyes widened.

"When did this happen?" She asked, Hex sighed, a saddened look.

"This mornings mission, Flameslinger and Trigger Happy were the ones with her when all of this happened." Hex answered, Stealth Elf no realized what caused him to be so saddened.

"Let's... we can get through this, it's nothing we can't handle." Stealth Elf said, trying her best to be optimistic. Hex smiled then the two continued their day, they had a blast where they were until the came back to the academy, a large crowd in the courtyard. Stealth Elf instantly moved over to where Rider was with Fright. "Hey, what's going on?" She asked, Rider had his arms crossed over his chest. His ears were lowered sadly.

"A few more skylanders were sent to Cloudcracker prison, Chill included..." He said, she instantly felt bad for him, she was his wife after all.

"I'm so sorry Rider..." she said, Fright stared up at her with a saddened expression, she ran her hand over his skull to comfort him.

"The crowd is all of the others protesting, seeing what they can do to fix and stop this from happening." Rider explained, Stealth Elf's ears lowered. She then decided to make her way home after the crowd dispersed. She hadn't found out anything but the tech element was doing their best to figure this out along with Eon. She entered her home, Flameslinger sat on the couch and looked at her.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what happened this morning." She said, his ears lowered again as he looked at the ground. "Come on Sparx, you can't be upset, you had to."

"I know..." he mumbled, Stealth Elf moved and hugged him, he slowly hugged back.

"Spyro needs us in the library for a meeting, they said they think they know what's causing this." She said, he smiled and stared at her with his fiery eyes, she smiled back.

"Alright, I'll get ready." He said, moving off the couch. Stealth Elf sighed, she really hoped that this could be fixed, her ears lowered. How many more Skylanders are going to go crazy?