Skylanders: Second Leaf

Chapter __ ~ Back to the Basics

The crowds fell silent; though Kaos couldn’t have cared less. As his vehicle skidded to a stop, he leapt to his feet in triumph, thrusting his hands into the air with a wild grin plastered across his face. The other racers came to a stop behind him shortly afterwards, Kaos still celebrating on top of his Doom Jet.
“YES!! TAKE THAT, FOOLS! KAOS IS VICTORIOUS!!”
In the stands, Shoria was the first to begin cheering once again, whooping and hollering along with Kaos as she clapped her hands together in congradulations. As the rest of the crowd got over the initial shock of the matter, they began cheering as well, although with less bravado than before. Congratulating an ex villain, although the Tiny Tyrant was still as much of a villain as any other to them, was an uneasy thought - but nonetheless he had won. And so it was customary to cause a ruckus in the stands, or Pandergast would be furious.
“Well done, little brother!” Meyhem congratulated, piloting her hoverboard up alongside Kaos’ vehicle. She gave her brother a pat on the back, causing him to flinch.
“Mey! Watch it!” He winced, although the grin didn’t fall from his face. “You nearly broke my back!”
“You’re just overreacting.” Shade chuckled, rolling his eyes.
Kaos turned around, glaring daggers at the darkling. “Okay, maybe not a broken back, but I GUARANTEE I will have a bruise where she hit me.”
“You sure that’s not just cause you’re fragile?” Lucarian piped up, petting the Shadow Dragoon from where he was perched on its neck.
“Shut up!” Kaos cried, slamming his foot into the hood of his vehicle. “One more word out of you ‘Creator’, and I will not hesitate to unleash the full force of the Darkness upon you!!”
The group began laughing as if the Tiny Tyrant had just cracked the most hilarious joke they had heard all day, although it was probably just from the release of stress they all felt once they crossed the finish line. Knowing one of their team had won lifted a weight off their shoulders they hadn’t realized they had been carrying. Meyhem lifted Kaos off of his vehicle, pulling him into a bear hug as she giggled along with the others. Kaos yelped, but as he looked around at the others, he couldn’t help but smile. Yes, his back hurt and the spines on his tail were digging into his leg, but he had won. And they all seemed happy about it. It was… an odd sight, but the Tiny Tyrant couldn’t complain one bit.

Kaos hopped out of the Doom Jet, which had landed firmly on the ground, back in its place amongst the other air vehicles. The others had already rejoined the rest of the group. Meyhem included, but Kaos had decided to just spend a bit of time relishing in his own victory. It was a nice feeling, a feeling that was boosted even more by everyone else seeming actually happy he had won. It was… odd. Over all the years, Kaos had never thought that having others be happy FOR you would make such a big difference. Of course, he had always had Glumshanks by his side to congratulate him on even a minor victory, but half of the time Kaos assumed those praises were mostly sarcastic. Or so minor that they didn’t really count. This, though, this was something else. Kaos breathed a sigh as he leaned against his vehicle, looking out at the racetracks and the other vehicles all parked together in a bit of a jumble. He wondered how Glumshanks would react to hearing he had won the race. Of course, the troll had no idea what was actually going on at that moment, why Kaos had been racing in the first place, or how far off the Tiny Tyrant had been thrown from his goal, but he could explain all of that on a later date. Most likely once Ms. Shift was sealed away for good. For now, he simply wanted to check up on his old butler, just to check in and, of course, fish for his praise. It had been a while since the two had talked, and Kaos had never realized how much he missed his butler, even with all of his dramatic shenanigans and backhanded compliments that always made the Tiny Tyrant’s blood boil. But that was just how Glumshanks was, a sarcastic theater nerd that, at that moment, had no idea the danger he and the rest of Skylands was in. Kaos paused, then hit himself on the side of the head with a growl; now wasn’t the time to be getting sentimental. He could reminise all he wanted LATER, not that he would even want to. There was no point to it, it was simply a waste of time.
“Kaos!”
The Tiny Tyrant looked up, relieved to have an excuse to ignore his thoughts arguing with one another, as Shoria jogged up to him, a wide grin spread across her pale blue face. Kaos returned the smile, albeit a bit forcefully. He could still feel the tension between them from before, and although it was less prominent than before, it still couldn’t help but linger in the back of his mind.
“I can’t believe you actually won!” Shoria beamed, coming to a stop in front of the Tiny Tyrant. She knelt down so the two were closer to the same height, Kaos instinctively standing up on his tiptoes to make it seem like he was a bit taller than he actually was, using his tail to balance himself so he didn’t topple over.
“What, is that sooo hard for you to believe, Shore?” He sneered, giving a flourish of his hand as if to flip the nonexistent hair he had.
Shoria giggled in response, patting him on the head. “No no, of course not! I’m just happy for you.”
Kaos looked off to the side, an awkward smile on his face as his usual sass seemed to dissipate. Shoria paused, then drew her hand back, giving the same smile back. She then opened her mouth to speak, but was swiftly cut off.
“Shoria! Pancake!” Scrape cried, running up behind them hurriedly.
Shoria quickly got to her feet, then looked down at Kaos, holding back a short at the ‘nickname’ Scrape had used for him. Kaos simply snarled back at the nekokin.
“What is it!?” He hissed.
Scrape skidded to a stop, panting to catch their breath as they hunched over. “It’s… It’s Pandergast. Apparently he’s summoning all of the winners back down to the tracks for some sort of announcement. But, of course, everyone’s going!” They laughed breathlessly. “Just thought you would want to know, seeing as you did win the sky race after all.”
“Of course I won!” Kaos raised his voice, as if Scrape had attacked his honor, his tail thudding against the ground, which gained a confused look from Shoria. “I mean, er… Thank you, Scrape, for this information.”
Scrape simply beamed back at Kaos, then turned on her heels and sprinted back towards the others, who were all heading back towards the tracks. Shoria glanced back down at Kaos, then offered her hand, silently asking if they should follow. Kaos was hesitant, but after a few seconds of contemplation took Shoria’s hand; and once again before the fish girl could get a word in Kaos had almost swept her off her feet as he dashed after the others, dragging Shoria along behind him, their fingers interlocked with one another.