Skylands Legends

8.1 The War Room

The academy slowly came into view on the horizon, the glow of dawn shone across the blue dome of the Great Hall, appearing to create a great beam of light into the sky. Various mabu and Skylanders could be seen walking the green grounds as they drew closer.

It was just as Spyro had remembered it. He almost felt like he was returning back from a mission with Stealth Elf beside him, just like he used to. The only thing different was Eruptor wasn't standing with them cracking jokes like he would. That thought brought Spyro back to reality and he quickly stopped reminiscing. He didn't want to think about him right now.

The great doors to the hangar opened and the sky ship drifted into dock. The three Skylanders left and quickly made their way towards the mission command center. Jet Vac filled Spyro in on everything they knew about the beast along the way. He then shared his theory that it came from the dark rift.

"I think you're right," Spyro said. Jet Vac spared a surprised glance at him. "We were both there when the key was destroyed, we both saw what happened. And a berserk shadow beast sounds exactly like something that would come out of a dark rift, if you ask me."

Jet Vac gave a grateful nod. "I've had Mags run a few tests down there, so far all rift resonance tests have come up negative."

"Huh." Spyro grunted. "Have you tried the portalers outside of the Lowlands?"

"Yes, still nothing." Jet Vac growled. "Mags said something has fried the system to the core. Says it's beyond her now. So I called in Sprocket and Mysticat, they're going to give it a try."

Spyro sighed. "Fingers crossed, I guess."

"What about Chill Bill?" Stealth Elf asked. Spyro frowned at the mention of the troll, he didn't trust ex-villains. "Has he woken up yet?"

"No, but he should soon." Jet Vac responded. "I called in Broccoli Guy yesterday and he should hopefully speed up the recovery process."

"Why do you even need it sped up?" Spyro asked. "What's wrong with waiting?"

"It could offer another insight into if the dark rift was there." Jet Vac replied. "Hedgefog was sent back to the ship by Eruptor during the battle so he might have missed something the others saw."

"Others like Chill Bill," Stealth Elf finished.

Spyro just grunted in response. He supposed that was a good enough reason to not leave the troll in a coma.

The three Skylanders rounded one final corner before entering the command center. It was a large circular room with vaulted ceilings, murals of Eon and the academy were painted across it. The walls were covered in large black screens with little comms connected to each on a desk below. At the center of the room was a large blue table. Hundreds of little black dots covered the table, each meant to help project a holographic map of Skylands.

A large group of Skylanders and mabu were all in the room. Slobber Tooth was sprawled out on the ground, apparently asleep next to one of the comms desks. Wrecking Ball laid next to him. Rocky Roll sat next to his boulder at the table having a quiet conversation. Smash Hit was leaned back in one of the chairs while engaging in a loud talk about Sheepball with Terrafin and four mabu on one end of the table. Crusher was in a little huddle with Buzz and Bushwhack on the other end of the table. Even while sitting down, Crusher was almost a full two feet taller than Buzz and a match for Bushwhack's height.

A few Skylanders and Mabu gave brief nods to the newcomers before going back to their conversations. Jet Vac broke off from them and went over to Buzz's group, leaving Stealth Elf and Spyro alone.

"It's a big group," Spyro remarked, making his way to the table.

"Well, it's a big deal." Stealth Elf replied back, joining Spyro.