Skylands Legends

19.1 Golden Arcade

Spyro knew something was off the moment the academy's blue domes came into view. Dozens of Cloud Patrol ships circled the academy on high alert, red lights flashing along the academy grounds.

"What the hell happened?" Stealth Elf asked, stepping up beside him.

His mind immediately went to the worst case scenarios, imagining the Night Squatch doubling back to attack the academy or the creature from Ethersin having followed them out of the Lowlands. A lump of fear and anxiety began to well up in his chest.

"I don't know," he managed to get out, before excusing himself to go below deck, the anxious feeling becoming almost too much for him to handle.

He went down and locked himself in a private room and began pacing across the wooden floor. He stretched his wings out and retracted them, repeating the process in an anxious loop. He took in deep breaths and tried to picture better things to keep himself from spiraling out of control. After a few minutes of this, he threw open the washroom door and splashed some water on his face. Looking up at the mirror, he saw his own wild eyes staring back at him. Shaking his head, he let himself drop to the floor. He didn't like how much of a problem these panic attacks were becoming.

When the ship finally docked, he was quick to emerge above deck and went directly to Stealth Elf's side. The bridge was lowered and they all exited the ship. Bushwhack stood waiting for them in the hangar, his large traptanium ax stashed across his back.

Stealth Elf took the lead, being the first one to reach him, and asking, "What happened? Is everyone alright?"

The tree elf frowned, his eyes briefly glancing back at Pop Fizz before returning to focus on her. "The King of Chaos escaped his cell."

"Vitae," Stealth Elf gasped. Knight Light mumbled a short archaic phrase behind them.

"He went on a rampage through the academy after that," Bushwhack sullenly continued. "Ninety nine confirmed deaths since his escape, including every mabu survivor from Fizzland and..." again he glanced at Pop Fizz. "And Splat."

Spyro felt numb. Another dead Skylander and another rogue villain. Was fighting even worth it anymore? Ever since they had been involved only bad thing after bad thing happened. Who was to say the next death wouldn't be his own? That he would have abandoned his family for nothing. He felt like he might throw up.

"What are you talking about?" Pop Fizz asked in a confused voice. "Splat's back at Fizzland." He shot a glance at everyone as they turned to look at him. "She's in charge of running the park."

"Pop," Spyro said. "Fizzland was destroyed not even a week ago."

Pop Fizz furrowed his brow even further in confusion. "That couldn't have happened, Splat would have told me."

"Well she can't now because she's dead!" All eyes turned to Spyro as he realized he let his frustration get the best of him.

A short silence lingered over the group. Krankcase stepped forward with a laugh, resting his hand on the gremlin's shoulder. "They're just messing with you, Pop. Splat's back at Fizzland implementing the soda river you wanted to put around the castle, remember?"

A slow smile crossed the alchemist's face. "Ah..." he said with a short chuckle. "What a... weird joke."

Krankcase nodded along and led him away from the group, the two of them speaking in hushed tones, occasionally letting out a short laugh together.

Unable to deal with seeing his friend that way or the news from Bushwhack, Spyro left. He vaguely heard Stealth Elf call out his name, but ignored it, instead making his way out of the hangar. He wandered the Academy at an aimless pace. Mabu rushed around him in every direction, some carrying supplies, others stopping to clean up the dried blood splattered on the walls. He felt numb to the massacre that occurred here. The stench of blood and crowded hallways combined to give him a claustrophobic feeling as he walked. So much so that he felt the anxiety welling up in his chest again.