Skylanders: Second Leaf

Chapter __ ~ An Unexpected Arrival

“Ladies, gentlemen and everything in between!” Pandergast called out. “We have a winner!!”
The crowd went wild as Ringmaster docked against the garbage coated, muddy riverbank, stepping out into the foul smelling quagmire as the rest of the gang rushed down to congratulate her on her triumphant victory. As the others rushed up to say what an awesome race that was, Ringmaster looked up to Shakai, giving a wink and a nod of her head to thank him for the advice. Shakai grinned, giving an excited whoop and doing a mid air backflip before he flew down to join the rest of the group, his tail almost thrashing in excitement as his feet were planted firmly on the ground.
“Ya did it! Ya darn did it!!” Shakai cried, paying his shift in dialect no mind as he bounded up to congratulate the lemur.
Mammagma gave Ringmaster an enormous hug, almost choking her to death. “We were afraid you were a goner!”
“Wooh! Great job, Ringmaster!” Scrape cried, giving the circus-loving lemur a high five once she had gotten down to the bank where the Parade Floater was parked. Her eyes sparkling in excitement as her tail swayed from side to side, she didn’t even seem to notice that she was standing ankle deep in sludge. “Kaos would be down here to congratulate you too, but as soon as the race ended, he was off. You know how he gets, focused on his upcoming race and all that.”
“Attention racing fans!” Pandergast called out. “The Stupendous Sky Race in the Chocolate Caverns will begin in two hours!”
Shade frowned. “Speaking of which…”
“We’ll pay Pandergast a visit,” Mammagma replied. “You and the others should get going to the race.”
Scrape nodded, flexing her claws. “Mind saying hi to that stupid villain wannabe, Pandergast, for me? I would come along, but I’m best suited in the moral-boosting department.” She smiled sheepishly.
“Okay, while I have to disagree with that fact, Scrape,” Whisp piped up, “it is best we don’t all go rushing in there at once. I’m sure we’ll all get to confront Pandergast once this is done, but for now, it’s best to just send a small party in, just to make sure he doesn’t pull a fast one on us.”
The others nodded in agreement with Whisp’s statement.
Metaltaur cracked his knuckles. “I look forward to-”
“Please don’t kill him.” Lucarian groaned.
“Who made you in charge?!”
“Enough!” Ringmaster shouted. “Now is NOT the time.”
Metaltaur snorted reluctantly in response, turning his head to the side.
“Thank you.” Lucarian sighed, then nodded to the others before turning and walking back to the stands, making his way over to his Shadow Dragoon. Shade wasn’t too far behind him.
“Let’s go.” Mammagma growled. He and the others not racing walked back to the stands, discussing possible plans for the ambush of Pandergast.

Kaos knelt on the ground beside his Doom Jet. A panel of the shiny, purple painted metal plating had been removed from the hull and was now resting beside the Tiny tyrant as he made the necessary upgrades and repairs. Kaos pulled his oil splattered hands out of the gap in the plating, where the wires and mechanics were exposed, and breathed a sigh. The repairs were taking longer than he had hoped. As soon as the race had finished, Kaos had been back at work, slaving over his vehicle to make sure it was running above peak perfection. He just hoped he didn’t mess anything up in his rush to finish. Shade looked up from the Shadow Scourge, glancing over at Kaos with a stern, yet worried look on his face.
“You’re going to have our backs in this race, correct?”
Kaos looked over at Shade and smirked. “Why wouldn’t I? My fate - as well as everyone else’s - is up on the line here. Of course I’ll have your backs… and first place too, of course.”
Kaos laughed, wiping the oil off of his hands onto his cloak before looking back to Shade, noticing the worried look in his shining red eyes. Oddly, his tone shifted from arrogant to reassuring. “Shade. We’re all in this together, fool. You watch my back, I’ll watch your’s. Simple as that. Trust me, darkling. We’ll be the victorious ones at the end of this,” Kaos paused, then added, his tone back to normal, “or my name isn’t KAOS!!”
Cackling, Kaos went back to work on his vehicle, his hands getting covered in oil almost instantly again as he stuck them back in. as he worked, Kaos couldn’t help but think back to the conversation he had had with Shoria at the beginning of the water race, silently hoping she would take him up on his offer to be his co-pilot for the race. His number two. Back when he had been first making the Doom Jet, Kaos had always found he had better success when Glumshanks had been sitting in the seat next to him, although he would usually do little to nothing on their test flights. Shoria, on the other hand, would have made a great asset, a real leg up in this race. After all, two heads were always better than one. Looking back to his vehicle, Shade thought over Kaos’ words, but he still wasn’t too reassured. He knew Kaos, and based on what had happened with Shakai… he couldn’t be one hundred percent. Whose side was Kaos really on? Trying to take his mind off things, Shade looked over at Lucarian and his Shadow Dragoon. The Creator was currently feeding the large dragon with a hunk of meat, petting its long, scaled snout as ate. Shade sighed, perhaps he had been a bit too harsh on him. They seemed similar in a few ways, and Angelo trusted him, so why couldn’t he? Within a few minutes of Shade and Kaos’ chat, the Tiny Tyrant was fitting the metal plating back onto the side of his Doom Jet, getting to his feet as he wiped the oil off of his hands. Kaos smiled at his mechanical creation, proud for having made the necessary adjustments and upgrades to his vehicle in such a short span of time. He was ready.