by Onk Beakman
Shrugging, Rocky started to gather himself together—literally. But Sonic Boom wasn’t happy. She hated bullies, even really small ones.
“Now listen here,” she began, her bright eyes narrowing—but she was cut short by a sudden bark.
“Woof, woof!”
“That’s Hot Dog,” said Terrafin, forgetting about the teary golem for a second. Sure enough, the smoldering puppy came scampering around the corner and skidded to a halt.
“Terrafin,” he panted, his hot breath misting in the air. “You gotta see this. Woof. Come quickly.”
And with that he was gone, bolting back to where he came from, leaving a trail of steaming paw prints in the mud.
Terrafin glanced at Rocky, torn between a rock and a hot hound.
“You gonna be okay, kid?” he asked. The Stone Golem nodded gravely.
“That’s it,” Puck said, clapping Rocky on the back (well, the backs of his ankles, at least). “The show must go on!”
Still uneasy about leaving the golem in the clutches of the menacing gnome, Terrafin and Sonic Boom took off after Hot Dog. They’d never seen the fiery pooch so frazzled. What on earth had he found?
“You’ll never guess what I’ve found,” Hot Dog yapped as they raced across the fair. Terrafin, no slouch as a runner, struggled to keep up with the puppy, and eventually had to dive underground to swim after him. Like all dirt sharks, Terrafin could burrow through the earth at blistering speeds.
They raced by toffee-apple pie stands and Cyclops Mammoth carousels, before Hot Dog skidded to a halt in front of what looked like a statue made out of cotton candy.
“Looks tasty,” admitted Terrafin, licking his lips.
“Smells even better,” agreed Hot Dog. Sonic Boom had to agree. Even her chicks were bouncing around in their shells at the sugary sweet smell. “I couldn’t believe my luck when I found it, but look . . .”
Resting on his hind legs, Hot Dog leaned against the fluffy pink statue and gave it a long, hard lick with a scalding tongue.
“Ow! Watch it, flame-features,” said a voice from inside the statue. “That’s hot!”
“Wait a minute,” said Terrafin in amazement. “I know that voice.”
Hot Dog had licked away some of the cotton candy to reveal a familiar fishy face.
“Gurglefin!” Sonic Boom exclaimed. “What are you doing in all that cotton candy?”
“Well, it’s what every Gillman’s wearing this season.” Gurglefin sighed, rolling his big, googly eyes.
“Really?” asked Hot Dog, looking puzzled. Puppies never really followed the latest fashion trends.
“Of course not,” Gurglefin spluttered. “For heaven’s hake, I’m trapped. This is worse than the day I accidently sailed into the . . . the . . . Tartar Sauce Sea! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
Now Hot Dog was grinning. The thought of slurping all that cotton candy was making his taste buds sizzle.
“No, no, no,” Gurglefin quickly added. “Not you. You’ll burn my scales off.”
Hot Dog’s face fell as Terrafin prodded the sticky stuff.
“I think it’s drying out. I guess I could punch it off you.”
“Wah!” wailed Gurglefin, wriggling within his personal pink prison. “Please don’t. This is one fish that would prefer not to be battered!”
“Step aside, boys,” said Sonic Boom, taking a deep breath. “This needs a mother’s touch.”
“Or at least her voice,” Terrafin warned, realizing what was about to happen. “Cover your ears!”
“Wait, I can’t,” spluttered Gurglefin. “My arms are—”
It was too late. Sonic Boom opened her beak and yelled. Now, all moms can yell, but not like Sonic Boom. Her screech could knock over trees and even dislodge mountains, so a pile of cotton candy was no problem. A tsunami of sonic shock waves washed over Gurglefin, ripping the sticky substance from his scales. In a few seconds he was clean of the stuff. He was also flat on his back.
“Hey, you all right, little fella?” asked Terrafin, scooping the Gillman back off the ground.
“Ask me when my ears have stopped ringing,” Gurglefin spluttered. “Like in a hundred years.”
“But who did this to you?” barked Hot Dog. “How did you get covered in candy?”
Shaking his head to try to clear his ears, Gurglefin told them about Sweet-O-Tron 3000 and the ticking cotton candy.
“Candy that goes kaboom?” Terrafin said when Gurglefin had finished his fishy tale. “That sure isn’t sweet.”
“We need to warn Professor Puck about this,” Sonic Boom insisted. “If one of his serving robots has malfunctioned, someone could get hurt.”
“Warn him?” growled Terrafin, slamming a fist into his open palm. “I bet that nasty little gnome is behind it. There’s something not right about that Puck punk.”
From her tent, Madame Destiny’s eyes grew wide as she watched the three Skylanders storm across the fairground, with Gurglefin stumbling behind.
Skylanders? Here? That could ruin everything. Quick as a flash, she hurried into their path, trying to stall them.
“Well, hello, big boy,” she cooed, fluttering her long eyelashes at Terrafin. “Cross my palm with silver, and I’ll tell you what the future holds.”
“I know what it holds, sister,” Terrafin snarled, barging past the fortune-teller. “A nasty gnome is about to go three rounds with the champ.”
Madame Destiny turned her attention to Sonic Boom. “What about you, my dear? Need to know what tomorrow brings?”
“Don’t listen to her nonsense, Sonic Boom,” sniffed Gurglefin, remembering their earlier encounter. “That lousy landlubber’s a fake. A phony.”
“Is that right, Fishface?” Madame Destiny growled, her false smile faltering behind her sequin-covered veil. “Come back here and I’ll give you a grilling.”
But Gurglefin and the Skylanders were gone. Madame Destiny glowered after them, red eyes blazing with hatred. She scuttled back to her tent, tripping on her long gown, and disappeared inside.
There, in the shadows of the tent, a crystal ball sat on a velvet-covered table. As Madame Destiny approached the sphere, it began to glow, responding to her presence. She raised her stubby hands, causing an eerie mist to swirl inside the globe, and muttered a magic spell under her breath. Slowly but surely, a face began to form in the glass, its big black eyes staring up at her from beyond.
“Ah, there you are,” she hissed, her brow creased into a frown. “We’ve got a problem. There are Skylanders here. We need to move now, before they ruin everything.”
She chuckled a chuckle that soon turned into a cackle, followed by a full-blown evil laugh.
“The fools are doomed, I tell you. DOOOMED!”
Chapter Four
Rocky Rocks Out
Far away, in the Eternal Archive, home to every book ever written (and even a few that weren’t), Sprocket the Tech Skylander was on her way to meet Master Eon. She had to admit she was getting worried about the Portal Master. He looked as if he hadn’t slept for days. Actually, Sprocket didn’t even know if Master Eon needed to sleep, but she knew she had never seen him looking so tired. And so old. It was this stuff about the Mask of Power. He had been working with the Eternal Archive’s Warrior Librarians to track down the remaining segments of the mask before Kaos could, but the strain was beginning to show. Master Eon had protected Skylands for centuries, but was it now becoming too much?
“Ah, there you are, Sprocket,” Master Eon said as she turned the corner. She tried not to stare at the dark rings under the old man’s eyes. “We need to check in with Squirmgrub and see if the Book of Power has revealed the location of the next segment. I’m worried that we haven’t heard from him.”
Squirmgrub was the Warrior Librarian who had been assigned to watch over the fabled Book of Power, the magical tome that h
eld the secrets of the mask itself. There was something about the armored archivist that Sprocket didn’t trust, but now was not the time to raise her concerns. Keeping quiet, she followed Eon to the vault where the book was kept—but when they got there, they found the vault empty. The book was there, of course, magically bound to its lectern so no one could remove it, but where was Squirmgrub?
“This is very strange,” Master Eon muttered, his staff tapping on the vault’s cold stone floor. “He should be here.”
“That’s not all, Master Eon,” Sprocket said, rushing over to the book. “Look.”
Pictures had formed on the book’s open pages. The magical images shifted and changed as Sprocket watched.
“It must be the location of the Earth segment,” said Master Eon. “But why didn’t Squirmgrub report this?”
“And look where it is,” prompted Sprocket. “Isn’t that . . . ?”
“Professor Puck’s Fantastic Fairy Fair,” Master Eon uttered gravely. “Terrafin and the others have already gone there.”
“Well, that’s good luck for us, then,” Sprocket said cheerfully, before noticing that the picture was changing again. The image of the fair was blurring, to be replaced by a picture of a tall, hulking figure.
“What is that?” she asked, as the lines came into focus.
“It looks like a Stone Golem to me,” replied the Portal Master, running a wrinkled hand through his snowy white beard.
“Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to rock and roll?” The spotlight swept across the large tent’s stage, finally resting on the tiny figure of Professor Puck. The gnome was standing, arms thrown out wide—well, as wide as they could go—as he addressed the audience.
“Are you ready to dance like you’ve never danced before?”
The audience shouted yes, hundreds of eager faces all looking up expectantly.
“Then let’s please welcome to the stage the next big thing, the ultimate rolling stone, the slab-faced singer with a voice that can move mountains. Give it up for the one, the only . . . ROCKY THE ROCKER!”
As one the crowd started to chant. “Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!”
“Whoa, the place is packed,” Terrafin commented as he ducked beneath the tent flaps. “Are these all Rocky’s fans?”
“Sounds like it,” said Sonic Boom, shoving her way in. “I didn’t realize he was this popular.”
“Oh, I can’t stand crowds,” moaned Gurglefin as he and Hot Dog entered. “Packed in like sardines. But at least they aren’t dancing.”
“What’s wrong with dancing?” Hot Dog woofed, his tail wagging with excitement. “I love to burn up the dance floor.”
“I always floundered in dance class back at fish school.” Gurglefin shrugged. “I’ve got two webbed feet.”
“You’ve got no sole, man,” shouted Terrafin, struggling to be heard over the crowd’s chanting. “But for now you’re right. This is no time to shake our tail fins. We need to find Professor Puck.”
“He’s up there, onstage,” pointed out Sonic Boom. “And look—there’s Rocky.”
The crowd went mad as the Stone Golem appeared on the stage. They whooped and hollered, even though Rocky was visibly shaking.
“He looks ruff,” barked Hot Dog.
“Must be stage fright,” said Terrafin. “I saw it all the time back in the ring. People freeze in the spotlight.”
But Rocky didn’t freeze. Despite his obvious nerves, the Stone Golem stepped up to the mic and cleared his throat.
“I guess any-fin is possible,” grumbled Gurglefin. “But Stone Golems aren’t known for their singing. Their voices are just too gravelly.”
A second later, the Gillman was eating his words. The Skylanders couldn’t believe their ears when the Stone Golem began his song. He was amazing. They had never heard someone sing so well. His voice wasn’t rough. It was smooth and strong and so, so tuneful.
For a second, Terrafin forgot all about Sweet-O-Tron 3000 and the exploding cotton candy and Professor Puck. His toes began to tap, and his legs began to move. Before he knew what was happening, he was dancing to the beat. Everyone was dancing: the crowd, Sonic Boom, Hot Dog . . . even Gurglefin. The Gillman was spinning on his back and flipping in the air.
“Hey, I thought you said you couldn’t dance,” Terrafin said as Gurglefin pulled off a perfect pirouette.
“I can’t,” the Gillman said. “I hate dancing. Really I do, but I just can’t stop myself.”
It was true. Terrafin suddenly realized that he couldn’t stop dancing, either. He tried to stand still, but his feet kept stomping. Sonic Boom was going through the same thing. Even the griffin’s chicks were bouncing in and out of their shells in a riotous routine.
“W-what’s happening?” cried out Gurglefin as he body-popped across the dance floor.
“It’s Rocky’s singing voice,” realized Sonic Boom as she juked in place. “It must be magical.”
“It’s making us dance,” barked Hot Dog, “and I love it. Woof. It’s a disco inferno.”
“Holy carp!” shouted Gurglefin, pointing up. “Your stony rock star isn’t the only one up there. Look!”
Terrafin glanced around at the stage. There, lurking in the shadows, was a robotic figure.
“Perhaps that’s his backup singer?” suggested Hot Dog.
“No, it’s not,” insisted Gurglefin. “That’s Sweet-O-Tron 3000, and it looks like he’s making a new batch of his exploding candy!”
Sure enough, the door in the robot’s chest was glowing a sickly pink color. With an evil grin on his polished face, Sweet-O-Tron reached inside and started pulling out stick after stick of cotton candy.
“Who wants some candy?” the robot cried. The crowd cheered, thinking this was all part of the show. Even Rocky didn’t seem fazed. Despite his nerves, he looked lost in his music.
“We need to stop that robot!” yelled Sonic Boom.
“I’m trying,” insisted Terrafin, “but I’m stuck in the groove. I want to bust heads, but I can’t stop busting a move.”
None of them could. They could only watch as the robot started flinging his ticking cotton candy onto the dance floor. The Skylanders tried to warn the jigging crowd, but they couldn’t hear anything over Rocky’s voice. One by one, the hungry masses scooped up the cotton candy and started gobbling it down.
And then the first candy-grenade went boom.
SPLAT!
SPLAT!
SPLAT!
All over the tent the sweet-bombs went off, smothering everyone in the syrupy stuff. The crowd was covered, the Skylanders were covered—even Professor Puck was covered.
“I . . . can’t . . .. move . . . ,” Terrafin growled, struggling against the glistening gunk.
“Neither can I,” barked Hot Dog. “But this stuff tastes great.”
“At least the music’s stopped,” said Gurglefin, breathing a sigh of relief. “Fintastic.”
On the stage, Rocky had been shocked into silence, and the spell was broken—not that it really mattered. No one could dance anymore. They had all been transformed into solid, sugary statues.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you that too much candy is bad for your health?” jeered Sweet-O-Tron, before tugging aside the backstage curtain. “Come on, boys, grab the golem.”
The Skylanders could only watch as trolls of all shapes and sizes streamed onto the stage. The green goblins rushed over to Rocky and pushed the helpless singer over onto his side.
“Leave him alone!” Terrafin yelled, but it was no good. Snickering, the trolls rolled the gloop-smothered golem off the stage and out to who-knows-where.
“Bye-bye,” Sweet-O-Tron said as it disappeared after them. “Sweet dreams, Skylanders!”
Chapter Five
A Sticky Situation
“They’ve golem-napped Rocky,” Professor Puck wail
ed from beneath a mountain of hardened cotton candy. “My number one star, swiped from right under my nose. The best moneymaker I’ve ever had, snatched away. SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!”
“So, I guess Puck’s not behind this, after all,” Sonic Boom said, shrugging (which was extremely difficult, because she couldn’t move).
“Maybe, maybe not,” grumbled Terrafin. “All I know is, we can’t stick around here for much longer. Old stony face needs our help.”
“But we’re frozen in candy from head to flipper,” spluttered Gurglefin as Puck continued to moan. “What are we supposed to do? And can somebody please do something about Puck carping on? His whining is really beginning to wear fin.”
“Fin! Ha!” Hot Dog yapped. “You crack me up!”
“‘Crack me up’?” shouted Terrafin, an idea occurring to him. “That’s it. You need to crack me up!”
“You want more fish puns?” asked the confused Gillman. “This is hardly the time or place.”
“No!” Terrafin yelled, cutting him off. “I don’t mean like that. Hot Dog, we need your best Fire Bark pronto. Burn me up.”
“You want me to bark a fireball at you?” the pup replied, not quite believing what he was hearing.
“Not at me, at the cotton candy covering me. Can you do it?”
“Sure I can. One burning bowwowwow coming up.”
Straining against his sweet restraints, Hot Dog barked, shooting a red-hot ball of flame at Terrafin. The fire sizzled over the shark’s candy coating, causing Terrafin to suck air through his sharp teeth.
“Okay,” he hissed. “Getting hot under the collar here, but it’s doing the trick.”
As the flames subsided, the Skylanders realized what Hot Dog had done. The heat had toasted Terrafin’s cotton candy, crystallizing it into a hard pink shell.
“SB, it’s your turn. Scream at me, Mama.”
Sonic Boom smiled, catching Terrafin’s drift. She opened her beak and roared at the dirt shark. Her earsplitting screech shattered the hardened candy into a hundred glittering shards.
