by Onk Beakman
Terrafin was free.
“Oh yeah!” He grinned, flexing his aching muscles. “You’re a knockout, SB. Now, you two free everyone else, and I’ll get after those thieving trolls. They won’t know what hit them.”
With that, Terrafin jumped into the air, threw himself into a backflip, and dived headfirst into the ground. As he burrowed away, Hot Dog was already preparing another fireball.
“Woof, woof. Who’s next?” he asked, his eyes resting gleefully on Gurglefin.
“Just make sure you don’t grill me,” the Gillman whimpered, screwing his eyes up tightly.
On the other side of the fair, Sprocket Portalled in. Master Eon had told her to meet with the other Skylanders and track down the missing Stone Golem. But where were they going to find a Stone Golem in the middle of an amusement park?
It was then she saw the troop of trolls rolling Rocky across the grass. Okay, so maybe finding a Stone Golem in the middle of an amusement park wasn’t so difficult, after all.
With a cry of “The fix is in!” Sprocket tore across the green, her armor’s blasters buzzing as they charged up. Then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. To her right, a couple of Mace Major Trolls had grabbed a fortune-teller and were pulling the poor soul toward a giggling D. Riveter. The D. Riveter had already raised its rivet gun and was preparing to fire.
“Help me!” the woman shrieked, struggling helplessly against her captors. “I predict this is going to get very nasty.”
“Oh no, you don’t,” Sprocket yelled, changing direction and racing toward the stricken fortune-teller. “I’m all tooled up.”
As she ran, she gripped a massive metal wrench. Despite being a Golding, Sprocket had always preferred gadgets over gold. From an early age, she had assisted her crazy inventor uncle, tinkering with gizmos and doohickeys in his workshop. Now she created tools she used to defend Skylands.
“Oh save me, Skylander, save me,” the fortune-teller cried as the Mace Majors yanked at her arms. They looked like they were trying to rip her limb from limb. “They’re going to blast me into a million little pieces!”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Sprocket raised the wrench above her head. “I’m built to . . . whoa.”
At the last moment, the D. Riveter twisted, its cannon coming around to face Sprocket. It squeezed the trigger, hot rivets sizzling toward the Skylander. Sprocket swiveled just in time, swinging her wrench around. The rivets slammed into the supersize tool and ricocheted back to blast the D. Riveter off its feet.
“Ha!” Sprocket shouted defiantly. “There’s more where that came from!” In front of her, the air began to shimmer.
As a Tech Skylander, Sprocket could build defensive gun turrets out of nothing. Already the tower was clanking together, components and cogs sparking into view. “If I build it, it will shoot.”
“Then we’d better stop you.”
A pair of heavy metal arms clamped around Sprocket. Someone had grabbed her from behind and was pinning her arms to her side. Someone incredibly strong. She couldn’t move. She turned her head, straining to see her attacker, and found herself face-to-face with a grinning robot.
“Would you like some cotton candy?” he asked.
Terrafin couldn’t believe his eyes when he burst out of the ground. What was Sprocket doing here? And why was she caught in Sweet-O-Tron’s cybernetic clutches?
And then there was that annoying fortune-teller, Madame Destiny, being tormented by a bunch of trolls. Whom should he rescue first?
There was no contest, really. Sprocket looked like she was in trouble, but Terrafin knew she could handle herself. The first rule of being a Skylander was protecting the weak—and the fortune-teller sure looked scrawny.
“Yo, green-nose. You’ve got a choice,” Terrafin roared, clenching his fists and getting ready for a fighting frenzy. “Drop the dame, or I’ll drop you.”
Amazingly, the trolls just laughed.
“Did you hear me? Don’t make me come over there and body-slam yer face.”
That seemed to do it. The Mace Majors let go of Madame Destiny’s arms . . . but only to produce two huge maces from behind their horrible, warty backs.
“So you wanna go toe-to-toe with the champ, do you?” Terrafin said, now spoiling for a fight. He raised his fists, metal spikes bursting across his knuckles. “Then let’s go, fools.”
“You see, that’s the thing,” said Madame Destiny, who hadn’t moved an inch from where the trolls had released her. “I don’t think they’re the fools at all. The only foolish fool I can see is you, SKYBLUNDERER!”
Madame Destiny reached up with a ring-covered hand and ripped the veil from her face. Terrafin’s jaw dropped open in amazement. “Whoa,” he said. “I did NOT see that coming.”
Madame Destiny wasn’t a fortune-teller at all.
She wasn’t even a lady.
Madame Destiny was Kaos.
“What are you waiting for, IDIOTS?” the evil Portal Master screeched. “ATTAAACK!”
The Mace Majors didn’t wait to be told twice. They charged forward, maces held high. As Sprocket struggled against the vicelike grip of the souped-up serving robot, Terrafin dodged the first mace—but he was whacked on the fin by the second. Seeing stars, he twisted around, and his fist connected with one Mace Major’s jaw. The troll was launched into the air, arching toward Kaos. The Portal Master managed to step out of the way before being flattened, but caught one of his high heels in the hem of his frock and ended up on his rear anyway.
“FOOOLS! Finish the SKYLOSER off once and for all!” the Portal Master yelled as he struggled back to his feet.
Terrafin threw himself back, narrowly avoiding another mace, and threw a punch, knocking the other Mace Major flying. But the fight was far from over. Terrafin gasped in pain as hot rivets slammed into his dorsal fin. The D. Riveter had him in its sights.
“Lord Kaos, what shall we do with the golem?” said a voice as another troll ran up to the wicked Portal Master’s side. It was Glumshanks, Kaos’s henchman, butler, and general lackey. Behind him, Rocky was being rolled over and over. “It’s just that the cotton candy is starting to weaken. If he breaks free . . .”
“Don’t worry, Glumshanks!” shouted Kaos, snapping his fingers. In a flash, Madame Destiny’s tent was replaced by a Portal of Power. “Just get him on the Portal. Must I think of everything?”
“You can think about how you’ll feel when I belly-flop you,” called Terrafin as he burrowed under the ground and burst from beneath the D. Riveter’s feet, knocking the troll senseless. “Now release Sprocket and give up the golem.”
“And I suppose you’re going to stop me, Terraflop?” the Portal Master jeered. “You and whose army?”
“Well, for starters, there’s me,” a voice yapped from behind him. Kaos whirled around to see Hot Dog flaming toward him.
“And don’t forget us,” added Sonic Boom, as her team of terrible toddlers burst from their eggs to glare at the goggling Portal Master.
Even Gurglefin got in on the act. “And just in case you were wondering,” he said, dropping into a highly impractical martial-arts position, “I’m a black belt in Jellyfish Jujitsu. Hiiiii-yah!”
“Oh no,” Kaos wailed. “Not three Skylanders and a karate-chopping Gillman. I’m doooooomed.”
And then the Portal Master started to giggle.
“Yeah, laugh it up, baldy,” said Terrafin, stalking forward. “You’ll be giggling on the other side of yer face when Sprocket breaks free from your crazy cotton-candy seller.”
“Yes, because she’s doing so well with that,” Kaos said with a snicker, wiping a tear from his eye. “Those arms are fitted with the toughest hydraulic muscles this side of the Junkyard Isles. She’ll never break free.”
“And you’ll never take Rocky,” Sonic Boom insisted, throwing her wings out wide.
“Wrong again, birdbrain,” Kaos crowed. “Sweet-O-Tron, initiate the sequence of certain self-destruction—with added BOOOOOM!”
“Initiating,” Sweet-O-Tron replied, clicking his head around sharply. Immediately, dazzling pink light spilled out from behind Sprocket as the robot’s engines roared and his gears spun.
“Listen to the sounds of your destruction, DIMWITS,” Kaos called. “Sweetie here has gone into overdrive. When he blows, the entire fair will be smothered in suffocating cotton candy, and your techy little pal will be at the center of the blast. You’re all doomed, doomed, and TRIPLE-DOOOOOOOMED!”
Chapter Six
An Explosive Situation
Steam was pouring from Sweet-O-Tron’s ears, mouth, and, weirdly, eyebrows.
“He won’t let go,” Sprocket shouted, as Kaos hitched up his dress and started toward the Portal of Power.
“Woof! What about Rocky?” Hot Dog yapped. The trolls had already loaded the stricken Stone Golem onto the Portal. “They’re getting away.”
“We’ll deal with that later!” yelled Terrafin. “We’ve got to stop this thing before he blows.”
“So long, FOOOLS!” crowed Kaos from the Portal. “I’ve enjoyed beating you. AGAIN!”
He clapped his hands and vanished in a flash of light, followed by Glumshanks, the trolls, and the wailing Rocky.
Terrafin didn’t notice. He was too busy trying to yank Sweet-O-Tron’s arms from around Sprocket.
“It’s no use,” the Golding said. “They won’t budge. You’ll have to rewire the robot. Stop him from self-destructing.”
“Me?” Terrafin asked, his dorsal fin sagging. “But I’m no good with Tech stuff.”
“Well, I can’t do it myself,” Sprocket insisted. “I’m in a bit of a tight spot.”
“And neither I nor Hot Dog have fingers,” Sonic Boom added. “Unless you think we can blast it to pieces.”
“Kaos has cast some pretty tricky Tech spells on this thing,” Sprocket said. “He’ll just explode. Quick, Terrafin, there should be an access panel on his back.”
Grumbling, Terrafin ran behind the shuddering robot and, finding the hatch, ripped the door off its hinges with his bare hands. He was greeted with a mess of colorful wires and cables.
“I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Look for a red wire with yellow stripes,” Sprocket ordered. “Or is it a yellow wire with red stripes?”
“Make up your mind,” Terrafin snapped, as the whirring noise coming from Sweet-O-Tron grew ever louder.
“Red wire with yellow stripes—definitely,” she said, sounding more confident this time. “Pull it out and then replace it with the blue wire with green dots.”
Terrafin tried to get his hands into the tangle of wires. The robot was now beginning to shake violently.
“It’s no good. These fists were made for throwing punches, not rewiring overheating tin cans. My fingers are too big.”
“Y-you’re not suggesting I do it?” Gurglefin gulped. “I trout I’d do any better. There’s got to be salmon else who could have a go?”
“Don’t worry, ’Fin,” Terrafin growled. “I know what to do. SB and Hot Dog, grab Sprocket’s legs.”
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Sprocket said as she felt a beak and a set of red-hot teeth clamp around her ankles. “There’s no need to be hasty. If I can wriggle free, I can build a gun-o-matic and . . .”
“No time,” interrupted Terrafin, appearing in front of her. Sprocket didn’t like the way he was clenching his brass knuckles. “Just keep still. You won’t feel a thing.”
Sprocket screwed her eyes up tightly behind her goggles. Terrafin’s steely gaze swiveled up to fix on the steaming robot. “As for you . . .”
WHACK!
It all happened so quickly. Terrafin sent a pile-driving uppercut smashing into the robot’s chrome-plated chin. Sweet-O-Tron shot into the air, but his arms were still wrapped around Sprocket, who, in turn, was being anchored to the ground by Sonic Boom and Hot Dog.
With a screech of ripping metal, the arms tore from the robot’s body, and Sprocket fell back to the grass. Sweet-O-Tron, meanwhile, rocketed into the sky like a firework, just as his self-destruct sequence completed.
KA-BOOOOOOM!
The thunderous explosion echoed through the amusement park. High above the ground, Sweet-O-Tron detonated, sending burned cotton candy spraying out left, right, and center.
“Whoa, that was close.” Terrafin sighed as crispy flakes of pink sugar floated down like snow. “That was one robot who seriously punched above his weight.”
“I’m never eating cotton candy again,” said Sonic Boom, helping Sprocket back to her feet.
“The same can’t be said for everyone.” The Golding laughed as Hot Dog scampered around catching the flakes on his tongue.
“But what about Kaos?” asked Gurglefin. “And the trolls?”
“And my number one star!” roared another voice. Professor Puck raced up as quickly as his stubby little gnome legs would carry him. The showman was a total mess. His once proud mustache was matted with stale sugar. “You must rescue Rocky!”
“Why? So you can make more money off of him?” snarled Terrafin, looming over the gnome. “What’s the deal, anyhow? Where did you find him?”
For the first time since they’d met, Puck actually looked sheepish. That’s what happens when you’re surrounded by four Skylanders. Four angry Skylanders.
“I found him on an expedition to the Ragged Ranges. I was looking for new animals to show at the fair and heard a remarkable voice. I started to dance . . . we all did . . . and I knew I had to have whoever was singing.”
Sonic Boom took a step forward, her wings folded back in fury. “So you just took him.” The griffin had spent years in the mountains—the only place high enough to safely lay her eggs—and had known many Stone Golems of old. Despite their size and fearsome appearance, they were gentle giants: loners who hated crowds, preferring their own company. “We saw the ring around his leg. You chained him up and dragged him back to your fair.”
“Just to make some dough,” Terrafin growled. “I should whack you into next week for what you’ve done to that guy.”
“S-s-so, you won’t help me?” Puck stammered, wringing his hat in his pudgy hands. “You won’t find Rocky?”
“Oh, we’ll find him, all right,” Terrafin promised, jabbing a thick finger into the professor’s chest. “But not for you.”
“We’ll do it for Rocky,” Sonic Boom said, her beak curled into a snarl.
“But where do we start?” Hot Dog yapped, his belly finally full. “We don’t know where Kaos has taken him.”
“Maybe we do,” said Gurglefin, picking up one of the hundreds of wooden cotton- candy sticks that had tumbled down from the sky. The Gillman turned it over to show the Skylanders the name that was printed on its charred side.
“‘The Boom Brothers’ Explosive Emporium,’” he read. “I know I’m no brain sturgeon, but maybe that’s as good a place as any to start looking.”
Chapter Seven
Squirmgrub
“The Boom Brothers?” said Master Eon as he and Terrafin strode into the Eternal Archive’s massive library. “I’m sure I’ve heard of them.”
“Well, they’re gonna hear about me when we track them down,” growled Terrafin. “Who makes exploding cotton candy, anyway?”
Master Eon strode down the main aisle, bookshelves the size of giant cliffs rising on each side. “Let’s find out. The Encyclopedia Skylandia is bound to have the information we seek.”
The Encyclopedia Skylandia is, as the name suggests, a set of encyclopedias. It contains everything you need to know about Skylands—and a few things you don’t need to know, as well. Best of all is that it’s enchanted. As new facts are discovered, new entries appear on its pag
es, as if by magic. Sometimes entire new volumes pop into existence overnight.
For example, a few years ago, eminent Skylands historian Professor P. Grungally discovered that the monstrous fish that terrorizes Leviathan Lagoon has exactly 1,672.5 teeth. How did he discover it? Well, the creature swallowed him during a fishing trip, but that’s not important right now. The point is that even before Professor Grungally managed to escape from the beast’s belly, the Leviathan entry in the Encyclopedia Skylandia had updated to include his discovery. No one knows how it works—it just does.
“If anything can help us find the Boom Brothers, it’s the Encyclopedia,” Master Eon insisted, tapping his staff against the floor tiles as he scoured the shelves for the right volume. “It must be here somewhere.”
“Um, can I help you?” came a voice from behind them. Terrafin groaned. Squirmgrub the Warrior Librarian was rushing up behind them, mechanical arms flapping in the air. Master Eon insisted the armor-clad archivist was helping but, like Sprocket, Terrafin had a bad feeling about Squirmgrub. There was just something . . . shifty about him.
Master Eon, however, was always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt.
“Ah, Squirmgrub,” the Portal Master said, greeting the Librarian with a welcoming smile. “We’re looking for information about the Boom Brothers’ Explosive Emporium. I thought the Encyclopedia might be able to help us.”
For a brief moment, Terrafin thought he noticed the Librarian recognize the Boom Brothers’ name.
“Maybe,” Squirmgrub said. “Maybe not. I tell you what, there’s no point in you wading through all these dusty books. Why don’t I look it up for you and let you know what I find?”
“No can do,” Terrafin cut in. “Kaos and his crazy cats have snatched Rocky. We need to get him back ASAP.”
“If not sooner,” Master Eon added. “I believe Rocky has something to do with the Earth segment.”
