by Onk Beakman
“The king was eventually defeated,” Eon continued as the unsettling image of the Mask returned to the page, “and the Mask was broken into eight pieces. The Portal Masters of Old hid the fragments inside eight different objects and scattered them across Skylands so they could never be found.”
“To make it even more difficult, the objects were the complete opposite of the fragments that they contained,” Hugo added, peaking out from behind Eon’s robe.
“What do you mean?” asked Spyro.
“The Undead segment was hidden inside something alive, for example,” Hugo explained, wiping his glasses on his sleeve, always happy to give a lecture even when he was petrified. “The Portal Masters of Old were clever so-and-sos, you know.”
“Not clever enough,” Eon said sadly. “A segment of the Mask has been found.”
The picture of the Mask split into its eight fragments, seven of the segments fading away to leave a solitary piece. “The Tech segment was disguised as something completely natural,” Eon announced. The fragment blurred, transforming before their eyes. “A beautiful flower.”
“Wait a minute,” Spyro exclaimed. “I’ve seen that flower!”
Eon nodded as a new picture appeared on the page. Gill frowned. The Book was now showing a picture of Kaos, proudly pinning the flower on his lapel. “Exactly, Spyro. Kaos has somehow stumbled upon the Tech segment of the Mask . . .”
“And he wanted to steal the Book of Power, the only book in creation that can reveal the location of the remaining fragments,” said Wiggleworth gravely, his voice crackling over his armor’s speaker system. “He is trying to reassemble the Mask of Power. He wants to use it to destroy the Core of Light.”
“Then we need to find the other pieces first!” exclaimed Gill, remembering the images of the destroyed Core.
“But how?” asked Spyro.
Eon replied by raising his staff high above the Book of Power. “Book of Power,” he boomed, staring intently at the pages in front of him, “only a Portal Master can force you to reveal your secrets. I demand you reveal them to me.”
Behind him, Hugo squeaked in alarm and grabbed a handful of Eon’s robes. “Quick,” he squealed, “grab hold of something!”
“Why?” asked Gill, although Hugo didn’t get a chance to reply. He didn’t need to. Above them, storm clouds began to form, lightning crackling up and down the walls.
“It’s a storm!” Spyro shouted.
“But we’re indoors,” pointed out Gill.
“It doesn’t matter,” Wiggleworth yelled, struggling to make himself heard as rain began to lash down. “Hugo is right. This could get . . .”
The curator never completed his sentence. Instead he was plucked from his armored feet by the tremendous wind that suddenly whipped through the vault. Gill and Spyro were caught up in the tornado and were sent spinning around and around. All the while, Eon stood in the eye of the storm, his staff held high and Hugo clutching his flapping robes for dear life.
“Getting . . . dizzy . . .” Gill yelled, his arms windmilling as he spun around, although he knew Spyro wouldn’t be able to hear him. What was Eon doing? Couldn’t he save them? Couldn’t he get them down?
Then, with a flash of blinding light, the storm subsided as quickly as it had started. The wind vanished, and getting down was suddenly no longer an issue. Gill plummeted back to the floor, throwing his arms over his face to try to break his fall. The farther he fell, the harder those cold stone floor slabs looked. Luckily, he never hit them. Inches from the floor, Gill jolted to a halt. He looked up to see Spyro, flapping his purple wings. The dragon had grabbed on to Gill.
“Thanks, buddy,” he gurgled as he was lowered gently to the floor. Gill knew he could always rely on Spyro.
“I am sorry about the freak weather conditions, my friends,” Eon said softly. “The Book didn’t want to give up its secrets, but I . . .” The Portal Master paused. “Persuaded it. This is where the next segment is hidden.” The pages displayed the map of an island covered in shimmering blue water.
“I know that place,” Spyro said. So did Gill.
“Deep Water Wasteland,” he whispered. This wasn’t good. The Wastelands were among the most dangerous seas in all of Skylands. Eon turned to face the Gillman.
“Gill, you know the Wastelands better than any other Skylander. Will you go and find the Water segment of the Mask?”
Gill nodded. Of course he would. Anything to stop Kaos. “What is it disguised as?”
“I’m afraid the Book does not know, but this will help you find it.” Before Wiggleworth could stop him, the Portal Master leaned forward and ripped a page from the Book of Power. Eon looked sadly at his old friend. “I’m sorry, Wiggleworth. I know you don’t want any part of the Book to leave the Archive, but a sacrifice must be made. This scrap of paper will glow if it comes into contact with any of the segments of the Mask.”
He handed the page to Gill, who tucked it into his belt.
“I understand,” Wiggleworth grumbled, “but I insist we transport Gill to Deep Water Wasteland in one of our airships, just in case.”
Eon nodded, giving Gill one last smile. “Spyro will stay here with me while I study the rest of the Book, but I will send you help should you require it.”
Gill puffed out his chest.
“By swim or fin, Gill Grunt will win!” he said proudly. “I won’t let you down, Master.”
Chapter Four
Last Chance Cove
Gill Grunt frowned as the Warrior Librarians’ airship touched down at Last Chance Cove, the harbor that nestled on the edge of Deep Water Wasteland. It wasn’t that it was a bad landing (quite the opposite in fact—the pilot was almost as skilled as Gill’s friend Flynn). Neither was it the fact that Last Chance Cove smelled of pungent puffer fish and stinky sardines—Gill Grunt was a Gillman. They used fish oil as aftershave.
No, what annoyed Gill was that they’d been forced to moor the airship alongside a dirty great pirate ship—the Fearsome Fang, no less.
Gill hated pirates. He detested pirates. He would be happy if he never saw another pirate again for as long as he lived. The reason was simple: Pirates had snatched away the love of his life. Long ago, before he was a Skylander, Gill had joined the Gillmen Marines, a crack force of seawater soldiers. On his first tour of duty, he had been patrolling a misty lagoon when he’d heard a beautiful voice singing an enchanting song. It was a mermaid. In fact, it was the most gorgeous mermaid Gill had ever seen. Within seconds Gill was head-over-flippers in love.
Unfortunately, his platoon still had to combat an army of spider spitters that were marauding along the coast. Gill vowed to return to his love when his tour of duty was over, but when he found his way back to the lagoon, the mermaid was nowhere to be seen.
It was only later that he discovered she had been fin-napped by pirates. Gill searched all over Skylands for his bescaled beloved. Eventually, he met Eon, but even the majestic Portal Master had been unable to track her down. She was lost forever, although Gill still believed in his herring-heart of hearts that he’d find her again one day.
Ever since, the mere whiff of a pirate had made his scales shake with fury. As he stood on the harbor side, glaring at the Fearsome Fang, Gill told himself that he couldn’t let himself get distracted—he had a mission to complete. Frowning so hard his eyebrows hurt, Gill shoved through a bunch of Skystone-playing pirates and headed toward the inn that stood on the other side of the port, the Octopus’s Arms.
As he barged by the pirates, he nudged the arm of a Squiddler. The slimy-faced buccaneer slipped, his stones dropping from his fingers. Roaring with anger, the pirate turned on Gill, shoving a mollusk mortar gun in the Gillman’s face. Instinctively, Gill brought his own weapon to bear, pointing his power hose straight in the Squiddler’s snarling tentacles. Great, thought Gill, just what I didn’t want to happen.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Gill was soon surrounded by the Squiddler’s crewmates. Without even turning, he cou
ld smell the wet doggy stink of the seadogs who were drawing their cutlasses behind him. To his right, a Blastaneer was already hoisting a cannon up to its broad shoulders, and to his left, a massive Squidface Brute lumbered up, an enormous anchor held threateningly in its hands.
Gill Grunt was completely outnumbered. Even with all his training, he probably wouldn’t win this fight. One lone fish against a bunch of barnacle-encrusted, muscle-bound buffoons. The odds were stacked against him and the situation was grim.
It was just as he liked it. A smile spread across Gill’s face as he felt for his trigger.
Whoosh!
Behind them a huge tentacle shot out of the sea. Gill gaped as the monstrous arm came crashing down, smashing the Octopus’s Arms to smithereens. The standoff was forgotten as more tentacles burst out of the water, grabbing at the onlookers who, quite sensibly, started to scatter. Pirates and landlubbers alike ran for cover as the gigantic tentacles began picking them off one by one. Even the Squidface Brute was plucked from his feet and thrown into the air.
Finally, the head of the monster broke through the water’s surface. Gill found himself staring into a pair of milky-white eyes the size of houses.
It was a Cloud Kraken, one of the giant squid-like creatures that lived in the depths of the Deep Sea Wasteland. The monster let out an earsplitting roar and swallowed Squidface Brute with one great gulp.
None of this made sense. Despite their size and scary appearance, Cloud Krakens were gentle giants. Kind and docile, they lived in harmony with other sea creatures. Gill had never seen one acting like this.
“Wait!” Gill Grunt shouted up at the sea monster, even as it wrapped three of its awesome arms around the Warrior Librarians’ airship. “There’s no need for any of this. Calm down.”
It was no good. With another bellow, the Cloud Kraken tightened its tentacles, splitting the ship in two. Warrior Librarians dived to safety as the two halves of the colossal craft sank beneath the waves.
If he couldn’t talk the Cloud Kraken down, Gill would have to find another way to stop it. He swung up his water cannon and pointed it straight between the Cloud Kraken’s milky-white eyes. Even that wasn’t right. Cloud Krakens’ eyes were usually luminous green, but he’d worry about that later—for now he need to save everyone on the harbor side. Even the pirates!
Gill was just about to fire when a titanic tentacle slid around his ankle. No! The Cloud Kraken had grabbed him. Gill was lifted off his feet, his water cannon slipping from his webbed fingers. Try as he might, he couldn’t free himself from the Cloud Kraken’s sticky suckers and could only watch in terror as he was carried toward the monster’s snarling mouth.
The Cloud Kraken was going to eat him alive.
Chapter Five
Kraken Attack
Gill Grunt struggled as he plunged toward the Cloud Kraken’s slavering maw, but the tentacle wouldn’t budge. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of light on the harbor side below. It was a Portal! Gill grinned as he saw two newcomers appear out of thin air. It was Zap and Wham-Shell, his fellow Water Skylanders.
“Up here!” he yelled, waving desperately as he dangled in mid-air. Zap looked up, his mouth dropping open.
“What are you doing?” shouted the water dragon.
“Oh, you know, just hanging around,” replied Gill, rolling his eyes. “GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!”
“All right, keep your fins on,” replied Zap, taking a deep breath. Gill closed his eyes, knowing what was coming. A bolt of electricity shot from the dragon’s mouth and slammed into the Cloud Kraken’s tentacle. Sparks crackled up and down the suckers, sizzling against Gill’s own skin. The Cloud Kraken released its grip, and Gill tumbled back down to the deck, right into the armored arms of Wham-Shell.
“Th-th-th-th-th-th-hank y-y-y-y-ou,” Gill stammered, still vibrating from the electric shock. “Y-y-y-you s-s-s-saved m-m-me!”
“I’ve always said I was a bright spark.” Zap grinned, showing two rows of razorsharp teeth. “What’s that thing?”
“Trouble,” replied Wham-Shell, hefting his Malacostracan Mace onto his shoulder. “I’ve never seen a Cloud Kraken acting like this!”
“I-I know,” Gill said, his gills still tingling. “It’s gone mad.”
Behind them, the monster snatched up pirates and started to toss them from tentacle to tentacle. Zap’s mouth dropped.
“Whoa! It’s juggling them!” the water dragon exclaimed.
“Just when I thought today couldn’t get any stranger,” Gill said, forcing himself to concentrate on one problem at a time. “Okay, there are a lot of Warrior Librarians in the water.”
“But they can’t swim,” pointed out Wham-Shell.
“Exactly. You and Zap rescue them. I’ll deal with our colossal circus performer.”
The Skylanders didn’t need to be told twice. Zap and Wham-Shell were almost at the water’s edge as Gill recovered his water cannon. He primed the weapon and let loose a stream of ice-cold water. The gushing torrent hit the creature between the eyes, but it didn’t even flinch. As it continued juggling the terrified buccaneers, the sea monster turned its head towards Gill and blasted a thick stream of inky black goo right back toward him. In the sea, the ink was the Cloud Kraken’s main defense mechanism. If attacked it would spit it into the water and escape in the middle of the sticky black cloud. On land, it was just as effective—although the Cloud Kraken showed no desire to escape anywhere. The gunk plastered everything on the dock, Gill Grunt included. Gill tried to stay on his feet, but the stuff was too slippery. He landed with a splat on his back. Some hero, he thought, wiping the ooze from his eyes.
It was then that an idea struck him. Hardly able to see what he was doing, Gill thrust the barrel of his water cannon into the sea of slime and threw his weapon into reverse. Instead of shooting out water from his water barrel, the gun sucked up the gunk.
When his barrel was full of the goo, Gill once again targeted the Cloud Kraken’s face.
“Have some of your own medicine!” he shouted, squeezing the trigger. A column of black, inky gloop sprayed from the cannon, covering the Cloud Kraken’s face. The creature howled in surprise, instantly dropping the pirates it had been juggling. Luckily, Zap was already on the case. Sliding on the sea of black slime, the water dragon shot around the harbor, expertly catching each and every plummeting pirate. Gill grinned. His friend sure was fast.
The pirates themselves weren’t so happy. They were gasping in horror as the Cloud Kraken, blinded by its own goo, turned on their ship. It was going to destroy the Fearsome Fang.
Chapter Six
Captain Grimslobber
The Cloud Kraken reared out of the water, ready to pull the Fearsome Fang down to the bottom of the ocean. All around Gill, the pirates unsheathed their cutlasses and hefted cannons onto their shoulders, but the Skylander knew they wouldn’t even scratch the blinded Cloud Kraken’s hide.
On the deck of the Fearsome Fang, the doors of the captain’s quarters burst open. The pirate crew gasped as Captain Grimslobber stepped into the sunlight and turned to face the furious sea monster. Why wasn’t the captain running for his life? Couldn’t he see that the Fearsome Fang was seconds away from being destroyed?
Then the most curious thing happened. The captain simply stood, hands on hips, and stared at the Cloud Kraken. He didn’t shout. He didn’t move. He just stared. Even the flock of parrots on his shoulders joined in, glaring at the sea monster for all their worth.
This in itself wasn’t all that strange. Captain Grimslobber was famous for being incredibly brave. Cruel, yes; black-hearted, definitely—but brave all the same. If the Fearsome Fang was about to go down, Captain Grimslobber would go with it. Nothing would get the malevolent mutt to back down, not even a crazed Cloud Kraken.
No, it was the crazed Cloud Kraken itself that was behaving oddly. As soon as Grimslobber appeared on deck, the deranged sea monster froze, mid-attack. One minute the flailing tentacles were waving frantically
in the air, the next they were stock-still. The creature looked like a gigantic statue, its milky-white eyes staring balefully down.
Grimslobber thrust out a ring-covered hand, pointing out to sea, and miraculously, unbelievably, the Cloud Kraken turned tail and plunged back beneath the waves, swimming to the depths.
On the harbor side, the pirates cheered, throwing their hats into the air in celebration. A few of the less safety conscious buccaneers also threw their cutlasses into the air, forgetting that they’d have to catch them again on the way down.
With all the Warrior Librarians saved, Zap and Wham-Shell rejoined Gill.
“What happened there?” asked Zap as the pirate captain took a bow. “Did the Cloud Kraken just get bored with causing chaos?”
“I have no idea,” replied Gill honestly. “I thought Grimslobber was a goner.”
“The cap’n a goner?” chipped in a dog-faced pirate with bones woven into his beard. “Never. The cap’n be the bravest pirate in all of Skylands!”
“The stupidest you mean,” said Wham-Shell. “Taking on a Cloud Kraken in a staring competition?”
Wham-Shell’s comment drew a withering, fish-eyed glare from Gill. Even as much as Gill hated pirates, he knew there would be little benefit to antagonizing so many of them.
“Worked though, didn’t it?” Bonebeard pointed out. “He managed to banish the beast. Unlike you lot.”
“Pirate cap’n one, Skylanders nil,” added another buccaneer, a Squiddler covered head to tentacle in tattoos of Grimslobber. He must have been the captain’s biggest fan.
“I still thinks the place is cursed,” said a third, particularly scrawny pirate. “First there were the crabs and now this.”
