by Onk Beakman
“Ye will come with us,” they droned in the same spooky voice Wham-Shell had used.
“No, you don’t understand.” Gill tried to wrestle free from their grip, but they were too strong. The spell must have been giving them superstrength. As he wriggled, the prince and princess dragged him across the cavern toward a massive metal dome that was connected to the pipe they had seen above the seabed. It was a diving bell. Gill hadn’t seen one of those for years. Long ago, Mabu used them to explore the many seas of Skylands. They would sit inside the chamber and be lowered beneath the waves, air being pumped down from above.
“Finella, who’s inside the bell?” The princess didn’t even acknowledge the question, so Gill tried her brother. “Aquan! Listen to me. What’s going on?”
“They can’t hear ye,” came a voice from inside the diving bell. “They be completely under me power.”
“Captain Grimslobber,” Gill hissed as he was brought level with a window in the corroded metal bell. So, it wasn’t Kaos behind the mysterious voice after all. “I should have guessed. How are you controlling the merpeople?”
The captain grinned, removing his pirate hat with a flourish. Underneath he was wearing a tiara made of tiny glittering shells. If the situation wasn’t so grim, Gill would have laughed. The captain looked ridiculous.
“It’s all down to this little beauty,” Grimslobber said, looking pleased as punch with himself. “The Fish Master’s Crown gives me control over any creature of the sea—and I is not just talking about merfolk.”
Wham-Shell stepped forward, mace in hand. His eyes were still chalky-white.
“But if you can control sea creatures, why don’t you just command the gem-eels to swim into your traps? I assume you’re after their jewels.”
“Those jewels will make me rich beyond me wildest dreams—and me dreams are pretty wild, I can tell ye,” gloated the captain. “Unfortunately, the gem-eels seem immune to me crown’s charms.”
“So, you needed the merpeople to dig them out.”
The captain’s smirk drew wider still, as the parrots on his shoulders flapped around in a frenzy.
“Not just merpeople, Skylander,” he sneered. “I don’t mind the odd Gillman lending a hand . . .”
“You’re joking,” Gill scoffed. “I’d never help the likes of . . .”
Gill tried to finish the sentence, but his jaw wouldn’t move. In fact, nothing would move. His arms were frozen by his sides and, even as he tried to struggle away from the prince and princess, his legs wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t even move his eyes. He was just staring straight ahead. Straight at the captain. Straight at his master.
Gill Grunt was under Grimslobber’s spell!
Chapter Twelve
Under the Spell
There was nothing Gill could do. No matter how much he tried to fight the spell, he had to do what the captain commanded. Helplessly he joined the merpeople, digging out the eels and shooing them into the cage. He had no control over his actions, no control at all.
As the first cage was hauled off by an army of hypnotized mermen, Gill tried to grind his teeth in anger, but couldn’t even do that unless Grimslobber told him to. He had to find a way of breaking the curse.
As the cage was lifted, a figure was revealed spread-eagled under a blanket of suffocating starfish. It was Zap, pinned down and unable to move.
“Oh no, not you, too?” Zap moaned when he spotted Gill’s milky eyes. “Old Grim-face can’t control me, because I wasn’t born beneath the sea, but I’d hoped you’d be able to escape.”
So did I, Gill thought as he was forced to pick up another pickax. Stiffly, the Gillman turned and stalked away from Zap. But what can I do?
“You can fight it,” Zap shouted after him, almost as if the water dragon had read his mind. “You don’t take orders from anyone. You’re a Skylander. A Skylander.”
It was no good. The Fish Master’s Crown was too strong. Resistance was impossible. Back at the cave wall, Gill raised the pickax high above his head and began to dig.
Zap wasn’t giving up. “Just think why we’re down here, Gill. Remember our mission. We need to find the Water fragment before Kaos. We need to stop him from rebuilding the Mask of Power. Eon is relying on you.”
The pickax stopped swinging for just a second. Zap was right. He’d promised Eon that he wouldn’t let him down. By swim or fin, Gill Grunt would win. The pickax continued on its way, cracking into the hard rock.
“You told Master Eon you could handle it, too,” Zap continued, his voice muffled under all those starfish. “He believes in you. So does Spyro. So do I.”
Gill could hardly hear Zap speaking under the tok, tok, tok of the pickax, but he could feel anger rising in his chest. Eon and Spyro were relying on him. He couldn’t let them down.
“You’re Gill Grunt!” Zap shouted almost out of breath. “Remember that! You never give up. You didn’t give up at Last Chance Cove, you didn’t give up at the guppy gate. You didn’t even give up when those pirates kidnapped your girlfriend. You searched all over Skylands for her. You still look for her even now. And you know what? You’ll find her. You’ll find her as surely as you’ll beat this curse.”
A thousand-and-one faces raced through Gill’s hypnotized mind. Eon, Spyro, the love he’d lost all those years ago. He thought of Zap caught beneath the starfish, of Grimslobber laughing inside his diving bell—of Kaos rebuilding the Mask. He saw Wham-Shell, under the captain’s thrall, Finella, Aquan. They all needed him, needed him to save them. And all the time the pickax kept tapping at the rock. Tok. Tok. Tok.
He wouldn’t let them down. The merpeople had saved them, even though they were under Grimslobber’s spell. They had guided the Skylanders through the electro-jellies. If they could do it, so could he. He was Gill Grunt. He was a Skylander.
The pickax stopped midswing. With a cry of determination, Gill tossed the tool away. It bounced off the cave wall and clattered to the floor. Behind him, he heard Zap cheer. He had done it. He had beaten the curse. He was free.
“No!” screamed Grimslobber from inside his diving bell. “Ye must obey me. Ye must obey the Fish Master!”
“I don’t think so,” Gill yelled back. He could feel the crown trying to reassert its control over him, but struggled forward. Each step was an effort, like wading through molasses, but he wouldn’t let himself be taken over again. Not when his friends needed him. “This ends here, Grimslobber,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
Grimslobber was on his feet now, his parrots squawking and flapping around the cramped diving bell. The captain was pressing the band of shells down on his head, trying to amplify its power, but it was no good.
“Gill!” Zap cried out excitedly. “Grimchops is losing control. Look at the merpeople.”
All around, the merfolk were swaying, clutching their heads. Their eyes flickered from milky white to normal and back again. The more Gill battled on, the more difficult it was for the captain to concentrate. Everyone was fighting back. And they were winning.
“Wham-Shell!” the panicking pirate screamed. “Protect yer Fish Master. Batter that flamin’ fish!”
A look of confusion on his crab-like features, Wham-Shell lurched forward. He started to swing his mace around and around, just as he had at the kingdom gates. Bubbling blowfish, thought Gill with a gulp. I’ll never be able to avoid that in this state.
Then, just before Wham-Shell released the mace, the crustacean winked. His eyes had returned to their normal color. Wham-Shell released the weapon, sending it careening toward the gem-eel cage. The wooden box splintered into a thousand pieces and the gem-eels were released.
“Noooooo!” Grimslobber cried as the gem-eels swarmed toward the diving bell. He jumped back, the Fish Master’s Crown slipping from his head and clattering to the bell’s metal floor. The captain staggered forward and grimaced at the sound of something crunching beneath his feet. He raised his eye patch and looked down in dismay. The Fish Master’s Crown had been broke
n in two.
Instantly, the spell was broken. Hundreds of merfolk awoke from their nightmare and turned to face the captain, furious at what he had done to them.
“Grimslobber, it’s time you learned that Gillmen never give up!” cried Gill, recovering his water cannon. “Time to pay for your crimes.”
“Time to skedaddle,” spluttered the captain, pressing down a lever at the back of the diving bell. As the furious merfolk looked on, the bell was winched up, smashing through the roof of the cave, back to the Fearsome Fang.
“He’s getting away,” hissed Prince Aquan, gnashing his teeth in frustration.
“Don’t worry,” Zap said, slipping out from beneath the now dormant starfish. “Didn’t you see who’s gone along for the ride?”
Finella clapped her hands in excitement as she spotted what Zap was talking about. Gill Grunt had grabbed onto the bottom of the diving bell and was being hauled up after Grimslobber.
Chapter Thirteen
Grimslobber Escapes
“Haul me up!” Grimslobber yelled as the diving bell broke the surface of Deep Water Wasteland. “Haul me up, ye lice-infested bilge-swiggers.”
The crew of the Fearsome Fang pulled and panted, manhandling the heavy device onto the deck.
“Cap’n, what happened?” Bonebeard asked as Grimslobber tumbled out of the bell.
“Mutiny,” Grimslobber gurgled, shoving the remains of the crown into his satchel. “Mutiny, treachery and revolt. Those slovenly sea-dwellers will rue the day they were hatched, I tells ye. Once I’ve got them back under me spell I’ll—”
“You’ll what, dog-face?” The pirates nearly fell over themselves as they spun around. Gill Grunt was standing on top of the diving bell, his water cannon trained on Grimslobber. “I don’t think you’ll find they’re so easy to control now, Captain.”
“Hey, ye scab-encrusted sea bass!” Grimslobber screamed. “I’ll grill ye for me breakfast! I’ll roast ye for me dinner! I’ll barbecue ye for me supper! Ye’ll never leave this ship alive.”
“Brave words for a guy who’s about to lose a fight,” smiled Gill, refusing to rise to the bait. All around him, the crew broke down into mocking laughter.
“The cap’n, lose?” jeered Bonebeard. “What a joke!”
“Who’s going to fight him anyways?” scoffed Squid-Ink.
“Not a little shrimp like ye,” mocked Runtface. “Not with all of us at his side!”
Every pirate on the ship drew his weapon.
“Oh, you’re right,” agreed Gill, still looking down the barrel of his gun. “I couldn’t beat you on my own . . .”
“So, ye be ready to surrender?” Grimslobber taunted, his own cutlasses in his paws. “Ready to walk me plank?”
Gill smiled. “But who said I was on my own?”
The deck of the Fearsome Fang lurched, sending the pirates scurrying to starboard.
“It be an earthquake!” squeaked Runtface as he barreled into the captain.
The deck rolled the other way, pitching the pirates back to port.
“But we not be on any earth to quake, ye salty swab,” pointed out Squid-Ink, dropping his mortar gun.
The boat rocked back and forth. By now, most of the buccaneers were on their backs.
“What in Frightbeard’s name is happening?” whined a dizzy Bonebeard.
“Why don’t you look over the side and see?” called out Gill, enjoying the sight of the terrified pirates slipping this way and that.
“No!” shouted Grimslobber, clutching the steering wheel for dear life. “It can’t be. It just can’t be.”
But it was. Every merperson the captain had hypnotized had broken the surface and was rocking the Fearsome Fang, threatening to dump the entire crew into the churning water.
“Get on yer feet!” Grimslobber screamed at his men. “Man the cannons! Charge! Do something!”
“Did someone say ‘charge’?” Zap burst from the sea in a shower of white foam. Grimslobber looked on helplessly as the water dragon soared over his head to land on the upper deck, electricity dancing around his open mouth. “Ride the lightning!”
“Hope you haven’t started without me.” Heavy feet thumped down on the lower deck as Wham-Shell joined the party. “Brace for the mace!”
“Is this the best ye can do?” he bellowed. Despite his bluster, Grimslobber backed away.
“Not quite,” replied Gill as a Portal opened above his head. With a roar, Spyro appeared in midair, smoke curling from his nostrils. “This is the best!”
“What are we waiting for, Gill?” Spyro called down. “I’m all fired up!”
Gill grinned at Grimslobber. “Battle stations!”
Chapter Fourteen
Pirate Battle
The pirates didn’t stand a chance. Disorientated from the merfolk’s rocking, the bewildered buccaneers were left scrabbling for their scabbards and groping for their guns. Everywhere they turned they came face-to-face with a Skylander.
Zap giggled wildly as he slid across the deck on a stream of slick Sea Slime, shocking pirates left, right, and center. Spyro swept down from above, butting them overboard. Wham-Shell smothered them in sticky starfish. And Gill sent them sprawling with jets of salty seawater from his cannon.
“I’ve had enough of this,” yelped Runtface, jumping over the side of the ship. “Women and cowards first!”
“Wait for me,” called Squid-Ink, diving away from the battle.
“I never wanted to be a pirate anyway,” yelped Bonebeard, holding his nose and plunging overboard. “Yer on yer own, Cap’n!”
Grimslobber was on his own. His entire crew had either been dumped in the drink or had chosen to abandon ship. Even his parrots had flown the coop. With cutlasses aquiver, he tottered back on his two wooden legs, desperate to get away from the Skylanders.
As the captain retreated, Spyro touched down beside Gill and the others. They didn’t say a word—just advanced on Grimslobber step by step.
“Now then, mates,” the captain said as he inched back. He was on the plank now, shuffling back as far as he could go. “Let’s not be hasty, lads. We can cut a deal. I has treasure hidden all over Skylands. Let me go and I’ll share it with ye, on me grandmother’s honor.”
“People say that you sold your grandmother, Grimslobber . . .” Spyro said, never taking his eyes off the captain.
“To pay for your first gold tooth,” added Zap.
“Lies, all lies,” whimpered Grimslobber, throwing his swords down and raising his hands in surrender. “All right, it was me second gold tooth actually, but that’s not important right now.”
“What’s important is that you enslaved all those merpeople,” Gill said, no longer smiling. “And turned me against my friends.”
“I admits that was a little hasty,” Grimslobber pleaded, reaching inside his coat. “But I’ve learned me lesson. I’ll turn over a new leaf, I promise ye.”
“You will?” Gill stopped. Could the captain really change his ways?
“Yeah, next time I’ll fillet ye while I have the chance!” Grimslobber pulled out his hand, revealing the pistol he now held in his paw, a pistol pointing straight at Gill. “Say good-bye to your shipmates, Skylander!”
Grimslobber pulled the trigger, but the shot went wide, flying harmlessly over Gill’s head. The entire boat had tilted, pitched back by Prince Aquan and his mermen below. The captain tottered back on the plank, his arms desperately wheeling.
“Help!” he screamed. “I can’t swim!”
Gill ran forward to catch the plummeting pirate, but it was too late. Grimslobber tumbled back, falling from the plank. But before the captain could even hit the water, the Cloud Kraken exploded from the depths, opening its monstrous jaws wide and swallowing him whole. With a bellow of satisfaction, the great beast disappeared beneath the waves.
“Quick,” said Zap, as the merpeople righted the ship. “We need to find that crown. Something that powerful has to be the Water fragment.”
�
�You don’t say,” said a voice that stopped the Skylanders in their tracks.
Spyro hissed as he saw who was standing on the upper deck. “Kaos!”
“Ahoy, there, SKYLOSERS,” the evil Portal Master jeered. He had Captain Grimslobber’s hat on his head and one half of the Fish Master’s Crown in his hand. “Thank you for getting rid of that fool Grimslobber. You saved me the trouble of sending him to his DOOOOOM! It’s just a shame this thing got broken. It’ll never enslave anyone again.”
“Drop it, Kaos,” warned Gill, “before we drop you.”
Kaos threw back his head and laughed.
“You dare threaten meeeee?” A storm cloud appeared above the Skylanders’ heads. “I—Kaos—summon my TERRIBLE TORRENT OF TEMPESTUOUS TROUT! HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!”
With a flash of lightning, fish rained down from the cloud, smothering the Skylanders in a pile of flapping fins and snapping mouths. Kaos was nearly beside himself, giggling as his mortal enemies slipped and stumbled under the fishy downpour.
“Lord Kaos,” came a whiny voice from behind the wicked Portal Master. Wiping his eyes, Kaos turned to see his long-suffering sidekick, Glumshanks, running up clutching Grimslobber’s satchel. “The captain must have dropped this during the fight,” the troll panted, fishing out the other half of the crown and throwing the satchel down to the deck.
“At last,” Kaos crowed, snatching it from Glumshanks’ hands without as much as a thank-you. “Behold . . . THE WATER FRAGMENT!”
With the Portal Master distracted, the unnatural shower of fish had subsided. As his friends dug themselves out, Gill Grunt was frantically trying to clear the trout that were plugging up his water cannon. All he needed was one shot.
Shrieking in triumph, Kaos turned to face the Skylanders. “The Mask of Power will be mine, all mine! And you,” Kaos pointed a stubby finger at Gill, “will be DOOOOOOMED.” A bolt of light flashed from the Portal Master’s finger and smashed through the deck at Gill’s feet.
