Skylanders: Found

20. Castle in the Sky

Chill looked up at the great rising hulk of a building. In an essence, the castle was an architectural nicety and preserved the rich history of Shattered Island. Yet, it was now becoming a bit of a nuisance. To access a building so high up in the sky without the assistance of any winged friends would be a difficult feat indeed. She pressed her hand to her chin and attempted to form a plan before it became even more impossible; the castle was still rising. What's more, the orb was beginning to grow in strength, increasing in both size and vigour. Small strings of multi-coloured energy were beginning to spill from its core, although these new irregularities were doing nothing of interest.

"Cali, Chill. What's the plan?" Luci asked, fixing her glance on the rising castle. On occasion, a brick or two would fall from above and the group would have to avoid being hit, though it wasn't a very pressing task. If getting hit by a brick would give them the magical ability to teleport up to the castle, that would be of great help. Nobody tried this, of course, because it was but a thought experiment which would get them pummelled by falling bricks. Nobody wanted that.

An unexpected turn was Orville's return. He rushed back in, avoiding any falling objects before calling to the group, "I have news of great urgency, my friends!! King Ringo is still trapped in the castle!!"

"Oh, great," Cali said, taking a deep breath in. Orville looked flustered, but a brave face remained on his face. Chill sighed and made a final call.

"We only have one option: we fly the Astronave to the castle," Chill decided.

"There must be another way," Luci disputed, "We have no idea what that energy could do to our hull. We could put our whole crew in danger!" One quick glance into Chill expression was enough; Chill would not back down. Eventually, Luci nodded, reluctant but decided.

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In the face of danger, the entire Spirito crew were unmoved. "Had we had time, I'd have made adjustments, of course," Luci said, "but this is a most pressing matter; we must save the king and drain the energy into one of the Magnolia spheres."

The Astronave carved its way through the air, dodging pointed rooftops, flags and other inevitable obstacles. Cali watched as Luci pulled the wheel this way, that way, all whilst helping the ship climb upwards closer to the castle. The work was gruelling and even the Spirito captain herself seemed to be drained in this work.

Chill climbed to the crow's nest and commanded Oro to scout the castle, before she crawled back down to help the rest of the Astronave from falling from grace; turn a lever here, pull a cord here, measure the speed, feed the crew. It was the kind of work which Chill never grew tired of, though it was unrivalled by her love for combat. As she worked, she wondered about Thumpback and Stump Smash. Perhaps splitting up wasn't the greatest idea after all... Thumpback's anchor may have been able to pull down the castle, after all. It also begged the question of whether their mission to the Mushroom River had been successful and whether they were anywhere close to reaching their rendezvous location. She hoped so, yet it annoyed her immensely that they could be waiting while they were doing painstaking work to save King Ringo and stop the magical orb shattering his castle.

As they drew closer to the floating castle, Luci's eyes grew fainter and Cali grew concerned. Holes were appearing in the captain's clothes and every aspect of her existence was proceeding to vanish. She clung on tight to existence, however, and continued to fly them closer. "What's happening to you?" Cali asked urgently, pushing her aside and taking the wheel.

"I... I fear... I fear I know what that... that thing is..." she said, trailing off. It wasn't just Luci; the other Spirito Souls were beginning to fade away, weaking exponentially as they did so. This left Chill and Cali alone to run the ship and drain the orb. Well, not completely alone. And this was a slight concern of Chill, indeed. If the two of them couldn't run the ship alone, they'd have to resort to Plan B. But she wasn't going to let that happen. Chill's piloting was much less precise, a wind signal or two coming off as a consequence of the hull's pursuit. Being careful, alas, would be a death sentence for the King; they had to fight with all of their might to get to him at once.

They drew closer still, rising up to meet its side. Chill and Cali exchanged looks, but it was clear what they needed to do. Chill would board the floating castle, rescue the King, diffuse the energy and then escape to the ship. Thus, Cali would have to circle the castle until that time came. It wouldn't be a trying task, but to pull through was all that they desired. Chill slid over to Cali's back, grabbed herself one of Mags' spheres and then made her way to the side of the ship. There was a reasonable gap between the castle's edge – where a helpful hole had been formed – and her position, but she knew her legs were capable of meeting such extremes. She moved backwards and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she was running and leaping over to the castle. Her eyes opened and she had made it, though she was clutching to the wall.

She pulled herself up and looked around. To see inside a castle was a real treat, one which took her far back. But she refrained from looking around and attempted to find the King. Where would he be? She took a punt and ran down the stairs, looking for any sign of life. "Your majesty?" She called out, "Are you here?" She looked around, meticulously, but there was very little activity. That was until a brick suddenly flew from the wall towards Chill, a colourful string-like arm of the orb slivering its way inside the castle. 'It may already be too late,' she thought to herself, dashing away.

She was searching in particular for a sign that food had been eaten or a hot drink or even ice. Something that meant he could still be around. And she found it soon after, though not in the form she expected. It was King Ringo, alive (but perhaps not well). One of the orb's arms was wrapped around him like a spring.

"Help me, Skylander!!" the King pleaded, the grip of the arm tightening. Chill nodded, but was quite unsure how to proceed. Mags had given them virtually no information about how to use the capture devices; would it work on one of the arms or did she have to apply it directly to the orb itself. By getting it wrong, she'd be losing one of the only snow globes they had in their possession. So, she ran backwards, looking for a breach in the castle's wall. "H-Hey!" the King called after her, but she tuned it out.

The wall was annoyingly preserved, so she figured she'd have to use the orb's own power to break her way through. So, she relocated the arm which had previously been hunting her. It was easy, with it being unnervingly close behind her. She stood still for just enough for it to move full-force towards her, carving a hole into the wall. This was her chance. She lowered herself quickly through the hole in the wall and positioned the globe in her hand, ready to throw at the orb. 'It's now or never,' she reminded herself as she threw it. Her eyes dared not look away as it glided through the air. It hit, engulfing the power of the orb within it. The arms began to grow frantic, now all focused on bringing Chill with it. She darted through the corridors to find the King, who had now been released. "Come," she commanded, and he did. The castle was filled with the arms of the orb, though, so returning to the Astronave would be no easy task. And they had to do so quickly, or risk dying within a shattered castle.

Dive after dive, roll after roll, it was a tricky task, indeed, and it was only when she found herself caught by one of the arms that she realised truly the power that they possessed. For a moment, she thought she'd been shot by a bullet of deadly death, but this was not true. It felt like her very soul was being pulled forcibly from her body and locked away in a darkened prison. But it was a moment which didn't last long, because the wriggly arms of the orb began to shrink away through the holes they created. This meant they had very little time left at all. Chill picked up the King and bolted it up the stairs at to the castle's edge. But she didn't see the Astronave.

Instead, she saw Thumpback holding out a hand from Bowhead, one which she immediately took, bringing both of them aboard. "We must catch the SEAL before it gets destroyed," Chill commanded. Thumpback didn't need to be told twice and rushed Bowhead to the foot of the floating castle, the SEAL sitting at its root. The last of the orb had just been sealed away and it was about to make a terrible fall. But, being held by Thumpback, Chill reached out and caught it. They then scurried out of there sharpish; they certainly didn't want tonnes of stone pushing them into an early grave, did they?