Skylanders: Second Leaf

Chapter 1 ~ Rat Trap

Night had fallen upon Skylands. Stars twinkled in the midnight sky. A full moon hung in their midst. No lights were on in the Skylander Academy. Nothing moved. Nothing stirred. Not a sound echoed through its empty, massive hallways, dorms and classrooms. Everything was silently sleeping without a care. Dreaming about the daylight ahead and the adventures to come. In one room, only lit by dim torches with aqua blue fire flickering on their burnt ends, lay a tall girl with sea foam green hair that shimmered like water in the hazy light; faded blue skin that looked soft to the touch; small, fringed ears; and webbing in between her fingers and toes that was a thin, translucent powder blue. She wore a royal blue and coral camouflage tube-top and long, faded midnight blue jeans. Her seaweed green and driftwood brown sandals lay at the side of her bed in a heap on the floor. She normally wore black combat boots, but those she wore around the school because they were more comfortable than her boots. Shoria lay calmly in her water bed, snoozing away, enjoying the nicest dream of her riding the waves of Skylands on her pretty blue and purple surfboard she kept propped up against the far wall of her bedroom.

Though, while everyone else was sleeping; a tiered, disgruntled Mammagma crept down the stairs to the kitchen as quiet as a herd of wild elephants. Mammagma was a fiery-tempered, elephant-looking, lava monster with grey, cracked, basalt-like skin. Within the cracks flowed glowing, bubbling, boiling magma as hot as his temper. Mammagma's yellow eyes glowed with the fiery heat that resonated off of his body. Once again, Mammagma was having a hard time getting to sleep, so he hoped a nice, toasty can of Lava Cola would help him drift off into his dreamscape. It usually did.

Shoria slowly awoke as she heard Mammagma's thunderous, booming footsteps.

"He needs another Lava Cola today, doesn't he?" Shoria said to herself, her voice like calm, warm waves lapping up against the sandy beach, "Ugh... he's already had three this afternoon..."

Shoria sat up and slipped out of bed, not bothering to put on her sandals. Once she hit the floor, which was covered in a thin layer of water, just below her ankles, Shoria allowed herself to morph into her water form. Shoria slipped out of her room and down the hallway. Soon, she came up to the stairwell that lead down to the kitchen and saw Mammagma's blazing hot smolder. Quickly, she glided past Mammagma and into the dark kitchen. The only light source was the last few coals slowly losing their heated glow in the pit of the furnace. Shoria touched the top for a brief second. Still hot. Shoria floated over to the counter, grasped one of the Lava Colas that had been sitting out and dropped it into the smolders of the furnace. She knew he liked his drinks fiery hot; after all, being in the same dorm building as him meant you had to deal with his habits and likes. Shoria drifted over to the icy fridge and grabbed one of her sparkling water containers from its shelf and leaned up against the door, morphing back into her physical form. Shoria popped the lid off and took a small sip, relishing at the cold.

Mammagma finally reached the bottom of the stairs and looked up

"I woke someone up again, didn't I?" He asked dryly, "Darn my large feet."

"Yep." Shoria sighed coolly, taking another sip, "Don't you realize you need to stop waking up at two in the morning? People need rest."

Shoria tilted her head over to the furnace, smiling welcomingly.

"Your Lava Cola's in there. I know you like it hot."

"Thanks." Mammagma mumbled, walking over to the furnace. Mammagma towered over it, waiting for his cola to be at just the right temperature. Scalding hot. "Everyone goes to eat or drink something when they can't sleep. I'm just not sneaky. That's what Stealth Elf's for. Besides, I keep having nightmares lately. Bad dreams about my past..."

Shoria took a sip of her crystal clear water, "Come on. It can't be that bad. Nobody else here has had dreams about their past, and whenever they do, it's just about some messed-up love life or something like that. They always come talk to me, since I'm head trainee here. After all, I've been here the longest."