Chapter Text
It had been nearly ten years since Kaos last tried to take command of the Skylands, though it felt like it had only been months ago.
With the disappearance of the dark portal master and his evil doing, so too disappeared the spirit of Master Eon, who’d been waiting around in the land of the living, separate from his body, but still willing and able to aid the Skylanders on their quests to protect the realm they called home.
All of the Skylanders had taken Master Eon’s disappearance hard, but none had taken it quite as hard as Spyro. The purple dragon and the elder portal master had shared a tight knit bond, and now that he was gone, Spyro was left to lead and guide the Skylanders on his own. They all looked to him now for encouragement and instruction, and he often struggled being the leader they needed. By his side through all of it, his faithful partner Cynder, who’d vowed to never let him bear the weight alone.
Even if the forces of Kaos hadn’t attacked in years, and the darkness was held at bay by the core of light, evil still persisted throughout the many floating islands. The Skylanders were still very much needed, albeit on a much smaller scale than before, and Spyro was there to tell them all where to go and what to do.
One Skylander who’d seemed to struggle finding his place now that Skylands was at peace, was the mutant gremlin, Pop Fizz. The potions master had been restless ever since Kaos’ defeat. Many Skylanders had been able to return to the lives they’d led before they were enlisted as Skylanders by Eon, but Pop Fizz didn’t have that luxury. See, he couldn’t remember who he’d been before he was a Skylander. At all. He couldn’t even remember the day he’d been asked to join the group of noble heroes, or who’d asked him to join in the first place. His early memories were scattered and fragmented, and the clearest ones were all of him living under the Academy, working on his potions by himself.
Pop Fizz knew he’d been around for a while. Other Skylanders told him that he’d joined between Spyro and his team's return to Skylands to rebuild the core of light, and when Kaos had attempted to use a giant Arkeyan robot to become emperor. Apparently he’d lived on Flynn’s ship for a time, then in the small town of Woodsborrow, before finally finding his current home in the dark basement of the Academy where his lab was set up.
Every morning he’d report to Spyro for mission assignments, but every morning Spyro would dismiss him, claiming that there was nothing they needed him for, and he should spend his time creating more potions. Very rarely would the purple dragon actually give him a mission assignment, and even then it was usually something simple like destroying a chompy pod that was growing on the Academy grounds.
After ten years of nothing to do but sit in his lonely lab and experiment, the wiry haired gremlin was starting to grow anxious, and his storage cabinets were getting quite full.
As the sun came up, Pop Fizz got out of bed and prepped for the day like any other day. He strapped on his gloves and pulled his backpack onto his shoulders, overflowing with potions. He left the dark and damp basement and squinted in the early sunlight. He waved hello to his fellow Skylanders appearing on the Academy grounds for their daily work assignments and climbed the stairs towards the library, where Spyro could often be found in the mornings, reading through Eon’s endless journals hoping to absorb some of the elder portal master's wisdom.
As he entered the library, his sensitive ears twitched at the sound of Spyro’s voice around the corner. He stood still, listening for a moment to try and identify the voices.
“Thanks for coming in so early, you two. The sooner I get this thing under control the better,” The tired voice of the dragon sighed.
“No problem, Spyro,” The deep vocals of who Pop Fizz could only assume was Sunburn replied.
“What’s the situation?” A raspier tone asked, and while it was difficult to place at first, Pop Fizz finally placed the face of Camo to the voice.
“We’ve got a small group of Drow in the Coconut Islands. I’ve gotten a few reports saying that they are stirring up trouble for the Mabu in Stonetown. Demanding money in exchange for fake protection. Think you two can handle it?”
“No problem,” Camo purred confidently.
“Absolutely,” Sunburn added.
“Good. Get to it then, and report back to me when you’re done.”
There was some shuffling and Pop Fizz stepped aside as the two dragon-hybrid Skylanders walked past him towards the exit, giving him a slight nod and smile as they did so.
He took a deep breath before rounding the corner and taking in the sight before him. Spyro was settling back down into the chain that Eon once took up, looking over an open book on the desk in front of him. Behind him, flying towards the higher shelves to observe the titles on the dusty old book covers, was Cynder, her translucent ghost companion following closely by her side.
“Spyro?” Pop Fizz cleared his throat and the dragon sat up straight.
“Pop Fizz,” He took a deep breath inwards, “Good morning. I’m sorry, I don’t have any assignments for you today. You’re free to work on your alchemy.”
“Well, uh,” Pop Fizz took another hesitant step forward just as the dragon had started to turn back to the book in front of him.
Spyro and Cynder had grown quite a bit in the ten years that had passed since Eon left. Dragons were known for being large and intimidating, but it took them hundreds of years to grow that large, and Spyro and Cynder were still quite young. Younger than Pop Fizz even. Well… He figured they were younger than him, he couldn’t actually remember how old he was.
“I heard you telling Sunburn and Camo about Stonetown and I couldn’t help but feel like they might need some back up,” He shrugged with a crooked smile that he knew likely flashed a couple of his mutant fangs. “Y'know, just in case the Drow have a goliath with them, or maybe if they need someone to help keep the civilians safe?’
Cynder turned to look at them from where she hovered near the top of the bookcases, looking between Pop Fizz and Spyro with a strange gleam in her crystal blue eyes.
“I appreciate the offer, Pop,” Spyro gave a kind smile, “but I think that Camo and Sunburn have things under control for now. Sending too many Skylanders to a small Drow group might cause the townsfolk to panic and blow things out of proportion.”
“Right,” He bit his tongue to keep from sounding too disappointed, eyes moving downwards to look at his clawed paws on the floor. “Well… If they need a hand, just let me know, okay?”
“Sure thing,” Spyro gave a nod. “Thanks, Pop.”
“No problem,” He forced a half smile. He lingered in the library for a moment longer before slinking back out, heading towards the entrance to the basement once more. He let out a deep sigh. Maybe he’d just climb back in bed and call it a day. He knew Camo and Sunburn weren’t going to need backup, and if they did, Spyro would likely just go himself.
Back in the library, Cynder swooped down from the book cases, landing on the stone floor with a sigh as she turned to look at her partner behind the desk.
“What was that about?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What?” Spyro glanced up from the journal.
“That,” She nodded her head towards the door. “Pop Fizz was offering to help and you shut him down. I know Camo and Sunburn probably won’t need him, but I think he was offering because he wanted to go. It has been awhile since you gave him any kind of real assignment.”
Spyro let out a deep sigh, shaking his head as he turned back down to the pages before him. “I can’t send Pop to Stonetown, not with all those Mabu.”
Violet paws shut the journal in front of him, sliding it out of the way. Spyro looked up, locking eyes with Cynder who stood on the other side of the desk, a serious expression in her cold undead eyes. “And why not?”
“It’s… He’s…” He let out a frustrated huff. “You know Pop Fizz. He’s very sweet and super helpful, but his way of helping is a bit too dangerous for me to comfortably send him into a town full of civilians.”
“He’s gone into civilian areas before,” Cynder shook her head, “The two of you used to go on lots of missions together, you didn’t have a problem with it then.”
“That was different,” Spyro rolled his eyes, “That was when we were facing the threat of Kaos. Don’t get me wrong, Cynder, Pop’s a great Skylander and he was very helpful in the past. We’re not at war anymore though, and his methods are a little overkill for the small assignments I give out now.”
“I suppose I can understand that,” She nodded, “But Spyro, you can’t keep giving him nothing. He wants to help! He’s just as passionate about protecting this place as the rest of us are.”
“What are you suggesting I do?” He let out a breath, rubbing his temples with one clawed paw. “Send him out there with Sunburn and Camo and let him cause a panic in the town when he transforms into the beast?”
“No, I’m not saying that at all,” Cynder replied, “I’m just saying find something for him to do. Even if it’s nothing, make him feel like it’s something. He needs to feel like he’s helping and he’s making a difference or he’s just going to get depressed. Send him on a patrol or let him scout ahead for a team. Just something to get the poor thing out of that dusty basement for a change.”
Pop Fizz had considered doing as he was told and working on his potion crafting skills with his freetime, but he’d figured out that Spyro was only telling him to do that as a means to get rid of him. He wasn’t as dumb as people thought he was. Sure, he had a lot of gaps in his memory, he was clumsy, and he struggled in social situations, but he wasn’t dumb. Far from it actually.
Even if he couldn’t remember who he’d been before reaching Skylander Academy, he’d obviously been doing something important. He had the knowledge and supplies to create his berserker potion in the first place, hadn’t he? That obviously meant he was book smart. His crazed, potion drunk self had managed to stumble its way into the Skylanders, hadn’t it? So he was clearly a little street smart too.
Regardless of how others saw him, it made no difference in his current situation. So, as he’d been doing for the past month or so, once he got his instructions from Spyro, he trudged back into his basement, ignoring the tables of beakers and alchemy, and flopped down onto the messy couch, staring at the brick walls with vacant eyes until he fell asleep.
It must’ve been only a half hour or so later when he was startled awake by the sound of someone banging their first against the heavy basement door. He quickly jumped off the couch, pushing several empty potion bottles up under a table and throwing a stack of blankets in a corner before he rushed to the door, running his dulling claws through his unkempt fur before he answered the door.
“S-Spyro?” He swallowed, suddenly wishing he’d taken a second longer to tidy up. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, Pop,” Spyro assured him gently, “I was just coming to inform you that I’ve got a mission assignment for you after all.”
“You… You do?” His usually crooked ears stood straighter and his slightly crossed eyes focused. A surge of energy shot through his round body and caused his fur to stand on end. He tried to contain his excitement and put on a professional expression, but there was no hiding the slight bounce in his legs as he thought of how amazing it would be to feel useful again.
“Yes, I apologize for not telling you this morning, it must’ve slipped my mind what with Camo and Sunburn getting their assignment at the same time and all,” Spyro walked past him, taking a look at the basement with an unreadable expression.
Slipping past him, Pop Fizz continued ideally kicking empty glasses underneath furniture and moving things around to try and make the place at least a smidge more presentable to the purple dragon.
“So, uh,” he cleared his throat, “What’s the assignment?”
Spyro was looking at the table containing his magic supplies now, eyeing the bubbling orange liquid in a beaker over a small flame. Pop Fizz had set that up yesterday, and it would need to stay there, untouched, until it had turned yellow.
“I need you and Trigger Happy to go investigate a troll sighting in the Falling Forest,” He explained, turning to face the gremlin again.
Pop Fizz had to bite at his tongue to keep from shrieking in excitement. Not only was he getting his first real mission assignment in almost a decade, but he’d be partnered up with Trigger Happy? The only other gremlin Skylander and one of his best friends!? It was almost too good to be true. Had he accidentally taste tested a too good to be true potion?
“The Falling Forest?” He asked, trying to focus on the details of the mission so he wouldn’t arrive and get confused. He instinctively grabbed a notepad and pencil from his desk and began writing things down, always being cautious when it came to mission instructions and his fragile memory. “I didn’t think anyone had been to the Falling Forest since Kaos first destroyed the core of light fifteen years ago.”
“That should be true,” Spyro nodded. “However, several weeks ago we got a couple of reports from Mabu hiking through the area that they spotted what looked like trolls deep within the area. Now, you and I both know that some Mabu can be a bit jumpy and excitable, which is why it’s taken me so long to actually act on those reports, but it’s still worth looking into. If there are trolls in the Falling Forest, then we need to figure out why immediately.”
The assignment was low stakes. An investigation that would likely lead to nothing. Mabu reported sightings of trolls all the time, and usually it was something simple, like a pointed leaf near their bedroom window that could be mistaken for a long ear. Other times they’d arrive at the scene and find peaceful trolls who’d never sided with the darkness just trying to live their lives and buy groceries. Pop Fizz didn’t mind though. Any assignment was an improvement from lying within the four walls of the basement where he could practically feel himself melting into the couch.
“I’m going to have Flynn drop the two of you off in the forest's entrance tonight, and I want you to do a full sweep of the area. Since the report was so long ago, I want every inch of that forest covered to look for any signs that a troll was there. In three days, you’ll meet Flynn again on the other side of the reserve,” Spyro explained. “Does that sound agreeable to you?”
“Yes sir,” Pop Fizz smiled.
Pop Fizz took a deep breath inwards, inhaling the fresh air that was blowing through his fur as the Dread Yacht tore through the skies, heading in the direction of the falling forest. Captain Flynn was dropping the two gremlins off in the cover of darkness, the moonless sky lit only by the blankets of stars. This way, if there were any trolls within the forest, there’d be less of a chance of them noticing the giant rusty airship and running to hide.
A noise beside him startled him and he turned to watch as Trigger Happy leapt up onto the railing, leaning dangerously close to the side of the vessel without any sign of fear, his long tongue flapping in the wind.
“Excited?” The golden eyed gremlin asked, turning to him with a bright smile and Pop Fizz nodded.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve gone on a mission that wasn’t on the Academy grounds.” He admitted with a shrug.
“Then this’ll be super fun!”
Pop Fizz looked Trigger Happy up and down for a second with a small smile before looking away again. It had been a long time since the two of them had gotten to spend much time together, and he’d almost forgotten how different they looked despite being the same species.
He looked nothing like a gremlin was supposed to. His fur was long and wiry, his ears floppier than they should be. His four fingered paws housed sharp, non-retractable claws and his mouth held a set of fangs that looked more canine than most. He was a good foot and a half taller than Trigger Happy, and that was before he’d downed a bottle of berserker potion to cause him to grow to twice his usual size, three times if he’d drank enough of the stuff.
Trigger Happy wasn’t exactly the standard appearance of a gremlin either, but all of his imperfections could be considered attractive. Where most gremlins fur was gray or dull brown, Trigger Happy was ginger. His fur bright orange, with a few curls on the top of his head. While he and Pop Fizz both had the standard yellow sclera that gremlins had, Trigger Happy’s irises were gold. Not hazel, not light brown or yellow. Gold. Shining, vibrant, reflective, gold. The only “negative” trait that Trigger Happy seemed to have was his freakishly long tongue that couldn’t be pulled all the way into his mouth most of the time, and that was hardly noticeable when you were looking at the rest of his breathtaking features.
While the gremlin species was quite small in Skylands nowadays, with the population only being a few thousand, almost any gremlin they’d ever met was instantly smitten with Trigger Happy. Something about those shiny golden eyes could be quite alluring.
Why did he have golden eyes and bright orange fur? No one knew, he’d never told anyone. Popular theories from the masses would have you believe that he once belonged to a family of golden statues, like the Golden Queen of the Doomraiders, and that they’d used their Midas touch on him. While this was an interesting theory, it was probably not true. A midas touch would’ve turned him into a solid gold trophy, not a ginger furred, golden eyed, fuzz ball.
“Alright, Skybuddies, we’re almost there!” Flynn shouted from the ship's cockpit. “Are you ready?”
Trigger Happy whipped two golden pistols seemingly from nowhere and held them upwards, pointing into the clear skies. “Always, Cap’in Flynn!” He chuckled manically
The dread yacht swooped downwards, a rope ladder falling over the side for Pop Fizz and Trigger Happy to climb down.
Pop Fizz carefully descended to the very last step on the ladder before letting himself drop the few feet downwards to the rough earth below. He looked up to see if Trigger Happy was following behind him and to his total surprise, the smaller gremlin only allowed himself two steps downward before he leapt the rest of the way, barrel rolling once he’d hit the ground and standing back up completely unscathed.
“Alright!” Flynn called down from above them. “Pop, you’ve got the farspeaker if you need anything, and if I don’t hear from you, I’ll be meeting you on the other end of the forest in three days.”
“See ‘ya!” Trigger Happy smiled, waving goodbye as the large air ship soared off into the night with a surprising amount of stealth.
“As ready as I am to head into the Falling Forest and start hunting trolls, we should probably set up camp for tonight, right?” Trigger Happy sighed, long arms crossing as he looked at Pop Fizz expectantly.
“Uh… I guess so, but why?” Pop Fizz tilted his head.
“Well it’s not like we’re going to see anything in this darkness,” Trigger Happy shrugged.
He just blinked a couple of times, ears bending backwards awkwardly.
“Oh my Eon, can you see in the dark!?”
“Well, kinda?” Pop Fizz shrugged, “I thought you could too, I thought it was a gremlin thing.”
“No way dude, that’s a you thing!”
Great. Yet another thing to add to his ever growing list of abnormalities. At this point Pop wondered if he should just try to reclassify himself as a new species altogether.
“Well, I don’t wanna let you have all the fun by yourself, so if you don’t mind I still think we should set up camp for the night, Sound fair?”
“Yeah,” He let out a small sigh, “That’s fine with me. We should probably rest up tonight anyway, huh? Big adventure we’ve got ahead of us.”
“Exactly,” Trigg snapped his fingers and pointed at Pop Fizz with a wink. “Come on, I think I saw a nice clearing when we were flying over.
The two round balls of fur laid on their backs in the middle of a meadow, their bodies nearly hidden by the tall blades of grass. Fireflies occasionally adding an extra sprinkle of stars to the night skies. Typically, it was considered unwise to sleep out in the open like this, especially when you were hunting for enemies. However, both Pop and Trigg, even though neither would say it outloud, were almost positive that they weren’t going to find anything hiding in those woods, so they felt perfectly safe lying in the calm field.
Pop Fizz, using his potion filled backpack as a sort of pillow, stared up at the canopy of stars above them with a sigh.
“What?” Trigger Happy asked, lying directly across from him, close enough that the tips of their ears would touch if they moved them the right way.
“I don’t know, I was just thinking…”
“What about?”
“How long it’s going to be before I get to go on another mission like this,” He admitted, “I think Spyro’s been trying to keep me out of service.”
“What?” Trigger Happy let out a small uncomfortable sounding laugh, “Why would he do that?”
“I’m dangerous,” Pop Fizz sighed, “I scare civilians. I’m more of a problem than a solution… I don’t know, Trigg. It just feels like since there’s no threat of Kaos or the darkness taking over anymore, I’m just kind of useless.”
Trigger Happy, for probably the first time in his life, didn’t say anything.
“Sometimes I think about pouring all my potions down the drain,” Pop Fizz continued. Taking the silence as an invitation to continue. “Getting rid of all of my alchemy equipment and just… Leaving the Academy."
“Where would you go?”
“That’s just it… I don’t know. That’s why I haven’t done it already. I don’t have anywhere to go home to. Now that the world doesn't need saving, it’s almost like I don’t need to be here.”
“I understand,” Trigger Happy sighed and his ears twitched in surprise.
“You do?”
“I might not turn into a giant rage monster, but I’m also not exactly the best thing to happen to the Skylanders PR team,” The orange gremlin explained with a shrug. “I’m the fastest gunman in the land, but not exactly great at rescuing kittens from trees or helping grandmas cross the street.”
“Huh… I guess I never thought of how you were adjusting to the whole civil protectors instead of action hero change.”
“Guys like us ain’t exactly cut out for domestic life,” Trigger Happy nodded.
“Do you think Spyro made up the troll reports?” Pop finally asked, hearing the grass shuffle as Trigger Happy fidgeted. He knew they’d both been avoiding the subject.
“I dunno. That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing he’d do just to give us something to do. The Skylanders are paying for Flynn’s fuel to get here, hang out in the area, and come get us in a few days. They’re paying us for the mission, and they’re paying for any supplies we use while we’re out here. Just seems like a waste of resources for a wild goose chase to let two gremlins relive the glory days, don’t you think?”
“Alright, so maybe the troll reports were real, but they probably don’t hold any water. If he weren’t trying to give us something to do, do you think he’d have acted on the reports at all?”
“No clue,” Trigger Happy sighed, “There’s no telling what that dragon’s thinking anymore. He changed a lot after Eon…”
“I never met Eon… Did I?” Pop Fizz asked. He hated that he couldn’t remember. The way everyone described the elder portal master made him seem like such a kind man. The kind of man who would’ve looked at him and seen potential instead of a monster.
“No,” Trigger Happy replied. “Not even someone with a memory as bad as yours could forget Eon. You’d know if you’d ever met him. I’m pretty sure Hugo and Cali recruited you after the core of light was rebuilt.”
It grew quiet again, neither of them knowing where to take the conversation from there.
After a few beats of silence, Trigger Happy yawned and turned onto his side in the grass, tossing his long tongue over his shoulder like a sort of scarf to keep from unintentionally licking the ground in his sleep. “Goodnight, Pop,” He sighed.
“Night…” Pop Fizz replied.