SKYLANDERS

REPORT FROM SILVERWING:

“We’re the good guys. Our ancestors went above and beyond the call of duty to battle an intergalactic mob boss. That heritage makes us VALIANT! The denizens of Sixth Earth trust our authority for the most part. The Underdwellers still require our persuasion; and the Aquatitans, despite our best bids for their support, have not chosen aside. The Aquatitans have yet to choose to be our allies in a benevolent rule over Sixth Earth; I have not lost enough hope to declare them our enemies. Yet.

The evening that an Aquatitan Princess of the High Court breached the land of Sixth Earth near a known Underdweller hiding place almost convinced one of my top sergeants that she had chosen an allegiance on behalf of her community. I will not believe it yet. She panicked before we could gently ask and she fled back to her shores; without a piece of the royal treasure.

The Golden Heart Piece of the Royal Court could prove a powerful bargaining chip between the Aquatitans and any courier who should return it. The Underdweller people are no fools and will recognize the same. They will make the same power play for such a centerpiece. They trust their inventor, Lotek, to have concealed them from our radar equipment. From our old radars, he has; from our NEW radar equipment and weapons that Lotek has provided as peace-offerings to us, we shall soon see..”

The skies danced with lightning as though they knew who mastered them. Such electric violence should have threatened us. The smog lingering from land-walkers of past civilizations proved more of a threat to us in the air. The sky-electricity merely scared our adversaries and subjects; it AVOIDED harming us.

The dry and desolate Sixth Earth of extreme summers and violent winters was no more than a land civilization deserved; to the point where land-walkers today chose to live BENEATH it. Those to foolishly venture ABOVE it faced the night; and us…

I sensed movement from below. The slightest shift in the sands beneath the great pyramid of evil set off the blip. Tele-con, my feathered friend and closest ally, let out a sharp screech. My sergeants, Steelnerve and Steelhawk, heard the cry and raced to my shoulders.

“Silverwing!” Steelhawk’s gruff voice barked. “What’s going down down there? The fallen locket?”

“A displaced sword and shield too.” I added. “And that’s only what Tele-con had already broadcasted to me. Look again.”

Not one but three blips rose from beneath the sands and took form.

“Underdwellers?” Steelnerve asked, scratching her chin. “But they fear the land.”

“When they were wise, they once did!” I shot back.

Even then, the blips took on human forms. Virgor, the Bronze; Kala, the Child; Kando, the Savage; Underdwellers all.

“Underdwellers on land-fall?” Steelnerve asked. “Why?”

“What-say that we ask them?” Steelhawk demanded, flexing his mighty muscles with a toothy grin on his face.

“We wait.” I insisted. “Lotek kept his word to me that, while their cybernetic tech could hide them from our old equipment, our NEW equipment has made that warning defunct. Perchance there is something trustworthy in the rest of his people as well.”

Steelnerve nodded her appreciation; Steelhawk let out a hearty chuckle.

“Losing your wit, Silverleader?” he demanded, clapping his sister and I on both of our backs.

“No; and you are speaking to your leader in such a way!” I answered as the doors to our satellite air base opened and the wings on my back spread wide. “Stay here with the others, Tele-con. Steelhawk and Steelnerve, follow me out. There are but three of us and three of the Underdwellers; consider this a test of their nerve.”

Without awaiting a response, I took to the air. Steelhawk was swift to go airborne as well; Steelnerve finally followed as well in our shadows…

We swooped in over Sixth Earth in record time. The Underdwellers were right beneath us; such was the position of any land-dweller in our presence.

“There they are.” Steelnerve pointed out.

“What’s the gameplan?” Steelhawk demanded.

“They know our shadows; they know that it’s us.” I insisted. “The reactionary move is theirs.”

“Yes, Silverwing.” Steelnerve conceded.

Kala picked up the Golden Heart Locket; the one that should have been our prize. Nevertheless, I could not fault her for going after the token of trust first. I applauded the Underdwellers show of grit and their strategy.

Then, Kando bore the claw-shaped shield and Virgor raised the iron sword. Weapons! So, that was their answer to their superiors…!

Steelnerve and Steelhawk knew what they were to do at the show of an opposing weapon, even an antique one; the three of us fired as one on our prey. Even as we grounded these Underdwellers, my radar picked up another form taking shape. This one; he could be equally trusted by either side. Lotek had reached the surface; would he stand with his allies or with a future for all of Sixth Earth…? Either way, in a moment, the Aquatitans of Aquarius will only have one side to stand with; or choose to be against…