Chapter Twenty-Four:
A Journey around the Highlands
"What do you mean Stink Bomb is alive?" asked Jade in disbelief. "Well, we never said he was dead, just missing." Drobot stated. "Well, whatever. But if he's still out there, that means he's been growing, too." said Jade. "Well-" "SHUT UP!" Jade yelled, interrupted Drobot, who looked sadly at Jade, and stared at the floor. "So where is he?" asked Ghost. "That's what we need to figure out. All I can say is that he isn't here, and definitely not at Walmart." said Red. "How can you be so sure?" asked Jade. "If he was here, you'd had seen twenty bombs walking through the store." replied Cynder. Guru jumped in the conversation. "I honestly don't get why you guys are so caught up in finding this guy." he said. Dune Bug stated, "He destroyed the Village. He made a secret army right on the other side of us. He used that evil army to make a flood in the store." "And he kidnapped me! And...And he made me watch a Spanish child with an ape run around on the television!" said Dino-Rang. "Monkey, hombre. Era un mono." (Monkey, man. It was a monkey.) said Boomer. Flameslinger was tired of all the bickering. "How about we just find him ourselves!" he said. "I guess it could work." said Dune Bug. "We know our way around the Highlands probably better than anyone." said Red. "As long as you guys have some cars, we can leave in a hour." he said again. "Ok. But I don't want everyone to go. Just me, Jade, Ghost, Flameslinger and Zoo Lou. Sound fair?" asked Dune Bug. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Let's head out."
Everything was packed and ready to go. The Travelers' van was fixed -er, remade, and the others had a truck of their own. Red, Guru, Dune Bug and Flameslinger were in the first truck, while everyone else was in the second. Terrafin and Fryno decided to stay behind and check out the defenses of the store, so it was just Ghost, the girls, and Shroomboom. Red was driving, and he was leading the cars to the Toys R Us, a possible hideaway for Stink and his army. "So, what's at this TRU?" asked Dune Bug. "Not much, just about the same as your place. Except more toys." said Red. "Cool, cool. How many Skylanders are there?" asked Dune Bug again. "More than Target, Walmart and GameStop combined. They have a whole section of them. Of course, most of them are inactive." said Red. "Oh, I forgot that not a lot of Skylanders can move around. At Target, we pushed all the inactives to the side." said Dune Bug. Guru said, "Haven't any clerks noticed that you guys move around and build houses?" Flameslinger looked at Guru blankly. "Our Target is probably the worst Target on the face of the planet. There are only thirteen employees. Plus, we don't really have that much of an Electronics Department. Just three Isles." he said.
The cars pulled up to the Toys R Us. "Well gang, we're here!" said Red. "OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! TOYSSSSSS!" yelled Shroomboom happily. "Uh, how are we gonna get in? The scanner doesn't reach down here." said Ghost. "Don't worry, we have a way in the back." replied Guru. "Come on, its really fun!" said Shroomboom happily, like always. The eight Skylanders walked around to the back, and found 'the secret passage'. "All you have to do is climb right in!" said the childish fellow. He went first, then everyone followed behind him. They ended up in the Video Games Department, and were welcomed by a Stump Smash. "Passcode?" he asked. "Really, Sarge?" said Red. "Nah, go ahead on in." said the Stump Smash. He looked at Dune Bug and the rest of the crew. "Uh, what are these guys doing here?" he asked. Cynder stepped in front of them. "They're from a Target. We're on a mission." she said. "Ok, welcome to Toys R Us. This is the Electronics, and the Patrol have made a newly established base here. Don't worry, no baddies here." said the Stump Smash. Dune Bug leaned over to Flameslinger and said, "If the Patrol is here, they would have found Stink Bomb by now." Flameslinger thought for a second. "You're right. He wouldn't be creeping around a place where their counterparts would be crawling around." he said. Dune Bug walked up to Red. "Let's go, he won't be here." he said. He explained, and everyone walked back out the store. "Toys." said Shroomboom sadly.
Now back in the cars, everyone headed off to GameStop, another possible base of operations of Stink Bomb. "Happy, happy, happy, happy!" yelled Shroomboom. Ghost was annoyed with the child, and couldn't stop thinking about how fun it would be to throw him out of the car. "I like kittens, do you like kittens?" asked Shroomboom. "Can you just shut up?!" yelled Ghost. "Uh, no! Happy, happy, happy, kittens, happy!" Ghost picked up the fungi, and tossed him to the other side of the truck. "Hey, can you two stop fighting? It'd be nice if I could drive the car for once." yelled Cynder. She and Jade were talking, and it was actually pretty nice for the both of them. "I wish we had more girls at Target. All ofmiti the ones there live in the Village and are militant, brutal, insane... Well, the list goes on and on." said Jade. "Hey, at least you aren't stuck with a group of guys that constantly bicker, you don't around every week, and you aren't stuck babysitting a vegetable." said Cynder. She chuckled. "But I wouldn't give the world for it." she said. "Is it fun to explore the world and meet new people?" asked Jade. "It's great! We get to meet all kinds of different people, and learn their way of life." said Cynder. As she finished, Shroomboom flew up against the window. "I'm a kite!"
Everyone was at the doors of GameStop. The store was closed, which meant it was the Skylanders' time to play. "Ok, roadies, this is a very, uh... Unique place. Very different than your Target." Red stated. "So just be careful." Guru chimed in. "You make this place sound like the Ghetto." marked Ghost. Cynder jumped out. "It's fine. Pretty much the same as Target, just less Skylanders, and more fun." she said. "Hey, Target is very fun!" yelled Ghost. Dune Bug laughed and said, "No it's not." As Red knocked the secret knock (which is just one tap on the door), a Pop Thorn came out. "Oh, it's
you guys again." he said. "Hows it goin' Prickles?" The Pop Thorn smiled, jumped in the air, and said, "I have a case of the Mondays." Red looked surprised. "But you just jumped and smiled." he said. "Eh, I guess my depression is lightening up." said Prickles. "Well, can we just go?" asked Guru. "Yeah, fine. But who are these guys?" asked Prickles. "Oh, these guys are from Target." said Cynder. "Oh Eon, they're from the boring store." said Prickles glumly.
Everyone entered the store. "Whoa, this is pretty hectic." said Dune Bug. He looked around. "I thought you said there were less Skylanders." he said. There were at least fifty Skylanders running around the store, shooting and slicing and pretending they were brutally killing invaders. "Well, with the Patrol here, we've picked up quite a couple more friends." said Red. A Punk Shock walked up to Red. "Hey, you're back!" she said nonchalantly. "Yeah, it's only been a week." said Red. "Well, that's a pretty long time. Who are the noobs?" asked Punk Shock. "Oh, these guys are from Target." said Guru. From across the room, Prickles yelled, "The boring store." Punk Shock chuckled at Prickles. "Well, it's nice to meet you guys. Are you from the Village?" she asked. "No, from the Electronics Department. But we've been to the Village." said Dune Bug. He told her the whole story about the flood and Stink Bomb and the mini-war. "Oh, you know that Stink Bomb's been running around. He also gained a couple hundred more men."
End and Author's Log on next post, I was over the limit!
Well I Guess That Wraps It Up!