darkSpyro

Hey everyone. So, my name is Alan and I'm a twelve-year-old boy from Perth. I know what you're wondering. Why is this Alan kid on a Skylanders fan-fic? Well, let's just say there's more to my story than meets the eye. Read ahead if you want to find out more. And one piece of advice. Don't go searching around the back of your closet unless you want to be taken on death-defying adventures around the globe by Skylanders.

CHAPTERS -

Chapter 1 - I Find a Secret Lair Behind my Closet
Chapter 2 - I Spot a Teleporting Dragon
Chapter 3 - I Eat Some Delicious Steak
Chapter 4 - I Casually Travel to Porto
Chapter 5 - I Make Some Cheesy Jokes
Chapter 6 - I Talk to Wrecking Ball
Chapter 7 - We Explore an Ancient Basement
Chapter 8 - I Travel in a Portuguese Train
Chapter 9 - I Take Forever to Find a Statue

Chapter 1 - I Find a Secret Lair Behind my Closet

It was a warm spring day when I first saw them. My younger brother, Carlos, and I were playing football in the backyard. Carlos took the goal kick, slamming it with the front of his Nike trainer and sending it flying towards my goal, which was marked a neon pink cone and a deflated basketball. Looked like Carlos was trying to score directly from a set piece on the other side of a field. I caught the ball on my chest and started dribbling. Carlos hesitated, juggling between whether to come out of the penalty area and challenge me for the ball or stay in his goal and attempt a save. Pouncing on his doubtfulness, I flicked the ball up and smashed it into what would have been the top-right hand corner if we were using actual goals.

“Manchester City!” I shouted, theatrically kissing the Manchester City badge on my shirt and waving my arms in the air. Carlos, who was playing as Sunderland, went over to get the ball from inside the hedge.
“Alan, can you give me a hand,” he asked, “you completely thumped the ball up, like, three meters high or something.” I came over and grabbed his waist, then heaved him upwards. He managed to get a couple fingers around the ball and scraped it down. I was just about to retreat to the house when we heard a shout from across the street.
“YO, CARLOS, DO YOU WANT TO COME OVER AND PLAY?”
It was our neighbor, Pablo. He and Carlos go to the same primary school, Saint Anthony’s. It was a small school with six classrooms, a library and a staff-room above the miniscule office. They might not have a big population of students, but they can play sports incredibly well. Their Year 4/5 basketball teams won the local league, their Year 6 rugby team came third in Australia and their football team is doing a tour in Japan currently. Other sports they aren’t too bad at are water polo (third in local league), cricket (runners-up in Perth Little League Cup) and softball (fourth in local league). To add to that, only one of their students didn’t make it into the Bernadette-Lourdes or OPB talented and promising class. It’s literally a wonder that they haven’t got more than 200 students.
“SURE! CAN I BRING MY BROTHERS OVER?” Carlos replied. After receiving the affirmative, Carlos asked me if I could go find Thomas, my other younger brother, and bring him over. Then he sprinted off across the oil-black road and made a beeline for Pablo’s house.
I was about to go find Thomas, but I remembered that you always needed boots and shin pads if you wanted to go over to Pablo’s. So I went upstairs and went into my room.

My room’s pretty cool. On one side, I have my single bed with a quilt covering it and a red, fluffy blanket folded at the end. Over my bed hang two white shelves, holding my vast selection of books, my 3DS and my games, LEGO sets and various birthday presents from last year. At the foot of my bed there’s a basket with all sorts of junk in it, from A2 paper to shoe boxes. On the other side is my own private sink, a closet, a chest of drawers and, or course, a Perth Glory flag.
I head over too my closet and slide open the wooden door. I reach inside and feel around for my shoes. It’s really dark in here, I think to myself, I really need to ask Mum for a torch or something. But I finally feel the tip of an Air Jordan shoe and start fumbling through the pile, trying to find the familiar feel of studs and/or the Nike logo. I think I had touched my school shoes when a sudden force pushed my behind. It wasn’t a gentle nudge, like Thomas shoving me as a joke, but a full-on shoulder barge by a rugby player push. I would like to say I held my ground bravely and turned around to face my assailant but truth is I went flying into the back of my closet. I tore through my bedroom wall like it was made of paper and was sent tumbling down a steep slope. Rolling, rolling and rolling until I finally smashed into a cold, steel wall. There was a sharp crack as pain streaked through my body, starting from the impact point, my shoulder, and ending at my toes and forehead. I swore my shoulder was dislocated. Somehow I temporarily ignored the pain and felt around the steel walls for something, anything that I could hold on to. I found this switch thingamabob and flicked it down. The sound of a generator appeared and lights slowly started to flicker on.

What I found was interesting, and very annoying. The first thing I saw was two sets of grated metal stairs, with a hill in between them. If I hadn’t suddenly tumbled down the hill, I probably could’ve saved myself a lot of pain and discomfort by taking the stairs. The grass on that hill was surprisingly green, but what was nature doing in this secret bunker under my house? I looked around me, taking in my surroundings. I was in a circular room, with stainless steel walls and a plush red carpet covering the floor. You could see a dirt smear on the section of the wall I had crashed into. The lights on the ceiling looked quite modern for a secret underground place that no one new about. But the most noticeable, and strangest, feature was that on the walls symbols had been spray-painted. A red flame, a raindrop, a blue spiral and a star were just some of the pictures on the wall.
As I turned around, I noticed a grey doorknob and the faint outline of a door around it. Slowly creeping towards it, I cautiously turned the doorknob. As it rotated to the right, I heard a chair scrape from the other side. I knew the sound because it happens all the time when my brothers and me have to get off of the computer or stand up and leave dinner. We have a habit of scraping chairs nosily. I suddenly got nervous, but I had already turned the doorknob so I decided to carry through and with my other hand I pushed the door open.
Now I stood face to face with a robot.

Chapter 2 - I Spot a Teleporting Dragon

The robot had four legs made out of gold. It wore an armor made out of sheets of some purple metal. Its face was gold, and its eyes were as green as leaves on a tree.
“Um, hey. I was just,” I flinched as it just stared at me, lifeless and devoid, “um, you know, exploring. So, um, bye?” I started to wheel away, but something cold grabbed my shoulder. A metal hand was on my shoulder.
“ Hello, I am Spy Rise,” the robot said in a metallic voice, “what is your name? Please state your name.”
Wow, this is cliché artificial intelligence. Hello, what is your name? Very original, very original. I took a step back, which made a slight thumping sound, and the robot, Spy Rise, said “So your name is thump? Hello, thump. Do you know about Skylands? Please answer yes or no.”
“Um, what is this… Skylands?”
“Please answer yes or no.”
“No.”
Spy Rise stepped aside, and for the first time I got a look at the room we were in. An orange stool sat at a wooden desk. Above the desk, about fifty monitors blazed different images. One showed a small, grassy field covered in sheep. Another showed the inside of an oak mansion. Each monitor had a unique image, but some of them were less cherry than the others. One specific monitor had a pink/purple dragon practically breathing lightning. The dragon was backed into a corner by these minute Cyclopes’ holding weapons. One of the Cyclopes managed to get past the lightning and crushed the dragon’s leg. The dragon’s eyes screamed in pain, and everyone saw this as a signal to attack. In a few seconds, all you could see of the dragon was a claw as the Cyclopes’ swarmed over and around it.
“That is Skylands. It is a world made up of floating islands, each totally unique yet very similar. Each have its own features but all are protected by the Skylanders, a special group of creatures tasked with protecting Skylands from evil. Please ask any questions you may have.”
Immediately I thought of that dragon that had just been completely swarmed. “Who was that dragon? The one that was being attacked by Cyclopes?”
Spy Rise rotated his head towards the monitor where the Cyclopes were still piled atop and around the pink/purple dragon, and then said “That is Cynder, the female dragon who is able to breathe lightning. She is a Skylander.”
“Why was she attacked, Spy Rise?”
“Because she is a Skylander. The Cyclopes are minions of Portal Master Kaos, who is trying to take control of Skylands. The only thing stopping him is the Skylanders, so he sends out evil forces to send them away.”
I took another look at the monitor. The Cyclopes’ had started to disperse, but Cynder was nowhere to be found. I asked Spy Rise “What do you mean by ‘send them away’?
Spy Rise replied, “When a Skylander is overpowered or a Skylander dies, they are sent to Earth, or more specifically, here. The only way to get back to Skylands is to find a portal. No Skylander has found a portal yet.”
“Can we see Cynder arrive?”
“Yes. Follow me.” Spy Rise maneuvered his way towards a keypad. He tapped in some numbers, probably a code, and two sections of the wall on my right slid away from each other. I’m not sure, but I think that’s the first secret door I’ve ever seen, unless you count the back of my closet.

We walked along this balcony, and stopped at this glass box with a circle inside it.
Spy Rise started to talk in his metallic voice. “If all goes to calculations, which it always does, Cynder should appear somewhere in the circle in three, two, one.”
There was a flash of light in the box, and a skull appeared made out of dark purple smoke. I thought back to the strange symbols in the main room, and I think there was a skull there. Don’t quote me on that, though.
When the light lost its brightness and the smoke faded away there was a dragon standing in the middle of the circle. Just as Spy Rise predicted, Cynder was in the circle and just on time.

Spy Rise, Cynder, a Skylander called Lightning Rod and I were all in this luxury lounge. Spy Rise had to explain the workings of what they call Headquarters to Cynder and I was happy to listen. Turns out this whole building serves multiple purposes, to find portals, to monitor the war in Skylands, to receive Skylanders and a few others. There is a small restaurant, run by the Skylander Food Fight, behind the leaves. There’s a medical bay, run by the Skylander Double Trouble, behind the star. There’s even a training station behind the mountain. The lounge area is near where they receive the Skylanders and, obviously, the monitor room is behind the door from the main room and is run by Spy Rise. Lightning Rod, who was about as tall as a basketball player for USA and as stocky as an ice hockey player for Canada, was visiting after a short look in Shanghai for a portal. Basically, it was a minute army base run by 3 Skylanders.
“I really thought I wouldn’t be sent to Earth this early. This war is still going to go on for years.” Cynder said.
Lightning Rod bellowed. “Well, at least you weren’t sent here as early as me! I was completely ambushed at an abandoned stadium trying to find some treasure.”
Suddenly, a thought hit me. I had been down here for at least an hour! “Guys, I’ve got to go. My family will be worrying like mad because I’ve been down here so long.”
“It is fine,” Spy Rise replied, “I have created a simulator of you to live your life while you are with us. It will not fool them forever, but it should be able to live your life for at least a day without causing suspicion.”
“Oh, thanks, but I better get going anyway. My Dad’s cooking steak and I really don’t want to miss it.” I started to run towards the monitor room, but I still heard Cynder call out that I could come again. I definitely will come again, but first there’s some steak I’ve got to eat.

Chapter 3 - I Eat Some Delicious Steak

The steak is delicious, medium rare and seasoned beautifully. Just a little bit of charcoal sprinkled on the top makes its appearance stunning. My Dad cooks the best steak in the whole world, no doubt about that.
“ Alan,” Carlos started to say, “I still can’t get over that goal you scored against me today at Pablo’s.”
I was completely confused, but then remembered that Spy Rise had created a human simulation of me. “Yeah, that was a pretty great goal.” I replied.
Thomas joined in the conversation. “You almost made the net tear off! Man, I wish we had goals, like Pablo.”
I just smiled and murmured agreement, and went back to eating my heavenly steak. If I talked for too long, I’d probably make a slip-up. This would take a lot of practice getting used to.
When I had finished my dinner, I excused myself and went upstairs to my bedroom. I grabbed my 3DS of the shelf and started to play some Pokémon Rangers: Guardian Signs. Personally, I liked the Shadows of Almia version way more but this game was the only one I had of the Pokémon Rangers trilogy.
After a solid twenty-five minutes of gaming, I put my 3DS on charge and went outside to join Thomas and Carlos, who were playing French Cricket.

For those of you who don’t know what French Cricket is, it’s pretty fun and really simple. All you need is a cricket bat and a tennis or rubber ball. The batter stands with his feet together at a decided point on the field. Someone throws the ball at him, either trying to get his shin, shoe or ankle or to set up a catch. The batter has to hit it without moving his feet. If someone catches the ball without it touching the ground, or catches it when it has only bounced once with one hand, then the catcher is now the batter. If no one catches it, then someone has to throw the ball at the batter where it lands. The batter can never move his feet. If the thrower gets the batter’s shin, shoe or ankle then the thrower is now the batter. This game is endless until players want to stop.

Carlos threw it at Thomas, who was trying to rotate his hips so he could get a better angle. Somehow he managed to do some sort of reverse shot and it went flying.
“Mine!” I yelled, and sprinted after the ball. It bounced once on our yard, all I had to do now was catch it with one hand before it hit the ground. I dived for it, stretching out my left arm. The yellow rubber ball touches my fingertips, but I can’t get a grip and it rolls out of my hand. I land on the ground, hard, and have to shake off the shock of the impact and get ready to throw the ball back to the batter. It was a solid ten meters separating me and Thomas, not impossible to get the distance but quite difficult to get the accuracy required to hit the lower leg. Plus, I was practically a straight line in front of him, so he didn’t need to rotate and was standing there completely comfortable.
I decided to risk it and threw it straight at him. Thomas smashed the ball along the ground, but not before Carlos leapt in front of him and caught the ball using his right hand. It must have been the catch of the century; I could hardly believe that my youngest brother had just pulled off a miracle. If Carlos ever wants to become a Saint, he already has one of the three miracles you need to perform under his belt.
Thomas was groaning, “Seriously, Carlos? I was sure I was going to be batter for at least five more throws. That was, like, an inch perfect hit.”
Carlos just humbly shrugged. I’m joking, I don’t even think he knows how to spell humble. He was running around whooping, throwing his fist in the air and jumping every two steps.
“Yo, Alan,” Thomas said, “you want to take Carlos’ turn? We’ve both had five or something like that.”
I took him up on the offer and picked up the Kookaburra, Australia’s very own, put my feet together and protected my lower leg with the width of the bat. Thomas called Carlos over and told him to get ready for the catch. Carlos looked slightly disappointed that I was batting over him, but didn’t complain and crouched down, eager to pounce.
Thomas gave me an underarm throw, obviously expecting me to try smash it towards him. Instead, I swept it to my right and it went about seven meters before being stopped by our hedge. Carlos rushed to pick it up before Thomas and threw it hard, aiming at my shin. I had just enough time to block it, but now it was right in front of me and Carlos had the ball. Carlos dived to my right and curved his hand, letting the ball go and hitting the side of my shin. I expected to get out from that range anyway.

We played for another ten minutes and then went inside to watch the Perth Glory play. They were playing Melbourne City, who were at home and playing at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. Aaron Mooy, of Melbourne City, was having a brilliant night. He got three assists in forty-five minutes. At half time, the score was 3 – 1 in Melbourne City’s favor, not a good sign for us hardcore football fans in Perth. Another forty-five minutes passed, and with Aaron Mooy banging in a goal of his own we knew we had no hope of winning this game with that beast of a player out there. When the referee blew the whistle, it was 5 – 1, apparently a record home victory for Melbourne City. With Perth Glory second from the bottom, things are not looking up for the squad. However, it was a good day, and a queer day, overall. I played some sports, found a robot, saw a teleporting dragon and discovered that there were buff, blue humans with beards.

As I crawled under my quilt, which was actually made by my grandmother, I practically fell asleep straight away. I dreamt about Spy Rise, Cynder and Lightning Rod playing French Cricket with Aaron Mooy. Pretty weird dream, am I right?

Chapter 4 - I Casually Travel to Porto

I woke up at 7:00 am to the sound of my Huawei phone playing Pompeii, by Bastille. Straight away I thought of my closet, but I realized that I had better get some food in me first. I put on my robe and headed downstairs to the kitchen. My Dad was already in there heating up some baked beans. I could smell toast with butter on it. These two things set my mouth watering, because I love baked beans. If I had to make a top five breakfasts list, baked beans and buttered toast would definitely be on there.
“Hey Alan. First up as usual.” My Dad stated, smiling.
“Hi Dad, are we having baked beans and toast?”
“Sure are, Alan! Butter or no butter?”
“Butter! Do you even know me, Dad?”
My Dad just laughed and started buttering a fresh piece of toast for me. A few moments later, Carlos came down in his T-Rex pajamas.
I shook my head in an incredibly sarcastic way. “You’re nine, Carlos. Should you really still be wearing T-Rex pajamas? Skateboards or skulls I could understand, but T-Rexes?”
Carlos didn’t pick up on the sarcasm. “Well you’re twelve, Alan. Shouldn’t you have actual pajamas, instead of a t-shirt ten sizes too big for you?”
“Dude, I was joking! No need to be angry.”
The flair in Carlos’ eyes died down slowly. “Oh, sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
Dad interrupted us. “Do you guys want breakfast or not? It’s the most important meal of the day, you know.”
Carlos and me said in tune “Except for dessert!”

I was walking down the grated metal stairs to Headquarters. Yes, I used the stairs this time instead of rolling down the hill. Quite a miracle, isn’t it?
So, when I reached the bottom I was quite happy who greeted me. Cynder must have heard my footsteps and came to the main room to meet me.
“Hey Alan. How’ve you been?”
“Good. Yourself?”
“Not to shabby. Now, Spy Rise wants to see you.” She gestured her head to the door leading to the monitor room and went into the mountain. Like literally walked straight into it. There was a slight ripple in the wall and then she was gone.
I emitted a little grunt of surprise, and then walked into the monitor room. Spy Rise was sitting on the orange stool, observing the monitors.
Spy Rise stood up, scraping the stool legs across the floor, and rotated around. “Hello, thump. We require your service.”
“You need my help? What would Skylanders need my help for?”
“You are a human. As Skylanders, the places we can go to and the things we can do is limited because of our appearance. But you grant us a way to fix that. Humans would not look twice if you were to wander around in a populated street, or explore a museum. We need help to find portals, will you be our help? Please answer yes or no.”
I have to admit, I was a bit startled at this sudden request. I mean, I had only known Spy Rise for a day and he was already asking me favors. Of course I would help, but there were certain issues I would have to address first. So I told him “Yes.”
“Do you have any questions?”
“Actually, I do. If I’m out exploring in Las Vegas or St. Petersburg or something, what happens to my simulation? You said it wouldn’t fool them for too long.
“That was a basic simulation. I will code a very sophisticated simulation that will be able to take your place for at least a year.”
“ Alright, but what about finances and sleeping and stuff? I don’t have enough money to pay for hotels and buy food.”
“I can create you a fake bank account with almost unlimited funds.”
That was all I needed to hear. Almost unlimited funds! I would totally be able to do whatever I want. “Okay,” I said, “when do I start?”
Spy Rise swiveled around and grabbed an atlas from the desk. He opened it to a picture of Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. Then he extended one fat metallic finger and pointed to the top of Portugal. “Porto, Portugal, Europe. The Skylander Wrecking Ball is already over there investigating the possible case of a portal. You and Lightning Rod will join him and search for a portal. If one is not found in one week, we will recall you and mark the city as non-fruitful. Lightning Rod is waiting for you in the teleportation circle.”

I look at Lightning Rod and he looks at me. We’re inside the glass box and we’re standing in the middle of the teleportation circle.
Lightning Rod counts down from three. When he reaches one there’s a flash of light and smoke swirls around us. I’m going to Portugal!

Chapter 5 - I Make Some Cheesy Jokes

I was freezing cold. It looked as if we had teleported underwater. Looking up, I could see sunlight glinting off the surface of the lake or sea. I looked to my right and saw Lightning Rod’s beard spreading out in strands. He made a signal with his hands, pointing one finger upwards. Together we swam upwards and breached the surface.
I gasped for breath. Once I had regained some oxygen in my lungs, I looked around us. It seemed we were in the middle of a river. “Lightning Rod, why in the world did we teleport to a river?”
Lightning Rod was already moving towards the bank. Over his shoulder he answered “We have to teleport to somewhere humans wouldn’t see us. The Douro must have seemed the obvious answer for Spy Rise.”
I swam awkwardly to the riverbank. Swimming wasn’t really my strong point.
Lightning Rod had already gathered a pile of sticks and reedy grass by the time I made it to land. He made a flexing motion with his hand and a yellow lightning bolt appeared right in his palm. It was pretty epic. He tossed it onto the pile and a full-blown fire started.
I lay down on the ground, which was surprisingly soft, and closed my eyes, letting the heat of the flames blanket me. I felt like an old cat lying by a fireplace.
After a couple minutes of relaxing, Lightning Rod asked me if I could stamp out the fire. “I would if I could, Alan,” he explained, “but as you can see I have no legs. Or feet, for that matter.”
So I stamped out the fire with my Vans. It melted the sole of my shoe a bit, but better than some Portuguese tramper finding a random fire next to a massive river.

I checked in at the InterContinental Porto hotel. It had a 4.7 stars rating, so it must be quite good. I would’ve sworn that people would stop me from checking in to hotels. I mean, I’m only twelve and I look even younger than my age. But they didn’t give a second glance when they saw I was booking the master suite. It sounded like I spoke fluent Portuguese when I talked to the lady at the desk but really I was just repeating what Lightning Rod had told me to say. Apparently Skylanders pick up foreign languages easily.
I spoke first, saying “Olá, meu nome é Alan.”
The receptionist, who had glary whitened teeth, curly ginger hair and looked about thirty replied “O que posso fazer por você?”
“Posso Por favor Reserve A Suíte Master.”
“Certamente, você tem um cartão de crédito?”
“Sim.”
Basically, I just said hey, my name’s Alan. Then she asked me what she could do. I replied, seeing if I could book the master suite. She asked me if I had a card and I said yes. Lightning Rod said he would find some way to meet me in my room, so I wonder what creative plan he’ll come up with.

“Very creative plan, Lightning Rod. Coming up the stairs when no one was looking, bravo.”
Lightning Rod gave a smirk. “I believe you humans sometimes say ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.’”
“Yeah, well a titan should smash a window or sneak through an air vent, not take the stairs.”
Lightning Rod puffed his chest and flexed his biceps. “Do you think I’ll be able to fit into an air vent?”
I laughed. “Maybe if you suck your stomach in!”
Lighting Rod put one hand on his forehead in mock despair. “I’ve known you for two days and you’re already making rubbish attempts at jokes.”
I gave one last chuckle and rolled over onto my bed. I leaned towards the pillow and grabbed the chocolate bar they had left on top of it.
Opening my mouth, I leaned in like a cheetah delivering the final kill and ripped a chunk out. Delicious, milky, cocoa goodness rippled through my taste buds. “Man, this chocolate is the best!”
Lightning Rod raised one eyebrow and sniffed. “Well, it smells a bit too rich for me. You can have my one as well.” He chucked me another bar of chocolate from the bench. “I would’ve kept it, but now that I’ve smelt it I don’t think I’ll like it.”
This was an opportunity too good to miss. I quickly snapped out my Huawei and went onto Spotify. Then I searched the top fifty for a certain song. Once I found it, I said “Well….” And started to play Flo Rida’s I Don’t Like It, I Love It.
I sang along. “I don’t like it. I love it, love it, love it, whoa. So good it hurts.”
Lightning Rod put his head into his hands and groaned. “This is going to be a long week. First a suck in your stomach comment and now music jokes about chocolate! This is a terrible sign.”

I was on top of a local house, staring at the Dom Luís I bridge. Sunlight was blaring in my face but not making much heat. It crossed over the same river Lightning Rod and me teleported to, the Douro. According to Lightning Rod, it used to hold the record for the longest iron arch. Lightning Rod seemed to know all about Porto, and he said that all Skylanders are required to study the area they are going to investigate before teleporting.
I sat on the tiled roof until a shadow passed over me. A sudden gust of wind pushed my hair forward and my eyes started squinting, for some reason. There was a crunching sound as something heavy landed on the roof tiles and cracked them.
In front of me sat a navy blue ball with eyes. Looks like Wrecking Ball had chosen to arrive in a spectacular fashion.

Chapter 6 - I Talk to Wrecking Ball

I sat on the brick-like tiles of a local house’s roof, overlooking the Dom Luís I bridge in Porto. Next to me sat, or rather stood, a Skylander named Wrecking Ball. He was a massive metallic blue grub with green eyes and a toothy smile. Logic states that the bigger a creature gets, the deeper its voice gets. I guess that rule doesn’t apply for overgrown grubs.
It started up a conversation. “So, you’re Alan. Spy Rise told me that you were coming.”
I tried to raise an eyebrow, but failed miserably. Instead, I just asked, “How do Skylanders communicate when they’re, like, a million miles apart? Space-age telepathy devices? Disguisable hand-held radios?”
Wrecking Ball laughed. “Nah, we just use a telephone.”
I made a small gesture of acceptance, and then asked, “How long have you been in Porto?”
“Not long. I think I arrived three weeks ago. Spy Rise gave me a month to see if I could find a portal, but it’s been really hard to get into places that probably would contain a portal.”
“What sort of places would contain a portal?”
Wrecking Ball did something that looked like his equivalent of a shrug. “Portals are powerful things, Alan. They are practically half pure magic, half mystical stone. They will be drawn to places with powerful emotions. Estádio do Dragão, one of Porto’s main sporting stadiums, is often either filled with strong joy and happiness or strong depression and sadness. The Porto Cathedral is often filled with a strong sense of worship. Portals are drawn to places like these, or so we are told.”
I nodded, and then said, “Wow, Wrecking Ball, you seemed more like a philosopher than an insect back then.”
Wrecking Ball grinned. “I do what I have to do, Alan.”

I invited Wrecking Ball over to our room at the InterContinental Porto hotel, but he politely declined and said that he was searching the outside of a graveyard for a portal that night. I left him and made a beeline for a large map in the middle of a square swarming with tourists, locals and hawkers trying to sell bizarre spices and fluffy blankets. I could see why some foreigners, like me, would need a blanket.
Here’s a quick comparison. On a rainy day in Perth, the temperature is 19 degrees Celsius. On a sunny day in Porto, the temperature is 10 degrees Celsius. I was going to purchase one of the blankets, but then remembered that I was staying in a fancy hotel that would supply almost everything I needed.
I took a look at the map of the city. There was a red block with the words YOU ARE HERE inside it just above a small area near the Douro. Over the bridge, there were loads of streets and roads connecting different parts of the city. I scanned the whole map, and my eyes caught an arrow that pointed to the São Bento railway station. While I had met up with Wrecking Ball, Lightning Rod had started searching for portals. I decided I would see if I could help.

I was amazed that I could travel across half of Porto without anyone wondering why I wasn’t with a parent or guardian or someone like that. Maybe they thought I had run away from home, maybe they thought I was a spoilt rich kid who was allowed to travel the city with millions of dollars in my bank account. I don’t know, but it was really weird that not one person had asked me where my parents were.
I arrived at the São Bento railway station with gum in my mouth and some change in my pocket. I had stopped at a convenience store on the way to the bus stop and picked up some Portuguese coins and notes. Obviously, you can get change without buying something so I got a packet of strawberry gum as well.
I looked around, searching for Lightning Rod. You would think a bulky blue Titan would be relatively easy to spot, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. I was about to exit the station and head to the hotel when I heard a knocking noise on the wall behind me.
In the corner, shrouded in shadow, was Lightning Rod. He was wearing a cap and sunglasses to cover most of his face. He also wore an XXL t-shirt that he must have found in a clothes donation bin.
I pretended to be exhausted and leaned against the wall, panting heavily. I murmured under my breath, “Have you found a portal, Lightning Rod?”
Lightning Rod put on a fake Portuguese accent. “Not yet, Alan. Though I have a good feeling about this place. This place used to be a monastery before it fell victim to a fire. You can still feel traces of worship, even though the blaze happened in the 17th century.” Lightning Rod put his hand on my shoulder. “This is where you come in, Alan. I can’t do much except lurk in the shadows and explore parts of the station where no one goes, but you’re a human boy. You can explore everywhere and not raise suspicion. Expectations have never been higher for an exploration to become successful now that we have you.”

The station has tiles showing Portugal’s intense history. If you ever find yourself in São Bento, you should have a peek inside the station. The tiles are decorated beautifully with blue and white scenes, and have become a popular location for school field trips and tourism. In fact, some might even say more people come to the station to see the tiles rather than catch a train.
Anyway, I was investigating these tiles as a possible place for a portal. I was tapping on the walls, listening for a tap that sounded more hollowed or more solid than the others. I was staring at the different faces, looking for an odd expression or an unusual feature that could give me any clue to where a portal may be. I was looking at the color scheme, trying to find a different shade of blue or white. Everything I could think of to try revealing a secret door or something. I finally found something after twenty minutes of hardcore searching.
It was someone’s clothing item. A man wore a typical farming outfit, but also had a robe sticking out the back of his tweed jacket. Bingo.

Chapter 7 - We Explore an Ancient Basement

The Portuguese farmer was holding some sort of stick, with the sharpened end pointing down. It was probably some sort of stake.
Taking a wild guess, I followed the direction of the stake and got onto my hands and knees. Feeling around, I found something that felt like a bolt. It’s times like these where I wish I had magic powers like the Skylanders. If I had super strength like Lightning Rod, I could have pulled the bolt out of the ground right there and then. If I had a robotic suit like Spy Rise, I could’ve melted the bolt with laser vision and plucked it out of the floor when it was soft. Looks like I’ll come back for it tonight, and I’ll bring Lightning Rod with me.

Lightning Rod and I were raiding our suite’s minibar. I loved the chocolates, fizzy drinks and crisp packets. He loved the muesli bars, milkshakes and the Chinese ‘meal in a box’ things. Together, we absolutely destroyed the minibar and left only a chicken salad in our wake.
I was surprised because I had fully expected Lightning Rod to eat the salad. Apparently, he hated lettuce. At least that was one thing we both shared.
I’m just going to go on a little rant about lettuce. I really hate the stuff. It’s sickly green, just taunting you to eat it. It ruins burgers, and absolutely demolishes salads. I swear I’ve only had one salad in my life for the pure fact that lettuce seems to be in every one.
I had filled Lightning Rod in on the details, and he seemed genuinely excited. Using the Skyladner’s highly advanced method of communicating, he asked Wrecking Ball if he wanted to join us. But, as he had told me earlier in the day, he mentioned that he was going to scout out a graveyard.
Fair enough. Graveyards probably have the most emotion out of all the places where Skylanders can freely go, mainly because there are usually not much people there at the time.
So, time to do my first proper investigation.

We were on the roof of the São Bento railway station, and Lightning Rod had caused it to rain cats and dogs in Porto. Not literally, obviously. It’s raining cats and dogs is just one of my parent’s favorite idioms. The raindrops were falling heavily, but I was protected from the rain by a magical shield of air that Lightning Rod had given to me just before the storm.
Now, you may be wondering, why does there need to be a storm in Porto? Well, Lightning Rod was planning to make a hole in the roof of the station. Everyone will probably just assume it was lightning that smashed the stone roof into pieces.
With electricity cackling in his hands, Lightning Rod punched the top of the São Bento railway station. Stone just crumbled into dust under the pressure, and large pieces of the roof around the impact zone started to fall.
Lightning Rod turned his head to me and smiled. “Ladies first, Alan.”
I grumbled, but jumped down the hole. I was hurtling towards the floor, and would have gone splat if Lightning Rod’s air shield hadn’t still protected me. I just landed lightly on my feet and waited for Lightning Rod to come down.
He floated down with lightning in hand and started searching for a way to turn on the lights. After five minutes of absolute darkness, the sound of a generator started humming and the lights started to flicker on.
“Let’s go, shall we?” I said.
“My absolute pleasure.” Lightning Rod replied. Funny thing was, I couldn’t detect any sarcasm in his voice.

Lightning Rod had one hand on the bolt attached to the floor. He started counting down. “One, two, three…”
He lifted up a whole section of floor with one meaty, blue hand.
I took my bag pack off my shoulders and zipped it open. Reaching inside, I found a torch I had picked up from a camping store in São Bento. I shined it down the hole Lightning Rod had created to see a set of wooden stairs. I looked up at Lightning Rod, and he said “Well, are we going to sit here gawping or are we going to go down the stairs?”
I took the first step. There was some creaking, but it looked stable enough. I took another step, and another, until I was walking casually down like I was just going down my own stairs all the way back in Perth.
“It looks like the basement of the burnt monastery.” I said.
“I’m not sure monasteries had basements, Alan. This is something that only a select few knew about. Maybe a secret hideout for some corrupt Benedictines.”

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, what we saw looked like a study of some sort. There was an oak desk, a bookshelf and a lamp with a candle inside it. While we had been walking down the stairs the only light we had was the torch, so Lightning Rod lit up the lamp with a strike of lightning.
Lightning Rod headed straight towards the decaying bookshelf. It was loaded with books of all sizes, some as thick as a bible and some as thin as a travel brochure or a promotional pamphlet.
“What the…” he muttered under his breath. He was flicking through an average sized book that had pictures of strange creatures and text written in Portuguese.
I leant in. “What’s this, Lightning Rod?”
Lightning Rod looked at me, confusion storming in his eyes. “This is a book on the earliest Skyladners, Alan.”

Chapter 8 - I Travel in a Portuguese Train

“Wait a second…” I scurried over to get a closer look at the book Lightning Rod was holding in his hands. The page he was currently reading had a drawing of a humanoid wasp creature. It also contained paragraphs of Portuguese writing scrawled down in black ink.
Lightning Rod started translating. “The giant wasp pictured on the right of this paragraph has been spotted in Lisbon, capital of Portugal. This creature is one of the five sightings this century of what locals have named Giants. There may be more across the globe, but so far sightings have appeared in Copenhagen, Liverpool, Hamburg, Luxembourg and, of course, Lisbon.”
I quickly unzipped the bag pack and took out my cellphone. “We’ve got to take a photo of this! This is historical stuff!” I sounded way too overexcited.
Lightning Rod slammed the book shut. It made a clap like thunder. He ripped the bag pack out of my arms and started tipping all the contents out. Food, drink bottles and a Portuguese dictionary fell out of the bag pack, crashing down onto the floor as fast as a waterfall. I dived to rescue the torch, but couldn’t grab it in time as it smashed into pieces on impact with the floor.
Lightning Rod didn’t seem to care that we had just wasted a solid thirty quid on a torch. He started jamming the books in there so hard that the already worn-out covers started crumbling.
After five minutes of me scrambling around to pick up the spare parts of the torch, Lightning Rod had managed to collect a small library of ancient Portuguese books. “Let us get out of here,” he said, “I need proper light to read the smaller text, or writing, or whatever they called it back then.”

We had communicated with Wrecking Ball and told him to meet us outside the local library in São Bento. Sure enough, Wrecking Ball was waiting outside the library as soon as we arrived.
“So,” Wrecking Ball asked, “where’s the stuff you were talking about?”
Lightning Rod gave a small smile. “Wrecking Ball, I haven’t seen you since the Ottawa investigation and the fist thing you say is where’s the stuff. What happened to hello and how are you?”
Wrecking Ball smiled back, and then sarcastically replied “Hello, Lightning Rod. It is an absolute pleasure to see you. How was your trip to Porto?”
I shook my head. “Come on, guys. We’ve got things to do, places to be.”
Lightning Rod nodded in agreement. “That’s right. When we were searching the São Bento railway station, we found an old bunker from a 17th century monastery. There was a bookshelf containing information on the Giants.”
Wrecking Ball gasped. “Giants! Are you sure, Lightning Rod? We know Giants had been to Earth before, but all the way back in the 17th century?
Lightning Rod shrugged. “I thought about it on the way here, Wrecking Ball. We don’t know the exact timeline of the Giants, except for the fact that they were the first Skylanders and fought battles long ago. They were then sent to Earth, but came back to Skylands only a few years ago. They could have easily been on Earth during the 17th century.”
I piped in. Lightning Rod was taking to long to get to the point. “The thing is, Wrecking Ball, that the author of the book included locations in Europe. The Giants were probably searching for portals, just like us.”
This got Wrecking Ball really intrigued. “So, what were the places?”
Lightning Rod recited the cities and their respective countries. “Copenhagen, Denmark. Liverpool, England. Hamburg, Germany. Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Lisbon, Portugal. Wrecking Ball, we’ve been searching in the wrong part of Portugal!”
Wrecking Ball smiled. “So what are we waiting for? Let’s hop aboard the next train to Lisbon!”

I sat in a train carriage that I had all to myself.
Apparently, trains are the Skylanders’ favorite non-magical means of transportation. Oviuosly, they didn’t ride inside the carriages but rather on top of the train itself. Less people notice a Skylander on top of a moving locomotive than a Skylander on top of a bus parked in traffic.
A plump lady wheeled up a tray with all these sweets and fizzy drinks on it. She spoke in Portuguese, but her accent was Ukrainian or Russian.
I don’t know fluent Portuguese, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she was asking me if I wanted any candy. I gave her the change I had in my pocket and pointed towards something that looked like chocolate balls covered in a crispy, thin colored shell. She smiled and grabbed the packet, then tossing it to me.
Usually I would drop it, but back at school we had been focusing on cricket and softball in Physical Ed. So I expertly caught it with one hand. She smiled humorously, amused at how I had actually caught it. She had probably assumed I was some spoilt rich brat who didn’t know the first thing about sports or working hard.
This was the first proper encounter I had experienced with a human for hours, maybe even a full day, so I decided to keep the discussion, if you could call it that, going.
“You speak English?”
“Oh, yes. I lived in England for a year with my son.”
“Why in England? What does your son do for a job?”
“He plays football.”
I smiled. This woman was the mother of a professional, or semi-professional, football player! How cool is that!
“What club does he play for?”
“Manchester City.”
My jaw fell to the ground. Her son played for my second favorite team. My favorite was Australia’s very own Perth Glory, but Manchester City came a close second. In fact, I still remember playing against Carlos in the backyard as Manchester City the day I first met Spy Rise. I had to talk to this lady some more.

Chapter 9 - I Take Forever to Find a Statue

Sorry about that. I got really off topic when that Serbian lady came up to me. Yeah, I know, I said she was either Ukrainian or Russian, but Serbian works too.
It’s just my passion for Manchester City was on a high when I found out that I was casually chatting away to the mother of a professional footballer who played for my second-favorite club.
Anyway, I ended up in a conversation with the lady for what felt like an hour, but really was probably only fifteen minutes or so. She told me that her last name was Kolarov, so I instantly made the connection that her son was the defender Aleksander Kolarov. That’s pretty cool, because Kolarov plays in the same position I play.
After the chat, she told me that she had to serve the other passengers and we said goodbye to eachother.
I bet you’re still wondering why this conversation is important. You’ll see in the near future.

The train came to a grinding halt. That’s strange; Lightning Rod said that trains in Portugal were really smooth. Must have gotten that information of some crummy brochure.
I waited till everyone on board had gone their separate ways and left the locomotive, except the driver and some of the staff who were waiting for me to get off the train.
I nodded my thanks and stepped onto the platform, marking my arrival to Lisbon.
I walked over to a picnic table structure outside a convenience store and waited for Wrecking Ball and Lightning Rod to give me some sign on where to meet them.
A few moments later, a scrunched up receipt landed on my lap. I unfolded it and, written in what looked like grime from a garbage bin, were the words MEET OUTSIDE NEAR STATUE. Looks like I was meeting them by a statue, but which one?

I was searching for three hours before I found them.
I was steaming mad. “Really, guys? You couldn’t have made it more specific than ‘statue’? Do you have any idea how much statues there are in southern Lisbon?”
Lightning Rod, who was wearing a Sporting Lisbon shirt and some baggy jeans, shrugged and said, “It gave us the time to steal some clothes.”
Wrecking Ball grinned. “Don’t you think this jumper suits me?”
He was wearing a red Christmas snowman jumper that was so tight on him that you could practically see the threads straining.
My anger disappeared, only to be replaced by shock. “You guys stole those clothes! How could you do something like that?”
Again, Lightning Rod shrugged like he couldn’t care less. “You humans store twenty of the same thing in each clothing store. It won’t matter if two items suddenly only have nineteen copies.”
I shook my head in disgust. “It’s just… immoral.”
Lightning Rod emitted a slight laugh. “You humans. Always caring about moral and good will and rubbish like that. Kindness doesn’t win wars.”
“And hatred doesn’t heal people.” I remarked.
Wrecking Ball intervened in our argument. “Look guys, are we going to start fighting or are we going to search for a portal. We only have three days till our deadline.”
“Only three days!” I said, surprised that time had flown so quickly.
“Wrecking Ball is right,” Lightning Rod stated, “first day we teleported to Porto. Second day we met up with Wrecking Ball and scouted the railway station. Third day we waited for a train at the São Bento railway station since some lightning had destroyed the track and was being repaired. Fourth…”
“Wait a second,” I interrupted, “you never told us the reason why we had to wait so long for a train. Did you just say that your storm made us waste a whole day?”
“Of course not! Well, maybe. But that is a thing of the past, and we are living in the present! So, as I was saying, fourth day is today and the sun is setting right now. That’s four days gone and three remaining.”
Wrecking Ball started to talk. “So, where are we going to sleep?”
I pulled out my credit card. “We’re going to go find the best hotel in town.”

I thanked the bus driver for the ride using my very basic knowledge of Portuguese. I then exited the vehicle and looked up at the towering building in front of me. After a quick web-search on my Huawei, I found out that the highest rated hotel in Lisbon was the Hotel Portugal. Apparently it was one of the best hotels in Europe, so it was going to be a great night.
I strolled into the lobby and went up to the front desk, asking for a room on the topmost floor. On the hotel’s website I had learnt that all of the staff spoke five different languages; Portuguese, French, Afrikaans, Mandarin and English, so Lightning Rod didn’t need to tell me what to say.
As soon as I had booked the room, I went straight to the gift shop and bought a pair of swimming trunks. Why, you may ask? Because tomorrow I would be taking a little dip in a big tourist attraction.