//------------------------------//
// Scroll 6- Tomb Raider: Griffonstone 
// Story: Beyond the Skies 
// by FrostTheWolf 
//------------------------------//


Beyond the Skies- Tomb Raider: Griffonstone




Unknown Location

        “Hey, Kiddo. Over here.”

        Calvin himself had to blink a few times before realizing the extent of what was happening. Spitfire, the actual Fire Skylander himself, was right in front of him. He had many questions, but a lot of them could be saved for later. 

        “S-spitfire?” 

        “That is my name, yes? You must be Calvin.” The boy was taken back a bit when the Skylander said his name. They had only just met, and now, he knew his name? How could that possibly make sense?

        “Y-yes, I am… How do you know my name?”

        “Master Eon told me. He called a few of us into a room to explain what was going on and the power that you possessed. How this is happening though… I’m not so sure,” he said, “What do you remember happening?”

        “Well, I was off to a Gala with my friends. Somehow, Kaos tried to crash the party-”

        “Whoa whoa whoa, back up a minute. Did you say Kaos?” The Skylander retorted. “Last I heard of him, he hasn’t been doing any… evil doings recently.”

        “I can say otherwise,” Calvin said, remembering his encounter with the Dark Portal Master. When he did though, a series of images began to flash like it was showing a movie at a theater, and Spitfire soon saw and heard what exactly the Skyshifter had told him about. But his personal favorite moment, besides the part where he kicked some serious flame with his transformation, was when Calvin first encountered him and threw an apple in his face.

        “Well, that’s something…” Calvin thought to himself. “I think anything I remember can be seen here, like watching something on a movie screen.”

        “Heh… serves that jerk right. You really know how to make Kaos retreat.”

        Calvin shrugged, smiling a little. “Honestly, I just try to do my best. Can you make sure to tell Eon about Kaos? I got a feeling that more trouble will be happening on my end sometime soon.” The Supercharger nodded, using his flames to disappear as a bright light filled the room and consumed the Skyshifter.



Castle of Friendship

        When Calvin woke up again, he found himself inside the guest bedroom of Twilight’s castle. He originally woke up peacefully, but soon, his peace was disturbed by the sound of two to three voices bickering amongst each other. Once his hearing was cleared up, he began to make out the voices as he slowly walked to the door.

        “I want him.”

        “Rainbow, how many times do I have to tell you: no means no!”

        “Come on, Twilight! Have you NOT seen him kick some serious flank in the past few days?! Calvin would be great to have with Pinkie and I.”

        “Great, they’re talking about me,” Calvin groaned, “But what exactly are they talking about?” He decided to listen in a little while he was changing his clothes, so he can be clued into what was going on.

        “He’s just a kid, Rainbow! Griffonstone can be a dangerous place!! Plus, they don’t take too kindly to outsiders!”

        “What the heck is a Griffon Stone? Is it some kind of special rock?”

        “I’ll watch over him, then. All of us have been since he crashed into MY house, so let Pinkie and I keep an eye on him.”

        “And I told you, NO!”

        Okay, that was it. Calvin opened the door widely, surprising all three of the ponies in the room. “No what?”

        “Oh uh… Calvin… Good morning?”

        “I would say the same if the three of you didn’t exactly wake me up, or at least Twilight making herself sound very strict with her tone,” Calvin sighed, “Plus, I hate it when someone is talking about me in private, yet they’re loud enough to where I can hear them.”

        “Hehe… Busted,” Rainbow snickered, glaring at Twilight. 

        “What were you even talking about anyway? All I heard about was some… Griffon Stone? What is it, a relic?”

        Twilight sighed, tempted to facehoof herself, but resisting the urge to do so. “No, it’s the name of a nation. It’s the home of the Griffon Kingdom.” She took the time to clue Calvin in on a few things from the Cutie Map and the Griffon species. But in doing so, Rainbow noticed that she used words that would make this trip seem more like a grueling expedition than what she thought as a walk in the park.

        What she heard from Calvin, though, was quite unexpected… For both Rainbow and Twilight. “Sounds dangerous… I’M IN!!!”

        “Wha-!? Why-?!”

        “Twilight, come on. I’m a thrill seeker. Plus, I’m kind of interested to see what this new nation looks like.” Calvin replied. 

        “Well, well... we got ourselves a young Daring Do right here!” Rainbow replied. “I like your style!”

        “W-what!? You are actually considering on going!?! Even AFTER everything I told you!?” Twilight responded. Calvin just smiled as he walked to Rainbow’s side. 

        “I prefer to listen to the Twilight that doesn’t sound like my adoptive mother.”

        “Aww... Snap!!” Rainbow laughed as she looked back at Calvin, “I’m so glad to have you on board with this trip. Let’s go find Pinkie. She must be packing her bag back at Sugarcube Corner.”

        “Sounds good to me.” The Skyshifter told her as they left the castle. 



        “So, remind me again, how exactly are we getting there?” 

        “You’ve ever been on a ship before?” Rainbow asked. The three of them have just arrived in the port to Baltimare and were walking towards the shipyards that had the vessel that was waiting for them. They had to use a train first to get to the port city before having to travel overseas.

        “Once or twice back home, but that was just for a short field trip. I haven’t ever gone long distances onboard one though.” Calvin answered. 

        “What does your kind even use ships for?” Pinkie asked. “Are they for throwing big parties?”

        “Not… necessarily. Honestly, I don’t know how to answer you on that one, Pinkie.” The boy sighed as the three of them turned another street corner. “Still, are you sure that you two need all that stuff? We aren’t exactly camping in the woods.”

        “Well, we are going to be away from home for a while, almost a few days at best, so we needed this to pack some food, some things to keep us busy, some bits for if we need to buy anything. You know, those sort of things. Besides, why do you only have that one small backpack?” Rainbow then asked, pointing a hoof at the small sack.

        “Twilight thought I should bring it, just in case.” Calvin sighed. “I’m using it to place some extra clothes and some other things, too.”

        “You sure you don’t need any food?”

        “I’m sure, Rainbow. I’m not hungry right now.” The Skyshifter told her as they got closer to the docks. He had a lot going through his mind, especially with finding out that he was able to meet Spitfire in person. There was a lot of things involving his powers that he was unsure about, but hopefully, some things will clear up soon.

        It had taken them almost the entire day to reach Griffonstone, but upon arriving, Calvin didn’t like the looks of the place one bit. A lot of it was run down, and the local population was just plain… rude. No one offered to help them as soon as they reached the town, and all the Griffons in the place were giving strange looks at them. Specifically, him. By Eon, he just had to feel like an outcast because of this. 

        Not to mention the fact that everything in Griffonstone, even small services and the local restrooms, costed bits. Nothing here was for ‘free’, and many of the shopkeepers tried to raise the prices on them, which had Calvin learn the art of ‘haggling’ from Rainbow Dash, mostly involving the act of trying to convince the merchant to lower the price of the goods they were trying to sell.

        “Ma’am, these cost 100 bits.”

        “Pfft, I would buy these sandwiches for 50 bits back home.”

        “100.”

        “50.”

        “90.”

        “60.”

        “75. Take it or leave it. No other offers, Miss,” The merchant sternly growled.

        “Sold,” Rainbow replied, giving the sandwich salesgriffon the required amount of bits before she got the sandwiches she paid for Pinkie, Calvin and her.

        “Fine. Take that brainless ape and go back to where you came from-”

        Now, that was where Calvin’s ears twitched. “What was that? I didn’t quite catch that last bit, Missy.”

        “Uh oh…” Rainbow muttered. Somepony had to anger Calvin, and she needed to intervene before anything drastic were to occur.

        “Look boy, I’m not dealing with this-”

        “The next thing you’re going to say is “Leave now before I call the guards on you”.”

        “Leave now before-” The merchant soon realized what happened, and her eyes widened. “How did you-?”

        “I used my brain. Case closed.” Calvin then turned away back to Pinkie and Rainbow before they continued to trot through the back streets of Griffonstone.

        “Dude. I almost thought you were going to get in trouble. But that… was awesome. How did you do it?”

        “It comes naturally. If I were a pony, I would probably have a cutie mark for it.” He chuckled before looking in front of him and noticed a griffon walking towards them. “Um… Dashie? We got company.”

        When Rainbow turned around again, her eyes narrowed. She knew this griffon. “Gilda.”

        “Rainbow.”

        “Gilda.”

        “Rainbow.”

        “Pinkie!!”

        “Dear Ancestors, make it stop!”

        Calvin raised an eyebrow and turned around. For a moment, he thought that he just heard Spitfire talking inside his head. “That was weird.”

        “What was weird-?”

        He flinched again, looking around. “The heck? Spitfire, are you talking inside my head?!”

        “Apparently so. I also can see what you’re doing. Who knew that going to take a nap led to this?” He heard the Fire Skylander speak to him mentally. “I’ve seen everything since you just landed. Nice roast on that griffon at the sandwich shop… Still, why are you here anyways?”

        “That… I don't remember-”

        “Hey, Calvin? You okay?” Calvin snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Rainbow flying by his head. “We’re moving. Gilda knows about a place where we can rest.”

        “Gilda? You mean the griffon?” Rainbow nodded her head in response and told him to hustle because he was burning daylight, something that Spitfire was chucking about inside Calvin’s head. Nevertheless, he ignored it as they got moving, but as Gilda and Rainbow were talking about something involving a lost treasure, Calvin soon heard something from Spitfire that got him thinking a little.

        “Hey, are you familiar with when the Skylanders are on missions, that they normally go in pairs or small groups?”

        “Yeah, I do,” Calvin remembered. “What about it?”

        “Do you think that rule still applies here, or is that somehow off the table?”

        “Well, I need to find a way to call you here, first off,” the Skyshifter pointed out, “Second, like with my transformations, there might be a time mechanic involved if something like that was to be accomplished.”

        “Time mechanic?”

        “You may be limited to the amount of time you can be here for,” Calvin reminded him. “Still, that doesn’t rule out the possibility. There’s just a lot of values that are unknown as of right now. If we had some more information, then it might be a possibility.” 

        “I could ask Hugo, but then again, Eon said to me that very few people should know about your secret. He doesn’t want to put you in any kind of danger.”

        “Try telling that to Eon after I encountered Kaos.”

        “... Good point.”

        Calvin would reply back to the Skylander, were it not for another griffon in the room slowly approaching him. “Umm… Hello?”

        “Hi?” Calvin responded, “I’m sorry, but who are you? I haven’t seen you before.”

        “Oh, I’m sorry. The name’s Greta.” she replied back, sticking out a claw in the form of a handshake. Calvin kindly shook her claw and smiled, introducing himself to her, but it seemed like the griffon was paying more attention to the crystal around Calvin’s neck.

        “That’s quite an interesting pendant you have… Can I-” At the part where Greta tried to touch the crystal, it violently pulsed and shocked the griffon, causing her to skid backwards. Calvin got up from that and tried to help calm her down, but the griffon wanted answers for what just happened.

        “What the beak was that?”

        “I’m sorry, Greta. The crystal’s magic only works with me. Anyone else who tries to touch it gets hit with its magic. I tried to warn you, but I didn’t get the chance to speak.”

        “Wait, magic? What do you mean by that?”

        Calvin sighed. “That is hard to explain. It allows me to undergo transformations for a short amount of time.” Before she could say anything else, the Skyshifter chanted the phrase Full Scream Ahead! and turned himself into the Air Skylander called Sonic Boom; who was by nature… a griffon.

        When he changed back seconds later, all that did was leave Greta shocked and confused. “You just… turned into… a griffon.”

        “It’s not the only thing I could turn into, but I don’t want anyone screaming their heads off and thinking I’m a monster,” Calvin pointed out, “A lot of griffons here see me as a freak. I don’t want to make myself looking like a threat.”

        “The young one makes a good point,” another voice replied. Calvin and Greta turned around, looking at another griffon that appeared to be a male by size and voice, someone that Gilda referred to as “Grandpa”, but Calvin wasn’t able to catch his full name. “Just who are you exactly?”

        “My name is Calvin. I’m with my friends Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie-”

        “Ah yes, the two Equines,” he replied, “Gilda was going to help them with what they came for. But, I’m a little more curious about you.”

        “Me? Why is that?”

        “Pardon me if I sound rude, but I did happen to notice your… ability just now,” the griffon spoke sincerely, “I’m rather curious as to how it might be related to some of the things that have been found on Griffonstone.”

        “Wait a second… What things?” Calvin asked

        “Machines. Bodies of Metal. Things beyond my comprehension,” he replied. A small alarm went off inside Calvin’s head as he tried to speak to Spitfire.

        “Spitfire, did you hear that?”

        “Hear what?”

        “There were contraptions of metal bodies found across Griffonstone. I think they’re talking about the Arkeyans.” 

        “What? That can’t be right. We’ve been working to make sure that all the Arkeyans were taken care of… Unless they fell through the clouds… We need to investigate that. Ask them about where they are located.”

        Calvin sighed, clearing his throat a little before looking back at the two Griffons. “I’m a little curious about these contraptions. Where could I possibly find them?”

        “Mostly in the old Junkyard, but I heard that the Emperor has been trying to have his scholars try to discover how they work and how to somehow make them operational.”

        That… immediately… raised a few red flags. “I better hurry then. Something tells me that if they’re trying to do what I think they’re trying to do, it’ll only spell out trouble for all of us.” Without even giving a second thought, Calvin stormed out of the small room and began to walk. He began to look for anything that could be a sign of the Arkeyans, but also needed to stay out of the sight of the guards. Word of his encounter earlier with the shopkeeper in town had spread, and now, they were looking for him. As he hid behind a corner, a few guards were knocking on the door of the building where he just was, questioning the Griffons he was talking to.

        “Maybe I need to hide myself for the time being,” he considered, holding his pendant again, “Silent, but deadly.”

        Turning into Stealth Elf provided Calvin with a lot of tactical advantages. For one thing, he was now a ninja. Second, his new set of abilities provided him with a lot of abilities to keep himself hidden... and the guards distracted, which was definitely a plus. For the ten minutes that he was the Life Skylander, he was able to bypass a LOT of the guards, and when he turned back to normal, the Skyshifter was hiding behind a curved piece of steel, watching as a bunch of griffons with strange robes and books were moving in and out of a clearing up ahead.

        “Okay, I should stay away from that… But… If I were a betting boy, then that’s probably where the Arkeyans are.”

        “There seems to be a secondary entrance to your left. It may be a long shot, but I think where those birdies are is only the tip of the iceberg. Let’s head into the caves and see what else we can find.” Spitfire instructed to him as Calvin hurried to the entrance. To the surprise of both of them, they seemed to find that the room was filled with gold and treasure. Something that wasn’t normally kept by Arkeyans. He had a bad feeling that it was some sort of trap.

        “Stealth mode, don’t fail me now…” He told himself as he quietly walked through the open room and got closer to where he was hearing all the commotion around him. There were around eighteen different griffons conducting research in a tightly quartered area that looks sealed off. They seem to be investigating some sort of stone in the center of the area that looked like it was broken into two pieces, but it was held together by magic. 

        “Hang on, Calvin. This is just getting weird.”

        “Weird? Why’s that?”

        “Both of the energies pulsing from those stones are similar to the Magic from the Core of Light. Not only that, but the other stone feels like it contains Rift Energy.”

        Calvin raised an eyebrow before responding. “Rift Energy?”

        “It’s the energy that the Rift Engines our vehicles use back in Skylands. Think of it like gasoline used to power up a car or coal used to keep a train running.”

        Now that… made a lot of sense. But why would something like that be down here? He needed a distraction so he could investigate further. Noticing an old mining box, he looked inside to find sticks of dynamite and a couple of matches. Lighting them with some sparks from nearby rocks, he tossed a few of them as far as he could so the explosion that triggered could possibly catch their attention.

        “What the beak-!? Are we under attack!?!”

        “Everybirdy out! We need to call the marshal!”

        “Well, that was a lot easier than expected.” Calvin smiled, using the distraction to get closer to the stone while all the griffons were running for their lives. Surprisingly though, as he touched both pieces, a colorful array of magic soon pulsed through him as it surged through him and stored itself in Calvin’s necklace. Then, as Calvin tried to put it back, the two rocks just fell to the ground. Lifeless.

        “Uh oh… What just happened?”

        “Whatever it was, I got some good news and bad news for you. The Bad news is, you got to run. The military is coming.” With that, Calvin wasted no time, bolting from the scene as he ran back towards the entrance he came through. Unfortunately, as he came out, his escape route was blocked off by a full group of griffon soldiers and one that appeared to be their commanding officer.

        “Great… first, it was the two Equines causing trouble before they left, and now this runt? I really need a raise for my job.”

        “Spitfire, mind telling me what the good news is now!?”

        “Calm down, give me a second.” Before Calvin could even realize what was going on, a set of blue flames appeared on the ground next to him. The griffons thought that Calvin was trying to attack them and crept closer, but in doing so, got slammed by the incoming surprise that the Skyshifter was stunned by.

        “The Good news is that I’m here now. But only for a short while. I would think fifteen minutes at most give or take.”

        Spitfire was now standing next to him. The real thing. Calvin grinned a little and thought of it as how Co-op worked in the Skylanders games. “Okay, my turn. Dark and Dangerous.” With that, a series of dark shadows soon came across the Skyshifter as he turned into Nightfall, one of the Skylanders of the Dark Element. A Dreadwalker who had two hooks around his, now her, hands and can weave shadows into the ground as a weapon.

        “Good choice. Now, let’s get started,” The gargoyle told him just as the first few Griffons charged in to attack them. Calvin was quick enough to dodge the first few attacks as he used his hooks to break their spears and swords. The two of them pushed forward through the soldiers, but after they defeated a few, more of them would show up. 

        “Ugh, these guys just don’t know when to quit, do they?”

        The Skyshifter agreed on that part, but then thought of something. If the magic he had absorbed was rift energy… Would it be possible to use it, too? “Spitfire, I got an idea.”

        “What’s that-?”

        “Simple… Run!” Calvin told him, the both of them starting to run as fast as they could. The two of them knocked over a stack of barrels as they ran to a cliff.

        “Where are we even going!?”

        “To the cliff.”

        “Okay, why-?”

        “You’ll see,” Calvin smirked as the two of them leaped off of the basin. All the guards were able to hear was the splash in the water and the ripples from the impact.

        “So… Who thinks they’re dead?”

        “Dead.”

        “Dead.”

        “Dead as a doorknob.” One of the last griffon guards that arrived chirped.

        “Too bad,” the captain in charge retorted. “I sign your paychecks. Search the coastline and the beach, double time.”

        Most of the griffons groaned as they backed away from the bridge, but if any of them stayed a moment longer, they would’ve seen a blue source of electricity from underneath the waters.



        “Okay, that was too close of a call…” Spitfire snapped, trying to make sure he didn’t get wet inside the vessel they were in. “Just how did you call forth the Sea Shadow though?”

        “All I did was just picture it in my mind, and there it was,” Calvin said as he took the two of them under the waves. “I think I can bring out vehicles depending if I shift to a supercharger or not. Now, given that the griffons said that the Equines had already left, something tells me that Rainbow and Pinkie are already back.”

        “So, what’s your plan?”

        “Simple. Get this to the dock in Baltimare, change back to normal and go back to Ponyville.”

        The Fire Skylander smirked. But saw one thing with the plan that didn’t add up. “And how exactly are we getting there once we reach land?”

        “Were you interested on taking Hot Streak out for a spin?”



        “YOU FORGOT CALVIN!?!”

        Rainbow Dash was in the worst possible situation she could be in. She, Gilda and Pinkie Pie had just returned from Griffonstone only hours ago, only to realize that in the rush to get out of there, they left Calvin behind. Not only that, but her idol, Spitfire, had just happened to be at the Castle as well, discussing future Wonderbolt shows and the possibility of one being in Ponyville. As she was being pestered out of her mind, she began to hear something though. A loud humming noise that was getting closer.

        “Twilight… do you hear that?”

        “... Yeah, but that doesn’t make sense… I’ve only heard this before in Sunset’s world. Why would I be hearing a-”

        Just as the Princess of Friendship was about to finish her sentence, a blazing hot rod blasted through the crystalline walls of the castle and went barreling towards her. In the vehicle’s front seat was a fire gargoyle of sorts while on the back end was Calvin hanging on for his life, but enjoying the thrill.

        “-CAR!!!”

        *SMACK*

        “WOOHOO!!! Nailed the landing!” Calvin cheerfully yelled as he hopped off the back of Hot Streak, and Spitfire popped out from the driver’s seat. “Hey girls, where’s Twilight?”

        All that happened next was Rainbow bursting into uncontrollable laughter and pointing next to Calvin’s feet. Right next to the Skyshifter was none other than the pony he was looking for, just with a singed mane and burnt fur and not amused by his stunt at all.

        “Um… Whoops?”




End Scroll 6