Beyond the Skies

by FrostTheWolf

Scroll 33.5- The Web

Author's Note:

Another chapter from the Villain's PoV. This time, it takes place with a few new characters and a couple of familiar ones too.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Beyond the Skies- The Web

---

If there was one thing that the Skylands was known for, it was that no matter who you were or where you lived, there were secrets everywhere. Whether it was something that was hidden in the ruins of an ancient civilization, passed down among family members over the course of generations or just something embarrassing that you didn’t want your boss to find out about, a secret could come in many forms. Such secrets could be rather dangerous, and you would feel tempted to tell someone about it. However, as the saying goes, the moment you share that secret with someone, it’s already lost.

Now, when most people overhear someone talking about a secret, they wouldn’t really care too much about it. However, there was one group in the Skylands where their business model revolved all around secrets and the knowledge tied to them. In their hands, information was a tool that could be utilized for multiple purposes, whether it be to settle old scores, get to the bottom of something that didn’t quite make sense or tie up loose ends. Originally, the group known as ‘The Web’ was an independent organization. However, after they caught the attention of a Dark Portal Master named Kaossandra long ago, the group had served as her personal network of spies with their chief executive, Lìn, serving as Kaossandra’s right hand.

While most assignments from the Dark Portal Master involved keeping her informed of developments throughout the Skylands and also investigating rumors that would circulate, the most recent assignment that Kaossandra asked them to take on was a bit different, something that a few of Lìn’s fellow comrades were quick to comment on. “So, let me get this straight. We’re not being asked to look into somebody, but something that happened instead?”

“That’s correct,” Lìn replied as he stood in front of a screen that dropped down from the ceiling. A projector in the back was displaying the images that he was showing to several other members of The Web that were present in the briefing room of their hideout. “All of you are probably aware of our Lady’s son, Lord Kaos. Is that right?”

“You mean the bald one that’s a constant nuisance?” s voice from the back room spoke up. The spider servant recognized them as Hase, a male bipedal rabbit that was as quick with his words as he was with on his feet. Despite his attitude, Hase’s quick thinking and problem solving had helped Lìn and other members of The Web out of numerous situations.

“That would be him, yes,” the spider continued, before clicking on the remote in his hands to change the slides of the projector. “According to what Lady Kaossandra has told us, around a week ago, their family had caught a pair of Skylanders that broke into their home. Upon capturing them, Lord Kaos was quick to hand them off to one of his ‘trusted’ associates, a drow named Magus who ran a fighting arena named after himself.”

“He sounds quite egotistical,” another member of The Web spoke up. This time, it was a young gray fox named Mia, who wore simple clothes like the rest of her colleagues. Her problem solving and intellect had helped Lìn and the rest of The Web decrypt complex messages and ciphers that were too tough for any ordinary person to solve. “I mean, you have to have some kind of superiority complex if you name an entire place after yourself, right?”

“No wonder it sounded like this drow got along nicely with him,” Hase snickered, “Anyways, as you were saying, Lìn.”

“Right. However, let’s save the interruptions for after the briefing, okay?” the spider commented as both the fox and hare nodded, shortly before the spider changed slides again, “As I mentioned, this Magus was tasked with keeping the prisoners stuck in there and denying any attempts of escape from either of them. There were even defenses in place that prevented the two Skylanders from using any of their powers. However, on the morning of the ‘grand finale’ for a tournament he was holding, it came as a shock to him and everyone in attendance that they somehow escaped. Afterwards, an incident at the ‘MaguDome’ had led to the colosseum being abandoned by its owner.”

At this point, Lìn turned his attention back to everyone in the room, “While many who look at this might see this as just simply an issue of oversight, Lady Kaossandra believes that there’s more to this. She suspects that some manner of foul play was involved that led to their escape and has tasked us with getting to the bottom of this, post haste.”

Shortly after this was said, there was a bit of chatter between the different members of The Web that were in the room while writing down notes on the presentation. After about five minutes, the spider turned off the projector and had the screen roll back up into the ceiling as the lights came back on. “Now, before we get started on this operation, do any of you have any questions? Given the nature of this assignment, it would be best for you to ask them now, while you still have the chance.”

“Yeah, I have one,” Mia spoke up, “You said the colosseum was abandoned, but what happened to this Magus guy? Surely, he couldn’t have gone off too far now.”

“Actually, no one knows where he went,” the spider remarked, “Which is rather off, considering that a few days prior to this incident, our informants in the field said that he didn’t shy away from being the center of attention.”

“So, we have a missing drow showboat and an abandoned arena that used to belong to him. That’s not really a lot to go on,” Hase added, “Is there any other way for us to start putting the pieces of this weird puzzle together?”

“Actually, there is,” Lìn replied as a small smile could be seen on his face, “One of our operatives in the field, Riki, was actually able to get us a cover story for this operation.”

That surprised quite a few people that were in the room, especially Hase and Mia. Riki was a raccoon that was part of The Web’s reconnaissance division and excelled when it came to acquiring information. However, he wasn’t exactly known to be a ‘people person’ and preferred to stay out of sight. So, hearing that he of all people was able to get a cover story seemed a bit out of character for him.

“Not really sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, if I have to be honest,” the hare retorted, “Still, if Riki was somehow able to pull this off, it should count for something. What’s the cover?”

“Well, since the original owner of the property is nowhere to be found and the arena itself has been abandoned, the colosseum itself is essentially up for grabs for anyone to take. One such party has expressed an interest in renovating the building. However, before they could get started on tearing things down, Riki heard that they needed to hire some property inspectors to check if the foundation of the building is stable.”

At that, Mia’s ears perked up a bit as she looked towards Lìn. “Oh, I think I get it!”

“You… do?” Hase raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. As inspectors, it would be seen as our job to see if it's safe to rebuild or not, which means that we can go around the entire facility, and no one would think twice about it.”

“Mia’s right,” Lìn added, “While I still wonder how Riki was able to get this, we shouldn’t pass up this opportunity. He was able to get us a way in, and we should be thankful for that. Now, we need to prepare a team and get ready to head there on site.”

“Okay, um… was there anyone specific that you wanted to lead this team?” another member of The Web spoke up in the back, “We still have members from the Orb Weavers and the Tangled Webs on standby-”

“That would not be necessary,” the spider insisted as he placed his arms behind his back, “Given the severity of this assignment and how Lady Kaossandra wants this matter to be resolved as swiftly and thoroughly as possible, we need our very best members in the field. So, for this, I’ll be leading this assignment personally.”

Immediately, the whole room went dead silent. Throughout The Web, it was unheard of for Lìn to actually volunteer himself for an assignment out in the field. Many creatures that worked for the organization have come under the impression that he had ‘retired’ from fieldwork, given the partnership that The Web had with Lady Kaossandra. So, when Lìn made his intentions known for leading this assignment himself, everyone in the room began to realize how important this operation was.

“W-Well, that’s rather unexpected,” Mia remarked, before a new question popped up in her head, “I-If you’re leading this assignment, then how many people would you need to assist?”

“Considering that one of them just so happens to be on site already, I believe another two would suffice,” the spider remarked, “And since you and Hase seem to be only ones who are actively inquiring about this operation compared to everyone else in the room, it seems to me that you two are prepared for such an undertaking, unless either of you have any objections on the matter?”

Both the fox and the hare were rather quick to shake their heads in response, with Mia being the only one to speak at that moment. “N-no! None at all.”

“Very well,” Lìn replied with a comfortable and warm smile on his face, “It seems we have a team. I’ll make sure to prepare the necessary arrangements here to guide us while we are in the field. In the meantime, make sure to prepare yourselves with any equipment you might need while we’re on site. We’ll depart in an hour.”

---

By the time that Lìn and the others were on approach to their destination, they could tell that the arena that was once known as the MaguDome had seen better days. The once lively stadium that was the epicenter of a lot of illicit gladiatorial entertainment had been left to wither away, no longer fit to see any more glory days on the field of battle. Everything from the stands to the grounds outside of the arena was barren and empty, and the entire island itself looked worse for wear. From overhead, it even looked as if a storm had come barreling through, given the mess that they were seeing.

Once they had landed on the island, it did not take long for the three of them to find their companion, Riki. “Oi, there you are. I was wondering when-” they heard him speak, before his attention shifted over to the rare sight of Lìn among their group, “B-boss!? I-I don’t mean to sound rude, but what are you-?”

“Oh? Were you expecting someone else?” Lìn asked.

“Hey, all I was told was that a ‘capable team’ was being sent to assist! They didn’t tell me who was on it.”

“Did you ask?” the spider’s question was met with silence, before Lin let out a small breath, “Nevermind that. We have an important job to do, so we should start right away.”

“Before we start, there’s one thing we need to get out of the way first,” Riki said, “The reason why I was able to get the whole ‘inspector’ cover is because there’s some bear here wanting for some experts to investigate the property and what not. Not any normal bear, but some dignified rich looking fellow might I add. He’s… well, kind of expecting us.”

“Oh, great,” Hase grumbled, “I hate aristocratic types. Let’s get this over with.”

“How about you let me do the talking instead?” Lìn proposed as he looked at the hare, “If what Riki says about this bear is to be believed, then he wouldn’t take kindly to those kinds of remarks.”

“Do they ever?”

The spider did not have a retort for that response, so he just shrugged his shoulders. “A fair point. However, this bear may be the only way that we are going to be able to step foot inside.”

“So, what should we do?” Mia then asked. “As Riki said, this guy seems to be expecting us.”

That had Lìn look towards the rest of his team, before giving them a smile of confidence, “Stay here and leave him to me. In the meantime, do not do anything drastic. The less attention that we try to bring to ourselves, the better. Now, where would I find him?”

“Over by the docks,” the raccoon replied, pointing in the direction of where they were, “You’ll know it’s him because of what he’s wearing. Has a fancy suit, some gems and a monocle over one eye. One look at him just screams ‘Hey, look at me, everyone! I’m rich!!’.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, when he asked for my name, I told him it was Cooper. Didn’t really trust him at the time, so I’d rather not slip up and have carelessness come back to chew out my tail, if you know what I mean.”

With that information in hand, Lìn nodded his head and began to make his way over to where the docks were, while he had the other members of his team hang back and look around the area outside of the complex. When he saw the bear for himself, the spider began to realize what Riki was saying earlier. Appearance was formal to an extensive degree, with a full on suit, monocle and a bolo tie with an emerald in the center. Someone like them in the middle of an island like this stood out like a sore thumb.

It was as the spider approached that he chose to get the bear’s attention and greeted him, “Hello there, sir.”

The bear was quick to turn around and see him, yet his response was a bit different from what Lìn had anticipated, “And who would you happen to be?”

“My name is Derrick,” Lìn said with the first alias that came to his mind, “I’m a property inspector. I believe that you met one of the associates that works for me, Cooper, sometime earlier.”

“Cooper, you say?” the bear asked, shifting his hands a little as he was straightening out the edges of his coat, “I had my doubts that he was actually employed at first glance. Yet, it appears you’ve cleared up my misconceptions of him. Though, I expected there to be more of you, if I have to be honest.”

“In my line of work, we do not judge a book by its cover. Anyone can be capable of anything, as long as they put in the effort. As for your other comment, my other associates are with Cooper as we speak,” the spider commented, “However, I don’t believe that you’re here to idly discuss about those who work for me. Cooper told me that you had some interest in this property, but before we discuss any further details, I would like to get to know more about yourself, if that’s okay? I’d already introduced myself, yet I don’t even know your name.”

“Then, let’s fix that. My name is Auric. Auric Ursa, at your service.”

Immediately, the name rang a bell in Lìn’s mind. This individual, Auric, was known as the Skyland’s finest banker… and perhaps the only banker. Of course, with that said, there had been a lot of rumors circulating around him and his business methods, despite him claiming to be a neutral party. He was even referred to by the nickname ‘Moneybags’, given his love for gold. However, he was rumored to have disappeared shortly after the Sky Eater attack two years ago, so seeing him now came as a surprise to him.

“Well, Mr. Ursa, before we proceed with anything, I would like to ask some questions, if that’s okay with you?”

At this, Auric raised an eyebrow, “What sort of questions?”

“Well, when our clients are interested in a property, we usually ask them a few questions, to get to know more about them and what they’re looking for. No two clients are the same, and I didn’t want to make any assumptions,” Lìn insisted, “So, with that in mind, what made you interested in this location?”

“Well, there isn’t exactly a simple answer to that, I’m afraid,” the bear admitted as he took out a lens cloth and cleaned his monocle, “Most of Skylands knows me for my services as a banker, and on some occasions as a proprietor. However, my reasons for wanting to procure this property are for more of a personal reason.”

To the spider, that wasn’t helpful. He had the impression that this Auric was trying to hide his intentions, so he needed to find a way to pry it open and find out what they were. “Well, this place was originally a colosseum. Were you wanting for my associates and I to see if it could be preserved in some way-?”

“Preserved? Oh, heavens no!” the bear was quick to respond back, “I take no such interest in barbaric displays of sport. No, I was hoping to repurpose it for something a little more imaginative, but I wish to see if it could be done first.”

That left a few different ideas in Lìn’s mind on what that could mean, so he needed to pry further in order to hopefully narrow those choices down. “Well, places like this aren’t just used for sport. Some happen to be used as stages for theatrical productions or even concerts. Was that closer to what you had in mind, Mr. Ursa?”

“While that thought has crossed my mind, it wasn’t what I thought of originally,” Auric told him, “You see, I’m a bit of an art collector in my spare time. Not just paintings, but many forms of art. I lost most of my collection when that ruffian Kaos tried to eat the sky with some infernal contraption, but now that I got what I could back, I thought that it would be worth my time to do something with them.”

Now, that was closer to what the spider wanted to know about. Yet, it wasn’t quite enough just yet. “So, you want to renovate the place into a museum for your collection?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of a public gallery. The last time I’ve heard of a museum in Skylands, it was because a Doom Raider was trying to steal something from there, and I’d prefer not to have the same occurrence here,” the bear continued, “Besides, I think that letting people from across the Skylands see this collection would be more preferable compared to having them sit around and gather dust in storage. Not only that, but the revenue gained from such a venture would be a nice bonus.”

Lìn was familiar with the attempted robbery that Auric spoke of. It was when a Doom Raider named Nightshade tried to acquire an artifact that was locked away in the Midnight Museum. However, his attempt was thwarted by a team of Skylanders that defeated him. To this day, he still remains in Cloudcracker Prison. “I see. Now, before we get started with our inspection, was there anything specific that you had in mind? You did say that you had considered renovations.”

“Personally, I just want to make sure that when I have the place cleaned up, I don’t want anyone to accidentally break something that could cause the whole thing to collapse. So, if you find anything that can help me know and understand what’s in there, what can be safely removed and so on, then that would be highly appreciated. Plus, if you come across any legal documents concerning the property, that is a preferred bonus as well. While the previous owner was rather charismatic, I doubt that he would’ve taken anything with him when he was chased out so suddenly.”

Lìn nodded his head and he was going to head back towards Riki and the others. Yet, it was as he turned around that he noticed that Auric was walking back onto his ship. “You’re not going to join us, Mr. Ursa?”

“Mr. Derrick, I think having me join you would only lead to me potentially interfering with your team’s inspection,” the bear reasoned with him, “Besides, I trust that you and your team will handle this as professionally as possible.”

With that in mind, Lìn couldn’t help but smile as he turned around and made his way back to his team. The conversation with Auric turned out to be more fruitful than he imagined. Now, it was time to share what he acquired with the other members of The Web that were with him. Fortunately, the other three were close to the front entrance of the building and anticipating his return.

“Welcome back, boss,” Riki was the first to speak, “How did it go?”

“Rather smoothly, if I do say so myself,” the spider replied, “I found out just exactly what he was looking for and what he expects from us.”

“Really?” Mia asked, “I would’ve thought that it would’ve been a lot more difficult with how Riki described him. What did you find out?”

“Well, from what he told me, our ‘friend’ over there wants to renovate this place into a gallery for his art collection. However, he has no idea what’s inside the complex, and he’s concerned about the stability of the building,” the spider said as he walked to the front door, “Which means our first priority is to figure out where everything is and how the building is structured.”

“Um… can you put that in simple terms, please?” Hase asked.

“He means we need to map out the building,” the fox clarified for the hare, “Like how many floors it has, how many rooms are on each floor, and also where some of the most important rooms are, like the security office and such.”

“Okay, but that sounds… a bit too simple,” the hare remarked as he folded his arms, “Is there some kind of catch involved?”

“All he wants is for the inspection to be done and to be given any legal documents, if we happen to find any. However, the inspection is the higher priority, since that allows us to complete our mission while we’re here,” Lìn summarized, “Now, once we step in, we’ll spread out and go floor by floor. If you find anything that you think might relate to our investigation, make note of it and inform me as soon as you can. Leave no stone unturned.”

---

Shortly after they went inside and started to look around, it took a bit for Lìn and his team to fully map out the complex. Some of the problems they encountered were minor, but there were others that were a bit more difficult. One such example was debris, for several pathways that led to the upper floors were obstructed by debris. With no other ways to get up, they had to take time out of their investigation to remove the debris before they could go upstairs.

Eventually, when the group found the central office that served as Magus’ control room, they had an easier time with trying to map out the facility.

The building itself had two main floors, along with a basement that was off limits to anyone but experienced technicians. Further investigation soon revealed the reason as to why that was, for the ‘basement’ was actually the thermal core that was used to provide power and heating throughout the complex. The first floor was meant to be a way to introduce the guests as they came in, as well as where the living quarters were for the combatants that were staying in the arena. The second floor was split into two areas, with the first half being for entertainment and dining accommodations, while the second half contained the staff break room, the central office, the armory for the guards, as well as the ‘VIP’ room that contained the prisoners that he once had.

“Geez, this place is something else,” Mia commented as she began to look at the front of the room. The machines up front soon caught her attention, as the fox went over to take a closer look.

“Mia, what are you doing?” Hase asked as Lìn began to take note of the fox’s actions as well.

“I recognize some of this tech,” she replied, “It’s crudely modified, but it bears some resemblance to some tech that’s of Arkeyan design.”

“Do you think you can get it to work?”

That just had Mia smirk, before she tilted her neck from side to side and stretched out her paws. “Can I? Let me take a crack at it and see.”

Now, when it came to the members of The Web, each one was brought into the organization because of special traits that Lìn believed would be a great benefit to their endeavors. In the case of Mia, her expertise revolved around different kinds of gadgets and machinery, more specifically ancient machinery that originated from the time of Arkeyans. Despite their kinds of contraptions being around for over ten thousand years, a lot of modern day tech in the Skylands were either based on Arkeyan designs or drew inspiration from them in some manner.

Shortly after she started, a grin of satisfaction was seen on her face. “Well, what do you know? I'm in.”

“That was… simpler than I thought it would be,” Riki added as he hopped up onto a nearby desk, “How did you do it?”

“To be perfectly honest, whoever set up this system was rather easygoing with the encryption,” the fox replied as she pressed a few more keys and began to scroll through a few options on the open screen, “I mean, the passcode for the whole thing was just simply 1111. It’s so easy that a Greeble could crack it. Not only that, but this seems to have access to everything here. There’s maintenance logs, shipping manifests, revenue charts. You name it, it’s there.”

“Everything, you say?” Hase spoke up as he was looking around the room and gave off a grunt of sorts as he gave a sarcastic reply, “Could it tell us what the heck happened to this place?”

Unfortunately for the hare, the fox took that as a challenge, “Well, let me just take a quick peek at the security system that’s installed here and see.”

Hase groaned as he turned away for a brief moment to examine the rest of the room. Yet, it was as he was walking that he felt himself step into something. When the hare looked down, he found that for some reason, portions of the floor were covered in a black colored powder. As the hare backed away, he watched as some of it vanished like smoke and faintly glowed for a brief moment.

Multiple possibilities emerged in his mind for what it could be. However, his attention was drawn away from it shortly afterwards when he heard Mia speak up in glee. “Haha! There we go. We got security logs and access to camera footage from all around the facility. How’s that, Hase?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the hare rolled his eyes and let out a groan, before he looked back at the ground, “Hey, can one of you guys that’s not helping Mia come take a look at something real quick?”

Shortly after he asked that question, Riki jumped down from the desk and made his way over to Hase, “You said that you need something looked at? What is it?”

“Well, I was looking all around the room to see if there was anything else around here we could use,” the hare replied, before motioning to what was at his feet, “However, the only thing I’ve found so far is most of the floor being covered in this. It looked like the black powder that’s used for loading cannons, but I didn’t want to make any assumptions-”

Unfortunately, before he had the chance to finish, the hare was horrified to see the raccoon take out a matchbox and immediately proceed to light a match, “Riki, what are you-!?”

“Calm down, will ya? I’m just testing something,” the raccoon assured his colleague as he lowered the flame down closer to the powder below. Personally, Hase had expected the worst when Riki did this. However, much to his surprise, the powder glowed a dim orange, instead of igniting right there. When the raccoon moved the match away and blew it out, the glow faded away, like nothing happened. “Well, that’s unexpected.”

“What’s unexpected? Matter of fact, what even is this?”

“Well, it’s not black powder, that’s for sure,” Riki told him, “If anything, what you found here is a big mess of Ember Dust.”

“And what’s that supposed to be?”

“It’s a kind of residue that comes off of creatures that are fire elementals, similar to that of smoke and ash. As for why this is all here, I honestly have no idea.”

At this, Hase thought of a different idea, one that required the help of another member of their team as he looked back towards the front of the room, “Mia, does that system have some employee records on there or something?”

“I can take a look and see,” the fox replied, “Any particular reason as to why?”

“We found a lot of Ember Dust scattered throughout the room,” Riki spoke up as he jumped back onto the desk again, “Honestly, if it were me, I would think that either the Drow that was in charge hired a very bad janitor… or something that wasn’t supposed to be in here got in and did a very bad job at covering their tracks.”

When Lìn heard this, he seemed intrigued by the possibilities. As he took a moment to think on these new findings, a couple different theories for what could’ve happened began to slowly form in his head. However, he wanted to hold off on anything definitive right now until Mia completed her search first. It was still entirely possible that she could end up finding something that could disprove his theories, if he were to say them prematurely.

“Well, that’s a good guess and all, but the records here tell another story,” Mia said as she pointed at a particular window that she pulled up, “Says here that, aside from a couple of Mabu and other species that ran the booths outside the arena, most of the employees that are registered here are just greebles that were brought on board after Magus got a sponsorship deal from Minion’s Monthly.”

“What about a guest list?” Hase asked, “I would think that if they had high profile individuals come and visit this place, they would have some kind of list for that, right?”

“Well, yes and no,” the fox shrugged as she closed one window, only to open up another, “Magus had something for that, but the only people that are on here are either members of the Kaos family or seasoned arena veterans, which means that the only people that would be on the list would be Lady Kaossandra, her son and a bunch of combatants who probably spend too much inside the arena than outside of it. Not only that, but none of them are Fire Elementals.”

Then, an idea emerged in Lìn’s mind, “What if it’s someone that’s not on any list? Mia, can you check to see if there had been any complaints from the start of that tournament to his ‘Grand Finale’?”

“Uh, boss?” Riki asked as he tilted his head, “Care to share what you’re thinking?”

“Right now, I think that whatever left the mess behind that you and Hase found is perhaps an unwanted guest of sorts. However, considering the trail they left, I’m going on the assumption that they’re not exactly the best at keeping themselves hidden,” the spider verified, “Surely, they must have been seen by someone else, but let’s see if Mia finds anything first, before-”

“Huh, well, I’ll be,” the fox interrupted, turning away from the terminal to look towards Lìn and Hase, “There’s one complaint here, and it’s from one of the greebles that worked at the shipping bay. After looking it over, I think you might be onto something, Mister Lìn.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Well, the complaint here says that they spotted what they said was a young lava pup without a collar or leash stealing food from one of the vendors, after they brought the recent shipment to the cooks that ran the outdoor stalls. It was a rather small one, from what’s described here, with smoke coming off their body. However, despite this, there’s only one complaint of this, and it’s not a lot to go off of. The only other thing regarding pets was-”

At this point, Lìn didn’t care to hear the rest. That one complaint was enough to have different thoughts emerge in the spider’s mind as he looked towards the raccoon on the table, “Riki, are there any ventilation shafts in this room?”

“I believe there’s one in the far back corner, if I recall correctly, boss-”

“Is there any sign of Ember Dust coming from there?”

That had the raccoon jump off of the desk and take out his matchbox, eager to investigate as he scurried to the back of the room. Within a matter of seconds, he lit a match, as the burning light of the flames had the Ember Dust glow. Much to his surprise, even though the light seemed dim, there was a glow coming from inside the vents. “Hey, boss, I think you might be onto something. There is a trail leading in here.”

At this, Hase turned to see that his boss had a grin of satisfaction on his face, as the hare looked towards him, “You got some kind of plan?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” the spider replied, “Mia, try to extract everything that you can from that machine. Hase, Riki, you’re with me. This ‘little pup’ left a trail for us to follow, and I intend to see where it leads.”

---

No matter who you are in The Web or what role you played, there was one simple truth that everyone followed. If Lìn had a hunch about something, then he would get to the bottom of it, no matter how far it would go. In this particular case, since the pup was the only known fire elemental to be on the property during the course of the tournament, the spider was under the impression that he might’ve been the one that found their way in here. However, in order to be sure, he and the others that were with him had to follow the trail that was left behind.

Of course, that was easier said than done, for the moment that they reached the other side of the vent where the Ember Dust came from, the trail split into two different paths. One led back down to the first floor, while the other went farther off down the hall, in the other direction. Luckily, Riki volunteered himself to go back downstairs to find where that trail would lead, which left Lìn and Hase to track down the second trail and see where that one led.

However, that wasn’t exactly easy. They soon noticed that the trail would split off and diverge in the direction of other rooms that were nearby, such as the break room for the staff and also the armory. Yet, the main trail that the spider was focused on led to what looked like a giant cage. One that looked like something that a giant monster would be held in.

“Well, that’s great… I think this is a dead end-”

“To some, yes,” Lìn told the hare, “However, I believe it's the opposite. Do you remember the layout of the floor that Mia found earlier, and how there was one specific area that was used to contain the prisoners that were on site?”

At that, Hase looked back inside the cage for a brief moment, before a realization hit him as the rabbit looked back at his boss, “Wait a second, are you saying that this is the so-called ‘VIP’ room? That’s… sickening.”

“Given what information we have at the moment, I would believe that’s the case,” as he was speaking, Lìn went into the pockets of his coat to take out what looked like a small stick. After twisting the top, a bright light was emitted outwards as he shined a light into the inside of the cage itself. “Not only that, but the conditions here aren’t like that of a holding pen for creatures. There’s no suitable source of water or food around, or anything that could be seen as a bed. The only thing in here is just crumbs of food, and that doesn’t really account for much.”

That was when a realization hit Hase, “Hey, didn’t Mia say in that one complaint that the lava pup mentioned in it was stealing food?”

“That’s right. What about it-?”

“Well, what if it wasn’t stealing because it was hungry, but because someone else was?” the hare said, “Think about it. Why else would the Ember Dust trail lead here specifically? Or that we would find crumbs in a cell that has no source of food or water?”

“You think that this pup was somehow helping them?”

“Well, that’s the only possibility that comes to mind that makes sense,” Hase told him, “Whether it was intentional or not is unknown, but this also explains one other thing.”

“And that would be?”

“How these prisoners had the strength to escape,” the hare replied, “If I were in that position and forced to undergo the same treatment that Magus put those two Skylanders through, I wouldn’t have the strength to fight, let alone talk or move. Yet, despite what we found here, the fact of the matter is that they were able to escape, despite the conditions they were put through.”

“Not to mention avoiding the security system,” Lìn added, before a new question formed in her mind, “So, the pup that left this trail behind…? Do you think they’re the one that’s responsible for this, or do you think they’re just an accomplice to someone else?”

“That, I honestly can’t say,” the hare shrugged his shoulders, “There’s little information to go on, and we don’t know if they were intentional with this or just didn’t know any better. Plus, there’s also still the mystery of how they got here in the first place.”

All of these were some very good points. Though, Lìn had a feeling that once the two of them had reconvened with the others, the truth of the matter would come to light.

Fortunately, it didn’t take too long for them to reconvene with the rest of the team. Mia had what looked like a device in one of her paws and was looking through something that was on it, while Riki seemed to have found something on his end and was pulling it behind him lazily.

“Hey, Mister Lìn, I was able to get all the data off of the system,” she said with a hint of glee, “How about you? Was your search successful?”

“We did find something that could help piece everything together. Yet, we’re still missing some things before we have the whole picture,” Lìn replied, before looking over to the raccoon, “What about you? Were you able to find anything that could help us, Riki?”

“Well, I followed the trail that led me downstairs, only to find that it led to one of the rooms where they had the fighters reside. When I took a peek inside, I found this,” Shortly after he said that, he tossed what looked like a medium sized bag with a tag on the inside that read ‘Made in Manehattan’, “At first, it didn’t look like much… However, when I inspected the bag, the whole interior was filled with Ember Dust.”

“So, our little pup snuck into the bag of one of the competitors and was brought here then? By accident, maybe… or perhaps intentional,” Lìn folded his arms, before another thought came to mind, “Which room did you find this one in?”

“Uh… I think room 16?”

“Mia, who was the competitor that was given room 16?”

“Let me take a look,” she replied, swiping on the image a couple of times before something new came up, “Huh, that’s interesting. The room was given to a drow named Kai Chi, a rookie fighter who was the last one to arrive at the MaguDome during the qualifying round. After an impressive victory over Shield Shredder, he took part in the tournament that was being hosted and made it all the way to the grand finals. He even won against the champion, Blade Gunner, in an upset victory that shocked everyone in the audience.”

“Hmm, so we have a name now,” the spider pondered, “We can’t say for sure if this fighter was an accomplice or not, but the fact that this pup and him are connected somehow makes him a person of interest. However, there are still a few unanswered questions that we need to solve before our business has concluded here.”

“What’s that, boss?” the raccoon asked.

“First off, the two prisoners that were here were somehow able to escape, without alerting the security system at all. We need to know how that was the case. Secondly, this ‘incident’ that followed after the grand finale sounds too ominous to be ignored. Lady Kaossandra tasked us to find answers, and that’s what we came here to do. Anything that’s inconclusive would be seen by her as more of an excuse than an actual answer.”

“Well, that’s going to be a problem, sir,” Mia told him, “When I went through the security logs, the events that led up to the ‘incident’ were very choppy and not crystal clear. I’m not sure if this is because of the maintenance the system had the night before or because someone was tampering with it, but I think I can make out what could’ve happened?”

“And what would that be?” Hase asked her.

“Well, I found some other logs that have Magus saying to his workers that there was no possible way for the rookie to win in his arena, and that for some of the matches leading up to the grand finale, he altered them in order to have him face tough opponents on purpose,” the fox said, before holding the device in her paws towards her companions as some audio began to play.

“Have our newcomer be scheduled to face this… spell punk in the semi-finals. If there’s anyone that can stop this rookie in his tracks, it’ll definitely be him.”

“Yet, despite this, he was able to go through the tournament and even beat the champion of the arena,” Mia continued, “Given this and how he doesn’t seem to have a lot of patience for this newcomer, I’d say it's safe to say that when he realized that the ‘grand prize’ of his tournament was gone, he had enough. Take a listen here.”

“You know what? We’re going to make sure my show gets a proper grand finale… right now!”

“Oh no-”

“Oh YES! ONE. MORE. MATCH!! NO LIMITS!! NO RULES!! The last fighter standing wins this very arena, and we aren’t the only ones taking part!! Anyone who thinks they have a shot at beating us, come on down!!”

“Dear me,” Riki replied, “Is he that crazy? He’s pretty much whipping up a mob just for the sake of his own pride.”

“Did anything happen afterwards?” Lìn asked.

“I would assume so, but it’s at this point that the feed gets messed up. Best guess is that too many people coming in at once wanting a piece of the action messed up the cameras,” the fox concluded, before looking over at her companions. “The only other thing that was caught was Kai Chi leaving the stadium with Blade Gunner next to him on an airship. Best guess is that they were trying to get evacuated from the arena, once the whole place had become a full blown riot.”

The final image that was shown was both Drow on board what looked to be a standard airship that was leaving the docks. However, Lìn noticed a couple of particular details that stood out to him. The first was that there was some purple colored blur that was hard to make out, even if you zoomed in properly. The second thing was the pilot of the ship in the picture was a Dirt Shark, and unlike the first one, it could be seen clearly.

“Riki, Hase? Do either of you recognize the one piloting this ship?”

Hase was quick to shake his head in response. However, for Riki, his eyes only widened, “Oh, crikey! Is that who I think it is?”

“You recognize them?”

“Yup. I’ve seen him all the time in my hometown when growing up. He was the guy running the place. I think his name was Sharpfin, if I remember correctly,” Riki nervously replied as he looked at his colleagues, “Tried pickpocketing him once. It didn’t go quite well for me.”

“Sharpfin?” Mia’s ears perked up at the name, “As in the baron of Motleyville?”

“Partially,” Lìn corrected, “Our current intelligence on him suggests that his title of Baron now only serves as cover while he works with the Skylanders. He operates a repair shop and has a team of mechanics work on various vehicles that they happen to have, but is also a rather skilled pilot. However, seeing him here is no coincidence.”

“Does this just crack the case wide open then?” Mia replied. “If an associate of the Skylanders was there at the time-”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet,” Hase advised the fox, before placing an outstretched finger over her nose, “You are so focused on the ending here that you forgot about the first thing we need to solve, that being how the prisoners that were once here just so happened to escape.”

“I actually might have an answer on that,” Lìn surprised the others, “Mia, you mentioned that the last time the system received maintenance was the night before the grand finale, correct?”

“Yeah, that’s right. But how-” At this, Mia blinked for a moment as a realization began to set in, “Wait a minute. Are you suggesting-”

“I am,” the spider replied, “I believe the little pup is responsible for this whole mess, and the actions that were taken were done because the prisoners asked the pup to help them. They were the only creature they probably had contact with that didn’t want to harm them. Instead, they wanted to do the opposite and help, something they took full advantage of.”

“Have you tied something together?”

“Potentially, yes,” Lìn folded his arms as he began to theorize, “The two prisoners first asked the pup to provide them food, a commodity that they sorely lacked, in order to help regain their lost strength. Once enough strength had been recovered, what they needed in order to make their getaway was an opportunity, a distraction of sorts, something that could easily be arranged by a creature who had a habit of getting into places where they weren’t supposed to. There’s also more to this possibility that would make it seem absolutely certain. However, part of it goes into theoreticals, and it seems too early for that-”

“Boss, honestly, I wouldn’t care less if it’s theoretical or not,” Riki interjected, “If it could at least help us make sense of this, then by all means, tell us.”

Lìn was a bit caught off guard by the sudden notion and was going to bring up a counterpoint, but Mia and Hase were also in agreement with Riki’s statement. This left him rather little choice on the matter, so he instead went along with what was on his mind. “For what I am saying to completely make sense, we need to consider the possibility that the drow that won the tournament may not be what we assume he is. Even though it seems like a long shot, it is entirely possible that this ‘Kai Chi’ and the pup that caused a lot of trouble here are accomplices of some sort and knowingly came here with the intention of freeing the Skylanders that were held captive here.”

“So, while the drow fought on the battlefield and drew the attention of everyone watching, the pup worked out of sight and got into places that the drow couldn’t?”

“Exactly,” the spider continued, “It’s also possible that this drow had contacts outside of the arena to make certain… arrangements, if you will. It would explain why both him and the other drow were seen departing on Mr. Sharpfin’s vessel.”

“So, wait… are you saying that this drow somehow pulled off a rescue by going into the arena undercover? That sounds like something straight out of our playbook, boss.”

“While it does, I doubt that this drow even knows about us. Still, it doesn’t hurt to be cautious, if what I am saying is actually the truth, especially if this drow had accomplices helping him throughout his stay here.”

That had Hase fold his arms and look at his colleagues, before the hare looked back at the spider, “So, what’s the plan now? Do you think we have everything that we need?”

While the question was simple, it took Lìn a bit to process everything that they had uncovered first. After a few minutes, the spider finally had an answer for the other creatures that were with him. “For the most part, I think that the information that we collected would be sufficient to report back to our lady. However, given the nature of what we uncovered, I believe a few additional steps will need to be taken when we return back to HQ. Yet, before we leave, we still have a client outside that is awaiting the results of our inspection. So, let us play along one more time before we depart.”

---

By the time that Lìn and his colleagues had finished the task that the bear had asked them to do, Auric was quite pleased with their efforts. Even though the operatives of The Web weren’t actually certified inspectors, they played their parts to perfection, and the banker couldn’t really tell the difference. If anything, it seemed as if he honestly did not care whether they were actually qualified or not, as long as they got the job done, and he didn’t have to handle too much paperwork. In fact, Lìn had found the deed to the arena that would prove Magus had owned it, only to find that it had never been signed.

Of course, such trivial matters were things that Lady Kaossandra had no interest in. If anything, all she cared about was the results of their endeavors, no matter how they were achieved. “Good evening, my lady. I have good news I wish to share with you.”

At the sound of his voice, the Dark Portal Master turned away from the window in her room to face him as he came in. “Do you, now? Would it be right to assume that my suspicions were correct? That this is more than just a case of incompetence that my son wants nothing to do with?”

“I’m afraid that is not an easy answer,” Lìn told her as he placed a file on the table in the center of the room, “My team was able to salvage whatever we could from what was left of the site. Based on the evidence we uncovered, we believe that there is validity in your thoughts that there was some form of sabotage at the MaguDome. Our impression was that there was some form of rescue operation going on during the timeframe of the tournament, and that those responsible had some inside and outside help. However, their attempts at being covert were… well, in simple terms, lacking.”

At first, Lady Kaossandra seemed frustrated with what she was hearing. Though, the recent statement from the spider soon piqued her interest. “Oh? How so?”

“Their strategy was that while one person was taking part in the tournament and drawing the attention of everyone in the arena, another creature would sneak around and get into places where normal attendees wouldn’t be allowed. In this case, the one in the arena was a Drow that goes by the name Kai Chi,” as the spider spoke, he pulled out a picture with the drow’s face on it and handed it to Kaossandra for her to see, as well as placed the bag they found at the arena, “As for his accomplice, it’s believed that he had a small lava pup that was sneaking around the arena whenever he was in a match or resting in his quarters. My team found trails of Ember Dust from all around the facility that prove this, as well as Ember Dust coming from the bag where Kai Chi kept his belongings.”

“Hmm, I see,” the Dark Portal Master replied, giving the bag a quick glance before she looked back to the spider, “But if what you say is true, then what exactly would this ‘pup’ be doing?”

“The evidence that we found suggests that, once they uncovered the location of where the two Skylanders were held, the pup would steal food and water from various vendors and bring it to them to help them regain some of their strength, since Magus refused to provide either for them. Then, on the eve of the grand finale, the Skylanders asked for the pup to cause a distraction so they could escape, which led the pup to the security room, and it found a way to disable it, which allowed for them to sneak out without raising any suspicion.”

“And what about after they left? Did they commandeer a vessel?”

“Actually, at this point, it’s believed that they had a contact outside of the arena to pick them up, since no ships were reported missing on the morning of the final day of the tournament. Also, the contact in question is someone that you and your son might be familiar with,” Lìn replied, before he gave a second card that had Sharpfin on it, “The Baron of Motleyville and also the Skylander’s chief mechanic, Sharpfin.”

“This is a lot more complex than I originally thought,” Lady Kaossandra commented, “But something tells me that you aren’t quite finished with your report just yet. Were there any additional things that I should know?”

“Those are details that I contained within my full report on the matter,” Lìn insisted, “Though, one thing I should point out is that your son was not wrong to assume that Magus’ incompetence was to blame for this.”

That was something that caught the Dark Portal Master by surprise. There had never been a time where one of her servants actually agreed with her son. However, instead of being angry, she was rather curious as to why. “Oh? And why is that?”

“Well, to start, Magus was over-reliant on the security measures of the arena. He was overconfident on how advanced his system was, to the point where he didn’t have a back up plan in place for if the system happened to fail on him. Based on what we found, he wasn’t even aware that something was wrong. In addition, when the final match of his tournament was over and he realized that his captives had vanished, his eagerness for a ‘proper finale’ to his tournament was the reason behind the current state that the arena is in now.”

Yet, the spider was not finished, “However, unlike your son, you were able to see past this and suspect that there was something else going on, my lady, which led to our investigation, our findings and also the next steps that we will be taking.”

“Curious… and what are those next steps, if you don’t mind sharing?”

“We were able to uncover the names of two to three people that are related to this case. Since they are considered people of interest, we plan on having surveillance teams watch them from afar. Since the whereabouts of the two drow are unknown, we are focusing our efforts on Sharpfin specifically. However, we are also keeping our distance, so we don’t alert him, nor do we plan on trying to infiltrate Skylander Academy itself since our previous attempts to place an operative on academy grounds has been… to put it plainly, unsuccessful. If we happen to uncover or hear anything new, we can bring him in to ask him a few questions. You only need to give us your approval.”

“Watching him will be fine, but nothing more,” Kaossandra told him as she turned to look outside of the window and down at the courtyard of the castle. “Even though he is a thorn in our side, the Baron is still an ally of the Skylanders. They will surely notice if he is missing, and if we do anything drastic, we will have those heroes knocking on your doorstep. So, only survey them for now.”

“Very well,” Lìn replied, “Was there anything else that you need, before I take my leave, my lady?”

At this, the Dark Portal Master turned her head around towards him, “There may be one more thing. I’m under the impression that there have been some new developments at Skylander Academy as of late. So, while your team is surveying Sharpfin, have them keep an eye out and an ear open for anything significantly new. Otherwise, you are free to leave.”

---

Elsewhere

“Huh… that’s strange. I could’ve sworn that it was here.”

“What is it, master? Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing is wrong, Dusty. It’s just… I thought I brought my bag back with me the last time I was in Skylands. Eh, maybe Twilight might know where I put it. It’s probably not that big of a deal anyways.”

---