"I found her, guys! I found her!"

The winged girl landed beside two of her companions, looking worried. "I found Lilac!"

The other two shot up instantly. "Where is she? Is she alright?"

Her wings drooped and her head tilted downwards. "She looks terrible. She's injured or something, I can't really tell, but it's obvious how weak she is. I wanted to fly in and help her, but she had bodyguards. It would've been too risky to try and get to her."

"Bodyguards?!" The boy snapped in disbelief. "Why do they need to guard her?!"

"She was strapped to a machine," the winged girl said quietly, as if even saying it would bring more pain to their beloved companion. "She was unconscious. She was surrounded. Whatever they've done to her, it's drained her badly. She's kept indoors, too, so even if she could she will probably find it hard to regain her strength."

It was too much to bear for the other girl in the room, who burst into tears. The boy hugged her and comforted her as best he could. "It's okay, F. It's just like I told you before. Lilac is strong. She'll be fine."

"We have to do something!" The blonde declared between heartbreaking sobs. "She could've been tortured! What if they kill her?! She can't die! We need her!"

"If only she was here now," the boy sighed, though his tone stayed reassuring and sincere. "She'd be able to calm you down. She could always calm us all down."

But his efforts only caused more tears to flow from big blue eyes and trail down porcelain cheeks as though it were watery paint staining a pristine canvas. She was looking anything but picturesque in the sorrowful state she was now in.

"We'll get her back, I promise," the boy stated, hugging the girl, who leapt upon the chance to hug him back and cry on his shoulder. "You promise?" She begged, the faintest flash of hope in her voice. She knew she could trust him to do anything he set his mind to, go her he would always appear god-like... though she would never admit such a thing to him for fear it would enlarge his ego further. She loved him, but even he had his flaws.

"I promise," he repeated, solidifying his word. She smiles the faintest of smiles, then hugged him tighter, tears continuing to flow out of worry for their dear companion.

That was when the boy knew he had to do this.

He would get Lilac out of that place, no matter what - or who - got in his way.

~•~

I gradually began to get better and soon enough Sprocket was finally giving me the all-clear. Needless to say I was overjoyed, especially since I had apparently stayed my entire observation period there already. I was finally free!

The second she let me go, I attempted to leave, but Spyro came in and blocked the doorway. "Hey, Vexelle! Hey, can you do me a favour and come with me for a minute? We wanted to get some help from you!"

"You wanted to get some help from me?" I ask in confusion. What is it now? I just want to go home... well, find a new home, anyway, since my old one is most likely in ruins still.

"We're planning to find something for a mission but we can't figure out where it is," he explained, gesturing for me to follow him. I somewhat reluctantly obey. "Since your powers are locating things, we figured you'd be great at this point."

"My powers aren't for location," I say, slightly offended by it. "I just use it like that sometimes. It's like saying your fire is only good for baking cookies."

"I know, right?" He doesn't seem to hear everything I said. "The cookies always come out a little crunchy around the edges, but they're still so great!"

He takes me off to where the other Skylanders are all waiting, it seems to be their house. Stealth Elf glares at me when she spots me, but I ignore her.

"What is she doing here?" She asks Spyro, clearly deciding to make that task difficult. "She's gonna help us find the dark relic," Spyro replies, not seemingly bothered by the irritating elf in the slightest. He's probably just got used to her, then. Poor guy.

"I'm not too sure about that one," Jet Vac - while I've been staying here, I've finally learned their names. I purposely pretended not to know what Stealth Elf's was just to annoy her -  says, thinking. "Vexelle isn't a Skylander, she's not even a cadet. What makes you think she'll be up to the task of hunting down a dark relic?"

"So just because I don't have a status here I'm automatically useless?" I ask, but nobody seems to listen. "Consider her our sniffer dog with wings," Spyro shugs instead.

"Did you just call me a dog?"

"Fine, fine, she can come," Jet Vac sighs. "But keep her out the way. The last thing we need is her messing everything up."

"What makes you think I'd mess everything up?"

"Great! Let's go, people!" Spyro announces. Everyone hurried out. Sighing, I follow. Jeez, would it kill them to at least include me in a conversation involving me? I was right there, for crying out loud!

They make me sit in this weird vehicle with Jet Vac so he can 'keep an eye on me'. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to go alone?" I ask him. "I can fly this for sure. Spyro is."

"But Spyro's trained to fly long distances," he says simply. "So am I!" I state. "You're not flying anywhere except with me, young lady," he says sternly. "You're not up to the task."

"I am, I-"

"Shh!"

"Did you just-?"

"Shh!"

"This is childi-"

"Shhhhhh!"

So I sit in silence the whole ride, not allowed to talk or fly alone or anything. If I even try and say one word, no matter what it's about, he would shush me.

Absolutely ridiculous.