This is a gift story to pokemonsora01, who had been one of my biggest supporters in my writing Skylanders stories. Thanks so much, Amigo!

I only own Rachel and Jamie belongs to pokemonsora01. Skylanders belongs to Activision.

The Strongest Power Is Within Yourself

Jamie raced around the Academy, trying to keep ahead of Enigma, who was chasing him. Mags and Crossbones, who had been talking about another concert, jumped in surprise when Jamie burst into the Main Hall laughing and running past them.

"Whoa, kid!" said Crossbones, chuckling. "Where you running to?"

"To the kitchen!" Jamie called out, but headed for the library.

"But the kitchen's that way," said Mags, gesturing with her hand, but Jamie was already in the library. Enigma then came in.

"Where did that boy go?" he asked, his voice sounding really spooky right then, like he was upset.

"Uh, the library?" answered Crossbones. "I think."

Nodding, Enigma went invisible, so neither one knew where he was. Jamie came up to them a bit later. "Looks like I outsmarted Enigma," he said with a grin.

Mags gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"AHA!" Enigma cried out suddenly, turning visible and grabbing Jamie quickly, making the boy jump and yelp in surprise. "Nice try, Jamie."

The boy was squirming to get away from his friend when Enigma started tickling him. "You might be fast, but you can never outsmart your partner," he teased Jamie as he kept tickling him.

Rachel, who had just come back from a mission with Krypt King, came into the Main Hall of the Academy and stopped when she saw her cousin trapped in a tickle torture by Enigma. She started laughing at the scene. Mags and Crossbones were still confused to the situation and their faces were too comical to Rachel, who then turned to Enigma. "Let me guess, a race to see who's fastest," she said.

"That and a little mischief," answered Enigma, still tickling Jamie while talking to Rachel. "Trying to see if he could sneak in and scare me while I was sleeping."

That made Rachel laugh even harder and now Mags and Crossbones were laughing now that they understood what had happened. Jamie was beginning to run out of breath, which Enigma saw and stopped, letting him catch his breath. Rachel smiled a bit more, but then her smile left her face. Crossbones noticed right away.

"Hey, what's wrong, Rachel?" he asked.

She took a deep breath. "I just got with Krypt King from that mission to trap Grave Clobber. We succeeded, but King's badly hurt. Master Eon said he'll be in the medical bay for a while," she said.

"Oh man," said Mags. "Let me see if I've got something in my lab that can help him."

With that, the peppy inventor headed off, but Enigma noticed Rachel still looked sad. "What else is wrong?" he asked gently.

She looked up at him. "Dr. Krankcase and Hood Sickle escaped from prison," she said. "They were helped by Kaos, who was captured by one of the giants and his Portal Master before he could get away, but the other two got away."

Jamie looked up at her. "Master Eon hasn't sent anyone to get them yet, has he?" he asked.

She nodded. "Master Eon asked me to go after them and that he'll call in someone to be my partner," she said.

"Who is going to be your new partner?" asked Enigma.

"He didn't say, but he did mention she'd be an Earth Skylander."

Just then, Master Eon came in and behind him was a Skylander with huge, golden horns on her head that were curved. Rachel's and Jamie's eyes went wide with shock as they instantly recognized Head Rush, the Viking Skylander Trapper and they backed up a bit at seeing her horns.

Enigma was equally surprised and stepped protectively in front of the cousins. "It's alright, Enigma," said Master Eon. "I have selected Head Rush to help Rachel with her mission."

The mysterious Trapper turned to him. "With all due respect, Master Eon, I'm uncertain about that," he said. "After all, it wasn't too long ago that one of the Earth Skylanders betrayed us and went to work for Kaos."

"Hey, he betrayed us too, you know," said Head Rush quietly. "He was a disgrace to the Earth Skylanders and everyone else."

Rachel and Jamie looked at each other. A Skylander that was a traitor? They had certainly not heard of that.

"And Krypt King doesn't think highly of them as that Skylander had been a good friend of his," said Crossbones.

"What if we went with Rachel and Head Rush?" asked Jamie, indicating to himself and his partner.

Master Eon gently shook his head. "I'm sorry, Jamie, but you and Enigma are needed here as the other Portal Masters and their Skylanders are out on missions," he said. "With Krypt King still recovering, Head Rush is the only one available at the time."

The female Skylander stepped forward. "We need to head out now to prevent Krankcase and Hood Sickle from causing more damage," she said. "Ready to go, Portal Master?"

Rachel looked unsure and turned to Jamie. "Jamie. Enigma, can you two keep an eye on King while we're gone? I'm worried about him," she said.

Jamie nodded. "No problem," he said and Enigma nodded, accepting a hug from Rachel after she had given her cousin a hug too.

"Good luck to you two," said Enigma as Rachel went and stood by Head Rush, keeping an eye on the sharp horns on Head Rush's head.

Master Eon looked at them. "Dr. Krankcase is in Time Town and Hood Sickle is in Telescope Towers," he said. "Be careful."

They nodded and stepped on the teleportation pad and were teleported to Telescope Towers. Rachel glanced around and suddenly thought about the traps she had with her and quickly checked to see she had a Tech Trap and an Undead Trap with her. She let out a sigh of relief when she found them in her pocket and turned to Head Rush, who was glancing around the place.

"This place is peaceful, except for the villains part," she said.

Rachel nodded and they set off, fighting some Chompies and other villainous creatures there. Head Rush suddenly stopped and heard her crystal horns lit up. Rachel jumped slightly when she saw the horns glowing. "We're that close to him?" she asked.

"Either him or something else," said Head Rush as she headed forward with Rachel behind her. Suddenly, Hood Sickle jumped out, but he looked different in the way that his scythe looked sharper and his arms bulged with muscles.

"Think you can trap me?" asked Hood Sickle in a voice that made a cold chill run down Rachel's spine. "I'm much stronger now. You'll never trap me."

Head Rush charged and Rachel jumped back, wincing when she saw Head Rush get hit by the dangerous scythe, which knocked her down pretty hard. Hood Sickle laughed evilly as he kept disappearing and reappearing too fast for Head Rush to get him. Rachel saw her partner was looking really tired and suddenly remembered one of the Viking Skylander's powers and decided to give it a shot and hopefully give Head Rush a chance to regain some strength too.

The girl took a deep breath and yodeled loudly, catching Hood Sickle's attention and he started going after her, but she kept dodging, yodeling as loud as she could.

Head Rush watched her Portal Master dodge Hood Sickle and heard her yodeling. She wondered why and then she realized what Rachel was doing and so took a deep breath, waiting to release her loudest yodel on the villain.

Seeing her idea was working, Rachel now ran in front of Head Rush, turning to face Hood Sickle and letting out one final yodel before hitting the ground and covering her ears.

Right then, Head Rush let out her most powerful yodel, which made the ground crack beneath them all and Hood Sickle's ears were ringing so bad he quickly lost strength, clapping his hands over his ears, but that did no good and he was soon trapped in a force field. Rachel jumped up and inserted her Undead Trap into the portal, successfully trapping the creepy phantom. She then collapsed on the ground and Head Rush was kneeling on the ground. "Whew!" she said. "That was quick thinking on your part, Portal Master."

Rachel turned to her. "I was hoping you'd have enough strength to give your yodel a lot of power," she said.

Head Rush chuckled. "That's not my strongest power," she said gently.

Rachel looked at her. "I thought it was, along with your power horns," she said.

The Skylander gently chuckled again. "Even my upgraded horns aren't my strongest power," she said. "The strongest power is not something you can see."

"What is your strongest power then?" asked the girl.

"Something we all have," said Head Rush as she stood up and helped Rachel up. "Come on, we still have to trap Dr. Krankcase."

"But we're both pretty worn out," said Rachel.

"True."

The Viking Trapper then pulled out an orange from her pocket and split it in two, giving one half to Rachel. "Thanks," she said and ate it, feeling better immediately. "Wow. I feel rejuvenated."

Head Rush chuckled. "That's what the food in Skylands does," she said. "Because it's grown with some special mixture that gives them that healing ability."

They were soon off again. "Head Rush, why are the other Skylanders so wary of the Earth Skylanders?" Rachel asked.

The Viking looked at her. "Well, you heard Enigma say an Earth Skylander turned evil, right?" she asked. The girl nodded. "Well, it was a Skylander that everyone looked up to, but it was long ago. He's now gone as Kaos destroyed him, but the betrayal was the worst part because we nearly lost Master Eon that day and several other Skylanders. We Earth Skylanders were so ashamed that we pretty much became secluded from the rest of Skylands."

"So that's what Enigma meant?" asked Rachel.

Head Rush nodded. "I came to help you when Master Eon told me about your partner being hurt and not one else was available," she said. "I also hope that the others won't be so judging towards my kind and I."

"Surely they can't pin the blame on you when it wasn't your fault," said the girl.

"Ah, but the hurt from betrayal runs deep."

Rachel nodded as she realized that was true and they set off for Time Town. "I wonder why Krankcase would come here," she said.

"Yeah, since he's usually at the factory of his," said Head Rush as they moved through town, all too soon making it to the Clocktower where they saw Dr. Krankcase trying to mess with the clock.

"Krankcase!" Rachel called up to him, making him look down at them.

"Oh, a Portal Master and her horned partner," said Dr. Krankcase, a sneer on his face. "Come to lose? Because you'll never defeat me."

"Funny, that what Hood Sickle said and he lost," said Head Rush as she and Rachel charged at the mad scientist.

He was so shocked by their sudden attacks that he had no time to counter them as Rachel destroyed the remote device he used for his creations and Head Rush took a deep breath and yodeled at him, doing so more than once, confusing Krankcase before she attacked with her sharp horns.

Krankcase was then trapped into a force field. "No!" he said. "Not again! How could you weak losers defeat us?"

Head Rush grinned. "Because having powers to throw around is one thing, but it never beats the power within the Skylanders and their Portal Masters," she said.

Rachel's face lit up with understanding. "That's what you meant," she said. "The strongest power is within yourself."

"That's right," said Head Rush. "Too bad villains don't learn that."

Rachel nodded and inserted the Tech Trap into the force field, trapping Dr. Krankcase. "Come on," she said. "Let's get back to the Academy."

Head Rush placed a hand on her shoulder and then picked her up, gently throwing the girl onto her back. Rachel grabbed Head Rush's shoulders and held on as the Viking Skylander ran very fast. Before long, they were back at the Academy and handed the two traps that contained the villains to Mags before going to see Enigma, Jamie, and Krypt King.

Jamie saw them coming and jumped up. "They're back!" he said and raced to Rachel. The cousins hugged each other and headed into the room. Enigma welcomed Rachel back with a hug and turned to speak to Head Rush while Rachel talked to Krypt King, who was alert, but still recovering. He then saw the female Earth Skylander and he went still.

"Head Rush?" he asked.

She turned to him. "Krypt King," she said with a smile and went over to him. "I'm glad to see you again."

King took her hand. "I'm glad you're back," he said. "I missed you."

She smiled and kissed him, making Rachel's jaw drop. Jamie's jaw also dropped and Enigma took a step back in surprise. The cousins they looked at each other.

"Well, I never would have expected that," said Rachel.

Jamie cringed a little and made a face that made his cousin and his Skylander partner laugh in amusement. Head Rush and Krypt King also laughed a bit.

"I never told you that Head Rush and I were in love, did I, Rachel?" asked King.

She shook her head. "No you didn't," she said. "But I'm glad, because that's one of the strongest powers we have within ourselves."

Head Rush smiled. "Very true, Rachel," she said as they all came together for a huge group hug.

Master Eon chuckled lightly as he saw them and let them be, enjoying the feeling of peace that filled Skylands once again.

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GoldGuardian2418