Viridi's Last Stand, Part 2

Chapter 2: Setting Off

New GKND H.Q.

Vweeb and Arianna returned to base after their trip on Planet Secco. Arianna's little digging mission didn't last long, having eventually lost motivation to keep digging due to being upset. She didn't really look upset now, but as Vweeb sat on her shoulder, he could just sense her negative emotions. Maybe because being small allowed him to feel things stronger.

They climbed to one of the upper bridges to find Makava and Tronta playing Frisbee using Tronta's Light Disc. Tronta was the last one to catch it before he noticed the two come in. "Hey, Sis! You're back early!" Tronta greeted.

"Hey, Vweeb!" Makava smiled. "How was Secco?"

"Oh… it was good." Vweeb replied, not very enthusiastically.

"Hey, did something happen?" Tronta asked, noticing their faces. "You look a little down."

"It was nothing, Tron." Arianna told him simply. "We just got a little sidetracked."

"All right, you say so."

"Ahh, good, you're all here." Numbuh 250 Trillion, Jerome Winkiebottom suddenly spoke, casually stepping in the room. "Numbuh Eternal has a mission for you all. To her office."

Nebula's Throne

"If I am elected Chancellor, I shall do my best to rejuvenate our planets and make sure all those poor aliens are given their fair share. Much more than those GKND would ever care for, wouldn't you say?" Percival Tachyon spoke on the large TV.

"Oh, get a job." Nebula told him arrogantly, seated in boredom on her throne with her elbow on the armrest, and her head slumped in her hand. She shot her attention to the opening doorway, and the TV switched off as her brother and the others walked in. "Ahh, Jerome!" Nebula smiled, floating down to them. "I see you got 'em all here. I just had a chat with Cheren," she spoke seriously, "and we're working on a plan to take down Viridi. Apparently, she orders shipments of Fear Dust from Nightmare Enterprises and has them drop it on a set asteroid in the Sargasso Region, while her troops come and take it away. When Darkrai begins to make a new batch, I want you guys to hide and watch 'til they appear. Then I want you to try and follow them to Viridi's homeworld; at least, it's where we're hoping they'll go. Got it?"

The four nodded, already feeling anxious about this sudden mission.

"Good. Then, you'll report back to headquarters, and we can organize an invasion on the homeworld, and hopefully take Viridi down."

"But what if Viridi has her troops go to some other world?" Tronta asked. "What if she knows we're following them?"

"Actually, I have a plan to work around that." Vweeb smiled proudly, showing his shrink ray. "Wherever they go, they'd hafta go someplace important eventually."

"Our number one priority is finding the homeworld at this moment." Nebula stated. "And right now, this is the best lead we have, so it's important we follow through."

"Ahh, relax, Nebs, they won't know what hit 'em." Vweeb smirked confidently.

"If you say so." Jerome replied. "Just don't expect fair treatment if you're discovered."

Downtown Cleveland

Cheren had just finished speaking to Nebula, and was now walking down the sidewalk to Goofy Goober's. The streets were flowing with passerby, all focused on a set destination, so no one paid anyone any mind. But the one person that stood out from the others was a particular fair-skinned woman with purple, messy hair, a smooth purple gown, and sandals. She looked pretty strange, but Cheren just passed her like anyone else, going about his business as he walked by without a glance. But the minute the two crossed paths, a strange feeling overcame Cheren.

"This world is doomed… all beings will burn in a realm of fire and despair, destroyed by an overabundance of energy created by their very existence. Every life everyone else has lived, every goal they achieved will be erased. And all because the ancient gods decided to merge dimensions together, causing an uncountable amount of energies from those realms to squeeze into one, doomed to eventually explode. And in the end, it is WE who suffer for it. But WE will be the solution. Our existence will rise from the ashes like Timeshift… and we will return this world to the way it's supposed to be!"

Cheren fell to his knees, holding his forehead. A panicky feeling began to well up inside him, gasping for breath as he turned behind him. The purple-haired woman bothered not to stop and kept walking away, shrinking into the crowd. Cheren calmed himself and took a breath, standing to brush his pants off before continuing to Goober's.

McKenzie Household; backyard

"Hnnnnn!...HYUUuugh." Anthony sweated as much as ever, using the most strength he could muster to hold the boulder high over his head.

"Boy, Anthony! You are getting stronger!" Sally smiled admiringly.

"Yeah, but I'd be worried about that spider on your foot." Aranea stated, directing at his feet.

"Huh?" Anthony worriedly look down, but he unfortunately lost his grip and let the boulder crush him. "UUUH!"

Aranea smirked. "Gotta keep your focus, dude!"

Michelle smiled as she skipped over and flicked the boulder off like a pebble. She stomped her foot and knocked Anthony to his feet with a rock-jab, the boy brushing off as their mother, Angie stepped onto the patio. "Anthony, kids, come in! There's someone here to see you!"

Anthony and his friends walked in curiously, seeing Angie standing by the living room table, smiling in a casual fashion. "Kids, this is Chiri," she nudged down at the table, "a friend of mine from childhood."

The operatives looked at the table, seeing a tiny figure on the edge. When they stepped closer, they could see it was a Minish woman in green robes. "Hello there!" the Minish woman, Chiri waved happily.

"Awwww! She's so teeeeenyyyy!" Michelle squealed.

"I thought she was a shrimpy ant." Anthony remarked snarkily.

"Shuuh-RINK." Aranea joked, grinning as she compressed the space between her hands. Anthony glared.

"Hm-hm-hm!" Angie giggled. "Anthony, I've been writing to Chiri about your training, and she's agreed to come over and help you with earthbending."

"Even though I can't earthbend myself, I've been reading a lot!" Chiri beamed.

"Awwwww! But I wanted to learn from you, Mom!" Anthony whined.

Angie smiled brightly. "Anthony, it won't hurt to learn from someone else. And Chiri here says she has something that may really help you."

"First, we'll need to go to a more vegetated area." Chiri mentioned. "We'll go to the Virginian Forest; my kids are waiting there for me."

"Why can't we just use my backyard?" Anthony asked. "We have a big boulder right here."

"Anthony, you won't be as good if you don't train in a natural environment." Angie stated. "Benders only get strong if they're bending someplace that matches their element."

"Then why aren't we going to a MOUNTAIN?"

"Don't worry. It'll be just the same." Chiri smiled. "Let's go, you all!" Angie allowed Chiri onto her hands as Sector W followed the woman to the car.

Downtown Coruscant (what part of the planet isn't downtown?)

"SAVE Planet Secco!" Arianna called eagerly through a megaphone as hundreds of alien citizens merely bypassed her. The Pumparian-Harnitan girl was holding up a poster of Planet Secco with little green patches, reading Bring the desert back to Green. "Help bring all plant life back to the desert! Planet Secco has fallen before its time, and only by our standards can we bring it back to what it was."

Vweeb sat on a stack of papers she apparently had printed, watching with hopelessness as she tried to gain peoples' attention. Her megaphone made her voice a million times louder at his height, especially since his ears were big, so it was hard to withstand.

"Face it, people in the big city only care about business and making cash." Vweeb stated. "They don't have time for forests."

Arianna didn't want to believe his words, and desperately hoped someone would listen. She saw a green alien—who looked like Greedo from Star Wars—in a brown business suit walk by. "Whooah!" Vweeb yelled when Arianna suddenly swiped the top paper; the one he was sitting on, and made him slip off. She ran in front of the man and held up the paper.

"Sir, would you care to sign this petition to bring plant life back to Planet Secco?" she asked politely, holding a pen. "We could grow new plants and vegetables so delicious our planets could never have imagined. Please?"

"Ehh, I don't have the time, kid." The man said. "If I wanna eat veggies, I'll get stuff from Flora." The man bypassed her and walked away.

"Oh." Arianna looked down, depressed. "I understand. You're busy."

As Vweeb gets up, he feels Arianna's shadow over him, the girl bending down and holding the large pen to him. "Vweeb, won't you please sign? I haven't found anyone else, yet."

"Sigh, I would, but it'd just feel weird. I'm not really an environment person, and, I don't really feel like breaking my back trying to help with this."

"Oh." She looked more depressed. "Well… I don't want to trouble you."

Vweeb sighed and did a light facepalm, "Y'see, THAT'S the problem, Arianna. You're too NICE. You're too OKAY with what everyone else thinks. If you're really passionate about your cause, you need to act TOUGH. Instead of going around and politely asking people, sometimes you need to just FORCE it in their face if nothing else works."

"But, Vweeb, I could never bring myself to make people do something they don't want to." Arianna spoke in a sad tone. "It's just not in my nature."

"Maybe, but you won't get anywhere otherwise. The reason people don't really bother about these things is because the person is either too NICE, or they're a whiny kid. But at least a kid would TUG on peoples' pants and make them listen! But a whiny kid that ISN'T whiny, they'll never listen!"

"Even if that's true, I'd feel like a bully for trying to make people do things. And, I could never want to be like that."

"Well, the thing about bullies is, they know how to get what they want. I mean, take a look at me, Ari, I'm only 1 inch tall. I'm not that strong. If a bunch of bullies gang up on me, it was either be stomped or give them lunch money. …'Course, then my lunch money is too tiny, and they shove me up their noses. But, what I'm saying is, you need to do something that would make people feel intimidated to save Secco. It's just like what bullies do, but you're holding your foot over me for a good cause. True, you're threatening to squash me, but in the end, it'll be worth it."

Arianna sighed and sat along the wall in hopelessness. "Either way you say it, I'm still pressuring people. I could never hold my foot over an ant, so how could I pressure people into saving a planet?"

Vweeb grabbed the side of Arianna's shirt and climbed and sat down on her shoulder. "Well, I don't know what else to say, Arianna. If you don't really have the guts, Secco might have to stay a wasteland."

Arianna released another sigh, feeling more upset than ever as she slumped her head on her hands. She didn't want to believe it, but Vweeb sounded like he knew what he meant. She's never been one to bully or intimidate people, and she always hated bullying, but if she didn't do so, she would begin to lose hope of ever saving Planet Secco. If she didn't 'bully', she may lose hope of ever getting anyone to support her causes. But it just didn't feel right to her.

Vweeb lightly rubbed Arianna's shoulder. Of course, considering his size, she didn't really feel it. "I'm sorry, Ari."

Arianna smiled, sadness still in her eyes, as she rubbed Vweeb's head with her finger. "Well, I'm glad you were honest, Vweeb."

"Hey, guys." Tronta spoke as he and Makava suddenly hurried over, panting. "Nebula just called, Darkrai's getting ready to ship another order."

"Everything all right here?" Makava asked, curious.

Vweeb and Arianna exchanged quick glances before Arianna responded, "Y-Yes."

"Come on, guys, let's get going." Vweeb said, and with that, the four hurried back to their ship, but not before Arianna regathered her stack of papers.

Nightmare Land; Nightmare King's Throne

The pitch-black king of fear watched as his Nightmare troops hauled a crate of Fear Dust away to be delivered to the aforementioned asteroid. Nebula Winkiebottom was with him at the time, as they had previously discussed the plan in person.

"We appreciate the help, Darkrai."

"I am honored to help. My new debt has been to you Kids Next Door."

"Don't worry about it." Nebula said nobly.

"Hmm… but while it is against my limits as an adult to interfere with the Kids Next Door's plans… just how do you plan to beat Viridi? While her bounds are still thick, and she is clouded with obsession, she is still a god."

"Well, most of our parents never had trouble dealing with gods." Nebula replied questioningly.

"Most of the gods chose to live within the mortal world, and had little contact with the Spirit World. Staying in the mortal world for extended times makes a spirit almost as mortal, and yet still immortal. During her time, Viridi has had a strong bond with the Spirit World, and her strength also comes from her burning passion. And if Viridi is successful in freeing herself, no matter what methods she uses, she may be unstoppable. You will need more than just your brute force to defeat her."

"Can I assume you have a suggestion?"

"I do. In ancient times, there was a poisonous drink that was brewed from all the horrors of the Underworld. A drink so evil that it made the gods feel mortal. Production of the brew has been forbidden for ages, but it's the only thing that'll help you last a chance against Viridi."

"And it's in the Underworld…" Nebula thought aloud. "Could either you or Facilier be able to make one?"

"It's against our restrictions. You will need to ask Grim; the King normally has the most authority in his domain."

"Very well. I'll have to get Cheren to ask; the only ones who have authority over Grim is still the Uno Family. But, thanks anyway, Darky. There's one more favor we need from you though."

"Yeees?"

"If Viridi's minions are made out of Nightmare substance, we can assume they hold the same weaknesses, right?"

"I would believe so."

"Do you think you can supply us with the essentials of a Nightmare's weaknesses so we can mow down her forces a lot easier?"

"Hm hm hm." Darkrai chuckled. "There's only one thing you need to know. How do you kids sleep well at night?"

"Hm?" Nebula was curious by his question.

Virginian Forest

Angie had driven the lot of Sector W to the Virginian Forest as per Chiri's instructions (except Fybi, who decided to fly after them). They stopped at a particular region of the forest, and Fybi landed to join her friends as they followed Angie (who was guided by Chiri) through a short distance of the forest before arriving at a lonely tree stump with a hole in it.

There were two Minish standing patiently on the tree stump, a boy with a blue robe and a girl in a pink robe. Angie let Chiri onto the stump with her finger as the miniscule woman went to join the kids. She smiled as she looked up at the adult and the kids. "Everyone, these two are my children! My son, Sappo, and my daughter, Gibli."

"Hiiii!" they waved and called in squeaky voices.

"Weird names." Anthony said. Michelle grinned and waved back at them, while Sector W gave smaller waves.

"Did you kids get the portal ready?" Chiri asked them.

"Yeah, Mom! It's ready to go!" Gibli jumped.

"Get in here, you guys!" Sappo said as he excitedly jumped into the hole in the stump, followed by his sister.

"Come on! We're supposed to fit in THAT thing?" Anthony complained.

"We should've let them know how big your feet were." Aranea remarked, smirking when Anthony glared at her.

"I'll go first!" Michelle beamed, excitedly bouncing on the stump. The 5-year-old stood with her bare feet planted firmly over the hole as a green, glittering dust encircled her, and her form poofed into a green puff of smoke, which was sucked into the hole.

The five kids stared in amazement and confusion as they looked at the hole on the tree stump's bottom. They bent down when a tiny, ant-size Michelle walked out, sporting a very teeny-tiny grin and wave. "Teeheehee! Your feets are BIIIG from down here, Anthony!" she yelled in a very squeaky voice.

The five kids exchanged weirded glances, and Aranea shrugged as she stepped onto the stump herself. The Fulbright girl was surrounded in a similar green dust, as her body poofed and was sucked into the hole. Fybi floated onto the stump afterward, and the angel was poofed inside as well. Sally excitedly ran onto the stump and poofed, followed by Harvey, who poofed.

Anthony still looked a little freaked out by this, but he was given a nudge from his mother. "Go on, Anthony." Angie smiled. "Don't be shy."

Anthony stared nervously at the hole, but decided to get on. His feet covered nearly the whole top of the stump as the green sparkles surrounded him. Before he knew it, his vision was encased in green smoke, and he felt himself falling into what felt like a deep chasm.

"WAAAaaaahh—Oof! Oh! Ow! Ah!" Anthony ended up falling someplace dark, alit by glowing mushrooms, as he bounced down a series of huge leaves before colliding with the ground on his rear. He saw his friends standing around and smiling at him, and Sally proceeded to help him to his feet, and Anthony brushed his pants.

The two were approached by Sappo and Gibli, the Minish kids now as tall as they were, as the male Minish excitedly yelled, "Come on!", instructing them to come forward.

The five operatives exited the opening where light was pouring in, and regrouped with Michelle as they were exposed to daylight once again. Anthony, Fybi, Sally, Harvey, and Nea gaped at the towering grass blades, and tremendous trees that allowed tiny fragments of sun to hit the ground. All around them, giant bugs roamed the jungle of grass, with humongous bees and dragonflies soaring around the heavens, and Angie McKenzie towered high over the children, sporting a massive grin as she looked at the miniaturized kids, who were now the size of ants.

Chiri climbed down the stump and joined the group of kids, sporting her usual smile as she stood as tall as a regular adult. "Kids:" she spoke, her previously-squeaky voice now sounding normal and regular sized, "welcome… to the Minish World."

The kids took another look around the vast world around them. There were other Minish citizens, families taking peaceful walks, children playing baseball; using a small stick as a bat and a tiny nut as the ball, and two kids playing joust while riding ants.

The kids smiled (except Anthony) and stared in pure awe at the incredible sights. "Woooow!" Sally exclaimed in awe. "This is so amazing!"

"Yeah!" Aranea said, her green eyes wide with wonder. "I feel kinda bad for stepping on bugs now! …You don't think they'll recognize me, do you?"

"Suuuh-weet." Harvey said coolly, hiding his amazement as he twirled his yo-yo.

"Prithee, to stare at the world from a different set of eyes, how canst one not admire its beauty?" Fybi expressed as she glided over the grass blades, landing lightly on her feet beside Anthony. "Anthony? Dost thou not agree?"

Anthony eye-rolled. As far as he knew, he didn't like being small at all. Still, he couldn't deny, the world looked amazing from this view. It was just scary, that's all.

Anthony looked up when Chiri touched his shoulder. "Let's go to a more private area. The rest of you can play with Sappo and Gibli." She then began to lead Anthony off.

"Come on, we'll show you around!" Sappo said excitedly (his voice sounded regular sized now, too).

"You're gonna LOVE our village!" Gibli exclaimed cheerily. Sector W gave little chuckles as they followed the Minish kids through the forest.

Chiri approached Angie once more and asked, "Don't you wanna come, Angie?"

"Hmhmhm!" the woman giggled. "No thanks. Adults don't really fit in the Minish World. But let me know if Anthony needs any help."

"Okay!" Chiri waved as the woman headed back in Anthony's direction. Angie stood up at full height and walked to a simple tree, and she proceeded to sit down with her back against it, and peacefully rest with the calming sounds of forest winds and chirping birds.

Abandoned asteroid; Sargasso Region

The Nightmare underlings had dropped the crate of Nightmare substance on the flat surface of the asteroid and returned to Nightmare Land, no questions asked. The crate was the only thing that existed on the asteroid at this moment, and the region was free of any other signs of life. However, crouched under the woodwork of the crate, in a gap small enough for them to fit, Vweeb, Arianna, Tronta, and Makava waited, having been miniaturized by Vweeb's shrink ray, and wearing space helmets. "Vweeb, are you sure this plan will work?" Arianna asked, her voice staticky from her space helmet.

"Sure it will!" Vweeb smiled confidently. "These guys always expect some spacecraft to wait and hide, and then follow them when they're at a safe distance. I bet they never expect a group of tiny people to stow away with their cargo!"

"He's fine with any plan that involves getting us an equal height with him." Tronta remarked.

Makava giggled. "Honestly, this is probably my natural height. I am part Kateenian."

"Ha ha ha!" Vweeb laughed. "I keep forgetting that about you!"

Tronta's eyes widened, "Guys, shhh!, here they come!"

As he said, a group of four Nutskis were fluttering toward the asteroid, followed by a couple of Flages. The operatives shrunk further into the gap as the Flages began to skim the asteroid for spies, while two Nutskis lifted the crate from opposite sides, and allowed the other two to get on the bottom. Once the Flages had skimmed the entire asteroid, they reported, "No sign of any operatives."

"Good. Let's hurry back to Viridi." A Nutski said in a buzzy voice. The crate was lifted high above the asteroid as they began to fly across the sea of stars, unknowingly taking the operatives with the crate.

"Ha ha ha!" Vweeb laughed, filled with excitement. "This is too easy!"

"Yeah, so keep it down, dude!" Tronta yelled.

"I can hardly believe we're getting to Viridi's world so easily." Arianna spoke, agreeing that it was way too easy.

"Well, no matter how easy we get there, the sooner we're able to plan an invasion, I'll be good." Makava said.

"Ha ha!" Vweeb laughed again. "Viridi won't ever suspect! Before she knows it, her world's gonna be filled in-…" The Kateenian stopped himself, staring curiously ahead. "What's that?"

Everybody squinted their eyes, seeing an expanding light up ahead. "I don't…" Arianna spoke. "WAAAAH!" The operatives were blinded by the explosion of light, and everything went white.