The Great Candied Adventure, Part 4

Chapter 4: A Flavor That Ends All Others

Sunny Day

It became nighttime by the time they set sail from the desert. The Sunny Day still felt vibrant, as the eyes of the raccoon keel emitted dim lights that shined forward, and several torches were alit around the ship, too. The sky was glistened with stars and a crescent moon, and the seas were very calm. Sheila was lain back on the keel with her right foot dangling over, and most of the friends could barely stay awake. There were very little sounds beside the calm waves, and they were so soothing. Combined with the gentle chill of the guiding breeze, they couldn't ask for a more perfect atmosphere.

With everyone else mostly laying on the deck, Kirie was swimming in the ocean, resurfacing by the starboard and signing up, When's Chris gonna be done with our food?

"Pretty soon, I hope." Haruka replied. "Be careful down there, Kirie. It's dangerous swimming in the ocean at night."

I'm looking for mermaids! Kirie beamed. Don't worry, they'll come to my rescue if I'm captured! She dove beneath.

In the ship's kitchen, Chris was using firebending to cook burgers in a pan, while turkey and steak were heating in the oven. "Why'd I get to be cook, anyway. I don't know anything about culinary. Panini probably does, though. That's her name, heheh."

In a lower laboratory, Artie used a welding torch to fix wires in mechanical gloves. "If I can just acquire some solar panels to fuel these gloves with the sun's energy, it can increase the strength of Sheila's fists tenfold." A few more sparks. "Arrgh… I think a few of the deeper wires are unadjusted."

"Let me help." Haylee offered, pulling out a Shrink Sweet. She munched the sour treat and shrunk down to jellybean size. Artie placed her into the glove as she crawled through the wires and carefully readjusted them using her own welding torch. "Huff, huff. I think it's good."

"Way to go, Hayl." Artie said as his sister crawled out of the glove. He laid down a Growth Gum for her to grow back to normal size.

"Hmmm…" Harry stared out a window in thought.

"Maybe I'll finish the rest tomorrow." Artie figured. "What're you staring at, Hair?"

"Ah wonder… just what good is a singer in a pirate crew, anyway?"

"Well, you entertain us with silly raps! He he!" Haylee grinned.

"Yeah, but… compared to what you guys do, how much am I needed?"

"What, you help us." Haylee noted. "And singers are the life of the crew, you're totally needed."

"Siiigh…"

"Aw, quit worrying about it, Harry." Artie said. "You know that whole deal where everybody is equally important. …I don't have the emotional knowledge to explain it, so why don't we go up and eat."

Kirie climbed back onto deck by the time Chris came out with steaming burgers and steak, all placed on a wide plate like waiters carry in restaurants. "Oooorder up." He called.

Harry claimed one of the burgers and munched the first bite. "Bluch. Still feels too squishy."

"Told you I wasn't a chef."

Sheila grabbed a turkey leg and bit a large piece off. "Food is food, I got no complaints, Mate."

"You know what I'd like to eat?" Haylee asked, eating part of the steak. "A Blurpleberry Supreme. But I won't."

"What would happen if you eat a Sugary Wonder, anyway? Then it's gone?" Harry asked.

"Well, the mystical essence of the Wonder would find another host candy of its own kind, and take a new form. That way, they could always exist in the world."

"So theoretically, we could gather up all of that kind of candy in the world, and have multiple Sugary Wonders if we kept eating it." Carol summarized.

"Well, yeah I guess."

"There's a new use for my unlimited dongs." Carol proudly smiled, eating a beignet from her plate. "Would anyone like to try my powdered beignets?"

"I would!" Artie, Chris, Haylee, and Mason perked with hearts in their eyes.

"That'll be 10 bucks each!" The four sighed and gave her the money before taking some beignets. Carol glanced behind her and saw Dillon staring out at the sea. "Don't you want any, Dillon?"

"I'm not really hungry."

"Why not? …You still upset about Whatshername? Come on, you're so sappy. If I had a dollar for every person I know with a friend that moved away, that'd pale in comparison to the amount I already-"

"I don't care HOW rich you are, you're NOT gonna replace her, so SHUT it!" Dillon stomped inside.

"Sheesh, what happened to shadowbenders being serene?"

"Just forget about it, Carol." Harry said.

"So what's our next stop?" Aurora asked.

"There's one other Sugary Wonder my mom knew at the top of her head." Haylee replied. "The golden ice cream known as the Fourth Flavor. And it happened to be Mom's favorite of the Eight Wonders."

"Another classic tale indeed." Artie smiled in thought.

"So all these Eight Wonders are some your mom already found." Chris deduced.

"Yep. And I can already guess a few others:" Haylee began. "The Licorice Stalks, Magic Caramels, and Chocolate Volcano."

"But those caramels only appear every 5 years, right?" Chris asked. "We're about a year late."

"So there's a chance the pirates already collected them." Aurora replied.

"I don't know, though." Haylee said. "The caramels are only at their purest during that 5th day, 5th month, 5th year. So they would only have a short while to use them to their potential. Not to mention they'd have to sacrifice something they value most. So if they went with it, one of their crewmembers would be the opposite of what they usually are."

"Soooo…" Aurora began as images popped into their heads. "Fat Jack would be Slim Jack," they saw "Slim" Jack eating healthy vegetables, dressed like a hippy, "Rallo would like classy music, Stewie would be a normal baby, Maggie would preserve life, I guess Black John just wouldn't like candy, and Nickel Joe… X X X X." They got headaches.

"Look, just, forget it!" Haylee shook. "Let's just find the Fourth Flavor, okay? Mom said its temple lied on a mountain range along the southeastern shore of Greenland. After we sail around Africa, we can head directly north and be there the day after tomorrow. Gotta hand it to your mom, Sheila. She knew how to build a fast, durable ship. And if the wind stays at our backs, we can be there in no time."

"Heh heh. Adventure has no time to wait, mates." Sheila smirked, shaking a soda can. "My mom knew exactly that."

"Then let's get to sleep soon." Aurora suggested. "We have a whole day to kill tomorrow, so let's be ready to enjoy it."

The next day…

The 11 friends conked out later in the night and woke up around 11 in the morning. Interesting number. They sailed for 5 more hours doing miscellaneous things. Chris and Kirie were both fishing and Artie was fixing the mechanical gloves on the deck. "Chris, since when were you good at fishing, anyway?" Aurora smirked.

"Just because my dad couldn't throw a Ping-Pong ball in a bowl, doesn't have any reflection on me."

"Uhhh… yes it does. I mean, a firebender trying to catch fish, even they aren't that stupid."

Mason looked at Sheila as she was nearly passed out by the deck's front, lying flat on her back. "You okay, Sheila?" he chuckled.

"Uhhhh… I never realized how boring sailing gets after a while. I need excitement, I need adventure!" She banged the deck. "When are we gonna get there??"

"Hm-hm, we should get there by tomorrow morning." Haylee smiled. "I heard the mountains are really pretty in the morning."

"I can't wait that long! I need adventure nooooww! The unbearable lust from lack of excitement is heartaching! I-…" Her eyes shot open with wonder, feeling a sudden chill and familiar flurries fall on her face. Everybody stopped in their activities and looked around with surprise. The skies were suddenly cloudy as light snow was coming down. "SNNNNOOOOWW!" Sheila was quick to jump to her feet. "Holy STREWTH, mates! It's SNOW! Out here in the middle of the ocean! During spring, no less!"

"Wow, I…I heard that weather patterns get kind of random sometimes out on the sea, but…" Haylee was surprised as everyone else.

"Check it out, you guys!" Sheila spoke, already having rolled a huge snowball. "You just roll it and roll it, and it gets bigger and bigger! I always LOVE doing this, mates! Ta think I've been waiting for Winter all these years when I coulda been doin' this out at sea! This is the coolest adventure ever!"

Haylee stuck her tongue out to catch a snowflake. "Hey… this is vanilla flavored! It's probably straight from the Mountain of Flavors where we're headed!"

Artie, Kirie, and Aurora were already trying to catch snow on their tongues while Sheila built a raccoon snowman and Carol danced carefreely in the fluff. Haruka stared at the sea from the railing as Mason approached from behind. "Hey Haruka, dare you to take a dip in the ocean while it's snowing!"

"Don't want to, Mason."

"Come on, don't be a scaredy-cat!" He lightly shoved her.

"I said DON'T, Mason!" Haruka smacked him and stomped away in anger.

"Gee, what got into her?"

"She wouldn't be the only one." Carol said, looking at Dillon who stared at the sea, still depressed as before.

"Dillon, I'm sorry about Vanellope, but you can't keep thinking about her." Aurora told him. "She was our friend, too."

"You didn't care about her the way I did."

Sheila forcibly turned him to face her. "Listen, Mate, you c'n be a sourpussy on your own time, but 'long as you're on my ship, you ain't sailing these seas with a frowny face. Either you have a Sunny Day, or Ah'll make yer day gloomy. Vanellope's gone now, and if you can't get over that, you're a waste of space under the sun."

"Hmmm…" Dillon left inside the ship as well.

"He just needs time adjusting to a new teammate." Chris figured.

"I don't see why, I mean who wouldn't want a filthy rich girl?" Carol asked.

"Yeah, who wouldn't want a powdery brat to brag about her billions of dongs." Harry remarked.

The friends all engaged in laughter, except Carol. "Ugh! Peasants!"

Big Ma'am

A duo of Nickel Joe's buff henchmen pulled Al Sugarh by the arms and threw him on the ground before Black John. "Soooo, this be the sand-salty shrew that be darin' to make barters with us. Tell me, Sugarh, where be the Blurpleberry Supreme?"

"I had it in my possession, but those filthy Kids Next Door robbed it from me!"

"Kids Next Door?" Nickel Joe approached from behind with his sly grin. "Accordin' to the info I acquired from thems selves, they call their selves the Raccoon Pirates."

"Raccoon Pirates?!" Big Mom's shadowy image appeared on the screen. "The ones captained by Golden-Fist Marine?!"

"A different sort, Mama. The captain here was Sun-Fist Sheila, and her band was a bunch of snotty kids."

"Snotty kids?! And they aren't Kids Next Doooor?!"

"Accordin' to their words, yes. They was reasonable to negotiate on the grounds of parley. But they wasn't willin' to hand over the Blurpleberry. But what do ya think, Mom? Are they trustworthy?"

"Nnnnn… they must certainly be Kids Next Door… trying to rescue their luscious comrade. Hnnn, I could eat her now… but it's far too risky. I'd rather not have so many in my way when hunting the Sugary Wonders. Just this small amount of children should pose no threat. Inform me if any more of these 'pirates' interfere with our plans. If there is more than those same kids, fresh Panini Pancakes on the menu today."

"Will do, Ma." Joe flipped. "But what shalls we do about the particular gentleman which handed the treasure to such?"

"PUNISH HIM to his graaaaave."

"A request Ay've been yearnin' ferrrrr." Black John growled. Al Sugarh shuddered with fear when the vice-captain grabbed the very space behind him, and ripped open a rift of darkness.

"Eeek!... AAAYAAAAAAAHHHH!" The thief was swallowed by the ghouls of the Underworld.

With that, Black John placed the bottom of a red candle in his mouth, lit the top end with a lighter, and blew it like a cigar. "Well, at any rate," Nickel Joe continued, "what's the stasis on that there recipe?"

Lala's left; third eye was pressed against Rick's as she still studied his memory. "I've found a few more. One of them is… the Fourth Flavor. Located on the Mountain of Flavors in southeast Greenland."

"Poifect." Joe flipped. "We have a vessel in that region. Call one o' the tykes and have them get over there. In fact, better to send over Maggie. If those Raccoon Rascals thinks of takin' our Sugary Wonders, what easier way to stop them than a swift, semi-painless, unseen death."

Uno Household

"Siiiigh, well back to my boring desk job." Rachel sighed as she was about to head to school. "I'll let you skip today, considering the events, Cheren, but I expect you to finish the homework when I bring it."

"I know." Cheren released a sigh. "There's not much point, though, it's not like I can monitor Sector V, anyway. Can't even check their progress."

"Come on, Cheren, you know you can trust them, they'll save Panini."

"I know." Another sigh. "But looking back, how are we involved in these situations, anyway. I know the Kids Next Door's job is to fight evil adults that threaten kids' rights to not brush teeth and stuff… which kinda bites us in the, well, teeth… but when it comes to fighting adults that threaten everyone on a, well, cosmic scale… why don't our parents step in more? All of you guys have so much experience, not to mention your memories, so…"

"Heh heh heh. Yeah, when you really think about it, it's kind of wrong for us parents to be letting their kids go on these dangerous missions. But we had to go through the same stuff when we were young. But our time is over, Cheren. We've had our experience… so now it's your turn to have yours. You and your friends are the Next Generation. We won't be around forever. Then after you've had your experiences, you might have kids of your own and the whole cycle starts again."

Cheren regretted ever saying anything. All at once, a hundred weights were pinned onto his heart. "Hm…" Rachel smiled. "Not something a kid wants to hear." She knelt down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just don't think about it, Cheren. For now, just keep being a kid. No matter what you have to face in the future, don't let that affect you now." She stood up and began to leave. "Besides, you've already gotten a lot stronger, and your friends are about to do the same. Whatever comes your way… I know you'll be able to handle it." And she left.

All those weights were lifted off Cheren's heart, and he sported a smile. He already faced so many powerful enemies, and defeated them. So did Nebula, Sector IC, Anthony… maybe they really could take on anything. Maybe even… that.

Sunny Day

Night fell once again as everyone was fast asleep, eager to hopefully reach their new land by morning. Everyone slept in one room, on either hammocks or mats that were laying about. Except for Sheila Frantic, however, who slept nice and calm on the deck, which still had a few traces of snow. Her snowraccoon was close to melting, and it's guessed it would likely be gone by tomorrow. That's why the friends ate part of it since it was part-ice-cream. The ship was still left sailing with the wind at their backs, and Haylee awoke every hour to check their progress. Throughout the night, there were still open seas dead ahead, so she was safe to sleep for another hour.

At 7:00am, it was a crisp and clear morning. Everyone awakened for their morning snacks and watched the sun rise in the distant, pink east. "LAAAAND HOOOO!" Their ecstatic captain was seated on the keel, first to see the incoming mountain range. The Mountain of Flavors towered high into the heavens, and appeared like thin, sharp, very tall needles. Very misty clouds drifted around them, and a light cold breeze radiated from their summit.

The ship parked beside a thin strip of land that mimicked a pier, and Sheila was the first to set foot. She marched forward with her crew behind, viewing the narrow path that led up the steep landscape. Sheila whiffed a huge breath of cold, ice-creamy air through her nose. "Smells just loike my fridge."

Haylee basked in the lovely air as well. "The home of the Fourth Flavor… the purest ice cream that ends all others."

"Well, wot are we doin' here sniffin', let's GO, cobbers!" Sheila declared.

"Sniff-sniff, better hurry." Haylee cautioned. "I smell, SNIIIIFF… jimmies." (Play "Alpine Incline (Ground)" from Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze.)

Stage 5: Mountain of Flavors

Mission: Reach the Temple of the Fourth Flavor.

Act 1

The crew started up the path along the side of the mountain before reaching an opening where a light gust breezed up a vertical enclosing. Sheila held Aurora and Chris and spun her tail to allow the gust to propel her upwards. Haylee used her own mini propellers to float up with Harry and Artie, Carol floated with her umbrella, holding Mason, Dillon Shadow Glided up with Haru, while Kirie glided with her sleeves. They swerved left and right to avoid the floating Eye-Cones – floating spikeballs with ice cream cone spikes, and a single eye – along the way, before taking land on a foothold up top.

A giant crystal wall blocked their path, but a small stairway on the right led up to a small pathway. Sheila walked up and spotted a huge spiked crystal ball-n-chain, which would otherwise be blocked from her view on the lower ground, or inside the wind tunnel. She walked around the path so that the ball-n-chain was between her and the crystal wall. She spun her arm and punched a charged Light Sphere at the ball-n-chain, making it smash down the wall.

They entered the new area, where a squad of Candy Pirates dropped down and ambushed them. One of them ran at Sheila, but she jumped and Ground Pounded, then threw a kick at another one to push him against one behind him. Chris kicked fireballs at them to knock some down, making them drop their candycane swords as Haylee claimed them, using them to fight others, then licked her swords. Two more ran at Carol, but she raised dollars and made them stop and pant like dogs, letting Sheila flip above and slam their heads together. Dillon grabbed the last one in a Shadow Veil and beat him to a pulp until he was out.

The group continued to a dead end, looking up at another wide, vertical shaft, with several Eye-Cones floating around. Sticking out of the wall were several chocolate popsicles. Sheila went over to pick one out, studying it curiously. "Oi, this thing's still cold. What bloke would leave this 'ere?"

"That's a Fudgepuffsicle." Haylee replied. "When you bite it, your body inflates like a balloon. After a few seconds, you burp it out and deflate, but you're in danger of being popped on the way."

"Crikey, I gotta try!" Sheila bit half of the fudgesicle, and incredible, chilly pain began flowing through her head. She desperately tried to shake the brainfreeze off, but her body swelled like a balloon, calmly floating upward.

"I don't feel comfortable eating that." Mason said.

"Well, I'm not and someone has to carry me. By the way, you owe me for lifting you up that last shaft, Mason." Carol said.

"Siiiigh." Mason begrudgingly ate the treat and puffed, Carol sitting calmly on his belly as he floated upward. The others ate a fudgesicle and followed, going up the shaft. It was harder to navigate compared to the normal wind shaft, but they managed to evade the Eye-Cones and cone spikes that were on the walls. They made it out of the shaft, high above the mountains as a breeze came and blew them along.

Their bodies deflated and allowed them to fall onto a safe path. They crossed the narrow trail, which had giant chocolate and vanilla ice creams sticking from the walls, which Haylee didn't hesitate to lick. The crew reached a vast chasm where a path of shady blue owls – called Hootz – led across. Sheila was first to bounce across them, impressing the crew with her superb jumping skills. The others followed a little more worryingly, with Mason and Carol the only two behind. "I'm scared, hold me, Masey?" The girl got in his arms.

"Siiigh." Mason bounced across as well while holding her. They finally reached the next path and made it to a small enclosing, where a squad of Nickel Joe's buff Bodyguards ambushed them. A Big Knuckles – a large one with a bald head and sunglasses – charged at Chris, whose fists met with his as they pushed at equal strength, until Aurora jumped and flame-kicked the side of his head. Three Slim Jim Bodyguards – skinnier varieties with sunglasses and toothpicks – leaped around the area tossing toothpicks, sticking Harry's feet to the ground as they jumped at him, but the boy threw both fists to punch two's faces, while he ducked the third as he bumped into Haylee's wrench.

Sheila charged a Light Sphere, punched it at a Bodyguard, and it bounced off a wall and hit another guard from behind. Two more ran at her from the side, but she jumped, spun around, and rapidly whacked them with her tail, then grabbed both their heads with her feet and slammed them into each other. With the guards defeated, they saw no other place to go but a shaft below a crystal patch on the ground. Chris threw flames at it, which had no effect, and Sheila tried to Ground Pound, but still barely worked. They noticed a large marshmallow along the back wall, so Sheila rolled the marshmallow close to the crystal patch, then used it to bounce higher to perform a forceful Ground Pound, shooting through the crystal and down the chasm at whipping speed.

She slammed the ground on the bottom and left a huge dent, then ended up smashed under the others as they fell. They found their selves in an underground cavern where a waterfall poured into a river, flowing to an underwater cave. The team dove underneath and swam into the cave (Haruka holding onto Dillon), evading Puftups along the way. The puff-fish swelled and exploded into spikes, scratching the side of Carol's dress and Mason's waist.

They reached a surface and gasped for breath, but there was no land to climb onto as the river kept flowing along. "Aw, man! This dress costed me a 60% discount!" Carol complained.

"Better find a discount for your skin." Mason cautioned as ice cream cone stalactites fell from above, forcing them to dodge left and right. The cave finally poured out into a waterfall several meters over the ground, but before Sheila hit the ground, she spun her tail and hovered to break her fall, grabbing Mason as he fell, who grabbed Carol, and etc. until they landed safely. With that, they passed a narrow pathway between close walls. The path led onto a high cliffside, where the rest of this vast mountain lay in their wake. (Pause song.)

"Mw-mw-mw…"

Haylee's eyes widened. "Get down!" They ducked behind a wall before bullets flung at them from a distance.

From atop a high cliffside a few miles ahead, Maggie Simpson readied her gun and held her right hand like an 'O' in front of her eye. She expanded the 'O' as her pupil expanded, and her vision zoomed closer. Seeing Carol peek out from the wall, Maggie fired her gun. "Ahhhhh!" Mason pulled Carol back.

"It's that Maggie girl, what'll we do now?!" Haylee shouted.

"AH'LL take care of this!" Sheila declared as she punched a Light Sphere where the bullets came from. Maggie immediately shot the sphere as Sheila threw many more, but the 1-year-old's bullets came blindingly fast.

Haylee pulled her back and said, "We'll need to find a way around until we get out of her vision. I see a fork up ahead, let's take the left route. Sheila, distract her with your spheres!"

Sheila went ahead and rapidly punched Light Spheres at Maggie, distracting the baby while the others ran for the left path, then she joined. They followed a slightly wide path between walls, having to stay along the right wall to avoid Maggie's vision. However, some pirates hovered overhead with jetpacks and held mirror shields ready. The kids saw their reflections in the shields, and frantically dodged when Maggie's bullets bounced off of them, nearly hitting. Sheila punched Light Spheres that only bounced off the mirrors, then Maggie shot them down, so Sheila decided to whirl her spheres around the pirates and hit their jetpacks from the sides.

The enemies plummeted, giving Maggie no way to see them, so the kids stayed along the right wall. They saw a Gold Wonka Bar on the left wall, so Kirie happily skipped to it, quickly jumping back when bullets rained down. Haylee glared and shook her head, but the blonde girl wore a determined look. Sheila threw spheres up that Maggie shot, letting Kirie quickly run out and grab the candy bar before Maggie shot her again. They hurried along and reached a small stairway leading into a wide cave, with many holes where light shone from the ceiling.

Sheila stood in one of the light patches where the hole slanted diagonally, quickly jumping when Maggie spotted and shot at her. The kids decided to go around the spotlights, but the vertical ones had mirrors below them that bounced the light across the path, and mirrors above the holes just as well. Artie carefully stuck his hand in a horizontal light beam, and flinched when a round of bullets bounced their way down. To cross this first beam, they simply climbed on some short platforms nearby and hopped across. They arrived at a water area and had to dive underneath to avoid another horizontal spotlight.

They resurfaced and climbed on a foothold, overlooking a part of the water where whirlpools roamed. They couldn't dive in in this area, but the foothold across from them had searchlights blocking it. They noticed another crystal ball-n-chain beside one of the holes, but to reach and angle it properly, Mason had to eat a Fudgepuffsicle and float upward while Sheila bounced on him. They maneuvered around the wall searchlights until they were at level with the ball-n-chain, so Sheila could punch a charged Light Sphere, fling the crystal spike up, and plug one of the holes.

They jumped this gap and reached the next foothold, where they could safely dive in the water. They had to navigate around a few more whirlpools which threatened to spin them in searchlights, eventually reaching the ledge that led further through the cave. They were in a wide area that was more rocky, with several ice cream cone stalactites on the ceiling. Spotlights aimed at them as well, so Maggie blasted the cones and made them fall as the kids dashed through. "How does she even know we're here?!" Haylee yelled.

"The very slight rumbles of the cones?" Harry inquired.

"Her eyesight can't be THAT good!"

They climbed up a few walls until they reached a tunnel that curved rightward. They carefully passed through until it became straight, and Maggie was dead ahead. The one-year-old saw them, however, and quickly blasted bullets that ricocheted off the walls. "Leave it ta me." Sheila whispered. "AAAAHH-" She dashed forward throwing rapid Light Spheres, but Maggie blasted each one and ricocheted other bullets off walls until one hit her left foot, making her trip.

"Sheila!" Mason and the others ran forward, except Kirie, who held Dillon back. Dillon looked at her with confusion as the girl wore a serious look in her mismatched eyes.

The others tried to pull Sheila back as Maggie fired ricocheting bullets, which Chris and Aurora tried to block with fire, but it didn't do much, and the team flinched while trying to avoid Maggie's bullets. They gasped when Kirie went ahead and happily jumped around to avoid Maggie's bullets. She tossed her fans at the child, but Maggie shot them away, then successfully grazed the left of Kirie's waist.

The baby glared and twirled her gun, but a sensation fell over her as she suddenly felt immobilized. She glanced left to see her shadow, which extended to a close, but distant wall due to the sun, seemed to attach to another shadow that came from a nearby hole, which led into the cave they just were. Dillon was the cause of this, standing on the other side as his shadow, Mario stretched along and caught Maggie's shadow in a Shadow Possession. He was struggling to keep the grip, so Kirie recovered fast, dashed at the sniper, leapt, and SLAMMED her foot to Maggie's face. Dillon released the possession as the binky flew from Maggie's mouth, and she plummeted down the vast windy chasm.

Haruka gave Sheila a Healing Sting before bandaging her left foot, then hurried to do the same to Kirie as the others regrouped. "…Did we just kill a baby?" Haylee asked.

"She'll probably survive." Mason replied.

"Wow, Dillon, way to go!" Haylee praised. "How'd you know where to stretch your shadow?"

"Actually, Kirie came up with the plan." Dillon smiled. "She determined Maggie's location as to the nearest hole and drew this diagram for my shadow to follow." He held up a small paper with a crayon drawing, where a curved line led from a 'Hole' to Maggie. "Her shadow ended just beside the hole, so Mario didn't need to stretch far to catch her. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't've made it."

"But we didn't even see her shadow." Haylee noted.

Well, it was OBVIOUS it was there because of the sun's POSITIONING, sillyyy! Kirie signed.

"We'll never doubt you again, Kir." Chris said.

"To think if we came here later in the day, we probably couldn't pull that off." Haruka figured.

"So as you see, the Spirit o' Adventure be with us." Sheila fist-palmed with a smirk, no longer feeling the pain in her foot. "It's time to move further!" (Resume "Alpine Incline".)

From Maggie's cliffside, they followed a left route that sloped upward, bringing them to a high cliff overlooking the distant, calm sea, and the sun still rising over the horizon. Sheila stood on the very edge, sucked in a huge breath, and screamed, "I'M SHEILA! THE GAL WHO WILL BE KING OF ADVENTUREEERS!"

"Don't you mean 'Queen'?" Mason chuckled.

"Queens are bullies, Mate."

They followed a small stairway further up as light snow flurries began to drift down. Haylee held her tongue out again, tasting the vanilla-flavored snow as they arrived at the snow-covered parts of the mountain. They reached an open area with an icy floor, and the path continued past two ledges with a slope leading to them. Ice Cream Men stood guard on those ledges as they blasted ice cream bazookas at the kids. "Don't tell me the Ice Cream Men are working for the pirates, too!" Aurora yelled.

"Heh, either way, we'll burn 'em down to size!" Chris declared as he threw flames at the first one, who defended with a pink glass shield before jumping down to swing it at him. The other Ice Cream Man jumped down while blasting ice cream at Kirie and Haylee, who hopped up and bounced his head together. Chris and Sheila stood side-by-side and spun fists of light and flames, punching the Shield Cream Man together and taking him down. They walked up the slope to the first ledge and jumped the small gap to the second and found a wide, frosty river. There was no way across it, and much too cold to swim, so they returned and noticed the huge ball of vanilla ice cream on the skate rink.

They figured they could roll this to the river, but there was still the gap between the ledges. However, a large screw sat in the center of the rink, so Haylee could turn it with her wrench and make the center piece of the path emerge from the wall. The group quickly rolled the ice cream up there before the path retracted, and they successfully rolled it onto the river to create a frozen path in its wake. The ball decreased as they did so, so they made their way to a small island where another creamball sat. They used this one to make the path stretch further, and Ice Cream Men started hovering over the river on jetpacks, trying to shoot them.

Kirie kept the ball rolling while Sheila tossed swerving Light Spheres at the enemies to bonk their jetpacks from behind and make them plummet. They noticed a ledge with a small enclosing on their left, holding a Gold Wonka Bar, so Kirie rolled that way slightly so Sheila could jump to and grab it. They made a stop on one more small island to get another creamball, and they rolled the rest of the way to reach a slanted waterfall. The water flowed along a shallow hill, so the team jumped off and slid down, eventually taking land on a walkway over a river below.

Across from them was a Tongue One that moved left and right, his white tongue sticking out. On the edge of this foothold were four levers, parallel to a slot above the Tongue One's wall that each held a huge ball of ice cream, each a different flavor: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or green tea. "Here's a kind of Tongue One that prefers ice cream. Like me." Haylee explained. "Just give him the flavor that matches his tongue."

Sheila waited for it to slide beneath the vanilla's slot before she punched the lever and dropped the ice cream inside. The Tongue One slurped it up and spoke, "Thaaaank yooooou." He started moving faster as his tongue was now brown, so Sheila had to punch the chocolate switch to make that flavored ice cream come down. She had trouble timing it just right and missed several times, but the ice cream eventually made it. "Thaaaank yooooou." He moved even faster, wanting strawberry ice cream, so Sheila punched the switch when he was at different positions before eventually landing the ice cream in.

With his tongue now satisfied, the Tongue One got in the center and stretched his tongue to connect to their platform, opening his mouth even wider. "Gooooo nooooow." The team exchanged nods and crossed the slippery tongue that led into the Temple of Cones. Once again, there were chi-block signs to prevent firebending. "Siiiigh. I feel like a broken lighter." Aurora sighed.

"I feel like a broken record-player." Harry remarked. (Play "Temple Feat II" from Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze.)

Act 2: Temple of Cones

It started off like a regular cave and fairly dark, but they could feel the chill growing stronger. Their first hazard was in a wide part of the cave, where giant ice cream balls rolled back and forth along a dented path, rolling up the ramped walls on either side before rolling back. An easy hazard to cross, but one of the left slopes had a Gold Wonka Bar on the top of the ball's path. When the ball rolled back to the other side, Sheila Wall Jumped up the dented ramp and grabbed the bar before avoiding the creamball and coming back down. They made it past the treacherous field and reached a ledge overlooking a calm river down below, which looked fairly cold.

A group of giant ice cream cones with different flavors led to another ledge, so the team carefully jumped the round, slippery platforms, before they tilted and the ice cream rolled off. Haruka slipped and panicked as she was about to fall in the water, but Mason rescued his sister and jumped along with the others. "Heheh… thanks."

"Don't mention it. That stuff looks cold."

They all made it safely across, but looked back to see a Gold Wonka Bar sat on one of the cones after the cream rolled off. Kirie happily jumped back to grab it before the 11 continued into a wider area with giant ice creams sticking from the ground (mimicking crystals), and Ice Cream Men patrolling the area. They blasted the creamy delicacies that Chris kicked away using Fire Kung-Fu, then hurried over to punch them directly. Carol distracted a duo of them with a dollar bundle, as one said, "New iPhone Deluxe, here I come!", before Kirie stuck their rears with poison-tipped fans that put them to sleep. Sheila spun her fist and blasted a Light Sphere that an Ice Cream Man bounced upward, but it hit a cone stalactite that fell down and knocked him out.

Chris kicked the back of another man's head to knock him out, then Dillon finished the last one with a Shadow Veil beatdown. They progressed further and reached another cliff with a waterfall on the other side. Sheila grabbed onto a rugged cliff on their left that led up and around until she reached an enclosing with a strange refrigerator facing the ledge. "Oi, what's this, you reckon?"

"A fridge someone obviously didn't want." Chris said.

"It's a Megafroster Fridge." Haylee replied. "It contains super chilly ice that can freeze large bodies of water."

Sheila punched the back of the fridge, dumping a pack of ice that fell in and froze the water completely. "Like that?"

"Yeah, but we only have 30 seconds, hurry!" They all dropped onto the ice and hurried down the icy slope, reaching below the area where they jumped the cones. From there, they followed a left route and made it onto a safe land, then Wall Jumped up a cliff to reach a new tunnel. They entered a narrow cave and had to jump across large, round, solid colorful snowcones that were pushed up by gusts of ice, and were naturally very slippery. They entered a wider open area and viewed a vast, frosty river on their right. At the end of the snowcone path were two parallel snowcones that were pushed further up, beside a small waterfall, so the group had to Wall Jump between them.

They reached an open area with a large body of water, where the waterfall originated. Sheila got onto a walkway along the left and punched a Megafroster to freeze the body of water. There were two Tongue Ones on the other side, with rectangle-shaped mouths and white and brown tongues. In a left enclosing beside the water was a large, square vanilla ice cream sandwich, and on the other side was a chocolate one. There were several jabbed rocks sticking up from the water, so they had to navigate the sandwiches around a slippery block maze. Sheila pushed the vanilla while Chris pushed the chocolate, but close to the end, both blocks had to collide with the other, in order to be positioned with their Tongue One. They succeeded in pushing the blocks inside, and the Tongue Ones raised their tongues higher to serve as platforms. "Thaaaank yoooou."

Sheila and Chris made it onto the higher ledge, but the ice thawed as the others fell in and froze solid. "Ummm… Well, that's unfortunate." Chris shrugged. This new foothold was just a dead end, but there appeared to be a bushel of Flamin' Hots. "The heck are these doing here?" Chris asked. "They're not ice cream OR candy." He set fire to the Hots, and they immediately sizzled and flew across the river. They exploded and sent a storm of small meteors to dissolve in the water and warm it up.

The others unfroze as Haruka quickly grabbed onto Dillon. "Ummm… Well, this is better." Aurora said.

"Flamin' Hotrockets. Who knew they were so reliable." Haylee said.

The group returned to the lower area and swam down the river, having to dive underneath to swim into a cave. They had to navigate around ice blowers until they made it onto a safe ledge, going up some stairs and seeing these iceblowers were directly below snowcones on the ceiling. Sheila punched the snowcones and made them fall onto the ice gusts to be pushed up and serve as platforms. The snowcone platforms were pretty scattered, and some were set at certain heights while others were levitated up and down. They had to hop across a certain order of snowcones, in which the characters that could float had to help their friends across.

They made it to a ledge and entered another tunnel that was perfectly round and large. Once they took their first steps in, the ground shook, and they turned back with fright as a gigantic ball of strawberry ice cream sealed their way back. The 11 dashed across the cave as the creamball chased, having to jump mini cone spikes in their path. They then jumped small islands between gaps of water, then reached an area where giant ice creams fell from the ceiling, big enough to jump, but fell at different times to either startle the kids into jumping unintentionally, or running into them.

They reached a wide Wall Jump area and hopped up quickly as the creamboulder fell onto an iceblower and was pushed their way. They made it up and continued dashing, then finally crossed 11 parallel bridges to reach a safe foothold, letting the boulder roll off the edge as it broke the weaker bridges.

They stood before another bridge above a deep chasm in a vast region of the temple. Their eyes watered with delight, seeing the humongous mass of golden ice cream that was the Fourth Flavor. But two men already appeared to be there: a familiar, slim Ice Cream Man with a thin, curved mustache, and another man protected in a huge, green mechanical suit. The group hurried across the bridge to see what they were up to. (End song.)

"Plah hah hah hah! Finally!" laughed the suited man, his voice gargled under his glass helmet. "The ice cream that ends all others! The Fourth Flavor!"

"Ahhh, never have I seen such a mouthwatering delicacy." The Ice Cream Man, Chef Pierre, said lovingly. "I am joyed you could be here to share this with me, Son."

"Anytime, Dad." replied Arthur Glacé, formerly known as Numbuh 48-Flavors. "I'm sorry I didn't realize you were frozen in Brotherhood Base all that time. Those lousy Kids Next Door, freezing all of you in that dump. Bad enough I never got any respect."

"Ze past is gone, Dear Arthur, eet eez a new generation, and we may begin anew. …I just vish that little bean urchin freed us sooner."

"And using the luscious substance that is this Fourth Flavor, we'll create an ice cream cake so unbearably tasty, the Kids Next Door will TREMBLE! And I'll FINALLY have my revenge!"

"FREEZE, ice cream thieves!" Haylee declared.

"PAAH HA HA HA! 'Freeze'! You were totally waiting for that, Hayl!" Artie laughed.

"Uuuck! If it isn't the Demon King's little devils themselves: the Kids Next Door." Chef Pierre said with disgust.

"We are NOT Kids Next Door!" Aurora yelled. "We're the Raccoon Pirates!"

"Like I haven't heard THAT before." Arthur said as he turned around, revealing his frostbitten face.

"MR. FREEZE?!" Dillon and Artie exclaimed.

"No he's not! He's Numbuh 48-Flavors. The guy our parents used to rob." Harry informed.

"Actually, I'm Mr. Glace now. And I'm an official member of the Brotherhood of Evil. I get MUCH more respect than I did in the Kids Next Door. And YOU kids are clearly here to steal the Fourth Flavor, which by the way belongs to ME! Well, I'm not the little weakling I was when your parents were active. With this new frost suit, I've become stronger than ever! You and your ungrateful runts will NEVER push me around again!"

"Even in that suit, you still sound like a whiny nerd." Haylee remarked. "Now move aside and let us have a scoop of the Flavor."

"Nnnnno! My father and I are going to bake an ice cream cake that shames all others! Every kid in the world will kneel before me, wanting a bite, and you know what I'm gonna do?? Give it ALL to my Brotherhood buddies!"

"Well, then it'd be a real shame," Sheila smirked, cracking her knuckles, "if I knocked the taste buds outta you before you could try it."

"We'll see about that!" Arthur yelled, scooping a chunk of the ice cream into a built-in ice-cream-scooper. "After I add my own special ingredient!" His right arm had a container of colorful little decoratives that made Haylee's eyes shrink in horror.

"NO!! Not jimmies!"

48-Flavors didn't hesitate to pour the little sprinkles on. The scoop of ice cream emitted a noxious gas that Arthur retracted into his suit. The entire cave trembled as their foothold gave way, dropping them onto a lower platform. "I'll see to it you can't escape before this cave seals you in! Then I'll take the Flavor for myself! And may your demise fill your parents with grief, and make them regret EVER messing with me!!" (Play the "Industrial Park" Theme from Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom.)

Boss fight: Arthur Glacé

The cyborg of ice cream spun around and unleashed a barrage of poisonous ice cream droplets, which Mason and Haruka were able to catch and throw back, barely penetrating his suit. As the cave shook, more droplets of the Fourth Flavor fell from above, which Arthur threw sprinkles onto before sucking them in his suit. Sheila spun her fist and ran to punch Arthur's mechanical knee, making him grip it and hop around a little. He recovered and merely blasted poison scoops at her, but she dodged side to side.

It took them that long to notice a platform with a Megafroster on the side opposite the Fourth Flavor's wall. As they dodged 48-Flavors' poison scoops, some of them fused together when he shot at them. Sheila tricked him to shooting a few at one spot beside the platform, before she climbed onto the foothold and punched a chunk of ice down, freezing the fused scoops into a huge round snowcone. She was able to hop on top and carefully balance across to reach an enclosing within the opposite wall. There, she found a Fudgepuffsicle, picking it off before dropping down and handing it to Mason. Begrudgingly, he ate the headaching treat and puffed like a balloon while Sheila bounced on him. Mr. Glace tried to shoot them, but Chris punched his leg with a flame fist and distracted him.

Mason belched the gas out by the time they got high as the stalactites, so Sheila quickly punched a few to send them falling. One of the giant cones bashed Arthur in the head, knocking him dizzy as he fell to his front. Sheila and Mason took land as the raccoon spiraled her fist, and PUNCHED Arthur clear in his protected face. The caves trembled as the Flavor's perch toppled backward, sending the mass of tasty gold flying to another perch before the previous slammed flat, creating a bridge. Water began to flow into the cave, so the group chased 48-Flavors across the bridge as the previous platform was flooded.

They reached their new battleground that the cold water rose to only slightly, giving them a shallow ground to work on. Sheila shuddered from the chill on her toes, but remained steady as 48-Flavors summoned a squad of Ice Cream Men on jetpacks. While Kirie and the Dimalantas were focused on them, Arthur tried to catch more drops of Fourth before they hit the shallow water, the coldness causing them to freeze. They spotted a small platform with a Megafroster far to their right, so Sheila grabbed the frozen ice cream and hurled them out to make frozen paths. She had to use multiple snowcones due to their smaller size, but once she had plenty paths close to each other, she hurried across them to reach the Megafroster.

She punched the refrigerator and froze all of the water solid, causing 48-Flavors to slip his feet around uncontrollably. Three ice cream sandwich blocks fell onto the ice, so they suspected they could use them to trip the cyborg. Kirie studied the position of the blocks and waved for Chris, Sheila, and Dillon's attention. She made several signs with her hands, and the three nodded. Chris ran up to Arthur in attempt to flame-punch his leg, but he jumped away, getting in Kirie's line of fire as she shoved her sandwich block in attempt to trip him. Arthur dodged the sliding block, then frantically dodged when Chris punched again, tricking the cyborg to getting in the way of Dillon's block, but he evaded again, only to end up tripped by Sheila's block.

The raccoon dashed across the ice while spiraling her fist, laying all momentum against Arthur's face again. His helmet cracked more as the cave trembled, and the perch holding the Fourth Flavor toppled again. It landed against another tall platform, becoming a diagonal slope as the ice cream rolled across a ramp-like path. 48-Flavors dashed up and chased the delicacy, and the pirates followed as the ice thawed and the water began to flood higher.

"Huff, huff, vait… Arzur…" Chef Pierre panted as he tried to keep up with them. "Hoof… I haven't run zis fast since-"

"Since ye were forced to take the President's Fitness Test?"

"No, but eet vas similar to- AAAAAHH-!" Pierre's hidden assaulter cupped his mouth shut.

The Raccoon Crew made it atop the slope, but the water threatened to flood the bottom of the ramp before they crossed. Thankfully, there was a Flamin' Hotrocket patch, so Chris punched it to send the firecrackers out to warm the water. They ran down the ramp as the middle part was already flooded, but they weren't effected due to the warmth. However, Haruka was the furthest behind, and she ended up waist deep in the water before she could make it. Soon, it rised higher, and she had no strength to swim across. Her body felt like a hammer as she slowly sank to the slope's bottom, lying there completely stiff as bubbles rose from her mouth.

The Fourth Flavor flew off the slope's end and bounced all around the cave walls like a rubber ball, and the kids chased across a series of platforms. When the platforms ended, they were forced to swim to a rugged wall. Knowing this, Dillon readied to carry Haruka, but turned back and froze with horror at seeing she wasn't behind them. He stopped Mason as he ran by and yelled, "Mason, where's Haruka?!"

The brother turned and noticed light bubbles coming above where the "U" slope was. Mason gasped and immediately jumped his way back, forced to start swimming when the platforms became submerged. He swam back and found his sister unconscious, laying stiff under the water. He quickly swam down and grabbed Haruka, trying desperately to resurface as the water kept rising.

Dillon wanted to help, but was frantic at seeing the rising water, so he followed his friends and hoped Mason could handle it. They climbed the rock wall and saw Arthur still chasing the ice cream in the distance. They climbed their way up a deep trench where light shone at the end, likely the exit. The rock wall ended, so the crew hopped across a group of Hootz to reach a parallel wall, and when that ended, they hopped a trio of snowcone footholds that toppled down. Finally, they made it onto an outside cliff where the sun brightened their forms.

The Fourth Flavor stuck atop another point just over the edge, but 48-Flavors emerged from below using ice cream jetpacks. Feeling safe in the air, he took aim at the kids and readied to blast them again. But a bright glare got caught in Sheila's eyes, and she squinted to see it sparkled from the golden Fourth Flavor, reflecting the sun. Looking quick between 48-Flavors and the sun, Sheila wore her determined look and began to spin her left fist. She dashed forward, but to everyone's surprise, she was focused directly on the Fourth Flavor.

She threw her fist as it sunk completely into the Flavor's shiny substance. She flipped upward, yanked her fist out, and dashed up the ice cream. Her fist was covered in the creamy gold, and when she performed a mighty leap, her friends gaped in wonder as her fist glistened like the sun. Their eyes sparkled and could only make out Sheila's shadow, as her fist brimmed with even brighter light. Her fist aimed directly sunward, and its light reflected off the gold on her fist made it even stronger. Arthur Glacé could barely see, but it all became clear when a fist as bright as the sun smashed through his helmet. "EEEEEYUUUUH!"

It felt as though his face rearranged as Sheila's gold-soaked fist pierced his helmet. The Fourth Flavor splattered across his face, but the cyborg fell fast down the mountain from Sheila's momentum. He bounced against several slopes before landing flat against a stable surface. His helmet, glasses, and teeth were broken, and his face bloody, as the former 48-Flavors was no more. (End song.)

Sheila landed back on the cliff and rubbed her fist. "Wow, way to go, Sheila!" Aurora cheered.

"That's our captain!" Chris followed.

"I'm glad you ain't mah mama." Harry smirked.

"And now the Fourth Flavor is all ours!" Artie said.

"And the moment we've been waiting for!" Haylee perked, grabbing her scooper. "The tastiest ice cream ever to-"

Artie snatched it away. "Whoa whoa, why do you get to taste it first?"

"Because I'M the ice cream fanatic! Duuuh!"

"But I'M the chef, I need to taste-test it!" Chris argued, taking the scoop.

"Well, I'M the rich girl, so I get privileges." Carol argued, taking the scoop. Everybody soon ended up in a scuffle and all tugged on the scoop. Right away, Sheila marched forward and snatched the spoon herself.

With a firm face, Sheila scooped a chunk of Fourth Flavor and marched over to Dillon. The boy looked confused as Sheila- "HMMPF!" shoved the ice cream in his mouth.

Everybody stood around eagerly as Dillon munched and swallowed the sweet. It felt as though a storm of love and delight overtook his heart. "...…!!!!" He trembled furiously before leaping with the purest joy. "IT'S SO DELICIOOOOUUUS!" Mario was drifting behind him, hands folded in a lovey fashion.

"Good, now stop being all mopey and depressed." Sheila demanded.

"That stuff is just AWESOME!!" he yelled with a wide smile, "And it tastes just like BLURPLEBERRY!"

"Pass." Chris said.

"GAAAASP!" Mason finally emerged above the water in the cave with Haruka around his shoulders.

"Mason! Haruka!" Aurora yelled as they hurried over. Mason gasped desperately as he walked onto land and set Haruka on her back.

"She was drowning, so I had to save her!" he breathed.

"Oh no! Haruka!" Aurora cried as their friend lay unconscious.

Kirie wore a serious look as she signaled them to step aside. She knelt before Haruka and rolled up her sleeves before rubbing her hands. She PUNCHED Haruka clear in the stomach, forcing water to spew from her mouth, directly up before splashing on her face. "Siiigh… Thanks, Kirie."

Sunny Day

The team sailed away from the mountains as Haylee stashed several buckets of Fourth Flavor into a Megafroster. "So you had a Devil Fruit all this time??" Mason questioned. "How come you never said anything?"

"Well, because… I thought it would be embarrassing if you found out I couldn't swim, but you could." Haruka answered with shame. "I'm the one who teased you about it before, and told everyone else, so…"

"Sheesh, Haruka, that was like two YEARS ago, I've been over that!"

"Eight months…"

"Haruka, if there's something you can't do, I wanna be able to help you with it."

"I know, it's just… I never even wanted this Devil Fruit, and now I feel so weak."

"She saved Mocha's life with it." Dillon noted.

"Yeah, but it's not how I wanted to heal people."

"Maybe, but you shouldn't be sad that you can't swim, Haruka." Mason smiled. "You're still a good fighter on land, and our powers barely work underwater, anyway. But if you woulda told us, we would've helped you swim, no one's laughing."

"…" Haruka returned a thankful smile.

"Hoooo, OKAY!" Haylee cheered. "We really need to do some research, because my mom had NO idea where we should go next!"

"We know the names of a few of the Wonders, but finding them's the problem." Chris said. "And we aren't even sure of the Big Mom Pirates' progress."

"The Big Moms could've found five Wonders for all we know," Aurora agreed, "so we'd be in a race for one. The others we'd have to fight for."

"Ahhhh, big yonkers!" Sheila waved off. "We knew we were gonna fight them at some point. So what better than any time soon! Them Big Mum blokes have passion, but so do we!"

All 11 friends raised fists and touched them at a center. "We'll find all the Sugary Wonders and knock the teeth clear outta Big Mom! And show them why the Raccoon Pirates are the NEW terror of the seas!"

"YEEEAAAH!"

Mountain of Flavors

Arthur Glacé lay knocked out still, the cyborg only barely alive. "Mw-mw-mw…" Maggie glared as she crawled her way back, her form bruised and bloody as well. Her left eye twitched as her pupil increased and decreased on its own.