6. Pleasure To Make Your Acquaintance

Cleveland Beach

When a giant warship suddenly drives up onto the shore, you wouldn't expect the beach to be very populace after that. An hour later, it was almost completely empty, Chad, Emily, Violet, and Scarlet examining its barrenness. "Well, I sure don't see 'em here." Scar remarked.

"Well, then he's probably at Timmy and Hikari's house." Chad said surely. "Just call 'em and see how 'e's doing."

"One problem." Emily replied, already on the cellphone. "Timmy and Hikari apparently haven't come home, yet. Our only other options are Kuki or Sammy's houses."

The four looked as Vi and Scar's daughters, Lilac and Berry, scampered over on all fours. "We can't find Ruppy anywhere!" Lil yelled. "But Berry found a starfish."

"Mmmp-…BLEEEH." Berry indeed barfed a starfish with some sand.

"Ruppy didn't get eaten by DOGGIES, did he?" Lil asked with big watery eyes.

"Don't worry, Lilac." Violet assured. "Rupert's not an ant, he couldn't just be eaten without a trace."

"Beg to differ." Chad eye-rolled.

"Uh!" Emily smacked his chest. "Maybe he's in the cabin of some WOODSMAN! Doing non, woodsy stuff… that would scar a child for life!!"

"Well, how 'bout me and Vi look around the woods and try to find him." Scarlet offered. "Nothing can sneak up on us. And there's plenty of grub." She licked her lips.

"And Lilac? How 'bout you two look around Cleveland and see if they're here!" Violet smiled.

"We WILL, Mommy!" the brown cat pounced.

"We'll sniff 'em out like little tuna." Berry smirked deviously.

"Then I'm taking the skies." Emily said, about to walk off. "Chad, go home in case Rupert's already there."

"Gladly. Anything but play hide-and-seek with Ashland's MOM Association." the father said smugly.

"GRRRRR!" Scar touched a claw to his neck.

"We moms should've handled this to begin with, 'cause Pariah knows YOU can't be trusted!" Emily stated.

"YOU'RE PRAYING TO THE GHOST KING NOW?" all three said with slanted heads.

"YOU GET MY POINT!! The four of you just, start looking around, I'll also call the other parents, and Chad, GET THE HELL HOME!!"

Emily turned and took a small breath to relieve the stress. Thrusting her arms to either side, the bluish-white ring of light encased her body, transforming her into a pale-skinned phantom with flaming orange hair. She took to the skies that were slowly changing from blue to orange. "…You know, she doesn't even need that form to be scary." Chad noted. Scarlet decided to kick him off his feet before the catgirls headed off.

Quahog; James Woods Elementary

Sector V's C.O.O.L.-B.U.S. came in for landing beside the school's playground as Dillon was already frantic to greet them. "Guys, you made it! I was going to call you, there's trouble!"

"What happened?" Aurora asked. "Place looks like a war happened here."

"Kind of. Maddy and Drake Puncture got kidnapped by aliens!"

"Huh?! What aliens?"

"I dunno, this little green thing inside a robot, had a bunch of other robots with him. They were apparently working for some 'Dr. Nefarious' guy."

"Dr. Nefarious?" Harry questioned. "Sounds like a villain from some Saturday morning cartoon."

"Wait, I remember Cheren showing me a report from Sector IC." Aurora replied. "Some 'Dr. Nefarious' was trying to ruin Christmas."

"But what would he want with Maddy or Drake?" Haruka asked.

"Wait a second, what about Zach?" Chris asked. "Where's he, anyway?"

"Heeee…" Dillon looked around. "He was here a while ago. Huh…"

Somewhere in space

"This is Captain Yellow Shirt, checking to see if all systems are a-go." A yellow-shirted boy asked from his captain's seat.

"This is Green Shirt, engines are stable!"

"Lieutenant Blue Shirt reporting, lasers are ready."

"Commander Black Shirt, over here! Our shields are up and- Wait, isn't Commander higher up than Captain?"

"Senior Red Shirt, ready to sacrifice when unnecessary!"

"Starship Zachstar," Yellow Shirt spoke, "get ready for LIGHT speed!"

The "Starship Zachstar" was in fact Zach Murphy converted into a human-sized spaceship, with rocket shoes. "$2.50 an hour with an extra porridge bowl, I say good truckin'." And so, he flew for the stars.

Back at Quahog

"Anyway, we were heading to Mr. King's house to ask what he knew about these 20 Keys." Aurora mentioned. "Maybe we can ask Sector IC about this Nefarious, too."

Dillon boarded the bus and took a seat next to Mason and Sheila's. As they took off for Iceland, Dillon noticed the raccoon fast asleep on her back. "What happened to her?"

"I dunno, she just conked out. Went through a wild song stage, though."

"Hey, wanna draw on her?" Dillon grinned evilly.

"Hehehe, yeah!"

Uno Household

Cheren's items were packed and stuffed in the trunk of his R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R.. His rectangular box with the purple gem switch had only three items: his Three Sacred Treasures. He was eager to hop in the driver's seat as his mom came to see him off. "You sure you wanna go to Oregon by yourself? Random notes from secret admirers are the kinda stuff you should bring back-up for."

"That's not what the note asked for, Ma." He smiled coolly. "And you should know by now I can handle myself."

"Yeah, and things went swell the last time." She shook her head in disbelief. "But considering all the chaos…"

"Well, since you're so worried," he scribbled something on a small paper, "I'll give you this." He let it flutter to his mom as she looked at it. "I don't call in, say, 48 hours, you can send a rescue party. A'ight?" A wink.

She smiled brightly and stuffed it down her cleavage, "Fair deal! Good luck, Soldier. And watch out for all the rogues."

"Hehehe! Says my ma to the Hero of Time." He hopped in his driver seat.

"Hee hee ha ha! Have a steaming cherry pie when you get hoooome!" His racecar was already speeding across the country.

What would take people ages to get across on foot, it took Cheren only an hour. He loved having his own racecar. Just kicking back while the great rush of wind kept his hair behind him. All he needed was a pair of sunglasses, though the way the sun sparkled off his glasses looked pretty cool. But he put on a look of confusion when it appeared some blue-haired girl was running alongside his left. He lowered his glasses, "Uhhh… hey there?"

"Oh? Sorry!" The girl smiled sheepishly. "This isn't your road, is it? I was just out on one of my daily runs."

"Uhhhh… I see that." At 100 miles per hour, clearly. "You like running, do ya?"

"Yup! It gets me places faster!"

"Heheheh! Yeah, it does! On to an important meeting."

"Ah, that's life for ya. Well, I won't keep you. So long!" She shifted a different way.

"Great talkin' to ya!"

"You too! Byyyye!"

So Cheren faced forward with his cool smile. "Well-p, Cheren, gotch yourself another one. Gooood goin'."

Cheren made it within Oregon's borders and parked a few miles from his destination. "Just so I don't look like I'm comin'. Well, not entirely." He hopped out, popped open the trunk, and got his box. "Three Sacred Treasures ACTIVATE!" He smacked the gem and plopped the box open, letting the Light Arrows, Mirror Shield, and Master Sword beam on his form.

His loyal assistant, Fi jumped out. "Master, the city of Roguetown is just miles in your wake. I encourage a safe journey for you, and know that I will be around when you need me."

"Gotcha, Fi. No reason to stop now." She flew back into the sword. He wore an eager smirk and faced the grassland before him. "Let's go!" (Play the Rogueport Theme from Smash Bros. 4!)

Stage 8: Roguetown Road

Mission: Go to Roguetown Station!

Cheren Uno dashed across the road as enthusiastically as a 9-year-old should. More ready than ever to take on the trials ahead and stop this wretched Apocalypse. He never felt more energetic, more willing to believe that anything is possible. If he still kept all this Apocalypse business to himself, he wouldn't feel this energetic. But now everyone knows, and all his friends can fight to stop it. He knew they could because of Sheila's unbreakable spirit, and if she had the spirit to face inevitable doom, so would he!

A pair of trucks sped up from the road ahead and blocked his path as a gang of Goombas hopped out, charging to attack him. Cheren eye-rolled humorously. He was glad the government offered a piece of land for some Mushroom denizens to live after the Firstborn Quest, but they couldn't let strangers come by casually. He raised his sword and sliced down any Goombas trying to rob him, the simple enemies no match for his skill. He shot down Paragoombas with his bow and bounced Spiny Goombas back with his Mirror Shield. With the creatures dealt with, he ran past the left of the trucks and followed a grassland downhill.

Some Koopa Troopas curled in their shells and spun at him, but he flipped and dodged before tossing M.A.R.B.L.E.s with his M.U.M.B.L.E.R.. A few of them recovered, but Cheren tossed his Bananarang to knock them dizzy, catching his toy and running forward. Many rocks were blocking his path, but not for long, as he would blast them all away with his M.A.R.B.L.E.s. He ended up wandering into a rocky trench, where a series of wobbly platforms led across. He wished he had his Kateenian Mask, but oh well, as he leaped across each one and let it crumble, moving too quick for it to kill him.

The last platform had nowhere else, but Cheren saw some branches overhead with vines, tossing his Bananarang to cut the vines down so he could swing across, just before the platform fell. The vines listed upward, where Cheren eventually grabbed hold of a tree branch and swung around and around. He launched upward and flew like a bird, or a hawk as he threw open his sail to glide to the ledge ahead. He landed perfectly and skipped forward with no fear on his mind, not even the beings peeking at him from behind rocks.

A band of Shy Guy Bandits came running out in the hopes of robbing him of his valuables. He tried to dodge them, but they came fairly quick, and he was shoved to the ground with several items dropped. "HEY, give those back!" They ran off with his Bananarang, Pirate Sail, and Hookshot, so he chased them furiously. The one with his Bananarang was snickering wickedly, but tripped and allowed Cheren to swipe it back, knocking him out. He looked at the one with his Hookshot and launched his boomerang to claim it and bring it back, smirking as he pulled the Bandit over with it to knock him out. He looked as the third Bandit flew overhead with his sail, but could simply pull him down with the Hookshot and hurl the Bandit down the hill before reclaiming his sail.

With that, he continued his carefree run to the town as it inched bigger and bigger the closer he got. He spotted two shops that were just across from each other, a Bob Evans and small pawnshop. "Eh, got time to grab a bite." He rushed into the restaurant. "One triple large pancake with some fries please."

30 minutes later

"Ahhhhh that was sanctuary." Cheren was out of there with a wobbly belly. "That should hold me. Now I wonder if they got anything there." He went over to the pawnshop. "Yo Slim, got anything…" He could swear he recognized this gentleman, "Nickel Joe?"

The only thing that made him look different were his missing teeth and mostly bandaged face. There was also a deflated balloon in there that looked like Fat Jack. "Why, who is this Nickel Joe you speak of? I'm ol' Trader Slim! Want some goods, Mac?"

"Ummm… ooo, is that a Hookshot?"

"The one and only." He held it up.

"Uhhh, not quite."

"Whatever, so how much ya payin'? Got 30 Rupees?"

"Have 30 cents."

"Deal." So, the exchange was made.

Cheren got a second Hookshot! With this, he can launch from target to target, and go almost anywhere there's wood! Now you'll feel like a true Batman ripoff, though Nolan's pretty much got that!

"See ya later, Slick. And say 'hi' to Nini for me."

"Who?"

"Never mind."

So Cheren continued on his valiant journey. Three more trucks blocked his road, and some Craws came running out to jab him with spears. Cheren clashed his blade with theirs and sliced the spearheads off, then shot his Hookshots to either side and pulled two Craws against each other. He swung his feet at another until he was down, then threw his boomerang against two others before flipping overhead and slicing them down. He followed a road around the right of the trucks, and when Bristles spun out to slice him, the enemies were too easy to bomb with his M.A.R.B.L.E.s.

The path brought him to another trench area with a rushing river below, but sets of Hookshot targets spread across the parallel walls. He launched back-and-forth, back-and-forth between both walls and flew across the river, until the last target's wall gave way and fell in. He held his breath beneath the water, eyes widening when a swarm of Rip Van Fish were on his tail. He swam frantically into the underwater cave, doing Torpedo Spins to burst through wood barrings in his way. He shot out of a surface inside an underground cave, ripples reflecting off the ceiling, having to shoot stalactites down with his arrows to stick on small islands and let him jump to a far, high ledge.

He made it to a large whirlpool pool that threatened to sink all that fell in to the depths. An unreachable ledge was across the other side, and that platform had a small wall on its center. Cheren switched on his Remote Bananarang and had it fly around said wall, finding a Crystal Switch which he struck. A bunch of huge cans emerged from the pool, flowing around the center as it spun, so Cheren hopped on to ride across. He noticed an Eye Switch on the ledge where he just stood and shot with an arrow, making a ladder drop down along the front of that parallel ledge. He climbed up, hopped over the switch, and proceeded through a hall that led to a perfect round sewer tunnel.

Cheren found a discarded Koopa shell and rode it like a sled around and around the walls and ceiling, even skiing over the filthy sewer water. The whirling ride came to an end when Cheren dropped down a short shaft with a huge plug covering a drain. Around this shaft were several tunnels that water poured from, and Sun Switches below them. Cheren was standing in a bright sun beam coming from above, so using his Mirror Shield, he shone on all the switches and sealed the tunnels. With each tunnel he closed, the plug he stood on shook more. When that final tunnel—the one he came from, closed, it was ready to burst.

A gush of water sent Cheren out of the sewers, miles into the sky. "YEEEEAAAAAAAAH!" He threw open his Pirate Sail, and simply floated the rest of the way to Roguetown. A town of multi-racial thugs, but it seemed fairly pretty from this high up. The sun was shining bright on this town, shining high on him. No doubt, the sky was truly the limit.

"I'M KING OF THE WOOOOOORRRRRLD!" His voice was heard for miles across the town. "DARE ANYONE TO TELL ME OTHERWIIIIIISE!"

"Haha!" Cheren never felt more happy. For the first time in his life, he felt like he could do anything. He felt like the wind was at his back, and would always see his sail of freedom would blow forever. Not that he wanted it to; he had to land. For the first time in his life… he truly felt like a kid. (Play Rogueport Theme from Thousand-Year Door.)

Cheren gently took land on the red roof of a 2-story building. "Ahh, that was a good breath." He jumped and landed on the ground. He gazed at the back of a tall, bronze statue set in the middle of the plaza. Cheren saluted, "You were born in one heck of a place, Mr. York."

He explored town a little bit and found a sign that directed to the Train Station, just north of the West Side of town. He approached the station to find a few people boarding the train, and overheard some passerby. "You know, I heard a very important train was passing our town." a lady said.

"Really, what kind?" a man asked.

"A very private one ridden by the richest people in the world. I hear it's taking them to an unspeakably private party."

"You don't say. Well, why party with the simple commoners when they can go there?"

Cheren raised a brow. No doubt these were connected. Well, he had 3 hours to kill, may as well find someplace. He looked around and saw a door with a bed logo posted over it, and assumed this to be the Inn. He walked in and passed a small bar with some suspicious characters; well, just a bunch of thugs really, the only real suspicious guys were those four in the hoods on the other side. As Cheren marched up the stairs, he didn't know one of those hoods was eying him curiously.

The Inn had two beds, and a leak in the ceiling where water drops poured endlessly in a bucket. He spoke to the Mushroom Toad woman and asked, "Um, how much for a bed here?"

"Just 5 Coins."

"Um, is that 5 cents, or literally 5 coins?"

"I don't know… I'm still trying to get used to the currency of this world."

"Eh, $5, for your trouble." He paid her kindly.

"Okay! Enjoy your stay and make yourself comfortable."

Make himself comfortable. Yeah, he could do that. He approached his bed casually and took a calm breath. He slipped off his shoes as he sat on his bed and pulled his socks off, throwing them and his jacket on the floor. "Ahhhhhh!" He lied flat and stretched his toes to give them air. "This is luxury! Hey, wake me up at 7:50, gotta be somewhere." He set his items along the wall and put his glasses on the nightstand.

"If you say so!" she beamed.

So with that, Cheren pulled open the covers and got underneath. He rolled into a comfortable position and drifted to peaceful sleep.

Peoples α (Play "Gemlik Base" from Ratchet & Clank.)

The Aphelion passed the atmosphere of a dark, brownish-orange planet, taking land outside of dark, dirty city where rap music boomed across the air. When the crew stepped out, the smell of burning trash already reached their noses. They viewed right to see a bunch of aliens dressed in street clothes cheering at two hovercars racing along a track. The cars shoved each other forcefully before the left car was flown off the tracks, blowing to smithereens. The tons of gangsters cheered, throwing money aimlessly.

Maddy was a little creeped out. This wasn't her preferred retreat. "Might wanna put this on." Qwark stamped green cloaks over Maddy and Drake. "Humans are considered quite a delicacy 'round these parts."

Maddy gulped, joining Ratchet and co. as they approached an alley. "So your planet is completely run by children who protect it from the adults and you have a bunch of giant trees growing around the place?" Ratchet recapped.

"Well, sort of… 'course, lately it's been about fighting trans-dimensional deities who wanna destroy everything." Maddy replied. "The average 'adults' don't really pose a threat anymore."

"Coming from the girl who got picked on by teenagers." Drake remarked.

"I'm just saying." She glared. "But there's a bunch of us around the planets, so we could probably signal the galactic branch."

"Right! Leave it to me!" Qwark perked. "Finding a galactic transmission radio in a dump like this is like finding hay in a needlestack! And probably just as painful." He frowned. "BUT: Captain Qwark's afraid of no man, woman, or teen!" Then grinned. "Just rest easy here, because I know these kids' language like the back of my hand!" And so, he marched off to the crowd. "Ahem: Yo-yo-yo, homebuds! Y'all-y'aaaall, how dem RAP tunes goin'? Yo Yo Ma, Kenny West! Dat dere Snoop Dog, I tell ya what!"

Ratchet whispered to Maddy, "Word of advice, he hasn't seen his hand in 5 years. Jumpsuit's stuck. We better look ourselves."

"Alright, let's do it quick. Teenagers are gross, and these guys're no different. …"

As Drake accompanied them, his eyes peered curiously at Maddy over his sunglasses.

Stage 9: Blipton District

Mission: Find a way to contact the KND.

Act 1

The trio began their trek through a trash-filled alley to reach a street guarded by Spinneruffs, alien gangsters walking vicious alien dogs. They furiously whirled and swung their dogs around, flinging any of their gunshots away. But Drake was able to latch his grappler on one of the dogs, holding it in place, so while the owner kept spinning, he ended up getting tied in the leash. He did the same with the other 2 Spinneruffs before they searched around. Other roads were blocked by fences, with the only open path being a narrow alley with a chasm, and three broken metal pipes sticking from the walls. They grabbed the three tied Spinneruffs and tossed them to stick onto those pipes' ends, then were able to bounce across. "Why couldn't we just jump on the pipes?" Maddy asked.

"They woulda broke. This way, they don't. Game physics."

"Ahh."

Once across the chasm, they turned right to another alley that was very long an empty, with polluted puddles and small critters roaming around. But across the other side, a Turret Ted poked out of a can, blasting a row of water torpedoes across the alley. It was a matter of careful jumping across the torpedoes and making their way to the otherwise-defenseless enemy, where Drake leaped and stomped his can with his boot. But before continuing, Ratchet noticed another alley on the side of this one, nothing but a chasm, except for the platform on the other side, just over the chasm, with a Gold Bolt. The opposite ledge had a fence to prevent them from reaching it from that side. Ratchet glided to this platform using Clank and claimed the bolt, then carefully Wall Jumped back to his friends.

The team found a fire escape to the left of the Turret's post and climbed up to the rooftops. There wasn't much to explore except for some boxes containing ammo refills (including discarded juice cartons or gumballs for Maddy's weapons), and it seemed like most areas beyond these buildings were death chasms. Were these aliens really into those? They could follow a series of floating platforms with propeller bottoms over a sea of cheering gangsters with a rapid racetrack in the middle. A row of Swingshot Targets hovered over part of the sea, so Maddy held Drake while he swung them with his harpoon, and Ratchet his Swingshot, to safely land on a new platform.

This one floated upward so they could land on a higher one, and from there jumped more platforms that floated up when they stepped, and once they were high enough, they turned and threatened to dump them into the crowds. But a Gold Bolt floated a few meters over one of them, so they waited for that platform to lift them to and grab it. "What're these bolts for again?" Maddy asked.

"To buy alternate skins. They really aren't plot-relevant."

"Oh."

They eventually Swungshot to a target over a wide circular platform, where two Slammer-Hammers popped out of boxes and ran to whack them with hammers. Of course, Maddy and Ratchet took them out easily with their guns, but a Mini-Merv, a thug in a floating metal can with a laser turret, guarded the stairway on the other side. When they got too close, it threatened to shoot its laser, and it shot anyway when their projectiles came. But Drake was able to shoot his harpoon and latch the laser turret, forcefully tugging until he yanked the bottom off and made the thug fall out.

After taking him out, they stepped down a series of square-shaped, grated stairs that zigzagged a little bit, but safely brought 'em down to the audience crowds. They stood ground when some racecars whooshed by along the track, making wind, and proceeded down a path to their right. They hopped a small staircase and followed a path where Fogger thugs ambushed them, burping toxic gas that made them dizzy. The thugs were easy to knock out as they made it to where the racetrack seemed to begin, and therefore where it ended, as crowds were eagerly raising money at a booth. However, across from that start were stairs to a platform with a strange, stone cube with foreign writing. A thug was announcing, "Step right up, TRY your luck at the unreadable block! Come one science nerds, come all and try to read the incomprehensible language! Stumped many for eons, stump many for eons more, unless ANYONE can read the unreadable block!"

Not entirely interested, the team roamed around the starting area for any thug that looked like they could sell them a transmission radio. "'kay, folks, this race is coming to an end, our next prize will be a prime galactic transmission radiooo!" There it was. "For all you sly pooches who wanna prank-call galaxies a billion light-years away!"

Maddy rushed up to the booth, "How much to race here?"

"Sorry Kid, this ain't no go-kart ride."

"I'll pay 500 Bolts." Ratchet slipped him the cash.

"YOU'RE IN, Slick! You get the Dark Devil!" He tossed Maddy a black helmet and key.

As they walked to the parking lot, "So, Mad, uh, whatcha doing?" asked Ratchet.

"Relax, driving a racecar can't be any different than a S.P.R.A.Y.S.H.I.P.."

"While I don't know what that is, I think you should let me-"

"Sorry, Bud." A buff, green alien guard stopped Ratchet from following. "Only the twerp's en'ering."

"Wish me luck." Maddy slipped the helmet on and found the black car with dim blue stripes. She hopped in, started it up, and drove out to the track.

"Wow. Never took Maddy for this kinda stuff." Drake mentioned. "Wonder what the preferred bout is?"

Ratchet and Clank only exchanged worried sighs.

Sub-game: Blipton Raceway

All cars were on the track, the racers raring to stomp their gas pedal. THREE. TWO. ONE. GOOO! (Play "Hoverbike Race" from Ratchet: Going Commando.)

"AAAAAND THEY'RE OFF!" The cars sped at near equal speed. "Turbo Theo TAKES the lead, and the others are fighting for second place!"

Maddy was forcefully bumping a red car with a fat alien, who hit a fence as she stayed steady for a few yards. She was behind a blue car, coming to a row of rainbow ? Blocks, and when she hit one of the blocks, a roulette in her car spun to stop on a certain item. It landed on banana peel, so she pushed the button to drop a peel on the track so a car behind could spin out of control. She faced forward and drove up a narrow slope on her right, having to keep across a thin road above the track as she spotted the blue car below. She ran over some Boost Panels and sped faster, eventually going off the road and passing the blue car.

She rammed a row of ? Blocks and landed on wings, conveniently using these to glide over a field of flames along the track. She glanced at the blue car behind her, watching as it was blown away by a force behind. "HERE come the BABYLON Rogues! The Track Trekkin' Trio of the racetrack!" Gliding on hoverboards were a green Mobian hawk, Jet, pink Mobian swallow, Wave, and gray albatross, Storm.

"Too cool for cars?" inquired Mad.

Jet hit a ? Block, seeing the tiny terminal by his foot land on Red Turtle Shells. He stepped on it as three Koopa Shells surrounded him, and Maddy was worried when her car began to lower to the track. Her wings vanished, Jet blasted a shell to fling Maddy into the air, letting the three pass. The track was about to go underwater, but Maddy couldn't take the alternate right path as some racers shoved her to the water. A propeller replaced the engine that allowed Maddy to drive, but being under the liquid already made her seasick.

"Oh, no." Ratchet frowned. "She's boned."

"Kart Number THREE seems to have lost CONTROL. Did those last attacks knock her BRAINS out?"

"HANG IN THERE, Mad!"

Maddy tried to keep herself steady and navigate around this river, nabbing a ? Block that gave her a Spring Pad. "WHOOOOAAA!" The item flung her upward, landing her on the narrow path above the water so she could make it to the river's end. She zipped by the starting line as the first lap was complete. "Sigh, okay, gotta just stay calm and take out those birdbrains. After all, if you can achieve two accomplishments with one action…" She hit a ? Block and let it roll on Blooper, "you can kill three birds with one squid."

She pushed the button, sending the Blooper flying to all racers. It got in the Babylons' faces and squirt ink in their eyes. "Hey! I can't see! Bwaaaark!" screamed Jet.

"We just COULDN'T use cars, huh Jet." remarked Wave.

"This ain't Sonic Drift!"

Maddy passed the trio and spared them a smirk and salute. The blue car was ahead of her again, but one of the back racers acquired a Bullet Bill and transformed into the speeding missile, easily blowing down the Rogues, Maddy, and reverting to normal behind the blue car. By the time she regained herself, the Rogues and several more racers passed, so she tried to catch up desperately. A racer ahead of her acquired a Piranha Plant item, which began to munch the back engines of further cars. Maddy spotted a secret path behind some buildings and quickly shifted that way. It was a little narrow with some oil puddles that made it slippery, but she found a ? Block that gave her a Blue Turtle Shell. She let it fly forward, making its funny noise and pink path, to seek the first-place driver.

Having bought time for herself, the path eventually brought her back to the other racers, and were nearing the river again. Maddy gulped, wishing that path led her around it, and around the Babylon Rogues in front of her. "Haha! Face it!" Jet laughed. "We all got three Mushrooms! You'll NEVER pass us!"

But Maddy hit a ? Block and it landed on lightning. Curious, she pushed the button, and all racers were immediately shrunk to toy-size. "HEY! WHAT 'appened??" squeaked Jet.

Maddy smirked, "OUT of the way, birdbrains." And boosted forward with the Rogues bumping over her windshield. She took the narrow path above the river with no trouble, staying on it with careful precision to avoid the liquid. The racers re-expanded to normal, and Maddy saw the blue car was ahead of her again, having grown big just after passing a ? Block which Maddy grabbed. Once they were past the river and on normal road, the driver of that car, Captain Falcon, climbed on top and faced Maddy with spiteful eyes. She gulped as the man readied to jump with his signature move. "FALCO PUUUNCH!"

Maddy pressed the Boo Sheet she collected and turned intangible. "Yuh-oh. UAAAAH!" Falcon punched nothing and fell onto the track, soon gone miles behind them as Maddy passed the starting line.

"THE THIRD LAP IS HEEERE! And Turbo Theo's still taking the leeeeead!"

Maddy looked at the screen, which read her in 2nd place. "WHAT?" She peeked over her hood and saw a thin blue line being created by some tiny force. She looked around her window, and this mysterious winner was a tiny orange snail with a super-powered shell. "You're KIDDING me!"

She was more desperate than ever to pass this super snail, but he stayed directly in front of her, and she on its blue path. She took the upper route over the track again and stayed on to catch the Speed Boosts, hoping it would give her a winning chance. By the time she came down, the snail was right behind her, and she grabbed a block that contained three bananas. She dropped them behind, the snail easily avoiding, and one of the back racers grabbed a Bob-omb. It sent it ahead, exploding on Maddy while Turbo swerved around, and she was in 6th place before she knew it. The farthest back racer grabbed a block that landed on Gold Shroom, so he sped forward with hace, rammed Maddy, and caused the 7th place racer to pass too, putting her in 8th. "Oh, no."

She kept along casually, fearing she lost any chance of winning. She followed the secret path that went around the flame field, just letting the oil pools make her slippery as she grabbed a ? Block. It landed on Lucky #8, which she pressed to see what'd come up. Eight different items surrounded her car, so she would carefully use each one. First, the Bob-omb flew forward and wiped out the two racers ahead. 6th place. She blasted a Green Shell to hit the pink racecar. 5th place. A Red Shell to take out Storm the Albatross. 4th place. A banana straight at Wave the Swallow's face, making her ram a streetpole. 3rd place. And a Blooper to blind Jet's face. 2nd.

She used a Mushroom to boost in a desperate, last ditch attempt to pass Turbo, following him across the narrow road over the river. She finally used the Power Star, her car sparkling with rainbow colors as she was invincible. Turbo looked back, hurrying faster and faster as the rainbow car was inching ever so closer. And just when the river was reaching its end, Squuuish. The snail was flat.

With that, there was nothing to stop Maddy from reaching the finish line. However, she noticed Captain Falcon on the track, ready to leap at her with another flaming punch. With a smirk, she used the last item, Boomerang, and flung the old racer off the track. "UACK!" Maddy's car zipped beyond the line as the audience roared. "AND RACER #3 IS THE WINNEEERR! If you would like to make refunds, take it up with our Human Resources!"

A huge, buff alien peeked out a dark door, frowning angrily as he punched his palm. "Gulp! Never mind!" Drake gulped. The frumpy alien slid back inside. (End song.)

Maddy parked, hopped out her car, and pulled her helmet off to whoosh her hair behind her. "You DID IT, Maddy!" Ratchet cheered.

"And HEEEERE is your RADIOOO!" An alien made of black and white vertical stripes tossed her the small device with antennas.

The gang took retreat within a small alley as Clank pulled out a small TV device. "I will begin connecting this with our transmitter so we may locate Milky Way's coordinates. This will only be a minute."

Maddy casually walked around bored, approaching Drake who was leaned against a building. "You know, Mads, I have to say, you surprise me."

"Whatchu mean?"

"You've been associating with aliens for about 2 hours, and also a one-handed freak, and I don't think I've heard one remark." He grinned slyly.

"Oh… well, you know, there's already jillions of aliens, and tons of people have missing arms…"

"That's not what I'm getting at." He lowered his sunglasses, peering over them. "You've been going to my school since kindergarten and every time you see me, you'd either insult or just point and laugh. When we went up to GKND for that war, you couldn't go five minutes without throwing up. So tell me: why the sudden change in attitude?"

"Hmmmm… well…"

The truth is, what instigated it was her voyage to Punk Hazard. She still remembered all the ordinary human kids befriending little Minish and Kateenians, riding the giant kids, swimming with the merfolk, and flying with gargoyles and Nimbi. And Maddy herself was riding atop Mocha's big, bushy head. Playing together like there were no differences at all, just a bunch of snot-nosed kids.

Last week, when Maddy was walking about the Moonbase, she suddenly ran into Mocha. "Oh? Hey, Mocha. What're you doing up here?"

"Hi, Maddy! I was asking Francis if the training room had any giant-size equipment I could borrow. Obviously not, right, heh heh heh ha." She scratched her head.

"Well, we have psychicbenders as crime-detectors. Maybe some of them could biggify them."

"Yeah. …Hey, let's have a practice fight!" she said excitedly.

"What?"

"Francis said you were pretty tough against big guys. I wanna see how tough you are!" She smirked and balled her fists.

"…You're on!"

The two were later in the training room with fighting stances. Mocha stomped forward and threw her fist at Maddy, but the Murphy jumped and kicked at Mocha's left eye. She covered her eye and charged to her smaller opponent, furiously stomping around as Maddy dodged her feet, but Mocha surprised and pinned Maddy under her hand. Mocha smirked, seeing Maddy struggling, but with all her strength, Maddy pushed the hand up and slid out, rolling back on her feet. Mocha threw a punch at Maddy, who jumped off the fist to Mocha's right eye to briefly tug her eyelash before kicking off. The rest of the fight lasted for 10 minutes.

"Huff, huff, let's call it a draw." Mocha panted, smiling.

"You say so." Maddy complied. "…You know, Mocha, I'm having a sleepover tonight. No one else wants to come, so if you and your friends aren't busy…"

"Well, sure! I'll ask them!"

Things went pretty crazy that night. That night, Maddy had six other kids in the living room: a loudmouth girl, a doll-size girl, a barefoot angel, an Arceist in a mustard dress, a 12-year-old with some paint, and a freaking giant. Oh, and some rabbit that thinks he's a cat.

Chimney spun the bottle, and it stopped on Aeincha. "Okay Aeinchan, truth or dare?"

"DARE!" She was so tiny, but so daring.

"Yokay. I dare you to… SMELL Aisa's feet!!"

"Okay!" Aeincha walked over and took a whiff with her teeny nose. "Not bad!"

"What? YOU LIE!"

"Smell for yourself." ;)

Chimney crawled over and, "Sniff sniff. UUUUUUUHHH!" Her nose shriveled, putting a grin on Aisa's face.

"My turn!" Aeincha walked over to spin the huge bottle. "Mmmmm!" It was kinda hard.

"Heheh, let me help." Mocha smiled, clutching the bottle in her thumb and index. It was hard to turn from her size, so she ended up crushing. "Oops…"

"Okay, AUTOMATIC YOU." Chimney said. "Go into the kitchen and get another. Oh, and get some snacks."

Mocha carefully stood up, bent down a little, and limped to the kitchen. She crawled and very slowly tried to squeeze her bulbous head into the archway, but when she just couldn't, she reached an arm inside to pull the fridge open. She couldn't reach, so she inched ever so closer, and when her bulbous fingers gripped the handle, she ended up pulling the whole thing over. "Whoops."

"NOOOOOO!" cried Zach as he ran and knelt by it. "I was gonna eat the last cupcake and it's RUIIIIIINNNED! Thanks a LOT, Bighead. Bad enough Maddy has that dumb dog, why'd she have to let an ELEPHANT in?" He stomped off.

"Hmmm." Saddened, Mocha backed up and tried to stand- "WHOOOA!" tripping on her feet, she fell back and crushed a shelf of fine china.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Gwen screamed. "MY COLLECTABLES!"

"Ohhhh great, NOW we're gonna get a bill." moaned Chimney.

"GYOM, gyom." eye-rolled Gonbe.

Sniffling, Mocha carefully stepped around her friends and left out the giant hole where the front door used to be. Maddy followed her outside as she seated herself cross-legged on the front yard. "I'm sorry, Maddy. I've never been to anyone else's house before. I knew I should've eaten a shrink apple."

"Yeah, maybe. But… I like you better this way."

"You do? Why?"

"I dunno. I'm used to seeing you this way. It'd just look weird if you were me-sized."

"But I'm ruining your house. I'm just stepping on everything like a realistic dollhouse. Why would you still want me in there?"

"Because otherwise I'd have a bunch of lunatics in my house and you're big enough to balance them out."

She smiled weakly. "Well… if you really want me." She crouched and stepped back through the hole, taking her seat in the circle again.

"Okay, the fridge is a miss, but Zach brought a couple friends over to make you guys some cookies." Gwen mentioned. "Zach?"

The twin brother twiddled a flute, summoning a team of short orange guys with green hair. "Chumba-Wumba dumbity damn. Random giant girls wasn't part of the plan. Chumba-Wumba shlimity shiz. 'specially when they go and ruin the fridge." Maddy and Mocha exchanged disbelieved eye-rolls.

Maddy sure had a lot of fun with that. Still, to think so many kids from so many different worlds or races could play together in one place. Look at each other like equals, big or small. And a bunch of kids like that worked for the Kids Next Door, like Mocha and her friends. …It made Maddy think differently.

Ratchet's transmitter beeped, "Hey I think we're getting something."

The transmission buzzed. "This is Starship Zachstar, repeat Starship Zachstar."

"Zachstar? ..!" Maddy gasped, "That was one of my brother's personas!"

"Hello? Who is this?"

She rushed to the com., "Zach, it's me, Maddy! Are you there?"

The static on her wristwatch screen faded, revealing an adult Zach with a Dragon Ball Z-like design. "HE'S A FREAKING ANIMEEE!"

"Hello? Are you Maddy's brother?" Ratchet asked.

"Yes. I am Maddy's brother, Prince Hiroshi. 20 years ago, she was abducted by space bandidos. I mourned her loss, but I am overjoyed, that you found her again."

"NOT TRUE, THAT'S NOT TRUE, HE'S MY TWIN BROTHER AND WE GO TO 4TH GRADE TOGETHER, HE'S MAKING CRUD UP!" Maddy screamed.

"Ahhhh yes. You always were, very unimaginative."

"STOP TALKING LIKE THAT AND COME PICK ME UP!"

"Keep it down, Maddy. I don't think we're supposed to be in this alley." Ratchet cautioned.

"Look, Zach, do you have my coordinates? I'm on Peoples α. Just, get the GKND or something and track me down."

"Never you fear, Maddy! For I am getting Voltron!"

The screen revealed a swarm of colored ships flying from there garages. Strums of epic music played as a green part slowly inserted into a pink part. That same tune played when a red part, very slowly, entered a blue part. The same tune, when a yellow part entered an orange part. A gray part, in a very stylish fashion, connected with a brown part. And for about 5 minutes, it was part entering part after part. But it finally concluded when Voltron's glorious head latched on the top, his face opening.

His whole body was revealed to be a complete mess, a bunch of little ships haphazardly slanted and squished together, bound to fall apart any minute. "Um… I may need a minute. Okay guys, take it back to Step 52." The screen switched off.

"He's coming at the Speed of Justice." Maddy noted.

"Well, we have his coordinates marked, we can always fly to wherever he is." Ratchet confirmed. "Let's go look for Qwark. Hey QWARK, where are you?" He searched around.

"Uhhhh hey, Ratchet!" Qwark came out from an alley, grinning nervously and trying to hide. "Listen, funny story, these gangsters kind of challenged me to some street-poker and, one thing led to another, not only is my jumpsuit in new hands, Iiii lost the ship."

"What?!"

They rushed their way through town to where Aphelion was parked… or, used to be. "QWARK, who took the ship?!"

"Just some guys, I dunno! Relax, they'll bring it back, they said we coool, we cooool!" Though when he tried to pose cool, the fact he was in underwear, gloves, boots, and a mask made him look… ehh, less than qualified.

"HOW are we going to get off this rock?! Even if we had time to sit and wait for Maddy's brother, Nefarious is still looking for us. Before you know it, they'll be posting wanted posters and all these thugs will be on us, we need someplace to hide."

"How 'bout this?" Clank held up a poster.

Ratchet and took and skimmed. It had a picture of a slim robot woman in red metal clothing, and brown metal hair. "Courtney Gears concert, Orbital Auditorium? Since when've you been into her?"

"Since she became too sexy for her chest compartment. Mm hm he he he."

"Courtney Gears… ain't that the fat lady in the wheelchair?" Drake asked.

"You're thinking of someone else." Mad said.

"Oh, that reminds me! I managed to win four tickets for the transport ride there in that poker!" Qwark raised the tickets.

"And you lost the ship afterward?" Ratchet asked.

"No, it's… other way."

Disbelieved stares. "Well, that still isn't enough tickets for one of us."

"I will disguise as your backpack and sneak onto the roof once there, to keep signaling for Maddy's brother." Clank offered.

"Then can we also count on you to find snacks for us?"

"I am reserving my multi-purpose functions for important uses."

"Well-p, it's settled, let's go watch some mecha-slut strip-dance onstage." Drake remarked as he walked off first.

"Let's also get Qwark some clothes at the souvenir stand." remarked Maddy as they joined.

Somewhere in space

"HOO! Glad we got THAT outta the way!" Zach cheered as Voltron was finally fixed. "The Speed of Justice waits for no man! Hold on, Maddy! I'm going infinity… AND BEYOND!!" (Play "Insane in the Membrane" by Cypress Hill.)

Act 2: Flight Zachstar

The Zachstar began flying at speeds incomprehensible to the human senses, swaying up and down to the music on his stereos, which were his fuel source. The stars seemed to pass him like tiny dust particles, and the planets simple islands he was gliding past on his speedboat. Impeding his progress were none other than Galaxians, the classic pixel aliens from the arcade game shooting tiny lasers. Zachstar swiftly rolled and dodged the lasers before shooting his own, whirling and dancing in many fancy poses as if at a disco party, jabbing his fingers like guns as they fired the bullets, Zachstar shaking his hips as he blew down a round of Galaxians.

He was flying to a meteor field at great speed, dodging left and right to avoid slowing his progress, however very little progress he would lose. A new round of Galaxians appeared, this time in very small pairs that appeared onscreen a brief moment, shot a laser, and zipped off, making it difficult for Zach to shoot them when more came. They were appearing almost every direction, Zach hurriedly dodging their shots, but parts of his armor were scorched, and soon it felt like he were in a sea of pixelly aliens. But then he rammed through a power-up box that allowed him to unleash a mighty shockwave, obliterating all Galaxians in sight.

Space was clear for a few hundred light-years before Zachstar came to another asteroid field, maneuvering left, right, up, down, backways, frontways, anyway you can possibly imagine to avoid asteroids, even passing Diagon Alley. Once past the field, more Galaxians started zipping onscreen and hitting each other, bunching into larger forms that took more hits to destroy. Zachstar continued to dance and groove as he showed 'em his moves, shooting all aliens down no matter how long it took.

But finally he encountered a Galaxian far bigger than the others, made of red and green pixels as it aimed its many pixelly cannons. Zachstar shot forward to throw a storm of punches, but the Galaxian blocked with its own arms and pelted Zach with bullets, finally sending him down with a stronger punch. Zach collided forcefully with the ground, but bounced back to his feet and glared at the alien. In this misty, orange alley he had landed, disco lights zoomed all around the ground as Zachstar swiftly maneuvered his legs and arms, making all sorts of fluent dance moves while his head and body remained almost still. The Galaxian blasted endless lasers as Zach jumped miles over the surface, then launched at the alien with powerful rocket boots.

The screen freeze-framed when his fist made contact with the alien, taking the design of a comic book.

The Galaxian countered with his own punch, the image of Katniss Everdeen kicking Harry Potter.

Zachstar performed a mighty spin-kick, the image of Sonic 2006 besting Sonic Lost World.

Galaxian squished Zachstar under a Ground Pound, the image of Makorra smashing Korrasami.

Zachstar struck its chest with a drill attack, the image of One Piece Wiki smashing Avatar Wiki.

And Zachstar scored one more blow by smashing the alien cold on the ground, the image of Gamewizard, sitting atop a throne that was crushing an annoyed Tom Warburton, IGN people, George Lucas, Nickelodeon people, and that Wizard movie about a boy who's good at videogames and is going to California to bring a lunchbox to his dead sister, which has no relevance to the plot. (Seth MacFarlane also sat with me on the throne.)

Zachstar performed a few quick victory poses before taking to the stars. He would be on his way in a few milliseconds. (End song.)

"…Uhhhhhh." Zach seemed to have landed on a hillbilly planet as a cowboy gofer approached him.

"Well howdy, pardner! You lookin' for some grain?"

"I'm, uh, looking for Infinity and Beyond. Seen it anywhere?"

"Oh, you wanna go 10 trillion light-years thataway." He pointed in the very direction Zach came from.

"Ahhhhh, crud." A Southern, jail harmonica tune rang in the air.

New Island

The yacht sailed treacherous seas of furious winds, angry storms, and a random Gyarados that ambushed and tried to blow them to smithereens. But things turned for the better when the seas became gentle, in the very eye of this storm. The quiet castle of three windmill towers, dark and worn-down. Lucario waited at the pier while Sunni and Darcy stepped off, marching up the wide stairway to the balcony. With their combined psychic, the huge front gates came open, then it was another walk across the wide, empty dining room, up the high, spiraling road to the tallest tower.

"Hello? …Is anyone up here?" called Sunni nervously.

The room was very dark and empty, the only light coming from the wide windows with a view of the bright blue sky. A shadowed figure sat in the throne across from them, facing toward the sky. "Do you need to ask?"

They gasped. "It's you, isn't it! Mewtwo?" Sunni spoke, walking in.

"I thought I had sensed a body strong with The Force. With familiar chi, no less. That which belongs to Mikaela Corella… is it not?"

"Yes!" Sunni spoke excitedly. "I'm Mika's daughter, Sunni! Oh, and that's Darcy, my sister." The latter spared a slight glare. "Listen, my mom's been captured, and we need you to help-"

"Mika has taken my place in the Order of the White Lotus after besting me. What befalls her is no longer any concern for me."

"But you HAVE to help us! At least help us train! I need to get better at psychic so I can rescue her!"

"Is that so? You know that psychic-"

"Yeah yeah, psychic's a dangerous element that makes people go crazy and choke people, Darth Vader-style, blah blah blah, but I don't care! I need to become more powerful like my mom, she was supposed to help me!"

"Really? Well, if your mom is as powerful as you make her to be… and she is… why in the world do you believe she was captured so easily?"

"I dunno, I… Maybe she's trying to do something! If that's true, I wanna help her, you gotta train me so I can get more strong!"

"And what is it you think she is trying to do?"

"I…I…"

"So you got yourself a rival, huh!" Mika grinned. "Okay, Sunni, I'll help you train."

"Oh, hey Sunni!" Mika called over the loud propellers, still with a grin. "Tell your dad I've been taken captive, so I won't make it to dinner! See you later, Honeeeeyy!"

"…" It was all so obvious, "So that's it, isn't it. Mom's training me to be more independent. To stop relying on her."

"Mmmm…"

"…" Sunni shook her head, "So what, I still can't get any better at psychic by myself! I NEEDED my mom to train me, but you're the next best thing, you taught her everything she knows!"

"I've always had the right mind about each of my students. I sensed Mika becoming a terrific psychicbender, and she has. Another student met similar expectations… but you, I sense incredible chaos surrounding your psyche. Your overdependence on your mom will cause your psychic to destable. Your imagination is limited…"

"I'm trying to, but it's been so hard, what with everything on your mind…"

"Then perhaps you need to empty your mind. I am retired from training… and am frankly in not one of the best conditions. Use your imagination… and find other ways to train."

"But where'm I- …Siiigh, fine." Sunni knew it was pointless. "I guess I'm on my own, then." She turned to leave. "Come on, Darcy."

"Hang on." They stopped. "Your sister, on the other hand… we thought of other solutions for her. It is time you two… go separate ways."

"W…Whaddyou mean? Who's 'we'?"

Outside, Lucario was already waiting for them below the stairs, his face stern and serious. "I will be taking Darcy with me now."

"To where?? Will someone please EXPLAIN?"

Ignoring Sunni's query, Lucario walked up and placed his fists on Darcy's head and chest. "It's time to ascend." His eyes closed as they brimmed, and Darcy felt her very body lighten when both fists glowed. Sunni gaped when they shot to the heavens as a beam of light.

"W-… Darcy… COME BAAAAAAACK!"

Rainier walked up with a very curious, though not very concerned, face. "Well, the captain's got a new story to tell. So what's with Darcy becoming an aurora… light?"

Deep down, a panicky storm was brewing inside of Sunni.

Nashville, Tennessee; park

Monkeys down the street, monkeys at the park, everywhere you'd look would be monkeys, monkeys, and more monkeys causing a ruckus. And who could keep the little varmints from attacking the giant treehouse in the middle of the neighborhood. Certainly not these two dorky-faced children. "GIT back here, you little VARMINTS!" yelled Sarah-Jane Jones II, she and her brother, Gary trying to catch the monkeys in nets. One of the silly rascals pounced off Sarah's head. "Rats."

"Well, at least your hair isn't yellow. They just can't stay off me!" Gary yelled as two monkeys were forcefully tugging his blonde hair, swinging them off with his net. "I dunno where these things came from, but they're a worse nuisance than baby GUNGANS! Oh, WHEN will a ray of HOPE shine down on this-" And that's when a great flash exploded above them.

"OOOF." Emily Garley fell and crushed them under her backside. "Ouch… should've coordinated it better. …Oh, hey guys."

"Howdy, Emily…" mumbled Sarah, her eyes blocked by Emily's huge shoes.

"What's going on…" Gary asked.

"Well, the short version is, a bunch of monkeys escaped from my grandpa's lab and teleported all over the world. So now I'm going to catch them, and I thought you guys could help."

"Wer happy to oblige with any of yer crazy shenanigans." Sarah replied. "Unless this is some new experiment regardin' human resting matts, perhaps you c'n get offa us."

"Oh, sorry. He he he he! The transporter can't really detect if any life forms are in the location, so it's good I appeared above you, otherwise it would end bad."

"Yes, there would be NO greater hell than sharing your scratchy skin, now GET OFF US!" Gary demanded.

"Oh! Sorry!" Emily rolled off and recovered, letting the two stand and brush.

"But remind us how we're supposed to catch these here varmints." Sarah informed. "Our nets don't fill the juice barrel."

"No! But THESE will!" Emily tossed them two extra T.E.L.A.-N.E.T.s. "I always bring back-ups, just in case. And I got you other stuff, too!"

"Well, dawgy, now we c'n invite extra players!"

"Or maybe we should stick to one person. You know, so no one screws us up!"

"Um… What're you guys talking about?" Em asked.

"UHHHH. NOTHIN'."

"Hehe! Okay." Emily blushed. "Anyway, I also need to get to your treehouse and tell Moonbase about this—I think there's something a lot bigger going on."

"Well, the monkeys sort of kicked us outta there, but you can try and chase 'em out." shrugged Gary.

"It'll be easy! Just net the monkeys and they'll be good as gone. I hope you two brought sweat-decreasion pills 'cause we'll be doing this awhile! Let's get started!"

The two stared, "You're the only one that needs 'em." they said.

Stage 10: Orange River

Mission: Capture 12 monkeys and get to Sector N's treehouse!

This region was under a fiery, orange sky, and with the sun setting behind the city, these suburbs would be shaded in shadow. Two Pipo Monkeys were in the park, one running around the field, another swimming in the fountain. Emily looked at Gary and gestured to the fountain with her fingers, then to the field as she looked at Sarah, the two nodding. Emily and Sarah rushed to the field using Super Hoops as the monkey long-jumped to try and escape them. The girls were running fast as they could, but stopped to catch breath when the monkey was easily evading capture. So having a wild idea, Emily told her to go left, so when she ran to the right of the monkey and began chasing, Sarah jumped out from behind a tree and netted him.

"Dah! Hey! Get in here you little—D'OOH!" They looked over with disbelief when Gary was floppin' and splashin' around the fountain, unable to net the shifty ape. When he fell on his front, the ape got on his head, shook his rear, and kept jumping.

"Need some help there, Gare?" Emily remarked. When the monkey hopped by, she bashed its head, knocked him dizzy, and let Gary snatch him in the net. "Oh- be careful not to net yourself, or we'll be transported, too. Huhuhu! I reckon we don't wanna be submitted to Pipo-removal experiments!"

The rest of the park was empty except for two 4x4 pieces lain beside some trees. "They musta left them here after invading the treehouse." Gary guessed.

"Hey! If I get enough of these, maybe I can build a Monkey Radar." Emily assumed. "About 10 will do. That'll make things a bit easier." Since they were finished with the park, and the bridge to town had a roadblock at the end, the team decided to explore down the river, flaming orange like the sky above. They couldn't swim in it due to piranhas lurking around, so the trio hopped in a small boat to row their way down. A monkey was standing on a pier along the left shore, blasting a machinegun as the kids hurriedly rowed left and right. They barely made it over as Emily hopped out and bonked him in the head, catching him.

The river was further blocked by a huge wooden wall, but in the farthest corner, a 4x4 piece floated, so the trio rowed over to collect it. They then returned to the pier and headed up a hill to another field area. It was mostly a bunch of small trees, but when they turned away, they heard them rustling and quickly whipped around to see what it was, but there was nothing. They turned away again, and the rustling continued, and it sounded like something was jumping, but still nothing. The trio decided to shoot at the trees with their slingshots, but nothing was coming out. If there were monkeys in there, they would have to come back when they found a way to scare them out.

They crossed a bridge atop the wall that was blocking the river, coming to a smaller field populated by bushes. Leaping around these bushes were three bug-size creatures wearing tiny Pipo Helmets: they were spider-monkeys. The trio rushed around and tried desperately to net these pint-size Pipos (grabbing a 4x4 behind a bush), but they slipped right between the strings of their nets. "Shoot, why can't we jus' squish 'em?" asked Sarah.

"Because, these monkeys don't know what they're doing, that's not fair!" Emily reasoned.

"Well, technically they might, but they're too small to put up a fight."

"In that case, why don't we just leave 'em alone?" Gary asked. "I mean, if they can't even harm us."

"Well… okay."

So leaving more monkeys alone, the three progressed a path along the edge of the hilltop above the river. A patch of tall bamboo was growing from the river, and a white orangutan with a Pipo Helmet was hopping around them. The trio used their Sky Flyers to float over and carefully balance on the bamboo, hopping across with the greatest precision to catch the monkey. Gary ended up slipping and falling, and when Sarah whooshed her net when the monkey hopped by, she missed, twirled in place, then fell. It was up to Emily, hopping the bamboo tips and getting the ape cornered, but it bent its bamboo down, so when Emily got on, trying to balance, the ape released and sent her flinging. "WHOOOA!"

She splashed in the Orange River, shortly joined by her friends using Water Nets. "Methinks yer no acrobat." Sarah remarked.

"Awwwww." Emily frowned. Another monkey they'd have to let slip. Two apes were swimming around this river using underwater jetpacks, so once the trio caught up, they (thankfully) were able to catch them in water nets. They climbed onto one of a trio of wooden platforms, aligned in a triangle, and saw a Pipo Monkey fishing on one of them. When Gary was about to catch it, Emily held him back and noted the camera on a further platform. So they swam over as Emily pressed its switch, filming the fishing monkey.

This reminds me of a classic tale. The captions read.

So with that, they swam back over and netted the monkey, then grabbed the 4x4 on the opposite platform. They swam further down the river before climbing onto a wide wooden pier with many tables with umbrellas. Dancing atop a platform were two monkeys dressed like Honey & Darling from Ocarina of Time, but they cowered away when the kids got close. Gary chased the Darling ape around the tables with his Super Hoop and succeeded in catching him, while Honey was hopping the umbrella tops. Sarah shot her down with the slingshot and netted her.

They grabbed a 4x4 in-between some tables, then saw another one magically floating several feet above an umbrella, so Sarah got on that one and used Sly Flyer to float up and grab it. The following part of the river had piranhas swimming around, so they followed a walkway along the left side and entered a dark tunnel. The walkway sloped upward near the ceiling, then came to a dead end, with the only way forward across swampy vines growing across the ceiling. They held tight and climbed across, and saw a monkey swinging back-and-forth on one spot. Emily used one hand to grab the net and swipe it inside, then grabbed a 4x4 stuck to the ceiling.

They dropped off on a few platforms and hopped over to another leftside walkway. A small, low platform on the right wall had a 4x4, so Sarah floated over to get it. But their walkway was too high for her to get back, so she climbed across a thin ledge sticking out above her, landing on another walkway. This path curved up vertically, with the last 4x4 at the top. She spun her Super Hoop and miraculously ran up the vertical path, grabbing the 4x4 and kicking off before floating back to their walkway. Emily grabbed all the 4x4, got to her knees, and began to whip something up.

Kids Next Door: R.A.D.A.R.

Rascally Apes Daren't Avoid Recapture

"All right! Now we can detect the monkeys' specific locations. Let's test it out." She aimed the radar further down the tunnel, detecting a monkey climbing a large fence blocking the way forward. Where're them bats? the radar read. The walkway ended a few meters before that fence, with the ape on the other side. They could shoot slingshot pellets through the bars, but he would fall in and be washed down the river. Emily also noticed the red switch on the other side of the fence, so she shot a pellet through and pressed it, making a small door open on a low part of the fence. They floated inside with Sky Flyers and landed on a safe platform, and were close enough to the monkey for a brief jump, and catch.

There was then a grabable fence along the left wall which the three kids began to climb across. A pipe above had holes in it as streams of goop were pouring out, and not wanting to know what it was, they carefully avoided them at those intervals. Following the fence, the trio swung a series of chains hanging from the ceiling, then took land on a large raft. It began moving on its own as they finally exited the cave, exposed to the bright setting sun outside. Pipodactyls flew around and shot fireballs, the kids dodging and whacking them out of the air when they sailed by. Monkeys were also hovering overhead with helipacks, so with careful timing, they jumped and caught these monkeys in nets. They netted three monkeys on that river, making 13 out of 12 monkeys by the time the raft stopped at the barred end.

They hopped off on the left side, where there appeared to be an open gate between two monitors, each showing 6 monkey icons lit blue. It must've signified they needed 12 monkeys to pass, and they met this quota. They followed a stairway up a hill, to a small neighborhood where Sector N's treehouse towered above the rest. They rushed over there to conclude this stage.

"Hoo… Well, I donno about YOU pardners, but mah sweatglands finally got their due." Sarah noted, slouching as she caught her breath.

"But you have to admit, it makes such an invigorating sport." Emily said, panting as well.

"Well, hopefully once we phone this in to Moonbase, they can handle some back-breaking for us." Gary replied, rushing to their house's mailbox. He pulled a booger out of his nose and stuck it in a slot.

"Enter: Password."

"Let's see… I believe it is Pureblood! HA ha ha, just kidding! It's Rhubarb."

"Actually… it's- PPBBBBBLLLLLLLTTHH!" A tongue shot out and blew Gary away. His friends hurried beside him as he wiped spit off his face, all three gazing as the treehouse stepped out of its perch, standing with two feet made of roots. The kids readied their guard as multiple branches emerged, ready to swing.

"HA HA ha ha ha haaaaa!" a voice like that of a madman cackled through the air. "Well well! I never thought ANY human would rise against the marvelous SPECTER! But is a pack of children REALLY the best they HAAAVE?"

"Holy whoa! Did Specter reprogram your computer to attack us??" Emily exclaimed.

"NO, you silly girl! I am a member of the Freaky Monkey Five, and the most intelligent monkey under Specter's leadership. I am known as VHITE Monkey!"

"A rival for Specter's brains, huh? What's so special about you Freaky Monkeys compared to the lesser ones?"

"A very good question! Specter has taken the liberty of feeding us Vita-Z Bananas, packed with the richest calcium, potassium, and fresh Bang Gas! Our intelligence and powers are beyond the average Pipo Monkey, thus are the only worthy beings capable of organizing Specter's Televised Takeover!"

"Televised Takeover?" questioned Sarah.

"GAAAAH! I probably shouldn't have mentioned that! Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'll have you runts defeated and strapped down before long. Then it's just a matter of finding that Octogan."

"Octagon?" Emily asked.

"I SAID NOTHING!! AND THEN YOU DIED! Get ready 'cause I'M GONNA SHISH-KABOB YOU!!!" (Play White Monkey's Theme from Ape Escape 3.)

Boss fight: White Monkey Treehouse

Team Emily ran separate directions as the treehouse started swinging its giant branches, which they jumped and ducked. But a branch grabbed Emily around her ankle and began to swing her furiously around the air before sending her flying several miles. "Hold on!" Sarah called, rushing after her with the Super Hoop to break Emily's fall.

"Hehe! Sorry." Emily blushed, both quickly getting up and returning to the colossus. After jumping its branches again, the three kids took aim at the strange antennas around its body, shooting homing slingshot pellets to try and damage them. "EEEEERRRR!" This seemed to work, as the treehouse shook before it leaped into the air and made the kids bounce upon landing, burying its roots beneath the surface to ambush them. They felt the roots maneuvering beneath and jumped aside before they emerged, then watched as the rest of the roots began to come back up, starting from the base. The treehouse intended to pull them back, so Emily hopped on one of the roots and rushed up with the Super Hoop, grabbing hold of the ladder on the treehouse's side. It led her to a series of platforms as she began to jump up.

"AWAY WITH YOU!" The giant treehouse shook furiously at certain intervals, forcing Emily to grab hold of the branches to avoid swinging off. The way the treehouse kept moving made it hard for Emily to stand—she found a hard time balancing on normal ground already. She floated to a high platform with the Sky Flyer, then took hold of a small ledge and began to climb across to an open window. "I feel INSECTS on my exterior. BEGONE!"

"AAAAHH!" Emily was smacked away by one of the treehouse's arms, smashing the ground hard. "Aw, dang it!"

"Never trust a klutz with oversized sneakers." remarked Gary Jones, whom was climbing across an alternate ledge before slipping into a window. A monkey that was running in a hamster wheel screeched and tried to escape, but Gary successfully caught him in his net.

"NOOO! You little!" The treehouse shook more before Gary flew out of the window, taking soft land with his Flyer. "I'M GONNA SHISH-KABOB YOU!" A bunch of cannons appeared on the treehouse and blasted meteors into the air, the kids running around with Super Hoops to avoid being scorched. By the time they were gone, the treehouse had buried its roots beneath the ground again, succeeding in catching the nerds who were tired from running. He hurled them right toward each other as they collided, and as they rubbed their heads after hitting the ground, they jumped up and ran when the treehouse blasted flamethrowers. It stuck its roots beneath the ground, so the trio dodged aside when they emerged.

When the rest of the roots began to arise, Sarah whirled her Super Hoop and rushed up the root, then kept it whirling as she ran straight up the treehouse's side, on a conveniently carved path. She had to dodge around bushels of leaves, make a curve left, then right, and jump off to grab onto a branch. From there, she could jump into a window, finding herself in a mazy corridor of the treehouse. She used her R.A.D.A.R. to search around for any monkeys, detecting one nearby. She followed the signal around the maze intently, but couldn't quite see where the monkey was hidden. But when she passed a painting of Charles Darwin she doesn't remember having, she cut it open and saw the monkey working a terminal. Smirking in disbelief, she caught it in her net as it vanished.

"YOU LITTLE!!" After shaking furiously, Sarah-Jane went flying out of the treehouse. "I'M GONNA SHISH-KABOB YOU!" Sensing what was coming, the three rushed around aimlessly as the treehouse spun around the area and released a storm of flames, setting fire on many parts of the ground. They had less room to run around when the treehouse began leaping and aiming to crush them, with each quake making them slip. They put each flame out by whacking it with their Stun Clubs, and once the tree was finishing leaping, all the flames died out.

Angered, the treehouse extracted more branches and began smashing them around the ground in attempt to crush the kids, who were quick to dodge as they whacked each branch with the Stun Clubs, which seemed to make the thick wood wince with pain. "This plant looks a little thirsty!" Emily smirked as she rushed to the tree's roots and pulled a water gun out of her Infi-Cube. "I forgot to restock on water, but now's a better use as any!" So using the S.Q.W.I.R.T., she sprinkled water on the stem of the tree as its branches began to grow rapidly out of control.

"HEEEEY! I can't see a darn thing!" White Monkey exclaimed as the tree was almost completely shrouded in its own leaves.

"Quick! Let's go for it!" Emily yelled to her friends. Sarah and Gary joined her at the tree as they began to jump their way up a series of newly-grown branches, using the Sky Flyer to gain some extra ground as well. Finally, they made it to the dome at the tree's top and broke through the glass into the Mission Prep Room. They glared angrily at the short, white monkey with the disheveled hair and red/green mismatched glasses working the controls.

"GAAAAH! I have been found! I must maintain my secrets!" So the monkey began to hop around the chamber, but Gary and Sarah followed Emily's gestures and ran opposite directions. "GAH!" Sarah skidded to a halt beside the monkey and sent it across the room with her Stun Club. He flew toward Gary, who batted it to Emily, who leaped and kicked him forcefully to the center.

"Oaf!" Her leg still stretched mid-jump, Emily had a rough land in which she nearly did the splits. But she got up, fixed her glasses back on, and glared at the dizzy monkey in the middle. With a mighty leap, Emily raised her net, and- "YES! (YES! YES!)" White Monkey was gone in thin air. Emily, Sarah, and Gary performed a dance before belly-touching in mid-jump. (End song.)

After quickly hacking into their computer, Sarah and Gary managed to shut the rogue treehouse down. "Hoo, dawgy. Talk about a wild bull at the rodeo." the former said.

"Why did White Monkey decide to hack it, anyway?" Emily asked.

"I don't know. But check this out." Gary brought up many holographic screens of children sitting on couches at home, eyes totally blank with mouths drooling. "It's like all these kids are in a… trance."

"Holy cow!" widened Emily. "You don't think Specter was sending hypnotic images from the treehouse, do you??"

"Lemme see: Adventure Time With Pip and Po, Misadventures with Bippy, Out o' Jimmy's Head??" Sarah examined. "Well bake me 'n a toaster oven, they're usin' our treehouses to make dang NITWIT shows and hypnotize kids!"

"That's terrible! How will kids educate their selves with fine-quality programming?! All those poor nature channels, secrets of the universe, educational cartoons, and—HUU!" Emily gasped with incredible horror. "EVEN THE MICROBIOLOGY CHANNEL, TOO!!! I can't let them get away with this!"

"Well, they got a far distance ahead." Gary said, typing on the keyboard. "They disabled communication with any other treehouses, and Lord knows how many were taken over."

"But at this rate, Moonbase should be more th'n on the job." Sarah implied.

"End of the world is coming up, it was the perfect time to seize the moment. The whole Kids Next Door is panicking, it'll take forever to locate these monkey bases."

"Haaaawwwwww." Emily sat down in defeat. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

"Call me a nutbrain… but Ah know someone who might help." Sarah began. "He's our mom's cousin… a real nutbrain… but boy, is he smarter 'an a no-limbed newborn."

Gary gasped deeply. "No! You can't mean-!"

"Who? WHO?" asked Emily eagerly.

Both siblings faced her with grim, dark eyes. "UNCLE SHELDON COOPER."

"…Who?"

"He's the most unbearable human being anyone could ever meet!" Gary exclaimed. "That imPERVIOUS ego, those TERRIFYING mantis eyes… You'd have to be able to stand him for 10 SECONDS and vice-versa if you ever want 'is help!!"

"Yer right. Ferget I suggested." Sarah agreed.

"Well… how can he help? Where does he live?" Em asked.

"Our mom says he lived in Galveston, Texas," Gary explained, "where he conducts research on the 'endless wonders of the universe.' I don't know if he still lives there, he just comes to visit us. Granted, he's got a lot of cool stuff and he has his know-how, but trust me, you'll never stand him for long."

Emily hopped to her feet and became serious, "Then let's go!" She balled her fist. "There's no smartass in the WORLD that's encountered Emily Garley- snort! I'll kick this guy's brain's butt up Timbuktu, I tell you what, and I ain't stop kickin' 'til this guy gives us whatever help we need! So bring it on, guys, haul me down to Texas so I can go cowsquirrel!"

It wasn't the only time Emily looked so serious, so willing, so ready to fight. …Every time, she looked ridiculous, they were ashamed to be near her. "Well uh, tell you what Emily, how 'bout when Uncle Sheldon drives you mad, we agree not to reveal the embarrassing story 'long as you stay away from us for the rest of your life." Gary offered.

"Okay." Emily smirked. "And after I totally outwit him, you two can worship the intelligent ground I walk on for the rest of eternity."

"It's a dern deal!" Sarah gripped Emily's hand. "Let's hop in whatever S.C.A.M.P.E.R. we have runnin' and git shakin'! COME AWN, Gareh!" They hurried down to the hangar.

"Oh Dear Mercy, what have we done." Gary shuddered with terror as he regrettably joined his friends.

Cleveland neighborhood

The sun was nearly halfway below the horizon, and the city would be dark in minutes. In the yards and gardens where our world's tiniest creatures lived, the shade has already arrived. This was how it was for Rupert, Timmy, and Hikari at this moment. "It's getting daaaaaaark, Ruppy." Hikari moaned.

"Our parents are gonna kill us." Timmy noted glumly. "Rupert, we gotta get home."

"You wanna go to your parents looking like ants?"

"Well, it's better than being out here where the REAL bugs can get us. Can these Pikmin really protect us out here?"

"I'm… not sure. They said they usually just stay in their Onion."

"Well why don't they let US in?"

"Because we need MKND clearance. But I guess we can find your house. Where is it?"

"It's. … …I'm not sure." Timmy raised his finger to point a direction, but left, right, forward, and behind him was giant grass.

"I'm scaaaaaared." moaned Hikari. "What if we get eaten?"

"L-Look, it's okay, Hikari…" Rupert tried to assure himself as well. But he's never been out camping in a pitch-black forest, this was generally the same, on a much more dangerous scale. "We'll just stay here until…until the sun comes out. We'll call the Pikmin out for some defense."

"I knew we shouldn'ta agreed to this." Timmy frowned, having a seat. "It'll take us days to find our house. Months…"

"I wish Jessie were here." Hikari sat down as well. "He would hoooold us, and protect uuuus, he'd step on ALL the big, scary bugs and let us sleep in his soft, warm haaaaaair." Her face mixed with worry, sadness, and dreamy love.

It hurt to see his friends so worried and afraid. He was almost sorry he shrunk them into this mess, now that they had no way to get back. Rupert never liked being at home with Dad, but being so small in such a dark place, able to be eaten or crushed by anything, this adventure could only end badly. …He tried to sport a positive look, "Hey, it'll be alright, guys. We've got the Pikmin. They fought all those other creatures, especially those Purple guys, they'll protect us 'til the morning! Then we'll keep looking until we find another Minish and get us back to normal!"

"Okay…" Timmy began to calm a bit. "But Rupert?"

"Yeah?"

"I want twenty dollars now."

"Okay. ."

Iceland; outside King Household

Sector V took land on the street outside the King House, from which grew the humongous tree that was Sector IC's treehouse. The IC team saw them coming in, already rushing down to the house and out the front door. "Hey, Sector V!" MaKayla beamed. "Long time, no see! Done being pirates?"

"Heh heh, if only." Mason chuckled. "Still know everything, MaKayla?"

"No, not at the moment."

"Yo, what up, George." Chris smirked and waved. "Anything exciting happen?"

"Miyuki got hit by a car a few days ago."

"Ouch. Anyway, do you guys know anything about these 20 Keys?" Chris asked. "We were gonna ask your dad that."

"Our dad's not home." Kayla replied. "Said he had to do something. And don't ask me to tell you who they are, 'cause Clockwork wouldn't let me look."

"Aaaaaawww! Even when he's DEAD, he won't help us!" Artie whined.

"Don't you guys have any clues?" Miyuki asked.

"Not exactly." Aurora replied. "But two operatives were kidnapped by aliens, and Dillon said their boss talked about Dr. Nefarious. Didn't you do a report about him?"

"Hey, that's the guy that tried to ruin Christmas!" Lola recalled.

"Great, we have a common enemy." Chris fist-palmed. "Let's get up there and kick his bum!"

"Hold on." Aurora touched his shoulder. "If they're in space, we could be chasing them for ages, and what if Cheren needs us on Earth? It just feels too early to be rushing into it."

"But we HAVE to save Maddy!"

"Listen, why don't we go on and save her?" Kayla told them. "We'll go to Galaxia and get GKND's help to find Maddy and search for these Keys. Meanwhile, you stay here and search for clues on Earth."

"Sounds good to me." Harry said. "Ah prefer breathing my atmosphere. Any object?" Some of the members shook 'no'. "A'ight then."

"Well… okay. George?" George looked up as Chris faced him seriously. The Uno boy held his right fist up. "Promise me you'll bring Maddy safely."

"…" George gripped his fist, "Am I making the Unbreakable Vow?"

"Yes. And if you break it, I'll kill your best friend, and you'll have to alter the timeline to save him."

"Yeah, I had a feeling something bad would happen to Terry, anyway." He smiled.

"HUH?!?" Terry jumped in panic.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" The friends laughed ecstatically at Terry's fuming face.

"Yahright, later Chris." George waved as his team headed back inside.

"La'er." Chris waved back, still chuckling.

Sector V went back in the C.O.O.L.-B.U.S. as Mason and Artie returned to drawing on Sheila's snoozing face. "So what're we going to do now?" Haruka asked. "Pick Carol up and get her on the boredom?"

"Carol called me earlier, said she was going to a private party." Mason replied. "Said she would email us once she was there."

"Sounds fancy. We oughta breach it." Haylee said.

"Well if we aren't going to help Maddy, where are we going?" Chris asked. "To look for my long-lost cousin?"

"If Augustus has anything to do with stuff, then maybe." Aurora said as Mason and Dillon wrote 'Monkeytarts' on Sheila's snoozing face. "Let's go talk to Cheren on Moonbase, he'll want to know this."

"Assumin' he ain't tryin' to be gutsy and already off doin' it himself.." Harry said.

York Household; 7p.m.

7pm, it was time for duty. Nolan strapped in his trenchcoat and gas mask, and his gas capsules and gadgets were ready. "Alright, Dani, I'm goin' out. Probably gonna be another all-nighter, maybe even more, depending on how far I'll end up traveling. We're going to Civic City first, call me if something happens. Tell me if Dillon comes back, too." He was then gone down the Sandcave to take his Sandmobile.

Midna emerged from Danika's shadow. "I cannot recall the last night you had together."

"Yeah, he's left me high and dry." Danika sighed downtrodden as she lied back on the couch. "Ho well, guess I'll call the girls over for a party." She took a soda and drank.

Midna floated over, "Which reminds me, when are you gonna tell Dillon he, um, eventually needs to claim me?"

"I'll tell him 'soon as he comes home. What are they doing now, anyway?"

"Hmm… I'd like to find out." So Midna flew away as well.

Roguetown Station; 8p.m.

Roguetown Station. Well, this was the place. And it was nighttime. Sun was below the horizon, sky a dark-blue. So where was his special someone? It wasn't the only time he went to meet a late secret admirer. Why did he have to make himself so lovable? Such a ladies' man? Even Majora was kind of feminine. The train station was totally deserted, though the train seemed raring to go.

But the bushes rustled, Cheren jumping to attention. "So… you made it."

"Who's there?" he asked.

"I'm glad you showed up." The slim, shaded woman stepped out. A cast was around her injured waist, forcing her vertical. "I had a feeling you would."

"M…MOM??" Cheren's face grew wide. "…The person?"

The wrinkly woman with the heart-hair and blue clothing lit up a cigarette. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She blew a smoke. "Care to do me a little favor?"

This made Cheren all the more worried. "What?"

"Nothing special. I just want you… to KILL my boss!" The train's whistle roared, ready to ship off.